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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:19:43 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2723-0.txt b/2723-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0e934ef --- /dev/null +++ b/2723-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6476 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A First Family of Tasajara, by Bret Harte + +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 First Family of Tasajara + +Author: Bret Harte + +Release Date: May 25, 2006 [EBook #2723] +Last Updated: March 4, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A FIRST FAMILY OF TASAJARA *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson + + + + + +A FIRST FAMILY OF TASAJARA + + +By Bret Harte + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +“It blows,” said Joe Wingate. + +As if to accent the words of the speaker a heavy gust of wind at that +moment shook the long light wooden structure which served as the general +store of Sidon settlement, in Contra Costa. Even after it had passed a +prolonged whistle came through the keyhole, sides, and openings of the +closed glass front doors, that served equally for windows, and filled +the canvas ceiling which hid the roof above like a bellying sail. A wave +of enthusiastic emotion seemed to be communicated to a line of straw +hats and sou-westers suspended from a cross-beam, and swung them with +every appearance of festive rejoicing, while a few dusters, overcoats, +and “hickory” shirts hanging on the side walls exhibited such marked +though idiotic animation that it had the effect of a satirical comment +on the lazy, purposeless figures of the four living inmates of the +store. + +Ned Billings momentarily raised his head and shoulders depressed in the +back of his wooden armchair, glanced wearily around, said, “You bet, +it's no slouch of a storm,” and then lapsed again with further extended +legs and an added sense of comfort. + +Here the third figure, which had been leaning listlessly against the +shelves, putting aside the arm of a swaying overcoat that seemed to +be emptily embracing him, walked slowly from behind the counter to the +door, examined its fastenings, and gazed at the prospect. He was the +owner of the store, and the view was a familiar one,--a long stretch of +treeless waste before him meeting an equal stretch of dreary sky above, +and night hovering somewhere between the two. This was indicated by +splashes of darker shadow as if washed in with india ink, and a lighter +low-lying streak that might have been the horizon, but was not. To +the right, on a line with the front door of the store, were several +scattered, widely dispersed objects, that, although vague in outline, +were rigid enough in angles to suggest sheds or barns, but certainly not +trees. + +“There's a heap more wet to come afore the wind goes down,” he said, +glancing at the sky. “Hark to that, now!” + +They listened lazily. There was a faint murmur from the shingles above; +then suddenly the whole window was filmed and blurred as if the +entire prospect had been wiped out with a damp sponge. The man turned +listlessly away. + +“That's the kind that soaks in; thar won't be much teamin' over Tasajara +for the next two weeks, I reckon,” said the fourth lounger, who, +seated on a high barrel, was nibbling--albeit critically and +fastidiously--biscuits and dried apples alternately from open boxes on +the counter. “It's lucky you've got in your winter stock, Harkutt.” + +The shrewd eyes of Mr. Harkutt, proprietor, glanced at the occupation of +the speaker as if even his foresight might have its possible drawbacks, +but he said nothing. + +“There'll be no show for Sidon until you've got a wagon road from here +to the creek,” said Billings languidly, from the depths of his chair. +“But what's the use o' talkin'? Thar ain't energy enough in all Tasajara +to build it. A God-forsaken place, that two months of the year can only +be reached by a mail-rider once a week, don't look ez if it was goin' to +break its back haulin' in goods and settlers. I tell ye what, gentlemen, +it makes me sick!” And apparently it had enfeebled him to the extent of +interfering with his aim in that expectoration of disgust against the +stove with which he concluded his sentence. + +“Why don't YOU build it?” asked Wingate, carelessly. + +“I wouldn't on principle,” said Billings. “It's gov'ment work. What did +we whoop up things here last spring to elect Kennedy to the legislation +for? What did I rig up my shed and a thousand feet of lumber for benches +at the barbecue for? Why, to get Kennedy elected and make him get a +bill passed for the road! That's MY share of building it, if it comes to +that. And I only wish some folks, that blow enough about what oughter be +done to bulge out that ceiling, would only do as much as I have done for +Sidon.” + +As this remark seemed to have a personal as well as local application, +the storekeeper diplomatically turned it. “There's a good many as DON'T +believe that a road from here to the creek is going to do any good to +Sidon. It's very well to say the creek is an embarcadero, but callin' it +so don't put anough water into it to float a steamboat from the bay, nor +clear out the reeds and tules in it. Even if the State builds you roads, +it ain't got no call to make Tasajara Creek navigable for ye; and as +that will cost as much as the road, I don't see where the money's comin' +from for both.” + +“There's water enough in front of 'Lige Curtis's shanty, and his +location is only a mile along the bank,” returned Billings. + +“Water enough for him to laze away his time fishin' when he's sober, and +deep enough to drown him when he's drunk,” said Wingate. “If you +call that an embarcadero, you kin buy it any day from 'Lige,--title, +possession, and shanty thrown in,--for a demijohn o' whiskey.” + +The fourth man here distastefully threw back a half-nibbled biscuit +into the box, and languidly slipped from the barrel to the floor, +fastidiously flicking the crumbs from his clothes as he did so. “I +reckon somebody'll get it for nothing, if 'Lige don't pull up mighty +soon. He'll either go off his head with jim-jams or jump into the creek. +He's about as near desp'rit as they make 'em, and havin' no partner to +look after him, and him alone in the tules, ther' 's no tellin' WHAT he +may do.” + +Billings, stretched at full length in his chair, here gurgled +derisively. “Desp'rit!--ketch him! Why, that's his little game! He's +jist playin' off his desp'rit condition to frighten Sidon. Whenever any +one asks him why he don't go to work, whenever he's hard up for a drink, +whenever he's had too much or too little, he's workin' that desp'rit +dodge, and even talkin' o' killin' himself! Why, look here,” he +continued, momentarily raising himself to a sitting posture in his +disgust, “it was only last week he was over at Rawlett's trying to +raise provisions and whiskey outer his water rights on the creek! Fact, +sir,--had it all written down lawyer-like on paper. Rawlett didn't +exactly see it in that light, and told him so. Then he up with the +desp'rit dodge and began to work that. Said if he had to starve in a +swamp like a dog he might as well kill himself at once, and would too +if he could afford the weppins. Johnson said it was not a bad idea, and +offered to lend him his revolver; Bilson handed up his shot-gun, and +left it alongside of him, and turned his head away considerate-like and +thoughtful while Rawlett handed him a box of rat pizon over the counter, +in case he preferred suthin' more quiet. Well, what did 'Lige do? +Nothin'! Smiled kinder sickly, looked sorter wild, and shut up. He +didn't suicide much. No, sir! He didn't kill himself,--not he. Why, old +Bixby--and he's a deacon in good standin'--allowed, in 'Lige's hearin' +and for 'Lige's benefit, that self-destruction was better nor bad +example, and proved it by Scripture too. And yet 'Lige did nothin'! +Desp'rit! He's only desp'rit to laze around and fish all day off a log +in the tules, and soak up with whiskey, until, betwixt fever an' ague +and the jumps, he kinder shakes hisself free o' responsibility.” + +A long silence followed; it was somehow felt that the subject was +incongruously exciting; Billings allowed himself to lapse again behind +the back of his chair. Meantime it had grown so dark that the dull glow +of the stove was beginning to outline a faint halo on the ceiling even +while it plunged the further lines of shelves behind the counter into +greater obscurity. + +“Time to light up, Harkutt, ain't it?” said Wingate, tentatively. + +“Well, I was reckoning ez it's such a wild night there wouldn't be any +use keepin' open, and when you fellows left I'd just shut up for good +and make things fast,” said Harkutt, dubiously. Before his guests had +time to fully weigh this delicate hint, another gust of wind shook the +tenement, and even forced the unbolted upper part of the door to yield +far enough to admit an eager current of humid air that seemed to justify +the wisdom of Harkutt's suggestion. Billings slowly and with a sigh +assumed a sitting posture in the chair. The biscuit-nibbler selected a +fresh dainty from the counter, and Wingate abstractedly walked to the +window and rubbed the glass. Sky and water had already disappeared +behind a curtain of darkness that was illuminated by a single point of +light--the lamp in the window of some invisible but nearer house--which +threw its rays across the glistening shallows in the road. “Well,” said +Wingate, buttoning up his coat in slow dejection, “I reckon I oughter +be travelin' to help the old woman do the chores before supper.” He had +just recognized the light in his own dining-room, and knew by that sign +that his long-waiting helpmeet had finally done the chores herself. + +“Some folks have it mighty easy,” said Billings, with long-drawn +discontent, as he struggled to his feet. “You've only a step to go, +and yer's me and Peters there”--indicating the biscuit-nibbler, who was +beginning to show alarming signs of returning to the barrel again--“hev +got to trapse five times that distance.” + +“More'n half a mile, if it comes to that,” said Peters, gloomily. He +paused in putting on his overcoat as if thinking better of it, while +even the more fortunate and contiguous Wingate languidly lapsed against +the counter again. + +The moment was a critical one. Billings was evidently also regretfully +eying the chair he had just quitted. Harkutt resolved on a heroic +effort. + +“Come, boys,” he said, with brisk conviviality, “take a parting drink +with me before you go.” Producing a black bottle from some obscurity +beneath the counter that smelt strongly of india-rubber boots, he placed +it with four glasses before his guests. Each made a feint of holding his +glass against the opaque window while filling it, although nothing could +be seen. A sudden tumult of wind and rain again shook the building, but +even after it had passed the glass door still rattled violently. + +“Just see what's loose, Peters,” said Billings; “you're nearest it.” + +Peters, still holding the undrained glass in his hand, walked slowly +towards it. + +“It's suthin'--or somebody outside,” he said, hesitatingly. + +The three others came eagerly to his side. Through the glass, clouded +from within by their breath, and filmed from without by the rain, some +vague object was moving, and what seemed to be a mop of tangled hair +was apparently brushing against the pane. The door shook again, but less +strongly. Billings pressed his face against the glass. “Hol' on,” he +said in a quick whisper,--“it's 'Lige!” But it was too late. Harkutt +had already drawn the lower bolt, and a man stumbled from the outer +obscurity into the darker room. + +The inmates drew away as he leaned back for a moment against the door +that closed behind him. Then dimly, but instinctively, discerning the +glass of liquor which Wingate still mechanically held in his hand, +he reached forward eagerly, took it from Wingate's surprised and +unresisting fingers, and drained it at a gulp. The four men laughed +vaguely, but not as cheerfully as they might. + +“I was just shutting up,” began Harkutt, dubiously. + +“I won't keep you a minit,” said the intruder, nervously fumbling in +the breast pocket of his hickory shirt. “It's a matter of +business--Harkutt--I”--But he was obliged to stop here to wipe his +face and forehead with the ends of a loose handkerchief tied round his +throat. From the action, and what could be seen of his pale, +exhausted face, it was evident that the moisture upon it was beads of +perspiration, and not the rain which some abnormal heat of his body was +converting into vapor from his sodden garments as he stood there. + +“I've got a document here,” he began again, producing a roll of paper +tremblingly from his pocket, “that I'd like you to glance over, and +perhaps you'd”--His voice, which had been feverishly exalted, here broke +and rattled with a cough. + +Billings, Wingate, and Peters fell apart and looked out of the window. +“It's too dark to read anything now, 'Lige,” said Harkutt, with evasive +good humor, “and I ain't lightin' up to-night.” + +“But I can tell you the substance of it,” said the man, with a faintness +that however had all the distinctness of a whisper, “if you'll just step +inside a minute. It's a matter of importance and a bargain”-- + +“I reckon we must be goin',” said Billings to the others, with marked +emphasis. “We're keepin' Harkutt from shuttin' up.” “Good-night!” + “Good-night!” added Peters and Wingate, ostentatiously following +Billings hurriedly through the door. “So long!” + +The door closed behind them, leaving Harkutt alone with his importunate +intruder. Possibly his resentment at his customers' selfish abandonment +of him at this moment developed a vague spirit of opposition to them and +mitigated his feeling towards 'Lige. He groped his way to the counter, +struck a match, and lit a candle. Its feeble rays faintly illuminated +the pale, drawn face of the applicant, set in a tangle of wet, unkempt, +party-colored hair. It was not the face of an ordinary drunkard; +although tremulous and sensitive from some artificial excitement, there +was no ENGORGEMENT or congestion in the features or complexion, albeit +they were morbid and unhealthy. The expression was of a suffering that +was as much mental as physical, and yet in some vague way appeared +unmeaning--and unheroic. + +“I want to see you about selling my place on the creek. I want you to +take it off my hands for a bargain. I want to get quit of it, at once, +for just enough to take me out o' this. I don't want any profit; only +money enough to get away.” His utterance, which had a certain kind of +cultivation, here grew thick and harsh again, and he looked eagerly at +the bottle which stood on the counter. + +“Look here, 'Lige,” said Harkutt, not unkindly. “It's too late to do +anythin' tonight. You come in to-morrow.” He would have added “when +you're sober,” but for a trader's sense of politeness to a possible +customer, and probably some doubt of the man's actual condition. + +“God knows where or what I may be tomorrow! It would kill me to go back +and spend another night as the last, if I don't kill myself on the way +to do it.” + +Harkutt's face darkened grimly. It was indeed as Billings had said. +The pitiable weakness of the man's manner not only made his desperation +inadequate and ineffective, but even lent it all the cheapness of +acting. And, as if to accent his simulation of a part, his fingers, +feebly groping in his shirt bosom, slipped aimlessly and helplessly +from the shining handle of a pistol in his pocket to wander hesitatingly +towards the bottle on the counter. + +Harkutt took the bottle, poured out a glass of the liquor, and pushed +it before his companion, who drank it eagerly. Whether it gave him more +confidence, or his attention was no longer diverted, he went on +more collectedly and cheerfully, and with no trace of his previous +desperation in his manner. “Come, Harkutt, buy my place. It's a bargain, +I tell you. I'll sell it cheap. I only want enough to get away with. +Give me twenty-five dollars and it's yours. See, there's the papers--the +quitclaim--all drawn up and signed.” He drew the roll of paper from his +pocket again, apparently forgetful of the adjacent weapon. + +“Look here, 'Lige,” said Harkutt, with a business-like straightening of +his lips, “I ain't buyin' any land in Tasajara,--least of all yours on +the creek. I've got more invested here already than I'll ever get back +again. But I tell you what I'll do. You say you can't go back to your +shanty. Well, seein' how rough it is outside, and that the waters of +the creek are probably all over the trail by this time, I reckon you're +about right. Now, there's five dollars!” He laid down a coin sharply on +the counter. “Take that and go over to Rawlett's and get a bed and +some supper. In the mornin' you may be able to strike up a trade with +somebody else--or change your mind. How did you get here? On your hoss?” + +“Yes.” + +“He ain't starved yet?” + +“No; he can eat grass. I can't.” + +Either the liquor or Harkutt's practical unsentimental treatment of +the situation seemed to give him confidence. He met Harkutt's eye more +steadily as the latter went on. “You kin turn your hoss for the night +into my stock corral next to Rawlett's. It'll save you payin' for fodder +and stablin'.” + +The man took up the coin with a certain slow gravity which was almost +like dignity. “Thank you,” he said, laying the paper on the counter. +“I'll leave that as security.” + +“Don't want it, 'Lige,” said Harkutt, pushing it back. + +“I'd rather leave it.” + +“But suppose you have a chance to sell it to somebody at Rawlett's?” + continued Harkutt, with a precaution that seemed ironical. + +“I don't think there's much chance of that.” + +He remained quiet, looking at Harkutt with an odd expression as +he rubbed the edge of the coin that he held between his fingers +abstractedly on the counter. Something in his gaze--rather perhaps +the apparent absence of anything in it approximate to the present +occasion--was beginning to affect Harkutt with a vague uneasiness. +Providentially a resumed onslaught of wind and rain against the panes +effected a diversion. “Come,” he said, with brisk practicality, “you'd +better hurry on to Rawlett's before it gets worse. Have your clothes +dried by his fire, take suthin' to eat, and you'll be all right.” He +rubbed his hands cheerfully, as if summarily disposing of the situation, +and incidentally of all 'Lige's troubles, and walked with him to the +door. Nevertheless, as the man's look remained unchanged, he hesitated +a moment with his hand on the handle, in the hope that he would say +something, even if only to repeat his appeal, but he did not. Then +Harkutt opened the door; the man moved mechanically out, and at the +distance of a few feet seemed to melt into the rain and darkness. +Harkutt remained for a moment with his face pressed against the glass. +After an interval he thought he heard the faint splash of hoofs in the +shallows of the road; he opened the door softly and looked out. + +The light had disappeared from the nearest house; only an uncertain bulk +of shapeless shadows remained. Other remoter and more vague outlines +near the horizon seemed to have a funereal suggestion of tombs and grave +mounds, and one--a low shed near the road--looked not unlike a halted +bier. He hurriedly put up the shutters in a momentary lulling of the +wind, and re-entering the store began to fasten them from within. + +While thus engaged an inner door behind the counter opened softly and +cautiously, projecting a brighter light into the deserted apartment from +some sacred domestic interior with the warm and wholesome incense of +cooking. It served to introduce also the equally agreeable presence of a +young girl, who, after assuring herself of the absence of every one but +the proprietor, idly slipped into the store, and placing her rounded +elbows, from which her sleeves were uprolled, upon the counter, leaned +lazily upon them, with both hands supporting her dimpled chin, and gazed +indolently at him; so indolently that, with her pretty face once +fixed in this comfortable attitude, she was constrained to follow his +movements with her eyes alone, and often at an uncomfortable angle. It +was evident that she offered the final but charming illustration of the +enfeebling listlessness of Sidon. + +“So those loafers have gone at last,” she said, meditatively. “They'll +take root here some day, pop. The idea of three strong men like that +lazing round for two mortal hours doin' nothin'. Well!” As if to +emphasize her disgust she threw her whole weight upon the counter by +swinging her feet from the floor to touch the shelves behind her. + +Mr. Harkutt only replied by a slight grunt as he continued to screw on +the shutters. + +“Want me to help you, dad?” she said, without moving. + +Mr. Harkutt muttered something unintelligible, which, however, seemed to +imply a negative, and her attention here feebly wandered to the roll of +paper, and she began slowly and lazily to read it aloud. + +“'For value received, I hereby sell, assign, and transfer to Daniel D. +Harkutt all my right, titles and interest in, and to the undivided +half of, Quarter Section 4, Range 5, Tasajara Township'--hum--hum,” she +murmured, running her eyes to the bottom of the page. “Why, Lord! It's +that 'Lige Curtis!” she laughed. “The idea of HIM having property! Why, +dad, you ain't been THAT silly!” + +“Put down that paper, miss,” he said, aggrievedly; “bring the candle +here, and help me to find one of these infernal screws that's dropped.” + +The girl indolently disengaged herself from the counter and Elijah +Curtis's transfer, and brought the candle to her father. The screw was +presently found and the last fastening secured. “Supper gettin' cold, +dad,” she said, with a slight yawn. Her father sympathetically responded +by stretching himself from his stooping position, and the two passed +through the private door into inner domesticity, leaving the already +forgotten paper lying with other articles of barter on the counter. + + + + +CHAPER II. + + +With the closing of the little door behind them they seemed to have shut +out the turmoil and vibration of the storm. The reason became apparent +when, after a few paces, they descended half a dozen steps to a lower +landing. This disclosed the fact that the dwelling part of the Sidon +General Store was quite below the level of the shop and the road, and +on the slope of the solitary undulation of the Tasajara plain,--a little +ravine that fell away to a brawling stream below. The only arboreous +growth of Tasajara clothed its banks in the shape of willows and alders +that set compactly around the quaint, irregular dwelling which straggled +down the ravine and looked upon a slope of bracken and foliage on either +side. The transition from the black, treeless, storm-swept plain to this +sheltered declivity was striking and suggestive. From the opposite bank +one might fancy that the youthful and original dwelling had ambitiously +mounted the crest, but, appalled at the dreary prospect beyond, had +gone no further; while from the road it seemed as if the fastidious +proprietor had tried to draw a line between the vulgar trading-post, +with which he was obliged to face the coarser civilization of the place, +and the privacy of his domestic life. The real fact, however, was that +the ravine furnished wood and water; and as Nature also provided one +wall of the house,--as in the well-known example of aboriginal cave +dwellings,--its peculiar construction commended itself to Sidon on the +ground of involving little labor. + +Howbeit, from the two open windows of the sitting-room which they had +entered only the faint pattering of dripping boughs and a slight murmur +from the swollen brook indicated the storm that shook the upper plain, +and the cool breath of laurel, syringa, and alder was wafted through +the neat apartment. Passing through that pleasant rural atmosphere +they entered the kitchen, a much larger room, which appeared to serve +occasionally as a dining-room, and where supper was already laid out. +A stout, comfortable-looking woman--who had, however, a singularly +permanent expression of pained sympathy upon her face--welcomed them in +tones of gentle commiseration. + +“Ah, there you be, you two! Now sit ye right down, dears; DO. You +must be tired out; and you, Phemie, love, draw up by your poor father. +There--that's right. You'll be better soon.” + +There was certainly no visible sign of suffering or exhaustion on the +part of either father or daughter, nor the slightest apparent earthly +reason why they should be expected to exhibit any. But, as already +intimated, it was part of Mrs. Harkutt's generous idiosyncrasy to look +upon all humanity as suffering and toiling; to be petted, humored, +condoled with, and fed. It had, in the course of years, imparted a +singularly caressing sadness to her voice, and given her the habit of +ending her sentences with a melancholy cooing and an unintelligible +murmur of agreement. It was undoubtedly sincere and sympathetic, but at +times inappropriate and distressing. It had lost her the friendship of +the one humorist of Tasajara, whose best jokes she had received with +such heartfelt commiseration and such pained appreciation of the evident +labor involved as to reduce him to silence. + +Accustomed as Mr. Harkutt was to his wife's peculiarity, he was not +above assuming a certain slightly fatigued attitude befitting it. “Yes,” + he said, with a vague sigh, “where's Clemmie?” + +“Lyin' down since dinner; she reckoned she wouldn't get up to supper,” + she returned soothingly. “Phemie's goin' to take her up some sass and +tea. The poor dear child wants a change.” + +“She wants to go to 'Frisco, and so do I, pop,” said Phemie, leaning +her elbow half over her father's plate. “Come, pop, say do,--just for a +week.” + +“Only for a week,” murmured the commiserating Mrs. Harkutt. + +“Perhaps,” responded Harkutt, with gloomy sarcasm, “ye wouldn't mind +tellin' me how you're goin' to get there, and where the money's comin' +from to take you? There's no teamin' over Tasajara till the rain stops, +and no money comin' in till the ranchmen can move their stuff. There +ain't a hundred dollars in all Tasajara; at least there ain't been the +first red cent of it paid across my counter for a fortnit! Perhaps if +you do go you wouldn't mind takin' me and the store along with ye, and +leavin' us there.” + +“Yes, dear,” said Mrs. Harkutt, with sympathetic but shameless +tergiversation. “Don't bother your poor father, Phemie, love; don't you +see he's just tired out? And you're not eatin' anything, dad.” + +As Mr. Harkutt was uneasily conscious that he had been eating heartily +in spite of his financial difficulties, he turned the subject abruptly. +“Where's John Milton?” + +Mrs. Harkutt shaded her eyes with her hand, and gazed meditatively on +the floor before the fire and in the chimney corner for her only son, +baptized under that historic title. “He was here a minit ago,” she said +doubtfully. “I really can't think where he's gone. But,” assuringly, “it +ain't far.” + +“He's skipped with one o' those story-books he's borrowed,” said Phemie. +“He's always doin' it. Like as not he's reading with a candle in the +wood-shed. We'll all be burnt up some night.” + +“But he's got through his chores,” interposed Mrs. Harkutt +deprecatingly. + +“Yes,” continued Harkutt, aggrievedly, “but instead of goin' to bed, or +addin' up bills, or takin' count o' stock, or even doin' sums or suthin' +useful, he's ruinin' his eyes and wastin' his time over trash.” He rose +and walked slowly into the sitting-room, followed by his daughter and a +murmur of commiseration from his wife. But Mrs. Harkutt's ministration +for the present did not pass beyond her domain, the kitchen. + +“I reckon ye ain't expectin' anybody tonight, Phemie?” said Mr. Harkutt, +sinking into a chair, and placing his slippered feet against the wall. + +“No,” said Phemie, “unless something possesses that sappy little Parmlee +to make one of his visitations. John Milton says that out on the road +it blows so you can't stand up. It's just like that idiot Parmlee to be +blown in here, and not have strength of mind enough to get away again.” + +Mr. Harkutt smiled. It was that arch yet approving, severe yet +satisfied smile with which the deceived male parent usually receives any +depreciation of the ordinary young man by his daughters. Euphemia was +no giddy thing to be carried away by young men's attentions,--not +she! Sitting back comfortably in his rocking-chair, he said, “Play +something.” + +The young girl went to the closet and took from the top shelf an +excessively ornamented accordion,--the opulent gift of a reckless +admirer. It was so inordinately decorated, so gorgeous in the blaze of +papier mache, mother-of-pearl, and tortoise-shell on keys and keyboard, +and so ostentatiously radiant in the pink silk of its bellows that it +seemed to overawe the plainly furnished room with its splendors. “You +ought to keep it on the table in a glass vase, Phemie,” said her father +admiringly. + +“And have HIM think I worshiped it! Not me, indeed! He's conceited +enough already,” she returned, saucily. + +Mr. Harkutt again smiled his approbation, then deliberately closed his +eyes and threw his head back in comfortable anticipation of the coming +strains. + +It is to be regretted that in brilliancy, finish, and even cheerfulness +of quality they were not up to the suggestions of the keys and keyboard. +The most discreet and cautious effort on the part of the young performer +seemed only to produce startlingly unexpected, but instantly suppressed +complaints from the instrument, accompanied by impatient interjections +of “No, no,” from the girl herself. Nevertheless, with her pretty +eyebrows knitted in some charming distress of memory, her little mouth +half open between an apologetic smile and the exertion of working the +bellows, with her white, rounded arms partly lifted up and waving +before her, she was pleasantly distracting to the eye. Gradually, as the +scattered strains were marshaled into something like an air, she began +to sing also, glossing over the instrumental weaknesses, filling +in certain dropped notes and omissions, and otherwise assisting the +ineffectual accordion with a youthful but not unmusical voice. The song +was a lugubrious religious chant; under its influence the house seemed +to sink into greater quiet, permitting in the intervals the murmur of +the swollen creek to appear more distinct, and even the far moaning of +the wind on the plain to become faintly audible. At last, having fairly +mastered the instrument, Phemie got into the full swing of the chant. +Unconstrained by any criticism, carried away by the sound of her own +voice, and perhaps a youthful love for mere uproar, or possibly desirous +to drown her father's voice, which had unexpectedly joined in with a +discomposing bass, the conjoined utterances seemed to threaten the frail +structure of their dwelling, even as the gale had distended the store +behind them. When they ceased at last it was in an accession of dripping +from the apparently stirred leaves outside. And then a voice, evidently +from the moist depths of the abyss below, called out,-- + +“Hullo, there!” + +Phemie put down the accordion, said, “Who's that now?” went to the +window, lazily leaned her elbows on the sill, and peered into the +darkness. Nothing was to be seen; the open space of dimly outlined +landscape had that blank, uncommunicative impenetrability with which +Nature always confronts and surprises us at such moments. It seemed to +Phemie that she was the only human being present. Yet after the feeling +had passed she fancied she heard the wash of the current against some +object in the stream, half stationary and half resisting. + +“Is any one down there? Is that you, Mr. Parmlee?” she called. + +There was a pause. Some invisible auditor said to another, “It's a young +lady.” Then the first voice rose again in a more deferential tone: “Are +we anywhere near Sidon?” + +“This is Sidon,” answered Harkutt, who had risen, and was now quite +obliterating his daughter's outline at the window. + +“Thank you,” said the voice. “Can we land anywhere here, on this bank?” + +“Run down, pop; they're strangers,” said the girl, with excited, almost +childish eagerness. + +“Hold on,” called out Harkutt, “I'll be thar in a moment!” He hastily +thrust his feet into a pair of huge boots, clapped on an oilskin hat +and waterproof, and disappeared through a door that led to a lower +staircase. Phemie, still at the window, albeit with a newly added sense +of self-consciousness, hung out breathlessly. Presently a beam of light +from the lower depths of the house shot out into the darkness. It was +her father with a bull's-eye lantern. As he held it up and clambered +cautiously down the bank, its rays fell upon the turbid rushing stream, +and what appeared to be a rough raft of logs held with difficulty +against the bank by two men with long poles. In its centre was a roll +of blankets, a valise and saddle-bags, and the shining brasses of some +odd-looking instruments. + +As Mr. Harkutt, supporting himself by a willow branch that overhung +the current, held up the lantern, the two men rapidly transferred their +freight from the raft to the bank, and leaped ashore. The action gave +an impulse to the raft, which, no longer held in position by the +poles, swung broadside to the current and was instantly swept into the +darkness. + +Not a word had been spoken, but now the voices of the men rose freely +together. Phemie listened with intense expectation. The explanation +was simple. They were surveyors who had been caught by the overflow +on Tasajara plain, had abandoned their horses on the bank of Tasajara +Creek, and with a hastily constructed raft had intrusted themselves and +their instruments to the current. “But,” said Harkutt quickly, “there is +no connection between Tasajara Creek and this stream.” + +The two men laughed. “There is NOW,” said one of them. + +“But Tasajara Creek is a part of the bay,” said the astonished Harkutt, +“and this stream rises inland and only runs into the bay four miles +lower down. And I don't see how-- + +“You're almost twelve feet lower here than Tasajara Creek,” said the +first man, with a certain professional authority, “and that's WHY. +There's more water than Tasajara Creek can carry, and it's seeking the +bay this way. Look,” he continued, taking the lantern from Harkutt's +hand and casting its rays on the stream, “that's salt drift from the +upper bay, and part of Tasajara Creek's running by your house now! Don't +be alarmed,” he added reassuringly, glancing at the staring storekeeper. +“You're all right here; this is only the overflow and will find its +level soon.” + +But Mr. Harkutt remained gazing abstractedly at the smiling speaker. +From the window above the impatient Phemie was wondering why he kept +the strangers waiting in the rain while he talked about things that were +perfectly plain. It was so like a man! + +“Then there's a waterway straight to Tasajara Creek?” he said slowly. + +“There is, as long as this flood lasts,” returned the first speaker +promptly; “and a cutting through the bank of two or three hundred yards +would make it permanent. Well, what's the matter with that?” + +“Nothin',” said Harkutt hurriedly. “I am only considerin'! But come in, +dry yourselves, and take suthin'.” + +The light over the rushing water was withdrawn, and the whole prospect +sank back into profound darkness. Mr. Harkutt had disappeared with +his guests. Then there was the familiar shuffle of his feet on +the staircase, followed by other more cautious footsteps that grew +delicately and even courteously deliberate as they approached. At which +the young girl, in some new sense of decorum, drew in her pretty head, +glanced around the room quickly, reset the tidy on her father's chair, +placed the resplendent accordion like an ornament in the exact centre of +the table, and then vanished into the hall as Mr. Harkutt entered with +the strangers. + +They were both of the same age and appearance, but the principal speaker +was evidently the superior of his companion, and although their attitude +to each other was equal and familiar, it could be easily seen that +he was the leader. He had a smooth, beardless face, with a critical +expression of eye and mouth that might have been fastidious and +supercilious but for the kindly, humorous perception that tempered +it. His quick eye swept the apartment and then fixed itself upon the +accordion, but a smile lit up his face as he said quietly,-- + +“I hope we haven't frightened the musician away. It was bad enough to +have interrupted the young lady.” + +“No, no,” said Mr. Harkutt, who seemed to have lost his abstraction in +the nervousness of hospitality. “I reckon she's only lookin' after her +sick sister. But come into the kitchen, both of you, straight off, and +while you're dryin' your clothes, mother'll fix you suthin' hot.” + +“We only need to change our boots and stockings; we've some dry ones in +our pack downstairs,” said the first speaker hesitatingly. + +“I'll fetch 'em up and you can change in the kitchen. The old woman +won't mind,” said Harkutt reassuringly. “Come along.” He led the way to +the kitchen; the two strangers exchanged a glance of humorous perplexity +and followed. + +The quiet of the little room was once more unbroken. A far-off +commiserating murmur indicated that Mrs. Harkutt was receiving her +guests. The cool breath of the wet leaves without slightly stirred the +white dimity curtains, and somewhere from the darkened eaves there was +a still, somnolent drip. Presently a hurried whisper and a half-laugh +appeared to be suppressed in the outer passage or hall. There +was another moment of hesitation and the door opened suddenly and +ostentatiously, disclosing Phemie, with a taller and slighter young +woman, her elder sister, at her side. Perceiving that the room was +empty, they both said “Oh!” yet with a certain artificiality of manner +that was evidently a lingering trace of some previous formal attitude +they had assumed. Then without further speech they each selected a +chair and a position, having first shaken out their dresses, and gazed +silently at each other. + +It may be said briefly that sitting thus--in spite of their unnatural +attitude, or perhaps rather because of its suggestion of a photographic +pose--they made a striking picture, and strongly accented their separate +peculiarities. They were both pretty, but the taller girl, apparently +the elder, had an ideal refinement and regularity of feature which was +not only unlike Phemie, but gratuitously unlike the rest of her family, +and as hopelessly and even wantonly inconsistent with her surroundings +as was the elaborately ornamented accordion on the centre-table. She was +one of those occasional creatures, episodical in the South and West, +who might have been stamped with some vague ante-natal impression of a +mother given to over-sentimental contemplation of books of beauty and +albums rather than the family features; offspring of typical men and +women, and yet themselves incongruous to any known local or even general +type. The long swan-like neck, tendriled hair, swimming eyes, and small +patrician head, had never lived or moved before in Tasajara or the +West, nor perhaps even existed except as a personified “Constancy,” + “Meditation,” or the “Baron's Bride,” in mezzotint or copperplate. Even +the girl's common pink print dress with its high sleeves and shoulders +could not conventionalize these original outlines; and the hand that +rested stiffly on the back of her chair, albeit neither over-white nor +well kept, looked as if it had never held anything but a lyre, a rose, +or a good book. Even the few sprays of wild jessamine which she had +placed in the coils of her waving hair, although a local fashion, became +her as a special ornament. + +The two girls kept their constrained and artificially elaborated +attitude for a few moments, accompanied by the murmur of voices in the +kitchen, the monotonous drip of the eaves before the window, and the +far-off sough of the wind. Then Phemie suddenly broke into a constrained +giggle, which she however quickly smothered as she had the accordion, +and with the same look of mischievous distress. + +“I'm astonished at you, Phemie,” said Clementina in a deep contralto +voice, which seemed even deeper from its restraint. “You don't seem to +have any sense. Anybody'd think you never had seen a stranger before.” + +“Saw him before you did,” retorted Phemie pertly. But here a pushing +of chairs and shuffling of feet in the kitchen checked her. Clementina +fixed an abstracted gaze on the ceiling; Phemie regarded a leaf on +the window sill with photographic rigidity as the door opened to the +strangers and her father. + +The look of undisguised satisfaction which lit the young men's faces +relieved Mr. Harkutt's awkward introduction of any embarrassment, and +almost before Phemie was fully aware of it, she found herself talking +rapidly and in a high key with Mr. Lawrence Grant, the surveyor, while +her sister was equally, although more sedately, occupied with Mr. +Stephen Rice, his assistant. But the enthusiasm of the strangers, and +the desire to please and be pleased was so genuine and contagious that +presently the accordion was brought into requisition, and Mr. Grant +exhibited a surprising faculty of accompaniment to Mr. Rice's tenor, in +which both the girls joined. + +Then a game of cards with partners followed, into which the rival +parties introduced such delightful and shameless obviousness of +cheating, and displayed such fascinating and exaggerated partisanship +that the game resolved itself into a hilarious melee, to which peace was +restored only by an exhibition of tricks of legerdemain with the +cards by the young surveyor. All of which Mr. Harkutt supervised +patronizingly, with occasional fits of abstraction, from his +rocking-chair; and later Mrs. Harkutt from her kitchen threshold, wiping +her arms on her apron and commiseratingly observing that she “declared, +the young folks looked better already.” + +But it was here a more dangerous element of mystery and suggestion was +added by Mr. Lawrence Grant in the telling of Miss Euphemia's fortune +from the cards before him, and that young lady, pink with excitement, +fluttered her little hands not unlike timid birds over the cards to be +drawn, taking them from him with an audible twitter of anxiety and +great doubts whether a certain “fair-haired gentleman” was in hearts or +diamonds. + +“Here are two strangers,” said Mr. Grant, with extraordinary gravity +laying down the cards, “and here is a 'journey;' this is 'unexpected +news,' and this ten of diamonds means 'great wealth' to you, which you +see follows the advent of the two strangers and is some way connected +with them.” + +“Oh, indeed,” said the young lady with great pertness and a toss of her +head. “I suppose they've got the money with them.” + +“No, though it reaches you through them,” he answered with unflinching +solemnity. “Wait a bit, I have it! I see, I've made a mistake with this +card. It signifies a journey or a road. Queer! isn't it, Steve? It's THE +ROAD.” + +“It is queer,” said Rice with equal gravity; “but it's so. The road, +sure!” Nevertheless he looked up into the large eyes of Clementina with +a certain confidential air of truthfulness. + +“You see, ladies,” continued the surveyor, appealing to them with +unabashed rigidity of feature, “the cards don't lie! Luckily we are in +a position to corroborate them. The road in question is a secret known +only to us and some capitalists in San Francisco. In fact even THEY +don't know that it is feasible until WE report to them. But I don't mind +telling you now, as a slight return for your charming hospitality, that +the road is a RAILROAD from Oakland to Tasajara Creek of which we've +just made the preliminary survey. So you see what the cards mean is +this: You're not far from Tasajara Creek; in fact with a very little +expense your father could connect this stream with the creek, and have a +WATERWAY STRAIGHT TO THE RAILROAD TERMINUS. That's the wealth the cards +promise; and if your father knows how to take a hint he can make his +fortune!” + +It was impossible to say which was the most dominant in the face of the +speaker, the expression of assumed gravity or the twinkling of humor in +his eyes. The two girls with superior feminine perception divined +that there was much truth in what he said, albeit they didn't +entirely understand it, and what they did understand--except the man's +good-humored motive--was not particularly interesting. In fact they +were slightly disappointed. What had promised to be an audaciously +flirtatious declaration, and even a mischievous suggestion of marriage, +had resolved itself into something absurdly practical and business-like. + +Not so Mr. Harkutt. He quickly rose from his chair, and, leaning over +the table, with his eyes fixed on the card as if it really signified the +railroad, repeated quickly: “Railroad, eh! What's that? A railroad to +Tasajara Creek? Ye don't mean it!--That is--it ain't a SURE thing?” + +“Perfectly sure. The money is ready in San Francisco now, and by this +time next year--” + +“A railroad to Tasajara Creek!” continued Harkutt hurriedly. “What part +of it? Where?” + +“At the embarcadero naturally,” responded Grant. “There isn't but the +one place for the terminus. There's an old shanty there now belongs to +somebody.” + +“Why, pop!” said Phemie with sudden recollection, “ain't it 'Lige +Curtis's house? The land he offered”-- + +“Hush!” said her father. + +“You know, the one written in that bit of paper,” continued the innocent +Phemie. + +“Hush! will you? God A'mighty! are you goin' to mind me? Are you goin' +to keep up your jabber when I'm speakin' to the gentlemen? Is that your +manners? What next, I wonder!” + +The sudden and unexpected passion of the speaker, the incomprehensible +change in his voice, and the utterly disproportionate exaggeration of +his attitude towards his daughters, enforced an instantaneous silence. +The rain began to drip audibly at the window, the rush of the river +sounded distinctly from without, even the shaking of the front part +of the dwelling by the distant gale became perceptible. An angry flash +sprang for an instant to the young assistant's eye, but it met the +cautious glance of his friend, and together both discreetly sought the +table. The two girls alone remained white and collected. “Will you go on +with my fortune, Mr. Grant?” said Phemie quietly. + +A certain respect, perhaps not before observable, was suggested in the +surveyor's tone as he smilingly replied, “Certainly, I was only waiting +for you to show your confidence in me,” and took up the cards. + +Mr. Harkutt coughed. “It looks as if that blamed wind had blown suthin' +loose in the store,” he said affectedly. “I reckon I'll go and see.” He +hesitated a moment and then disappeared in the passage. Yet even here he +stood irresolute, looking at the closed door behind him, and passing his +hand over his still flushed face. Presently he slowly and abstractedly +ascended the flight of steps, entered the smaller passage that led to +the back door of the shop and opened it. + +He was at first a little startled at the halo of light from the +still glowing stove, which the greater obscurity of the long room had +heightened rather than diminished. Then he passed behind the counter, +but here the box of biscuits which occupied the centre and cast a shadow +over it compelled him to grope vaguely for what he sought. Then he +stopped suddenly, the paper he had just found dropping from his fingers, +and said sharply,-- + +“Who's there?” + +“Me, pop.” + +“John Milton?” + +“Yes, sir.” + +“What the devil are you doin' there, sir?” + +“Readin'.” + +It was true. The boy was half reclining in a most distorted posture on +two chairs, his figure in deep shadow, but his book was raised above his +head so as to catch the red glow of the stove on the printed page. +Even then his father's angry interruption scarcely diverted his +preoccupation; he raised himself in his chair mechanically, with his +eyes still fixed on his book. Seeing which his father quickly regained +the paper, but continued his objurgation. + +“How dare you? Clear off to bed, will you! Do you hear me? Pretty +goin's on,” he added as if to justify his indignation. “Sneakin' in here +and--and lyin' 'round at this time o' night! Why, if I hadn't come in +here to”-- + +“What?” asked the boy mechanically, catching vaguely at the unfinished +sentence and staring automatically at the paper in his father's hand. + +“Nothin', sir! Go to bed, I tell you! Will you? What are you standin' +gawpin' at?” continued Harkutt furiously. + +The boy regained his feet slowly and passed his father, but not without +noticing with the same listless yet ineffaceable perception of childhood +that he was hurriedly concealing the paper in his pocket. With the same +youthful inconsequence, wondering at this more than at the interruption, +which was no novel event, he went slowly out of the room. + +Harkutt listened to the retreating tread of his bare feet in the passage +and then carefully locked the door. Taking the paper from his pocket, +and borrowing the idea he had just objurgated in his son, he turned it +towards the dull glow of the stove and attempted to read it. But perhaps +lacking the patience as well as the keener sight of youth, he was forced +to relight the candle which he had left on the counter, and reperused +the paper. Yes! there was certainly no mistake! Here was the actual +description of the property which the surveyor had just indicated as +the future terminus of the new railroad, and here it was conveyed to +him--Daniel Harkutt! What was that? Somebody knocking? What did this +continual interruption mean? An odd superstitious fear now mingled with +his irritation. + +The sound appeared to come from the front shutters. It suddenly +occurred to him that the light might be visible through the crevices. He +hurriedly extinguished it, and went to the door. + +“Who's there?” + +“Me,--Peters. Want to speak to you.” + +Mr. Harkutt with evident reluctance drew the bolts. The wind, still +boisterous and besieging, did the rest, and precipitately propelled +Peters through the carefully guarded opening. But his surprise at +finding himself in the darkness seemed to forestall any explanation of +his visit. + +“Well,” he said with an odd mingling of reproach and suspicion. “I +declare I saw a light here just this minit! That's queer.” + +“Yes, I put it out just now. I was goin' away,” replied Harkutt, with +ill-disguised impatience. + +“What! been here ever since?” + +“No,” said Harkutt curtly. + +“Well, I want to speak to ye about 'Lige. Seein' the candle shinin' +through the chinks I thought he might be still with ye. If he ain't, it +looks bad. Light up, can't ye! I want to show you something.” + +There was a peremptoriness in his tone that struck Harkutt disagreeably, +but observing that he was carrying something in his hand, he somewhat +nervously re-lit the candle and faced him. Peters had a hat in his hand. +It was 'Lige's! + +“'Bout an hour after we fellers left here,” said Peters, “I heard the +rattlin' of hoofs on the road, and then it seemed to stop just by my +house. I went out with a lantern, and, darn my skin! if there warn't +'Lige's hoss, the saddle empty, and 'Lige nowhere! I looked round and +called him--but nothing were to be seen. Thinkin' he might have slipped +off--tho' ez a general rule drunken men don't, and he is a good rider--I +followed down the road, lookin' for him. I kept on follerin' it down to +your run, half a mile below.” + +“But,” began Harkutt, with a quick nervous laugh, “you don't reckon that +because of that he”-- + +“Hold on!” said Peters, grimly producing a revolver from his side-pocket +with the stock and barrel clogged and streaked with mud. “I found THAT +too,--and look! one barrel discharged! And,” he added hurriedly, as +approaching a climax, “look ye,--what I nat'rally took for wet from the +rain--inside that hat--was--blood!” + +“Nonsense!” said Harkutt, putting the hat aside with a new +fastidiousness. “You don't think”-- + +“I think,” said Peters, lowering his voice, “I think, by God! HE'S BIN +AND DONE IT!” + +“No!” + +“Sure! Oh, it's all very well for Billings and the rest of that +conceited crowd to sneer and sling their ideas of 'Lige gen'rally as +they did jess now here,--but I'd like 'em to see THAT.” It was difficult +to tell if Mr. Peters' triumphant delight in confuting his late +companions' theories had not even usurped in his mind the importance of +the news he brought, as it had of any human sympathy with it. + +“Look here,” returned Harkutt earnestly, yet with a singularly cleared +brow and a more natural manner. “You ought to take them things over to +Squire Kerby's, right off, and show 'em to him. You kin tell him how you +left 'Lige here, and say that I can prove by my daughter that he went +away about ten minutes after,--at least, not more than fifteen.” Like +all unprofessional humanity, Mr. Harkutt had an exaggerated conception +of the majesty of unimportant detail in the eye of the law. “I'd go with +you myself,” he added quickly, “but I've got company--strangers--here.” + +“How did he look when he left,--kinder wild?” suggested Peters. + +Harkutt had begun to feel the prudence of present reticence. “Well,” he +said, cautiously, “YOU saw how he looked.” + +“You wasn't rough with him?--that might have sent him off, you know,” + said Peters. + +“No,” said Harkutt, forgetting himself in a quick indignation, “no, +I not only treated him to another drink, but gave him”--he stopped +suddenly and awkwardly. + +“Eh?” said Peters. + +“Some good advice,--you know,” said Harkutt, hastily. “But come, you'd +better hurry over to the squire's. You know YOU'VE made the discovery; +YOUR evidence is important, and there's a law that obliges you to give +information at once.” + +The excitement of discovery and the triumph over his disputants being +spent, Peters, after the Sidon fashion, evidently did not relish +activity as a duty. “You know,” he said dubiously, “he mightn't be dead, +after all.” + +Harkutt became a trifle distant. “You know your own opinion of the +thing,” he replied after a pause. “You've circumstantial evidence +enough to see the squire, and set others to work on it; and,” he added +significantly, “you've done your share then, and can wipe your hands of +it, eh?” + +“That's so,” said Peters, eagerly. “I'll just run over to the squire.” + +“And on account of the women folks, you know, and the strangers here, +I'll say nothin' about it to-night,” added Harkutt. + +Peters nodded his head, and taking up the hat of the unfortunate Elijah +with a certain hesitation, as if he feared it had already lost its +dramatic intensity as a witness, disappeared into the storm and darkness +again. A lurking gust of wind lying in ambush somewhere seemed to swoop +down on him as if to prevent further indecision and whirl him away in +the direction of the justice's house; and Mr. Harkutt shut the door, +bolted it, and walked aimlessly back to the counter. + +From a slow, deliberate and cautious man, he seemed to have changed +within an hour to an irresolute and capricious one. He took the paper +from his pocket, and, unlocking the money drawer of his counter, folded +into a small compass that which now seemed to be the last testament of +Elijah Curtis, and placed it in a recess. Then he went to the back door +and paused, then returned, reopened the money drawer, took out the +paper and again buttoned it in his hip pocket, standing by the stove and +staring abstractedly at the dull glow of the fire. He even went through +the mechanical process of raking down the ashes,--solely to gain time +and as an excuse for delaying some other necessary action. + +He was thinking what he should do. Had the question of his right to +retain and make use of that paper been squarely offered to him an hour +ago, he would without doubt have decided that he ought not to keep it. +Even now, looking at it as an abstract principle, he did not deceive +himself in the least. But Nature has the reprehensible habit of +not presenting these questions to us squarely and fairly, and it is +remarkable that in most of our offending the abstract principle is never +the direct issue. Mr. Harkutt was conscious of having been unwillingly +led step by step into a difficult, not to say dishonest, situation, +and against his own seeking. He had never asked Elijah to sell him the +property; he had distinctly declined it; it had even been forced upon +him as security for the pittance he so freely gave him. This proved (to +himself) that he himself was honest; it was only the circumstances that +were queer. Of course if Elijah had lived, he, Harkutt, might have tried +to drive some bargain with him before the news of the railroad survey +came out--for THAT was only business. But now that Elijah was dead, who +would be a penny the worse or better but himself if he chose to consider +the whole thing as a lucky speculation, and his gift of five dollars as +the price he paid for it? Nobody could think that he had calculated upon +'Lige's suicide, any more than that the property would become valuable. +In fact if it came to that, if 'Lige had really contemplated killing +himself as a hopeless bankrupt after taking Harkutt's money as a loan, +it was a swindle on his--Harkutt's--good-nature. He worked himself into +a rage, which he felt was innately virtuous, at this tyranny of cold +principle over his own warm-hearted instincts, but if it came to the +LAW, he'd stand by law and not sentiment. He'd just let them--by +which he vaguely meant the world, Tasajara, and possibly his own +conscience--see that he wasn't a sentimental fool, and he'd freeze on to +that paper and that property! + +Only he ought to have spoken out before. He ought to have told the +surveyor at once that he owned the land. He ought to have said: “Why, +that's my land. I bought it of that drunken 'Lige Curtis for a song and +out of charity.” Yes, that was the only real trouble, and that came from +his own goodness, his own extravagant sense of justice and right,--his +own cursed good-nature. Yet, on second thoughts, he didn't know why he +was obliged to tell the surveyor. Time enough when the company wanted to +buy the land. As soon as it was settled that 'Lige was dead he'd openly +claim the property. But what if he wasn't dead? or they couldn't find +his body? or he had only disappeared? His plain, matter-of-fact face +contracted and darkened. Of course he couldn't ask the company to +wait for him to settle that point. He had the power to dispose of the +property under that paper, and--he should do it. If 'Lige turned up, +that was another matter, and he and 'Lige could arrange it between them. +He was quite firm here, and oddly enough quite relieved in getting rid +of what appeared only a simple question of detail. He never suspected +that he was contemplating the one irretrievable step, and summarily +dismissing the whole ethical question. + +He turned away from the stove, opened the back door, and walked with a +more determined step through the passage to the sitting-room. But here +he halted again on the threshold with a quick return of his old habits +of caution. The door was slightly open; apparently his angry outbreak of +an hour ago had not affected the spirits of his daughters, for he could +hear their hilarious voices mingling with those of the strangers. They +were evidently still fortune-telling, but this time it was the prophetic +and divining accents of Mr. Rice addressed to Clementina which were now +plainly audible. + +“I see heaps of money and a great many friends in the change that is +coming to you. Dear me! how many suitors! But I cannot promise you any +marriage as brilliant as my friend has just offered your sister. You may +be certain, however, that you'll have your own choice in this, as you +have in all things.” + +“Thank you for nothing,” said Clementina's voice. “But what are those +horrid black cards beside them?--that's trouble, I'm sure.” + +“Not for you, though near you. Perhaps some one you don't care much for +and don't understand will have a heap of trouble on your account,--yes, +on account of these very riches; see, he follows the ten of diamonds. It +may be a suitor; it may be some one now in the house, perhaps.” + +“He means himself, Miss Clementina,” struck in Grant's voice laughingly. + +“You're not listening, Miss Harkutt,” said Rice with half-serious +reproach. “Perhaps you know who it is?” + +But Miss Clementina's reply was simply a hurried recognition of her +father's pale face that here suddenly confronted her with the opening +door. + +“Why, it's father!” + + + + +CHAPER III. + + +In his strange mental condition even the change from Harkutt's feeble +candle to the outer darkness for a moment blinded Elijah Curtis, yet it +was part of that mental condition that he kept moving steadily forward +as in a trance or dream, though at first purposelessly. Then it occurred +to him that he was really looking for his horse, and that the animal was +not there. This for a moment confused and frightened him, first with the +supposition that he had not brought him at all, but that it was part of +his delusion; secondly, with the conviction that without his horse +he could neither proceed on the course suggested by Harkutt, nor take +another more vague one that was dimly in his mind. Yet in his hopeless +vacillation it seemed a relief that now neither was practicable, and +that he need do nothing. Perhaps it was a mysterious providence! + +The explanation, however, was much simpler. The horse had been taken by +the luxurious and indolent Billings unknown to his companions. Overcome +at the dreadful prospect of walking home in that weather, this perfect +product of lethargic Sidon had artfully allowed Peters and Wingate to +precede him, and, cautiously unloosing the tethered animal, had safely +passed them in the darkness. When he gained his own inclosure he had +lazily dismounted, and, with a sharp cut on the mustang's haunches, +sent him galloping back to rejoin his master, with what result has been +already told by the unsuspecting Peters in the preceding chapter. + +Yet no conception of this possibility entered 'Lige Curtis's alcoholized +consciousness, part of whose morbid phantasy it was to distort or +exaggerate all natural phenomena. He had a vague idea that he could not +go back to Harkutt's; already his visit seemed to have happened long, +long ago, and could not be repeated. He would walk on, enwrapped in +this uncompromising darkness which concealed everything, suggested +everything, and was responsible for everything. + +It was very dark, for the wind, having lulled, no longer thinned the +veil of clouds above, nor dissipated a steaming mist that appeared to +rise from the sodden plain. Yet he moved easily through the darkness, +seeming to be upheld by it as something tangible, upon which he might +lean. At times he thought he heard voices,--not a particular voice he +was thinking of, but strange voices--of course unreal to his present +fancy. And then he heard one of these voices, unlike any voice in +Sidon, and very faint and far off, asking if it “was anywhere near +Sidon?”--evidently some one lost like himself. He answered in a voice +that seemed quite as unreal and as faint, and turned in the direction +from which it came. There was a light moving like a will-o'-the-wisp far +before him, yet below him as if coming out of the depths of the earth. +It must be fancy, but he would see--ah! + +He had fallen violently forward, and at the same moment felt his +revolver leap from his breast pocket like a living thing, and an instant +after explode upon the rock where it struck, blindingly illuminating the +declivity down which he was plunging. The sulphurous sting of burning +powder was in his eyes and nose, yet in that swift revealing flash he +had time to clutch the stems of a trailing vine beside him, but not +to save his head from sharp contact with the same rocky ledge that had +caught his pistol. The pain and shock gave way to a sickening sense of +warmth at the roots of his hair. Giddy and faint, his fingers relaxed, +he felt himself sinking, with a languor that was half acquiescence, +down, down,--until, with another shock, a wild gasping for air, and a +swift reaction, he awoke in the cold, rushing water! + +Clear and perfectly conscious now, though frantically fighting for +existence with the current, he could dimly see a floating black object +shooting by the shore, at times striking the projections of the bank, +until in its recoil it swung half round and drifted broadside on towards +him. He was near enough to catch the frayed ends of a trailing rope that +fastened the structure, which seemed to be a few logs, together. With +a convulsive effort he at last gained a footing upon it, and then fell +fainting along its length. It was the raft which the surveyors from the +embarcadero had just abandoned. + +He did not know this, nor would he have thought it otherwise strange +that a raft might be a part of the drift of the overflow, even had he +been entirely conscious; but his senses were failing, though he was +still able to keep a secure position on the raft, and to vaguely believe +that it would carry him to some relief and succor. How long he lay +unconscious he never knew; in his after-recollections of that night, it +seemed to have been haunted by dreams of passing dim banks and strange +places; of a face and voice that had been pleasant to him; of a terror +coming upon him as he appeared to be nearing a place like that home that +he had abandoned in the lonely tules. He was roused at last by a violent +headache, as if his soft felt hat had been changed into a tightening +crown of iron. Lifting his hand to his head to tear off its covering, +he was surprised to find that he was wearing no hat, but that his matted +hair, stiffened and dried with blood and ooze, was clinging like a cap +to his skull in the hot morning sunlight. His eyelids and lashes were +glued together and weighted down by the same sanguinary plaster. He +crawled to the edge of his frail raft, not without difficulty, for it +oscillated and rocked strangely, and dipped his hand in the current. +When he had cleared his eyes he lifted them with a shock of amazement. +Creeks, banks, and plain had disappeared; he was alone on a bend of the +tossing bay of San Francisco! + +His first and only sense--cleared by fasting and quickened by +reaction--was one of infinite relief. He was not only free from the +vague terrors of the preceding days and nights, but his whole past +seemed to be lost and sunk forever in this illimitable expanse. The low +plain of Tasajara, with its steadfast monotony of light and shadow, +had sunk beneath another level, but one that glistened, sparkled, was +instinct with varying life, and moved and even danced below him. The low +palisades of regularly recurring tules that had fenced in, impeded, but +never relieved the blankness of his horizon, were forever swallowed +up behind him. All trail of past degradation, all record of pain and +suffering, all footprints of his wandering and misguided feet were +smoothly wiped out in that obliterating sea. He was physically helpless, +and he felt it; he was in danger, and he knew it,--but he was free! + +Happily there was but little wind and the sea was slight. The raft was +still intact so far as he could judge, but even in his ignorance he +knew it would scarcely stand the surges of the lower bay. Like most +Californians who had passed the straits of Carquinez at night in a +steamer, he did not recognize the locality, nor even the distant peak +of Tamalpais. There were a few dotting sails that seemed as remote, +as uncertain, and as unfriendly as sea birds. The raft was motionless, +almost as motionless as he was in his cramped limbs and sun-dried, +stiffened clothes. Too weak to keep an upright position, without mast, +stick, or oar to lift a signal above that vast expanse, it seemed +impossible for him to attract attention. Even his pistol was gone. + +Suddenly, in an attempt to raise himself, he was struck by a flash so +blinding that it seemed to pierce his aching eyes and brain and turned +him sick. It appeared to come from a crevice between the logs at the +further end of the raft. Creeping painfully towards it he saw that it +was a triangular slip of highly polished metal that he had hitherto +overlooked. He did not know that it was a “flashing” mirror used +in topographical observation, which had slipped from the surveyors' +instruments when they abandoned the raft, but his excited faculties +instinctively detected its value to him. He lifted it, and, facing the +sun, raised it at different angles with his feeble arms. But the effort +was too much for him; the raft presently seemed to be whirling with his +movement, and he again fell. + +***** + +“Ahoy there!” + +The voice was close upon--in his very ears. He opened his eyes. The sea +still stretched emptily before him; the dotting sails still unchanged +and distant. Yet a strange shadow lay upon the raft. He turned his head +with difficulty. On the opposite side--so close upon him as to be almost +over his head--the great white sails of a schooner hovered above him +like the wings of some enormous sea bird. Then a heavy boom swung across +the raft, so low that it would have swept him away had he been in an +upright position; the sides of the vessel grazed the raft and she fell +slowly off. A terrible fear of abandonment took possession of him; he +tried to speak, but could not. The vessel moved further away, but the +raft followed! He could see now it was being held by a boat-hook,--could +see the odd, eager curiosity on two faces that were raised above +the taffrail, and with that sense of relief his eyes again closed in +unconsciousness. + +A feeling of chilliness, followed by a grateful sensation of drawing +closer under some warm covering, a stinging taste in his mouth of fiery +liquor and the aromatic steam of hot coffee, were his first returning +sensations. His head and neck were swathed in coarse bandages, and his +skin stiffened and smarting with soap. He was lying in a rude berth +under a half-deck from which he could see the sky and the bellying sail, +and presently a bearded face filled with rough and practical concern +that peered down upon him. + +“Hulloo! comin' round, eh? Hold on!” The next moment the stranger had +leaped down beside Elijah. He seemed to be an odd mingling of the sailor +and ranchero with the shrewdness of a seaport trader. + +“Hulloo, boss! What was it? A free fight, or a wash-out?” + +“A wash-out!”* Elijah grasped the idea as an inspiration. Yes, his cabin +had been inundated, he had taken to a raft, had been knocked off twice +or thrice, and had lost everything--even his revolver! + + * A mining term for the temporary inundation of a claim by + flood; also used for the sterilizing effect of flood on + fertile soil. + +The man looked relieved. “Then it ain't a free fight, nor havin' your +crust busted and bein' robbed by beach combers, eh?” + +“No,” said Elijah, with his first faint smile. + +“Glad o' that,” said the man bluntly. “Then thar ain't no police +business to tie up to in 'Frisco? We were stuck thar a week once, just +because we chanced to pick up a feller who'd been found gagged and then +thrown overboard by wharf thieves. Had to dance attendance at court +thar and lost our trip.” He stopped and looked half-pathetically at the +prostrate Elijah. “Look yer! ye ain't just dyin' to go ashore NOW and +see yer friends and send messages, are ye?” + +Elijah shuddered inwardly, but outwardly smiled faintly as he replied, +“No!” + +“And the tide and wind jest servin' us now, ye wouldn't mind keepin' +straight on with us this trip?” + +“Where to?” asked Elijah. + +“Santy Barbara.” + +“No,” said Elijah, after a moment's pause. “I'll go with you.” + +The man leaped to his feet, lifted his head above the upper deck, +shouted “Let her go free, Jerry!” and then turned gratefully to his +passenger. “Look yer! A wash-out is a wash-out, I reckon, put it any +way you like; it don't put anything back into the land, or anything back +into your pocket afterwards, eh? No! And yer well out of it, pardner! +Now there's a right smart chance for locatin' jest back of Santy +Barbara, where thar ain't no God-forsaken tules to overflow; and ez far +ez the land and licker lies ye 'needn't take any water in yours' ef ye +don't want it. You kin start fresh thar, pardner, and brail up. What's +the matter with you, old man, is only fever 'n' agur ketched in them +tules! I kin see it in your eyes. Now you hold on whar you be till I go +forrard and see everything taut, and then I'll come back and we'll have +a talk.” + +And they did. The result of which was that at the end of a week's +tossing and seasickness, Elijah Curtis was landed at Santa Barbara, +pale, thin, but self-contained and resolute. And having found favor +in the eyes of the skipper of the Kitty Hawk, general trader, +lumber-dealer, and ranch-man, a week later he was located on the +skipper's land and installed in the skipper's service. And from that +day, for five years Sidon and Tasajara knew him no more. + + + + +CHAPER IV. + + +It was part of the functions of John Milton Harkutt to take down the +early morning shutters and sweep out the store for his father each day +before going to school. It was a peculiarity of this performance that he +was apt to linger over it, partly from the fact that it put off the +evil hour of lessons, partly that he imparted into the process a purely +imaginative and romantic element gathered from his latest novel-reading. +In this he was usually assisted by one or two school-fellows on their +way to school, who always envied him his superior menial occupation. To +go to school, it was felt, was a common calamity of boyhood that called +into play only the simplest forms of evasion, whereas to take down +actual shutters in a bona fide store, and wield a real broom that raised +a palpable cloud of dust, was something that really taxed the noblest +exertions. And it was the morning after the arrival of the strangers +that John Milton stood on the veranda of the store ostentatiously +examining the horizon, with his hand shading his eyes, as one of his +companions appeared. + +“Hollo, Milt! wot yer doin'?” + +John Milton started dramatically, and then violently dashed at one of +the shutters and began to detach it. “Ha!” he said hoarsely. “Clear the +ship for action! Open the ports! On deck there! Steady, you lubbers!” + In an instant his enthusiastic school-fellow was at his side attacking +another shutter. “A long, low schooner bearing down upon us! Lively, +lads, lively!” continued John Milton, desisting a moment to take another +dramatic look at the distant plain. “How does she head now?” he demanded +fiercely. + +“Sou' by sou'east, sir,” responded the other boy, frantically dancing +before the window. “But she'll weather it.” + +They each then wrested another shutter away, violently depositing them, +as they ran to and fro, in a rack at the corner of the veranda. Added +to an extraordinary and unnecessary clattering with their feet, they +accompanied their movements with a singular hissing sound, supposed to +indicate in one breath the fury of the elements, the bustle of the eager +crew, and the wild excitement of the coming conflict. When the last +shutter was cleared away, John Milton, with the cry “Man the starboard +guns!” dashed into the store, whose floor was marked by the muddy +footprints of yesterday's buyers, seized a broom and began to sweep +violently. A cloud of dust arose, into which his companion at once +precipitated himself with another broom and a loud BANG! to indicate the +somewhat belated sound of cannon. For a few seconds the two boys plied +their brooms desperately in that stifling atmosphere, accompanying each +long sweep and puff of dust out of the open door with the report of +explosions and loud HA'S! of defiance, until not only the store, but the +veranda was obscured with a cloud which the morning sun struggled vainly +to pierce. In the midst of this tumult and dusty confusion--happily +unheard and unsuspected in the secluded domestic interior of the +building--a shrill little voice arose from the road. + +“Think you're mighty smart, don't ye?” + +The two naval heroes stopped in their imaginary fury, and, as the dust +of conflict cleared away, recognized little Johnny Peters gazing at them +with mingled inquisitiveness and envy. + +“Guess ye don't know what happened down the run last night,” he +continued impatiently. “'Lige Curtis got killed, or killed hisself! +Blood all over the rock down thar. Seed it, myseff. Dad picked up his +six-shooter,--one barrel gone off. My dad was the first to find it out, +and he's bin to Squire Kerby tellin' him.” + +The two companions, albeit burning with curiosity, affected indifference +and pre-knowledge. + +“Dad sez your father druv 'Lige outer the store lass night! Dad sez your +father's 'sponsible. Dad sez your father ez good ez killed him. Dad sez +the squire'll set the constable on your father. Yah!” But here the small +insulter incontinently fled, pursued by both the boys. Nevertheless, +when he had made good his escape, John Milton showed neither a +disposition to take up his former nautical role, nor to follow his +companion to visit the sanguinary scene of Elijah's disappearance. He +walked slowly back to the store and continued his work of sweeping and +putting in order with an abstracted regularity, and no trace of his +former exuberant spirits. + +The first one of those instinctive fears which are common to imaginative +children, and often assume the functions of premonition, had taken +possession of him. The oddity of his father's manner the evening before, +which had only half consciously made its indelible impression on his +sensitive fancy, had recurred to him with Johnny Peters's speech. He had +no idea of literally accepting the boy's charges; he scarcely understood +their gravity; but he had a miserable feeling that his father's anger +and excitement last night was because he had been discovered hunting in +the dark for that paper of 'Lige Curtis's. It WAS 'Lige Curtis's paper, +for he had seen it lying there. A sudden dreadful conviction came over +him that he must never, never let any one know that he had seen his +father take up that paper; that he must never admit it, even to HIM. It +was not the boy's first knowledge of that attitude of hypocrisy which +the grownup world assumes towards childhood, and in which the innocent +victims eventually acquiesce with a Machiavellian subtlety that at last +avenges them,--but it was his first knowledge that that hypocrisy might +not be so innocent. His father had concealed something from him, because +it was not right. + +But if childhood does not forget, it seldom broods and is not above +being diverted. And the two surveyors--of whose heroic advent in a raft +John Milton had only heard that morning with their traveled ways, their +strange instruments and stranger talk, captured his fancy. Kept in +the background by his sisters when visitors came, as an unpresentable +feature in the household, he however managed to linger near the +strangers when, in company with Euphemia and Clementina, after breakfast +they strolled beneath the sparkling sunlight in the rude garden +inclosure along the sloping banks of the creek. It was with the average +brother's supreme contempt that he listened to his sisters' “practicin'” + upon the goodness of these superior beings; it was with an exceptional +pity that he regarded the evident admiration of the strangers in return. +He felt that in the case of Euphemia, who sometimes evinced a laudable +curiosity in his pleasures, and a flattering ignorance of his reading, +this might be pardonable; but what any one could find in the useless +statuesque Clementina passed his comprehension. Could they not see at +once that she was “just that kind of person” who would lie abed in +the morning, pretending she was sick, in order to make Phemie do the +housework, and make him, John Milton, clean her boots and fetch things +for her? Was it not perfectly plain to them that her present sickening +politeness was solely with a view to extract from them caramels, +rock-candy, and gum drops, which she would meanly keep herself, and +perhaps some “buggy-riding” later? Alas, John Milton, it was not! For +standing there with her tall, perfectly-proportioned figure outlined +against a willow, an elastic branch of which she had drawn down by one +curved arm above her head, and on which she leaned--as everybody leaned +against something in Sidon--the two young men saw only a straying +goddess in a glorified rosebud print. Whether the clearly-cut profile +presented to Rice, or the full face that captivated Grant, each +suggested possibilities of position, pride, poetry, and passion that +astonished while it fascinated them. By one of those instincts known +only to the freemasonry of the sex, Euphemia lent herself to this +advertisement of her sister's charms by subtle comparison with her own +prettinesses, and thus combined against their common enemy, man. + +“Clementina certainly is perfect, to keep her supremacy over that pretty +little sister,” thought Rice. + +“What a fascinating little creature to hold her own against that tall, +handsome girl,” thought Grant. + +“They're takin' stock o' them two fellers so as to gabble about 'em when +their backs is turned,” said John Milton gloomily to himself, with a +dismal premonition of the prolonged tea-table gossip he would be obliged +to listen to later. + +“We were very fortunate to make a landing at all last night,” said Rice, +looking down upon the still swollen current, and then raising his eyes +to Clementina. “Still more fortunate to make it where we did. I suppose +it must have been the singing that lured us on to the bank,--as, +you know, the sirens used to lure people,--only with less disastrous +consequences.” + +John Milton here detected three glaring errors; first, it was NOT +Clementina who had sung; secondly, he knew that neither of his sisters +had ever read anything about sirens, but he had; thirdly, that the +young surveyor was glaringly ignorant of local phenomena and should be +corrected. + +“It's nothin' but the current,” he said, with that feverish youthful +haste that betrays a fatal experience of impending interruption. “It's +always leavin' drift and rubbish from everywhere here. There ain't +anythin' that's chucked into the creek above that ain't bound to fetch +up on this bank. Why, there was two sheep and a dead hoss here long +afore YOU thought of coming!” He did not understand why this should +provoke the laughter that it did, and to prove that he had no ulterior +meaning, added with pointed politeness, “So IT ISN'T YOUR FAULT, you +know--YOU couldn't help it;” supplementing this with the distinct +courtesy, “otherwise you wouldn't have come.” + +“But it would seem that your visitors are not all as accidental as your +brother would imply, and one, at least, seems to have been expected last +evening. You remember you thought we were a Mr. Parmlee,” said Mr. Rice +looking at Clementina. + +It would be strange indeed, he thought, if the beautiful girl were not +surrounded by admirers. But without a trace of self-consciousness, or +any change in her reposeful face, she indicated her sister with a slight +gesture, and said: “One of Phemie's friends. He gave her the accordion. +She's very popular.” + +“And I suppose YOU are very hard to please?” he said with a tentative +smile. + +She looked at him with her large, clear eyes, and that absence of +coquetry or changed expression in her beautiful face which might have +stood for indifference or dignity as she said: “I don't know. I am +waiting to see.” + +But here Miss Phemie broke in saucily with the assertion that Mr. +Parmlee might not have a railroad in his pocket, but that at least he +didn't have to wait for the Flood to call on young ladies, nor did he +usually come in pairs, for all the world as if he had been let out of +Noah's Ark, but on horseback and like a Christian by the front door. +All this provokingly and bewitchingly delivered, however, and with a +simulated exaggeration that was incited apparently more by Mr. Lawrence +Grant's evident enjoyment of it, than by any desire to defend the absent +Parmlee. + +“But where is the front door?” asked Grant laughingly. + +The young girl pointed to a narrow zigzag path that ran up the bank +beside the house until it stopped at a small picketed gate on the level +of the road and store. + +“But I should think it would be easier to have a door and private +passage through the store,” said Grant. + +“WE don't,” said the young lady pertly, “we have nothing to do with the +store. I go in to see paw sometimes when he's shutting up and there's +nobody there, but Clem has never set foot in it since we came. It's bad +enough to have it and the lazy loafers that hang around it as near to +us as they are; but paw built the house in such a fashion that we ain't +troubled by their noise, and we might be t'other side of the creek as +far as our having to come across them. And because paw has to sell pork +and flour, we haven't any call to go there and watch him do it.” + +The two men glanced at each other. This reserve and fastidiousness were +something rare in a pioneer community. Harkutt's manners certainly did +not indicate that he was troubled by this sensitiveness; it must have +been some individual temperament of his daughters. Stephen felt his +respect increase for the goddess-like Clementina; Mr. Lawrence Grant +looked at Miss Phemie with a critical smile. + +“But you must be very limited in your company,” he said; “or is Mr. +Parmlee not a customer of your father's?” + +“As Mr. Parmlee does not come to us through the store, and don't talk +trade to me, we don't know,” responded Phemie saucily. + +“But have you no lady acquaintances--neighbors--who also avoid the store +and enter only at the straight and narrow gate up there?” continued +Grant mischievously, regardless of the uneasy, half-reproachful glances +of Rice. + +But Phemie, triumphantly oblivious of any satire, answered promptly: +“If you mean the Pike County Billingses who live on the turnpike road as +much as they do off it, or the six daughters of that Georgia Cracker who +wear men's boots and hats, we haven't.” + +“And Mr. Parmlee, your admirer?” suggested Rice. “Hasn't he a mother or +sisters here?” + +“Yes, but they don't want to know us, and have never called here.” + +The embarrassment of the questioner at this unexpected reply, which came +from the faultless lips of Clementina, was somewhat mitigated by the +fact that the young woman's voice and manner betrayed neither annoyance +nor anger. + +Here, however, Harkutt appeared from the house with the information that +he had secured two horses for the surveyors and their instruments, and +that he would himself accompany them a part of the way on their +return to Tasajara Creek, to show them the road. His usual listless +deliberation had given way to a certain nervous but uneasy energy. If +they started at once it would be better, before the loungers gathered at +the store and confused them with lazy counsel and languid curiosity. He +took it for granted that Mr. Grant wished the railroad survey to be +a secret, and he had said nothing, as they would be pestered with +questions. “Sidon was inquisitive--and old-fashioned.” The benefit its +inhabitants would get from the railroad would not prevent them from +throwing obstacles in its way at first; he remembered the way they +had acted with a proposed wagon road,--in fact, an idea of his own, +something like the railroad; he knew them thoroughly, and if he might +advise them, it would be to say nothing here until the thing was +settled. + +“He evidently does not intend to give us a chance,” said Grant +good-humoredly to his companion, as they turned to prepare for their +journey; “we are to be conducted in silence to the outskirts of the town +like horse-thieves.” + +“But you gave him the tip for himself,” said Rice reproachfully; “you +cannot blame him for wanting to keep it.” + +“I gave it to him in trust for his two incredible daughters,” said Grant +with a grimace. “But, hang it! if I don't believe the fellow has more +concern in it than I imagined.” + +“But isn't she perfect?” said Rice, with charming abstraction. + +“Who?” + +“Clementina, and so unlike her father.” + +“Discomposingly so,” said Grant quietly. “One feels in calling her 'Miss +Harkutt' as if one were touching upon a manifest indiscretion. But here +comes John Milton. Well, my lad, what can I do for you?” + +The boy, who had been regarding them from a distance with wistful and +curious eyes as they replaced their instruments for the journey, had +gradually approached them. After a moment's timid hesitation he said, +looking at Grant: “You don't know anybody in this kind o' business,” + pointing to the instruments, “who'd like a boy, about my size?” + +“I'm afraid not, J. M.,” said Grant, cheerfully, without suspending his +operation. “The fact is, you see, it's not exactly the kind of work for +a boy of your size.” + +John Milton was silent for a moment, shifting himself slowly from one +leg to another as he watched the surveyor. After a pause he said, “There +don't seem to be much show in this world for boys o' my size. There +don't seem to be much use for 'em any way.” This not bitterly, but +philosophically, and even politely, as if to relieve Grant's rejection +of any incivility. + +“Really you quite pain me, John Milton,” said Grant, looking up as he +tightened a buckle. “I never thought of it before, but you're right.” + +“Now,” continued the boy slowly, “with girls it's just different. Girls +of my size everybody does things for. There's Clemmy,--she's only two +years older nor me, and don't know half that I do, and yet she kin lie +about all day, and hasn't to get up to breakfast. And Phemie,--who's +jest the same age, size, and weight as me,--maw and paw lets her do +everything she wants to. And so does everybody. And so would you.” + +“But you surely don't want to be like a girl?” said Grant, smiling. + +It here occurred to John Milton's youthful but not illogical mind that +this was not argument, and he turned disappointedly away. As his father +was to accompany the strangers a short distance, he, John Milton, was +to-day left in charge of the store. That duty, however, did not involve +any pecuniary transactions--the taking of money or making of change but +a simple record on a slate behind the counter of articles selected by +those customers whose urgent needs could not wait Mr. Harkutt's return. +Perhaps on account of this degrading limitation, perhaps for other +reasons, the boy did not fancy the task imposed upon him. The presence +of the idle loungers who usually occupied the armchairs near the stove, +and occasionally the counter, dissipated any romance with which he +might have invested his charge; he wearied of the monotony of their dull +gossip, but mostly he loathed the attitude of hypercritical counsel and +instruction which they saw fit to assume towards him at such moments. +“Instead o' lazin' thar behind the counter when your father ain't here +to see ye, John,” remarked Billings from the depths of his armchair a +few moments after Harkutt had ridden away, “ye orter be bustlin' round, +dustin' the shelves. Ye'll never come to anythin' when you're a man ef +you go on like that. Ye never heard o' Harry Clay--that was called 'the +Mill-boy of the Slashes'--sittin' down doin' nothin' when he was a boy.” + +“I never heard of him loafin' round in a grocery store when he was +growned up either,” responded John Milton, darkly. + +“P'r'aps you reckon he got to be a great man by standin' up sassin' his +father's customers,” said Peters, angrily. “I kin tell ye, young man, if +you was my boy”-- + +“If I was YOUR boy, I'd be playin' hookey instead of goin' to school, +jest as your boy is doin' now,” interrupted John Milton, with a literal +recollection of his quarrel and pursuit of the youth in question that +morning. + +An undignified silence on the part of the adults followed, the usual +sequel to those passages; Sidon generally declining to expose itself to +the youthful Harkutt's terrible accuracy of statement. + +The men resumed their previous lazy gossip about Elijah Curtis's +disappearance, with occasional mysterious allusions in a lower tone, +which the boy instinctively knew referred to his father, but which +either from indolence or caution, the two great conservators of Sidon, +were never formulated distinctly enough for his relentless interference. +The morning sunshine was slowly thickening again in an indolent mist +that seemed to rise from the saturated plain. A stray lounger shuffled +over from the blacksmith's shop to the store to take the place of +another idler who had joined an equally lethargic circle around +the slumbering forge. A dull intermittent sound of hammering came +occasionally from the wheelwright's shed--at sufficiently protracted +intervals to indicate the enfeebled progress of Sidon's vehicular +repair. A yellow dog left his patch of sunlight on the opposite side +of the way and walked deliberately over to what appeared to be more +luxurious quarters on the veranda; was manifestly disappointed but not +equal to the exertion of returning, and sank down with blinking eyes and +a regretful sigh without going further. A procession of six ducks got +well into a line for a laborious “march past” the store, but fell out +at the first mud puddle and gave it up. A highly nervous but respectable +hen, who had ventured upon the veranda evidently against her better +instincts, walked painfully on tiptoe to the door, apparently was met +by language which no mother of a family could listen to, and retired in +strong hysterics. A little later the sun became again obscured, the +wind arose, rain fell, and the opportunity for going indoors and doing +nothing was once more availed of by all Sidon. + +It was afternoon when Mr. Harkutt returned. He did not go into the +store, but entered the dwelling from the little picket-gate and steep +path. There he called a family council in the sitting-room as being +the most reserved and secure. Mrs. Harkutt, sympathizing and cheerfully +ready for any affliction, still holding a dust-cloth in her hand, took +her seat by the window, with Phemie breathless and sparkling at one side +of her, while Clementina, all faultless profile and repose, sat on the +other. To Mrs. Harkutt's motherly concern at John Milton's absence, it +was pointed out that he was wanted at the store,--was a mere boy anyhow, +and could not be trusted. Mr. Harkutt, a little ruddier from weather, +excitement, and the unusual fortification of a glass of liquor, a little +more rugged in the lines of his face, and with an odd ring of defiant +self-assertion in his voice, stood before them in the centre of the +room. + +He wanted them to listen to him carefully, to remember what he said, for +it was important; it might be a matter of “lawing” hereafter,--and he +couldn't be always repeating it to them,--he would have enough to do. +There was a heap of it that, as women-folks, they couldn't understand, +and weren't expected to. But he'd got it all clear now, and what he was +saying was gospel. He'd always known to himself that the only good that +could ever come to Sidon would come by railroad. When those fools talked +wagon road he had said nothing, but he had his own ideas; he had worked +for that idea without saying anything to anybody; that idea was to get +possession of all the land along the embarcadero, which nobody +cared for, and 'Lige Curtis was ready to sell for a song. Well, now, +considering what had happened, he didn't mind telling them that he had +been gradually getting possession of it, little by little, paying 'Lige +Curtis in advances and installments, until it was his own! They had +heard what those surveyors said; how that it was the only fit terminus +for the railroad. Well, that land, and that water-front, and the +terminus were HIS! And all from his own foresight and prudence. + +It is needless to say that this was not the truth. But it is necessary +to point out that this fabrication was the result of his last night's +cogitations and his morning's experience. He had resolved upon a bold +course. He had reflected that his neighbors would be more ready to +believe in and to respect a hard, mercenary, and speculative foresight +in his taking advantage of 'Lige's necessities than if he had--as was +the case--merely benefited by them through an accident of circumstance +and good humor. In the latter case he would be envied and hated; in +the former he would be envied and feared. By logic of circumstance +the greater wrong seemed to be less obviously offensive than the minor +fault. It was true that it involved the doing of something he had not +contemplated, and the certainty of exposure if 'Lige ever returned, +but he was nevertheless resolved. The step from passive to active +wrong-doing is not only easy, it is often a relief; it is that return to +sincerity which we all require. Howbeit, it gave that ring of assertion +to Daniel Harkutt's voice already noted, which most women like, and +only men are prone to suspect or challenge. The incompleteness of his +statement was, for the same reason, overlooked by his feminine auditors. + +“And what is it worth, dad?” asked Phemie eagerly. + +“Grant says I oughter get at least ten thousand dollars for the site of +the terminus from the company, but of course I shall hold on to the rest +of the land. The moment they get the terminus there, and the depot and +wharf built, I can get my own price and buyers for the rest. Before the +year is out Grant thinks it ought to go up ten per cent on the value of +the terminus, and that a hundred thousand.” + +“Oh, dad!” gasped Phemie, frantically clasping her knees with both hands +as if to perfectly assure herself of this good fortune. + +Mrs. Harkutt audibly murmured “Poor dear Dan'l,” and stood, as it were, +sympathetically by, ready to commiserate the pains and anxieties of +wealth as she had those of poverty. Clementina alone remained silent, +clear-eyed, and unchanged. + +“And to think it all came through THEM!” continued Phemie. “I always had +an idea that Mr. Grant was smart, dad. And it was real kind of him to +tell you.” + +“I reckon father could have found it out without them. I don't know why +we should be beholden to them particularly. I hope he isn't expected to +let them think that he is bound to consider them our intimate friends +just because they happened to drop in here at a time when his plans have +succeeded.” + +The voice was Clementina's, unexpected but quiet, unemotional and +convincing. “It seemed,” as Mrs. Harkutt afterwards said, “as if the +child had already touched that hundred thousand.” Phemie reddened with a +sense of convicted youthful extravagance. + +“You needn't fear for me,” said Harkutt, responding to Clementina's +voice as if it were an echo of his own, and instinctively recognizing +an unexpected ally. “I've got my own ideas of this thing, and what's +to come of it. I've got my own ideas of openin' up that property and +showin' its resources. I'm goin' to run it my own way. I'm goin' to have +a town along the embarcadero that'll lay over any town in Contra Costa. +I'm goin' to have the court-house and county seat there, and a couple +of hotels as good as any in the Bay. I'm goin' to build that wagon road +through here that those lazy louts slipped up on, and carry it clear +over to Five Mile Corner, and open up the whole Tasajara Plain!” + +They had never seen him look so strong, so resolute, so intelligent and +handsome. A dimly prophetic vision of him in a black broadcloth suit and +gold watch-chain addressing a vague multitude, as she remembered to +have seen the Hon. Stanley Riggs of Alasco at the “Great Barbecue,” + rose before Phemie's blue enraptured eyes. With the exception of Mrs. +Harkutt,--equal to any possibilities on the part of her husband,--they +had honestly never expected it of him. They were pleased with their +father's attitude in prosperity, and felt that perhaps he was not +unworthy of being proud of them hereafter. + +“But we're goin' to leave Sidon,” said Phemie, “ain't we, paw?” + +“As soon as I can run up a new house at the embarcadero,” said Harkutt +peevishly, “and that's got to be done mighty quick if I want to make a +show to the company and be in possession.” + +“And that's easier for you to do, dear, now that 'Lige's disappeared,” + said Mrs. Harkutt consolingly. + +“What do ye mean by that? What the devil are ye talkin' about?” demanded +Harkutt suddenly with unexpected exasperation. + +“I mean that that drunken 'Lige would be mighty poor company for the +girls if he was our only neighbor,” returned Mrs. Harkutt submissively. + +Harkutt, after a fixed survey of his wife, appeared mollified. The two +girls, who were mindful of his previous outburst the evening before, +exchanged glances which implied that his manners needed correction for +prosperity. + +“You'll want a heap o' money to build there, Dan'l,” said Mrs. Harkutt +in plaintive diffidence. + +“Yes! Yes!” said Harkutt impatiently. “I've kalkilated all that, and +I'm goin' to 'Frisco to-morrow to raise it and put this bill of sale on +record.” He half drew Elijah Curtis's paper from his pocket, but paused +and put it back again. + +“Then THAT WAS the paper, dad,” said Phemie triumphantly. + +“Yes,” said her father, regarding her fixedly, “and you know now why I +didn't want anything said about it last night--nor even now.” + +“And 'Lige had just given it to you! Wasn't it lucky?” + +“He HADN'T just given it to me!” said her father with another unexpected +outburst. “God Amighty! ain't I tellin' you all the time it was an old +matter! But you jabber, jabber all the time and don't listen! Where's +John Milton?” It had occurred to him that the boy might have read the +paper--as his sister had--while it lay unheeded on the counter. + +“In the store,--you know. You said he wasn't to hear anything of this, +but I'll call him,” said Mrs. Harkutt, rising eagerly. + +“Never mind,” returned her husband, stopping her reflectively, “best +leave it as it is; if it's necessary I'll tell him. But don't any of you +say anything, do you hear?” + +Nevertheless a few hours later, when the store was momentarily free of +loungers, and Harkutt had relieved his son of his monotonous charge, he +made a pretense, while abstractedly listening to an account of the boy's +stewardship, to look through a drawer as if in search of some missing +article. + +“You didn't see anything of a paper I left somewhere about here +yesterday?” he asked carelessly. + +“The one you picked up when you came in last night?” said the boy with +discomposing directness. + +Harkutt flushed slightly and drew his breath between his set teeth. Not +only could he place no reliance upon ordinary youthful inattention, +but he must be on his guard against his own son as from a spy! But he +restrained himself. + +“I don't remember,” he said with affected deliberation, “what it was I +picked up. Do you? Did you read it?” + +The meaning of his father's attitude instinctively flashed upon the boy. +He HAD read the paper, but he answered, as he had already determined, +“No.” + +An inspiration seized Mr. Harkutt. He drew 'Lige Curtis's bill of sale +from his pocket, and opening it before John Milton said, “Was it that?” + +“I don't know,” said the boy. “I couldn't tell.” He walked away with +affected carelessness, already with a sense of playing some part like +his father, and pretended to whistle for the dog across the street. +Harkutt coughed ostentatiously, put the paper back in his pocket, +set one or two boxes straight on the counter, locked the drawer, and +disappeared into the back passage. John Milton remained standing in +the doorway looking vacantly out. But he did not see the dull familiar +prospect beyond. He only saw the paper his father had opened and +unfolded before him. It was the same paper he had read last night. But +there were three words written there THAT WERE NOT THERE BEFORE! After +the words “Value received” there had been a blank. He remembered that +distinctly. This was filled in by the words, “Five hundred dollars.” The +handwriting did not seem like his father's, nor yet entirely like 'Lige +Curtis's. What it meant he did not know,--he would not try to think. He +should forget it, as he had tried to forget what had happened before, +and he should never tell it to any one! + +There was a feverish gayety in his sisters' manner that afternoon that +he did not understand; short colloquies that were suspended with ill +concealed impatience when he came near them, and resumed when he +was sent, on equally palpable excuses, out of the room. He had been +accustomed to this exclusion when there were strangers present, but it +seemed odd to him now, when the conversation did not even turn upon the +two superior visitors who had been there, and of whom he confidently +expected they would talk. Such fragments as he overheard were always in +the future tense, and referred to what they intended to do. His +mother, whose affection for him had always been shown in excessive +and depressing commiseration of him in even his lightest moments, that +afternoon seemed to add a prophetic and Cassandra-like sympathy for some +vague future of his that would require all her ministration. “You won't +need them new boots, Milty dear, in the changes that may be comin' to +ye; so don't be bothering your poor father in his worriments over his +new plans.” + +“What new plans, mommer?” asked the boy abruptly. “Are we goin' away +from here?” + +“Hush, dear, and don't ask questions that's enough for grown folks to +worry over, let alone a boy like you. Now be good,”--a quality in Mrs. +Harkutt's mind synonymous with ceasing from troubling,--“and after +supper, while I'm in the parlor with your father and sisters, you kin +sit up here by the fire with your book.” + +“But,” persisted the boy in a flash of inspiration, “is popper goin' to +join in business with those surveyors,--a surveyin'?” + +“No, child, what an idea! Run away there,--and mind!--don't bother your +father.” + +Nevertheless John Milton's inspiration had taken a new and +characteristic shape. All this, he reflected, had happened since the +surveyors came--since they had weakly displayed such a shameless and +unmanly interest in his sisters! It could have but one meaning. He hung +around the sitting-room and passages until he eventually encountered +Clementina, taller than ever, evidently wearing a guilty satisfaction +in her face, engrafted upon that habitual bearing of hers which he had +always recognized as belonging to a vague but objectionable race whose +members were individually known to him as “a proudy.” + +“Which of those two surveyor fellows is it, Clemmy?” he said with an +engaging smile, yet halting at a strategic distance. + +“Is what?” + +“Wot you're goin' to marry.” + +“Idiot!” + +“That ain't tellin' which,” responded the boy darkly. + +Clementina swept by him into the sitting-room, where he heard her +declare that “really that boy was getting too low and vulgar +for anything.” Yet it struck him, that being pressed for further +explanation, she did NOT specify why. This was “girls' meanness!” + +Howbeit he lingered late in the road that evening, hearing his father +discuss with the search-party that had followed the banks of the creek, +vainly looking for further traces of the missing 'Lige, the possibility +of his being living or dead, of the body having been carried away by the +current to the bay or turning up later in some distant marsh when the +spring came with low water. One who had been to his cabin beside the +embarcadero reported that it was, as had been long suspected, barely +habitable, and contained neither books, papers, nor records which would +indicate his family or friends. It was a God-forsaken, dreary, worthless +place; he wondered how a white man could ever expect to make a living +there. If Elijah never turned up again it certainly would be a long time +before any squatter would think of taking possession of it. John Milton +knew instinctively, without looking up, that his father's eyes were +fixed upon him, and he felt himself constrained to appear to be +abstracted in gazing down the darkening road. Then he heard his father +say, with what he felt was an equal assumption of carelessness: “Yes, I +reckon I've got somewhere a bill of sale of that land that I had to take +from 'Lige for an old bill, but I kalkilate that's all I'll ever see of +it.” + +Rain fell again as the darkness gathered, but he still loitered on the +road and the sloping path of the garden, filled with a half resentful +sense of wrong, and hugging with gloomy pride an increasing sense of +loneliness and of getting dangerously wet. The swollen creek still +whispered, murmured and swirled beside the bank. At another time he +might have had wild ideas of emulating the surveyors on some extempore +raft and so escaping his present dreary home existence; but since the +disappearance of 'Lige, who had always excited an odd boyish antipathy +in his heart, although he had never seen him, he shunned the stream +contaminated with the missing man's unheroic fate. Presently the light +from the open window of the sitting-room glittered on the wet leaves +and sprays where he stood, and the voices of the family conclave came +fitfully to his ear. They didn't want him there. They had never thought +of asking him to come in. Well!--who cared? And he wasn't going to be +bought off with a candle and a seat by the kitchen fire. No! + +Nevertheless he was getting wet to no purpose. There was the tool-house +and carpenter's shed near the bank; its floor was thickly covered with +sawdust and pine-wood shavings, and there was a mouldy buffalo skin +which he had once transported thither from the old wagon-bed. There, +too, was his secret cache of a candle in a bottle, buried with other +piratical treasures in the presence of the youthful Peters, who +consented to be sacrificed on the spot in buccaneering fashion to +complete the unhallowed rites. He unearthed the candle, lit it, and +clearing away a part of the shavings stood it up on the floor. He then +brought a prized, battered, and coverless volume from a hidden recess in +the rafters, and lying down with the buffalo robe over him, and his cap +in his hand ready to extinguish the light at the first footstep of a +trespasser, gave himself up--as he had given himself up, I fear, many +other times--to the enchantment of the page before him. + +The current whispered, murmured, and sang, unheeded at his side. The +voices of his mother and sisters, raised at times in eagerness or +expectation of the future, fell upon his unlistening ears. For with the +spell that had come upon him, the mean walls of his hiding-place +melted away; the vulgar stream beside him might have been that dim, +subterraneous river down which Sindbad and his bale of riches were swept +out of the Cave of Death to the sunlight of life and fortune, so surely +and so simply had it transported him beyond the cramped and darkened +limits of his present life. He was in the better world of boyish +romance,--of gallant deeds and high emprises; of miraculous atonement +and devoted sacrifice; of brave men, and those rarer, impossible +women,--the immaculate conception of a boy's virgin heart. What mattered +it that behind that glittering window his mother and sisters grew +feverish and excited over the vulgar details of their real but baser +fortune? From the dark tool-shed by the muddy current, John Milton, +with a battered dogs'-eared chronicle, soared on the wings of fancy far +beyond their wildest ken! + + + + +CHAPER V. + + +Prosperity had settled upon the plains of Tasajara. Not only had the +embarcadero emerged from the tules of Tasajara Creek as a thriving town +of steamboat wharves, warehouses, and outlying mills and factories, but +in five years the transforming railroad had penetrated the great plain +itself and revealed its undeveloped fertility. The low-lying lands that +had been yearly overflowed by the creek, now drained and cultivated, +yielded treasures of wheat and barley that were apparently +inexhaustible. Even the helpless indolence of Sidon had been surprised +into activity and change. There was nothing left of the straggling +settlement to recall its former aspect. The site of Harkutt's old store +and dwelling was lost and forgotten in the new mill and granary that +rose along the banks of the creek. Decay leaves ruin and traces for the +memory to linger over; prosperity is unrelenting in its complete and +smiling obliteration of the past. + +But Tasajara City, as the embarcadero was now called, had no previous +record, and even the former existence of an actual settler like the +forgotten Elijah Curtis was unknown to the present inhabitants. It was +Daniel Harkutt's idea carried out in Daniel Harkutt's land, with Daniel +Harkutt's capital and energy. But Daniel Harkutt had become Daniel +Harcourt, and Harcourt Avenue, Harcourt Square, and Harcourt House, +ostentatiously proclaimed the new spelling of his patronymic. When the +change was made and for what reason, who suggested it and under what +authority, were not easy to determine, as the sign on his former store +had borne nothing but the legend, Goods and Provisions, and his name did +not appear on written record until after the occupation of Tasajara; +but it is presumed that it was at the instigation of his daughters, and +there was no one to oppose it. Harcourt was a pretty name for a street, +a square, or a hotel; even the few in Sidon who had called it Harkutt +admitted that it was an improvement quite consistent with the change +from the fever-haunted tules and sedges of the creek to the broad, +level, and handsome squares of Tasajara City. + +This might have been the opinion of a visitor at the Harcourt House, who +arrived one summer afternoon from the Stockton boat, but whose shrewd, +half-critical, half-professional eyes and quiet questionings betrayed +some previous knowledge of the locality. Seated on the broad veranda +of the Harcourt House, and gazing out on the well-kept green and young +eucalyptus trees of the Harcourt Square or Plaza, he had elicited a +counter question from a prosperous-looking citizen who had been lounging +at his side. + +“I reckon you look ez if you might have been here before, stranger.” + +“Yes,” said the stranger quietly, “I have been. But it was when the +tules grew in the square opposite, and the tide of the creek washed +them.” + +“Well,” said the Tasajaran, looking curiously at the stranger, “I call +myself a pioneer of Tasajara. My name's Peters,--of Peters and Co.,--and +those warehouses along the wharf, where you landed just now, are mine; +but I was the first settler on Harcourt's land, and built the next cabin +after him. I helped to clear out them tules and dredged the channels +yonder. I took the contract with Harcourt to build the last fifteen +miles o' railroad, and put up that depot for the company. Perhaps you +were here before that?” + +“I was,” returned the stranger quietly. + +“I say,” said Peters, hitching his chair a little nearer to his +companion, “you never knew a kind of broken-down feller, called +Curtis--'Lige Curtis--who once squatted here and sold his right to +Harkutt? He disappeared; it was allowed he killed hisself, but they +never found his body, and, between you and me, I never took stock in +that story. You know Harcourt holds under him, and all Tasajara rests on +that title.” + +“I've heard so,” assented the stranger carelessly, “but I never knew the +original settler. Then Harcourt has been lucky?” + +“You bet. He's got three millions right about HERE, or within this +quarter section, to say nothing of his outside speculations.” + +“And lives here?” + +“Not for two years. That's his old house across the plaza, but his +women-folks live mostly in 'Frisco and New York, where he's got houses +too. They say they sorter got sick of Tasajara after his youngest +daughter ran off with a feller.” + +“Hallo!” said the stranger with undisguised interest. “I never heard of +that! You don't mean that she eloped”--he hesitated. + +“Oh, it was a square enough marriage. I reckon too square to suit some +folks; but the fellow hadn't nothin', and wasn't worth shucks,--a sort +of land surveyor, doin' odd jobs, you know; and the old man and old +woman were agin it, and the tother daughter worse of all. It was allowed +here--you know how women-folks talk!--that the surveyor had been sweet +on Clementina, but had got tired of being played by her, and took up +with Phemie out o' spite. Anyhow they got married, and Harcourt gave +them to understand they couldn't expect anything from him. P'raps that's +why it didn't last long, for only about two months ago she got a divorce +from Rice and came back to her family again.” + +“Rice?” queried the stranger. “Was that her husband's name, Stephen +Rice?” + +“I reckon! You knew him?” + +“Yes,--when the tide came up to the tules, yonder,” answered the +stranger musingly. “And the other daughter,--I suppose she has made a +good match, being a beauty and the sole heiress?” + +The Tasajaran made a grimace. “Not much! I reckon she's waitin' for the +Angel Gabriel,--there ain't another good enough to suit her here. They +say she's had most of the big men in California waitin' in a line with +their offers, like that cue the fellows used to make at the 'Frisco +post-office steamer days--and she with nary a letter or answer for any +of them.” + +“Then Harcourt doesn't seem to have been as fortunate in his family +affairs as in his speculations?” + +Peters uttered a grim laugh. “Well, I reckon you know all about his +son's stampeding with that girl last spring?” + +“His son?” interrupted the stranger. “Do you mean the boy they called +John Milton? Why, he was a mere child!” + +“He was old enough to run away with a young woman that helped in his +mother's house, and marry her afore a justice of the peace. The old man +just snorted with rage, and swore he'd have the marriage put aside, for +the boy was under age. He said it was a put-up job of the girl's; that +she was older by two years, and only wanted to get what money might be +comin' some day, but that they'd never see a red cent of it. Then, they +say, John Milton up and sassed the old man to his face, and allowed that +he wouldn't take his dirty money if he starved first, and that if the +old man broke the marriage he'd marry her again next year; that true +love and honorable poverty were better nor riches, and a lot more o' +that stuff he picked out o' them ten-cent novels he was allus reading. +My women-folks say that he actually liked the girl, because she was the +only one in the house that was ever kind to him; they say the girls were +just ragin' mad at the idea o' havin' a hired gal who had waited on 'em +as a sister-in-law, and they even got old Mammy Harcourt's back up by +sayin' that John's wife would want to rule the house, and run her out +of her own kitchen. Some say he shook THEM, talked back to 'em mighty +sharp, and held his head a heap higher nor them. Anyhow, he's livin' +with his wife somewhere in 'Frisco, in a shanty on a sand lot, and +workin' odd jobs for the newspapers. No! takin' it by and large--it +don't look as if Harcourt had run his family to the same advantage that +he has his land.” + +“Perhaps he doesn't understand them as well,” said the stranger smiling. + +“Mor'n likely the material ain't thar, or ain't as vallyble for a new +country,” said Peters grimly. “I reckon the trouble is that he lets them +two daughters run him, and the man who lets any woman or women do that, +lets himself in for all their meannesses, and all he gets in return is a +woman's result,--show!” + +Here the stranger, who was slowly rising from his chair with the polite +suggestion of reluctantly tearing himself from the speaker's spell, +said: “And Harcourt spends most of his time in San Francisco, I +suppose?” + +“Yes! but to-day he's here to attend a directors' meeting and the +opening of the Free Library and Tasajara Hall. I saw the windows open, +and the blinds up in his house across the plaza as I passed just now.” + +The stranger had by this time quite effected his courteous withdrawal. +“Good-afternoon, Mr. Peters,” he said, smilingly lifting his hat, and +turned away. + +Peters, who was obliged to take his legs off the chair, and half rise +to the stranger's politeness, here reflected that he did not know his +interlocutor's name and business, and that he had really got nothing +in return for his information. This must be remedied. As the stranger +passed through the hall into the street, followed by the unwonted +civilities of the spruce hotel clerk and the obsequious attentions of +the negro porter, Peters stepped to the window of the office. “Who was +that man who just passed out?” he asked. + +The clerk stared in undisguised astonishment. “You don't mean to say you +didn't know WHO he was--all the while you were talking to him?” + +“No,” returned Peters, impatiently. + +“Why, that was Professor Lawrence Grant!--THE Lawrence Grant--don't you +know?--the biggest scientific man and recognized expert on the Pacific +slope. Why, that's the man whose single word is enough to make or break +the biggest mine or claim going! That man!--why, that's the man whose +opinion's worth thousands, for it carries millions with it--and can't be +bought. That's him who knocked the bottom outer El Dorado last year, and +next day sent Eureka up booming! Ye remember that, sure?” + +“Of course--but”--stammered Peters. + +“And to think you didn't know him!” repeated the hotel clerk +wonderingly. “And here I was reckoning you were getting points from him +all the time! Why, some men would have given a thousand dollars for your +chance of talking to him--yes!--of even being SEEN talking to him. +Why, old Wingate once got a tip on his Prairie Flower lead worth five +thousand dollars while just changing seats with him in the cars and +passing the time of day, sociable like. Why, what DID you talk about?” + +Peters, with a miserable conviction that he had thrown away a valuable +opportunity in mere idle gossip, nevertheless endeavored to look +mysterious as he replied, “Oh, business gin'rally.” Then in the faint +hope of yet retrieving his blunder he inquired, “How long will he be +here?” + +“Don't know. I reckon he and Harcourt's got something on hand. He just +asked if he was likely to be at home or at his office. I told him I +reckoned at the house, for some of the family--I didn't get to see who +they were--drove up in a carriage from the 3.40 train while you were +sitting there.” + +Meanwhile the subject of this discussion, quite unconscious of the +sensation he had created, or perhaps like most heroes philosophically +careless of it, was sauntering indifferently towards Harcourt's house. +But he had no business with his former host, his only object was to pass +an idle hour before his train left. He was, of course, not unaware that +he himself was largely responsible for Harcourt's success; that it was +HIS hint which had induced the petty trader of Sidon to venture his all +in Tasajara; HIS knowledge of the topography and geology of the +plain that had stimulated Harcourt's agricultural speculations; HIS +hydrographic survey of the creek that had made Harcourt's plan of +widening the channel to commerce practicable and profitable. This he +could not help but know. But that it was chiefly owing to his own clear, +cool, far-seeing, but never visionary, scientific observation,--his +own accurate analysis, unprejudiced by even a savant's enthusiasm, and +uninfluenced by any personal desire or greed of gain,--that Tasajara +City had risen from the stagnant tules, was a speculation that had never +occurred to him. There was a much more uneasy consciousness of what he +had done in Mr. Harcourt's face a few moments later, when his visitor's +name was announced, and it is to be feared that if that name had been +less widely honored and respected than it was, no merely grateful +recollection of it would have procured Grant an audience. As it was, +it was with a frown and a touch of his old impatient asperity that he +stepped to the threshold of an adjoining room and called, “Clemmy!” + +Clementina appeared at the door. + +“There's that man Grant in the parlor. What brings HIM here, I wonder? +Who does he come to see?” + +“Who did he ask for?” + +“Me,--but that don't mean anything.” + +“Perhaps he wants to see you on some business.” + +“No. That isn't his high-toned style. He makes other people go to him +for that,” he said bitterly. “Anyhow--don't you think it's mighty queer +his coming here after his friend--for it was he who introduced Rice +to us--had behaved so to your sister, and caused all this divorce and +scandal?” + +“Perhaps he may know nothing about it; he and Rice separated long ago, +even before Grant became so famous. We never saw much of him, you know, +after we came here. Suppose you leave him to ME. I'll see him.” + +Mr. Harcourt reflected. “Didn't he used to be rather attentive to +Phemie?” + +Clementina shrugged her shoulders carelessly. “I dare say--but I don't +think that NOW”-- + +“Who said anything about NOW?” retorted her father, with a return of his +old abruptness. After a pause he said: “I'll go down and see him first, +and then send for you. You can keep him for the opening and dinner, if +you like.” + +Meantime Lawrence Grant, serenely unsuspicious of these domestic +confidences, had been shown into the parlor--a large room furnished in +the same style as the drawing-room of the hotel he had just quitted. +He had ample time to note that it was that wonderful Second Empire +furniture which he remembered that the early San Francisco pioneers in +the first flush of their wealth had imported directly from France, and +which for years after gave an unexpected foreign flavor to the western +domesticity and a tawdry gilt equality to saloons and drawing-rooms, +public and private. But he was observant of a corresponding change in +Harcourt, when a moment later he entered the room. That individuality +which had kept the former shopkeeper of Sidon distinct from, although +perhaps not superior to, his customers--was strongly marked. He was +perhaps now more nervously alert than then; he was certainly more +impatient than before,--but that was pardonable in a man of +large affairs and action. Grant could not deny that he seemed +improved,--rather perhaps that the setting of fine clothes, cleanliness, +and the absence of petty worries, made his characteristics respectable. +That which is ill breeding in homespun, is apt to become mere +eccentricity in purple and fine linen; Grant felt that Harcourt +jarred on him less than he did before, and was grateful without +superciliousness. Harcourt, relieved to find that Grant was neither +critical nor aggressively reminiscent, and above all not inclined to +claim the credit of creating him and Tasajara, became more confident, +more at his ease, and, I fear, in proportion more unpleasant. It is the +repose and not the struggle of the parvenu that confounds us. + +“And YOU, Grant,--you have made yourself famous, and, I hear, have got +pretty much your own prices for your opinions ever since it was known +that you--you--er--were connected with the growth of Tasajara.” + +Grant smiled; he was not quite prepared for this; but it was amusing +and would pass the time. He murmured a sentence of half ironical +deprecation, and Mr. Harcourt continued:-- + +“I haven't got my San Francisco house here to receive you in, but I hope +some day, sir, to see you there. We are only here for the day and night, +but if you care to attend the opening ceremonies at the new hall, we +can manage to give you dinner afterwards. You can escort my daughter +Clementina,--she's here with me.” + +The smile of apologetic declination which had begun to form on Grant's +lips was suddenly arrested. “Then your daughter is here?” he asked, with +unaffected interest. + +“Yes,--she is in fact a patroness of the library and sewing-circle, and +takes the greatest interest in it. The Reverend Doctor Pilsbury relies +upon her for everything. She runs the society, even to the training of +the young ladies, sir. You shall see their exercises.” + +This was certainly a new phase of Clementina's character. Yet why should +she not assume the role of Lady Bountiful with the other functions of +her new condition. “I should have thought Miss Harcourt would have found +this rather difficult with her other social duties,” he said, “and would +have left it to her married sister.” He thought it better not to appear +as if avoiding reference to Euphemia, although quietly ignoring her late +experiences. Mr. Harcourt was less easy in his response. + +“Now that Euphemia is again with her own family,” he said ponderously, +with an affectation of social discrimination that was in weak contrast +to his usual direct business astuteness, “I suppose she may take her +part in these things, but just now she requires rest. You may have heard +some rumor that she is going abroad for a time? The fact is she hasn't +the least intention of doing so, nor do we consider there is the +slightest reason for her going.” He paused as if to give great emphasis +to a statement that seemed otherwise unimportant. “But here's Clementina +coming, and I must get you to excuse ME. I've to meet the trustees of +the church in ten minutes, but I hope she'll persuade you to stay, and +I'll see you later at the hall.” + +As Clementina entered the room her father vanished and, I fear, +as completely dropped out of Mr. Grant's mind. For the daughter's +improvement was greater than her father's, yet so much more refined as +to be at first only delicately perceptible. Grant had been prepared for +the vulgar enhancement of fine clothes and personal adornment, for the +specious setting of luxurious circumstances and surroundings, for the +aplomb that came from flattery and conscious power. But he found none of +these; her calm individuality was intensified rather than subdued; she +was dressed simply, with an economy of ornament, rich material, and +jewelry, but an accuracy of taste that was always dominant. Her plain +gray merino dress, beautifully fitting her figure, suggested, with +its pale blue facings, some uniform, as of the charitable society she +patronized. She came towards him with a graceful movement of greeting, +yet her face showed no consciousness of the interval that had elapsed +since they met; he almost fancied himself transported back to the +sitting-room at Sidon with the monotonous patter of the leaves outside, +and the cool moist breath of the bay and alder coming in at the window. + +“Father says that you are only passing through Tasajara to-day, as you +did through Sidon five years ago,” she said with a smiling earnestness +that he fancied however was the one new phase of her character. “But +I won't believe it! At least we will not accept another visit quite as +accidental as that, even though you brought us twice the good fortune +you did then. You see, we have not forgotten it if you have, Mr. Grant. +And unless you want us to believe that your fairy gifts will turn some +day to leaves and ashes, you will promise to stay with us tonight, and +let me show you some of the good we have done with them. Perhaps +you don't know, or don't want to know, that it was I who got up this +'Library and Home Circle of the Sisters of Tasajara' which we are +to open to-day. And can you imagine why? You remember--or have you +forgotten--that you once affected to be concerned at the social +condition of the young ladies on the plains of Sidon? Well, Mr. Grant, +this is gotten up in order that the future Mr. Grants who wander may +find future Miss Billingses who are worthy to converse with them and +entertain them, and who no longer wear men's hats and live on the public +road.” + +It was such a long speech for one so taciturn as he remembered +Clementina to have been; so unexpected in tone considering her father's +attitude towards him, and so unlooked for in its reference to a slight +incident of the past, that Grant's critical contemplation of her gave +way to a quiet and grateful glance of admiration. How could he have +been so mistaken in her character? He had always preferred the outspoken +Euphemia, and yet why should he not have been equally mistaken in +her? Without having any personal knowledge of Rice's matrimonial +troubles--for their intimate companionship had not continued after the +survey--he had been inclined to blame him; now he seemed to find excuses +for him. He wondered if she really had liked him as Peters had hinted; +he wondered if she knew that he, Grant, was no longer intimate with him +and knew nothing of her affairs. All this while he was accepting her +proffered hospitality and sending to the hotel for his luggage. Then +he drifted into a conversation, which he had expected would be brief, +pointless, and confined to a stupid resume of their mutual and social +progress since they had left Sidon. But here he was again mistaken; she +was talking familiarly of present social topics, of things that she knew +clearly and well, without effort or attitude. She had been to New +York and Boston for two winters; she had spent the previous summer at +Newport; it might have been her whole youth for the fluency, accuracy, +and familiarity of her detail, and the absence of provincial enthusiasm. +She was going abroad, probably in the spring. She had thought of going +to winter in Italy, but she would wait now until her sister was ready to +go with her. Mr. Grant of course knew that Euphemia was separated from +Mr. Rice--no--not until her father told him? Well--the marriage had been +a wild and foolish thing for both. But Euphemia was back again with them +in the San Francisco house; she had talked of coming to Tasajara to-day, +perhaps she might be there tonight. And, good heavens! it was actually +three o'clock already, and they must start at once for the Hall. She +would go and get her hat and return instantly. + +It was true; he had been talking with her an hour--pleasantly, +intelligently, and yet with a consciousness of an indefinite +satisfaction beyond all this. It must have been surprise at her +transformation, or his previous misconception of her character. He had +been watching her features and wondering why he had ever thought them +expressionless. There was also the pleasant suggestion--common to +humanity in such instances--that he himself was in some way responsible +for the change; that it was some awakened sympathy to his own nature +that had breathed into this cold and faultless statue the warmth of +life. In an odd flash of recollection he remembered how, five years ago, +when Rice had suggested to her that she was “hard to please,” she had +replied that she “didn't know, but that she was waiting to see.” It did +not occur to him to wonder why she had not awakened then, or if this +awakening had anything to do with her own volition. It was not probable +that they would meet again after to-day, or if they did, that she would +not relapse into her former self and fail to impress him as she had now. +But--here she was--a paragon of feminine promptitude--already standing +in the doorway, accurately gloved and booted, and wearing a demure gray +hat that modestly crowned her decorously elegant figure. + +They crossed the plaza side by side, in the still garish sunlight that +seemed to mock the scant shade of the youthful eucalyptus trees, and +presently fell in with the stream of people going in their direction. +The former daughters of Sidon, the Billingses, the Peterses, and +Wingates, were there bourgeoning and expanding in the glare of their new +prosperity, with silk and gold; there were newer faces still, and pretty +ones,--for Tasajara as a “Cow County” had attracted settlers with large +families,--and there were already the contrasting types of East and +West. Many turned to look after the tall figure of the daughter of the +Founder of Tasajara,--a spectacle lately rare to the town; a few glanced +at her companion, equally noticeable as a stranger. Thanks, however, to +some judicious preliminary advertising from the hotel clerk, Peters, and +Daniel Harcourt himself, by the time Grant and Miss Harcourt had reached +the Hall his name and fame were already known, and speculation had +already begun whether this new stroke of Harcourt's shrewdness might not +unite Clementina to a renowned and profitable partner. + +The Hall was in one of the further and newly opened suburbs, and its +side and rear windows gave immediately upon the outlying and illimitable +plain of Tasajara. It was a tasteful and fair-seeming structure of wood, +surprisingly and surpassingly new. In fact that was its one dominant +feature; nowhere else had youth and freshness ever shown itself +as unconquerable and all-conquering. The spice of virgin woods and +trackless forests still rose from its pine floors, and breathed from its +outer shell of cedar that still oozed its sap, and redwood that still +dropped its life-blood. Nowhere else were the plastered walls and +ceilings as white and dazzling in their unstained purity, or as redolent +of the outlying quarry in their clear cool breath of lime and stone. +Even the turpentine of fresh and spotless paint added to this sense +of wholesome germination, and as the clear and brilliant Californian +sunshine swept through the open windows west and east, suffusing the +whole palpitating structure with its searching and resistless radiance, +the very air seemed filled with the aroma of creation. + +The fresh colors of the young Republic, the bright blazonry of the +newest State, the coat-of-arms of the infant County of Tasajara--(a +vignette of sunset-tules cloven by the steam of an advancing +train)--hanging from the walls, were all a part of this invincible +juvenescence. Even the newest silks, ribbons and prints of the latest +holiday fashions made their first virgin appearance in the new building +as if to consecrate it, until it was stirred by the rustle of youth, as +with the sound and movement of budding spring. + +A strain from the new organ--whose heart, however, had prematurely +learned its own bitterness--and a thin, clear, but somewhat shrill +chanting from a choir of young ladies were followed by a prayer from the +Reverend Mr. Pilsbury. Then there was a pause of expectancy, and Grant's +fair companion, who up to that moment had been quietly acting as guide +and cicerone to her father's guest, excused herself with a little +grimace of mock concern and was led away by one of the committee. +Grant's usually keen eyes were wandering somewhat abstractedly over the +agitated and rustling field of ribbons, flowers and feathers before him, +past the blazonry of banner on the walls, and through the open windows +to the long sunlit levels beyond, when he noticed a stir upon the raised +dais or platform at the end of the room, where the notables of Tasajara +were formally assembled. The mass of black coats suddenly parted and +drew back against the wall to allow the coming forward of a single +graceful figure. A thrill of nervousness as unexpected as unaccountable +passed over him as he recognized Clementina. In the midst of a sudden +silence she read the report of the committee from a paper in her hand, +in a clear, untroubled voice--the old voice of Sidon--and formally +declared the building opened. The sunlight, nearly level, streamed +through the western window across the front of the platform where she +stood and transfigured her slight but noble figure. The hush that had +fallen upon the Hall was as much the effect of that tranquil, ideal +presence as of the message with which it was charged. And yet that +apparition was as inconsistent with the clear, searching light +which helped to set it off, as it was with the broad new blazonry of +decoration, the yet unsullied record of the white walls, or even the +frank, animated and pretty faces that looked upon it. Perhaps it was +some such instinct that caused the applause which hesitatingly and +tardily followed her from the platform to appear polite and half +restrained rather than spontaneous. + +Nevertheless Grant was honestly and sincerely profuse in his +congratulations. “You were far cooler and far more self-contained than I +should have been in your place,” he said, “than in fact I actually WAS, +only as your auditor. But I suppose you have done it before?” + +She turned her beautiful eyes on his wonderingly. “No,--this is the +first time I ever appeared in public,--not even at school, for even +there I was always a private pupil.” + +“You astonish me,” said Grant; “you seemed like an old hand at it.” + +“Perhaps I did, or rather as if I didn't think anything of it +myself,--and that no doubt is why the audience didn't think anything of +it either.” + +So she HAD noticed her cold reception, and yet there was not the +slightest trace of disappointment, regret, or wounded vanity in her +tone or manner. “You must take me to the refreshment room now,” she +said pleasantly, “and help me to look after the young ladies who are my +guests. I'm afraid there are still more speeches to come, and father and +Mr. Pilsbury are looking as if they confidently expected something more +would be 'expected' of them.” + +Grant at once threw himself into the task assigned to him, with his +natural gallantry and a certain captivating playfulness which he still +retained. Perhaps he was the more anxious to please in order that his +companion might share some of his popularity, for it was undeniable that +Miss Harcourt still seemed to excite only a constrained politeness +among those with whom she courteously mingled. And this was still more +distinctly marked by the contrast of a later incident. + +For some moments the sound of laughter and greeting had risen near the +door of the refreshment room that opened upon the central hall, and +there was a perceptible movement of the crowd--particularly of youthful +male Tasajara--in that direction. It was evident that it announced the +unexpected arrival of some popular resident. Attracted like the others, +Grant turned and saw the company making way for the smiling, easy, +half-saucy, half-complacent entry of a handsomely dressed young girl. As +she turned from time to time to recognize with rallying familiarity or +charming impertinence some of her admirers, there was that in her +tone and gesture which instantly recalled to him the past. It was +unmistakably Euphemia! His eyes instinctively sought Clementina's. She +was gazing at him with such a grave, penetrating look,--half doubting, +half wistful,--a look so unlike her usual unruffled calm that he felt +strangely stirred. But the next moment, when she rejoined him, the look +had entirely gone. “You have not seen my sister since you were at Sidon, +I believe?” she said quietly. “She would be sorry to miss you.” But +Euphemia and her train were already passing them on the opposite side of +the long table. She had evidently recognized Grant, yet the two sisters +were looking intently into each other's eyes when he raised his own. +Then Euphemia met his bow with a momentary accession of color, a +coquettish wave of her hand across the table, a slight exaggeration of +her usual fascinating recklessness, and smilingly moved away. He turned +to Clementina, but here an ominous tapping at the farther end of the +long table revealed the fact that Mr. Harcourt was standing on a chair +with oratorical possibilities in his face and attitude. There was +another forward movement in the crowd and--silence. In that solid, +black-broadclothed, respectable figure, that massive watchchain, that +white waistcoat, that diamond pin glistening in the satin cravat, +Euphemia might have seen the realization of her prophetic vision at +Sidon five years before. + +He spoke for ten minutes with a fluency and comprehensive business-like +directness that surprised Grant. He was not there, he said, to glorify +what had been done by himself, his family, or his friends in Tasajara. +Others who were to follow him might do that, or at least might be better +able to explain and expatiate upon the advantages of the institution +they had just opened, and its social, moral, and religious effect upon +the community. He was there as a business man to demonstrate to +them--as he had always done and always hoped to do--the money value +of improvement; the profit--if they might choose to call it--of +well-regulated and properly calculated speculation. The plot of land +upon which they stood, of which the building occupied only one eighth, +was bought two years before for ten thousand dollars. When the plans +of the building were completed a month afterwards, the value of the +remaining seven eighths had risen enough to defray the cost of the +entire construction. He was in a position to tell them that only that +morning the adjacent property, subdivided and laid out in streets and +building-plots, had been admitted into the corporate limits of the city; +and that on the next anniversary of the building they would approach +it through an avenue of finished dwellings! An outburst of applause +followed the speaker's practical climax; the fresh young faces of his +auditors glowed with invincible enthusiasm; the afternoon trade-winds, +freshening over the limitless plain beyond, tossed the bright banners +at the windows as with sympathetic rejoicing, and a few odorous pine +shavings, overlooked in a corner in the hurry of preparation, touched +by an eddying zephyr, crept out and rolled in yellow ringlets across the +floor. + +The Reverend Doctor Pilsbury arose in a more decorous silence. He had +listened approvingly, admiringly, he might say even reverently, to the +preceding speaker. But although his distinguished friend had, with his +usual modesty, made light of his own services and those of his charming +family, he, the speaker, had not risen to sing his praises. No; it +was not in this Hall, projected by his foresight and raised by his +liberality; in this town, called into existence by his energy and +stamped by his attributes; in this county, developed by his genius and +sustained by his capital; ay, in this very State whose grandeur was made +possible by such giants as he,--it was not in any of these places that +it was necessary to praise Daniel Harcourt, or that a panegyric of him +would be more than idle repetition. Nor would he, as that distinguished +man had suggested, enlarge upon the social, moral, and religious +benefits of the improvement they were now celebrating. It was written +on the happy, innocent faces, in the festive garb, in the decorous +demeanor, in the intelligent eyes that sparkled around him, in the +presence of those of his parishioners whom he could meet as freely here +to-day as in his own church on Sunday. What then could he say? What then +was there to say? Perhaps he should say nothing if it were not for +the presence of the young before him.--He stopped and fixed his eyes +paternally on the youthful Johnny Billings, who with a half dozen +other Sunday-school scholars had been marshaled before the reverend +speaker.--And what was to be the lesson THEY were to learn from it? They +had heard what had been achieved by labor, enterprise, and diligence. +Perhaps they would believe, and naturally too, that what labor, +enterprise, and diligence had done could be done again. But was that +all? Was there nothing behind these qualities--which, after all, were +within the reach of every one here? Had they ever thought that back +of every pioneer, every explorer, every pathfinder, every founder and +creator, there was still another? There was no terra incognita so rare +as to be unknown to one; no wilderness so remote as to be beyond a +greater ken than theirs; no waste so trackless but that one had already +passed that way! Did they ever reflect that when the dull sea ebbed and +flowed in the tules over the very spot where they were now standing, who +it was that also foresaw, conceived, and ordained the mighty change that +would take place; who even guided and directed the feeble means employed +to work it; whose spirit moved, as in still older days of which they had +read, over the face of the stagnant waters? Perhaps they had. Who then +was the real pioneer of Tasajara,--back of the Harcourts, the Peterses, +the Billingses, and Wingates? The reverend gentleman gently paused for +a reply. It was given in the clear but startled accents of the half +frightened, half-fascinated Johnny Billings, in three words:-- + +“'Lige Curtis, sir!” + + + + +CHAPER VI + + +The trade wind, that, blowing directly from the Golden Gate, seemed to +concentrate its full force upon the western slope of Russian Hill, +might have dismayed any climber less hopeful and sanguine than that most +imaginative of newspaper reporters and most youthful of husbands, John +Milton Harcourt. But for all that it was an honest wind, and its dry, +practical energy and salt-pervading breath only seemed to sting him to +greater and more enthusiastic exertions, until, quite at the summit of +the hill and last of a straggling line of little cottages half submerged +in drifting sand, he stood upon his own humble porch. + +“I was thinking, coming up the hill, Loo,” he said, bursting into the +sitting-room, pantingly, “of writing something about the future of the +hill! How it will look fifty years from now, all terraced with houses +and gardens!--and right up here a kind of Acropolis, don't you know. I +had quite a picture of it in my mind just now.” + +A plainly-dressed young woman with a pretty face, that, however, looked +as if it had been prematurely sapped of color and vitality, here laid +aside some white sewing she had in her lap, and said:-- + +“But you did that once before, Milty, and you know the 'Herald' wouldn't +take it because they said it was a free notice of Mr. Boorem's building +lots, and he didn't advertise in the 'Herald.' I always told you that +you ought to have seen Boorem first.” + +The young fellow blinked his eyes with a momentary arrest of that +buoyant hopefulness which was their peculiar characteristic, but +nevertheless replied with undaunted cheerfulness, “I forgot. Anyhow, +it's all the same, for I worked it into that 'Sunday Walk.' And it's +just as easy to write it the other way, you see,--looking back, DOWN THE +HILL, you know. Something about the old Padres toiling through the sand +just before the Angelus; or as far back as Sir Francis Drake's time, +and have a runaway boat's crew, coming ashore to look for gold that the +Mexicans had talked of. Lord! that's easy enough! I tell you what, Loo, +it's worth living up here just for the inspiration.” Even while boyishly +exhaling this enthusiasm he was also divesting himself of certain +bundles whose contents seemed to imply that he had brought his +dinner with him,--the youthful Mrs. Harcourt setting the table in a +perfunctory, listless way that contrasted oddly with her husband's +cheerful energy. + +“You haven't heard of any regular situation yet?” she asked +abstractedly. + +“No,--not exactly,” he replied. “But [buoyantly] it's a great deal +better for me not to take anything in a hurry and tie myself to any +particular line. Now, I'm quite free.” + +“And I suppose you haven't seen that Mr. Fletcher again?” she continued. + +“No. He only wanted to know something about me. That's the way with them +all, Loo. Whenever I apply for work anywhere it's always: 'So you're +Dan'l Harcourt's son, eh? Quarreled with the old man? Bad job; better +make it up! You'll make more stickin' to him. He's worth millions!' +Everybody seems to think everything of HIM, as if I had no individuality +beyond that, I've a good mind to change my name.” + +“And pray what would mine be then?” + +There was so much irritation in her voice that he drew nearer her and +gently put his arm around her waist. “Why, whatever mine was, darling,” + he said with a tender smile. “You didn't fall in love with any +particular name, did you, Loo?” + +“No, but I married a particular one,” she said quickly. + +His eyelids quivered again, as if he was avoiding some unpleasantly +staring suggestion, and she stopped. + +“You know what I mean, dear,” she said, with a quick little laugh. “Just +because your father's an old crosspatch, YOU haven't lost your rights to +his name and property. And those people who say you ought to make it up +perhaps know what's for the best.” + +“But you remember what he said of you, Loo?” said the young man with a +flashing eye. “Do you think I can ever forget that?” + +“But you DO forget it, dear; you forget it when you go in town among +fresh faces and people; when you are looking for work. You forget it +when you're at work writing your copy,--for I've seen you smile as +you wrote. You forget it climbing up the dreadful sand, for you were +thinking just now of what happened years ago, or is to happen years to +come. And I want to forget it too, Milty. I don't want to sit here all +day, thinking of it, with the wind driving the sand against the window, +and nothing to look at but those white tombs in Lone Mountain Cemetery, +and those white caps that might be gravestones too, and not a soul to +talk to or even see pass by until I feel as if I were dead and buried +also. If you were me--you--you--you--couldn't help crying too!” + +Indeed he was very near it now. For as he caught her in his arms, +suddenly seeing with a lover's sympathy and the poet's swifter +imagination all that she had seen and even more, he was aghast at the +vision conjured. In her delicate health and loneliness how dreadful must +have been these monotonous days, and this glittering, cruel sea! What +a selfish brute he was! Yet as he stood there holding her, silently and +rhythmically marking his tenderness and remorseful feelings by rocking +her from side to side like a languid metronome, she quietly disengaged +her wet lashes from his shoulder and said in quite another tone:-- + +“So they were all at Tasajara last week?” + +“Who, dear?” + +“Your father and sisters.” + +“Yes,” said John Milton, hesitatingly. + +“And they've taken back your sister after her divorce?” + +The staring obtrusiveness of this fact apparently made her husband's +bright sympathetic eye blink as before. + +“And if you were to divorce me, YOU would be taken back too,” she +added quickly, suddenly withdrawing herself with a pettish movement and +walking to the window. + +But he followed. “Don't talk in that way, Loo! Don't look in that way, +dear!” he said, taking her hand gently, yet not without a sense of some +inconsistency in her conduct that jarred upon his own simple directness. +“You know that nothing can part us now. I was wrong to let my little +girl worry herself all alone here, but I--I--thought it was all so--so +bright and free out on this hill,--looking far away beyond the Golden +Gate,--as far as Cathay, you know, and such a change from those dismal +flats of Tasajara and that awful stretch of tules. But it's all right +now. And now that I know how you feel, we'll go elsewhere.” + +She did not reply. Perhaps she found it difficult to keep up her injured +attitude in the face of her husband's gentleness. Perhaps her attention +had been attracted by the unusual spectacle of a stranger, who had just +mounted the hill and was now slowly passing along the line of +cottages with a hesitating air of inquiry. “He may be looking for this +house,--for you,” she said in an entirely new tone of interest. “Run out +and see. It may be some one who wants”-- + +“An article,” said Milton cheerfully. “By Jove! he IS coming here.” + +The stranger was indeed approaching the little cottage, and with +apparently some confidence. He was a well-dressed, well-made man, whose +age looked uncertain from the contrast between his heavy brown moustache +and his hair, that, curling under the brim of his hat, was almost white +in color. The young man started, and said, hurriedly: “I really believe +it is Fletcher,--they say his hair turned white from the Panama fever.” + +It was indeed Mr. Fletcher who entered and introduced himself,--a gentle +reserved man, with something of that colorlessness of premature age +in his speech which was observable in his hair. He had heard of Mr. +Harcourt from a friend who had recommended him highly. As Mr. Harcourt +had probably been told, he, the speaker, was about to embark some +capital in a first-class newspaper in San Francisco, and should select +the staff himself. He wanted to secure only first-rate talent,--but +above all, youthfulness, directness, and originality. The “Clarion,” for +that was to be its name, was to have nothing “old fogy” about it. No. It +was distinctly to be the organ of Young California! This and much more +from the grave lips of the elderly young man, whose speech seemed to be +divided between the pretty, but equally faded, young wife, and the one +personification of invincible youth present,--her husband. + +“But I fear I have interrupted your household duties,” he said +pleasantly. “You were preparing dinner. Pray go on. And let me help +you,--I'm not a bad cook,--and you can give me my reward by letting me +share it with you, for the climb up here has sharpened my appetite. We +can talk as we go on.” + +It was in vain to protest; there was something paternal as well as +practical in the camaraderie of this actual capitalist and possible +Maecenas and patron as he quietly hung up his hat and overcoat, and +helped to set the table with a practiced hand. Nor, as he suggested, did +the conversation falter, and before they had taken their seats at the +frugal board he had already engaged John Milton Harcourt as assistant +editor of the “Clarion” at a salary that seemed princely to this son +of a millionaire! The young wife meantime had taken active part in the +discussion; whether it was vaguely understood that the possession of +poetical and imaginative faculties precluded any capacity for business, +or whether it was owing to the apparent superior maturity of Mrs. +Harcourt and the stranger, it was certain that THEY arranged the +practical details of the engagement, and that the youthful husband sat +silent, merely offering his always hopeful and sanguine consent. + +“You'll take a house nearer to town, I suppose?” continued Mr. Fletcher +to the lady, “though you've a charming view here. I suppose it was quite +a change from Tasajara and your father-in-law's house? I daresay he had +as fine a place there--on his own homestead--as he has here?” + +Young Harcourt dropped his sensitive eyelids again. It seemed hard that +he could never get away from these allusions to his father! Perhaps it +was only to that relationship that he was indebted for his visitor's +kindness. In his simple honesty he could not bear the thought of such +a misapprehension. “Perhaps, Mr. Fletcher, you do not know,” he said, +“that my father is not on terms with me, and that we neither expect +anything nor could we ever take anything from him. Could we, Loo?” He +added the useless question partly because he saw that his wife's face +betrayed little sympathy with him, and partly that Fletcher was looking +at her curiously, as if for confirmation. But this was another of John +Milton's trials as an imaginative reporter; nobody ever seemed to care +for his practical opinions or facts! + +“Mr. Fletcher is not interested in our little family differences, +Milty,” she said, looking at Mr. Fletcher, however, instead of him. +“You're Daniel Harcourt's SON whatever happens.” + +The cloud that had passed over the young man's face and eyes did not, +however, escape Mr. Fletcher's attention, for he smiled, and added +gayly, “And I hope my valued lieutenant in any case.” Nevertheless John +Milton was quite ready to avail himself of an inspiration to fetch some +cigars for his guest from the bar of the Sea-View House on the slope of +the hill beyond, and thereby avoid a fateful subject. Once in the fresh +air again he promptly recovered his boyish spirits. The light flying +scud had already effaced the first rising stars; the lower creeping +sea-fog had already blotted out the western shore and sea; but below him +to the east the glittering lights of the city seemed to start up with a +new, mysterious, and dazzling brilliancy. It was the valley of diamonds +that Sindbad saw lying almost at his feet! Perhaps somewhere there the +light of his own fame and fortune was already beginning to twinkle! + +He returned to his humble roof joyous and inspired. As he entered the +hall he heard his wife's voice and his own name mentioned, followed +by that awkward, meaningless silence on his entrance which so plainly +indicated either that he had been the subject of conversation or that it +was not for his ears. It was a dismal reminder of his boyhood at Sidon +and Tasajara. But he was too full of hope and ambition to heed it +to-night, and later, when Mr. Fletcher had taken his departure, his +pent-up enthusiasm burst out before his youthful partner. Had she +realized that their struggles were over now, that their future was +secure? They need no longer fear ever being forced to take bounty from +the family; they were independent of them all! He would make a name for +himself that should be distinct from his father's as he should make a +fortune that would be theirs alone. The young wife smiled. “But all +that need not prevent you, dear, from claiming your RIGHTS when the time +comes.” + +“But if I scorn to make the claim or take a penny of his, Loo?” + +“You say you scorn to take the money you think your father got by a mere +trick,--at the best,--and didn't earn. And now you will be able to show +you can live without it, and earn your own fortune. Well, dear, for that +very reason why should you let your father and others enjoy and waste +what is fairly your share? For it is YOUR share whether it came to your +father fairly or not; and if not, it is still your duty, believing as +you do, to claim it from him, that at least YOU may do with it what you +choose. You might want to restore it--to--to--somebody.” + +The young man laughed. “But, my dear Loo! suppose that I were weak +enough to claim it, do you think my father would give it up? He has the +right, and no law could force him to yield to me more than he chooses.” + +“Not the law, but YOU could.” + +“I don't understand you,” he said quickly. + +“You could force him by simply telling him what you once told me.” + +John Milton drew back, and his hand dropped loosely from his wife's. +The color left his fresh young face; the light quivered for a moment +and then became fixed and set in his eyes. For that moment he looked ten +years her senior. “I was wrong ever to tell even you that, Loo,” he said +in a low voice. “You are wrong to ever remind me of it. Forget it +from this moment, as you value our love and want it to live and be +remembered. And forget, Loo, as I do,--and ever shall,--that you ever +suggested to me to use my secret in the way you did just now.” + +But here Mrs. Harcourt burst into tears, more touched by the alteration +in her husband's manner, I fear, than by any contrition for wrongdoing. +Of course if he wished to withdraw his confidences from her, just as he +had almost confessed he wished to withdraw his NAME, she couldn't help +it, but it was hard that when she sat there all day long trying to think +what was best for them, she should be blamed! At which the quiet and +forgiving John Milton smiled remorsefully and tried to comfort her. +Nevertheless an occasional odd, indefinable chill seemed to creep +across the feverish enthusiasm with which he was celebrating this day of +fortune. And yet he neither knew nor suspected until long after that his +foolish wife had that night half betrayed his secret to the stranger! + +The next day he presented a note of introduction from Mr. Fletcher to +the business manager of the “Clarion,” and the following morning was +duly installed in office. He did not see his benefactor again; that +single visit was left in the mystery and isolation of an angelic +episode. It later appeared that other and larger interests in the San +Jose valley claimed his patron's residence and attendance; only the +capital and general purpose of the paper--to develop into a party +organ in the interest of his possible senatorial aspirations in due +season--was furnished by him. Grateful as John Milton felt towards him, +he was relieved; it seemed probable that Mr. Fletcher HAD selected him +on his individual merits, and not as the son of a millionaire. + +He threw himself into his work with his old hopeful enthusiasm, +and perhaps an originality of method that was part of his singular +independence. Without the student's training or restraint,--for his two +years' schooling at Tasajara during his parents' prosperity came too +late to act as a discipline,--he was unfettered by any rules, and guided +only by an unerring instinctive taste that became near being genius. +He was a brilliant and original, if not always a profound and accurate, +reporter. By degrees he became an accustomed interest to the readers +of the “Clarion;” then an influence. Actors themselves in many a fierce +drama, living lives of devotion, emotion, and picturesque incident, they +had satisfied themselves with only the briefest and most practical daily +record of their adventure, and even at first were dazed and startled +to find that many of them had been heroes and some poets. The stealthy +boyish reader of romantic chronicle at Sidon had learned by heart the +chivalrous story of the emigration. The second column of the “Clarion” + became famous even while the figure of its youthful writer, unknown and +unrecognized, was still nightly climbing the sands of Russian Hill, and +even looking down as before on the lights of the growing city, without a +thought that he had added to that glittering constellation. + +Cheerful and contented with the exercise of work, he would have been +happy but for the gradual haunting of another dread which presently +began to drag him at earlier hours up the steep path to his little home; +to halt him before the door with the quickened breath of an anxiety he +would scarcely confess to himself, and sometimes hold him aimlessly a +whole day beneath his roof. For the pretty but delicate Mrs. Harcourt, +like others of her class, had added a weak and ineffective maternity +to their other conjugal trials, and one early dawn a baby was born that +lingered with them scarcely longer than the morning mist and exhaled +with the rising sun. The young wife regained her strength slowly,--so +slowly that the youthful husband brought his work at times to the house +to keep her company. And a singular change had come over her. She no +longer talked of the past, nor of his family. As if the little life +that had passed with that morning mist had represented some ascending +expiatory sacrifice, it seemed to have brought them into closer +communion. + +Yet her weak condition made him conceal another trouble that had come +upon him. It was in the third month of his employment on the “Clarion” + that one afternoon, while correcting some proofs on his chief's desk, he +came upon the following editorial paragraph:-- + +“The played-out cant of 'pioneer genius' and 'pioneer discovery' appears +to have reached its climax in the attempt of some of our contemporaries +to apply it to Dan Harcourt's new Tasajara Job before the legislature. +It is perfectly well known in Harcourt's own district that, far from +being a pioneer and settler HIMSELF he simply succeeded after a +fashion to the genuine work of one Elijah Curtis, an actual pioneer +and discoverer, years before, while Harcourt, we believe, was keeping a +frontier doggery in Sidon, and dispensing 'tanglefoot' and salt junk +to the hayfooted Pike Countians of his precinct. This would make him as +much of the 'pioneer discoverer' as the rattlesnake who first takes up +board and lodgings and then possession in a prairie dog's burrow. And if +the traveler's tale is true that the rattlesnake sometimes makes a meal +of his landlord, the story told at Sidon may be equally credible that +the original pioneer mysteriously disappeared about the time that Dan +Harcourt came into the property. From which it would seem that Harcourt +is not in a position for his friends to invite very deep scrutiny into +his 'pioneer' achievements.” + +Stupefaction, a vague terror, and rising anger, rapidly succeeded each +other in the young man's mind as he stood mechanically holding the +paper in his hand. It was the writing of his chief editor, whose easy +brutality he had sometimes even boyishly admired. Without stopping to +consider their relative positions he sought him indignantly and laid the +proof before him. The editor laughed. “But what's that to YOU? YOU'RE +not on terms with the old man.” + +“But he is my father!” said John Milton hotly. + +“Look here,” said the editor good-naturedly, “I'd like to oblige +you, but it isn't BUSINESS, you know,--and this IS, you +understand,--PROPRIETOR'S BUSINESS too! Of course I see it might stand +in the way of your making up to the old man afterwards and coming in for +a million. Well! you can tell him it's ME. Say I WOULD put it in. Say +I'm nasty--and I AM!” + +“Then it must go in?” said John Milton with a white face. + +“You bet.” + +“Then I must go out!” And writing out his resignation, he laid it before +his chief and left. + +But he could not bear to tell this to his wife when he climbed the hill +that night, and he invented some excuse for bringing his work home. The +invalid never noticed any change in his usual buoyancy, and indeed I +fear, when he was fairly installed with his writing materials at the +foot of her bed, he had quite forgotten the episode. He was recalled to +it by a faint sigh. + +“What is it, dear?” he said looking up. + +“I like to see you writing, Milty. You always look so happy.” + +“Always so happy, dear?” + +“Yes. You are happy, are you not?” + +“Always.” He got up and kissed her. Nevertheless, when he sat down to +his work again, his face was turned a little more to the window. + +Another serious incident--to be also kept from the invalid--shortly +followed. The article in the “Clarion” had borne its fruit. The third +day after his resignation a rival paper sharply retorted. “The cowardly +insinuations against the record of a justly honored capitalist,” said +the “Pioneer,” “although quite in keeping with the brazen 'Clarion,' +might attract the attentions of the slandered party, if it were not +known to his friends as well as himself that it may be traced almost +directly to a cast-off member of his own family, who, it seems, is +reduced to haunting the back doors of certain blatant journals to +dispose of his cheap wares. The slanderer is secure from public exposure +in the superior decency of his relations, who refrain from airing their +family linen upon editorial lines.” + +This was the journal to which John Milton had hopefully turned for work. +When he read it there seemed but one thing for him to do--and he did +it. Gentle and optimistic as was his nature, he had been brought up in +a community where sincere directness of personal offense was followed by +equally sincere directness of personal redress, and--he challenged the +editor. The bearer of his cartel was one Jack Hamlin, I grieve to say a +gambler by profession, but between whom and John Milton had sprung up an +odd friendship of which the best that can be said is that it was to each +equally and unselfishly unprofitable. The challenge was accepted, the +preliminaries arranged. “I suppose,” said Jack carelessly, “as the old +man ought to do something for your wife in case of accident, you've made +some sort of a will?” + +“I've thought of that,” said John Milton, dubiously, “but I'm afraid +it's no use. You see”--he hesitated--“I'm not of age.” + +“May I ask how old you are, sonny?” said Jack with great gravity. + +“I'm almost twenty,” said John Milton, coloring. + +“It isn't exactly vingt-et-un, but I'd stand on it; if I were you I +wouldn't draw to such a hand,” said Jack, coolly. + +The young husband had arranged to be absent from his home that night, +and early morning found him, with Jack, grave, but courageous, in a +little hollow behind the Mission Hills. To them presently approached his +antagonist, jauntily accompanied by Colonel Starbottle, his second. They +halted, but after the formal salutation were instantly joined by Jack +Hamlin. For a few moments John Milton remained awkwardly alone--pending +a conversation which even at that supreme moment he felt as being +like the general attitude of his friends towards him, in its complete +ignoring of himself. The next moment the three men stepped towards him. +“We have come, sir,” said Colonel Starbottle in his precisest speech but +his jauntiest manner, “to offer you a full and ample apology--a personal +apology--which only supplements that full public apology that my +principal, sir, this gentleman,” indicating the editor of the “Pioneer,” + “has this morning made in the columns of his paper, as you will +observe,” producing a newspaper. “We have, sir,” continued the +colonel loftily, “only within the last twelve hours become aware of +the--er--REAL circumstances of the case. We would regret that the affair +had gone so far already, if it had not given us, sir, the opportunity +of testifying to your gallantry. We do so gladly; and if--er--er--a FEW +YEARS LATER, Mr. Harcourt, you should ever need--a friend in any matter +of this kind, I am, sir, at your service.” John Milton gazed half +inquiringly, half uneasily at Jack. + +“It's all right, Milt,” he said sotto voce. “Shake hands all round and +let's go to breakfast. And I rather think that editor wants to employ +you HIMSELF.” + +It was true, for when that night he climbed eagerly the steep homeward +hill he carried with him the written offer of an engagement on the +“Pioneer.” As he entered the door his wife's nurse and companion met him +with a serious face. There had been a strange and unexpected change in +the patient's condition, and the doctor had already been there twice. +As he put aside his coat and hat and entered her room, it seemed to +him that he had forever put aside all else of essay and ambition beyond +those four walls. And with the thought a great peace came upon him. It +seemed good to him to live for her alone. + +It was not for long. As each monotonous day brought the morning mist and +evening fog regularly to the little hilltop where his whole being was +now centred, she seemed to grow daily weaker, and the little circle of +her life narrowed day by day. One morning when the usual mist appeared +to have been withheld and the sun had risen with a strange and cruel +brightness; when the waves danced and sparkled on the bay below and +light glanced from dazzling sails, and even the white tombs on Lone +Mountain glittered keenly; when cheery voices hailing each other on the +hillside came to him clearly but without sense or meaning; when earth, +sky, and sea seemed quivering with life and motion,--he opened the door +of that one little house on which the only shadow seemed to have fallen, +and went forth again into the world alone. + + + + +CHAPER VII. + + +Mr. Daniel Harcourt's town mansion was also on an eminence, but it +was that gentler acclivity of fashion known as Rincon Hill, and +sunned itself on a southern slope of luxury. It had been described +as “princely” and “fairy-like,” by a grateful reporter; tourists and +travelers had sung its praises in letters to their friends and in +private reminiscences, for it had dispensed hospitality to most of the +celebrities who had visited the coast. Nevertheless its charm was mainly +due to the ruling taste of Miss Clementina Harcourt, who had astonished +her father by her marvelous intuition of the nice requirements and +elegant responsibilities of their position; and had thrown her mother +into the pained perplexity of a matronly hen, who, among the ducks' eggs +intrusted to her fostering care, had unwittingly hatched a graceful but +discomposing cygnet. + +Indeed, after holding out feebly against the siege of wealth at Tasajara +and San Francisco, Mrs. Harcourt had abandoned herself hopelessly to +the horrors of its invasion; had allowed herself to be dragged from her +kitchen by her exultant daughters and set up in black silk in a certain +conventional respectability in the drawing-room. Strange to say, her +commiserating hospitality, or hospital-like ministration, not only gave +her popularity, but a certain kind of distinction. An exaltation +so sorrowfully deprecated by its possessor was felt to be a sign of +superiority. She was spoken of as “motherly,” even by those who vaguely +knew that there was somewhere a discarded son struggling in poverty +with a helpless wife, and that she had sided with her husband in +disinheriting a daughter who had married unwisely. She was sentimentally +spoken of as a “true wife,” while never opposing a single meanness of +her husband, suggesting a single active virtue, nor questioning her +right to sacrifice herself and her family for his sake. With nothing +she cared to affect, she was quite free from affectation, and even the +critical Lawrence Grant was struck with the dignity which her narrow +simplicity, that had seemed small even in Sidon, attained in her +palatial hall in San Francisco. It appeared to be a perfectly logical +conclusion that when such unaffectedness and simplicity were forced to +assume a hostile attitude to anybody, the latter must be to blame. + +Since the festival of Tasajara Mr. Grant had been a frequent visitor +at Harcourt's, and was a guest on the eve of his departure from San +Francisco. The distinguished position of each made their relations +appear quite natural without inciting gossip as to any attraction in +Harcourt's daughters. It was late one afternoon as he was passing the +door of Harcourt's study that his host called him in. He found him +sitting at his desk with some papers before him and a folded copy of the +“Clarion.” With his back to the fading light of the window his face was +partly in shadow. + +“By the way, Grant,” he began, with an assumption of carelessness +somewhat inconsistent with the fact that he had just called him in, “it +may be necessary for me to pull up those fellows who are blackguarding +me in the 'Clarion.'” + +“Why, they haven't been saying anything new?” asked Grant, laughingly, +as he glanced towards the paper. + +“No--that is--only a rehash of what they said before,” returned Harcourt +without opening the paper. + +“Well,” said Grant playfully, “you don't mind their saying that you're +NOT the original pioneer of Tasajara, for it's true; nor that that +fellow 'Lige Curtis disappeared suddenly, for he did, if I remember +rightly. But there's nothing in that to invalidate your rights to +Tasajara, to say nothing of your five years' undisputed possession.” + +“Of course there's no LEGAL question,” said Harcourt almost sharply. +“But as a matter of absurd report, I may want to contradict their +insinuations. And YOU remember all the circumstances, don't you?” + +“I should think so! Why, my dear fellow, I've told it everywhere!