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diff --git a/28017-h/28017-h.htm b/28017-h/28017-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..98c687d --- /dev/null +++ b/28017-h/28017-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,15839 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Otherwise Phyllis, by Meredith Nicholson. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .5em; + text-indent: 1em; + } + h1 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + h5,h6 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + h2 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* centered and coloured */ + } + h3 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* centered and coloured */ + } + h4 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + a {text-decoration: none} /* no lines under links */ + div.centered {text-align: center;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 2 */ + + .cen {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;} /* centering paragraphs */ + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 95%;} /* small caps, smaller font size */ + .noin {text-indent: 0em;} /* no indenting */ + .hang {text-indent: -2em;} /* hanging indents */ + .blockquot {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} /* block indent */ + .right {text-align: right; padding-right: 2em;} /* right aligning paragraphs */ + .img {text-align: center; padding: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} /* centering images */ + .tdr {text-align: right;} /* right align cell */ + .tdrp {text-align: right; padding-right: .5em;} /* right align, padding right */ + .tdc {text-align: center;} /* center align cell */ + .tdl {text-align: left;} /* left align cell */ + .tr {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 1em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} /* transcriber's notes */ + .ad {margin-left: 25%; margin-right: 25%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 1em; border: solid black 2px;} /* Author's Book List ad */ + .adblock {margin-left: 12%; margin-right: 10%;} /* block indent */ + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; right: 2%; + font-size: 75%; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0em; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal;} /* page numbers */ + + .poem {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + .poem span.pn { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; right: 2%; + font-size: 75%; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0em; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal;} /* page numbers in poems */ + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Otherwise Phyllis, by Meredith Nicholson + +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: Otherwise Phyllis + +Author: Meredith Nicholson + +Release Date: February 7, 2009 [EBook #28017] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OTHERWISE PHYLLIS *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Barbara Kosker and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"> +<a href="images/cover.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/cover.jpg" width="45%" alt="Book Cover" /></a> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="ad"> +<p class="cen"><b>By Meredith Nicholson</b></p> + +<div class="adblock"> +<p class="hang">OTHERWISE PHYLLIS. With frontispiece in color.</p> +<p class="hang">THE PROVINCIAL AMERICAN AND OTHER PAPERS.</p> +<p class="hang">A HOOSIER CHRONICLE. With illustrations.</p> +<p class="hang">THE SIEGE OF THE SEVEN SUITORS. With illustrations.</p> +</div> + +<p class="cen">HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY<br /> +<span class="smcap">Boston and New York</span></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h2>OTHERWISE PHYLLIS</h2> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"> +<a href="images/frontis.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/frontis.jpg" width="43%" alt="Phyllis" /></a> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">PHYLLIS</p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h1>OTHERWISE PHYLLIS</h1> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h2> MEREDITH NICHOLSON</h2> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<div class="img"> +<img border="0" src="images/deco.png" width="12%" alt="Publisher's Mark" /> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<h4>BOSTON AND NEW YORK<br /> + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY<br /> + The Riverside Press Cambridge<br /> + 1913</h4> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5>COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY MEREDITH NICHOLSON<br /> +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED<br /> +<i>Published September 1913</i></h5> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">TO</p> + +<h3>ALBERT B. ANDERSON</h3> + +<p class="noin"> +<span style="margin-left: 8.5em;">A CITIZEN OF THE HOOSIER COMMONWEALTH</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8.5em;">WHOSE ATTAINMENTS AS LAWYER AND JUDGE</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8.5em;">HAVE ADDED TO THE FAME OF MONTGOMERY</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 13.5em;">THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 9.5em;">WITH SINCERE REGARD AND ADMIRATION</span><br /> +</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="65%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp" width="10%"><a href="#I">I.</a></td> + <td class="tdl" width="80%"><span class="smcap">The Kirkwoods break Camp</span></td> + <td class="tdr" width="10%">1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#II">II.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Montgomerys of Montgomery</span></td> + <td class="tdr">14</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#III">III.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">98 Buckeye Lane</span></td> + <td class="tdr">34</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#IV">IV.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Transaction in Apples</span></td> + <td class="tdr">51</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#V">V.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Otherwiseness of Phyllis</span></td> + <td class="tdr">65</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#VI">VI.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Smoking-Out of Amzi</span></td> + <td class="tdr">78</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#VII">VII.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Ghosts see the Light again</span></td> + <td class="tdr">91</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#VIII">VIII.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Listening Hill</span></td> + <td class="tdr">104</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#IX">IX.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">On an Orchard Slope</span></td> + <td class="tdr">113</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#X">X.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Phil's Party</span></td> + <td class="tdr">123</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XI">XI.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Brothers</span></td> + <td class="tdr">144</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XII">XII.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Nan Bartlett's Decision</span></td> + <td class="tdr">158</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XIII">XIII.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Best Interests of Montgomery</span></td> + <td class="tdr">168</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XIV">XIV.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Turkey Run</span></td> + <td class="tdr">182</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XV">XV.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Lois</span></td> + <td class="tdr">201</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XVI">XVI.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Merry Christmas</span></td> + <td class="tdr">217</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XVII">XVII.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Phil's Perplexities</span></td> + <td class="tdr">241</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XVIII">XVIII.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Amzi is Flabbergasted</span></td> + <td class="tdr">259</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XIX">XIX.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Phil moves to Amzi's</span></td> + <td class="tdr">272</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XX">XX.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Back to Stop Seven</span></td> + <td class="tdr">281</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XXI">XXI.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Phil's Fists</span></td> + <td class="tdr">292<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XXII">XXII.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Mr. Waterman's Great Opportunity</span></td> + <td class="tdr">308</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XXIII">XXIII.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Pleasant Times in Main Street</span></td> + <td class="tdr">321</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XXIV">XXIV.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Forsaken Garden</span></td> + <td class="tdr">336</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XXV">XXV.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Phil encounters the Sheriff</span></td> + <td class="tdr">355</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XXVI">XXVI.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Call in Buckeye Lane</span></td> + <td class="tdr">373</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><a href="#XXVII">XXVII.</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Amzi's Perfidy</span></td> + <td class="tdr">385</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>OTHERWISE PHYLLIS</h2> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>OTHERWISE PHYLLIS</h2> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><a name="I" id="I"></a> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>THE KIRKWOODS BREAK CAMP</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"Stuff's all packed, Phil, and on the wagon. Camera safe on top and your +suit-case tied to the tail-gate. Shall we march?"</p> + +<p>"Not crazy about it, daddy. Why not linger another week? We can unlimber +in a jiffy."</p> + +<p>"It's a tempting proposition, old lady, but I haven't the nerve." +Kirkwood dropped an armful of brush on the smouldering camp-fire and +stood back as it crackled and flamed. There came suddenly a low whining +in the trees and a gust of wind caught the sparks from the blazing twigs +and flung them heavenward. He threw up his arm and turned his hand to +feel the wind. "The weather's at the changing point; there's rain in +that!"</p> + +<p>"Well, we haven't been soaked for some time," replied Phil. "We've been +awfully respectable."</p> + +<p>"Respectable," laughed her father. "We don't know what the word means! +We're unmitigated vagabonds, you and I, Phil. If I didn't know that you +like this sort of thing as well as I do, I shouldn't let you come. But +your aunts are on my trail."</p> + +<p>"Oh, one's aunts! Oh, one's three aunts!" murmured Phil.</p> + +<p>"Not so lightly to be scorned! When I was in town yesterday your Aunt +Kate held me up for a scolding in the post-office. I'd no sooner climbed +up to my den than your Aunt Josie dropped in to ask what I had done with +you; and while I was waiting for you to buy shoes at Fisher's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>your Aunt +Fanny strolled by and gave me another overhauling. It's a question +whether they don't bring legal process to take you away from me. What's +a father more or less among three anxious aunts! As near as I can make +out, Aunt Fanny's anxiety is chiefly for your complexion. She says you +look like an Indian. And she implied that I am one."</p> + +<p>"One of her subtle compliments. I've always thought Indians were nice."</p> + +<p>It was clear that this father and daughter were on the best of terms, +and that admiration was of the essence of their relationship. Phil +stooped, picked up a pebble and flung it with the unconscious grace of a +boy far down the creek. Her Aunt Fanny's solicitude for her complexion +was or was not warranted; it depended on one's standard in such matters. +Phil was apparently not alarmed about the state of her complexion.</p> + +<p>"Suppose we wait for the moon," Kirkwood suggested. "It will be with us +in an hour, and we can loaf along and still reach town by eleven. Only a +little while ago we had to get you to bed by eight, and it used to +bother me a lot about your duds; but we've outgrown that trouble. I +guess—"</p> + +<p>He paused abruptly and began to whistle softly to himself. Phil was +familiar with this trick of her father's. She knew the processes of his +mind and the range of his memories well enough to supply the conclusion +of such sentences as the one that had resolved itself into a doleful +whistle. As he was an excellent amateur musician, the lugubrious tone of +his whistling was the subject of many jokes between them.</p> + +<p>The walls of a miniature cañon rose on either side of the creek, and the +light of the wind-blown camp-fire flitted across the face of the +shelving rock, or scampered up to the edge of the overhanging cliff, +where it flashed fitfully against the sky. The creek splashed and foamed +through its rough, boulder-filled channel, knowing that soon it would be +free of the dark defile and moving with dignity between shores of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>corn +toward the Wabash. The cliffs that enclosed Turkey Run represented some +wild whim of the giant ice plow as it had redivided and marked this +quarter of the world. The two tents in which the Kirkwoods had lodged +for a month had been pitched in a grassy cleft of the more accessible +shore, but these and other paraphernalia of the camp were now packed for +transportation in a one-horse wagon. As a fiercer assault of the wind +shook the vale, the horse whinnied and pawed impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Cheer up, Billo! We're going soon!" called Phil.</p> + +<p>Kirkwood stood by the fire, staring silently into the flames. Phil, +having reassured Billo, drew a little away from her father. In earlier +times when moods of abstraction fell upon him, she had sought to rouse +him; but latterly she had learned the wisdom and kindness of silence. +She knew that this annual autumnal gypsying held for him the keenest +delight and, in another and baffling phase, a poignancy on which, as she +had grown to womanhood, it had seemed impious to allow her imagination +to play. She watched him now with the pity that was woven into her love +for him: his tall figure and the slightly stooped shoulders; the round +felt hat that crowned his thick, close-cut hair, the dejection that +seemed expressed in so many trifles at such moments,—as in his manner +of dropping his hands loosely into the pockets of his corduroy coat, and +standing immovable. Without taking his eyes from the fire he sat down +presently on a log and she saw him fumbling for his pipe and tobacco. He +bent to thrust a chip into the fire with the deliberation that marked +his movements in these moods. Now and then he took the pipe from his +mouth, and she knew the look that had come into his gray eyes, though +she saw only the profile of his bearded face as the firelight limned it.</p> + +<p>Now, as at other such times, on summer evenings in the little garden at +home, or on winter nights before the fire in their sitting-room, she +felt that he should be left to himself; that his spirit traversed realms +beyond boundaries she might not cross; and that in a little while his +reverie would end and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>he would rise and fling up his long arms and ask +whether it was breakfast-time or time to go to bed.</p> + +<p>Phil Kirkwood was eighteen, a slim, brown, graceful creature, with a +habit of carrying her chin a little high; a young person who seemed to +be enjoying flights into the realm of reverie at times, and then, before +you were aware of it, was off, away out of sight and difficult to catch +with hand or eye. As a child this abruptness had been amusing; now that +she was eighteen her aunts had begun to be distressed by it. Her critics +were driven to wild things for comparisons. She was as quick as a +swallow; and yet a conscientious ornithologist would have likened her in +her moments of contemplation to the thrush for demureness. And a robin +hopping across a meadow, alert in all his mysterious senses, was not +more alive than Phil in action. Her middle-aged aunts said she was +impudent, but this did not mean impudent speech; it was Phil's silences +that annoyed her aunts and sometimes embarrassed or dismayed other +people. Her brown eye could be very steady and wholly respectful when, +at the same time, there was a suspicious twitching of her +thread-of-scarlet lips. The aunts were often outraged by her conduct. +Individually and collectively they had endeavored to correct her +grievous faults, and she had received their instructions meekly. But +what could one do with a mild brown eye that met the gaze of aunts so +steadily and submissively, while her lips betrayed quite other emotions!</p> + +<p>Phil's clothes were another source of distress. She hated hats and in +open weather rejected them altogether. A tam-o'-shanter was to her +liking, and a boy's cap was even better. The uniform of the basketball +team at high school suited her perfectly; and yet her unreasonable aunts +had made a frightful row when she wore it as a street garb. She gave +this up, partly to mollify the aunts, but rather more to save her father +from the annoyance of their complaints. She clung, however, to her +sweater,—on which a large "M" advertised her <i>alma mater</i> most +indecorously,—and in spite of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>aunts' vigilance she occasionally +appeared at Center Church in tan shoes; which was not what one had a +right to expect of a great-granddaughter of Amzi I, whose benevolent +countenance, framed for adoration in the Sunday-School room, spoke for +the conservative traditions of the town honored with his name.</p> + +<p>Phil had no sense of style; her aunts were agreed on this. Her +hair-ribbons rarely matched her stockings; and the stockings on agile +legs like Phil's, that were constantly dancing in the eyes of all +Montgomery, should, by all the canons of order and decency, present +holeless surfaces to captious critics. That they frequently did not was +a shame, a reproach, a disgrace, but no fault, we may be sure, of the +anxious aunts. Manifestly Phil had no immediate intention of growing up. +The idea of being a young lady did not interest her. In June of this +particular year she had been graduated from the Montgomery High School, +in a white dress and (noteworthy achievement of the combined aunts!) +impeccable white shoes and stockings. Pink ribbons (pink being the class +color) had enhanced the decorative effect of the gown and a pink bow had +given a becoming touch of grace to her head. Phil's hair—brown in +shadow and gold in sunlight—was washed by Montgomery's house-to-house +hairdresser whenever Aunt Fanny could corner Phil for the purpose.</p> + +<p>Phil's general effect was of brownness. Midwinter never saw the passing +of the tan from her cheek; her vigorous young fists were always brown; +when permitted a choice she chose brown clothes: she was a brown girl.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Speaking of Phil's graduation, it should be mentioned that she had +contributed a ten-minute oration to the commencement exercises, its +subject being "The Dogs of Main Street." This was not conceded a place +on the programme without a struggle. The topic was frivolous and without +precedent; moreover, it was unliterary—a heinous offense, difficult of +condonation. To admit the dogs of Main Street to a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>high-school +commencement, an affair of pomp and ceremony held in Hastings's Theater, +was not less than shocking. It had seemed so to the principal, but he +knew Phil; and knowing Phil he laughed when the English teacher +protested that it would compromise her professional dignity to allow a +student to discuss the vagrant canines of Main Street in a commencement +essay. She had expected Phil to prepare a thesis on "What the Poets Have +Meant to Me," and for this "The Dogs of Main Street" was no proper +substitute. The superintendent of schools, scanning the programme before +it went to the printer, shuddered; but it was not for naught that Phil's +"people" were of Montgomery's elect.</p> + +<p>Phil was, in fact, <i>a</i> Montgomery. Her great-grandfather, Amzi +Montgomery, observing the unpopulous Hoosier landscape with a shrewd +eye, had, in the year of grace 1829, opened a general store on the exact +spot now occupied by Montgomery's Bank, and the proper authorities a few +years later called the name of the place Montgomery, which it remains to +this day. This explains why the superintendent of schools overlooked the +temerity of Amzi's great-granddaughter in electing the Main Street fauna +as the subject of her commencement address rather than her indebtedness +to the poets, though it may not be illuminative as to the holes in +Phil's stockings. But on this point we shall be enlightened later.</p> + +<p>Phil raised her head. There had come a lull in the whisper of the +weather spirit in the sycamores, and she was aware of a sound that was +not the noise of the creek among the boulders. It was a strain of music +not of nature's making and Phil's healthy young curiosity was instantly +aroused by it. Her father maintained his lonely vigil by the fire, quite +oblivious of her and of all things. She caught another strain, and then +began climbing the cliff.</p> + +<p>The ascent was difficult, but she drew herself up swiftly, catching at +bushes, seeking with accustomed feet the secure limestone ledges that +promised safety, pausing to listen when bits of loosened stone fell +behind her. Finally, catching the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>protruding roots of a great sycamore +whose shadow had guided her, she gained the top. The moon, invisible in +the vale, now greeted her as it rose superbly above a dark woodland +across a wide stretch of intervening field. But there were nearer lights +than those of star and moon, and their presence afforded her a thrill of +surprise.</p> + +<p>Clearer now came the strains of music. Here was a combination of +phenomena that informed the familiar region with strangeness. The music +came from a barn, and she remembered that barn well as a huge, gloomy +affair on the Holton farm. Satisfied of this, Phil turned, +half-unconsciously, and glanced up at the sycamore. That hoary old +landmark defined a boundary, and a boundary which, on various accounts, +it was incumbent upon the great-granddaughter of Amzi Montgomery I to +observe. A dividing fence ran from the sycamore, straight toward the +moon. It was a "stake-and-rider" fence, and the notches on the Holton +side of it were filled with wild raspberry, elderberry, and weeds; but +on the Montgomery side these interstices were free of such tangle. The +fact that lights and music advertised the Holton farm to the eye and ear +seemed to Phil a matter worthy of her attention. The corn was in the +shock on the Montgomery side; the adjacent Holton field had lain fallow +that year. The shocks of corn suggested to Phil's imagination the tents +of an unsentineled host or an abandoned camp; but she walked fearlessly +toward the lights and music, bent upon investigation. The moon would not +for some time creep high enough to light the valley and disturb her +father's vigil by the camp-fire: there need be no haste, for even if he +missed her he would not be alarmed.</p> + +<p>The old Holton house and its outbuildings lay near the fence and Phil +calculated that without leaving her ancestral acres she would be able to +determine exactly the nature and extent of this unprecedented revelry in +the Holton barn. She approached as near as possible and rested her arms +on the rough top rail of the fence. There were doors on both sides of +the lumbering old structure, and her tramp across <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>the cornfield was +rewarded by a comprehensive view of the scene within. The music ceased +and she heard voices—gay, happy voices—greeting some late-comers whose +automobile had just "chug-chugged" into the barnyard. She saw, beyond +the brilliantly lighted interior, the motors and carriages that had +conveyed the company to the dance; and she caught a glimpse of the +farmhouse itself, where doubtless refreshments were even now in +readiness. Phil was far enough away to be safe from observation and yet +near enough to identify many of the dancers. They were chiefly young +people she had known all her life, and the strangers were presumably +friends of the Holtons from Indianapolis and elsewhere.</p> + +<p>The strains of a familiar waltz caused a quick reassembling of the +dancers. The music tingled in Phil's blood. She kept time with head and +hands, and then, swinging round, began dancing, humming the air as her +figure swayed and bent to its cadences. By some whim the nearest +corn-shock became the center of her attention. Round and round it she +moved, with a child's abandon; and now that the moon's full glory lay +upon the fields, her shadow danced mockingly with her. Fauns and nymphs +tripped thus to wild music in the enchanted long ago when the world was +young. Hers was the lightest, the most fantastic of irresponsible +shadows. It was not the mere reflection of her body, but a prefigurement +of her buoyant spirit, that had escaped from her control and tauntingly +eluded capture. Her mind had never known a morbid moment; she had never +feared the dark, without or within. And this was her private affair—a +joke between her and the moon and the earth. It was for the moment all +hers—earth and heaven, the mystery of the stars, the slumbering power +of a beneficent land that only yesterday had vouchsafed its kindly +fruits in reward of man's labor.</p> + +<p>After a breathless interval a two-step followed, and Phil danced again, +seizing a corn-stalk and holding it above her head with both hands like +a wand. When the music ended <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>she poised on tiptoe and flung the stalk +far from her toward the barn as though it were a javelin. Then as she +took a step toward the fence she was aware that some one had been +watching her. It was, indeed, a nice question whether the flying stalk +had not grazed the ear of a man who stood on Holton soil, his arms +resting on the rail just as hers had been ten minutes earlier, and near +the same spot.</p> + +<p>"'Lo!" gasped Phil breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"'Lo!"</p> + +<p>They surveyed each other calmly in the moonlight. The young man beyond +the fence straightened and removed his hat. He had been watching her +antics round the corn-shock and Phil resented it.</p> + +<p>"What were you doing that for?" she demanded indignantly, her hands in +her sweater pockets.</p> + +<p>"Doing what, for instance?"</p> + +<p>"Watching me. It wasn't fair."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I liked your dancing; that was all."</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>An "Oh" let fall with certain intonations is a serious impediment to +conversation. The young gentleman seemed unable at this crucial instant +to think of a fitting reply. Finding himself unequal to a response in +her own key he merely said:—</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to. I came over here to sit on the +fence and watch the party."</p> + +<p>"Watch it! Why don't you go in and dance?"</p> + +<p>He glanced down as though to suggest that if Phil were to scrutinize his +raiment she might very readily understand why, instead of being among +the dancers, he contented himself with watching them from a convenient +fence corner. He carried a crumpled coat on his arm; the collar of his +flannel shirt was turned up round his throat. His hat was of battered +felt with a rent in the creased crown.</p> + +<p>"My brother and sister are giving the party. I'm not in it."</p> + +<p>"I suppose your invitation got lost in the mail," suggested <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>Phil, this +being a form of explanation frequently proffered by local humorists for +their failure to appear at Montgomery functions.</p> + +<p>"Nothing like that! I didn't expect to be here to-day. In fact, I've +been off trying to borrow a team of horses; one of mine went lame. I've +just brought them home, and I'm wondering how long I've got to wait +before the rumpus is over and those folks get out of there and give the +horses a chance. It's going to rain before morning."</p> + +<p>Phil had heard the same prognostication from her father, and it was in +the young man's favor that he was wise in weather lore. The musicians +had begun to play a popular barn dance, and the two spectators watched +the dancers catch step to it. Then Phil, having by this time drawn a +trifle closer to the fence and been reassured by her observations of the +clean-shaven face of the young man, became personal.</p> + +<p>"Are you Charlie Holton?"</p> + +<p>"No; Fred. Charlie's my brother."</p> + +<p>"And your sister's name is Ethel."</p> + +<p>"O. K. I'm trying to figure you out. If you weren't so tall I'd guess +you were Phyllis Kirkwood."</p> + +<p>"That's all of my name," replied Phil. "I remember you now, but you must +have been away a long time. I hadn't heard that anybody was living over +there."</p> + +<p>"The family haven't been here much since I was a kid. They have moved +out their things. What's left is mine."</p> + +<p>Mr. Frederick Holton turned and extended the hand that held his hat with +a comprehensive gesture. There was a tinge of irony in his tone that +Phil did not miss. "What's left here—house, barn, and land—belongs to +me. The town house has been sold and Charlie and Ethel have come out +here to say good-bye to the farm."</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>This time Phil's "Oh" connoted mild surprise, polite interest, and faint +curiosity.</p> + +<p>The wind rustled the leaves among the corn-shocks. The moon gazed +benevolently upon the barn, tolerant of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>impertinence of man-made +light and a gayety that was wholly inconsonant with her previous +knowledge of this particular bit of landscape.</p> + +<p>Fred Holton did not amplify his last statement, so Phil's "Oh," in so +far as it expressed curiosity as to the disposition of the Holton +territory and Mr. Frederick Holton's relation to it, seemed destined to +no immediate satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"I must skip," remarked Phil; though she did not, in fact, skip at once.</p> + +<p>"Staying over at your grandfather's?" The young man's arm pointed toward +the north and the venerable farmhouse long occupied by tenants of the +Montgomerys.</p> + +<p>Old Amzi had acquired much land in his day and his grandson, Amzi III, +clung to most of it. But this little availed Phil, as we shall see. +Still it was conceivable and pardonable that Fred Holton should assume +that Phil was domiciled upon soil to which she had presumably certain +inalienable rights.</p> + +<p>"No; I've been camping and my father's waiting for me down there in +Turkey Run. We've been here a month."</p> + +<p>"It must be good fun, camping that way."</p> + +<p>"Oh, rather! But it's tough—the going home afterwards."</p> + +<p>"I hate towns myself. I expect to have some fun out here."</p> + +<p>"I heard this farm had been sold," remarked Phil leadingly.</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose it amounts to that. They were dividing up father's +estate, and I drew it."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's not so much to look at," remarked Phil, as though the +appraisement of farm property were quite in the line of her occupations. +"I've been across your pasture a number of times on my way to Uncle +Amzi's for milk, but I didn't know any one was living here. One can +hardly mention your farm in terms of grandeur or splendor."</p> + +<p>Fred Holton laughed, a cheerful, pleasant laugh. Phil had not thought of +it before, but she decided now that she liked him. His voice was +agreeable, and she noted his slight drawl. Phil's father, who was born +in the Berkshires, said all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>Hoosiers drawled. As a matter of fact, +Phil, who was indubitably a Hoosier, did not, save in a whimsical +fashion of her own, to give a humorous turn to the large words with +which she sometimes embellished her conversation. Her father said that +her freedom from the drawl was no fault of the Montgomery High School, +but attributable to his own vigilance.</p> + +<p>Phil knew that it was unseemly to be talking across a fence to a strange +young man, particularly when her father was doubtless waiting for her to +return for the homeward journey; and she knew that she was guilty of a +grievous offense in talking to a Holton in any circumstances. Still the +situation appealed to her imagination. There hung the moon, patron +goddess of such encounters, and here were fields of mystery.</p> + +<p>"They say it's no good, do they? They're right. I know all about it, so +you don't need to be sorry for me."</p> + +<p>Sensitiveness spoke here; obviously others had made the mistake, of +which she would not be guilty, of sympathizing with him in his +possession of these unprofitable acres. Phil had no intention of being +sorry for him. She rather liked him for not wanting her sympathy, though +to be sure there was no reason why he should have expected it.</p> + +<p>"You've been living in Indianapolis?"</p> + +<p>"The folks have. Father died, you know, nearly two years ago. I was in +Mexico, and now I'm back to stay."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you learned farming in Mexico?" Phil pursued.</p> + +<p>"Well, hardly! Mining; no silver; quit."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Phil, and filed his telegram for reference.</p> + +<p>They watched the dance for a few minutes.</p> + +<p>"What's that?"</p> + +<p>Phil started guiltily as Holton turned his head toward the creek, +listening. Her father was sounding the immelodious fish-horn which he +called their signal corps. He must have become alarmed by her long +absence or he would not have resorted to it, and she recalled with shame +that it had been buried in a soap-box with minor cooking-utensils at the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>bottom of the wagon, and could not have been resurrected without +trouble.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye!" She ran swiftly across the field toward the creek. The horn, +sounding at intervals in long raucous blasts, roused Phil to her best +speed. She ran boy fashion with her head down, elbows at her sides. Fred +Holton watched her until she disappeared.</p> + +<p>He made a detour of the barn, followed a lane that led to the town road, +and waited, in the shadow of a great walnut at the edge of a pasture. He +was soon rewarded by the sound of wheels coming up from the creek, and +in a moment the one-horse wagon bearing Phil and her father passed +slowly. He heard their voices distinctly; Kirkwood was chaffing Phil for +her prolonged absence. Their good comradeship was evident in their +laughter, subdued to the mood of the still, white night. Fred Holton was +busy reconstructing all his previous knowledge of the Kirkwoods, and he +knew a good deal about them, now that he thought of it.</p> + +<p>At the crest of Listening Hill,—so called from the fact that in old +times farm-boys had listened there for wandering cows,—the wagon +lingered for a moment—an act of mercy to the horse—and the figures of +father and daughter were mistily outlined against the sky. Then they +resumed their journey and Fred slowly crossed the fields toward the +barn.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><a name="II" id="II"></a> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>THE MONTGOMERYS OF MONTGOMERY</h3> +<br /> + +<p>A stout, spectacled gentleman of fifty or thereabouts appeared at +intervals, every business day of the year, on the steps of Montgomery's +Bank, at the corner of Main and Franklin Streets. As he stood on this +pedestal, wearing, winter and summer, a blue-and-white seersucker office +coat tightly buttoned about his pudgy form, and frequently with an +ancient straw hat perched on the side of his head, it was fair to assume +that he was in some way connected with the institution from whose doors +he emerged. This was, indeed, the fact, and any intelligent child could +have enlightened a stranger as to the name of the stout gentleman +indicated. He was one of the first citizens of the community, if wealth, +probity, and long residence may be said to count for anything. And his +name, which it were absurd longer to conceal, was Amzi Montgomery, or, +to particularize, Amzi Montgomery III. As both his father and his +grandfather who had borne the same name slept peacefully in Greenlawn, +it is unnecessary to continue in this narrative the numerical +designation of this living Amzi who braved the worst of weathers to +inspect the moving incidents of Main Street as a relief from the strain +and stress of the business of a private banker.</p> + +<p>When, every hour or so, Mr. Montgomery, exposing a pink bald head to the +elements, glanced up and down the street, usually with a cigar planted +resolutely in the corner of his mouth, it was commonly believed that he +saw everything that was happening, not only in Main Street, but in all +the shops and in the rival banking-houses distributed along that +thoroughfare. After surveying the immediate scene,—having, for example, +noted the customers waiting at the counter of the First National Bank, +diagonally <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>opposite,—something almost invariably impelled his glance +upward to the sign of a painless dentist, immediately above the First +National,—a propinquity which had caused a wag (one of the Montgomery's +customers) to express the hope that the dentist was more painless than +the bank in his extractions.</p> + +<p>There was a clothing store directly opposite Amzi's bank, and his +wandering eye could not have failed to observe the lettering on the +windows of the office above it, which, in badly scratched gilt, +published the name of Thomas Kirkwood, Attorney at Law, to the +litigiously inclined. Still higher on the third and final story of the +building hung a photographer's sign in a dilapidated condition, and +though a studio skylight spoke further of photography, almost every one +knew that the artist had departed years ago, and that Tom Kirkwood had +never found another tenant for those upper rooms.</p> + +<p>At two o'clock on the afternoon of the day following the return of Phil +Kirkwood and her father from their camp on Sugar Creek, as Mr. +Montgomery appeared upon the steps of the bank and gazed with his usual +unconcern up and down Main Street, his spectacles pointed finally (or so +it seemed) to the photographer's studio over the way. Although a slight +mist was falling and umbrellas bobbed inanely in the fashion of +umbrellas, Amzi in his seersucker coat was apparently oblivious of the +weather's inclemency. One of the windows of the abandoned photograph +gallery was open, and suddenly, without the slightest warning, the head +of Miss Phyllis Kirkwood bent over the cornice and she waved her hand +with unmistakable friendliness. It was then that Mr. Montgomery, as +though replying to a signal, detached his left hand from its pocket, +made a gesture as graceful as a man of his figure is capable of, and +then, allaying suspicion by passing the hand across his bald head, he +looked quickly toward the court-house tower and immediately withdrew to +continue his active supervision of the four clerks who sufficed for his +bank's business.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>As depositors were now bringing to the receiving teller's window their +day's offerings, Mr. Montgomery took his stand at the paying teller's +window,—a part of his usual routine,—to relieve the pressure incident +to the closing hour, one teller at other times being quite equal to the +demands of both departments. Mr. Montgomery's manner of paying a check +was in itself individual. He laid his cigar on the edge of the counter, +passed the time of day with a slightly asthmatic voice, drew the check +toward him with the tips of his fingers, read it, cocked an eye at the +indorsement, and counted out the money with a bored air. If silver +entered into the transaction, he usually rang the last coin absently on +the glass surface of the counter.</p> + +<p>In other times the sign on the window had proclaimed "Montgomery & +Holton, Bankers"; and the deletion of the second name from the +copartnership was due to an incident that must be set down succinctly +before we proceed further. Amzi II had left a family of five children, +of whom Phil Kirkwood's three aunts have already been mentioned. The +only one of the Montgomery girls, as they were locally designated, who +had made a marriage at all in keeping with the family dignity, had been +Lois.</p> + +<p>Lois, every one said, was the handsomest, the most interesting of the +Montgomerys, and she had captured at eighteen the heart of Tom Kirkwood, +who had come out of the East to assume the chair of jurisprudence in +Madison College, which, as every one knows, is an institution +inseparably associated with the fame of Montgomery as a community of +enlightenment. Tom Kirkwood was a graduate of Williams College, with a +Berlin Ph.D., and he had, moreover, a modest patrimony which, after his +marriage to Lois Montgomery, he had invested in the block in Main Street +opposite the Montgomery Bank. The year following the marriage he had, in +keeping with an early resolution, resigned his professorship and begun +the practice of law. He seemed to have escaped the embarrassments and +prejudices that attend any practical undertakings by men who have borne +the title <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>of professor, and whether his connection with the Montgomery +family saved him from such disqualification it was nevertheless true +that he entered upon the law brilliantly. Two or three successes in +important cases had launched him upon this second career auspiciously.</p> + +<p>Amzi II was still living at the time of the marriage, and as he valued +his own position in the community and wished his family to maintain its +traditions, he had subdivided a large tract of woodland in which his +father's house stood, and bestowed an acre lot upon each of his +daughters. His son had declined a similar offer, having elected early in +life the bachelor state in which we have found him. As Lois had been the +first to marry, her house was planted nearest to the gray old brick in +which she had been reared.</p> + +<p>If the gods favored the Montgomerys, they seemed no less to smile with a +peculiar indulgence upon the Kirkwoods. People who had said that Lois +was a trifle strong-willed and given to frivolity were convinced that +her marriage had done much to sober her. In the second year thereafter +Phyllis was born, a further assurance that Lois was thoroughly +established among the staid matrons of her native town. Then in the +fifth year of her marriage, rumors—almost the first scandalous gossip +that had ever passed current in those quiet streets—began to be heard. +It did not seem possible that in a community whose morals were nurtured +in Center Church, a town where everybody was "good," where no +respectable man ever entered a saloon and divorce was a word not to be +spoken before children,—that here, a daughter of the house of +Montgomery was causing anxiety among those jealous of her good name. A +few of Kirkwood's friends—and he had many—may have known the inner +history of the cloud that darkened his house; but the end came with a +blinding flash that left him dazed and dumb.</p> + +<p>The town was so knit together, so like a big family, that Lois +Montgomery's escapade was a tragedy at every hearth-side. It was +immeasurably shocking that a young woman married to a reputable man, and +with a child still toddling <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>after her, should have done this grievous +thing. To say that she had always been flighty, and that it was what +might have been expected of a woman as headstrong as she had been as a +girl, was no mollification of the blow to the local conscience, acutely +sensitive in all that pertained to the honor and sanctity of the +marriage tie. And Jack Holton! That she should have thrown away a man +like Tom Kirkwood, a gentleman and a scholar, for a rogue like Holton, +added to the blackness of her sin. The Holtons had been second only to +the Montgomerys in dignity. The conjunction of the names on the old sign +over the bank at Main and Franklin Streets had expressed not only +unquestioned financial stability, but a social worth likewise +unassailable. Jack Holton, like Amzi Montgomery, had inherited an +interest in the banking-house of Montgomery & Holton. To be sure his +brother William had been the active representative of the second +generation of Holtons, and Jack had never really settled down to +anything after he returned from the Eastern college to which he had been +sent; but these were things that had not been considered until after he +decamped with Lois Kirkwood. Many declared after the event that they had +"always known" that Jack was a bad lot. Those who sought to account for +Lois Kirkwood's infatuation remembered suddenly that he and Lois had +been boy and girl sweethearts and that she had once been engaged to +marry him. It was explained that his temperament and hers were +harmonious, and that Kirkwood, for all his fine abilities, was a +sober-minded fellow, without Holton's zest for the world's gayety. Any +further details—the countless trifles with which for half a dozen years +the gossips of Montgomery regaled themselves—are not for this writing.</p> + +<p>Many years had passed—or, to be explicit, exactly sixteen. One of the +first results of the incident had been the immediate elimination of the +Holton half of the firm name by which the bank had long been known. +Jack's brother William organized the First National Bank, toward which +Mr. Amzi Montgomery's spectacles pointed several times <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>daily, as +already noted. Samuel, the oldest son of the first Holton, tried a +variety of occupations before he was elected Secretary of State. He +never fully severed his ties with Montgomery, retaining a house in town +and the farm on Sugar Creek. After retiring from office, he became a +venturesome speculator, capitalizing his wide political acquaintance in +the sale of shares in all manner of mining and plantation companies, and +dying suddenly, had left his estate in a sad clutter.</p> + +<p>In due course of time it became known that Lois Kirkwood had divorced +her husband at long range, from a Western state where such matters were +at the time transacted expeditiously, and a formal announcement of her +marriage to Holton subsequently appeared in the Montgomery "Evening +Star."</p> + +<p>The day after his wife's departure Kirkwood left his home and did not +enter it again. It was said by romanticists among the local gossips that +he had touched nothing, leaving it exactly as it had been, and that he +always carried the key in his pocket as a reminder of his sorrow. Phil +was passed back and forth among her aunts, <i>seriatim</i>, until she went to +live with her father, in a rented house far from the original roof-tree.</p> + +<p>Even in practicing the most rigid economy of space some reference must +be made to the attitude of Lois Kirkwood's sisters toward her as a +sinning woman. Their amazement had yielded at once to righteous +indignation. It was enough that she had sinned against Heaven; but that +she should have brought shame upon them all and placed half the +continent between herself and the scene and consequences of her +iniquity, leaving her family to shoulder all its responsibilities, was +too monstrous for expression. They were Montgomerys <i>of</i> Montgomery; it +seemed incredible that the town itself could ever recover from the shock +of her egregious transgression. They vied with each other in +manifestations of sympathy for Kirkwood, whose nobility under suffering +was so admirable; and they lavished upon Phil (it had been <i>like</i> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>Lois, +they discovered, to label her with the preposterous name of Phyllis!) an +affection which became in time a trial to the child's soul.</p> + +<p>Their fury gained ardor from the fact that their brother Amzi had never, +after he had blinked at them all when they visited him in his private +room at the bank the morning after the elopement, mentioned to any +living soul the passing of this youngest sister. It had been an occasion +to rouse an older brother and the head of his house to some dramatic +pronouncement. He should have taken a stand, they said, though just what +stand one should take, when one's sister has run off with another man +and left a wholly admirable husband and a winsome baby daughter behind, +may not, perhaps, have been wholly clear to the minds of the remaining +impeccable sisters. They demanded he should confiscate her share of +their father's estate as punishment; this should now be Phil's; they +wanted this understood and they took care that their friends should know +that they had made this demand of Amzi. But a gentleman of philosophic +habit and temper, who serenely views the world from his bank's doorstep, +need hardly be expected to break his natural reticence to thunder at an +erring sister, or even to gladden the gallery (imaginably the whole town +that bears his name) by transfers of property, of which he was the +lawful trustee, to that lady's abandoned heir.</p> + +<p>Lois had caused all eyes to focus upon the Montgomerys with a new +intentness. Before her escapade they had been accepted as a matter of +course; now that she had demonstrated that the Montgomerys were subject +to the temptations that beset all mankind, every one became curious as +to the further definition of the family weaknesses. The community may be +said to have awaited the marriages of the three remaining Montgomery +girls in much the same spirit that a family physician awaits the +appearance of measles in a child that has been exposed to that malady. +And Montgomery was not wholly disappointed.</p> + +<p>Kate, who like Lois, was a trifle temperamental, had fallen <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>before the +charms of one Lawrence Hastings. The manner of Hastings's advent in +Montgomery is perhaps worthy of a few words, inasmuch as he came to +stay. Hastings was an actor, who visited Montgomery one winter as a +member of a company that had trustfully ventured into the provinces with +a Shakespearean repertoire. Montgomery was favored in the hope that, +being a college town, it would rally to the call of the serious drama. +Unfortunately the college was otherwise engaged at the moment with a +drama of more contemporaneous interest and authorship. An unusually +severe January added to the eager and nipping air upon which the curtain +rises in "Hamlet," and proved too much for the well-meaning players. +Hastings (so ran tradition) had gallantly bestowed such money as he had +upon the ladies of the company to facilitate their flight to New York. +His father, a successful manufacturer of codfish packing-boxes at +Newburyport, telegraphed money for the prodigal's return with the +stipulation that he should forswear the inky cloak and abase himself in +the box factory.</p> + +<p>At this point Kate Montgomery, in charge of an entertainment for the +benefit of Center Church, invited Hastings (thus providentially flung +upon the Hoosier coasts) to give a reading in the church parlors. Almost +coincidently the opera house at Montgomery needed a manager, and +Hastings accepted the position. The Avon Dramatic Club rose and +flourished that winter under Hastings's magic wand. It is not every town +of fifteen thousand that suddenly enrolls a Hamlet among her citizens, +and as the creator and chief spirit of the dramatic club, Hastings's +social acceptance was immediate and complete. In other times the town +would have been wary of an actor; but had not Hastings given his +services free of charge for the benefit of Center Church, and was he not +a gentleman, the son of a wealthy manufacturer, and had he not declined +money offered by telegraph that he might cling stubbornly to his art? +Kate Montgomery talked a good deal about his art, which he would not +relinquish for the boxing of codfish. After Hastings had given a lecture +on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>"Macbeth" (with readings from the play) in the chapel of Madison +College, his respectability was established. There was no reason +whatever why Kate Montgomery should not marry him; and she did, at the +end of his first year in town. He thereupon assumed the theater lease +and what had been the old "Grand Opera House" became under his ownership +"Hastings's Theater," or "The Hastings."</p> + +<p>Fanny Montgomery had contented herself with the hand of a young man +named Fosdick who had been summoned to town to organize a commercial +club. In two years he added several industries to Montgomery's scant +list, and wheedled a new passenger station out of one of the lordly +railroads that had long held the town in scorn. Two of the industries +failed, the new station was cited as an awful example by the Professor +of Fine Arts at the college, and yet Paul Fosdick made himself essential +to Montgomery. The commercial club's bimonthly dinners gave the solid +citizens an excuse for leaving home six nights a year, and in a +community where meetings of whist clubs and church boards constituted +the only justification for carrying a latch-key this new freedom +established him at once as a friend of mankind. Fosdick was wholly +presentable, and while his contributions to the industrial glory of +Montgomery lacked elements of permanence, he had, so the "Evening Star" +solemnly averred, "done much to rouse our citizens from their lethargy +and blaze the starward trail." After he married Fanny, Fosdick opened an +office adjoining the Commercial Club rooms and his stationery bore the +legend "Investment Securities." Judge Walters, in appointing a receiver +for a corporation which Fosdick had organized for the manufacture and +sale of paving-brick, inadvertently spoke of the promoter's occupation +as that of a "dealer in insecurities"; but this playfulness on the +court's part did not shake confidence in Fosdick. He was a popular +fellow, and the success of those Commercial Club dinners was not to be +discounted by the cynical flings of a judge who was rich enough to be +comfortably indifferent to criticism.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>Amzi Montgomery being, as hinted, a person of philosophic temperament, +had interposed no manner of objection to the several marriages of his +sisters until Josephine, the oldest, and the last to marry, tendered him +a brother-in-law in the person of Alexander Waterman. Josephine was the +least attractive of the sisters, and also, it was said, the meekest, the +kindest, and the most amiable. An early unhappy affair with a young +minister was a part of the local tradition, and she had been cited as a +broken-hearted woman until she married Waterman. Waterman was a lawyer +who had been seized early in life with a mania for running for Congress. +The district had long been Republican, but with singular obstinacy +Waterman insisted on being a Democrat. His party being hopelessly in the +minority he was graciously permitted to have such nominations as he +liked, with the result that he had been defeated for nearly every office +within the gift of a proud people. He was a fair jury lawyer, and an +orator of considerable repute among those susceptible to the +blandishments of the florid school.</p> + +<p>Amzi's resentment of Josephine's choice was said to be due to a grilling +the banker had received at Waterman's hands on the witness stand. Once +while standing on the steps of his bank for a survey of the visible +universe, Amzi was rewarded with an excellent view of the liveliest +runaway that had thrilled Main Street in years. Several persons were +hurt, and one of the victims had sued the grocer whose wagon had done +the mischief.</p> + +<p>Waterman was the plaintiff's attorney, and Amzi Montgomery was, of +course, an important though reluctant witness. The banker loathed +litigation in all its forms and in his own affairs studiously avoided +it. It enraged him to find one of his idiosyncrasies advertised by the +fact that he had observed the violent collision of a grocer's wagon with +a fellow-citizen. His anger was augmented by the patronizing manner in +which Waterman compelled him to contribute to the record of the case +admissions touching his habits of life, which, though perfectly lawful +and decorous, became <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>ridiculous when uttered on oath in a law court. +Every one knew that Mr. Montgomery stood on the bank steps at intervals +to take the air, but no one had ever dreamed that he would be obliged to +discuss or explain the habit.</p> + +<p>The "Evening Star" printed all of his testimony that it dared; but as +the cross-examination had been conducted before a crowded courtroom the +neat give and take between lawyer and witness had not lacked thorough +reporting. For several weeks thereafter Amzi did not appear on the bank +steps; nor did he revert to his old habit until satisfied that groups of +idlers were not lying in wait. After Josephine introduced Waterman to +the family circle Amzi seemed generously to overlook the offense. He was +as cordial toward him as toward either of the other brothers-in-law, +with the exception of Kirkwood, though of course Kirkwood, strictly +speaking, no longer continued in that relationship.</p> + +<p>These details aside, it is possible to return to the bank, and await the +result of that furtive gesture with which Mr. Amzi Montgomery responded +to Phil Kirkwood's signal from the window of the photograph gallery. By +half-past four the clerks had concluded their day's work; the routine +letters to Chicago, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis correspondents had been +sealed and dispatched, and the vault locked by Mr. Montgomery's own +hand. Thereupon he retired to the back room, unlocked the Franklin +Street door and beguiled himself with the "Evening Star." Shortly before +five o'clock he heard light steps outside followed by a tap and Phil +opened and closed the door.</p> + +<p>"Lo, Amy!"</p> + +<p>She pronounced the <i>a</i> long, after a fashion she had adopted in +childhood and refused to relinquish. Amzi was "A-mee" to Phil. She +glanced into the bank room, seized his newspaper, crunched it into a +football, and kicked it over the tellers' cages into the front window. +Then she pressed her uncle down into his chair, grasped his face in her +hands, and held him while she kissed him on the nose, the left eye, and +the right cheek, choosing the spot in every instance with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>provoking +deliberation as she held his wriggling head. He lost his cigar and his +spectacles were knocked awry, but he did not appear to be distressed. +Phil set his spectacles straight, struck a match for a fresh cigar, and +seated herself on the table.</p> + +<p>"I'm back, Amy. How did you know we'd be home to-day?"</p> + +<p>"Dreamed it," said Amzi, apparently relieved that her assaults upon his +peace and dignity were ended.</p> + +<p>"I'd been watching for you half an hour before you came out on the +steps. I'd about given you up."</p> + +<p>"So? You were pretty late getting home last night. Your father ought to +be ashamed of himself."</p> + +<p>Amzi glared at Phil. His curiously large blue eyes could, at will, +express ferocity, and the red and purple in his face deepened as he shut +his jaws tight. She was not, however, in the least disturbed, not even +when he pushed back his chair to escape her swinging legs, and pointed +his finger at her threateningly.</p> + +<p>"I wanted to see you," he gasped.</p> + +<p>"So I inferred," Phil remarked, bending forward and compressing her lips +as though making a careful calculation, then touching the point of his +nose.</p> + +<p>Amzi rubbed the outraged nose with the back of his hand, wheezed +hoarsely (the effect of the rain upon his asthma), and cleared his +throat.</p> + +<p>"You'll come down from your high horse in a minute. I've got something +to tell you that will sober you up a bit."</p> + +<p>Phil raised her hands and with brown nimble fingers found and readjusted +the pin that affixed a shabby felt hat to her hair. Then she folded her +arms and looked at the tips of her shoes.</p> + +<p>"The suspense is killing me. I who am about to die salute you!"</p> + +<p>Amzi frowned at her levity. His frown caused a disturbance throughout +his vast tracts of baldness.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>"You'll change your tune in a minute, my young commodore. Have you seen +your aunts?"</p> + +<p>"No; but it's not their fault! Aunt Josie called; the others telephoned +for dates. I saw Aunt Josie first, which explains why we didn't meet. I +knew something was up."</p> + +<p>"Something is up. They got me over to Josie's last night to ask me to +help. It's a big programme. And I wanted to warn you in advance. You've +got to stop all your capers; no more camps on Sugar Creek, no more +tomboy foolishness; no more general nonsense. You've got to be a +civilized woman, and conduct yourself according to the rules in such +cases made and provided."</p> + +<p>"Oh, is that it? And they got you to tell me, did they? How sweet of +them!" observed Phil. "I might have guessed it from the look of Aunt +Josie's back as she went out the gate."</p> + +<p>"Her back? Thunder! How did you see her back?"</p> + +<p>"From the roof, Amy, if you must know. If you had three aunts who had +turned up every few minutes all your natural life to tell you what not +to do, you'd run for the roof, too, every time you heard the gate click. +And that last cook they put in the house was just a spy for them. But +she didn't spy long! I've bounced her!"</p> + +<p>Amzi blinked and coughed, and feigned even greater ferocity.</p> + +<p>"That's it! That's the kind of thing you've got to stop doing! You're +always bouncing the hired girls your aunts put in the house to take care +of you and you've got to quit; you've got to learn how to manage a +servant; you've got"—and he drew himself up to charge his words with +all possible dignity—"you've got to be a lady."</p> + +<p>"You insinuate, Amy, that I'm not one, just natural born?"</p> + +<p>"I don't mean any such thing," he blurted. "You know mighty well what I +mean—this skylarking, this galloping around town on your pony. You've +got to behave yourself; you've got to pay attention to what your aunts +tell you. You've got to listen to me!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>"Look me in the eye, you old fraud! I'll bet every one of 'em has called +you up to tell you to see me and give me a lecturing. They're a jolly +lot of cowards, that's all. And I came over here thinking you wanted to +be nice and cheerful like you always used to be. All by your dear old +lonesome you'd never think of talking to me like this; I've a good +notion to muss you up!"</p> + +<p>The thought of being mussed was clearly disturbing. He rose hastily and +retreated to the barred window, with the table between them.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you're guilty! I always know when they've been putting you up to +something. Come along now and sit down like a good old uncle and tell me +what new idea has struck those foolish females. Sit down right there in +your little chair, Amy; I'll let you off from that mussing if you tell +the truth."</p> + +<p>"You see, Phil," he began earnestly, "you've grown up. You're not a kid +any more to chase cats and dogs through the court-house square, and flip +on the interurbans, but a grown woman, and you've got to begin acting +like one. And you've got to begin right now. Just look at your shoes; +look at that hat! What kind of clothes is that sailor boy's suit you're +wearing? You've got to dress like a decent white girl that's had some +bringing-up, and you've got to—you've got—" Amzi coughed as though +afraid of the intended conclusion of his sentence. Phil's eyes were bent +upon him with disconcerting gravity. He hoped that Phil would interrupt +with one of her usual impertinences; but with the suspicion of laughter +in her eyes she waited, so that he perforce blurted it out. "You've got +to go into society; that's what's the matter!"</p> + +<p>Phil moved her head slightly to one side, and her lips parted. A faraway +look came into her eyes for an instant only. Amzi was watching her +keenly. He was taken aback by her abrupt change of manner; her sudden +sobriety baffled him. Something very sweet and wistful came into her +face; something that he had not seen there before, and he was touched by +it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>"I suppose I must change my ways, Uncle Amy. I do act like a wild +zebra,—I know that. But I'm sorry. Of course it's silly for a girl +who's nearly nineteen to be as skittish as I am. And they tell me I'm a +bad example to my cousins and the whole town. It's tough to be a bad +example. What's this they're going to do to me?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you've got to be brought out; you've got to have a party; they want +me to have it in my house."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Phil tamely. She seemed, indeed, to be thinking of +something else. Her manner continued to puzzle him; he was even troubled +by it. He relighted his cigar and watched the smoke of the extinguished +match after he had tossed it into the little grate.</p> + +<p>"Uncle Amy," said Phil, quite soberly, "I'm really serious now. I've +been wondering a good deal about what's going to become of me."</p> + +<p>"How's that, Phil?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm not as silly as I act; and I've been wondering whether I +oughtn't to try to do something?"</p> + +<p>"What kind of something? Housekeeping—that sort of thing?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; but more than that. I ought to go to work to earn money."</p> + +<p>Amzi shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Thunder! you can't do that," he said with decision. "It wouldn't be +proper for you to do that."</p> + +<p>"I don't see why not. Other girls do."</p> + +<p>"Girls do when they have to. You don't have to."</p> + +<p>"I'm not so sure of that. We might as well be sensible if we're going to +talk about it."</p> + +<p>Amzi agreed to this with a nod and resettled himself in his chair.</p> + +<p>"Daddy isn't making enough to take care of us, that's all. This +afternoon I was over in his office cleaning up his desk,—you know he +never does it himself, and even a harum-scarum like me can help it +some,—and I saw a lot of things that scared me. Bills and things like +that. And it would be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>hard to talk to daddy about it; I don't think I +ever could. And you know he really could make a lot of money if he +wanted to; I can tell that from the letters he gets. He doesn't answer +his letters. Every month last year I used to straighten his desk, and +some of last spring's bills are still there, and they haven't been paid. +I know, of course, that that can't go on forever."</p> + +<p>"You oughtn't to have to bother about that, Phil. It's none of your +business."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she replied, earnestly, "it is my business. And it's been +troubling me for a long time. I can't talk to father about it; you can +see how that would be; and he's such a dear—so fine and kind. I suppose +there isn't anybody on earth as fine as daddy. And he breaks my heart, +sometimes; goes about so quiet, as though he had gone into himself and +shut the blinds, as they do in a house where somebody's dead. It seems +just like that, Uncle Amy."</p> + +<p>Amzi was uncomfortable. It was not to hear her speak of drawn blinds in +houses of the dead that he had summoned Phil for this interview. His +sisters had asked him to reason with her, as they had often appealed to +him before in their well-meant but tactless efforts to correct her +faults, but she had evinced an accession of reasonableness that made him +uneasy. She had changed from the impulsive, exasperating young creature +he knew into an anxious, depressed woman in a mackintosh, whom he did +not know at all! He breathed hard for a few minutes, angry at his +sisters for bringing this situation to pass. It was absurd to tame a +girl of Phil's spirit. He had enjoyed, more than anything in his life, +his confidential relations with Phil. It was more for the fun of the +thing than because there was any cause for it that a certain amount of +mystery was thrown about such interviews as this. There was no reason on +earth why Phil shouldn't have entered by the front door in +banking-hours, or visited him in her grandfather's house where he lived. +But he liked the joke of it. He liked all their jokes, and entered +zestfully into all manner of conspiracies with her, to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>discomfiture +of the aunts, to thwart their curbing of her liberties. He prided +himself upon his complete self-control, and it was distinctly annoying +to find that Phil's future, seen against a background plastered with her +father's unpaid bills, caused a sudden hot anger to surge in his heart. +Within the range of his ambitions and desires he did as he liked; and he +had a hardened bachelor's fondness for having his way. He walked to the +window and stared out at the street. It grew late and the rain was +gathering volume as though preparing for a night of it.</p> + +<p>A truck heavily loaded with boxes and crates of furniture moved slowly +through Franklin Street toward the railway. Amzi was at once alert. He +read much current history in the labels on passing freight, and often +formed the basis for credits therefrom. Was it possible that one of the +bank's customers was feloniously smuggling merchandise out of town to +avoid writs of attachment? Such evils had been known. Phil jumped from +the table and joined him at the window. She knew her Uncle Amzi's mental +processes much better than he imagined; suspicion was writ large on his +countenance.</p> + +<p>"Humph!" she said. "That's only the stuff from the Samuel Holton house. +Charlie and Ethel are moving to Indianapolis. That's some of the +furniture they had in their town house here. I saw the crates in the +yard this morning."</p> + +<p>"I believe you're right, Phil; I believe you're right."</p> + +<p>His eyes opened and shut several times quickly, as he assimilated this +information. Then he recurred to Phil's affairs.</p> + +<p>"Speaking of money, Phil, we'll have to do something about those unpaid +bills. In a town like this everybody knows everybody's business—except +yours and mine. We can't have your father's bills piling up; they've got +to be paid. And this brings me to something I've meant to speak to you +about for some time. In fact, I've just been waiting for a chance, but +you're so confoundedly hard to catch. There's—a—some money—er—that +is to say, Phil, as executor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>of your grandfather's estate, I hold some +money, that—er—"</p> + +<p>He coughed furiously, blew his nose, and made a fresh start.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to open an account for you—your own money, understand!—and +you can pay those bills yourself. We'll start with, say, five hundred +dollars and you can depend on a hundred a month. It will be +strictly—er—your money. Understand? You needn't say anything to your +father about it. That's all of that."</p> + +<p>He feigned sudden interest in the wet street, but Phil, whose eyes had +not left him, tapped him lightly on the shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, you don't! You haven't a cent that belongs to me, and you know +it, you splendid old fraud. And don't you try that game on me again or +I'll stop speaking to you."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean—" he began to bluster; "do you mean to say that I don't +know my own business? Do you think I'm going to steal money from your +grandfather's estate to give you? Why—"</p> + +<p>"You weren't born to adorn the front row of successful liars, Amy. And +even if you had a million or two lying round loose, you couldn't give me +a cent of it; I wouldn't take it. It wouldn't be square to daddy; +daddy's a gentleman, you know, and I couldn't do anything meaner than to +take your money to pay his debts with. So there, you old dear, I've a +good notion to muss you up, after all."</p> + +<p>He again put the table between them, and stood puffing from the unwonted +haste with which he had eluded her grasp. He had managed the matter +badly, and as his hand, thrust into his coat pocket, touched a check he +had written and placed there as a preliminary to this interview, a +sheepish expression crossed his face.</p> + +<p>"Well," he blurted, "I'd like to know what in thunder you're going to +do! I tell you it's yours by right. I ought to have given it to you long +ago."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>"I'm skipping," said Phil, reaching down to button her raincoat. "We're +going to Rose's for tea."</p> + +<p>"Tea?"</p> + +<p>Amzi's emphasis implied that in tea lay the sole importance of Phil's +announcement; and yet, subjected to even the most superficial analysis, +Mr. Montgomery's sensations were not in the least attributable to the +thought of tea. Tea in the sense intended by Phil was wholly +commonplace,—a combination of cold meat, or perhaps of broiled chicken, +with hot biscuits, and honey or jam, or maybe canned peaches with cream. +Considered either as a beverage or as a meal, tea contained no thrill; +and yet perhaps the thought of tea at Miss Rose Bartlett's aroused in +Amzi Montgomery's breast certain emotions which were concealed by his +explosive emphasis. Phil, turning up the collar of her mackintosh, +reaffirmed the fact of tea.</p> + +<p>"You never come to my house for just tea, but you go to Rose's. You're +always going to Rose's for tea," boomed Amzi.</p> + +<p>"Daddy likes to go," added Phil, moving toward the door.</p> + +<p>"I suppose he does," remarked Amzi, a little absently.</p> + +<p>"By-by, Amy. Thanks, just the same, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"Good-night, Phil!"</p> + +<p>Phil lingered, her hand on the knob.</p> + +<p>"Come over yourself, after tea. There may be music. Daddy keeps his +'cello over there, you know."</p> + +<p>"His 'cello?"</p> + +<p>It seemed that 'cello, like tea, was a word of deep significance. Amzi +glared at Phil, who raised her head and laughed.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" he ejaculated, though it was not clear just wherein the +nonsense lay.</p> + +<p>"Oh, your old flute is over there, too," said Phil, not without scorn.</p> + +<p>Having launched this she laughed again and the door closed upon her with +a bang. She hammered the glass with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>her knuckles to attract his +attention, flung back her head as she laughed again, and vanished.</p> + +<p>Amzi stared at the door's rain-splashed pane. The world was empty now +that Phil had gone. He drew down the shabby green blind with a jerk and +prepared to go home.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><a name="III" id="III"></a> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>98 BUCKEYE LANE</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The Bartlett sisters lived in Buckeye Lane, a thoroughfare that ran +along the college campus. Most of the faculty dwelt there, and the +Bartlett girls (every one said "the Bartlett girls" just as every one +said "the Montgomery girls": it was established local usage) were +daughters of a professor who had died long ago.</p> + +<p>Rose was the housekeeper, and a very efficient one she was, too. In all +business transactions, from the purchase of vegetables to the collection +of the dividends on their small inheritance, Rose was the negotiator and +active agent. She was, moreover, an excellent cook; her reputation in +this department of domestic science was the highest. And as two women +can hardly be expected to exist on something like four hundred dollars a +year (the sum reluctantly yielded by their patrimony), Miss Rose +commercialized her genius by baking cakes, cookies, jumbles, and pies, +if demanded. In Montgomery, where only Mrs. William Holton had ever kept +more than one servant (though Fanny Fosdick had attempted higher +flights), Miss Rose was an ever-ready help in times of domestic +adversity to distracted housekeepers who found the maintenance of even +one servant attended with the gravest difficulties.</p> + +<p>Miss Nan was an expert needlewoman, and, like her sister, augmented +their income by the labor of her hands. Her contributions to the pot +were, indeed, much larger than Rose's. The clients she served were +chiefly women of fastidious taste in these matters who lived in +surrounding cities. Her exhibitions of cross-stitching, hemstitching, +and drawn-work were so admirable as to establish a broad field for her +enterprises. Her designs were her own, and she served ladies who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>liked +novel and exclusive patterns. These employments had proved in no wise +detrimental to the social standing of the Bartlett girls. If Rose baked +a cake for a wedding supper, this did not militate in the least against +her eligibility as a guest of the occasion. And likewise Nan could +unfold a napkin she had herself hemstitched for a consideration, without +the slightest fear that any one would make invidious comments upon the +fact.</p> + +<p>In the matter of the respective ages of the sisters no stranger was ever +informed of the exact fact, although every one knew. Judge Walters had +established an unchangeable age for both of them. They were, the judge +said, twenty-nine; though as they were not twins, and as he had +persisted in this fallacy for almost a decade, it is difficult to see +how they could both be permanently twenty-nine.</p> + +<p>Not all the time of these ladies was spent in cooking and needlework. +Miss Rose was a musician, who played the organ at Center Church and was +usually the sympathetic accompanist at all concerts given by local +talent. And, as though not to be outdone, Miss Nan quietly exercised the +pen conjointly with the needle. Several editors in New York were quite +familiar with the neat backhand of a lady they had never seen who sent +them from an unheard-of town in Indiana the drollest paragraphs, the +most amusing dialogues, and the merriest of jingles. Now and then Nancy +Bartlett's name was affixed to an amusing skit in which various +Montgomery people found their foibles published to the world, though +with a proper discretion, and so amiably that no one could take offense. +With the perversity of such communities, many declared that Miss Rose +was more talented than Miss Nan, and that she could have written much +better things than her sister if she had chosen. But what could have +been more ridiculous than any attempt to arouse rivalry between sisters +who dwelt together so contentedly, and who were the busiest and happiest +women in town!</p> + +<p>The Bartlett girls were the best friends the college boys had. If one of +these ladies undertook, in the absence of a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>manservant, to drive the +mower across their fifty feet of lawn, some youngster invariably +appeared to relieve her of this task. Or if wood or coal were observed +lying upon the walk in front of the Bartlett gate, it was always a +question whether the Sigma Chis or the Phi Gamma Deltas would see the +fuel first and hasten to conceal anything so monstrous, so revolting to +the soul of young Greeks, in the Bartlett cellar. Amid all their +vocations and avocations, the Bartletts moved tranquilly in an +atmosphere of luxurious leisure. They were never flustered; their +employments were a kind of lark, it seemed, never to be referred to +except in the most jocular fashion. When Rose had entrusted to the oven +a wedding-cake or a pan of jumbles she would repair to the piano for a +ten-minute indulgence in Chopin. Similarly indifferent to fate, Nan at +intervals in the day drew a tablet and fountain-pen from her +sewing-table and recorded some whimsicality which she had seemingly +found embedded in the mesh of a shopping-bag she was embellishing. And +when, in due course, a funny-looking, canary-colored envelope carried +this fragment to the desk of some bored phlegmatic editor, he would, as +like as not, grin and scribble an order to the cashier for two dollars +(or some such munificent sum) and pin it to the stamped "return" canary +envelope, which would presently reach Number 98 Buckeye Lane, +Montgomery, Indiana.</p> + +<p>Phil Kirkwood hardly remembered a time when Number 98 had not been a +safe port in the multitudinous squalls that beset her youth. The +Bartletts were wholly human, as witness their pantry and +garret—veritable magazines of surprises! Miss Rose was a marvel at +cutting out silhouettes; Miss Nan would, with the slightest provocation, +play bear or horse, crawling over the floor with Phil perched on her +back blowing a horn. It was no wonder that Phil's vagrant steps turned +instinctively toward Number 98. In the beginning her father used to seek +her there; and having by this means learned the way, it was the most +natural thing in the world for father and daughter to visit the +Bartletts together. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>A man whose wife divorces him is entitled to some +social consolations, and if tea and jam at the house of two maiden +ladies of irreproachable character satisfies him, the community should +be satisfied also. The gossips had never been able to decide which of +the Bartlett girls was likelier to assume the rôle of Phil's stepmother. +There were those who favored Rose. As Kirkwood played the 'cello, Rose +to some observers seemed more plausible by reason of her musical talent. +Others believed that it would be Nan, as Nan was "literary" and Kirkwood +was a scholar, suspected of "writing," though just what he wrote no one +was able to say. It had been said thousands of times that Amzi +Montgomery must eventually marry one of the Bartletts, but here, too, +opinion was divided as to which one would probably be so favored. Amzi +had fluted in the Schumann Quartette, devoted to chamber music, but his +asthma had broken up the club, and he now rarely essayed the instrument. +Still, Amzi loved his joke, and Nan was a joker. So it was clear that +either Kirkwood or Montgomery might with propriety marry either Rose or +Nan. Whenever a drought seemed imminent in local gossip, these oases +bubbled.</p> + +<p>Phil's aunts were not unaware of the high favor in which their niece +held the Bartletts; nor had they failed to speculate upon the chances of +Kirkwood's remarrying. They resented the idea, chiefly because such +action would cause a revival of the old scandal involving their sister, +which they were pardonably anxious to have forgotten. Then, too, it was +their solemn duty to keep their hands on Phil, who was a Montgomery and +entitled to their consideration and oversight, and if Kirkwood should +remarry, Phil would be relinquished to the care of a stepmother, a +grievous thought at all times.</p> + +<p>On this rainy October evening, tea was dispatched in the gayest humor in +the little Bartlett dining-room. Rose and Phil disappeared in the +kitchen to "do" the dishes while Nan and Kirkwood communed in the +book-lined living-room.</p> + +<p>"You've had a talking with Phil," said Kirkwood.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>"Yes; she came in this morning, when Rose was out and I said several +things to her that I ought to have said long ago. It wasn't easy to say +them. But it's time for her to sober down a little, though I wish in my +heart she could go on forever just as she is. It doesn't seem possible +that she's a woman, with a future to think about."</p> + +<p>"Phil's future—" murmured Kirkwood pensively.</p> + +<p>"Your future and hers are bound up together; there's no escaping that."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid that's so! There are a thousand things I know should be done +for her, but I don't grasp them. I seem unable to get hold of anything +these days."</p> + +<p>He looked at his hands, as though wondering at their impotence. They +were bronzed and rough from the camp, but his sensitive nature was +expressed in them. The gray showed in his beard and hair. Where the +short beard did not hide his cheeks they were tanned. His blue serge +suit had been freshly pressed; a polka-dot scarf was neatly tied under +the points of a white-wing collar. He suggested an artist who had just +returned from a painting trip in the open—a town man who wasn't afraid +of the sun. If an artist one might have assumed that he was none too +prosperous; his white cuffs were perceptibly frayed. Nan Bartlett +scrutinized him closely, and there came into her eyes the look of one +about to say something, long withheld and difficult to say.</p> + +<p>She was a small, fair woman, with a becoming roundness of figure. Her +yellow hair, parted evenly in the middle, curled prettily on her +forehead. A blue shirt-waist with a turnover collar and a ready-made +skirt spoke for a severe taste in dress. A gold-wire bracelet on her +left wrist and a stickpin in her four-in-hand tie were her only +ornaments. She had a fashion of raising her arm and shaking the bracelet +back from her hand. When she did this, it was to the accompaniment of a +slight turning of the head to one side and a dreamy look came into her +large blue eyes. It was a pretty, graceful trick. She did not hesitate +now that her mind was made up, but spoke quickly and crisply.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>"You don't work hard enough; you are not making your time count. It +isn't fair to Phil; it isn't fair to yourself."</p> + +<p>"That's true; I know it," he replied, meeting her eyes quickly.</p> + +<p>"And now's the time for you to change; Phil needs you. Phil's going to +need a lot of things—money, for example. And you've reached a time of +life when it's now or never."</p> + +<p>The bracelet flashed back under her cuff. She looked at her wrist +wonderingly as if surprised that the trinket had disappeared; then she +glanced at Kirkwood, casually, as though she were in the habit of saying +such things to him, which was not, however, the fact.</p> + +<p>He straightened himself and his hands clenched as though to do battle at +her behest.</p> + +<p>"Mine's a wasted life; for years everything has seemed futile. I'm glad +you spoke to me. I need to be brought up short."</p> + +<p>Nan nodded. This was not a debatable question; undeniably he did need to +be brought up with a sharp turn. It was in her mind that perhaps she had +said enough; but she wished to make sure of it.</p> + +<p>"Nobody can touch you at your best; it's your best that you've got to +put into the struggle. It mustn't be said of you that you neglect +business, and even refuse cases; and they do say that of you."</p> + +<p>"I've grown careless and indifferent," he confessed; "but it's time for +me to wake up. I can't see Phil heading for the poorhouse and that's +where we're going."</p> + +<p>"No doubt of it!" she assented. "Phil's aunts complain of you, and say +that if you won't care for her you ought to turn her over to them. +That's funny, on one side, and on the other it isn't. There's a good +deal to support their attitude. Phil's needs are those of a girl ready +to meet the world, and she will need money. And I've noticed that money +is a shy commodity; it doesn't just come rolling uphill to anybody's +doorstep."</p> + +<p>Kirkwood knew perfectly well the elusiveness of money; it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>seemed less +so now from Nan's way of stating the fact. When one needed a dollar one +should go and find it; this was clearly Miss Nan's philosophy, and in +her own affairs he knew that she had demonstrated its efficacy.</p> + +<p>He lowered his voice as though about to touch upon a matter even more +confidential than any that had engaged their attention. It was evidently +something wholly pleasant that he wished to speak of; his eye brightened +and his face flushed slightly. The look he bent upon her was of +unmistakable liking.</p> + +<p>"'The Gray Knight of Picardy' is booming. I saw a stack of him at +Crosby's to-day: half a dozen people have asked me if I read it. It was +put out so late in the spring that it's astonishing how it's carried +through the summer. Some of the papers are just reviewing it—and the +more deliberate journals are praising it. And when we were speaking of +money matters a bit ago, I clean forgot that I have a check from the +publisher that I'm going to hand you now."</p> + +<p>He drew from his pocket a draft which she took eagerly and glanced at.</p> + +<p>It was for two thousand dollars, payable to Nancy Bartlett. Nan slipped +it quickly into the drawer of her sewing-table. As she drew her hand +away, he caught and held it an instant. Nan did not look at him as she +quietly freed herself. She ignored the act, though her cheek flushed +scarlet. She minimized the incident by shaking down her bracelet.</p> + +<p>"Half of that is yours," she said. "I will deposit it to-morrow and give +you my check. You ought to have made the contract in your own name, but +I never thought they would take it—much less that it would sell, or I +should have insisted in the beginning."</p> + +<p>"Well, I had faith in your three quarters of the work; mine is the +poorest part of it."</p> + +<p>"Your half made it possible,—the form and the planning. I never could +have done a long-sustained thing like that; I'm a paragrapher, that's +all."</p> + +<p>"You're a humorist of a high order," he said warmly. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>"It's the huge +joke of the thing that is making people like it. Let me see, the +publisher is advertising a quotation from some paper that has called it +the funniest book in ten years."</p> + +<p>"That's a stock phrase of the critics," said Nan; "they merely change +the title of the book from year to year. But it's been fun doing a book +that way and putting it out anonymously. Judge Walters spoke to me of it +yesterday; said he had stayed up all night to finish it."</p> + +<p>"It's going to take more ingenuity than I possess to hide the +authorship; that's why I want you to carry the burden. The publisher +says the public demand to know who Merlin Shepperd is. And three +magazines want a short story by the author of 'The Gray Knight of +Picardy.' I'll send you the letters. That enterprising Phil has an +uncomfortable habit of running through my desk and I'm likely to forget +to lock up these things. She thought I was working on a brief all last +winter when I was doing my part of the 'Gray Knight.' But I turn the +partnership over to you now—with all the assets and liabilities and the +firm name and style. You are Merlin Shepperd and I am Kirkwood, attorney +and counselor at law, over Bernstein's. You see," he added, smiling, +"your lecture led right up to that. No more literary ventures for me!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I'd forgotten the 'Gray Knight' for the moment; but in spite of +him I believe you had better stick to the law."</p> + +<p>"There's this, Nan," he said earnestly, looking at her with an +intentness that caused her to move uneasily; "it would seem quite +natural for a partnership like this to be extended further. This world +would be a pretty bleak place without you. You know and understand that. +And there is Phil; Phil needs you just as I do. I mean to start afresh +at the law; I mean to make myself count. And I need you."</p> + +<p>He rose and looked down at her. It was as though by this act he +presented himself as a rehabilitated Thomas Kirkwood; a man ready to +grapple with the world afresh for her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>sake. He bent over and touched +lightly her hands clasped quietly upon her knee.</p> + +<p>"Dear Nan: I love you, Nan," he said softly, and stepped back, waiting +for her to speak.</p> + +<p>She raised her head and their eyes met.</p> + +<p>"Tom," she said, "you are the dearest of men; but that is not for you +and me. It will never be for you and me. And please, Tom, because you +are the finest of men, never speak of this again. You will promise, +won't you?"</p> + +<p>"No," he said, shaking his head slowly; "I will not promise. You have +reasons and I think I know what they are. I want to talk to you soon, +for this has been in my heart a long time. I meant to speak to you last +spring. But now the need is greater. I not only need you, but Phil needs +you."</p> + +<p>She smiled at the mention of Phil.</p> + +<p>"That's a poor argument. Phil really doesn't need any one but you. I +should be afraid of spoiling dear, splendid Phil."</p> + +<p>It was upon this that Rose and Phil came in from the kitchen. Rose was +taller than her sister, a slender, handsome woman, with an air of +distinction which dishwashing in no wise abated. She was one of those +American women who wear an apron like a vestment—who, the <i>vestis +domestica</i> flung aside, adorn the parlor as charmingly as they grace the +kitchen.</p> + +<p>Phil began to whistle a tune, which Rose tried to identify for her by +striking the chords.</p> + +<p>"What are you two talking about?" asked Phil, turning from the piano.</p> + +<p>"Discussing the origin of the pyramids," replied Nan, rising. "You and +Rose must have settled something in all the time you took to the dishes. +It was a noisy session, too. You must have been playing drop the +teacup."</p> + +<p>Phil clasped her hands dramatically, reciting:—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 13em;">"A moment then,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">She poised upon the dishpan's utmost verge</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">The heirloom teapot old, with flowers bedight.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">And with a cry—"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>She paused, feigning forgetfulness. Her father rose quickly and caught +up the imaginary fragment:—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 13.5em;">"And with a cry</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">As when some greedy wight, on porridge keen,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">Gulps it, and bawleth loud to find it hot,—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">Screams for the cook and tuggeth at his sword—"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Familiar," observed Rose dreamily from the piano. "Is it 'Pelleas and +Etarre' or 'The Passing of Arthur'?"</p> + +<p>"Nope. 'The Bold Buccaneer,' by the Honest Iceman of Mazoopa," answered +Phil.</p> + +<p>"And here he is now," said Nan as the front door boomed and rattled.</p> + +<p>There was no bell at the Bartletts': but from the door hung a +bass-drumstick, with which visitors were expected to thump. This had +been a part of the equipment of a local band that had retired from +business. In the dispersion of its instruments the drum had reached a +second-hand store. Nan, with a keen eye for such chances, had bought and +dismantled the drum, and used the frame as a stockade for fresh chirpers +from her incubator. The drumstick seemed to have been predestined of all +time to serve as a knocker.</p> + +<p>"It's Amy. I told him to come," said Phil.</p> + +<p>Her father's face fell almost imperceptibly. The company was complete as +it was and much as he liked Amzi he resented his appearance at this +hour. Rose went to the door.</p> + +<p>"It may be Judge Walters. He's been trying to get over for some time to +talk about that new book on hypnotism," said Nan.</p> + +<p>It proved, however, to be Amzi. They heard him telling Rose in the entry +that he was just passing and thought he would drop in.</p> + +<p>"That will do for that, Amy," called Phil. "You told me you were +coming."</p> + +<p>"I told you nothing of the kind!" blustered Amzi.</p> + +<p>"Then, sir, you didn't; you <i>did not</i>!"</p> + +<p>Amzi glared at them all fiercely. His cherubic countenance <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>was so +benevolent, the kind eyes behind his spectacles so completely annulled +his ferocity, that his assumed fierceness was absurd.</p> + +<p>He addressed them all by their first names, and drew out a cigar. +Kirkwood was smoking his pipe. Phil held a match for her uncle and +placed a copper ash-tray on the table at his elbow. Rose continued her +search for a piece of music, and Nan curled herself on the corner of a +davenport that occupied one side of the room under the open bookshelves.</p> + +<p>"This looks like a full session; first we've had for some time," +remarked Amzi. "Been playing, Rose?"</p> + +<p>"No; Phil's trying to remember a tune. Whistle it, Phil."</p> + +<p>Phil whistled it, her eyes twinkling.</p> + +<p>"Sounds like a dead march done in ragtime," suggested Nan, whose ear was +said to be faulty.</p> + +<p>"All the great masters will be done over pretty soon by the raggists," +declared Phil.</p> + +<p>"Spoken like the Philistine you are not, Phil," said Kirkwood. "What you +were trying to whistle is the 'Lucia Sextette' upside down. Rose, let's +have the 'Mozart Minuet' we used to play. We haven't had it for moons."</p> + +<p>She played it, Phil turning the music. Then Kirkwood was reminded of the +existence of his 'cello. Amzi watched him tuning it, noted the operation +restlessly, and then rose demanding:—</p> + +<p>"Nan, where's my flute? Seems to me I left it here the last time we +played."</p> + +<p>This was a joke. It had been in the house at least six years. Phil +whistled a few bars from a current light opera, and pretended to be +absorbed in an old etching of Beethoven that hung over the piano. She +glanced covertly at her uncle, who knew perfectly well that Phil was +laughing at him. Nan, meanwhile, produced the flute. It was in this +fashion that the trio was usually organized.</p> + +<p>"Bad night for asthma, but let's tackle some of the good old ones," said +Amzi.</p> + +<p>This, too, was part of a familiar formula, and Rose found <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>the music. +Soon Amzi's cheeks were puffing with the exertion of fluting the +"Minuet," while Kirkwood bent to the 'cello. Nan and Phil became an +attentive audience on the davenport, as often before. When Amzi dropped +out (as he always did), Phil piped in with her whistle, and that, too, +was the usual procedure. She whistled a fair imitation of the flute; she +had a "good ear"; Rose said her "ear" was too good, and that this +explained her impatience of systematic musical instruction. Amzi abused +the weather and incidentally the flute; they essayed the Bach-Gounod +"Ave Maria" and the "Träumerei," with like failure on Amzi's part. Then +Rose played, number after number, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, without +pause. It was clear that the woman loved her music; that it meant a very +great deal to her. Its significance was in the fine lines of her face, +beautifully grave, but lighting wonderfully through passages that spoke +to her with special meaning. Her profile was toward Kirkwood. He had, +indeed, taken a seat that gave him a particular view that he fancied and +his eyes wandered from her hands to her lovely, high-bred face. No one +spoke between the numbers, or until Rose, sitting quiet a moment at the +end, while the last chord died away, found her own particular seat by +the white wooden mantel.</p> + +<p>"I guess those chaps knew their business," observed Amzi. "And I guess +you know yours, Rose. I don't know that you ever brought out that +nocturne quite so well before. Eh, Tom?"</p> + +<p>Kirkwood agreed with him. Rose had surpassed herself, in the opinion of +the lawyer. Both men found pleasure in paying tribute to her talents. +Amzi turned to Nan, who nodded acquiescence. The banker really loved +music, and slipped away several times every winter to Chicago, to hear +concerts or the opera. On occasions he had taken Kirkwood and Phil and +they had made a great lark of it.