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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/37190-8.txt b/37190-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8359ca0 --- /dev/null +++ b/37190-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13095 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Main Chance, 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: The Main Chance + +Author: Meredith Nicholson + +Illustrator: Harrison Fisher + +Release Date: August 24, 2011 [EBook #37190] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAIN CHANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +THE MAIN CHANCE + +[Illustration] + + +THE MAIN CHANCE + +BY +MEREDITH NICHOLSON + +ILLUSTRATED BY +HARRISON FISHER + +INDIANAPOLIS +THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY +PUBLISHERS + + +COPYRIGHT 1903 +THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY + +MAY + + +PRESS OF +BRAUNWORTH & CO. +BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS +BROOKLYN, N. Y. + + +TO +E. K. N. + +WHO WILL REMEMBER AND UNDERSTAND + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + I A NEW MAN IN TOWN 1 + + II WARRICK RARIDAN 13 + + III SWEET PEAS 24 + + IV AT POINDEXTERS' 39 + + V DEBATABLE QUESTIONS 53 + + VI A SAFE MAN 70 + + VII WARRY RARIDAN'S INDIGNATION 82 + + VIII TIM MARGRAVE MAKES A CHOICE 92 + + IX PARLEYINGS 97 + + X A WRECKED CANNA BED 106 + + XI THE KNIGHTS OF MIDAS BALL 121 + + XII A MORNING AT ST. PAUL'S 136 + + XIII BARGAIN AND SALE 152 + + XIV THE GIRL THAT TRIES HARD 166 + + XV AT THE COUNTRY CLUB 174 + + XVI THE LADY AND THE BUNKER 193 + + XVII WARRY'S REPENTANCE 206 + + XVIII FATHER AND DAUGHTER 213 + + XIX A FORECAST AT THE WHIPPLES' 229 + + XX ORCHARD LANE 237 + + XXI JAMES WHEATON MAKES A COMPUTATION 241 + + XXII AN ANNUAL PASS 250 + + XXIII WILLIAM PORTER RETURNS FROM A JOURNEY 258 + + XXIV INTERRUPTED PLANS 266 + + XXV JAMES WHEATON DECLINES AN OFFER 272 + + XXVI THE KEY TO A DILEMMA 279 + + XXVII A MEETING BETWEEN GENTLEMEN 289 + + XXVIII BROKEN GLASS 299 + + XXIX JOHN SAXTON, RECEIVER 310 + + XXX GREEN CHARTREUSE 313 + + XXXI PUZZLING AUTOGRAPHS 319 + + XXXII CROSSED WIRES 323 + + XXXIII A DISAPPEARANCE 332 + + XXXIV JOHN SAXTON SUGGESTS A CLUE 339 + + XXXV SHOTS IN THE DARK 352 + + XXXVI HOME THROUGH THE SNOW 370 + + XXXVII "A PECULIAR BRICK" 379 + +XXXVIII OLD PHOTOGRAPHS 384 + + XXXIX "IT IS CRUEL" 389 + + XL SHIFTED BURDENS 399 + + XLI RETROSPECTIVE VANITY 403 + + XLII AT THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 407 + + + + +THE MAIN CHANCE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A NEW MAN IN TOWN + + +"Well, sir, they say I'm crooked!" + +William Porter tipped back his swivel chair and placidly puffed a cigar +as he watched the effect of this declaration on the young man who sat +talking to him. + +"That's said of every successful man nowadays, isn't it?" asked John +Saxton. + +The president of the Clarkson National Bank ignored the question and +rolled his cigar from one side of his mouth to the other, as he waited +for his words to make their full impression upon his visitor. + +"They say I'm crooked," he repeated, with a narrowing of the eyes, "but +they don't say it very loud!" + +Porter kicked his heels together gently and watched his visitor with +eyes in which there was no trace of humor; but Saxton saw that he was +expected to laugh. + +"No, sir;" the banker continued, "they don't say it very loud, and I +guess they don't any of them want to have to prove it. I'm afraid those +Boston friends of yours have given us up as a bad lot," he went on, +waiving the matter of his personal rectitude and returning to the +affairs of his visitor; "and they've sent you out here to get their +money, and I don't blame them. Well, sir; that money's got to come out +in time, but it's going to take time and money to get it." + +"I believe they sent me because I had plenty of time," said Saxton, +smiling. + +"Well, we want to help you win out," returned Porter. "And now what can +I do to start you off?" he asked briskly. "Have you got a place to stay? +Well, sir, I warn you solemnly against the hotels in this town; but +we've got a fairly decent club up here, and you'd better stay there till +you get acquainted. Been to breakfast? Breakfast on the train? That's +good. Just look over the papers till I get rid of these letters and I'll +be free." + +Porter turned to his desk and replaced the eye-glasses which he had +dropped while talking. There was an air of great alertness in his small, +lean figure as he pushed buttons to summon various members of the +clerical force and rapidly dictated terse telegrams and letters to a +stenographer. He continued to smoke, and he shifted constantly the +narrow-brimmed, red-banded straw hat that he wore above his shrewd face. +It was an agreeable face to see, of a type that is common wherever the +North-Irish stock is found in America, and its characteristics were +expressed in his firm, lean jaw and blue eyes, and his reddish hair and +mustache, through which there were streaks of gray. He wore his hair +short, but it was still thick, and he combed it with precision. His +clothes fitted him; he wore a bright cravat, well tied, and his shoes +were carefully polished. Saxton was impressed by the banker's perfect +confidence and ease; it manifested itself in the way he tapped buttons +to call his subordinates, or turned to satisfy the importunities of the +desk-telephone at his elbow. + +John Saxton had been sent to Clarkson by the Neponset Trust Company of +Boston to represent the interests of a group of clients who had made +rash investments in several of the Trans-Missouri states. Foreclosure +had, in many instances, resulted in the transfer to themselves of much +town and ranch property which was, in the conditions existing in the +early nineties, an exceedingly slow asset. It was necessary that some +one on the ground should care for these interests. The Clarkson National +Bank had been exercising a general supervision, but, as one of the +investors told his fellow sufferers in Boston, they should have an agent +whom they could call home and abuse, and here was Saxton, a +conscientious and steady fellow, who had some knowledge of the country, +and who, moreover, needed something to do. Saxton's acquaintance with +the West had been gained by a bitter experience of ranching in Wyoming. +A blizzard had destroyed his cattle, and the subsequent depression in +land values in the neighborhood of his ranch had left him encumbered +with a property for which there was no market. His friends had been +correct in the assumption that he needed employment, and he was, +moreover, glad of the chance to get away from home, where the impression +was making headway that he had failed at something in the vague, +non-interest-paying West. When, on his return from Wyoming, it became +necessary for his former acquaintances to identify him to one another, +they said, with varying degrees of kindness, that John had gone broke at +ranching; and if they liked him particularly, they said it was too bad; +if they had not known him well in his fortunate days, they mildly +intimated that a fool and his money found quicker divorce at ranching +than in any other way. Most of Saxton's friends and contemporaries had +made good beginnings at home, and he felt, unnecessarily perhaps, that +his failure made him a marked man among them. + +"Now," said Porter presently, scrutinizing a telegram carefully before +signing it, "I'll take you up to the office we've been keeping for your +people, and show you what it looks like. Some of these things are run as +corporations, you understand, and in our state corporations have to +maintain a tangible residence." + +"So that the sheriff may find them more easily," added Saxton. + +"Well, that's no joke," returned Porter, as they entered the elevator +from the outer hall; "but they don't necessarily have much office +furniture to levy on." + +The room proved to be a small one at the top of the building. On the +ground-glass door was inscribed "The Interstate Irrigation Company." The +room contained a safe, a flat-top desk and a few chairs. Several maps +hung on the wall, some of them railroad advertisements, and others were +engineers' charts of ranch lands and irrigation ditches. + +"It ain't pretty," said Porter critically, "but if you don't like it you +can move when you get ready. The bank is your landlord, and we don't +charge you much for it. You've doubtless got your inventory of stuff +with you, and here in the safe you'll find the accounts of these +companies, copies of public records relating to them, and so on." As +Porter talked he stood in the middle of the room with his hands in his +pockets, and puffed at a cigar, throwing his head back in an effort to +escape the smoke. He stood with one foot on a chair and pushed his hat +away from his forehead as he continued reflectively: "You're going up +against a pretty tough proposition, young man. You'll hear a hard luck +story wherever you go out here just now; people who owe your friends +money will be mighty sorry they can't pay. Many of the ranch lands your +people own will be worth something after a while. That Colorado +irrigation scheme ought to pan out in time, and I believe it will; but +you've got to nurse all these things. Make your principals let you +alone. Those fellows get in a hurry at the wrong time,--that's my +experience with Eastern investors. Tell them to go to Europe,--get rid +of them for a while, and make them give you a chance to work out their +money for them. They're not the only pebbles." A slight smile seemed to +creep over a small area about the banker's lips, but his cigar only +partly revealed it. His eyes rarely betrayed him, and the monotonous +drawl of his voice was without humorous intention. + +"I'll send the combination of the safe up by the boy," he said, moving +toward the door, "and you can get a bird's-eye view of the situation +before lunch. Mr. Wheaton, our cashier, is away to-day, but he's +familiar with these matters and will be glad to help you when he gets +home. He'll be back to-night. When you get stuck call on us. And drop +down about twelve thirty and go up to the club for lunch. Take it easy; +you can't do it all in one day," he added. + +"I hope I shan't be a nuisance to you," said the younger man. "I'm +going to fight it out on the best lines I know how,--if it takes several +summers." + +"Well, it'll take them all right," said Porter, sententiously. + +Left to himself Saxton examined his new quarters, found a feather duster +hanging in a corner and brushed the dirt from the scanty furniture. This +done, he drew a pipe from his pocket, filled it from his tobacco pouch +and sat down by the open window, through which the breeze came cool out +of the great valley; and here he could see, far over the roofs and +spires of the town, the bluffs that marked the broad bed of the tawny +Missouri. He was not as buoyant as his last words to the banker implied. +Here he was, he reflected, a man of good education, as such things go, +who had lost his patrimony in a single venture. He had been sent, partly +out of compassion, he felt, to take charge of investments that were +admitted to be almost hopelessly bad. The salary promised would provide +for him comfortably, and that was about all; anything further would +depend upon himself, the secretary of the Neponset Trust Company had +told him; it would, he felt, depend much more particularly on the making +over by benign powers of the considerable part of the earth's surface in +which his principals' money lay hidden. As his eyes wandered to one of +the office walls, the black trail of a great transcontinental railroad +caught and held his attention. On one of its northern prongs lay the +region of his first defeat. + +"Three years of life are up there," he meditated, "and all my good +dollars are scattered along the right of way." Many things came back to +him vividly--how the wind used to howl around the little ranch house, +and how he rode through the snow among his dying cattle in the great +storm that had been his undoing. With his eyes still resting on the map, +he recurred to his early school days and to his four years at Harvard. +There was a burden of heartache in these recollections. Incidents of the +unconscious brutality of playmates came back to him,--the cruel candor +with which they had rejected him from sports in which proficiency, and +not mere strength or zeal, was essential. He had enjoyed at college no +experience of success in any of those ways which mark the undergraduate +for brief authority or fame. He had never been accepted for the crew nor +for the teams that represented the university on diamond or gridiron, +though he had always participated in athletics, and was possessed of +unusual strength. None of the professions had appealed to him, and he +had not heeded his father's wish that he enter the law. The elder +Saxton, who was himself a lawyer of moderate success, died before John's +graduation; he had lost his mother in his youth, and his only remaining +relative was a sister who married before he left college. + +A review of these brief and discouraging annals did not hearten him; but +he fell back upon the better mood with which he had begun the morning; +he had a new chance, and he proposed to make the best of it. He put +aside his coat and hat, lighted the pipe which he had been holding in +his hand, and opened his desk. The banker had sent up the combination of +the safe, as he had promised, and Saxton began inspecting its contents +and putting his office in order. + +"I'm in for a long stay," he reflected. "Watson and Terrell and those +other fellows are just about reaching Park Street, perhaps with virtuous +thoughts of having given me a job, if they haven't forgotten me. It's +probably a pleasant day in Boston, with the flowers looking their best +in the Gardens; but this is better than my Wyoming pastures, anyhow." +The books and papers began to interest him, and he was soon classifying +the properties that had fallen to his care. He was one of those +fortunate individuals who are endowed with a capacity for complete +absorption in the work at hand,--the frequent possession of persons, +who, like Saxton, enjoy immunity from visits of the alluring +will-o'-the-wisps that beguile geniuses. He was so deeply occupied that +he did not mark the flight of time and was surprised when a boy came +with a message from Porter that he was ready to go to luncheon. + +"Yon mustn't overdo the thing, young man," said the banker amiably, as +he closed his desk. "Don't you adopt our Western method of working all +the hours there are. I do it now because my neighbors and customers +would talk about me if I didn't, and say that I had lost my grip in my +old age." + +They started up the sloping street, which was intensely hot. + +"In my last job I worked twenty hours a day," said Saxton, "and lost +money in spite of it." + +"You mean up in Wyoming; the Neponset people wrote me that you were a +reformed cattleman." + +"Yes, I was winter-killed at the business." He assumed that Porter would +not care particularly for the details of his failure. Western men are, +he knew, much more tolerant of failure than Eastern men; but he was +relieved to hear the banker drawling on with a comment on Clarkson, its +commercial history and prospects. + +At the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Clarkson Chamber of +Commerce, the local boy orator, who made a point of quoting Holy Writ in +his speeches, spoke of Clarkson as "no mean city," just as many another +orator has applied this same apt Pauline phrase to many another +metropolis. The business of Clarkson had to do with primary employments +and needs. The cattle of a thousand hills and of many rough pastures +were gathered here; and here wheat and corn from three states were +assembled. In exchange for these products, Clarkson returned to the +country all of the necessities and some of the luxuries of life. Several +important railway lines had their administrative offices here. Ores were +brought from the Rockies, from Mexico, and even from British Columbia, +to the great smelters whose smoke and fumes hung over the town. Neither +coal, wood nor iron lay near at hand, so that manufacturing was almost +unknown; but the packing-houses and smelters gave employment to many +laborers, drawn in great measure from the Slavonic races. + +Varney Street cut through the town at right angles to the river, +bisecting the business district. It then gradually threw off its +commercial aspect until at last it was lined with the homes of most of +Clarkson's wealthiest citizens. An exaggerated estimate of the value of +corner lots had caused many of them to be left vacant; and weeds and +signboards exercised eminent domain between booms. North and south of +Varney Street were other thoroughfares which strove to be equally +fashionable, and here citizens had sometimes built themselves houses +that were, as they said, as good as anything in Varney Street. +Everywhere ragged edges remained; old unpainted frame buildings lingered +in blocks that otherwise contained handsome houses. Sugar-loaf cubes of +clay loomed lonesomely, with houses stranded high on their summits, +where property owners had been too poor to cut down their bits of earth +to conform to new levels. The clay banks were ugly, but they were doomed +to remain until the next high tide of prosperity. + +The Clarkson Club stood at the edge of the commercial district, and its +Milwaukee brick walls rose hot and staring in the July sun as Porter and +Saxton approached. + +"Here we are," said Porter, leading the way into the wide hall. "We'll +arrange about your business relations later. There's a very bad lunch +ready upstairs, and we'll go against that first." + +There were only a few men in the dining-room, seated at a round table. +Porter exchanged salutations with them as he passed on to a small table +at the end of the room. Those who were of his own age called Porter, +"Billy," and he included them all in the careless nod of old +acquaintance. Porter offered Saxton the wine card, which the young man +declined with instinctive knowledge that he was expected to do so. They +took the simple table d'hôte, which was, as Porter had predicted, very +bad. The banker ate little and carried the burden of the conversation. + +They went from the table for an inspection of the club, and arranged +with the clerk in the office for a room on the third floor, which Mr. +Saxton was to have, so Porter told the clerk, until he didn't want it +any more. + +"It's all right about the rules," he said; "if the house committee kick +about it, send them to me." They stopped in the lounging room, where the +men from the round table were now talking or looking at newspapers. +Porter introduced Saxton to all of them, stating in his humorous way, +with variations in every case, that this was a new man in town; that +victims were scarce in hard times, and that they must make the most of +him. Several of the men who shook hands with Saxton were railroad +officials, but nearly every line of business was represented. All seemed +to wear their business consciously, and Saxton was made aware of their +several employments in one way or another as he stood talking to them. +He felt that their own frankness should elicit a response on his part, +and he stated that he had come to represent the interests of "Eastern +people,"--a phrase which, in that territory, has weight and +significance. This, he thought, should be sufficiently explicit; and he +felt that his interlocutors were probably appraising him with selfish +eyes as a possible customer or client. However, they were very cordial, +and presently he found that they were chaffing one another for his +benefit, and trying to bring him within the arc of their own easy +comradeship. + +"If you're going with me," said Porter at his elbow, "you'd better get a +move on you." But the whole group went out together, Porter leaving +Saxton to the others, with that confidence in human friendliness which +is peculiar to the social intercourse of men. They made him feel their +honest wish to consider him one of themselves, making a point of saying +to him, as they dropped out one by one, that they hoped to see him +often. Porter led the way back down Varney Street, smoking meditatively +and carrying his hat in his hand. He said at the bank door: "Now you +make them give you what you want at the club, and if they don't, you +want to raise the everlasting Nick. I've got a house up here on Varney +Street,--come up for dinner to-morrow night and we'll see if we can't +raise a breeze for you. It's hotter than Suez here, and you'd better +take my advice about starting in slow." + +He went into the bank, leaving a trail of smoke behind him; and Saxton +took the elevator for his own office. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WARRICK RARIDAN + + +The Clarkson Club was, during most of the day, the loneliest place in +town. Only a few of the sleeping rooms were occupied regularly, and +luncheon was the one incident of the day that drew any considerable +number of men to the dining-room. The antlered heads of moose and elk +were hung in the hall, and colored prints of English hunting scenes and +bad oil portraits traits of several pioneers were scattered through the +reading and lounging rooms. There was a room which was referred to +flatteringly as the library, but its equipment of literature consisted +of an encyclopedia and of novels which had been contributed by members +at times coincident with housecleaning seasons at home. Clarkson +business men who maintained non-resident memberships in Chicago or St. +Louis clubs, said, in excusing the poor patronage of the Clarkson Club, +that Clarkson was not a club town, like Kansas City or Denver, where +there were more unattached men with money to spend. + +Saxton was not over-sensitive, but the stiffness and hardness of the +club house were not without their disagreeable impression on him as he +sat at dinner toward the close of his first day in Clarkson. Two of the +men to whom Porter had introduced him at noon proved to be fellow +lodgers, and they exchanged greetings with him from the table where they +sat together. They unsociably read their evening papers as they ate, and +left before he finished. He had lighted a cigar over his coffee, and was +watching the fading colors of a brilliant sunset when a young man +appeared at the door, and after a brief inspection of Saxton's back +walked over to him. + +"Aren't you Mr. Saxton? I thought you must be he. My name is Raridan. +Don't let me break in on your meditations," he added, taking the chair +which the waiter drew out for him. "I met Mr. Porter a while ago, and he +adjured me on penalties that I won't name to be good to you. I don't +know whether this is obeying orders,"--he broke off in a laugh,--"that +depends on the point of view." He had produced a cigarette case from his +pocket and rolled a white cylinder between his palms before lighting it. +As the flame leaped from the match, Saxton noted the young man's thin +face, his thick, curling dark hair, his slight mustache, the slenderness +of his fingers. The eyes that lay back of rimless glasses were almost +too fine for a man; but their gentleness and kindliness were charming. + +"You are guilty of a very Christian act," Saxton said. "I was just +wondering whether, after the sun had gone down behind that ridge over +there, the world would still be going round." + +"The world never stops entirely here," returned Raridan, "but the motion +sometimes gets very slow. Mr. Porter tells me that you're to be one of +us. Let me congratulate us,--and you!" + +"I'm not so sure about you," rejoined Saxton. "At my last stopping +place in the West they had a way of getting rid of undesirable members +of the community, and I've never got over being nervous. But that was +Wyoming. I'm sure you're more civilized here." + +"Not merely civilized; we are civilization! You see I'm a native, and +devoted to the home sod. My father was one of the first settlers. I +never knew why," he laughed again--it was a pleasant laugh--"but I've +tried to live up to my duties as one of the first Caucasians born in the +county. Some day I'll be exhibited at the State Fair and little children +will look at me with awe and admiration." + +"That makes me feel very humble. I'm almost afraid to tell you that I'm +a native of Boston, with a long line of highly undistinguished and +terribly conventional ancestors back of me. My father was never west of +Albany; my mother was never in a sleeping-car. But I'm not a tenderfoot. +I rode the initiating bronco in Wyoming through all the degrees; and a +cowboy once shot at me on his unlucky day." + +"Oh, your title's clear. That record gives you all the rights of a +native." + +Raridan waved away the waiter who had been hovering near, and who now +went over to the electric switch and threatened them with light. + +"That's too good to lose," Raridan said, nodding toward the west in +explanation. + +Warrick Raridan was, socially speaking, the most available man in the +Clarkson Blue Book. He was a graduate in law who did not practise, for +he had, unfortunately, been left alone in the world at twenty-six, with +an income that seemed wholly adequate for his immediate or future +needs. He maintained an office, which was fairly well equipped with the +literature of his profession, but this was merely to take away the +reproach of his busier fellow citizens; it was not thought respectable +to be an idler in Clarkson, even on reputable antecedents and +established credit. But Raridan's office was useful otherwise than in +providing its owner with a place for receiving his mail. It was the +rendezvous for a variety of committees to which he was appointed by such +unrelated bodies as the Clarkson Dramatic Club and the Diocesan Board of +Missions of the Episcopal Church. He had never, by any chance, been +pointed to as a model young man, but religious matters interested him +sporadically, and he was referred to facetiously by his friends, when +his punctilious religious observances were mentioned, as a fine type of +the "cheerful Christian." He appeared every Sunday at the cathedral, +which was the fashionable church in Clarkson, where he passed the plate +for the alms and oblations of the well-dressed congregation; and he said +of himself, with conscious humor, that he thought he did it rather well. + +He was capable of quixotism of the most whimsical sort. He had, for a +year, taken his meals at a cheap boarding-house in order that he might +maintain two Indian boys in school. He was not at all aggrieved when, at +the end of the first year, they ran away and resumed tribal relations +with their brethren. He chaffed himself about it to his friends. + +"It was wrong for me," he would say, "to try to pervert the tastes of +those young savages. I nearly ruined my own digestion to buy them white +man's luxuries; I wore out my old clothes that they might not go naked; +and all they learned was to smoke cigarettes." + +It was not enough to say that Warry Raridan could lead a german or tie +an Ascot tie better than any other man on the Missouri River; for he was +also the best informed man in that same strenuous valley concerning the +traditions of the English stage, and was a fairly good actor himself, as +amateurs go. He had an almost fatal cleverness, which made him impatient +of the restraints of college; and he left in his sophomore year owing to +difficulties with the mathematical requirements. Good books had abounded +in his father's house, and he was from boyhood a persistent, though +erratic reader. He threw himself with enthusiasm into the study of the +rise of monastic orders; and from this he changed lightly to the newest +books on psychology. There were many ways in which he could be +entertaining. He had a slight literary gift, which he cultivated for his +own amusement. His humor was fine and keen, and he occasionally wrote +screeds for the local papers, or mailed, apropos of something or +nothing, pleasant jingles to his intimate friends. + +No Clarkson hostess felt that a visiting girl had received courteous +attention unless she carried home a portfolio of verses written in her +honor by Warry Raridan. He gave, indeed, an impression of great +frivolity, but there were people who took him seriously, and lawyers who +knew him well said that he might win success in his profession if he +would apply himself. He had once appeared for the people in a suit to +compel the street-railway company to pave certain streets, as provided +by the terms of its franchise, and had gained his point against the best +lawyers in the state. This accomplished, he refused an appointment as +local counsel for a great railway, and with characteristic perverseness +spent the following summer managing an open-air mission for poor +children. + +Saxton was greatly amused and entertained by Raridan. Even those of his +fellow townsmen who did not wholly approve Warry Raridan, admitted his +entertaining qualities; and Saxton, who was painfully conscious of his +own shortcomings and knew that he had not usually been considered worth +cultivating, found himself responding with unwonted lightness to +Raridan's inconsequential talk. Few people had ever thought it necessary +to take pains with John Saxton, and he greatly enjoyed the novelty of +this intercourse with a man of his own age who was not a bore. The +bores, as Saxton remembered from his college days, had taken advantage +of his good nature and marked him for their own; and with a keen +realization of this he had often wondered in bitterness whether they did +not classify him correctly. + +"I'll wager that if you stay here a year you'll never leave," said +Raridan, as they went downstairs together. "I've been about a good deal, +and know that we who live here miss a lot of comfort and amusement which +go as a matter of course in older towns. But there's a roominess and +expansiveness about things out here that I like, and I believe most men +who strike it early enough like it, and are lonesome for it if they go +away. These people here think I stay because my few business interests +are here. The truth is that I've tried running away, but after I've +spent a week east of the Alleghanies, I'm sated with the fleshpots and +pine for the wilderness. Why, I go to the stockyards now and then just +to see the train-loads of steers come in. I get sensations out of the +rush and drive of all this that I wouldn't take a good deal for." + +"I think I understand how you feel about it," said Saxton, looking more +closely at this young man, who was not ashamed to mention his sensations +of sentiment to a stranger. "There were times in Wyoming when Western +life seemed pretty arid, but when I went back to Boston I was homesick +for Cheyenne." + +"That's a far cry, from Boston to Cheyenne," said Raridan, laughing. He +began again volubly: "A good deal depends, I suppose, on which end you +cry from. There's a lot of talk these days about the _nouveaux riches_ +by people who haven't any more French than that. We are advised by a +fairly competent poet that men may climb on stepping-stones of their +dead selves to higher things; but if they climb on the pickled remains +of the common or garden pig I don't see anything ignoble about it. I'd a +lot rather ascend on a pyramid of Minnehaha Hams than on my dead self, +which I hope to avoid using for step-ladder purposes as long as +possible. The people here are human beings, and they're all good enough +to suit me. I'd as lief be descended from a canvased ham as an Astor +peltry or a Vanderbilt steamboat. And I'm tired of the jokes in the +barber-shop comic weeklies, about the rich Westerners who make a vulgar +display of themselves in New York. If we do it, it's merely because +we're doing in Rome as the Romans do. These same shampoo and hair-cut +humorists are unable to get away from their jests about the homicidal +tendencies of Western barkeepers and the woolliness of the cowboys. +Those anemic commuters down there know no higher joy than a Weber & +Fields matinee or a Rogers Brothers on the Bronx first-night. Sometimes +I feel moved to grow a line of whiskers and add my barbaric yawp to the +long howl of the Populist wolf. But, you know," he added, suddenly +lowering his voice, "I reserve the right to abuse my fellow citizens +when I love them most. I tore Populism to tatters last fall in a few +speeches they let me make in the back counties. Our central committee +hadn't anything to lose out there. That's why they sent me!" + +Saxton was walking beside Raridan in the lower hall. He felt an impulse +to express gratitude for his rescue from the loneliness of the twilight; +but Raridan, talking incessantly, and with hands thrust easily into his +trousers' pockets, led the way into the reading-room. + +"Hello, Wheaton, I didn't know you were at home," he called to a man who +sat reading a newspaper, and who now rose on seeing a stranger with +Raridan. + +"This is Mr. Saxton, Mr. Wheaton." + +"Oh, yes," said the man introduced as Wheaton. "I wondered whether I +shouldn't see you here. Mr. Porter told me you had come." + +"I've been bringing Mr. Saxton up to date in local history," said +Raridan. + +"Chiefly concerning yourself, I suppose," said Wheaton, with a smile +that did not wholly succeed in being amiable. + +"It isn't often I get a chance at a brand new man," Raridan ran on. +"I've told the worst about you, so conduct yourself accordingly." + +"Mr. Raridan's worst isn't very bad," said Saxton. "From his account of +this town and its people, the place must be paradise and the inhabitants +saints." + +Raridan called for cigars, but Wheaton declined them. + +"Remarkable fellow," said Raridan, busy with his match. "Paragon among +our business men; exemplary habits, and so forth." He waved the smoking +matchstick to imply virtues in Wheaton which it was unnecessary to +mention. + +Wheaton ignored Raridan's chaffing way. He seemed very serious, and had +not much to say. He had just come home, from a tedious trip to the +western part of the state, he said, on an errand for his bank. He was +tall, slim and dark. There was a suggestion of sleepy indifference in +his black eyes, though he had a well-established reputation for energy +and industry. Saxton commented to himself that Wheaton's hands and feet +were smaller than he thought becoming in a man. + +"Mr. Porter told me you were quartered here. I hope they can make you +comfortable. I'm personally relieved that you have come. Your Boston +friends were getting very impatient with us. We shall do all in our +power to aid you; but of course Mr. Porter has said all that to you." +His smile was by a movement of the lips, and his eyes did not seem to +participate in it. He did not refer again to possible business relations +with Saxton, but turned the conversation into general channels. They sat +together for an hour, Raridan, as was his way in any company, doing most +of the talking. They seemed to have the club house to themselves. Now +and then one of the negro servants came and looked in upon them +sleepily. A clerk at the desk in the hall read in peace. A party of +young people could be heard entering by the side door set apart for +women; and muffled echoes of their gaiety reached the trio in the +reading-room. + +"That's back in the incurables' ward," said Raridan, in explanation to +Saxton. + +"It isn't nice of you to speak of the gentler sex in that way," +admonished Wheaton. + +"Oh, there are girls and girls," said Raridan wearily. "It does seem to +me that Mabel Margrave is always hungry. Why can't she do her eating at +home?" + +"He's simply jealous," Wheaton remarked to Saxton. "He always acts that +way when he hears a girl in the ladies' dining-room, and doesn't dare go +back and break in on some other fellow's party." + +"When you show signs of mental decay, it's time for us to go home, +Wheaton." Raridan held out his hand to Saxton. "I'm glad you're here, +and you may be sure we'll try to make you like us. Wheaton and I live in +a barracks around the corner, with a few other homeless wanderers. An +ill-favored thing,--but our own! I hope to see you there. Don't be +afraid of the Chinaman at the door. My cell is up one flight and to the +right." + +"And don't overlook me there," Wheaton interposed. "I suppose we shall +see you down town very often. Mr. Raridan is the only man in Clarkson +who has no visible means of support. The rest of us are pretty busy; but +that doesn't mean that we shan't be glad to see you at the Clarkson +National." + +"You see how intensely commercial he is," said Raridan. "He's talking +for the bank, you notice, and not for himself." + +"I'm sure he means both." Saxton had followed them to the front door, +where they repeated their good nights; he then climbed slowly to his +room. He had never before met a man so volatile and fanciful as Warrick +Raridan. He felt the warmth and friendliness of Raridan's nature as +people always did; Wheaton seemed cold and dull in comparison. Saxton +unpacked his trunks and distributed his things about the room. His +effects were simple, as befitted a man who was plain of mind and person. +He had collected none of the memorabilia which young men usually have +assembled at twenty-five. The furnishings of his dressing table and desk +were his own purchases, or those of his sister, who was the only woman +that had ever made him gifts. Having emptied his trunks and sent them to +the storeroom above, he seated himself comfortably in a lounging chair +and smoked a final pipe before turning in. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +SWEET PEAS + + +When he confided to John Saxton his belief that there were those among +his fellow townsmen who thought him "crooked," William Porter had no +serious idea that such was the case. He had, however, an impression that +the term "crooked" implied a high degree of sagacity and shrewdness. He +knew men in other cities whose methods were, to put it mildly, indirect, +and their names were synonymous with success. It pleased him to think +that he was of their order, and he was rich enough to indulge this +idiosyncrasy without fear of the criticisms of his neighbors. It amused +him to quiz customers of his bank, though he took care not to estrange +them. While his fellow citizens never seriously reflected on his +integrity, yet they did say that "Billy" Porter knew his business; that +he was "on to his job"; or, that to get ahead of him one must "get up +early in the morning". "Billy Porter's luck" was a significant phrase in +Clarkson. Porter had occasionally scored phenomenal successes, until his +legitimate credit as a man of business was reinforced by this +reputation. He believed that he enjoyed the high favor of fortune, and +it lent assurance to his movements. + +Porter lived well, as became a first citizen of Clarkson. His house +stood at the summit of a hill near the end of Varney Street, and the +gradual slope leading up to it was a pretty park, whose lawn and +shrubbery showed the intelligent care of a good gardener. The dry air +was still hot as John Saxton climbed the cement walk which wound over +the slope at the proper degree to bring the greatest comfort to +pedestrians. The green of the lawn was grateful to Saxton's eyes, which +dwelt with relief on the fine spray of the rotary sprinklers that hissed +coolly at the end of long lines of hose. Interspersed among the +indigenous scrub-oaks were elms, maples and cedars, and the mottled bark +of white birches showed here and there. The lawn was broken by beds of +cannas, and it was evident that the owner of the place had a taste for +landscape gardening and spent his money generously in cultivating it. +The house itself was of red brick dating from those years in which a +Mansard roof and a tower were thought indispensable in serious domestic +architecture. There was a broad veranda on the river side, accessible +through French windows of the same architectural period. + +A maid admitted Saxton and left him to find his own way into the +drawing-room, through which a breeze was blowing pleasantly from across +the valley. The ceilings in the house were high and the hardwood floors +seemed inconsonant with them and had evidently been added at a later +date. A white marble mantel and the grate beneath it were hidden by +palms. Above the mantel was a large mirror framed in heavy gilt. A piano +formed a barricade across the lower end of the room. One wall was +covered with a wonderful old French tapestry depicting a fierce +hand-to-hand battle in which the warriors and their horses were greatly +confused. + +Saxton sat in a deep wicker chair, mopping his forehead. He had spent a +busy day, and it was with real satisfaction that he found himself in a +cool house where the atmosphere of comfort and good taste brought ease +to all his senses. He had not expected to find so pleasant a house; +verily, the marks of philistinism were not upon it. It seemed to him +unlikely that Porter maintained solitary state here, and he wondered who +could be the other members of the household. The maid had disappeared +into the silent depths of the house without waiting for his name, and +did not return. His eyes moved again in leisurely fashion to the wall +before him, and to the mirror, which reflected nothing of his immediate +surroundings, but disclosed the shelves and books of a room on the +opposite side of the hall. + +He was amusing himself in speculations as to what manner of library a +man like Porter would have, and whether he read anything but the +newspapers, when the shadow of a young woman crept into the mirror; she +stood placing flowers in a vase on a table in the center of the room. He +thought for a moment that a figure from a painting had given a pretty +head and a pair of graceful shoulders to the mirror. In the room where +he sat the frames contained peasants in sabots, generous panels of +Hudson River landscape, a Detaille and an Inness. He changed the +direction of his eyes to inspect again the Brittany girl that stood +looking out over the sea in the manner of Brittany girls in pictures. +The girl in the mirror was not the same; moreover, he could hear her +humming softly; her head moved gracefully; there was no question of her +reality. Her hands had brought a bunch of sweet peas within the mirror's +compass, and were detaching a part of them for the vase by which she +stood. She hummed on in her absorption, bending again, so that Saxton +lost sight of her; then she stood upright, holding the unused flowers as +if uncertain what to do with them. The head flashed out of the mirror, +which reflected again only the library shelves and books. Then he heard +a light step crossing the hall, and the girl, still singing softly to +herself, passed back of him to a little stand which stood by one of the +drawing-room windows. The back of the wicker chair hid him; she was +wholly unconscious that any one was there. The breath of the sweet peas +which she was distributing suddenly sweetened the cool air of the room. +Seeing that the girl did not know of his presence in the house, and that +she would certainly discover him when she turned to go, he rose and +faced her. + +"I beg your pardon!" + +"Oh!" The sweet peas fell to the floor, and the girl looked anxiously +toward the hall door. + +"I beg your pardon," Saxton repeated. "I think--I fear--I wasn't +announced. But I believe that Mr. Porter is expecting me." + +"Yes?" The girl looked at John for the first time. He was taking the +situation seriously, and was sincerely sorry for having startled her. +His breadth of shoulders was impressive; he was clad in gray homespun, +and there seemed to be a good deal of it in the room. His smooth-shaven +face was sunburned. She thought he might be an Englishman. He was of the +big blond English type common in the American cattle country. + +"Father will be here very soon, I think." She moved toward the door +with dignity, ignoring the fallen flowers, and Saxton stepped forward +and picked them up. + +"Allow me." The girl took them from him, a little uncertainly and +guardedly, then returned to the vase and placed the flowers in it. + +"Thank you very much," she said. "I think I hear my father now." She +went to the outer door and opened it, inclining her head slightly as she +passed John, who also heard Mr. Porter's voice outside. He was +remonstrating with the gardener about the position of the sprinklers, +which he wished reset in keeping with ideas of his own. + +"Well, Evelyn?" he said, as he came up the steps. Saxton could hear the +young woman making an explanation in low tones to her father. He knew, +of course, that she was telling him that some one was waiting, and Mr. +Porter stood suddenly in the door with his hat still on his head. + +"Well, this beats me," he began effusively, coming forward and wringing +Saxton's hand. "This beats me! I'm not going to try to explain. I simply +forgot, that's all." He took Saxton's arm and turned him toward the door +where the girl still stood, smiling. + +"Evelyn, this is Mr. Saxton. He's come to dine with us. Bless my soul! +but I forgot all about it. See here, Evelyn, you've got to square this +for me," he concluded, and pushed his hat back from his forehead as he +appealed to her. + +[Illustration] + +She came forward and shook hands with Saxton. + +"I don't know how it can be 'squared.' This is only one of father's +lapses, Mr. Saxton. You may be sure he didn't mean to do it." + +"No, indeed," declared Porter, "but I'm ashamed of myself. Guess I'm +losing my wits." He waved the young people to seats with his hat, as if +anxious to have the apologies over as quickly as possible. "Positively +no reflection,--no, sir. Why, the last time it happened--" + +"A week ago to-night," his daughter interpolated. + +"The victim was the lord mayor of somewhere, who was passing through +town, and I asked him and his gang for dinner, and actually didn't +telephone to the house about it until half-past five in the afternoon. +I'm losing my wits, that's all." He continued to paint his social +crimes, while his daughter disappeared to correct his latest error by +having a plate laid for the unannounced guest. When she returned he left +the room, but reappeared at the lower door of the drawing-room, still +holding his hat, and exclaimed sharply: "Evelyn, I'm sure I must have +told you about Mr. Saxton being here when we were talking of the +Poindexter place last night. I told you some one was coming out to take +charge of those things." + +"Very well, father," she said patiently, turning toward him. He again +vanished into the hall having, he thought, justified himself before his +guest. + +"This is one of our standing jokes, you see, and father feels that he +must defend himself. I was away for so long and father lived down town +until his domestic instinct has suffered." + +"But I'm sure he hasn't lost his instinct of hospitality," said Saxton. + +"No; but it's his instinct of consideration for the housekeeper that's +blunted." She was still smiling over the incident in a way that had the +effect of including Saxton as a party to the joke, rather than as its +victim. He found himself feeling altogether comfortable and was able to +lead off into a discussion of the heat and of the appearance of the +grounds, which he pronounced charming. + +"Oh, that's father's great delight," she said. "I tell him he's far more +interested in the grounds than the house. He's an easy prey to the +compilers of flower catalogues, and people who sell trees go to him +first; then they never need to go any farther. He always buys them out!" + +They were touching upon the beneficence of Arbor Day when Porter +returned with an appearance of clean cuffs and without his hat, and +launched into statistics as to the number of trees that had been planted +in the state by school children during the past year. The maid came to +announce dinner, and Porter talked on as he led the way to the +dining-room. As they were taking their seats a boy of twelve took the +place opposite Saxton. + +"This is my brother Grant," said Miss Porter. The boy was shy and silent +and looked frail. The efforts of his sister to bring him into the talk +were fruitless. When his father or sister spoke to him it was with an +accented kindness. He would not talk before a stranger; but his face +brightened at the humor of the others. + +There was a round table very prettily set with glass candlesticks at the +four plates and a bowl of sweet peas in the center. Porter began a +discussion of some problems relating to improvements and changes in the +grounds, talking directly across to his daughter, as she served the +soup. Her manner with him was very gentle. She added "father" to most of +her sentences in addressing him, and there was a kind of caress in the +word as she spoke it. Her head, whose outlines had seemed graceful to +Saxton as he studied them in the mirror, was now disclosed fully in the +soft candle-light of the table. She had a pretty way of bending forward +when she spoke which was characteristic and quite in keeping with the +frankness of her speech; there was no hint of coquetry or archness about +her. Her eyes, which Saxton had thought blue in the drawing-room, were +now gray by candle-light. She was very like her father; she had his +clear-cut features, though softened and refined, and thoroughly +feminine. His eyes were smaller, and there was a quizzical, furtive play +of humor in them, which hers lacked. William Porter always seemed to be +laughing at you; his daughter laughed with you. You might question the +friendliness of her father's quiet joking sometimes, but there was +nothing equivocal in her smile or speech. + +A woman who is not too subservient to fashion may reveal a good deal of +herself in the way she wears her hair. The straight part in Evelyn +Porter's seemed to be akin to her clear, frank eyes, contributing to an +impression of simplicity and directness. The waves came down upon her +forehead and then retreated quickly to each side, as if they had been +conscious intruders there, and were only secure when they found refuge +in the knot that was gathered low behind. There was in her hair that +pretty ripple which men are reluctant to believe is acquired by +processes in which nature has little part. The result in Evelyn's case +was to give the light a better playground, and it caught and brightened +wherever a ripple held it. Her arms were bare from the elbow and there +were suppleness and strength in their firm outlines; her hands were long +and slender and had known vigorous service with racket and driver. + +Porter was full of a scheme for planting a line of poplars around some +lots, which, it seemed, he owned in another part of the town; but he +dropped this during a prolonged absence of the waitress from the room, +to ask where the girl had gone and whether there was going to be any +more dinner. + +"It's bad enough, child, for us to forget we've got a guest for dinner, +but we needn't rub it in by starving him after he's at the table." + +"There is food out there, father, if you'll abide in patience. This is a +new girl and she's pretty green. She let Mr. Saxton in and then forgot +to tell anybody he'd come." She wished to touch on this, without +recurring to the awkward plight in which Saxton had been placed; and +John now seized the chance to minimize it so that the incident might be +closed. + +"Oh, it was very flattering to me! She left me alone with an air that +implied my familiar acquaintance with the house. It was much kinder than +asking for credentials." + +"You're not hard enough on these people, Evelyn," declared Porter. +"That's something they didn't teach you at college. If you let the +impression get out that you're easy, you'll never make a housekeeper. +Fire them! fire them whenever you find they're no good!" He looked to +Saxton for corroboration, with a severe air, as if this were something +that masculine minds understood but which was beyond the reach of women. + +When all were served he grew abstracted as he ate, and Saxton appealed +to his hostess, as one college graduate may appeal to another, along the +line of their college experiences. They had, it appeared, several +acquaintances in common, and Saxon recalled that some of his classmates +had often visited the college in which Miss Porter had been a student; +and a little of the old ache crept into his heart as he remembered the +ways in which the social side of college life had meant so much less to +him than to most of the men he knew; but as she talked freely of her own +experience, he found that her humor was contagious, and he even fell so +far under its spell as to recount anecdotes of his own student life in +which his part had not been heroic. Porter came back occasionally from +the land of his commercial dreams, and they all laughed together at the +climaxes. He presently directed the talk to the cattle business. + +"You'd better get Mr. Saxton to tell you how much fun ranching is," he +said, turning to the boy, who at once became interested in Saxton. + +"I'm going to be a ranchman," the lad declared. "Father's going to buy +me the Poindexter ranch some day." + +"That's one of Mr. Saxton's properties. Maybe he'd trade it to you for a +tin whistle." + +"Is it as bad as that?" asked Saxton. + +"Just wait until you see it. It's pretty bad." + +"The house must have been charming," said Miss Porter. + +"And that's about all it was," replied her father. + +The dinner ended with a salad. This was not an incident but an event. +The highest note of civilization is struck when a salad is dressed by a +master of the chemistry of gastronomy. The clumsy and unworthy hesitate +in the performance of this sacred rite, and are never sure of their +proportions; the oil refuses intimacy with the vinegar, and sulks and +selfishly creates little yellow isles for itself in the estranging sea +of acid. The salt becomes indissoluble and the paprika is irrecoverable +flotsam. The clove of garlic, always recalcitrant under clumsy handling, +refuses to impart the merest hint of its wild tang, but the visible and +tangible world reeks with it. It was a joy to John Saxton to see the +deftness with which Evelyn Porter performed her miracle; he did not know +much about girls, but he surmised that a girl who composed a salad +dressing with such certainty did many things gracefully and well. There +were no false starts, no "ohs" of regret and appeal, no questions of +quantity. The light struck goldenly on the result as she poured it +finally upon the crisply-curling lettuce leaves which showed discreetly +over the edge of a deep Doulton bowl. It seemed to him high treason that +his host should decline the dressing thus produced by an art which +realized the dreams of alchemy, and should pour vinegar from the cruet +with his own hand upon the helpless leaves. + +Porter demanded cigars before the others had finished, and smoked over +his coffee. He was in a hurry to leave, and at the earliest possible +moment led the way to the veranda, picking up his hat as he stepped +blithely along. + +It was warmer outside than in, but Porter pretended that it was +pleasanter out of doors, and insisted that there was always a breeze on +the hill at night. He ran on in drawling monologue about the weather +conditions, and how much cooler it was in Clarkson than at the summer +places which people foolishly sought at the expense of home comforts. He +made his shy boy report his experiences of the day. In addressing the +lad he fell into his quizzical manner, but the boy understood it and +yielded to it with the same submission that his father's customers +adopted when they sought a loan and knew that Porter must prod them with +immaterial questions, and irritate them with petty ironies, before he +finally scribbled his initials in the corner of their notes and passed +them over to the discount clerk. + +Raridan appeared at the step presently. They all rose as he came up, and +he said to Saxton as he shook hands with him last: "I see you've found +the way to headquarters. All roads lead up to this Alpine height,--and I +fear--I fear--that all roads lead down again," he added, with a doleful +sigh, and laughed. He drew out his cigarettes and began making himself +greatly at home. He assured Mr. Porter, with amiable insolence, that his +veranda chairs were the most uncomfortable ones he knew, and went to +fetch himself a better seat from the hall. + +"Mr. Raridan likes to be comfortable," said Miss Porter in his absence. + +"But he finds pleasure in making others comfortable, too," Saxton +ventured. + +"Oh, he's the very kindest of men," Miss Porter affirmed. + +"What a nuisance you are, Warry," said Porter, as the young man fussed +about to find a place for his chair. "We were all very easy here till +you came. Even the breeze has died out." + +"Father insists that there has been a breeze," said Miss Porter. "But it +really has gone." + +"_Et tu, Brute?_ What we ought to do, Mr. Porter," said Raridan, who had +at last settled himself, "is to organize a company to supply breezes. +'The Clarkson Breeze Company, Limited.' I can see the name on the +factory now, in my mind's eye. We'd get up an ice trust first, then +bring in the ice cream people and make vast fortunes out of it, besides +becoming benefactors of our kind. The ice and the ice cream would pay +for the cold air; our cold air service would bring a clear profit. We'd +guarantee a temperature through the summer months of, say, seventy +degrees." + +"Then," Porter drawled, "the next thing would be to get the doctors in, +for a pneumonia branch; and after that the undertakers would demand +admission, and then the tombstone people. You're a bright young man, +Warry. I heard you stringing that Englishman at the club the other day +about your scheme for piping water from the Atlantic Ocean to irrigate +the American desert, and he thought you meant it." + +"Then we'll all suffer," Miss Porter declared, "for he'll go home and +put it in a book, and there'll be no end of it." + +Raridan was in gay spirits. He had come from a call on a young married +couple who had just gone to housekeeping. He had met there a +notoriously awkward young man, who moved through Clarkson houses leaving +ruin in his wake. + +"There ought to be some way of insuring against Whitely," said Raridan, +musingly. "Perhaps a social casualty company could be formed to protect +people from his depredations. You know, Mr. Saxton, they've really had +to cut him off from refreshments at parties,--he was always spilling +salads on the most expensive gowns in town. And these poor young married +things, with their wedding loot huddled about them in their little +parlors! There is a delightful mathematical nicety in the way he sweeps +a tea table with his coat tails. He never leaves enough for a sample. +But this was the worst! You know that polar bear skin that Mamie Shepard +got for a wedding present; well, it makes her house look like a +menagerie. Whitely was backing out--a thing I've begged him never to +try--and got mixed up with the head of that monster; kicked all the +teeth out, started to fall, gathered in the hat rack, broke the glass +out of it, and before Shepard could head him off, he pulled down the +front door shade." + +"But Mr. Whitely sings beautifully," urged Miss Porter. + +"He'd have to," said Warry, "with those feet." + +"You needn't mind what Raridan says," Mr. Porter remarked. "He's very +unreliable." + +"The office of social censor is always an ungrateful one," Raridan +returned, dolefully. "But I really don't know what you'd do without me +here." + +"I notice that you never give us a chance to try," said Mr. Porter, +dryly. + +"That is the unkindest cut; and in the shadow of your own house, too." + +Saxton got up to go presently and Raridan rose with him, declaring that +they had been terribly severe and that he could not be left alone with +them. + +"I hope you'll overlook that little slip of mine," said Mr. Porter, as +he shook hands with Saxton. "You'd better not tell Raridan about it. It +would be terrible ammunition in his hands." + +"And we'll all do better next time," said Miss Porter; "so do come again +to show that you don't treasure it against us." + +"I don't know that anything's happened," pleaded John, "except that I've +had a remarkably good time." + +"I fear that's more generous than just; but the next time I hope the +maid will do better." + +"And next time I hope I shan't frighten you," Saxton went on. Raridan +and Mr. Porter had walked down the long veranda to the steps, and Saxton +and Miss Porter were following. + +"Oh, but you didn't!" the girl laughed at him. + +"But you dropped the flowers--" + +"But you shouldn't have noticed! It wasn't gallant!" + +They had reached the others, and Raridan broke in with his good night, +and he and Saxton went down the walk together. + +"They seem to have struck up an acquaintance," observed Mr. Porter, +settling himself to a fresh cigar. + +"Mr. Saxton is very nice," said Evelyn. + +"Oh, he's all right," said her father, easily. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AT POINDEXTER'S + + +John Saxton trotted his pony through a broken gate into a great yard +that had once been sown in blue grass, and at the center of which lay +the crumbled ruins of a fountain. This was clearly no ordinary +establishment, as he had been warned, and he was uncertain how to hail +it. However, before he could make his presence known, a frowsy man in +corduroy emerged from the great front door and came toward him. + +"My name's Saxton, and you must be Snyder." + +"Correct," said the man and they shook hands. + +"Going to stay a while?" + +"A day or two." John threw down the slicker in which he had wrapped a +few articles from his bag at Great River, the nearest railway station. + +"I got your letter all right," said Snyder. "Walk in and help yourself." +He led the pony toward the outbuildings, while Saxton filled his pipe +and viewed the pile before him with interest. He had been making a +careful inspection of all the properties that had fallen to his care. +This had necessitated a good deal of traveling. He had begun in Colorado +and worked eastward, going slowly, and getting the best advice +obtainable as to the value of his principals' holdings. Much of their +property was practically worthless. Title had been gained under +foreclosure to vast areas which had no value. A waterworks plant stood +in the prairie where there had once been a Kansas town. The place was +depopulated and the smokestack stood as a monument to blighted hopes. +Ranch houses were inhabited by squatters, who had not been on his books +at all, and who paid no tribute to Boston. He was viewed with suspicion +by these tenants, and on inquiry at the county seats, he found generally +that they were lawless men, and that it would be better for him to let +them alone. It was patent that they would not pay rent, and to eject +them merely in the maintenance of a principle involved useless expense +and violence. + +"This certainly beats them all," Saxton muttered aloud. + +He had reached in his itinerary what his papers called the Poindexter +property. He had found that the place was famous throughout this part of +the country for the idiosyncrasies of its sometime owners, three young +men who had come out of the East to show how the cattle business should +be managed. They had secured an immense acreage and built a stone ranch +house whose curious architecture imparted to the Platte Valley a touch +of medievalism that was little appreciated by the neighboring cattlemen. +One of the owners, a Philadelphian named Poindexter, who had a weakness +for architecture and had studied the subject briefly at his university, +contributed the buildings and his two associates bought the cattle. +There were one thousand acres of rolling pasture here, much of it lying +along the river, and a practical man could hardly have failed to +succeed; but theft, disease in the herd and inexperience in buying and +selling, had wrought the ranchmen's destruction. Before their money was +exhausted, Poindexter and his associates lived in considerable state, +and entertained the friends who came to see them according to the best +usages of Eastern country life within, and their own mild approximation +of Western life without. Tom Poindexter's preceptor in architecture, an +elderly gentleman with a sense of humor, had found a pleasure which he +hardly dared to express in the medieval tone of the house and buildings. + +"All you need, Tom," he said, "to make the thing complete, is a +drawbridge and a moat. The possibilities are great in the light of +modern improvements in such things. An electric drawbridge, operated +solely by switches and buttons, would be worth while." The folly of man +seems to express itself naturally in the habitations which he builds for +himself; the folly of Tom Poindexter had been of huge dimensions and he +had built a fairly permanent monument to it. He and his associates began +with an ambition to give tone to the cattle business, and if novel ideas +could have saved them, they would not have failed. One of their happy +notions was to use Poindexter's coat of arms as a brand, and this was +only abandoned when their foreman declared that no calf so elaborately +marked could live. They finally devised an insignium consisting of the +Greek Omega in a circle of stars. + +"There's a remnant of the Poindexter herd out there somewhere," Wheaton +had said to Saxton. "The fellow Snyder, that I put in as a caretaker, +ought to have gathered up the loose cattle by this time; that's what I +told him to do when I put him there." + +Saxton turned and looked out over the rolling plain. A few rods away lay +the river, and where it curved nearest the house stood a group of +cottonwoods, like sentinels drawn together for colloquy. Scattered here +and there over the plain were straggling herds. On a far crest of the +rolling pastures a lonely horseman paused, sharply outlined for a moment +against the sky; in another direction, a blur drew his eyes to where a +group of the black Polled Angus cattle grazed, giving the one blot of +deep color to the plain. + +Snyder reappeared, and Saxton followed him into the house. + +"It isn't haunted or anything like that?" John asked, glancing over the +long hall. + +"No. They have a joke about that at Great River. They say the only +reason is that there ain't any idiot ghosts." + +There was much in the place to appeal to Saxton's quiet humor. The house +was two stories high and there was a great hall, with an immense +fireplace at one end. The sleeping rooms opened on a gallery above the +hall. An effort had been made to give the house the appearance of +Western wildness by introducing a great abundance of skins of wild +beasts,--a highly dishonest bit of decorating, for they had been bought +in Chicago. How else, indeed, would skins of German boars and Polar +bears be found in a ranch house on the Platte River! Under one wing of +the stairway, which divided to left and right at the center of the hall, +was the dining-room; under the other was the ranch office. + +"Those fellows thought a good deal of their stomachs," said Snyder, as +Saxton opened and shut the empty drawers of the sideboard, which had +been built into one end of the western wall of the room, in such a +manner that a pane of glass, instead of a mirror, filled the center. The +intention of this was obviously to utilize the sunset for decorative +purposes, and Saxton chuckled as he comprehended the idea. + +"I suppose our mortgage covers the sunset, too," he said. Nearly every +portable thing of value had been removed, and evidently in haste; but +the heavy oak chairs and the table remained. Snyder did his own modest +cooking in the kitchen, which was in great disorder. The floor of the +office was littered with scraps of paper. The original tenants had +evidently made a quick settlement of their business affairs before +leaving. Snyder slept here; his blanket lay in a heap on the long bench +that was built into one side of the room, and a battered valise +otherwise marked it as his lodging place. Saxton viewed the room with +disgust; it was more like a kennel than a bedroom. His foot struck +something on the floor; it was a silver letter-seal bearing the peculiar +Poindexter brand, and he thrust it into his pocket with a laugh. + +"My ranching wasn't so bad after all," he muttered. + +"What's that?" asked Snyder, who was stolidly following him about. + +"Nothing. If you have a pony we'll take a ride around the fences." + +They spent the day in the saddle riding over the range. The ridiculous +character of the Poindexter undertaking could not spoil the real value +of the land. There was, Saxton could see, the making here of a great +farming property; he felt his old interest in outdoor life quickening as +he rode back to the house in the evening. + +Snyder cooked supper for both of them, while Saxton repaired a decrepit +windmill which had been designed to supply the house with water. He had +formed a poor opinion of the caretaker, who seemed to know nothing of +the property and who had, as far as he could see, no well defined +duties. The man struck him as an odd person for the bank to have chosen +to be the custodian of a ranch property. There was nothing for any one +to do unless the range were again stocked and cattle raising undertaken +as a serious business. Saxton was used to rough men and their ways. He +had a happy faculty of adapting himself to the conversational capacities +of illiterate men, and enjoyed drawing them out and getting their point +of view; but Snyder's was not a visage that inspired confidence. He had +a great shock of black hair and a scraggy beard. He lacked an eye, and +he had a habit of drawing his head around in order to accommodate his +remaining orb to any necessity. He did this with an insinuating kind of +deliberation that became tiresome in a long interview. + +"This place is too fancy to be of much use," the man vouchsafed, puffing +at his pipe. "You may find some dude that wants to plant money where +another dude has dug the first hole; but I reckon you'll have a hard +time catching him. A real cattleman wouldn't care for all this house. It +might be made into a stable, but a horse would look ridiculous in here. +You might have a corn crib made out of it; or it would do for a hotel if +you could get dudes to spend the summer here; but I reckon it's a +little hot out here for summer boarders." + +"The only real value is in the land," said Saxton. "I'm told there's no +better on the river. The house is a handicap, or would be so regarded by +the kind of men who make money out of cattle. Have you ever tried +rounding up the cattle that strayed through the fences? The Poindexter +crowd must have branded their last calves about two years ago. Assuming +that only a part of them was sold or run off, there ought to be some +two-year-olds still loose in this country and they'd be worth finding." + +Snyder took his pipe from his mouth and snorted. "Yer jokin' I guess. +These fellers around here are good fellers, and all that, but I guess +they don't give anything back. I guess we ain't got any cattle coming to +us." + +"You think you'd rather not try it?" + +"Not much!" was the expressive reply. The fellow smoked slowly, bringing +his eye into position to see how Saxton had taken his answer. + +John was refilling his own pipe and did not look up. + +"Who've you been reporting to, Snyder?" + +"How's that?" + +"Who have you been considering yourself responsible to?" + +"Well, Jim Wheaton at the Clarkson National hired me, and I reckon I'd +report to him if I reported to anybody. But if you're going to run this +shebang and want to be reported to, I guess I can report to you." He +brought his turret around again and Saxton this time met his eye. + +"I want you to report to me," said John quietly. "In the first place I +want the house and the other buildings cleaned out. After that the +fences must be put in shape. And then we'll see if we can't find some of +our cows. You can't tell; we may open up a real ranch here and go into +business." + +Snyder was sprawling at his ease in a Morris chair, and had placed his +feet on a barrel. He did not seem interested in the activities hinted +at. + +"Well, if you're the boss I'll do it your way. I got along all right +with Wheaton." + +He did not say whether he intended to submit to authority or not, and +Saxton dropped the discussion. John rose and found a candle with which +he lighted himself to bed in one of the rooms above. The whole place was +dirty and desolate. The house had never been filled save once, and that +was on the occasion of a housewarming which Poindexter and his fellows +had given when they first took possession. One of their friends had +chartered a private car and had brought out a party of young men and +women, who had enlivened the house for a few days; but since then no +woman had entered the place. In the Poindexter days it had been +carefully kept, but now it was in a sorry plight. There had been a whole +year of neglect and vacancy, in which the house had been used as a +meeting place for the wilder spirits of the neighborhood, who had not +hesitated to carry off whatever pleased their fancy and could be put on +the back of a horse. Saxton chose for himself the least disorderly of +the rooms, in which the furniture was whole, and where there were even a +few books lying about. He determined to leave for Clarkson the following +morning, and formulated in his mind the result of his journey and plans +for the future of the incongruous combination of properties that had +been entrusted to him. He sat for an hour looking out over the moon-lit +valley. He followed the long sweep of the plain, through which he could +see for miles the bright ribbon of the river. A train of cars rumbled +far away, on the iron trail between the two oceans, intensifying the +loneliness of the strange house. + +"I seem to find only the lonely places," he said aloud, setting his +teeth hard into his pipe. + +In the morning he ate the breakfast of coffee, hard-tack and bacon which +Snyder prepared. + +"I guess you want me to hustle things up a little," said Snyder, more +amiably than on the day before. He turned his one eye and his grin on +Saxton, who merely said that matters must take a new turn, and that if a +ranch could be made out of the place there was no better time to begin +than the present. He had not formulated plans for the future, and could +not do so without the consent and approval of his principals; but he +meant to put the property in as good condition as possible without +waiting for instructions. Snyder rode with him to the railway station. + +"Give my regards to Mr. Wheaton," he said, as Saxton swung himself into +the train. "You'll find me here at the old stand when you come back." + +"A queer customer and undoubtedly a bad lot," was Saxton's reflection. + +When Saxton had written out the report of his trip he took it to +Wheaton, to get his suggestions before forwarding it to Boston. He +looked upon the cashier as his predecessor, and wished to avail himself +of Wheaton's knowledge of the local conditions affecting the several +properties that had now passed to his care. Wheaton undoubtedly wished +to be of assistance, and in their discussion of the report, the cashier +made many suggestions of value, of which Saxton was glad to avail +himself. + +"As to the Poindexter place," said Saxton finally, "I've been +advertising it for sale in the hope of finding a buyer, but without +results. The people at headquarters can't bother about the details of +these things, but I'm blessed if I can see why we should maintain a +caretaker. There's nothing there to take care of. That house is worse +than useless. I'm going back in a few days to see if I can't coax home +some of the cattle we're entitled to; they must be wandering over the +country,--if they haven't been rustled, and then I suppose we may as +well dispense with Snyder." + +He had used the plural pronoun out of courtesy to Wheaton, wishing him +to feel that his sanction was asked in any changes that were made. + +"I don't see that there's anything else to do," Wheaton answered. "I've +been to the ranch, and there's little personal property there worth +caring for. That man Snyder came along one day and asked for a job and I +sent him out there thinking he'd keep things in order until the Trust +Company sent its own representative here." + +There were times when Wheaton's black eyes contracted curiously, and +this was one of the times. + +"I don't like discharging a man that you've employed," Saxton replied. + +"Oh, that's all right. You can't keep him if he performs no service. +Don't trouble about him on my account. How soon are you going back +there?" + +"Next week some time." + +"Traveling about the country isn't much fun," Wheaton said, +sympathetically. + +"Oh, I rather like it," replied Saxton, putting on his hat. + +Saxton was not surprised when he returned to the ranch to find that +Snyder had made no effort to obey his instructions. He made his visit +unexpectedly, leaving the train at Great River, where he secured a horse +and rode over to the ranch. He reached the house in the middle of the +morning and found the front door bolted and barred on the inside. After +much pounding he succeeded in bringing Snyder to the door, evidently +both surprised and displeased at his interruption. + +"Howdy, boss," was the salutation of the frowsy custodian; "I wasn't +feeling just right to-day and was takin' a little nap." + +The great hall showed signs of a carousal. The dirt had increased since +Saxton's first appearance. Empty bottles that had been doing service as +candlesticks stood in their greasy shrouds on the table. Saxton sat down +on a keg, which had evidently been recently emptied, and lighted a pipe. +He resolved to make quick work of Snyder. + +"How many cattle have you rounded up since I was here?" he demanded. + +"Well, to tell the truth," began Snyder, "there ain't been much time for +doing that since you was here." + +"No; I suppose you were busy mending fences and cleaning house. Now you +have been drawing forty dollars a month for doing nothing. I'll treat +you better than you deserve and give you ten dollars bonus to get out. I +believe the pony in the corral belongs to you. We'll let it go at that. +Here's your money." + +"Well, I guess as Mr. Wheaton hired me, he'd better fire me," the fellow +began, bringing his eye to bear upon Saxton. + +"Yes, I spoke to Mr. Wheaton about you. He understands that you're to +go." + +"He does, does he?" Snyder replied with a sneer. "He must have forgot +that I had an arrangement with him by the year." + +"Well, it's all off," said Saxton, rising. He began throwing open the +windows and doors to let in fresh air, for the place was foul with the +stale fumes of whisky and tobacco. + +"Well, I guess I'll have to see Mr. Wheaton," Snyder retorted, finding +that Saxton was paying no further attention to him. He collected his few +belongings, watching in astonishment the violence with which Saxton was +gathering up and disposing of rubbish. + +"Going to clean up a little?" he asked, with his leer. + +"No, I'm just exercising for fun," replied Saxton. "If you're ready, +you'd better take your pony and skip." + +Snyder growled his resentment and moved toward the door with a bundle +under his arm and a saddle and bridle thrown over his shoulder. + +"I'll be up town to see Mr. Wheaton in a day or two," he declared, as he +slouched through the door. + +"He seems to be more interested in Wheaton than Wheaton is in him," +observed Saxton to himself. + +Saxton spent a week at Great River. He hired a man to repair fences and +put the house in order. He visited several of the large ranch owners and +asked them for aid in picking out the scattered remnants of the +Poindexter herd. Nearly all of them volunteered to help, with the result +that he collected about one hundred cattle and sold them at Great River +for cash. He expected to see or hear of Snyder in the town but the +fellow had disappeared. + +The fact was that Snyder had ridden over to the next station beyond +Great River for his spree, that place being to his liking because it was +beyond the jurisdiction of the sheriff whose headquarters were +maintained at Great River,--an official who took his office seriously, +and who had warned Snyder that his latest offense--getting drunk and +smashing a saloon sideboard--must not be repeated. After he had been +satisfactorily drunk for a week and had gambled away such of his fortune +as the saloonkeeper had not acquired in direct course of commerce, +Snyder came to himself sufficiently to send a telegram. Then he sat down +to wait, with something of the ease of spirit with which an honest man +sends forth a sight draft for collection from a town where he is a +stranger, and awaits returns in the full enjoyment of the comforts of +his inn. + +On the third day, receiving no message from the outside world, Snyder +sold his pony and took the train for Clarkson. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +DEBATABLE QUESTIONS + + +Evelyn Porter had come home in June to take her place as mistress of her +father's house. The fact that she alone of the girls belonging to +families of position in the town had gone to college had set her a +little apart from the others. During her four years at Smith she had +evinced no unusual interest in acquiring knowledge; she was a fair +student only and had been graduated without honors save those which her +class had admiringly bestowed on her. She had entered into social and +athletic diversions with zest and had been much more popular with her +fellow students than with the faculty. She brought home no ambition save +to make her father's home as comfortable as possible. She said to +herself that she would keep up her French and German, and straightway +put books within reach to this end. She had looked with wonder unmixed +with admiration upon the strenuous woman as she had seen her, full of +ambition to remake the world in less than six days; and she dreaded the +type with the dread natural in a girl of twenty-two who has a sound +appetite, a taste in clothes, with money to gratify it, and a liking for +fresh air and sunshine. + +She found it pleasant to slip back into the life of the town; and the +girl friends or older women who met her on summer mornings in the +shopping district of Clarkson, remarked to one another and reported to +their sons and husbands, that Evelyn Porter was at home to stay, and +that she was just as cordial and friendly as ever and had no airs. It +pleased Evelyn to find that the clerks in the shops remembered her and +called her by name; and there was something homelike and simple and +characteristic in the way women that met in the shops visited with one +another in these places. She caught their habit of going into Vortini's +for soda water, where she found her acquaintances of all ages sitting at +tables, with their little parcels huddled in their laps, discussing +absentees and the weather. She found, in these encounters, that most of +the people she knew were again agitated, as always at this season, +because Clarkson was no cooler than in previous years; and that the +women were expressing their old reluctance to leave their husbands, who +could not get away for more than two weeks, if at all. Some were already +preparing for Mackinac or Oconomowoc or Wequetonsing, and a few of the +more adventurous for the remoter coasts of New Jersey and Massachusetts. +The same people were discussing these same questions in the same old +spirit, and, when necessary, confessing with delightful frankness their +financial disabilities, in excusing their presence in town at a season +when it was only an indulgence of providence that all the inhabitants +did not perish from the heat. + +As a child Evelyn had played in the tower of the house on the hill, and +she now made a den of it. Some of her childish playthings were still +hidden away in the window seat, and stirred freshly the remembrance of +her mother,--her gentleness, her frailty, her interest in the world's +work. She often wondered whether the four years at college had realized +all that her dead mother had hoped for; but she was not morbid, and she +did not brood. She found a pleasure in stealing up to the tower in the +summer nights, and watching the shifting lights of the great railway +yards far down the valley, but at such times she had no romantic +visions. She knew that the fitful bell of the switch engine and the +rumble of wheels symbolized the very practical life of this restless +region in which she had been born. She cherished no delusion that she +was a princess in a tower, waiting for a lover to come riding from east +or west. She had always shared with her companions the young men who +visited her at college. When they sometimes sent her small gifts, she +had shared these also. Warrick Raridan had gone to see her several +times, as an old friend, and he had on these occasions, with +characteristic enterprise, made the most of the opportunity to widen his +acquaintance among Evelyn's friends, to whom she frankly introduced him. + +On the day following John Saxton's introduction to the house, Evelyn was +busy pouring oil on rusty places in the domestic machinery, when three +cards were brought up to her bearing unfamiliar names. They belonged, +she imagined, to some of the newer people of the town who had come to +Clarkson during her years from home. + +"Mrs. Atherton?" she said inquiringly, pausing before the trio in the +drawing-room. + +Two of the ladies looked toward the third, with whom Evelyn shook +hands. + +"Miss Morris and Mrs. Wingate," murmured the lady identified as Mrs. +Atherton. They all sat down. + +"It's so very nice to know that you are at home again," said Mrs. +Atherton, "although I've not had the pleasure of meeting you before. I +knew your mother very well, many years ago, but I have been away for a +long time and have only recently come back to Clarkson. + +"It is very pleasant to be at home again," Evelyn responded. + +Mrs. Atherton smiled nervously and looked pointedly at her companions, +evidently expecting them to participate in the conversation. The younger +woman, who had been presented as Miss Morris, sat rigid in a gilt +reception chair. She was of severe aspect and glared at Mrs. Atherton, +who threw herself again into the breach. + +"I hope you do not dislike the West?" Mrs. Atherton inquired of Evelyn. + +"No, indeed! On the other hand I am very proud of it. You know I am a +native here, and very loyal." + +Miss Morris seized this as if it had been her cue, and declared in +severe tones: + +"We of the West are fortunate in living away from the artificiality of +the East. There is some freedom here; the star of empire hovers here; +the strength of the nation lies in the rugged but honest people of the +great West, who gave Lincoln to the nation and the nation to Liberty." +There was a glitter of excitement in the woman's eyes, but she spoke in +low monotonous tones. Evelyn thought for a moment that this was +conscious hyperbole, but Miss Morris's aspect of unrelenting severity +undeceived her. Something seemed to be expected of her, and Evelyn said: + +"That is all very true, but, you know, they say down East that we are +far too thoroughly persuaded of our greatness and brag too much." + +"But," continued Miss Morris, "they are coming to us more and more for +statesmen. Look at literature! See what our western writers are doing! +The most vital books we are now producing are written west of the +Alleghanies!" + +"You know Miss Morris is a writer," interrupted Mrs. Atherton. "We +should say Doctor Morris," she continued, with a rising inflection on +the title,--"not an M.D. Miss Morris is a doctor of philosophy." + +"Oh," said Evelyn. "What college, Doctor Morris?" + +"The University of North Dakota," with emphasis on the university. "I +had intended going to Heidelberg, but felt that we loyal Americans +should patronize home institutions. The choruses of Euripides may ring +as grandly on our Western plains as in Athens itself," she added with +finality. She enunciated with great care and seemed terribly in earnest +to Evelyn, who felt an uncontrollable desire to laugh. But there was, +she now imagined, something back of all this, and she waited patiently +for its unfolding. The dénouement was, she hoped, near at hand, for Miss +Morris moved her eyeglasses higher up on her nose and appeared even more +formidable than before. + +"I have heard that great emphasis is laid at Smith on social and +political economy. You must be very anxious to make practical use of +your knowledge," continued Miss Morris. + +Evelyn recalled guiltily her cuts in these studies. + +"Carlyle or somebody"--she was afraid to quote before a doctor of +philosophy, and thought it wise to give a vague citation--"calls +political economy the dismal science, and I'm afraid I have looked at it +a little bit that way myself." She smiled hopefully, but Miss Morris did +not relax her severity. + +"Civic responsibility rests on women as strongly as on men; even more +so," declared Miss Morris. + +"Well, I think we ought to do what we can," assented Evelyn. + +"Now, our Local Council has been doing a great deal toward improving the +sanitation of Clarkson." + +"Oh yes," exclaimed Mrs. Wingate from her corner. + +"And we feel that every educated woman in the community should lend her +aid to all the causes of the Local Council." + +"Yes?" said Evelyn, rather weakly. She felt that the plot was +thickening. "I really know very little of such things, but--" The "but" +was highly equivocal. + +"And we are very anxious to get a representative on the School Board," +continued Miss Morris. "The election is in November. Has it ever +occurred to you how perfectly absurd it is for men to conduct our +educational affairs when the schools are properly a branch of the home +and should be administered, in part, at least, by women?" She punctuated +her talk so that her commas cut into the air. Mrs. Wingate, the third +and silent lady, approved this more or less inarticulately. + +"I know there's a great deal in that," said Evelyn. + +"And we, the Executive Committee of the Council, have been directed to +ask you"--Mrs. Wingate and Mrs. Atherton moved nervously in their seats, +but Miss Morris now spoke with more deliberation, and with pedagogic +care of her pronunciation--"to become a candidate for the School Board." + +Evelyn felt a cold chill creeping over her, and swallowed hard in an +effort to summon some word to meet this shock. + +"Your social position," continued Miss Morris volubly, "and the prestige +which you as a bachelor of arts have brought home from college, make you +a most natural candidate." + +"Destiny really seems to be pointing to you," said Mrs. Atherton, with +coaxing sweetness in her tone. + +"Oh, but I couldn't think of it!" exclaimed Evelyn, recovering her +courage. "I have had no experience in such matters! Why, that would be +politics!