--here, +in New York, Newport, and in London; by Jove, it's one of my best +stories! How a company sent me out with a surveyor to look up a railroad +and agricultural possibilities in the wilderness; how just as I found +them--and a rather big thing they made, too--I was set afloat by a +flood and a raft, and drifted ashore on your bank, and practically +demonstrated to you what you didn't know and didn't dare to hope +for--that there could be a waterway straight to Sidon from the +embarcadero. I've told what a charming evening we had with you and +your daughters in the old house, and how I returned your hospitality by +giving you a tip about the railroad; and how you slipped out while we +were playing cards, to clinch the bargain for the land with that drunken +fellow, 'Lige Curtis”-- + +“What's that?” interrupted Harcourt, quickly. + +It was well that the shadow hid from Grant the expression of Harcourt's +face, or his reply might have been sharper. As it was, he answered a +little stiffly:-- + +“I beg your pardon”-- + +Harcourt recovered himself. “You're all wrong!” he said, “that bargain +was made long BEFORE; I never saw 'Lige Curtis after you came to the +house. It was before that, in the afternoon,” he went on hurriedly, +“that he was last in my store. I can prove it.” Nevertheless he was so +shocked and indignant at being confronted in his own suppressions and +falsehoods by an even greater and more astounding misconception of +fact, that for a moment he felt helpless. What, he reflected, if it were +alleged that 'Lige had returned again after the loafers had gone, or had +never left the store as had been said? Nonsense! There was John Milton, +who had been there reading all the time, and who could disprove it. Yes, +but John Milton was his discarded son,--his enemy,--perhaps even his +very slanderer! + +“But,” said Grant quietly, “don't you remember that your daughter +Euphemia said something that evening about the land Lige had OFFERED +you, and you snapped up the young lady rather sharply for letting out +secrets, and THEN you went out? At least that's my impression.” + +It was, however, more than an impression; with Grant's scientific memory +for characteristic details he had noticed that particular circumstance +as part of the social phenomena. + +“I don't know what Phemie SAID,” returned Harcourt, impatiently. “I KNOW +there was no offer pending; the land had been sold to me before I ever +saw you. Why--you must have thought me up to pretty sharp practice with +Curtis--eh?” he added, with a forced laugh. + +Grant smiled; he had been accustomed to hear of such sharp practice +among his business acquaintance, although he himself by nature and +profession was incapable of it, but he had not deemed Harcourt more +scrupulous than others. “Perhaps so,” he said lightly, “but for Heaven's +sake don't ask me to spoil my reputation as a raconteur for the sake of +a mere fact or two. I assure you it's a mighty taking story as I tell +it--and it don't hurt you in a business way. You're the hero of it--hang +it all!” + +“Yes,” said Harcourt, without noticing Grant's half cynical superiority, +“but you'll oblige me if you won't tell it again IN THAT WAY. There are +men here mean enough to make the worst of it. It's nothing to me, of +course, but my family--the girls, you know--are rather sensitive.” + +“I had no idea they even knew it,--much less cared for it,” said Grant, +with sudden seriousness. “I dare say if those fellows in the 'Clarion' +knew that they were annoying the ladies they'd drop it. Who's the +editor? Look here--leave it to me; I'll look into it. Better that you +shouldn't appear in the matter at all.” + +“You understand that if it was a really serious matter, Grant,” said +Harcourt with a slight attitude, “I shouldn't allow any one to take my +place.” + +“My dear fellow, there'll be nobody 'called out' and no 'shooting at +sight,' whatever is the result of my interference,” returned Grant, +lightly. “It'll be all right.” He was quite aware of the power of his +own independent position and the fact that he had been often appealed to +before in delicate arbitration. + +Harcourt was equally conscious of this, but by a strange inconsistency +now felt relieved at the coolness with which Grant had accepted the +misconception which had at first seemed so dangerous. If he were ready +to condone what he thought was SHARP PRACTICE, he could not be less +lenient with the real facts that might come out,--of course always +excepting that interpolated consideration in the bill of sale, which, +however, no one but the missing Curtis could ever discover. The fact +that a man of Grant's secure position had interested himself in this +matter would secure him from the working of that personal vulgar +jealousy which his humbler antecedents had provoked. And if, as he +fancied, Grant really cared for Clementina-- + +“As you like,” he said, with half-affected lightness, “and now let us +talk of something else. Clementina has been thinking of getting up +a riding party to San Mateo for Mrs. Ashwood. We must show them some +civility, and that Boston brother of hers, Mr. Shipley, will have to +be invited also. I can't get away, and my wife, of course, will only +be able to join them at San Mateo in the carriage. I reckon it would be +easier for Clementina if you took my place, and helped her look after +the riding party. It will need a man, and I think she'd prefer you--as +you know she's rather particular--unless, of course, you'd be wanted for +Mrs. Ashwood or Phemie, or somebody else.” + +From his shadowed corner he could see that a pleasant light had sprung +into Grant's eyes, although his reply was in his ordinary easy banter. +“I shall be only too glad to act as Miss Clementina's vaquero, and lasso +her runaways, or keep stragglers in the road.” + +There seemed to be small necessity, however, for this active +co-operation, for when the cheerful cavalcade started from the house +a few mornings later, Mr. Lawrence Grant's onerous duties seemed to be +simply confined to those of an ordinary cavalier at the side of Miss +Clementina, a few paces in the rear of the party. But this safe distance +gave them the opportunity of conversing without being overheard,--an +apparently discreet precaution. + +“Your father was so exceedingly affable to me the other day that if I +hadn't given you my promise to say nothing, I think I would have fallen +on my knees to him then and there, revealed my feelings, asked for your +hand and his blessing--or whatever one does at such a time. But how long +do you intend to keep me in this suspense?” + +Clementina turned her clear eyes half abstractedly upon him, as if +imperfectly recalling some forgotten situation. “You forget,” she said, +“that part of your promise was that you wouldn't even speak of it to me +again without my permission.” + +“But my time is so short now. Give me some definite hope before I go. +Let me believe that when we meet in New York”-- + +“You will find me just the same as now! Yes, I think I can promise THAT. +Let that suffice. You said the other day you liked me because I had not +changed for five years. You can surely trust that I will not alter in as +many months.” + +“If I only knew”-- + +“Ah, if I only knew,--if WE ALL only knew. But we don't. Come, Mr. +Grant, let it rest as it is. Unless you want to go still further back +and have it as it WAS, at Sidon. There I think you fancied Euphemia +most.” + +“Clementina!” + +“That is my name, and those people ahead of us know it already.” + +“You are called CLEMENTINA,--but you are not merciful!” + +“You are very wrong, for you might see that Mr. Shipley has twice +checked his horse that he might hear what you are saying, and Phemie is +always showing Mrs. Ashwood something in the landscape behind us.” + +All this was the more hopeless and exasperating to Grant since in the +young girl's speech and manner there was not the slightest trace of +coquetry or playfulness. He could not help saying a little bitterly: “I +don't think that any one would imagine from your manner that you were +receiving a declaration.” + +“But they might imagine from yours that you had the right to quarrel +with me,--which would be worse.” + +“We cannot part like this! It is too cruel to me.” + +“We cannot part otherwise without the risk of greater cruelty.” + +“But say at least, Clementina, that I have no rival. There is no other +more favored suitor?” + +“That is so like a man--and yet so unlike the proud one I believed you +to be. Why should a man like you even consider such a possibility? If I +were a man I know I couldn't.” She turned upon him a glance so clear and +untroubled by either conscious vanity or evasion that he was hopelessly +convinced of the truth of her statement, and she went on in a slightly +lowered tone, “You have no right to ask me such a question,--but perhaps +for that reason I am willing to answer you. There is none. Hush! For a +good rider you are setting a poor example to the others, by crowding +me towards the bank. Go forward and talk to Phemie, and tell her not to +worry Mrs. Ashwood's horse nor race with her; I don't think he's quite +safe, and Mrs. Ashwood isn't accustomed to using the Spanish bit. +I suppose I must say something to Mr. Shipley, who doesn't seem to +understand that I'M acting as chaperon, and YOU as captain of the +party.” + +She cantered forward as she spoke, and Grant was obliged to join her +sister, who, mounted on a powerful roan, was mischievously exciting +a beautiful quaker-colored mustang ridden by Mrs. Ashwood, already +irritated by the unfamiliar pressure of the Eastern woman's hand upon +his bit. The thick dust which had forced the party of twenty to close up +in two solid files across the road compelled them at the first opening +in the roadside fence to take the field in a straggling gallop. Grant, +eager to escape from his own discontented self by doing something for +others, reined in beside Euphemia and the fair stranger. + +“Let me take your place until Mrs. Ashwood's horse is quieted,” he half +whispered to Euphemia. + +“Thank you,--and I suppose it does not make any matter to Clem who +quiets mine,” she said, with provoking eyes and a toss of her head +worthy of the spirited animal she was riding. + +“She thinks you quite capable of managing yourself and even others,” + he replied with a playful glance at Shipley, who was riding somewhat +stiffly on the other side. + +“Don't be too sure,” retorted Phemie with another dangerous look; “I may +give you trouble yet.” + +They were approaching the first undulation of the russet plain they had +emerged upon,--an umbrageous slope that seemed suddenly to diverge +in two defiles among the shaded hills. Grant had given a few words of +practical advice to Mrs. Ashwood, and shown her how to guide her mustang +by the merest caressing touch of the rein upon its sensitive neck. He +had not been sympathetically inclined towards the fair stranger, a rich +and still youthful widow, although he could not deny her unquestioned +good breeding, mental refinement, and a certain languorous +thoughtfulness that was almost melancholy, which accented her blonde +delicacy. But he had noticed that her manner was politely reserved and +slightly constrained towards the Harcourts, and he had already resented +it with a lover's instinctive loyalty. He had at first attributed it +to a want of sympathy between Mrs. Ashwood's more intellectual +sentimentalities and the Harcourts' undeniable lack of any sentiment +whatever. But there was evidently some other innate antagonism. He +was very polite to Mrs. Ashwood; she responded with a gentlewoman's +courtesy, and, he was forced to admit, even a broader comprehension +of his own merits than the Harcourt girls had ever shown, but he could +still detect that she was not in accord with the party. + +“I am afraid you do not like California, Mrs. Ashwood?” he said +pleasantly. “You perhaps find the life here too unrestrained and +unconventional?” + +She looked at him in quick astonishment. “Are you quite sincere? Why, +it strikes me that this is just what it is NOT. And I have so longed +for something quite different. From what I have been told about the +originality and adventure of everything here, and your independence of +old social forms and customs, I am afraid I expected the opposite +of what I've seen. Why, this very party--except that the ladies are +prettier and more expensively gotten up--is like any party that might +have ridden out at Saratoga or New York.” + +“And as stupid, you would say.” + +“As CONVENTIONAL, Mr. Grant; always excepting this lovely creature +beneath me, whom I can't make out and who doesn't seem to care that I +should. There! look! I told you so!” + +Her mustang had suddenly bounded forward; but as Grant followed he +could see that the cause was the example of Phemie, who had, in some +mad freak, dashed out in a frantic gallop. A half-dozen of the +younger people hilariously accepted the challenge; the excitement was +communicated to the others, until the whole cavalcade was sweeping +down the slope. Grant was still at Mrs. Ashwood's side, restraining +her mustang and his own impatient horse when Clementina joined them. +“Phemie's mare has really bolted, I fear,” she said in a quick whisper, +“ride on, and never mind us.” Grant looked quickly ahead; Phemie's roan, +excited by the shouts behind her and to all appearance ungovernable, was +fast disappearing with her rider. Without a word, trusting to his own +good horsemanship and better knowledge of the ground, he darted out of +the cavalcade to overtake her. + +But the unfortunate result of this was to give further impulse to the +now racing horses as they approached a point where the slope terminated +in two diverging canyons. Mrs. Ashwood gave a sharp pull upon her +bit. To her consternation the mustang stopped short almost +instantly,--planting his two fore feet rigidly in the dust and even +sliding forward with the impetus. Had her seat been less firm she might +have been thrown, but she recovered herself, although in doing so +she still bore upon the bit, when to her astonishment the mustang +deliberately stiffened himself as if for a shock, and then began to back +slowly, quivering with excitement. She did not know that her native-bred +animal fondly believed that he was participating in a rodeo, and that to +his equine intelligence his fair mistress had just lassoed something! +In vain she urged him forward; he still waited for the shock! When the +cloud of dust in which she had been enwrapped drifted away, she saw to +her amazement that she was alone. The entire party had disappeared into +one of the canyons,--but which one she could not tell! + +When she succeeded at last in urging her mustang forward again she +determined to take the right-hand canyon and trust to being either met +or overtaken. A more practical and less adventurous nature would have +waited at the point of divergence for the return of some of the party, +but Mrs. Ashwood was, in truth, not sorry to be left to herself and the +novel scenery for a while, and she had no doubt but she would eventually +find her way to the hotel at San Mateo, which could not be far away, in +time for luncheon. + +The road was still well defined, although it presently began to wind +between ascending ranks of pines and larches that marked the terraces +of hills, so high that she wondered she had not noticed them from the +plains. An unmistakable suggestion of some haunting primeval solitude, +a sense of the hushed and mysterious proximity of a nature she had never +known before, the strange half-intoxicating breath of unsunned foliage +and untrodden grasses and herbs, all combined to exalt her as she +cantered forward. Even her horse seemed to have acquired an intelligent +liberty, or rather to have established a sympathy with her in his needs +and her own longings; instinctively she no longer pulled him with the +curb; the reins hung loosely on his self-arched and unfettered neck; +secure in this loneliness she found herself even talking to him with +barbaric freedom. As she went on, the vague hush of all things animate +and inanimate around her seemed to thicken, until she unconsciously +halted before a dim and pillared wood, and a vast and heathless opening +on whose mute brown lips Nature seemed to have laid the finger of +silence. She forgot the party she had left, she forgot the luncheon she +was going to; more important still she forgot that she had already left +the traveled track far behind her, and, tremulous with anticipation, +rode timidly into that arch of shadow. + +As her horse's hoofs fell noiselessly on the elastic moss-carpeted aisle +she forgot even more than that. She forgot the artificial stimulus and +excitement of the life she had been leading so long; she forgot the +small meannesses and smaller worries of her well-to-do experiences; she +forgot herself,--rather she regained a self she had long forgotten. +For in the sweet seclusion of this half darkened sanctuary the clinging +fripperies of her past slipped from her as a tawdry garment. The +petted, spoiled, and vapidly precocious girlhood which had merged into +a womanhood of aimless triumphs and meaner ambitions; the worldly but +miserable triumph of a marriage that had left her delicacy abused and +her heart sick and unsatisfied; the wifehood without home, seclusion, +or maternity; the widowhood that at last brought relief, but with it the +consciousness of hopelessly wasted youth,--all this seemed to drop from +her here as lightly as the winged needles or noiseless withered spray +from the dim gray vault above her head. In the sovereign balm of that +woodland breath her better spirit was restored; somewhere in these +wholesome shades seemed to still lurk what should have been her innocent +and nymph-like youth, and to come out once more and greet her. Old songs +she had forgotten, or whose music had failed in the discords of her +frivolous life, sang themselves to her again in that sweet, grave +silence; girlish dreams that she had foolishly been ashamed of, or had +put away with her childish toys, stole back to her once more and became +real in this tender twilight; old fancies, old fragments of verse and +childish lore, grew palpable and moved faintly before her. The boyish +prince who should have come was there; the babe that should have been +hers was there!--she stopped suddenly with flaming eyes and indignant +color. For it appeared that a MAN was there too, and had just risen from +the fallen tree where he had been sitting. + + + + +CHAPER VIII. + + +She had so far forgotten herself in yielding to the spell of the place, +and in the revelation of her naked soul and inner nature, that it was +with something of the instinct of outraged modesty that she seemed to +shrink before this apparition of the outer world and outer worldliness. +In an instant the nearer past returned; she remembered where she was, +how she had come there, from whom she had come, and to whom she was +returning. She could see that she had not only aimlessly wandered from +the world but from the road; and for that instant she hated this man who +had reminded her of it, even while she knew she must ask his assistance. +It relieved her slightly to observe that he seemed as disturbed and +impatient as herself, and as he took a pencil from between his lips and +returned it to his pocket he scarcely looked at her. + +But with her return to the world of convenances came its repression, +and with a gentlewoman's ease and modulated voice she leaned over her +mustang's neck and said: “I have strayed from my party and am afraid I +have lost my way. We were going to the hotel at San Mateo. Would you be +kind enough to direct me there, or show me how I can regain the road by +which I came?” + +Her voice and manner were quite enough to arrest him where he stood with +a pleased surprise in his fresh and ingenuous face. She looked at him +more closely. He was, in spite of his long silken mustache, so absurdly +young; he might, in spite of that youth, be so absurdly man-like! What +was he doing there? Was he a farmer's son, an artist, a surveyor, or a +city clerk out for a holiday? Was there perhaps a youthful female of his +species somewhere for whom he was waiting and upon whose tryst she was +now breaking? Was he--terrible thought!--the outlying picket of some +family picnic? His dress, neat, simple, free from ostentatious ornament, +betrayed nothing. She waited for his voice. + +“Oh, you have left San Mateo miles away to the right,” he said with +quick youthful sympathy, “at least five miles! Where did you leave your +party?” + +His voice was winning, and even refined, she thought. She answered it +quite spontaneously: “At a fork of two roads. I see now I took the wrong +turning.” + +“Yes, you took the road to Crystal Spring. It's just down there in the +valley, not more than a mile. You'd have been there now if you hadn't +turned off at the woods.” + +“I couldn't help it, it was so beautiful.” + +“Isn't it?” + +“Perfect.” + +“And such shadows, and such intensity of color.” + +“Wonderful!--and all along the ridge, looking down that defile!” + +“Yes, and that point where it seems as if you had only to stretch out +your hand to pick a manzanita berry from the other side of the canyon, +half a mile across!” + +“Yes, and that first glimpse of the valley through the Gothic gateway of +rocks!” + +“And the color of those rocks,--cinnamon and bronze with the light green +of the Yerba buena vine splashing over them.” + +“Yes, but for color DID you notice that hillside of yellow poppies +pouring down into the valley like a golden Niagara?” + +“Certainly,--and the perfect clearness of everything.” + +“And yet such complete silence and repose!” + +“Oh, yes!” + +“Ah, yes!” + +They were both gravely nodding and shaking their heads with sparkling +eyes and brightened color, looking not at each other but at the far +landscape vignetted through a lozenge-shaped wind opening in the trees. +Suddenly Mrs. Ashwood straightened herself in the saddle, looked grave, +lifted the reins and apparently the ten years with them that had dropped +from her. But she said in her easiest well-bred tones, and a half sigh, +“Then I must take the road back again to where it forks?” + +“Oh, no! you can go by Crystal Spring. It's no further, and I'll show +you the way. But you'd better stop and rest yourself and your horse for +a little while at the Springs Hotel. It's a very nice place. Many people +ride there from San Francisco to luncheon and return. I wonder that your +party didn't prefer it; and if they are looking for you,--as they surely +must be,” he said, as if with a sudden conception of her importance, +“they'll come there when they find you're not at San Mateo.” + +This seemed reasonable, although the process of being “fetched” and +taking the five miles ride, which she had enjoyed so much alone, +in company was not attractive. “Couldn't I go on at once?” she said +impulsively. + +“You would meet them sooner,” he said thoughtfully. + +This was quite enough for Mrs. Ashwood. “I think I'll rest this poor +horse, who is really tired,” she, said with charming hypocrisy, “and +stop at the hotel.” + +She saw his face brighten. Perhaps he was the son of the hotel +proprietor, or a youthful partner himself. “I suppose you live here?” + she suggested gently. “You seem to know the place so well.” + +“No,” he returned quickly; “I only run down here from San Francisco when +I can get a day off.” + +A day off! He was in some regular employment. But he continued: “And I +used to go to boarding-school near here, and know all these woods well.” + +He must be a native! How odd! She had not conceived that there might +be any other population here than the immigrants; perhaps that was what +made him so interesting and different from the others. “Then your father +and mother live here?” she said. + +His frank face, incapable of disguise, changed suddenly. “No,” he said +simply, but without any trace of awkwardness. Then after a slight +pause he laid his hand--she noticed it was white and well kept--on her +mustang's neck, and said, “If--if you care to trust yourself to me, I +could lead you and your horse down a trail into the valley that is at +least a third of the distance shorter. It would save you going back to +the regular road, and there are one or two lovely views that I could +show you. I should be so pleased, if it would not trouble you. There's a +steep place or two--but I think there's no danger.” + +“I shall not be afraid.” + +She smiled so graciously, and, as she fully believed, maternally, that +he looked at her the second time. To his first hurried impression of +her as an elegant and delicately nurtured woman--one of the class of +distinguished tourists that fashion was beginning to send thither--he +had now to add that she had a quantity of fine silken-spun light hair +gathered in a heavy braid beneath her gray hat; that her mouth was +very delicately lipped and beautifully sensitive; that her soft skin, +although just then touched with excitement, was a pale faded velvet, and +seemed to be worn with ennui rather than experience; that her eyes +were hidden behind a strip of gray veil whence only a faint glow was +discernible. To this must still be added a poetic fancy all his own +that, as she sat there, with the skirt of her gray habit falling from +her long bodiced waist over the mustang's fawn-colored flanks, and with +her slim gauntleted hands lightly swaying the reins, she looked like +Queen Guinevere in the forest. Not that he particularly fancied Queen +Guinevere, or that he at all imagined himself Launcelot, but it was +quite in keeping with the suggestion-haunted brain of John Milton +Harcourt, whom the astute reader has of course long since recognized. + +Preceding her through the soft carpeted vault with a woodman's +instinct,--for there was apparently no trail to be seen,--the soft inner +twilight began to give way to the outer stronger day, and presently she +was startled to see the clear blue of the sky before her on apparently +the same level as the brown pine-tessellated floor she was treading. Not +only did this show her that she was crossing a ridge of the upland, but +a few moments later she had passed beyond the woods to a golden hillside +that sloped towards a leafy, sheltered, and exquisitely-proportioned +valley. A tiny but picturesque tower, and a few straggling roofs and +gables, the flashing of a crystal stream through the leaves, and a +narrow white ribbon of road winding behind it indicated the hostelry +they were seeking. So peaceful and unfrequented it looked, nestling +between the hills, that it seemed as if they had discovered it. + +With his hand at times upon the bridle, at others merely caressing her +mustang's neck, he led the way; there were a few breathless places where +the crown of his straw hat appeared between her horse's reins, and again +when she seemed almost slipping over on his shoulder, but they were +passed with such frank fearlessness and invincible youthful confidence +on the part of her escort that she felt no timidity. There were moments +when a bit of the charmed landscape unfolding before them overpowered +them both, and they halted to gaze,--sometimes without a word, or only a +significant gesture of sympathy and attention. At one of those artistic +manifestations Mrs. Ashwood laid her slim gloved fingers lightly but +unwittingly on John Milton's arm, and withdrew them, however, with a +quick girlish apology and a foolish color which annoyed her more than +the appearance of familiarity. But they were now getting well down into +the valley; the court of the little hotel was already opening before +them; their unconventional relations in the idyllic world above had +changed; the new one required some delicacy of handling, and she had an +idea that even the simplicity of the young stranger might be confusing. + +“I must ask you to continue to act as my escort,” she said, laughingly. +“I am Mrs. Ashwood of Philadelphia, visiting San Francisco with my +sister and brother, who are, I am afraid, even now hopelessly waiting +luncheon for me at San Mateo. But as there seems to be no prospect of my +joining them in time, I hope you will be able to give me the pleasure +of your company, with whatever they may give us here in the way of +refreshment.” + +“I shall be very happy,” returned John Milton with unmistakable candor; +“but perhaps some of your friends will be arriving in quest of you, if +they are not already here.” + +“Then they will join us or wait,” said Mrs. Ashwood incisively, with +her first exhibition of the imperiousness of a rich and pretty woman. +Perhaps she was a little annoyed that her elaborate introduction of +herself had produced no reciprocal disclosure by her companion. “Will +you please send the landlord to me?” she added. + +John Milton disappeared in the hotel as she cantered to the porch. In +another moment she was giving the landlord her orders with the easy +confidence of one who knew herself only as an always welcome and highly +privileged guest, which was not without its effect. “And,” she added +carelessly, “when everything is ready you will please tell--Mr.”-- + +“Harcourt,” suggested the landlord promptly. + +Mrs. Ashwood's perfectly trained face gave not the slightest sign of the +surprise that had overtaken her. “Of course,--Mr. Harcourt.” + +“You know he's the son of the millionaire,” continued the landlord, not +at all unwilling to display the importance of the habitues of Crystal +Spring, “though they've quarreled and don't get on together.” + +“I know,” said the lady languidly, “and, if any one comes here for ME, +ask them to wait in the parlor until I come.” + +Then, submitting herself and her dusty habit to the awkward ministration +of the Irish chambermaid, she was quite thrilled with a delightful +curiosity. She vaguely remembered that she had heard something of the +Harcourt family discord,--but that was the divorced daughter surely! +And this young man was Harcourt's son, and they had quarreled! A quarrel +with a frank, open, ingenuous fellow like that--a mere boy--could only +be the father's fault. Luckily she had never mentioned the name of +Harcourt! She would not now; he need not know that it was his father who +had originated the party; why should she make him uncomfortable for the +few moments they were together? + +There was nothing of this in her face as she descended and joined him. +He thought that face handsome, well-bred, and refined. But this +breeding and refinement seemed to him--in his ignorance of the world, +possibly--as only a graceful concealment of a self of which he knew +nothing; and he was not surprised to find that her pretty gray eyes, now +no longer hidden by her veil, really told him no more than her lips. +He was a little afraid of her, and now that she had lost her naive +enthusiasm he was conscious of a vague remorsefulness for his +interrupted work in the forest. What was he doing here? He who had +avoided the cruel, selfish world of wealth and pleasure,--a world that +this woman represented,--the world that had stood apart from him in the +one dream of his life--and had let Loo die! His quickly responsive face +darkened. + +“I am afraid I really interrupted you up there,” she said gently, +looking in his face with an expression of unfeigned concern; “you were +at work of some kind, I know, and I have very selfishly thought only of +myself. But the whole scene was so new to me, and I so rarely meet any +one who sees things as I do, that I know you will forgive me.” She bent +her eyes upon him with a certain soft timidity. “You are an artist?” + +“I am afraid not,” he said, coloring and smiling faintly; “I don't think +I could draw a straight line.” + +“Don't try to; they're not pretty, and the mere ability to draw them +straight or curved doesn't make an artist. But you are a LOVER of +nature, I know, and from what I have heard you say I believe you can do +what lovers cannot do,--make others feel as they do,--and that is what I +call being an artist. You write? You are a poet?” + +“Oh dear, no,” he said with a smile, half of relief and half of naive +superiority, “I'm a prose writer--on a daily newspaper.” + +To his surprise she was not disconcerted; rather a look of animation lit +up her face as she said brightly, “Oh, then, you can of course satisfy +my curiosity about something. You know the road from San Francisco to +the Cliff House. Except for the view of the sea-lions when one gets +there it's stupid; my brother says it's like all the San Francisco +excursions,--a dusty drive with a julep at the end of it. Well, one day +we were coming back from a drive there, and when we were beginning to +wind along the brow of that dreadful staring Lone Mountain Cemetery, I +said I would get out and walk, and avoid the obtrusive glitter of those +tombstones rising before me all the way. I pushed open a little gate and +passed in. Once among these funereal shrubs and cold statuesque lilies +everything was changed; I saw the staring tombstones no longer, for, +like them, I seemed to be always facing the sea. The road had vanished; +everything had vanished but the endless waste of ocean below me, and +the last slope of rock and sand. It seemed to be the fittest place for +a cemetery,--this end of the crumbling earth,--this beginning of the +eternal sea. There! don't think that idea my own, or that I thought of +it then. No,--I read it all afterwards, and that's why I'm telling you +this.” + +She could not help smiling at his now attentive face, and went on: “Some +days afterwards I got hold of a newspaper four or six months old, and +there was a description of all that I thought I had seen and felt,--only +far more beautiful and touching, as you shall see, for I cut it out +of the paper and have kept it. It seemed to me that it must be some +personal experience,--as if the writer had followed some dear friend +there,--although it was with the unostentation and indefiniteness of +true and delicate feeling. It impressed me so much that I went back +there twice or thrice, and always seemed to move to the rhythm of that +beautiful funeral march--and I am afraid, being a woman, that I wandered +around among the graves as though I could find out who it was that had +been sung so sweetly, and if it were man or woman. I've got it here,” + she said, taking a dainty ivory porte-monnaie from her pocket and +picking out with two slim finger-tips a folded slip of newspaper; “and +I thought that maybe you might recognize the style of the writer, and +perhaps know something of his history. For I believe he has one. There! +that is only a part of the article, of course, but it is the part that +interested me. Just read from there,” she pointed, leaning partly over +his shoulder so that her soft breath stirred his hair, “to the end; it +isn't long.” + +In the film that seemed to come across his eyes, suddenly the print +appeared blurred and indistinct. But he knew that she had put into his +hand something he had written after the death of his wife; something +spontaneous and impulsive, when her loss still filled his days and +nights and almost unconsciously swayed his pen. He remembered that his +eyes had been as dim when he wrote it--and now--handed to him by this +smiling, well-to-do woman, he was as shocked at first as if he had +suddenly found her reading his private letters. This was followed by a +sudden sense of shame that he had ever thus publicly bared his feelings, +and then by the illogical but irresistible conviction that it was false +and stupid. The few phrases she had pointed out appeared as cheap and +hollow rhetoric amid the surroundings of their social tete-a-tete over +the luncheon-table. There was small danger that this heady wine of +woman's praise would make him betray himself; there was no sign of +gratified authorship in his voice as he quietly laid down the paper and +said dryly: “I am afraid I can't help you. You know it may be purely +fanciful.” + +“I don't think so,” said Mrs. Ashwood thoughtfully. “At the same time it +doesn't strike me as a very abiding grief for that very reason. It's TOO +sympathetic. It strikes me that it might be the first grief of some one +too young to be inured to sorrow or experienced enough to accept it as +the common lot. But like all youthful impressions it is very sincere and +true while it lasts. I don't know whether one gets anything more real +when one gets older.” + +With an insincerity he could not account for, he now felt inclined to +defend his previous sentiment, although all the while conscious of a +certain charm in his companion's graceful skepticism. He had in his +truthfulness and independence hitherto always been quite free from that +feeble admiration of cynicism which attacks the intellectually weak and +immature, and his present predilection may have been due more to her +charming personality. She was not at all like his sisters; she had +none of Clementina's cold abstraction, and none of Euphemia's sharp +and demonstrative effusiveness. And in his secret consciousness of her +flattering foreknowledge of him, with her assurance that before they had +ever met he had unwittingly influenced her, he began to feel more at his +ease. His fair companion also, in the equally secret knowledge she had +acquired of his history, felt as secure as if she had been formally +introduced. Nobody could find fault with her for showing civility to +the ostensible son of her host; it was not necessary that she should +be aware of their family differences. There was a charm too in their +enforced isolation, in what was the exceptional solitude of the little +hotel that day, and the seclusion of their table by the window of the +dining-room, which gave a charming domesticity to their repast. From +time to time they glanced down the lonely canyon, losing itself in the +afternoon shadow. Nevertheless Mrs. Ashwood's preoccupation with Nature +did not preclude a human curiosity to hear something more of John +Milton's quarrel with his father. There was certainly nothing of the +prodigal son about him; there was no precocious evil knowledge in his +frank eyes; no record of excesses in his healthy, fresh complexion; +no unwholesome or disturbed tastes in what she had seen of his rural +preferences and understanding of natural beauty. To have attempted any +direct questioning that would have revealed his name and identity would +have obliged her to speak of herself as his father's guest. She began +indirectly; he had said he had been a reporter, and he was still a +chronicler of this strange life. He had of course heard of many cases +of family feuds and estrangements? Her brother had told her of some +dreadful vendettas he had known in the Southwest, and how whole families +had been divided. Since she had been here she had heard of odd cases of +brothers meeting accidentally after long and unaccounted separations; +of husbands suddenly confronted with wives they had deserted; of fathers +encountering discarded sons! + +John Milton's face betrayed no uneasy consciousness. If anything it was +beginning to glow with a boyish admiration of the grace and intelligence +of the fair speaker, that was perhaps heightened by an assumption of +half coquettish discomfiture. + +“You are laughing at me!” she said finally. “But inhuman and selfish as +these stories may seem, and sometimes are, I believe that these curious +estrangements and separations often come from some fatal weakness of +temperament that might be strengthened, or some trivial misunderstanding +that could be explained. It is separation that makes them seem +irrevocable only because they are inexplicable, and a vague memory +always seems more terrible than a definite one. Facts may be forgiven +and forgotten, but mysteries haunt one always. I believe there are weak, +sensitive people who dread to put their wrongs into shape; those are the +kind who sulk, and when you add separation to sulking, reconciliation +becomes impossible. I knew a very singular case of that kind once. If +you like, I'll tell it to you. May be you will be able, some day, to +weave it into one of your writings. And it's quite true.” + +It is hardly necessary to say that John Milton had not been touched by +any personal significance in his companion's speech, whatever she may +have intended; and it is equally true that whether she had presently +forgotten her purpose, or had become suddenly interested in her own +conversation, her face grew more animated, her manner more confidential, +and something of the youthful enthusiasm she had shown in the mountain +seemed to come back to her. + +“I might say it happened anywhere and call the people M. or N., but it +really did occur in my own family, and although I was much younger +at the time it impressed me very strongly. My cousin, who had been +my playmate, was an orphan, and had been intrusted to the care of my +father, who was his guardian. He was always a clever boy, but singularly +sensitive and quick to take offense. Perhaps it was because the little +property his father had left made him partly dependent on my father, and +that I was rich, but he seemed to feel the disparity in our positions. +I was too young to understand it; I think it existed only in his +imagination, for I believe we were treated alike. But I remember that he +was full of vague threats of running away and going to sea, and that +it was part of his weak temperament to terrify me with his extravagant +confidences. I was always frightened when, after one of those scenes, +he would pack his valise or perhaps only tie up a few things in a +handkerchief, as in the advertisement pictures of the runaway slaves, +and declare that we would never lay eyes upon him again. At first I +never saw the ridiculousness of all this,--for I ought to have told you +that he was a rather delicate and timid boy, and quite unfitted for a +rough life or any exposure,--but others did, and one day I laughed at +him and told him he was afraid. I shall never forget the expression of +his face and never forgive myself for it. He went away,--but he returned +the next day! He threatened once to commit suicide, left his clothes on +the bank of the river, and came home in another suit of clothes he had +taken with him. When I was sent abroad to school I lost sight of him; +when I returned he was at college, apparently unchanged. When he +came home for vacation, far from having been subdued by contact with +strangers, it seemed that his unhappy sensitiveness had been only +intensified by the ridicule of his fellows. He had even acquired a +most ridiculous theory about the degrading effects of civilization, and +wanted to go back to a state of barbarism. He said the wilderness was +the only true home of man. My father, instead of bearing with what +I believe was his infirmity, dryly offered him the means to try his +experiment. He started for some place in Texas, saying we would never +hear from him again. A month after he wrote for more money. My father +replied rather impatiently, I suppose,--I never knew exactly what he +wrote. That was some years ago. He had told the truth at last, for we +never heard from him again.” + +It is to be feared that John Milton was following the animated lips and +eyes of the fair speaker rather than her story. Perhaps that was the +reason why he said, “May he not have been a disappointed man?” + +“I don't understand,” she said simply. + +“Perhaps,” said John Milton with a boyish blush, “you may have +unconsciously raised hopes in his heart--and”-- + +“I should hardly attempt to interest a chronicler of adventure like you +in such a very commonplace, every-day style of romance,” she said, +with a little impatience, “even if my vanity compelled me to make such +confidences to a stranger. No,--it was nothing quite as vulgar as that. +And,” she added quickly, with a playfully amused smile as she saw the +young fellow's evident distress, “I should have probably heard from him +again. Those stories always end in that way.” + +“And you think?”--said John Milton. + +“I think,” said Mrs. Ashwood slowly, “that he actually did commit +suicide--or effaced himself in some way, just as firmly as I believe he +might have been saved by judicious treatment. Otherwise we should have +heard from him. You'll say that's only a woman's reasoning--but I think +our perceptions are often instinctive, and I knew his character.” + +Still following the play of her delicate features into a romance of his +own weaving, the imaginative young reporter who had seen so much from +the heights of Russian Hill said earnestly, “Then I have your permission +to use this material at any future time?” + +“Yes,” said the lady smilingly. + +“And you will not mind if I should take some liberties with the text?” + +“I must of course leave something to your artistic taste. But you will +let me see it?” + +There were voices outside now, breaking the silence of the veranda. +They had been so preoccupied as not to notice the arrival of a horseman. +Steps came along the passage; the landlord returned. Mrs. Ashwood turned +quickly towards him. + +“Mr. Grant, of your party, ma'am, to fetch you.” + +She saw an unmistakable change in her young friend's mobile face. “I +will be ready in a moment,” she said to the landlord. Then, turning +to John Milton, the arch-hypocrite said sweetly: “My brother must have +known instinctively that I was in good hands, as he didn't come. But I +am sorry, for I should have so liked to introduce him to you--although +by the way,” with a bright smile, “I don't think you have yet told me +your name. I know I couldn't have FORGOTTEN it.” + +“Harcourt,” said John Milton, with a half-embarrassed laugh. + +“But you must come and see me, Mr.--Mr. Harcourt,” she said, producing +a card from a case already in her fingers, “at my hotel, and let my +brother thank you there for your kindness and gallantry to a stranger. I +shall be here a few weeks longer before we go south to look for a place +where my brother can winter. DO come and see me, although I cannot +introduce you to anything as real and beautiful as what YOU have shown +me to-day. Good-by, Mr. Harcourt; I won't trouble you to come down and +bore yourself with my escort's questions and congratulations.” + +She bent her head and allowed her soft eyes to rest upon his with a +graciousness that was beyond her speech, pulled her veil over her eyes +again, with a pretty suggestion that she had no further use for them, +and taking her riding-skirt lightly in her hand seemed to glide from the +room. + +On her way to San Mateo, where it appeared the disorganized party had +prolonged their visit to accept an invitation to dine with a local +magnate, she was pleasantly conversational with the slightly abstracted +Grant. She was so sorry to have given them all this trouble and anxiety! +Of course she ought to have waited at the fork of the road, but she had +never doubted but she could rejoin them presently on the main road. She +was glad that Miss Euphemia's runaway horse had been stopped without +accident; it would have been dreadful if anything had happened to HER; +Mr. Harcourt seemed so wrapped up in his girls. It was a pity they never +had a son--Ah? Indeed! Then there was a son? So--and father and son had +quarreled? That was so sad. And for some trifling cause, no doubt? + +“I believe he married the housemaid,” said Grant grimly. “Be +careful!--Allow me.” + +“It's no use!” said Mrs. Ashwood, flushing with pink impatience, as she +recovered her seat, which a sudden bolt of her mustang had imperiled, “I +really can't make out the tricks of this beast! Thank you,” she added, +with a sweet smile, “but I think I can manage him now. I can't see +why he stopped. I'll be more careful. You were saying the son was +married--surely not that boy!” + +“Boy!” echoed Grant. “Then you know?”-- + +“I mean of course he must be a boy--they all grew up here--and it was +only five or six years ago that their parents emigrated,” she retorted a +little impatiently. “And what about this creature?” + +“Your horse?” + +“You know I mean the woman he married. Of course she was older than +he--and caught him?” + +“I think there was a year or two difference,” said Grant quietly. + +“Yes, but your gallantry keeps you from telling the truth; which is that +the women, in cases of this kind, are much older and more experienced.” + +“Are they? Well, perhaps she is, NOW. She is dead.” + +Mrs. Ashwood walked her horse. “Poor thing,” she said. Then a sudden +idea took possession of her and brought a film to her eyes. “How long +ago?” she asked in a low voice. + +“About six or seven months, I think. I believe there was a baby who died +too.” + +She continued to walk her horse slowly, stroking its curved neck. “I +think it's perfectly shameful!” she said suddenly. + +“Not so bad as that, Mrs. Ashwood, surely. The girl may have loved +him--and he”-- + +“You know perfectly what I mean, Mr. Grant. I speak of the conduct of +the mother and father and those two sisters!” + +Grant slightly elevated his eyebrows. “But you forget, Mrs. Ashwood. It +was young Harcourt and his wife's own act. They preferred to take their +own path and keep it.” + +“I think,” said Mrs. Ashwood authoritatively, “that the idea of leaving +those two unfortunate children to suffer and struggle on alone--out +there--on the sand hills of San Francisco--was simply disgraceful!” + +Later that evening she was unreasonably annoyed to find that her +brother, Mr. John Shipley, had taken advantage of the absence of Grant +to pay marked attention to Clementina, and had even prevailed upon that +imperious goddess to accompany him after dinner on a moonlight stroll +upon the veranda and terraces of Los Pajaros. Nevertheless she seemed to +recover her spirits enough to talk volubly of the beautiful scenery +she had discovered in her late perilous abandonment in the wilds of the +Coast Range; to aver her intention to visit it again; to speak of it in +a severely practical way as offering a far better site for the cottages +of the young married couples just beginning life than the outskirts of +towns or the bleak sand hills of San Francisco; and thence by graceful +degrees into a dissertation upon popular fallacies in regard to hasty +marriages, and the mistaken idea of some parents in not accepting the +inevitable and making the best of it. She still found time to enter +into an appreciative and exhaustive criticism upon the literature and +journalistic enterprise of the Pacific Coast with the proprietor of the +“Pioneer,” and to cause that gentleman to declare that whatever people +might say about rich and fashionable Eastern women, that Mrs. Ashwood's +head was about as level as it was pretty. + +The next morning found her more thoughtful and subdued, and when her +brother came upon her sitting on the veranda, while the party were +preparing to return, she was reading a newspaper slip that she had taken +from her porte-monnaie, with a face that was partly shadowed. + +“What have you struck there, Conny?” said her brother gayly. “It looks +too serious for a recipe.” + +“Something I should like you to read some time, Jack,” she said, lifting +her lashes with a slight timidity, “if you would take the trouble. I +really wonder how it would impress you.” + +“Pass it over,” said Jack Shipley good-humoredly, with his cigar between +his lips. “I'll take it now.” + +She handed him the slip and turned partly away; he took it, glanced at +it sideways, turned it over, and suddenly his look grew concentrated, +and he took the cigar from his lips. + +“Well,” she said playfully, turning to him again. “What do you think of +it?” + +“Think of it?” he said with a rising color. “I think it's infamous! Who +did it?” + +She stared at him, then glanced quickly at the slip. “What are you +reading?” she said. + +“This, of course,” he said impatiently. “What you gave me.” But he was +pointing to THE OTHER SIDE of the newspaper slip. + +She took it from him impatiently and read for the first time the +printing on the reverse side of the article she had treasured so long. +It was the concluding paragraph of an apparently larger editorial. “One +thing is certain, that a man in Daniel Harcourt's position cannot afford +to pass over in silence accusations like the above, that affect not only +his private character, but the integrity of his title to the land that +was the foundation of his fortune. When trickery, sharp practice, and +even criminality in the past are more than hinted at, they cannot be +met by mere pompous silence or allusions to private position, social +prestige, or distinguished friends in the present.” + +Mrs. Ashwood turned the slip over with scornful impatience, a pretty +uplifting of her eyebrows and a slight curl of her lip. “I suppose none +of those people's beginnings can bear looking into--and they certainly +should be the last ones to find fault with anybody. But, good gracious, +Jack! what has this to do with you?” + +“With me?” said Shipley angrily. “Why, I proposed to Clementina last +night!” + + + + +CHAPER IX. + + +The wayfarers on the Tasajara turnpike, whom Mr. Daniel Harcourt +passed with his fast trotting mare and sulky, saw that their great +fellow-townsman was more than usually preoccupied and curt in his +acknowledgment of their salutations. Nevertheless as he drew near +the creek, he partly checked his horse, and when he reached a slight +acclivity of the interminable plain--which had really been the bank of +the creek in bygone days--he pulled up, alighted, tied his horse to a +rail fence, and clambering over the inclosure made his way along the +ridge. It was covered with nettles, thistles, and a few wiry dwarf +larches of native growth; dust from the adjacent highway had invaded +it, with a few scattered and torn handbills, waste paper, rags, empty +provision cans, and other suburban debris. Yet it was the site of 'Lige +Curtis's cabin, long since erased and forgotten. The bed of the old +creek had receded; the last tules had been cleared away; the channel and +embarcadero were half a mile from the bank and log whereon the pioneer +of Tasajara had idly sunned himself. + +Mr. Harcourt walked on, occasionally turning over the scattered objects +with his foot, and stopping at times to examine the ground more closely. +It had not apparently been disturbed since he himself, six years ago, +had razed the wretched shanty and carried off its timbers to aid in the +erection of a larger cabin further inland. He raised his eyes to the +prospect before him,--to the town with its steamboats lying at the +wharves, to the grain elevator, the warehouses, the railroad station +with its puffing engines, the flagstaff of Harcourt House and the +clustering roofs of the town, and beyond, the painted dome of his last +creation, the Free Library. This was all HIS work, HIS planning, HIS +foresight, whatever they might say of the wandering drunkard from whose +tremulous fingers he had snatched the opportunity. They could not take +THAT from him, however they might follow him with envy and reviling, +any more than they could wrest from him the five years of peaceful +possession. It was with something of the prosperous consciousness with +which he had mounted the platform on the opening of the Free Library, +that he now climbed into his buggy and drove away. + +Nevertheless he stopped at his Land Office as he drove into town, +and gave a few orders. “I want a strong picket fence put around the +fifty-vara lot in block fifty-seven, and the ground cleared up at once. +Let me know when the men get to work, and I'll overlook them.” + +Re-entering his own house in the square, where Mrs. Harcourt and +Clementina--who often accompanied him in those business visits--were +waiting for him with luncheon, he smiled somewhat superciliously as the +servant informed him that “Professor Grant had just arrived.” Really +that man was trying to make the most of his time with Clementina! +Perhaps the rival attractions of that Boston swell Shipley had something +to do with it! He must positively talk to Clementina about this. In +point of fact he himself was a little disappointed in Grant, who, since +his offer to take the task of hunting down his calumniators, had really +done nothing. He turned into his study, but was slightly astonished to +find that Grant, instead of paying court to Clementina in the adjoining +drawing-room, was sitting rather thoughtfully in his own armchair. + +He rose as Harcourt entered. “I didn't let them announce me to the +ladies,” he said, “as I have some important business with you first, and +we may find it necessary that I should take the next train back to town. +You remember that a few weeks ago I offered to look into the matter of +those slanders against you. I apprehended it would be a trifling matter +of envy or jealousy on the part of your old associates or neighbors +which could be put straight with a little good feeling; but I must be +frank with you, Harcourt, and say at the beginning that it turns out +to be an infernally ugly business. Call it conspiracy if you like, or +organized hostility, I'm afraid it will require a lawyer rather than +an arbitrator to manage it, and the sooner the better. For the most +unpleasant thing about it is, that I can't find out exactly HOW BAD it +is!” + +Unfortunately the weaker instinct of Harcourt's nature was first roused; +the vulgar rage which confounds the bearer of ill news with the +news itself filled his breast. “And this is all that your confounded +intermeddling came to?” he said brutally. + +“No,” said Grant quietly, with a preoccupied ignoring of the insult that +was more hopeless for Harcourt. “I found out that it is claimed that +this 'Lige Curtis was not drowned nor lost that night; but that he +escaped, and for three years has convinced another man that you are +wrongfully in possession of this land; that these two naturally hold you +in their power, and that they are only waiting for you to be forced into +legal proceedings for slander to prove all their charges. Until +then, for some reason best known to themselves, Curtis remains in the +background.” + +“Does he deny the deed under which I hold the property?” said Harcourt +savagely. + +“He says it was only a security for a trifling loan, and not an actual +transfer.” + +“And don't those fools know that his security could be forfeited?” + +“Yes, but not in the way it is recorded in the county clerk's office. +They say that the record shows that there was an interpolation in the +paper he left with you--which was a forgery. Briefly, Harcourt, you are +accused of that. More,--it is intimated that when he fell into the creek +that night, and escaped on a raft that was floating past, that he had +been first stunned by a blow from some one interested in getting rid of +him.” + +He paused and glanced out of the window. + +“Is that all?” asked Harcourt in a perfectly quiet, steady, voice. + +“All!” replied Grant, struck with the change in his companion's manner, +and turning his eyes upon him quickly. + +The change indeed was marked and significant. Whether from relief at +knowing the worst, or whether he was experiencing the same reaction from +the utter falsity of this last accusation that he had felt when Grant +had unintentionally wronged him in his previous recollection, certain it +is that some unknown reserve of strength in his own nature, of which +he knew nothing before, suddenly came to his aid in this extremity. It +invested him with an uncouth dignity that for the first time excited +Grant's respect. + +“I beg your pardon, Grant, for the hasty way I spoke to you a moment +ago, for I thank you, and appreciate thoroughly and sincerely what you +have done. You are right; it is a matter for fighting and not fussing +over. But I must have a head to hit. Whose is it?” + +“The man who holds himself legally responsible is Fletcher,--the +proprietor of the 'Clarion,' and a man of property.” + +“The 'Clarion'? That is the paper which began the attack?” said +Harcourt. + +“Yes, and it is only fair to tell you here that your son threw up his +place on it in consequence of its attack upon you.” + +There was perhaps the slightest possible shrinking in Harcourt's +eyelids--the one congenital likeness to his discarded son--but his +otherwise calm demeanor did not change. Grant went on more cheerfully: +“I've told you all I know. When I spoke of an unknown WORST, I did not +refer to any further accusation, but to whatever evidence they might +have fabricated or suborned to prove any one of them. It is only the +strength and fairness of the hands they hold that is uncertain. +Against that you have your certain uncontested possession, the peculiar +character and antecedents of this 'Lige Curtis, which would make his +evidence untrustworthy and even make it difficult for them to establish +his identity. I am told that his failure to contest your appropriation +of his property is explained by the fact of his being absent from the +country most of the time; but again, this would not account for their +silence until within the last six months, unless they have been waiting +for further evidence to establish it. But even then they must have known +that the time of recovery had passed. You are a practical man, Harcourt; +I needn't tell you therefore what your lawyer will probably tell you, +that practically, so far as your rights are concerned, you remain +as before these calumnies; that a cause of action unprosecuted or +in abeyance is practically no cause, and that it is not for you to +anticipate one. BUT”-- + +He paused and looked steadily at Harcourt. Harcourt met his look with a +dull, ox-like stolidity. “I shall begin the suit at once,” he said. + +“And I,” said Grant, holding out his hand, “will stand by you. But tell +me now what you knew of this man Curtis,--his character and disposition; +it may be some clue as to what are his methods and his intentions.” + +Harcourt briefly sketched 'Lige Curtis as he knew him and understood +him. It was another indication of his reserved power that the +description was so singularly clear, practical, unprejudiced, and +impartial that it impressed Grant with its truthfulness. + +“I can't make him out,” he said; “you have drawn a weak, but neither a +dishonest nor malignant man. There must have been somebody behind him. +Can you think of any personal enemy?” + +“I have been subjected to the usual jealousy and envy of my old +neighbors, I suppose, but nothing more. I have harmed no one knowingly.” + +Grant was silent; it had flashed across him that Rice might have +harbored revenge for his father-in-law's interference in his brief +matrimonial experience. He had also suddenly recalled his conversation +with Billings on the day that he first arrived at Tasajara. It would not +be strange if this man had some intimation of the secret. He would try +to find him that evening. He rose. + +“You will stay to dinner? My wife and Clementina will expect you.” + +“Not to-night; I am dining at the hotel,” said Grant, smilingly; “but I +will come in later in the evening if I may.” He paused hesitatingly for +a moment. “Have your wife and daughter ever expressed any opinion on +this matter?” + +“No,” said Harcourt. “Mrs. Harcourt knows nothing of anything that does +not happen IN the house; Euphemia knows only the things that happen out +of it where she is visiting--and I suppose that young men prefer to +talk to her about other things than the slanders of her father. And +Clementina--well, you know how calm and superior to these things SHE +is.” + +“For that very reason I thought that perhaps she might be able to see +them more clearly,--but no matter! I dare say you are quite right in +not discussing them at home.” This was the fact, although Grant had not +forgotten that Harcourt had put forward his daughters as a reason for +stopping the scandal some weeks before,--a reason which, however, seemed +never to have been borne out by any apparent sensitiveness of the girls +themselves. + +When Grant had left, Harcourt remained for some moments steadfastly +gazing from the window over the Tasajara plain. He had not lost his +look of concentrated power, nor his determination to fight. A struggle +between himself and the phantoms of the past had become now a necessary +stimulus for its own sake,--for the sake of his mental and physical +equipoise. He saw before him the pale, agitated, irresolute features of +'Lige Curtis,--not the man HE had injured, but the man who had injured +HIM, whose spirit was aimlessly and wantonly--for he had never +attempted to get back his possessions in his lifetime, nor ever tried +to communicate with the possessor--striking at him in the shadow. And +it was THAT man, that pale, writhing, frightened wretch whom he had once +mercifully helped! Yes, whose LIFE he had even saved that night from +exposure and delirium tremens when he had given him the whiskey. And +this life he had saved, only to have it set in motion a conspiracy to +ruin him! Who knows that 'Lige had not purposely conceived what they had +believed to be an attempt at suicide, only to cast suspicion of murder +on HIM! From which it will be perceived that Harcourt's powers of moral +reasoning had not improved in five years, and that even the impartiality +he had just shown in his description of 'Lige to Grant had been +swallowed up in this new sense of injury. The founder of Tasajara, whose +cool business logic, unfailing foresight, and practical deductions were +never at fault, was once more childishly adrift in his moral ethics. + +And there was Clementina, of whose judgment Grant had spoken so +persistently,--could she assist him? It was true, as he had said, he +had never talked to her of his affairs. In his sometimes uneasy +consciousness of her superiority he had shrunk from even revealing his +anxieties, much less his actual secret, and from anything that might +prejudice the lofty paternal attitude he had taken towards his daughters +from the beginning of his good fortune. He was never quite sure if her +acceptance of it was real; he was never entirely free from a certain +jealousy that always mingled with his pride in her superior rectitude; +and yet his feeling was distinct from the good-natured contempt he +had for his wife's loyalty, the anger and suspicion that his son's +opposition had provoked, and the half-affectionate toleration he had +felt for Euphemia's waywardness. However he would sound Clementina +without betraying himself. + +He was anticipated by a slight step in the passage and the pushing open +of his study door. The tall, graceful figure of the girl herself stood +in the opening. + +“They tell me Mr. Grant has been here. Does he stay to dinner?” + +“No, he has an engagement at the hotel, but he will probably drop in +later. Come in, Clemmy, I want to talk to you. Shut the door and sit +down.” + +She slipped in quietly, shut the door, took a seat on the sofa, softly +smoothed down her gown, and turned her graceful head and serenely +composed face towards him. Sitting thus she looked like some finely +finished painting that decorated rather than belonged to the room,--not +only distinctly alien to the flesh and blood relative before her, but +to the house, and even the local, monotonous landscape beyond the window +with the shining new shingles and chimneys that cut the new blue sky. +These singular perfections seemed to increase in Harcourt's mind the +exasperating sense of injury inflicted upon him by 'Lige's exposures. +With a daughter so incomparably gifted,--a matchless creation that was +enough in herself to ennoble that fortune which his own skill and genius +had lifted from the muddy tules of Tasajara where this 'Lige had left +it,--that SHE should be subjected to this annoyance seemed an infamy +that Providence could not allow! What was his mere venial transgression +to this exaggerated retribution? + +“Clemmy, girl, I'm going to ask you a question. Listen, pet.” He had +begun with a reminiscent tenderness of the epoch of her childhood, but +meeting the unresponding maturity of her clear eyes he abandoned it. +“You know, Clementina, I have never interfered in your affairs, nor +tried to influence your friendships for anybody. Whatever people may +have to say of me they can't say that! I've always trusted you, as I +would myself, to choose your own associates; I have never regretted it, +and I don't regret it now. But I'd like to know--I have reasons to-day +for asking--how matters stand between you and Grant.” + +The Parian head of Minerva on the bookcase above her did not offer the +spectator a face less free from maidenly confusion than Clementina's +at that moment. Her father had certainly expected none, but he was not +prepared for the perfect coolness of her reply. + +“Do you mean, have I ACCEPTED him?” + +“No,--well--yes.” + +“No, then! Is that what he wished to see you about? It was understood +that he was not to allude again to the subject to any one.” + +“He has not to ME. It was only my own idea. He had something very +different to tell me. You may not know, Clementina,” he begun +cautiously, “that I have been lately the subject of some anonymous +slanders, and Grant has taken the trouble to track them down for me. It +is a calumny that goes back as far as Sidon, and I may want your level +head and good memory to help me to refute it.” He then repeated calmly +and clearly, with no trace of the fury that had raged within him a +moment before, the substance of Grant's revelation. + +The young girl listened without apparent emotion. When he had finished +she said quickly: “And what do you want me to recollect?” + +The hardest part of Harcourt's task was coming. “Well, don't you +remember that I told you the day the surveyors went away--that--I had +bought this land of 'Lige Curtis some time before?” + +“Yes, I remember your saying so, but”-- + +“But what?” + +“I thought you only meant that to satisfy mother.” + +Daniel Harcourt felt the blood settling round his heart, but he was +constrained by an irresistible impulse to know the worst. “Well, what +did YOU think it really was?” + +“I only thought that 'Lige Curtis had simply let you have it, that's +all.” + +Harcourt breathed again. “But what for? Why should he?” + +“Well--ON MY ACCOUNT.” + +“On YOUR account! What in Heaven's name had YOU to do with it?” + +“He loved me.” There was not the slightest trace of vanity, +self-consciousness or coquetry in her quiet, fateful face, and for this +very reason Harcourt knew that she was speaking the truth. + +“Loved YOU!--you, Clementina!--my daughter! Did he ever TELL you so?” + +“Not in words. He used to walk up and down on the road when I was at the +back window or in the garden, and often hung about the bank of the creek +for hours, like some animal. I don't think the others saw him, and when +they did they thought it was Parmlee for Euphemia. Even Euphemia thought +so too, and that was why she was so conceited and hard to Parmlee +towards the end. She thought it was Parmlee that night when Grant and +Rice came; but it was 'Lige Curtis who had been watching the window +lights in the rain, and who must have gone off at last to speak to +you in the store. I always let Phemie believe that it was Parmlee,--it +seemed to please her.” + +There was not the least tone of mischief or superiority, or even of +patronage in her manner. It was as quiet and cruel as the fate that +might have led 'Lige to his destruction. Even her father felt a slight +thrill of awe as she paused. “Then he never really spoke to you?” he +asked hurriedly. + +“Only once. I was gathering swamp lilies all alone, a mile below the +bend of the creek, and he came upon me suddenly. Perhaps it was that I +didn't jump or start--I didn't see anything to jump or start at--that he +said, 'You're not frightened at me, Miss Harcourt, like the other girls? +You don't think I'm drunk or half mad--as they do?' I don't remember +exactly what I said, but it meant that whether he was drunk or half mad +or sober I didn't see any reason to be afraid of him. And then he told +me that if I was fond of swamp lilies I might have all I wanted at his +place, and for the matter of that the place too, as he was going away, +for he couldn't stand the loneliness any longer. He said that he had +nothing in common with the place and the people--no more than I had--and +that was what he had always fancied in me. I told him that if he felt +in that way about his place he ought to leave it, or sell it to some one +who cared for it, and go away. That must have been in his mind when he +offered it to you,--at least that's what I thought when you told us you +had bought it. I didn't know but what he might have told you, but you +didn't care to say it before mother.” + +Mr. Harcourt sat gazing at her with breathless amazement. “And +you--think that--'Lige Curtis--lov--liked you?” + +“Yes, I think he did--and that he does now!” + +“NOW! What do you mean? The man is dead!” said Harcourt starting. + +“That's just what I don't believe.” + +“Impossible! Think of what you are saying.” + +“I never could quite understand or feel that he was dead when everybody +said so, and now that I've heard this story I KNOW that he is living.” + +“But why did he not make himself known in time to claim the property?” + +“Because he did not care for it.” + +“What did he care for, then?” + +“Me, I suppose.” + +“But this calumny is not like a man who loves you.” + +“It is like a JEALOUS one.” + +With an effort Harcourt threw off his bewildered incredulity and grasped +the situation. He would have to contend with his enemy in the flesh and +blood, but that flesh and blood would be very weak in the hands of the +impassive girl beside him. His face lightened. + +The same idea might have been in Clementina's mind when she spoke again, +although her face had remained unchanged. “I do not see why YOU should +bother yourself further about it,” she said. “It is only a matter +between myself and him; you can leave it to me.” + +“But if you are mistaken and he should not be living?” + +“I am not mistaken. I am even certain now that I have seen him.” + +“Seen him!” + +“Yes,” said the girl with the first trace of animation in her face. +“It was four or five months ago when we were visiting the Briones at +Monterey. We had ridden out to the old Mission by moonlight. There were +some Mexicans lounging around the posada, and one of them attracted my +attention by the way he seemed to watch me, without revealing any more +of his face than I could see between his serape and the black silk +handkerchief that was tied around his head under his sombrero. But I +knew he was an American--and his eyes were familiar. I believe it was +he.” + +“Why did you not speak of it before?” + +The look of animation died out of the girl's face. “Why should I?” she +said listlessly. “I did not know of these reports then. He was nothing +more to us. You wouldn't have cared to see him again.” She rose, +smoothed out her skirt and stood looking at her father. “There is one +thing, of course, that you'll do at once.” + +Her voice had changed so oddly that he said quickly: “What's that?” + +“Call Grant off the scent. He'll only frighten or exasperate your game, +and that's what you don't want.” + +Her voice was as imperious as it had been previously listless. And it +was the first time he had ever known her to use slang. + +It seemed as startling as if it had fallen from the marble lips above +him. + +“But I've promised him that we should go together to my lawyer +to-morrow, and begin a suit against the proprietors of the 'Clarion.'” + +“Do nothing of the kind. Get rid of Grant's assistance in this matter; +and see the 'Clarion' proprietor yourself. What sort of a man is he? Can +you invite him to your house?” + +“I have never seen him; I believe he lives at San Jose. He is a wealthy +man and a large land owner there. You understand that after the first +article appeared in his paper, and I knew that he had employed your +brother--although Grant says that he had nothing to do with it and left +Fletcher on account of it--I could have no intercourse with him. Even if +I invited him he would not come.” + +“He MUST come. Leave it to ME.” She stopped and resumed her former +impassive manner. “I had something to say to you too, father. Mr. +Shipley proposed to me the day we went to San Mateo.” + +Her father's eyes lit with an eager sparkle. “Well,” he said quickly. + +“I reminded him that I had known him only a few weeks, and that I wanted +time to consider.” + +“Consider! Why, Clemmy, he's one of the oldest Boston families, rich +from his father and grandfather--rich when I was a shopkeeper and your +mother”-- + +“I thought you liked Grant?” she said quietly. + +“Yes, but if YOU have no choice nor feeling in the matter, why Shipley +is far the better man. And if any of the scandal should come to his +ears”-- + +“So much the better that the hesitation should come from me. But if you +think it better, I can sit down here and write to him at once declining +the offer.” She moved towards the desk. + +“No! No! I did not mean that,” said Harcourt quickly. “I only thought +that if he did hear anything it might be said that he had backed out.” + +“His sister knows of his offer, and though she don't like it nor me, she +will not deny the fact. By the way, you remember when she was lost that +day on the road to San Mateo?” + +“Yes.” + +“Well, she was with your son, John Milton, all the time, and they +lunched together at Crystal Spring. It came out quite accidentally +through the hotel-keeper.” + +Harcourt's brow darkened. “Did she know him before?” + +“I can't say; but she does now.” + +Harcourt's face was heavy with distrust. “Taking Shipley's offer and +these scandals into consideration, I don't like the look of this, +Clementina.” + +“I do,” said the girl simply. + +Harcourt gazed at her keenly and with the shadow of distrust still upon +him. It seemed to be quite impossible, even with what he knew of her +calmly cold nature, that she should be equally uninfluenced by Grant or +Shipley. Had she some steadfast, lofty ideal, or perhaps some already +absorbing passion of which he knew nothing? She was not a girl to betray +it--they would only know it when it was too late. Could it be possible +that there was still something between her and 'Lige that he knew +nothing of? The thought struck a chill to his breast. She was walking +towards the door, when he recalled himself with an effort. + +“If you think it advisable to see Fletcher, you might run down to San +Jose for a day or two with your mother, and call on the Ramirez. +They may know him or somebody who does. Of course if YOU meet him and +casually invite him it would be different.” + +“It's a good idea,” she said quickly. “I'll do it, and speak to mother +now.” + +He was struck by the change in her face and voice; they had both +nervously lightened, as oddly and distinctly as they had before seemed +to grow suddenly harsh and aggressive. She passed out of the room with +girlish brusqueness, leaving him alone with a new and vague fear in his +consciousness. + + +A few hours later Clementina was standing before the window of the +drawing-room that overlooked the outskirts of the town. The moonlight +was flooding the vast bluish Tasajara levels with a faint lustre, as if +the waters of the creek had once more returned to them. In the shadow of +the curtain beside her Grant was facing her with anxious eyes. + +“Then I must take this as your final answer, Clementina?” + +“You must. And had I known of these calumnies before, had you been frank +with me even the day we went to San Mateo, my answer would have been as +final then, and you might have been spared any further suspense. I am +not blaming you, Mr. Grant; I am willing to believe that you thought +it best to conceal this from me,--even at that time when you had just +pledged yourself to find out its truth or falsehood,--yet my answer +would have been the same. So long as this stain rests on my father's +name I shall never allow that name to be coupled with yours in marriage +or engagement; nor will my pride or yours allow us to carry on a simple +friendship after this. I thank you for your offer of assistance, but +I cannot even accept that which might to others seem to allow some +contingent claim. I would rather believe that when you proposed this +inquiry and my father permitted it, you both knew that it put an end to +any other relations between us.” + +“But, Clementina, you are wrong, believe me! Say that I have been +foolish, indiscreet, mad,--still the few who knew that I made these +inquiries on your father's behalf know nothing of my hopes of YOU!” + +“But I do, and that is enough for me.” + +Even in the hopeless preoccupation of his passion he suddenly looked +at her with something of his old critical scrutiny. But she stood there +calm, concentrated, self-possessed and upright. Yes! it was possible +that the pride of this Southwestern shopkeepers daughter was greater +than his own. + +“Then you banish me, Clementina?” + +“It is we whom YOU have banished.” + +“Good-night.” + +“Good-by.” + +He bent for an instant over her cold hand, and then passed out into the +hall. She remained listening until the front door closed behind him. +Then she ran swiftly through the hall and up the staircase, with an +alacrity that seemed impossible to the stately goddess of a moment +before. When she had reached her bedroom and closed the door, so +exuberant still and so uncontrollable was her levity and action, that +without going round the bed which stood before her in the centre of +the room, she placed her two hands upon it and lightly vaulted sideways +across it to reach the window. There she watched the figure of Grant +crossing the moonlit square. Then turning back into the half-lit room, +she ran to the small dressing-glass placed at an angle on a toilet table +against the wall. With her palms grasping her knees she stooped +down suddenly and contemplated the mirror. It showed what no one but +Clementina had ever seen,--and she herself only at rare intervals,--the +laughing eyes and soul of a self-satisfied, material-minded, ordinary +country-girl! + + + + +CHAPER X. + + +But Mr. Lawrence Grant's character in certain circumstances would seem +to have as startling and inexplicable contradictions as Clementina +Harcourt's, and three days later he halted his horse at the entrance of +Los Gatos Rancho. The Home of the Cats--so called from the catamounts +which infested the locality--which had for over a century lazily basked +before one of the hottest canyons in the Coast Range, had lately been +stirred into some activity by the American, Don Diego Fletcher, who had +bought it, put up a saw-mill, and deforested the canyon. Still there +remained enough suggestion of a feline haunt about it to make Grant +feel as if he had tracked hither some stealthy enemy, in spite of the +peaceful intimation conveyed by the sign on a rough boarded shed at the +wayside, that the “Los Gatos Land and Lumber Company” held their office +there. + +A cigarette-smoking peon lounged before the door. Yes; Don Diego was +there, but as he had arrived from Santa Clara only last night and was +going to Colonel Ramirez that afternoon, he was engaged. Unless the +business was important--but the cool, determined manner of Grant, even +more than his words, signified that it WAS important, and the servant +led the way to Don Diego's presence. + +There certainly was nothing in the appearance of this sylvan proprietor +and newspaper capitalist to justify Grant's suspicion of a surreptitious +foe. A handsome man scarcely older than himself, in spite of a wavy +mass of perfectly white hair which contrasted singularly with his brown +mustache and dark sunburned face. So disguising was the effect of these +contradictions, that he not only looked unlike anybody else, but even +his nationality seemed to be a matter of doubt. Only his eyes, light +blue and intelligent, which had a singular expression of gentleness and +worry, appeared individual to the man. His manner was cultivated and +easy. He motioned his visitor courteously to a chair. + +“I was referred to you,” said Grant, almost abruptly, “as the person +responsible for a series of slanderous attacks against Mr. Daniel +Harcourt in the 'Clarion,' of which paper I believe you are the +proprietor. I was told that you declined to give the authority for your +action, unless you were forced to by legal proceedings.” + +Fletcher's sensitive blue eyes rested upon Grant's with an expression +of constrained pain and pity. “I heard of your inquiries, Mr. Grant; you +were making them on behalf of this Mr. Harcourt or Harkutt”--he made the +distinction with intentional deliberation--“with a view, I believe, to +some arbitration. The case was stated to you fairly, I think; I believe +I have nothing to add to it.” + +“That was your answer to the ambassador of Mr. Harcourt,” said Grant, +coldly, “and as such I delivered it to him; but I am here to-day to +speak on my own account.” + +What could be seen of Mr. Fletcher's lips appeared to curl in an odd +smile. “Indeed, I thought it was--or would be--all in the family.” + +Grant's face grew more stern, and his gray eyes glittered. “You'll find +my status in this matter so far independent that I don't propose, +like Mr. Harcourt, either to begin a suit or to rest quietly under the +calumny. Briefly, Mr. Fletcher, as you or your informant knows, I was +the surveyor who revealed to Mr. Harcourt the value of the land to which +he claimed a title from your man, this Elijah or 'Lige Curtis as you +call him,”--he could not resist this imitation of his adversary's +supercilious affectation of precise nomenclature,--“and it was upon +my representation of its value as an investment that he began the +improvements which have made him wealthy. If this title was fraudulently +obtained, all the facts pertaining to it are sufficiently related to +connect me with the conspiracy.” + +“Are you not a little hasty in your presumption, Mr. Grant?” said +Fletcher, with unfeigned surprise. + +“That is for ME to judge, Mr. Fletcher,” returned Grant, haughtily. + +“But the name of Professor Grant is known to all California as beyond +the breath of calumny or suspicion.” + +“It is because of that fact that I propose to keep it so.” + +“And may I ask in what way you wish me to assist you in so doing?” + +“By promptly and publicly retracting in the 'Clarion' every word of this +slander against Harcourt.” + +Fletcher looked steadfastly at the speaker. “And if I decline?” + +“I think you have been long enough in California, Mr. Fletcher, to know +the alternative expected of a gentleman,” said Grant, coldly. + +Mr. Fletcher kept his gentle blue eyes--in which surprise still +overbalanced their expression of pained concern--on Grant's face. + +“But is not this more in the style of Colonel Starbottle than Professor +Grant?” he asked, with a faint smile. + +Grant rose instantly with a white face. “You will have a better +opportunity of judging,” he said, “when Colonel Starbottle has the honor +of waiting upon you from me. Meantime, I thank you for reminding me of +the indiscretion into which my folly, in still believing that this thing +could be settled amicably, has led me.” + +He bowed coldly and withdrew. Nevertheless, as he mounted his horse +and rode away, he felt his cheeks burning. Yet he had acted upon calm +consideration; he knew that to the ordinary Californian experience there +was nothing quixotic nor exaggerated in the attitude he had taken. Men +had quarreled and fought on less grounds; he had even half convinced +himself that he HAD been insulted, and that his own professional +reputation demanded the withdrawal of the attack on Harcourt on +purely business grounds; but he was not satisfied of the personal +responsibility of Fletcher nor of his gratuitous malignity. Nor did the +man look like a tool in the hands of some unscrupulous and hidden enemy. +However, he had played his card. If he succeeded only in provoking a +duel with Fletcher, he at least would divert the public attention from +Harcourt to himself. He knew that his superior position would throw the +lesser victim in the background. He would make the sacrifice; that was +his duty as a gentleman, even if SHE would not care to accept it as an +earnest of his unselfish love! + +He had reached the point where the mountain track entered the Santa +Clara turnpike when his attention was attracted by a handsome but +old-fashioned carriage drawn by four white mules, which passed down the +road before him and turned suddenly off into a private road. But it was +not this picturesque gala equipage of some local Spanish grandee that +brought a thrill to his nerves and a flash to his eye; it was the +unmistakable, tall, elegant figure and handsome profile of Clementina, +reclining in light gauzy wraps against the back seat! It was no fanciful +resemblance, the outcome of his reverie,--there never was any one like +her!--it WAS she herself! But what was she doing here? + +A vaquero cantered from the cross road where the dust of the vehicle +still hung. Grant hailed him. Ah! it was a fine carroza de cuatro mulas +that he had just passed! Si, Senor, truly; it was of Don Jose Ramirez, +who lived just under the hill. It was bringing company to the casa. + +Ramirez! That was where Fletcher was going! Had Clementina known that +he was one of Fletcher's friends? Might she not be exposed to +unpleasantness, marked coolness, or even insult in that unexpected +meeting? Ought she not to be warned or prepared for it? She had banished +Grant from her presence until this stain was removed from her father's +name, but could she blame him for trying to save her from contact with +her father's slanderer? No! He turned his horse abruptly into the cross +road and spurred forward in the direction of the casa. + +It was quite visible now--a low-walled, quadrangular mass of whitewashed +adobe lying like a drift on the green hillside. The carriage and four +had far preceded him, and was already half up the winding road towards +the house. Later he saw them reach the courtyard and disappear within. +He would be quite in time to speak with her before she retired to change +her dress. He would simply say that while making a professional visit +to Los Gatos Land Company office he had become aware of Fletcher's +connection with it, and accidentally of his intended visit to Ramirez. +His chance meeting with the carriage on the highway had determined his +course. + +As he rode into the courtyard he observed that it was also approached +by another road, evidently nearer Los Gatos, and probably the older +and shorter communication between the two ranchos. The fact was +significantly demonstrated a moment later. He had given his horse to a +servant, sent in his card to Clementina, and had dropped listlessly on +one of the benches of the gallery surrounding the patio, when a horseman +rode briskly into the opposite gateway, and dismounted with a familiar +air. A waiting peon who recognized him informed him that the Dona was +engaged with a visitor, but that they were both returning to the gallery +for chocolate in a moment. The stranger was the man he had left only an +hour before--Don Diego Fletcher! + +In an instant the idiotic fatuity of his position struck him fully. His +only excuse for following Clementina had been to warn her of the coming +of this man who had just entered, and who would now meet her as quickly +as himself. For a brief moment the idea of quietly slipping out to the +corral, mounting his horse again, and flying from the rancho, crossed +his mind; but the thought that he would be running away from the man he +had just challenged, and perhaps some new hostility that had sprung up +in his heart against him, compelled him to remain. The eyes of both men +met; Fletcher's in half-wondering annoyance, Grant's in ill-concealed +antagonism. What they would have said is not known, for at that moment +the voices of Clementina and Mrs. Ramirez were heard in the passage, and +they both entered the gallery. The two men were standing together; it +was impossible to see one without the other. + +And yet Grant, whose eyes were instantly directed to Clementina, thought +that she had noted neither. She remained for an instant standing in the +doorway in the same self-possessed, coldly graceful pose he remembered +she had taken on the platform at Tasajara. Her eyelids were slightly +downcast, as if she had been arrested by some sudden thought or some shy +maiden sensitiveness; in her hesitation Mrs. Ramirez passed impatiently +before her. + +“Mother of God!” said that lively lady, regarding the two speechless +men, “is it an indiscretion we are making here--or are you dumb? You, +Don Diego, are loud enough when you and Don Jose are together; at least +introduce your friend.” + +Grant quickly recovered himself. “I am afraid,” he said, coming forward, +“unless Miss Harcourt does, that I am a mere trespasser in your house, +Senora. I saw her pass in your carriage a few moments ago, and having a +message for her I ventured to follow her here.” + +“It is Mr. Grant, a friend of my father's,” said Clementina, smiling +with equanimity, as if just awakening from a momentary abstraction, +yet apparently unconscious of Grant's imploring eyes; “but the other +gentleman I have not the pleasure of knowing.” + +“Ah! Don Diego Fletcher, a countryman of yours; and yet I think he knows +you not.” + +Clementina's face betrayed no indication of the presence of her father's +foe, and yet Grant knew that she must have recognized his name, as she +looked towards Fletcher with perfect self-possession. He was too much +engaged in watching her to take note of Fletcher's manifest disturbance, +or the evident effort with which he at last bowed to her. That this +unexpected double meeting with the daughter of the man he had wronged, +and the man who had espoused the quarrel, should be confounding to him +appeared only natural. But he was unprepared to understand the feverish +alacrity with which he accepted Dona Maria's invitation to chocolate, +or the equally animated way in which Clementina threw herself into her +hostess's Spanish levity. He knew it was an awkward situation, that must +be surmounted without a scene; he was quite prepared in the presence of +Clementina to be civil to Fletcher; but it was odd that in this feverish +exchange of courtesies and compliments HE, Grant, should feel the +greater awkwardness and be the most ill at ease. He sat down and took +his part in the conversation; he let it transpire for Clementina's +benefit that he had been to Los Gatos only on business, yet there was +no opportunity for even a significant glance, and he had the added +embarrassment of seeing that she exhibited no surprise nor seemed to +attach the least importance to his inopportune visit. In a miserable +indecision he allowed himself to be carried away by the high-flown +hospitality of his Spanish hostess, and consented to stay to an early +dinner. It was part of the infelicity of circumstance that the voluble +Dona Maria--electing him as the distinguished stranger above the +resident Fletcher--monopolized him and attached him to her side. She +would do the honors of her house; she must show him the ruins of the +old Mission beside the corral; Don Diego and Clementina would join them +presently in the garden. He cast a despairing glance at the placidly +smiling Clementina, who was apparently equally indifferent to the +evident constraint and assumed ease of the man beside her, and turned +away with Mrs. Ramirez. + +A silence fell upon the gallery so deep that the receding voices and +footsteps of Grant and his hostess in the long passage were distinctly +heard until they reached the end. Then Fletcher arose with an +inarticulate exclamation. Clementina instantly put her finger to her +lips, glanced around the gallery, extended her hand to him, and saying +“Come,” half-led, half-dragged him into the passage. To the right +she turned and pushed open the door of a small room that seemed a +combination of boudoir and oratory, lit by a French window opening to +the garden, and flanked by a large black and white crucifix with a prie +Dieu beneath it. Closing the door behind them she turned and faced +her companion. But it was no longer the face of the woman who had been +sitting in the gallery; it was the face that had looked back at her +from the mirror at Tasajara the night that Grant had left her--eager, +flushed, material with commonplace excitement! + +“'Lige Curtis,” she said. + +“Yes,” he answered passionately, “Lige Curtis, whom you thought dead! +'Lige Curtis, whom you once pitied, condoled with and despised! 'Lige +Curtis, whose lands and property have enriched you! 'Lige Curtis, who +would have shared it with you freely at the time, but whom your father +juggled and defrauded of it! 'Lige Curtis, branded by him as a drunken +outcast and suicide! 'Lige Curtis”-- + +“Hush!” She clapped her little hand over his mouth with a quick but +awkward schoolgirl gesture, inconceivable to any who had known her usual +languid elegance of motion, and held it there. He struggled angrily, +impatiently, reproachfully, and then, with a sudden characteristic +weakness that seemed as much of a revelation as her once hoydenish +manner, kissed it, when she let it drop. Then placing both her hands +still girlishly on her slim waist and curtseying grotesquely before +him, she said: “'Lige Curtis! Oh, yes! 'Lige Curtis, who swore to do +everything for me! 'Lige Curtis, who promised to give up liquor for +me,--who was to leave Tasajara for me! 'Lige Curtis, who was to reform, +and keep his land as a nest-egg for us both in the future, and then +who sold it--and himself--and me--to dad for a glass of whiskey! 'Lige +Curtis, who disappeared, and then let us think he was dead, only that he +might attack us out of the ambush of his grave!” + +“Yes, but think what I have suffered all these years; not for the +cursed land--you know I never cared for that--but for YOU,--you, +Clementina,--YOU rich, admired by every one; idolized, held far above +me,--ME, the forgotten outcast, the wretched suicide--and yet the man +to whom you had once plighted your troth. Which of those greedy +fortune-hunters whom my money--my life-blood as you might have thought +it was--attracted to you, did you care to tell that you had ever slipped +out of the little garden gate at Sidon to meet that outcast! Do you +wonder that as the years passed and YOU were happy, I did not choose to +be so forgotten? Do you wonder that when YOU shut the door on the past +I managed to open it again--if only a little way--that its light might +startle you?” + +Yet she did not seem startled or disturbed, and remained only looking at +him critically. + +“You say that you have suffered,” she replied with a smile. “You don't +look it! Your hair is white, but it is becoming to you, and you are a +handsomer man, 'Lige Curtis, than you were when I first met you; you are +finer,” she went on, still regarding him, “stronger and healthier +than you were five years ago; you are rich and prosperous, you have +everything to make you happy, but”--here she laughed a little, held +out both her hands, taking his and holding his arms apart in a rustic, +homely fashion--“but you are still the same old 'Lige Curtis! It was +like you to go off and hide yourself in that idiotic way; it was like +you to let the property slide in that stupid, unselfish fashion; it was +like you to get real mad, and say all those mean, silly things to dad, +that didn't hurt him--in your regular looney style; for rich or poor, +drunk or sober, ragged or elegant, plain or handsome,--you're always the +same 'Lige Curtis!” + +In proportion as that material, practical, rustic self--which nobody +but 'Lige Curtis had ever seen--came back to her, so in proportion the +irresolute, wavering, weak and emotional vagabond of Sidon came out to +meet it. He looked at her with a vague smile; his five years of childish +resentment, albeit carried on the shoulders of a man mentally and +morally her superior, melted away. He drew her towards him, yet at the +same moment a quick suspicion returned. + +“Well, and what are you doing here? Has this man who has followed you +any right, any claim upon you?” + +“None but what you in your folly have forced upon him! You have made him +father's ally. I don't know why he came here. I only know why I did--to +find YOU!” + +“You suspected then?” + +“I KNEW! Hush!” + +The returning voices of Grant and of Mrs. Ramirez were heard in the +courtyard. Clementina made a warning yet girlishly mirthful gesture, +again caught his hand, drew him quickly to the French window, and +slipped through it with him into the garden, where they were quickly +lost in the shadows of a ceanothus hedge. + +“They have probably met Don Jose in the orchard, and as he and Don Diego +have business together, Dona Clementina has without doubt gone to her +room and left them. For you are not very entertaining to the ladies +to-day,--you two caballeros! You have much politics together, eh?--or +you have discussed and disagreed, eh? I will look for the Senorita, and +let you go, Don Distraido!” + +It is to be feared that Grant's apologies and attempts to detain her +were equally feeble,--as it seemed to him that this was the only chance +he might have of seeing Clementina except in company with Fletcher. As +Mrs. Ramirez left he lit a cigarette and listlessly walked up and +down the gallery. But Clementina did not come, neither did his hostess +return. A subdued step in the passage raised his hopes,--it was only +the grizzled major domo, to show him his room that he might prepare for +dinner. + +He followed mechanically down the long passage to a second corridor. +There was a chance that he might meet Clementina, but he reached his +room without encountering any one. It was a large vaulted apartment with +a single window, a deep embrasure in the thick wall that seemed to focus +like a telescope some forgotten, sequestered part of the leafy garden. +While washing his hands, gazing absently at the green vignette framed by +the dark opening, his attention was drawn to a movement of the foliage, +stirred apparently by the rapid passage of two half-hidden figures. The +quick flash of a feminine skirt seemed to indicate the coy flight of +some romping maid of the casa, and the pursuit and struggle of her +vaquero swain. To a despairing lover even the spectacle of innocent, +pastoral happiness in others is not apt to be soothing, and Grant was +turning impatiently away when he suddenly stopped with a rigid face and +quickly approached the window. In her struggles with the unseen Corydon, +the clustering leaves seemed to have yielded at the same moment with the +coy Chloris, and parting--disclosed a stolen kiss! Grant's hand lay like +ice against the wall. For, disengaging Fletcher's arm from her waist +and freeing her skirt from the foliage, it was the calm, passionless +Clementina herself who stepped out, and moved pensively towards the +casa. + + + + +CHAPER XI. + + +“Readers of the 'Clarion' will have noticed that allusion has been +frequently made in these columns to certain rumors concerning the early +history of Tasajara which were supposed to affect the pioneer record of +Daniel Harcourt. It was deemed by the conductors of this journal to be +only consistent with the fearless and independent duty undertaken by the +'Clarion' that these rumors should be fully chronicled as part of the +information required by the readers of a first-class newspaper, unbiased +by any consideration of the social position of the parties, but simply +as a matter of news. For this the 'Clarion' does not deem it necessary +to utter a word of apology. But for that editorial comment or attitude +which the proprietors felt was justified by the reliable sources of +their information they now consider it only due in honor to themselves, +their readers, and Mr. Harcourt to fully and freely apologize. A patient +and laborious investigation enables them to state that the alleged facts +published by the 'Clarion' and copied by other journals are utterly +unsupported by testimony, and the charges--although more or less +vague--which were based upon them are equally untenable. We are now +satisfied that one 'Elijah Curtis,' a former pioneer of Tasajara who +disappeared five years ago, and was supposed to be drowned, has not only +made no claim to the Tasajara property, as alleged, but has given no +sign of his equally alleged resuscitation and present existence, and +that on the minutest investigation there appears nothing either in his +disappearance, or the transfer of his property to Daniel Harcourt, +that could in any way disturb the uncontested title to Tasajara or the +unimpeachable character of its present owner. The whole story now seems +to have been the outcome of one of those stupid rural hoaxes too common +in California.” + + +“Well,” said Mrs. Ashwood, laying aside the 'Clarion' with a skeptical +shrug of her pretty shoulders, as she glanced up at her brother; “I +suppose this means that you are going to propose again to the young +lady?” + +“I have,” said Jack Shipley, “that's the worst of it--and got my answer +before this came out.” + +“Jack!” said Mrs. Ashwood, thoroughly surprised. + +“Yes! You see, Conny, as I told you three weeks ago, she said she wanted +time to consider,--that she scarcely knew me, and all that! Well, I +thought it wasn't exactly a gentleman's business to seem to stand off +after that last attack on her father, and so, last week, I went down +to San Jose, where she was staying, and begged her not to keep me in +suspense. And, by Jove! she froze me with a look, and said that with +these aspersions on her father's character, she preferred not to be +under obligations to any one.” + +“And you believed her?” + +“Oh, hang it all! Look here, Conny,--I wish you'd just try for once to +find out some good in that family, besides what that sentimental +young widower John Milton may have. You seem to think because they've +quarreled with HIM there isn't a virtue left among them.” + +Far from seeming to offer any suggestion of feminine retaliation, Mrs. +Ashwood smiled sweetly. “My dear Jack, I have no desire to keep you from +trying your luck again with Miss Clementina, if that's what you mean, +and indeed I shouldn't be surprised if a family who felt a mesalliance +as sensitively as the Harcourts felt that affair of their son's, would +be as keenly alive to the advantages of a good match for their daughter. +As to young Mr. Harcourt, he never talked to me of the vices of his +family, nor has he lately troubled me much with the presence of his own +virtues. I haven't heard from him since we came here.” + +“I suppose he is satisfied with the government berth you got for him,” + returned her brother dryly. + +“He was very grateful to Senator Flynn, who appreciates his talents, +but who offered it to him as a mere question of fitness,” replied Mrs. +Ashwood with great precision of statement. “But you don't seem to know +he declined it on account of his other work.” + +“Preferred his old Bohemian ways, eh? You can't change those fellows, +Conny. They can't get over the fascinations of vagabondage. Sorry your +lady-patroness scheme didn't work. Pity you couldn't have promoted him +in the line of his profession, as the Grand Duchess of Girolstein did +Fritz.” + +“For Heaven's sake, Jack, go to Clementina! You may not be successful, +but there at least the perfect gentlemanliness and good taste of your +illustrations will not be thrown away.” + +“I think of going to San Francisco tomorrow, anyway,” returned Jack with +affected carelessness. “I'm getting rather bored with this wild seaside +watering place and its glitter of ocean and hopeless background of +mountain. It's nothing to me that 'there's no land nearer than Japan' +out there. It may be very healthful to the tissues, but it's weariness +to the spirit, and I don't see why we can't wait at San Francisco till +the rains send us further south, as well as here.” + +He had walked to the balcony of their sitting-room in the little seaside +hotel where this conversation took place, and gazed discontentedly over +the curving bay and sandy shore before him. After a slight pause Mrs. +Ashwood stepped out beside him. + +“Very likely I may go with you,” she said, with a perceptible tone of +weariness. “We will see after the post arrives.” + +“By the way, there is a little package for you in my room, that came +this morning. I brought it up, but forgot to give it to you. You'll find +it on my table.” + +Mrs. Ashwood abstractedly turned away and entered her brother's room +from the same balcony. The forgotten parcel, which looked like a roll +of manuscript, was lying on his dressing-table. She gazed attentively at +the handwriting on the wrapper and then gave a quick glance around her. +A sudden and subtle change came over her. She neither flushed nor paled, +nor did the delicate lines of expression in her face quiver or change. +But as she held the parcel in her hand her whole being seemed to undergo +some exquisite suffusion. As the medicines which the Arabian physician +had concealed in the hollow handle of the mallet permeated the languid +royal blood of Persia, so some volatile balm of youth seemed to flow +in upon her with the contact of that strange missive and transform her +weary spirit. + +“Jack!” she called, in a high clear voice. But Jack had already gone +from the balcony when she reached it with an elastic step and a quick +youthful swirl and rustling of her skirt. He was lighting his cigar in +the garden. + +“Jack,” she said, leaning half over the railing, “come back here in an +hour and we'll talk over that matter of yours again.” + +Jack looked up eagerly and as if he might even come up then, but she +added quickly, “In about an hour--I must think it over,” and withdrew. + +She re-entered the sitting-room, shut the door carefully and locked it, +half pulled down the blind, walking once or twice around the table on +which the parcel lay, with one eye on it like a graceful cat. Then she +suddenly sat down, took it up with a grave practical face, examined the +postmark curiously, and opened it with severe deliberation. It contained +a manuscript and a letter of four closely written pages. She glanced at +the manuscript with bright approving eyes, ran her fingers through its +leaves and then laid it carefully and somewhat ostentatiously on the +table beside her. Then, still holding the letter in her hand, she rose +and glanced out of the window at her bored brother lounging towards the +beach and at the heaving billows beyond, and returned to her seat. This +apparently important preliminary concluded, she began to read. + +There were, as already stated, four blessed pages of it! All vital, +earnest, palpitating with youthful energy, preposterous in premises, +precipitate in conclusions,--yet irresistible and convincing to every +woman in their illogical sincerity. There was not a word of love in it, +yet every page breathed a wholesome adoration; there was not an epithet +or expression that a greater prude than Mrs. Ashwood would have objected +to, yet every sentence seemed to end in a caress. There was not a +line of poetry in it, and scarcely a figure or simile, and yet it was +poetical. Boyishly egotistic as it was in attitude, it seemed to be +written less OF himself than TO her; in its delicate because unconscious +flattery, it made her at once the provocation and excuse. And yet so +potent was its individuality that it required no signature. No one but +John Milton Harcourt could have written it. His personality stood out of +it so strongly that once or twice Mrs. Ashwood almost unconsciously +put up her little hand before her face with a half mischievous, +half-deprecating smile, as if the big honest eyes of its writer were +upon her. + +It began by an elaborate apology for declining the appointment offered +him by one of her friends, which he was bold enough to think had been +prompted by her kind heart. That was like her, but yet what she might +do to any one; and he preferred to think of her as the sweet and gentle +lady who had recognized his merit without knowing him, rather than the +powerful and gracious benefactress who wanted to reward him when she did +know him. The crown that she had all unconsciously placed upon his head +that afternoon at the little hotel at Crystal Spring was more to him +than the Senator's appointment; perhaps he was selfish, but he could not +bear that she who had given so much should believe that he could accept +a lesser gift. All this and much more! Some of it he had wanted to say +to her in San Francisco at times when they had met, but he could not +find the words. But she had given him the courage to go on and do the +only thing he was fit for, and he had resolved to stick to that, and +perhaps do something once more that might make him hear again her voice +as he had heard it that day, and again see the light that had shone in +her eyes as she sat there and read. And this was why he was sending her +a manuscript. She might have forgotten that she had told him a strange +story of her cousin who had disappeared--which she thought he might +at some time work up. Here it was. Perhaps she might not recognize it +again, in the way he had written it here; perhaps she did not really +mean it when she had given him permission to use it, but he remembered +her truthful eyes and believed her--and in any event it was hers to do +with what she liked. It had been a great pleasure for him to write it +and think that she would see it; it was like seeing her himself--that +was in HIS BETTER SELF--more worthy the companionship of a beautiful and +noble woman than the poor young man she would have helped. This was why +he had not called the week before she went away. But for all that, she +had made his life less lonely, and he should be ever grateful to her. He +could never forget how she unconsciously sympathized with him that day +over the loss that had blighted his life forever,--yet even then he did +not know that she, herself, had passed through the same suffering. But +just here the stricken widow of thirty, after a vain attempt to keep up +the knitted gravity of her eyebrows, bowed her dimpling face over +the letter of the blighted widower of twenty, and laughed so long and +silently that the tears stood out like dew on her light-brown eyelashes. + +But she became presently severe again, and finished her reading of the +letter gravely. Then she folded it carefully, deposited it in a box on +her table, which she locked. After a few minutes, however, she unlocked +the box again and transferred the letter to her pocket. The serenity +of her features did not relax again, although her previous pretty +prepossession of youthful spirit was still indicated in her movements. +Going into her bedroom, she reappeared in a few minutes with a light +cloak thrown over her shoulders and a white-trimmed broad-brimmed hat. +Then she rolled up the manuscript in a paper, and called her French +maid. As she stood there awaiting her with the roll in her hand, she +might have been some young girl on her way to her music lesson. + +“If my brother returns before I do, tell him to wait.” + +“Madame is going”-- + +“Out,” said Mrs. Ashwood blithely, and tripped downstairs. + +She made her way directly to the shore where she remembered there was +a group of rocks affording a shelter from the northwest trade winds. +It was reached at low water by a narrow ridge of sand, and here she had +often basked in the sun with her book. It was here that she now unrolled +John Milton's manuscript and read. + +It was the story she had told him, but interpreted by his poetry and +adorned by his fancy until the facts as she remembered them seemed to +be no longer hers, or indeed truths at all. She had always believed +her cousin's unhappy temperament to have been the result of a moral and +physical idiosyncrasy,--she found it here to be the effect of a lifelong +and hopeless passion for herself! The ingenious John Milton had given a +poet's precocity to the youth whom she had only known as a suspicious, +moody boy, had idealized him as a sensitive but songless Byron, had +given him the added infirmity of pulmonary weakness, and a handkerchief +that in moments of great excitement, after having been hurriedly pressed +to his pale lips, was withdrawn “with a crimson stain.” Opposed to this +interesting figure--the more striking to her as she had been hitherto +haunted by the impression that her cousin during his boyhood had been +subject to facial eruption and boils--was her own equally idealized +self. Cruelly kind to her cousin and gentle with his weaknesses while +calmly ignoring their cause, leading him unconsciously step by step in +his fatal passion, he only became aware by accident that she nourished +an ideal hero in the person of a hard, proud, middle-aged practical +man of the world,--her future husband! At this picture of the late Mr. +Ashwood, who had really been an indistinctive social bon vivant, his +amiable relict grew somewhat hysterical. The discovery of her real +feelings drove the consumptive cousin into a secret, self-imposed exile +on the shores of the Pacific, where he hoped to find a grave. But the +complete and sudden change of life and scene, the balm of the wild woods +and the wholesome barbarism of nature, wrought a magical change in his +physical health and a philosophical rest in his mind. He married the +daughter of an Indian chief. Years passed, the heroine--a rich and +still young and beautiful widow--unwittingly sought the same medicinal +solitude. Here in the depth of the forest she encountered her former +playmate; the passion which he had fondly supposed was dead revived in +her presence, and for the first time she learned from his bearded lips +the secret of his passion. Alas! not SHE alone! The contiguous forest +could not be bolted out, and the Indian wife heard all. Recognizing the +situation with aboriginal directness of purpose, she committed suicide +in the fond belief that it would reunite the survivors. But in vain; the +cousins parted on the spot to meet no more. + +Even Mrs. Ashwood's predilection for the youthful writer could not +overlook the fact that the denouement was by no means novel nor the +situation human, but yet it was here that she was most interested and +fascinated. The description of the forest was a description of the wood +where she had first met Harcourt; the charm of it returned, until she +almost seemed to again inhale its balsamic freshness in the pages before +her. Now, as then, her youth came back with the same longing and regret. +But more bewildering than all, it was herself that moved there, painted +with the loving hand of the narrator. For the first time she experienced +the delicious flattery of seeing herself as only a lover could see her. +The smallest detail of her costume was suggested with an accuracy that +pleasantly thrilled her feminine sense. The grace of her figure slowly +moving through the shadow, the curves of her arm and the delicacy of her +hand that held the bridle rein, the gentle glow of her softly rounded +cheek, the sweet mystery of her veiled eyes and forehead, and the +escaping gold of her lovely hair beneath her hat were all in turn +masterfully touched or tenderly suggested. And when to this was added +the faint perfume of her nearer presence--the scent she always used--the +delicate revelations of her withdrawn gauntlet, the bracelet clasping +her white wrist, and at last the thrilling contact of her soft hand on +his arm,--she put down the manuscript and blushed like a very girl. Then +she started. + +A shout!--HIS voice surely!--and the sound of oars in their rowlocks. + +An instant revulsion of feeling overtook her. With a quick movement she +instantly hid the manuscript beneath her cloak and stood up erect and +indignant. Not twenty yards away, apparently advancing from the opposite +shore of the bay, was a boat. It contained only John Milton, resting on +his oars and scanning the group of rocks anxiously. His face, which was +quite strained with anxiety, suddenly flushed when he saw her, and then +recognizing the unmistakable significance of her look and attitude, +paled once more. He bent over his oars again; a few strokes brought him +close to the rock. + +“I beg your pardon,” he said hesitatingly, as he turned towards her and +laid aside his oars, “but--I thought--you were--in danger.” + +She glanced quickly round her. She had forgotten the tide! The ledge +between her and the shore was already a foot under brown sea-water. Yet +if she had not thought that it would look ridiculous, she would have +leaped down even then and waded ashore. + +“It's nothing,” she said coldly, with the air of one to whom the +situation was an everyday occurrence; “it's only a few steps and a +slight wetting--and my brother would have been here in a moment more.” + +John Milton's frank eyes made no secret of his mortification. “I ought +not to have disturbed you, I know,” he said quickly, “I had no right. +But I was on the other shore opposite and I saw you come down here--that +is”--he blushed prodigiously--“I thought it MIGHT BE you--and I +ventured--I mean--won't you let me row you ashore?” + +There seemed to be no reasonable excuse for refusing. She slipped +quickly into the boat without waiting for his helping hand, avoiding +that contact which only a moment ago she was trying to recall. + +A few strokes brought them ashore. He continued his explanation with the +hopeless frankness and persistency of youth and inexperience. “I only +came here the day before yesterday. I would not have come, but Mr. +Fletcher, who has a cottage on the other shore, sent for me to offer +me my old place on the 'Clarion.' I had no idea of intruding upon your +privacy by calling here without permission.” + +Mrs. Ashwood had resumed her conventional courtesy without however +losing her feminine desire to make her companion pay for the agitation +he had caused her. “We would have been always pleased to see you,” she +said vaguely, “and I hope, as you are here now, you will come with me to +the hotel. My brother”-- + +But he still retained his hold of the boat-rope without moving, and +continued, “I saw you yesterday, through the telescope, sitting in your +balcony; and later at night I think it was your shadow I saw near the +blue shaded lamp in the sitting-room by the window,--I don't mean the +RED LAMP that you have in your own room. I watched you until you put out +the blue lamp and lit the red one. I tell you this--because--because--I +thought you might be reading a manuscript I sent you. At least,” he +smiled faintly, “I LIKED to think it so.” + +In her present mood this struck her only as persistent and somewhat +egotistical. But she felt herself now on ground where she could deal +firmly with him. + +“Oh, yes,” she said gravely. “I got it and thank you very much for it. I +intended to write to you.” + +“Don't,” he said, looking at her fixedly. “I can see you don't like it.” + +“On the contrary,” she said promptly, “I think it beautifully written, +and very ingenious in plot and situation. Of course it isn't the story I +told you--I didn't expect that, for I'm not a genius. The man is not at +all like my cousin, you know, and the woman--well really, to tell the +truth, SHE is simply inconceivable!” + +“You think so?” he said gravely. He had been gazing abstractedly at some +shining brown seaweed in the water, and when he raised his eyes to hers +they seemed to have caught its color. + +“Think so? I'm positive! There's no such a woman; she isn't HUMAN. But +let us walk to the hotel.” + +“Thank you, but I must go back now.” + +“But at least let my brother thank you for taking his place--in rescuing +me. It was so thoughtful in you to put off at once when you saw I was +surrounded. I might have been in great danger.” + +“Please don't make fun of me, Mrs. Ashwood,” he said with a faint +return of his boyish smile. “You know there was no danger. I have +only interrupted you in a nap or a reverie--and I can see now that you +evidently came here to be alone.” + +Holding the manuscript more closely hidden under the folds of her cloak, +she smiled enigmatically. “I think I DID, and it seems that the tide +thought so too, and acted upon it. But you will come up to the hotel +with me, surely?” + +“No, I am going back now.” There was a sudden firmness about the young +fellow which she had never before noticed. This was evidently the +creature who had married in spite of his family. + +“Won't you come back long enough to take your manuscript? I will point +out the part I refer to, and--we will talk it over.” + +“There is no necessity. I wrote to you that you might keep it; it is +yours; it was written for you and none other. It is quite enough for me +to know that you were good enough to read it. But will you do one thing +more for me? Read it again! If you find anything in it the second time +to change your views--if you find”-- + +“I will let you know,” she said quickly. “I will write to you as I +intended.” + +“No, I didn't mean that. I meant that if you found the woman less +inconceivable and more human, don't write to me, but put your red lamp +in your window instead of the blue one. I will watch for it and see it.” + +“I think I will be able to explain myself much better with simple pen +and ink,” she said dryly, “and it will be much more useful to you.” + +He lifted his hat gravely, shoved off the boat, leaped into it, and +before she could hold out her hand was twenty feet away. She turned and +ran quickly up the rocks. When she reached the hotel, she could see the +boat already half across the bay. + +Entering her sitting-room she found that her brother, tired of waiting +for her, had driven out. Taking the hidden manuscript from her cloak +she tossed it with a slight gesture of impatience on the table. Then she +summoned the landlord. + +“Is there a town across the bay?” + +“No! the whole mountain-side belongs to Don Diego Fletcher. He lives +away back in the coast range at Los Gatos, but he has a cottage and mill +on the beach.” + +“Don Diego Fletcher--Fletcher! Is he a Spaniard then?” + +“Half and half, I reckon; he's from the lower country, I believe.” + +“Is he here often?” + +“Not much; he has mills at Los Gatos, wheat ranches at Santa Clara, and +owns a newspaper in 'Frisco! But he's here now. There were lights in his +house last night, and his cutter lies off the point.” + +“Could you get a small package and note to him?” + +“Certainly; it is only a row across the bay.” + +“Thank you.” + +Without removing her hat and cloak she sat down at the table and began a +letter to Don Diego Fletcher. She begged to inclose to him a manuscript +which she was satisfied, for the interests of its author, was better in +his hands than hers. It had been given to her by the author, Mr. J. M. +Harcourt, whom she understood was engaged on Mr. Fletcher's paper, the +“Clarion.” In fact, it had been written at HER suggestion, and from an +incident in real life of which she was cognizant. She was sorry to say +that on account of some very foolish criticism of her own as to the +FACTS, the talented young author had become so dissatisfied with it as +to make it possible that, if left to himself, this very charming and +beautifully written story would remain unpublished. As an admirer of +Mr. Harcourt's genius, and a friend of his family, she felt that such an +event would be deplorable, and she therefore begged to leave it to +Mr. Fletcher's delicacy and tact to arrange with the author for its +publication. She knew that Mr. Fletcher had only to read it to be +convinced of its remarkable literary merit, and she again would impress +upon him the fact that her playful and thoughtless criticism--which was +personal and confidential--was only based upon the circumstances that +the author had really made a more beautiful and touching story than the +poor facts which she had furnished seemed to warrant. She had only +just learned the fortunate circumstance that Mr. Fletcher was in the +neighborhood of the hotel where she was staying with her brother. + +With the same practical, business-like directness, but perhaps a certain +unbusiness-like haste superadded, she rolled up the manuscript and +dispatched it with the letter. + +This done, however, a slight reaction set in, and having taken off her +hat and shawl, she dropped listlessly on a chair by the window, but as +suddenly rose and took a seat in the darker part of the room. She felt +that she had done right, that highest but most depressing of human +convictions! It was entirely for his good. There was no reason why his +best interests should suffer for his folly. If anybody was to suffer +it was she. But what nonsense was she thinking! She would write to him +later when she was a little cooler,--as she had said. But then he had +distinctly told her, and very rudely too, that he didn't want her to +write. Wanted her to make SIGNALS to him,--the idiot! and probably was +even now watching her with a telescope. It was really too preposterous! + +The result was that her brother found her on his return in a somewhat +uncertain mood, and, as a counselor, variable and conflicting in +judgment. If this Clementina, who seemed to have the family qualities of +obstinacy and audacity, really cared for him, she certainly wouldn't let +delicacy stand in the way of letting him know it--and he was therefore +safe to wait a little. A few moments later, she languidly declared that +she was afraid that she was no counselor in such matters; really she +was getting too old to take any interest in that sort of thing, and she +never had been a matchmaker! By the way now, wasn't it odd that +this neighbor, that rich capitalist across the bay, should be called +Fletcher, and “James Fletcher” too, for Diego meant “James” in Spanish. +Exactly the same name as poor “Cousin Jim” who disappeared. Did he +remember her old playmate Jim? But her brother thought something else +was a deuced sight more odd, namely, that this same Don Diego Fletcher +was said to be very sweet on Clementina now, and was always in her +company at the Ramirez. And that, with this “Clarion” apology on the top +of it, looked infernally queer. + +Mrs. Ashwood felt a sudden consternation. Here had she--Jack's +sister--just been taking Jack's probable rival into confidential +correspondence! She turned upon Jack sharply:-- + +“Why didn't you say that before?” + +“I did tell you,” he said gloomily, “but you didn't listen. But what +difference does it make to you now?” + +“None whatever,” said Mrs. Ashwood calmly as she walked out of the room. + +Nevertheless the afternoon passed wearily, and her usual ride into the +upland canyon did not reanimate her. For reasons known best to herself +she did not take her after-dinner stroll along the shore to watch the +outlying fog. At a comparatively early hour, while there was still a +roseate glow in the western sky, she appeared with grim deliberation, +and the blue lamp-shade in her hand, and placed it over the lamp which +she lit and stood on her table beside the window. This done she sat down +and began to write with bright-eyed but vicious complacency. + +“But you don't want that light AND the window, Constance,” said Jack +wonderingly. + +Mrs. Ashwood could not stand the dreadful twilight. + +“But take away your lamp and you'll have light enough from the sunset,” + responded Jack. + +That was just what she didn't want! The light from the window was that +horrid vulgar red glow which she hated. It might be very romantic and +suit lovers like Jack, but as SHE had some work to do, she wanted the +blue shade of the lamp to correct that dreadful glare. + + + + +CHAPER XII. + + +John Milton had rowed back without lifting his eyes to Mrs. Ashwood's +receding figure. He believed that he was right in declining her +invitation, although he had a miserable feeling that it entailed seeing +her for the last time. With all that he believed was his previous +experience of the affections, he was still so untutored as to be +confused as to his reasons for declining, or his right to have been +shocked and disappointed at her manner. It seemed to him sufficiently +plain that he had offended the most perfect woman he had ever known +without knowing more. The feeling he had for her was none the +less powerful because, in his great simplicity, it was vague and +unformulated. And it was a part of this strange simplicity that in his +miserable loneliness his thoughts turned unconsciously to his dead wife +for sympathy and consolation. Loo would have understood him! + +Mr. Fletcher, who had received him on his arrival with singular +effusiveness and cordiality, had put off their final arrangements until +after dinner, on account of pressing business. It was therefore with +some surprise that an hour before the time he was summoned to Fletcher's +room. He was still more surprised to find him sitting at his desk, from +which a number of business papers and letters had been hurriedly thrust +aside to make way for a manuscript. A single glance at it was enough +to show the unhappy John Milton that it was the one he had sent to Mrs. +Ashwood. The color flashed to his cheek and he felt a mist before his +eyes. His employer's face, on the contrary, was quite pale, and his +eyes were fixed on Harcourt with a singular intensity. His voice too, +although under great control, was hard and strange. + +“Read that,” he said, handing the young man a letter. + +The color again streamed into John Milton's face as he recognized the +hand of Mrs. Ashwood, and remained there while he read it. When he put +it down, however, he raised his frank eyes to Fletcher's, and said with +a certain dignity and manliness: “What she says is the truth, sir. But +it is I alone who am at fault. This manuscript is merely MY stupid idea +of a very simple story she was once kind enough to tell me when we were +talking of strange occurrences in real life, which she thought I might +some time make use of in my work. I tried to embellish it, and failed. +That's all. I will take it back,--it was written only for her.” + +There was such an irresistible truthfulness and sincerity in his voice +and manner, that any idea of complicity with the sender was dismissed +from Fletcher's mind. As Harcourt, however, extended his hand for the +manuscript Fletcher interfered. + +“You forget that you gave it to her, and she has sent it to me. If I +don't keep it, it can be returned to her only. Now may I ask who is this +lady who takes such an interest in your literary career? Have you known +her long? Is she a friend of your family?” + +The slight sneer that accompanied his question restored the natural +color to the young man's face, but kindled his eye ominously. + +“No,” he said briefly. “I met her accidentally about two months ago and +as accidentally found out that she had taken an interest in one of the +first things I ever wrote for your paper. She neither knew you nor me. +It was then that she told me this story; she did not even then know who +I was, though she had met some of my family. She was very good and has +generously tried to help me.” + +Fletcher's eyes remained fixed upon him. + +“But this tells me only WHAT she is, not WHO she is.” + +“I am afraid you must inquire of her brother, Mr. Shipley,” said +Harcourt curtly. + +“Shipley?” + +“Yes; he is traveling with her for his health, and they are going +south when the rains come. They are wealthy Philadelphians, I believe, +and--and she is a widow.” + +Fletcher picked up her note and glanced again at the signature, +“Constance Ashwood.” There was a moment of silence, when he resumed in +quite a different voice: “It's odd I never met them nor they me.” + +As he seemed to be waiting for a response, John Milton said simply: +“I suppose it's because they have not been here long, and are somewhat +reserved.” + +Mr. Fletcher laid aside the manuscript and letter, and took up his +apparently suspended work. + +“When you see this Mrs.--Mrs. Ashwood again, you might say”-- + +“I shall not see her again,” interrupted John Milton hastily. + +Mr. Fletcher shrugged his shoulders. “Very well,” he said with a +peculiar smile, “I will write to her. Now, Mr. Harcourt,” he continued +with a sudden business brevity, “if you please, we'll drop this affair +and attend to the matter for which I just summoned you. Since yesterday +an important contract for which I have been waiting is concluded, and +its performance will take me East at once. I have made arrangements that +you will be left in the literary charge of the 'Clarion.' It is only a +fitting recompense that the paper owes to you and your father,--to whom +I hope to see you presently reconciled. But we won't discuss that now! +As my affairs take me back to Los Gatos within half an hour, I am sorry +I cannot dispense my hospitality in person,--but you will dine and +sleep here to-night. Good-by. As you go out will you please send up Mr. +Jackson to me.” He nodded briefly, seemed to plunge instantly into his +papers again, and John Milton was glad to withdraw. + +The shock he had felt at Mrs. Ashwood's frigid disposition of his wishes +and his manuscript had benumbed him to any enjoyment or appreciation of +the change in his fortune. He wandered out of the house and descended +to the beach in a dazed, bewildered way, seeing only the words of her +letter to Fletcher before him, and striving to grasp some other meaning +from them than their coldly practical purport. Perhaps this was her +cruel revenge for his telling her not to write to him. Could she not +have divined it was only his fear of what she might say! And now it +was all over! She had washed her hands of him with the sending of that +manuscript and letter, and he would pass out of her memory as a foolish, +conceited ingrate,--perhaps a figure as wearily irritating and stupid to +her as the cousin she had known. He mechanically lifted his eyes to the +distant hotel; the glow was still in the western sky, but the blue lamp +was already shining in the window. His cheek flushed quickly, and he +turned away as if she could have seen his face. Yes--she despised him, +and THAT was his answer! + +When he returned, Mr. Fletcher had gone. He dragged through a dinner +with Mr. Jackson, Fletcher's secretary, and tried to realize his good +fortune in listening to the subordinate's congratulations. “But I +thought,” said Jackson, “you had slipped up on your luck to-day, when +the old man sent for you. He was quite white, and ready to rip out about +something that had just come in. I suppose it was one of those anonymous +things against your father,--the old man's dead set against 'em now.” + But John Milton heard him vaguely, and presently excused himself for a +row on the moonlit bay. + +The active exertion, with intervals of placid drifting along the +land-locked shore, somewhat soothed him. The heaving Pacific beyond +was partly hidden in a low creeping fog, but the curving bay was softly +radiant. The rocks whereon she sat that morning, the hotel where she +was now quietly reading, were outlined in black and silver. In this +dangerous contiguity it seemed to him that her presence returned,--not +the woman who had met him so coldly; who had penned those lines; the +woman from whom he was now parting forever, but the blameless ideal he +had worshiped from the first, and which he now felt could never pass out +of his life again! He recalled their long talks, their rarer rides and +walks in the city; her quick appreciation and ready sympathy; her pretty +curiosity and half-maternal consideration of his foolish youthful past; +even the playful way that she sometimes seemed to make herself younger +as if to better understand him. Lingering at times in the shadow of the +headland, he fancied he saw the delicate nervous outlines of her face +near his own again; the faint shading of her brown lashes, the soft +intelligence of her gray eyes. Drifting idly in the placid moonlight, +pulling feverishly across the swell of the channel, or lying on his oars +in the shallows of the rocks, but always following the curves of the +bay, like a bird circling around a lighthouse, it was far in the night +before he at last dragged his boat upon the sand. Then he turned to look +once more at her distant window. He would be away in the morning and he +should never see it again! It was very late, but the blue light seemed +to be still burning unalterably and inflexibly. + +But even as he gazed, a change came over it. A shadow seemed to pass +before the blind; the blue shade was lifted; for an instant he could see +the colorless star-like point of the light itself show clearly. It was +over now; she was putting out the lamp. Suddenly he held his breath! +A roseate glow gradually suffused the window like a burning blush; the +curtain was drawn aside, and the red lamp-shade gleamed out surely and +steadily into the darkness. + +Transfigured and breathless in the moonlight, John Milton gazed on it. +It seemed to him the dawn of Love! + + + + +CHAPER XIII. + + +The winter rains had come. But so plenteously and persistently, and +with such fateful preparation of circumstance, that the long looked for +blessing presently became a wonder, an anxiety, and at last a slowly +widening terror. Before a month had passed every mountain, stream, and +watercourse, surcharged with the melted snows of the Sierras, had become +a great tributary; every tributary a great river, until, pouring their +great volume into the engorged channels of the American and Sacramento +rivers, they overleaped their banks and became as one vast inland sea. +Even to a country already familiar with broad and striking catastrophe, +the flood was a phenomenal one. For days the sullen overflow lay in the +valley of the Sacramento, enormous, silent, currentless--except where +the surplus waters rolled through Carquinez Straits, San Francisco Bay, +and the Golden Gate, and reappeared as the vanished Sacramento River, in +an outflowing stream of fresh and turbid water fifty miles at sea. + +Across the vast inland expanse, brooded over by a leaden sky, leaden +rain fell, dimpling like shot the sluggish pools of the flood; a +cloudy chaos of fallen trees, drifting barns and outhouses, wagons and +agricultural implements moved over the surface of the waters, or circled +slowly around the outskirts of forests that stood ankle deep in ooze and +the current, which in serried phalanx they resisted still. As night fell +these forms became still more vague and chaotic, and were interspersed +with the scattered lanterns and flaming torches of relief-boats, or +occasionally the high terraced gleaming windows of the great steamboats, +feeling their way along the lost channel. At times the opening of a +furnace-door shot broad bars of light across the sluggish stream and +into the branches of dripping and drift-encumbered trees; at times +the looming smoke-stacks sent out a pent-up breath of sparks that +illuminated the inky chaos for a moment, and then fell as black and +dripping rain. Or perhaps a hoarse shout from some faintly outlined hulk +on either side brought a quick response from the relief-boats, and the +detaching of a canoe with a blazing pine-knot in its bow into the outer +darkness. + +It was late in the afternoon when Lawrence Grant, from the deck of one +of the larger tugs, sighted what had been once the estuary of Sidon +Creek. The leader of a party of scientific observation and relief, he +had kept a tireless watch of eighteen hours, keenly noticing the work of +devastation, the changes in the channel, the prospects of abatement, and +the danger that still threatened. He had passed down the length of the +submerged Sacramento valley, through the Straits of Carquinez, and was +now steaming along the shores of the upper reaches of San Francisco Bay. +Everywhere the same scene of desolation,--vast stretches of tule land, +once broken up by cultivation and dotted with dwellings, now clearly +erased on that watery chart; long lines of symmetrical perspective, +breaking the monotonous level, showing orchards buried in the flood; +Indian mounds and natural eminences covered with cattle or hastily +erected camps; half submerged houses, whose solitary chimneys, however, +still gave signs of an undaunted life within; isolated groups of trees, +with their lower branches heavy with the unwholesome fruit of the +flood, in wisps of hay and straw, rakes and pitchforks, or pathetically +sheltering some shivering and forgotten household pet. But everywhere +the same dull, expressionless, placid tranquillity of destruction,--a +horrible leveling of all things in one bland smiling equality of +surface, beneath which agony, despair, and ruin were deeply buried and +forgotten; a catastrophe without convulsion,--a devastation voiceless, +passionless, and supine. + +The boat had slowed up before what seemed to be a collection of +disarranged houses with the current flowing between lines that indicated +the existence of thoroughfares and streets. Many of the lighter wooden +buildings were huddled together on the street corners with their gables +to the flow; some appeared as if they had fallen on their knees, and +others lay complacently on their sides, like the houses of a child's +toy village. An elevator still lifted itself above the other warehouses; +from the centre of an enormous square pond, once the plaza, still arose +a “Liberty pole,” or flagstaff, which now supported a swinging lantern, +and in the distance appeared the glittering dome of some public +building. Grant recognized the scene at once. It was all that was left +of the invincible youth of Tasajara! + +As this was an objective point of the scheme of survey and relief for +the district, the boat was made fast to the second story of one of the +warehouses. It was now used as a general store and depot, and bore a +singular resemblance in its interior to Harcourt's grocery at Sidon. +This suggestion was the more fatefully indicated by the fact that half +a dozen men were seated around a stove in the centre, more or less +given up to a kind of philosophical and lazy enjoyment of their enforced +idleness. And when to this was added the more surprising coincidence +that the party consisted of Billings, Peters, and Wingate,--former +residents of Sidon and first citizens of Tasajara,--the resemblance was +complete. + +They were ruined,--but they accepted their common fate with a certain +Indian stoicism and Western sense of humor that for the time lifted +them above the vulgar complacency of their former fortunes. There was a +deep-seated, if coarse and irreverent resignation in their philosophy. +At the beginning of the calamity it had been roughly formulated by +Billings in the statement that “it wasn't anybody's fault; there was +nobody to kill, and what couldn't be reached by a Vigilance Committee +there was no use resolootin' over.” When the Reverend Doctor Pilsbury +had suggested an appeal to a Higher Power, Peters had replied, good +humoredly, that “a Creator who could fool around with them in that style +was above being interfered with by prayer.” At first the calamity had +been a thing to fight against; then it became a practical joke, the +sting of which was lost in the victims' power of endurance and assumed +ignorance of its purport. There was something almost pathetic in their +attempts to understand its peculiar humor. + +“How about that Europ-e-an trip o' yours, Peters?” said Billings, +meditatively, from the depths of his chair. “Looks as if those +Crowned Heads over there would have to wait till the water goes down +considerable afore you kin trot out your wife and darters before 'em!” + +“Yes,” said Peters, “it rather pints that way; and ez far ez I kin see, +Mame Billings ain't goin' to no Saratoga, neither, this year.” + +“Reckon the boys won't hang about old Harcourt's Free Library to see +the girls home from lectures and singing-class much this year,” said +Wingate. “Wonder if Harcourt ever thought o' this the day he opened it, +and made that rattlin' speech o' his about the new property? Clark +says everything built on that made ground has got to go after the water +falls. Rough on Harcourt after all his other losses, eh? He oughter +have closed up with that scientific chap, Grant, and married him to +Clementina while the big boom was on”-- + +“Hush!” said Peters, indicating Grant, who had just entered quietly. + +“Don't mind me, gentlemen,” said Grant, stepping towards the group +with a grave but perfectly collected face; “on the contrary, I am very +anxious to hear all the news of Harcourt's family. I left for New York +before the rainy season, and have only just got back.” + +His speech and manner appeared to be so much in keeping with the +prevailing grim philosophy that Billings, after a glance at the others, +went on. “Ef you left afore the first rains,” said he, “you must have +left only the steamer ahead of Fletcher, when he run off with Clementina +Harcourt, and you might have come across them on their wedding trip in +New York.” + +Not a muscle of Grant's face changed under their eager and cruel +scrutiny. “No, I didn't,” he returned quietly. “But why did she run +away? Did the father object to Fletcher? If I remember rightly he was +rich and a good match.” + +“Yes, but I reckon the old man hadn't quite got over the 'Clarion' +abuse, for all its eating humble-pie and taking back its yarns of him. +And may be he might have thought the engagement rather sudden. They say +that she'd only met Fletcher the day afore the engagement.” + +“That be d----d,” said Peters, knocking the ashes out of his pipe, and +startling the lazy resignation of his neighbors by taking his feet from +the stove and sitting upright. “I tell ye, gentlemen, I'm sick o' this +sort o' hog-wash that's been ladled round to us. That gal Clementina +Harcourt and that feller Fletcher had met not only once, but MANY times +afore--yes! they were old friends if it comes to that, a matter of six +years ago.” + +Grant's eyes were fixed eagerly on the speaker, although the others +scarcely turned their heads. + +“You know, gentlemen,” said Peters, “I never took stock in this yer +story of the drownin' of 'Lige Curtis. Why? Well, if you wanter know--in +my opinion--there never was any 'Lige Curtis!” + +Billings lifted his head with difficulty; Wingate turned his face to the +speaker. + +“There never was a scrap o' paper ever found in his cabin with the +name o' 'Lige Curtis on it; there never was any inquiry made for 'Lige +Curtis; there never was any sorrowin' friends comin' after 'Lige Curtis. +For why?--There never was any 'Lige Curtis. The man who passed himself +off in Sidon under that name--was that man Fletcher. That's how he knew +all about Harcourt's title; that's how he got his best holt on Harcourt. +And he did it all to get Clementina Harcourt, whom the old man had +refused to him in Sidon.” + +A grunt of incredulity passed around the circle. Such is the fate of +historical innovation! Only Grant listened attentively. + +“Ye ought to tell that yarn to John Milton,” said Wingate ironically; +“it's about in the style o' them stories he slings in the 'Clarion.'” + +“He's made a good thing outer that job. Wonder what he gets for them?” + said Peters. + +It was Billings's time to rise, and, under the influence of some strong +cynical emotion, to even rise to his feet. “Gets for 'em!--GETS for 'em! +I'll tell you WHAT he gets for 'em! It beats this story o' Peters's,--it +beats the flood. It beats me! Ye know that boy, gentlemen; ye know how +he uster lie round his father's store, reading flapdoodle stories and +sich! Ye remember how I uster try to give him good examples and knock +some sense into him? Ye remember how, after his father's good luck, +he spiled all his own chances, and ran off with his father's waiter +gal--all on account o' them flapdoodle books he read? Ye remember how +he sashayed round newspaper offices in 'Frisco until he could write a +flapdoodle story himself? Ye wanter know what he gets for 'em. I'll tell +you. He got an interduction to one of them high-toned, highfalutin', +'don't-touch-me' rich widders from Philadelfy,--that's what he gets for +'em! He got her dead set on him and his stories, that's what he gets for +'em! He got her to put him up with Fletcher in the 'Clarion,'--that's +what he gets for 'em. And darn my skin!--ef what they say is true, while +we hard-working men are sittin' here like drowned rats--that air John +Milton, ez never did a stitch o' live work like me yere; ez never +did anythin' but spin yarns about US ez did WORK, is now 'gittin' for +'em'--what? Guess! Why, he's gittin' THE RICH WIDDER HERSELF and HALF A +MILLION DOLLARS WITH HER! Gentlemen! lib'ty is a good thing--but thar's +some things ye gets too much lib'ty of in this country--and that's this +yer LIB'TY OF THE PRESS!” + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A First Family of Tasajara, by Bret Harte + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A FIRST FAMILY OF TASAJARA *** + +***** This file should be named 2723-0.txt or 2723-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/2723/ + +Produced by Donald Lainson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/2723-0.zip b/2723-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c715487 --- /dev/null +++ b/2723-0.zip diff --git a/2723-h.zip b/2723-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cf4539f --- /dev/null +++ b/2723-h.zip diff --git a/2723-h/2723-h.htm b/2723-h/2723-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..618c081 --- /dev/null +++ b/2723-h/2723-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7444 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + A First Family of Tasajara, by Bret Harte + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A First Family of Tasajara, by Bret Harte + +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 First Family of Tasajara + +Author: Bret Harte + +Release Date: May 25, 2006 [EBook #2723] +Last Updated: March 4, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A FIRST FAMILY OF TASAJARA *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson; David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + A FIRST FAMILY OF TASAJARA + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Bret Harte + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> CHAPER II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> CHAPER III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> CHAPER IV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> CHAPER V. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> CHAPER VI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> CHAPER VII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> CHAPER VIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> CHAPER IX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> CHAPER X. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> CHAPER XI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> CHAPER XII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> CHAPER XIII. </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. + </h2> + <p> + “It blows,” said Joe Wingate. + </p> + <p> + As if to accent the words of the speaker a heavy gust of wind at that + moment shook the long light wooden structure which served as the general + store of Sidon settlement, in Contra Costa. Even after it had passed a + prolonged whistle came through the keyhole, sides, and openings of the + closed glass front doors, that served equally for windows, and filled the + canvas ceiling which hid the roof above like a bellying sail. A wave of + enthusiastic emotion seemed to be communicated to a line of straw hats and + sou-westers suspended from a cross-beam, and swung them with every + appearance of festive rejoicing, while a few dusters, overcoats, and + “hickory” shirts hanging on the side walls exhibited such marked though + idiotic animation that it had the effect of a satirical comment on the + lazy, purposeless figures of the four living inmates of the store. + </p> + <p> + Ned Billings momentarily raised his head and shoulders depressed in the + back of his wooden armchair, glanced wearily around, said, “You bet, it's + no slouch of a storm,” and then lapsed again with further extended legs + and an added sense of comfort. + </p> + <p> + Here the third figure, which had been leaning listlessly against the + shelves, putting aside the arm of a swaying overcoat that seemed to be + emptily embracing him, walked slowly from behind the counter to the door, + examined its fastenings, and gazed at the prospect. He was the owner of + the store, and the view was a familiar one,—a long stretch of + treeless waste before him meeting an equal stretch of dreary sky above, + and night hovering somewhere between the two. This was indicated by + splashes of darker shadow as if washed in with india ink, and a lighter + low-lying streak that might have been the horizon, but was not. To the + right, on a line with the front door of the store, were several scattered, + widely dispersed objects, that, although vague in outline, were rigid + enough in angles to suggest sheds or barns, but certainly not trees. + </p> + <p> + “There's a heap more wet to come afore the wind goes down,” he said, + glancing at the sky. “Hark to that, now!” + </p> + <p> + They listened lazily. There was a faint murmur from the shingles above; + then suddenly the whole window was filmed and blurred as if the entire + prospect had been wiped out with a damp sponge. The man turned listlessly + away. + </p> + <p> + “That's the kind that soaks in; thar won't be much teamin' over Tasajara + for the next two weeks, I reckon,” said the fourth lounger, who, seated on + a high barrel, was nibbling—albeit critically and fastidiously—biscuits + and dried apples alternately from open boxes on the counter. “It's lucky + you've got in your winter stock, Harkutt.” + </p> + <p> + The shrewd eyes of Mr. Harkutt, proprietor, glanced at the occupation of + the speaker as if even his foresight might have its possible drawbacks, + but he said nothing. + </p> + <p> + “There'll be no show for Sidon until you've got a wagon road from here to + the creek,” said Billings languidly, from the depths of his chair. “But + what's the use o' talkin'? Thar ain't energy enough in all Tasajara to + build it. A God-forsaken place, that two months of the year can only be + reached by a mail-rider once a week, don't look ez if it was goin' to + break its back haulin' in goods and settlers. I tell ye what, gentlemen, + it makes me sick!” And apparently it had enfeebled him to the extent of + interfering with his aim in that expectoration of disgust against the + stove with which he concluded his sentence. + </p> + <p> + “Why don't YOU build it?” asked Wingate, carelessly. + </p> + <p> + “I wouldn't on principle,” said Billings. “It's gov'ment work. What did we + whoop up things here last spring to elect Kennedy to the legislation for? + What did I rig up my shed and a thousand feet of lumber for benches at the + barbecue for? Why, to get Kennedy elected and make him get a bill passed + for the road! That's MY share of building it, if it comes to that. And I + only wish some folks, that blow enough about what oughter be done to bulge + out that ceiling, would only do as much as I have done for Sidon.” + </p> + <p> + As this remark seemed to have a personal as well as local application, the + storekeeper diplomatically turned it. “There's a good many as DON'T + believe that a road from here to the creek is going to do any good to + Sidon. It's very well to say the creek is an embarcadero, but callin' it + so don't put anough water into it to float a steamboat from the bay, nor + clear out the reeds and tules in it. Even if the State builds you roads, + it ain't got no call to make Tasajara Creek navigable for ye; and as that + will cost as much as the road, I don't see where the money's comin' from + for both.” + </p> + <p> + “There's water enough in front of 'Lige Curtis's shanty, and his location + is only a mile along the bank,” returned Billings. + </p> + <p> + “Water enough for him to laze away his time fishin' when he's sober, and + deep enough to drown him when he's drunk,” said Wingate. “If you call that + an embarcadero, you kin buy it any day from 'Lige,—title, + possession, and shanty thrown in,—for a demijohn o' whiskey.” + </p> + <p> + The fourth man here distastefully threw back a half-nibbled biscuit into + the box, and languidly slipped from the barrel to the floor, fastidiously + flicking the crumbs from his clothes as he did so. “I reckon somebody'll + get it for nothing, if 'Lige don't pull up mighty soon. He'll either go + off his head with jim-jams or jump into the creek. He's about as near + desp'rit as they make 'em, and havin' no partner to look after him, and + him alone in the tules, ther' 's no tellin' WHAT he may do.” + </p> + <p> + Billings, stretched at full length in his chair, here gurgled derisively. + “Desp'rit!