</p> + +<p>"What's this rumor about the Sycamore Traction being in trouble?" asked +Nan.</p> + +<p>Amzi rubbed his head. He had not come to the Bartletts' <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>to discuss +business, and the topic was not, moreover, one that interested him at +the moment.</p> + +<p>"There are a lot of papers on your desk about that, daddy," Phil +remarked. "But I suppose those are office secrets."</p> + +<p>There was, indeed, a telegram from a New York lawyer asking why Kirkwood +had not replied to a certain letter. He glanced at her quickly, +apparently disturbed that the matter had been mentioned. Her father's +inattention to the letter of the New York lawyer had, independently of +Nan Bartlett's reference to the traction company, caused Phil to make +certain resolutions touching both her father and herself.</p> + +<p>"I've got my hand on that, Phil. I've answered."</p> + +<p>Phil saw that the subject of this correspondence, whose import she had +scarcely grasped, was not to be brought into the conversation. She +turned away as Amzi addressed her father in a low tone.</p> + +<p>"Tom, as I remember, you made a report on that scheme before the bonds +were sold. Do you mind telling me whether that was for the same crowd +that finally took it up?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; but they cut down the amount they undertook to float. Sam Holton +sold a lot of the bonds along the line; a good many of them are held +right here in this county."</p> + +<p>"They are, indeed. It seemed a plausible thing for the home folks to own +the securities of a company that was going to do so much for the town; +they pulled that string hard. It was a scheme to draw the coin out of +the old stocking under the fireplace. If it was good for widows and +orphans out in Seattle and Bangor, why wasn't it good for 'em at home? +And it <i>is</i> good for the people at home if it's played straight. I've +had an idea that these cross-country trolleys will have about the same +history the steam roads had,—a good many of 'em will bust and the +original investors will see their securities shrink; and there will be +smash-ups and shake-downs and then in time the lines will pay. Just +what's the trouble here, Tom, if you don't mind?"</p> + +<p>"There's an apprehension that the November interest <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>won't be paid. The +company's had some hard luck—a wreck that's piled up a lot of damage +suits, for one thing; and in one or two counties the commissioners are +trying to make them pay for new bridges—a question of the +interpretation of the franchise. I gave warning of that possibility."</p> + +<p>"Thunder! I hope it won't come to the worst. I didn't know you were +keeping track of it."</p> + +<p>"One of my old classmates at Williams is counsel for the Desbrosses +Trust and Guaranty Company which is the trustee for the bondholders. I +passed on the mortgage for them as to its local aspects. I'm going over +to Indianapolis to meet him in a few days to determine what to do in +event the interest is defaulted. The management has been unsatisfactory, +and after five years the replacements are running ahead of the +estimates."</p> + +<p>"I wonder—" began Amzi; then he paused and rubbed his scalp. "I suppose +my neighbor Bill is already out from under."</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Kirkwood soberly. "It was Sam who was the chief +promoter."</p> + +<p>"Sam was a smooth proposition. Thunder! I lost money when Sam died. I'd +made a bet with myself that they'd pin something on him before he got +through, but he died just out of spite to make me lose. Thunder! Bill +makes strong statements."</p> + +<p>The strength of the statements made by the First National Bank did not, +however, seem to disturb Amzi. What he had learned from Kirkwood had not +been in the nature of fresh information, but it had confirmed certain +suspicions touching the Sycamore Traction Company. The Bartletts and +Phil were talking quietly in a corner. Amzi rose and pulled down his +percale waistcoat and buttoned the top button of his cutaway coat, in +which he looked very much like a fat robin. He advanced toward the group +in the corner.</p> + +<p>"Nan," he said, "you didn't buy a Sycamore bond that time I told you not +to, did you?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>Rose beat time for her sister mockingly, and they answered in singsong.</p> + +<p>"We did not! We did not! But," Nan added, dropping her hands to her +sides tragically, "but if we had, oh, sir!"</p> + +<p>"If you had I should have bought it of you at a premium. It's hard work +being a banker for women: they all want ten per cent a month."</p> + +<p>"Paul Fosdick's things were all guaranteed ten per cent a year," +remarked Rose.</p> + +<p>They all waited for the explosion that must follow the mention of this +particular brother-in-law. Nowhere else in town would any one have dared +to bring Fosdick, who was believed to be his pet abomination, into a +conversation. Even in Hastings he found a kind of joy; the presence of a +retired Hamlet among the foliage of the family tree was funny now that +he had got used to it; and Amzi had a sense of humor. This little +company expected him to explode and he must not disappoint them. The +color mounted to his bald dome and his eyes bulged.</p> + +<p>"Thunder! Rose, play that jiggly funeral march of a marionette!"</p> + +<p>"I refuse," said Rose, spreading her skirts on the divan, "to do +anything so cruel!"</p> + +<p>"And besides," said Nan, "I bought a share of stock in his brickyard."</p> + +<p>"Nan Bartlett," said Amzi, planting himself before her, "I will give you +a peck of parsnips for that share."</p> + +<p>"Couldn't take advantage of you, Amzi; and we never eat parsnips. +They're bad for the complexion."</p> + +<p>"Thunder!" he snorted contemptuously.</p> + +<p>"Thunder" was his favorite, almost his only, expletive, but his thunder +was only a single boom without reverberations. His four auditors +understood him perfectly, however. Fosdick was always "starting" +something. He had even attempted to organize a new cemetery association, +which, as Greenlawn was commodious, and as any amount of land adjacent +made possible its indefinite expansion, Amzi <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>regarded as an absurd and +unholy project. With Fosdick, Amzi had no business relations of any +kind. He belonged to the Commercial Club, to be sure, but this was a +concession on his part; he never attended any of its meetings. And he +had, it was said, requested his enterprising brother-in-law to withdraw +his patronage from the Montgomery Bank for reasons never wholly clear to +the curious. Fosdick had talked about it in bitterness of spirit; Amzi +had not. Amzi never talked of his business. He rarely lost a customer; +and if a citizen transferred his account to the First or the Citizens' +National, it was assumed that Amzi no longer cared particularly to have +that individual on his ledgers. Such a transfer aroused in cautious +minds a degree of suspicion, for horses rarely died in Amzi's stable.</p> + +<p>"Thunder! It's time to go home. Guess the rain's stopped."</p> + +<p>Amzi set out for home with the Kirkwoods. He was in capital spirits, and +kept up a steady give and take with Phil. Just before reaching his own +gate they passed Kirkwood's former home. Amzi's sisters persistently +demanded that something be done about the abandoned house, which, with +its neglected garden, was a mournful advertisement of their sister's +ill-doings. It had been a shock to them to discover, a few years after +her flight, that it had passed from her to Amzi and from him to +Kirkwood. The consideration had been adequate; the county records told +the story plainly. There was, of course, no reason why Lois should +continue to own a house for which she had no use; but there was less +reason why her former husband should acquire the property merely, as it +seemed, from motives of sentiment. Every weed in the garden—and the +crop was abundant—called attention to the blot on the Montgomery +'scutcheon. And if Kirkwood was silly enough to cling to the old home, +while living in a rented house in a less agreeable neighborhood, there +was no reason why he should refuse to lease it and devote the income to +Phil's upbringing.</p> + +<p>It was not a cheerful item of the urban landscape and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>sorrow of +Amzi's sisters that it should remain dolefully at their own thresholds +was pardonable. The moon looked down at it soberly through dispersing +clouds as though grieved by its disrepair. The venerable forest trees +that gave distinction to the "old Montgomery place" had shaken their +leaves upon this particular part and parcel of the elder Amzi's acres, +and piled them upon the veranda steps. The gate, fastened to the post by +a chain and padlock, sagged badly, and bulged upon the public walk.</p> + +<p>Amzi stopped and pushed it back, causing the chain to rattle dolorously. +Kirkwood watched him indifferently. Phil lent her uncle a hand. Amzi, +panting from his efforts, ejaculated: "Thunder!" and a moment later they +bade each other good-night under the gas lamp at his own gate.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><a name="IV" id="IV"></a> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>A TRANSACTION IN APPLES</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Phil was not visible the next morning when at seven o'clock Kirkwood +glanced about the house for her. She had indulged herself in the matter +of rising since the high-school bell no longer regulated her habits, and +her father had hardly expected to see her. There was no morning +newspaper to read—he took a Chicago daily at his office—and he opened +the windows and doors to admit the air. Domestic affairs interested +Thomas Kirkwood little. During the years in which Phil was passed from +aunt to aunt he had lived at the Morton House, and after establishing +the new home that he might have her with him, one or another of the +aunts had supervised his household, and at times, to his discomfiture, +all had taken a hand at it.</p> + +<p>This rented cottage where the Kirkwoods lived was in the least +fashionable part of Main Street, beyond the commercial district and near +the railroad. Trains thundered through a cut not far from the rear +fence, and the cars of the Sycamore Traction Company rumbled by at +intervals. The cottage was old but comfortable, and it was remarked that +Kirkwood had probably chosen it for the reason that he could go to and +from his office without passing his abandoned home. Phil liked living on +Main Street. Her devotion to that thoroughfare had been a source of +great pain to her aunts. Even as her Uncle Amzi absorbed local color +from the steps of his bank, Phil was an alert agent in the field, on +nodding terms with the motormen of the interurban cars, and with the +jehus, who, cigarette in mouth and hat tipped on one side, drove the +village hacks. Captain Joshua Wilson, who had been recorder of his +county continuously since he lost a leg at Missionary Ridge, and who +wrote a poem every year <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>for the reunion of his regiment, had written +certain lines for the "Evening Star" in which "P. K." was addressed as +the Diana of Main Street. As to the soundness of his mythology there +might be debate, but there was no question as to Phil's thorough +identification with Main Street, all the way from her father's house, +past the court-house, shops, and banks, out to the old Sugar Creek +Bridge where the town became country without any warning whatever.</p> + +<p>It was Judge Walters who first called her "Otherwise Phyllis." This was +in Phil's school days before she passed from her aunts' custody. The +judge delighted in Phil's battles with the aunts. Whenever his wife +began to recount a day's occurrences at the supper-table, and the +recital opened promisingly, it was the judge's habit to cut short her +prefaces with, "Otherwise Phyllis—" and bid her hurry on to the +catastrophe, sparing no tragic detail.</p> + +<p>Kirkwood had never, from the day his wife left him, offered himself in +the market-place as an object of sympathy. He had been a man of reserves +at all times, and the sudden termination of his married life had merely +driven him in further upon himself. If he was broken-hearted, the +fragments were well hidden. He felt that he was a failure, and he saw +men of less ability passing him in the race. Now and then he had roused +himself under stress and demonstrated his unusual gifts by striking +successes; but after one of these spurts he would relapse into an +indifference to which he seemed increasingly ready to yield.</p> + +<p>He had risen this morning with a new resolution, attributable to his +talk with Nan Bartlett the night before. Even if he did not care for +himself, there was always Phil to consider. And Phil was very much to +consider. She had decided for herself that the high school had given her +all the education she needed. Kirkwood had weighed the matter carefully +and decided that she would not profit greatly by a college course—a +decision which Phil had stoutly supported. Her aunts favored a year at a +finishing school to tone down her rough edges, but having laid their +plan before their brother <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>Amzi that gentleman had sniffed at it. What +was the use of spoiling Phil? he demanded. "Thunder!" And there was no +reason in the world why Phil should be spoiled.</p> + +<p>Phil was not, in any view of the case, an ignorant person. She knew a +great many things that were not embraced in the high-school curriculum. +Her father harbored an old-fashioned love of the poets; which is not +merely to say that at some time in his life he had run through them, but +that he read poetry as one ordinarily reads novels, quite naturally and +without shame. Something of his own love of poetry had passed to his +daughter. He had so trained her that literature meant to Phil not +printed pages, but veritable nature and life. Books were a matter of +course, to be taken up and put down as the reader pleased, and nothing +to grow priggish about. She had caught from him an old habit, formed in +his undergraduate days, of a light, whimsical use of historical and +literary allusions. She entered zestfully into the spirit of this kind +of fooling; and, to his surprise, she had developed an astonishing knack +of imitation and parody. Sometimes Kirkwood without preluding, would +utter a line for Phil to cap; they even composed sonnets in this +antiphonal fashion and pronounced them superior to the average magazine +product. Phil had not only learned much from her father, but she had +absorbed a great deal of lore at the Bartletts', where everything +bookish was vitalized and humanized.</p> + +<p>Kirkwood, hearing the creak of the swinging door between the pantry and +dining-room,—a familiar breakfast signal,—chose with care a volume of +Bagehot and carried it to the table which had been set, he imagined, by +the "girl" selected by his sisters-in-law to carry on his establishment +during the winter.</p> + +<p>He helped himself to grapes, and was eating with his eye on a page of +Bagehot when the door swung again and Phil piped a cheerful +good-morning. She was an aproned young Phil and her face was flushed +from recent proximity to the range. She described her entrance in lines +she had fashioned for the purpose:—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 18.5em;">"She came</span><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">While yet the jocund day was young, and fetched</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">In hands but lightly singed upon the stove</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">The coffee-pot, with muddy contents filled—"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Kirkwood, concealing his surprise at seeing her, took his cue:—</p> + +<p class="noin"> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">"And he, toying meanwhile with fruitage of the vine,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">To-wit the mellow grape, scarce breathed to see</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">The nut-brown maid, and gasped, 'Where is the cook?'"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Oh, the cook has went, to come down to the plain prose of it, daddy. +There was one here yesterday, but one's dynastic aunts had picked her +for her powers of observation and ready communication, so I fired her +hence. And with that careless grace which I hope you find becoming in me +I decided to run the shop all by my lonesome for a while. I thought I'd +start with breakfast so that any poisons that may creep into the +victuals will have time to work while the drug-stores are open. How long +do you cook an egg, is it two minutes or two weeks?"</p> + +<p>"This will never do," said Kirkwood gravely, watching her pour the +coffee. "You shouldn't have discharged one cook until you had another."</p> + +<p>"Tut! There's not enough to do in this house for two able-bodied +women—and I'm one! Rose taught me how to make coffee yesterday, and +toast and eggs are easy. Just look at that coffee! Real amber? It's an +improvement for looks on what you've been brewing for yourself in camp. +And I've been watching your winning ways with the camp frying-pan. Rose +gave me a cook-book that is full of perfectly adorable ideas. Come up +for lunch and I'll show you some real creations."</p> + +<p>She slipped away into the kitchen and reappeared with toast and boiled +eggs. She had cooked the eggs by the watch as Rose had instructed her. +Her father relaxed the severity of his countenance to commend them. But +he did not like Phil in this new rôle. The casting forth of the cook +provided by the aunts would be regarded as an offense not lightly to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>be +passed by those ladies; but Phil had never appeared so wholly +self-possessed. She poured coffee for herself, diluted it with hot +water, buttered a slice of toast with composure, tasted it and +complained that the grocer had sent rancid butter.</p> + +<p>Kirkwood pushed aside his Bagehot. He did not know just how to deal with +a daughter who, without the slightest warning, dispatched her cook and +took upon herself the burden of the household. The coffee was to his +liking; it was indubitably better than he had been used to; but the +thing would not do. He must show Phil the error of her ways and lose no +time about it.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry you didn't like the girl they sent you; but you must find +another. There's no reason, of course, why you shouldn't choose for +yourself; but it's not easy to find help in a town like this. I can't +have you doing the housework. That must be understood, Phil."</p> + +<p>"You're not having me; I'm having me, which is a very different thing. +If you had driven me into the kitchen with loud, furious words, I should +have rebelled—screamed, and made a terrible scene. But you did nothing +of the kind. It happened in this wise. Glancing up quite by chance, as +it were, you beheld me pouring coffee of my own brewing. Fatherly pride +extinguished any feeling of shock or chagrin. You have smothered any +class feeling that may linger in your aristocratic soul and are making a +good bluff at enjoying the eating of your breakfast with the lady who +cooked it. Could anything be more beautiful? The ayes seem to have it; +the ayes have it, as I used to be fond of saying when I was boss of the +Philomathean. I wish now I'd taken the domestic science course more +seriously and spent less time in the gymnasium. But thus it is we live +and learn."</p> + +<p>Phil's tone made rebuke difficult. He loved her foolishness just as her +Uncle Amzi did—just as every one did except her aunts, for whom the +affected stiltedness of her speech was merely a part of her general +deplorable unconventionality.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>"Well, Phil, the idea of your cooking the meals for this establishment +isn't debatable. You're overruled and the debate closed."</p> + +<p>"Still harping on my daughter's cooking! Please, in current idiom, cut +it out. Try marmalade on that too, too perfect toast."</p> + +<p>He accepted marmalade and returned to the attack.</p> + +<p>"You see, Phil, everything's different now. You've got to wake up to +your social responsibilities."</p> + +<p>"And be a perfect lady? I know. Amy got me into the back room of the +bank yesterday and told me. One's aunts had bullied the old dear into +springing the sad intelligence. Then Nan had already given me a session. +And now you, too, Brutus, are about to lay the matter before me in a few +crisp sentences. But why all this assumption that I'm not a real lady? +There's a good deal of loose thinking on that subject, to use one of +your own best phrases. If there is nothing more before the house—"</p> + +<p>Phil had been studiously stuccoing her toast with marmalade, and she bit +into it before looking at her father.</p> + +<p>"You know perfectly well what I mean, Phil. This is a serious time in +your life. You've got to adapt yourself to the ways of the world—the +world of convention. You must consider yourself as a member of society. +It's only in a limited sense that we can be individualists. And I can't +have my daughter weighed down with such cares as these you threaten to +assume. It would hurt me more than I can tell you if I believed it +necessary. But it isn't necessary. None the less I know perfectly well +that if it were necessary you would be equal to it—you are equal to +anything you undertake. But I can't have you wasting yourself on such +things."</p> + +<p>"Daddy dear, this is getting terribly philosophical. Let us be really +serious for a little bit. You know, we haven't much money, have we? Not +very much, anyhow."</p> + +<p>She had broached the matter as delicately as possible. It had been in +her mind that she must speak to her father <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>about their affairs, but she +had not thought the opportunity would offer so quickly. It was hard to +say to him that she had undertaken to manage the housekeeping as an +economical measure; that she knew he owed money that he had no immediate +prospect of paying.</p> + +<p>The hurt look that she had seen in his eyes sometimes was heartbreaking. +When Phil was younger, she used to ask about her mother, but later she +had never referred to her. Her aunts had, after their fashion, not been +above using her mother to point a moral. In their lack of appreciation +of the keenness of the child's intuitions or her eager imagination, they +had established in her a belief that her mother was a bad woman: the +facts spoke for themselves. And having had a bad mother it was incumbent +upon Phil to choose her path with a particular care and to walk in it +circumspectly.</p> + +<p>Phil had, by this time, considered the case from the changing viewpoints +natural to the young mind. In that rosy light through which a girl of +fifteen is apt to view life,—the first realizations of sex, the age of +the first novels,—Phil had not been free from the contemplation of her +mother as a romantic figure. For a woman to forsake a husband for a +lover was not without precedents. Phil had dreamed over this a good +deal, in an impersonal sort of way, and the unknown mother had been +glorified in scenes of renunciation, following nobly the high call of a +greater love. By a swift transition her father assumed the sympathetic +rôle in the domestic drama. She chanced upon novels in which the spurned +husband was exalted to the shame of the dishonorable wife. Her father +fitted well into this picture. She even added herself to the <i>dramatis +personæ</i>, not without a sense of her value in the scene. But these were +only passing phases. There was no morbid strain in Phil. Her father was +the best of companions, and she was quick to recognize his fineness and +gentleness and to appreciate his cultivation with its background of +solid learning.</p> + +<p>Phil's question startled her father. Money had never been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>discussed in +the household, and this new gravity in his daughter's eyes troubled him. +Phil's needs had been few; her demands had burdened him little. Her +aunts had bought her clothes and sent him the bills. When he gave her +money to spend, he never asked for an accounting, though he was often +amused by the uses to which she put it; and sometimes he had been +touched by her gifts at Christmas or on his birthdays, which ranged from +a reckless investment in gay neckties to a set of some author whose +definitive edition he had coveted—Shelley or Landor or Matthew Arnold. +No; money was not a subject that had interested Phil, and her father +found her direct question disconcerting.</p> + +<p>"No, Phil. We are not rich—far from it. It's hardly possible for a +lawyer to grow rich in a town like this. But I haven't been doing as +well as I could lately. I've got to do better and I must be about it."</p> + +<p>He drew himself up in his chair and glanced at his watch. It had +stopped, and as the court-house clock boomed eight he set it. It was +quite like him to allow his watch to run down.</p> + +<p>"I was in your office yesterday, daddy, and I hope you won't mind, but I +was straightening your desk and I couldn't help seeing some old bills. +Several of them had been there a long time. My graduating dress hasn't +been paid for—and some things like that. We must economize until those +bills are paid. And I was thinking that you ought to get more money out +of the building. Rents are going up on Main Street. I heard Paul Fosdick +say so. You ought to raise the clothing store rent right away. I don't +know of any easier way of getting money," she added drolly, "than by +wringing it from the tenants."</p> + +<p>She laughed, to make it easier for him.</p> + +<p>"Yes; that's one way of doing it; only Bernstein had a long lease that +expires—I'm not sure when it does expire—" he concluded, and the color +deepened in his dark cheeks. It was his business to know when the lease +on the property expired, and as though reminded by this lapse of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>similar failures in other directions, he drew out his watch again and +made sure that he had wound it.</p> + +<p>"It expires," said Phil, "on the last day of this next December. I +looked it up yesterday afternoon in that little memorandum book you keep +in your desk."</p> + +<p>"I guess that's right. I'm glad you mentioned it. I'll see Bernstein +right away and ask him if he wants to renew the lease. I suppose I ought +to coax a higher rent out of him, but he's been there a long time."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he'll stand another fifty and be glad of it. His sign is on all the +fences in the country—'Bernstein's—The Same Old Place.' It would cost +him some money to change that. And you could cheer him up by painting +the front of the building. The interurban is bringing a lot more +business to Montgomery. I've been thinking we ought to do something +about that third floor room where the photograph shop used to be. +Bernstein has an upstairs room in the next building where his tailor +imparts that final deft touch that adjusts ready-made garments to the +most difficult figure. It would be handier for him to conduct the +sartorial transformations in the chamber over his own gate, wouldn't it? +And I don't think we need wait for that photographer to come back from +the penitentiary or wherever he languisheth."</p> + +<p>She was minimizing the significance of these suggestions—a significance +that lay, she knew, in the fact of their coming from her—by lapsing +into the absurdities with which she embellished her familiar talk. She +pronounced "languisheth" with a prolongation of the last syllable that +gave to it a characteristic touch of mockery.</p> + +<p>"I'd been hoping he'd show up again and cart off his rubbish. But we've +had some fun out of the gallery. If we rent it to Bernstein for his +retouching mysteries, we shan't have any place to develop our +negatives."</p> + +<p>"That's so; but maybe we can retouch Bernstein for enough extra to get +them done for us. It's the ducats, my lord, that move my fancy. The +Bernsteins have grown almost disagreeably rich at the same old stand and +it's about <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>time the Kirkwoods were thrusting their talons into the +treasure chest."</p> + +<p>Sounds of disaster in the kitchen caused Phil to rise hastily and +disappear through the swing doors. She returned calmly a moment later.</p> + +<p>"Only the tea-kettle playing at being a geyser. When we get rich I'm +going to have a gas range. They say it's the only way to cook and cook +and be a lady still."</p> + +<p>"That brings us back to cooking—" began her father.</p> + +<p>"Not at all, daddy. The subject is dismissed forever. I'm going to have +that Ethiop who does chores for us clean up the photograph gallery. I'll +be down after while, to see how it looks."</p> + +<p>She bade him good-bye at the front door, and went whistling about the +further business of the morning. The sky was blue and the air warmed as +the sun climbed into the heavens. Phil felt that she had conveyed to her +father a sense of their imperative needs without wounding him. She was +resolved to help him if she could. Her pride had been pricked by her +Uncle Amzi's proffered aid, which she had carefully avoided mentioning +to her father. She knew that it would have hurt him, and she had +reasoned, much in the fashion of Nan Bartlett, that her father owed it +to himself to exercise his unquestioned gifts to reëstablish himself in +his profession. As he left her and walked toward the street, she was +aware that he strode away more quickly than was his wont.</p> + +<p>Phil's morning was not eventless. The telephone jingled three times, as +three aunts demanded to know why she had parted with the +maid-of-all-work they had installed in the Kirkwood kitchen. Aunt Josie +was censorious and Aunt Fanny mildly remonstrative; Aunt Kate sought +light as to the reason for the cook's early passing, as she was anxious +to try her herself. Phil disposed of these calls with entire good humor. +Then a senior, between lectures at the college, asked her if she would +go driving with him Sunday afternoon. The senior, in the security of his +fraternity house, prolonged the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>conversation. As this was Thursday and +there was never any imperative need in Montgomery for making engagements +so far ahead, the senior was exercising unjustifiable precaution. Phil +declined the invitation. Her aunts had repeatedly warned her against +college boys. A daughter of the house of Montgomery was not to waste +herself upon students, a lawless body of whom no one knew anything in +particular save that they seized every opportunity to murder sleep for +reputable citizens.</p> + +<p>Phil employed the telephone to order of the grocer and butcher, made +beds, swept rooms, and sat down with a new magazine, dropped at the door +by the postman, to run her eyes over the pictures. One or two things she +was sure her father would like; a sketch of Massenet she must call to +Rose Bartlett's attention. She planned luncheon and began the peeling of +potatoes with a page of Keats propped on the table beside her—a trick +she had learned at the Bartletts'. "Endymion" need suffer nothing from +proximity to potatoes, though it should be said that Phil's paring would +have distressed a frugal housekeeper.</p> + +<p>While thus employed a step sounded on the brick walk, and a young man +knocked at the open door without glancing in. He chewed a straw as he +observed the chimneys of the adjoining house, and Phil, sitting by the +kitchen table, paused in her paring to make sure of his identity. Then +she placed her pan of potatoes on the table and crossed quickly to the +door.</p> + +<p>"Good-morning, madam. Would you like—"</p> + +<p>He extended two apples as samples. Phil glanced at them with interest. +They were not the best of apples, as any one could see. Fred Holton +removed his hat and pulled the straw from his mouth.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Miss Kirkwood," he said, with a gravity that was not +mitigated by a slight quivering of Phil's lips as she continued to +ignore their earlier acquaintance. "I didn't know this was your house or +I shouldn't have come in."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>"Then it's a good thing you didn't know," replied Phil. "If you're +selling apples you have to try all the houses you come to. Not to go +into every gate wouldn't be business."</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose that's so," observed Holton doubtfully, letting one of +the apples fall. Phil picked it up with the quick reach of a shortstop. +She ignored his apologies for failing to recover it himself, and +examined the apple critically.</p> + +<p>"If you haven't any better apples in your wagon than this, you're not +likely to sell many," Phil commented. "This one's spotted and it's a +safe guess that a worm nestles within. You ought to pick out the best +for samples."</p> + +<p>"They're not a very good lot," confessed Holton. "It's an old orchard +and it hasn't had any attention. I'm going to put out some new trees +next year."</p> + +<p>"That's a good idea," Phil observed reflectively. "I've noticed that +they've been planting pears and apples in several places around there. +Uncle Amy got a good first crop this year from his young orchard. But he +had a man spray the bugs off. There are a lot of things to do to an +orchard. The land Uncle Amy turned into an orchard runs right up to your +place, and it must be the same kind of land. But it isn't as easy as it +looks—apples isn't."</p> + +<p>"Apples isn't?" he repeated soberly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, cheer up, that's a joke! I know apples <i>aren't</i>!"</p> + +<p>The young man smiled.</p> + +<p>"Mine <i>isn't</i>, I'm afraid, from what you say about them."</p> + +<p>"I think maybe that speck isn't a wormhole, after all," said Phil, +subjecting the apple she still held to another scrutiny. "You might give +us a half a bushel of these. My ambitions lead me toward apple pie, and +if it doesn't come out well I can blame your apples."</p> + +<p>He smiled again, and frank admiration shone in his eyes as they surveyed +Phil with more assurance.</p> + +<p>"If you really want some of these I'll bring them in. Half a bushel?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>"That will be enough," replied Phil succinctly. She rubbed the apple +with the corner of her blue-and-white apron, chose a spot that inspired +confidence, and bit into it. She waited for the effect absently and +puckered her lips. "It's a cooker. What's the name of the brand?"</p> + +<p>"Give it up."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll tell you. It's a 'Liza Browning. You'd better learn the names +of apples before you go much further in the business. Any farmhand can +tell you. Uncle Amy's taught me about twenty. What's the price of this +precious fruit?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I couldn't charge you for these, you know. You see—"</p> + +<p>"Then I won't take them—nary an apple! You bring in those apples and +I'll pay you just the same price you ask everybody else."</p> + +<p>Her attention was attracted by a black cat moving along the alley fence +with noble unconcern. Phil stepped out upon the brick walk, drew back +her arm and threw the apple. It struck the fence immediately beneath the +cat, which vanished on the alley side.</p> + +<p>"Good shot. You almost got him!"</p> + +<p>"Almost nothing!" said Phil scornfully. "You didn't suppose I wanted to +hit the wretch, did you? He's an old pal of mine and would be lonesome +if I didn't scare him to death occasionally."</p> + +<p>Holton brought the apples in a sack which he emptied into a basket Phil +found for the purpose. His absence had been prolonged. To measure half a +bushel of apples is not ordinarily a serious matter, but in this +instance the vendor chose fastidiously. The fruit that went into the +sack was beyond question the best in the wagon.</p> + +<p>"How much?" asked Phil, surveying her purchase, purse in hand.</p> + +<p>"Oh, about a quarter."</p> + +<p>She handed him a fifty cent piece.</p> + +<p>"Please don't try that again—not here! I've been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>telephoning the +grocery and apples about like those are a dollar a bushel. +Good-morning!"</p> + +<p>"Good-morning, Miss Kirkwood."</p> + +<p>He looked at her intently, laughed, threw the sack over his shoulder and +went out, holding the coin in his hand.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><a name="V" id="V"></a> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>THE OTHERWISENESS OF PHYLLIS</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Hint to those who read with an eye on the clock: skip this chapter! It +is made up from notes furnished by Mrs. John Newman King, Judge Walters, +Captain Joshua Wilson, the veteran recorder, former-Sheriff Whittlesey +and others, and is included merely to satisfy those citizens of +Montgomery who think this entire history should be devoted to Phil, to +the exclusion of her friends and relations. The historian hopes he is an +open-minded person, and he would rather please Montgomery than any other +center of thought and industry he knows; but the laws of proportion (as +Phil would be the first to point out) may not lightly be ignored. Phil's +otherwiseness was always difficult to keep in bounds; it must not +tyrannize these pages. Skip and carry thirteen, but don't complain if +pilgrims from Montgomery take you to task for denying Phil five minutes +of your time.</p> + +<p>Phil was on her way to Buckeye Lane the first cold day in November to +call on the daughter of a newly enrolled member of the Madison faculty +when she saw her Uncle Amzi on the bank steps taking the air. She had on +her best walking-suit, and swung a silver cardcase in her hand. The +cardcase marked an advance. Formal calls were not to Phil's taste, but +her aunts had lately been endeavoring to persuade her that it was no +longer seemly for her to "drop in" when and where she pleased, but that +there were certain calls of duty and ceremony which required her best +togs and the leaving of circumspect bits of cardboard inscribed "Miss +Kirkwood." When Phil set forth to call upon a girl friend it was still +something of a question whether caller and callee would sit in the +parlor and be ladies or seek the open to crack walnuts on the kitchen +steps or slide down the cellar door.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>As Phil spied her uncle she stopped abruptly, feigned to be looking at +the sign over his head, and when his glasses presently focused upon her, +pretended suddenly to be intent upon the face of the court-house clock +two blocks distant.</p> + +<p>"Beg pardon, sir, but is this a bank?"</p> + +<p>Thus accosted Mr. Montgomery looked upon his niece with exaggerated +surprise.</p> + +<p>"A bank, little girl? What on earth do you want with a bank?"</p> + +<p>"I thought I might separate it from some of its cash; or if the terms +are satisfactory I might leave some money. If the venerable old party I +address holds a job inside we might withdraw from the public gaze and +commune within the portals. The day is raw and that ice-cream suit +invites pneumonia."</p> + +<p>Passers-by viewed the pair with an amused smile. Captain Wilson, +stumping along at the moment, asked without pausing:—</p> + +<p>"Stranger in town, Amzi?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Cap; she's just bought the town and wants the key to the bank +vault."</p> + +<p>Phil followed her uncle into the bank and waited for him to walk round +behind the cages. The dingy old room with its walnut counter and desks +seemed at once a brighter place. The four clerks made it convenient to +expose themselves to Phil's smile. She planted herself at the paying +teller's cage and waited for Amzi's benevolent countenance to appear at +the wicket. She held up her cardcase that he might have the full benefit +of her splendor, extracted a small bit of paper, and passed it in to +him. Seeing that it was not one of the familiar checks of the Montgomery +Bank, he scrutinized it closely. It was a check of the "Journey's End" +Magazine Company for fifty dollars, drawn upon a New York bank and +payable to Phyllis Kirkwood.</p> + +<p>Amzi's face expressed no surprise. He threw it back and waved her away.</p> + +<p>"It's no good. Worthless!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>"No good? You don't mean—"</p> + +<p>"No good, Miss Kirkwood—without your indorsement."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you say so! I don't want to come as near sudden death as +that again."</p> + +<p>He thrust out a pen so that she need not turn to the tall desk behind +her to make the indorsement. He examined the signature carefully and +blotted it.</p> + +<p>"One of your own efforts, Phil?" he asked carelessly.</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, you might say so. I suppose you'd call it that."</p> + +<p>"Poetry?"</p> + +<p>"A poor guess, Amy, and marks you as an ignorant person. Fifty dollars +for a poem out of my green little cantaloupe? That's half what Milton +got for 'Paradise Lost.' And the prices haven't gone up much since John +died."</p> + +<p>She knew that his curiosity was aroused. This play of indifference was +an old game of theirs, a part of the teasing to which she subjected him +and which he encouraged.</p> + +<p>"Story?"</p> + +<p>"Absurd! Everybody in this town is writing a novel. Every time I go into +the post-office I see scared-looking people getting their manuscripts +weighed, and nervously looking round for fear of being caught. Nan says +it's a kind of literary measles people have in Indiana. Aunt Josephine's +cook writes poetry—burnt up a pan of biscuits the other day when she +was trying to find a rhyme for 'Isaiah.'"</p> + +<p>"I wondered what caused me so much pain the last time I ate supper at +Josie's. I must have swallowed a sonnet. What's your line, Phil?"</p> + +<p>"Zoölogy."</p> + +<p>"Possible?"</p> + +<p>"It was this way, Amy. You know that piece I read at the high-school +commencement—'The Dogs of Main Street'?"</p> + +<p>"I do, Phil, I do; I nearly laughed myself to death."</p> + +<p>"Well, it did seem to tickle the folks. I was about to kindle the fire +with it one day when I happened to think that if it would make a +high-school commencement laugh it ought to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>raise a laugh out of 'most +anybody. So I touched it up and put in a few new dogs I've got the boys +in Landers's livery-stable taking care of, and sent it to three +magazines. The first two regretted, but the third fell for it. They want +pictures of the dogs, though, and will give me twenty more round iron +dollars for a full set, so if you see me on the hike with the camera in +the morning, don't ring up the town marshal."</p> + +<p>"Well, well," said Amzi; "it sounds like easy money. Going to keep it +up?"</p> + +<p>"I have said nothing," replied Phil, holding up her cardcase and +swinging it by its short chain. "Just credit me with the fifty and I'll +bring in my book the next time I find it."</p> + +<p>In front of the theater she ran into her Uncle Lawrence, gloomily posed +before the entrance with his astrakhan collar drawn up about his ears. +He had once seen Richard Mansfield in just such a coat and had been +moved to imitation.</p> + +<p>"Divinity!" breathed Hastings tragically, noting Phil's glowing cheeks +and satisfying raiment.</p> + +<p>"Forget it!" said Phil. "How about a box for the Saturday matinee? I +think I'll pull off a party for a bunch of girls at your expense. What +is that on the boards? You don't mean that 'Her Long Road Home' +threatens this town again? Why rub it in, Lawr<i>i</i>nce?"</p> + +<p>"They've canceled," said Hastings with a sigh. "That booking-office is a +den of thieves. No honor, no feeling, no ideals of art!"</p> + +<p>His tones were unusually abysmal. He stood with his back to the door of +his theater as though shielding it from Philistine assaults upon the +drama's divine temple.</p> + +<p>"By the way, Lawr<i>i</i>nce—" Her Aunt Kate had rebuked her at least a +thousand times for calling him "Lawr<i>i</i>nce." He had asked her to call +him "Uncle Larry," which was her main reason for not doing so. Her +standard of uncles was high. She had never admitted her aunts' husbands +to a share in a relationship that was ennobled by Amzi Montgomery. +Fosdick was usually "Paul" to Phil; Waterman she always called "Judge," +which he hated. "Lawr<i>i</i>nce, what became <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>of that play you wrote +yourself and put on in Chicago? Why don't you bring it here and give the +town a treat?"</p> + +<p>Hastings bent upon her the grieved look of a man who suffers mutely the +most unkindest cut of all. <i>Et tu, Brute!</i> was in his reproachful +glance.</p> + +<p>"I didn't think this of you, Phil. Of course you knew the piece closed +Saturday night at Peoria."</p> + +<p>She had not known. Her aunt had spoken largely of the venture. The +theatrical powers of New York having frowned upon Hastings's play, he +had produced it himself, sending it forth from Chicago to enlighten the +West before carrying it to Broadway, there to put to rout and confusion +the lords of the drama who had rejected it. Five thousand dollars had +been spent and the play had failed dismally. Nor was this the first of +Hastings's misadventures of the same sort. Phil analyzed her uncle's +gloom and decided that it was sincere, and she was sorry for him as was +her way in the presence of affliction. Hastings was an absurd person, +intent upon shining in a sphere to which the gods had summoned him only +in mockery. Phil lingered to mitigate his grief as far as possible.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry; but I suppose if a play won't go, it won't."</p> + +<p>"A play of merit won't! My aim was to advance the ideal of American +drama; that was all. The same money put into musical comedy would have +nailed S. R. O. on the door all winter."</p> + +<p>"Lawr<i>i</i>nce," said Phil, glancing up at the façade of The Hastings, +"I'll tell you how you can make a barrel of money out of this brick +building."</p> + +<p>He looked at her guardedly. Phil was a digger of pits, as he knew by +experience, and he was in no humor for trifling. His own balance at the +bank was negligible, and his wife had warned him that no more money +would be forthcoming for the encouragement of the American drama.</p> + +<p>"Lawr<i>i</i>nce, what you ought to do is to hire that blind piano-pounder +who thumps for the fraternity dances, put a neat red-haired girl in a +box on the sidewalk, get one of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>football team who's working his way +through college to turn the crank, and put on a fil-lum."</p> + +<p>This was, indeed, rubbing salt in his wounds. He flinched at the +thought.</p> + +<p>"Turn my house over to the 'movies'! Phil, I didn't think this of you. +After all I've tried to do to lift this dingy village to a realizing +sense of what drama is—what it should mean—"</p> + +<p>"Trim it, Hector. You can break all the banks in town uplifting the +drama and never put it over. About once a winter you have a good piece; +the rest of the time the folks who want to see real actors go to +Indianapolis or sneak up to Chicago for a week and beat you to it. That +fil-lum show down by the court-house is rotten. Coarse and stupid. Why +not spend a few dollars changing the front of this joint and put on good +pictures? The people who keep the pictures moving in Indianapolis sit +around the fire Sunday evenings and burn money—it comes in so fast the +banks haven't room for it. Call this 'The Home Fireside'—no nickelodeon +business—and get the Center Church quartette to sing. It will sound +just like prayer-meeting to people who think a real theater a sinful +place. If you don't tackle it, I'll throw Bernstein out and take it up +myself. There's a new man in town right now trying to locate a screen; +beat him to the wire, Lawr<i>i</i>nce."</p> + +<p>"By Jove, Phil—!"</p> + +<p>She started off briskly and a little farther on met Jack Whittlesey the +sheriff, who grinned and touched his coonskin cap.</p> + +<p>"Got an engagement, Phil? Hope not. Uncle Alec is goin' to holler in a +few minutes."</p> + +<p>"I'm out calling, Sheriff, but if you're sure the judge is going to act +up, I'll take a look in."</p> + +<p>She crossed the street to the court-house. To Phil nothing was funnier +than Alec Waterman in the throes of oratory. Waterman was big and burly, +with a thunderous voice; and when he addressed a jury he roared and +shook his iron-gray <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>mane in a manner truly terrifying. In warm weather +when the windows were open, he could be plainly heard in any part of the +court-house square. When Phil reached the circuit court-room Judge +Walters, with his feet on the judicial desk, was gazing at the ceiling, +as was his habit when trials grew tedious. As Phil entered, he jerked +down his feet, sat erect, snapped his fingers at the bailiff, and +directed the placing of a chair within the space set apart for the bar. +Phil smiled her thanks, and made herself comfortable with her back to +the clerk's desk. The case in progress was a suit for personal injuries +against the Sycamore Traction Company, brought by Waterman for a farmer, +who, on the preceding Fourth of July, had been tossed a considerable +distance toward Chicago by a violent contact with one of the defendant's +cars. The motorman and the conductor had both testified that the car was +running empty and that the proper signals had been given at the required +crossings.</p> + +<p>The judge left the bench and lounged about the clerk's desk, hoping to +catch Phil's eye and draw her aside for one of the parleys in which he +delighted; but Phil had immediately become absorbed in the testimony. +Waterman's voice rose louder and louder as he sought to befuddle the +motorman as to the time of the accident, the place where the collision +occurred and the signaling, but without avail. The attorney for the +company looked on with an amused smile of unconcern. Both the motorman +and the conductor had been carefully rehearsed in their testimony and +there was little likelihood that plaintiff's counsel would be able to +trap them. Waterman was going back and forth over the time of day, +attempting to show that the car was behind its schedule, and exceeding +the speed limit, but the man clung to his story stubbornly. It was at +exactly five minutes past three; he was running slowly, and had whistled +at all the earlier stops; and when he saw the plaintiff driving upon the +right of way ahead of him he put on the brakes as quickly as possible.</p> + +<p>Phil moved to a chair just behind Waterman. He was so deeply engrossed +that he did not notice her. He was making <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>no headway, and was about to +drop the witness when Phil bent over and whispered. Without turning +round he rose and renewed the attack.</p> + +<p>"I will ask you, sir, to state to this jury whether it is not a fact +that the brake of your car was out of order and whether it had not given +you trouble before you struck the plaintiff?"</p> + +<p>The witness stammered and glanced at counsel for the defendant, who rose +and objected to the question as not proper cross-examination. The judge +returned to the bench with renewed interest and overruled the objection. +The witness admitted that there had been some slight trouble with the +brake, and Waterman roared another question that drowned the +explanation.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it a fact that you ran past Stop 7 just south of the scene of +this collision, and did not stop your car because it was out of control +by reason of a crippled brake?"</p> + +<p>The witness was plainly disturbed, and the defendant's counsel was +unable to protect him. He admitted that the brake might not have been in +perfect order, but it was an old car—</p> + +<p>"It was an old car," boomed Waterman, "and the brake was worn out and +you couldn't have stopped at that crossing even if you had wanted to! +Isn't that the fact?"</p> + +<p>The motorman telegraphed appealingly to the company's lawyer. The judge +ordered him to answer the question.</p> + +<p>"There were no passengers on the car," the man, now thoroughly confused, +murmured inconsequently.</p> + +<p>Waterman bent his head and took another cue from Phil, then strode +majestically toward the witness.</p> + +<p>"There were no passengers on your car? Why not?" he thundered.</p> + +<p>"Why not what?" faltered the witness.</p> + +<p>"I ask you, sir, if it isn't true that there was a passenger waiting at +Stop 7 and that you ran by that crossing because your brake wouldn't +work?"</p> + +<p>The witness looked at Phil and involved himself in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>difficulty by +admitting that the car's speed was such that he was unable to see +clearly whether any passenger was waiting at Stop 7. After sparring +between counsel, Phil was placed upon the stand and sworn to tell the +whole truth. Main Street had heard that something unusual was happening +in the circuit court and the room filled.</p> + +<p>Her name, she testified, was Phil Kirkwood. (She always signed herself +Phil at school, distrusting Phyllis as high-falutin'.)</p> + +<p>"Otherwise Phyllis," interposed the judge soberly. "It is essential that +the record identify all witnesses beyond per-adventure."</p> + +<p>The audience tittered. Phil began her story. She had been spending the +Fourth of July at her Uncle Amzi's farm, but wanted to return home +before her uncle was ready, to attend a party. There was no question of +the time, as she had walked across the fields to that particular stop to +meet the car on its scheduled hour. She had stood upon the track and +waved the flag placed in the shed at the stop for that purpose, but to +her disgust the car had rushed by at full speed. She had heard the +hissing of the air as the car whirled by, and there being no other car +for an hour she had been obliged to return to the farm and wait for her +uncle to drive her in.</p> + +<p>Counsel for defendant, a stranger to the ways of Montgomery, who had +come from Indianapolis to try the case, asked Phil ironically if she +were an expert in the management of a trolley car.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I shouldn't say that," said Phil; "but I used to ride with motormen +sometimes, back and forth to the farm, and they let me stop and start +the car."</p> + +<p>She explained that she knew from the sound as the air went on that the +brake was out of order. The twelve good men and true in the jury box +bent forward attentively as she met the lawyer's questions. He was a +young man and Phil was undeniably pretty. In her calling clothes she did +not look like a girl who would chum with motormen. His manner was +elaborately deferential.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>"Miss Kirkwood, may I trouble you to tell the jury whether you ever rode +in the car of this particular motorman?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No, sir," replied Phil.</p> + +<p>"You never saw him before, and after all you're not sure he's the man +who was in charge of that car that day, are you?"</p> + +<p>Phil dangled the cardcase from her white-gloved fingers carelessly.</p> + +<p>"Perfectly confident of it," she answered.</p> + +<p>"If you are sure of it, will you kindly tell the jury just how it is you +remember him—how you identify him as the motorman on this car on that +particular afternoon?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! Do you really want me to tell that?" asked Phil.</p> + +<p>"Answer the question!" the attorney returned sharply, misreading her +apparent reluctance.</p> + +<p>"Why," began Phil, speaking rapidly and distinctly and turning toward +the jurors,—"why, it's because I had noticed him all that summer +passing our house and he always ran faster than the other motormen,—you +could tell his car at night if you didn't see it because it ran so +fast,—and he's the same man who ran into Bernstein's delivery +wagon—the one with the lame horse—at the corner of Monon Street about +a week before the Fourth of July. I saw that, too!"</p> + +<p>"If Your Honor please," said Waterman, rising as the court ruled that +Phil's last answer, which the defendant's counsel had sought vainly to +interrupt, should be stricken out, "the plaintiff rests. We will waive +argument in this case," he added impressively, putting from him, with +unprecedented self-denial, the chance of pillorying the unfeeling +defendant corporation.</p> + +<p>Judge Walters looked down at Phil solemnly.</p> + +<p>"The court is unable to determine whether the witness is also associate +counsel for plaintiff, but in any event, I suggest that she claim the +usual witness fee at the clerk's office."</p> + +<p>Phil left the court-room and resumed her walk toward Buckeye Lane.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>Paul Fosdick, just coming down from his office, arrested her. Fosdick, +whose blithe spirit was never greatly disturbed by the failure of his +enterprises, greeted Phil gayly. He entertained a high opinion of Phil. +At family gatherings, which his wife and sisters-in-law made odious by +petty bickerings, Phil was always a refuge. It was nothing to Phil which +of her aunts wore the best hat, or that Mrs. Hastings had been abroad +and to New York while the others had been denied these recreations and +delights. If his wife's faith in him had been shaken by his inability to +grasp the fortune which always seemed just within reach; and if, on +Christmas and New Year's and Thanksgiving Day, when they met at Amzi's, +he was a bit uncomfortable, knowing that his wife's share of the +Montgomery money had gone into many ventures without ever coming out +again, Phil could be depended upon to infuse cheer into those somber +occasions. He frequently discussed his schemes with Phil, who was +usually sympathetic; and now and then she made a suggestion that was +really worth considering. Where other members of the family criticized +him harshly behind his back, Phil delivered her criticisms face to face.</p> + +<p>"Lo, Phil!"</p> + +<p>"Lo, Paul!"</p> + +<p>"Phil, what's new about Sycamore Traction? They say your pa's going to +have a receiver appointed."</p> + +<p>"If he does they will print it in the papers. How do you like my hat?"</p> + +<p>"It's a dream, but I hope you're not going to make trouble for your dear +aunts' husbands by going in for clothes. The competition in the family +is hot enough now without you butting in. Hastings is in mourning at the +bank and Waterman is sad over his last political licking and my billions +are coming by slow freight."</p> + +<p>"By the way, Paul, I fell over that busted brickyard of yours out by the +flour mill the other day when I was walking for my health. There ought +to be money in bricks," she ended meditatively.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>"There ought, Phil, but there ain't. I'm still hoping to pull that +scheme out, but it takes time. You know this town doesn't know how to +back up its enterprises."</p> + +<p>"Cease knocking! What you want to do is to stop trying to organize an +undertakers' trust in this town where everybody lives to a green old age +and get busy with brick. The last time I was in Indianapolis I saw a lot +of new houses built out of brick that looked just about like those +pink-and-yellow effects you started in on. They came from over in +Illinois somewhere, and I guess the clay's off the very same stratum. +What you ought to do is to nail close to some of the city architects and +hypnotize them into using your goods."</p> + +<p>"We tried all that, Phil; but they wouldn't listen."</p> + +<p>"Let me see; what name did you give those bricks?"</p> + +<p>"We called 'em the 'Gold Finish.' Nothing the matter with that, is +there?"</p> + +<p>"'Most everything's the matter with that name. Anything that suggests a +gold brick is bound to scare sensible people. Think of living in a house +that people would laugh at and call the 'gold-brick' house! You've got +to get a lot better, Paul. Try once more and call 'em the 'Daffodil' or +the 'Crocus'—something that sounds springlike and cheerful. And play up +local pride—a Hoosier product for Hoosier people. Then when you've done +that, fly to Chicago and give away enough to build a house in one of the +new suburbs and daffodils will spring up all over the prairie. Am I +lucid?"</p> + +<p>"There may be something in giving an old dog a new name. I've a good +notion to give it a try, and if—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, there's no charge! You might send me up a couple of those brick; I +can use 'em for nut-crackers."</p> + +<p>Judge Walters once said of Phil that if she would keep a diary and write +down honestly everything that happened to her if would some day put +Pepys to the blush. Not every day was as rich in adventure as this; but +this is not a bad sample. If Phil had been a prig or fresh or +impertinent, she would not have been the idol of Main Street. A genius +for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>being on the spot when events are forward must be born in one, and +her casual, indifferent air contributed to a belief in Main Street that +she was leagued with supernatural agencies. If there was a fire, Phil +arrived ahead of the department; and if a prisoner broke out of jail, +Phil knew it before the "Evening Star" could print the fact.</p> + +<p>"Some one told me," Captain Wilson would begin, addressing Judge +Walters; and the judge would answer, "Otherwise Phyllis." And the judge +would say, "I'm going to quit taking the 'Star' and subscribe for Phil."</p> + +<p>Phil had, on the whole, a pretty good time.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><a name="VI" id="VI"></a> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>THE SMOKING-OUT OF AMZI</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Although a Holton had brought scandal upon the house of Montgomery by +eloping with one of its duly married daughters, or perhaps because of +that disagreeable circumstance, Mrs. Hastings, Mrs. Fosdick, and Mrs. +Waterman were constantly exercised over the affairs of the Holtons. The +Holtons prospered, as witness the fashion in which William (the wicked +Jack's brother) had built up the First National Bank after the +dissolution of the old Montgomery & Holton partnership. And there was +Samuel, who had varied his political activities by organizing companies +to raise vanilla beans or sarsaparilla, or to dig silver in Mexico—a +man of affairs, unquestionably, who had outgrown Montgomery and moved to +the state capital where he died. Even Samuel's paltry achievements were +touched with a certain magnificence in the eyes of these ladies; Samuel +had escaped from Montgomery and this was a consummation that had long +been the burden of their prayers. The very existence of the First +National Bank was offensive to the sisters of Amzi Montgomery. They had +wanted Amzi to "nationalize" his bank when the break occurred and it had +been "just like" their stubborn brother to continue in the old rut.</p> + +<p>Mrs. William Holton lived in a modern house that was superior to +anything the Montgomerys could boast. It had two bathrooms, a +music-room, and electric lights. In Montgomery one bathroom had long +been a summit-crowning achievement, to which the fortunate possessor +might point with pride; and as for dedicating a room to music, and +planting in it a grand piano flanked by a bust of Mozart, and shedding +upon it a dim opalescent glow from concealed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>lights—no one in the +community had ever before scaled such heights of grandeur.</p> + +<p>For half a dozen years after their sister's escapade the Montgomery +sisters had not spoken to a Holton; but in such communities as theirs +the "cutting" of persons with whom one has been brought up is attended +with embarrassments. William Holton had married, a little late, a +Memphis woman he had met on a trip to Mexico to inspect the plantations +in which he and his brother Samuel were interested. She was "a Southern +woman," with a charming accent, as every one admitted. The accent was +greatly admired. Several young girls sought to soften the vowels of +their native Hoosier speech in conformity with the models introduced by +Mrs. Holton. The coming of this lady, the zest with which she entered +into the social life of the town, the vacillations of certain old +friends of the Montgomerys who had taken sides against the Holtons after +the Kirkwood incident, had given the three sisters an excuse for +abandoning the feud in so far at least as it applied to William Holton. +In any view of the case, no matter how base the Holtons might be, there +was no reason why the family sins should be visited upon the lady with +the aforesaid accent, whose taste in dress was unassailable and who +poured tea with such an air.</p> + +<p>Amzi read his newspaper in the little back room of the bank on a +November afternoon and awaited the coming of his sisters. The necessity +for any business discussions between them had steadily diminished. Their +father's estate had long ago been distributed, and Amzi had not troubled +himself as to the subsequent fate of the money he had paid to his +sisters. They were all blessed with husbands, and if these gentlemen did +not safeguard their wives' property it was no affair of his. There had +been about half a million dollars, which meant in round figures a +hundred thousand dollars apiece, and this in Montgomery is a great deal +of money.</p> + +<p>When his sisters arrived, Amzi rose with the nice courtesy that lay in +him and placed chairs for them about the table. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>Then panting from his +exertion he pulled a cigar from his waistcoat and dry-smoked it. They +were unwontedly grave, suggesting the gloom of a committee appointed to +perfect funeral arrangements for a poor relation.</p> + +<p>"You have talked to Phil about the party, I suppose," said Mrs. +Waterman.</p> + +<p>"I have: I most certainly have, Josie," replied Amzi, sighing heavily.</p> + +<p>"And she's going to do what we want?"</p> + +<p>Amzi tilted his head to one side reflectively, and took the cigar from +his mouth.</p> + +<p>"She's going to stand for the party, if that's what you mean; but as to +doing what you want on general principles, I'm not so dead sure."</p> + +<p>"It was your duty, Amzi, to go into the matter thoroughly—to lay down +the law to her," observed Mrs. Fosdick.</p> + +<p>"All right," nodded Amzi. "In the words of the poet, I done it. But Phil +doesn't need lectures."</p> + +<p>"Doesn't need them?" sniffed Mrs. Fosdick. "That poor child couldn't +have a lecture too many. She always pulls the wool over your eyes. It's +right and proper for us to know just what she said when you told her she +had to stop running round so much and act like a respectable +well-brought-up girl."</p> + +<p>"You're a lot of silly geese about Phil—all of you," declared Amzi, +bringing his gaze to bear upon them <i>seriatim</i>. "Phil is far from being +a fool, and there's a heart in her as big as the court-house. We don't +appreciate her; we're always nagging her and trying to reform her."</p> + +<p>The plural was pure chivalry. It was not Amzi who nagged Phil. The +aunts, perfectly aware of this, and ready usually to challenge any +intimation that their attitude toward Phil was not dictated by equity +and wisdom, were silent. Their failure to respond with their customary +defense aroused his suspicions. They had been to a tea somewhere and +were in their new fall togs. Their zealous attempts to live up to what +were to him the absurdest, the most <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>preposterous ideals, struck him +just now as pathetic; but he was fond of his sisters. If the course of +their lives was inexplicable and their ambitions ridiculous and futile, +his good humor never failed in his intercourse with them. But they had +not disclosed their hand on this occasion—he was confident of this—and +he warily fortified himself to meet whatever assault their strategy had +planned. The three women glanced at one another covertly: Kate and Fanny +seemed to be deferring to their older sister. It was with unmistakable +diffidence and after a minute scrutiny of her cardcase that Mrs. +Waterman spoke.</p> + +<p>"Amzi, this is an important time in Phil's life, and there are some +things we ought to counsel each other about. We all take it for granted +that you know where Lois is."</p> + +<p>Amzi crossed his fat legs and shrugged his fat shoulders. He was not in +the least pleased by the direction of the inquiry.</p> + +<p>"We feel we are entitled to know all you know about her," added Mrs. +Fosdick.</p> + +<p>"You should remember," said Mrs. Hastings, "that she's our sister as +well as yours."</p> + +<p>Amzi's jaws tightened and he inspected the end of his cigar. This sudden +manifestation of sisterly interest in Lois was not without its amusing +side. They had long ago spurned their sister with bitterness, and his +speculations as to the real object of their visit had not touched the +remote horizons against which Lois was vaguely limned.</p> + +<p>"I don't see," he observed deliberately, "that Lois has anything +whatever to do with Phil or any of the rest of us."</p> + +<p>"Of course not, Amzi. That's exactly the point. We only want to be sure +she's a long way off; we're entitled to know that. And we've heard—"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hastings laid upon <i>heard</i> that fine, insinuating inflection that +is a part of the grammar of gossip. His sisters had heard something, and +while he discounted its value automatically, as was his way, he was not +without curiosity as to its nature. They saw that he was interested.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>"The Walters have just got back from a Western trip, and they heard in +Seattle that Lois has left Holton. He had been doing badly—drinking, +and all that."</p> + +<p>"It was bound to come, of course," said Mrs. Waterman. "You can't tell +me that people who do a thing like that can ever be happy."</p> + +<p>Her tone did not please Amzi. It was clear that he found the whole +subject disagreeable. He was immensely annoyed that they had come to him +to discuss Lois after years of silence. It was as though a great rock +planted in the avenue of her exit had succumbed to the tooth of Time and +its exfoliations were falling ominously about him.</p> + +<p>"I thought it was understood long ago that we had dropped Lois. If she +and Holton got tired of each other, it's their business. I don't imagine +you want me to send for her to come home."</p> + +<p>"Amzi!" they gasped.</p> + +<p>It seemed that this shuddering exclamation expressed a horror that shook +their very souls. It was incredible that so dark a thought should have +crossed the mind of a man commonly looked upon as sane.</p> + +<p>"That would be the limit," cried Mrs. Hastings. "Don't even mention such +a thing—it's too horrible to joke about."</p> + +<p>"I wasn't joking. If she's gone to smash with Holton, I thought maybe +you wanted us to bring the prodigal home, and give her veal loaf for +Sunday evening tea. By the way, Kate, don't ever turn me loose on any of +your veal loaf again. The last I had at your house gave me indigestion; +it might have led to apoplexy and killed me."</p> + +<p>The fierceness of his frowning caused his scalp to wrinkle clear back to +his fringe of hair. His sisters were vexed by his attempt to relieve the +discussion with humor. It was necessary to sober him, and Mrs. Hastings +thought she could effect the sobering of Amzi.</p> + +<p>"Minnie Walters says they have lost their money; the judge saw Jack +Holton, but you know how the judge is; he wouldn't ever speak of it to a +soul."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>"Minnie would," said Amzi dryly.</p> + +<p>"Minnie only mentioned it in the kindest way," said Mrs. Waterman, +coloring. "You know Minnie doesn't gossip; but as an old friend of our +family she thought we ought to know. I think it was kind of her to tell +us."</p> + +<p>"Well, it doesn't seem to have made you girls much happier. What on +earth are you going to do; what do you want me to do?" he demanded, +blowing out his cheeks and glaring.</p> + +<p>"We don't want you to do anything, Amzi," said Mrs. Hastings, with that +sweetness with which women of little discernment attempt to blunt the +wrath of man.</p> + +<p>It was important to keep Phil in the picture: with Phil dancing before +them Amzi could be held in subjection. Mrs. Waterman hastened to mention +Phil and the responsibility they all felt about her, to justify their +curiosity as to Phil's mother. Amzi blew his nose and readjusted his +spectacles. Mrs. Waterman advanced the battle-line boldly.</p> + +<p>"We assume that you have always kept in touch with poor Lois and that +you still hear from her. And we feel that the time has come for you to +treat us more frankly about her. It's for Phil's sake, you know, Amzi."</p> + +<p>Amzi could not see how any of the later transactions in the life of +Phil's mother were of the slightest importance to Phil. He shook his +head impatiently and shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Lois," he blurted, "is in Dresden."</p> + +<p>"Then she <i>has</i> left him!" cried Mrs. Fosdick, with a note of triumph +that trumpeted the complete vindication of Mrs. Waterman's averments.</p> + +<p>"I tell you I don't know anything about Holton," replied Amzi, who had, +in strictest truth, told them nothing of the kind. He experienced the +instant regret suffered by secretive persons who watch a long-guarded +fact slip away beyond reclamation; but repentance could avail nothing, +so he added,—</p> + +<p>"Yes; she's abroad. She's been over there for some time."</p> + +<p>"Of course, he's run through her money; that was to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>expected!" +exclaimed Mrs. Fosdick in a tone that implied a deep resentment of the +fate that had robbed the erring Lois of her money.</p> + +<p>"If he did she never told me so," Amzi answered. "But Lois was never +what you might call a squealer; if he robbed her you can be pretty dead +sure she wouldn't sob about it on the street corners. That wouldn't be a +bit like the Lois I remember. Lois wasn't the woman to go scampering off +after the Devil and then get scared and burst out crying when she found +her shoes beginning to get hot."</p> + +<p>After all these years Amzi had spoken, and his sisters did not like his +tone. Their brother, a gentleman the correctness of whose life had never +been questioned, was referring to the conduct of the sister who had +disgraced her family in outrageous and sinful terms. The Prince of +Darkness and the fervid pavements of his kingdom were not to be brought +into conversation with any such lightness, as though the going to the +Devil were not, after all, so horrible—not something to be whispered +with terror in the dark confessional of their souls. One might have +imagined that Lois's very sins had endeared her to this phlegmatic older +brother! There was not only this gloomy reflection, but his admissions +had opened long vistas to their imaginations. He probably knew more than +he meant to disclose, and this made it necessary to continue their +pumping with the greatest discretion.</p> + +<p>"It would be hard if she came back on you for help—after everything +that's happened; but of course that would be your affair, Amzi," said +Mrs. Hastings leadingly.</p> + +<p>"It would," Amzi admitted explosively. "It undoubtedly would!"</p> + +<p>This, in their eagerness, seemed an admission. The interview was proving +fruitful beyond their fondest hopes. He had doubtless been in Lois's +fullest confidence from the first; and darkest of all, it was wholly +likely, now that she had broken with Holton, that Amzi was supplying her +with the means of subsistence in the capitals of Europe. Around this +last thought they rallied.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>"Of course, if Lois should really be in need, Amzi," said Mrs. Waterman, +"it would be the duty of all of us to help her; that would only be +right. But even if it comes to that we should have to consider Phil, +too. When you think of everything, our responsibility is much greater +for Phil than for Lois. Phil is here; her life's before her; she's one +<i>of</i> us, you know, Amzi."</p> + +<p>"Right, Josie; you are mighty right. What you mean is that if it came to +a question of Lois's starving in Europe and Phil's starving on our +doorsteps, we'd help Phil first because she's right here under our +noses. But I don't understand that Lois is starving; nor is Phil for +that matter. Phil's all right."</p> + +<p>The thought that he was sending money to Lois was disagreeable; that he +should be doing so when Phil's needs cried so stridently aroused the +direst apprehensions. They had all received from Amzi their exact +proportion of their father's estate; even Waterman had never been able +to find a flaw in the adjustment. Through Waterman they had learned that +Lois's proper receipt was on file; they knew exactly the date on which +it had been placed of record in the county clerk's office. They had +looked upon this as the final closing of all the doors that shut this +sister out of their calculations. They, or their children, were +potential beneficiaries in Amzi's property if he ultimately died a +bachelor. And there was no telling when his asthma might be supplemented +by a fatal pneumonia. This was never to be whispered in so far as the +chances of their own offspring were concerned; but of Phil and the +propriety of her expectations they might speak with entire candor.</p> + +<p>"While we are talking of these matters," observed Mrs. Hastings, "we may +as well face one or two things that have troubled us all a good deal. +You know as well as we do that poor Tom has gradually been playing out; +it's pitiful the way he has been letting his business go. Every one +knows that he has ability, but he's been living more and more up in the +air. He owns the block over there and the rent he gets <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>from that is +about all he has. And I shouldn't be at all surprised if the block had +been mortgaged."</p> + +<p>"I've heard," said Mrs. Waterman, examining a button on her white glove, +"that he has borrowed money on it."</p> + +<p>They looked guardedly at Amzi. Mrs. Waterman's husband, who kept an eye +on the county records, had, at his wife's behest, assured himself +frequently that Kirkwood's block in Main Street was unencumbered. +Kirkwood's former home, the decaying monument to his domestic tragedy, +and the only other thing he owned, was free also. In this process of +"smoking out" their brother it would have helped if they could have +pointed to the menace of her father's encumbered property to Phil; but +they had already learned more than they had expected in establishing +beyond per-adventure the fact that Lois and Amzi maintained +communication, and that in all likelihood he was providing for her in +her exile. It was high time they scanned the top shelves of the closet +occupied by the dancing family skeleton!</p> + +<p>"While we're about it we may as well face the possibility that Tom may +marry again," remarked Mrs. Fosdick suddenly.</p> + +<p>Amzi drew his hand across his pink dome.</p> + +<p>"Nothing to hinder him that I know of," he replied.</p> + +<p>"I don't know of anything that would wake him up unless it would be +that. The right sort of woman could do a lot for a man like Tom, with +all that he has suffered." This from Mrs. Waterman, who seemed deeply +moved by the thought of Kirkwood's sufferings.</p> + +<p>"But Phil—I can't imagine Phil with a stepmother. We never could allow +that; we should have to take her away from him," declared Mrs. Fosdick.</p> + +<p>Amzi rested his elbow on the table, and breathed hard for a minute. He +took the unlighted cigar from his mouth and waved it at them.</p> + +<p>"What's got into you girls anyhow! You're borrowing trouble in all the +banks in the universe—a little above your line of credit. You seem +terribly anxious about Lois all of a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>sudden. It just happens that I +know she ain't hungry, and that she's over there living like a +respectable woman. Lois isn't like the rest of us; Lois is different! +There's more electricity in Lois than the rest of us have; you know it +as well as I do. Now just to satisfy your curiosity I'll tell you that I +saw Lois—"</p> + +<p>"You saw her!" they chorused.</p> + +<p>"I saw her in Chicago about two months ago. She was on her way to Europe +then; I had dinner with her and put her on the train for New York, and +she sailed the day she got there; so now, if you're scared to death for +fear she's going to turn up here in town, you can put it clean out of +your minds."</p> + +<p>They sighed their relief. He was not given to long speeches and the +effort of his recent deliverances caused him to cough, and the coughing +brought his voice finally to a high wheeze. He had not quite finished +yet, however.</p> + +<p>"Now, as for Tom Kirkwood marrying," he went on, "let him marry. It's +none of our business, is it? He married into our family and got the +worst of it. It wasn't a particularly cheerful business, the way it came +out. If he's fool enough to try it again, it's his trouble not ours; and +you can't tell but he might make a go of it next time."</p> + +<p>"We have no idea of trying to hinder him," said Mrs. Waterman with +dignity. "As you say, it's Tom's trouble. And of course we could manage +so Phil wouldn't suffer, no matter what he did."</p> + +<p>"Phil suffer! Thunder! What are you always talking about Phil for; I +tell you Phil's all right! Phil's got more gumption than all the rest of +us put together. Phil's an honor to the family; she's the best girl in +this town and the best girl in the whole state of Indiana, or the United +States, for that matter. If you have visions of seeing Phil chased over +the back lot by any stepmother, you have another guess coming. Thunder!"</p> + +<p>He drew out a white silk handkerchief and blew his nose. The sisters saw +with regret that there was no recurring to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>the attractive subject of +that interview in Chicago, though their minds were beset with a thousand +questions they wished to ask him about it. They realized that to do so +would be a blunder. They had stumbled upon a gold mine and were obliged +to leave its rich hoard untouched. They returned to Phil, who, as a +topic, offered safer ground than her mother.</p> + +<p>"Phil's party," said Mrs. Hastings briskly, "ought to be in keeping with +the family dignity. We thought it a lot better for you to have it in +your house than for us—our own houses are small." (This with +resignation.) "And it doesn't seem quite nice for <i>us</i> to have it in the +Masonic Hall, though some of the nicest people are doing that. To bring +Phil out in her grandfather's house speaks for the whole family. And +it's dear of you to consent to it. We all appreciate that, Amzi."</p> + +<p>"Of course it's the place for it!" affirmed Amzi impatiently. "I'll give +that party and you can get whatever Phil needs and do it right; you +understand? And then I want you to give me all the bills. Now what else +do you want?"</p> + +<p>"We feel," began Mrs. Fosdick, "that the invitations, which will go out +in your name, should take in everybody we want Phil to know."</p> + +<p>Amzi grinned guardedly.</p> + +<p>"That's pretty good, Fanny. Do you suppose there's a man, woman, baby, +or yellow dog in this town that Phil doesn't know? I doubt it. But go +on."</p> + +<p>"We don't mean that way, Amzi," said Mrs. Waterman patiently. "We +mean—"</p> + +<p>"Thunder! Go on!"</p> + +<p>"We mean that the list should be representative—that old differences +should be put aside."</p> + +<p>The wrinkles on Amzi's pink pate scampered back to find refuge in his +absurd fringe of pale-gold hair. Mrs. Waterman advanced her pickets +hurriedly.</p> + +<p>"You know we've had to recognize the Holtons of late, disagreeable +though it has been. William isn't like <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>Jack—you know that; and when he +brought his wife here, a perfect stranger, it didn't seem fair to ignore +her."</p> + +<p>"The fact is," Mrs. Fosdick interpolated, "we simply couldn't, Amzi. +This town's too small to carry on a feud comfortably. We all stopped +speaking to the Holtons after poor Lois left, but the rest of them +couldn't help what Jack did; and, of course, Lois—"</p> + +<p>"You want to ask Mr. and Mrs. William to Phil's party?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fosdick, fearing from the fierceness with which he reduced the +matter to words, that he was about to veto the suggestion, hastened to +strengthen their case.</p> + +<p>"For business reasons, Amzi, we feel that we ought to bury the hatchet. +Paul has to meet William Holton constantly. No matter what we think, +William <i>is</i> really one of the wide-awake business men of the town, and +in all sorts of things; and Paul has to keep him on the executive +committee of the Commercial Club—the president of the First National +Bank can't be overlooked, though you can't ever doubt Paul's devotion to +all our interests."</p> + +<p>"And," Mrs. Waterman added, "Mr. Holton retained Alec in a case last +winter."</p> + +<p>"Yep," observed Amzi, "he did. It was that suit about opening up Chapel +Street and I was one of the defendants." And then he added, with +calculated softness, as though recalling a pleasant memory, "Alec lost +the suit."</p> + +<p>The mention of the Chapel Street Extension had been an unfortunate slip +on Mrs. Waterman's part; but Amzi was generous.</p> + +<p>"Bill Holton is undoubtedly a leading citizen," he observed, looking at +the ceiling and rubbing his nose absently. The irony of this, if he +intended any, was well hidden. William Holton, president of the First +National Bank, was a business rival, and Amzi never abused his +competitors. Having satisfied his curiosity as to the ceiling, he +announced his complete acquiescence in the idea of inviting the William +Holtons. "No objection whatever," he declared, "to asking Bill and his +wife. Is that all of 'em you want?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>"Well, there are Ethel and Charlie. They've just closed their house here +and mean to live in Indianapolis, but of course they still belong here. +Charlie is doing very well, they say—quite a brilliant young man; and +Ethel is very sweet and well-bred. She went to Miss Waring's school in +Indianapolis and knows some of the nicest young people in the city. I +think it would be nice to ask them; it always looks well to have some +out-of-town guests."</p> + +<p>"That Sam's children you're talking about? What's the matter with the +other boy?"</p> + +<p>"Fred? I think the less we say about him the better. He's been down in +Mexico on one of Sam's schemes and I guess he didn't do well. He's on +the old farm next your place. I guess Ethel and Charlie can represent +that branch of the family. If you think—" began Mrs. Fosdick, anxious +that Amzi should be fully satisfied.</p> + +<p>"Thunder! I don't think. You fix it up to suit yourselves."</p> + +<p>They began to adjust their wraps, fairly well satisfied with the results +of the visit. Amzi eyed their autumnal splendors with the mild wonder a +woman's raiment always aroused in him.</p> + +<p>"Tom marry again, you say," he observed pensively. "What's put that idea +in your head?"</p> + +<p>"Why, you know as well as we do, Amzi, that he and Rose Bartlett are +very sympathetic," exclaimed Mrs. Hastings, veiling a sharp glance at +him. The three women, feigning inattention, were alert for their +brother's reply. It came promptly.</p> + +<p>"Rose is a fine woman," he said with cordial emphasis. "A fine woman. +And," he immediately added, "so's Nan!"</p> + +<p>Then he thrust his hands into his coat pockets and filled his cheeks and +glared.</p> + +<p>They were grieved by the mention of Nan. The bluff heartiness with which +he had expressed his admiration for Rose had been gratifying and +satisfying; but by speaking with equal fervor of Nan he had sent them +adrift again.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><a name="VII" id="VII"></a> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>GHOSTS SEE THE LIGHT AGAIN</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Kirkwood plunged into work with an ardor that was not lost upon Phil. He +rose early and kept office hours with a new faithfulness, and he +frequently carried books and papers home for study. Something was +impending, Phil surmised, in the affairs of the Sycamore Traction +Company, for he had been to Indianapolis to confer with the New York +lawyer who represented the trustee for the bondholders and they had made +an inspection of the road together. It had always been Kirkwood's way +when aroused to devote himself tirelessly to his client's business, and +Phil had not failed to note how completely labor transformed him. His +languor and indifference now disappeared; he spoke feelingly of the +generosity of his Williams classmate, who had placed the Sycamore case +in his hands. It was a great opportunity and he assured her that he +meant to make the most of it.</p> + +<p>He warned her that she was not to tell any one what he was engaged upon, +and that she must not be surprised into confessions by her aunts. He +began to visit the capital, always returning on the evening train, +though she knew that he might more comfortably have spent the night in +the city. He explained to Phil that he hoped to adjust the Sycamore's +affairs without litigation.</p> + +<p>"I'm just enough of an old fogy to cut myself out of a big fee by +smoothing the wrinkles without a lawsuit. It's the professor in me, +Phil; it's the academic taint."</p> + +<p>And to this the obvious retort was, of course, that it was because of +his highmindedness that he sought peaceable adjustments where more +drastic measures would have been to his profit.</p> + +<p>She, too, was putting forth her best energies, and he was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>relieved to +find that she disposed of her work so lightly; even her frequent +calamities were a matter for jesting. They made a joke of the washing of +the supper dishes: he insisted on helping her, and would don an apron +and do the rougher part of it. He declared that he had never been so +well fed before, and that her cooking showed real genius. It would be a +dark day when his fee in the traction case would make it possible to +install a new maid-of-all work.</p> + +<p>Phil was aware that their talk drifted often and with seeming +inevitableness to the Bartletts. Her successes with the housekeeping +were due to the friendly supervision of the sisters in Buckeye Lane. He +liked to hear her recount the ways in which they were her guide and +inspiration. In doubts she flew to them; but one or the other appeared +almost daily at the cottage. "Rose showed me how to make that sponge +cake," Phil would say; or, if the furniture in their little parlor had +been rearranged, it was very likely Nan who had suggested the change. It +was a considerable distance across town from the Kirkwoods' to Number 98 +Buckeye Lane, and as these women were exceedingly busy it was not +without sacrifice that they visited Phil so constantly. "Nan read me +some new jokes she's just sending off this morning: I wonder how people +think up such things," Phil would observe, turning, perhaps, with her +hand on the pantry door; and she knew that her father's face lighted at +the mention of Nan and her jokes.</p> + +<p>The aunts had not been above planting in Phil's young breast the +suspicion that her father was romantically "interested" in one of the +Bartletts—as to which one they hoped she would enlighten them. They +tried to keep track of the visits paid by the father and daughter to +Buckeye Lane; their veiled inquiries were tinged also with suspicions +that Amzi might be contemplating marriage with one of these maiden +ladies of the Lane—the uncertainties in each case as to the bright star +of particular adoration giving edge to their curiosity. The cautious +approaches, the traps set in unexpected places, amused Phil when she was +not angered <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>by them. As she viewed the matter it would be perfectly +natural for her father to marry either of the Bartlett sisters, her only +fear being that marriage would disturb the existing relations between +the two houses which were now so wholly satisfactory.</p> + +<p>Phil managed to visit her father's office every day or two, trips to +"town" being among the Montgomery housewife's privileges, a part of her +routine. Much visiting was done in Main Street, and there was always +something to take one into Struby's drug-store, which served as a club. +Even in winter there was hot chocolate and bouillon to justify the +sociably inclined in lingering at the soda-water tables by the front +windows. Phil, heedful of the warnings of the court-house clock, managed +to keep in touch with current history without jeopardizing the +regularity of meals at home. She was acquiring the ease of the Bartletts +in maintaining a household with a minimum of labor and worry. Her aunts +had convoyed her to Indianapolis to buy a gown for the coming-out party, +which was now fixed for the middle of November; and they were to return +to the city shortly for a fitting. All Main Street was aware that Phil +was to be brought out; the aunts had given wide publicity to the matter; +they had sighingly confessed to their friends the difficulties, the +labor, the embarrassment of planting their niece firmly in society.</p> + +<p>Phil, dropping into her father's office in the middle of an afternoon +and finding him absent, dusted it from force of habit and began turning +the pages of a battered copy of "Elia" she kept tucked away in an alcove +that contained the Indiana Reports. A sign pinned on the door stated +that her father would return in half an hour. This card, which had +adorned the door persistently for several years, had lately ceased to +prophesy falsely, Phil knew, and she thought she heard her father on the +stairs when a young man she did not at once recognize opened the door +and glanced about, then removed his hat and asked if Mr. Kirkwood would +return shortly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>"I'm Mr. Charles Holton," said the visitor.</p> + +<p>For a man to prefix "mister" to his own name was contrary to local +usage, and the manner, the voice, the city clothes of Charles Holton at +once interested Phil. She was sitting in her father's old swivel chair, +well drawn in under his big flat-top desk, across which she surveyed the +visitor at leisure. She placed him at once in his proper niche among the +Holtons: it was of him that people were speaking as a Montgomery boy who +was making himself known at the capital. He was the brother of Ethel and +Fred, and clearly an alert and dashing person.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me; but I remember you perfectly, Miss Kirkwood. I hope we may +dispense with the formality of an introduction—we old Montgomery +people—and that sort of thing!"</p> + +<p>Holton carried a stick, which was not done in Montgomery save by elderly +men, or incumbents of office, like Judge Walters or Congressman +Reynolds. His necktie also suggested more opulent avenues than Main +Street.</p> + +<p>"By the outward and visible sign upon the portal I assume that Mr. +Kirkwood will return shortly."</p> + +<p>He referred to his watch, absently turned the stem-key, and sat down in +one of the chairs which Phil had lately dusted.</p> + +<p>"I used to see you around a lot when I was a boy—you and your pony; but +we've all been away so much—my sister Ethel and I. You know Ethel?"</p> + +<p>"I've seen her," said Phil.</p> + +<p>"We've just been breaking up our old home here. Rather tough, too, when +you think we're quite alone. We've sold the old house; sorry, but the +best offer I got was from a doctor who wants to turn it into a +drink-cure sanatorium. Tough on the neighbors, but there you are! It +didn't seem square to stand in the way of bracing up booze victims."</p> + +<p>He expected her approval of this attitude; and Phil murmured phrases +that seemed to fill the gap he left for them.</p> + +<p>"Had to go to the highest bidder—you can hardly give <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>away an old house +like that in a place like this. Neighbors are kicking, but it wasn't my +fault."</p> + +<p>Phil said she supposed that was so.</p> + +<p>She was still noting various small items of Holton's raiment—his tan +oxford shoes, brilliant socks, and brown derby. A brown derby seemed odd +in Montgomery. From the pocket of his sackcoat protruded the cuffs of +tan gloves, and he wore an inconspicuous watch chain passed from pocket +to pocket of his waistcoat. Not even the most prosperous of the college +seniors had ever presented to Phil's eye a variety of adornments so +tastefully chosen, a color scheme so effective. The interview seemed to +be to the young man's liking. He talked with assurance, holding his +light stick with one hand, and balancing his hat on his knee with the +other. Often before men had come into the office as Phil sat there and +she had conversed with them while they waited for her father. She had +usually exhausted the possibilities in forecasting her father's return +at such times; but this gentleman seemed in no wise impatient. He spoke +of the world's affairs lightly and with a flattering confidence in the +understanding and sympathy of his auditor. The theatrical attractions at +the capital, the promise of grand opera in Chicago, the political +changes, these were things of passing interest, but nothing to grow +feverish about.</p> + +<p>"The new trolley line will make a lot of difference to towns like +Montgomery—revolutionize things in fact. Part of the great social +change that is apparent all over the Middle West. There won't be any +country folks any more; all hitched on to the cities—the rubes +derubenized and inter-urbanized!"</p> + +<p>Phil admitted that the changes he suggested were of significance. Her +father often used similar phrases in speaking of tendencies and +influences; but it was to be expected of him. The same ideas as +expressed by Charles Holton derived a certain importance from the fact +that he condescended to utter them; they gained weight and authority +from his manner of presenting them. He was not only a man of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>world, +but an acute observer of social phenomena; and he was a new sort. She +had not known any one like him. The memory of her two meetings with Fred +came back to her: she recalled them the more clearly by reason of the +contrast between the brothers.</p> + +<p>"Your brother has moved back to the farm," she suggested to gain +confirmation of a relationship which seemed hardly plausible with this +radiant young person before her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Fred! Well, I'd have you know that I offered to take Fred in with +me, but he wouldn't see it. I'd like the folks over here to know that; +but I couldn't do anything with him. He camped on one of our Mexican +mines so long that he is afraid of cities,—isn't city-broke,—and +seemed relieved when I suggested that he take the farm. It's no great +shakes of a farm as farms go, but he's one of these plodding chaps who +like a hard job. He came back and took a look around and said it was +back to the soil for him! So there was the farm, just waiting for +somebody to tackle it. I haven't seen him for some time,—I'm terribly +busy,—but I dare say he's out there, an earnest young husbandman +anxious to become one of these prosperous farmers who push the price of +bread out of sight and cry to have the tariff taken off champagne. You +don't happen to know Fred?"</p> + +<p>"I've met your brother," said Phil with reserve.</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose we Montgomery folks are all acquainted without being +introduced. Lots of 'em moving to Indianapolis; I'm thinking of +organizing a club over there to keep the Montgomery people together—an +annual dinner, say; and that sort of thing. Do you know, it's rather +nice of you to be talking to me in this friendly, neighborly way; it +really is."