--and I have always felt,--it has seemed to me,--I simply can't +consider it!" + +She had gained her composure now. She had been called a bachelor of +arts, and she felt an impulse to laugh. + +"Ah! we had expected that it would seem strange to you at first," said +Mrs. Atherton, who appeared to be in charge of the grand strategy of the +call, while Miss Morris carried the rapid firing guns and Mrs. Wingate +lent moral support, as of a shore battery. + +Mrs. Atherton had risen. + +"We have all set our hearts on it, and you must not decline. Think it +over well, and when you come to the first meeting of the Council in +September, you will, I am sure, be convinced of your duty." + +"Yes; a very solemn obligation that wealth and education have laid upon +you," Miss Morris amplified. + +"A solemn obligation," echoed Mrs. Wingate. + +The three filed out, Miss Morris leading the way, while Mrs. Atherton +lingeringly covered their retreat with a few words that were intended to +convey a knowledge of the summer frivolities then pending. + +"I should be very glad to have you come to see me at my rooms," said +Miss Morris, wheeling in her short skirt as she reached the door. "I +have rooms in the Ætna Building." + +"Do come and see us, too," murmured the convoy, smiling in relief as +they turned away. + +Evelyn sat down in the nearest chair and laughed. + +"I wonder whether they think college has made me like that?" she asked +herself. + +At dinner she gave her father a humorous account of the interview. Grant +was away dining with a playmate and they were alone. Porter was in one +of his perverse moods, and he began gruffly: + +"I should like to know why not! Haven't I spent thousands of dollars on +your education? The lady was right; you are, at least so I have +understood, a bachelor of arts. Why a bachelor I'm sure I don't know--" +He was buttering a bit of bread with deliberation and did not look at +Evelyn, who waited patiently, knowing that he would have his whim out. + +"It seems to me," he went on, "a proper recognition of your talents and +education, and also of me, as one of the oldest citizens of Clarkson. I +tell you it is good to get a little recognition once in a while. I have +a painful recollection of having been defeated for School Commissioner +about ten years ago. Now here's a chance for the family to redeem +itself. Of course you accepted the nomination, and after your election +I'll expect you to bring the school funds to my bank, and I'll say to +you now that the directors will do the right thing by you." + +He was still avoiding Evelyn's eyes, but his humor was growing impatient +for recognition. + +"Now, father!" she pleaded, and they laughed together. + +"Father," she said seriously, "I don't want these people here to get an +idea that I'm not an ordinary being." + +"That's an astonishing statement," he began, ready for further banter; +but she would not have it. + +"There are," she said, "certain things that a woman ought to do, whether +she's educated or not; and I have ideas about that. So you think these +people here are expecting great things of me,--" + +"Of course they are, and with reason," said Porter, still anxious to +return to his joke. + +"But I do not intend to have it! When I'm forty years old I may change +my mind, but right now I want--" + +She hesitated. + +"Well, what do you want, child?" he said gently, with the fun gone out +of his voice. They had had their coffee, and she sat with her elbow on +the table and her chin in her hand. + +"Why, I'm afraid I want to have a good time," she declared, rising. + +"And that's just what I want you to have, child," he said kindly, +putting his arm about her as they went out together. + +Evelyn declined the honor offered her by the local council, at long +range, in a note to Doctor Morris, giving no reasons beyond her +unfamiliarity with political and school matters. These she knew would +not be considered adequate by Doctor Morris, but the latter, after +writing a somewhat caustic reply, in which she dwelt upon the new +woman's duties and responsibilities, immediately announced her own +candidacy. The incident was closed as far as Evelyn was concerned and +she was not again approached in the matter. + +Her father continued to joke about it, and a few weeks later, when they +were alone, referred to it in a way which she knew by experience was +merely a feint that concealed some serious purpose. Men of Porter's age +are usually clumsy in dealing with their own children, and Porter was no +exception. When he had anything of weight on his mind to discuss with +Evelyn, he brooded over it for several days before attacking her. His +manner with men was easy, and he was known down town as a good bluffer; +but he stood not a little in awe of his daughter. + +"I suppose things will be gay here this winter," he said, as they sat +together on the porch. + +"About the same old story, I imagine. The people and their ways don't +seem to have changed much." + +"You must have some parties yourself. Better start them up early. Get +some of the college girls out, and turn it on strong." + +"Well, I shan't want to overdo it. I don't want to be a nuisance to you, +and entertaining isn't as easy as it looks." + +"It'll do me good, too," he replied. He fidgeted in his chair and played +with his hat, which, however, he did not remove, but shifted from one +side to the other, smoking his cigar meanwhile without taking it from +his mouth. He rose and walked out to one of his sprinklers which had +been placed too near the walk and kicked it off into the grass. She +watched him with a twinkle in her eyes, and then laughed. "What is it, +father?" she asked, when he came back to the porch. + +"What's what?" he replied, with assumed irritation. He knew that he must +now face the music, and grew composed at once. + +"Well, it's this,--" with sudden decision. + +"Yes, I knew it was something," she said, still laughing and not willing +to make it too easy for him. + +"You know the Knights of Midas are quite an institution here--boom the +town, and give a fall festival every year. The idea is to get the +country people in to spend their money. Lots of tom-foolishness about +it,--swords and plumes and that kind of rubbish; but we all have to go +in for it. Local pride and so on." + +"Yes; do you want me to join the Knights?" + +"No, not precisely. But you see, they have a ball every year in +connection with the festival, with a queen and maids of honor. I guess +you've never seen one of these things, as they have them in October, and +you've always been away at school. Now the committee on entertainment +has been after me to see if you'd be queen of the ball this year--" + +"Oh!--" ominously. + +"Just hold on a minute." He was wholly at ease now, and assumed the +manner which he had found effective in dealing with obstreperous +customers of his bank. "I'm free to say that I don't like the idea of +this myself particularly. There's a lot of publicity about it and you +know I don't like that--and the newspapers make an awful fuss. But you +see it isn't wise for us"--he laid emphasis on the pronoun--"to set up +to be better than other people. Now", with a twinkle in his eye, "you +turned down this School Board business the other day and said you wanted +to have a good time, just like other girls, and I reckon most of the +girls in town would be tickled at a chance like this--" + +"And you want me to do it, father? Is that what you mean? But it must be +perfectly awful,--the crowd and the foolish mummery." + +"Well, there's one thing sure, you'll never have to do it a second +time." Porter smiled reassuringly. + +"But I haven't said I'd do it once, father." + +"I'd like to have you; I'd like it very much, and should appreciate your +doing it. But don't say anything about it." Some callers were coming up +the walk, so the matter was dropped. Porter recurred to the subject +again next day, and Evelyn saw that he wished very much to have her take +part in the carnival, but the idea did not grow pleasanter as she +considered it. It was quite true, as she had told her father, that she +wanted to enjoy herself after the manner of other young women, and +without constant reference to her advantages, as she had heard them +called; but the thought of a public appearance in what she felt to be a +very ridiculous function did not please her. On the other hand, her +father rarely asked anything of her and he would not have made this +request without considering it carefully beforehand. + +In her uncertainty she went for advice to Mrs. Whipple, the wife of a +retired army officer, who had been her mother's friend. Mrs. Whipple was +a woman of wide social experience and unusual common sense. She had +settled in her day many of those distressing complications which arise +at military posts in times of national peace. Young officers still came +to her for advice in their love affairs, which she always took +seriously, but not too seriously. Warry Raridan maintained unjustly that +Mrs. Whipple's advice was bad, but that it did the soul good to see how +much joy she got out of giving it. The army had communicated both social +dignity and liveliness to Clarkson, as to many western cities which had +military posts for neighbors. In the old times when civilians were busy +with the struggle for bread and had little opportunity for social +recreation, army men and women had leisure for a punctilious courtesy. +The mule-drawn ambulance was a picturesque feature of the urban +landscape as it bore the army women about the rough streets of the new +cities; it was not elegant, but it was so eminently respectable! There +might be an occasional colonel that was a snob, or a major that drank +too much; or a Mrs. Colonel who was a trifle too conscious of her rights +over her sisters at the Post, or a Mrs. Major whose syntax was +unbearable; but the stars and stripes covered them all, even as they +cover worse people and worse errors in our civil administrators. + +It gave Evelyn a pleasant sensation to find herself again in the little +Whipple parlor. The furniture was the same that she remembered of old in +the commandant's house at the fort. It had at last found repose, for the +Whipples' marching days were over. They made an effort to have an Indian +room, where they kept their books, but they refrained from calling the +place a library. On the walls were the headdress of a Sioux chief, and a +few colored photographs of red men; the couch was covered with a Navajo +blanket, and on the floor were wolf and bear skins. When chairs were +needed for callers, the general brought them in from other rooms; he +himself sat in a canvas camp chair, which he said was more comfortable +than any other kind, but which was prone to collapse under a civilian. +The wastepaper-basket by the general's table, and a basket for fire-wood +were of Indian make, dyed in dull shades of red and green. + +"My dear child," Mrs. Whipple began, when Evelyn had explained her +errand; "this is a very pretty compliment they're paying you,--don't you +know that?" + +"Yes, but I don't want it," declared the girl, with emphasis. + +"That is wholly unreasonable. There are girls in Clarkson that could not +afford to take it; the strength of your position is that you can afford +to do it! It's not going to injure you in any way; can't you see that? +Everybody knows all about you,--that you naturally wouldn't want it. +Why, there's that Margrave girl, whose father does something or other in +one of the railways,--she had this honor that is worrying you two years +ago, and her father and all his friends worked hard to get it for her." + +Evelyn laughed at her friend's earnestness. "I'm afraid you're trying to +lift this to an impersonal plane, but I'm considering myself in this +matter. I simply don't want to be mixed up in that kind of thing." + +"These business men work awfully hard for all of us," Mrs. Whipple +continued. "It seems to me that their daily business contests and +troubles are fiercer than real wars. I'd a lot rather take my chances in +the army than in commercial life,--if I were doing it all over +again,--that is, from the woman's side. The government always gives us +our bread if it can't supply the butter; and if the poor men lose a +fight they are forgiven and we still eat. But in the business battle--" +she shrugged her shoulders to indicate the sorry plight of the +vanquished. + +"Yes, I suppose that's all true," Evelyn conceded. "But you mustn't be +so abstract! I really haven't a philosophical mind. I came here to ask +you to tell me how to get out of this, but you seem to be urging me in!" + +Mrs. Whipple rallied her forces while she poured the iced tea which a +maid had brought. + +"We can't always have our 'ruthers.' Now this looks like a very large +sacrifice of comfort and dignity to you. I'll grant you the discomfort, +but not any loss of dignity. If you were vain and foolish, I'd take your +side, just to protect you, but you have no such weaknesses. You must not +consider at all that girls in Eastern cities don't do such things; +that's because there aren't the things to do. Our great-grandchildren +won't be doing them either. But these carnivals, and things like that, +are necessary evils of our development. Army people like ourselves, who +have always been cared for by a paternal government, can hardly +appreciate the troubles of business people; and a girl like you, who has +always led a carefully sheltered life, with both comforts and luxuries +given her without the asking, must try to appreciate the fact that +everybody is not so fortunate. I don't know whether these affairs are +really of any advantage to the town commercially; I have heard business +men say that they are not; but so long as they have them, the rest of us +have got to submit to the confetti throwers and the country brass bands, +on the theory that it's good for the town." + +Mrs. Whipple covered all the ground when she talked. She had daringly +addressed department commanders in this ample fashion when her husband +was only a second lieutenant, and she was not easily driven from her +position. + +"But what's good for the town isn't necessarily good for me," pleaded +Evelyn. Her animation was becoming, and Mrs. Whipple was noting the +points of the girl's beauty with delight. "Any other girl's clothes +would look just as sweet to the multitude," Evelyn asserted. + +"That's where you are mistaken. If it's a sacrifice, the town is +offering Iphigenia, and only our fairest daughter will do. I'll be +talking fine language in a minute, and one of us will be lost." She +laughed; Mrs. Whipple always laughed at herself at the right moment. She +said it discounted the pleasure other people might have in laughing at +her. "Now Evelyn Porter, you're a nice girl and a sensible one. So far +as you can see you're going to spend your days in this town, and it +isn't a bad place. We preferred to live here after the general retired +because we liked it, and that was when we had the world to choose from. +I've lived in every part of this country, but the people in this region +are simple and honest and wholesome, and they have human hearts in them, +and at my age that counts for a good deal. The general and I were both +born in Massachusetts, where you hear a lot about ancestors and +background; but I've driven over these plains and prairies in an army +ambulance, since before the Civil War, and it hasn't all been fun, +either; I love every mile of the country, and I don't want you, who are +the apple of my eye, to come home with patronizing airs--" + +"Not guilty!" exclaimed Evelyn throwing up her hands in protest. "I have +no such ideas and you know it; but you ignore the point. What I can't +see is that there's any question of patriotism in this Knights of Midas +affair, as far as I'm concerned, and I'm not so young as I was. The +queen of the ball should be much younger than I am." + +"Well, if you're reduced to that kind of argument, I think we'll have to +call the debate closed. But remember,--you're asked to give only an hour +of your life to please your father, and a great many other people. And +you'll be doing your town a great service, too." + +"Well," said Evelyn dolefully, as she got up to go, "this isn't the kind +of counsel I came for. If I'd expected this from you, I'd have taken my +troubles elsewhere." She had risen and stood swinging her parasol back +and forth and regarding the tip of her boot. "You almost make it seem +right." + +"You'd better make a note of it as one of those things that are not +pleasant, but necessary. If I thought it would harm you, child, I'd +certainly warn you against it--I'd do that for your mother's sake." + +"I like your saying that," said Evelyn, softly. + +Mrs. Whipple had been a beauty in the old army days, and was still a +handsome woman. She had retained the slenderness of her girlhood, and +the hot suns and blighting winds of the plains and mountains had dealt +gently with her. She took both of Evelyn's hands at the door, and kissed +her. + +"Don't go away hating me, dear. Come up often; and after it's all over, +I'll tell you how good you've been." + +"Oh, I'll go to a convent afterward," Evelyn answered; "that is, if I +find that you've really persuaded me!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A SAFE MAN + + +James Wheaton was thirty-five years old, and was reckoned among the +solid young business men of Clarkson. He had succeeded far beyond his +expectations and was fairly content with the round of the ladder that he +had reached. He never talked about himself and as he had no intimate +friends it had never been necessary for him to give confidences. His +father had been a harness-maker in a little Ohio town; he and his older +brother were expected to follow the same business; but the brother grew +restless under the threat of enforced apprenticeship and prevailed on +James to run away with him. They became tramps and enjoyed themselves +roaming through the country, until finally they were caught stealing in +a little Illinois village and both were arrested. + +James was discharged through the generosity of his brother in taking all +the blame on himself; the older boy was sent to a reformatory alone. +James then went to Chicago, where he sold papers and blacked boots for a +year until he found employment as a train boy, with a company operating +on various lines running out of Chicago. This gave him a wide +acquaintance with western towns, and incidentally with railroads and +railroad men. He grew tired of the road, and obtained at Clarkson a +position in the office of Timothy Margrave, the general manager of the +Transcontinental, which, he had heard, was a great primary school for +ambitious boys. + +It was thus that his residence in Clarkson was established. He attended +night school, was assiduous in his duties, and attained in due course +the dignity of a desk at which he took the cards of Margrave's callers, +indexed the letter books and copied figures under the direction of the +chief clerk. After a year, hearing that one of the Clarkson National +Bank's messengers was about to resign, he applied for this place. +Margrave recommended him; the local manager of the news agency vouched +for his integrity, and in due course he wended the streets of Clarkson +with a long bill-book, the outward and visible sign of his position as +messenger. He was steadily promoted in the bank and felt his past +receding farther and farther behind him. + +When, at an important hour of his life, Wheaton was promoted to be +paying teller, he was in the receiving teller's cage. He had known that +the more desirable position was vacant and had heard his fellow clerks +speculating as to the possibility of a promotion from among their +number. Thompson, the cashier, had a nephew in the bank; and among the +clerks he was thought to have the best chance. They all knew that the +directors were in session, and several whose tasks for the day were +finished, lingered later than was their wont to see what would happen. +Wheaton kept quietly at his work; but he had an eye on the door of the +directors' room, and an ear that insensibly turned toward the +annunciator by which messengers were called to the board room. It rang +at last, and Wheaton wiped his pen with a little more than his usual +care as he waited for the result of the summons. This was on his +twenty-fifth birthday. + +"Mr. Wheaton!" The other clerks looked at one another. The question that +had been uppermost with all of them for a week past was answered. +Thompson's nephew slammed his book shut and carried it into the vault. +Wheaton put aside the balance sheet over which he had been lingering and +went into the directors' room. There had been no note of joy among his +associates. He knew that he was not popular with them; he was not, in +their sense, a good fellow. When they rushed off after hours to the ball +games or horse races, he never joined them. When their books did not +balance he never volunteered to help them. As for himself, he always +balanced, and did not need their help; and they hated him for it. This +was his hour of triumph, but he went to his victory without the cheer of +his comrades. + +He heard Mr. Porter's question as to whether he felt qualified to accept +the promotion; and he sat patiently under the inquiries of the others as +to his fitness. It required no great powers of intuition to know that +these old men had already appointed him; that if they had not known to +their own satisfaction that he was the best available man, they would +not be taking advice from him in the matter. + +"Sanders leaves on Monday to take another position, and we will put you +in his cage to give you a trial," the president said, finally. Wheaton +expressed his gratitude for this mark of confidence. He was not +troubled by the suggestion of a trial. Porter and Thompson, the cashier, +always spoke of his promotions as "trials." He had never failed thus far +and his self-confidence was not disturbed by the care these men always +took to tie strings to everything they did with a view to easy +withdrawal, if the results were not satisfactory. The position had been +filled and there was nothing more to be said. Thompson, however, always +liked to have a last word. + +"Wheaton, your family live here, don't they?" + +"No," said Wheaton, smiling his difficult smile, "I haven't any family. +My parents are dead. I came here from Ohio, and board over on the north +side." + +"Another Ohio man," said Porter, "you can't keep 'em down." They all +laughed at Porter's joke and Wheaton bowed himself out under cover of +it. + +Later, when need arose for creating the position of assistant cashier, +it was natural that the new desk should be assigned to Wheaton. He was +faithful and competent; neither Porter nor Thompson had a son to install +in the bank; and, as they said to each other and to their fellow +directors, Wheaton had two distinguishing qualifications,--he did his +work and he kept his mouth shut. + +In the course of time Thompson's health broke down and the doctors +ordered him away to New Mexico, and again there seemed nothing to do but +to promote Wheaton. Thompson wished to sell his stock and resign, but +Porter would not have it so; but when, after two years, it was clear +that the cashier would never again be fit for continuous service in the +bank, Wheaton was duly elected cashier and Thompson was made +vice-president. + +Wheaton had now been in Clarkson fifteen years, and he was well aware +that other young men, with influential connections, had not done nearly +so well as he. He treasured no illusions as to his abilities; he did not +think he had a genius for business; but he had demonstrated to his own +satisfaction that such qualities as he possessed,--industry, sobriety +and obedience,--brought results, and with these results he was well +satisfied. He hoped some day to be rich, but he was content to make +haste slowly. He never speculated. He read in the newspapers every day +of men holding responsible positions who embezzled and absconded, but +there was never any question in his mind as between honesty and knavery. +It irritated him when these occurrences were commented on facetiously +before him; he did not relish jokes which carried an implication that he +too might belong to the dubious cashier class; and inquiries as to +whether he would spend his vacation in Canada or, if it were winter, in +Guatemala, were not received in good part, for he had much personal +dignity and little humor. He was counted among the older men of the town +rather than among men of his own age, and he found himself much more at +ease among his seniors. The young men appreciated his good qualities and +respected him; but he felt that he was not one of them; socially, he was +voted very slow, and there was an impression abroad that he was stingy. +Certainly he did not spend his money frivolously, and he never had done +so. Many fathers held him up as an example to their sons, and this +tended further to the creation of a feeling among his contemporaries +that he was lacking in good fellowship. + +Raridan knew the personal history of most of his fellow townsmen, and he +was fond of characterizing those whom he particularly liked or disliked, +for the benefit of his friends. He took it upon himself to sketch +Wheaton for John Saxton's benefit in this fashion. + +"Jim Wheaton's one of those men who never make mistakes," said Raridan, +with the scorn of a man whose own mistakes do not worry him. "He went +into that bank as a boy, and was first a model messenger, and then a +model clerk; and when they had to have a cashier there was the model +assistant, who had been a model everything else, so they put him in. +There wasn't anybody else for the job; and I guess he's a good man for +it, too. A bank cashier doesn't dare to make mistakes; and as Wheaton is +not of that warm, emotional nature that would lead him to lend money +without getting something substantial to hold before the borrower got +away, he's the model cashier. You've heard of those bank cashiers who +can refuse a loan to a man and send him out of the bank singing happy +chants. Well, Jim isn't that kind. When he turns down a man, the man +doesn't go on his way rejoicing. I don't know how much money Wheaton's +got. He's made something, of course, and Porter would probably sell him +stock up to a certain point. He'll die rich, and nobody, I fancy, will +ever be any gladder because he's favored this little old earth with his +presence." + +As a bank clerk the teller's cage had shut Wheaton off from the world. +Young women of social distinction who came sometimes to get checks +cashed, knew him as a kind of automaton, that looked at both sides of +their checks and at themselves, and then passed out coin and paper to +them; they saw him nowhere else, and did not bother themselves about +him. After his promotion to be assistant cashier, he saw the world +closer at hand. He had a desk and could sit down and talk to the men +whom he had studied from the cage for so long. The young women, too, +approached him no longer with checks to be cashed, but with little books +in which they urged him officially and personally to subscribe to +charities. Porter, who was naturally a man of generous impulses, knew +his own weakness and made the cashier the bank's almoner. He was very +sure that Wheaton would be as careful of the bank's money as of his own; +he had taken judicial knowledge of the fact that Wheaton's balance on +the bank's books had shown a marked and steady growth through all the +years of his connection with it. + +Wheaton's promotion to the cashiership had come in the spring; and +shortly afterward he had changed his way of living in a few particulars. +He had lodged for years in a boarding house frequented by clerks; a +place where his fellow boarders were, among others, a music teacher, a +milliner and the chief operator of the telephone exchange. He had not +felt above them; their dancing class and occasional theater party had +seemed fine to him. Porter now suggested that Wheaton should be a member +of the Clarkson Club, and Wheaton assented, on the president's +representation that "it would be a good thing for the bank." Vacant +apartments were offered at this time in The Bachelors', as it was +called, and he availed himself of the opportunity to change his place +of residence. He had considered the matter of taking a room at the club, +but this, after reflection, he rejected as unwise. The club was a new +institution in the town, and he was aware that there were conservative +people in Clarkson who looked on it as a den of iniquity,--with what +justification he did not know from personal experience, but he had heard +it referred to in this way at the boarding house table. He knew Raridan +and the others at The Bachelors', but his acquaintance with them was of +a perfunctory business character. When he moved to The Bachelors', +Raridan, who was always punctilious in social matters, formally called +on him in his room, as did also Captain Wheelock, the army officer then +stationed in Clarkson on recruiting service. The others in the house +welcomed him less formally as they chanced to meet him in the hall or on +the stairway; they were busy men who worked long hours and did not +bother themselves about the amenities and graces of life. + +His change to The Bachelors' was of importance to Wheaton in many ways. +He saw here, in the intimacies of their common table, men of a higher +social standing than he had known before. Their way of chaffing one +another seemed to him very bright; they mocked at the gods and were not +destroyed. Raridan was a new species and spoke a strange tongue. Raridan +and Wheelock appeared at the table in dinner-coats, and after a few +weeks Wheaton followed their example. Raridan, he knew, dressed whether +he went out or not, and he established his own habit in this particular +with as little delay as possible. The table then balanced, the smelter +manager, the secretary of the terra cotta manufacturing company, and +the traveling passenger agent of the Transcontinental Railroad appearing +in the habiliments which they wore at their respective places of +business, and Raridan, Wheaton and Wheelock in black and white. + +The humor of this division was not lost on the traveling passenger +agent, who chaffed the "glad rag" faction, as he called it, until +Raridan took up arms for his own side of the table. + +"It may be true, sir, what you say about a division here between the +working and non-working classes; but wit and beauty have from most +ancient times bedecked themselves in robes of purity. A man like +yourself, whose business is to persuade people to ride on the worst +railroad on earth, should properly array himself in sackcloth and ashes, +and not in purple and fine linen, which belong to those who severally +give their thoughts to the,--er--promotion of peace"--indicating +Wheelock--"sound finances," indicating Wheaton, "and--er--in my own +case--" + +"Yes, do tell us," said the railroad man, ironically. + +"To faith and good works," said Warrick imperturbably. + +"And mostly works,--I don't think!" declared Wheelock. + +The relations between Porter and Wheaton were strictly of a business +character. This was not by intention on Porter's part. He assumed that +at some time he or Thompson had known all about Wheaton's antecedents; +and after so many years of satisfactory service, during the greater part +of which the bank had been protected against Wheaton, as against all the +rest of the employees, by a bonding company, he accepted the cashier +without any question. Before Evelyn's return he had one day expressed to +Wheaton his satisfaction that he would soon have a home again, and +Wheaton remarked with civil sympathy that Miss Porter must now be "quite +a young lady." + +"Oh, yes; you must come up to the house when we get going again," Porter +answered. + +Wheaton had seen the inside of few houses in Clarkson. He had a +recollection of having been sent to Porter's several times, while he was +still an errand boy in the bank, to fetch Porter's bag on occasions when +the president had been called away unexpectedly. He remembered Evelyn +Porter as she used to come as a child and sit in the carriage outside +the bank to wait for her father; the Porters stood to him then, and now, +for wealth and power. + +Raridan had a contempt for Wheaton's intellectual deficiencies; and +praise of Wheaton's steadiness and success vexed him as having some +sting for himself; but his own amiable impulses got the better of his +prejudices, and he showed Wheaton many kindnesses. When the others at +The Bachelors' nagged Wheaton, it was Raridan who threw himself into the +controversy to take Wheaton's part. He took him to call at some of the +houses he knew best, and though this was a matter of propinquity he knew +nevertheless that he preferred Wheaton to the others in the house. +Wheaton was not noisy nor pretentious and the others were sometimes +both. + +Wheaton soon found it easy to do things that he had never thought of +doing before. He became known to the florist and the haberdasher; there +was a little Hambletonian at a certain liveryman's which Warry Raridan +drove a good deal, and he had learned from Warry how pleasant it was to +drive out to the new country club in a runabout instead of using the +street car, which left a margin of plebeian walking at the end of the +line. He had never smoked, but he now made it a point to carry +cigarettes with him. Raridan and many other young men of his +acquaintance always had them; he fancied that the smoking of a cigarette +gave a touch of elegance to a gentleman. Captain Wheelock smoked +cigarettes which bore his own monogram, and as he said that these did +not cost any more than others of the same brand, Wheaton allowed the +captain to order some for him. But while he acquired the superficial +graces, he did not lose his instinctive thrift; he had never attempted +to plunge, even on what his associates at The Bachelors' called "sure +things"; and he was equally incapable of personal extravagances. If he +bought flowers he sent them where they would tell in his favor. If he +had five dollars to give to the _Gazette's_ Ice Fund for the poor, he +considered that when the newspaper printed his name in its list of +acknowledgments, between Timothy Margrave, who gave fifty dollars, and +William Porter, who gave twenty-five, he had received an adequate return +on his investment. + +A few days after Evelyn Porter came home, Wheaton followed Raridan to +his room one evening after dinner. Raridan had set The Bachelors' an +example of white flannels for the warm weather, and Wheaton also had +abolished his evening clothes. Raridan's rooms had not yet lost their +novelty for him. The pictures, the statuettes, the books, the broad +couch with its heap of varicolored pillows, the table with its +candelabra, by which Raridan always read certain of the poets,--these +still had their mystery for Wheaton. + +"Going out to-night?" he asked with a show of indifference. + +"Hadn't thought of it," answered Raridan, who was cutting the pages of a +magazine. "Kick the cat off the couch there, won't you?--it's that +blessed Chinaman's beast. Don't know what a Mongolian is doing with a +cat,--Egyptian bird, isn't it?" + +"Don't let me interrupt if you're reading," said Wheaton. "But I thought +some of dropping in at Mr. Porter's. Miss Porter's home now, I believe." + +"That's a good idea," said Raridan, who saw what was wanted. He threw +his magazine at the cat and got up and yawned. "Suppose we do go?" + +The call had been successfully managed. Miss Porter was very pretty, and +not so young as Wheaton expected to find her. Raridan left him talking +to her and went across to the library, where Mr. Porter was reading his +evening paper. Raridan had a way of wandering about in other people's +houses, which Wheaton envied him. Miss Porter seemed to take his call as +a matter of course, and when her father came out presently and greeted +him casually as if he were a familiar of the house he felt relieved and +gratified. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +WARRY RARIDAN'S INDIGNATION + + +Raridan stayed in town all summer, and he and Saxton saw a good deal of +each other. They drove often to the country club together, and Saxton +became, as people said, another of Warry's enthusiasms. Saxton was no +idler, and he was conscientiously striving to bring order out of chaos +in the interests which had been confided to him. He was annoyed, at +first, when Raridan in his unlimited leisure, began to invade his +office; but as the confidence and ease of real friendship grew between +them he did not scruple to send him away, or to throw him a newspaper +and bid him read and keep still. Raridan was the plaything of many +moods; Saxton was equable and steady. They sought each other with the +old perversity of antipodal natures. + +Saxton came in unexpectedly on Raridan at The Bachelors' one evening in +September. The day had been hot with the final fling of summer, but a +thunder shower had cooled the atmosphere, and there stole in pleasantly +the drip, drip, of the rain which was now abating. Heat lightning glowed +in the west with the luminousness so marked in that region. + +"It's an infernal, hideous shame," called Raridan fiercely through the +dark, recognizing Saxton's step. + +"Thanks! I'm glad I came," said Saxton, cheerfully. + +"I'd like to be a cannibal for a few hours," growled Raridan, kicking a +chair toward Saxton without rising from the couch where he lay sprawled. +Saxton went about quietly, lighting the gas, picking up the books and +newspapers which Raridan had evidently cast from him in his rage, and +making a seat for himself by the window. + +"I'm not an expert in lunacy, but I'll hear your trouble. Go ahead." + +Raridan got up suddenly, his glasses swinging wildly from their cord. + +"Put out that light," he commanded savagely; and Saxton did as he was +bidden. + +"Do you know what Evelyn Porter's going to do?" demanded Raridan. + +"I certainly do not. You seem to want to leave me in the dark; and +that's no joke." + +"She's going to be queen of their infernal Knights of Midas ball, that's +what." + +"Your language is spirited, I must say. I think we may classify that as +important if true." + +"It's an outrage; an infernal damned shame!" Raridan went on. + +"Language unbecoming an officer and a gentleman--" + +"There's a fine girl, as charming as any girl dare be. She has a father +who doesn't appreciate her;--a good fellow and all that and he wouldn't +hurt her for anything on earth; but he hasn't got any sensibility; +that's the trouble with scores of American fathers. These Western ones +are worse than any others. They break their sons in, whenever they can, +to the same collars they've worn themselves. Their daughters they +usually don't understand at all! They intimidate their wives so that the +poor things don't dare call their souls their own; but the women are the +saving remnant out here. And when a particularly fine one turns up she +ought to be protected from the curse of our infernal commercialism." + +He threw himself into a chair and lighted a cigarette. + +Saxton laughed silently. + +"Isn't this a new responsibility you've taken on? I don't believe these +things are as bad as you make them out to be. The commercial curse is +one of the things you can't dodge these days. It's just as bad in Boston +as it is here; and you find it wherever you find live people who want +bread to eat and cake if they can get it." + +"But to visit the curse on a girl,--a fine girl,--" + +"A pretty girl,--" Saxton suggested. + +"A really charming girl," continued Warrick, with unabated earnestness, +"is a rotten shame." + +"I'm afraid you're taking it too seriously," said Saxton. "If Miss +Porter were not a very sensible young woman it would be different. You +don't think for a moment that she would have her head turned--" + +"No, sir; not a bit of it; but it's the principle of the thing that I'm +kicking about. This is one of the things that I detest in these Western +towns. It's the inability to escape from their infernal business. On the +face of it their Midas ball is a social event, but at the bottom, it's +merely a business venture. All the business men have got to go in for +it, but it doesn't stop there; they must drag their families in. Evelyn +Porter has got to mix up with the daughters of the plumbers and the +candlestick makers in order that the god of commerce may be satisfied." + +"You don't quite grasp the situation," said Saxton. "If you had to get +out among these men who have hard work to do every day you'd have a +different feeling about such things. They've got to make the town go, +and this carnival is one of the ways in which they can stir things up +commercially, and at the same time give pleasure to a whole lot of +people." + +"Now look here, you know as well as I do that you can't mix up all sorts +and conditions of men, and particularly women, in this way, without +making a mess of it. A man may introduce the green grocer at the corner, +and all that kind of ruck, to his wife and daughter, but what's the good +of it?" + +"Well, what's the good of a democracy anyhow?" demanded Saxton. "I used +to have those ideas, too, when I was younger, but I thought it all over +when I was herding cattle up in Wyoming and I renounced such notions for +all time, even before I went broke. I found when I got back East that I +carried my new convictions with me, and the sight of civilized people +and good food did not change me." + +"Well, the girl oughtn't to be sacrificed anyhow," said Warrick, +spitefully. + +Saxton bit his pipe hard and grinned. + +"Look here, Raridan, I'm afraid it's the girl and not the philosophy of +the thing that's worrying you. Why didn't you tell me it was the girl, +and not the social fabric generally, that you want to defend?" + +Both Saxton and Raridan were a good deal at the Porters'. He knew that +Raridan had been a playmate of Evelyn's in their youth, when the elder +Porters and Raridans had been friends and neighbors. There existed +between them the lighthearted camaraderie that young people carry from +youth to maturity, and it had touched Saxton with envy. As a man having +no fixed duties, Raridan sometimes went, in the middle of the hot +mornings, to the Porter hilltop, where it was pleasant to sit and talk +to a pretty girl and look down on the seething caldron below, when every +other man of the community was sweltering at the business of earning his +daily bread. + +"You oughtn't to get so violent about these things," Saxton went on to +say. "You will yourself be one of the ornaments of the show, and you +will dance before the throne and be glad of the chance. They have a +king, don't they? You might get the job. Who's going to be king, by the +way?" + +"Wheaton, I fancy; the announcement hasn't been made yet." + +"Oh," said Saxton, significantly. "Is this a little jealousy? Are we +sorry that we're not to wear the royal robes ourself? Well! well, I +begin to understand!" + +"I don't like that either, if you want to know. It all gets back to the +accursed commercial idea. Wheaton's the cashier in Porter's bank. It's +very fitting that the president's daughter and the young and brilliant +cashier should be identified together in a public function like this. No +doubt Wheaton is fixing it up." + +"Well, why don't you fix it up? I have been deluding myself with the +idea that you were a person of consequence in this town, yet you admit +that in a mere trifling social matter you are outwitted, or about to be, +by one of these commercial persons you hate so much, or say you do." + +He spoke tauntingly, but Raridan was evidently serious in his complaint, +and Saxton turned the talk into other channels. The Chinese servant came +in presently with a card for Raridan. + +"By Jove!" he exclaimed, "it's Bishop Delafield." He plunged downstairs +and returned immediately with a man whose great figure loomed darkly in +the doorway. + +Raridan made a light. + +"We've been doing the dim, religious act here," he said, after +introducing Saxton. "The lightning out there has been fine." + +"You feel that you can't trust me in the dark," said the bishop; "or +perhaps that I won't appreciate the 'dim religious,' as you call it. +Turn down the gas and save my feelings." + +Saxton was well acquainted with Warrick's zeal in church matters and was +not surprised to find a church dignitary in his friend's rooms. He had +never met the Bishop of Clarkson before, and he was a little awestruck +at the heroic size of this man who had just given him so masculine a +grasp of the hand and so keen a scrutiny. + +The bishop extended his vast bulk in Raridan's easiest chair, and +accepted a cigar from the box which Warry passed to him. + +"You've come just in time to save us from fierce contentions," said +Raridan, all amiability once more, while the bishop lighted his cigar. +He was very bald, and his head shone so radiantly that Saxton felt that +he could still see it in the dark after Warrick had turned down the +lights. There was an atmosphere about the man of great physical +strength, and his deep-set eyes under their shaggy brows were quick and +penetrating. Here was a man famous in his church for the energy and +sacrifice which he had brought to the work of a missionary in one of the +great Western dioceses. He had been bereft, in his young manhood, of his +wife and children, and had thereafter offered himself for the roughest +work of his church. He was sixty years old and for twenty years had been +a bishop, first in a vast region of the farther Northwest, where the +diocesan limits were hardly known, and where he had traveled ponyback +and muleback until called to be the Bishop of Clarkson. He was famous as +a preacher, and when he appeared from time to time in the pulpits of +Eastern churches, he swayed men mightily by the vigor and simplicity of +his eloquence. He had, in his younger days, been reckoned a scholar, but +the study of humanity at close hand had superseded long ago his interest +in books and learning. He had a deep, melodious voice and there was +charm and magnetism in him, as many people of many sorts and conditions +knew. + +"What's the subject, gentlemen?" he asked, smoking contentedly. "I'm +sure something very serious must be before the house." + +"Mr. Raridan has been abusing the commercialism of his neighbors," said +Saxton. + +"Saxton's a new-comer, Bishop, and doesn't understand the situation +here as you and I do. You know that I'm the only native that dares to +hold honest opinions. The rest all follow the crowd." + +"Reformers always have a hard time of it," said the bishop. "If you're +going to make over your fellowmen, you'll have to get hardened to their +indifference. But what's the matter with things to-night; and what are +you gentlemen doing in town, anyway? Aren't there places to go where +it's cool and where there are pretty girls to enchant you?" + +Raridan attacked the bishop about some question of ritual that was +agitating the English Church. It was worse than Greek to Saxton, but +Raridan seemed fully informed about it, and turned up the lights to read +a paragraph from an English church paper which was, he protested, rankly +heretical. The bishop smoked his cigar calmly until Raridan had +finished. + +"They tell me," he said, when Raridan had concluded by flinging the +whole matter upon his clerical caller with an air of arraigning the +entire episcopate, "that you're a pretty fair lawyer, Warry, only you +won't work. And I hear occasionally that you're about to embrace the +ministry. Now, just think what a time I'd have with you on my hands! You +couldn't get the water hot enough for me. Isn't he ungracious"--turning +to Saxton--"when I came here for rest and recreation, to put me on trial +for my life? You ought to know, young man, that a bishop can be tried +only by his peers." + +Raridan threw down his paper, and rang for the Chinaman. + +"When I embrace the ministry under you, Bishop, you may be sure that +I'll be humble enough to be good." + +The Chinaman brought a variety of liquids, from which they helped +themselves. + +"Don't be afraid of the Scotch, Saxton," said Raridan, "the bishop has +seen the bottle before." + +The bishop, who was pouring seltzer on his lemon juice, smiled +tolerantly at Raridan's chatter, with whose temper and quality he had +long been familiar, and addressed himself to Saxton. He liked young men, +and had an agreeable way of drawing them out and making them talk about +themselves. When it was disclosed that Saxton had been in the cattle +business, the bishop showed an intimate knowledge of the range and its +ways. + +"You see, the bishop's ridden over most of the cattle country in his +day," explained Raridan. + +"And evidently not all in Pullman cars," said Saxton. + +"I'm considered a heavy load for a cow pony," said the bishop, smiling +down at his great bulk, "so they used sometimes to find a mule for me." + +"How are the Porters?" he asked presently of Raridan. + +"Very well, and staying on in the heat with the usual Clarkson +fortitude." + +"Porter's one of the men that never rest," said the bishop. "I've known +him ever since I've known the West, and he's taken few vacations in that +time." + +"Well, he's showing signs of wear," said Raridan. "He's one of the men +who begin with a small business where they do all the work themselves, +and when the business outgrows them, they never realize that they need +help, or that they can have any. Before they made Wheaton cashier, +Porter carried the whole bank in his head. He's improving a little, and +has a stenographer now; but he's nervous and anxious all the while and +terribly fussy over all he does." + +"Wheaton ought to be a great help to him," said the bishop. "He seems a +steady fellow, hard working and industrious." + +"Oh, he's all those things," Raridan answered carelessly. "He'll never +steal anybody's money." + +The bishop talked directly to Raridan about some work which it seemed +the young man had done for him, and rose to go. He had been in town only +a few hours, after a business journey to New York, and on reaching his +rooms had found a summons calling him to a neighboring jurisdiction, to +perform episcopal functions for a brother bishop who was ill. Saxton and +Warrick went down to the car with him, carrying the battered suit cases +which contained his episcopal robes and personal effects. These cases +showed rough usage; they had been to Canterbury and had found lodging +many nights in the sod houses of the plains. + +"How do you like him?" asked Raridan, as the bishop climbed into a +street car headed toward the station. + +"He looks like the real thing," said Saxton. "He has a voice and a beard +like a prophet." + +"He's a fine character,--one of the people that understand things +without being told. A few men and women in the world have that kind of +instinct. They're put here, I guess, to help those who don't understand +themselves." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +TIMOTHY MARGRAVE MAKES A CHOICE + + +There was a tradition that no one had ever been black-balled in the +Knights of Midas, so when Timothy Margrave got Wheaton's signature to an +application for membership the cashier was beset by no fear of +rejection. The citizens of Clarkson were indebted to Margrave for many +schemes for booming their town. He lectured his fellow business men +constantly about their lack of enterprise. + +"Look at Kansas City," he would say at the club, bending forward +ponderously on his fat knees, "they ain't got half the terminal +facilities that we have, and there ain't any better country around 'em, +but they're bigger than we are and ahead of us because they've got more +hustle than we have; and hustle's what makes a town,--look at Chicago! +But we've got a lot of salt mackerel business men here, so pickled in +their brine of conservatism that they won't do anything. There's Billy +Porter; when we want to raise money to help boom the town, I'm always +dead sure that Billy will cough up, but you've got to show 'im;--tell +'im all about it, and he likes to play with you and guy you and rub it +in before he puts his name down. Now he may be a safe banker and all +that, but I say that there's such a thing as pushing conservatism too +damned far. We're going to be a long time getting over the panic and +we've got to give a strong pull and all pull together if we get in the +procession." His voice rose as he proceeded. "Look at little Sioux City! +busted wide open and knocked over the ropes, but here they come waltzing +up again, as full of sass as a fox terrier with a flea on his tail. Talk +about grit, the time a man wants to show that article's when he's +busted. Any fool can be cheerful on a bull market." + +Then he would settle himself back with an air of complacency, as if he +had done all that he could do to arrest decay in the town; if his fellow +citizens failed to rouse themselves it was not his fault. Margrave held +no office in the Knights of Midas, but this was because he had learned +by political experience that it was much simpler to lurk in the +background and manipulate the men he placed in power. It was on this +high principle that he built up the order of the Knights of Midas and +directed its course from the office of the general manager of the +Transcontinental. There was nothing incongruous to him in the annual +ball, which was the only public social manifestation of the +organization. It was he who directed that twenty members be chosen from +the membership list each year, to conduct the purely social functions of +the ball, and that these be taken in alphabetical order. Thus the +Adamses and the Bakers and the Cummingses, who belonged in different +constellations, found themselves in the same orbit. If they were +unacquainted or were enemies of long standing, this did not trouble +Margrave when the fact was brought to his notice. It was time, he said, +that the people of Clarkson got together. + +"We may as well get some work out of Jim Wheaton," he remarked to the +grand chief of the Knights of Midas. "He's pretty solemn, but Jim was +solemn when he was a kid and worked for me. Porter and Thompson have +always been too slow for this earth and if we pull Wheaton in, it may +wake up the old chaps so they'll do something besides sit on the fence +and watch the rest of us hustle." + +"See here," said Norton, the grand chief, "what's the matter with +shoving him in for the king of the carnival? We've got to make a strong +push this year to give tone to the show socially; that's the only way we +can keep up the town interest. Having these jays come in from the +country won't do any good unless we can hold these eminently respectable +people who think they're Clarkson society." + +"You're dead right on that point," said Margrave; "that's a big card +with the jays,--they think they come to town and get right in the push +and are tickled to pay ten dollars a ticket for a taste of high life. I +tell you what we'll do, we'll get Porter to let his daughter appear as +queen of the carnival, and if that ain't a big enough jolly, we can make +Wheaton king. That's what I'd call giving the Clarkson National a run +for its money. If Porter don't double his subscription on the strength +of that--" + +He looked at Norton and they both laughed. + +A few days later Margrave called on Wheaton at the bank. He was a little +proud of having discovered Wheaton. Since his quondam messenger had +become a bank cashier he had begun to take notice of him. + +"I guess we're going to need you to take a star part in the carnival +this year," he said, leading him into the empty directors' room and +looking carefully about to make sure that they were alone. "Yon see, +we've been casting about to find a good representative from among the +younger business men to take the part of king in the carnival. The board +of control are unanimous that you're the man." + +"But I've just gone into the Knights,--there are plenty of older +members." + +"That's the point! we want new men and you're just the fellow we're +after." + +He had been holding his hat in his hand and wiping his brow with his +handkerchief, and he now backed toward the door, saying, without leaving +Wheaton time for further quibble: + +"Keep it mum. You understand about that; we always want to jar the +public. We'll put you on to the curves all right." + +"I'm sure I'm very much surprised," said Wheaton, "but--" + +"Oh, it's all fixed," said Margrave, moving off. "You're the only one +and we never let anybody decline. It would knock all the compliment out +of it, if we let two or three fellows refuse before we caught one that +would accept." + +Wheaton went back to his desk, surprised and flattered. Margrave's good +will was worth having. Wheaton had never outgrown the impression he +formed of Margrave when, as a boy, he had indexed letter books and +received callers in the general manager's outer office. He knew that Mr. +Porter was more respectable and stood higher in the community, but there +was something that took hold of even Wheaton's dull imagination in the +bolder achievements of Timothy Margrave, who rolled over the country in +a private car, dictating, when need arose, to the legislatures of a +chain of states, and looming large in the press's discussions of those +combinations and contests of transportation companies which marked the +last years of the nineteenth century. Wheaton had acquired a banker's +habitual distrust of men who offer favors; but as this came on the +personal invitation of one who had no dealings with his bank he could +see no harm in accepting. + +Margrave winked at him a few days later when they met at the club. + +"The boys are all glad you're going to lead the show, Jim," said the +general manager; and Wheaton experienced a feeling of having fallen into +the larger currents of Clarkson life. Margrave was the man who, more +than any other, made things happen in Clarkson. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +PARLEYINGS + + +Evelyn acted on her father's suggestion that she ask some friends to +visit her, and she summoned two of her classmates to come out for the +carnival. She told Raridan of their coming one evening when they were +alone, and he began propounding inquiries about them with the zealous +interest, half mocking and half earnest, which he always manifested in +girls that crossed his horizon. + +"And Miss Warren--is she the one from Dedham Crossing, Connecticut? Yes, +I suppose they will want to go right out to see the Indians. I'll see if +the War Department won't lend us a few from a reservation to show off +with. It's too bad for our guests to be disappointed. And Miss +Marshall--she's from Virginia? It will really be rather amusing to bring +the types together on our rude frontier." + +"But you're not to play tricks with these friends of mine, Warrick +Raridan. You are to be very nice to them, but you are not to make too +much of an impression--unless--!" + +"I'm afraid Miss Warren's a trifle too serious for human nature's daily +food," he said, complainingly. + +"Yes? I remember that she was strong in entomology. She surely knows a +moth from a bumblebee when she sees it." + +"Tut! tut! One shouldn't be spiteful. Miss Warren is a nice girl. She +knows where the pussy willows purr first in the harsh Connecticut +spring. She is strong on golden rod and ah-tum leaves; she reads 'Sesame +and Lilies' once a week, and Channing's 'Symphony' hangs in her room in +blue and gold. She's very sweet with her Sunday School class. She shall +be saluted with the Chautauqua salute--thus!" He flourished his +handkerchief at a picture on the wall. + +"How brutal! Deliver me from the cynical man! By the way, Warry, I saw +Minnie Metchen in New York this spring, and she asked me all the +questions about you she dared. That really wasn't good of you. She +hadn't been an army girl long--her father was a new paymaster, or +something like that; she wasn't fair game. You were her first, and she +thought you meant it all,--the poems and the flowers and all that kind +of thing. She thought you were very good, too. You remember, I hope, +that you dragged her across town to that colored mission where you were +lay-reading at the time. Now, you mustn't do that any more." + +Raridan buried his face in his hands and groaned. + +"My sins are more than I can bear. But I'm really disappointed in you. +It isn't good form in this town to remember from one winter to another +what my enthusiasms have been. But, Evelyn--" + +His manner changed suddenly and he rose and walked the floor. He was so +full of mockery, and his fun took so many unexpected turns, that Evelyn, +who had known him from his wilful, spoiled childhood, was never sure of +his moods. He seemed very serious as he stood before her with his arms +folded and looked at her. His voice broke a little as he said: + +"Evelyn, I don't want you to remember this kind of thing of me. Nobody +takes me seriously; I'm getting tired of it. I'm all kinds of a failure. +I ought to be doing things, like all the other men here. Maybe it's too +late--" + +"No, it's never too late to do what we want to do, Warry," she said very +kindly. "But I don't know that you're such a failure." She was still on +guard for some flash of the joke that he was always playing. + +"But it's a question with me whether I haven't lost my chance," he +persisted. He sat down, dejectedly. Then he laughed. + +"Do you know why I'm like the Juniata River?" he demanded. + +"I'm not good at guessing," she answered, wondering whether he was +laying a trap for her. + +"Why, Captain Wheelock told somebody that it was because I am very +beautiful and very shallow." He did not laugh with her. + +"Those things aren't funny to me any more," he declared, scowling. + +"But to be called beautiful--" + +"No man is beautiful," he returned savagely. "No man wants to be called +that. It's my eye-glasses, I suppose." He took them off and played with +them. "Maybe they do make me look dudish. I'd wear spectacles if they +didn't cut my ears. Or I might go without and come to a sudden end by +walking over some lonely precipice." He expected her to remonstrate, +but she said: + +"Well, I'll promise not to tell the new visitors about you;" as if, of +course, this was what he had been leading up to. + +"I don't care anything about them." + +"I'm sorry. I had rather counted on you, as the only person here who has +met them,--and an old friend of the family." + +He stood up again. + +"But I don't want to be your friend--" + +"Oh!" She seized and fortified all the strategic positions. "This is +certainly surprising in you, Warrick Raridan, after all the years I've +known you. I didn't expect to be renounced so early." He stood looking +at her quizzically, and too fixedly for her comfort. + +"Tragedy doesn't become the Juniata type of beauty. You'd better sit +down." He had been pacing the floor, but now threw himself into a chair. + +"That chair," she continued, "is a relic of the Inquisition. If you'll +move those cushions about a little on the divan you'll be a lot more +comfortable." + +He mumbled that he didn't want to be comfortable, but obeyed. + +"Now, if you'll be good," she went on tranquilly, folding her arms and +looking at him benignantly, "I'll tell you a secret." + +He had thrust his hands into his pockets and sat watching her sulkily. + +"Well?" + +"I'm to be queen of the ball, sir, I'm to be queen of the ball." + +"I'm sorry I can't congratulate you," he said grimly. "You have no +business mixing up with their infernal idiocy. I've been expecting to +hear that you'd refused." He grew hot as he went on. "Your father +oughtn't to make you do such a thing." + +"Warry!" She sat up straight and bent toward him in an attitude of +remonstrance; "you really mustn't! Why, I'm amazed at you!" + +The enormity of the thing, as Raridan saw it, had grown on him since his +talk with Saxton, and he did not relent; but he relaxed his severity for +the moment, to assume an aggrieved air. + +"Maybe I'm presuming too far on old acquaintance!" he said gloomily. + +"I still have that copy of Aldrich you gave me once,--you remember that +they + + + 'Met as acquaintances meet, + Smiling, tranquil-eyed-- + Not even the least little beat + Of the heart, upon either side!' + + +But,--should old acquaintance be forgot?" she hummed. He was still a +spoilt boy who had to be coaxed into good humor. + +"You know what I mean, Evelyn. I feel a particular interest in having +you start right here, now that you've come home to stay. People will be +surprised to hear of your taking a part like that; they want to take you +seriously. You've been to college--" + +"Oh, Warry!" she cried appealingly. "And are you to throw this at me? A +few minutes ago you were complaining that people wouldn't take you +seriously, but I'm afraid they want to take me much too seriously. I +don't like it! In fact, I don't intend to have it!" + +"But you don't mean to get down to a level with these girls who've been +ground out of boarding schools, and who don't know anything? The kind +that play badly on the piano, or sing worse, and come home to mix Fifth +Avenue boarding school with Missouri River every-day life!" + +"I'm really disappointed in you. I supposed you weren't like the others. +A few days ago some estimable women called here to get me to become a +candidate for school commissioner. They talked beautifully to me. There +was one of them, a Miss Morris--" Raridan extended his arms to Heaven, +as if imploring mercy--"who told me that I was a bachelor of arts and +that all kinds of things were therefore to be expected of me." + +"But I don't mean that! It's just that sort of thing I think you ought +to keep free from,--it's this awful publicity; it's making yourself +public property! Women must keep out of such things. School +commissioner!" His spirits were rising again and he laughed aloud. + +"Wouldn't you vote for me?" + +He stared. "You're not going to--" + +"Decidedly not. I want you to understand, and everybody to find out that +I'm a very ordinary being. I hope if I've learned anything in college +it's common sense. I don't feel a bit interested in regulating the +universe, or in getting more rights for women, or in politics of any +kind, any more than every sane woman is interested in such things. About +this carnival and the ball, I don't mind telling you that I dislike it +particularly. But I'm going to do it for two reasons, to be much +franker with you than you deserve; to please father, for whom I can do +very little, and to set at rest this idea about my being a divinely +gifted individual who has come home from college to rub up the universe +with a witch cloth. And now, Warrick Raridan, we will, if you please, +consider the incident closed; and if you are very good you may dance +with me at the ball." + +"Oh, the noble king will have first place there." + +"Well, if you're the king you can't object," she said. "I'm sure I don't +know who the king's to be--" + +"Well, I do--" + +"Then you needn't tell me, please. I want to be surprised." + +"But he's likely to be somebody you won't care to know under any +circumstances," he persisted. His contempt for the carnival and his rage +at the thought of this girl being publicly identified with Wheaton rose +in him and he grew morose again. Evelyn, seeing another storm, +approaching and wishing to restore his good humor, returned to her +expected guests and her plans for entertaining them. + +It must be confessed that in her heart Evelyn was one of those who, in +Raridan's own phrase, did not take him seriously. She had seen more of +him than of any other man. She had a great fondness for him, and she was +glad to find that after her absences he always came to the house as if +there had been no break, and took up their pleasant comradeship where +they had left it. She had speculated not a little as to the violent +flirtations which he carried on so openly, and had wondered whether he +would sometime grow serious in one of them, and what manner of girl +would finally steady him and win him to a real affection. She did not +understand the mood that had swayed him, or that seemed about to sway +him to-night; but a woman's natural instinct in such matters had warned +her that he wanted to change their old attitude toward each other, and +she knew that she did not want to change it. She liked his gentleness, +his humor and his generous impulses. She had seen enough of the world to +know that the qualities which set him apart from most men were rare. His +likings in themselves were unusual, and though they were not sincere +enough for his own good, they constituted an element of charm in him. +His easy susceptibility was amusing; and it was no more marked in +flirtations with girls than in dallyings with books or pictures or +music. He was certainly a delightful companion, almost as satisfactory +to talk to as a bright girl! She felt, though, that there was a real +power in him; she could dramatize him in situations where he would be a +leader of forlorn hopes on battlefields; but she stopped short of loving +him; she had, she told herself, no idea of loving any one now; but +neither did she wish to lose a friend who was so entirely agreeable and +charming. She resolved as they sat talking of perfectly safe matters, +that their old footing must be maintained, and she felt confident that +she could manage this. + +"Don't you like John Saxton very much?" he asked, and she felt that the +day was saved when he would talk of another man. "I like him better all +the time." + +"Yes; people are saying agreeable things about him. But he's pretty +serious, isn't he?" + +"Well, that makes him a good companion for me, you know. Acute gaiety +is diagnosed as my chief trouble," he said, a little bitterly. He was +trying to feel his way back to the talk of an hour ago, but she had +resolved not to have it so. + +"It's very nice of you to be kind to him." + +"If you mean that I bring him up here, that isn't kindness, it's just +ordinary decent humanity." + +He was cheerful again, and he went away assuring her that he would be at +the station to meet the approaching visitors the following afternoon. He +abused himself, as he went down the hill toward the electric lights of +the city, for having permitted Evelyn to defeat him in what he had +intended to say. He stopped on the long viaduct that spanned the railway +tracks and looked moodily down on the lights of the switch targets and +the signal lanterns of the trainmen. Then he turned his eyes toward the +Porter house which stood darkly against the starlit sky among the trees. +As he looked a light flashed suddenly in the tower. He laughed softly to +himself as he turned with a quickened step on his way. + +"Maybe it's Evelyn, and maybe it's the cook; but any lady in a tower! +The thought of it doth please me well." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A WRECKED CANNA BED + + +Raridan was at the station to meet Evelyn's guests, as he had promised. +He had established a claim upon their notice on the occasion of one of +his visits to Evelyn at college, and he greeted them with an air of +possession which would have been intolerable in another man. He pressed +Miss Warren for news of the Connecticut nutmeg crop, and hoped that Miss +Marshall had not lost her accent in crossing the Missouri, while he +begged their baggage checks and waved their minor impedimenta into the +hands of the station porters. + +Wise men, long ago, abandoned the hope of accounting for college +friendships in either sex, and there was nothing proved in Evelyn's case +by her choice of these young women as her intimate friends. Annie Warren +was as reserved and quiet as Evelyn could be in her soberest moments; +Belle Marshall was as frank and friendly as Evelyn became in her +lightest moods. Evelyn had been the beauty of her class; her two friends +were what is called, by people that wish to be kind, nice looking. Annie +Warren had been the best scholar in her class; Belle Marshall had been +among the poorest; and Evelyn had maintained a happy medium between the +two. And so it fortunately happened that the trio mitigated one +another's imperfections. + +Evelyn had summoned her guests at this time principally to have their +support through the carnival. They made light of the perplexities and +difficulties of Evelyn's own participation when she unfolded them; there +would be a lot of fun in it, they thought, and they deemed it, too, a +recognition of Evelyn's fine qualities. They were fresh from college and +they could see nothing in the carnival and the coronation of the +carnival's queen that was inconsistent with a girl's dignity; it ranked +at least with some of the festivals of girl's colleges. The whole matter +presently resolved itself into the question of clothes, and Evelyn's +coronation gown was laid before them and duly praised. + +"It is worth while," declared Miss Marshall, "to have a chance to wear +clothes like that just once in your life." + +Evelyn had discussed with her father ways and means of entertaining her +guests; he was anxious for her to celebrate her home-coming with a great +deal of entertaining. He preferred large functions, perhaps for the +reason that he could lose himself better in them than in small +gatherings, in which his responsibilities as host could not be dodged. +In a large company he could take one or two of his old friends into a +corner and enjoy a smoke with them. He wished Evelyn to give a lawn +party before the blight of fall came upon his flowers and shrubbery; but +she persuaded him to wait until after the carnival. He still felt a +little guilty about having asked Evelyn to appear in this public way, +but she showed no resentment; she was honestly glad to do anything that +would please him. The ball was near at hand and she proposed that they +give a small dinner in the interval. + +"I'll ask Warry and Mr. Saxton." People were already coupling Saxton's +name with Raridan's. + +"Oh, yes, that's all right." + +"I don't want very many; I'd like to ask the Whipples;" she went on, +with the anxious, far-away look that comes into the eyes of a woman who +is weighing dinner guests or matching fabrics. + +"Can't you ask Wheaton?" ventured Mr. Porter cautiously from behind his +paper. Men grow humble in such matters from the long series of +rejections to which they are subjected by the women of their households. + +"If you say so," Evelyn assented. "He isn't exciting, but Belle Marshall +can get on with anybody. I'm out of practice and won't try too many. +Mrs. Whipple will help over the hard places." + +Finally, however, her party numbered ten, but it seemed to Wheaton a +large assemblage. He had never taken a lady in to dinner before, but he +had studied a book of etiquette, and the chapter on "Dining Out" had +given him a hint of what was expected. It had not, however, supplied him +with a fund of talk, but he was glad to find, when he reached the table, +that the company was so small that talk could be general, and he was +thankful for the shelter made for him by the light banter which followed +the settling of chairs. Saxton went in with Evelyn, who wished to make +amends for his clumsy reception on the occasion of his first appearance +in the house. + +"I'm glad you could come to our board once without being snubbed by the +maid," she said to John, when they were seated. + +"I came under convoy of Mr. Raridan this time. I find that he is pretty +hard to lose." + +"Oh, he's a splendid guide! He declares that there are just as +interesting things to see here in Clarkson as there are in Rome or +Venice. He told Miss Warren this afternoon that it would take him a +month to show her half the sights." + +"He certainly makes things interesting. His local history is +delightful." + +"Yes; father tells him that he knows nearly everything, but that the +pity is it isn't all true. You see, Warry and I have known each other +always. The Raridans lived very near us, just over the way." + +"He has shown me the place; it's on the clay sugar loaf across the +street." + +"Isn't it shameful of him not to bring his ancestral home down to the +street level?" + +"Oh, he says he'd rather burn the money. It seems that he fought the +assessment as long as he could and has refused to abide by it. He enjoys +fighting it in the courts. It gives him something to do." + +"That's like Warry. He can be more steadfast in error than anybody." + +Raridan was exchanging chaff with Miss Marshall across the table and +Wheaton was stranded for the moment. + +"You must tell us about that Chinaman at your bachelors' house, Mr. +Wheaton. Mr. Raridan has told me many funny stories about him, but I +think he makes up most of them." + +"I'd hardly dare repudiate any of Mr. Raridan's stories; but I'll say +that we couldn't get on without the Chinaman. He's a very faithful +fellow." + +"But Mr. Raridan says he isn't!" exclaimed Evelyn. "He says that you +bachelors suffer terribly from his mistakes, and that he can't keep any +rice for use at weddings because the Oriental takes it out of his +pockets and makes puddings of it." + +"That must be one of Mr. Raridan's jokes," said Wheaton. "We have had no +rice pudding since I went to live at The Bachelors'." Wheaton was +suspicious of Raridan's jokes. He was not always sure that he caught the +point of them. He saw that Saxton, who sat opposite him, got on very +well with Miss Porter, and he was surprised at this; he had thought +Saxton very slow, and yet he seemed to be as much at his ease as +Raridan, who was Wheaton's ideal master of social accomplishment. He was +somewhat dismayed by the array of silver beside his plate, and he found +himself covertly taking his cue from Saxton, who seemed to make his +choice without difficulty. It dawned on him presently that the forks and +spoons were arranged in order; that it was not necessary to exercise any +judgment of selection, and he felt elated to see how easily it was +managed. In his relief he engaged Miss Marshall in a talk about +Richmond. He knew the names of banks and bankers there, from having +looked them up in the bank directories in the course of business. He +liked the Southern girl's vivacity, though he thought Evelyn much +handsomer and more dignified. She asked him whether he played golf, +which had just been introduced into Clarkson, and he was forced to admit +that he did not; and he ventured to add that he had heard it called an +old man's game. When she replied that she shouldn't imagine then that it +would interest him particularly, he felt foolish and could not think of +anything to say in reply. Raridan again claimed Miss Marshall's +attention, and Wheaton was drawn into talk with Evelyn and Saxton. + +"Mr. Saxton has never seen one of our carnivals," she said, "and neither +have I. You know I've missed them by being away so much." + +"They expect to have a great entertainment this year," said Wheaton. He +was sorry for the secrecy with which the names of the principal +participants were guarded; he would have liked to say something to Miss +Porter about it, but he did not dare, with Saxton listening. Moreover, +he was not sure that she had consented to take part. + +"I suppose it's a good deal like amateur theatricals, only on a larger +scale," suggested Saxton. + +"That's not taking the carnival in the right spirit," said Evelyn. "The +word amateur is jarring, I think. We must try to imagine that King Midas +really and truly comes floating down the Missouri River on a barge, +supported by his men of magic, and that they are met by a delegation of +the wise men of Clarkson, all properly clad, and escorted to the local +parthenon, or whatever it is called, where the keys of the city are +given to him. I'm sure it's all very plausible." + +"But I don't see," said Saxton, "why all the western towns that go in +for these carnivals have to go back to mythology and medieval customs. +Why don't they use something indigenous,--the Indians for instance?" + +"They're too recent," Evelyn answered. "The people around here--a good +many of them, at least--were here before the savages had all gone. And +those whose fathers and mothers were scalped might take it as +unpleasantly suggestive if a lot of white men, dressed up as Indians, +paraded themselves through the streets." + +"What was that about Indians?" demanded Mr. Porter, who had been busy +exchanging reminiscences with Mrs. Whipple. "Why, there hasn't been an +Indian on the place for twenty years!" + +"Oh yes, there has, father," said Evelyn. "It was only five years ago +that there were two in this room. Don't you remember, when Warry had his +hobby for educating Indian youth? He brought those boys up here for +Christmas dinner." + +"I remember; and they didn't like turkey," added Mr. Porter. "They were +hungry for their native bear meat." + +"It's too bad," said Raridan sorrowfully, "that a man never can live +down his good deeds." + +Raridan liked to pretend that Clarkson society had a deep philosophy +which he alone understood. He had fallen into his favorite rôle as a +social sage for the benefit of the strangers, and Mrs. Whipple was +correcting or denying what he said. He had assured the table that the +supreme social test was whether people could walk on their own hardwood +floors and rugs without taking the long slide into eternity. Philistines +could buy hardwood floors, but only the elect could walk on them. + +"Society in Clarkson is easily classified," said Raridan readily, as +though he had often given thought to this subject. "There are three +classes of homes in this town, namely, those in which no servants are +kept, those in which two are kept, and those in which the maids wear +caps." + +"Warry is going from bad to worse," declared Mrs. Whipple. "I'm sure he +could give in advance the menu of any dinner he's asked to." + +"A tax on the memory and not on the imagination," retorted Warry. + +Miss Warren was asking Mr. Porter's opinion of local political +conditions which were just then attracting wide-spread attention. Mr. +Porter was expressing his distrust of a leader who had leaped into fame +by a violent arraignment of the rich. + +"It wouldn't be so terribly hard for us all to get rich," said Warry. "I +sometimes marvel at the squalor about us. All that a man need do is to +concentrate his attention on one thing, and if he is capable of earning +a dollar a day he can just as easily earn ten thousand a year. Why"--he +continued earnestly, "I knew a fellow in Peoria, who devised a scheme +for building duplicates of some of the architectural wonders of the Old +World in American cities. His plan was to send out a million postal +cards inviting a dollar apiece from a million people. Almost anybody can +give away a dollar and not miss it." + +"How did the scheme work?" asked Mr. Porter. + +"It wasn't tested," answered Warry. "The doctors in the sanitarium +wouldn't let him out long enough to mail his postal cards." + +General Whipple persuaded Miss Marshall to tell a negro story, which she +did delightfully, while the table listened. Southerners are, after all, +the most natural talkers we have and the only ones who can talk freely +of themselves without offense. Her speech was musical, and she told her +story with a nice sense of its dramatic quality. At the climax, after +the laughter had abated, she asked, with an air of surprise at their +pleasure in her tale: + +"Didn't you all ever hear that story before?" She was guiltless of final +r's, and her drawl was delicious. + +"Oh, Miss Marshall! I _knew_ you'd say it!" Raridan appealed to the +others to be sure of witnesses. + +"What are you all laughing at?" demanded the girl, flushing and smiling +about her. + +"Oh, you did it twice!" + +"I _didn't_ say it, Mr. Raridan," she said, with dignity. "I never said +that after I went North to school." + +"Well, Belle," said Evelyn, "I'm heartily ashamed of you. After all we +did in college to break you of it, you are at it again though you've +been only a few months away from us." + +"It's hopeless, I'm afraid," said Miss Warren. "You know, Evelyn, she +said 'I-alls' when she first came to college." + +They had their coffee on the veranda, where the lights from within made +a pleasant dusk about them. Porter's heart was warm with the joy of +Evelyn's home-coming. She had been away from him so much that he was +realizing for the first time the common experience of fathers, who find +that their daughters have escaped suddenly and inexplicably from +girlhood into womanhood; and yet the girl heart in her had not lost its +freshness nor its thirst for pleasure. She had carried off her little +company charmingly; Porter had enjoyed it himself, and he felt young +again in the presence of youth. + +General Whipple had attached himself to one of the couples of young +people that were strolling here and there in the grounds. Porter and +Mrs. Whipple held the veranda alone; both were unconsciously watching +Evelyn and Saxton as they walked back and forth in front of the house, +talking gaily; and Porter smiled at the eagerness and quickness of her +movements. Saxton's deliberateness contrasted oddly with the girl's +light step. Such a girl must marry a man worthy of her; there could be +no question of that; and for the first time the thought of losing her +rose in his heart and numbed it. + +Porter's cigar had gone out, a fact to which Mrs. Whipple called his +attention. + +"I've heard that it's a great compliment for a man to let his cigar go +out when he's talking to a woman. But I don't believe my chatter was +responsible for it this time." She nodded toward Evelyn, as if she +understood what had been in his thought. + +"She's very fine. Both handsome and sensible, and at our age we know how +rare the combination is." + +"I shall have to trust you to keep an eye on her. I want her to know the +right people." He spoke between the flashes of the cigar he was +relighting. + +"Don't worry about her. You may trust her around the world. Evelyn has +already manifested an interest in my advice," she added, smiling to +herself in the dark,--"and she didn't seem much pleased with it!" + +Evelyn and Saxton had met the others, who were coming up from the walks, +and there was a redistribution at the house; it was too beautiful to go +in, they said, and the strolling abroad continued. A great flood of +moonlight poured over the grounds. A breeze stole up from the valley and +made a soothing rustle in the trees. Evelyn rescued Wheaton and Miss +Warren from each other; she sent Raridan away to impart, as he said, +further western lore to the Yankee. She followed, with Wheaton, the arc +which the others were transcribing. A feeling of elation possessed him. +The tide of good fortune was bearing him far, but memory played hide and +seek with him as he walked there talking to Evelyn Porter; he was struck +with the unreality of this new experience. He was afraid of blundering; +of failing to meet even the trifling demands of her careless talk. He +remembered once, in his train-boy days, having pressed upon a pretty +girl one of Miss Braddon's novels; and the girl's scornful rejection of +the book and of himself came back and mocked him. Raridan's merry laugh +rang out suddenly far across the lawn; he had done more with his life +than Raridan would ever do with his; Raridan was a foolish fellow. +Saxton passed them with Miss Marshall; Saxton was dull; he had failed in +the cattle business. James Wheaton was not a town's jester, and he was +not a failure. Evelyn was telling him some of Belle Marshall's pranks at +school. + +"She was the greatest cut-up. I suppose she'll never change. I don't +believe we do change so much as the wiseacres pretend, do you?" + +She was aware that she had talked a great deal and threw out this line +to him a little desperately; he was proving even more difficult than she +had imagined him. He had been thinking of his mother--forgotten these +many years--who was old even when he left home. He remembered her only +as the dominant figure of the steaming kitchen where she had ministered +with rough kindness and severity to her uncouth brood. His sisters--what +loutish, brawling girls they were, and how they fought over whatever +silly finery they were able to procure for themselves! A faint +flower-scent rose from the soft skirts of the tall young woman beside +him. He hated himself for his memories. + +He felt suddenly alarmed by her question, which seemed to aim at the +undercurrent of his own silent thought. + +"There are those of us who ought to change," he said. + +The others had straggled back toward the veranda and were disappearing +indoors. + +"They seem to be going in. We can find our way through the sun-porch; I +suppose it might be called a moon-porch, too," she said, leading the +way. + +They heard the sound of the piano through the open windows, and a girl's +voice broke gaily into song. + +"It's Belle. She does sing those coon songs wonderfully. Let us wait +here until she finishes this one." The sun-porch opened from the +dining-room. They could see beyond it, into the drawing-room; the singer +was in plain view, sitting at the piano; Raridan stood facing her, +keeping time with an imaginary baton. + +A man came unobserved to the glass door of the porch and stood +unsteadily peering in. He was very dirty and balanced himself in that +abandon with which intoxicated men belie Newton's discovery. He had +gained the top step with difficulty; the light from the window blinded +him and for a moment he stood within the inclosure blinking. An ugly +grin spread over his face as he made out the two figures by the window, +and he began a laborious journey toward them. He tried to tiptoe, and +this added further to his embarrassments; but the figures by the window +were intent on the song and did not hear him. He drew slowly nearer; one +more step and he would have concluded his journey. He poised on his toes +before taking it, but the law of gravitation now asserted itself. He +lunged forward heavily, casting himself upon Wheaton, and nearly +knocking him from his feet. + +"Jimmy," he blurted in a drunken voice. "Jim-my!" + +Evelyn turned quickly and shrank back with a cry. Wheaton was slowly +rallying from the shock of his surprise. He grabbed the man by the arms +and began pushing him toward the door. + +"Don't be alarmed," he said over his shoulder to Evelyn, who had shrunk +back against the wall. "I'll manage him." + +This, however, was not so easily done. The tramp, as Evelyn supposed him +to be, had been sobered by Wheaton's attack. He clasped his fingers +about Wheaton's throat and planted his feet firmly. He clearly intended +to stand his ground, and he dug his fingers into Wheaton's neck with the +intention of hurting. + +[Illustration] + +"Father!" cried Evelyn once, but the song was growing noisier toward its +end and the circle about the piano did not hear. She was about to call +again when a heavy step sounded outside on the walk and Bishop Delafield +came swiftly into the porch. He had entered the grounds from the rear +and was walking around the house to the front door. + +"Quick! that man there,--I'll call the others!" cried Evelyn, still +shrinking against the wall. Wheaton had been forced to his knees and his +assailant was choking him. But there was no need of other help. The +bishop had already seized the tramp about the body with his great hands, +tearing him from Wheaton's neck. He strode, with the squirming figure in +his grasp, toward an open window at the back of the glass inclosure, and +pushed the man out. There was a great snorting and threshing below. The +hill dipped abruptly away from this side of the house and the man had +fallen several feet, into a flower bed. + +"Get away from here," the bishop said, in his deep voice, "and be quick +about it." The man rose and ran swiftly down the slope toward the +street. + +The bishop walked back to the window. The others had now hurried out in +response to Evelyn's peremptory calls, and she was telling of the +tramp's visit, while Wheaton received their condolences, and readjusted +his tie. His collar and shirt-front showed signs of contact with dirt. + +"It was a tramp," said Evelyn, as the others plied her with questions, +"and he attacked Mr. Wheaton." + +"Where's he gone?" demanded Porter, excitedly. + +"There he goes," said the bishop, pointing toward the window. "He +smelled horribly of whisky, and I dropped him gently out of the window. +The shock seems to have inspired his legs." + +"I'll have the police--," began Porter. + +"Oh, he's gone now, Mr. Porter," said Wheaton coolly, as he restored +his tie. "Bishop Delafield disposed of him so vigorously that he'll +hardly come back." + +"Yes, let him go," said the bishop, wiping his hands on his +handkerchief. "I'm only afraid, Porter, that I've spoiled your best +canna bed." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE KNIGHTS OF MIDAS BALL + + +There were two separate and distinct sides to the annual carnival of the +Knights of Midas. The main object to which the many committees on +arrangements addressed themselves was the assembling in Clarkson of as +many people as could be collected by assiduous advertising and the +granting of special privileges by the railroads. The streets must be +filled, and to fill them and keep them filled it was necessary to +entertain the masses; and this was done by providing what the committee +on publicity and promotion proclaimed to be a monster Pageant of +Industry. The spectacle was not tawdry nor ugly. It did not lack touches +of real beauty. The gaily decked floats, borne over the street car +tracks by trolleys, were like barges from a pageant of the Old World in +the long ago, impelled by mysterious forces. From many floats fireworks +summoned the heavens to behold the splendor and bravery of the parade. +The procession was led by the Knights of Midas, arrayed in yellow robes +and wearing helmets which shone with all the effulgence of bright tin. +There was a series of floats on which Commerce, Agriculture, +Transportation and Manufacturing were embodied and deified in the +persons of sundry young women, posed in appropriate attitudes and lifted +high on uncertain pedestals for the admiration of the multitude. On +other cars men followed strenuously their callings; coopers hammered +hoops upon their barrels; a blacksmith, with an infant forge at his +command, made the sparks fly from his anvil as his float rumbled by. An +enormous steer was held in check by ropes, and surrounded by murderous +giants from the abattoirs; Gambrinus smiled down from a proud height of +kegs on men that bottled beer below. Many brass bands, including a +famous cowboy band from Lone Prairie, and an Indian boy band from a +Wyoming reservation, played the newest and most dashing marches of the +day. Thus were the thrift, the enterprise, the audacity, and the +generosity of the people of Clarkson exemplified. + +Such was the first night's entertainment. The crowd which was brought to +town to spend its money certainly was not defrauded. The second night it +was treated to band concerts, a horse-show and other entertainments, +while the Knights of Midas closed the door of their wooden temple upon +all but their chosen guests. These were, of course, expected to pay a +certain sum for their tickets, and the sum was not small. The Knights of +Midas ball was not, it should be said, a cheap affair. Raridan and +Saxton had taken a balcony box for the ball and they asked Evelyn's +guests to share it with them. Raridan still growled to Saxton over what +he called Evelyn's debasement, but he had said nothing more to Evelyn +about it. + +"Here's to the deification of Jim Wheaton," he sighed, as he and Saxton +waited for the young ladies in the Porter drawing-room. + +Saxton grinned at him unsympathetically. + +"Stop sighing like an air-brake. You will be dancing yourself to death +in an hour." + +When the two young women came in, Raridan's spirits brightened. Evelyn +was, Miss Marshall declared, "perfectly adorable" in her gown; but the +young men did not see her. She was to go later with her father. + +They were early at the hall, whose bareness had been relieved by a gay +show of bunting and flags. + +"I will now give you a succinct running account of the first families of +this community as they assemble," Raridan announced, when they had +settled in their chairs. There were no seats on the main floor, as the +ceremonial part of the entertainment was brief, and the greater number +of the spectators stood until it was over. An aisle was kept down the +middle of the hall and on each side the crowd gossiped, while a band +high above played popular airs. + +"We're all here," said Raridan, when the band rested. "The butcher, the +baker and the candlestick-maker; also probably some of our cooks. We are +the spectators at one of Nero's matinees; the goodly knights are ready +for combat, and those who have had practice in the adjacent packing +houses have the best chance of winning the victory. There comes Tim +Margrave, one of the merriest of them all, full of Arthurian valor and +as gentle a knight as ever held lance or bought a city council. And +there is the master of our largest and goriest abattoir. That is not a +star on his chest, but a diamond pig, rampant on a field of dress-shirt. +He used to wear it on his watch-chain, but it was too inconspicuous +there-- + + + 'On his breast a five-point star + Points the way that his kingdoms are.'" + + +Miss Marshall was scrutinizing the man indicated through her opera +glasses. + +"Why, it _is_ a pig!" she declared. + +"Of course it is," said Warry, with an aggrieved air. "I hope you don't +think I'd fib about it. Now, the girl over there by the window, with the +young man with the pompadour hair, is Mabel Margrave, whose father you +saw a minute ago. She is looking this way with her lorgnette; but don't +flinch; there's only the plain window glass of our rude western commerce +in it; she handles it awfully well, though." + +"And the man coming in who looks like a statesman?" asked Miss Marshall. + +"That's Wilkins, the boy orator of the Range. He palpitates with +Ciceronian speech. He's our greatest authority on the demonetization of +wampum. The young man who's talking to him is telling him what hot stuff +he is, and that the speech he made at Tin Cup, Texas, last week on the +'Inequalities of Taxation' is the warmest little speech that has been +made in this country since Patrick Henry died. He's a good +thing,--Wilkins. The Indians back on the reservation, where he goes to +raise the wolf's mournful howl when white people won't listen to him, +call him Young-man-not-afraid-of-his-voice. Our Chinaman calls him Yung +Lung. Quite a character, Wilkins." + +"And," Miss Warren inquired, "the grave, handsome man, who must be an +eminent jurist?" + +"He does one's laundry," Raridan replied, "and," looking at his cuffs +critically, "he does it rather decently." + +"There's another side to this," said Saxton to Miss Warren, while +Raridan babbled on to the pretty Virginian. "These people have had a +terribly hard time of it. They've been through a panic that would have +killed an ordinary community; a good many of the nicest of them have had +to begin over again; and it's uphill work. It isn't so funny when we +consider that these older people have tried their level best to make the +wilderness blossom as the rose, and after they'd made a fine beginning +the desert repossessed it. There's something splendid in their courage." + +"Yes, it's hard for us who live on the outside to appreciate it. And +they seem such nice people, too." + +"Don't they! They're big-hearted and plucky and generous! Eastern people +don't begin to appreciate the people who do their rough work for them." + +The other boxes and the gallery had filled, and the main floor was +crowded, save where the broad aisle had been maintained down the center +from the front door to the stage. A buzz of talk floated over the hall. +The band was silent while its leader peered down upon the floor waiting +his signal. He turned suddenly and the trumpets broke forth into the +notes of a dignified march. All eyes turned to the front of the hall, +where the knights, in their robes, preceded by the grand seneschal, +bearing his staff of office, were emerging slowly from the outer door +into the aisle. When the stage was reached, the procession formed in +long lines, facing inward on the steps, making a path through which the +governors, who were distinguished by scarlet robes, came attending the +person of the king. + +"All hail the king!" A crowd of knights in evening dress, who were +honorary members of the organization and had no parts in costume, sent +up the shout. + +"Hail to Midas!" + +"Isn't he noble and grand?" shouted Raridan in Miss Marshall's ear. A +murmur ran through the hall as Wheaton was recognized; his name was +passed to those who did not know him, and everybody applauded. He was +really imposing in the robes of his kingship. He walked with a fitting +deliberation among his escort. He was conscious of the lights, the +applause, the music, and of the fact that he was the center of it all. +The cheers were subsiding as the party neared the throne. + +"I'll wager he's badly frightened," said Raridan to Saxton. + +"Don't you think it," declared Saxton, "he looks as cool as a cucumber." + +"Oh, he's cool enough," grumbled Raridan. + +"You see what envy will do for a man," remarked Saxton to Miss Marshall. +"Mr. Raridan's simply perishing because he isn't there himself. But +what's this?" + +The king had reached his throne and faced the audience. All the knights +bowed low; the king returned the salutation while the audience cheered. + +"It's like a comic opera," said Miss Marshall. + +The supreme knight advanced and handed Wheaton the scepter and there was +renewed applause and cheering. + +"Only funnier," said Raridan. "Yell, Saxton, yell!" He rose to his feet +and led his end of the house in cheering. "It makes me think of old +times at football," he declared, sinking back into his chair with an air +of exhaustion, and wiping his face. + +The king had seated himself, and expectancy again possessed the hall. +The band struck up another air, and a line of girls in filmy, trailing +gowns was filing in. + +"There are the foolish virgins who didn't fill their lamps," said +Raridan; "that's why they have brought bouquets." + +"But they ought to have got their gowns at the same place," said Miss +Marshall, who was abetting Raridan in his comments. Miss Warren and +Saxton, on the other side of her, were taking it all more seriously. + +"It's really very pretty and impressive," Miss Warren declared, "and not +at all silly as I feared it might be." + +"Well, _that_ is very pretty," replied Saxton. + +The queen, following her ladies in waiting, had appeared at the door. +There was a pause, a murmur, and then a great burst of applause as those +who were in the secret identified the queen, and those who were not +learned it as Evelyn's name passed from lip to lip. Whatever there was +of absurdity in the scene was dispelled by Evelyn's loveliness and +dignity. Her white gown intensified her fairness, and her long court +train added an illusion of height. She carried her head high, with a +serene air that was habitual. The charm that set her apart from other +girls was in no wise lost in the mock splendor of this ceremony. + +"She's as lovely as a bride," murmured Belle Marshall, so low that only +Raridan heard her. Something caught in his throat and he looked steadily +down upon the approaching queen and said nothing. The supreme knight +descended to escort the queen to the dais. The king came down to meet +her and led her to a place beside him, where they turned and faced the +applauding crowd. + +The grand chamberlain now stepped forward and read the proclamation of +the Knights of Midas, announcing that the king had reached their city, +and urging upon all subjects the duty of showing strict obedience. He +read a formula to which Evelyn and Wheaton made responses. A page stood +beside the queen holding a crown, which glittered with false brilliants +upon a richly embroidered pillow, and when the king knelt before her, +she placed it upon his head. At this there was more cheering and +handclapping. Saxton glanced toward Raridan as he beat his own hands +together, expecting one of Raridan's gibes at the chamberlain's bombast; +but there was a fierce light in Raridan's eyes that Saxton had never +seen there before. He was staring before him at Evelyn Porter, as she +now sat beside Wheaton on the tawdry throne; his face was white and his +lips were set. Saxton was struck with sorrow for him. + +There was a stir throughout the hall. The king and queen were +descending; the floor manager was already manifesting his authority. + +"Let's stay here until the grand march is over," said Raridan. He had +partly regained his spirits, and was again pointing out people of +interest on the floor below. + +"Now wasn't it magnificent?" he demanded. + +"Wasn't Evelyn lovely?" exclaimed the girls in a breath. + +"We didn't need this circus to prove it, did we?" asked Raridan +cynically. + +"Aren't there any more exercises--is it all over?" cried Miss Marshall. + +"Bless us, no!" replied Raridan. + +The evolutions of the grand march were now in progress and they stood +watching it. + +"They didn't get enough rehearsals for this," said Raridan. "Look at +that mix up!" One of the knights had tripped and stumbled over the skirt +of his robe. "They ought to behead him for that." + +"Mr. Raridan's terribly severe," said Saxton. The king and queen, +leading the march, were passing under the box. + +"The king really looks scared," remarked Miss Warren. + +"Yes; he's rather conscious of his clothes," said Raridan. "His train +rattles him." Evelyn glanced up at them and laughed and nodded. + +Before the march broke up into dancing they went down from the gallery. +On the floor, the older people were resolving themselves into lay +figures against the wall. They found Mr. Porter leaning against one of +the rude supports of the gallery, wondering whether he might now escape +to the retirement of the cloak-room to get his hat and cigar. The young +people burst upon him with congratulations. + +"You must he dying of pride," exclaimed Miss Marshall. + +"Evelyn never looked better," declared Miss Warren. "It was splendid!" + +"We are proud to know you, sir," said Raridan, shaking hands. + +"I surely came to Clarkson in the right year," said Saxton. + +Porter regarded them with the patronizing smile which he kept for those +who praised Evelyn to his face. + +"The only thing now," he said, "is to get that girl home before +daylight." + +"Oh, the queen gives her own orders," said Raridan. "You'll never be +boss at the Hill any more!" He was bringing up all the unattached men he +knew to present them to the visitors. He never forgot any one, and not +merely the débutantes of other years, but girls that were voted slow in +the brutal court of social opinion, were always sure of rescue at his +hands. Evelyn and Wheaton were bearing down upon them; Evelyn, flushed +and happy, and Wheaton in a glow from the exercise of the march and a +dance with her. There was a fusillade of interjections as many crowded +about with praise of the leading actors. It was all breathless and +incoherent. The crowd was uncomfortably large, and the hall was hot. +Porter found General Whipple and escaped with him to the smoking room. +Young men were everywhere writing their names on elaborate dance cards. + +"Save a few for us," Raridan pleaded airily as the men he had introduced +hovered about Evelyn's guests. He made no effort to speak to Evelyn, who +was besieged by a throng that wished to congratulate her or to dance +with her. She gave Saxton her fingers through a rift in the crowd and he +turned again to find himself deserted. Raridan was dancing with Belle +Marshall and Annie Warren nodded to him over the shoulder of a youth who +had waltzed her away. While Saxton waited for the quadrilles to which +his dancing limitations restricted him, he made a circuit of the room. +Mrs. Whipple was holding forth to a group of dowagers but turned from +them to him. + +"I'm hardly sure of you without Warry, and this is the first time I've +seen you alone. Of course, you were looking for me!" + +"That's what I came for." + +"Please say something more like that. I saw you come in, young man; they +are very nice girls, too." + +She was trying to remember who had told her that Saxton was stupid. + +"How did you like it? This was your first, I think." + +"Beautiful! charming! An enchanting entertainment!" + +"Is that for you and Warry, too? He always has to approve everything +here." + +"Oh, I can't speak for him," John answered; "we don't necessarily always +agree." + +"I'll have to find out later, from him. You and Warry appear to be fast +friends, and he talks a great deal. What has he told you about me?" + +"He said you were kind to strange young men; but that wasn't +information." + +"You'll do, I think. Here comes Warry now." + +Raridan came along looking for a country girl whose brother he knew, and +with whom he had engaged the dance which was now in progress. + +"I think she's hiding from me," he complained to Mrs. Whipple, "but the +gods are kind; I can talk to you. The general is a generous man." He +regarded critically a great bunch of red roses which she held in her +lap. "That's why the florist didn't have any for me." + +"Oh, these are Evelyn's," explained Mrs. Whipple. "She asked me to keep +them for her--the king's gift, you know. I feel highly honored." + +"By the king? Impossible! I'll give you something nice to let me drop +them into the alley." + +"Is it as bad as that? Well, good luck to you!" + +He stood with his hands in his pockets looking musingly out over the +heads of the dancers. Mrs. Whipple eyed him attentively. + +"You know you always tell me all of them," she persisted; but he was +following a fair head and a pair of graceful shoulders and ever and anon +a laughing face that flashed into sight and then out of range. His rural +friend's sister loomed before him, in an attitude of dejection against +the wall, and he hastened to her with contrition, and made paradise fly +under her feet. + +Saxton was doing his best with the square dances, and had finished a +quadrille with Evelyn, who had thereafter asked him to sit out a round +dance with her; still Raridan did not come near them. He was busy with +Evelyn's guests or immolating himself for the benefit of the country +wallflowers. Supper was served at midnight in an annex of the hall. + +"Here's where we forget to be polite," Raridan announced. "If we die in +the struggle I hope you fair young charges will treasure our memories." + +The king and queen and the high powers of the knights enjoyed the +distinction of sitting at a table where they were served by waiters, +while the multitude fought for their food. + +"If you lose our seats while we're gone," Raridan warned Miss Marshall +and Miss Warren, "you shall have only six olives apiece." He led Saxton +in a descent upon an array of long tables at which men were harpooning +sandwiches and dipping salad. The successful raiders were rewarded by +the waiters with cups of coffee to add to their perils as they bore +their plates away. There was a great clatter and buzz in the room. On +the platform where the distinguished personages of the carnival sat +there was now much laughing. + +"Margrave's pretty noisy to-night," observed Raridan, biting into his +sandwich, and sweeping the platform with a comprehensive glance. + +"You mustn't forget that this is a carnival," replied Saxton. He had +followed his friend's eyes and knew that it was not the horse-laugh of +Margrave that troubled him, but the vista which disclosed both Wheaton +and Evelyn Porter. + +"Mr. Raridan's really not so funny as Evelyn said he was," remarked +Belle Marshall. + +"The truth is," Raridan answered, rallying, "that I'm getting old. Miss +Porter remembers only my light-hearted youth." + +"Well, let's revive our youth in another food rush," suggested Saxton. +They repeated their tactics of a few minutes before, returning with +ice-cream, which the waiters were cutting from bricks for supplicants +who stood before them in Oliver Twist's favorite attitude. + +"Mr. Saxton's a terrible tenderfoot," lamented Raridan, when they +returned from the charge. "He was giving your ice-cream, Miss Warren, to +an old gentleman, who stood horror-struck in the midst of the carnage." + +"You'd think we rehearsed our talk," Saxton objected. "He wants me to +tell you that he got the poor old gentleman not only food for all his +relations, but took away other people's chairs for him, as well." + +"Lying isn't a lost art, after all," said Raridan. + +As they returned to the hall they met a crowd of the nobility who were +descending from their high seats. + +"So sorry to have deserted you all evening," said Evelyn to her girl +friends as they came together in a crush at the door; "but the worst is +over." She looked up curiously at Raridan, who seemed purposely to have +turned away to talk to Captain Wheelock, and was commenting ironically +on the management that made such a mob possible. There was only a moment +for any interchange, but she was sure now that Raridan was avoiding her +and it touched her pride. + +"I hope you won't forget our dance, Mr. Saxton," she said, struggling to +follow a young man who had come to claim her. Raridan turned again, but +hung protectingly over Miss Marshall, whom the noisy Margrave seemed +bent on crushing. Raridan had not asked Evelyn to dance, though she had +been importuned by every other man she knew, and by a great many others +whom she did not know. As the gay music of a waltz carried her down the +hall with a proud youngster who had been waiting for her, the lightness +of her heart was gone for the moment. She remembered Raridan's curious +mood on the night before her friends came, and his unfriendliness to the +idea of her taking part in the carnival. She was piqued that he had +studiously avoided her to-night. The others must have noticed it. Warry +needed discipline; he had been spoilt and she meant to visit punishment +upon him. She did not care, she told herself; whether Warry Raridan +liked what she did or not. + +But something of the glory of the evening had departed. She was really +growing tired, and several of the youths who came for dances were told +that they must sit them out, and she welcomed their chatter, throwing in +her yes and no occasionally merely to impel them on. Wheaton had grown a +little afraid of her after the glow of his royal honors had begun to +fade. It is often so with players in amateur theatricals, who think they +are growing wonderfully well acquainted during rehearsals; but after the +performance is concluded, they are surprised to find how easily they +slip back to the old footing of casual acquaintance. There was a flutter +about Evelyn at the last, when her father made bold to ask her when she +would be ready to go. + +"The girls have already gone," he said, replying to her question. When +they were in the carriage together and were rolling homeward, she gave a +sigh of relief. + +"Are you glad it's over?" asked her father. + +"Yes, I believe I am." + +"Well, they all said fine things about you, girl. I guess I've got to be +proud of you." This was his way of saying that he was both proud and +grateful. + +As they reached the entrance to the Hill they passed another carriage +just leaving the grounds. Saxton put his head out of the window and +called a cheery good night, and Evelyn waved a hand to him. + +"It was Warry and Saxton," said Mr. Porter. "I thought they'd stop to +talk it over." + +Evelyn had thought so too, but she did not say so. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A MORNING AT ST. PAUL'S + + +Wheaton ran away from the livelier spirits of the Knights of Midas, who +urged him to join in a celebration at the club after the ball broke up. +He pleaded the necessity of early rising and went home and to bed, +where, however, he slept little, but lay dreaming over the incidents of +the night, particularly those in which he had figured. Many people had +congratulated him, and while there was an irony in much of this, as if +the whole proceeding were a joke, he had taken it all in the spirit, in +which it had been offered. He felt a trifle anxious as to his reception +at the breakfast table as he dressed, but his mirror gave him +confidence. The night had been an important one for him, and he could +afford to bear with his fellows, who would, he knew, spare him no more +than they spared any one else in their chaff. + +They flaunted at him the morning papers with portraits of the king and +queen of the ball bracketed together in double column. He took the +papers from them as he replied to their ironies, and casually inspected +them while the Chinaman brought in his breakfast. + +"Didn't expect to see you this morning," said Caldwell, the +Transcontinental agent, stirring his coffee and winking at Brown, the +smelter manager. "You society men are usually shy at breakfast." + +Wheaton put down his paper carelessly, and spread his napkin. + +"Oh, a king has to eat," said Brown. + +"Well," said Wheaton, with an air of relief, "it's worth something to be +alive the morning after." + +But they had no sympathy for him. + +"Listen to him," said Caldwell derisively, "just as if he didn't wish he +could do it all over again to-night." + +"Not for a million dollars," declared Wheaton, shaking his head +dolefully. + +"Yes," said Captain Wheelock, "I suppose that show last night bored you +nearly to death." + +"I'm always glad to see these fellows sacrifice themselves for the +public good," said Brown. "Wheaton's a martyr now, with a nice pink +halo." + +"Well, it doesn't go here," said the army officer severely. "We've got +to take him down a peg if he gets too gay." + +"Why, we've already got one sassiety man in the house," said Caldwell, +"and that's hard enough to bear." He referred to Raridan, who was +breakfasting in his room. + +They were addressing one another, rather than Wheaton, whose presence +they affected to ignore. + +"I suppose there'll be no holding him now," said Caldwell. "It's like +the taste for strong drink, this society business. They never get over +it. It's ruined Raridan; he'd be a good fellow if it wasn't for that." + +"Humph! you fellows are envious," said Wheaton, with an effort at +swagger. + +"Oh, I don't know!" said Brown, with rising inflection. "I suppose any +of us could do it if we'd put up the money." + +"Well," said Wheaton, "if they let you off as cheaply as they did me, +you may call it a bargain." + +"Oh, he jewed 'em down," persisted Caldwell, explaining to the others, +"and he has the cheek to boast of it. I'll see that Margrave hears +that." + +"Yes, you do that," Wheaton retorted. "Everybody knows that Margrave's +an easy mark." This counted as a palpable hit with Brown and Wheelock. +Margrave was notorious for his hard bargains. Wheaton gathered up his +papers and went out. + +"He takes it pretty well," said Caldwell as they heard the door close +after Wheaton. "He ought to make a pretty good fellow in time if he +doesn't get stuck on himself." + +"Well, I guess Billy Porter'll take him down if he gets too gay," +exclaimed Brown. + +"Porter may leave it to his daughter to do that," said Caldwell, shaking +out the match with which he had lighted his cigar, and dropping it into +his coffee cup. + +"It'll never come to that," returned Brown. + +"You never can tell. People were looking wise about it last night," said +Captain Wheelock, who was a purveyor of gossip. + +"Don't trouble yourself," volunteered Caldwell, who read the society +items thoroughly every morning and created a social fabric out of them. +"I guess Warry will have something to say to that." + +At the bank Wheaton found that the men who came in to transact business +had a knowing nod for him, that implied a common knowledge of matters +which it was not necessary to discuss. A good many who came to his desk +asked him if he was tired. They referred to the carnival ball as a +"push" and said it was "great" with all the emphasis that slang has +imparted to these words. + +Porter came down early and enveloped himself in a cloud of smoke. This +in the bank was the outward and visible sign of a "grouch." When he +pressed the button to call one of the messengers, he pushed it long and +hard, so that the boys remarked to one another that the boss had been +out late last night and wasn't feeling good. + +Porter did not mention the ball to Wheaton in any way, except when he +threw over to him a memorandum of the bank's subscription to the fund, +remarking: "Send them a check. That's all of that for one year." + +Wheaton made no reply, but did as Porter bade him. It was his business +to accommodate himself to the president's moods, and he was very +successful in doing so. A few of the bank's customers made use of him as +a kind of human barometer, telephoning sometimes to ask how the old man +was feeling, and whether it was a good time to approach him. He +attributed the president's reticence this morning to late hours, and was +very careful to answer promptly when Porter spoke to him. He knew that +there would be no recognition by Porter of the fact that he had +participated in a public function the night before; he would have to +gather the glory of it elsewhere. He thought of Evelyn in moments when +his work was not pressing, and wondered whether he could safely ask her +father how she stood the night's gaiety. It occurred to him to pay his +compliments by telephone; Raridan was always telephoning to girls; but +he could not quite put himself in Raridan's place. Warry presumed a good +deal, and was younger; he did many things which Wheaton considered +undignified, though he envied the younger man's ease in carrying them +off. + +One of Porter's callers asked how Miss Porter had "stood the racket," as +he phrased it. + +"Don't ask me," growled Porter. "Didn't show up for breakfast." + +William Porter did not often eat salad at midnight, but when he did it +punished him. + +As Wheaton was opening the afternoon mail he was called to the +telephone-box to speak to Mrs. Jordan, a lady whom he had met at the +ball. She was inviting a few friends for dinner the next evening to meet +some guests who were with her for the carnival. She begged that Mr. +Wheaton would pardon the informality of the invitation and come. He +answered that he should be very glad to come; but when he got back to +his desk he realized that he had probably made a mistake; the Jordans +were socially anomalous, and there was nothing to be gained by +cultivating them. However, he consoled himself with the recollection of +one of Raridan's social dicta--that a dinner invitation should never be +declined unless smallpox existed in the house of the hostess. He swayed +between the disposition to consider the Jordans patronizingly and an +honest feeling of gratitude for their invitation, as he bent over his +desk signing drafts. + +He found the Jordans very cordial. He was their star, and they made +much of him; he was pleased that they showed him a real deference; when +he spoke at the table, the others paused to listen. He knew the other +young men slightly; one was a clerk in a railway office, and the other +was the assistant manager of the city's largest dry goods house. The +guests were young women from Mrs. Jordan's old home, in Piqua, Ohio. +(Mrs. Jordan always gave the name of the state.) Wheaton realized that +these young women were much easier to get on with than Miss Porter and +other young women he had known latterly; they were more pointedly +interested in pleasing him. + +After a few days the carnival seemed to be forgotten; Wheaton's fellows +at The Bachelors' stopped joking him about it. Raridan had never +referred to it at all. On Sunday the newspapers printed a résumé of the +social features of the carnival, and Wheaton read the familiar story, +and all the other social news in the paper, in bed. He noticed with a +twinge an item stating that Mrs. J. Elihu Jordan had entertained at +dinner on Thursday evening for the Misses Sweetser, of Piqua, but was +relieved to find that neither paper printed the names of the guests. The +bachelors were very lazy on Sunday morning, excepting Raridan, who +attended what he called "early church." This practice his fellow-lodgers +accepted in silence as one of his vagaries. That a man should go to +church at seven o'clock and then again at eleven, signified mere +eccentricity to Raridan's fellow-boarders, who were not instructed in +catholic practices, but divided their own Sunday mornings much more +rationally between the barber shop, the post-office and their places of +business. + +It was a bright morning; the week just ended had been, in a sense, +epochal, and Wheaton resolved to go to church. It had been his habit to +attend services occasionally, on Sunday evenings, at the People's +Church, whose minister frequently found occasion to preach on topics of +the day or on literary subjects. Doctor Morningstar was the most popular +preacher in Clarkson; the People's Church was filled at all services; on +Sunday evenings it was crowded. Doctor Morningstar's series of lectures +on the Italian Renaissance, illustrated by the stereopticon, and his +even more popular course of lectures on the Victorian novelists, had +appealed to Wheaton and to many; but the People's Church was not +fashionable; he decided to go this morning to St. Paul's, the Episcopal +Cathedral. It was the oldest church in town, and many of the first +families attended there. All fashionable weddings in Clarkson were held +in the cathedral, not because it was popularly supposed to confer a +spiritual benefit upon those who were blessed from its altar, but for +the more excellent reason that the main aisle of this Gothic edifice +gave ample space for the free sweep of bridal trains, and the chancel +lent itself charmingly to the decorative purposes of the florist. + +Wheaton found Raridan breakfasting alone, the others of the mess not +having appeared. Raridan's good morning was not very cordial; he had +worn a gloomy air for several days. Whenever Raridan seemed out of +sorts, Caldwell always declared solemnly that Warry had been writing +poetry. + +"Going to church as usual?" Wheaton asked amiably. + +Every Sunday morning some one asked Raridan this question; he supposed +Wheaton was attempting to be facetious. + +"Yes," he answered patiently; and added, as usual, "better go along." + +"Don't care if I do," Wheaton replied, carelessly. + +Raridan eyed him in surprise. + +"Oh! glad to have you." + +They walked toward the cathedral together, Wheaton satisfied that his +own hat was as shiny and his frock coat as proper as Raridan's; their +gloves were almost of the same shade. There was a stir in the vestibule +of the cathedral, which many people in their Sunday finery were +entering. Wheaton had never been in an Episcopal church before; it all +seemed very strange to him--the rambling music of the voluntary, the +unfamiliar scenes depicted on the stained glass windows, the soft light +through which he saw well-dressed people coming to their places, and the +scent of flowers and the faint breath of orris from the skirts of women. +The boy choir came in singing a stirring processional that was both +challenge and inspiration. It was like witnessing a little drama: the +procession, the singing, the flutter of surplices as the choir found +their stalls in the dim chancel. Raridan bowed when the processional +cross passed him. Wheaton observed that no one else did so. + +A young clergyman began reading the service, and Wheaton followed it in +the prayer book which Raridan handed him with the places marked. He felt +ashamed that the people about him should see that the places had to be +found for him; he wished to have the appearance of being very much at +home. He suddenly caught sight of Evelyn Porter's profile far across the +church, and presently her father and their guests were disclosed. He +soon discovered others that he knew, with surprise that so many men of +unimpeachable position in town were there. Here, then, was a stage of +development that he had not reckoned with; surely it was a very +respectable thing to go to church,--to this church, at least,--on Sunday +mornings. The bewilderment of reading and chanting continued, and he +wondered whether there would be a sermon; at Doctor Morningstar's the +sermon was the main thing. He remembered Captain Wheelock's joke with +Raridan, that "the Episcopal Church had neither politics nor religion;" +but it was at least very aristocratic. + +He stood and seated himself many times, bowing his head on the seat in +front of him when the others knelt, and now the great figure of Bishop +Delafield came from somewhere in the depths of the chancel and rose in +the pulpit. The presence of the bishop reminded him unpleasantly of the +Porters' sun-porch and of the disgraceful encounter there. The +congregation resettled themselves in their places with a rustle of +skirts and a rattling of books into the racks. It was not often that the +bishop appeared in his cathedral; he was rarely in his see city on +Sundays; but whenever he preached men listened to him. Wheaton was +relieved to find that there was to be a cessation of the standing up and +sitting down which seemed so complicated. + +He now found that he could see the Porter pew easily by turning his head +slightly. The roses in Evelyn's hat were very pretty; he wondered +whether she came every Sunday; he concluded that she did; and he decided +that he should attend hereafter. The bishop had carried no manuscript +into the pulpit with him, and he gave his text from memory, resting one +arm on the pulpit rail. He was an august figure in his robes, and he +seemed to Wheaton, as he looked up at him, to pervade and possess the +place. Wheaton had a vague idea of the episcopal office; bishops were, +he imagined, persons of considerable social distinction; in his notion +of them they ranked with the higher civil lawgivers, and were comparable +to military commandants. In a line with the Porters he could see General +Whipple's white head--all the conditions of exalted respectability were +present. + +_And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they +strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, 'For now +the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.'_ + +_For now the Lord hath made room for us._ The preacher sketched lightly +the primal scene to which his text related. He knew the color and light +of language and made it seem to his hearers that the Asian plain lay +almost at the doors of the cathedral. He reconstructed the simple social +life of the early times, and followed westward the campfires of the +shepherd kings. He built up the modern social and political structure, +with the home as its foundation, before the eyes of the congregation. A +broad democracy and humanity dominated the discourse as it unfolded +itself. The bishop hardly lifted his voice; he did not rant nor make +gestures, but he spoke as one having authority. Wheaton turned uneasily +and looked furtively about. He had not expected anything so earnest as +this; there was a tenseness in the air that oppressed him. What he was +hearing from that quiet old man in the pulpit was without the gloss of +fashion; it was inconsonant with the spirit of the place as he had +conceived it. Doctor Morningstar's discourses on Browning's poetry had +been far more entertaining. + +_For now the Lord hath made room for us._ The preacher's voice was even +quieter as he repeated these words. "We are very near the heart of the +world, here at the edge of the great plain. Who of us but feels the +freedom, the ampler ether, the diviner air of these new lands? We hear +over and over that in the West, men may begin again; that here we may +put off our old garments and re-clothe ourselves. We must not too +radically adopt this idea. I am not so sanguine that it is an easy +matter to be transformed and remade; I am not persuaded that geography +enters into heart or mind or soul so that by crossing the older borders +into a new land we obliterate old ties. Here we may dig new wells, but +we shall thirst often, like David, for a drink of water from the well by +the gate of Bethlehem." + +Wheaton's mind wandered. It was a pleasure to look about over these +well-groomed people; this was what success meant--access to such +conditions as these. The fragrance of the violets worn by a girl in the +next pew stole over him; it was a far cry to his father's stifling +harness shop in the dull little Ohio town. His hand crept to the pin +which held his tie in place; he could not give just the touch to an +Ascot that Warry Raridan could, but then Warry had practised longer. +The old bishop's voice boomed steadily over the congregation. It caught +and held Wheaton's attention once more. + +"It is here that God hath made room for us; but it is not that we may +begin life anew. There is no such thing as beginning life anew; we may +begin again, but we may not obliterate nor ignore the past. Rather we +should turn to it more and more for those teachings of experience which +build character. Here on the Western plains the light and heat of +cloudless skies beat freely upon us; the soul, too, must yield itself to +the sun. The spirit of man was not made for the pit or the garret, but +for the open." + +Wheaton stirred restlessly, so that Raridan turned his head and looked +at him. He had been leaning forward, listening intently, and had +suddenly come to himself. He crossed his arms and settled back in his +seat. A man in front of him yawned, and he was grateful to him. But +again his ear caught an insistent phrase. + +"Life would be a simple matter if memory did not carry our yesterdays +into our to-days, and if it were as easy as Cain thought it was to cast +aside the past. A man must deal with evil openly and bravely. He must +turn upon himself with reproof the moment he finds that he has been +trampling conscience under his feet. An artisan may slight work in a +dark corner of a house, thinking that it is hidden forever; but I say to +you that we are all builders in the house of life, and that there are no +dark corners where we may safely practise deceit or slight the task God +assigns us. I would leave a word of courage and hope with you. +Christianity is a militant religion; it strengthens those who stand +forth bravely on the battle line, it comforts and helps the +weak-hearted, and it lifts up those who fall. I pray that God may +freshen and renew courage in us--courage not as against the world, but +courage to deal honestly and fairly and openly with ourselves." + +The organ was throbbing again; the massive figure had gone from the +pulpit; the people were stirring in their seats. The young minister who +had read the service repeated the offertory sentences, and the voice of +a boy soprano stole tremulously over the congregation. Raridan had left +the pew and was passing the plate. The tinkle of coin reassured Wheaton; +the return to mundane things brought him relief and restored his +confidence. His spirit grew tranquil as he looked about him. The +pleasant and graceful things of life were visible again. + +The voice of the bishop rose finally in benediction. The choir marched +out to a hymn of victory; people were talking as they moved through the +aisles to the doors. The organ pealed gaily now; there was light and +cheer in the world after all. At the door Wheaton became separated from +Raridan, and as he stood waiting at the steps Evelyn and her friends +detached themselves from the throng on the sidewalk and got into their +carriage. Mr. Porter, snugly buttoned in his frock coat, and with his +silk hat tipped back from his forehead, stood in the doorway talking to +General Whipple, who was, as usual in crowds, lost from the more agile +comrade of his marches many. Wheaton hastened down to the Porter +carriage, where the smiles and good mornings of the occupants gave him +further benediction. Evelyn and Miss Warren were nearest him; as he +stood talking to them, Belle Marshall espied Raridan across his +shoulders. + +"Oh, there's Mr. Raridan!" she cried, but when Wheaton stood aside, +Raridan had already disappeared around the carriage and had come into +view at the opposite window with a general salutation, which included +them all, but Miss Marshall more particularly. + +"I'm sure that sermon will do you good, Mr. Raridan," the Virginia girl +drawled. She was one of those young women who flatter men by assuming +that they are very depraved. Even impeccable youngsters are susceptible +to this harmless form of cajolery. + +"Oh, I'm always good. Miss Porter can tell you that." + +"Don't take my name in vain," said Evelyn, covertly looking at him, but +turning again to Wheaton. + +"You see your witness has failed you. Going to church isn't all of being +good." + +Wheaton and Evelyn were holding a lively conversation. Evelyn's +animation was for his benefit, Raridan knew, and it enraged him. He had +been ready for peace, but Evelyn had snubbed him. He was, moreover, +standing in the mud in his patent leather shoes while another man +chatted with her in greater dignity from the curb. His chaff with Miss +Marshall lacked its usual teasing quality; he was glad when Mr. Porter +came and took his place in the carriage. + +Raridan had little to say as he and Wheaton walked homeward together, +though Wheaton felt in duty bound to express his pleasure in the music +and, a little less heartily, in the sermon. Raridan's mind was on +something else, and Wheaton turned inward to his own thoughts. He was +complacent in his own virtue; he had made the most of the talents God +had given him, and in his Sunday evening lectures Doctor Morningstar had +laid great stress on this; it was the doctor's idea of the preaching +office to make life appear easy, and he filled his church twice every +Sunday with people who were glad to see it that way. As Wheaton walked +beside Raridan he thought of the venerable figure that had leaned out +over the congregation of St. Paul's that morning, and appealed in his +own mind from Bishop Delafield to Doctor Morningstar, and felt that the +bishop was overruled. As he understood Doctor Morningstar's preaching it +dealt chiefly with what the doctor called ideality, and this, as near as +Wheaton could make out, was derived from Ruskin, Emerson and Carlyle, +who were the doctor's favorite authors. The impression which remained +with him of the morning at St. Paul's was not of the rugged old bishop's +sermon, which he had already dismissed, but of the novel exercises in +the chancel, the faint breath of perfumes that were to him the true odor +of sanctity, and what he would have called, if he had defined it, the +high-toned atmosphere of the place. The bishop was only an occasional +visitor in the cathedral; he was old-fashioned and a crank; but no doubt +the regular minister of the congregation preached a cheerfuller idea of +life than his bishop, and more of that amiable conduct which is, as +Doctor Morningstar was forever quoting from a man named Arnold, +three-fourths of life. + +When Wheaton reached his room he found an envelope lying on his table, +much soiled, and addressed, in an unformed hand, to himself. It +contained a dirty scrap of paper bearing these words: + + + "Jim: I'll be at the Occidental Hotel tonight at 8 o'clock. Don't + fail to come. + + BILLY." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +BARGAIN AND SALE + + +That is a disastrous moment in the history of any man in which he +concludes that the problems of life are easy of solution. Life has been +likened by teachers of ethics to a great school, but the comparison is +not wholly apt. As an educational system, life is decidedly not up to +date; the curriculum lacks flexibility, and the list of easy electives +and "snap" courses is discouragingly brief. A reputable poet holds that +"life is a game the soul can play"; but the game, it should be +remembered, is not always so easy as it looks. It could hardly be said +that James Wheaton made the most of all his opportunities, or that he +had mastered circumstances, although his biography as printed in the +daily press on the occasion of his succession to the mock throne of the +Knights of Midas gave this impression with a fine color of truth, and +with no purpose to deceive. + +The West makes much of its self-made men, and points to them with pride, +whenever the self-making includes material gain. The god Success is +enthroned on a new Olympus, and all are slaves to him; and when public +teachers thunder at him, his humblest subjects smile at one another, and +say that it is, no doubt, well enough to be reminded of such things +occasionally, but that, after all, nothing succeeds like success. Life +is a series of hazards, and we are all looking for the main chance. + +James Wheaton's code of morals was very simple. Honesty he knew to be +the best policy; he had learned this in his harsh youth, but he had no +instinct for the subtler distinctions in matters of conduct. Behind +glass and wire barricades in the bank where he had spent so many of his +thirty-five years, he had known little real contact with men. He knew +the pains and penalties of overdrafts; and life resolved itself into a +formal kind of accountancy where the chief thing was to maintain credit +balances. His transfer from a clerical to an official position had +widened his horizon without giving him the charts with which to sail new +seas. Life had never resolved itself into capital letters in his +meditations; he never indulged in serious speculation about it. It was +hardly even a game for the soul to play with him; if he had been capable +of analyzing his own feelings about it he would have likened it to a +mechanical novelty, whose printed instructions are confusingly obscure, +but with a little fumbling you find the spring, and presto! the wheels +turn and all is very simple. + +He tore up the note with irritation and threw it into the waste paper +basket. He called the Chinese servant, who explained that a boy had left +it in the course of the morning and had said nothing about an answer. + +The Bachelors' did not usually muster a full table at Sunday dinner. All +Clarkson dined at noon on Sunday, and most of the bachelors were +fortunate enough to be asked out. Wheaton was not frequently a diner +out by reason of his more slender acquaintance; and to-day all were +present, including Raridan, the most fickle of all in his attendance. It +had pleased Wheaton to find that the others had been setting him apart +more and more with Raridan for the daily discipline they dealt one +another. They liked to poke fun at Raridan on the score of what they +called his mad social whirl; there was no resentment about it; they were +themselves of sterner stuff and had no patience with Raridan's +frivolities; and they were within the fact when they assumed that, if +they wished, they could go anywhere that he did. It touched Wheaton's +vanity to find himself a joint target with Raridan for the arrows which +the other bachelors fired at folly. + +The table cheer opened to-day with a debate between Caldwell and Captain +Wheelock as to the annual cost to Raridan of the carnation which he +habitually wore in his coat. This, in the usual manner of their froth, +was treated indirectly; the aim was to continue the cross-firing until +the victim was goaded into a scornful rejoinder. Raridan usually evened +matters before he finished with them; but he affected not to be +listening to them now. + +"I was reading an article in the Contemporary Review the other day that +set me to thinking," he said casually to Wheaton. "It was an effort to +answer the old question, 'Is stupidity a sin?' You may not recall that a +learned Christian writer--I am not sure but that it was Saint Francis de +Sales,--holds that stupidity is a sin." + +The others had stopped, baffled in their debate over the carnation and +were listening to Raridan. They never knew how much amusement he got +out of them; they attributed great learning to him and were never sure +when he began in this way whether he was speaking in an exalted +spiritual mood and from fullness of knowledge, or was merely preparing a +pitfall for them. + +Warry continued: + +"But while this dictum is very generally accepted among learned +theologians, it has nevertheless led to many amusing discussions among +men of deep learning and piety who have striven to define and analyze +stupidity. It is, however, safe to accept as the consensus of their +opinions these conclusions." He made his own salad dressing, and paused +now with the oil cruet in his hand while he continued to address himself +solely to Wheaton: "Primarily, stupidity is inevitable; in the second +place it is an offense not only to Deity but to man; and thirdly, being +incurable, as"--nodding first toward Wheelock and then toward +Caldwell--"we have daily, even hourly testimony, man is helpless and +cannot prevail against it." + +"Now will you be good?" demanded Wheaton gleefully. He had an air of +having connived at Raridan's fling at them. + +"Oh, I don't think!" sneered Caldwell. "Don't you get gay! You're not in +this." + +"In the name of the saints, Caldwell, do give us a little peace," begged +Raridan. + +Wheelock turned his attention to the Chinaman who was serving them, and +abused him, and Wheaton sought to make talk with Raridan, to emphasize +their isolation and superiority to the others. + +"That's good music they have at the cathedral," he said. + +Brown now took the scent. + +"Did you hear that, Wheelock? Well, I'll be damned. See here, Wheaton, +where are you at anyhow? We've been looking on you as one of the sinners +of this house, but if you've joined Raridan's church, I see our finish." + +"Don't worry about your finish, Brown. It'll be a scorcher all right," +said Raridan, "and while you wait your turn you might pass the salt." + +There was no common room at The Bachelors', and the men did not meet +except at the table. They loafed in their rooms, and rarely visited one +another. Raridan was the most social among them and lounged in on one or +the other in his easy fashion. They in turn sought him out to deride +him, or to poke among his effects and to ask him why he never had any +interesting books. The books that he was always buying--minor poems and +minor essays, did not tempt them. The presence of _L'Illustrazione +Italiana_ on his table from week to week amused them; they liked to look +at the pictures and they had once gone forth in a body to the peanut +vender at the next corner, to witness a test of Raridan's Italian, about +which they were skeptical. The stormy interview that followed between +Raridan and the Sicilian had been immensely entertaining and had proved +that Raridan could really buy peanuts in a foreign tongue, though the +fine points which he tried to explain to the bachelors touching the +differences in Italian dialects did not interest them. Warry himself was +interested in Italian dialects for that winter only. + +Wheaton went to his room and made himself comfortable. He re-read the +Sunday papers through all their supplements, dwelling again on the +events of the carnival. He had saved all the other papers that contained +carnival news, and now brought them out and cut from them all references +to himself. He resolved to open a kind of social scrap book in which to +preserve a record of his social doings. The joint portraits of the king +and queen of the carnival had not been very good; the picture of Evelyn +Porter was a caricature. In Raridan's room he had seen a photograph of +Evelyn as a child; it was very pretty, and Wheaton, too, remembered her +from the days in which she wore her hair down her back and waited in the +carriage at the front door of the bank for her father. She had lived in +a world far removed from him then; but now the chasm had been bridged. +He had heard it said in the last year that Evelyn and Warry were +undoubtedly fated to marry; but others hinted darkly that some Eastern +man would presently appear on the scene. + +All this gossip Wheaton turned over in his mind, as he lay on his divan, +with the cuttings from the Clarkson papers in his hands. He remembered a +complaint often heard in Clarkson that there were no eligible men there; +he was not sure just what constituted eligibility, but as he reviewed +the men that went about he could not see that they possessed any +advantages over himself. It occurred to him for the first time that he +was the only unmarried bank cashier in town; and this in itself +conferred a distinction. He was not so secure in his place as he should +like to be; if Thompson died there would undoubtedly be a reorganization +of the bank and the few shares that Porter had sold to him would not +hold the cashiership for him. It might be that Porter's plan was to keep +him in the place until Grant grew up. Again, he reflected, the man who +married Evelyn Porter would become an element to reckon with; and yet if +he were to be that man-- + +He slept and dreamed that he was king of a great realm and that Evelyn +Porter reigned with him as queen; then he awoke with a start to find +that it was late. He sat up on the couch and gathered together the +newspaper cuttings which had fallen about him. He remembered the +imperative summons which had been left for him during the morning; it +was already six o'clock. Before going out he changed his clothes to a +rough business suit and took a car that bore him rapidly through the +business district and beyond, into the older part of Clarkson. The +locality was very shabby, and when he left the car presently it was to +continue his journey in an ill-lighted street over board walks which +yielded a precarious footing. The Occidental Hotel was in the old part +of town, and had long ago ceased to be what it had once been, the first +hostelry of Clarkson. It had descended to the level of a cheap boarding +house, little patronized except by the rougher element of cattlemen and +by railroad crews that found it convenient to the yards. Over the door a +dim light blinked, and this, it was understood in the neighborhood, +meant not merely an invitation to bed and board but also to the +Occidental bar, which was accessible at all hours of the day and night, +and was open through all the spasms of virtue with which the city +administration was seized from time to time. The door stood open and +Wheaton stepped up to the counter on which a boy sat playing with a cat. + +"Is William Snyder stopping here?" he asked. + +The boy looked up lazily from his play. + +"Are you the gent he's expecting?" + +"Very likely. Is he in?" + +"Yes, he's number eighteen." He dropped the cat and led Wheaton down a +dark hall which was stale with the odors of cooked vegetables, up a +steep flight of stairs to a landing from which he pointed to an oblong +of light above a door. + +"There you are," said the boy. He kicked the door and retreated down the +stairs, leaving Wheaton to obey the summons to enter which was bawled +from within. + +William Snyder unfolded his long figure and rose to greet his visitor. + +"Well, Jim," he said, putting out his hand. "I hope you're feelin' out +of sight." Wheaton took his hand and said good evening. He threw open +his coat and put down his hat. + +"A little fresh air wouldn't hurt you any," he said, tipping himself +back in his chair. + +"Well, I guess your own freshness will make up for it," said Snyder. + +Wheaton did not smile; he was very cool and master of the situation. + +"I came to see what you want, and it had better not be much." + +"Oh, you cheer up, Jim," said Snyder with his ugly grin. "I don't know +that you've ever done so much for me. I don't want you to forget that I +did time for you once." + +"You'd better not rely on that too much. I was a poor little kid and +all the mischief I ever knew I learned from you. What is it you want +now?" + +"Well, Jim, you've seen fit to get me fired from that nice lonesome job +you got me, back in the country." + +"I had nothing to do with it. The ranch owners sent a man here to +represent them and I had nothing more to do with it. The fact is I +stretched a point to put you in there. Mr. Saxton has taken the whole +matter of the ranch out of my hands." + +"Well, I don't know anything about that," said Snyder contemptuously. +"But that don't make any difference. I'm out, and I don't know but I'm +glad to be out. That was a fool job; about the lonesomest thing I ever +struck. Your friend Saxton didn't seem to take a shine to me; wanted me +to go chasing cattle all over the whole Northwest--" + +"He flattered you," said Wheaton, a faint smile drawing at the corners +of his mouth. + +"None of that kind of talk," returned Snyder sharply. "Now what you got +to say for yourself?" + +"It isn't necessary for me to say anything about myself," said Wheaton +coolly. "What I'm going to say is that you've got to get out of here in +a hurry and stay out." + +Snyder leaned back in his chair and recrossed his legs on the table. + +"Don't get funny, Jim. Large bodies move slow. It took me a long time to +find you and I don't intend to let go in a hurry." + +"I have no more jobs for you; if you stay about here you'll get into +trouble. I was a fool to send you to that ranch. I heard about your +little round with the sheriff, and the gambling you carried on in the +ranch house." + +"Well, when you admit you're a fool you're getting on," said Snyder with +a chuckle. + +"Now I'm going to make you a fair offer; I'll give you one hundred +dollars to clear out,--go to Mexico or Canada--" + +"Or hell or any comfortable place," interrupted Snyder derisively. + +"And not come here again," continued Wheaton calmly. "If you do--!" + +It was to be a question of bargain and sale, as both men realized. + +"Raise your price, Jim," said Snyder. "A hundred wouldn't take me very +far." + +"Oh yes, it will; I propose buying your ticket myself." + +Snyder laughed his ugly laugh. + +"Well, you ain't very complimentary. You'd ought to have invited me to +your party the other night, Jim. I'd like to have seen you doing stunts +as a king. That was the worst,"--he wagged his head and chuckled. "A +king, a real king, and your picture put into the papers along of the +millionaire's daughter,--well, you may damn me!" + +"What I'll do," Wheaton went on undisturbed, "is to buy you a ticket to +Spokane to-morrow. I'll meet you here and give you your transportation +and a hundred dollars in cash. Now that's all I'll do for you, and it's +a lot more than you deserve." + +"Oh, no it ain't," said Snyder. + +"And it's the last I'll ever do." + +"Don't be too sure of that. I want five hundred and a regular +allowance, say twenty-five dollars a month." + +"I don't intend to fool with you," said Wheaton sharply. He rose and +picked up his hat. "What I offer you is out of pure kindness; we may as +well understand each other. You and I are walking along different lines. +I'd be glad to see you succeed in some honorable business; you're not +too old to begin. I can't have you around here. It's out of the +question--my giving you a pension. I can't do anything of the kind." + +His tone gradually softened; he took on an air of patient magnanimity. + +Snyder broke in with a sneer. + +"Look here, Jim, don't try the goody-goody business on me. You think +you're mighty smooth and you're mighty good and you're gettin' on pretty +fast. Your picture in the papers is mighty handsome, and you looked real +swell in them fine clothes up at the banker's talkin' to that girl." + +"That's another thing," said Wheaton, still standing. "I ought to refuse +to do anything for you after that. Getting drunk and attacking me +couldn't possibly do you or me any good. It was sheer luck that you +weren't turned over to the police." + +Snyder chuckled. + +"That old preacher gave me a pretty hard jar." + +"You ought to be jarred. You're no good. You haven't even been +successful in your own particular line of business." + +"There ain't nothing against me anywhere," said Snyder, doggedly. + +"I have different information," said Wheaton, blandly. "There was the +matter of that post-office robbery in Michigan; attempted bank robbery +in Wisconsin, and a few little things of that sort scattered through the +country, that make a pretty ugly list. But they say you're not very +strong in the profession." He smiled an unpleasant smile. + +Snyder drew his feet from the table and jumped up with an oath. + +"Look here, Jim, if you ain't playin' square with me--" + +"I intend playing more than square with you, but I want you to know that +I'm not afraid of you; I've taken the trouble to look you up. The +Pinkertons have long memories," he said, significantly. + +Snyder was visibly impressed, and Wheaton made haste to follow up his +advantage. + +"You've got to get away from here, Billy, and be in a hurry about it. +How much money have you?" + +"Not a red cent." + +"What became of that money Mr. Saxton gave you?" + +"Well, to tell the truth I owed a few little bills back at Great River +and I settled up, like any square man would." + +"If you told the truth, you'd say you drank up what you hadn't gambled +away." Wheaton moved toward the door. + +"At eight to-morrow night." + +"Make it two hundred, Jim," whined Snyder. + +Wheaton paused in the door; Snyder had followed him. They were the same +height as they stood up together. + +"That's too much money to trust you with." + +"The more money the farther I can get," pleaded Snyder. + +"I'll be here at eight to-morrow evening," said Wheaton, "and you stay +here until I come." + +"Give me a dollar on account; I haven't a cent." + +"You're better off that way; I want to find you sober to-morrow night." +He went out and closed the door after him. + +Two or three men who were sitting in the office below eyed Wheaton +curiously as he went out. The thought that they might recognize him from +his portraits in the papers pleased him. + +He retraced his steps from the hotel and boarded a car filled with +people of the laboring class who were returning from an outing in the +suburbs. They were making merry in a strange tongue, and their +boisterous mirth was an offense to him. He was a gentleman of position +returning from an errand of philanthropy, and he remained on the +platform, where the atmosphere was purer than that within, which was +contaminated by the rough young Swedes and their yellow-haired +sweethearts. When he reached The Bachelors' the dozing Chinaman told him +that all the others were out. He went to his room and spent the rest of +the evening reading a novel which he had heard Evelyn Porter mention the +night that he had dined at her house. + +The next day he bought a ticket to Spokane, and drew one hundred dollars +from his account in the bank. He went at eight o'clock to the Occidental +to keep his appointment, and found Snyder patiently waiting for him in +the hotel office, holding a shabby valise between his knees. + +"You'll have to pay my bill before I take this out," said Snyder +grinning, and Wheaton gave him money and waited while he paid at the +counter. The proprietor recognized Wheaton and nodded to him. Questions +were not asked at the Occidental. + +At the railway station Wheaton stepped inside the door and pulled two +sealed envelopes from his pocket. "Here's your ticket, and here's your +money. The ticket's good through to Spokane; and that's your train, the +first one in the shed. Now I want you to understand that this is the +last time, Billy; you've got to work and make your own living. I can't +do anything more for you; and what's more, I won't." + +"All right, Jim," said Snyder. "You won't ever lose anything by helping +me along. You're in big luck and it ain't going to hurt you to give me a +little boost now and then." + +"This is the last time," said Wheaton, firmly, angry at Snyder's hint +for further assistance. + +Snyder put out his hand. + +"Good by, Jim," he said. + +"Good by, Billy." + +Wheaton stood inside the station and watched the man cross the +electric-lighted platform, show his ticket at the gate, and walk to the +train. He still waited, watching the car which the man boarded, until +the train rolled out into the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE GIRL THAT TRIES HARD + + +The Girl That Tries Hard was giving a dance at the Country Club. The +Girl That Tries Hard was otherwise Mabel Margrave, wherein lay the only +point of difference between herself and other Girls That Try Hard. There +was hardly room in Clarkson for cliques; and yet one often heard the +expression "Mabel Margrave and her set" and this indicated that Mabel +Margrave had a following and that to some extent she was a leader. She +prided herself on doing things differently, which is what The Girl That +Tries Hard is forever doing everywhere. She was the only girl in the +town that gave dinners at the Clarkson Club; and while these functions +were not necessarily a shock to the Clarkson moral sense, yet the first +of these entertainments, at which Mabel Margrave danced a skirt dance at +the end of the dinner, caused talk in conservative circles. It might be +assumed that Mabel's father and mother could have checked her +exuberance, but the fact was that Mabel's parents wielded little +influence in their own household. Timothy Margrave was busy with his +railroad and his wife was a timid, shrinking person, who viewed her +daughter's social performances with wonder and admiration. It would +have been much better for Mabel if she had not tried so hard, but this +was something that she did not understand, and there was no one to teach +her. She derived an immense pleasure from her father's private car, in +which she had been over most of the United States, and had gone even to +Mexico. In the Margrave household it was always spoken of as "the car." +Its cook and porter were kept on the pay-roll of the company, but when +they were not on active service in the car, one of them drove the +Margrave carriage, and the other opened the Margrave front door. + +The Margrave house was one of the handsomest in Clarkson. Margrave had +not coursed in the orbits of luminaries greater than himself without +acquiring wisdom. When he built a house he turned the whole matter over +to a Boston architect with instructions to go ahead just as if a +gentleman had employed him; he did not want a house which his neighbors +could say was exactly what any one would expect of the Margraves. +Clarkson was proud of the Margrave house, which was better than the +Porter house, though it lacked the setting of the Porter grounds. The +architect had done everything; Margrave kept his own hands off and sent +his wife and Mabel abroad to stay until it was ready for occupancy. When +the house was nearly completed Margrave took Warry Raridan up to see it +and displayed with pride a large and handsomely furnished library whose +ample shelves were devoid of books. + +"Now, Warry," he said, "I want books for this house and I want 'em +right. I never read any books, and I never expect to, and I guess the +rest of the family ain't very literary, either. I want you to fill +these shelves, and I don't want trash. Are you on?" + +The situation appealed to Warry and he had given his best attention to +Margrave's request. He took his time and bought a representative library +in good bindings. As Mrs. Margrave was a Roman Catholic, Warry thought +it well that theological literature should be represented. Mrs. +Margrave's parish priest, dining early at the new home, contemplated the +"libery," as its owner called it, with amazement. + +"Ain't they all there, Father Donovan?" asked Margrave. "I hope you like +my selection." + +"Couldn't be better," declared the priest, "if I'd picked them myself." +He had taken down a volume of a rare edition of Cornelius a Lapide and +passed his hand over the Latin title page with a scholar's satisfaction. + +Mabel had declined to go to the convent which her mother selected for +her; convents were not fashionable; and she herself selected Tyringham +because she had once met a Tyringham graduate who was the most "stylish" +girl she had ever seen. Since her return from school she had found it +convenient to abandon, as far as possible, the church of her baptism. +There had been no other Roman Catholics at her school; the Episcopal +church was the official spiritual channel of Tyringham; and she brought +home a pretty Anglican prayer book, and attended early masses with her +mother only to the end that she might go later to the services of St. +Paul's, to the scandal of Father Donovan, and somewhat to the sneaking +delight of her father. Margrave held that religion of whatever kind was +a matter for women, and that they were entitled to their whim about it. + +Tyringham is, it is well known, a place where girls of the proper +instinct and spirit acquire a manner that is everywhere unmistakable. +Mabel had given new grace and impressiveness to Tyringham itself; she +touched nothing that she did not improve, and she came home with an +ambition to give tone to Clarkson society. A great phrase with Mabel was +The Men; this did not mean the _genus homo_ in any philosophical +abstraction, but certain young gentlemen that followed much in her +train. There were a few young women who were much in Mabel's company and +who conscientiously imitated Mabel's ways. All the devices and desires +of Mabel's heart tended toward one consummation, and that was the +destruction of monotony. + +Mabel had announced to a few of her cronies that she would show Evelyn +Porter how things were done; and as the Country Club was new, she chose +it as the place for her exhibition. Mabel was two years older than +Evelyn; they had never been more than casually acquainted, and now that +Evelyn's college days were over,--Mabel had "finished" several years +before,--and they were to live in the same town, it seemed expedient to +the older girl to take the initiative, to the end that their respective +positions in the community might be definitely fixed. Evelyn's name +carried far more prestige than Mabel's; the Margraves had not been in +the Clarkson Blue Book at all, until Mabel came home from school and +demonstrated her right to enlistment among the elect. + +She dressed herself as sumptuously as she dared for a morning call and +drove the highest trap that Clarkson had ever seen up Porter Hill. The +man beside her was the only correctly liveried adjunct of any Clarkson +stable,--at least this was Mabel's opinion. Whatever people said of +Mabel and her ways, they could not deny that her clothes were good, +though they were usually a trifle pronounced in color and cut. She wore +about her neck a long, thin chain from which dangled a silver heart. +Mabel's was the largest that could be found at any Chicago jeweler's. +Its purpose in Mabel's case was to convey to the curious the impression +that there was a photograph of a young man inside. This was no fraud on +Mabel's part, for she carried in this trinket the photograph of a +popular actor, whose pictures were purchasable anywhere in the country +at twenty-five cents each. While Mabel waited for Evelyn to appear, she +threw open her new driving coat, which forced the season a trifle, and +studied the furnishings of the Porter parlor, criticising them +adversely. She was not clear in her mind whether she should call Evelyn +"Miss Porter" or not. Clarkson people usually said "Evelyn Porter" when +speaking of her. In Mabel's own case they all said "Mabel." + +When Evelyn came into the parlor she seemed very tall to Mabel, and +impulse solved the problem of how to address her. + +"Good morning, Miss Porter." + +She gave her hand to Evelyn, thrusting it out straight before her, yet +hanging back from it archly as if in rebuke of her own forwardness. This +was decidedly Tyringhamesque, and was only one of the many amiable and +useful things she had learned at Miss Alton's school. + +Mabel sat up very straight in her chair when she talked, and played +with the silver heart. + +"I didn't ask for the others, as it's a wretchedly indecent hour to be +making a call." + +"Oh, the girls are up and about," said Evelyn. "I shall be glad--" + +"Oh, please don't trouble to call them! I came on an errand. You know +the Country Club has just taken a new lease of life. Have you been out +yet? It's a bit crude"--this phrase was taught as a separate course at +Tyringham--"but there's the making of a lovely place there." + +"Yes, I've barely seen it. I went out the other day to look at the golf +course. The golf wave seems to be sweeping the country." + +"Do you play?" + +"A little; we had a course near the college that we used." + +"You college girls are awfully athletic. I'm crazy about golf. I thought +it might be good sport to ask a few girls and some of the men to go to +the club for supper,--we really couldn't have dinner there, you know. +This heavenly weather won't last always. We'll get a drag and Captain +Wheelock will see that I don't drive you into trouble. He's a very safe +whip, you know, if I'm not; and we'll come back in the moonlight. This +includes your guests, of course." + +"That will be delightful," said Evelyn. "I'm sure we'll all be glad to +go. I'm anxious to have the girls see as much as possible. I want them +to be favorably impressed, and this will be an event." + +When Mabel had taken herself off, Evelyn returned to the tower where +Belle Marshall and Annie Warren awaited her. These young women were +lounging in the low window-seat exchanging reminiscences of college +days. + +"It was Mabel Margrave," explained Evelyn. "She's asked us to go +coaching with her to the Country Club and have supper there and I took +the liberty of accepting for you." + +"What's she like?" asked Annie. + +"Tyringham," said Evelyn succinctly. + +"Oh! your words affect me strangely, child," drawled Belle, casting up +her eyes in a pretended imitation of the Tyringham manner. + +"How are her _a's_?" asked Annie. + +"Broader than the Atlantic. I think she wants to patronize me. She's a +real Tyringham in that she thinks us college women very slow." + +"Well, they do have a style," said Belle, sighing. "You can always tell +one of Miss Alton's girls." + +"Yes, there's no doubt about that," retorted Annie coolly. She had taken +her education seriously and was disposed to look down upon the product +of fashionable boarding schools. + +"Cheer up! The worst is yet to come," declared Evelyn. "You'd better not +encourage the idea here that we are different from young women of any +other sort. I've got to live here! I'm going to be pretty lonely too, +the first thing you know, after you desert me." + +"You'll have plenty of chances to root for the college," suggested +Belle. "You won't have anything like the time I'll have. In Virginia we +have traditions that I've got to reconcile myself to, in some way; out +here, you can start even." + +"Yes, and we have the Tyringham type, and a few of the convent sort, and +a few of the co-eds to combat." + +"Well, there's nothing so radically wrong with the co-eds, is there?" +asked Annie, who believed in education for its own sake. + +"Only the ones that want to go in for politics and that sort of thing. +There's a lady--I said lady--doctor of philosophy here in town who +casually invited me to become a candidate for school commissioner a few +weeks ago." + +"I'm not sure that you oughtn't to have done it," said Annie, "assuming +that you declined. It would have been a good stroke for alma mater." + +"No; that's what it wouldn't have been," said Evelyn seriously. "If you +and I believe that college education is good for women, we'd better +suppress this notion that's abroad in the world that college makes a +woman different. I hold that we're not necessarily unlike our sisters of +the convent, or the Tyringham teach-you-how-to-enter-a-room variety." +Evelyn drew herself up with an oratorical gesture and inflection. "I'm +here to defend my rights as a human being--" + +"You will be hit with a pillow in a minute," remarked Belle, rising and +preparing to make her threat good. "Let's talk about what to wear to +Lady Tyringham's party." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +AT THE COUNTRY CLUB + + +To show that she was not limited to her own particular set in her choice +of guests, Mabel had asked Raridan, whom she wished to know better, and +Wheaton, who had danced with her at the carnival ball, to be of her +party. Chaperons were tolerated but not required in Clarkson. For this +reason Mabel had thought it wise to ask Mrs. Whipple, whom she wished to +impress; and as she liked to surprise her fellow citizens, it was worth +while in this instance to yield something to the _convenances_. The +general was too old for such nonsense; but he was willing to sacrifice +his wife, and she went, giving as her excuse for taking "that Margrave +girl's bait," that she was doing it in Evelyn's interest. + +The coach rolled with loud yodeling to the Porter door, where there was +much laughing and bantering as the guests settled into their places. +When the locked wheels ground the hillside and the horn was bravely +blown by an admirer of Mabel's from Keokuk, it was clear to every one +that Timothy Margrave's daughter was achieving another triumph. The +young man from Keokuk was zealous with the horn; a four-in-hand was not +often seen in the streets of Clarkson, albeit this same vehicle was +always to be had from the leading liveryman, and town and country turned +admiring eyes on the party as the coach rolled along in the golden haze +of early October. The sun warmed the dry air; and far across the +Missouri flats its light fell mildly upon yellow bluffs where the clay +was exposed in broad surfaces which held the light. The foliage of the +hills beyond the river was lit with color in many places; a shower in +the morning had freshened the green things of earth, giving them a new, +brief lease of life, and there was no dust in the highways. In such a +day the dying year bends benignantly to earth and is fain to loiter in +the ways of youth. + +The paint was still fresh in the club house, which was a long bungalow, +set in a clump of cottonwoods. There was an amplitude of veranda, and +the rooms within were roughly furnished in Texas pine. The older people +of the town looked upon the club with some suspicion as something new +and untried. The younger element was just beginning to know the +implements and vocabulary of golf. The first tee was only a few feet +from the veranda, so that a degree of heroism and Christian resignation +was essential in those who began their game under the eyes of a full +gallery. There were the usual members of both sexes who talked a good +deal about their swing without really having any worth mentioning; and +there were others more given to reading the golf news in the golf papers +at the club house, than to playing, to the end that they might discuss +the game volubly without the discomfort of acquiring practical +knowledge. + +The walls of the dining-room had not been smoothed or whitened. They +were hung with prints which ranged in subject from golf to Gibson girls. +Mabel had supplemented the meager furnishings of the club pantry with +embellishments from her own house, and had given her own touch to the +table. As her touch carried a certain style, her crystal and silver +shone to good advantage under the lamps which she had substituted for +the bare incandescents of the room. The young man from Keokuk who was, +just then, as the gossips said, "devoted" to Mabel, had supplied a +prodigal array of flowers, ordered by telegraph from Chicago for the +occasion. The table was served by colored men, who had been previously +subsidized by Mabel, in violation of the club rules; and they +accordingly made up in zeal what they lacked in skill. + +Mabel talked a great deal about informality, and drove her guests into +the dining-room without any attempt at order, and they found their +name-cards with the surprises and exclamations which usually +characterize that proceeding. + +Captain Wheelock sat at the end of the oblong table opposite Mabel, who +placed the man from Keokuk at her right and Raridan at her left. Evelyn +was between Raridan and one of Mabel's "men," who was evidently +impressed by this propinquity. He was the Assistant General Something of +one of the railroads and owned a horse that was known as far away from +home as the Independence, Iowa, track. There was a great deal of talking +back and forth, and Evelyn told herself that it did not much matter that +her guests had fallen into rather poor hands. She was quite sure that +Captain Wheelock, who liked showy girls, would not be much interested +in Annie Warren, who was distinctly not showy. Belle Marshall, with her +drollery, was not likely to be dismayed by Wheaton's years and poverty +of small talk. Belle was not easily abashed, and when the others paused +now and then under the spell of her dialect, which seemed funny when she +did not mean it to be so, she was not distressed. She had grown used to +having people listen to her drawl, and to complimentary speeches from +"you No'the'ne's" on her charming accent. Evelyn found that it was +unnecessary to talk to Raridan; he and Mabel seemed to get on very well +together, and in her pique at him, Evelyn was glad to have it so. + +Mabel's supper was bountiful, and Raridan, who thought he knew the +possibilities of the club's cuisine, marveled at the chicken, fried in +Maryland style, and at the shoestring potatoes and flaky rolls, which +marked an advance on anything that the club kitchen had produced before. +There was champagne from the stock which the Margraves carried in their +car, and it foamed and bubbled in the Venetian glasses that Mabel had +brought from home, at a temperature that Mabel herself had regulated. +Captain Wheelock made much of frequently lifting his glass to Mabel in +imaginary toasts. The man from Keokuk drank his champagne with awe; he +had heard that Mabel Margrave was a "tank," and he thought this a +delightful thing to be said of a girl. Mrs. Whipple noted with wonder +Mabel's capacity, while most of the others tried not to be conscious of +it. Mabel grew a little boisterous at times through the dinner, but no +one dared think that it was the champagne. Mrs. Whipple remembered with +satisfaction that she had no son to marry Mabel. There were, she +considered, certain things which one escapes by being childless, and a +bibulous daughter-in-law was one of them. + +Attention was arrested for a time by a colloquy between Mrs. Whipple and +Captain Wheelock as to the merits of army girls compared with their +civilian sisters; and the whole table gave heed. Wheelock maintained +that the army girl was the only cosmopolitan type of American girl, and +Mrs. Whipple combated the idea. She took the ground that American girls +are never provincial; that they all wear the same clothes, though, she +admitted, they wore them with a difference; and that the army girl as a +distinct type was a myth. + +"My furniture," she said, "has followed the flag as much as anybody's; +but the army girl is only a superstition among fledgling lieutenants. On +my street are people from Maine, Indiana and Georgia. You don't have to +go to the army to find cosmopolitan young women; they are the first +generation after the founders of all this western country. Right here in +the Missouri valley are the real Americans, made by the mingling of +elements from everywhere. Am I stepping on anybody's toes?" she asked, +looking around suddenly. + +"Oh, don't mind us," drawled Belle, turning with a mournful air to +Annie. + +"We've counting on you to marry and settle amongst us," said Mrs. +Whipple palliatingly. + +"Gentlemen!" exclaimed Raridan, looking significantly from one man to +another; "destiny is pointing to us!" + +"You're in no danger, Mr. Raridan," Belle flung back at him. "Miss +Warren and I can go back where we came from." + +Raridan's rage at Evelyn had spent itself; he was ready for peace. She +had been politely indifferent to him at the table, to the mischievous +joy of Belle Marshall, who had an eye for such little bits of comedy. As +they all stood about after supper in the outer hall, Evelyn chatted with +Wheaton, and continued to be oblivious of Raridan, who watched her over +the shoulder of one of Mabel's particular allies and waited for a +tête-à-tête. Warry had the skill of long practice in such matters; there +were men whom it was difficult to dislodge, but Wheaton was not one of +them. He took advantage of a movement toward benches and chairs to +attach himself to Evelyn and to shunt Wheaton into Belle's company,--a +manoeuver which that young woman understood perfectly and did not enjoy. +There was something so open and casual in Warry's tactics that the +beholder was likely to be misled by them. Evelyn was half disposed to +thwart him; he had been distinctly disagreeable at the ball, and had not +appeared at the house since. She knew what he wanted, and she had no +intention of making his approaches easy. Some of the others moved toward +the verandas, and Warry led the way thither, while he talked on, telling +some bits of news about a common acquaintance from whom he had just +heard. It was cool outside and she sent him for her cape, and then they +walked the length of the long promenade. He paused several times to +point out to her some of the improvements which were to be made in the +grounds the following spring. This also was a part of the game; it +served to interrupt the walk; and he spoke of the guests at the Hill, +and said that it was too bad they had not come when things were +livelier. Then he stood silent for a moment, busy with his cigarette. +Evelyn gathered her golf cape about her, leaned against a pillar and +tapped the floor with her shoe. + +"You haven't been particularly attentive to them, have you?" she said. +"I thought you really liked them." + +"Of course I like them, but I've been very busy." Warry stared ahead of +him across the dim starlit golf grounds. + +"That's very nice," she said, still tapping the floor and looking past +him into the night. "Industry is always an excuse for any one. But, come +to think of it, you were very good in showing them about at the ball. I +appreciate it, I'm sure." + +It was of his conduct at the ball that he wished to speak; she knew it, +and tried to make it hard for him. + +"See here, Evelyn, you know well enough why I kept away from you that +night. I told you before the ball that I didn't,--well, I didn't like +it! If I hadn't cared a whole lot it wouldn't have made any +difference--but that show was so tawdry and hideous--" + +Evelyn readjusted her cape and sat down on the veranda railing. + +"Oh, I was tawdry, was I?" she asked, sweetly. "I knew some one would +tell me the real truth about it if I waited." + +"I didn't come here to have you make fun of me," he said, bitterly. He +imagined that since the ball he had been suffering a kind of martyrdom. + +Evelyn could not help laughing. + +"Poor Warry!" she exclaimed in mock sympathy. "What a hard time you +make yourself have! Just listen to Mr. Foster laughing on the other side +of the porch; it must be much cheerfuller over there." Mr. Foster was +the young man from Keokuk; he wore a secret society pin in his cravat, +and Warry hated him particularly. + +"What an ass that fellow is!" he blurted, savagely. He had just lighted +a fresh cigarette, and threw away the stump of the discarded one with an +unnecessary exercise of strength. + +"But he's cheerful, and has very nice manners!" said Evelyn. Warry was +still looking away from her petulantly. Her attitude toward him just now +was that of an older sister toward a young offending brother. He felt +that the interview lacked dignity on his side, and he swung around +suddenly. + +"You know we can't go on this way. You know I wouldn't offend you for +anything in the world,--that if I've been churlish it's simply because I +care a great deal; because it has hurt me to find you getting mixed up +with the wrong people. If you knew what your coming home meant to me, +how much I've been counting on it! and then to find that you wouldn't +meet me on our old friendly basis, and didn't want any suggestions from +me." + +He had, almost unconsciously, been expecting her to interrupt him; but +she did not do so, and left him to flounder along as best he could. When +he paused helplessly, she said, still like a forbearing sister: + +"I didn't know you could be so tragic, Warry. The first thing I know +you'll be really quarreling with me, and I don't intend to have that. +Why don't you change your tactics and be a good little boy? You've been +spoiled by too much indulgence of late. Now I don't intend to spoil you +a bit. You were terribly rude,--I didn't think you capable of it, and +all because I wouldn't offend my father and his friends and other very +good people, by refusing to take part in the harmless exercises of that +perfectly ridiculous but useful society, the Knights of Midas. That's +all over now; and the sun comes up every morning just as it used to. You +and I live in the same small town and it's too small to quarrel in." + +She paused and laughed, seeing how he was swaying between the impulse to +accept her truce and the inclination to parley further. He had been +persuading himself that he loved her, and he had found keen joy in the +misery into which he had worked himself, thinking that there was +something ideal and noble in his attitude. He did not know Evelyn as +well as he thought he did; when she came home he had imagined that all +would go smoothly between them; he had meant to monopolize her, and to +dictate to her when need be. He had assumed that they would meet on a +plane that would be accessible to no other man in Clarkson; and his +conceit was shaken to find that she was disposed to be generously +hospitable toward all. It was this that enraged him particularly against +Wheaton, who stood quite as well with her, he assured himself, as he +did. Her beauty and sweetness seemed to mock him; if he did not love her +now as he thought he did, he at least was deeply appreciative of the +qualities which set her apart from other women. + +There are men like Raridan, who are devoid of evil impulse, and who are +swayed and touched by the charm of women through an excess in themselves +of that nicer feeling which we call feminine, usually in depreciation, +as if it were contemptible. But there is something appealing and fine +about it; it is not altogether a weakness; doers of the world's +worthiest tasks have been notable possessors of this quality. Raridan +had a true sense of personal honor, and yet his imagination was strong +enough to play tricks with his conscience. He had argued himself into a +mood of desperate love; he felt that he was swayed by passion; but it +was of jealousy and not of love. + +Evelyn walked a little way toward the door and he followed gloomily +along. He called her name and she paused. They were not alone on the +veranda, and she did not want a scene. Raridan began again: + +"Why, ever since we were children together I've looked forward to this +time. It always seemed the most natural thing in the world that I should +love you. When you went away to college, I never had any fear that it +would make any difference; when I saw you down there you were always +kind,--" + +"Of course I was kind," she interrupted; "and I don't mean to be +anything else now." + +"You know what I mean," he urged, though he did not know himself what he +meant. "I had no idea that your going away would make any difference; if +I had dreamed of it, I should have spoken long ago. And when I went to +see you those few times at college--" + +"Yes, you came and I was awfully glad to see you, too; but how many +women's colleges have you visited in these four years? There was that +Brooklyn girl you were devoted to at Bryn Mawr; and that pretty little +French Canadian you rushed at Wellesley,--but of course I don't pretend +to know the whole catalogue of them. That was all perfectly proper, you +understand; I'm not complaining--" + +"No; I wish you were," he said, bitterly. If he had known it, he was +really enjoying this; there was, perhaps, at the bottom of his heart, a +little vanity which these reminiscences appealed to. He rallied now: + +"But you could afford to have me see other girls," he said. "You ought +to know--you should have known all the time that you were the only one +in all the world for me." + +"That's a trifle obvious, Warry;" and she laughed. "You're not living up +to your reputation for subtlety of approach." + +"Evelyn"--his voice trembled; he was sure now that he was very much in +love; "I tried to tell you before the carnival that the reason I didn't +want you to appear in the ball was that I cared a great deal,--so very +much,--that I love you!" + +She stepped back, drawing the cape together at her throat. + +"Please, Warry," she said pleadingly, "don't spoil everything by talking +of such things. I wished that we might be the best of friends, but you +insist on spoiling everything." + +"Oh, I know," he broke in, "that I spoil things, that I'm a failure--a +ne'er-do-well." It was not love that he was hungry for half so much as +sympathy; they are often identical in such natures as his. + +She bent toward him, as she always did when she talked earnestly, and as +frankly as though she were speaking to a girl. + +"Warry Raridan, it's exactly as I told you a moment ago. You've been +spoiled, and it shows in a lot of ways. Why, you're positively +childish!" She laughed softly. He had thrust his hands into his pockets +and was feeling foolish. He wanted to make another effort to maintain +his position as a serious lover, but was not equal to it. She went on, +with growing kindness in her tone: "Now, I'll say to you frankly that I +didn't at all like being mixed up in the Knights of Midas ball; if you +had been as wise as I have always thought, you might have known it. You +ought to have shown your interest in me by helping me; but you chose to +take a very ungenerous and unkind attitude about it; you helped to make +it harder for me than it might have been. I relied on you as an old +friend, but you deserted me at your first chance to show that you really +had my interests at heart. If you had cared about me, you certainly +wouldn't have acted so." + +"Why, Evelyn, I wouldn't hurt you for anything in the world; if I had +understood--" + +"But that's the trouble," she interrupted, still very patiently. She saw +that she had struck the right chord in appealing to his chivalry, and in +conceding as much as she had by the reference to their old comradeship. +She had never liked him better than she did now; but she certainly did +not love him. + +She had directed the talk safely into tranquil channels, and he was +growing happier, and, if he had known it, relieved besides. He wanted to +be nearer to her than any one else, and he was touched by her +declaration that she had needed him, and that he had failed her. + +"But sometime--you will not forget--" + +"Oh, sometime! we are not going to bother about that now. Just at +present it's getting too cool for the open air and we must go inside." + +"But is it all right? You will pardon my offenses, won't you? And you +won't let any one else--" + +"Oh, you must be careful, and very good," she answered lightly, and +gathered up her skirts in her hand. "We must go in, and," she looked +down at him, laughing, "there must be a smile on the face of the tiger!" + +A fire of piñon logs, brought from the Colorado hills, blazed in the +wide fireplace at the end of the hall, and Evelyn and Warry joined the +circle which had formed about it. + +"Has the moon gone down?" asked Captain Wheelock, as a place was made +for them. + +"Not necessarily," said Raridan coolly. "Anybody but you would know that +the moon isn't due yet." + +"It was getting cool outside," said Evelyn, finding a seat in the +ingle-nook. + +"Oh!" exclaimed the captain significantly, and looking hard at Raridan. +"Poor Mr. Raridan! The weather bureau has hardly reported a single frost +thus far, and yet--and yet!" The others laughed, and Evelyn looked at +him reproachfully. + +"You might try the weather conditions yourself," said Raridan easily, +wishing to draw the fire to himself. "But at your age a man must be +careful of the night air." + +He and Wheelock abused each other until the others begged them to +desist; then some one attacked the piano and a few couples began to +dance. Mabel was anxious to stimulate the interest of the young man from +Keokuk, who had not thus far manifested sufficient courage to lead her +off for a tête-à-tête. He had proved a little slow, and she sought to +treat him cruelly by seeming very much interested in Raridan, who sat +down to talk to her. Warry was certainly much more distinguished than +any other young man in Clarkson,--a conclusion which was, in her mind, +based on the fact that Warry lived without labor. The pilgrim from +Keokuk was the vice-president of an elevator company, and it seemed to +her much nobler to live on the income of property that had been acquired +by one's ancestors than to be immediately concerned in earning a +livelihood. She and Warry took several turns about the hall to the waltz +which Belle Marshall was playing, and when the music ceased suddenly +they were in a far corner of the room. The chain on which her +heart-pendant hung caught on a button of Raridan's coat as they stopped, +and he took off his glasses to find and loosen the tangle, while she +stood in a kind of triumphant embarrassment, knowing that Evelyn could +see them from her corner by the fire. After the chain had been freed she +led the way to the window seat and sat down with a great show of fatigue +from her dance. + +"A girl that wears her heart on a chain is likely to have daws pecking +at it, isn't she?" suggested Raridan, wiping his glasses, and looking +at her with the vagueness of near-sighted eyes. This was, he knew, +somewhat flirtatious; but he could no more help saying such things to +young women than he could help his good looks. The fact that he had a +few moments before been making love to another girl, with what he +believed at the time to be real ardor, did not deter him. Mabel was a +girl, and therefore pretty speeches were to be made to her. She was +unmistakably handsome, and a handsome girl, in particular, deserves a +man's tribute of admiration. Mabel was not, however, used to Raridan's +methods; the men she had known best did not paraphrase Shakspere to her. +But it was very agreeable to be sitting thus with the most eligible and +brilliant young man of Clarkson. Evelyn Porter, she could see, was +entertaining the young man from Keokuk, and the situation pleased her. + +"Oh, the chain is strong enough to hold it," she answered, running the +slight strands through her fingers, and looking up archly. Her black +eyes were fine; she exercised a kind of witchery with them. + +"Lucky chap--the victim inside," continued Raridan, indicating the +heart. + +"Well, that depends on the way you look at it." + +"I hope he knows," continued Warry. "It would be a shame for a man to +enjoy that kind of distinction and not know it." + +Mabel held the silver heart in one hand and stroked it carefully with +the other. Most of the men she knew would be capable of taking the +heart, even at the cost of a scuffle, and looking into it. She felt safe +with Raridan. The young romantic actor whose picture enjoyed the +distinction of a place in the trinket did not know, of course, and would +have been bored if he had. + +"It would hardly be fair to carry his picture around if he didn't know +it, would it?" asked Mabel. + +"Of course not," said Warry; "I didn't imagine that you bought it!" + +"It wouldn't be nice for you to," said Mabel. The fact that she had +acquired it for twenty-five cents at a local bookstore did not trouble +her. + +The music had begun again, but they continued talking, though others +were dancing. Wheaton had joined Evelyn in the ingle-nook; and Evelyn +was aware, without looking, that Mabel was making the most of her +opportunity with Raridan; and she knew, too, that he was not averse to a +bit of by-play with her. She knew that if she really cared for him it +would hurt her to see him thus talking to another girl, but she was +conscious of no pang. Her heart burned with anger for a moment at the +thought that he must think her conquest assured; but this was, she +remembered, "Warry's way," falling back on a phrase that was often +spoken of him. She was a little tired, and experienced a feeling of +relief in sitting here with Wheaton and listening to his commonplace +talk, which could be followed without effort. + +Wheaton was finding himself much at ease at Mabel's party, though he +questioned its propriety; he had a great respect for conventions. He was +well aware that there were differences between Evelyn Porter and her +friends, and Miss Margrave and those whom he knew to be her intimates. +Miss Porter was much finer in her instincts and her intelligence; he +would have been puzzled for an explanation of the points of variance, +but he knew that they existed. The young man from Keokuk had moved away +and left him with Evelyn, and it was certainly very pleasant to be +sitting in a quiet corner with a girl whom everybody admired, and who +was, he felt sure, easily the most distinguished girl in town. He had +arrived late, to be sure, in the first social circle of Clarkson, but he +had found the gate open, and he was suffered to enter and make himself +at home just as thoroughly as any other man might--as completely so, for +instance, as Warrick Raridan, who had wealth and the prestige of an old +family behind him. + +"I'm sure we shall all get much pleasure out of the Country Club," said +Evelyn, who sat on the low bench between him and the fire. + +"Yes, and the house is pretty good, considering the small amount of +money that was put into it." + +"Another case where good taste is better than money. We Americans have +been so slow about such things; but now there seems to be widespread +interest in outdoor life." Wheaton knew only vaguely that there was, but +he was learning that it was not necessary to know much about things to +be able to talk of them; so he acquiesced, and they fell to discussing +golf, or at least Evelyn did, with the zeal of the fresh convert. + +"I think I'll have to take it up. You make it sound very attractive." + +"The Scotch owed us something good," said Evelyn; "they gave us oatmeal +for breakfast, and made life unendurable to that extent. But we can +forgive them if they take us out of doors and get us away from offices +and houses. Our western business men are incorrigible, though. The +farther west you go, the more hours a day men put into business." + +Evelyn soon sent Wheaton to bring Mrs. Whipple and Annie Warren, who +were stranded in a corner, and they became spectators of the pranks of +some of the others, who had now gathered about the piano, where Captain +Wheelock had undertaken to lead in the singing of popular airs. The +singers were not taking their efforts very seriously. All knew some of +the words of "Annie Carroll," but none knew all, so that their efforts +were marked by scattering good-will rather than by unanimity of +knowledge. When one lost the words and broke down, they all laughed in +derision. Mabel and Raridan had joined the circle, and Warry entered +into the tentative singing with the spirit he always brought to any +occasion. Mabel, who imported all the new songs from New York, gave +"Don't Throw Snowballs at the Soda-water Man" as a solo, and did it +well--almost too well. Occasionally one of the group at the piano turned +to demand that those who lingered by the fireside join in the singing, +but Wheaton was shy of this hilarity, and was comfortable in his belief +that Evelyn was showing a preference for him in electing to remain +aloof. He did not understand that her evident preference was due to a +feeling that he was older than the rest and too stiff and formal for +their frivolity. + +Mrs. Whipple made little effort to talk to Wheaton, though she +occasionally threw out some comment on the singers to Evelyn. Wheaton +did not amuse Mrs. Whipple. He had only lately dawned on her horizon, +and she had already appraised him and filed her impression away in her +memory. He was not, she had determined, a complex character; she knew, +as perfectly as if he had made a full confession of himself to her, his +new ambitions, his increasing conceit and belief in himself. She had +been more successful in preventing marriages than in effecting them, and +she sat watching him with a quizzical expression in her eyes; for there +might be danger in him for this girl, though it had not appeared. But +when her eyes rested on Evelyn she seemed to find an answer that allayed +her fears; Evelyn was hardly a girl that would need guardianship. As the +noise from the group at the piano rose to the crescendo at which it +broke into laughing discord, Evelyn met suddenly the gaze with which +this old friend had been regarding her, and gave back a nod and smile +that were in themselves unconsciously reassuring. + +Some one suggested presently that if they were to drive home in the +moonlight they should be going; and the coach soon swung away from the +door into the moon's floodtide. The wind was still, as if in awe of the +lighted world. The town lay far below in a white pool. Mabel again took +the reins, and as the coach rumbled and crunched over the road, light +hearts had recourse to song; but even the singing was subdued, and the +trumpeter's note failed miserably when the horses' hoofs struck smartly +on the streets of the town. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE LADY AND THE BUNKER + + +The afternoon invited the eyes to far, blue horizons, and as Evelyn +stood up and shook loosely in her hand the sand she had taken from the +box, she contemplated the hazy distances with satisfaction before +bending to make her tee. Her visitors had left; Grant had gone east to +school, and she was driven in upon herself for amusement. Her movements +were lithe and swift, and when once the ball had been placed in position +there were only two points of interest for her in the landscape--the +ball itself and the first green. The driver was a part of herself, and +she stepped back and swung it to freshen her memory of its +characteristics. The caddy watched her in silent joy; these were not the +fussy preliminaries that he had been used to in young ladies who played +on the Country Club links; he kept one eye on the player and backed off +down the course. The sleeves of her crimson flannel shirt-waist were +turned up at the wrists; the loose end of her cravat fluttered in the +soft wind, that was like a breath of mid-May. She addressed the ball, +standing but slightly bent above it and glancing swiftly from tee to +target, then swung with the certainty and ease of the natural golf +player. Her first ball was a slice, but it fell seventy-five yards down +the course; she altered her position slightly and tried again, but she +did not hit the ball squarely, and it went bounding over the grass. At +the third attempt her ball was caught fairly and sped straight down the +course at a level not higher than her head. The caddy trotted to where +it lay; it was on a line with the one hundred and fifty yard mark. The +player motioned him to get the other balls. She had begun her game. + +The fever was as yet in its incipient stage in Clarkson; players were +few; the greens were poorly kept, and there were bramble patches along +the course which were of material benefit to the golf ball makers. But +it was better than nothing, John Saxton said to himself this bright +October afternoon, as he stood at the first tee, listening to the +cheerful discourse of his caddy, who lingered to study the equipment of +a visitor whom he had not served before. + +"Anybody out?" asked John, trying the weight of several drivers. + +"Lady," said the boy succinctly. He pointed across the links to where +Evelyn was distinguishable as she doubled back on the course. + +"Good player?" + +"Great--for a girl," the boy declared. "She's the best lady player +here." + +"Maybe we can pick up some points from her game," said Saxton, smiling +at the boy's enthusiasm. He had been very busy and much away from town, +and this was his first day of golf since he had come to Clarkson. +Raridan had declined to accompany him; Raridan was, in fact, at work +just now, having been for a month constant in attendance upon his +office; and Saxton had left him barricaded behind a pile of law books. +Saxton was slow in his golf, as in all things, and he gave a good deal +of study to his form. He played steadily down the course, noting from +time to time the girl that was the only other occupant of the links. She +was playing toward him on the parallel course home, and while he had not +recognized her, he could see that she was a player of skill, and he +paused several times to watch the freedom of her swing and to admire the +pretty picture she made as she followed her ball rapidly and with +evident absorption. + +He was taking careful measurement for a difficult approach shot from the +highest grass on the course, when he heard men calling and shouting in +the road which ran by one of the boundary fences of the club property. A +drove of cattle was coming along the road, driven, as Saxton saw, by +several men on horseback. It was a small bunch bound for the city. +Several obstreperous steers showed an inclination to bolt at the +crossroads, but the horsemen brought them back with much yelling and a +great shuffling of hoofs which sent a cloud of dust into the quiet air. +Saxton bent again with his lofter, when his caddy gave a cry. + +"Hi! He's making for the gate!" + +One of the steers had bolted and plunged down the side road toward the +gate of the club grounds, which stood open through the daytime. + +"You'd better trot over there and close the gate," said Saxton, seeing +that the cattle were excited. + +The boy ran for the gate, which lay not more than a hundred yards +distant, and the steer which had broken away and been reclaimed with so +much difficulty in the roadway bolted for it at almost the same moment. +Saxton, seeing that a collision was imminent, began trotting toward the +gate himself. The steer could not see the boy who was racing for the +gate from the inside, and boy and beast plunged on toward it. + +"Run for the fence," called Saxton. + +The boy gained the fence and clambered to the top of it. The steer +reached the gate, and, seeing open fields beyond, bounded in and made +across the golf course at full speed. He dashed past Saxton, who stopped +and watched him, his club still in his hand. The steer seemed pleased to +have gained access to an ampler area, and loped leisurely across the +links. Evelyn, manoeuvering to escape a bunker that lay formidably +before her, had not yet seen the animal and was not aware of the +invasion of the course until her caddy, who, expecting one of her long +plays, had posted himself far ahead, came plunging over the bunker's +ridge with a clatter of bag and clubs. The steer, following him with an +amiable show of interest, paused at the bunker and viewed the boy and +the young woman in the red shirt-waist uneasily. One of the drovers was +in hot pursuit, galloping across the course toward the runaway member of +his herd, lariat in hand. Hearing an enemy in the rear, the steer broke +over the lightly packed barricade, and Evelyn's red shirt-waist proving +the most brilliant object on the horizon, he made toward it at a lively +pace. + +The caddy was now in full flight, pulling the strap of Evelyn's bag over +his head and scattering the clubs as he fled. A moment later he had +joined Saxton's caddy on top of the fence and the two boys viewed +current history from that point with absorption. Meanwhile Evelyn was +making no valiant stand. She gave a gasp of dismay and turned and ran, +for the drover was pushing the steer rapidly now, and was getting ready +to cast his lariat. He made a botch of it, however, and at the instant +of the rope's flight, his pony, poorly trained to the business, bucked +and tried to unseat his rider; and the drover swore volubly as he tried +to control him. The pony backed upon a putting green and bucked again, +this time dislodging his rider. Before the dazed drover could recover, +Saxton, who had run up behind him, sprang to the pony's head, and as the +animal settled on all fours again, leaped into the saddle and gathered +up bridle and lariat. The pony suddenly grew tired of making trouble, in +the whimsical way of his kind, and Saxton impelled him at a rapid lope +toward the steer. John was bareheaded and the sleeves of his outing +shirt were rolled to the elbows; he looked more like a polo player than +a cowboy. + +Meanwhile Evelyn was running toward a bunker which stood across her +path; it was the only break in the level of the course that offered any +hope of refuge. She could hear the pounding of the steer's hoofs, and +less distinctly the pattering hoofbeat of the pony. She had had a long +run and was breathing hard. The bunker seemed the remotest thing in the +world as she ran down the course; then suddenly it rose a mile high, and +as she scaled its rough slope and sank breathlessly into the sand, +Saxton cast the lariat. With mathematical nicety the looped rope cut the +air and the noose fell about the broad horns of the Texan as his fore +feet struck the bunker. The pony stood with firmly planted hoofs, +supporting the taut rope as steadfastly as a rock. The owner of the pony +came panting up, and another of the drovers who had ridden into the +arena joined them. + +"Here's your cow," said Saxton. The steer was, indeed, any one's for the +taking, as he was winded and the spirit had gone out of him. "You won't +need another rope on him; he'll follow the pony." + +"You threw that rope all right," said the dismounted drover. + +"An old woman taught me with a clothes line," said John, kicking his +feet out of the stirrups; "take your pony." + +"Where's that girl?" asked one of the men. + +"I guess she's all right," answered Saxton, walking toward the bunker. +"You'd better get your cow out of here; this isn't free range, you +know." + +He mounted the bunker with a jump and looked anxiously down into the +sand-pit. + +"Good afternoon, Mr. Saxton. You see I'm bunkered. Is it safe to come +out?" + +"Is it you, Miss Porter?" said Saxton, jumping down into the sand. "Are +you hurt?" + +"No; but I'll not say that I'm not scared." She was still panting from +her long run, and her cheeks were scarlet. She put up her hands to her +hair, which had tumbled loose. "This is really the wild West, after all; +and that was a very pretty throw you made." + +"It seemed necessary to do something. But you couldn't have seen it?" + +"Another case of woman's curiosity. Perhaps I ought to turn into a +pillar of salt. I peeped! I suppose it was in the hope that I might play +hide and seek with that wild beast as he came over after me, but you +stopped his flight just in time." She had restored her hair as she +talked. "Where is that caddy of mine?" + +"Oh, the boys took to the fence to get a better view of the show. +They're coming up now." + +Evelyn stood up quickly, and shook her skirt free of sand. + +"I need hardly say that I'm greatly obliged to you," she said, giving +him her hand. + +Saxton was relieved to find that she took the incident so coolly. + +She was laughing; her color was very becoming, and John beamed upon her. +His face was of that blond type which radiates light and flushes into a +kind of sunburn with excitement. There was something very boyish about +John Saxton. The curves of his face were still those of youth; he had +never dared to encourage a mustache or beard, owing to a disinclination +to produce more than was necessary of the soft, silky hair which covered +his head abundantly. He had a straight nose, a firm chin and a brave +showing of square, white teeth. His mouth was his best feature, for it +expressed his good nature and a wish to be pleased,--a wish that shone +also in his blue eyes. John Saxton was determined to like life and +people; and he liked both just now. + +"Are you entirely sound? Won't you have witch-hazel, arnica, brandy?" + +"Oh, thanks; nothing. I've got my breath again and am all right." + +"But they always sprain their ankles." + +"Yes, but I'm not a romantic young person. I'll be sorry if that caddy +has lost my best driver." + +"He's out on the battlefield now looking for it," said John, indicating +their two caddies, who were gathering up the lost implements. + +"I think you're away," John added, musingly. + +"Yes; for the club house." + +"That's poor golf, to give up just because you're bunkered. And yet my +caddy said you were the greatest." + +They walked over the course toward the club house, discussing their +encounter. + +"What hole were you playing when the meek-eyed kine invaded the field?" + +"Oh, I was doing very badly. I was only at the fourth, and breaking all +my records," said John. "I was glad of a diversion. The gentle +footprints of that steer didn't improve the quality of this course," he +added, looking about. The ground was soft from recent rains, and the +hoofs of the animal had dug into it and marred the turf. + +"It's a rule of the club," said Evelyn, "that players must replace their +own divots. That can hardly be enforced against that ferocious beast." + +"Hardly; but he was easily master of the game while he remained with +us." The caddies had recovered the scattered equipment of the players, +and were following, discussing the incidents of the busiest quarter of +an hour they had known in their golfing experience. + +Evelyn turned suddenly upon John. + +"Did I look very foolish?" she demanded. + +"I'm sure I don't know what you mean." + +"Yes, you do, Mr. Saxton. A woman always looks ridiculous when she +runs." She laughed. "I'm sure I must have looked so. But you couldn't +have seen me; you were pretty busy yourself just then." + +"Well, of course, if I'm asked about it, I'll have to tell of your +sprinting powers; I'm not sure that you didn't lower a record." + +"Oh, you're the hero of the occasion! I cut a sorry figure in it. I +suppose, though, that as the maiden in distress I'll get a little +glory--just a little." + +"And your picture in the Sunday papers." + +"Horrors, no! But you will appear on your fiery steed swinging the +lasso." + +He threw up his hands. + +"That would never do! It would ruin my social reputation." + +"In Boston?" + +"No; down there they'd like it. It would be proof positive of the +woolliness of the West. Golf playing interrupted by a herd of wild +cattle--cowboys, lassoes--Buffalo Bill effects. Down East they're always +looking for Western atmosphere." + +"You don't dislike the West very much, do you?" asked Evelyn. "We aren't +so bad, do you think?" + +"Dislike it?" John looked at her. He had never liked anything so much as +this place and hour. "I altogether love it," he declared; and then he +was conscious of having used a verb not usual in his vocabulary. + +"And so you learned how to do all the cowboy tricks up in Wyoming?" +Evelyn went on. "I wish Annie Warren had seen that!" and she laughed; +it seemed to John that she was always laughing. + +"I wasn't very much of a cowboy," John said. "That is, I wasn't very +good at it." He was an honest soul and did not want Evelyn Porter to +think that he was posing as a dramatic and cocksure character. "Roping a +cow is the easiest thing in the business, and then a tame, foolish, +domestic co-bos like that one!" + +"Co-bos! If this is likely to happen again they ought to provide a box +of salt at every tee." + +When Evelyn had gone into the club house, John gathered the caddies into +a corner and bestowed a dollar on each of them and promised them other +bounty if they maintained silence touching the events of the afternoon +in which he had participated. They and the drovers were the only +witnesses besides the more active participants, and he would have to +take chances with the drovers. Then, having bribed the boys, he also +threatened them. He was walking across the veranda when he met Evelyn, +whose horse he had already called for. + +"If you're not driving, I'd be glad to have you share my cart." + +"Thanks, very much," said John. "The street car would be rather a heavy +slump after this afternoon's gaiety." + +"I spoiled your game and endangered your social reputation; I can hardly +do less." + +John thought that she could hardly do more. He had known men whom girls +drove in their traps, but he had never expected to be enrolled in their +class. It was pleasant, just once, not to be walking in the highway and +taking the dust of other people's wheels--pleasant to find himself +tolerated by a pretty girl. She was prettier than any he had ever seen +at class day, or in the grand stands at football games, or on the +observation trains at New London, when he had gone alone, or with a +sober college classmate, to see the boat races. + +Deep currents of happiness coursed through him which were not all +because of the October sunlight and the laughing talk of Evelyn Porter. +He had that sensation of pleasure, always a joy to a man of conscience, +which is his self-approval for labor well performed. He had worked +faithfully ever since he had come to Clarkson; he had traveled much, +visiting the properties which the Neponset Trust Company had confided to +his care; and he had already so adjusted them that they earned enough to +pay taxes and expenses. He had effected a few sales, at prices which the +Neponset's clients were glad to accept. He had never been so happy in +his work. He had rather grudgingly taken this afternoon off; but here he +was, laughing with Evelyn Porter over an amusing adventure that had +befallen them, and which, as they talked of it and kept referring to it, +seemed to establish between them a real comradeship. He wondered what +Raridan would say, and he resolved that he would not tell him of the +hasty termination of his golfing; probably Miss Porter would prefer not +to have the incident mentioned. He even thought that he would not tell +Raridan that she had driven him to town. It was not for him to interpose +between Warry Raridan, a man who had brought him the sweetest +friendship he had ever known, and the girl whom fate had clearly +appointed Warry to marry. + +As they turned into the main highway leading townward, a trap came +rapidly toward them. + +"Miss Margrave's trap," said Evelyn, as they espied it. + +The figures were not yet distinguishable, though Mabel's belongings were +always unmistakable. + +"Then that must be one of 'The Men'?" + +John was angry at himself the moment he had spoken, for as the trap came +nearer there was no doubt of the identity of Mabel's companion. It was +Warry. Evelyn bowed and smiled as they passed. Mabel gave the quick nod +that she was introducing in Clarkson; Saxton and Raridan lifted their +hats. + +"Miss Margrave has a lot of style; don't you think so, Mr. Saxton?" + +"Apparently, yes; but I don't know her, you know;" and he wondered. + +Warry Raridan's days were not all lucky. He had been keeping his office +with great fidelity of late. He had even found a client or two; and he +had determined to rebuke his critics by giving proof of his possession +of those staying qualities which they were always denying him. He had +been hard at work in his office this afternoon, when a note came to him +from Mabel, who begged that he would drive with her to the Country Club. +He had already thought of telephoning to Evelyn to ask her if she would +not go with him, but had dropped the idea when he remembered his new +resolutions; it was for Evelyn that he was at work now. But Mabel was a +friendly soul, and perfectly harmless. It certainly looked very +pleasant outside; the next citation in the authorities he was +consulting,--Sweetbriar _vs._ O'Neill, 84 N. Y., 26,--would lead him +over to the law library, which was a gloomy hole with wretched +ventilation. So he had given himself a vacation, with the best grace and +excuse in the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +WARRY'S REPENTANCE + + +Saxton dined alone at the Clarkson Club, as he usually did, and went +afterward to his office, which he still maintained in the Clarkson +National Building. He had been studying the report of an engineering +expert on a Colorado irrigation scheme and he was trying to master and +correct its weaknesses. As he hung over the blue-prints and the pages of +figures that lay before him, the flashing red wheels of Mabel Margrave's +trap kept interfering; he wished Warry had not turned up just as he had. +He thought he understood why his friend had been so occupied in his +office of late; but whether Warry and Evelyn Porter were engaged or not, +Warry ought to find better use for his talents than in amusing Mabel +Margrave. John lighted his pipe to help with the blue-prints, and while +he drew it into cozy accord with himself, the elevator outside +discharged a passenger; he heard the click of the wire door as the cage +receded, followed by Raridan's quick step in the hall, and Warry broke +in on him. "Well, you're the limit! I'd like to know what you mean by +roosting up here and not staying in your room where a white man can find +you." He stood with his hands thrust into the pockets of his top-coat, +and glared at Saxton, who lay back in his chair and bit his pipe. "I +wish by all the gods I could rattle you once and shake you out of your +damned Harvard aplomb!" Raridan did not usually invoke the gods, and he +rarely damned anything or anybody. + +"That's a very pretty coat you have on, Mr. Raridan. It must be nice to +be a plutocrat and wear clothes like that." + +"The beastly thing doesn't fit," growled Raridan, throwing himself into +a chair. "I don't fit, and my clothes don't fit, and--" + +"And you're having a fit. You'd better see a nerve specialist." Warry +was pounding a cigarette on the back of his case. + +"I say, Saxton," he said calmly. + +"Well! Has Vesuvius subsided?" Saxton sat up in his chair and watched +Raridan breaking matches wastefully in a nervous effort to strike a +light. + +"John Saxton, what a beastly ass I am! What a merry-go-round of a fool I +make of myself!" Warry blew a cloud of smoke into the air. + +"Yes," said John, pulling away at his pipe. + +"As I'm a living man, I had no more intention of driving with that girl +than I had of going up in a balloon and walking back. You know I never +knew her well; I don't want to know her, for that matter; not on your +life!" + +"Is this a guessing contest? I suppose I'm the goat. Well, you didn't +care for Miss Margrave's society; is that what you're driving at? She +shan't hear this from me; I'm as safe as a tomb. Moreover, I don't enjoy +her acquaintance. Go ahead now, full speed." + +"And it was just my infernal hard luck that I got caught this +afternoon," continued Warry, ignoring him. "Sometimes it seems to me +that I'm predestined and foreordained to do fool things. I've been +working like blue blazes on that washerwoman's suit against the +Transcontinental,--running their switch through her back yard,--and I +had put away all kinds of temptation and was feeling particularly +virtuous; but here came the Margrave nigger with that girl's note, and I +went up the street in long jumps to meet her, and let her drive me all +over town and all over the country, and order me a highball on the +Country Club porch, and generally make an ass of me. I wish you'd do +something to me; hit me with a club, or throw me down the elevator, or +do something equally brutal and coarse that would jar a little of the +folly out of me. Why," he continued, with utter self-contempt, through +which his humor glimmered, "I ought to have turned down Mabel's +invitation as soon as I saw the monogram on her note paper. Three +colors, and letters as big as your hand! My instinctive good taste +falters, old man; it needs restoring and chastening." + +"I quite agree with you, sir. But it's more gallant to abuse yourself +than Miss Margrave's stationery--that is, if I am correctly gathering up +the crumbs of your thought. I believe you had reached the highball +incident in your recital. Was it rye or Scotch? This is the day of +realism, and if I'm to give you counsel, or sympathy, or whatever it is +you want, I must know all the petty details." + +"Don't be foolish," said Raridan, staring abstractedly; then he bent his +eyes sharply on Saxton. + +"See here, John," he said quietly, folding his arms. He had never +before called Saxton by his first name; and the change marked a further +advance of intimacy. + +"Yes." + +"You know I'm a good deal of a fool and all that sort of thing--" + +"Chuck that and go ahead." + +"But she means a whole lot to me. You know whom I mean." Saxton knew he +did not mean Mabel Margrave. "You know," Raridan went on, "we were kids +together up there on those hills. We both had our dancing lessons at her +house, and did such stunts as that together." + +"Yes," said Saxton. + +"I want to work and show that I'm some good. I want to make myself +worthy of her." He got up and walked the floor, while Saxton sat and +watched him. + +"I can't talk about it; you understand what I want to do. It has seemed +to me lately that I have more to overcome than I can ever manage. I made +a lot of fuss about that Knights of Midas rot. I ought to have helped +her about that; it was hard for her, but I was too big a fool to know +it, and I made myself ridiculous lecturing her. I forgot that she'd +grown up, and I didn't know she felt as she did about it. I acted as if +I thought she was crazy to pose in that fool show, when I might have +known better. It was downright low of me." He stood at the window +playing with the cord of the shade and looking out over the town. Saxton +walked to the window and stood by him, saying nothing; and after a +moment he put his hand on Raridan's shoulder and turned him round and +grasped Warry's slender fingers in his broad, strong hand. + +"I understand how it is, old man. It isn't so bad as you think it is, +I'm sure. It will all come out right, and while we're making confessions +I want to make one too. I feel rather foolish doing it--as if I were in +the game--" and he smiled in the way he had, which brought his humility +and patience and desire to be on good terms with the world into his +face,--"but I want you to know about this afternoon--that--that just +happened--my being with her. You see, I didn't know she was there, and +she had--I guess she had broken her driver or something, and quit, and I +was coming in and she picked me up, and I'm sorry, and--" + +Raridan wheeled on him as if he had just caught the drift of his talk. + +"Oh, come off! You howling idiot! Don't you talk that way to me again. +Get your hat now and let's get out of this." + +"I'm glad you're feeling better," said Saxton, and laughed with real +relief. + +John turned out the light, and while they waited for the elevator to +come up for them Warry jingled the coins and keys in his pockets before +he blurted: + +"I say, John, I'm an underbred, low person, and am not worthy to be +called thy friend, and you may hate me all you like, but one thing I'd +like to know. Did she say anything about me when you passed us this +afternoon--make any comment or anything? You know I despise myself for +asking, but--" + +Saxton laughed quietly. + +"Yes, she did; but I don't know that I ought to tell you. It was really +encouraging." + +"Well, hurry up." + +"She said, 'Miss Margrave has a lot of style; don't you think so?'" + +"Is that all?" demanded Raridan, stepping into the car. + +"That's all. It wasn't very much; but it was the way she said it; and as +she said it she brushed a fly from the horse with the whip, and she did +it very carefully." + +In the corridor below they met Wheaton coming out of the side door of +the bank. He had been at work, he said. Raridan asked him to go with +them to the club for a game of billiards, but he pleaded weariness and +said he was going to bed. + +The three men walked up Varney Street together. Those spirits that order +our lives for us must have viewed them with interest as they tramped +through the street. They were men of widely different antecedents and +qualities. Circumstances, in themselves natural and harmless, had +brought them together. The lives of all three were to be influenced by +the weakness of one, and one woman's life was to be profoundly affected +by contact with all of them. It is not ordained for us to know whether +those we touch hands with, and even break bread with, from day to day, +are to bring us good or evil. The electric light reveals nothing in the +sibyl's book which was not disclosed of old to those who pondered the +mysteries by starlight and rushlight. + +Wheaton left them at the club door and went on to The Bachelors', +which, was only a step farther up the street. + +"How do you like Wheaton by this time?" asked Raridan, as they entered +the club. + +"I hardly know how to answer that," Saxton answered. "He's treated me +well enough. It seems to me I'm always trying to find some reason for +not liking him, but I can't put my hand on anything tangible." + +"That's the way I feel," said Raridan, hanging up his coat in the +billiard room. "He's a rigid devil, some way. There's no let-go in him. +I guess the law allows us to dislike some people just on general +principles, and Jim likes himself so well that you and I don't matter. +It's your shot." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +FATHER AND DAUGHTER + + +The winds of January had no better luck in shaking down the leaves of +the scrub oaks on the Porter hillside than their predecessors of +November and December. The snows came and went on the dull slopes, and +the canna beds were little blots of ruin in the gray stubble. The house +was a place of light and life once more, for Evelyn had obeyed her +father's wish rather than her own inclination in opening its doors for +frequent teas and dinners and once for a large ball. Many people had +entertained for her; she had never been introduced formally, but her +mother's friends made up for this omission; she went out a great deal, +and enjoyed it. Many young men climbed the hill to see her, and many +went to the theater or to dances with her at least once. The number who +came to call diminished by Christmas; but those who still came, and were +identified as frequenters of the house, came oftener. + +Warry Raridan had raged at the mob, as he called it, which he seemed +always to find installed in the Porter drawing-room; but he raged +inwardly these days, save as he went explosively to Saxton for comfort; +he had stopped raging at Evelyn. He was at work more steadily than he +had ever been before, and wished the credit for it which people denied +him, to his secret disgust. He had idled too long, or he had too often +before given fitful allegiance to labor. Young women and old, who +expected him to pass tea for them in the afternoons, refused to believe +that he had experienced a change of heart. Those who had bragged of him +abroad, and who now lured the eternal visiting girl to town to behold +him, were chagrined to find that he was difficult to produce, and +mollified their guests by declaring that Warry was getting more fickle +and uncertain as he grew older, or took vengeance by encouraging the +rumor that he and Evelyn Porter were engaged. + +Wheaton called at the Porters' often, but he did not go now with Warry +Raridan; he even took some pains to go when Raridan did not. He knew +just how much time to allow himself between The Bachelors' and the +Porter door bell in order to reach the drawing-room at five minutes past +eight. He was now considered one of the men that went out a good deal in +Clarkson; he was invited to many houses, and began to wonder that social +enjoyment was so easy. It seemed long ago that he had been a leading +figure in the ball of the Knights of Midas. Looking back at that +incident he was sensible of its poverty and tawdriness; he had +sacrificed himself for the public good, and the community shared in the +joke of it. + +Porter had an amiable way of darting out of the library in the evenings +when he and Evelyn were both at home, to see who came in; not that he +was abnormally curious as to who rang the door bell, though he enjoyed +occasionally a colloquy with a tramp; but he was always on the lookout +for telegrams, of which he received a great many at home, and he +declared in his chaffing note of complaint that the people in the house +were forever hiding them from him. He sometimes brought home bundles of +papers and spent whole evenings digesting them and making computations. +Without realizing that Wheaton was in his house pretty often, he was +glad to know that his cashier came. When he found that Wheaton was in +the drawing-room he usually went over to talk to him in the interim +before Evelyn came down. Sometimes a bit of news in the evening paper +gave him a text. + +"I see that they've had a shaking up over at St. Joe. Well, Wigglesworth +never was any good. They ought to have had more sense than to get caught +by him. Well, sir, you remember he was offering his paper up here. We +could have had a barrel of it; but when a man of his credit peddles his +paper away from home, it's a good thing to let alone. When they figure +up Wigglesworth's liabilities they will find that he has paper scattered +all over the Missouri Valley, and I'll bet the Second's stuck. The last +time I saw Wigglesworth he was up at the club one day with Buskirk. He'd +been in to see me the day before. I guessed then that he was looking for +help which they didn't think he was worth at home." And then, with a +chuckle: "Our people," meaning his directors, "think sometimes we're too +conservative, and I reckon I do lose a lot of business for them that +other fellows would take and get out of all right; but I guess we make +more in the long run by being careful. Banking ain't exactly stove +polish or vitalized barley, to put up in pretty packages and advertise +on the billboards." + +Wheaton was honestly sympathetic and responsive along these lines. He +admired Porter, although he often felt that the president made mistakes; +yet he, too, believed in conservatism; it was a matter of temperament +rather than principle. This mingling of social and business elements +pleased and flattered Wheaton. He felt that his position in the Porter +bank gave him a double footing in the Porter house. Porter usually +ignored Evelyn's presence while he finished whatever he was saying. Then +he would go back to his chair in the library, where he could hear the +voices across the hall; but he never remained after he had concluded his +own talk with Wheaton. + +Sometimes, however, when there were other men in the house, Porter would +come and stand in the door and regard them good-humoredly, and nod to +them amiably, usually with his cigar in his mouth and the evening +newspaper in his hand. When there was a good deal of laughing he would +go over and gaze upon them questioningly and quiz them; but they usually +felt the restraint of his presence. If they repeated to him some story +which had prompted their mirth, he was wont to rebuke them with affected +seriousness, or he would tell them a story of his own. He expected +Evelyn to receive a great deal of attention. He liked to know who her +callers were and where she herself visited, and it pleased him that she +had called on all her mother's old friends, whether they had been to see +her or not. He had a sense of the dignities and proprieties of life, and +he felt his own prestige as a founder of the town; it would have been a +source of grief to him if Evelyn had not taken a leading place among its +young people. + +The theater was the one diversion that appealed to him, and he liked to +take Evelyn with him, and wanted her to sit in a box so that he might +show her off to better advantage. He could not understand why she +preferred seats in the orchestra; Timothy Margrave and his daughter +always sat in a box, and young men were forever running in to talk to +Mabel between the acts. Porter thought that this showed a special +deference to the Margrave girl, as he called her, and for her father +too, by implication, and he resented anything that looked like a slight +upon Evelyn. He was afraid that she did not entertain enough, and since +the girls who visited them in the fall had left, he had been insisting +that she must have others come to see her. He had made her tell him +about all the girls she had known in college; his curiosity in such +directions was almost insatiable. He always demanded to know what their +fathers did for a livelihood, and he had been surprised to find that so +many of Evelyn's classmates had been daughters of inconspicuous +families, and that the young women were in many cases fitting themselves +to teach. He had pretty thoroughly catalogued all of Evelyn's college +friends, and he suggested about once a week that she have some of them +out. + +Sometimes, after Evelyn's callers had gone, she and her father sat and +talked in the library. + +"I don't see what you young people can find to say so much about," he +would say; or: "What was Warry gabbling about so long?" + +She always told him what had been talked about, with a careful +frankness, lest he might imagine that the visits of Wheaton or Warry, or +any one else, had a special intention. She crossed over to the library +one night after several callers had left, and found her father more +absorbed than usual in a mass of papers which lay on the large table +before him. He put down his glasses and lay back in his chair wearily. + +"Well, girl, is it time to go to bed? Sit down there and tell me the +news." + +"There isn't anything worth telling; you know there isn't much +information in the average caller." He yawned and rubbed his eyes and +paid no attention to her answer. He had asked a few days before whether +she cared to go to Chicago to hear the opera, and she had said that she +would go if he would; and he now wished to talk this out with her. + +"The Whipples are going over to Chicago for the opera," he ventured. + +"But you're not getting ready to back out! You ought to be ashamed of +yourself." She rose and went toward him menacingly, and he put up his +hands as if to ward off her attack. + +"But you can have just as much fun with the general as you could with +me." + +"No, I can't; and for another thing you need a rest. You never go away +except on business; the fact is, you never get business out of your +mind. Now, let me gather up these things for you." She reached for the +array of balance sheets on his table, and he threw his arms over them +protectingly. + +"Please go away! I've spent all evening straightening these things +out." She retreated to her chair, and he began rolling up his papers. + +"You'd better go with the Whipples, and Mrs. Whipple will help you do +your shopping. It doesn't seem to me that you have many clothes. You'd +better get some more." + +"You can't buy me off that way, father. Either you go or I don't." He +turned toward her again when he had rolled his papers into a packet and +fixed a rubber band around them. She knew, as she usually did after such +approaches, that he wanted to say something in particular. + +"You mustn't settle down too soon. You can't always be young, and you +can easily get into a rut here." + +"Yes, but I haven't had time yet; I've hardly got settled. I want to get +acquainted at home before I go away. I'm afraid they still look on me as +a pilgrim and a stranger here." + +"But they're all nice to you, ain't they?" he demanded sharply. + +"They are certainly as kind as can be," she answered. "I haven't a +single complaint. I'm having just the time I wanted to have when I came +home." + +"I don't want to lose you too soon, girl." It was half a question. She +wondered whether this could be what he had been leading up to. + +"And I don't want you to lose me at all! I didn't come home after all +these years to have you lose me." + +"Oh, I don't mean right away," he said. "But sometime--sometime you will +have to go, I suppose." + +"I'm certainly not thinking of it." She was laughing and trying to break +his mood; but he was very serious, and took a cigar from his pocket and +put it in his mouth. + +"You'll have to go sometime; and when you do, I want the right kind of a +man to have you." + +"So do I, father." + +"You are old enough to understand that a girl in your position is likely +to be sought by men who may--who may--well, who may be swayed somewhat +by worldly considerations." + +"Isn't that a trifle hard on me? I hoped I was a little more attractive +than that, father." + +"You know what I mean," he went on. "I guess we can tell that sort when +they come around. I've had an idea that you might choose to marry away +from here; you've been away a good deal; you must have met a good many +young men, brothers of your friends--" + +"Yes, I met them, father, and that was all there was to it." + +"I shouldn't like you to marry away from here. I've been afraid you +wouldn't like our old town. I guess we fellows that started it like it +better than anybody else does; but I can see how you might not care so +much for it." He waited, and she knew that he wanted her to disavow any +such feeling. + +"Why, I've never had any idea of wanting to live anywhere else! I don't +believe I'd be happy away from here. It's home, and it always will be +home. I hope we can stay and keep the old house here--" + +She sat forward with her arms on the curved sides of the chair. He did +not heed what she said. Older people have this way with youth when they +are intent on the impression they wish to make and count upon +acquiescence. + +"I don't want you to sacrifice yourself for me out of any sense of duty; +the time will come when it will be all right for you to go, and when it +comes I want you to go to a man who's decent and square--" He paused as +if trying to think of desirable attributes. "I don't care whether he's +got much or not, but I like young men who know how to work for a living +and who've got a little common sense. I guess we don't need any dukes or +counts in our family; we've all been honest and decent as far as I know, +and I reckon Americans are good enough for us. I don't know that what +I've got would support one of those French counts more than a week or +two." His eyes brightened as they met hers. The idea of a titled +son-in-law amused him, and Evelyn laughed out merrily. She did not +altogether like the turn of the talk, but she was curious to know what +he was driving at. + +"You understand I don't want to appear to dictate," he went on +magnanimously. "I don't believe in that. Nobody knows as well as a girl +whom she wants to marry. Sometimes girls make pretty bad breaks; but I +guess most marriages are happy. Men are not all good, and there are some +mighty foolish women, besides the downright wicked ones. I guess our +young men in Clarkson are as good as there are anywhere. Most of them +have to work, and that's good for them. I guess I appreciate family and +that kind of thing as well as the next man, but it ain't everything." He +was speaking slowly, and when he made a long pause here, Evelyn rose and +went over to the open grate and poked in the ashes for the few +remaining coals. He watched her as she stooped, noting, half +consciously, the fine line of her profile, the ripple of light in her +hair, the girlishness of her slim figure. + +"No use of fooling with that fire," he said. She knew that he wished to +say more, and she put the poker in its brass rack and rose and stood by +the mantel. + +"At my age, life gets more uncertain every day; I seem to be pretty +sound, but I was sixty-four my last birthday, and if I'd been in the +army they would have kicked me out of my job; but so long as I work for +myself I suppose I'll hang on until I can't stand up in the harness any +more." + +"But that's a mistake, father," she put in. "Why shouldn't you take some +rest now? If there's no other way, why not close out your interest in +the bank and take things easier? You ought to travel; you've never been +out of the country, and there are lots of things in Europe that you'd +enjoy; the rest and change would do you a world of good. Can't we go +this summer, and take Grant? It would be nice for us all to go +together." + +He shook his head with the deprecating air which men of Porter's type +have for such suggestions. "It would be mighty nice, but I can't do it. +Here's Thompson away, and no telling when he'll be back, and I have +other things besides the bank to look after; more than you know about." +She knew only vaguely what his interests were, for he never mentioned +them to her; he believed that women are incapable of comprehending such +things; and his natural secretiveness was always on guard. He even +entertained a kind of superstition that if he told of anything he was +planning he jeopardized his chances of success. + +"No, I guess there ain't going to be any Europe for me just now. But I'd +be glad to have you and Grant go." He had been side-tracked in his talk, +and chewed his cigar while trying to find the way back to the main line. +Then he broke out irrelevantly: + +"Warry doesn't seem to settle down. We used to think Warry had great +things in him, but they're mighty slow coming out." + +"Well, he's still young," said Evelyn. "It takes a young man a long time +to get a start these days in the professions." Her father looked at her +keenly. + +"I'm afraid it isn't lack of opportunity with Warry. If he'd ever get +after anything in real earnest he could make it go; but he seems to fool +away his time." He said this as if he expected Evelyn to continue her +defense, but she said merely: + +"It's too bad if he's doing that when he has ability." She walked back +to her chair and sat down. She knew that Warry was really at work, but +she was afraid to show any particular knowledge of him. + +"It's one of the queer things to me that young fellows who have every +chance don't seem to get on as well as others who haven't any backing. +Now, all Warry had to do was to stay in his office and attend to +business--or that's all he needed to do three or four years ago, when he +set up to practise; but now everybody's given him up. A man who doesn't +want an opportunity in this world doesn't have to kick it very hard to +get rid of it. Other fellows, who never had any chance, are watching for +the luckier ones to slip back. There are never any lonesome places on +the ladder. Now, there's Wheaton--" He again examined Evelyn's face in +one of those tranquil stares with which he made his most minute scrutiny +of people. "Wheaton ain't a showy fellow like Warry, but he's one of the +sort that make their way because they keep an eye open to the main +chance. Jim came into the bank as a messenger, and I guess he's had +pretty much every job we've got, and he's done them well." He had +lighted his cigar and was talking volubly. "When Thompson played out and +had to go away, we looked around for somebody on the inside who knew the +run of our business to put in there to help me. None of the directors +wanted to come in, and so we pulled Jim out of the paying teller's cage, +and he's just about saved my back. Now, Jim's not so smart, but he's +steady and safe, and that's what counts in business." + +He leaned back in his chair and wobbled the cigar in his mouth. + +"These young Napoleons of finance are forever chasing off to Canada with +other folks' money; they're too brilliant. I tell 'em down town that it +ain't genius we want in business, it's just ordinary, plain, every-day +talent for getting down early and staying at your job. That's what I +say. There was Smith over at the Drovers' National; he was a clear case +of genius. They thought over there that he was making business by +chasing around the country attending banquets and speaking at bankers' +conventions. I guess Smith's essays were financially sound too, for +Smith knew finance, scientific finance, like a college professor, and +used to come to the clearing-house meetings and talk to beat the band +about what Bagehot said and how the Bank of England did; but all the +time he was spending his Sundays over in Kansas City, drumming up +banking business by playing poker with the gentlemen he expected to get +for his customers. He's running a laundry now on the wrong side of the +Canadian border. Over at the Drovers' they ain't so terribly scientific +now, and their cashier don't have an expense fund to carry him around +the country making connections. Making connections!" he repeated, and +chuckled. He had the conceit of his own wisdom, and while he was always +generous in his dealings with his rivals, and had several times helped +them out of difficulties, he rejoiced in their errors and congratulated +himself on his foresight and caution. + +"You oughtn't to laugh at the downfall of other people," said Evelyn; +"it's wicked of you." But she was laughing herself at his enjoyment of +his own joke, and was proud of the qualities which she knew had +contributed to his success. He felt baffled that he had not fully +concluded all he had intended to say about Wheaton and his merits, but +he did not see his way back to the subject, and he rose yawning. + +"I guess it's time to go to bed," he said, and he went about turning off +the electric lights by the buttons in the hall. Evelyn went upstairs +ahead of him, and kissed him good night at his door. + +"You'd better go to the opera with the Whipples," he called to her over +his shoulder, as he waited for her to reach her own door before turning +off the upper hall light. + +"Not a bit of it," she answered through the dark. + +The novel with which Evelyn tried to read herself to sleep that night +did not hold her attention, and after her memory had teased her into +impatience, she threw the book down and for a long time lay thinking. +She knew her father so well that she had no doubt of the current of his +thought and his wish to praise James Wheaton and disparage Warry +Raridan, and it troubled her; not because she herself had any +well-defined preferences as between them or in their favor as against +all other men she knew; but it seemed to her that her father had +disclosed his own feeling rather unnecessarily and pointedly. + +Suddenly, as she lay thinking and staring at the walls, life took on new +and serious aspects, and she did not want it to be so. Because she had +been so much away from home the provincial idea that every man that +calls on a girl, or takes her to a theater in our free, unchaperoned +way, is a serious suitor had not impressed her. She had expected to come +home and enjoy herself indefinitely, and had idealized a situation in +which she should be the stay of her father through his old age, and the +chum and guide of her brother, in whom the repetition of her mother's +characteristics strongly appealed to her. There had been little trouble +or grief in her life, and now for the first time she saw uncertainties +ahead where a few hours before everything had seemed simple and clear. +She had felt no offense when her father spoke slightingly of Warry +Raridan; she knew that her father really liked him, as every one did, +and she would not have hesitated to say that she admired him greatly, +even in his possession of those traits which betrayed the weaknesses of +his character. She certainly had no thought of him save as a whimsical +and amusing friend, a playmate who had never grown up. + +It was true that he had made love to her, or had tried to; but she had +no faith in his sincerity. She had first felt amused, and then a little +sorry, when he had gone to work so earnestly. He took the trouble to +remind her frequently that it was all for her, and she laughed at him +and at the love-making which he was always attempting and which she +always thwarted. Saxton did not come often to the house, but when he +came he exercised his ingenuity to bring Raridan into the talk in the +rare times that they were alone together. She knew why Saxton praised +her friend to her, and it increased her liking for him. It is curious +how a woman's pity goes out to a man; any suggestion of misfortune makes +an excuse for her to clothe him with her compassion. It is as though +Nature, in denying gifts or inflicting punishment, hastened to throw in +compensations. Saxton asked so little, and beamed so radiantly when +given so little; he received kindnesses so shyly, as if, of course, they +could not be meant for him, but it was all right anyway, and he would +move on just as soon as the other fellow came. + +As for Wheaton, he was certainly not frivolous, and her father's respect +for him and dependence on him had communicated itself to her. He was so +much older than she; and at twenty-two, thirty-five savors of antiquity; +but he was steady, and steadiness was a trait that she respected. He was +terribly formal, but he was kind and thoughtful; he was even handsome, +or at least so every one said. + +She lay dreaming until the clock on the mantel chimed midnight, when +she reached for the novel that had fallen on the coverlet, to put it on +the stand beside her bed. A card which she had been using as a mark fell +from the book; she picked it up and turned it over to see whose it was. +It was John Saxton's. + +"Father didn't say anything about him," she said aloud. She thrust the +card back into the book and reached up and snapped out the light. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A FORECAST AT THE WHIPPLES' + + +There was a cup of tea at the Whipples' for any one that dropped in at +five o'clock. The general kept a syphon in the icebox, and his wife's +tea, which he loathed, gave him his excuse. He was fond of saying that +an exacting government made it impossible for an army officer to get +acquainted with his wife until after his retirement, and then, he +declared, there was nothing to discuss but the opportunities in life +which they had missed. They talked a great deal to each other about +their neighbors, and about their friends in the army whose lives they +were able to follow through the daily list of transfers in the +newspapers, and the ampler current history of the military establishment +in the Army and Navy Journal. Few men in Clarkson had time for the +general. He found the club an unsocial place, and he preferred his own +battered copies of "Pendennis" and "Henry Esmond" to anything in the +club library. Occasionally when Mrs. Whipple was out for luncheon he +went to the club for midday sustenance, but the other men who hurried +through their forty cents' worth of table d'hôte, talked of matters that +were as alien to him as marine law. It would have suited the general +much better to live in Washington, where others with equally little to +do assembled in force; but his wife would not hear to it. She would not +have her husband, she said, becoming a professional pall bearer, and +this was the occupation of retired officers of the army and navy at the +capital. He submitted to her superior authority, as he always did, and +settled in Clarkson, where one could get much more for one's money than +in Washington. + +The general usually remained in the Indian room at the tea hour, +particularly if he liked the talk of the women who appeared, or if they +were good to look at; otherwise he carried his syphon to the +dining-room, where there was a bottle of the same brand of rye whisky +which he kept back of "The Life of Peter the Great" in a book case in +the Indian room. He and Mrs. Whipple had gone to the opera without +Evelyn, and the general was now settling himself to his domestic +routine. He had dodged a woman whose prattle vexed him and whose call +had been prolonged, and having heard the door close upon her, he was +returning to his own preserve with the intention of getting some hot +water from Mrs. Whipple's tea kettle for use in compounding a punch, +when Bishop Delafield came in, bringing a great draft of cold air with +his huge figure. The bishop was a friend of many years' standing. His +sonorous voice filled the room and aided the fire in promoting +cheeriness. Mrs. Whipple brewed her tea, and the general made his +punch,--for two--for it was certainly snowing somewhere in the Diocese +of Clarkson, the bishop said, and he had established his joke with the +general that he might allow himself spirits in bad weather, as a +preventive of the rheumatism which he never had. The three made a cozy +picture as they grouped themselves about the bright hearth. They were +discussing the marriage of an old officer whom they all knew, a man of +Whipple's own age, who had just married a woman much his junior. + +"It's easy for us all to philosophize adversely about such things," said +the general, sitting up straight in his camp chair. "I have a good deal +of sympathy with Bixby. He was lonely and his children were all married +and scattered to the four winds. I suppose there's nothing worse than +loneliness." + +His wife frowned at him; their friend's long sorrow and his fidelity to +his memories appealed to all the romance in her. + +"It's very different," Mrs. Whipple made haste to say, "where there are +children at home. Now there's Mr. Porter; he has Evelyn and Grant." + +"But that probably won't last long," said the bishop. "Girls have a way +of leaving home." + +"Well, there's nothing imminent?" asked Mrs. Whipple, anxiously. + +"Oh, no! And girls that have been educated as she has been are likely to +choose warily, aren't they?" + +"Nothing in it," said the general, stirring his glass. "They all go when +they get ready, without notice. Education doesn't change that." + +"It strikes me that there aren't many eligible men here," said the +bishop. "To be explicit, just whom shall a girl like Evelyn Porter +marry?" He did not intend this for the general, who was refilling the +glasses, but the general refused to be ignored. + +"It's my observation," he began, with an air of having much to impart, +if they would only let him alone, "that in every town the size of this +there are people who are predestined to marry. They fight it as hard as +they can, and dodge their destinies wherever possible; but it's a pretty +sure thing that ultimately they'll hit it off." + +"That sounds like a sort of social presbyterianism to me," said the +bishop dryly, "and therefore heretical." He was really interested in +knowing what Mrs. Whipple knew or felt on this subject as it affected +Evelyn Porter. "Now you've been better trained, Mrs. Whipple," he said. + +"Well, so far as Evelyn's concerned," she answered, knowing that this +was what the bishop wanted, "I'm not worrying about her. She's a +sensible girl and will take care of herself. I'm not half so much afraid +of destiny as of propinquity. We all know how the bachelor captain goes +down before the sister, or the in-law of some kind, of the colonel of +the regiment." + +"That's not propinquity," said the general; "that's ordinary Christian +charity on the captain's part." + +"Suppose," said the bishop slowly, "the commandant so to speak, is +really a banker, with a trusted officer, a kind of adjutant at his +elbow; and also a handsome daughter. Assume such a hypothetical case, +and what are you going to do about it?" He drained his glass and put it +down carefully. + +"This looks like the appeal direct," answered Mrs. Whipple, laughing and +looking at her husband, who was meditating another punch and feeling for +the scent blindly. + +"I don't know about that Mr. Wheaton," said Mrs. Whipple, meeting the +issue squarely. "He doesn't seem amusing to me, but then--I don't know +him!" + +"Must one be amusing?" asked the bishop. + +"Oh, I mean more than that!" exclaimed Mrs. Whipple. "Don't we always +mean intelligent when we say amusing?" + +"Definitions certainly change. We are growing terribly exacting these +days. But," he added, serious again, "Wheaton's a success; he's pointed +to as one of Clarkson's rising men; one of the really self-made." + +"Yes; I fancy he never knew Evelyn before the Knights of Midas ball;" +and she sighed, wondering whether she was culpable. She knew that the +bishop meant more than he had said and that this was a kind of warning +to her. She felt guilty, remembering the ball, and the appeal Evelyn had +made to her beforehand. A woman that has enjoyed a long career of +fancied infallibility experiences sorrow when she suddenly questions the +wisdom of her own judgments. + +"What's the matter with Warry Raridan?" demanded the general. "He's got +to marry somebody some day; he and Evelyn would make a very proper +match. Wouldn't they?" he pleaded, when his wife and their visitor did +not respond promptly. + +"Oh, Warry's well enough," the bishop answered. "But Warry's an +uncertain quantity. He's a fine, clean fellow, with all kinds of +possibilities; but--they're possibilities!" + +"Warry's certainly bright enough," said General Whipple. + +"His sense of humor is a trifle too keen for every-day use," said the +bishop. + +"What's he been up to now?" asked the general. + +The bishop laughed quietly to himself. + +"It was this way. You know Warry's interest in church matters is +abnormal. The boy really knows a lot of theology for one who has never +studied it. He has, he says, a neat taste in bishops, whatever that +means--" the bishop chuckled softly,--"and whenever one of my brethren +visits me, Warry always lays himself out to give us what he calls a warm +little time. A few days ago I had a letter from the Patriarch of +Alexandria, whom I don't know, in which he set forth that Doctor Warrick +Raridan, of my diocese, had written him proposing a great reunion of +Christendom, based on the Coptic rite. As neither the Roman, the Greek, +nor the Anglican Church afforded a common meeting ground, owing to many +difficulties, the American gentleman had suggested that all might meet +at Alexandria. The Patriarch was delighted. Doctor Raridan had suggested +me as a reference, hence the venerable prelate wished to know my opinion +of the extent of the movement. I suppose Warry did that as a joke on me, +or to get the Patriarch's autograph, I don't know which. I haven't seen +Warry since, but I'm disposed to dust his jacket for him in a fatherly +way when I get hold of him. I don't know why the Patriarch should call +Warry 'Doctor.' He probably assumed that a man who could write as good a +letter as Warry is capable of must be a person of distinction." + +"Warry's a gentleman, at any rate," said Mrs. Whipple. + +"Which Wheaton isn't; is that the idea?" demanded the general; and then +added: "This Wheaton strikes me as being a wooden kind of fellow. He +acts as if he hadn't been used to things." + +"Sh-h! be careful! That's no test of worth on the banks of the +Missouri," said his wife warningly. + +"Do you mean to say that Evelyn Porter's chances have been fully +covered?" demanded the general. He liked gossip and hoped the subject +would prove more fruitful. + +"There's Mr. Saxton," said his wife. "He seems altogether possible." + +"He's the new man, isn't he? He always lifts his hat to me in the +street; an unusual attention in this ill-mannered age." + +"Does _he_ act as if he had been used to things?" asked the bishop. He +was still seriously interested in canvassing Evelyn's case. + +"He's very nice," Mrs. Whipple said; "but he's not desperately exciting, +as the girls say." + +"But then!" The bishop lifted his hands with a despairing gesture, "must +young men be amusing or exciting in these days? Is he honest? Does he +lead a clean life? Has he, as the saying is, an outlook on life?" + +"He isn't seeing much of Evelyn, I think," said Mrs. Whipple. "And he's +a great friend of Warry's. They may offset each other." + +"Bless my soul!" exclaimed the general, "I don't see any use in worrying +over Evelyn Porter and her suitors. She'll have plenty of them. And when +she gets good and ready she'll up and marry one of them." + +"No girl with at least three possibilities in one town, to say nothing +of dozens she may have elsewhere, need be a subject of commiseration," +said Mrs. Whipple. + +"But," began the bishop slowly, "it might be better to eliminate at +least one." + +"Not Warry!" threw in Mrs. Whipple. + +"Not Saxton," added the general. "I like him; he's polite and thoughtful +about us old folks." + +The bishop had risen, knowing that the climax of a conversation is best +given standing. + +"I shouldn't cut out either of them," he said, smiling. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +ORCHARD LANE + + +After the interim of quiet that Lent always brings in Clarkson, the +spring came swiftly. There was a renewal of social activities which ran +from dances and teas into outdoor gatherings. Evelyn had enjoyed to the +full her experience of home. She had plunged into the frivolities of the +town with a zest that was a trifle emphasized through her wish to escape +any charge of being pedantic or literary. She was glad that she had gone +to college, but she did not wish this fact of her life to be the +haunting ghost of her days; and by the end of the winter she felt that +she had pretty effectually laid it. + +In June Mr. Porter began discussing summer plans with Evelyn. He +eliminated himself from them; he could not get away, he said. But there +was Grant to be considered. The boy was at school in New Hampshire, and +Evelyn protested that it was not wise to subject him to the intense heat +of a Clarkson summer. The first hot wave sent Porter to bed with a +trifling illness, and his doctor took the opportunity to look him over +and tell him that it was imperative for him to rest. Thompson came home +from Arizona to spend the summer. He and Wheaton were certainly equal to +the care of the bank, so they urged upon Porter, and he finally +yielded. Evelyn found a hotel on the Massachusetts North Shore which +sounded well in the circulars, and her father agreed to it. When they +reached Orchard Lane he liked it better than he had expected; the hotel +was one of those vast caravansaries where all sorts and conditions +assemble; and he was reassured by the click of the telegraph instrument +and the presence of the long distance telephone booth in the office. He +was a cockney of the rankest kind and it dulled the edge of his +isolation to know that he was not entirely cut off from the world. Every +night he sat down with cipher telegrams, and constructed from Thompson's +statistics the day's business in the bank. He received daily from New +York the closing quotations on the shares he was interested in, and as +he walked the long hotel verandas he effected a transmigration of spirit +which put him back in his swivel chair in the Clarkson National. + +Evelyn made him drive with her and Grant, and dragged him to the golf +course, where she was the star player, and where Grant was learning the +game. + +A college friend of Evelyn's, in one of the near-by cottages, asked her +neighbors to call on the Porters. The fact that the cottagers thus set +the mark of their approval upon the Westerners, gave them distinction at +the hotel. Several men of Porter's age took him to their quieter porches +and found him interesting; they liked his stories, though they hardly +excused his ignorance of whist; in their hearts they accused him of +poker, of which he was guiltless. Incidentally they got a good deal of +information from him touching their Western interests; it was worth +while to know a man that received the crop news ahead of the +newspapers. He liked the praise of Evelyn which was constantly reaching +him; she was the prettiest girl in the place; her golf was certainly +better than any other girl's. When she won a cup in the tournament he +waited anxiously to see what the Boston papers said about it, and he +surreptitiously mailed the cuttings home to the Clarkson _Gazette_. + +In August Warry Raridan appeared suddenly and threw himself into the +gaieties of the place for a fortnight. Mr. Porter asked him to sit at +their table and marveled at the way Evelyn snubbed him, even to the +extent of running away for three days with some friends who had a yacht +and who carried her to Newport for a dance. During her absence Warry +made all the other girls about the place happy; they were sure that +"that Miss Porter" was treating him shabbily and their hearts went out +to him. Warry sulked when Evelyn returned and they had an interview +between dances at a Saturday night hop. + +He sought again for recognition as a lover; she had not praised the +efforts he had been making to win her approval by diligence at his +office; he took care to call her attention to his changed habits. + +"But, Evelyn, I am doing differently. I know that I wasted myself for +years so that I'm a kind of joke and everybody laughs about me. But I +want to know--I want to feel that I'm doing it for you! Don't you know +how that would help me and steady me? Won't you let it be for you?" He +came close to her and stood with his arms folded, but she drew away from +him with a despairing gesture. + +"Oh, Warry," she cried, wearily, "you poor, foolish boy! Don't you know +that you must do all things for yourself?" + +"Yes," he returned eagerly. "I know that; I understand perfectly; but if +you'd only let me feel that you wanted it--" + +"I want you to succeed, but you will never do it for any one, if you +don't do it for yourself." + +He went home by an early train next morning to receive Saxton's +consolation and to turn again to his law books. Margrave, on behalf of +the Transcontinental, had offered to compromise the case of the poor +widow whose clothes lines had been interfered with; but Raridan rejected +this tender. He needed something on which to vent his bad spirits, and +he gave his thought to devising means of transferring the widow's cause +to the federal court. The removal of causes from state to federal courts +was, Warry frequently said, one of the best things he did. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +JAMES WHEATON MAKES A COMPUTATION + + +Porter's vacation was not altogether wasted. As he lounged about and +philosophized to the Bostonians on Western business conditions, his +restless mind took hold of a new project. It was suggested to him by the +inquiries of a Boston banker, who owned a considerable amount of +Clarkson Traction bonds and stock which he was anxious to sell. Porter +gave a discouraging account of the company, whose history he knew +thoroughly. The Traction Company had been organized in the boom days and +its stock had been inflated in keeping with the prevailing spirit of the +time. It was first equipped with the cable system in deference to the +Clarkson hills, but later the company made the introduction of the +trolley an excuse for a reorganization of its finances with an even more +generous inflation. The panic then descended and wrought a diminution of +revenue; the company was unable to make the repairs which constantly +became necessary, and the local management fell into the hands of a +series of corrupt directorates. + +There had been much litigation, and some of the Eastern bondholders had +threatened a receivership; but the local stockholders made plausible +excuses for the default of interest when approached amicably, and when +menaced grew insolent and promised trouble if an attempt were made to +deprive them of power. A secretary and a treasurer under one +administration had connived to appropriate a large share of the daily +cash receipts, and before they left the office they destroyed or +concealed the books and records of the company. The effect of this was +to create a mystery as to the distribution of the bonds and the stock. +When Porter came home from his summer vacation, the newspapers were +demanding that steps be taken to declare the Traction franchise forfeit. +But the franchise had been renewed lately and had twenty years to run. +This extension had been procured by the element in control, and the +foreign bondholders, biding their time, were glad to avail themselves of +the political skill of the local officers. + +Porter had been casually asked by his Boston friend whether there was +any local market for the stock or bonds; and he had answered that there +was not; that the holders of shares in Clarkson kept what they had +because they could no longer sell to one another and that they were only +waiting for the larger outside bondholders and shareholders to assert +themselves. Porter had ridden down to Boston with his brother banker and +when they parted it was with an understanding that the Bostonian was to +collect for Porter the Clarkson Traction securities that were held by +New England banks, a considerable amount, as Porter knew; and he went +home with a well-formed plan of buying the control of the company. Times +were improving and he had faith in Clarkson's future; he did not believe +in it so noisily as Timothy Margrave did; but he knew the resources of +the tributary country, and he had, what all successful business men must +have, an alert imagination. + +It was not necessary for Porter to disclose the fact of his purchases to +the officers of the Traction Company, whom he knew to be corrupt and +vicious; the transfer of ownership on the company's books made no +difference, as the original stock books had been destroyed,--a fact +which had become public property through a legal effort to levy on the +holdings of a shareholder in the interest of a creditor. Moreover, if he +could help it, Porter never told any one about anything he did. He even +had several dummies in whose names he frequently held securities and +real estate. One of these was Peckham, a clerk in the office of Fenton, +Porter's lawyer. + +Wheaton had not long been an officer of the bank before he began to be +aware that there was considerable mystery about Porter's outside +transactions. Porter occasionally perused with much interest several +small memorandum books which he kept carefully locked in his desk. The +president often wrote letters with his own hand and copied them himself +after bank hours, in a private letter-book. Wheaton was naturally +curious as to what these outside interests might be. It had piqued him +to find that while he was cashier of the bank he was not consulted in +its larger transactions; and that of Porter's personal affairs he knew +nothing. + +One afternoon shortly after Porter's return from the East, Wheaton, who +was waiting for some letters to sign, picked up a bundle of checks from +the desk of one of the individual bookkeepers. They were Porter's +personal checks which had that day been paid and were now being charged +to his private account. Wheaton turned them over mechanically; it was +not very long since he had been an individual bookkeeper himself; he had +entered innumerable checks bearing Porter's name without giving them a +thought. As the slips of paper passed through his fingers, he accounted +for them in one way or another and put them back on the desk, face down, +as a man always does who has been trained as a bank clerk. The last of +them he held and studied. It was a check made payable to Peckham, +Fenton's clerk. The amount was $9,999.00,--too large to be accounted for +as a payment for services; for Peckham was an elderly failure at the law +who ran errands to the courts for Fenton and sometimes took charge of +small collection matters for the bank. Wheaton paid the attorney fees +for the bank; this check had nothing to do with the bank, he was sure. +The check, with its curious combination of figures, puzzled and +fascinated him. + +A few days later, in the course of business, he asked Porter what +disposition he should make of an application for a loan from a country +customer. Porter rang for the past correspondence with their client, and +threw several letters to Wheaton for his information. Wheaton read them +and called the stenographer to dictate the answer which Porter had +indicated should be made. He held the client's last letter in his hand, +and in concluding turned it over into the wire basket which stood on his +desk. As it fell face downwards his eye caught some figures on the back, +and he picked it up thinking that they might relate to the letter. The +memorandum was in Porter's large uneven hand and read: + + + 303 + 33 + ---- + 909 + 909 + ---- + 9999 + + +The result of the multiplication was identical with the amount of +Peckham's check. Again the figures held his attention. Local securities +were quoted daily in the newspapers, and he examined the list for that +day. There was no quotation of thirty-three on anything; the nearest +approach was Clarkson Traction Company at thirty-five. The check which +had interested him had been dated three days before, and he looked back +to the quotation list for that date. Traction was given at thirty-three. +Wheaton was pleased by the discovery; it was a fair assumption that +Porter was buying shares of Clarkson Traction; he would hardly be buying +foreign securities through Peckham. The stock had advanced two points +since it had been purchased, and this, too, was interesting. Clearly, +Porter knew what he was about,--he had a reputation for knowing; and if +Clarkson Traction was a good thing for the president to pick up quietly, +why was it not a good thing for the cashier? He waited a day; Traction +went to thirty-six. Then he called after banking hours at the office of +a real estate dealer who also dealt in local stocks and bonds on a small +scale. He chose this man because he was not a customer of the bank, and +had never had any transactions with the bank or with Porter, so far as +Wheaton knew. His name was Burton, and he welcomed Wheaton cordially. +He was alone in his office, and after an interchange of courtesies, +Wheaton came directly to the point of his errand. + +"Some friends of mine in the country own a small amount of Traction +stock; they've written me to find out what its prospects are. Of course +in the bank we know in a general way about it, but I suppose you handle +such things and I want to get good advice for my friends." + +"Well, the truth is," said Burton, flattered by this appeal, "the bottom +was pretty well gone out of it, but it's sprucing up a little just now. +If the charter's knocked out it is only worth so much a pound as old +paper; but if the right people get hold of it the newspapers will let +up, and there's a big thing in it. How much do your friends own?" + +"I don't know exactly," said Wheaton, evenly; "I think not a great deal. +Who are buying just now? I notice that it has been advancing for several +days. Some one seems to be forcing up the price." + +"Nobody in particular, that is, nobody that I know of. I asked Billy +Barnes, the secretary, the other day what was going on. He must know who +the certificates are made out to; but he winked and gave me the laugh. +You know Barnes. He don't cough up very easy; and he looks wise when he +doesn't know anything." + +"No; Barnes has the reputation of being pretty close-mouthed," replied +Wheaton. + +"If your friends want to sell, bring in the shares and I'll see what I +can do with them," said Burton. "The outsiders are sure to act soon. +This spurt right now may have nothing back of it. The town's full of +gossip about the company and it ought to send the price down. Your +friend Porter's a smooth one. He was in once, a long time ago, but he +knew when to get out all right." Wheaton laughed with Burton at this +tribute to Porter's sagacity, but he laughed discreetly. He did not +forget that he was a bank officer and dignity was an essential in the +business, as he understood it. + +Within a few days two more checks from Porter to Peckham passed through +the usual channels of the bank. By the simple feat of dividing the +amount of each check by the current quotation on Traction, Wheaton was +able to follow Porter's purchases. The price had remained pretty steady. +Then suddenly it fell to thirty. He wondered what was happening, but the +newspapers, which were continuing their war on the company, readily +attributed it to a lack of confidence in the franchise. Wheaton met the +broker, apparently by chance, but really by intention, in the club one +evening, and remarked casually: + +"Traction seems to be off a little?" + +"Yes; there's something going on there that I can't make out. I imagine +that the fellows that were buying got tired of stimulating the market, +and have thrown a few bunches back to keep the outsiders guessing." + +"Right now might be a good time to get in," suggested Wheaton. + +"I should call it a good buy myself. I guess that franchise is all +right. Better pick up a little," he said, tentatively. + +"To tell the truth," said Wheaton, choosing his words carefully, "those +out of town people I spoke to you about have written me that they'd +like a little more, if it can be got at the right figure. You might pick +up a hundred shares for me at the current price, if you can." + +"How do you want to hold it?" + +"Have it made to me," he answered. He had debated whether he should do +this, and he had been unable to devise any method of holding the stock +without letting his own name appear. Porter would not know; Porter was +concealing his own purchases. Wheaton could not see that it made any +difference; he was surely entitled to invest his money as he liked, and +he raised the sum necessary in this case by the sale of some railroad +bonds which he had been holding, and on which he could realize at once +by sending them to the bank's correspondent at Chicago. He might have +sold them at home; Porter would probably have taken them off his hands; +but the president knew that his capital was small, and might have asked +how he intended to reinvest the proceeds. + +"Of course this is all confidential," said Wheaton. + +"Sure," said Burton. + +"And when you get it, telephone me and I'll come up and settle," said +Wheaton. + +A few days later Burton sent for Wheaton to come to his office. One +hundred shares had been secured from a ranchman. Wheaton carried the +purchase money in currency to Burton's office; he was as shrewd as +William Porter, and he did not care to have the clerks in the bank +speculating about his checks. + +He locked his certificate, when Burton got it for him, in his private +box in the vault, and waited the rebound which he firmly expected in the +price of the stock. His sole idea was to make a profit by the purchase. +He felt perfectly confident that Porter had bought Traction stock with a +definite purpose; he still had no idea who were the principal holders of +Traction stock or bonds, and he was afraid to make inquiry. A man who +was as secretive as Porter probably had confidential sources of +information, and it was not safe to tap Porter's wires. His conscience +was easy as to the method by which he had gained his knowledge of +Porter's purchases; he certainly meant no harm to Porter. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +AN ANNUAL PASS + + +Timothy Margrave was, in common phrase, a good railroad man. He had +advanced by slow degrees from the incumbency of those lowly manual +offices called jobs, to the performance of those nobler functions known +as positions. Margrave's elevation to the office of third vice-president +and general manager was due to his Pull. This was originally political +but later financial; and he now had both kinds of Pulls. There is no +greater arrogance among us than that of our railway officials; they are +greater tyrants than any that sit in public office. The General +Something or Other is a despot, the records of whose life are written in +tissue manifold; his ideals are established for him by those of his own +order who have been raised to a higher power, which he himself aspires +to reach in due season. Margrave had gone as high as he expected to go +with the corporation whose destinies he had done so much to promote; all +who were below him in the Transcontinental knew that he held their lives +in his hands; all his subordinates, down to the boys who carried long +manila envelopes marked R. R. B. to and from trains called him IT. + +Margrave had resolved that the railroad was getting too much out of him +and that he must do more to promote his own fortunes. The directors +were good fellows, and they had certainly treated him well; but it +seemed within the pale of legitimate enterprise for him to broaden his +interests a trifle without in any wise diminishing his zeal for the +Transcontinental. The street railway business was a good business, and +Clarkson Traction appealed to Margrave, moreover, on its political side. +If he reorganized the company and made himself its president he could +greatly fortify and strengthen his Pull. Tim Margrave's Pull was already +of consequence and it would be of great use in this new undertaking; +moreover, it would naturally be augmented by his control of the little +army of Traction employees. He proposed getting some of the Eastern +stockholders of the Transcontinental to help him acquire Traction +holdings sufficient to get control of the company; and, with Margrave, +to decide was to act. + +Almost any day, he was told, the Eastern bondholders might pounce down +and put a receiver in charge of the company. Margrave did not understand +receiverships according to High or Beach or any other legal authority; +but according to Margrave they were an excuse for pillage, and it was a +regret of his life that no fat receivership had ever fallen to his lot. +But he was not going into Traction blindly. He wanted to know who else +was interested, that he might avoid complications. William Porter was +the only man in Clarkson who could swing Traction without assistance; he +must not run afoul of Porter. Margrave was a master of the art of +getting information, and he decided, on reflection, that the easiest way +to get information about Porter was to coax it out of Wheaton. + +He always called Wheaton "Jim," in remembrance of those early days of +Wheaton's residence in Clarkson when Wheaton had worked in his office. +He had watched Wheaton's rise with interest; he took to himself the +credit of being his discoverer. When Wheaton called on his daughter he +made no comment; he knew nothing to Wheaton's discredit, and he would no +more have thought of criticizing Mabel than of ordering dynamite +substituted for coal in the locomotives of his railroad. When he +concluded that he needed Wheaton, he began playing for him, just as if +the cashier had been a councilman or a member of the legislature or a +large shipper or any other fair prey. + +He had unconsciously made a good beginning by making Wheaton the King of +the Carnival; he now resorted to that most insidious and economical form +of bribery known as the annual pass. + +One of these pretty bits of pasteboard was at once mailed to Wheaton by +the Second Assistant General Something on Margrave's recommendation. + +Wheaton accepted the pass as a tribute to his growing prominence in the +town. He knew that Porter refused railroad passes on practical grounds, +holding that such favors were extended in the hope of reciprocal +compliments, and he believed that a banker was better off without them. +Wheaton, whose vanity had been touched, could see no harm in them. He +had little use for passes as he knew and cared little about traveling, +but he had always envied men who carried their "annuals" in little +brass-bound books made for the purpose. To be sure it was late in the +year and passes were usually sent out in January, but this made the +compliment seem much more direct; the Transcontinental had forgotten +him, and had thought it well to rectify the error between seasons. He +felt that he must not make too much of the railroad's courtesy; he did +not know to which official in particular he was indebted, but he ran +into Margrave one evening at the club and decided to thank him. + +"How's traffic?" he asked, as Margrave made room for him on the settee +where he sat reading the evening paper. + +"Fair. Anything new?" + +"No; it's the same routine with me pretty much all the time." + +"I guess that's right. I shouldn't think there was much fun in banking. +You got to keep the public too far away. I like to be up against people +myself." + +"Banking is hardly a sociable business," said Wheaton. + +"No; a good banker's got to have cold feet, as the fellow said." + +"But you railroad people are not considered so very warm," said Wheaton. +"The fellows who want favors seem to think so. By the way, I'm much +obliged to some one for an annual that turned up in my mail the other +day. I don't know who sent it to me,--if it's you--" + +"Um?" Margrave affected to have been wandering in his thoughts, but this +was what he was waiting for. "Oh, I guess that was Wilson. I never fool +with the pass business myself; I've got troubles of my own." + +"I guess I'll not use it very often," said Wheaton, as if he owed an +apology to the road for accepting it. + +"Better come out with me in the car sometime and see the road," +Margrave suggested, throwing his newspaper on the table. + +"I'd like that very much," said Wheaton. + +"Where's Thompson now? Old man's pretty well done up, ain't he?" + +"He went back to Arizona. He was here at work all summer. He's afraid of +our winters." + +"Well, that gives you your chance," said Margrave, affably. "There ain't +any young man in town that's got a better chance than you have, Jim." + +"I know that," said Wheaton, humbly. + +"You don't go in much on the outside, do you? I suppose you don't have +much time." + +"No; I'm held down pretty close; and in a bank you can't go into +everything." + +"Well, there's nothing like keeping an eye out. Good things are not so +terribly common these days." Margrave got up and walked the floor once +or twice, apparently in a musing humor, but he really wished to look +into the adjoining room to make sure they were alone. + +"I believe," he said, with emphasis on the pronoun, "there's going to be +a good thing for some one in Traction stock. Porter ought to let you in +on that." Margrave didn't know that Porter was in, but he expected to +find out. + +"Mr. Porter has a way of keeping things to himself," said Wheaton, +cautiously; yet he was flattered by Margrave's friendliness, and anxious +to make a favorable impression. Vanity is not, as is usually assumed, a +mere incident of character; it is a disease. + +"I suppose," said Margrave, "that a man could buy a barrel of that +stuff just now at a low figure." + +Wheaton could not resist this opportunity. + +"What I have, I got at thirty-one," he answered, as if it were the most +natural thing in the world for him to have Traction stock. This was not +a bank confidence; there was no reason why he should not talk of his own +investments if he wished to do so. + +Margrave had reseated himself, and lounged on the settee with a +confidential air that he had found very effective in the committee rooms +at the state capital when it was necessary to deal with a difficult +legislator. + +"I suppose Porter must have got in lower than that," he said, +carelessly. "Billy usually gets in on the ground floor." He chuckled to +himself in admiration of the banker's shrewdness. "But a fellow can do +what he pleases when he's got money. Most of us see good things and +can't go into the market after 'em." + +"What's your guess as to the turn this Traction business will take?" +asked Wheaton. He had not expected an opportunity to talk to any one of +Margrave's standing on this subject, and he thought he would get some +information while the opportunity offered. + +"Don't ask me! If I knew I'd like to get into the game. But, look +here"--he moved his fat body a little nearer to Wheaton--"the way to go +into that thing is to go into it big! I've had my eye on it for a good +while, but I ain't going to touch it unless I can swing it all. Now, you +know Porter, and I know him, and you can bet your last dollar he'll +never be able to handle it. He ain't built for it!" His voice sank to a +whisper. "But if I decide to go in, I've got to get rid of Porter. Me +and Porter can't travel in the same harness. You know that," he added, +pleadingly, as if there were the bitterness of years of controversy in +his relations with Porter. + +Wheaton nodded sympathetically. + +"Now, I don't know how much he's got"--this in an angry tone, as if +Porter were guilty of some grave offense against him--"and he's so +damned mysterious you can't tell what he's up to. You know how he is; +you can't go to a fellow like that and do business with him, and he +won't play anyhow, unless you play his way." + +"Well, I don't know anything about his affairs, of course," said +Wheaton, yet feeling that Margrave's confidences must be reciprocated. +"Just between ourselves,"--he waited for Margrave to nod and grunt in +his solemn way--"he did buy a little some time ago, but no great amount. +It would take a good deal of money to control that company." + +"You're dead right, it would; and Porter hasn't any business fooling +with it. You've got to syndicate a thing like that. He's probably got a +tip from some one of his Eastern friends as to what they're going to do, +and he's buying in, when he can, to get next. But say, he hasn't any +Traction bonds, has he?" + +Wheaton had already said more than he had intended, and repented now +that he had been drawn into this conversation; but Margrave was bending +toward him with a great air of condescending intimacy. Porter had never +been confidential with him; and it was really Margrave who had given him +his start. + +"I don't think so; at least I never knew of it." His mind was on those +checks to Peckham, which clearly represented purchases of stock. Of +course, Porter might have bonds, too, but having gone thus far he did +not like to admit to Margrave how little he really knew of Porter's +doings. Margrave was puffing solemnly at his cigar, and changed the +subject. When he rose to go and stood stamping down his trousers, which +were forever climbing up his fat legs when he sat, Wheaton felt an +impulse to correct any false impressions which he might have given +Margrave; but he was afraid to try this. He would discredit himself with +Margrave by doing so. He had not intended to leave so early, but he +hated to let go of Margrave, and he followed him into the coat room. + +"That's all between us--that little matter," said Margrave, as they were +helped into their coats by the sleepy colored boy. Wheaton wanted to say +this himself, but Margrave saved him the trouble. + +"Certainly, Mr. Margrave." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +WILLIAM PORTER RETURNS FROM A JOURNEY + + +Porter went into Fenton's private office and shut and locked the door +after him. He always did this, and Fenton, who humored his best client's +whims perforce, pushed back the law book which he was reading and +straightened the pens on his blotter. + +"I didn't expect you back so soon," he said. Porter looked tired and +there were dark rings under his eyes. + +"Short horse soon curried," he remarked, pulling a packet from his +overcoat. + +There was something boyish in Porter's mysterious methods, which always +amused Fenton when they did not alarm and exasperate him. + +Porter sat down at a long table and the lawyer drew up a chair opposite +him. + +"Which way have you been this time?" + +"Down in the country," returned Porter, indefinitely. + +Fenton laughed and watched his client pulling the rubber bands from his +package. + +"What have you there--oats or wheat?" + +"What I have here," said Porter, straightening out the crisp papers he +had taken from his bundle, "is a few shares of Clarkson Traction stock." + +"Oh!" Fenton picked up a ruler and played with it until Porter had +finished counting and smoothing the stock certificates. + +"There you are," said the banker, passing the papers over to Fenton. +"See if they're all right." + +Fenton compared the names on the face of the certificates with the +assignments on the back, while Porter watched him and played with a +rubber band. + +"The assignments are all straight," said Fenton, finally. + +He sat waiting and his silence irritated Porter, who reached across and +took up the certificates again. + +"I want to talk to you a little about Traction." + +"All right, sir," said Fenton, respectfully. + +"I've gone in for that pretty deep this fall." + +Fenton nodded gravely. He felt trouble in the air. + +"I started in on this down East last summer. Those bonds all went East, +but a lot of the stock was kicked around out here. If I get enough and +reorganize the company I can handle the new securities down East all +right. That's business. Now, I've been gathering in the stock around +here on the quiet. Peckham's been buying some for me, and he's assigned +it in blank. There's no use in getting new shares issued until we're +ready to act, for Barnes and those fellows are not above doing something +nasty if they think they're going to lose their jobs." + +"The original stock issue was five thousand shares," said Fenton. "How +much have you?" + +"Well, sir," said Porter, "I've got about half and I'm looking for a few +shares more right now." + +Fenton picked up his ruler again and beat his knuckles with it. Porter +had expected Fenton to lecture him sharply, but the lawyer was ominously +quiet. + +"I'm free to confess," said Fenton, "that I'm sorry you've gone into +this. This isn't the kind of thing that you're in the habit of going +into. I am not much taken with the idea of mixing up in a corporation +that has as disreputable a record as the Traction Company. It's been +mismanaged and robbed until there's not much left for an honest man to +take hold of; they issue no statements; no one of any responsibility has +been connected with it for a long time. The outside stockholders are +scattered all over the country, and most of them have quit trying to +enforce their rights, if they may be said to have any rights. You +remember that the last time they went into court they were knocked out +and I'm free to say that I don't want to have to go into any litigation +against the company." + +"Yes, but the franchise is all straight, ain't it?" + +"Probably it is all right," admitted the lawyer reluctantly, "but that +isn't the whole story by any manner of means. If it's known that you're +picking up the stock, every fellow that has any will soak you good and +hard before he parts with it. Now, there are the bondholders--" + +"Well, what can the bondholders do?" demanded Porter. + +"Oh, get a receiver and have a lot of fun. You may expect that at any +time, too. Those Eastern fellows are slow sometimes, but they generally +know what they're about." + +"Yes, but if they weren't Eastern fellows--" + +"Oh, a bondholder's rights are as good one place as another. Those +suits are usually brought in the name of the trustee in their behalf." + +"Now, do you know what I'm going to do?" demanded Porter, settling back +in his chair and placing his feet on Fenton's table. "I'm going to turn +up at the next annual meeting and clean this thing out. You don't think +it's any good; I've got faith in the company and in the town; I believe +it's going to be a good thing. This little gang here that's been running +it has got to go. I've dug up some stock here that everybody thought was +lost. At the last meeting only eight hundred out of five thousand shares +were voted." + +Fenton frowned and continued to punish himself with the ruler. + +"You beat me! You haven't the slightest idea who the other shareholders +are; the company is thoroughly rotten in all its past history, and here +you go plunging into it up to your eyes. And they say you're the most +conservative banker on the river." + +"I guess you don't have to get me out of many scrapes," said Porter, +doggedly. + +"When's the annual meeting?" asked Fenton, suddenly. + +"It's day after to-morrow--a close call, but I'll make it all right." + +Fenton threw down his ruler impatiently. + +"Mr. Porter, I want you to remember that I haven't given you any advice +at all in this matter. It's an extra hazardous thing that you're doing. +Now, I don't know anything definitely about it, but--I've got the +impression that Margrave's paralleling your lines in this business." +Porter brought his feet down with a crash. + +"Where'd you get that?" + +"It's this way," said Fenton, in his quietest tones. "A Baltimore lawyer +that I know wrote me a letter,--I just got it this morning,--asking me +about Margrave's responsibility. It seems that my friend has a client +who owns some of these shares. A good deal of that stock went to +Baltimore and Philadelphia, you may remember. I assume that Margrave is +after it." + +"Wire your friend right away not to sell,--" shouted Porter, pounding +the table with his fist. + +"I did that this morning, and here's his answer. I got it just before +you came in. Margrave evidently got anxious and wired them to send +certificates with draft through the Drovers' National. They're probably +on the way now." He passed the telegram across to Porter, who put on his +glasses and read it. + +"Now," continued Fenton, "I don't know just what this means, but it +looks to me as if Margrave was hot on the track of the trolley company +himself; and Tim Margrave isn't a particularly pleasant fellow to go +into business with, is he?" + +"But the bondholders would still have their chance, wouldn't they, even +if he got a majority of the stock?" + +"Well, you haven't any bonds, have you? First thing I know you'll be +telling me that you've got a few barrels of them," he added, jokingly. +He could not help laughing at Porter. + +Porter took the cigar from his mouth, looked carefully at the lighted +end of it, and said with a casual air, as if he had a particularly +decisive and conclusive statement to make and wished to avail himself of +its dramatic possibilities: + +"My dear boy, I've got every blamed bond!" + +Fenton sat gazing at him in stupefied wonder. + +"Would you mind saying that again?" he said, after a full minute of +silent amazement in which he sat staring at his client, who was blowing +rings of smoke with great equanimity. + +"I've got all the bonds, was what I said." + +The lawyer walked around the table and put his hand on Porter's +shoulder. He was trying to keep from laughing, like a parent who is +about to rebuke a child and yet laughs at the cause of its offense. +Porter evidently thought that he had done an extremely bright thing. + +"As I understand you, you have bought all of the bonds and half of the +stock." + +"About half. I'm a little--just a little--short." + +"Will you kindly tell me what you wanted with the stock if you had the +bonds?" + +"Well, I figured it this way, that the franchise was worth the price I +had to pay for the whole thing, and if I had the stock control I'd save +the fuss of foreclosing. You lawyers always make a lot of rumpus about +those things, and a receivership would prejudice the Eastern market when +I come to reorganize and sell out." + +Fenton lay back in his chair and laughed, while Porter looked at him a +little defiantly, with his hat tipped over his eyes and a cigar sticking +in his mouth at an impertinent angle. + +"You'd better finish your job and make sure of your majority," said +Fenton. His rage was rising now and he did not urge Porter to remain +when the banker got up to go. He was not at all anxious to defend a +franchise which the local courts, always sensitive to public sentiment, +might set aside. + +"I'll see you in the morning first thing," said Porter at the door, +which Fenton opened for him. "I want you to go to the meeting with me +and we'll need a day to get ready." + +The lawyer watched his client walk toward the elevator. It occurred to +him that Porter's step was losing its elasticity. While the banker +waited for the elevator car he leaned wearily against the wire screen of +the shaft. + +Fenton swore quietly to himself for a few minutes and then sat down with +a copy of the charter of the Clarkson Traction Company before him, and +spent the remainder of the day studying it. He had troubled much over +Porter's secretive ways, and had labored to shatter the dangerous +conceit which had gradually grown up in his client. Porter had, in fact, +a contempt for lawyers, though he leaned on Fenton more than he would +admit. Fenton, on the other hand, was constantly fearful lest his client +should undo himself by his secretive methods. He had difficulty in +getting all the facts out of him even when they were imperatively +required. Once in the trial of a case for Porter, the opposing counsel +made a statement which Fenton rose in full confidence to refute. His +antagonist reaffirmed it, and Fenton, not doubting that he understood +Porter's position thoroughly, appealed to him to deny the charge, fully +expecting to score an effective point before the court. To his +consternation, Porter coolly admitted the truth of the imputation. But +even this incident and Fenton's importunity in every matter that arose +thereafter did not cure Porter of his weakness. He was a difficult +client, who was, as Fenton often said to himself, a good deal harder to +manage in a lawsuit than the trial judge or opposing counsel. + +The next morning Fenton was at his office early and sent his boy at once +to ask Mr. Porter to come up. The boy reported that Mr. Porter had not +been at the bank. Fenton went down himself at ten o'clock and found the +president's desk closed. + +"Where's the boss?" he demanded. + +"Won't be down this morning," said Wheaton. "Miss Porter telephoned that +he wasn't feeling well, but he expected to be down after luncheon." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +INTERRUPTED PLANS + + +Porter had wakened that morning with a pain-racked body and the hot +taste of fever in his mouth. He dressed and went downstairs to +breakfast, but left the table and returned to his room to lie down. + +"I'll be all right in an hour or so; I guess I've taken cold," he said +to Evelyn. At the end of an hour he was shaking with a chill. + +Evelyn left him alone to telephone for the doctor and in her absence he +tried to rise and fainted. He was still lying on the floor when she +returned. When the doctor came he found the household in a panic, and +almost before Porter realized it, he was hazily watching the white cap +of the trained nurse whom the doctor ordered with his medicines. + +"Your father has a fever of some sort," he said to Evelyn. "It may be +only a severe attack of malaria; but it's probably typhoid. In any +event, there's nothing to be alarmed about. Mr. Porter has one of the +old-fashioned constitutions," he added, reassuringly, "and there's +nothing to fear for him." + +Porter protested all the morning that he would go to his office after +luncheon, but the temperature line on the nurse's chart climbed steadily +upward. He resented the tyranny of the nurse, who moved about the room +with an air of having been there always, and he was impatient under the +efforts of Evelyn to soothe him. The doctor came again at noon. He was +of Porter's age and an old friend; he dealt frankly with his patient +now. Evelyn stood by and listened, adding her own words of pleading and +cheer; and while the doctor gave instructions to the nurse outside, he +relaxed, and let her smooth his pillow and bathe his hot brow. + +"This may be my turn--" he began. + +"Not by any manner of means, father," she broke in with a lightness she +did not feel. It moved her greatly to see his weakness. + +"It's an unfortunate time," he said, "and there's something you must do +for me. I've got to see Wheaton or Fenton. It's very important." + +"But you mustn't, father; business can wait until you're well again. It +will be only a few days--" + +"You mustn't question what I ask," he went on very steadily. "It's of +great importance," and she knew that he meant it. + +"Can't I see them for you?" she asked. He turned his slight lean body +under the covers, and shook his head helplessly on his pillow. + +"You see you can't talk, father," she said very gently. "Is there +anything I can say to them for you?" + +"Yes," he said weakly, "I want you to give the key to one of my boxes to +Wheaton. Tell him to take out a package--marked Traction--and give it to +Fenton." + +Evelyn brought his key ring and he pointed out the key and watched her +slip it from the ring. + +"I'll send for Mr. Wheaton at once," she said. "Don't worry any more +about it, father." + +"Evelyn!" She had started for the door, but now hurried back to him. + +"Don't tell him anything over the telephone; just ask him to come up." +She went out at once that he might be assured, and he turned wearily on +his pillow and slept. + +Porter's illness was proclaimed in the first editions of the afternoon +papers, which Wheaton saw at his desk. News gains force by publication, +and when he read the printed statement that the president of the +Clarkson National Bank was confined to his house by illness, he felt +that Porter must really be very sick; and he naturally turned the fact +over in his mind to see how this might affect him. The directors came in +and sat about in the directors' room with their hats on, and Wingate, +the starch manufacturer, who had seen Porter's doctor, pronounced the +president a very sick man and suggested that Thompson, the invalid +vice-president, ought to be notified. The others acquiesced, and they +prepared a telegram to Thompson at Phoenix, suggesting his immediate +return, if possible. + +Wheaton sat with them and listened respectfully. When he was first +appointed to his position, he had waited with a kind of awe for the +pronouncements of the directors; but he had acquired a low opinion of +them. He certainly knew more about the affairs of the bank than any of +them except Porter and he knew more than Porter of the details. During +this informal conference of the directors, Wheaton was called to the +telephone, and was cheered by the sound of Evelyn's voice. She asked him +to come up as soon as convenient; she wished to give him a message from +her father, who was very comfortable, she said. After dinner would do; +she knew that he must be very busy. He expressed his sympathy formally, +and went back to the directors with a kindlier feeling toward the world. +There was a consolation for him in the knowledge that Miss Porter must +summon him to her in this way; her father's illness made another tie +between them. + +Wingate and the others came out of the directors' room as he put down +the telephone receiver, and they stood talking at his desk. He found a +secret pleasure in being able to answer at once the questions which +Wingate put to him, as to how the discounts were running, and what they +were carrying of county money, and how much government money they had on +hand. Wingate knew no more of banking than he knew of Egyptian +hieroglyphics; but he thought he did, because he had read the national +banking act through and had once met the comptroller of the currency at +dinner. The other directors listened to Wheaton's answers with +admiration. When they got outside Wingate remarked, as they stood at the +front door before dispersing: + +"I wish to thunder I could ask Jim Wheaton something just once that he +didn't know. That fellow knows every balance in the bank, and the date +of the maturity of every loan. He's almost too good to be true." + +They laughed. + +"I guess Jim's all right," said the wholesale dry goods merchant, who +was a good deal impressed with the fact of his directorship. + +"Sure," said Wingate. "But you can bet Thompson's lungs will get a lot +better when he gets our telegram." They had no great belief in +Thompson's invalidism. It is one of the drolleries of our American life +that men, particularly in Western cities, never dare to be ill; it is +much nobler and far more convenient to die than to be sick. + +Fenton spent the afternoon in court. He intended to call at the Porters' +on his way home, and stopped at the bank before going to his office, +thinking that the banker might be there; but the president's desk was +closed. + +"How sick is Mr. Porter?" he asked Wheaton. + +"He's pretty sick," said Wheaton. "It's typhoid fever." + +Fenton whistled. + +"That's what the doctor calls it. I spoke to Miss Porter over the +telephone a few minutes ago, and she did not seem to be alarmed about +her father. He's very strong, you know." + +But Fenton was not listening. "See here, Wheaton," he said suddenly, "do +you know anything about Porter's private affairs?" + +"Not very much," said Wheaton guardedly. + +"I guess you don't and I guess nobody does, worse luck! You know how +morbidly secretive he is, and how he shies off from publicity,--I +suppose you do," he went on a little grimly. He did not like Wheaton +particularly. "Well, he has some Traction stock,--the annual meeting is +held to-morrow and he's got to be represented." + +"He never told me of it," said Wheaton, truthfully. + +"His shares are probably in his inside pocket, or hid under the bed at +home; but we've got to get them if he has any, and get them quick. If he +has his wits he'll probably try and send word to me. I suppose I +couldn't see him if I went up." + +"Miss Porter telephoned me to come,--on some business matter, she said, +and no doubt that's what it is." + +"Then I won't go just now, but I'll see you here as soon as you get down +town. I'll be at my office right after dinner." He paused, deliberating. +Fenton was a careful man, who rose to emergencies. + +"I'll come directly back here," said Wheaton. "No doubt the papers you +want are in one of Mr. Porter's private boxes." + +"Can you get into it to-night?" + +"Yes; it's in the vault where we keep the account books, and there's no +time lock." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +JAMES WHEATON DECLINES AN OFFER + + +Margrave hung up the receiver of his desk telephone with a slam, and +rang a bell for the office boy. + +"Call the Clarkson National, and tell Mr. Wheaton to come over,--right +away." + +It was late in the afternoon. Wheaton had been unusually busy with +routine work and the directors had taken an hour of his time. He had +turned away from Fenton to answer Margrave's message, and went toward +the Transcontinental office with a feeling of foreboding. He remembered +the place very well; it had hardly changed since the days of his own +brief service there. As he crossed the threshold of the private office, +the sight of Margrave's fat bulk squeezed into a chair that was too +small for him, impressed him unpleasantly; he had come with mixed +feelings, not knowing whether his friendly relations with the railroader +were to be further emphasized, or whether Margrave was about to make +some demand of him. His doubts were quickly dispelled by Margrave, who +turned around fiercely as the door closed. + +"Sit down, Wheaton," he said, indicating a chair by his desk. His face +was very red and his stubby mustache seemed stiffer and more wire-like +than ever. He was breathing in the difficult choked manner of fat men +in their rage. + +"Now, I want you to tell me something; I want you to answer up fair and +square. I've got to come right down to brass tacks with you and I want +you to tell me the God's truth. How much Traction has Billy Porter got?" + +Wheaton grew white, and the lids closed over his eyes sleepily. + +"Come out with it," puffed Margrave. "If you've been making a fool of me +I want to know it." + +"I don't know what right you've got to ask me such a question," Wheaton +answered coldly. + +"No right,--no right!" Margrave panted. "You damned miserable fool, what +do you know or mean by right or wrong either? I can take my medicine as +well as the next man, but when a friend does me up, then I throw up my +hands. Why did you tell me you knew what Porter was doing, and lead me +to think--" + +"Mr. Margrave," said Wheaton, "I didn't come here to be abused by you. +If I've done you any injury, I'm not aware of it." + +"I guess that's right," said Margrave ironically. "What I want to know +is what you let me think Porter wasn't taking hold of Traction for? You +knew I was going into it. I told you that with the fool idea that you +were a friend of mine. You told me the old man had stopped buying--" + +"And when I did I betrayed a confidence," said Wheaton, virtuously. "I +had no business telling you anything of the kind." + +"When you told me that," Margrave went on in bitter derision, shaking +his finger in Wheaton's face,--"when you told me that you told me a +damned lie, that's what you did, Jim Wheaton." + +"You can't talk to me that way," said Wheaton, sitting up in his chair +resentfully. "When I told you that, I believed it," and he added, with a +second's hesitation, "I still believe it." + +"Don't lie any more to me about it. I can take my medicine as well as +the next man, but--" swaying his big head back and forth on his fat +shoulders,--"when a man plays a dirty trick on Tim Margrave, I want him +to know when Margrave finds it out. I never thought it of you, Jim. I've +always treated you as white as I knew how; I've been glad to see you in +my house,--" + +"I don't know what you're driving at, but I want you to stop abusing +me," said Wheaton, with more vigor of tone than he had yet manifested. +"I never said a word to you about Mr. Porter in connection with Traction +that I didn't think true. The only mistake I made was in saying anything +to you at all; but I thought you were a friend of mine. If anybody's +been deceived, I'm the one." + +Margrave watched him contemptuously. + +"Let me ask you something, Jim," he said, dropping his blustering tone. +"Haven't you known all these weeks when I've been seeing you every few +days at the club, and at my own house several times,"--he dwelt on the +second clause as if the breach of hospitality on Wheaton's part had been +the grievous offense,--"haven't you known that the old man was chasing +over the country in his carpet slippers buying all that stock he could +lay his hands on?" + +"On my sacred honor, I have not. When we talked of it I knew he had +been buying some, but I thought he'd stopped, as I let you understand. +I'm sorry if you were misled by anything I said." + +"Well, that's all over now," said Margrave, in a conciliatory tone. "I'm +in the devil's own hole, Jim. I've been relying on your information; in +fact, I've had it in mind to make you treasurer of the company when we +get reorganized. That ought to show you what a lot of confidence I've +been putting in you all this time that you've been watching me run into +the soup clear up to my chin." + +"I'm honestly sorry,"--began Wheaton. "I had no idea you were depending +on me. You ought to have known that I couldn't betray Mr. Porter." + +"You ought to be sorry," said Margrave dolefully. "But, look here, Jim, +I don't believe you're going to do me up on this." + +"I'm not going to do anybody up; but I don't see what I can do to help +you." + +"Well, I do. You gave me to understand that you were buying this stuff +yourself. You still got what you had?" + +Margrave knew from the secretary of the company that Wheaton owned one +hundred shares. He thrust his hands into his pockets and looked at +Wheaton appealingly. + +"Yes," Wheaton answered reluctantly. He knew now why he had been +summoned. + +"Now, how many shares have you, Jim?" with increasing amiability of tone +and manner. + +"Just what I bought in the beginning; one hundred shares." + +Margrave took a pad from his desk and added one hundred to a short +column of figures. He made the footing and regarded the total with +careless interest before looking up. + +"How much do you want for that, Jim?" + +"To tell the truth, Mr. Margrave, I don't know that I want to sell it." + +"Now, Jim, you ain't going to hold me up on this? You've got me into a +pretty mess, and I hope you're not going to keep on pushing me in." + +Wheaton crossed and recrossed his legs. There was Porter and there was +Margrave. To whom did he owe allegiance? He resented the way in which +Margrave had taken him to task; he could not see that he had been +culpable, unless as against Porter. Yet Porter had told him nothing; if +Porter had treated him with a little more frankness, he certainly would +never have mentioned Traction to Margrave. + +"What I have wouldn't do you any good," he said finally. + +"But it might do me some harm! Now, you don't want these shares, Jim. +You're entitled to a profit, and I'll pay you a fair price." + +"I can't do anything to hurt Mr. Porter," said Wheaton. He remembered +just how the drawing-room at the Porters' looked, and the kindness and +frankness of Evelyn Porter's eyes. + +"Yes, but you've got a duty to me," he stormed, getting red in the face +again. "You can bet your life that if it hadn't been for you, I'd never +have been in this pickle. Come along now, Jim, I've got a lot of our +railroad people to go in on this. They depend absolutely on my judgment. +I'm a ruined man if I fail to show up at the meeting to-morrow with a +majority of these shares. It won't make any difference to Billy Porter +whether he wins out or not. He's got plenty of irons in the fire. I +don't know as a matter of fact that I need these shares; but I want to +be on the safe side. Does Porter know what you've got?" + +Wheaton shook his head. + +"Then what's the harm in selling them where you've got a chance, even if +you wasn't under any obligations to me? If you didn't know until I told +you that the old man was still on the hunt for this stuff, I don't see +that you're bound to wait for him to come around and ask you to sell to +him. How much shall I make it for?" He opened a drawer and pulled out +his check-book. + +"They tell me Porter's pretty sick," Margrave continued, running the +stubs of the check-book through his thick thumb and forefinger. "Billy +isn't as young as he used to be. Very likely he'll never know you had +any Traction stock," he added significantly. "How much shall I make it +for, Jim?" + +Wheaton walked over to the window and looked down into the street, while +Margrave watched him with pen in hand. + +"How much shall I make it for?" he asked more sharply. + +"You can't make it for anything, Mr. Margrave, and I want to say that +I'm very much disappointed in the way you've tried to get it from me." + +Margrave swung around on him with an oath. But Wheaton went on, +speaking carefully. + +"I can't imagine that the few shares of stock I hold can be of real +importance in deciding the control of this company. I don't say I won't +give you these shares, but I can't do it now." + +Margrave's face grew red and purple as Wheaton walked toward the door. + +"Maybe you think you can wring more out of Porter than you can out of +me. But, by God, I'll take this out of you and out of him, too, if I go +broke doing it." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE KEY TO A DILEMMA + + +Evelyn had telephoned to Mrs. Whipple of her father's illness in terms +which allayed alarm; but when the afternoon paper referred to it +ominously, the good woman set out through the first snowstorm of the +season for the Porter house, carrying her campaign outfit, as the +general called it, in a suit-case. Mrs. Whipple's hopeful equanimity was +very welcome to Evelyn, who suffered as women do when denied the +privilege of ministering to their sick and forced to see their natural +office usurped by others. Mrs. Whipple brought a breath of May into the +atmosphere of the house. She found ways of dulling the edge of Evelyn's +anxiety and idleness; she even found things for Evelyn to do, and busied +herself disposing of inquiries at the door and telephone to save Evelyn +the trouble. In Evelyn's sitting-room Mrs. Whipple talked of clothes and +made it seem a great favor for the girl to drag out several new gowns +for inspection,--a kind of first view, she called it; and she sighed +over them and said they were more perfect than perfect lyrics and would +appeal to a larger audience. + +She chose one of the lyrics of black chiffon and lace, with a high +collar and half sleeves and forced Evelyn to put it on; and when they +sat down to dinner together she planned a portrait of Evelyn in the same +gown, which Chase or Sargent must paint. She managed the talk tactfully, +without committing the error of trying to ignore the sick man upstairs. +She made his illness seem incidental merely, and with a bright side, in +that it gave her a chance to spend a few days at the Hill. Then she went +on: + +"Warry and Mr. Saxton were at the house last night. It's delightful to +see men so devoted to each other as they are; and it's great fun to hear +them banter each other. I didn't know that Mr. Saxton could be funny, +but in his quiet way he says the drollest things!" + +"I thought he was very serious," said Evelyn. "I rarely see him, but +when I do, he flatters me by talking about books. He thinks I'm +literary!" + +"I can't imagine it." + +Evelyn laughed. + +"Oh, thanks! I'm making progress!" + +"It's funny," Mrs. Whipple continued, "the way he takes care of Warry. +The general says Mr. Saxton is a Newfoundland and Warry a fox terrier. +Warry's at work again, and I suppose we have Mr. Saxton's influence to +thank." + +"A man like that could do a great deal for Warry," said Evelyn. "If +Warry doesn't settle down pretty soon he'll lose his chance." Then, her +father coming into her thoughts, she added irrelevantly: "Mr. Thompson +will probably come home. Mr. Wheaton telephoned that the directors had +wired him." + +"Oh, yes," said Mrs. Whipple, looking at the girl quickly,--"so much +responsibility,--I suppose it would be hardly fair to Mr. Wheaton--" + +"I suppose not," said Evelyn. + +"It's just the same in business as it is in the army," continued Mrs. +Whipple, who referred everything back to the military establishment. +"The bugle's got to blow every morning whether the colonel's sick or +not. I suppose the bank keeps open just the same. When a thing's once +well started it has a way of running on, whether anybody attends to it +or not." + +"But you couldn't get father to believe that," said Evelyn, smiling in +recollection of her father's life-long refutation of this philosophy. + +"No indeed," assented Mrs. Whipple. "But in the army there is a good +deal to make a man humble. If he gets transferred from one end of the +land to another, somebody else does the work he has been doing, and +usually you wouldn't know the difference. The individual is really +extinguished; they all sign their reports in exactly the same place, and +one signature is just as good at Washington as another." This was a +favorite line of discourse with Mrs. Whipple; she had reduced her army +experience to a philosophy, which she was fond of presenting on any +occasion. + +The maid brought Evelyn a card before they had finished coffee. + +"It's Mr. Wheaton," she explained; "I asked him to come. Father was +greatly troubled about some matter which he said must not be neglected. +He wanted me to give the key of his box to Mr. Wheaton,--there are some +papers which it is very necessary for Mr. Fenton to have. It's something +I hadn't heard of before, but it must be important. He's been flighty +this afternoon and has tried to talk about it." + +Evelyn had risen and stood by the table with a troubled look on her +face, as if expecting counsel; but she was thinking of the sick man +upstairs and not of his business affairs. + +"Yes; don't wait for me," said the older woman, as though it were merely +a question of the girl's excusing herself. When Evelyn had gone, Mrs. +Whipple plied her spoon in her cup long after the single lump of sugar +was dissolved. Mrs. Whipple had a way of disliking people thoroughly +when they did not please her, and she did not like James Wheaton. She +was wondering why, as she sat alone at the table and played with the +spoon. + +The maid who admitted Wheaton had let him elect between the drawing room +and the library, and he chose the latter instinctively, as less formal +and more appropriate for an interview based on his dual social and +business relations with the Porters. His slim figure appeared to +advantage in evening clothes; he was no longer afraid of rooms that were +handsome and spacious like this. There was nowadays no more correctly +groomed man in Clarkson than he, though Warry Raridan had remarked to +Wheaton at the Bachelors' that his ties were composed a trifle too +neatly; a tie to be properly done should, Raridan held, leave something +to the imagination. Wheaton heard the swish of Evelyn's skirts in the +hall with a quickening heartbeat. Her black gown intensified her +fairness; he had never seen her in black before, and it gave a new +accent to her beauty as she came toward him. + +"It was a great shock to us down town to hear of your father's illness. +He seemed as well as usual yesterday." + +"Did you think so? I thought he looked worn when he came home last +evening. He has been working very hard lately." + +Wheaton had never seen her so grave. He was sincerely sorry for her +trouble, and he tried to say so. There was something appealing in her +unusual calm; the low tones of her voice were not wasted on him. + +"Father asked me to send for you this morning, but he had grown so ill +in a few hours that I took the responsibility of not doing it. The +doctor said emphatically that he must not see people. But something in +particular was on his mind, some papers that Mr. Fenton should have. +They are in his box at the bank, and I was to give you the key to it. It +is something about the Traction Company; no doubt you know of it?" + +"Yes," Wheaton assented. It was not necessary for him to say that Mr. +Porter had told him nothing about it. + +"You can attend to this easily?" + +"Yes, certainly. Mr. Fenton spoke to me about the matter this afternoon. +It is very important and he wished me to report to him as soon as I +found the papers. No doubt they are in your father's box," he said. "He +is always very methodical." He smiled at her reassuringly and rose. She +did not ask him to stay longer, but went to fetch the key. + +It was a small, thin bit of steel. Wheaton turned it over in his hand. + +"I'll return the key to-morrow, after I've found the papers Mr. Fenton +wants." + +"Very well. I hope you will have no difficulty." + +He still held the key in his fingers, not knowing whether this was his +dismissal or not. + +"There is one thing more, Mr. Wheaton. Father seemed very much troubled +about this Traction matter--" + +"Very unnecessarily, I'm sure," said Wheaton soothingly. + +"He evidently wished all the papers he has concerning the company to be +given to Mr. Fenton. Now, this probably is of no importance whatever, +but several years ago father gave me some stock in the street railway +company. It came about through a little fun-making between us. We were +talking of railway passes,--you know he never accepts any"--Wheaton +blinked--"and I told him I'd like to have a pass on something, even if +it was only a street car line." + +She was smiling in her eagerness that he should understand perfectly. + +"And he said he guessed he could fix that by giving me some stock in the +company. I remember that he made light of it when I thanked him, and +said it wasn't so important as it looked. He probably forgot it long +ago. I had forgotten it myself--I never got the pass, either! but I +brought the stock down that Mr. Fenton might have use for it." She went +over to the mantel and picked up a paper, while he watched her; and when +she put it into his hand he turned it over. It was a certificate for one +hundred shares, issued in due form to Evelyn Porter, but was not +assigned. + +"It may be important," said Wheaton, regarding the paper thoughtfully. +"Mr. Fenton will know. It couldn't be used without your name on the +back," he said, indicating the place on the certificate. + +"Oh, should I sign it?" she asked, in the curious fluttering way in +which many women approach the minor details of business. Wheaton +hesitated; he did not imagine that this block of stock could be of +importance, and yet the tentative business association with Miss Porter +was so pleasant that he yielded to a temptation to prolong it. + +"Yes, you might sign it," he said. + +Evelyn went to her father's table and wrote her name as Wheaton +indicated. + +"A witness is required and I will supply that." And Wheaton sat down at +the table and signed his name beside hers, while she stood opposite him, +the tips of her fingers resting on the table. + +"Evelyn Porter" and "James Wheaton." He blotted the names with Porter's +blotter, Evelyn still standing by him, slightly mystified as women often +are by the fact that their signatures have a value. He felt that there +was something intimate in the fact of their signing themselves together +there. He was thrilled by her beauty. The black lace falling from her +elbows made a filmy tracery upon her white arms. Her head was bent +toward him, the shaded lamp cast a glow upon her face and throat, and +her slim, white hands rested on the table so near that he could have +touched them. She bent her gaze upon him gravely; she, too, felt that +his relations with her father made a tie between them; he was older than +the other men who came to see her; she yielded him a respect for his +well-won success. A vague sense of what her father liked in him crept +into her mind in the moment that she stood looking down on him; he was +quiet, deft and sure,--qualities which his smoothly-combed black hair +and immaculate linen seemed to emphasize. She gave, in her ignorance of +business, an exaggerated importance to the trifling transaction which he +had now concluded. He smiled up at her as he put down the pen. + +"It isn't as serious as it looks," he said, rising. + +"It must be very interesting when you understand it," she answered. + +"I'm sorry--so very sorry for your trouble. I hope--if I can serve you +in any way you will not hesitate--" + +"You are very kind," she said. Neither moved. They regarded each other +across the table with a serious fixed gaze; the sweet girlish spirit in +her was held by some curious fascinating power in him. He bent toward +her, his hand lightly clenched on the edge of the table. + +"I hope there may never be a time when you will not feel free to command +me--in any way." He spoke slowly; his words seemed to bind a chain about +her and she could not move or answer. With a sudden gesture he put out +his hand; it almost touched hers, and she did not shrink away. + +"Good evening, Mr. Wheaton!" Mrs. Whipple, handsome and smiling, sent +her greeting from the threshold, and swept into the room; and when she +took his hand she held it for a moment, as an elderly woman may, while +she chid him for his remissness in never coming to call on her. + +[Illustration] + +On his way down the slope to the car, Wheaton felt in his pocket +several times to be sure of the key. There was something the least bit +uncanny in his possession of it. Yesterday, as he knew well enough, +William Porter would no more have intrusted the key of his private box +to him or to any one else than he would have burned down his house. He +read into his errand a trust on Porter's part that included Porter's +daughter, too; but he got little satisfaction from this. He was only the +most convenient messenger available. His spirits rose and fell as he +debated. + +The down-town streets were very quiet when he reached the business +district. He went to the side door of the bank and knocked for the +watchman to admit him. He took off his overcoat and hat and laid them +down carefully on his own desk. + +"Going to work to-night, Mr. Wheaton?" asked the watchman. + +Wheaton felt that he owed it to the watchman to explain, and he said: + +"There are some papers in Mr. Porter's box that I must give to Mr. +Fenton to-night. They are in the old vault." This vault was often opened +at night by the bookkeepers and there was no reason why the cashier +should not enter it when he pleased. The watchman turned up the lights +so that Wheaton could manipulate the combination, and then swung open +the door. Wheaton thanked him and went in. Two keys were necessary to +open all of the boxes; one was common to all and was kept by the bank. +Wheaton easily found it, and then he took from his pocket Porter's key +which supplemented the other. His pulses beat fast as he felt the lock +yield to the thin strip of steel, and in a moment the box lay open +before his eyes. He had flashed on the electric light bulb in the vault +and recognized instantly Porter's inscription "Traction" on a brown +bundle. He then opened his own box and took out his Traction certificate +and carried it with Porter's packet into the directors' room. + +He sat playing with the package, which was sealed in green wax with the +plain oval insignium of the bank. The packet was larger than he had +expected it to be; he had no idea of the amount of stock it contained; +and he knew nothing of the bonds. He felt tempted to open it; but +clearly that was not within his instructions. He must deliver it intact +to Fenton, and he would do it instantly. He hesitated, though, and drew +out the certificate which Evelyn had given him and turned the crisp +paper over in his hand. Each of them owned one hundred shares of +Traction stock; he was not thinking of this, but of Evelyn, whose +signature held his eye. It was an angular hand, and she ran her two +names together with a long sweep of the pen. + +His thoughts were given a new direction by the noise of a colloquy +between the watchman and some one at the door. He heard his own name +mentioned, and thrusting the certificates into his pocket, he went out +to learn what was the matter. + +"Mr. Wheaton," called the watchman, who held the door partly closed on +some one, "Mr. Margrave wishes to see you." + +As Wheaton walked toward the watchman, Margrave strode in heavily on the +tile floor of the bank. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A MEETING BETWEEN GENTLEMEN + + +"Hello, Wheaton," said Margrave cheerfully. "I've had the devil's own +time finding you." + +He advanced upon Wheaton and shook him warmly by the hand. Then, this +having been for the benefit of the watchman, he said, in a low tone: + +"Let's go into the directors' room, Jim, I want to see you." + +The main bank room was only dimly lighted, but a cluster of electric +lights burned brilliantly above the directors' mahogany table, around +which were chairs of the Bank of England pattern. + +"Have a seat, Mr. Margrave," said Wheaton formally. He had left the door +open, but Margrave closed it carefully. Porter's bundle of papers in its +manila wrapper lay on the table, and Wheaton sat down close to it. + +"What you got there, greenbacks?" asked Margrave. "If you were just +leaving for Canada, don't miss the train on my account." + +"That isn't funny," said Wheaton, severely. + +"Oh, I wouldn't be so damned sensitive," said Margrave, throwing open +his overcoat and placing his hat on the table in front of him. "I guess +you ain't any better than some of the rest of 'em." + +"I suppose you didn't come to say that," said Wheaton. He ran his +fingers over the wax seal on the packet. He wished that it were back in +Porter's box. + +"We were having a little talk this afternoon, Jim," began Margrave in a +friendly and familiar tone, "about Traction matters. As I remember it, +in our last talk, it was understood that if I needed your little bunch +of Traction shares you'd let me have 'em when the time came. Now our +friend Porter's sick," continued Margrave, watching Wheaton sharply with +his small, keen eyes. + +"Yes; he's sick," repeated Wheaton. + +"He's pretty damned sick." + +"I suppose you mean he is very sick; I don't know that it's so serious. +I was at the house this evening." + +"Comforting the daughter, no doubt," with a sneer. "Now, Jim, I'm going +to say something to you and I don't want you to give back any prayer +meeting talk. The chances are that Porter's going to die." He waited a +moment to let the remark sink into Wheaton's consciousness, and then he +went on: "I guess he won't be able to vote his stock to-morrow. I +suppose you've got it or know where it is." He eyed the bundle on which +Wheaton's hand at that moment rested nervously, and Wheaton sat back in +his chair and thrust his hand into his trousers' pockets, looking +unconcernedly at Margrave. + +"I want that stock, Jim," said the railroader, quietly, "and I want you +to give it to me to-night." + +"Margrave," said Wheaton, and it was the first time he had so addressed +him, "you must be crazy, or a fool." + +"Things are going pretty well with you, Jim," Margrave continued, as if +in friendly canvass of Wheaton's future. "You have a good position here; +when the old man's out of the way, you can marry the girl and be +president of the bank. It's dead easy for a smart fellow like you. It +would be too bad for you to spoil such prospects right now, when the +game is all in your own hands, by failing to help a friend in trouble." +Wheaton said nothing and Margrave resumed: + +"You're trying to catch on to this damned society business here, and I +want you to do it. I haven't got any objections to your sailing as high +as you can. I know all about you. I gave you your first job when you +came here--" + +"I appreciate all that, Mr. Margrave," Wheaton broke in. "You said the +word that got me into the Clarkson National, and I have never forgotten +it." + +"Well, I don't want you to forget it. But see here: as long as I +recommended you and stood by you when you were a ratty little train +butcher, and without knowing anything about you except that you were +always on hand and kept your mouth shut, I think you owe something to +me." He bent forward in his chair, which creaked under him as he shifted +his bulk. "One night last fall, just before the Knights of Midas show, a +drunken scamp came into my yard, and made a nasty row. I was about to +turn him over to the police when he began whimpering and said he knew +you. He wasn't doing any particular harm and I gave him a quarter and +told him to get out; but he wanted to talk. He said--" Margrave dropped +his voice and fastened his eyes on Wheaton--"he was a long-lost brother +of yours. He was pretty drunk, but he seemed clear on your family +history, Jim. He said he'd done time once back in Illinois, and got you +out of a scrape. He told me his name was William Wheaton, but that he +had lost it in the shuffle somewhere and was known as Snyder. I gave him +a quarter and started him toward Porter's where I knew you were doing +the society act. I heard afterward that he found you." + +Margrave creaked back in his chair and chuckled. + +"He was an infernal liar," said Wheaton hotly. "And so you sent that +scamp over there to make a row. I didn't think you would play me a trick +like that." He was betrayed out of his usual calm control and his mouth +twitched. + +"Now, Jim," Margrave continued magnanimously, "I don't care a damn about +your family connections. You're all right. You're good enough for me, +you understand, and you're good enough for the Porters. My father was a +butcher and I began life sweeping out the shop, and I guess everybody +knows it; and if they don't like it, they know what they can do." + +Wheaton's hand rested again on the packet before him; he had flushed to +the temples, but the color slowly died out of his face. It was very +still in the room, and the watchman could be heard walking across the +tiled lobby outside. A patrol wagon rattled in the street with a great +clang of its gong. Wheaton had moved the brown parcel a little nearer to +the edge of the table; Margrave noticed this and for the first time took +a serious interest in the packet. He was not built for quick evolutions, +but he made what was, for a man of his bulk, a sudden movement around +the table toward Wheaton, who was between him and the door. + +"What you got in that paper, Jim?" he asked, puffing from his exertion. + +Still Wheaton did not speak, but he picked up the parcel and took a step +toward the door, Margrave advancing upon him. + +Wheaton reached the door, holding the package under his arm. + +"Don't touch me; don't touch me," he said, hoarsely. Margrave still came +toward him. Wheaton's unengaged hand went nervously to his throat, and +he fumbled at his tie. The sweat came out on his forehead. It was a +curious scene, the tall, dark man in his evening clothes, pitiful in his +agitation, with his back against the door, hugging the bundle under one +arm; and Margrave, in his rough business suit, walking slowly toward +Wheaton, who retreated before him. + +"I want that package, Jim." + +"Go away! go away!" The sweat shone on Wheaton's forehead in great +drops. "I can't, I can't--you know I can't!" + +"You damned coward!" said Margrave, laughing suddenly. "I want that +bundle." He made a gesture and Wheaton dodged and shrank away. Margrave +laughed again; a malicious mirth possessed him. But he grew suddenly +fierce and his fat fingers closed about Wheaton's neck. Wheaton huddled +against the door, holding the brown packet with both hands. + +"Drop it! Drop it!" blurted Margrave. He was breathing hard. + +A sharp knock at the door against which they struggled caused Margrave +to spring away. He walked down the room several paces with an assumption +of carelessness, and Wheaton, with the bundle still under his arm, +turned the knob of the door. + +"Hello, Wheaton!" called Fenton, blinking in the glare of the lights. + +"Good evening," said Wheaton. + +"How're you, Fenton," said Margrave, carelessly, but mopping his +forehead with his handkerchief. + +"Here are your papers," said Wheaton, almost thrusting his parcel into +the lawyer's hands. + +"All right," said Fenton, looking curiously from one to the other. And +then he glanced at the package, as if absent-mindedly, and saw that the +seal was unbroken. + +"Good night, gentlemen," he said. "Sorry to have disturbed you." + +"Hope you're not going to work to-night," said Margrave, solicitously. + +"Oh, not very long," said the lawyer. + +"Hard on honest men when lawyers work at night," continued Margrave, as +the lawyer walked across the lobby. + +"Yes, you railroad people can say that," Fenton flung back at him. + +"How much Traction was in that package?" asked Margrave, closing the +door. + +"I don't know," said Wheaton, smoothing his tie. The watchman could be +heard closing the outside door on Fenton. + +[Illustration] + +"No, I don't think you do," returned Margrave. "You'd fixed it pretty +well with Fenton. If he'd only been a minute later I'd have got that +bundle. I didn't realize at first what you had there, Jim, until you +kept fingering it so desperately." + +"Now," he said amiably, as if the real business of the evening had just +been reached, "there are those shares you own, Jim. I hope we won't be +interrupted while you're getting them for me." + +Wheaton hesitated. + +"You get them for me," said Margrave with a change of manner, "quick!" + +Wheaton still hesitated. + +Margrave picked up his hat. + +"I'm going from here to the _Gazette_ office. You know they do what I +tell 'em over there. They'd like a little story about the aristocratic +Wheaton family of Ohio. Porter's girl would like that for breakfast +to-morrow morning." + +Wheaton hung between two inclinations, one to make terms with Margrave +and assure his friendship at any hazard, the other to break with him, +let the consequences be what they might. It is one of the impressive +facts of human destiny that the frail barks among us are those which are +sent into the least known seas. Great mariners have made charts and set +warning lights, but the hidden reefs change hourly, and the great +chartographer Experience cannot keep pace with them. + +"Hurry up," said Margrave impatiently; "this is my busy night and I +can't wait on you. Dig it up." + +Wheaton's hand went slowly to his pocket. As he drew out his own +certificate with nervous fingers, the certificate which Evelyn Porter +had given him an hour before fell upon the table. + +"That's the right color," said Margrave, snatching the paper as Wheaton +sprang forward to regain it. + +"Not that! not that! That isn't mine!" + +Margrave stepped back and swept the face of the certificate with his +eyes. + +"Well, this does beat hell! I knew you stood next, Jim," he said +insolently, "but I didn't know that you were on such confidential terms +as all this. And you witnessed the signature. Gosh! How sweet and pretty +it all is!" The paper exhaled the faint odor of sachet, and Margrave +lifted it to his nostrils with a mockery of delight. + +"I must have that, Margrave. I will do anything, but I must have +that---- You wouldn't----" + +Margrave watched him maliciously, thoroughly enjoying his terror. + +"How do you know I wouldn't? Give me the other one, Jim." + +Still Wheaton held his own certificate; he believed for a moment that he +could trade the one for the other. + +"I'm not going to fool with you much longer, Jim; you either give me +that certificate or I go to the _Gazette_ office as straight as I can +walk. Just sign it in blank, the way the other one is. I'll witness it +all right." + +Wheaton wrote while Margrave stood over him, holding ready a blotter +which he applied to Wheaton's signature with unnecessary care. + +"I hope this won't cause you any inconvenience with the lady, but you're +undoubtedly a fair liar and you can fix that all right, +particularly"--with a chuckle--"if the old man cashes in." + +Wheaton followed Margrave's movements as if under a spell that he could +not shake off. Margrave walked toward the door with an air of +nonchalance, pulling on his gloves. + +"I haven't my check-book with me, Jim, but I'll settle for your stock +and Miss Evelyn's, too, after I get things reorganized. It'll be worth +more money then. Please give the young lady my compliments," with +irritating suavity. He stopped, smoothing the backs of his gloves +placidly. "That's all right, Jim, ain't it?" he asked mockingly. + +"I hope you're satisfied," said Wheaton weakly. Twice, within a year, he +had felt the fingers of an angry man at his throat and he did not relish +the experience. + +"I'm never satisfied," said Margrave, picking up his hat. + +Wheaton wished to make a bargain with him, to assure his own immunity; +but he did not know how to accomplish it. Margrave had threatened him, +and he wished to dull the point of the threat, but he was afraid to ask +a promise of him. He said, as Margrave opened the door to go out: + +"Do you think Fenton noticed anything?" His tone was so pitiful in its +eagerness that Margrave laughed in his face. + +"I don't know, Jim, and I don't give a damn." + +Wheaton did not follow him to the door, but Margrave seemed in no hurry +to leave. The watchman went forward to let him out at the side entrance, +and Margrave paused to light a cigar very deliberately and to urge one +on the watchman. + +"If he'd only been sure the old man would have died to-night," he +reflected as he walked up the street, "he'd have given me Porter's +shares, easy." He went to his office, entertaining himself with this +pleasant speculation. "If I'd got out of the bank with that package he'd +never dared squeal," he presently concluded. + +Timothy Margrave was a fair judge of character. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +BROKEN GLASS + + +John Saxton was a good deal the worse for wear as he swung himself from +a sleeper in the Clarkson station and bolted for a down-town car. Coal +mining is a dirty business, and there are limits to the things that can +be crowded into a suit-case. He had been crawling through four-foot +veins of Kansas coal in the interest of the Neponset Trust Company, and +had been delayed a day longer than he had expected. He continued to be +in a good deal of a hurry after he reached his office, and he kicked +aside the mail which rustled under the door as he opened it, and knelt +hastily before the safe and began rattling the tumblers of the +combination. He pulled out a long envelope and then with more composure +consulted his watch. + +It was half-past eight. He took from his memorandum calendar the leaf +for the day; on it he had posted a cutting from a local newspaper +announcing the annual meeting of the stockholders of the Clarkson +Traction Company. The meeting was to be held, so the notice recited, +between the hours of 9 a. m. and 5 p. m. of the second Tuesday of +November, at the general offices of the Company in the city of Clarkson. +The Exchange Building was specified, though the administrative offices +of the Company were on the other side of town. Before setting forth +Saxton examined his papers, which were certificates of stock in the +Clarkson Traction Company. They had been sent to him by a personal +friend in Boston, the trustee of an estate, with instructions to +investigate and report. Having received them just as he was leaving for +Kansas, there had been no opportunity for consulting Porter or Wheaton, +his usual advisers in perplexing matters. Traction stock had advanced +lately, despite newspaper attacks on the company and he hoped to sell +his friend's shares to advantage. + +Saxton had never been in the Exchange Building before and he poked about +in the dark upper floors, uncertainly looking for the rooms described in +the advertisement. Another man, also peering about in the hall, ran +against him. + +"Beg pardon, but can you tell me----" + +"Good morning, Mr. Saxton, are you acquainted in this rookery?" It was +Fenton, who carried a brown parcel under his arm and appeared annoyed. + +"No; but I'm learning," John answered. "I'm looking for the offices of +the Traction Company. Its light seems to be hid under a bushel." + +"I'm looking for it, too," said Fenton. "Some humorist seems to have +changed the numbers on this floor." + +They traversed the halls of several floors in an effort to find the +numbers specified in the notice. Fenton swore in an agreeable tone and +occasionally kicked at a door in his rage. Saxton called to him +presently from a dark corner where he held up a lighted match to read +the number on the transom. + +"Here's our number, but there's no name on the door." + +Fenton advanced upon the door with long strides, but it did not open as +he grasped the knob. He kicked it sharply, but there was still no +response from within. + +"What time is it, Saxton?" he asked over his shoulder, without abating +his pounding or knocking. + +Saxton stepped back and peered into his watch. + +"Five minutes of nine." He was aware now that something important was in +progress. He did not know Fenton well, but he knew that he was the +attorney for Porter and the Clarkson National, and that he was a serious +character who did not beat on doors unless he had business on the +inside. Fenton now called out loudly, demanding admission. There was a +low sound of voices and a sharp noise of chairs being pushed over an +uncarpeted floor within; but the knob which Fenton still held and shook +did not turn. + +On the inside of the door Timothy Margrave and Horton, the president, +Barnes, the secretary, and Percival, the treasurer of the Clarkson +Traction Company, were holding the annual meeting of that corporation, +in conformity with its articles of association, and according to the +duly advertised notice as required by the statutes in such cases made +and provided. They had, however, anticipated the hour slightly; but this +was not, Margrave said, an important matter. His notions of the proper +way of holding business meetings were based on his long experience in +managing ward primaries. + +Horton, the president, called the meeting to order. "Well, boys," said +Margrave, "there ain't any use waiting on the other fellows. Business is +business and we might as well get through with it." + +"Shall we hear the report of the secretary and treasurer?" the +president asked Margrave deferentially. + +"I move that we pass that," said Margrave. He was smoothing out the +certificates of his shares on the table. "I move that we proceed at once +to the election of officers of the company. Is the door locked?" + +"Sure," said Barnes, the secretary, but he went over and tried it. "I +guess Porter ain't coming," he said in a tone of regret that was +intended to be facetious, "and he must have forgotten to send proxies." + +"I vote twenty-five hundred and ninety-seven shares of the common stock +of this company; you gentlemen haven't more than that, have you?" The +fact was that the three officers present owned only one share each as +their strict legal qualification for holding office. + +"I think the minutes ought to show," said the secretary, "that these +were the only shares represented, and that due advertisement was +published according to law, but that owing to the loss of the stock +register, written notice to individual stockholders was given only to +such holders of certificates as disclosed themselves." + +"That's all right," said Margrave. "You fix it up, Barnes, and you'd +better get Congreve to see that it's done with the legal frills." +Congreve was the local counsel of Margrave's railroad, and was a man +that could be trusted. + +"I move," said Barnes, "that we proceed to the election of officers for +the ensuing year." + +"And I move," said Percival, "that the secretary be instructed to cast +the ballot of the stockholders for Timothy Margrave for president." + +"Consent," exclaimed Barnes, hurriedly. + +Steps could be heard in the outer hall, and Margrave looked at his +watch. + +"I move that we adjourn to meet at my office at two o'clock, to conclude +the election of officers." + +Some one was shaking the outside door. + +"Can't we finish now?" asked Horton, who had been promised the +vice-presidency. He and the other officers were afraid of Margrave, and +were reluctant to have their own elections deferred even for a few +hours. + +There was another knock at the door. + +"At two o'clock," said Margrave decisively, as the knocking at the door +was renewed. He gathered up his certificates and prepared to leave. + +Saxton, standing with Fenton in the dark hall, referred to his watch +again. + +"Shall we go in?" he asked. + +The lawyer dropped the knob of the door and drew back out of the way. + +"It's too bad it's glass," said Saxton, setting his shoulder against the +wooden frame over the lock. The lock held, but the door bent away from +it. He braced his feet and drove his shoulder harder into the corner, at +the same time pressing his hip against the lock. It refused to yield, +but the glass cracked, and finally half of it fell with a crash to the +floor within. + +"Don't hurry yourselves, gentlemen," said Fenton, coolly, speaking +through the ragged edges of broken glass. Saxton thrust his hand in to +the catch and opened the door. + +"Why, it's only Fenton," called Margrave in a pleasant tone to his +associates, who had effected their exits safely into a rear room. + +"It's only Fenton," continued the lawyer, stepping inside, "but I'll +have to trouble you to wait a few minutes." + +"Oh, the meeting's adjourned, if that's what you want," said Margrave. + +"That won't go down," said Fenton, placing his package on the table. +"You're old enough to know, Margrave, that one man can't hold a +stockholders' meeting behind locked doors in a pigeon roost." + +"The meeting was held regular, at the hour and place advertised," said +Margrave with dignity. "A majority of the stockholders were +represented." + +"By you, I suppose," said Fenton, who had walked into the room followed +by Saxton. + +"By me," said Margrave. He had not taken off his overcoat and he now +began to button it about his portly figure. + +"How many shares have you?" asked the lawyer, seating himself on the +edge of the table. + +"I suppose you think I'm working a bluff, but I've really got the stuff +this time, Fenton. To be real decent with you I don't mind telling you +that I've got exactly twenty-five hundred and ninety-seven shares of +this stock. I guess that's a majority all right. Now one good turn +deserves another; how much has Porter got? I don't care a damn, but I'd +just like to know." He stood by the table and ostentatiously played with +his certificates to make Fenton's humiliation all the keener. Margrave's +associates stood at the back of the room and watched him admiringly. +Fenton's bundle still lay on the table, and Saxton stood with his hands +in his pockets watching events. There had been no chance for him to +explain to Fenton his reasons for seeking the offices of the Traction +Company and it had pleased Margrave to ignore his presence; Fenton paid +no further attention to him. He wondered at Fenton's forbearance, and +expected the lawyer to demolish Margrave, but Fenton said: + +"You are quite right, Margrave. I hold for Mr. Porter exactly +twenty-three hundred and fifty shares." + +Margrave nodded patronizingly. + +"Just a little under the mark." + +"You may make that twenty-four hundred even," said Saxton, "if it will +do you any good." + +"I'm still shy," said Fenton. "Our friend clearly has the advantage." + +"I suppose if you'd known how near you'd come, you'd have hustled pretty +hard for the others," said Margrave, sympathetically. + +"Oh, I don't know!" said Fenton, with the taunting inflection which +gives slang to the phrase. He did not seem greatly disturbed. Saxton +expected him to try to make terms; but the lawyer yawned in a +preoccupied way, before he said: + +"So long as the margin's so small, you'd better be decent and hold your +stockholders' meeting according to law and let us in. I'm sure Mr. +Saxton and I would be of great assistance--wise counsel and all that." + +Margrave laughed his horse laugh. "You're a pretty good fellow, Fenton, +and I'm sorry we can't do business together." + +"Oh, well, if you won't, you won't." Fenton took up his bundle and +turned to the door. + +"I suppose you've got large chunks of Traction bonds, too, Margrave. +There's nothing like going in deep in these things." + +Margrave winked. + +"Bonds be damned. I've been hearing for four years that Traction +bondholders were going to tear up the earth, but I guess those old +frosts down in New England won't foreclose on me. I'll pay 'em their +interest as soon as I get to going and they'll think I'm hot stuff. And +say!" he ejaculated, suddenly, "if Porter's got any of those bonds don't +you get gay with 'em. It's a big thing for the town to have a practical +railroad man like me running the street car lines; and if I can't make +'em pay nobody can." + +"You're not conceited or anything, are you, Margrave?" + +"By the way, young man," said Margrave, addressing Saxton for the first +time, "we won't charge you anything for breakage to-day, but don't let +it happen again." + +Margrave lingered to reassure and instruct his associates as to the +adjourned meeting, and Saxton went out with Fenton. + +"That was rather tame," said John, as he and Fenton reached the street +together. "I hoped there would be some fun. These shares belong to a +Boston friend and they're for sale." + +"I wonder how Porter came to miss them," said Fenton, grimly. "You'd +better keep them as souvenirs of the occasion. The engraving isn't bad. +I turn up this way." They paused at the corner. He still carried his +bundle and he drew from his pocket now a number of documents in manila +jackets. + +"I have a little errand at the Federal Court." They stood by a letter +box and the cars of the Traction Company wheezed and clanged up Varney +Street past them. + +"The fact is," he said, "that Mr. Porter owns all of the bonds of the +Traction Company." + +Saxton nodded. He understood now why the stockholders' meeting had not +disturbed Fenton. + +"This is an ugly mess," the lawyer continued. "It would have suited me +better to control the company through the stock so long as we had so +much, but we didn't quite make it. You're friendly to Mr. Porter, aren't +you?" + +"Yes; I don't know how he feels toward me--" + +"We can't ask him just now, so we'll take it for granted. The court will +unquestionably appoint a receiver, independent of this morning's +proceedings, and if you don't mind, I'll ask to have you put in +temporarily, or until we can learn Mr. Porter's wishes." + +"But--there are other and better men--" + +"Very likely; but I particularly wish this." + +"There's Mr. Wheaton--isn't he the natural man--in the bank and all +that?" urged Saxton. + +"Mr. Wheaton has a very exacting position and it would be unfair to add +to his duties," said the lawyer. "Will you keep where I can find you the +rest of the day?" + +"Yes," said John; "I'll be at my office as soon as I hit a tub and a +breakfast. But you can do better," he called after Fenton, who was +walking rapidly toward the post-office building. + +Wheaton sat at his desk all the morning hoping that Fenton would drop in +to give him the result of the Traction meeting; but the lawyer did not +appear at the bank. He concluded that there was little chance of +learning of the outcome of the meeting until he saw the afternoon +papers. A dumb terror possessed him as he reflected upon the events of +the past day. It might be that the shares which Margrave had forced from +him would carry the balance of power. He felt keenly the ignominy of his +interview of the night before at the bank; he was sure that if he could +do it over again he would eject Margrave and dare him to do his worst. + +He could dramatize himself into a very heroic figure in combating +Margrave. If only Margrave had not seen Snyder! It was long ago that he +and his brother had made acquaintance with crime: that was the merest +slip; it was his only error. It had been kind of William Wheaton to take +the full burden of that theft upon himself; yet he thought with +repugnance of his brother's long career of crime; he detested the +weakness of a man who chose crime and squalor as his portion. He talked +to customers and did his detail work as usual, and went out for luncheon +to a near-by restaurant, as he had done when he was a clerk, making lack +of time an excuse for not going to The Bachelors' or the club. He felt a +sudden impulse to keep very much to himself, as if security lay in doing +so. His confidence returned as he reviewed his relations with Timothy +Margrave. He would demand the two certificates of Margrave whether they +had been used against Porter or not. + +Having reached this decision by the time he came in from luncheon he +went to the telephone and called Evelyn to ask her how her father was +and to report his delivery of the papers in her father's box to Mr. +Fenton, as instructed. Evelyn spoke hopefully of her father's illness; +there were no unfavorable symptoms, and everything pointed to his +recovery. It was very sweet to hear her voice in this way; and he went +to his desk comforted. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +JOHN SAXTON, RECEIVER + + +At two o'clock Warry Raridan sat on a table in the United States court +room, kicking his heels together and smoking a cigarette. A number of +reporters stood about; the ex-president, the secretary and the treasurer +of the Clarkson Traction Company loafed within the space set apart for +attorneys and played with their hats. The court was sitting in chambers, +and those who waited knew that in the judge's private room something was +happening. The clerk came out presently with his hands full of papers +and affixed the official file mark to them. Raridan was waiting for +Fenton and Saxton and when they appeared together, he went across the +room to meet them. + +"How is it?" he asked. + +"It's all right," said Fenton. "Saxton has been appointed, pending a +hearing of the case on its merits, which can't be had until Mr. Porter +is out again." + +"I knew it was coming," said Raridan, in a low tone to Saxton, "so I +came up to say that I'm glad you're recognized by the powers." + +"But it's only temporary," said John. "The little interest I represent +wouldn't justify it, of course. I'm still dazed that Fenton should have +urged my appointment on the court." + +"What I'm here for is to go on your bond, old man." + +"But Fenton has fixed that,--some of the bank directors." + +"All right, John." + +Saxton was walking away, but he turned back. Something had gone amiss +with Raridan. Several times in their friendship Saxton had unconsciously +offended him. He saw that Warry was really hurt now. + +"I appreciate it, Warry, and it's like you to offer; of course I'd be +glad to have you." + +"Well, I hoped I was as good as those other fellows," said Raridan, more +cheerfully; and he went to the clerk's desk and signed the bond. + +Margrave came out now with his lawyer, and they were joined by +Margrave's allies of the morning. Margrave stopped to give the reporters +his side of the story. He assured them that this was merely a contest +between two interests for the control of the Traction Company. There had +been a misunderstanding, and until the differences between the two +factions of stockholders could be reconciled, the business of the +company would be managed by a receiver, who was, he said, "friendly to +all parties." The fact was that he had objected strenuously to Saxton's +appointment, but Fenton had insisted on it and the court had paid a good +deal of attention to what Fenton said. Margrave made much to the +reporters of his own election to the presidency, and intimated to them +that the receiver would soon be discharged and that he would assume the +active management of affairs. + +The papers that had been filed in the case disclosed a somewhat +different situation, which was fully laid before the public, greatly to +its surprise. It appeared that William Porter owned all the bonds of +the company, and only narrowly missed the stock control. The situation +was thoroughly interesting. A contention between Porter and Margrave was +novel in the history of Clarkson and the press made the most of it. The +_Gazette_, Margrave's paper, proved him to be wholly in the right, and +cited the summary action of the court in appointing an inexperienced man +to the receivership as another proof of the brutal abuse of power by +federal courts. + +Margrave had put none of his own money into Traction stock, but had +invested funds belonging to the stockholders of the Transcontinental, +who had every confidence in his sagacity, and who trusted him +implicitly. He advised them of the receivership in terms which led them +to believe that he had brought it about as a part of his own plans. He +maintained an air of mystery and winked knowingly at friends who joked +him about the little _coup_ by which Porter, though sick in bed, had, as +they said, "cleaned him up." He told those who flattered him by twitting +him on this score that he guessed Tim Margrave hadn't lost his grip yet, +and that before he was knocked out, the place of eternal damnation would +have been transformed into a skating rink. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +GREEN CHARTREUSE + + +There is a common law of character which is greater than the canons. It +fills many volumes of records in the high court of Experience, and we +add to it daily by our instinctive decisions in small matters; but only +the finer natures, highly endowed with discernment, master its +intricacies. The decalogue is a safe guidepost on the great highway of +life; but it does not avail the lost pilgrim who stumbles in remote +by-paths. The spirit is the only arbiter of the nicer distinctions +between right and wrong. James Wheaton did not steal; he would do no +murder; he was not even unusually covetous. If the tests which Destiny +applied to him had related to the great fundamentals of conduct, he +would not have been found wanting; but they were directed against +seemingly unimportant weaknesses, along the lines of his least +resistance to evil. + +A week had passed since Saxton's appointment to the receivership and +Wheaton went to and from his work with many misgivings. Several of +Wheaton's friends had confided to him their belief that he ought to have +been appointed receiver instead of Saxton, and there was little that he +could say to this, except that he had no time for it. He had become +nervous and distraught, and was irritable under the jesting of his +associates at The Bachelors'. There was a good deal of joking at their +table for several days after Saxton's appointment over Margrave's +discomfiture, to which Wheaton contributed little. He felt decidedly ill +at ease under it. Thompson, the cashier, had come home, and Wheaton +found his presence irksome. + +He had seen Margrave several times at the club since their last +interview at the bank and Margrave had nodded distantly, as if he hardly +remembered Wheaton. Wheaton assumed that sooner or later Margrave would +offer to pay him for his shares of Traction stock. But while the loss of +his own certificate, under all the circumstances, did not trouble him, +Margrave's appropriation of Evelyn Porter's shares was an unpleasant +fact that haunted all his waking hours. + +One evening, a week after the receivership incident, he resolved to go +to Margrave and demand, at any hazard, the return of Evelyn's +certificate. The idea seized firm hold upon him, and he set out at once +for Margrave's house. He inquired for Margrave at the door, and the maid +asked him to go into the library. They were entertaining at dinner, she +told him, and he said he would wait. He walked nervously up and down in +the well-appointed library, where Warry Raridan's purchases looked out +at him from the solid mahogany bookcases. He heard the hum of voices +faintly from the dining-room. + +He picked up a magazine and tried to read, but the printed pages did not +hold his eyes. He did not know how Margrave would treat him, and he +would have escaped from the house if he had dared. Margrave came in +presently, fat and ugly in his evening clothes. He welcomed Wheaton +noisily and introduced him to his guests, two directors of the +Transcontinental and their wives, who were passing through town on their +way to California. + +Mrs. Margrave and Mabel greeted Wheaton cordially. Mabel was dressed to +impress the ladies from New York, and was succeeding. The colored butler +passed coffee and cigars and green chartreuse, and when Wheaton declined +a cigar, Mabel brought him a cigarette from the taboret from which "The +Men" were helped to such trifles. Mrs. Margrave was oppressed by the +presence in her home of so many millions and so much social distinction +as her guests represented, and she contributed only murmurs of assent to +the conversation which Mabel led with ease, discoursing in her most +Tyringhamesque manner of yacht races, horse shows and like matters of +metropolitan interest. Wheaton was glad now that he had come; Margrave's +guests were people worth meeting; he liked the talk, and the chartreuse +gave elegance to the occasion. + +Margrave accommodated his heavy frame to the soft indulgence of a huge +leather chair and drained the liqueur from his glass at a gulp. + +"Well, gentlemen, I'm glad Mr. Wheaton could drop in to-night. He's a +friend of the road and of ours. If everybody treated the +Transcontinental as well as he does,--well, a good many things would be +different!" + +He looked at Wheaton admiringly, and his guests followed his gaze with +polite interest. + +"Why, gentlemen," said Margrave, straining forward until his face was +purple, "Wheaton did his level best for me in that Traction deal; yes, +sir, he worked with us on that, and if it hadn't been for that fool +judge we'd have had it all fixed." He leaned back and nodded at Wheaton +benignantly. + +Wheaton had merely murmured at intervals during this deliverance. He did +not know what Margrave meant. He moved over by Mrs. Margrave and tried +to make talk with her. As soon as he felt that he could go decently, he +rose and shook hands with the visiting gentlemen and bowed to the +ladies. Margrave took him by the arm with an air of great intimacy and +affection and walked with him to the hall, where he made much of helping +Wheaton into his overcoat. + +"I wanted to see you on a business matter," Wheaton began, in a low +tone. + +"Oh, yes," said Margrave loudly, "I forgot to mail you that check. I've +been terribly rushed lately; but in time, my boy, in time!" + +The people in the library could hardly have failed to hear every word. + +"Oh, not that, not that! I mean that other certificate." Wheaton was +trying to drop the conversation to a whispering basis as he drew on his +gloves. Margrave had again taken his arm and was walking with him toward +the front door, talking gustily all the while. He swung the door open +and followed Wheaton out upon the front step. + +"A glorious night! glorious!" he ejaculated, puffing from his walk. His +hand wandered up Wheaton's arm until it reached his collar, and after he +had allowed his fingers to grasp this lingeringly, he gave Wheaton a +sudden push forward, still holding his collar, then raised his fat leg +and kicked him from the step. + +"Come again, Jim?" he called pleasantly, as he backed within the door +and closed it to return to his guests. + +Wheaton reached his room, filled with righteous indignation. He might +have known that a coarse fellow like Margrave cared only for people whom +he could control; and he decided after a night of reflection that he had +acted handsomely in saving Porter's package of securities from Margrave +the night of the encounter at the bank. The more he thought of it, the +more certain he grew that he could, if it became necessary to protect +himself in any way, turn the tables on Margrave. He called Margrave a +scoundrel in his thoughts, and was half persuaded to go at once to +Fenton and explain why Margrave had been at the bank on the night that +Fenton had found him there. + +Wheaton continued to call at the Porters' daily to make inquiry for the +head of the house. On some of these occasions he saw Evelyn, but Mrs. +Whipple, whose staying qualities were born of a rigid military sense of +duty, was always there; and he had not seen Evelyn alone since she gave +him her father's key. Other young men, friends of Evelyn, called, he +found, just as he did, to make inquiry about Mr. Porter. Mrs. Whipple +had a way of saying very artlessly, and with a little sigh that carried +weight, that Mr. Raridan was so very kind. Wheaton wanted to be very +kind himself, but he never happened to be about when the servants were +busy and there were important prescriptions to be filled at the +apothecary's. + +On the whole he was very miserable and when, one morning, while +Porter's condition was still precarious, he received a letter from +Snyder, postmarked Spokane, declaring that money was immediately +required to support him until he could find work, he closed that issue +finally in a brief letter which was not couched in diplomatic language. +The four days that were necessary for the delivery of this letter had +hardly passed before Wheaton received a telegram sharply demanding a +remittance by wire. This Wheaton did not answer; he had done all that he +intended to do for William Snyder, who was well out of the way, and much +more safely so if he had no money. The correspondence was not at an end, +however, for a threatening letter in Snyder's eccentric orthography +followed, and this, too, Wheaton dropped into his waste paper basket and +dismissed from his mind. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +PUZZLING AUTOGRAPHS + + +The affairs of the Traction Company proved to be in a wretched tangle. +Saxton employed an expert accountant to open a set of books for the +company, while he gave his own immediate attention to the physical +condition of the property. The company's service was a byword and a +hissing in the town, and he did what he could to better it, working long +hours, but enjoying the labor. It had been a sudden impulse on Fenton's +part to have Saxton made receiver. In Saxton's first days at Clarkson he +had taken legal advice of Fenton in matters which had already been +placed in the lawyer's hands by the bank; but most of these had long +been closed, and Saxton had latterly gone to Raridan for such legal +assistance as he needed from time to time. Fenton had firmly intended +asking Wheaton's appointment; this seemed to him perfectly natural and +proper in view of Wheaton's position in the bank and his relations with +Porter, which were much less confidential than even Fenton imagined. + +Fenton had been disturbed to find Margrave and Wheaton together in the +directors' room the night before the annual meeting of the Traction +stockholders. He could imagine no business that would bring them +together; and the hour and the place were not propitious for forming new +alliances for the bank. Wheaton had appeared agitated as he passed out +the packet of bonds and stocks; and Margrave's efforts at gaiety had +only increased Fenton's suspicions. From every point of view it was +unfortunate that Porter should have fallen ill just at this time; but it +was, on the whole, just as well to take warning from circumstances that +were even slightly suspicious, and he had decided that Wheaton should +not have the receivership. He had not considered Saxton in this +connection until the hour of the Traction meeting; and he had inwardly +debated it until the moment of his decision at the street corner. + +He had expected to supervise Saxton's acts, but the receiver had taken +hold of the company's affairs with a zeal and an intelligence which +surprised him. Saxton wasn't so slow as he looked, he said to the +federal judge, who had accepted Saxton wholly on Fenton's +recommendation. Within a fortnight Saxton had improved the service of +the company to the public so markedly that the newspapers praised him. +He reduced the office force to a working basis and installed a cashier +who was warranted not to steal. It appeared that the motormen and +conductors held their positions by paying tribute to certain minor +officers, and Saxton applied heroic treatment to these abuses without +ado. + +The motormen and conductors grew used to the big blond in the long gray +ulster who was forever swinging himself aboard the cars and asking them +questions. They affectionately called him "Whiskers," for no obvious +reason, and the report that Saxton had, in one of the power-houses, +filled his pipe with sweepings of tobacco factories known in the trade +as "Trolleyman's Special," had further endeared him to those men whose +pay checks bore his name as receiver. In snow-storms the Traction +Company had usually given up with only a tame struggle, but Saxton +devised a new snow-plow, which he hitched to a trolley and drove with +his own hand over the Traction Company's tracks. + +John was cleaning out the desk of the late secretary of the company one +evening while Raridan read a newspaper and waited for him. Warry was +often lonely these days. Saxton was too much engrossed to find time for +frivolity, and Mr. Porter's illness cut sharply in on Warry's visits to +the Hill. The widow's clothes lines were tied in a hard knot in the +federal court, to which he had removed them, and he was resting while he +waited for the Transcontinental to exhaust its usual tactics of delay +and come to trial. On Fenton's suggestion Saxton had intrusted to +Raridan some matters pertaining to the receivership, and these served to +carry Warry over an interval of idleness and restlessness. + +"You may hang me!" said Saxton suddenly. He had that day unexpectedly +come upon the long-lost stock records of the company and was now +examining them. Thrust into one of the books were two canceled +certificates. + +"It's certainly queer," he said, as Warry went over to his desk. He +spread out one of the certificates which Margrave had taken from Wheaton +the night before the annual meeting. "That's certainly Wheaton's +endorsement all right enough." + +Raridan took off his glasses and brought his near-sighted gaze to bear +critically upon the paper. + +"There's no doubt about it." + +"And look at this, too." Saxton handed him Evelyn Porter's certificate. +Raridan examined it and Evelyn's signature on the back with greater +care. He carried the paper nearer to the light, and scanned it again +while Saxton watched him and smoked his pipe. + +"You notice that Wheaton witnessed the signature." + +Raridan nodded. Saxton, who knew his friend's moods thoroughly, saw that +he was troubled. + +"I can find no plausible explanation of that," said Saxton. "Anybody may +be called on to witness a signature; but I can't explain this." He +opened the stock record and followed the history of the two certificates +from one page to another. It was clear enough that the certificates held +by Evelyn Porter and James Wheaton had been merged into one, which had +been made out in the name of Timothy Margrave, and dated the day before +the annual meeting. + +"It doesn't make much difference at present," said Saxton. "When Mr. +Porter comes down town he will undoubtedly go over this whole business +and he can easily explain these matters." + +"It makes a lot of difference," said Warry, gloomily. + +"We'd better not say anything about this just now--not even to Fenton," +Saxton suggested. "I'll take these things over to my other office for +safe keeping. Some one may want them badly enough to look for them." + +Raridan sat down with his newspaper and pretended to be reading until +Saxton was ready to go. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +CROSSED WIRES + + +A great storm came out of the north late in January and beat fiercely +upon Clarkson. It left a burden of snow on the town and was followed by +a week of bitter cold. The sun shone impotently upon the great drifts +which filled the streets; it seemed curiously remote, and ashamed of its +failure to impress the white, dazzling masses. The wires sang their song +of the cold; even the confused wires of the Clarkson Traction Company +lifted up their voices, somewhat to the irritation of John Saxton, +receiver, as he fought the snow banks below and sought to disentangle +the twisted wires above. Upper Varney Street, beyond Porter Hill, was +receiving his attention late one afternoon as the winter sunset burned +red in the west. The iron poles of the trolley wires had been pulled far +over into the street by the blast and the weight of snow; and trolley, +telephone, and electric light wires were a baffling tangle which workmen +were seeking to straighten. Saxton's men had detached their own wires +and were restoring them to the poles. Traffic on the Varney Street line +would, he concluded, be resumed on the morrow; and he gave final +instructions to the foreman of the repair crew and turned toward his +office. + +Evelyn Porter, who had come out for the walk she had been taking every +afternoon since the beginning of her father's illness, stopped at the +narrow aisle which had been trampled in the snow-piled sidewalk to watch +an adventurous lineman scale an icy telephone pole. There is a vintage +of the North that is more stimulating than any that comes out of +Southern vineyards. It brings a glow to the cheeks, a sparkle to the +eyes, and a nimbleness to the tongue which no product of the winepress +ever gives. It is a wine that makes the heart leap and the blood tingle. +It is distilled in the great ice-clasped seas of the North, and the pine +and balsam of snowy woods add their quintessence to it; it tickles no +palate but is assimilated directly into the blood of the brave and +strong; it is the wine of youth, of perpetual youth. Evelyn felt the joy +of it to-day, her heart leaped with it,--it was a delight to be abroad +in the pure, cold air. Her coloring was freshly accented. The remote +Scotch grandmother who conferred it upon her, across years of migration, +would have rejoiced in it; where the Irish strain maintained its light +of humor in her blue eyes, the gray mist of the Scotch moors still held +its own. There are women who are dominated by their clothes; but Evelyn +Porter was not one of them. Her dark green skirt might have belonged to +any other girl, but it would not have swayed in just the same way to any +other step; and her toque and cape of sable would have lost their +distinction on any other head and shoulders. Her father's convalescence +was only a matter of time and care; he had withstood the fever better +than the physicians had thought possible, and there was no question of +his restoration to health. It was good to be free of the anxious +strain, and the keen air was like a tonic to her happiness. Saxton +recognized her as he jumped over the drifted snow at the curb to the +path. His face, where it was visible between his cap and collar, was red +from the cold. + +"They say freezing to death's an easy way,--but I don't believe I'd +prefer it." + +"Oh, it's you, is it? I wondered who the busy man was." She was +interested in the lineman, the points of whose climbers were shaking +down the ice coating of the pole as he ascended. + +"Won't you order that man to come down? It isn't nice to make him risk +his life for a wire or two." + +"He's not my man," said John, beating his hands together, "he's fixing +telephone wires, and besides, he's not taking any chances." + +Evelyn half turned away to continue her walk, still with her eyes on the +lineman. + +"Poor fellow; it must be very cold up there." + +"Yes, polar expeditions are usually that way." + +"Wretched man, to pun about a human life in peril!" The lineman was +sitting on one of the cross beams, and Evelyn started ahead, Saxton +following. + +"Is that the overcoat?" she asked, over her shoulder. + +"What overcoat?" + +"The one that's in the newspapers. Aren't you the man in the gray ulster +who runs the trolleys?" + +"I've been too busy to read the papers, so I don't know." + +"It might pay you to join a current topics class and learn what's going +on." + +"That presupposes a little knowledge. I'd never pass the entrance +exams." + +"You needn't be afraid, they probably carry a prep. department." + +"My wires are down and the trolley isn't running!" + +She laughed, and it was pleasant to hear her, John thought. + +"Is that the kind of things you say? They are making you out a +humorist." + +"There's no harder lot. Who is this enemy that's undoing me?" + +"There's a certain person called Raridan. He's always telling me of the +things you say." + +"The villain! I merely lecture him for his good; and so he thought I was +joking!" + +They had reached the Porter grounds where the walk had been cleared, and +they stamped the snow from their shoes on the cement pavement and walked +on together. Evelyn dropped her tone of raillery, and John asked about +her father. John had followed Mr. Porter's sickness through Raridan's +reports, and had called at the house only a few times since the banker's +seizure. They entered the gate at the foot of the hill and walked up the +long slope to the door. + +"Won't you come in?" she asked. + +"I oughtn't to; there's work waiting for me down town." + +She sent the maid who let them in for hot water, and threw down her furs +in the hall while it was being brought. The tea table had been moved +into the library during Mrs. Whipple's visit, and Evelyn left John to +revive the fire while she went to speak to her father. Saxton had not +taken off his coat, and when she came back he stood buttoning it as if +he meant to leave. + +"It's historic, but not exactly a handsome garment," she said, shaking +the tea caddy. + +"You shake the caddy when you can't hit the ball: new rule of golf." He +had buttoned his ulster to the chin, and really intended to go. She +poured the steaming water into the tea-pot, and walked to the fire with +folded arms, shivering. + +"Of course, if you prefer your uniform!" She spread her hands to the +flames. Her mood was new to him; he felt suddenly that he knew her +better than ever before; and this having occurred to him as he stood +watching her, he accused himself instantly. He had no right to be there; +no one had any right to be there but Warry Raridan! She had turned +swiftly and was smiling at him. The darkness had fallen suddenly +outside. The maid went about closing blinds and turning on the lights. +He felt, by anticipation, the loneliness that lay for him beyond the +soft glow of this room. This was, after all, only a moment's respite. + +Evelyn was back at the tea table. She held a lump of sugar poised above +a cup, and looked at him inquiringly, as though of course he was staying +and wished his tea. He unbuttoned the coat and threw it on a chair. + +"One lump, thanks!" + +"It was the sandwiches that did it, I'm sure," she said, passing him a +plate of bread and butter. + +"I should like to refute your statement, but candor compels me to admit +its truth," he answered. "I just happen to remember that I haven't had +luncheon yet. Excuse me if I take two." + +She went to the wall and pushed a button. + +"You're a foolish person and I'm going to punish you. Father's beef tea +is ready day and night, and"--she said to the Swedish maid,--"bring some +more hot water and the decanter." + +"_J'y suis; j'y reste._ I think I have died and gone to Heaven." + +"You don't deserve Heaven. Why didn't you tell me?" + +"That I wanted a sandwich? They advised me against it as a kid. We are +taught repression in Massachusetts and I try to live up to my training." + +He pronounced beef tea no such deadly drug as it was reported to be, and +he drank it until she was content. He concocted a hot toddy while she +twitted him about his use of the tea-table implements for so ignoble a +use; and she made him talk of his work and of the Traction Company's +affairs. + +"Mr. Wheaton has explained about it," she said, "and Warry too. Warry +seems to be very much interested in some work he is doing in connection +with it." + +"Yes, he does his work well, too!" said John, with enthusiasm. He had no +right to be there; but being there he could praise his friend. He told +her in detail about some of Warry's work. Warry had, he said, a legal +mind, and knew the philosophy of the law as only the old-time lawyers +did. He rose and replenished the fire and went on talking. Some amusing +incidents had occurred in the adjustment of legal questions relating to +the receivership and he told of them in a way to reflect the greatest +credit on Warry. + +"It looks awfully complicated--the receivership and all that. Father has +begun to ask questions, but we don't encourage him." + +"I'll have a good deal to explain and apologize for, when he is able to +take a hand," said John. + +"I'm sure father will be grateful. Mr. Wheaton and Warry are very +enthusiastic about your work." She laughed out suddenly. "Warry says you +have made two cars go where none had gone before." + +"They have a joke down town in refutation of that. They illustrate the +erratic service of the Varney Street line by saying that the cars are +like bananas--short, yellow, and come in bunches." + +He walked to the fireplace and took up the poker. "I have been +prodigally generous with Mr. Porter's wood. It burns awfully fast." The +flame had died down to a few uncertain embers which he touched +tentatively with the poker. "When it goes out I'll have to go with it." + +"The joke is poor, Mr. Saxton. You can hardly sustain a reputation on +sayings of that sort." She put down her tea cup and went over to the +fire and poked the ashes gravely. + +"One might construe those actions in two ways," he said, meditatively, +as if the subject were one of weight. "One cannot tell whether the sibyl +is trying to encourage or to blight the dying flame. Just another poke +in that corner and it will be gone." + +Evelyn menaced the ember with the iron rod but did not touch it. + +"The lady's position is one of great delicacy," continued John. +"Between her instinct for self defense, and her gracious hospitality, +she wavers. A touch might revive the flame, or it might extinguish it +utterly! She hesitates between two inclinations--" + +"Why should you intimate that I hesitate?" + +"Her seeming reluctance to apply the poker to the crucial point, speaks +for itself," continued John, solemnly, while Evelyn still hung over the +fitful flame, which was growing fainter and fainter. "She's clearly +afraid of the chance of resuscitating the fire and thereby saving a poor +guest from the cold, hard world." + +Evelyn administered a gentle prod; the burnt fragment of wood fell +apart, the flame flared hopefully once and then passed into a wraith of +itself that curled dolorously into the chimney. + +"You see you made me do it," said Evelyn, turning on him. He looked at +her very seriously and there was no mirth in his laugh. + +"Good night," he said, and came toward her. "I feel like a burnt +sacrifice." + +"But you brought it on yourself! I wish, though, you'd stay to dinner. +Sandwiches aren't very filling." + +"In wholesale lots they are. Mine were seven; and my strength is as the +strength of ten because the punch was pure." + +He had buttoned himself into his ulster, which magnified his tall, broad +figure, and was walking toward the door. His time was now filled with +congenial work, which he was doing well, but still he did not quite lose +that air of injury, of having suffered defeat, which had from the first +touched her in him. + +When Grant, who had not returned to school after the Christmas +holidays, came in, she was still standing by the fire. He had been +coasting on the hillside, and was aglow from the exercise. + +"I met Mr. Saxton outside and asked him to stay to dinner," said the +boy, helping himself to sandwiches at the tea table. + +"I asked him, too," said Evelyn, "but he couldn't stay. I didn't know he +was a friend of yours, Grant." + +"Well, he's all right," continued Grant, biting into a fresh sandwich, +and unconsciously adopting one of his father's phrases. "He doesn't guy +me the way Warry does. He talks to me as if I had some sense, and he's +going to let me ride on the trolley plow the next time it snows. He's a +Harvard man. I want to go to Harvard, Evelyn." + +The girl laughed. + +"You're a funny boy, Grant," she said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +A DISAPPEARANCE + + +The iron thrall of winter was broken at last. Great winds still blew in +the valley, but their keen edge was dulled. Their errand was not to +destroy now, but to build. Robins and bluejays, coming before the +daffodils dared, looked down from bare boughs upon the receding line of +snow on the Porter hillside. The yellow river had shaken itself free of +ice, and its swollen flood rolled seaward. Porter watched it from his +windows; and early in March he was allowed to take short walks in the +grounds, followed by his Scotch gardener, with whom he planned the +floral campaign of the summer. Indoors he studied the alluring +catalogues of the seedsmen, an annual joy with him. + +Grant was still at home. He had not been well, and Evelyn kept him out +of school on the plea that he would help to amuse his father. Porter was +much weakened by his illness, and though he pleaded daily to be allowed +to go to the bank, he submitted to Evelyn's refusal with a tameness that +was new in him. Fenton came several times for short interviews; Thompson +called as an old friend as well as a business associate, but he was +prone to discuss his own health to the exclusion of bank affairs. +Wheaton was often at the house, and Porter preferred his account of +bank matters to Thompson's. Wheaton carried the figures in his head, and +answered questions offhand, while Thompson was helpless without the +statements which he was always having the clerks make for him. Porter +fretted and fumed over Traction matters, though Fenton did his best to +reassure him. + +He did not understand why Saxton should have been made receiver; if +Fenton was able to dictate the appointment, why did he ignore Wheaton, +who could have been spared from the bank easily enough when Thompson +returned. Fenton did not tell him the true reason--he was not sure of it +himself--but he urged the fact that Saxton represented certain shares +which were entitled to consideration, and he made much of the danger of +Thompson's breaking down at any moment and having to leave. Porter +dreaded litigation, and wanted to know how soon the receivership could +be terminated and the company reorganized. The only comfort he derived +from the situation was the victory which had been gained over Margrave, +who had repeatedly sent messages to the house asking for an interview +with Porter at the earliest moment possible. The banker's humor had not +been injured by the fever, and he told Evelyn and the doctor that he'd +almost be willing to stay in bed a while longer merely to annoy Tim +Margrave. + +"If I'd known I was going to be sick, I guess I wouldn't have tackled +it," he said to Fenton one day, holding up his thin hand to the fire. +The doctors had found his heart weak and had cut off his tobacco, which +he missed sorely. "I might unload as soon as we can rebond and +reorganize." + +"That's for you to say," answered the lawyer. "Margrave wanted it, and +no doubt he would be glad to take it off your hands if you care to deal +with him." + +"If I was sure I had a dead horse, I guess I'd as lief let Tim curry him +as any man in town; but I don't believe this animal is dead." + +"Not much", said the lawyer reassuringly. "Saxton says he's making money +every day, now that nobody is stealing the revenues. He's painting the +open cars and expects to do much better through the summer." + +"I guess Saxton doesn't know much about the business," said Porter. + +"He knows more than he did. He's all right, that fellow--slow but sure. +He's been a surprise to everybody. He's solid with the men too, they +tell me. I guess there won't be any strikes while he's in charge." + +"You'd better get a good man to keep the accounts," Porter suggested. +"Wheaton's pretty keen on such things." + +"Oh, that's all fixed. Saxton brought a man out from an Eastern audit +company to run that for him, and he deposits with the bank." + +"All right," said Porter, weakly. + +Saxton came and talked to him of the receivership several times, and +Porter quizzed him about it in his characteristic vein. Saxton was very +patient under his cross-examination, and reassured the banker by his +manner and his facts. Porter had lost his cocky, jaunty way, and after +the first interview he contented himself with asking how the receipts +were running and how they compared with those of the year previous. +Saxton suggested several times to Fenton that he would relinquish the +receivership, now that Porter was able to nominate some one to his own +liking. The lawyer would not have it so. He believed in Saxton and he +felt sure that when Porter could get about and see what the receiver had +accomplished he would be satisfied. It would be foolish to make a change +until Porter had fully recovered and was able to take hold of Traction +matters in earnest. + +Saxton had suddenly become a person of importance in the community. The +public continued to be mystified by the legal stroke which had placed +William Porter virtually in possession of the property; and it naturally +took a deep interest in the court's agent who was managing it so +successfully. Warry Raridan was delighted to find Saxton praised, and he +dealt ironically with those who expressed surprise at Saxton's capacity. +He was glad to be associated with John, and when he could find an +excuse, he liked to visit the power house with him, and to identify +himself in any way possible with his friend's work. During the extreme +cold he paid, from his own pocket for the hot coffee which was handed up +to the motormen along all the lines, and gave it out to the newspapers +that the receiver was doing it. John warned him that this would appear +reckless and injure him with the judge of the court to whom he was +responsible. + +Though Porter was not strong enough to resume his business burdens, he +was the better able in his abundant leisure to quibble over domestic and +social matters with an invalid's unreason. He was troubled because +Evelyn would not go out; she had missed practically all the social +gaiety of the winter by reason of his illness, and he wished her to feel +free to leave him when she liked. In his careful reading of the +newspapers he noted the items classified under "The Giddy Throng" and +"Social Clarkson," and it pained him to miss Evelyn's name in the list +of those who "poured," or "assisted," or "were charming" in some +particular raiment. Evelyn was now able to plead Lent as an excuse for +spending her evenings at home, but when he found invitations lying about +as he prowled over the house, he continued to reprove her for declining +them. He had an idea that she would lose prestige by her abstinence; but +she declared that she had adopted a new rule of life, and that +henceforth she would not go anywhere without him. + +The doctor now advised a change for Porter, the purpose of which was to +make it impossible for him to return to his work before his complete +recovery. Evelyn and the doctor chose Asheville before they mentioned it +to him, and the plan, of course, included Grant. Mrs. Whipple still +supervised the Porter household at long range, and the general +frequently called alone to help the banker over the hard places in his +convalescence, and to soothe him for the loss of his tobacco, which the +doctors did not promise to restore. + +A day had been fixed for their departure, and Mrs. Whipple was reviewing +and approving their plans in the library, as Evelyn and her father and +Grant discussed them. + +"We shall probably not see you at home much in the future," Mrs. Whipple +said to Mr. Porter, who lay in invalid ease on a lounge, with a Roman +comforter over his knees. "You'll be sure to become the worst of +gad-abouts--Europe, the far East, and all that." + +Porter groaned, knowing that she was mocking him. + +"I guess not," he said, emphatically. "I never expect to have any time +for loafing, and you can't teach an old dog new tricks." + +"Well, you're going now, anyhow. Don't let this girl get into mischief +while you're away. An invalid father--only a young brother to care for +her and keep the suitors away! Be sure and bring her back without a +trail of encumbrances. Grant," she said, turning to the boy, "you must +protect Evelyn from those Eastern men." + +"I'll do my best," the lad answered. "Evelyn doesn't like dudes, and +Warry says all the real men live out West." + +"I guess that's right," said Mr. Porter. + +She rose, gathering her wrap about her. Grant rose as she did. His +manners were very nice, and he walked into the hall and took up his hat +to go down to the car with Mrs. Whipple. It was dusk, and a man was +going through the grounds lighting the lamps. Mrs. Whipple talked with +her usual vivacity of the New Hampshire school which the boy had +attended, and of the trip he was about to make with his father and +sister. They stood at the curb in front of the Porter gate waiting for +her car. A buggy stopped near them and a man alighted and stood talking +to a companion who remained seated. + +"Is this the way to Mr. Porter's stable?" one of the men called to them. + +"Yes," Grant answered, as he stepped into the street to signal the car. +The man who had alighted got back into the buggy as if to drive into the +grounds. The street light overhead hissed and then burned brightly above +them. Mrs. Whipple turned and saw one of the men plainly. The car came +to a stop; Grant helped her aboard, and waved his hand to her as she +gained the platform. + +At nine o'clock a general alarm was sent out in Clarkson that Grant +Porter had disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +JOHN SAXTON SUGGESTS A CLUE + + +Wheaton sat in his room at The Bachelors' the next evening, clutching a +copy of a _Gazette_ extra in which a few sentences under long headlines +gave the latest rumor about the mysterious disappearance of Grant +Porter. Within a fortnight he had received several warnings from his +brother marking his itinerary eastward. Snyder was evidently moving with +a fixed purpose; and, as Wheaton had received brief notes from him +couched in phrases of amiable irony, postmarked Denver, and then, within +a few days, Kansas City, he surmised that his brother was traveling on +fast trains and therefore with money in his purse. + +He had that morning received a postal card, signed "W. W.," which bore a +few taunting sentences in a handwriting which Wheaton readily +recognized. He did not for an instant question that William Wheaton, +_alias_ Snyder, had abducted Grant Porter, nor did he belittle the +situation thus created as it affected him. He faced it coldly, as was +his way. He ought not to have refused Snyder's appeals, he confessed to +himself; the debt he owed his brother for bearing the whole burden of +their common youthful crime had never been discharged. The bribes and +subterfuges which Wheaton had employed to keep him away from Clarkson +had never been prompted by brotherly gratitude or generosity, but always +by his fear of having so odious a connection made public. This was one +line of reflection; on the other hand, the time for dealing with his +brother in a spirit of tolerant philanthropy was now past. He was face +to face with the crucial moment where concealment involved complicity in +a crime. His duty lay clear before him--his duty to his friends, the +Porters--to the woman whom he knew he loved. Was he equal to it? If +Snyder were caught he would be sure to take revenge on him; and Wheaton +knew that no matter how guiltless he might show himself in the eyes of +the world, his career would be at an end; he could not live in Clarkson; +Evelyn Porter would never see him again. + +The _Gazette_ stated that a district telegraph messenger had left at Mr. +Porter's door a note which named the terms on which Grant could be +ransomed. The amount was large,--more money than James Wheaton +possessed; it was not a great deal for William Porter to pay. It had +already occurred to Wheaton that he might pay the ransom himself and +carry the boy home, thus establishing forever a claim upon the Porters. +He quickly dismissed this; the risks of exposure were too great. He +smoked a cigarette as he turned all these matters over in his mind. +Clearly, the best thing to do was to let the climax come. His brother +was a criminal with a record, who would not find it easy to drag him +into the mire. His own career and position in Clarkson were +unassailable. Very likely the boy would be found quickly and the +incident would close with Snyder's sentence to a long imprisonment. By +the time the Chinaman called him to dinner he was able to view the case +calmly. He would face it out no matter what happened; and the more he +thought of it the likelier it seemed that Snyder had overleaped himself +and would soon be where he could no longer be a menace. + +He went down to dinner late, in the clothes that he had worn at the bank +all day and thus brought upon himself the banter of Caldwell, the +Transcontinental agent, who sang out as he entered the dining-room door: + +"What's the matter, Wheaton? Sold or pawned your other clothes?" + +Wheaton smiled wanly. + +"Only a little tired," he said. + +"Come on now and give us the real truth about the kidnapping," said +Caldwell with cheerful interest. "You'd better watch the bank or the +same gang may carry it off next." + +"I guess the bank's safe enough," Wheaton answered. "And I don't know +anything except what I read in the papers." He hoped the others would +not think him indifferent; but they were busy discussing various rumors +and theories as to the route taken by the kidnappers and the amount of +ransom. He threw in his own comment and speculations from time to time. + +"Raridan's out chasing them," said Caldwell. "I passed him and Saxton +driving like mad out Merriam Street at noon." The mention of Raridan and +Saxton did not comfort Wheaton. He reflected that they had undoubtedly +been to the Porter house since the alarm had been sounded, and he +wondered whether his own remissness in this regard had been remarked at +the Hill. His fingers were cold as he stirred his coffee; and when he +had finished he hurriedly left the room, and the men who lingered over +their cigars heard the outer door close after him. + +He felt easier when he got out into the cool night air. His day at the +bank had been one long horror; but the clang of the cars, the lights in +the streets, gave him contact with life again. He must hasten to offer +his services to the Porters, though he knew that every means of +assistance had been employed, and that there was nothing to do but to +make inquiries. He grew uneasy as his car neared the house, and he +climbed the slope of the hill like one who bears a burden. He had +traversed this walk many times in the past year, in the varying moods of +a lover, who one day walks the heights and is the next plunged into the +depths; and latterly, since his affair with Margrave, he had known moods +of conscience, too, and these returned upon him with forebodings now. If +Porter had not been ill, there would never have been that interview with +Margrave at the bank; and Grant would not have been at home to be +kidnapped. It seemed to him that the troubles of other people rather +than his own errors were bearing down the balance against his happiness. + +Evelyn came into the parlor with eyes red from weeping. "Oh, have you no +news?" she cried to him. He had kept on his overcoat and held his hat in +his hand. Her grief stung him; a great wave of tenderness swept over +him, but it was followed by a wave of terror. Evelyn wept as she tried +to tell her story. + +"It is dreadful, horrible!" he forced himself to say. "But certainly no +harm can come to the boy. No doubt in a few hours--" + +"But he isn't strong and father is still weak--" + +She threw herself in a chair and her tears broke forth afresh. + +Wheaton stood impotently watching her anguish. It is a new and strange +sensation which a man experiences when for the first time he sees tears +in the eyes of the woman he loves. + +Evelyn sprang up suddenly. + +"Have you seen Warry?" she asked--"has he come back yet?" + +"Nothing had been heard from them when I came up town." He still stood, +watching her pityingly. "I hope you understand how sorry I am--how +dreadful I feel about it." He walked over to her and she thought he +meant to go. She had not heard what he said, but she thought he had been +offering help. + +"Oh, thank you! Everything is being done, I know. They will find him +to-night, won't they? They surely must," she pleaded. Her father called +her in his weakened voice to know who was there and she hurried away to +him. + +Wheaton's eyes followed her as she went weeping from the room, and he +watched her, feeling that he might never see her again. He felt the +poignancy of this hour's history,--of his having brought upon this house +a hideous wrong. The French clock on the mantel struck seven and then +tinkled the three quarters lingeringly. There were roses in a vase on +the mantel; he had sent them to her the day before. He stood as one +dazed for a minute after she had vanished. He could hear Porter back in +the house somewhere, and Evelyn's voice reassuring him. The musical +stroke of the bell, the scent of the roses, the familiar surroundings of +the room, wrought upon him like a pain. He stared stupidly about, as if +amid a ruin that he had brought upon the place; and then he went out of +the house and down the slope into the street, like a man in a dream. + +While Wheaton swayed between fear and hope, the community was athrill +with excitement. The probable fate of the missing boy was the subject of +anxious debate in every home in Clarkson, and the whole country eagerly +awaited further news of the kidnapping. Raridan and Saxton hearing early +of the boy's disappearance had at once placed every known agency at work +to find him. Not satisfied with the local police, they had summoned +detectives from Chicago, and these were already at work. Rewards for the +boy's return were telegraphed in every direction. The only clue was the +slight testimony of Mrs. Whipple. She had told and re-told her story to +detectives and reporters. There was only too little to tell. Grant had +walked with her to the car. She had seen only one of the men that had +driven up to the curb,--the one that had inquired about the entrance to +Mr. Porter's grounds. She remembered that he had moved his head +curiously to one side as he spoke, and there was something unusual about +his eyes which she could not describe. Perhaps he had only one eye; she +did not know. + +Every other man in Clarkson had turned detective, and the whole city had +been ransacked. Suspicion fastened itself upon an empty house in a +hollow back of the Porter hill, which had been rented by a stranger a +few days before Grant Porter's disappearance; it was inspected solemnly +by all the detectives but without results. + +Raridan and Saxton, acting independently of the authorities in the +confusion and excitement, followed a slight clue that led them far +countryward. They lost the trail completely at a village fifteen miles +away, and after alarming the country drove back to town. Meanwhile +another message had been sent to the father of the boy stating that the +ransom money could be taken by a single messenger to a certain spot in +the country, at midnight, and that within forty-eight hours thereafter +the boy would be returned. He was safe from pursuit, the note stated, +and an ominous hint was dropped that it would be wise to abandon the +idea of procuring the captive's return unharmed without paying the sum +asked. Mr. Porter told the detectives that he would pay the money; but +the proposed meeting was set for the third night after the abduction; +the captors were in no hurry, they wrote. The crime was clearly the work +of daring men, and had been carefully planned with a view to quickening +the anxiety of the family of the stolen boy. And so twenty-four hours +passed. + +"This is a queer game," said Raridan, on the second evening, as he and +John discussed the subject again in John's room at the club. "I don't +just make it out. If the money was all these fellows wanted, they could +make a quick touch of it. Mr. Porter's crazy to pay any sum. But they +seem to want to prolong the agony." + +"That looks queer," said Saxton. "There may be something back of it; +but Porter hasn't any enemies who would try this kind of thing. There +are business men here who would like to do him up in a trade, but this +is a little out of the usual channels." + +Saxton got up and walked the floor. + +"Look here, Warry, did you ever know a one-eyed man?" + +"I'm afraid not, except the traditional Cyclops." + +"It has just occurred to me that I have seen such a man since I came to +this part of the country; but the circumstances were peculiar. This +thing is queerer than ever as I think of it." + +"Well?" + +"It was back at the Poindexter place when I first went there. A fellow +named Snyder was in charge. He had made a rats' nest of the house, and +resented the idea of doing any work. He seemed to think he was there to +stay. Wheaton had given him the job before I came. I remember that I +asked Wheaton if it made any difference to him what I did with the +fellow. He didn't seem to care and I bounced him. That was two years ago +and I haven't heard of him since." + +Raridan drew the smoke of a cigarette into his lungs and blew it out in +a cloud. + +"Who's at the Poindexter place now?" + +"Nobody; I haven't been there myself for a year or more." + +"Is it likely that fellow is at the bottom of this, and that he has made +a break for the ranch house? That must be a good lonesome place out +there." + +"Well, it won't take long to find out. The thing to do is to go +ourselves without saying a word to any one." + +Saxton looked at his watch. + +"It's half past nine. The Rocky Mountain limited leaves at ten o'clock, +and stops at Great River at three in the morning. Poindexter's is about +an hour from the station." + +"Let's make a still hunt of it," said Warry. "The detectives are busy on +what may be real clues and this is only a guess." + +They rose. + +"I can't imagine that fellow Snyder doing anything so dashing as +carrying off a millionaire's son. He didn't look to me as if he had the +nerve." + +"It's only a chance, but it's worth trying." + +In the lower hall they met Wheaton who was pacing up and down. + +"Is there any news?" he asked, with a show of eagerness. + +"No. We lost our trail at Rollins," said Raridan. "Have you heard +anything?" + +"Nothing so far," Wheaton replied. He uttered the "so far" bravely, as +if he really might be working on clues of his own. His speculations of +one moment were abandoned the next. He was building and destroying and +rebuilding theories and plans of action. He was strong and weak in the +same breath. He envied Raridan and Saxton their air of determined +activity. He resolved to join them, to steady himself by them. He was +struggling between two inclinations: one to show his last threatening +note from Snyder, which was buttoned in his pocket, and boldly confess +that the blow at Porter was also an indirect blow at himself; and on the +other hand he held to a cowardly hope that the boy would yet be +recovered without his name appearing in the matter. He was aware that +all his hopes for the future hung in the balance. He was sure that every +one would soon know of his connection with the kidnapping; and yet he +still tried to convince himself that he was wholly guiltless. + +He was afraid of John Saxton; Saxton, he felt, probably knew the part he +had played in the street railway matter. It seemed to him that Saxton +must have told others; probably Saxton had Evelyn's certificate put away +for use when William Porter should be restored to health; but on second +thought he was not sure of this. Saxton might not know after all! This +went through his mind as John and Warry stood talking to him. + +"Wheaton," said Saxton, "do you remember that fellow Snyder who was in +charge of the Poindexter place when I came here?" + +"What--oh yes!" His hand rose quickly to his carefully tied four-in-hand +and he fingered it nervously. + +"You may not remember it, but he had only one eye." + +"Yes, that's so," said Wheaton, as if recalling the fact with +difficulty. + +"And Mrs. Whipple says there was something wrong about one of the eyes +of the man who accosted her and Grant at Mr. Porter's gate. What became +of that fellow after he left the ranch--have you any idea?" Raridan had +walked away to talk to a group of men in the reading room, leaving +Saxton and Wheaton alone. + +"He went West the last I knew of him," Wheaton answered, steadily. + +"It has struck me that he might be in this thing. It's only a guess, +but Raridan and I thought we'd run out to the Poindexter ranch and see +if it could possibly be the rendezvous of the kidnappers. It's probably +a fool's errand but it won't take long, and we'll do it unofficially +without saying anything to the authorities." His mind was on the plan +and he looked at his watch and called to Raridan to come. + +"I believe I'll go along," said Wheaton, suddenly. "We can be back by +noon to-morrow," he added, conscientiously, remembering his duties at +the bank. + +"All right," said Warry. "We're taking bags along in case of +emergencies." A boy came down carrying Saxton's suit-case. Wheaton and +Raridan hurried out together to The Bachelors' to get their own things. +It was a relief to Wheaton to have something to do; it was hardly +possible that Snyder had fled to the ranch house; but in any event he +was glad to get away from Clarkson for a few hours. + +As the train drew out of the station Raridan and Saxton left Wheaton and +went to the rear of their sleeper, which was the last, and stood on the +observation platform, watching the receding lights of the city. The day +had been warm for the season; as the air quickened into life with the +movement of the train they sat down, with a feeling of relief, on the +stools which the porter brought them. They had done all that they could +do, and there was nothing now but to wait. The train rattled heavily +through the yards at the edge of town, and the many lights of the city +grew dimmer as they receded. Suddenly Raridan rose and pointed to a +single star that glowed high on a hill. + +"It's the light in the tower at the Porters'," he said, bending down to +Saxton, "her light!" + +"It's the light of all the valley," said Saxton, rising and putting his +hand on his friend's shoulder. He, too, knew the light! + +The train was gathering speed now; the wheels began to croon their +melody of distance; one last curve, and the star of the Hill had been +blotted out. + +"It's like a flower in an inaccessible place on a hillside," said +Raridan; and he repeated half aloud some lines of a poem that had lately +haunted him: + + + "'Though I be mad, I shall not wake; + I shall not fall to common sight; + Only the god himself may take + This music out of my blood, this glory out of my breath, + This lift, this rapture, this singing might, + And love that outlasts death.'" + + +When they went in, Wheaton was alone in the smoking compartment and they +joined him to discuss their plans for the drive to Poindexter's place. + +"We'd better push right on to the ranch house as soon as we get to Great +River," said Saxton. "We're due there at three o'clock. We ought to get +back to take the nine o'clock train home in any event." + +"And what's going to happen if we find the man there?" asked Raridan. +"We want the boy and him, too, don't we?" + +Wheaton sat with his eyes turned toward the window, which the darkness +made opaque. + +"If he's cornered he'll be glad to drop the boy and clear out. But we +want to take him home with us too, don't we, Wheaton?" asked Saxton. + +"I should think we'd better make sure of the boy first," Wheaton +answered. "That would be a good night's work." + +The porter came to tell them that their berths were ready. + +"It's hardly worth while to turn in," said Warry, yawning. "I shudder at +the thought of getting up at three o'clock." "But," he added, "if we're +on the right track, this time to-morrow night they'll probably be +welcoming us home with brass bands and the freedom of the city. Perhaps +they'll have a public meeting at the Board of Trade. Cheer up, Jim; +those detectives will go out of business if we really take the boy +home." + +Wheaton smiled wearily; he did not relish Raridan's jesting. + +"Will your imagination never rest?" growled Saxton, knocking the ashes +from his pipe. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +SHOTS IN THE DARK + + +The night wind of the plain blew cold in their faces as they stepped out +upon the Great River platform. There was a hint of storm in the air and +clouds rode swiftly overhead. The voices of the trainmen and the throb +of the locomotive, resting for its long climb mountainward, broke +strangely upon the silence. A great figure muffled in a long ulster came +down the platform toward the vestibule from which the trio had +descended. + +"Hello," called Raridan cheerily, "there's only one like that! Good +morning, Bishop!" + +"Good morning, gentlemen," said Bishop Delafield, peering into their +faces. The waiting porter took his bags from him. "Has the boy been +found yet?" + +"No." + +"I should have gone on home to-night if I had known that. But what are +you doing here?" + +Raridan told him in a few words. They were following a slight clue, and +were going over to the old Poindexter place, in the hope of finding +Grant Porter there. Saxton was holding a colloquy with the driver of the +station hack who had come in quest of passengers, and he hurried off +with the man to get a buckboard. + +The conductor signaled with his lantern to go ahead, and the engine +answered with a doleful peal of the bell. The porter had gathered up the +bishop's things and waited for him to step aboard. + +"Never mind," the bishop said to him; "I won't go to-night." The train +was already moving and the bishop turned to Raridan and Wheaton. "I'll +wait and see what comes of this." + +"Very well," said Raridan. "We won't need our bags. We can leave them +with the station agent." Wheaton stepped forward eagerly, glad to have +something to do; he had not slept and was grateful for the cover of +darkness which shut him out from the others. + +"Gentlemen with flasks had better take them," said Warry, opening his +bag. "It's a cold morning!" + +"Wretchedly intemperate man," said the bishop. "Where's yours, Mr. +Wheaton?" + +"I haven't any," Wheaton answered. + +When he went into the station, the agent eyed him curiously as he looked +up from his telegraphing and nodded his promise to care for the bags. He +remembered Saxton and Wheaton and supposed that they were going to +Poindexter's on ranch business. + +Saxton drove up to the platform with the buckboard. + +"All ready," he said, and the three men climbed in, the bishop and +Wheaton in the back seat and Raridan by Saxton, who drove. + +"The roads out here are the worst. It's a good thing the ground's +frozen." + +"It's a better thing that you know the way," said Raridan. "I'm a lost +child in the wilderness." + +"If you lose me, Wheaton can find the way," said Saxton. + +They could hear the train puffing far in the distance. Its passage had +not disturbed the sleep of the little village. The lantern of the +station-master flashed in the main street as he picked his way homeward. +Stars could be seen beyond the flying clouds. The road lay between +wire-fenced ranches, and the scattered homes of their owners were +indistinguishable in the darkness of the night. A pair of ponies drew +the buckboard briskly over the hard, rough road. + +"How far is it?" asked the bishop. + +"Five miles. We can do it in an hour," said Saxton over his shoulder. + +"We'll be in Clarkson laughing at the police to-morrow afternoon if we +have good luck," said Raridan. "If we've made a bad guess we'll sneak +home and not tell where we've been." + +The road proved to be in better condition than Saxton had expected, and +he kept the ponies at their work with his whip. The rumble of the wagon +rose above the men's voices and they ceased trying to talk. Raridan and +Saxton smoked in silence, lighting one cigar from another. The bishop +rode with his head bowed on his breast, asleep; he had learned the trick +of taking sleep when and where he could. + +Wheaton felt the numbing of his hands and feet in the cold night air and +welcomed the discomfort, as a man long used to a particular sensation of +pain welcomes a new one that proves a counter-irritant. He reviewed +again the grounds on which he might have excused himself from taking +this trip. Nothing, he argued, could be more absurd than this adventure +on an errand which might much better have been left to professional +detectives. But it seemed a far cry back to his desk at the bank, and to +the tasks there which he really enjoyed. In a few hours the daily +routine would be in progress. The familiar scenes of the opening passed +before him--the clerks taking their places; the slamming of the big +books upon the desks as they were brought from the vault; the jingle of +coin in the cages as the tellers assorted it and made ready for the +day's business. He saw himself at his desk, the executive officer of the +most substantial institution in Clarkson, his signature carrying the +bank's pledge, his position one of dignity and authority. + +But he was on William Porter's service; he pictured himself walking into +the bank from a fruitless quest, but one which would attract attention +to himself. If they found the boy and released him safely, he would +share the thanks and praise which would be the reward of the rescuing +party. He had no idea that Snyder would be captured; and he even planned +to help him escape if he could do so. + +They had turned off from the main highway and were well up in the branch +road that ran to the Poindexter place. + +"This is right, Wheaton, isn't it?" asked Saxton, drawing up the ponies. + +"Yes, this is the ranch road." + +They went forward slowly. The clouds were more compactly marshaled now +and the stars were fewer. Suddenly Saxton brought the ponies to a stand +and pointed to a dark pile that loomed ahead of them. The Poindexter +house stood forth somber in the thin starlight. + +"Is that the place?" asked the bishop, now wide awake. + +"That's it," said Wheaton. "This road ends there. The river's just +beyond the cottonwoods. That first building was Poindexter's barn. It +cost more than the court house of this county." + +Saxton gave the reins to Raridan and jumped out. "No more smoking," he +said, throwing away his cigar. "You stay here and I'll reconnoiter a +bit." He walked swiftly toward the great barn which lay between him and +the house. There was no sign of life in the place. He crept through the +barb-wire fence into the corral. He had barred and padlocked the barn +door on his last visit, and he satisfied himself that the fastenings had +not been disturbed. There were no indications that any one had visited +the place. He reasoned that if Snyder had sought the ranch house for a +rendezvous he had not come afoot. Saxton was therefore disappointed to +find the barn door locked and the corral empty; there was little use in +looking further, he concluded; but before joining the others he resolved +to make sure that the house also was empty. It was quite dark and he +walked boldly up to it. The wind had risen and whistled shrilly around +it; a loose blind under the eaves flapped noisily as he drew near. The +great front door was closed; he pushed against it and found it securely +fastened. He had brought with him a key to a rear door, and he started +around the house to try it and to make sure that the house was not +occupied. + +At the corner toward the river, glass suddenly crunched under his feet. +The windows were deeply embrasured all over the house, and he could not +determine where the glass had fallen from. The windows were all intact +when he left, he was sure. He drew off his glove and tiptoed to the +nearest panes, ran his fingers over the smooth glass, and instantly +touched a broken edge. As he was feeling the frame to discover the size +of the opening, the low whinny of a horse came distinctly from within. + +He stood perfectly quiet, listening, and in a moment heard the stamp of +a hoof on the wooden floor of the hall. He backed off toward the drive +way, which swept around in front of the house, and waited, but all +remained as silent and as dark as before. He ran back through the corral +to the other men, who stood talking beside the blanketed ponies. + +"There's something or somebody in the house," he said. He told them of +the broken window and of the sounds he had heard. "Whoever's there has +no business there and we may as well turn him out. I've thought of a +good many schemes for utilizing that house, but the idea of making a +barn of it hadn't occurred to me." + +He threw off his overcoat and tossed it into the buckboard. + +"I guess that's a good idea, John," said Raridan, following his example. +Wheaton stood muffled in his coat. His teeth were chattering, and he +fumbled at the buttons but kept his coat on, walking toward the house +with the others. + +"We may have a horse thief or we may have a kidnapper," said Saxton, +who had taken charge of the party; "but in either case we may as well +take him with his live stock." + +"Let us not be rash," said the bishop, following the others. "He may +prove an unruly customer." + +"He's probably a dude tramp who rides a horse and has taken a fancy to +Poindexter architecture," said Warry. + +"Quiet!" admonished Saxton, who had lighted a lantern, which he +concealed under his coat. + +"You two watch the corners of the house," he said, indicating Raridan +and Wheaton; "and you, Bishop, can stand off here, if you will, and +watch for signs of light in the upper windows. The big front doors are +barred on the inside, and my key opens only the back door." + +"I'll go with you," said Raridan. + +"Not yet, old man. You stay right here and watch until I throw open the +front doors." + +"But that's a foolish risk," insisted Raridan. "There may be a dozen men +inside." + +"That's all right, Warry. It takes only a minute to cross the hall and +unbar the front doors. There's no risk about it. I'll be out in half a +minute." + +Raridan felt that Saxton was taking all the hazards, but he yielded, as +he usually did, when Saxton was decisive, as now. + +"Good luck to you, old man!" he said, slapping Saxton on the back. He +patrolled the grass-plot before the house, while Saxton went to the +rear. + +The door opened easily, and John stepped into the lower hall. The place +was pitch dark. He remembered the position of the articles of furniture +as he had left them on his last visit, and started across the hall +toward the stairway, using his lantern warily. When half way, he heard +the whinny of a horse which he could not see. A moment later an animal +shrank away from him in the darkness and was still again. Then another +horse whinnied by the window whose broken glass he had found on the +outside. There were, then, two horses, from which he argued that there +were at least two persons in the house. He found the doors and lifted +the heavy bar that held them and drew the bolts at top and bottom. As +the doors swung open slowly Raridan ran up to see if anything was +wanted. + +"All right," said Saxton in a low tone. "They're mighty quiet if they're +here. But there's no doubt about the horses. You stay where you are and +I'll explore a little." + +Raridan started to follow him, but Saxton pushed him back. + +"Watch the door," he said, and walked guardedly into the house again. +The horses stamped fretfully as he went toward the stairway, but all was +quiet above. He felt his way slowly up the stair-rail, whose heavy dust +stuck to his fingers. Having gained the upper hall, he paused to take +fresh bearings. His memory brought back gradually the position of the +rooms. In putting out his hand he touched a picture which swung slightly +on its wire and grated harshly against the rough plaster of the wall. At +the same instant he heard a noise directly in front of him as of some +one moving about in the chamber at the head of the stairs. The knob of a +door was suddenly grasped from within. John waited, crouched down, and +drew his revolver from the side pocket of his coat. The door stuck in +the frame, but being violently shaken, suddenly pulled free. The person +who had opened the door stepped back into the room and scratched a +match. + +"Wake up there," called a voice within the room. + +Saxton crept softly across the hall, settling the revolver into his hand +ready for use. A man could be heard mumbling and cursing. + +"Hurry up, boy, it's time we were out of this." + +The owner of the voice now reappeared at the door holding a lantern; he +was pushing some one in front of him. The crisis had come quickly; John +Saxton knew that he had found Grant Porter; and he remembered that he +was there to get the boy whether he caught his abductor or not. + +The man was carrying his lantern in his right hand and pushing the boy +toward the staircase with his left. As he came well out of the door, +Saxton sprang up and kicked the lantern from the man's hand. At the same +moment he grabbed the boy by the collar, drew him back and stepped in +front of him. The lantern crashed against the wall opposite and went +rolling down the stairway with its light extinguished. Saxton had +dropped his own lantern and the hall was in darkness. + +"Stop where you are, Snyder," said Saxton, "or I'll shoot. I'm John +Saxton; you may remember me." He spoke in steady, even tones. + +The lantern, rolling down the stairway, startled the horses, which +stamped restlessly on the floor. The wind whistled dismally outside. He +heard Snyder, as he assumed the man to be, cautiously feeling his way +toward the staircase. + +"You may as well stop there," Saxton said, without moving, and holding +the boy to the floor with his left hand. He spoke in sharp, even tones. +"It's all right, Grant," he added in the same key to the boy, who was +crying with fright. "Stay where you are. The house is surrounded, +Snyder," he went on. "You may as well give in." + +The man said nothing. He had found the stairway. Suddenly a revolver +flashed and cracked, and the man went leaping down the stairs. The ball +whistled over Saxton's head, and the boy clutched him about the legs. A +bit of plaster, shaken loose by the bullet, fell from the ceiling. The +noise of the revolver roared through the house. + +"It's all right, Grant," Saxton said again. + +The retreating man slipped and fell at the landing, midway of the +stairs, and as he stumbled to his feet Saxton ran back into the room +from which the fellow had emerged. He threw up the window with a crash +and shouted to the men in the darkness below: + +"He's coming! Get out of the way and let him go! The boy's all right!" + +He hurried back into the hall where he had left Grant, who crouched +moaning in the dark. + +"You stay here a minute, Grant. They won't get you again," he called as +he ran down the steps. One of the horses below was snorting with fright +and making a great clatter with its hoofs. From the sound Saxton knew +that the fleeing man was trying to mount, and as he plunged down the +last half of the stairway, the horse broke through the door with the +man on his back. + +"Let him go, Warry," yelled Saxton with all his lungs. + +The horse was already across the threshold at a leap, his rider bending +low over the animal's neck to avoid the top of the door. Raridan ran +forward, taking his bearings by sounds. + +"Stop!" he shouted. "Come on, Wheaton!" Wheaton was running toward him +at the top of his speed; Raridan sprang in front of the horse and +grabbed at the throat-latch of its bridle. The horse, surprised, and +terrified by the noise, and feeling the rider digging his heels into his +sides, reared, carrying Warry off his feet. + +"Let go, you fool," screamed the rider. "Let go, I say!" + +"Let him alone," cried Wheaton, now close at hand; but Raridan still +held to the strap at the throat of the plunging horse. + +The rider sat up straight on his horse and his revolver barked into the +night twice in sharp succession, the sounds crashing against the house, +and the flashes lighting up the struggling horse and rider, and Raridan, +clutching at the bridle. Raridan's hold loosened at the first shot, and +as the second echoed into the night, the horse leaped free, running +madly down the road, past Bishop Delafield, who was coming rapidly +toward the house. Wheaton and Saxton met in the driveway where Raridan +had fallen. The flying horse could be heard pounding down the hard road. + +"Warry, Warry!" called Saxton, on his knees by his friend. "Hold the +lantern," he said to Wheaton. "He's hurt." Raridan said nothing, but lay +very still, moaning. + +"Who's hurt?" asked the bishop coming up. Saxton had recovered his own +lantern as he ran from the house. It was still burning and Wheaton +turned up the wick. The three men bent over Raridan, who lay as he had +fallen. + +"We must get him inside," said Saxton. "The horse knocked him down." + +The bishop bent over and put his arms under Raridan; and gathering him +up as if the prone man had been a child, he carried him slowly toward +the house. Wheaton started ahead with the lantern, but Saxton snatched +it from him and ran through the doors into the hall, and back to the +dining-room. + +"Come in here," he called, and the old bishop followed, bearing Raridan +carefully in his great arms. The others helped him to place his burden +on the long table at which, in Poindexter's day, many light-hearted +companies had gathered. They peered down upon him in the lantern light. + +"We must get a doctor quick," said Saxton, half turning to go. + +"He's badly hurt," said the old man. There was a dark stain on his coat +where Raridan had lain against him. He tore open Raridan's shirt and +thrust his hand underneath; and when he drew it out, shaking his gray +head, it had touched something wet. Wheaton came with a pail of water, +pumped by the windmill into a trough at the rear of the house. He had +broken the thin ice with his hands. + +"Go for a doctor," said the bishop, very quietly, nodding to Saxton; +"and go fast." + +Wheaton followed Saxton to the hall, where they cut loose the remaining +horse. Saxton flung himself upon it, and the animal sprang into a gallop +at the door. Wheaton watched the horse and rider disappear through the +starlight; he wished that he could go with Saxton. He turned back with +sick terror to the room where Raridan lay white and still; but Wheaton +was as white as he. + +The bishop had rolled his overcoat into a support for Warry's head, and +with a wet handkerchief laved his temples. Wheaton stood watching him, +silent, and anxious to serve, but with his powers of initiative frozen +in him. + +"Get the flask from his pocket," said the old man; and Wheaton drew near +the table, and with a shudder thrust his hand into the pocket of +Raridan's coat. + +"Shall I pour some?" he asked. Raridan had moved his arms slightly and +groaned as Wheaton bent close to him. Wheaton detached the cup from the +bottom of the flask and poured some of the brandy into it. The bishop, +motioning him to stand ready with it, raised Raridan gently, and +together they pressed the silver cup to his lips. + +"That will do. I think he swallowed a little," said the bishop. "Bring +wood, if you can," he said, "and make a fire here." Raridan's head was +growing hot under his touch, and he continued to lave it gently with the +wet handkerchief. There was a shed at the back of the house where wood +had been kept in the old days of the Poindexter ascendancy, and Wheaton, +glad of an excuse to get away from the prostrate figure on the long +table, went stumbling through the hall to find this place. There was a +terrible silence in the old house,--a silence that filled all the world, +a silence that could not be broken, it seemed to him, save by some new +thing of dread. There beyond the prairie, day would break soon in the +town where he had striven and failed,--not the failure that proceeds +from lack of opportunity or ability to gain the successes which men +value most, but the failure of a man in self-mastery and courage. + +He felt his soul shrivel in the few seconds that he stood at the door +looking across the windy plain,--like a dreamer who turns from his +dreams and welcomes the morning with the hope that his dream may not +prove true. He drew the doors together and turned to go on his errand, +lighting a match to get his bearings, when a sound on the stairway +startled him; there was a figure there--the wan, frightened face of +Grant Porter looked down at him. He had forgotten the boy, whom Saxton +had left in the hall above. Grant shrank back on the stairs, not +recognizing him. It seemed to Wheaton that there was something of +loathing in the boy's movement, and that always afterward people would +shrink from him. + +"Is that you, Grant?" he asked. The boy did not answer. "It's all right, +Grant," he added, trying to throw some kindness into his voice. "You'd +better stay upstairs, until--we're ready to go." + +The boy turned and stole back up the stairway, and Wheaton, encouraged +by the sound of his own voice, brought wood and kindled it with some +straw in the dining-room fireplace. + +"Let us try the brandy again," said the bishop. Again Wheaton poured it, +and they forced a little between the lips of the stricken man. Raridan's +face, as Wheaton touched it with his fingers, was warm; he had expected +to find it cold; he had a feeling that the man lying there must be dead. +If only help would come, Raridan might live! He would accept everything +else, but to be a murderer--to have lured a man to his doom! The bishop +did not speak to him save now and then a word in a low tone, to call +attention to some change in Raridan, or to ask help in moving him. The +dry wood burned brightly in the fireplace and lighted the room. The +bishop asked the time. + +"He could hardly go and come in less than two hours," said Wheaton. He +lifted his head. + +"They are coming now." The short patter of pony hoofs was heard and he +went into the hall to open the doors. Two horsemen were just turning +into the corral. Saxton had found the one doctor of the village at +home,--a young man trained in an eastern hospital but already used to +long, rough rides over the prairies. The two men threw themselves to the +ground, and let their ponies run loose. Saxton did not speak to Wheaton, +who followed him and the doctor into the house. + +"Has he been conscious at all?" asked the doctor. + +The bishop shook his head. The doctor was already busy with his +examination, and the three men stood and watched him silently. Saxton +stepped forward and helped, when there was need, to turn the wounded +man and to strip away his clothing. The skilled fingers of the surgeon +worked swiftly, producing shining instruments and sponges as he needed +them, from the blue lining of his pea-jacket. Suddenly he paused and +bent down close to the stricken man's heart. He poured more brandy into +the silver cup and Saxton lifted Warry while the liquor was forced +between his lips. The doctor stood up then and put his finger on +Raridan's wrist. He had not spoken and his face was very grave. Saxton +touched his arm. + +"Is there nothing more you can do now?" The doctor shook his head, but +bent again over Raridan, who gave a deep sigh and opened his eyes. + +"John," he said in a whisper as he closed them again wearily. The doctor +put Warry's hand down gently, and the others, at a glance from him, drew +nearer. + +"John," he repeated. His voice was stronger. The white light of dawn was +struggling now against the flame of the fireplace. John stood on one +side of the table, the doctor on the other. The old bishop's tall figure +rose majestically by the head of the dying man. Wheaton alone hung +aloof, but his eyes were riveted on Warry Raridan's face. + +"It was another--another of my foolish chances," said Warry faintly and +slowly, the words coming hard; but all in the room could hear. He looked +from one to another, and seemed to know who the doctor was and why he +was there. + +"The boy's safe and well. We got what we came for. Just once--just +once,--I got what I came for. It wasn't fair--in the dark that way--" +His voice failed and the doctor gave him more brandy. He lay very still +for several minutes, with his eyes closed, while the three men stood as +they had been, save that the surgeon now kept his finger on Warry's +wrist. + +"I never--quite arrived--quite--arrived," he went on, with his eyes on +the old bishop, as if this were something that he would understand; "but +you must forgive all that." He smiled in a patient, tired way. + +"You have been a good man, Warry, there's nothing that can trouble you." + +"I was really doing better, wasn't I, John?" he went on, still smiling. +"You had helped,--you two,"--he looked from his young friend to the +older one, with the intentness of his near-sighted gaze. "Tell +them"--his eyes closed and his voice sank until it was almost +inaudible,--"tell them at the hill--Evelyn--the light of all--of +all--the year." + +The doctor had put down Warry's wrist and turned away. The dawn-wind +sweeping across the prairie shook the windows in the room and moaned far +away in the lonely house. The bishop's great hand rested gently on the +dying man's head; his voice rose in supplication,--the words coming +slowly, as if he remembered them from a far-off time: + +_Unto God's gracious mercy and protection we commit thee._ Saxton +dropped to his knees, and a sob broke from him. _The Lord bless thee, +and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be +gracious unto thee._ The old man's voice was very low, and sank to a +whisper. _The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee +peace, both now and evermore._ + +No one moved until the doctor put his head down to Warry's heart to +listen. Then Wheaton watched him with fascinated eyes as he gathered up +his instruments, which shone cold and bright in the gray light of the +morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +HOME THROUGH THE SNOW + + +There was much to do, and John Saxton had been back and forth twice +between the ranch house and the village before the sun had crept high +into the heavens. The little village had been slow to grasp the fact of +the tragedy at its doors which had already carried its name afar. There +was much to do and yet it was so pitifully little after all! Warry +Raridan was dead, and eager men were scouring the country for his +murderer; but John Saxton sat in the room where Warry had died. It +seemed to John that the end had come of all the world. He sharpened his +grief with self-reproach that he had been a party to an exploit so +foolhardy: they should never have attempted a midnight descent upon an +unknown foe; and yet it was Raridan's own plan. + +It was like Warry, too, and the thought turned John's memory into +grooves that time was to deepen. This was the only man who had ever +brought him friendship. The first night at the club in Clarkson, when +Raridan had spoken to him, came back, vivid in all its details. He +recalled with a great ache in his heart their talk there in the summer +twilight; the charm that he had felt first that night, and how Warry had +grown more and more into his life, and brightened it. He could not, in +the fullness of his sorrow, see himself again walking alone the ways +they had known together. Even the town seemed to him in these early +hours an unreal place; it was not possible that it lay only a few hours +distant, with its affairs going on uninterruptedly; nor could he realize +that he would himself take up there the threads of his life that now +seemed so hopelessly broken. + +Saxton had ministered to the boy Grant with characteristic kindness. +Grant knew now of Warry's death, and this, with his own sharp +experiences, had unnerved him. He clung to Saxton, and John soothed him +until he slept, in one of the upper chambers. + +Wheaton stood suddenly in the door, and beckoned to Saxton, who went out +to him. They had exchanged no words since that moment when the old +bishop's prayer had stilled the room where Warry Raridan died. Through +the events of the morning hours, Wheaton had been merely a spectator of +what was done; Saxton had hardly noticed him, and glancing at Wheaton +now, he was shocked at the look of great age that had come upon him. + +"I want to speak to you a minute,--you and Bishop Delafield," said +Wheaton. The bishop was pacing up and down in the outer hall, which had +been quietly cleaned and put in order by men from the village. Wheaton +led the way to the room once used as the ranch office. + +"Will you sit down, gentlemen?" He spoke with so much calmness that the +others looked at him curiously. The bishop and Saxton remained standing, +and Wheaton repeated, sharply, "Will you sit down?" The two men sat +down side by side on the leather-covered bench that ran around the room, +and Wheaton stood up before them; and so they met together here, the +three men left of the four who had come to the ranch house in the early +morning. + +"I have something to say to you, before you--before we go," he said. +Their silence seemed to confuse him for a moment, but he regained his +composure. He looked from Saxton to the bishop, who nodded, and he went +on: + +"The man who killed Warry Raridan was my brother," he said, and waited. + +Saxton started slightly; his numbed senses quickened under Wheaton's +words, and in a flash he saw the explanation of many things. + +"He was my brother," Wheaton went on quietly. "He had wanted money from +me. I had refused to help him. He carried away Grant Porter thinking to +injure me in that way. It was that, I think, as much as the hope of +getting a large sum for the boy's return." + +"But--" began the bishop. + +"There are many questions that will occur to you--and to others," +Wheaton resumed, with an assurance that transformed him for the moment. +He spoke as of events in ages past which had no relation to himself. +"There are many things that might have been different, that would have +been different, if I had not been"--he hesitated and then finished +abruptly--"if I had not been a coward." + +A great quiet lay upon the house; the two men remained sitting, and +Wheaton stood before them with his arms crossed, the bishop and Saxton +watching him, and Wheaton looking from one to the other of his +companions. Contempt and anger were rising in John Saxton's heart; but +the old bishop waited calmly; this was not the first time that a +troubled soul had opened its door to him. + +"Go on," he said, kindly. + +"My brother and I ran away from the little Ohio town where we were born. +Our father was a harness maker. I hated the place. I think I hated my +father and mother." He paused, as we do sometimes when we have suddenly +spoken a thought which we have long carried in our hearts but have never +uttered. The words had elements of surprise for James Wheaton, and he +waited, weighing his words and wishing to deal justly with himself. "My +brother was a bad boy; he had never gone to school, as I had; he had +several times been guilty of petty stealing. I joined him once in a +theft; we were arrested, but he took the blame and was punished, and I +went free. I am not sure that I was any better, or that I am now any +better than he is. But that is the only time I ever stole." + +Saxton remembered that Warry had once said of James Wheaton that he +would not steal. + +"I wanted to be honest; I tried my best to do right. I never expected to +do as well as I have--I mean in business and things like that. Then +after all the years in which I had not seen anything of my brother he +came into the bank one day as a tramp, begging, and recognized me. At +first I helped him. I sent him here; you will remember the man Snyder +you found here when you came," turning to Saxton. "I knew you would not +keep him. There was nothing else that I could do for him. I had new +ambitions," his voice fell and broke, "there were--there were other +things that meant a great deal to me--I could not have him about. It was +he who assaulted me one night at Mr. Porter's two years ago, when you," +he turned to the bishop, "came up and drove him away. After that I gave +him money to leave the country and he promised to stay away; but he +began blackmailing me again, and I thought then that I had done enough +for him and refused to help him any more. When Grant Porter disappeared +I knew at once what had happened. He had threatened--but there is +something--something wrong with me!" + +These last words broke from him like a cry, and he staggered suddenly +and would have fallen if Saxton had not sprung up and caught him. He +recovered quickly and sat down on the bench. + +"Let us drop this now," said Saxton, standing over him; "it's no time--" + +"There's something wrong with me," said Wheaton huskily, without +heeding, and Saxton drew back from him. "I was a vain, cowardly fool. +But I did the best I could," he passed his hand over his face, and his +fingers crept nervously to his collar, "but it wasn't any use! It wasn't +any use!" He turned again to the bishop. "I heard you preach a sermon +once. It was about our opportunities. You said we must live in the open. +I had never thought of that before," and he looked at the bishop with a +foolish grin on his face. He stood up suddenly and extended his arms. +"Now I want you to tell me what to do. I want to be punished! This +man's blood is on my hands. I want to be punished!" And he sank to the +floor in a heap, repeating, as if to himself, "I want to be punished!" + +There are two great crises in the life of a man. One is that moment of +disclosure when for the first time he recognizes some vital weakness in +his own character. The other comes when, under stress, he submits this +defect to the eyes of another. James Wheaton hardly knew when he had +realized the first, but he was conscious now that he had passed the +second. It had carried him like a high tide to a point of rest; but it +was a point of helplessness, too. + +"It isn't for us to punish you," the bishop began, "and I do not see +that you have transgressed any law." + +"That is it! that is it! It would be easier! I would to God I had!" +moaned Wheaton. John turned away. James Wheaton's face was not good to +see. + +"Yes, it would be easier," the bishop continued. "Man's penalties are +lighter than God's. I can see that in going back to Clarkson many things +will be hard for you--" + +"I can't! Oh, I can't!" He still crouched on the floor, with his arms +extended along the bench. + +"But that is the manly thing for you. If you have acted a cowardly part, +now is the time for you to change, and you must change on the field of +battle. I can imagine the discomfort of facing your old friends; that +you will suffer keen humiliation; that you may have to begin again; but +you must do it, my friend, if you wish to rise above yourself, and you +may depend upon my help." + +The old man had spoken with emphasis, but with great gentleness. He +turned to Saxton, wishing him to speak. + +"The bishop is right. You must go back with us, Wheaton." But he did not +say that he would help him. John Saxton neither forgot nor forgave +easily. He did not see in this dark hour what he had to do with James +Wheaton's affairs. But the Bishop of Clarkson went over to James Wheaton +and lifted him up; it was as though he would make the physical act carry +a spiritual aid with it. + +"We can talk of this to better purpose when we get home," he said. "You +are broken now and see your future darkly; but I say to you that you can +be restored; there's light and hope ahead for you. If there is any +meaning in my ministry it is that with the help of God a man may come +out of darkness into the light again." + +There was a moment's silence. Wheaton sat bent forward on the bench, +with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. + +"They are waiting for us," said Saxton. + + +A special train was sent to Great River, and the little party waited for +it on the station platform, surrounded by awed villagers, who stood +silent in the presence of death and a mystery which they but dimly +comprehended. Officers of the law from Clarkson came with the train and +surrounded Bishop Delafield, Wheaton and Saxton as they stood with Grant +Porter by the rude bier of Warry Raridan. The men answered many +questions and the sheriff of the county took the detectives away with +him. Margrave had sent his private car, and the returning party were +huddled in one end of it, save John Saxton, who sat alone with the body +of Warry Raridan. The train was to go back immediately, but it waited +for the west-bound express which followed it and passed the special +here. There was a moment's confusion as the special with its dark burden +was switched into a siding to allow the regular train to pass. Then the +special returned to the main track and began its homeward journey. + +John sat with his arms folded, sunk into his greatcoat, and watched the +gray landscape through the snow that was falling fast. The events of the +night seemed like a hideous dream. It was an inconceivable thing that +within a few hours so dire a calamity could have fallen. The very +nearness of the city to which they were bound added to the unreality of +all that had happened. But there the dark burden lay; and the snow fell +upon the gray earth and whitened it, as if to cleanse and remake it and +blot out its dolor and dread. The others left Saxton alone; he was +nearer than they; but late in the afternoon, as they approached the +city, Captain Wheelock came in and touched him on the shoulder; Bishop +Delafield wished to see him. John rose, giving Wheelock his place, and +went back to where the old man sat staring out at the snow. He beckoned +Saxton to sit down by him. + +"Where's Wheaton?" the bishop asked. + +John looked at him and at the other men who sat in silence about the +car. He went to one of them and repeated the bishop's question, but was +told that Wheaton was not on the train. He had been at the station and +had come aboard the car with the rest; but he must have returned to the +station and been left. John remembered the passing of the west-bound +express, and went back and told the bishop that Wheaton had not come +with them. The old man shook his head and turned again to the window and +the flying panorama of the snowy landscape. John sat by him, and neither +spoke until the train's speed diminished at a crossing on the outskirts +of Clarkson. Then suddenly, hot at heart and with tears of sorrow and +rage in his eyes, Saxton said, so that only the bishop could hear: + +"He's a damned coward!" + +The Bishop of Clarkson stared steadily out upon the snow with troubled +eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +"A PECULIAR BRICK" + + +It was Fenton who most nearly voiced the public sorrow at the death of +Warrick Raridan. His address at the memorial meeting of the Clarkson Bar +Association surprised the community, which knew Fenton only as a +corporation lawyer who rarely made speeches, even to juries. Fenton put +into words the general appraisement of Warry Raridan--his social grace +and charm, his wit and variety. People who hardly knew that Raridan had +been a lawyer were surprised that the leader of the Clarkson bar dwelt +upon his instinctive grasp of legal questions, "the thoroughness of his +research and the clarity and force with which he presented legal +propositions." Raridan was a lawyer with an imagination, Fenton said, +thus seizing what had been considered a weakness of character and making +it count as an element of strength. Fenton was not given to careless +praise, and what he said of Raridan had much to do with formulating the +opinion that was to pass into Clarkson history. The last few months of +Warry's life had won him this eulogy--the work which he had done for +Evelyn. Fenton had learned to know him well after the appointment of +Saxton as receiver. He had thrown a number of important questions to +Warry to investigate, and he had been amazed at his young lieutenant's +capacity and industry. He did not know that a woman had been the +inspiration of this work; he thought that it proceeded from Saxton's +influence and the pleasure Warry found in labor that brought him near +his friend. + +It was not alone Warry's death, but the sharp, tragic manner of it, so +wretchedly inconsonant with his life, that grieved and shocked the +community. But this too had its compensations; for many read into his +life now a recklessness and daring which it had lacked. They spoke of +him as though he had been a young soldier who had fallen at the first +skirmish, without having been tried in battle; all spoke of his promise +and mourned that his life had been harvested before he had finished +sowing. On every hand his good deeds were recounted; many unknown +witnesses rose to tell of acts of generosity and kindness which would +never have been disclosed in his lifetime. Those who had really known +him no longer lamented his erratic habits. They now magnified his +talents; and his whimsical, fanciful ways they attributed to genius. + +It was much easier to account for Raridan than to explain Wheaton. Most +of the people of Clarkson did not understand his flight, if he had +neither stolen the bank's money nor killed Warry Raridan. There was a +disposition for a time to reject the story of the tragedy at the +Poindexter ranch house as it had been given out by Bishop Delafield and +John Saxton; but the bishop's word in the matter was final; he was not a +man to conceal the truth. Those who had seen most of Wheaton were the +most puzzled. The men who remained at The Bachelors' were stunned by +the whole affair, but in particular they failed to grasp the curious +phase presented by Wheaton's connection--or lack of connection--with it. +They expected him to return, and even discussed what should be their +attitude toward him if he came back. As the days passed and nothing was +heard, they gradually ceased talking of him; but by silent assent no one +took the seat he had occupied at their table. When presently the +landlord sent Wheaton's things to be stored in the cellar, and new men +appeared in the places of Raridan and Wheaton, they exchanged the oblong +table for a round one, to take away whatever ill luck might follow the +places of the lost members of their board. + +The chief shock to William Porter was a shock to his pride. He had +trusted Wheaton as implicitly as he trusted any man, and while his trust +at all times had limitations, he had extended these beyond precedent in +James Wheaton's case. Saxton and Bishop Delafield had gone to him as +soon as possible, with Fenton. It was important for Porter to understand +exactly what had occurred at the Poindexter ranch house. The newspapers +had now announced Wheaton's flight; it was natural that the bank should +fall under suspicion, and that all of Porter's interests should be +jeopardized. A cashier implicated in some way in a murder, and in full +flight for parts unknown, created a situation which could not be +ignored. But Porter met the issue squarely and sanely. + +The expert accountants who were put to work on the bank's books made an +absolutely clean report, and the minutest scrutiny of the securities of +the bank proved everything intact. Wheaton had been a master of order +and system. The searching investigation of experts and directors +revealed nothing that was not creditable to the missing cashier. + +"Well, sir," said Porter, "you've got me. I guess Jim was crooked some +way, but he didn't do us up. I guess there's nothing we can say against +him." + +"His case is unusual," said Fenton. "I think we'd better leave it to the +psychologists." + +It was necessary to fill Wheaton's place, and while they were casting +about for a cashier Porter and Thompson received offers from a Chicago +syndicate for their stock in the bank. The offer was advantageous; both +of the founders were old and both were in broken health. They debated +long what they should do. The bank was a child of their own creating; +Porter was particularly loath to part with it; but Evelyn, to whom he +brought the matter in a new spirit of dependence on her, finally +prevailed upon him. They closed with the offer of the syndicate, parting +with the control but remaining in the directorate. Porter had other +interests that required his attention, chief among which was the +Traction Company; and after the bank question had been determined, he +gave himself to a careful study of its affairs. + +"I guess this thing ain't so terribly rotten after all," he said one +day, at a conference with Saxton and Fenton. The earnings were steadily +increasing. + +"No, it's making a showing now, and unless you want to keep it for a +long run you had better sell it before you get into a strike or a row +with the city authorities or something like that, to spoil it. And I +fancy that Saxton's making a showing that the next fellow can't beat. +One thing's sure," said Fenton, "some extensions and improvements have +got to be made the coming summer, and they will take money." + +"Well, we won't make them," Porter declared. "We'll reorganize and bond +and get out." + +While the newspapers, and the judge of the court to whom he reported, +praised Saxton, Porter never praised him. It was not his way; but Fenton +took care that Porter should understand fully the value of Saxton's +services. Praise had not often been John Saxton's portion, and he was +not seriously troubled by Porter's apparent indifference. He was not +working for William Porter, he told himself, at times when Porter's +attitude annoyed him; he was working for the United States District +Court; and he went on doing his duty as he saw it. He was, however, +anxious to be relieved, but Fenton begged him to remain through the +reorganization. He liked Saxton and admired his steady persistence. +Together they worked out the problem of the proposed new company, and +managed it with so much tact and self-effacement that Porter believed +all their suggestions to have originated with himself. + +"It's simpler that way," said Fenton, speaking to Saxton one day of the +necessity of this method of procedure. "He's a perfect brick, and he'll +like us a lot better if we let him think he's doing all the work." + +"He is a brick all right," said John thoughtfully, "but he's a peculiar +brick." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +OLD PHOTOGRAPHS + + +In the days that followed, John Saxton knew again the heartache and +loneliness which he had known before Warry Raridan came into his life. +He had lost the first real friend he had ever had, and his days were +once more empty of light and cheer. His work still engrossed him, but it +failed to bring him the happiness which he had found in it when he and +Warry discussed its perplexities together. His memory sought its old +ruts again; the hardship and failure of his years in Wyoming were like +fresh wounds. He talked to no one except Bishop Delafield, who had +reasoned him out of his self-indictment for Warry's death. He did not +know that his own part in the recovery of Grant Porter, as Bishop +Delafield described it, was touched with a fine and generous courage, +and he would have resented it if he had known. + +Warry was constantly in his thoughts; but he thought much of Evelyn too; +through all the years to come, he told himself, he would remember them +and they would be his ideals. Echoes of the gossip which connected +Warry's name and Evelyn's reached him, and he felt no shock that such +surmises should be afloat. Warry and he had understood each other; they +had talked of Evelyn frequently; Warry had come to him often with the +confidences of a despairing lover, and John had encouraged and consoled +him. He predicted his ultimate success; it had always seemed to him an +inevitable thing that Warry and Evelyn should marry. + +Three weeks passed before he saw her, and then he went to her with an +excuse for his visit in his mind and heart. Warry had left a will in +which the bulk of his property--and it was a respectable fortune--was +given for the endowment of a hospital for children. Saxton was named as +executor and as a trustee of the fund thus set apart. Warry had never +mentioned the matter to any one; he had probably never thought of it +very seriously, and John wished to talk to Evelyn about it. + +It seemed strange that the Porter drawing-room was the same, when +everything else had changed; he had not been there since the afternoon +when he walked home with Evelyn through the cold. He despised himself +for that now; it was an act of disloyalty to Warry; but he would now be +more loyal to the dead than he had been to the living. + +As they talked together he saw no change in her; and he felt himself +wondering what manner of change it was that he had expected to find. He +had heard of people who aged suddenly with grief, but Evelyn was the +same, save for a greater composure, a more subdued note of manner and +voice. She bent forward in her deep interest in what he told her of +Warry's bequest. He wished her help, and asked for it as if it were her +right to give it. Surely no one had a better claim than she, he thought. + +"It is so like Warry," she said. "It will be a beautiful memorial, and +there is enough to do it very handsomely." + +"He liked things to be done well," said John. He marveled that she could +speak of it so quietly. Failure and grief possessed his eyes, and Evelyn +was conscious of a deepening of the pathos she had always seen and felt +in him, as he sat talking of his dead friend. She pitied him, and was +obedient to his evident wish to talk of Warry. + +John spoke of Warry's last photographs, and Evelyn went and brought a +number which he had never seen. Several of them dated back to Warry's +boyhood. They were odd and interesting--boyish pictures which the +spectacles made appear preternaturally old. One of these, that John +liked particularly, Evelyn asked him to take, and his face lighted with +pleasure when she made it plain that she wished him to have it. She told +of some of Warry's pranks in their childhood, and they laughed over them +with guarded mirth. + +"It was wonderful that so many kinds of people were fond of Warry," said +Evelyn. "He never tried to please, and yet no man in town ever had so +many friends." + +"It's like genius, I suppose," said John. "It's something in people that +wins admiration. No one can define it or explain it. I think, though," +he added in a lower tone, "I know how it was in my own case. I had +always wanted a friend like him to take me out of myself and help me; +but a man like Warry had never come my way before; and if he had he +would probably have been in a hurry." + +He laughed and then was very grave. "But Warry always had time for me." +At his last words he looked up at her and saw tears shining in her eyes. + +"Oh, forgive me--forgive me!" he cried. "It must--I know it must hurt +you to talk of him. But I couldn't help it. I thought you must +understand what he meant to me. Dear old Warry!" + +He held in his hand the little card photograph she had given him, and he +rose and thrust it into his pocket. + +"He was a charming, gentle spirit," said Evelyn. "It will mean a great +deal to us that we knew him. You meant a great deal to him, Mr. Saxton. +You helped him. It was--" She halted, confused, and had evidently +intended to say more. The color suddenly mounted to her face. She did +not offer him her hand which he had stepped forward to take, and he +dropped his own, which he had half extended. + +"Good night." Her eyes followed him to the hall. + +On his way home--he still lived at the club--John reviewed, sentence by +sentence, his talk with Evelyn. He had not expected her to speak so +frankly of Warry; but, he told himself, it was like her. He touched the +photograph she had given him, and held it up as he passed under an arc +lamp to be sure of it. He was surprised that she had given it to him; he +did not think a girl would give away a rare picture of a dead lover, +which must have a peculiar sacredness for her. Then he was angry with +himself for a thought that criticised her. She had given it to him +because he was Warry's friend! + +When he reached his room he put the photograph of Warry on his table and +took another similar card from a drawer. It was the little picture of +Evelyn which he had often seen on Warry's dressing-table. It showed her +standing by a tall chair; her hair hung in long braids. It was very +girlish and quaint; but it was unmistakably Evelyn. + +Warry in his will had directed that John should have such of his +personal effects as he might choose; the remainder he was to destroy or +sell. John chose a few of the books that Warry had liked best, and the +picture. He put it down now beside the photograph of Warry. They bore +the name of the same photographer, and had probably been taken in the +same year. He lighted his pipe and tramped back and forth across the +floor, occasionally stopping at his desk to look at the cards carefully. +He had no right to Evelyn Porter's picture, he told himself. He was +taking advantage of his dead friend's kindness to appropriate it. He +would not destroy it; he would give it to some one--to Mrs. Whipple, to +Evelyn herself! Yes, it should be to Evelyn; and having reached this +conclusion, he put the two pictures away together and went to bed. + +The next day he was called away unexpectedly to Colorado to close a sale +of the Neponset Trust Company's interest in the irrigation company. The +call came inopportunely, as the plans for the reorganization of the +Traction Company were not yet perfected; but the matter was urgent, and +Fenton told him to go. There was not time, he assured himself, to return +the photograph before leaving, so he carried both the little cards away +with him, with a half-formed intention of sending Evelyn's to her from +Denver; but when he returned to Clarkson he still carried the +photographs in his pocket. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +"IT IS CRUEL" + + +"It is cruel of them to say it!" + +Evelyn was at the Whipples'. It was a morning in May. Spring possessed +the valley. The long vistas across the hills were closing as the leaves +crept into the trees again. The windows were open, and the snowy +curtains swayed to the wind. Lilacs again in the Whipples' dooryard +bloomed, and the general's young cherry trees were white with blossoms. +It was not well that any one should be heavy of heart on such a morning, +but Evelyn Porter was not happy. She sat leaning forward with both hands +resting on the ivory ball of her parasol. A querulous note crept into +her voice. It is strange how the heartache to which the face never +yields finds a ready prey in the voice. + +"It is cruel of them to say it!" + +"But it is natural too, dear," said Mrs. Whipple. "Many people must have +wondered about you and Warry. If it will help any, I will confess that I +wondered a good deal myself. Now you won't mind, will you? It seems +hard, now that he has gone--but before--before, it was not +unreasonable!" + +"But the gossip! I don't care for myself, but it is cruel to him, to his +memory, that this should be said. If it had been true; if--if we had +been engaged, it would not be so wretched; but this--oh, it hurts me!" +She lay back in her chair. Her eyes were over-bright; her words ended in +a wail. + +Mrs. Whipple felt that Evelyn's view of the matter was absurd. If the +people of Clarkson were trying to read an element of romance into Warry +Raridan's death, they were certainly working no injury to his memory. +Such a view of the matter was fantastic. Evelyn did not know that +another current story coupled her name with that of James Wheaton, who +was spoken of in some quarters, and even guardedly in newspapers outside +of Clarkson, as Raridan's rival for the affections of William Porter's +daughter. Mrs. Whipple had shuddered hourly since the tragedy at +Poindexter's when she remembered how much Wheaton had been about with +Evelyn. He had been with her almost as much as Warry. Mrs. Whipple +recalled the carnival of two years ago with shame. Her heart smote her +as she watched the girl. It was a hideous thing that evil should have +crept so near her life. Wheaton had been a strange species of reptile +among them all. + +"Poor dear! You must not take it so!" The silence had grown oppressive. +It was incumbent upon her to comfort the girl if she could. + +"It isn't a thing that you can help, child. There's no way of stopping +gossip; and if they persist in saying such things, they will have to say +them, that's all. If you wish--if it will help you any, I will refute it +when I can--I mean among our friends only." + +"Oh, no! That would make it worse. Please don't say anything!" + +Mrs. Whipple did not accept solicitude for Warry's memory as a +sufficient explanation of Evelyn's troubles; nor was it like Evelyn to +complain of gossip about herself. The girl had naturally felt Warry's +death deeply; she made no secret of her great fondness for him. But if +Evelyn had really cared for Warry with more than a friendly regard, she +would never have come to her in this way. She assumed this hypothesis as +she made irrelevant talk with the girl. Then she thought of Wheaton; if +Wheaton had been the one Evelyn had cared for--if Warry had been the +friend and he the lover! She gave rein for a moment to this idea. +Perhaps Evelyn followed the man now with sympathy--the thought was +repulsive; she rejected it instantly with self-loathing for having +harbored an idea that wronged Evelyn so miserably. + +"What father feels is that his mistake in Wheaton argues a great +weakness in himself," Evelyn was saying. She was more tranquil now. Mrs. +Whipple noticed that she spoke Wheaton's name without hesitation; she +had dropped the prefix of respect, as every one had. We have a way of +eliminating it in speaking of men who are markedly good or bad. + +"Father takes it very hard. He isn't naturally morbid, but he seems to +feel as if he had been responsible--Grant being back of it all. But we +didn't know those men were going out there--we knew nothing until it was +all over!" The girl spoke as if she too felt the responsibility. "And he +thinks he ought to have known about Wheaton--ought to have seen what +kind of man he was!" + +Evelyn's blue foulard was beyond criticism and it matched her parasol +perfectly; the girl had never been prettier. Mrs. Whipple inwardly +apologized for having admitted the thought of Wheaton to her mind. + +"We can all accuse ourselves in the same way. To think of it--that he +has actually passed tea in this very room!" Her shrug of loathing was so +real that Evelyn shuddered. + +Then Mrs. Whipple laughed, so suddenly that it startled Evelyn. + +"It's dreadful! horrible!" Mrs. Whipple continued, "to find that a +person you have really looked upon with liking--perhaps with +admiration--has been all along eaten with a moral leprosy. If it weren't +for poor Warry we should be able to look upon it as a profitable +experience. There aren't many like Wheaton. The bishop thinks we ought +to be lenient in dealing with him--that he was not really so bad; that +he was simply weak--that his weakness was a kind of disease of his moral +nature. But I can't see it that way myself. The man ought not to go +scot-free. He ought to be punished. But it's too intangible and subtle +for the law to take hold of." + +Evelyn had picked up her card-case. It was a pretty trifle of silver and +leather; she tapped the handle of her parasol with it. Something had +occurred to Mrs. Whipple when she laughed a moment before, and seeing +that Evelyn was about to rise, she said casually: + +"Mr. Saxton doesn't share the bishop's gentle charity toward Wheaton." +She watched Evelyn as she applied the test. The girl did not raise her +eyes at once. She bent over the parasol meditatively, still tapping the +handle with the card-case. + +"What does Mr. Saxton say?" Evelyn asked, dropping the trinket into her +lap and looking at her friend vaguely, as people do who ask questions +out of courtesy rather than from honest curiosity. + +"Mr. Saxton says that Wheaton's a scoundrel--a damned scoundrel, to be +literal. He told the general so, here, a few nights ago. He seemed very +bitter. You know what close friends he and Warry were!" + +"Yes; it was an ideal kind of friendship. They were devoted to each +other," said Evelyn very earnestly; there was a little cry in her voice +as she spoke. It was as though happiness, struggling against sorrow, had +almost gained the mastery. + +"It's fine to see that in men. I sometimes think that friendships among +them have a quality that ours lack. I think Mr. Saxton is very lonely. I +wasn't here when he called, but the general saw him. You know the +general likes him particularly." + +"Yes." + +"You and he both knew and appreciated Warry." + +Evelyn had grasped her parasol, and she took up the card-case again. +Mrs. Whipple was half ashamed of herself; but she was also convinced. +She took another step. + +"Of course you see him; he must be reaching out to all Warry's friends +in his loneliness." + +Mrs. Whipple's powers of analysis were keen, but there were times when +they failed her. She did not know that her question hurt Evelyn Porter; +and she did not know that Evelyn had seen John Saxton but once since the +day they all stood by Warry's grave. + +Mrs. Whipple disapproved of herself as she followed Evelyn to the door. +She had no business to pry into the girl's secrets in this way; the +sweep of the foulard touched her, and she sought to placate her +conscience by burying her new-found knowledge under less guilty +information. + +Evelyn spoke of the place which her father had bought at Orchard Lane, +on the North Shore, and told Mrs. Whipple that she and the general were +expected to spend a month there. + +"You will be away all summer, I suppose. It's fine that your father has +taken the course he has. He might have felt that he must stay at home +closer than ever, to look after his interests." + +"It's more for Grant than for himself," said Evelyn; "but he realizes +too that he must take care of himself." + +"That's a good deal gained for a Western business man. It's been a +terrible year for you, dear,--your father's illness and these other +things. You need rest." + +She took the girl's cheeks in her hands and kissed her, and Evelyn went +out into the spring afternoon and walked homeward over the sloping +streets. + +Mrs. Whipple pondered long after Evelyn left. Evelyn was not happy. She +was not mourning a dead lover, nor one whose life was eclipsed in shame; +but another man disturbed her peace, and Mrs. Whipple wondered why. She +was still pondering when the general came in. He had been out to take +the air, and after he had brought his syphon from the ice-box he was +ready to talk. + +"Evelyn has been here," said Mrs. Whipple. "She asked us to come to +them for a visit. You know Mr. Porter has bought a place on the North +Shore." + +"It sounds like a miracle. Jim Wheaton didn't live in vain if he's +responsible for that." + +They debated their invitation, which Mrs. Whipple had already accepted, +she explained, from a sense of duty to Evelyn. The general said he +supposed he would have to go, with a show of reluctance that was wholly +insincere and to which Mrs. Whipple gave no heed. They were asked for +July. They discussed the old friends whom they would probably see while +they were East, until the summer loomed pleasant before them, and then +the talk came back to Evelyn. + +"The child doesn't look well," said Mrs. Whipple. + +"I shouldn't think she would, with all the row and rumpus they've been +having in their family. Abductions and murders and abscondings at one's +door are not conducive to light-heartedness." + +"She's annoyed by all this gossip about her and Warry. She doesn't know +that Wheaton is supposed to have taken more than a friendly interest in +her." + +"Well, I wouldn't tell her that, if I were you--if Wheaton didn't." + +"Of course he didn't!" + +"Well, he didn't then." The syphon hissed into the glass. + +"Evelyn and Warry weren't engaged," said Mrs. Whipple. The general held +up the glass and watched the gas bubbling to the top. + +"It's just as well that way," he said. "It saves her a lot of +heartache." + +"That's what I think," said Mrs. Whipple promptly. In such +conversations as this she usually combated the general's opinions. An +exception to the rule was so noteworthy that he began to pay serious +attention. + +"They weren't, but they might have been. Is that it?" + +"No. Anything might have been. There's no use speculating about what +can't be now." + +"I suppose that's true. Well?" + +"Something is troubling Evelyn, and I'll tell you what I think it is. I +think it was Saxton all along." + +"I always told you he was a good fellow. He's really shown me some +attentions, and that's more than most of the young men have done, except +Warry. Warry was nice to everybody. But Saxton's alive and hearty and +hasn't skipped for parts unknown. Why is Evelyn mourning?" He shook the +glass until the ice tinkled pleasantly. + +"I don't know. Maybe--maybe he doesn't understand!" + +"He isn't stupid," said the general, thoughtfully. + +"Of course he isn't." + +"It may be that he isn't interested--that she doesn't appeal to him. +Such a thing is conceivable." + +"No, it isn't! Of course it isn't!" + +The general laughed at her scornful rejection of the idea. + +"You tell me, then." + +"What I think is, that there is some reason--perhaps some point of honor +with him--that keeps him away from her. He was Warry's friend. He was +nearer Warry in his last years than any one. Don't you think that +something of that sort may be the matter?" + +The general was greatly amused, and he laughed so that Mrs. Whipple's +own dignity was shaken. + +"Amelia," he said, "your analytical powers are too sharp for this world. +You're shaving it down pretty fine, it seems to me. I wish you'd tell me +what you base that on." + +"I'm not basing it; but it seems so natural that that should be the +way." + +The syphon gurgled harshly and sputtered, and the general put it down +sadly. + +"Now that you've solved the riddle in your own mind, how are you going +to proceed? You'd better not try army tactics on a civilian job. Saxton +isn't a second lieutenant, to be regulated by the commandant's wife." + +"He's a dear!" declared Mrs. Whipple irrelevantly. "If Evelyn Porter +wants him, she's going to have him." + +"Oh, Lord!" The general took up his syphon to carry it back to the case +in the pantry. "He's 'a dear,' is he? Amelia, John Saxton weighs at +least one hundred and eighty pounds. I don't believe I'd call him 'a +dear.' I'd reserve that for slim, elderly persons like me, or young +girls just out of school." He stood swinging the syphon at arm's length. +"Now, if my advice were worth anything, I'd tell you to let these young +people alone. If you've guessed the true inwardness of this matter--as +you probably haven't--they'll come out all right." + +"Of course they'll come out all right," she answered, dreamily. The +swinging door in the dining-room fanned upon her answer as the general +strode through into the pantry. + +For several weeks following Mrs. Whipple continued to think of Evelyn +and her affairs. Evelyn was not an object of pity, and yet there was a +certain pathos about her. Her position in the town as the daughter of +its wealthiest citizen isolated her, it seemed to Mrs. Whipple. A girl +would be less than human if the experiences to which Evelyn had been +subjected did not make a profound impression upon her. Mrs. Whipple had +seen a good deal of trouble in her day. She felt that Evelyn had learned +too much of life in one lesson; if she could ease the future for her, +she wished to do it. With such hopes as these she occupied herself as +spring waxed old and summer held the land. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +SHIFTED BURDENS + + +Porter insisted that Margrave should not have the Traction Company at +any price, though the general manager of the Transcontinental was +persistent in his offers. As Margrave did not care to deal with Porter, +who was not, he complained, "an easy trader," he negotiated with Fenton +and Saxton. After several weeks of ineffectual effort he concluded that +Fenton and Saxton were almost as difficult. He called Saxton a "stubborn +brute" to Saxton's face; but offered to continue him in a responsible +position with the company if he would help him with the purchase. He +still wanted to control the company for political reasons, but there was +also the fact of his having invested the money of several of his friends +in the Transcontinental directorate, prior to the last annual meeting. + +These gentlemen had begun to inquire in a respectful way when Margrave +was going to effect the _coup_ which, he had been assuring them, he had +planned. They had, they were aware, no rights as against the +bondholders; and as Margrave understood this perfectly well, he was very +anxious to buy in the property at receiver's sale for an amount that +would satisfy Porter and his allies, and give him a chance to "square +himself," as he put it. This required additional money, but he was able +to command it from his "people," for the receiver had demonstrated that +the property could be made to pay. While these negotiations were +pending, Saxton and Fenton were able to satisfy their curiosity as to +the relations which had existed between Wheaton and Margrave. Margrave +had no shame in confessing just what had passed between them; he viewed +it all as a joke, and explained, without compunction, exactly the manner +in which he had come by the shares which had belonged to Evelyn Porter +and James Wheaton. + +When Saxton came back from Colorado, Porter was ill again, and Fenton +was seriously disposed to accept a price which Margrave's syndicate had +offered. Margrave's position had grown uncomfortable; he had to get +himself and "his people" out of a scrape at any cost. His plight pleased +Fenton, who tried to make Porter see the irony of it; and this view of +it, as much as the high offer, finally prevailed upon him. He saw at +last the futility of securing and managing the property for himself; his +health had become a matter of concern, and Fenton insisted that a street +railway company would prove no easier to manage than a bank. + +Porter was, as John had said, "a peculiar brick," and after the final +orders of the court had been made, and Saxton's fees allowed, Porter +sent him a check for five thousand dollars, without comment. Fenton made +him keep it; Porter had done well in Traction and he owed much to John; +but John protested that he preferred being thanked to being tipped; but +the lawyer persuaded him at last that the idiosyncrasies of the rich +ought to be respected. + +Porter felt his burdens slipping from him with unexpected satisfaction. +He grew jaunty in his old way as he chid his contemporaries and friends +for holding on; as for himself, he told them, he intended "to die +rested," and he adjusted his affairs so that they would give him little +trouble in the future. The cottage which he had bought on the North +Shore was a place they had all admired the previous summer. Porter had +liked it because there was enough ground to afford the lawn and flower +beds which he cultivated with so much satisfaction at home. The place +was called "Red Gables," and Porter had bought it with its furniture, so +that there was little to do in taking possession but to move in. The +Whipples were their first guests, going to them in mid-July, when they +were fully installed. + +The elder Bostonians whom Porter had met the previous summer promptly +renewed their acquaintance with him. He had attained, in their eyes, a +new dignity in becoming a cottager. The previous owner of "Red Gables" +had lately failed in business and they found in the advent of the +Porters a sign of the replenishing of the East from the West, which +interested them philosophically. Porter lacked their own repose, but +they liked to hear him talk. He was amusing and interesting, and they +had already found his prophecies concerning the markets trustworthy. The +ladies of their families heard with horror his views on the Indian +question, which were not romantic, nor touched with the spirit of Boston +philanthropy; but his daughter was lovely, they said, and her accent was +wholly inoffensive. + +So the Porters were well received, and Evelyn was glad to find her +father accepting his new leisure so complacently. She and Mrs. Whipple +agreed that he and the general were as handsome and interesting as any +of the elderly Bostonians among their neighbors; and they undoubtedly +were so. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +RETROSPECTIVE VANITY + + +John Saxton sat in the office of the Traction Company on a hot night in +July. Fenton had just left him. The transfer to the Margrave syndicate +had been effected and John would no more sign himself "John Saxton, +Receiver." His work in Clarkson was at an end. The Neponset Trust +Company had called him to Boston for a conference, which meant, he knew, +a termination of his service with them. He had lately sold the +Poindexter ranch, and so little property remained on the Neponset's +books that it could be cared for from the home office. He had not opened +the afternoon mail. He picked up a letter from the top of the pile and +read: + + + SAN FRANCISCO, July 10, 189--. + + My Dear Sir: + + I hesitate about writing you, but there are some things which I + should like you to understand before I go away. I had fully + expected to remain with you and Bishop Delafield and to return to + Clarkson that last morning at Poindexter's. I cannot defend myself + for having run away; it must have seemed a strange thing to you + that I did so. I had fully intended acting on the bishop's advice, + which I knew then, and know now, was good. But when the west-bound + train came, my courage left me; I could not go back and face the + people I had known, after what had happened. I told you the truth + there in the ranch house that night; every word of it was true. + Maybe I did not make it clear enough how weak I am. I do not know + why God made me so; I know that I tried to fight it; but I was vain + and foolish. Things came too easy for me, I guess; at any rate I + was never worthy of the good fortune that befell me. It seemed to + me that for two years everything I did was a mistake. I suppose if + I had been a real criminal, and not merely a coward, I should not + have entangled myself as I did and brought calamity upon other + people. + + When I reached here, I found employment with a shipping house. I + have told my story to one of the firm, who has been kind to me. He + seems to understand my case, and is giving me a good chance to + begin over again. I suppose the worst possible things have been + said about me, and I do not care, except that I hope the people in + Clarkson will not think I was guilty of any wrong-doing at the + bank. I read in the newspapers that I had stolen the bank's money, + and I hope that was corrected. The books must have proved what I + say. I understand now that what I did was worse than stealing, but + I should like you and Mr. Porter to know that I not only did not + take other people's money, but that in my foolish relations with + Margrave I did not receive a cent for the shares of stock which he + took from me--neither for my own nor for those of Miss Porter. I + don't blame Margrave; if I had not been a coward he could not have + played with me as he did. + + The company is sending me to one of its South American houses. I go + by steamer to-morrow, and you will not hear from me again. I should + like you to know that I have neither seen nor heard anything of my + brother since that night. With best wishes for your own happiness + and prosperity, + + Yours sincerely, + + JAMES WHEATON. + + JOHN SAXTON, ESQ. + + +On his way home to the club Saxton stopped at Bishop Delafield's rooms, +and found the bishop, as usual, preparing for flight. Time did not +change Bishop Delafield. He was one of those men who reach sixty, and +never, apparently, pass it. He and Saxton were fast friends now. The +bishop missed Warry out of his life: Warry was always so accessible and +so cheering. John Saxton was not so accessible and he had not Warry's +lightness, but the Bishop of Clarkson liked John Saxton! + +The bishop sat with his inevitable hand-baggage by his side and read +Wheaton's letter through. + +"How ignorant we are!" he said, folding it. "I sometimes think that we +who try to minister to the needs of the poor in spirit do not even know +the rudiments of our trade. We are pretty helpless with men like +Wheaton. They are apparently strong; they yield to no temptations, so +far as any man knows; they are exemplary characters. I suppose that they +are living little tragedies all the time. The moral coward is more to be +pitied than the open criminal. You know where to find the criminal; but +the moral coward is an unknown quantity. Life is a strange business, +John, and the older I get the less I think I know of it." He sighed and +handed back the letter. + +"But he's doing better than we might have expected him to," said Saxton. +"A man's entitled to happiness if he can find it. He undoubtedly chose +the easier part in running away. I can't imagine him coming back here to +face the community after all that had happened." + +"I don't know that I can either. Preaching is easier than practising, +and I'm not sure that I gave him the best advice at the ranch house that +morning." + +"Well, it was the only thing to do," Saxton answered. "I suppose neither +you nor I was sure he told the truth; it was a situation that was +calculated to make one skeptical. It isn't clear from his letter that +the whole thing has impressed him in any great way. He's anxious to have +us think well of him--a kind of retrospective vanity." + +"But his punishment is great. It's not for us to pass on its adequacy. I +must be going, John," and Saxton gathered up the battered cases and went +out to the car with him. + +Bishop Delafield always brought Warry back vividly to John, and as they +waited on the corner he remembered his first meeting with the bishop, in +Warry's rooms at The Bachelors'. And that was very long ago! + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +AT THE PARTING OF THE WAYS + + +The days that followed brought uncertainty and doubt to the heart and +mind of John Saxton. He had seen Evelyn several times before she left +home, on occasions when he went to the house with Fenton for conferences +with her father. He had intended saying good-by to her, but the Porters +went hurriedly at last and he was not sorry; it was easier that way. But +Mrs. Whipple, who was exercising a motherly supervision over John, had +exacted a promise from him to come to Orchard Lane during the time that +she and the general were to be with the Porters in their new cottage. +When he went East, Saxton settled down at his club in Boston, and +pretended that it was good to be at home again; but he went about with +homesickness gnawing his heart. He had reason to be happy and satisfied +with himself. He had practically concluded the difficult work which he +had been sent to Clarkson to do; he had realized more money from their +assets than the officers of the trust company had expected; and they +held out to him the promise of employment in their Boston office as a +reward. So he walked the familiar streets planning his future anew. He +had succeeded in something at last, and he would stay in Boston, +having, he told himself, earned the right to live there. The assistant +secretaryship of the trust company, which had been mentioned to him, +would be a position of dignity and promise. He had never hoped to do so +well. Moreover, it would be pleasant to be near his sister, who lived at +Worcester. There were only the two of them, and they ought to live near +together. + +It is, however, an unpleasant habit of the fates never to suffer us to +debate simple problems long; they must throw in new elements to puzzle +us. While he deferred going to Orchard Lane a new perplexity confronted +him. One of Margrave's "people" came from New York as the representative +of the syndicate that had purchased the Clarkson Traction Company, and +sought an interview. John had met this gentleman at the time the sale +was closed; he was a person of consequence in the financial world, who +came quickly to the point of his errand. He offered John the position of +general manager of the company. + +Margrave, it appeared, was not to have full swing after all. He was to +be president, but John's visitor intimated broadly that the position was +to be largely honorary. They had looked into the matter thoroughly in +New York and were anxious that the policy and methods of the +receivership should continue. Mr. Margrave was an invaluable man, said +the New Yorker, but his duties with the railroad company had so +multiplied that he would be unable to give the necessary care to the +street car management. John should have absolute authority. The +syndicate would be greatly disappointed if he declined. A salary was +named which was larger than John had ever dreamed of receiving in any +occupation; and they wished an answer within a few days. John Saxton was +human, and it was not easy to decline a salary of six thousand dollars +for services which he knew he could perform, offered to him by a +gentleman whom people were not in the habit of refusing. He remained +indoors at the club all day, smoking many pipes in a fruitless effort to +reconcile his resolves with his new problems. + +The next day he thought he saw it all more clearly. Perhaps, he +reflected, life in Boston would become endurable; there was his sister +to consider, and he owed something to her; she was all he had. He went +out and walked aimlessly through the hot streets, little heeding what he +did. He realized presently that he had gone into a railway office and +asked for a suburban time table. He carried this back to the club, where +the atmosphere of his cool, quiet room soothed him; and he lay down on a +couch and studied the list of Orchard Lane trains. He found that he +could run out almost any hour of the day. He slept and woke refreshed, +with the time table still grasped in his hand. He had been very foolish, +he concluded; it would be a simple matter to go out to Orchard Lane to +call on the Porters and Whipples, and he picked out one of the afternoon +trains and marked it on the folder with a lead pencil. He spent the +evening writing letters,--in particular a letter to the representative +of the Clarkson Traction syndicate, declining the general managership; +and the next afternoon when he went up to Orchard Lane he carried the +letter sealed and stamped in his pocket, as a kind of talisman that +would assure his safety. + +It suited his righteous mood that he should find no one at home at Red +Gables but Mr. Porter, who played golf all the morning and slept and +experimented at landscape gardening all the afternoon. He welcomed John +with unwonted cordiality, in the inexplicable way people have of being +friendlier with a fellow townsman away from their common habitat than at +home. He led the way to a cool and cozy corner of the broad veranda, +where Japanese screens made a pleasant nook. The afternoon sea shimmered +beyond the trees; the lawn was tended with urban care. Porter was very +proud of the place and listened with approval to John's praise of it. + +"Well, sir; it's cooler than Clarkson." + +"A trifle, yes; the efforts of the Clarkson papers to make a summer +resort of the town were never very successful." John's eyes rested on a +wicker table where there were books and a little sewing basket, which it +wrung his heart to see. + +"Folks are all off somewhere. The Whipples are in town. Grant's gone +sailing and Evelyn's out visiting or attending a push of some kind up +the shore. But I guess I know when I've got a good thing. You don't +catch me gadding into town when I've got a cool place to sit." He +stretched his short legs comfortably. "I hope you'll smoke a cigar if +you've got one. They've cut mine off, and Evelyn won't let me keep any +around; thinks they'd be too much of a temptation." + +"It's just as well to keep away from temptation," said John, not +thinking of cigars. The sight of Porter and the mention of Clarkson +brought his homesickness to an acute stage. + +"I suppose our old friend Margrave's enjoying himself running the +Traction Company by this time," continued Porter. "Well, sir; I guess he +can have it. I thought for a while that I wanted it myself, but Fenton +talked me out of it. It will pay, if they run it right; yes, sir; it's a +good thing. But the trouble with Margrave is that he won't play square. +It ain't in him. He's so crooked that they'll never find a coffin for +him,--no, sir; not in stock; I guess it'll tax the manufacturer to his +full capacity to fit Tim. But he seems to have those Transcontinental +people on the string, and they're smart fellows, too. I reckon +Margrave's a handy man for them. They used to say _I_ was crooked,"--he +twirled his straw hat, and changed the position of his legs; "but I +guess that for pure sinuosity I was never in Tim Margrave's class. Well, +Tim's a good enough fellow when all's said and done!" + +"They say of him that he always stands by his friends," said John. "And +that's a good deal." + +"That's right. It's a whole lot," Porter assented. + +There were some details connected with the final transfer of the +Traction Company to Margrave's syndicate which Porter had not fully +understood, or which Fenton had purposely kept from him; and he pressed +John for new light on these matters. John answered or parried as he +thought wisest. He was surprised to find how completely Porter had freed +himself from business; the sometime banker talked of Clarkson affairs +with an accentuation of the past tense, as if to wave them all away as +far as possible. Events in themselves did not interest him particularly; +but he took a mildly patronizing tone in philosophizing about them. He +drew from John the fact that most of the property of the Neponset Trust +Company in the Trans-Missouri region had been sold. + +"That's good. I guess you've done pretty well for them, Saxton. But I +hope we shan't lose you from Clarkson. We need young men out there; and +I guess we've got as good a town as there is anywhere west of Chicago." + +"I'm sure of that," said John; and he rose to go. + +"I'm sorry the rest of them are not here," said Mr. Porter. "Evelyn +ought to have been home before this. But you must come again. Come out +and try the golf course and have dinner with us any time. I'm playing a +little myself this summer. Evelyn and Grant can outdrive me all right; +but they're not in it with me on putting. I'm one of the warmest putters +on the links. You can find the shore path this way." He led John to an +exit at the rear of the house, where there was an old apple orchard. +"After you pass the lighthouse you come to a road that leads right into +the village." + +John left his greetings for the rest of the household and turned away. +It had all happened much more easily than he had expected. He had burned +all his bridges behind him now; he would mail his letter in the village; +not that it would be delivered any sooner, but because it fell in with +his spirit of renunciation that it should go hence with the Orchard Lane +postmark. + +He took it from his pocket and carried it in his hand. He found the walk +very pleasant, with the rough shore of the bay on one hand and pretty +villas on the other. Orchard Lane was not wholly a fiction of +nomenclature. There were veritable lanes that survived the coming of +fashion and wealth, and spoke of simpler times on these northern shores. +The path was not altogether straight, but described a tortuous line past +the lighthouse which crouched on a point of the bay. There was a train +at six o'clock; it was now five and he loitered along, stopping often to +look out upon the sea. A group of people was gathered about a tea table +on the sloping lawn in front of one of the houses. The colors of the +women's dresses were bright against the dark green. It was a gay +company; their laughter floated out to him mockingly. He wondered +whether Evelyn was there, as he passed on, beating the rocky path with +his stick. + +Evelyn was not there; but her destination was that particular lawn and +its tea table. Turning a fresh bend in the path he came upon her. He had +had no thought of seeing her; yet she was coming down the path toward +him, her picture hat framed in the dome of a blue parasol. He had +renounced her for all time, and he should greet her guardedly; but the +blood was singing in his temples and throbbing in his finger tips at the +sight of her. + +"This is too bad!" she exclaimed, as they met. "I hope you can come back +to the house." + +She walked straight up to him and gave him her hand in her quick, frank +way. + +"I'm sorry, but I must go in to town on this next train," he answered. +He turned in the path and walked along beside her. + +"This happened to be one of our scattering days, for all except father." + +"We had a nice talk, he and I. Your place is charming." + +They descended the shore path until they came to the villa where the tea +drinkers were assembled. + +"Don't let me detain you. I'm sure you were going to join these lotus +eaters." + +"I don't believe they need me," she answered, evasively. "They seem +pretty busy. But if you're hungry--or thirsty, I can get something for +you there." They passed the gate, walking slowly along. He knew that he +ought to urge her to stop, and that he must hurry on to catch his train; +but it was too sweet to be near her; this was the last time and it was +his own! + +"I seem to remember your tea drinking ways," she said. "You use only +sugar and the hot water." + +"But that was in the winter," he responded. He wished she had not +referred to that afternoon, when he had been weak, just as he was +proving weak now. A yacht was steaming slowly into the bay. It was a +pretty, white plaything and they paused and commended its good qualities +with the easy certainty of superficial knowledge. They walked on, +passing the lighthouse, and slowly nearing the entrance to Red Gables. +She led the talk easily and her light-heartedness added to his +depression; every step he took was an error; but he would leave her at +the gate when they came to it and go on to the village and his train. +She paused abruptly and looked across a meadow which lay between them +and the Red Gables orchard. + +"I really believe it's a cow; yes, it is a cow," she declared, with +quiet conviction. + +"I thought it was a yacht. Was I as dull as that?" he demanded. + +"Be it far from me to say; but I was getting a little breathless. Even +the professional monologuists in the vaudeville have to rest." + +He was not in a humor for frivolous conversation; but she had never been +so gay. He had committed himself to general chaos and yet she was +smiling amid the ruin of the world. + +"I don't believe there are any letter boxes along here," she continued, +looking straight ahead. He remembered his letter; he was stupidly +carrying it in his hand; his fingers were cramped from their clutch upon +it. It was not easy to resist her mood, and he now laughed in spite of +himself. + +"I'm disappointed. I thought they had all the necessities of a +successful summer resort here,--even mails." + +"Rather poor, don't you think? I suppose you were carrying the letter to +get an opening for that." + +They paused and John held open the little gate in the stone wall. He was +grave again, and something of his seriousness communicated itself to +her. Clearly, he thought, this was the parting of the ways. He had not +relaxed his hold upon the letter; it was a straw at which he clutched +for support. + +"Won't you come in? There are plenty of trains and we'd like you to dine +with us." + +A great wave of loneliness and yearning swept over him. Her invitation +seemed to create new and limitless distances that stretched between +them. In fumbling with the latch of the gate he had dropped his letter. +The wind caught and carried it out into the grass. + +He went soberly after it and picked it up. There was a dogged +resignation in his step as he walked slowly across the grass. While he +was securing the bit of paper, she sat down on a rustic bench and waited +for him. + +"The fates don't agree with you about the letter, Mr. Saxton. You were +looking for a letter box and they tried to thwart you." + +"I'm not superstitious," said John, smiling a little. + +"One needn't be,--to act on the direct hints of Providence." + +She sat at comfortable ease on the bench, holding her parasol across her +lap. There was room for two, and John sat down. + +"Suppose it were a check on an overdrawn account; would Providence +intervene to prevent an overdraft?" + +"That's a commercial hypothesis; I think we should be above such +considerations." Then they were silent. John bent forward with his +elbows on his knees, playing with his stick and still holding the +letter. The wind came up out of the sea and blew in their faces. The +brass mountings of the yacht shone resplendent in the slanting rays of +the lowering sun. It was very calm and restful in the orchard. Two +robins came and inspected them, and then flew away to one of the gnarled +old trees to gossip about them. + +"It happens to be important," said John, indicating the letter. + +[Illustration] + +"Oh, pardon me!" with real contrition. It was not her way to flirt with +a young man over a letter. John held up the envelope so that she saw the +superscription. She knew the name very well. It was constantly in the +newspapers, and the owner of it had dined once at her father's house. + +"He's the head of the syndicate that has bought the Traction Company. He +has asked me to stay in Clarkson and run the street cars." + +"That's very nice. But merit gets rewarded sometimes." + +"But I have refused the offer," he said quietly. He had not intended to +tell her; but it was doubtless just as well; and it would alter nothing. +"My work in Clarkson is finished," he went on. "Warry's affairs will +make it necessary for me to go back from time to time, but it will not +be home again." + +"I'm sorry," she said. "I thought you were to be of us. But I suppose +there is a greater difference between the East and the West than any one +can understand who has not known both." They regarded each other +gravely, as if this were, of course, the whole matter at issue. + +"I can't go back,--it's too much; I can't do it," he said wearily. + +"I know how it must be,--this last year and Warry! It was all so +terrible--for all of us." She was looking away; the wind had freshened; +the yacht's pennant stood out against the blue sky. + +John rose and looked down at her. It was natural that she should include +herself with him in a common grief for the man who had been his friend +and whom she had loved. She had always been kind to him; her kindness +stung him now, for he knew that it was because of Warry; and a resolve +woke in him suddenly. He would not suffer her kindness under a false +pretense; he could at least be honest with her. + +"I can't go back, because he is not there; and because--because you are +there! You don't know,--you should never know, but I was disloyal to +Warry from the first. I let him talk to me from day to day of you; I let +him tell me that he loved you; I never let him know--I never meant any +one to know--" He ceased speaking; she was very still and did not look +at him. "It was base of me," he went on. "I would gladly have died for +him if he had lived; but now that he is dead I can betray him. I hate +myself worse than you can hate me. I know how I must wound and shock +you--" + +"Oh, no!" she moaned. + +But he went on; he would spare himself nothing. + +"It is hideous--it was cowardly of me to come here." + +His hands were clenched and his face twitched with pain. "Oh, if he had +lived! If he had lived!" + +She rose now and looked at him with an infinite pity. This is one of +God's unreckoned gifts to man,--the gift of pity that He has made the +great secret of a woman's eyes. Evelyn's were gray now, like the stretch +of sea beyond her, where a mist was creeping shoreward over the blue +water. + +"If he had lived," she said very softly, looking away through the +sun-dappled aisles of the orchard, "if he had lived--it would have been +the same, John." + +But he did not understand. His name as she spoke it rang strange in his +ears. The letter had fallen to the ground and lay in the grass between +them; he half stooped to pick it up, not knowing what he did. + +She walked away through the orchard path, which suddenly became to him +a path of gold that stretched into paradise; and he sprang after her +with a great fear in his heart lest some barrier might descend and shut +her out forever. + +"Evelyn! Evelyn!" + +It was not a voice that called her; it was a spirit, long held in +thrall, that had shaken free and become a name. + + * * * * * + +A LIST _of_ IMPORTANT FICTION + +THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY + + +_It is fresh and spontaneous, having nothing of that wooden quality +which is becoming associated with the term "historical novel."_ + +HEARTS COURAGEOUS + +By HALLIE ERMINIE RIVES + +"Hearts Courageous" is made of new material, a picturesque yet delicate +style, good plot and very dramatic situations. The best in the book are +the defence of George Washington by the Marquis; the duel between the +English officer and the Marquis; and Patrick Henry flinging the brand of +war into the assembly of the burgesses of Virginia. + +Williamsburg, Virginia, the country round about, and the life led in +that locality just before the Revolution, form an attractive setting for +the action of the story. + +With six illustrations by A. B. Wenzell + +12mo. Price, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +THE GREAT NOVEL OF THE YEAR + +THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE + +_How the star of good fortune rose and set and rose again, by a woman's +grace, for one John Law, of Lauriston_ + +A novel by EMERSON HOUGH + +Emerson Hough has written one of the best novels that has come out of +America in many a day. It is an exciting story, with the literary touch +on every page.--JEANNETTE L. GILDER, of _The Critic_. + +In "The Mississippi Bubble" Emerson Hough has taken John Law and certain +known events in his career, and about them he has woven a web of romance +full of brilliant coloring and cunning work. It proves conclusively that +Mr. Hough is a novelist of no ordinary quality.--_The Brooklyn Eagle._ + +As a novel embodying a wonderful period in the growth of America "The +Mississippi Bubble" is of intense interest. As a love story it is rarely +and beautifully told. John Law, as drawn in this novel, is a great +character, cool, debonair, audacious, he is an Admirable Crichton in his +personality, and a Napoleon in his far-reaching wisdom.--_The Chicago +American._ + +The Illustrations by Henry Hutt + +12mo, 452 pages, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +YOUTH, SPLENDOR AND TRAGEDY + +FRANCEZKA + +By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL + +There is no character in fiction more lovable and appealing than is +Francezka. Miss Seawell has told a story of youth, splendor and tragedy +with an art which links it with summer dreams, which drowns the somber +in the picturesque, which makes pain and vice a stage wonder. + +The book is marked by the same sparkle and cleverness of the author's +earlier work, to which is added a dignity and force which makes it most +noteworthy. + +"Here is a novel that not only provides the reader with a succession of +sprightly adventures, but furnishes a narrative brilliant, witty and +clever. The period is the first half of that most fascinating, +picturesque and epoch-making century, the eighteenth. Francezka is a +winsome heroine. The story has light and shadow and high spirits, +tempered with the gay, mocking, debonair philosophy of the +time."--_Brooklyn Times._ + +Charmingly illustrated by Harrison Fisher + +Bound in green and white and gold + +12mo, cloth. Price, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +A BRILLIANT AND SERIOUS NOVEL + +CHILDREN OF DESTINY + +By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL + +Author of Francezka and The Sprightly Romance of Marsac. + +One of Miss Seawell's most brilliant and serious works is this novel of +Old Virginia. One lives again the patrician elegance of those mannerly +times with all their freedom and all their limitations. In the midst of +those quiet people--some rich in worldly goods, all rich in their birth +and station--is born a man with the unrest of genius. Miss Seawell's +powerful delineations of this man's character, her charming presentation +of the old days, her sprightly humor, playing on the foibles of these +early nineteenth century aristocrats, the tenderness and beautiful love +of her heroine, show her as a brilliant writer and deep thinker. In none +of her other books is her art so true and her touch so poised. + +With six Illustrations by A. B. 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Price, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +WHAT BOOK BY A NEW AUTHOR HAS RECEIVED SUCH PRAISE? + +WHAT MANNER OF MAN + +By EDNA KENTON + +The novel, "What Manner of Man," is a study of what is commonly known as +the "artistic temperament," and a novel so far above the average level +of merit as to cause even tired reviewers to sit up and take hope once +more.--_New York Times._ + +It will certainly stand out as one of the most notable novels of the +year.--_Philadelphia Press._ + +It does not need a trained critical faculty to recognize that this book +is something more than clever.--_N. Y. Commercial._ + +Note should be made of the literary charm and value of the work, and +likewise of its eminently readable quality, considered purely as a +romance.--_Philadelphia Record._ + +Literary distinction is stamped on every page, and the author's insight +into the human heart gives promise of a brilliant future.--_Chicago +Record-Herald._ + +The whole book is full of dramatic force. The author is an unusual +thinker and observer, and has a rare gift for creative +literature.--_Philadelphia Evening Telegraph._ + +"What Manner of Man" is a study and a creation.--_N. Y. World._ + +12mo, Cloth, Gilt Top, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +DIFFERENT AND DELIGHTFUL + +UNDER THE ROSE + +A Story of the Loves of a Duke and a Jester + +By FREDERIC S. ISHAM + +Author of The Strollers + +In "Under the Rose" Mr. Isham has written a most entertaining book--the +plot is unique; the style is graceful and clever; the whole story is +pervaded by a spirit of sunshine and good humor, and the ending is a +happy one. Mr. Christy's pictures mark a distinct step forward in +illustrative art. There is only one way, and it is an entertaining one, +to find out what is "Under the Rose"--read it. + +"No one will take up 'Under the Rose' and lay it down before completion; +many will even return to it for a repeated reading"--_Book News._ + +"Mr. Isham tells all of his fanciful, romantic tale delightfully. The +reader who loves romance, intrigue and adventure, love-seasoned, will +find it here."