—ketch him! Why, that's his little game! He's jist playin' + off his desp'rit condition to frighten Sidon. Whenever any one asks him + why he don't go to work, whenever he's hard up for a drink, whenever he's + had too much or too little, he's workin' that desp'rit dodge, and even + talkin' o' killin' himself! Why, look here,” he continued, momentarily + raising himself to a sitting posture in his disgust, “it was only last + week he was over at Rawlett's trying to raise provisions and whiskey outer + his water rights on the creek! Fact, sir,—had it all written down + lawyer-like on paper. Rawlett didn't exactly see it in that light, and + told him so. Then he up with the desp'rit dodge and began to work that. + Said if he had to starve in a swamp like a dog he might as well kill + himself at once, and would too if he could afford the weppins. Johnson + said it was not a bad idea, and offered to lend him his revolver; Bilson + handed up his shot-gun, and left it alongside of him, and turned his head + away considerate-like and thoughtful while Rawlett handed him a box of rat + pizon over the counter, in case he preferred suthin' more quiet. Well, + what did 'Lige do? Nothin'! Smiled kinder sickly, looked sorter wild, and + shut up. He didn't suicide much. No, sir! He didn't kill himself,—not + he. Why, old Bixby—and he's a deacon in good standin'—allowed, + in 'Lige's hearin' and for 'Lige's benefit, that self-destruction was + better nor bad example, and proved it by Scripture too. And yet 'Lige did + nothin'! Desp'rit! He's only desp'rit to laze around and fish all day off + a log in the tules, and soak up with whiskey, until, betwixt fever an' + ague and the jumps, he kinder shakes hisself free o' responsibility.” + </p> + <p> + A long silence followed; it was somehow felt that the subject was + incongruously exciting; Billings allowed himself to lapse again behind the + back of his chair. Meantime it had grown so dark that the dull glow of the + stove was beginning to outline a faint halo on the ceiling even while it + plunged the further lines of shelves behind the counter into greater + obscurity. + </p> + <p> + “Time to light up, Harkutt, ain't it?” said Wingate, tentatively. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I was reckoning ez it's such a wild night there wouldn't be any use + keepin' open, and when you fellows left I'd just shut up for good and make + things fast,” said Harkutt, dubiously. Before his guests had time to fully + weigh this delicate hint, another gust of wind shook the tenement, and + even forced the unbolted upper part of the door to yield far enough to + admit an eager current of humid air that seemed to justify the wisdom of + Harkutt's suggestion. Billings slowly and with a sigh assumed a sitting + posture in the chair. The biscuit-nibbler selected a fresh dainty from the + counter, and Wingate abstractedly walked to the window and rubbed the + glass. Sky and water had already disappeared behind a curtain of darkness + that was illuminated by a single point of light—the lamp in the + window of some invisible but nearer house—which threw its rays + across the glistening shallows in the road. “Well,” said Wingate, + buttoning up his coat in slow dejection, “I reckon I oughter be travelin' + to help the old woman do the chores before supper.” He had just recognized + the light in his own dining-room, and knew by that sign that his + long-waiting helpmeet had finally done the chores herself. + </p> + <p> + “Some folks have it mighty easy,” said Billings, with long-drawn + discontent, as he struggled to his feet. “You've only a step to go, and + yer's me and Peters there”—indicating the biscuit-nibbler, who was + beginning to show alarming signs of returning to the barrel again—“hev + got to trapse five times that distance.” + </p> + <p> + “More'n half a mile, if it comes to that,” said Peters, gloomily. He + paused in putting on his overcoat as if thinking better of it, while even + the more fortunate and contiguous Wingate languidly lapsed against the + counter again. + </p> + <p> + The moment was a critical one. Billings was evidently also regretfully + eying the chair he had just quitted. Harkutt resolved on a heroic effort. + </p> + <p> + “Come, boys,” he said, with brisk conviviality, “take a parting drink with + me before you go.” Producing a black bottle from some obscurity beneath + the counter that smelt strongly of india-rubber boots, he placed it with + four glasses before his guests. Each made a feint of holding his glass + against the opaque window while filling it, although nothing could be + seen. A sudden tumult of wind and rain again shook the building, but even + after it had passed the glass door still rattled violently. + </p> + <p> + “Just see what's loose, Peters,” said Billings; “you're nearest it.” + </p> + <p> + Peters, still holding the undrained glass in his hand, walked slowly + towards it. + </p> + <p> + “It's suthin'—or somebody outside,” he said, hesitatingly. + </p> + <p> + The three others came eagerly to his side. Through the glass, clouded from + within by their breath, and filmed from without by the rain, some vague + object was moving, and what seemed to be a mop of tangled hair was + apparently brushing against the pane. The door shook again, but less + strongly. Billings pressed his face against the glass. “Hol' on,” he said + in a quick whisper,—“it's 'Lige!” But it was too late. Harkutt had + already drawn the lower bolt, and a man stumbled from the outer obscurity + into the darker room. + </p> + <p> + The inmates drew away as he leaned back for a moment against the door that + closed behind him. Then dimly, but instinctively, discerning the glass of + liquor which Wingate still mechanically held in his hand, he reached + forward eagerly, took it from Wingate's surprised and unresisting fingers, + and drained it at a gulp. The four men laughed vaguely, but not as + cheerfully as they might. + </p> + <p> + “I was just shutting up,” began Harkutt, dubiously. + </p> + <p> + “I won't keep you a minit,” said the intruder, nervously fumbling in the + breast pocket of his hickory shirt. “It's a matter of business—Harkutt—I”—But + he was obliged to stop here to wipe his face and forehead with the ends of + a loose handkerchief tied round his throat. From the action, and what + could be seen of his pale, exhausted face, it was evident that the + moisture upon it was beads of perspiration, and not the rain which some + abnormal heat of his body was converting into vapor from his sodden + garments as he stood there. + </p> + <p> + “I've got a document here,” he began again, producing a roll of paper + tremblingly from his pocket, “that I'd like you to glance over, and + perhaps you'd”—His voice, which had been feverishly exalted, here + broke and rattled with a cough. + </p> + <p> + Billings, Wingate, and Peters fell apart and looked out of the window. + “It's too dark to read anything now, 'Lige,” said Harkutt, with evasive + good humor, “and I ain't lightin' up to-night.” + </p> + <p> + “But I can tell you the substance of it,” said the man, with a faintness + that however had all the distinctness of a whisper, “if you'll just step + inside a minute. It's a matter of importance and a bargain”— + </p> + <p> + “I reckon we must be goin',” said Billings to the others, with marked + emphasis. “We're keepin' Harkutt from shuttin' up.” “Good-night!” + “Good-night!” added Peters and Wingate, ostentatiously following Billings + hurriedly through the door. “So long!” + </p> + <p> + The door closed behind them, leaving Harkutt alone with his importunate + intruder. Possibly his resentment at his customers' selfish abandonment of + him at this moment developed a vague spirit of opposition to them and + mitigated his feeling towards 'Lige. He groped his way to the counter, + struck a match, and lit a candle. Its feeble rays faintly illuminated the + pale, drawn face of the applicant, set in a tangle of wet, unkempt, + party-colored hair. It was not the face of an ordinary drunkard; although + tremulous and sensitive from some artificial excitement, there was no + ENGORGEMENT or congestion in the features or complexion, albeit they were + morbid and unhealthy. The expression was of a suffering that was as much + mental as physical, and yet in some vague way appeared unmeaning—and + unheroic. + </p> + <p> + “I want to see you about selling my place on the creek. I want you to take + it off my hands for a bargain. I want to get quit of it, at once, for just + enough to take me out o' this. I don't want any profit; only money enough + to get away.” His utterance, which had a certain kind of cultivation, here + grew thick and harsh again, and he looked eagerly at the bottle which + stood on the counter. + </p> + <p> + “Look here, 'Lige,” said Harkutt, not unkindly. “It's too late to do + anythin' tonight. You come in to-morrow.” He would have added “when you're + sober,” but for a trader's sense of politeness to a possible customer, and + probably some doubt of the man's actual condition. + </p> + <p> + “God knows where or what I may be tomorrow! It would kill me to go back + and spend another night as the last, if I don't kill myself on the way to + do it.” + </p> + <p> + Harkutt's face darkened grimly. It was indeed as Billings had said. The + pitiable weakness of the man's manner not only made his desperation + inadequate and ineffective, but even lent it all the cheapness of acting. + And, as if to accent his simulation of a part, his fingers, feebly groping + in his shirt bosom, slipped aimlessly and helplessly from the shining + handle of a pistol in his pocket to wander hesitatingly towards the bottle + on the counter. + </p> + <p> + Harkutt took the bottle, poured out a glass of the liquor, and pushed it + before his companion, who drank it eagerly. Whether it gave him more + confidence, or his attention was no longer diverted, he went on more + collectedly and cheerfully, and with no trace of his previous desperation + in his manner. “Come, Harkutt, buy my place. It's a bargain, I tell you. + I'll sell it cheap. I only want enough to get away with. Give me + twenty-five dollars and it's yours. See, there's the papers—the + quitclaim—all drawn up and signed.” He drew the roll of paper from + his pocket again, apparently forgetful of the adjacent weapon. + </p> + <p> + “Look here, 'Lige,” said Harkutt, with a business-like straightening of + his lips, “I ain't buyin' any land in Tasajara,—least of all yours + on the creek. I've got more invested here already than I'll ever get back + again. But I tell you what I'll do. You say you can't go back to your + shanty. Well, seein' how rough it is outside, and that the waters of the + creek are probably all over the trail by this time, I reckon you're about + right. Now, there's five dollars!” He laid down a coin sharply on the + counter. “Take that and go over to Rawlett's and get a bed and some + supper. In the mornin' you may be able to strike up a trade with somebody + else—or change your mind. How did you get here? On your hoss?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “He ain't starved yet?” + </p> + <p> + “No; he can eat grass. I can't.” + </p> + <p> + Either the liquor or Harkutt's practical unsentimental treatment of the + situation seemed to give him confidence. He met Harkutt's eye more + steadily as the latter went on. “You kin turn your hoss for the night into + my stock corral next to Rawlett's. It'll save you payin' for fodder and + stablin'.” + </p> + <p> + The man took up the coin with a certain slow gravity which was almost like + dignity. “Thank you,” he said, laying the paper on the counter. “I'll + leave that as security.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't want it, 'Lige,” said Harkutt, pushing it back. + </p> + <p> + “I'd rather leave it.” + </p> + <p> + “But suppose you have a chance to sell it to somebody at Rawlett's?” + continued Harkutt, with a precaution that seemed ironical. + </p> + <p> + “I don't think there's much chance of that.” + </p> + <p> + He remained quiet, looking at Harkutt with an odd expression as he rubbed + the edge of the coin that he held between his fingers abstractedly on the + counter. Something in his gaze—rather perhaps the apparent absence + of anything in it approximate to the present occasion—was beginning + to affect Harkutt with a vague uneasiness. Providentially a resumed + onslaught of wind and rain against the panes effected a diversion. “Come,” + he said, with brisk practicality, “you'd better hurry on to Rawlett's + before it gets worse. Have your clothes dried by his fire, take suthin' to + eat, and you'll be all right.” He rubbed his hands cheerfully, as if + summarily disposing of the situation, and incidentally of all 'Lige's + troubles, and walked with him to the door. Nevertheless, as the man's look + remained unchanged, he hesitated a moment with his hand on the handle, in + the hope that he would say something, even if only to repeat his appeal, + but he did not. Then Harkutt opened the door; the man moved mechanically + out, and at the distance of a few feet seemed to melt into the rain and + darkness. Harkutt remained for a moment with his face pressed against the + glass. After an interval he thought he heard the faint splash of hoofs in + the shallows of the road; he opened the door softly and looked out. + </p> + <p> + The light had disappeared from the nearest house; only an uncertain bulk + of shapeless shadows remained. Other remoter and more vague outlines near + the horizon seemed to have a funereal suggestion of tombs and grave + mounds, and one—a low shed near the road—looked not unlike a + halted bier. He hurriedly put up the shutters in a momentary lulling of + the wind, and re-entering the store began to fasten them from within. + </p> + <p> + While thus engaged an inner door behind the counter opened softly and + cautiously, projecting a brighter light into the deserted apartment from + some sacred domestic interior with the warm and wholesome incense of + cooking. It served to introduce also the equally agreeable presence of a + young girl, who, after assuring herself of the absence of every one but + the proprietor, idly slipped into the store, and placing her rounded + elbows, from which her sleeves were uprolled, upon the counter, leaned + lazily upon them, with both hands supporting her dimpled chin, and gazed + indolently at him; so indolently that, with her pretty face once fixed in + this comfortable attitude, she was constrained to follow his movements + with her eyes alone, and often at an uncomfortable angle. It was evident + that she offered the final but charming illustration of the enfeebling + listlessness of Sidon. + </p> + <p> + “So those loafers have gone at last,” she said, meditatively. “They'll + take root here some day, pop. The idea of three strong men like that + lazing round for two mortal hours doin' nothin'. Well!” As if to emphasize + her disgust she threw her whole weight upon the counter by swinging her + feet from the floor to touch the shelves behind her. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Harkutt only replied by a slight grunt as he continued to screw on the + shutters. + </p> + <p> + “Want me to help you, dad?” she said, without moving. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Harkutt muttered something unintelligible, which, however, seemed to + imply a negative, and her attention here feebly wandered to the roll of + paper, and she began slowly and lazily to read it aloud. + </p> + <p> + “'For value received, I hereby sell, assign, and transfer to Daniel D. + Harkutt all my right, titles and interest in, and to the undivided half + of, Quarter Section 4, Range 5, Tasajara Township'—hum—hum,” + she murmured, running her eyes to the bottom of the page. “Why, Lord! It's + that 'Lige Curtis!” she laughed. “The idea of HIM having property! Why, + dad, you ain't been THAT silly!” + </p> + <p> + “Put down that paper, miss,” he said, aggrievedly; “bring the candle here, + and help me to find one of these infernal screws that's dropped.” + </p> + <p> + The girl indolently disengaged herself from the counter and Elijah + Curtis's transfer, and brought the candle to her father. The screw was + presently found and the last fastening secured. “Supper gettin' cold, + dad,” she said, with a slight yawn. Her father sympathetically responded + by stretching himself from his stooping position, and the two passed + through the private door into inner domesticity, leaving the already + forgotten paper lying with other articles of barter on the counter. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPER II. + </h2> + <p> + With the closing of the little door behind them they seemed to have shut + out the turmoil and vibration of the storm. The reason became apparent + when, after a few paces, they descended half a dozen steps to a lower + landing. This disclosed the fact that the dwelling part of the Sidon + General Store was quite below the level of the shop and the road, and on + the slope of the solitary undulation of the Tasajara plain,—a little + ravine that fell away to a brawling stream below. The only arboreous + growth of Tasajara clothed its banks in the shape of willows and alders + that set compactly around the quaint, irregular dwelling which straggled + down the ravine and looked upon a slope of bracken and foliage on either + side. The transition from the black, treeless, storm-swept plain to this + sheltered declivity was striking and suggestive. From the opposite bank + one might fancy that the youthful and original dwelling had ambitiously + mounted the crest, but, appalled at the dreary prospect beyond, had gone + no further; while from the road it seemed as if the fastidious proprietor + had tried to draw a line between the vulgar trading-post, with which he + was obliged to face the coarser civilization of the place, and the privacy + of his domestic life. The real fact, however, was that the ravine + furnished wood and water; and as Nature also provided one wall of the + house,—as in the well-known example of aboriginal cave dwellings,—its + peculiar construction commended itself to Sidon on the ground of involving + little labor. + </p> + <p> + Howbeit, from the two open windows of the sitting-room which they had + entered only the faint pattering of dripping boughs and a slight murmur + from the swollen brook indicated the storm that shook the upper plain, and + the cool breath of laurel, syringa, and alder was wafted through the neat + apartment. Passing through that pleasant rural atmosphere they entered the + kitchen, a much larger room, which appeared to serve occasionally as a + dining-room, and where supper was already laid out. A stout, + comfortable-looking woman—who had, however, a singularly permanent + expression of pained sympathy upon her face—welcomed them in tones + of gentle commiseration. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, there you be, you two! Now sit ye right down, dears; DO. You must be + tired out; and you, Phemie, love, draw up by your poor father. There—that's + right. You'll be better soon.” + </p> + <p> + There was certainly no visible sign of suffering or exhaustion on the part + of either father or daughter, nor the slightest apparent earthly reason + why they should be expected to exhibit any. But, as already intimated, it + was part of Mrs. Harkutt's generous idiosyncrasy to look upon all humanity + as suffering and toiling; to be petted, humored, condoled with, and fed. + It had, in the course of years, imparted a singularly caressing sadness to + her voice, and given her the habit of ending her sentences with a + melancholy cooing and an unintelligible murmur of agreement. It was + undoubtedly sincere and sympathetic, but at times inappropriate and + distressing. It had lost her the friendship of the one humorist of + Tasajara, whose best jokes she had received with such heartfelt + commiseration and such pained appreciation of the evident labor involved + as to reduce him to silence. + </p> + <p> + Accustomed as Mr. Harkutt was to his wife's peculiarity, he was not above + assuming a certain slightly fatigued attitude befitting it. “Yes,” he + said, with a vague sigh, “where's Clemmie?” + </p> + <p> + “Lyin' down since dinner; she reckoned she wouldn't get up to supper,” she + returned soothingly. “Phemie's goin' to take her up some sass and tea. The + poor dear child wants a change.” + </p> + <p> + “She wants to go to 'Frisco, and so do I, pop,” said Phemie, leaning her + elbow half over her father's plate. “Come, pop, say do,—just for a + week.” + </p> + <p> + “Only for a week,” murmured the commiserating Mrs. Harkutt. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” responded Harkutt, with gloomy sarcasm, “ye wouldn't mind + tellin' me how you're goin' to get there, and where the money's comin' + from to take you? There's no teamin' over Tasajara till the rain stops, + and no money comin' in till the ranchmen can move their stuff. There ain't + a hundred dollars in all Tasajara; at least there ain't been the first red + cent of it paid across my counter for a fortnit! Perhaps if you do go you + wouldn't mind takin' me and the store along with ye, and leavin' us + there.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, dear,” said Mrs. Harkutt, with sympathetic but shameless + tergiversation. “Don't bother your poor father, Phemie, love; don't you + see he's just tired out? And you're not eatin' anything, dad.” + </p> + <p> + As Mr. Harkutt was uneasily conscious that he had been eating heartily in + spite of his financial difficulties, he turned the subject abruptly. + “Where's John Milton?” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Harkutt shaded her eyes with her hand, and gazed meditatively on the + floor before the fire and in the chimney corner for her only son, baptized + under that historic title. “He was here a minit ago,” she said doubtfully. + “I really can't think where he's gone. But,” assuringly, “it ain't far.” + </p> + <p> + “He's skipped with one o' those story-books he's borrowed,” said Phemie. + “He's always doin' it. Like as not he's reading with a candle in the + wood-shed. We'll all be burnt up some night.” + </p> + <p> + “But he's got through his chores,” interposed Mrs. Harkutt deprecatingly. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” continued Harkutt, aggrievedly, “but instead of goin' to bed, or + addin' up bills, or takin' count o' stock, or even doin' sums or suthin' + useful, he's ruinin' his eyes and wastin' his time over trash.” He rose + and walked slowly into the sitting-room, followed by his daughter and a + murmur of commiseration from his wife. But Mrs. Harkutt's ministration for + the present did not pass beyond her domain, the kitchen. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon ye ain't expectin' anybody tonight, Phemie?” said Mr. Harkutt, + sinking into a chair, and placing his slippered feet against the wall. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Phemie, “unless something possesses that sappy little Parmlee + to make one of his visitations. John Milton says that out on the road it + blows so you can't stand up. It's just like that idiot Parmlee to be blown + in here, and not have strength of mind enough to get away again.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Harkutt smiled. It was that arch yet approving, severe yet satisfied + smile with which the deceived male parent usually receives any + depreciation of the ordinary young man by his daughters. Euphemia was no + giddy thing to be carried away by young men's attentions,—not she! + Sitting back comfortably in his rocking-chair, he said, “Play something.” + </p> + <p> + The young girl went to the closet and took from the top shelf an + excessively ornamented accordion,—the opulent gift of a reckless + admirer. It was so inordinately decorated, so gorgeous in the blaze of + papier mache, mother-of-pearl, and tortoise-shell on keys and keyboard, + and so ostentatiously radiant in the pink silk of its bellows that it + seemed to overawe the plainly furnished room with its splendors. “You + ought to keep it on the table in a glass vase, Phemie,” said her father + admiringly. + </p> + <p> + “And have HIM think I worshiped it! Not me, indeed! He's conceited enough + already,” she returned, saucily. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Harkutt again smiled his approbation, then deliberately closed his + eyes and threw his head back in comfortable anticipation of the coming + strains. + </p> + <p> + It is to be regretted that in brilliancy, finish, and even cheerfulness of + quality they were not up to the suggestions of the keys and keyboard. The + most discreet and cautious effort on the part of the young performer + seemed only to produce startlingly unexpected, but instantly suppressed + complaints from the instrument, accompanied by impatient interjections of + “No, no,” from the girl herself. Nevertheless, with her pretty eyebrows + knitted in some charming distress of memory, her little mouth half open + between an apologetic smile and the exertion of working the bellows, with + her white, rounded arms partly lifted up and waving before her, she was + pleasantly distracting to the eye. Gradually, as the scattered strains + were marshaled into something like an air, she began to sing also, + glossing over the instrumental weaknesses, filling in certain dropped + notes and omissions, and otherwise assisting the ineffectual accordion + with a youthful but not unmusical voice. The song was a lugubrious + religious chant; under its influence the house seemed to sink into greater + quiet, permitting in the intervals the murmur of the swollen creek to + appear more distinct, and even the far moaning of the wind on the plain to + become faintly audible. At last, having fairly mastered the instrument, + Phemie got into the full swing of the chant. Unconstrained by any + criticism, carried away by the sound of her own voice, and perhaps a + youthful love for mere uproar, or possibly desirous to drown her father's + voice, which had unexpectedly joined in with a discomposing bass, the + conjoined utterances seemed to threaten the frail structure of their + dwelling, even as the gale had distended the store behind them. When they + ceased at last it was in an accession of dripping from the apparently + stirred leaves outside. And then a voice, evidently from the moist depths + of the abyss below, called out,— + </p> + <p> + “Hullo, there!” + </p> + <p> + Phemie put down the accordion, said, “Who's that now?” went to the window, + lazily leaned her elbows on the sill, and peered into the darkness. + Nothing was to be seen; the open space of dimly outlined landscape had + that blank, uncommunicative impenetrability with which Nature always + confronts and surprises us at such moments. It seemed to Phemie that she + was the only human being present. Yet after the feeling had passed she + fancied she heard the wash of the current against some object in the + stream, half stationary and half resisting. + </p> + <p> + “Is any one down there? Is that you, Mr. Parmlee?” she called. + </p> + <p> + There was a pause. Some invisible auditor said to another, “It's a young + lady.” Then the first voice rose again in a more deferential tone: “Are we + anywhere near Sidon?” + </p> + <p> + “This is Sidon,” answered Harkutt, who had risen, and was now quite + obliterating his daughter's outline at the window. + </p> + <p> + “Thank you,” said the voice. “Can we land anywhere here, on this bank?” + </p> + <p> + “Run down, pop; they're strangers,” said the girl, with excited, almost + childish eagerness. + </p> + <p> + “Hold on,” called out Harkutt, “I'll be thar in a moment!” He hastily + thrust his feet into a pair of huge boots, clapped on an oilskin hat and + waterproof, and disappeared through a door that led to a lower staircase. + Phemie, still at the window, albeit with a newly added sense of + self-consciousness, hung out breathlessly. Presently a beam of light from + the lower depths of the house shot out into the darkness. It was her + father with a bull's-eye lantern. As he held it up and clambered + cautiously down the bank, its rays fell upon the turbid rushing stream, + and what appeared to be a rough raft of logs held with difficulty against + the bank by two men with long poles. In its centre was a roll of blankets, + a valise and saddle-bags, and the shining brasses of some odd-looking + instruments. + </p> + <p> + As Mr. Harkutt, supporting himself by a willow branch that overhung the + current, held up the lantern, the two men rapidly transferred their + freight from the raft to the bank, and leaped ashore. The action gave an + impulse to the raft, which, no longer held in position by the poles, swung + broadside to the current and was instantly swept into the darkness. + </p> + <p> + Not a word had been spoken, but now the voices of the men rose freely + together. Phemie listened with intense expectation. The explanation was + simple. They were surveyors who had been caught by the overflow on + Tasajara plain, had abandoned their horses on the bank of Tasajara Creek, + and with a hastily constructed raft had intrusted themselves and their + instruments to the current. “But,” said Harkutt quickly, “there is no + connection between Tasajara Creek and this stream.” + </p> + <p> + The two men laughed. “There is NOW,” said one of them. + </p> + <p> + “But Tasajara Creek is a part of the bay,” said the astonished Harkutt, + “and this stream rises inland and only runs into the bay four miles lower + down. And I don't see how— + </p> + <p> + “You're almost twelve feet lower here than Tasajara Creek,” said the first + man, with a certain professional authority, “and that's WHY. There's more + water than Tasajara Creek can carry, and it's seeking the bay this way. + Look,” he continued, taking the lantern from Harkutt's hand and casting + its rays on the stream, “that's salt drift from the upper bay, and part of + Tasajara Creek's running by your house now! Don't be alarmed,” he added + reassuringly, glancing at the staring storekeeper. “You're all right here; + this is only the overflow and will find its level soon.” + </p> + <p> + But Mr. Harkutt remained gazing abstractedly at the smiling speaker. From + the window above the impatient Phemie was wondering why he kept the + strangers waiting in the rain while he talked about things that were + perfectly plain. It was so like a man! + </p> + <p> + “Then there's a waterway straight to Tasajara Creek?” he said slowly. + </p> + <p> + “There is, as long as this flood lasts,” returned the first speaker + promptly; “and a cutting through the bank of two or three hundred yards + would make it permanent. Well, what's the matter with that?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothin',” said Harkutt hurriedly. “I am only considerin'! But come in, + dry yourselves, and take suthin'.” + </p> + <p> + The light over the rushing water was withdrawn, and the whole prospect + sank back into profound darkness. Mr. Harkutt had disappeared with his + guests. Then there was the familiar shuffle of his feet on the staircase, + followed by other more cautious footsteps that grew delicately and even + courteously deliberate as they approached. At which the young girl, in + some new sense of decorum, drew in her pretty head, glanced around the + room quickly, reset the tidy on her father's chair, placed the resplendent + accordion like an ornament in the exact centre of the table, and then + vanished into the hall as Mr. Harkutt entered with the strangers. + </p> + <p> + They were both of the same age and appearance, but the principal speaker + was evidently the superior of his companion, and although their attitude + to each other was equal and familiar, it could be easily seen that he was + the leader. He had a smooth, beardless face, with a critical expression of + eye and mouth that might have been fastidious and supercilious but for the + kindly, humorous perception that tempered it. His quick eye swept the + apartment and then fixed itself upon the accordion, but a smile lit up his + face as he said quietly,— + </p> + <p> + “I hope we haven't frightened the musician away. It was bad enough to have + interrupted the young lady.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no,” said Mr. Harkutt, who seemed to have lost his abstraction in the + nervousness of hospitality. “I reckon she's only lookin' after her sick + sister. But come into the kitchen, both of you, straight off, and while + you're dryin' your clothes, mother'll fix you suthin' hot.” + </p> + <p> + “We only need to change our boots and stockings; we've some dry ones in + our pack downstairs,” said the first speaker hesitatingly. + </p> + <p> + “I'll fetch 'em up and you can change in the kitchen. The old woman won't + mind,” said Harkutt reassuringly. “Come along.” He led the way to the + kitchen; the two strangers exchanged a glance of humorous perplexity and + followed. + </p> + <p> + The quiet of the little room was once more unbroken. A far-off + commiserating murmur indicated that Mrs. Harkutt was receiving her guests. + The cool breath of the wet leaves without slightly stirred the white + dimity curtains, and somewhere from the darkened eaves there was a still, + somnolent drip. Presently a hurried whisper and a half-laugh appeared to + be suppressed in the outer passage or hall. There was another moment of + hesitation and the door opened suddenly and ostentatiously, disclosing + Phemie, with a taller and slighter young woman, her elder sister, at her + side. Perceiving that the room was empty, they both said “Oh!” yet with a + certain artificiality of manner that was evidently a lingering trace of + some previous formal attitude they had assumed. Then without further + speech they each selected a chair and a position, having first shaken out + their dresses, and gazed silently at each other. + </p> + <p> + It may be said briefly that sitting thus—in spite of their unnatural + attitude, or perhaps rather because of its suggestion of a photographic + pose—they made a striking picture, and strongly accented their + separate peculiarities. They were both pretty, but the taller girl, + apparently the elder, had an ideal refinement and regularity of feature + which was not only unlike Phemie, but gratuitously unlike the rest of her + family, and as hopelessly and even wantonly inconsistent with her + surroundings as was the elaborately ornamented accordion on the + centre-table. She was one of those occasional creatures, episodical in the + South and West, who might have been stamped with some vague ante-natal + impression of a mother given to over-sentimental contemplation of books of + beauty and albums rather than the family features; offspring of typical + men and women, and yet themselves incongruous to any known local or even + general type. The long swan-like neck, tendriled hair, swimming eyes, and + small patrician head, had never lived or moved before in Tasajara or the + West, nor perhaps even existed except as a personified “Constancy,” + “Meditation,” or the “Baron's Bride,” in mezzotint or copperplate. Even + the girl's common pink print dress with its high sleeves and shoulders + could not conventionalize these original outlines; and the hand that + rested stiffly on the back of her chair, albeit neither over-white nor + well kept, looked as if it had never held anything but a lyre, a rose, or + a good book. Even the few sprays of wild jessamine which she had placed in + the coils of her waving hair, although a local fashion, became her as a + special ornament. + </p> + <p> + The two girls kept their constrained and artificially elaborated attitude + for a few moments, accompanied by the murmur of voices in the kitchen, the + monotonous drip of the eaves before the window, and the far-off sough of + the wind. Then Phemie suddenly broke into a constrained giggle, which she + however quickly smothered as she had the accordion, and with the same look + of mischievous distress. + </p> + <p> + “I'm astonished at you, Phemie,” said Clementina in a deep contralto + voice, which seemed even deeper from its restraint. “You don't seem to + have any sense. Anybody'd think you never had seen a stranger before.” + </p> + <p> + “Saw him before you did,” retorted Phemie pertly. But here a pushing of + chairs and shuffling of feet in the kitchen checked her. Clementina fixed + an abstracted gaze on the ceiling; Phemie regarded a leaf on the window + sill with photographic rigidity as the door opened to the strangers and + her father. + </p> + <p> + The look of undisguised satisfaction which lit the young men's faces + relieved Mr. Harkutt's awkward introduction of any embarrassment, and + almost before Phemie was fully aware of it, she found herself talking + rapidly and in a high key with Mr. Lawrence Grant, the surveyor, while her + sister was equally, although more sedately, occupied with Mr. Stephen + Rice, his assistant. But the enthusiasm of the strangers, and the desire + to please and be pleased was so genuine and contagious that presently the + accordion was brought into requisition, and Mr. Grant exhibited a + surprising faculty of accompaniment to Mr. Rice's tenor, in which both the + girls joined. + </p> + <p> + Then a game of cards with partners followed, into which the rival parties + introduced such delightful and shameless obviousness of cheating, and + displayed such fascinating and exaggerated partisanship that the game + resolved itself into a hilarious melee, to which peace was restored only + by an exhibition of tricks of legerdemain with the cards by the young + surveyor. All of which Mr. Harkutt supervised patronizingly, with + occasional fits of abstraction, from his rocking-chair; and later Mrs. + Harkutt from her kitchen threshold, wiping her arms on her apron and + commiseratingly observing that she “declared, the young folks looked + better already.” + </p> + <p> + But it was here a more dangerous element of mystery and suggestion was + added by Mr. Lawrence Grant in the telling of Miss Euphemia's fortune from + the cards before him, and that young lady, pink with excitement, fluttered + her little hands not unlike timid birds over the cards to be drawn, taking + them from him with an audible twitter of anxiety and great doubts whether + a certain “fair-haired gentleman” was in hearts or diamonds. + </p> + <p> + “Here are two strangers,” said Mr. Grant, with extraordinary gravity + laying down the cards, “and here is a 'journey;' this is 'unexpected + news,' and this ten of diamonds means 'great wealth' to you, which you see + follows the advent of the two strangers and is some way connected with + them.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, indeed,” said the young lady with great pertness and a toss of her + head. “I suppose they've got the money with them.” + </p> + <p> + “No, though it reaches you through them,” he answered with unflinching + solemnity. “Wait a bit, I have it! I see, I've made a mistake with this + card. It signifies a journey or a road. Queer! isn't it, Steve? It's THE + ROAD.” + </p> + <p> + “It is queer,” said Rice with equal gravity; “but it's so. The road, + sure!” Nevertheless he looked up into the large eyes of Clementina with a + certain confidential air of truthfulness. + </p> + <p> + “You see, ladies,” continued the surveyor, appealing to them with + unabashed rigidity of feature, “the cards don't lie! Luckily we are in a + position to corroborate them. The road in question is a secret known only + to us and some capitalists in San Francisco. In fact even THEY don't know + that it is feasible until WE report to them. But I don't mind telling you + now, as a slight return for your charming hospitality, that the road is a + RAILROAD from Oakland to Tasajara Creek of which we've just made the + preliminary survey. So you see what the cards mean is this: You're not far + from Tasajara Creek; in fact with a very little expense your father could + connect this stream with the creek, and have a WATERWAY STRAIGHT TO THE + RAILROAD TERMINUS. That's the wealth the cards promise; and if your father + knows how to take a hint he can make his fortune!” + </p> + <p> + It was impossible to say which was the most dominant in the face of the + speaker, the expression of assumed gravity or the twinkling of humor in + his eyes. The two girls with superior feminine perception divined that + there was much truth in what he said, albeit they didn't entirely + understand it, and what they did understand—except the man's + good-humored motive—was not particularly interesting. In fact they + were slightly disappointed. What had promised to be an audaciously + flirtatious declaration, and even a mischievous suggestion of marriage, + had resolved itself into something absurdly practical and business-like. + </p> + <p> + Not so Mr. Harkutt. He quickly rose from his chair, and, leaning over the + table, with his eyes fixed on the card as if it really signified the + railroad, repeated quickly: “Railroad, eh! What's that? A railroad to + Tasajara Creek? Ye don't mean it!—That is—it ain't a SURE + thing?” + </p> + <p> + “Perfectly sure. The money is ready in San Francisco now, and by this time + next year—” + </p> + <p> + “A railroad to Tasajara Creek!” continued Harkutt hurriedly. “What part of + it? Where?” + </p> + <p> + “At the embarcadero naturally,” responded Grant. “There isn't but the one + place for the terminus. There's an old shanty there now belongs to + somebody.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, pop!” said Phemie with sudden recollection, “ain't it 'Lige Curtis's + house? The land he offered”— + </p> + <p> + “Hush!” said her father. + </p> + <p> + “You know, the one written in that bit of paper,” continued the innocent + Phemie. + </p> + <p> + “Hush! will you? God A'mighty! are you goin' to mind me? Are you goin' to + keep up your jabber when I'm speakin' to the gentlemen? Is that your + manners? What next, I wonder!” + </p> + <p> + The sudden and unexpected passion of the speaker, the incomprehensible + change in his voice, and the utterly disproportionate exaggeration of his + attitude towards his daughters, enforced an instantaneous silence. The + rain began to drip audibly at the window, the rush of the river sounded + distinctly from without, even the shaking of the front part of the + dwelling by the distant gale became perceptible. An angry flash sprang for + an instant to the young assistant's eye, but it met the cautious glance of + his friend, and together both discreetly sought the table. The two girls + alone remained white and collected. “Will you go on with my fortune, Mr. + Grant?” said Phemie quietly. + </p> + <p> + A certain respect, perhaps not before observable, was suggested in the + surveyor's tone as he smilingly replied, “Certainly, I was only waiting + for you to show your confidence in me,” and took up the cards. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Harkutt coughed. “It looks as if that blamed wind had blown suthin' + loose in the store,” he said affectedly. “I reckon I'll go and see.” He + hesitated a moment and then disappeared in the passage. Yet even here he + stood irresolute, looking at the closed door behind him, and passing his + hand over his still flushed face. Presently he slowly and abstractedly + ascended the flight of steps, entered the smaller passage that led to the + back door of the shop and opened it. + </p> + <p> + He was at first a little startled at the halo of light from the still + glowing stove, which the greater obscurity of the long room had heightened + rather than diminished. Then he passed behind the counter, but here the + box of biscuits which occupied the centre and cast a shadow over it + compelled him to grope vaguely for what he sought. Then he stopped + suddenly, the paper he had just found dropping from his fingers, and said + sharply,— + </p> + <p> + “Who's there?” + </p> + <p> + “Me, pop.” + </p> + <p> + “John Milton?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “What the devil are you doin' there, sir?” + </p> + <p> + “Readin'.” + </p> + <p> + It was true. The boy was half reclining in a most distorted posture on two + chairs, his figure in deep shadow, but his book was raised above his head + so as to catch the red glow of the stove on the printed page. Even then + his father's angry interruption scarcely diverted his preoccupation; he + raised himself in his chair mechanically, with his eyes still fixed on his + book. Seeing which his father quickly regained the paper, but continued + his objurgation. + </p> + <p> + “How dare you? Clear off to bed, will you! Do you hear me? Pretty goin's + on,” he added as if to justify his indignation. “Sneakin' in here and—and + lyin' 'round at this time o' night! Why, if I hadn't come in here to”— + </p> + <p> + “What?” asked the boy mechanically, catching vaguely at the unfinished + sentence and staring automatically at the paper in his father's hand. + </p> + <p> + “Nothin', sir! Go to bed, I tell you! Will you? What are you standin' + gawpin' at?” continued Harkutt furiously. + </p> + <p> + The boy regained his feet slowly and passed his father, but not without + noticing with the same listless yet ineffaceable perception of childhood + that he was hurriedly concealing the paper in his pocket. With the same + youthful inconsequence, wondering at this more than at the interruption, + which was no novel event, he went slowly out of the room. + </p> + <p> + Harkutt listened to the retreating tread of his bare feet in the passage + and then carefully locked the door. Taking the paper from his pocket, and + borrowing the idea he had just objurgated in his son, he turned it towards + the dull glow of the stove and attempted to read it. But perhaps lacking + the patience as well as the keener sight of youth, he was forced to + relight the candle which he had left on the counter, and reperused the + paper. Yes! there was certainly no mistake! Here was the actual + description of the property which the surveyor had just indicated as the + future terminus of the new railroad, and here it was conveyed to him—Daniel + Harkutt! What was that? Somebody knocking? What did this continual + interruption mean? An odd superstitious fear now mingled with his + irritation. + </p> + <p> + The sound appeared to come from the front shutters. It suddenly occurred + to him that the light might be visible through the crevices. He hurriedly + extinguished it, and went to the door. + </p> + <p> + “Who's there?” + </p> + <p> + “Me,—Peters. Want to speak to you.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Harkutt with evident reluctance drew the bolts. The wind, still + boisterous and besieging, did the rest, and precipitately propelled Peters + through the carefully guarded opening. But his surprise at finding himself + in the darkness seemed to forestall any explanation of his visit. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” he said with an odd mingling of reproach and suspicion. “I declare + I saw a light here just this minit! That's queer.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I put it out just now. I was goin' away,” replied Harkutt, with + ill-disguised impatience. + </p> + <p> + “What! been here ever since?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Harkutt curtly. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I want to speak to ye about 'Lige. Seein' the candle shinin' + through the chinks I thought he might be still with ye. If he ain't, it + looks bad. Light up, can't ye! I want to show you something.” + </p> + <p> + There was a peremptoriness in his tone that struck Harkutt disagreeably, + but observing that he was carrying something in his hand, he somewhat + nervously re-lit the candle and faced him. Peters had a hat in his hand. + It was 'Lige's! + </p> + <p> + “'Bout an hour after we fellers left here,” said Peters, “I heard the + rattlin' of hoofs on the road, and then it seemed to stop just by my + house. I went out with a lantern, and, darn my skin! if there warn't + 'Lige's hoss, the saddle empty, and 'Lige nowhere! I looked round and + called him—but nothing were to be seen. Thinkin' he might have + slipped off—tho' ez a general rule drunken men don't, and he is a + good rider—I followed down the road, lookin' for him. I kept on + follerin' it down to your run, half a mile below.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” began Harkutt, with a quick nervous laugh, “you don't reckon that + because of that he”— + </p> + <p> + “Hold on!” said Peters, grimly producing a revolver from his side-pocket + with the stock and barrel clogged and streaked with mud. “I found THAT + too,—and look! one barrel discharged! And,” he added hurriedly, as + approaching a climax, “look ye,—what I nat'rally took for wet from + the rain—inside that hat—was—blood!” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense!” said Harkutt, putting the hat aside with a new fastidiousness. + “You don't think”— + </p> + <p> + “I think,” said Peters, lowering his voice, “I think, by God! HE'S BIN AND + DONE IT!” + </p> + <p> + “No!” + </p> + <p> + “Sure! Oh, it's all very well for Billings and the rest of that conceited + crowd to sneer and sling their ideas of 'Lige gen'rally as they did jess + now here,—but I'd like 'em to see THAT.” It was difficult to tell if + Mr. Peters' triumphant delight in confuting his late companions' theories + had not even usurped in his mind the importance of the news he brought, as + it had of any human sympathy with it. + </p> + <p> + “Look here,” returned Harkutt earnestly, yet with a singularly cleared + brow and a more natural manner. “You ought to take them things over to + Squire Kerby's, right off, and show 'em to him. You kin tell him how you + left 'Lige here, and say that I can prove by my daughter that he went away + about ten minutes after,—at least, not more than fifteen.” Like all + unprofessional humanity, Mr. Harkutt had an exaggerated conception of the + majesty of unimportant detail in the eye of the law. “I'd go with you + myself,” he added quickly, “but I've got company—strangers—here.” + </p> + <p> + “How did he look when he left,—kinder wild?” suggested Peters. + </p> + <p> + Harkutt had begun to feel the prudence of present reticence. “Well,” he + said, cautiously, “YOU saw how he looked.” + </p> + <p> + “You wasn't rough with him?—that might have sent him off, you know,” + said Peters. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Harkutt, forgetting himself in a quick indignation, “no, I not + only treated him to another drink, but gave him”—he stopped suddenly + and awkwardly. + </p> + <p> + “Eh?” said Peters. + </p> + <p> + “Some good advice,—you know,” said Harkutt, hastily. “But come, + you'd better hurry over to the squire's. You know YOU'VE made the + discovery; YOUR evidence is important, and there's a law that obliges you + to give information at once.” + </p> + <p> + The excitement of discovery and the triumph over his disputants being + spent, Peters, after the Sidon fashion, evidently did not relish activity + as a duty. “You know,” he said dubiously, “he mightn't be dead, after + all.” + </p> + <p> + Harkutt became a trifle distant. “You know your own opinion of the thing,” + he replied after a pause. “You've circumstantial evidence enough to see + the squire, and set others to work on it; and,” he added significantly, + “you've done your share then, and can wipe your hands of it, eh?” + </p> + <p> + “That's so,” said Peters, eagerly. “I'll just run over to the squire.” + </p> + <p> + “And on account of the women folks, you know, and the strangers here, I'll + say nothin' about it to-night,” added Harkutt. + </p> + <p> + Peters nodded his head, and taking up the hat of the unfortunate Elijah + with a certain hesitation, as if he feared it had already lost its + dramatic intensity as a witness, disappeared into the storm and darkness + again. A lurking gust of wind lying in ambush somewhere seemed to swoop + down on him as if to prevent further indecision and whirl him away in the + direction of the justice's house; and Mr. Harkutt shut the door, bolted + it, and walked aimlessly back to the counter. + </p> + <p> + From a slow, deliberate and cautious man, he seemed to have changed within + an hour to an irresolute and capricious one. He took the paper from his + pocket, and, unlocking the money drawer of his counter, folded into a + small compass that which now seemed to be the last testament of Elijah + Curtis, and placed it in a recess. Then he went to the back door and + paused, then returned, reopened the money drawer, took out the paper and + again buttoned it in his hip pocket, standing by the stove and staring + abstractedly at the dull glow of the fire. He even went through the + mechanical process of raking down the ashes,—solely to gain time and + as an excuse for delaying some other necessary action. + </p> + <p> + He was thinking what he should do. Had the question of his right to retain + and make use of that paper been squarely offered to him an hour ago, he + would without doubt have decided that he ought not to keep it. Even now, + looking at it as an abstract principle, he did not deceive himself in the + least. But Nature has the reprehensible habit of not presenting these + questions to us squarely and fairly, and it is remarkable that in most of + our offending the abstract principle is never the direct issue. Mr. + Harkutt was conscious of having been unwillingly led step by step into a + difficult, not to say dishonest, situation, and against his own seeking. + He had never asked Elijah to sell him the property; he had distinctly + declined it; it had even been forced upon him as security for the pittance + he so freely gave him. This proved (to himself) that he himself was + honest; it was only the circumstances that were queer. Of course if Elijah + had lived, he, Harkutt, might have tried to drive some bargain with him + before the news of the railroad survey came out—for THAT was only + business. But now that Elijah was dead, who would be a penny the worse or + better but himself if he chose to consider the whole thing as a lucky + speculation, and his gift of five dollars as the price he paid for it? + Nobody could think that he had calculated upon 'Lige's suicide, any more + than that the property would become valuable. In fact if it came to that, + if 'Lige had really contemplated killing himself as a hopeless bankrupt + after taking Harkutt's money as a loan, it was a swindle on his—Harkutt's—good-nature. + He worked himself into a rage, which he felt was innately virtuous, at + this tyranny of cold principle over his own warm-hearted instincts, but if + it came to the LAW, he'd stand by law and not sentiment. He'd just let + them—by which he vaguely meant the world, Tasajara, and possibly his + own conscience—see that he wasn't a sentimental fool, and he'd + freeze on to that paper and that property! + </p> + <p> + Only he ought to have spoken out before. He ought to have told the + surveyor at once that he owned the land. He ought to have said: “Why, + that's my land. I bought it of that drunken 'Lige Curtis for a song and + out of charity.” Yes, that was the only real trouble, and that came from + his own goodness, his own extravagant sense of justice and right,—his + own cursed good-nature. Yet, on second thoughts, he didn't know why he was + obliged to tell the surveyor. Time enough when the company wanted to buy + the land. As soon as it was settled that 'Lige was dead he'd openly claim + the property. But what if he wasn't dead? or they couldn't find his body? + or he had only disappeared? His plain, matter-of-fact face contracted and + darkened. Of course he couldn't ask the company to wait for him to settle + that point. He had the power to dispose of the property under that paper, + and—he should do it. If 'Lige turned up, that was another matter, + and he and 'Lige could arrange it between them. He was quite firm here, + and oddly enough quite relieved in getting rid of what appeared only a + simple question of detail. He never suspected that he was contemplating + the one irretrievable step, and summarily dismissing the whole ethical + question. + </p> + <p> + He turned away from the stove, opened the back door, and walked with a + more determined step through the passage to the sitting-room. But here he + halted again on the threshold with a quick return of his old habits of + caution. The door was slightly open; apparently his angry outbreak of an + hour ago had not affected the spirits of his daughters, for he could hear + their hilarious voices mingling with those of the strangers. They were + evidently still fortune-telling, but this time it was the prophetic and + divining accents of Mr. Rice addressed to Clementina which were now + plainly audible. + </p> + <p> + “I see heaps of money and a great many friends in the change that is + coming to you. Dear me! how many suitors! But I cannot promise you any + marriage as brilliant as my friend has just offered your sister. You may + be certain, however, that you'll have your own choice in this, as you have + in all things.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you for nothing,” said Clementina's voice. “But what are those + horrid black cards beside them?—that's trouble, I'm sure.” + </p> + <p> + “Not for you, though near you. Perhaps some one you don't care much for + and don't understand will have a heap of trouble on your account,—yes, + on account of these very riches; see, he follows the ten of diamonds. It + may be a suitor; it may be some one now in the house, perhaps.” + </p> + <p> + “He means himself, Miss Clementina,” struck in Grant's voice laughingly. + </p> + <p> + “You're not listening, Miss Harkutt,” said Rice with half-serious + reproach. “Perhaps you know who it is?” + </p> + <p> + But Miss Clementina's reply was simply a hurried recognition of her + father's pale face that here suddenly confronted her with the opening + door. + </p> + <p> + “Why, it's father!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPER III. + </h2> + <p> + In his strange mental condition even the change from Harkutt's feeble + candle to the outer darkness for a moment blinded Elijah Curtis, yet it + was part of that mental condition that he kept moving steadily forward as + in a trance or dream, though at first purposelessly. Then it occurred to + him that he was really looking for his horse, and that the animal was not + there. This for a moment confused and frightened him, first with the + supposition that he had not brought him at all, but that it was part of + his delusion; secondly, with the conviction that without his horse he + could neither proceed on the course suggested by Harkutt, nor take another + more vague one that was dimly in his mind. Yet in his hopeless vacillation + it seemed a relief that now neither was practicable, and that he need do + nothing. Perhaps it was a mysterious providence! + </p> + <p> + The explanation, however, was much simpler. The horse had been taken by + the luxurious and indolent Billings unknown to his companions. Overcome at + the dreadful prospect of walking home in that weather, this perfect + product of lethargic Sidon had artfully allowed Peters and Wingate to + precede him, and, cautiously unloosing the tethered animal, had safely + passed them in the darkness. When he gained his own inclosure he had + lazily dismounted, and, with a sharp cut on the mustang's haunches, sent + him galloping back to rejoin his master, with what result has been already + told by the unsuspecting Peters in the preceding chapter. + </p> + <p> + Yet no conception of this possibility entered 'Lige Curtis's alcoholized + consciousness, part of whose morbid phantasy it was to distort or + exaggerate all natural phenomena. He had a vague idea that he could not go + back to Harkutt's; already his visit seemed to have happened long, long + ago, and could not be repeated. He would walk on, enwrapped in this + uncompromising darkness which concealed everything, suggested everything, + and was responsible for everything. + </p> + <p> + It was very dark, for the wind, having lulled, no longer thinned the veil + of clouds above, nor dissipated a steaming mist that appeared to rise from + the sodden plain. Yet he moved easily through the darkness, seeming to be + upheld by it as something tangible, upon which he might lean. At times he + thought he heard voices,—not a particular voice he was thinking of, + but strange voices—of course unreal to his present fancy. And then + he heard one of these voices, unlike any voice in Sidon, and very faint + and far off, asking if it “was anywhere near Sidon?”—evidently some + one lost like himself. He answered in a voice that seemed quite as unreal + and as faint, and turned in the direction from which it came. There was a + light moving like a will-o'-the-wisp far before him, yet below him as if + coming out of the depths of the earth. It must be fancy, but he would see—ah! + </p> + <p> + He had fallen violently forward, and at the same moment felt his revolver + leap from his breast pocket like a living thing, and an instant after + explode upon the rock where it struck, blindingly illuminating the + declivity down which he was plunging. The sulphurous sting of burning + powder was in his eyes and nose, yet in that swift revealing flash he had + time to clutch the stems of a trailing vine beside him, but not to save + his head from sharp contact with the same rocky ledge that had caught his + pistol. The pain and shock gave way to a sickening sense of warmth at the + roots of his hair. Giddy and faint, his fingers relaxed, he felt himself + sinking, with a languor that was half acquiescence, down, down,—until, + with another shock, a wild gasping for air, and a swift reaction, he awoke + in the cold, rushing water! + </p> + <p> + Clear and perfectly conscious now, though frantically fighting for + existence with the current, he could dimly see a floating black object + shooting by the shore, at times striking the projections of the bank, + until in its recoil it swung half round and drifted broadside on towards + him. He was near enough to catch the frayed ends of a trailing rope that + fastened the structure, which seemed to be a few logs, together. With a + convulsive effort he at last gained a footing upon it, and then fell + fainting along its length. It was the raft which the surveyors from the + embarcadero had just abandoned. + </p> + <p> + He did not know this, nor would he have thought it otherwise strange that + a raft might be a part of the drift of the overflow, even had he been + entirely conscious; but his senses were failing, though he was still able + to keep a secure position on the raft, and to vaguely believe that it + would carry him to some relief and succor. How long he lay unconscious he + never knew; in his after-recollections of that night, it seemed to have + been haunted by dreams of passing dim banks and strange places; of a face + and voice that had been pleasant to him; of a terror coming upon him as he + appeared to be nearing a place like that home that he had abandoned in the + lonely tules. He was roused at last by a violent headache, as if his soft + felt hat had been changed into a tightening crown of iron. Lifting his + hand to his head to tear off its covering, he was surprised to find that + he was wearing no hat, but that his matted hair, stiffened and dried with + blood and ooze, was clinging like a cap to his skull in the hot morning + sunlight. His eyelids and lashes were glued together and weighted down by + the same sanguinary plaster. He crawled to the edge of his frail raft, not + without difficulty, for it oscillated and rocked strangely, and dipped his + hand in the current. When he had cleared his eyes he lifted them with a + shock of amazement. Creeks, banks, and plain had disappeared; he was alone + on a bend of the tossing bay of San Francisco! + </p> + <p> + His first and only sense—cleared by fasting and quickened by + reaction—was one of infinite relief. He was not only free from the + vague terrors of the preceding days and nights, but his whole past seemed + to be lost and sunk forever in this illimitable expanse. The low plain of + Tasajara, with its steadfast monotony of light and shadow, had sunk + beneath another level, but one that glistened, sparkled, was instinct with + varying life, and moved and even danced below him. The low palisades of + regularly recurring tules that had fenced in, impeded, but never relieved + the blankness of his horizon, were forever swallowed up behind him. All + trail of past degradation, all record of pain and suffering, all + footprints of his wandering and misguided feet were smoothly wiped out in + that obliterating sea. He was physically helpless, and he felt it; he was + in danger, and he knew it,—but he was free! + </p> + <p> + Happily there was but little wind and the sea was slight. The raft was + still intact so far as he could judge, but even in his ignorance he knew + it would scarcely stand the surges of the lower bay. Like most + Californians who had passed the straits of Carquinez at night in a + steamer, he did not recognize the locality, nor even the distant peak of + Tamalpais. There were a few dotting sails that seemed as remote, as + uncertain, and as unfriendly as sea birds. The raft was motionless, almost + as motionless as he was in his cramped limbs and sun-dried, stiffened + clothes. Too weak to keep an upright position, without mast, stick, or oar + to lift a signal above that vast expanse, it seemed impossible for him to + attract attention. Even his pistol was gone. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly, in an attempt to raise himself, he was struck by a flash so + blinding that it seemed to pierce his aching eyes and brain and turned him + sick. It appeared to come from a crevice between the logs at the further + end of the raft. Creeping painfully towards it he saw that it was a + triangular slip of highly polished metal that he had hitherto overlooked. + He did not know that it was a “flashing” mirror used in topographical + observation, which had slipped from the surveyors' instruments when they + abandoned the raft, but his excited faculties instinctively detected its + value to him. He lifted it, and, facing the sun, raised it at different + angles with his feeble arms. But the effort was too much for him; the raft + presently seemed to be whirling with his movement, and he again fell. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + “Ahoy there!” + </p> + <p> + The voice was close upon—in his very ears. He opened his eyes. The + sea still stretched emptily before him; the dotting sails still unchanged + and distant. Yet a strange shadow lay upon the raft. He turned his head + with difficulty. On the opposite side—so close upon him as to be + almost over his head—the great white sails of a schooner hovered + above him like the wings of some enormous sea bird. Then a heavy boom + swung across the raft, so low that it would have swept him away had he + been in an upright position; the sides of the vessel grazed the raft and + she fell slowly off. A terrible fear of abandonment took possession of + him; he tried to speak, but could not. The vessel moved further away, but + the raft followed! He could see now it was being held by a boat-hook,—could + see the odd, eager curiosity on two faces that were raised above the + taffrail, and with that sense of relief his eyes again closed in + unconsciousness. + </p> + <p> + A feeling of chilliness, followed by a grateful sensation of drawing + closer under some warm covering, a stinging taste in his mouth of fiery + liquor and the aromatic steam of hot coffee, were his first returning + sensations. His head and neck were swathed in coarse bandages, and his + skin stiffened and smarting with soap. He was lying in a rude berth under + a half-deck from which he could see the sky and the bellying sail, and + presently a bearded face filled with rough and practical concern that + peered down upon him. + </p> + <p> + “Hulloo! comin' round, eh? Hold on!” The next moment the stranger had + leaped down beside Elijah. He seemed to be an odd mingling of the sailor + and ranchero with the shrewdness of a seaport trader. + </p> + <p> + “Hulloo, boss! What was it? A free fight, or a wash-out?” + </p> + <p> + “A wash-out!”* Elijah grasped the idea as an inspiration. Yes, his cabin + had been inundated, he had taken to a raft, had been knocked off twice or + thrice, and had lost everything—even his revolver! + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * A mining term for the temporary inundation of a claim by + flood; also used for the sterilizing effect of flood on + fertile soil. +</pre> + <p> + The man looked relieved. “Then it ain't a free fight, nor havin' your + crust busted and bein' robbed by beach combers, eh?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Elijah, with his first faint smile. + </p> + <p> + “Glad o' that,” said the man bluntly. “Then thar ain't no police business + to tie up to in 'Frisco? We were stuck thar a week once, just because we + chanced to pick up a feller who'd been found gagged and then thrown + overboard by wharf thieves. Had to dance attendance at court thar and lost + our trip.” He stopped and looked half-pathetically at the prostrate + Elijah. “Look yer! ye ain't just dyin' to go ashore NOW and see yer + friends and send messages, are ye?” + </p> + <p> + Elijah shuddered inwardly, but outwardly smiled faintly as he replied, + “No!” + </p> + <p> + “And the tide and wind jest servin' us now, ye wouldn't mind keepin' + straight on with us this trip?” + </p> + <p> + “Where to?” asked Elijah. + </p> + <p> + “Santy Barbara.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Elijah, after a moment's pause. “I'll go with you.” + </p> + <p> + The man leaped to his feet, lifted his head above the upper deck, shouted + “Let her go free, Jerry!” and then turned gratefully to his passenger. + “Look yer! A wash-out is a wash-out, I reckon, put it any way you like; it + don't put anything back into the land, or anything back into your pocket + afterwards, eh? No! And yer well out of it, pardner! Now there's a right + smart chance for locatin' jest back of Santy Barbara, where thar ain't no + God-forsaken tules to overflow; and ez far ez the land and licker lies ye + 'needn't take any water in yours' ef ye don't want it. You kin start fresh + thar, pardner, and brail up. What's the matter with you, old man, is only + fever 'n' agur ketched in them tules! I kin see it in your eyes. Now you + hold on whar you be till I go forrard and see everything taut, and then + I'll come back and we'll have a talk.” + </p> + <p> + And they did. The result of which was that at the end of a week's tossing + and seasickness, Elijah Curtis was landed at Santa Barbara, pale, thin, + but self-contained and resolute. And having found favor in the eyes of the + skipper of the Kitty Hawk, general trader, lumber-dealer, and ranch-man, a + week later he was located on the skipper's land and installed in the + skipper's service. And from that day, for five years Sidon and Tasajara + knew him no more. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPER IV. + </h2> + <p> + It was part of the functions of John Milton Harkutt to take down the early + morning shutters and sweep out the store for his father each day before + going to school. It was a peculiarity of this performance that he was apt + to linger over it, partly from the fact that it put off the evil hour of + lessons, partly that he imparted into the process a purely imaginative and + romantic element gathered from his latest novel-reading. In this he was + usually assisted by one or two school-fellows on their way to school, who + always envied him his superior menial occupation. To go to school, it was + felt, was a common calamity of boyhood that called into play only the + simplest forms of evasion, whereas to take down actual shutters in a bona + fide store, and wield a real broom that raised a palpable cloud of dust, + was something that really taxed the noblest exertions. And it was the + morning after the arrival of the strangers that John Milton stood on the + veranda of the store ostentatiously examining the horizon, with his hand + shading his eyes, as one of his companions appeared. + </p> + <p> + “Hollo, Milt! wot yer doin'?” + </p> + <p> + John Milton started dramatically, and then violently dashed at one of the + shutters and began to detach it. “Ha!” he said hoarsely. “Clear the ship + for action! Open the ports! On deck there! Steady, you lubbers!” In an + instant his enthusiastic school-fellow was at his side attacking another + shutter. “A long, low schooner bearing down upon us! Lively, lads, + lively!” continued John Milton, desisting a moment to take another + dramatic look at the distant plain. “How does she head now?” he demanded + fiercely. + </p> + <p> + “Sou' by sou'east, sir,” responded the other boy, frantically dancing + before the window. “But she'll weather it.” + </p> + <p> + They each then wrested another shutter away, violently depositing them, as + they ran to and fro, in a rack at the corner of the veranda. Added to an + extraordinary and unnecessary clattering with their feet, they accompanied + their movements with a singular hissing sound, supposed to indicate in one + breath the fury of the elements, the bustle of the eager crew, and the + wild excitement of the coming conflict. When the last shutter was cleared + away, John Milton, with the cry “Man the starboard guns!” dashed into the + store, whose floor was marked by the muddy footprints of yesterday's + buyers, seized a broom and began to sweep violently. A cloud of dust + arose, into which his companion at once precipitated himself with another + broom and a loud BANG! to indicate the somewhat belated sound of cannon. + For a few seconds the two boys plied their brooms desperately in that + stifling atmosphere, accompanying each long sweep and puff of dust out of + the open door with the report of explosions and loud HA'S! of defiance, + until not only the store, but the veranda was obscured with a cloud which + the morning sun struggled vainly to pierce. In the midst of this tumult + and dusty confusion—happily unheard and unsuspected in the secluded + domestic interior of the building—a shrill little voice arose from + the road. + </p> + <p> + “Think you're mighty smart, don't ye?” + </p> + <p> + The two naval heroes stopped in their imaginary fury, and, as the dust of + conflict cleared away, recognized little Johnny Peters gazing at them with + mingled inquisitiveness and envy. + </p> + <p> + “Guess ye don't know what happened down the run last night,” he continued + impatiently. “'Lige Curtis got killed, or killed hisself! Blood all over + the rock down thar. Seed it, myseff. Dad picked up his six-shooter,—one + barrel gone off. My dad was the first to find it out, and he's bin to + Squire Kerby tellin' him.” + </p> + <p> + The two companions, albeit burning with curiosity, affected indifference + and pre-knowledge. + </p> + <p> + “Dad sez your father druv 'Lige outer the store lass night! Dad sez your + father's 'sponsible. Dad sez your father ez good ez killed him. Dad sez + the squire'll set the constable on your father. Yah!” But here the small + insulter incontinently fled, pursued by both the boys. Nevertheless, when + he had made good his escape, John Milton showed neither a disposition to + take up his former nautical role, nor to follow his companion to visit the + sanguinary scene of Elijah's disappearance. He walked slowly back to the + store and continued his work of sweeping and putting in order with an + abstracted regularity, and no trace of his former exuberant spirits. + </p> + <p> + The first one of those instinctive fears which are common to imaginative + children, and often assume the functions of premonition, had taken + possession of him. The oddity of his father's manner the evening before, + which had only half consciously made its indelible impression on his + sensitive fancy, had recurred to him with Johnny Peters's speech. He had + no idea of literally accepting the boy's charges; he scarcely understood + their gravity; but he had a miserable feeling that his father's anger and + excitement last night was because he had been discovered hunting in the + dark for that paper of 'Lige Curtis's. It WAS 'Lige Curtis's paper, for he + had seen it lying there. A sudden dreadful conviction came over him that + he must never, never let any one know that he had seen his father take up + that paper; that he must never admit it, even to HIM. It was not the boy's + first knowledge of that attitude of hypocrisy which the grownup world + assumes towards childhood, and in which the innocent victims eventually + acquiesce with a Machiavellian subtlety that at last avenges them,—but + it was his first knowledge that that hypocrisy might not be so innocent. + His father had concealed something from him, because it was not right. + </p> + <p> + But if childhood does not forget, it seldom broods and is not above being + diverted. And the two surveyors—of whose heroic advent in a raft + John Milton had only heard that morning with their traveled ways, their + strange instruments and stranger talk, captured his fancy. Kept in the + background by his sisters when visitors came, as an unpresentable feature + in the household, he however managed to linger near the strangers when, in + company with Euphemia and Clementina, after breakfast they strolled + beneath the sparkling sunlight in the rude garden inclosure along the + sloping banks of the creek. It was with the average brother's supreme + contempt that he listened to his sisters' “practicin'” upon the goodness + of these superior beings; it was with an exceptional pity that he regarded + the evident admiration of the strangers in return. He felt that in the + case of Euphemia, who sometimes evinced a laudable curiosity in his + pleasures, and a flattering ignorance of his reading, this might be + pardonable; but what any one could find in the useless statuesque + Clementina passed his comprehension. Could they not see at once that she + was “just that kind of person” who would lie abed in the morning, + pretending she was sick, in order to make Phemie do the housework, and + make him, John Milton, clean her boots and fetch things for her? Was it + not perfectly plain to them that her present sickening politeness was + solely with a view to extract from them caramels, rock-candy, and gum + drops, which she would meanly keep herself, and perhaps some + “buggy-riding” later? Alas, John Milton, it was not! For standing there + with her tall, perfectly-proportioned figure outlined against a willow, an + elastic branch of which she had drawn down by one curved arm above her + head, and on which she leaned—as everybody leaned against something + in Sidon—the two young men saw only a straying goddess in a + glorified rosebud print. Whether the clearly-cut profile presented to + Rice, or the full face that captivated Grant, each suggested possibilities + of position, pride, poetry, and passion that astonished while it + fascinated them. By one of those instincts known only to the freemasonry + of the sex, Euphemia lent herself to this advertisement of her sister's + charms by subtle comparison with her own prettinesses, and thus combined + against their common enemy, man. + </p> + <p> + “Clementina certainly is perfect, to keep her supremacy over that pretty + little sister,” thought Rice. + </p> + <p> + “What a fascinating little creature to hold her own against that tall, + handsome girl,” thought Grant. + </p> + <p> + “They're takin' stock o' them two fellers so as to gabble about 'em when + their backs is turned,” said John Milton gloomily to himself, with a + dismal premonition of the prolonged tea-table gossip he would be obliged + to listen to later. + </p> + <p> + “We were very fortunate to make a landing at all last night,” said Rice, + looking down upon the still swollen current, and then raising his eyes to + Clementina. “Still more fortunate to make it where we did. I suppose it + must have been the singing that lured us on to the bank,—as, you + know, the sirens used to lure people,—only with less disastrous + consequences.” + </p> + <p> + John Milton here detected three glaring errors; first, it was NOT + Clementina who had sung; secondly, he knew that neither of his sisters had + ever read anything about sirens, but he had; thirdly, that the young + surveyor was glaringly ignorant of local phenomena and should be + corrected. + </p> + <p> + “It's nothin' but the current,” he said, with that feverish youthful haste + that betrays a fatal experience of impending interruption. “It's always + leavin' drift and rubbish from everywhere here. There ain't anythin' + that's chucked into the creek above that ain't bound to fetch up on this + bank. Why, there was two sheep and a dead hoss here long afore YOU thought + of coming!” He did not understand why this should provoke the laughter + that it did, and to prove that he had no ulterior meaning, added with + pointed politeness, “So IT ISN'T YOUR FAULT, you know—YOU couldn't + help it;” supplementing this with the distinct courtesy, “otherwise you + wouldn't have come.” + </p> + <p> + “But it would seem that your visitors are not all as accidental as your + brother would imply, and one, at least, seems to have been expected last + evening. You remember you thought we were a Mr. Parmlee,” said Mr. Rice + looking at Clementina. + </p> + <p> + It would be strange indeed, he thought, if the beautiful girl were not + surrounded by admirers. But without a trace of self-consciousness, or any + change in her reposeful face, she indicated her sister with a slight + gesture, and said: “One of Phemie's friends. He gave her the accordion. + She's very popular.” + </p> + <p> + “And I suppose YOU are very hard to please?” he said with a tentative + smile. + </p> + <p> + She looked at him with her large, clear eyes, and that absence of coquetry + or changed expression in her beautiful face which might have stood for + indifference or dignity as she said: “I don't know. I am waiting to see.” + </p> + <p> + But here Miss Phemie broke in saucily with the assertion that Mr. Parmlee + might not have a railroad in his pocket, but that at least he didn't have + to wait for the Flood to call on young ladies, nor did he usually come in + pairs, for all the world as if he had been let out of Noah's Ark, but on + horseback and like a Christian by the front door. All this provokingly and + bewitchingly delivered, however, and with a simulated exaggeration that + was incited apparently more by Mr. Lawrence Grant's evident enjoyment of + it, than by any desire to defend the absent Parmlee. + </p> + <p> + “But where is the front door?” asked Grant laughingly. + </p> + <p> + The young girl pointed to a narrow zigzag path that ran up the bank beside + the house until it stopped at a small picketed gate on the level of the + road and store. + </p> + <p> + “But I should think it would be easier to have a door and private passage + through the store,” said Grant. + </p> + <p> + “WE don't,” said the young lady pertly, “we have nothing to do with the + store. I go in to see paw sometimes when he's shutting up and there's + nobody there, but Clem has never set foot in it since we came. It's bad + enough to have it and the lazy loafers that hang around it as near to us + as they are; but paw built the house in such a fashion that we ain't + troubled by their noise, and we might be t'other side of the creek as far + as our having to come across them. And because paw has to sell pork and + flour, we haven't any call to go there and watch him do it.” + </p> + <p> + The two men glanced at each other. This reserve and fastidiousness were + something rare in a pioneer community. Harkutt's manners certainly did not + indicate that he was troubled by this sensitiveness; it must have been + some individual temperament of his daughters. Stephen felt his respect + increase for the goddess-like Clementina; Mr. Lawrence Grant looked at + Miss Phemie with a critical smile. + </p> + <p> + “But you must be very limited in your company,” he said; “or is Mr. + Parmlee not a customer of your father's?” + </p> + <p> + “As Mr. Parmlee does not come to us through the store, and don't talk + trade to me, we don't know,” responded Phemie saucily. + </p> + <p> + “But have you no lady acquaintances—neighbors—who also avoid + the store and enter only at the straight and narrow gate up there?” + continued Grant mischievously, regardless of the uneasy, half-reproachful + glances of Rice. + </p> + <p> + But Phemie, triumphantly oblivious of any satire, answered promptly: “If + you mean the Pike County Billingses who live on the turnpike road as much + as they do off it, or the six daughters of that Georgia Cracker who wear + men's boots and hats, we haven't.” + </p> + <p> + “And Mr. Parmlee, your admirer?” suggested Rice. “Hasn't he a mother or + sisters here?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but they don't want to know us, and have never called here.” + </p> + <p> + The embarrassment of the questioner at this unexpected reply, which came + from the faultless lips of Clementina, was somewhat mitigated by the fact + that the young woman's voice and manner betrayed neither annoyance nor + anger. + </p> + <p> + Here, however, Harkutt appeared from the house with the information that + he had secured two horses for the surveyors and their instruments, and + that he would himself accompany them a part of the way on their return to + Tasajara Creek, to show them the road. His usual listless deliberation had + given way to a certain nervous but uneasy energy. If they started at once + it would be better, before the loungers gathered at the store and confused + them with lazy counsel and languid curiosity. He took it for granted that + Mr. Grant wished the railroad survey to be a secret, and he had said + nothing, as they would be pestered with questions. “Sidon was inquisitive—and + old-fashioned.” The benefit its inhabitants would get from the railroad + would not prevent them from throwing obstacles in its way at first; he + remembered the way they had acted with a proposed wagon road,—in + fact, an idea of his own, something like the railroad; he knew them + thoroughly, and if he might advise them, it would be to say nothing here + until the thing was settled. + </p> + <p> + “He evidently does not intend to give us a chance,” said Grant + good-humoredly to his companion, as they turned to prepare for their + journey; “we are to be conducted in silence to the outskirts of the town + like horse-thieves.” + </p> + <p> + “But you gave him the tip for himself,” said Rice reproachfully; “you + cannot blame him for wanting to keep it.” + </p> + <p> + “I gave it to him in trust for his two incredible daughters,” said Grant + with a grimace. “But, hang it! if I don't believe the fellow has more + concern in it than I imagined.” + </p> + <p> + “But isn't she perfect?” said Rice, with charming abstraction. + </p> + <p> + “Who?” + </p> + <p> + “Clementina, and so unlike her father.” + </p> + <p> + “Discomposingly so,” said Grant quietly. “One feels in calling her 'Miss + Harkutt' as if one were touching upon a manifest indiscretion. But here + comes John Milton. Well, my lad, what can I do for you?” + </p> + <p> + The boy, who had been regarding them from a distance with wistful and + curious eyes as they replaced their instruments for the journey, had + gradually approached them. After a moment's timid hesitation he said, + looking at Grant: “You don't know anybody in this kind o' business,” + pointing to the instruments, “who'd like a boy, about my size?” + </p> + <p> + “I'm afraid not, J. M.,” said Grant, cheerfully, without suspending his + operation. “The fact is, you see, it's not exactly the kind of work for a + boy of your size.” + </p> + <p> + John Milton was silent for a moment, shifting himself slowly from one leg + to another as he watched the surveyor. After a pause he said, “There don't + seem to be much show in this world for boys o' my size. There don't seem + to be much use for 'em any way.” This not bitterly, but philosophically, + and even politely, as if to relieve Grant's rejection of any incivility. + </p> + <p> + “Really you quite pain me, John Milton,” said Grant, looking up as he + tightened a buckle. “I never thought of it before, but you're right.” + </p> + <p> + “Now,” continued the boy slowly, “with girls it's just different. Girls of + my size everybody does things for. There's Clemmy,—she's only two + years older nor me, and don't know half that I do, and yet she kin lie + about all day, and hasn't to get up to breakfast. And Phemie,—who's + jest the same age, size, and weight as me,—maw and paw lets her do + everything she wants to. And so does everybody. And so would you.” + </p> + <p> + “But you surely don't want to be like a girl?” said Grant, smiling. + </p> + <p> + It here occurred to John Milton's youthful but not illogical mind that + this was not argument, and he turned disappointedly away. As his father + was to accompany the strangers a short distance, he, John Milton, was + to-day left in charge of the store. That duty, however, did not involve + any pecuniary transactions—the taking of money or making of change + but a simple record on a slate behind the counter of articles selected by + those customers whose urgent needs could not wait Mr. Harkutt's return. + Perhaps on account of this degrading limitation, perhaps for other + reasons, the boy did not fancy the task imposed upon him. The presence of + the idle loungers who usually occupied the armchairs near the stove, and + occasionally the counter, dissipated any romance with which he might have + invested his charge; he wearied of the monotony of their dull gossip, but + mostly he loathed the attitude of hypercritical counsel and instruction + which they saw fit to assume towards him at such moments. “Instead o' + lazin' thar behind the counter when your father ain't here to see ye, + John,” remarked Billings from the depths of his armchair a few moments + after Harkutt had ridden away, “ye orter be bustlin' round, dustin' the + shelves. Ye'll never come to anythin' when you're a man ef you go on like + that. Ye never heard o' Harry Clay—that was called 'the Mill-boy of + the Slashes'—sittin' down doin' nothin' when he was a boy.” + </p> + <p> + “I never heard of him loafin' round in a grocery store when he was growned + up either,” responded John Milton, darkly. + </p> + <p> + “P'r'aps you reckon he got to be a great man by standin' up sassin' his + father's customers,” said Peters, angrily. “I kin tell ye, young man, if + you was my boy”— + </p> + <p> + “If I was YOUR boy, I'd be playin' hookey instead of goin' to school, jest + as your boy is doin' now,” interrupted John Milton, with a literal + recollection of his quarrel and pursuit of the youth in question that + morning. + </p> + <p> + An undignified silence on the part of the adults followed, the usual + sequel to those passages; Sidon generally declining to expose itself to + the youthful Harkutt's terrible accuracy of statement. + </p> + <p> + The men resumed their previous lazy gossip about Elijah Curtis's + disappearance, with occasional mysterious allusions in a lower tone, which + the boy instinctively knew referred to his father, but which either from + indolence or caution, the two great conservators of Sidon, were never + formulated distinctly enough for his relentless interference. The morning + sunshine was slowly thickening again in an indolent mist that seemed to + rise from the saturated plain. A stray lounger shuffled over from the + blacksmith's shop to the store to take the place of another idler who had + joined an equally lethargic circle around the slumbering forge. A dull + intermittent sound of hammering came occasionally from the wheelwright's + shed—at sufficiently protracted intervals to indicate the enfeebled + progress of Sidon's vehicular repair. A yellow dog left his patch of + sunlight on the opposite side of the way and walked deliberately over to + what appeared to be more luxurious quarters on the veranda; was manifestly + disappointed but not equal to the exertion of returning, and sank down + with blinking eyes and a regretful sigh without going further. A + procession of six ducks got well into a line for a laborious “march past” + the store, but fell out at the first mud puddle and gave it up. A highly + nervous but respectable hen, who had ventured upon the veranda evidently + against her better instincts, walked painfully on tiptoe to the door, + apparently was met by language which no mother of a family could listen + to, and retired in strong hysterics. A little later the sun became again + obscured, the wind arose, rain fell, and the opportunity for going indoors + and doing nothing was once more availed of by all Sidon. + </p> + <p> + It was afternoon when Mr. Harkutt returned. He did not go into the store, + but entered the dwelling from the little picket-gate and steep path. There + he called a family council in the sitting-room as being the most reserved + and secure. Mrs. Harkutt, sympathizing and cheerfully ready for any + affliction, still holding a dust-cloth in her hand, took her seat by the + window, with Phemie breathless and sparkling at one side of her, while + Clementina, all faultless profile and repose, sat on the other. To Mrs. + Harkutt's motherly concern at John Milton's absence, it was pointed out + that he was wanted at the store,—was a mere boy anyhow, and could + not be trusted. Mr. Harkutt, a little ruddier from weather, excitement, + and the unusual fortification of a glass of liquor, a little more rugged + in the lines of his face, and with an odd ring of defiant self-assertion + in his voice, stood before them in the centre of the room. + </p> + <p> + He wanted them to listen to him carefully, to remember what he said, for + it was important; it might be a matter of “lawing” hereafter,—and he + couldn't be always repeating it to them,—he would have enough to do. + There was a heap of it that, as women-folks, they couldn't understand, and + weren't expected to. But he'd got it all clear now, and what he was saying + was gospel. He'd always known to himself that the only good that could + ever come to Sidon would come by railroad. When those fools talked wagon + road he had said nothing, but he had his own ideas; he had worked for that + idea without saying anything to anybody; that idea was to get possession + of all the land along the embarcadero, which nobody cared for, and 'Lige + Curtis was ready to sell for a song. Well, now, considering what had + happened, he didn't mind telling them that he had been gradually getting + possession of it, little by little, paying 'Lige Curtis in advances and + installments, until it was his own! They had heard what those surveyors + said; how that it was the only fit terminus for the railroad. Well, that + land, and that water-front, and the terminus were HIS! And all from his + own foresight and prudence. + </p> + <p> + It is needless to say that this was not the truth. But it is necessary to + point out that this fabrication was the result of his last night's + cogitations and his morning's experience. He had resolved upon a bold + course. He had reflected that his neighbors would be more ready to believe + in and to respect a hard, mercenary, and speculative foresight in his + taking advantage of 'Lige's necessities than if he had—as was the + case—merely benefited by them through an accident of circumstance + and good humor. In the latter case he would be envied and hated; in the + former he would be envied and feared. By logic of circumstance the greater + wrong seemed to be less obviously offensive than the minor fault. It was + true that it involved the doing of something he had not contemplated, and + the certainty of exposure if 'Lige ever returned, but he was nevertheless + resolved. The step from passive to active wrong-doing is not only easy, it + is often a relief; it is that return to sincerity which we all require. + Howbeit, it gave that ring of assertion to Daniel Harkutt's voice already + noted, which most women like, and only men are prone to suspect or + challenge. The incompleteness of his statement was, for the same reason, + overlooked by his feminine auditors. + </p> + <p> + “And what is it worth, dad?” asked Phemie eagerly. + </p> + <p> + “Grant says I oughter get at least ten thousand dollars for the site of + the terminus from the company, but of course I shall hold on to the rest + of the land. The moment they get the terminus there, and the depot and + wharf built, I can get my own price and buyers for the rest. Before the + year is out Grant thinks it ought to go up ten per cent on the value of + the terminus, and that a hundred thousand.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, dad!” gasped Phemie, frantically clasping her knees with both hands + as if to perfectly assure herself of this good fortune. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Harkutt audibly murmured “Poor dear Dan'l,” and stood, as it were, + sympathetically by, ready to commiserate the pains and anxieties of wealth + as she had those of poverty. Clementina alone remained silent, clear-eyed, + and unchanged. + </p> + <p> + “And to think it all came through THEM!” continued Phemie. “I always had + an idea that Mr. Grant was smart, dad. And it was real kind of him to tell + you.” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon father could have found it out without them. I don't know why we + should be beholden to them particularly. I hope he isn't expected to let + them think that he is bound to consider them our intimate friends just + because they happened to drop in here at a time when his plans have + succeeded.” + </p> + <p> + The voice was Clementina's, unexpected but quiet, unemotional and + convincing. “It seemed,” as Mrs. Harkutt afterwards said, “as if the child + had already touched that hundred thousand.” Phemie reddened with a sense + of convicted youthful extravagance. + </p> + <p> + “You needn't fear for me,” said Harkutt, responding to Clementina's voice + as if it were an echo of his own, and instinctively recognizing an + unexpected ally. “I've got my own ideas of this thing, and what's to come + of it. I've got my own ideas of openin' up that property and showin' its + resources. I'm goin' to run it my own way. I'm goin' to have a town along + the embarcadero that'll lay over any town in Contra Costa. I'm goin' to + have the court-house and county seat there, and a couple of hotels as good + as any in the Bay. I'm goin' to build that wagon road through here that + those lazy louts slipped up on, and carry it clear over to Five Mile + Corner, and open up the whole Tasajara Plain!” + </p> + <p> + They had never seen him look so strong, so resolute, so intelligent and + handsome. A dimly prophetic vision of him in a black broadcloth suit and + gold watch-chain addressing a vague multitude, as she remembered to have + seen the Hon. Stanley Riggs of Alasco at the “Great Barbecue,” rose before + Phemie's blue enraptured eyes. With the exception of Mrs. Harkutt,—equal + to any possibilities on the part of her husband,—they had honestly + never expected it of him. They were pleased with their father's attitude + in prosperity, and felt that perhaps he was not unworthy of being proud of + them hereafter. + </p> + <p> + “But we're goin' to leave Sidon,” said Phemie, “ain't we, paw?” + </p> + <p> + “As soon as I can run up a new house at the embarcadero,” said Harkutt + peevishly, “and that's got to be done mighty quick if I want to make a + show to the company and be in possession.” + </p> + <p> + “And that's easier for you to do, dear, now that 'Lige's disappeared,” + said Mrs. Harkutt consolingly. + </p> + <p> + “What do ye mean by that? What the devil are ye talkin' about?” demanded + Harkutt suddenly with unexpected exasperation. + </p> + <p> + “I mean that that drunken 'Lige would be mighty poor company for the girls + if he was our only neighbor,” returned Mrs. Harkutt submissively. + </p> + <p> + Harkutt, after a fixed survey of his wife, appeared mollified. The two + girls, who were mindful of his previous outburst the evening before, + exchanged glances which implied that his manners needed correction for + prosperity. + </p> + <p> + “You'll want a heap o' money to build there, Dan'l,” said Mrs. Harkutt in + plaintive diffidence. + </p> + <p> + “Yes! Yes!” said Harkutt impatiently. “I've kalkilated all that, and I'm + goin' to 'Frisco to-morrow to raise it and put this bill of sale on + record.” He half drew Elijah Curtis's paper from his pocket, but paused + and put it back again. + </p> + <p> + “Then THAT WAS the paper, dad,” said Phemie triumphantly. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said her father, regarding her fixedly, “and you know now why I + didn't want anything said about it last night—nor even now.” + </p> + <p> + “And 'Lige had just given it to you! Wasn't it lucky?” + </p> + <p> + “He HADN'T just given it to me!” said her father with another unexpected + outburst. “God Amighty! ain't I tellin' you all the time it was an old + matter! But you jabber, jabber all the time and don't listen! Where's John + Milton?” It had occurred to him that the boy might have read the paper—as + his sister had—while it lay unheeded on the counter. + </p> + <p> + “In the store,—you know. You said he wasn't to hear anything of + this, but I'll call him,” said Mrs. Harkutt, rising eagerly. + </p> + <p> + “Never mind,” returned her husband, stopping her reflectively, “best leave + it as it is; if it's necessary I'll tell him. But don't any of you say + anything, do you hear?” + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless a few hours later, when the store was momentarily free of + loungers, and Harkutt had relieved his son of his monotonous charge, he + made a pretense, while abstractedly listening to an account of the boy's + stewardship, to look through a drawer as if in search of some missing + article. + </p> + <p> + “You didn't see anything of a paper I left somewhere about here + yesterday?” he asked carelessly. + </p> + <p> + “The one you picked up when you came in last night?” said the boy with + discomposing directness. + </p> + <p> + Harkutt flushed slightly and drew his breath between his set teeth. Not + only could he place no reliance upon ordinary youthful inattention, but he + must be on his guard against his own son as from a spy! But he restrained + himself. + </p> + <p> + “I don't remember,” he said with affected deliberation, “what it was I + picked up. Do you? Did you read it?” + </p> + <p> + The meaning of his father's attitude instinctively flashed upon the boy. + He HAD read the paper, but he answered, as he had already determined, + “No.” + </p> + <p> + An inspiration seized Mr. Harkutt. He drew 'Lige Curtis's bill of sale + from his pocket, and opening it before John Milton said, “Was it that?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” said the boy. “I couldn't tell.” He walked away with + affected carelessness, already with a sense of playing some part like his + father, and pretended to whistle for the dog across the street. Harkutt + coughed ostentatiously, put the paper back in his pocket, set one or two + boxes straight on the counter, locked the drawer, and disappeared into the + back passage. John Milton remained standing in the doorway looking + vacantly out. But he did not see the dull familiar prospect beyond. He + only saw the paper his father had opened and unfolded before him. It was + the same paper he had read last night. But there were three words written + there THAT WERE NOT THERE BEFORE! After the words “Value received” there + had been a blank. He remembered that distinctly. This was filled in by the + words, “Five hundred dollars.” The handwriting did not seem like his + father's, nor yet entirely like 'Lige Curtis's. What it meant he did not + know,—he would not try to think. He should forget it, as he had + tried to forget what had happened before, and he should never tell it to + any one! + </p> + <p> + There was a feverish gayety in his sisters' manner that afternoon that he + did not understand; short colloquies that were suspended with ill + concealed impatience when he came near them, and resumed when he was sent, + on equally palpable excuses, out of the room. He had been accustomed to + this exclusion when there were strangers present, but it seemed odd to him + now, when the conversation did not even turn upon the two superior + visitors who had been there, and of whom he confidently expected they + would talk. Such fragments as he overheard were always in the future + tense, and referred to what they intended to do. His mother, whose + affection for him had always been shown in excessive and depressing + commiseration of him in even his lightest moments, that afternoon seemed + to add a prophetic and Cassandra-like sympathy for some vague future of + his that would require all her ministration. “You won't need them new + boots, Milty dear, in the changes that may be comin' to ye; so don't be + bothering your poor father in his worriments over his new plans.” + </p> + <p> + “What new plans, mommer?” asked the boy abruptly. “Are we goin' away from + here?” + </p> + <p> + “Hush, dear, and don't ask questions that's enough for grown folks to + worry over, let alone a boy like you. Now be good,”—a quality in + Mrs. Harkutt's mind synonymous with ceasing from troubling,—“and + after supper, while I'm in the parlor with your father and sisters, you + kin sit up here by the fire with your book.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” persisted the boy in a flash of inspiration, “is popper goin' to + join in business with those surveyors,—a surveyin'?” + </p> + <p> + “No, child, what an idea! Run away there,—and mind!—don't + bother your father.” + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless John Milton's inspiration had taken a new and characteristic + shape. All this, he reflected, had happened since the surveyors came—since + they had weakly displayed such a shameless and unmanly interest in his + sisters! It could have but one meaning. He hung around the sitting-room + and passages until he eventually encountered Clementina, taller than ever, + evidently wearing a guilty satisfaction in her face, engrafted upon that + habitual bearing of hers which he had always recognized as belonging to a + vague but objectionable race whose members were individually known to him + as “a proudy.” + </p> + <p> + “Which of those two surveyor fellows is it, Clemmy?” he said with an + engaging smile, yet halting at a strategic distance. + </p> + <p> + “Is what?” + </p> + <p> + “Wot you're goin' to marry.” + </p> + <p> + “Idiot!” + </p> + <p> + “That ain't tellin' which,” responded the boy darkly. + </p> + <p> + Clementina swept by him into the sitting-room, where he heard her declare + that “really that boy was getting too low and vulgar for anything.” Yet it + struck him, that being pressed for further explanation, she did NOT + specify why. This was “girls' meanness!” + </p> + <p> + Howbeit he lingered late in the road that evening, hearing his father + discuss with the search-party that had followed the banks of the creek, + vainly looking for further traces of the missing 'Lige, the possibility of + his being living or dead, of the body having been carried away by the + current to the bay or turning up later in some distant marsh when the + spring came with low water. One who had been to his cabin beside the + embarcadero reported that it was, as had been long suspected, barely + habitable, and contained neither books, papers, nor records which would + indicate his family or friends. It was a God-forsaken, dreary, worthless + place; he wondered how a white man could ever expect to make a living + there. If Elijah never turned up again it certainly would be a long time + before any squatter would think of taking possession of it. John Milton + knew instinctively, without looking up, that his father's eyes were fixed + upon him, and he felt himself constrained to appear to be abstracted in + gazing down the darkening road. Then he heard his father say, with what he + felt was an equal assumption of carelessness: “Yes, I reckon I've got + somewhere a bill of sale of that land that I had to take from 'Lige for an + old bill, but I kalkilate that's all I'll ever see of it.” + </p> + <p> + Rain fell again as the darkness gathered, but he still loitered on the + road and the sloping path of the garden, filled with a half resentful + sense of wrong, and hugging with gloomy pride an increasing sense of + loneliness and of getting dangerously wet. The swollen creek still + whispered, murmured and swirled beside the bank. At another time he might + have had wild ideas of emulating the surveyors on some extempore raft and + so escaping his present dreary home existence; but since the disappearance + of 'Lige, who had always excited an odd boyish antipathy in his heart, + although he had never seen him, he shunned the stream contaminated with + the missing man's unheroic fate. Presently the light from the open window + of the sitting-room glittered on the wet leaves and sprays where he stood, + and the voices of the family conclave came fitfully to his ear. They + didn't want him there. They had never thought of asking him to come in. + Well!—who cared? And he wasn't going to be bought off with a candle + and a seat by the kitchen fire. No! + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless he was getting wet to no purpose. There was the tool-house + and carpenter's shed near the bank; its floor was thickly covered with + sawdust and pine-wood shavings, and there was a mouldy buffalo skin which + he had once transported thither from the old wagon-bed. There, too, was + his secret cache of a candle in a bottle, buried with other piratical + treasures in the presence of the youthful Peters, who consented to be + sacrificed on the spot in buccaneering fashion to complete the unhallowed + rites. He unearthed the candle, lit it, and clearing away a part of the + shavings stood it up on the floor. He then brought a prized, battered, and + coverless volume from a hidden recess in the rafters, and lying down with + the buffalo robe over him, and his cap in his hand ready to extinguish the + light at the first footstep of a trespasser, gave himself up—as he + had given himself up, I fear, many other times—to the enchantment of + the page before him. + </p> + <p> + The current whispered, murmured, and sang, unheeded at his side. The + voices of his mother and sisters, raised at times in eagerness or + expectation of the future, fell upon his unlistening ears. For with the + spell that had come upon him, the mean walls of his hiding-place melted + away; the vulgar stream beside him might have been that dim, subterraneous + river down which Sindbad and his bale of riches were swept out of the Cave + of Death to the sunlight of life and fortune, so surely and so simply had + it transported him beyond the cramped and darkened limits of his present + life. He was in the better world of boyish romance,—of gallant deeds + and high emprises; of miraculous atonement and devoted sacrifice; of brave + men, and those rarer, impossible women,—the immaculate conception of + a boy's virgin heart. What mattered it that behind that glittering window + his mother and sisters grew feverish and excited over the vulgar details + of their real but baser fortune? From the dark tool-shed by the muddy + current, John Milton, with a battered dogs'-eared chronicle, soared on the + wings of fancy far beyond their wildest ken! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPER V. + </h2> + <p> + Prosperity had settled upon the plains of Tasajara. Not only had the + embarcadero emerged from the tules of Tasajara Creek as a thriving town of + steamboat wharves, warehouses, and outlying mills and factories, but in + five years the transforming railroad had penetrated the great plain itself + and revealed its undeveloped fertility. The low-lying lands that had been + yearly overflowed by the creek, now drained and cultivated, yielded + treasures of wheat and barley that were apparently inexhaustible. Even the + helpless indolence of Sidon had been surprised into activity and change. + There was nothing left of the straggling settlement to recall its former + aspect. The site of Harkutt's old store and dwelling was lost and + forgotten in the new mill and granary that rose along the banks of the + creek. Decay leaves ruin and traces for the memory to linger over; + prosperity is unrelenting in its complete and smiling obliteration of the + past. + </p> + <p> + But Tasajara City, as the embarcadero was now called, had no previous + record, and even the former existence of an actual settler like the + forgotten Elijah Curtis was unknown to the present inhabitants. It was + Daniel Harkutt's idea carried out in Daniel Harkutt's land, with Daniel + Harkutt's capital and energy. But Daniel Harkutt had become Daniel + Harcourt, and Harcourt Avenue, Harcourt Square, and Harcourt House, + ostentatiously proclaimed the new spelling of his patronymic. When the + change was made and for what reason, who suggested it and under what + authority, were not easy to determine, as the sign on his former store had + borne nothing but the legend, Goods and Provisions, and his name did not + appear on written record until after the occupation of Tasajara; but it is + presumed that it was at the instigation of his daughters, and there was no + one to oppose it. Harcourt was a pretty name for a street, a square, or a + hotel; even the few in Sidon who had called it Harkutt admitted that it + was an improvement quite consistent with the change from the fever-haunted + tules and sedges of the creek to the broad, level, and handsome squares of + Tasajara City. + </p> + <p> + This might have been the opinion of a visitor at the Harcourt House, who + arrived one summer afternoon from the Stockton boat, but whose shrewd, + half-critical, half-professional eyes and quiet questionings betrayed some + previous knowledge of the locality. Seated on the broad veranda of the + Harcourt House, and gazing out on the well-kept green and young eucalyptus + trees of the Harcourt Square or Plaza, he had elicited a counter question + from a prosperous-looking citizen who had been lounging at his side. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon you look ez if you might have been here before, stranger.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said the stranger quietly, “I have been. But it was when the tules + grew in the square opposite, and the tide of the creek washed them.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said the Tasajaran, looking curiously at the stranger, “I call + myself a pioneer of Tasajara. My name's Peters,—of Peters and Co.,—and + those warehouses along the wharf, where you landed just now, are mine; but + I was the first settler on Harcourt's land, and built the next cabin after + him. I helped to clear out them tules and dredged the channels yonder. I + took the contract with Harcourt to build the last fifteen miles o' + railroad, and put up that depot for the company. Perhaps you were here + before that?” + </p> + <p> + “I was,” returned the stranger quietly. + </p> + <p> + “I say,” said Peters, hitching his chair a little nearer to his companion, + “you never knew a kind of broken-down feller, called Curtis—'Lige + Curtis—who once squatted here and sold his right to Harkutt? He + disappeared; it was allowed he killed hisself, but they never found his + body, and, between you and me, I never took stock in that story. You know + Harcourt holds under him, and all Tasajara rests on that title.” + </p> + <p> + “I've heard so,” assented the stranger carelessly, “but I never knew the + original settler. Then Harcourt has been lucky?” + </p> + <p> + “You bet. He's got three millions right about HERE, or within this quarter + section, to say nothing of his outside speculations.” + </p> + <p> + “And lives here?” + </p> + <p> + “Not for two years. That's his old house across the plaza, but his + women-folks live mostly in 'Frisco and New York, where he's got houses + too. They say they sorter got sick of Tasajara after his youngest daughter + ran off with a feller.” + </p> + <p> + “Hallo!” said the stranger with undisguised interest. “I never heard of + that! You don't mean that she eloped”—he hesitated. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it was a square enough marriage. I reckon too square to suit some + folks; but the fellow hadn't nothin', and wasn't worth shucks,—a + sort of land surveyor, doin' odd jobs, you know; and the old man and old + woman were agin it, and the tother daughter worse of all. It was allowed + here—you know how women-folks talk!—that the surveyor had been + sweet on Clementina, but had got tired of being played by her, and took up + with Phemie out o' spite. Anyhow they got married, and Harcourt gave them + to understand they couldn't expect anything from him. P'raps that's why it + didn't last long, for only about two months ago she got a divorce from + Rice and came back to her family again.” + </p> + <p> + “Rice?” queried the stranger. “Was that her husband's name, Stephen Rice?” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon! You knew him?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,—when the tide came up to the tules, yonder,” answered the + stranger musingly. “And the other daughter,—I suppose she has made a + good match, being a beauty and the sole heiress?” + </p> + <p> + The Tasajaran made a grimace. “Not much! I reckon she's waitin' for the + Angel Gabriel,—there ain't another good enough to suit her here. + They say she's had most of the big men in California waitin' in a line + with their offers, like that cue the fellows used to make at the 'Frisco + post-office steamer days—and she with nary a letter or answer for + any of them.” + </p> + <p> + “Then Harcourt doesn't seem to have been as fortunate in his family + affairs as in his speculations?” + </p> + <p> + Peters uttered a grim laugh. “Well, I reckon you know all about his son's + stampeding with that girl last spring?” + </p> + <p> + “His son?” interrupted the stranger. “Do you mean the boy they called John + Milton? Why, he was a mere child!” + </p> + <p> + “He was old enough to run away with a young woman that helped in his + mother's house, and marry her afore a justice of the peace. The old man + just snorted with rage, and swore he'd have the marriage put aside, for + the boy was under age. He said it was a put-up job of the girl's; that she + was older by two years, and only wanted to get what money might be comin' + some day, but that they'd never see a red cent of it. Then, they say, John + Milton up and sassed the old man to his face, and allowed that he wouldn't + take his dirty money if he starved first, and that if the old man broke + the marriage he'd marry her again next year; that true love and honorable + poverty were better nor riches, and a lot more o' that stuff he picked out + o' them ten-cent novels he was allus reading. My women-folks say that he + actually liked the girl, because she was the only one in the house that + was ever kind to him; they say the girls were just ragin' mad at the idea + o' havin' a hired gal who had waited on 'em as a sister-in-law, and they + even got old Mammy Harcourt's back up by sayin' that John's wife would + want to rule the house, and run her out of her own kitchen. Some say he + shook THEM, talked back to 'em mighty sharp, and held his head a heap + higher nor them. Anyhow, he's livin' with his wife somewhere in 'Frisco, + in a shanty on a sand lot, and workin' odd jobs for the newspapers. No! + takin' it by and large—it don't look as if Harcourt had run his + family to the same advantage that he has his land.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps he doesn't understand them as well,” said the stranger smiling. + </p> + <p> + “Mor'n likely the material ain't thar, or ain't as vallyble for a new + country,” said Peters grimly. “I reckon the trouble is that he lets them + two daughters run him, and the man who lets any woman or women do that, + lets himself in for all their meannesses, and all he gets in return is a + woman's result,—show!” + </p> + <p> + Here the stranger, who was slowly rising from his chair with the polite + suggestion of reluctantly tearing himself from the speaker's spell, said: + “And Harcourt spends most of his time in San Francisco, I suppose?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes! but to-day he's here to attend a directors' meeting and the opening + of the Free Library and Tasajara Hall. I saw the windows open, and the + blinds up in his house across the plaza as I passed just now.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger had by this time quite effected his courteous withdrawal. + “Good-afternoon, Mr. Peters,” he said, smilingly lifting his hat, and + turned away. + </p> + <p> + Peters, who was obliged to take his legs off the chair, and half rise to + the stranger's politeness, here reflected that he did not know his + interlocutor's name and business, and that he had really got nothing in + return for his information. This must be remedied. As the stranger passed + through the hall into the street, followed by the unwonted civilities of + the spruce hotel clerk and the obsequious attentions of the negro porter, + Peters stepped to the window of the office. “Who was that man who just + passed out?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + The clerk stared in undisguised astonishment. “You don't mean to say you + didn't know WHO he was—all the while you were talking to him?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” returned Peters, impatiently. + </p> + <p> + “Why, that was Professor Lawrence Grant!—THE Lawrence Grant—don't + you know?—the biggest scientific man and recognized expert on the + Pacific slope. Why, that's the man whose single word is enough to make or + break the biggest mine or claim going! That man!—why, that's the man + whose opinion's worth thousands, for it carries millions with it—and + can't be bought. That's him who knocked the bottom outer El Dorado last + year, and next day sent Eureka up booming! Ye remember that, sure?” + </p> + <p> + “Of course—but”—stammered Peters. + </p> + <p> + “And to think you didn't know him!” repeated the hotel clerk wonderingly. + “And here I was reckoning you were getting points from him all the time! + Why, some men would have given a thousand dollars for your chance of + talking to him—yes!—of even being SEEN talking to him. Why, + old Wingate once got a tip on his Prairie Flower lead worth five thousand + dollars while just changing seats with him in the cars and passing the + time of day, sociable like. Why, what DID you talk about?” + </p> + <p> + Peters, with a miserable conviction that he had thrown away a valuable + opportunity in mere idle gossip, nevertheless endeavored to look + mysterious as he replied, “Oh, business gin'rally.” Then in the faint hope + of yet retrieving his blunder he inquired, “How long will he be here?” + </p> + <p> + “Don't know. I reckon he and Harcourt's got something on hand. He just + asked if he was likely to be at home or at his office. I told him I + reckoned at the house, for some of the family—I didn't get to see + who they were—drove up in a carriage from the 3.40 train while you + were sitting there.” + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile the subject of this discussion, quite unconscious of the + sensation he had created, or perhaps like most heroes philosophically + careless of it, was sauntering indifferently towards Harcourt's house. But + he had no business with his former host, his only object was to pass an + idle hour before his train left. He was, of course, not unaware that he + himself was largely responsible for Harcourt's success; that it was HIS + hint which had induced the petty trader of Sidon to venture his all in + Tasajara; HIS knowledge of the topography and geology of the plain that + had stimulated Harcourt's agricultural speculations; HIS hydrographic + survey of the creek that had made Harcourt's plan of widening the channel + to commerce practicable and profitable. This he could not help but know. + But that it was chiefly owing to his own clear, cool, far-seeing, but + never visionary, scientific observation,—his own accurate analysis, + unprejudiced by even a savant's enthusiasm, and uninfluenced by any + personal desire or greed of gain,—that Tasajara City had risen from + the stagnant tules, was a speculation that had never occurred to him. + There was a much more uneasy consciousness of what he had done in Mr. + Harcourt's face a few moments later, when his visitor's name was + announced, and it is to be feared that if that name had been less widely + honored and respected than it was, no merely grateful recollection of it + would have procured Grant an audience. As it was, it was with a frown and + a touch of his old impatient asperity that he stepped to the threshold of + an adjoining room and called, “Clemmy!” + </p> + <p> + Clementina appeared at the door. + </p> + <p> + “There's that man Grant in the parlor. What brings HIM here, I wonder? Who + does he come to see?” + </p> + <p> + “Who did he ask for?” + </p> + <p> + “Me,—but that don't mean anything.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps he wants to see you on some business.” + </p> + <p> + “No. That isn't his high-toned style. He makes other people go to him for + that,” he said bitterly. “Anyhow—don't you think it's mighty queer + his coming here after his friend—for it was he who introduced Rice + to us—had behaved so to your sister, and caused all this divorce and + scandal?” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps he may know nothing about it; he and Rice separated long ago, + even before Grant became so famous. We never saw much of him, you know, + after we came here. Suppose you leave him to ME. I'll see him.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Harcourt reflected. “Didn't he used to be rather attentive to Phemie?” + </p> + <p> + Clementina shrugged her shoulders carelessly. “I dare say—but I + don't think that NOW”— + </p> + <p> + “Who said anything about NOW?” retorted her father, with a return of his + old abruptness. After a pause he said: “I'll go down and see him first, + and then send for you. You can keep him for the opening and dinner, if you + like.” + </p> + <p> + Meantime Lawrence Grant, serenely unsuspicious of these domestic + confidences, had been shown into the parlor—a large room furnished + in the same style as the drawing-room of the hotel he had just quitted. He + had ample time to note that it was that wonderful Second Empire furniture + which he remembered that the early San Francisco pioneers in the first + flush of their wealth had imported directly from France, and which for + years after gave an unexpected foreign flavor to the western domesticity + and a tawdry gilt equality to saloons and drawing-rooms, public and + private. But he was observant of a corresponding change in Harcourt, when + a moment later he entered the room. That individuality which had kept the + former shopkeeper of Sidon distinct from, although perhaps not superior + to, his customers—was strongly marked. He was perhaps now more + nervously alert than then; he was certainly more impatient than before,—but + that was pardonable in a man of large affairs and action. Grant could not + deny that he seemed improved,—rather perhaps that the setting of + fine clothes, cleanliness, and the absence of petty worries, made his + characteristics respectable. That which is ill breeding in homespun, is + apt to become mere eccentricity in purple and fine linen; Grant felt that + Harcourt jarred on him less than he did before, and was grateful without + superciliousness. Harcourt, relieved to find that Grant was neither + critical nor aggressively reminiscent, and above all not inclined to claim + the credit of creating him and Tasajara, became more confident, more at + his ease, and, I fear, in proportion more unpleasant. It is the repose and + not the struggle of the parvenu that confounds us. + </p> + <p> + “And YOU, Grant,—you have made yourself famous, and, I hear, have + got pretty much your own prices for your opinions ever since it was known + that you—you—er—were connected with the growth of + Tasajara.” + </p> + <p> + Grant smiled; he was not quite prepared for this; but it was amusing and + would pass the time. He murmured a sentence of half ironical deprecation, + and Mr. Harcourt continued:— + </p> + <p> + “I haven't got my San Francisco house here to receive you in, but I hope + some day, sir, to see you there. We are only here for the day and night, + but if you care to attend the opening ceremonies at the new hall, we can + manage to give you dinner afterwards. You can escort my daughter + Clementina,—she's here with me.” + </p> + <p> + The smile of apologetic declination which had begun to form on Grant's + lips was suddenly arrested. “Then your daughter is here?” he asked, with + unaffected interest. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,—she is in fact a patroness of the library and sewing-circle, + and takes the greatest interest in it. The Reverend Doctor Pilsbury relies + upon her for everything. She runs the society, even to the training of the + young ladies, sir. You shall see their exercises.” + </p> + <p> + This was certainly a new phase of Clementina's character. Yet why should + she not assume the role of Lady Bountiful with the other functions of her + new condition. “I should have thought Miss Harcourt would have found this + rather difficult with her other social duties,” he said, “and would have + left it to her married sister.” He thought it better not to appear as if + avoiding reference to Euphemia, although quietly ignoring her late + experiences. Mr. Harcourt was less easy in his response. + </p> + <p> + “Now that Euphemia is again with her own family,” he said ponderously, + with an affectation of social discrimination that was in weak contrast to + his usual direct business astuteness, “I suppose she may take her part in + these things, but just now she requires rest. You may have heard some + rumor that she is going abroad for a time? The fact is she hasn't the + least intention of doing so, nor do we consider there is the slightest + reason for her going.” He paused as if to give great emphasis to a + statement that seemed otherwise unimportant. “But here's Clementina + coming, and I must get you to excuse ME. I've to meet the trustees of the + church in ten minutes, but I hope she'll persuade you to stay, and I'll + see you later at the hall.” + </p> + <p> + As Clementina entered the room her father vanished and, I fear, as + completely dropped out of Mr. Grant's mind. For the daughter's improvement + was greater than her father's, yet so much more refined as to be at first + only delicately perceptible. Grant had been prepared for the vulgar + enhancement of fine clothes and personal adornment, for the specious + setting of luxurious circumstances and surroundings, for the aplomb that + came from flattery and conscious power. But he found none of these; her + calm individuality was intensified rather than subdued; she was dressed + simply, with an economy of ornament, rich material, and jewelry, but an + accuracy of taste that was always dominant. Her plain gray merino dress, + beautifully fitting her figure, suggested, with its pale blue facings, + some uniform, as of the charitable society she patronized. She came + towards him with a graceful movement of greeting, yet her face showed no + consciousness of the interval that had elapsed since they met; he almost + fancied himself transported back to the sitting-room at Sidon with the + monotonous patter of the leaves outside, and the cool moist breath of the + bay and alder coming in at the window. + </p> + <p> + “Father says that you are only passing through Tasajara to-day, as you did + through Sidon five years ago,” she said with a smiling earnestness that he + fancied however was the one new phase of her character. “But I won't + believe it! At least we will not accept another visit quite as accidental + as that, even though you brought us twice the good fortune you did then. + You see, we have not forgotten it if you have, Mr. Grant. And unless you + want us to believe that your fairy gifts will turn some day to leaves and + ashes, you will promise to stay with us tonight, and let me show you some + of the good we have done with them. Perhaps you don't know, or don't want + to know, that it was I who got up this 'Library and Home Circle of the + Sisters of Tasajara' which we are to open to-day. And can you imagine why? + You remember—or have you forgotten—that you once affected to + be concerned at the social condition of the young ladies on the plains of + Sidon? Well, Mr. Grant, this is gotten up in order that the future Mr. + Grants who wander may find future Miss Billingses who are worthy to + converse with them and entertain them, and who no longer wear men's hats + and live on the public road.” + </p> + <p> + It was such a long speech for one so taciturn as he remembered Clementina + to have been; so unexpected in tone considering her father's attitude + towards him, and so unlooked for in its reference to a slight incident of + the past, that Grant's critical contemplation of her gave way to a quiet + and grateful glance of admiration. How could he have been so mistaken in + her character? He had always preferred the outspoken Euphemia, and yet why + should he not have been equally mistaken in her? Without having any + personal knowledge of Rice's matrimonial troubles—for their intimate + companionship had not continued after the survey—he had been + inclined to blame him; now he seemed to find excuses for him. He wondered + if she really had liked him as Peters had hinted; he wondered if she knew + that he, Grant, was no longer intimate with him and knew nothing of her + affairs. All this while he was accepting her proffered hospitality and + sending to the hotel for his luggage. Then he drifted into a conversation, + which he had expected would be brief, pointless, and confined to a stupid + resume of their mutual and social progress since they had left Sidon. But + here he was again mistaken; she was talking familiarly of present social + topics, of things that she knew clearly and well, without effort or + attitude. She had been to New York and Boston for two winters; she had + spent the previous summer at Newport; it might have been her whole youth + for the fluency, accuracy, and familiarity of her detail, and the absence + of provincial enthusiasm. She was going abroad, probably in the spring. + She had thought of going to winter in Italy, but she would wait now until + her sister was ready to go with her. Mr. Grant of course knew that + Euphemia was separated from Mr. Rice—no—not until her father + told him? Well—the marriage had been a wild and foolish thing for + both. But Euphemia was back again with them in the San Francisco house; + she had talked of coming to Tasajara to-day, perhaps she might be there + tonight. And, good heavens! it was actually three o'clock already, and + they must start at once for the Hall. She would go and get her hat and + return instantly. + </p> + <p> + It was true; he had been talking with her an hour—pleasantly, + intelligently, and yet with a consciousness of an indefinite satisfaction + beyond all this. It must have been surprise at her transformation, or his + previous misconception of her character. He had been watching her features + and wondering why he had ever thought them expressionless. There was also + the pleasant suggestion—common to humanity in such instances—that + he himself was in some way responsible for the change; that it was some + awakened sympathy to his own nature that had breathed into this cold and + faultless statue the warmth of life. In an odd flash of recollection he + remembered how, five years ago, when Rice had suggested to her that she + was “hard to please,” she had replied that she “didn't know, but that she + was waiting to see.” It did not occur to him to wonder why she had not + awakened then, or if this awakening had anything to do with her own + volition. It was not probable that they would meet again after to-day, or + if they did, that she would not relapse into her former self and fail to + impress him as she had now. But—here she was—a paragon of + feminine promptitude—already standing in the doorway, accurately + gloved and booted, and wearing a demure gray hat that modestly crowned her + decorously elegant figure. + </p> + <p> + They crossed the plaza side by side, in the still garish sunlight that + seemed to mock the scant shade of the youthful eucalyptus trees, and + presently fell in with the stream of people going in their direction. The + former daughters of Sidon, the Billingses, the Peterses, and Wingates, + were there bourgeoning and expanding in the glare of their new prosperity, + with silk and gold; there were newer faces still, and pretty ones,—for + Tasajara as a “Cow County” had attracted settlers with large families,—and + there were already the contrasting types of East and West. Many turned to + look after the tall figure of the daughter of the Founder of Tasajara,—a + spectacle lately rare to the town; a few glanced at her companion, equally + noticeable as a stranger. Thanks, however, to some judicious preliminary + advertising from the hotel clerk, Peters, and Daniel Harcourt himself, by + the time Grant and Miss Harcourt had reached the Hall his name and fame + were already known, and speculation had already begun whether this new + stroke of Harcourt's shrewdness might not unite Clementina to a renowned + and profitable partner. + </p> + <p> + The Hall was in one of the further and newly opened suburbs, and its side + and rear windows gave immediately upon the outlying and illimitable plain + of Tasajara. It was a tasteful and fair-seeming structure of wood, + surprisingly and surpassingly new. In fact that was its one dominant + feature; nowhere else had youth and freshness ever shown itself as + unconquerable and all-conquering. The spice of virgin woods and trackless + forests still rose from its pine floors, and breathed from its outer shell + of cedar that still oozed its sap, and redwood that still dropped its + life-blood. Nowhere else were the plastered walls and ceilings as white + and dazzling in their unstained purity, or as redolent of the outlying + quarry in their clear cool breath of lime and stone. Even the turpentine + of fresh and spotless paint added to this sense of wholesome germination, + and as the clear and brilliant Californian sunshine swept through the open + windows west and east, suffusing the whole palpitating structure with its + searching and resistless radiance, the very air seemed filled with the + aroma of creation. + </p> + <p> + The fresh colors of the young Republic, the bright blazonry of the newest + State, the coat-of-arms of the infant County of Tasajara—(a vignette + of sunset-tules cloven by the steam of an advancing train)—hanging + from the walls, were all a part of this invincible juvenescence. Even the + newest silks, ribbons and prints of the latest holiday fashions made their + first virgin appearance in the new building as if to consecrate it, until + it was stirred by the rustle of youth, as with the sound and movement of + budding spring. + </p> + <p> + A strain from the new organ—whose heart, however, had prematurely + learned its own bitterness—and a thin, clear, but somewhat shrill + chanting from a choir of young ladies were followed by a prayer from the + Reverend Mr. Pilsbury. Then there was a pause of expectancy, and Grant's + fair companion, who up to that moment had been quietly acting as guide and + cicerone to her father's guest, excused herself with a little grimace of + mock concern and was led away by one of the committee. Grant's usually + keen eyes were wandering somewhat abstractedly over the agitated and + rustling field of ribbons, flowers and feathers before him, past the + blazonry of banner on the walls, and through the open windows to the long + sunlit levels beyond, when he noticed a stir upon the raised dais or + platform at the end of the room, where the notables of Tasajara were + formally assembled. The mass of black coats suddenly parted and drew back + against the wall to allow the coming forward of a single graceful figure. + A thrill of nervousness as unexpected as unaccountable passed over him as + he recognized Clementina. In the midst of a sudden silence she read the + report of the committee from a paper in her hand, in a clear, untroubled + voice—the old voice of Sidon—and formally declared the + building opened. The sunlight, nearly level, streamed through the western + window across the front of the platform where she stood and transfigured + her slight but noble figure. The hush that had fallen upon the Hall was as + much the effect of that tranquil, ideal presence as of the message with + which it was charged. And yet that apparition was as inconsistent with the + clear, searching light which helped to set it off, as it was with the + broad new blazonry of decoration, the yet unsullied record of the white + walls, or even the frank, animated and pretty faces that looked upon it. + Perhaps it was some such instinct that caused the applause which + hesitatingly and tardily followed her from the platform to appear polite + and half restrained rather than spontaneous. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless Grant was honestly and sincerely profuse in his + congratulations. “You were far cooler and far more self-contained than I + should have been in your place,” he said, “than in fact I actually WAS, + only as your auditor. But I suppose you have done it before?” + </p> + <p> + She turned her beautiful eyes on his wonderingly. “No,—this is the + first time I ever appeared in public,—not even at school, for even + there I was always a private pupil.” + </p> + <p> + “You astonish me,” said Grant; “you seemed like an old hand at it.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps I did, or rather as if I didn't think anything of it myself,—and + that no doubt is why the audience didn't think anything of it either.” + </p> + <p> + So she HAD noticed her cold reception, and yet there was not the slightest + trace of disappointment, regret, or wounded vanity in her tone or manner. + “You must take me to the refreshment room now,” she said pleasantly, “and + help me to look after the young ladies who are my guests. I'm afraid there + are still more speeches to come, and father and Mr. Pilsbury are looking + as if they confidently expected something more would be 'expected' of + them.” + </p> + <p> + Grant at once threw himself into the task assigned to him, with his + natural gallantry and a certain captivating playfulness which he still + retained. Perhaps he was the more anxious to please in order that his + companion might share some of his popularity, for it was undeniable that + Miss Harcourt still seemed to excite only a constrained politeness among + those with whom she courteously mingled. And this was still more + distinctly marked by the contrast of a later incident. + </p> + <p> + For some moments the sound of laughter and greeting had risen near the + door of the refreshment room that opened upon the central hall, and there + was a perceptible movement of the crowd—particularly of youthful + male Tasajara—in that direction. It was evident that it announced + the unexpected arrival of some popular resident. Attracted like the + others, Grant turned and saw the company making way for the smiling, easy, + half-saucy, half-complacent entry of a handsomely dressed young girl. As + she turned from time to time to recognize with rallying familiarity or + charming impertinence some of her admirers, there was that in her tone and + gesture which instantly recalled to him the past. It was unmistakably + Euphemia! His eyes instinctively sought Clementina's. She was gazing at + him with such a grave, penetrating look,—half doubting, half + wistful,—a look so unlike her usual unruffled calm that he felt + strangely stirred. But the next moment, when she rejoined him, the look + had entirely gone. “You have not seen my sister since you were at Sidon, I + believe?” she said quietly. “She would be sorry to miss you.” But Euphemia + and her train were already passing them on the opposite side of the long + table. She had evidently recognized Grant, yet the two sisters were + looking intently into each other's eyes when he raised his own. Then + Euphemia met his bow with a momentary accession of color, a coquettish + wave of her hand across the table, a slight exaggeration of her usual + fascinating recklessness, and smilingly moved away. He turned to + Clementina, but here an ominous tapping at the farther end of the long + table revealed the fact that Mr. Harcourt was standing on a chair with + oratorical possibilities in his face and attitude. There was another + forward movement in the crowd and—silence. In that solid, + black-broadclothed, respectable figure, that massive watchchain, that + white waistcoat, that diamond pin glistening in the satin cravat, Euphemia + might have seen the realization of her prophetic vision at Sidon five + years before. + </p> + <p> + He spoke for ten minutes with a fluency and comprehensive business-like + directness that surprised Grant. He was not there, he said, to glorify + what had been done by himself, his family, or his friends in Tasajara. + Others who were to follow him might do that, or at least might be better + able to explain and expatiate upon the advantages of the institution they + had just opened, and its social, moral, and religious effect upon the + community. He was there as a business man to demonstrate to them—as + he had always done and always hoped to do—the money value of + improvement; the profit—if they might choose to call it—of + well-regulated and properly calculated speculation. The plot of land upon + which they stood, of which the building occupied only one eighth, was + bought two years before for ten thousand dollars. When the plans of the + building were completed a month afterwards, the value of the remaining + seven eighths had risen enough to defray the cost of the entire + construction. He was in a position to tell them that only that morning the + adjacent property, subdivided and laid out in streets and building-plots, + had been admitted into the corporate limits of the city; and that on the + next anniversary of the building they would approach it through an avenue + of finished dwellings! An outburst of applause followed the speaker's + practical climax; the fresh young faces of his auditors glowed with + invincible enthusiasm; the afternoon trade-winds, freshening over the + limitless plain beyond, tossed the bright banners at the windows as with + sympathetic rejoicing, and a few odorous pine shavings, overlooked in a + corner in the hurry of preparation, touched by an eddying zephyr, crept + out and rolled in yellow ringlets across the floor. + </p> + <p> + The Reverend Doctor Pilsbury arose in a more decorous silence. He had + listened approvingly, admiringly, he might say even reverently, to the + preceding speaker. But although his distinguished friend had, with his + usual modesty, made light of his own services and those of his charming + family, he, the speaker, had not risen to sing his praises. No; it was not + in this Hall, projected by his foresight and raised by his liberality; in + this town, called into existence by his energy and stamped by his + attributes; in this county, developed by his genius and sustained by his + capital; ay, in this very State whose grandeur was made possible by such + giants as he,—it was not in any of these places that it was + necessary to praise Daniel Harcourt, or that a panegyric of him would be + more than idle repetition. Nor would he, as that distinguished man had + suggested, enlarge upon the social, moral, and religious benefits of the + improvement they were now celebrating. It was written on the happy, + innocent faces, in the festive garb, in the decorous demeanor, in the + intelligent eyes that sparkled around him, in the presence of those of his + parishioners whom he could meet as freely here to-day as in his own church + on Sunday. What then could he say? What then was there to say? Perhaps he + should say nothing if it were not for the presence of the young before + him.—He stopped and fixed his eyes paternally on the youthful Johnny + Billings, who with a half dozen other Sunday-school scholars had been + marshaled before the reverend speaker.—And what was to be the lesson + THEY were to learn from it? They had heard what had been achieved by + labor, enterprise, and diligence. Perhaps they would believe, and + naturally too, that what labor, enterprise, and diligence had done could + be done again. But was that all? Was there nothing behind these qualities—which, + after all, were within the reach of every one here? Had they ever thought + that back of every pioneer, every explorer, every pathfinder, every + founder and creator, there was still another? There was no terra incognita + so rare as to be unknown to one; no wilderness so remote as to be beyond a + greater ken than theirs; no waste so trackless but that one had already + passed that way! Did they ever reflect that when the dull sea ebbed and + flowed in the tules over the very spot where they were now standing, who + it was that also foresaw, conceived, and ordained the mighty change that + would take place; who even guided and directed the feeble means employed + to work it; whose spirit moved, as in still older days of which they had + read, over the face of the stagnant waters? Perhaps they had. Who then was + the real pioneer of Tasajara,—back of the Harcourts, the Peterses, + the Billingses, and Wingates? The reverend gentleman gently paused for a + reply. It was given in the clear but startled accents of the half + frightened, half-fascinated Johnny Billings, in three words:— + </p> + <p> + “'Lige Curtis, sir!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPER VI + </h2> + <p> + The trade wind, that, blowing directly from the Golden Gate, seemed to + concentrate its full force upon the western slope of Russian Hill, might + have dismayed any climber less hopeful and sanguine than that most + imaginative of newspaper reporters and most youthful of husbands, John + Milton Harcourt. But for all that it was an honest wind, and its dry, + practical energy and salt-pervading breath only seemed to sting him to + greater and more enthusiastic exertions, until, quite at the summit of the + hill and last of a straggling line of little cottages half submerged in + drifting sand, he stood upon his own humble porch. + </p> + <p> + “I was thinking, coming up the hill, Loo,” he said, bursting into the + sitting-room, pantingly, “of writing something about the future of the + hill! How it will look fifty years from now, all terraced with houses and + gardens!—and right up here a kind of Acropolis, don't you know. I + had quite a picture of it in my mind just now.” + </p> + <p> + A plainly-dressed young woman with a pretty face, that, however, looked as + if it had been prematurely sapped of color and vitality, here laid aside + some white sewing she had in her lap, and said:— + </p> + <p> + “But you did that once before, Milty, and you know the 'Herald' wouldn't + take it because they said it was a free notice of Mr. Boorem's building + lots, and he didn't advertise in the 'Herald.' I always told you that you + ought to have seen Boorem first.” + </p> + <p> + The young fellow blinked his eyes with a momentary arrest of that buoyant + hopefulness which was their peculiar characteristic, but nevertheless + replied with undaunted cheerfulness, “I forgot. Anyhow, it's all the same, + for I worked it into that 'Sunday Walk.' And it's just as easy to write it + the other way, you see,—looking back, DOWN THE HILL, you know. + Something about the old Padres toiling through the sand just before the + Angelus; or as far back as Sir Francis Drake's time, and have a runaway + boat's crew, coming ashore to look for gold that the Mexicans had talked + of. Lord! that's easy enough! I tell you what, Loo, it's worth living up + here just for the inspiration.” Even while boyishly exhaling this + enthusiasm he was also divesting himself of certain bundles whose contents + seemed to imply that he had brought his dinner with him,—the + youthful Mrs. Harcourt setting the table in a perfunctory, listless way + that contrasted oddly with her husband's cheerful energy. + </p> + <p> + “You haven't heard of any regular situation yet?” she asked abstractedly. + </p> + <p> + “No,—not exactly,” he replied. “But [buoyantly] it's a great deal + better for me not to take anything in a hurry and tie myself to any + particular line. Now, I'm quite free.” + </p> + <p> + “And I suppose you haven't seen that Mr. Fletcher again?” she continued. + </p> + <p> + “No. He only wanted to know something about me. That's the way with them + all, Loo. Whenever I apply for work anywhere it's always: 'So you're Dan'l + Harcourt's son, eh? Quarreled with the old man? Bad job; better make it + up! You'll make more stickin' to him. He's worth millions!' Everybody + seems to think everything of HIM, as if I had no individuality beyond + that, I've a good mind to change my name.” + </p> + <p> + “And pray what would mine be then?” + </p> + <p> + There was so much irritation in her voice that he drew nearer her and + gently put his arm around her waist. “Why, whatever mine was, darling,” he + said with a tender smile. “You didn't fall in love with any particular + name, did you, Loo?” + </p> + <p> + “No, but I married a particular one,” she said quickly. + </p> + <p> + His eyelids quivered again, as if he was avoiding some unpleasantly + staring suggestion, and she stopped. + </p> + <p> + “You know what I mean, dear,” she said, with a quick little laugh. “Just + because your father's an old crosspatch, YOU haven't lost your rights to + his name and property. And those people who say you ought to make it up + perhaps know what's for the best.” + </p> + <p> + “But you remember what he said of you, Loo?” said the young man with a + flashing eye. “Do you think I can ever forget that?” + </p> + <p> + “But you DO forget it, dear; you forget it when you go in town among fresh + faces and people; when you are looking for work. You forget it when you're + at work writing your copy,—for I've seen you smile as you wrote. You + forget it climbing up the dreadful sand, for you were thinking just now of + what happened years ago, or is to happen years to come. And I want to + forget it too, Milty. I don't want to sit here all day, thinking of it, + with the wind driving the sand against the window, and nothing to look at + but those white tombs in Lone Mountain Cemetery, and those white caps that + might be gravestones too, and not a soul to talk to or even see pass by + until I feel as if I were dead and buried also. If you were me—you—you—you—couldn't + help crying too!” + </p> + <p> + Indeed he was very near it now. For as he caught her in his arms, suddenly + seeing with a lover's sympathy and the poet's swifter imagination all that + she had seen and even more, he was aghast at the vision conjured. In her + delicate health and loneliness how dreadful must have been these + monotonous days, and this glittering, cruel sea! What a selfish brute he + was! Yet as he stood there holding her, silently and rhythmically marking + his tenderness and remorseful feelings by rocking her from side to side + like a languid metronome, she quietly disengaged her wet lashes from his + shoulder and said in quite another tone:— + </p> + <p> + “So they were all at Tasajara last week?” + </p> + <p> + “Who, dear?” + </p> + <p> + “Your father and sisters.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said John Milton, hesitatingly. + </p> + <p> + “And they've taken back your sister after her divorce?” + </p> + <p> + The staring obtrusiveness of this fact apparently made her husband's + bright sympathetic eye blink as before. + </p> + <p> + “And if you were to divorce me, YOU would be taken back too,” she added + quickly, suddenly withdrawing herself with a pettish movement and walking + to the window. + </p> + <p> + But he followed. “Don't talk in that way, Loo! Don't look in that way, + dear!” he said, taking her hand gently, yet not without a sense of some + inconsistency in her conduct that jarred upon his own simple directness. + “You know that nothing can part us now. I was wrong to let my little girl + worry herself all alone here, but I—I—thought it was all so—so + bright and free out on this hill,—looking far away beyond the Golden + Gate,—as far as Cathay, you know, and such a change from those + dismal flats of Tasajara and that awful stretch of tules. But it's all + right now. And now that I know how you feel, we'll go elsewhere.” + </p> + <p> + She did not reply. Perhaps she found it difficult to keep up her injured + attitude in the face of her husband's gentleness. Perhaps her attention + had been attracted by the unusual spectacle of a stranger, who had just + mounted the hill and was now slowly passing along the line of cottages + with a hesitating air of inquiry. “He may be looking for this house,—for + you,” she said in an entirely new tone of interest. “Run out and see. It + may be some one who wants”— + </p> + <p> + “An article,” said Milton cheerfully. “By Jove! he IS coming here.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger was indeed approaching the little cottage, and with + apparently some confidence. He was a well-dressed, well-made man, whose + age looked uncertain from the contrast between his heavy brown moustache + and his hair, that, curling under the brim of his hat, was almost white in + color. The young man started, and said, hurriedly: “I really believe it is + Fletcher,—they say his hair turned white from the Panama fever.” + </p> + <p> + It was indeed Mr. Fletcher who entered and introduced himself,—a + gentle reserved man, with something of that colorlessness of premature age + in his speech which was observable in his hair. He had heard of Mr. + Harcourt from a friend who had recommended him highly. As Mr. Harcourt had + probably been told, he, the speaker, was about to embark some capital in a + first-class newspaper in San Francisco, and should select the staff + himself. He wanted to secure only first-rate talent,—but above all, + youthfulness, directness, and originality. The “Clarion,” for that was to + be its name, was to have nothing “old fogy” about it. No. It was + distinctly to be the organ of Young California! This and much more from + the grave lips of the elderly young man, whose speech seemed to be divided + between the pretty, but equally faded, young wife, and the one + personification of invincible youth present,—her husband. + </p> + <p> + “But I fear I have interrupted your household duties,” he said pleasantly. + “You were preparing dinner. Pray go on. And let me help you,—I'm not + a bad cook,—and you can give me my reward by letting me share it + with you, for the climb up here has sharpened my appetite. We can talk as + we go on.” + </p> + <p> + It was in vain to protest; there was something paternal as well as + practical in the camaraderie of this actual capitalist and possible + Maecenas and patron as he quietly hung up his hat and overcoat, and helped + to set the table with a practiced hand. Nor, as he suggested, did the + conversation falter, and before they had taken their seats at the frugal + board he had already engaged John Milton Harcourt as assistant editor of + the “Clarion” at a salary that seemed princely to this son of a + millionaire! The young wife meantime had taken active part in the + discussion; whether it was vaguely understood that the possession of + poetical and imaginative faculties precluded any capacity for business, or + whether it was owing to the apparent superior maturity of Mrs. Harcourt + and the stranger, it was certain that THEY arranged the practical details + of the engagement, and that the youthful husband sat silent, merely + offering his always hopeful and sanguine consent. + </p> + <p> + “You'll take a house nearer to town, I suppose?” continued Mr. Fletcher to + the lady, “though you've a charming view here. I suppose it was quite a + change from Tasajara and your father-in-law's house? I daresay he had as + fine a place there—on his own homestead—as he has here?” + </p> + <p> + Young Harcourt dropped his sensitive eyelids again. It seemed hard that he + could never get away from these allusions to his father! Perhaps it was + only to that relationship that he was indebted for his visitor's kindness. + In his simple honesty he could not bear the thought of such a + misapprehension. “Perhaps, Mr. Fletcher, you do not know,” he said, “that + my father is not on terms with me, and that we neither expect anything nor + could we ever take anything from him. Could we, Loo?” He added the useless + question partly because he saw that his wife's face betrayed little + sympathy with him, and partly that Fletcher was looking at her curiously, + as if for confirmation. But this was another of John Milton's trials as an + imaginative reporter; nobody ever seemed to care for his practical + opinions or facts! + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Fletcher is not interested in our little family differences, Milty,” + she said, looking at Mr. Fletcher, however, instead of him. “You're Daniel + Harcourt's SON whatever happens.” + </p> + <p> + The cloud that had passed over the young man's face and eyes did not, + however, escape Mr. Fletcher's attention, for he smiled, and added gayly, + “And I hope my valued lieutenant in any case.” Nevertheless John Milton + was quite ready to avail himself of an inspiration to fetch some cigars + for his guest from the bar of the Sea-View House on the slope of the hill + beyond, and thereby avoid a fateful subject. Once in the fresh air again + he promptly recovered his boyish spirits. The light flying scud had + already effaced the first rising stars; the lower creeping sea-fog had + already blotted out the western shore and sea; but below him to the east + the glittering lights of the city seemed to start up with a new, + mysterious, and dazzling brilliancy. It was the valley of diamonds that + Sindbad saw lying almost at his feet! Perhaps somewhere there the light of + his own fame and fortune was already beginning to twinkle! + </p> + <p> + He returned to his humble roof joyous and inspired. As he entered the hall + he heard his wife's voice and his own name mentioned, followed by that + awkward, meaningless silence on his entrance which so plainly indicated + either that he had been the subject of conversation or that it was not for + his ears. It was a dismal reminder of his boyhood at Sidon and Tasajara. + But he was too full of hope and ambition to heed it to-night, and later, + when Mr. Fletcher had taken his departure, his pent-up enthusiasm burst + out before his youthful partner. Had she realized that their struggles + were over now, that their future was secure? They need no longer fear ever + being forced to take bounty from the family; they were independent of them + all! He would make a name for himself that should be distinct from his + father's as he should make a fortune that would be theirs alone. The young + wife smiled. “But all that need not prevent you, dear, from claiming your + RIGHTS when the time comes.” + </p> + <p> + “But if I scorn to make the claim or take a penny of his, Loo?” + </p> + <p> + “You say you scorn to take the money you think your father got by a mere + trick,—at the best,—and didn't earn. And now you will be able + to show you can live without it, and earn your own fortune. Well, dear, + for that very reason why should you let your father and others enjoy and + waste what is fairly your share? For it is YOUR share whether it came to + your father fairly or not; and if not, it is still your duty, believing as + you do, to claim it from him, that at least YOU may do with it what you + choose. You might want to restore it—to—to—somebody.” + </p> + <p> + The young man laughed. “But, my dear Loo! suppose that I were weak enough + to claim it, do you think my father would give it up? He has the right, + and no law could force him to yield to me more than he chooses.” + </p> + <p> + “Not the law, but YOU could.