</p> + +<p>As Phil seemed not to see at once wherein the particular kindness of it +lay, he smiled and continued:—</p> + +<p>"Our families haven't been so friendly, you know. Pardon me!"</p> + +<p>Phil, seeing now what he meant, colored deeply, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>glancing out of the +window was rewarded by a glimpse of Amzi's back. He had just concluded +an observation and was turning into the bank.</p> + +<p>"You will pardon me, won't you," pleaded young Holton, lowering his +voice.</p> + +<p>"I think father will be here shortly," Phil remarked irrelevantly.</p> + +<p>He had opened himself to the suspicion that he had broached the subject +of the antipathy between their houses merely to test its dramatic value. +To be talking to the daughter of a woman with whom his uncle had eloped +made a situation; it is possible that he liked situations that called +into action his wits and an evident gift for using his voice and eyes. +He had been rapidly noting Phil's good points. He wished to impress her, +and he was not convinced that the impression he had made was favorable +or that she forgave him for touching, however lightly, upon the +ungrateful topic of her mother's dereliction. He had never thought of +his Uncle Jack's escapade with Mrs. Kirkwood concretely; it had happened +long ago, before he became attentive to such things; but the young woman +with whom he was now conversing visualized the episode for him. In his +mind there was an element of picturesqueness in that joint page of +Holton-Montgomery history. He wondered whether Phil looked like her +mother. Phil was pretty enough, though in repose she seemed rather +spiritless. She was swinging herself in the swivel chair, carelessly, +and since his reference to the old scandal he saw or imagined that he +saw her manner change from courteous interest to a somewhat frosty +indifference. His pride was pricked by the sense of his blunder. He +flattered himself that in his intercourse with men and women he was +adroit in retrieving errors, and his instinct warned him that the +curtain must not fall upon a scene that left him in discomfiture at the +back of the stage.</p> + +<p>"It pleased Ethel and me very much to have an invitation to your party, +Miss Kirkwood. It was nice of you to ask us, and we shall certainly come +over, even if I have to give <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>up a trip to New York I had expected to +make at just that time. Let me see, it's the twentieth, isn't it? Well, +I guess I can make them wait down there. We Western folks don't often +get a chance to make New Yorkers wait."</p> + +<p>Phil was disposed to be magnanimous. He undoubtedly wished to be +agreeable; and it was his uncle, a remote person whom she had never +seen, who had decamped with her mother. It was hardly just to hold him +accountable for his uncle's misdeeds. She wondered whether the uncle had +been like this nephew, or whether he was more like William Holton, whom +she had seen frequently all her life. In her encounters with Fred +Holton, she had only vaguely associated him with that other and +indubitably wicked Holton who had eloped with her mother.</p> + +<p>She was conscious that some one was stirring in the room overhead, and +she became attentive to the sounds. Her father had asked delay in +disposing of the apparatus of the old photograph gallery; he had wanted +to look the old stuff over, he had said, and he wished also to utilize +the darkroom in developing the pictures he had taken on their last +outing. One of the objects of her call this afternoon had been to urge +him to haste, as Bernstein wanted to move his remodeling shop into the +rooms at once.</p> + +<p>"I make it a rule of my life," Holton went on, "to duck when it comes to +other people's mistakes. I make enough of my own without shouldering +those my friends and relations are responsible for—particularly my +relations. For example, if dear old Fred wants to throw himself away on +a farm, that's his trouble. I did all I could to save him. And when I +had done that, I had done my best, and I'm a busy man with troubles of +my own!"</p> + +<p>Her reception of this was not wholly satisfactory. She made in fact no +reply at all.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me," she said, hearing steps unmistakably; "I think maybe father +is on the floor above. If you will wait here, I'll run up and see."</p> + +<p>He saw her erect for the first time as she passed him. Her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>apparent +languor as she swung in the old creaky chair had belied what was +evidently her more natural manner. The few steps necessary to carry her +from the desk to the door were taken lightly, with a long, free stride. +Captain Wilson, in apostrophizing her as the Diana of Main Street, had +paid no inappropriate tribute to Phil's graceful carriage. Holton rose +as she crossed the room, noting her brown cheek, the golden glint in her +hair, her finely modeled features, her clear brown eyes and their dark +lashes. His eyes still rested upon the door for a moment after it had +closed upon her. Then he struck the floor with his stick, and whistled +softly. "Lordy!" he ejaculated.</p> + +<p>Phil accused herself of dullness in not having thought earlier of the +photograph gallery. Her father must have been conducting himself very +quietly there or she would have heard him before. It had been a bright +day and he had undoubtedly been taking advantage of the sun to do his +printing. She had always encouraged his experiments in photography, +which afforded him one of his few recreations. He owned a fine camera +and he gave to every detail of the photographer's art the care he +bestowed upon anything that deeply interested him. They had bound in +portfolios many of the views obtained in their adventures afield, and he +had won prizes at state and national exhibitions of camera societies. +Phil was relieved to know that he was developing these newest plates, +for now there would be no excuse for retaining the deserted gallery and +it could be turned over to Bernstein without further delay.</p> + +<p>It had grown late, and even under the glazed roof she did not at once +make him out.</p> + +<p>"Daddy!" she called softly.</p> + +<p>She had broken in upon one of his deep reveries, and as she spoke he +started guiltily. The oblong of glass he had been holding, staring at in +the lessening light, fell with a crash, breaking into countless pieces.</p> + +<p>"Oh, daddy! Did I scare you like that! Hope it wasn't one of the best +negatives that went to smash—hard luck <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>to wipe one of those Autumn on +Sugar Creek gems out of existence!"</p> + +<p>"It's all right, Phil—all right. It was only an old negative. I was +looking over the rubbish here and amused myself by printing some of the +old plates. There are a lot of old ghosts hidden away there in the +closet. This was an old shop, you know, dating back to the Civil War, +and there are negatives here of a lot of our local heroes. I wonder if +it's right to throw them away? It's like exterminating a generation to +destroy them. There must be people who would like to have prints of some +of these."</p> + +<p>"We might sell them to that new photographer for money enough to paint +the building," she suggested. "The real owner would owe us a lot of rent +if he ever turned up, which he never will. That would be our only way of +getting even."</p> + +<p>"There spoke a practical mind, Phil!"</p> + +<p>She knew from the poor result of his effort to appear cheery that +something had occurred to depress him. His own associations with +Montgomery had been too recent for the resurrection of old citizens to +have any deep significance for him.</p> + +<p>"We must go, Phil; I didn't mean for you to catch me here. I've wasted +the whole afternoon—but some of the Sugar Creek views have come out +wonderfully. We must clean up and turn the room over to Bernstein right +away."</p> + +<p>Her alert eyes marked the Sugar Creek pictures at one end of a shelf +built against the window, but from his position at the moment she had +surprised him in his brooding she knew that he had not been studying +them. Nor did these new prints from old plates present likenesses of +Montgomery's heroes of the sixties; but there were three—a little +quaint by reason of the costumes—of a child, a girl of fourteen, and a +young woman; and no second glance was necessary to confirm her instant +impression that these represented her mother—the mother of whom she had +no memory whatever. There were photographs and a miniature of her mother +at home, and at times she had dreamed over them; and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>there was a +portrait done by an itinerant artist which hung in her Uncle Amzi's +house, but this, her Aunt Josephine had once told her, did not in the +least resemble Lois.</p> + +<p>Kirkwood tried clumsily to hide the prints.</p> + +<p>"No; Phil, please don't!" he exclaimed harshly.</p> + +<p>"Of course, I may see them, daddy,—of course!"</p> + +<p>He allowed her to take them from him.</p> + +<p>"It's mamma," said Phil. "How dear they are!" she murmured softly.</p> + +<p>As she turned the prints to catch the dimming light, he watched her, +standing inertly with his elbow on the shelf.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it odd that I never saw any of these! even Uncle Amy hasn't +them."</p> + +<p>She bent over the print of the child, who stood with a hoop, smiling as +though in delight at her belated rescue from oblivion.</p> + +<p>"You were going to give these to me, weren't you, daddy?" She was +running over the others. One that showed the mature woman in a fur cape +long out of fashion and with a fur cap perched on her head, held her +longest.</p> + +<p>"If you want them," said her father, "you shall have them, of course. I +will touch them up a bit in the morning."</p> + +<p>"Maybe," said Phil looking at him quickly, "it is better not to keep +them. Was it one of these plates that broke?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Kirkwood; "it was this one"; and he indicated the picture +that revealed his wife in her young womanhood.</p> + +<p>It was over this that he had been dreaming alone in the dim gallery when +she had interrupted his reverie. The pity of it all, the bleak +desolation of his life, smote her sharply, now that she had caught a +glimpse of the ghosts scampering off down the long vistas. With an +abrupt gesture she flung aside the melancholy reminder of his tragedy.</p> + +<p>"Dear old daddy!" She held him in her strong arms and kissed him.</p> + +<p>She felt that all these spectres must be driven back into <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>their world +of shadows, and she seized the prints and tore them until only little +heaps of paper remained and these she scattered upon the floor.</p> + +<p>"Are these the plates?"</p> + +<p>He indicated them with a nod. One after the other they crashed echoingly +in the bare gallery. She accomplished the destruction swiftly and with +certainty. One that fell on edge undamaged she broke with her heel.</p> + +<p>Then she took a match from his pocket and lit the gas in one of the old +burners. The light revealed a slight smile on his face, but it was not +his accustomed smile of good humor. His eyes were very sad and gentle.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, dear old Phil! I guess that's the best way, after all. It +must be time to go home now. Are you ready?"</p> + +<p>"Wait here a minute—you had better pull down the windows and lock up. +I'll close the office and you can meet me on the landing."</p> + +<p>She went out, closing the door, and ran down to the office, where +Charles Holton stood at the window looking out upon Main Street, where +the electric lamps were just sputtering into light.</p> + +<p>"Ah," he cried turning toward her with a bow, "I'd begun to think you +had forgotten my unworthy presence on earth!"</p> + +<p>"Not at all, Mr. Holton. I'm sorry, but my father is too much engaged to +see you to-day. If you really want to see him you can come in +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>This was not what he had expected. Dismissal was in her tone rather more +than in her words. Their eyes met for a moment in the dim dusk and he +would have prolonged the contact; but she walked to the desk and stood +there, looking down at the copy of "Elia" which lay as she had left it +when he had interrupted her reading. She refused to be conscious of his +disappointment or to make amends for having caused him to wait +needlessly. He turned at the door.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>"I hope I haven't put you to any inconvenience?" he remarked, but +without resentment.</p> + +<p>"Not at all, Mr. Holton. Good-afternoon!"</p> + +<p>"Good-day, Miss Kirkwood."</p> + +<p>She listened until his step died away down the stair and then went out +and whistled for her father.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>LISTENING HILL</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The Holton farmhouse, a pretentious place in the day of Frederick +Holton's grandfather, was now habitable and that was the most that could +be said for it. When the second generation spurned the soil and became +urbanized, the residence was transformed from its primal state into a +country home, and the family called it "Listening Hill Farm." Its +austere parlor of the usual rural type was thrown together with the +living-room, the original fireplace was reconstructed, and running water +was pumped to the house by means of a windmill. The best of the old +furniture had been carried off to adorn the town house, so that when +Fred succeeded to the ownership it was a pretty bare and comfortless +place. Samuel had never lived there, though the farm had fallen to him +in the distribution of his father's estate; but he had farmed it at long +range, first from Montgomery, and latterly, and with decreasing success, +from Indianapolis after his removal to the capital. The year before +Fred's arrival no tenant had been willing to take it owing to the +impoverished state of the land.</p> + +<p>Most of the farms in the neighborhood were owned by town people, and +operated by tenants. As for Fred, he knew little about agriculture. On +the Mexican plantation which his father and Uncle William had +controlled, he had learned nothing that was likely to prove of the +slightest value in his attempt to wrest a living from these neglected +Hoosier acres. His main qualifications for a farming career were a +dogged determination to succeed and a vigorous, healthy body.</p> + +<p>The Holtons had always carried their failures lightly, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>even Samuel, +who had died at Indianapolis amid a clutter of dead or shaky financial +schemes, was spoken of kindly in Montgomery. Samuel had saved himself +with the group of politicians he had persuaded to invest in the Mexican +mine by selling out to a German syndicate just before he died; and +Samuel had always made a point of taking care of his friends. He had +carried through several noteworthy promotion schemes with profit before +his Mexican disasters, and but for the necessity of saving harmless his +personal and political friends he might not have left so little for his +children. So spake the people of Montgomery.</p> + +<p>Charles Holton was nearing thirty, and having participated in his +father's political adventures, and been initiated into the mysteries of +promotion, he had a wide acquaintance throughout central Indiana. He had +been graduated from Madison, and in his day at college had done much to +relieve the gray Calvinistic tone of that sedate institution. It was he +who had transformed the old "college chorus"—it had been a "chorus" +almost from the foundation—into a glee club, and he had organized the +first guitar and banjo club. The pleasant glow he left behind him still +hung over the campus when Fred entered four years later. Charles's +meteoric social career had dimmed the fact (save to a few sober +professors) that he had got through by the skin of his teeth. Fred's +plodding ways, relieved only by his prowess at football, had left a very +different impression. Fred worked hard at his studies because he had to; +and even with persistence and industry he had not shone brilliantly in +the scientific courses he had elected. The venerable dean once said that +Fred was a digger, not a skimmer and skipper, and that he would be all +right if only he dug long enough. He was graduated without honors and +went South to throw in his fortunes with his father's Mexican projects. +He was mourned at the college as the best all-round player a Madison +eleven had ever boasted; but this was about all.</p> + +<p>When he accepted Listening Hill Farm as his share of his father's +estate, Fred had a little less than one thousand <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>dollars in cash, which +he had saved from the salaries paid him respectively by the plantation +and mining companies. This had been deposited as a matter of convenience +in an Indianapolis bank and he allowed it to remain there. He realized +that this money must carry him a long way, and that every cent must go +into the farm before anything came out of it. He had moved to the farm +late in the summer—just in time to witness the abundant harvests of his +neighbors.</p> + +<p>One of the friendliest of these was a young man named Perry, who had +charge of Amzi Montgomery's place. Perry belonged to the new school of +farmers, and he had done much in the four years that he had been in the +banker's employ to encourage faith in "book farming," as it had not yet +ceased to be called derisively. He was a frank, earnest, hard-working +fellow whose ambition was to get hold of a farm of his own as quickly as +possible. He worked Amzi's farm on shares, with certain privileges in +the matter of feeding cattle. Amzi picked him up by chance and with +misgivings; but Perry had earned the biggest dividends the land had ever +paid. Perry confided to Fred a hope he had entertained of leasing the +Holton farm for himself when his contract with Montgomery expired. Now +that Fred had arrived on the scene he explained to the tyro exactly what +he had meant to do with the property. As he had seriously canvassed the +situation for a couple of years, witnessing the failures of the last two +tenants employed by Samuel Holton, Fred gladly availed himself of his +advice.</p> + +<p>Fred caught from Perry the spirit of the new era in farming. It no +longer sufficed to scratch the earth with a stick and drop in a seed; +the earth itself must be studied as to its weaknesses and the seed must +be chosen with intelligent care. One of the experts from the state +agricultural school, in the field to gather data for statistics, passed +through the country, and spent a week with Fred for the unflattering +reason that the Holton acres afforded material for needed information as +to exhausted soils. He recommended books for Fred to read, and what was +more to the point sent a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>young man to plan his work and initiate him +into the mysteries of tilling and fertilizing. The soil expert was an +enthusiast, and he left behind him the nucleus of a club which he +suggested that the young men of the neighborhood enlarge during the +winter for the discussion of new methods of farm efficiency.</p> + +<p>Fred hired a man and went to work. He first repaired the windmill and +assured the water-supply of the house and barn. A farmer unembarrassed +by crops, he planned his campaign a year ahead. He worked harder on his +barren acres than his neighbors with the reward of their labor in sight. +He tilled the low land in one of his fallow fields and repaired the +fences wherever necessary. His most careful scrutiny failed to disclose +anything on which money could be realized at once beyond half a dozen +cords of wood which he sent to town and sold and the apples he had +offered for sale in the streets of Montgomery. These by-products hardly +paid for the time required to market them. Perry had suggested that +winter wheat be tried on fifty acres which he chose for the experiment, +and in preparing and sowing the land Fred found his spirits rising. The +hired man proved to be intelligent and capable, and Fred was not above +learning from him. Fred did the cooking for both of them as part of his +own labor.</p> + +<p>Some of his old friends, meeting him in Main Street on his visits to +town, commiserated him on his lot; and others thought William Holton +ought to do something for Fred, as it was understood that he was backing +Charles in his enterprises. Still other gossips, pointing to the failure +of the Mexican ventures, inclined to the belief that Fred was a dull +fellow, and that he would do as well on the farm as anywhere else.</p> + +<p>On a Sunday afternoon in this same November, Fred had cleaned up after +his midday meal with the hired man and was sprawled on an old settle +reading when a motor arrived noisily in the dooryard. Charles was +driving and with him were three strangers. Fred went out to meet his +brother, who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>introduced his companions as business men from +Indianapolis.</p> + +<p>"We're taking a run over the route of the new trolley line you've +probably read about in the papers. Hadn't heard of it yet? Well, it's +going to cut the Sycamore line at right angles in Montgomery, and run +down into the coal fields. We're going to haul coal by electricity—a +new idea in these parts—and it's going to be a big factor in +stimulating manufactures in small centers. It's going to be a big thing +for this section—your farm is worth twenty dollars more an acre just on +our prospectus."</p> + +<p>"No doubt you'd be glad to take that twenty right now," remarked one of +the strangers.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll wait for it," replied Fred, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Are you implying that you're likely to have to wait?" demanded Charles. +"My dear boy, we're doing this just for you farmers. In the old days the +railroads were all in league against the poor but honest farmer; he was +crippled as much as he was helped by the railroads; but with the trolley +the farmer can be in the deal from the jump. We want every farmer on +this line to have an interest; we're going to give him a chance to go +in. Am I right, Evans?"</p> + +<p>Evans warmed to the topic. He was a young broker and wore city clothes +quite as good as Charles's. It was going to be a great thing for the +country people; the possibilities of the trolley line had not yet been +realized. Social and economic conditions were to be revolutionized, and +the world generally would be a very different place when the proposed +line was built. Charles allowed his friends to do most of the talking +and they discussed the project eloquently for an hour.</p> + +<p>The men refused Fred's invitation to go indoors, and said they would +walk to the highway and the machine could pick them up.</p> + +<p>When the brothers were alone, Charles spoke of the farm.</p> + +<p>"I see you've got to work. The whole thing looks better than I ever saw +it. I'm glad you've painted the barn red; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>there's nothing like red for +a barn. I must make a note of that; all barns should be painted red."</p> + +<p>With a gesture he colored all the barns in the world to his taste. Fred +grinned his appreciation of his brother's humor.</p> + +<p>"I thought that on Sundays all you young farmers hitched a side-bar +buggy to a colt and gave some pretty girl a good time."</p> + +<p>"I'd be doing just that but for two reasons—I haven't the colt or the +side-bar, and I don't know any girls. What about this trolley line? I +thought the field was crowded now."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Uncle Will and I are going to put this one through and we're going +to make some money out of it, too. There's money in these things if you +know how to handle 'em. It's in the promotion, not the operating."</p> + +<p>"But I heard in town that the Sycamore line isn't doing well. There are +rumors—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know about that; it's only a fuss among the fellows who are +trying to control it to reorganize and squeeze the bondholders. If +father had lived he'd have kept it level. But we're all out of it—away +out and up the street."</p> + +<p>"Glad to hear it," Fred remarked. The gift of easy and picturesque +speech had been denied him. All his life he had heard his father talk in +just this strain; and his Uncle William, while less voluble, was even +more persuasive and convincing. Charles did not always ring true, but +any deficiencies in this respect were compensated for by his agreeable +and winning manners. Fred had the quiet man's distrust of ready talkers; +but he admired his brother. Charles was no end of a bright fellow and +would undoubtedly get on.</p> + +<p>"I tell you what I'll do with you, old man," Charles continued. "I +suppose you already know some of these farmers around here. We're going +to give them every chance to go in with us—let 'em in on the ground +floor. We feel that this should be the people's line in the broadest +sense,—give 'em a share of the benefits,—not merely that they can flip +a can of milk on board one of our cars and hustle it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>direct to the +consumer and get back coal right at their door, but they shall +participate in the profits they help to create. Now listen to this; +there's not much you can do this winter out here and I stopped to make +you an offer to solicit stock subscriptions among the country people. A +lot of these farmers are rich fellows,—the farmers are getting +altogether too much money for their own good,—and here's an ideal +investment for them, a chance to add to the value of their farms and at +the same time earn a clean six per cent on our bonds and share in the +profits on a percentage of common that we're giving bondholders free +gratis for nothing. What do you say to taking a hand with us? We'll put +you on a salary right away if you say so. The very fact that you've +chosen to come here to live and take up farming will give you standing +with the country folks."</p> + +<p>Fred smiled at this.</p> + +<p>"On the other side of the sketch the fact that I'm as ignorant of +farming as the man in the moon is likely to rouse their suspicions. I'm +much obliged, Charlie, but my job's right here. I'm going to try to +raise something that I can haul to town in a wagon and get money for. I +haven't your business genius. It would seem queer to me to go about +asking people to take their money out of the bank to give me in exchange +for pieces of paper that might not be good in the end. And besides, a +good many of these country people swallowed the same hook when it was +baited with Sycamore. It's not a good time to try the same bait in this +neighborhood,—not for the Holton family, at any rate."</p> + +<p>"Mossback! I tell you we're out of Sycamore with clean hands. Don't you +know that the big fellows in New York are the men who get in on such +promotions as this and clean up on it! I'm giving you a chance that lots +of men right here in this county would jump at. It's a little short of a +miracle that a trolley coal road hasn't been built already. And think, +too, of the prestige our family will get out of it. We've always been +the only people in Montgomery that had any 'git up and git.' You don't +want to forget that your name Holton is an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>asset—an asset! Why, over +in Indianapolis the fact that I'm one of the Montgomery Holtons helps me +over a lot of hard places, I can tell you. Of course, father had plowed +the ground, and the more I hear about him the more I admire him. He had +vision—he saw things ahead."</p> + +<p>"And he came pretty near dying busted," observed Fred.</p> + +<p>"But no man lost a cent through him!" Charles flashed. "That makes me +swell up with pride every time I think of it—that he took care of his +friends. He saw things big, and those Mexican schemes were all right. If +he'd lived, they would have pulled through and been big moneymakers."</p> + +<p>They had been walking slowly towards Charles's machine.</p> + +<p>"I'm not saying anything against father," said Fred; "but the kind of +things he took up strike me as dangerous. I know all about that +plantation and the mine, too, for that matter. I don't blame father for +sending me down there, but I wish I had back the years I put on those +jobs."</p> + +<p>"Oh, rot! The experience was a big thing for you. And you got paid for +it. You must have saved some money—wasn't any way to spend money down +there."</p> + +<p>"I don't keep an automobile," remarked Fred ruefully.</p> + +<p>"By Jove, I can't afford it myself, but I've got to make a front. Now +those fellows—"</p> + +<p>His companions were hallooing from the highway to attract his attention. +He waved and shouted that he was coming.</p> + +<p>"Those fellows are in touch with a lot of investors. Nice chaps. I +promised to get 'em home for dinner, and I must skip. You'd better think +over my proposition before turning it down for good. I don't like to +think of your being out here all winter doing nothing. You might as well +take a hand with us. I'll guarantee that you won't regret it."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe I care to try it. I'm a born rube, I guess; I like it +out here. And I'm going to stick until I make good or bust."</p> + +<p>Charles had cranked his machine and jumped in.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Fred," he said, raising his voice above the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>noise of the +engine, "when I can do anything for you, I want you to call on me. And +if you need money at any time, I want you to come to me or go to Uncle +Will. In fact, he's a little sore because you don't drop in on him +oftener. So long!"</p> + +<p>The machine went skimming down the road, and when it reached the pike +and Charles picked up his friends, Fred watched its slow ascent of +Listening Hill, and waited for it to disappear beyond the crest.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><a name="IX" id="IX"></a> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>ON AN ORCHARD SLOPE</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Fred moved off across the fields in quest of Perry. Charles never left +him wholly happy. His long absence from home had in a way lessened his +reliance on family ties, and an interview with his brother deepened the +sense of his own dullness. He wondered whether it were not proof of his +general worthlessness that he was so quickly adjusting himself to the +conditions of rural life; and yet from such reflections his spirit +quickly rebounded. In the very soil itself, he felt a kinship, born of a +hidden, elusive, cramped vein of poetic feeling that lay deep in his +nature. All life, he vaguely realized, is of a piece: man and the earth +to which he is born respond to the same laws. He contemplated the +wheatfield, tilled partly by his own hands, with a stirring of the heart +that was new to his experience. He was wedded to this land; his hope was +bound up in it; and he meant to serve it well.</p> + +<p>He sprang over the fence into a woods pasture on Amzi Montgomery's farm +and strode on. He picked up a walnut and carried it in his hand, +sniffing the pungent odor of the rind. It was as warm as spring, and the +dead leaves, crisp and crackling under his tread, seemed an anomaly. The +wood behind him, he crossed a pasture toward the barn and hesitated, +seeing that Perry was entertaining visitors. He had fallen into the +habit of dropping in at the Perrys' on Sunday afternoons and he was +expected to-day, so he kept on. As he reached the barn lot, he +identified Amzi Montgomery and Phyllis Kirkwood, to whom Perry was +apparently dilating on the good points of a Jersey calf that was eyeing +the visitors wonderingly.</p> + +<p>"Don't be afraid, Holton; my lecture is just over. You've <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>heard it +before and I'm not going to repeat it," Perry called to him.</p> + +<p>"How do you do, Mr. Holton," said Phil.</p> + +<p>He pulled off his hat and walked up to shake hands with her.</p> + +<p>"I didn't expect to find you here. I usually come over Sunday +afternoons."</p> + +<p>"Does that mean you wouldn't have come if you'd known we were here!" +laughed Phil. "Oh, Uncle Amy, this is Mr. Fred Holton. He's your +next-door neighbor."</p> + +<p>Amzi turned from his observation of the calf and took the cigar from his +mouth. He remembered Fred Holton as a boy and the young man had latterly +fallen within his range of vision in Main Street. He availed himself of +this nearer view to survey Samuel Holton's younger son deliberately. +Fred waited an instant for the banker to make a sign. Amzi took a step +toward him and Fred advanced and offered his hand.</p> + +<p>"How d' ye do, Fred," said Amzi, and looked him over again. He addressed +him quite as cordially as he would have spoken to any other young man he +might have found there. "Perry has told me about you. I guess you've got +quite a job over there."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I was looking for a job when I took it," said Fred.</p> + +<p>"I like being a farmer myself," said the banker, "when I know the corn's +growing while I'm in bed in town."</p> + +<p>"I think I'll stay up nights to watch my corn grow, if it ever does," +said Fred.</p> + +<p>"That land of yours is all right," said Amzi amiably, "but it's got to +be brought up. That farm's been cursed with overdrafts, and overdrafts +in any business are bad."</p> + +<p>"That's a new way of putting it," Fred replied, "but I'm sure it's sound +doctrine. You can't take out what you don't put in."</p> + +<p>"That," said Amzi, feeling in his pocket for his matchbox, "is a safe +general principle."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>He passed his cigar-case to Perry and Fred, commended his own cigars +humorously, and looked Fred over again as the young man refused, +explaining that he had grown used to a pipe and was afraid of the shock +to his system of a good cigar.</p> + +<p>"We were going to take a walk over the place; Mr. Montgomery wants to +see his orchard. Come along, won't you?" said Perry.</p> + +<p>Fred waited for a confirmation of the tenant's invitation.</p> + +<p>"Yes; come along, Fred," said Amzi.</p> + +<p>His manner toward Holton was that of an old acquaintance; he called him +Fred quite as though it were the most natural thing in the world for him +to do so. Phil and Perry moved off together and Amzi walked along beside +Fred across a field of wheat stubble toward the orchard that stretched +away on a slope that corresponded to the rise of Listening Hill in the +highway. He talked of fruit-growing in which he appeared to be deeply +interested, and declared that there was no reason why fruit should be +only an insect-blighted by-product of such farms as his; that +intelligent farmers were more and more taking it up. He confessed his +firm belief in scientific farming in all its branches. Most men in small +towns keep some touch with the soil. In a place like Montgomery the soil +is the immediate source of urban prosperity, and in offices and stores +men discuss crop conditions and prospects as a matter of course. Amzi +owned a number of farms in different parts of the county, but this one +that had been long in the family was his particular pride. He paused now +and then to point out features of his possessions for Fred's admiration.</p> + +<p>"Land," he observed reflectively, "is like a man or a horse; you got to +treat 'em right or they won't work. Thunder! You think you'll stick it +out over there, do you?"</p> + +<p>"I've got to; and I want to! I want to make it go!"</p> + +<p>Amzi glared at him a moment with puffed cheeks. Fred had spoken with +warmth, and being unfamiliar with the banker's habit of trying to blow +up occasionally, for no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>reason whatever, he was a little appalled by +Amzi's manner of receiving his declaration.</p> + +<p>"If you mean it like that," said the banker, "you will make it go. It's +the wanting to do a thing real hard that brings it round. Is that +gospel?"</p> + +<p>He blurted his question with a ferociousness that again startled Fred; +but he was beginning to suspect that this was the banker's usual way of +conversing, and his awe of him diminished. Amzi was an amusing person, +with a tang of his own; and he clearly meant to be kind. It was +necessary to answer the banker's last explosion and Fred replied +soberly:</p> + +<p>"I hope it is; I hope the wanting to do it will help in the doing."</p> + +<p>Amzi made no response to this. He seemed to ignore it, and spoke of +Perry admiringly, as the kind of man he liked, quoting statistics of the +wheat yield of the field they were traversing, and then stopped +abruptly.</p> + +<p>"Thunder! How did they come to give you the farm?"</p> + +<p>"I took it: I chose to take it. It was by an agreement between my +brother and sister and me. I'm not sure but that I got the best of the +partition. The stocks and bonds father left didn't mean anything to me. +I don't know anything about such things."</p> + +<p>"They let you have the farm as your share; you were afraid of the other +stuff?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; it didn't look very good and I was perfectly satisfied. I thought +the arrangement fair enough to me: Charlie knew about the other things +and I didn't. Most of them were very doubtful."</p> + +<p>"They told you they were doubtful; you didn't know anything about them. +Was that the way of it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; that was about the way of it, Mr. Montgomery."</p> + +<p>Amzi glared and drew out his handkerchief to mop his face.</p> + +<p>"I saw an automobile come out of your place awhile ago and climb the +hill toward town. Charlie been to see you?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>"Yes. He had some friends with him from the city. Charlie knows no end +of people."</p> + +<p>"There are people like that," said Amzi, kicking a clod, and in doing so +nearly losing his equilibrium; "there are people with a talent for +knowing folks." This was not an important observation, nor was it at all +relevant. Mr. Montgomery had merely gone as far as he cared to in the +discussion of the distribution of Samuel Holton's estate and this was +his way of changing the subject.</p> + +<p>Amzi walked ahead with Perry when they met at the edge of the orchard +and Phil loitered behind with Fred. A hawk swung from the cloudless +blue; sparrows, disturbed by these visitors, flew down the orchard +aisles in panic. The air was as dry as the stubble of the shorn fields. +From the elevation crowned by the orchard it was possible to survey the +neighborhood and Phil and Fred paused in silence for several minutes, +with their faces turned toward the creek.</p> + +<p>Seeing Phil thus was very different from seeing her across a fence in +the moonlight, or meeting her at her kitchen door. Her new dark-blue +gown with hat to match struck him as being very stylish, as indeed, they +were, having come from the best shop in Indianapolis. Phil in gloves was +a different Phil, a remote being quite out of hailing distance. He was +torn between admiration for her dressed-upness and rebellion against a +splendor that set her apart like a goddess for timorous adoration. +Standing beside and a little behind her, his soul was shaken by the +quick shadowings of her lashes. He was so deep in thought during this +silent contemplation that he started and blushed when she turned round +suddenly.</p> + +<p>"We're terribly solemn, I think," she remarked, regarding him +carelessly.</p> + +<p>This was unfair. She had no right to look at him in that fashion, taking +his breath away and saying something to which he could think of no reply +whatever. Amzi and Perry had wandered away out of sight. She had spoken +of solemnity; it was a solemn thing to be alone with a girl like Phil, +on a day like this, under a fleckless sky, and with the scarlet <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>maples +and the golden beeches gladdening the distances. Without looking at him, +Phil extended her monologue:—</p> + +<p>"I like cheerfulness myself."</p> + +<p>"I'm not so opposed to it as you may imagine," he replied, smiling. "I'm +not much of a talker. I've been alone a whole lot, in lonesome places +where there wasn't anybody to talk to. I suppose talking is a habit. +When there are people around who talk about things it's natural to get +into the way of talking. Isn't that so?"</p> + +<p>"I suspect it is," Phil answered. "While my critics haven't exactly said +that I talk too much, they agree that I talk at the wrong time. Let's +all be seated."</p> + +<p>She dropped down on the grass, and smoothed her skirt. It was the best +everyday dress she had ever owned and she meant to be careful of it. Her +patent leather oxford ties were the nicest she had ever had, and she was +not without her pride in their brightness. Fred seated himself near her. +His clothes were his Sunday best, and none too good at that; he was +painfully conscious of the contrast of their raiment.</p> + +<p>"Your brother Charlie talks a good deal. I saw him the other day," said +Phil.</p> + +<p>"Yes; Charlie talks mighty well. He can talk to anybody. Where did you +meet him?"</p> + +<p>"In town, at father's office."</p> + +<p>"Oh; he was there, was he?"</p> + +<p>It was plain that Fred was surprised that there should be any +intercourse between the Kirkwoods and his brother.</p> + +<p>"He called to see father; but he didn't see him," explained Phil, as +though reading his thoughts and willing to satisfy his curiosity.</p> + +<p>"Charlie's getting up a new trolley line. He wanted me to go in with +him."</p> + +<p>"Gave you a chance to escape from your farm? I should think you would be +tempted."</p> + +<p>"I didn't feel the temptation particularly," answered Fred; "but it was +kind of him to come and see me."</p> + +<p>"Well, there is that," Phil replied indifferently. "You <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>seemed to get +on first-rate with Uncle Amy. Was that the first time you ever talked to +him?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. But I remember that once when I was a little chap he met me in the +street over by the college—I remember the exact spot—and gave me a +penny. I seem to remember that he used to do that with children quite +unexpectedly. I imagine that he does a lot of nice things for people."</p> + +<p>"Uncle Amy," said Phil deliberately, "is the second grandest man now +present on earth. Daddy is the first."</p> + +<p>"I don't know your father, except as I see him in the street."</p> + +<p>"I suppose not," said Phil.</p> + +<p>These commonplaces were leading nowhere, and they were becoming the +least bit trying.</p> + +<p>"My aunts have decided that the Montgomerys and the Holtons might as +well bury the hatchet. They're going to ask your Uncle William to my +party. They can't stand not knowing your aunt."</p> + +<p>He did not at once grasp this. He was only dimly conscious of Montgomery +social values and the prominence of his Uncle William's wife had not +seemed to him a matter of importance. His acquaintance with that lady +was indeed slight, and he did not see at once wherein Phil's aunts had +anything to gain by cultivating her society, nor did Phil enlighten him. +This turn of the talk embarrassed him by its suggestion of the escapade +in which Phil's mother and his uncle had figured. Phil was not +apparently troubled by this.</p> + +<p>"They didn't invite you to my party, did they?"</p> + +<p>He did not know exactly whom she meant by "they"; and he had not heard +of Phil's party.</p> + +<p>"No," he answered, smiling; "they probably never heard of me."</p> + +<p>"Well, you will be invited. Your brother and sister are coming. Your +brother Charlie told me so. He's going to give up a trip to New York +just to be there."</p> + +<p>Phil, he reflected, had been pleased by Charles's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>magnanimity in +changing plans that embraced the magical name of New York to be present +at her coming-out party. From his knowledge of his brother he felt quite +sure that Charles must think it worth while to abandon the visit to New +York to pay the tribute of his presence to a daughter of the +Montgomerys. This contributed to Fred's discomfiture and made it more +difficult to talk to Phil. On the face of it Phil was not a difficult +person. He had seen her dance round a corn-shock in the moonlight, and a +girl who would do that ought to be easy to talk to; and he had seen her, +aproned at her kitchen door, throw an apple at a cat with enviable +exactness of aim, and a girl who threw apples at cats should be human +and approachable. It must be her smart city frock that made the +difference: he hated Phil's clothes, and he resented with particular +animosity the gloves that concealed her hands.</p> + +<p>She saw the frown on his face.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe I heard you say whether you were coming to my party or +not. If you expect to travel about that time you needn't put yourself +out, of course. You shall have one of our regular engraved invitations. +How do you get mail out here?" she ended practically.</p> + +<p>"R.F.D. 7. It will be thrilling to get something out of that bird's nest +besides bills, fertilizer and incubator circulars, and the bulletins of +the Department of Agriculture. Thank you very much. But if, after +conferring with your aunts, you find that they don't approve of me, it +will be all right."</p> + +<p>"You have funny thoughts in your head, don't you? Don't you suppose I'm +going to have something to say about my own party? Just for a postscript +I'll tell you now that I expect you to come. If I've got to have a party +I want to have as many fellow-sufferers as possible."</p> + +<p>"Does that mean"—and Fred laughed—"that you are not terribly excited +about your own party? It sounded that way."</p> + +<p>He was not interested in parties himself; he had hardly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>been to one +since he was a child, and the thought of such an imposing function as he +assumed Phil's coming out would be appalled him. And there was the +matter of clothes: the dress-suit he had purchased while he was in +college had gone glimmering long ago. The Sunday best he wore to-day was +two years old, and a discerning eye might have detected its +imperfections which a recent careful pressing had not wholly +obliterated. His gaze turned for a moment toward the land in which lay +his hope; he had to look past Phil to see those acres. His thoughts were +still upon her party and his relation to it, so that it was with a +distinct shock that he heard her say softly and wistfully:—</p> + +<p>"It's queer, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"What is?"</p> + +<p>She lifted her arm with a sweeping gesture.</p> + +<p>"The world—things generally—what interests you and me; what interests +Uncle Amy and Mr. Perry; the buzzings in all our noddles. Thousands of +people, in towns just like Montgomery, live along some way or other, and +most of them do the best they can, and keep out of jails and poorhouses, +mostly, and nothing very important happens to them or has to. It always +strikes me as odd how unimportant we all are. We're just us, and if God +didn't make us very big or wise or good, why, there's nothing to be done +about it. And no matter how hard we get knocked, or how often we +stumble, why, most of us like the game and wouldn't give it up for +anything. I think that's splendid; the way we just keep plugging on. We +all think something pleasant is going to happen to-morrow or +day-after-to-morrow. Everybody does. And that's what keeps the world +moving and everybody tolerably cheerful and happy."</p> + +<p>Phil the philosopher was still another sort of person. She had spoken in +her usual tone and he looked at her wonderingly. It was a new experience +to hear life reduced to the simple terms Phil used. She seemed to him +like a teacher who keeps a dull pupil after class, and, by eliminating +all unessential factors, makes clear what an hour before had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>been only +a jumble of meaningless terms in the student's mind.</p> + +<p>He was still dumb before this new Phil with her a, b, c philosophy when +her eyes brightened, and she sprang to her feet. Bending forward with +her hand to her ear, and then dropping her arms to her sides, she +said:—</p> + +<p class="noin"> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">"Adown the orchard aisles they come, methinks,—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">My lord who guardest well his treasure chests,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">Attended by his squire and faithful drudge,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">And back to town I soon must lightly skip</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">Else father will be roaring for his tea."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>She was, indeed, a mystifying being! It was not until the absurdity of +her last line broke upon him that he saw that this was only another side +of Phil the inexplicable. She threw up her arm and signaled to her Uncle +Amzi, who was approaching with Perry. The interruption was unwelcome. It +had been a bewildering experience to sit beside Phil on the sunny +orchard slope. He had not known that any girl could be like this.</p> + +<p>"Do you write poetry?" he asked, from the depths of his humility.</p> + +<p>She turned with a mockery of disdain.</p> + +<p>"I should think you could see, Mr. Holton, that these are not singing +robes, nor is this lovely creation of a hat wrought in the similitude of +a wreath of laurel; but both speak for the plain prose of life. You +have, therefore, no reason to fear me."</p> + +<p>In a moment they were all on their way to the house; and soon Phil and +Amzi were driving homeward.</p> + +<p>"What was Fred Holton talking to you about?" asked Amzi, as he shook the +reins over the back of his roadster.</p> + +<p>"He wasn't talking to me, Amy; I was talking to him. He's a nice boy."</p> + +<p>"He doesn't run so much to gold watches and chains as the rest of 'em. +He seems to be pretty decent. Perry says he's got the right stuff in +him." And then, with more animation: "Those Holtons! Thunder!"</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><a name="X" id="X"></a> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>PHIL'S PARTY</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Mr. Amzi Montgomery thought it only proper to learn all that was +possible of the affairs of his customers. This was the part of wisdom in +a cautious banker; and he was distressed when checks that were not +self-explanatory passed through the receiving-teller's window. A small +bank is a good place in which to sharpen one's detective sense. Every +check tells a story and is in some degree a clue.</p> + +<p>No account on his bank's ledgers was more often scrutinized than that of +Nancy Bartlett, and when she deposited a draft for $2115.15, the +incident was not one to be passed lightly. No such sum had ever before +been placed to Nan's credit. He knew that she received five- and ten- +and even fifty-dollar drafts from Eastern periodicals, and he had +touched these with reverent hands: but two thousand dollars in a lump +from one of the best-known publishers in the country staggered Amzi. To +add to his mystification, half the amount plus one cent, to-wit, +$1057.58, was immediately transferred to Thomas Kirkwood's account, and +this left Amzi away up in the air. Just what right Tom Kirkwood had to +participate in Nan's earnings Amzi did not know, nor did he see +immediately any way of finding out.</p> + +<p>What did happen, though, coincident with this event, and much to his +gratification, was the installation of a girl-of-all-work in Kirkwood's +house. Phil had been dislodged from the kitchen, and Amzi was mightily +relieved by this. A kitchen was no place for his niece, that flower of +the Montgomery flock. His spirits rose when Phil hailed him one morning +as he stood baring his head to the November air on the bank steps, and +told him that her occupation was gone. She made the confession ruefully; +it was unfair for her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> +father to discharge her just as she was getting the hang of the range +and learning to broil a steak without incinerating it. "Just for that" +she would spend a great deal of time in Main Street, and ruin her +constitution at Struby's soda-fountain.</p> + +<p>While Amzi was still trying to account for Nan's check, two other +incidents contributed further to his perplexities. On his way home one +evening he saw Nan and Kirkwood walking together. It was only a fair +assumption that the two friends had met by chance and that Kirkwood was +merely accompanying Nan to her door, as he had every right to do. They +were walking slowly and talking earnestly. To avoid passing them, Amzi +turned off at the first cross-street, but stood for a moment staring +after them. Then the next evening he had gone to call at the Bartletts' +and all his intervening speculations were overthrown when he found +Kirkwood there alone with Rose, Nan being, it seemed, in Indianapolis on +a visit. Rose and Kirkwood had evidently been deeply engrossed, too, +when Amzi interrupted their conference with the usual thump of the +drumstick. The piano, he observed, was closed, and it was inexplicable +that Kirkwood should be spending an unmusical evening with Rose. Nor was +Phil with her father. This was another damaging fact. It was a blow to +Amzi to find that such things could happen in his own town, and under +his very eyes.</p> + +<p>If it hadn't been for Phil's party, the preparations for which gave him +plenty to do, Amzi's winter would have opened most unhappily; but Phil's +party was an event of importance not only in her life, but in Amzi's as +well. Everybody who had the slightest title to consideration received an +invitation. He was glad his sisters had suggested that the Holtons be +invited. It gave him an excuse for opening the doors wide. He heard much +from his kinsfolk about the prosperity of the Holtons, who were held up +to him in rebuke for his own sluggish business methods. He wanted his +sisters and the rest of the world to know that the First National Bank +of Montgomery aroused in him no jealous pangs.</p> + +<p>Phil arrived at Amzi's early and ran upstairs to take off <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>her wraps. +When this was accomplished and her Aunt Fanny's housemaid, lent for the +occasion, had duly admired her, she knocked boldly on her uncle's door.</p> + +<p>"Come in, you Phil," he shouted.</p> + +<p>Amzi stood before his chiffonier in his shirt sleeves, trying to make a +bow of his white tie. A cigar, gripped firmly in his teeth, was not +proving of much assistance in the operation. As Phil crossed the room, +he jerked off the strip of lawn and threw it into the open drawer.</p> + +<p>"See what you've done? See all that litter? All that stuff crumpled up +and wasted just on your account? I told that fellow in Indianapolis to +give me the ready-made kind that buckles behind, but he wouldn't listen; +said they don't keep 'em any more. And look at that! It's a good thing I +got a dozen! Thunder!"</p> + +<p>The "Thunder" was due to the fact that in his excess of emotion over the +difficulties with his raiment, his eyes had not until that instant taken +in Phil. His jaw fell as he stared and tears filled his eyes. Above the +soft folds of her white crêpe gown the firm clean lines of her shoulders +and throat were revealed and for the first time he fully realized that +the Phil who had gladdened his days by her pranks—Phil the romp and +hoyden—had gone, and that she would never be quite the same again. +There was a distinct shock in the thought. It carried him back to the +day when her mother had danced across the threshold from youth to +womanhood, with all of Phil's charm and grace and her heart of laughter.</p> + +<p>Phil fanned herself languidly, feigning to ignore his bewilderment. An +aigrette in her hair emphasized her height. She lifted her arms and, +whistling softly, pirouetted about the room. Her movements were those of +vigorous, healthy youth. Her eyes were bright and her cheeks aglow.</p> + +<p>"Thunder!" gasped Amzi, feeling absently of his collar. "Is that you, +Phil?"</p> + +<p>"Generally speaking, it <i>ain't</i>, Amy. What do you think of the gladness +of these joyful rags anyhow?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>"You look right, Phil. You've grown about six inches since I saw you +last. High heels?"</p> + +<p>She thrust out a slipper for his inspection.</p> + +<p>"Those clothes are not as bad as some I've seen. I don't mind the +low-in-the-neck effect when there's a neck to show like yours. Most of +'em look like the neck of a picked gander. I guess Fanny did about the +right thing. Fanny's taste is usually pretty fair."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the whole syndicate took a hand in it," said Phil with a sigh. +"They nearly wore me out; but they were so busy consulting each other +that they didn't notice that I chose the crêpe myself. But I wanted you +to like my things, Amy."</p> + +<p>"Of course I like 'em. You certainly look grand."</p> + +<p>He rummaged in one of the chiffonier drawers.</p> + +<p>"Just wait a minute," he said; "you've got to fix this fool thing for +me." He placed a fresh tie round his white-wing collar and loosely +crossed the ends. "I ain't going to take any chances of spoiling this. +Now, Phil, do your noblest."</p> + +<p>"With gloves on? Well, I'm used to doing daddy's over again, so here +goes."</p> + +<p>He stood with his chin in air while she tied the bow. Her youth, her +loveliness, her red lips, compressed at the crucial moment when the bow +took form, moved and thrilled him. No one in the world had ever been so +dear to him as Phil! When she rested her hands on his shoulders and +tilted her head to one side to study her handiwork he raised himself on +his toes and lifted his hands, in one of which he had concealed +something.</p> + +<p>"Bend your head a little, Phil; I ought to have a ladder for this."</p> + +<p>And in a moment he drew down upon her neck a chain with a pendant of +pearls, which he had chosen with the greatest care at the best jeweler's +in Indianapolis.</p> + +<p>"Now look at yourself!"</p> + +<p>She sprang to the mirror, and while she was exclaiming over it, he +remarked, "I guess it don't make you look much <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>worse, Phil. But it +doesn't make you look much nicer. Thunder! Nothing could!"</p> + +<p>"Amy! I'm going to muss you up!" she cried, wheeling round.</p> + +<p>"Phil—don't you touch me; don't you dare!"</p> + +<p>He backed away and began drawing on his coat, and she abandoned the idea +of mussing him to make sure his tie didn't crawl up over his collar. She +clasped him tight and kissed him on the mouth.</p> + +<p>"What a dear old pal you are, Amy," she said, laying her cheek against +his. "Don't you ever think I don't appreciate what you do for me—what +you are to me!"</p> + +<p>"I guess that's all right, Phil," he said, and turned round to the +chiffonier and blew his nose furiously. "Where's Tom?"</p> + +<p>"I guess daddy's gone downstairs."</p> + +<p>"Well, most of your aunts are on the job somewhere and we'd better go +down and start this party. I hear the fiddlers tuning up."</p> + +<p>Amzi II had built a big house with a generous hall and large rooms, and +it had been a matter of pride with Amzi III to maintain it as it had +been, refusing to listen to the advice of his sisters that he shut off +part of it. Amzi liked space, and he was not in the least dismayed by +problems of housekeeping. In preparing for Phil's party he had had all +the white woodwork repainted, and the floors of the drawing- and +living-rooms had been polished for dancing.</p> + +<p>In Montgomery functions of all sorts begin early. The number of +available public vehicles is limited, and by general consent the +citizens take turns in the use of them. There hadn't been a party at the +Montgomery homestead since the marriage of the last of the Montgomery +girls. It was not surprising that to-night many people thought a little +mournfully of the marriage of the first! The launching of Phil afforded +opportunity for contrasting her with her mother; she was or she was not +like Lois; nearly all the old people had an opinion one way or another.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>Among the early arrivals was Mrs. John Newman King. Mrs. King, at +eighty, held her own as the person of chief social importance in town. +The Montgomerys were a good second; but their standing was based merely +upon long residence and wealth; whereas Mrs. King had to her credit not +only these essential elements of provincial distinction, but she had +been the wife of a United States Senator in the great days of the Civil +War. She had known Lincoln and all the host of wartime heroes. Lincoln, +Grant, and Sherman had been her guests right there in Montgomery—at the +big place with the elms and beeches, all looking very much to-day as it +did in the stirring sixties. Mrs. King wore a lace cap and very rustling +silk, and made pretty little curtsies. She talked politics to gentlemen, +and asked women about their babies, and was wholly charming with young +girls.</p> + +<p>She paused before Phil, in the semicircle that included Amzi and his +sisters with their husbands, and Tom Kirkwood.</p> + +<p>"My dear child, on this proud occasion I want to say that the day you +fell out of the cherry tree in my back yard and broke your arm and came +into the house to get a sand tart as usual before going home, just as +though nothing had happened, I loved you and I have loved you ever +since. And you didn't cry either!"</p> + +<p>"I didn't cry, Aunt Jane, because I hadn't sense enough to know I'd been +hurt!"</p> + +<p>"You were always a child of spirit! It's spirit that counts in this +life. And for all we know in the next one, too. Don't you let all these +relations of yours spoil you; I've known all the Montgomerys ever since +your great-grandfather came here from Virginia, and you please me more +than all the rest of 'em put together. Do you hear that, Amzi!"</p> + +<p>Amzi was prepared to hear just this; he was nigh to bursting with pride, +for Mrs. King was the great lady of the community and her opinion +outweighed that of any dozen other women in that quarter of Indiana.</p> + +<p>Montgomery is just a comfortable, folksy, neighborly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>town, small enough +to make hypocrisy difficult and unnecessary. In a company like this that +marked Phil's entrance upon the great little world, no real +Montgomeryite remembered who had the most money, or the costliest +automobile, or the largest house. The Madison professors, who never had +any hope of earning more than fifteen hundred dollars a year if they +lived forever, received the special consideration to which they were +entitled; and Judge Walters might be hated by most of the lawyers at the +bar for his sharp admonitions from the bench, but they all respected him +for his sound attainments and unquestioned probity. Among others who +were presented to Phil (as though they hadn't known her all her life!) +were a general and a colonel and other officers of the line, including +Captain Joshua Wilson, poet and county recorder, and the editors of the +two newspapers, and lawyers and doctors and shopkeepers, and, yes, +clerks who stood behind counters, and insurance agents and the +postmaster, all mingling together, they and their children, in the most +democratic fashion imaginable.</p> + +<p>"We're all here," said old General Wilks, who had been a tower of +strength in the Army of the Tennessee, "and we're the best people of the +best state on earth. I claim the privilege of age, Amzi, to kiss the +prettiest girl in Indiana."</p> + +<p>Beyond question the arrival of the William Holtons, with their niece and +nephew from Indianapolis, caused a stir. They were among the late +comers, and the curious were waiting to witness their reception, which +proved to be disappointingly undramatic. Their welcome in no wise +differed from that accorded to other guests. Every one said that Charles +Holton was a handsome fellow, and his sister Ethel a very "nice" though +rather an insipid and colorless young woman. It was generally understood +that Amzi's sisters had forced his hand. The conservatives were disposed +to excuse Amzi for permitting the Holtons to be invited; but they +thought the Holtons displayed bad taste in accepting. It was Phil's +party, and no Holton had any business to be connected with anything that +concerned Phil. And Tom <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>Kirkwood's feelings ought to have been +considered, said his old friends.</p> + +<p>"You see," Charles Holton remarked to Phil, when he had bowed over her +hand with a good deal of manner, "I really did give up that New York +trip. I would have come back from China to see you in that gown!"</p> + +<p>The musicians (five artists from the capital, and not the drummer and +piano-thumper usually considered adequate in Montgomery for fraternity +and class functions) now struck up the first number.</p> + +<p>"Please give me a lot of dances," begged Charles, looking at Phil's +card.</p> + +<p>"One! Just one!" replied Phil.</p> + +<p>"You are bound to be a great tyrant; you should be merciful to your +humblest subject."</p> + +<p>"I haven't seen any of the humility yet," she laughed.</p> + +<p>Her Uncle Lawrence Hastings had undertaken to manage the dance and he +glided away with her to the strains of the first waltz. Hastings boasted +a velvet collar to his dress-coat, and the town had not yet ceased to +marvel that fortune had sent to its door a gentleman so exquisite, so +finished, so identified with the most fascinating of all the arts. +Hastings had for the social affairs of Montgomery a haughty scorn. It +pained him greatly to be asked to a neighbor's for "supper," +particularly when it was quite likely that the hostess would herself +cook and serve the food; and the Fortnightly Assembly, a club of married +folk that met to dance in Masonic Hall, was to him the tamest, the +dullest of organizations, and the fact that his brother-in-law Waterman, +who waltzed like a tipsy barrel, enjoyed those harmless entertainments +had done much to embitter Hastings's life. Hastings imagined himself in +love frequently; the Dramatic Club afforded opportunities for the +intense flirtations in which his nature delighted. The parents of +several young women who had taken part in his amateur theatricals had +been concerned for their daughters' safety. And now Phil interested +him—this new Phil in city clothes. The antics of Phil, the tomboy of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>Main Street, had frequently aroused his indignation; Phil, a débutante +in an evening gown that he pronounced a creation of the gods, was worthy +of serious attention. She was, he averred, Hermione, Rosalind, Portia, +Beatrice, combined in one perfect flower of womanhood.</p> + +<p>"You are adorable, Phil," he sighed, when the music ceased, leaving them +at the end of the living-room. "A star danced and you were born."</p> + +<p>"That is very sweet, Lawr<i>i</i>nce," said Phil; "but here comes my next +partner. You mustn't stand in the way of the young men."</p> + +<p>The very lightest laughing emphasis on "young" made a stab of this. He +posed in a window and watched her, with his gloomiest Hamlet-like air, +until his wife, noting this familiar symptom, interrupted his +meditations and commissioned him to convoy a lady with an ear-trumpet to +the dining-room.</p> + +<p>The party was going merrily; there was no doubt of its complete success. +Some of the older folk remarked upon the fact that Phil had danced with +Charles Holton; and he danced well. There was a grace in the Holtons, +and Charles was endowed with the family friendliness. He made a point of +speaking to every one and of dancing with the wall-flowers. It was noted +presently that he saw Mrs. King to her carriage, and was otherwise +regardful of the old folks.</p> + +<p>Phil had wondered whether Fred Holton would come. She had hoped he would +when she asked him at her uncle's farm, and the formal invitation had +been dispatched to R.F.D. 7 as promised.</p> + +<p>It was ten o'clock when Fred appeared. Phil saw him over her partner's +shoulder talking to Amzi in the hall door, and as she swept by him in +the dance she caught his eye. Fred had come late out of sheer timidity, +but he had arrived at a moment when the gayety was at its height.</p> + +<p>His diffidence had been marked even in his college days, and he was +unused to gatherings of this kind. The proximity of so many gay, +laughing people was a real distress to him. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>And if the other members of +his family were able to overlook Jack Holton's great sin, Fred was +acutely conscious of it now that Phil had dawned on his horizon. He had +no sooner entered the house than he regretted his temerity in coming; +and he had come merely to see Phil—that was the whole of it. Nor did +the thought of this now contribute to his comfort. His glimpses of her +as she danced up and down the room with three partners in turn—one of +them his brother—set his pulses throbbing. Phil in her simple white +gown—this glowing, joyous woman was no longer of his world. For the +first time in his life his heart was shot through with jealousy. He had +always felt Charles's superiority, but with a younger brother's loyal +admiration he had not resented it. He resented it now. Fred had +resurrected a cutaway coat for this adventure, and he was acutely aware +that there were more dress-coats in evidence than he had imagined were +available in Montgomery. Amzi, who had greeted him kindly, introduced +him to a visiting girl whose name he did not catch, and he was doing his +best to present an appearance of ease in talking to her. It had been a +long time since he had danced, and he did not know the new steps. The +girl asked him why he did not invite her to dance, and this added to his +discomfiture. There is no greater unhappiness than that of the +non-dancing young man at a dancing-party. He is drawn to such functions +by a kind of fascination; he does not understand why other young men +with no better brains than his are able to encircle the waists of the +most beautiful girls and guide them through difficult evolutions. He +vows that he will immediately submit himself to instruction and lift +himself from the pits of torment.</p> + +<p>The visiting girl was carried off, evidently to her relief and delight, +by a strange young man and Fred was left stranded in an alcove. He had +never felt so lonesome in his life. Phil vanished and now that he no +longer enjoyed even his earlier swift glimpses of her, his dejection +increased. He was meditating an escape when, as his eyes sought her, she +stood suddenly breathless beside him. A divinity had no right thus <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>to +appear unheralded before mortal eyes. Fred blushed furiously and put out +his hand awkwardly. Phil's latest partner begged for another dance; +there was to be an extra, he pleaded; but she dismissed him with a wave +of her fan. There had been high-school dances where Phil had learned to +steel her heart against the importunate.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you come and speak to me?" demanded Phil when they were +alone.</p> + +<p>"I was just waiting for a chance. I didn't want to bother you."</p> + +<p>"Well, you'll have to do better than this! You're the only person in the +house who hasn't spoken to me! But it was nice of you to come: it must +be a trouble to come to town at night when you live so far." She sat +down in the window-seat and bade him do likewise. "You did see Uncle +Amy, didn't you? I saw you talking to him; but you ought to have come +earlier while there was a receiving-line ready for you. Now you'll have +to look around for everybody; you have to speak to my three aunts and +all my uncles and my father."</p> + +<p>"I'll be glad to," declared Fred; and then realizing the absurdity of +his fervor in consenting to speak to the aunts and uncles he laughed.</p> + +<p>"You're scared," said Phil. "And if you won't tell anybody I'm a little +bit scared myself, just because everybody tells me how grown-up I am."</p> + +<p>The music struck up and a young cavalier—a college senior, who had +worshiped Phil since his freshman year—came to say that it was his +dance. She told him that she was tired and would have to be excused. He +wished to debate the question, but she closed the incident promptly and +effectively.</p> + +<p>"I'm busy talking to Mr. Holton; and I can see you any time, Walter."</p> + +<p>Walter departed crestfallen; she treated him as though he were still a +freshman. He was wearing his first dress-coat and the tallest collar he +could buy, and it was humiliating to be called Walter and sent away by a +girl who preferred to talk <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>to a rustic-looking person in a cutaway coat +and a turnover collar with a four-in-hand tie.</p> + +<p>Phil carried Fred off for a tour of the rooms, pausing to introduce him +to her father and to the three aunts, to whom she said how kind it was +of Fred to come; that he was the only person she had personally asked to +the party. And it was just like Phil, for years the loyal protector of +all the discards among the cats and dogs in town, to choose a clodhopper +for special attention. Kirkwood, who had forgotten Fred's existence, +greeted him in his pleasant but rather absent way.</p> + +<p>The torrid Wabash Valley summers of many years had not greatly modified +the chill in Kirkwood's New England blood, and the isolation in which he +had lived so long had deepened his reserve. The scholarly stamp had not +been effaced by his abandonment of the academic life, and many of his +fellow-townsmen still addressed him as Professor Kirkwood. His joy +to-night lay in Phil's happiness; his heart warmed to the terms of +praise in which every one spoke of her. It touched his humor that his +daughter was in some degree a public character. Her escapades in +childhood and youth had endeared her to the community. In her battles +with the aunts public sympathy had been pretty generally with Phil. +"Otherwise Phyllis—?" Many a smile had been occasioned by that +question. Tom Kirkwood knew all this and was happy and grateful. He had +not attended a large gathering of his fellow-townfolk since his wife +left him, so that his daughter's coming-out was an event of double +significance for him.</p> + +<p>The aunts were somewhat critical of the arrangements for refreshing the +guests. Amzi, refusing to heed their suggestions that the catering be +entrusted to an Indianapolis firm, had arranged everything himself. The +cakes were according to the best recipes known at 98 Buckeye Lane, and +Rose and Nan were there, assisting, by Amzi's special command. During +the evening he consulted first one and then the other; and when his +sisters asked icily for instructions, he told them <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>to look handsome and +keep cheerful. This was unbrotherly, of course, but Amzi was supremely +happy.</p> + +<p>The older people had been served in the dining-room and many of them had +already gone or were now taking leave, and the waiters were distributing +little tables for the young people.</p> + +<p>"Let me see, you were to have refreshments with me, Miss Kirkwood; I +have a table in the drawing-room alcove all ready," said Charles Holton +to Phil as she still stood talking to Fred in the hall. Fred had been +wondering just what his own responsibilities were in the matter. Charles +had greeted him affably; but Fred's diffidence deepened in his brother's +presence: Charles was a master of the social arts, whereas Fred had only +instinctive good-breeding to guide him. Fred was about to move away, but +Phil detained him.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it curious that you two brothers should have the same idea," said +Phil artlessly. "It's really remarkable! But I think"—and she turned +gravely to Fred—"I think, as long as you came too late for a dance with +me, I shall eat my piece of pie with you—and I think right up there on +the stairs would be an excellent place to sit!"</p> + +<p>Fred, radiant at the great kindness of this, went off to bring the salad +for which she declared she was perishing. Charles looked at her with an +amused smile on his face.</p> + +<p>"You're a brick! It's mighty fine of you to be so nice to Fred. Dear old +Fred!"</p> + +<p>Phil frowned.</p> + +<p>"Why do you speak of your brother in that way?"</p> + +<p>"How did I speak of him?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, as if he were somebody to be sorry for!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you misunderstood me! I was merely pleased that you were being nice +to him. Fred would never have thought of asking you to sit on the stairs +with him—I knew that; it was just like you to save him from +embarrassment."</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>He was piqued by the connotations suggested by Phil's "Oh!" Phil was not +only stunningly pretty, but she had wits. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>It was his way to impress +girls he met, and there was no time for dallying now; Fred would return +in a moment and take Phil away from him. He intended to see a great deal +of her hereafter, and he believed that in the opening skirmishes of a +flirtation a bold shot counts double. Phil waved her hand in the +direction of the table where the Bartletts, her father, and Amzi were +seating themselves, and when she looked round at Holton, she found his +eyes bent upon her with a fair imitation of wistfulness and longing +which in previous encounters of this sort he had found effective.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe you realize how beautiful you are. I've been over the +world a good deal and there's no one anywhere who touches you. There are +lots of nice and pretty girls, of course, but you are different; you are +a beautiful woman! To see you like this is to know for the first time +what beauty is. And I know—I appreciate the beautiful soul there is in +you—that shines out of your eyes!" His voice was low, and a little +tremulous. "I want the chance to fight for you! From that first moment I +saw you in your father's office I have thought of nothing but you. +That's why I came—why I gave up business of real importance to come. +And I shall come again and again, until you tell me I may come no +longer."</p> + +<p>His voice seemed to break with the stress of deep feeling. Phil +listened, first in surprise that yielded perhaps to fear, and then her +head bent and she looked down at her fan which she slowly opened and +shut. She did not lift her eyes until she was sure he had finished.</p> + +<p>"By the way," she remarked, with studied carelessness, as she continued +to play with her fan, "I wish I could quote things offhand like that. It +must be fine to have such a memory! Let me see, what is that from—'The +Prisoner of Zenda' or 'How Lulu Came to Logansport'? Oh!" (with sudden +animation as Fred came bearing two plates) "there's my young life-saver +now!" Then to Charles again: "Well, I shall certainly look up that +quotation. It was ever so nice of you to remind me of it!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>Holton struck his gloved hands together smartly in his irritation and +turned away. Phil was undoubtedly different; but she was not through +yet. She called him back, one foot on the stair, and said in a +confidential tone, "That nice little Orbison girl,—the blonde one, I +mean, who's visiting here from Elwood,—I wish you'd take good care of +her; I'm afraid she isn't having a wildly exciting time."</p> + +<p>"This is what I call being real comfortable and cozy," she remarked to +Fred as they disposed themselves on one of the lower steps.</p> + +<p>Below and near at hand were most of the members of her family. She saw +from the countenances of the three aunts that they were displeased with +her, but the consciousness of this did not spoil life for her. She +humanly enjoyed their discomfiture, knowing that it was based upon the +dinginess of Fred's clothes and prospects. Their new broad tolerance of +the Holtons did not cover the tragic implications of Fred's raiment. +They meant to protect Phil in every way, and yet there was ground for +despair when she chose the most undesirable young man in the county to +sit with in the intimacy of the refreshment hour at her own coming-out. +Mrs. Fosdick leaned back from her table to ask Amzi in an angry whisper +what he meant by allowing Phil to invite Fred Holton to her party.</p> + +<p>"What's that? Allow her! I didn't allow her! Nobody allows Phil! +Thunder!" And then, after he had picked up his fallen napkin, he turned +to add: "There's nothing the matter with Fred that I know of!"</p> + +<p>The comparative quiet that now reigned was much more to Fred's liking +than the gayety of the dance. Phil treated their companionship as a +matter of course and his timidity and restraint vanished. Nothing in his +experience had ever been so agreeable and stimulating as this. That +Phil, of all humankind, should have made this possible was to him +inexplicable. It could not be that when this was over, he should be +hurled back to Stop 7.</p> + +<p>Phil, who had disposed of Charles's confession of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>adoration to her own +satisfaction, now seemed bent upon winning some praise from the halting +tongue of Charles's brother. To make conversation she directed attention +to her new trinket, holding out the chain for Fred to admire the pearls. +In doing this he saw the pulse throbbing in her slim throat, and this in +itself was disturbing. Her nearness there on the stairway affected him +even more than on the orchard slope where he had experienced similar +agitations. When she laughed he noticed an irregularity in one of her +white teeth; and there was a tiny mole on her neck, just below her left +ear. He did not know why he saw these things, or why seeing them +increased his awe. It seemed wonderful that she could so easily slip her +hands out of her gloves without drawing the long gauntlets from her +arms. Farther and farther receded the Phil of the kitchen apron with +whom he had bargained for the sale of the saddest apples that had ever +been brought to Montgomery by a self-respecting farmer! When her father +came to the stair-rail to ask if she felt a draft from the upper +windows, Fred was shaken with fear; the thought that the airs of heaven +might visit affliction upon this brown-haired and brown-eyed marvel was +at once a grief to him. He felt the world rock at the bare thought of +any harm ever coming to her.</p> + +<p>"As if," said Phil, when her father had been reassured, "the likes of me +could take cold. What do you do all day on a farm in winter weather?"</p> + +<p>"Let me see; I chopped wood, this morning; and I'd bought some corn of +Perry—that is, of your uncle—and went over with the wagon to get it; +and this afternoon I brought the wood I had chopped to the woodshed; and +then I went out to look at my wheatfield, and almost bought a cow of +another neighbor—but didn't quite make a bargain. And then I began to +get ready to come to your party."</p> + +<p>"You must have worked awfully hard to get ready," said Phil, "for you +were late getting here."</p> + +<p>"Well, I loafed around outside for an hour or so before I came in," and +he smiled ruefully. "I'm not used to parties."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>"You seem to get on pretty well," said Phil reassuringly.</p> + +<p>One of the waiters had brought them ice-cream and cake, and after she +had tasted the cake Phil caught Rose Bartlett's eye and expressed +ecstasy and gratitude by a lifting of the head, a closing of the eyes, a +swift folding of the hands.</p> + +<p>"How are you going to amuse yourself out there by yourself all winter?" +she remarked to Fred; "I shouldn't think there would be much to do!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, there won't be any trouble about that! I've got plenty to do and +then I want to do some studying, too. I'm going up to the University in +January to hear lectures—farming and stock-raising and things like +that. Perry has put me up to it. And then in between times I want to get +acquainted with the neighbors; they're all mighty nice people and kind +and friendly. That sounds pretty stupid, doesn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, it sounds wholesome if not wildly exciting. I've lost my job. +They took my kitchen away from me just as I was getting started; and I +haven't anything much to do—except being sociable."</p> + +<p>"Of course, you've come out now, and you'll be going to receptions and +dances all the time."</p> + +<p>"I can't exactly cry O joy, O joy at the thought of it. There must have +been gypsies in my family somewhere. You'll think I'm crazy, but I'd +like to go out right now and run a mile. But there will be skating +afterwhile; and snowstorms to go walking in. I like walking in +snowstorms,—the blustering kind where you can't see and go plunking +into fences."</p> + +<p>Fred agreed to this; he readily visualized Phil tramping 'cross-country +in snowstorms. "It's an awful thing," Phil resumed, "to have to be +respectable. Aunt Kate wants to go South this winter and take me with +her. But that would mean being shut up in a hotel. If daddy didn't have +to work, I'd make him take me to California where we could get a wagon +and just keep camping. Camping out is the most fun there is in <i>this</i> +world. There's a nice wooziness in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>waking up at night and hearing an +owl right over your head; and there are the weather changes, when you go +to sleep with the stars shining and wake up and hear the rain slapping +the tent. And when you've gone for a long tramp and come back tired and +wet and hungry, and sit and talk about things awhile and then tumble +into bed and get up in the morning to do it all over again—! Does that +sound perfectly wild? If it does, then I'm crazy, for that's the kind of +thing I like—not to talk about it at parties in my best clothes, but to +go out and do it and keep on doing it forever and ever."</p> + +<p>She put the last crumb of the Bartlett cake into her mouth meditatively.</p> + +<p>"I like the outdoors, too," said Fred, for whom this statement of her +likings momentarily humanized his goddess and brought her within the +range of his understanding. "The earth is a good old earth. There are no +jars in the way she does her business. There's something that makes me +feel sort o' funny inside when I go out now and see that little +wheat-patch of mine, and know that the snow is going to cover it, and +that with any kind of good luck it's going to live right through the +cold and come to harvest next summer. And it gives me a queer feeling, +and always did, the way it all goes on—and has always gone on since the +beginning of the world. When I was a little boy here in Montgomery and +went to Center Church Sunday-School, the most interesting things in the +Bible were about those Old Testament people, raising cattle and tending +flocks and farming just like the people right here at home. I suppose +it's a feeling like that I always had that makes me want to be a farmer +and live close to the ground—that and wanting to earn a living," he +concluded, smiling. He was astonished at his own speech, which had +expressed ideas that had never crystallized in his mind before.</p> + +<p>"That," said Phil, "is what poetry is—feeling like that."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is," Fred assented.</p> + +<p>The waiters were relieving the guests of their burdens, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>and carrying +out the tables, and there was a stir through the house as the musicians +took their places. Phil rose and nodded to a young gentleman who sought +her for the next dance.</p> + +<p>"I've got to go," said Fred. "I'll just about catch my last car. It's +been fine to be here. And I've enjoyed talking to you. It was mighty +kind of you to sit up here with me. I shall always remember it."</p> + +<p>Phil was drawing on her gloves, looking down upon the hall through which +the guests from the other rooms were now passing.</p> + +<p>At this moment the outer hall door opened cautiously and a man stepped +inside, closed it noisily, and placed his back against it with an air of +defiance. He stood blinking in the strong light, moving his head from +side to side as though in the effort to summon speech. The waiter who +had been stationed at the door was helping to clear away the tables, but +he hurried forward and began directing this latest guest where to leave +his wraps. The stranger shook his head protestingly. It was quite +evident that he was intoxicated. He wore a long overcoat spattered with +mud, and there was a dent in the derby hat he removed with elaborate +care and then swung at arm's length. The doorways filled. Something not +down in the programme was occurring. A sudden hush fell upon the house; +whispered inquiries as to the identity of the stranger, who stood +drunkenly turning his gaze from left to right, passed guardedly from lip +to lip. Amzi, Kirkwood, and the Bartletts remained near where they had +risen from their table, sharing the general consternation. Amzi was the +first to recover; he took a step toward the door, but paused as the man +began to speak slowly and drunkenly. He seemed annoyed by his inability +to control his tongue and his voice rose raspingly.</p> + +<p>"'M looking for my bruf—my bruf—my brother. Tole me 'tis h-h—'tis +house he was 't Amzi's to party. Holtons and Mungummer—Montgomerys all +good fr'ens now. Bes' ole fam'lies in town. 'Pologize for coming s' +late; no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>time change my clothes; disgraceful—puf-puf-perfectly +disgraceful, that's whasmasser. Want t' see Will. Anybody here seen +Will? Don' tell me Will's gone home s' early; mos' unfashion'ble; mos' +disgracefully unfashion'ble!"</p> + +<p>Jack Holton had come back, and this was the manner of his coming. To +most of those who saw him that night tipsily planted against the door of +the old Montgomery house, he was an entire stranger, so long had been +his exile; but to Amzi, to Tom Kirkwood, to Rose and Nan Bartlett there +came at the instant of identification a thronging weight of memories. +Some one had called William Holton—he was discussing local business +prospects with Paul Fosdick—and the crowd about the drawing-room door +made way for him. His nephew Charles was at his elbow.</p> + +<p>"Bring my coat and hat to the back door, Charlie, and see that your Aunt +Nellie gets home," he said; and people spoke admiringly afterward of the +composure with which he met the situation.</p> + +<p>Amzi was advancing toward the uninvited guest and William turned to him.</p> + +<p>"This is unpardonable, Mr. Montgomery, but I want you to know that I +couldn't have foreseen it. I am very sorry. Good-night!"</p> + +<p>Preceded by Amzi, William led his brother, not without difficulty, +through the hall to the dining-room and into the kitchen, where Charles +joined him in a moment by way of the back stairs.</p> + +<p>"It's Uncle Jack, is it?" Charles asked, looking at the tall figure with +a curiosity that was unfeigned.</p> + +<p>"M' dear boy, I s'pose 's possible I'm your lon—lon—long los' uncle; +but I haven't zonner—haven't zonner your acquaintance. Want to see +Will. Got prodigal on zands, Will has. Seems t'ave come back mos' +'no—mos' 'nopportune 'casion. All right, ole man: jus' give me y' arm +and I get 'long mos' com-for-ble, mos' comfort-<i>a</i>-ble," he ended with a +leer of triumph at having achieved the vowel.</p> + +<p>Charles helped him down the steps to the walk and then <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>returned to the +house. In his unfamiliarity with its arrangements, he opened by mistake +the door that led to a little den where Amzi liked to read and smoke. +There quite alone stood Tom Kirkwood, his hands in his pockets, staring +into the coal-fire of the grate. Charles muttered an apology and hastily +closed the door.</p> + +<p>Through the house rang the strains of a waltz, and the dance went on.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><a name="XI" id="XI"></a> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>BROTHERS</h3> +<br /> + +<p>William Holton spoke the truth to Amzi when he said that he had had no +warning of his brother's return. William, with all his apparent +prosperity, was not without his troubles, and he took it unkindly that +this brother, who for sixteen years had kept out of the way, should have +chosen so unfortunate a moment for reintroducing himself to his native +town. He had not set eyes on Jack since his flight with Lois Kirkwood, +though Samuel had visited the Western coast several times on business +errands and had kept in touch with him. William had been glad enough to +forget Jack's existence, particularly as the reports that had reached +him—even those brought back by the sanguine Samuel—had been far from +reassuring as to Jack's status in Seattle.</p> + +<p>Jack's return meant a recrudescence of wounds which time had seemingly +healed, with resulting discomforts that might have far-reaching +consequences. Mrs. William had a pride of her own, and it was unjust to +her for a man who had so shocked the moral sensibilities of the town to +thrust himself back upon his family, especially when he had chosen to +present himself first at the domicile of the head of a house against +which he had so grossly sinned.</p> + +<p>William took Jack home and put him to bed; and when Charles followed a +little later with Mrs. Holton, the prodigal slept the sleep of weary +intoxication in her guest chamber.</p> + +<p>The next day the town buzzed, and the buzzing was loud enough to make +itself heard at the desk of the president of the First National Bank. +William had left word at home that when Jack came to himself, he was to +be dispatched to the bank forthwith. He meant to deal with this +unwelcome <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>pilgrim upon a business basis strictly, without any softening +domestic influences. The honor of the Holtons was touched nearly and +Jack must be got rid of. Mrs. Holton telephoned at eleven o'clock that +Jack was on his way downtown, and William was prepared for the interview +when his brother strolled in with something of his old jauntiness.</p> + +<p>The door of the directors' room closed upon them. The word passed along +Main Street that Jack and William were closeted in the bank. Phil, +walking downtown on an errand, with the happiness of her party still in +her eyes, was not without her sense of the situation. At the +breakfast-table her father, deeply preoccupied, had brought himself with +an effort to review the happier events of the party. Knowing what was in +his mind Phil mentioned the untoward misfortune that had cast Jack +Holton of all men upon the threshold of her uncle's house.</p> + +<p>"It really didn't make any difference, daddy,—that man's coming. +Everybody tried to forget it. And some of the young people didn't know +him at all."</p> + +<p>"No; it didn't matter, Phil. Your Uncle Amzi is a fine gentleman: I +never fully appreciated his goodness and generosity as much as I did +last night."</p> + +<p>Phil did not know that Amzi had sought Kirkwood in the den where the +lawyer had gone to take counsel with himself, and had blown himself +purple in the face in his kind efforts to make light of the incident. +The two men had never been drawn closer together in their lives than in +that meeting.</p> + +<p>"It wasn't Uncle Amy's fault that the William Holtons were asked to the +party; I think it was Aunt Kate who started that. And when I heard of +it, it was all over and the invitations had been sent," Phil said.</p> + +<p>Kirkwood repeated his assurance that it made no difference in any way. +And Phil remembered for a long time a certain light in his gentle, +candid eyes as he said:—</p> + +<p>"We get over most of our troubles in this world, Phil; and I want you to +know that that particular thing doesn't hurt me any more. Only it was a +shock; the man had aged so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>and his condition and the suddenness of +it—But it's all over and it didn't spoil the party; that's the main +thing."</p> + +<p>Phil was immensely relieved, for she knew that her father told the +truth.</p> + +<p>Jack Holton greeted a number of old friends on his way to the bank, but +the president emeritus of the college cut him. The cold stare he +received from this old man, who had been president of Madison College +for forty years, expressed a contempt that hurt. Mrs. King, in whose +yard he had played as a boy, looked over his head, though he was +confident she knew him. His nostrils caught no scent of roast veal in +the familiar streets. At his brother's house his sister-in-law, whom he +had never seen, had not appeared when he went down for his breakfast.</p> + +<p>He followed his brother into the directors' room in a defiant humor. +They took account of each other with a frank curiosity begotten of their +long separation.</p> + +<p>"You haven't changed much, Will. You've grown a little stouter than +father did, but dear old Sam never lost his shape, and you're like him."</p> + +<p>There was little resemblance between the two men. William's face, +clean-shaven save for a mustache, showed few lines, though his hair had +whitened at the temples. Jack's hair and mustache were well sprinkled +with gray, and his crown was bald. He fingered a paper-weight on the +table nervously. A history of dissipation was written legibly in his +eyes and he had a disconcerting way of jerking his head.</p> + +<p>"Damn it all! I guess you're not tickled to death to see me. And I need +hardly say that if I hadn't been drunk, I wouldn't have turned up at old +Amzi's on the night of that kid's coming-out party. Drunk when I struck +town—hadn't been feeling well, and fell in with some old friends at +Indianapolis and filled up. Hope you'll overlook my little +indiscretions. Reckon the town would have found out I was here soon +enough and there's nothing like coming right out in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>the open. When they +told me at your house you were at Amzi's, I couldn't believe it and I +was just drunk enough to want to investigate."</p> + +<p>William muttered something that Jack preferred to ignore.</p> + +<p>"Well, I wasn't so drunk I didn't take in Kirkwood. Old Tom has held his +own pretty well; but he's the type Time don't batter much. I'd thought a +good deal about what might happen if we ever met—had rather figured on +a little pistol work; but Lord! it's funny how damned soon we get over +these things. Trifles, Will, trifles—bubbles of human experience that +vanish in thin air. Damn it all! life's a queer business. We put our +faith in women and they're a bad investment, damned uncertain and +devilish hard to please, and shake you when the night falleth and you +need a prop to lean on. By the way, your own consort ducked me this +morning; I had to have breakfast alone, with only one of Africa's +haughty daughters to break my eggs. I hope madam your wife is well. By +the way, has she given any hostages to fortune? Thought I hadn't heard +of it. You've treated me in a hell of a little brotherly fashion, Will. +If it hadn't been for Sam, who was a true sport if I know one, I +shouldn't have known anything about you, dead or alive."</p> + +<p>William had listened with an almost imperceptible frown while he +minutely studied his brother. The items he collected were not calculated +to inspire confidence or quicken fraternal feeling. Jack, whom he +remembered as fastidious in old times, was sadly crumpled. The cuffs of +his colored shirt were frayed; there were spots on his tie, and his +clothes looked as though they had been slept in. The lining of the +ulster he had thrown across a chair had been patched, and threads hung +where his legs had rubbed it. The impressions reflected in William's +eyes were increasingly disagreeable ones, as he diagnosed moral, +physical, and financial decrepitude. It was nothing short of impudence +on Jack's part to intrude himself upon the town and upon his family. It +was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>with a slight sneer that William replied to his brother's long +speech by ejaculating:—</p> + +<p>"Well, I like your nerve! You come back drunk just when the community +had begun to forget you, and wander into the last house in the world +where you ought to show yourself. Your being drunk doesn't excuse you. +Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"</p> + +<p>Jack smiled ironically.</p> + +<p>"Suppose you climb off your high horse for a little bit. If I have to +get a permit from my only brother to come back to the town where I was +born, things have come to a nice pass. Better cut all that out."</p> + +<p>"You're certainly a past-master at making a mess of things," William +continued. "Your coming back that way fits neatly into your departure. +You needn't think people have forgotten that you ran off with another +man's wife. And your coming back right now, just when the Montgomerys +had buried the hatchet, was calculated with the Devil's own mind."</p> + +<p>"So that's the tune, is it?" said Jack, stretching his arms upon the +table and clasping his fingers to subdue their nervous twitchings.</p> + +<p>"That's just the tune! This town isn't big enough to hold you and the +rest of us. You've cost me a lot of money first and last. You made it +necessary for us to pull away from Amzi and start all over again, and +there was a prejudice against me from the start that I've just about +lived down."</p> + +<p>Jack grinned unpleasantly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, the bank hasn't been terribly prosperous, then!"</p> + +<p>William blinked at the thrust. He had given the conversation an +unfortunate turn, and he sought uncomfortably for another line of +attack. Jack unwittingly opened the way for him.</p> + +<p>"You were the good boy of the family and used to be a pillar in the +church. I have a distinct though melancholy impression that when I took +myself hence you were passing the basket in Center Church every Sunday +morning. I don't <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>recall that I ever <i>saw</i> you do it, but it was a +matter of common knowledge in this town, Will, that you did that very +thing. And being a Christian, just how do you square your effusive +brotherly welcome with the gospel? The only reason God makes sinners is +to give 'em a chance to repent. Without repentance what do you suppose +would become of your churches anyhow?"</p> + +<p>"I don't see any repentance in you; and I want to know right now what +you've done with that woman?"</p> + +<p>Jack blinked, then smiled and gave a laugh expressive of disdain and +contempt.</p> + +<p>"If you please, which woman?"</p> + +<p>William's frown deepened. The one woman was certainly enough, and his +rage was increased by the leer that accompanied the question.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I dare say there have been enough of them! I mean the one you took +away from here; I mean Lois Kirkwood."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lois!" He spoke as though surprised that she should be chosen for +particular attention, and his lip curled scornfully. "When a man goes +wrong, Will, he pays for it. Take it from me that that's one gospel +truth that I've proved to my entire satisfaction. It's queer, Will, how +soon a bonfire burns out—the bigger the fire the quicker it goes. I +went plum crazy about that girl. She'd married the one particular man on +earth who was least likely to make her happy. He bored her. And I guess +her baby bored her, too,—she wasn't a domestic animal,—no pussy cat to +sit by the fire and play with the baby and have hubby's slippers +toasting when he came home to supper. And I had time to play with her; I +wasn't so intellectual as Tom, but my nature was a damned sight more +sympathetic. It looked as though we had been made for each other, and I +was fooled into thinking so. And I was bored myself—this silly little +town, with nothing to hold anybody. Lois and I were made for a bigger +world—at least we thought so: and by Jove, it was funny how we fooled +each other—it was altogether too damned funny!"</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you take a humorous view of it," replied William <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>coldly. "Not +satisfied with disgracing the family, you come back to rub it in. Where +did you leave the woman? I suppose you've chucked her—the usual way."</p> + +<p>Jack threw back his head and laughed.</p> + +<p>"Well, I like that! You don't know what I had to put up with! She made +me suffer, I can tell you! I don't believe she'd deny herself that she +made it damned uncomfortable for me. She liked to spend money, for one +thing, and I couldn't make it fast enough; and she wanted to mingle with +the rich and gay, and our story had followed us, and it's funny, Will, +what a lot of old-fashioned, stupid, Thursday-night-prayer-meeting and +the-pastor-in-to-tea morality there is left in this fool world! It cut +Lois up a good deal, being snubbed by people she wanted to stand well +with. It gave me a jolt to find that I wasn't all-sufficient for her +after all; which hurt some when we'd decided we could be happy alone +together in the woods for the rest of our days. It's a long story, and +I'm not going to talk about it. With the money I took away from here I +began monkeying with real estate; it didn't seem that anybody out there +could lose just then: but I was a bad guesser. In five years I had +played in all my chips, and had to sneak around office buildings trying +to sell life insurance, which wasn't dignified nor becoming in a member +of the haughty house of Holton."</p> + +<p>"Sam told me a different story. Why don't you tell the truth if you talk +about it at all? You gambled and lost your money—that's what happened; +and real estate speculation was only a side line. But Lois had money; I +suppose you played that away, too. Sam never seemed quite clear about +your relations with her."</p> + +<p>"I guess he didn't! There's a queer woman, Will. The inscrutable ways of +Providence were not in it with hers. She hated me, but she wouldn't let +go of me; seemed to be her idea that shaking one man was enough and she +wouldn't let me make her a widow a second time. By George, I couldn't +shake her—I had to live off her!"</p> + +<p>William shrugged his shoulders and scowled. It was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>incredible that this +could be his own brother who spoke thus of the gravest relationships of +life. And it was with a steady sinking of spirit that it was beaten in +upon him that this man had come back to plant himself at his door. He +was busy calculating the effect upon himself, his family, and his +business of the prodigal's return. He was shocked, disgusted, alarmed.</p> + +<p>His wife had told him in the long vigil that followed her return from +Amzi Montgomery's house, when she learned that her brother-in-law was +sleeping off his spree in her guest-room, that Jack had to go. She was +proud and arrogant, and she had no idea of relinquishing her social +pre-eminence—not too easily won—in the town to which William Holton +had brought her to live out her life. One or two of the old families had +never received her with any cordiality, clearly by reason of the old +scandal. And where there are only seventeen thousand people in a town +the indifference of two or three, when they happen to include a woman +like Mrs. King, was not to be ignored or borne without rancor. William's +indignation was intensified as he reviewed Jack's disclosures from the +angle his wife had drawn for him in the midnight conference. His +curiosity was sharpened, however, as to the subsequent relationship of +Jack and Lois Kirkwood. Seattle is a long way from Montgomery and lines +of communication few and slight. Samuel, returning from his visits to +the coast, had usually been too full of his own schemes to furnish any +satisfactory details of Jack and his wife. William dropped his +plumb-line in a new spot where he fancied the water would prove shallow.</p> + +<p>"You lived off her, didn't you, until you had lived up all she had? The +gospel didn't neglect her; she got her share of the punishment."</p> + +<p>"Look here, Will, you mustn't make me laugh like that! You know I used +to think I understood human nature, but I never started with that woman. +I did live at her expense,—I had to,—and she stood for it until I got +to hanging round the saloons too much. She used to pay my dues in the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>club, damned if she didn't, until I got fired for too much poker in the +chamber over the gate. I must say she was a good sport: as a fair-minded +man, I've got to admit that. And she swung the lash over me—never laid +it on, but made it sizz—whistle—till I'd duck and sniffle; and she did +exactly what she pleased without caring a damn whether I liked it or +not! By George, I knew she was a wonder when I took her off Kirkwood's +hands, but she wasn't wonderful in just the way I thought she'd be. That +was where the joke came in. And she made people like her; she could do +that; and she got on, so that wherever she could go without me she was +welcome. That was after people got sorry for her because she was hooked +up to me; but most of 'em, I guess, liked her on her own account. A +queer development, Will. For the past five years I've just been a piece +of furniture, to be dusted and moved occasionally like an old +rocking-chair that gets into a house, nobody knows exactly how, and is +shoved around, trying corners where it won't be noticed much, until it +winds up in the garret. But after all the corners had been tried,—she +didn't have any garret; we lived mostly in hotels and flats,—I was +gradually worked out on the second-hand man's wagon, and here I am."</p> + +<p>"She kept her money, then?" asked William with assumed indifference.</p> + +<p>"Will," said Jack with a mockingly confidential air, leaning forward on +the table, "after the first two or three years I never knew whether she +had a cent or not, that's the straight of it. Considering that she had +thrown away her reputation like an old shoe just for me, and that we +lived along under the same roof, that was the most astonishing thing of +all. She began by handing me out a hundred now and then when I was +broke; then it dropped to ten, and then it got down to a dollar a +week,—humiliating, Will, considering that I had given up my interest in +the ancient and honorable firm of Montgomery & Holton, Bankers, just for +her! But when she shook me for good, I'm damned if she didn't give me a +clean thousand just as a consolation prize."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>William was more interested in this phase of the relationship than in +anything that had gone before. He was aware of the local belief that +Jack had thrown away his wife's share of her father's estate in his real +estate speculations in Seattle and that Amzi supported her dutifully by +a regular allowance; in fact, the three sisters had encouraged this +impression by characteristic insinuations.</p> + +<p>"What's become of her? Where is she now?"</p> + +<p>"That's where you've got me stung: how do I know where she is! After she +slipped me the thousand and bade me a long and chilling farewell, I used +to keep track of her in one way or another. She had a restless streak in +her,—that's why she couldn't stand Tom and the rest of it,—and when it +was all peach blossoms and spring with us she liked to take spurts over +the world. We used to run down to San Francisco for little sprees, and +then when that played out she shifted to New York. But I've lost her +trail—I don't any more know where she is than if I'd never laid eyes on +her. She went abroad a couple of times and she may be over there now. +Say, if Amzi's putting up for her you will lose your main competitor one +of these days! She'd bust the biggest bank in Wall Street, that woman! +She's a luxurious little devil, and a wonder for looks. Even the harsh +trial of living with me didn't wear her to a frazzle the way you might +suppose it would. I guess if I hadn't poisoned the wells for her, she +could have shaken me for most any man she liked. By George, I'll get to +weeping on your neck in a minute, just thinking about her. I started in +to tell you what a miserable little wretch she is and I'm winding up by +bragging about her. She's got that in her! But she'll bust Amzi before +she winds up. And I hope you appreciate the value of that news. Old +Amzi, if he hasn't changed, is a fat-head who's content to sit in his +little bank and watch the world go by. And I guess he's got a nice bunch +of brothers-in-law on his hands. Poor old Amzi! There was always +something amusing about the cuss, even when he was a smug little +roly-poly as a boy. But I passed his bank this morning and it looked +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>like an undertaker's office. The contrast between that old tomb and +your plant pleases me, Will; it soothes my family pride. You are an able +man and I congratulate you on your success. Sam liked to cut didoes on +thin ice a little too well; but you're a born banker—inherited it from +father; and I guess I didn't do you so ill a turn after all when I cut +loose with Lois and broke up the old partnership. There wasn't enough +room in Montgomery & Holton for all of us."</p> + +<p>Several times William shifted his position uneasily. His brother's +flattery merely paved the way to a demand—he was confident of this; +and he had no intention of yielding to demands. To begin advances to +this melancholy wreck would be to establish a precedent for interminable +benefactions. It was better to deal with the matter at once. A clerk +called him out to speak to a customer and when he came back, Jack was +moodily glaring out upon the little court at the rear of the bank. +William did not seat himself again, but stood by the table, as though to +indicate his intention of terminating the interview.</p> + +<p>"I can't give you any more time. Just what have you come back for? I'm +entitled to know, and we may as well have it out."</p> + +<p>"What have I come back for? I've come back to stay, that's what I'm back +for! I want a job, that's all, and if you won't give me one, I'd like to +know just where your brotherly heart expects me to go."</p> + +<p>"You can't stay here, Jack. You've got to clear out. I don't mean to be +hard on you, and I'll give you enough to take you wherever you want to +go; but you can't camp here; you've got to move on. If you'd come back +like a gentleman, it might have been different; but the whole town's +upset. I'd just about lived you down, and here you come back and stir up +the whole mess. The way you came back puts us all in the hole; the +sympathy of the community was swinging round to our side a little, and +even the Montgomerys were making it clear that they were willing to let +bygones be bygones and here you come to spoil it all! And you've not +only <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>got to go, but you've got to go now, this very day by the first +train."</p> + +<p>This was received blinkingly. Jack shook his head as though in pity for +his brother's harshness.</p> + +<p>"For a man brought up by a Christian father and mother to point the door +to a long-lost brother is painful, Will. It wounds me deeply. I tell you +right now that I'm not going away from here until I get good and ready. +Do you follow me?"</p> + +<p>He rested the tips of his fingers on the table and bent toward his +brother with a cold glitter in his eyes. Under the mockery of his +phrases a hot anger lurked.</p> + +<p>"All right," said William. "Stay, then. But you can't hang yourself +around my neck. Understand that right here."</p> + +<p>"You haven't heard all my story yet—"</p> + +<p>"I've heard all I'm going to hear. I've heard enough to make me sick. I +hope nobody else in this town will ever hear it. It's worse than I had +ever imagined—you allowing that woman to support you! And it's +nauseating to think that you don't realize the rottenness of it. But you +seem to be incapable of any decent feeling about anything."</p> + +<p>"Stop sentimentalizing and listen to me. I didn't come back here to +enter upon a new social career; I came back on business. You remember, +Will, that Sam came West when you and he were selling bonds in this +Sycamore Traction line on which I rode proudly home last night. I helped +Sam sell a pretty big bunch of those bonds out there. Sam could sell +anything—Sam was a wonder! and he planted a big bunch of those things +along the coast—my friends, you know. Sam's dead and gone now and I +ain't going to knock him—but Sam was an exuberant chap and he +overcalculated the cost of building the road. That was on the +construction company, but you and Sam were in that—same old game of +working both sides of the street. It was just a mistake in figures, of +course, but some of those people out there hear the road ain't doing +well, and they're friends of mine, Will, valued friends, and now that +Sam's gone <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>it's up to you and me to take care of 'em—do you follow +me?"</p> + +<p>"If that's what you're up to you've made a big mistake. That road's one +of the most successful traction lines in the West, and pays its bond +interest on the dot."</p> + +<p>"Nothing easier; but I happen to know that the last payment was made +with borrowed money. Of course, only a little temporary accommodation, +but just the same it wasn't paid out of earnings. And, Will, you ought +to be mighty careful—you oughtn't to advance bank funds for such a +purpose; it's damned bad business; it's downright immoral; that's all! +But how about the bonds your construction company got—that nice little +margin between a fair profit for building the road and a big fat steal +at the expense of the bondholders? And you authorized the sale of bonds +at eighty to pay the construction bill, got ninety, and pocketed the +difference. Oh, you needn't get white and blink at me. I know what he +did with his share of the boodle—he had to take care of his political +chums he got into other schemes. I know all about Sam—he was always +borrowing, we will call it, from Peter to pay Paul, and most of it got +into Sam's pocket. Now here's my position; right here's where I come in. +I'm going to help you take care of this, but you've got to act white +with me. I'm not going to be kicked out of town—not unless you go with +me. Is that plain?"</p> + +<p>"You're a fool. I understand nothing except that you're trying to +blackmail me; and it won't go. Why, you ought to know that the thing you +accuse Sam of doing would have landed him and me, too, in the +penitentiary. What do you suppose the trustee for the bondholders was +doing? What do you imagine the New York investors were thinking about?"</p> + +<p>"They were asleep, Will," Jack replied, with a gleam of malignant humor. +"And Sam was awful slick. Sam could sell winter underwear in hell. And I +guess you could sell anthracite at a profit down there, too. You talk +about the family dignity;—by George, I never started with you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>fellows! +Running away with another man's wife is tame business compared with your +grafting. And I've got a little more news for you. The clouds are +gathering, you might say, in all parts of the horizon." He swept the +room with a comprehensive gesture. "It's just one of those queer twists +of the screw of fate that brings us all up against Tom Kirkwood. Tom's +smart: he always was, and as straight a man as God Almighty ever put on +the footstool, and he's prying into Sycamore Traction. I stopped off for +a day or two in Indianapolis and got on to this. There was a lawyer and +an officer of the Desbrosses Trust & Guaranty Company out here from New +York to talk things over with Kirkwood,—he has some pull down +there,—and they've employed him. While Sam lived he watched little +things like that; filled up the accountants with champagne and took care +of the statements, but I guess you are not quite as smart as Sam. I +guess it's about all you can do to take care of the bank examiner when +he drops in to shake hands."</p> + +<p>William had listened intently, his arms folded, a smile of derision on +his face.</p> + +<p>"Just how much do you charge for this information?" he demanded coldly.</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to charge you; I'm going to help you, Will. It's my duty +as a brother to warn you and help you out of trouble. Family feeling is +strong in me: I'm not a man to let my own brother go down if I can keep +him up. I see it in your eye that—"</p> + +<p>William flung round to the door and swung it open.</p> + +<p>"Get out of here!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, is that the answer? Then, all right!"</p> + +<p>He picked up his hat, drew on his coat unhurriedly, walked calmly round +the table and lounged out of the bank.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><a name="XII" id="XII"></a> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>NAN BARTLETT'S DECISION</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"Dad's gone to Indianapolis to be gone several days and didn't expect to +be back to-night; so come over and stay with me, won't you—please? If +you won't I'll have to go to Aunt Josephine's, which is a heartbreaking +thought."</p> + +<p>This was the second day after the party, and Nan agreed to go. Phil's +maid-of-all-work did not sleep at the house and the aunts had asserted +that Phil's new status as a member of society made necessary some sort +of chaperonage. Nan arrived at the house late in the afternoon and found +Phil opening a box of roses that had just come from Indianapolis by +express.</p> + +<p>"American beauties! and grand ones!"</p> + +<p>She handed Nan the card and watched her face as she read it.</p> + +<p>"I should have guessed Charlie Holton," said Nan colorlessly. "Well, +they're fine specimens."</p> + +<p>"It's very nice of him, I think," said Phil. "Particularly when I was so +snippy to him."</p> + +<p>"Why did you snip him?" asked Nan, watching Phil thrust the last of the +long stems into a tall vase.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he started in to rush me. And I guess he's some rusher. I suppose +he's had a lot of practice."</p> + +<p>"I suppose he has," said Nan indifferently.</p> + +<p>"And nobody ever gave me just the line of talk he puts up, except of +course Lawr<i>i</i>nce."</p> + +<p>She feigned to be observing the adjustment of the roses with a +particular interest, and looking round caught Nan frowning.</p> + +<p>"Is he trying to flirt with you? I supposed even he had his decent +moments. When did that happen?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>"Oh, at the party; everything happened at the party."</p> + +<p>"Two men making love to you on the same evening is a good record for +Montgomery. I suppose Lawrence played the ardent Romeo game; I +understand that he's better 'off' than 'on.' And you snipped him, of +course."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I mean to snip them all! Isn't that right?"</p> + +<p>"It's pathetic that Lawrence Hastings never quite forgets that he played +the banana circuit in repertoire. That man's an awful bore."</p> + +<p>"I find him amusing," said Phil provokingly. "And he always gives me a +box at matinées. Which is just that much more than I ever get out of my +other imitation uncles. If I led him on a trifle, don't you suppose he +might come to the point of proposing to fly with me? That would be a +consummation devoutly to be worked for."</p> + +<p>"Phil, I'll send you to bed if you talk like that."</p> + +<p>"There's always the window and the old apple tree; I dare you to put me +to bed! I suppose," she said, nodding in the direction of the roses, +"that those are a sort of peace offering, to make up for his uncle +coming to the party as he did. If that's the idea it was decent of him."</p> + +<p>The maid brought in a box that had just been left at the kitchen door. +Phil ran to the window and caught a glimpse of a man closing the gate. +It was Fred Holton, in a long ulster with the collar turned up about his +ears. He untied his horse, attached to a ramshackle buggy, and drove +off. Phil recognized him instantly, but made no sign to Nan.</p> + +<p>Across the top of the small pasteboard box, "Perishable" was scrawled. +Inside, neatly dressed, lay six quails. On a card was written:—</p> + +<p class="cen">"<i>Compliments of Listening Hill Farm.</i>"</p> + +<p>"What's Listening Hill Farm?" asked Nan.</p> + +<p>"That's Fred Holton's. He lives out there now. It's just like that boy +to slip round to the back door with an offering like that. Roses from +Charlie; birds from Fred. And there's just about that difference between +them."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>Nan's eyes clouded.</p> + +<p>"Phil," she said with emphasis, "those three aunts of yours haven't the +sense of rabbits! The comparison flatters them. They had no business +asking the Holtons to your party. It was unnecessary—it was absurd. It +was cruel!"</p> + +<p>Nan was not often like this. There was unmistakable indignation in her +tone as she continued:—</p> + +<p>"Your Uncle Amzi should have set his face against it. And I suppose they +were satisfied with the outcome; I devoutly hope so."</p> + +<p>"Well, don't jump on Amy; he only let them have their way to avoid a +fuss. When the three of them descend on him they do try Amy's soul; he +never admits it, but I always know afterwards. It unsettles him for a +week."</p> + +<p>"Those women," said Nan, "have been all over town apologizing for Jack +Holton—as though it was up to them to defend him for turning up at your +party vilely drunk. I tell you, Phil, I'm glad you have the sense you +have in that head of yours and that you've grown up to a point where we +can talk of things. The Holtons are no good! There's a crooked streak in +the whole lot. And all that's the matter with your blessed trio of aunts +is their ambition to stand well with Mrs. William, and your precious +uncles lean on the First National counter when they want to borrow +money. But you'd think they'd have some respect for your father, for +your uncle, for you!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, it's all over now," replied Phil.</p> + +<p>"It's a good thing you're the wise child you are! You understand +perfectly that the Holtons are not for you in this world. And if your +father weren't the gentleman he is he would have made a big row about +those people being asked to your party: it was an insult, too deep for +my powers of description. Those women treat your father as though he +were a halfway idiot—a fool to be thrust around when it pleases them, +and to be the object of simpering tears when they want to play the +pathetic in speaking of your mother <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>to people. They are detestable, +contemptible. And Jack Holton's turning up at Amzi's was the very last +straw."</p> + +<p>Phil gazed at Nan with increasing surprise. This was not the familiar +Nan Bartlett of the unfailing gentleness, the whimsical humor. This was +almost a scene, and scenes were not to the liking of either of the +Bartlett sisters.</p> + +<p>"Daddy hardly referred to that, Nan. I don't think it really troubled +him."</p> + +<p>"That's the worst of it, dear child! Of course he wouldn't show feeling +about it! That's the heartbreaking thing about that father of yours, +that he has borne that old trouble so bravely. It was ghastly that that +man of all men should have stumbled into Amzi's house in that way. +Nothing was ever nobler than the way your father bore it."</p> + +<p>She knelt suddenly and clasped Phil in her arms as though to shield her +from all the wrongs of the world. There were tears in Nan's eyes, +unmistakably, when Phil stroked her cheek, and then for the first time +with a sudden impulse Nan kissed her. Phil's intercourse with the +Bartletts had been in the key of happy companionship, marked with a +restraint that the girl respected and admired. There had been an +imperceptible line beyond which she had never carried her pranks with +them. Tears she had never associated with either of the sisters. She +would have assumed, if it had ever been a question in her mind, that +Rose would have been the likelier to yield to emotion.</p> + +<p>Nan walked to the window and looked out upon the slowly falling snow. +Phil was busy for a moment readjusting herself to the new intimacy +established by the sight of her friend's agitation. These first tears +that Phil had ever seen in Nan's eyes had a clarifying effect upon her +consciousness and understanding. There flashed upon her keen mind a +thought—startling, almost incredible. It was as though in some strange +fashion, in the unlikeliest spot, she had come upon a rare flower, too +marvelous to breathe upon. Her quick wits held it off guardedly for +bewildered inspection. Could it be possible that it was for her father +that Nan had yielded to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>tears? Beneath liking and sympathy might there +lie a deeper feeling than friendship in this woman's heart? There had +always seemed to be an even balance of regard for the sisters in all her +father's intercourse with Buckeye Lane. They had been a refuge and +resource, but she had imagined that he went there as she did because it +was the very pleasantest place in town to visit. Whether he admired one +more than the other had never been a problem in her mind, though now she +recalled the intimations of her aunts—intimations which she had cast +into the limbo to which she committed their views and insinuations on +most topics. Phil stood by the black slate mantel of the shelf-lined +sitting-room, her heart beating fast. But Nan turned to her laughingly.</p> + +<p>"It's old age, Phil! Rose always tells me that I must stop peppering my +victuals or I'll become one of the sobbing sisterhood one of these days. +What have you been reading lately, Phil?"</p> + +<p>"Just finished 'The Gray Knight of Picardy.' Daddy didn't want me to +read it—said it was only half good and that I oughtn't to waste time on +books that weren't a hundred per cent good. I think it's bully. I'm +crazy about it. It's so beautifully, deliciously funny. And Nan—why, +Nan, it sounds just like you!"</p> + +<p>"Elucidate," remarked Nan carelessly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's like you, some of it—the general absurdness of it all; and +then some of it is so amazingly like dad—when he has a high-falutin' +fit and talks through his hat in the old Morte Darthur lingo. It's +Malory brought up to date, with a dash of Quixote. I nearly died at that +place where the knight breaks his lance on the first automobile he ever +saw and then rides at the head of the circus parade. It's certainly a +ticklesome yarn."</p> + +<p>She advanced upon Nan dramatically, with arm outstretched, pointing +accusingly. "Look me in the eye, Nan! Did you and daddy frame that up +between you? Be careful now! Dad wrote prodigiously all last winter—let +me think <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>it was a brief; and you and he used to get your heads together +a good deal, private like, and I feigned not to notice because I thought +you were talking about me!"</p> + +<p>She clasped Nan by the wrists and laughed into her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Go and sit in your little chair, Phil. Your intuitions are playing +tricks with your judgment."</p> + +<p>"Fudge! I know it's true now. The author's name in the book is a <i>nom de +plume</i>. I saw that in a literary note somewhere."</p> + +<p>Nan had seriously hoped Phil would not learn of the joint authorship; +but already it was an accepted fact in the girl's mind. She was smitten +with contrition for her blindness in having failed to see earlier what +was now plain enough! Nan was in love with her father! Their +collaboration upon a book only added plausibility to her surmise. +Nothing could be plainer, nothing, indeed, more fitting! Her heart +warmed at the thought. Her father stood forth in a new light; she was +torn with self-accusations for her stupidity in not having seen it all +before. Admitting nothing, Nan parried her thrusts about the "Gray +Knight." When Phil caught up the book and began to read a passage that +she had found particularly diverting, and which she declared to be +altogether "Nanesque," as she put it, Nan snatched the book away and +declined to discuss the subject further.</p> + +<p>Nan had recovered her spirits, and the two gave free rein to the +badinage in which they commonly indulged.</p> + +<p>They were sitting down at the table when Kirkwood arrived. He had found +it possible to come home for the night and run back to the city in the +morning. Now that Phil's suspicions had been aroused as to Nan, she was +alert for any manifestation of reciprocal feeling in her father. He was +clearly pleased to find Nan in his house; but there was nothing new in +this. He would have been as glad to see Rose, Phil was sure. Phil +launched daringly upon "The Gray Knight of Picardy," parrying evasion +and shattering the wall of dissimulation behind which they sought to +entrench themselves. It was just like Nan and her father; no one else +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>would ever have thought up anything so preposterous, so killingly +funny. She went for the book and cited chapters and attributed them, one +after the other, to the collaborators.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you can't tell me! That talk between the knight and the cigar-store +Indian is yours, Nan; and the place where he finds the militia drilling +and chases the colonel into the creek is yours, daddy! And I'm ashamed +of both of you that you never told me! What have I done to be left out +of a joke like this! You might have let me squeeze in a little chapter +somewhere. I always thought I could write a book if some one would give +me a good start."</p> + +<p>"We're cornered," said Nan finally. "But we'll have to bribe her."</p> + +<p>"I came by the office and found some more letters from magazines that +want short stories, serials, anything from the gifted author of 'The +Gray Knight of Picardy,'" said Kirkwood. "Why not enlarge the syndicate, +Nan, and let Phil in? But I've got to retire; I mustn't even be +suspected. This is serious. It would kill my prospects as a lawyer if it +got out on me that I dallied at literature. It's no joke that the law is +a jealous mistress. And now I have the biggest case I ever had; and +likely to be the most profitable. How do we come by these birds, Phil?"</p> + +<p>"Fred Holton brought them in, daddy. You remember him; he was at the +party."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I remember, Phil. He's Samuel's boy, who's gone to live on their +old farm."</p> + +<p>Nan turned the talk away from the Holtons and they went into the +living-room where Kirkwood read some of the notices he had found in his +mail. He improvised a number of criticisms ridiculing the book +mercilessly and he abused the imaginary authors until, going too far, +Phil snatched away the clippings and convicted him of fraud. She +declared that he deserved a mussing and drove him to a corner to make +the threat good, and only relented when she had exacted a promise from +him never to leave her out again in any of his literary connivings with +Nan.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>The wind whistled round the house, and drove the snow against the panes. +A snowstorm makes for intimacy, and the three sat by the grate cozily, +laughing and talking; it was chiefly books they discussed. This was the +first time Nan had ever shared a winter-night fireside with the +Kirkwoods, much as she saw of them. And Phil was aware of a fitness in +the ordering of the group before the glowing little grate. The very +books on the high shelves seemed to make a background for Nan. Nothing +could be more natural than that she should abide there forever. Phil +became so engrossed in her speculations that she dropped out of the +talk. Inevitably the vague shadow of the mother she had never known +stole into the picture. She recalled the incident of the broken negative +that had slipped from her father's fingers upon the floor of the +abandoned photograph gallery. Her young imagination was kindled, and her +sympathies went out to the man and woman who sat there before the little +grate, so clearly speaking the same language, so drawn together by +common interests and aspirations.</p> + +<p>She was brought to earth by Nan's sudden exclamation that she must go +home. There was no question about it, she said, when they pleaded the +storm as a reason for spending the night; she had come merely to relieve +Phil's loneliness. Nan protested that she could go alone; but Kirkwood +without debating the matter got into his ulster, and Phil, screened by +the door, watched them pass under the electric light at the corner.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The streets were deserted and the storm had its will with the world. Nan +and Kirkwood stopped for breath and to shake off the snow where a +grocer's shed protected the sidewalk.</p> + +<p>"I came back to-night," he said, "because I wanted to see you, and I +knew I should find you with Phil. Nan, after what happened at Amzi's the +other night I find I need you more than I ever knew. I was afraid you +might imagine that would make a difference. But not in the way you may +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>think—not about Lois! It was just the thought of him—that he had once +been my friend, and came back like that. It was only that, Nan. If she +had come back and stood there in the door I shouldn't have had a twinge. +I'm all over that. I've been over it for a long time."</p> + +<p>"I think I understand that, but nothing can make any difference as to +us. That is one thing that is not for this world! Come, we must hurry +on!"</p> + +<p>As she took a step forward he sprang in front of her.</p> + +<p>"Nan, I've got to go back to the city on the morning train. I want you +to tell me now that you will marry me—let us say in the spring. Let me +have that to look forward to. I've waited a long time, and the years are +passing. I want you to say 'yes' to-night."</p> + +<p>He touched her shoulders lightly with his hands. They slipped along her +arms till he clasped her fingers, tightly clenched in her muff.</p> + +<p>"You love me, Nan; I know you do! And you have known a long time that I +care for you. Nothing was ever as dear as the thought of you. Whatever +has gone before in my life is done and passed. I can't have you say 'no' +to me. Please, dear Nan—dearest!"</p> + +<p>It was a strange place for lovers' talk, but the tumult of the storm was +in Kirkwood's heart. The weariness of a laborious day vanished in the +presence of this woman. His habitual restraint, the reticences of his +nature were swept away. His was no midsummer passion; winter's +battle-song throbbed in his pulses. He caught her arm roughly as she +sought to continue their flight.</p> + +<p>"No, Tom; no!"</p> + +<p>"Then why?" he persisted. "It can't be because of Lois—you can't +suspect that even the thought of her wounds me now. Jack's coming back +proved that to me: I mean what I say; I don't care any more! There's +nothing for me in this world but you—you and Phil! The memory of that +other woman is gone; I give myself to you as though she had never +been."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>"Oh, Tom, I don't believe you! I don't believe any man like you ever +forgets! And Phil mustn't know you even think you have forgotten! That +would be wrong; it would be a great sin! She must never think you have +forgotten the woman who is her mother. And it isn't right that you +should forget! There are men that might, but not you—not you, dear +Tom!"</p> + +<p>She shook off his hands and flung herself against the storm. He plunged +after her, following perforce. It was impossible to talk, so blinding +was the slant of snow and sleet in their faces. She drove on with the +energy born of a new determination, and he made no effort to speak again +as he tramped beside her.</p> + +<p>When they reached the house in Buckeye Lane he sought to detain her with +a plaintive "Please, Nan?" But she rapped on the door and when Rose +opened it slipped in, throwing a breathless good-night over her +shoulder.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>THE BEST INTERESTS OF MONTGOMERY</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Phil dropped into the "Evening Star" office to write an item about the +approaching Christmas fair at Center Church, for which she was the +publicity agent. Incidentally she asked Billy Barker, the editor, to +instruct her in the delicate art of proof-reading. As he was an old +friend she did not mind letting him into the secret of "The Dogs of Main +Street." Barker's editorial sense was immediately roused by Phil's +disclosure. He said he would write to "Journey's End" for advance sheets +and make it a first-page feature the day it appeared.</p> + +<p>Montgomery was a literary center; in the early eighties it had been +referred to by the Boston "Transcript" as the Hoosier Athens; and the +Athenians withheld not the laurel from the brows of their bards, +romancers, and essayists. Not since Barker had foreshadowed the +publication of "The Deathless Legion," General Whitcomb's famous tale of +the Cæsars, had anything occurred that promised so great a sensation as +the news that Phil had ventured into the field of authorship. Barker +even fashioned phrases in which he meant to publish the glad +tidings,—"a brilliant addition to the Hoosier group"; "a new Jane +Austen knocks at the door of Fame," etc. He jotted down a list of the +commonest typographical symbols, and warned Phil against an +over-indulgence in changes, as it might prejudice the "Journey's End" +office against her.</p> + +<p>"I was about to offer you a job, Phil, but now that you're a high-priced +magazine writer I'm ashamed to do it. Our local has skipped and I'm +almost up against going out to chase a few items myself. You might pull +out that church fair a few joints, or I'll be reduced to shoving in +boiler plate <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>on the first page; which is reprehensible. Kindly humble +yourself and give me some 'Personal and Society,'—some of your highly +interesting family must be doing something or somebody,—dish it up and +don't spare the gravy."</p> + +<p>"You haven't heard rumors that the Hastings is to be turned into a +fil-lum show-house, have you?" asked Phil, fishing a lead pencil stub +from her pocket.</p> + +<p>"Lord, no! Has our own Hamlet come to that? Write a hot roast of it; +turn the screw on this commercializing of our only theater—this base +betrayal of public confidence by one to whom we all looked for nobler +things. I'm sore at Lawrence anyhow for kicking at our write-up of those +outlaws who strolled through here playing 'She Never Told Her Love.' The +fact is that girl told it in the voice of one who should be bawling +quick orders in a hole-in-the-wall restaurant. Here's where we taunt Mr. +Hastings with his own lofty idealism. Have all the fun with him you +like; and not a soul shall ever know from me who knocked him."</p> + +<p>Phil nibbled her pencil meditatively.</p> + +<p>"You've got the wrong number. Lawr<i>i</i>nce hasn't found the price yet; +he's only getting estimates; but you'd better coax him to make the +change—bring the drammer closer to the hearts of the people. None of +these cheap fil-lums where a comic dog runs in and upsets the tea-table, +just as the parson is about to say grace, but the world's greatest +artists brought within the reach of all who command the homely nickel. +Do you follow me, O protector of the poor?"</p> + +<p>"I see your family pride is stung, Phil. Let it go at that. There's a +cut of Hastings as Romeo that I'm utilizing as a paper-weight, and I'll +run that just to show there's no hard feeling. By the by, Phil, how's +your pa getting on with the traction company?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing doing! I'm not as foolish as I am young. And besides I don't +know."</p> + +<p>The editor took a turn across the room and rumpled his hair. He pointed +to a clipping on his desk from the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>Indianapolis "Advertiser" of that +morning. The headlines proclaimed:—</p> + +<p class="cen">SCANDAL IN SYCAMORE TRACTION +<br /> +RUMORS THAT RECEIVERSHIP IS IMMINENT +<br /> +FOREIGN BONDHOLDERS THREATENING +<br /> +HOLTON ESTATE TO BE INVESTIGATED +</p> + +<p>Phil's face grew serious. Her father had not been home for several days +and she knew that his business in Indianapolis had absorbed his time and +attention increasingly.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I don't know anything about it," she answered, "and of course +if you thought I did you wouldn't ask me."</p> + +<p>"Of course not, Phil. But it's a mess. And I don't know whether to print +something about it or let it go. Bill Holton's out of town and I don't +like to shoot without giving him a chance. But I owe him a few. If the +company goes bust, there's going to be a row round here we won't forget +in a hurry. Every widow and orphan in the county has got some of that +stuff. They worked that racket as hard as they could—home road for the +home people. What's the answer?"</p> + +<p>Phil drew up the editor's clip of paper and wrote:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Mr. Amzi Montgomery went to Indianapolis yesterday to attend the +Nordica concert."</p></div> + +<p>Barker stared at this item blankly.</p> + +<p>"What's that got to do with it?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," said Phil indifferently; "it's only an item."</p> + +<p>"Amzi's always going to concerts," remarked the editor inconsequently.</p> + +<p>"I thought maybe he wasn't going to this one, for the excellent reason +that he declined to take me along."</p> + +<p>Barker ran his hand through his hair, looked at Phil with dawning +intelligence, and his brow cleared.</p> + +<p>"I haven't said anything," remarked Phil discreetly, "because I don't +know anything."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>Barker put on his coat and hat.</p> + +<p>"Guess I'll go out and sniff the local feeling on this proposition. It's +about time I blew the lid off and said a few things about Bill Holton. +If Bernstein brings in copy for his Christmas 'ad,' whistle for the boy +and tell 'em to hustle it. Hang your stuff on the hook and I'll write +the heads later. Don't let your playful humor get away with you, and if +any farmers come in with the biggest pumpkin ever raised on Sugar Creek, +note the name and weight carefully, call the boy and send the precious +fruit right home to our wife. Our annual biggest pumpkin is long overdue +and undelivered. You might just head that item 'When the Frost is on the +Punkin.' We have captious subscribers who check up on favorite +quotations and our aim is to please one and all."</p> + +<p>A desk stood by the window from which the editorial eye in its frenzied +rollings enjoyed a fine sweep of Main Street. To Phil Main Street ran +round the world. Its variety was infinite. No one knew the ways, the +interests, the joys and sorrows of Montgomery better than she. Every one +was, in a sense, a character. More or less unconsciously she fitted them +all into little dramas, or sketched them with swift, telling strokes. +The fact that this Main Street summarized American life; that there were +hundreds of Main Streets presenting much the same types, the same mild +encounters and incidents, appealed to her sense of humor. Her longest +journey in the world had been a summer excursion to New England with her +father, and she had been struck by the similarity of the phenomena +observable in Williamstown, Pittsfield, Northampton—and Montgomery! In +every town, no matter what its name, there was always the same sleepy +team in front of the Farmers' Bank, the same boy chasing his hat, the +same hack-driver in front of the hotel, the same pretty girl bowing to +the same delighted young man near the same town pump or the soldiers' +monument in the square.</p> + +<p>Phil wrote busily. It was easy for her to write, and when, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>looking up +casually, items were suggested to her by the passers-by, she returned to +her work with a smile on her face. Judge Walters passed carrying a +satchel; this meant that he had returned from holding court in Boone +County; Captain Wilson stumped by with a strange young man who Phil +reasoned immediately must be the nephew he had expected to visit him +during the holidays. The new auto-truck of the express company, which +had long been forecast in Main Street rumor, rumbled by, and she +heralded its arrival in a crisp paragraph. "Spress," the venerable dog +that for ages had followed the company's old horse and wagon, was at +last out of commission, Phil's "brevity" recited. The foreman came in +from the composing-room, told her gravely that the paper was overset, +and departed with her copy.</p> + +<p>She took up the article relating to Sycamore Traction and read it +through to the end. Many of the terms meant nothing to her; but the +guarded intimations of improper conduct on the part of the promoters and +directors were sufficiently clear. What interested her most of all was +the accusation, cautiously attributed "to one in a position to know," +that the estate of Samuel Holton had been so manipulated as to conceal +part of the assets, and that a movement was on foot to reopen the estate +with a view to challenging the inventory. The names of Charles Holton +and his Uncle William, president of the First National Bank of +Montgomery, appeared frequently in the article, which closed with a +statement signed by both men that the stories afloat were baseless +fabrications; that the company was earning its charges and that the +rumors abroad through the state were the result of a conspiracy by a +number of stockholders to seize control of the company.</p> + +<p>Looking up, Phil saw her father pass the window, and before she could +knock on the glass to attract his attention he came in hurriedly.</p> + +<p>"'Lo, daddy!"</p> + +<p>"What are you up to, Phil? Where's Barker?"</p> + +<p>"Out taking the air. His local's quit and I'm doing a few <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>literary gems +for him." She rose and leaned across the counter. Anxiety was plainly +written on her father's face, and she surmised that something of +importance had brought him back from the city at this hour. He had not +expected to return until Saturday, and this was only Thursday.</p> + +<p>"I must see Barker. Where do you suppose he went?"</p> + +<p>"He's trying to make up his mind what to do about that," said Phil, +indicating the clipping.</p> + +<p>Kirkwood took from his pocket several sheets of typewritten legal cap, +and ran them over.</p> + +<p>"I want him to print this; it must get in to-day. The people here +mustn't be stampeded by those stories. A repetition of them in the +'Star' might do great harm—incalculable harm to the community and to +all its interests."</p> + +<p>"It doesn't sound pretty—that piece in the 'Advertiser.'"</p> + +<p>"It's all surmise and speculation. That's what I've been in the city +about lately; and if they give us a chance we'll pull it out without +scandal."</p> + +<p>"Suppose I write an interview with you along that line and stick your +statement on the end of it?"</p> + +<p>"I'll have to see Barker first: he's supposed to be unfriendly to the +Holtons—old political feeling."</p> + +<p>It occurred to Phil that it was odd for her father to be interposing +himself between the Holtons and scandalous insinuations of the press as +to their integrity. Tom Kirkwood reflected a moment, then opened the +gate in the office railing and sat down beside her.</p> + +<p>"I've got to get the twelve o'clock train back," he said, "and this must +go in to-day. We must reassure the people as quickly as possible."</p> + +<p>She wrote an opening paragraph without further parley and read it. He +made a few changes, and then dictated a statement as attorney for the +Desbrosses Trust & Guaranty Company, trustee for the Sycamore +bondholders.</p> + +<p>The stories set afloat at Indianapolis were gross exaggerations, he +declared, and there was no occasion for alarm in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>any quarter. It was +true that the company had suffered serious losses owing to unfortunate +accidents, but these were not of a character to jeopardize the interests +of bondholders. A thorough investigation was in progress, and judgment +should be reserved until the exact truth should be known. The trustee +meant to safeguard every interest of the investors.</p> + +<p>Kirkwood was lost in thought for several minutes, and then took a sheet +of paper and experimented with a number of sentences until these +survived his careful editing:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I personally believe that the affairs of the Sycamore Traction +Company will be speedily adjusted in a way that will satisfy +those concerned, and meanwhile all efforts to shake public +confidence in any of the interests or institutions of +Montgomery can only react disastrously upon those guilty of +such attempts."</p></div> + +<p>He read this over frowningly.</p> + +<p>"I think that will be all, Phil," he said, handing her a clean copy.</p> + +<p>While she was numbering the pages, Barker came in and Kirkwood drew him +into a corner, where they conversed earnestly. The editor had met that +morning many citizens who spoke bitterly of the Sycamore Traction +Company. The Indianapolis "Advertiser's" circulation in Montgomery was +almost equal to that of the "Evening Star"; and on the wintry corners of +Main Street, in the lobby of the Morton House, and in the court-house, +men were speculating as to the effect of the reports from Indianapolis +upon the Holton bank. The Holtons were Democrats and the "Evening Star" +was the Republican county organ. Barker disliked William Holton on +personal grounds and here was his chance for reprisal.</p> + +<p>"They're all crooks," said the editor hotly; and cut Kirkwood short with +"No one knows that better than you."</p> + +<p>Kirkwood ignored this thrust.</p> + +<p>"It isn't your feeling or mine, Barker, about these <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>people. It's the +town and its best interests we've got to consider. I give you my word +that I believe these kinks in Sycamore will be straightened out. Nobody +knows more about the situation than I do. If you repeat this +'Advertiser' article, you'll start a run on the First National Bank, and +if it should go down, it wouldn't do any of us any good, would it? It +wouldn't help the town any, would it? I want you to trust me about this. +There's no question of newspaper enterprise involved; but there is a +chance for you to serve the community. The very fact that you have never +been friendly to the Holtons will give additional weight to what you +print to-day. I'm not asking you to smother this talk as a favor to me, +but for the good of the town—all of us. And I believe you're big enough +and broad enough to see it."</p> + +<p>Barker was reluctant to yield. His paper was one of the most influential +country papers in the state. He was proud of its reputation and anxious +to do nothing that would injure its hard-won prestige.</p> + +<p>"That's all right, Kirkwood, but how about that swindling construction +company the Holtons worked as a side line? The bad service the company +has given from the start pretty nearly proves that there was crooked +work there. How do you get around that?"</p> + +<p>"You'll have to believe what I say, that we will handle it all to the +satisfaction of the public. But smashing a bank won't help any. We're +trying to manage in such way that no innocent party will suffer."</p> + +<p>"Well, there's nothing innocent about these Holtons. Sam died and got +out of it, but Will and this young Charlie are off the same block. And +now Jack's come back to make trouble for them. I don't see myself +jumping in to protect these fellows; if they've got themselves in a +hole, let them wiggle out."</p> + +<p>"You're not talking like a reasonable human being, Barker. Try to +overcome personal prejudices. Just remember that several hundred +people—our friends and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>neighbors—are going to be hurt if the bank +fails. I've just headed off Waterman. He was about to bring suit for a +receiver on behalf of one of the local bondholders on the ground of +mismanagement. That would be a mistake. It's in our plans to bring up +the road's efficiency at once. The trustee is in a position to do that. +I want you to help me quiet these disturbing rumors. If I didn't believe +it would all come out right, I'd tell you so very frankly."</p> + +<p>Barker shrugged his shoulders and walked to his desk. He read Phil's +introduction and the accompanying statement with Kirkwood's name +attached.</p> + +<p>"All right, Tom. But remember that this is personal to you; I wouldn't +do it for any other man on earth."</p> + +<p>"You're doing it for the town, Barker. We're all friends and neighbors +here; and I give you my word that you won't regret it. I've got to run, +Phil. Sorry; but I'll be back in a day or two. How are Nan and Rose?"</p> + +<p>"Fine."</p> + +<p>"Nan staying with you?"</p> + +<p>"No; I've moved over there for a few days."</p> + +<p>"That's all right. Give them my compliments."</p> + +<p>The door closed on him as Barker came back from the composing-room, +where he had carried the Sycamore article and ordered it double-leaded. +Phil, gathering up her belongings, lingered for a word. Barker ripped +the wrapper from an exchange absently.</p> + +<p>"Phil, you've never suspected your father of being a little touched in +his upper story, have you?"</p> + +<p>"That short-circuited; say it some other way," observed Phil, buttoning +her glove.</p> + +<p>"That dad of yours, Phil, if he ain't plumb crazy, is the whitest white +man that ever trod the footstool. I always suspected him of being +tolerably highminded, but I guess if ever a man climbed on top of his +soul and knew that he was the boss of it with the help of Almighty God, +that man is Tom Kirkwood. It's got me fuddled, Phil. It's addled me like +the report of a tariff commission or an argument for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>government +ownership of laying hens; but I respect it, and I admire it. Be good to +your daddy. So far as I know he hasn't any competition in his class."</p> + +<p>Phil pondered this as she walked toward Buckeye Lane. It was not +necessary for her to understand the intricacies of the traction +company's troubles to realize that her father had interceded for the +Holtons. Barker's praise of him warmed her heart. She knew that her +father was by no means tame and bloodless. In many long talks, tramping +and camping, they had discussed nearly every subject under the sun; and +she knew that his wrath blazed sometimes at the evils and wrongs of the +world. Once she had gone unbidden to the court-house to hear him speak +in a criminal case, where he had volunteered to defend an Italian +railroad laborer who had been attacked by a gang of local toughs and in +the ensuing fight had stabbed one of his assailants. Kirkwood was not an +orator by the accepted local standard,—a standard established by "Dan" +Voorhees and General "Tom" Nelson of an earlier generation,—but that +afternoon, after pitilessly analyzing the state's case, he had yielded +himself to a passionate appeal for the ignorant alien that had thrilled +through her as great music did. She had never forgotten that; it had +given her a new idea of her father. There had been something awful and +terrifying in his arraignment of the witnesses who sought to swear away +the cowed prisoner's liberty. Her father's gentleness, his habitual +restraint, had seemed finer and nobler after that.</p> + +<p>In the nature of her upbringing Phil had developed the habit of thinking +her way out of perplexities. Her intimate knowledge of the history and +traditions of Montgomery furnished the basis for a healthy philosophy, +and the wide range of her well-directed reading had opened doors that +let in upon her intelligence much of the light and shadow of human +experience. Happiness was not, she knew, an inalienable right, but +something to be sought and worked for. Her thoughts played about her +father and his life—that broken column of a life, with its pathetic +edges! What would become <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>of him and Nan, now that she knew Nan loved +him, and imaginably, he loved her? For the first time in her life she +found her face pressed against a dark pane, unable to see light.</p> + +<p>She was conscious that some one was walking rapidly behind her, and she +whirled round as her name was spoken. It was Fred Holton, who had +evidently been following her.</p> + +<p>"Why so formal! Why didn't you whistle?" she asked, shaking hands with +him. "Those birds you sent me were meat for gods.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 17.5em;">'Then mighty Jove,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">Grabbing the last brown quail from off the plate,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">Shouted, "For gods alone such food"; and bade</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">Dian to skip, with bow well bent, and bring</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">A billion birds to grace another feast.'"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"If Dian filled that order," said Fred, "it would get her into trouble +with the game warden."</p> + +<p>"That was one good thing about the gods," remarked Phil as he caught +step with her; "they didn't have to be afraid of policemen. How did you +come to tear yourself loose from Stop 7 to-day?"</p> + +<p>"Trouble, if you want the real truth."</p> + +<p>They had reached the college and were walking along the Buckeye Lane +side of the campus. Fred was wrapped in his ulster and wore an old fur +cap with its ear-flaps gathered up and tied on top. Now that the first +pleasure of the meeting had passed, an anxious look had come into his +face. He stared straight ahead, walking doggedly.</p> + +<p>"I came into town to see your father, but I just missed him. I wanted to +talk to him."</p> + +<p>"He hasn't been in town much lately and he was only here for an hour +this morning. But he'll be back in a few days."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry," said Fred, "not to see him to-day."</p> + +<p>Just what business he had with her father she could not imagine; but she +was sorry for his trouble, whatever it might be. In her recent +reflections touching the Holtons she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>had not thought of Fred at all; +nor did it occur to her now that he was in any way concerned with the +Sycamore difficulties.</p> + +<p>"Miss Kirkwood—"</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Holton, if you will be real nice, I'll let you call me Phil. +I met you before I grew up—that night I danced in the cornfield. The +moon introduced and chaperoned us, after a fashion, so we'll consider +that you belong to the earlier period of what might be called my life. +That was my last fling. When I came home that night I was a grown-up. +How do you like that, Fred?"</p> + +<p>"More than I care to say!" And his face lighted.</p> + +<p>He realized perfectly that knowing his diffidence she was trying to make +things easier for him, just as she had at her party. Phil was wondering +whether she dared ask him to go to the Bartletts' with her for luncheon.</p> + +<p>"It's lonesome, Phil, not having anybody to talk to about your troubles. +There are times when we've got to lean up against advice."</p> + +<p>"They say I never do much leaning," Phil replied. "My aunts say it. +There ought to be a place like a post-office where you could poke in a +question and get the answer right back; but there isn't."</p> + +<p>"Our folks are in a lot of trouble, according to the papers," said Fred. +"That's what I wanted to see your father about."</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>"I felt that I ought to see him as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't trouble about what's in the papers. That's what my father +came back for to-day—to head off the home papers about the traction +company."</p> + +<p>"Just how do you mean?" he asked, clearly puzzled. "I thought he was on +the other side of the case."</p> + +<p>"Well, the 'Star' this evening will say that everything will be all +right, and for people not to get excited. I don't see why you should +bother. You're a farmer and not mixed up in the traction business."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>He seemed not to notice when they reached and passed the Bartletts', +though she had told him she was going there for luncheon.</p> + +<p>"They say Charlie didn't play straight in settling father's estate; that +it's going to be opened up and that we've got to give back what we got +from it. The 'Advertiser' had all that this morning. Perry brought me +his paper and we talked it over before I came in. He said it wasn't any +of my business; but I think it is. We owe it to father—all of us—if +there's anything wrong, to show our willingness to open up the estate. I +thought I'd like to tell your father that."</p> + +<p>"We've got to turn back here. I understand how you feel, but I can't +advise you about that. That article said you weren't responsible—it +said in very unpleasant words that you had been robbed, and that giving +you the farm and making you think that was your fair share was a part of +the fraud. If they should go into that, you might get a lot more. Isn't +that so?"</p> + +<p>"I don't believe Charlie did it; I don't believe it any more than I +believe that my father made money unfairly out of the building of the +trolley line. But it's up to us to reply to this attack in a way to stop +all criticism. We can't have people thinking such things about us," he +went on more earnestly. "It's ghastly! And I'm going to surrender the +farm; I won't keep it if these things are true or half true. I won't +hold an acre of it until these questions are settled!"</p> + +<p>"That sounds square enough. But I don't know anything about it. Just on +general principles, as long as you're not mixed up in the fuss, I'd hang +on to my farm, particularly if you were entitled to more than you got. +But you need a lawyer, not a girl to talk to."</p> + +<p>"I suppose that's so; and I oughtn't to have talked to you about it at +all. But somehow—"</p> + +<p>They had reached the Bartletts' again and Phil paused with her hand on +the gate. She had decided not to ask him in to luncheon; his mood was +not one that promised well for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>a luncheon party; and Nan, at least, had +clearly manifested her unfriendliness toward all the Holtons.</p> + +<p>"Somehow, I felt that I'd like to tell you how I felt about it. I +shouldn't want you to think we were as bad as that story in the +'Advertiser' makes us out."</p> + +<p>"That's all right, Fred. This will all come out right"; and Phil swung +open the gate and stepped into the little yard.</p> + +<p>"I want," said Fred, detainingly, speaking across the gate; "I want you +to think well of me! I care a good deal about what you think of me!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, everybody thinks well of you!" answered Phil, and caught up the +drumstick and announced herself.</p> +<br /> +<br /><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>TURKEY RUN</h3> +<br /> + +<p>A week before Christmas Mrs. William Holton gave a sleigh-ride and +skating-party for a niece from Memphis, and Phil was invited. She +mentioned the matter to her father, and asked him what she should do +about it.</p> + +<p>He had come back from Indianapolis in good spirits, and told her that +the affairs of the traction company had been adjusted and that he hoped +there would be no more trouble. He seemed infinitely relieved by the +outcome, and his satisfaction expressed itself to her observing eyes in +many ways. The confidence reposed in him by his old friend, the counsel +of the Desbrosses Trust & Guaranty Company, had not only pleased him, +but the success that had attended his efforts to adjust the traction +company's difficulties without resorting to the courts had strengthened +his waning self-confidence. He even appeared in a new suit of clothes, +and with his beard cut shorter than he usually wore it,—changes that +evoked the raillery in which Phil liked to indulge herself. He was +promised the care of certain other Western interests of the Trust +Company, and he had been offered a partnership in Indianapolis by one of +the best lawyers in the state.</p> + +<p>"Things are looking up, Phil. If another year had gone by in the old +way, I should have been ready for the scrap heap. But I miss the cooking +our poverty introduced me to; and I shan't have any more time for +fooling with excursions into Picardy with the Gray Knight. By the way, I +found some strange manuscript on my desk at the office to-day. If you've +take up the literary life you'll have to be careful how you leave your +vestigia in lawyers' offices. It was page eighteen of something that I +took the liberty of reading, and I thirsted for more."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>She had not told him about "The Dogs of Main Street," wishing to wait +until she could put the magazine containing it into his hands. Under the +stimulus of the acceptance of her sketch she had been scratching +vigorously in her spare moments. Having begun with dogs she meditated an +attack upon man, and the incriminating page she had left behind in her +father's office was a part of a story she was writing based upon an +incident that had occurred at a reunion of Captain Wilson's regiment +that fall in Montgomery. A man who had been drummed out of the regiment +for cowardice suddenly reappeared among his old comrades with an +explanation that restored him to honored fellowship. Phil had elaborated +the real incident as Captain Wilson described it, and invested it with +the element of "suspense," which she had read somewhere was essential to +the short story.</p> + +<p>Phil was living just now in a state of exaltation. She began a notebook +after the manner of Hawthorne's, and was astonished at the ease with +which she filled its pages. Now that her interest was aroused she saw +"material" everywhere. The high school had given her German and French, +and having heard her father say that the French were the great masters +of fiction, she addressed herself to Balzac and Hugo. The personalities +of favorite contemporaneous writers interested her tremendously, and she +sought old files of literary periodicals that she might inform herself +as to their methods of work. She kept Lamb and Stevenson on the stand by +her bed and read them religiously every night. There had never been any +fun like this! Her enjoyment of this secret inner life was so satisfying +that she wished no one might ever know of it. She wrote and rewrote +sentences and paragraphs, thrust them away into the drawers of the long +table in her room to mellow—she had got this phrase from Nan,—and then +dug them out in despair that they seemed so lifeless. She planned no end +of books and confidently set down titles for these unborn masterpieces. +Nan and Rose marked the change in her. At times she sat with her chin +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>in her hand staring into vacancy. The two women speculated about this +and wondered whether her young soul was not in the throes of a first +love affair.</p> + +<p>Now that fortune smiled upon her father Phil's happiness marked new +attitudes, with no cloud to darken the misty-blue horizons of her +dreams. She meant to be very good to her father. And as to his marrying +Nan, she was giving much time to plots for furthering their romance.</p> + +<p>"Fred Holton was looking for you the other day. I suppose you haven't +seen him."</p> + +<p>"Yes; he came to Indianapolis and saw me at the hotel. I remember that +he was at your party, but I don't recall how you got acquainted with +him?"</p> + +<p>Phil laughed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that last night we camped at Turkey Run I wandered off by myself +and met him in the funniest fashion, over by the Holton barn. They were +having a dance—Charlie and Ethel, and Fred was watching the revel from +afar, and saw me dancing like an idiot round the corn-shocks. And I +talked to him across the fence and watched the dance in the barn until +you blew the horn. I didn't tell you about it because it seemed so +silly—and then I thought you wouldn't like my striking up acquaintances +with those people. But Fred is nice, I think."</p> + +<p>"He seems to be a very earnest young person. He came to me on a business +matter in a spirit that is to his credit."</p> + +<p>Phil had decided, in view of Nan's unlooked-for arraignment, to give her +father another chance to express himself as to her further social +relations with the Holtons.</p> + +<p>"Daddy dear, I want you to tell me honestly whether you have any feeling +about those people," she said when they were established at the fireside +for the evening. "Of course, you know that one's aunts were responsible +for asking them to Amy's party; it wasn't Amy's doings; but if you want +me to keep clear of them I'll do it. Please tell me the truth—just how +you feel about it."</p> + +<p>"Phil," said Kirkwood, meeting her eyes steadily, "those <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>aunts of yours +are silly women—with vain, foolish, absurd ideals. They didn't consult +me about asking the Holtons because I'm a stupid old frump, and it +didn't make any difference whether I'd like it or not. But I'm eternally +grateful that they did it; and I'm glad that other man came back just as +he did. For all those things showed me that the years have blotted out +any feeling I had against them. I haven't a bit, Phil. Maybe I ought to +have; but however that may be there's no bitterness in my soul. And I'm +glad I've discovered that; it's a greater relief to me than I can +describe."</p> + +<p>His smile, the light touch he gave her hands, carried conviction. The +discussion seemed to afford him relief.</p> + +<p>"So far as the Holtons concern me, there's peace between our houses. +It's perfectly easy for a man to shoot another who has done him a wrong; +but it doesn't help any, for,"—and he smiled the smile that Phil loved +in him—"for the man being dead can't know how much his enemy enjoys his +taking off! Murder, as a fine art, Phil, falls short right there."</p> + +<p>He had not mentioned her mother; and Phil wondered whether she too +shared this amnesty. It was inconceivable that he should have forgiven +the man if he still harbored hatred of the woman.</p> + +<p>With a sudden impulse she rose and caught his face in her hands.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you marry Nan, daddy?"</p> + +<p>She saw the color deepen in his cheeks and a startled look came into his +eyes.</p> + +<p>"What madness is this, Phil?" he asked, with an effort at lightness.</p> + +<p>"It means that I think it would be nice—nice for you and Nan and nice +for me. I can see her here, sitting right there in that chair that she +always sits in when she comes. I think it would be fun—lots of fun for +her to be here all the time, so we wouldn't always be trailing over +there."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>He laughed; she felt that he was not sorry that she had spoken of Nan.</p> + +<p>"Are we always trailing over there? I suppose they really are our best +friends. But there is Rose, you know. Wouldn't she look just as much at +home in her particular chair as Nan?"</p> + +<p>"Well, Rose is fine, too, but Rose is different."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you think there's a difference, do you?"</p> + +<p>He picked up a book, turned over the leaves idly, and when he spoke +again it was not of Nan.</p> + +<p>"If you want to go to Mrs. Holton's party it's all right, Phil. I +suppose most of the young people will be there."</p> + +<p>"Yes; it's a large party."</p> + +<p>"Then go and have a good time. And Phil—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, daddy."</p> + +<p>"Be careful what foolish notions you get into your head."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Mrs. William Holton undeniably did things with an air. It may have been +an expression of her relief at having disposed of Jack Holton so quickly +and effectively—he had vanished immediately after his interview with +William in the bank—that her sleigh-ride and skating-party as +originally planned grew into a function that well-nigh obscured Phil's +"coming-out." It began with a buffet luncheon at home, followed by the +ride countryward in half a dozen bob-sleds and sleighs of all +descriptions. It was limited to the young people, and Phil found that +all her friends were included. Ethel and Charles Holton had come over +from Indianapolis to assist their aunt in her entertainment.</p> + +<p>"Mighty nice to find you here!" said Charles to Phil as he stood beside +her on the sidewalk waiting for their appointed "bob." "And you may be +sure I'm glad to get a day off. I tell you this business life is a +grind. It's what General Sherman said war is. I suppose your father told +you what a time we've been having straightening out the traction tangle. +Scandal—most outrageous lying—but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>that father of yours is a master +negotiator. He ought to be in the diplomatic service."</p> + +<p>He looked at her guardedly with a quick narrowing of the eyes.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I suppose it wasn't really so serious," said Phil indifferently. +"Father never brings business home with him and I only know that I don't +like having him away so much."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Holton, "I don't doubt that you miss him. But Montgomery is +getting gay. Over in Indianapolis there's more doing, of course, and +bigger parties; but they don't have the good old home flavor. It's these +informal gatherings of boys and girls who have known each other all +their lives that count."</p> + +<p>It was the brightest of winter days, with six inches of snow, and cold +enough to set young blood tingling. They set off with a merry jingling +of bells and drove through town to advertise their gayety before turning +countryward. The destination was Turkey Run, that fantastic anomaly of +the Hoosier landscape, where Montgomery did much of its picnicking.</p> + +<p>A scout sent ahead the day before had chosen a stretch of ice where the +creek broadened serenely after its bewilderingly tumultuous course +through the gorge. There the ice was even and solid and the snow had +been scraped away. In the defile, sheltered by its high rocky banks, +bonfires were roaring. The party quickly divided itself into twos—why +is it that parties always effect that subdivision with any sort of +opportunity?—and the skaters were off.</p> + +<p>Phil loved skating as she loved all sports that gave free play to her +strong young limbs. The hero of the Thanksgiving football game had +attached himself to her, but Phil, resenting his airs of proprietorship, +deserted him after one turn.</p> + +<p>As her blood warmed, her spirits rose. The exercise and the keen air +sent her pulses bounding. It was among the realizations of her new inner +life that physical exercise <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>stimulated her mental processes. To-day +lines, verses, couplets—her own or fragments of her reading—tumbled +madly over each other in her head. No one ranged the ice more swiftly or +daringly. She had put aside her coat and donned her sweater—not the old +relic of the basketball team, but a new one from her fall outfit, which +included also the prettiest of fur toques. The color was bright in her +cheeks and the light shone in her eyes as she moved up and down the +course with long, even strides or let herself fly at the boundaries, or +turned in graceful curves. Skating was almost as much fun as swimming, +and even better fun than paddling a canoe.</p> + +<p>She kept free of companions for nearly an hour, taunting those who tried +to intercept her, and racing away from several cavaliers who combined in +an effort to corner her. Then having gained the heights of her +imaginings, she was ready to be a social being once more.</p> + +<p>Charles Holton, who had viewed her flights with admiration as he helped +the timid and awkward tyros of the company, swung into step with her.</p> + +<p>"It's wonderful how you do it? Please be kind to me a mere mortal!"</p> + +<p>He caught her pace and they moved along together at ease. Her mood had +changed and she let him talk all he liked and as he liked. They had met +twice at parties since she had snubbed him at Amzi's the night of her +presentation, and he had made it plain that he admired her. He +contrasted advantageously with the young gentlemen of Montgomery. He was +less afraid of being polite, or his politeness was less self-conscious +and showed a higher polish. He had twice sent her roses and once a new +novel, and these remembrances had not been without their effect. It was +imaginable that his tolerance of the simple sociabilities of Montgomery +was attributable to an interest in Phil, who dreamed a great deal these +days; and there was space enough in the ivory tower of her fancy to +enshrine lovers innumerable. Charles was a personable young man, +impressionable <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>and emotional, and not without imagination of his own. +Her humor, and the healthy common-sense philosophy that flowered from +it, were the girl's only protection from her own emotionalism and +susceptibility. Even in the larger world of the capital there was no +girl as pretty as Phil, Charles assured himself; she was not only +agreeable to look at, but she piqued him by her indifference to his +advances. His usual cajoleries only provoked retorts that left him +blinking, not certain whether they were intended to humble him or to +stimulate him to more daring efforts.</p> + +<p>"You're the only girl in the bunch who skates as though she loved it. +You do everything as though it was your last hour on earth and you meant +to make the most of it. I like that. It's the way I feel about things +myself. If I had your spirit I'd conquer the world."</p> + +<p>"Well, the world is here to be conquered," said Phil. "What peak have +you picked to plant your flag on?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I want money first—you've got to have it these days to do things +with; and then I think I'd like power. I'd go in for politics—the +governor's chair or the senate. If father hadn't died he could have got +the governorship easy; he was entitled to it and it would have come +along just in the course of things. What would you like to do best of +all?"</p> + +<p>"If I told you, you wouldn't believe it. I don't want a thing I haven't +got—not a single thing. On a day like this everything is mine—that +long piece of woods over there—black against the blue sky—and the +creek underfoot—I couldn't ask for a single other thing!"</p> + +<p>"But there must be a goal you want to reach—everybody has that."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you're talking about to-morrow! and this is to-day. And sufficient +unto the day is the joy thereof. If I ever told anybody what I mean to +do to-morrow, it would be spoiled. I'm full of dark secrets that I never +tell any one."</p> + +<p>"But you might tell me—I'm the best possible person to tell secrets +to."</p> + +<p>"I can't be sure of that, when I hardly know you at all."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>"That's mighty cruel, you know, when I feel as though I had known you +always."</p> + +<p>He tried to throw feeling into this, but the time and place and her +vigorous strides over the ice did not encourage sentiment.</p> + +<p>"You oughtn't to tell girls that you feel you have known them always. It +isn't complimentary. You ought to express sorrow that they are so +difficult to know and play the card that you hope by great humility and +perseverance one day to know them. That is the line I should take if I +were a man."</p> + +<p>He laughed at this. There were undoubted fastnesses in her nature that +were not easily attainable. She seemed to him amazingly mature in +certain ways, and in others she was astonishingly childlike.</p> + +<p>"They say you're a genius; that you're going to do wonderful things," he +said.</p> + +<p>"Who says it?" asked Phil practically, but not without interest.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my aunt says it; she says other people say it."</p> + +<p>"Well, my aunts haven't said it," remarked Phil. "According to them my +only genius is for doing the wrong thing."</p> + +<p>"We needn't any of us expect to be appreciated in our own families. +That's always the way. You read a lot, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"I like to read; but you can read a lot without being a genius. Geniuses +don't have to read—they know it all without reading. So there's that."</p> + +<p>"I'll wager you write, too;—confess now that you do!"</p> + +<p>"Letters to my father when he's away from home—one every night. But he +isn't away very much."</p> + +<p>"But stories and things like that. Yes; don't deny it: you mean to be a +writer! I'm sure you can succeed at that. Lots of women do; some of the +best writers are women. You will write novels like—like—George Eliot."</p> + +<p>Phil laughed her derision of the idea.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>"She knew a lot; more than I could ever know if I studied all my life. +But there's only one George Eliot; I'm hardly likely—just Phil Kirkwood +in Montgomery, Indiana,—to be number two."</p> + +<p>The direction of the talk was grateful to her. It was pleasant to feel +the warmth of his interest in her new secret aims without having to +acknowledge them. It was flattering that he surmised the line of her +interests, and spoke of them so kindly and sympathetically.</p> + +<p>"I try to do some reading all the time," he went on; "but a business man +hasn't much chance. Still, I usually keep something worth while on the +center table, and when I travel I carry some good book with me. I like +pictures, too, and music; and those things you miss in a town like +Montgomery."</p> + +<p>"Well, Montgomery is interesting just the same," said Phil defensively. +"The people are all so nice and folksy."</p> + +<p>He hastened to disavow any intention of slurring the town. He should +always feel that it was home, no matter how far he might wander. He +explained, in the confidence that seemed to be establishing itself +between them, that there was a remote possibility that he might return +to Montgomery and go into the bank with his uncle, who needed +assistance. It was desirable, he explained, to keep the management of +the bank in the hands of the family.</p> + +<p>"You know," he went on, "they printed outrageous stories about all of us +in the 'Advertiser.' They were the meanest sort of lies, but I'd like +you to know that we met the issue squarely. I've turned over to your +father as trustee all the property they claimed we had come by +dishonestly. The world will never know this, for your father shut up the +newspapers—it was quite wonderful the way he managed it all;—and, of +course, it doesn't make any difference what the world thinks. This was +my affair, the honor of my family, and a matter of my own conscience."</p> + +<p>Her knowledge of the traction muddle was sufficient to afford a +background of plausibility for this highminded <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>renunciation. There was +something likable in Charles Holton. His volubility, which had +prejudiced her against him in the beginning, seemed now to speak for a +frankness that appealed to her. There was no reason for his telling her +these things unless he cared for her good opinion; and it was not +disagreeable to find that this man, who was ten years her senior and +possessed of what struck her as an ample experience of life, should be +at pains to entrench himself in her regard.</p> + +<p>As she made no reply other than to meet his eyes in a look of +sympathetic comprehension, he went on:—</p> + +<p>"You won't mind my saying that we were all terribly cut up over Uncle +Jack's coming back here; but I guess we've disposed of him. I don't +think he's likely to trouble Montgomery very much. Uncle Will had it out +with him the day after he showed up so disgracefully at your party; and, +of course, Uncle Jack would never have done that if he had been himself. +He went to Indianapolis and tried to make a lot of trouble for all of +us, but that was where your father showed himself the fine man he is. I +guess it isn't easy to put anything over on that father of yours; he's +got the brains and character to meet any difficulty squarely."</p> + +<p>Phil murmured her appreciation. They had paused in the middle of the +course and were idly cutting figures, keeping within easy conversational +range.</p> + +<p>"Your initials are hard to do," said Holton, backing into line beside +her and indicating the letters his skates had traced on the surface. The +"P. K." was neatly done. Phil without comment etched a huge "C" and then +cut an "H" within its long loop.</p> + +<p>"Splendid! You are the best skater I ever saw! I'd like to cut that out +and keep it in cold storage as a souvenir."</p> + +<p>This did not please her so much as his references to her hidden +ambitions, and seeing that she failed to respond, and fearing one of her +taunts, he led the way toward the gorge. It was four o'clock, and +already shadows were darkening the deep vale where most of the skaters +had now gathered <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>about the bonfires. Phil's popularity was attested by +the tone in which the company greeted her. She sat down on a log and +entered into their give-and-take light-heartedly, while Holton +unfastened her skates. He had found her coat and thrown it round her +shoulders. He was very thoughtful and attentive, and his interest in her +had not gone unremarked.</p> + +<p>"We were just wondering," said one of the girls, "whether anybody here +was sport enough to scale that wall in the winter? We've saved that for +you, Phil."</p> + +<p>Phil lifted her head and scanned the steep slope. She had scaled it +often; in fact one of her earliest remembered adventures had been an +inglorious tumble into the creek as the reward of her temerity. That was +in her sixth year when she had clambered up the cliff a few yards in +pursuit of a chipmunk.</p> + +<p>"I haven't done that for several moons; but I have done it, children. +There wouldn't be any point in doing it, of course, if anybody else had +done it—I mean to-day, with ice all over the side."</p> + +<p>"You mustn't think of it, Phil," said Mrs. Holton, glancing up +anxiously.</p> + +<p>"I shan't think of it, Mrs. Holton, unless somebody says it can't be +done. I'm not going to take a dare."</p> + +<p>"Just for that," said Charles, "I'm going to do it myself."</p> + +<p>"Better not tackle it," said one of the college boys, eyeing the cliff +critically. "I've done it in summer, and it's hard enough then; but you +can see how the ice and snow cover all the footholds. You'd have to do +it with ropes the way they climb the Alps."</p> + +<p>Holton looked at Phil as she sat huddled in her coat. It was in her eyes +that she did not think he would attempt it, and he resented her lack of +faith in his courage.</p> + +<p>"I don't think," she remarked, helping herself to a sandwich, "that +anybody's going to be cruel enough to make me do it."</p> + +<p>"If I do it," said Holton, "no one else will ever have to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>try it again +in winter. It will be like discovering the North Pole—there's nothing +in it for the second man."</p> + +<p>"You're not going to try it! Please don't!" cried Mrs. Holton. "If you +got hurt it would spoil the party for everybody."</p> + +<p>"Don't worry, Aunt Nellie. It's as easy as walking home."</p> + +<p>He was already throwing off his overcoat, measuring the height and +choosing a place for his ascent.</p> + +<p>Amid a chorus of protests and taunts he began climbing rapidly. Phil +rose and watched him with sophisticated eyes as he began mounting. She +saw at once that he had chosen the least fortunate place in the whole +face of the declivity for an ascent. There were two or three faintly +scratched paths, by which the adventurous sometimes struggled to the +top, and she had herself experimented with all of them; but Holton had +essayed the most precipitous and hazardous point for his attempt.</p> + +<p>At the start he sprang agilely up the limestone which for a distance +thrust out rough shelves with ladder-like regularity; and when this +failed, he caught at the wild tangle of frozen shrubbery and clutched +the saplings that had hopefully taken root wherever patches of earth +gave the slightest promise of succor. As his difficulties increased a +hush fell upon the spectators.</p> + +<p>He accomplished half the ascent, and paused to rest, clinging with one +hand to a slender maple. He turned and waved his cap, and was greeted +with a cheer.</p> + +<p>"Better let it go at that!" called one of the young men. "Come on back."</p> + +<p>Charles flung down a contemptuous answer and addressed himself to the +more difficult task beyond. Particles of ice and frozen earth detached +by his upward scramble clattered down noisily. Withered leaves, shaken +free from niches where the winds had gathered them, showered fitfully +into the valley. He began drawing himself along by shrubs and young +trees that covered a long outward curve in the face of the cliff. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>Those +below heard the crackle of frozen twigs, and the swish of released +boughs that marked his progress. Phil stood watching him with an +absorbed interest in which fear became dominant. Better than the others +Phil knew the perils of the cliff, the scant footholds offered by even +the least formidable points in the rough surface.</p> + +<p>He was rounding the bulging crag with its sparse vegetation when, as he +seemed to have cleared it safely, a sapling that he had grasped for a +moment yielded, and he tumbled backward.</p> + +<p>Those below could see his frantic struggles to check his descent as his +body shot downward with lightning-like swiftness. A short clump of +bushes caught and held him for an instant, then gave way, and they saw +him struggling for another hold. Then a shelf of rock caught him. He lay +flat for a moment afraid to move, and those below could not see him. +Then he sat up and waved his cap, and shouted that he was safe.</p> + +<p>The awe-struck crowd hardly knew what Phil was doing until she had +crossed the ice and begun to climb. While Charles was still crashing +downward, she had run to a favorable point her quick eyes had marked and +was climbing up a well-remembered trail. The snow and ice had increased +its hazards, and an ominous crackling and snapping of twigs attended her +flight.</p> + +<p>"Come back! Come back!" they called to her. Half a dozen young men +plunged after her; but already well advanced, she cried to them not to +follow.</p> + +<p>"Tell him to stay where he is," she called; and was again nimbly +creeping upward. There was no way to arrest or help her, and she had +clearly set forth with a definite purpose and could not be brought back. +Cries of horror marked every sound as her white sweater became the +target of anxious eyes.</p> + +<p>The white sweater paused, hung for tremulous instants, was lost and +discernible again. A frozen clod, loosened as she clutched at the +projecting roots of a young beech, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>ricocheted behind her. Her course, +paralleling that taken by Holton, was about ten yards to the left of it. +To those below it seemed that her ascent was only doubling the hour's +peril. Charles, perched on the rock that had seemingly flung out its arm +to save him, was measuring his chances of escape without knowing that +Phil was climbing toward him.</p> + +<p>As she drew nearer he heard the sounds of her ascent, and peering over +saw the sweater dangling like a white ball from the cliff-side.</p> + +<p>"Go down, Phil! You can't make it; nobody can do it! Tell the boys to +get a rope," he shouted. "Please go back!"</p> + +<p>Already messengers had run for assistance, but the little cañon in its +pocket-like isolation was so shut in that it was a mile to the nearest +house.</p> + +<p>Along the tiny thread of a trail, transformed by sleet and snow until it +was scarcely recognizable, Phil pressed on steadily. Charles, seeing +that she would not go back, ceased his entreaties, fearing to confuse or +alarm her. Her hands caught strong boughs with certainty; the tiny twigs +slapped her face spitefully. Here and there she flung herself flat +against the rocky surface and crept guardedly; then she was up dancing +from one vantage-point to another, until finally she paused, clinging to +a sapling slightly above Holton. When she had got her breath she called +an "All right!" that echoed and reëchoed through the valley.</p> + +<p>"You thought you could do it, didn't you?" she said mockingly; "and now +I've had to spoil my clothes to get you off that shelf."</p> + +<p>"For God's sake, stay where you are! There's nothing you can do for me. +The boys have gone round to bring a rope, and until they come you must +stay right there!"</p> + +<p>Phil, still panting, laughed derisively.</p> + +<p>"You're perfectly ridiculous—pinned to a rock like Prometheus—Simeon +on his pillar! But it wouldn't be dignified for you to let the boys haul +you up by a rope. You'd never live that down. They'll be years getting a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>rope; and it would be far from comfortable to sit there all night."</p> + +<p>While she chaffed she was measuring distances and calculating chances. +The shelf which had caught him was the broader part of a long edge of +outcrop. Phil beat among the bushes to determine how much was exposed, +but the ledge was too narrow for a foothold.</p> + +<p>"Please stop there and don't move!" Holton pleaded. "If you break your +neck, I'd never forgive myself, and I'd never be forgiven."</p> + +<p>Phil laughed her scorn of his fears and began creeping upward again. The +situation appealed to her both by reason of its danger and its humor; +there was nothing funnier than the idea of Charlie Holton immured on a +rock, waiting to be hauled up from the top of the cliff. She meant to +extricate him from his difficulties: she had set herself the task; it +was like a dare. Her quick eyes searching the rough slope noted a tree +between her and the shelf where Holton clung, watching her and +continuing his entreaties not to heed him, but to look out for her own +safety. Its roots were well planted in an earthy cleft and its +substantial air inspired confidence. It had been off the line of his +precipitous descent and he had already tried to reach it; but in the +cautious tiptoeing to which his efforts were limited by the slight +margin of safety afforded by the rock he could not touch it.</p> + +<p>"If I swing down from that tree and reach as far as I can, you ought to +be able to catch my hand; and if you can I'll pull, and you can make +your feet walk pitty-pat up the side."</p> + +<p>Her face, aglow from the climb, hung just above him. She had thrown off +her hat when she began the ascent and her hair was in disorder. Her eyes +were bright with excitement and fun. It was immensely to her +liking—this situation: her blood sang with the joy of it. She addressed +him with mocking composure.</p> + +<p>"It's so easy it isn't right to take the money."</p> + +<p>He protested that it was a foolish risk when he would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>certainly be +rescued in a short time. She, too, must remain where she was until the +ropes were brought.</p> + +<p>"They never do that way in books," said Phil. "If I'd taken that tumble, +some man would have rescued me; and now that you're there, it's only +fair that I should pull you off. If I hadn't as good as told you you +couldn't, you wouldn't be there. That's the simple philosophy of that. +All ready! Here goes!"</p> + +<p>Clinging to the tree with her knees to get a better grip she swung +herself down as far as possible. The sapling bent, but held stoutly. +Holton ceased protesting, held up his arms to catch her if she fell; +then as she repeated her "ready," he tiptoed, but barely touched her +finger-tips. She drew back slowly to gather strength for another effort. +It was the most foolhardy of undertakings. Only the tree, with its +questionable hold upon the cliff-side, held her above the gorge. She +strained her arms to the utmost; their finger-tips touched and she +clasped his hand. There was a tense moment; then her aid making it +possible, he dug his feet into the little crevices of the rocky surface +and began creeping up.