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't understand you,” he said quickly. + </p> + <p> + “You could force him by simply telling him what you once told me.” + </p> + <p> + John Milton drew back, and his hand dropped loosely from his wife's. The + color left his fresh young face; the light quivered for a moment and then + became fixed and set in his eyes. For that moment he looked ten years her + senior. “I was wrong ever to tell even you that, Loo,” he said in a low + voice. “You are wrong to ever remind me of it. Forget it from this moment, + as you value our love and want it to live and be remembered. And forget, + Loo, as I do,—and ever shall,—that you ever suggested to me to + use my secret in the way you did just now.” + </p> + <p> + But here Mrs. Harcourt burst into tears, more touched by the alteration in + her husband's manner, I fear, than by any contrition for wrongdoing. Of + course if he wished to withdraw his confidences from her, just as he had + almost confessed he wished to withdraw his NAME, she couldn't help it, but + it was hard that when she sat there all day long trying to think what was + best for them, she should be blamed! At which the quiet and forgiving John + Milton smiled remorsefully and tried to comfort her. Nevertheless an + occasional odd, indefinable chill seemed to creep across the feverish + enthusiasm with which he was celebrating this day of fortune. And yet he + neither knew nor suspected until long after that his foolish wife had that + night half betrayed his secret to the stranger! + </p> + <p> + The next day he presented a note of introduction from Mr. Fletcher to the + business manager of the “Clarion,” and the following morning was duly + installed in office. He did not see his benefactor again; that single + visit was left in the mystery and isolation of an angelic episode. It + later appeared that other and larger interests in the San Jose valley + claimed his patron's residence and attendance; only the capital and + general purpose of the paper—to develop into a party organ in the + interest of his possible senatorial aspirations in due season—was + furnished by him. Grateful as John Milton felt towards him, he was + relieved; it seemed probable that Mr. Fletcher HAD selected him on his + individual merits, and not as the son of a millionaire. + </p> + <p> + He threw himself into his work with his old hopeful enthusiasm, and + perhaps an originality of method that was part of his singular + independence. Without the student's training or restraint,—for his + two years' schooling at Tasajara during his parents' prosperity came too + late to act as a discipline,—he was unfettered by any rules, and + guided only by an unerring instinctive taste that became near being + genius. He was a brilliant and original, if not always a profound and + accurate, reporter. By degrees he became an accustomed interest to the + readers of the “Clarion;” then an influence. Actors themselves in many a + fierce drama, living lives of devotion, emotion, and picturesque incident, + they had satisfied themselves with only the briefest and most practical + daily record of their adventure, and even at first were dazed and startled + to find that many of them had been heroes and some poets. The stealthy + boyish reader of romantic chronicle at Sidon had learned by heart the + chivalrous story of the emigration. The second column of the “Clarion” + became famous even while the figure of its youthful writer, unknown and + unrecognized, was still nightly climbing the sands of Russian Hill, and + even looking down as before on the lights of the growing city, without a + thought that he had added to that glittering constellation. + </p> + <p> + Cheerful and contented with the exercise of work, he would have been happy + but for the gradual haunting of another dread which presently began to + drag him at earlier hours up the steep path to his little home; to halt + him before the door with the quickened breath of an anxiety he would + scarcely confess to himself, and sometimes hold him aimlessly a whole day + beneath his roof. For the pretty but delicate Mrs. Harcourt, like others + of her class, had added a weak and ineffective maternity to their other + conjugal trials, and one early dawn a baby was born that lingered with + them scarcely longer than the morning mist and exhaled with the rising + sun. The young wife regained her strength slowly,—so slowly that the + youthful husband brought his work at times to the house to keep her + company. And a singular change had come over her. She no longer talked of + the past, nor of his family. As if the little life that had passed with + that morning mist had represented some ascending expiatory sacrifice, it + seemed to have brought them into closer communion. + </p> + <p> + Yet her weak condition made him conceal another trouble that had come upon + him. It was in the third month of his employment on the “Clarion” that one + afternoon, while correcting some proofs on his chief's desk, he came upon + the following editorial paragraph:— + </p> + <p> + “The played-out cant of 'pioneer genius' and 'pioneer discovery' appears + to have reached its climax in the attempt of some of our contemporaries to + apply it to Dan Harcourt's new Tasajara Job before the legislature. It is + perfectly well known in Harcourt's own district that, far from being a + pioneer and settler HIMSELF he simply succeeded after a fashion to the + genuine work of one Elijah Curtis, an actual pioneer and discoverer, years + before, while Harcourt, we believe, was keeping a frontier doggery in + Sidon, and dispensing 'tanglefoot' and salt junk to the hayfooted Pike + Countians of his precinct. This would make him as much of the 'pioneer + discoverer' as the rattlesnake who first takes up board and lodgings and + then possession in a prairie dog's burrow. And if the traveler's tale is + true that the rattlesnake sometimes makes a meal of his landlord, the + story told at Sidon may be equally credible that the original pioneer + mysteriously disappeared about the time that Dan Harcourt came into the + property. From which it would seem that Harcourt is not in a position for + his friends to invite very deep scrutiny into his 'pioneer' achievements.” + </p> + <p> + Stupefaction, a vague terror, and rising anger, rapidly succeeded each + other in the young man's mind as he stood mechanically holding the paper + in his hand. It was the writing of his chief editor, whose easy brutality + he had sometimes even boyishly admired. Without stopping to consider their + relative positions he sought him indignantly and laid the proof before + him. The editor laughed. “But what's that to YOU? YOU'RE not on terms with + the old man.” + </p> + <p> + “But he is my father!” said John Milton hotly. + </p> + <p> + “Look here,” said the editor good-naturedly, “I'd like to oblige you, but + it isn't BUSINESS, you know,—and this IS, you understand,—PROPRIETOR'S + BUSINESS too! Of course I see it might stand in the way of your making up + to the old man afterwards and coming in for a million. Well! you can tell + him it's ME. Say I WOULD put it in. Say I'm nasty—and I AM!” + </p> + <p> + “Then it must go in?” said John Milton with a white face. + </p> + <p> + “You bet.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I must go out!” And writing out his resignation, he laid it before + his chief and left. + </p> + <p> + But he could not bear to tell this to his wife when he climbed the hill + that night, and he invented some excuse for bringing his work home. The + invalid never noticed any change in his usual buoyancy, and indeed I fear, + when he was fairly installed with his writing materials at the foot of her + bed, he had quite forgotten the episode. He was recalled to it by a faint + sigh. + </p> + <p> + “What is it, dear?” he said looking up. + </p> + <p> + “I like to see you writing, Milty. You always look so happy.” + </p> + <p> + “Always so happy, dear?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. You are happy, are you not?” + </p> + <p> + “Always.” He got up and kissed her. Nevertheless, when he sat down to his + work again, his face was turned a little more to the window. + </p> + <p> + Another serious incident—to be also kept from the invalid—shortly + followed. The article in the “Clarion” had borne its fruit. The third day + after his resignation a rival paper sharply retorted. “The cowardly + insinuations against the record of a justly honored capitalist,” said the + “Pioneer,” “although quite in keeping with the brazen 'Clarion,' might + attract the attentions of the slandered party, if it were not known to his + friends as well as himself that it may be traced almost directly to a + cast-off member of his own family, who, it seems, is reduced to haunting + the back doors of certain blatant journals to dispose of his cheap wares. + The slanderer is secure from public exposure in the superior decency of + his relations, who refrain from airing their family linen upon editorial + lines.” + </p> + <p> + This was the journal to which John Milton had hopefully turned for work. + When he read it there seemed but one thing for him to do—and he did + it. Gentle and optimistic as was his nature, he had been brought up in a + community where sincere directness of personal offense was followed by + equally sincere directness of personal redress, and—he challenged + the editor. The bearer of his cartel was one Jack Hamlin, I grieve to say + a gambler by profession, but between whom and John Milton had sprung up an + odd friendship of which the best that can be said is that it was to each + equally and unselfishly unprofitable. The challenge was accepted, the + preliminaries arranged. “I suppose,” said Jack carelessly, “as the old man + ought to do something for your wife in case of accident, you've made some + sort of a will?” + </p> + <p> + “I've thought of that,” said John Milton, dubiously, “but I'm afraid it's + no use. You see”—he hesitated—“I'm not of age.” + </p> + <p> + “May I ask how old you are, sonny?” said Jack with great gravity. + </p> + <p> + “I'm almost twenty,” said John Milton, coloring. + </p> + <p> + “It isn't exactly vingt-et-un, but I'd stand on it; if I were you I + wouldn't draw to such a hand,” said Jack, coolly. + </p> + <p> + The young husband had arranged to be absent from his home that night, and + early morning found him, with Jack, grave, but courageous, in a little + hollow behind the Mission Hills. To them presently approached his + antagonist, jauntily accompanied by Colonel Starbottle, his second. They + halted, but after the formal salutation were instantly joined by Jack + Hamlin. For a few moments John Milton remained awkwardly alone—pending + a conversation which even at that supreme moment he felt as being like the + general attitude of his friends towards him, in its complete ignoring of + himself. The next moment the three men stepped towards him. “We have come, + sir,” said Colonel Starbottle in his precisest speech but his jauntiest + manner, “to offer you a full and ample apology—a personal apology—which + only supplements that full public apology that my principal, sir, this + gentleman,” indicating the editor of the “Pioneer,” “has this morning made + in the columns of his paper, as you will observe,” producing a newspaper. + “We have, sir,” continued the colonel loftily, “only within the last + twelve hours become aware of the—er—REAL circumstances of the + case. We would regret that the affair had gone so far already, if it had + not given us, sir, the opportunity of testifying to your gallantry. We do + so gladly; and if—er—er—a FEW YEARS LATER, Mr. Harcourt, + you should ever need—a friend in any matter of this kind, I am, sir, + at your service.” John Milton gazed half inquiringly, half uneasily at + Jack. + </p> + <p> + “It's all right, Milt,” he said sotto voce. “Shake hands all round and + let's go to breakfast. And I rather think that editor wants to employ you + HIMSELF.” + </p> + <p> + It was true, for when that night he climbed eagerly the steep homeward + hill he carried with him the written offer of an engagement on the + “Pioneer.” As he entered the door his wife's nurse and companion met him + with a serious face. There had been a strange and unexpected change in the + patient's condition, and the doctor had already been there twice. As he + put aside his coat and hat and entered her room, it seemed to him that he + had forever put aside all else of essay and ambition beyond those four + walls. And with the thought a great peace came upon him. It seemed good to + him to live for her alone. + </p> + <p> + It was not for long. As each monotonous day brought the morning mist and + evening fog regularly to the little hilltop where his whole being was now + centred, she seemed to grow daily weaker, and the little circle of her + life narrowed day by day. One morning when the usual mist appeared to have + been withheld and the sun had risen with a strange and cruel brightness; + when the waves danced and sparkled on the bay below and light glanced from + dazzling sails, and even the white tombs on Lone Mountain glittered + keenly; when cheery voices hailing each other on the hillside came to him + clearly but without sense or meaning; when earth, sky, and sea seemed + quivering with life and motion,—he opened the door of that one + little house on which the only shadow seemed to have fallen, and went + forth again into the world alone. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPER VII. + </h2> + <p> + Mr. Daniel Harcourt's town mansion was also on an eminence, but it was + that gentler acclivity of fashion known as Rincon Hill, and sunned itself + on a southern slope of luxury. It had been described as “princely” and + “fairy-like,” by a grateful reporter; tourists and travelers had sung its + praises in letters to their friends and in private reminiscences, for it + had dispensed hospitality to most of the celebrities who had visited the + coast. Nevertheless its charm was mainly due to the ruling taste of Miss + Clementina Harcourt, who had astonished her father by her marvelous + intuition of the nice requirements and elegant responsibilities of their + position; and had thrown her mother into the pained perplexity of a + matronly hen, who, among the ducks' eggs intrusted to her fostering care, + had unwittingly hatched a graceful but discomposing cygnet. + </p> + <p> + Indeed, after holding out feebly against the siege of wealth at Tasajara + and San Francisco, Mrs. Harcourt had abandoned herself hopelessly to the + horrors of its invasion; had allowed herself to be dragged from her + kitchen by her exultant daughters and set up in black silk in a certain + conventional respectability in the drawing-room. Strange to say, her + commiserating hospitality, or hospital-like ministration, not only gave + her popularity, but a certain kind of distinction. An exaltation so + sorrowfully deprecated by its possessor was felt to be a sign of + superiority. She was spoken of as “motherly,” even by those who vaguely + knew that there was somewhere a discarded son struggling in poverty with a + helpless wife, and that she had sided with her husband in disinheriting a + daughter who had married unwisely. She was sentimentally spoken of as a + “true wife,” while never opposing a single meanness of her husband, + suggesting a single active virtue, nor questioning her right to sacrifice + herself and her family for his sake. With nothing she cared to affect, she + was quite free from affectation, and even the critical Lawrence Grant was + struck with the dignity which her narrow simplicity, that had seemed small + even in Sidon, attained in her palatial hall in San Francisco. It appeared + to be a perfectly logical conclusion that when such unaffectedness and + simplicity were forced to assume a hostile attitude to anybody, the latter + must be to blame. + </p> + <p> + Since the festival of Tasajara Mr. Grant had been a frequent visitor at + Harcourt's, and was a guest on the eve of his departure from San + Francisco. The distinguished position of each made their relations appear + quite natural without inciting gossip as to any attraction in Harcourt's + daughters. It was late one afternoon as he was passing the door of + Harcourt's study that his host called him in. He found him sitting at his + desk with some papers before him and a folded copy of the “Clarion.” With + his back to the fading light of the window his face was partly in shadow. + </p> + <p> + “By the way, Grant,” he began, with an assumption of carelessness somewhat + inconsistent with the fact that he had just called him in, “it may be + necessary for me to pull up those fellows who are blackguarding me in the + 'Clarion.'” + </p> + <p> + “Why, they haven't been saying anything new?” asked Grant, laughingly, as + he glanced towards the paper. + </p> + <p> + “No—that is—only a rehash of what they said before,” returned + Harcourt without opening the paper. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Grant playfully, “you don't mind their saying that you're NOT + the original pioneer of Tasajara, for it's true; nor that that fellow + 'Lige Curtis disappeared suddenly, for he did, if I remember rightly. But + there's nothing in that to invalidate your rights to Tasajara, to say + nothing of your five years' undisputed possession.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course there's no LEGAL question,” said Harcourt almost sharply. “But + as a matter of absurd report, I may want to contradict their insinuations. + And YOU remember all the circumstances, don't you?” + </p> + <p> + “I should think so! Why, my dear fellow, I've told it everywhere!—here, + in New York, Newport, and in London; by Jove, it's one of my best stories! + How a company sent me out with a surveyor to look up a railroad and + agricultural possibilities in the wilderness; how just as I found them—and + a rather big thing they made, too—I was set afloat by a flood and a + raft, and drifted ashore on your bank, and practically demonstrated to you + what you didn't know and didn't dare to hope for—that there could be + a waterway straight to Sidon from the embarcadero. I've told what a + charming evening we had with you and your daughters in the old house, and + how I returned your hospitality by giving you a tip about the railroad; + and how you slipped out while we were playing cards, to clinch the bargain + for the land with that drunken fellow, 'Lige Curtis”— + </p> + <p> + “What's that?” interrupted Harcourt, quickly. + </p> + <p> + It was well that the shadow hid from Grant the expression of Harcourt's + face, or his reply might have been sharper. As it was, he answered a + little stiffly:— + </p> + <p> + “I beg your pardon”— + </p> + <p> + Harcourt recovered himself. “You're all wrong!” he said, “that bargain was + made long BEFORE; I never saw 'Lige Curtis after you came to the house. It + was before that, in the afternoon,” he went on hurriedly, “that he was + last in my store. I can prove it.” Nevertheless he was so shocked and + indignant at being confronted in his own suppressions and falsehoods by an + even greater and more astounding misconception of fact, that for a moment + he felt helpless. What, he reflected, if it were alleged that 'Lige had + returned again after the loafers had gone, or had never left the store as + had been said? Nonsense! There was John Milton, who had been there reading + all the time, and who could disprove it. Yes, but John Milton was his + discarded son,—his enemy,—perhaps even his very slanderer! + </p> + <p> + “But,” said Grant quietly, “don't you remember that your daughter Euphemia + said something that evening about the land Lige had OFFERED you, and you + snapped up the young lady rather sharply for letting out secrets, and THEN + you went out? At least that's my impression.” + </p> + <p> + It was, however, more than an impression; with Grant's scientific memory + for characteristic details he had noticed that particular circumstance as + part of the social phenomena. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know what Phemie SAID,” returned Harcourt, impatiently. “I KNOW + there was no offer pending; the land had been sold to me before I ever saw + you. Why—you must have thought me up to pretty sharp practice with + Curtis—eh?” he added, with a forced laugh. + </p> + <p> + Grant smiled; he had been accustomed to hear of such sharp practice among + his business acquaintance, although he himself by nature and profession + was incapable of it, but he had not deemed Harcourt more scrupulous than + others. “Perhaps so,” he said lightly, “but for Heaven's sake don't ask me + to spoil my reputation as a raconteur for the sake of a mere fact or two. + I assure you it's a mighty taking story as I tell it—and it don't + hurt you in a business way. You're the hero of it—hang it all!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Harcourt, without noticing Grant's half cynical superiority, + “but you'll oblige me if you won't tell it again IN THAT WAY. There are + men here mean enough to make the worst of it. It's nothing to me, of + course, but my family—the girls, you know—are rather + sensitive.” + </p> + <p> + “I had no idea they even knew it,—much less cared for it,” said + Grant, with sudden seriousness. “I dare say if those fellows in the + 'Clarion' knew that they were annoying the ladies they'd drop it. Who's + the editor? Look here—leave it to me; I'll look into it. Better that + you shouldn't appear in the matter at all.” + </p> + <p> + “You understand that if it was a really serious matter, Grant,” said + Harcourt with a slight attitude, “I shouldn't allow any one to take my + place.” + </p> + <p> + “My dear fellow, there'll be nobody 'called out' and no 'shooting at + sight,' whatever is the result of my interference,” returned Grant, + lightly. “It'll be all right.” He was quite aware of the power of his own + independent position and the fact that he had been often appealed to + before in delicate arbitration. + </p> + <p> + Harcourt was equally conscious of this, but by a strange inconsistency now + felt relieved at the coolness with which Grant had accepted the + misconception which had at first seemed so dangerous. If he were ready to + condone what he thought was SHARP PRACTICE, he could not be less lenient + with the real facts that might come out,—of course always excepting + that interpolated consideration in the bill of sale, which, however, no + one but the missing Curtis could ever discover. The fact that a man of + Grant's secure position had interested himself in this matter would secure + him from the working of that personal vulgar jealousy which his humbler + antecedents had provoked. And if, as he fancied, Grant really cared for + Clementina— + </p> + <p> + “As you like,” he said, with half-affected lightness, “and now let us talk + of something else. Clementina has been thinking of getting up a riding + party to San Mateo for Mrs. Ashwood. We must show them some civility, and + that Boston brother of hers, Mr. Shipley, will have to be invited also. I + can't get away, and my wife, of course, will only be able to join them at + San Mateo in the carriage. I reckon it would be easier for Clementina if + you took my place, and helped her look after the riding party. It will + need a man, and I think she'd prefer you—as you know she's rather + particular—unless, of course, you'd be wanted for Mrs. Ashwood or + Phemie, or somebody else.” + </p> + <p> + From his shadowed corner he could see that a pleasant light had sprung + into Grant's eyes, although his reply was in his ordinary easy banter. “I + shall be only too glad to act as Miss Clementina's vaquero, and lasso her + runaways, or keep stragglers in the road.” + </p> + <p> + There seemed to be small necessity, however, for this active co-operation, + for when the cheerful cavalcade started from the house a few mornings + later, Mr. Lawrence Grant's onerous duties seemed to be simply confined to + those of an ordinary cavalier at the side of Miss Clementina, a few paces + in the rear of the party. But this safe distance gave them the opportunity + of conversing without being overheard,—an apparently discreet + precaution. + </p> + <p> + “Your father was so exceedingly affable to me the other day that if I + hadn't given you my promise to say nothing, I think I would have fallen on + my knees to him then and there, revealed my feelings, asked for your hand + and his blessing—or whatever one does at such a time. But how long + do you intend to keep me in this suspense?” + </p> + <p> + Clementina turned her clear eyes half abstractedly upon him, as if + imperfectly recalling some forgotten situation. “You forget,” she said, + “that part of your promise was that you wouldn't even speak of it to me + again without my permission.” + </p> + <p> + “But my time is so short now. Give me some definite hope before I go. Let + me believe that when we meet in New York”— + </p> + <p> + “You will find me just the same as now! Yes, I think I can promise THAT. + Let that suffice. You said the other day you liked me because I had not + changed for five years. You can surely trust that I will not alter in as + many months.” + </p> + <p> + “If I only knew”— + </p> + <p> + “Ah, if I only knew,—if WE ALL only knew. But we don't. Come, Mr. + Grant, let it rest as it is. Unless you want to go still further back and + have it as it WAS, at Sidon. There I think you fancied Euphemia most.” + </p> + <p> + “Clementina!” + </p> + <p> + “That is my name, and those people ahead of us know it already.” + </p> + <p> + “You are called CLEMENTINA,—but you are not merciful!” + </p> + <p> + “You are very wrong, for you might see that Mr. Shipley has twice checked + his horse that he might hear what you are saying, and Phemie is always + showing Mrs. Ashwood something in the landscape behind us.” + </p> + <p> + All this was the more hopeless and exasperating to Grant since in the + young girl's speech and manner there was not the slightest trace of + coquetry or playfulness. He could not help saying a little bitterly: “I + don't think that any one would imagine from your manner that you were + receiving a declaration.” + </p> + <p> + “But they might imagine from yours that you had the right to quarrel with + me,—which would be worse.” + </p> + <p> + “We cannot part like this! It is too cruel to me.” + </p> + <p> + “We cannot part otherwise without the risk of greater cruelty.” + </p> + <p> + “But say at least, Clementina, that I have no rival. There is no other + more favored suitor?” + </p> + <p> + “That is so like a man—and yet so unlike the proud one I believed + you to be. Why should a man like you even consider such a possibility? If + I were a man I know I couldn't.” She turned upon him a glance so clear and + untroubled by either conscious vanity or evasion that he was hopelessly + convinced of the truth of her statement, and she went on in a slightly + lowered tone, “You have no right to ask me such a question,—but + perhaps for that reason I am willing to answer you. There is none. Hush! + For a good rider you are setting a poor example to the others, by crowding + me towards the bank. Go forward and talk to Phemie, and tell her not to + worry Mrs. Ashwood's horse nor race with her; I don't think he's quite + safe, and Mrs. Ashwood isn't accustomed to using the Spanish bit. I + suppose I must say something to Mr. Shipley, who doesn't seem to + understand that I'M acting as chaperon, and YOU as captain of the party.” + </p> + <p> + She cantered forward as she spoke, and Grant was obliged to join her + sister, who, mounted on a powerful roan, was mischievously exciting a + beautiful quaker-colored mustang ridden by Mrs. Ashwood, already irritated + by the unfamiliar pressure of the Eastern woman's hand upon his bit. The + thick dust which had forced the party of twenty to close up in two solid + files across the road compelled them at the first opening in the roadside + fence to take the field in a straggling gallop. Grant, eager to escape + from his own discontented self by doing something for others, reined in + beside Euphemia and the fair stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Let me take your place until Mrs. Ashwood's horse is quieted,” he half + whispered to Euphemia. + </p> + <p> + “Thank you,—and I suppose it does not make any matter to Clem who + quiets mine,” she said, with provoking eyes and a toss of her head worthy + of the spirited animal she was riding. + </p> + <p> + “She thinks you quite capable of managing yourself and even others,” he + replied with a playful glance at Shipley, who was riding somewhat stiffly + on the other side. + </p> + <p> + “Don't be too sure,” retorted Phemie with another dangerous look; “I may + give you trouble yet.” + </p> + <p> + They were approaching the first undulation of the russet plain they had + emerged upon,—an umbrageous slope that seemed suddenly to diverge in + two defiles among the shaded hills. Grant had given a few words of + practical advice to Mrs. Ashwood, and shown her how to guide her mustang + by the merest caressing touch of the rein upon its sensitive neck. He had + not been sympathetically inclined towards the fair stranger, a rich and + still youthful widow, although he could not deny her unquestioned good + breeding, mental refinement, and a certain languorous thoughtfulness that + was almost melancholy, which accented her blonde delicacy. But he had + noticed that her manner was politely reserved and slightly constrained + towards the Harcourts, and he had already resented it with a lover's + instinctive loyalty. He had at first attributed it to a want of sympathy + between Mrs. Ashwood's more intellectual sentimentalities and the + Harcourts' undeniable lack of any sentiment whatever. But there was + evidently some other innate antagonism. He was very polite to Mrs. + Ashwood; she responded with a gentlewoman's courtesy, and, he was forced + to admit, even a broader comprehension of his own merits than the Harcourt + girls had ever shown, but he could still detect that she was not in accord + with the party. + </p> + <p> + “I am afraid you do not like California, Mrs. Ashwood?” he said + pleasantly. “You perhaps find the life here too unrestrained and + unconventional?” + </p> + <p> + She looked at him in quick astonishment. “Are you quite sincere? Why, it + strikes me that this is just what it is NOT. And I have so longed for + something quite different. From what I have been told about the + originality and adventure of everything here, and your independence of old + social forms and customs, I am afraid I expected the opposite of what I've + seen. Why, this very party—except that the ladies are prettier and + more expensively gotten up—is like any party that might have ridden + out at Saratoga or New York.” + </p> + <p> + “And as stupid, you would say.” + </p> + <p> + “As CONVENTIONAL, Mr. Grant; always excepting this lovely creature beneath + me, whom I can't make out and who doesn't seem to care that I should. + There! look! I told you so!” + </p> + <p> + Her mustang had suddenly bounded forward; but as Grant followed he could + see that the cause was the example of Phemie, who had, in some mad freak, + dashed out in a frantic gallop. A half-dozen of the younger people + hilariously accepted the challenge; the excitement was communicated to the + others, until the whole cavalcade was sweeping down the slope. Grant was + still at Mrs. Ashwood's side, restraining her mustang and his own + impatient horse when Clementina joined them. “Phemie's mare has really + bolted, I fear,” she said in a quick whisper, “ride on, and never mind + us.” Grant looked quickly ahead; Phemie's roan, excited by the shouts + behind her and to all appearance ungovernable, was fast disappearing with + her rider. Without a word, trusting to his own good horsemanship and + better knowledge of the ground, he darted out of the cavalcade to overtake + her. + </p> + <p> + But the unfortunate result of this was to give further impulse to the now + racing horses as they approached a point where the slope terminated in two + diverging canyons. Mrs. Ashwood gave a sharp pull upon her bit. To her + consternation the mustang stopped short almost instantly,—planting + his two fore feet rigidly in the dust and even sliding forward with the + impetus. Had her seat been less firm she might have been thrown, but she + recovered herself, although in doing so she still bore upon the bit, when + to her astonishment the mustang deliberately stiffened himself as if for a + shock, and then began to back slowly, quivering with excitement. She did + not know that her native-bred animal fondly believed that he was + participating in a rodeo, and that to his equine intelligence his fair + mistress had just lassoed something! In vain she urged him forward; he + still waited for the shock! When the cloud of dust in which she had been + enwrapped drifted away, she saw to her amazement that she was alone. The + entire party had disappeared into one of the canyons,—but which one + she could not tell! + </p> + <p> + When she succeeded at last in urging her mustang forward again she + determined to take the right-hand canyon and trust to being either met or + overtaken. A more practical and less adventurous nature would have waited + at the point of divergence for the return of some of the party, but Mrs. + Ashwood was, in truth, not sorry to be left to herself and the novel + scenery for a while, and she had no doubt but she would eventually find + her way to the hotel at San Mateo, which could not be far away, in time + for luncheon. + </p> + <p> + The road was still well defined, although it presently began to wind + between ascending ranks of pines and larches that marked the terraces of + hills, so high that she wondered she had not noticed them from the plains. + An unmistakable suggestion of some haunting primeval solitude, a sense of + the hushed and mysterious proximity of a nature she had never known + before, the strange half-intoxicating breath of unsunned foliage and + untrodden grasses and herbs, all combined to exalt her as she cantered + forward. Even her horse seemed to have acquired an intelligent liberty, or + rather to have established a sympathy with her in his needs and her own + longings; instinctively she no longer pulled him with the curb; the reins + hung loosely on his self-arched and unfettered neck; secure in this + loneliness she found herself even talking to him with barbaric freedom. As + she went on, the vague hush of all things animate and inanimate around her + seemed to thicken, until she unconsciously halted before a dim and + pillared wood, and a vast and heathless opening on whose mute brown lips + Nature seemed to have laid the finger of silence. She forgot the party she + had left, she forgot the luncheon she was going to; more important still + she forgot that she had already left the traveled track far behind her, + and, tremulous with anticipation, rode timidly into that arch of shadow. + </p> + <p> + As her horse's hoofs fell noiselessly on the elastic moss-carpeted aisle + she forgot even more than that. She forgot the artificial stimulus and + excitement of the life she had been leading so long; she forgot the small + meannesses and smaller worries of her well-to-do experiences; she forgot + herself,—rather she regained a self she had long forgotten. For in + the sweet seclusion of this half darkened sanctuary the clinging + fripperies of her past slipped from her as a tawdry garment. The petted, + spoiled, and vapidly precocious girlhood which had merged into a womanhood + of aimless triumphs and meaner ambitions; the worldly but miserable + triumph of a marriage that had left her delicacy abused and her heart sick + and unsatisfied; the wifehood without home, seclusion, or maternity; the + widowhood that at last brought relief, but with it the consciousness of + hopelessly wasted youth,—all this seemed to drop from her here as + lightly as the winged needles or noiseless withered spray from the dim + gray vault above her head. In the sovereign balm of that woodland breath + her better spirit was restored; somewhere in these wholesome shades seemed + to still lurk what should have been her innocent and nymph-like youth, and + to come out once more and greet her. Old songs she had forgotten, or whose + music had failed in the discords of her frivolous life, sang themselves to + her again in that sweet, grave silence; girlish dreams that she had + foolishly been ashamed of, or had put away with her childish toys, stole + back to her once more and became real in this tender twilight; old + fancies, old fragments of verse and childish lore, grew palpable and moved + faintly before her. The boyish prince who should have come was there; the + babe that should have been hers was there!—she stopped suddenly with + flaming eyes and indignant color. For it appeared that a MAN was there + too, and had just risen from the fallen tree where he had been sitting. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPER VIII. + </h2> + <p> + She had so far forgotten herself in yielding to the spell of the place, + and in the revelation of her naked soul and inner nature, that it was with + something of the instinct of outraged modesty that she seemed to shrink + before this apparition of the outer world and outer worldliness. In an + instant the nearer past returned; she remembered where she was, how she + had come there, from whom she had come, and to whom she was returning. She + could see that she had not only aimlessly wandered from the world but from + the road; and for that instant she hated this man who had reminded her of + it, even while she knew she must ask his assistance. It relieved her + slightly to observe that he seemed as disturbed and impatient as herself, + and as he took a pencil from between his lips and returned it to his + pocket he scarcely looked at her. + </p> + <p> + But with her return to the world of convenances came its repression, and + with a gentlewoman's ease and modulated voice she leaned over her + mustang's neck and said: “I have strayed from my party and am afraid I + have lost my way. We were going to the hotel at San Mateo. Would you be + kind enough to direct me there, or show me how I can regain the road by + which I came?” + </p> + <p> + Her voice and manner were quite enough to arrest him where he stood with a + pleased surprise in his fresh and ingenuous face. She looked at him more + closely. He was, in spite of his long silken mustache, so absurdly young; + he might, in spite of that youth, be so absurdly man-like! What was he + doing there? Was he a farmer's son, an artist, a surveyor, or a city clerk + out for a holiday? Was there perhaps a youthful female of his species + somewhere for whom he was waiting and upon whose tryst she was now + breaking? Was he—terrible thought!—the outlying picket of some + family picnic? His dress, neat, simple, free from ostentatious ornament, + betrayed nothing. She waited for his voice. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you have left San Mateo miles away to the right,” he said with quick + youthful sympathy, “at least five miles! Where did you leave your party?” + </p> + <p> + His voice was winning, and even refined, she thought. She answered it + quite spontaneously: “At a fork of two roads. I see now I took the wrong + turning.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, you took the road to Crystal Spring. It's just down there in the + valley, not more than a mile. You'd have been there now if you hadn't + turned off at the woods.” + </p> + <p> + “I couldn't help it, it was so beautiful.” + </p> + <p> + “Isn't it?” + </p> + <p> + “Perfect.” + </p> + <p> + “And such shadows, and such intensity of color.” + </p> + <p> + “Wonderful!—and all along the ridge, looking down that defile!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, and that point where it seems as if you had only to stretch out your + hand to pick a manzanita berry from the other side of the canyon, half a + mile across!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, and that first glimpse of the valley through the Gothic gateway of + rocks!” + </p> + <p> + “And the color of those rocks,—cinnamon and bronze with the light + green of the Yerba buena vine splashing over them.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but for color DID you notice that hillside of yellow poppies pouring + down into the valley like a golden Niagara?” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly,—and the perfect clearness of everything.” + </p> + <p> + “And yet such complete silence and repose!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes!” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, yes!” + </p> + <p> + They were both gravely nodding and shaking their heads with sparkling eyes + and brightened color, looking not at each other but at the far landscape + vignetted through a lozenge-shaped wind opening in the trees. Suddenly + Mrs. Ashwood straightened herself in the saddle, looked grave, lifted the + reins and apparently the ten years with them that had dropped from her. + But she said in her easiest well-bred tones, and a half sigh, “Then I must + take the road back again to where it forks?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no! you can go by Crystal Spring. It's no further, and I'll show you + the way. But you'd better stop and rest yourself and your horse for a + little while at the Springs Hotel. It's a very nice place. Many people + ride there from San Francisco to luncheon and return. I wonder that your + party didn't prefer it; and if they are looking for you,—as they + surely must be,” he said, as if with a sudden conception of her + importance, “they'll come there when they find you're not at San Mateo.” + </p> + <p> + This seemed reasonable, although the process of being “fetched” and taking + the five miles ride, which she had enjoyed so much alone, in company was + not attractive. “Couldn't I go on at once?” she said impulsively. + </p> + <p> + “You would meet them sooner,” he said thoughtfully. + </p> + <p> + This was quite enough for Mrs. Ashwood. “I think I'll rest this poor + horse, who is really tired,” she, said with charming hypocrisy, “and stop + at the hotel.” + </p> + <p> + She saw his face brighten. Perhaps he was the son of the hotel proprietor, + or a youthful partner himself. “I suppose you live here?” she suggested + gently. “You seem to know the place so well.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” he returned quickly; “I only run down here from San Francisco when I + can get a day off.” + </p> + <p> + A day off! He was in some regular employment. But he continued: “And I + used to go to boarding-school near here, and know all these woods well.” + </p> + <p> + He must be a native! How odd! She had not conceived that there might be + any other population here than the immigrants; perhaps that was what made + him so interesting and different from the others. “Then your father and + mother live here?” she said. + </p> + <p> + His frank face, incapable of disguise, changed suddenly. “No,” he said + simply, but without any trace of awkwardness. Then after a slight pause he + laid his hand—she noticed it was white and well kept—on her + mustang's neck, and said, “If—if you care to trust yourself to me, I + could lead you and your horse down a trail into the valley that is at + least a third of the distance shorter. It would save you going back to the + regular road, and there are one or two lovely views that I could show you. + I should be so pleased, if it would not trouble you. There's a steep place + or two—but I think there's no danger.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall not be afraid.” + </p> + <p> + She smiled so graciously, and, as she fully believed, maternally, that he + looked at her the second time. To his first hurried impression of her as + an elegant and delicately nurtured woman—one of the class of + distinguished tourists that fashion was beginning to send thither—he + had now to add that she had a quantity of fine silken-spun light hair + gathered in a heavy braid beneath her gray hat; that her mouth was very + delicately lipped and beautifully sensitive; that her soft skin, although + just then touched with excitement, was a pale faded velvet, and seemed to + be worn with ennui rather than experience; that her eyes were hidden + behind a strip of gray veil whence only a faint glow was discernible. To + this must still be added a poetic fancy all his own that, as she sat + there, with the skirt of her gray habit falling from her long bodiced + waist over the mustang's fawn-colored flanks, and with her slim gauntleted + hands lightly swaying the reins, she looked like Queen Guinevere in the + forest. Not that he particularly fancied Queen Guinevere, or that he at + all imagined himself Launcelot, but it was quite in keeping with the + suggestion-haunted brain of John Milton Harcourt, whom the astute reader + has of course long since recognized. + </p> + <p> + Preceding her through the soft carpeted vault with a woodman's instinct,—for + there was apparently no trail to be seen,—the soft inner twilight + began to give way to the outer stronger day, and presently she was + startled to see the clear blue of the sky before her on apparently the + same level as the brown pine-tessellated floor she was treading. Not only + did this show her that she was crossing a ridge of the upland, but a few + moments later she had passed beyond the woods to a golden hillside that + sloped towards a leafy, sheltered, and exquisitely-proportioned valley. A + tiny but picturesque tower, and a few straggling roofs and gables, the + flashing of a crystal stream through the leaves, and a narrow white ribbon + of road winding behind it indicated the hostelry they were seeking. So + peaceful and unfrequented it looked, nestling between the hills, that it + seemed as if they had discovered it. + </p> + <p> + With his hand at times upon the bridle, at others merely caressing her + mustang's neck, he led the way; there were a few breathless places where + the crown of his straw hat appeared between her horse's reins, and again + when she seemed almost slipping over on his shoulder, but they were passed + with such frank fearlessness and invincible youthful confidence on the + part of her escort that she felt no timidity. There were moments when a + bit of the charmed landscape unfolding before them overpowered them both, + and they halted to gaze,—sometimes without a word, or only a + significant gesture of sympathy and attention. At one of those artistic + manifestations Mrs. Ashwood laid her slim gloved fingers lightly but + unwittingly on John Milton's arm, and withdrew them, however, with a quick + girlish apology and a foolish color which annoyed her more than the + appearance of familiarity. But they were now getting well down into the + valley; the court of the little hotel was already opening before them; + their unconventional relations in the idyllic world above had changed; the + new one required some delicacy of handling, and she had an idea that even + the simplicity of the young stranger might be confusing. + </p> + <p> + “I must ask you to continue to act as my escort,” she said, laughingly. “I + am Mrs. Ashwood of Philadelphia, visiting San Francisco with my sister and + brother, who are, I am afraid, even now hopelessly waiting luncheon for me + at San Mateo. But as there seems to be no prospect of my joining them in + time, I hope you will be able to give me the pleasure of your company, + with whatever they may give us here in the way of refreshment.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall be very happy,” returned John Milton with unmistakable candor; + “but perhaps some of your friends will be arriving in quest of you, if + they are not already here.” + </p> + <p> + “Then they will join us or wait,” said Mrs. Ashwood incisively, with her + first exhibition of the imperiousness of a rich and pretty woman. Perhaps + she was a little annoyed that her elaborate introduction of herself had + produced no reciprocal disclosure by her companion. “Will you please send + the landlord to me?” she added. + </p> + <p> + John Milton disappeared in the hotel as she cantered to the porch. In + another moment she was giving the landlord her orders with the easy + confidence of one who knew herself only as an always welcome and highly + privileged guest, which was not without its effect. “And,” she added + carelessly, “when everything is ready you will please tell—Mr.”— + </p> + <p> + “Harcourt,” suggested the landlord promptly. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ashwood's perfectly trained face gave not the slightest sign of the + surprise that had overtaken her. “Of course,—Mr. Harcourt.” + </p> + <p> + “You know he's the son of the millionaire,” continued the landlord, not at + all unwilling to display the importance of the habitues of Crystal Spring, + “though they've quarreled and don't get on together.” + </p> + <p> + “I know,” said the lady languidly, “and, if any one comes here for ME, ask + them to wait in the parlor until I come.” + </p> + <p> + Then, submitting herself and her dusty habit to the awkward ministration + of the Irish chambermaid, she was quite thrilled with a delightful + curiosity. She vaguely remembered that she had heard something of the + Harcourt family discord,—but that was the divorced daughter surely! + And this young man was Harcourt's son, and they had quarreled! A quarrel + with a frank, open, ingenuous fellow like that—a mere boy—could + only be the father's fault. Luckily she had never mentioned the name of + Harcourt! She would not now; he need not know that it was his father who + had originated the party; why should she make him uncomfortable for the + few moments they were together? + </p> + <p> + There was nothing of this in her face as she descended and joined him. He + thought that face handsome, well-bred, and refined. But this breeding and + refinement seemed to him—in his ignorance of the world, possibly—as + only a graceful concealment of a self of which he knew nothing; and he was + not surprised to find that her pretty gray eyes, now no longer hidden by + her veil, really told him no more than her lips. He was a little afraid of + her, and now that she had lost her naive enthusiasm he was conscious of a + vague remorsefulness for his interrupted work in the forest. What was he + doing here? He who had avoided the cruel, selfish world of wealth and + pleasure,—a world that this woman represented,—the world that + had stood apart from him in the one dream of his life—and had let + Loo die! His quickly responsive face darkened. + </p> + <p> + “I am afraid I really interrupted you up there,” she said gently, looking + in his face with an expression of unfeigned concern; “you were at work of + some kind, I know, and I have very selfishly thought only of myself. But + the whole scene was so new to me, and I so rarely meet any one who sees + things as I do, that I know you will forgive me.” She bent her eyes upon + him with a certain soft timidity. “You are an artist?” + </p> + <p> + “I am afraid not,” he said, coloring and smiling faintly; “I don't think I + could draw a straight line.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't try to; they're not pretty, and the mere ability to draw them + straight or curved doesn't make an artist. But you are a LOVER of nature, + I know, and from what I have heard you say I believe you can do what + lovers cannot do,—make others feel as they do,—and that is + what I call being an artist. You write? You are a poet?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh dear, no,” he said with a smile, half of relief and half of naive + superiority, “I'm a prose writer—on a daily newspaper.” + </p> + <p> + To his surprise she was not disconcerted; rather a look of animation lit + up her face as she said brightly, “Oh, then, you can of course satisfy my + curiosity about something. You know the road from San Francisco to the + Cliff House. Except for the view of the sea-lions when one gets there it's + stupid; my brother says it's like all the San Francisco excursions,—a + dusty drive with a julep at the end of it. Well, one day we were coming + back from a drive there, and when we were beginning to wind along the brow + of that dreadful staring Lone Mountain Cemetery, I said I would get out + and walk, and avoid the obtrusive glitter of those tombstones rising + before me all the way. I pushed open a little gate and passed in. Once + among these funereal shrubs and cold statuesque lilies everything was + changed; I saw the staring tombstones no longer, for, like them, I seemed + to be always facing the sea. The road had vanished; everything had + vanished but the endless waste of ocean below me, and the last slope of + rock and sand. It seemed to be the fittest place for a cemetery,—this + end of the crumbling earth,—this beginning of the eternal sea. + There! don't think that idea my own, or that I thought of it then. No,—I + read it all afterwards, and that's why I'm telling you this.” + </p> + <p> + She could not help smiling at his now attentive face, and went on: “Some + days afterwards I got hold of a newspaper four or six months old, and + there was a description of all that I thought I had seen and felt,—only + far more beautiful and touching, as you shall see, for I cut it out of the + paper and have kept it. It seemed to me that it must be some personal + experience,—as if the writer had followed some dear friend there,—although + it was with the unostentation and indefiniteness of true and delicate + feeling. It impressed me so much that I went back there twice or thrice, + and always seemed to move to the rhythm of that beautiful funeral march—and + I am afraid, being a woman, that I wandered around among the graves as + though I could find out who it was that had been sung so sweetly, and if + it were man or woman. I've got it here,” she said, taking a dainty ivory + porte-monnaie from her pocket and picking out with two slim finger-tips a + folded slip of newspaper; “and I thought that maybe you might recognize + the style of the writer, and perhaps know something of his history. For I + believe he has one. There! that is only a part of the article, of course, + but it is the part that interested me. Just read from there,” she pointed, + leaning partly over his shoulder so that her soft breath stirred his hair, + “to the end; it isn't long.” + </p> + <p> + In the film that seemed to come across his eyes, suddenly the print + appeared blurred and indistinct. But he knew that she had put into his + hand something he had written after the death of his wife; something + spontaneous and impulsive, when her loss still filled his days and nights + and almost unconsciously swayed his pen. He remembered that his eyes had + been as dim when he wrote it—and now—handed to him by this + smiling, well-to-do woman, he was as shocked at first as if he had + suddenly found her reading his private letters. This was followed by a + sudden sense of shame that he had ever thus publicly bared his feelings, + and then by the illogical but irresistible conviction that it was false + and stupid. The few phrases she had pointed out appeared as cheap and + hollow rhetoric amid the surroundings of their social tete-a-tete over the + luncheon-table. There was small danger that this heady wine of woman's + praise would make him betray himself; there was no sign of gratified + authorship in his voice as he quietly laid down the paper and said dryly: + “I am afraid I can't help you. You know it may be purely fanciful.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't think so,” said Mrs. Ashwood thoughtfully. “At the same time it + doesn't strike me as a very abiding grief for that very reason. It's TOO + sympathetic. It strikes me that it might be the first grief of some one + too young to be inured to sorrow or experienced enough to accept it as the + common lot. But like all youthful impressions it is very sincere and true + while it lasts. I don't know whether one gets anything more real when one + gets older.” + </p> + <p> + With an insincerity he could not account for, he now felt inclined to + defend his previous sentiment, although all the while conscious of a + certain charm in his companion's graceful skepticism. He had in his + truthfulness and independence hitherto always been quite free from that + feeble admiration of cynicism which attacks the intellectually weak and + immature, and his present predilection may have been due more to her + charming personality. She was not at all like his sisters; she had none of + Clementina's cold abstraction, and none of Euphemia's sharp and + demonstrative effusiveness. And in his secret consciousness of her + flattering foreknowledge of him, with her assurance that before they had + ever met he had unwittingly influenced her, he began to feel more at his + ease. His fair companion also, in the equally secret knowledge she had + acquired of his history, felt as secure as if she had been formally + introduced. Nobody could find fault with her for showing civility to the + ostensible son of her host; it was not necessary that she should be aware + of their family differences. There was a charm too in their enforced + isolation, in what was the exceptional solitude of the little hotel that + day, and the seclusion of their table by the window of the dining-room, + which gave a charming domesticity to their repast. From time to time they + glanced down the lonely canyon, losing itself in the afternoon shadow. + Nevertheless Mrs. Ashwood's preoccupation with Nature did not preclude a + human curiosity to hear something more of John Milton's quarrel with his + father. There was certainly nothing of the prodigal son about him; there + was no precocious evil knowledge in his frank eyes; no record of excesses + in his healthy, fresh complexion; no unwholesome or disturbed tastes in + what she had seen of his rural preferences and understanding of natural + beauty. To have attempted any direct questioning that would have revealed + his name and identity would have obliged her to speak of herself as his + father's guest. She began indirectly; he had said he had been a reporter, + and he was still a chronicler of this strange life. He had of course heard + of many cases of family feuds and estrangements? Her brother had told her + of some dreadful vendettas he had known in the Southwest, and how whole + families had been divided. Since she had been here she had heard of odd + cases of brothers meeting accidentally after long and unaccounted + separations; of husbands suddenly confronted with wives they had deserted; + of fathers encountering discarded sons! + </p> + <p> + John Milton's face betrayed no uneasy consciousness. If anything it was + beginning to glow with a boyish admiration of the grace and intelligence + of the fair speaker, that was perhaps heightened by an assumption of half + coquettish discomfiture. + </p> + <p> + “You are laughing at me!” she said finally. “But inhuman and selfish as + these stories may seem, and sometimes are, I believe that these curious + estrangements and separations often come from some fatal weakness of + temperament that might be strengthened, or some trivial misunderstanding + that could be explained. It is separation that makes them seem irrevocable + only because they are inexplicable, and a vague memory always seems more + terrible than a definite one. Facts may be forgiven and forgotten, but + mysteries haunt one always. I believe there are weak, sensitive people who + dread to put their wrongs into shape; those are the kind who sulk, and + when you add separation to sulking, reconciliation becomes impossible. I + knew a very singular case of that kind once. If you like, I'll tell it to + you. May be you will be able, some day, to weave it into one of your + writings. And it's quite true.” + </p> + <p> + It is hardly necessary to say that John Milton had not been touched by any + personal significance in his companion's speech, whatever she may have + intended; and it is equally true that whether she had presently forgotten + her purpose, or had become suddenly interested in her own conversation, + her face grew more animated, her manner more confidential, and something + of the youthful enthusiasm she had shown in the mountain seemed to come + back to her. + </p> + <p> + “I might say it happened anywhere and call the people M. or N., but it + really did occur in my own family, and although I was much younger at the + time it impressed me very strongly. My cousin, who had been my playmate, + was an orphan, and had been intrusted to the care of my father, who was + his guardian. He was always a clever boy, but singularly sensitive and + quick to take offense. Perhaps it was because the little property his + father had left made him partly dependent on my father, and that I was + rich, but he seemed to feel the disparity in our positions. I was too + young to understand it; I think it existed only in his imagination, for I + believe we were treated alike. But I remember that he was full of vague + threats of running away and going to sea, and that it was part of his weak + temperament to terrify me with his extravagant confidences. I was always + frightened when, after one of those scenes, he would pack his valise or + perhaps only tie up a few things in a handkerchief, as in the + advertisement pictures of the runaway slaves, and declare that we would + never lay eyes upon him again. At first I never saw the ridiculousness of + all this,—for I ought to have told you that he was a rather delicate + and timid boy, and quite unfitted for a rough life or any exposure,—but + others did, and one day I laughed at him and told him he was afraid. I + shall never forget the expression of his face and never forgive myself for + it. He went away,—but he returned the next day! He threatened once + to commit suicide, left his clothes on the bank of the river, and came + home in another suit of clothes he had taken with him. When I was sent + abroad to school I lost sight of him; when I returned he was at college, + apparently unchanged. When he came home for vacation, far from having been + subdued by contact with strangers, it seemed that his unhappy + sensitiveness had been only intensified by the ridicule of his fellows. He + had even acquired a most ridiculous theory about the degrading effects of + civilization, and wanted to go back to a state of barbarism. He said the + wilderness was the only true home of man. My father, instead of bearing + with what I believe was his infirmity, dryly offered him the means to try + his experiment. He started for some place in Texas, saying we would never + hear from him again. A month after he wrote for more money. My father + replied rather impatiently, I suppose,—I never knew exactly what he + wrote. That was some years ago. He had told the truth at last, for we + never heard from him again.” + </p> + <p> + It is to be feared that John Milton was following the animated lips and + eyes of the fair speaker rather than her story. Perhaps that was the + reason why he said, “May he not have been a disappointed man?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't understand,” she said simply. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” said John Milton with a boyish blush, “you may have + unconsciously raised hopes in his heart—and”— + </p> + <p> + “I should hardly attempt to interest a chronicler of adventure like you in + such a very commonplace, every-day style of romance,” she said, with a + little impatience, “even if my vanity compelled me to make such + confidences to a stranger. No,—it was nothing quite as vulgar as + that. And,” she added quickly, with a playfully amused smile as she saw + the young fellow's evident distress, “I should have probably heard from + him again. Those stories always end in that way.” + </p> + <p> + “And you think?”—said John Milton. + </p> + <p> + “I think,” said Mrs. Ashwood slowly, “that he actually did commit suicide—or + effaced himself in some way, just as firmly as I believe he might have + been saved by judicious treatment. Otherwise we should have heard from + him. You'll say that's only a woman's reasoning—but I think our + perceptions are often instinctive, and I knew his character.” + </p> + <p> + Still following the play of her delicate features into a romance of his + own weaving, the imaginative young reporter who had seen so much from the + heights of Russian Hill said earnestly, “Then I have your permission to + use this material at any future time?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said the lady smilingly. + </p> + <p> + “And you will not mind if I should take some liberties with the text?” + </p> + <p> + “I must of course leave something to your artistic taste. But you will let + me see it?” + </p> + <p> + There were voices outside now, breaking the silence of the veranda. They + had been so preoccupied as not to notice the arrival of a horseman. Steps + came along the passage; the landlord returned. Mrs. Ashwood turned quickly + towards him. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Grant, of your party, ma'am, to fetch you.” + </p> + <p> + She saw an unmistakable change in her young friend's mobile face. “I will + be ready in a moment,” she said to the landlord. Then, turning to John + Milton, the arch-hypocrite said sweetly: “My brother must have known + instinctively that I was in good hands, as he didn't come. But I am sorry, + for I should have so liked to introduce him to you—although by the + way,” with a bright smile, “I don't think you have yet told me your name. + I know I couldn't have FORGOTTEN it.” + </p> + <p> + “Harcourt,” said John Milton, with a half-embarrassed laugh. + </p> + <p> + “But you must come and see me, Mr.—Mr. Harcourt,” she said, + producing a card from a case already in her fingers, “at my hotel, and let + my brother thank you there for your kindness and gallantry to a stranger. + I shall be here a few weeks longer before we go south to look for a place + where my brother can winter. DO come and see me, although I cannot + introduce you to anything as real and beautiful as what YOU have shown me + to-day. Good-by, Mr. Harcourt; I won't trouble you to come down and bore + yourself with my escort's questions and congratulations.” + </p> + <p> + She bent her head and allowed her soft eyes to rest upon his with a + graciousness that was beyond her speech, pulled her veil over her eyes + again, with a pretty suggestion that she had no further use for them, and + taking her riding-skirt lightly in her hand seemed to glide from the room. + </p> + <p> + On her way to San Mateo, where it appeared the disorganized party had + prolonged their visit to accept an invitation to dine with a local + magnate, she was pleasantly conversational with the slightly abstracted + Grant. She was so sorry to have given them all this trouble and anxiety! + Of course she ought to have waited at the fork of the road, but she had + never doubted but she could rejoin them presently on the main road. She + was glad that Miss Euphemia's runaway horse had been stopped without + accident; it would have been dreadful if anything had happened to HER; Mr. + Harcourt seemed so wrapped up in his girls. It was a pity they never had a + son—Ah? Indeed! Then there was a son? So—and father and son + had quarreled? That was so sad. And for some trifling cause, no doubt? + </p> + <p> + “I believe he married the housemaid,” said Grant grimly. “Be careful!—Allow + me.” + </p> + <p> + “It's no use!” said Mrs. Ashwood, flushing with pink impatience, as she + recovered her seat, which a sudden bolt of her mustang had imperiled, “I + really can't make out the tricks of this beast! Thank you,” she added, + with a sweet smile, “but I think I can manage him now. I can't see why he + stopped. I'll be more careful. You were saying the son was married—surely + not that boy!” + </p> + <p> + “Boy!” echoed Grant. “Then you know?”— + </p> + <p> + “I mean of course he must be a boy—they all grew up here—and + it was only five or six years ago that their parents emigrated,” she + retorted a little impatiently. “And what about this creature?” + </p> + <p> + “Your horse?” + </p> + <p> + “You know I mean the woman he married. Of course she was older than he—and + caught him?” + </p> + <p> + “I think there was a year or two difference,” said Grant quietly. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but your gallantry keeps you from telling the truth; which is that + the women, in cases of this kind, are much older and more experienced.” + </p> + <p> + “Are they? Well, perhaps she is, NOW. She is dead.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ashwood walked her horse. “Poor thing,” she said. Then a sudden idea + took possession of her and brought a film to her eyes. “How long ago?” she + asked in a low voice. + </p> + <p> + “About six or seven months, I think. I believe there was a baby who died + too.” + </p> + <p> + She continued to walk her horse slowly, stroking its curved neck. “I think + it's perfectly shameful!” she said suddenly. + </p> + <p> + “Not so bad as that, Mrs. Ashwood, surely. The girl may have loved him—and + he”— + </p> + <p> + “You know perfectly what I mean, Mr. Grant. I speak of the conduct of the + mother and father and those two sisters!” + </p> + <p> + Grant slightly elevated his eyebrows. “But you forget, Mrs. Ashwood. It + was young Harcourt and his wife's own act. They preferred to take their + own path and keep it.” + </p> + <p> + “I think,” said Mrs. Ashwood authoritatively, “that the idea of leaving + those two unfortunate children to suffer and struggle on alone—out + there—on the sand hills of San Francisco—was simply + disgraceful!” + </p> + <p> + Later that evening she was unreasonably annoyed to find that her brother, + Mr. John Shipley, had taken advantage of the absence of Grant to pay + marked attention to Clementina, and had even prevailed upon that imperious + goddess to accompany him after dinner on a moonlight stroll upon the + veranda and terraces of Los Pajaros. Nevertheless she seemed to recover + her spirits enough to talk volubly of the beautiful scenery she had + discovered in her late perilous abandonment in the wilds of the Coast + Range; to aver her intention to visit it again; to speak of it in a + severely practical way as offering a far better site for the cottages of + the young married couples just beginning life than the outskirts of towns + or the bleak sand hills of San Francisco; and thence by graceful degrees + into a dissertation upon popular fallacies in regard to hasty marriages, + and the mistaken idea of some parents in not accepting the inevitable and + making the best of it. She still found time to enter into an appreciative + and exhaustive criticism upon the literature and journalistic enterprise + of the Pacific Coast with the proprietor of the “Pioneer,” and to cause + that gentleman to declare that whatever people might say about rich and + fashionable Eastern women, that Mrs. Ashwood's head was about as level as + it was pretty. + </p> + <p> + The next morning found her more thoughtful and subdued, and when her + brother came upon her sitting on the veranda, while the party were + preparing to return, she was reading a newspaper slip that she had taken + from her porte-monnaie, with a face that was partly shadowed. + </p> + <p> + “What have you struck there, Conny?” said her brother gayly. “It looks too + serious for a recipe.” + </p> + <p> + “Something I should like you to read some time, Jack,” she said, lifting + her lashes with a slight timidity, “if you would take the trouble. I + really wonder how it would impress you.” + </p> + <p> + “Pass it over,” said Jack Shipley good-humoredly, with his cigar between + his lips. “I'll take it now.” + </p> + <p> + She handed him the slip and turned partly away; he took it, glanced at it + sideways, turned it over, and suddenly his look grew concentrated, and he + took the cigar from his lips. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” she said playfully, turning to him again. “What do you think of + it?” + </p> + <p> + “Think of it?” he said with a rising color. “I think it's infamous! Who + did it?” + </p> + <p> + She stared at him, then glanced quickly at the slip. “What are you + reading?” she said. + </p> + <p> + “This, of course,” he said impatiently. “What you gave me.” But he was + pointing to THE OTHER SIDE of the newspaper slip. + </p> + <p> + She took it from him impatiently and read for the first time the printing + on the reverse side of the article she had treasured so long. It was the + concluding paragraph of an apparently larger editorial. “One thing is + certain, that a man in Daniel Harcourt's position cannot afford to pass + over in silence accusations like the above, that affect not only his + private character, but the integrity of his title to the land that was the + foundation of his fortune. When trickery, sharp practice, and even + criminality in the past are more than hinted at, they cannot be met by + mere pompous silence or allusions to private position, social prestige, or + distinguished friends in the present.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ashwood turned the slip over with scornful impatience, a pretty + uplifting of her eyebrows and a slight curl of her lip. “I suppose none of + those people's beginnings can bear looking into—and they certainly + should be the last ones to find fault with anybody. But, good gracious, + Jack! what has this to do with you?” + </p> + <p> + “With me?” said Shipley angrily. “Why, I proposed to Clementina last + night!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPER IX. + </h2> + <p> + The wayfarers on the Tasajara turnpike, whom Mr. Daniel Harcourt passed + with his fast trotting mare and sulky, saw that their great + fellow-townsman was more than usually preoccupied and curt in his + acknowledgment of their salutations. Nevertheless as he drew near the + creek, he partly checked his horse, and when he reached a slight acclivity + of the interminable plain—which had really been the bank of the + creek in bygone days—he pulled up, alighted, tied his horse to a + rail fence, and clambering over the inclosure made his way along the + ridge. It was covered with nettles, thistles, and a few wiry dwarf larches + of native growth; dust from the adjacent highway had invaded it, with a + few scattered and torn handbills, waste paper, rags, empty provision cans, + and other suburban debris. Yet it was the site of 'Lige Curtis's cabin, + long since erased and forgotten. The bed of the old creek had receded; the + last tules had been cleared away; the channel and embarcadero were half a + mile from the bank and log whereon the pioneer of Tasajara had idly sunned + himself. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Harcourt walked on, occasionally turning over the scattered objects + with his foot, and stopping at times to examine the ground more closely. + It had not apparently been disturbed since he himself, six years ago, had + razed the wretched shanty and carried off its timbers to aid in the + erection of a larger cabin further inland. He raised his eyes to the + prospect before him,—to the town with its steamboats lying at the + wharves, to the grain elevator, the warehouses, the railroad station with + its puffing engines, the flagstaff of Harcourt House and the clustering + roofs of the town, and beyond, the painted dome of his last creation, the + Free Library. This was all HIS work, HIS planning, HIS foresight, whatever + they might say of the wandering drunkard from whose tremulous fingers he + had snatched the opportunity. They could not take THAT from him, however + they might follow him with envy and reviling, any more than they could + wrest from him the five years of peaceful possession. It was with + something of the prosperous consciousness with which he had mounted the + platform on the opening of the Free Library, that he now climbed into his + buggy and drove away. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless he stopped at his Land Office as he drove into town, and gave + a few orders. “I want a strong picket fence put around the fifty-vara lot + in block fifty-seven, and the ground cleared up at once. Let me know when + the men get to work, and I'll overlook them.” + </p> + <p> + Re-entering his own house in the square, where Mrs. Harcourt and + Clementina—who often accompanied him in those business visits—were + waiting for him with luncheon, he smiled somewhat superciliously as the + servant informed him that “Professor Grant had just arrived.” Really that + man was trying to make the most of his time with Clementina! Perhaps the + rival attractions of that Boston swell Shipley had something to do with + it! He must positively talk to Clementina about this. In point of fact he + himself was a little disappointed in Grant, who, since his offer to take + the task of hunting down his calumniators, had really done nothing. He + turned into his study, but was slightly astonished to find that Grant, + instead of paying court to Clementina in the adjoining drawing-room, was + sitting rather thoughtfully in his own armchair. + </p> + <p> + He rose as Harcourt entered. “I didn't let them announce me to the + ladies,” he said, “as I have some important business with you first, and + we may find it necessary that I should take the next train back to town. + You remember that a few weeks ago I offered to look into the matter of + those slanders against you. I apprehended it would be a trifling matter of + envy or jealousy on the part of your old associates or neighbors which + could be put straight with a little good feeling; but I must be frank with + you, Harcourt, and say at the beginning that it turns out to be an + infernally ugly business. Call it conspiracy if you like, or organized + hostility, I'm afraid it will require a lawyer rather than an arbitrator + to manage it, and the sooner the better. For the most unpleasant thing + about it is, that I can't find out exactly HOW BAD it is!” + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately the weaker instinct of Harcourt's nature was first roused; + the vulgar rage which confounds the bearer of ill news with the news + itself filled his breast. “And this is all that your confounded + intermeddling came to?” he said brutally. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Grant quietly, with a preoccupied ignoring of the insult that + was more hopeless for Harcourt. “I found out that it is claimed that this + 'Lige Curtis was not drowned nor lost that night; but that he escaped, and + for three years has convinced another man that you are wrongfully in + possession of this land; that these two naturally hold you in their power, + and that they are only waiting for you to be forced into legal proceedings + for slander to prove all their charges. Until then, for some reason best + known to themselves, Curtis remains in the background.” + </p> + <p> + “Does he deny the deed under which I hold the property?” said Harcourt + savagely. + </p> + <p> + “He says it was only a security for a trifling loan, and not an actual + transfer.” + </p> + <p> + “And don't those fools know that his security could be forfeited?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but not in the way it is recorded in the county clerk's office. They + say that the record shows that there was an interpolation in the paper he + left with you—which was a forgery. Briefly, Harcourt, you are + accused of that. More,—it is intimated that when he fell into the + creek that night, and escaped on a raft that was floating past, that he + had been first stunned by a blow from some one interested in getting rid + of him.” + </p> + <p> + He paused and glanced out of the window. + </p> + <p> + “Is that all?” asked Harcourt in a perfectly quiet, steady, voice. + </p> + <p> + “All!” replied Grant, struck with the change in his companion's manner, + and turning his eyes upon him quickly. + </p> + <p> + The change indeed was marked and significant. Whether from relief at + knowing the worst, or whether he was experiencing the same reaction from + the utter falsity of this last accusation that he had felt when Grant had + unintentionally wronged him in his previous recollection, certain it is + that some unknown reserve of strength in his own nature, of which he knew + nothing before, suddenly came to his aid in this extremity. It invested + him with an uncouth dignity that for the first time excited Grant's + respect. + </p> + <p> + “I beg your pardon, Grant, for the hasty way I spoke to you a moment ago, + for I thank you, and appreciate thoroughly and sincerely what you have + done. You are right; it is a matter for fighting and not fussing over. But + I must have a head to hit. Whose is it?” + </p> + <p> + “The man who holds himself legally responsible is Fletcher,—the + proprietor of the 'Clarion,' and a man of property.” + </p> + <p> + “The 'Clarion'? That is the paper which began the attack?” said Harcourt. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, and it is only fair to tell you here that your son threw up his + place on it in consequence of its attack upon you.” + </p> + <p> + There was perhaps the slightest possible shrinking in Harcourt's eyelids—the + one congenital likeness to his discarded son—but his otherwise calm + demeanor did not change. Grant went on more cheerfully: “I've told you all + I know. When I spoke of an unknown WORST, I did not refer to any further + accusation, but to whatever evidence they might have fabricated or + suborned to prove any one of them. It is only the strength and fairness of + the hands they hold that is uncertain. Against that you have your certain + uncontested possession, the peculiar character and antecedents of this + 'Lige Curtis, which would make his evidence untrustworthy and even make it + difficult for them to establish his identity. I am told that his failure + to contest your appropriation of his property is explained by the fact of + his being absent from the country most of the time; but again, this would + not account for their silence until within the last six months, unless + they have been waiting for further evidence to establish it. But even then + they must have known that the time of recovery had passed. You are a + practical man, Harcourt; I needn't tell you therefore what your lawyer + will probably tell you, that practically, so far as your rights are + concerned, you remain as before these calumnies; that a cause of action + unprosecuted or in abeyance is practically no cause, and that it is not + for you to anticipate one. BUT”— + </p> + <p> + He paused and looked steadily at Harcourt. Harcourt met his look with a + dull, ox-like stolidity. “I shall begin the suit at once,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “And I,” said Grant, holding out his hand, “will stand by you. But tell me + now what you knew of this man Curtis,—his character and disposition; + it may be some clue as to what are his methods and his intentions.” + </p> + <p> + Harcourt briefly sketched 'Lige Curtis as he knew him and understood him. + It was another indication of his reserved power that the description was + so singularly clear, practical, unprejudiced, and impartial that it + impressed Grant with its truthfulness. + </p> + <p> + “I can't make him out,” he said; “you have drawn a weak, but neither a + dishonest nor malignant man. There must have been somebody behind him. Can + you think of any personal enemy?” + </p> + <p> + “I have been subjected to the usual jealousy and envy of my old neighbors, + I suppose, but nothing more. I have harmed no one knowingly.” + </p> + <p> + Grant was silent; it had flashed across him that Rice might have harbored + revenge for his father-in-law's interference in his brief matrimonial + experience. He had also suddenly recalled his conversation with Billings + on the day that he first arrived at Tasajara. It would not be strange if + this man had some intimation of the secret. He would try to find him that + evening. He rose. + </p> + <p> + “You will stay to dinner? My wife and Clementina will expect you.” + </p> + <p> + “Not to-night; I am dining at the hotel,” said Grant, smilingly; “but I + will come in later in the evening if I may.” He paused hesitatingly for a + moment. “Have your wife and daughter ever expressed any opinion on this + matter?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Harcourt. “Mrs. Harcourt knows nothing of anything that does + not happen IN the house; Euphemia knows only the things that happen out of + it where she is visiting—and I suppose that young men prefer to talk + to her about other things than the slanders of her father. And Clementina—well, + you know how calm and superior to these things SHE is.” + </p> + <p> + “For that very reason I thought that perhaps she might be able to see them + more clearly,—but no matter! I dare say you are quite right in not + discussing them at home.” This was the fact, although Grant had not + forgotten that Harcourt had put forward his daughters as a reason for + stopping the scandal some weeks before,—a reason which, however, + seemed never to have been borne out by any apparent sensitiveness of the + girls themselves. + </p> + <p> + When Grant had left, Harcourt remained for some moments steadfastly gazing + from the window over the Tasajara plain. He had not lost his look of + concentrated power, nor his determination to fight. A struggle between + himself and the phantoms of the past had become now a necessary stimulus + for its own sake,—for the sake of his mental and physical equipoise. + He saw before him the pale, agitated, irresolute features of 'Lige Curtis,—not + the man HE had injured, but the man who had injured HIM, whose spirit was + aimlessly and wantonly—for he had never attempted to get back his + possessions in his lifetime, nor ever tried to communicate with the + possessor—striking at him in the shadow. And it was THAT man, that + pale, writhing, frightened wretch whom he had once mercifully helped! Yes, + whose LIFE he had even saved that night from exposure and delirium tremens + when he had given him the whiskey. And this life he had saved, only to + have it set in motion a conspiracy to ruin him! Who knows that 'Lige had + not purposely conceived what they had believed to be an attempt at + suicide, only to cast suspicion of murder on HIM! From which it will be + perceived that Harcourt's powers of moral reasoning had not improved in + five years, and that even the impartiality he had just shown in his + description of 'Lige to Grant had been swallowed up in this new sense of + injury. The founder of Tasajara, whose cool business logic, unfailing + foresight, and practical deductions were never at fault, was once more + childishly adrift in his moral ethics. + </p> + <p> + And there was Clementina, of whose judgment Grant had spoken so + persistently,—could she assist him? It was true, as he had said, he + had never talked to her of his affairs. In his sometimes uneasy + consciousness of her superiority he had shrunk from even revealing his + anxieties, much less his actual secret, and from anything that might + prejudice the lofty paternal attitude he had taken towards his daughters + from the beginning of his good fortune. He was never quite sure if her + acceptance of it was real; he was never entirely free from a certain + jealousy that always mingled with his pride in her superior rectitude; and + yet his feeling was distinct from the good-natured contempt he had for his + wife's loyalty, the anger and suspicion that his son's opposition had + provoked, and the half-affectionate toleration he had felt for Euphemia's + waywardness. However he would sound Clementina without betraying himself. + </p> + <p> + He was anticipated by a slight step in the passage and the pushing open of + his study door. The tall, graceful figure of the girl herself stood in the + opening. + </p> + <p> + “They tell me Mr. Grant has been here. Does he stay to dinner?” + </p> + <p> + “No, he has an engagement at the hotel, but he will probably drop in + later. Come in, Clemmy, I want to talk to you. Shut the door and sit + down.” + </p> + <p> + She slipped in quietly, shut the door, took a seat on the sofa, softly + smoothed down her gown, and turned her graceful head and serenely composed + face towards him. Sitting thus she looked like some finely finished + painting that decorated rather than belonged to the room,—not only + distinctly alien to the flesh and blood relative before her, but to the + house, and even the local, monotonous landscape beyond the window with the + shining new shingles and chimneys that cut the new blue sky. These + singular perfections seemed to increase in Harcourt's mind the + exasperating sense of injury inflicted upon him by 'Lige's exposures. With + a daughter so incomparably gifted,—a matchless creation that was + enough in herself to ennoble that fortune which his own skill and genius + had lifted from the muddy tules of Tasajara where this 'Lige had left it,—that + SHE should be subjected to this annoyance seemed an infamy that Providence + could not allow! What was his mere venial transgression to this + exaggerated retribution? + </p> + <p> + “Clemmy, girl, I'm going to ask you a question. Listen, pet.” He had begun + with a reminiscent tenderness of the epoch of her childhood, but meeting + the unresponding maturity of her clear eyes he abandoned it. “You know, + Clementina, I have never interfered in your affairs, nor tried to + influence your friendships for anybody. Whatever people may have to say of + me they can't say that! I've always trusted you, as I would myself, to + choose your own associates; I have never regretted it, and I don't regret + it now. But I'd like to know—I have reasons to-day for asking—how + matters stand between you and Grant.” + </p> + <p> + The Parian head of Minerva on the bookcase above her did not offer the + spectator a face less free from maidenly confusion than Clementina's at + that moment. Her father had certainly expected none, but he was not + prepared for the perfect coolness of her reply. + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean, have I ACCEPTED him?” + </p> + <p> + “No,—well—yes.” + </p> + <p> + “No, then! Is that what he wished to see you about? It was understood that + he was not to allude again to the subject to any one.” + </p> + <p> + “He has not to ME. It was only my own idea. He had something very + different to tell me. You may not know, Clementina,” he begun cautiously, + “that I have been lately the subject of some anonymous slanders, and Grant + has taken the trouble to track them down for me. It is a calumny that goes + back as far as Sidon, and I may want your level head and good memory to + help me to refute it.” He then repeated calmly and clearly, with no trace + of the fury that had raged within him a moment before, the substance of + Grant's revelation. + </p> + <p> + The young girl listened without apparent emotion. When he had finished she + said quickly: “And what do you want me to recollect?” + </p> + <p> + The hardest part of Harcourt's task was coming. “Well, don't you remember + that I told you the day the surveyors went away—that—I had + bought this land of 'Lige Curtis some time before?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I remember your saying so, but”— + </p> + <p> + “But what?” + </p> + <p> + “I thought you only meant that to satisfy mother.” + </p> + <p> + Daniel Harcourt felt the blood settling round his heart, but he was + constrained by an irresistible impulse to know the worst. “Well, what did + YOU think it really was?” + </p> + <p> + “I only thought that 'Lige Curtis had simply let you have it, that's all.” + </p> + <p> + Harcourt breathed again. “But what for? Why should he?” + </p> + <p> + “Well—ON MY ACCOUNT.” + </p> + <p> + “On YOUR account! What in Heaven's name had YOU to do with it?” + </p> + <p> + “He loved me.” There was not the slightest trace of vanity, + self-consciousness or coquetry in her quiet, fateful face, and for this + very reason Harcourt knew that she was speaking the truth. + </p> + <p> + “Loved YOU!—you, Clementina!—my daughter! Did he ever TELL you + so?” + </p> + <p> + “Not in words. He used to walk up and down on the road when I was at the + back window or in the garden, and often hung about the bank of the creek + for hours, like some animal. I don't think the others saw him, and when + they did they thought it was Parmlee for Euphemia. Even Euphemia thought + so too, and that was why she was so conceited and hard to Parmlee towards + the end. She thought it was Parmlee that night when Grant and Rice came; + but it was 'Lige Curtis who had been watching the window lights in the + rain, and who must have gone off at last to speak to you in the store. I + always let Phemie believe that it was Parmlee,—it seemed to please + her.” + </p> + <p> + There was not the least tone of mischief or superiority, or even of + patronage in her manner. It was as quiet and cruel as the fate that might + have led 'Lige to his destruction. Even her father felt a slight thrill of + awe as she paused. “Then he never really spoke to you?” he asked + hurriedly. + </p> + <p> + “Only once. I was gathering swamp lilies all alone, a mile below the bend + of the creek, and he came upon me suddenly. Perhaps it was that I didn't + jump or start—I didn't see anything to jump or start at—that + he said, 'You're not frightened at me, Miss Harcourt, like the other + girls? You don't think I'm drunk or half mad—as they do?' I don't + remember exactly what I said, but it meant that whether he was drunk or + half mad or sober I didn't see any reason to be afraid of him. And then he + told me that if I was fond of swamp lilies I might have all I wanted at + his place, and for the matter of that the place too, as he was going away, + for he couldn't stand the loneliness any longer. He said that he had + nothing in common with the place and the people—no more than I had—and + that was what he had always fancied in me. I told him that if he felt in + that way about his place he ought to leave it, or sell it to some one who + cared for it, and go away. That must have been in his mind when he offered + it to you,—at least that's what I thought when you told us you had + bought it. I didn't know but what he might have told you, but you didn't + care to say it before mother.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Harcourt sat gazing at her with breathless amazement. “And you—think + that—'Lige Curtis—lov—liked you?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I think he did—and that he does now!” + </p> + <p> + “NOW! What do you mean? The man is dead!” said Harcourt starting. + </p> + <p> + “That's just what I don't believe.” + </p> + <p> + “Impossible! Think of what you are saying.” + </p> + <p> + “I never could quite understand or feel that he was dead when everybody + said so, and now that I've heard this story I KNOW that he is living.” + </p> + <p> + “But why did he not make himself known in time to claim the property?” + </p> + <p> + “Because he did not care for it.” + </p> + <p> + “What did he care for, then?” + </p> + <p> + “Me, I suppose.” + </p> + <p> + “But this calumny is not like a man who loves you.” + </p> + <p> + “It is like a JEALOUS one.” + </p> + <p> + With an effort Harcourt threw off his bewildered incredulity and grasped + the situation. He would have to contend with his enemy in the flesh and + blood, but that flesh and blood would be very weak in the hands of the + impassive girl beside him. His face lightened. + </p> + <p> + The same idea might have been in Clementina's mind when she spoke again, + although her face had remained unchanged. “I do not see why YOU should + bother yourself further about it,” she said. “It is only a matter between + myself and him; you can leave it to me.” + </p> + <p> + “But if you are mistaken and he should not be living?” + </p> + <p> + “I am not mistaken. I am even certain now that I have seen him.” + </p> + <p> + “Seen him!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said the girl with the first trace of animation in her face. “It + was four or five months ago when we were visiting the Briones at Monterey. + We had ridden out to the old Mission by moonlight. There were some + Mexicans lounging around the posada, and one of them attracted my + attention by the way he seemed to watch me, without revealing any more of + his face than I could see between his serape and the black silk + handkerchief that was tied around his head under his sombrero. But I knew + he was an American—and his eyes were familiar. I believe it was he.” + </p> + <p> + “Why did you not speak of it before?” + </p> + <p> + The look of animation died out of the girl's face. “Why should I?” she + said listlessly. “I did not know of these reports then. He was nothing + more to us. You wouldn't have cared to see him again.” She rose, smoothed + out her skirt and stood looking at her father. “There is one thing, of + course, that you'll do at once.” + </p> + <p> + Her voice had changed so oddly that he said quickly: “What's that?” + </p> + <p> + “Call Grant off the scent. He'll only frighten or exasperate your game, + and that's what you don't want.” + </p> + <p> + Her voice was as imperious as it had been previously listless. And it was + the first time he had ever known her to use slang. + </p> + <p> + It seemed as startling as if it had fallen from the marble lips above him. + </p> + <p> + “But I've promised him that we should go together to my lawyer to-morrow, + and begin a suit against the proprietors of the 'Clarion.'” + </p> + <p> + “Do nothing of the kind. Get rid of Grant's assistance in this matter; and + see the 'Clarion' proprietor yourself. What sort of a man is he? Can you + invite him to your house?” + </p> + <p> + “I have never seen him; I believe he lives at San Jose. He is a wealthy + man and a large land owner there. You understand that after the first + article appeared in his paper, and I knew that he had employed your + brother—although Grant says that he had nothing to do with it and + left Fletcher on account of it—I could have no intercourse with him. + Even if I invited him he would not come.” + </p> + <p> + “He MUST come. Leave it to ME.” She stopped and resumed her former + impassive manner. “I had something to say to you too, father. Mr. Shipley + proposed to me the day we went to San Mateo.” + </p> + <p> + Her father's eyes lit with an eager sparkle. “Well,” he said quickly. + </p> + <p> + “I reminded him that I had known him only a few weeks, and that I wanted + time to consider.” + </p> + <p> + “Consider! Why, Clemmy, he's one of the oldest Boston families, rich from + his father and grandfather—rich when I was a shopkeeper and your + mother”— + </p> + <p> + “I thought you liked Grant?” she said quietly. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but if YOU have no choice nor feeling in the matter, why Shipley is + far the better man. And if any of the scandal should come to his ears”— + </p> + <p> + “So much the better that the hesitation should come from me. But if you + think it better, I can sit down here and write to him at once declining + the offer.” She moved towards the desk. + </p> + <p> + “No! No! I did not mean that,” said Harcourt quickly. “I only thought that + if he did hear anything it might be said that he had backed out.” + </p> + <p> + “His sister knows of his offer, and though she don't like it nor me, she + will not deny the fact. By the way, you remember when she was lost that + day on the road to San Mateo?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, she was with your son, John Milton, all the time, and they lunched + together at Crystal Spring. It came out quite accidentally through the + hotel-keeper.” + </p> + <p> + Harcourt's brow darkened. “Did she know him before?” + </p> + <p> + “I can't say; but she does now.” + </p> + <p> + Harcourt's face was heavy with distrust. “Taking Shipley's offer and these + scandals into consideration, I don't like the look of this, Clementina.” + </p> + <p> + “I do,” said the girl simply. + </p> + <p> + Harcourt gazed at her keenly and with the shadow of distrust still upon + him. It seemed to be quite impossible, even with what he knew of her + calmly cold nature, that she should be equally uninfluenced by Grant or + Shipley. Had she some steadfast, lofty ideal, or perhaps some already + absorbing passion of which he knew nothing? She was not a girl to betray + it—they would only know it when it was too late. Could it be + possible that there was still something between her and 'Lige that he knew + nothing of? The thought struck a chill to his breast. She was walking + towards the door, when he recalled himself with an effort. + </p> + <p> + “If you think it advisable to see Fletcher, you might run down to San Jose + for a day or two with your mother, and call on the Ramirez. They may know + him or somebody who does. Of course if YOU meet him and casually invite + him it would be different.” + </p> + <p> + “It's a good idea,” she said quickly. “I'll do it, and speak to mother + now.” + </p> + <p> + He was struck by the change in her face and voice; they had both nervously + lightened, as oddly and distinctly as they had before seemed to grow + suddenly harsh and aggressive. She passed out of the room with girlish + brusqueness, leaving him alone with a new and vague fear in his + consciousness. + </p> + <p> + A few hours later Clementina was standing before the window of the + drawing-room that overlooked the outskirts of the town. The moonlight was + flooding the vast bluish Tasajara levels with a faint lustre, as if the + waters of the creek had once more returned to them. In the shadow of the + curtain beside her Grant was facing her with anxious eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Then I must take this as your final answer, Clementina?” + </p> + <p> + “You must. And had I known of these calumnies before, had you been frank + with me even the day we went to San Mateo, my answer would have been as + final then, and you might have been spared any further suspense. I am not + blaming you, Mr. Grant; I am willing to believe that you thought it best + to conceal this from me,—even at that time when you had just pledged + yourself to find out its truth or falsehood,—yet my answer would + have been the same. So long as this stain rests on my father's name I + shall never allow that name to be coupled with yours in marriage or + engagement; nor will my pride or yours allow us to carry on a simple + friendship after this. I thank you for your offer of assistance, but I + cannot even accept that which might to others seem to allow some + contingent claim. I would rather believe that when you proposed this + inquiry and my father permitted it, you both knew that it put an end to + any other relations between us.” + </p> + <p> + “But, Clementina, you are wrong, believe me! Say that I have been foolish, + indiscreet, mad,—still the few who knew that I made these inquiries + on your father's behalf know nothing of my hopes of YOU!” + </p> + <p> + “But I do, and that is enough for me.” + </p> + <p> + Even in the hopeless preoccupation of his passion he suddenly looked at + her with something of his old critical scrutiny. But she stood there calm, + concentrated, self-possessed and upright. Yes! it was possible that the + pride of this Southwestern shopkeepers daughter was greater than his own. + </p> + <p> + “Then you banish me, Clementina?” + </p> + <p> + “It is we whom YOU have banished.” + </p> + <p> + “Good-night.” + </p> + <p> + “Good-by.” + </p> + <p> + He bent for an instant over her cold hand, and then passed out into the + hall. She remained listening until the front door closed behind him. Then + she ran swiftly through the hall and up the staircase, with an alacrity + that seemed impossible to the stately goddess of a moment before. When she + had reached her bedroom and closed the door, so exuberant still and so + uncontrollable was her levity and action, that without going round the bed + which stood before her in the centre of the room, she placed her two hands + upon it and lightly vaulted sideways across it to reach the window. There + she watched the figure of Grant crossing the moonlit square. Then turning + back into the half-lit room, she ran to the small dressing-glass placed at + an angle on a toilet table against the wall. With her palms grasping her + knees she stooped down suddenly and contemplated the mirror. It showed + what no one but Clementina had ever seen,—and she herself only at + rare intervals,—the laughing eyes and soul of a self-satisfied, + material-minded, ordinary country-girl! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPER X. + </h2> + <p> + But Mr. Lawrence Grant's character in certain circumstances would seem to + have as startling and inexplicable contradictions as Clementina + Harcourt's, and three days later he halted his horse at the entrance of + Los Gatos Rancho. The Home of the Cats—so called from the catamounts + which infested the locality—which had for over a century lazily + basked before one of the hottest canyons in the Coast Range, had lately + been stirred into some activity by the American, Don Diego Fletcher, who + had bought it, put up a saw-mill, and deforested the canyon. Still there + remained enough suggestion of a feline haunt about it to make Grant feel + as if he had tracked hither some stealthy enemy, in spite of the peaceful + intimation conveyed by the sign on a rough boarded shed at the wayside, + that the “Los Gatos Land and Lumber Company” held their office there. + </p> + <p> + A cigarette-smoking peon lounged before the door. Yes; Don Diego was + there, but as he had arrived from Santa Clara only last night and was + going to Colonel Ramirez that afternoon, he was engaged. Unless the + business was important—but the cool, determined manner of Grant, + even more than his words, signified that it WAS important, and the servant + led the way to Don Diego's presence. + </p> + <p> + There certainly was nothing in the appearance of this sylvan proprietor + and newspaper capitalist to justify Grant's suspicion of a surreptitious + foe. A handsome man scarcely older than himself, in spite of a wavy mass + of perfectly white hair which contrasted singularly with his brown + mustache and dark sunburned face. So disguising was the effect of these + contradictions, that he not only looked unlike anybody else, but even his + nationality seemed to be a matter of doubt. Only his eyes, light blue and + intelligent, which had a singular expression of gentleness and worry, + appeared individual to the man. His manner was cultivated and easy. He + motioned his visitor courteously to a chair. + </p> + <p> + “I was referred to you,” said Grant, almost abruptly, “as the person + responsible for a series of slanderous attacks against Mr. Daniel Harcourt + in the 'Clarion,' of which paper I believe you are the proprietor. I was + told that you declined to give the authority for your action, unless you + were forced to by legal proceedings.” + </p> + <p> + Fletcher's sensitive blue eyes rested upon Grant's with an expression of + constrained pain and pity. “I heard of your inquiries, Mr. Grant; you were + making them on behalf of this Mr. Harcourt or Harkutt”—he made the + distinction with intentional deliberation—“with a view, I believe, + to some arbitration. The case was stated to you fairly, I think; I believe + I have nothing to add to it.” + </p> + <p> + “That was your answer to the ambassador of Mr. Harcourt,” said Grant, + coldly, “and as such I delivered it to him; but I am here to-day to speak + on my own account.” + </p> + <p> + What could be seen of Mr. Fletcher's lips appeared to curl in an odd + smile. “Indeed, I thought it was—or would be—all in the + family.” + </p> + <p> + Grant's face grew more stern, and his gray eyes glittered. “You'll find my + status in this matter so far independent that I don't propose, like Mr. + Harcourt, either to begin a suit or to rest quietly under the calumny. + Briefly, Mr. Fletcher, as you or your informant knows, I was the surveyor + who revealed to Mr. Harcourt the value of the land to which he claimed a + title from your man, this Elijah or 'Lige Curtis as you call him,”—he + could not resist this imitation of his adversary's supercilious + affectation of precise nomenclature,—“and it was upon my + representation of its value as an investment that he began the + improvements which have made him wealthy. If this title was fraudulently + obtained, all the facts pertaining to it are sufficiently related to + connect me with the conspiracy.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you not a little hasty in your presumption, Mr. Grant?” said + Fletcher, with unfeigned surprise. + </p> + <p> + “That is for ME to judge, Mr. Fletcher,” returned Grant, haughtily. + </p> + <p> + “But the name of Professor Grant is known to all California as beyond the + breath of calumny or suspicion.” + </p> + <p> + “It is because of that fact that I propose to keep it so.” + </p> + <p> + “And may I ask in what way you wish me to assist you in so doing?” + </p> + <p> + “By promptly and publicly retracting in the 'Clarion' every word of this + slander against Harcourt.” + </p> + <p> + Fletcher looked steadfastly at the speaker. “And if I decline?” + </p> + <p> + “I think you have been long enough in California, Mr. Fletcher, to know + the alternative expected of a gentleman,” said Grant, coldly. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Fletcher kept his gentle blue eyes—in which surprise still + overbalanced their expression of pained concern—on Grant's face. + </p> + <p> + “But is not this more in the style of Colonel Starbottle than Professor + Grant?” he asked, with a faint smile. + </p> + <p> + Grant rose instantly with a white face. “You will have a better + opportunity of judging,” he said, “when Colonel Starbottle has the honor + of waiting upon you from me. Meantime, I thank you for reminding me of the + indiscretion into which my folly, in still believing that this thing could + be settled amicably, has led me.” + </p> + <p> + He bowed coldly and withdrew. Nevertheless, as he mounted his horse and + rode away, he felt his cheeks burning. Yet he had acted upon calm + consideration; he knew that to the ordinary Californian experience there + was nothing quixotic nor exaggerated in the attitude he had taken. Men had + quarreled and fought on less grounds; he had even half convinced himself + that he HAD been insulted, and that his own professional reputation + demanded the withdrawal of the attack on Harcourt on purely business + grounds; but he was not satisfied of the personal responsibility of + Fletcher nor of his gratuitous malignity. Nor did the man look like a tool + in the hands of some unscrupulous and hidden enemy. However, he had played + his card. If he succeeded only in provoking a duel with Fletcher, he at + least would divert the public attention from Harcourt to himself. He knew + that his superior position would throw the lesser victim in the + background. He would make the sacrifice; that was his duty as a gentleman, + even if SHE would not care to accept it as an earnest of his unselfish + love! + </p> + <p> + He had reached the point where the mountain track entered the Santa Clara + turnpike when his attention was attracted by a handsome but old-fashioned + carriage drawn by four white mules, which passed down the road before him + and turned suddenly off into a private road. But it was not this + picturesque gala equipage of some local Spanish grandee that brought a + thrill to his nerves and a flash to his eye; it was the unmistakable, + tall, elegant figure and handsome profile of Clementina, reclining in + light gauzy wraps against the back seat! It was no fanciful resemblance, + the outcome of his reverie,—there never was any one like her!—it + WAS she herself! But what was she doing here? + </p> + <p> + A vaquero cantered from the cross road where the dust of the vehicle still + hung. Grant hailed him. Ah! it was a fine carroza de cuatro mulas that he + had just passed! Si, Senor, truly; it was of Don Jose Ramirez, who lived + just under the hill. It was bringing company to the casa. + </p> + <p> + Ramirez! That was where Fletcher was going! Had Clementina known that he + was one of Fletcher's friends? Might she not be exposed to unpleasantness, + marked coolness, or even insult in that unexpected meeting? Ought she not + to be warned or prepared for it? She had banished Grant from her presence + until this stain was removed from her father's name, but could she blame + him for trying to save her from contact with her father's slanderer? No! + He turned his horse abruptly into the cross road and spurred forward in + the direction of the casa. + </p> + <p> + It was quite visible now—a low-walled, quadrangular mass of + whitewashed adobe lying like a drift on the green hillside. The carriage + and four had far preceded him, and was already half up the winding road + towards the house. Later he saw them reach the courtyard and disappear + within. He would be quite in time to speak with her before she retired to + change her dress. He would simply say that while making a professional + visit to Los Gatos Land Company office he had become aware of Fletcher's + connection with it, and accidentally of his intended visit to Ramirez. His + chance meeting with the carriage on the highway had determined his course. + </p> + <p> + As he rode into the courtyard he observed that it was also approached by + another road, evidently nearer Los Gatos, and probably the older and + shorter communication between the two ranchos. The fact was significantly + demonstrated a moment later. He had given his horse to a servant, sent in + his card to Clementina, and had dropped listlessly on one of the benches + of the gallery surrounding the patio, when a horseman rode briskly into + the opposite gateway, and dismounted with a familiar air. A waiting peon + who recognized him informed him that the Dona was engaged with a visitor, + but that they were both returning to the gallery for chocolate in a + moment. The stranger was the man he had left only an hour before—Don + Diego Fletcher! + </p> + <p> + In an instant the idiotic fatuity of his position struck him fully. His + only excuse for following Clementina had been to warn her of the coming of + this man who had just entered, and who would now meet her as quickly as + himself. For a brief moment the idea of quietly slipping out to the + corral, mounting his horse again, and flying from the rancho, crossed his + mind; but the thought that he would be running away from the man he had + just challenged, and perhaps some new hostility that had sprung up in his + heart against him, compelled him to remain. The eyes of both men met; + Fletcher's in half-wondering annoyance, Grant's in ill-concealed + antagonism. What they would have said is not known, for at that moment the + voices of Clementina and Mrs. Ramirez were heard in the passage, and they + both entered the gallery. The two men were standing together; it was + impossible to see one without the other. + </p> + <p> + And yet Grant, whose eyes were instantly directed to Clementina, thought + that she had noted neither. She remained for an instant standing in the + doorway in the same self-possessed, coldly graceful pose he remembered she + had taken on the platform at Tasajara. Her eyelids were slightly downcast, + as if she had been arrested by some sudden thought or some shy maiden + sensitiveness; in her hesitation Mrs. Ramirez passed impatiently before + her. + </p> + <p> + “Mother of God!” said that lively lady, regarding the two speechless men, + “is it an indiscretion we are making here—or are you dumb? You, Don + Diego, are loud enough when you and Don Jose are together; at least + introduce your friend.” + </p> + <p> + Grant quickly recovered himself. “I am afraid,” he said, coming forward, + “unless Miss Harcourt does, that I am a mere trespasser in your house, + Senora. I saw her pass in your carriage a few moments ago, and having a + message for her I ventured to follow her here.” + </p> + <p> + “It is Mr. Grant, a friend of my father's,” said Clementina, smiling with + equanimity, as if just awakening from a momentary abstraction, yet + apparently unconscious of Grant's imploring eyes; “but the other gentleman + I have not the pleasure of knowing.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! Don Diego Fletcher, a countryman of yours; and yet I think he knows + you not.” + </p> + <p> + Clementina's face betrayed no indication of the presence of her father's + foe, and yet Grant knew that she must have recognized his name, as she + looked towards Fletcher with perfect self-possession. He was too much + engaged in watching her to take note of Fletcher's manifest disturbance, + or the evident effort with which he at last bowed to her. That this + unexpected double meeting with the daughter of the man he had wronged, and + the man who had espoused the quarrel, should be confounding to him + appeared only natural. But he was unprepared to understand the feverish + alacrity with which he accepted Dona Maria's invitation to chocolate, or + the equally animated way in which Clementina threw herself into her + hostess's Spanish levity. He knew it was an awkward situation, that must + be surmounted without a scene; he was quite prepared in the presence of + Clementina to be civil to Fletcher; but it was odd that in this feverish + exchange of courtesies and compliments HE, Grant, should feel the greater + awkwardness and be the most ill at ease. He sat down and took his part in + the conversation; he let it transpire for Clementina's benefit that he had + been to Los Gatos only on business, yet there was no opportunity for even + a significant glance, and he had the added embarrassment of seeing that + she exhibited no surprise nor seemed to attach the least importance to his + inopportune visit. In a miserable indecision he allowed himself to be + carried away by the high-flown hospitality of his Spanish hostess, and + consented to stay to an early dinner. It was part of the infelicity of + circumstance that the voluble Dona Maria—electing him as the + distinguished stranger above the resident Fletcher—monopolized him + and attached him to her side. She would do the honors of her house; she + must show him the ruins of the old Mission beside the corral; Don Diego + and Clementina would join them presently in the garden. He cast a + despairing glance at the placidly smiling Clementina, who was apparently + equally indifferent to the evident constraint and assumed ease of the man + beside her, and turned away with Mrs. Ramirez. + </p> + <p> + A silence fell upon the gallery so deep that the receding voices and + footsteps of Grant and his hostess in the long passage were distinctly + heard until they reached the end. Then Fletcher arose with an inarticulate + exclamation. Clementina instantly put her finger to her lips, glanced + around the gallery, extended her hand to him, and saying “Come,” half-led, + half-dragged him into the passage. To the right she turned and pushed open + the door of a small room that seemed a combination of boudoir and oratory, + lit by a French window opening to the garden, and flanked by a large black + and white crucifix with a prie Dieu beneath it. Closing the door behind + them she turned and faced her companion. But it was no longer the face of + the woman who had been sitting in the gallery; it was the face that had + looked back at her from the mirror at Tasajara the night that Grant had + left her—eager, flushed, material with commonplace excitement! + </p> + <p> + “'Lige Curtis,” she said. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” he answered passionately, “Lige Curtis, whom you thought dead! + 'Lige Curtis, whom you once pitied, condoled with and despised! 'Lige + Curtis, whose lands and property have enriched you! 'Lige Curtis, who + would have shared it with you freely at the time, but whom your father + juggled and defrauded of it! 'Lige Curtis, branded by him as a drunken + outcast and suicide! 'Lige Curtis”— + </p> + <p> + “Hush!” She clapped her little hand over his mouth with a quick but + awkward schoolgirl gesture, inconceivable to any who had known her usual + languid elegance of motion, and held it there. He struggled angrily, + impatiently, reproachfully, and then, with a sudden characteristic + weakness that seemed as much of a revelation as her once hoydenish manner, + kissed it, when she let it drop. Then placing both her hands still + girlishly on her slim waist and curtseying grotesquely before him, she + said: “'Lige Curtis! Oh, yes! 'Lige Curtis, who swore to do everything for + me! 'Lige Curtis, who promised to give up liquor for me,—who was to + leave Tasajara for me! 'Lige Curtis, who was to reform, and keep his land + as a nest-egg for us both in the future, and then who sold it—and + himself—and me—to dad for a glass of whiskey! 'Lige Curtis, + who disappeared, and then let us think he was dead, only that he might + attack us out of the ambush of his grave!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but think what I have suffered all these years; not for the cursed + land—you know I never cared for that—but for YOU,—you, + Clementina,—YOU rich, admired by every one; idolized, held far above + me,—ME, the forgotten outcast, the wretched suicide—and yet + the man to whom you had once plighted your troth. Which of those greedy + fortune-hunters whom my money—my life-blood as you might have + thought it was—attracted to you, did you care to tell that you had + ever slipped out of the little garden gate at Sidon to meet that outcast! + Do you wonder that as the years passed and YOU were happy, I did not + choose to be so forgotten? Do you wonder that when YOU shut the door on + the past I managed to open it again—if only a little way—that + its light might startle you?” + </p> + <p> + Yet she did not seem startled or disturbed, and remained only looking at + him critically. + </p> + <p> + “You say that you have suffered,” she replied with a smile. “You don't + look it! Your hair is white, but it is becoming to you, and you are a + handsomer man, 'Lige Curtis, than you were when I first met you; you are + finer,” she went on, still regarding him, “stronger and healthier than you + were five years ago; you are rich and prosperous, you have everything to + make you happy, but”—here she laughed a little, held out both her + hands, taking his and holding his arms apart in a rustic, homely fashion—“but + you are still the same old 'Lige Curtis! It was like you to go off and + hide yourself in that idiotic way; it was like you to let the property + slide in that stupid, unselfish fashion; it was like you to get real mad, + and say all those mean, silly things to dad, that didn't hurt him—in + your regular looney style; for rich or poor, drunk or sober, ragged or + elegant, plain or handsome,—you're always the same 'Lige Curtis!” + </p> + <p> + In proportion as that material, practical, rustic self—which nobody + but 'Lige Curtis had ever seen—came back to her, so in proportion + the irresolute, wavering, weak and emotional vagabond of Sidon came out to + meet it. He looked at her with a vague smile; his five years of childish + resentment, albeit carried on the shoulders of a man mentally and morally + her superior, melted away. He drew her towards him, yet at the same moment + a quick suspicion returned. + </p> + <p> + “Well, and what are you doing here? Has this man who has followed you any + right, any claim upon you?” + </p> + <p> + “None but what you in your folly have forced upon him! You have made him + father's ally. I don't know why he came here. I only know why I did—to + find YOU!” + </p> + <p> + “You suspected then?” + </p> + <p> + “I KNEW! Hush!” + </p> + <p> + The returning voices of Grant and of Mrs. Ramirez were heard in the + courtyard. Clementina made a warning yet girlishly mirthful gesture, again + caught his hand, drew him quickly to the French window, and slipped + through it with him into the garden, where they were quickly lost in the + shadows of a ceanothus hedge. + </p> + <p> + “They have probably met Don Jose in the orchard, and as he and Don Diego + have business together, Dona Clementina has without doubt gone to her room + and left them. For you are not very entertaining to the ladies to-day,—you + two caballeros! You have much politics together, eh?—or you have + discussed and disagreed, eh? I will look for the Senorita, and let you go, + Don Distraido!” + </p> + <p> + It is to be feared that Grant's apologies and attempts to detain her were + equally feeble,—as it seemed to him that this was the only chance he + might have of seeing Clementina except in company with Fletcher. As Mrs. + Ramirez left he lit a cigarette and listlessly walked up and down the + gallery. But Clementina did not come, neither did his hostess return. A + subdued step in the passage raised his hopes,—it was only the + grizzled major domo, to show him his room that he might prepare for + dinner. + </p> + <p> + He followed mechanically down the long passage to a second corridor. There + was a chance that he might meet Clementina, but he reached his room + without encountering any one. It was a large vaulted apartment with a + single window, a deep embrasure in the thick wall that seemed to focus + like a telescope some forgotten, sequestered part of the leafy garden. + While washing his hands, gazing absently at the green vignette framed by + the dark opening, his attention was drawn to a movement of the foliage, + stirred apparently by the rapid passage of two half-hidden figures. The + quick flash of a feminine skirt seemed to indicate the coy flight of some + romping maid of the casa, and the pursuit and struggle of her vaquero + swain. To a despairing lover even the spectacle of innocent, pastoral + happiness in others is not apt to be soothing, and Grant was turning + impatiently away when he suddenly stopped with a rigid face and quickly + approached the window. In her struggles with the unseen Corydon, the + clustering leaves seemed to have yielded at the same moment with the coy + Chloris, and parting—disclosed a stolen kiss! Grant's hand lay like + ice against the wall. For, disengaging Fletcher's arm from her waist and + freeing her skirt from the foliage, it was the calm, passionless + Clementina herself who stepped out, and moved pensively towards the casa. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPER XI. + </h2> + <p> + “Readers of the 'Clarion' will have noticed that allusion has been + frequently made in these columns to certain rumors concerning the early + history of Tasajara which were supposed to affect the pioneer record of + Daniel Harcourt. It was deemed by the conductors of this journal to be + only consistent with the fearless and independent duty undertaken by the + 'Clarion' that these rumors should be fully chronicled as part of the + information required by the readers of a first-class newspaper, unbiased + by any consideration of the social position of the parties, but simply as + a matter of news. For this the 'Clarion' does not deem it necessary to + utter a word of apology. But for that editorial comment or attitude which + the proprietors felt was justified by the reliable sources of their + information they now consider it only due in honor to themselves, their + readers, and Mr. Harcourt to fully and freely apologize. A patient and + laborious investigation enables them to state that the alleged facts + published by the 'Clarion' and copied by other journals are utterly + unsupported by testimony, and the charges—although more or less + vague—which were based upon them are equally untenable. We are now + satisfied that one 'Elijah Curtis,' a former pioneer of Tasajara who + disappeared five years ago, and was supposed to be drowned, has not only + made no claim to the Tasajara property, as alleged, but has given no sign + of his equally alleged resuscitation and present existence, and that on + the minutest investigation there appears nothing either in his + disappearance, or the transfer of his property to Daniel Harcourt, that + could in any way disturb the uncontested title to Tasajara or the + unimpeachable character of its present owner. The whole story now seems to + have been the outcome of one of those stupid rural hoaxes too common in + California.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Mrs. Ashwood, laying aside the 'Clarion' with a skeptical + shrug of her pretty shoulders, as she glanced up at her brother; “I + suppose this means that you are going to propose again to the young lady?” + </p> + <p> + “I have,” said Jack Shipley, “that's the worst of it—and got my + answer before this came out.” + </p> + <p> + “Jack!” said Mrs. Ashwood, thoroughly surprised. + </p> + <p> + “Yes! You see, Conny, as I told you three weeks ago, she said she wanted + time to consider,—that she scarcely knew me, and all that! Well, I + thought it wasn't exactly a gentleman's business to seem to stand off + after that last attack on her father, and so, last week, I went down to + San Jose, where she was staying, and begged her not to keep me in + suspense. And, by Jove! she froze me with a look, and said that with these + aspersions on her father's character, she preferred not to be under + obligations to any one.” + </p> + <p> + “And you believed her?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, hang it all! Look here, Conny,—I wish you'd just try for once + to find out some good in that family, besides what that sentimental young + widower John Milton may have. You seem to think because they've quarreled + with HIM there isn't a virtue left among them.” + </p> + <p> + Far from seeming to offer any suggestion of feminine retaliation, Mrs. + Ashwood smiled sweetly. “My dear Jack, I have no desire to keep you from + trying your luck again with Miss Clementina, if that's what you mean, and + indeed I shouldn't be surprised if a family who felt a mesalliance as + sensitively as the Harcourts felt that affair of their son's, would be as + keenly alive to the advantages of a good match for their daughter. As to + young Mr. Harcourt, he never talked to me of the vices of his family, nor + has he lately troubled me much with the presence of his own virtues. I + haven't heard from him since we came here.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose he is satisfied with the government berth you got for him,” + returned her brother dryly. + </p> + <p> + “He was very grateful to Senator Flynn, who appreciates his talents, but + who offered it to him as a mere question of fitness,” replied Mrs. Ashwood + with great precision of statement. “But you don't seem to know he declined + it on account of his other work.” + </p> + <p> + “Preferred his old Bohemian ways, eh? You can't change those fellows, + Conny. They can't get over the fascinations of vagabondage. Sorry your + lady-patroness scheme didn't work. Pity you couldn't have promoted him in + the line of his profession, as the Grand Duchess of Girolstein did Fritz.” + </p> + <p> + “For Heaven's sake, Jack, go to Clementina! You may not be successful, but + there at least the perfect gentlemanliness and good taste of your + illustrations will not be thrown away.” + </p> + <p> + “I think of going to San Francisco tomorrow, anyway,” returned Jack with + affected carelessness. “I'm getting rather bored with this wild seaside + watering place and its glitter of ocean and hopeless background of + mountain. It's nothing to me that 'there's no land nearer than Japan' out + there. It may be very healthful to the tissues, but it's weariness to the + spirit, and I don't see why we can't wait at San Francisco till the rains + send us further south, as well as here.” + </p> + <p> + He had walked to the balcony of their sitting-room in the little seaside + hotel where this conversation took place, and gazed discontentedly over + the curving bay and sandy shore before him. After a slight pause Mrs. + Ashwood stepped out beside him. + </p> + <p> + “Very likely I may go with you,” she said, with a perceptible tone of + weariness. “We will see after the post arrives.” + </p> + <p> + “By the way, there is a little package for you in my room, that came this + morning. I brought it up, but forgot to give it to you. You'll find it on + my table.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ashwood abstractedly turned away and entered her brother's room from + the same balcony. The forgotten parcel, which looked like a roll of + manuscript, was lying on his dressing-table. She gazed attentively at the + handwriting on the wrapper and then gave a quick glance around her. A + sudden and subtle change came over her. She neither flushed nor paled, nor + did the delicate lines of expression in her face quiver or change. But as + she held the parcel in her hand her whole being seemed to undergo some + exquisite suffusion. As the medicines which the Arabian physician had + concealed in the hollow handle of the mallet permeated the languid royal + blood of Persia, so some volatile balm of youth seemed to flow in upon her + with the contact of that strange missive and transform her weary spirit. + </p> + <p> + “Jack!” she called, in a high clear voice. But Jack had already gone from + the balcony when she reached it with an elastic step and a quick youthful + swirl and rustling of her skirt. He was lighting his cigar in the garden. + </p> + <p> + “Jack,” she said, leaning half over the railing, “come back here in an + hour and we'll talk over that matter of yours again.” + </p> + <p> + Jack looked up eagerly and as if he might even come up then, but she added + quickly, “In about an hour—I must think it over,” and withdrew. + </p> + <p> + She re-entered the sitting-room, shut the door carefully and locked it, + half pulled down the blind, walking once or twice around the table on + which the parcel lay, with one eye on it like a graceful cat. Then she + suddenly sat down, took it up with a grave practical face, examined the + postmark curiously, and opened it with severe deliberation. It contained a + manuscript and a letter of four closely written pages. She glanced at the + manuscript with bright approving eyes, ran her fingers through its leaves + and then laid it carefully and somewhat ostentatiously on the table beside + her. Then, still holding the letter in her hand, she rose and glanced out + of the window at her bored brother lounging towards the beach and at the + heaving billows beyond, and returned to her seat. This apparently + important preliminary concluded, she began to read. + </p> + <p> + There were, as already stated, four blessed pages of it! All vital, + earnest, palpitating with youthful energy, preposterous in premises, + precipitate in conclusions,—yet irresistible and convincing to every + woman in their illogical sincerity. There was not a word of love in it, + yet every page breathed a wholesome adoration; there was not an epithet or + expression that a greater prude than Mrs. Ashwood would have objected to, + yet every sentence seemed to end in a caress. There was not a line of + poetry in it, and scarcely a figure or simile, and yet it was poetical. + Boyishly egotistic as it was in attitude, it seemed to be written less OF + himself than TO her; in its delicate because unconscious flattery, it made + her at once the provocation and excuse. And yet so potent was its + individuality that it required no signature. No one but John Milton + Harcourt could have written it. His personality stood out of it so + strongly that once or twice Mrs. Ashwood almost unconsciously put up her + little hand before her face with a half mischievous, half-deprecating + smile, as if the big honest eyes of its writer were upon her. + </p> + <p> + It began by an elaborate apology for declining the appointment offered him + by one of her friends, which he was bold enough to think had been prompted + by her kind heart. That was like her, but yet what she might do to any + one; and he preferred to think of her as the sweet and gentle lady who had + recognized his merit without knowing him, rather than the powerful and + gracious benefactress who wanted to reward him when she did know him. The + crown that she had all unconsciously placed upon his head that afternoon + at the little hotel at Crystal Spring was more to him than the Senator's + appointment; perhaps he was selfish, but he could not bear that she who + had given so much should believe that he could accept a lesser gift. All + this and much more! Some of it he had wanted to say to her in San + Francisco at times when they had met, but he could not find the words. But + she had given him the courage to go on and do the only thing he was fit + for, and he had resolved to stick to that, and perhaps do something once + more that might make him hear again her voice as he had heard it that day, + and again see the light that had shone in her eyes as she sat there and + read. And this was why he was sending her a manuscript. She might have + forgotten that she had told him a strange story of her cousin who had + disappeared—which she thought he might at some time work up. Here it + was. Perhaps she might not recognize it again, in the way he had written + it here; perhaps she did not really mean it when she had given him + permission to use it, but he remembered her truthful eyes and believed her—and + in any event it was hers to do with what she liked. It had been a great + pleasure for him to write it and think that she would see it; it was like + seeing her himself—that was in HIS BETTER SELF—more worthy the + companionship of a beautiful and noble woman than the poor young man she + would have helped. This was why he had not called the week before she went + away. But for all that, she had made his life less lonely, and he should + be ever grateful to her. He could never forget how she unconsciously + sympathized with him that day over the loss that had blighted his life + forever,—yet even then he did not know that she, herself, had passed + through the same suffering. But just here the stricken widow of thirty, + after a vain attempt to keep up the knitted gravity of her eyebrows, bowed + her dimpling face over the letter of the blighted widower of twenty, and + laughed so long and silently that the tears stood out like dew on her + light-brown eyelashes. + </p> + <p> + But she became presently severe again, and finished her reading of the + letter gravely. Then she folded it carefully, deposited it in a box on her + table, which she locked. After a few minutes, however, she unlocked the + box again and transferred the letter to her pocket. The serenity of her + features did not relax again, although her previous pretty prepossession + of youthful spirit was still indicated in her movements. Going into her + bedroom, she reappeared in a few minutes with a light cloak thrown over + her shoulders and a white-trimmed broad-brimmed hat. Then she rolled up + the manuscript in a paper, and called her French maid. As she stood there + awaiting her with the roll in her hand, she might have been some young + girl on her way to her music lesson. + </p> + <p> + “If my brother returns before I do, tell him to wait.” + </p> + <p> + “Madame is going”— + </p> + <p> + “Out,” said Mrs. Ashwood blithely, and tripped downstairs. + </p> + <p> + She made her way directly to the shore where she remembered there was a + group of rocks affording a shelter from the northwest trade winds. It was + reached at low water by a narrow ridge of sand, and here she had often + basked in the sun with her book. It was here that she now unrolled John + Milton's manuscript and read. + </p> + <p> + It was the story she had told him, but interpreted by his poetry and + adorned by his fancy until the facts as she remembered them seemed to be + no longer hers, or indeed truths at all. She had always believed her + cousin's unhappy temperament to have been the result of a moral and + physical idiosyncrasy,—she found it here to be the effect of a + lifelong and hopeless passion for herself! The ingenious John Milton had + given a poet's precocity to the youth whom she had only known as a + suspicious, moody boy, had idealized him as a sensitive but songless + Byron, had given him the added infirmity of pulmonary weakness, and a + handkerchief that in moments of great excitement, after having been + hurriedly pressed to his pale lips, was withdrawn “with a crimson stain.” + Opposed to this interesting figure—the more striking to her as she + had been hitherto haunted by the impression that her cousin during his + boyhood had been subject to facial eruption and boils—was her own + equally idealized self. Cruelly kind to her cousin and gentle with his + weaknesses while calmly ignoring their cause, leading him unconsciously + step by step in his fatal passion, he only became aware by accident that + she nourished an ideal hero in the person of a hard, proud, middle-aged + practical man of the world,—her future husband! At this picture of + the late Mr. Ashwood, who had really been an indistinctive social bon + vivant, his amiable relict grew somewhat hysterical. The discovery of her + real feelings drove the consumptive cousin into a secret, self-imposed + exile on the shores of the Pacific, where he hoped to find a grave. But + the complete and sudden change of life and scene, the balm of the wild + woods and the wholesome barbarism of nature, wrought a magical change in + his physical health and a philosophical rest in his mind. He married the + daughter of an Indian chief. Years passed, the heroine—a rich and + still young and beautiful widow—unwittingly sought the same + medicinal solitude. Here in the depth of the forest she encountered her + former playmate; the passion which he had fondly supposed was dead revived + in her presence, and for the first time she learned from his bearded lips + the secret of his passion. Alas! not SHE alone! The contiguous forest + could not be bolted out, and the Indian wife heard all. Recognizing the + situation with aboriginal directness of purpose, she committed suicide in + the fond belief that it would reunite the survivors. But in vain; the + cousins parted on the spot to meet no more. + </p> + <p> + Even Mrs. Ashwood's predilection for the youthful writer could not + overlook the fact that the denouement was by no means novel nor the + situation human, but yet it was here that she was most interested and + fascinated. The description of the forest was a description of the wood + where she had first met Harcourt; the charm of it returned, until she + almost seemed to again inhale its balsamic freshness in the pages before + her. Now, as then, her youth came back with the same longing and regret. + But more bewildering than all, it was herself that moved there, painted + with the loving hand of the narrator. For the first time she experienced + the delicious flattery of seeing herself as only a lover could see her. + The smallest detail of her costume was suggested with an accuracy that + pleasantly thrilled her feminine sense. The grace of her figure slowly + moving through the shadow, the curves of her arm and the delicacy of her + hand that held the bridle rein, the gentle glow of her softly rounded + cheek, the sweet mystery of her veiled eyes and forehead, and the escaping + gold of her lovely hair beneath her hat were all in turn masterfully + touched or tenderly suggested. And when to this was added the faint + perfume of her nearer presence—the scent she always used—the + delicate revelations of her withdrawn gauntlet, the bracelet clasping her + white wrist, and at last the thrilling contact of her soft hand on his + arm,—she put down the manuscript and blushed like a very girl. Then + she started. + </p> + <p> + A shout!—HIS voice surely!—and the sound of oars in their + rowlocks. + </p> + <p> + An instant revulsion of feeling overtook her. With a quick movement she + instantly hid the manuscript beneath her cloak and stood up erect and + indignant. Not twenty yards away, apparently advancing from the opposite + shore of the bay, was a boat. It contained only John Milton, resting on + his oars and scanning the group of rocks anxiously. His face, which was + quite strained with anxiety, suddenly flushed when he saw her, and then + recognizing the unmistakable significance of her look and attitude, paled + once more. He bent over his oars again; a few strokes brought him close to + the rock. + </p> + <p> + “I beg your pardon,” he said hesitatingly, as he turned towards her and + laid aside his oars, “but—I thought—you were—in danger.” + </p> + <p> + She glanced quickly round her. She had forgotten the tide! The ledge + between her and the shore was already a foot under brown sea-water. Yet if + she had not thought that it would look ridiculous, she would have leaped + down even then and waded ashore. + </p> + <p> + “It's nothing,” she said coldly, with the air of one to whom the situation + was an everyday occurrence; “it's only a few steps and a slight wetting—and + my brother would have been here in a moment more.” + </p> + <p> + John Milton's frank eyes made no secret of his mortification. “I ought not + to have disturbed you, I know,” he said quickly, “I had no right. But I + was on the other shore opposite and I saw you come down here—that + is”—he blushed prodigiously—“I thought it MIGHT BE you—and + I ventured—I mean—won't you let me row you ashore?” + </p> + <p> + There seemed to be no reasonable excuse for refusing. She slipped quickly + into the boat without waiting for his helping hand, avoiding that contact + which only a moment ago she was trying to recall. + </p> + <p> + A few strokes brought them ashore. He continued his explanation with the + hopeless frankness and persistency of youth and inexperience. “I only came + here the day before yesterday. I would not have come, but Mr. Fletcher, + who has a cottage on the other shore, sent for me to offer me my old place + on the 'Clarion.' I had no idea of intruding upon your privacy by calling + here without permission.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ashwood had resumed her conventional courtesy without however losing + her feminine desire to make her companion pay for the agitation he had + caused her. “We would have been always pleased to see you,” she said + vaguely, “and I hope, as you are here now, you will come with me to the + hotel. My brother”— + </p> + <p> + But he still retained his hold of the boat-rope without moving, and + continued, “I saw you yesterday, through the telescope, sitting in your + balcony; and later at night I think it was your shadow I saw near the blue + shaded lamp in the sitting-room by the window,—I don't mean the RED + LAMP that you have in your own room. I watched you until you put out the + blue lamp and lit the red one. I tell you this—because—because—I + thought you might be reading a manuscript I sent you. At least,” he smiled + faintly, “I LIKED to think it so.” + </p> + <p> + In her present mood this struck her only as persistent and somewhat + egotistical. But she felt herself now on ground where she could deal + firmly with him. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes,” she said gravely. “I got it and thank you very much for it. I + intended to write to you.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't,” he said, looking at her fixedly. “I can see you don't like it.” + </p> + <p> + “On the contrary,” she said promptly, “I think it beautifully written, and + very ingenious in plot and situation. Of course it isn't the story I told + you—I didn't expect that, for I'm not a genius. The man is not at + all like my cousin, you know, and the woman—well really, to tell the + truth, SHE is simply inconceivable!” + </p> + <p> + “You think so?” he said gravely. He had been gazing abstractedly at some + shining brown seaweed in the water, and when he raised his eyes to hers + they seemed to have caught its color. + </p> + <p> + “Think so? I'm positive! There's no such a woman; she isn't HUMAN. But let + us walk to the hotel.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you, but I must go back now.” + </p> + <p> + “But at least let my brother thank you for taking his place—in + rescuing me. It was so thoughtful in you to put off at once when you saw I + was surrounded. I might have been in great danger.” + </p> + <p> + “Please don't make fun of me, Mrs. Ashwood,” he said with a faint return + of his boyish smile. “You know there was no danger. I have only + interrupted you in a nap or a reverie—and I can see now that you + evidently came here to be alone.” + </p> + <p> + Holding the manuscript more closely hidden under the folds of her cloak, + she smiled enigmatically. “I think I DID, and it seems that the tide + thought so too, and acted upon it. But you will come up to the hotel with + me, surely?” + </p> + <p> + “No, I am going back now.” There was a sudden firmness about the young + fellow which she had never before noticed. This was evidently the creature + who had married in spite of his family. + </p> + <p> + “Won't you come back long enough to take your manuscript? I will point out + the part I refer to, and—we will talk it over.” + </p> + <p> + “There is no necessity. I wrote to you that you might keep it; it is + yours; it was written for you and none other. It is quite enough for me to + know that you were good enough to read it. But will you do one thing more + for me? Read it again! If you find anything in it the second time to + change your views—if you find”— + </p> + <p> + “I will let you know,” she said quickly. “I will write to you as I + intended.” + </p> + <p> + “No, I didn't mean that. I meant that if you found the woman less + inconceivable and more human, don't write to me, but put your red lamp in + your window instead of the blue one. I will watch for it and see it.” + </p> + <p> + “I think I will be able to explain myself much better with simple pen and + ink,” she said dryly, “and it will be much more useful to you.” + </p> + <p> + He lifted his hat gravely, shoved off the boat, leaped into it, and before + she could hold out her hand was twenty feet away. She turned and ran + quickly up the rocks. When she reached the hotel, she could see the boat + already half across the bay. + </p> + <p> + Entering her sitting-room she found that her brother, tired of waiting for + her, had driven out. Taking the hidden manuscript from her cloak she + tossed it with a slight gesture of impatience on the table. Then she + summoned the landlord. + </p> + <p> + “Is there a town across the bay?” + </p> + <p> + “No! the whole mountain-side belongs to Don Diego Fletcher. He lives away + back in the coast range at Los Gatos, but he has a cottage and mill on the + beach.” + </p> + <p> + “Don Diego Fletcher—Fletcher! Is he a Spaniard then?” + </p> + <p> + “Half and half, I reckon; he's from the lower country, I believe.” + </p> + <p> + “Is he here often?” + </p> + <p> + “Not much; he has mills at Los Gatos, wheat ranches at Santa Clara, and + owns a newspaper in 'Frisco! But he's here now. There were lights in his + house last night, and his cutter lies off the point.” + </p> + <p> + “Could you get a small package and note to him?” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly; it is only a row across the bay.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you.” + </p> + <p> + Without removing her hat and cloak she sat down at the table and began a + letter to Don Diego Fletcher. She begged to inclose to him a manuscript + which she was satisfied, for the interests of its author, was better in + his hands than hers. It had been given to her by the author, Mr. J. M. + Harcourt, whom she understood was engaged on Mr. Fletcher's paper, the + “Clarion.” In fact, it had been written at HER suggestion, and from an + incident in real life of which she was cognizant. She was sorry to say + that on account of some very foolish criticism of her own as to the FACTS, + the talented young author had become so dissatisfied with it as to make it + possible that, if left to himself, this very charming and beautifully + written story would remain unpublished. As an admirer of Mr. Harcourt's + genius, and a friend of his family, she felt that such an event would be + deplorable, and she therefore begged to leave it to Mr. Fletcher's + delicacy and tact to arrange with the author for its publication. She knew + that Mr. Fletcher had only to read it to be convinced of its remarkable + literary merit, and she again would impress upon him the fact that her + playful and thoughtless criticism—which was personal and + confidential—was only based upon the circumstances that the author + had really made a more beautiful and touching story than the poor facts + which she had furnished seemed to warrant. She had only just learned the + fortunate circumstance that Mr. Fletcher was in the neighborhood of the + hotel where she was staying with her brother. + </p> + <p> + With the same practical, business-like directness, but perhaps a certain + unbusiness-like haste superadded, she rolled up the manuscript and + dispatched it with the letter. + </p> + <p> + This done, however, a slight reaction set in, and having taken off her hat + and shawl, she dropped listlessly on a chair by the window, but as + suddenly rose and took a seat in the darker part of the room. She felt + that she had done right, that highest but most depressing of human + convictions! It was entirely for his good. There was no reason why his + best interests should suffer for his folly. If anybody was to suffer it + was she. But what nonsense was she thinking! She would write to him later + when she was a little cooler,—as she had said. But then he had + distinctly told her, and very rudely too, that he didn't want her to + write. Wanted her to make SIGNALS to him,—the idiot! and probably + was even now watching her with a telescope. It was really too + preposterous! + </p> + <p> + The result was that her brother found her on his return in a somewhat + uncertain mood, and, as a counselor, variable and conflicting in judgment. + If this Clementina, who seemed to have the family qualities of obstinacy + and audacity, really cared for him, she certainly wouldn't let delicacy + stand in the way of letting him know it—and he was therefore safe to + wait a little. A few moments later, she languidly declared that she was + afraid that she was no counselor in such matters; really she was getting + too old to take any interest in that sort of thing, and she never had been + a matchmaker! By the way now, wasn't it odd that this neighbor, that rich + capitalist across the bay, should be called Fletcher, and “James Fletcher” + too, for Diego meant “James” in Spanish. Exactly the same name as poor + “Cousin Jim” who disappeared. Did he remember her old playmate Jim? But + her brother thought something else was a deuced sight more odd, namely, + that this same Don Diego Fletcher was said to be very sweet on Clementina + now, and was always in her company at the Ramirez. And that, with this + “Clarion” apology on the top of it, looked infernally queer. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ashwood felt a sudden consternation. Here had she—Jack's sister—just + been taking Jack's probable rival into confidential correspondence! She + turned upon Jack sharply:— + </p> + <p> + “Why didn't you say that before?” + </p> + <p> + “I did tell you,” he said gloomily, “but you didn't listen. But what + difference does it make to you now?” + </p> + <p> + “None whatever,” said Mrs. Ashwood calmly as she walked out of the room. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless the afternoon passed wearily, and her usual ride into the + upland canyon did not reanimate her. For reasons known best to herself she + did not take her after-dinner stroll along the shore to watch the outlying + fog. At a comparatively early hour, while there was still a roseate glow + in the western sky, she appeared with grim deliberation, and the blue + lamp-shade in her hand, and placed it over the lamp which she lit and + stood on her table beside the window. This done she sat down and began to + write with bright-eyed but vicious complacency. + </p> + <p> + “But you don't want that light AND the window, Constance,” said Jack + wonderingly. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Ashwood could not stand the dreadful twilight. + </p> + <p> + “But take away your lamp and you'll have light enough from the sunset,” + responded Jack. + </p> + <p> + That was just what she didn't want! The light from the window was that + horrid vulgar red glow which she hated. It might be very romantic and suit + lovers like Jack, but as SHE had some work to do, she wanted the blue + shade of the lamp to correct that dreadful glare. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPER XII. + </h2> + <p> + John Milton had rowed back without lifting his eyes to Mrs. Ashwood's + receding figure. He believed that he was right in declining her + invitation, although he had a miserable feeling that it entailed seeing + her for the last time. With all that he believed was his previous + experience of the affections, he was still so untutored as to be confused + as to his reasons for declining, or his right to have been shocked and + disappointed at her manner. It seemed to him sufficiently plain that he + had offended the most perfect woman he had ever known without knowing + more. The feeling he had for her was none the less powerful because, in + his great simplicity, it was vague and unformulated. And it was a part of + this strange simplicity that in his miserable loneliness his thoughts + turned unconsciously to his dead wife for sympathy and consolation. Loo + would have understood him! + </p> + <p> + Mr. Fletcher, who had received him on his arrival with singular + effusiveness and cordiality, had put off their final arrangements until + after dinner, on account of pressing business. It was therefore with some + surprise that an hour before the time he was summoned to Fletcher's room. + He was still more surprised to find him sitting at his desk, from which a + number of business papers and letters had been hurriedly thrust aside to + make way for a manuscript. A single glance at it was enough to show the + unhappy John Milton that it was the one he had sent to Mrs. Ashwood. The + color flashed to his cheek and he felt a mist before his eyes. His + employer's face, on the contrary, was quite pale, and his eyes were fixed + on Harcourt with a singular intensity. His voice too, although under great + control, was hard and strange. + </p> + <p> + “Read that,” he said, handing the young man a letter. + </p> + <p> + The color again streamed into John Milton's face as he recognized the hand + of Mrs. Ashwood, and remained there while he read it. When he put it down, + however, he raised his frank eyes to Fletcher's, and said with a certain + dignity and manliness: “What she says is the truth, sir. But it is I alone + who am at fault. This manuscript is merely MY stupid idea of a very simple + story she was once kind enough to tell me when we were talking of strange + occurrences in real life, which she thought I might some time make use of + in my work. I tried to embellish it, and failed. That's all. I will take + it back,—it was written only for her.” + </p> + <p> + There was such an irresistible truthfulness and sincerity in his voice and + manner, that any idea of complicity with the sender was dismissed from + Fletcher's mind. As Harcourt, however, extended his hand for the + manuscript Fletcher interfered. + </p> + <p> + “You forget that you gave it to her, and she has sent it to me. If I don't + keep it, it can be returned to her only. Now may I ask who is this lady + who takes such an interest in your literary career? Have you known her + long? Is she a friend of your family?” + </p> + <p> + The slight sneer that accompanied his question restored the natural color + to the young man's face, but kindled his eye ominously. + </p> + <p> + “No,” he said briefly. “I met her accidentally about two months ago and as + accidentally found out that she had taken an interest in one of the first + things I ever wrote for your paper. She neither knew you nor me. It was + then that she told me this story; she did not even then know who I was, + though she had met some of my family. She was very good and has generously + tried to help me.” + </p> + <p> + Fletcher's eyes remained fixed upon him. + </p> + <p> + “But this tells me only WHAT she is, not WHO she is.” + </p> + <p> + “I am afraid you must inquire of her brother, Mr. Shipley,” said Harcourt + curtly. + </p> + <p> + “Shipley?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; he is traveling with her for his health, and they are going south + when the rains come. They are wealthy Philadelphians, I believe, and—and + she is a widow.” + </p> + <p> + Fletcher picked up her note and glanced again at the signature, “Constance + Ashwood.” There was a moment of silence, when he resumed in quite a + different voice: “It's odd I never met them nor they me.” + </p> + <p> + As he seemed to be waiting for a response, John Milton said simply: “I + suppose it's because they have not been here long, and are somewhat + reserved.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Fletcher laid aside the manuscript and letter, and took up his + apparently suspended work. + </p> + <p> + “When you see this Mrs.—Mrs. Ashwood again, you might say”— + </p> + <p> + “I shall not see her again,” interrupted John Milton hastily. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Fletcher shrugged his shoulders. “Very well,” he said with a peculiar + smile, “I will write to her. Now, Mr. Harcourt,” he continued with a + sudden business brevity, “if you please, we'll drop this affair and attend + to the matter for which I just summoned you. Since yesterday an important + contract for which I have been waiting is concluded, and its performance + will take me East at once. I have made arrangements that you will be left + in the literary charge of the 'Clarion.' It is only a fitting recompense + that the paper owes to you and your father,—to whom I hope to see + you presently reconciled. But we won't discuss that now! As my affairs + take me back to Los Gatos within half an hour, I am sorry I cannot + dispense my hospitality in person,—but you will dine and sleep here + to-night. Good-by. As you go out will you please send up Mr. Jackson to + me.” He nodded briefly, seemed to plunge instantly into his papers again, + and John Milton was glad to withdraw. + </p> + <p> + The shock he had felt at Mrs. Ashwood's frigid disposition of his wishes + and his manuscript had benumbed him to any enjoyment or appreciation of + the change in his fortune. He wandered out of the house and descended to + the beach in a dazed, bewildered way, seeing only the words of her letter + to Fletcher before him, and striving to grasp some other meaning from them + than their coldly practical purport. Perhaps this was her cruel revenge + for his telling her not to write to him. Could she not have divined it was + only his fear of what she might say! And now it was all over! She had + washed her hands of him with the sending of that manuscript and letter, + and he would pass out of her memory as a foolish, conceited ingrate,—perhaps + a figure as wearily irritating and stupid to her as the cousin she had + known. He mechanically lifted his eyes to the distant hotel; the glow was + still in the western sky, but the blue lamp was already shining in the + window. His cheek flushed quickly, and he turned away as if she could have + seen his face. Yes—she despised him, and THAT was his answer! + </p> + <p> + When he returned, Mr. Fletcher had gone. He dragged through a dinner with + Mr. Jackson, Fletcher's secretary, and tried to realize his good fortune + in listening to the subordinate's congratulations. “But I thought,” said + Jackson, “you had slipped up on your luck to-day, when the old man sent + for you. He was quite white, and ready to rip out about something that had + just come in. I suppose it was one of those anonymous things against your + father,—the old man's dead set against 'em now.” But John Milton + heard him vaguely, and presently excused himself for a row on the moonlit + bay. + </p> + <p> + The active exertion, with intervals of placid drifting along the + land-locked shore, somewhat soothed him. The heaving Pacific beyond was + partly hidden in a low creeping fog, but the curving bay was softly + radiant. The rocks whereon she sat that morning, the hotel where she was + now quietly reading, were outlined in black and silver. In this dangerous + contiguity it seemed to him that her presence returned,—not the + woman who had met him so coldly; who had penned those lines; the woman + from whom he was now parting forever, but the blameless ideal he had + worshiped from the first, and which he now felt could never pass out of + his life again! He recalled their long talks, their rarer rides and walks + in the city; her quick appreciation and ready sympathy; her pretty + curiosity and half-maternal consideration of his foolish youthful past; + even the playful way that she sometimes seemed to make herself younger as + if to better understand him. Lingering at times in the shadow of the + headland, he fancied he saw the delicate nervous outlines of her face near + his own again; the faint shading of her brown lashes, the soft + intelligence of her gray eyes. Drifting idly in the placid moonlight, + pulling feverishly across the swell of the channel, or lying on his oars + in the shallows of the rocks, but always following the curves of the bay, + like a bird circling around a lighthouse, it was far in the night before + he at last dragged his boat upon the sand. Then he turned to look once + more at her distant window. He would be away in the morning and he should + never see it again! It was very late, but the blue light seemed to be + still burning unalterably and inflexibly. + </p> + <p> + But even as he gazed, a change came over it. A shadow seemed to pass + before the blind; the blue shade was lifted; for an instant he could see + the colorless star-like point of the light itself show clearly. It was + over now; she was putting out the lamp. Suddenly he held his breath! A + roseate glow gradually suffused the window like a burning blush; the + curtain was drawn aside, and the red lamp-shade gleamed out surely and + steadily into the darkness. + </p> + <p> + Transfigured and breathless in the moonlight, John Milton gazed on it. It + seemed to him the dawn of Love! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPER XIII. + </h2> + <p> + The winter rains had come. But so plenteously and persistently, and with + such fateful preparation of circumstance, that the long looked for + blessing presently became a wonder, an anxiety, and at last a slowly + widening terror. Before a month had passed every mountain, stream, and + watercourse, surcharged with the melted snows of the Sierras, had become a + great tributary; every tributary a great river, until, pouring their great + volume into the engorged channels of the American and Sacramento rivers, + they overleaped their banks and became as one vast inland sea. Even to a + country already familiar with broad and striking catastrophe, the flood + was a phenomenal one. For days the sullen overflow lay in the valley of + the Sacramento, enormous, silent, currentless—except where the + surplus waters rolled through Carquinez Straits, San Francisco Bay, and + the Golden Gate, and reappeared as the vanished Sacramento River, in an + outflowing stream of fresh and turbid water fifty miles at sea. + </p> + <p> + Across the vast inland expanse, brooded over by a leaden sky, leaden rain + fell, dimpling like shot the sluggish pools of the flood; a cloudy chaos + of fallen trees, drifting barns and outhouses, wagons and agricultural + implements moved over the surface of the waters, or circled slowly around + the outskirts of forests that stood ankle deep in ooze and the current, + which in serried phalanx they resisted still. As night fell these forms + became still more vague and chaotic, and were interspersed with the + scattered lanterns and flaming torches of relief-boats, or occasionally + the high terraced gleaming windows of the great steamboats, feeling their + way along the lost channel. At times the opening of a furnace-door shot + broad bars of light across the sluggish stream and into the branches of + dripping and drift-encumbered trees; at times the looming smoke-stacks + sent out a pent-up breath of sparks that illuminated the inky chaos for a + moment, and then fell as black and dripping rain. Or perhaps a hoarse + shout from some faintly outlined hulk on either side brought a quick + response from the relief-boats, and the detaching of a canoe with a + blazing pine-knot in its bow into the outer darkness. + </p> + <p> + It was late in the afternoon when Lawrence Grant, from the deck of one of + the larger tugs, sighted what had been once the estuary of Sidon Creek. + The leader of a party of scientific observation and relief, he had kept a + tireless watch of eighteen hours, keenly noticing the work of devastation, + the changes in the channel, the prospects of abatement, and the danger + that still threatened. He had passed down the length of the submerged + Sacramento valley, through the Straits of Carquinez, and was now steaming + along the shores of the upper reaches of San Francisco Bay. Everywhere the + same scene of desolation,—vast stretches of tule land, once broken + up by cultivation and dotted with dwellings, now clearly erased on that + watery chart; long lines of symmetrical perspective, breaking the + monotonous level, showing orchards buried in the flood; Indian mounds and + natural eminences covered with cattle or hastily erected camps; half + submerged houses, whose solitary chimneys, however, still gave signs of an + undaunted life within; isolated groups of trees, with their lower branches + heavy with the unwholesome fruit of the flood, in wisps of hay and straw, + rakes and pitchforks, or pathetically sheltering some shivering and + forgotten household pet. But everywhere the same dull, expressionless, + placid tranquillity of destruction,—a horrible leveling of all + things in one bland smiling equality of surface, beneath which agony, + despair, and ruin were deeply buried and forgotten; a catastrophe without + convulsion,—a devastation voiceless, passionless, and supine. + </p> + <p> + The boat had slowed up before what seemed to be a collection of + disarranged houses with the current flowing between lines that indicated + the existence of thoroughfares and streets. Many of the lighter wooden + buildings were huddled together on the street corners with their gables to + the flow; some appeared as if they had fallen on their knees, and others + lay complacently on their sides, like the houses of a child's toy village. + An elevator still lifted itself above the other warehouses; from the + centre of an enormous square pond, once the plaza, still arose a “Liberty + pole,” or flagstaff, which now supported a swinging lantern, and in the + distance appeared the glittering dome of some public building. Grant + recognized the scene at once. It was all that was left of the invincible + youth of Tasajara! + </p> + <p> + As this was an objective point of the scheme of survey and relief for the + district, the boat was made fast to the second story of one of the + warehouses. It was now used as a general store and depot, and bore a + singular resemblance in its interior to Harcourt's grocery at Sidon. This + suggestion was the more fatefully indicated by the fact that half a dozen + men were seated around a stove in the centre, more or less given up to a + kind of philosophical and lazy enjoyment of their enforced idleness. And + when to this was added the more surprising coincidence that the party + consisted of Billings, Peters, and Wingate,—former residents of + Sidon and first citizens of Tasajara,—the resemblance was complete. + </p> + <p> + They were ruined,—but they accepted their common fate with a certain + Indian stoicism and Western sense of humor that for the time lifted them + above the vulgar complacency of their former fortunes. There was a + deep-seated, if coarse and irreverent resignation in their philosophy. At + the beginning of the calamity it had been roughly formulated by Billings + in the statement that “it wasn't anybody's fault; there was nobody to + kill, and what couldn't be reached by a Vigilance Committee there was no + use resolootin' over.” When the Reverend Doctor Pilsbury had suggested an + appeal to a Higher Power, Peters had replied, good humoredly, that “a + Creator who could fool around with them in that style was above being + interfered with by prayer.” At first the calamity had been a thing to + fight against; then it became a practical joke, the sting of which was + lost in the victims' power of endurance and assumed ignorance of its + purport. There was something almost pathetic in their attempts to + understand its peculiar humor. + </p> + <p> + “How about that Europ-e-an trip o' yours, Peters?” said Billings, + meditatively, from the depths of his chair. “Looks as if those Crowned + Heads over there would have to wait till the water goes down considerable + afore you kin trot out your wife and darters before 'em!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Peters, “it rather pints that way; and ez far ez I kin see, + Mame Billings ain't goin' to no Saratoga, neither, this year.” + </p> + <p> + “Reckon the boys won't hang about old Harcourt's Free Library to see the + girls home from lectures and singing-class much this year,” said Wingate. + “Wonder if Harcourt ever thought o' this the day he opened it, and made + that rattlin' speech o' his about the new property? Clark says everything + built on that made ground has got to go after the water falls. Rough on + Harcourt after all his other losses, eh? He oughter have closed up with + that scientific chap, Grant, and married him to Clementina while the big + boom was on”— + </p> + <p> + “Hush!” said Peters, indicating Grant, who had just entered quietly. + </p> + <p> + “Don't mind me, gentlemen,” said Grant, stepping towards the group with a + grave but perfectly collected face; “on the contrary, I am very anxious to + hear all the news of Harcourt's family. I left for New York before the + rainy season, and have only just got back.” + </p> + <p> + His speech and manner appeared to be so much in keeping with the + prevailing grim philosophy that Billings, after a glance at the others, + went on. “Ef you left afore the first rains,” said he, “you must have left + only the steamer ahead of Fletcher, when he run off with Clementina + Harcourt, and you might have come across them on their wedding trip in New + York.” + </p> + <p> + Not a muscle of Grant's face changed under their eager and cruel scrutiny. + “No, I didn't,” he returned quietly. “But why did she run away? Did the + father object to Fletcher? If I remember rightly he was rich and a good + match.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but I reckon the old man hadn't quite got over the 'Clarion' abuse, + for all its eating humble-pie and taking back its yarns of him. And may be + he might have thought the engagement rather sudden. They say that she'd + only met Fletcher the day afore the engagement.” + </p> + <p> + “That be d——d,” said Peters, knocking the ashes out of his + pipe, and startling the lazy resignation of his neighbors by taking his + feet from the stove and sitting upright. “I tell ye, gentlemen, I'm sick + o' this sort o' hog-wash that's been ladled round to us. That gal + Clementina Harcourt and that feller Fletcher had met not only once, but + MANY times afore—yes! they were old friends if it comes to that, a + matter of six years ago.” + </p> + <p> + Grant's eyes were fixed eagerly on the speaker, although the others + scarcely turned their heads. + </p> + <p> + “You know, gentlemen,” said Peters, “I never took stock in this yer story + of the drownin' of 'Lige Curtis. Why? Well, if you wanter know—in my + opinion—there never was any 'Lige Curtis!” + </p> + <p> + Billings lifted his head with difficulty; Wingate turned his face to the + speaker. + </p> + <p> + “There never was a scrap o' paper ever found in his cabin with the name o' + 'Lige Curtis on it; there never was any inquiry made for 'Lige Curtis; + there never was any sorrowin' friends comin' after 'Lige Curtis. For why?—There + never was any 'Lige Curtis. The man who passed himself off in Sidon under + that name—was that man Fletcher. That's how he knew all about + Harcourt's title; that's how he got his best holt on Harcourt. And he did + it all to get Clementina Harcourt, whom the old man had refused to him in + Sidon.” + </p> + <p> + A grunt of incredulity passed around the circle. Such is the fate of + historical innovation! Only Grant listened attentively. + </p> + <p> + “Ye ought to tell that yarn to John Milton,” said Wingate ironically; + “it's about in the style o' them stories he slings in the 'Clarion.'” + </p> + <p> + “He's made a good thing outer that job. Wonder what he gets for them?” + said Peters. + </p> + <p> + It was Billings's time to rise, and, under the influence of some strong + cynical emotion, to even rise to his feet. “Gets for 'em!—GETS for + 'em! I'll tell you WHAT he gets for 'em! It beats this story o' Peters's,—it + beats the flood. It beats me! Ye know that boy, gentlemen; ye know how he + uster lie round his father's store, reading flapdoodle stories and sich! + Ye remember how I uster try to give him good examples and knock some sense + into him? Ye remember how, after his father's good luck, he spiled all his + own chances, and ran off with his father's waiter gal—all on account + o' them flapdoodle books he read? Ye remember how he sashayed round + newspaper offices in 'Frisco until he could write a flapdoodle story + himself? Ye wanter know what he gets for 'em. I'll tell you. He got an + interduction to one of them high-toned, highfalutin', 'don't-touch-me' + rich widders from Philadelfy,—that's what he gets for 'em! He got + her dead set on him and his stories, that's what he gets for 'em! He got + her to put him up with Fletcher in the 'Clarion,'—that's what he + gets for 'em. And darn my skin!—ef what they say is true, while we + hard-working men are sittin' here like drowned rats—that air John + Milton, ez never did a stitch o' live work like me yere; ez never did + anythin' but spin yarns about US ez did WORK, is now 'gittin' for 'em'—what? + Guess! Why, he's gittin' THE RICH WIDDER HERSELF and HALF A MILLION + DOLLARS WITH HER! Gentlemen! lib'ty is a good thing—but thar's some + things ye gets too much lib'ty of in this country—and that's this + yer LIB'TY OF THE PRESS!” + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A First Family of Tasajara, by Bret Harte + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A FIRST FAMILY OF TASAJARA *** + +***** This file should be named 2723-h.htm or 2723-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/2723/ + +Produced by Donald Lainson; David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 First Family of Tasajara + +Author: Bret Harte + +Release Date: May 25, 2006 [EBook #2723] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A FIRST FAMILY OF TASAJARA *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson + + + + + +A FIRST FAMILY OF TASAJARA + + +By Bret Harte + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +"It blows," said Joe Wingate. + +As if to accent the words of the speaker a heavy gust of wind at that +moment shook the long light wooden structure which served as the general +store of Sidon settlement, in Contra Costa. Even after it had passed a +prolonged whistle came through the keyhole, sides, and openings of the +closed glass front doors, that served equally for windows, and filled +the canvas ceiling which hid the roof above like a bellying sail. A wave +of enthusiastic emotion seemed to be communicated to a line of straw +hats and sou-westers suspended from a cross-beam, and swung them with +every appearance of festive rejoicing, while a few dusters, overcoats, +and "hickory" shirts hanging on the side walls exhibited such marked +though idiotic animation that it had the effect of a satirical comment +on the lazy, purposeless figures of the four living inmates of the +store. + +Ned Billings momentarily raised his head and shoulders depressed in the +back of his wooden armchair, glanced wearily around, said, "You bet, +it's no slouch of a storm," and then lapsed again with further extended +legs and an added sense of comfort. + +Here the third figure, which had been leaning listlessly against the +shelves, putting aside the arm of a swaying overcoat that seemed to +be emptily embracing him, walked slowly from behind the counter to the +door, examined its fastenings, and gazed at the prospect. He was the +owner of the store, and the view was a familiar one,--a long stretch of +treeless waste before him meeting an equal stretch of dreary sky above, +and night hovering somewhere between the two. This was indicated by +splashes of darker shadow as if washed in with india ink, and a lighter +low-lying streak that might have been the horizon, but was not. To +the right, on a line with the front door of the store, were several +scattered, widely dispersed objects, that, although vague in outline, +were rigid enough in angles to suggest sheds or barns, but certainly not +trees. + +"There's a heap more wet to come afore the wind goes down," he said, +glancing at the sky. "Hark to that, now!" + +They listened lazily. There was a faint murmur from the shingles above; +then suddenly the whole window was filmed and blurred as if the +entire prospect had been wiped out with a damp sponge. The man turned +listlessly away. + +"That's the kind that soaks in; thar won't be much teamin' over Tasajara +for the next two weeks, I reckon," said the fourth lounger, who, +seated on a high barrel, was nibbling--albeit critically and +fastidiously--biscuits and dried apples alternately from open boxes on +the counter. "It's lucky you've got in your winter stock, Harkutt." + +The shrewd eyes of Mr. Harkutt, proprietor, glanced at the occupation of +the speaker as if even his foresight might have its possible drawbacks, +but he said nothing. + +"There'll be no show for Sidon until you've got a wagon road from here +to the creek," said Billings languidly, from the depths of his chair. +"But what's the use o' talkin'? Thar ain't energy enough in all Tasajara +to build it. A God-forsaken place, that two months of the year can only +be reached by a mail-rider once a week, don't look ez if it was goin' to +break its back haulin' in goods and settlers. I tell ye what, gentlemen, +it makes me sick!" And apparently it had enfeebled him to the extent of +interfering with his aim in that expectoration of disgust against the +stove with which he concluded his sentence. + +"Why don't YOU build it?" asked Wingate, carelessly. + +"I wouldn't on principle," said Billings. "It's gov'ment work. What did +we whoop up things here last spring to elect Kennedy to the legislation +for? What did I rig up my shed and a thousand feet of lumber for benches +at the barbecue for? Why, to get Kennedy elected and make him get a +bill passed for the road! That's MY share of building it, if it comes to +that. And I only wish some folks, that blow enough about what oughter be +done to bulge out that ceiling, would only do as much as I have done for +Sidon." + +As this remark seemed to have a personal as well as local application, +the storekeeper diplomatically turned it. "There's a good many as DON'T +believe that a road from here to the creek is going to do any good to +Sidon. It's very well to say the creek is an embarcadero, but callin' it +so don't put anough water into it to float a steamboat from the bay, nor +clear out the reeds and tules in it. Even if the State builds you roads, +it ain't got no call to make Tasajara Creek navigable for ye; and as +that will cost as much as the road, I don't see where the money's comin' +from for both." + +"There's water enough in front of 'Lige Curtis's shanty, and his +location is only a mile along the bank," returned Billings. + +"Water enough for him to laze away his time fishin' when he's sober, and +deep enough to drown him when he's drunk," said Wingate. "If you +call that an embarcadero, you kin buy it any day from 'Lige,--title, +possession, and shanty thrown in,--for a demijohn o' whiskey." + +The fourth man here distastefully threw back a half-nibbled biscuit +into the box, and languidly slipped from the barrel to the floor, +fastidiously flicking the crumbs from his clothes as he did so. "I +reckon somebody'll get it for nothing, if 'Lige don't pull up mighty +soon. He'll either go off his head with jim-jams or jump into the creek. +He's about as near desp'rit as they make 'em, and havin' no partner to +look after him, and him alone in the tules, ther' 's no tellin' WHAT he +may do." + +Billings, stretched at full length in his chair, here gurgled +derisively. "Desp'rit!--ketch him! Why, that's his little game! He's +jist playin' off his desp'rit condition to frighten Sidon. Whenever any +one asks him why he don't go to work, whenever he's hard up for a drink, +whenever he's had too much or too little, he's workin' that desp'rit +dodge, and even talkin' o' killin' himself! Why, look here," he +continued, momentarily raising himself to a sitting posture in his +disgust, "it was only last week he was over at Rawlett's trying to +raise provisions and whiskey outer his water rights on the creek! Fact, +sir,--had it all written down lawyer-like on paper. Rawlett didn't +exactly see it in that light, and told him so. Then he up with the +desp'rit dodge and began to work that. Said if he had to starve in a +swamp like a dog he might as well kill himself at once, and would too +if he could afford the weppins. Johnson said it was not a bad idea, and +offered to lend him his revolver; Bilson handed up his shot-gun, and +left it alongside of him, and turned his head away considerate-like and +thoughtful while Rawlett handed him a box of rat pizon over the counter, +in case he preferred suthin' more quiet. Well, what did 'Lige do? +Nothin'! Smiled kinder sickly, looked sorter wild, and shut up. He +didn't suicide much. No, sir! He didn't kill himself,--not he. Why, old +Bixby--and he's a deacon in good standin'--allowed, in 'Lige's hearin' +and for 'Lige's benefit, that self-destruction was better nor bad +example, and proved it by Scripture too. And yet 'Lige did nothin'! +Desp'rit! He's only desp'rit to laze around and fish all day off a log +in the tules, and soak up with whiskey, until, betwixt fever an' ague +and the jumps, he kinder shakes hisself free o' responsibility." + +A long silence followed; it was somehow felt that the subject was +incongruously exciting; Billings allowed himself to lapse again behind +the back of his chair. Meantime it had grown so dark that the dull glow +of the stove was beginning to outline a faint halo on the ceiling even +while it plunged the further lines of shelves behind the counter into +greater obscurity. + +"Time to light up, Harkutt, ain't it?" said Wingate, tentatively. + +"Well, I was reckoning ez it's such a wild night there wouldn't be any +use keepin' open, and when you fellows left I'd just shut up for good +and make things fast," said Harkutt, dubiously. Before his guests had +time to fully weigh this delicate hint, another gust of wind shook the +tenement, and even forced the unbolted upper part of the door to yield +far enough to admit an eager current of humid air that seemed to justify +the wisdom of Harkutt's suggestion. Billings slowly and with a sigh +assumed a sitting posture in the chair. The biscuit-nibbler selected a +fresh dainty from the counter, and Wingate abstractedly walked to the +window and rubbed the glass. Sky and water had already disappeared +behind a curtain of darkness that was illuminated by a single point of +light--the lamp in the window of some invisible but nearer house--which +threw its rays across the glistening shallows in the road. "Well," said +Wingate, buttoning up his coat in slow dejection, "I reckon I oughter +be travelin' to help the old woman do the chores before supper." He had +just recognized the light in his own dining-room, and knew by that sign +that his long-waiting helpmeet had finally done the chores herself. + +"Some folks have it mighty easy," said Billings, with long-drawn +discontent, as he struggled to his feet. "You've only a step to go, +and yer's me and Peters there"--indicating the biscuit-nibbler, who was +beginning to show alarming signs of returning to the barrel again--"hev +got to trapse five times that distance." + +"More'n half a mile, if it comes to that," said Peters, gloomily. He +paused in putting on his overcoat as if thinking better of it, while +even the more fortunate and contiguous Wingate languidly lapsed against +the counter again. + +The moment was a critical one. Billings was evidently also regretfully +eying the chair he had just quitted. Harkutt resolved on a heroic +effort. + +"Come, boys," he said, with brisk conviviality, "take a parting drink +with me before you go." Producing a black bottle from some obscurity +beneath the counter that smelt strongly of india-rubber boots, he placed +it with four glasses before his guests. Each made a feint of holding his +glass against the opaque window while filling it, although nothing could +be seen. A sudden tumult of wind and rain again shook the building, but +even after it had passed the glass door still rattled violently. + +"Just see what's loose, Peters," said Billings; "you're nearest it." + +Peters, still holding the undrained glass in his hand, walked slowly +towards it. + +"It's suthin'--or somebody outside," he said, hesitatingly. + +The three others came eagerly to his side. Through the glass, clouded +from within by their breath, and filmed from without by the rain, some +vague object was moving, and what seemed to be a mop of tangled hair +was apparently brushing against the pane. The door shook again, but less +strongly. Billings pressed his face against the glass. "Hol' on," he +said in a quick whisper,--"it's 'Lige!" But it was too late. Harkutt +had already drawn the lower bolt, and a man stumbled from the outer +obscurity into the darker room. + +The inmates drew away as he leaned back for a moment against the door +that closed behind him. Then dimly, but instinctively, discerning the +glass of liquor which Wingate still mechanically held in his hand, +he reached forward eagerly, took it from Wingate's surprised and +unresisting fingers, and drained it at a gulp. The four men laughed +vaguely, but not as cheerfully as they might. + +"I was just shutting up," began Harkutt, dubiously. + +"I won't keep you a minit," said the intruder, nervously fumbling in +the breast pocket of his hickory shirt. "It's a matter of +business--Harkutt--I"--But he was obliged to stop here to wipe his +face and forehead with the ends of a loose handkerchief tied round his +throat. From the action, and what could be seen of his pale, +exhausted face, it was evident that the moisture upon it was beads of +perspiration, and not the rain which some abnormal heat of his body was +converting into vapor from his sodden garments as he stood there. + +"I've got a document here," he began again, producing a roll of paper +tremblingly from his pocket, "that I'd like you to glance over, and +perhaps you'd"--His voice, which had been feverishly exalted, here broke +and rattled with a cough. + +Billings, Wingate, and Peters fell apart and looked out of the window. +"It's too dark to read anything now, 'Lige," said Harkutt, with evasive +good humor, "and I ain't lightin' up to-night." + +"But I can tell you the substance of it," said the man, with a faintness +that however had all the distinctness of a whisper, "if you'll just step +inside a minute. It's a matter of importance and a bargain"-- + +"I reckon we must be goin'," said Billings to the others, with marked +emphasis. "We're keepin' Harkutt from shuttin' up." "Good-night!" +"Good-night!" added Peters and Wingate, ostentatiously following +Billings hurriedly through the door. "So long!" + +The door closed behind them, leaving Harkutt alone with his importunate +intruder. Possibly his resentment at his customers' selfish abandonment +of him at this moment developed a vague spirit of opposition to them and +mitigated his feeling towards 'Lige. He groped his way to the counter, +struck a match, and lit a candle. Its feeble rays faintly illuminated +the pale, drawn face of the applicant, set in a tangle of wet, unkempt, +party-colored hair. It was not the face of an ordinary drunkard; +although tremulous and sensitive from some artificial excitement, there +was no ENGORGEMENT or congestion in the features or complexion, albeit +they were morbid and unhealthy. The expression was of a suffering that +was as much mental as physical, and yet in some vague way appeared +unmeaning--and unheroic. + +"I want to see you about selling my place on the creek. I want you to +take it off my hands for a bargain. I want to get quit of it, at once, +for just enough to take me out o' this. I don't want any profit; only +money enough to get away." His utterance, which had a certain kind of +cultivation, here grew thick and harsh again, and he looked eagerly at +the bottle which stood on the counter. + +"Look here, 'Lige," said Harkutt, not unkindly. "It's too late to do +anythin' tonight. You come in to-morrow." He would have added "when +you're sober," but for a trader's sense of politeness to a possible +customer, and probably some doubt of the man's actual condition. + +"God knows where or what I may be tomorrow! It would kill me to go back +and spend another night as the last, if I don't kill myself on the way +to do it." + +Harkutt's face darkened grimly. It was indeed as Billings had said. +The pitiable weakness of the man's manner not only made his desperation +inadequate and ineffective, but even lent it all the cheapness of +acting. And, as if to accent his simulation of a part, his fingers, +feebly groping in his shirt bosom, slipped aimlessly and helplessly +from the shining handle of a pistol in his pocket to wander hesitatingly +towards the bottle on the counter. + +Harkutt took the bottle, poured out a glass of the liquor, and pushed +it before his companion, who drank it eagerly. Whether it gave him more +confidence, or his attention was no longer diverted, he went on +more collectedly and cheerfully, and with no trace of his previous +desperation in his manner. "Come, Harkutt, buy my place. It's a bargain, +I tell you. I'll sell it cheap. I only want enough to get away with. +Give me twenty-five dollars and it's yours. See, there's the papers--the +quitclaim--all drawn up and signed." He drew the roll of paper from his +pocket again, apparently forgetful of the adjacent weapon. + +"Look here, 'Lige," said Harkutt, with a business-like straightening of +his lips, "I ain't buyin' any land in Tasajara,--least of all yours on +the creek. I've got more invested here already than I'll ever get back +again. But I tell you what I'll do. You say you can't go back to your +shanty. Well, seein' how rough it is outside, and that the waters of +the creek are probably all over the trail by this time, I reckon you're +about right. Now, there's five dollars!" He laid down a coin sharply on +the counter. "Take that and go over to Rawlett's and get a bed and +some supper. In the mornin' you may be able to strike up a trade with +somebody else--or change your mind. How did you get here? On your hoss?" + +"Yes." + +"He ain't starved yet?" + +"No; he can eat grass. I can't." + +Either the liquor or Harkutt's practical unsentimental treatment of +the situation seemed to give him confidence. He met Harkutt's eye more +steadily as the latter went on. "You kin turn your hoss for the night +into my stock corral next to Rawlett's. It'll save you payin' for fodder +and stablin'." + +The man took up the coin with a certain slow gravity which was almost +like dignity. "Thank you," he said, laying the paper on the counter. +"I'll leave that as security." + +"Don't want it, 'Lige," said Harkutt, pushing it back. + +"I'd rather leave it." + +"But suppose you have a chance to sell it to somebody at Rawlett's?" +continued Harkutt, with a precaution that seemed ironical. + +"I don't think there's much chance of that." + +He remained quiet, looking at Harkutt with an odd expression as +he rubbed the edge of the coin that he held between his fingers +abstractedly on the counter. Something in his gaze--rather perhaps +the apparent absence of anything in it approximate to the present +occasion--was beginning to affect Harkutt with a vague uneasiness. +Providentially a resumed onslaught of wind and rain against the panes +effected a diversion. "Come," he said, with brisk practicality, "you'd +better hurry on to Rawlett's before it gets worse. Have your clothes +dried by his fire, take suthin' to eat, and you'll be all right." He +rubbed his hands cheerfully, as if summarily disposing of the situation, +and incidentally of all 'Lige's troubles, and walked with him to the +door. Nevertheless, as the man's look remained unchanged, he hesitated +a moment with his hand on the handle, in the hope that he would say +something, even if only to repeat his appeal, but he did not. Then +Harkutt opened the door; the man moved mechanically out, and at the +distance of a few feet seemed to melt into the rain and darkness. +Harkutt remained for a moment with his face pressed against the glass. +After an interval he thought he heard the faint splash of hoofs in the +shallows of the road; he opened the door softly and looked out. + +The light had disappeared from the nearest house; only an uncertain bulk +of shapeless shadows remained. Other remoter and more vague outlines +near the horizon seemed to have a funereal suggestion of tombs and grave +mounds, and one--a low shed near the road--looked not unlike a halted +bier. He hurriedly put up the shutters in a momentary lulling of the +wind, and re-entering the store began to fasten them from within. + +While thus engaged an inner door behind the counter opened softly and +cautiously, projecting a brighter light into the deserted apartment from +some sacred domestic interior with the warm and wholesome incense of +cooking. It served to introduce also the equally agreeable presence of a +young girl, who, after assuring herself of the absence of every one but +the proprietor, idly slipped into the store, and placing her rounded +elbows, from which her sleeves were uprolled, upon the counter, leaned +lazily upon them, with both hands supporting her dimpled chin, and gazed +indolently at him; so indolently that, with her pretty face once +fixed in this comfortable attitude, she was constrained to follow his +movements with her eyes alone, and often at an uncomfortable angle. It +was evident that she offered the final but charming illustration of the +enfeebling listlessness of Sidon. + +"So those loafers have gone at last," she said, meditatively. "They'll +take root here some day, pop. The idea of three strong men like that +lazing round for two mortal hours doin' nothin'. Well!" As if to +emphasize her disgust she threw her whole weight upon the counter by +swinging her feet from the floor to touch the shelves behind her. + +Mr. Harkutt only replied by a slight grunt as he continued to screw on +the shutters. + +"Want me to help you, dad?" she said, without moving. + +Mr. Harkutt muttered something unintelligible, which, however, seemed to +imply a negative, and her attention here feebly wandered to the roll of +paper, and she began slowly and lazily to read it aloud. + +"'For value received, I hereby sell, assign, and transfer to Daniel D. +Harkutt all my right, titles and interest in, and to the undivided +half of, Quarter Section 4, Range 5, Tasajara Township'--hum--hum," she +murmured, running her eyes to the bottom of the page. "Why, Lord! It's +that 'Lige Curtis!" she laughed. "The idea of HIM having property! Why, +dad, you ain't been THAT silly!" + +"Put down that paper, miss," he said, aggrievedly; "bring the candle +here, and help me to find one of these infernal screws that's dropped." + +The girl indolently disengaged herself from the counter and Elijah +Curtis's transfer, and brought the candle to her father. The screw was +presently found and the last fastening secured. "Supper gettin' cold, +dad," she said, with a slight yawn. Her father sympathetically responded +by stretching himself from his stooping position, and the two passed +through the private door into inner domesticity, leaving the already +forgotten paper lying with other articles of barter on the counter. + + + + +CHAPER II. + + +With the closing of the little door behind them they seemed to have shut +out the turmoil and vibration of the storm. The reason became apparent +when, after a few paces, they descended half a dozen steps to a lower +landing. This disclosed the fact that the dwelling part of the Sidon +General Store was quite below the level of the shop and the road, and +on the slope of the solitary undulation of the Tasajara plain,--a little +ravine that fell away to a brawling stream below. The only arboreous +growth of Tasajara clothed its banks in the shape of willows and alders +that set compactly around the quaint, irregular dwelling which straggled +down the ravine and looked upon a slope of bracken and foliage on either +side. The transition from the black, treeless, storm-swept plain to this +sheltered declivity was striking and suggestive. From the opposite bank +one might fancy that the youthful and original dwelling had ambitiously +mounted the crest, but, appalled at the dreary prospect beyond, had +gone no further; while from the road it seemed as if the fastidious +proprietor had tried to draw a line between the vulgar trading-post, +with which he was obliged to face the coarser civilization of the place, +and the privacy of his domestic life. The real fact, however, was that +the ravine furnished wood and water; and as Nature also provided one +wall of the house,--as in the well-known example of aboriginal cave +dwellings,--its peculiar construction commended itself to Sidon on the +ground of involving little labor. + +Howbeit, from the two open windows of the sitting-room which they had +entered only the faint pattering of dripping boughs and a slight murmur +from the swollen brook indicated the storm that shook the upper plain, +and the cool breath of laurel, syringa, and alder was wafted through +the neat apartment. Passing through that pleasant rural atmosphere +they entered the kitchen, a much larger room, which appeared to serve +occasionally as a dining-room, and where supper was already laid out. +A stout, comfortable-looking woman--who had, however, a singularly +permanent expression of pained sympathy upon her face--welcomed them in +tones of gentle commiseration. + +"Ah, there you be, you two! Now sit ye right down, dears; DO. You +must be tired out; and you, Phemie, love, draw up by your poor father. +There--that's right. You'll be better soon." + +There was certainly no visible sign of suffering or exhaustion on the +part of either father or daughter, nor the slightest apparent earthly +reason why they should be expected to exhibit any. But, as already +intimated, it was part of Mrs. Harkutt's generous idiosyncrasy to look +upon all humanity as suffering and toiling; to be petted, humored, +condoled with, and fed. It had, in the course of years, imparted a +singularly caressing sadness to her voice, and given her the habit of +ending her sentences with a melancholy cooing and an unintelligible +murmur of agreement. It was undoubtedly sincere and sympathetic, but at +times inappropriate and distressing. It had lost her the friendship of +the one humorist of Tasajara, whose best jokes she had received with +such heartfelt commiseration and such pained appreciation of the evident +labor involved as to reduce him to silence. + +Accustomed as Mr. Harkutt was to his wife's peculiarity, he was not +above assuming a certain slightly fatigued attitude befitting it. "Yes," +he said, with a vague sigh, "where's Clemmie?" + +"Lyin' down since dinner; she reckoned she wouldn't get up to supper," +she returned soothingly. "Phemie's goin' to take her up some sass and +tea. The poor dear child wants a change." + +"She wants to go to 'Frisco, and so do I, pop," said Phemie, leaning +her elbow half over her father's plate. "Come, pop, say do,--just for a +week." + +"Only for a week," murmured the commiserating Mrs. Harkutt. + +"Perhaps," responded Harkutt, with gloomy sarcasm, "ye wouldn't mind +tellin' me how you're goin' to get there, and where the money's comin' +from to take you? There's no teamin' over Tasajara till the rain stops, +and no money comin' in till the ranchmen can move their stuff. There +ain't a hundred dollars in all Tasajara; at least there ain't been the +first red cent of it paid across my counter for a fortnit! Perhaps if +you do go you wouldn't mind takin' me and the store along with ye, and +leavin' us there." + +"Yes, dear," said Mrs. Harkutt, with sympathetic but shameless +tergiversation. "Don't bother your poor father, Phemie, love; don't you +see he's just tired out? And you're not eatin' anything, dad." + +As Mr. Harkutt was uneasily conscious that he had been eating heartily +in spite of his financial difficulties, he turned the subject abruptly. +"Where's John Milton?" + +Mrs. Harkutt shaded her eyes with her hand, and gazed meditatively on +the floor before the fire and in the chimney corner for her only son, +baptized under that historic title. "He was here a minit ago," she said +doubtfully. "I really can't think where he's gone. But," assuringly, "it +ain't far." + +"He's skipped with one o' those story-books he's borrowed," said Phemie. +"He's always doin' it. Like as not he's reading with a candle in the +wood-shed. We'll all be burnt up some night." + +"But he's got through his chores," interposed Mrs. Harkutt +deprecatingly. + +"Yes," continued Harkutt, aggrievedly, "but instead of goin' to bed, or +addin' up bills, or takin' count o' stock, or even doin' sums or suthin' +useful, he's ruinin' his eyes and wastin' his time over trash." He rose +and walked slowly into the sitting-room, followed by his daughter and a +murmur of commiseration from his wife. But Mrs. Harkutt's ministration +for the present did not pass beyond her domain, the kitchen. + +"I reckon ye ain't expectin' anybody tonight, Phemie?" said Mr. Harkutt, +sinking into a chair, and placing his slippered feet against the wall. + +"No," said Phemie, "unless something possesses that sappy little Parmlee +to make one of his visitations. John Milton says that out on the road +it blows so you can't stand up. It's just like that idiot Parmlee to be +blown in here, and not have strength of mind enough to get away again." + +Mr. Harkutt smiled. It was that arch yet approving, severe yet +satisfied smile with which the deceived male parent usually receives any +depreciation of the ordinary young man by his daughters. Euphemia was +no giddy thing to be carried away by young men's attentions,--not +she! Sitting back comfortably in his rocking-chair, he said, "Play +something." + +The young girl went to the closet and took from the top shelf an +excessively ornamented accordion,--the opulent gift of a reckless +admirer. It was so inordinately decorated, so gorgeous in the blaze of +papier mache, mother-of-pearl, and tortoise-shell on keys and keyboard, +and so ostentatiously radiant in the pink silk of its bellows that it +seemed to overawe the plainly furnished room with its splendors. "You +ought to keep it on the table in a glass vase, Phemie," said her father +admiringly. + +"And have HIM think I worshiped it! Not me, indeed! He's conceited +enough already," she returned, saucily. + +Mr. Harkutt again smiled his approbation, then deliberately closed his +eyes and threw his head back in comfortable anticipation of the coming +strains. + +It is to be regretted that in brilliancy, finish, and even cheerfulness +of quality they were not up to the suggestions of the keys and keyboard. +The most discreet and cautious effort on the part of the young performer +seemed only to produce startlingly unexpected, but instantly suppressed +complaints from the instrument, accompanied by impatient interjections +of "No, no," from the girl herself. Nevertheless, with her pretty +eyebrows knitted in some charming distress of memory, her little mouth +half open between an apologetic smile and the exertion of working the +bellows, with her white, rounded arms partly lifted up and waving +before her, she was pleasantly distracting to the eye. Gradually, as the +scattered strains were marshaled into something like an air, she began +to sing also, glossing over the instrumental weaknesses, filling +in certain dropped notes and omissions, and otherwise assisting the +ineffectual accordion with a youthful but not unmusical voice. The song +was a lugubrious religious chant; under its influence the house seemed +to sink into greater quiet, permitting in the intervals the murmur of +the swollen creek to appear more distinct, and even the far moaning of +the wind on the plain to become faintly audible. At last, having fairly +mastered the instrument, Phemie got into the full swing of the chant. +Unconstrained by any criticism, carried away by the sound of her own +voice, and perhaps a youthful love for mere uproar, or possibly desirous +to drown her father's voice, which had unexpectedly joined in with a +discomposing bass, the conjoined utterances seemed to threaten the frail +structure of their dwelling, even as the gale had distended the store +behind them. When they ceased at last it was in an accession of dripping +from the apparently stirred leaves outside. And then a voice, evidently +from the moist depths of the abyss below, called out,-- + +"Hullo, there!" + +Phemie put down the accordion, said, "Who's that now?" went to the +window, lazily leaned her elbows on the sill, and peered into the +darkness. Nothing was to be seen; the open space of dimly outlined +landscape had that blank, uncommunicative impenetrability with which +Nature always confronts and surprises us at such moments. It seemed to +Phemie that she was the only human being present. Yet after the feeling +had passed she fancied she heard the wash of the current against some +object in the stream, half stationary and half resisting. + +"Is any one down there? Is that you, Mr. Parmlee?" she called. + +There was a pause. Some invisible auditor said to another, "It's a young +lady." Then the first voice rose again in a more deferential tone: "Are +we anywhere near Sidon?" + +"This is Sidon," answered Harkutt, who had risen, and was now quite +obliterating his daughter's outline at the window. + +"Thank you," said the voice. "Can we land anywhere here, on this bank?" + +"Run down, pop; they're strangers," said the girl, with excited, almost +childish eagerness. + +"Hold on," called out Harkutt, "I'll be thar in a moment!" He hastily +thrust his feet into a pair of huge boots, clapped on an oilskin hat +and waterproof, and disappeared through a door that led to a lower +staircase. Phemie, still at the window, albeit with a newly added sense +of self-consciousness, hung out breathlessly. Presently a beam of light +from the lower depths of the house shot out into the darkness. It was +her father with a bull's-eye lantern. As he held it up and clambered +cautiously down the bank, its rays fell upon the turbid rushing stream, +and what appeared to be a rough raft of logs held with difficulty +against the bank by two men with long poles. In its centre was a roll +of blankets, a valise and saddle-bags, and the shining brasses of some +odd-looking instruments. + +As Mr. Harkutt, supporting himself by a willow branch that overhung +the current, held up the lantern, the two men rapidly transferred their +freight from the raft to the bank, and leaped ashore. The action gave +an impulse to the raft, which, no longer held in position by the +poles, swung broadside to the current and was instantly swept into the +darkness. + +Not a word had been spoken, but now the voices of the men rose freely +together. Phemie listened with intense expectation. The explanation +was simple. They were surveyors who had been caught by the overflow +on Tasajara plain, had abandoned their horses on the bank of Tasajara +Creek, and with a hastily constructed raft had intrusted themselves and +their instruments to the current. "But," said Harkutt quickly, "there is +no connection between Tasajara Creek and this stream." + +The two men laughed. "There is NOW," said one of them. + +"But Tasajara Creek is a part of the bay," said the astonished Harkutt, +"and this stream rises inland and only runs into the bay four miles +lower down. And I don't see how-- + +"You're almost twelve feet lower here than Tasajara Creek," said the +first man, with a certain professional authority, "and that's WHY. +There's more water than Tasajara Creek can carry, and it's seeking the +bay this way. Look," he continued, taking the lantern from Harkutt's +hand and casting its rays on the stream, "that's salt drift from the +upper bay, and part of Tasajara Creek's running by your house now! Don't +be alarmed," he added reassuringly, glancing at the staring storekeeper. +"You're all right here; this is only the overflow and will find its +level soon." + +But Mr. Harkutt remained gazing abstractedly at the smiling speaker. +From the window above the impatient Phemie was wondering why he kept +the strangers waiting in the rain while he talked about things that were +perfectly plain. It was so like a man! + +"Then there's a waterway straight to Tasajara Creek?" he said slowly. + +"There is, as long as this flood lasts," returned the first speaker +promptly; "and a cutting through the bank of two or three hundred yards +would make it permanent. Well, what's the matter with that?" + +"Nothin'," said Harkutt hurriedly. "I am only considerin'! But come in, +dry yourselves, and take suthin'." + +The light over the rushing water was withdrawn, and the whole prospect +sank back into profound darkness. Mr. Harkutt had disappeared with +his guests. Then there was the familiar shuffle of his feet on +the staircase, followed by other more cautious footsteps that grew +delicately and even courteously deliberate as they approached. At which +the young girl, in some new sense of decorum, drew in her pretty head, +glanced around the room quickly, reset the tidy on her father's chair, +placed the resplendent accordion like an ornament in the exact centre of +the table, and then vanished into the hall as Mr. Harkutt entered with +the strangers. + +They were both of the same age and appearance, but the principal speaker +was evidently the superior of his companion, and although their attitude +to each other was equal and familiar, it could be easily seen that +he was the leader. He had a smooth, beardless face, with a critical +expression of eye and mouth that might have been fastidious and +supercilious but for the kindly, humorous perception that tempered +it. His quick eye swept the apartment and then fixed itself upon the +accordion, but a smile lit up his face as he said quietly,-- + +"I hope we haven't frightened the musician away. It was bad enough to +have interrupted the young lady." + +"No, no," said Mr. Harkutt, who seemed to have lost his abstraction in +the nervousness of hospitality. "I reckon she's only lookin' after her +sick sister. But come into the kitchen, both of you, straight off, and +while you're dryin' your clothes, mother'll fix you suthin' hot." + +"We only need to change our boots and stockings; we've some dry ones in +our pack downstairs," said the first speaker hesitatingly. + +"I'll fetch 'em up and you can change in the kitchen. The old woman +won't mind," said Harkutt reassuringly. "Come along." He led the way to +the kitchen; the two strangers exchanged a glance of humorous perplexity +and followed. + +The quiet of the little room was once more unbroken. A far-off +commiserating murmur indicated that Mrs. Harkutt was receiving her +guests. The cool breath of the wet leaves without slightly stirred the +white dimity curtains, and somewhere from the darkened eaves there was +a still, somnolent drip. Presently a hurried whisper and a half-laugh +appeared to be suppressed in the outer passage or hall. There +was another moment of hesitation and the door opened suddenly and +ostentatiously, disclosing Phemie, with a taller and slighter young +woman, her elder sister, at her side. Perceiving that the room was +empty, they both said "Oh!" yet with a certain artificiality of manner +that was evidently a lingering trace of some previous formal attitude +they had assumed. Then without further speech they each selected a +chair and a position, having first shaken out their dresses, and gazed +silently at each other. + +It may be said briefly that sitting thus--in spite of their unnatural +attitude, or perhaps rather because of its suggestion of a photographic +pose--they made a striking picture, and strongly accented their separate +peculiarities. They were both pretty, but the taller girl, apparently +the elder, had an ideal refinement and regularity of feature which was +not only unlike Phemie, but gratuitously unlike the rest of her family, +and as hopelessly and even wantonly inconsistent with her surroundings +as was the elaborately ornamented accordion on the centre-table. She was +one of those occasional creatures, episodical in the South and West, +who might have been stamped with some vague ante-natal impression of a +mother given to over-sentimental contemplation of books of beauty and +albums rather than the family features; offspring of typical men and +women, and yet themselves incongruous to any known local or even general +type. The long swan-like neck, tendriled hair, swimming eyes, and small +patrician head, had never lived or moved before in Tasajara or the +West, nor perhaps even existed except as a personified "Constancy," +"Meditation," or the "Baron's Bride," in mezzotint or copperplate. Even +the girl's common pink print dress with its high sleeves and shoulders +could not conventionalize these original outlines; and the hand that +rested stiffly on the back of her chair, albeit neither over-white nor +well kept, looked as if it had never held anything but a lyre, a rose, +or a good book. Even the few sprays of wild jessamine which she had +placed in the coils of her waving hair, although a local fashion, became +her as a special ornament. + +The two girls kept their constrained and artificially elaborated +attitude for a few moments, accompanied by the murmur of voices in the +kitchen, the monotonous drip of the eaves before the window, and the +far-off sough of the wind. Then Phemie suddenly broke into a constrained +giggle, which she however quickly smothered as she had the accordion, +and with the same look of mischievous distress. + +"I'm astonished at you, Phemie," said Clementina in a deep contralto +voice, which seemed even deeper from its restraint. "You don't seem to +have any sense. Anybody'd think you never had seen a stranger before." + +"Saw him before you did," retorted Phemie pertly. But here a pushing +of chairs and shuffling of feet in the kitchen checked her. Clementina +fixed an abstracted gaze on the ceiling; Phemie regarded a leaf on +the window sill with photographic rigidity as the door opened to the +strangers and her father. + +The look of undisguised satisfaction which lit the young men's faces +relieved Mr. Harkutt's awkward introduction of any embarrassment, and +almost before Phemie was fully aware of it, she found herself talking +rapidly and in a high key with Mr. Lawrence Grant, the surveyor, while +her sister was equally, although more sedately, occupied with Mr. +Stephen Rice, his assistant. But the enthusiasm of the strangers, and +the desire to please and be pleased was so genuine and contagious that +presently the accordion was brought into requisition, and Mr. Grant +exhibited a surprising faculty of accompaniment to Mr. Rice's tenor, in +which both the girls joined. + +Then a game of cards with partners followed, into which the rival +parties introduced such delightful and shameless obviousness of +cheating, and displayed such fascinating and exaggerated partisanship +that the game resolved itself into a hilarious melee, to which peace was +restored only by an exhibition of tricks of legerdemain with the +cards by the young surveyor. All of which Mr. Harkutt supervised +patronizingly, with occasional fits of abstraction, from his +rocking-chair; and later Mrs. Harkutt from her kitchen threshold, wiping +her arms on her apron and commiseratingly observing that she "declared, +the young folks looked better already." + +But it was here a more dangerous element of mystery and suggestion was +added by Mr. Lawrence Grant in the telling of Miss Euphemia's fortune +from the cards before him, and that young lady, pink with excitement, +fluttered her little hands not unlike timid birds over the cards to be +drawn, taking them from him with an audible twitter of anxiety and +great doubts whether a certain "fair-haired gentleman" was in hearts or +diamonds. + +"Here are two strangers," said Mr. Grant, with extraordinary gravity +laying down the cards, "and here is a 'journey;' this is 'unexpected +news,' and this ten of diamonds means 'great wealth' to you, which you +see follows the advent of the two strangers and is some way connected +with them." + +"Oh, indeed," said the young lady with great pertness and a toss of her +head. "I suppose they've got the money with them." + +"No, though it reaches you through them," he answered with unflinching +solemnity. "Wait a bit, I have it! I see, I've made a mistake with this +card. It signifies a journey or a road. Queer! isn't it, Steve? It's THE +ROAD." + +"It is queer," said Rice with equal gravity; "but it's so. The road, +sure!" Nevertheless he looked up into the large eyes of Clementina with +a certain confidential air of truthfulness. + +"You see, ladies," continued the surveyor, appealing to them with +unabashed rigidity of feature, "the cards don't lie! Luckily we are in +a position to corroborate them. The road in question is a secret known +only to us and some capitalists in San Francisco. In fact even THEY +don't know that it is feasible until WE report to them. But I don't mind +telling you now, as a slight return for your charming hospitality, that +the road is a RAILROAD from Oakland to Tasajara Creek of which we've +just made the preliminary survey. So you see what the cards mean is +this: You're not far from Tasajara Creek; in fact with a very little +expense your father could connect this stream with the creek, and have a +WATERWAY STRAIGHT TO THE RAILROAD TERMINUS. That's the wealth the cards +promise; and if your father knows how to take a hint he can make his +fortune!" + +It was impossible to say which was the most dominant in the face of the +speaker, the expression of assumed gravity or the twinkling of humor in +his eyes. The two girls with superior feminine perception divined +that there was much truth in what he said, albeit they didn't +entirely understand it, and what they did understand--except the man's +good-humored motive--was not particularly interesting. In fact they +were slightly disappointed. What had promised to be an audaciously +flirtatious declaration, and even a mischievous suggestion of marriage, +had resolved itself into something absurdly practical and business-like. + +Not so Mr. Harkutt. He quickly rose from his chair, and, leaning over +the table, with his eyes fixed on the card as if it really signified the +railroad, repeated quickly: "Railroad, eh! What's that? A railroad to +Tasajara Creek? Ye don't mean it!--That is--it ain't a SURE thing?" + +"Perfectly sure. The money is ready in San Francisco now, and by this +time next year--" + +"A railroad to Tasajara Creek!" continued Harkutt hurriedly. "What part +of it? Where?" + +"At the embarcadero naturally," responded Grant. "There isn't but the +one place for the terminus. There's an old shanty there now belongs to +somebody." + +"Why, pop!" said Phemie with sudden recollection, "ain't it 'Lige +Curtis's house? The land he offered"-- + +"Hush!" said her father. + +"You know, the one written in that bit of paper," continued the innocent +Phemie. + +"Hush! will you? God A'mighty! are you goin' to mind me? Are you goin' +to keep up your jabber when I'm speakin' to the gentlemen? Is that your +manners? What next, I wonder!" + +The sudden and unexpected passion of the speaker, the incomprehensible +change in his voice, and the utterly disproportionate exaggeration of +his attitude towards his daughters, enforced an instantaneous silence. +The rain began to drip audibly at the window, the rush of the river +sounded distinctly from without, even the shaking of the front part +of the dwelling by the distant gale became perceptible. An angry flash +sprang for an instant to the young assistant's eye, but it met the +cautious glance of his friend, and together both discreetly sought the +table. The two girls alone remained white and collected. "Will you go on +with my fortune, Mr. Grant?" said Phemie quietly. + +A certain respect, perhaps not before observable, was suggested in the +surveyor's tone as he smilingly replied, "Certainly, I was only waiting +for you to show your confidence in me," and took up the cards. + +Mr. Harkutt coughed. "It looks as if that blamed wind had blown suthin' +loose in the store," he said affectedly. "I reckon I'll go and see." He +hesitated a moment and then disappeared in the passage. Yet even here he +stood irresolute, looking at the closed door behind him, and passing his +hand over his still flushed face. Presently he slowly and abstractedly +ascended the flight of steps, entered the smaller passage that led to +the back door of the shop and opened it. + +He was at first a little startled at the halo of light from the +still glowing stove, which the greater obscurity of the long room had +heightened rather than diminished. Then he passed behind the counter, +but here the box of biscuits which occupied the centre and cast a shadow +over it compelled him to grope vaguely for what he sought. Then he +stopped suddenly, the paper he had just found dropping from his fingers, +and said sharply,-- + +"Who's there?" + +"Me, pop." + +"John Milton?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"What the devil are you doin' there, sir?" + +"Readin'." + +It was true. The boy was half reclining in a most distorted posture on +two chairs, his figure in deep shadow, but his book was raised above his +head so as to catch the red glow of the stove on the printed page. +Even then his father's angry interruption scarcely diverted his +preoccupation; he raised himself in his chair mechanically, with his +eyes still fixed on his book. Seeing which his father quickly regained +the paper, but continued his objurgation. + +"How dare you? Clear off to bed, will you! Do you hear me? Pretty +goin's on," he added as if to justify his indignation. "Sneakin' in here +and--and lyin' 'round at this time o' night! Why, if I hadn't come in +here to"-- + +"What?" asked the boy mechanically, catching vaguely at the unfinished +sentence and staring automatically at the paper in his father's hand. + +"Nothin', sir! Go to bed, I tell you! Will you? What are you standin' +gawpin' at?" continued Harkutt furiously. + +The boy regained his feet slowly and passed his father, but not without +noticing with the same listless yet ineffaceable perception of childhood +that he was hurriedly concealing the paper in his pocket. With the same +youthful inconsequence, wondering at this more than at the interruption, +which was no novel event, he went slowly out of the room. + +Harkutt listened to the retreating tread of his bare feet in the passage +and then carefully locked the door. Taking the paper from his pocket, +and borrowing the idea he had just objurgated in his son, he turned it +towards the dull glow of the stove and attempted to read it. But perhaps +lacking the patience as well as the keener sight of youth, he was forced +to relight the candle which he had left on the counter, and reperused +the paper. Yes! there was certainly no mistake! Here was the actual +description of the property which the surveyor had just indicated as +the future terminus of the new railroad, and here it was conveyed to +him--Daniel Harkutt! What was that? Somebody knocking? What did this +continual interruption mean? An odd superstitious fear now mingled with +his irritation. + +The sound appeared to come from the front shutters. It suddenly +occurred to him that the light might be visible through the crevices. He +hurriedly extinguished it, and went to the door. + +"Who's there?" + +"Me,--Peters. Want to speak to you." + +Mr. Harkutt with evident reluctance drew the bolts. The wind, still +boisterous and besieging, did the rest, and precipitately propelled +Peters through the carefully guarded opening. But his surprise at +finding himself in the darkness seemed to forestall any explanation of +his visit. + +"Well," he said with an odd mingling of reproach and suspicion. "I +declare I saw a light here just this minit! That's queer." + +"Yes, I put it out just now. I was goin' away," replied Harkutt, with +ill-disguised impatience. + +"What! been here ever since?" + +"No," said Harkutt curtly. + +"Well, I want to speak to ye about 'Lige. Seein' the candle shinin' +through the chinks I thought he might be still with ye. If he ain't, it +looks bad. Light up, can't ye! I want to show you something." + +There was a peremptoriness in his tone that struck Harkutt disagreeably, +but observing that he was carrying something in his hand, he somewhat +nervously re-lit the candle and faced him. Peters had a hat in his hand. +It was 'Lige's! + +"'Bout an hour after we fellers left here," said Peters, "I heard the +rattlin' of hoofs on the road, and then it seemed to stop just by my +house. I went out with a lantern, and, darn my skin! if there warn't +'Lige's hoss, the saddle empty, and 'Lige nowhere! I looked round and +called him--but nothing were to be seen. Thinkin' he might have slipped +off--tho' ez a general rule drunken men don't, and he is a good rider--I +followed down the road, lookin' for him. I kept on follerin' it down to +your run, half a mile below." + +"But," began Harkutt, with a quick nervous laugh, "you don't reckon that +because of that he"-- + +"Hold on!" said Peters, grimly producing a revolver from his side-pocket +with the stock and barrel clogged and streaked with mud. "I found THAT +too,--and look! one barrel discharged! And," he added hurriedly, as +approaching a climax, "look ye,--what I nat'rally took for wet from the +rain--inside that hat--was--blood!" + +"Nonsense!" said Harkutt, putting the hat aside with a new +fastidiousness. "You don't think"-- + +"I think," said Peters, lowering his voice, "I think, by God! HE'S BIN +AND DONE IT!" + +"No!" + +"Sure! Oh, it's all very well for Billings and the rest of that +conceited crowd to sneer and sling their ideas of 'Lige gen'rally as +they did jess now here,--but I'd like 'em to see THAT." It was difficult +to tell if Mr. Peters' triumphant delight in confuting his late +companions' theories had not even usurped in his mind the importance of +the news he brought, as it had of any human sympathy with it. + +"Look here," returned Harkutt earnestly, yet with a singularly cleared +brow and a more natural manner. "You ought to take them things over to +Squire Kerby's, right off, and show 'em to him. You kin tell him how you +left 'Lige here, and say that I can prove by my daughter that he went +away about ten minutes after,--at least, not more than fifteen." Like +all unprofessional humanity, Mr. Harkutt had an exaggerated conception +of the majesty of unimportant detail in the eye of the law. "I'd go with +you myself," he added quickly, "but I've got company--strangers--here." + +"How did he look when he left,--kinder wild?" suggested Peters. + +Harkutt had begun to feel the prudence of present reticence. "Well," he +said, cautiously, "YOU saw how he looked." + +"You wasn't rough with him?--that might have sent him off, you know," +said Peters. + +"No," said Harkutt, forgetting himself in a quick indignation, "no, +I not only treated him to another drink, but gave him"--he stopped +suddenly and awkwardly. + +"Eh?" said Peters. + +"Some good advice,--you know," said Harkutt, hastily. "But come, you'd +better hurry over to the squire's. You know YOU'VE made the discovery; +YOUR evidence is important, and there's a law that obliges you to give +information at once." + +The excitement of discovery and the triumph over his disputants being +spent, Peters, after the Sidon fashion, evidently did not relish +activity as a duty. "You know," he said dubiously, "he mightn't be dead, +after all." + +Harkutt became a trifle distant. "You know your own opinion of the +thing," he replied after a pause. "You've circumstantial evidence +enough to see the squire, and set others to work on it; and," he added +significantly, "you've done your share then, and can wipe your hands of +it, eh?" + +"That's so," said Peters, eagerly. "I'll just run over to the squire." + +"And on account of the women folks, you know, and the strangers here, +I'll say nothin' about it to-night," added Harkutt. + +Peters nodded his head, and taking up the hat of the unfortunate Elijah +with a certain hesitation, as if he feared it had already lost its +dramatic intensity as a witness, disappeared into the storm and darkness +again. A lurking gust of wind lying in ambush somewhere seemed to swoop +down on him as if to prevent further indecision and whirl him away in +the direction of the justice's house; and Mr. Harkutt shut the door, +bolted it, and walked aimlessly back to the counter. + +From a slow, deliberate and cautious man, he seemed to have changed +within an hour to an irresolute and capricious one. He took the paper +from his pocket, and, unlocking the money drawer of his counter, folded +into a small compass that which now seemed to be the last testament of +Elijah Curtis, and placed it in a recess. Then he went to the back door +and paused, then returned, reopened the money drawer, took out the +paper and again buttoned it in his hip pocket, standing by the stove and +staring abstractedly at the dull glow of the fire. He even went through +the mechanical process of raking down the ashes,--solely to gain time +and as an excuse for delaying some other necessary action. + +He was thinking what he should do. Had the question of his right to +retain and make use of that paper been squarely offered to him an hour +ago, he would without doubt have decided that he ought not to keep it. +Even now, looking at it as an abstract principle, he did not deceive +himself in the least. But Nature has the reprehensible habit of +not presenting these questions to us squarely and fairly, and it is +remarkable that in most of our offending the abstract principle is never +the direct issue. Mr. Harkutt was conscious of having been unwillingly +led step by step into a difficult, not to say dishonest, situation, +and against his own seeking. He had never asked Elijah to sell him the +property; he had distinctly declined it; it had even been forced upon +him as security for the pittance he so freely gave him. This proved (to +himself) that he himself was honest; it was only the circumstances that +were queer. Of course if Elijah had lived, he, Harkutt, might have tried +to drive some bargain with him before the news of the railroad survey +came out--for THAT was only business. But now that Elijah was dead, who +would be a penny the worse or better but himself if he chose to consider +the whole thing as a lucky speculation, and his gift of five dollars as +the price he paid for it? Nobody could think that he had calculated upon +'Lige's suicide, any more than that the property would become valuable. +In fact if it came to that, if 'Lige had really contemplated killing +himself as a hopeless bankrupt after taking Harkutt's money as a loan, +it was a swindle on his--Harkutt's--good-nature. He worked himself into +a rage, which he felt was innately virtuous, at this tyranny of cold +principle over his own warm-hearted instincts, but if it came to the +LAW, he'd stand by law and not sentiment. He'd just let them--by +which he vaguely meant the world, Tasajara, and possibly his own +conscience--see that he wasn't a sentimental fool, and he'd freeze on to +that paper and that property! + +Only he ought to have spoken out before. He ought to have told the +surveyor at once that he owned the land. He ought to have said: "Why, +that's my land. I bought it of that drunken 'Lige Curtis for a song and +out of charity." Yes, that was the only real trouble, and that came from +his own goodness, his own extravagant sense of justice and right,--his +own cursed good-nature. Yet, on second thoughts, he didn't know why he +was obliged to tell the surveyor. Time enough when the company wanted to +buy the land. As soon as it was settled that 'Lige was dead he'd openly +claim the property. But what if he wasn't dead? or they couldn't find +his body? or he had only disappeared? His plain, matter-of-fact face +contracted and darkened. Of course he couldn't ask the company to +wait for him to settle that point. He had the power to dispose of the +property under that paper, and--he should do it. If 'Lige turned up, +that was another matter, and he and 'Lige could arrange it between them. +He was quite firm here, and oddly enough quite relieved in getting rid +of what appeared only a simple question of detail. He never suspected +that he was contemplating the one irretrievable step, and summarily +dismissing the whole ethical question. + +He turned away from the stove, opened the back door, and walked with a +more determined step through the passage to the sitting-room. But here +he halted again on the threshold with a quick return of his old habits +of caution. The door was slightly open; apparently his angry outbreak of +an hour ago had not affected the spirits of his daughters, for he could +hear their hilarious voices mingling with those of the strangers. They +were evidently still fortune-telling, but this time it was the prophetic +and divining accents of Mr. Rice addressed to Clementina which were now +plainly audible. + +"I see heaps of money and a great many friends in the change that is +coming to you. Dear me! how many suitors! But I cannot promise you any +marriage as brilliant as my friend has just offered your sister. You may +be certain, however, that you'll have your own choice in this, as you +have in all things." + +"Thank you for nothing," said Clementina's voice. "But what are those +horrid black cards beside them?--that's trouble, I'm sure." + +"Not for you, though near you. Perhaps some one you don't care much for +and don't understand will have a heap of trouble on your account,--yes, +on account of these very riches; see, he follows the ten of diamonds. It +may be a suitor; it may be some one now in the house, perhaps." + +"He means himself, Miss Clementina," struck in Grant's voice laughingly. + +"You're not listening, Miss Harkutt," said Rice with half-serious +reproach. "Perhaps you know who it is?" + +But Miss Clementina's reply was simply a hurried recognition of her +father's pale face that here suddenly confronted her with the opening +door. + +"Why, it's father!" + + + + +CHAPER III. + + +In his strange mental condition even the change from Harkutt's feeble +candle to the outer darkness for a moment blinded Elijah Curtis, yet it +was part of that mental condition that he kept moving steadily forward +as in a trance or dream, though at first purposelessly. Then it occurred +to him that he was really looking for his horse, and that the animal was +not there. This for a moment confused and frightened him, first with the +supposition that he had not brought him at all, but that it was part of +his delusion; secondly, with the conviction that without his horse +he could neither proceed on the course suggested by Harkutt, nor take +another more vague one that was dimly in his mind. Yet in his hopeless +vacillation it seemed a relief that now neither was practicable, and +that he need do nothing. Perhaps it was a mysterious providence! + +The explanation, however, was much simpler. The horse had been taken by +the luxurious and indolent Billings unknown to his companions. Overcome +at the dreadful prospect of walking home in that weather, this perfect +product of lethargic Sidon had artfully allowed Peters and Wingate to +precede him, and, cautiously unloosing the tethered animal, had safely +passed them in the darkness. When he gained his own inclosure he had +lazily dismounted, and, with a sharp cut on the mustang's haunches, +sent him galloping back to rejoin his master, with what result has been +already told by the unsuspecting Peters in the preceding chapter. + +Yet no conception of this possibility entered 'Lige Curtis's alcoholized +consciousness, part of whose morbid phantasy it was to distort or +exaggerate all natural phenomena. He had a vague idea that he could not +go back to Harkutt's; already his visit seemed to have happened long, +long ago, and could not be repeated. He would walk on, enwrapped in +this uncompromising darkness which concealed everything, suggested +everything, and was responsible for everything. + +It was very dark, for the wind, having lulled, no longer thinned the +veil of clouds above, nor dissipated a steaming mist that appeared to +rise from the sodden plain. Yet he moved easily through the darkness, +seeming to be upheld by it as something tangible, upon which he might +lean. At times he thought he heard voices,--not a particular voice he +was thinking of, but strange voices--of course unreal to his present +fancy. And then he heard one of these voices, unlike any voice in +Sidon, and very faint and far off, asking if it "was anywhere near +Sidon?"--evidently some one lost like himself. He answered in a voice +that seemed quite as unreal and as faint, and turned in the direction +from which it came. There was a light moving like a will-o'-the-wisp far +before him, yet below him as if coming out of the depths of the earth. +It must be fancy, but he would see--ah! + +He had fallen violently forward, and at the same moment felt his +revolver leap from his breast pocket like a living thing, and an instant +after explode upon the rock where it struck, blindingly illuminating the +declivity down which he was plunging. The sulphurous sting of burning +powder was in his eyes and nose, yet in that swift revealing flash he +had time to clutch the stems of a trailing vine beside him, but not +to save his head from sharp contact with the same rocky ledge that had +caught his pistol. The pain and shock gave way to a sickening sense of +warmth at the roots of his hair. Giddy and faint, his fingers relaxed, +he felt himself sinking, with a languor that was half acquiescence, +down, down,--until, with another shock, a wild gasping for air, and a +swift reaction, he awoke in the cold, rushing water! + +Clear and perfectly conscious now, though frantically fighting for +existence with the current, he could dimly see a floating black object +shooting by the shore, at times striking the projections of the bank, +until in its recoil it swung half round and drifted broadside on towards +him. He was near enough to catch the frayed ends of a trailing rope that +fastened the structure, which seemed to be a few logs, together. With +a convulsive effort he at last gained a footing upon it, and then fell +fainting along its length. It was the raft which the surveyors from the +embarcadero had just abandoned. + +He did not know this, nor would he have thought it otherwise strange +that a raft might be a part of the drift of the overflow, even had he +been entirely conscious; but his senses were failing, though he was +still able to keep a secure position on the raft, and to vaguely believe +that it would carry him to some relief and succor. How long he lay +unconscious he never knew; in his after-recollections of that night, it +seemed to have been haunted by dreams of passing dim banks and strange +places; of a face and voice that had been pleasant to him; of a terror +coming upon him as he appeared to be nearing a place like that home that +he had abandoned in the lonely tules. He was roused at last by a violent +headache, as if his soft felt hat had been changed into a tightening +crown of iron. Lifting his hand to his head to tear off its covering, +he was surprised to find that he was wearing no hat, but that his matted +hair, stiffened and dried with blood and ooze, was clinging like a cap +to his skull in the hot morning sunlight. His eyelids and lashes were +glued together and weighted down by the same sanguinary plaster. He +crawled to the edge of his frail raft, not without difficulty, for it +oscillated and rocked strangely, and dipped his hand in the current. +When he had cleared his eyes he lifted them with a shock of amazement. +Creeks, banks, and plain had disappeared; he was alone on a bend of the +tossing bay of San Francisco! + +His first and only sense--cleared by fasting and quickened by +reaction--was one of infinite relief. He was not only free from the +vague terrors of the preceding days and nights, but his whole past +seemed to be lost and sunk forever in this illimitable expanse. The low +plain of Tasajara, with its steadfast monotony of light and shadow, +had sunk beneath another level, but one that glistened, sparkled, was +instinct with varying life, and moved and even danced below him. The low +palisades of regularly recurring tules that had fenced in, impeded, but +never relieved the blankness of his horizon, were forever swallowed +up behind him. All trail of past degradation, all record of pain and +suffering, all footprints of his wandering and misguided feet were +smoothly wiped out in that obliterating sea. He was physically helpless, +and he felt it; he was in danger, and he knew it,--but he was free! + +Happily there was but little wind and the sea was slight. The raft was +still intact so far as he could judge, but even in his ignorance he +knew it would scarcely stand the surges of the lower bay. Like most +Californians who had passed the straits of Carquinez at night in a +steamer, he did not recognize the locality, nor even the distant peak +of Tamalpais. There were a few dotting sails that seemed as remote, +as uncertain, and as unfriendly as sea birds. The raft was motionless, +almost as motionless as he was in his cramped limbs and sun-dried, +stiffened clothes. Too weak to keep an upright position, without mast, +stick, or oar to lift a signal above that vast expanse, it seemed +impossible for him to attract attention. Even his pistol was gone. + +Suddenly, in an attempt to raise himself, he was struck by a flash so +blinding that it seemed to pierce his aching eyes and brain and turned +him sick. It appeared to come from a crevice between the logs at the +further end of the raft. Creeping painfully towards it he saw that it +was a triangular slip of highly polished metal that he had hitherto +overlooked. He did not know that it was a "flashing" mirror used +in topographical observation, which had slipped from the surveyors' +instruments when they abandoned the raft, but his excited faculties +instinctively detected its value to him. He lifted it, and, facing the +sun, raised it at different angles with his feeble arms. But the effort +was too much for him; the raft presently seemed to be whirling with his +movement, and he again fell. + +***** + +"Ahoy there!" + +The voice was close upon--in his very ears. He opened his eyes. The sea +still stretched emptily before him; the dotting sails still unchanged +and distant. Yet a strange shadow lay upon the raft. He turned his head +with difficulty. On the opposite side--so close upon him as to be almost +over his head--the great white sails of a schooner hovered above him +like the wings of some enormous sea bird. Then a heavy boom swung across +the raft, so low that it would have swept him away had he been in an +upright position; the sides of the vessel grazed the raft and she fell +slowly off. A terrible fear of abandonment took possession of him; he +tried to speak, but could not. The vessel moved further away, but the +raft followed! He could see now it was being held by a boat-hook,--could +see the odd, eager curiosity on two faces that were raised above +the taffrail, and with that sense of relief his eyes again closed in +unconsciousness. + +A feeling of chilliness, followed by a grateful sensation of drawing +closer under some warm covering, a stinging taste in his mouth of fiery +liquor and the aromatic steam of hot coffee, were his first returning +sensations. His head and neck were swathed in coarse bandages, and his +skin stiffened and smarting with soap. He was lying in a rude berth +under a half-deck from which he could see the sky and the bellying sail, +and presently a bearded face filled with rough and practical concern +that peered down upon him. + +"Hulloo! comin' round, eh? Hold on!" The next moment the stranger had +leaped down beside Elijah. He seemed to be an odd mingling of the sailor +and ranchero with the shrewdness of a seaport trader. + +"Hulloo, boss! What was it? A free fight, or a wash-out?" + +"A wash-out!"* Elijah grasped the idea as an inspiration. Yes, his cabin +had been inundated, he had taken to a raft, had been knocked off twice +or thrice, and had lost everything--even his revolver! + + * A mining term for the temporary inundation of a claim by + flood; also used for the sterilizing effect of flood on + fertile soil. + +The man looked relieved. "Then it ain't a free fight, nor havin' your +crust busted and bein' robbed by beach combers, eh?" + +"No," said Elijah, with his first faint smile. + +"Glad o' that," said the man bluntly. "Then thar ain't no police +business to tie up to in 'Frisco? We were stuck thar a week once, just +because we chanced to pick up a feller who'd been found gagged and then +thrown overboard by wharf thieves. Had to dance attendance at court +thar and lost our trip." He stopped and looked half-pathetically at the +prostrate Elijah. "Look yer! ye ain't just dyin' to go ashore NOW and +see yer friends and send messages, are ye?" + +Elijah shuddered inwardly, but outwardly smiled faintly as he replied, +"No!" + +"And the tide and wind jest servin' us now, ye wouldn't mind keepin' +straight on with us this trip?" + +"Where to?" asked Elijah. + +"Santy Barbara." + +"No," said Elijah, after a moment's pause. "I'll go with you." + +The man leaped to his feet, lifted his head above the upper deck, +shouted "Let her go free, Jerry!" and then turned gratefully to his +passenger. "Look yer! A wash-out is a wash-out, I reckon, put it any +way you like; it don't put anything back into the land, or anything back +into your pocket afterwards, eh? No! And yer well out of it, pardner! +Now there's a right smart chance for locatin' jest back of Santy +Barbara, where thar ain't no God-forsaken tules to overflow; and ez far +ez the land and licker lies ye 'needn't take any water in yours' ef ye +don't want it. You kin start fresh thar, pardner, and brail up. What's +the matter with you, old man, is only fever 'n' agur ketched in them +tules! I kin see it in your eyes. Now you hold on whar you be till I go +forrard and see everything taut, and then I'll come back and we'll have +a talk." + +And they did. The result of which was that at the end of a week's +tossing and seasickness, Elijah Curtis was landed at Santa Barbara, +pale, thin, but self-contained and resolute. And having found favor +in the eyes of the skipper of the Kitty Hawk, general trader, +lumber-dealer, and ranch-man, a week later he was located on the +skipper's land and installed in the skipper's service. And from that +day, for five years Sidon and Tasajara knew him no more. + + + + +CHAPER IV. + + +It was part of the functions of John Milton Harkutt to take down the +early morning shutters and sweep out the store for his father each day +before going to school. It was a peculiarity of this performance that he +was apt to linger over it, partly from the fact that it put off the +evil hour of lessons, partly that he imparted into the process a purely +imaginative and romantic element gathered from his latest novel-reading. +In this he was usually assisted by one or two school-fellows on their +way to school, who always envied him his superior menial occupation. To +go to school, it was felt, was a common calamity of boyhood that called +into play only the simplest forms of evasion, whereas to take down +actual shutters in a bona fide store, and wield a real broom that raised +a palpable cloud of dust, was something that really taxed the noblest +exertions. And it was the morning after the arrival of the strangers +that John Milton stood on the veranda of the store ostentatiously +examining the horizon, with his hand shading his eyes, as one of his +companions appeared. + +"Hollo, Milt! wot yer doin'?" + +John Milton started dramatically, and then violently dashed at one of +the shutters and began to detach it. "Ha!" he said hoarsely. "Clear the +ship for action! Open the ports! On deck there! Steady, you lubbers!" +In an instant his enthusiastic school-fellow was at his side attacking +another shutter. "A long, low schooner bearing down upon us! Lively, +lads, lively!" continued John Milton, desisting a moment to take another +dramatic look at the distant plain. "How does she head now?" he demanded +fiercely. + +"Sou' by sou'east, sir," responded the other boy, frantically dancing +before the window. "But she'll weather it." + +They each then wrested another shutter away, violently depositing them, +as they ran to and fro, in a rack at the corner of the veranda. Added +to an extraordinary and unnecessary clattering with their feet, they +accompanied their movements with a singular hissing sound, supposed to +indicate in one breath the fury of the elements, the bustle of the eager +crew, and the wild excitement of the coming conflict. When the last +shutter was cleared away, John Milton, with the cry "Man the starboard +guns!" dashed into the store, whose floor was marked by the muddy +footprints of yesterday's buyers, seized a broom and began to sweep +violently. A cloud of dust arose, into which his companion at once +precipitated himself with another broom and a loud BANG! to indicate the +somewhat belated sound of cannon. For a few seconds the two boys plied +their brooms desperately in that stifling atmosphere, accompanying each +long sweep and puff of dust out of the open door with the report of +explosions and loud HA'S! of defiance, until not only the store, but the +veranda was obscured with a cloud which the morning sun struggled vainly +to pierce. In the midst of this tumult and dusty confusion--happily +unheard and unsuspected in the secluded domestic interior of the +building--a shrill little voice arose from the road. + +"Think you're mighty smart, don't ye?" + +The two naval heroes stopped in their imaginary fury, and, as the dust +of conflict cleared away, recognized little Johnny Peters gazing at them +with mingled inquisitiveness and envy. + +"Guess ye don't know what happened down the run last night," he +continued impatiently. "'Lige Curtis got killed, or killed hisself! +Blood all over the rock down thar. Seed it, myseff. Dad picked up his +six-shooter,--one barrel gone off. My dad was the first to find it out, +and he's bin to Squire Kerby tellin' him." + +The two companions, albeit burning with curiosity, affected indifference +and pre-knowledge. + +"Dad sez your father druv 'Lige outer the store lass night! Dad sez your +father's 'sponsible. Dad sez your father ez good ez killed him. Dad sez +the squire'll set the constable on your father. Yah!" But here the small +insulter incontinently fled, pursued by both the boys. Nevertheless, +when he had made good his escape, John Milton showed neither a +disposition to take up his former nautical role, nor to follow his +companion to visit the sanguinary scene of Elijah's disappearance. He +walked slowly back to the store and continued his work of sweeping and +putting in order with an abstracted regularity, and no trace of his +former exuberant spirits. + +The first one of those instinctive fears which are common to imaginative +children, and often assume the functions of premonition, had taken +possession of him. The oddity of his father's manner the evening before, +which had only half consciously made its indelible impression on his +sensitive fancy, had recurred to him with Johnny Peters's speech. He had +no idea of literally accepting the boy's charges; he scarcely understood +their gravity; but he had a miserable feeling that his father's anger +and excitement last night was because he had been discovered hunting in +the dark for that paper of 'Lige Curtis's. It WAS 'Lige Curtis's paper, +for he had seen it lying there. A sudden dreadful conviction came over +him that he must never, never let any one know that he had seen his +father take up that paper; that he must never admit it, even to HIM. It +was not the boy's first knowledge of that attitude of hypocrisy which +the grownup world assumes towards childhood, and in which the innocent +victims eventually acquiesce with a Machiavellian subtlety that at last +avenges them,--but it was his first knowledge that that hypocrisy might +not be so innocent. His father had concealed something from him, because +it was not right. + +But if childhood does not forget, it seldom broods and is not above +being diverted. And the two surveyors--of whose heroic advent in a raft +John Milton had only heard that morning with their traveled ways, their +strange instruments and stranger talk, captured his fancy. Kept in +the background by his sisters when visitors came, as an unpresentable +feature in the household, he however managed to linger near the +strangers when, in company with Euphemia and Clementina, after breakfast +they strolled beneath the sparkling sunlight in the rude garden +inclosure along the sloping banks of the creek. It was with the average +brother's supreme contempt that he listened to his sisters' "practicin'" +upon the goodness of these superior beings; it was with an exceptional +pity that he regarded the evident admiration of the strangers in return. +He felt that in the case of Euphemia, who sometimes evinced a laudable +curiosity in his pleasures, and a flattering ignorance of his reading, +this might be pardonable; but what any one could find in the useless +statuesque Clementina passed his comprehension. Could they not see at +once that she was "just that kind of person" who would lie abed in +the morning, pretending she was sick, in order to make Phemie do the +housework, and make him, John Milton, clean her boots and fetch things +for her? Was it not perfectly plain to them that her present sickening +politeness was solely with a view to extract from them caramels, +rock-candy, and gum drops, which she would meanly keep herself, and +perhaps some "buggy-riding" later? Alas, John Milton, it was not! For +standing there with her tall, perfectly-proportioned figure outlined +against a willow, an elastic branch of which she had drawn down by one +curved arm above her head, and on which she leaned--as everybody leaned +against something in Sidon--the two young men saw only a straying +goddess in a glorified rosebud print. Whether the clearly-cut profile +presented to Rice, or the full face that captivated Grant, each +suggested possibilities of position, pride, poetry, and passion that +astonished while it fascinated them. By one of those instincts known +only to the freemasonry of the sex, Euphemia lent herself to this +advertisement of her sister's charms by subtle comparison with her own +prettinesses, and thus combined against their common enemy, man. + +"Clementina certainly is perfect, to keep her supremacy over that pretty +little sister," thought Rice. + +"What a fascinating little creature to hold her own against that tall, +handsome girl," thought Grant. + +"They're takin' stock o' them two fellers so as to gabble about 'em when +their backs is turned," said John Milton gloomily to himself, with a +dismal premonition of the prolonged tea-table gossip he would be obliged +to listen to later. + +"We were very fortunate to make a landing at all last night," said Rice, +looking down upon the still swollen current, and then raising his eyes +to Clementina. "Still more fortunate to make it where we did. I suppose +it must have been the singing that lured us on to the bank,--as, +you know, the sirens used to lure people,--only with less disastrous +consequences." + +John Milton here detected three glaring errors; first, it was NOT +Clementina who had sung; secondly, he knew that neither of his sisters +had ever read anything about sirens, but he had; thirdly, that the +young surveyor was glaringly ignorant of local phenomena and should be +corrected. + +"It's nothin' but the current," he said, with that feverish youthful +haste that betrays a fatal experience of impending interruption. "It's +always leavin' drift and rubbish from everywhere here. There ain't +anythin' that's chucked into the creek above that ain't bound to fetch +up on this bank. Why, there was two sheep and a dead hoss here long +afore YOU thought of coming!" He did not understand why this should +provoke the laughter that it did, and to prove that he had no ulterior +meaning, added with pointed politeness, "So IT ISN'T YOUR FAULT, you +know--YOU couldn't help it;" supplementing this with the distinct +courtesy, "otherwise you wouldn't have come." + +"But it would seem that your visitors are not all as accidental as your +brother would imply, and one, at least, seems to have been expected last +evening. You remember you thought we were a Mr. Parmlee," said Mr. Rice +looking at Clementina. + +It would be strange indeed, he thought, if the beautiful girl were not +surrounded by admirers. But without a trace of self-consciousness, or +any change in her reposeful face, she indicated her sister with a slight +gesture, and said: "One of Phemie's friends. He gave her the accordion. +She's very popular." + +"And I suppose YOU are very hard to please?" he said with a tentative +smile. + +She looked at him with her large, clear eyes, and that absence of +coquetry or changed expression in her beautiful face which might have +stood for indifference or dignity as she said: "I don't know. I am +waiting to see." + +But here Miss Phemie broke in saucily with the assertion that Mr. +Parmlee might not have a railroad in his pocket, but that at least he +didn't have to wait for the Flood to call on young ladies, nor did he +usually come in pairs, for all the world as if he had been let out of +Noah's Ark, but on horseback and like a Christian by the front door. +All this provokingly and bewitchingly delivered, however, and with a +simulated exaggeration that was incited apparently more by Mr. Lawrence +Grant's evident enjoyment of it, than by any desire to defend the absent +Parmlee. + +"But where is the front door?" asked Grant laughingly. + +The young girl pointed to a narrow zigzag path that ran up the bank +beside the house until it stopped at a small picketed gate on the level +of the road and store. + +"But I should think it would be easier to have a door and private +passage through the store," said Grant. + +"WE don't," said the young lady pertly, "we have nothing to do with the +store. I go in to see paw sometimes when he's shutting up and there's +nobody there, but Clem has never set foot in it since we came. It's bad +enough to have it and the lazy loafers that hang around it as near to +us as they are; but paw built the house in such a fashion that we ain't +troubled by their noise, and we might be t'other side of the creek as +far as our having to come across them. And because paw has to sell pork +and flour, we haven't any call to go there and watch him do it." + +The two men glanced at each other. This reserve and fastidiousness were +something rare in a pioneer community. Harkutt's manners certainly did +not indicate that he was troubled by this sensitiveness; it must have +been some individual temperament of his daughters. Stephen felt his +respect increase for the goddess-like Clementina; Mr. Lawrence Grant +looked at Miss Phemie with a critical smile. + +"But you must be very limited in your company," he said; "or is Mr. +Parmlee not a customer of your father's?" + +"As Mr. Parmlee does not come to us through the store, and don't talk +trade to me, we don't know," responded Phemie saucily. + +"But have you no lady acquaintances--neighbors--who also avoid the store +and enter only at the straight and narrow gate up there?" continued +Grant mischievously, regardless of the uneasy, half-reproachful glances +of Rice. + +But Phemie, triumphantly oblivious of any satire, answered promptly: +"If you mean the Pike County Billingses who live on the turnpike road as +much as they do off it, or the six daughters of that Georgia Cracker who +wear men's boots and hats, we haven't." + +"And Mr. Parmlee, your admirer?" suggested Rice. "Hasn't he a mother or +sisters here?" + +"Yes, but they don't want to know us, and have never called here." + +The embarrassment of the questioner at this unexpected reply, which came +from the faultless lips of Clementina, was somewhat mitigated by the +fact that the young woman's voice and manner betrayed neither annoyance +nor anger. + +Here, however, Harkutt appeared from the house with the information that +he had secured two horses for the surveyors and their instruments, and +that he would himself accompany them a part of the way on their +return to Tasajara Creek, to show them the road. His usual listless +deliberation had given way to a certain nervous but uneasy energy. If +they started at once it would be better, before the loungers gathered at +the store and confused them with lazy counsel and languid curiosity. He +took it for granted that Mr. Grant wished the railroad survey to be +a secret, and he had said nothing, as they would be pestered with +questions. "Sidon was inquisitive--and old-fashioned." The benefit its +inhabitants would get from the railroad would not prevent them from +throwing obstacles in its way at first; he remembered the way they +had acted with a proposed wagon road,--in fact, an idea of his own, +something like the railroad; he knew them thoroughly, and if he might +advise them, it would be to say nothing here until the thing was +settled. + +"He evidently does not intend to give us a chance," said Grant +good-humoredly to his companion, as they turned to prepare for their +journey; "we are to be conducted in silence to the outskirts of the town +like horse-thieves." + +"But you gave him the tip for himself," said Rice reproachfully; "you +cannot blame him for wanting to keep it." + +"I gave it to him in trust for his two incredible daughters," said Grant +with a grimace. "But, hang it! if I don't believe the fellow has more +concern in it than I imagined." + +"But isn't she perfect?" said Rice, with charming abstraction. + +"Who?" + +"Clementina, and so unlike her father." + +"Discomposingly so," said Grant quietly. "One feels in calling her 'Miss +Harkutt' as if one were touching upon a manifest indiscretion. But here +comes John Milton. Well, my lad, what can I do for you?" + +The boy, who had been regarding them from a distance with wistful and +curious eyes as they replaced their instruments for the journey, had +gradually approached them. After a moment's timid hesitation he said, +looking at Grant: "You don't know anybody in this kind o' business," +pointing to the instruments, "who'd like a boy, about my size?" + +"I'm afraid not, J. M.," said Grant, cheerfully, without suspending his +operation. "The fact is, you see, it's not exactly the kind of work for +a boy of your size." + +John Milton was silent for a moment, shifting himself slowly from one +leg to another as he watched the surveyor. After a pause he said, "There +don't seem to be much show in this world for boys o' my size. There +don't seem to be much use for 'em any way." This not bitterly, but +philosophically, and even politely, as if to relieve Grant's rejection +of any incivility. + +"Really you quite pain me, John Milton," said Grant, looking up as he +tightened a buckle. "I never thought of it before, but you're right." + +"Now," continued the boy slowly, "with girls it's just different. Girls +of my size everybody does things for. There's Clemmy,--she's only two +years older nor me, and don't know half that I do, and yet she kin lie +about all day, and hasn't to get up to breakfast. And Phemie,--who's +jest the same age, size, and weight as me,--maw and paw lets her do +everything she wants to. And so does everybody. And so would you." + +"But you surely don't want to be like a girl?" said Grant, smiling. + +It here occurred to John Milton's youthful but not illogical mind that +this was not argument, and he turned disappointedly away. As his father +was to accompany the strangers a short distance, he, John Milton, was +to-day left in charge of the store. That duty, however, did not involve +any pecuniary transactions--the taking of money or making of change but +a simple record on a slate behind the counter of articles selected by +those customers whose urgent needs could not wait Mr. Harkutt's return. +Perhaps on account of this degrading limitation, perhaps for other +reasons, the boy did not fancy the task imposed upon him. The presence +of the idle loungers who usually occupied the armchairs near the stove, +and occasionally the counter, dissipated any romance with which he +might have invested his charge; he wearied of the monotony of their dull +gossip, but mostly he loathed the attitude of hypercritical counsel and +instruction which they saw fit to assume towards him at such moments. +"Instead o' lazin' thar behind the counter when your father ain't here +to see ye, John," remarked Billings from the depths of his armchair a +few moments after Harkutt had ridden away, "ye orter be bustlin' round, +dustin' the shelves. Ye'll never come to anythin' when you're a man ef +you go on like that. Ye never heard o' Harry Clay--that was called 'the +Mill-boy of the Slashes'--sittin' down doin' nothin' when he was a boy." + +"I never heard of him loafin' round in a grocery store when he was +growned up either," responded John Milton, darkly. + +"P'r'aps you reckon he got to be a great man by standin' up sassin' his +father's customers," said Peters, angrily. "I kin tell ye, young man, if +you was my boy"-- + +"If I was YOUR boy, I'd be playin' hookey instead of goin' to school, +jest as your boy is doin' now," interrupted John Milton, with a literal +recollection of his quarrel and pursuit of the youth in question that +morning. + +An undignified silence on the part of the adults followed, the usual +sequel to those passages; Sidon generally declining to expose itself to +the youthful Harkutt's terrible accuracy of statement. + +The men resumed their previous lazy gossip about Elijah Curtis's +disappearance, with occasional mysterious allusions in a lower tone, +which the boy instinctively knew referred to his father, but which +either from indolence or caution, the two great conservators of Sidon, +were never formulated distinctly enough for his relentless interference. +The morning sunshine was slowly thickening again in an indolent mist +that seemed to rise from the saturated plain. A stray lounger shuffled +over from the blacksmith's shop to the store to take the place of +another idler who had joined an equally lethargic circle around +the slumbering forge. A dull intermittent sound of hammering came +occasionally from the wheelwright's shed--at sufficiently protracted +intervals to indicate the enfeebled progress of Sidon's vehicular +repair. A yellow dog left his patch of sunlight on the opposite side +of the way and walked deliberately over to what appeared to be more +luxurious quarters on the veranda; was manifestly disappointed but not +equal to the exertion of returning, and sank down with blinking eyes and +a regretful sigh without going further. A procession of six ducks got +well into a line for a laborious "march past" the store, but fell out +at the first mud puddle and gave it up. A highly nervous but respectable +hen, who had ventured upon the veranda evidently against her better +instincts, walked painfully on tiptoe to the door, apparently was met +by language which no mother of a family could listen to, and retired in +strong hysterics. A little later the sun became again obscured, the +wind arose, rain fell, and the opportunity for going indoors and doing +nothing was once more availed of by all Sidon. + +It was afternoon when Mr. Harkutt returned. He did not go into the +store, but entered the dwelling from the little picket-gate and steep +path. There he called a family council in the sitting-room as being +the most reserved and secure. Mrs. Harkutt, sympathizing and cheerfully +ready for any affliction, still holding a dust-cloth in her hand, took +her seat by the window, with Phemie breathless and sparkling at one side +of her, while Clementina, all faultless profile and repose, sat on the +other. To Mrs. Harkutt's motherly concern at John Milton's absence, it +was pointed out that he was wanted at the store,--was a mere boy anyhow, +and could not be trusted. Mr. Harkutt, a little ruddier from weather, +excitement, and the unusual fortification of a glass of liquor, a little +more rugged in the lines of his face, and with an odd ring of defiant +self-assertion in his voice, stood before them in the centre of the +room. + +He wanted them to listen to him carefully, to remember what he said, for +it was important; it might be a matter of "lawing" hereafter,--and he +couldn't be always repeating it to them,--he would have enough to do. +There was a heap of it that, as women-folks, they couldn't understand, +and weren't expected to. But he'd got it all clear now, and what he was +saying was gospel. He'd always known to himself that the only good that +could ever come to Sidon would come by railroad. When those fools talked +wagon road he had said nothing, but he had his own ideas; he had worked +for that idea without saying anything to anybody; that idea was to get +possession of all the land along the embarcadero, which nobody +cared for, and 'Lige Curtis was ready to sell for a song. Well, now, +considering what had happened, he didn't mind telling them that he had +been gradually getting possession of it, little by little, paying 'Lige +Curtis in advances and installments, until it was his own! They had +heard what those surveyors said; how that it was the only fit terminus +for the railroad. Well, that land, and that water-front, and the +terminus were HIS! And all from his own foresight and prudence. + +It is needless to say that this was not the truth. But it is necessary +to point out that this fabrication was the result of his last night's +cogitations and his morning's experience. He had resolved upon a bold +course. He had reflected that his neighbors would be more ready to +believe in and to respect a hard, mercenary, and speculative foresight +in his taking advantage of 'Lige's necessities than if he had--as was +the case--merely benefited by them through an accident of circumstance +and good humor. In the latter case he would be envied and hated; in +the former he would be envied and feared. By logic of circumstance +the greater wrong seemed to be less obviously offensive than the minor +fault. It was true that it involved the doing of something he had not +contemplated, and the certainty of exposure if 'Lige ever returned, +but he was nevertheless resolved. The step from passive to active +wrong-doing is not only easy, it is often a relief; it is that return to +sincerity which we all require. Howbeit, it gave that ring of assertion +to Daniel Harkutt's voice already noted, which most women like, and +only men are prone to suspect or challenge. The incompleteness of his +statement was, for the same reason, overlooked by his feminine auditors. + +"And what is it worth, dad?" asked Phemie eagerly. + +"Grant says I oughter get at least ten thousand dollars for the site of +the terminus from the company, but of course I shall hold on to the rest +of the land. The moment they get the terminus there, and the depot and +wharf built, I can get my own price and buyers for the rest. Before the +year is out Grant thinks it ought to go up ten per cent on the value of +the terminus, and that a hundred thousand." + +"Oh, dad!" gasped Phemie, frantically clasping her knees with both hands +as if to perfectly assure herself of this good fortune. + +Mrs. Harkutt audibly murmured "Poor dear Dan'l," and stood, as it were, +sympathetically by, ready to commiserate the pains and anxieties of +wealth as she had those of poverty. Clementina alone remained silent, +clear-eyed, and unchanged. + +"And to think it all came through THEM!" continued Phemie. "I always had +an idea that Mr. Grant was smart, dad. And it was real kind of him to +tell you." + +"I reckon father could have found it out without them. I don't know why +we should be beholden to them particularly. I hope he isn't expected to +let them think that he is bound to consider them our intimate friends +just because they happened to drop in here at a time when his plans have +succeeded." + +The voice was Clementina's, unexpected but quiet, unemotional and +convincing. "It seemed," as Mrs. Harkutt afterwards said, "as if the +child had already touched that hundred thousand." Phemie reddened with a +sense of convicted youthful extravagance. + +"You needn't fear for me," said Harkutt, responding to Clementina's +voice as if it were an echo of his own, and instinctively recognizing +an unexpected ally. "I've got my own ideas of this thing, and what's +to come of it. I've got my own ideas of openin' up that property and +showin' its resources. I'm goin' to run it my own way. I'm goin' to have +a town along the embarcadero that'll lay over any town in Contra Costa. +I'm goin' to have the court-house and county seat there, and a couple +of hotels as good as any in the Bay. I'm goin' to build that wagon road +through here that those lazy louts slipped up on, and carry it clear +over to Five Mile Corner, and open up the whole Tasajara Plain!" + +They had never seen him look so strong, so resolute, so intelligent and +handsome. A dimly prophetic vision of him in a black broadcloth suit and +gold watch-chain addressing a vague multitude, as she remembered to +have seen the Hon. Stanley Riggs of Alasco at the "Great Barbecue," +rose before Phemie's blue enraptured eyes. With the exception of Mrs. +Harkutt,--equal to any possibilities on the part of her husband,--they +had honestly never expected it of him. They were pleased with their +father's attitude in prosperity, and felt that perhaps he was not +unworthy of being proud of them hereafter. + +"But we're goin' to leave Sidon," said Phemie, "ain't we, paw?" + +"As soon as I can run up a new house at the embarcadero," said Harkutt +peevishly, "and that's got to be done mighty quick if I want to make a +show to the company and be in possession." + +"And that's easier for you to do, dear, now that 'Lige's disappeared," +said Mrs. Harkutt consolingly. + +"What do ye mean by that? What the devil are ye talkin' about?" demanded +Harkutt suddenly with unexpected exasperation. + +"I mean that that drunken 'Lige would be mighty poor company for the +girls if he was our only neighbor," returned Mrs. Harkutt submissively. + +Harkutt, after a fixed survey of his wife, appeared mollified. The two +girls, who were mindful of his previous outburst the evening before, +exchanged glances which implied that his manners needed correction for +prosperity. + +"You'll want a heap o' money to build there, Dan'l," said Mrs. Harkutt +in plaintive diffidence. + +"Yes! Yes!" said Harkutt impatiently. "I've kalkilated all that, and +I'm goin' to 'Frisco to-morrow to raise it and put this bill of sale on +record." He half drew Elijah Curtis's paper from his pocket, but paused +and put it back again. + +"Then THAT WAS the paper, dad," said Phemie triumphantly. + +"Yes," said her father, regarding her fixedly, "and you know now why I +didn't want anything said about it last night--nor even now." + +"And 'Lige had just given it to you! Wasn't it lucky?" + +"He HADN'T just given it to me!" said her father with another unexpected +outburst. "God Amighty! ain't I tellin' you all the time it was an old +matter! But you jabber, jabber all the time and don't listen! Where's +John Milton?" It had occurred to him that the boy might have read the +paper--as his sister had--while it lay unheeded on the counter. + +"In the store,--you know. You said he wasn't to hear anything of this, +but I'll call him," said Mrs. Harkutt, rising eagerly. + +"Never mind," returned her husband, stopping her reflectively, "best +leave it as it is; if it's necessary I'll tell him. But don't any of you +say anything, do you hear?" + +Nevertheless a few hours later, when the store was momentarily free of +loungers, and Harkutt had relieved his son of his monotonous charge, he +made a pretense, while abstractedly listening to an account of the boy's +stewardship, to look through a drawer as if in search of some missing +article. + +"You didn't see anything of a paper I left somewhere about here +yesterday?" he asked carelessly. + +"The one you picked up when you came in last night?" said the boy with +discomposing directness. + +Harkutt flushed slightly and drew his breath between his set teeth. Not +only could he place no reliance upon ordinary youthful inattention, +but he must be on his guard against his own son as from a spy! But he +restrained himself. + +"I don't remember," he said with affected deliberation, "what it was I +picked up. Do you? Did you read it?" + +The meaning of his father's attitude instinctively flashed upon the boy. +He HAD read the paper, but he answered, as he had already determined, +"No." + +An inspiration seized Mr. Harkutt. He drew 'Lige Curtis's bill of sale +from his pocket, and opening it before John Milton said, "Was it that?" + +"I don't know," said the boy. "I couldn't tell." He walked away with +affected carelessness, already with a sense of playing some part like +his father, and pretended to whistle for the dog across the street. +Harkutt coughed ostentatiously, put the paper back in his pocket, +set one or two boxes straight on the counter, locked the drawer, and +disappeared into the back passage. John Milton remained standing in +the doorway looking vacantly out. But he did not see the dull familiar +prospect beyond. He only saw the paper his father had opened and +unfolded before him. It was the same paper he had read last night. But +there were three words written there THAT WERE NOT THERE BEFORE! After +the words "Value received" there had been a blank. He remembered that +distinctly. This was filled in by the words, "Five hundred dollars." The +handwriting did not seem like his father's, nor yet entirely like 'Lige +Curtis's. What it meant he did not know,--he would not try to think. He +should forget it, as he had tried to forget what had happened before, +and he should never tell it to any one! + +There was a feverish gayety in his sisters' manner that afternoon that +he did not understand; short colloquies that were suspended with ill +concealed impatience when he came near them, and resumed when he +was sent, on equally palpable excuses, out of the room. He had been +accustomed to this exclusion when there were strangers present, but it +seemed odd to him now, when the conversation did not even turn upon the +two superior visitors who had been there, and of whom he confidently +expected they would talk. Such fragments as he overheard were always in +the future tense, and referred to what they intended to do. His +mother, whose affection for him had always been shown in excessive +and depressing commiseration of him in even his lightest moments, that +afternoon seemed to add a prophetic and Cassandra-like sympathy for some +vague future of his that would require all her ministration. "You won't +need them new boots, Milty dear, in the changes that may be comin' to +ye; so don't be bothering your poor father in his worriments over his +new plans." + +"What new plans, mommer?" asked the boy abruptly. "Are we goin' away +from here?" + +"Hush, dear, and don't ask questions that's enough for grown folks to +worry over, let alone a boy like you. Now be good,"--a quality in Mrs. +Harkutt's mind synonymous with ceasing from troubling,--"and after +supper, while I'm in the parlor with your father and sisters, you kin +sit up here by the fire with your book." + +"But," persisted the boy in a flash of inspiration, "is popper goin' to +join in business with those surveyors,--a surveyin'?" + +"No, child, what an idea! Run away there,--and mind!--don't bother your +father." + +Nevertheless John Milton's inspiration had taken a new and +characteristic shape. All this, he reflected, had happened since the +surveyors came--since they had weakly displayed such a shameless and +unmanly interest in his sisters! It could have but one meaning. He hung +around the sitting-room and passages until he eventually encountered +Clementina, taller than ever, evidently wearing a guilty satisfaction +in her face, engrafted upon that habitual bearing of hers which he had +always recognized as belonging to a vague but objectionable race whose +members were individually known to him as "a proudy." + +"Which of those two surveyor fellows is it, Clemmy?" he said with an +engaging smile, yet halting at a strategic distance. + +"Is what?" + +"Wot you're goin' to marry." + +"Idiot!" + +"That ain't tellin' which," responded the boy darkly. + +Clementina swept by him into the sitting-room, where he heard her +declare that "really that boy was getting too low and vulgar +for anything." Yet it struck him, that being pressed for further +explanation, she did NOT specify why. This was "girls' meanness!" + +Howbeit he lingered late in the road that evening, hearing his father +discuss with the search-party that had followed the banks of the creek, +vainly looking for further traces of the missing 'Lige, the possibility +of his being living or dead, of the body having been carried away by the +current to the bay or turning up later in some distant marsh when the +spring came with low water. One who had been to his cabin beside the +embarcadero reported that it was, as had been long suspected, barely +habitable, and contained neither books, papers, nor records which would +indicate his family or friends. It was a God-forsaken, dreary, worthless +place; he wondered how a white man could ever expect to make a living +there. If Elijah never turned up again it certainly would be a long time +before any squatter would think of taking possession of it. John Milton +knew instinctively, without looking up, that his father's eyes were +fixed upon him, and he felt himself constrained to appear to be +abstracted in gazing down the darkening road. Then he heard his father +say, with what he felt was an equal assumption of carelessness: "Yes, I +reckon I've got somewhere a bill of sale of that land that I had to take +from 'Lige for an old bill, but I kalkilate that's all I'll ever see of +it." + +Rain fell again as the darkness gathered, but he still loitered on the +road and the sloping path of the garden, filled with a half resentful +sense of wrong, and hugging with gloomy pride an increasing sense of +loneliness and of getting dangerously wet. The swollen creek still +whispered, murmured and swirled beside the bank. At another time he +might have had wild ideas of emulating the surveyors on some extempore +raft and so escaping his present dreary home existence; but since the +disappearance of 'Lige, who had always excited an odd boyish antipathy +in his heart, although he had never seen him, he shunned the stream +contaminated with the missing man's unheroic fate. Presently the light +from the open window of the sitting-room glittered on the wet leaves +and sprays where he stood, and the voices of the family conclave came +fitfully to his ear. They didn't want him there. They had never thought +of asking him to come in. Well!--who cared? And he wasn't going to be +bought off with a candle and a seat by the kitchen fire. No! + +Nevertheless he was getting wet to no purpose. There was the tool-house +and carpenter's shed near the bank; its floor was thickly covered with +sawdust and pine-wood shavings, and there was a mouldy buffalo skin +which he had once transported thither from the old wagon-bed. There, +too, was his secret cache of a candle in a bottle, buried with other +piratical treasures in the presence of the youthful Peters, who +consented to be sacrificed on the spot in buccaneering fashion to +complete the unhallowed rites. He unearthed the candle, lit it, and +clearing away a part of the shavings stood it up on the floor. He then +brought a prized, battered, and coverless volume from a hidden recess in +the rafters, and lying down with the buffalo robe over him, and his cap +in his hand ready to extinguish the light at the first footstep of a +trespasser, gave himself up--as he had given himself up, I fear, many +other times--to the enchantment of the page before him. + +The current whispered, murmured, and sang, unheeded at his side. The +voices of his mother and sisters, raised at times in eagerness or +expectation of the future, fell upon his unlistening ears. For with the +spell that had come upon him, the mean walls of his hiding-place +melted away; the vulgar stream beside him might have been that dim, +subterraneous river down which Sindbad and his bale of riches were swept +out of the Cave of Death to the sunlight of life and fortune, so surely +and so simply had it transported him beyond the cramped and darkened +limits of his present life. He was in the better world of boyish +romance,--of gallant deeds and high emprises; of miraculous atonement +and devoted sacrifice; of brave men, and those rarer, impossible +women,--the immaculate conception of a boy's virgin heart. What mattered +it that behind that glittering window his mother and sisters grew +feverish and excited over the vulgar details of their real but baser +fortune? From the dark tool-shed by the muddy current, John Milton, +with a battered dogs'-eared chronicle, soared on the wings of fancy far +beyond their wildest ken! + + + + +CHAPER V. + + +Prosperity had settled upon the plains of Tasajara. Not only had the +embarcadero emerged from the tules of Tasajara Creek as a thriving town +of steamboat wharves, warehouses, and outlying mills and factories, but +in five years the transforming railroad had penetrated the great plain +itself and revealed its undeveloped fertility. The low-lying lands that +had been yearly overflowed by the creek, now drained and cultivated, +yielded treasures of wheat and barley that were apparently +inexhaustible. Even the helpless indolence of Sidon had been surprised +into activity and change. There was nothing left of the straggling +settlement to recall its former aspect. The site of Harkutt's old store +and dwelling was lost and forgotten in the new mill and granary that +rose along the banks of the creek. Decay leaves ruin and traces for the +memory to linger over; prosperity is unrelenting in its complete and +smiling obliteration of the past. + +But Tasajara City, as the embarcadero was now called, had no previous +record, and even the former existence of an actual settler like the +forgotten Elijah Curtis was unknown to the present inhabitants. It was +Daniel Harkutt's idea carried out in Daniel Harkutt's land, with Daniel +Harkutt's capital and energy. But Daniel Harkutt had become Daniel +Harcourt, and Harcourt Avenue, Harcourt Square, and Harcourt House, +ostentatiously proclaimed the new spelling of his patronymic. When the +change was made and for what reason, who suggested it and under what +authority, were not easy to determine, as the sign on his former store +had borne nothing but the legend, Goods and Provisions, and his name did +not appear on written record until after the occupation of Tasajara; +but it is presumed that it was at the instigation of his daughters, and +there was no one to oppose it. Harcourt was a pretty name for a street, +a square, or a hotel; even the few in Sidon who had called it Harkutt +admitted that it was an improvement quite consistent with the change +from the fever-haunted tules and sedges of the creek to the broad, +level, and handsome squares of Tasajara City. + +This might have been the opinion of a visitor at the Harcourt House, who +arrived one summer afternoon from the Stockton boat, but whose shrewd, +half-critical, half-professional eyes and quiet questionings betrayed +some previous knowledge of the locality. Seated on the broad veranda +of the Harcourt House, and gazing out on the well-kept green and young +eucalyptus trees of the Harcourt Square or Plaza, he had elicited a +counter question from a prosperous-looking citizen who had been lounging +at his side. + +"I reckon you look ez if you might have been here before, stranger." + +"Yes," said the stranger quietly, "I have been. But it was when the +tules grew in the square opposite, and the tide of the creek washed +them." + +"Well," said the Tasajaran, looking curiously at the stranger, "I call +myself a pioneer of Tasajara. My name's Peters,--of Peters and Co.,--and +those warehouses along the wharf, where you landed just now, are mine; +but I was the first settler on Harcourt's land, and built the next cabin +after him. I helped to clear out them tules and dredged the channels +yonder. I took the contract with Harcourt to build the last fifteen +miles o' railroad, and put up that depot for the company. Perhaps you +were here before that?" + +"I was," returned the stranger quietly. + +"I say," said Peters, hitching his chair a little nearer to his +companion, "you never knew a kind of broken-down feller, called +Curtis--'Lige Curtis--who once squatted here and sold his right to +Harkutt? He disappeared; it was allowed he killed hisself, but they +never found his body, and, between you and me, I never took stock in +that story. You know Harcourt holds under him, and all Tasajara rests on +that title." + +"I've heard so," assented the stranger carelessly, "but I never knew the +original settler. Then Harcourt has been lucky?" + +"You bet. He's got three millions right about HERE, or within this +quarter section, to say nothing of his outside speculations." + +"And lives here?" + +"Not for two years. That's his old house across the plaza, but his +women-folks live mostly in 'Frisco and New York, where he's got houses +too. They say they sorter got sick of Tasajara after his youngest +daughter ran off with a feller." + +"Hallo!" said the stranger with undisguised interest. "I never heard of +that! You don't mean that she eloped"--he hesitated. + +"Oh, it was a square enough marriage. I reckon too square to suit some +folks; but the fellow hadn't nothin', and wasn't worth shucks,--a sort +of land surveyor, doin' odd jobs, you know; and the old man and old +woman were agin it, and the tother daughter worse of all. It was allowed +here--you know how women-folks talk!--that the surveyor had been sweet +on Clementina, but had got tired of being played by her, and took up +with Phemie out o' spite. Anyhow they got married, and Harcourt gave +them to understand they couldn't expect anything from him. P'raps that's +why it didn't last long, for only about two months ago she got a divorce +from Rice and came back to her family again." + +"Rice?" queried the stranger. "Was that her husband's name, Stephen +Rice?" + +"I reckon! You knew him?" + +"Yes,--when the tide came up to the tules, yonder," answered the +stranger musingly. "And the other daughter,--I suppose she has made a +good match, being a beauty and the sole heiress?" + +The Tasajaran made a grimace. "Not much! I reckon she's waitin' for the +Angel Gabriel,--there ain't another good enough to suit her here. They +say she's had most of the big men in California waitin' in a line with +their offers, like that cue the fellows used to make at the 'Frisco +post-office steamer days--and she with nary a letter or answer for any +of them." + +"Then Harcourt doesn't seem to have been as fortunate in his family +affairs as in his speculations?" + +Peters uttered a grim laugh. "Well, I reckon you know all about his +son's stampeding with that girl last spring?" + +"His son?" interrupted the stranger. "Do you mean the boy they called +John Milton? Why, he was a mere child!" + +"He was old enough to run away with a young woman that helped in his +mother's house, and marry her afore a justice of the peace. The old man +just snorted with rage, and swore he'd have the marriage put aside, for +the boy was under age. He said it was a put-up job of the girl's; that +she was older by two years, and only wanted to get what money might be +comin' some day, but that they'd never see a red cent of it. Then, they +say, John Milton up and sassed the old man to his face, and allowed that +he wouldn't take his dirty money if he starved first, and that if the +old man broke the marriage he'd marry her again next year; that true +love and honorable poverty were better nor riches, and a lot more o' +that stuff he picked out o' them ten-cent novels he was allus reading. +My women-folks say that he actually liked the girl, because she was the +only one in the house that was ever kind to him; they say the girls were +just ragin' mad at the idea o' havin' a hired gal who had waited on 'em +as a sister-in-law, and they even got old Mammy Harcourt's back up by +sayin' that John's wife would want to rule the house, and run her out +of her own kitchen. Some say he shook THEM, talked back to 'em mighty +sharp, and held his head a heap higher nor them. Anyhow, he's livin' +with his wife somewhere in 'Frisco, in a shanty on a sand lot, and +workin' odd jobs for the newspapers. No! takin' it by and large--it +don't look as if Harcourt had run his family to the same advantage that +he has his land." + +"Perhaps he doesn't understand them as well," said the stranger smiling. + +"Mor'n likely the material ain't thar, or ain't as vallyble for a new +country," said Peters grimly. "I reckon the trouble is that he lets them +two daughters run him, and the man who lets any woman or women do that, +lets himself in for all their meannesses, and all he gets in return is a +woman's result,--show!" + +Here the stranger, who was slowly rising from his chair with the polite +suggestion of reluctantly tearing himself from the speaker's spell, +said: "And Harcourt spends most of his time in San Francisco, I +suppose?" + +"Yes! but to-day he's here to attend a directors' meeting and the +opening of the Free Library and Tasajara Hall. I saw the windows open, +and the blinds up in his house across the plaza as I passed just now." + +The stranger had by this time quite effected his courteous withdrawal. +"Good-afternoon, Mr. Peters," he said, smilingly lifting his hat, and +turned away. + +Peters, who was obliged to take his legs off the chair, and half rise +to the stranger's politeness, here reflected that he did not know his +interlocutor's name and business, and that he had really got nothing +in return for his information. This must be remedied. As the stranger +passed through the hall into the street, followed by the unwonted +civilities of the spruce hotel clerk and the obsequious attentions of +the negro porter, Peters stepped to the window of the office. "Who was +that man who just passed out?" he asked. + +The clerk stared in undisguised astonishment. "You don't mean to say you +didn't know WHO he was--all the while you were talking to him?" + +"No," returned Peters, impatiently. + +"Why, that was Professor Lawrence Grant!--THE Lawrence Grant--don't you +know?--the biggest scientific man and recognized expert on the Pacific +slope. Why, that's the man whose single word is enough to make or break +the biggest mine or claim going! That man!--why, that's the man whose +opinion's worth thousands, for it carries millions with it--and can't be +bought. That's him who knocked the bottom outer El Dorado last year, and +next day sent Eureka up booming! Ye remember that, sure?" + +"Of course--but"--stammered Peters. + +"And to think you didn't know him!" repeated the hotel clerk +wonderingly. "And here I was reckoning you were getting points from him +all the time! Why, some men would have given a thousand dollars for your +chance of talking to him--yes!--of even being SEEN talking to him. +Why, old Wingate once got a tip on his Prairie Flower lead worth five +thousand dollars while just changing seats with him in the cars and +passing the time of day, sociable like. Why, what DID you talk about?" + +Peters, with a miserable conviction that he had thrown away a valuable +opportunity in mere idle gossip, nevertheless endeavored to look +mysterious as he replied, "Oh, business gin'rally." Then in the faint +hope of yet retrieving his blunder he inquired, "How long will he be +here?" + +"Don't know. I reckon he and Harcourt's got something on hand. He just +asked if he was likely to be at home or at his office. I told him I +reckoned at the house, for some of the family--I didn't get to see who +they were--drove up in a carriage from the 3.40 train while you were +sitting there." + +Meanwhile the subject of this discussion, quite unconscious of the +sensation he had created, or perhaps like most heroes philosophically +careless of it, was sauntering indifferently towards Harcourt's house. +But he had no business with his former host, his only object was to pass +an idle hour before his train left. He was, of course, not unaware that +he himself was largely responsible for Harcourt's success; that it was +HIS hint which had induced the petty trader of Sidon to venture his all +in Tasajara; HIS knowledge of the topography and geology of the +plain that had stimulated Harcourt's agricultural speculations; HIS +hydrographic survey of the creek that had made Harcourt's plan of +widening the channel to commerce practicable and profitable. This he +could not help but know. But that it was chiefly owing to his own clear, +cool, far-seeing, but never visionary, scientific observation,--his +own accurate analysis, unprejudiced by even a savant's enthusiasm, and +uninfluenced by any personal desire or greed of gain,--that Tasajara +City had risen from the stagnant tules, was a speculation that had never +occurred to him. There was a much more uneasy consciousness of what he +had done in Mr. Harcourt's face a few moments later, when his visitor's +name was announced, and it is to be feared that if that name had been +less widely honored and respected than it was, no merely grateful +recollection of it would have procured Grant an audience. As it was, +it was with a frown and a touch of his old impatient asperity that he +stepped to the threshold of an adjoining room and called, "Clemmy!" + +Clementina appeared at the door. + +"There's that man Grant in the parlor. What brings HIM here, I wonder? +Who does he come to see?" + +"Who did he ask for?" + +"Me,--but that don't mean anything." + +"Perhaps he wants to see you on some business." + +"No. That isn't his high-toned style. He makes other people go to him +for that," he said bitterly. "Anyhow--don't you think it's mighty queer +his coming here after his friend--for it was he who introduced Rice +to us--had behaved so to your sister, and caused all this divorce and +scandal?" + +"Perhaps he may know nothing about it; he and Rice separated long ago, +even before Grant became so famous. We never saw much of him, you know, +after we came here. Suppose you leave him to ME. I'll see him." + +Mr. Harcourt reflected. "Didn't he used to be rather attentive to +Phemie?" + +Clementina shrugged her shoulders carelessly. "I dare say--but I don't +think that NOW"-- + +"Who said anything about NOW?" retorted her father, with a return of his +old abruptness. After a pause he said: "I'll go down and see him first, +and then send for you. You can keep him for the opening and dinner, if +you like." + +Meantime Lawrence Grant, serenely unsuspicious of these domestic +confidences, had been shown into the parlor--a large room furnished in +the same style as the drawing-room of the hotel he had just quitted. +He had ample time to note that it was that wonderful Second Empire +furniture which he remembered that the early San Francisco pioneers in +the first flush of their wealth had imported directly from France, and +which for years after gave an unexpected foreign flavor to the western +domesticity and a tawdry gilt equality to saloons and drawing-rooms, +public and private. But he was observant of a corresponding change in +Harcourt, when a moment later he entered the room. That individuality +which had kept the former shopkeeper of Sidon distinct from, although +perhaps not superior to, his customers--was strongly marked. He was +perhaps now more nervously alert than then; he was certainly more +impatient than before,--but that was pardonable in a man of +large affairs and action. Grant could not deny that he seemed +improved,--rather perhaps that the setting of fine clothes, cleanliness, +and the absence of petty worries, made his characteristics respectable. +That which is ill breeding in homespun, is apt to become mere +eccentricity in purple and fine linen; Grant felt that Harcourt +jarred on him less than he did before, and was grateful without +superciliousness. Harcourt, relieved to find that Grant was neither +critical nor aggressively reminiscent, and above all not inclined to +claim the credit of creating him and Tasajara, became more confident, +more at his ease, and, I fear, in proportion more unpleasant. It is the +repose and not the struggle of the parvenu that confounds us. + +"And YOU, Grant,--you have made yourself famous, and, I hear, have got +pretty much your own prices for your opinions ever since it was known +that you--you--er--were connected with the growth of Tasajara." + +Grant smiled; he was not quite prepared for this; but it was amusing +and would pass the time. He murmured a sentence of half ironical +deprecation, and Mr. Harcourt continued:-- + +"I haven't got my San Francisco house here to receive you in, but I hope +some day, sir, to see you there. We are only here for the day and night, +but if you care to attend the opening ceremonies at the new hall, we +can manage to give you dinner afterwards. You can escort my daughter +Clementina,--she's here with me." + +The smile of apologetic declination which had begun to form on Grant's +lips was suddenly arrested. "Then your daughter is here?" he asked, with +unaffected interest. + +"Yes,--she is in fact a patroness of the library and sewing-circle, and +takes the greatest interest in it. The Reverend Doctor Pilsbury relies +upon her for everything. She runs the society, even to the training of +the young ladies, sir. You shall see their exercises." + +This was certainly a new phase of Clementina's character. Yet why should +she not assume the role of Lady Bountiful with the other functions of +her new condition. "I should have thought Miss Harcourt would have found +this rather difficult with her other social duties," he said, "and would +have left it to her married sister." He thought it better not to appear +as if avoiding reference to Euphemia, although quietly ignoring her late +experiences. Mr. Harcourt was less easy in his response. + +"Now that Euphemia is again with her own family," he said ponderously, +with an affectation of social discrimination that was in weak contrast +to his usual direct business astuteness, "I suppose she may take her +part in these things, but just now she requires rest. You may have heard +some rumor that she is going abroad for a time? The fact is she hasn't +the least intention of doing so, nor do we consider there is the +slightest reason for her going." He paused as if to give great emphasis +to a statement that seemed otherwise unimportant. "But here's Clementina +coming, and I must get you to excuse ME. I've to meet the trustees of +the church in ten minutes, but I hope she'll persuade you to stay, and +I'll see you later at the hall." + +As Clementina entered the room her father vanished and, I fear, +as completely dropped out of Mr. Grant's mind. For the daughter's +improvement was greater than her father's, yet so much more refined as +to be at first only delicately perceptible. Grant had been prepared for +the vulgar enhancement of fine clothes and personal adornment, for the +specious setting of luxurious circumstances and surroundings, for the +aplomb that came from flattery and conscious power. But he found none of +these; her calm individuality was intensified rather than subdued; she +was dressed simply, with an economy of ornament, rich material, and +jewelry, but an accuracy of taste that was always dominant. Her plain +gray merino dress, beautifully fitting her figure, suggested, with +its pale blue facings, some uniform, as of the charitable society she +patronized. She came towards him with a graceful movement of greeting, +yet her face showed no consciousness of the interval that had elapsed +since they met; he almost fancied himself transported back to the +sitting-room at Sidon with the monotonous patter of the leaves outside, +and the cool moist breath of the bay and alder coming in at the window. + +"Father says that you are only passing through Tasajara to-day, as you +did through Sidon five years ago," she said with a smiling earnestness +that he fancied however was the one new phase of her character. "But +I won't believe it! At least we will not accept another visit quite as +accidental as that, even though you brought us twice the good fortune +you did then. You see, we have not forgotten it if you have, Mr. Grant. +And unless you want us to believe that your fairy gifts will turn some +day to leaves and ashes, you will promise to stay with us tonight, and +let me show you some of the good we have done with them. Perhaps +you don't know, or don't want to know, that it was I who got up this +'Library and Home Circle of the Sisters of Tasajara' which we are +to open to-day. And can you imagine why? You remember--or have you +forgotten--that you once affected to be concerned at the social +condition of the young ladies on the plains of Sidon? Well, Mr. Grant, +this is gotten up in order that the future Mr. Grants who wander may +find future Miss Billingses who are worthy to converse with them and +entertain them, and who no longer wear men's hats and live on the public +road." + +It was such a long speech for one so taciturn as he remembered +Clementina to have been; so unexpected in tone considering her father's +attitude towards him, and so unlooked for in its reference to a slight +incident of the past, that Grant's critical contemplation of her gave +way to a quiet and grateful glance of admiration. How could he have +been so mistaken in her character? He had always preferred the outspoken +Euphemia, and yet why should he not have been equally mistaken in +her? Without having any personal knowledge of Rice's matrimonial +troubles--for their intimate companionship had not continued after the +survey--he had been inclined to blame him; now he seemed to find excuses +for him. He wondered if she really had liked him as Peters had hinted; +he wondered if she knew that he, Grant, was no longer intimate with him +and knew nothing of her affairs. All this while he was accepting her +proffered hospitality and sending to the hotel for his luggage. Then +he drifted into a conversation, which he had expected would be brief, +pointless, and confined to a stupid resume of their mutual and social +progress since they had left Sidon. But here he was again mistaken; she +was talking familiarly of present social topics, of things that she knew +clearly and well, without effort or attitude. She had been to New +York and Boston for two winters; she had spent the previous summer at +Newport; it might have been her whole youth for the fluency, accuracy, +and familiarity of her detail, and the absence of provincial enthusiasm. +She was going abroad, probably in the spring. She had thought of going +to winter in Italy, but she would wait now until her sister was ready to +go with her. Mr. Grant of course knew that Euphemia was separated from +Mr. Rice--no--not until her father told him? Well--the marriage had been +a wild and foolish thing for both. But Euphemia was back again with them +in the San Francisco house; she had talked of coming to Tasajara to-day, +perhaps she might be there tonight. And, good heavens! it was actually +three o'clock already, and they must start at once for the Hall. She +would go and get her hat and return instantly. + +It was true; he had been talking with her an hour--pleasantly, +intelligently, and yet with a consciousness of an indefinite +satisfaction beyond all this. It must have been surprise at her +transformation, or his previous misconception of her character. He had +been watching her features and wondering why he had ever thought them +expressionless. There was also the pleasant suggestion--common to +humanity in such instances--that he himself was in some way responsible +for the change; that it was some awakened sympathy to his own nature +that had breathed into this cold and faultless statue the warmth of +life. In an odd flash of recollection he remembered how, five years ago, +when Rice had suggested to her that she was "hard to please," she had +replied that she "didn't know, but that she was waiting to see." It did +not occur to him to wonder why she had not awakened then, or if this +awakening had anything to do with her own volition. It was not probable +that they would meet again after to-day, or if they did, that she would +not relapse into her former self and fail to impress him as she had now. +But--here she was--a paragon of feminine promptitude--already standing +in the doorway, accurately gloved and booted, and wearing a demure gray +hat that modestly crowned her decorously elegant figure. + +They crossed the plaza side by side, in the still garish sunlight that +seemed to mock the scant shade of the youthful eucalyptus trees, and +presently fell in with the stream of people going in their direction. +The former daughters of Sidon, the Billingses, the Peterses, and +Wingates, were there bourgeoning and expanding in the glare of their new +prosperity, with silk and gold; there were newer faces still, and pretty +ones,--for Tasajara as a "Cow County" had attracted settlers with large +families,--and there were already the contrasting types of East and +West. Many turned to look after the tall figure of the daughter of the +Founder of Tasajara,--a spectacle lately rare to the town; a few glanced +at her companion, equally noticeable as a stranger. Thanks, however, to +some judicious preliminary advertising from the hotel clerk, Peters, and +Daniel Harcourt himself, by the time Grant and Miss Harcourt had reached +the Hall his name and fame were already known, and speculation had +already begun whether this new stroke of Harcourt's shrewdness might not +unite Clementina to a renowned and profitable partner. + +The Hall was in one of the further and newly opened suburbs, and its +side and rear windows gave immediately upon the outlying and illimitable +plain of Tasajara. It was a tasteful and fair-seeming structure of wood, +surprisingly and surpassingly new. In fact that was its one dominant +feature; nowhere else had youth and freshness ever shown itself +as unconquerable and all-conquering. The spice of virgin woods and +trackless forests still rose from its pine floors, and breathed from its +outer shell of cedar that still oozed its sap, and redwood that still +dropped its life-blood. Nowhere else were the plastered walls and +ceilings as white and dazzling in their unstained purity, or as redolent +of the outlying quarry in their clear cool breath of lime and stone. +Even the turpentine of fresh and spotless paint added to this sense +of wholesome germination, and as the clear and brilliant Californian +sunshine swept through the open windows west and east, suffusing the +whole palpitating structure with its searching and resistless radiance, +the very air seemed filled with the aroma of creation. + +The fresh colors of the young Republic, the bright blazonry of the +newest State, the coat-of-arms of the infant County of Tasajara--(a +vignette of sunset-tules cloven by the steam of an advancing +train)--hanging from the walls, were all a part of this invincible +juvenescence. Even the newest silks, ribbons and prints of the latest +holiday fashions made their first virgin appearance in the new building +as if to consecrate it, until it was stirred by the rustle of youth, as +with the sound and movement of budding spring. + +A strain from the new organ--whose heart, however, had prematurely +learned its own bitterness--and a thin, clear, but somewhat shrill +chanting from a choir of young ladies were followed by a prayer from the +Reverend Mr. Pilsbury. Then there was a pause of expectancy, and Grant's +fair companion, who up to that moment had been quietly acting as guide +and cicerone to her father's guest, excused herself with a little +grimace of mock concern and was led away by one of the committee. +Grant's usually keen eyes were wandering somewhat abstractedly over the +agitated and rustling field of ribbons, flowers and feathers before him, +past the blazonry of banner on the walls, and through the open windows +to the long sunlit levels beyond, when he noticed a stir upon the raised +dais or platform at the end of the room, where the notables of Tasajara +were formally assembled. The mass of black coats suddenly parted and +drew back against the wall to allow the coming forward of a single +graceful figure. A thrill of nervousness as unexpected as unaccountable +passed over him as he recognized Clementina. In the midst of a sudden +silence she read the report of the committee from a paper in her hand, +in a clear, untroubled voice--the old voice of Sidon--and formally +declared the building opened. The sunlight, nearly level, streamed +through the western window across the front of the platform where she +stood and transfigured her slight but noble figure. The hush that had +fallen upon the Hall was as much the effect of that tranquil, ideal +presence as of the message with which it was charged. And yet that +apparition was as inconsistent with the clear, searching light +which helped to set it off, as it was with the broad new blazonry of +decoration, the yet unsullied record of the white walls, or even the +frank, animated and pretty faces that looked upon it. Perhaps it was +some such instinct that caused the applause which hesitatingly and +tardily followed her from the platform to appear polite and half +restrained rather than spontaneous. + +Nevertheless Grant was honestly and sincerely profuse in his +congratulations. "You were far cooler and far more self-contained than I +should have been in your place," he said, "than in fact I actually WAS, +only as your auditor. But I suppose you have done it before?" + +She turned her beautiful eyes on his wonderingly. "No,--this is the +first time I ever appeared in public,--not even at school, for even +there I was always a private pupil." + +"You astonish me," said Grant; "you seemed like an old hand at it." + +"Perhaps I did, or rather as if I didn't think anything of it +myself,--and that no doubt is why the audience didn't think anything of +it either." + +So she HAD noticed her cold reception, and yet there was not the +slightest trace of disappointment, regret, or wounded vanity in her +tone or manner. "You must take me to the refreshment room now," she +said pleasantly, "and help me to look after the young ladies who are my +guests. I'm afraid there are still more speeches to come, and father and +Mr. Pilsbury are looking as if they confidently expected something more +would be 'expected' of them." + +Grant at once threw himself into the task assigned to him, with his +natural gallantry and a certain captivating playfulness which he still +retained. Perhaps he was the more anxious to please in order that his +companion might share some of his popularity, for it was undeniable that +Miss Harcourt still seemed to excite only a constrained politeness +among those with whom she courteously mingled. And this was still more +distinctly marked by the contrast of a later incident. + +For some moments the sound of laughter and greeting had risen near the +door of the refreshment room that opened upon the central hall, and +there was a perceptible movement of the crowd--particularly of youthful +male Tasajara--in that direction. It was evident that it announced the +unexpected arrival of some popular resident. Attracted like the others, +Grant turned and saw the company making way for the smiling, easy, +half-saucy, half-complacent entry of a handsomely dressed young girl. As +she turned from time to time to recognize with rallying familiarity or +charming impertinence some of her admirers, there was that in her +tone and gesture which instantly recalled to him the past. It was +unmistakably Euphemia! His eyes instinctively sought Clementina's. She +was gazing at him with such a grave, penetrating look,--half doubting, +half wistful,--a look so unlike her usual unruffled calm that he felt +strangely stirred. But the next moment, when she rejoined him, the look +had entirely gone. "You have not seen my sister since you were at Sidon, +I believe?" she said quietly. "She would be sorry to miss you." But +Euphemia and her train were already passing them on the opposite side of +the long table. She had evidently recognized Grant, yet the two sisters +were looking intently into each other's eyes when he raised his own. +Then Euphemia met his bow with a momentary accession of color, a +coquettish wave of her hand across the table, a slight exaggeration of +her usual fascinating recklessness, and smilingly moved away. He turned +to Clementina, but here an ominous tapping at the farther end of the +long table revealed the fact that Mr. Harcourt was standing on a chair +with oratorical possibilities in his face and attitude. There was +another forward movement in the crowd and--silence. In that solid, +black-broadclothed, respectable figure, that massive watchchain, that +white waistcoat, that diamond pin glistening in the satin cravat, +Euphemia might have seen the realization of her prophetic vision at +Sidon five years before. + +He spoke for ten minutes with a fluency and comprehensive business-like +directness that surprised Grant. He was not there, he said, to glorify +what had been done by himself, his family, or his friends in Tasajara. +Others who were to follow him might do that, or at least might be better +able to explain and expatiate upon the advantages of the institution +they had just opened, and its social, moral, and religious effect upon +the community. He was there as a business man to demonstrate to +them--as he had always done and always hoped to do--the money value +of improvement; the profit--if they might choose to call it--of +well-regulated and properly calculated speculation. The plot of land +upon which they stood, of which the building occupied only one eighth, +was bought two years before for ten thousand dollars. When the plans +of the building were completed a month afterwards, the value of the +remaining seven eighths had risen enough to defray the cost of the +entire construction. He was in a position to tell them that only that +morning the adjacent property, subdivided and laid out in streets and +building-plots, had been admitted into the corporate limits of the city; +and that on the next anniversary of the building they would approach +it through an avenue of finished dwellings! An outburst of applause +followed the speaker's practical climax; the fresh young faces of his +auditors glowed with invincible enthusiasm; the afternoon trade-winds, +freshening over the limitless plain beyond, tossed the bright banners +at the windows as with sympathetic rejoicing, and a few odorous pine +shavings, overlooked in a corner in the hurry of preparation, touched +by an eddying zephyr, crept out and rolled in yellow ringlets across the +floor. + +The Reverend Doctor Pilsbury arose in a more decorous silence. He had +listened approvingly, admiringly, he might say even reverently, to the +preceding speaker. But although his distinguished friend had, with his +usual modesty, made light of his own services and those of his charming +family, he, the speaker, had not risen to sing his praises. No; it +was not in this Hall, projected by his foresight and raised by his +liberality; in this town, called into existence by his energy and +stamped by his attributes; in this county, developed by his genius and +sustained by his capital; ay, in this very State whose grandeur was made +possible by such giants as he,--it was not in any of these places that +it was necessary to praise Daniel Harcourt, or that a panegyric of him +would be more than idle repetition. Nor would he, as that distinguished +man had suggested, enlarge upon the social, moral, and religious +benefits of the improvement they were now celebrating. It was written +on the happy, innocent faces, in the festive garb, in the decorous +demeanor, in the intelligent eyes that sparkled around him, in the +presence of those of his parishioners whom he could meet as freely here +to-day as in his own church on Sunday. What then could he say? What then +was there to say? Perhaps he should say nothing if it were not for +the presence of the young before him.--He stopped and fixed his eyes +paternally on the youthful Johnny Billings, who with a half dozen +other Sunday-school scholars had been marshaled before the reverend +speaker.--And what was to be the lesson THEY were to learn from it? They +had heard what had been achieved by labor, enterprise, and diligence. +Perhaps they would believe, and naturally too, that what labor, +enterprise, and diligence had done could be done again. But was that +all? Was there nothing behind these qualities--which, after all, were +within the reach of every one here? Had they ever thought that back +of every pioneer, every explorer, every pathfinder, every founder and +creator, there was still another? There was no terra incognita so rare +as to be unknown to one; no wilderness so remote as to be beyond a +greater ken than theirs; no waste so trackless but that one had already +passed that way! Did they ever reflect that when the dull sea ebbed and +flowed in the tules over the very spot where they were now standing, who +it was that also foresaw, conceived, and ordained the mighty change that +would take place; who even guided and directed the feeble means employed +to work it; whose spirit moved, as in still older days of which they had +read, over the face of the stagnant waters? Perhaps they had. Who then +was the real pioneer of Tasajara,--back of the Harcourts, the Peterses, +the Billingses, and Wingates? The reverend gentleman gently paused for +a reply. It was given in the clear but startled accents of the half +frightened, half-fascinated Johnny Billings, in three words:-- + +"'Lige Curtis, sir!" + + + + +CHAPER VI + + +The trade wind, that, blowing directly from the Golden Gate, seemed to +concentrate its full force upon the western slope of Russian Hill, +might have dismayed any climber less hopeful and sanguine than that most +imaginative of newspaper reporters and most youthful of husbands, John +Milton Harcourt. But for all that it was an honest wind, and its dry, +practical energy and salt-pervading breath only seemed to sting him to +greater and more enthusiastic exertions, until, quite at the summit of +the hill and last of a straggling line of little cottages half submerged +in drifting sand, he stood upon his own humble porch. + +"I was thinking, coming up the hill, Loo," he said, bursting into the +sitting-room, pantingly, "of writing something about the future of the +hill! How it will look fifty years from now, all terraced with houses +and gardens!--and right up here a kind of Acropolis, don't you know. I +had quite a picture of it in my mind just now." + +A plainly-dressed young woman with a pretty face, that, however, looked +as if it had been prematurely sapped of color and vitality, here laid +aside some white sewing she had in her lap, and said:-- + +"But you did that once before, Milty, and you know the 'Herald' wouldn't +take it because they said it was a free notice of Mr. Boorem's building +lots, and he didn't advertise in the 'Herald.' I always told you that +you ought to have seen Boorem first." + +The young fellow blinked his eyes with a momentary arrest of that +buoyant hopefulness which was their peculiar characteristic, but +nevertheless replied with undaunted cheerfulness, "I forgot. Anyhow, +it's all the same, for I worked it into that 'Sunday Walk.' And it's +just as easy to write it the other way, you see,--looking back, DOWN THE +HILL, you know. Something about the old Padres toiling through the sand +just before the Angelus; or as far back as Sir Francis Drake's time, +and have a runaway boat's crew, coming ashore to look for gold that the +Mexicans had talked of. Lord! that's easy enough! I tell you what, Loo, +it's worth living up here just for the inspiration." Even while boyishly +exhaling this enthusiasm he was also divesting himself of certain +bundles whose contents seemed to imply that he had brought his +dinner with him,--the youthful Mrs. Harcourt setting the table in a +perfunctory, listless way that contrasted oddly with her husband's +cheerful energy. + +"You haven't heard of any regular situation yet?" she asked +abstractedly. + +"No,--not exactly," he replied. "But [buoyantly] it's a great deal +better for me not to take anything in a hurry and tie myself to any +particular line. Now, I'm quite free." + +"And I suppose you haven't seen that Mr. Fletcher again?" she continued. + +"No. He only wanted to know something about me. That's the way with them +all, Loo. Whenever I apply for work anywhere it's always: 'So you're +Dan'l Harcourt's son, eh? Quarreled with the old man? Bad job; better +make it up! You'll make more stickin' to him. He's worth millions!' +Everybody seems to think everything of HIM, as if I had no individuality +beyond that, I've a good mind to change my name." + +"And pray what would mine be then?" + +There was so much irritation in her voice that he drew nearer her and +gently put his arm around her waist. "Why, whatever mine was, darling," +he said with a tender smile. "You didn't fall in love with any +particular name, did you, Loo?" + +"No, but I married a particular one," she said quickly. + +His eyelids quivered again, as if he was avoiding some unpleasantly +staring suggestion, and she stopped. + +"You know what I mean, dear," she said, with a quick little laugh. "Just +because your father's an old crosspatch, YOU haven't lost your rights to +his name and property. And those people who say you ought to make it up +perhaps know what's for the best." + +"But you remember what he said of you, Loo?" said the young man with a +flashing eye. "Do you think I can ever forget that?" + +"But you DO forget it, dear; you forget it when you go in town among +fresh faces and people; when you are looking for work. You forget it +when you're at work writing your copy,--for I've seen you smile as +you wrote. You forget it climbing up the dreadful sand, for you were +thinking just now of what happened years ago, or is to happen years to +come. And I want to forget it too, Milty. I don't want to sit here all +day, thinking of it, with the wind driving the sand against the window, +and nothing to look at but those white tombs in Lone Mountain Cemetery, +and those white caps that might be gravestones too, and not a soul to +talk to or even see pass by until I feel as if I were dead and buried +also. If you were me--you--you--you--couldn't help crying too!" + +Indeed he was very near it now. For as he caught her in his arms, +suddenly seeing with a lover's sympathy and the poet's swifter +imagination all that she had seen and even more, he was aghast at the +vision conjured. In her delicate health and loneliness how dreadful must +have been these monotonous days, and this glittering, cruel sea! What +a selfish brute he was! Yet as he stood there holding her, silently and +rhythmically marking his tenderness and remorseful feelings by rocking +her from side to side like a languid metronome, she quietly disengaged +her wet lashes from his shoulder and said in quite another tone:-- + +"So they were all at Tasajara last week?" + +"Who, dear?" + +"Your father and sisters." + +"Yes," said John Milton, hesitatingly. + +"And they've taken back your sister after her divorce?" + +The staring obtrusiveness of this fact apparently made her husband's +bright sympathetic eye blink as before. + +"And if you were to divorce me, YOU would be taken back too," she +added quickly, suddenly withdrawing herself with a pettish movement and +walking to the window. + +But he followed. "Don't talk in that way, Loo! Don't look in that way, +dear!" he said, taking her hand gently, yet not without a sense of some +inconsistency in her conduct that jarred upon his own simple directness. +"You know that nothing can part us now. I was wrong to let my little +girl worry herself all alone here, but I--I--thought it was all so--so +bright and free out on this hill,--looking far away beyond the Golden +Gate,--as far as Cathay, you know, and such a change from those dismal +flats of Tasajara and that awful stretch of tules. But it's all right +now. And now that I know how you feel, we'll go elsewhere." + +She did not reply. Perhaps she found it difficult to keep up her injured +attitude in the face of her husband's gentleness. Perhaps her attention +had been attracted by the unusual spectacle of a stranger, who had just +mounted the hill and was now slowly passing along the line of +cottages with a hesitating air of inquiry. "He may be looking for this +house,--for you," she said in an entirely new tone of interest. "Run out +and see. It may be some one who wants"-- + +"An article," said Milton cheerfully. "By Jove! he IS coming here." + +The stranger was indeed approaching the little cottage, and with +apparently some confidence. He was a well-dressed, well-made man, whose +age looked uncertain from the contrast between his heavy brown moustache +and his hair, that, curling under the brim of his hat, was almost white +in color. The young man started, and said, hurriedly: "I really believe +it is Fletcher,--they say his hair turned white from the Panama fever." + +It was indeed Mr. Fletcher who entered and introduced himself,--a gentle +reserved man, with something of that colorlessness of premature age +in his speech which was observable in his hair. He had heard of Mr. +Harcourt from a friend who had recommended him highly. As Mr. Harcourt +had probably been told, he, the speaker, was about to embark some +capital in a first-class newspaper in San Francisco, and should select +the staff himself. He wanted to secure only first-rate talent,--but +above all, youthfulness, directness, and originality. The "Clarion," for +that was to be its name, was to have nothing "old fogy" about it. No. It +was distinctly to be the organ of Young California! This and much more +from the grave lips of the elderly young man, whose speech seemed to be +divided between the pretty, but equally faded, young wife, and the one +personification of invincible youth present,--her husband. + +"But I fear I have interrupted your household duties," he said +pleasantly. "You were preparing dinner. Pray go on. And let me help +you,--I'm not a bad cook,--and you can give me my reward by letting me +share it with you, for the climb up here has sharpened my appetite. We +can talk as we go on." + +It was in vain to protest; there was something paternal as well as +practical in the camaraderie of this actual capitalist and possible +Maecenas and patron as he quietly hung up his hat and overcoat, and +helped to set the table with a practiced hand. Nor, as he suggested, did +the conversation falter, and before they had taken their seats at the +frugal board he had already engaged John Milton Harcourt as assistant +editor of the "Clarion" at a salary that seemed princely to this son +of a millionaire! The young wife meantime had taken active part in the +discussion; whether it was vaguely understood that the possession of +poetical and imaginative faculties precluded any capacity for business, +or whether it was owing to the apparent superior maturity of Mrs. +Harcourt and the stranger, it was certain that THEY arranged the +practical details of the engagement, and that the youthful husband sat +silent, merely offering his always hopeful and sanguine consent. + +"You'll take a house nearer to town, I suppose?" continued Mr. Fletcher +to the lady, "though you've a charming view here. I suppose it was quite +a change from Tasajara and your father-in-law's house? I daresay he had +as fine a place there--on his own homestead--as he has here?" + +Young Harcourt dropped his sensitive eyelids again. It seemed hard that +he could never get away from these allusions to his father! Perhaps it +was only to that relationship that he was indebted for his visitor's +kindness. In his simple honesty he could not bear the thought of such +a misapprehension. "Perhaps, Mr. Fletcher, you do not know," he said, +"that my father is not on terms with me, and that we neither expect +anything nor could we ever take anything from him. Could we, Loo?" He +added the useless question partly because he saw that his wife's face +betrayed little sympathy with him, and partly that Fletcher was looking +at her curiously, as if for confirmation. But this was another of John +Milton's trials as an imaginative reporter; nobody ever seemed to care +for his practical opinions or facts! + +"Mr. Fletcher is not interested in our little family differences, +Milty," she said, looking at Mr. Fletcher, however, instead of him. +"You're Daniel Harcourt's SON whatever happens." + +The cloud that had passed over the young man's face and eyes did not, +however, escape Mr. Fletcher's attention, for he smiled, and added +gayly, "And I hope my valued lieutenant in any case." Nevertheless John +Milton was quite ready to avail himself of an inspiration to fetch some +cigars for his guest from the bar of the Sea-View House on the slope of +the hill beyond, and thereby avoid a fateful subject. Once in the fresh +air again he promptly recovered his boyish spirits. The light flying +scud had already effaced the first rising stars; the lower creeping +sea-fog had already blotted out the western shore and sea; but below him +to the east the glittering lights of the city seemed to start up with a +new, mysterious, and dazzling brilliancy. It was the valley of diamonds +that Sindbad saw lying almost at his feet! Perhaps somewhere there the +light of his own fame and fortune was already beginning to twinkle! + +He returned to his humble roof joyous and inspired. As he entered the +hall he heard his wife's voice and his own name mentioned, followed +by that awkward, meaningless silence on his entrance which so plainly +indicated either that he had been the subject of conversation or that it +was not for his ears. It was a dismal reminder of his boyhood at Sidon +and Tasajara. But he was too full of hope and ambition to heed it +to-night, and later, when Mr. Fletcher had taken his departure, his +pent-up enthusiasm burst out before his youthful partner. Had she +realized that their struggles were over now, that their future was +secure? They need no longer fear ever being forced to take bounty from +the family; they were independent of them all! He would make a name for +himself that should be distinct from his father's as he should make a +fortune that would be theirs alone. The young wife smiled. "But all +that need not prevent you, dear, from claiming your RIGHTS when the time +comes." + +"But if I scorn to make the claim or take a penny of his, Loo?" + +"You say you scorn to take the money you think your father got by a mere +trick,--at the best,--and didn't earn. And now you will be able to show +you can live without it, and earn your own fortune. Well, dear, for that +very reason why should you let your father and others enjoy and waste +what is fairly your share? For it is YOUR share whether it came to your +father fairly or not; and if not, it is still your duty, believing as +you do, to claim it from him, that at least YOU may do with it what you +choose. You might want to restore it--to--to--somebody." + +The young man laughed. "But, my dear Loo! suppose that I were weak +enough to claim it, do you think my father would give it up? He has the +right, and no law could force him to yield to me more than he chooses." + +"Not the law, but YOU could." + +"I don't understand you," he said quickly. + +"You could force him by simply telling him what you once told me." + +John Milton drew back, and his hand dropped loosely from his wife's. +The color left his fresh young face; the light quivered for a moment +and then became fixed and set in his eyes. For that moment he looked ten +years her senior. "I was wrong ever to tell even you that, Loo," he said +in a low voice. "You are wrong to ever remind me of it. Forget it +from this moment, as you value our love and want it to live and be +remembered. And forget, Loo, as I do,--and ever shall,--that you ever +suggested to me to use my secret in the way you did just now." + +But here Mrs. Harcourt burst into tears, more touched by the alteration +in her husband's manner, I fear, than by any contrition for wrongdoing. +Of course if he wished to withdraw his confidences from her, just as he +had almost confessed he wished to withdraw his NAME, she couldn't help +it, but it was hard that when she sat there all day long trying to think +what was best for them, she should be blamed! At which the quiet and +forgiving John Milton smiled remorsefully and tried to comfort her. +Nevertheless an occasional odd, indefinable chill seemed to creep +across the feverish enthusiasm with which he was celebrating this day of +fortune. And yet he neither knew nor suspected until long after that his +foolish wife had that night half betrayed his secret to the stranger! + +The next day he presented a note of introduction from Mr. Fletcher to +the business manager of the "Clarion," and the following morning was +duly installed in office. He did not see his benefactor again; that +single visit was left in the mystery and isolation of an angelic +episode. It later appeared that other and larger interests in the San +Jose valley claimed his patron's residence and attendance; only the +capital and general purpose of the paper--to develop into a party +organ in the interest of his possible senatorial aspirations in due +season--was furnished by him. Grateful as John Milton felt towards him, +he was relieved; it seemed probable that Mr. Fletcher HAD selected him +on his individual merits, and not as the son of a millionaire. + +He threw himself into his work with his old hopeful enthusiasm, +and perhaps an originality of method that was part of his singular +independence. Without the student's training or restraint,--for his two +years' schooling at Tasajara during his parents' prosperity came too +late to act as a discipline,--he was unfettered by any rules, and guided +only by an unerring instinctive taste that became near being genius. +He was a brilliant and original, if not always a profound and accurate, +reporter. By degrees he became an accustomed interest to the readers +of the "Clarion;" then an influence. Actors themselves in many a fierce +drama, living lives of devotion, emotion, and picturesque incident, they +had satisfied themselves with only the briefest and most practical daily +record of their adventure, and even at first were dazed and startled +to find that many of them had been heroes and some poets. The stealthy +boyish reader of romantic chronicle at Sidon had learned by heart the +chivalrous story of the emigration. The second column of the "Clarion" +became famous even while the figure of its youthful writer, unknown and +unrecognized, was still nightly climbing the sands of Russian Hill, and +even looking down as before on the lights of the growing city, without a +thought that he had added to that glittering constellation. + +Cheerful and contented with the exercise of work, he would have been +happy but for the gradual haunting of another dread which presently +began to drag him at earlier hours up the steep path to his little home; +to halt him before the door with the quickened breath of an anxiety he +would scarcely confess to himself, and sometimes hold him aimlessly a +whole day beneath his roof. For the pretty but delicate Mrs. Harcourt, +like others of her class, had added a weak and ineffective maternity +to their other conjugal trials, and one early dawn a baby was born that +lingered with them scarcely longer than the morning mist and exhaled +with the rising sun. The young wife regained her strength slowly,--so +slowly that the youthful husband brought his work at times to the house +to keep her company. And a singular change had come over her. She no +longer talked of the past, nor of his family. As if the little life +that had passed with that morning mist had represented some ascending +expiatory sacrifice, it seemed to have brought them into closer +communion. + +Yet her weak condition made him conceal another trouble that had come +upon him. It was in the third month of his employment on the "Clarion" +that one afternoon, while correcting some proofs on his chief's desk, he +came upon the following editorial paragraph:-- + +"The played-out cant of 'pioneer genius' and 'pioneer discovery' appears +to have reached its climax in the attempt of some of our contemporaries +to apply it to Dan Harcourt's new Tasajara Job before the legislature. +It is perfectly well known in Harcourt's own district that, far from +being a pioneer and settler HIMSELF he simply succeeded after a +fashion to the genuine work of one Elijah Curtis, an actual pioneer +and discoverer, years before, while Harcourt, we believe, was keeping a +frontier doggery in Sidon, and dispensing 'tanglefoot' and salt junk +to the hayfooted Pike Countians of his precinct. This would make him as +much of the 'pioneer discoverer' as the rattlesnake who first takes up +board and lodgings and then possession in a prairie dog's burrow. And if +the traveler's tale is true that the rattlesnake sometimes makes a meal +of his landlord, the story told at Sidon may be equally credible that +the original pioneer mysteriously disappeared about the time that Dan +Harcourt came into the property. From which it would seem that Harcourt +is not in a position for his friends to invite very deep scrutiny into +his 'pioneer' achievements." + +Stupefaction, a vague terror, and rising anger, rapidly succeeded each +other in the young man's mind as he stood mechanically holding the +paper in his hand. It was the writing of his chief editor, whose easy +brutality he had sometimes even boyishly admired. Without stopping to +consider their relative positions he sought him indignantly and laid the +proof before him. The editor laughed. "But what's that to YOU? YOU'RE +not on terms with the old man." + +"But he is my father!" said John Milton hotly. + +"Look here," said the editor good-naturedly, "I'd like to oblige +you, but it isn't BUSINESS, you know,--and this IS, you +understand,--PROPRIETOR'S BUSINESS too! Of course I see it might stand +in the way of your making up to the old man afterwards and coming in for +a million. Well! you can tell him it's ME. Say I WOULD put it in. Say +I'm nasty--and I AM!" + +"Then it must go in?" said John Milton with a white face. + +"You bet." + +"Then I must go out!" And writing out his resignation, he laid it before +his chief and left. + +But he could not bear to tell this to his wife when he climbed the hill +that night, and he invented some excuse for bringing his work home. The +invalid never noticed any change in his usual buoyancy, and indeed I +fear, when he was fairly installed with his writing materials at the +foot of her bed, he had quite forgotten the episode. He was recalled to +it by a faint sigh. + +"What is it, dear?" he said looking up. + +"I like to see you writing, Milty. You always look so happy." + +"Always so happy, dear?" + +"Yes. You are happy, are you not?" + +"Always." He got up and kissed her. Nevertheless, when he sat down to +his work again, his face was turned a little more to the window. + +Another serious incident--to be also kept from the invalid--shortly +followed. The article in the "Clarion" had borne its fruit. The third +day after his resignation a rival paper sharply retorted. "The cowardly +insinuations against the record of a justly honored capitalist," said +the "Pioneer," "although quite in keeping with the brazen 'Clarion,' +might attract the attentions of the slandered party, if it were not +known to his friends as well as himself that it may be traced almost +directly to a cast-off member of his own family, who, it seems, is +reduced to haunting the back doors of certain blatant journals to +dispose of his cheap wares. The slanderer is secure from public exposure +in the superior decency of his relations, who refrain from airing their +family linen upon editorial lines." + +This was the journal to which John Milton had hopefully turned for work. +When he read it there seemed but one thing for him to do--and he did +it. Gentle and optimistic as was his nature, he had been brought up in +a community where sincere directness of personal offense was followed by +equally sincere directness of personal redress, and--he challenged the +editor. The bearer of his cartel was one Jack Hamlin, I grieve to say a +gambler by profession, but between whom and John Milton had sprung up an +odd friendship of which the best that can be said is that it was to each +equally and unselfishly unprofitable. The challenge was accepted, the +preliminaries arranged. "I suppose," said Jack carelessly, "as the old +man ought to do something for your wife in case of accident, you've made +some sort of a will?" + +"I've thought of that," said John Milton, dubiously, "but I'm afraid +it's no use. You see"--he hesitated--"I'm not of age." + +"May I ask how old you are, sonny?" said Jack with great gravity. + +"I'm almost twenty," said John Milton, coloring. + +"It isn't exactly vingt-et-un, but I'd stand on it; if I were you I +wouldn't draw to such a hand," said Jack, coolly. + +The young husband had arranged to be absent from his home that night, +and early morning found him, with Jack, grave, but courageous, in a +little hollow behind the Mission Hills. To them presently approached his +antagonist, jauntily accompanied by Colonel Starbottle, his second. They +halted, but after the formal salutation were instantly joined by Jack +Hamlin. For a few moments John Milton remained awkwardly alone--pending +a conversation which even at that supreme moment he felt as being +like the general attitude of his friends towards him, in its complete +ignoring of himself. The next moment the three men stepped towards him. +"We have come, sir," said Colonel Starbottle in his precisest speech but +his jauntiest manner, "to offer you a full and ample apology--a personal +apology--which only supplements that full public apology that my +principal, sir, this gentleman," indicating the editor of the "Pioneer," +"has this morning made in the columns of his paper, as you will +observe," producing a newspaper. "We have, sir," continued the +colonel loftily, "only within the last twelve hours become aware of +the--er--REAL circumstances of the case. We would regret that the affair +had gone so far already, if it had not given us, sir, the opportunity +of testifying to your gallantry. We do so gladly; and if--er--er--a FEW +YEARS LATER, Mr. Harcourt, you should ever need--a friend in any matter +of this kind, I am, sir, at your service." John Milton gazed half +inquiringly, half uneasily at Jack. + +"It's all right, Milt," he said sotto voce. "Shake hands all round and +let's go to breakfast. And I rather think that editor wants to employ +you HIMSELF." + +It was true, for when that night he climbed eagerly the steep homeward +hill he carried with him the written offer of an engagement on the +"Pioneer." As he entered the door his wife's nurse and companion met him +with a serious face. There had been a strange and unexpected change in +the patient's condition, and the doctor had already been there twice. +As he put aside his coat and hat and entered her room, it seemed to +him that he had forever put aside all else of essay and ambition beyond +those four walls. And with the thought a great peace came upon him. It +seemed good to him to live for her alone. + +It was not for long. As each monotonous day brought the morning mist and +evening fog regularly to the little hilltop where his whole being was +now centred, she seemed to grow daily weaker, and the little circle of +her life narrowed day by day. One morning when the usual mist appeared +to have been withheld and the sun had risen with a strange and cruel +brightness; when the waves danced and sparkled on the bay below and +light glanced from dazzling sails, and even the white tombs on Lone +Mountain glittered keenly; when cheery voices hailing each other on the +hillside came to him clearly but without sense or meaning; when earth, +sky, and sea seemed quivering with life and motion,--he opened the door +of that one little house on which the only shadow seemed to have fallen, +and went forth again into the world alone. + + + + +CHAPER VII. + + +Mr. Daniel Harcourt's town mansion was also on an eminence, but it +was that gentler acclivity of fashion known as Rincon Hill, and +sunned itself on a southern slope of luxury. It had been described +as "princely" and "fairy-like," by a grateful reporter; tourists and +travelers had sung its praises in letters to their friends and in +private reminiscences, for it had dispensed hospitality to most of the +celebrities who had visited the coast. Nevertheless its charm was mainly +due to the ruling taste of Miss Clementina Harcourt, who had astonished +her father by her marvelous intuition of the nice requirements and +elegant responsibilities of their position; and had thrown her mother +into the pained perplexity of a matronly hen, who, among the ducks' eggs +intrusted to her fostering care, had unwittingly hatched a graceful but +discomposing cygnet. + +Indeed, after holding out feebly against the siege of wealth at Tasajara +and San Francisco, Mrs. Harcourt had abandoned herself hopelessly to +the horrors of its invasion; had allowed herself to be dragged from her +kitchen by her exultant daughters and set up in black silk in a certain +conventional respectability in the drawing-room. Strange to say, her +commiserating hospitality, or hospital-like ministration, not only gave +her popularity, but a certain kind of distinction. An exaltation +so sorrowfully deprecated by its possessor was felt to be a sign of +superiority. She was spoken of as "motherly," even by those who vaguely +knew that there was somewhere a discarded son struggling in poverty +with a helpless wife, and that she had sided with her husband in +disinheriting a daughter who had married unwisely. She was sentimentally +spoken of as a "true wife," while never opposing a single meanness of +her husband, suggesting a single active virtue, nor questioning her +right to sacrifice herself and her family for his sake. With nothing +she cared to affect, she was quite free from affectation, and even the +critical Lawrence Grant was struck with the dignity which her narrow +simplicity, that had seemed small even in Sidon, attained in her +palatial hall in San Francisco. It appeared to be a perfectly logical +conclusion that when such unaffectedness and simplicity were forced to +assume a hostile attitude to anybody, the latter must be to blame. + +Since the festival of Tasajara Mr. Grant had been a frequent visitor +at Harcourt's, and was a guest on the eve of his departure from San +Francisco. The distinguished position of each made their relations +appear quite natural without inciting gossip as to any attraction in +Harcourt's daughters. It was late one afternoon as he was passing the +door of Harcourt's study that his host called him in. He found him +sitting at his desk with some papers before him and a folded copy of the +"Clarion." With his back to the fading light of the window his face was +partly in shadow. + +"By the way, Grant," he began, with an assumption of carelessness +somewhat inconsistent with the fact that he had just called him in, "it +may be necessary for me to pull up those fellows who are blackguarding +me in the 'Clarion.'" + +"Why, they haven't been saying anything new?" asked Grant, laughingly, +as he glanced towards the paper. + +"No--that is--only a rehash of what they said before," returned Harcourt +without opening the paper. + +"Well," said Grant playfully, "you don't mind their saying that you're +NOT the original pioneer of Tasajara, for it's true; nor that that +fellow 'Lige Curtis disappeared suddenly, for he did, if I remember +rightly. But there's nothing in that to invalidate your rights to +Tasajara, to say nothing of your five years' undisputed possession." + +"Of course there's no LEGAL question," said Harcourt almost sharply. +"But as a matter of absurd report, I may want to contradict their +insinuations. And YOU remember all the circumstances, don't you?" + +"I should think so! Why, my dear fellow, I've told it everywhere!--here, +in New York, Newport, and in London; by Jove, it's one of my best +stories! How a company sent me out with a surveyor to look up a railroad +and agricultural possibilities in the wilderness; how just as I found +them--and a rather big thing they made, too--I was set afloat by a +flood and a raft, and drifted ashore on your bank, and practically +demonstrated to you what you didn't know and didn't dare to hope +for--that there could be a waterway straight to Sidon from the +embarcadero. I've told what a charming evening we had with you and +your daughters in the old house, and how I returned your hospitality by +giving you a tip about the railroad; and how you slipped out while we +were playing cards, to clinch the bargain for the land with that drunken +fellow, 'Lige Curtis"-- + +"What's that?" interrupted Harcourt, quickly. + +It was well that the shadow hid from Grant the expression of Harcourt's +face, or his reply might have been sharper. As it was, he answered a +little stiffly:-- + +"I beg your pardon"-- + +Harcourt recovered himself. "You're all wrong!" he said, "that bargain +was made long BEFORE; I never saw 'Lige Curtis after you came to the +house. It was before that, in the afternoon," he went on hurriedly, +"that he was last in my store. I can prove it." Nevertheless he was so +shocked and indignant at being confronted in his own suppressions and +falsehoods by an even greater and more astounding misconception of +fact, that for a moment he felt helpless. What, he reflected, if it were +alleged that 'Lige had returned again after the loafers had gone, or had +never left the store as had been said? Nonsense! There was John Milton, +who had been there reading all the time, and who could disprove it. Yes, +but John Milton was his discarded son,--his enemy,--perhaps even his +very slanderer! + +"But," said Grant quietly, "don't you remember that your daughter +Euphemia said something that evening about the land Lige had OFFERED +you, and you snapped up the young lady rather sharply for letting out +secrets, and THEN you went out? At least that's my impression." + +It was, however, more than an impression; with Grant's scientific memory +for characteristic details he had noticed that particular circumstance +as part of the social phenomena. + +"I don't know what Phemie SAID," returned Harcourt, impatiently. "I KNOW +there was no offer pending; the land had been sold to me before I ever +saw you. Why--you must have thought me up to pretty sharp practice with +Curtis--eh?" he added, with a forced laugh. + +Grant smiled; he had been accustomed to hear of such sharp practice +among his business acquaintance, although he himself by nature and +profession was incapable of it, but he had not deemed Harcourt more +scrupulous than others. "Perhaps so," he said lightly, "but for Heaven's +sake don't ask me to spoil my reputation as a raconteur for the sake of +a mere fact or two. I assure you it's a mighty taking story as I tell +it--and it don't hurt you in a business way. You're the hero of it--hang +it all!" + +"Yes," said Harcourt, without noticing Grant's half cynical superiority, +"but you'll oblige me if you won't tell it again IN THAT WAY. There are +men here mean enough to make the worst of it. It's nothing to me, of +course, but my family--the girls, you know--are rather sensitive." + +"I had no idea they even knew it,--much less cared for it," said Grant, +with sudden seriousness. "I dare say if those fellows in the 'Clarion' +knew that they were annoying the ladies they'd drop it. Who's the +editor? Look here--leave it to me; I'll look into it. Better that you +shouldn't appear in the matter at all." + +"You understand that if it was a really serious matter, Grant," said +Harcourt with a slight attitude, "I shouldn't allow any one to take my +place." + +"My dear fellow, there'll be nobody 'called out' and no 'shooting at +sight,' whatever is the result of my interference," returned Grant, +lightly. "It'll be all right." He was quite aware of the power of his +own independent position and the fact that he had been often appealed to +before in delicate arbitration. + +Harcourt was equally conscious of this, but by a strange inconsistency +now felt relieved at the coolness with which Grant had accepted the +misconception which had at first seemed so dangerous. If he were ready +to condone what he thought was SHARP PRACTICE, he could not be less +lenient with the real facts that might come out,--of course always +excepting that interpolated consideration in the bill of sale, which, +however, no one but the missing Curtis could ever discover. The fact +that a man of Grant's secure position had interested himself in this +matter would secure him from the working of that personal vulgar +jealousy which his humbler antecedents had provoked. And if, as he +fancied, Grant really cared for Clementina-- + +"As you like," he said, with half-affected lightness, "and now let us +talk of something else. Clementina has been thinking of getting up +a riding party to San Mateo for Mrs. Ashwood. We must show them some +civility, and that Boston brother of hers, Mr. Shipley, will have to +be invited also. I can't get away, and my wife, of course, will only +be able to join them at San Mateo in the carriage. I reckon it would be +easier for Clementina if you took my place, and helped her look after +the riding party. It will need a man, and I think she'd prefer you--as +you know she's rather particular--unless, of course, you'd be wanted for +Mrs. Ashwood or Phemie, or somebody else." + +From his shadowed corner he could see that a pleasant light had sprung +into Grant's eyes, although his reply was in his ordinary easy banter. +"I shall be only too glad to act as Miss Clementina's vaquero, and lasso +her runaways, or keep stragglers in the road." + +There seemed to be small necessity, however, for this active +co-operation, for when the cheerful cavalcade started from the house +a few mornings later, Mr. Lawrence Grant's onerous duties seemed to be +simply confined to those of an ordinary cavalier at the side of Miss +Clementina, a few paces in the rear of the party. But this safe distance +gave them the opportunity of conversing without being overheard,--an +apparently discreet precaution. + +"Your father was so exceedingly affable to me the other day that if I +hadn't given you my promise to say nothing, I think I would have fallen +on my knees to him then and there, revealed my feelings, asked for your +hand and his blessing--or whatever one does at such a time. But how long +do you intend to keep me in this suspense?" + +Clementina turned her clear eyes half abstractedly upon him, as if +imperfectly recalling some forgotten situation. "You forget," she said, +"that part of your promise was that you wouldn't even speak of it to me +again without my permission." + +"But my time is so short now. Give me some definite hope before I go. +Let me believe that when we meet in New York"-- + +"You will find me just the same as now! Yes, I think I can promise THAT. +Let that suffice. You said the other day you liked me because I had not +changed for five years. You can surely trust that I will not alter in as +many months." + +"If I only knew"-- + +"Ah, if I only knew,--if WE ALL only knew. But we don't. Come, Mr. +Grant, let it rest as it is. Unless you want to go still further back +and have it as it WAS, at Sidon. There I think you fancied Euphemia +most." + +"Clementina!" + +"That is my name, and those people ahead of us know it already." + +"You are called CLEMENTINA,--but you are not merciful!" + +"You are very wrong, for you might see that Mr. Shipley has twice +checked his horse that he might hear what you are saying, and Phemie is +always showing Mrs. Ashwood something in the landscape behind us." + +All this was the more hopeless and exasperating to Grant since in the +young girl's speech and manner there was not the slightest trace of +coquetry or playfulness. He could not help saying a little bitterly: "I +don't think that any one would imagine from your manner that you were +receiving a declaration." + +"But they might imagine from yours that you had the right to quarrel +with me,--which would be worse." + +"We cannot part like this! It is too cruel to me." + +"We cannot part otherwise without the risk of greater cruelty." + +"But say at least, Clementina, that I have no rival. There is no other +more favored suitor?" + +"That is so like a man--and yet so unlike the proud one I believed you +to be. Why should a man like you even consider such a possibility? If I +were a man I know I couldn't." She turned upon him a glance so clear and +untroubled by either conscious vanity or evasion that he was hopelessly +convinced of the truth of her statement, and she went on in a slightly +lowered tone, "You have no right to ask me such a question,--but perhaps +for that reason I am willing to answer you. There is none. Hush! For a +good rider you are setting a poor example to the others, by crowding +me towards the bank. Go forward and talk to Phemie, and tell her not to +worry Mrs. Ashwood's horse nor race with her; I don't think he's quite +safe, and Mrs. Ashwood isn't accustomed to using the Spanish bit. +I suppose I must say something to Mr. Shipley, who doesn't seem to +understand that I'M acting as chaperon, and YOU as captain of the +party." + +She cantered forward as she spoke, and Grant was obliged to join her +sister, who, mounted on a powerful roan, was mischievously exciting +a beautiful quaker-colored mustang ridden by Mrs. Ashwood, already +irritated by the unfamiliar pressure of the Eastern woman's hand upon +his bit. The thick dust which had forced the party of twenty to close up +in two solid files across the road compelled them at the first opening +in the roadside fence to take the field in a straggling gallop. Grant, +eager to escape from his own discontented self by doing something for +others, reined in beside Euphemia and the fair stranger. + +"Let me take your place until Mrs. Ashwood's horse is quieted," he half +whispered to Euphemia. + +"Thank you,--and I suppose it does not make any matter to Clem who +quiets mine," she said, with provoking eyes and a toss of her head +worthy of the spirited animal she was riding. + +"She thinks you quite capable of managing yourself and even others," +he replied with a playful glance at Shipley, who was riding somewhat +stiffly on the other side. + +"Don't be too sure," retorted Phemie with another dangerous look; "I may +give you trouble yet." + +They were approaching the first undulation of the russet plain they had +emerged upon,--an umbrageous slope that seemed suddenly to diverge +in two defiles among the shaded hills. Grant had given a few words of +practical advice to Mrs. Ashwood, and shown her how to guide her mustang +by the merest caressing touch of the rein upon its sensitive neck. He +had not been sympathetically inclined towards the fair stranger, a rich +and still youthful widow, although he could not deny her unquestioned +good breeding, mental refinement, and a certain languorous +thoughtfulness that was almost melancholy, which accented her blonde +delicacy. But he had noticed that her manner was politely reserved and +slightly constrained towards the Harcourts, and he had already resented +it with a lover's instinctive loyalty. He had at first attributed it +to a want of sympathy between Mrs. Ashwood's more intellectual +sentimentalities and the Harcourts' undeniable lack of any sentiment +whatever. But there was evidently some other innate antagonism. He +was very polite to Mrs. Ashwood; she responded with a gentlewoman's +courtesy, and, he was forced to admit, even a broader comprehension +of his own merits than the Harcourt girls had ever shown, but he could +still detect that she was not in accord with the party. + +"I am afraid you do not like California, Mrs. Ashwood?" he said +pleasantly. "You perhaps find the life here too unrestrained and +unconventional?" + +She looked at him in quick astonishment. "Are you quite sincere? Why, +it strikes me that this is just what it is NOT. And I have so longed +for something quite different. From what I have been told about the +originality and adventure of everything here, and your independence of +old social forms and customs, I am afraid I expected the opposite +of what I've seen. Why, this very party--except that the ladies are +prettier and more expensively gotten up--is like any party that might +have ridden out at Saratoga or New York." + +"And as stupid, you would say." + +"As CONVENTIONAL, Mr. Grant; always excepting this lovely creature +beneath me, whom I can't make out and who doesn't seem to care that I +should. There! look! I told you so!" + +Her mustang had suddenly bounded forward; but as Grant followed he +could see that the cause was the example of Phemie, who had, in some +mad freak, dashed out in a frantic gallop. A half-dozen of the +younger people hilariously accepted the challenge; the excitement was +communicated to the others, until the whole cavalcade was sweeping +down the slope. Grant was still at Mrs. Ashwood's side, restraining +her mustang and his own impatient horse when Clementina joined them. +"Phemie's mare has really bolted, I fear," she said in a quick whisper, +"ride on, and never mind us." Grant looked quickly ahead; Phemie's roan, +excited by the shouts behind her and to all appearance ungovernable, was +fast disappearing with her rider. Without a word, trusting to his own +good horsemanship and better knowledge of the ground, he darted out of +the cavalcade to overtake her. + +But the unfortunate result of this was to give further impulse to the +now racing horses as they approached a point where the slope terminated +in two diverging canyons. Mrs. Ashwood gave a sharp pull upon her +bit. To her consternation the mustang stopped short almost +instantly,--planting his two fore feet rigidly in the dust and even +sliding forward with the impetus. Had her seat been less firm she might +have been thrown, but she recovered herself, although in doing so +she still bore upon the bit, when to her astonishment the mustang +deliberately stiffened himself as if for a shock, and then began to back +slowly, quivering with excitement. She did not know that her native-bred +animal fondly believed that he was participating in a rodeo, and that to +his equine intelligence his fair mistress had just lassoed something! +In vain she urged him forward; he still waited for the shock! When the +cloud of dust in which she had been enwrapped drifted away, she saw to +her amazement that she was alone. The entire party had disappeared into +one of the canyons,--but which one she could not tell! + +When she succeeded at last in urging her mustang forward again she +determined to take the right-hand canyon and trust to being either met +or overtaken. A more practical and less adventurous nature would have +waited at the point of divergence for the return of some of the party, +but Mrs. Ashwood was, in truth, not sorry to be left to herself and the +novel scenery for a while, and she had no doubt but she would eventually +find her way to the hotel at San Mateo, which could not be far away, in +time for luncheon. + +The road was still well defined, although it presently began to wind +between ascending ranks of pines and larches that marked the terraces +of hills, so high that she wondered she had not noticed them from the +plains. An unmistakable suggestion of some haunting primeval solitude, +a sense of the hushed and mysterious proximity of a nature she had never +known before, the strange half-intoxicating breath of unsunned foliage +and untrodden grasses and herbs, all combined to exalt her as she +cantered forward. Even her horse seemed to have acquired an intelligent +liberty, or rather to have established a sympathy with her in his needs +and her own longings; instinctively she no longer pulled him with the +curb; the reins hung loosely on his self-arched and unfettered neck; +secure in this loneliness she found herself even talking to him with +barbaric freedom. As she went on, the vague hush of all things animate +and inanimate around her seemed to thicken, until she unconsciously +halted before a dim and pillared wood, and a vast and heathless opening +on whose mute brown lips Nature seemed to have laid the finger of +silence. She forgot the party she had left, she forgot the luncheon she +was going to; more important still she forgot that she had already left +the traveled track far behind her, and, tremulous with anticipation, +rode timidly into that arch of shadow. + +As her horse's hoofs fell noiselessly on the elastic moss-carpeted aisle +she forgot even more than that. She forgot the artificial stimulus and +excitement of the life she had been leading so long; she forgot the +small meannesses and smaller worries of her well-to-do experiences; she +forgot herself,--rather she regained a self she had long forgotten. +For in the sweet seclusion of this half darkened sanctuary the clinging +fripperies of her past slipped from her as a tawdry garment. The +petted, spoiled, and vapidly precocious girlhood which had merged into +a womanhood of aimless triumphs and meaner ambitions; the worldly but +miserable triumph of a marriage that had left her delicacy abused and +her heart sick and unsatisfied; the wifehood without home, seclusion, +or maternity; the widowhood that at last brought relief, but with it the +consciousness of hopelessly wasted youth,--all this seemed to drop from +her here as lightly as the winged needles or noiseless withered spray +from the dim gray vault above her head. In the sovereign balm of that +woodland breath her better spirit was restored; somewhere in these +wholesome shades seemed to still lurk what should have been her innocent +and nymph-like youth, and to come out once more and greet her. Old songs +she had forgotten, or whose music had failed in the discords of her +frivolous life, sang themselves to her again in that sweet, grave +silence; girlish dreams that she had foolishly been ashamed of, or had +put away with her childish toys, stole back to her once more and became +real in this tender twilight; old fancies, old fragments of verse and +childish lore, grew palpable and moved faintly before her. The boyish +prince who should have come was there; the babe that should have been +hers was there!--she stopped suddenly with flaming eyes and indignant +color. For it appeared that a MAN was there too, and had just risen from +the fallen tree where he had been sitting. + + + + +CHAPER VIII. + + +She had so far forgotten herself in yielding to the spell of the place, +and in the revelation of her naked soul and inner nature, that it was +with something of the instinct of outraged modesty that she seemed to +shrink before this apparition of the outer world and outer worldliness. +In an instant the nearer past returned; she remembered where she was, +how she had come there, from whom she had come, and to whom she was +returning. She could see that she had not only aimlessly wandered from +the world but from the road; and for that instant she hated this man who +had reminded her of it, even while she knew she must ask his assistance. +It relieved her slightly to observe that he seemed as disturbed and +impatient as herself, and as he took a pencil from between his lips and +returned it to his pocket he scarcely looked at her. + +But with her return to the world of convenances came its repression, +and with a gentlewoman's ease and modulated voice she leaned over her +mustang's neck and said: "I have strayed from my party and am afraid I +have lost my way. We were going to the hotel at San Mateo. Would you be +kind enough to direct me there, or show me how I can regain the road by +which I came?" + +Her voice and manner were quite enough to arrest him where he stood with +a pleased surprise in his fresh and ingenuous face. She looked at him +more closely. He was, in spite of his long silken mustache, so absurdly +young; he might, in spite of that youth, be so absurdly man-like! What +was he doing there? Was he a farmer's son, an artist, a surveyor, or a +city clerk out for a holiday? Was there perhaps a youthful female of his +species somewhere for whom he was waiting and upon whose tryst she was +now breaking? Was he--terrible thought!--the outlying picket of some +family picnic? His dress, neat, simple, free from ostentatious ornament, +betrayed nothing. She waited for his voice. + +"Oh, you have left San Mateo miles away to the right," he said with +quick youthful sympathy, "at least five miles! Where did you leave your +party?" + +His voice was winning, and even refined, she thought. She answered it +quite spontaneously: "At a fork of two roads. I see now I took the wrong +turning." + +"Yes, you took the road to Crystal Spring. It's just down there in the +valley, not more than a mile. You'd have been there now if you hadn't +turned off at the woods." + +"I couldn't help it, it was so beautiful." + +"Isn't it?" + +"Perfect." + +"And such shadows, and such intensity of color." + +"Wonderful!--and all along the ridge, looking down that defile!" + +"Yes, and that point where it seems as if you had only to stretch out +your hand to pick a manzanita berry from the other side of the canyon, +half a mile across!" + +"Yes, and that first glimpse of the valley through the Gothic gateway of +rocks!" + +"And the color of those rocks,--cinnamon and bronze with the light green +of the Yerba buena vine splashing over them." + +"Yes, but for color DID you notice that hillside of yellow poppies +pouring down into the valley like a golden Niagara?" + +"Certainly,--and the perfect clearness of everything." + +"And yet such complete silence and repose!" + +"Oh, yes!" + +"Ah, yes!" + +They were both gravely nodding and shaking their heads with sparkling +eyes and brightened color, looking not at each other but at the far +landscape vignetted through a lozenge-shaped wind opening in the trees. +Suddenly Mrs. Ashwood straightened herself in the saddle, looked grave, +lifted the reins and apparently the ten years with them that had dropped +from her. But she said in her easiest well-bred tones, and a half sigh, +"Then I must take the road back again to where it forks?" + +"Oh, no! you can go by Crystal Spring. It's no further, and I'll show +you the way. But you'd better stop and rest yourself and your horse for +a little while at the Springs Hotel. It's a very nice place. Many people +ride there from San Francisco to luncheon and return. I wonder that your +party didn't prefer it; and if they are looking for you,--as they surely +must be," he said, as if with a sudden conception of her importance, +"they'll come there when they find you're not at San Mateo." + +This seemed reasonable, although the process of being "fetched" and +taking the five miles ride, which she had enjoyed so much alone, +in company was not attractive. "Couldn't I go on at once?" she said +impulsively. + +"You would meet them sooner," he said thoughtfully. + +This was quite enough for Mrs. Ashwood. "I think I'll rest this poor +horse, who is really tired," she, said with charming hypocrisy, "and +stop at the hotel." + +She saw his face brighten. Perhaps he was the son of the hotel +proprietor, or a youthful partner himself. "I suppose you live here?" +she suggested gently. "You seem to know the place so well." + +"No," he returned quickly; "I only run down here from San Francisco when +I can get a day off." + +A day off! He was in some regular employment. But he continued: "And I +used to go to boarding-school near here, and know all these woods well." + +He must be a native! How odd! She had not conceived that there might +be any other population here than the immigrants; perhaps that was what +made him so interesting and different from the others. "Then your father +and mother live here?" she said. + +His frank face, incapable of disguise, changed suddenly. "No," he said +simply, but without any trace of awkwardness. Then after a slight +pause he laid his hand--she noticed it was white and well kept--on her +mustang's neck, and said, "If--if you care to trust yourself to me, I +could lead you and your horse down a trail into the valley that is at +least a third of the distance shorter. It would save you going back to +the regular road, and there are one or two lovely views that I could +show you. I should be so pleased, if it would not trouble you. There's a +steep place or two--but I think there's no danger." + +"I shall not be afraid." + +She smiled so graciously, and, as she fully believed, maternally, that +he looked at her the second time. To his first hurried impression of +her as an elegant and delicately nurtured woman--one of the class of +distinguished tourists that fashion was beginning to send thither--he +had now to add that she had a quantity of fine silken-spun light hair +gathered in a heavy braid beneath her gray hat; that her mouth was +very delicately lipped and beautifully sensitive; that her soft skin, +although just then touched with excitement, was a pale faded velvet, and +seemed to be worn with ennui rather than experience; that her eyes +were hidden behind a strip of gray veil whence only a faint glow was +discernible. To this must still be added a poetic fancy all his own +that, as she sat there, with the skirt of her gray habit falling from +her long bodiced waist over the mustang's fawn-colored flanks, and with +her slim gauntleted hands lightly swaying the reins, she looked like +Queen Guinevere in the forest. Not that he particularly fancied Queen +Guinevere, or that he at all imagined himself Launcelot, but it was +quite in keeping with the suggestion-haunted brain of John Milton +Harcourt, whom the astute reader has of course long since recognized. + +Preceding her through the soft carpeted vault with a woodman's +instinct,--for there was apparently no trail to be seen,--the soft inner +twilight began to give way to the outer stronger day, and presently she +was startled to see the clear blue of the sky before her on apparently +the same level as the brown pine-tessellated floor she was treading. Not +only did this show her that she was crossing a ridge of the upland, but +a few moments later she had passed beyond the woods to a golden hillside +that sloped towards a leafy, sheltered, and exquisitely-proportioned +valley. A tiny but picturesque tower, and a few straggling roofs and +gables, the flashing of a crystal stream through the leaves, and a +narrow white ribbon of road winding behind it indicated the hostelry +they were seeking. So peaceful and unfrequented it looked, nestling +between the hills, that it seemed as if they had discovered it. + +With his hand at times upon the bridle, at others merely caressing her +mustang's neck, he led the way; there were a few breathless places where +the crown of his straw hat appeared between her horse's reins, and again +when she seemed almost slipping over on his shoulder, but they were +passed with such frank fearlessness and invincible youthful confidence +on the part of her escort that she felt no timidity. There were moments +when a bit of the charmed landscape unfolding before them overpowered +them both, and they halted to gaze,--sometimes without a word, or only a +significant gesture of sympathy and attention. At one of those artistic +manifestations Mrs. Ashwood laid her slim gloved fingers lightly but +unwittingly on John Milton's arm, and withdrew them, however, with a +quick girlish apology and a foolish color which annoyed her more than +the appearance of familiarity. But they were now getting well down into +the valley; the court of the little hotel was already opening before +them; their unconventional relations in the idyllic world above had +changed; the new one required some delicacy of handling, and she had an +idea that even the simplicity of the young stranger might be confusing. + +"I must ask you to continue to act as my escort," she said, laughingly. +"I am Mrs. Ashwood of Philadelphia, visiting San Francisco with my +sister and brother, who are, I am afraid, even now hopelessly waiting +luncheon for me at San Mateo. But as there seems to be no prospect of my +joining them in time, I hope you will be able to give me the pleasure +of your company, with whatever they may give us here in the way of +refreshment." + +"I shall be very happy," returned John Milton with unmistakable candor; +"but perhaps some of your friends will be arriving in quest of you, if +they are not already here." + +"Then they will join us or wait," said Mrs. Ashwood incisively, with +her first exhibition of the imperiousness of a rich and pretty woman. +Perhaps she was a little annoyed that her elaborate introduction of +herself had produced no reciprocal disclosure by her companion. "Will +you please send the landlord to me?" she added. + +John Milton disappeared in the hotel as she cantered to the porch. In +another moment she was giving the landlord her orders with the easy +confidence of one who knew herself only as an always welcome and highly +privileged guest, which was not without its effect. "And," she added +carelessly, "when everything is ready you will please tell--Mr."-- + +"Harcourt," suggested the landlord promptly. + +Mrs. Ashwood's perfectly trained face gave not the slightest sign of the +surprise that had overtaken her. "Of course,--Mr. Harcourt." + +"You know he's the son of the millionaire," continued the landlord, not +at all unwilling to display the importance of the habitues of Crystal +Spring, "though they've quarreled and don't get on together." + +"I know," said the lady languidly, "and, if any one comes here for ME, +ask them to wait in the parlor until I come." + +Then, submitting herself and her dusty habit to the awkward ministration +of the Irish chambermaid, she was quite thrilled with a delightful +curiosity. She vaguely remembered that she had heard something of the +Harcourt family discord,--but that was the divorced daughter surely! +And this young man was Harcourt's son, and they had quarreled! A quarrel +with a frank, open, ingenuous fellow like that--a mere boy--could only +be the father's fault. Luckily she had never mentioned the name of +Harcourt! She would not now; he need not know that it was his father who +had originated the party; why should she make him uncomfortable for the +few moments they were together? + +There was nothing of this in her face as she descended and joined him. +He thought that face handsome, well-bred, and refined. But this +breeding and refinement seemed to him--in his ignorance of the world, +possibly--as only a graceful concealment of a self of which he knew +nothing; and he was not surprised to find that her pretty gray eyes, now +no longer hidden by her veil, really told him no more than her lips. +He was a little afraid of her, and now that she had lost her naive +enthusiasm he was conscious of a vague remorsefulness for his +interrupted work in the forest. What was he doing here? He who had +avoided the cruel, selfish world of wealth and pleasure,--a world that +this woman represented,--the world that had stood apart from him in the +one dream of his life--and had let Loo die! His quickly responsive face +darkened. + +"I am afraid I really interrupted you up there," she said gently, +looking in his face with an expression of unfeigned concern; "you were +at work of some kind, I know, and I have very selfishly thought only of +myself. But the whole scene was so new to me, and I so rarely meet any +one who sees things as I do, that I know you will forgive me." She bent +her eyes upon him with a certain soft timidity. "You are an artist?" + +"I am afraid not," he said, coloring and smiling faintly; "I don't think +I could draw a straight line." + +"Don't try to; they're not pretty, and the mere ability to draw them +straight or curved doesn't make an artist. But you are a LOVER of +nature, I know, and from what I have heard you say I believe you can do +what lovers cannot do,--make others feel as they do,--and that is what I +call being an artist. You write? You are a poet?" + +"Oh dear, no," he said with a smile, half of relief and half of naive +superiority, "I'm a prose writer--on a daily newspaper." + +To his surprise she was not disconcerted; rather a look of animation lit +up her face as she said brightly, "Oh, then, you can of course satisfy +my curiosity about something. You know the road from San Francisco to +the Cliff House. Except for the view of the sea-lions when one gets +there it's stupid; my brother says it's like all the San Francisco +excursions,--a dusty drive with a julep at the end of it. Well, one day +we were coming back from a drive there, and when we were beginning to +wind along the brow of that dreadful staring Lone Mountain Cemetery, I +said I would get out and walk, and avoid the obtrusive glitter of those +tombstones rising before me all the way. I pushed open a little gate and +passed in. Once among these funereal shrubs and cold statuesque lilies +everything was changed; I saw the staring tombstones no longer, for, +like them, I seemed to be always facing the sea. The road had vanished; +everything had vanished but the endless waste of ocean below me, and +the last slope of rock and sand. It seemed to be the fittest place for +a cemetery,--this end of the crumbling earth,--this beginning of the +eternal sea. There! don't think that idea my own, or that I thought of +it then. No,--I read it all afterwards, and that's why I'm telling you +this." + +She could not help smiling at his now attentive face, and went on: "Some +days afterwards I got hold of a newspaper four or six months old, and +there was a description of all that I thought I had seen and felt,--only +far more beautiful and touching, as you shall see, for I cut it out +of the paper and have kept it. It seemed to me that it must be some +personal experience,--as if the writer had followed some dear friend +there,--although it was with the unostentation and indefiniteness of +true and delicate feeling. It impressed me so much that I went back +there twice or thrice, and always seemed to move to the rhythm of that +beautiful funeral march--and I am afraid, being a woman, that I wandered +around among the graves as though I could find out who it was that had +been sung so sweetly, and if it were man or woman. I've got it here," +she said, taking a dainty ivory porte-monnaie from her pocket and +picking out with two slim finger-tips a folded slip of newspaper; "and +I thought that maybe you might recognize the style of the writer, and +perhaps know something of his history. For I believe he has one. There! +that is only a part of the article, of course, but it is the part that +interested me. Just read from there," she pointed, leaning partly over +his shoulder so that her soft breath stirred his hair, "to the end; it +isn't long." + +In the film that seemed to come across his eyes, suddenly the print +appeared blurred and indistinct. But he knew that she had put into his +hand something he had written after the death of his wife; something +spontaneous and impulsive, when her loss still filled his days and +nights and almost unconsciously swayed his pen. He remembered that his +eyes had been as dim when he wrote it--and now--handed to him by this +smiling, well-to-do woman, he was as shocked at first as if he had +suddenly found her reading his private letters. This was followed by a +sudden sense of shame that he had ever thus publicly bared his feelings, +and then by the illogical but irresistible conviction that it was false +and stupid. The few phrases she had pointed out appeared as cheap and +hollow rhetoric amid the surroundings of their social tete-a-tete over +the luncheon-table. There was small danger that this heady wine of +woman's praise would make him betray himself; there was no sign of +gratified authorship in his voice as he quietly laid down the paper and +said dryly: "I am afraid I can't help you. You know it may be purely +fanciful." + +"I don't think so," said Mrs. Ashwood thoughtfully. "At the same time it +doesn't strike me as a very abiding grief for that very reason. It's TOO +sympathetic. It strikes me that it might be the first grief of some one +too young to be inured to sorrow or experienced enough to accept it as +the common lot. But like all youthful impressions it is very sincere and +true while it lasts. I don't know whether one gets anything more real +when one gets older." + +With an insincerity he could not account for, he now felt inclined to +defend his previous sentiment, although all the while conscious of a +certain charm in his companion's graceful skepticism. He had in his +truthfulness and independence hitherto always been quite free from that +feeble admiration of cynicism which attacks the intellectually weak and +immature, and his present predilection may have been due more to her +charming personality. She was not at all like his sisters; she had +none of Clementina's cold abstraction, and none of Euphemia's sharp +and demonstrative effusiveness. And in his secret consciousness of her +flattering foreknowledge of him, with her assurance that before they had +ever met he had unwittingly influenced her, he began to feel more at his +ease. His fair companion also, in the equally secret knowledge she had +acquired of his history, felt as secure as if she had been formally +introduced. Nobody could find fault with her for showing civility to +the ostensible son of her host; it was not necessary that she should +be aware of their family differences. There was a charm too in their +enforced isolation, in what was the exceptional solitude of the little +hotel that day, and the seclusion of their table by the window of the +dining-room, which gave a charming domesticity to their repast. From +time to time they glanced down the lonely canyon, losing itself in the +afternoon shadow. Nevertheless Mrs. Ashwood's preoccupation with Nature +did not preclude a human curiosity to hear something more of John +Milton's quarrel with his father. There was certainly nothing of the +prodigal son about him; there was no precocious evil knowledge in his +frank eyes; no record of excesses in his healthy, fresh complexion; +no unwholesome or disturbed tastes in what she had seen of his rural +preferences and understanding of natural beauty. To have attempted any +direct questioning that would have revealed his name and identity would +have obliged her to speak of herself as his father's guest. She began +indirectly; he had said he had been a reporter, and he was still a +chronicler of this strange life. He had of course heard of many cases +of family feuds and estrangements? Her brother had told her of some +dreadful vendettas he had known in the Southwest, and how whole families +had been divided. Since she had been here she had heard of odd cases of +brothers meeting accidentally after long and unaccounted separations; +of husbands suddenly confronted with wives they had deserted; of fathers +encountering discarded sons! + +John Milton's face betrayed no uneasy consciousness. If anything it was +beginning to glow with a boyish admiration of the grace and intelligence +of the fair speaker, that was perhaps heightened by an assumption of +half coquettish discomfiture. + +"You are laughing at me!" she said finally. "But inhuman and selfish as +these stories may seem, and sometimes are, I believe that these curious +estrangements and separations often come from some fatal weakness of +temperament that might be strengthened, or some trivial misunderstanding +that could be explained. It is separation that makes them seem +irrevocable only because they are inexplicable, and a vague memory +always seems more terrible than a definite one. Facts may be forgiven +and forgotten, but mysteries haunt one always. I believe there are weak, +sensitive people who dread to put their wrongs into shape; those are the +kind who sulk, and when you add separation to sulking, reconciliation +becomes impossible. I knew a very singular case of that kind once. If +you like, I'll tell it to you. May be you will be able, some day, to +weave it into one of your writings. And it's quite true." + +It is hardly necessary to say that John Milton had not been touched by +any personal significance in his companion's speech, whatever she may +have intended; and it is equally true that whether she had presently +forgotten her purpose, or had become suddenly interested in her own +conversation, her face grew more animated, her manner more confidential, +and something of the youthful enthusiasm she had shown in the mountain +seemed to come back to her. + +"I might say it happened anywhere and call the people M. or N., but it +really did occur in my own family, and although I was much younger +at the time it impressed me very strongly. My cousin, who had been +my playmate, was an orphan, and had been intrusted to the care of my +father, who was his guardian. He was always a clever boy, but singularly +sensitive and quick to take offense. Perhaps it was because the little +property his father had left made him partly dependent on my father, and +that I was rich, but he seemed to feel the disparity in our positions. +I was too young to understand it; I think it existed only in his +imagination, for I believe we were treated alike. But I remember that he +was full of vague threats of running away and going to sea, and that +it was part of his weak temperament to terrify me with his extravagant +confidences. I was always frightened when, after one of those scenes, +he would pack his valise or perhaps only tie up a few things in a +handkerchief, as in the advertisement pictures of the runaway slaves, +and declare that we would never lay eyes upon him again. At first I +never saw the ridiculousness of all this,--for I ought to have told you +that he was a rather delicate and timid boy, and quite unfitted for a +rough life or any exposure,--but others did, and one day I laughed at +him and told him he was afraid. I shall never forget the expression of +his face and never forgive myself for it. He went away,--but he returned +the next day! He threatened once to commit suicide, left his clothes on +the bank of the river, and came home in another suit of clothes he had +taken with him. When I was sent abroad to school I lost sight of him; +when I returned he was at college, apparently unchanged. When he +came home for vacation, far from having been subdued by contact with +strangers, it seemed that his unhappy sensitiveness had been only +intensified by the ridicule of his fellows. He had even acquired a +most ridiculous theory about the degrading effects of civilization, and +wanted to go back to a state of barbarism. He said the wilderness was +the only true home of man. My father, instead of bearing with what +I believe was his infirmity, dryly offered him the means to try his +experiment. He started for some place in Texas, saying we would never +hear from him again. A month after he wrote for more money. My father +replied rather impatiently, I suppose,--I never knew exactly what he +wrote. That was some years ago. He had told the truth at last, for we +never heard from him again." + +It is to be feared that John Milton was following the animated lips and +eyes of the fair speaker rather than her story. Perhaps that was the +reason why he said, "May he not have been a disappointed man?" + +"I don't understand," she said simply. + +"Perhaps," said John Milton with a boyish blush, "you may have +unconsciously raised hopes in his heart--and"-- + +"I should hardly attempt to interest a chronicler of adventure like you +in such a very commonplace, every-day style of romance," she said, +with a little impatience, "even if my vanity compelled me to make such +confidences to a stranger. No,--it was nothing quite as vulgar as that. +And," she added quickly, with a playfully amused smile as she saw the +young fellow's evident distress, "I should have probably heard from him +again. Those stories always end in that way." + +"And you think?"--said John Milton. + +"I think," said Mrs. Ashwood slowly, "that he actually did commit +suicide--or effaced himself in some way, just as firmly as I believe he +might have been saved by judicious treatment. Otherwise we should have +heard from him. You'll say that's only a woman's reasoning--but I think +our perceptions are often instinctive, and I knew his character." + +Still following the play of her delicate features into a romance of his +own weaving, the imaginative young reporter who had seen so much from +the heights of Russian Hill said earnestly, "Then I have your permission +to use this material at any future time?" + +"Yes," said the lady smilingly. + +"And you will not mind if I should take some liberties with the text?" + +"I must of course leave something to your artistic taste. But you will +let me see it?" + +There were voices outside now, breaking the silence of the veranda. +They had been so preoccupied as not to notice the arrival of a horseman. +Steps came along the passage; the landlord returned. Mrs. Ashwood turned +quickly towards him. + +"Mr. Grant, of your party, ma'am, to fetch you." + +She saw an unmistakable change in her young friend's mobile face. "I +will be ready in a moment," she said to the landlord. Then, turning +to John Milton, the arch-hypocrite said sweetly: "My brother must have +known instinctively that I was in good hands, as he didn't come. But I +am sorry, for I should have so liked to introduce him to you--although +by the way," with a bright smile, "I don't think you have yet told me +your name. I know I couldn't have FORGOTTEN it." + +"Harcourt," said John Milton, with a half-embarrassed laugh. + +"But you must come and see me, Mr.--Mr. Harcourt," she said, producing +a card from a case already in her fingers, "at my hotel, and let my +brother thank you there for your kindness and gallantry to a stranger. I +shall be here a few weeks longer before we go south to look for a place +where my brother can winter. DO come and see me, although I cannot +introduce you to anything as real and beautiful as what YOU have shown +me to-day. Good-by, Mr. Harcourt; I won't trouble you to come down and +bore yourself with my escort's questions and congratulations." + +She bent her head and allowed her soft eyes to rest upon his with a +graciousness that was beyond her speech, pulled her veil over her eyes +again, with a pretty suggestion that she had no further use for them, +and taking her riding-skirt lightly in her hand seemed to glide from the +room. + +On her way to San Mateo, where it appeared the disorganized party had +prolonged their visit to accept an invitation to dine with a local +magnate, she was pleasantly conversational with the slightly abstracted +Grant. She was so sorry to have given them all this trouble and anxiety! +Of course she ought to have waited at the fork of the road, but she had +never doubted but she could rejoin them presently on the main road. She +was glad that Miss Euphemia's runaway horse had been stopped without +accident; it would have been dreadful if anything had happened to HER; +Mr. Harcourt seemed so wrapped up in his girls. It was a pity they never +had a son--Ah? Indeed! Then there was a son? So--and father and son had +quarreled? That was so sad. And for some trifling cause, no doubt? + +"I believe he married the housemaid," said Grant grimly. "Be +careful!--Allow me." + +"It's no use!" said Mrs. Ashwood, flushing with pink impatience, as she +recovered her seat, which a sudden bolt of her mustang had imperiled, "I +really can't make out the tricks of this beast! Thank you," she added, +with a sweet smile, "but I think I can manage him now. I can't see +why he stopped. I'll be more careful. You were saying the son was +married--surely not that boy!" + +"Boy!" echoed Grant. "Then you know?"-- + +"I mean of course he must be a boy--they all grew up here--and it was +only five or six years ago that their parents emigrated," she retorted a +little impatiently. "And what about this creature?" + +"Your horse?" + +"You know I mean the woman he married. Of course she was older than +he--and caught him?" + +"I think there was a year or two difference," said Grant quietly. + +"Yes, but your gallantry keeps you from telling the truth; which is that +the women, in cases of this kind, are much older and more experienced." + +"Are they? Well, perhaps she is, NOW. She is dead." + +Mrs. Ashwood walked her horse. "Poor thing," she said. Then a sudden +idea took possession of her and brought a film to her eyes. "How long +ago?" she asked in a low voice. + +"About six or seven months, I think. I believe there was a baby who died +too." + +She continued to walk her horse slowly, stroking its curved neck. "I +think it's perfectly shameful!" she said suddenly. + +"Not so bad as that, Mrs. Ashwood, surely. The girl may have loved +him--and he"-- + +"You know perfectly what I mean, Mr. Grant. I speak of the conduct of +the mother and father and those two sisters!" + +Grant slightly elevated his eyebrows. "But you forget, Mrs. Ashwood. It +was young Harcourt and his wife's own act. They preferred to take their +own path and keep it." + +"I think," said Mrs. Ashwood authoritatively, "that the idea of leaving +those two unfortunate children to suffer and struggle on alone--out +there--on the sand hills of San Francisco--was simply disgraceful!" + +Later that evening she was unreasonably annoyed to find that her +brother, Mr. John Shipley, had taken advantage of the absence of Grant +to pay marked attention to Clementina, and had even prevailed upon that +imperious goddess to accompany him after dinner on a moonlight stroll +upon the veranda and terraces of Los Pajaros. Nevertheless she seemed to +recover her spirits enough to talk volubly of the beautiful scenery +she had discovered in her late perilous abandonment in the wilds of the +Coast Range; to aver her intention to visit it again; to speak of it in +a severely practical way as offering a far better site for the cottages +of the young married couples just beginning life than the outskirts of +towns or the bleak sand hills of San Francisco; and thence by graceful +degrees into a dissertation upon popular fallacies in regard to hasty +marriages, and the mistaken idea of some parents in not accepting the +inevitable and making the best of it. She still found time to enter +into an appreciative and exhaustive criticism upon the literature and +journalistic enterprise of the Pacific Coast with the proprietor of the +"Pioneer," and to cause that gentleman to declare that whatever people +might say about rich and fashionable Eastern women, that Mrs. Ashwood's +head was about as level as it was pretty. + +The next morning found her more thoughtful and subdued, and when her +brother came upon her sitting on the veranda, while the party were +preparing to return, she was reading a newspaper slip that she had taken +from her porte-monnaie, with a face that was partly shadowed. + +"What have you struck there, Conny?" said her brother gayly. "It looks +too serious for a recipe." + +"Something I should like you to read some time, Jack," she said, lifting +her lashes with a slight timidity, "if you would take the trouble. I +really wonder how it would impress you." + +"Pass it over," said Jack Shipley good-humoredly, with his cigar between +his lips. "I'll take it now." + +She handed him the slip and turned partly away; he took it, glanced at +it sideways, turned it over, and suddenly his look grew concentrated, +and he took the cigar from his lips. + +"Well," she said playfully, turning to him again. "What do you think of +it?" + +"Think of it?" he said with a rising color. "I think it's infamous! Who +did it?" + +She stared at him, then glanced quickly at the slip. "What are you +reading?" she said. + +"This, of course," he said impatiently. "What you gave me." But he was +pointing to THE OTHER SIDE of the newspaper slip. + +She took it from him impatiently and read for the first time the +printing on the reverse side of the article she had treasured so long. +It was the concluding paragraph of an apparently larger editorial. "One +thing is certain, that a man in Daniel Harcourt's position cannot afford +to pass over in silence accusations like the above, that affect not only +his private character, but the integrity of his title to the land that +was the foundation of his fortune. When trickery, sharp practice, and +even criminality in the past are more than hinted at, they cannot be +met by mere pompous silence or allusions to private position, social +prestige, or distinguished friends in the present." + +Mrs. Ashwood turned the slip over with scornful impatience, a pretty +uplifting of her eyebrows and a slight curl of her lip. "I suppose none +of those people's beginnings can bear looking into--and they certainly +should be the last ones to find fault with anybody. But, good gracious, +Jack! what has this to do with you?" + +"With me?" said Shipley angrily. "Why, I proposed to Clementina last +night!" + + + + +CHAPER IX. + + +The wayfarers on the Tasajara turnpike, whom Mr. Daniel Harcourt +passed with his fast trotting mare and sulky, saw that their great +fellow-townsman was more than usually preoccupied and curt in his +acknowledgment of their salutations. Nevertheless as he drew near +the creek, he partly checked his horse, and when he reached a slight +acclivity of the interminable plain--which had really been the bank of +the creek in bygone days--he pulled up, alighted, tied his horse to a +rail fence, and clambering over the inclosure made his way along the +ridge. It was covered with nettles, thistles, and a few wiry dwarf +larches of native growth; dust from the adjacent highway had invaded +it, with a few scattered and torn handbills, waste paper, rags, empty +provision cans, and other suburban debris. Yet it was the site of 'Lige +Curtis's cabin, long since erased and forgotten. The bed of the old +creek had receded; the last tules had been cleared away; the channel and +embarcadero were half a mile from the bank and log whereon the pioneer +of Tasajara had idly sunned himself. + +Mr. Harcourt walked on, occasionally turning over the scattered objects +with his foot, and stopping at times to examine the ground more closely. +It had not apparently been disturbed since he himself, six years ago, +had razed the wretched shanty and carried off its timbers to aid in the +erection of a larger cabin further inland. He raised his eyes to the +prospect before him,--to the town with its steamboats lying at the +wharves, to the grain elevator, the warehouses, the railroad station +with its puffing engines, the flagstaff of Harcourt House and the +clustering roofs of the town, and beyond, the painted dome of his last +creation, the Free Library. This was all HIS work, HIS planning, HIS +foresight, whatever they might say of the wandering drunkard from whose +tremulous fingers he had snatched the opportunity. They could not take +THAT from him, however they might follow him with envy and reviling, +any more than they could wrest from him the five years of peaceful +possession. It was with something of the prosperous consciousness with +which he had mounted the platform on the opening of the Free Library, +that he now climbed into his buggy and drove away. + +Nevertheless he stopped at his Land Office as he drove into town, +and gave a few orders. "I want a strong picket fence put around the +fifty-vara lot in block fifty-seven, and the ground cleared up at once. +Let me know when the men get to work, and I'll overlook them." + +Re-entering his own house in the square, where Mrs. Harcourt and +Clementina--who often accompanied him in those business visits--were +waiting for him with luncheon, he smiled somewhat superciliously as the +servant informed him that "Professor Grant had just arrived." Really +that man was trying to make the most of his time with Clementina! +Perhaps the rival attractions of that Boston swell Shipley had something +to do with it! He must positively talk to Clementina about this. In +point of fact he himself was a little disappointed in Grant, who, since +his offer to take the task of hunting down his calumniators, had really +done nothing. He turned into his study, but was slightly astonished to +find that Grant, instead of paying court to Clementina in the adjoining +drawing-room, was sitting rather thoughtfully in his own armchair. + +He rose as Harcourt entered. "I didn't let them announce me to the +ladies," he said, "as I have some important business with you first, and +we may find it necessary that I should take the next train back to town. +You remember that a few weeks ago I offered to look into the matter of +those slanders against you. I apprehended it would be a trifling matter +of envy or jealousy on the part of your old associates or neighbors +which could be put straight with a little good feeling; but I must be +frank with you, Harcourt, and say at the beginning that it turns out +to be an infernally ugly business. Call it conspiracy if you like, or +organized hostility, I'm afraid it will require a lawyer rather than +an arbitrator to manage it, and the sooner the better. For the most +unpleasant thing about it is, that I can't find out exactly HOW BAD it +is!" + +Unfortunately the weaker instinct of Harcourt's nature was first roused; +the vulgar rage which confounds the bearer of ill news with the +news itself filled his breast. "And this is all that your confounded +intermeddling came to?" he said brutally. + +"No," said Grant quietly, with a preoccupied ignoring of the insult that +was more hopeless for Harcourt. "I found out that it is claimed that +this 'Lige Curtis was not drowned nor lost that night; but that he +escaped, and for three years has convinced another man that you are +wrongfully in possession of this land; that these two naturally hold you +in their power, and that they are only waiting for you to be forced into +legal proceedings for slander to prove all their charges. Until +then, for some reason best known to themselves, Curtis remains in the +background." + +"Does he deny the deed under which I hold the property?" said Harcourt +savagely. + +"He says it was only a security for a trifling loan, and not an actual +transfer." + +"And don't those fools know that his security could be forfeited?" + +"Yes, but not in the way it is recorded in the county clerk's office. +They say that the record shows that there was an interpolation in the +paper he left with you--which was a forgery. Briefly, Harcourt, you are +accused of that. More,--it is intimated that when he fell into the creek +that night, and escaped on a raft that was floating past, that he had +been first stunned by a blow from some one interested in getting rid of +him." + +He paused and glanced out of the window. + +"Is that all?" asked Harcourt in a perfectly quiet, steady, voice. + +"All!" replied Grant, struck with the change in his companion's manner, +and turning his eyes upon him quickly. + +The change indeed was marked and significant. Whether from relief at +knowing the worst, or whether he was experiencing the same reaction from +the utter falsity of this last accusation that he had felt when Grant +had unintentionally wronged him in his previous recollection, certain it +is that some unknown reserve of strength in his own nature, of which +he knew nothing before, suddenly came to his aid in this extremity. It +invested him with an uncouth dignity that for the first time excited +Grant's respect. + +"I beg your pardon, Grant, for the hasty way I spoke to you a moment +ago, for I thank you, and appreciate thoroughly and sincerely what you +have done. You are right; it is a matter for fighting and not fussing +over. But I must have a head to hit. Whose is it?" + +"The man who holds himself legally responsible is Fletcher,--the +proprietor of the 'Clarion,' and a man of property." + +"The 'Clarion'? That is the paper which began the attack?" said +Harcourt. + +"Yes, and it is only fair to tell you here that your son threw up his +place on it in consequence of its attack upon you." + +There was perhaps the slightest possible shrinking in Harcourt's +eyelids--the one congenital likeness to his discarded son--but his +otherwise calm demeanor did not change. Grant went on more cheerfully: +"I've told you all I know. When I spoke of an unknown WORST, I did not +refer to any further accusation, but to whatever evidence they might +have fabricated or suborned to prove any one of them. It is only the +strength and fairness of the hands they hold that is uncertain. +Against that you have your certain uncontested possession, the peculiar +character and antecedents of this 'Lige Curtis, which would make his +evidence untrustworthy and even make it difficult for them to establish +his identity. I am told that his failure to contest your appropriation +of his property is explained by the fact of his being absent from the +country most of the time; but again, this would not account for their +silence until within the last six months, unless they have been waiting +for further evidence to establish it. But even then they must have known +that the time of recovery had passed. You are a practical man, Harcourt; +I needn't tell you therefore what your lawyer will probably tell you, +that practically, so far as your rights are concerned, you remain +as before these calumnies; that a cause of action unprosecuted or +in abeyance is practically no cause, and that it is not for you to +anticipate one. BUT"-- + +He paused and looked steadily at Harcourt. Harcourt met his look with a +dull, ox-like stolidity. "I shall begin the suit at once," he said. + +"And I," said Grant, holding out his hand, "will stand by you. But tell +me now what you knew of this man Curtis,--his character and disposition; +it may be some clue as to what are his methods and his intentions." + +Harcourt briefly sketched 'Lige Curtis as he knew him and understood +him. It was another indication of his reserved power that the +description was so singularly clear, practical, unprejudiced, and +impartial that it impressed Grant with its truthfulness. + +"I can't make him out," he said; "you have drawn a weak, but neither a +dishonest nor malignant man. There must have been somebody behind him. +Can you think of any personal enemy?" + +"I have been subjected to the usual jealousy and envy of my old +neighbors, I suppose, but nothing more. I have harmed no one knowingly." + +Grant was silent; it had flashed across him that Rice might have +harbored revenge for his father-in-law's interference in his brief +matrimonial experience. He had also suddenly recalled his conversation +with Billings on the day that he first arrived at Tasajara. It would not +be strange if this man had some intimation of the secret. He would try +to find him that evening. He rose. + +"You will stay to dinner? My wife and Clementina will expect you." + +"Not to-night; I am dining at the hotel," said Grant, smilingly; "but I +will come in later in the evening if I may." He paused hesitatingly for +a moment. "Have your wife and daughter ever expressed any opinion on +this matter?" + +"No," said Harcourt. "Mrs. Harcourt knows nothing of anything that does +not happen IN the house; Euphemia knows only the things that happen out +of it where she is visiting--and I suppose that young men prefer to +talk to her about other things than the slanders of her father. And +Clementina--well, you know how calm and superior to these things SHE +is." + +"For that very reason I thought that perhaps she might be able to see +them more clearly,--but no matter! I dare say you are quite right in +not discussing them at home." This was the fact, although Grant had not +forgotten that Harcourt had put forward his daughters as a reason for +stopping the scandal some weeks before,--a reason which, however, seemed +never to have been borne out by any apparent sensitiveness of the girls +themselves. + +When Grant had left, Harcourt remained for some moments steadfastly +gazing from the window over the Tasajara plain. He had not lost his +look of concentrated power, nor his determination to fight. A struggle +between himself and the phantoms of the past had become now a necessary +stimulus for its own sake,--for the sake of his mental and physical +equipoise. He saw before him the pale, agitated, irresolute features of +'Lige Curtis,--not the man HE had injured, but the man who had injured +HIM, whose spirit was aimlessly and wantonly--for he had never +attempted to get back his possessions in his lifetime, nor ever tried +to communicate with the possessor--striking at him in the shadow. And +it was THAT man, that pale, writhing, frightened wretch whom he had once +mercifully helped! Yes, whose LIFE he had even saved that night from +exposure and delirium tremens when he had given him the whiskey. And +this life he had saved, only to have it set in motion a conspiracy to +ruin him! Who knows that 'Lige had not purposely conceived what they had +believed to be an attempt at suicide, only to cast suspicion of murder +on HIM! From which it will be perceived that Harcourt's powers of moral +reasoning had not improved in five years, and that even the impartiality +he had just shown in his description of 'Lige to Grant had been +swallowed up in this new sense of injury. The founder of Tasajara, whose +cool business logic, unfailing foresight, and practical deductions were +never at fault, was once more childishly adrift in his moral ethics. + +And there was Clementina, of whose judgment Grant had spoken so +persistently,--could she assist him? It was true, as he had said, he +had never talked to her of his affairs. In his sometimes uneasy +consciousness of her superiority he had shrunk from even revealing his +anxieties, much less his actual secret, and from anything that might +prejudice the lofty paternal attitude he had taken towards his daughters +from the beginning of his good fortune. He was never quite sure if her +acceptance of it was real; he was never entirely free from a certain +jealousy that always mingled with his pride in her superior rectitude; +and yet his feeling was distinct from the good-natured contempt he +had for his wife's loyalty, the anger and suspicion that his son's +opposition had provoked, and the half-affectionate toleration he had +felt for Euphemia's waywardness. However he would sound Clementina +without betraying himself. + +He was anticipated by a slight step in the passage and the pushing open +of his study door. The tall, graceful figure of the girl herself stood +in the opening. + +"They tell me Mr. Grant has been here. Does he stay to dinner?" + +"No, he has an engagement at the hotel, but he will probably drop in +later. Come in, Clemmy, I want to talk to you. Shut the door and sit +down." + +She slipped in quietly, shut the door, took a seat on the sofa, softly +smoothed down her gown, and turned her graceful head and serenely +composed face towards him. Sitting thus she looked like some finely +finished painting that decorated rather than belonged to the room,--not +only distinctly alien to the flesh and blood relative before her, but +to the house, and even the local, monotonous landscape beyond the window +with the shining new shingles and chimneys that cut the new blue sky. +These singular perfections seemed to increase in Harcourt's mind the +exasperating sense of injury inflicted upon him by 'Lige's exposures. +With a daughter so incomparably gifted,--a matchless creation that was +enough in herself to ennoble that fortune which his own skill and genius +had lifted from the muddy tules of Tasajara where this 'Lige had left +it,--that SHE should be subjected to this annoyance seemed an infamy +that Providence could not allow! What was his mere venial transgression +to this exaggerated retribution? + +"Clemmy, girl, I'm going to ask you a question. Listen, pet." He had +begun with a reminiscent tenderness of the epoch of her childhood, but +meeting the unresponding maturity of her clear eyes he abandoned it. +"You know, Clementina, I have never interfered in your affairs, nor +tried to influence your friendships for anybody. Whatever people may +have to say of me they can't say that! I've always trusted you, as I +would myself, to choose your own associates; I have never regretted it, +and I don't regret it now. But I'd like to know--I have reasons to-day +for asking--how matters stand between you and Grant." + +The Parian head of Minerva on the bookcase above her did not offer the +spectator a face less free from maidenly confusion than Clementina's +at that moment. Her father had certainly expected none, but he was not +prepared for the perfect coolness of her reply. + +"Do you mean, have I ACCEPTED him?" + +"No,--well--yes." + +"No, then! Is that what he wished to see you about? It was understood +that he was not to allude again to the subject to any one." + +"He has not to ME. It was only my own idea. He had something very +different to tell me. You may not know, Clementina," he begun +cautiously, "that I have been lately the subject of some anonymous +slanders, and Grant has taken the trouble to track them down for me. It +is a calumny that goes back as far as Sidon, and I may want your level +head and good memory to help me to refute it." He then repeated calmly +and clearly, with no trace of the fury that had raged within him a +moment before, the substance of Grant's revelation. + +The young girl listened without apparent emotion. When he had finished +she said quickly: "And what do you want me to recollect?" + +The hardest part of Harcourt's task was coming. "Well, don't you +remember that I told you the day the surveyors went away--that--I had +bought this land of 'Lige Curtis some time before?" + +"Yes, I remember your saying so, but"-- + +"But what?" + +"I thought you only meant that to satisfy mother." + +Daniel Harcourt felt the blood settling round his heart, but he was +constrained by an irresistible impulse to know the worst. "Well, what +did YOU think it really was?" + +"I only thought that 'Lige Curtis had simply let you have it, that's +all." + +Harcourt breathed again. "But what for? Why should he?" + +"Well--ON MY ACCOUNT." + +"On YOUR account! What in Heaven's name had YOU to do with it?" + +"He loved me." There was not the slightest trace of vanity, +self-consciousness or coquetry in her quiet, fateful face, and for this +very reason Harcourt knew that she was speaking the truth. + +"Loved YOU!--you, Clementina!--my daughter! Did he ever TELL you so?" + +"Not in words. He used to walk up and down on the road when I was at the +back window or in the garden, and often hung about the bank of the creek +for hours, like some animal. I don't think the others saw him, and when +they did they thought it was Parmlee for Euphemia. Even Euphemia thought +so too, and that was why she was so conceited and hard to Parmlee +towards the end. She thought it was Parmlee that night when Grant and +Rice came; but it was 'Lige Curtis who had been watching the window +lights in the rain, and who must have gone off at last to speak to +you in the store. I always let Phemie believe that it was Parmlee,--it +seemed to please her." + +There was not the least tone of mischief or superiority, or even of +patronage in her manner. It was as quiet and cruel as the fate that +might have led 'Lige to his destruction. Even her father felt a slight +thrill of awe as she paused. "Then he never really spoke to you?" he +asked hurriedly. + +"Only once. I was gathering swamp lilies all alone, a mile below the +bend of the creek, and he came upon me suddenly. Perhaps it was that I +didn't jump or start--I didn't see anything to jump or start at--that he +said, 'You're not frightened at me, Miss Harcourt, like the other girls? +You don't think I'm drunk or half mad--as they do?' I don't remember +exactly what I said, but it meant that whether he was drunk or half mad +or sober I didn't see any reason to be afraid of him. And then he told +me that if I was fond of swamp lilies I might have all I wanted at his +place, and for the matter of that the place too, as he was going away, +for he couldn't stand the loneliness any longer. He said that he had +nothing in common with the place and the people--no more than I had--and +that was what he had always fancied in me. I told him that if he felt +in that way about his place he ought to leave it, or sell it to some one +who cared for it, and go away. That must have been in his mind when he +offered it to you,--at least that's what I thought when you told us you +had bought it. I didn't know but what he might have told you, but you +didn't care to say it before mother." + +Mr. Harcourt sat gazing at her with breathless amazement. "And +you--think that--'Lige Curtis--lov--liked you?" + +"Yes, I think he did--and that he does now!" + +"NOW! What do you mean? The man is dead!" said Harcourt starting. + +"That's just what I don't believe." + +"Impossible! Think of what you are saying." + +"I never could quite understand or feel that he was dead when everybody +said so, and now that I've heard this story I KNOW that he is living." + +"But why did he not make himself known in time to claim the property?" + +"Because he did not care for it." + +"What did he care for, then?" + +"Me, I suppose." + +"But this calumny is not like a man who loves you." + +"It is like a JEALOUS one." + +With an effort Harcourt threw off his bewildered incredulity and grasped +the situation. He would have to contend with his enemy in the flesh and +blood, but that flesh and blood would be very weak in the hands of the +impassive girl beside him. His face lightened. + +The same idea might have been in Clementina's mind when she spoke again, +although her face had remained unchanged. "I do not see why YOU should +bother yourself further about it," she said. "It is only a matter +between myself and him; you can leave it to me." + +"But if you are mistaken and he should not be living?" + +"I am not mistaken. I am even certain now that I have seen him." + +"Seen him!" + +"Yes," said the girl with the first trace of animation in her face. +"It was four or five months ago when we were visiting the Briones at +Monterey. We had ridden out to the old Mission by moonlight. There were +some Mexicans lounging around the posada, and one of them attracted my +attention by the way he seemed to watch me, without revealing any more +of his face than I could see between his serape and the black silk +handkerchief that was tied around his head under his sombrero. But I +knew he was an American--and his eyes were familiar. I believe it was +he." + +"Why did you not speak of it before?" + +The look of animation died out of the girl's face. "Why should I?" she +said listlessly. "I did not know of these reports then. He was nothing +more to us. You wouldn't have cared to see him again." She rose, +smoothed out her skirt and stood looking at her father. "There is one +thing, of course, that you'll do at once." + +Her voice had changed so oddly that he said quickly: "What's that?" + +"Call Grant off the scent. He'll only frighten or exasperate your game, +and that's what you don't want." + +Her voice was as imperious as it had been previously listless. And it +was the first time he had ever known her to use slang. + +It seemed as startling as if it had fallen from the marble lips above +him. + +"But I've promised him that we should go together to my lawyer +to-morrow, and begin a suit against the proprietors of the 'Clarion.'" + +"Do nothing of the kind. Get rid of Grant's assistance in this matter; +and see the 'Clarion' proprietor yourself. What sort of a man is he? Can +you invite him to your house?" + +"I have never seen him; I believe he lives at San Jose. He is a wealthy +man and a large land owner there. You understand that after the first +article appeared in his paper, and I knew that he had employed your +brother--although Grant says that he had nothing to do with it and left +Fletcher on account of it--I could have no intercourse with him. Even if +I invited him he would not come." + +"He MUST come. Leave it to ME." She stopped and resumed her former +impassive manner. "I had something to say to you too, father. Mr. +Shipley proposed to me the day we went to San Mateo." + +Her father's eyes lit with an eager sparkle. "Well," he said quickly. + +"I reminded him that I had known him only a few weeks, and that I wanted +time to consider." + +"Consider! Why, Clemmy, he's one of the oldest Boston families, rich +from his father and grandfather--rich when I was a shopkeeper and your +mother"-- + +"I thought you liked Grant?" she said quietly. + +"Yes, but if YOU have no choice nor feeling in the matter, why Shipley +is far the better man. And if any of the scandal should come to his +ears"-- + +"So much the better that the hesitation should come from me. But if you +think it better, I can sit down here and write to him at once declining +the offer." She moved towards the desk. + +"No! No! I did not mean that," said Harcourt quickly. "I only thought +that if he did hear anything it might be said that he had backed out." + +"His sister knows of his offer, and though she don't like it nor me, she +will not deny the fact. By the way, you remember when she was lost that +day on the road to San Mateo?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, she was with your son, John Milton, all the time, and they +lunched together at Crystal Spring. It came out quite accidentally +through the hotel-keeper." + +Harcourt's brow darkened. "Did she know him before?" + +"I can't say; but she does now." + +Harcourt's face was heavy with distrust. "Taking Shipley's offer and +these scandals into consideration, I don't like the look of this, +Clementina." + +"I do," said the girl simply. + +Harcourt gazed at her keenly and with the shadow of distrust still upon +him. It seemed to be quite impossible, even with what he knew of her +calmly cold nature, that she should be equally uninfluenced by Grant or +Shipley. Had she some steadfast, lofty ideal, or perhaps some already +absorbing passion of which he knew nothing? She was not a girl to betray +it--they would only know it when it was too late. Could it be possible +that there was still something between her and 'Lige that he knew +nothing of? The thought struck a chill to his breast. She was walking +towards the door, when he recalled himself with an effort. + +"If you think it advisable to see Fletcher, you might run down to San +Jose for a day or two with your mother, and call on the Ramirez. +They may know him or somebody who does. Of course if YOU meet him and +casually invite him it would be different." + +"It's a good idea," she said quickly. "I'll do it, and speak to mother +now." + +He was struck by the change in her face and voice; they had both +nervously lightened, as oddly and distinctly as they had before seemed +to grow suddenly harsh and aggressive. She passed out of the room with +girlish brusqueness, leaving him alone with a new and vague fear in his +consciousness. + + +A few hours later Clementina was standing before the window of the +drawing-room that overlooked the outskirts of the town. The moonlight +was flooding the vast bluish Tasajara levels with a faint lustre, as if +the waters of the creek had once more returned to them. In the shadow of +the curtain beside her Grant was facing her with anxious eyes. + +"Then I must take this as your final answer, Clementina?" + +"You must. And had I known of these calumnies before, had you been frank +with me even the day we went to San Mateo, my answer would have been as +final then, and you might have been spared any further suspense. I am +not blaming you, Mr. Grant; I am willing to believe that you thought +it best to conceal this from me,--even at that time when you had just +pledged yourself to find out its truth or falsehood,--yet my answer +would have been the same. So long as this stain rests on my father's +name I shall never allow that name to be coupled with yours in marriage +or engagement; nor will my pride or yours allow us to carry on a simple +friendship after this. I thank you for your offer of assistance, but +I cannot even accept that which might to others seem to allow some +contingent claim. I would rather believe that when you proposed this +inquiry and my father permitted it, you both knew that it put an end to +any other relations between us." + +"But, Clementina, you are wrong, believe me! Say that I have been +foolish, indiscreet, mad,--still the few who knew that I made these +inquiries on your father's behalf know nothing of my hopes of YOU!" + +"But I do, and that is enough for me." + +Even in the hopeless preoccupation of his passion he suddenly looked +at her with something of his old critical scrutiny. But she stood there +calm, concentrated, self-possessed and upright. Yes! it was possible +that the pride of this Southwestern shopkeepers daughter was greater +than his own. + +"Then you banish me, Clementina?" + +"It is we whom YOU have banished." + +"Good-night." + +"Good-by." + +He bent for an instant over her cold hand, and then passed out into the +hall. She remained listening until the front door closed behind him. +Then she ran swiftly through the hall and up the staircase, with an +alacrity that seemed impossible to the stately goddess of a moment +before. When she had reached her bedroom and closed the door, so +exuberant still and so uncontrollable was her levity and action, that +without going round the bed which stood before her in the centre of +the room, she placed her two hands upon it and lightly vaulted sideways +across it to reach the window. There she watched the figure of Grant +crossing the moonlit square. Then turning back into the half-lit room, +she ran to the small dressing-glass placed at an angle on a toilet table +against the wall. With her palms grasping her knees she stooped +down suddenly and contemplated the mirror. It showed what no one but +Clementina had ever seen,--and she herself only at rare intervals,--the +laughing eyes and soul of a self-satisfied, material-minded, ordinary +country-girl! + + + + +CHAPER X. + + +But Mr. Lawrence Grant's character in certain circumstances would seem +to have as startling and inexplicable contradictions as Clementina +Harcourt's, and three days later he halted his horse at the entrance of +Los Gatos Rancho. The Home of the Cats--so called from the catamounts +which infested the locality--which had for over a century lazily basked +before one of the hottest canyons in the Coast Range, had lately been +stirred into some activity by the American, Don Diego Fletcher, who had +bought it, put up a saw-mill, and deforested the canyon. Still there +remained enough suggestion of a feline haunt about it to make Grant +feel as if he had tracked hither some stealthy enemy, in spite of the +peaceful intimation conveyed by the sign on a rough boarded shed at the +wayside, that the "Los Gatos Land and Lumber Company" held their office +there. + +A cigarette-smoking peon lounged before the door. Yes; Don Diego was +there, but as he had arrived from Santa Clara only last night and was +going to Colonel Ramirez that afternoon, he was engaged. Unless the +business was important--but the cool, determined manner of Grant, even +more than his words, signified that it WAS important, and the servant +led the way to Don Diego's presence. + +There certainly was nothing in the appearance of this sylvan proprietor +and newspaper capitalist to justify Grant's suspicion of a surreptitious +foe. A handsome man scarcely older than himself, in spite of a wavy +mass of perfectly white hair which contrasted singularly with his brown +mustache and dark sunburned face. So disguising was the effect of these +contradictions, that he not only looked unlike anybody else, but even +his nationality seemed to be a matter of doubt. Only his eyes, light +blue and intelligent, which had a singular expression of gentleness and +worry, appeared individual to the man. His manner was cultivated and +easy. He motioned his visitor courteously to a chair. + +"I was referred to you," said Grant, almost abruptly, "as the person +responsible for a series of slanderous attacks against Mr. Daniel +Harcourt in the 'Clarion,' of which paper I believe you are the +proprietor. I was told that you declined to give the authority for your +action, unless you were forced to by legal proceedings." + +Fletcher's sensitive blue eyes rested upon Grant's with an expression +of constrained pain and pity. "I heard of your inquiries, Mr. Grant; you +were making them on behalf of this Mr. Harcourt or Harkutt"--he made the +distinction with intentional deliberation--"with a view, I believe, to +some arbitration. The case was stated to you fairly, I think; I believe +I have nothing to add to it." + +"That was your answer to the ambassador of Mr. Harcourt," said Grant, +coldly, "and as such I delivered it to him; but I am here to-day to +speak on my own account." + +What could be seen of Mr. Fletcher's lips appeared to curl in an odd +smile. "Indeed, I thought it was--or would be--all in the family." + +Grant's face grew more stern, and his gray eyes glittered. "You'll find +my status in this matter so far independent that I don't propose, +like Mr. Harcourt, either to begin a suit or to rest quietly under the +calumny. Briefly, Mr. Fletcher, as you or your informant knows, I was +the surveyor who revealed to Mr. Harcourt the value of the land to which +he claimed a title from your man, this Elijah or 'Lige Curtis as you +call him,"--he could not resist this imitation of his adversary's +supercilious affectation of precise nomenclature,--"and it was upon +my representation of its value as an investment that he began the +improvements which have made him wealthy. If this title was fraudulently +obtained, all the facts pertaining to it are sufficiently related to +connect me with the conspiracy." + +"Are you not a little hasty in your presumption, Mr. Grant?" said +Fletcher, with unfeigned surprise. + +"That is for ME to judge, Mr. Fletcher," returned Grant, haughtily. + +"But the name of Professor Grant is known to all California as beyond +the breath of calumny or suspicion." + +"It is because of that fact that I propose to keep it so." + +"And may I ask in what way you wish me to assist you in so doing?" + +"By promptly and publicly retracting in the 'Clarion' every word of this +slander against Harcourt." + +Fletcher looked steadfastly at the speaker. "And if I decline?" + +"I think you have been long enough in California, Mr. Fletcher, to know +the alternative expected of a gentleman," said Grant, coldly. + +Mr. Fletcher kept his gentle blue eyes--in which surprise still +overbalanced their expression of pained concern--on Grant's face. + +"But is not this more in the style of Colonel Starbottle than Professor +Grant?" he asked, with a faint smile. + +Grant rose instantly with a white face. "You will have a better +opportunity of judging," he said, "when Colonel Starbottle has the honor +of waiting upon you from me. Meantime, I thank you for reminding me of +the indiscretion into which my folly, in still believing that this thing +could be settled amicably, has led me." + +He bowed coldly and withdrew. Nevertheless, as he mounted his horse +and rode away, he felt his cheeks burning. Yet he had acted upon calm +consideration; he knew that to the ordinary Californian experience there +was nothing quixotic nor exaggerated in the attitude he had taken. Men +had quarreled and fought on less grounds; he had even half convinced +himself that he HAD been insulted, and that his own professional +reputation demanded the withdrawal of the attack on Harcourt on +purely business grounds; but he was not satisfied of the personal +responsibility of Fletcher nor of his gratuitous malignity. Nor did the +man look like a tool in the hands of some unscrupulous and hidden enemy. +However, he had played his card. If he succeeded only in provoking a +duel with Fletcher, he at least would divert the public attention from +Harcourt to himself. He knew that his superior position would throw the +lesser victim in the background. He would make the sacrifice; that was +his duty as a gentleman, even if SHE would not care to accept it as an +earnest of his unselfish love! + +He had reached the point where the mountain track entered the Santa +Clara turnpike when his attention was attracted by a handsome but +old-fashioned carriage drawn by four white mules, which passed down the +road before him and turned suddenly off into a private road. But it was +not this picturesque gala equipage of some local Spanish grandee that +brought a thrill to his nerves and a flash to his eye; it was the +unmistakable, tall, elegant figure and handsome profile of Clementina, +reclining in light gauzy wraps against the back seat! It was no fanciful +resemblance, the outcome of his reverie,--there never was any one like +her!--it WAS she herself! But what was she doing here? + +A vaquero cantered from the cross road where the dust of the vehicle +still hung. Grant hailed him. Ah! it was a fine carroza de cuatro mulas +that he had just passed! Si, Senor, truly; it was of Don Jose Ramirez, +who lived just under the hill. It was bringing company to the casa. + +Ramirez! That was where Fletcher was going! Had Clementina known that +he was one of Fletcher's friends? Might she not be exposed to +unpleasantness, marked coolness, or even insult in that unexpected +meeting? Ought she not to be warned or prepared for it? She had banished +Grant from her presence until this stain was removed from her father's +name, but could she blame him for trying to save her from contact with +her father's slanderer? No! He turned his horse abruptly into the cross +road and spurred forward in the direction of the casa. + +It was quite visible now--a low-walled, quadrangular mass of whitewashed +adobe lying like a drift on the green hillside. The carriage and four +had far preceded him, and was already half up the winding road towards +the house. Later he saw them reach the courtyard and disappear within. +He would be quite in time to speak with her before she retired to change +her dress. He would simply say that while making a professional visit +to Los Gatos Land Company office he had become aware of Fletcher's +connection with it, and accidentally of his intended visit to Ramirez. +His chance meeting with the carriage on the highway had determined his +course. + +As he rode into the courtyard he observed that it was also approached +by another road, evidently nearer Los Gatos, and probably the older +and shorter communication between the two ranchos. The fact was +significantly demonstrated a moment later. He had given his horse to a +servant, sent in his card to Clementina, and had dropped listlessly on +one of the benches of the gallery surrounding the patio, when a horseman +rode briskly into the opposite gateway, and dismounted with a familiar +air. A waiting peon who recognized him informed him that the Dona was +engaged with a visitor, but that they were both returning to the gallery +for chocolate in a moment. The stranger was the man he had left only an +hour before--Don Diego Fletcher! + +In an instant the idiotic fatuity of his position struck him fully. His +only excuse for following Clementina had been to warn her of the coming +of this man who had just entered, and who would now meet her as quickly +as himself. For a brief moment the idea of quietly slipping out to the +corral, mounting his horse again, and flying from the rancho, crossed +his mind; but the thought that he would be running away from the man he +had just challenged, and perhaps some new hostility that had sprung up +in his heart against him, compelled him to remain. The eyes of both men +met; Fletcher's in half-wondering annoyance, Grant's in ill-concealed +antagonism. What they would have said is not known, for at that moment +the voices of Clementina and Mrs. Ramirez were heard in the passage, and +they both entered the gallery. The two men were standing together; it +was impossible to see one without the other. + +And yet Grant, whose eyes were instantly directed to Clementina, thought +that she had noted neither. She remained for an instant standing in the +doorway in the same self-possessed, coldly graceful pose he remembered +she had taken on the platform at Tasajara. Her eyelids were slightly +downcast, as if she had been arrested by some sudden thought or some shy +maiden sensitiveness; in her hesitation Mrs. Ramirez passed impatiently +before her. + +"Mother of God!" said that lively lady, regarding the two speechless +men, "is it an indiscretion we are making here--or are you dumb? You, +Don Diego, are loud enough when you and Don Jose are together; at least +introduce your friend." + +Grant quickly recovered himself. "I am afraid," he said, coming forward, +"unless Miss Harcourt does, that I am a mere trespasser in your house, +Senora. I saw her pass in your carriage a few moments ago, and having a +message for her I ventured to follow her here." + +"It is Mr. Grant, a friend of my father's," said Clementina, smiling +with equanimity, as if just awakening from a momentary abstraction, +yet apparently unconscious of Grant's imploring eyes; "but the other +gentleman I have not the pleasure of knowing." + +"Ah! Don Diego Fletcher, a countryman of yours; and yet I think he knows +you not." + +Clementina's face betrayed no indication of the presence of her father's +foe, and yet Grant knew that she must have recognized his name, as she +looked towards Fletcher with perfect self-possession. He was too much +engaged in watching her to take note of Fletcher's manifest disturbance, +or the evident effort with which he at last bowed to her. That this +unexpected double meeting with the daughter of the man he had wronged, +and the man who had espoused the quarrel, should be confounding to him +appeared only natural. But he was unprepared to understand the feverish +alacrity with which he accepted Dona Maria's invitation to chocolate, +or the equally animated way in which Clementina threw herself into her +hostess's Spanish levity. He knew it was an awkward situation, that must +be surmounted without a scene; he was quite prepared in the presence of +Clementina to be civil to Fletcher; but it was odd that in this feverish +exchange of courtesies and compliments HE, Grant, should feel the +greater awkwardness and be the most ill at ease. He sat down and took +his part in the conversation; he let it transpire for Clementina's +benefit that he had been to Los Gatos only on business, yet there was +no opportunity for even a significant glance, and he had the added +embarrassment of seeing that she exhibited no surprise nor seemed to +attach the least importance to his inopportune visit. In a miserable +indecision he allowed himself to be carried away by the high-flown +hospitality of his Spanish hostess, and consented to stay to an early +dinner. It was part of the infelicity of circumstance that the voluble +Dona Maria--electing him as the distinguished stranger above the +resident Fletcher--monopolized him and attached him to her side. She +would do the honors of her house; she must show him the ruins of the +old Mission beside the corral; Don Diego and Clementina would join them +presently in the garden. He cast a despairing glance at the placidly +smiling Clementina, who was apparently equally indifferent to the +evident constraint and assumed ease of the man beside her, and turned +away with Mrs. Ramirez. + +A silence fell upon the gallery so deep that the receding voices and +footsteps of Grant and his hostess in the long passage were distinctly +heard until they reached the end. Then Fletcher arose with an +inarticulate exclamation. Clementina instantly put her finger to her +lips, glanced around the gallery, extended her hand to him, and saying +"Come," half-led, half-dragged him into the passage. To the right +she turned and pushed open the door of a small room that seemed a +combination of boudoir and oratory, lit by a French window opening to +the garden, and flanked by a large black and white crucifix with a prie +Dieu beneath it. Closing the door behind them she turned and faced +her companion. But it was no longer the face of the woman who had been +sitting in the gallery; it was the face that had looked back at her +from the mirror at Tasajara the night that Grant had left her--eager, +flushed, material with commonplace excitement! + +"'Lige Curtis," she said. + +"Yes," he answered passionately, "Lige Curtis, whom you thought dead! +'Lige Curtis, whom you once pitied, condoled with and despised! 'Lige +Curtis, whose lands and property have enriched you! 'Lige Curtis, who +would have shared it with you freely at the time, but whom your father +juggled and defrauded of it! 'Lige Curtis, branded by him as a drunken +outcast and suicide! 'Lige Curtis"-- + +"Hush!" She clapped her little hand over his mouth with a quick but +awkward schoolgirl gesture, inconceivable to any who had known her usual +languid elegance of motion, and held it there. He struggled angrily, +impatiently, reproachfully, and then, with a sudden characteristic +weakness that seemed as much of a revelation as her once hoydenish +manner, kissed it, when she let it drop. Then placing both her hands +still girlishly on her slim waist and curtseying grotesquely before +him, she said: "'Lige Curtis! Oh, yes! 'Lige Curtis, who swore to do +everything for me! 'Lige Curtis, who promised to give up liquor for +me,--who was to leave Tasajara for me! 'Lige Curtis, who was to reform, +and keep his land as a nest-egg for us both in the future, and then +who sold it--and himself--and me--to dad for a glass of whiskey! 'Lige +Curtis, who disappeared, and then let us think he was dead, only that he +might attack us out of the ambush of his grave!" + +"Yes, but think what I have suffered all these years; not for the +cursed land--you know I never cared for that--but for YOU,--you, +Clementina,--YOU rich, admired by every one; idolized, held far above +me,--ME, the forgotten outcast, the wretched suicide--and yet the man +to whom you had once plighted your troth. Which of those greedy +fortune-hunters whom my money--my life-blood as you might have thought +it was--attracted to you, did you care to tell that you had ever slipped +out of the little garden gate at Sidon to meet that outcast! Do you +wonder that as the years passed and YOU were happy, I did not choose to +be so forgotten? Do you wonder that when YOU shut the door on the past +I managed to open it again--if only a little way--that its light might +startle you?" + +Yet she did not seem startled or disturbed, and remained only looking at +him critically. + +"You say that you have suffered," she replied with a smile. "You don't +look it! Your hair is white, but it is becoming to you, and you are a +handsomer man, 'Lige Curtis, than you were when I first met you; you are +finer," she went on, still regarding him, "stronger and healthier +than you were five years ago; you are rich and prosperous, you have +everything to make you happy, but"--here she laughed a little, held +out both her hands, taking his and holding his arms apart in a rustic, +homely fashion--"but you are still the same old 'Lige Curtis! It was +like you to go off and hide yourself in that idiotic way; it was like +you to let the property slide in that stupid, unselfish fashion; it was +like you to get real mad, and say all those mean, silly things to dad, +that didn't hurt him--in your regular looney style; for rich or poor, +drunk or sober, ragged or elegant, plain or handsome,--you're always the +same 'Lige Curtis!" + +In proportion as that material, practical, rustic self--which nobody +but 'Lige Curtis had ever seen--came back to her, so in proportion the +irresolute, wavering, weak and emotional vagabond of Sidon came out to +meet it. He looked at her with a vague smile; his five years of childish +resentment, albeit carried on the shoulders of a man mentally and +morally her superior, melted away. He drew her towards him, yet at the +same moment a quick suspicion returned. + +"Well, and what are you doing here? Has this man who has followed you +any right, any claim upon you?" + +"None but what you in your folly have forced upon him! You have made him +father's ally. I don't know why he came here. I only know why I did--to +find YOU!" + +"You suspected then?" + +"I KNEW! Hush!" + +The returning voices of Grant and of Mrs. Ramirez were heard in the +courtyard. Clementina made a warning yet girlishly mirthful gesture, +again caught his hand, drew him quickly to the French window, and +slipped through it with him into the garden, where they were quickly +lost in the shadows of a ceanothus hedge. + +"They have probably met Don Jose in the orchard, and as he and Don Diego +have business together, Dona Clementina has without doubt gone to her +room and left them. For you are not very entertaining to the ladies +to-day,--you two caballeros! You have much politics together, eh?--or +you have discussed and disagreed, eh? I will look for the Senorita, and +let you go, Don Distraido!" + +It is to be feared that Grant's apologies and attempts to detain her +were equally feeble,--as it seemed to him that this was the only chance +he might have of seeing Clementina except in company with Fletcher. As +Mrs. Ramirez left he lit a cigarette and listlessly walked up and +down the gallery. But Clementina did not come, neither did his hostess +return. A subdued step in the passage raised his hopes,--it was only +the grizzled major domo, to show him his room that he might prepare for +dinner. + +He followed mechanically down the long passage to a second corridor. +There was a chance that he might meet Clementina, but he reached his +room without encountering any one. It was a large vaulted apartment with +a single window, a deep embrasure in the thick wall that seemed to focus +like a telescope some forgotten, sequestered part of the leafy garden. +While washing his hands, gazing absently at the green vignette framed by +the dark opening, his attention was drawn to a movement of the foliage, +stirred apparently by the rapid passage of two half-hidden figures. The +quick flash of a feminine skirt seemed to indicate the coy flight of +some romping maid of the casa, and the pursuit and struggle of her +vaquero swain. To a despairing lover even the spectacle of innocent, +pastoral happiness in others is not apt to be soothing, and Grant was +turning impatiently away when he suddenly stopped with a rigid face and +quickly approached the window. In her struggles with the unseen Corydon, +the clustering leaves seemed to have yielded at the same moment with the +coy Chloris, and parting--disclosed a stolen kiss! Grant's hand lay like +ice against the wall. For, disengaging Fletcher's arm from her waist +and freeing her skirt from the foliage, it was the calm, passionless +Clementina herself who stepped out, and moved pensively towards the +casa. + + + + +CHAPER XI. + + +"Readers of the 'Clarion' will have noticed that allusion has been +frequently made in these columns to certain rumors concerning the early +history of Tasajara which were supposed to affect the pioneer record of +Daniel Harcourt. It was deemed by the conductors of this journal to be +only consistent with the fearless and independent duty undertaken by the +'Clarion' that these rumors should be fully chronicled as part of the +information required by the readers of a first-class newspaper, unbiased +by any consideration of the social position of the parties, but simply +as a matter of news. For this the 'Clarion' does not deem it necessary +to utter a word of apology. But for that editorial comment or attitude +which the proprietors felt was justified by the reliable sources of +their information they now consider it only due in honor to themselves, +their readers, and Mr. Harcourt to fully and freely apologize. A patient +and laborious investigation enables them to state that the alleged facts +published by the 'Clarion' and copied by other journals are utterly +unsupported by testimony, and the charges--although more or less +vague--which were based upon them are equally untenable. We are now +satisfied that one 'Elijah Curtis,' a former pioneer of Tasajara who +disappeared five years ago, and was supposed to be drowned, has not only +made no claim to the Tasajara property, as alleged, but has given no +sign of his equally alleged resuscitation and present existence, and +that on the minutest investigation there appears nothing either in his +disappearance, or the transfer of his property to Daniel Harcourt, +that could in any way disturb the uncontested title to Tasajara or the +unimpeachable character of its present owner. The whole story now seems +to have been the outcome of one of those stupid rural hoaxes too common +in California." + + +"Well," said Mrs. Ashwood, laying aside the 'Clarion' with a skeptical +shrug of her pretty shoulders, as she glanced up at her brother; "I +suppose this means that you are going to propose again to the young +lady?" + +"I have," said Jack Shipley, "that's the worst of it--and got my answer +before this came out." + +"Jack!" said Mrs. Ashwood, thoroughly surprised. + +"Yes! You see, Conny, as I told you three weeks ago, she said she wanted +time to consider,--that she scarcely knew me, and all that! Well, I +thought it wasn't exactly a gentleman's business to seem to stand off +after that last attack on her father, and so, last week, I went down +to San Jose, where she was staying, and begged her not to keep me in +suspense. And, by Jove! she froze me with a look, and said that with +these aspersions on her father's character, she preferred not to be +under obligations to any one." + +"And you believed her?" + +"Oh, hang it all! Look here, Conny,--I wish you'd just try for once to +find out some good in that family, besides what that sentimental +young widower John Milton may have. You seem to think because they've +quarreled with HIM there isn't a virtue left among them." + +Far from seeming to offer any suggestion of feminine retaliation, Mrs. +Ashwood smiled sweetly. "My dear Jack, I have no desire to keep you from +trying your luck again with Miss Clementina, if that's what you mean, +and indeed I shouldn't be surprised if a family who felt a mesalliance +as sensitively as the Harcourts felt that affair of their son's, would +be as keenly alive to the advantages of a good match for their daughter. +As to young Mr. Harcourt, he never talked to me of the vices of his +family, nor has he lately troubled me much with the presence of his own +virtues. I haven't heard from him since we came here." + +"I suppose he is satisfied with the government berth you got for him," +returned her brother dryly. + +"He was very grateful to Senator Flynn, who appreciates his talents, +but who offered it to him as a mere question of fitness," replied Mrs. +Ashwood with great precision of statement. "But you don't seem to know +he declined it on account of his other work." + +"Preferred his old Bohemian ways, eh? You can't change those fellows, +Conny. They can't get over the fascinations of vagabondage. Sorry your +lady-patroness scheme didn't work. Pity you couldn't have promoted him +in the line of his profession, as the Grand Duchess of Girolstein did +Fritz." + +"For Heaven's sake, Jack, go to Clementina! You may not be successful, +but there at least the perfect gentlemanliness and good taste of your +illustrations will not be thrown away." + +"I think of going to San Francisco tomorrow, anyway," returned Jack with +affected carelessness. "I'm getting rather bored with this wild seaside +watering place and its glitter of ocean and hopeless background of +mountain. It's nothing to me that 'there's no land nearer than Japan' +out there. It may be very healthful to the tissues, but it's weariness +to the spirit, and I don't see why we can't wait at San Francisco till +the rains send us further south, as well as here." + +He had walked to the balcony of their sitting-room in the little seaside +hotel where this conversation took place, and gazed discontentedly over +the curving bay and sandy shore before him. After a slight pause Mrs. +Ashwood stepped out beside him. + +"Very likely I may go with you," she said, with a perceptible tone of +weariness. "We will see after the post arrives." + +"By the way, there is a little package for you in my room, that came +this morning. I brought it up, but forgot to give it to you. You'll find +it on my table." + +Mrs. Ashwood abstractedly turned away and entered her brother's room +from the same balcony. The forgotten parcel, which looked like a roll +of manuscript, was lying on his dressing-table. She gazed attentively at +the handwriting on the wrapper and then gave a quick glance around her. +A sudden and subtle change came over her. She neither flushed nor paled, +nor did the delicate lines of expression in her face quiver or change. +But as she held the parcel in her hand her whole being seemed to undergo +some exquisite suffusion. As the medicines which the Arabian physician +had concealed in the hollow handle of the mallet permeated the languid +royal blood of Persia, so some volatile balm of youth seemed to flow +in upon her with the contact of that strange missive and transform her +weary spirit. + +"Jack!" she called, in a high clear voice. But Jack had already gone +from the balcony when she reached it with an elastic step and a quick +youthful swirl and rustling of her skirt. He was lighting his cigar in +the garden. + +"Jack," she said, leaning half over the railing, "come back here in an +hour and we'll talk over that matter of yours again." + +Jack looked up eagerly and as if he might even come up then, but she +added quickly, "In about an hour--I must think it over," and withdrew. + +She re-entered the sitting-room, shut the door carefully and locked it, +half pulled down the blind, walking once or twice around the table on +which the parcel lay, with one eye on it like a graceful cat. Then she +suddenly sat down, took it up with a grave practical face, examined the +postmark curiously, and opened it with severe deliberation. It contained +a manuscript and a letter of four closely written pages. She glanced at +the manuscript with bright approving eyes, ran her fingers through its +leaves and then laid it carefully and somewhat ostentatiously on the +table beside her. Then, still holding the letter in her hand, she rose +and glanced out of the window at her bored brother lounging towards the +beach and at the heaving billows beyond, and returned to her seat. This +apparently important preliminary concluded, she began to read. + +There were, as already stated, four blessed pages of it! All vital, +earnest, palpitating with youthful energy, preposterous in premises, +precipitate in conclusions,--yet irresistible and convincing to every +woman in their illogical sincerity. There was not a word of love in it, +yet every page breathed a wholesome adoration; there was not an epithet +or expression that a greater prude than Mrs. Ashwood would have objected +to, yet every sentence seemed to end in a caress. There was not a +line of poetry in it, and scarcely a figure or simile, and yet it was +poetical. Boyishly egotistic as it was in attitude, it seemed to be +written less OF himself than TO her; in its delicate because unconscious +flattery, it made her at once the provocation and excuse. And yet so +potent was its individuality that it required no signature. No one but +John Milton Harcourt could have written it. His personality stood out of +it so strongly that once or twice Mrs. Ashwood almost unconsciously +put up her little hand before her face with a half mischievous, +half-deprecating smile, as if the big honest eyes of its writer were +upon her. + +It began by an elaborate apology for declining the appointment offered +him by one of her friends, which he was bold enough to think had been +prompted by her kind heart. That was like her, but yet what she might +do to any one; and he preferred to think of her as the sweet and gentle +lady who had recognized his merit without knowing him, rather than the +powerful and gracious benefactress who wanted to reward him when she did +know him. The crown that she had all unconsciously placed upon his head +that afternoon at the little hotel at Crystal Spring was more to him +than the Senator's appointment; perhaps he was selfish, but he could not +bear that she who had given so much should believe that he could accept +a lesser gift. All this and much more! Some of it he had wanted to say +to her in San Francisco at times when they had met, but he could not +find the words. But she had given him the courage to go on and do the +only thing he was fit for, and he had resolved to stick to that, and +perhaps do something once more that might make him hear again her voice +as he had heard it that day, and again see the light that had shone in +her eyes as she sat there and read. And this was why he was sending her +a manuscript. She might have forgotten that she had told him a strange +story of her cousin who had disappeared--which she thought he might +at some time work up. Here it was. Perhaps she might not recognize it +again, in the way he had written it here; perhaps she did not really +mean it when she had given him permission to use it, but he remembered +her truthful eyes and believed her--and in any event it was hers to do +with what she liked. It had been a great pleasure for him to write it +and think that she would see it; it was like seeing her himself--that +was in HIS BETTER SELF--more worthy the companionship of a beautiful and +noble woman than the poor young man she would have helped. This was why +he had not called the week before she went away. But for all that, she +had made his life less lonely, and he should be ever grateful to her. He +could never forget how she unconsciously sympathized with him that day +over the loss that had blighted his life forever,--yet even then he did +not know that she, herself, had passed through the same suffering. But +just here the stricken widow of thirty, after a vain attempt to keep up +the knitted gravity of her eyebrows, bowed her dimpling face over +the letter of the blighted widower of twenty, and laughed so long and +silently that the tears stood out like dew on her light-brown eyelashes. + +But she became presently severe again, and finished her reading of the +letter gravely. Then she folded it carefully, deposited it in a box on +her table, which she locked. After a few minutes, however, she unlocked +the box again and transferred the letter to her pocket. The serenity +of her features did not relax again, although her previous pretty +prepossession of youthful spirit was still indicated in her movements. +Going into her bedroom, she reappeared in a few minutes with a light +cloak thrown over her shoulders and a white-trimmed broad-brimmed hat. +Then she rolled up the manuscript in a paper, and called her French +maid. As she stood there awaiting her with the roll in her hand, she +might have been some young girl on her way to her music lesson. + +"If my brother returns before I do, tell him to wait." + +"Madame is going"-- + +"Out," said Mrs. Ashwood blithely, and tripped downstairs. + +She made her way directly to the shore where she remembered there was +a group of rocks affording a shelter from the northwest trade winds. +It was reached at low water by a narrow ridge of sand, and here she had +often basked in the sun with her book. It was here that she now unrolled +John Milton's manuscript and read. + +It was the story she had told him, but interpreted by his poetry and +adorned by his fancy until the facts as she remembered them seemed to +be no longer hers, or indeed truths at all. She had always believed +her cousin's unhappy temperament to have been the result of a moral and +physical idiosyncrasy,--she found it here to be the effect of a lifelong +and hopeless passion for herself! The ingenious John Milton had given a +poet's precocity to the youth whom she had only known as a suspicious, +moody boy, had idealized him as a sensitive but songless Byron, had +given him the added infirmity of pulmonary weakness, and a handkerchief +that in moments of great excitement, after having been hurriedly pressed +to his pale lips, was withdrawn "with a crimson stain." Opposed to this +interesting figure--the more striking to her as she had been hitherto +haunted by the impression that her cousin during his boyhood had been +subject to facial eruption and boils--was her own equally idealized +self. Cruelly kind to her cousin and gentle with his weaknesses while +calmly ignoring their cause, leading him unconsciously step by step in +his fatal passion, he only became aware by accident that she nourished +an ideal hero in the person of a hard, proud, middle-aged practical +man of the world,--her future husband! At this picture of the late Mr. +Ashwood, who had really been an indistinctive social bon vivant, his +amiable relict grew somewhat hysterical. The discovery of her real +feelings drove the consumptive cousin into a secret, self-imposed exile +on the shores of the Pacific, where he hoped to find a grave. But the +complete and sudden change of life and scene, the balm of the wild woods +and the wholesome barbarism of nature, wrought a magical change in his +physical health and a philosophical rest in his mind. He married the +daughter of an Indian chief. Years passed, the heroine--a rich and +still young and beautiful widow--unwittingly sought the same medicinal +solitude. Here in the depth of the forest she encountered her former +playmate; the passion which he had fondly supposed was dead revived in +her presence, and for the first time she learned from his bearded lips +the secret of his passion. Alas! not SHE alone! The contiguous forest +could not be bolted out, and the Indian wife heard all. Recognizing the +situation with aboriginal directness of purpose, she committed suicide +in the fond belief that it would reunite the survivors. But in vain; the +cousins parted on the spot to meet no more. + +Even Mrs. Ashwood's predilection for the youthful writer could not +overlook the fact that the denouement was by no means novel nor the +situation human, but yet it was here that she was most interested and +fascinated. The description of the forest was a description of the wood +where she had first met Harcourt; the charm of it returned, until she +almost seemed to again inhale its balsamic freshness in the pages before +her. Now, as then, her youth came back with the same longing and regret. +But more bewildering than all, it was herself that moved there, painted +with the loving hand of the narrator. For the first time she experienced +the delicious flattery of seeing herself as only a lover could see her. +The smallest detail of her costume was suggested with an accuracy that +pleasantly thrilled her feminine sense. The grace of her figure slowly +moving through the shadow, the curves of her arm and the delicacy of her +hand that held the bridle rein, the gentle glow of her softly rounded +cheek, the sweet mystery of her veiled eyes and forehead, and the +escaping gold of her lovely hair beneath her hat were all in turn +masterfully touched or tenderly suggested. And when to this was added +the faint perfume of her nearer presence--the scent she always used--the +delicate revelations of her withdrawn gauntlet, the bracelet clasping +her white wrist, and at last the thrilling contact of her soft hand on +his arm,--she put down the manuscript and blushed like a very girl. Then +she started. + +A shout!--HIS voice surely!--and the sound of oars in their rowlocks. + +An instant revulsion of feeling overtook her. With a quick movement she +instantly hid the manuscript beneath her cloak and stood up erect and +indignant. Not twenty yards away, apparently advancing from the opposite +shore of the bay, was a boat. It contained only John Milton, resting on +his oars and scanning the group of rocks anxiously. His face, which was +quite strained with anxiety, suddenly flushed when he saw her, and then +recognizing the unmistakable significance of her look and attitude, +paled once more. He bent over his oars again; a few strokes brought him +close to the rock. + +"I beg your pardon," he said hesitatingly, as he turned towards her and +laid aside his oars, "but--I thought--you were--in danger." + +She glanced quickly round her. She had forgotten the tide! The ledge +between her and the shore was already a foot under brown sea-water. Yet +if she had not thought that it would look ridiculous, she would have +leaped down even then and waded ashore. + +"It's nothing," she said coldly, with the air of one to whom the +situation was an everyday occurrence; "it's only a few steps and a +slight wetting--and my brother would have been here in a moment more." + +John Milton's frank eyes made no secret of his mortification. "I ought +not to have disturbed you, I know," he said quickly, "I had no right. +But I was on the other shore opposite and I saw you come down here--that +is"--he blushed prodigiously--"I thought it MIGHT BE you--and I +ventured--I mean--won't you let me row you ashore?" + +There seemed to be no reasonable excuse for refusing. She slipped +quickly into the boat without waiting for his helping hand, avoiding +that contact which only a moment ago she was trying to recall. + +A few strokes brought them ashore. He continued his explanation with the +hopeless frankness and persistency of youth and inexperience. "I only +came here the day before yesterday. I would not have come, but Mr. +Fletcher, who has a cottage on the other shore, sent for me to offer +me my old place on the 'Clarion.' I had no idea of intruding upon your +privacy by calling here without permission." + +Mrs. Ashwood had resumed her conventional courtesy without however +losing her feminine desire to make her companion pay for the agitation +he had caused her. "We would have been always pleased to see you," she +said vaguely, "and I hope, as you are here now, you will come with me to +the hotel. My brother"-- + +But he still retained his hold of the boat-rope without moving, and +continued, "I saw you yesterday, through the telescope, sitting in your +balcony; and later at night I think it was your shadow I saw near the +blue shaded lamp in the sitting-room by the window,--I don't mean the +RED LAMP that you have in your own room. I watched you until you put out +the blue lamp and lit the red one. I tell you this--because--because--I +thought you might be reading a manuscript I sent you. At least," he +smiled faintly, "I LIKED to think it so." + +In her present mood this struck her only as persistent and somewhat +egotistical. But she felt herself now on ground where she could deal +firmly with him. + +"Oh, yes," she said gravely. "I got it and thank you very much for it. I +intended to write to you." + +"Don't," he said, looking at her fixedly. "I can see you don't like it." + +"On the contrary," she said promptly, "I think it beautifully written, +and very ingenious in plot and situation. Of course it isn't the story I +told you--I didn't expect that, for I'm not a genius. The man is not at +all like my cousin, you know, and the woman--well really, to tell the +truth, SHE is simply inconceivable!" + +"You think so?" he said gravely. He had been gazing abstractedly at some +shining brown seaweed in the water, and when he raised his eyes to hers +they seemed to have caught its color. + +"Think so? I'm positive! There's no such a woman; she isn't HUMAN. But +let us walk to the hotel." + +"Thank you, but I must go back now." + +"But at least let my brother thank you for taking his place--in rescuing +me. It was so thoughtful in you to put off at once when you saw I was +surrounded. I might have been in great danger." + +"Please don't make fun of me, Mrs. Ashwood," he said with a faint +return of his boyish smile. "You know there was no danger. I have +only interrupted you in a nap or a reverie--and I can see now that you +evidently came here to be alone." + +Holding the manuscript more closely hidden under the folds of her cloak, +she smiled enigmatically. "I think I DID, and it seems that the tide +thought so too, and acted upon it. But you will come up to the hotel +with me, surely?" + +"No, I am going back now." There was a sudden firmness about the young +fellow which she had never before noticed. This was evidently the +creature who had married in spite of his family. + +"Won't you come back long enough to take your manuscript? I will point +out the part I refer to, and--we will talk it over." + +"There is no necessity. I wrote to you that you might keep it; it is +yours; it was written for you and none other. It is quite enough for me +to know that you were good enough to read it. But will you do one thing +more for me? Read it again! If you find anything in it the second time +to change your views--if you find"-- + +"I will let you know," she said quickly. "I will write to you as I +intended." + +"No, I didn't mean that. I meant that if you found the woman less +inconceivable and more human, don't write to me, but put your red lamp +in your window instead of the blue one. I will watch for it and see it." + +"I think I will be able to explain myself much better with simple pen +and ink," she said dryly, "and it will be much more useful to you." + +He lifted his hat gravely, shoved off the boat, leaped into it, and +before she could hold out her hand was twenty feet away. She turned and +ran quickly up the rocks. When she reached the hotel, she could see the +boat already half across the bay. + +Entering her sitting-room she found that her brother, tired of waiting +for her, had driven out. Taking the hidden manuscript from her cloak +she tossed it with a slight gesture of impatience on the table. Then she +summoned the landlord. + +"Is there a town across the bay?" + +"No! the whole mountain-side belongs to Don Diego Fletcher. He lives +away back in the coast range at Los Gatos, but he has a cottage and mill +on the beach." + +"Don Diego Fletcher--Fletcher! Is he a Spaniard then?" + +"Half and half, I reckon; he's from the lower country, I believe." + +"Is he here often?" + +"Not much; he has mills at Los Gatos, wheat ranches at Santa Clara, and +owns a newspaper in 'Frisco! But he's here now. There were lights in his +house last night, and his cutter lies off the point." + +"Could you get a small package and note to him?" + +"Certainly; it is only a row across the bay." + +"Thank you." + +Without removing her hat and cloak she sat down at the table and began a +letter to Don Diego Fletcher. She begged to inclose to him a manuscript +which she was satisfied, for the interests of its author, was better in +his hands than hers. It had been given to her by the author, Mr. J. M. +Harcourt, whom she understood was engaged on Mr. Fletcher's paper, the +"Clarion." In fact, it had been written at HER suggestion, and from an +incident in real life of which she was cognizant. She was sorry to say +that on account of some very foolish criticism of her own as to the +FACTS, the talented young author had become so dissatisfied with it as +to make it possible that, if left to himself, this very charming and +beautifully written story would remain unpublished. As an admirer of +Mr. Harcourt's genius, and a friend of his family, she felt that such an +event would be deplorable, and she therefore begged to leave it to +Mr. Fletcher's delicacy and tact to arrange with the author for its +publication. She knew that Mr. Fletcher had only to read it to be +convinced of its remarkable literary merit, and she again would impress +upon him the fact that her playful and thoughtless criticism--which was +personal and confidential--was only based upon the circumstances that +the author had really made a more beautiful and touching story than the +poor facts which she had furnished seemed to warrant. She had only +just learned the fortunate circumstance that Mr. Fletcher was in the +neighborhood of the hotel where she was staying with her brother. + +With the same practical, business-like directness, but perhaps a certain +unbusiness-like haste superadded, she rolled up the manuscript and +dispatched it with the letter. + +This done, however, a slight reaction set in, and having taken off her +hat and shawl, she dropped listlessly on a chair by the window, but as +suddenly rose and took a seat in the darker part of the room. She felt +that she had done right, that highest but most depressing of human +convictions! It was entirely for his good. There was no reason why his +best interests should suffer for his folly. If anybody was to suffer +it was she. But what nonsense was she thinking! She would write to him +later when she was a little cooler,--as she had said. But then he had +distinctly told her, and very rudely too, that he didn't want her to +write. Wanted her to make SIGNALS to him,--the idiot! and probably was +even now watching her with a telescope. It was really too preposterous! + +The result was that her brother found her on his return in a somewhat +uncertain mood, and, as a counselor, variable and conflicting in +judgment. If this Clementina, who seemed to have the family qualities of +obstinacy and audacity, really cared for him, she certainly wouldn't let +delicacy stand in the way of letting him know it--and he was therefore +safe to wait a little. A few moments later, she languidly declared that +she was afraid that she was no counselor in such matters; really she +was getting too old to take any interest in that sort of thing, and she +never had been a matchmaker! By the way now, wasn't it odd that +this neighbor, that rich capitalist across the bay, should be called +Fletcher, and "James Fletcher" too, for Diego meant "James" in Spanish. +Exactly the same name as poor "Cousin Jim" who disappeared. Did he +remember her old playmate Jim? But her brother thought something else +was a deuced sight more odd, namely, that this same Don Diego Fletcher +was said to be very sweet on Clementina now, and was always in her +company at the Ramirez. And that, with this "Clarion" apology on the top +of it, looked infernally queer. + +Mrs. Ashwood felt a sudden consternation. Here had she--Jack's +sister--just been taking Jack's probable rival into confidential +correspondence! She turned upon Jack sharply:-- + +"Why didn't you say that before?" + +"I did tell you," he said gloomily, "but you didn't listen. But what +difference does it make to you now?" + +"None whatever," said Mrs. Ashwood calmly as she walked out of the room. + +Nevertheless the afternoon passed wearily, and her usual ride into the +upland canyon did not reanimate her. For reasons known best to herself +she did not take her after-dinner stroll along the shore to watch the +outlying fog. At a comparatively early hour, while there was still a +roseate glow in the western sky, she appeared with grim deliberation, +and the blue lamp-shade in her hand, and placed it over the lamp which +she lit and stood on her table beside the window. This done she sat down +and began to write with bright-eyed but vicious complacency. + +"But you don't want that light AND the window, Constance," said Jack +wonderingly. + +Mrs. Ashwood could not stand the dreadful twilight. + +"But take away your lamp and you'll have light enough from the sunset," +responded Jack. + +That was just what she didn't want! The light from the window was that +horrid vulgar red glow which she hated. It might be very romantic and +suit lovers like Jack, but as SHE had some work to do, she wanted the +blue shade of the lamp to correct that dreadful glare. + + + + +CHAPER XII. + + +John Milton had rowed back without lifting his eyes to Mrs. Ashwood's +receding figure. He believed that he was right in declining her +invitation, although he had a miserable feeling that it entailed seeing +her for the last time. With all that he believed was his previous +experience of the affections, he was still so untutored as to be +confused as to his reasons for declining, or his right to have been +shocked and disappointed at her manner. It seemed to him sufficiently +plain that he had offended the most perfect woman he had ever known +without knowing more. The feeling he had for her was none the +less powerful because, in his great simplicity, it was vague and +unformulated. And it was a part of this strange simplicity that in his +miserable loneliness his thoughts turned unconsciously to his dead wife +for sympathy and consolation. Loo would have understood him! + +Mr. Fletcher, who had received him on his arrival with singular +effusiveness and cordiality, had put off their final arrangements until +after dinner, on account of pressing business. It was therefore with +some surprise that an hour before the time he was summoned to Fletcher's +room. He was still more surprised to find him sitting at his desk, from +which a number of business papers and letters had been hurriedly thrust +aside to make way for a manuscript. A single glance at it was enough +to show the unhappy John Milton that it was the one he had sent to Mrs. +Ashwood. The color flashed to his cheek and he felt a mist before his +eyes. His employer's face, on the contrary, was quite pale, and his +eyes were fixed on Harcourt with a singular intensity. His voice too, +although under great control, was hard and strange. + +"Read that," he said, handing the young man a letter. + +The color again streamed into John Milton's face as he recognized the +hand of Mrs. Ashwood, and remained there while he read it. When he put +it down, however, he raised his frank eyes to Fletcher's, and said with +a certain dignity and manliness: "What she says is the truth, sir. But +it is I alone who am at fault. This manuscript is merely MY stupid idea +of a very simple story she was once kind enough to tell me when we were +talking of strange occurrences in real life, which she thought I might +some time make use of in my work. I tried to embellish it, and failed. +That's all. I will take it back,--it was written only for her." + +There was such an irresistible truthfulness and sincerity in his voice +and manner, that any idea of complicity with the sender was dismissed +from Fletcher's mind. As Harcourt, however, extended his hand for the +manuscript Fletcher interfered. + +"You forget that you gave it to her, and she has sent it to me. If I +don't keep it, it can be returned to her only. Now may I ask who is this +lady who takes such an interest in your literary career? Have you known +her long? Is she a friend of your family?" + +The slight sneer that accompanied his question restored the natural +color to the young man's face, but kindled his eye ominously. + +"No," he said briefly. "I met her accidentally about two months ago and +as accidentally found out that she had taken an interest in one of the +first things I ever wrote for your paper. She neither knew you nor me. +It was then that she told me this story; she did not even then know who +I was, though she had met some of my family. She was very good and has +generously tried to help me." + +Fletcher's eyes remained fixed upon him. + +"But this tells me only WHAT she is, not WHO she is." + +"I am afraid you must inquire of her brother, Mr. Shipley," said +Harcourt curtly. + +"Shipley?" + +"Yes; he is traveling with her for his health, and they are going +south when the rains come. They are wealthy Philadelphians, I believe, +and--and she is a widow." + +Fletcher picked up her note and glanced again at the signature, +"Constance Ashwood." There was a moment of silence, when he resumed in +quite a different voice: "It's odd I never met them nor they me." + +As he seemed to be waiting for a response, John Milton said simply: +"I suppose it's because they have not been here long, and are somewhat +reserved." + +Mr. Fletcher laid aside the manuscript and letter, and took up his +apparently suspended work. + +"When you see this Mrs.--Mrs. Ashwood again, you might say"-- + +"I shall not see her again," interrupted John Milton hastily. + +Mr. Fletcher shrugged his shoulders. "Very well," he said with a +peculiar smile, "I will write to her. Now, Mr. Harcourt," he continued +with a sudden business brevity, "if you please, we'll drop this affair +and attend to the matter for which I just summoned you. Since yesterday +an important contract for which I have been waiting is concluded, and +its performance will take me East at once. I have made arrangements that +you will be left in the literary charge of the 'Clarion.' It is only a +fitting recompense that the paper owes to you and your father,--to whom +I hope to see you presently reconciled. But we won't discuss that now! +As my affairs take me back to Los Gatos within half an hour, I am sorry +I cannot dispense my hospitality in person,--but you will dine and +sleep here to-night. Good-by. As you go out will you please send up Mr. +Jackson to me." He nodded briefly, seemed to plunge instantly into his +papers again, and John Milton was glad to withdraw. + +The shock he had felt at Mrs. Ashwood's frigid disposition of his wishes +and his manuscript had benumbed him to any enjoyment or appreciation of +the change in his fortune. He wandered out of the house and descended +to the beach in a dazed, bewildered way, seeing only the words of her +letter to Fletcher before him, and striving to grasp some other meaning +from them than their coldly practical purport. Perhaps this was her +cruel revenge for his telling her not to write to him. Could she not +have divined it was only his fear of what she might say! And now it +was all over! She had washed her hands of him with the sending of that +manuscript and letter, and he would pass out of her memory as a foolish, +conceited ingrate,--perhaps a figure as wearily irritating and stupid to +her as the cousin she had known. He mechanically lifted his eyes to the +distant hotel; the glow was still in the western sky, but the blue lamp +was already shining in the window. His cheek flushed quickly, and he +turned away as if she could have seen his face. Yes--she despised him, +and THAT was his answer! + +When he returned, Mr. Fletcher had gone. He dragged through a dinner +with Mr. Jackson, Fletcher's secretary, and tried to realize his good +fortune in listening to the subordinate's congratulations. "But I +thought," said Jackson, "you had slipped up on your luck to-day, when +the old man sent for you. He was quite white, and ready to rip out about +something that had just come in. I suppose it was one of those anonymous +things against your father,--the old man's dead set against 'em now." +But John Milton heard him vaguely, and presently excused himself for a +row on the moonlit bay. + +The active exertion, with intervals of placid drifting along the +land-locked shore, somewhat soothed him. The heaving Pacific beyond +was partly hidden in a low creeping fog, but the curving bay was softly +radiant. The rocks whereon she sat that morning, the hotel where she +was now quietly reading, were outlined in black and silver. In this +dangerous contiguity it seemed to him that her presence returned,--not +the woman who had met him so coldly; who had penned those lines; the +woman from whom he was now parting forever, but the blameless ideal he +had worshiped from the first, and which he now felt could never pass out +of his life again! He recalled their long talks, their rarer rides and +walks in the city; her quick appreciation and ready sympathy; her pretty +curiosity and half-maternal consideration of his foolish youthful past; +even the playful way that she sometimes seemed to make herself younger +as if to better understand him. Lingering at times in the shadow of the +headland, he fancied he saw the delicate nervous outlines of her face +near his own again; the faint shading of her brown lashes, the soft +intelligence of her gray eyes. Drifting idly in the placid moonlight, +pulling feverishly across the swell of the channel, or lying on his oars +in the shallows of the rocks, but always following the curves of the +bay, like a bird circling around a lighthouse, it was far in the night +before he at last dragged his boat upon the sand. Then he turned to look +once more at her distant window. He would be away in the morning and he +should never see it again! It was very late, but the blue light seemed +to be still burning unalterably and inflexibly. + +But even as he gazed, a change came over it. A shadow seemed to pass +before the blind; the blue shade was lifted; for an instant he could see +the colorless star-like point of the light itself show clearly. It was +over now; she was putting out the lamp. Suddenly he held his breath! +A roseate glow gradually suffused the window like a burning blush; the +curtain was drawn aside, and the red lamp-shade gleamed out surely and +steadily into the darkness. + +Transfigured and breathless in the moonlight, John Milton gazed on it. +It seemed to him the dawn of Love! + + + + +CHAPER XIII. + + +The winter rains had come. But so plenteously and persistently, and +with such fateful preparation of circumstance, that the long looked for +blessing presently became a wonder, an anxiety, and at last a slowly +widening terror. Before a month had passed every mountain, stream, and +watercourse, surcharged with the melted snows of the Sierras, had become +a great tributary; every tributary a great river, until, pouring their +great volume into the engorged channels of the American and Sacramento +rivers, they overleaped their banks and became as one vast inland sea. +Even to a country already familiar with broad and striking catastrophe, +the flood was a phenomenal one. For days the sullen overflow lay in the +valley of the Sacramento, enormous, silent, currentless--except where +the surplus waters rolled through Carquinez Straits, San Francisco Bay, +and the Golden Gate, and reappeared as the vanished Sacramento River, in +an outflowing stream of fresh and turbid water fifty miles at sea. + +Across the vast inland expanse, brooded over by a leaden sky, leaden +rain fell, dimpling like shot the sluggish pools of the flood; a +cloudy chaos of fallen trees, drifting barns and outhouses, wagons and +agricultural implements moved over the surface of the waters, or circled +slowly around the outskirts of forests that stood ankle deep in ooze and +the current, which in serried phalanx they resisted still. As night fell +these forms became still more vague and chaotic, and were interspersed +with the scattered lanterns and flaming torches of relief-boats, or +occasionally the high terraced gleaming windows of the great steamboats, +feeling their way along the lost channel. At times the opening of a +furnace-door shot broad bars of light across the sluggish stream and +into the branches of dripping and drift-encumbered trees; at times +the looming smoke-stacks sent out a pent-up breath of sparks that +illuminated the inky chaos for a moment, and then fell as black and +dripping rain. Or perhaps a hoarse shout from some faintly outlined hulk +on either side brought a quick response from the relief-boats, and the +detaching of a canoe with a blazing pine-knot in its bow into the outer +darkness. + +It was late in the afternoon when Lawrence Grant, from the deck of one +of the larger tugs, sighted what had been once the estuary of Sidon +Creek. The leader of a party of scientific observation and relief, he +had kept a tireless watch of eighteen hours, keenly noticing the work of +devastation, the changes in the channel, the prospects of abatement, and +the danger that still threatened. He had passed down the length of the +submerged Sacramento valley, through the Straits of Carquinez, and was +now steaming along the shores of the upper reaches of San Francisco Bay. +Everywhere the same scene of desolation,--vast stretches of tule land, +once broken up by cultivation and dotted with dwellings, now clearly +erased on that watery chart; long lines of symmetrical perspective, +breaking the monotonous level, showing orchards buried in the flood; +Indian mounds and natural eminences covered with cattle or hastily +erected camps; half submerged houses, whose solitary chimneys, however, +still gave signs of an undaunted life within; isolated groups of trees, +with their lower branches heavy with the unwholesome fruit of the +flood, in wisps of hay and straw, rakes and pitchforks, or pathetically +sheltering some shivering and forgotten household pet. But everywhere +the same dull, expressionless, placid tranquillity of destruction,--a +horrible leveling of all things in one bland smiling equality of +surface, beneath which agony, despair, and ruin were deeply buried and +forgotten; a catastrophe without convulsion,--a devastation voiceless, +passionless, and supine. + +The boat had slowed up before what seemed to be a collection of +disarranged houses with the current flowing between lines that indicated +the existence of thoroughfares and streets. Many of the lighter wooden +buildings were huddled together on the street corners with their gables +to the flow; some appeared as if they had fallen on their knees, and +others lay complacently on their sides, like the houses of a child's +toy village. An elevator still lifted itself above the other warehouses; +from the centre of an enormous square pond, once the plaza, still arose +a "Liberty pole," or flagstaff, which now supported a swinging lantern, +and in the distance appeared the glittering dome of some public +building. Grant recognized the scene at once. It was all that was left +of the invincible youth of Tasajara! + +As this was an objective point of the scheme of survey and relief for +the district, the boat was made fast to the second story of one of the +warehouses. It was now used as a general store and depot, and bore a +singular resemblance in its interior to Harcourt's grocery at Sidon. +This suggestion was the more fatefully indicated by the fact that half +a dozen men were seated around a stove in the centre, more or less +given up to a kind of philosophical and lazy enjoyment of their enforced +idleness. And when to this was added the more surprising coincidence +that the party consisted of Billings, Peters, and Wingate,--former +residents of Sidon and first citizens of Tasajara,--the resemblance was +complete. + +They were ruined,--but they accepted their common fate with a certain +Indian stoicism and Western sense of humor that for the time lifted +them above the vulgar complacency of their former fortunes. There was a +deep-seated, if coarse and irreverent resignation in their philosophy. +At the beginning of the calamity it had been roughly formulated by +Billings in the statement that "it wasn't anybody's fault; there was +nobody to kill, and what couldn't be reached by a Vigilance Committee +there was no use resolootin' over." When the Reverend Doctor Pilsbury +had suggested an appeal to a Higher Power, Peters had replied, good +humoredly, that "a Creator who could fool around with them in that style +was above being interfered with by prayer." At first the calamity had +been a thing to fight against; then it became a practical joke, the +sting of which was lost in the victims' power of endurance and assumed +ignorance of its purport. There was something almost pathetic in their +attempts to understand its peculiar humor. + +"How about that Europ-e-an trip o' yours, Peters?" said Billings, +meditatively, from the depths of his chair. "Looks as if those +Crowned Heads over there would have to wait till the water goes down +considerable afore you kin trot out your wife and darters before 'em!" + +"Yes," said Peters, "it rather pints that way; and ez far ez I kin see, +Mame Billings ain't goin' to no Saratoga, neither, this year." + +"Reckon the boys won't hang about old Harcourt's Free Library to see +the girls home from lectures and singing-class much this year," said +Wingate. "Wonder if Harcourt ever thought o' this the day he opened it, +and made that rattlin' speech o' his about the new property? Clark +says everything built on that made ground has got to go after the water +falls. Rough on Harcourt after all his other losses, eh? He oughter +have closed up with that scientific chap, Grant, and married him to +Clementina while the big boom was on"-- + +"Hush!" said Peters, indicating Grant, who had just entered quietly. + +"Don't mind me, gentlemen," said Grant, stepping towards the group +with a grave but perfectly collected face; "on the contrary, I am very +anxious to hear all the news of Harcourt's family. I left for New York +before the rainy season, and have only just got back." + +His speech and manner appeared to be so much in keeping with the +prevailing grim philosophy that Billings, after a glance at the others, +went on. "Ef you left afore the first rains," said he, "you must have +left only the steamer ahead of Fletcher, when he run off with Clementina +Harcourt, and you might have come across them on their wedding trip in +New York." + +Not a muscle of Grant's face changed under their eager and cruel +scrutiny. "No, I didn't," he returned quietly. "But why did she run +away? Did the father object to Fletcher? If I remember rightly he was +rich and a good match." + +"Yes, but I reckon the old man hadn't quite got over the 'Clarion' +abuse, for all its eating humble-pie and taking back its yarns of him. +And may be he might have thought the engagement rather sudden. They say +that she'd only met Fletcher the day afore the engagement." + +"That be d----d," said Peters, knocking the ashes out of his pipe, and +startling the lazy resignation of his neighbors by taking his feet from +the stove and sitting upright. "I tell ye, gentlemen, I'm sick o' this +sort o' hog-wash that's been ladled round to us. That gal Clementina +Harcourt and that feller Fletcher had met not only once, but MANY times +afore--yes! they were old friends if it comes to that, a matter of six +years ago." + +Grant's eyes were fixed eagerly on the speaker, although the others +scarcely turned their heads. + +"You know, gentlemen," said Peters, "I never took stock in this yer +story of the drownin' of 'Lige Curtis. Why? Well, if you wanter know--in +my opinion--there never was any 'Lige Curtis!" + +Billings lifted his head with difficulty; Wingate turned his face to the +speaker. + +"There never was a scrap o' paper ever found in his cabin with the +name o' 'Lige Curtis on it; there never was any inquiry made for 'Lige +Curtis; there never was any sorrowin' friends comin' after 'Lige Curtis. +For why?