</p> + +<p>Once begun there was no letting go. The maple under their combined +weight curved like a bow. Phil set her teeth hard; her arms strained +until it seemed they would break. Then, as Holton began to aid himself +with his free hand, his weight diminished, and in one of these seconds +of relief, Phil braced herself for a supreme effort and drew him toward +her until he clutched the tree. He dragged himself up, and flung himself +down beside her. Neither spoke for several minutes. Those of the party +who remained below were now calling wildly to know what had happened.</p> + +<p>"Trumpet the tidings that we are safe," said Phil when she had got her +breath.</p> + +<p>"That was awful; horrible! What did you do it for? It was so absurd—so +unnecessary!" he cried, relief and anger mingling in his tone. "The +horror of it—I'll never get over it as long as I live."</p> + +<p>"Forget it," said Phil. "It was just a lark. But now that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>it's over, +I'll confess that I thought for about half a second—just before you +began edging up a little—that I'd have to let go. But don't you ever +tell anybody I said so; that's marked confidential."</p> + +<p>The note was obviously forced. Her heart still pounded hard and +weariness was written plainly in her face. Now that the stress of the +half-hour had passed, she was not without regret for what she had done. +Her father would not be pleased; her uncle would rebuke her sharply; her +aunts would shudder as much at the publicity her wild adventure was sure +to bring her as at the hazard itself. She was conscious of the +admiration in Holton's eyes; conscious, indeed, of something more than +that.</p> + +<p>"I want to know that you did that for me: I must think so!" he said +hoarsely.</p> + +<p>His lips trembled and his hands shook. Her foolhardiness had placed both +their lives in jeopardy. It pleased him to think that she had saved his +life—whereas in strictest truth she had only added to his peril.</p> + +<p>"I didn't do it for you: I did it for fun," she replied shortly; and yet +deep down in her heart she did not dislike his words or the intense +manner in which he spoke them. Her dallyings with boys of her own age, +with only now and then a discreet flirtation with one of the college +seniors, comprised her personal experiences of romance.</p> + +<p>"You are beautiful—wonderful! Yours is the bravest soul in the world. I +loved you the day I first saw you in your father's office. Phil—"</p> + +<p>For a moment his hand lay upon hers that was trembling still from its +grip of the tree.</p> + +<p>"We must climb to the top; the joke will be spoiled if we let them help +us," she cried, springing to her feet. "Come! The way will be easier +along the old path."</p> + +<p>Across the vale some one hallooed to them. Her white sweater was clearly +printed against the cliff and a man on the edge of the farther side +stood with the light of the declining sun playing round him. The ravine +narrowed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>here and the distance across was not more than a hundred +yards.</p> + +<p>Phil fluttered her handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"It's Fred!" she said. "See! There by the big sycamore."</p> + +<p>Fred waved his cap, then dropped his arm to his side and stood, a +sentinel-like figure, at the edge of his acres, etched in heroic outline +against the winter sky. His trousers were thrust into his boots; the +collar of the mackinaw coat he wore at his work was turned up about his +throat. He leaned upon an axe with which he had been cutting the coarser +brush in the fence corners. The wind ruffled his hair as he stood thus, +in the fading light. He had been busy all afternoon and quite unmindful +of his aunt's party, to which, for reasons sufficient to that lady, he +had not been bidden.</p> + +<p>A sense of his rugged simplicity and manliness seemed to be borne to +Phil across the ravine. Something in Fred Holton touched her with a kind +of pathos—there was in him something of her father's patience, and +something of his capacity for suffering. As she looked he swung the axe +upon his shoulders and struck off homeward across the fields.</p> + +<p>Charles sprang ahead of her and began the remainder of the ascent. It +was he who was now impatient.</p> + +<p>"We must hurry unless you want the crowd to carry us up."</p> + +<p>"Let me go ahead," she answered, ignoring the hand he reached down to +her, and eager to finish the undertaking. "There's nothing hard about +the rest of it and I know every inch of the path."</p> +<br /> +<br /><a name="XV" id="XV"></a> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>LOIS</h3> +<br /> + +<p>A lady stepped from the westbound train at Montgomery just at nightfall +on the day before Christmas. The porter of the parlor car pulled down +more luggage than travellers usually bring to Montgomery, and its +surfaces were plastered with steamship and hotel labels. Amzi +Montgomery, who had been lurking in the shadow of the baggage-room for +some time, advanced and shook hands hurriedly.</p> + +<p>"Well, Lois!"</p> + +<p>"Well, Amzi!"</p> + +<p>In the electric-lighted shed the lady might have been seen to smile at +the brevity and colorlessness of this exchange, or possibly at the haste +with which Amzi was crossing the platform to the hack-stand.</p> + +<p>"Here are my checks, please, Amzi. Don't be discouraged—there are only +six of them!" she said cheerfully; her remarks being punctuated by the +thump of her trunks as they were tumbled out of the baggage-car. She +stood glancing about with careless interest while Amzi shouted for the +transfer man. She trailed her umbrella composedly as she idled about the +platform, refreshing herself with deep inhalations of the crisp December +air, while Amzi ordered the trunks delivered to his own house.</p> + +<p>Her brother's perturbation was in no wise reflected in Mrs. Holton's +manner. To all appearances she was at peace with the world, and +evidently the world had treated her kindly. Her handsome sables spoke +for prosperity, her hat for excellent taste; she was neatly gloved and +booted. She gave an impression of smoothness and finish. In her right +hand she carried a tiny purse, which she loosened carelessly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>from time +to time, letting it swing by its chain, and catching it again with a +graceful gesture.</p> + +<p>"The town may have changed," she remarked, when Amzi came back and put +her into the dingy carriage, "but the hacks haven't. I recall the faint +bouquet of old times. That must be the court-house clock," she +continued, peeping from the window. "They were building the new +courthouse about the time I left. I miss something; it must be the old +familiar jiggle of the streets. Asphalt? Really! I suppose the good +citizens have screamed and protested at the improvements, as good +citizens always do. It's stuffy in here. If you don't mind, Amzi, we'll +have some air."</p> + +<p>She gave the strap a jerk and the window dropped with a bang.</p> + +<p>"How's your asthma these days? You never speak of yourself in your +letters, and when I saw you in Chicago I didn't like your wheeze."</p> + +<p>"Thunder! I haven't got the asthma. I'm as fit as a fiddle. Doctors tell +me to watch my blood pressure and cut off my toddies. Remember? I used +to like 'em pretty well."</p> + +<p>"Verily you did!"—and she laughed merrily. "You used to mix a toddy +about once a month as near as I can remember. Frightful dissipation! +Unless you've changed mightily, you're a model, Amzi; a figure to point +young men and maidens to. Whee!" she exclaimed as the hack rattled +across the interurban track in Main Street, "behold the lights! Not so +different from Paris after all. What did I see there—Hastings's +Theater? Didn't that use to be the Grand Opera House? What a fall, my +countrymen! That must be where our illustrious brother-in-law holds +forth in royal splendor. What's his first name, Amzi?"</p> + +<p>"Lawr<i>i</i>nce," he replied, and she saw him grin broadly as the light from +an overhead lamp shone upon them. "That's what Phil calls him."</p> + +<p>"Phil's at home, of course?"</p> + +<p>This was her first reference to Phil, and she had spoken <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>of her +daughter carelessly, casually. Amzi shuffled his feet on the hack floor.</p> + +<p>"I guess Phil's back; she's been in Indianapolis. Phil's all right. +There's nothing the matter with Phil."</p> + +<p>He was so used to declaring Phil's all-rightness to his other sisters +that the defensive attitude was second nature. His tone was not lost +upon Lois and she replied quickly:—</p> + +<p>"Of course, Phil's all right; I just wondered whether she were at home."</p> + +<p>"She's with Tom," Amzi added; and as the hack had reached his house he +clambered out and bade the driver carry in the bags.</p> + +<p>She paused midway of the walk that led in from the street and surveyed +the near landscape. This had been her father's house, and there within a +stone's throw stood the cottage in which she had begun her married life. +The street lights outlined it dimly, and her gaze passed on to the other +houses upon the Montgomery acres, in which her sisters lived. These had +not been there when she left, and the change they effected interested +her, though, it seemed, not deeply.</p> + +<p>The door was opened by a white-jacketed Negro.</p> + +<p>"This is my sister, Mrs. Holton, Jerry. You can take her things right up +to the front room."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sah. Good-evenin', ma'am; good-evenin'. Mighty fine weather we're +havin'; yes, ma'am, it shore is cole."</p> + +<p>He helped her deftly, grinning with the joy of his hospitable race in +"company," and pleased with the richness of the coat he was hanging +carefully on the old rack in the hall.</p> + +<p>"Tell Sarah we'll have supper right away. Want to go to your room now, +Lois?"</p> + +<p>"Thanks, no; I'm hungry and the thought of food interests me. You don't +dress for dinner, do you, Amzi?"</p> + +<p>"Thunder, no! I'll put on my slippers and change my collar. Back in a +minute."</p> + +<p>As he climbed the stairs she gave herself an instant's inspection in the +oblong gilt-framed mirror over the drawing-room mantel, touching her +hair lightly with her fingers, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>and then moved through the rooms humming +softly. When Amzi came down she met him in the hall.</p> + +<p>"Well, old fellow, it's wonderful how you don't change! You're no fatter +than you were twenty years ago, but your hair has gone back on you +scandalously. Kiss me!"</p> + +<p>She put her arm round his neck and when the kiss had been administered, +patted his cheeks with her small delicate hands. Supper was announced +immediately and she put her arm through his as they walked to the +dining-room.</p> + +<p>"It's a dear old house, just as it always was; and it's like your +sentimental old soul to hang on to it. Sentiment counts, after all, +Amzi. Too bad you had to be a banker, when I distinctly remember how you +used to drive us all crazy with your flute; and you did spout Byron—you +know you did! You ought to travel; there's nothing like it—a +sentimental pilgrimage would brighten you up. If I couldn't move around +I'd die. But I always was a restless animal. Dear me! If this isn't the +same old dinner service father bought when we were youngsters. It's +wonderful that you've kept it; but I don't miss a thing. You've even +hung on to the old double-barreled pickle thing and the revolving +castor."</p> + +<p>She tasted her soup with satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"I can see that you are not averse to the fleshpots. I dare say your +bachelor establishment is a model. Don't the neighbors try to break in +and steal the help? As I remember Fanny she always took the easiest way +round. Which is Kate's house, the one beyond the next, or the third?"</p> + +<p>"The second; she came next. There's nothing in between your old house +and Kate's place."</p> + +<p>Amzi met his sister's eyes with a scrutiny that expressed mild surprise +that she should thus make necessary a reference to her former domicile, +and with somewhat less interest than she had taken in the ancestral +china. To Amzi her return was a fact of importance, and since receiving +her telegram from New York announcing her visit to Montgomery he had +been in the air as to its meaning. Jack <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>Holton's appearance only a few +weeks earlier still agitated the gossips. He assumed that Lois knew +nothing of this, as, indeed, she did not; but there was nothing in his +knowledge of his sister to encourage the belief that she would have +cared if she had known. His old love for her warmed his heart as he +watched her across the table. In the one interview he had had with her +after her flight,—an hour's talk in Chicago,—he had not so fully +realized as now, in this domestic setting, how gracefully she bore her +years and her griefs! It was this that puzzled him. Sorrow was not +written in her still youthful face, nor was it published in her fine +brown eyes. They were singularly lovely eyes—retaining something of +their girlish roguishness. His masculine eye saw no hint of gray in her +brown hair. She was astonishingly young, not only in appearance but in +manner, and her vivacity—her quick smile, her agreeable murmurous +laughter—deepened his sense of her charm. She had not only been his +favorite sister in old times; but through all these years he had carried +her in his heart. And though his restraint yielded before her good humor +he was appalled by the situations—no end of them!—created by her +return.</p> + +<p>Not a soul knew of her coming. As he reflected that his sisters were +even then dining tranquilly in their several domiciles, quite oblivious +of the erring Lois's proximity, he inwardly chuckled. They had for years +been "poor-Loising" Lois, and Jack Holton's re-appearance had +strengthened their belief that she was in straitened circumstances, a +pensioner on Amzi; and they deplored any drain upon resources to which +they believed themselves or their children after them justly entitled. +They would be outraged to learn that the prodigal had reëntered by the +front door of her father's house, followed by a wagonload of trunks, +presumably filled with fine raiment.</p> + +<p>Amzi did not know what had brought her back, nor did he care, now that +he saw her across his table, enjoying tearlessly her fricassee chicken, +and sipping the claret he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>always produced for a guest. The penitential +husks which her sisters would have thought proper in the circumstances +were not for Lois. He could not imagine her, no matter how grievously +she might sin, as meekly repenting in sackcloth and ashes. He wondered +just what she meant to do now that she had come back; he wondered what +her sisters and the rest of Montgomery would do! The situation +interested him impersonally. It sufficed for the moment that she was +there, handsome, cheerful, amusing, for he had been seriously troubled +about her of late. He was aware that a lone woman, with her history, and +blessed or cursed with her undeniable charm, is beset by perils, and it +was a comfort to see her under his roof, with no visible traces of the +rust of time.</p> + +<p>She smiled into his eyes and lifted her glass.</p> + +<p>"To the old house, Amzi!"</p> + +<p>He saw her lips quiver and her eyes fill. There was sincere feeling in +her voice, but the shadow upon her spirit was a fleeting one.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to run up and change my shoes," she said as they left the +table, and in a few moments he heard the click of her heels as she came +down.</p> + +<p>"This is much cozier," she remarked, resting her smart pumps on the +fender beside his worn leathern slippers. "Now tell me about the girls; +how do they get on?"</p> + +<p>He sketched for her briefly the recent history of the family, replying +to her constant interruptions with the frankness she demanded. Waterman +she remembered; she had never seen Fosdick or Hastings. Amzi's +description of Hastings amused her, and she laughed gayly at her +brother's account of the former actor's efforts to lift the local +dramatic standard.</p> + +<p>"So that's what Kate did, is it? Well, I suppose she has had some fun +spending her money on him. Alec Waterman was always an absurd person, +but from what you say I judge Josie has held on to her money better than +the others. Alec never had sense enough to be a big spender."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>"Thunder!" Amzi ejaculated. "Josie's broke like the rest of 'em. Alec +has a weakness for gold mines. That's cost a heap, and he doesn't earn +enough practicing law to pay for the ice in Josie's ice-box. Fosdick +lives up in the air—away up, clean out of sight. I figure that as a +floorwalker in a department store Hastings would be worth about twelve +dollars a week; and Fosdick might succeed as barker for a five-legged +calf in a side-show; but Alec's place in the divine economy is something +I have never placed, and I defy any man to place it!"</p> + +<p>Amzi was enjoying himself. It was with real zest that he hit off his +brothers-in-law to this sister, who afforded him an outlet for +long-stifled emotions. He had been honestly loyal to the three +homekeeping sisters and to their husbands also for that matter; and the +fact that he could at last let himself go deepened his sense of the +sympathy and the understanding that had always existed between him and +Lois. He hated fuss; and his other sisters were tiresomely fussy and +maddeningly disingenuous. In half an hour Lois had learned all she cared +to know of the family history. She merely dipped into the bin, brought +up a handful of wheat, blew away the chaff, eyed the remaining kernels +with a sophisticated eye, and tossed them over her shoulder.</p> + +<p>"As near as I can make out they're all broke; is that about it?"</p> + +<p>"Just about," Amzi replied. "They haven't mortgaged their homes yet, but +if Mrs. Bill Holton turns up with a new automobile next spring or gets +some specially dazzling rags, I expect to see three nice fresh mortgages +on those homes out there."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Mrs. William sets the pace, does she? It's a good thing father died +before he saw the Montgomerys trying to keep up with the Holtons. +William prospers?"</p> + +<p>"Judged by Mrs. Bill's doings he does. By the way, Jack has been back +here."</p> + +<p>Amzi turned to see what effect the mention of Jack Holton would have +upon her; but in no wise <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>embarrassed, with only a slight lifting of the +brows, she said quickly:—</p> + +<p>"I thought it likely. I suppose William ran to meet him—general +love-feast and all that?"</p> + +<p>They were approaching delicate ground; but it seemed as well to go on +and be done with it. He told her, more fully than he had recounted any +other incident of the sixteen years, of Phil's party; of the insistence +of her sisters upon a reconciliation with the William Holtons, and of +Jack's appearance on the threshold. His indignation waxed hot; the +enormity of the offense was intensified by the fact that he was +describing it to Lois; it seemed even more flagrantly directed against +her, now that he thought of it, than to Phil or Phil's father. He rose +and stood with his back to the fire as he dilated upon it. Lois frowned +once or twice, but at the end she laughed, her light little laugh, +saying:—</p> + +<p>"And William has got rid of him, of course."</p> + +<p>"Oh, they had it out the next day at the bank, but Jack's not far away. +He's been in Indianapolis making trouble. He resented being kicked out +of the bank—which is about what it came to. And Bill bounced him with +reason. He's in trouble. In spite of automobiles and the fine front they +put up generally, Bill and the First National are not so all-fired +prosperous. Tom's been trying to fix things up for them."</p> + +<p>"Tom Kirkwood?" She frowned again at the mention of her first husband, +but appeared interested, listening attentively as he described the +Sycamore Traction difficulties.</p> + +<p>"Samuel always was a bad case. So it's come to this, that Tom is trying +to keep William out of jail? It's rather a pretty situation, as you +think of it," she murmured. "Just how does Tom get on?"</p> + +<p>"Tom didn't get on at all for a long time; but whenever he was pushed +into a case he burnt himself up on it. Tom was always that kind of a +fellow—if the drums beat hard enough he would put on his war paint and +go out and win <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>the fight. There's a dreamy streak in Tom; I guess he +never boiled out all the college professor he had in him; but he's to +the front now. They think a lot of him over at Indianapolis; he's had a +chance to go into one of the best law firms there. He's got brains in +his head—and if—"</p> + +<p>His jaws shut with a snap, as he remembered that his auditor was a woman +who had weighed Tom Kirkwood in the balance and found him wanting. Lois +noted his abrupt silence. She had clasped her knees and bent forward, +staring musingly into the fire, as he began speaking of Kirkwood. Amzi's +cheeks filled with the breath that had nearly voiced that "if."</p> + +<p>"If he hadn't married a woman who didn't appreciate him and who wrecked +his life for him, there's no telling what he might have done."</p> + +<p>She finished his sentence dispassionately, and sat back in her chair; +and as he blinked in his fear of wounding her by anything he might say, +she took matters in her own hands.</p> + +<p>"I was a fool, Amzi. There you have it all tied up in a package and +labeled in red ink; and we needn't ever speak of it again. It's on the +shelf—the top one, behind the door, as far as I'm concerned. I haven't +come back to cry over spilt milk, like a naughty dairymaid who trips and +falls on the cellar steps. I ought to; I ought to put on mourning for +myself and crawl into Center Church on my knees and ask the Lord's +forgiveness before the whole congregation. But I'm not going to do +anything of the kind. One reason is that it wouldn't do me any good; and +the other is that I'd never get out of the church alive. They'd tear me +to pieces! It's this way, Amzi, that if we were all made in the same +mould you could work out a philosophy from experience that would apply +to everybody; but the trouble is that we're all different. I'm +different; it was because I was different that I shook Tom and went off +with Jack. Of course, the other man is a worthless cur and loafer; +that's where fate flew up and struck at me—a deserved blow. But when I +saw that I had made a bad break, I didn't sit down and sob; I merely +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>tried to put a little starch into my self-respect and keep from going +clear downhill. Tom's probably forgotten me by this time; he never was +much of a hater and I guess that's what made me get tired of him. He +always had the other cheek ready, and when I annoyed him he used to take +refuge in the Greek poets, who didn't mean anything to me."</p> + +<p>She smiled as though the recollection of the Greek poets amused her and +ran on in her low, musical voice:—</p> + +<p>"When I saw I'd drawn a blank in Jack Holton, it really didn't bother me +so much as you might think. Of course, I was worried and humiliated at +times; and there were days when I went into the telegraph office and +went through the motions of sending for you to come and fish me out of +my troubles. I tore up half a dozen of those messages, so you never +heard me squeal; and then I began playing my own game in my own way. I +hung a smile on the door, so to speak, and did my suffering inside. For +ten years Jack never knew anything about me—the real me. For a long +time I couldn't quite come to the point of shaking him, and he couldn't +shake me,—he couldn't without starving"; and she smiled the ghost of a +grim little smile. "I suppose I wasn't exactly in a position to insist +on a husband's fidelity, but when he began to be a filthy nuisance I got +rid of him. Just before I went abroad this last time I divorced him, and +gave him enough to keep him running for a while. My story in a nutshell +is this," and she touched her fingers lightly as she epitomized her +personal history: "married at eighteen, to a gentleman; a mother at +twenty; at twenty-three, ran off with a blackguard; married him in due +course to satisfy the <i>convenances</i>. Not forty yet and divorced twice! +And here I am, tolerably cheerful and not so much the worse for wear."</p> + +<p>She waited for him to say something; but there appeared to be little for +Amzi to say.</p> + +<p>"I guess we all do the best we can, Lois. You don't have to talk to me +about those things. I'm glad you're back; that's all."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>He showed his embarrassment, shifting from one foot to the other, and +rubbing his hand nervously across his head.</p> + +<p>"Amzi, you're the best man in the world, and I didn't come back here to +be a nuisance to you. I can sleep here and run off on the early train—I +looked it up before I came. But I thought I'd like to see the house—and +you in it—once more. It's a big world, and there are plenty of places +to go. There's a lot of Europe I haven't seen yet, and I like it over +there. I have some good friends in Dresden, and I promised them to come +back. So don't feel that I'm on your hands. I'm not! I can clear out in +the morning and nobody need know that I've been here."</p> + +<p>He walked up to her and laid his hands on her shoulders. He gasped at +her suggestion of immediate flight. He had not known how much she meant +to him; and oh, she was so like Phil! It was Phil who had danced in his +mind while she summarized her life; it was the Phil she did not +know—had never known—and for whom, astonishingly, she had not asked +beyond her casual inquiry as to the girl's whereabouts. Nothing was +clear in his mind save that Lois must see and know Phil.</p> + +<p>"I want you to stay, Lois; you've got to stay. And everything's going to +be all right."</p> + +<p>"Please be square with me, Amzi. This is a small town and a woman can't +coolly break all the commandments and then come back and expect to be +met with a brass band. You and I understand each other; but you've got +to think of the rest of the family; my coming will doubtless outrage our +sisters' delicate moral natures—I know that—and there's Tom—it's +hardly fair to him to come trailing back. And the town's too small for +me to hide in—it was always a gossipy hole."</p> + +<p>He clasped her wrists tightly. The working of his face showed his deep +feeling. Not often in his life had he been so touched, so moved. Two big +tears rolled down his ruddy cheeks.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>"You've got to stay because of Phil! I tell you there's nobody to think +about but Phil!"</p> + +<p>Suddenly she threw her arms about his neck and burst into tears.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I couldn't speak of her! You don't understand that it's because of +Phil I ought to go! You thought I was heartless about it, but it's not +that I don't care. I'm afraid to see Phil! I'm afraid!"</p> + +<p>"Don't you worry about Phil," he answered, digging the tears out of his +eyes with his knuckles. "Phil's all right," he concluded.</p> + +<p>He crossed the hall and when he returned, carrying a bulky photograph +album, she had regained her composure, and stood holding her hands to +the fire.</p> + +<p>"Sit here and look at Phil: I've got all her pictures from the time she +was a baby. I guess you remember these first ones."</p> + +<p>She sat down by the center table and he turned up the gas in the +blue-shaded lamp. She passed the baby pictures quickly, but looked +closely at those that showed her daughter at school age. Under each +photograph Amzi had written the date, so that as a record the collection +was complete. There were half a dozen disclosures of Phil in her M.H.S. +sweater. Amzi called attention to these with a chuckle.</p> + +<p>"Nearly killed the girls; Phil chasing round town in that thing! And +here she's trigged out in her graduating clothes. I guess you'd have +been proud of her that night. Her piece was about tramp dogs; funniest +thing you ever heard! And here she is—let me see—yes, that was last +summer. Those other things are just little snapshots; and here's a group +showing Phil with her class. Phil in front—she was the head of her +class all right!" he ended proudly.</p> + +<p>Whatever emotions may have been aroused by this pictorial review of her +child's life, Lois outwardly made no sign. She murmured her pleasure at +one and another of the pictures, looked closely at the latest in point +of time, sighed and closed the book.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>"She looks like me, I suppose. Is she taller?"</p> + +<p>"The least bit, maybe; but you're as like as two peas," answered Amzi; +and then added, with the diffidence of a man unused to graceful +speeches, "I guess you'd almost pass for sisters. By George, Lois, +you're a wonder! You ain't a year older!"</p> + +<p>"That's no compliment, Amzi! I ought to have changed," she replied +soberly. "But there's gray in my hair if you know where to look, and the +wrinkles are getting busy."</p> + +<p>"The more I think of it, the more remarkable the resemblance gets," he +persisted, ignoring her confessions.</p> + +<p>"That doesn't make it any easier, Amzi; please don't speak of that +again."</p> + +<p>She tossed the book on the table, as though dismissing a disagreeable +subject.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, "about going?"</p> + +<p>"You're not going," he replied with decision. "I won't let you go. I +don't know how we're going to work it all out, but it won't be so bad. +The girls have got to take it."</p> + +<p>She caught a gleam of humor in his eye. The displeasure of his other +sisters at her return clearly had no terrors for him. It may have been +that she herself shared his pleasure in the thought of their +discomfiture. She crossed the hall, wandering aimlessly about, while he +waited and wondered. When she returned she said with the brisk manner of +one given to quick decisions:—</p> + +<p>"I'm going to stay, Amzi. But let us understand now that if I'm a +trouble to you, or the rest of them make you uncomfortable, I'll clear +out and go to the hotel, or set up a house of my own. So don't be silly +about it. I'm a practical person and can take care of myself. I'm not on +your hands, you know, financially speaking or any other way."</p> + +<p>"Thunder! No!"</p> + +<p>This was the first time she had touched upon money matters. While she +turned the leaves of the album, the clumsy baggage-men had pounded +laboriously up the back stairs with her trunks, emphasizing the +prosperity of which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>her visible apparel spoke. He was not without an +acute curiosity as to the state of her fortunes. Lois had always been a +luxurious person, but she was, unaccountably, the only one of his +sisters who had never asked him for money. He had made what they called +"advances" to all of them and these had increased as their fortunes +dwindled. There was something bafflingly mysterious here. It was a fair +assumption that Jack Holton had spent Lois's money long ago, and the +fact that she had floated home with her flags flying and had just +announced her ability to set up an establishment for herself was +disquieting rather than reassuring. He was ashamed of his fears, but it +was against reason that she should have escaped the clutches of a +worthless blackguard like Jack Holton with any of her patrimony.</p> + +<p>Now that she had announced her determination to remain her spirits rose +buoyantly. The thought of meeting Phil had shaken her; and yet that had +been but a moment's fleeting shadow, as from a stray cloud wandering +across a summer sky. When she referred to Phil again, it was with a +detachment at which he marveled. If he had not loved her so deeply and +if his happiness at her return had been less complete, he should have +thought her heartless. She had called herself "different"; and she was, +indeed, different in ways that defied his poor powers of analysis. She +was a mystifying creature. Her assurance, her indifference toward the +world in general, the cool fashion in which she had touched off on her +pretty fingers the chief incidents of her life did not stagger him so +much as they fascinated him. She was of his own blood, and yet it was +almost another language that she spoke.</p> + +<p>She had brought down a box of bon-bons which she now remembered and +urged him to try, moving fitfully about the room and poking at the box +from time to time absently, while he volunteered information touching +old friends. Her interest in local history was apparently the slightest: +he might have been talking of the Gauls in the time of Cæsar for all the +interest she manifested in her contemporaries and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>their fortunes. He +finally mentioned with dogged daring the Bartletts whom she had known +well; they had been exceedingly kind to Phil, he said. Her manner was so +provokingly indifferent that he was at the point of bringing Kirkwood +into the picture in a last effort to shatter her unconcern. She bit a +bon-bon in two, made a grimace of dissatisfaction, and tossed the +remaining half into the fire.</p> + +<p>"Oh, the Bartlett girls! Let me see, which was the musical one—Rose or +Nan?"</p> + +<p>"Rose. Nan's literary. They're fine women, and they've been a mighty big +help to Phil," he persisted.</p> + +<p>"Very nice of them, I'm sure," she said, yawning.</p> + +<p>The yawn reminded her that she was sleepy, and without prelude she +kissed him, asked the breakfast hour, and went up to bed.</p> + +<p>He followed to make sure that she had what she needed, surveyed the +trunks that loomed in the hall like a mountain range, and went below to +commune with the fire.</p> + +<p>As he reviewed the situation, to the accompaniment of her quick, light +patter on the guest-room floor, he was unable to key himself to a note +of tragedy. The comedy of life had never been wasted on him, and it was, +after all, a stupendous joke that Lois should have come back almost as +tranquilly as though she had been away for a week's visit. The longer he +brooded the more it tickled him. She either was incapable of +comprehending the problems involved in her return or meant to face them +with the jauntiness which her troubled years had increased rather than +diminished.</p> + +<p>Life with her, he mused, was not a permanent book of record, but a +flimsy memorandum, from which she tore the leaves when they displeased +her and crumpled them into the wastebasket of oblivion. It was a new +idea; but it had, he reflected, its merits. He went to the front door, +as was his habit, to survey the heavens before retiring. The winter +stars shone gloriously, and the night was still. The town clock boomed +twelve, ushering in Christmas. He walked <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>a little way down the path as +he counted the strokes, glanced up at Lois's window, then across the +hedges to the homes of the other daughters of the house of Montgomery, +chuckled, said "Thunder!" so loudly that his own voice startled him, and +went hurriedly in and bolted the door.</p> +<br /> +<br /><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>MERRY CHRISTMAS</h3> +<br /> + +<p>On every Christmas morning it was the custom of Amzi's sisters to repair +with their several families to his house, carrying their gifts and +bearing thence such presents as he might bestow. The Fosdicks and the +Watermans had children, and these were encouraged to display themselves +frequently at their uncle's. And Amzi was kind and generous in his +relations with all of them. Amzi Waterman and Amzi Fosdick, still in +short trousers, had been impressed at their respective homes with the +importance of ingratiating themselves with Uncle Amzi, and Amzi, fully +cognizant of this, was an ideal uncle to each impartially. Mrs. Fosdick +hoped that her little Susan would be as thoroughly established in Amzi's +regard as Phil; there was always Phil,—that unbridled, unbroken, +fearless young mustang of a Phil.</p> + +<p>Amzi was down early giving the final revision to his list of presents. +Having found in years gone by that it was decidedly unsafe to buy gifts +for his sisters, as they were never satisfied with his selections and +poorly concealed their displeasure, he had latterly adopted the policy +of giving each of them one hundred dollars in gold.</p> + +<p>Ten was the usual hour for the family gathering, and as the clock +struck, Amzi began wandering through the house restlessly. Occasionally +he grinned, and said "Thunder!" quietly to himself. In the night watches +he had pondered the advisability of warning Lois's sisters of her +return; but he saw nothing to be gained by this. Something of Lois's +serene indifference had communicated itself to him; and as an attentive +student of the continuing human comedy he speculated cheerfully as to +the length and violence of the impending storm. Kirkwood had never +participated in these <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>Christmas morning visits, and Phil usually +dropped in after her aunts had departed. It seemed easier to let Fate +take charge of the disclosure.</p> + +<p>A door slammed in the upper hall, and Amzi heard the colored woman +descending the back stairs. Lois was having her breakfast in her room, +an unprecedented circumstance in the domestic economy. Then Jeremiah was +summoned to distribute the much-belabeled trunks. Amzi's sensations +during these unwonted excitements were, on the whole, not disagreeable. +The invasion of his bachelor privacy was too complete for any minute +analysis of what he liked or didn't like. It was a good deal of a +joke,—this breakfasting in bed, this command of the resources of his +establishment to scatter trunks about. As he crossed the hall he was +arrested by a cheerful "Merry Christmas."</p> + +<p>Lois, in a pink kimona, smilingly waved her hand from the top step where +she sat composedly watching him.</p> + +<p>"Merry Christmas!" he called back.</p> + +<p>"Here's a present for you,—got it in Paris, special. If you don't like +it, I'll trade you another for it. Catch!"</p> + +<p>She tossed him a box containing a scarfpin, and she nursed her knees, +humming to herself and clicking her slipper heels while he examined it. +She interrupted his stammered thanks to ask whether any of the "folks" +had been in yet.</p> + +<p>She had dressed her hair in the prevailing pompadour fashion, which was +highly becoming; and the kimona imparted to her face a soft rose color. +She was a pretty rose of a woman, and he leaned against the newel and +regarded her with appreciation.</p> + +<p>"I slept like a top; it's as still as the woods around here. I suppose +Montgomery's never going to grow much; and it's just as well. What's +property worth a front foot on Main Street,—oh, say within a couple of +blocks of the court-house?"</p> + +<p>"About five hundred dollars, I guess."</p> + +<p>She lifted her head as though thinking deeply.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>"Real estate's the only thing, if you get into it right. You were never +much on speculation, were you, Amzi? Well, you were wise to keep out of +it. It takes imagination—" She brushed the subject away gracefully. +"You still own a farm or two?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"I always thought I'd like to go in for farming sometime. I've looked +into the fruit business out West and there must be a lot of cheap land +in Indiana that would do splendidly for apples. There's no reason why +you should have to pay the freight on apples all the way from Oregon. +Ever tackled apples?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I have an orchard or two," he admitted wonderingly.</p> + +<p>If he had spent the night guessing what subject she would choose for a +morning confab, apple culture would not have been on the list. He had +thought that perhaps the day would bring a torrent of questions about +old friends, but she seemed more aloof than ever. The pearl in his +scarfpin was a splendid specimen; he roughly calculated that it +represented an expenditure of at least a hundred dollars; and she had +flung it at him as carelessly as though she were tossing cherries from a +tree.</p> + +<p>"Can I do anything for you about the trunks? You can have Jerry as long +as you like."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I shan't work on that job all day. It's too much bother. I'll dig +the stuff out gradually. I'll have to throw most of it away anyhow. I've +got everything I own in that pile. I suppose I'd better get +dressed—What did you say about the morning gathering,—is it a +ceremonial affair?"</p> + +<p>"Well, the girls have liked to do it that way,—all come in a bunch +after their home doings."</p> + +<p>"That's very nice, really picturesque! I suppose they're all a lot of +comfort to you, living alone this way. Do they dine here to-day? How +about Tom and Phil?"</p> + +<p>It was clear from her tone that the identity of his guests was a +negligible matter. She mentioned her former husband <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>without emotion, +and her tone implied no particular interest in the answer.</p> + +<p>"We were all of us to dine with Josie to-day; we sort o' move around, +and it's her turn; but if you'd rather stay here we'll have dinner +together or any way you like. Tom never mixes up in the dinner parties. +But Phil will be here after a while; say about eleven. You'd better be +ready."</p> + +<p>"Certainly; I'll get into some other clothes right away." She stood, +lifted her arms, and stretched herself lazily. "It's nice to see you +looking so well; but Sarah confided to me when she brought up my +breakfast that you eat altogether too much. Sarah's very nice; I like +Sarah. And I can see that Jerry dotes on you. You're pampered, Amzi; I +can see that you don't resist the temptation to stuff yourself with +Sarah's cooking. I'd be a roly-poly myself if I didn't cut off starch +and sweets now and then."</p> + +<p>There was a sound of steps at the front door, followed by a prolonged +tinkle of the doorbell. Amzi glanced up to make sure she was out of +sight. He heard her humming as she passed down the hall to her room and +then he rubbed his head vigorously as though rallying his wits in +readiness for the invasion, and flung open the door.</p> + +<p>The two young Amzis and little Susan greeted him effusively and he +yielded himself with avuncular meekness to their embraces. They had come +bearing gifts which they bestowed upon him noisily, while the remainder +of the delegation crowded in. His three sisters kissed him in +succession, in the ascending order of age, and he shook hands with his +brothers-in-law.</p> + +<p>"Morning, Amzi!"</p> + +<p>"Morning, Lawrence!"</p> + +<p>"Morning, Amzi!"</p> + +<p>"Morning, Paul!"</p> + +<p>"Morning, Amzi!"</p> + +<p>"Morning, Alec!"</p> + +<p>These greetings were as stiff as those that pass between a visiting +statesman and the local yeomanry at a rural <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>reception. Lawrence, Paul, +and Alec undoubtedly hated this perfunctory annual tribute to the head +of the house of Montgomery, but Amzi liked the perpetuation of his +father's house as a family center. It did not matter that greed and +sentimentalism were back of his sisters' stubborn devotion to the +Montgomery tradition; with him it was an honest sentiment; and as to +their avarice, to which he was not insensible, it should be said that +charity was not least among his rugged virtues.</p> + +<p>He made a lark of opening his gifts for the delight of the children. A +truce had been effected between the Fosdicks and Watermans by which each +of the young Amzis bestowed a box of neckties of approximately the same +value upon their uncle. Little Susan gave him a muffler; the sisters had +joined in a new easy chair which Jeremiah now carried in; their husbands +had combined in their usual tribute of cigars. A toy and a five-dollar +gold-piece for each child; the little chamois-skin bags of gold-pieces +for the sisters; a book for each brother-in-law, completed Amzi's +offerings. He announced to the children that he was going to build a +toboggan in the back yard for their joint use just as soon as spring +came. This was a surprise and called forth much joyous chorusing from +the youngsters, whose parents viewed this pendant to the expected gifts +with satisfaction, as indicating the increasing warmth of Amzi's +affection for their children.</p> + +<p>"You are always generous, Amzi," said Mrs. Waterman fervidly. "You can +put the toboggan on our lot if you like."</p> + +<p>"And cut down the trees! I should rather do without it than destroy a +single one of the old beeches," averred Mrs. Hastings, who, having no +children to enjoy the felicities of tobogganing, was not deeply +interested in the project.</p> + +<p>"No trees shall be cut down," replied Amzi quickly; "I'm going to put it +on my own place. You can't tell but I may use it myself more or +less—after dark. The children won't mind, and the doctors say I need +exercise."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>Mrs. Waterman pinched her young Amzi, who sweetly chirruped, "We'd love +to have you use it, Uncle Amzi."</p> + +<p>"If Uncle Amzi falls off and breaks hims neck, it would be so fun-nee," +piped Susan delightedly.</p> + +<p>"Susan!" exclaimed Susan's mother, lifting a severe finger.</p> + +<p>"It <i>would</i> be fun-nee. Wouldn't it be fun-nee, Aunt Katie? Danny +Holton, he fell off hims bicycle going down hims toboggan and breaked +one leg; and it ain't got mended yet. And papa says Uncle Amzi's so fat +an' he tumble on the ice it would smash him like a old cucumber. Yes, I +did, too, hear him say it. Didn't you hear him say it, mamma?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fosdick had heard nothing of the kind, for the excellent reason, as +her husband declared, that no such impious thought had ever crossed his +mind, much less expressed itself in Susan's presence.</p> + +<p>Amzi roared with delight, caught up Susan and planted her on his +shoulder. Even if Paul Fosdick really had compared him to a mature +cucumber it did not greatly matter. Fanny Fosdick glared at her Paul. +All the adults present except Amzi were plainly distressed. Mrs. +Hastings, being childless and therefore entitled to her opinions as to +the rearing of children, resolved that at last she must speak to Fanny +about Susie. And all this embarrassment and irritation by the guileless +Susie had not disturbed Amzi one whit. Amzi had no intention of +rewriting his will to punish Susie, or her forbears.</p> + +<p>Hastings, gloomily inhaling a cigarette, turned over the pages of the +book which Amzi had given him. It was a late study of the art of Henry +Irving, and its bestowal had been a conscious flattery on Amzi's part. +Still, it touched unhappy chords in Hastings's bosom. Who was better +equipped than he to catch up the fallen mantle of Irving? And here he +lay impotent in the hands of the fates that had set him down in a dull +village, without means even to hang a moving-picture screen upon the +deserted stage of his theater.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>Amzi, having crawled over the floor with Susie at some personal +inconvenience and distress, was now helping his namesakes to set up the +engines he had given them, while their mothers murmured suggestions and +warnings. Waterman stood at the window looking out upon the snow-covered +lawn. Fosdick scanned the market page in Amzi's copy of the Indianapolis +"Advertiser." It was in Waterman's mind that if he had the essential +funds he might the next year renew his assaults upon the halls of +Congress. The brothers-in-law distrusted and disliked each other. Each, +after his fashion, was a failure; and the angle of their several +failures had become acute. Their wives made a brave showing to the +public and to each other; there was always the Montgomery pride to be +sustained.</p> + +<p>Amzi, having abandoned the field of engineering to his nephews, +contemplated the scene philosophically with his back to the fire. His +sisters discussed the annual ball to be given in January by the Sons of +Montgomery. They were on the invitation committee, and were confronted +with the usual problems of elimination. There was a standard to +maintain, and the Newells, who had just moved from Ladoga, and set up a +new house and a six-cylinder automobile, were, as every one was saying, +<i>such</i> nice people; and Newell undoubtedly made a lot of money out of +his sawmills; and all that. They were painfully conscious that their +husbands were not amusing Amzi or each other.</p> + +<p>"Where's Phil, Amzi?" asked Mrs. Waterman.</p> + +<p>"Phil hasn't showed up yet. I guess she'll be along pretty soon."</p> + +<p>"Tom has had her with him over at Indianapolis all week. I don't think +he ought to take her over there, to run around town while he's busy. +She's had so little experience, and with her heedlessness; and all—"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Waterman left the conclusion to their imaginations, and as Amzi +made no response and as the other gentlemen seemed indifferent, Mrs. +Fosdick threw a bit of kindling upon the dull ashes of the +conversation.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>"Mary Fanning said she saw Phil on the street with a young man over at +Indianapolis, only last Tuesday. It isn't fair of Tom; or right, Amzi—"</p> + +<p>"Thunder! I heard what Mary was saying. She saw Phil in Washington +Street, with Charlie Holton. What have you girls got against Charlie? If +it hadn't been for you Phil wouldn't have known him."</p> + +<p>"Oh, there's nothing against Charlie; he's a fine fellow. I didn't know +it was Charlie," she ended weakly.</p> + +<p>"Well, it was Charlie. Nan Bartlett heard what Mary was saying, and +asked her about it, and that was all there was to it: she saw Phil and +Charlie walking along Washington Street, just as they might walk down +Main Street here at home if they happened to meet. And for that matter +Phil hasn't been depending on her father for amusement over there. She's +been visiting the Fitches—the lawyer Fitch, of Wright and Fitch. Tom's +been offered a place in the firm; they're the best lawyers in Indiana; +and I guess there's nothing the matter with Mrs. Fitch, is there?"</p> + +<p>This was not only news, but it was astonishing news. Mrs. Fitch's name +not only guaranteed a scrupulous chaperonage, but the fact that Phil was +a guest in her house was significant of Tom Kirkwood's standing at the +capital and of Phil's social acceptance by a woman whose name was +constantly impressed upon all students of the society columns of the +Indianapolis newspapers.</p> + +<p>"The last time I was over I saw Mrs. Fitch in a box at the theater, and +I must say that I couldn't do much for her clothes," remarked Mrs. +Hastings.</p> + +<p>"You didn't have to do anything for them," said Amzi amiably. "Here, +Jerry, put that down on the side table."</p> + +<p>Jeremiah had appeared with a tray that supported a huge bowl. This +followed established custom: eggnog was always served at these +gatherings of the clan. Amzi sent the darky away and began filling the +glasses, as he liked to serve the tipple himself. The faces of his +brothers-in-law brightened. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>The persistence with which their wives +fussed about Phil exasperated them, and their attacks upon their niece, +open or veiled, always roused Amzi. And there was nothing whatever to be +gained, as they knew from long experience, by suggesting Phil's +delinquencies. The husbands of Phil's aunts admired Phil; the more the +girl annoyed her aunts, the more they admired her.</p> + +<p>"Why doesn't Phil come?" demanded Fosdick. "The circle isn't complete +without her."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Waterman had several times during the hour pricked up her ears at +sounds above which she was unable to adjust to her knowledge of Amzi's +<i>ménage</i>. The step on the floor above was not that of the heavy-footed +Sarah, nor yet that of the shuffling Jeremiah. Sarah could be heard in +the kitchen, and Jeremiah was even now passing cakes and orange juice to +the children at the dining-room table.</p> + +<p>"Amzi, who's upstairs?" demanded Mrs. Waterman.</p> + +<p>"Upstairs? Thunder! A woman!"</p> + +<p>Whereupon Amzi, having handed round the eggnog, stood sipping a glass +contentedly in his favorite post by the hearth.</p> + +<p>"A woman upstairs!"</p> + +<p>"Yep. She's a woman."</p> + +<p>"Amzi!"</p> + +<p>Their backs grew rigid. They had never believed their brother capable of +such a thing. They exchanged glances that telegraphed the horror of this +depravity. If it had been any one else on earth! And the brazenness of +it! Hastings and Fosdick grinned at each other, as much as to say that +after all you never can tell. It was a pleasant discovery that their +brother-in-law was only human. The cheek of the thing was stupendous; +his indifference to the fine scorn of their impeccable wives was superb. +Hereafter those ladies would be more tolerant of weak and erring man.</p> + +<p>Amzi rocked himself on his heels, ignoring them. He had wondered why +Lois did not add herself to the family circle. He, too, had heard her +quick steps on the floor above, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>had grown impatient at her long +delay; but that was part of the joke of it all: Lois would take her time +and appear when it suited her convenience. Not for gold, not for much +fine gold would he have preluded her approach with any warning. And +their ready assumption that they had caught him in an act of impropriety +tickled him tremendously. They were all listening now; and there was +undeniably something really naughty and devilish in the patter of those +French heels!</p> + +<p>A door above closed with a bang. The shameless creature was tripping +downstairs as gayly as though the house belonged to her. The ease of her +descent spoke for youth; it was in three minds that old fools are always +more susceptible to the wiles of young adventuresses. The sisters +averted their faces from the contaminating sight. Amzi was crossing the +room and reached the open door as it framed his sister. He had a fine, +instinctive sense of courtesy and even his pudgy figure could not +diminish his dignity. He took Lois by the hand and led her to the broad +hearth as though the fireplace symbolized the domestic altar, and he was +restoring her to its protection.</p> + +<p>"This is Lois," he said simply, as she swung round; and as they stared +dully he repeated, "This is Lois."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fosdick was nearest, and Mrs. Holton put out her hand to her.</p> + +<p>"Well, Fanny!" she said; and then, sweeping them all with her smile, +"Merry Christmas!"</p> + +<p>Her clasp of Mrs. Fosdick's hand seemed to bring them all to their feet, +and she moved quickly from one to the other, with some commonplace of +greeting, and a bright smile for each. Clasping the hands of Kate and +Josephine together she looked from one to the other and said in her +pleasant voice,—</p> + +<p>"How like old times it seems; and how nice to come in on you all at +Christmas! You are a bit stouter—you two—but Fanny hasn't changed a +bit. Alec"—she swung round toward the bewildered men—"I don't believe +you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>know me, but I should have recognized you anywhere. Please, now, +which is which of you?"</p> + +<p>"That's Paul Fosdick, Lois; and that's Lawrence Hastings. Gentlemen, +Mrs. Holton."</p> + +<p>"Very glad to meet you, gentlemen. Odd, isn't it? that this should be +the first time!"</p> + +<p>She gave them her hand in turn in her quick graceful way. Since marrying +into the family they had heard much of this Lois, and lo! their +preconceived notions of her went down with a bang. They had been misled +and deceived; she was not that sort of person at all! She had effected +as by a miracle a change in the atmosphere of the room. It was as though +the first daffodil had daringly lifted its head under a leaden February +sky. Amzi, prepared for an explosion, marveled that none had shaken the +house from its foundations. But while the masculine members of the +family yielded up their arms without a struggle their wives were +fortifying themselves against the invader. Amzi's conduct was wholly +reprehensible; he had no right to permit and sanction Lois's return; the +possibilities implied in her coming were tremendous and far-reaching. It +was a staggering blow, this unlooked-for return. While their husbands +stood grinning before the shameless woman, they conferred in glances, +furtively looking from each other to the prodigal. Amzi fortified +himself with another glass of eggnog.</p> + +<p>Lois had dominated the scene from the moment of her appearance. Her +entrance had been the more startling by reason of its very simplicity. +She was taking everything as a matter of course, quite as though there +were nothing extraordinary in the parting of the waters to afford her +passage dry shod, through those sixteen years, to a promised land +imaginably represented by Montgomery. Her sisters, huddled by the center +table, struggled against their impotence to seize the situation. This +was not their idea of the proper return of a woman who had sinned +against Heaven, to say nothing of the house of Montgomery. Their course +was the more difficult by reason of their ignorance <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>of the cause of her +descent upon them. Amzi should suffer for this; but first she must be +dealt with; and they meant to deal with her. Their rage surged the more +hotly as they saw their husbands' quick capitulation. They, too, should +be dealt with!</p> + +<p>"Let us all sit down and be comfortable," said Lois easily, and Hastings +and Fosdick bumped heads in their mad haste to place a chair for her.</p> + +<p>Hastings, with his theatric instincts stimulated, and realizing that +silence would give the massed artillery of the enemy a chance to +thunder, immediately engaged the newcomer in conversation. Paris and its +theaters served admirably as a theme. Lois clearly knew her Paris well; +and she had met Rostand—at a garden party—and spoke of the +contemporaneous French drama with the light touch of sophistication. +French phrases slipped from her tongue trippingly, and added to her +charm and mystery, her fellowship with another and wider world. From +Hastings she turned to embrace them all in her talk. The immobile +countenances of her sisters, reflecting stubborn resentment and +antagonism, were without effect upon her. Instead of sitting before them +as the villainess of this domestic drama, a culprit arraigned for her +manifold wickednesses, she was beyond question the heroine of the piece.</p> + +<p>"You remember, Fanny, what a hard business we used to make of our +French? Well, in Seattle I had a lot of time on my hands and I put in a +good deal of it studying languages. There was a wonderful Frenchwoman +out there and I got her to teach me,—all good fun, with her; we used to +go places together, and I finally reached the point where I could talk +back to a French waiter. I really believe I could set up as a teacher +now without being indicted for taking money under false pretenses. You +have been over, haven't you, Kate? It seems to me I heard of your being +there; but you might all have gone round the world a dozen times! Whose +children are those out there? Bring them in and let me have a look at +them."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>The children were brought in by their fathers and presented without any +interruption to her flow of talk. She let fall a question here and there +that was presumably directed to one or the other of her sisters, but +their faint, reluctant answers apparently did not disturb her. She was +treating them as though they were dingy frumps; and they revolted +against all this prattle about Paris. It was distinctly unbecoming in a +woman whose sins were so grievous to ripple on so light-heartedly about +the unholiest of cities when they sat there as jurors waiting to hear +her plea for mercy.</p> + +<p>"Susan, you dear angel, come here!"</p> + +<p>Susie toddled into her aunt's arms, raised a face that stickily +testified to her Uncle Amzi's plentiful provision of candy, and was +kissed. Mrs. Waterman, formulating a plan of campaign, took a step +toward Susan as though to save the child from this desecration of its +innocence; but a glance from Amzi gave her pause.</p> + +<p>"Oo have booful clothes. Whas oor name?"</p> + +<p>"I'm a new aunt; I'm your Aunt Lois. You never heard of me, did you? +Well, it doesn't matter the tiniest little bit. Something tells me that +we're going to get on famously. I shouldn't wonder, I shouldn't wonder +at all, Susan, if we became the best of friends."</p> + +<p>Her voice softened into new and charming tones. She held the sticky, +chubby hands unmindfully. She was one of those women who are incapable +of an awkward attitude. The child lingered, examining with wide-eyed +scrutiny the enchantments of the new lady's apparel.</p> + +<p>"She's charming, Fanny," Lois remarked, glancing up suddenly at Susan's +mother; "a perfectly adorable baby."</p> + +<p>"Oo going to stay in this house? This Uncle Amzi ims house."</p> + +<p>"Now, Susan, do you really want me to stay?"</p> + +<p>Susan surveyed her newfound aunt gravely before passing upon this +question that was so much more momentous than she realized. Lois, +bending forward in her low chair <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>with her head slightly to one side, +met the child's gaze with like gravity. It might have been assumed from +her manner that she attached the greatest importance to Susan's verdict; +there may even have been an appeal in the brown eyes; but if there was +it was an affair between the woman and the child in which the spectators +had no share.</p> + +<p>Susan swallowed.</p> + +<p>"Oo stay and play wif me. Uncle Amzi ims going to make big toboggan in +ims yard and oo can slide down wif me. And Phil she come and play. Phil +make me bow and arroo and Phil, her shooted it at old rooster and ims +est runned and runned."</p> + +<p>"How splendid!" laughed Lois.</p> + +<p>"You may go now, Susan," said her mother, feeling that this flirtation +had progressed far enough.</p> + +<p>Thus admonished Susan withdrew, while her brother and cousin submitted +themselves to the new aunt's closer inspection.</p> + +<p>"Two Amzis! It's quite fine of you to perpetuate the name, girls. You +must be sure, boys, always to spell your name out; don't hide in behind +an initial. These old Bible names are a lot better than these new fancy +ones. There must be a million Donalds and Dorothys right now scattered +over the United States. Where do you go to school, boys?"</p> + +<p>She plainly interested them. She was a new species, and had for them the +charm of strangeness. She wore on her wrist a tiny watch, the like of +which they had never seen before, and one of them poked it shyly with +his finger. She accommodatingly slipped it off and gave it to them to +examine, telling them of the beautiful shop in Geneva where she had +bought it. Susan returned to share in these further revelations by the +wonderful lady. The spectacle of their children gathered at the erring +Lois's knees, filled the watchful sisters with dismay. The ease of the +woman's conquests, her continued indifference to their feelings, caused +their indignation to wax hot.</p> + +<p>"The children must go. Run along home now, and, boys, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>see that Susie +gets home safely. No; you must go at <i>once</i>!" said Mrs. Waterman.</p> + +<p>"Oo bring lady home to ours house, mamma; my wants to play with lady's +watch."</p> + +<p>"Skip along, Susan; you'll have lots of time to play with my watch," +said Lois. "Oh, wait a minute!"</p> + +<p>Jeremiah was bringing fresh glasses for the eggnog, and she sent him to +her room to bring down some packages she had left on her bed.</p> + +<p>While he was gone she romped with Susan, running back through the hall +into the dining-room with the chirruping child trotting after her, and +paused breathless as Jeremiah placed the parcels on the center table.</p> + +<p>"That is altogether unnecessary; the children have had enough presents," +said Mrs. Fosdick. "The children must go at once."</p> + +<p>"Oh, these are only trifles; just a minute more," Lois flung over her +shoulder.</p> + +<p>She peered into a box, inspected the contents with a moment's quick +appraisement, and clasped on Susie's chubby wrist a tiny bracelet.</p> + +<p>"There, Susan! What do you think of that?"</p> + +<p>Susan thought well of it beyond question and trotted to her mother to +exhibit the treasure.</p> + +<p>Three pairs of eyes looked upon the trinket coldly. Careless of their +scorn Lois was enjoying the mystification of the young Amzis, to whom +she held out two boxes and bade them make a choice. She laughed merrily +when they opened them and found two silver watches as like as two peas.</p> + +<p>There was no questioning Lois's complete success with the children. +Their fathers responded in grateful praise of the gifts: their Uncle +Amzi said "Thunder!" and expressed his delight.</p> + +<p>"Now, you youngsters run along or I'll get scolded for keeping you. +Scoot!"</p> + +<p>Lois urged them to the door, where Susan presented her face for further +osculation.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>"You shouldn't have done that, Lois; it was altogether unnecessary," +announced Mrs. Fosdick.</p> + +<p>"Oh, those things! they're not of the slightest importance. I didn't +know just how many youngsters you had, and the shops over there are +simply irresistible."</p> + +<p>She ladled herself a glass of eggnog composedly, as though wholly +unconscious that the withdrawal of the noncombatants had cleared the +field for battle.</p> + +<p>The sisters, having sipped Amzi's Christmas tipple apprehensively, noted +that this was Lois's second glass.</p> + +<p>"Well, what are you all doing with yourselves?" she asked, sinking into +a chair. "Kate, I believe I look more like you than either Fanny or Jo. +I think you are taller than I am, but we have the same complexion. My +face is all chopped up from the sea; it was the worst crossing I ever +made, but I only missed one day on deck. The captain is the best of +fellows and kept an officer trailing me to see that I didn't tumble +overboard."</p> + +<p>She glanced at Hastings as though he were more likely than the others to +respond to observations on sea travel. He declared that he always +preferred winter crossings; it was the only way to feel the power and +majesty of the sea.</p> + +<p>"I always feel so," said Lois.</p> + +<p>Amzi fidgeted about the room, wishing they would all go.</p> + +<p>"Lois," said Mrs. Waterman, gathering herself together, "you will +understand, of course, that we don't mean to be unkind, but we feel that +we have a right—that it is only proper and just for us to know why you +have come back in this way, without giving us any warning, so that we +might prepare ourselves—"</p> + +<p>Lois's brows lifted slightly; the slim fingers of her right hand clasped +the gold band by which the blue enameled watch was attached to her left +wrist. She tilted her head to one side, as though mildly curious as to +the drift of her sister's remark.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you mustn't mind that at all! I should have been sorry if you had +gone to any trouble for me. Dropping in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>this way, what should one +expect?" A pretty shrug expressed her feeling that nothing at all had +been expected. "Jo, do you remember that time you were running from +Captain Joshua Wilson's cow, in his pasture over there beyond the +college, and you fell over a fence and cracked a tooth, and how you +bawled about it? And I suppose that gold tooth is a memento of the +occasion. We used to be the maddest of harum-scarums in those days!"</p> + +<p>It was not wholly kind, perhaps, for a woman whose white, even teeth +were undisfigured by fillings thus to direct attention to the marks of +the dentist's tool in her sister's mouth. And yet Lois had not meant to +be unkind; the past as symbolized by Captain Wilson's cow sent her off +tangentially into the recent history of Captain Joshua's family, and she +demanded information as to the Wilsons' daughter Amanda, who ran away +and married an army officer she had met at Columbus, Ohio. As the +sisters had never liked Amanda Wilson, they were not pleased to be +obliged to confess that the marriage had been a satisfactory one in +every particular, and that Amanda's husband was now a colonel. The +barometer fell steadily and the gloom of the Arctic night deepened in +the faces of the trio.</p> + +<p>"Anybody have any more eggnog?" asked Amzi guilelessly.</p> + +<p>"I think," said Mrs. Fosdick furiously, "that we've all had enough of +that stuff."</p> + +<p>This was the least bit pointed, as her husband was at that moment +filling a fourth glass for himself.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Waterman renewed her attack, drawing nearer to the culprit.</p> + +<p>"Of course, you realize, Lois, that after all that has happened, your +coming back here, particularly unannounced, creates a very delicate +situation. It can't be possible that you don't understand how it +complicates things—that as a matter of fact—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, as a matter of fact it's a great bore to talk of it! I suppose I'm +the one that's likely to be most annoyed, but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>you needn't waste any +time being sorry for me. I didn't have to come; nobody asked me. You'll +not be in the least embarrassed by my coming. I don't look as though I +were in deep distress about anything, do I? Well, I'm not. So don't +prepare to weep over me. Tears are bad for the complexion and puckering +up your face makes wrinkles."</p> + +<p>Fosdick snickered, an act of treachery on his part which brought his +wife to Mrs. Waterman's support. Fanny Fosdick was readier of speech +than Josephine, who was inclined to pomposity when she tried to be +impressive.</p> + +<p>"You can't dodge the situation in any such way; you had no right to come +back. Your coming can only bring up the old scandal, that we have been +trying to live down. It's not a thing you can laugh off. A woman can't +do what you did in a town like this and come back expecting everybody to +smile over it."</p> + +<p>"And Jack Holton has just been here; that was bad enough!" threw in Mrs. +Hastings. "And if you are still running after <i>him</i>—"</p> + +<p>"Girls!" exploded Amzi, "you'd better cut all this out. You're not going +to help matters by fussing over what Lois did. I'm sure we're all glad +to have her back; I'm sure we've always hoped she would come back."</p> + +<p>"I think the least you say about it the better, Amzi," said Mrs. +Waterman witheringly. "It's your fault that she's here. And if you had +honored us with your confidence and taken our advice—"</p> + +<p>"Thunder! what would you have done about it! I didn't think it was any +of your business."</p> + +<p>This from the potential benefactor of their children was not reassuring. +The financial considerations crystallized by the return of the wanderer +were not negligible. Every one in Montgomery knew that Jack Holton had +come back to wrest money from William, and it was inconceivable that +Lois had not flung herself upon Amzi for shelter and support. And as +they had long assumed that she was a pensioner upon her brother's +bounty, they were now convinced by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>the smartness of her gown and her +general "air" as of one given to self-indulgence in the world's bazaars, +that she had become a serious drain upon Amzi's resources.</p> + +<p>"I think," declared Mrs. Waterman, "that it is a good deal our business. +We can't make the world over to suit ourselves, and we can't fly in the +face of decency without getting scratched. And when a woman brought up +as Lois was does what she did, and runs through with her money, and +comes home—"</p> + +<p>She gulped in her effort to express the enormity of her sister's +transgressions; whereupon Mrs. Fosdick caught the ball and flung back:—</p> + +<p>"Of course, if Lois is in need of help, we all stand ready to help her. +She must understand that we feel strongly the ties of blood, and I want +to say that I'm willing to do my share, in the very fullest sense."</p> + +<p>Lois rose impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Don't be a lot of geese, you girls! Of course, you're all cut up at +seeing me so unexpectedly, but I'm not going to let you be foolish about +it. It's all in a lifetime anyway: and I really wish you wouldn't say +things which to-morrow or the day after you'll be sorry for. I +understand as perfectly as though you ran on all night just how you +feel; you're horrified, ashamed, outraged—all those things. Bless me, +you wouldn't be respectable women if you were not! If you fell on my +neck and kissed me I should resent it. Really I should! You would be a +disgrace to civilization if my showing up here on Christmas morning +didn't give you nausea. I've been divorced twice, and anybody with any +sort of nice feeling about life would make a rumpus about it. I'm rather +annoyed about it myself; so that's all perfectly regular. You have said +just what you ought to have said and you feel just as you should feel. +Now that's understood, why not talk of something else and be +comfortable?"</p> + +<p>The three men had discreetly betaken themselves across the hall and the +children of Amzi II were alone.</p> + +<p>"You forget, Lois, that there are other persons besides <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>ourselves to +consider. If it were just Amzi and us—" persisted Mrs. Waterman, +shifting her ground before this shameless confession.</p> + +<p>"There's the whole world, when you come to that," said Lois. "What's in +your mind, Jo,—Tom and Phil? Well, there's nothing novel in that; I +thought about them a good deal before I came back. You may scratch Tom +off the list; he's clear out of it. But as for Phil—"</p> + +<p>"As for Phil, you have no right—"</p> + +<p>"I haven't the slightest claim on Phil, of course; I never said I had, +and I don't pretend to have. Please don't assume, Fanny, that I've lost +all the wits I ever had! I'll say to you frankly that I feel that my +coming may be troublesome to Phil; and yet the fact that I am here" (she +smiled and threw out her arms, allowing them to fall to emphasize the +futility of words)—"the fact that I am here shows that I have +considered that and decided to take the risk of coming, in spite of +Phil."</p> + +<p>"Lois, you don't seem to have the slightest comprehension of the +case—not the slightest," urged Mrs. Waterman, resenting the smile with +which her sister had ended. "You brutally abandoned Phil; and now you +come back to spoil her life. I didn't suppose there was a woman in the +world so callous, so utterly without shame, so blindly selfish—"</p> + +<p>Amzi paused in his stride across the room and planted himself +belligerently before his oldest sister. His eyes bulged angrily.</p> + +<p>"Josie, you can't talk like that to Lois; not in this house! I tell you, +Lois is all right. If you don't like her, you can let her alone. I'm not +going to have you talk to her like this—not here. Now I want you to +understand, you, Josie; you, Kate; you, Fanny" (he indicated each in +turn with his pudgy forefinger) "I wouldn't let her badger you, and I'm +not going to let you jump on her."</p> + +<p>"You talk like a fool, Amzi," said Mrs. Waterman, angry tears flashing +in her eyes. "If you realized what we have always stood for in this +community, and what it means to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>you as well as the rest of us; and poor +little Phil, and all—"</p> + +<p>"What have you all got to do with Phil? Phil's all right," he shouted +hoarsely.</p> + +<p>"I think," shot Mrs. Hastings, "that the easiest thing for Lois, and the +best thing, is for her to go quietly without seeing Phil."</p> + +<p>"That's my own opinion," affirmed Mrs. Fosdick.</p> + +<p>Lois listened with her detached air, as though the subject under +discussion related to some one she knew slightly but was not +particularly interested in.</p> + +<p>"Bless me! Such a wow and a wumpus. You really think I'd better go?" she +asked casually.</p> + +<p>The three, accepting this as a sign of yielding, chorused an eager, +sibilant Yes.</p> + +<p>"Think of Phil, just at the threshold of her life. We've done our best +for poor dear Phil," said Mrs. Fosdick chokingly. "Amzi can't deny that +we've tried to do our duty by her."</p> + +<p>"Of course, you have all been nice to her," remarked Lois, picking up a +box of candy and shaking it to bring to the surface some particular +sweetmeat.</p> + +<p>"It has not been so easy to bring Phil up!" declared Mrs. Waterman, +enraged that Phil's mother should take their assumption of +responsibility for the child's upbringing so lightly, so entirely as a +matter of course.</p> + +<p>"You ought to know, without our telling you, Lois," said Mrs. Hastings, +"that your coming back will be the worst thing possible for dear Phil. +If you think about it quietly for an hour or two, I'm sure you will see +that."</p> + +<p>"You ought to go down on your knees to God with it!" boomed Mrs. +Waterman, "before you think of contaminating her young life. It's only +right that we should talk to our pastor before coming to a decision."</p> + +<p>Amzi snorted and walked to the window. There he saw as he looked out +upon the lawn something that interested him; that caused a grin to +fasten itself upon his rubicund <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>countenance. Phil, under a fire of +snowballs from a group of boys who were waiting with their Christmas +sleds for a chance to hitch to a passing vehicle, gained Amzi's gate, +ducked behind the fence to gather ammunition, rose and delivered her +fire, and then retreated toward the house. Her aunts, still stubbornly +confronting her mother, and sobbingly demanding that Phil be kept away +pending a recourse to spiritual counsel, started at the sound of an +unmistakable voice. Amzi, chewing his cigar, watched Phil's flight up +the path, and noted the harmless fall of the final shots about her. She +waved her hand from the doorstep, commented derisively upon the enemy's +marksmanship, and flung the door open with a bang. A gust of cold air +seemed to precipitate Phil into the room.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Amy! Merry Christmas, everybody!"</p> + +<p>Amzi walked toward Lois. "Phil, this is your mother." Mrs. Hastings +glided from her post by the hearth until she stood between Phil and +Lois, who stood with her back to the center table, the tips of her +fingers resting upon it. Her face betrayed no apprehensions. For the +moment she was out of the scene and the contest lay between Phil and her +aunts.</p> + +<p>"Phil, this is not the place for you! Go into the other room at once," +said Mrs. Hastings, swallowing a sob.</p> + +<p>Amzi struck a match and lighted a cigar with his habitual three puffs. +Across the flame he saw Phil sweeping the group with her eyes. She stood +erect, her hands in her muff to which particles of snow clung where it +had fallen in her encounter with the boys at the gate. The crisp air had +brightened her cheeks. She wore that look of unconcern for which she had +been distinguished as a child. She moved her head slightly, to avoid the +figure of the intercepting aunt, and met for an instant her mother's +indifferent, unappealing gaze. Her intuitions grasped the situation and +weighed its nice points. Phil had rarely in her life been surprised and +she showed no surprise now.</p> + +<p>"It's rather cold, isn't it, Phil?" Lois remarked.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>"Chilly in here—rather!" said Phil in the same key.</p> + +<p>"Phil!" thundered the aunts.</p> + +<p>"Christmas is nicer with snow. I hate green Christmases," observed Lois, +who had not changed her position.</p> + +<p>"I've never seen but two," replied Phil, as readily as though the +dialogue had been rehearsed; "and I hated them." Then, drawing her hand +from her muff, she flung it out in a burlesque of the amateur +recitationist:—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">"O pray, upon my Christmas morn,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">Let snow the leaf-shorn boughs adorn.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"How <i>is</i> that, Amy! A little worse than my worst?" She stepped round +her Aunt Kate, shook hands with her mother, then upon second thought +dropped her muff, seized both her hands, and kissed her.</p> + +<p>"Were you all really just about going? I'm late! Made nine stops on the +way, took a brief sleigh-ride with Captain Wilson, ate too much +butter-scotch at the Bartletts', and here we are!"</p> + +<p>She pushed a chair toward the hearth so violently that the castors +screeched and her Aunt Kate jumped to avoid being run over.</p> + +<p>"Why not sit down, mamma? Amy, where's my present? Here's me to you."</p> + +<p>She picked up her muff, drew out a parcel tied with red ribbon, with a +bit of mistletoe tucked under the bow-knot, and tossed it to Amzi.</p> + +<p>"It's perfectly bully that you're back," she said, addressing herself +again to her mother. "Actually here all right,—a real Christmas +surprise. I'll take that up with Amy later; he's no business playing +such a trick. But it must tickle you to see how dee-lighted everybody +is! Oh, are you off, Aunt Josie? Hello, Lawr<i>i</i>nce!" She turned to wave +her hand to Hastings at the door, where Waterman, Fosdick, and he had +witnessed their wives' discomfiture. Those ladies were now attempting to +impart to their exits the majesty of righteous indignation.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>Phil kicked an old carpeted footstool to the hearth, and dropped upon it +at her mother's feet.</p> + +<p>"What an old fraud Amy is not to have told me!"</p> + +<p>She waited for the ultimate sounds of departure, and kissed her fingers +to the closed door.</p> + +<p>Then she raised her arms quickly and drew down her mother's head until +their cheeks touched.</p> + +<p>"Thunder!" said Amzi, and left them together.</p> +<br /> +<br /><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>PHIL'S PERPLEXITIES</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Phil reached home shortly before one, and called her father's name in +the hall without eliciting a response. The odor of roasting turkey was +in the house, and she noted that the table was set for four. The +maid-of-all-work was moulding cranberry jelly when Phil thrust her head +into the kitchen.</p> + +<p>"There's going to be company for dinner," the woman explained. "Your pa +came in and told me so. He's gone down to his office for a minute."</p> + +<p>Phil had not heard that they were to have guests. She stood in the +dining-room viewing the two extra places and wondering whom her father +had asked. Usually on holidays, when the rest of the family assembled at +Amzi's, the Kirkwoods had eaten their midday meal alone. If he had asked +the Bartletts' to share this particular Christmas feast it must have +been without premeditation, for she had herself visited the sisters on +her way to Amzi's, and nothing had been said about a later meeting. It +was not like her father to invite guests without consulting her. Her +mother's return had changed the world's orbit. Nothing was as it had +been; nothing seemed quite real. The house in Buckeye Lane, about which +so many happy memories clustered, was suddenly become distorted and all +out of drawing, as though she viewed it through a defective window-pane. +She went upstairs and glanced warily into her father's bedroom, as +though fearing to find ghosts there.</p> + +<p>As she redressed her hair she regarded herself in the mirror with a new +curiosity. She was a stranger to herself; she was not the same Phil +Kirkwood who had stood before the glass that morning, but a very +different person—a Phil who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>had come suddenly upon a hidden crevasse +in the bright, even meadow of her life and peered into an undreamed-of +abyss.</p> + +<p>If her mother—that mother who had always lived less vividly in her +imagination than her favorite characters in fiction—had not proved so +bewilderingly, so enthrallingly captivating, so wholly charming and +lovable, she might have grappled the situation with some certainty. But +no woman had ever been like that! Her mother was the most wonderful +being in the world! Little by little through the years her aunts had +been creating in Phil's mind a vulgar, vain, wicked figure and pointing +to it as a fair portrait of her mother. She had always disliked her +aunts; she found herself hating them now with a passionate intensity +that frightened her.</p> + +<p>She flung herself down in the window-seat and looked toward Main Street +with unseeing eyes. A wonderful voice murmured in her ears, speaking a +new language. She tried to recall what had been said as she crouched at +her mother's feet, her head in her lap, before the fire in Amzi's +living-room; but it was like the futile effort to recall an elusive +strain of music. She had felt curiously no disparity of years in that +interview; it had been like a talk with a newfound sister, or with a +girl with whom she had established one of the sudden intimate +friendships of school days. This wonderful Lois touched with a warm +brilliancy innumerable points and surfaces that flashed and gleamed +before Phil's fascinated, eager eyes. She had satisfied her curiosity as +to Phil in a dozen direct questions that elicited information without +leaving any ground for discussing it. Was Phil well?—and happy? What +was Phil most interested in? Had there been money enough for her needs? +And always with the implication that if the answers to these questions +should not prove satisfactory, it did not greatly matter, as the +deficiencies could easily be supplied.</p> + +<p>They were to see each other, Phil and this enchanting mother—to-morrow; +yes, there had been definite agreement upon that. But Lois had seemed as +indifferent to days <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>after to-morrow as to days before yesterday. And +while this troubled Phil, she had caught so much of her mother's spirit, +she had been so responsive to the new amazing language that fell so +fascinatingly from her mother's lips, that she accepted the promise of a +single to-morrow without misgivings. Sufficient unto the day was the +wonder thereof!</p> + +<p>She drew from her pocket a wristlet of diamonds, which Lois had given +her as they parted at Amzi's door. The gems sparkled in the sunny +window. It was a trinket of beauty and value, and Phil clasped it upon +her wrist and contemplated it with awe and delight. It was worth, she +assumed, almost or quite as much as the house in which she lived; and +yet her mother had bestowed it upon her with gay apologies for its +paltriness—this mother out of a fairy-tale, this girlish mother with +the wise, beautiful eyes, and most entrancing of voices.</p> + +<p>The gate clicked and she glanced down at the yard. Her father was +bringing Rose and Nan to the house! They were walking briskly, and +advanced to the door laughing. The women looked up, saw Phil, and waved +their hands. Her father flung a snowball at the window. Happiness was in +the faces of the trio—a happiness that struck Phil with forebodings. +She had never in her imaginings thought an hour would come when she +would begrudge her father any joy that might come to him; even less had +it ever seemed possible that she would look forward with dread to +meeting Rose and Nan. She hid her mother's gift and ran down to let them +in.</p> + +<p>"You remember," said her father, "the Maryland epicure's remark about +the turkey being an annoying bird—just a leetle too big for one and not +quite big enough for two? I decided to see how it would work for four."</p> + +<p>"We didn't know we were coming, Phil, when we saw you. Your father came +along afterward and found we were going to eat a plain, domestic duck by +ourselves; and we weakly, meekly fell," explained Rose.</p> + +<p>"There can't be a real Christmas unless there's a party; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>and I thought +it about time we had a quiet little celebration of 'The Gray Knight of +Picardy'—seventh edition now printing, and the English rights well +placed. Phil, it's up to you to carry on the literary partnership with +Nan. I'm out of it. I'm going to write the publisher at once to go ahead +and enlighten the wondering world as to the authorship of the 'Gray +Knight'—Miss Nancy Bartlett, of Buckeye Lane!"</p> + +<p>"You shall do nothing of the kind, Tom," declared Nan with emphasis; and +immediately blushed.</p> + +<p>This was the first time Phil had heard Nan call her father by his first +name. To be sure, he always addressed both Nan and Rose by their +Christian names; but that was not surprising, as he had known the +Bartletts' well from the time of his coming to the college, when every +one called him Professor or Doctor.</p> + +<p>At the table Nan and Kirkwood did most of the talking, and now and then +they exchanged glances that expressed to Phil some new understanding +between them. It had never before been so clear to Phil how perfectly +sympathetic these two were. Her father was a clever man and Nan Bartlett +an unusually clever woman. At other times Phil would have delighted in +their sharp fencing; the snap and crackle of their dialogue; but her +heart ached to-day. She felt the presence of a specter at the table. She +heard that other voice with its new and thrilling accents, that +careless, light laugh with its gentle mockery. She was recalled from a +long reverie by a question from Rose.</p> + +<p>"How did you find the gathering of the clans at Amzi's?"</p> + +<p>"Just about as cheerful as usual," replied Phil colorlessly.</p> + +<p>"Amzi's seat will be in the front row of the heavenly choir-loft," +observed Nan. "What he has taken from those women has given him a clear +title to joys ineffable."</p> + +<p>"Amy is not a mere man," said Phil; "he is a great soul."</p> + +<p>She had spoken so earnestly that they all looked at her in surprise. If +she had referred to her uncle as a brick, or a grand old sport, or the +dearest old Indian on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>reservation, they would have taken it as a +matter of course; but Phil was not quite herself to-day.</p> + +<p>"Don't you feel well, Phil?" asked Nan, so pointedly referring to the +unwonted sobriety with which she had spoken of her uncle that they all +laughed.</p> + +<p>"The aunts must have been unusually vexatious to-day. You're not quite +up to pitch, Phil. Too much candy has spoiled your appetite," remarked +her father.</p> + +<p>"I guess my sweet tooth did betray me into indiscretions," she answered +with an effort at lightness; and added,</p> + +<p class="noin"> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">"The bon-bon and the caramel</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">Poor Phyllis did waylay;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">And being only a weak mortal young thing to whom</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 9.5em;">Christmas comes but once a year</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">Is it surprising what befell?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">For she knew not the sad word Nay."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Oh, unutterable horrors! That's the worst you ever perpetrated!" cried +her father. "Just for that you shall eat another piece of mince pie."</p> + +<p>"Nothing of the kind, Tom; we must not add to the sufferings of one +whose own rhymes are punishment enough," said Nan.</p> + +<p>The two women looked at Phil more closely. She seemed preoccupied and +her contributions to their banter were perfunctory and spiritless. When +they were established in the living-room, Phil crouched on a stool by +the fire. Concealment and dissimulation were so wholly foreign to her +nature that it was with difficulty that she resisted an impulse to blurt +out the whole thing. They would know within a few hours of her mother's +return, and the fact that she had withheld the information would make +her situation more difficult. She saw her father furtively touch Nan's +hand; he was beyond question very much in love with her; and Nan had +practically confessed, on that memorable afternoon following Amzi's +party, her regard for Kirkwood. Then it had seemed to Phil the most +natural and rational thing in the world for her father and Nan to marry; +but now <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>in this whirling chaos to which the world had been reduced, the +thought of it was abhorrent. No wonder they looked at her curiously, not +understanding her silence. Phil loved them all! Phil wanted everybody to +be happy! Yet clearly happiness even in the small circle of her nearest +and dearest was impossible. Her nimble fancy led her over rough chaotic +peaks in an effort to find a point from which to survey the general +desolation. In practical terms she reasoned that men and women sometimes +remarried after a long estrangement. Perhaps—But she was unable to push +beyond that perhaps.</p> + +<p>The bell rang and she was glad of the interruption. Fred Holton had come +to call. Kirkwood greeted him cordially, and they widened the circle +before the grate to admit him. Phil addressed herself to Fred with the +kindliness he always inspired in her. He was a trifle abashed by the +presence of the Bartletts, and on seeing them, furtively dropped a +package he had brought on a chair by the door. Phil, inspecting it +glancingly, saw her name scribbled on the paper wrapper.</p> + +<p>"Christmas gift! Who guesses this is a Christmas gift for me?"</p> + +<p>"Everybody!" cried the Bartletts.</p> + +<p>"I guess it's a book. I hope it's a book. I shall be disappointed if it +isn't a book," continued Phil.</p> + +<p>Fred blushed, and said it wasn't anything. The clerk in the bookstore +had recommended it, and he thought Phil might like it. Phil tore off the +wrapper and held up "The Gray Knight of Picardy." The sight of it sent a +quick, sharp pain through her heart. It was no longer merely the best +tale of the season that her father and one of her dearest friends had +written, but a book her father and the woman he loved had written; and +this, in the light of the day's events, was a very different matter.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Fred. It's nice of you to think of me. And I'm sure it's a +good story."</p> + +<p>"They say it's awfully funny," said Fred.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>Nothing seemed funny to Phil; but she exerted herself to be +entertaining. She was in a mood to be touched by his gift. Charles +Holton had sent her a box of roses from Indianapolis and they were +nodding from the tall vase on the mantel. She saw Fred eyeing them, and +hastened to say that books made the finest possible gifts.</p> + +<p>"It must be lonely in the country to-day," remarked Nan. "But I suppose +you've spent the day in town."</p> + +<p>"Only part of it," replied Fred. "I couldn't desert the live stock; and +I have a man there with me. We had our Christmas feast and I hopped on +the interurban."</p> + +<p>"Turkey?" asked Phil.</p> + +<p>"No; rabbit. Rabbit's much more wholesome for Christmas than turkey. We +sell turkeys to the city folks and feast on rabbits when we need them. I +poached this one, too. But don't tell Mr. Montgomery. It ran under his +fence into my pasture, and fearing it was my last chance for Christmas +dinner, I pulled the trigger. Is that a high crime, Mr. Kirkwood?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all. We'll assume that it was really your rabbit that had just +been out for a stroll on Mr. Montgomery's side of the fence. I'll +promise to get you off if you're prosecuted."</p> + +<p>"I should think it would be quite grand and splendid to own a farm and +go out and pick off game that way," said Phil musingly. "Monarch of all +you survey, and that sort of thing. When I had a Flobert rifle in my +enchanted youth and shot sparrows in our back yard, I had something of +the same exalted feeling. Only our estate here is too limited. The +neighbors kicked; so many wild shots. Absurd how sensitive people are. +But I suppose if I hadn't broken a few glasses of new quince preserves +the lady across our alley had put to sun in her kitchen window, I might +never have lost the gun."</p> + +<p>"I don't seem to remember that incident of your career, Phil," said +Rose.</p> + +<p>"I hope nobody does. The lady's husband happened to be the town marshal, +and he told daddy a lot of sad things <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>that were going to happen to me +if I didn't stop shooting at his perfectly good wife as she followed her +usual avocations."</p> + +<p>The Bartletts were relieved to find Phil restored to something like her +normal cheerful self. They all enlarged upon the impingement of her +bullets upon the marshal's wife's quinces, discussing the subject in the +mock-serious vein that was common in their intercourse. If Phil had +killed her neighbor, would it have been proper for the defense to prove +that the quinces were improperly prepared? Kirkwood insisted that such +testimony would have been grossly irregular and that an able jurist like +Judge Walters would certainly have rejected it. They played with the +idea of Phil's heinous crime until they wore it out.</p> + +<p>"Put on the black cap and tell me when I'm to die," said Phil. "I'm +guilty. I really did kill the woman and I buried her under the plum tree +in her back yard. Now let's think of something cheerful."</p> + +<p>Nan and Kirkwood dropped out of the circle a little later, and Phil +heard them talking in subdued tones in the library. Rose withdrew to the +window and became absorbed in a book.</p> + +<p>"I saw you and Charlie that day you climbed up the bluff," said Fred the +moment Rose was out of hearing. "I hope you won't do that any more. I +hope you won't ever do things like that again!" he ended earnestly.</p> + +<p>"It was just a lark; why shouldn't I do it?"</p> + +<p>"The chances were that you'd fall and be killed. You had no right to +take the chance. And Charlie had no right to let you do it."</p> + +<p>"Charlie hadn't anything to do with it. He couldn't have helped +himself," said Phil defensively.</p> + +<p>"Then the rest of them down on the creek should have stopped you. It was +the craziest thing I ever saw."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it was silly," Phil admitted tamely, "but it's all over now."</p> + +<p>It was in her heart to say that nothing greatly mattered, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>and yet there +was a certain comfort in knowing that he cared. His blue eyes told her +frankly how much he cared; and she was not unmindful of the wistful +smile with which he regarded her.</p> + +<p>His glance wandered from her face to the long-stemmed roses on the +mantel-shelf behind her. He knew perfectly well where those roses had +come from. She saw the resentment in his eyes. The resumption of social +relations between her aunts and the Holtons that had brought her in +contact with these nephews of Jack Holton struck her in a new light, +with Fred there before her, with Charles's roses flaunting themselves +unrebuked in her father's house. She had no business to be receiving +Fred Holton; Charles's flowers assumed suddenly a dire significance. She +meant to be rid of them the moment she could do so without attracting +attention. It was on her tongue to say something unkind to Fred; her +loyalty to her mother seemed to demand it. And yet neither Fred nor +Charles had been in any wise responsible for her mother's tragedy. Fred +had risen and stood before the fire with his arms folded. The care he +took to make himself presentable, expressed in his carefully brushed +clothes; the polish on his rough shoes; his clean-shaven face, touched +her now as at other times. She wondered whether, if they had been alone, +she would not have confessed her perplexities and asked his counsel. In +their talks she had been impressed by his rugged common sense, and her +plight was one that demanded the exercise of just that quality. Rose +turned the pages of her book. Her father and Nan continued their +conference in low tones in the adjoining room.