--There never was any 'Lige Curtis. The man who passed himself +off in Sidon under that name--was that man Fletcher. That's how he knew +all about Harcourt's title; that's how he got his best holt on Harcourt. +And he did it all to get Clementina Harcourt, whom the old man had +refused to him in Sidon." + +A grunt of incredulity passed around the circle. Such is the fate of +historical innovation! Only Grant listened attentively. + +"Ye ought to tell that yarn to John Milton," said Wingate ironically; +"it's about in the style o' them stories he slings in the 'Clarion.'" + +"He's made a good thing outer that job. Wonder what he gets for them?" +said Peters. + +It was Billings's time to rise, and, under the influence of some strong +cynical emotion, to even rise to his feet. "Gets for 'em!--GETS for 'em! +I'll tell you WHAT he gets for 'em! It beats this story o' Peters's,--it +beats the flood. It beats me! Ye know that boy, gentlemen; ye know how +he uster lie round his father's store, reading flapdoodle stories and +sich! Ye remember how I uster try to give him good examples and knock +some sense into him? Ye remember how, after his father's good luck, +he spiled all his own chances, and ran off with his father's waiter +gal--all on account o' them flapdoodle books he read? Ye remember how +he sashayed round newspaper offices in 'Frisco until he could write a +flapdoodle story himself? Ye wanter know what he gets for 'em. I'll tell +you. He got an interduction to one of them high-toned, highfalutin', +'don't-touch-me' rich widders from Philadelfy,--that's what he gets for +'em! He got her dead set on him and his stories, that's what he gets for +'em! He got her to put him up with Fletcher in the 'Clarion,'--that's +what he gets for 'em. And darn my skin!--ef what they say is true, while +we hard-working men are sittin' here like drowned rats--that air John +Milton, ez never did a stitch o' live work like me yere; ez never +did anythin' but spin yarns about US ez did WORK, is now 'gittin' for +'em'--what? Guess! Why, he's gittin' THE RICH WIDDER HERSELF and HALF A +MILLION DOLLARS WITH HER! Gentlemen! lib'ty is a good thing--but thar's +some things ye gets too much lib'ty of in this country--and that's this +yer LIB'TY OF THE PRESS!" + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A First Family of Tasajara, by Bret Harte + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A FIRST FAMILY OF TASAJARA *** + +***** This file should be named 2723.txt or 2723.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/2723/ + +Produced by Donald Lainson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by Donald Lainson, charlie@idirect.com. + + + + + +A FIRST FAMILY OF TASAJARA + +by Bret Harte + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +"It blows," said Joe Wingate. + +As if to accent the words of the speaker a heavy gust of wind at +that moment shook the long light wooden structure which served as +the general store of Sidon settlement, in Contra Costa. Even after +it had passed a prolonged whistle came through the keyhole, sides, +and openings of the closed glass front doors, that served equally +for windows, and filled the canvas ceiling which hid the roof above +like a bellying sail. A wave of enthusiastic emotion seemed to be +communicated to a line of straw hats and sou-westers suspended from +a cross-beam, and swung them with every appearance of festive +rejoicing, while a few dusters, overcoats, and "hickory" shirts +hanging on the side walls exhibited such marked though idiotic +animation that it had the effect of a satirical comment on the +lazy, purposeless figures of the four living inmates of the store. + +Ned Billings momentarily raised his head and shoulders depressed in +the back of his wooden armchair, glanced wearily around, said, "You +bet, it's no slouch of a storm," and then lapsed again with further +extended legs and an added sense of comfort. + +Here the third figure, which had been leaning listlessly against +the shelves, putting aside the arm of a swaying overcoat that +seemed to be emptily embracing him, walked slowly from behind the +counter to the door, examined its fastenings, and gazed at the +prospect. He was the owner of the store, and the view was a +familiar one,--a long stretch of treeless waste before him meeting +an equal stretch of dreary sky above, and night hovering somewhere +between the two. This was indicated by splashes of darker shadow +as if washed in with india ink, and a lighter low-lying streak that +might have been the horizon, but was not. To the right, on a line +with the front door of the store, were several scattered, widely +dispersed objects, that, although vague in outline, were rigid +enough in angles to suggest sheds or barns, but certainly not +trees. + +"There's a heap more wet to come afore the wind goes down," he +said, glancing at the sky. "Hark to that, now!" + +They listened lazily. There was a faint murmur from the shingles +above; then suddenly the whole window was filmed and blurred as if +the entire prospect had been wiped out with a damp sponge. The man +turned listlessly away. + +"That's the kind that soaks in; thar won't be much teamin' over +Tasajara for the next two weeks, I reckon," said the fourth +lounger, who, seated on a high barrel, was nibbling--albeit +critically and fastidiously--biscuits and dried apples alternately +from open boxes on the counter. "It's lucky you've got in your +winter stock, Harkutt." + +The shrewd eyes of Mr. Harkutt, proprietor, glanced at the +occupation of the speaker as if even his foresight might have its +possible drawbacks, but he said nothing. + +"There'll be no show for Sidon until you've got a wagon road from +here to the creek," said Billings languidly, from the depths of his +chair. "But what's the use o' talkin'? Thar ain't energy enough +in all Tasajara to build it. A God-forsaken place, that two months +of the year can only be reached by a mail-rider once a week, don't +look ez if it was goin' to break its back haulin' in goods and +settlers. I tell ye what, gentlemen, it makes me sick!" And +apparently it had enfeebled him to the extent of interfering with +his aim in that expectoration of disgust against the stove with +which he concluded his sentence. + +"Why don't YOU build it?" asked Wingate, carelessly. + +"I wouldn't on principle," said Billings. "It's gov'ment work. +What did we whoop up things here last spring to elect Kennedy to +the legislation for? What did I rig up my shed and a thousand feet +of lumber for benches at the barbecue for? Why, to get Kennedy +elected and make him get a bill passed for the road! That's MY +share of building it, if it comes to that. And I only wish some +folks, that blow enough about what oughter be done to bulge out +that ceiling, would only do as much as I have done for Sidon." + +As this remark seemed to have a personal as well as local +application, the storekeeper diplomatically turned it. "There's a +good many as DON'T believe that a road from here to the creek is +going to do any good to Sidon. It's very well to say the creek is +an embarcadero, but callin' it so don't put anough water into it to +float a steamboat from the bay, nor clear out the reeds and tules +in it. Even if the State builds you roads, it ain't got no call to +make Tasajara Creek navigable for ye; and as that will cost as much +as the road, I don't see where the money's comin' from for both." + +"There's water enough in front of 'Lige Curtis's shanty, and his +location is only a mile along the bank," returned Billings. + +"Water enough for him to laze away his time fishin' when he's +sober, and deep enough to drown him when he's drunk," said Wingate. +"If you call that an embarcadero, you kin buy it any day from +'Lige,--title, possession, and shanty thrown in,--for a demijohn o' +whiskey." + +The fourth man here distastefully threw back a half-nibbled biscuit +into the box, and languidly slipped from the barrel to the floor, +fastidiously flicking the crumbs from his clothes as he did so. "I +reckon somebody'll get it for nothing, if 'Lige don't pull up +mighty soon. He'll either go off his head with jim-jams or jump +into the creek. He's about as near desp'rit as they make 'em, and +havin' no partner to look after him, and him alone in the tules, +ther' 's no tellin' WHAT he may do." + +Billings, stretched at full length in his chair, here gurgled +derisively. "Desp'rit!--ketch him! Why, that's his little game! +He's jist playin' off his desp'rit condition to frighten Sidon. +Whenever any one asks him why he don't go to work, whenever he's +hard up for a drink, whenever he's had too much or too little, he's +workin' that desp'rit dodge, and even talkin' o' killin' himself! +Why, look here," he continued, momentarily raising himself to a +sitting posture in his disgust, "it was only last week he was over +at Rawlett's trying to raise provisions and whiskey outer his water +rights on the creek! Fact, sir,--had it all written down lawyer- +like on paper. Rawlett didn't exactly see it in that light, and +told him so. Then he up with the desp'rit dodge and began to work +that. Said if he had to starve in a swamp like a dog he might as +well kill himself at once, and would too if he could afford the +weppins. Johnson said it was not a bad idea, and offered to lend +him his revolver; Bilson handed up his shot-gun, and left it +alongside of him, and turned his head away considerate-like and +thoughtful while Rawlett handed him a box of rat pizon over the +counter, in case he preferred suthin' more quiet. Well, what did +'Lige do? Nothin'! Smiled kinder sickly, looked sorter wild, and +shut up. He didn't suicide much. No, sir! He didn't kill +himself,--not he. Why, old Bixby--and he's a deacon in good +standin'--allowed, in 'Lige's hearin' and for 'Lige's benefit, that +self-destruction was better nor bad example, and proved it by +Scripture too. And yet 'Lige did nothin'! Desp'rit! He's only +desp'rit to laze around and fish all day off a log in the tules, +and soak up with whiskey, until, betwixt fever an' ague and the +jumps, he kinder shakes hisself free o' responsibility." + +A long silence followed; it was somehow felt that the subject was +incongruously exciting; Billings allowed himself to lapse again +behind the back of his chair. Meantime it had grown so dark that +the dull glow of the stove was beginning to outline a faint halo on +the ceiling even while it plunged the further lines of shelves +behind the counter into greater obscurity. + +"Time to light up, Harkutt, ain't it?" said Wingate, tentatively. + +"Well, I was reckoning ez it's such a wild night there wouldn't be +any use keepin' open, and when you fellows left I'd just shut up +for good and make things fast," said Harkutt, dubiously. Before +his guests had time to fully weigh this delicate hint, another gust +of wind shook the tenement, and even forced the unbolted upper part +of the door to yield far enough to admit an eager current of humid +air that seemed to justify the wisdom of Harkutt's suggestion. +Billings slowly and with a sigh assumed a sitting posture in the +chair. The biscuit-nibbler selected a fresh dainty from the +counter, and Wingate abstractedly walked to the window and rubbed +the glass. Sky and water had already disappeared behind a curtain +of darkness that was illuminated by a single point of light--the +lamp in the window of some invisible but nearer house--which threw +its rays across the glistening shallows in the road. "Well," said +Wingate, buttoning up his coat in slow dejection, "I reckon I +oughter be travelin' to help the old woman do the chores before +supper." He had just recognized the light in his own dining-room, +and knew by that sign that his long-waiting helpmeet had finally +done the chores herself. + +"Some folks have it mighty easy," said Billings, with long-drawn +discontent, as he struggled to his feet. "You've only a step to +go, and yer's me and Peters there"--indicating the biscuit-nibbler, +who was beginning to show alarming signs of returning to the barrel +again--"hev got to trapse five times that distance." + +"More'n half a mile, if it comes to that," said Peters, gloomily. +He paused in putting on his overcoat as if thinking better of it, +while even the more fortunate and contiguous Wingate languidly +lapsed against the counter again. + +The moment was a critical one. Billings was evidently also +regretfully eying the chair he had just quitted. Harkutt resolved +on a heroic effort. + +"Come, boys," he said, with brisk conviviality, "take a parting +drink with me before you go." Producing a black bottle from some +obscurity beneath the counter that smelt strongly of india-rubber +boots, he placed it with four glasses before his guests. Each made +a feint of holding his glass against the opaque window while +filling it, although nothing could be seen. A sudden tumult of +wind and rain again shook the building, but even after it had +passed the glass door still rattled violently. + +"Just see what's loose, Peters," said Billings; "you're nearest +it." + +Peters, still holding the undrained glass in his hand, walked +slowly towards it. + +"It's suthin'--or somebody outside," he said, hesitatingly. + +The three others came eagerly to his side. Through the glass, +clouded from within by their breath, and filmed from without by the +rain, some vague object was moving, and what seemed to be a mop of +tangled hair was apparently brushing against the pane. The door +shook again, but less strongly. Billings pressed his face against +the glass. "Hol' on," he said in a quick whisper,--"it's 'Lige!" +But it was too late. Harkutt had already drawn the lower bolt, and +a man stumbled from the outer obscurity into the darker room. + +The inmates drew away as he leaned back for a moment against the +door that closed behind him. Then dimly, but instinctively, +discerning the glass of liquor which Wingate still mechanically +held in his hand, he reached forward eagerly, took it from +Wingate's surprised and unresisting fingers, and drained it at a +gulp. The four men laughed vaguely, but not as cheerfully as they +might. + +"I was just shutting up," began Harkutt, dubiously. + +"I won't keep you a minit," said the intruder, nervously fumbling +in the breast pocket of his hickory shirt. "It's a matter of +business--Harkutt--I"-- But he was obliged to stop here to wipe +his face and forehead with the ends of a loose handkerchief tied +round his throat. From the action, and what could be seen of his +pale, exhausted face, it was evident that the moisture upon it was +beads of perspiration, and not the rain which some abnormal heat of +his body was converting into vapor from his sodden garments as he +stood there. + +"I've got a document here," he began again, producing a roll of +paper tremblingly from his pocket, "that I'd like you to glance +over, and perhaps you'd"-- His voice, which had been feverishly +exalted, here broke and rattled with a cough. + +Billings, Wingate, and Peters fell apart and looked out of the +window. "It's too dark to read anything now, 'Lige," said Harkutt, +with evasive good humor, "and I ain't lightin' up to-night." + +"But I can tell you the substance of it," said the man, with a +faintness that however had all the distinctness of a whisper, "if +you'll just step inside a minute. It's a matter of importance and +a bargain"-- + +"I reckon we must be goin'," said Billings to the others, with +marked emphasis. "We're keepin' Harkutt from shuttin' up." "Good- +night!" "Good-night!" added Peters and Wingate, ostentatiously +following Billings hurriedly through the door. "So long!" + +The door closed behind them, leaving Harkutt alone with his +importunate intruder. Possibly his resentment at his customers' +selfish abandonment of him at this moment developed a vague spirit +of opposition to them and mitigated his feeling towards 'Lige. He +groped his way to the counter, struck a match, and lit a candle. +Its feeble rays faintly illuminated the pale, drawn face of the +applicant, set in a tangle of wet, unkempt, party-colored hair. It +was not the face of an ordinary drunkard; although tremulous and +sensitive from some artificial excitement, there was no ENGORGEMENT +or congestion in the features or complexion, albeit they were +morbid and unhealthy. The expression was of a suffering that was +as much mental as physical, and yet in some vague way appeared +unmeaning--and unheroic. + +"I want to see you about selling my place on the creek. I want you +to take it off my hands for a bargain. I want to get quit of it, +at once, for just enough to take me out o' this. I don't want any +profit; only money enough to get away." His utterance, which had a +certain kind of cultivation, here grew thick and harsh again, and +he looked eagerly at the bottle which stood on the counter. + +"Look here, 'Lige," said Harkutt, not unkindly. "It's too late to +do anythin' tonight. You come in to-morrow." He would have added +"when you're sober," but for a trader's sense of politeness to a +possible customer, and probably some doubt of the man's actual +condition. + +"God knows where or what I may be tomorrow! It would kill me to go +back and spend another night as the last, if I don't kill myself on +the way to do it." + +Harkutt's face darkened grimly. It was indeed as Billings had +said. The pitiable weakness of the man's manner not only made his +desperation inadequate and ineffective, but even lent it all the +cheapness of acting. And, as if to accent his simulation of a +part, his fingers, feebly groping in his shirt bosom, slipped +aimlessly and helplessly from the shining handle of a pistol in his +pocket to wander hesitatingly towards the bottle on the counter. + +Harkutt took the bottle, poured out a glass of the liquor, and +pushed it before his companion, who drank it eagerly. Whether it +gave him more confidence, or his attention was no longer diverted, +he went on more collectedly and cheerfully, and with no trace of +his previous desperation in his manner. "Come, Harkutt, buy my +place. It's a bargain, I tell you. I'll sell it cheap. I only +want enough to get away with. Give me twenty-five dollars and it's +yours. See, there's the papers--the quitclaim--all drawn up and +signed." He drew the roll of paper from his pocket again, +apparently forgetful of the adjacent weapon. + +"Look here, 'Lige," said Harkutt, with a business-like straightening +of his lips, "I ain't buyin' any land in Tasajara,--least of all +yours on the creek. I've got more invested here already than I'll +ever get back again. But I tell you what I'll do. You say you +can't go back to your shanty. Well, seein' how rough it is outside, +and that the waters of the creek are probably all over the trail by +this time, I reckon you're about right. Now, there's five dollars!" +He laid down a coin sharply on the counter. "Take that and go over +to Rawlett's and get a bed and some supper. In the mornin' you may +be able to strike up a trade with somebody else--or change your +mind. How did you get here? On your hoss?" + +"Yes." + +"He ain't starved yet?" + +"No; he can eat grass. I can't." + +Either the liquor or Harkutt's practical unsentimental treatment of +the situation seemed to give him confidence. He met Harkutt's eye +more steadily as the latter went on. "You kin turn your hoss for +the night into my stock corral next to Rawlett's. It'll save you +payin' for fodder and stablin'." + +The man took up the coin with a certain slow gravity which was +almost like dignity. "Thank you," he said, laying the paper on the +counter. "I'll leave that as security." + +"Don't want it, 'Lige," said Harkutt, pushing it back. + +"I'd rather leave it." + +"But suppose you have a chance to sell it to somebody at Rawlett's?" +continued Harkutt, with a precaution that seemed ironical. + +"I don't think there's much chance of that." + +He remained quiet, looking at Harkutt with an odd expression as he +rubbed the edge of the coin that he held between his fingers +abstractedly on the counter. Something in his gaze--rather perhaps +the apparent absence of anything in it approximate to the present +occasion--was beginning to affect Harkutt with a vague uneasiness. +Providentially a resumed onslaught of wind and rain against the +panes effected a diversion. "Come," he said, with brisk +practicality, "you'd better hurry on to Rawlett's before it gets +worse. Have your clothes dried by his fire, take suthin' to eat, +and you'll be all right." He rubbed his hands cheerfully, as if +summarily disposing of the situation, and incidentally of all +'Lige's troubles, and walked with him to the door. Nevertheless, +as the man's look remained unchanged, he hesitated a moment with +his hand on the handle, in the hope that he would say something, +even if only to repeat his appeal, but he did not. Then Harkutt +opened the door; the man moved mechanically out, and at the +distance of a few feet seemed to melt into the rain and darkness. +Harkutt remained for a moment with his face pressed against the +glass. After an interval he thought he heard the faint splash of +hoofs in the shallows of the road; he opened the door softly and +looked out. + +The light had disappeared from the nearest house; only an uncertain +bulk of shapeless shadows remained. Other remoter and more vague +outlines near the horizon seemed to have a funereal suggestion of +tombs and grave mounds, and one--a low shed near the road--looked +not unlike a halted bier. He hurriedly put up the shutters in a +momentary lulling of the wind, and re-entering the store began to +fasten them from within. + +While thus engaged an inner door behind the counter opened softly +and cautiously, projecting a brighter light into the deserted +apartment from some sacred domestic interior with the warm and +wholesome incense of cooking. It served to introduce also the +equally agreeable presence of a young girl, who, after assuring +herself of the absence of every one but the proprietor, idly +slipped into the store, and placing her rounded elbows, from which +her sleeves were uprolled, upon the counter, leaned lazily upon +them, with both hands supporting her dimpled chin, and gazed +indolently at him; so indolently that, with her pretty face once +fixed in this comfortable attitude, she was constrained to follow +his movements with her eyes alone, and often at an uncomfortable +angle. It was evident that she offered the final but charming +illustration of the enfeebling listlessness of Sidon. + +"So those loafers have gone at last," she said, meditatively. +"They'll take root here some day, pop. The idea of three strong +men like that lazing round for two mortal hours doin' nothin'. +Well!" As if to emphasize her disgust she threw her whole weight +upon the counter by swinging her feet from the floor to touch the +shelves behind her. + +Mr. Harkutt only replied by a slight grunt as he continued to screw +on the shutters. + +"Want me to help you, dad?" she said, without moving. + +Mr. Harkutt muttered something unintelligible, which, however, +seemed to imply a negative, and her attention here feebly wandered +to the roll of paper, and she began slowly and lazily to read it +aloud. + +"'For value received, I hereby sell, assign, and transfer to Daniel +D. Harkutt all my right, titles and interest in, and to the +undivided half of, Quarter Section 4, Range 5, Tasajara Township'-- +hum--hum," she murmured, running her eyes to the bottom of the +page. "Why, Lord! It's that 'Lige Curtis!" she laughed. "The +idea of HIM having property! Why, dad, you ain't been THAT silly!" + +"Put down that paper, miss," he said, aggrievedly; "bring the +candle here, and help me to find one of these infernal screws +that's dropped." + +The girl indolently disengaged herself from the counter and Elijah +Curtis's transfer, and brought the candle to her father. The screw +was presently found and the last fastening secured. "Supper +gettin' cold, dad," she said, with a slight yawn. Her father +sympathetically responded by stretching himself from his stooping +position, and the two passed through the private door into inner +domesticity, leaving the already forgotten paper lying with other +articles of barter on the counter. + + +CHAPTER II. + + +With the closing of the little door behind them they seemed to have +shut out the turmoil and vibration of the storm. The reason became +apparent when, after a few paces, they descended half a dozen steps +to a lower landing. This disclosed the fact that the dwelling part +of the Sidon General Store was quite below the level of the shop +and the road, and on the slope of the solitary undulation of the +Tasajara plain,--a little ravine that fell away to a brawling +stream below. The only arboreous growth of Tasajara clothed its +banks in the shape of willows and alders that set compactly around +the quaint, irregular dwelling which straggled down the ravine and +looked upon a slope of bracken and foliage on either side. The +transition from the black, treeless, storm-swept plain to this +sheltered declivity was striking and suggestive. From the opposite +bank one might fancy that the youthful and original dwelling had +ambitiously mounted the crest, but, appalled at the dreary prospect +beyond, had gone no further; while from the road it seemed as if +the fastidious proprietor had tried to draw a line between the +vulgar trading-post, with which he was obliged to face the coarser +civilization of the place, and the privacy of his domestic life. +The real fact, however, was that the ravine furnished wood and +water; and as Nature also provided one wall of the house,--as in +the well-known example of aboriginal cave dwellings,--its peculiar +construction commended itself to Sidon on the ground of involving +little labor. + +Howbeit, from the two open windows of the sitting-room which they +had entered only the faint pattering of dripping boughs and a +slight murmur from the swollen brook indicated the storm that shook +the upper plain, and the cool breath of laurel, syringa, and alder +was wafted through the neat apartment. Passing through that +pleasant rural atmosphere they entered the kitchen, a much larger +room, which appeared to serve occasionally as a dining-room, and +where supper was already laid out. A stout, comfortable-looking +woman--who had, however, a singularly permanent expression of +pained sympathy upon her face--welcomed them in tones of gentle +commiseration. + +"Ah, there you be, you two! Now sit ye right down, dears; DO. You +must be tired out; and you, Phemie, love, draw up by your poor +father. There--that's right. You'll be better soon." + +There was certainly no visible sign of suffering or exhaustion on +the part of either father or daughter, nor the slightest apparent +earthly reason why they should be expected to exhibit any. But, +as already intimated, it was part of Mrs. Harkutt's generous +idiosyncrasy to look upon all humanity as suffering and toiling; to +be petted, humored, condoled with, and fed. It had, in the course +of years, imparted a singularly caressing sadness to her voice, and +given her the habit of ending her sentences with a melancholy cooing +and an unintelligible murmur of agreement. It was undoubtedly +sincere and sympathetic, but at times inappropriate and distressing. +It had lost her the friendship of the one humorist of Tasajara, +whose best jokes she had received with such heartfelt commiseration +and such pained appreciation of the evident labor involved as to +reduce him to silence. + +Accustomed as Mr. Harkutt was to his wife's peculiarity, he was not +above assuming a certain slightly fatigued attitude befitting it. +"Yes," he said, with a vague sigh, "where's Clemmie?" + +"Lyin' down since dinner; she reckoned she wouldn't get up to +supper," she returned soothingly. "Phemie's goin' to take her up +some sass and tea. The poor dear child wants a change." + +"She wants to go to 'Frisco, and so do I, pop," said Phemie, +leaning her elbow half over her father's plate. "Come, pop, say +do,--just for a week." + +"Only for a week," murmured the commiserating Mrs. Harkutt. + +"Perhaps," responded Harkutt, with gloomy sarcasm, "ye wouldn't +mind tellin' me how you're goin' to get there, and where the +money's comin' from to take you? There's no teamin' over Tasajara +till the rain stops, and no money comin' in till the ranchmen can +move their stuff. There ain't a hundred dollars in all Tasajara; +at least there ain't been the first red cent of it paid across my +counter for a fortnit! Perhaps if you do go you wouldn't mind +takin' me and the store along with ye, and leavin' us there." + +"Yes, dear," said Mrs. Harkutt, with sympathetic but shameless +tergiversation. "Don't bother your poor father, Phemie, love; +don't you see he's just tired out? And you're not eatin' anything, +dad." + +As Mr. Harkutt was uneasily conscious that he had been eating +heartily in spite of his financial difficulties, he turned the +subject abruptly. "Where's John Milton?" + +Mrs. Harkutt shaded her eyes with her hand, and gazed meditatively +on the floor before the fire and in the chimney corner for her only +son, baptized under that historic title. "He was here a minit +ago," she said doubtfully. "I really can't think where he's gone. +But," assuringly, "it ain't far." + +"He's skipped with one o' those story-books he's borrowed," said +Phemie. "He's always doin' it. Like as not he's reading with a +candle in the wood-shed. We'll all be burnt up some night." + +"But he's got through his chores," interposed Mrs. Harkutt +deprecatingly. + +"Yes," continued Harkutt, aggrievedly, "but instead of goin' to +bed, or addin' up bills, or takin' count o' stock, or even doin' +sums or suthin' useful, he's ruinin' his eyes and wastin' his time +over trash." He rose and walked slowly into the sitting-room, +followed by his daughter and a murmur of commiseration from his +wife. But Mrs. Harkutt's ministration for the present did not pass +beyond her domain, the kitchen. + +"I reckon ye ain't expectin' anybody tonight, Phemie?" said Mr. +Harkutt, sinking into a chair, and placing his slippered feet +against the wall. + +"No," said Phemie, "unless something possesses that sappy little +Parmlee to make one of his visitations. John Milton says that out +on the road it blows so you can't stand up. It's just like that +idiot Parmlee to be blown in here, and not have strength of mind +enough to get away again." + +Mr. Harkutt smiled. It was that arch yet approving, severe yet +satisfied smile with which the deceived male parent usually +receives any depreciation of the ordinary young man by his +daughters. Euphemia was no giddy thing to be carried away by young +men's attentions,--not she! Sitting back comfortably in his +rocking-chair, he said, "Play something." + +The young girl went to the closet and took from the top shelf an +excessively ornamented accordion,--the opulent gift of a reckless +admirer. It was so inordinately decorated, so gorgeous in the +blaze of papier mache, mother-of-pearl, and tortoise-shell on keys +and keyboard, and so ostentatiously radiant in the pink silk of its +bellows that it seemed to overawe the plainly furnished room with +its splendors. "You ought to keep it on the table in a glass vase, +Phemie," said her father admiringly. + +"And have HIM think I worshiped it! Not me, indeed! He's conceited +enough already," she returned, saucily. + +Mr. Harkutt again smiled his approbation, then deliberately closed +his eyes and threw his head back in comfortable anticipation of the +coming strains. + +It is to be regretted that in brilliancy, finish, and even +cheerfulness of quality they were not up to the suggestions of the +keys and keyboard. The most discreet and cautious effort on the +part of the young performer seemed only to produce startlingly +unexpected, but instantly suppressed complaints from the +instrument, accompanied by impatient interjections of "No, no," +from the girl herself. Nevertheless, with her pretty eyebrows +knitted in some charming distress of memory, her little mouth half +open between an apologetic smile and the exertion of working the +bellows, with her white, rounded arms partly lifted up and waving +before her, she was pleasantly distracting to the eye. Gradually, +as the scattered strains were marshaled into something like an air, +she began to sing also, glossing over the instrumental weaknesses, +filling in certain dropped notes and omissions, and otherwise +assisting the ineffectual accordion with a youthful but not +unmusical voice. The song was a lugubrious religious chant; under +its influence the house seemed to sink into greater quiet, +permitting in the intervals the murmur of the swollen creek to +appear more distinct, and even the far moaning of the wind on the +plain to become faintly audible. At last, having fairly mastered +the instrument, Phemie got into the full swing of the chant. +Unconstrained by any criticism, carried away by the sound of her +own voice, and perhaps a youthful love for mere uproar, or possibly +desirous to drown her father's voice, which had unexpectedly joined +in with a discomposing bass, the conjoined utterances seemed to +threaten the frail structure of their dwelling, even as the gale +had distended the store behind them. When they ceased at last it +was in an accession of dripping from the apparently stirred leaves +outside. And then a voice, evidently from the moist depths of the +abyss below, called out,-- + +"Hullo, there!" + +Phemie put down the accordion, said, "Who's that now?" went to the +window, lazily leaned her elbows on the sill, and peered into the +darkness. Nothing was to be seen; the open space of dimly outlined +landscape had that blank, uncommunicative impenetrability with +which Nature always confronts and surprises us at such moments. It +seemed to Phemie that she was the only human being present. Yet +after the feeling had passed she fancied she heard the wash of the +current against some object in the stream, half stationary and half +resisting. + +"Is any one down there? Is that you, Mr. Parmlee?" she called. + +There was a pause. Some invisible auditor said to another, "It's a +young lady." Then the first voice rose again in a more deferential +tone: "Are we anywhere near Sidon?" + +"This is Sidon," answered Harkutt, who had risen, and was now quite +obliterating his daughter's outline at the window. + +"Thank you," said the voice. "Can we land anywhere here, on this +bank?" + +"Run down, pop; they're strangers," said the girl, with excited, +almost childish eagerness. + +"Hold on," called out Harkutt, "I'll be thar in a moment!" He +hastily thrust his feet into a pair of huge boots, clapped on an +oilskin hat and waterproof, and disappeared through a door that led +to a lower staircase. Phemie, still at the window, albeit with a +newly added sense of self-consciousness, hung out breathlessly. +Presently a beam of light from the lower depths of the house shot +out into the darkness. It was her father with a bull's-eye +lantern. As he held it up and clambered cautiously down the bank, +its rays fell upon the turbid rushing stream, and what appeared to +be a rough raft of logs held with difficulty against the bank by +two men with long poles. In its centre was a roll of blankets, a +valise and saddle-bags, and the shining brasses of some odd-looking +instruments. + +As Mr. Harkutt, supporting himself by a willow branch that overhung +the current, held up the lantern, the two men rapidly transferred +their freight from the raft to the bank, and leaped ashore. The +action gave an impulse to the raft, which, no longer held in +position by the poles, swung broadside to the current and was +instantly swept into the darkness. + +Not a word had been spoken, but now the voices of the men rose +freely together. Phemie listened with intense expectation. The +explanation was simple. They were surveyors who had been caught by +the overflow on Tasajara plain, had abandoned their horses on the +bank of Tasajara Creek, and with a hastily constructed raft had +intrusted themselves and their instruments to the current. "But," +said Harkutt quickly, "there is no connection between Tasajara +Creek and this stream." + +The two men laughed. "There is NOW," said one of them. + +"But Tasajara Creek is a part of the bay," said the astonished +Harkutt, "and this stream rises inland and only runs into the bay +four miles lower down. And I don't see how-- + +"You're almost twelve feet lower here than Tasajara Creek," said +the first man, with a certain professional authority, "and that's +WHY. There's more water than Tasajara Creek can carry, and it's +seeking the bay this way. Look," he continued, taking the lantern +from Harkutt's hand and casting its rays on the stream, "that's +salt drift from the upper bay, and part of Tasajara Creek's running +by your house now! Don't be alarmed," he added reassuringly, +glancing at the staring storekeeper. "You're all right here; this +is only the overflow and will find its level soon." + +But Mr. Harkutt remained gazing abstractedly at the smiling +speaker. From the window above the impatient Phemie was wondering +why he kept the strangers waiting in the rain while he talked about +things that were perfectly plain. It was so like a man! + +"Then there's a waterway straight to Tasajara Creek?" he said +slowly. + +"There is, as long as this flood lasts," returned the first speaker +promptly; "and a cutting through the bank of two or three hundred +yards would make it permanent. Well, what's the matter with that?" + +"Nothin'," said Harkutt hurriedly. "I am only considerin'! But +come in, dry yourselves, and take suthin'." + +The light over the rushing water was withdrawn, and the whole +prospect sank back into profound darkness. Mr. Harkutt had +disappeared with his guests. Then there was the familiar shuffle +of his feet on the staircase, followed by other more cautious +footsteps that grew delicately and even courteously deliberate as +they approached. At which the young girl, in some new sense of +decorum, drew in her pretty head, glanced around the room quickly, +reset the tidy on her father's chair, placed the resplendent +accordion like an ornament in the exact centre of the table, and +then vanished into the hall as Mr. Harkutt entered with the +strangers. + +They were both of the same age and appearance, but the principal +speaker was evidently the superior of his companion, and although +their attitude to each other was equal and familiar, it could be +easily seen that he was the leader. He had a smooth, beardless +face, with a critical expression of eye and mouth that might have +been fastidious and supercilious but for the kindly, humorous +perception that tempered it. His quick eye swept the apartment and +then fixed itself upon the accordion, but a smile lit up his face +as he said quietly,-- + +"I hope we haven't frightened the musician away. It was bad enough +to have interrupted the young lady." + +"No, no," said Mr. Harkutt, who seemed to have lost his abstraction +in the nervousness of hospitality. "I reckon she's only lookin' +after her sick sister. But come into the kitchen, both of you, +straight off, and while you're dryin' your clothes, mother'll fix +you suthin' hot." + +"We only need to change our boots and stockings; we've some dry +ones in our pack downstairs," said the first speaker hesitatingly. + +"I'll fetch 'em up and you can change in the kitchen. The old +woman won't mind," said Harkutt reassuringly. "Come along." He +led the way to the kitchen; the two strangers exchanged a glance of +humorous perplexity and followed. + +The quiet of the little room was once more unbroken. A far-off +commiserating murmur indicated that Mrs. Harkutt was receiving her +guests. The cool breath of the wet leaves without slightly stirred +the white dimity curtains, and somewhere from the darkened eaves +there was a still, somnolent drip. Presently a hurried whisper and +a half-laugh appeared to be suppressed in the outer passage or +hall. There was another moment of hesitation and the door opened +suddenly and ostentatiously, disclosing Phemie, with a taller and +slighter young woman, her elder sister, at her side. Perceiving +that the room was empty, they both said "Oh!" yet with a certain +artificiality of manner that was evidently a lingering trace of +some previous formal attitude they had assumed. Then without +further speech they each selected a chair and a position, having +first shaken out their dresses, and gazed silently at each other. + +It may be said briefly that sitting thus--in spite of their +unnatural attitude, or perhaps rather because of its suggestion of +a photographic pose--they made a striking picture, and strongly +accented their separate peculiarities. They were both pretty, but +the taller girl, apparently the elder, had an ideal refinement and +regularity of feature which was not only unlike Phemie, but +gratuitously unlike the rest of her family, and as hopelessly and +even wantonly inconsistent with her surroundings as was the +elaborately ornamented accordion on the centre-table. She was one +of those occasional creatures, episodical in the South and West, +who might have been stamped with some vague ante-natal impression +of a mother given to over-sentimental contemplation of books of +beauty and albums rather than the family features; offspring of +typical men and women, and yet themselves incongruous to any known +local or even general type. The long swan-like neck, tendriled +hair, swimming eyes, and small patrician head, had never lived or +moved before in Tasajara or the West, nor perhaps even existed +except as a personified "Constancy," "Meditation," or the "Baron's +Bride," in mezzotint or copperplate. Even the girl's common pink +print dress with its high sleeves and shoulders could not +conventionalize these original outlines; and the hand that rested +stiffly on the back of her chair, albeit neither over-white nor +well kept, looked as if it had never held anything but a lyre, a +rose, or a good book. Even the few sprays of wild jessamine which +she had placed in the coils of her waving hair, although a local +fashion, became her as a special ornament. + +The two girls kept their constrained and artificially elaborated +attitude for a few moments, accompanied by the murmur of voices in +the kitchen, the monotonous drip of the eaves before the window, +and the far-off sough of the wind. Then Phemie suddenly broke into +a constrained giggle, which she however quickly smothered as she +had the accordion, and with the same look of mischievous distress. + +"I'm astonished at you, Phemie," said Clementina in a deep contralto +voice, which seemed even deeper from its restraint. "You don't seem +to have any sense. Anybody'd think you never had seen a stranger +before." + +"Saw him before you did," retorted Phemie pertly. But here a +pushing of chairs and shuffling of feet in the kitchen checked her. +Clementina fixed an abstracted gaze on the ceiling; Phemie regarded +a leaf on the window sill with photographic rigidity as the door +opened to the strangers and her father. + +The look of undisguised satisfaction which lit the young men's +faces relieved Mr. Harkutt's awkward introduction of any +embarrassment, and almost before Phemie was fully aware of it, she +found herself talking rapidly and in a high key with Mr. Lawrence +Grant, the surveyor, while her sister was equally, although more +sedately, occupied with Mr. Stephen Rice, his assistant. But the +enthusiasm of the strangers, and the desire to please and be +pleased was so genuine and contagious that presently the accordion +was brought into requisition, and Mr. Grant exhibited a surprising +faculty of accompaniment to Mr. Rice's tenor, in which both the +girls joined. + +Then a game of cards with partners followed, into which the rival +parties introduced such delightful and shameless obviousness of +cheating, and displayed such fascinating and exaggerated +partisanship that the game resolved itself into a hilarious melee, +to which peace was restored only by an exhibition of tricks of +legerdemain with the cards by the young surveyor. All of which +Mr. Harkutt supervised patronizingly, with occasional fits of +abstraction, from his rocking-chair; and later Mrs. Harkutt from her +kitchen threshold, wiping her arms on her apron and commiseratingly +observing that she "declared, the young folks looked better +already." + +But it was here a more dangerous element of mystery and suggestion +was added by Mr. Lawrence Grant in the telling of Miss Euphemia's +fortune from the cards before him, and that young lady, pink with +excitement, fluttered her little hands not unlike timid birds over +the cards to be drawn, taking them from him with an audible twitter +of anxiety and great doubts whether a certain "fair-haired +gentleman" was in hearts or diamonds. + +"Here are two strangers," said Mr. Grant, with extraordinary +gravity laying down the cards, "and here is a 'journey;' this is +'unexpected news,' and this ten of diamonds means 'great wealth' to +you, which you see follows the advent of the two strangers and is +some way connected with them." + +"Oh, indeed," said the young lady with great pertness and a toss of +her head. "I suppose they've got the money with them." + +"No, though it reaches you through them," he answered with +unflinching solemnity. "Wait a bit, I have it! I see, I've made a +mistake with this card. It signifies a journey or a road. Queer! +isn't it, Steve? It's THE ROAD." + +"It is queer," said Rice with equal gravity; "but it's so. The +road, sure!" Nevertheless he looked up into the large eyes of +Clementina with a certain confidential air of truthfulness. + +"You see, ladies," continued the surveyor, appealing to them with +unabashed rigidity of feature, "the cards don't lie! Luckily we +are in a position to corroborate them. The road in question is a +secret known only to us and some capitalists in San Francisco. In +fact even THEY don't know that it is feasible until WE report to +them. But I don't mind telling you now, as a slight return for +your charming hospitality, that the road is a RAILROAD from Oakland +to Tasajara Creek of which we've just made the preliminary survey. +So you see what the cards mean is this: You're not far from +Tasajara Creek; in fact with a very little expense your father +could connect this stream with the creek, and have a WATERWAY +STRAIGHT TO THE RAILROAD TERMINUS. That's the wealth the cards +promise; and if your father knows how to take a hint he can make +his fortune!" + +It was impossible to say which was the most dominant in the face of +the speaker, the expression of assumed gravity or the twinkling of +humor in his eyes. The two girls with superior feminine perception +divined that there was much truth in what he said, albeit they +didn't entirely understand it, and what they did understand--except +the man's good-humored motive--was not particularly interesting. +In fact they were slightly disappointed. What had promised to be +an audaciously flirtatious declaration, and even a mischievous +suggestion of marriage, had resolved itself into something absurdly +practical and business-like. + +Not so Mr. Harkutt. He quickly rose from his chair, and, leaning +over the table, with his eyes fixed on the card as if it really +signified the railroad, repeated quickly: "Railroad, eh! What's +that? A railroad to Tasajara Creek? Ye don't mean it!--That is-- +it ain't a SURE thing?" + +"Perfectly sure. The money is ready in San Francisco now, and by +this time next year--" + +"A railroad to Tasajara Creek!" continued Harkutt hurriedly. "What +part of it? Where?" + +"At the embarcadero naturally," responded Grant. "There isn't but +the one place for the terminus. There's an old shanty there now +belongs to somebody." + +"Why, pop!" said Phemie with sudden recollection, "ain't it 'Lige +Curtis's house? The land he offered"-- + +"Hush!" said her father. + +"You know, the one written in that bit of paper," continued the +innocent Phemie. + +"Hush! will you? God A'mighty! are you goin' to mind me? Are you +goin' to keep up your jabber when I'm speakin' to the gentlemen? +Is that your manners? What next, I wonder!" + +The sudden and unexpected passion of the speaker, the incomprehensible +change in his voice, and the utterly disproportionate exaggeration +of his attitude towards his daughters, enforced an instantaneous +silence. The rain began to drip audibly at the window, the rush of +the river sounded distinctly from without, even the shaking of the +front part of the dwelling by the distant gale became perceptible. +An angry flash sprang for an instant to the young assistant's eye, +but it met the cautious glance of his friend, and together both +discreetly sought the table. The two girls alone remained white and +collected. "Will you go on with my fortune, Mr. Grant?" said Phemie +quietly. + +A certain respect, perhaps not before observable, was suggested in +the surveyor's tone as he smilingly replied, "Certainly, I was only +waiting for you to show your confidence in me," and took up the +cards. + +Mr. Harkutt coughed. "It looks as if that blamed wind had blown +suthin' loose in the store," he said affectedly. "I reckon I'll go +and see." He hesitated a moment and then disappeared in the +passage. Yet even here he stood irresolute, looking at the closed +door behind him, and passing his hand over his still flushed face. +Presently he slowly and abstractedly ascended the flight of steps, +entered the smaller passage that led to the back door of the shop +and opened it. + +He was at first a little startled at the halo of light from the +still glowing stove, which the greater obscurity of the long room +had heightened rather than diminished. Then he passed behind the +counter, but here the box of biscuits which occupied the centre and +cast a shadow over it compelled him to grope vaguely for what he +sought. Then he stopped suddenly, the paper he had just found +dropping from his fingers, and said sharply,-- + +"Who's there?" + +"Me, pop." + +"John Milton?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"What the devil are you doin' there, sir?" + +"Readin'." + +It was true. The boy was half reclining in a most distorted +posture on two chairs, his figure in deep shadow, but his book was +raised above his head so as to catch the red glow of the stove on +the printed page. Even then his father's angry interruption +scarcely diverted his preoccupation; he raised himself in his chair +mechanically, with his eyes still fixed on his book. Seeing which +his father quickly regained the paper, but continued his objurgation. + +"How dare you? Clear off to bed, will you! Do you hear me? +Pretty goin's on," he added as if to justify his indignation. +"Sneakin' in here and--and lyin' 'round at this time o' night! +Why, if I hadn't come in here to"-- + +"What?" asked the boy mechanically, catching vaguely at the +unfinished sentence and staring automatically at the paper in his +father's hand. + +"Nothin', sir! Go to bed, I tell you! Will you? What are you +standin' gawpin' at?" continued Harkutt furiously. + +The boy regained his feet slowly and passed his father, but not +without noticing with the same listless yet ineffaceable perception +of childhood that he was hurriedly concealing the paper in his +pocket. With the same youthful inconsequence, wondering at this +more than at the interruption, which was no novel event, he went +slowly out of the room. + +Harkutt listened to the retreating tread of his bare feet in the +passage and then carefully locked the door. Taking the paper from +his pocket, and borrowing the idea he had just objurgated in his +son, he turned it towards the dull glow of the stove and attempted +to read it. But perhaps lacking the patience as well as the keener +sight of youth, he was forced to relight the candle which he had +left on the counter, and reperused the paper. Yes! there was +certainly no mistake! Here was the actual description of the +property which the surveyor had just indicated as the future +terminus of the new railroad, and here it was conveyed to him-- +Daniel Harkutt! What was that? Somebody knocking? What did this +continual interruption mean? An odd superstitious fear now mingled +with his irritation. + +The sound appeared to come from the front shutters. It suddenly +occurred to him that the light might be visible through the +crevices. He hurriedly extinguished it, and went to the door. + +"Who's there?" + +"Me,--Peters. Want to speak to you." + +Mr. Harkutt with evident reluctance drew the bolts. The wind, +still boisterous and besieging, did the rest, and precipitately +propelled Peters through the carefully guarded opening. But his +surprise at finding himself in the darkness seemed to forestall any +explanation of his visit. + +"Well," he said with an odd mingling of reproach and suspicion. "I +declare I saw a light here just this minit! That's queer." + +"Yes, I put it out just now. I was goin' away," replied Harkutt, +with ill-disguised impatience. + +"What! been here ever since?" + +"No," said Harkutt curtly. + +"Well, I want to speak to ye about 'Lige. Seein' the candle +shinin' through the chinks I thought he might be still with ye. If +he ain't, it looks bad. Light up, can't ye! I want to show you +something." + +There was a peremptoriness in his tone that struck Harkutt +disagreeably, but observing that he was carrying something in his +hand, he somewhat nervously re-lit the candle and faced him. +Peters had a hat in his hand. It was 'Lige's! + +"'Bout an hour after we fellers left here," said Peters, "I heard +the rattlin' of hoofs on the road, and then it seemed to stop just +by my house. I went out with a lantern, and, darn my skin! if +there warn't 'Lige's hoss, the saddle empty, and 'Lige nowhere! I +looked round and called him--but nothing were to be seen. Thinkin' +he might have slipped off--tho' ez a general rule drunken men +don't, and he is a good rider--I followed down the road, lookin' +for him. I kept on follerin' it down to your run, half a mile +below." + +"But," began Harkutt, with a quick nervous laugh, "you don't reckon +that because of that he"-- + +"Hold on!" said Peters, grimly producing a revolver from his side- +pocket with the stock and barrel clogged and streaked with mud. "I +found THAT too,--and look! one barrel discharged! And," he added +hurriedly, as approaching a climax, "look ye,--what I nat'rally +took for wet from the rain--inside that hat--was--blood!" + +"Nonsense!" said Harkutt, putting the hat aside with a new +fastidiousness. "You don't think"-- + +"I think," said Peters, lowering his voice, "I think, by God! HE'S +BIN AND DONE IT!" + +"No!" + +"Sure! Oh, it's all very well for Billings and the rest of that +conceited crowd to sneer and sling their ideas of 'Lige gen'rally +as they did jess now here,--but I'd like 'em to see THAT." It was +difficult to tell if Mr. Peters' triumphant delight in confuting +his late companions' theories had not even usurped in his mind the +importance of the news he brought, as it had of any human sympathy +with it. + +"Look here," returned Harkutt earnestly, yet with a singularly +cleared brow and a more natural manner. "You ought to take them +things over to Squire Kerby's, right off, and show 'em to him. You +kin tell him how you left 'Lige here, and say that I can prove by +my daughter that he went away about ten minutes after,--at least, +not more than fifteen." Like all unprofessional humanity, Mr. +Harkutt had an exaggerated conception of the majesty of unimportant +detail in the eye of the law. "I'd go with you myself," he added +quickly, "but I've got company--strangers--here." + +"How did he look when he left,--kinder wild?" suggested Peters. + +Harkutt had begun to feel the prudence of present reticence. +"Well," he said, cautiously, "YOU saw how he looked." + +"You wasn't rough with him?--that might have sent him off, you +know," said Peters. + +"No," said Harkutt, forgetting himself in a quick indignation, "no, +I not only treated him to another drink, but gave him"--he stopped +suddenly and awkwardly. + +"Eh?" said Peters. + +"Some good advice,--you know," said Harkutt, hastily. "But come, +you'd better hurry over to the squire's. You know YOU'VE made the +discovery; YOUR evidence is important, and there's a law that +obliges you to give information at once." + +The excitement of discovery and the triumph over his disputants +being spent, Peters, after the Sidon fashion, evidently did not +relish activity as a duty. "You know," he said dubiously, "he +mightn't be dead, after all." + +Harkutt became a trifle distant. "You know your own opinion of the +thing," he replied after a pause. "You've circumstantial evidence +enough to see the squire, and set others to work on it; and," he +added significantly, "you've done your share then, and can wipe +your hands of it, eh?" + +"That's so," said Peters, eagerly. "I'll just run over to the +squire." + +"And on account of the women folks, you know, and the strangers +here, I'll say nothin' about it to-night," added Harkutt. + +Peters nodded his head, and taking up the hat of the unfortunate +Elijah with a certain hesitation, as if he feared it had already +lost its dramatic intensity as a witness, disappeared into the +storm and darkness again. A lurking gust of wind lying in ambush +somewhere seemed to swoop down on him as if to prevent further +indecision and whirl him away in the direction of the justice's +house; and Mr. Harkutt shut the door, bolted it, and walked +aimlessly back to the counter. + +From a slow, deliberate and cautious man, he seemed to have changed +within an hour to an irresolute and capricious one. He took the +paper from his pocket, and, unlocking the money drawer of his +counter, folded into a small compass that which now seemed to be +the last testament of Elijah Curtis, and placed it in a recess. +Then he went to the back door and paused, then returned, reopened +the money drawer, took out the paper and again buttoned it in his +hip pocket, standing by the stove and staring abstractedly at the +dull glow of the fire. He even went through the mechanical process +of raking down the ashes,--solely to gain time and as an excuse for +delaying some other necessary action. + +He was thinking what he should do. Had the question of his right +to retain and make use of that paper been squarely offered to him +an hour ago, he would without doubt have decided that he ought not +to keep it. Even now, looking at it as an abstract principle, he +did not deceive himself in the least. But Nature has the +reprehensible habit of not presenting these questions to us +squarely and fairly, and it is remarkable that in most of our +offending the abstract principle is never the direct issue. Mr. +Harkutt was conscious of having been unwillingly led step by step +into a difficult, not to say dishonest, situation, and against his +own seeking. He had never asked Elijah to sell him the property; +he had distinctly declined it; it had even been forced upon him as +security for the pittance he so freely gave him. This proved (to +himself) that he himself was honest; it was only the circumstances +that were queer. Of course if Elijah had lived, he, Harkutt, might +have tried to drive some bargain with him before the news of the +railroad survey came out--for THAT was only business. But now that +Elijah was dead, who would be a penny the worse or better but +himself if he chose to consider the whole thing as a lucky +speculation, and his gift of five dollars as the price he paid for +it? Nobody could think that he had calculated upon 'Lige's +suicide, any more than that the property would become valuable. In +fact if it came to that, if 'Lige had really contemplated killing +himself as a hopeless bankrupt after taking Harkutt's money as a +loan, it was a swindle on his--Harkutt's--good-nature. He worked +himself into a rage, which he felt was innately virtuous, at this +tyranny of cold principle over his own warm-hearted instincts, but +if it came to the LAW, he'd stand by law and not sentiment. He'd +just let them--by which he vaguely meant the world, Tasajara, and +possibly his own conscience--see that he wasn't a sentimental fool, +and he'd freeze on to that paper and that property! + +Only he ought to have spoken out before. He ought to have told the +surveyor at once that he owned the land. He ought to have said: +"Why, that's my land. I bought it of that drunken 'Lige Curtis for +a song and out of charity." Yes, that was the only real trouble, +and that came from his own goodness, his own extravagant sense of +justice and right,--his own cursed good-nature. Yet, on second +thoughts, he didn't know why he was obliged to tell the surveyor. +Time enough when the company wanted to buy the land. As soon as it +was settled that 'Lige was dead he'd openly claim the property. +But what if he wasn't dead? or they couldn't find his body? or he +had only disappeared? His plain, matter-of-fact face contracted +and darkened. Of course he couldn't ask the company to wait for +him to settle that point. He had the power to dispose of the +property under that paper, and--he should do it. If 'Lige turned +up, that was another matter, and he and 'Lige could arrange it +between them. He was quite firm here, and oddly enough quite +relieved in getting rid of what appeared only a simple question of +detail. He never suspected that he was contemplating the one +irretrievable step, and summarily dismissing the whole ethical +question. + +He turned away from the stove, opened the back door, and walked +with a more determined step through the passage to the sitting- +room. But here he halted again on the threshold with a quick +return of his old habits of caution. The door was slightly open; +apparently his angry outbreak of an hour ago had not affected the +spirits of his daughters, for he could hear their hilarious voices +mingling with those of the strangers. They were evidently still +fortune-telling, but this time it was the prophetic and divining +accents of Mr. Rice addressed to Clementina which were now plainly +audible. + +"I see heaps of money and a great many friends in the change that +is coming to you. Dear me! how many suitors! But I cannot promise +you any marriage as brilliant as my friend has just offered your +sister. You may be certain, however, that you'll have your own +choice in this, as you have in all things." + +"Thank you for nothing," said Clementina's voice. "But what are +those horrid black cards beside them?--that's trouble, I'm sure." + +"Not for you, though near you. Perhaps some one you don't care +much for and don't understand will have a heap of trouble on your +account,--yes, on account of these very riches; see, he follows the +ten of diamonds. It may be a suitor; it may be some one now in the +house, perhaps." + +"He means himself, Miss Clementina," struck in Grant's voice +laughingly. + +"You're not listening, Miss Harkutt," said Rice with half-serious +reproach. "Perhaps you know who it is?" + +But Miss Clementina's reply was simply a hurried recognition of her +father's pale face that here suddenly confronted her with the +opening door. + +"Why, it's father!" + + +CHAPTER III. + + +In his strange mental condition even the change from Harkutt's +feeble candle to the outer darkness for a moment blinded Elijah +Curtis, yet it was part of that mental condition that he kept +moving steadily forward as in a trance or dream, though at first +purposelessly. Then it occurred to him that he was really looking +for his horse, and that the animal was not there. This for a +moment confused and frightened him, first with the supposition that +he had not brought him at all, but that it was part of his +delusion; secondly, with the conviction that without his horse he +could neither proceed on the course suggested by Harkutt, nor take +another more vague one that was dimly in his mind. Yet in his +hopeless vacillation it seemed a relief that now neither was +practicable, and that he need do nothing. Perhaps it was a +mysterious providence! + +The explanation, however, was much simpler. The horse had been +taken by the luxurious and indolent Billings unknown to his +companions. Overcome at the dreadful prospect of walking home in +that weather, this perfect product of lethargic Sidon had artfully +allowed Peters and Wingate to precede him, and, cautiously +unloosing the tethered animal, had safely passed them in the +darkness. When he gained his own inclosure he had lazily +dismounted, and, with a sharp cut on the mustang's haunches, sent +him galloping back to rejoin his master, with what result has been +already told by the unsuspecting Peters in the preceding chapter. + +Yet no conception of this possibility entered 'Lige Curtis's +alcoholized consciousness, part of whose morbid phantasy it was to +distort or exaggerate all natural phenomena. He had a vague idea +that he could not go back to Harkutt's; already his visit seemed to +have happened long, long ago, and could not be repeated. He would +walk on, enwrapped in this uncompromising darkness which concealed +everything, suggested everything, and was responsible for +everything. + +It was very dark, for the wind, having lulled, no longer thinned +the veil of clouds above, nor dissipated a steaming mist that +appeared to rise from the sodden plain. Yet he moved easily +through the darkness, seeming to be upheld by it as something +tangible, upon which he might lean. At times he thought he heard +voices,--not a particular voice he was thinking of, but strange +voices--of course unreal to his present fancy. And then he heard +one of these voices, unlike any voice in Sidon, and very faint and +far off, asking if it "was anywhere near Sidon?"--evidently some +one lost like himself. He answered in a voice that seemed quite as +unreal and as faint, and turned in the direction from which it +came. There was a light moving like a will-o'-the-wisp far before +him, yet below him as if coming out of the depths of the earth. It +must be fancy, but he would see--ah! + +He had fallen violently forward, and at the same moment felt his +revolver leap from his breast pocket like a living thing, and an +instant after explode upon the rock where it struck, blindingly +illuminating the declivity down which he was plunging. The +sulphurous sting of burning powder was in his eyes and nose, yet in +that swift revealing flash he had time to clutch the stems of a +trailing vine beside him, but not to save his head from sharp +contact with the same rocky ledge that had caught his pistol. The +pain and shock gave way to a sickening sense of warmth at the roots +of his hair. Giddy and faint, his fingers relaxed, he felt himself +sinking, with a languor that was half acquiescence, down, down,-- +until, with another shock, a wild gasping for air, and a swift +reaction, he awoke in the cold, rushing water! + +Clear and perfectly conscious now, though frantically fighting for +existence with the current, he could dimly see a floating black +object shooting by the shore, at times striking the projections of +the bank, until in its recoil it swung half round and drifted +broadside on towards him. He was near enough to catch the frayed +ends of a trailing rope that fastened the structure, which seemed +to be a few logs, together. With a convulsive effort he at last +gained a footing upon it, and then fell fainting along its length. +It was the raft which the surveyors from the embarcadero had just +abandoned. + +He did not know this, nor would he have thought it otherwise +strange that a raft might be a part of the drift of the overflow, +even had he been entirely conscious; but his senses were failing, +though he was still able to keep a secure position on the raft, and +to vaguely believe that it would carry him to some relief and +succor. How long he lay unconscious he never knew; in his after- +recollections of that night, it seemed to have been haunted by +dreams of passing dim banks and strange places; of a face and voice +that had been pleasant to him; of a terror coming upon him as he +appeared to be nearing a place like that home that he had abandoned +in the lonely tules. He was roused at last by a violent headache, +as if his soft felt hat had been changed into a tightening crown of +iron. Lifting his hand to his head to tear off its covering, he +was surprised to find that he was wearing no hat, but that his +matted hair, stiffened and dried with blood and ooze, was clinging +like a cap to his skull in the hot morning sunlight. His eyelids +and lashes were glued together and weighted down by the same +sanguinary plaster. He crawled to the edge of his frail raft, not +without difficulty, for it oscillated and rocked strangely, and +dipped his hand in the current. When he had cleared his eyes he +lifted them with a shock of amazement. Creeks, banks, and plain +had disappeared; he was alone on a bend of the tossing bay of San +Francisco! + +His first and only sense--cleared by fasting and quickened by +reaction--was one of infinite relief. He was not only free from +the vague terrors of the preceding days and nights, but his whole +past seemed to be lost and sunk forever in this illimitable +expanse. The low plain of Tasajara, with its steadfast monotony of +light and shadow, had sunk beneath another level, but one that +glistened, sparkled, was instinct with varying life, and moved and +even danced below him. The low palisades of regularly recurring +tules that had fenced in, impeded, but never relieved the blankness +of his horizon, were forever swallowed up behind him. All trail of +past degradation, all record of pain and suffering, all footprints +of his wandering and misguided feet were smoothly wiped out in that +obliterating sea. He was physically helpless, and he felt it; he +was in danger, and he knew it,--but he was free! + +Happily there was but little wind and the sea was slight. The raft +was still intact so far as he could judge, but even in his +ignorance he knew it would scarcely stand the surges of the lower +bay. Like most Californians who had passed the straits of +Carquinez at night in a steamer, he did not recognize the locality, +nor even the distant peak of Tamalpais. There were a few dotting +sails that seemed as remote, as uncertain, and as unfriendly as sea +birds. The raft was motionless, almost as motionless as he was in +his cramped limbs and sun-dried, stiffened clothes. Too weak to +keep an upright position, without mast, stick, or oar to lift a +signal above that vast expanse, it seemed impossible for him to +attract attention. Even his pistol was gone. + +Suddenly, in an attempt to raise himself, he was struck by a flash +so blinding that it seemed to pierce his aching eyes and brain and +turned him sick. It appeared to come from a crevice between the +logs at the further end of the raft. Creeping painfully towards it +he saw that it was a triangular slip of highly polished metal that +he had hitherto overlooked. He did not know that it was a +"flashing" mirror used in topographical observation, which had +slipped from the surveyors' instruments when they abandoned the +raft, but his excited faculties instinctively detected its value to +him. He lifted it, and, facing the sun, raised it at different +angles with his feeble arms. But the effort was too much for him; +the raft presently seemed to be whirling with his movement, and he +again fell. + + . . . . . . + +"Ahoy there!" + +The voice was close upon--in his very ears. He opened his eyes. +The sea still stretched emptily before him; the dotting sails still +unchanged and distant. Yet a strange shadow lay upon the raft. He +turned his head with difficulty. On the opposite side--so close +upon him as to be almost over his head--the great white sails of a +schooner hovered above him like the wings of some enormous sea +bird. Then a heavy boom swung across the raft, so low that it +would have swept him away had he been in an upright position; the +sides of the vessel grazed the raft and she fell slowly off. A +terrible fear of abandonment took possession of him; he tried to +speak, but could not. The vessel moved further away, but the raft +followed! He could see now it was being held by a boat-hook,-- +could see the odd, eager curiosity on two faces that were raised +above the taffrail, and with that sense of relief his eyes again +closed in unconsciousness. + +A feeling of chilliness, followed by a grateful sensation of +drawing closer under some warm covering, a stinging taste in his +mouth of fiery liquor and the aromatic steam of hot coffee, were +his first returning sensations. His head and neck were swathed in +coarse bandages, and his skin stiffened and smarting with soap. He +was lying in a rude berth under a half-deck from which he could see +the sky and the bellying sail, and presently a bearded face filled +with rough and practical concern that peered down upon him. + +"Hulloo! comin' round, eh? Hold on!" The next moment the stranger +had leaped down beside Elijah. He seemed to be an odd mingling of +the sailor and ranchero with the shrewdness of a seaport trader. + +"Hulloo, boss! What was it? A free fight, or a wash-out?" + +"A wash-out!"* Elijah grasped the idea as an inspiration. Yes, +his cabin had been inundated, he had taken to a raft, had been +knocked off twice or thrice, and had lost everything--even his +revolver! + + +* A mining term for the temporary inundation of a claim by flood; +also used for the sterilizing effect of flood on fertile soil. + + +The man looked relieved. "Then it ain't a free fight, nor havin' +your crust busted and bein' robbed by beach combers, eh?" + +"No," said Elijah, with his first faint smile. + +"Glad o' that," said the man bluntly. "Then thar ain't no police +business to tie up to in 'Frisco? We were stuck thar a week once, +just because we chanced to pick up a feller who'd been found gagged +and then thrown overboard by wharf thieves. Had to dance +attendance at court thar and lost our trip." He stopped and looked +half-pathetically at the prostrate Elijah. "Look yer! ye ain't +just dyin' to go ashore NOW and see yer friends and send messages, +are ye?" + +Elijah shuddered inwardly, but outwardly smiled faintly as he +replied, "No!" + +"And the tide and wind jest servin' us now, ye wouldn't mind +keepin' straight on with us this trip?" + +"Where to?" asked Elijah. + +"Santy Barbara." + +"No," said Elijah, after a moment's pause. "I'll go with you." + +The man leaped to his feet, lifted his head above the upper deck, +shouted "Let her go free, Jerry!" and then turned gratefully to his +passenger. "Look yer! A wash-out is a wash-out, I reckon, put it +any way you like; it don't put anything back into the land, or +anything back into your pocket afterwards, eh? No! And yer well +out of it, pardner! Now there's a right smart chance for locatin' +jest back of Santy Barbara, where thar ain't no God-forsaken tules +to overflow; and ez far ez the land and licker lies ye 'needn't +take any water in yours' ef ye don't want it. You kin start fresh +thar, pardner, and brail up. What's the matter with you, old man, +is only fever 'n' agur ketched in them tules! I kin see it in your +eyes. Now you hold on whar you be till I go forrard and see +everything taut, and then I'll come back and we'll have a talk." + +And they did. The result of which was that at the end of a week's +tossing and seasickness, Elijah Curtis was landed at Santa Barbara, +pale, thin, but self-contained and resolute. And having found +favor in the eyes of the skipper of the Kitty Hawk, general trader, +lumber-dealer, and ranch-man, a week later he was located on the +skipper's land and installed in the skipper's service. And from +that day, for five years Sidon and Tasajara knew him no more. + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +It was part of the functions of John Milton Harkutt to take down +the early morning shutters and sweep out the store for his father +each day before going to school. It was a peculiarity of this +performance that he was apt to linger over it, partly from the fact +that it put off the evil hour of lessons, partly that he imparted +into the process a purely imaginative and romantic element gathered +from his latest novel-reading. In this he was usually assisted by +one or two school-fellows on their way to school, who always envied +him his superior menial occupation. To go to school, it was felt, +was a common calamity of boyhood that called into play only the +simplest forms of evasion, whereas to take down actual shutters in +a bona fide store, and wield a real broom that raised a palpable +cloud of dust, was something that really taxed the noblest +exertions. And it was the morning after the arrival of the +strangers that Johh Milton stood on the veranda of the store +ostentatiously examining the horizon, with his hand shading his +eyes, as one of his companions appeared. + +"Hollo, Milt! wot yer doin'?" + +John Milton started dramatically, and then violently dashed at one +of the shutters and began to detach it. "Ha!" he said hoarsely. +"Clear the ship for action! Open the ports! On deck there! +Steady, you lubbers!" In an instant his enthusiastic school-fellow +was at his side attacking another shutter. "A long, low schooner +bearing down upon us! Lively, lads, lively!" continued John +Milton, desisting a moment to take another dramatic look at the +distant plain. "How does she head now?" he demanded fiercely. + +"Sou' by sou'east, sir," responded the other boy, frantically +dancing before the window. "But she'll weather it." + +They each then wrested another shutter away, violently depositing +them, as they ran to and fro, in a rack at the corner of the +veranda. Added to an extraordinary and unnecessary clattering with +their feet, they accompanied their movements with a singular +hissing sound, supposed to indicate in one breath the fury of the +elements, the bustle of the eager crew, and the wild excitement of +the coming conflict. When the last shutter was cleared away, John +Milton, with the cry "Man the starboard guns!" dashed into the +store, whose floor was marked by the muddy footprints of yesterday's +buyers, seized a broom and began to sweep violently. A cloud of +dust arose, into which his companion at once precipitated himself +with another broom and a loud BANG! to indicate the somewhat belated +sound of cannon. For a few seconds the two boys plied their brooms +desperately in that stifling atmosphere, accompanying each long +sweep and puff of dust out of the open door with the report of +explosions and loud HA'S! of defiance, until not only the store, +but the veranda was obscured with a cloud which the morning sun +struggled vainly to pierce. In the midst of this tumult and dusty +confusion--happily unheard and unsuspected in the secluded domestic +interior of the building--a shrill little voice arose from the road. + +"Think you're mighty smart, don't ye?" + +The two naval heroes stopped in their imaginary fury. and, as the +dust of conflict cleared away, recognized little Johnny Peters +gazing at them with mingled inquisitiveness and envy. + +"Guess ye don't know what happened down the run last night," he +continued impatiently. "'Lige Curtis got killed, or killed +hisself! Blood all over the rock down thar. Seed it, myseff. Dad +picked up his six-shooter,--one barrel gone off. My dad was the +first to find it out, and he's bin to Squire Kerby tellin' him." + +The two companions, albeit burning with curiosity, affected +indifference and pre-knowledge. + +"Dad sez your father druv 'Lige outer the store lass night! Dad +sez your father's 'sponsible. Dad sez your father ez good ez +killed him. Dad sez the squire'll set the constable on your +father. Yah!" But here the small insulter incontinently fled, +pursued by both the boys. Nevertheless, when he had made good his +escape, John Milton showed neither a disposition to take up his +former nautical role, nor to follow his companion to visit the +sanguinary scene of Elijah's disappearance. He walked slowly back +to the store and continued his work of sweeping and putting in +order with an abstracted regularity, and no trace of his former +exuberant spirits. + +The first one of those instinctive fears which are common to +imaginative children, and often assume the functions of premonition, +had taken possession of him. The oddity of his father's manner the +evening before, which had only half consciously made its indelible +impression on his sensitive fancy, had recurred to him with Johnny +Peters's speech. He had no idea of literally accepting the boy's +charges; he scarcely understood their gravity; but he had a +miserable feeling that his father's anger and excitement last night +was because he had been discovered hunting in the dark for that +paper of 'Lige Curtis's. It WAS 'Lige Curtis's paper, for he had +seen it lying there. A sudden dreadful conviction came over him +that he must never, never let any one know that he had seen his +father take up that paper; that he must never admit it, even to HIM. +It was not the boy's first knowledge of that attitude of hypocrisy +which the grownup world assumes towards childhood, and in which the +innocent victims eventually acquiesce with a Machiavellian subtlety +that at last avenges them,--but it was his first knowledge that that +hypocrisy might not be so innocent. His father had concealed +something from him, because it was not right. + +But if childhood does not forget, it seldom broods and is not above +being diverted. And the two surveyors--of whose heroic advent in a +raft John Milton had only heard that morning with their traveled +ways, their strange instruments and stranger talk, captured his +fancy. Kept in the background by his sisters when visitors came, +as an unpresentable feature in the household, he however managed to +linger near the strangers when, in company with Euphemia and +Clementina, after breakfast they strolled beneath the sparkling +sunlight in the rude garden inclosure along the sloping banks of +the creek. It was with the average brother's supreme contempt that +he listened to his sisters' "practicin'" upon the goodness of these +superior beings; it was with an exceptional pity that he regarded +the evident admiration of the strangers in return. He felt that in +the case of Euphemia, who sometimes evinced a laudable curiosity in +his pleasures, and a flattering ignorance of his reading, this +might be pardonable; but what any one could find in the useless +statuesque Clementina passed his comprehension. Could they not see +at once that she was "just that kind of person" who would lie abed +in the morning, pretending she was sick, in order to make Phemie do +the housework, and make him, John Milton, clean her boots and fetch +things for her? Was it not perfectly plain to them that her +present sickening politeness was solely with a view to extract from +them caramels, rock-candy, and gum drops, which she would meanly +keep herself, and perhaps some "buggy-riding" later? Alas, John +Milton, it was not! For standing there with her tall, perfectly- +proportioned figure outlined against a willow, an elastic branch of +which she had drawn down by one curved arm above her head, and on +which she leaned--as everybody leaned against something in Sidon-- +the two young men saw only a straying goddess in a glorified +rosebud print. Whether the clearly-cut profile presented to Rice, +or the full face that captivated Grant, each suggested possibilities +of position, pride, poetry, and passion that astonished while it +fascinated them. By one of those instincts known only to the +freemasonry of the sex, Euphemia lent herself to this advertisement +of her sister's charms by subtle comparison with her own +prettinesses, and thus combined against their common enemy, man. + +"Clementina certainly is perfect, to keep her supremacy over that +pretty little sister," thought Rice. + +"What a fascinating little creature to hold her own against that +tall, handsome girl," thought Grant. + +"They're takin' stock o' them two fellers so as to gabble about 'em +when their backs is turned," said John Milton gloomily to himself, +with a dismal premonition of the prolonged tea-table gossip he +would be obliged to listen to later. + +"We were very fortunate to make a landing at all last night," said +Rice, looking down upon the still swollen current, and then raising +his eyes to Clementina. "Still more fortunate to make it where we +did. I suppose it must have been the singing that lured us on to +the bank,--as, you know, the sirens used to lure people,--only with +less disastrous consequences." + +John Milton here detected three glaring errors; first, it was NOT +Clementina who had sung; secondly, he knew that neither of his +sisters had ever read anything about sirens, but he had; thirdly, +that the young surveyor was glaringly ignorant of local phenomena +and should be corrected. + +"It's nothin' but the current," he said, with that feverish youthful +haste that betrays a fatal experience of impending interruption. +"It's always leavin' drift and rubbish from everywhere here. There +ain't anythin' that's chucked into the creek above that ain't bound +to fetch up on this bank. Why, there was two sheep and a dead hoss +here long afore YOU thought of coming!" He did not understand why +this should provoke the laughter that it did, and to prove that he +had no ulterior meaning, added with pointed politeness, "So IT ISN'T +YOUR FAULT, you know--YOU couldn't help it;" supplementing this +with the distinct courtesy, "otherwise you wouldn't have come." + +"But it would seem that your visitors are not all as accidental as +your brother would imply, and one, at least, seems to have been +expected last evening. You remember you thought we were a Mr. +Parmlee," said Mr. Rice looking at Clementina. + +It would be strange indeed, he thought, if the beautiful girl were +not surrounded by admirers. But without a trace of self- +consciousness, or any change in her reposeful face, she indicated +her sister with a slight gesture, and said: "One of Phemie's +friends. He gave her the accordion. She's very popular." + +"And I suppose YOU are very hard to please?" he said with a +tentative smile. + +She looked at him with her large, clear eyes, and that absence of +coquetry or changed expression in her beautiful face which might +have stood for indifference or dignity as she said: "I don't know. +I am waiting to see." + +But here Miss Phemie broke in saucily with the assertion that Mr. +Parmlee might not have a railroad in his pocket, but that at least +he didn't have to wait for the Flood to call on young ladies, nor +did he usually come in pairs, for all the world as if he had been +let out of Noah's Ark, but on horseback and like a Christian by the +front door. All this provokingly and bewitchingly delivered, +however, and with a simulated exaggeration that was incited +apparently more by Mr. Lawrence Grant's evident enjoyment of it, +than by any desire to defend the absent Parmlee. + +"But where is the front door?" asked Grant laughingly. + +The young girl pointed to a narrow zigzag path that ran up the bank +beside the house until it stopped at a small picketed gate on the +level of the road and store. + +"But I should think it would be easier to have a door and private +passage through the store," said Grant. + +"WE don't," said the young lady pertly, "we have nothing to do with +the store. I go in to see paw sometimes when he's shutting up and +there's nobody there, but Clem has never set foot in it since we +came. It's bad enough to have it and the lazy loafers that hang +around it as near to us as they are; but paw built the house in +such a fashion that we ain't troubled by their noise, and we might +be t'other side of the creek as far as our having to come across +them. And because paw has to sell pork and flour, we haven't any +call to go there and watch him do it." + +The two men glanced at each other. This reserve and fastidiousness +were something rare in a pioneer community. Harkutt's manners +certainly did not indicate that he was troubled by this +sensitiveness; it must have been some individual temperament of his +daughters. Stephen felt his respect increase for the goddess-like +Clementina; Mr. Lawrence Grant looked at Miss Phemie with a +critical smile. + +"But you must be very limited in your company," he said; "or is Mr. +Parmlee not a customer of your father's?" + +"As Mr. Parmlee does not come to us through the store, and don't +talk trade to me, we don't know," responded Phemie saucily. + +"But have you no lady acquaintances--neighbors--who also avoid the +store and enter only at the straight and narrow gate up there?" +continued Grant mischievously, regardless of the uneasy, half- +reproachful glances of Rice. + +But Phemie, triumphantly oblivious of any satire, answered +promptly: "If you mean the Pike County Billingses who live on the +turnpike road as much as they do off it, or the six daughters of +that Georgia Cracker who wear men's boots and hats, we haven't." + +"And Mr. Parmlee, your admirer?" suggested Rice. "Hasn't he a +mother or sisters here?" + +"Yes, but they don't want to know us, and have never called here." + +The embarrassment of the questioner at this unexpected reply, which +came from the faultless lips of Clementina, was somewhat mitigated +by the fact that the young woman's voice and manner betrayed +neither annoyance nor anger. + +Here, however, Harkutt appeared from the house with the information +that he had secured two horses for the surveyors and their +instruments, and that he would himself accompany them a part of the +way on their return to Tasajara Creek, to show them the road. His +usual listless deliberation had given way to a certain nervous but +uneasy energy. If they started at once it would be better, before +the loungers gathered at the store and confused them with lazy +counsel and languid curiosity. He took it for granted that Mr. +Grant wished the railroad survey to be a secret, and he had said +nothing, as they would be pestered with questions. "Sidon was +inquisitive--and old-fashioned." The benefit its inhabitants would +get from the railroad would not prevent them from throwing +obstacles in its way at first; he remembered the way they had acted +with a proposed wagon road,--in fact, an idea of his own, something +like the railroad; he knew them thoroughly, and if he might advise +them, it would be to say nothing here until the thing was settled. + +"He evidently does not intend to give us a chance," said Grant +good-humoredly to his companion, as they turned to prepare for +their journey; "we are to be conducted in silence to the outskirts +of the town like horse-thieves." + +"But you gave him the tip for himself," said Rice reproachfully; +"you cannot blame him for wanting to keep it." + +"I gave it to him in trust for his two incredible daughters," said +Grant with a grimace. "But, hang it! if I don't believe the fellow +has more concern in it than I imagined." + +"But isn't she perfect?" said Rice, with charming abstraction. + +"Who?" + +"Clementina, and so unlike her father." + +"Discomposingly so," said Grant quietly. "One feels in calling her +'Miss Harkutt' as if one were touching upon a manifest indiscretion. +But here comes John Milton. Well, my lad, what can I do for you?" + +The boy, who had been regarding them from a distance with wistful +and curious eyes as they replaced their instruments for the +journey, had gradually approached them. After a moment's timid +hesitation he said, looking at Grant: "You don't know anybody in +this kind o' business," pointing to the instruments, "who'd like a +boy, about my size?" + +"I'm afraid not, J. M.," said Grant, cheerfully, without suspending +his operation. "The fact is, you see, it's not exactly the kind of +work for a boy of your size." + +John Milton was silent for a moment, shifting himself slowly from +one leg to another as he watched the surveyor. After a pause he +said, "There don't seem to be much show in this world for boys o' +my size. There don't seem to be much use for 'em any way." This +not bitterly, but philosophically, and even politely, as if to +relieve Grant's rejection of any incivility. + +"Really you quite pain me, John Milton," said Grant, looking up as +he tightened a buckle. "I never thought of it before, but you're +right." + +"Now," continued the boy slowly, "with girls it's just different. +Girls of my size everybody does things for. There's Clemmy,--she's +only two years older nor me, and don't know half that I do, and yet +she kin lie about all day, and hasn't to get up to breakfast. And +Phemie,--who's jest the same age, size, and weight as me,--maw and +paw lets her do everything she wants to. And so does everybody. +And so would you." + +"But you surely don't want to be like a girl?" said Grant, smiling. + +It here occurred to John Milton's youthful but not illogical mind +that this was not argument, and he turned disappointedly away. As +his father was to accompany the strangers a short distance, he, +John Milton, was to-day left in charge of the store. That duty, +however, did not involve any pecuniary transactions--the taking of +money or making of change but a simple record on a slate behind the +counter of articles selected by those customers whose urgent needs +could not wait Mr. Harkutt's return. Perhaps on account of this +degrading limitation, perhaps for other reasons, the boy did not +fancy the task imposed upon him. The presence of the idle loungers +who usually occupied the armchairs near the stove, and occasionally +the counter, dissipated any romance with which he might have +invested his charge; he wearied of the monotony of their dull +gossip, but mostly he loathed the attitude of hypercritical counsel +and instruction which they saw fit to assume towards him at such +moments. "Instead o' lazin' thar behind the counter when your +father ain't here to see ye, John," remarked Billings from the +depths of his armchair a few moments after Harkutt had ridden away, +"ye orter be bustlin' round, dustin' the shelves. Ye'll never come +to anythin' when you're a man ef you go on like that. Ye never +heard o' Harry Clay--that was called 'the Mill-boy of the Slashes'-- +sittin' down doin' nothin' when he was a boy." + +"I never heard of him loafin' round in a grocery store when he was +growned up either," responded John Milton, darkly. + +"P'r'aps you reckon he got to be a great man by standin' up sassin' +his father's customers," said Peters, angrily. "I kin tell ye, +young man, if you was my boy"-- + +"If I was YOUR boy, I'd be playin' hookey instead of goin' to +school, jest as your boy is doin' now," interrupted John Milton, +with a literal recollection of his quarrel and pursuit of the youth +in question that morning. + +An undignified silence on the part of the adults followed, the +usual sequel to those passages; Sidon generally declining to expose +itself to the youthful Harkutt's terrible accuracy of statement. + +The men resumed their previous lazy gossip about Elijah Curtis's +disappearance, with occasional mysterious allusions in a lower +tone, which the boy instinctively knew referred to his father, but +which either from indolence or caution, the two great conservators +of Sidon, were never formulated distinctly enough for his +relentless interference. The morning sunshine was slowly +thickening again in an indolent mist that seemed to rise from the +saturated plain. A stray lounger shuffled over from the +blacksmith's shop to the store to take the place of another idler +who had joined an equally lethargic circle around the slumbering +forge. A dull intermittent sound of hammering came occasionally +from the wheelwright's shed--at sufficiently protracted intervals +to indicate the enfeebled progress of Sidon's vehicular repair. A +yellow dog left his patch of sunlight on the opposite side of the +way and walked deliberately over to what appeared to be more +luxurious quarters on the veranda; was manifestly disappointed but +not equal to the exertion of returning, and sank down with blinking +eyes and a regretful sigh without going further. A procession of +six ducks got well into a line for a laborious "march past" the +store, but fell out at the first mud puddle and gave it up. A +highly nervous but respectable hen, who had ventured upon the +veranda evidently against her better instincts, walked painfully on +tiptoe to the door, apparently was met by language which no mother +of a family could listen to, and retired in strong hysterics. A +little later the sun became again obscured, the wind arose, rain +fell, and the opportunity for going indoors and doing nothing was +once more availed of by all Sidon. + +It was afternoon when Mr. Harkutt returned. He did not go into the +store, but entered the dwelling from the little picket-gate and +steep path. There he called a family council in the sitting-room +as being the most reserved and secure. Mrs. Harkutt, sympathizing +and cheerfully ready for any affliction, still holding a dust-cloth +in her hand, took her seat by the window, with Phemie breathless +and sparkling at one side of her, while Clementina, all faultless +profile and repose, sat on the other. To Mrs. Harkutt's motherly +concern at John Milton's absence, it was pointed out that he was +wanted at the store,--was a mere boy anyhow, and could not be +trusted. Mr. Harkutt, a little ruddier from weather, excitement, +and the unusual fortification of a glass of liquor, a little more +rugged in the lines of his face, and with an odd ring of defiant +self-assertion in his voice, stood before them in the centre of the +room. + +He wanted them to listen to him carefully, to remember what he +said, for it was important; it might be a matter of "lawing" +hereafter,--and he couldn't be always repeating it to them,--he +would have enough to do. There was a heap of it that, as women- +folks, they couldn't understand, and weren't expected to. But he'd +got it all clear now, and what he was saying was gospel. He'd +always known to himself that the only good that could ever come to +Sidon would come by railroad. When those fools talked wagon road +he had said nothing, but he had his own ideas; he had worked for +that idea without saying anything to anybody; that idea was to get +possession of all the land along the embarcadero, which nobody +cared for, and 'Lige Curtis was ready to sell for a song. Well, +now, considering what had happened, he didn't mind telling them +that he had been gradually getting possession of it, little by +little, paying 'Lige Curtis in advances and installments, until it +was his own! They had heard what those surveyors said; how that it +was the only fit terminus for the railroad. Well, that land, and +that water-front, and the terminus were HIS! And all from his own +foresight and prudence. + +It is needless to say that this was not the truth. But it is +necessary to point out that this fabrication was the result of his +last night's cogitations and his morning's experience. He had +resolved upon a bold course. He had reflected that his neighbors +would be more ready to believe in and to respect a hard, mercenary, +and speculative foresight in his taking advantage of 'Lige's +necessities than if he had--as was the case--merely benefited by +them through an accident of circumstance and good humor. In the +latter case he would be envied and hated; in the former he would be +envied and feared. By logic of circumstance the greater wrong +seemed to be less obviously offensive than the minor fault. It was +true that it involved the doing of something he had not contemplated, +and the certainty of exposure if 'Lige ever returned, but he was +nevertheless resolved. The step from passive to active wrong-doing +is not only easy, it is often a relief; it is that return to +sincerity which we all require. Howbeit, it gave that ring of +assertion to Daniel Harkutt's voice already noted, which most women +like, and only men are prone to suspect or challenge. The +incompleteness of his statement was, for the same reason, overlooked +by his feminine auditors. + +"And what is it worth, dad?" asked Phemie eagerly. + +"Grant says I oughter get at least ten thousand dollars for the +site of the terminus from the company, but of course I shall hold +on to the rest of the land. The moment they get the terminus +there, and the depot and wharf built, I can get my own price and +buyers for the rest. Before the year is out Grant thinks it ought +to go up ten per cent on the value of the terminus, and that a +hundred thousand." + +"Oh, dad!" gasped Phemie, frantically clasping her knees with both +hands as if to perfectly assure herself of this good fortune. + +Mrs. Harkutt audibly murmured "Poor dear Dan'l," and stood, as it +were, sympathetically by, ready to commiserate the pains and +anxieties of wealth as she had those of poverty. Clementina alone +remained silent, clear-eyed, and unchanged. + +"And to think it all came through THEM!" continued Phemie. "I +always had an idea that Mr. Grant was smart, dad. And it was real +kind of him to tell you." + +"I reckon father could have found it out without them. I don't +know why we should be beholden to them particularly. I hope he +isn't expected to let them think that he is bound to consider them +our intimate friends just because they happened to drop in here at +a time when his plans have succeeded." + +The voice was Clementina's, unexpected but quiet, unemotional and +convincing. "It seemed," as Mrs. Harkutt afterwards said, "as if +the child had already touched that hundred thousand." Phemie +reddened with a sense of convicted youthful extravagance. + +"You needn't fear for me," said Harkutt, responding to Clementina's +voice as if it were an echo of his own, and instinctively +recognizing an unexpected ally. "I've got my own ideas of this +thing, and what's to come of it. I've got my own ideas of openin' +up that property and showin' its resources. I'm goin' to run it my +own way. I'm goin' to have a town along the embarcadero that'll +lay over any town in Contra Costa. I'm goin' to have the court- +house and county seat there, and a couple of hotels as good as any +in the Bay. I'm goin' to build that wagon road through here that +those lazy louts slipped up on, and carry it clear over to Five +Mile Corner, and open up the whole Tasajara Plain!" + +They had never seen him look so strong, so resolute, so intelligent +and handsome. A dimly prophetic vision of him in a black +broadcloth suit and gold watch-chain addressing a vague multitude, +as she remembered to have seen the Hon. Stanley Riggs of Alasco at +the "Great Barbecue," rose before Phemie's blue enraptured eyes. +With the exception of Mrs. Harkutt,--equal to any possibilities on +the part of her husband,--they had honestly never expected it of +him. They were pleased with their father's attitude in prosperity, +and felt that perhaps he was not unworthy of being proud of them +hereafter. + +"But we're goin' to leave Sidon," said Phemie, "ain't we, paw?" + +"As soon as I can run up a new house at the embarcadero," said +Harkutt peevishly, "and that's got to be done mighty quick if I +want to make a show to the company and be in possession." + +"And that's easier for you to do, dear, now that 'Lige's +disappeared," said Mrs. Harkutt consolingly. + +"What do ye mean by that? What the devil are ye talkin' about?" +demanded Harkutt suddenly with unexpected exasperation. + +"I mean that that drunken 'Lige would be mighty poor company for +the girls if he was our only neighbor," returned Mrs. Harkutt +submissively. + +Harkutt, after a fixed survey of his wife, appeared mollified. The +two girls, who were mindful of his previous outburst the evening +before, exchanged glances which implied that his manners needed +correction for prosperity. + +"You'll want a heap o' money to build there, Dan'l," said Mrs. +Harkutt in plaintive diffidence. + +"Yes! Yes!" said Harkutt impatiently. "I've kalkilated all that, +and I'm goin' to 'Frisco to-morrow to raise it and put this bill of +sale on record." He half drew Elijah Curtis's paper from his +pocket, but paused and put it back again. + +"Then THAT WAS the paper, dad," said Phemie triumphantly. + +"Yes," said her father, regarding her fixedly, "and you know now +why I didn't want anything said about it last night--nor even now." + +"And 'Lige had just given it to you! Wasn't it lucky?" + +"He HADN'T just given it to me!" said her father with another +unexpected outburst. "God Amighty! ain't I tellin' you all the +time it was an old matter! But you jabber, jabber all the time and +don't listen! Where's John Milton?" It had occurred to him that +the boy might have read the paper--as his sister had--while it lay +unheeded on the counter. + +"In the store,--you know. You said he wasn't to hear anything of +this, but I'll call him," said Mrs. Harkutt, rising eagerly. + +"Never mind," returned her husband, stopping her reflectively, +"best leave it as it is; if it's necessary I'll tell him. But +don't any of you say anything, do you hear?" + +Nevertheless a few hours later, when the store was momentarily free +of loungers, and Harkutt had relieved his son of his monotonous +charge, he made a pretense, while abstractedly listening to an +account of the boy's stewardship, to look through a drawer as if in +search of some missing article. + +"You didn't see anything of a paper I left somewhere about here +yesterday?" he asked carelessly. + +"The one you picked up when you came in last night?" said the boy +with discomposing directness. + +Harkutt flushed slightly and drew his breath between his set teeth. +Not only could he place no reliance upon ordinary youthful +inattention, but he must be on his guard against his own son as +from a spy! But he restrained himself. + +"I don't remember," he said with affected deliberation, "what it +was I picked up. Do you? Did you read it?" + +The meaning of his father's attitude instinctively flashed upon the +boy. He HAD read the paper, but he answered, as he had already +determined, "No." + +An inspiration seized Mr. Harkutt. He drew 'Lige Curtis's bill of +sale from his pocket, and opening it before John Milton said, "Was +it that?" + +"I don't know," said the boy. "I couldn't tell." He walked away +with affected carelessness, already with a sense of playing some +part like his father, and pretended to whistle for the dog across +the street. Harkutt coughed ostentatiously, put the paper back in +his pocket, set one or two boxes straight on the counter, locked +the drawer, and disappeared into the back passage. John Milton +remained standing in the doorway looking vacantly out. But he did +not see the dull familiar prospect beyond. He only saw the paper +his father had opened and unfolded before him. It was the same +paper he had read last night. But there were three words written +there THAT WERE NOT THERE BEFORE! After the words "Value received" +there had been a blank. He remembered that distinctly. This was +filled in by the words, "Five hundred dollars." The handwriting +did not seem like his father's, nor yet entirely like 'Lige +Curtis's. What it meant he did not know,--he would not try to +think. He should forget it, as he had tried to forget what had +happened before, and he should never tell it to any one! + +There was a feverish gayety in his sisters' manner that afternoon +that he did not understand; short colloquies that were suspended +with ill concealed impatience when he came near them, and resumed +when he was sent, on equally palpable excuses, out of the room. He +had been accustomed to this exclusion when there were strangers +present, but it seemed odd to him now, when the conversation did +not even turn upon the two superior visitors who had been there, +and of whom he confidently expected they would talk. Such +fragments as he overheard were always in the future tense, and +referred to what they intended to do. His mother, whose affection +for him had always been shown in excessive and depressing +commiseration of him in even his lightest moments, that afternoon +seemed to add a prophetic and Cassandra-like sympathy for some +vague future of his that would require all her ministration. "You +won't need them new boots, Milty dear, in the changes that may be +comin' to ye; so don't be bothering your poor father in his +worriments over his new plans." + +"What new plans, mommer?" asked the boy abruptly. "Are we goin' +away from here?" + +"Hush, dear, and don't ask questions that's enough for grown folks +to worry over, let alone a boy like you. Now be good,"--a quality +in Mrs. Harkutt's mind synonymous with ceasing from troubling,-- +"and after supper, while I'm in the parlor with your father and +sisters, you kin sit up here by the fire with your book." + +"But," persisted the boy in a flash of inspiration, "is popper +goin' to join in business with those surveyors,--a surveyin'?" + +"No, child, what an idea! Run away there,--and mind!--don't bother +your father." + +Nevertheless John Milton's inspiration had taken a new and +characteristic shape. All this, he reflected, had happened since +the surveyors came--since they had weakly displayed such a +shameless and unmanly interest in his sisters! It could have but +one meaning. He hung around the sitting-room and passages until he +eventually encountered Clementina, taller than ever, evidently +wearing a guilty satisfaction in her face, engrafted upon that +habitual bearing of hers which he had always recognized as +belonging to a vague but objectionable race whose members were +individually known to him as "a proudy." + +"Which of those two surveyor fellows is it, Clemmy?" he said with +an engaging smile, yet halting at a strategic distance. + +"Is what?" + +"Wot you're goin' to marry." + +"Idiot!" + +"That ain't tellin' which," responded the boy darkly. + +Clementina swept by him into the sitting-room, where he heard her +declare that "really that boy was getting too low and vulgar for +anything." Yet it struck him, that being pressed for further +explanation, she did NOT specify why. This was "girls' meanness!" + +Howbeit he lingered late in the road that evening, hearing his +father discuss with the search-party that had followed the banks of +the creek, vainly looking for further traces of the missing 'Lige, +the possibility of his being living or dead, of the body having +been carried away by the current to the bay or turning up later in +some distant marsh when the spring came with low water. One who +had been to his cabin beside the embarcadero reported that it was, +as had been long suspected, barely habitable, and contained neither +books, papers, nor records which would indicate his family or +friends. It was a God-forsaken, dreary, worthless place; he +wondered how a white man could ever expect to make a living there. +If Elijah never turned up again it certainly would be a long time +before any squatter would think of taking possession of it. John +Milton knew instinctively, without looking up, that his father's +eyes were fixed upon him, and he felt himself constrained to appear +to be abstracted in gazing down the darkening road. Then he heard +his father say, with what he felt was an equal assumption of +carelessness: "Yes, I reckon I've got somewhere a bill of sale of +that land that I had to take from 'Lige for an old bill, but I +kalkilate that's all I'll ever see of it." + +Rain fell again as the darkness gathered, but he still loitered on +the road and the sloping path of the garden, filled with a half +resentful sense of wrong, and hugging with gloomy pride an +increasing sense of loneliness and of getting dangerously wet. The +swollen creek still whispered, murmured and swirled beside the +bank. At another time he might have had wild ideas of emulating +the surveyors on some extempore raft and so escaping his present +dreary home existence; but since the disappearance of 'Lige, who +had always excited an odd boyish antipathy in his heart, although +he had never seen him, he shunned the stream contaminated with the +missing man's unheroic fate. Presently the light from the open +window of the sitting-room glittered on the wet leaves and sprays +where he stood, and the voices of the family conclave came fitfully +to his ear. They didn't want him there. They had never thought of +asking him to come in. Well!--who cared? And he wasn't going to +be bought off with a candle and a seat by the kitchen fire. No! + +Nevertheless he was getting wet to no purpose. There was the tool- +house and carpenter's shed near the bank; its floor was thickly +covered with sawdust and pine-wood shavings, and there was a mouldy +buffalo skin which he had once transported thither from the old +wagon-bed. There, too, was his secret cache of a candle in a +bottle, buried with other piratical treasures in the presence of +the youthful Peters, who consented to be sacrificed on the spot in +buccaneering fashion to complete the unhallowed rites. He +unearthed the candle, lit it, and clearing away a part of the +shavings stood it up on the floor. He then brought a prized, +battered, and coverless volume from a hidden recess in the rafters, +and lying down with the buffalo robe over him, and his cap in his +hand ready to extinguish the light at the first footstep of a +trespasser, gave himself up--as he had given himself up, I fear, +many other times--to the enchantment of the page before him. + +The current whispered, murmured, and sang, unheeded at his side. +The voices of his mother and sisters, raised at times in eagerness +or expectation of the future, fell upon his unlistening ears. For +with the spell that had come upon him, the mean walls of his +hiding-place melted away; the vulgar stream beside him might have +been that dim, subterraneous river down which Sindbad and his bale +of riches were swept out of the Cave of Death to the sunlight of +life and fortune, so surely and so simply had it transported him +beyond the cramped and darkened limits of his present life. He was +in the better world of boyish romance,--of gallant deeds and high +emprises; of miraculous atonement and devoted sacrifice; of brave +men, and those rarer, impossible women,--the immaculate conception +of a boy's virgin heart. What mattered it that behind that +glittering window his mother and sisters grew feverish and excited +over the vulgar details of their real but baser fortune? From the +dark tool-shed by the muddy current, John Milton, with a battered +dogs'-eared chronicle, soared on the wings of fancy far beyond +their wildest ken! + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Prosperity had settled upon the plains of Tasajara. Not only had +the embarcadero emerged from the tules of Tasajara Creek as a +thriving town of steamboat wharves, warehouses, and outlying mills +and factories, but in five years the transforming railroad had +penetrated the great plain itself and revealed its undeveloped +fertility. The low-lying lands that had been yearly overflowed by +the creek, now drained and cultivated, yielded treasures of wheat +and barley that were apparently inexhaustible. Even the helpless +indolence of Sidon had been surprised into activity and change. +There was nothing left of the straggling settlement to recall its +former aspect. The site of Harkutt's old store and dwelling was +lost and forgotten in the new mill and granary that rose along the +banks of the creek. Decay leaves ruin and traces for the memory to +linger over; prosperity is unrelenting in its complete and smiling +obliteration of the past. + +But Tasajara City, as the embarcadero was now called, had no +previous record, and even the former existence of an actual settler +like the forgotten Elijah Curtis was unknown to the present +inhabitants. It was Daniel Harkutt's idea carried out in Daniel +Harkutt's land, with Daniel Harkutt's capital and energy. But +Daniel Harkutt had become Daniel Harcourt, and Harcourt Avenue, +Harcourt Square, and Harcourt House, ostentatiously proclaimed the +new spelling of his patronymic. When the change was made and for +what reason, who suggested it and under what authority, were not +easy to determine, as the sign on his former store had borne +nothing but the legend, Goods and Provisions, and his name did not +appear on written record until after the occupation of Tasajara; +but it is presumed that it was at the instigation of his daughters, +and there was no one to oppose it. Harcourt was a pretty name for +a street, a square, or a hotel; even the few in Sidon who had +called it Harkutt admitted that it was an improvement quite +consistent with the change from the fever-haunted tules and sedges +of the creek to the broad, level, and handsome squares of Tasajara +City. + +This might have been the opinion of a visitor at the Harcourt +House, who arrived one summer afternoon from the Stockton boat, but +whose shrewd, half-critical, half-professional eyes and quiet +questionings betrayed some previous knowledge of the locality. +Seated on the broad veranda of the Harcourt House, and gazing out +on the well-kept green and young eucalyptus trees of the Harcourt +Square or Plaza, he had elicited a counter question from a +prosperous-looking citizen who had been lounging at his side. + +"I reckon you look ez if you might have been here before, +stranger." + +"Yes," said the stranger quietly, "I have been. But it was when +the tules grew in the square opposite, and the tide of the creek +washed them." + +"Well," said the Tasajaran, looking curiously at the stranger, "I +call myself a pioneer of Tasajara. My name's Peters,--of Peters +and Co.,--and those warehouses along the wharf, where you landed +just now, are mine; but I was the first settler on Harcourt's land, +and built the next cabin after him. I helped to clear out them +tules and dredged the channels yonder. I took the contract with +Harcourt to build the last fifteen miles o' railroad, and put up +that depot for the company. Perhaps you were here before that?" + +"I was," returned the stranger quietly. + +"I say," said Peters, hitching his chair a little nearer to his +companion, "you never knew a kind of broken-down feller, called +Curtis--'Lige Curtis--who once squatted here and sold his right to +Harkutt? He disappeared; it was allowed he killed hisself, but +they never found his body, and, between you and me, I never took +stock in that story. You know Harcourt holds under him, and all +Tasajara rests on that title." + +"I've heard so," assented the stranger carelessly, "but I never +knew the original settler. Then Harcourt has been lucky?" + +"You bet. He's got three millions right about HERE, or within this +quarter section, to say nothing of his outside speculations." + +"And lives here?" + +"Not for two years. That's his old house across the plaza, but his +women-folks live mostly in 'Frisco and New York, where he's got +houses too. They say they sorter got sick of Tasajara after his +youngest daughter ran off with a feller." + +"Hallo!" said the stranger with undisguised interest. "I never +heard of that! You don't mean that she eloped"--he hesitated. + +"Oh, it was a square enough marriage. I reckon too square to suit +some folks; but the fellow hadn't nothin', and wasn't worth +shucks,--a sort of land surveyor, doin' odd jobs, you know; and the +old man and old woman were agin it, and the tother daughter worse +of all. It was allowed here--you know how women-folks talk!--that +the surveyor had been sweet on Clementina, but had got tired of +being played by her, and took up with Phemie out o' spite. Anyhow +they got married, and Harcourt gave them to understand they +couldn't expect anything from him. P'raps that's why it didn't +last long, for only about two months ago she got a divorce from +Rice and came back to her family again." + +"Rice?" queried the stranger. "Was that her husband's name, +Stephen Rice?" + +"I reckon! You knew him?" + +"Yes,--when the tide came up to the tules, yonder," answered the +stranger musingly. "And the other daughter,--I suppose she has +made a good match, being a beauty and the sole heiress?" + +The Tasajaran made a grimace. "Not much! I reckon she's waitin' +for the Angel Gabriel,--there ain't another good enough to suit her +here. They say she's had most of the big men in California waitin' +in a line with their offers, like that cue the fellows used to make +at the 'Frisco post-office steamer days--and she with nary a letter +or answer for any of them." + +"Then Harcourt doesn't seem to have been as fortunate in his family +affairs as in his speculations?" + +Peters uttered a grim laugh. "Well, I reckon you know all about +his son's stampeding with that girl last spring?" + +"His son?" interrupted the stranger. "Do you mean the boy they +called John Milton? Why, he was a mere child!" + +"He was old enough to run away with a young woman that helped in +his mother's house, and marry her afore a justice of the peace. +The old man just snorted with rage, and swore he'd have the +marriage put aside, for the boy was under age. He said it was a +put-up job of the girl's; that she was older by two years, and only +wanted to get what money might be comin' some day, but that they'd +never see a red cent of it. Then, they say, John Milton up and +sassed the old man to his face, and allowed that he wouldn't take +his dirty money if he starved first, and that if the old man broke +the marriage he'd marry her again next year; that true love and +honorable poverty were better nor riches, and a lot more o' that +stuff he picked out o' them ten-cent novels he was allus reading. +My women-folks say that he actually liked the girl, because she was +the only one in the house that was ever kind to him; they say the +girls were just ragin' mad at the idea o' havin' a hired gal who +had waited on 'em as a sister-in-law, and they even got old Mammy +Harcourt's back up by sayin' that John's wife would want to rule +the house, and run her out of her own kitchen. Some say he shook +THEM, talked back to 'em mighty sharp, and held his head a heap +higher nor them. Anyhow, he's livin' with his wife somewhere in +'Frisco, in a shanty on a sand lot, and workin' odd jobs for the +newspapers. No! takin' it by and large--it don't look as if +Harcourt had run his family to the same advantage that he has his +land." + +"Perhaps he doesn't understand them as well," said the stranger +smiling. + +"Mor'n likely the material ain't thar, or ain't as vallyble for a +new country," said Peters grimly. "I reckon the trouble is that he +lets them two daughters run him, and the man who lets any woman or +women do that, lets himself in for all their meannesses, and all he +gets in return is a woman's result,--show!" + +Here the stranger, who was slowly rising from his chair with the +polite suggestion of reluctantly tearing himself from the speaker's +spell, said: "And Harcourt spends most of his time in San +Francisco, I suppose?" + +"Yes! but to-day he's here to attend a directors' meeting and the +opening of the Free Library and Tasajara Hall. I saw the windows +open, and the blinds up in his house across the plaza as I passed +just now." + +The stranger had by this time quite effected his courteous +withdrawal. "Good-afternoon, Mr. Peters," he said, smilingly +lifting his hat, and turned away. + +Peters, who was obliged to take his legs off the chair, and half +rise to the stranger's politeness, here reflected that he did not +know his interlocutor's name and business, and that he had really +got nothing in return for his information. This must be remedied. +As the stranger passed through the hall into the street, followed +by the unwonted civilities of the spruce hotel clerk and the +obsequious attentions of the negro porter, Peters stepped to the +window of the office. "Who was that man who just passed out?" he +asked. + +The clerk stared in undisguised astonishment. "You don't mean to +say you didn't know WHO he was--all the while you were talking to +him?" + +"No," returned Peters, impatiently. + +"Why, that was Professor Lawrence Grant!--THE Lawrence Grant--don't +you know?--the biggest scientific man and recognized expert on the +Pacific slope. Why, that's the man whose single word is enough to +make or break the biggest mine or claim going! That man!--why, +that's the man whose opinion's worth thousands, for it carries +millions with it--and can't be bought. That's him who knocked the +bottom outer El Dorado last year, and next day sent Eureka up +booming! Ye remember that, sure?" + +"Of course--but"--stammered Peters. + +"And to think you didn't know him!" repeated the hotel clerk +wonderingly. "And here I was reckoning you were getting points +from him all the time! Why, some men would have given a thousand +dollars for your chance of talking to him--yes!--of even being SEEN +talking to him. Why, old Wingate once got a tip on his Prairie +Flower lead worth five thousand dollars while just changing seats +with him in the cars and passing the time of day, sociable like. +Why, what DID you talk about?" + +Peters, with a miserable conviction that he had thrown away a +valuable opportunity in mere idle gossip, nevertheless endeavored +to look mysterious as he replied, "Oh, business gin'rally." Then +in the faint hope of yet retrieving his blunder he inquired, "How +long will he be here?" + +"Don't know. I reckon he and Harcourt's got something on hand. He +just asked if he was likely to be at home or at his office. I told +him I reckoned at the house, for some of the family--I didn't get +to see who they were--drove up in a carriage from the 3.40 train +while you were sitting there." + +Meanwhile the subject of this discussion, quite unconscious of the +sensation he had created, or perhaps like most heroes philosophically +careless of it, was sauntering indifferently towards Harcourt's +house. But he had no business with his former host, his only object +was to pass an idle hour before his train left. He was, of course, +not unaware that he himself was largely responsible for Harcourt's +success; that it was HIS hint which had induced the petty trader of +Sidon to venture his all in Tasajara; HIS knowledge of the +topography and geology of the plain that had stimulated Harcourt's +agricultural speculations; HIS hydrographic survey of the creek that +had made Harcourt's plan of widening the channel to commerce +practicable and profitable. This he could not help but know. But +that it was chiefly owing to his own clear, cool, far-seeing, but +never visionary, scientific observation,--his own accurate analysis, +unprejudiced by even a savant's enthusiasm, and uninfluenced by any +personal desire or greed of gain,--that Tasajara City had risen from +the stagnant tules, was a speculation that had never occurred to +him. There was a much more uneasy consciousness of what he had done +in Mr. Harcourt's face a few moments later, when his visitor's name +was announced, and it is to be feared that if that name had been +less widely honored and respected than it was, no merely grateful +recollection of it would have procured Grant an audience. As it +was, it was with a frown and a touch of his old impatient asperity +that he stepped to the threshold of an adjoining room and called, +"Clemmy!" + +Clementina appeared at the door. + +"There's that man Grant in the parlor. What brings HIM here, I +wonder? Who does he come to see?" + +"Who did he ask for?" + +"Me,--but that don't mean anything." + +"Perhaps he wants to see you on some business." + +"No. That isn't his high-toned style. He makes other people go to +him for that," he said bitterly. "Anyhow--don't you think it's +mighty queer his coming here after his friend--for it was he who +introduced Rice to us--had behaved so to your sister, and caused +all this divorce and scandal?" + +"Perhaps he may know nothing about it; he and Rice separated long +ago, even before Grant became so famous. We never saw much of him, +you know, after we came here. Suppose you leave him to ME. I'll +see him." + +Mr. Harcourt reflected. "Didn't he used to be rather attentive to +Phemie?" + +Clementina shrugged her shoulders carelessly. "I dare say--but I +don't think that NOW"-- + +"Who said anything about NOW?" retorted her father, with a return +of his old abruptness. After a pause he said: "I'll go down and +see him first, and then send for you. You can keep him for the +opening and dinner, if you like." + +Meantime Lawrence Grant, serenely unsuspicious of these domestic +confidences, had been shown into the parlor--a large room furnished +in the same style as the drawing-room of the hotel he had just +quitted. He had ample time to note that it was that wonderful +Second Empire furniture which he remembered that the early San +Francisco pioneers in the first flush of their wealth had imported +directly from France, and which for years after gave an unexpected +foreign flavor to the western domesticity and a tawdry gilt +equality to saloons and drawing-rooms, public and private. But he +was observant of a corresponding change in Harcourt, when a moment +later he entered the room. That individuality which had kept the +former shopkeeper of Sidon distinct from, although perhaps not +superior to, his customers--was strongly marked. He was perhaps +now more nervously alert than then; he was certainly more impatient +than before,--but that was pardonable in a man of large affairs and +action. Grant could not deny that he seemed improved,--rather +perhaps that the setting of fine clothes, cleanliness, and the +absence of petty worries, made his characteristics respectable. +That which is ill breeding in homespun, is apt to become mere +eccentricity in purple and fine linen; Grant felt that Harcourt +jarred on him less than he did before, and was grateful without +superciliousness. Harcourt, relieved to find that Grant was +neither critical nor aggressively reminiscent, and above all not +inclined to claim the credit of creating him and Tasajara, became +more confident, more at his ease, and, I fear, in proportion more +unpleasant. It is the repose and not the struggle of the parvenu +that confounds us. + +"And YOU, Grant,--you have made yourself famous, and, I hear, have +got pretty much your own prices for your opinions ever since it was +known that you--you--er--were connected with the growth of Tasajara." + +Grant smiled; he was not quite prepared for this; but it was +amusing and would pass the time. He murmured a sentence of half +ironical deprecation, and Mr. Harcourt continued:-- + +"I haven't got my San Francisco house here to receive you in, but I +hope some day, sir, to see you there. We are only here for the day +and night, but if you care to attend the opening ceremonies at the +new hall, we can manage to give you dinner afterwards. You can +escort my daughter Clementina,--she's here with me." + +The smile of apologetic declination which had begun to form on +Grant's lips was suddenly arrested. "Then your daughter is here?" +he asked, with unaffected interest. + +"Yes,--she is in fact a patroness of the library and sewing-circle, +and takes the greatest interest in it. The Reverend Doctor +Pilsbury relies upon her for everything. She runs the society, +even to the training of the young ladies, sir. You shall see their +exercises." + +This was certainly a new phase of Clementina's character. Yet why +should she not assume the role of Lady Bountiful with the other +functions of her new condition. "I should have thought Miss +Harcourt would have found this rather difficult with her other +social duties," he said, "and would have left it to her married +sister." He thought it better not to appear as if avoiding +reference to Euphemia, although quietly ignoring her late +experiences. Mr. Harcourt was less easy in his response. + +"Now that Euphemia is again with her own family," he said +ponderously, with an affectation of social discrimination that was +in weak contrast to his usual direct business astuteness, "I +suppose she may take her part in these things, but just now she +requires rest. You may have heard some rumor that she is going +abroad for a time? The fact is she hasn't the least intention of +doing so, nor do we consider there is the slightest reason for her +going." He paused as if to give great emphasis to a statement that +seemed otherwise unimportant. "But here's Clementina coming, and I +must get you to excuse ME. I've to meet the trustees of the church +in ten minutes, but I hope she'll persuade you to stay, and I'll +see you later at the hall." + +As Clementina entered the room her father vanished and, I fear, as +completely dropped out of Mr. Grant's mind. For the daughter's +improvement was greater than her father's, yet so much more refined +as to be at first only delicately perceptible. Grant had been +prepared for the vulgar enhancement of fine clothes and personal +adornment, for the specious setting of luxurious circumstances and +surroundings, for the aplomb that came from flattery and conscious +power. But he found none of these; her calm individuality was +intensified rather than subdued; she was dressed simply, with an +economy of ornament, rich material, and jewelry, but an accuracy of +taste that was always dominant. Her plain gray merino dress, +beautifully fitting her figure, suggested, with its pale blue +facings, some uniform, as of the charitable society she patronized. +She came towards him with a graceful movement of greeting, yet her +face showed no consciousness of the interval that had elapsed since +they met; he almost fancied himself transported back to the +sitting-room at Sidon with the monotonous patter of the leaves +outside, and the cool moist breath of the bay and alder coming in +at the window. + +"Father says that you are only passing through Tasajara to-day, as +you did through Sidon five years ago," she said with a smiling +earnestness that he fancied however was the one new phase of her +character. "But I won't believe it! At least we will not accept +another visit quite as accidental as that, even though you brought +us twice the good fortune you did then. You see, we have not +forgotten it if you have, Mr. Grant. And unless you want us to +believe that your fairy gifts will turn some day to leaves and +ashes, you will promise to stay with us tonight, and let me show +you some of the good we have done with them. Perhaps you don't +know, or don't want to know, that it was I who got up this 'Library +and Home Circle of the Sisters of Tasajara' which we are to open +to-day. And can you imagine why? You remember--or have you +forgotten--that you once affected to be concerned at the social +condition of the young ladies on the plains of Sidon? Well, Mr. +Grant, this is gotten up in order that the future Mr. Grants who +wander may find future Miss Billingses who are worthy to converse +with them and entertain them, and who no longer wear men's hats and +live on the public road." + +It was such a long speech for one so taciturn as he remembered +Clementina to have been; so unexpected in tone considering her +father's attitude towards him, and so unlooked for in its reference +to a slight incident of the past, that Grant's critical contemplation +of her gave way to a quiet and grateful glance of admiration. How +could he have been so mistaken in her character? He had always +preferred the outspoken Euphemia, and yet why should he not have +been equally mistaken in her? Without having any personal knowledge +of Rice's matrimonial troubles--for their intimate companionship had +not continued after the survey--he had been inclined to blame him; +now he seemed to find excuses for him. He wondered if she really had +liked him as Peters had hinted; he wondered if she knew that he, +Grant, was no longer intimate with him and knew nothing of her +affairs. All this while he was accepting her proffered hospitality +and sending to the hotel for his luggage. Then he drifted into a +conversation, which he had expected would be brief, pointless, and +confined to a stupid resume of their mutual and social progress +since they had left Sidon. But here he was again mistaken; she was +talking familiarly of present social topics, of things that she knew +clearly and well, without effort or attitude. She had been to New +York and Boston for two winters; she had spent the previous summer +at Newport; it might have been her whole youth for the fluency, +accuracy, and familiarity of her detail, and the absence of +provincial enthusiasm. She was going abroad, probably in the +spring. She had thought of going to winter in Italy, but she would +wait now until her sister was ready to go with her. Mr. Grant of +course knew that Euphemia was separated from Mr. Rice--no--not until +her father told him? Well--the marriage had been a wild and foolish +thing for both. But Euphemia was back again with them in the San +Francisco house; she had talked of coming to Tasajara to-day, +perhaps she might be there tonight. And, good heavens! it was +actually three o'clock already, and they must start at once for the +Hall. She would go and get her hat and return instantly. + +It was true; he had been talking with her an hour--pleasantly, +intelligently, and yet with a consciousness of an indefinite +satisfaction beyond all this. It must have been surprise at her +transformation, or his previous misconception of her character. +He had been watching her features and wondering why he had ever +thought them expressionless. There was also the pleasant +suggestion--common to humanity in such instances--that he himself +was in some way responsible for the change; that it was some +awakened sympathy to his own nature that had breathed into this +cold and faultless statue the warmth of life. In an odd flash of +recollection he remembered how, five years ago, when Rice had +suggested to her that she was "hard to please," she had replied +that she "didn't know, but that she was waiting to see." It did +not occur to him to wonder why she had not awakened then, or if +this awakening had anything to do with her own volition. It was +not probable that they would meet again after to-day, or if they +did, that she would not relapse into her former self and fail to +impress him as she had now. But--here she was--a paragon of +feminine promptitude--already standing in the doorway, accurately +gloved and booted, and wearing a demure gray hat that modestly +crowned her decorously elegant figure. + +They crossed the plaza side by side, in the still garish sunlight +that seemed to mock the scant shade of the youthful eucalyptus +trees, and presently fell in with the stream of people going in +their direction. The former daughters of Sidon, the Billingses, +the Peterses, and Wingates, were there bourgeoning and expanding in +the glare of their new prosperity, with silk and gold; there were +newer faces still, and pretty ones,--for Tasajara as a "Cow County" +had attracted settlers with large families,--and there were already +the contrasting types of East and West. Many turned to look after +the tall figure of the daughter of the Founder of Tasajara,--a +spectacle lately rare to the town; a few glanced at her companion, +equally noticeable as a stranger. Thanks, however, to some +judicious preliminary advertising from the hotel clerk, Peters, and +Daniel Harcourt himself, by the time Grant and Miss Harcourt had +reached the Hall his name and fame were already known, and +speculation had already begun whether this new stroke of Harcourt's +shrewdness might not unite Clementina to a renowned and profitable +partner. + +The Hall was in one of the further and newly opened suburbs, and +its side and rear windows gave immediately upon the outlying and +illimitable plain of Tasajara. It was a tasteful and fair-seeming +structure of wood, surprisingly and surpassingly new. In fact that +was its one dominant feature; nowhere else had youth and freshness +ever shown itself as unconquerable and all-conquering. The spice +of virgin woods and trackless forests still rose from its pine +floors, and breathed from its outer shell of cedar that still oozed +its sap, and redwood that still dropped its life-blood. Nowhere +else were the plastered walls and ceilings as white and dazzling in +their unstained purity, or as redolent of the outlying quarry in +their clear cool breath of lime and stone. Even the turpentine of +fresh and spotless paint added to this sense of wholesome +germination, and as the clear and brilliant Californian sunshine +swept through the open windows west and east, suffusing the whole +palpitating structure with its searching and resistless radiance, +the very air seemed filled with the aroma of creation. + +The fresh colors of the young Republic, the bright blazonry of the +newest State, the coat-of-arms of the infant County of Tasajara--(a +vignette of sunset-tules cloven by the steam of an advancing +train)--hanging from the walls, were all a part of this invincible +juvenescence. Even the newest silks, ribbons and prints of the +latest holiday fashions made their first virgin appearance in the +new building as if to consecrate it, until it was stirred by the +rustle of youth, as with the sound and movement of budding spring. + +A strain from the new organ--whose heart, however, had prematurely +learned its own bitterness--and a thin, clear, but somewhat shrill +chanting from a choir of young ladies were followed by a prayer +from the Reverend Mr. Pilsbury. Then there was a pause of +expectancy, and Grant's fair companion, who up to that moment had +been quietly acting as guide and cicerone to her father's guest, +excused herself with a little grimace of mock concern and was led +away by one of the committee. Grant's usually keen eyes were +wandering somewhat abstractedly over the agitated and rustling +field of ribbons, flowers and feathers before him, past the +blazonry of banner on the walls, and through the open windows to +the long sunlit levels beyond, when he noticed a stir upon the +raised dais or platform at the end of the room, where the notables +of Tasajara were formally assembled. The mass of black coats +suddenly parted and drew back against the wall to allow the coming +forward of a single graceful figure. A thrill of nervousness as +unexpected as unaccountable passed over him as he recognized +Clementina. In the midst of a sudden silence she read the report +of the committee from a paper in her hand, in a clear, untroubled +voice--the old voice of Sidon--and formally declared the building +opened. The sunlight, nearly level, streamed through the western +window across the front of the platform where she stood and +transfigured her slight but noble figure. The hush that had fallen +upon the Hall was as much the effect of that tranquil, ideal +presence as of the message with which it was charged. And yet that +apparition was as inconsistent with the clear, searching light +which helped to set it off, as it was with the broad new blazonry +of decoration, the yet unsullied record of the white walls, or even +the frank, animated and pretty faces that looked upon it. Perhaps +it was some such instinct that caused the applause which hesitatingly +and tardily followed her from the platform to appear polite and half +restrained rather than spontaneous. + +Nevertheless Grant was honestly and sincerely profuse in his +congratulations. "You were far cooler and far more self-contained +than I should have been in your place," he said, "than in fact I +actually WAS, only as your auditor. But I suppose you have done it +before?" + +She turned her beautiful eyes on his wonderingly. "No,--this is +the first time I ever appeared in public,--not even at school, for +even there I was always a private pupil." + +"You astonish me," said Grant; "you seemed like an old hand at it." + +"Perhaps I did, or rather as if I didn't think anything of it +myself,--and that no doubt is why the audience didn't think +anything of it either." + +So she HAD noticed her cold reception, and yet there was not the +slightest trace of disappointment, regret, or wounded vanity in her +tone or manner. "You must take me to the refreshment room now," +she said pleasantly, "and help me to look after the young ladies +who are my guests. I'm afraid there are still more speeches to +come, and father and Mr. Pilsbury are looking as if they +confidently expected something more would be 'expected' of them." + +Grant at once threw himself into the task assigned to him, with his +natural gallantry and a certain captivating playfulness which he +still retained. Perhaps he was the more anxious to please in order +that his companion might share some of his popularity, for it was +undeniable that Miss Harcourt still seemed to excite only a +constrained politeness among those with whom she courteously +mingled. And this was still more distinctly marked by the contrast +of a later incident. + +For some moments the sound of laughter and greeting had risen near +the door of the refreshment room that opened upon the central hall, +and there was a perceptible movement of the crowd--particularly of +youthful male Tasajara--in that direction. It was evident that it +announced the unexpected arrival of some popular resident. +Attracted like the others, Grant turned and saw the company making +way for the smiling, easy, half-saucy, half-complacent entry of a +handsomely dressed young girl. As she turned from time to time to +recognize with rallying familiarity or charming impertinence some +of her admirers, there was that in her tone and gesture which +instantly recalled to him the past. It was unmistakably Euphemia! +His eyes instinctively sought Clementina's. She was gazing at him +with such a grave, penetrating look,--half doubting, half wistful,-- +a look so unlike her usual unruffled calm that he felt strangely +stirred. But the next moment, when she rejoined him, the look had +entirely gone. "You have not seen my sister since you were at +Sidon, I believe?" she said quietly. "She would be sorry to miss +you." But Euphemia and her train were already passing them on the +opposite side of the long table. She had evidently recognized +Grant, yet the two sisters were looking intently into each other's +eyes when he raised his own. Then Euphemia met his bow with a +momentary accession of color, a coquettish wave of her hand across +the table, a slight exaggeration of her usual fascinating +recklessness, and smilingly moved away. He turned to Clementina, +but here an ominous tapping at the farther end of the long table +revealed the fact that Mr. Harcourt was standing on a chair with +oratorical possibilities in his face and attitude. There was +another forward movement in the crowd and--silence. In that solid, +black-broadclothed, respectable figure, that massive watchchain, +that white waistcoat, that diamond pin glistening in the satin +cravat, Euphemia might have seen the realization of her prophetic +vision at Sidon five years before. + +He spoke for ten minutes with a fluency and comprehensive business- +like directness that surprised Grant. He was not there, he said, +to glorify what had been done by himself, his family, or his +friends in Tasajara. Others who were to follow him might do that, +or at least might be better able to explain and expatiate upon the +advantages of the institution they had just opened, and its social, +moral, and religious effect upon the community. He was there as a +business man to demonstrate to them--as he had always done and +always hoped to do--the money value of improvement; the profit--if +they might choose to call it--of well-regulated and properly +calculated speculation. The plot of land upon which they stood, of +which the building occupied only one eighth, was bought two years +before for ten thousand dollars. When the plans of the building +were completed a month afterwards, the value of the remaining seven +eighths had risen enough to defray the cost of the entire +construction. He was in a position to tell them that only that +morning the adjacent property, subdivided and laid out in streets +and building-plots, had been admitted into the corporate limits of +the city; and that on the next anniversary of the building they +would approach it through an avenue of finished dwellings! An +outburst of applause followed the speaker's practical climax; the +fresh young faces of his auditors glowed with invincible +enthusiasm; the afternoon trade-winds, freshening over the +limitless plain beyond, tossed the bright banners at the windows as +with sympathetic rejoicing, and a few odorous pine shavings, +overlooked in a corner in the hurry of preparation, touched by an +eddying zephyr, crept out and rolled in yellow ringlets across the +floor. + +The Reverend Doctor Pilsbury arose in a more decorous silence. He +had listened approvingly, admiringly, he might say even reverently, +to the preceding speaker. But although his distinguished friend +had, with his usual modesty, made light of his own services and +those of his charming family, he, the speaker, had not risen to +sing his praises. No; it was not in this Hall, projected by his +foresight and raised by his liberality; in this town, called into +existence by his energy and stamped by his attributes; in this +county, developed by his genius and sustained by his capital; ay, +in this very State whose grandeur was made possible by such giants +as he,--it was not in any of these places that it was necessary to +praise Daniel Harcourt, or that a panegyric of him would be more +than idle repetition. Nor would he, as that distinguished man had +suggested, enlarge upon the social, moral, and religious benefits +of the improvement they were now celebrating. It was written on +the happy, innocent faces, in the festive garb, in the decorous +demeanor, in the intelligent eyes that sparkled around him, in the +presence of those of his parishioners whom he could meet as freely +here to-day as in his own church on Sunday. What then could he +say? What then was there to say? Perhaps he should say nothing if +it were not for the presence of the young before him.--He stopped +and fixed his eyes paternally on the youthful Johnny Billings, who +with a half dozen other Sunday-school scholars had been marshaled +before the reverend speaker.--And what was to be the lesson THEY +were to learn from it? They had heard what had been achieved by +labor, enterprise, and diligence. Perhaps they would believe, and +naturally too, that what labor, enterprise, and diligence had done +could be done again. But was that all? Was there nothing behind +these qualities--which, after all, were within the reach of every +one here? Had they ever thought that back of every pioneer, every +explorer, every pathfinder, every founder and creator, there was +still another? There was no terra incognita so rare as to be +unknown to one; no wilderness so remote as to be beyond a greater +ken than theirs; no waste so trackless but that one had already +passed that way! Did they ever reflect that when the dull sea +ebbed and flowed in the tules over the very spot where they were +now standing, who it was that also foresaw, conceived, and ordained +the mighty change that would take place; who even guided and +directed the feeble means employed to work it; whose spirit moved, +as in still older days of which they had read, over the face of the +stagnant waters? Perhaps they had. Who then was the real pioneer +of Tasajara,--back of the Harcourts, the Peterses, the Billingses, +and Wingates? The reverend gentleman gently paused for a reply. +It was given in the clear but startled accents of the half +frightened, half-fascinated Johnny Billings, in three words:-- + +"'Lige Curtis, sir!" + + +CHAPTER VI + + +The trade wind, that, blowing directly from the Golden Gate, seemed +to concentrate its full force upon the western slope of Russian +Hill, might have dismayed any climber less hopeful and sanguine +than that most imaginative of newspaper reporters and most youthful +of husbands, John Milton Harcourt. But for all that it was an +honest wind, and its dry, practical energy and salt-pervading +breath only seemed to sting him to greater and more enthusiastic +exertions, until, quite at the summit of the hill and last of a +straggling line of little cottages half submerged in drifting sand, +he stood upon his own humble porch. + +"I was thinking, coming up the hill, Loo," he said, bursting into +the sitting-room, pantingly, "of writing something about the future +of the hill! How it will look fifty years from now, all terraced +with houses and gardens!