</p> + +<p>"You promise—don't you—that you won't ever do foolish things like that +any more," and Fred put out his hand half in farewell, half as though +the clasp he invited would mean a pledge.</p> + +<p>"Please forget it. I'll probably never have another chance. That was the +kind of thing you do only once; there wouldn't be any fun in doing it +over again."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>"Your father has been mighty nice to me: I wanted to tell him I +appreciated it. I felt I'd like to say that to him on Christmas—just a +kind of sentimental feeling about it. But you please say it for me. +He'll understand; I couldn't say it before the others."</p> + +<p>She responded passively: there were a good many things that she must say +to her father!</p> + +<p>Kirkwood and Nan reappeared as they heard Fred saying good-bye to Rose.</p> + +<p>Nan said she and her sister must be going, too, as they had some calls +to make. At the door Nan kissed Phil, and asked her to come to see her +the next day. The kiss and this special invitation, half-whispered, +confirmed Phil's belief that her father and Nan would have told her of +their engagement if Fred's coming had not interfered. She was glad for +the delay, and yet it would have been easier in many ways to have met +the issue squarely before Nan and Rose. She and her father watched Fred +and the women pass from sight toward town.</p> + +<p>"He seems to be a nice fellow," remarked Kirkwood, as they returned to +the living-room—"a clean, manly sort of chap."</p> + +<p>"He's all that," replied Phil. "He came to thank you for something: he's +too shy to talk much in company and he asked me to tell you how much he +appreciated something or other you had done for him."</p> + +<p>"Queer chap, for a Holton," Kirkwood observed, striking a match on the +underside of the slate mantel-shelf. "There's a real nobility in that +boy. He didn't tell you what he wanted to speak to me about? That's +better yet. I imagine his brother isn't so shy about publishing his good +works before men."</p> + +<p>Kirkwood's eyes sought the roses. The "attentions" Phil was receiving +had roused in him the mixed bewilderment and awe with which a father +realizes that he has on his hands a daughter upon whom other men have +begun to look covetously. Half a dozen young fellows were dancing +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>attendance upon Phil. In the hotel and at the theater in Indianapolis +men and women had paid her the tribute of a second glance, and Mrs. +Fitch had been enthusiastic about her. His tolerant spirit had not +visited upon the young Holtons the sins of their uncle. Charles's +devotion to Phil had rather amused him; he had taken it as an oblique +compliment to himself, assuming that it was due to anxiety on Charles's +part to ingratiate himself with Phil's father quite as much as with +Phil.</p> + +<p>"I suppose what Fred meant was a little matter between us in the +traction business. You know that farm he settled on next to Amzi's? He's +turned it over to me."</p> + +<p>"You mean he doesn't own it any more?" asked Phil.</p> + +<p>"Strictly speaking, no. In the general Holton mess he thought he ought +to surrender the property. Rather quixotic, but creditable to the boy. +You see Charlie was executor of their father's estate. Charlie's beyond +doubt a very smooth young person. And no end plausible. He got Fred to +take that farm in settlement of all claims against Samuel's estate. And +when Fred found out there was trouble over his father's financiering of +the Sycamore he hopped on the trolley and came to the city and turned +over the farm to me as trustee. He seemed no end grateful to me for +allowing him to do it."</p> + +<p>"But you didn't let him—it isn't fair! Why the farm's no good anyhow! +And besides, Charlie wouldn't have done Fred an injury. He talked to me +the other day at his aunt's skating-party about all that traction +business and I'm sure he never meant any harm. He couldn't help what his +father did. But to take Fred's farm away—why, daddy, that would be the +supreme grand lim<i>ite</i>!"</p> + +<p>Kirkwood laughed and pinched her chin.</p> + +<p>"What a terrible young person you are! You seem to forget that I'm not +the Holtons' attorney. I'm hired by the poor innocents who bought Sam +Holton's bonds, and it's my business to get all the money for them I +can. Charles's tricks with his father's estate only figure incidentally, +but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>they have a dark look. It's merely a case of the sins of the +parents being visited upon the children—"</p> + +<p>He had been speaking half-carelessly, not really heeding what he said, +and he arrested himself with an impatient shrug of the shoulders. The +visitation of a parent's sins upon children was not a subject for +discussion in that household, as Phil realized with a poignancy born of +her morning's adventure. Kirkwood was instantly contrite as he saw tears +in Phil's eyes. He would not for worlds have wounded her. It was +impossible for him to know how in her new sensitiveness this careless +speech, which a day earlier would have passed unheeded, aroused all her +instincts of defense. She was half-aware of the irony by which their +talk about the nephews of Jack Holton had carried them with so fateful a +directness to her mother.</p> + +<p>Kirkwood frowned. His former wife was of all subjects the most +ungrateful on this Christmas day. The old wounds had healed absolutely +and the scars even had vanished in his new hope and happiness. He did +not mean to have his day spoiled. He crossed the room to the window +where Phil stood pulling idly at a withered geranium leaf. He drew her +round and kissed her.</p> + +<p>"Forgive me, dear old Phil! I wouldn't hurt you for ten thousand +kingdoms. And I didn't mean that. I don't think it; moreover, I don't +believe in that philosophy."</p> + +<p>His contrition was unmistakedly sincere; yet she knew that if he had not +obliterated the thought of her mother from his mind he would not have +let slip that reference to parental sins. His forgetfulness was worse +than the offense itself.</p> + +<p>She experienced a sensation, new in all their intercourse, of wanting to +hurt him. This was, in all kindness and charity, the instant for +announcing her mother's return; and yet before making that disclosure +Phil meant to force him to tell her in so many words that he was engaged +to marry Nan. This was the most astonishing of all Phil's crowding +experiences of the day, that she harbored with cruel satisfaction <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>the +thought of inflicting pain upon her father—her old comrade, with whom +she had so joyfully camped and tramped and lived so many happy days in +this little house, where now for the first time shadows danced +malevolently.</p> + +<p>"I wanted this to be a happy day, Phil. What do we care about the +Holtons or Sycamore Traction! Charlie and Fred are all right, and I must +say that I've been a good deal pleased by the attitude of both the young +fellows. But I have something to tell you; something you've been +prepared for for a long time in that wise, old head of yours. It's made +me the happiest man in the world; and I hope it will make you almost as +happy. And I believe it's for your good; that it's going to be a great +big factor in working out all your problems and mine! Come now, forgive +me, and tell me whether you want three guesses as to what it is!"</p> + +<p>He rested the tips of his fingers on her shoulders, standing off and +looking at her with all the old fondness in his eyes. He had spoken +buoyantly; his manner was that of a young man about to confide a love +affair to a sympathetic sister.</p> + +<p>Phil slipped from under his hands and stood rigid, with her back against +the geranium box. She swallowed a sob and lifted her head to meet the +blow. He would not have it thus, but caught her hands and swung them in +a tight clasp.</p> + +<p>"It's Nan, Phil, dear: Nan's promised to marry me! She's been saying she +never would. It was only last night she agreed to take this poor old +wreck and try to make a man of me. We meant to tell you to-day if Fred +Holton hadn't come in, and then the girls had to run. But nobody is to +know for a month yet; we mean to be married at Easter. That last point +we fixed up just now in the library. You see what a lot of things can +happen right here in dear old Montgomery within twenty-four hours."</p> + +<p>He waited for one of her characteristic Philesque outbursts—one of the +tumultuous mussings with which she celebrated her happy surprises. +Nothing was needed to complete his joy but Phil's approval, about which +he had never had the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>slightest question. In his last talk with Nan on +Christmas Eve they had discussed Phil and the effect of their marriage +upon her rather more than upon themselves. And he had now exhausted +himself upon the announcement; there was nothing more that he could say. +Phil's hands were cold in his, and with an almost imperceptible pressure +she was thrusting him away from her. Two great tears welled in her eyes +and stole down her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"Why, Phil! I thought you—you of all people in the world—"</p> + +<p>"Mamma has come back!" said Phil colorlessly; and repeated, "mamma has +come back. She is at Uncle Amy's, and I have seen her."</p> + +<p>There was silence for a little space while he stared at her. Their eyes +met in a long gaze. He grew suddenly white and she felt the trembling of +his hands.</p> + +<p>"O God, no!" he said hoarsely. "You don't mean that, Phil. This is a +joke—not here; not in Montgomery! She would never do that. Come, you +mustn't trifle with me; it's—it's too horrible."</p> + +<p>His voice sank to a whisper with his last word. The word and his tone in +uttering it had not expressed the full sense of the horror that was in +his face.</p> + +<p>"It is true, daddy," she said softly, kindly. "I have seen her; I have +talked with her."</p> + +<p>"You saw her at Amzi's?" he asked dully.</p> + +<p>"Yes; she came last night. I didn't know it until I got to the house +this morning. They were all there, and when I went in they tried to send +me off; they thought I oughtn't to see her."</p> + +<p>"There was a scene, then; they were ugly about it?"</p> + +<p>"They tried to be; but it didn't go!"</p> + +<p>He noted the faltering triumph of her tone and looked at her more +closely.</p> + +<p>"They wanted her to go and she held her ground against them?"</p> + +<p>"I held it with her," said Phil.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>"You didn't think she should go; was that it, Phil?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't think she should be treated like a dog!"</p> + +<p>Phil drew away, with her head held high, her fists tightly clenched. +Kirkwood walked slowly across the room thrice while she stood immovable. +He recalled her presence in a moment and remarked absently:—</p> + +<p>"Amzi should have told me. It wasn't fair for him to do this. If I had +known last night that she was here—"</p> + +<p>He broke off with a groan. The resigned, indifferent air he had lately +flung off possessed him again, and seeing it the pity stole back into +her heart. She moved about, avoiding him, fearful of meeting again that +hurt, wounded look in his eyes. The short day was drawing to an end, and +the shadows deepened. He was mechanically lighting his pipe, and she +crouched in her favorite seat by the fire.</p> + +<p>"It's a little tough, Phil," he said finally with a revival of courage, +pausing in his slow, aimless wandering through the rooms. "It's a little +tough after so long, and <i>now</i>."</p> + +<p>She could not controvert this; she merely waited to see what further he +had to say. He paused presently, his arm on the mantel-shelf, his +fingers nervously playing with his pipe.</p> + +<p>"What is she like, Phil?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, she is lovely! She is the most charming woman that ever lived!"</p> + +<p>"You liked her, then; she was nice to you?"</p> + +<p>"She is dear and sweet and wonderful! Oh, I didn't know she would be +like that!"</p> + +<p>His eyes opened and shut quickly. There was an implied accusation +against him in the fervor of her admiration for the wife who had +deserted him. He groped for something in self-justification with which +to confute Lois Montgomery's daughter.</p> + +<p>"You found her what you would like your mother to be,—you didn't think +her hard or cruel?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't have thought her a woman who would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>desert a husband and a +helpless baby and run away with another man?"</p> + +<p>There was silence in the room. He had mercilessly condensed the case +against Lois Montgomery, reducing it to its harshest terms for Phil's +contemplation. It was in Phil's mind that she had nothing to do with +those things; that the woman against whose cheek she had laid her own +was not Thomas Kirkwood's recreant wife, but another and very different +person. She did not know how to express this; it seemed preposterous to +insist to her father that his former wife was not the same woman that +she had held speech with that day.</p> + +<p>"I can't talk about her in that way, daddy. I can't tell you just how I +feel. But it seemed so wonderful, when I went into the house, and those +horrible creatures were circling round her like wolves, that we +understood each other, she and I, without a word being said! And I hated +them all, except dear old Amy. They all went home and Amy went off and +left us alone, and we talked just as though we had been old friends."</p> + +<p>She ceased as though to attempt to describe it would be profanation.</p> + +<p>"What did she say—about me?" he asked blindly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, she didn't talk about you at all! It wasn't that kind of talk—not +about what she had done—not even about what she meant to do! She is so +young! She is just like a girl! And she speaks so charmingly, with the +loveliest voice. It's like the way the water ripples round the big +boulders at The Run."</p> + +<p>"She hadn't anything to say about her going off? I don't quite believe +you mean that, Phil."</p> + +<p>"That's exactly the truth, daddy"; and there was grieved surprise in her +tone. "Why, she isn't like that; she wouldn't ever say anything to hurt +any one. I haven't words to tell you about her, because there was never +any one like her. She is all sunniness and sweetness. And she's the most +amusing person I ever saw,—ever so droll and funny!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>Phil's refusal or inability to see her mother in robes of sin irritated +Kirkwood. For Phil to call her an amusing person was sheer childish +naïveté. Phil was the victim of an infatuation which he could understand +now that his wife began to live again in his imagination. He had read in +books that the maternal instinct will assert itself after long +separations, where mother and child are without other clue than that of +the mysterious filial and maternal tie to guide them; but his practical +sense rejected the idea. If he had been warned of Lois's unaccountable +return, he might have fortified Phil against her charms, but now it was +too late. Lois was Phil's mother. Shocked as he was by this termination +of his Christmas-Day happiness, his nature revolted against any attempt +to shatter Phil's new idol. The fact that Lois had sinned as much +against Phil as against himself was not something that he could urge now +that Phil had taken her stand. The thought of Lois brought before him +not only the unhappy past, but she seemed, with the cruelest +calculation, to have planted herself in the path of his happy future.</p> + +<p>He was intent upon a situation that called for immediate handling. He +tried to bring the scattered dim stars in this new firmament to focus. +He might go to Nan and endeavor to minimize the effects of Lois's +return, urging that if she wished to spend the rest of her life in +Montgomery it was her affair, and had nothing whatever to do with her +former husband or the woman he meant to marry. This was a sane, +reasonable view of the situation; but its sanity and reasonableness were +not likely to impress Nan Bartlett. Such an event as the sudden return +of Lois would pass into local history as a great sensation. Jack +Holton's re-appearance only a few weeks earlier had caused his +fellow-townsmen to attack the old scandal with the avidity of a dog +unearthing a neglected bone; and the return of the woman in the case +could hardly fail to prove far more provocative of gossip. If Lois +persisted in remaining in Montgomery, it was wholly unlikely that Nan +would ever marry him; nor could he with any delicacy insist upon her +doing so. They <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>might marry and move to Indianapolis, thereby escaping +the discomforts of the smaller town's criticism; and this was made +possible by his brightening prospects. At any rate, it was only fair to +go to Nan at once and lay the matter before her. Even now the news might +have reached her; news spreads quickly in the world's compact +Montgomerys.</p> + +<p>Phil aroused herself as she heard him fumbling for his coat at the +hall-rack. She found a match and lighted the gas.</p> + +<p>"Going out, daddy?" she asked in something like her usual tone.</p> + +<p>He looked at her vaguely as he drew on his coat, as though trying to +understand what she had said.</p> + +<p>"Well, you'll be back for supper. There'll be the usual +holiday-cold-turkey supper, daddy."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Phil; I'll be back after while. I'm going for a tramp."</p> + +<p>But she knew that he had gone to see Nan.</p> +<br /> +<br /><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>AMZI IS FLABBERGASTED</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Struby's drug-store did a large business in hot drinks in the week +following Christmas, as citizens and citizenesses met to discuss the +return of Lois Montgomery. The annual choir-row in Center Church caused +scarcely a ripple; the county poorhouse burned to the ground, and nobody +cared particularly; an august professor in the college was laid low with +whooping-cough, and even this calamity failed to tickle the community as +it would have done in ordinary circumstances.</p> + +<p>Wonder and mystery were in the air of Main Street. Persons who had no +money in Montgomery's Bank, and whom the liveliest imagination could not +dramatize as borrowers from that institution, dropped in casually on +fictitious errands, in the hope of seeing or hearing something. +Housewives who lived beyond the college, or over in the new bungalow +addition across the Monon tracks, who had no business whatever in the +neighborhood of the old Montgomery place, made flimsy excuses for +visiting that region in the hope of catching a glimpse of a certain lady +who, after a long absence, had reappeared in town with bewildering +suddenness. What Amzi had said to his sisters Kate, Josie, and Fanny and +what they had said to him, and what Mrs. Lois Montgomery Holton had said +to them all afforded an ample field for comment where facts were known; +and where there were no facts, speculation and invention rioted +outrageously. Had Tom Kirkwood seen his former wife? Would Phil break +with her father and go to live at Amzi's with her mother? Was it true +that Lois had come back to Indiana in the hope of effecting a +reconciliation with Jack Holton, of whom <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>unpleasant reports were now +reaching Montgomery from the state capital? An intelligent community +possessed of a healthy curiosity must be pardoned for polishing its +spectacles when a drama so exciting and presenting so many characters is +being disclosed upon its stage.</p> + +<p>It was said that Mrs. Holton emerged from Amzi's house daily to take the +air. She had been observed by credible witnesses at the stamp window of +the post-office; again, she had bought violets at the florist's; she had +been seen walking across the Madison campus. The attendants in the new +Carnegie library had been thrilled by a visit from a strange lady who +could have been none other than Mrs. Holton.</p> + +<p>At four o'clock on the afternoon of January 2, Mrs. Holton drank a cup +of bouillon at Struby's counter, informed the white-jacketed attendant +that it was excellent, and crossed Main Street to Montgomery's Bank +under the admiring eyes of a dozen young collegians who happened to be +loafing in the drug-store. Amzi escorted his sister at once to his +private room at the rear, poked the fire, buttoned his coat and sat +down.</p> + +<p>"Well, Lois, how goes it?"</p> + +<p>His question was the one he habitually asked his customers, and he had +no idea that anything of importance had happened to his sister since he +left her at one o'clock.</p> + +<p>"The air in the counting-room is bad, Amzi; you ought to put in +ventilators. A little fresh air would increase the efficiency of the +clerks one hundred per cent," she remarked, tossing her muff and a +package on the table. It was a solid package that fell with a bang.</p> + +<p>"Then they'd want more pay. You've got another guess coming."</p> + +<p>"No. You'd cut down their wages because they worked less time."</p> + +<p>He rubbed his head and chuckled. It was plainly written on his face that +he was immensely fond of her, that her presence in the dim, dingy old +room gave him pleasure. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>He clasped his hands behind his head to +emphasize his comfort.</p> + +<p>"I passed Center Church on my way down just as my perfectly good sisters +three were entering the side door. The Presbyterians haven't set up a +confessional, have they?"</p> + +<p>"Lemme see. I guess this is the afternoon they sew for the heathen. No. +This is Tuesday. Pastor's Aid Society. Caught 'em in the act, did you?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose I did. They bowed and I bowed. When I got to the corner I +turned round to take a look at the steeple and they were inspecting my +clothes. They're rather funny human beings, those sisters of ours. How +do you suppose they ever happened anyhow? How do you suppose they came +to be so good and you and I so naughty? I mention your naughtiness, +Amzi, just to keep from being so lonesome."</p> + +<p>"Thunder!" he puffed, evidently rejoicing in the wickedness she +conferred upon him.</p> + +<p>"I came to talk business a little, Amzi. Didn't want to do it at the +house. In fact, I'm out of money; broke; busted. I bought a cup of soup +at the drug-store over the way and left my last dime on the counter."</p> + +<p>He rubbed his pink pate and cleared his throat. He was not surprised; he +had expected her to be broke. Several times in the week that had passed +since her return, he had thought of broaching the subject of money, but +had refrained. Lois could have anything he had; that was his feeling +about it; and no doubt when she needed money she would ask for it. His +other sisters had never hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Just say how much, Lois."</p> + +<p>His tone was reassuring. The others had bled him for years; he had kept +an account of his "advances," as they called them, in a pass-book, and +within a few days he had credited Lois with an amount equal to the total +of these sums. It was approximately this amount that he had tried to +bestow upon Phil the previous fall when that unreasonable young person +had scorned it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>Lois had not answered him. Her face wore a look of abstraction and she +compressed her lips poutingly. He had found her increasingly interesting +and amusing as the days passed. The subjects she discussed in their long +evenings together were as various as her costumes. She was always +cheery, always a delight to his admiring eyes. Now that she needed money +she would be sure to ask for it in her own charming fashion.</p> + +<p>"Speak up; don't be afraid. The sooner we fix it the quicker we can +forget it," he added kindly.</p> + +<p>"I was just wondering how to divide things around a little," she +replied.</p> + +<p>"Divide how? Among your creditors?"</p> + +<p>"Creditors? Bless your silly head, Amzi, I haven't any creditors!"</p> + +<p>"I thought you said you were broke."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I believe I did," she replied, still only half-attentive to what he +said, and apparently not particularly interested in explaining herself. +She reached for a pad and made rapid calculations. He lighted a cigar +and watched her gloved hand dancing over the paper. The package she had +tossed on the table was much bewaxed and sealed. "When I said I was +broke, I meant that I hadn't any money in my pocket. I want to open an +account here so I can cash a check. I suppose you haven't any prejudices +against accepting small deposits?"</p> + +<p>"No prejudices exactly, Lois; but it's so long since any member of the +family came into this bank without wanting to make a touch that I'm +likely to drop dead."</p> + +<p>She laughed, drew out her purse, and extracted three closely folded +slips of crisp paper, took up a pen and scratched her name across the +back of each.</p> + +<p>"There," she said, "consider these on deposit and give me a check-book."</p> + +<p>He ran the drafts through his fingers, reading the amounts, and from +force of habit compared the indorsement with the name on the face. He +smoothed them out on the table and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>laid a weight on them. He looked at +the end of his cigar, then at her. Of the three bills of exchange on New +York, one was for ten thousand dollars, issued by a Seattle bank; +another was for fifteen thousand, issued by a San Francisco house, and +the third was a certified check for seven thousand and some odd dollars +and cents. Something over thirty-two thousand dollars!</p> + +<p>He unconsciously adopted with her something of his way with Phil. He +would not express surprise at the magnitude of the sum she had so +indifferently fished out of her purse, but rather treat the matter as +though he had been prepared for it. The joke of it—that Lois should +have come back with money, when her sisters certainly, and the rest of +the community probably, assumed that her return to Montgomery meant +nothing more or less than the collapse of her fortunes—this was a joke +so delicious, so stupendous, that his enjoyment of it dulled the edge of +his curiosity as to the history the fact concealed. She hadn't even +taken off her gloves to write her name on the drafts! There were +depositors who had shown more emotion over confiding one hundred dollars +to his care than she had displayed in writing her name on the books as +his largest individual depositor. He wanted to giggle; it was the +funniest thing that had ever happened. He remarked casually,—</p> + +<p>"Got a gold mine, Lois?"</p> + +<p>He was so full of the joy of it that he gasped at her reply.</p> + +<p>"How did you know?" she asked sharply.</p> + +<p>"I didn't."</p> + +<p>"I thought not. Nobody knows. And nobody need know. Just between +ourselves—all this."</p> + +<p>He nodded. She was an amazing creature, this sister! The joke grew. He +hoped she would delay and prolong her revelations, that he might miss +nothing of their humor.</p> + +<p>"Nevada," she remarked sententiously.</p> + +<p>"Ground floor?"</p> + +<p>"Something like that."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>She pushed toward him the pad with her calculations. They read thus:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Seattle"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">Seattle R. E.</td> + <td class="tdr" width="25%">175,000</td> + <td class="tdl" width="25%"> (about)</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Broken Axe (Gov't 3's)</td> + <td class="tdr">250,000</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">A. T. & S. F. bonds</td> + <td class="tdr"> 20,000</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Phœnix Lumber</td> + <td class="tdr"> 75,000</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Other securities</td> + <td class="tdr">100,900</td> + <td class="tdl"> (maybe)</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>His jaw fell and he gulped when he tried to speak. Even Amzi could not +joke about half a million dollars.</p> + +<p>"Thunder! You must be fooling, Lois."</p> + +<p>"I may be fooled about some of that stuff, but those figures are +supposed to be conservative by people who ought to know."</p> + +<p>"Lord! you're a rich woman, Lois," he remarked with awe. "It's +flabbergasting!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I haven't done so badly. You'd probably like to know how it came +about, and I might as well tell you the whole story. Jack was an awful +fizzle—absolutely no good. I saw that early in the game, and I knew +where I'd bring up if I didn't look out for myself. He began nibbling +like a hungry rat at my share of father's estate as soon as you sent it +to me. I backed him in half a dozen things he wanted to go into. He +hadn't the business sense of a baby, and I began to see that I was going +to bump my head good and hard if I didn't look sharp. He began to cheer +himself during his failures by getting drunk, which wasn't exactly +pretty. He went his way and I went mine, and as he lied to me about +everything I began to lie to him about my money. I made some friends, +and one of these happened to be the wife of a banker with brains. +Through him I made some small turns in real estate, covering them up so +Jack wouldn't know. The fifth year after I left here I made twenty +thousand dollars in one turn. Then I grub-staked two young fellows who +wanted to try their luck in Nevada—nice college boys, all on the +square. I invested about two thousand dollars in those youngsters, and +as a result got into Broken Axe. It was so good that it scared me, and I +sold out for the two hundred <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>and fifty thousand you see on the slip +there, and bought Government bonds with it. My banker covered all these +things up for me as long as I had Jack on my hands. When he became +intolerable I got rid of him, legally, for fear he'd cause trouble if he +found what I'd been doing. I'm a little tired of running my own business +now and mean to dump it off on you if you don't mind. I left my papers +in a safety vault in Chicago, but here's my Phœnix Lumber and a +jumble of miscellaneous junk I want to send West to be sold so I can put +it into things around here. I'm not going back there any more."</p> + +<p>"Lord!" he ejaculated, rubbing his head. "You made all that money +yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Sheer luck, mostly. But it isn't so bad, take it all round. By the way, +in that junk there are some Sycamore Traction bonds I took off the +bank's hands out there. They were carrying them as collateral for a man +Sam Holton stung on one of his Western trips. He'd planted all he could +in New York and had to try a new field. The bank foreclosed on the bonds +and I bought twenty of them at sixty-five. I suppose from what I hear +that they're not good for much but kindling."</p> + +<p>"You got 'em at sixty-five, Lois?"</p> + +<p>"The bank only lent on them at that, and there was no market for them +out there. What's going to become of that road?"</p> + +<p>Amzi glanced toward the empty counting-room where a single clerk was +sealing the mail.</p> + +<p>"Tom's trying to save it. And I've been buying those things myself at +seventy."</p> + +<p>"You think it's a good buy at that? Going to clean up something out of +it?"</p> + +<p>Amzi flushed, and moved uneasily in his seat.</p> + +<p>"No. That's not just the way of it. I don't want to make any money out +of it; neither does Tom. We're trying to protect the honest people +around here at home who put their money into that scheme. Sam and Bill +Holton made a big <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>play for small investors, and a lot of people put +their savings into it—the kind o' folks who scrimp to save a dollar a +week. Tom's trying to sift out the truth about the building of the line, +and if he can force the surrender of the construction company's graft +over and above the fair cost of the road, Sycamore will be all right. +Your bonds are good, I think. People have been up in the air over the +rumors, and anxious to sell at any price. What I'm doing, Lois, as far +as I'm able—"</p> + +<p>He fidgeted uneasily, seemingly reluctant to disclose just what he was +doing.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said impatiently.</p> + +<p>"I'm picking up all I can from these little fellows—farmers, widows, +and so on, and if Tom works out his scheme and the bonds are good, I'm +going to let them have them back. That's all," he ended shamefacedly; +and added, as though such a piece of quixotism required justification to +a woman who had rolled up a fortune and was therefore likely to be +critical of business methods, "I suppose I'd be entitled to interest."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you would, you gay Napoleon of finance!" She looked at him +musingly with good humor and affection in her fine eyes.</p> + +<p>"I sort o' like this old town, Lois, and I don't want any harm to come +to the folks—particularly these little fellows that don't know how to +take care of themselves."</p> + +<p>"Is Tom animated by the same philanthropic motives, or is he going to +get a fee for his work?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he'll get paid all right. It's different with Tom."</p> + +<p>"I suppose so. He ought to have a good fee if he can straighten out that +tangle. But, Amzi—" She hesitated a moment, then began again more +deliberately. "If you're getting more of those bonds than you want, you +might buy some with my money—I mean with a view to taking care of these +home investors who are in a panic about Sycamore. I suppose I owe +something to the community myself—after—"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>She gave him her quick, radiant smile.</p> + +<p>He nodded gravely.</p> + +<p>"All right, Lois. I'll remember that. And I'll tell you something else, +now that we're on business matters. The First National Bank over the way +there is built up in the air too high; it's got all the weaknesses of +the Holton family—showy without any real bottom to it. Some of their +stock has always been owned around through the state—quite a bunch of +it—and Bill has had to sell part of his own holdings lately; he's got +only a scant majority. I've been picking up a little myself, on the +quiet. After Tom gets through with the Holtons, I doubt if Bill's going +to be able to hold on. I know his line of customers; I guess I could +tell you about every piece of paper he's got. It's a poor line, wobbly +and uncertain. There was a new examiner here not long ago, and he stayed +in town two or three days when he usually cleans up in a day. Banking is +a business, Lois, not a pastime, and Bill isn't a banker; he's a +promoter. Do you get the idea?"</p> + +<p>"I think I see the point, but if his bank's going to smash, why don't +you keep away from it? There's a double liability on national bank +stock, isn't there? Seems to me that's the reason I never bought any."</p> + +<p>"Right, Lois; but I don't intend the First shall bust. It won't do me or +my bank or the town any good to have it go to smash. A town of the size +of this don't live down a bank failure in one generation. It soaks clear +in. I've got enough now to assert my rights as a stockholder, only I'm +keeping under cover; there's no use in screaming in the newspapers. I +haven't anything against Bill Holton, and if he pulls through, all +right; but if he can't—well, I've never wanted to nationalize this +bank, but that would be one way of doing it."</p> + +<p>"You seem to be full of large thoughts, brother. You may play with my +money all you like in your charitable games, with a few reservations. I +like to eat and I don't want to spend my old age in the poorhouse. +There's cash enough here to run me for some time and you can use half of +that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>in any way you like. I'll take any chance you do, and you'll find +I won't cry if the boiler bursts. My Seattle real estate is all +right—and I mean to hold fast to it. Now I want to do something for +Phil; I want to make sure she never comes to want. That's only right, +you know."</p> + +<p>She waited for his affirmation.</p> + +<p>"You ought to do it, Lois," he said. "I mean to do the right thing by +her myself. If I should die to-night, Phil would be taken care of."</p> + +<p>"That's like you, Amzi, but it isn't necessary. I want to set aside one +hundred thousand for Phil. I'd like to make a trust fund of it, and let +her have the income from now on, and turn over the principal when she's +thirty, say. How does that strike you?"</p> + +<p>"It's splendid, Lois. By George, it's grand!"</p> + +<p>He blew his nose violently and wiped his eyes. And then his humor was +touched again. Phil, the long-unmothered, the Main Street romp, the +despair of sighing aunts, coming in for a hundred thousand dollars! And +from the mother whom those intolerant, snobbish sisters had execrated. +He was grateful that he had lived to see this day.</p> + +<p>"You've been fine to Phil, and I appreciate it, Amzi. She's told me all +about it; the money you offered her and all that; and how you've stood +by her. Those dear sisters of mine have undoubtedly worked me hard as an +awful example. If they hadn't painted me so black, the dear beautiful +child wouldn't have warmed to me as she has."</p> + +<p>"If the girls knew you had all that money, Lois, it would brace 'em up a +good deal. It's a funny thing about this funny old world, how the +scarletest sins fade away into pale pink at the jingle of money."</p> + +<p>This bit of philosophy seemed not to interest her; she was thinking of +something else, humming softly. Her sins were evidently so little in her +mind that she paid no heed to his remark or the confusion that covered +him when he realized that he had been guilty of a tactless and +ungracious speech.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>"Mrs. King called on me this afternoon, the dear old soul."</p> + +<p>"You don't say!"</p> + +<p>"I do, indeed. She put on her best clothes and drove up in the old +family chariot. She hasn't changed a bit."</p> + +<p>Amzi sat pigeon-toed. Mrs. John Newman King, whose husband had been +United States Senator and who still paid an annual visit to Washington, +where the newspapers interviewed her as to her recollections of Lincoln, +was given to frank, blunt speech as Amzi well knew. It was wholly +possible that she had called on Lois to administer a gratuitous +chastisement, and if she had done so, all Montgomery would know of it.</p> + +<p>"Don't worry! She was as nice as pie. Josie had kindly gone to see her +to tell her the 'family' had warned me away; the 'family' wanted her to +know, you know. Didn't want an old and valued friend like the widow of +John Newman King to think the good members of the House of Montgomery +meant to overlook my wickedness. Not a bit of it! You can hear Josie +going on. She evidently laid it on so thick it made the old lady hot. +When she came in, she took me by both hands and said, 'You silly little +fool, so you've come back.' Then she kissed me. And I cried, being a +silly little fool, just as she said. And she didn't say another word +about what I'd done or hadn't done, but began talking about her trip +abroad in 1872, when she saw it all, she says—the Nile and everything. +She swung around to Phil and told me a lot of funny stories about her. +She talked about Tom and you before she left; said she'd never made out +how you and Tom meant to divide up the Bartlett girls; seems to be bent +on marrying you both into the family."</p> + +<p>"Thunder!" he exploded. This unaccountable sister had the most amazing +way of setting a target to jingling and then calmly walking off. The +thought of her husband's marrying again evidently gave her no concern +whatever.</p> + +<p>"Not nice of you to be keeping your own prospects a dark secret when I'm +living under the same roof with you. Out with it."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>"Don't be foolish, Lois."</p> + +<p>"But why don't you be a good brother and 'fess up? As I remember they're +both nice women—quite charming and fine. I should think you'd take your +pick first, and then let Tom have what's left. You deserve well of the +world, and time flies. Don't you let my coming back here interfere with +your plans. I'm not in your way. If you think I'm back on your hands, +and that you can't bring home your bonny bride because I'm in your +house, you're dead wrong. You ought to be relieved." She ended by +indicating the memorandum of her assets; and then tore it into bits and +began pushing them into a little pile on the table.</p> + +<p>"It must be Rose—the musical one. Phil has told me about the good times +you and she and Tom have had in Buckeye Lane. I looked all over the +house for your flute and wondered what had become of it; so you keep it +there, do you—you absurd brother! Rose plays the piano, you flute, and +Tom saws the 'cello, and Nan and Phil are the audience. By the way, Mrs. +King mentioned a book Nan Bartlett seems to be responsible for—'The +Gray Knight of Picardy.' Everybody was reading it on the train when I +came out, but I didn't know it was a Montgomery production. Another +Hoosier author for the hall of fame! It comes back to me that Nan always +was rather different—quiet and literary. I don't doubt that she would +be a splendid woman for Tom to marry."</p> + +<p>"I don't know anything about it," said Amzi.</p> + +<p>"Humph!" She flung the scraps of paper into the air and watched them +fall about him in a brief snowstorm. She seemed to enjoy his +discomfiture at the mention of the Bartletts. "Let's not be silly, you +dear, delightful, elusive brother! If you want to marry, go ahead; the +sooner the better. And if Tom wants to try again, I'll wish him the best +luck in the world—the Lord knows I ought to! I suppose it's Nan, the +literary one, he's interested in. She writes for the funny papers; Phil +told me that; and if she's done a book that people read on trains, +she'll make money <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>out of it. And Tom's literary; I always had an idea +he'd go in for writing sometime."</p> + +<p>She mused a moment while Amzi mopped his head. He found it difficult to +dance to the different tunes she piped. He would have given his body to +be burned before referring to the possibility of Tom's marrying again; +and yet Lois broached the subject without embarrassment. Nothing, in +fact, embarrassed her. He knew a great banker in Chicago who made a +point of never allowing any papers to lie on his desk; who disposed of +everything as it came; and Lois reminded him of that man. There was no +unfinished business on her table, no litter of memories to gather dust! +He not only loved her as a sister, but her personality fascinated him.</p> + +<p>"They've been good to Tom; and they've been perfectly bully to Phil. +They're fine women," he said. "But as to whether Tom means to marry, I +don't know; I honestly don't."</p> + +<p>"Tut! You needn't be so solemn about it. I intend to see that you get +married. If you wait much longer, some widow will come along and marry +you for your money—a poor shrimp of a woman with a lot of anæmic +children to worry you into your grave. And as for Tom, the quicker the +better. I wonder—"</p> + +<p>He waited while she wondered. She had an exceedingly pretty way of +wondering.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," she finished briskly, as though chagrined that she hadn't +thought of it before—"I wonder if I oughtn't to tell Tom so!"</p> + +<p>The "Thunder!" died in his throat at the appalling suggestion.</p> + +<p>"O Lord, <i>no</i>!" he cried hoarsely.</p> +<br /> +<br /><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>PHIL MOVES TO AMZI'S</h3> +<br /> + +<p>When he had recovered from the first shock of his wife's return, +Kirkwood adjusted himself to the new order of things in a philosophic +temper. Nan had withdrawn absolutely her day-old promise to marry him. +That episode in his life was ended. He felt the nobility of her attitude +without wholly accepting its conclusions. He had tried to persuade her +that the geography of the matter had nothing to do with it; that having +promised to marry him when they believed Lois to be safely out of the +way, her return did not affect their status in the least. This was the +flimsiest casuistry, as he well knew. It made a tremendous difference +where Lois was!</p> + +<p>"I have to go away to-morrow, Phil, and I'm likely to be in Indianapolis +much of the time until spring. I can't take you with me very well; a +hotel is no place for you, and I shall be very busy. And I can't leave +you here alone, you know."</p> + +<p>His tone was kind; he always meant to be kind, this dear father of hers! +He hurried on with an even greater thoughtfulness to anticipate a +solution of this problem which had occurred to her instantly, but which +she lacked the courage to suggest.</p> + +<p>"I saw your Uncle Amzi to-day and had a long talk with him about you. I +proposed that you go to his house and stay, at least until I get through +my work with the Sycamore Company. We won't make any definite date for +your return, for the reason that I don't just know when I'll be free to +settle down here again. Amzi was perfectly agreeable to the idea—quite +splendid about it, in fact. Your mother, it seems, means to stay with +him. And now there's this further thing, Phil. You won't mind my going +into it a little bit, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>once and for all. The law gave you to me long +ago, but apart from that I suppose I have a certain moral claim to you. +But I want you to feel free to do as you like where your mother's +concerned. What I said of her yesterday I'm sorry for; I shouldn't have +done that if I'd been myself. And I'm not making it necessary for you to +make a choice between us. We're old comrades, you and I, Phil, and there +can't be any shadow of a difference between us, now or ever. It's the +simplest and easiest thing for you to go to your uncle's house, and we +won't even consider the fact that your mother is there; we'll just +assume that her being there is the most natural thing in the world, and +that it's a matter of our common convenience for you to be there, too. +You see how perfectly easy and natural it all comes about."</p> + +<p>She clung to him, the tears welling. She had never been disappointed in +him, and this generosity moved her deeply. He was making it easy for her +to go to her mother; that was all. Her soul rebelled against the fate +that made necessary any choice when her father was so gentle, so wise, +so kind, and her mother so transcendently charming and lovable.</p> + +<p>"You are so good to me; you have always been so good!" she sobbed. "And +I'm sorry I was ugly yesterday, about Nan. You know I love Nan. No one +was ever kinder to me than Nan—hardly you, even! And I don't want you +to give her up; you need each other; you do understand each other! Oh, +everything is so queer and wrong!"</p> + +<p>"No, Phil; things are not as queer and wrong as they look. Don't get +that idea into your head. Life isn't queer or wrong; life simply isn't +as easy as it looks, and that's very different."</p> + +<p>He smiled, turning her face so that she could see that he smiled not +unhappily.</p> + +<p>"But I don't want you to go away; I'd die if I thought I shouldn't see +you any more—and all the good times we've had, right here in this old +house—and everything—"</p> + +<p>"But this isn't the end of things. When I'm back, as I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>shall be for a +day or two frequently, I'll always let you know; or you can run over to +the city and do a theater with me whenever you like. So let's be +cheerful about everything."</p> + +<p>The passing of her trunk from her father's house to her uncle's was not +neglected by the gossips. Her three aunts noted it, and excoriated +Kirkwood and Amzi. They took care that every one should know how they +felt about the transfer of poor, dear Phil (on whom they had lavished +their love and care for years, to the end that she might grow up +respectable, etc., etc.) to a roof that sheltered her Jezebel of a +mother.</p> + +<p>"That was nice of him," said Lois, when Phil explained her coming. +"How's your father getting on these days?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, quite well!" Phil replied.</p> + +<p>She was establishing herself in a room adjoining her mother's. Lois, in +a flowered silk kimona, commented upon Phil's clothes as they were +hauled from the trunk. Her opinions in the main were touched with her +light, glancing irony.</p> + +<p>"I'll wager Jo bought that walnut-stain effect," she remarked, pointing +an accusing finger at a dark waist. "That has Josephine stamped on it. +Poor old soul!"</p> + +<p>Her manner of speaking of her sister set Phil to giggling. Mrs. Waterman +had bought that particular article over Phil's solemn protest, and she +now sat on the bed and watched her mother carry the odious thing +gingerly by the collar to the door and fling it in the direction of the +back stairs.</p> + +<p>Lois brought from her own room a set of silver toilet articles and +distributed them over the top of Phil's bureau.</p> + +<p>"I forgot all about these, Phil; but they fit in handily right here. A +little self-indulgence of my own, but my old ones are good enough. Oh, +please don't!" she exclaimed, as Phil began to thank her. "Why shouldn't +you have them? Who has a better right to them, I'd like to know!"</p> + +<p>Whereupon she began experimenting with the nail-polisher from Phil's +set.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>"This is a good polisher, Phil. I'm going to show you how to do your own +manicuring—every lady her own maid. Sarah dug up a colored hairdresser, +manicurist, and light-running domestic chatterbox this morning, and she +gave my hair a pulling I shan't forget in a hurry. Never again! If you +can't have a trained maid, you'd better be your own beautifier. I had a +wonderful girl the last time I was over, and took her with me on a motor +trip through the château country. She was an outrageous little flirt. +Two chauffeurs got into a row about her during the week we spent at +Tours, and one pounded the other into a pulp. The French rural police +are duller than the ox, and they locked up Marie as a witness. Imagine +my feelings! It was very annoying."</p> + +<p>Her smile belied the annoyance. Phil surmised that she had enjoyed the +experience; but Lois added no details to her hasty picture. Lois did not +trouble herself greatly with details; everything with her was sketchy +and impressionistic.</p> + +<p>"What about boys, Phil?"</p> + +<p>"I've had one proposal; he was a senior with a funny stammer. He went +away with his diploma last June, and said he'd never forget. I got his +cards to-day. She's a Lafayette girl he had down for the 'Pan' in his +senior year. She has golden hair," Phil added musingly.</p> + +<p>"The scoundrel; to forget you as quick as that!" And Lois laughed as +Phil bent her head and clasped her hands in a mockery of dejection. +"You've come out and I suppose you are asked to all the parties. Let me +see, when I was a girl there were candy-pullings, and 'companies' where +you sat around and were bored until somebody proposed playing 'The +Prince of Paris Lost his Hat' or some game like that. When the old folks +went to bed, our hostess would find a pack of cards—authors, most +likely—or play a waltz on the soft pedal for two couples to dance. +Wholesome but not exciting."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we're livelier and better than that! They have real balls now at +the Masonic Hall; and all the fraternities have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>dances, and there's the +Pan-Hellenic, and so on. And there are dinners in courses, and bridge no +end!"</p> + +<p>"Bridge!"</p> + +<p>Lois shrugged her shoulders, lifted her pretty brows, and tossed the +nail-polisher on to the bureau to emphasize her contempt for bridge in +all its forms.</p> + +<p>"As to young men, Phil. Tell me all about the Montgomery cavaliers."</p> + +<p>"Oh, every girl knows all the boys. They are divided into two classes as +usual, nice and un-nice. Some of them have flirted with me and I have +flirted with them. I suppose there was nothing very naughty in that."</p> + +<p>"We will pass that for the present. Tell me about the young fellows who +pay you attentions."</p> + +<p>Phil ran over the list, Lois interrupting when some familiar name +arrested her attention. Phil hit off one after the other in a few apt +phrases. Her mother in a rocking-chair, with arms folded, was more +serious than in any of their previous talks. What Phil disclosed was +only the social experience of the average country-town girl. The fact +that she had made a few acquaintances in Indianapolis interested her +mother.</p> + +<p>"The Fitches? Yes; nice people. That was through your father? All right. +Go on."</p> + +<p>"Well, there are the two Holton boys," said Phil, self-conscious for the +first time. "You see, my aunts thought everything ought to be fixed up +with the Holtons, and they asked Mr. and Mrs. William to my party, and +threw in Charlie and Ethel, and I suggested that they add Fred, too. +They are Samuel's children. There being the two brothers it didn't seem +nice to leave out one; and I already knew Fred anyhow."</p> + +<p>"Why this sudden affection of your aunts for the Holtons?—there is a +reason for everything those creatures do."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. William is stylish and does things. Her maid wears a cap when she +opens the door, and Mrs. William makes her calls in a neat electric."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>"Everything is explained quite satisfactorily, Phil. Amzi told me our +sisters had buried the hatchet, but he didn't put it quite as clearly as +you do. He did tell me, though, that Jack had spoiled your beautiful +party by turning up drunk. That was nasty, vile," she added, shrugging +her shoulders. "Well, about these nephews?"</p> + +<p>"Charlie is older, and very citified; quite the most dashing man who +lightens our horizons. He sends me flowers and bon-bons, most expensive. +And he's a joy at paying compliments; makes you feel that you're the +only one, or tries to. He has very large ideas about business and life +generally. But nice, I think, and kind and generous. But, mamma—"</p> + +<p>She paused, disconcerted by a sudden keen look her mother gave her.</p> + +<p>"He sounds like an agreeable person," remarked Lois, glancing at the +point of her slipper.</p> + +<p>"What I started to say was that if you think I shouldn't see them any +more—"</p> + +<p>"Bless me, no! I see what's in your mind, Phil, but you needn't trouble +about that. We're just trying to get acquainted, you and I. We +understand each other beautifully, and after while we'll see whether we +have any advice for each other. At your age I hadn't the sense of a +kitten. You're most astonishingly wise; I marvel at you! And you've +grown up a nice, sensible girl in spite of your aunts—none of their +cattishness—not a hint of it. I can't tell you how relieved I am to +find you just as you are. The way they have cuddled up to the Holtons is +diverting, but nothing more. It's what you would have expected of them. +The proud and haughty Montgomerys turned snobs! It's frightful to think +of it! As for me, I have nothing against the Holtons. I'm this kind of a +sinner, Phil: I carry my own load. No shoving it off on anybody else! +Some people are born with ideals; I wasn't! But I hope to acquire some +before I die; we're all entitled to a show at them. But, bless me, what +are we talking about? There's the other Holton boy; what's he got to say +for himself?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>"Oh, he'd never say it if it were left to him! He's shy, modest, proud. +No frills."</p> + +<p>"Handsome?"</p> + +<p>"Well, he has a nice face," Phil answered, so earnestly that her mother +laughed. "And he's modest and genuine and sincere."</p> + +<p>"Those are good qualities. As near as I can make out, you like all these +young men well enough—the boys you knew in high school and the college +boys. And these Holtons have broken into the circle lately, and have +shown you small attentions—nothing very important."</p> + +<p>"Charlie sends me American Beauties, and Fred has brought me quails and +a book."</p> + +<p>"What was the book?"</p> + +<p>"'The Gray Knight of Picardy.'"</p> + +<p>"That's Nan Bartlett's?" Lois looked at the palm of her hand carelessly.</p> + +<p>"Yes; it's a great success—the hit of the season."</p> + +<p>"I suppose your father and Nan have been good friends—literary +interests in common, and all that?"</p> + +<p>"Of course," Phil answered, uncomfortable under this seemingly +indifferent questioning.</p> + +<p>"I have read the story. There are pages in it that are like your father. +I suppose, seeing so much of each other, they naturally talked it +over—a sort of collaboration?"</p> + +<p>The question required an answer, and Phil shrank from answering. +Closeted with her mother she was reluctant to confess how close had been +the relationship between her father and Nan Bartlett. Her mind worked +quickly. She was outspokenly truthful by habit; but she was a loyal +soul, too. She decided that she could answer her mother's question +without violating her father's confidence as to his feelings toward Nan. +That was all over now; her father had told her so in a word. Lois +hummed, picking bits of lint from her skirt while Phil deliberated.</p> + +<p>"Father did help with it. I suppose he even wrote part of it, but nobody +need know that. Daddy doesn't mean to go <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>in for writing; he says the +very suspicion that he's literary would hurt him in the law."</p> + +<p>"I suppose he helped on the book just to get Nan interested. Now that +she's launched as a writer, he drops out of the combination."</p> + +<p>"Something like that. Daddy is very busy, you know."</p> + +<p>Phil entertained views of her own as to the cause of her father's sudden +awakening. She was sure that his interest in Nan was the inspiration of +it, quite as much as alarm at the low ebb of his fortunes. In the +general confusion into which the world had been plunged, Phil groped in +the dark along unfamiliar walls. It was a grim fate that flung her back +and forth between father and mother, a shuttle playing across the +broken, tangled threads of their lives. She started suddenly as a new +thought struck her. Perhaps behind this seemingly inadvertent +questioning lay some deeper interest. Suddenly the rose light of romance +touched the situation. Phil looked at Lois guardedly. What if—? With an +accession of feeling she flung herself at her mother's knees and took +her hands.</p> + +<p>"Could you and daddy ever make it up? Could you do that now, after all +these years?" she asked earnestly.</p> + +<p>Lois looked at her absently, with her trick of trying to recall a +question not fully comprehended.</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>that</i>! Never in this world! What do you think your father's made +of?" Again the shrug, so becoming, so expressive, so final! She freed +her hands, and drew out and replaced a hairpin. For an instant Phil was +dismayed, but once so far afield in dangerous territory she would not +retreat.</p> + +<p>"But what would you say?" she persisted.</p> + +<p>"Dear Phil, don't think of such a terrible thing; it fairly chills me. +Your father is a gentleman; he wouldn't—he wouldn't do anything so +cruel as that!" she said ambiguously.</p> + +<p>"I don't see how it would be cruel, if he meant it—if he wanted to!"</p> + +<p>"That's because you are an angel and don't know anything about this sad +old world of ours. Life isn't like the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>story-books, Phil. In a novel a +nice dear daughter like you might reconcile her parents with tears and +flowers and that sort of thing; but in real life it's very different as +you will see when you think of it; only I don't want you to think of it +at all. I believe you like me; we hit it off quite wonderfully; and I +should expect you to hate me if I ever dreamed of anything so +contemptible as spoiling a man's life twice."</p> + +<p>And remembering Nan, Phil could not argue the matter. She was unable to +visualize her father on his knees to her mother. No flimsy net of +sentiment flung across the chasm could bring them within hailing +distance of each other; they were utterly irreconcilable characters. It +was incredible that they had ever pledged themselves to love and cherish +each other forever.</p> + +<p>"Phil, what did your father say about my coming back?" asked Lois +abruptly.</p> + +<p>Phil hesitated. Her mother looked at her keenly in that instant of +delay, and then laid her hand gently upon Phil's lips.</p> + +<p>"No; don't answer that! It isn't a fair question. And now let us forget +all these things forever and ever!"</p> + +<p>She proposed a walk before dinner. "I'll get into my boots and be ready +in a minute."</p> + +<p>Phil heard her whistling as she moved about her room.</p> +<br /> +<br /><a name="XX" id="XX"></a> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>BACK TO STOP SEVEN</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Charles Holton met his brother Fred in the lobby of the Morton House on +an afternoon near the end of January. Charles was presenting a buoyant +exterior to the world despite a renewal of the disquieting rumors of the +fall as to Sycamore Traction and equally disagreeable hints in inner +financial and legal circles as to the reopening of Samuel Holton's +estate. He resented Fred's meddling in the matter; he was the head of +the family and a man of affairs, and he was not pleasantly impressed by +the fact that on two occasions to his knowledge Fred had visited +Kirkwood at his Indianapolis office.</p> + +<p>"I want to see you," said Charles. "Why don't you come to see me when +you're in the city and save me the trouble of chasing over here?"</p> + +<p>"Well, Charlie, you've found me now. What is it you want?"</p> + +<p>"Come up to my room. I don't care to have all Montgomery hear us."</p> + +<p>When the door closed on them, Charles threw off his overcoat and +confronted his brother with a dark countenance.</p> + +<p>"You're playing the devil with the whole bunch of us—do you realize +that! You've been sneaking over to Kirkwood to tell him all our family +history. You think by playing up to him you'll get a lot of money. If +you had any claims against father's estate you ought to have come to me +with them—not gone to the man that's trying to pull us all down."</p> + +<p>"Stop, right where you are! I went to Kirkwood because I felt that the +only square thing was to turn the farm over to him until things were +straightened out. And after I'd <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>turned in the farm, you fell over +yourself to surrender some stuff you had—things you'd tried to hide or +placed a fake appraisement on."</p> + +<p>Charles, standing by the window with his hands in his pockets, smiled +derisively. Fred's long ulster accentuated his rural appearance. He was +a big fellow and his deep voice had boomed with an aggressive note his +brother resented.</p> + +<p>"Don't bawl as though you were driving cattle. There's no need of +telling all Main Street our affairs. Do you know what's the matter with +you—Kirkwood's working you! He's trying to scare you with threats of +the penitentiary into telling him a lot of stuff about the family. He +meant to try it on me, but I beat him to it—I told him to go to the +bottom of everything. And if you'd kept your mouth shut I'd have taken +care of you, too. You took that farm with your eyes open; and I'll say +to you right now that you got a better share of the estate than Ethel +and I did."</p> + +<p>"Then you haven't anything to be afraid of. If it's all straight there +can't be any trouble. Is this all you wanted?"</p> + +<p>This was evidently not in the least what Charles wanted, for he changed +his tone and the direction of the talk.</p> + +<p>"You know, Fred, I was in father's confidence very fully. I am older +than you, and I was associated with him in his schemes and knew all +about them. Father was a very able man; you know that; everybody said he +was one of the shrewdest and most farseeing men in the state. I won't +say that his methods were always just what they should have been; but +he's dead and gone, and it's not for us to jump on him or let anybody +else kick him. So far we understand each other, don't we?"</p> + +<p>"All right; hurry up with the rest of it."</p> + +<p>"This is not a hurrying matter. I've got to take you into my confidence, +and I want it understood that what I say doesn't go back to Kirkwood. +He's a relentless devil, once he gets started. I suppose it hasn't +occurred to you that he may have a motive for pursuing us—you and me +and any <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>other Holton he has a chance to injure. You see that point, +don't you?"</p> + +<p>"No. What is it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you're duller than I think you are if it hasn't occurred to you +that Kirkwood is trying to even up with us for the loss of his wife. It +was our dear Uncle Jack that ran off with her; it was a Holton that did +it! You recollect that, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"I seem to recall it," replied Fred ironically. He had mechanically +drawn out his pipe and was filling it from a canvas bag of cheap +tobacco.</p> + +<p>"And that's all there is to it. Kirkwood had mooned around town here for +years, doing nothing. Then suddenly an old friend of his in the East +took pity on him and gave him this Sycamore Company to meddle in, and +he's contemptible enough to use a law case for personal vengeance +against perfectly innocent people. And you walked into the trap like a +silly sheep!"</p> + +<p>"You know you don't believe that, Charlie. Kirkwood isn't that kind of +man. He's on the level and high grade."</p> + +<p>"He may be all that; but he's a human being too. There's no man on earth +who'd pass a thing like that. An ignorant, coarse beast would have shot +somebody; but an educated man like Kirkwood calculates carefully and +sticks the knife in when he sees a chance to make it go clear through. +That girl of his is the cutest kid in Indiana, and I wouldn't do +anything to hurt her. But we've got to protect ourselves, you and I, +Fred. We're not responsible for Uncle Jack's sins. The whole thing is +blistering Kirkwood right now because Uncle Jack's turned up and the +lady in the case has had so little decency as to follow him."</p> + +<p>"I don't suppose she thought of doing anything of the kind. She and +Uncle Jack broke long ago. He told me so, in fact, at Indianapolis, and +made her cruel abandonment an excuse for borrowing five dollars of me."</p> + +<p>"Well, we've got to get rid of <i>him</i>! He's doing all he can against us; +sending people to Kirkwood with stories about <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>father, and the traction +business. I tell you, Fred," he declared ardently, "our family is in +danger of going to hell if you and I don't do something pretty quick to +stop it."</p> + +<p>Fred puffed his pipe and watched his brother fidgeting nervously about +the room. A phonograph across the street called attention to a +moving-picture show. In the hotel office below, the porter proclaimed +the departure of the 'bus to connect with the six-three for Peoria and +all points West.</p> + +<p>"There they go now!" exclaimed Charles from the window. "By George! +She's a good-looking woman yet!"</p> + +<p>Fred joined him and looked down. Phil and her mother were passing +rapidly on the opposite side of the street. Unconsciously Fred drew off +his cap.</p> + +<p>"She's a very pleasant woman," he remarked. "Phil introduced me to her +the other day."</p> + +<p>"The devil she did! Where did all this happen?"</p> + +<p>"At Mr. Montgomery's. Phil's staying there while her father's away."</p> + +<p>"I like your cheek! They say my nerve is pretty well developed, but it +isn't equal to that. How did our late aunt—I suppose that's what she +is," he grinned—"take you?"</p> + +<p>"Like a lady, for instance. My going there wasn't as cheeky as you +imagine. I was invited."</p> + +<p>"Phil?"</p> + +<p>"No; Mr. Montgomery."</p> + +<p>"There must be a trick in it somewhere. He's a foxy old boy, that Amzi. +Has the general appearance of a fool, but he never loses any money."</p> + +<p>"He's offered me a job," said Fred.</p> + +<p>"He's <i>what</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Offered me a job."</p> + +<p>"What's the joke? You don't mean that with all this fuss over his +sister's coming back he's picked out a Holton to offer a job to!"</p> + +<p>"That's what's happened. They want Perry—his farmer—to take a teaching +place at the agricultural school. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>It's a fine chance for him, and Mr. +Montgomery has released him from his contract. Perry recommended me, and +Mr. Montgomery asked me to the house a few evenings ago to talk it over. +The arrangement includes my own farm, too, which Kirkwood holds as +trustee until the Sycamore business is straightened out."</p> + +<p>Charles backed away and stared at his brother scornfully.</p> + +<p>"You idiot! don't you see what they're doing? They're buying you body +and soul. They want to get you on their side—don't you see it?—to use +against Uncle Will and me. Well! of all the smooth, cold-blooded, +calculating scoundrels I ever heard of, they are the beatingest. Of +course you <i>saw</i> it; you haven't walked into the trap!"</p> + +<p>"I've accepted the position."</p> + +<p>"You blundering fool, you can't accept it! I won't let you accept it!"</p> + +<p>"I'm moving my traps to the Montgomery farmhouse to-morrow, so you'll +have to call out the troops if you stop me."</p> + +<p>"Well, of all the damned fools!" Then after a turn across the room he +flashed round at his brother. "Look here, Fred; I see your game. You +want to marry that girl. Well, you can't do that either!"</p> + +<p>"All right, Charlie. Suppose you write out a list of the various things +I can't do so I won't miss any of them. You haven't any sense of humor +or you wouldn't talk about Phil marrying me. Phil's not likely to marry +a clodhopper, her uncle's hired hand."</p> + +<p>"Don't be an ass, Fred. Phil's a fine girl; she's a wonder."</p> + +<p>"I suppose," said Fred deliberately, "that if you wanted to marry Phil +Kirkwood yourself there would be no disloyalty to our family in that. It +would be perfectly proper; quite the right thing."</p> + +<p>"I didn't say I wanted to marry her," jerked Charles.</p> + +<p>He was pacing the floor with bent head. His brother's equanimity +irritated him and intensified his anger. He struck his hands together +suddenly as though emphasizing a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>resolution, and arrested Fred, who had +knocked the ashes from his pipe and was walking slowly toward the door.</p> + +<p>"I say, Fred, I didn't mean to flare up that way, but all this Sycamore +business has got on my nerves. Sit down a minute. Uncle Will's in a +terrible funk. Plumb scared to death. And just between you and me he's +got a right to be."</p> + +<p>He crossed to the door, opened it and peered into the hall. Fred +balanced himself on the footboard of the bed, and watched his brother +expectantly. Earlier in the interview Charles had begun to say something +as to their father's affairs, but had failed to reach the point, either +by design or through the chance drift of their talk. Charles was deeply +worried; that was clear; and Fred resolved to give him time to swing +back to the original starting-point.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry if Uncle Will's in trouble," he remarked.</p> + +<p>"It's the First National," Charles went on in an excited whisper. "The +examiner made a bad report last month and the Comptroller sent a special +agent out who's raised the devil—threatened to shut him up. That's bad +enough. If old Kirkwood gets ugly about Sycamore, you can't tell what he +may do. He's playing an awful deep, quiet game. The fact is he's got us +all where he wants us. If he turned the screws right now we're pinched. +And here's something I didn't mean to tell you; but I've got to; and +you've got to come in and help me. Father knew the Sycamore was +over-bonded. The construction company was only a fake and charged about +double a fair price for its work. Father only cashed part of the bonds +he got on the construction deal and hid the rest; and when he died +suddenly I had to think hard and act quick, for I saw the road was going +to the bad, and that the people who had bought bonds in good faith would +rise up and howl. When I took hold as administrator, I inventoried only +the obvious stuff—that's why it looked so small. I meant to give you +and Ethel your share when the danger was all over—didn't want to +involve you; you see how it was. And now Kirkwood's trying to trace +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>that stuff—about three hundred thousand—a hundred thousand apiece for +you and Ethel and me. No; not a word till I get through," he whispered +hoarsely as Fred tried to break in. "They can send me up for that; +juggling the inventory; but you see how we're all in the same boat. And +what you can do to save me and the bank and father's good name is to go +to Kirkwood—he thinks well of you and will believe you—and tell him +you know positively that father never got any of the construction bonds. +You can be sure the construction company fellows got rid of theirs and +took themselves off long ago. It was a fake company, anyhow. It's all in +Kirkwood's hands; if you shut him off, Uncle Will can pull the bank +through. And I'll give you your share of the bonds now."</p> + +<p>The perspiration glistened on his forehead; he ran his hands through his +hair nervously. Misreading the look in Fred's face for incredulity, he +pointed to the closet door.</p> + +<p>"I've got the bonds in my suit-case; I was afraid Kirkwood might find a +way of getting into my safety box at Indianapolis. He's no end smart, +that fellow. And I figure that if the road goes into a receivership the +bonds will pay sixty anyhow. You see where that puts you—no more of +this farmer rot. You'd be well fixed. And it will be easy for you to +satisfy Kirkwood. Just the right word and he will pull his probe out of +the administratorship, and get a receiver who will represent us and give +us the proceeds when the trouble's all over. Damn it! Don't look at me +that way! Don't you see that I've been taking big chances in hiding that +stuff, just for you and Ethel! I'm going crazy with the responsibility +of all this, and now you've got to help me out. And if Kirkwood gets to +the grand jury with that administration business, you see where it puts +us—what it means to you and Ethel, the disgrace of it. Don't forget +that father took those bonds—his share of Sycamore swag—and left it up +to me to defend his good name and divide the proceeds when it was safe. +Don't stand there like a dead man! Say something, can't you!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>It had slowly dawned upon Fred that he was listening to an appeal for +mercy, a cry for help from this jaunty, cocksure brother. It was a +miserable mess; beyond doubt much of what he had heard in the stuffy +hotel room was true. It would not be Charles's way to incriminate +himself so far unless driven to it by direst necessity. It was clear +that he was alarmed for his personal safety. Fred did not doubt that +Charles had attempted to swindle him; had in fact gone the full length +of doing so. His simple, direct nature was awed by a confession that +combined so many twists and turns, so many oblique lines and loops and +circles. He sank into a creaky rocker, and rapped the arm idly with his +pipe-bowl, conscious that Charles hovered over him as though fearful +that he might escape.</p> + +<p>"Come back to life, can't you! It's not much I'm asking of you; it won't +cost you anything to help tide this thing over with Kirkwood. And you +get your share right now—to-night. Why—" His lip curled with scornful +depreciation as he began again to minimize the importance of the +transaction.</p> + +<p>Fred shook himself impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Please don't! Don't go over that story again or I may do something +ugly. Sit down over there in that chair."</p> + +<p>He bent forward, his elbows on his knees and gesticulated with the pipe, +speaking slowly.</p> + +<p>"Let's shake the chaff out and see what's left of all this. You stole my +share of those bonds, and now that you're in danger of getting caught +you want me to help you hide the boodle. You flatter me with the idea +that my reputation is so much better than yours that I'm in a position +to keep you out of jail. And for a little thing like that you're willing +to give me my honest share of a crooked deal! You're a wonder, Charlie! +It must have tickled you to death to see me turning my poor old farm +over to Kirkwood to uphold the family honor while you were chasing over +the country with the real stuff packed away with your pajamas. It's +picturesque, I must say!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>His eyes rested upon his brother's face lingeringly, but his tone and +manner were indulgent, as though he were an older brother who had caught +a younger one in a misdemeanor.</p> + +<p>"Cut that out! I've told you the whole truth. If you won't help, all +right."</p> + +<p>"No, it isn't all right. There's no all right about any of this. It's +rotten clean through."</p> + +<p>He frowned with the stress of his thought, then rose, and began +buttoning his coat.</p> + +<p>"Well?" Charles questioned harshly, impatient for his brother's +decision.</p> + +<p>"I won't do it. I won't have anything to do with your scheme. After the +trouble you've taken to steal those bonds it would be a shame to take +any of them away from you. I advise you to carry them back to +Indianapolis and turn them over to Kirkwood. He's not half the +cold-blooded scoundrel you seem to think. You'd make a big hit with +him."</p> + +<p>"And after I've told you everything—after I've shown you that I was +only covering up father's share in that construction business, for your +sake, and our sister's, that's all you've got to say about it!"</p> + +<p>"Every word!"</p> + +<p>A malevolent grin crossed the older man's face. He was white with +passion.</p> + +<p>"You'll pay for this; I'll land one on you for this that will hurt."</p> + +<p>He waited expectantly for Fred to demand the nature of this vengeance; +his rage cried for the satisfaction of seeing him flinch at the blow. +Fred settled his cap on his head and walked stolidly toward the door. +Charles caught him by the shoulder and flung him round.</p> + +<p>"You think you can drop me like that! Not by a damned sight you can't! +You think you stand pretty close to the Montgomerys, don't you?—the +only real good Holton in the bunch—but I'll give you a jar. You imagine +you're going to marry Phil, don't you?—but I'll show you a thing or +two. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>I'm going to marry Phil myself; it's all practically understood."</p> + +<p>"That's all right, too, Charlie," replied Fred calmly. "The ambition +does you proud. I suppose when you tell Kirkwood you're engaged to his +daughter he will call off the dogs."</p> + +<p>"Oh, they're not so high and mighty! Now that Phil's mother has brought +her smirched reputation back here, Phil will be glad to marry and get +out."</p> + +<p>"Just for old time's sake, Charlie, I advise you not to play that card."</p> + +<p>"You're too late with your advice. That day Phil and I climbed The +Cliffs she promised to marry me. You saw us up there; that was before +her mother came back. But as far as her mother's concerned, I'll stand +for her. A woman that's been through the divorce mill twice has got to +be humble. You can be dead sure she would never have shown up here if it +hadn't been for old Amzi's ducats. Women like that go where the money +comes easiest."</p> + +<p>Fred listened with a kind of bewildered intensity. That a man should +speak thus of the mother of a girl whom he meant to marry touched the +uttermost depths of vulgarity. Little as he had in common with his +brother, he had never believed him capable of anything so base. Yet much +as he distrusted him, he half-believed the story of the engagement. +There must be some basis for his declaration, and it would be quite like +Charles to hasten matters with a view to blocking Kirkwood's +investigations of the Holton estate. Jealousy and anger surged in his +heart. The air of the room stifled him.</p> + +<p>"You've lost your mind; that's the only way I can explain you. If you +were quite sane, you wouldn't forget the part our father's brother +played in Phil's mother's affairs."</p> + +<p>"Don't take that tragic tone with me; Uncle Jack's told me all about +that woman. She's the very devil. She led him a dog's life until he +chucked her."</p> + +<p>Fred nodded, slowly drawing on his gloves, whose shabbiness affected his +brother disagreeably. Charles had expected <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>to score heavily with his +declaration that Phil had promised to marry him; but this had apparently +been a wasted shot. He wondered whether he had misread the symptoms that +had seemed to indicate Fred's interest in that quarter.</p> + +<p>Fred's composure was irritating. Charles was never sure what impression +he made on this quiet brother, whose very unresponsiveness had driven +him to disclosures he had not meant to make. He had managed the +interview clumsily; he was not up to the mark, or he would not have made +so many false starts in this talk, on whose results he had counted much.</p> + +<p>His fingers touched his scarfpin and tie nervously.</p> + +<p>"Now that you know the whole business I needn't ask you to keep your +mouth shut. But I suppose with your delicate sense of honor I'm safe."</p> + +<p>"You are quite safe, Charlie. I'd repeat my advice if I thought it would +do any good. I'd turn that stuff over to Kirkwood as quickly as I +could."</p> + +<p>He had opened the door and started down the hall when Charles, his +apprehensions aroused as he saw his brother's determined stride toward +the stairs, sprang after him.</p> + +<p>"What are you up to; where are you going?" he demanded excitedly.</p> + +<p>"Stop 7. Good-night!"</p> +<br /> +<br /><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>PHIL'S FISTS</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"This is very kind of you, Mrs. Holton. Please be sure that I appreciate +it."</p> + +<p>Charles Holton bowed profoundly, and lifted his head for a closer +inspection of Mrs. Lois Montgomery Holton.</p> + +<p>He had called for Phil, whom he had engaged to escort to a lecture in +the Athenæum Course. When his note proposing this entertainment reached +Phil, she dutifully laid it before her mother who lay on her bed reading +a French novel.</p> + +<p>"Special delivery! A wild extravagance when there's a perfectly good +telephone in the house."</p> + +<p>Lois read the note twice; her eyes resting lingeringly upon the +signature.</p> + +<p>"Wayland Brown Bayless, LL.D., on 'Sunshine and Shadow.' He was giving +that same lecture here when I was a girl; it ought to be well mellowed +by this time. Either the president of the college or the pastor of +Center Church will present him to the audience and the white pitcher of +Sugar Creek water that is always provided. Well, it's a perfectly good +lecture, and old enough to be respectable: Smiles and sobs stuck in at +regular intervals. I approve of the lecture, Phil. I'd almost make Amzi +take me, just to see how Bayless, LL.D., looks after all these years. +Away back there when I heard him he looked so old I thought he must have +been a baby playing in the sand when they carved the Sphinx."</p> + +<p>She returned the note to Phil and her eyes reverted to the book.</p> + +<p>"What about it, mamma?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, about going! Let me see. This is the other Holton <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>boy, so to +speak—the provider of American Beauties, as distinguished from the +dispenser of quails?"</p> + +<p>Phil confirmed this.</p> + +<p>"It's Charlie. He's taken me to parties several times. I rather think +this note is a feeler. He doesn't know whether he ought to come +here—now—" and Phil ended, with the doubt she attributed to Charles +Holton manifest in her own uncertainty.</p> + +<p>"We went over that the other day, Phil. As those wise aunts of yours +introduced you to this person, I shouldn't suggest that you drop his +acquaintance on my account. You see"—she raised herself slightly to +punch a more comfortable hollow in the pillows—"you see that would +merely stir up strife, which is highly undesirable. If you think you can +survive Bayless, LL.D.'s, plea for optimism, accept the gentleman's +invitation. There's only this—you yourself might be a little +uncomfortable, for reasons we needn't mention; you'll have to think of +that. I suppose chaperons didn't reach Montgomery with the electric +light; girls run around with young men just as they used to."</p> + +<p>"I don't care what people say, so far as that is concerned," replied +Phil. "Charlie has been kind to me—and the lecture is the only thing +that offers just now."</p> + +<p>Lois laughed.</p> + +<p>"Then, go!"</p> + +<p>"And besides, just now people are talking about the Sycamore Company and +father's connection with it, and I shouldn't want Charlie to feel that I +thought he wasn't all straight about that; for I don't suppose he did +anything wrong. He doesn't seem like that."</p> + +<p>Lois reached for a pot of cold cream and applied the ointment to her +lips with the tip of a slim, well-cared-for finger.</p> + +<p>"You think maybe he's being persecuted?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I've wondered; that's all."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't worry about that part of it: if you feel like going, tell +him you'll go. It will give me a chance to look at him. This is Charles, +is it? Then it was Fred who came <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>the other evening to see Amzi;—he's +pretty serious but substantial—permissible if not exactly acceptable. +You'll have to learn to judge men for yourself. And you'll do it. I'm +not a bit afraid for you. And it's rather fortunate than otherwise that +you have specimens of the Holton family to work on, particularly with me +standing by to throw a word in now and then."</p> + +<p>So it came about that when Charles appeared the next evening, fortified +with one of the village hacks, Lois went down to inspect him. Amzi had +returned to the bank, and Phil was changing her gown.</p> + +<p>Charles, having expressed his appreciation of Mrs. Holton's courtesy, +found difficulty in concealing the emotions she aroused in him. He had +expected to feel uncomfortable in the presence of this lady, of whom her +former husband, his uncle, had spoken so bitterly; but she was not at +all the sort of person one would suspect of being in league with the +Devil—an alliance vouched for in profane terms by Jack Holton. Charles +liked new sensations, and it was positively thrilling to stand face to +face with this woman who had figured so prominently in his family +history.</p> + +<p>He placed a chair for her with elaborate care, and bowed her into it. +She was a much more smoothly finished product than her daughter. He +liked "smart" women, and Mrs. Holton was undeniably "smart." Her languid +grace, the faint hints of sachet her raiment exhaled; her abrupt, crisp +manner of speaking—in innumerable ways she was delightful and +satisfying. She was a woman of the world: as a man of the world he felt +that they understood each other without argument. The disparity of their +years was not so great as to exclude the hope that little attentions +from him would be grateful to her; it was a fair assumption that a woman +who had dismissed two husbands would not be averse to the approaches of +a presentable young man. He wished to fix himself in her mind as one who +breathed naturally the ampler ether of her own world. It would be easier +to win Phil with her mother as an ally.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>"You did go to Madison? I suppose all good Montgomery boys go to the +home college."</p> + +<p>"Well, of course that was one of my mistakes. You never quite recover +what you lose by going to these little freshwater colleges. You never +quite get the jay out of your system."</p> + +<p>The obvious reply to this was that in his case it had not mattered, for +patently he did not even remotely suggest the state or condition of +jayness; but Mrs. Holton ignored the opportunity to appease his vanity.</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>Phil's "Oh" was ambiguous enough; but her mother's was even more +baffling.</p> + +<p>"Of course, we all love Madison," he hastened to add; "but I'm around a +good deal, here and there over the country, and when I meet Yale and +Harvard men I always feel that I have missed something; there is a +difference."</p> + +<p>"Clothes—neckties?" suggested Mrs. Holton.</p> + +<p>"It's a little deeper than that."</p> + +<p>"Knack of ordering a dinner?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you're putting me in a corner! I'd never thought it all out; but +I've always felt a difference. If I'm wrong, there's nobody I'd rather +have set me right than you."</p> + +<p>Her laugh was enthralling. She had no intention of committing herself on +the relative advantages of big and little colleges.</p> + +<p>"Let me see, Mr. Holton, your business is—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm a broker in investment securities; that's the way they have me +down in the Indianapolis Directory."</p> + +<p>"You advise people what to do with their money and that sort of thing? +It's very responsible, I should think, and it must be wearing."</p> + +<p>Her face reflected the gravity associated with the delicate matter of +investments. For a woman whose two matrimonial adventures had left her a +stranded dependent she carried this off well, and she could play a part; +and he liked people who could carry a part gracefully. She turned so +that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>the firelight fell upon her face and raised a fan to shield her +cheek from the heat. Her use of her hands charmed him. He could not +recall a more graceful woman in all his acquaintance. He added trim +ankles and a discriminating taste in silk hose to his itemized +appraisement of her attractions.</p> + +<p>"If a poor lone woman should come to you with a confession that she +owned, say, fifty to a hundred thousand dollars' worth of Government +3's, what would you advise her to do with them?"</p> + +<p>It was as though she spoke of poetry or the moonlit sea. "Fifty or a +hundred!" She could as easily have spoken of a chest of Spanish +doubloons, or some other monetary unit of romance. He was flattered that +she was taking so much pains with him; a woman who was so fair to look +upon might amuse herself at his expense as much as she liked. It was +delightful trifling. He felt that it was incumbent upon him to respond +in kind.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I should feel it my duty to double her income—or triple it. Few of +us can afford to fool with Governments; but, of course, there are not +many first-rate securities that pay high interest. That's where I come +in: it's my business to find them for my clients."</p> + +<p>"What would you recommend—I mean right now—something that would net +seven per cent and be safe for the poor widow we're talking about?"</p> + +<p>"Well," he laughed nervously, "I haven't anything better right now than +bonds of the Hornbrook Electric Power at a price to net six."</p> + +<p>"But—that sounds very conservative. And besides—they say there's not +enough water in Hornbrook Creek to furnish power for any great number of +mills. The engineer's report was very unsatisfactory—quite so. I looked +into that. Should you say that the territory adjacent to the creek is +likely to invite—oh, factories, mills, and that sort of thing?"</p> + +<p>He colored as her brown eyes met his in one of her flashing glances. She +mentioned Hornbrook Creek in her low, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>caressing voice as though it were +only an item of landscape, and the report of the engineers might have +been a pirate's round-robin, hidden in an old sea chest from the way she +spoke of it. It was inconceivable that she had prepared for this +interview. She touched her pompadour lightly with the back of her +hand—the smallest of hands—and he was so lost in admiration of the +witchery of the gesture that he was disconcerted to find her eyes bent +upon him keenly.</p> + +<p>"Of course, it's got to be developed—like anything else," he replied.</p> + +<p>"But—the fixed charges—and that sort of thing?"</p> + +<p>He wished she would not say "that sort of thing." The phrase as she used +it swept everything before it like a broom.</p> + +<p>"It's a delicate matter, the sale of bonds," she continued. "I suppose +if they turn out badly the investors have the bad manners to complain."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's up to the broker to satisfy them. My father taught me that," +he went on largely. "He promoted a great number of schemes and nobody +ever had any kick. You may have heard of the Sycamore troubles—well, +I'm personally assuming the responsibility there. I deeply regret, as +you may imagine, that there should be all this talk, but I'm going to +pull it out. It's only fair to myself to say to you that that's my +attitude. There's a lot of spite work back of it; you probably realize +that."</p> + +<p>He wanted to say that Tom Kirkwood was the malignant agent in the +situation, but he shrank from mentioning the lawyer. He wished Phil +would come down and terminate an interview that was becoming +increasingly disagreeable.</p> + +<p>"What do you consider those Sycamore bonds worth, Mr. Holton?"</p> + +<p>"Par!" he ejaculated.</p> + +<p>"You really think so?"</p> + +<p>"My word of honor! There's not a better 'buy' in the American market," +he affirmed solemnly.</p> + +<p>"You can dispose of them at full face value?" she queried, arching her +brows, her eyes full of wonder.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>"I'll pay that for any you have, Mrs. Holton," he threw out at a +venture, feeling that it was a "safe" play.</p> + +<p>"Then I have twenty of them, and I believe I'll sell. You may bring me a +check to-morrow. I shall have the bonds here at, say, three o'clock."</p> + +<p>She glanced carelessly at the watch on her wrist, and murmured something +about Phil's delay. The bond transaction was concluded, so far as she +was concerned; she spoke now of the reported illness of the Czar. She +had visited St. Petersburg and appeared to be conversant with Russian +politics.</p> + +<p>It was in Charles's mind that his Uncle Jack would never have dropped a +woman who owned twenty bonds that were worth even a dime apiece. He was +confident of some trick. Phil's mother had led him into ambush, and was +now enjoying his discomfiture. His face reddened with anger. She knew +perfectly well that he could not fulfill the commission he had been +trapped into undertaking. His pride was stung, and his humiliation was +deepened by her perfect tranquillity. Phil's delay had been by +connivance, to give time for this encounter. His Uncle Jack had been +right: the woman belonged to the Devil's household.</p> + +<p>His ordeal had lasted only twenty minutes, though it had seemed an hour. +Phil's tardiness was due to the fact that she had returned from a tea +just as dinner was announced, and she had gone to the table without +changing her gown. She had, of course, no idea of what had occurred when +she appeared before them, and met with her habitual cheeriness her +mother's chaffing rebuke for her dallying.</p> + +<p>"Sorry! But it's only eight, and the lecturer dined with Mrs. King, who +never hurries. Hope you two haven't bored each other!"</p> + +<p>She thrust out her white-sheathed arm for her mother's help with the +buttons. Charles, still smarting, drew on his gloves with an effort at +composure. His good looks were emphasized by his evening clothes, and a +glimpse he caught of himself in the gilt-framed mirror above the mantel +was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span>reassuring. He picked up the wrap Phil had flung on the chair, and +laid it over her shoulders, while Lois stood by, her finger-tips resting +on the back of a chair. If she lacked in the essential qualities of a +lady, he at least could be a gentleman; and when he had donned his +overcoat, he bowed over her hand, with his best imitation of the +ambassadorial elegance which the Honorable Stewart King (son of Mrs. +John Newman King) had brought back to Montgomery from the Belgian Court.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad to have had this opportunity, Mrs. Holton."</p> + +<p>"Not a word to Phil!" The slightest inclination of her head, a +compression of the lips, the lifting of her brows, suggested that the +most prodigious secrets had been discussed. She was quite equal to +rubbing salt in the wounds she inflicted! He was in no mood for a +discussion of sunshine and shadow; the lecture would be a bore, but he +would have an hour and a half in which to plan revenge upon Mrs. Holton. +As the carriage rattled toward Masonic Hall, Phil talked gayly of the +afternoon's tea.</p> + +<p>When they reached the hall the lecturer was just walking onto the +platform, and Charles saw with elation that Phil and he shared public +attention with the orator. As they took their seats there was much +craning of necks. Lois's return had set all manner of rumors afloat. It +had been said that she had come back to keep Phil out of the clutches of +the Holtons; and here was Phil with Charlie Holton. Glances of surprise +were exchanged. It was plain that Lois was not interfering with Phil's +affairs. Possibly the appearance of the two just now had a special +significance. It was tough on Tom Kirkwood, though, that his daughter +should be thrown in the way of a son of the House of Holton! The pastor +of Center Church introduced the lecturer to an inattentive audience.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>At the end there was the usual "visiting," and Phil remained perforce to +take her part in it. Phil had enjoyed the lecture; Phil always enjoyed +everything! Charles, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>with her cloak on his arm, made himself agreeable +to a visiting girl to whom Phil entrusted him while she obeyed a command +from Mrs. King to meet the speaker.</p> + +<p>Wayland Brown Bayless was encircled by a number of leading citizens and +citizenesses. Judge Walters was in the group, and Captain Joshua Wilson, +and Mr. and Mrs. Alec Waterman, and General and Mrs. Wilks, and the wife +of Congressman Reynolds—representatives of Montgomery's oldest and +best. Phil shook hands with Wayland Brown Bayless and told him she was +glad he had quoted Shelley's "Skylark," her favorite poem, whereupon he +departed hurriedly to catch a train. It was then that Mrs. King took +advantage of the proximity of so many leading citizens and citizenesses, +who had just heard pessimism routed and optimism glorified, to address +Phil in that resonant tone of authority she brought to all occasions.</p> + +<p>"Phil, how's your mother?"</p> + +<p>"Mamma's very well, thank you, Mrs. King."</p> + +<p>"I wish you would tell Lois to make no engagement for Thursday +night—Thursday, remember—as I want her to dine with me;—that means +you and Amzi, too. The Sir Edward Gibberts, who made the Nile trip when +I did in '72, are on their way home from Japan and are stopping off to +see me. Don't forget it's Thursday, Phil."