--and right up here a kind of Acropolis, +don't you know. I had quite a picture of it in my mind just now." + +A plainly-dressed young woman with a pretty face, that, however, +looked as if it had been prematurely sapped of color and vitality, +here laid aside some white sewing she had in her lap, and said:-- + +"But you did that once before, Milty, and you know the "Herald" +wouldn't take it because they said it was a free notice of Mr. +Boorem's building lots, and he didn't advertise in the "Herald." I +always told you that you ought to have seen Boorem first." + +The young fellow blinked his eyes with a momentary arrest of that +buoyant hopefulness which was their peculiar characteristic, but +nevertheless replied with undaunted cheerfulness, "I forgot. +Anyhow, it's all the same, for I worked it into that 'Sunday Walk.' +And it's just as easy to write it the other way, you see,--looking +back, DOWN THE HILL, you know. Something about the old Padres +toiling through the sand just before the Angelus; or as far back as +Sir Francis Drake's time, and have a runaway boat's crew, coming +ashore to look for gold that the Mexicans had talked of. Lord! +that's easy enough! I tell you what, Loo, it's worth living up +here just for the inspiration." Even while boyishly exhaling this +enthusiasm he was also divesting himself of certain bundles whose +contents seemed to imply that he had brought his dinner with him,-- +the youthful Mrs. Harcourt setting the table in a perfunctory, +listless way that contrasted oddly with her husband's cheerful +energy. + +"You haven't heard of any regular situation yet?" she asked +abstractedly. + +"No,--not exactly," he replied. "But [buoyantly] it's a great deal +better for me not to take anything in a hurry and tie myself to any +particular line. Now, I'm quite free." + +"And I suppose you haven't seen that Mr. Fletcher again?" she +continued. + +"No. He only wanted to know something about me. That's the way +with them all, Loo. Whenever I apply for work anywhere it's +always: 'So you're Dan'l Harcourt's son, eh? Quarreled with the +old man? Bad job; better make it up! You'll make more stickin' to +him. He's worth millions!' Everybody seems to think everything of +HIM, as if I had no individuality beyond that, I've a good mind to +change my name." + +"And pray what would mine be then?" + +There was so much irritation in her voice that he drew nearer her +and gently put his arm around her waist. "Why, whatever mine was, +darling," he said with a tender smile. "You didn't fall in love +with any particular name, did you, Loo?" + +"No, but I married a particular one," she said quickly. + +His eyelids quivered again, as if he was avoiding some unpleasantly +staring suggestion, and she stopped. + +"You know what I mean, dear," she said, with a quick little laugh. +"Just because your father's an old crosspatch, YOU haven't lost +your rights to his name and property. And those people who say you +ought to make it up perhaps know what's for the best." + +"But you remember what he said of you, Loo?" said the young man +with a flashing eye. "Do you think I can ever forget that?" + +"But you DO forget it, dear; you forget it when you go in town +among fresh faces and people; when you are looking for work. You +forget it when you're at work writing your copy,--for I've seen you +smile as you wrote. You forget it climbing up the dreadful sand, +for you were thinking just now of what happened years ago, or is to +happen years to come. And I want to forget it too, Milty. I don't +want to sit here all day, thinking of it, with the wind driving the +sand against the window, and nothing to look at but those white +tombs in Lone Mountain Cemetery, and those white caps that might be +gravestones too, and not a soul to talk to or even see pass by +until I feel as if I were dead and buried also. If you were me-- +you--you--you--couldn't help crying too!" + +Indeed he was very near it now. For as he caught her in his arms, +suddenly seeing with a lover's sympathy and the poet's swifter +imagination all that she had seen and even more, he was aghast at +the vision conjured. In her delicate health and loneliness how +dreadful must have been these monotonous days, and this glittering, +cruel sea! What a selfish brute he was! Yet as he stood there +holding her, silently and rhythmically marking his tenderness and +remorseful feelings by rocking her from side to side like a languid +metronome, she quietly disengaged her wet lashes from his shoulder +and said in quite another tone:-- + +"So they were all at Tasajara last week?" + +"Who, dear?" + +"Your father and sisters." + +"Yes," said John Milton, hesitatingly. + +"And they've taken back your sister after her divorce?" + +The staring obtrusiveness of this fact apparently made her +husband's bright sympathetic eye blink as before. + +"And if you were to divorce me, YOU would be taken back too," she +added quickly, suddenly withdrawing herself with a pettish movement +and walking to the window. + +But he followed. "Don't talk in that way, Loo! Don't look in that +way, dear!" he said, taking her hand gently, yet not without a +sense of some inconsistency in her conduct that jarred upon his own +simple directness. "You know that nothing can part us now. I was +wrong to let my little girl worry herself all alone here, but I--I-- +thought it was all so--so bright and free out on this hill,-- +looking far away beyond the Golden Gate,--as far as Cathay, you +know, and such a change from those dismal flats of Tasajara and +that awful stretch of tules. But it's all right now. And now that +I know how you feel, we'll go elsewhere." + +She did not reply. Perhaps she found it difficult to keep up her +injured attitude in the face of her husband's gentleness. Perhaps +her attention had been attracted by the unusual spectacle of a +stranger, who had just mounted the hill and was now slowly passing +along the line of cottages with a hesitating air of inquiry. "He +may be looking for this house,--for you," she said in an entirely +new tone of interest. "Run out and see. It may be some one who +wants"-- + +"An article," said Milton cheerfully. "By Jove! he IS coming +here." + +The stranger was indeed approaching the little cottage, and with +apparently some confidence. He was a well-dressed, well-made man, +whose age looked uncertain from the contrast between his heavy +brown moustache and his hair, that, curling under the brim of his +hat, was almost white in color. The young man started, and said, +hurriedly: "I really believe it is Fletcher,--they say his hair +turned white from the Panama fever." + +It was indeed Mr. Fletcher who entered and introduced himself,-- +a gentle reserved man, with something of that colorlessness of +premature age in his speech which was observable in his hair. He +had heard of Mr. Harcourt from a friend who had recommended him +highly. As Mr. Harcourt had probably been told, he, the speaker, +was about to embark some capital in a first-class newspaper in San +Francisco, and should select the staff himself. He wanted to +secure only first-rate talent,--but above all, youthfulness, +directness, and originality. The "Clarion," for that was to be +its name, was to have nothing "old fogy" about it. No. It was +distinctly to be the organ of Young California! This and much more +from the grave lips of the elderly young man, whose speech seemed +to be divided between the pretty, but equally faded, young wife, +and the one personification of invincible youth present,--her +husband. + +"But I fear I have interrupted your household duties," he said +pleasantly. "You were preparing dinner. Pray go on. And let me +help you,--I'm not a bad cook,--and you can give me my reward by +letting me share it with you, for the climb up here has sharpened +my appetite. We can talk as we go on." + +It was in vain to protest; there was something paternal as well as +practical in the camaraderie of this actual capitalist and possible +Maecenas and patron as he quietly hung up his hat and overcoat, and +helped to set the table with a practiced hand. Nor, as he +suggested, did the conversation falter, and before they had taken +their seats at the frugal board he had already engaged John Milton +Harcourt as assistant editor of the "Clarion" at a salary that +seemed princely to this son of a millionaire! The young wife +meantime had taken active part in the discussion; whether it was +vaguely understood that the possession of poetical and imaginative +faculties precluded any capacity for business, or whether it was +owing to the apparent superior maturity of Mrs. Harcourt and the +stranger, it was certain that THEY arranged the practical details +of the engagement, and that the youthful husband sat silent, merely +offering his always hopeful and sanguine consent. + +"You'll take a house nearer to town, I suppose?" continued Mr. +Fletcher to the lady, "though you've a charming view here. I +suppose it was quite a change from Tasajara and your father-in- +law's house? I daresay he had as fine a place there--on his own +homestead--as he has here?" + +Young Harcourt dropped his sensitive eyelids again. It seemed hard +that he could never get away from these allusions to his father! +Perhaps it was only to that relationship that he was indebted for +his visitor's kindness. In his simple honesty he could not bear +the thought of such a misapprehension. "Perhaps, Mr. Fletcher, you +do not know," he said, "that my father is not on terms with me, and +that we neither expect anything nor could we ever take anything +from him. Could we, Loo?" He added the useless question partly +because he saw that his wife's face betrayed little sympathy with +him, and partly that Fletcher was looking at her curiously, as if +for confirmation. But this was another of John Milton's trials as +an imaginative reporter; nobody ever seemed to care for his +practical opinions or facts! + +"Mr. Fletcher is not interested in our little family differences, +Milty," she said, looking at Mr. Fletcher, however, instead of him. +"You're Daniel Harcourt's SON whatever happens." + +The cloud that had passed over the young man's face and eyes did +not, however, escape Mr. Fletcher's attention, for he smiled, and +added gayly, "And I hope my valued lieutenant in any case." +Nevertheless John Milton was quite ready to avail himself of an +inspiration to fetch some cigars for his guest from the bar of the +Sea-View House on the slope of the hill beyond, and thereby avoid a +fateful subject. Once in the fresh air again he promptly recovered +his boyish spirits. The light flying scud had already effaced the +first rising stars; the lower creeping sea-fog had already blotted +out the western shore and sea; but below him to the east the +glittering lights of the city seemed to start up with a new, +mysterious, and dazzling brilliancy. It was the valley of diamonds +that Sindbad saw lying almost at his feet! Perhaps somewhere there +the light of his own fame and fortune was already beginning to +twinkle! + +He returned to his humble roof joyous and inspired. As he entered +the hall he heard his wife's voice and his own name mentioned, +followed by that awkward, meaningless silence on his entrance which +so plainly indicated either that he had been the subject of +conversation or that it was not for his ears. It was a dismal +reminder of his boyhood at Sidon and Tasajara. But he was too full +of hope and ambition to heed it to-night, and later, when Mr. +Fletcher had taken his departure, his pent-up enthusiasm burst out +before his youthful partner. Had she realized that their struggles +were over now, that their future was secure? They need no longer +fear ever being forced to take bounty from the family; they were +independent of them all! He would make a name for himself that +should be distinct from his father's as he should make a fortune +that would be theirs alone. The young wife smiled. "But all that +need not prevent you, dear, from claiming your RIGHTS when the time +comes." + +"But if I scorn to make the claim or take a penny of his, Loo?" + +"You say you scorn to take the money you think your father got by a +mere trick,--at the best,--and didn't earn. And now you will be +able to show you can live without it, and earn your own fortune. +Well, dear, for that very reason why should you let your father and +others enjoy and waste what is fairly your share? For it is YOUR +share whether it came to your father fairly or not; and if not, it +is still your duty, believing as you do, to claim it from him, that +at least YOU may do with it what you choose. You might want to +restore it--to--to--somebody." + +The young man laughed. "But, my dear Loo! suppose that I were weak +enough to claim it, do you think my father would give it up? He +has the right, and no law could force him to yield to me more than +he chooses." + +"Not the law, but YOU could." + +"I don't understand you," he said quickly. + +"You could force him by simply telling him what you once told me." + +John Milton drew back, and his hand dropped loosely from his +wife's. The color left his fresh young face; the light quivered +for a moment and then became fixed and set in his eyes. For that +moment he looked ten years her senior. "I was wrong ever to tell +even you that, Loo," he said in a low voice. "You are wrong to +ever remind me of it. Forget it from this moment, as you value our +love and want it to live and be remembered. And forget, Loo, as I +do,--and ever shall,--that you ever suggested to me to use my +secret in the way you did just now." + +But here Mrs. Harcourt burst into tears, more touched by the +alteration in her husband's manner, I fear, than by any contrition +for wrongdoing. Of course if he wished to withdraw his confidences +from her, just as he had almost confessed he wished to withdraw his +NAME, she couldn't help it, but it was hard that when she sat there +all day long trying to think what was best for them, she should be +blamed! At which the quiet and forgiving John Milton smiled +remorsefully and tried to comfort her. Nevertheless an occasional +odd, indefinable chill seemed to creep across the feverish +enthusiasm with which he was celebrating this day of fortune. And +yet he neither knew nor suspected until long after that his foolish +wife had that night half betrayed his secret to the stranger! + +The next day he presented a note of introduction from Mr. Fletcher +to the business manager of the "Clarion," and the following morning +was duly installed in office. He did not see his benefactor again; +that single visit was left in the mystery and isolation of an +angelic episode. It later appeared that other and larger interests +in the San Jose valley claimed his patron's residence and attendance; +only the capital and general purpose of the paper--to develop into a +party organ in the interest of his possible senatorial aspirations +in due season--was furnished by him. Grateful as John Milton felt +towards him, he was relieved; it seemed probable that Mr. Fletcher +HAD selected him on his individual merits, and not as the son of a +millionaire. + +He threw himself into his work with his old hopeful enthusiasm, and +perhaps an originality of method that was part of his singular +independence. Without the student's training or restraint,--for +his two years' schooling at Tasajara during his parents' prosperity +came too late to act as a discipline,--he was unfettered by any +rules, and guided only by an unerring instinctive taste that became +near being genius. He was a brilliant and original, if not always +a profound and accurate, reporter. By degrees he became an +accustomed interest to the readers of the "Clarion;" then an +influence. Actors themselves in many a fierce drama, living lives +of devotion, emotion, and picturesque incident, they had satisfied +themselves with only the briefest and most practical daily record +of their adventure, and even at first were dazed and startled to +find that many of them had been heroes and some poets. The +stealthy boyish reader of romantic chronicle at Sidon had learned +by heart the chivalrous story of the emigration. The second column +of the "Clarion" became famous even while the figure of its +youthful writer, unknown and unrecognized, was still nightly +climbing the sands of Russian Hill, and even looking down as before +on the lights of the growing city, without a thought that he had +added to that glittering constellation. + +Cheerful and contented with the exercise of work, he would have +been happy but for the gradual haunting of another dread which +presently began to drag him at earlier hours up the steep path to +his little home; to halt him before the door with the quickened +breath of an anxiety he would scarcely confess to himself, and +sometimes hold him aimlessly a whole day beneath his roof. For the +pretty but delicate Mrs. Harcourt, like others of her class, had +added a weak and ineffective maternity to their other conjugal +trials, and one early dawn a baby was born that lingered with them +scarcely longer than the morning mist and exhaled with the rising +sun. The young wife regained her strength slowly,--so slowly that +the youthful husband brought his work at times to the house to keep +her company. And a singular change had come over her. She no +longer talked of the past, nor of his family. As if the little +life that had passed with that morning mist had represented some +ascending expiatory sacrifice, it seemed to have brought them into +closer communion. + +Yet her weak condition made him conceal another trouble that had +come upon him. It was in the third month of his employment on the +"Clarion" that one afternoon, while correcting some proofs on his +chief's desk, he came upon the following editorial paragraph:-- + +"The played-out cant of 'pioneer genius' and 'pioneer discovery' +appears to have reached its climax in the attempt of some of our +contemporaries to apply it to Dan Harcourt's new Tasajara Job +before the legislature. It is perfectly well known in Harcourt's +own district that, far from being a pioneer and settler HIMSELF he +simply succeeded after a fashion to the genuine work of one Elijah +Curtis, an actual pioneer and discoverer, years before, while +Harcourt, we believe, was keeping a frontier doggery in Sidon, and +dispensing 'tanglefoot' and salt junk to the hayfooted Pike +Countians of his precinct. This would make him as much of the +'pioneer discoverer' as the rattlesnake who first takes up board +and lodgings and then possession in a prairie dog's burrow. And if +the traveler's tale is true that the rattlesnake sometimes makes a +meal of his landlord, the story told at Sidon may be equally +credible that the original pioneer mysteriously disappeared about +the time that Dan Harcourt came into the property. From which it +would seem that Harcourt is not in a position for his friends to +invite very deep scrutiny into his 'pioneer' achievements." + +Stupefaction, a vague terror, and rising anger, rapidly succeeded +each other in the young man's mind as he stood mechanically holding +the paper in his hand. It was the writing of his chief editor, +whose easy brutality he had sometimes even boyishly admired. +Without stopping to consider their relative positions he sought him +indignantly and laid the proof before him. The editor laughed. +"But what's that to YOU? YOU'RE not on terms with the old man." + +"But he is my father!" said John Milton hotly. + +"Look here," said the editor good-naturedly, "I'd like to oblige +you, but it isn't BUSINESS, you know,--and this IS, you +understand,--PROPRIETOR'S BUSINESS too! Of course I see it might +stand in the way of your making up to the old man afterwards and +coming in for a million. Well! you can tell him it's ME. Say I +WOULD put it in. Say I'm nasty--and I AM!" + +"Then it must go in?" said John Milton with a white face. + +"You bet." + +"Then I must go out!" And writing out his resignation, he laid it +before his chief and left. + +But he could not bear to tell this to his wife when he climbed the +hill that night, and he invented some excuse for bringing his work +home. The invalid never noticed any change in his usual buoyancy, +and indeed I fear, when he was fairly installed with his writing +materials at the foot of her bed, he had quite forgotten the +episode. He was recalled to it by a faint sigh. + +"What is it, dear?" he said looking up. + +"I like to see you writing, Milty. You always look so happy." + +"Always so happy, dear?" + +"Yes. You are happy, are you not?" + +"Always." He got up and kissed her. Nevertheless, when he sat +down to his work again, his face was turned a little more to the +window. + +Another serious incident--to be also kept from the invalid--shortly +followed. The article in the "Clarion" had borne its fruit. The +third day after his resignation a rival paper sharply retorted. +"The cowardly insinuations against the record of a justly honored +capitalist," said the "Pioneer," "although quite in keeping with +the brazen 'Clarion,' might attract the attentions of the slandered +party, if it were not known to his friends as well as himself that +it may be traced almost directly to a cast-off member of his own +family, who, it seems, is reduced to haunting the back doors of +certain blatant journals to dispose of his cheap wares. The +slanderer is secure from public exposure in the superior decency of +his relations, who refrain from airing their family linen upon +editorial lines." + +This was the journal to which John Milton had hopefully turned for +work. When he read it there seemed but one thing for him to do-- +and he did it. Gentle and optimistic as was his nature, he had +been brought up in a community where sincere directness of personal +offense was followed by equally sincere directness of personal +redress, and--he challenged the editor. The bearer of his cartel +was one Jack Hamlin, I grieve to say a gambler by profession, but +between whom and John Milton had sprung up an odd friendship of +which the best that can be said is that it was to each equally and +unselfishly unprofitable. The challenge was accepted, the +preliminaries arranged. "I suppose," said Jack carelessly, "as the +old man ought to do something for your wife in case of accident, +you've made some sort of a will?" + +"I've thought of that," said John Milton, dubiously, "but I'm +afraid it's no use. You see"--he hesitated--"I'm not of age." + +"May I ask how old you are, sonny?" said Jack with great gravity. + +"I'm almost twenty," said John Milton, coloring. + +"It isn't exactly vingt-et-un, but I'd stand on it; if I were you I +wouldn't draw to such a hand," said Jack, coolly. + +The young husband had arranged to be absent from his home that +night, and early morning found him, with Jack, grave, but +courageous, in a little hollow behind the Mission Hills. To them +presently approached his antagonist, jauntily accompanied by +Colonel Starbottle, his second. They halted, but after the formal +salutation were instantly joined by Jack Hamlin. For a few moments +John Milton remained awkwardly alone--pending a conversation which +even at that supreme moment he felt as being like the general +attitude of his friends towards him, in its complete ignoring of +himself. The next moment the three men stepped towards him. "We +have come, sir," said Colonel Starbottle in his precisest speech +but his jauntiest manner, "to offer you a full and ample apology--a +personal apology--which only supplements that full public apology +that my principal, sir, this gentleman," indicating the editor of +the "Pioneer," "has this morning made in the columns of his paper, +as you will observe," producing a newspaper. "We have, sir," +continued the colonel loftily, "only within the last twelve hours +become aware of the--er--REAL circumstances of the case. We would +regret that the affair had gone so far already, if it had not given +us, sir, the opportunity of testifying to your gallantry. We do so +gladly; and if--er--er--a FEW YEARS LATER, Mr. Harcourt, you should +ever need--a friend in any matter of this kind, I am, sir, at your +service." John Milton gazed half inquiringly, half uneasily at +Jack. + +"It's all right, Milt," he said sotto voce. "Shake hands all round +and let's go to breakfast. And I rather think that editor wants to +employ you HIMSELF." + +It was true, for when that night he climbed eagerly the steep +homeward hill he carried with him the written offer of an +engagement on the "Pioneer." As he entered the door his wife's +nurse and companion met him with a serious face. There had been a +strange and unexpected change in the patient's condition, and the +doctor had already been there twice. As he put aside his coat and +hat and entered her room, it seemed to him that he had forever put +aside all else of essay and ambition beyond those four walls. And +with the thought a great peace came upon him. It seemed good to +him to live for her alone. + +It was not for long. As each monotonous day brought the morning +mist and evening fog regularly to the little hilltop where his +whole being was now centred, she seemed to grow daily weaker, and +the little circle of her life narrowed day by day. One morning +when the usual mist appeared to have been withheld and the sun had +risen with a strange and cruel brightness; when the waves danced +and sparkled on the bay below and light glanced from dazzling +sails, and even the white tombs on Lone Mountain glittered keenly; +when cheery voices hailing each other on the hillside came to him +clearly but without sense or meaning; when earth, sky, and sea +seemed quivering with life and motion,--he opened the door of that +one little house on which the only shadow seemed to have fallen, +and went forth again into the world alone. + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Mr. Daniel Harcourt's town mansion was also on an eminence, but it +was that gentler acclivity of fashion known as Rincon Hill, and +sunned itself on a southern slope of luxury. It had been described +as "princely" and "fairy-like," by a grateful reporter; tourists +and travelers had sung its praises in letters to their friends and +in private reminiscences, for it had dispensed hospitality to most +of the celebrities who had visited the coast. Nevertheless its +charm was mainly due to the ruling taste of Miss Clementina +Harcourt, who had astonished her father by her marvelous intuition +of the nice requirements and elegant responsibilities of their +position; and had thrown her mother into the pained perplexity of a +matronly hen, who, among the ducks' eggs intrusted to her fostering +care, had unwittingly hatched a graceful but discomposing cygnet. + +Indeed, after holding out feebly against the siege of wealth at +Tasajara and San Francisco, Mrs. Harcourt had abandoned herself +hopelessly to the horrors of its invasion; had allowed herself to +be dragged from her kitchen by her exultant daughters and set up in +black silk in a certain conventional respectability in the drawing- +room. Strange to say, her commiserating hospitality, or hospital- +like ministration, not only gave her popularity, but a certain kind +of distinction. An exaltation so sorrowfully deprecated by its +possessor was felt to be a sign of superiority. She was spoken of +as "motherly," even by those who vaguely knew that there was +somewhere a discarded son struggling in poverty with a helpless +wife, and that she had sided with her husband in disinheriting a +daughter who had married unwisely. She was sentimentally spoken of +as a "true wife," while never opposing a single meanness of her +husband, suggesting a single active virtue, nor questioning her +right to sacrifice herself and her family for his sake. With +nothing she cared to affect, she was quite free from affectation, +and even the critical Lawrence Grant was struck with the dignity +which her narrow simplicity, that had seemed small even in Sidon, +attained in her palatial hall in San Francisco. It appeared to be +a perfectly logical conclusion that when such unaffectedness and +simplicity were forced to assume a hostile attitude to anybody, the +latter must be to blame. + +Since the festival of Tasajara Mr. Grant had been a frequent +visitor at Harcourt's, and was a guest on the eve of his departure +from San Francisco. The distinguished position of each made their +relations appear quite natural without inciting gossip as to any +attraction in Harcourt's daughters. It was late one afternoon as +he was passing the door of Harcourt's study that his host called +him in. He found him sitting at his desk with some papers before +him and a folded copy of the "Clarion." With his back to the +fading light of the window his face was partly in shadow. + +"By the way, Grant," he began, with an assumption of carelessness +somewhat inconsistent with the fact that he had just called him in, +"it may be necessary for me to pull up those fellows who are +blackguarding me in the 'Clarion.'" + +"Why, they haven't been saying anything new?" asked Grant, +laughingly, as he glanced towards the paper. + +"No--that is--only a rehash of what they said before," returned +Harcourt without opening the paper. + +"Well," said Grant playfully, "you don't mind their saying that +you're NOT the original pioneer of Tasajara, for it's true; nor +that that fellow 'Lige Curtis disappeared suddenly, for he did, if +I remember rightly. But there's nothing in that to invalidate your +rights to Tasajara, to say nothing of your five years' undisputed +possession." + +"Of course there's no LEGAL question," said Harcourt almost sharply. +"But as a matter of absurd report, I may want to contradict their +insinuations. And YOU remember all the circumstances, don't you?" + +"I should think so! Why, my dear fellow, I've told it everywhere!-- +here, in New York, Newport, and in London; by Jove, it's one of my +best stories! How a company sent me out with a surveyor to look up +a railroad and agricultural possibilities in the wilderness; how +just as I found them--and a rather big thing they made, too--I was +set afloat by a flood and a raft, and drifted ashore on your bank, +and practically demonstrated to you what you didn't know and didn't +dare to hope for--that there could be a waterway straight to Sidon +from the embarcadero. I've told what a charming evening we had +with you and your daughters in the old house, and how I returned +your hospitality by giving you a tip about the railroad; and how +you slipped out while we were playing cards, to clinch the bargain +for the land with that drunken fellow, 'Lige Curtis"-- + +"What's that?" interrupted Harcourt, quickly. + +It was well that the shadow hid from Grant the expression of +Harcourt's face, or his reply might have been sharper. As it was, +he answered a little stiffly:-- + +"I beg your pardon"-- + +Harcourt recovered himself. "You're all wrong!" he said, "that +bargain was made long BEFORE; I never saw 'Lige Curtis after you +came to the house. It was before that, in the afternoon," he went +on hurriedly, "that he was last in my store. I can prove it." +Nevertheless he was so shocked and indignant at being confronted in +his own suppressions and falsehoods by an even greater and more +astounding misconception of fact, that for a moment he felt +helpless. What, he reflected, if it were alleged that 'Lige had +returned again after the loafers had gone, or had never left the +store as had been said? Nonsense! There was John Milton, who had +been there reading all the time, and who could disprove it. Yes, +but John Milton was his discarded son,--his enemy,--perhaps even +his very slanderer! + +"But," said Grant quietly, "don't you remember that your daughter +Euphemia said something that evening about the land Lige had +OFFERED you, and you snapped up the young lady rather sharply for +letting out secrets, and THEN you went out? At least that's my +impression." + +It was, however, more than an impression; with Grant's scientific +memory for characteristic details he had noticed that particular +circumstance as part of the social phenomena. + +"I don't know what Phemie SAID," returned Harcourt, impatiently. +"I KNOW there was no offer pending; the land had been sold to me +before I ever saw you. Why--you must have thought me up to pretty +sharp practice with Curtis--eh?" he added, with a forced laugh. + +Grant smiled; he had been accustomed to hear of such sharp practice +among his business acquaintance, although he himself by nature and +profession was incapable of it, but he had not deemed Harcourt more +scrupulous than others. "Perhaps so," he said lightly, "but for +Heaven's sake don't ask me to spoil my reputation as a raconteur +for the sake of a mere fact or two. I assure you it's a mighty +taking story as I tell it--and it don't hurt you in a business way. +You're the hero of it--hang it all!" + +"Yes," said Harcourt, without noticing Grant's half cynical +superiority, but you'll oblige me if you won't tell it again IN +THAT WAY. There are men here mean enough to make the worst of it. +It's nothing to me, of course, but my family--the girls, you know-- +are rather sensitive." + +"I had no idea they even knew it,--much less cared for it," said +Grant, with sudden seriousness. "I dare say if those fellows in +the "Clarion" knew that they were annoying the ladies they'd drop +it. Who's the editor? Look here--leave it to me; I'll look into +it. Better that you shouldn't appear in the matter at all." + +"You understand that if it was a really serious matter, Grant," +said Harcourt with a slight attitude, "I shouldn't allow any one to +take my place." + +"My dear fellow, there'll be nobody 'called out' and no 'shooting +at sight,' whatever is the result of my interference," returned +Grant, lightly. "It'll be all right." He was quite aware of the +power of his own independent position and the fact that he had been +often appealed to before in delicate arbitration. + +Harcourt was equally conscious of this, but by a strange +inconsistency now felt relieved at the coolness with which Grant +had accepted the misconception which had at first seemed so +dangerous. If he were ready to condone what he thought was SHARP +PRACTICE, he could not be less lenient with the real facts that +might come out,--of course always excepting that interpolated +consideration in the bill of sale, which, however, no one but the +missing Curtis could ever discover. The fact that a man of Grant's +secure position had interested himself in this matter would secure +him from the working of that personal vulgar jealousy which his +humbler antecedents had provoked. And if, as he fancied, Grant +really cared for Clementina-- + +"As you like," he said, with half-affected lightness, "and now let +us talk of something else. Clementina has been thinking of getting +up a riding party to San Mateo for Mrs. Ashwood. We must show them +some civility, and that Boston brother of hers, Mr. Shipley, will +have to be invited also. I can't get away, and my wife, of course, +will only be able to join them at San Mateo in the carriage. I +reckon it would be easier for Clementina if you took my place, and +helped her look after the riding party. It will need a man, and I +think she'd prefer you--as you know she's rather particular-- +unless, of course, you'd be wanted for Mrs. Ashwood or Phemie, or +somebody else." + +From his shadowed corner he could see that a pleasant light had +sprung into Grant's eyes, although his reply was in his ordinary +easy banter. "I shall be only too glad to act as Miss Clementina's +vaquero, and lasso her runaways, or keep stragglers in the road." + +There seemed to be small necessity, however, for this active co- +operation, for when the cheerful cavalcade started from the house a +few mornings later, Mr. Lawrence Grant's onerous duties seemed to +be simply confined to those of an ordinary cavalier at the side of +Miss Clementina, a few paces in the rear of the party. But this +safe distance gave them the opportunity of conversing without being +overheard,--an apparently discreet precaution. + +"Your father was so exceedingly affable to me the other day that if +I hadn't given you my promise to say nothing, I think I would have +fallen on my knees to him then and there, revealed my feelings, +asked for your hand and his blessing--or whatever one does at such +a time. But how long do you intend to keep me in this suspense?" + +Clementina turned her clear eyes half abstractedly upon him, as if +imperfectly recalling some forgotten situation. "You forget," she +said, "that part of your promise was that you wouldn't even speak +of it to me again without my permission." + +"But my time is so short now. Give me some definite hope before I +go. Let me believe that when we meet in New York"-- + +"You will find me just the same as now! Yes, I think I can promise +THAT. Let that suffice. You said the other day you liked me +because I had not changed for five years. You can surely trust +that I will not alter in as many months." + +"If I only knew"-- + +"Ah, if I only knew,--if WE ALL only knew. But we don't. Come, +Mr. Grant, let it rest as it is. Unless you want to go still +further back and have it as it WAS, at Sidon. There I think you +fancied Euphemia most." + +"Clementina!" + +"That is my name, and those people ahead of us know it already." + +"You are called CLEMENTINA,--but you are not merciful!" + +"You are very wrong, for you might see that Mr. Shipley has twice +checked his horse that he might hear what you are saying, and +Phemie is always showing Mrs. Ashwood something in the landscape +behind us." + +All this was the more hopeless and exasperating to Grant since in +the young girl's speech and manner there was not the slightest +trace of coquetry or playfulness. He could not help saying a +little bitterly: "I don't think that any one would imagine from +your manner that you were receiving a declaration." + +"But they might imagine from yours that you had the right to +quarrel with me,--which would be worse." + +"We cannot part like this! It is too cruel to me." + +"We cannot part otherwise without the risk of greater cruelty." + +"But say at least, Clementina, that I have no rival. There is no +other more favored suitor?" + +"That is so like a man--and yet so unlike the proud one I believed +you to be. Why should a man like you even consider such a +possibility? If I were a man I know I couldn't." She turned upon +him a glance so clear and untroubled by either conscious vanity or +evasion that he was hopelessly convinced of the truth of her +statement, and she went on in a slightly lowered tone, "You have no +right to ask me such a question,--but perhaps for that reason I am +willing to answer you. There is none. Hush! For a good rider you +are setting a poor example to the others, by crowding me towards +the bank. Go forward and talk to Phemie, and tell her not to worry +Mrs. Ashwood's horse nor race with her; I don't think he's quite +safe, and Mrs. Ashwood isn't accustomed to using the Spanish bit. +I suppose I must say something to Mr. Shipley, who doesn't seem to +understand that I'M acting as chaperon, and YOU as captain of the +party." + +She cantered forward as she spoke, and Grant was obliged to join +her sister, who, mounted on a powerful roan, was mischievously +exciting a beautiful quaker-colored mustang ridden by Mrs. Ashwood, +already irritated by the unfamiliar pressure of the Eastern woman's +hand upon his bit. The thick dust which had forced the party of +twenty to close up in two solid files across the road compelled +them at the first opening in the roadside fence to take the field +in a straggling gallop. Grant, eager to escape from his own +discontented self by doing something for others, reined in beside +Euphemia and the fair stranger. + +"Let me take your place until Mrs. Ashwood's horse is quieted," he +half whispered to Euphemia. + +"Thank you,--and I suppose it does not make any matter to Clem who +quiets mine," she said, with provoking eyes and a toss of her head +worthy of the spirited animal she was riding. + +"She thinks you quite capable of managing yourself and even +others," he replied with a playful glance at Shipley, who was +riding somewhat stiffly on the other side. + +"Don't be too sure," retorted Phemie with another dangerous look; +"I may give you trouble yet." + +They were approaching the first undulation of the russet plain they +had emerged upon,--an umbrageous slope that seemed suddenly to +diverge in two defiles among the shaded hills. Grant had given a +few words of practical advice to Mrs. Ashwood, and shown her how to +guide her mustang by the merest caressing touch of the rein upon +its sensitive neck. He had not been sympathetically inclined +towards the fair stranger, a rich and still youthful widow, +although he could not deny her unquestioned good breeding, mental +refinement, and a certain languorous thoughtfulness that was almost +melancholy, which accented her blonde delicacy. But he had noticed +that her manner was politely reserved and slightly constrained +towards the Harcourts, and he had already resented it with a lover's +instinctive loyalty. He had at first attributed it to a want of +sympathy between Mrs. Ashwood's more intellectual sentimentalities +and the Harcourts' undeniable lack of any sentiment whatever. But +there was evidently some other innate antagonism. He was very +polite to Mrs. Ashwood; she responded with a gentlewoman's courtesy, +and, he was forced to admit, even a broader comprehension of his own +merits than the Harcourt girls had ever shown, but he could still +detect that she was not in accord with the party. + +"I am afraid you do not like California, Mrs. Ashwood?" he said +pleasantly. "You perhaps find the life here too unrestrained and +unconventional?" + +She looked at him in quick astonishment. "Are you quite sincere? +Why, it strikes me that this is just what it is NOT. And I have so +longed for something quite different. From what I have been told +about the originality and adventure of everything here, and your +independence of old social forms and customs, I am afraid I +expected the opposite of what I've seen. Why, this very party-- +except that the ladies are prettier and more expensively gotten up-- +is like any party that might have ridden out at Saratoga or New +York." + +"And as stupid, you would say." + +"As CONVENTIONAL, Mr. Grant; always excepting this lovely creature +beneath me, whom I can't make out and who doesn't seem to care that +I should. There! look! I told you so!" + +Her mustang had suddenly bounded forward; but as Grant followed he +could see that the cause was the example of Phemie, who had, in +some mad freak, dashed out in a frantic gallop. A half-dozen of +the younger people hilariously accepted the challenge; the +excitement was communicated to the others, until the whole +cavalcade was sweeping down the slope. Grant was still at Mrs. +Ashwood's side, restraining her mustang and his own impatient horse +when Clementina joined them. "Phemie's mare has really bolted, I +fear," she said in a quick whisper, "ride on, and never mind us." +Grant looked quickly ahead; Phemie's roan, excited by the shouts +behind her and to all appearance ungovernable, was fast disappearing +with her rider. Without a word, trusting to his own good +horsemanship and better knowledge of the ground, he darted out of +the cavalcade to overtake her. + +But the unfortunate result of this was to give further impulse to +the now racing horses as they approached a point where the slope +terminated in two diverging canyons. Mrs. Ashwood gave a sharp +pull upon her bit. To her consternation the mustang stopped short +almost instantly,--planting his two fore feet rigidly in the dust +and even sliding forward with the impetus. Had her seat been less +firm she might have been thrown, but she recovered herself, +although in doing so she still bore upon the bit, when to her +astonishment the mustang deliberately stiffened himself as if for a +shock, and then began to back slowly, quivering with excitement. +She did not know that her native-bred animal fondly believed that +he was participating in a rodeo, and that to his equine intelligence +his fair mistress had just lassoed something! In vain she urged him +forward; he still waited for the shock! When the cloud of dust in +which she had been enwrapped drifted away, she saw to her amazement +that she was alone. The entire party had disappeared into one of +the canyons,--but which one she could not tell! + +When she succeeded at last in urging her mustang forward again she +determined to take the right-hand canyon and trust to being either +met or overtaken. A more practical and less adventurous nature +would have waited at the point of divergence for the return of some +of the party, but Mrs. Ashwood was, in truth, not sorry to be left +to herself and the novel scenery for a while, and she had no doubt +but she would eventually find her way to the hotel at San Mateo, +which could not be far away, in time for luncheon. + +The road was still well defined, although it presently began to +wind between ascending ranks of pines and larches that marked the +terraces of hills, so high that she wondered she had not noticed +them from the plains. An unmistakable suggestion of some haunting +primeval solitude, a sense of the hushed and mysterious proximity +of a nature she had never known before, the strange half- +intoxicating breath of unsunned foliage and untrodden grasses and +herbs, all combined to exalt her as she cantered forward. Even her +horse seemed to have acquired an intelligent liberty, or rather to +have established a sympathy with her in his needs and her own +longings; instinctively she no longer pulled him with the curb; the +reins hung loosely on his self-arched and unfettered neck; secure +in this loneliness she found herself even talking to him with +barbaric freedom. As she went on, the vague hush of all things +animate and inanimate around her seemed to thicken, until she +unconsciously halted before a dim and pillared wood, and a vast and +heathless opening on whose mute brown lips Nature seemed to have +laid the finger of silence. She forgot the party she had left, she +forgot the luncheon she was going to; more important still she +forgot that she had already left the traveled track far behind her, +and, tremulous with anticipation, rode timidly into that arch of +shadow. + +As her horse's hoofs fell noiselessly on the elastic moss-carpeted +aisle she forgot even more than that. She forgot the artificial +stimulus and excitement of the life she had been leading so long; +she forgot the small meannesses and smaller worries of her well-to- +do experiences; she forgot herself,--rather she regained a self she +had long forgotten. For in the sweet seclusion of this half +darkened sanctuary the clinging fripperies of her past slipped from +her as a tawdry garment. The petted, spoiled, and vapidly +precocious girlhood which had merged into a womanhood of aimless +triumphs and meaner ambitions; the worldly but miserable triumph of +a marriage that had left her delicacy abused and her heart sick and +unsatisfied; the wifehood without home, seclusion, or maternity; +the widowhood that at last brought relief, but with it the +consciousness of hopelessly wasted youth,--all this seemed to drop +from her here as lightly as the winged needles or noiseless +withered spray from the dim gray vault above her head. In the +sovereign balm of that woodland breath her better spirit was +restored; somewhere in these wholesome shades seemed to still lurk +what should have been her innocent and nymph-like youth, and to +come out once more and greet her. Old songs she had forgotten, or +whose music had failed in the discords of her frivolous life, sang +themselves to her again in that sweet, grave silence; girlish +dreams that she had foolishly been ashamed of, or had put away with +her childish toys, stole back to her once more and became real in +this tender twilight; old fancies, old fragments of verse and +childish lore, grew palpable and moved faintly before her. The +boyish prince who should have come was there; the babe that should +have been hers was there!--she stopped suddenly with flaming eyes +and indignant color. For it appeared that a MAN was there too, and +had just risen from the fallen tree where he had been sitting. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +She had so far forgotten herself in yielding to the spell of the +place, and in the revelation of her naked soul and inner nature, +that it was with something of the instinct of outraged modesty that +she seemed to shrink before this apparition of the outer world and +outer worldliness. In an instant the nearer past returned; she +remembered where she was, how she had come there, from whom she had +come, and to whom she was returning. She could see that she had +not only aimlessly wandered from the world but from the road; and +for that instant she hated this man who had reminded her of it, +even while she knew she must ask his assistance. It relieved her +slightly to observe that he seemed as disturbed and impatient as +herself, and as he took a pencil from between his lips and returned +it to his pocket he scarcely looked at her. + +But with her return to the world of convenances came its repression, +and with a gentlewoman's ease and modulated voice she leaned over +her mustang's neck and said: "I have strayed from my party and am +afraid I have lost my way. We were going to the hotel at San Mateo. +Would you be kind enough to direct me there, or show me how I can +regain the road by which I came?" + +Her voice and manner were quite enough to arrest him where he stood +with a pleased surprise in his fresh and ingenuous face. She +looked at him more closely. He was, in spite of his long silken +mustache, so absurdly young; he might, in spite of that youth, be +so absurdly man-like! What was he doing there? Was he a farmer's +son, an artist, a surveyor, or a city clerk out for a holiday? Was +there perhaps a youthful female of his species somewhere for whom +he was waiting and upon whose tryst she was now breaking? Was he-- +terrible thought!--the outlying picket of some family picnic? His +dress, neat, simple, free from ostentatious ornament, betrayed +nothing. She waited for his voice. + +"Oh, you have left San Mateo miles away to the right," he said with +quick youthful sympathy, "at least five miles! Where did you leave +your party?" + +His voice was winning, and even refined, she thought. She answered +it quite spontaneously: "At a fork of two roads. I see now I took +the wrong turning." + +"Yes, you took the road to Crystal Spring. It's just down there in +the valley, not more than a mile. You'd have been there now if you +hadn't turned off at the woods." + +"I couldn't help it, it was so beautiful." + +"Isn't it?" + +"Perfect." + +"And such shadows, and such intensity of color." + +"Wonderful!--and all along the ridge, looking down that defile!" + +"Yes, and that point where it seems as if you had only to stretch +out your hand to pick a manzanita berry from the other side of the +canyon, half a mile across!" + +"Yes, and that first glimpse of the valley through the Gothic +gateway of rocks!" + +"And the color of those rocks,--cinnamon and bronze with the light +green of the Yerba buena vine splashing over them." + +"Yes, but for color DID you notice that hillside of yellow poppies +pouring down into the valley like a golden Niagara?" + +"Certainly,--and the perfect clearness of everything." + +"And yet such complete silence and repose!" + +"Oh, yes!" + +"Ah, yes!" + +They were both gravely nodding and shaking their heads with +sparkling eyes and brightened color, looking not at each other but +at the far landscape vignetted through a lozenge-shaped wind +opening in the trees. Suddenly Mrs. Ashwood straightened herself +in the saddle, looked grave, lifted the reins and apparently the +ten years with them that had dropped from her. But she said in her +easiest well-bred tones, and a half sigh, "Then I must take the +road back again to where it forks?" + +"Oh, no! you can go by Crystal Spring. It's no further, and I'll +show you the way. But you'd better stop and rest yourself and your +horse for a little while at the Springs Hotel. It's a very nice +place. Many people ride there from San Francisco to luncheon and +return. I wonder that your party didn't prefer it; and if they are +looking for you,--as they surely must be," he said, as if with a +sudden conception of her importance, "they'll come there when they +find you're not at San Mateo." + +This seemed reasonable, although the process of being "fetched" and +taking the five miles ride, which she had enjoyed so much alone, in +company was not attractive. "Couldn't I go on at once?" she said +impulsively. + +"You would meet them sooner," he said thoughtfully. + +This was quite enough for Mrs. Ashwood. "I think I'll rest this +poor horse, who is really tired," she, said with charming hypocrisy, +"and stop at the hotel." + +She saw his face brighten. Perhaps he was the son of the hotel +proprietor, or a youthful partner himself. "I suppose you live +here?" she suggested gently. "You seem to know the place so well." + +"No," he returned quickly; "I only run down here from San Francisco +when I can get a day off." + +A day off! He was in some regular employment. But he continued: +"And I used to go to boarding-school near here, and know all these +woods well." + +He must be a native! How odd! She had not conceived that there +might be any other population here than the immigrants; perhaps +that was what made him so interesting and different from the +others. "Then your father and mother live here?" she said. + +His frank face, incapable of disguise, changed suddenly. "No," he +said simply, but without any trace of awkwardness. Then after a +slight pause he laid his hand--she noticed it was white and well +kept--on her mustang's neck, and said, "If--if you care to trust +yourself to me, I could lead you and your horse down a trail into +the valley that is at least a third of the distance shorter. It +would save you going back to the regular road, and there are one or +two lovely views that I could show you. I should be so pleased, if +it would not trouble you. There's a steep place or two--but I +think there's no danger." + +"I shall not be afraid." + +She smiled so graciously, and, as she fully believed, maternally, +that he looked at her the second time. To his first hurried +impression of her as an elegant and delicately nurtured woman--one +of the class of distinguished tourists that fashion was beginning +to send thither--he had now to add that she had a quantity of fine +silken-spun light hair gathered in a heavy braid beneath her gray +hat; that her mouth was very delicately lipped and beautifully +sensitive; that her soft skin, although just then touched with +excitement, was a pale faded velvet, and seemed to be worn with +ennui rather than experience; that her eyes were hidden behind a +strip of gray veil whence only a faint glow was discernible. To +this must still be added a poetic fancy all his own that, as she +sat there, with the skirt of her gray habit falling from her long +bodiced waist over the mustang's fawn-colored flanks, and with her +slim gauntleted hands lightly swaying the reins, she looked like +Queen Guinevere in the forest. Not that he particularly fancied +Queen Guinevere, or that he at all imagined himself Launcelot, but +it was quite in keeping with the suggestion-haunted brain of John +Milton Harcourt, whom the astute reader has of course long since +recognized. + +Preceding her through the soft carpeted vault with a woodman's +instinct,--for there was apparently no trail to be seen,--the soft +inner twilight began to give way to the outer stronger day, and +presently she was startled to see the clear blue of the sky before +her on apparently the same level as the brown pine-tessellated +floor she was treading. Not only did this show her that she was +crossing a ridge of the upland, but a few moments later she had +passed beyond the woods to a golden hillside that sloped towards a +leafy, sheltered, and exquisitely-proportioned valley. A tiny but +picturesque tower, and a few straggling roofs and gables, the +flashing of a crystal stream through the leaves, and a narrow white +ribbon of road winding behind it indicated the hostelry they were +seeking. So peaceful and unfrequented it looked, nestling between +the hills, that it seemed as if they had discovered it. + +With his hand at times upon the bridle, at others merely caressing +her mustang's neck, he led the way; there were a few breathless +places where the crown of his straw hat appeared between her +horse's reins, and again when she seemed almost slipping over on +his shoulder, but they were passed with such frank fearlessness and +invincible youthful confidence on the part of her escort that she +felt no timidity. There were moments when a bit of the charmed +landscape unfolding before them overpowered them both, and they +halted to gaze,--sometimes without a word, or only a significant +gesture of sympathy and attention. At one of those artistic +manifestations Mrs. Ashwood laid her slim gloved fingers lightly +but unwittingly on John Milton's arm, and withdrew them, however, +with a quick girlish apology and a foolish color which annoyed her +more than the appearance of familiarity. But they were now getting +well down into the valley; the court of the little hotel was +already opening before them; their unconventional relations in the +idyllic world above had changed; the new one required some delicacy +of handling, and she had an idea that even the simplicity of the +young stranger might be confusing. + +"I must ask you to continue to act as my escort," she said, +laughingly. "I am Mrs. Ashwood of Philadelphia, visiting San +Francisco with my sister and brother, who are, I am afraid, even +now hopelessly waiting luncheon for me at San Mateo. But as there +seems to be no prospect of my joining them in time, I hope you will +be able to give me the pleasure of your company, with whatever they +may give us here in the way of refreshment." + +"I shall be very happy," returned John Milton with unmistakable +candor; "but perhaps some of your friends will be arriving in quest +of you, if they are not already here." + +"Then they will join us or wait," said Mrs. Ashwood incisively, +with her first exhibition of the imperiousness of a rich and pretty +woman. Perhaps she was a little annoyed that her elaborate +introduction of herself had produced no reciprocal disclosure by +her companion. "Will you please send the landlord to me?" she +added. + +John Milton disappeared in the hotel as she cantered to the porch. +In another moment she was giving the landlord her orders with the +easy confidence of one who knew herself only as an always welcome +and highly privileged guest, which was not without its effect. +"And," she added carelessly, "when everything is ready you will +please tell--Mr."-- + +"Harcourt," suggested the landlord promptly. + +Mrs. Ashwood's perfectly trained face gave not the slightest sign +of the surprise that had overtaken her. "Of course,--Mr. Harcourt." + +"You know he's the son of the millionaire," continued the landlord, +not at all unwilling to display the importance of the habitues of +Crystal Spring, "though they've quarreled and don't get on +together." + +"I know," said the lady languidly, "and, if any one comes here for +ME, ask them to wait in the parlor until I come." + +Then, submitting herself and her dusty habit to the awkward +ministration of the Irish chambermaid, she was quite thrilled with +a delightful curiosity. She vaguely remembered that she had heard +something of the Harcourt family discord,--but that was the +divorced daughter surely! And this young man was Harcourt's son, +and they had quarreled! A quarrel with a frank, open, ingenuous +fellow like that--a mere boy--could only be the father's fault. +Luckily she had never mentioned the name of Harcourt! She would +not now; he need not know that it was his father who had originated +the party; why should she make him uncomfortable for the few +moments they were together? + +There was nothing of this in her face as she descended and joined +him. He thought that face handsome, well-bred, and refined. But +this breeding and refinement seemed to him--in his ignorance of the +world, possibly--as only a graceful concealment of a self of which +he knew nothing; and he was not surprised to find that her pretty +gray eyes, now no longer hidden by her veil, really told him no +more than her lips. He was a little afraid of her, and now that +she had lost her naive enthusiasm he was conscious of a vague +remorsefulness for his interrupted work in the forest. What was he +doing here? He who had avoided the cruel, selfish world of wealth +and pleasure,--a world that this woman represented,--the world that +had stood apart from him in the one dream of his life--and had let +Loo die! His quickly responsive face darkened. + +"I am afraid I really interrupted you up there," she said gently, +looking in his face with an expression of unfeigned concern; "you +were at work of some kind, I know, and I have very selfishly +thought only of myself. But the whole scene was so new to me, and +I so rarely meet any one who sees things as I do, that I know you +will forgive me." She bent her eyes upon him with a certain soft +timidity. "You are an artist?" + +"I am afraid not," he said, coloring and smiling faintly; "I don't +think I could draw a straight line." + +"Don't try to; they're not pretty, and the mere ability to draw +them straight or curved doesn't make an artist. But you are a +LOVER of nature, I know, and from what I have heard you say I +believe you can do what lovers cannot do,--make others feel as they +do,--and that is what I call being an artist. You write? You are +a poet?" + +"Oh dear, no," he said with a smile, half of relief and half of +naive superiority, "I'm a prose writer--on a daily newspaper." + +To his surprise she was not disconcerted; rather a look of +animation lit up her face as she said brightly, "Oh, then, you can +of course satisfy my curiosity about something. You know the road +from San Francisco to the Cliff House. Except for the view of the +sea-lions when one gets there it's stupid; my brother says it's +like all the San Francisco excursions,--a dusty drive with a julep +at the end of it. Well, one day we were coming back from a drive +there, and when we were beginning to wind along the brow of that +dreadful staring Lone Mountain Cemetery, I said I would get out and +walk, and avoid the obtrusive glitter of those tombstones rising +before me all the way. I pushed open a little gate and passed in. +Once among these funereal shrubs and cold statuesque lilies +everything was changed; I saw the staring tombstones no longer, +for, like them, I seemed to be always facing the sea. The road had +vanished; everything had vanished but the endless waste of ocean +below me, and the last slope of rock and sand. It seemed to be the +fittest place for a cemetery,--this end of the crumbling earth,-- +this beginning of the eternal sea. There! don't think that idea my +own, or that I thought of it then. No,--I read it all afterwards, +and that's why I'm telling you this." + +She could not help smiling at his now attentive face, and went on: +"Some days afterwards I got hold of a newspaper four or six months +old, and there was a description of all that I thought I had seen +and felt,--only far more beautiful and touching, as you shall see, +for I cut it out of the paper and have kept it. It seemed to me +that it must be some personal experience,--as if the writer had +followed some dear friend there,--although it was with the +unostentation and indefiniteness of true and delicate feeling. It +impressed me so much that I went back there twice or thrice, and +always seemed to move to the rhythm of that beautiful funeral +march--and I am afraid, being a woman, that I wandered around among +the graves as though I could find out who it was that had been sung +so sweetly, and if it were man or woman. I've got it here," she +said, taking a dainty ivory porte-monnaie from her pocket and +picking out with two slim finger-tips a folded slip of newspaper; +"and I thought that maybe you might recognize the style of the +writer, and perhaps know something of his history. For I believe +he has one. There! that is only a part of the article, of course, +but it is the part that interested me. Just read from there," she +pointed, leaning partly over his shoulder so that her soft breath +stirred his hair, "to the end; it isn't long." + +In the film that seemed to come across his eyes, suddenly the print +appeared blurred and indistinct. But he knew that she had put into +his hand something he had written after the death of his wife; +something spontaneous and impulsive, when her loss still filled his +days and nights and almost unconsciously swayed his pen. He +remembered that his eyes had been as dim when he wrote it--and now-- +handed to him by this smiling, well-to-do woman, he was as shocked +at first as if he had suddenly found her reading his private +letters. This was followed by a sudden sense of shame that he had +ever thus publicly bared his feelings, and then by the illogical +but irresistible conviction that it was false and stupid. The few +phrases she had pointed out appeared as cheap and hollow rhetoric +amid the surroundings of their social tete-a-tete over the +luncheon-table. There was small danger that this heady wine of +woman's praise would make him betray himself; there was no sign of +gratified authorship in his voice as he quietly laid down the paper +and said dryly: "I am afraid I can't help you. You know it may be +purely fanciful." + +"I don't think so," said Mrs. Ashwood thoughtfully. "At the same +time it doesn't strike me as a very abiding grief for that very +reason. It's TOO sympathetic. It strikes me that it might be the +first grief of some one too young to be inured to sorrow or +experienced enough to accept it as the common lot. But like all +youthful impressions it is very sincere and true while it lasts. I +don't know whether one gets anything more real when one gets +older." + +With an insincerity he could not account for, he now felt inclined +to defend his previous sentiment, although all the while conscious +of a certain charm in his companion's graceful skepticism. He had +in his truthfulness and independence hitherto always been quite +free from that feeble admiration of cynicism which attacks the +intellectually weak and immature, and his present predilection may +have been due more to her charming personality. She was not at all +like his sisters; she had none of Clementina's cold abstraction, +and none of Euphemia's sharp and demonstrative effusiveness. And +in his secret consciousness of her flattering foreknowledge of him, +with her assurance that before they had ever met he had unwittingly +influenced her, he began to feel more at his ease. His fair +companion also, in the equally secret knowledge she had acquired of +his history, felt as secure as if she had been formally introduced. +Nobody could find fault with her for showing civility to the +ostensible son of her host; it was not necessary that she should be +aware of their family differences. There was a charm too in their +enforced isolation, in what was the exceptional solitude of the +little hotel that day, and the seclusion of their table by the +window of the dining-room, which gave a charming domesticity to +their repast. From time to time they glanced down the lonely +canyon, losing itself in the afternoon shadow. Nevertheless Mrs. +Ashwood's preoccupation with Nature did not preclude a human +curiosity to hear something more of John Milton's quarrel with his +father. There was certainly nothing of the prodigal son about him; +there was no precocious evil knowledge in his frank eyes; no record +of excesses in his healthy, fresh complexion; no unwholesome or +disturbed tastes in what she had seen of his rural preferences and +understanding of natural beauty. To have attempted any direct +questioning that would have revealed his name and identity would +have obliged her to speak of herself as his father's guest. She +began indirectly; he had said he had been a reporter, and he was +still a chronicler of this strange life. He had of course heard of +many cases of family feuds and estrangements? Her brother had told +her of some dreadful vendettas he had known in the Southwest, and +how whole families had been divided. Since she had been here she +had heard of odd cases of brothers meeting accidentally after long +and unaccounted separations; of husbands suddenly confronted with +wives they had deserted; of fathers encountering discarded sons! + +John Milton's face betrayed no uneasy consciousness. If anything +it was beginning to glow with a boyish admiration of the grace and +intelligence of the fair speaker, that was perhaps heightened by an +assumption of half coquettish discomfiture. + +"You are laughing at me!" she said finally. "But inhuman and +selfish as these stories may seem, and sometimes are, I believe +that these curious estrangements and separations often come from +some fatal weakness of temperament that might be strengthened, or +some trivial misunderstanding that could be explained. It is +separation that makes them seem irrevocable only because they are +inexplicable, and a vague memory always seems more terrible than a +definite one. Facts may be forgiven and forgotten, but mysteries +haunt one always. I believe there are weak, sensitive people who +dread to put their wrongs into shape; those are the kind who sulk, +and when you add separation to sulking, reconciliation becomes +impossible. I knew a very singular case of that kind once. If you +like, I'll tell it to you. May be you will be able, some day, to +weave it into one of your writings. And it's quite true." + +It is hardly necessary to say that John Milton had not been touched +by any personal significance in his companion's speech, whatever +she may have intended; and it is equally true that whether she had +presently forgotten her purpose, or had become suddenly interested +in her own conversation, her face grew more animated, her manner +more confidential, and something of the youthful enthusiasm she had +shown in the mountain seemed to come back to her. + +"I might say it happened anywhere and call the people M. or N., +but it really did occur in my own family, and although I was much +younger at the time it impressed me very strongly. My cousin, who +had been my playmate, was an orphan, and had been intrusted to the +care of my father, who was his guardian. He was always a clever +boy, but singularly sensitive and quick to take offense. Perhaps +it was because the little property his father had left made him +partly dependent on my father, and that I was rich, but he seemed +to feel the disparity in our positions. I was too young to +understand it; I think it existed only in his imagination, for I +believe we were treated alike. But I remember that he was full of +vague threats of running away and going to sea, and that it was +part of his weak temperament to terrify me with his extravagant +confidences. I was always frightened when, after one of those +scenes, he would pack his valise or perhaps only tie up a few +things in a handkerchief, as in the advertisement pictures of the +runaway slaves, and declare that we would never lay eyes upon him +again. At first I never saw the ridiculousness of all this,--for I +ought to have told you that he was a rather delicate and timid boy, +and quite unfitted for a rough life or any exposure,--but others +did, and one day I laughed at him and told him he was afraid. I +shall never forget the expression of his face and never forgive +myself for it. He went away,--but he returned the next day! He +threatened once to commit suicide, left his clothes on the bank of +the river, and came home in another suit of clothes he had taken +with him. When I was sent abroad to school I lost sight of him; +when I returned he was at college, apparently unchanged. When he +came home for vacation, far from having been subdued by contact +with strangers, it seemed that his unhappy sensitiveness had been +only intensified by the ridicule of his fellows. He had even +acquired a most ridiculous theory about the degrading effects of +civilization, and wanted to go back to a state of barbarism. He +said the wilderness was the only true home of man. My father, +instead of bearing with what I believe was his infirmity, dryly +offered him the means to try his experiment. He started for some +place in Texas, saying we would never hear from him again. A month +after he wrote for more money. My father replied rather impatiently, +I suppose,--I never knew exactly what he wrote. That was some years +ago. He had told the truth at last, for we never heard from him +again." + +It is to be feared that John Milton was following the animated lips +and eyes of the fair speaker rather than her story. Perhaps that +was the reason why he said, "May he not have been a disappointed +man?" + +"I don't understand," she said simply. + +"Perhaps," said John Milton with a boyish blush, "you may have +unconsciously raised hopes in his heart--and"-- + +"I should hardly attempt to interest a chronicler of adventure like +you in such a very commonplace, every-day style of romance," she +said, with a little impatience, "even if my vanity compelled me to +make such confidences to a stranger. No,--it was nothing quite as +vulgar as that. And," she added quickly, with a playfully amused +smile as she saw the young fellow's evident distress, "I should +have probably heard from him again. Those stories always end in +that way." + +"And you think?"--said John Milton. + +"I think," said Mrs. Ashwood slowly, "that he actually did commit +suicide--or effaced himself in some way, just as firmly as I +believe he might have been saved by judicious treatment. Otherwise +we should have heard from him. You'll say that's only a woman's +reasoning--but I think our perceptions are often instinctive, and I +knew his character." + +Still following the play of her delicate features into a romance of +his own weaving, the imaginative young reporter who had seen so +much from the heights of Russian Hill said earnestly, "Then I have +your permission to use this material at any future time?" + +"Yes," said the lady smilingly. + +"And you will not mind if I should take some liberties with the +text?" + +"I must of course leave something to your artistic taste. But you +will let me see it?" + +There were voices outside now, breaking the silence of the veranda. +They had been so preoccupied as not to notice the arrival of a +horseman. Steps came along the passage; the landlord returned. +Mrs. Ashwood turned quickly towards him. + +"Mr. Grant, of your party, ma'am, to fetch you." + +She saw an unmistakable change in her young friend's mobile face. +"I will be ready in a moment," she said to the landlord. Then, +turning to John Milton, the arch-hypocrite said sweetly: "My +brother must have known instinctively that I was in good hands, as +he didn't come. But I am sorry, for I should have so liked to +introduce him to you--although by the way," with a bright smile, "I +don't think you have yet told me your name. I know I couldn't have +FORGOTTEN it." + +"Harcourt," said John Milton, with a half-embarrassed laugh. + +"But you must come and see me, Mr.--Mr. Harcourt," she said, +producing a card from a case already in her fingers, "at my hotel, +and let my brother thank you there for your kindness and gallantry +to a stranger. I shall be here a few weeks longer before we go +south to look for a place where my brother can winter. DO come and +see me, although I cannot introduce you to anything as real and +beautiful as what YOU have shown me to-day. Good-by, Mr. Harcourt; +I won't trouble you to come down and bore yourself with my escort's +questions and congratulations." + +She bent her head and allowed her soft eyes to rest upon his with a +graciousness that was beyond her speech, pulled her veil over her +eyes again, with a pretty suggestion that she had no further use +for them, and taking her riding-skirt lightly in her hand seemed to +glide from the room. + +On her way to San Mateo, where it appeared the disorganized party +had prolonged their visit to accept an invitation to dine with a +local magnate, she was pleasantly conversational with the slightly +abstracted Grant. She was so sorry to have given them all this +trouble and anxiety! Of course she ought to have waited at the +fork of the road, but she had never doubted but she could rejoin +them presently on the main road. She was glad that Miss Euphemia's +runaway horse had been stopped without accident; it would have been +dreadful if anything had happened to HER; Mr. Harcourt seemed so +wrapped up in his girls. It was a pity they never had a son--Ah? +Indeed! Then there was a son? So--and father and son had +quarreled? That was so sad. And for some trifling cause, no +doubt? + +"I believe he married the housemaid," said Grant grimly. "Be +careful!--Allow me." + +"It's no use!" said Mrs. Ashwood, flushing with pink impatience, as +she recovered her seat, which a sudden bolt of her mustang had +imperiled, "I really can't make out the tricks of this beast! +Thank you," she added, with a sweet smile, "but I think I can +manage him now. I can't see why he stopped. I'll be more careful. +You were saying the son was married--surely not that boy!" + +"Boy!" echoed Grant. "Then you know?"-- + +"I mean of course he must be a boy--they all grew up here--and it +was only five or six years ago that their parents emigrated," she +retorted a little impatiently. "And what about this creature?" + +"Your horse?" + +"You know I mean the woman he married. Of course she was older +than he--and caught him?" + +"I think there was a year or two difference," said Grant quietly. + +"Yes, but your gallantry keeps you from telling the truth; which is +that the women, in cases of this kind, are much older and more +experienced." + +"Are they? Well, perhaps she is, NOW. She is dead." + +Mrs. Ashwood walked her horse. "Poor thing," she said. Then a +sudden idea took possession of her and brought a film to her eyes. +"How long ago?" she asked in a low voice. + +"About six or seven months, I think. I believe there was a baby +who died too." + +She continued to walk her horse slowly, stroking its curved neck. +"I think it's perfectly shameful!" she said suddenly. + +"Not so bad as that, Mrs. Ashwood, surely. The girl may have loved +him--and he"-- + +"You know perfectly what I mean, Mr. Grant. I speak of the conduct +of the mother and father and those two sisters!" + +Grant slightly elevated his eyebrows. "But you forget, Mrs. +Ashwood. It was young Harcourt and his wife's own act. They +preferred to take their own path and keep it." + +"I think," said Mrs. Ashwood authoritatively, "that the idea of +leaving those two unfortunate children to suffer and struggle on +alone--out there--on the sand hills of San Francisco--was simply +disgraceful!" + +Later that evening she was unreasonably annoyed to find that her +brother, Mr. John Shipley, had taken advantage of the absence of +Grant to pay marked attention to Clementina, and had even prevailed +upon that imperious goddess to accompany him after dinner on a +moonlight stroll upon the veranda and terraces of Los Pajaros. +Nevertheless she seemed to recover her spirits enough to talk +volubly of the beautiful scenery she had discovered in her late +perilous abandonment in the wilds of the Coast Range; to aver her +intention to visit it again; to speak of it in a severely practical +way as offering a far better site for the cottages of the young +married couples just beginning life than the outskirts of towns or +the bleak sand hills of San Francisco; and thence by graceful +degrees into a dissertation upon popular fallacies in regard to +hasty marriages, and the mistaken idea of some parents in not +accepting the inevitable and making the best of it. She still +found time to enter into an appreciative and exhaustive criticism +upon the literature and journalistic enterprise of the Pacific +Coast with the proprietor of the "Pioneer," and to cause that +gentleman to declare that whatever people might say about rich and +fashionable Eastern women, that Mrs. Ashwood's head was about as +level as it was pretty. + +The next morning found her more thoughtful and subdued, and when +her brother came upon her sitting on the veranda, while the party +were preparing to return, she was reading a newspaper slip that she +had taken from her porte-monnaie, with a face that was partly +shadowed. + +"What have you struck there, Conny?" said her brother gayly. "It +looks too serious for a recipe." + +"Something I should like you to read some time, Jack," she said, +lifting her lashes with a slight timidity, "if you would take the +trouble. I really wonder how it would impress you." + +"Pass it over," said Jack Shipley good-humoredly, with his cigar +between his lips. "I'll take it now." + +She handed him the slip and turned partly away; he took it, glanced +at it sideways, turned it over, and suddenly his look grew +concentrated, and he took the cigar from his lips. + +"Well," she said playfully, turning to him again. "What do you +think of it?" + +"Think of it?" he said with a rising color. "I think it's +infamous! Who did it?" + +She stared at him, then glanced quickly at the slip. "What are you +reading?" she said. + +"This, of course," he said impatiently. "What you gave me." But +he was pointing to THE OTHER SIDE of the newspaper slip. + +She took it from him impatiently and read for the first time the +printing on the reverse side of the article she had treasured so +long. It was the concluding paragraph of an apparently larger +editorial. "One thing is certain, that a man in Daniel Harcourt's +position cannot afford to pass over in silence accusations like the +above, that affect not only his private character, but the +integrity of his title to the land that was the foundation of his +fortune. When trickery, sharp practice, and even criminality in +the past are more than hinted at, they cannot be met by mere +pompous silence or allusions to private position, social prestige, +or distinguished friends in the present." + +Mrs. Ashwood turned the slip over with scornful impatience, a +pretty uplifting of her eyebrows and a slight curl of her lip. "I +suppose none of those people's beginnings can bear looking into-- +and they certainly should be the last ones to find fault with +anybody. But, good gracious, Jack! what has this to do with you?" + +"With me?" said Shipley angrily. "Why, I proposed to Clementina +last night!" + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +The wayfarers on the Tasajara turnpike, whom Mr. Daniel Harcourt +passed with his fast trotting mare and sulky, saw that their great +fellow-townsman was more than usually preoccupied and curt in his +acknowledgment of their salutations. Nevertheless as he drew near +the creek, he partly checked his horse, and when he reached a +slight acclivity of the interminable plain--which had really been +the bank of the creek in bygone days--he pulled up, alighted, tied +his horse to a rail fence, and clambering over the inclosure made +his way along the ridge. It was covered with nettles, thistles, +and a few wiry dwarf larches of native growth; dust from the +adjacent highway had invaded it, with a few scattered and torn +handbills, waste paper, rags, empty provision cans, and other +suburban debris. Yet it was the site of 'Lige Curtis's cabin, long +since erased and forgotten. The bed of the old creek had receded; +the last tules had been cleared away; the channel and embarcadero +were half a mile from the bank and log whereon the pioneer of +Tasajara had idly sunned himself. + +Mr. Harcourt walked on, occasionally turning over the scattered +objects with his foot, and stopping at times to examine the ground +more closely. It had not apparently been disturbed since he +himself, six years ago, had razed the wretched shanty and carried +off its timbers to aid in the erection of a larger cabin further +inland. He raised his eyes to the prospect before him,--to the +town with its steamboats lying at the wharves, to the grain +elevator, the warehouses, the railroad station with its puffing +engines, the flagstaff of Harcourt House and the clustering roofs +of the town, and beyond, the painted dome of his last creation, the +Free Library. This was all HIS work, HIS planning, HIS foresight, +whatever they might say of the wandering drunkard from whose +tremulous fingers he had snatched the opportunity. They could not +take THAT from him, however they might follow him with envy and +reviling, any more than they could wrest from him the five years of +peaceful possession. It was with something of the prosperous +consciousness with which he had mounted the platform on the opening +of the Free Library, that he now climbed into his buggy and drove +away. + +Nevertheless he stopped at his Land Office as he drove into town, +and gave a few orders. "I want a strong picket fence put around +the fifty-vara lot in block fifty-seven, and the ground cleared up +at once. Let me know when the men get to work, and I'll overlook +them." + +Re-entering his own house in the square, where Mrs. Harcourt and +Clementina--who often accompanied him in those business visits-- +were waiting for him with luncheon, he smiled somewhat superciliously +as the servant informed him that "Professor Grant had just arrived." +Really that man was trying to make the most of his time with +Clementina! Perhaps the rival attractions of that Boston swell +Shipley had something to do with it! He must positively talk to +Clementina about this. In point of fact he himself was a little +disappointed in Grant, who, since his offer to take the task of +hunting down his calumniators, had really done nothing. He turned +into his study, but was slightly astonished to find that Grant, +instead of paying court to Clementina in the adjoining drawing-room, +was sitting rather thoughtfully in his own armchair. + +He rose as Harcourt entered. "I didn't let them announce me to +the ladies," he said, "as I have some important business with you +first, and we may find it necessary that I should take the next +train back to town. You remember that a few weeks ago I offered to +look into the matter of those slanders against you. I apprehended +it would be a trifling matter of envy or jealousy on the part of +your old associates or neighbors which could be put straight with a +little good feeling; but I must be frank with you, Harcourt, and +say at the beginning that it turns out to be an infernally ugly +business. Call it conspiracy if you like, or organized hostility, +I'm afraid it will require a lawyer rather than an arbitrator to +manage it, and the sooner the better. For the most unpleasant +thing about it is, that I can't find out exactly HOW BAD it is!" + +Unfortunately the weaker instinct of Harcourt's nature was first +roused; the vulgar rage which confounds the bearer of ill news with +the news itself filled his breast. "And this is all that your +confounded intermeddling came to?" he said brutally. + +"No," said Grant quietly, with a preoccupied ignoring of the insult +that was more hopeless for Harcourt. "I found out that it is +claimed that this 'Lige Curtis was not drowned nor lost that night; +but that he escaped, and for three years has convinced another man +that you are wrongfully in possession of this land; that these two +naturally hold you in their power, and that they are only waiting +for you to be forced into legal proceedings for slander to prove +all their charges. Until then, for some reason best known to +themselves, Curtis remains in the background." + +"Does he deny the deed under which I hold the property?" said +Harcourt savagely. + +"He says it was only a security for a trifling loan, and not an +actual transfer." + +"And don't those fools know that his security could be forfeited?" + +"Yes, but not in the way it is recorded in the county clerk's +office. They say that the record shows that there was an +interpolation in the paper he left with you--which was a forgery. +Briefly, Harcourt, you are accused of that. More,--it is intimated +that when he fell into the creek that night, and escaped on a raft +that was floating past, that he had been first stunned by a blow +from some one interested in getting rid of him." + +He paused and glanced out of the window. + +"Is that all?" asked Harcourt in a perfectly quiet, steady, voice. + +"All!" replied Grant, struck with the change in his companion's +manner, and turning his eyes upon him quickly. + +The change indeed was marked and significant. Whether from relief +at knowing the worst, or whether he was experiencing the same +reaction from the utter falsity of this last accusation that he had +felt when Grant had unintentionally wronged him in his previous +recollection, certain it is that some unknown reserve of strength +in his own nature, of which he knew nothing before, suddenly came +to his aid in this extremity. It invested him with an uncouth +dignity that for the first time excited Grant's respect. + +"I beg your pardon, Grant, for the hasty way I spoke to you a +moment ago, for I thank you, and appreciate thoroughly and +sincerely what you have done. You are right; it is a matter for +fighting and not fussing over. But I must have a head to hit. +Whose is it?" + +"The man who holds himself legally responsible is Fletcher,--the +proprietor of the 'Clarion,' and a man of property." + +"The 'Clarion'? That is the paper which began the attack?" said +Harcourt. + +"Yes, and it is only fair to tell you here that your son threw up +his place on it in consequence of its attack upon you." + +There was perhaps the slightest possible shrinking in Harcourt's +eyelids--the one congenital likeness to his discarded son--but his +otherwise calm demeanor did not change. Grant went on more +cheerfully: "I've told you all I know. When I spoke of an unknown +WORST, I did not refer to any further accusation, but to whatever +evidence they might have fabricated or suborned to prove any one of +them. It is only the strength and fairness of the hands they hold +that is uncertain. Against that you have your certain uncontested +possession, the peculiar character and antecedents of this 'Lige +Curtis, which would make his evidence untrustworthy and even make +it difficult for them to establish his identity. I am told that +his failure to contest your appropriation of his property is +explained by the fact of his being absent from the country most of +the time; but again, this would not account for their silence until +within the last six months, unless they have been waiting for +further evidence to establish it. But even then they must have +known that the time of recovery had passed. You are a practical +man, Harcourt; I needn't tell you therefore what your lawyer will +probably tell you, that practically, so far as your rights are +concerned, you remain as before these calumnies; that a cause of +action unprosecuted or in abeyance is practically no cause, and +that it is not for you to anticipate one. BUT"-- + +He paused and looked steadily at Harcourt. Harcourt met his look +with a dull, ox-like stolidity. "I shall begin the suit at once," +he said. + +"And I," said Grant, holding out his hand, "will stand by you. But +tell me now what you knew of this man Curtis,--his character and +disposition; it may be some clue as to what are his methods and his +intentions." + +Harcourt briefly sketched 'Lige Curtis as he knew him and +understood him. It was another indication of his reserved power +that the description was so singularly clear, practical, +unprejudiced, and impartial that it impressed Grant with its +truthfulness. + +"I can't make him out," he said; "you have drawn a weak, but +neither a dishonest nor malignant man. There must have been +somebody behind him. Can you think of any personal enemy?" + +"I have been subjected to the usual jealousy and envy of my old +neighbors, I suppose, but nothing more. I have harmed no one +knowingly." + +Grant was silent; it had flashed across him that Rice might have +harbored revenge for his father-in-law's interference in his brief +matrimonial experience. He had also suddenly recalled his +conversation with Billings on the day that he first arrived at +Tasajara. It would not be strange if this man had some intimation +of the secret. He would try to find him that evening. He rose. + +"You will stay to dinner? My wife and Clementina will expect you." + +"Not to-night; I am dining at the hotel," said Grant, smilingly; +"but I will come in later in the evening if I may." He paused +hesitatingly for a moment. "Have your wife and daughter ever +expressed any opinion on this matter?" + +"No," said Harcourt. "Mrs. Harcourt knows nothing of anything that +does not happen IN the house; Euphemia knows only the things that +happen out of it where she is visiting--and I suppose that young +men prefer to talk to her about other things than the slanders of +her father. And Clementina--well, you know how calm and superior +to these things SHE is." + +"For that very reason I thought that perhaps she might be able to +see them more clearly,--but no matter! I dare say you are quite +right in not discussing them at home." This was the fact, although +Grant had not forgotten that Harcourt had put forward his daughters +as a reason for stopping the scandal some weeks before,--a reason +which, however, seemed never to have been borne out by any apparent +sensitiveness of the girls themselves. + +When Grant had left, Harcourt remained for some moments steadfastly +gazing from the window over the Tasajara plain. He had not lost +his look of concentrated power, nor his determination to fight. A +struggle between himself and the phantoms of the past had become +now a necessary stimulus for its own sake,--for the sake of his +mental and physical equipoise. He saw before him the pale, +agitated, irresolute features of 'Lige Curtis,--not the man HE had +injured, but the man who had injured HIM, whose spirit was +aimlessly and wantonly--for he had never attempted to get back his +possessions in his lifetime, nor ever tried to communicate with the +possessor--striking at him in the shadow. And it was THAT man, +that pale, writhing, frightened wretch whom he had once mercifully +helped! Yes, whose LIFE he had even saved that night from exposure +and delirium tremens when he had given him the whiskey. And this +life he had saved, only to have it set in motion a conspiracy to +ruin him! Who knows that 'Lige had not purposely conceived what +they had believed to be an attempt at suicide, only to cast +suspicion of murder on HIM! From which it will be perceived that +Harcourt's powers of moral reasoning had not improved in five +years, and that even the impartiality he had just shown in his +description of 'Lige to Grant had been swallowed up in this new +sense of injury. The founder of Tasajara, whose cool business +logic, unfailing foresight, and practical deductions were never at +fault, was once more childishly adrift in his moral ethics. + +And there was Clementina, of whose judgment Grant had spoken so +persistently,--could she assist him? It was true, as he had said, +he had never talked to her of his affairs. In his sometimes uneasy +consciousness of her superiority he had shrunk from even revealing +his anxieties, much less his actual secret, and from anything that +might prejudice the lofty paternal attitude he had taken towards +his daughters from the beginning of his good fortune. He was never +quite sure if her acceptance of it was real; he was never entirely +free from a certain jealousy that always mingled with his pride in +her superior rectitude; and yet his feeling was distinct from the +good-natured contempt he had for his wife's loyalty, the anger and +suspicion that his son's opposition had provoked, and the half- +affectionate toleration he had felt for Euphemia's waywardness. +However he would sound Clementina without betraying himself. + +He was anticipated by a slight step in the passage and the pushing +open of his study door. The tall, graceful figure of the girl +herself stood in the opening. + +"They tell me Mr. Grant has been here. Does he stay to dinner?" + +"No, he has an engagement at the hotel, but he will probably drop +in later. Come in, Clemmy, I want to talk to you. Shut the door +and sit down." + +She slipped in quietly, shut the door, took a seat on the sofa, +softly smoothed down her gown, and turned her graceful head and +serenely composed face towards him. Sitting thus she looked like +some finely finished painting that decorated rather than belonged +to the room,--not only distinctly alien to the flesh and blood +relative before her, but to the house, and even the local, +monotonous landscape beyond the window with the shining new +shingles and chimneys that cut the new blue sky. These singular +perfections seemed to increase in Harcourt's mind the exasperating +sense of injury inflicted upon him by 'Lige's exposures. With a +daughter so incomparably gifted,--a matchless creation that was +enough in herself to ennoble that fortune which his own skill and +genius had lifted from the muddy tules of Tasajara where this 'Lige +had left it,--that SHE should be subjected to this annoyance seemed +an infamy that Providence could not allow! What was his mere +venial transgression to this exaggerated retribution? + +"Clemmy, girl, I'm going to ask you a question. Listen, pet." He +had begun with a reminiscent tenderness of the epoch of her +childhood, but meeting the unresponding maturity of her clear eyes +he abandoned it. "You know, Clementina, I have never interfered in +your affairs, nor tried to influence your friendships for anybody. +Whatever people may have to say of me they can't say that! I've +always trusted you, as I would myself, to choose your own +associates; I have never regretted it, and I don't regret it now. +But I'd like to know--I have reasons to-day for asking--how matters +stand between you and Grant." + +The Parian head of Minerva on the bookcase above her did not offer +the spectator a face less free from maidenly confusion than +Clementina's at that moment. Her father had certainly expected +none, but he was not prepared for the perfect coolness of her +reply. + +"Do you mean, have I ACCEPTED him?" + +"No,--well--yes." + +"No, then! Is that what he wished to see you about? It was +understood that he was not to allude again to the subject to any +one." + +"He has not to ME. It was only my own idea. He had something very +different to tell me. You may not know, Clementina," he begun +cautiously, "that I have been lately the subject of some anonymous +slanders, and Grant has taken the trouble to track them down for +me. It is a calumny that goes back as far as Sidon, and I may want +your level head and good memory to help me to refute it." He then +repeated calmly and clearly, with no trace of the fury that had +raged within him a moment before, the substance of Grant's +revelation. + +The young girl listened without apparent emotion. When he had +finished she said quickly: "And what do you want me to recollect?" + +The hardest part of Harcourt's task was coming. "Well, don't you +remember that I told you the day the surveyors went away--that--I +had bought this land of 'Lige Curtis some time before?" + +"Yes, I remember your saying so, but"-- + +"But what?" + +"I thought you only meant that to satisfy mother." + +Daniel Harcourt felt the blood settling round his heart, but he was +constrained by an irresistible impulse to know the worst. "Well, +what did YOU think it really was?" + +"I only thought that 'Lige Curtis had simply let you have it, +that's all." + +Harcourt breathed again. "But what for? Why should he?" + +"Well--ON MY ACCOUNT." + +"On YOUR account! What in Heaven's name had YOU to do with it?" + +"He loved me." There was not the slightest trace of vanity, self- +consciousness or coquetry in her quiet, fateful face, and for this +very reason Harcourt knew that she was speaking the truth. + +"Loved YOU!--you, Clementina!--my daughter! Did he ever TELL you +so?" + +"Not in words. He used to walk up and down on the road when I was +at the back window or in the garden, and often hung about the bank +of the creek for hours, like some animal. I don't think the others +saw him, and when they did they thought it was Parmlee for +Euphemia. Even Euphemia thought so too, and that was why she was +so conceited and hard to Parmlee towards the end. She thought it +was Parmlee that night when Grant and Rice came; but it was 'Lige +Curtis who had been watching the window lights in the rain, and who +must have gone off at last to speak to you in the store. I always +let Phemie believe that it was Parmlee,--it seemed to please her." + +There was not the least tone of mischief or superiority, or even of +patronage in her manner. It was as quiet and cruel as the fate +that might have led 'Lige to his destruction. Even her father felt +a slight thrill of awe as she paused. "Then he never really spoke +to you?" he asked hurriedly. + +"Only once. I was gathering swamp lilies all alone, a mile below +the bend of the creek, and he came upon me suddenly. Perhaps it +was that I didn't jump or start--I didn't see anything to jump or +start at--that he said, 'You're not frightened at me, Miss +Harcourt, like the other girls? You don't think I'm drunk or half +mad--as they do?' I don't remember exactly what I said, but it +meant that whether he was drunk or half mad or sober I didn't see +any reason to be afraid of him. And then he told me that if I was +fond of swamp lilies I might have all I wanted at his place, and +for the matter of that the place too, as he was going away, for he +couldn't stand the loneliness any longer. He said that he had +nothing in common with the place and the people--no more than I +had--and that was what he had always fancied in me. I told him +that if he felt in that way about his place he ought to leave it, +or sell it to some one who cared for it, and go away. That must +have been in his mind when he offered it to you,--at least that's +what I thought when you told us you had bought it. I didn't know +but what he might have told you, but you didn't care to say it +before mother." + +Mr. Harcourt sat gazing at her with breathless amazement. "And +you--think that--'Lige Curtis--lov--liked you?" + +"Yes, I think he did--and that he does now!" + +"NOW! What do you mean? The man is dead!" said Harcourt starting. + +"That's just what I don't believe." + +"Impossible! Think of what you are saying." + +"I never could quite understand or feel that he was dead when +everybody said so, and now that I've heard this story I KNOW that +he is living." + +"But why did he not make himself known in time to claim the +property?" + +"Because he did not care for it." + +"What did he care for, then?" + +"Me, I suppose." + +"But this calumny is not like a man who loves you." + +"It is like a JEALOUS one." + +With an effort Harcourt threw off his bewildered incredulity and +grasped the situation. He would have to contend with his enemy in +the flesh and blood, but that flesh and blood would be very weak in +the hands of the impassive girl beside him. His face lightened. + +The same idea might have been in Clementina's mind when she spoke +again, although her face had remained unchanged. "I do not see why +YOU should bother yourself further about it," she said. "It is +only a matter between myself and him; you can leave it to me." + +"But if you are mistaken and he should not be living?" + +"I am not mistaken. I am even certain now that I have seen him." + +"Seen him!" + +"Yes," said the girl with the first trace of animation in her face. +"It was four or five months ago when we were visiting the Briones +at Monterey. We had ridden out to the old Mission by moonlight. +There were some Mexicans lounging around the posada, and one of +them attracted my attention by the way he seemed to watch me, +without revealing any more of his face than I could see between his +serape and the black silk handkerchief that was tied around his +head under his sombrero. But I knew he was an American--and his +eyes were familiar. I believe it was he." + +"Why did you not speak of it before?" + +The look of animation died out of the girl's face. "Why should I?" +she said listlessly. "I did not know of these reports then. He +was nothing more to us. You wouldn't have cared to see him again." +She rose, smoothed out her skirt and stood looking at her father. +"There is one thing, of course, that you'll do at once." + +Her voice had changed so oddly that he said quickly: "What's that?" + +"Call Grant off the scent. He'll only frighten or exasperate your +game, and that's what you don't want." + +Her voice was as imperious as it had been previously listless. And +it was the first time he had ever known her to use slang. + +It seemed as startling as if it had fallen from the marble lips +above him. + +"But I've promised him that we should go together to my lawyer to- +morrow, and begin a suit against the proprietors of the 'Clarion.'" + +"Do nothing of the kind. Get rid of Grant's assistance in this +matter; and see the 'Clarion' proprietor yourself. What sort of a +man is he? Can you invite him to your house?" + +"I have never seen him; I believe he lives at San Jose. He is a +wealthy man and a large land owner there. You understand that +after the first article appeared in his paper, and I knew that he +had employed your brother--although Grant says that he had nothing +to do with it and left Fletcher on account of it--I could have no +intercourse with him. Even if I invited him he would not come." + +"He MUST come. Leave it to ME." She stopped and resumed her +former impassive manner. "I had something to say to you too, +father. Mr. Shipley proposed to me the day we went to San Mateo." + +Her father's eyes lit with an eager sparkle. "Well," he said +quickly. + +"I reminded him that I had known him only a few weeks, and that I +wanted time to consider." + +"Consider! Why, Clemmy, he's one of the oldest Boston families, +rich from his father and grandfather--rich when I was a shopkeeper +and your mother"-- + +"I thought you liked Grant?" she said quietly. + +"Yes, but if YOU have no choice nor feeling in the matter, why +Shipley is far the better man. And if any of the scandal should +come to his ears"-- + +"So much the better that the hesitation should come from me. But +if you think it better, I can sit down here and write to him at +once declining the offer." She moved towards the desk. + +"No! No! I did not mean that," said Harcourt quickly. "I only +thought that if he did hear anything it might be said that he had +backed out." + +"His sister knows of his offer, and though she don't like it nor +me, she will not deny the fact. By the way, you remember when she +was lost that day on the road to San Mateo?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, she was with your son, John Milton, all the time, and they +lunched together at Crystal Spring. It came out quite accidentally +through the hotel-keeper." + +Harcourt's brow darkened. "Did she know him before?" + +"I can't say; but she does now." + +Harcourt's face was heavy with distrust. "Taking Shipley's offer +and these scandals into consideration, I don't like the look of +this, Clementina." + +"I do," said the girl simply. + +Harcourt gazed at her keenly and with the shadow of distrust still +upon him. It seemed to be quite impossible, even with what he knew +of her calmly cold nature, that she should be equally uninfluenced +by Grant or Shipley. Had she some steadfast, lofty ideal, or +perhaps some already absorbing passion of which he knew nothing? +She was not a girl to betray it--they would only know it when it +was too late. Could it be possible that there was still something +between her and 'Lige that he knew nothing of? The thought struck +a chill to his breast. She was walking towards the door, when he +recalled himself with an effort. + +"If you think it advisable to see Fletcher, you might run down to +San Jose for a day or two with your mother, and call on the Ramirez. +They may know him or somebody who does. Of course if YOU meet him +and casually invite him it would be different." + +"It's a good idea," she said quickly. "I'll do it, and speak to +mother now." + +He was struck by the change in her face and voice; they had both +nervously lightened, as oddly and distinctly as they had before +seemed to grow suddenly harsh and aggressive. She passed out of +the room with girlish brusqueness, leaving him alone with a new and +vague fear in his consciousness. + + +A few hours later Clementina was standing before the window of the +drawing-room that overlooked the outskirts of the town. The +moonlight was flooding the vast bluish Tasajara levels with a faint +lustre, as if the waters of the creek had once more returned to +them. In the shadow of the curtain beside her Grant was facing her +with anxious eyes. + +"Then I must take this as your final answer, Clementina?" + +"You must. And had I known of these calumnies before, had you been +frank with me even the day we went to San Mateo, my answer would +have been as final then, and you might have been spared any further +suspense. I am not blaming you, Mr. Grant; I am willing to believe +that you thought it best to conceal this from me,--even at that +time when you had just pledged yourself to find out its truth or +falsehood,--yet my answer would have been the same. So long as +this stain rests on my father's name I shall never allow that name +to be coupled with yours in marriage or engagement; nor will my +pride or yours allow us to carry on a simple friendship after this. +I thank you for your offer of assistance, but I cannot even accept +that which might to others seem to allow some contingent claim. I +would rather believe that when you proposed this inquiry and my +father permitted it, you both knew that it put an end to any other +relations between us." + +"But, Clementina, you are wrong, believe me! Say that I have been +foolish, indiscreet, mad,--still the few who knew that I made these +inquiries on your father's behalf know nothing of my hopes of YOU!" + +"But I do, and that is enough for me." + +Even in the hopeless preoccupation of his passion he suddenly +looked at her with something of his old critical scrutiny. But she +stood there calm, concentrated, self-possessed and upright. Yes! +it was possible that the pride of this Southwestern shopkeepers +daughter was greater than his own. + +"Then you banish me, Clementina?" + +"It is we whom YOU have banished." + +"Good-night." + +"Good-by." + +He bent for an instant over her cold hand, and then passed out into +the hall. She remained listening until the front door closed +behind him. Then she ran swiftly through the hall and up the +staircase, with an alacrity that seemed impossible to the stately +goddess of a moment before. When she had reached her bedroom and +closed the door, so exuberant still and so uncontrollable was her +levity and action, that without going round the bed which stood +before her in the centre of the room, she placed her two hands upon +it and lightly vaulted sideways across it to reach the window. +There she watched the figure of Grant crossing the moonlit square. +Then turning back into the half-lit room, she ran to the small +dressing-glass placed at an angle on a toilet table against the +wall. With her palms grasping her knees she stooped down suddenly +and contemplated the mirror. It showed what no one but Clementina +had ever seen,--and she herself only at rare intervals,--the +laughing eyes and soul of a self-satisfied, material-minded, +ordinary country-girl! + + +CHAPTER X. + + +But Mr. Lawrence Grant's character in certain circumstances would +seem to have as startling and inexplicable contradictions as +Clementina Harcourt's, and three days later he halted his horse at +the entrance of Los Gatos Rancho. The Home of the Cats--so called +from the catamounts which infested the locality--which had for over +a century lazily basked before one of the hottest canyons in the +Coast Range, had lately been stirred into some activity by the +American, Don Diego Fletcher, who had bought it, put up a saw-mill, +and deforested the canyon. Still there remained enough suggestion +of a feline haunt about it to make Grant feel as if he had tracked +hither some stealthy enemy, in spite of the peaceful intimation +conveyed by the sign on a rough boarded shed at the wayside, that +the "Los Gatos Land and Lumber Company" held their office there. + +A cigarette-smoking peon lounged before the door. Yes; Don Diego +was there, but as he had arrived from Santa Clara only last night +and was going to Colonel Ramirez that afternoon, he was engaged. +Unless the business was important--but the cool, determined manner +of Grant, even more than his words, signified that it WAS +important, and the servant led the way to Don Diego's presence. + +There certainly was nothing in the appearance of this sylvan +proprietor and newspaper capitalist to justify Grant's suspicion of +a surreptitious foe. A handsome man scarcely older than himself, +in spite of a wavy mass of perfectly white hair which contrasted +singularly with his brown mustache and dark sunburned face. So +disguising was the effect of these contradictions, that he not only +looked unlike anybody else, but even his nationality seemed to be a +matter of doubt. Only his eyes, light blue and intelligent, which +had a singular expression of gentleness and worry, appeared +individual to the man. His manner was cultivated and easy. He +motioned his visitor courteously to a chair. + +"I was referred to you," said Grant, almost abruptly, "as the +person responsible for a series of slanderous attacks against Mr. +Daniel Harcourt in the 'Clarion,' of which paper I believe you are +the proprietor. I was told that you declined to give the authority +for your action, unless you were forced to by legal proceedings." + +Fletcher's sensitive blue eyes rested upon Grant's with an +expression of constrained pain and pity. "I heard of your +inquiries, Mr. Grant; you were making them on behalf of this Mr. +Harcourt or Harkutt"--he made the distinction with intentional +deliberation--"with a view, I believe, to some arbitration. The +case was stated to you fairly, I think; I believe I have nothing to +add to it." + +"That was your answer to the ambassador of Mr. Harcourt," said +Grant, coldly, "and as such I delivered it to him; but I am here +to-day to speak on my own account." + +What could be seen of Mr. Fletcher's lips appeared to curl in an +odd smile. "Indeed, I thought it was--or would be--all in the +family." + +Grant's face grew more stern, and his gray eyes glittered. "You'll +find my status in this matter so far independent that I don't +propose, like Mr. Harcourt, either to begin a suit or to rest +quietly under the calumny. Briefly, Mr. Fletcher, as you or your +informant knows, I was the surveyor who revealed to Mr. Harcourt +the value of the land to which he claimed a title from your man, +this Elijah or 'Lige Curtis as you call him,"--he could not resist +this imitation of his adversary's supercilious affectation of +precise nomenclature,--"and it was upon my representation of its +value as an investment that he began the improvements which have +made him wealthy. If this title was fraudulently obtained, all the +facts pertaining to it are sufficiently related to connect me with +the conspiracy." + +"Are you not a little hasty in your presumption, Mr. Grant?" said +Fletcher, with unfeigned surprise. + +"That is for ME to judge, Mr. Fletcher," returned Grant, haughtily. + +"But the name of Professor Grant is known to all California as +beyond the breath of calumny or suspicion." + +"It is because of that fact that I propose to keep it so." + +"And may I ask in what way you wish me to assist you in so doing?" + +"By promptly and publicly retracting in the 'Clarion' every word of +this slander against Harcourt." + +Fletcher looked steadfastly at the speaker. "And if I decline?" + +"I think you have been long enough in California, Mr. Fletcher, to +know the alternative expected of a gentleman," said Grant, coldly. + +Mr. Fletcher kept his gentle blue eyes--in which surprise still +overbalanced their expression of pained concern--on Grant's face. + +"But is not this more in the style of Colonel Starbottle than +Professor Grant?" he asked, with a faint smile. + +Grant rose instantly with a white face. "You will have a better +opportunity of judging," he said, "when Colonel Starbottle has the +honor of waiting upon you from me. Meantime, I thank you for +reminding me of the indiscretion into which my folly, in still +believing that this thing could be settled amicably, has led me." + +He bowed coldly and withdrew. Nevertheless, as he mounted his +horse and rode away, he felt his cheeks burning. Yet he had acted +upon calm consideration; he knew that to the ordinary Californian +experience there was nothing quixotic nor exaggerated in the +attitude he had taken. Men had quarreled and fought on less +grounds; he had even half convinced himself that he HAD been +insulted, and that his own professional reputation demanded the +withdrawal of the attack on Harcourt on purely business grounds; +but he was not satisfied of the personal responsibility of Fletcher +nor of his gratuitous malignity. Nor did the man look like a tool +in the hands of some unscrupulous and hidden enemy. However, he +had played his card. If he succeeded only in provoking a duel with +Fletcher, he at least would divert the public attention from +Harcourt to himself. He knew that his superior position would +throw the lesser victim in the background. He would make the +sacrifice; that was his duty as a gentleman, even if SHE would not +care to accept it as an earnest of his unselfish love! + +He had reached the point where the mountain track entered the Santa +Clara turnpike when his attention was attracted by a handsome but +old-fashioned carriage drawn by four white mules, which passed down +the road before him and turned suddenly off into a private road. +But it was not this picturesque gala equipage of some local Spanish +grandee that brought a thrill to his nerves and a flash to his eye; +it was the unmistakable, tall, elegant figure and handsome profile +of Clementina, reclining in light gauzy wraps against the back +seat! It was no fanciful resemblance, the outcome of his reverie,-- +there never was any one like her!--it WAS she herself! But what +was she doing here? + +A vaquero cantered from the cross road where the dust of the +vehicle still hung. Grant hailed him. Ah! it was a fine carroza +de cuatro mulas that he had just passed! Si, Senor, truly; it was +of Don Jose Ramirez, who lived just under the hill. It was +bringing company to the casa. + +Ramirez! That was where Fletcher was going! Had Clementina known +that he was one of Fletcher's friends? Might she not be exposed to +unpleasantness, marked coolness, or even insult in that unexpected +meeting? Ought she not to be warned or prepared for it? She had +banished Grant from her presence until this stain was removed from +her father's name, but could she blame him for trying to save her +from contact with her father's slanderer? No! He turned his horse +abruptly into the cross road and spurred forward in the direction +of the casa. + +It was quite visible now--a low-walled, quadrangular mass of +whitewashed adobe lying like a drift on the green hillside. The +carriage and four had far preceded him, and was already half up the +winding road towards the house. Later he saw them reach the +courtyard and disappear within. He would be quite in time to speak +with her before she retired to change her dress. He would simply +say that while making a professional visit to Los Gatos Land +Company office he had become aware of Fletcher's connection with +it, and accidentally of his intended visit to Ramirez. His chance +meeting with the carriage on the highway had determined his course. + +As he rode into the courtyard he observed that it was also approached +by another road, evidently nearer Los Gatos, and probably the older +and shorter communication between the two ranchos. The fact was +significantly demonstrated a moment later. He had given his horse +to a servant, sent in his card to Clementina, and had dropped +listlessly on one of the benches of the gallery surrounding the +patio, when a horseman rode briskly into the opposite gateway, and +dismounted with a familiar air. A waiting peon who recognized him +informed him that the Dona was engaged with a visitor, but that they +were both returning to the gallery for chocolate in a moment. The +stranger was the man he had left only an hour before--Don Diego +Fletcher! + +In an instant the idiotic fatuity of his position struck him fully. +His only excuse for following Clementina had been to warn her of +the coming of this man who had just entered, and who would now meet +her as quickly as himself. For a brief moment the idea of quietly +slipping out to the corral, mounting his horse again, and flying +from the rancho, crossed his mind; but the thought that he would be +running away from the man he had just challenged, and perhaps some +new hostility that had sprung up in his heart against him, +compelled him to remain. The eyes of both men met; Fletcher's in +half-wondering annoyance, Grant's in ill-concealed antagonism. +What they would have said is not known, for at that moment the +voices of Clementina and Mrs. Ramirez were heard in the passage, +and they both entered the gallery. The two men were standing +together; it was impossible to see one without the other. + +And yet Grant, whose eyes were instantly directed to Clementina, +thought that she had noted neither. She remained for an instant +standing in the doorway in the same self-possessed, coldly graceful +pose he remembered she had taken on the platform at Tasajara. Her +eyelids were slightly downcast, as if she had been arrested by some +sudden thought or some shy maiden sensitiveness; in her hesitation +Mrs. Ramirez passed impatiently before her. + +"Mother of God!" said that lively lady, regarding the two +speechless men, "is it an indiscretion we are making here--or are +you dumb? You, Don Diego, are loud enough when you and Don Jose +are together; at least introduce your friend." + +Grant quickly recovered himself. "I am afraid," he said, coming +forward, "unless Miss Harcourt does, that I am a mere trespasser in +your house, Senora. I saw her pass in your carriage a few moments +ago, and having a message for her I ventured to follow her here." + +"It is Mr. Grant, a friend of my father's," said Clementina, +smiling with equanimity, as if just awakening from a momentary +abstraction, yet apparently unconscious of Grant's imploring eyes; +"but the other gentleman I have not the pleasure of knowing." + +"Ah! Don Diego Fletcher, a countryman of yours; and yet I think he +knows you not." + +Clementina's face betrayed no indication of the presence of her +father's foe, and yet Grant knew that she must have recognized his +name, as she looked towards Fletcher with perfect self-possession. +He was too much engaged in watching her to take note of Fletcher's +manifest disturbance, or the evident effort with which he at last +bowed to her. That this unexpected double meeting with the +daughter of the man he had wronged, and the man who had espoused +the quarrel, should be confounding to him appeared only natural. +But he was unprepared to understand the feverish alacrity with +which he accepted Dona Maria's invitation to chocolate, or the +equally animated way in which Clementina threw herself into her +hostess's Spanish levity. He knew it was an awkward situation, +that must be surmounted without a scene; he was quite prepared in +the presence of Clementina to be civil to Fletcher; but it was odd +that in this feverish exchange of courtesies and compliments HE, +Grant, should feel the greater awkwardness and be the most ill at +ease. He sat down and took his part in the conversation; he let it +transpire for Clementina's benefit that he had been to Los Gatos +only on business, yet there was no opportunity for even a +significant glance, and he had the added embarrassment of seeing +that she exhibited no surprise nor seemed to attach the least +importance to his inopportune visit. In a miserable indecision he +allowed himself to be carried away by the high-flown hospitality of +his Spanish hostess, and consented to stay to an early dinner. It +was part of the infelicity of circumstance that the voluble Dona +Maria--electing him as the distinguished stranger above the +resident Fletcher--monopolized him and attached him to her side. +She would do the honors of her house; she must show him the ruins +of the old Mission beside the corral; Don Diego and Clementina +would join them presently in the garden. He cast a despairing +glance at the placidly smiling Clementina, who was apparently +equally indifferent to the evident constraint and assumed ease of +the man beside her, and turned away with Mrs. Ramirez. + +A silence fell upon the gallery so deep that the receding voices +and footsteps of Grant and his hostess in the long passage were +distinctly heard until they reached the end. Then Fletcher arose +with an inarticulate exclamation. Clementina instantly put her +finger to her lips, glanced around the gallery, extended her hand +to him, and saying "Come," half-led, half-dragged him into the +passage. To the right she turned and pushed open the door of a +small room that seemed a combination of boudoir and oratory, lit by +a French window opening to the garden, and flanked by a large black +and white crucifix with a prie Dieu beneath it. Closing the door +behind them she turned and faced her companion. But it was no +longer the face of the woman who had been sitting in the gallery; +it was the face that had looked back at her from the mirror at +Tasajara the night that Grant had left her--eager, flushed, +material with commonplace excitement! + +"'Lige Curtis," she said. + +"Yes," he answered passionately, "Lige Curtis, whom you thought +dead! 'Lige Curtis, whom you once pitied, condoled with and +despised! 'Lige Curtis, whose lands and property have enriched +you! 'Lige Curtis, who would have shared it with you freely at the +time, but whom your father juggled and defrauded of it! 'Lige +Curtis, branded by him as a drunken outcast and suicide! 'Lige +Curtis"-- + +"Hush!" She clapped her little hand over his mouth with a quick +but awkward schoolgirl gesture, inconceivable to any who had known +her usual languid elegance of motion, and held it there. He +struggled angrily, impatiently, reproachfully, and then, with a +sudden characteristic weakness that seemed as much of a revelation +as her once hoydenish manner, kissed it, when she let it drop. +Then placing both her hands still girlishly on her slim waist and +curtseying grotesquely before him, she said: "'Lige Curtis! Oh, +yes! 'Lige Curtis, who swore to do everything for me! 'Lige +Curtis, who promised to give up liquor for me,--who was to leave +Tasajara for me! 'Lige Curtis, who was to reform, and keep his +land as a nest-egg for us both in the future, and then who sold it-- +and himself--and me--to dad for a glass of whiskey! 'Lige Curtis, +who disappeared, and then let us think he was dead, only that he +might attack us out of the ambush of his grave!" + +"Yes, but think what I have suffered all these years; not for the +cursed land--you know I never cared for that--but for YOU,--you, +Clementina,--YOU rich, admired by every one; idolized, held far +above me,--ME, the forgotten outcast, the wretched suicide--and yet +the man to whom you had once plighted your troth. Which of those +greedy fortune-hunters whom my money--my life-blood as you might +have thought it was--attracted to you, did you care to tell that +you had ever slipped out of the little garden gate at Sidon to meet +that outcast! Do you wonder that as the years passed and YOU were +happy, I did not choose to be so forgotten? Do you wonder that +when YOU shut the door on the past I managed to open it again--if +only a little way--that its light might startle you?" + +Yet she did not seem startled or disturbed, and remained only +looking at him critically. + +"You say that you have suffered," she replied with a smile. "You +don't look it! Your hair is white, but it is becoming to you, and +you are a handsomer man, 'Lige Curtis, than you were when I first +met you; you are finer," she went on, still regarding him, +"stronger and healthier than you were five years ago; you are rich +and prosperous, you have everything to make you happy, but"--here +she laughed a little, held out both her hands, taking his and +holding his arms apart in a rustic, homely fashion--"but you are +still the same old 'Lige Curtis! It was like you to go off and +hide yourself in that idiotic way; it was like you to let the +property slide in that stupid, unselfish fashion; it was like you +to get real mad, and say all those mean, silly things to dad, that +didn't hurt him--in your regular looney style; for rich or poor, +drunk or sober, ragged or elegant, plain or handsome,--you're +always the same 'Lige Curtis!" + +In proportion as that material, practical, rustic self--which +nobody but 'Lige Curtis had ever seen--came back to her, so in +proportion the irresolute, wavering, weak and emotional vagabond of +Sidon came out to meet it. He looked at her with a vague smile; +his five years of childish resentment, albeit carried on the +shoulders of a man mentally and morally her superior, melted away. +He drew her towards him, yet at the same moment a quick suspicion +returned. + +"Well, and what are you doing here? Has this man who has followed +you any right, any claim upon you?" + +"None but what you in your folly have forced upon him! You have +made him father's ally. I don't know why he came here. I only +know why I did--to find YOU!" + +"You suspected then?" + +"I KNEW! Hush!" + +The returning voices of Grant and of Mrs. Ramirez were heard in the +courtyard. Clementina made a warning yet girlishly mirthful +gesture, again caught his hand, drew him quickly to the French +window, and slipped through it with him into the garden, where they +were quickly lost in the shadows of a ceanothus hedge. + +"They have probably met Don Jose in the orchard, and as he and Don +Diego have business together, Dona Clementina has without doubt +gone to her room and left them. For you are not very entertaining +to the ladies to-day,--you two caballeros! You have much politics +together, eh?--or you have discussed and disagreed, eh? I will +look for the Senorita, and let you go, Don Distraido!" + +It is to be feared that Grant's apologies and attempts to detain +her were equally feeble,--as it seemed to him that this was the +only chance he might have of seeing Clementina except in company +with Fletcher. As Mrs. Ramirez left he lit a cigarette and +listlessly walked up and down the gallery. But Clementina did not +come, neither did his hostess return. A subdued step in the +passage raised his hopes,--it was only the grizzled major domo, to +show him his room that he might prepare for dinner. + +He followed mechanically down the long passage to a second +corridor. There was a chance that he might meet Clementina, but he +reached his room without encountering any one. It was a large +vaulted apartment with a single window, a deep embrasure in the +thick wall that seemed to focus like a telescope some forgotten, +sequestered part of the leafy garden. While washing his hands, +gazing absently at the green vignette framed by the dark opening, +his attention was drawn to a movement of the foliage, stirred +apparently by the rapid passage of two half-hidden figures. The +quick flash of a feminine skirt seemed to indicate the coy flight +of some romping maid of the casa, and the pursuit and struggle of +her vaquero swain. To a despairing lover even the spectacle of +innocent, pastoral happiness in others is not apt to be soothing, +and Grant was turning impatiently away when he suddenly stopped +with a rigid face and quickly approached the window. In her +struggles with the unseen Corydon, the clustering leaves seemed to +have yielded at the same moment with the coy Chloris, and parting-- +disclosed a stolen kiss! Grant's hand lay like ice against the +wall. For, disengaging Fletcher's arm from her waist and freeing +her skirt from the foliage, it was the calm, passionless Clementina +herself who stepped out, and moved pensively towards the casa. + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +"Readers of the 'Clarion' will have noticed that allusion has been +frequently made in these columns to certain rumors concerning the +early history of Tasajara which were supposed to affect the pioneer +record of Daniel Harcourt. It was deemed by the conductors of this +journal to be only consistent with the fearless and independent +duty undertaken by the 'Clarion' that these rumors should be fully +chronicled as part of the information required by the readers of a +first-class newspaper, unbiased by any consideration of the social +position of the parties, but simply as a matter of news. For this +the 'Clarion' does not deem it necessary to utter a word of +apology. But for that editorial comment or attitude which the +proprietors felt was justified by the reliable sources of their +information they now consider it only due in honor to themselves, +their readers, and Mr. Harcourt to fully and freely apologize. A +patient and laborious investigation enables them to state that the +alleged facts published by the 'Clarion' and copied by other +journals are utterly unsupported by testimony, and the charges-- +although more or less vague--which were based upon them are equally +untenable. We are now satisfied that one 'Elijah Curtis,' a former +pioneer of Tasajara who disappeared five years ago, and was +supposed to be drowned, has not only made no claim to the Tasajara +property, as alleged, but has given no sign of his equally alleged +resuscitation and present existence, and that on the minutest +investigation there appears nothing either in his disappearance, or +the transfer of his property to Daniel Harcourt, that could in any +way disturb the uncontested title to Tasajara or the unimpeachable +character of its present owner. The whole story now seems to have +been the outcome of one of those stupid rural hoaxes too common in +California." + + +"Well," said Mrs. Ashwood, laying aside the 'Clarion' with a +skeptical shrug of her pretty shoulders, as she glanced up at her +brother; "I suppose this means that you are going to propose again +to the young lady?" + +"I have," said Jack Shipley, "that's the worst of it--and got my +answer before this came out." + +"Jack!" said Mrs. Ashwood, thoroughly surprised. + +"Yes! You see, Conny, as I told you three weeks ago, she said she +wanted time to consider,--that she scarcely knew me, and all that! +Well, I thought it wasn't exactly a gentleman's business to seem to +stand off after that last attack on her father, and so, last week, +I went down to San Jose, where she was staying, and begged her not +to keep me in suspense. And, by Jove! she froze me with a look, +and said that with these aspersions on her father's character, she +preferred not to be under obligations to any one." + +"And you believed her?" + +"Oh, hang it all! Look here, Conny,--I wish you'd just try for +once to find out some good in that family, besides what that +sentimental young widower John Milton may have. You seem to think +because they've quarreled with HIM there isn't a virtue left among +them." + +Far from seeming to offer any suggestion of feminine retaliation, +Mrs. Ashwood smiled sweetly. "My dear Jack, I have no desire to +keep you from trying your luck again with Miss Clementina, if +that's what you mean, and indeed I shouldn't be surprised if a +family who felt a mesalliance as sensitively as the Harcourts felt +that affair of their son's, would be as keenly alive to the +advantages of a good match for their daughter. As to young Mr. +Harcourt, he never talked to me of the vices of his family, nor has +he lately troubled me much with the presence of his own virtues. +I haven't heard from him since we came here." + +"I suppose he is satisfied with the government berth you got for +him," returned her brother dryly. + +"He was very grateful to Senator Flynn, who appreciates his +talents, but who offered it to him as a mere question of fitness," +replied Mrs. Ashwood with great precision of statement. "But you +don't seem to know he declined it on account of his other work." + +"Preferred his old Bohemian ways, eh? You can't change those +fellows, Conny. They can't get over the fascinations of +vagabondage. Sorry your lady-patroness scheme didn't work. Pity +you couldn't have promoted him in the line of his profession, as +the Grand Duchess of Girolstein did Fritz." + +"For Heaven's sake, Jack, go to Clementina! You may not be +successful, but there at least the perfect gentlemanliness and +good taste of your illustrations will not be thrown away." + +"I think of going to San Francisco tomorrow, anyway," returned Jack +with affected carelessness. "I'm getting rather bored with this +wild seaside watering place and its glitter of ocean and hopeless +background of mountain. It's nothing to me that 'there's no land +nearer than Japan' out there. It may be very healthful to the +tissues, but it's weariness to the spirit, and I don't see why we +can't wait at San Francisco till the rains send us further south, +as well as here." + +He had walked to the balcony of their sitting-room in the little +seaside hotel where this conversation took place, and gazed +discontentedly over the curving bay and sandy shore before him. +After a slight pause Mrs. Ashwood stepped out beside him. + +"Very likely I may go with you," she said, with a perceptible tone +of weariness. "We will see after the post arrives." + +"By the way, there is a little package for you in my room, that +came this morning. I brought it up, but forgot to give it to you. +You'll find it on my table." + +Mrs. Ashwood abstractedly turned away and entered her brother's +room from the same balcony. The forgotten parcel, which looked +like a roll of manuscript, was lying on his dressing-table. She +gazed attentively at the handwriting on the wrapper and then gave a +quick glance around her. A sudden and subtle change came over her. +She neither flushed nor paled, nor did the delicate lines of +expression in her face quiver or change. But as she held the +parcel in her hand her whole being seemed to undergo some exquisite +suffusion. As the medicines which the Arabian physician had +concealed in the hollow handle of the mallet permeated the languid +royal blood of Persia, so some volatile balm of youth seemed to +flow in upon her with the contact of that strange missive and +transform her weary spirit. + +"Jack!" she called, in a high clear voice. But Jack had already +gone from the balcony when she reached it with an elastic step and +a quick youthful swirl and rustling of her skirt. He was lighting +his cigar in the garden. + +"Jack," she said, leaning half over the railing, "come back here in +an hour and we'll talk over that matter of yours again." + +Jack looked up eagerly and as if he might even come up then, but +she added quickly, "In about an hour--I must think it over," and +withdrew. + +She re-entered the sitting-room, shut the door carefully and locked +it, half pulled down the blind, walking once or twice around the +table on which the parcel lay, with one eye on it like a graceful +cat. Then she suddenly sat down, took it up with a grave practical +face, examined the postmark curiously, and opened it with severe +deliberation. It contained a manuscript and a letter of four +closely written pages. She glanced at the manuscript with bright +approving eyes, ran her fingers through its leaves and then laid it +carefully and somewhat ostentatiously on the table beside her. +Then, still holding the letter in her hand, she rose and glanced +out of the window at her bored brother lounging towards the beach +and at the heaving billows beyond, and returned to her seat. This +apparently important preliminary concluded, she began to read. + +There were, as already stated, four blessed pages of it! All +vital, earnest, palpitating with youthful energy, preposterous in +premises, precipitate in conclusions,--yet irresistible and +convincing to every woman in their illogical sincerity. There was +not a word of love in it, yet every page breathed a wholesome +adoration; there was not an epithet or expression that a greater +prude than Mrs. Ashwood would have objected to, yet every sentence +seemed to end in a caress. There was not a line of poetry in it, +and scarcely a figure or simile, and yet it was poetical. Boyishly +egotistic as it was in attitude, it seemed to be written less OF +himself than TO her; in its delicate because unconscious flattery, +it made her at once the provocation and excuse. And yet so potent +was its individuality that it required no signature. No one but +John Milton Harcourt could have written it. His personality stood +out of it so strongly that once or twice Mrs. Ashwood almost +unconsciously put up her little hand before her face with a half +mischievous, half-deprecating smile, as if the big honest eyes of +its writer were upon her. + +It began by an elaborate apology for declining the appointment +offered him by one of her friends, which he was bold enough to +think had been prompted by her kind heart. That was like her, but +yet what she might do to any one; and he preferred to think of her +as the sweet and gentle lady who had recognized his merit without +knowing him, rather than the powerful and gracious benefactress who +wanted to reward him when she did know him. The crown that she had +all unconsciously placed upon his head that afternoon at the little +hotel at Crystal Spring was more to him than the Senator's +appointment; perhaps he was selfish, but he could not bear that she +who had given so much should believe that he could accept a lesser +gift. All this and much more! Some of it he had wanted to say to +her in San Francisco at times when they had met, but he could not +find the words. But she had given him the courage to go on and do +the only thing he was fit for, and he had resolved to stick to +that, and perhaps do something once more that might make him hear +again her voice as he had heard it that day, and again see the +light that had shone in her eyes as she sat there and read. And +this was why he was sending her a manuscript. She might have +forgotten that she had told him a strange story of her cousin who +had disappeared--which she thought he might at some time work up. +Here it was. Perhaps she might not recognize it again, in the way +he had written it here; perhaps she did not really mean it when she +had given him permission to use it, but he remembered her truthful +eyes and believed her--and in any event it was hers to do with what +she liked. It had been a great pleasure for him to write it and +think that she would see it; it was like seeing her himself--that +was in HIS BETTER SELF--more worthy the companionship of a +beautiful and noble woman than the poor young man she would have +helped. This was why he had not called the week before she went +away. But for all that, she had made his life less lonely, and he +should be ever grateful to her. He could never forget how she +unconsciously sympathized with him that day over the loss that had +blighted his life forever,--yet even then he did not know that she, +herself, had passed through the same suffering. But just here the +stricken widow of thirty, after a vain attempt to keep up the +knitted gravity of her eyebrows, bowed her dimpling face over the +letter of the blighted widower of twenty, and laughed so long and +silently that the tears stood out like dew on her light-brown +eyelashes. + +But she became presently severe again, and finished her reading of +the letter gravely. Then she folded it carefully, deposited it in +a box on her table, which she locked. After a few minutes, +however, she unlocked the box again and transferred the letter to +her pocket. The serenity of her features did not relax again, +although her previous pretty prepossession of youthful spirit was +still indicated in her movements. Going into her bedroom, she +reappeared in a few minutes with a light cloak thrown over her +shoulders and a white-trimmed broad-brimmed hat. Then she rolled +up the manuscript in a paper, and called her French maid. As she +stood there awaiting her with the roll in her hand, she might have +been some young girl on her way to her music lesson. + +"If my brother returns before I do, tell him to wait." + +"Madame is going"-- + +"Out," said Mrs. Ashwood blithely, and tripped downstairs. + +She made her way directly to the shore where she remembered there +was a group of rocks affording a shelter from the northwest trade +winds. It was reached at low water by a narrow ridge of sand, and +here she had often basked in the sun with her book. It was here +that she now unrolled John Milton's manuscript and read. + +It was the story she had told him, but interpreted by his poetry +and adorned by his fancy until the facts as she remembered them +seemed to be no longer hers, or indeed truths at all. She had +always believed her cousin's unhappy temperament to have been the +result of a moral and physical idiosyncrasy,--she found it here to +be the effect of a lifelong and hopeless passion for herself! The +ingenious John Milton had given a poet's precocity to the youth +whom she had only known as a suspicious, moody boy, had idealized +him as a sensitive but songless Byron, had given him the added +infirmity of pulmonary weakness, and a handkerchief that in moments +of great excitement, after having been hurriedly pressed to his +pale lips, was withdrawn "with a crimson stain." Opposed to this +interesting figure--the more striking to her as she had been +hitherto haunted by the impression that her cousin during his +boyhood had been subject to facial eruption and boils--was her own +equally idealized self. Cruelly kind to her cousin and gentle with +his weaknesses while calmly ignoring their cause, leading him +unconsciously step by step in his fatal passion, he only became +aware by accident that she nourished an ideal hero in the person of +a hard, proud, middle-aged practical man of the world,--her future +husband! At this picture of the late Mr. Ashwood, who had really +been an indistinctive social bon vivant, his amiable relict grew +somewhat hysterical. The discovery of her real feelings drove the +consumptive cousin into a secret, self-imposed exile on the shores +of the Pacific, where he hoped to find a grave. But the complete +and sudden change of life and scene, the balm of the wild woods and +the wholesome barbarism of nature, wrought a magical change in his +physical health and a philosophical rest in his mind. He married +the daughter of an Indian chief. Years passed, the heroine--a rich +and still young and beautiful widow--unwittingly sought the same +medicinal solitude. Here in the depth of the forest she encountered +her former playmate; the passion which he had fondly supposed was +dead revived in her presence, and for the first time she learned +from his bearded lips the secret of his passion. Alas! not SHE +alone! The contiguous forest could not be bolted out, and the +Indian wife heard all. Recognizing the situation with aboriginal +directness of purpose, she committed suicide in the fond belief that +it would reunite the survivors. But in vain; the cousins parted on +the spot to meet no more. + +Even Mrs. Ashwood's predilection for the youthful writer could not +overlook the fact that the denouement was by no means novel nor the +situation human, but yet it was here that she was most interested +and fascinated. The description of the forest was a description +of the wood where she had first met Harcourt; the charm of it +returned, until she almost seemed to again inhale its balsamic +freshness in the pages before her. Now, as then, her youth came +back with the same longing and regret. But more bewildering than +all, it was herself that moved there, painted with the loving hand +of the narrator. For the first time she experienced the delicious +flattery of seeing herself as only a lover could see her. The +smallest detail of her costume was suggested with an accuracy that +pleasantly thrilled her feminine sense. The grace of her figure +slowly moving through the shadow, the curves of her arm and the +delicacy of her hand that held the bridle rein, the gentle glow of +her softly rounded cheek, the sweet mystery of her veiled eyes and +forehead, and the escaping gold of her lovely hair beneath her hat +were all in turn masterfully touched or tenderly suggested. And +when to this was added the faint perfume of her nearer presence-- +the scent she always used--the delicate revelations of her +withdrawn gauntlet, the bracelet clasping her white wrist, and at +last the thrilling contact of her soft hand on his arm,--she put +down the manuscript and blushed like a very girl. Then she +started. + +A shout!--HIS voice surely!--and the sound of oars in their +rowlocks. + +An instant revulsion of feeling overtook her. With a quick +movement she instantly hid the manuscript beneath her cloak and +stood up erect and indignant. Not twenty yards away, apparently +advancing from the opposite shore of the bay, was a boat. It +contained only John Milton, resting on his oars and scanning the +group of rocks anxiously. His face, which was quite strained with +anxiety, suddenly flushed when he saw her, and then recognizing the +unmistakable significance of her look and attitude, paled once +more. He bent over his oars again; a few strokes brought him close +to the rock. + +"I beg your pardon," he said hesitatingly, as he turned towards her +and laid aside his oars, "but--I thought--you were--in danger." + +She glanced quickly round her. She had forgotten the tide! The +ledge between her and the shore was already a foot under brown sea- +water. Yet if she had not thought that it would look ridiculous, +she would have leaped down even then and waded ashore. + +"It's nothing," she said coldly, with the air of one to whom the +situation was an everyday occurrence; "it's only a few steps and a +slight wetting--and my brother would have been here in a moment +more." + +John Milton's frank eyes made no secret of his mortification. "I +ought not to have disturbed you, I know," he said quickly, "I had +no right. But I was on the other shore opposite and I saw you come +down here--that is"--he blushed prodigiously--"I thought it MIGHT +BE you--and I ventured--I mean--won't you let me row you ashore?" + +There seemed to be no reasonable excuse for refusing. She slipped +quickly into the boat without waiting for his helping hand, +avoiding that contact which only a moment ago she was trying to +recall. + +A few strokes brought them ashore. He continued his explanation +with the hopeless frankness and persistency of youth and +inexperience. "I only came here the day before yesterday. I would +not have come, but Mr. Fletcher, who has a cottage on the other +shore, sent for me to offer me my old place on the 'Clarion.' I +had no idea of intruding upon your privacy by calling here without +permission." + +Mrs. Ashwood had resumed her conventional courtesy without however +losing her feminine desire to make her companion pay for the +agitation he had caused her. "We would have been always pleased to +see you," she said vaguely, "and I hope, as you are here now, you +will come with me to the hotel. My brother"-- + +But he still retained his hold of the boat-rope without moving, and +continued, "I saw you yesterday, through the telescope, sitting in +your balcony; and later at night I think it was your shadow I saw +near the blue shaded lamp in the sitting-room by the window,--I +don't mean the RED LAMP that you have in your own room. I watched +you until you put out the blue lamp and lit the red one. I tell +you this--because--because--I thought you might be reading a +manuscript I sent you. At least," he smiled faintly, "I LIKED to +think it so." + +In her present mood this struck her only as persistent and somewhat +egotistical. But she felt herself now on ground where she could +deal firmly with him. + +"Oh, yes," she said gravely. "I got it and thank you very much for +it. I intended to write to you." + +"Don't," he said, looking at her fixedly. "I can see you don't +like it." + +"On the contrary," she said promptly, "I think it beautifully +written, and very ingenious in plot and situation. Of course it +isn't the story I told you--I didn't expect that, for I'm not a +genius. The man is not at all like my cousin, you know, and the +woman--well really, to tell the truth, SHE is simply inconceivable!" + +"You think so?" he said gravely. He had been gazing abstractedly +at some shining brown seaweed in the water, and when he raised his +eyes to hers they seemed to have caught its color. + +"Think so? I'm positive! There's no such a woman; she isn't +HUMAN. But let us walk to the hotel." + +"Thank you, but I must go back now." + +"But at least let my brother thank you for taking his place--in +rescuing me. It was so thoughtful in you to put off at once when +you saw I was surrounded. I might have been in great danger." + +"Please don't make fun of me, Mrs. Ashwood," he said with a faint +return of his boyish smile. "You know there was no danger. I have +only interrupted you in a nap or a reverie--and I can see now that +you evidently came here to be alone." + +Holding the manuscript more closely hidden under the folds of her +cloak, she smiled enigmatically. "I think I DID, and it seems that +the tide thought so too, and acted upon it. But you will come up +to the hotel with me, surely?" + +"No, I am going back now." There was a sudden firmness about the +young fellow which she had never before noticed. This was +evidently the creature who had married in spite of his family. + +"Won't you come back long enough to take your manuscript? I will +point out the part I refer to, and--we will talk it over." + +"There is no necessity. I wrote to you that you might keep it; it +is yours; it was written for you and none other. It is quite +enough for me to know that you were good enough to read it. But +will you do one thing more for me? Read it again! If you find +anything in it the second time to change your views--if you find"-- + +"I will let you know," she said quickly. "I will write to you as I +intended." + +"No, I didn't mean that. I meant that if you found the woman less +inconceivable and more human, don't write to me, but put your red +lamp in your window instead of the blue one. I will watch for it +and see it." + +"I think I will be able to explain myself much better with simple +pen and ink," she said dryly, " and it will be much more useful to +you." + +He lifted his hat gravely, shoved off the boat, leaped into it, and +before she could hold out her hand was twenty feet away. She +turned and ran quickly up the rocks. When she reached the hotel, +she could see the boat already half across the bay. + +Entering her sitting-room she found that her brother, tired of +waiting for her, had driven out. Taking the hidden manuscript from +her cloak she tossed it with a slight gesture of impatience on the +table. Then she summoned the landlord. + +"Is there a town across the bay?" + +"No! the whole mountain-side belongs to Don Diego Fletcher. He +lives away back in the coast range at Los Gatos, but he has a +cottage and mill on the beach." + +"Don Diego Fletcher--Fletcher! Is he a Spaniard then?" + +"Half and half, I reckon; he's from the lower country, I believe." + +"Is he here often?" + +"Not much; he has mills at Los Gatos, wheat ranches at Santa Clara, +and owns a newspaper in 'Frisco! But he's here now. There were +lights in his house last night, and his cutter lies off the point." + +"Could you get a small package and note to him?" + +"Certainly; it is only a row across the bay." + +"Thank you." + +Without removing her hat and cloak she sat down at the table and +began a letter to Don Diego Fletcher. She begged to inclose to him +a manuscript which she was satisfied, for the interests of its +author, was better in his hands than hers. It had been given to +her by the author, Mr. J. M. Harcourt, whom she understood was +engaged on Mr. Fletcher's paper, the "Clarion." In fact, it had +been written at HER suggestion, and from an incident in real life +of which she was cognizant. She was sorry to say that on account +of some very foolish criticism of her own as to the FACTS, the +talented young author had become so dissatisfied with it as to make +it possible that, if left to himself, this very charming and +beautifully written story would remain unpublished. As an admirer +of Mr. Harcourt's genius, and a friend of his family, she felt that +such an event would be deplorable, and she therefore begged to +leave it to Mr. Fletcher's delicacy and tact to arrange with the +author for its publication. She knew that Mr. Fletcher had only to +read it to be convinced of its remarkable literary merit, and she +again would impress upon him the fact that her playful and +thoughtless criticism--which was personal and confidential--was +only based upon the circumstances that the author had really made a +more beautiful and touching story than the poor facts which she had +furnished seemed to warrant. She had only just learned the +fortunate circumstance that Mr. Fletcher was in the neighborhood of +the hotel where she was staying with her brother. + +With the same practical, business-like directness, but perhaps a +certain unbusiness-like haste superadded, she rolled up the +manuscript and dispatched it with the letter. + +This done, however, a slight reaction set in, and having taken off +her hat and shawl, she dropped listlessly on a chair by the window, +but as suddenly rose and took a seat in the darker part of the +room. She felt that she had done right, that highest but most +depressing of human convictions! It was entirely for his good. +There was no reason why his best interests should suffer for his +folly. If anybody was to suffer it was she. But what nonsense was +she thinking! She would write to him later when she was a little +cooler,--as she had said. But then he had distinctly told her, and +very rudely too, that he didn't want her to write. Wanted her to +make SIGNALS to him,--the idiot! and probably was even now watching +her with a telescope. It was really too preposterous! + +The result was that her brother found her on his return in a +somewhat uncertain mood, and, as a counselor, variable and +conflicting in judgment. If this Clementina, who seemed to have the +family qualities of obstinacy and audacity, really cared for him, +she certainly wouldn't let delicacy stand in the way of letting him +know it--and he was therefore safe to wait a little. A few moments +later, she languidly declared that she was afraid that she was no +counselor in such matters; really she was getting too old to take +any interest in that sort of thing, and she never had been a +matchmaker! By the way now, wasn't it odd that this neighbor, that +rich capitalist across the bay, should be called Fletcher, and +"James Fletcher" too, for Diego meant "James" in Spanish. Exactly +the same name as poor "Cousin Jim" who disappeared. Did he remember +her old playmate Jim? But her brother thought something else was a +deuced sight more odd, namely, that this same Don Diego Fletcher was +said to be very sweet on Clementina now, and was always in her +company at the Ramirez. And that, with this "Clarion" apology on +the top of it, looked infernally queer. + +Mrs. Ashwood felt a sudden consternation. Here had she--Jack's +sister--just been taking Jack's probable rival into confidential +correspondence! She turned upon Jack sharply:-- + +"Why didn't you say that before?" + +"I did tell you," he said gloomily, "but you didn't listen. But +what difference does it make to you now?" + +"None whatever," said Mrs. Ashwood calmly as she walked out of the +room. + +Nevertheless the afternoon passed wearily, and her usual ride into +the upland canyon did not reanimate her. For reasons known best to +herself she did not take her after-dinner stroll along the shore to +watch the outlying fog. At a comparatively early hour, while there +was still a roseate glow in the western sky, she appeared with grim +deliberation, and the blue lamp-shade in her hand, and placed it +over the lamp which she lit and stood on her table beside the +window. This done she sat down and began to write with bright-eyed +but vicious complacency. + +"But you don't want that light AND the window, Constance," said +Jack wonderingly. + +Mrs. Ashwood could not stand the dreadful twilight. + +"But take away your lamp and you'll have light enough from the +sunset," responded Jack. + +That was just what she didn't want! The light from the window was +that horrid vulgar red glow which she hated. It might be very +romantic and suit lovers like Jack, but as SHE had some work to do, +she wanted the blue shade of the lamp to correct that dreadful +glare. + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +John Milton had rowed back without lifting his eyes to Mrs. +Ashwood's receding figure. He believed that he was right in +declining her invitation, although he had a miserable feeling that +it entailed seeing her for the last time. With all that he +believed was his previous experience of the affections, he was +still so untutored as to be confused as to his reasons for +declining, or his right to have been shocked and disappointed at +her manner. It seemed to him sufficiently plain that he had +offended the most perfect woman he had ever known without knowing +more. The feeling he had for her was none the less powerful +because, in his great simplicity, it was vague and unformulated. +And it was a part of this strange simplicity that in his miserable +loneliness his thoughts turned unconsciously to his dead wife for +sympathy and consolation. Loo would have understood him! + +Mr. Fletcher, who had received him on his arrival with singular +effusiveness and cordiality, had put off their final arrangements +until after dinner, on account of pressing business. It was +therefore with some surprise that an hour before the time he was +summoned to Fletcher's room. He was still more surprised to find +him sitting at his desk, from which a number of business papers and +letters had been hurriedly thrust aside to make way for a manuscript. +A single glance at it was enough to show the unhappy John Milton +that it was the one he had sent to Mrs. Ashwood. The color flashed +to his cheek and he felt a mist before his eyes. His employer's +face, on the contrary, was quite pale, and his eyes were fixed on +Harcourt with a singular intensity. His voice too, although under +great control, was hard and strange. + +"Read that," he said, handing the young man a letter. + +The color again streamed into John Milton's face as he recognized +the hand of Mrs. Ashwood, and remained there while he read it. +When he put it down, however, he raised his frank eyes to +Fletcher's, and said with a certain dignity and manliness: "What +she says is the truth, sir. But it is I alone who am at fault. +This manuscript is merely MY stupid idea of a very simple story she +was once kind enough to tell me when we were talking of strange +occurrences in real life, which she thought I might some time make +use of in my work. I tried to embellish it, and failed. That's +all. I will take it back,--it was written only for her." + +There was such an irresistible truthfulness and sincerity in his +voice and manner, that any idea of complicity with the sender was +dismissed from Fletcher's mind. As Harcourt, however, extended his +hand for the manuscript Fletcher interfered. + +"You forget that you gave it to her, and she has sent it to me. If +I don't keep it, it can be returned to her only. Now may I ask who +is this lady who takes such an interest in your literary career? +Have you known her long? Is she a friend of your family?" + +The slight sneer that accompanied his question restored the natural +color to the young man's face, but kindled his eye ominously. + +"No," he said briefly. "I met her accidentally about two months +ago and as accidentally found out that she had taken an interest in +one of the first things I ever wrote for your paper. She neither +knew you nor me. It was then that she told me this story; she did +not even then know who I was, though she had met some of my family. +She was very good and has generously tried to help me." + +Fletcher's eyes remained fixed upon him. + +"But this tells me only WHAT she is, not WHO she is." + +"I am afraid you must inquire of her brother, Mr. Shipley," said +Harcourt curtly. + +"Shipley?" + +"Yes; he is traveling with her for his health, and they are going +south when the rains come. They are wealthy Philadelphians, I +believe, and--and she is a widow." + +Fletcher picked up her note and glanced again at the signature, +"Constance Ashwood." There was a moment of silence, when he +resumed in quite a different voice: "It's odd I never met them nor +they me." + +As he seemed to be waiting for a response, John Milton said simply: +"I suppose it's because they have not been here long, and are +somewhat reserved." + +Mr. Fletcher laid aside the manuscript and letter, and took up his +apparently suspended work. + +"When you see this Mrs.--Mrs. Ashwood again, you might say"-- + +"I shall not see her again," interrupted John Milton hastily. + +Mr. Fletcher shrugged his shoulders. "Very well," he said with a +peculiar smile, "I will write to her. Now, Mr. Harcourt," he +continued with a sudden business brevity, "if you please, we'll +drop this affair and attend to the matter for which I just summoned +you. Since yesterday an important contract for which I have been +waiting is concluded, and its performance will take me East at +once. I have made arrangements that you will be left in the +literary charge of the 'Clarion.' It is only a fitting recompense +that the paper owes to you and your father,--to whom I hope to see +you presently reconciled. But we won't discuss that now! As my +affairs take me back to Los Gatos within half an hour, I am sorry I +cannot dispense my hospitality in person,--but you will dine and +sleep here to-night. Good-by. As you go out will you please send +up Mr. Jackson to me." He nodded briefly, seemed to plunge +instantly into his papers again, and John Milton was glad to +withdraw. + +The shock he had felt at Mrs. Ashwood's frigid disposition of his +wishes and his manuscript had benumbed him to any enjoyment or +appreciation of the change in his fortune. He wandered out of the +house and descended to the beach in a dazed, bewildered way, seeing +only the words of her letter to Fletcher before him, and striving +to grasp some other meaning from them than their coldly practical +purport. Perhaps this was her cruel revenge for his telling her +not to write to him. Could she not have divined it was only his +fear of what she might say! And now it was all over! She had +washed her hands of him with the sending of that manuscript and +letter, and he would pass out of her memory as a foolish, conceited +ingrate,--perhaps a figure as wearily irritating and stupid to her +as the cousin she had known. He mechanically lifted his eyes to +the distant hotel; the glow was still in the western sky, but the +blue lamp was already shining in the window. His cheek flushed +quickly, and he turned away as if she could have seen his face. +Yes--she despised him, and THAT was his answer! + +When he returned, Mr. Fletcher had gone. He dragged through a +dinner with Mr. Jackson, Fletcher's secretary, and tried to realize +his good fortune in listening to the subordinate's congratulations. +"But I thought," said Jackson, "you had slipped up on your luck to- +day, when the old man sent for you. He was quite white, and ready +to rip out about something that had just come in. I suppose it was +one of those anonymous things against your father,--the old man's +dead set against 'em now." But John Milton heard him vaguely, and +presently excused himself for a row on the moonlit bay. + +The active exertion, with intervals of placid drifting along the +land-locked shore, somewhat soothed him. The heaving Pacific +beyond was partly hidden in a low creeping fog, but the curving bay +was softly radiant. The rocks whereon she sat that morning, the +hotel where she was now quietly reading, were outlined in black and +silver. In this dangerous contiguity it seemed to him that her +presence returned,--not the woman who had met him so coldly; who +had penned those lines; the woman from whom he was now parting +forever, but the blameless ideal he had worshiped from the first, +and which he now felt could never pass out of his life again! He +recalled their long talks, their rarer rides and walks in the city; +her quick appreciation and ready sympathy; her pretty curiosity and +half-maternal consideration of his foolish youthful past; even the +playful way that she sometimes seemed to make herself younger as if +to better understand him. Lingering at times in the shadow of the +headland, he fancied he saw the delicate nervous outlines of her +face near his own again; the faint shading of her brown lashes, the +soft intelligence of her gray eyes. Drifting idly in the placid +moonlight, pulling feverishly across the swell of the channel, or +lying on his oars in the shallows of the rocks, but always following +the curves of the bay, like a bird circling around a lighthouse, it +was far in the night before he at last dragged his boat upon the +sand. Then he turned to look once more at her distant window. He +would be away in the morning and he should never see it again! It +was very late, but the blue light seemed to be still burning +unalterably and inflexibly. + +But even as he gazed, a change came over it. A shadow seemed to +pass before the blind; the blue shade was lifted; for an instant he +could see the colorless star-like point of the light itself show +clearly. It was over now; she was putting out the lamp. Suddenly +he held his breath! A roseate glow gradually suffused the window +like a burning blush; the curtain was drawn aside, and the red +lamp-shade gleamed out surely and steadily into the darkness. + +Transfigured and breathless in the moonlight, John Milton gazed on +it. It seemed to him the dawn of Love! + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +The winter rains had come. But so plenteously and persistently, +and with such fateful preparation of circumstance, that the long +looked for blessing presently became a wonder, an anxiety, and at +last a slowly widening terror. Before a month had passed every +mountain, stream, and watercourse, surcharged with the melted snows +of the Sierras, had become a great tributary; every tributary a +great river, until, pouring their great volume into the engorged +channels of the American and Sacramento rivers, they overleaped +their banks and became as one vast inland sea. Even to a country +already familiar with broad and striking catastrophe, the flood was +a phenomenal one. For days the sullen overflow lay in the valley +of the Sacramento, enormous, silent, currentless--except where the +surplus waters rolled through Carquinez Straits, San Francisco Bay, +and the Golden Gate, and reappeared as the vanished Sacramento +River, in an outflowing stream of fresh and turbid water fifty +miles at sea. + +Across the vast inland expanse, brooded over by a leaden sky, leaden +rain fell, dimpling like shot the sluggish pools of the flood; a +cloudy chaos of fallen trees, drifting barns and outhouses, wagons +and agricultural implements moved over the surface of the waters, or +circled slowly around the outskirts of forests that stood ankle deep +in ooze and the current, which in serried phalanx they resisted +still. As night fell these forms became still more vague and +chaotic, and were interspersed with the scattered lanterns and +flaming torches of relief-boats, or occasionally the high terraced +gleaming windows of the great steamboats, feeling their way along +the lost channel. At times the opening of a furnace-door shot broad +bars of light across the sluggish stream and into the branches of +dripping and drift-encumbered trees; at times the looming +smoke-stacks sent out a pent-up breath of sparks that illuminated +the inky chaos for a moment, and then fell as black and dripping +rain. Or perhaps a hoarse shout from some faintly outlined hulk on +either side brought a quick response from the relief-boats, and the +detaching of a canoe with a blazing pine-knot in its bow into the +outer darkness. + +It was late in the afternoon when Lawrence Grant, from the deck of +one of the larger tugs, sighted what had been once the estuary of +Sidon Creek. The leader of a party of scientific observation and +relief, he had kept a tireless watch of eighteen hours, keenly +noticing the work of devastation, the changes in the channel, the +prospects of abatement, and the danger that still threatened. He +had passed down the length of the submerged Sacramento valley, +through the Straits of Carquinez, and was now steaming along the +shores of the upper reaches of San Francisco Bay. Everywhere the +same scene of desolation,--vast stretches of tule land, once broken +up by cultivation and dotted with dwellings, now clearly erased on +that watery chart; long lines of symmetrical perspective, breaking +the monotonous level, showing orchards buried in the flood; Indian +mounds and natural eminences covered with cattle or hastily erected +camps; half submerged houses, whose solitary chimneys, however, +still gave signs of an undaunted life within; isolated groups of +trees, with their lower branches heavy with the unwholesome fruit +of the flood, in wisps of hay and straw, rakes and pitchforks, or +pathetically sheltering some shivering and forgotten household pet. +But everywhere the same dull, expressionless, placid tranquillity +of destruction,--a horrible leveling of all things in one bland +smiling equality of surface, beneath which agony, despair, and ruin +were deeply buried and forgotten; a catastrophe without convulsion,-- +a devastation voiceless, passionless, and supine. + +The boat had slowed up before what seemed to be a collection of +disarranged houses with the current flowing between lines that +indicated the existence of thoroughfares and streets. Many of the +lighter wooden buildings were huddled together on the street +corners with their gables to the flow; some appeared as if they had +fallen on their knees, and others lay complacently on their sides, +like the houses of a child's toy village. An elevator still lifted +itself above the other warehouses; from the centre of an enormous +square pond, once the plaza, still arose a "Liberty pole," or +flagstaff, which now supported a swinging lantern, and in the +distance appeared the glittering dome of some public building. +Grant recognized the scene at once. It was all that was left of +the invincible youth of Tasajara! + +As this was an objective point of the scheme of survey and relief +for the district, the boat was made fast to the second story of one +of the warehouses. It was now used as a general store and depot, +and bore a singular resemblance in its interior to Harcourt's +grocery at Sidon. This suggestion was the more fatefully indicated +by the fact that half a dozen men were seated around a stove in the +centre, more or less given up to a kind of philosophical and lazy +enjoyment of their enforced idleness. And when to this was added +the more surprising coincidence that the party consisted of +Billings, Peters, and Wingate,--former residents of Sidon and first +citizens of Tasajara,--the resemblance was complete. + +They were ruined,--but they accepted their common fate with a +certain Indian stoicism and Western sense of humor that for the +time lifted them above the vulgar complacency of their former +fortunes. There was a deep-seated, if coarse and irreverent +resignation in their philosophy. At the beginning of the calamity +it had been roughly formulated by Billings in the statement that +"it wasn't anybody's fault; there was nobody to kill, and what +couldn't be reached by a Vigilance Committee there was no use +resolootin' over." When the Reverend Doctor Pilsbury had suggested +an appeal to a Higher Power, Peters had replied, good humoredly, +that "a Creator who could fool around with them in that style was +above being interfered with by prayer." At first the calamity had +been a thing to fight against; then it became a practical joke, the +sting of which was lost in the victims' power of endurance and +assumed ignorance of its purport. There was something almost +pathetic in their attempts to understand its peculiar humor. + +"How about that Europ-e-an trip o' yours, Peters?" said Billings, +meditatively, from the depths of his chair. "Looks as if those +Crowned Heads over there would have to wait till the water goes +down considerable afore you kin trot out your wife and darters +before 'em!" + +"Yes," said Peters, "it rather pints that way; and ez far ez I kin +see, Mame Billings ain't goin' to no Saratoga, neither, this year." + +"Reckon the boys won't hang about old Harcourt's Free Library to +see the girls home from lectures and singing-class much this year," +said Wingate. "Wonder if Harcourt ever thought o' this the day he +opened it, and made that rattlin' speech o' his about the new +property? Clark says everything built on that made ground has got +to go after the water falls. Rough on Harcourt after all his other +losses, eh? He oughter have closed up with that scientific chap, +Grant, and married him to Clementina while the big boom was on"-- + +"Hush!" said Peters, indicating Grant, who had just entered +quietly. + +"Don't mind me, gentlemen," said Grant, stepping towards the group +with a grave but perfectly collected face; "on the contrary, I am +very anxious to hear all the news of Harcourt's family. I left for +New York before the rainy season, and have only just got back." + +His speech and manner appeared to be so much in keeping with the +prevailing grim philosophy that Billings, after a glance at the +others, went on. "Ef you left afore the first rains," said he, +"you must have left only the steamer ahead of Fletcher, when he run +off with Clementina Harcourt, and you might have come across them +on their wedding trip in New York." + +Not a muscle of Grant's face changed under their eager and cruel +scrutiny. "No, I didn't," he returned quietly. "But why did she +run away? Did the father object to Fletcher? If I remember +rightly he was rich and a good match." + +"Yes, but I reckon the old man hadn't quite got over the 'Clarion' +abuse, for all its eating humble-pie and taking back its yarns of +him. And may be he might have thought the engagement rather +sudden. They say that she'd only met Fletcher the day afore the +engagement." + +"That be d----d," said Peters, knocking the ashes out of his pipe, +and startling the lazy resignation of his neighbors by taking his +feet from the stove and sitting upright. "I tell ye, gentlemen, +I'm sick o' this sort o' hog-wash that's been ladled round to us. +That gal Clementina Harcourt and that feller Fletcher had met not +only once, but MANY times afore--yes! they were old friends if it +comes to that, a matter of six years ago." + +Grant's eyes were fixed eagerly on the speaker, although the others +scarcely turned their heads. + +"You know, gentlemen," said Peters, "I never took stock in this yer +story of the drownin' of 'Lige Curtis. Why? Well, if you wanter +know--in my opinion--there never was any 'Lige Curtis!" + +Billings lifted his head with difficulty; Wingate turned his face +to the speaker. + +"There never was a scrap o' paper ever found in his cabin with the +name o' 'Lige Curtis on it; there never was any inquiry made for +'Lige Curtis; there never was any sorrowin' friends comin' after +'Lige Curtis. For why?--There never was any 'Lige Curtis. The man +who passed himself off in Sidon under that name--was that man +Fletcher. That's how he knew all about Harcourt's title; that's +how he got his best holt on Harcourt. And he did it all to get +Clementina Harcourt, whom the old man had refused to him in Sidon." + +A grunt of incredulity passed around the circle. Such is the fate +of historical innovation! Only Grant listened attentively. + +"Ye ought to tell that yarn to John Milton," said Wingate +ironically; "it's about in the style o' them stories he slings in +the 'Clarion.'" + +"He's made a good thing outer that job. Wonder what he gets for +them?" said Peters. + +It was Billings's time to rise, and, under the influence of some +strong cynical emotion, to even rise to his feet. "Gets for 'em!-- +GETS for 'em! I'll tell you WHAT he gets for 'em! It beats this +story o' Peters's,--it beats the flood. It beats me! Ye know that +boy, gentlemen; ye know how he uster lie round his father's store, +reading flapdoodle stories and sich! Ye remember how I uster try +to give him good examples and knock some sense into him? Ye +remember how, after his father's good luck, he spiled all his own +chances, and ran off with his father's waiter gal--all on account +o' them flapdoodle books he read? Ye remember how he sashayed +round newspaper offices in 'Frisco until he could write a +flapdoodle story himself? Ye wanter know what he gets for 'em. +I'll tell you. He got an interduction to one of them high-toned, +highfalutin', 'don't-touch-me' rich widders from Philadelfy,-- +that's what he gets for 'em! He got her dead set on him and his +stories, that's what he gets for 'em! He got her to put him up +with Fletcher in the 'Clarion,'--that's what he gets for 'em. And +darn my skin!--ef what they say is true, while we hard-working men +are sittin' here like drowned rats--that air John Milton, ez never +did a stitch o' live work like me yere; ez never did anythin' but +spin yarns about US ez did WORK, is now 'gittin' for 'em'--what? +Guess! Why, he's gittin' THE RICH WIDDER HERSELF and HALF A +MILLION DOLLARS WITH HER! Gentlemen! lib'ty is a good thing--but +thar's some things ye gets too much lib'ty of in this country--and +that's this yer LIB'TY OF THE PRESS!" + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext A First Family of Tasajara, by Bret Harte + diff --git a/old/affot10.zip b/old/affot10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb3be29 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/affot10.zip |