</p> + +<p>It was all Montgomery she addressed, not Phil, as Phil and every one in +hearing distance understood perfectly. Reduced to terms, what had +happened was this: Mrs. John Newman King, the indisputable social censor +of Montgomery, whose husband, etc., etc., was "taking up" Lois Holton! +Not since that April afternoon when General Wilks, judge of the circuit +court, left the bench and personally beat a drum on the court-house +steps to summon volunteers to avenge the firing upon Sumter had anything +quite touched the dramatic heights of this incident. And Mrs. King's pew +in Center Church was Number 2 on the middle aisle!</p> + +<p>Phil's blood tingled and her eyes filled. Her Aunt Josephine flung a +murderous glance at her, as though she were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>in any wise responsible for +the vagaries of Mrs. John Newman King!</p> + +<p>The gloomy station hack was waiting at the door when she emerged with +her escort. Charles had exerted himself to interest the visiting +girl—and she had promised to call him up the next time she was in +Indianapolis, which was some compensation for the banalities of the +lecture.</p> + +<p>"It's a fine night; let's walk home," said Phil.</p> + +<p>Charles discharged the hackman without debate. His had been the only +carriage at the door, except Mrs. King's ancient coach, and he felt that +Phil had not appreciated his munificence. The remembrance of his +encounter with her mother rankled, and as he thought of Fred's rejection +of his proposal about the bonds and of Kirkwood's persistent, steady +stroke in the traction matter, he was far from convinced by the lessons +of the lecture. The sight of Montgomery in its best clothes, showing its +delight in optimism, had only aroused his contempt. He had been annoyed +by Phil's manifestations of pleasure; she had laughed aloud once at a +story, before the rest of the audience caught the point, and he felt +that considerable patient labor would be required to smooth out Phil's +provincial crudenesses.</p> + +<p>Phil's spirits soared. The world was, indeed, a good place, and full of +charity and kindness. Wayland Brown Bayless had said so; Mrs. John +Newman King had done much to prove it. She walked from the hall in one +of her moods of exaltation, her head high.</p> + +<p>"I apologize, Phil; I had no idea the old fellow could be such a bore. I +heard him once when I was in college and thought he was the real +thing—and it was, to the sophomoric taste."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's a perfect dear! Don't you dare apologize! And his stories were +perfectly killing—all new to me."</p> + +<p>"You deserve better things, Phil, than the entertainments this town +affords. You were destined for the wider world; I've always felt that +about you."</p> + +<p>He had forced a slower pace than the quick step with which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>Phil had set +out. His mind was working busily. Phil was an exceedingly pretty and a +very intelligent girl, and it would be a good stroke on his part to +marry her. Amzi would undoubtedly do the generous thing by her. He had +made his boast to Fred—and why not? There was no surer way of staying +Kirkwood's hand than to present himself as the affianced husband of the +lawyer's daughter. Phil's mother did not matter, after all. Kirkwood +would probably be relieved to find that Phil had been rescued from a +woman he had every reason to hate.</p> + +<p>"You never looked so well as you did to-night, Phil. I was proud of you. +And you won't mind my saying it, but it was fine of you to go with me +when—well, you know what I mean."</p> + +<p>Phil knew what he meant. She said:—</p> + +<p>"Fine, nothing. You were kind to ask me and I had a good time every +minute."</p> + +<p>"I wasn't sure you'd go. Things have happened queerly—you know what I +mean."</p> + +<p>Phil knew what he meant.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't be looking for queernesses; we've got to take things as they +come along. That's my way of doing; and I'm more than ever convinced +that optimism is the true doctrine."</p> + +<p>In spite of herself her last words ended a little dolorously. He was +quick to seize advantage of this unfamiliar mood.</p> + +<p>"I hope you know that any trouble that may come to you is my trouble, +too, Phil. Not many girls would have done what you did to-night. No +other girl I ever knew or read of would have taken the chance of +stirring up gossip as you did in going with me. It was splendid and +heroic."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw! I don't see anything heroic in going to a lecture you want to +hear if a kind friend offers to take you. Let's talk of something else."</p> + +<p>"I want to talk about you, Phil."</p> + +<p>"Then you'll have to find somebody else to listen; I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>won't! I like to +hear about interesting things. Now don't feel you must tell me I'm a +fruitful topic!"</p> + +<p>"I'm serious to-night. I haven't been happy lately. I've had a lot of +responsibilities thrown on me—things I never knew about have been +dumped down on me without any warning. I was tired to death to-night, +and I can't tell you what a joy it's been to be with you. I wasn't +listening to the lecture; it meant nothing to me. I was thinking of you, +Phil."</p> + +<p>Phil stopped short. The senior who had proposed to her had employed a +similar prelude, and she had no intention of subjecting herself to a +second attack.</p> + +<p>"You may think of me all you like; but don't tell me; just let me guess. +It isn't any fun if you know people think of you. We expect our friends +to think of us. That's what we have them for."</p> + +<p>She started off more briskly, but he refused to accommodate himself to +her pace. The undercurrent of resentment in his soul gathered force. He +must justify his boast to his brother, for one thing; and for another, +his face smarted from her mother's light, ironic whip.</p> + +<p>"Phil!" he began endearingly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, come on! We can't stand in the street all night discussing the +philosophy of life."</p> + +<p>"Since that afternoon at the Run," he continued, as they started forward +again, "everything has been different with me, Phil. I never felt until +lately that I really wanted to follow my good inclinations: I've done a +lot of things I'm sorry for, but that's all over. I felt that day, as we +stood together at the top of the bluff, that a new spirit had come into +my life. You know I'm a good deal older than you, Phil—just about ten +years' difference; but you seem immensely older and wiser. I never knew +a woman who knew as much."</p> + +<p>She stopped again, and drew away from him.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Holton!" she ejaculated mockingly; "please don't try that kind of +jollying on me. I don't like it."</p> + +<p>This, uttered with sharp peremptoriness, did not soothe <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>him; nor was he +in any humor to be thwarted. He had felt that Phil liked him; and a +great many girls had been in love with him. If she made his approaches +difficult, there was the more reason for believing that his proposal of +marriage would not fall upon ungrateful ears. And, besides, Phil was +just the sort of perverse, willful young woman to jump at a proposal, +the more readily if the suitor was set apart from her by barriers that +invited a young romantic imagination.</p> + +<p>"I wasn't jollying you," he said, "and you know I wasn't. You've known +from the first that I admired you. In fact, it was all over with me the +first time I spoke to you—when you took me down so. I liked your +spirit; I hate these tame, perfectly conventional girls; they bore me to +death."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I like <i>that</i>! How dare you say I'm not perfectly conventional!" +she laughed.</p> + +<p>"You know perfectly well what I mean. You have a mind and will of your +own, and I like that in you. You're a perfect wonder, Phil. You're the +most fascinating creature in the world!"</p> + +<p>"Creature!" she mocked.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Phil; I don't want you to pick me up like that. I'm entitled +to better treatment. I'm in terrible earnest and I don't mean to be put +off in any such way."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm not afraid to walk home alone!" She made a feint at leaving +him; then waited for him to catch up with her.</p> + +<p>It had been said of Phil that she liked to tease; she had, with a +pardonable joy, made the high-school boys dance to her piping, and the +admiration of the young collegians was tempered with awe and fear. She +felt herself fully equal to any emergencies that might arise with young +men. The boys she had known had all been nice fellows, good comrades, +with whom she had entered into boyish sports zestfully, until her +lengthening skirts had excluded her from participation in town-ball and +the spring's delight in marbles. When her chums became seniors in +college and appeared at parties in dress-suits, the transformation +struck her as funny. They <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>were still the "boys" who had admired the +ease with which she threw, and caught, and batted, and whom she had +bankrupted in naughty games of chance with marbles. She liked Charles +Holton. The difference in their years added to the flattery of his +attentions. He was a practiced flirt, and she had made experiments of +her own in the gentle art of flirtation. Phil was human.</p> + +<p>"If you knew how depressed I am, and how I need a little sympathy and +friendliness, you wouldn't act like that. We are good friends, aren't +we?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't questioned it."</p> + +<p>"We understand each other, don't we?"</p> + +<p>"In the plain old Hoosier language, yes!"</p> + +<p>"And if I tell you out of the depths of my humility that no one in the +world means so much to me as you do, you understand, don't you, Phil?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. Your words are admirably chosen and we'll let it go at +that."</p> + +<p>Her flippancy now invited rather than repelled him. It was his +experience that girls like to be made love to; the more reluctant they +appear, the better they like it; and as she moved along beside him her +beauty, her splendid health, her audacity struck fire in him. It was +to-night or never between Phil and him. His to-morrows were uncertain; +there was no guessing what Kirkwood might do, and Phil alone could +protect and save him.</p> + +<p>"Phil, this whole situation here is an impossible one for you. Because +I'm older I realize it probably more than you do. First it was my Uncle +Jack that came back here and stirred things up, and now—you won't take +it unkindly if I say that your mother's return has been most +unfortunate—for all of us. A girl like you oughtn't to be exposed to +the gossip of a country town. It's not fair to you. I love you, Phil; I +want you to marry me, at once, the quicker the better. I want to take +you away from all this. Phil—dear!"</p> + +<p>His tone thrilled her; she was persuaded of his kindness and generosity. +He had not abused her mother or spoken <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span>unkindly of his uncle even. He +had shown the nicest tact and discretion in his proposal of marriage, +hinting at his own difficulties without attempting to play upon her +sympathies. She could not laugh it off; she felt no inclination to do +so.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, Charlie; I'm awfully sorry; and I didn't want you to go on; +I really didn't mean to let you; I tried to stop you. I respect you and +like you; but I don't love you. So that's all there is to it. Now we +must hurry home."</p> + +<p>They were quite near Amzi's gate, and there was need for urgency. The +thought of her mother gave him an angry throb; very likely she was +waiting for them.</p> + +<p>"You don't mean that, Phil! I can't have it that way."</p> + +<p>"I do mean just that. So please don't say any more about it; we won't +either of us be happier for talking about it."</p> + +<p>"That's not square, Phil. You knew it was bound to come to this. You let +me go on believing, hoping—"</p> + +<p>"If you think such things of me, I shall be sorry I ever saw you."</p> + +<p>"I've offered you a way out for yourself; your happiness is at stake. +You must get away from here. Let us get married now—to-night, and leave +this place forever, Phil!"</p> + +<p>"No!" she cried angrily, frightened now as he stopped and planted +himself before her at the edge of Amzi's lawn, where the house loomed +darkly against the stars.</p> + +<p>He gripped her arms. In all her rough play with boys, none had ever +dared to touch her, and she choked with wrath. He had taken her off +guard. Her hands, thrust into her muff, were imprisoned there by his +grasp of her arms.</p> + +<p>"Phil, you can't leave me like this. You've got to say yes. I'll kill +myself if you don't."</p> + +<p>She tried to wrench herself free, but his anger had slipped its leash +and was running away with him. He drew her toward him, and the brute in +him roused at her nearness. He threw an arm round her suddenly, and bent +to kiss her. Abruptly she flung him back, wrenched her arms free and +seized his wrists. Her fear left her on the instant; she was as strong +or stronger than he, and she held him away from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>her easily, breathing +deeply, and wondering just how to dispose of him. She laughed mockingly +as he struggled, confident in the security of her greater strength. The +light from Amzi's gate-lamp fell upon them, and she peered into his face +curiously. At other times the spectacle of a gentleman in a silk hat +held at ease by a young woman in her best evening bonnet would have been +amusing, but Phil was thoroughly angry.</p> + +<p>"I didn't think you would be like this. I thought all the time that you +were a man; I even thought you were a gentleman!"</p> + +<p>He jerked back in an effort to free his arms, a movement that +precipitated his hat to the pavement. She gave his wrists a wrench that +caused him to cry out in pain. To be held in a vise-like grip by a girl +he had tried to kiss was a new and disagreeable experience. His anger +rioted uncontrollably. He brought his face closer and sneered:—</p> + +<p>"You needn't take such grand airs;—think what your mother is!"</p> + +<p>She flung him against the iron fence with a violence that shook it, and +her fists beat a fierce tattoo on his face—white-gloved fists, driven +by sound, vigorous, young arms; and then as he cowered, with his arms +raised to protect himself from her blows, she stepped back, her anger +and contempt still unsatisfied.</p> + +<p>He lifted his head, guardedly, thinking the attack was over, and with a +quick sweep of her arm she struck his face with her open hand, a sharp, +tingling slap. As she turned toward the gate, her foot encountered his +hat. She kicked it into the street, and then, without looking back, +swung the gate open and ran up the path to the house.</p> +<br /> +<br /><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>MR. WATERMAN'S GREAT OPPORTUNITY</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Jack Holton reappeared in Montgomery toward the end of March, showed +himself to Main Street in a new suit of clothes, intimated to old +friends that he was engaged upon large affairs, and complained bitterly +to a group of idlers at the Morton House of the local-option law that +had lately been invoked to visit upon Montgomery the curse of perpetual +thirst. He then sought Alexander Waterman in that gentleman's office. +Waterman he had known well in old times, and he correctly surmised that +the lawyer was far from prosperous. Men who married into the Montgomery +family didn't prosper, some way! An assumption that they were both +victims of daughters of the House of Montgomery may have entered into +his choice of Waterman as a likely person to precipitate a row in +Sycamore affairs. It was with a purpose that he visited Waterman's +office on the Mill Street side of the court-house, over Redmond's +undertaking parlors—a suggestive proximity that had not been neglected +by local humorists.</p> + +<p>"This is your chance, old man, to take up a fight for the people that +can't fail to make you solid. What this poor old town needs is a leader. +They're all sound asleep, dead ones, who'd turn over and take another +nap if Gabriel blew his horn. These fellows are getting ready to put +over the neatest little swindle ever practiced on a confiding public. +The newspapers are in it—absolutely muzzled. I won't lie to you about +my motive in coming to you. I'm sore all over from the knocks I've got. +My dear brother Will has kicked me out; actually told me he'd have me +arrested if I ever showed up here again. Like a fool I sent word to +Kirkwood that I could be of service in getting to the bottom of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>Sycamore; thought he'd let bygones be bygones when it came to straight +business, but, by George, he didn't even answer my letter! Cold as a +frozen lobster, and always was! You see I thought it was all on the +level—his tinkering with the traction company—but he's in on the +shrewdest piece of high finance that was ever put over in Indiana. Talk +about my lamented brother Samuel—Sam never started in his class!"</p> + +<p>Waterman, with his ponderous swivel-chair tipped back against the +Indiana Reports that lined the wall, listened guardedly. It was not +wholly flattering to be chosen by a man of Jack Holton's reputation as +the repository of confidences; but things had been going badly with +Waterman. His passion for speculation had led him to invest funds he +held as guardian in pork margins, and a caprice of the powers that play +with pork in Chicago had wiped him out. Judge Walters had just been +asking impertinent questions about the guardianship money, and when he +had gone to the First National Bank for a loan to tide over the judicial +inquiry and avert an appeal to his bondsmen, William Holton had "called" +a loan of three hundred dollars that the bank had been carrying for two +years. This was very annoying, and it made the lawyer more tolerant of +Jack Holton than he should otherwise have been.</p> + +<p>"We're talking on the dead, are we?"</p> + +<p>Waterman grunted his acquiescence.</p> + +<p>"Well, Kirkwood and old Amzi have framed it up to pinch the small +Sycamore stockholders. Kirkwood stands in with those Eastern fellows who +have the big end of it—he's their representative, as everybody knows. +And old Amzi is gumshoeing through the woods buying bonds of the yaps +who shelled out to Samuel—telling them the company's gone to the bad, +and that he's the poor man's friend, anxious to assume their burdens. +It's a good story, all right. Of course he has his tip from Kirkwood +that the bonds are going to boom or he wouldn't be putting money into +'em. You know Amzi—he's the king of gumshoe artists—and he and +Kirkwood are bound to make a big clean-up out of this."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>Waterman was interested. He had always disliked Amzi. He felt that the +banker had never dealt squarely with him, and in particular the +peremptory fashion in which Amzi, seven years earlier, had pushed his +pass-book through the window and suggested that he take his account +elsewhere had eaten into his soul.</p> + +<p>"I knew somebody was picking up those bonds, but I didn't know it was +Amzi. One of my clients had five of them, and I'd got him to the point +of letting me bring suit for a receiver, but somebody shut him off."</p> + +<p>"Your client's bonds are in Kirkwood's pocket, all right enough. By +George, can you beat it! And here's another thing. A man hates to talk +against his own flesh and blood; and you may think I'm not in a position +to strut around virtuously and talk about other people's sins; but I +guess I've got some sense of honor left. I've never stolen any money. I +did run off with another man's wife, and I got my pay for <i>that</i>. That +was in the ardor of youth, Waterman; it was a calamitous mistake. Nobody +knows it better than I do. I got my punishment. I don't wish the woman +any harm; she's a brazen one, and don't need anybody's sympathy."</p> + +<p>Lois Montgomery Holton's brazenness had been brought to Waterman's +attention convincingly at home. Josephine, Kate, and Fanny were almost +insane over their sister's bold return. Her impudence in settling +herself upon Amzi, under their very noses, was discussed every day and +all day on Sunday, whenever Lois's sisters could get their heads +together. Waterman felt that Jack Holton's direct testimony as to the +brazenness of their wicked sister would be grateful to the ears of his +wife and sisters-in-law.</p> + +<p>"I guess," said Waterman, "that hasn't anything to do with the case. If +what you say's true—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's true, all right enough. You go over to the 'Star' office and +ask why they've shut up about Sycamore; ask Judge Walters why certain +damage suits against the Sycamore Company haven't been tried; go out +among the people who had put the savings of years into the traction +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span>company and ask them who's buying their bonds. And then, just for a +joke, telegraph the Comptroller at Washington and ask him why he sent +out a special agent of the Treasury to look over the First National +after the examiner's last visit. I tell you, this town's going to have a +big jar in a day or two, and it's just about up to you to get out among +the people and tell 'em how they're being worked."</p> + +<p>"The people like being worked," replied Waterman, who had been trying to +bring the people to a realizing sense of their wrongs in every campaign +for twenty years. In a few months they would again be choosing a +Representative in Congress for the seat he had long coveted, and it was +conceivable that if he should now show himself valiant in their behalf +he might avert his usual biennial defeat. It was worth considering.</p> + +<p>"The thing to do is to hold a mass meeting and make one of your big +speeches, pitching into Walters for refusing to bring those damage suits +to trial, and telling the truth about what Kirkwood and Amzi are doing, +and then go over to Indianapolis and bring suit for the appointment of a +receiver. And, by the way, I'm not as altruistic as I look. I'll take +the receivership and you'll be the receiver's attorney, of course. +Between us we ought to clear up something handsome, besides rendering a +great public service that you can cash in here any way you like."</p> + +<p>Only that day Judge Walters had granted the request of Wright and Fitch, +the Indianapolis attorneys, for a postponement of the trial of a damage +suit against the Sycamore Company in which Waterman represented the +plaintiff, and this now assumed new significance in the lawyer's mind. +If he got before a mass meeting with a chance to arraign the courts for +their subservience to corporations, he was confident that it would +redound to his credit at the fall election. His affairs were in such +shape that some such miracle as his election to Congress was absolutely +necessary to his rehabilitation.</p> + +<p>"You don't think the First National's going under, do you? Bill isn't +fool enough to let it come to that?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>Holton winked knowingly to whet his auditor's appetite.</p> + +<p>"I don't think it; I know it! Kirkwood's a merciless devil, and he's got +Bill and my hopeful nephew Charlie where the hair's short. If Sam had +lived he'd have taken care of this traction business; Sam was a genius, +all right. Sam could sell lemons for peaches, and when people made faces +he sugared the lemons and proved they were peaches. Sam was no +second-story man; he worked on the ground floor in broad daylight. Good +old Sam!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>A Chicago newspaper had given currency to a rumor that the Sycamore line +was soon to be put into the hands of a receiver, and while Kirkwood +denied this promptly, there were many disquieting stories afloat as to +the fate of the road.</p> + +<p>The reports of an expert as to the road's physical condition had been +reassuring, on the whole, and a thorough audit had placed Kirkwood in +possession of all the facts as to the property and its possibilities. +Some of the most prominent men in the State had been stockholders in the +Sanford Construction Company. Samuel Holton had enrolled in that +corporation his particular intimates, who had expected him to "take care +of them" as he was in the habit of doing. The list included several +former state officials and the benevolent bosses who manipulated the +legislature by a perfectly adjusted bi-partisan mechanism. It was with a +disagreeable shock that they found that Samuel had departed this life, +leaving them to bear the burden of his iniquities.</p> + +<p>Tom Kirkwood had assembled these gentlemen in the inner room of Wright +and Fitch's offices and laid the incontrovertible figures before them, +with an alternative that they return their respective shares of the +plunder or answer to an action at law. Kirkwood was an absurd person. It +was politely suggested that it would be much to his advantage to allow +the Sycamore Company to take its course through the courts, under a +receiver friendly to the stockholders of the Sanford Construction +Company. Kirkwood was informed that things had always been done that +way; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span>but, having no political ambitions or ties, he was little +impressed. It seemed to the business politicians weakminded for a man +who had "pull" enough to secure employment from one of the most powerful +trust companies on the continent to refuse to listen to "reason." It was +almost incredible that he should be trying to save the road instead of +wrecking it, when there was no money to be made out of saving a trolley +line that had been marked for destruction from the day its first tie was +laid. Kirkwood smiled coldly upon them and their attorneys when they +passed from persuasions to threats. It was difficult to find an +effective club to use on a man who was so unreasonable as to threaten +them with the long arm of the grand jury. The most minute scrutiny of +Kirkwood's private life failed to disclose anything that might be used +to frighten him.</p> + +<p>It had seemed to Kirkwood that the beneficiaries of the construction +company should pay into the Sycamore treasury enough money to repair the +losses occasioned by dishonest work. Interest on the Sycamore bonds was +due the 1st of April. The November payment had been made with money +advanced by half a dozen country banks through negotiations conducted by +William Holton. On the day that Jack Holton was persuading Alec Waterman +to thrust himself forward as the people's protagonist, Kirkwood was +tightening the screws on the construction company. If the sum he +demanded was not paid by the 1st of April, he assured Samuel Holton's +former allies that criminal proceedings would be instituted. As one of +the construction crowd was just then much in the newspapers as a +probable nominee for a state office, Kirkwood's determination to force a +settlement on his own terms was dismaying. The bi-partisan bosses had +figured altogether too much in the newspapers, and it was not pleasant +to contemplate the opening of the books of the company to public gaze.</p> + +<p>March prepared to go out like a lion in Montgomery that year. While Alec +Waterman was pondering his duty to the public as brought to his +attention by Jack Holton, Fate <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>seemed to take charge of his affairs. On +March 28 the whistle of the Sugar Creek Furniture Company failed to +rouse the town. The Sugar Creek Company, one of the industries that Paul +Fosdick had promoted, had seemed to escape the dark fate that had +pursued his other projects, so that the abruptness with which it shut +down gave the local financial seismograph a severe wrench.</p> + +<p>The factory had been one of the largest employers of labor in +Montgomery, and its suspension was reported to be due to the refusal of +the First National to advance money for its next maturing weekly +pay-roll. To several of the workingmen who consulted Waterman about +their claims, he broached the matter of a mass meeting in the circuit +courtroom to discuss the business conditions of Montgomery. Two hundred +men and boys were thrown out of work by the failure of the furniture +company; rumors as to the relations between the company and the First +National caused the stability of the Holton bank to be debated +guardedly; and April 1st was fixed definitely in the minds of the Main +Street gossips as the date for drastic action in Sycamore matters.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Mr. Amzi Montgomery's frequent absences in Indianapolis had occasioned +comment of late. He returned, however, on the evening of the 28th, and +before the "Bank Open" side of the battered tin sign was presented to +Main Street on the morning of the 29th, a number of citizens had called +to ask his opinion of the local financial conditions. He answered their +anxious inquiries with his habitual nonchalance, leaning against the +counter, with his cigar at an angle that testified to unruffled serenity +and perfect peace with the world. Amzi had brought home from the capital +a new standing collar, taller than he was in the habit of wearing, and +from its deep recesses his countenance appeared more than usually chaste +and demure. The collar, a dashing bow tie, and a speckled waistcoat that +was the most daring expression of sartorial art available at the +capital, gave to Amzi an air of uncommon jauntiness.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>"What about this, Amzi? Is the whole town going to smash?" asked Judge +Walters.</p> + +<p>"Nope. Worst's over. Nothing to worry about."</p> + +<p>"I've got to appoint a receiver for the furniture company in a few +minutes. I hope I'm not going to have to run the whole town through my +court."</p> + +<p>"You won't. The Sugar Creek Furniture Company is a year behind time; I +thought it would go down last year. Then they bounced Fosdick, and it +naturally picked up a little; but it's hard to overcome a bad start, +Judge."</p> + +<p>"I've politely turned over my court-room for a meeting of the furniture +company employees this afternoon. Alec's going to holler; they say he's +going to pitch into the traction company and dust off the banks and +capital generally."</p> + +<p>"Good for Alec! He'll do a good job of it. Shouldn't wonder if he'd lead +a mob down Main Street, hanging all the merchants, bankers, and judges +of courts."</p> + +<p>"That would require more energy than Alec has; his love of the +downtrodden is purely vocal."</p> + +<p>The county treasurer who followed the judge found Amzi disposed to be +facetious over the reports that other failures were likely to follow the +embarrassment of the furniture company.</p> + +<p>"Worst's over. Just a little flurry. When there's a rotten apple in the +barrel, better get it out."</p> + +<p>The treasurer jerked his head in the direction of the First National.</p> + +<p>Amzi met his gaze, took the cigar from his mouth, and looked at the ash.</p> + +<p>"Thunder! It's all right."</p> + +<p>"How do you know that!"</p> + +<p>"I just guess it; that's all."</p> + +<p>"They say," the treasurer whispered, "that Bill has skipped."</p> + +<p>"Bill's over there in his bank right now," Amzi replied impatiently.</p> + +<p>"How do you make that out?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>"Because I was talking to him on the 'phone ten minutes ago. If he's +skipped, it must have been sudden. Tell people not to borrow trouble +when they can borrow money. Money's easy on Main Street."</p> + +<p>Amzi wobbled his cigar in his mouth the while he smoothed his new +waistcoat with both hands. He was feeling good. His house was in order; +failures and rumors of failures could not disturb him.</p> + +<p>This was Saturday, and their spring needs had brought an unusual number +of farm-folk to town. The proximity of interest-paying day made an acute +issue of Sycamore Traction. Amzi had by no means gathered up all the +bonds held by small investors. Book learning has not diminished the +husbandman's traditional incredulity: if Sycamore traction bonds were +worth seventy to Amzi Montgomery, they were undoubtedly worth eighty, at +least, to the confiding original purchasers. Those who had clung to +their bonds were disposed to ridicule those who had sold; and yet no one +was wholly comfortable, either way. The collapse of the furniture +company might prelude a local panic, and farmers and country merchants +collected in groups along Main Street to discuss the situation.</p> + +<p>The Saturday half-holiday in the various Montgomery industries added to +the crowd that drifted toward the courthouse at two o'clock, drawn by +the announcement that Alec Waterman was to discuss many local issues, +which the failure of the furniture company had rendered acute. The +circuit court-room was packed with farmers, mechanics, and the usual +idlers when Waterman without introduction began to speak.</p> + +<p>At that moment Amzi Montgomery, in his seersucker coat and with his old +straw hat tilted to one side, stood at the door of his bank and observed +half a dozen men on the steps of the First National. Amzi, a careful +student of his fellow-townsmen, was aware that men and women were +passing into the rival bank in larger numbers than usual, even for a +Saturday, and that the mellifluous oratory of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>Alec Waterman had not +drawn from the First National corner a score of idlers who evidently +felt that the center of interest lay there rather than at the +court-house. Amzi planted himself in his favorite chair in the bank +window and watched the crowd increase.</p> + +<p>By half-past two the town marshal had taken official notice that +citizens were gathering about the bank doors, and overflowing from the +sidewalk halfway across Main Street, to the interruption of traffic. +Women and girls, with bank-books in their hands or nervously fingering +checks, conferred in low tones about the security of their deposits. The +Citizens' National and the State Trust Company were also receiving +attention from their depositors. As three o'clock approached, the +Montgomery Bank filled, and the receiving-teller began to assist the +paying-teller in cashing checks. Amzi lounged along the lines outside, +talking to his customers.</p> + +<p>"Going to buy automobiles with your money, boys? Thunder! You in town, +Jake?"</p> + +<p>He greeted them all affably, ignoring their anxiety.</p> + +<p>"Boys, I'll have to get a new shop if business keeps on like this."</p> + +<p>A depositor who had drawn his money and was anxiously hiding it in his +pocket, dropped a silver dollar that rolled away between the waiting +lines.</p> + +<p>"Never mind, gentlemen, we sweep out every night," said Amzi. "Now, +let's all understand each other," he continued, tilting his hat over his +left ear, and flourishing his cigar. "It's all right for you folks to +come and get your money. The regular closing time of banks in this town +is 3 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, Saturdays included. We've got a right to close in +fifteen minutes. But just to show there's no hard feeling, I'm going to +change the closing hour to-day from 3 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> to 3 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> +Tomorrow's Sunday, and you can tell folks that's got money here that +they won't have any trouble getting their change in time to put it in +the collection basket to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>A number of depositors, impressed by Amzi's tranquillity, tore up their +checks and left the bank. To a woman who asked him what the excitement +meant, Amzi explained politely that the town was experiencing what he +called a "baby panic."</p> + +<p>"As an old friend, Martha, I advise you to leave your money here; if I +decide to bust, I'll give you notice."</p> + +<p>Along the two lines, that now extended out upon the sidewalk, there was +a craning of necks. A demand from one depositor that he repeat to all +what he had said to the woman caused Amzi to retire behind the counter. +There he stood upon a chair and talked through the screen,</p> + +<p>"I don't blame you folks for being nervous. Nobody wants to lose his +money. Money is hard to get and harder to keep. But I've never lied +across this counter to any man, woman, or child"—and then, as though +ashamed of this vulgar assertion of rectitude, he added—"unless they +needed to be lied to."</p> + +<p>There was laughter at this. The room was packed, and the lines had been +broken by the crowd surging in from the street.</p> + +<p>"You can all have your money. But I hope you won't spend it foolishly or +stick it in the chimney at home where it'll burn up. I ain't going to +bust, ladies and gentlemen. This town is all right; it's the best little +town in Indiana; sound as Sugar Creek bottom corn. This little sick +infant panic we've had to-day will turn over and go to sleep pretty +soon. As an old friend and neighbor of you all, I advise you to go +home—with your money or without it, just as you like. It's all the same +to me."</p> + +<p>"How about the First National?" a voice demanded.</p> + +<p>Amzi was relighting his cigar. There was a good deal of commotion in the +room as many who had been pressing toward the windows withdrew, +reassured by the banker's speech.</p> + +<p>Amzi, with one foot on a chair, the other on the note-teller's counter, +listened while the question about the First National was repeated.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span>"I'll say to you folks," said Amzi, his voice clearing and rising to a +shrill pipe, "that in my judgment the First National Bank can pay all +its claims. In fact—in fact, I'm dead sure of it!"</p> + +<p>The crowd began to disperse. Most of those who had drawn their money +waited to re-deposit it, and Amzi walked out upon the step to view the +situation at the First National, to whose doors a great throng clung +stubbornly. The marshal and a policeman were busily occupied in an +effort to keep a way open for traffic. Observed by only a few idlers, +Tom Kirkwood emerged from the First National's directors' room and +walked across to where Amzi stood like a guardian angel before the door +of Montgomery's Bank. The briefest colloquy followed between Kirkwood +and his quondam brother-in-law.</p> + +<p>"It's fixed, Amzi."</p> + +<p>"Thunder, Tom; I didn't know you'd got back."</p> + +<p>"Got in at one, and have been shut up with Holton ever since. He's seen +the light, and we've adjusted his end of the Sycamore business; I'm +taking part cash and notes with good collateral. The whole construction +crowd have settled, except Charlie, and he'll come in—he's got to. The +settlement makes the traction company good—it's only a matter now of +spending the money we've got back in putting the property in shape."</p> + +<p>"That's good, Tom." And Amzi looked toward the courthouse clock. "Bill +say anything about me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; he most certainly did. He wants you to go over and take charge of +his bank!"</p> + +<p>"Thunder! It's sort o' funny, Tom, how things come round."</p> + +<p>Kirkwood smiled at Amzi's calmness. He drew from his pocket a folded +piece of paper.</p> + +<p>"Here's your stock certificate, Amzi. Bill asked me to hand it to you. +It's in due form. He wanted me to ask you to be as easy on him as you +could. I think what he meant was that he'd like it to look like a +<i>bona-fide</i>, voluntary sale. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>Those ten shares give you the control, and +the Sycamore claim wiped out the rest of his holdings. I'm afraid," he +added, "there's going to be some trouble. Where's Phil?"</p> + +<p>"Probably at the court-house hearing her Uncle Alec talk about the money +devils. We ought to let a few banks bust, just to encourage Alec. +Thunder! Phil's all right!"</p> +<br /> +<br /><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>PLEASANT TIMES IN MAIN STREET</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Phil, on her way to a tea, reached Main Street shortly before three +o'clock. Her forehandedness was due to the fact that her hostess (the +wife of the college president) had asked her to perform divers and +sundry preliminary offices pertaining to refreshments, and it had +occurred to Phil that it would be as well to drop in at the Bartletts' +to see whether Rose had sent the cakes she had contracted to bake for +the function, as the sophomore who delivered Rose's creations was +probably amusing himself at the try-out of baseball material on Mill's +Field.</p> + +<p>Shopkeepers restlessly pacing the sidewalk before the doors of their +neglected stores informed Phil of the meeting at the court-room, and of +the panicky rumors. No good reason occurred to Phil for absenting +herself from a mass meeting at which her Uncle Alec was to speak. Phil +liked meetings. From the crest of a stack of chicken crates near the +freight depot she had heard Albert Jeremiah Beveridge speak when that +statesman had vouchsafed ten minutes to the people of Montgomery the +preceding autumn. She had heard such redoubtable orators as William +Jennings Bryan, Charles Warren Fairbanks, and "Tom" Marshall, and when a +Socialist had spoken from the court-house steps on a rainy evening, +Phil, then in her last year in high school, had been the sole +representative of her sex in the audience.</p> + +<p>Waterman was laboriously approaching his peroration when she reached the +packed court-room. Men were wedged tightly into the space reserved for +the court officials and the bar, and a number stood on the clerk's desk. +She climbed upon a chair at the back of the room, the better to see and +hear. There were other women and girls <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>present—employees of the +furniture factory—but it must be confessed that even without their +support Phil would not have been embarrassed.</p> + +<p>Waterman was in fine fettle, and cheers and applause punctuated his +discourse.</p> + +<p>"I am not here to arouse class hatred, or to set one man against +another. We of Montgomery are all friends and neighbors. Many of you +have lived here, just as I have, throughout your lives. It is for us to +help each other in a neighborly spirit. Factories may close their doors, +banks may fail, and credit be shaken, but so long as we may appeal to +each other in the old terms of neighborliness and comradeship, nothing +can seriously disturb our peace and prosperity.</p> + +<p>"It grieves me, however, to be obliged to confess that there are men +among us who have not felt the responsibility imposed upon them as +trustees for the less fortunate. I have already touched on the immediate +plight of those of you who are thrown out of employment, with your just +labor claims unpaid. There are others—and some of them are perhaps in +this room—who entrusted their savings to the Sycamore Traction Company, +and who are now at the mercy of the malevolent powers that invariably +control and manipulate such corporations. I shall not be personal; I +have no feelings against any of those men. But I say to you, men and +women of Montgomery, that when I heard this morning from the lips of an +industrious and frugal German mechanic that a certain financier of this +town had bought from him a traction bond that represented twenty years +of savings—then my blood boiled with righteous indignation.</p> + +<p>"My friends, a curious situation exists here. Why is it—why is it, I +repeat, while one of our fellow-citizens pretends to be trying to +safeguard by legal means all the local interests involved in that +traction company, another person who stands close to him is buying the +bonds of laborers and mechanics, widows and orphans, at little more than +fifty per cent of their face value? My friends, when you find a corrupt +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>lawyer and a rapacious banker in collusion, what chance have the people +against them?"</p> + +<p>Apparently the people had no chance whatever, in the opinion of the +intent auditors. The applause at this point was long continued, and +Waterman, feeling that he had struck the right chord, hurried on.</p> + +<p>"Who are these men who have plundered their own people, thrust their +hands into the pockets of their fellow-citizens, and filched from them +the savings of years? Who are they, I say? My friends, in a community +like this, where we are all so closely knit together,—where on the +Sabbath day we meet in the church porch after rendering thanks unto God +for his mercies,—where in the midweek prayer-meeting we renew and +strengthen ourselves for the battle of life,—it is a serious matter to +stand in a forum of the people before the tabernacle the law has given +us for the defense of our liberties, and impugn the motives of our +fellows. I shall not—"</p> + +<p>"Name them!" chorused a dozen voices.</p> + +<p>Waterman's histrionic sense responded to the demand. With arm uplifted, +he deliberated, turning slowly from side to side. He was a master of the +niceties of insinuation. Innuendo he had always found more effective +than direct statement. He shook his head deprecatingly, reluctant to +yield to the clamor for the names of the human vultures he had been +arraigning.</p> + +<p>"Name them! Tell who they are!"</p> + +<p>He indulged these cries with a smile of resignation. They had a right to +know; but it was left for him, in his superior wisdom, to pass upon +their demands.</p> + +<p>"Hit 'em, Alec! Go for 'em!" yelled a man in the front row.</p> + +<p>"Why," the orator resumed, "why," he asked, "should I name names that +are in every mind in this intelligent audience?" There was absolute +quiet as they waited for the names, which he had not the slightest +intention of giving.</p> + +<p>"Why—"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>"<i>Coward!</i>"</p> + +<p>The carrying power of Phil's voice had been deplored from her earliest +youth by her aunts. Her single word, flung across the heads of the +auditors, splashed upon the tense silence like a stone dropped suddenly +into a quiet pond.</p> + +<p>"Put him out!" yelled some one who attributed this impiety to the usual +obstreperous boy. A number of young fellows in Phil's neighborhood, who +knew the source of the ejaculation, broke into laughter and jeers. +Alexander Waterman knew that voice; he had seen Phil across the room, +but had assumed that her presence was due to her vulgar curiosity, on +which his wife had waxed wroth these many years. In his cogitations Phil +was always an unaccountable and irresponsible being: it had not occurred +to him that she might resent his veiled charges against her father and +Amzi. Waterman, by reason of his long experience as a stump speaker, +knew how to deal with interruptions. He caught up instantly the +challenge Phil had flung at him.</p> + +<p>"Coward?" he repeated. "I should like to ask you, my fellow-citizens, +who is the coward in this crisis? Is it I, who face you to-day clothed +in my constitutional guaranty of free and untrammeled speech, to speak +upon the issues of this grave crisis; or is it the conspirators who meet +in dark rooms to plot and plunder?"</p> + +<p>Applause and cheers greeted this reply. Men looked at each other and +grinned, as much as to say, "Alec knows his business." In Phil's +immediate vicinity a number of young men, lost in admiration of her +temerity, and not without chivalrous instincts, jeered the orator's +reply. In the middle of the room Fred Holton, who had gone to the +meeting with some of his farmer neighbors that he met in Main Street, +turned at the sound of Phil's voice. Before Waterman, luxuriating in his +applause, could resume, Fred was on his feet.</p> + +<p>"As this was called as a meeting of citizens, I have a right to be here. +We have listened for nearly an hour to a speech that has made nothing +any clearer—that has, in fact, gone <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span>all round the pump without finding +the handle. It's time we knew what it is the speaker wants done; it's +time he came to the point and named these men who have robbed their +friends and neighbors. Let's have the names right now before we go any +further."</p> + +<p>"Who's that talking? Put him out!"</p> + +<p>The meeting was in disorder, and a dozen men were trying to talk. +Waterman, smiling patiently, rapped with the official gavel that Judge +Walters wielded when counsel, in the heat of argument, transcended the +bounds of propriety.</p> + +<p>"It's Fred Holton," bellowed some one.</p> + +<p>Waterman smiled in quiet scorn. He had recognized Fred Holton and was +ready with his answer. One of his friends who had pushed through the +crowd whispered in his ear.</p> + +<p>"My friends," he began, in the indulgent tone of a grieved parent, "the +gentleman who spoke a moment ago was quite right in remarking that this +is a meeting of citizens. No one denies his right to speak or to +interrupt other speakers if such be his idea of courtesy. But he will +pardon me for suggesting that it is remarkable that he of all men should +interrupt our friendly conference here and demand that names be +mentioned, when, prompted by a sense of delicacy, I have refrained from +mentioning his own name in this unpleasant connection. It's a name that +has been identified far too closely with the affairs of this town. I +should like to know how a member of the Holton family dare come to this +meeting, when the suspension of one of our chief industries and the +embarrassments of the Sycamore Traction Company are directly +attributable to the family of which this young gentleman is a member. +And while we sit here in conference, there are grave rumors afloat that +we are threatened with even more serious difficulties. Within a few +minutes word has reached me that a run is in progress upon certain of +our banks." (There was a commotion throughout the room, and those near +the doors were already pushing toward the street.)</p> + +<p>"I beg of you, be not hasty; the hour calls for wise counsel—"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span>The shuffling of feet and overturning of chairs deadened the remainder +of his speech.</p> + +<p>Phil escaped quickly from the court-house, and seeing the throng in Main +Street began a detour to reach Montgomery's Bank. Fred caught up with +her and begged her to go home.</p> + +<p>"There's going to be a row, Phil, and you'd better keep out of the way."</p> + +<p>"If there's a row, that silly Waterman is responsible," Phil replied. +"I'm going to the bank to see Amy."</p> + +<p>People were flocking to Main Street from all directions, and finding +that she persisted in going on, Fred kept close beside her.</p> + +<p>"He'll scold you if you do; you'd better go home," Fred urged as they +reached Franklin Street, a block south of Main, and saw the packed +streets at the First National corner.</p> + +<p>They debated a moment; then Phil was seized with an idea.</p> + +<p>"Fred, run over to the college and bring all the boys you can find at +Mill's Field. Bring them up Main Street singing, and send a flying wedge +through the mob;—that will smash it. Beat it, before the boys hear the +row and mix in!"</p> + +<p>Fred was off for the athletic field before she had finished speaking, +and Phil sought the side door of Montgomery's Bank.</p> + +<p>The throng at the intersection of Franklin Street and Main faced the +First National. When the court-house clock boomed three the clerks +inside made an effort to close the doors, and this had provoked a sharp +encounter with the waiting depositors on the bank steps. The crowd +yelled as it surged in sympathy with the effort to hold the doors open. +Some one threw a stone that struck the window in the middle of +"National" in the sign, and this caused an outbreak of derisive cheers. +An intoxicated man on the steps turned round with difficulty and waved +his hat.</p> + +<p>"Come on, boys; we'll bust the safe and find out whether they've got any +money or not."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span>Some of those who had gained entrance to the bank came out by the side +door, and this served to divert attention to Franklin Street for a +moment. There were cries that a woman who had received her money had +been robbed, and this increased the uproar.</p> + +<p>When Amzi took a last survey from his bank steps at three o'clock, some +one yelled, "Hello, Amzi!" A piece of brick flung with an aim worthy of +a nobler cause whizzed past his head and struck the door-frame with a +sharp thwack and blur of dust. Amzi looked down at the missile with +pained surprise and kicked it aside. His clerks besought him to come in +out of harm's way; and yet no man in Montgomery had established a better +right than he to stand exactly where he stood and view contemporaneous +history in the making.</p> + +<p>Howls and cat-calls followed the casting of the brick. Amzi lifted his +hand to stay the tumult, but in his seersucker coat and straw hat his +appearance was calculated to provoke merriment.</p> + +<p>"Shoot the hat! Where's your earmuffs?" they jeered.</p> + +<p>He could not make himself heard, and even if his voice had been equal to +the occasion no one was in humor to listen to him. Bankers were +unpopular in Montgomery that afternoon. No one had ever believed before +that Amzi was capable of taking unfair advantage of his fellow-men; and +yet Waterman's hearers were circulating the report in Main Street that +Amzi had been buying Sycamore bonds at an infamously low price.</p> + +<p>He flourished his cigar toward the First National, and then pointed it +at his own door, but this bit of pantomime only renewed the mirth of the +assemblage. It seemed to be the impression that he was trying to +advertise his bank, in the fashion of a "demonstrator" in a shop-window. +The disorder increased. Some one yelled:—</p> + +<p>"What are you paying for Sycamore bonds?"</p> + +<p>This was followed by an ominous turning and shifting. Amzi withdrew, +closed and locked the bank doors, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span>showed his scorn of his +calumniators by reversing with deliberation the tin card so that it +announced "Bank Shut."</p> + +<p>Amzi, his dignity ruffled by the reception accorded him, had retired to +his private room when a familiar knock sounded on the Franklin Street +door and he turned the latch to admit Phil.</p> + +<p>"You—! what you doing down here? What right have you to be running the +streets on a day like this?" he blurted, his eyes bulging wrathfully.</p> + +<p>"Oh, chuck it, Amy! This is the best show we've had since the calliope +blew up and killed the elephant in the circus when I was seven years +old. I've been to the meeting. The Honorable Alec delivered a noble +oration; he told them that everybody, including you and daddy, is +crooked; he's the only honest man. It was the supreme and ultimate +lim<i>ite</i>!"</p> + +<p>"Want to burn me in effigy? Call me a horned plutocrat?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he didn't mention you, or daddy either, by name; just hinted that +you were both trying to rob the Sycamore bondholders."</p> + +<p>Amzi put his feet on a chair, settled his hat comfortably on the back of +his head, and chewed his cigar meditatively.</p> + +<p>"Thunder! You'd better keep away from indignation meetings where Alec's +going to speak. You're likely to get shot."</p> + +<p>"Not I, sir. I called him a coward, right there in the meeting. A most +unladylike proceeding; indeed, it was, Amy.</p> + +<p class="noin"> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">"When rose the maid upon a chair,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">Some called her false: none named her fair:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">Nathless she saw nor sneer nor frown,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">But 'C-o-w-a-r-d' flung her challenge down."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Amzi ignored her couplets—Phil's impromptu verses always embarrassed +him—and demanded the particulars. He chuckled as she described the +meeting. He cross-examined her to be sure that she omitted nothing. Her +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span>report of his brother-in-law's tirade gave him the greatest delight. As +they talked, they heard plainly the commotion in the streets.</p> + +<p>"I like the way you take things," said Phil. "The town's gone crazy, and +there's a mob in front of your little toy bank, but you're not even +peevish."</p> + +<p>"Some old schoolmate threw a brick at me awhile ago when I went out for +air and that annoyed me," Amzi admitted. "If those fellows out there who +haven't any money in any bank, and never will have any, would only go +home, I'd do something to relieve the pressure. I hanker for a chance to +cross the street, but they won't let me. I called the mayor on the +telephone and demanded that he send over the fire department and +sprinkle 'em, but he said he couldn't unless I'd turn in an alarm—had +the nerve to tell me it would be against the city ordinances! What do +you think of that, Phil? Guess the police force is under the bed at +home. But I can wait. There's nothing like waiting. Take it from me that +you'd better trot along to your tea. You're rather cute in that hat. I +suppose it burnt a hole in a ten-dollar-bill."</p> + +<p>"Twenty-five, Amy."</p> + +<p>"No wonder there's a panic! Go out and show yourself, so they can see +what a plutocrat looks like. I guess that would cause 'em to break +windows all right."</p> + +<p>"Ungrateful old man! Main Street will be opened for traffic in a few +minutes, thanks to the head under the hat you feign to despise. I sent +Fred over to the college to bring the boys down to clean things up. +They're about due, methinks."</p> + +<p>"Fred in town?"</p> + +<p>"Why ask? It's Saturday and he's a farmer."</p> + +<p>"Your thinker thinks, Phil. Would that I loved prayer-meeting as much as +you love trouble! As trustee of Madison, I wish you'd left the boys at +play. That last Washington's Birthday row almost broke up the college."</p> + +<p>Phil jumped down from the table suddenly and flung the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span>door open. Above +the murmur of the restless shuffling crowd rose the sound of singing.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The sunny afternoon had brought to Mill's Field budding baseballists and +candidates for track teams and a gallery of critics of their +performances. Fred Holton's name was written high in the athletic +records of Madison, and a few words bawled from the bleachers served to +assemble all the students in sight.</p> + +<p>"There's an ugly mob downtown, boys; and it may do mischief if it hangs +together until dark. If we can pry 'em apart, they'll go home and forget +it."</p> + +<p>Fifty students immediately formed in line. "No clubs or sticks, boys. +We'll march down Main Street in good order and see what a peaceful +demonstration will do. Forward! March!"</p> + +<p>As they crossed the campus at double-quick, students poured out of the +library and joined the battalion. Others came tumbling out of the +fraternity houses in Buckeye Lane, anxious to join in the lark. Before +entering Main Street, Fred gave his last orders, which were accepted +without question from an alumnus whom they had all learned to know of +late as a sympathetic and stimulating visitor to the Gym, and the +adviser for the Thanksgiving football game in which they had scored a +victory over the hosts of Purdue.</p> + +<p>Two blocks from the bank they re-formed in four lines, extending from +curb to curb, and went forward to the strains of "Old Madison":—</p> + +<p class="noin"> +<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">"What shall we do for Madison, for Madison, for Madison?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">What shall we do for Madison, our college and her men?"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>To the familiar strains of the college song, Montgomery had frequently +wept not without reason, for the young Madisonians had been much given +in recent years to ebullitions of college spirit. The timid mayor heard +it now, looked out upon the lines of marching students, and pulled down +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span>his office blinds to avoid witnessing the inevitable collision between +town and gown.</p> + +<p>As the students approached, women and timorous men began trying to +escape. Fred signaled to the yell leader, who began beating time, and +the street rang with the college cheer. They gave it over and over +again; they cheered the college and every bank in town, and between +cheers Fred moved the lines forward. The mechanics and farmers, who, +alarmed for the security of their savings, had formed the nucleus of the +crowd, began to disperse before the advance of the students, but the +sidewalks filled with those who expected an encounter and wished to view +it in safety. Merchants closed and barred their doors against possible +invasion. The rougher element, that had attached itself to the throng +and given it the semblance of a mob, now organized hastily for a +counter-demonstration.</p> + +<p>"Smash the college dudes!" bawled a big fellow, throwing himself forward +as leader. There was a rush and a sharp struggle. The collegians stood +fast. The town phalanx withdrew to Franklin Street, and, considerably +increased, rushed again upon the collegians. A lively fist-fight now +engaged the vanguard for a minute, to the delight of the spectators. +Hard blows were struck on both sides. While this was in progress, Fred +withdrew the rear ranks of his army, massed them compactly, and led them +in a gallant charge through the shattered line of their comrades, +against the enemy. The students wavered at the moment of collision; +there was sharp tackling and the line broke, closed again, and swept on, +beyond Franklin Street and for half a block further; then effected a +quick about-face in readiness for another charge but found the field +clear. Some one on the packed sidewalk proposed a cheer for the college, +and it was given with a will, and the collegians resumed their cheering. +A few missiles flung by the vanquished town men rained upon them, but +the war was over. Fred's lines were flung across the intersecting +streets like pickets, and, impressed by their quiet order, the +belligerent town men began to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span>mingle peacefully with the lingering +crowd on the pavements.</p> + +<p>Mr. Amzi Montgomery appeared on the steps of his bank, and glanced up +and down the street, and at the courthouse clock, like a pigeon emerging +from its cote after a shower. Phil, having been warned to remain inside, +naturally joined him an instant later. Amzi was saluted with a cheer in +recognition of his dignity as treasurer of Madison's board of +trustees,—a greeting he acknowledged by puffing his cheeks and +guardedly lifting his hat. And all these things pleased Main Street. An +attack on the First National had been averted; the students had made +amends for many affronts to municipal dignity; and it was in the air +that other and equally interesting incidents would add further to the +day's entertainment.</p> + +<p>The jubilant yell leader, seeing Phil beside Amzi, decided that she, +too, was deserving of attention.</p> + +<p>"For the girl on the bank steps—all together!"</p> + +<p>While this rah-rahing was in progress, Amzi left the steps and started +across the street. Now, while Amzi Montgomery had been seen of all men +in all years and at all seasons, standing on the steps of his bank in +the old straw hat, with his seersucker coat buttoned tightly round his +sturdy figure, he had never before been known to descend into Main +Street in that garb. The crowd immediately began closing in upon him and +Fred detached a squad of his brawniest men to act as the banker's +bodyguard.</p> + +<p>Amzi moved with great serenity towards the First National Bank, and +appeared to be examining the sunburst the hostile stone had stamped upon +the plate-glass window. Amzi never hurried, and he appeared to be in no +haste now. Main Street was pleased that he deliberated. The longer the +entertainment lasted the better. The door of the First National had been +closed with little difficulty during the diversion afforded by the +arrival of the college men, but the steps and sidewalk were filled. Amzi +looked over the crowd musingly, and beckoned to Fred.</p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> + +<p>"Get me a box to stand on and a piece of soap—laundry soap. I want +to—"</p> + +<p>He waved his cigar toward the window in vague explanation, and Fred +dived into a grocery and came back with the articles demanded. Main +Street's curiosity had never been so whetted and teased. If it had been +any one but Amzi; but it was so unmistakably Amzi! Amzi placed the box +under the window and stood upon it. Then with characteristic nonchalance +he removed the wrapper from the cake of soap, while the crowd surged and +shuffled, filling the street again in its anxiety to miss nothing. Amzi +broke the bar of soap in two, and calmly trimmed half of it to serve as +a crayon. As he began to write upon the glass, his guards were +hard-pressed to hold back the throng that seemed bent upon pushing the +banker through his rival's window. To ease the tension the boys struck +up—</p> + +<p class="noin"> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">"The pirates of the Wabash,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">A jolly crowd are they."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Amzi wrote slowly, in a large round hand, beginning immediately under +the "First National Bank" lettering. The faint tracings of the soap were +legible only a few yards away and the yell-leader began reading for the +benefit of the crowd. And this was Amzi's announcement:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I hereby guarantee all deposits in this bank.</p> + +<p>Interest on Sycamore Traction bonds will be paid here April 1. +Persons from whom I have bought such bonds may redeem same at +price I paid for them, without discount.</p> + +<p class="right smcap">A. Montgomery.</p> + +</div> + +<p>When he had completed his first sentence, he paused to inspect it. +Murmurs of astonishment gave way to shouts of approval, and then the +street grew silent as the remainder was read word by word.</p> + +<p>"Let her go now, for A. Montgo<i>meree</i>!" cried the yell-leader, and while +necks craned and men jostled and pushed, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span>the students cheered. When +Amzi had written, "at the price I paid for them," he made a period, and +then, after a moment's reflection, drew out his handkerchief and erased +it to add—"without discount."</p> + +<p>He threw away the soap and began to retrace his steps, but the whole +town seemed now to have massed itself in the intersecting streets. The +nearest students flung themselves together as an escort, and amid cheers +Amzi returned to his own bank, where Phil opened the door and demanded +to know what he had been doing to be cheered as only a football hero is +cheered when his name is read at commencement.</p> + +<p>"Thunder!" said Amzi. "I just wanted to take the gas out of Alec's +speech. What are those fools doing now?"</p> + +<p>Phil, Fred, and Amzi, with several of the students who had acted as the +banker's bodyguard, gathered at the front window. Amzi's announcement +that the Sycamore interest would be paid had brought Kirkwood into the +minds of many who knew of his efforts to save the company. His name +shouted here and there in the street directed attention to his office +windows. As a former member of the faculty of Madison, Kirkwood appeared +usually on the platform at commencement, and now that he was mentioned +the students improvised a cheer for him that Kirkwood's building flung +back at Montgomery's Bank. The demonstration continued with increased +volume, until finally Kirkwood opened a window and looked down. A shout +rose as he appeared. The tears sprang to Phil's eyes as she saw her +father's tall figure, his stoop accentuated as he bent under the window. +He had really achieved at last! She only vaguely grasped the import of +what Amzi had told her in a few abrupt sentences after his return to the +bank, but her heart beat fast at the thought that her father shared in +the day's honors. He had been of real service to his fellow-townsmen and +they were now demanding a speech. He bowed and vanished; but when the +cheering was renewed and long continued, he came back, and when silence +fell upon the crowd (Phil wondered if they, too, felt <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span>the pathos in him +that had always touched her, and which just then brought the tears to +her eyes!) he spoke slowly and clearly.</p> + +<p>"My friends, this is the best town and its people are the best and +kindest people in the world. If I have done anything to win your praise +I am glad. This community is bound to prosper, for it is founded, not +upon industry and thrift alone, but upon faith and honor and +helpfulness; and these, my good friends, are the things that endure +forever."</p> + +<p>"I couldn't hear that," said Amzi to Phil, as her father disappeared +into his office amid the loudest cheers of the day, "but I reckon Tom +said about the right thing."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure he did," replied Phil, drying her eyes, "and it's all true, +too!"</p> +<br /> +<br /><a name="XXIV" id="XXIV"></a> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h3>THE FORSAKEN GARDEN</h3> +<br /> + +<p>It's pleasant, on the whole, to do something worth doing; to make grass +grow where it has never grown before; to put the last touch to a +canoe-paddle of exactly the right weight and balance; to bring to +something approximating one's ideal of a sound sentence the last +stubborn, maddening clutter of words in a manuscript that has grown from +a pen-scratch on the back of an envelope into a potential book. And Tom +Kirkwood was not without his sense of satisfaction. He had without +litigation straightened the Sycamore Company's financial tangles. Its +physical deficiencies were being remedied and its service brought to +standard. He had never in his life felt so conscious of his powers. He +was out of debt—having paid back two thousand dollars Amzi had loaned +him in the fall, after Phil had raised the red flag of danger in their +affairs. The load was off his back; men spoke to him in the street with +a new cordiality; the "Evening Star," in an excess of emotion following +the taking-over of the First National Bank by Amzi and all the moving +incidents connected with the drama of Main Street's greatest day,—the +"Evening Star" had without the slightest provocation, declared that the +Honorable Thomas Kirkwood was just the man for governor. The Desbrosses +Trust & Guaranty Company had not only paid him handsomely, but was +entrusting him with the rehabilitation of a traction company in Illinois +that was not earning dividends.</p> + +<p>He came back to Montgomery to try some cases at the April term of court +and sent his trunk to the Morton House.</p> + +<p>"It isn't square, daddy," said Phil, breaking in upon him at his office +on the day of his arrival. "We were to open the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span>house again when you +had finished at Indianapolis. And here you are, not even telling me you +were coming."</p> + +<p>The office was dingier and dustier than ever. She abused him for not at +least giving her a chance to clean it against his coming.</p> + +<p>"I have to be off again in a week; it didn't seem worth while to put you +to the trouble of opening the house just for that," he replied +evasively. His own affairs again occupied his mind, and the sight of +Phil gave a keen edge to his curiosity as to her life at Amzi's.</p> + +<p>"Your new suit is certainly some clothes, and a glimpse of that +four-in-hand makes the world a nobler and better place to live in! If +the Indianapolis boulevards can do that for you, it's too bad I didn't +know it long ago. I have an idea"—and she paused pensively in the act +of dusting a chair—"I'm a good deal worried by the idea that you ought +to be mussed!"</p> + +<p>He pleaded mockingly for mercy, calling attention to her inconsistency +in admiring his raiment while at the same time threatening it with +destruction.</p> + +<p>"You seem to have been to the dressmaker yourself. How's your bank +account, Phil? I suppose your uncle will have to be more careful about +overdrafts now that he has a national bank."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm not broke. And"—suddenly serious—"I must tell you something, +daddy. I've been waiting for a chance to ask you if you cared; it didn't +seem right not to ask you; and, of course, if you mind, I <i>won't</i>."</p> + +<p>He smiled at her earnestness, her unusual indirection. She was immensely +grown up; there were new manifestations of her otherwiseness. He noted +little sophisticated tricks of manner that reminded him vaguely of some +one else.</p> + +<p>"Amy says it's all right for me to do it, but that I must ask you; and +mamma says that, too."</p> + +<p>Her preluding roused apprehensions. What might not have happened in +these weeks that Phil had spent with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span>Lois? He observed his daughter +with a new intentness. She drew a handkerchief from her sleeve and +touched it lightly, with an un-Phil-like gesture to her nose; and an +instant later, with an almost imperceptible movement of her head, +resettled her hat. She had acquired—quite unconsciously he did not +question—a new air. She was his old Phil, but the portrait had been +retouched here and there, and was reminiscent in unaccountable ways of +some one else very like and very different.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Phil, come out with it," he said, finding her eyes upon him in a +wide, unseeing gaze—and that, too, he now remembered. She had taken on, +as young girls do, the superficial graces and innocent affectations of +an older person. Such perfectly natural and pardonable imitation is +induced by admiration; and Lois had been a woman of fascinations in old +times! He had no reason for believing that she had changed; and it had +been clear to him that first day of Lois's return that she had laid +strong hold upon Phil's imagination.</p> + +<p>"Mamma wants to give me some money: she has already done some nice +things for me. She bought this hat and suit; but she wants to do more."</p> + +<p>Kirkwood frowned. Lois had no right to come back and steal Phil away +from him. He was at once jealous, suspicious. He, too, had assumed that +Lois's return had not been voluntary; that she had come back of +necessity and flung herself upon Amzi's charity. It would be quite like +her to try to tempt Phil with a handful of trinkets.</p> + +<p>"It isn't likely that she has much to give you; but before you accept +anything of importance you should be sure that it's a proper gift for +her to offer, that she can afford to do it."</p> + +<p>"There doesn't seem to be any question about that, daddy. What she wants +to do is to give me a whole lot of money—enough to make me really rich. +She wants to put one hundred thousand dollars in a trusteeship for me."</p> + +<p>There was consternation in his quick glance. Nothing in his knowledge of +Lois justified a belief that she would ever, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span>by any proper and +reputable means, command any such sum.</p> + +<p>"You must be mistaken, Phil. You must have got the figures wrong. It's +more likely a thousand. You know mathematics was never a strong point +with you!"</p> + +<p>"It's this way, you see, daddy. She made a lot of money—in lucky +investments—mines, real estate, and things like that. She told me a +little about it; as though it were a great joke. But she is very clever; +she did it all by herself—and no one knows it, except just Amy; and she +told me I might tell you, so you'd understand. She even said to say to +you—" and Phil paused, knitting her brows. To be repeating as from a +stranger a message from her mother to her father was a fresh phase of +the unreal situation created by her mother's return. "She said to tell +you she came by it honestly; that it wasn't tainted money!"</p> + +<p>And Phil laughed nervously, not knowing how her father would take this. +He seemed depressed, in the old familiar fashion; and she could not know +the reason of it, or that the magnitude of his former wife's resources +and her wish to divide with her daughter rallied all manner of +suspicions round his jealousy.</p> + +<p>"She said that either Amy could manage it for me, or that if you liked +she would be perfectly willing to turn it over to you. She was very kind +about it, daddy; really she was."</p> + +<p>"I'm not questioning that, Phil. It's a little staggering, that's all."</p> + +<p>"But, of course," she ran on eagerly, "it wouldn't make any difference +between you and me. I know you have done everything for me. Please don't +ever think I forget that, daddy. And if you have any feeling about it, +please say no. I don't want money, just to be having it. We've always +agreed that money isn't the main thing in life."</p> + +<p>"It's rather necessary, though, as we've found by experience," he +replied, with a rueful smile. "I've done pretty badly, Phil; but things +are brighter. I'm able now to begin putting some money away for you +myself, and I shall do it, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span>of course, just the same. But as to your +mother's offer, you must accept it; it's a large sum, far more than I +could ever command. It makes you independent; it changes the future for +you, puts things within your reach that have been clear out of the +question. And it's very generous on her part to tell you to refer the +matter to me. I assume," he added, "that she's keeping enough for +herself; there might be some difficulty later on if she didn't do that."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Phil, with an unconscious note of pride that did not escape +him, "she has plenty; she's richer, I suppose, than almost anybody +around here. She didn't ask me not to tell you anything—she's not like +that—so you may as well know that she gave Amy a lot of money to help +him set up the new bank. It's so funny that I can't help laughing. The +whole family—one's aunts, I mean—think she came back to sponge off of +Amy, and they don't know she's going to own almost as much as he does in +the new Montgomery National. I get to giggling when I see those women +strutting by the house with their chins up, but mamma doesn't pay the +least attention. I don't believe she thinks about them at all; she's had +the house fixed over—pitched a lot of Amy's old furniture into the +alley—and is having the garden done by a landscape gardener she +imported from Chicago. And those poor women are fretting themselves to +death, thinking it's Amy's money she's spending. Yesterday she ordered a +seven thousand dollar automobile by telegraph,—just like that!—and +when it anchors in front of Amy's gate there'll be some deaths from +heart failure in that neighborhood."</p> + +<p>Kirkwood's sometime sisters-in-law had been three sharp thorns in his +side; and Phil's joy at the prospect of their discomfiture when they +beheld their sister rolling about in an expensive motor was not without +justification. Lois's prosperity was, however, deeply mystifying. It +flashed upon him suddenly that he did not in the least know this Lois of +whom Phil had been speaking: she was certainly not the young woman, +scarcely out of her girlhood, who had so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span>shamelessly abandoned him. And +over this thought stumbled another: he had never known her! As he +reflected, his eyes roamed to a large calendar on the wall over Phil's +head. This was the 12th of April, his wedding-day. The date interested +him only passively; it had long ago ceased to affect him emotionally.</p> + +<p>He meant to speak to Nan before he left town and endeavor once more to +persuade her that Lois's return had made no difference. As he swung idly +in his chair he sought to analyze his feelings. Those little tricks of +manner that Phil imitated so unconsciously kept recurring and he tried +to visualize the Lois of the present as she must be;—clever, impulsive +in her generosities, heedless, indifferent. In all his conjecturing +since Christmas he had experienced no longing to have her back; nothing +beyond a mild impersonal curiosity as to how time had dealt with her.</p> + +<p>The success that had attended his labors had strengthened all the fibers +of his will; he was the master of himself, a man again. He had +demonstrated to his own surprise and satisfaction that he could devise a +plan and put it through; that he could bring an iron hand to his +dealings with men. And buoyed up by this fresh knowledge he was +impatient at the frustration of any of his plans and hopes. Lois had +shaken down the pillars of his life once; but she could not repeat that +injury. He had built himself a new argosy and found a new companion for +his voyaging. Nan should marry him; if she liked they would remove to +Indianapolis to escape gossipy tongues; but he had definitely determined +that the marriage should not be delayed. He was a free man and he meant +to exercise and enjoy his freedom. He had taken soundings where he had +gone down on that first venture and touched nowhere any trace of the +wreck; the waters of oblivion rippled listlessly over those unmarked +shoals.</p> + +<p>He swung round with an uncomfortable sense that Phil had been watching +him as she bent forward, her elbow resting on the arm of one of the old +office chairs, her hand against her cheek. That had been one of Lois's +ways and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span>Phil's brown eyes were very like Lois's! He did not want Phil +to attribute his long reverie to retrospective regrets or present +longings.</p> + +<p>"Well, Phil; I've got to go to the court-house to see Judge Walters. +About that money, it's perfectly right for you to accept it; but I think +it best that your Uncle Amzi should have the care of it. It's a +considerable responsibility, however, and you must let him know that you +appreciate his doing it; and I'll speak to him about it myself. If +you're going home you can walk as far as the court-house with me."</p> + +<p>He had spoken briskly, to emphasize his own indifference to Lois and her +money.</p> + +<p>While Kirkwood was collecting some papers, Phil, after moving restlessly +about and glancing down at Amzi—he happened just then to be standing on +the bank steps talking to an agent of the Comptroller's office who had +been dispatched from Washington to observe the metamorphosis of the +First National into the Montgomery National,—Phil, with an +embarrassment that was new to her relations with her father, asked +diffidently,—</p> + +<p>"Shall I say anything to mamma—I mean about the money?"</p> + +<p>This was not at all what she had meant to say. She had hoped that he +would send some message to her mother. It was incredible that the wires +should be so utterly broken between them as to make all communication +impossible. They were both so much to her liking; in her own heart +admiration and love enfolded them both so completely that her spirit +chafed at the thought of standing first with one and then with the other +on the respective sides of the barricade that had risen between them. +Her father replied brusquely:—</p> + +<p>"No; that's all, I believe, Phil."</p> + +<p>As they walked toward the court-house, Lois passed on the opposite +sidewalk. It is not against Montgomery conventions to nod to friends +across Main Street or even to pause and converse across that +thoroughfare if one is so disposed. Phil nodded to her mother. She was +unable to tell <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span>whether her father was conscious that his former wife +was so near; he lifted his hat absently, seeing that Phil was speaking +to some one.</p> + +<p>"By the way, Phil, have you been in the house lately—the old place, I +mean? Amzi's carpenter tells me the wind has torn off the water-spouts +and that the veranda posts have rotted badly."</p> + +<p>He had so rarely mentioned the long-abandoned house that she was +startled. He did not care! This was the most conclusive proof possible +that he no longer cared; and the thought of it did not make her happy. +Clearly Love was not, after all, a limitless dominion, without other +bounds than those set by the farthest stars, but a narrow, dark, and +unstable realm. That these two should dwell in the same town, walk the +same street, at the same hour, without any desire to see and speak to +each other, was the strangest of phenomena.</p> + +<p>"Drop in to-morrow and have luncheon with me at the hotel. I want to see +all of you I can while I'm here," he remarked when they reached the +court-house.</p> + +<p>"Very well, daddy."</p> + +<p>That evening, after he had eaten the hotel supper with a printed brief +for company, Kirkwood went to the Bartletts', but no one answered his +summons and he turned away disappointed. Thinking they were probably at +some neighbor's house he decided to walk about and return later. His +idle roaming led him past Center Church. It was prayer-meeting night, +and through the open windows floated a hymn sung waveringly by the small +gathering of the faithful. It was here, on just such an April night, +that he and Lois had sworn to love and cherish each other to the end of +their days. He had been profoundly moved that night, standing before the +reverend president of the college in the crowded church and repeating +his vows after the kindly, lovable old man. And he remembered how, as +they left the church, the assembled students had shown their good-will +in ringing cheers. But these memories had lost their poignancy. Verily, +he did not care!</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span>Finding himself presently before Amzi's house, he remembered without +emotion that Lois was established there. It was an ironic fling of the +dice that had brought her back prosperous and presumably happy to lure +Phil away from him! He walked slowly; the proximity of his recreant wife +gave him neither pang nor thrill. He loitered that the test might be the +more complete.</p> + +<p>A man had been walking toward him from the farther side of the +Montgomery place, and something furtive in his movements caused Kirkwood +to pause. Then, after halting uncertainly and fumbling at the chain that +held the Kirkwood gate together, the man retraced his steps, and +guardedly let himself into the Fosdicks' yard. Kirkwood listened, and +hearing no further sounds dismissed the matter. It now occurred to him +to visit his own property, whose decrepitude Amzi had brought to his +attention, and finding that he had matches and the house key, he lifted +the chain from the rickety gate and passed into the garden. Kirkwood was +preoccupied with the idea of putting the house and lot in order and +selling it. Now that he was confident that it no longer held any +associations for him, he was in haste to be rid of it. He would sell the +place and invest the proceeds for Phil. He smiled ironically as he +remembered the disparity between his own fortunes and those of his +former wife. He did not resent her prosperity; he did not understand it; +but if it was the way of the gods to visit fortune upon the unrighteous, +so much the worse for the gods.</p> + +<p>A brick walk curved round the house, and as he was about to step from it +to the veranda he heard voices that came seemingly from the jutting +corner of a wing that had been his library. He had no wish to be found +there. Very likely the yard was visited frequently by prowlers; and +there was a beaten path across the rear which had been for years a short +cut between Amzi's and his sisters' houses. He was in no mood for a +meeting with any intruder who might be there at this hour, and he was +about to steal back the way he had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span>come when a man's voice rose +suddenly in anger. A woman replied, evidently counseling a lower tone.</p> + +<p>"Here in Tom's graveyard is a fitting place to talk over our affairs. +You needn't be in such a hurry to go. We may as well fix this thing up +now and be done with it. I'm broke; I haven't got a cent, and it's +tough, I can tell you. But it's some satisfaction to know that Will's +broke, too. I took care that he got his, all right. The Holtons are all +down and out. Will's as poor as I am, and my gay nephew Charlie's busy +dodging the sheriff. Not much left for Will now but to go out and rustle +for life insurance—the common fate of inglorious failure."</p> + +<p>The woman's voice rose crisp and assured on the tender spring air.</p> + +<p>"Your note said it was something of importance. I can't stay here all +night. I haven't any money for you and your family troubles don't +interest me. And let me say, once and for all, that I don't propose to +have you following me round. This is a big world and there's room in it +for both of us."</p> + +<p>Kirkwood could not see them, though he heard perfectly every word that +had been spoken, and he could not escape without attracting their +attention.</p> + +<p>"See here, Lois, I've just heard a whisper from Seattle that you cleaned +up a lot of money out there. Good joke on me, wasn't it? I thought you +were pretty thick with the Barkleys, but I didn't know he had let you +into his deals. I want my share; if it hadn't been for me, you wouldn't +have known Seattle was on the map. It's only fair; I'll call it fifty +thousand and let it go at that."</p> + +<p>"Nothing; absolutely not a penny! I advise you to make yourself scarce. +And if you attempt to annoy me while I'm here, I'll do something very +unpleasant about it. I agreed to meet you to-night merely to tell you +that."</p> + +<p>Kirkwood heard her step on the walk, and drew back. The light of the +moon was full upon her. She was bareheaded and wrapped in a long coat. +It was thus that he saw her again, in the shadow of the house where +together they had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span>kindled their hearth,—in the garden plot whose +disorder and ruin were eloquent of her broken faith.</p> + +<p>She was moving away swiftly, with the light step he remembered. Holton +gained her side in a long leap.</p> + +<p>"No, you don't! Not by a damned sight, you don't!"</p> + +<p>Kirkwood saw them both clearly in their attitude of antagonism—the wife +who had wronged him, the friend who had betrayed him.</p> + +<p>"You don't shake me so easily. I want my share of the profits. It was a +low trick—getting rid of me so you could spend your money on yourself; +humiliating me by showing me up as a drunkard in the divorce court. I +owe you a good one for that!"</p> + +<p>"Not a cent!" she repeated, lifting her head in mockery of his clumsy +attempt to becloud the real issue.</p> + +<p>Her taunting tone maddened him; without warning he gripped her throat +roughly. His tightening clasp stifled her cry as she struggled to free +herself.</p> + +<p>Kirkwood stood suddenly beside them, caught Holton by the collar, and +flung him back. Holton's arm was up instantly to ward off an expected +blow. He turned guardedly, and his arm fell as he recognized Kirkwood.</p> + +<p>"So that's the ticket! It was a trap, was it?" And then his anger +mounting, he flung round at Lois. "So this is what brought you back! +Well, it doesn't lower my price any! He can have you and be damned to +him, but I double my price!"</p> + +<p>"This is my property," said Kirkwood coldly; "if you don't leave +instantly, I'll turn you over to the police."</p> + +<p>"She's come back to you, has she! Well, you needn't be so set up about +it. She's anybody's woman for the asking; you ought to have learned +that—"</p> + +<p>Kirkwood's stick fell with a sharp swish across his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Leave these grounds at once or I'll send you to the lockup!"</p> + +<p>Holton looked coweringly from one to the other. The strangeness of the +encounter was in the mind of each: that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>the years had slipped away and +that Kirkwood was defending her from the man for whom she had abandoned +him. An unearthly quiet lay upon the garden. Children's voices rose +faintly on the silvery April night from the grounds beyond. Far away, +beyond the station, a locomotive puffed slowly on a steep grade. The +noises of the town seemed eerily blurred and distant.</p> + +<p>"Clear out! Your business here is finished. And don't come back," said +Kirkwood firmly.</p> + +<p>"She asked me to meet her here;—you must have known it; it was a damned +vile trick—" Holton broke out violently; but Kirkwood touched him with +the end of his stick, pointed toward the gate, and repeated his order +more sharply. Holton whirled on his heel, found an opening in the hedge, +and left them, the boughs snapping behind him.</p> + +<p>Kirkwood was the first to speak.</p> + +<p>"He's gone, I think. I'll watch until you get safely back to Amzi's."</p> + +<p>He lifted his hat; his tone was one of dismissal and she turned as +though to leave, hesitated and drew a step nearer.</p> + +<p>"If you don't mind, I'd like to speak to you a moment. I shouldn't have +thought of seeking you, of course, but this makes it possible."</p> + +<p>He made no reply, but waited, leaning on his stick. Her foot tapped the +walk nervously; as she readjusted the cloak it exhaled the faint scent +of orris that reached him as though wafted down some dim aisle of +memory.</p> + +<p>"I want to speak about Phil. It was to see Phil that I came back. I want +you to know that I wouldn't take her away from you if I could. There +must be no misunderstanding about this. Whatever I am or have been or +may be, I am not base enough for that."</p> + +<p>He was silent for a moment.</p> + +<p>"That is something that is not in your hands or mine," he answered. +"Phil is the mistress of her own affairs. I was perfectly willing that +she should go to Amzi's to be with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span>you; it's for her to decide whether +she ever comes back to me."</p> + +<p>"That is—generous; very generous," she replied, as though, after +hesitating before using the word, her second thought confirmed the +choice.</p> + +<p>"And about the money; she told me she spoke to you about that to-day. I +appreciate your attitude. I want you to understand that I'm not trying +to bribe her. I'm glad of a chance to say that I would do nothing to +spoil her loyalty to you. You deserve that; and I have no illusions +about myself. If I thought my coming would injure her—or you—in any +way, I should go at once and never come back. But I had to see her, and +it has all happened fortunately—Amzi's kindness, and hers—and your +own! Phil is so dear—so lovable!"</p> + +<p>Her last words broke in a sob, but she quickly regained her +self-control.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad," he replied, "if you are not disappointed in her. We have +been very close—comrades and friends; but she has gone beyond me; and +that was inevitable. She's an independent spirit—quite capable of +managing her own affairs."</p> + +<p>"I don't think she will ever go beyond you," Lois answered. "She has +told me all the story—and I have read a good deal into it that she +didn't tell me. And I am very grateful. She didn't have to tell me that +you had not embittered her against me; her way of meeting me was +reassuring as to that. It was fine of you; it wasn't what I expected or +deserved."</p> + +<p>Unconsciously they had begun walking back and forth in the path, and +once, as they turned, they looked at each other fixedly for the first +time. It was the deliberate frank scrutiny of old acquaintances who seek +affirmation of fading memories after long absence.</p> + +<p>"As to the money, I want to protect her, as far as money can do it, from +hardship and need hereafter. I don't want you to think I offer it as +restitution—or—penance. I have plenty for myself; I'm giving up +nothing in doing it."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span>He tried to phrase carefully his disavowal of any thought that her gift +was a penitential act. He confessed that he had been concerned for +Phil's future; and that so far he had not been able to provide for her +in case of his death. This brought him to Amzi, whose devotion to Phil +he praised warmly. They met immediately upon the safe ground of Amzi's +nobility. Then they recurred to Phil. Presently as they passed the +veranda, she sat down on the steps and after a moment he seated himself +beside her. They had sat thus, looking out upon the newly planned +garden, when the mystery and wonder of Phil's coming filled their hearts +and minds.</p> + +<p>"I've thought," she said, bending forward with her arms folded upon her +knees, "that Phil ought to travel—that I might take her away for a +little while." She waited for his assent; but when he was silent, she +hurried on to set herself right in this. "But I don't believe that would +be best. Not with me. Trotting around with me over there wouldn't do her +any good. It might spoil her point of view, which is—just right—sound +and healthy. The child's a genius. She wants to write—of course you +know that."</p> + +<p>He did not know it. Jealousy pricked him at this sudden revelation of +something in Phil that he had not with all his opportunity realized.</p> + +<p>"She's very clever," he responded tamely.</p> + +<p>"It's more than that! She has a trunkful of stuff she's written—some of +it rubbish; some of it amazingly good."</p> + +<p>He resented these appraisements of Phil's literary experiments. It was +disagreeable to hear from Phil's mother things which he should have +learned for himself. His trained analytical faculties were disturbed; he +had regarded the theory of the superior keenness of maternal perception +as rather fantastic. Phil had never confided her ambitions to him; in +fact, it was now clear that she had concealed them, perhaps fearing his +criticisms.</p> + +<p>"She's so droll!"—and Lois laughed at some recollection. "She has a +delicious humor—her own special flavor. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span>All these people in Montgomery +are story-book people to her. She's a deep one—that little Phil! She +has written pages about them—and the drollest of all about those women +over there."</p> + +<p>She indicated with a gesture the domiciles of her sisters. The fact that +Phil had utilized her aunts as literary material amused Lois profoundly. +But finding that the burden of the talk lay with her she asked, "What +would you think of college for Phil? Or is it too late?"</p> + +<p>"She didn't seem a good subject when the time came; and besides," he +added bluntly, "I couldn't afford it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, she didn't speak of it regretfully; she didn't complain because you +hadn't sent her!"</p> + +<p>"No, of course not; that wouldn't be like Phil. I'm not sure college +would be a good thing for her now; she's read prodigiously—away ahead +of most girls, ahead of most people! There wouldn't be so much that +college could do for her. And if she really has the creative faculty, +it's better not to curb or check it. Not in her case. She led her class +in high school without working at it. Whatever she wants to know she +will get without tying herself up in a college course."</p> + +<p>Lois nodded. He was an educated man who had himself been a teacher, and +his testimony was entitled to respect. She was far more comfortable than +he as they continued the discussion. The breadth of her understanding of +Phil piqued him. In these few weeks Lois had learned much about Phil +that had been a sealed book to him. His position was absurd; it was +preposterous for him to be learning about Phil from Phil's mother, when +it was he who had shaped the course of Phil's life. He wondered whether +Lois knew that her disclosures hurt his pride, shattered his vanity.</p> + +<p>"The dear child seems to be the sole prop of most of the paupers in the +bottoms. I went with her to look at one of her families yesterday, and I +could see where her spare change has been going. She's set up a piano in +the box factory so the girls can amuse themselves at noontime and you +may <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span>be sure they're all crazy about her. Everybody seems to be!"</p> + +<p>The remembrance of Phil's generosities amused her. She mentioned a +number of them with murmurous glee and unmistakable admiration. Phil had +never confided these things to him, and he reflected ruefully that her +indulgence in pianos for working-girls probably accounted for +deficiencies in her own wardrobe that had not at times escaped his +masculine eye. He had mildly wondered what became of the money he gave +Phil for shoes! It argued an unresponsiveness in his own nature that +Phil had concealed her adventures as Lady Bountiful from him—and he had +thought she told him everything!</p> + +<p>He was learning about Phil from the last person in the world who had any +right to know Phil. He had seen in her precociousness, her healthy +delight in books, nothing astonishing, and he had known nothing of her +scribbling. His irritation grew. He was impatient to escape from this +garden that Holton had spoken of as Kirkwood's graveyard; from this +cheerful ghost beside him, with her low, musical voice and her murmurous +laughter. His thoughts flew to Nan, to whom he now meant to go with his +last appeal.</p> + +<p>It flashed upon him that he might assure his victory over Nan's qualms +by carrying to her the definite knowledge that there was absolutely no +hope, as he fancied Nan believed there was, that he and Lois might +bridge the wide chasm that had separated them for so many years and +renew the old tie. If he could go from Lois to Nan with that news, he +believed his case would be invincible. He would make the offer to Lois +now, on this spot whose associations might be supposed to create an +atmosphere of sentiment favorable to its serious consideration. The +interview had run into a dead wall. Quite imaginably his proximity had +begun to bore Lois. He idled with his stick, pondering. She rose +suddenly.</p> + +<p>"I must go back; Phil won't know what's become of me."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it would be as well to tell her that we've met," he said. "In +fact, I think she should know."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span>"I prefer not," she answered with decision. "It might trouble her; she +might think—she thinks of everything!"</p> + +<p>"Lois, there are ways—important ones—in which it would be best for +her, make her happier, if we could—try again!"</p> + +<p>She raised her hand with one of her quick gestures, and it rested for an +instant on his arm. As she lifted her face he saw the tears bright in +her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Don't say it; don't think of it!" she whispered brokenly.</p> + +<p>"For Phil's sake we ought to do it if we can," he persisted, surprised +to find how unmoved he was.</p> + +<p>"For Phil's sake we wouldn't if we could!" Their gaze met searchingly. +"It would be doing Phil a terrible wrong!"</p> + +<p>"I don't understand; I can't follow that," he answered.</p> + +<p>And still unmoved, untouched, he saw grief and fear in her eyes, her +face twitching with the pain of inner conflict.</p> + +<p>"No; you don't understand!" she cried softly. "But if you meant it—if +we either of us cared any more, don't you see that it wouldn't do! Don't +you know how unjust—how horribly unjust it would be to her, to—to lead +her to think that Love could be like that; something to be taken on and +put off? It would be an unholy thing! It would be a sacrilege! No one +would be deceived by it; and Phil would know we both lied!"</p> + +<p>"But we might work it out some way; with her to help it might not go +badly. I would do my best! I promise you that," he said, more sincere +than he had meant to be.</p> + +<p>She was greatly moved and he wondered where emotion might lead her. He +was alertly watchful for any quick thrust that might find him off guard. +She went on hurriedly.</p> + +<p>"Tom," she said gently, "Phil had thought of it; she spoke of it. But +nothing worse could happen to her. It would spoil the dear illusions she +has about me; and in the end she would think less of you. For you don't +mean it; it's only for Phil's sake you suggest it."</p> + +<p>"And for your own sake, too; to protect you from—from just such +occurrences as—"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span>His eyes turned away from her to the point in the hedge through which +Holton had vanished.</p> + +<p>She shivered as though a cold wind had touched her and drew the cloak +closer about her shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I don't need any one's protection. That poor beast won't bother me. I +must say now all I shall ever have to say to you. We won't lie to each +other; we need not! There is no real soul in me. If there had been, this +house would not have been standing here empty all these years. And yet +you see that I haven't changed much; it hasn't really made a great deal +of difference in me. I have had my hours of shame, and I have +suffered—a little. I believe I am incapable of deep feeling: I was born +that way. If I appealed to your mercy now, I should be lying. And for a +long time I have lived the truth the best I could. I believe I +understand the value of truth and honor, too; I believe I realize the +value of such things now. I'm only a little dancing shadow on the big +screen; but I mean to do no more mischief; not if I can help it, and I +think that at last I have mastered myself. You see," and quite composed +she laughed again, "I'm almost a fool, but not quite."</p> + +<p>He murmured something as she paused, but she did not heed him, nor ask +what he had said. He was not so relieved as he had expected to be by her +prompt refusal of his offer, whose fine quixotism he felt had been +wasted upon her. He was nothing to her; and never could have been; and +this rejection was not the less disagreeable because he had expected it. +It is difficult to imagine any circumstances in which a man will accept +without resentment the idea that he is a negligible figure in a woman's +life. The finer his nature the greater his astonishment at finding that +she is able to complete her reckoning without including him as a factor +in her calculations. And in Kirkwood's case the woman had put him in the +wrong when all the right was so incontrovertibly on his side. She had +taken high ground for her refusal, and he could not immediately +accommodate himself to the air of this new altitude, which he had never +expected to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span>breathe in her company. Her thistledown nature might be the +prey of the winds, but even so they might bear her high and far.</p> + +<p>"I must go on and finish, for there will never be another chance. You +deserve the best life can give you. I'm glad to know things have been +going well with you; and Amzi says it's only the beginning. With all my +heart I'm glad. It makes it easier for me—don't you see! And I know +about Nan Bartlett; not from Phil, but from Mrs. King. I hope you will +marry Nan; and if my coming has made any difference, don't let that +trouble you! In a little while I shall be gone; but Phil mustn't know +that. And I shall never come back here—you may rely on that; but I hope +to have Phil come to me now and then. I want to keep in touch with +her,—have some part in her life. And you needn't fear that I shan't +be—quite a proper person for Phil to visit! You will believe that, +won't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Lois," he said wonderingly; for he was touched by the wistfulness +of her plea that he should not fear her influence upon Phil. "You +wouldn't have come back to Phil unless you felt you had a right to; I'm +sure of that," he said with warmth.</p> + +<p>"No; I should not have been base enough for that," she replied, with a +little forlorn sigh.</p> + +<p>"And as for your going away, it must not be on my account. It isn't +necessary for you to go."</p> + +<p>He did not speak of Nan; nor did she refer to her again.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad this has happened this way. I think we understand a little +better. Good-night, Tom!"</p> + +<p>"Good-night, Lois!"</p> + +<p>Their hands touched. He saw the flutter of her cloak as she passed round +the house, seeking the path to Amzi's. The garden was very still when +she had gone.</p> +<br /> +<br /><a name="XXV" id="XXV"></a> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<h3>PHIL ENCOUNTERS THE SHERIFF</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The May number of "Journey's End" containing Phil's veracious account of +the dogs of Main Street created almost as much of a sensation as the +consolidation of the First National with Montgomery's Bank. The "Evening +Star" did not neglect its duty to Indiana literature. A new planet +blazed in the Hoosier heavens, and it was the business of Montgomery's +enterprising afternoon daily to note its appearance and speculate upon +its course and destiny. The "Evening Star's" "local" wrote a two-column +"story" about Phil for the Sunday supplement of the Indianapolis +"Advertiser." The fact that Miss Kirkwood belonged to one of the oldest +and most distinguished families in central Indiana was not overlooked; +but this was merely the prelude to a breezy description of her many +adventures, her athletic prowess, her broad democracy. The "Evening +Star's" "local" was under obligations to Phil for many quiet news tips; +and beyond question he fully balanced the account. The pastor of Center +Church made "The Dogs of Main Street" the text of a sermon on the humane +treatment of dumb animals—a sermon that Phil heard perforce, as she +sat, blushing furiously, beside Amzi in the Montgomery pew.</p> + +<p>Amzi nearly perished with pride. Busy as he was with the remodeling of +the old bank, made necessary by the consolidation (he scorned the idea +of moving his bank into the Holton property!), he found time to stand on +the bank steps and invite comments on "Phil's latest";—there hadn't +been a time since Phil was six when her "latest" wasn't a subject of +spirited conversation. Phil's own happiness was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span>mitigated somewhat by +the fact that "Journey's End" had lately refused two other manuscripts. +Still the editor wrote explaining why her stories were not available and +urged her to try again. "Stick to the local flavor," he said, "and don't +read Stevenson so much. Anybody can write stories about the French +Revolution; not many are able to catch the character and life of Main +Street." While she pondered this, she resolved to be a poet and sold a +jingle to "Life."</p> + +<p>Kirkwood wired his congratulations from Chicago. He had not fully +recovered from the shock of Lois's declaration of her belief in Phil's +genius. Reading Phil's sketch over a lonely dinner in a Chicago hotel, +he was pricked anew by the consciousness that he had never fully +appreciated Phil's qualities. What Lois had said made a difference. He +would have chuckled over the Philesque touches in "The Dogs of Main +Street" in any circumstances, but he remembered enough of the +commencement essay to value her changes, and to note the mark of the +file on certain sentences. The thing had form and something akin to +style. While he had been counseling Nan Bartlett as to "The Gray +Knight," writing that was quite as individual as hers had been done +without his guidance under his own roof!</p> + +<p>In spite of his professional successes, Fate still played pranks with +him. Nan had set herself determinedly against the idea of marrying him, +and his assurance that Lois had rejected the idea of remarriage, even +for Phil's sake, had not shaken her resolution. Lois's return had dimmed +the glow of his second romance. And Nan and Rose had gone to call on +her—an act whose finality was not wasted on Kirkwood.</p> + +<p>The authorship of "The Gray Knight of Picardy" was now generally known, +and when the Bartletts called on Phil's mother the talk ran naturally +upon books and writers; and as Nan would not talk of herself, Phil's +ambitions were thoroughly discussed. Phil, knowing that the Bartletts +were coming, had discreetly taken herself off. Lois's account of the +visit, given before Amzi at the dinner-table, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span>lacked all those +emotional elements which Phil had assumed to be inevitable where a man's +former wife describes a call from a woman whom that man has been at the +point of marrying. Phil had not lost her feeling that the world is a +queer place.</p> + +<p>"They are splendid women, Amzi," Lois declared. "If you don't marry Rose +pretty soon, I shall have to take the matter into my own hands."</p> + +<p>"Thunder! Rose marry me!" Amzi ejaculated.</p> + +<p>"Why not!" Lois answered, composedly dropping a lump of sugar into his +coffee. "<i>Nan</i> can't marry you; I should never have chosen you for Nan!"</p> + +<p>The ice cracked ominously and Amzi began talking about the furniture he +was buying for the new bank. Of course Lois knew! Phil had no doubts on +that point. That astonishing mother of hers had a marvelous gift of +penetration. Phil's adoration was increasing as the days passed. It was +little wonder that following Mrs. John Newman King's courageous example, +people seemed to be in haste to leave cards at Amzi's for Mrs. Holton. +The gossip touching Lois's return lost its scandalous tinge and became +amiable, as her three sisters were painfully aware. The "stand" they had +taken in support of their private dignity and virtue and in the interest +of public morals had not won the applause they had counted on. People to +whom they went for sympathy politely changed the subject when they +attempted to explain themselves. Mrs. John Newman King told the pastor +of Center Church, who had sought her advice as to his own duty, that she +hoped he wouldn't make a fool of himself. These were shocking words from +a woman who had known Abraham Lincoln, and who was a greater power in +Center Church than the ruling elders.</p> + +<p>The Presbyterians were just then canvassing the town in the interest of +a projected hospital, and the "Evening Star" printed the subscriptions +from day to day. Amzi's name led all the rest with one thousand dollars; +and immediately below his modest "A. Montgomery," "Cash" was credited +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span>with a like sum. It was whispered that Lois Montgomery Holton was the +anonymous contributor. Lois's three sisters were appalled by the +increasing rumors that their erring sister had come back with money. It +was a sinful thing, if true; they vacillated between demanding an +inquiry as to the source of the unknown contributor's cash or boldly +suing for peace with Lois and Amzi. And to add to their rage, they knew +that neither Lois nor Amzi cared a picayune whether peace was restored +or not. Lois's sisters were not the first among humankind to conclude +that there is a difference between Sin begging bread and Sin with cake +to throw away.</p> + +<p>Lois's automobile dazzled Main Street at this juncture. The William +Holton car, splendid as it had been in its day, was a junk-pile compared +to it. The accompanying chauffeur received, it was said, a salary of +seventy-five dollars a month. Public interest fastened upon this person. +A crowd that gathered in front of the old bank to inspect the car on the +day that Lois and Phil brought it home from Indianapolis heard Mrs. +Holton address him in a strange tongue. By nightfall every one in +Montgomery knew that Lois had bought the most expensive car in town; +that her chauffeur was French, and that she gave him orders in his own +language just as though she had spoken it all her life. Main Street was +impressed; all Montgomery felt the thrill of these departures from its +usual, normal life.</p> + +<p>Lawrence Hastings carried home details as to the "make," horse-power and +finish of the machine that caused his wife and two sisters-in-law +indescribable anguish. Still the French chauffeur was a consoling +feature; a vulnerable target for their arrows. No woman who valued her +reputation would go gallivanting over the country with a foreign +chauffeur, when it was the duty of Montgomery people to employ worthy +college boys to run their machines whenever possible. The sight of Phil +at the wheel, receiving instructions in the management of the big car on +the day after its arrival, did not greatly add to their joy in life. The +exposure <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span>of Phil to the malign influences of a French chauffeur was +another of Lois's sins that did not pass unremarked. Still the stars +would not always fight against righteousness; Phil would be killed, or +she would elope with the Frenchman, and Amzi would be sorry he had +brought Lois home and set her up brazenly in the house of her fathers.</p> + +<p>Amzi, rolling home to luncheon in the new car and rolling off again with +his cigar at a provoking angle, was not unobserved from behind the +shutters of his sisters' houses. In the bank merger he had acquired +various slips of paper that bore the names of his sisters and their +husbands, aggregating something like seven thousand dollars, which the +drawers and indorsers thereof were severally unable to pay. The payment +of the April interest and the general bright outlook in Sycamore affairs +had induced a local sentiment friendly to the company that had already +lost Waterman one damage suit. Fosdick thought he saw a way of making +his abandoned brickyard pay if he could only command a little ready +cash. Hastings had not forgotten Phil's suggestion that he transform his +theater into a moving-picture house: there were indications that the +highbrows were about to make the "reel" respectable in New York, and a +few thousand dollars would hitch Montgomery to the new "movement" for +dramatic uplift. And here was Amzi soaring high in the financial +heavens, with a sister who gave a thousand dollars to a hospital without +even taking credit for her munificence!</p> + +<p>Amzi and Lois enjoyed themselves without let or hindrance from their +neighboring sisters. Packages arrived by express; decorators from +Indianapolis came and went; furniture was unpacked in the front yard; +and a long stone bench and a sundial appeared in Amzi's lawn, together +with a pool, in the center of which an impudent little god piped +joyfully in a cloud of spray. Such trifles as these testified to the +prevailing cheer of Amzi's establishment.</p> + +<p>The fact that Fred Holton had turned his farm over to Kirkwood was +public property now; and people were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span>saying that it was fine of Amzi to +give Fred employment. The way in which the Holtons crossed and recrossed +the trail of the Montgomerys had been the subject of much discussion. +But the situation was clearing in so far as the Holtons were concerned. +William had removed to Chicago to begin life anew; and Jack had vanished +utterly, the day following the collapse of the panic. Charles, too, had +disappeared. It was believed that Kirkwood had recovered enough from +Samuel's associates in the construction company to balance the +deficiencies occasioned by fraudulent construction and that he was not +particularly interested in Charles's whereabouts.</p> + +<p>"How about taking a look at the farm?" asked Amzi one Saturday +afternoon. "Fred's planting corn and we'll see how the country looks."</p> + +<p>Lois and Phil agreed that this was a capital idea and they set off in +high spirits.</p> + +<p>As they approached the farm, Jack Whittlesey, the sheriff, passed on +horseback.</p> + +<p>"Looks bad for somebody," said Phil.</p> + +<p>"What does?" asked Amzi.</p> + +<p>"When Jack goes out on his horse, it's a sign somebody's going to jail."</p> + +<p>"Only serving subpœnas, I reckon," said Amzi.</p> + +<p>They espied Fred driving a corn-planter across a long level field, and +stopped the car. He ran to the fence to talk to them, and they all +alighted. It was a warm afternoon and he mopped his face with a big +bandanna as he talked to them. He rested his arms on the top rail of the +fence, playing with his cap—not the disreputable old coonskin with +which Phil had become familiar that winter, but the regular Madison +College cap with a scarlet "M" above the visor.</p> + +<p>"In the words of the poet," began Phil, "where did you get that hat?"</p> + +<p>"This? Oh, the day of the Main Street rumpus I lost mine and one of the +boys lent me his. I meant to get him another, but I haven't been to town +since. And besides, I've forgotten his name."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span>"That's George Nesbit's cap," Phil answered, after eyeing it critically. +"I know because it's an old style nobody else wore this year. George +lives at the Phi Gam house, if you care for his address."</p> + +<p>"I hope you don't know them all as well as that, Phil," remarked Lois.</p> + +<p>"She does," chuckled Amzi; "she does, indeed."</p> + +<p>Amzi and Fred dealt in technicalities. The green of young wheat caught +the eye in the distances. These were Amzi's acres; the Holton farm lay +beyond—the land that had been Fred's. In February, Phil and Amzi had +driven out one afternoon and had found Fred sowing clover seed over the +snow-covered wheat in his own field. Her imagination took fire at all +these processes. "A calendar might be laid out in great squares upon the +earth," she had written in her notebook, "and the months would tell +their own stories." It was all a great wonder, that man had learned so +perfectly how to draw from the mute soil its sweetness and vigor. +Nothing man did seemed more interesting than this tilling and sowing. +She noted how even snow had its use in catching and holding seed against +the wind, and watched the sower marking his own progress and regulating +the distribution by his tracks. Ultimately the clover would give its own +life to nourish and strengthen the wheat—these things kindled her +fancy. Here was poetry in the making, with suns and frosts, rains and +snows taking their part in it. And Fred felt it too; she knew that. In +his shy, guarded way he had spoken of it. But to-day he was not a +dreamer but a man of action.</p> + +<p>"Got all the help you want, Fred?" Amzi was asking.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. No troubles. I'm using my old place for a boarding-house for +the hands. Suppose you won't stay for supper?" he suggested, a little +perfunctorily.</p> + +<p>"Just because you're so enthusiastic, we will! But we've brought our own +fodder—Phil packed the hamper; enough for a couple of regiments. We'll +meet you at my house at supper-time and have an indoors picnic."</p> + +<p>They waited to watch him start the team. Phil took the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span>wheel, and as +they rolled away Lois and Amzi exchanged a glance.</p> + +<p>"You trust him?" she asked, glancing meaningly at Phil's back.</p> + +<p>"Thunder!" said Amzi; "I don't know about <i>that</i>."</p> + +<p>"It might be worse," Lois replied, and her brother looked at her in +surprise.</p> + +<p>"He's a straightforward, manly fellow; seems to have escaped the family +curse. It must be this"—Lois indicated the fields—"that makes the +difference. There's a moral influence in it; and," she added with a +smile, "there's always a market for corn."</p> + +<p>"He's as square a chap as they make 'em, but as for that—" and he +nodded towards Phil.</p> + +<p>"It isn't for us to say, brother, but I believe I should trust him; and +they seem to understand each other. He's far from stupid, and the kind +of man to watch over her and protect her."</p> + +<p>These utterances greatly astonished Amzi. He wondered whether Lois's own +experiences were responsible for her feeling that Phil needed a +protector, and her frankly expressed liking for Fred in that connection. +He was surprised but not displeased though the thought of Phil's +marrying gave him a distinct shock when considered concretely. He never +dissociated it from the remembrance of Lois's tragedies.</p> + +<p>They found Amzi's house in order. Phil lighted the open fire to take the +chill from the living-room, which had been closed since the Perrys' +departure. Amzi ran off in the machine to pay a visit to one of the +county commissioners who lived near by: Lois with her usual adaptability +produced a novel and made herself comfortable on a couch. She was +absorbed in her book before Phil left the room. Her mother's ready +detachment never ceased to astonish her. Sometimes in the midst of a +lively conversation, Lois would abruptly take up a book, or turn away +humming to look out of the nearest window. Her ways had been +disconcerting at first, but Phil had grown used to them. It argued for +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span>completeness of their understanding that these dismissals were +possible. Her mother's love of ease and luxury; the pretty knick-knacks +she kept about her; her deftness in self-adornment—the little touches +she gave to a hat that utterly re-created it—never failed to fascinate +Phil.</p> + +<p>Having disposed of her mother, or rather, that lady having forgotten her +existence, Phil climbed the blossomy orchard slope and looked off toward +Listening Hill. How many things had happened since that fall afternoon +when she had talked there with Fred! Life that had seemed simple just +then had since shown her its complexities. She watched Fred's slow +progress with the corn-planter in the field below.</p> + +<p>Glancing again at Listening Hill road her wandering gaze fell upon a +horse and rider. Her eye, delighting in the picturesque at all times, +was alive to the strong, vigorous lines in which man and horse were +drawn against the blue May sky. They gained the crest of the road, and +the man turned in his saddle and swept the surrounding fields in a +prolonged inspection. She looked away and then sought the figures again, +but they had disappeared. A little cloud of dust rose in the hollow +toward Turkey Run. It was undoubtedly big Jack Whittlesey, the sheriff. +The idea of one man hunting another was repugnant to Phil to-day, in +this bright, wakened world of green fields, cheery bird song and +laughing waters. She ran down the hill to escape from the very thought +of sheriffs and prisons, and set off for the creek, following the +Montgomery-Holton fence toward the Holton barn, whither the music had +lured her that night of the change o' the year when she had danced among +the corn shocks. The laborers were all off at work and no one was in +sight.</p> + +<p>It was a very respectable-looking barn now that Fred had patched its +weather-beaten sides and painted it. She flung back the door to +revisualize her recollection of the dance. The bang of the sliding door +roused a hen to noisy protest, and it sought the open with a wild +beating of wings. The hen had emerged from the manger of an unused +stall, and in feeling under the corn-trough for eggs, Phil touched some +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span>alien object. She gave a tug that brought to light a corner of brown +leather, found handles, and drew out a suit-case. She was about to +thrust it back when "C. H." in small black letters arrested her eye. It +was an odd place for the storing of luggage and her curiosity was keenly +aroused. She had seen and heard nothing of Charles Holton since the +night he had taken her to the lecture, and barns were not likely +camping-places for gentlemen of his fastidious tastes.</p> + +<p>A step on the planked approach to the barn caused her to thrust the case +back under the corn-box. She sprang toward the door, and faced Jack +Whittlesey, who grinned and took off his hat.</p> + +<p>"'Lo, Phil!"</p> + +<p>"'Lo, Jack!"</p> + +<p>"Stealing eggs, Phil?"</p> + +<p>"The hen deceived me; nothing doing."</p> + +<p>"Passed you on the way out. Hardly know your old friends now you've set +up a machine, I reckon."</p> + +<p>"Cut that out, Jack, and feed it to the larks. You had only ten votes to +spare when you were elected and I landed seven of them for you, so don't +be gay with me."</p> + +<p>"I'm not gay; I'm tired. I'm looking for a party."</p> + +<p>"What's your friend's name?" asked Phil, picking up a straw and chewing +it.</p> + +<p>"That would be telling. You haven't seen a man chasing over the country +with a brown suit-case, have you?"</p> + +<p>"Nope; nor with a black, pink, or green one. Where does the story +begin?"</p> + +<p>"Well, not in my county. They send all the hard jobs out to us farmers. +Suppose there's anybody in this barn?"</p> + +<p>"There was a hen; but she went off mad when I came in. You'd better go +back and pose on Listening Hill again; you looked rather well there—a +lone picket on an Alp watching for Napoleon's advance.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 17.5em;">"He saw afar</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">The coming host, but thought the glint of arms,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">Betokened milk-cans in some peasant's cart,"—</span><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span>Phil added, bending forward and shading her eyes with her hand.</p> + +<p>Whittlesey, knowing Phil well, laughed his appreciation absently.</p> + +<p>"He's been dodgin' up and down the creek here for two days, trying to +muster nerve enough to hit the trolley and clear out. There's a nice +bunch of plunder in his suit-case."</p> + +<p>"Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief?" Phil repeated—touching the +buttons on her shirt-waist.</p> + +<p>"That would be tellin'."</p> + +<p>"Well, don't tell, then. But not mentioning any names that particular +person wouldn't be likely to hang around here," suggested Phil +meditatively.</p> + +<p>The sheriff eyed her critically.</p> + +<p>"You know who I mean? Sure you ain't seen him?"</p> + +<p>"No, I haven't, Jack," replied Phil truthfully.</p> + +<p>"If you spot a gent with a suit-case, hop for a telephone and call the +jail, and mebbe I'll whack the reward."</p> + +<p>"It doesn't sound like such easy money," Phil replied.</p> + +<p>"Charlie and Fred ain't so terribly chummy, I guess," remarked the +sheriff leadingly. "That's why I thought I'd take a look around here. A +fellow as smart as Charlie would pick the unlikeliest place to hide in. +I'll have a word with Fred as I go back. I got a deputy at Stop 7, +watching the cars. If Charlie's in the neighborhood we'll pinch him all +right. So long, Phil."</p> + +<p>Whittlesey moved across the barn-lot toward his horse. Phil's mind had +been working busily. Beyond doubt Charles Holton was lurking in the +neighborhood, waiting for a chance to escape. The suit-case pointed to +this clearly. It was undeniably her duty to tell the sheriff of her +discovery, and it had been on the tip of her tongue to do so half a +dozen times during their colloquy at the barn door. Whittlesey was an +old friend and one of her admirations, and it was only the part of good +comradeship to help him.</p> + +<p>The remembrance of her last meeting with Charles still flamed angrily in +her heart when she thought of him. There <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span>was certainly no reason why +she should shield him from the outstretched arm of the law; yet she had +first hesitated, then rejected the idea of communicating to the sheriff +her knowledge that the plunder with which Charles was seeking to escape +was hidden in the barn. Contemptible as Charles was and doubtless +deserving of his impending punishment, she would not aid in his +apprehension. She did not believe that Fred in like circumstances would +do so; and there was Ethel, their sister, on whom the disgrace of +Charles's arrest would fall heavily.</p> + +<p>Whittlesey swung himself into his saddle and rode slowly toward the +highway. Phil returned to the barn, considering whether she should tell +Fred of her discovery of the suit-case.</p> + +<p>She stopped short on the threshold, all her senses alert. The rear door +of the barn had been opened during her brief absence. She saw across the +fields the trees that marked the Turkey Run defile, and she was +confident that this long vista had not been visible when she first +entered. She took a step toward the stall where she had found the +suit-case, looked round cautiously before bending down to draw it out +again, and a pair of eyes met hers, unmistakably Charles Holton's eyes, +fear-struck, as he peered across a farm wagon behind which he had +concealed himself. While she had been talking to Whittlesey in the +barn-lot, he had stolen in by the rear door to be nearer his booty.</p> + +<p>Phil walked to the door and glanced toward Listening Hill. A quarter of +a mile away she saw Whittlesey and Fred conversing earnestly at the edge +of the cornfield. No one else was in sight. The farm hands were +scattered over the fields, and were not likely to visit the barn until +they brought home their teams. Phil, standing in the door, spoke in a +low tone.</p> + +<p>"You can get away, by the back door. The sheriff's talking to Fred down +the lane; his man's watching Stop 7. Go back to the Run and follow it to +the red covered bridge. Keep away from the trolley line; they're +watching it. Better make for Gaston's and take the Chicago train +there—it comes along a little before five."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span>He was furtively creeping round the wagon while Phil spoke. She heard +the creaking of the planks and turned to see him tiptoeing toward the +stall. His clothing was soiled and crumpled. His bent, slinking figure +as he stole toward his booty affected her disagreeably. She took a step +toward him.</p> + +<p>"You can't do that; you can't have that."</p> + +<p>"It's all the baggage I've got; just a few clothes," he muttered +huskily. "I crawled in here last night to sleep. I've got to see Fred +before I go. I've been waiting two days for a chance to get to him."</p> + +<p>He watched her with fearful intentness as he continued his cautious +advance upon the stall.</p> + +<p>"You can't have that suit-case," said Phil in a sharper tone. "Go out by +the rear door, and keep close to the fence. There's nobody in those +fields, and I'll watch till you get to the creek."</p> + +<p>"I want my things; I've got to have them," he blurted hoarsely, his hand +on the stall-post.</p> + +<p>"You can't have it. If you don't go at once I'll call the sheriff back. +There's nothing in that suit-case you need. Quick! Whittlesey knows +you're around here somewhere, and if it hadn't been for me he'd have +searched the barn."</p> + +<p>"He's a fool. I heard his talk through the cracks, and there's nothing +in that case but a suit of clothes, and I've got to have it. It's all +I've got in the world."</p> + +<p>"Then you won't miss it much! I'm giving you a chance to get away. If +you don't take it and clear out in ten seconds, I'll call Whittlesey. +He's still talking to Fred just a little way down the lane."</p> + +<p>As she turned to reassure herself of the fact, he made a dive for the +suit-case, brought it out and rushed toward the rear door. His foot +caught on the edge of a rough plank and he fell headlong, the case +flying from his hand. Phil pounced upon it, flung it with all her +strength into the farthest corner of the barn, pulled him to his feet, +and pushed him through the door. She drew it shut, jerked the bar into +place, and ran <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span>through the front door into the barn-lot. She continued +running until she had gained the mound on which the house stood. She +reasoned that the fugitive would hardly venture to reënter the barn, as +this would bring him into the open lot with a possibility of +encountering new foes. She saw him presently stealing along the edge of +the field toward the creek, dodging along the stake-and-rider fence and +pausing frequently to rest or make sure that he was not followed. She +saw Whittlesey bid Fred good-bye, watched the young farmer return to his +corn-planting, and heard his voice as he called cheerily to the horses.</p> + +<p>Charles gained the edge of the ravine, clambered over the fence, and +disappeared. Then Phil sighed deeply and shuddered; the fear in the +man's eyes had not been good to see; and yet she had been touched with +pity for him. The night he had taunted her about her mother she had +taken the measure of his baseness; but she was glad she had helped him +to escape. If there was really anything of value in the suit-case, as +Whittlesey had said, the law might have it and welcome; and she was +already wondering just how to dispose of it. If Charles followed her +instructions, he would strike across country and catch the northbound +evening train. His fate was out of her hands, and it was wholly unlikely +that he would make any further effort to regain his property now that +Phil had seen it. She doubted whether he had had any real errand with +Fred. It was much more probable that chance alone had directed his steps +to this neighborhood, and that all he wanted was to beg his brother's +protection and aid. Now that the excitement of the episode had passed, +Phil hid the bag in a dark corner of the corn-crib and continued her +tramp.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Fred, having gone for a shower and change of raiment, was late to the +supper that Phil spread in the dining-room of the Montgomery farmhouse. +He seemed unusually grave when they met at the table, and Phil surmised +that Whittlesey had discussed Charles's plight with him fully. Amzi had +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span>spent an enjoyable afternoon cruising in the neighborhood among his +farmer friends, and was in the best of humor. Lois, who had taken her +ease, reading and napping, declared that she must cultivate a closer +acquaintance with farm life. She pronounced it immensely interesting, +feigning to ignore the ironical glances exchanged by Phil and Amzi. She +exclaimed in a mockery of rapture over a bowl of scentless wild violets +which Phil had gathered. They were amazingly fragrant, she said, waving +her hand lately splashed with toilet water.</p> + +<p>"The fraud! She hasn't been out of the house," Phil remarked to Amzi.</p> + +<p>"Why should I go out and walk over the clods in my best slippers? I +don't return to Nature; Nature returns to me. It's much pleasanter that +way." She nibbled a sandwich, elbows on table, and asked if Montgomery +still indulged itself in picnics, a form of recreation which she +associated only with a youthful horror of chigres.</p> + +<p>"Met Jack Whittlesey again, on my way back," said Amzi. "What's he +hanging round here for?"</p> + +<p>Fred looked up suddenly, the color deepening in his face.</p> + +<p>"Jack's always looking for somebody," said Phil lamely, seeking to turn +the talk. "He must dream that he's looking for people. I shouldn't like +his job."</p> + +<p>"He's looking for Charlie," said Fred, raising his head squarely and +speaking directly across the table to Amzi. "Jack thinks he's hiding +about here somewhere."</p> + +<p>Amzi blew out his cheeks to hide his embarrassment. It was not his way +to cause pain, and there was a hurt, unhappy look in Fred's eyes. And +Amzi liked Fred—liked his simplicity and earnestness, and stubborn +pluck, his manly attitude in adversity.</p> + +<p>"How absurd," murmured Lois, regarding critically one of Phil's deviled +eggs, made, by the way, after Rose Bartlett's recipe.</p> + +<p>"I thought that was all a bluff about dragging Charlie <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span>into the +traction business," remarked Amzi, who had not thought anything of the +kind.</p> + +<p>"He never surrendered the bonds he got from father," said Fred, +relieved, now that the matter had been broached, that he could speak of +Charlie's plight to friendly hearers. "Jack said he was trying to get +away with them, and there's an indictment against him at Indianapolis."</p> + +<p>"Oh, they won't catch him," said Lois in her spacious fashion. "They +never catch anybody."</p> + +<p>This was a well-intentioned effort to eliminate Charles and his troubles +from the conversation; but Fred, not heeding, spoke again directly to +Amzi.</p> + +<p>"I think it wasn't altogether Charlie's fault that he got mixed up in +this. The temptation to keep the bonds must have been strong. But he +ought to have turned them over. I can't defend his not doing it."</p> + +<p>Amzi was still annoyed by his unfortunate reference to the sheriff. He +fumbled in his breast pocket and drew out a brown envelope.</p> + +<p>"I've got something for you, Fred, that ought to cheer you up. Charlie's +troubles haven't anything to do with you. Here's the deed you gave Mr. +Kirkwood for your farm. It's never been recorded, and it stands as +though it had never been made. I told Tom he had got back enough money +to straighten up the Sycamore business out of those construction fellows +without taking your farm, and here you are. I've been holding it a +little while just to see how you would take your troubles. Burn it; and +now let's forget about Charlie."</p> + +<p>Fred stared, frowning, at the deed which Amzi tossed across the table.</p> + +<p>"This isn't right; it isn't square," he began.</p> + +<p>"Be careful how you sign papers. You may not get 'em back the next time. +They tried to swindle you out of your share in your father's estate—a +clean case on Charlie's part, as everybody knows. You needn't worry +about Charlie. He got a lot of stuff that never figured in his +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span>administrator's inventory. The Sycamore Company's perfectly satisfied +with what's been wrung out of the other fellows, and if Charlie really +has some of those bonds, they belong to you."</p> + +<p>Lois shrugged her shoulders. The subject was distasteful. Discussions of +disagreeable business affairs were not to her liking; and she was +sincerely sorry for Fred's discomfiture.</p> + +<p>"The sheriff's mistaken," remarked Phil. "Charlie hasn't any of those +bonds, and Jack won't catch him; not to-day."</p> + +<p>At an early age Phil had learned the dramatic value of downright +statements. She helped herself to an olive and waited for Amzi to +explode. He exploded immediately.</p> + +<p>"Charlie hasn't them! Jack won't catch him?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not. I have the bonds and Charlie's a long way from here by +this time."</p> + +<p>She recounted her meeting with Charles in the Holton barn, and when they +expressed incredulity, she sprang up and darted from the room. When she +reappeared with the suit-case and dumped its contents on the table, +Amzi, narrowly averting apoplexy, counted the bonds carefully, and made +a calculation of the accrued and unpaid interest.</p> + +<p>"Thunder!" he blurted. "Now, look here, Fred, don't you do anything +foolish! We'll stack these up in the bank until Kirkwood can pass on +this business. He might have them annulled, I suppose; but we'll wait +and see."</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't have Fred steal them, Amy!"</p> + +<p>"Steal them! Thunder! We'll run 'em through the estate and out to Fred +again. I guess Charlie took care of his sister in the original whack; +but if he didn't we'll give her a slice." He glared at Phil fiercely. +"You, Phil!"</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Amy?"</p> + +<p>"You lied to the sheriff of this county!"</p> + +<p>"If you talk to me like that I'll most certainly muss you; I will, I +will!"</p> + +<p>"You concealed stolen property! You helped a fugitive <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span>to escape from +justice! You—you—!" Words failing him, he bent over the table, shaking +an accusing finger under her nose.</p> + +<p>"Forget it, Amy! If I did I glory in my shame. Put that in your pipe. +Incidentally, it occurs to me that it's about time to think of going +home."</p> + +<p>"I don't know what to say to all this," said Fred as they rose from the +table. He looked from one to the other, the deep feeling showing in his +face. "It was fine of you, Phil, to help Charlie get away; I appreciate +that. I want to say again that I think Charlie means all right. He's the +best-hearted fellow in the world."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Lois kindly, "we hope he will find another chance and make +good." Then after a moment she added: "We most of us need two chances in +this world, and some of us three!"</p> + +<p>"And about the farm, I didn't expect that: I'm not sure it's right to +take it back," said Fred. "I want to do the square thing."</p> + +<p>"Thunder!" ejaculated Amzi; and then, seeing that Phil was already +engaged in repacking the hamper with the empty dishes he turned upon her +with his mock fury and demanded that she give him another pickled peach +before the jar was disposed of.</p> + +<p>"Get that article at my house, Phil?"</p> + +<p>Phil walked close to him and shouted in his ear as to a deaf man:—</p> + +<p>"No, you grand old imbecile! Anybody but you would know that they +represent the perfection of Rose Bartlett's art! Now, will you be +good!"</p> +<br /> +<br /><a name="XXVI" id="XXVI"></a> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> + +<h3>A CALL IN BUCKEYE LANE</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"Going out, mamma?"</p> + +<p>"Rather think so, Phil!" replied Lois.</p> + +<p>It was the week after the visit to the farm, and Phil, who was now +scratching away furiously on a short story, had opened her mother's door +late in the afternoon to find that lady contemplating with unusual +gravity a frock she had flung across the bed for inspection.</p> + +<p>"What are you up to, Phil?"</p> + +<p>"Up to my chin in ink," replied Phil, holding up a forefinger empurpled +from the ink she was affecting. She had read in a literary note that one +of the most distinguished of contemporaneous women novelists always used +purple ink. Phil was spreading a good deal of it over legal cap +purloined from her father's office. Kirkwood was just now in town, and +he had called her on the telephone to invite her to supper with him at +the Morton House, an arrangement which she disclosed to her mother.</p> + +<p>"Your father's home again?" Lois asked indifferently.</p> + +<p>"Yes. He has something to do here about those bonds of Charlie Holton's. +It sounded rather complicated; and he wants to see Fred, and Amy was to +call him into town."</p> + +<p>Lois's mind was upon the gown. She compressed her lips as she continued +to scrutinize it. It was a gown from Paris and a very handsome one. +Having decided that it suited her purposes, she brought out a hat that +matched it and tossed it onto the bed.</p> + +<p>"How do you think I'd look in those things?"</p> + +<p>"Adorable! Shall I order up the machine?"</p> + +<p>"Um, no: I'll walk, I think."</p> + +<p>"I rather take it that I'm not invited," laughed Phil.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span>"Bless me, no! I have a call to make that wouldn't interest you."</p> + +<p>Phil walked to the bureau—a new one of mahogany that had been among her +mother's recent substitutions for the old walnut with which the house +had been filled. The folder of a steamship company lay sprawled open +across the neatly arranged toilet articles. Phil picked it up idly, and +noted certain pencilings that caused her heart to give a sudden bound. +She flung round upon her mother with tears in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"You are not—not thinking of that!"</p> + +<p>Lois walked over to her and kissed her. She took Phil's face in her +hands, looking into her eyes steadily.</p> + +<p>"You dear chick, you would care!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you mustn't! You must <i>not</i>!" Phil cried. "And you have been +thinking of it and not telling me! And just when I thought we understood +everything."</p> + +<p>"I meant to tell you to-day: I really did. It wasn't easy. But I've got +to go, Phil. I'm not sure that I haven't stayed too long! You know I +never meant to stay forever."</p> + +<p>"Then you haven't been happy here! You don't—you don't like <i>me</i>!"</p> + +<p>Lois sank into a chair by the window and drew the girl down beside her. +Phil gripped her mother's hands tight, and stared into her face with +tear-filled eyes.</p> + +<p>"It's as hard for me as it is for you, Phil. But we may as well have it +out. I've taken passage for the first Saturday in June, and it's not far +off. Some friends are spending the summer in Switzerland and I'm going +to join them. It was half-understood when I came here."</p> + +<p>"It's hard; it's unkind," Phil whispered. The fact that her mother had +planned flight so long ahead did not mitigate the hurt of it. Nothing, +it seemed, could ever be right in this world! And she had just effected +all the difficult readjustments made necessary by her mother's return! +She had given herself so unreservedly to this most wonderful of women! +Lois was touched by her show of feeling.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span>"I'm sorry," she said, stroking Phil's brown head. "I have had thoughts +of taking you with me. That would be easy enough—" she paused +uncertainly, as the clasp of Phil's hands tightened. "But, Phil, I have +no right to do that. It wouldn't be for your happiness in the end; I +know that; I'm sure of that."</p> + +<p>"Oh, if you only would! I'll be very good—a lot nicer than you think I +am if you will take me."</p> + +<p>"No!" said Lois sharply, but with a slight quaver in her voice that +caused hope to stir in Phil's breast.</p> + +<p>"You hadn't any right to come back and make me love you and then run +away again! It isn't kind; it isn't just!"</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't love me much longer if I stayed! You wouldn't love me very +long if I carried you off. You've seen the best of me: I've shown you my +best box of tricks. I don't wear well, Phil; that's the trouble with +me."</p> + +<p>She rose abruptly and drew Phil to her feet, with an effort at gayety.</p> + +<p>"As it is we really love each other a lot, and it would be hazardous for +me to stay longer. When I saw the first blossoms in the cherry tree, I +knew it was time to go. I used to feel that way when I was a child—as +though I just couldn't bear to stay any longer. I remember the days and +hours when I used to fight it, away back there when I was a school girl. +There must be gypsy blood in me. I can go on being just as you have seen +me—lazy and comfortable for a long time, and then the thing becomes +intolerable. It's the cause of all my troubles, one of the wobbles in my +wobbly character. But now that I know what's the matter—that it isn't +just malaria—and that the curse or whatever it is will pass in time, I +suppose it isn't a weakness any longer, because I know just what to do +for it. How's that, Phil, for philosophy!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you're so dear, so wonderfully dear!" cried Phil, touching her +mother's cheeks lightly with her hands: "and we have had such good +times; and I thought we should go on forever, just chumming; and you +have stirred me all up <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span>about doing things, working—how am I ever to go +on trying without you?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing could keep you from going on and doing things; you will do +great things. It's in you. I think maybe it's the wildness in me that +has taken this turn in you. You have more brains in a little minute than +I ever had: you are amazingly clever and wise. I'm glad it was left for +me to discover it; that's one credit I've got on the Good Book."</p> + +<p>There was a new sweetness and a wistfulness in her gravity that did not +escape Phil. Phil knew that she could not change her mother's decision. +Lois was already preening her wings for flight. Like a migratory bird +she was moved by an irresistible call to other lands and other summers. +Phil felt the strong columns of her young life totter; but they did not +fall, and she knew they would not. It was a sad business, viewed in any +light, but life, Phil had realized since Christmas brought her mother +back to her, was not a holiday affair.</p> + +<p>"I'm only a foolish butterfly down there in the garden," Lois was +saying. "I can't stop long anywhere. If I did I'd make mischief. +Trouble!" She threw up her hand and snapped her fingers. "What a lot of +trouble I've caused in this world! I'm causing some right now; I know +it: and it has worried me a lot. And before I flit I've got to +straighten things out a little. Don't worry: I'm not going to do +anything foolish."</p> + +<p>She presented her back for Phil to unhook her gown; and proceeded to +array herself in the Paris frock, which she had never worn before.</p> + +<p>"By the way, Phil, I subscribed to a clipping bureau so you could see +how far your dog piece traveled, and it's being quoted all over +creation. Some paper calls it inimitably droll, which I think rather +nice. You'll find a bunch of clippings in my second drawer there. Be +sure and show them to your father, and don't fail to keep him in touch +with your work: he can help you once he's aroused to what you can do. By +the way, you must boil the slang out of your <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span>system. It's charming, but +it won't do. First thing you know it will be slipping in to your ink-pot +and corrupting your manuscripts. You know better; I don't! As you go on +Nan Bartlett can probably save you a good many bumps: she's a clever +woman. I read her book twice, and I can point out everything your father +put into that tale. There's not much of him there; only one of his dry +jokes now and then. Don't imitate anybody; write about things you see +and feel. One reason I'm not going to take you away with me is the +danger of spoiling your American point of view. Two years from now you +can go over and have a look; we'll see to that; but meanwhile make +yourself into a blotter that soaks up everything. I once met a literary +critic who said that the only American literature that's worth anything +or is ever going to be worth anything will be dug right out of the soil. +I didn't know then that I had a little digger in my own family! No; the +other gloves; and get me the pink parasol—the one with the white +handle."</p> + +<p>She was deftly thrusting the pins through her hat before the oval mirror +which had been one of her acquisitions. As she drew on the gloves she +turned her supple body to make sure of the satisfactory hang of her +skirt. Her good spirits had returned, and she hummed softly as Phil +surveyed her. She seemed less indifferent to-day to Phil's admiration. +Phil's spirits rose slowly; it was difficult to mourn in this radiant +presence.</p> + +<p>Lois had exercised all her arts in preparing for this mysterious call. +She looked astonishingly well!—and amazingly young! Dressing had always +been to Phil one of the nuisances and troubles of life. Her aunts had so +annoyed her by their fussiness, and their efforts at self-embellishment +had so disgusted her that it had been a revelation to find her mother +making herself into charming pictures with so few strokes and so blithe +an indifference to results.</p> + +<p>Phil watched Lois to the gate, delighting in her easy, graceful step; +following the pink dot of the parasol as it was lost and found again +through the greenery. Lois sauntered <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span>toward the college and Phil turned +into the house, speculating as to her destination. Her mother's general +spontaneousness and inadvertence had led Phil to the belief that Lois +withheld nothing; it was inconsonant with her understanding of Lois that +there should be any recesses where the sun did not strike upon +glittering mirrors in the long corridors down which, in Phil's +adoration, her mother was forever loitering.</p> + +<p>Students encountered near the campus turned their heads for a second +glance at Lois, thinking her a new girl in town who had escaped their +vigilance. She walked through Buckeye Lane to the Bartletts'; lowered +her parasol as she passed under the maples in the yard; bent over the +lilacs that overflowed upon the path, and smiled at the drumstick as she +took it in hand to announce herself.</p> + +<p>Nan opened the door. If she was surprised to find Mrs. Holton on her +threshold, her manner did not betray the fact. Mrs. Holton owed her a +call—a call which by the social canons was slightly overdue.</p> + +<p>"I am very glad to see you," said Nan cordially.</p> + +<p>It was cool and pleasant in the little cottage. (Houses in Montgomery +are always pleasant and cool on the warmest days!) Lois sank into a +seat, her eyes taking in the room at a glance. The flute on the music +cabinet and the 'cello beside the piano did not escape her. On the +table, where presumably Nan performed her literary labors, lay the +week's darning. There was no denying the essential domesticity of the +atmosphere. Lois vaguely remembered that room from the days when +Professor Bartlett was living, and she had been a frequent visitor, +delighting in the cookies and raspberry shrub that were the inevitable +items of Bartlett hospitality when youngsters were about.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry Rose isn't here; she's spending the day in Indianapolis," Nan +observed.</p> + +<p>"I knew that. That's why I came to-day," replied Lois, smiling. "I +wished to see you alone."</p> + +<p>They exchanged the quick glance called for by this statement. Nan +nodded.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span>"I shall be leaving very soon," Lois remarked, holding her parasol at +arm's length and whirling it idly.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry to hear that," Nan replied.</p> + +<p>She shook the bracelet down upon her round white arm with her accustomed +gesture, rested her elbow on the writing-table, and waited. She had just +come in from a walk and was clad in a blue wash waist and dark skirt. +She was immediately conscious of the perfections of Lois's raiment, +noting its points from silk hose and modish pumps to the utmost tip of +the feather on the beguiling Paris hat.</p> + +<p>Nan's imagination was at work upon the situation: Tom Kirkwood's former +wife had come to call upon her, and wished to see her alone; and Tom +Kirkwood was in love with her, and she would have married him had not +this lovely apparition returned to shake her resolution. In the way of +people who write she began to view the encounter with unconscious +detachment. She was not to remain long in doubt as to the purpose of +Lois's visit.</p> + +<p>"I am going abroad for an indefinite stay. I may return, of course, now +and then, but just to pass the time of day. Montgomery will never be my +home. Amzi and Phil—"</p> + +<p>A smile, a slight movement of her head, a lifting of the hand completed +the sentence.</p> + +<p>"They are strong ties," Nan replied, smiling in return.</p> + +<p>"I want to tell you how deeply grateful I am to you and your sister, for +your kindnesses to dear Phil. In these years that I have been gone you +and Rose have been"—she hesitated—"like mothers and grown-up sisters +to her. The result speaks for itself. Without you those sisters of mine +would have made a fool of her."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Phil couldn't have been spoiled!" exclaimed Nan.</p> + +<p>"Anybody might be spoiled," Lois insisted. "I'm rather a sad example of +the spoiled child myself. I speak, you see, from a weight of +experience!"</p> + +<p>The smile continued in lips and eyes. She was tremendously at ease and +her ease was disconcerting.</p> + +<p>"Phil has kept us delighted and bewildered. She was born <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span>with +understanding; there's genius in the child!" said Nan, with warmth.</p> + +<p>"Ah! I knew you realized that! Tom"—she spoke her discarded husband's +name unwaveringly, smiling still—"Tom has not quite taken her at full +value, though he has been—splendid. Amzi has been a dear angel to +her,—but even he has never fully taken in the real Phil. But here, in +this house"—she looked about, as though the more fully to place the +room in evidence—"you have taken her into your hearts! And she needed +the oversight of women—of women like you and Rose. You have been her +great stimulus, the wisest of counselors. It seems almost as though I +had left her on your doorstep! I am not so dull but that I see it all."</p> + +<p>Nan colored deeply. Lois's suggestion, so bluntly put, that she had cast +her child upon the Bartletts' doorstep aroused uncomfortable memories. +After an instant's reflection Nan said:—</p> + +<p>"Phil and her father have been unusually close; I don't believe Mr. +Kirkwood has failed at any point in duty or sympathy. He is immensely +proud of her development."</p> + +<p>"Yes. But—he is not a woman! And there's a difference, if I haven't +forfeited my right to an opinion on that point!"</p> + +<p>She skirted the fringes, the dim borders of the past with the lightest +step. She fumbled the keys of the closed doors as though they were +silver trinkets on a châtelaine. In Nan's consciousness they seemed to +tinkle and jingle softly in the quiet room.</p> + +<p>"I thought of taking Phil away with me, to see the world,"—Nan felt a +sudden tightening of the throat—"but I have decided against it. That +will come later. In the work she wants to do it is better for her to +stay here. If she learns Montgomery she will know the world! Does that +sound a little studied? I am not a maker of phrases—far from it! But +she has splendid talents?" she ended questioningly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span>"Phil has the best mind of any girl I ever knew: she takes my breath +away!" cried Nan.</p> + +<p>"So! I knew you wouldn't fail me there!"</p> + +<p>"We all realize it: we expect great things of her," added Nan.</p> + +<p>Lois bent toward her with her winning manner. She drew the parasol +across her lap and clasped it in both hands.</p> + +<p>"That is why I am appealing to you; that is what brought me here to see +you—alone. I am leaving Phil here with you because—because it is so +much better for her to be with you than with me! You have done my work +for me—oh, we won't discuss that! I know it all. You must credit me +with some little understanding before we go further!"</p> + +<p>Just where that "further" was to lead, Nan could not guess. She murmured +something to the effect that Mrs. Holton was far too kind.</p> + +<p>"There is every reason why I should be kind," Lois retorted. "And this +brings me to a rather more serious matter, and one—one I am not +broaching without reason. I want to speak of Tom!" she flashed. The +smile had left her face; her lovely eyes were very grave.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing that we need say about Mr. Kirkwood," said Nan, +reddening and stirring uneasily.</p> + +<p>"Please do not say that! This is an important moment in your life and +mine. And I must speak to you of Tom before I go away. We are not +children—you and I. You are a woman and a very noble one and—you must +let me say it—I have been one of the worst. There's no finer man in the +world than Tom; I never knew that until I had flung him away. And it's +only because of you and Phil that he found himself again. I know it all +as clearly as though I had been here every day of all these years. You +picked up the broken pieces and made a man of him again—you and Phil. +And you very much more than Phil! I've come to tell you that I'm +grateful for that. He deserves well of the world. He loves you; he wants +to marry you. If I hadn't come back just when I did, you would have +married him."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span>She knelt beside Nan with lifted face. There were tears in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Don't you see—don't you understand—that that is the only way I can be +happy? I'm not saying this for your sake—and only half for Tom's. It's +the old selfish me that is asking it," she ended, smiling once more, +though with brimming eyes.</p> + +<p>Nan turned her head.</p> + +<p>"I can never do it! It's not fair for you to speak to me of him."</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't I know that! But I never in my life played fair! I want you +to promise me that you won't say no to him! He is started on the way up +and on once more: I want you to help him gain the top. He needs you just +as Phil does! You have already been to him what I never could have been. +It is all so easy and so plain! And in no other way can I be right with +myself. I shall never trouble you by coming back! Phil can come to me +sometimes—I'm sure you will not mind that! And I shall find peace that +way! For Phil's sake you and Tom must marry!"</p> + +<p>"Phil loves you so," said Nan; "you have no right to leave her; you +don't know what you mean to her!"</p> + +<p>"I'm only a pretty picture in a book! She's too keen; she'd see through +me very soon. No! It must be my way," she said, with a little triumphant +note. She rose and turned to pick up her parasol.</p> + +<p>Nan watched her wonderingly, for an instant dumb before the plea of this +woman, so unlooked-for, so amazing in every aspect. Lois touched her +handkerchief to her eyes and thrust it into her sleeve.</p> + +<p>"Now that's all over!" she said, smiling.</p> + +<p>"No; it can't be over that way," returned Nan, quite herself again. "For +a day I thought I could do it, but I'm grateful that you came back, for +your coming made me see what a mistake it would have been. There's no +question of his needing me. If I helped him a little to find himself, I +shall always be glad, but he has tasted success now, and he will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span>not +drop back. And as for Phil, it is absurd to pretend that she needs any +one. The days of her needs are passed, and she is at the threshold of +happy womanhood. I am glad you came when you did, for I see now how near +I was to losing some of my old ideals that would have made the rest of +my life one long regret."</p> + +<p>"Those scruples are like you—like what I know to be true of you; but +you are wrong. I believe that in a little while you will see that you +are."</p> + +<p>"No," continued Nan; "I know they are not wrong. I am ashamed of myself +that I ever wavered, but now I know I shall never be tempted again. I +may seem to be taking myself too seriously"—she smiled in her accession +of assurance—"but I have a feeling of greater relief than I dare try to +explain. I am provincial and old-fashioned, and there are things I can't +bring myself to think of lightly. I suppose the prejudices of my youth +cling to me, and I can't dissociate myself from the idea that, +inconspicuous as I am in the general scheme of things, I have my +responsibility to my neighbors, to society, to the world. I am grateful +that I saw the danger in time to save myself. Your coming back was well +timed; it makes me believe"—she added softly—"that there is more than +a fate in these things. I had misgivings from the first; I knew that it +was wrong; but not till now have I seen how wrong it was! And I want you +to be sure that this is final—that I shall never waver again."</p> + +<p>"But in a little while, when I am safely out of the way—"</p> + +<p>"Your going or coming can make no difference. I can say in all sincerity +that I wish you would stay. I think it would mean much to Phil if you +should. I hope you will change your decision. You must understand that +so far as Mr. Kirkwood and I are concerned there is no reason whatever +for your going."</p> + +<p>Lois drew a line in the rug with the point of her parasol, her head bent +in an attitude of reflection.</p> + +<p>"As for Tom and me," she said, meeting Nan's eyes after an instant, +"it's only right for you to know from me that he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span>has given me another +chance. He has offered to try me again! It was for Phil's sake. It was +generous—it was noble of him! But"—she shrugged her shoulders—"I've +caused enough misery. Not in a thousand years would I do it!"</p> + +<p>Nan nodded, but made no reply. It was enough that she had established +her own position, and nothing that Lois could add really mattered. And +Lois, with her nice sense of values, her feeling for a situation, knew +that the interview was at an end.</p> + +<p>A copy of the May number of "Journey's End" lay on a little stand with +other magazines. Her hand rested upon it a moment, as though she thus +referred everything back to Phil, but even this evoked nothing further +from Nan.</p> + +<p>Lois walked to the door, murmuring nothings about the weather, the charm +of the flowering yards in the Lane.</p> + +<p>At the door she caught Nan's hands, smiled into her eyes, and said, with +all her charm of tone and manner:—</p> + +<p>"You <i>will</i> kiss me, won't you!"</p> +<br /> +<br /><a name="XXVII" id="XXVII"></a> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII</h2> + +<h3>AMZI'S PERFIDY</h3> +<br /> + +<p>In accommodating himself to the splendors of the enlarged bank room, +Amzi had not abandoned his old straw hat and seersucker coat, albeit the +hat had been decorated with a dab of paint by some impious workman, and +the coat would not have been seriously injured by a visit to the +laundry.</p> + +<p>Amzi was observing the new façade that had been tacked onto the +building, when Phil drove up in the machine. This was the afternoon of +the 3d of July. Phil and her father were camping for a week in their old +haunt in Turkey Run, and she had motored into town to carry Amzi to his +farm, where he meant to spend the Glorious Fourth in the contemplation +of the wheat Fred had been harvesting.</p> + +<p>Phil had experienced a blow-out on her way to town, a fact to which the +state of her camping clothes testified.</p> + +<p>"Thunder!" said Amzi; "you look as though you had crawled halfway in."</p> + +<p>"A naughty nail in a bridge plank was the sinner," she explained.</p> + +<p>She jumped out and was admiring the alterations, which had eliminated +the familiar steps to the old room, when Mrs. Waterman emerged from a +neighboring shop.</p> + +<p>"You dear Phil!" she cried effusively. "I've been wanting to see you for +<i>weeks</i>!"</p> + +<p>Her aunt caught and held the brown hand Phil had drawn from her battered +gauntlet.</p> + +<p>"Father and I are out at the Run," Phil explained.</p> + +<p>These were the first words she had exchanged with either of her aunts +since Christmas. She was not particularly interested in what her Aunt +Josephine might have to say, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span>though somewhat curious as to why that +lady should be saying anything at all.</p> + +<p>"I can't talk here," Mrs. Waterman continued, seeing that Amzi lingered +in the bank door. "But there are things I want to discuss with you, +Phil, dear."</p> + +<p>Main Street is hot on July afternoons; and Phil was impatient to get +back to the cool hollows of the Run.</p> + +<p>"Oh, any time, Aunt Josie," she replied hastily.</p> + +<p>"It's only fair—to myself, and to Fanny and to Kate, for me to say to +you that we never meant—we never had the slightest intention—in regard +to your dear mother—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't trouble about that!" said Phil. "Mamma never minded! And +please excuse me; Amy's waiting."</p> + +<p>She nodded good-bye, and walked through the bank to the new directors' +room where Amzi was subjecting himself to the breezes of an electric +fan.</p> + +<p>"Indian!"</p> + +<p>"I haven't mussed you," observed Phil, placing her gloves on the new +mahogany table, "since you started up the new bank. It's about time we +were celebrating."</p> + +<p>He threw up his arms to ward off the threatened attack, and when he +opened his eyes and peered out she was sitting on the table with the +demurest of expressions upon her countenance.</p> + +<p>"False alarm; only I object to your comments on my complexion. I'm some +burnt; but as it isn't painful to me, the rest of creation needn't +worry."</p> + +<p>"Well, you needn't kick the legs of that table with your sneakers; that +table cost money!"</p> + +<p>"Really! Woeful extravagance. Did you see Aunt Josephine holding my +hand?"</p> + +<p>"I did," replied Amzi. "What's eating Josie?"</p> + +<p>"She seemed to want to kiss and make up. I excused myself owing to the +heat of the day."</p> + +<p>"Humph! I'll tell you something, Phil, if you'll sit in a chair and be +nice."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span>She sat in a chair and was nice.</p> + +<p>"I was brought up," said Amzi, "to believe in heaven. Ever hear of the +place?"</p> + +<p>"I have," said Phil; "and no thanks to you."</p> + +<p>He ignored the fling as unworthy of his attention, and continued +soberly,—</p> + +<p>"I never expected, in all the years I've been attending Center Church, +that I'd ever see anybody on earth that had a pass right through the +pearly gates; but I guess I know one woman that's got a ticket, with +stop-over privileges, and a seat in the observation car—all stamped and +good for any date. That woman, Phil, is your mother. That idea's been in +my mind a good deal lately and I thought I'd mention it."</p> + +<p>Phil's face assumed an unwonted gravity. Her mother's departure, in all +the circumstances of her going, had still its poignancy. Phil had been +brave, but it had cut deep. She did not reply to her uncle's remark, but +waited for him to go on. He drew out a cigar, satisfied himself that it +was in good condition, and returned it to his pocket.</p> + +<p>"The day she left, your mother wrote out three checks for five thousand +bucks—one for each of your aunts. She told me not to turn them over +until she had landed on the other side. Thunder! After everything they +had done to her and tried to do to her, she did <i>that</i>!"</p> + +<p>He waited characteristically for her to deny the facts he had stated. A +look of great tenderness came into Phil's face.</p> + +<p>"Said she didn't want any unkind feelings. Said it was all right the way +they acted. <i>Right!</i>" he repeated contemptuously. "I've known men—and +women—some; but I can't beat that! And the day the cable came saying +she'd got to Cherbourg, I called 'em down in a bunch and gave 'em the +checks. You've noticed that your Uncle Lawrence has turned his theater +into a moving-picture shop with a yellow-haired girl selling tickets at +the gate; and your Uncle Paul has given notice that he's going to start +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span>brickyard again. He's got contracts to keep him going for six +months. And your Uncle Waterman's started in to pay a few of his debts +on the installment plan. That's all your mother's money."</p> + +<p>A wan smile flitted across Phil's face.</p> + +<p>"What you laughing at?" Amzi demanded.</p> + +<p>"Nothing," said Phil; "only I seem to remember that I once said +something to Lawr<i>i</i>nce about cutting out the drammer and putting on the +reel. And Paul and I had some talk once about bricks—" she ended +meditatively.</p> + +<p>"Your ideas, both of 'em, I bet!" declared Amzi furiously. "I thought +those fellows never had that much sense all by themselves."</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing like that!" replied Phil.</p> + +<p>"I just thought I ought to tell you what your mother did. Lois didn't +say for me not to tell you. I guess she thought I most likely would."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you did, Amy. Everything I know about mamma makes me love her +that much more."</p> + +<p>Amzi turned to push the regulator on the fan, and when it had ceased +humming he rested his arms on the table and said:—</p> + +<p>"Seems Nan's not going to marry your father, after all?"</p> + +<p>"No, that's all over," she answered indifferently.</p> + +<p>"It was fine of your mother to want them to marry."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was like her. She is wonderful about everything,—thinks of +everything and wants everybody to be happy."</p> + +<p>Phil clasped her crossed knees in her hands, and did not meet her +uncle's eyes. The ache in her heart that was not to be stilled wholly +through many years cried aloud.</p> + +<p>"Nan is a splendid woman and a mighty good friend to all of us. And your +father's got a new shove up the ladder, and is doing splendidly. Nan did +a lot for him!"</p> + +<p>Phil loosened her hands and they fell helplessly to her sides.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span>"Oh," she cried, "I don't understand all these things, Amy! If mamma +hadn't come back, Nan and daddy would have married; but I don't see how +they could! It's clear beyond me how people see things one way one day +and another way the next. What's the matter with all of us anyhow, that +right isn't always right? In old times people mostly got married and +stayed married, and knew their minds, but nowadays marriage seems so +purely incidental. It's got to be almost ree-diculous, Amy."</p> + +<p>"Well, Phil, I guess we all do the best we can. I guess we can't see +very far ahead in this world." And then he smiled grimly. "I guess we +never know when we're going to get a puncture. There's got to be patches +on the tire before we get home."</p> + +<p>She gave a little shrug that she had learned from her mother and walked +over to him. She clasped his chin in her fingers and tilted his head so +that she looked straight through his spectacles into his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Let's stay on the bank; the swimming's dangerous!"</p> + +<p>"What are you talking about?" he blurted, fearing that a mussing was +imminent.</p> + +<p>"Getting married! But you—"</p> + +<p>She turned his head the better to search his face for telltale signs.</p> + +<p>"You beautifulest of old sinners, how about Rose?"</p> + +<p>He jerked himself free and pushed away from her with a screeching of the +new chair's casters.</p> + +<p>"Thunder!" he gasped. "Don't you ever think that!"</p> + +<p>"Sure you're not fooling!" she demanded, amused at the look of horror in +his face.</p> + +<p>He drew out his handkerchief and mopped his face. His manner was that of +a man who, having heard bad news, has just been assured of its falsity.</p> + +<p>"I guess," he said, "if I was fool enough—at my age—Rose wouldn't be. +I've got along so far, and I guess I can pull through."</p> + +<p>"Then," said Phil cheerfully, "we'll pull through <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span>together! This +marriage business doesn't look good to me!"</p> + +<p>"Thunder!" He looked at her narrowly. "I wish to the Lord I could keep +<i>you</i>."</p> + +<p>"Watch me! You know we're going abroad next summer to see mamma; that's +a date. I guess you'll keep me all right enough until you get tired of +me, or I break the bank! But why chat we here? Let's set the gasoline +alight and ho for the well-hoed fields of corn!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Phil carried a bundle of mail to her father to which he addressed +himself after the supper they cooked for themselves in the camp in their +old fashion. Amzi scorned their invitation to join them, as he frankly +confessed his inability to find joy in sitting on a boulder and drinking +coffee out of a tin cup. He preferred the comforts of his own farmhouse +and Fred's society.</p> + +<p>Phil had promised to visit him later, and finding that her father became +engrossed immediately in an engineer's report on the Illinois traction +property, she stole away.</p> + +<p>She took the familiar ascent slowly, pausing now and then to listen to +the murmur and rush of the waters beneath. From the top of the cliff she +called down to assure her father of her safety. The dry stubble of the +newly cut wheat was rough underfoot as she set off for Amzi's. There was +much sowing and reaping in the world, she philosophized, and far too +much chaff in the garnered grain! Life, that might be so simple if every +one would only be a little bit reasonable, unfolded itself before her in +dim, bewildering vistas.</p> + +<p>Fred had started to meet her, and she saw his stalwart figure against +the fading west.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Montgomery is getting nervous about you; he said for you to hurry! +The fact is that I bored him and he needs you to cheer him up."</p> + +<p>"Which is fishing," Phil replied. "I had the dishes to wash. There's a +lot to do in a camp."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span>"You'd better not mention the dishwashing; that's what made him cross."</p> + +<p>"Cross! Dear old Amy cross!" laughed Phil. "Why, Fred, he doesn't know +how to spell the word!"</p> + +<p>They followed a lane beside a cornfield, talking spiritedly. Fred +paused, lifted his head and filled his lungs with the fresh cool air. It +was with a sense of elation that he traversed these fields of his own +tilling and sowing and reaping. There was something in his bronzed face +that had not been there when Phil first knew him. He carried his +shoulders straighter and was less timid; he expressed himself with more +confidence and was beyond question on very good terms with the world. At +every meeting they had somehow seemed to make progress; they really got +on famously together now that he was no longer shy in her company and +had caught the spirit of her humor.</p> + +<p>She had wondered frequently whether she was in love with him. Her +speculations had been purely subjective; she had not been concerned in +the least with his attitude toward her. It had occurred to her in other +moods that he would be an interesting character in a book and she had +even jotted down notes which would have astonished him greatly if he had +been vouchsafed a glance at those amazing memoranda. Viewed objectively +he was an attractive protagonist for a story dealing with the return to +the soil of a young man, who, trying city life without success, sought +refuge in the fields of his ancestors. The heroine must be a haughty +city girl whose scorn should yield slowly to admiration and love. The +last chapter of the tale should be called "The Harvest." She thought +well of the idea, and meant to sketch an outline of it as soon as she +finished a short story about the young gentleman who presided over the +soda-fountain at Struby's, the simple chronicle of whose love affair +with the cashier at Bernstein's she was just now transcribing for +"Journey's End."</p> + +<p>A new incident for that delectable yarn now popped into her head. Fred +was talking about the corn which had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span>nothing whatever to do with +Struby's or the cashier at Bernstein's. She stopped and whistled as the +revelation of new possibilities in her story flashed upon her.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Phil?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," she answered. "I just thought of something!"</p> + +<p>Phil rested her arms on the top rail of the fence and lifted her eyes +dreamily to the glowing planet that for the moment reigned alone in the +heavens. But her thoughts were in Main Street, not in Jupiter. The +inspector on the trolley line—the one with the red mustache, the one +who had punched the head of a conductor for disputing the justice of a +reprimand for which the inspector had been responsible—he must +certainly be brought into the story. She was disgusted with herself that +it had never occurred to her before. The adored cashier should enter the +drug-store to refresh herself with a chocolate sundae, and the inspector +should follow—"</p> + +<p>"Phil," said Fred.</p> + +<p>Phil, intent upon her characters, did not respond. She did not know that +her face lifted to the bright planet had quickened his pulses, roused a +thousand longings in his heart.</p> + +<p>His hand stole along the rail until it touched hers. In her deep +absorption she did not notice it, or pretended that she did not; but +when he took a step nearer she drew her hand away gently. The star held +her gaze as though it possessed some mesmeric power. A smile was upon +her face as the situation at the soda-water counter took form, became a +veritable drama in her imagination.</p> + +<p>She struck her hands together and chirruped. Fred stared at her, +abashed. His hand lay where it had been, but her warm slim fingers had +slipped away! When Phil was "thinking" she wholly bewildered him. Just +as a girl, the loveliest in the world, Phil was far enough removed from +him; but as a girl who "wrote," who improvised verses, who was caught +away as by invisible hands in her fitful dreaming, she deepened his +humility. He had often wondered whether he would ever gain courage to +touch her hand in just that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span>way; and now that he had dared it had +profited him nothing. She had apparently been wholly unmindful of an act +that had left him trembling. She hadn't even resented it!</p> + +<p>"Phil, I've been looking forward to seeing you all day. I've been +thinking about you—particularly."</p> + +<p>"That's not so surprising," replied Phil, returning to earth a little +reluctantly, "when I've been seeing you every evening and it was pretty +sure to happen so to-day. Let's hurry along or Amy will say bitter +things to us that he will always regret."</p> + +<p>"I want to tell you something before we go on," he said, with a gravity +that caused her to look at him sharply.</p> + +<p>"Fred Holton, you and I are old friends now, and good pals. I hope +you're not going to spoil it all."</p> + +<p>"I love you, Phil; I can't help telling you: I have to tell you now."</p> + +<p>She reached down, picked up a pebble and flung it at the star.</p> + +<p>Assured, by the sound of its fall afar off in the corn, that it had +missed Jupiter, she gave him her attention. He broke in before she could +speak.</p> + +<p>"I know there are reasons why I shouldn't tell you. I want you to know I +have thought about them; I know that there are family reasons why—"</p> + +<p>She laid her hand gently on his arm.</p> + +<p>"Dear old Fred," she began, as a boy might have spoken to a comrade in +trouble, "there's nothing about you that isn't altogether fine. The +thing you were about to say you don't need to say—ever! If Amy didn't +know you were one of the best fellows in the world, he wouldn't have got +behind you when things were going wrong. He knew all those things that +are in your mind and he didn't care, and you may be sure I don't. So +that's all right, Fred."</p> + +<p>His hope mounted as she spoke. The hand on his arm thrilled him. The +fact that he was a Holton did not, then, make any difference, and he had +been troubled about that ever since he realized how dear she had grown +to him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span>"You've all been mighty good to me. If it hadn't been for your father + +and Mr. Montgomery, I should have lost the farm. I'm better off than I +ever expected to be and I owe it all to them. It's a big thing when a +fellow's clear down and out to have helping hands like theirs. I don't +know how to say these things, but I love you, Phil. You don't know what +it has meant to know you—how thinking about you makes the day's work +easier as I tramp these fields. I know I oughtn't to ask a girl like you +to share a farmer's life, but I'll be so good to you, Phil! And I mean +to go on and win. You've made the world a different place for me, Phil. +I know what a poor clod I am, but I mean to study and to try and measure +up to you."</p> + +<p>"Cut out that last proposition, Fred! I'm the harum-scarumest girl on +earth and I know it. I'd be a real handicap to you, or any other man. +Gracious! Why didn't you tell me you were going to make love to me and +I'd have put on my other suit. I'll never forgive you for this, Fred +Holton; it's taking an unkind advantage!"</p> + +<p>"I don't believe you think I mean it!" he cried despairingly, as her +gaze wandered across the fields to the far horizon.</p> + +<p>"If I thought you didn't, I should never speak to you again," she +declared severely, meeting his eyes.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 13.5em;">"The corn was glad</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">When he had told his love. The evening star</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">Chortled in joy. The cattle on the hills—</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Oh, come on, Fred, and let's stop foolishing!"</p> + +<p>"Please, Phil? If only you cared a little!" he pleaded forlornly.</p> + +<p>"A little! I care a whole lot about you! I respect you and admire you; +and I suppose, to be real frank about it, I love you a little tiny bit. +But as for marrying you or anybody else—that's different, oh, very +different! You see, Fred," she continued, abruptly abandoning her +half-chaffing tone, "the ice is too thin; it makes me shudder to think +of it! <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span>Instead of people being settled when they get married, it seems +to make them nervous. I'm going to study and work and work and <i>work</i>! I +want to see what kind of a life I can build up for myself—and then I +want to stand off and look at it—a good long look before I allow +anybody else to have a share in it. That's all of that, Fred."</p> + +<p>"But, Phil."</p> + +<p>As she started toward the house he stepped quickly in front of her. The +shadows deepened round them, and the wind whispered in the corn. The +rattle of a wagon descending Listening Hill reached them faintly and +Phil lifted her head at the vague, blurred sound. After her brave speech +a mood of loneliness swept her heart, and the cheer with which she had +lately fortified herself against depression failed to respond to her +summons. She had no control over the lives of her mother and father. The +one beyond the sea was not more hopelessly remote than the other in his +camp by the creek. They and all the others who were near and dear—Amzi, +even, and Nan and Rose—seemed strangely beyond her reach. The fields, +the woodlands etched darkly against the sky, suddenly became Fred's +allies. He was of kin to them; he had confessed in their later talks to +a simple spiritual faith born of contact with the earth, the study of +its secrets, the pondering of its mysteries. With him there would be +peace and security. Her heart ached with tenderness and longing. The +qualities her nature lacked he supplied, and love and faith like his +were not lightly to be put aside. Fred in the dusk before her took form +in her mind as a refuge and hope. He was big and strong and kind; he +loved her and it was sweet to be loved by him. He took her hands, that +fluttered and became still like two forlorn birds; and then her arms +stole round his neck in a tight clasp.</p> + +<p>"Dear Fred!" she cried, half-sobbing; "don't you ever leave me!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>A little later, as they walked hand in hand toward the house, he pointed +toward the creek.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span>"You see, Phil, about your work, I've thought all that out. I want you +to go on with it. I've planned a kind of studio for you over there, in +that clump of trees on the edge of the Run. I'm going to build a little +bungalow, all glass on the creek side, where you can study and write, +while I'm off making the corn grow. And in the evenings we'll go out +there and sit and talk. I've thought a lot about that."</p> + +<p>"But, you goose, that won't be helping you any, the way a farmer's wife +has to help her husband. I won't be of any use to you, writing pieces +for editors to fire back at me."</p> + +<p>"They won't send them back; and if they do, I'll punch their heads."</p> + +<p>"And daddy can live with us, can't he—always, Fred? Where we are will +be home for him!"</p> + +<p>"Yes; of course, Phil. I've thought about that, too. I've thought about +almost everything. And I'm not afraid of life, Phil,—not with you. Out +here in the fields it's different from anywhere else, and easier. Those +old stars are closer, some way, here in the country. You've got more +room to think in, and it isn't a narrow life, but a broad one when you +consider it. You've taught me to understand all that, Phil! I believe +you feel a good deal about it as I do, and the work you want to do ought +to be better for being done out here where the corn grows tall. We won't +stay here always. We'll go off in the winters and look at the big world, +and come back home to study it over. And we'll try to do a little good +as we go along."</p> + +<p>"Yes; we mustn't forget that, Fred."</p> + +<p>His simple way of speaking of things that meant much to him had always +touched her. Her pressure tightened on his hand and he bent and kissed +her.</p> + +<p>"But, Fred!" she exclaimed suddenly, as they loitered on, "Amy will be +awfully cross. We'd planned to go abroad next summer, and he won't +forgive me if I get married so I can't."</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't you worry about <i>him</i>!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span>"Of course I'll worry about him; why shouldn't I?" she demanded.</p> + +<p>"Because I told him I was going to ask you," Fred laughed, "and he said +'Thunder' and blew his nose and wished me good luck!"</p> + +<p>"When did all that happen, if you please, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Last Sunday. We talked about you all afternoon."</p> + +<p>"And he said—oh, the hypocrite!" she cried; and then declared +resolutely, "I'm going to muss him! Come on, Fred; I'll race you to the +house!"</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<h2>THE END</h2> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<p class="cen"> +The Riverside Press<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> +<br /> +CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS +<br /> +U . S . A +</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<h2>A HOOSIER CHRONICLE</h2><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span> + +<h3>By Meredith Nicholson</h3> + + +<p>"It is one of the bravest, sweetest, most optimistic books in which, +ever, plain truths of humanity and history have been mingled with the +weavings of fiction."—<i>N. Y. World.</i></p> + +<p>"Mr. Nicholson knows whereof he writes, and the picture of the political +and social life of the capital which he gives us in the present volume +is vigorous and convincing."—<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p> + +<p>"It puts Mr. Nicholson in the front rank of American novelists who are +trying to produce real literature." —<i>Indianapolis Star.</i></p> + +<p>"In 'A Hoosier Chronicle' he has done something much bigger, and given +us a work of fiction of a richly human sort, creating real characters +and giving us a penetrating study of political life and domestic +relations in the commonwealth of Indiana."—<i>The Dial.</i></p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cen"> +Illustrated in color by F. C. Yohn. +<br /> +Square crown 8vo. $1.40 <i>net.</i> Postage 16 cents +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Houghton"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="10%">HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY</td> + <td class="tdc" width="65%"> </td> + <td class="tdl" width="25%">BOSTON AND<br /> NEW YORK</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h2>V. V.'S EYES</h2><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span> + +<h3>By HENRY SYDNOR HARRISON</h3> + +<p>"'V. V.'s Eyes' is a novel of so elevated a spirit, yet of such strong +interest, unartificial, and uncritical, that it is obviously a +fulfillment of Mr. Harrison's intention to 'create real +literature.'"—<i>Baltimore News.</i></p> + +<p>"In our judgment it is one of the strongest and at the same time most +delicately wrought American novels of recent years."—<i>The Outlook.</i></p> + +<p>"'V. V.'s Eyes' is an almost perfect example of idealistic realism. It +has the soft heart, the clear vision and the boundless faith in humanity +that are typical of our American outlook on life."—<i>Chicago +Record-Herald.</i></p> + +<p>"A delicate and artistic study of striking power and literary quality +which may well remain the high-water mark in American fiction for the +year.... Mr. Harrison definitely takes his place as the one among our +younger American novelists of whom the most enduring work may be hoped +for."—<i>Springfield Republican.</i></p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cen">Pictures by R. M. Crosby. Square crown 8vo. +<br /> +$1.35 <i>net.</i> Postage 14 cents. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Houghton"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="10%">HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY</td> + <td class="tdc" width="65%"> </td> + <td class="tdl" width="25%">BOSTON AND<br /> NEW YORK</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<h2>THE PROMISED LAND</h2><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span> + +<h3>By MARY ANTIN</h3> + + +<p>"As a piece of literature, as a personal memoir, 'The Promised Land' +stands out among the books of years, stirring, human, poignantly +alive."—<i>New York Times.</i></p> + +<p>"I consider Mary Antin's book one of the wonderful books, not of this +year or next, but of all the years."—<i>Jacob A. Riis</i>, N. Y.</p> + +<p>"The life-story of an eager, observant, reflective, aspiring, and always +original young woman whose formative years have been divided between the +stifling restrictions of the 'Pale' and the glorious freedom of America. +The infectious optimism and high courage of the book, as well as the +vigor and picturesqueness of its style, with its frequent touches of +humor, gleams of mirth, and suggestions of poetry, win the reader at the +outset and hold him enthralled to the final page."—<i>Percy F. Bicknell</i>, +in <i>The Dial</i>, Chicago.</p> + +<p>"I have no hesitation in saying that I consider it one of the books of +the year,—a human document of deep impressiveness and moving +sincerity."—<i>Rabbi Stephen S. Wise</i>, N. Y.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cen"> +With 18 Illustrations from photographs. +<br /> +$1.75 <i>net.</i> Postage 15 cents +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Houghton"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="10%">HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY</td> + <td class="tdc" width="65%"> </td> + <td class="tdl" width="25%">BOSTON AND<br /> NEW YORK</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h2>RECENT ESSAYS OF CHARM</h2><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span> +<br /> + +<h4>THE PROVINCIAL AMERICAN By MEREDITH NICHOLSON</h4> + + +<p>"The charm and originality that distinguished Mr. Nicholson as a +novelist will distinguish him as an essayist if future works fulfill the +promise of the present volume."—<i>Chicago Tribune.</i></p> + +<p class="cen">$1.25 <i>net.</i> Postage 10 cents</p> +<br /> + + +<h4>THE AMERICAN MIND By BLISS PERRY</h4> + + +<p>"An interesting study of the American mind and American character.... +Professor Perry is not one of those scholars whose interests are +confined to books. In these essays, accordingly, while the literary +interest is perhaps paramount, social and political realms are likewise +laid under contribution."—<i>Newark News.</i></p> + +<p class="cen">$1.25 <i>net.</i> Postage 10 cents</p> +<br /> + +<h4>A DOCTOR'S TABLE-TALK By JAMES G. MUMFORD</h4> + +<p>"It is not easy to suggest the charm of such a volume, rich in the +indefinable, uplifting atmosphere resulting from wide reading and wider +sympathies, conjoined with deep knowledge of humanity."—<i>Chicago +Record-Herald.</i></p> + +<p class="cen"> +$1.25 <i>net.</i> Postage 10 cents</p> +<br/> + + +<h4>THE JONATHAN PAPERS By ELISABETH WOODBRIDGE</h4> + + +<p>"Lovers of outdoor life are sure to like these outdoor essays,—with +such subjects as duck shooting, fishing, rainy morning walks, canoe +trips, drives, etc.,—which are whimsical at times and cheerfully +imaginative always."—<i>Chicago Inter-Ocean.</i></p> + +<p class="cen">$1.25 <i>net.</i> Postage 9 cents</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Houghton"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="10%">HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY</td> + <td class="tdc" width="65%"> </td> + <td class="tdl" width="25%">BOSTON AND<br /> NEW YORK</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Transcriber's Note</p> +<br /> + +Some inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in +the original document has been preserved.<br /> +<br /> +Typographical errors corrected in the text:<br /> +<br /> +Page 54 though changed to thought<br /> +Page 237 sweatmeat changed to sweetmeat<br /> +Page 329 our changed to out<br /> +Page 360 fradulent changed to fraudulent +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Otherwise Phyllis, by Meredith Nicholson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OTHERWISE PHYLLIS *** + +***** This file should be named 28017-h.htm or 28017-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/0/1/28017/ + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Barbara Kosker and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +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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