--_The Lamp._ + +With Illustrations in Six Colors by Howard Chandler Christy +12mo, Cloth, Price, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +A NEW NOTE IN FICTION + +THE STROLLERS + +By FREDERIC S. 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Commercial Advertiser._ + +After all the material for the story had been collected a year was +required for the writing of it. It is an historical romance of the +better sort, with stirring situations, good bits of character drawing +and a satisfactory knowledge of the tone and atmosphere of the period +involved.--_N. Y. Herald._ + +Lazarre, is no less a person than the Dauphin, Louis XVII. of France, +and a right royal hero he makes. A prince who, for the sake of his lady, +scorns perils in two hemispheres, facing the wrath of kings in Europe +and the bullets of savages in America; who at the last spurns a kingdom +that he may wed her freely--here is one to redeem the sins of even those +who "never learn and never forget."--_Philadelphia North American._ + +With six Illustrations by André Castaigne + +12 mo. Price, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +"THE MERRIEST NOVEL OF MANY, MANY MOONS" + +MY LADY PEGGY GOES TO TOWN + +By FRANCES AYMAR MATHEWS + +The Daintiest and Most Delightful Book of the Season. + +A heroine almost too charming to be true is Peggy, and it were a +churlish reader who is not, at the end of the first chapter, prostrate +before her red slippers.--_Washington Post._ + +To make a comparison would be to rank "My Lady Peggy" with "Monsieur +Beaucaire" in points of attraction, and to applaud as heartily as that +delicate romance, this picture of the days "When patches nestled o'er +sweet lips at chocolate times."--_N. Y. Mail and Express._ + +12 mo. Beautifully illustrated and bound. + +Price, $1.25 net + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +A VIVACIOUS ROMANCE OF REVOLUTIONARY DAYS + +ALICE _of_ OLD VINCENNES + +By MAURICE THOMPSON + +_The Atlanta Constitution says_: + +"Mr. Thompson, whose delightful writings in prose and verse have made +his reputation national, has achieved his master stroke of genius in +this historical novel of revolutionary days in the West." + +_The Denver Daily News says:_: + +"There are three great chapters of fiction: Scott's tournament on Ashby +field, General Wallace's chariot race, and now Maurice Thompson's duel +scene and the raising of Alice's flag over old Fort Vincennes." + +_The Chicago Record-Herald says_: + +"More original than 'Richard Carvel,' more cohesive than 'To Have and To +Hold,' more vital than 'Janice Meredith,' such is Maurice Thompson's +superb American romance, 'Alice of Old Vincennes.' It is, in addition, +more artistic and spontaneous than any of its rivals." + +VIRGINIA HARNED EDITION + +12mo, with six Illustrations by F. C. Yohn, and a Frontispiece in Color +by Howard Chandler Christy. Price, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +A STORY BY THE "MARCH KING" + +THE FIFTH STRING + +By JOHN PHILIP SOUSA + +The "March King" has written much in a musical way, but "The Fifth +String" is his first published story. In the choice of his subject, as +the title indicates, Mr. Sousa has remained faithful to his art; and the +great public, that has learned to love him for the marches he has made, +will be as delighted with his pen as with his baton. + +"The Fifth String" has a strong and clearly defined plot which shows in +its treatment the author's artistically sensitive temperament and his +tremendous dramatic power. It is a story of a marvelous violin, of a +wonderful love and of a strange temptation. + +A cover, especially designed, and six full-page illustrations by Howard +Chandler Christy, serve to give the distinguishing decorative +embellishments that this first book by Mr. Sousa so richly deserves. + +With Pictures by Howard Chandler Christy + +12mo. Price, $1.25 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +A GOOD DETECTIVE STORY + +THE FILIGREE BALL + +By ANNA KATHERINE GREEN + +Author of "The Leavenworth Case" + +This is something more than a mere detective story; it is a thrilling +romance--a romance of mystery and crime where a shrewd detective helps +to solve the mystery. The plot is a novel and intricate one, carefully +worked out. There are constant accessions to the main mystery, so that +the reader can not possibly imagine the conclusion. The story is +clean-cut and wholesome, with a quality that might be called manly. The +characters are depicted so as to make a living impression. Cora Tuttle +is a fine creation, and the flash of love which she gives the hero is +wonderfully well done. Unlike many mystery stories The Filigree Ball is +not disappointing at the end. The characters most liked but longest +suspected are proved not only guiltless, but above suspicion. It is a +story to be read with a rush and at a sitting, for no one can put it +down until the mystery is solved. + +Illustrated by C. M. Relyea. + +12mo, Cloth, Price, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +A VIVID WESTERN STORY OF LOVE AND POLITICS + +THE 13TH DISTRICT + +By BRAND WHITLOCK + +This is a story of high order. By its scope and strength it deserves to +be spoken of as a novel--and that word has been very much abused by +hanging it to any old thing. It is a wonderfully good and interesting +account of the workings of politics from before the primaries on through +election, with a splendid love story also woven into it. + +One would think for instance, that it would be impossible to give an +account of a "primary" and keep it interesting; it is natural to suppose +a writer would become entangled with the dull routine of it all, but he +does not, he makes it interesting. He shows the tricks, the heat, the +passion, the tumult; the weariness and stubborness of a dead lock. The +descriptions of society life in the book are equally good. + +12mo. Price, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +THE TRIUMPH OF FORGIVENESS + +THE LOOM OF LIFE + +By CHARLES FREDERIC GOSS + +Author of "The Redemption of David Corson." + +In "The Loom of Life" Dr. Goss has written a powerful book, filled with +the poetry and tragedy of life. It tells a novel and impressive story in +a style marked by a charming felicity of expression. + +The story, which has an epic broadness and strength, is of a young girl +who revenges a wrong done to her with life-long persecution. Finally, +however, she is forced to realize that on earth peace and happiness can +be obtained only by forgiveness. + +"Mr. Goss' splendid powers have been demonstrated afresh. This book +alone is strong enough, big enough, important enough, enough suggestive +and informing, to make a reputation for any one. + +"He has already a large audience created by his earlier book, 'The +Redemption of David Corson.' The new book will at once find favorable +and eager readers."--_The Living Church._ + +12mo, cloth. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Main Chance + +Author: Meredith Nicholson + +Illustrator: Harrison Fisher + +Release Date: August 24, 2011 [EBook #37190] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAIN CHANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p class="bold2">THE MAIN CHANCE</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="center"><a name="coverpage" id="coverpage"></a><img src="images/cover.jpg" width='488' height='700' alt="cover" /></div> + +<hr /> + +<h1><span>THE MAIN CHANCE</span><br /><br /><span id="id1">BY</span> <span>MEREDITH NICHOLSON</span></h1> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p class="bold">ILLUSTRATED BY<br />HARRISON FISHER</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p class="bold">INDIANAPOLIS<br />THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY<br />PUBLISHERS</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright 1903</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Bobbs-Merrill Company</span></p> + +<hr class="smler" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">May</span></p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p class="center">PRESS OF<br />BRAUNWORTH & CO.<br /> +BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS<br />BROOKLYN, N. Y.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="center">TO<br /><br />E. K. N.<br /><br />WHO WILL REMEMBER AND<br /><br />UNDERSTAND</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/col01.jpg" width='467' height='700' alt="Illustration" /></div> + +<hr /> + +<h2><span>CONTENTS</span></h2> + +<table summary="CONTENTS"> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left"><span class="smaller">CHAPTER</span></td> + <td><span class="smaller">PAGE</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>I</td> + <td class="left"> A NEW MAN IN TOWN</td> + <td><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>II</td> + <td class="left"> WARRICK RARIDAN</td> + <td><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>III</td> + <td class="left"> SWEET PEAS</td> + <td><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>IV</td> + <td class="left"> AT POINDEXTERS'</td> + <td><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>V</td> + <td class="left"> DEBATABLE QUESTIONS</td> + <td><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>VI</td> + <td class="left"> A SAFE MAN</td> + <td><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>VII</td> + <td class="left"> WARRY RARIDAN'S INDIGNATION</td> + <td><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>VIII</td> + <td class="left"> TIM MARGRAVE MAKES A CHOICE</td> + <td><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>IX</td> + <td class="left"> PARLEYINGS</td> + <td><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>X</td> + <td class="left"> A WRECKED CANNA BED</td> + <td><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XI</td> + <td class="left"> THE KNIGHTS OF MIDAS BALL</td> + <td><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XII</td> + <td class="left"> A MORNING AT ST. PAUL'S</td> + <td><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XIII</td> + <td class="left"> BARGAIN AND SALE</td> + <td><a href="#Page_152">152</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XIV</td> + <td class="left"> THE GIRL THAT TRIES HARD</td> + <td><a href="#Page_166">166</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XV</td> + <td class="left"> AT THE COUNTRY CLUB</td> + <td><a href="#Page_174">174</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XVI</td> + <td class="left"> THE LADY AND THE BUNKER</td> + <td><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XVII</td> + <td class="left"> WARRY'S REPENTANCE</td> + <td><a href="#Page_206">206</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XVIII</td> + <td class="left"> FATHER AND DAUGHTER</td> + <td><a href="#Page_213">213</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XIX</td> + <td class="left"> A FORECAST AT THE WHIPPLES'</td> + <td><a href="#Page_229">229</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XX</td> + <td class="left"> ORCHARD LANE</td> + <td><a href="#Page_237">237</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXI</td> + <td class="left"> JAMES WHEATON MAKES A COMPUTATION</td> + <td><a href="#Page_241">241</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXII</td> + <td class="left"> AN ANNUAL PASS</td> + <td><a href="#Page_250">250</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXIII</td> + <td class="left"> WILLIAM PORTER RETURNS FROM A JOURNEY</td> + <td><a href="#Page_258">258</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXIV</td> + <td class="left"> INTERRUPTED PLANS</td> + <td><a href="#Page_266">266</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXV</td> + <td class="left"> JAMES WHEATON DECLINES AN OFFER</td> + <td><a href="#Page_272">272</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXVI</td> + <td class="left"> THE KEY TO A DILEMMA</td> + <td><a href="#Page_279">279</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXVII</td> + <td class="left"> A MEETING BETWEEN GENTLEMEN</td> + <td><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXVIII</td> + <td class="left"> BROKEN GLASS</td> + <td><a href="#Page_299">299</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXIX</td> + <td class="left"> JOHN SAXTON, RECEIVER</td> + <td><a href="#Page_310">310</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXX</td> + <td class="left"> GREEN CHARTREUSE</td> + <td><a href="#Page_313">313</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXXI</td> + <td class="left"> PUZZLING AUTOGRAPHS</td> + <td><a href="#Page_319">319</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXXII</td> + <td class="left"> CROSSED WIRES</td> + <td><a href="#Page_323">323</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXXIII</td> + <td class="left"> A DISAPPEARANCE</td> + <td><a href="#Page_332">332</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXXIV</td> + <td class="left"> JOHN SAXTON SUGGESTS A CLUE</td> + <td><a href="#Page_339">339</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXXV</td> + <td class="left"> SHOTS IN THE DARK</td> + <td><a href="#Page_352">352</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXXVI</td> + <td class="left"> HOME THROUGH THE SNOW</td> + <td><a href="#Page_370">370</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXXVII</td> + <td class="left"> "A PECULIAR BRICK"</td> + <td><a href="#Page_379">379</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXXVIII</td> + <td class="left"> OLD PHOTOGRAPHS</td> + <td><a href="#Page_384">384</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XXXIX</td> + <td class="left"> "IT IS CRUEL"</td> + <td><a href="#Page_389">389</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XL</td> + <td class="left"> SHIFTED BURDENS</td> + <td><a href="#Page_399">399</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XLI</td> + <td class="left"> RETROSPECTIVE VANITY</td> + <td><a href="#Page_403">403</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XLII</td> + <td class="left"> AT THE PARTING OF THE WAYS</td> + <td><a href="#Page_407">407</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<p class="bold2">THE MAIN CHANCE</p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER I</span> <span class="smaller">A NEW MAN IN TOWN</span></h2> + +<p>"Well, sir, they say I'm crooked!"</p> + +<p>William Porter tipped back his swivel chair and placidly puffed a cigar +as he watched the effect of this declaration on the young man who sat +talking to him.</p> + +<p>"That's said of every successful man nowadays, isn't it?" asked John Saxton.</p> + +<p>The president of the Clarkson National Bank ignored the question and +rolled his cigar from one side of his mouth to the other, as he waited +for his words to make their full impression upon his visitor.</p> + +<p>"They say I'm crooked," he repeated, with a narrowing of the eyes, "but +they don't say it very loud!"</p> + +<p>Porter kicked his heels together gently and watched his visitor with +eyes in which there was no trace of humor; but Saxton saw that he was +expected to laugh.</p> + +<p>"No, sir;" the banker continued, "they don't say it very loud, and I +guess they don't any of them want to have to prove it. I'm afraid those +Boston friends of yours have given us up as a bad lot," he went on, +waiving the matter of his personal rectitude and returning to the +affairs of his visitor; "and they've sent you out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> here to get their +money, and I don't blame them. Well, sir; that money's got to come out +in time, but it's going to take time and money to get it."</p> + +<p>"I believe they sent me because I had plenty of time," said Saxton, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Well, we want to help you win out," returned Porter. "And now what can +I do to start you off?" he asked briskly. "Have you got a place to stay? +Well, sir, I warn you solemnly against the hotels in this town; but +we've got a fairly decent club up here, and you'd better stay there till +you get acquainted. Been to breakfast? Breakfast on the train? That's +good. Just look over the papers till I get rid of these letters and I'll be free."</p> + +<p>Porter turned to his desk and replaced the eye-glasses which he had +dropped while talking. There was an air of great alertness in his small, +lean figure as he pushed buttons to summon various members of the +clerical force and rapidly dictated terse telegrams and letters to a +stenographer. He continued to smoke, and he shifted constantly the +narrow-brimmed, red-banded straw hat that he wore above his shrewd face. +It was an agreeable face to see, of a type that is common wherever the +North-Irish stock is found in America, and its characteristics were +expressed in his firm, lean jaw and blue eyes, and his reddish hair and +mustache, through which there were streaks of gray. He wore his hair +short, but it was still thick, and he combed it with precision. His +clothes fitted him; he wore a bright cravat, well tied, and his shoes +were carefully polished. Saxton was impressed by the banker's perfect +confidence and ease; it manifested itself in the way he tapped buttons +to call his subordinates, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> turned to satisfy the importunities of the +desk-telephone at his elbow.</p> + +<p>John Saxton had been sent to Clarkson by the Neponset Trust Company of +Boston to represent the interests of a group of clients who had made +rash investments in several of the Trans-Missouri states. Foreclosure +had, in many instances, resulted in the transfer to themselves of much +town and ranch property which was, in the conditions existing in the +early nineties, an exceedingly slow asset. It was necessary that some +one on the ground should care for these interests. The Clarkson National +Bank had been exercising a general supervision, but, as one of the +investors told his fellow sufferers in Boston, they should have an agent +whom they could call home and abuse, and here was Saxton, a +conscientious and steady fellow, who had some knowledge of the country, +and who, moreover, needed something to do. Saxton's acquaintance with +the West had been gained by a bitter experience of ranching in Wyoming. +A blizzard had destroyed his cattle, and the subsequent depression in +land values in the neighborhood of his ranch had left him encumbered +with a property for which there was no market. His friends had been +correct in the assumption that he needed employment, and he was, +moreover, glad of the chance to get away from home, where the impression +was making headway that he had failed at something in the vague, +non-interest-paying West. When, on his return from Wyoming, it became +necessary for his former acquaintances to identify him to one another, +they said, with varying degrees of kindness, that John had gone broke at +ranching; and if they liked him particularly, they said it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> too bad; +if they had not known him well in his fortunate days, they mildly +intimated that a fool and his money found quicker divorce at ranching +than in any other way. Most of Saxton's friends and contemporaries had +made good beginnings at home, and he felt, unnecessarily perhaps, that +his failure made him a marked man among them.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Porter presently, scrutinizing a telegram carefully before +signing it, "I'll take you up to the office we've been keeping for your +people, and show you what it looks like. Some of these things are run as +corporations, you understand, and in our state corporations have to +maintain a tangible residence."</p> + +<p>"So that the sheriff may find them more easily," added Saxton.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's no joke," returned Porter, as they entered the elevator +from the outer hall; "but they don't necessarily have much office +furniture to levy on."</p> + +<p>The room proved to be a small one at the top of the building. On the +ground-glass door was inscribed "The Interstate Irrigation Company." The +room contained a safe, a flat-top desk and a few chairs. Several maps +hung on the wall, some of them railroad advertisements, and others were +engineers' charts of ranch lands and irrigation ditches.</p> + +<p>"It ain't pretty," said Porter critically, "but if you don't like it you +can move when you get ready. The bank is your landlord, and we don't +charge you much for it. You've doubtless got your inventory of stuff +with you, and here in the safe you'll find the accounts of these +companies, copies of public records relating to them, and so on." As +Porter talked he stood in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> middle of the room with his hands in his +pockets, and puffed at a cigar, throwing his head back in an effort to +escape the smoke. He stood with one foot on a chair and pushed his hat +away from his forehead as he continued reflectively: "You're going up +against a pretty tough proposition, young man. You'll hear a hard luck +story wherever you go out here just now; people who owe your friends +money will be mighty sorry they can't pay. Many of the ranch lands your +people own will be worth something after a while. That Colorado +irrigation scheme ought to pan out in time, and I believe it will; but +you've got to nurse all these things. Make your principals let you +alone. Those fellows get in a hurry at the wrong time,—that's my +experience with Eastern investors. Tell them to go to Europe,—get rid +of them for a while, and make them give you a chance to work out their +money for them. They're not the only pebbles." A slight smile seemed to +creep over a small area about the banker's lips, but his cigar only +partly revealed it. His eyes rarely betrayed him, and the monotonous +drawl of his voice was without humorous intention.</p> + +<p>"I'll send the combination of the safe up by the boy," he said, moving +toward the door, "and you can get a bird's-eye view of the situation +before lunch. Mr. Wheaton, our cashier, is away to-day, but he's +familiar with these matters and will be glad to help you when he gets +home. He'll be back to-night. When you get stuck call on us. And drop +down about twelve thirty and go up to the club for lunch. Take it easy; +you can't do it all in one day," he added.</p> + +<p>"I hope I shan't be a nuisance to you," said the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> younger man. "I'm +going to fight it out on the best lines I know how,—if it takes several summers."</p> + +<p>"Well, it'll take them all right," said Porter, sententiously.</p> + +<p>Left to himself Saxton examined his new quarters, found a feather duster +hanging in a corner and brushed the dirt from the scanty furniture. This +done, he drew a pipe from his pocket, filled it from his tobacco pouch +and sat down by the open window, through which the breeze came cool out +of the great valley; and here he could see, far over the roofs and +spires of the town, the bluffs that marked the broad bed of the tawny +Missouri. He was not as buoyant as his last words to the banker implied. +Here he was, he reflected, a man of good education, as such things go, +who had lost his patrimony in a single venture. He had been sent, partly +out of compassion, he felt, to take charge of investments that were +admitted to be almost hopelessly bad. The salary promised would provide +for him comfortably, and that was about all; anything further would +depend upon himself, the secretary of the Neponset Trust Company had +told him; it would, he felt, depend much more particularly on the making +over by benign powers of the considerable part of the earth's surface in +which his principals' money lay hidden. As his eyes wandered to one of +the office walls, the black trail of a great transcontinental railroad +caught and held his attention. On one of its northern prongs lay the +region of his first defeat.</p> + +<p>"Three years of life are up there," he meditated, "and all my good +dollars are scattered along the right of way." Many things came back to +him vividly—how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> the wind used to howl around the little ranch house, +and how he rode through the snow among his dying cattle in the great +storm that had been his undoing. With his eyes still resting on the map, +he recurred to his early school days and to his four years at Harvard. +There was a burden of heartache in these recollections. Incidents of the +unconscious brutality of playmates came back to him,—the cruel candor +with which they had rejected him from sports in which proficiency, and +not mere strength or zeal, was essential. He had enjoyed at college no +experience of success in any of those ways which mark the undergraduate +for brief authority or fame. He had never been accepted for the crew nor +for the teams that represented the university on diamond or gridiron, +though he had always participated in athletics, and was possessed of +unusual strength. None of the professions had appealed to him, and he +had not heeded his father's wish that he enter the law. The elder +Saxton, who was himself a lawyer of moderate success, died before John's +graduation; he had lost his mother in his youth, and his only remaining +relative was a sister who married before he left college.</p> + +<p>A review of these brief and discouraging annals did not hearten him; but +he fell back upon the better mood with which he had begun the morning; +he had a new chance, and he proposed to make the best of it. He put +aside his coat and hat, lighted the pipe which he had been holding in +his hand, and opened his desk. The banker had sent up the combination of +the safe, as he had promised, and Saxton began inspecting its contents +and putting his office in order.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p><p>"I'm in for a long stay," he reflected. "Watson and Terrell and those +other fellows are just about reaching Park Street, perhaps with virtuous +thoughts of having given me a job, if they haven't forgotten me. It's +probably a pleasant day in Boston, with the flowers looking their best +in the Gardens; but this is better than my Wyoming pastures, anyhow." +The books and papers began to interest him, and he was soon classifying +the properties that had fallen to his care. He was one of those +fortunate individuals who are endowed with a capacity for complete +absorption in the work at hand,—the frequent possession of persons, +who, like Saxton, enjoy immunity from visits of the alluring +will-o'-the-wisps that beguile geniuses. He was so deeply occupied that +he did not mark the flight of time and was surprised when a boy came +with a message from Porter that he was ready to go to luncheon.</p> + +<p>"Yon mustn't overdo the thing, young man," said the banker amiably, as +he closed his desk. "Don't you adopt our Western method of working all +the hours there are. I do it now because my neighbors and customers +would talk about me if I didn't, and say that I had lost my grip in my old age."</p> + +<p>They started up the sloping street, which was intensely hot.</p> + +<p>"In my last job I worked twenty hours a day," said Saxton, "and lost +money in spite of it."</p> + +<p>"You mean up in Wyoming; the Neponset people wrote me that you were a +reformed cattleman."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I was winter-killed at the business." He assumed that Porter would +not care particularly for the details of his failure. Western men are, +he knew, much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> more tolerant of failure than Eastern men; but he was +relieved to hear the banker drawling on with a comment on Clarkson, its +commercial history and prospects.</p> + +<p>At the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Clarkson Chamber of +Commerce, the local boy orator, who made a point of quoting Holy Writ in +his speeches, spoke of Clarkson as "no mean city," just as many another +orator has applied this same apt Pauline phrase to many another +metropolis. The business of Clarkson had to do with primary employments +and needs. The cattle of a thousand hills and of many rough pastures +were gathered here; and here wheat and corn from three states were +assembled. In exchange for these products, Clarkson returned to the +country all of the necessities and some of the luxuries of life. Several +important railway lines had their administrative offices here. Ores were +brought from the Rockies, from Mexico, and even from British Columbia, +to the great smelters whose smoke and fumes hung over the town. Neither +coal, wood nor iron lay near at hand, so that manufacturing was almost +unknown; but the packing-houses and smelters gave employment to many +laborers, drawn in great measure from the Slavonic races.</p> + +<p>Varney Street cut through the town at right angles to the river, +bisecting the business district. It then gradually threw off its +commercial aspect until at last it was lined with the homes of most of +Clarkson's wealthiest citizens. An exaggerated estimate of the value of +corner lots had caused many of them to be left vacant; and weeds and +signboards exercised eminent domain between booms. North and south of +Varney Street were other thoroughfares which strove to be equally +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>fashionable, and here citizens had sometimes built themselves houses +that were, as they said, as good as anything in Varney Street. +Everywhere ragged edges remained; old unpainted frame buildings lingered +in blocks that otherwise contained handsome houses. Sugar-loaf cubes of +clay loomed lonesomely, with houses stranded high on their summits, +where property owners had been too poor to cut down their bits of earth +to conform to new levels. The clay banks were ugly, but they were doomed +to remain until the next high tide of prosperity.</p> + +<p>The Clarkson Club stood at the edge of the commercial district, and its +Milwaukee brick walls rose hot and staring in the July sun as Porter and +Saxton approached.</p> + +<p>"Here we are," said Porter, leading the way into the wide hall. "We'll +arrange about your business relations later. There's a very bad lunch +ready upstairs, and we'll go against that first."</p> + +<p>There were only a few men in the dining-room, seated at a round table. +Porter exchanged salutations with them as he passed on to a small table +at the end of the room. Those who were of his own age called Porter, +"Billy," and he included them all in the careless nod of old +acquaintance. Porter offered Saxton the wine card, which the young man +declined with instinctive knowledge that he was expected to do so. They +took the simple table d'hôte, which was, as Porter had predicted, very +bad. The banker ate little and carried the burden of the conversation.</p> + +<p>They went from the table for an inspection of the club, and arranged +with the clerk in the office for a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> room on the third floor, which Mr. +Saxton was to have, so Porter told the clerk, until he didn't want it any more.</p> + +<p>"It's all right about the rules," he said; "if the house committee kick +about it, send them to me." They stopped in the lounging room, where the +men from the round table were now talking or looking at newspapers. +Porter introduced Saxton to all of them, stating in his humorous way, +with variations in every case, that this was a new man in town; that +victims were scarce in hard times, and that they must make the most of +him. Several of the men who shook hands with Saxton were railroad +officials, but nearly every line of business was represented. All seemed +to wear their business consciously, and Saxton was made aware of their +several employments in one way or another as he stood talking to them. +He felt that their own frankness should elicit a response on his part, +and he stated that he had come to represent the interests of "Eastern +people,"—a phrase which, in that territory, has weight and +significance. This, he thought, should be sufficiently explicit; and he +felt that his interlocutors were probably appraising him with selfish +eyes as a possible customer or client. However, they were very cordial, +and presently he found that they were chaffing one another for his +benefit, and trying to bring him within the arc of their own easy comradeship.</p> + +<p>"If you're going with me," said Porter at his elbow, "you'd better get a +move on you." But the whole group went out together, Porter leaving +Saxton to the others, with that confidence in human friendliness which +is peculiar to the social intercourse of men. They made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> him feel their +honest wish to consider him one of themselves, making a point of saying +to him, as they dropped out one by one, that they hoped to see him +often. Porter led the way back down Varney Street, smoking meditatively +and carrying his hat in his hand. He said at the bank door: "Now you +make them give you what you want at the club, and if they don't, you +want to raise the everlasting Nick. I've got a house up here on Varney +Street,—come up for dinner to-morrow night and we'll see if we can't +raise a breeze for you. It's hotter than Suez here, and you'd better +take my advice about starting in slow."</p> + +<p>He went into the bank, leaving a trail of smoke behind him; and Saxton +took the elevator for his own office.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER II</span> <span class="smaller">WARRICK RARIDAN</span></h2> + +<p>The Clarkson Club was, during most of the day, the loneliest place in +town. Only a few of the sleeping rooms were occupied regularly, and +luncheon was the one incident of the day that drew any considerable +number of men to the dining-room. The antlered heads of moose and elk +were hung in the hall, and colored prints of English hunting scenes and +bad oil portraits traits of several pioneers were scattered through the +reading and lounging rooms. There was a room which was referred to +flatteringly as the library, but its equipment of literature consisted +of an encyclopedia and of novels which had been contributed by members +at times coincident with housecleaning seasons at home. Clarkson +business men who maintained non-resident memberships in Chicago or St. +Louis clubs, said, in excusing the poor patronage of the Clarkson Club, +that Clarkson was not a club town, like Kansas City or Denver, where +there were more unattached men with money to spend.</p> + +<p>Saxton was not over-sensitive, but the stiffness and hardness of the +club house were not without their disagreeable impression on him as he +sat at dinner toward the close of his first day in Clarkson. Two of the +men to whom Porter had introduced him at noon proved to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> be fellow +lodgers, and they exchanged greetings with him from the table where they +sat together. They unsociably read their evening papers as they ate, and +left before he finished. He had lighted a cigar over his coffee, and was +watching the fading colors of a brilliant sunset when a young man +appeared at the door, and after a brief inspection of Saxton's back +walked over to him.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you Mr. Saxton? I thought you must be he. My name is Raridan. +Don't let me break in on your meditations," he added, taking the chair +which the waiter drew out for him. "I met Mr. Porter a while ago, and he +adjured me on penalties that I won't name to be good to you. I don't +know whether this is obeying orders,"—he broke off in a laugh,—"that +depends on the point of view." He had produced a cigarette case from his +pocket and rolled a white cylinder between his palms before lighting it. +As the flame leaped from the match, Saxton noted the young man's thin +face, his thick, curling dark hair, his slight mustache, the slenderness +of his fingers. The eyes that lay back of rimless glasses were almost +too fine for a man; but their gentleness and kindliness were charming.</p> + +<p>"You are guilty of a very Christian act," Saxton said. "I was just +wondering whether, after the sun had gone down behind that ridge over +there, the world would still be going round."</p> + +<p>"The world never stops entirely here," returned Raridan, "but the motion +sometimes gets very slow. Mr. Porter tells me that you're to be one of +us. Let me congratulate us,—and you!"</p> + +<p>"I'm not so sure about you," rejoined Saxton. "At<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> my last stopping +place in the West they had a way of getting rid of undesirable members +of the community, and I've never got over being nervous. But that was +Wyoming. I'm sure you're more civilized here."</p> + +<p>"Not merely civilized; we are civilization! You see I'm a native, and +devoted to the home sod. My father was one of the first settlers. I +never knew why," he laughed again—it was a pleasant laugh—"but I've +tried to live up to my duties as one of the first Caucasians born in the +county. Some day I'll be exhibited at the State Fair and little children +will look at me with awe and admiration."</p> + +<p>"That makes me feel very humble. I'm almost afraid to tell you that I'm +a native of Boston, with a long line of highly undistinguished and +terribly conventional ancestors back of me. My father was never west of +Albany; my mother was never in a sleeping-car. But I'm not a tenderfoot. +I rode the initiating bronco in Wyoming through all the degrees; and a +cowboy once shot at me on his unlucky day."</p> + +<p>"Oh, your title's clear. That record gives you all the rights of a native."</p> + +<p>Raridan waved away the waiter who had been hovering near, and who now +went over to the electric switch and threatened them with light.</p> + +<p>"That's too good to lose," Raridan said, nodding toward the west in explanation.</p> + +<p>Warrick Raridan was, socially speaking, the most available man in the +Clarkson Blue Book. He was a graduate in law who did not practise, for +he had, unfortunately, been left alone in the world at twenty-six, with +an income that seemed wholly adequate for his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> immediate or future +needs. He maintained an office, which was fairly well equipped with the +literature of his profession, but this was merely to take away the +reproach of his busier fellow citizens; it was not thought respectable +to be an idler in Clarkson, even on reputable antecedents and +established credit. But Raridan's office was useful otherwise than in +providing its owner with a place for receiving his mail. It was the +rendezvous for a variety of committees to which he was appointed by such +unrelated bodies as the Clarkson Dramatic Club and the Diocesan Board of +Missions of the Episcopal Church. He had never, by any chance, been +pointed to as a model young man, but religious matters interested him +sporadically, and he was referred to facetiously by his friends, when +his punctilious religious observances were mentioned, as a fine type of +the "cheerful Christian." He appeared every Sunday at the cathedral, +which was the fashionable church in Clarkson, where he passed the plate +for the alms and oblations of the well-dressed congregation; and he said +of himself, with conscious humor, that he thought he did it rather well.</p> + +<p>He was capable of quixotism of the most whimsical sort. He had, for a +year, taken his meals at a cheap boarding-house in order that he might +maintain two Indian boys in school. He was not at all aggrieved when, at +the end of the first year, they ran away and resumed tribal relations +with their brethren. He chaffed himself about it to his friends.</p> + +<p>"It was wrong for me," he would say, "to try to pervert the tastes of +those young savages. I nearly ruined my own digestion to buy them white +man's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> luxuries; I wore out my old clothes that they might not go naked; +and all they learned was to smoke cigarettes."</p> + +<p>It was not enough to say that Warry Raridan could lead a german or tie +an Ascot tie better than any other man on the Missouri River; for he was +also the best informed man in that same strenuous valley concerning the +traditions of the English stage, and was a fairly good actor himself, as +amateurs go. He had an almost fatal cleverness, which made him impatient +of the restraints of college; and he left in his sophomore year owing to +difficulties with the mathematical requirements. Good books had abounded +in his father's house, and he was from boyhood a persistent, though +erratic reader. He threw himself with enthusiasm into the study of the +rise of monastic orders; and from this he changed lightly to the newest +books on psychology. There were many ways in which he could be +entertaining. He had a slight literary gift, which he cultivated for his +own amusement. His humor was fine and keen, and he occasionally wrote +screeds for the local papers, or mailed, apropos of something or +nothing, pleasant jingles to his intimate friends.</p> + +<p>No Clarkson hostess felt that a visiting girl had received courteous +attention unless she carried home a portfolio of verses written in her +honor by Warry Raridan. He gave, indeed, an impression of great +frivolity, but there were people who took him seriously, and lawyers who +knew him well said that he might win success in his profession if he +would apply himself. He had once appeared for the people in a suit to +compel the street-railway company to pave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> certain streets, as provided +by the terms of its franchise, and had gained his point against the best +lawyers in the state. This accomplished, he refused an appointment as +local counsel for a great railway, and with characteristic perverseness +spent the following summer managing an open-air mission for poor children.</p> + +<p>Saxton was greatly amused and entertained by Raridan. Even those of his +fellow townsmen who did not wholly approve Warry Raridan, admitted his +entertaining qualities; and Saxton, who was painfully conscious of his +own shortcomings and knew that he had not usually been considered worth +cultivating, found himself responding with unwonted lightness to +Raridan's inconsequential talk. Few people had ever thought it necessary +to take pains with John Saxton, and he greatly enjoyed the novelty of +this intercourse with a man of his own age who was not a bore. The +bores, as Saxton remembered from his college days, had taken advantage +of his good nature and marked him for their own; and with a keen +realization of this he had often wondered in bitterness whether they did +not classify him correctly.</p> + +<p>"I'll wager that if you stay here a year you'll never leave," said +Raridan, as they went downstairs together. "I've been about a good deal, +and know that we who live here miss a lot of comfort and amusement which +go as a matter of course in older towns. But there's a roominess and +expansiveness about things out here that I like, and I believe most men +who strike it early enough like it, and are lonesome for it if they go +away. These people here think I stay because my few business interests +are here. The truth is that I've tried <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>running away, but after I've +spent a week east of the Alleghanies, I'm sated with the fleshpots and +pine for the wilderness. Why, I go to the stockyards now and then just +to see the train-loads of steers come in. I get sensations out of the +rush and drive of all this that I wouldn't take a good deal for."</p> + +<p>"I think I understand how you feel about it," said Saxton, looking more +closely at this young man, who was not ashamed to mention his sensations +of sentiment to a stranger. "There were times in Wyoming when Western +life seemed pretty arid, but when I went back to Boston I was homesick for Cheyenne."</p> + +<p>"That's a far cry, from Boston to Cheyenne," said Raridan, laughing. He +began again volubly: "A good deal depends, I suppose, on which end you +cry from. There's a lot of talk these days about the <i>nouveaux riches</i> +by people who haven't any more French than that. We are advised by a +fairly competent poet that men may climb on stepping-stones of their +dead selves to higher things; but if they climb on the pickled remains +of the common or garden pig I don't see anything ignoble about it. I'd a +lot rather ascend on a pyramid of Minnehaha Hams than on my dead self, +which I hope to avoid using for step-ladder purposes as long as +possible. The people here are human beings, and they're all good enough +to suit me. I'd as lief be descended from a canvased ham as an Astor +peltry or a Vanderbilt steamboat. And I'm tired of the jokes in the +barber-shop comic weeklies, about the rich Westerners who make a vulgar +display of themselves in New York. If we do it, it's merely because +we're doing in Rome as the Romans do. These same shampoo and hair-cut +humorists<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> are unable to get away from their jests about the homicidal +tendencies of Western barkeepers and the woolliness of the cowboys. +Those anemic commuters down there know no higher joy than a Weber & +Fields matinee or a Rogers Brothers on the Bronx first-night. Sometimes +I feel moved to grow a line of whiskers and add my barbaric yawp to the +long howl of the Populist wolf. But, you know," he added, suddenly +lowering his voice, "I reserve the right to abuse my fellow citizens +when I love them most. I tore Populism to tatters last fall in a few +speeches they let me make in the back counties. Our central committee +hadn't anything to lose out there. That's why they sent me!"</p> + +<p>Saxton was walking beside Raridan in the lower hall. He felt an impulse +to express gratitude for his rescue from the loneliness of the twilight; +but Raridan, talking incessantly, and with hands thrust easily into his +trousers' pockets, led the way into the reading-room.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Wheaton, I didn't know you were at home," he called to a man who +sat reading a newspaper, and who now rose on seeing a stranger with Raridan.</p> + +<p>"This is Mr. Saxton, Mr. Wheaton."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said the man introduced as Wheaton. "I wondered whether I +shouldn't see you here. Mr. Porter told me you had come."</p> + +<p>"I've been bringing Mr. Saxton up to date in local history," said Raridan.</p> + +<p>"Chiefly concerning yourself, I suppose," said Wheaton, with a smile +that did not wholly succeed in being amiable.</p> + +<p>"It isn't often I get a chance at a brand new man,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> Raridan ran on. +"I've told the worst about you, so conduct yourself accordingly."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Raridan's worst isn't very bad," said Saxton. "From his account of +this town and its people, the place must be paradise and the inhabitants saints."</p> + +<p>Raridan called for cigars, but Wheaton declined them.</p> + +<p>"Remarkable fellow," said Raridan, busy with his match. "Paragon among +our business men; exemplary habits, and so forth." He waved the smoking +matchstick to imply virtues in Wheaton which it was unnecessary to mention.</p> + +<p>Wheaton ignored Raridan's chaffing way. He seemed very serious, and had +not much to say. He had just come home, from a tedious trip to the +western part of the state, he said, on an errand for his bank. He was +tall, slim and dark. There was a suggestion of sleepy indifference in +his black eyes, though he had a well-established reputation for energy +and industry. Saxton commented to himself that Wheaton's hands and feet +were smaller than he thought becoming in a man.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Porter told me you were quartered here. I hope they can make you +comfortable. I'm personally relieved that you have come. Your Boston +friends were getting very impatient with us. We shall do all in our +power to aid you; but of course Mr. Porter has said all that to you." +His smile was by a movement of the lips, and his eyes did not seem to +participate in it. He did not refer again to possible business relations +with Saxton, but turned the conversation into general channels. They sat +together for an hour, Raridan, as was his way in any company, doing most +of the talking. They seemed to have the club house to themselves. Now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +and then one of the negro servants came and looked in upon them +sleepily. A clerk at the desk in the hall read in peace. A party of +young people could be heard entering by the side door set apart for +women; and muffled echoes of their gaiety reached the trio in the reading-room.</p> + +<p>"That's back in the incurables' ward," said Raridan, in explanation to Saxton.</p> + +<p>"It isn't nice of you to speak of the gentler sex in that way," +admonished Wheaton.</p> + +<p>"Oh, there are girls and girls," said Raridan wearily. "It does seem to +me that Mabel Margrave is always hungry. Why can't she do her eating at home?"</p> + +<p>"He's simply jealous," Wheaton remarked to Saxton. "He always acts that +way when he hears a girl in the ladies' dining-room, and doesn't dare go +back and break in on some other fellow's party."</p> + +<p>"When you show signs of mental decay, it's time for us to go home, +Wheaton." Raridan held out his hand to Saxton. "I'm glad you're here, +and you may be sure we'll try to make you like us. Wheaton and I live in +a barracks around the corner, with a few other homeless wanderers. An +ill-favored thing,—but our own! I hope to see you there. Don't be +afraid of the Chinaman at the door. My cell is up one flight and to the right."</p> + +<p>"And don't overlook me there," Wheaton interposed. "I suppose we shall +see you down town very often. Mr. Raridan is the only man in Clarkson +who has no visible means of support. The rest of us are pretty busy; but +that doesn't mean that we shan't be glad to see you at the Clarkson National."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p><p>"You see how intensely commercial he is," said Raridan. "He's talking +for the bank, you notice, and not for himself."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure he means both." Saxton had followed them to the front door, +where they repeated their good nights; he then climbed slowly to his +room. He had never before met a man so volatile and fanciful as Warrick +Raridan. He felt the warmth and friendliness of Raridan's nature as +people always did; Wheaton seemed cold and dull in comparison. Saxton +unpacked his trunks and distributed his things about the room. His +effects were simple, as befitted a man who was plain of mind and person. +He had collected none of the memorabilia which young men usually have +assembled at twenty-five. The furnishings of his dressing table and desk +were his own purchases, or those of his sister, who was the only woman +that had ever made him gifts. Having emptied his trunks and sent them to +the storeroom above, he seated himself comfortably in a lounging chair +and smoked a final pipe before turning in.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER III</span> <span class="smaller">SWEET PEAS</span></h2> + +<p>When he confided to John Saxton his belief that there were those among +his fellow townsmen who thought him "crooked," William Porter had no +serious idea that such was the case. He had, however, an impression that +the term "crooked" implied a high degree of sagacity and shrewdness. He +knew men in other cities whose methods were, to put it mildly, indirect, +and their names were synonymous with success. It pleased him to think +that he was of their order, and he was rich enough to indulge this +idiosyncrasy without fear of the criticisms of his neighbors. It amused +him to quiz customers of his bank, though he took care not to estrange +them. While his fellow citizens never seriously reflected on his +integrity, yet they did say that "Billy" Porter knew his business; that +he was "on to his job"; or, that to get ahead of him one must "get up +early in the morning". "Billy Porter's luck" was a significant phrase in +Clarkson. Porter had occasionally scored phenomenal successes, until his +legitimate credit as a man of business was reinforced by this +reputation. He believed that he enjoyed the high favor of fortune, and +it lent assurance to his movements.</p> + +<p>Porter lived well, as became a first citizen of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>Clarkson. His house +stood at the summit of a hill near the end of Varney Street, and the +gradual slope leading up to it was a pretty park, whose lawn and +shrubbery showed the intelligent care of a good gardener. The dry air +was still hot as John Saxton climbed the cement walk which wound over +the slope at the proper degree to bring the greatest comfort to +pedestrians. The green of the lawn was grateful to Saxton's eyes, which +dwelt with relief on the fine spray of the rotary sprinklers that hissed +coolly at the end of long lines of hose. Interspersed among the +indigenous scrub-oaks were elms, maples and cedars, and the mottled bark +of white birches showed here and there. The lawn was broken by beds of +cannas, and it was evident that the owner of the place had a taste for +landscape gardening and spent his money generously in cultivating it. +The house itself was of red brick dating from those years in which a +Mansard roof and a tower were thought indispensable in serious domestic +architecture. There was a broad veranda on the river side, accessible +through French windows of the same architectural period.</p> + +<p>A maid admitted Saxton and left him to find his own way into the +drawing-room, through which a breeze was blowing pleasantly from across +the valley. The ceilings in the house were high and the hardwood floors +seemed inconsonant with them and had evidently been added at a later +date. A white marble mantel and the grate beneath it were hidden by +palms. Above the mantel was a large mirror framed in heavy gilt. A piano +formed a barricade across the lower end of the room. One wall was +covered with a wonderful old French tapestry depicting a fierce +hand-to-hand battle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> in which the warriors and their horses were greatly +confused.</p> + +<p>Saxton sat in a deep wicker chair, mopping his forehead. He had spent a +busy day, and it was with real satisfaction that he found himself in a +cool house where the atmosphere of comfort and good taste brought ease +to all his senses. He had not expected to find so pleasant a house; +verily, the marks of philistinism were not upon it. It seemed to him +unlikely that Porter maintained solitary state here, and he wondered who +could be the other members of the household. The maid had disappeared +into the silent depths of the house without waiting for his name, and +did not return. His eyes moved again in leisurely fashion to the wall +before him, and to the mirror, which reflected nothing of his immediate +surroundings, but disclosed the shelves and books of a room on the +opposite side of the hall.</p> + +<p>He was amusing himself in speculations as to what manner of library a +man like Porter would have, and whether he read anything but the +newspapers, when the shadow of a young woman crept into the mirror; she +stood placing flowers in a vase on a table in the center of the room. He +thought for a moment that a figure from a painting had given a pretty +head and a pair of graceful shoulders to the mirror. In the room where +he sat the frames contained peasants in sabots, generous panels of +Hudson River landscape, a Detaille and an Inness. He changed the +direction of his eyes to inspect again the Brittany girl that stood +looking out over the sea in the manner of Brittany girls in pictures. +The girl in the mirror was not the same; moreover, he could hear her +humming softly; her head moved gracefully;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> there was no question of her +reality. Her hands had brought a bunch of sweet peas within the mirror's +compass, and were detaching a part of them for the vase by which she +stood. She hummed on in her absorption, bending again, so that Saxton +lost sight of her; then she stood upright, holding the unused flowers as +if uncertain what to do with them. The head flashed out of the mirror, +which reflected again only the library shelves and books. Then he heard +a light step crossing the hall, and the girl, still singing softly to +herself, passed back of him to a little stand which stood by one of the +drawing-room windows. The back of the wicker chair hid him; she was +wholly unconscious that any one was there. The breath of the sweet peas +which she was distributing suddenly sweetened the cool air of the room. +Seeing that the girl did not know of his presence in the house, and that +she would certainly discover him when she turned to go, he rose and faced her.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" The sweet peas fell to the floor, and the girl looked anxiously +toward the hall door.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon," Saxton repeated. "I think—I fear—I wasn't +announced. But I believe that Mr. Porter is expecting me."</p> + +<p>"Yes?" The girl looked at John for the first time. He was taking the +situation seriously, and was sincerely sorry for having startled her. +His breadth of shoulders was impressive; he was clad in gray homespun, +and there seemed to be a good deal of it in the room. His smooth-shaven +face was sunburned. She thought he might be an Englishman. He was of the +big blond English type common in the American cattle country.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p><p>"Father will be here very soon, I think." She moved toward the door +with dignity, ignoring the fallen flowers, and Saxton stepped forward +and picked them up.</p> + +<p>"Allow me." The girl took them from him, a little uncertainly and +guardedly, then returned to the vase and placed the flowers in it.</p> + +<p>"Thank you very much," she said. "I think I hear my father now." She +went to the outer door and opened it, inclining her head slightly as she +passed John, who also heard Mr. Porter's voice outside. He was +remonstrating with the gardener about the position of the sprinklers, +which he wished reset in keeping with ideas of his own.</p> + +<p>"Well, Evelyn?" he said, as he came up the steps. Saxton could hear the +young woman making an explanation in low tones to her father. He knew, +of course, that she was telling him that some one was waiting, and Mr. +Porter stood suddenly in the door with his hat still on his head.</p> + +<p>"Well, this beats me," he began effusively, coming forward and wringing +Saxton's hand. "This beats me! I'm not going to try to explain. I simply +forgot, that's all." He took Saxton's arm and turned him toward the door +where the girl still stood, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Evelyn, this is Mr. Saxton. He's come to dine with us. Bless my soul! +but I forgot all about it. See here, Evelyn, you've got to square this +for me," he concluded, and pushed his hat back from his forehead as he +appealed to her.</p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/col02.jpg" width='453' height='700' alt="Illustration" /></div> + +<p>She came forward and shook hands with Saxton.</p> + +<p>"I don't know how it can be 'squared.' This is only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> one of father's +lapses, Mr. Saxton. You may be sure he didn't mean to do it."</p> + +<p>"No, indeed," declared Porter, "but I'm ashamed of myself. Guess I'm +losing my wits." He waved the young people to seats with his hat, as if +anxious to have the apologies over as quickly as possible. "Positively +no reflection,—no, sir. Why, the last time it happened—"</p> + +<p>"A week ago to-night," his daughter interpolated.</p> + +<p>"The victim was the lord mayor of somewhere, who was passing through +town, and I asked him and his gang for dinner, and actually didn't +telephone to the house about it until half-past five in the afternoon. +I'm losing my wits, that's all." He continued to paint his social +crimes, while his daughter disappeared to correct his latest error by +having a plate laid for the unannounced guest. When she returned he left +the room, but reappeared at the lower door of the drawing-room, still +holding his hat, and exclaimed sharply: "Evelyn, I'm sure I must have +told you about Mr. Saxton being here when we were talking of the +Poindexter place last night. I told you some one was coming out to take +charge of those things."</p> + +<p>"Very well, father," she said patiently, turning toward him. He again +vanished into the hall having, he thought, justified himself before his guest.</p> + +<p>"This is one of our standing jokes, you see, and father feels that he +must defend himself. I was away for so long and father lived down town +until his domestic instinct has suffered."</p> + +<p>"But I'm sure he hasn't lost his instinct of hospitality," said Saxton.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p><p>"No; but it's his instinct of consideration for the housekeeper that's +blunted." She was still smiling over the incident in a way that had the +effect of including Saxton as a party to the joke, rather than as its +victim. He found himself feeling altogether comfortable and was able to +lead off into a discussion of the heat and of the appearance of the +grounds, which he pronounced charming.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's father's great delight," she said. "I tell him he's far more +interested in the grounds than the house. He's an easy prey to the +compilers of flower catalogues, and people who sell trees go to him +first; then they never need to go any farther. He always buys them out!"</p> + +<p>They were touching upon the beneficence of Arbor Day when Porter +returned with an appearance of clean cuffs and without his hat, and +launched into statistics as to the number of trees that had been planted +in the state by school children during the past year. The maid came to +announce dinner, and Porter talked on as he led the way to the +dining-room. As they were taking their seats a boy of twelve took the +place opposite Saxton.</p> + +<p>"This is my brother Grant," said Miss Porter. The boy was shy and silent +and looked frail. The efforts of his sister to bring him into the talk +were fruitless. When his father or sister spoke to him it was with an +accented kindness. He would not talk before a stranger; but his face +brightened at the humor of the others.</p> + +<p>There was a round table very prettily set with glass candlesticks at the +four plates and a bowl of sweet peas in the center. Porter began a +discussion of some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> problems relating to improvements and changes in the +grounds, talking directly across to his daughter, as she served the +soup. Her manner with him was very gentle. She added "father" to most of +her sentences in addressing him, and there was a kind of caress in the +word as she spoke it. Her head, whose outlines had seemed graceful to +Saxton as he studied them in the mirror, was now disclosed fully in the +soft candle-light of the table. She had a pretty way of bending forward +when she spoke which was characteristic and quite in keeping with the +frankness of her speech; there was no hint of coquetry or archness about +her. Her eyes, which Saxton had thought blue in the drawing-room, were +now gray by candle-light. She was very like her father; she had his +clear-cut features, though softened and refined, and thoroughly +feminine. His eyes were smaller, and there was a quizzical, furtive play +of humor in them, which hers lacked. William Porter always seemed to be +laughing at you; his daughter laughed with you. You might question the +friendliness of her father's quiet joking sometimes, but there was +nothing equivocal in her smile or speech.</p> + +<p>A woman who is not too subservient to fashion may reveal a good deal of +herself in the way she wears her hair. The straight part in Evelyn +Porter's seemed to be akin to her clear, frank eyes, contributing to an +impression of simplicity and directness. The waves came down upon her +forehead and then retreated quickly to each side, as if they had been +conscious intruders there, and were only secure when they found refuge +in the knot that was gathered low behind. There was in her hair that +pretty ripple which men are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> reluctant to believe is acquired by +processes in which nature has little part. The result in Evelyn's case +was to give the light a better playground, and it caught and brightened +wherever a ripple held it. Her arms were bare from the elbow and there +were suppleness and strength in their firm outlines; her hands were long +and slender and had known vigorous service with racket and driver.</p> + +<p>Porter was full of a scheme for planting a line of poplars around some +lots, which, it seemed, he owned in another part of the town; but he +dropped this during a prolonged absence of the waitress from the room, +to ask where the girl had gone and whether there was going to be any more dinner.</p> + +<p>"It's bad enough, child, for us to forget we've got a guest for dinner, +but we needn't rub it in by starving him after he's at the table."</p> + +<p>"There is food out there, father, if you'll abide in patience. This is a +new girl and she's pretty green. She let Mr. Saxton in and then forgot +to tell anybody he'd come." She wished to touch on this, without +recurring to the awkward plight in which Saxton had been placed; and +John now seized the chance to minimize it so that the incident might be closed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it was very flattering to me! She left me alone with an air that +implied my familiar acquaintance with the house. It was much kinder than +asking for credentials."</p> + +<p>"You're not hard enough on these people, Evelyn," declared Porter. +"That's something they didn't teach you at college. If you let the +impression get out that you're easy, you'll never make a housekeeper. +Fire<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> them! fire them whenever you find they're no good!" He looked to +Saxton for corroboration, with a severe air, as if this were something +that masculine minds understood but which was beyond the reach of women.</p> + +<p>When all were served he grew abstracted as he ate, and Saxton appealed +to his hostess, as one college graduate may appeal to another, along the +line of their college experiences. They had, it appeared, several +acquaintances in common, and Saxon recalled that some of his classmates +had often visited the college in which Miss Porter had been a student; +and a little of the old ache crept into his heart as he remembered the +ways in which the social side of college life had meant so much less to +him than to most of the men he knew; but as she talked freely of her own +experience, he found that her humor was contagious, and he even fell so +far under its spell as to recount anecdotes of his own student life in +which his part had not been heroic. Porter came back occasionally from +the land of his commercial dreams, and they all laughed together at the +climaxes. He presently directed the talk to the cattle business.</p> + +<p>"You'd better get Mr. Saxton to tell you how much fun ranching is," he +said, turning to the boy, who at once became interested in Saxton.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to be a ranchman," the lad declared. "Father's going to buy +me the Poindexter ranch some day."</p> + +<p>"That's one of Mr. Saxton's properties. Maybe he'd trade it to you for a tin whistle."</p> + +<p>"Is it as bad as that?" asked Saxton.</p> + +<p>"Just wait until you see it. It's pretty bad."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p><p>"The house must have been charming," said Miss Porter.</p> + +<p>"And that's about all it was," replied her father.</p> + +<p>The dinner ended with a salad. This was not an incident but an event. +The highest note of civilization is struck when a salad is dressed by a +master of the chemistry of gastronomy. The clumsy and unworthy hesitate +in the performance of this sacred rite, and are never sure of their +proportions; the oil refuses intimacy with the vinegar, and sulks and +selfishly creates little yellow isles for itself in the estranging sea +of acid. The salt becomes indissoluble and the paprika is irrecoverable +flotsam. The clove of garlic, always recalcitrant under clumsy handling, +refuses to impart the merest hint of its wild tang, but the visible and +tangible world reeks with it. It was a joy to John Saxton to see the +deftness with which Evelyn Porter performed her miracle; he did not know +much about girls, but he surmised that a girl who composed a salad +dressing with such certainty did many things gracefully and well. There +were no false starts, no "ohs" of regret and appeal, no questions of +quantity. The light struck goldenly on the result as she poured it +finally upon the crisply-curling lettuce leaves which showed discreetly +over the edge of a deep Doulton bowl. It seemed to him high treason that +his host should decline the dressing thus produced by an art which +realized the dreams of alchemy, and should pour vinegar from the cruet +with his own hand upon the helpless leaves.</p> + +<p>Porter demanded cigars before the others had finished, and smoked over +his coffee. He was in a hurry to leave, and at the earliest possible +moment led the way to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> the veranda, picking up his hat as he stepped +blithely along.</p> + +<p>It was warmer outside than in, but Porter pretended that it was +pleasanter out of doors, and insisted that there was always a breeze on +the hill at night. He ran on in drawling monologue about the weather +conditions, and how much cooler it was in Clarkson than at the summer +places which people foolishly sought at the expense of home comforts. He +made his shy boy report his experiences of the day. In addressing the +lad he fell into his quizzical manner, but the boy understood it and +yielded to it with the same submission that his father's customers +adopted when they sought a loan and knew that Porter must prod them with +immaterial questions, and irritate them with petty ironies, before he +finally scribbled his initials in the corner of their notes and passed +them over to the discount clerk.</p> + +<p>Raridan appeared at the step presently. They all rose as he came up, and +he said to Saxton as he shook hands with him last: "I see you've found +the way to headquarters. All roads lead up to this Alpine height,—and I +fear—I fear—that all roads lead down again," he added, with a doleful +sigh, and laughed. He drew out his cigarettes and began making himself +greatly at home. He assured Mr. Porter, with amiable insolence, that his +veranda chairs were the most uncomfortable ones he knew, and went to +fetch himself a better seat from the hall.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Raridan likes to be comfortable," said Miss Porter in his absence.</p> + +<p>"But he finds pleasure in making others comfortable, too," Saxton ventured.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p><p>"Oh, he's the very kindest of men," Miss Porter affirmed.</p> + +<p>"What a nuisance you are, Warry," said Porter, as the young man fussed +about to find a place for his chair. "We were all very easy here till +you came. Even the breeze has died out."</p> + +<p>"Father insists that there has been a breeze," said Miss Porter. "But it +really has gone."</p> + +<p>"<i>Et tu, Brute?</i> What we ought to do, Mr. Porter," said Raridan, who had +at last settled himself, "is to organize a company to supply breezes. +'The Clarkson Breeze Company, Limited.' I can see the name on the +factory now, in my mind's eye. We'd get up an ice trust first, then +bring in the ice cream people and make vast fortunes out of it, besides +becoming benefactors of our kind. The ice and the ice cream would pay +for the cold air; our cold air service would bring a clear profit. We'd +guarantee a temperature through the summer months of, say, seventy degrees."</p> + +<p>"Then," Porter drawled, "the next thing would be to get the doctors in, +for a pneumonia branch; and after that the undertakers would demand +admission, and then the tombstone people. You're a bright young man, +Warry. I heard you stringing that Englishman at the club the other day +about your scheme for piping water from the Atlantic Ocean to irrigate +the American desert, and he thought you meant it."</p> + +<p>"Then we'll all suffer," Miss Porter declared, "for he'll go home and +put it in a book, and there'll be no end of it."</p> + +<p>Raridan was in gay spirits. He had come from a call on a young married +couple who had just gone to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>housekeeping. He had met there a +notoriously awkward young man, who moved through Clarkson houses leaving +ruin in his wake.</p> + +<p>"There ought to be some way of insuring against Whitely," said Raridan, +musingly. "Perhaps a social casualty company could be formed to protect +people from his depredations. You know, Mr. Saxton, they've really had +to cut him off from refreshments at parties,—he was always spilling +salads on the most expensive gowns in town. And these poor young married +things, with their wedding loot huddled about them in their little +parlors! There is a delightful mathematical nicety in the way he sweeps +a tea table with his coat tails. He never leaves enough for a sample. +But this was the worst! You know that polar bear skin that Mamie Shepard +got for a wedding present; well, it makes her house look like a +menagerie. Whitely was backing out—a thing I've begged him never to +try—and got mixed up with the head of that monster; kicked all the +teeth out, started to fall, gathered in the hat rack, broke the glass +out of it, and before Shepard could head him off, he pulled down the front door shade."</p> + +<p>"But Mr. Whitely sings beautifully," urged Miss Porter.</p> + +<p>"He'd have to," said Warry, "with those feet."</p> + +<p>"You needn't mind what Raridan says," Mr. Porter remarked. "He's very unreliable."</p> + +<p>"The office of social censor is always an ungrateful one," Raridan +returned, dolefully. "But I really don't know what you'd do without me here."</p> + +<p>"I notice that you never give us a chance to try," said Mr. Porter, dryly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p><p>"That is the unkindest cut; and in the shadow of your own house, too."</p> + +<p>Saxton got up to go presently and Raridan rose with him, declaring that +they had been terribly severe and that he could not be left alone with them.</p> + +<p>"I hope you'll overlook that little slip of mine," said Mr. Porter, as +he shook hands with Saxton. "You'd better not tell Raridan about it. It +would be terrible ammunition in his hands."</p> + +<p>"And we'll all do better next time," said Miss Porter; "so do come again +to show that you don't treasure it against us."</p> + +<p>"I don't know that anything's happened," pleaded John, "except that I've +had a remarkably good time."</p> + +<p>"I fear that's more generous than just; but the next time I hope the +maid will do better."</p> + +<p>"And next time I hope I shan't frighten you," Saxton went on. Raridan +and Mr. Porter had walked down the long veranda to the steps, and Saxton +and Miss Porter were following.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but you didn't!" the girl laughed at him.</p> + +<p>"But you dropped the flowers—"</p> + +<p>"But you shouldn't have noticed! It wasn't gallant!"</p> + +<p>They had reached the others, and Raridan broke in with his good night, +and he and Saxton went down the walk together.</p> + +<p>"They seem to have struck up an acquaintance," observed Mr. Porter, +settling himself to a fresh cigar.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Saxton is very nice," said Evelyn.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's all right," said her father, easily.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER IV</span> <span class="smaller">AT POINDEXTER'S</span></h2> + +<p>John Saxton trotted his pony through a broken gate into a great yard +that had once been sown in blue grass, and at the center of which lay +the crumbled ruins of a fountain. This was clearly no ordinary +establishment, as he had been warned, and he was uncertain how to hail +it. However, before he could make his presence known, a frowsy man in +corduroy emerged from the great front door and came toward him.</p> + +<p>"My name's Saxton, and you must be Snyder."</p> + +<p>"Correct," said the man and they shook hands.</p> + +<p>"Going to stay a while?"</p> + +<p>"A day or two." John threw down the slicker in which he had wrapped a +few articles from his bag at Great River, the nearest railway station.</p> + +<p>"I got your letter all right," said Snyder. "Walk in and help yourself." +He led the pony toward the outbuildings, while Saxton filled his pipe +and viewed the pile before him with interest. He had been making a +careful inspection of all the properties that had fallen to his care. +This had necessitated a good deal of traveling. He had begun in Colorado +and worked eastward, going slowly, and getting the best advice +obtainable as to the value of his principals' holdings. Much of their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +property was practically worthless. Title had been gained under +foreclosure to vast areas which had no value. A waterworks plant stood +in the prairie where there had once been a Kansas town. The place was +depopulated and the smokestack stood as a monument to blighted hopes. +Ranch houses were inhabited by squatters, who had not been on his books +at all, and who paid no tribute to Boston. He was viewed with suspicion +by these tenants, and on inquiry at the county seats, he found generally +that they were lawless men, and that it would be better for him to let +them alone. It was patent that they would not pay rent, and to eject +them merely in the maintenance of a principle involved useless expense and violence.</p> + +<p>"This certainly beats them all," Saxton muttered aloud.</p> + +<p>He had reached in his itinerary what his papers called the Poindexter +property. He had found that the place was famous throughout this part of +the country for the idiosyncrasies of its sometime owners, three young +men who had come out of the East to show how the cattle business should +be managed. They had secured an immense acreage and built a stone ranch +house whose curious architecture imparted to the Platte Valley a touch +of medievalism that was little appreciated by the neighboring cattlemen. +One of the owners, a Philadelphian named Poindexter, who had a weakness +for architecture and had studied the subject briefly at his university, +contributed the buildings and his two associates bought the cattle. +There were one thousand acres of rolling pasture here, much of it lying +along the river, and a practical man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> could hardly have failed to +succeed; but theft, disease in the herd and inexperience in buying and +selling, had wrought the ranchmen's destruction. Before their money was +exhausted, Poindexter and his associates lived in considerable state, +and entertained the friends who came to see them according to the best +usages of Eastern country life within, and their own mild approximation +of Western life without. Tom Poindexter's preceptor in architecture, an +elderly gentleman with a sense of humor, had found a pleasure which he +hardly dared to express in the medieval tone of the house and buildings.</p> + +<p>"All you need, Tom," he said, "to make the thing complete, is a +drawbridge and a moat. The possibilities are great in the light of +modern improvements in such things. An electric drawbridge, operated +solely by switches and buttons, would be worth while." The folly of man +seems to express itself naturally in the habitations which he builds for +himself; the folly of Tom Poindexter had been of huge dimensions and he +had built a fairly permanent monument to it. He and his associates began +with an ambition to give tone to the cattle business, and if novel ideas +could have saved them, they would not have failed. One of their happy +notions was to use Poindexter's coat of arms as a brand, and this was +only abandoned when their foreman declared that no calf so elaborately +marked could live. They finally devised an insignium consisting of the +Greek Omega in a circle of stars.</p> + +<p>"There's a remnant of the Poindexter herd out there somewhere," Wheaton +had said to Saxton. "The fellow Snyder, that I put in as a caretaker, +ought to have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> gathered up the loose cattle by this time; that's what I +told him to do when I put him there."</p> + +<p>Saxton turned and looked out over the rolling plain. A few rods away lay +the river, and where it curved nearest the house stood a group of +cottonwoods, like sentinels drawn together for colloquy. Scattered here +and there over the plain were straggling herds. On a far crest of the +rolling pastures a lonely horseman paused, sharply outlined for a moment +against the sky; in another direction, a blur drew his eyes to where a +group of the black Polled Angus cattle grazed, giving the one blot of +deep color to the plain.</p> + +<p>Snyder reappeared, and Saxton followed him into the house.</p> + +<p>"It isn't haunted or anything like that?" John asked, glancing over the long hall.</p> + +<p>"No. They have a joke about that at Great River. They say the only +reason is that there ain't any idiot ghosts."</p> + +<p>There was much in the place to appeal to Saxton's quiet humor. The house +was two stories high and there was a great hall, with an immense +fireplace at one end. The sleeping rooms opened on a gallery above the +hall. An effort had been made to give the house the appearance of +Western wildness by introducing a great abundance of skins of wild +beasts,—a highly dishonest bit of decorating, for they had been bought +in Chicago. How else, indeed, would skins of German boars and Polar +bears be found in a ranch house on the Platte River! Under one wing of +the stairway, which divided to left and right at the center of the hall, +was the dining-room; under the other was the ranch office.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p><p>"Those fellows thought a good deal of their stomachs," said Snyder, as +Saxton opened and shut the empty drawers of the sideboard, which had +been built into one end of the western wall of the room, in such a +manner that a pane of glass, instead of a mirror, filled the center. The +intention of this was obviously to utilize the sunset for decorative +purposes, and Saxton chuckled as he comprehended the idea.</p> + +<p>"I suppose our mortgage covers the sunset, too," he said. Nearly every +portable thing of value had been removed, and evidently in haste; but +the heavy oak chairs and the table remained. Snyder did his own modest +cooking in the kitchen, which was in great disorder. The floor of the +office was littered with scraps of paper. The original tenants had +evidently made a quick settlement of their business affairs before +leaving. Snyder slept here; his blanket lay in a heap on the long bench +that was built into one side of the room, and a battered valise +otherwise marked it as his lodging place. Saxton viewed the room with +disgust; it was more like a kennel than a bedroom. His foot struck +something on the floor; it was a silver letter-seal bearing the peculiar +Poindexter brand, and he thrust it into his pocket with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"My ranching wasn't so bad after all," he muttered.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" asked Snyder, who was stolidly following him about.</p> + +<p>"Nothing. If you have a pony we'll take a ride around the fences."</p> + +<p>They spent the day in the saddle riding over the range. The ridiculous +character of the Poindexter undertaking could not spoil the real value +of the land. There was,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> Saxton could see, the making here of a great +farming property; he felt his old interest in outdoor life quickening as +he rode back to the house in the evening.</p> + +<p>Snyder cooked supper for both of them, while Saxton repaired a decrepit +windmill which had been designed to supply the house with water. He had +formed a poor opinion of the caretaker, who seemed to know nothing of +the property and who had, as far as he could see, no well defined +duties. The man struck him as an odd person for the bank to have chosen +to be the custodian of a ranch property. There was nothing for any one +to do unless the range were again stocked and cattle raising undertaken +as a serious business. Saxton was used to rough men and their ways. He +had a happy faculty of adapting himself to the conversational capacities +of illiterate men, and enjoyed drawing them out and getting their point +of view; but Snyder's was not a visage that inspired confidence. He had +a great shock of black hair and a scraggy beard. He lacked an eye, and +he had a habit of drawing his head around in order to accommodate his +remaining orb to any necessity. He did this with an insinuating kind of +deliberation that became tiresome in a long interview.</p> + +<p>"This place is too fancy to be of much use," the man vouchsafed, puffing +at his pipe. "You may find some dude that wants to plant money where +another dude has dug the first hole; but I reckon you'll have a hard +time catching him. A real cattleman wouldn't care for all this house. It +might be made into a stable, but a horse would look ridiculous in here. +You might have a corn crib made out of it; or it would do for a hotel if +you could get dudes to spend the summer here; but I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> reckon it's a +little hot out here for summer boarders."</p> + +<p>"The only real value is in the land," said Saxton. "I'm told there's no +better on the river. The house is a handicap, or would be so regarded by +the kind of men who make money out of cattle. Have you ever tried +rounding up the cattle that strayed through the fences? The Poindexter +crowd must have branded their last calves about two years ago. Assuming +that only a part of them was sold or run off, there ought to be some +two-year-olds still loose in this country and they'd be worth finding."</p> + +<p>Snyder took his pipe from his mouth and snorted. "Yer jokin' I guess. +These fellers around here are good fellers, and all that, but I guess +they don't give anything back. I guess we ain't got any cattle coming to us."</p> + +<p>"You think you'd rather not try it?"</p> + +<p>"Not much!" was the expressive reply. The fellow smoked slowly, bringing +his eye into position to see how Saxton had taken his answer.</p> + +<p>John was refilling his own pipe and did not look up.</p> + +<p>"Who've you been reporting to, Snyder?"</p> + +<p>"How's that?"</p> + +<p>"Who have you been considering yourself responsible to?"</p> + +<p>"Well, Jim Wheaton at the Clarkson National hired me, and I reckon I'd +report to him if I reported to anybody. But if you're going to run this +shebang and want to be reported to, I guess I can report to you." He +brought his turret around again and Saxton this time met his eye.</p> + +<p>"I want you to report to me," said John quietly. "In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> the first place I +want the house and the other buildings cleaned out. After that the +fences must be put in shape. And then we'll see if we can't find some of +our cows. You can't tell; we may open up a real ranch here and go into business."</p> + +<p>Snyder was sprawling at his ease in a Morris chair, and had placed his +feet on a barrel. He did not seem interested in the activities hinted at.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you're the boss I'll do it your way. I got along all right with Wheaton."</p> + +<p>He did not say whether he intended to submit to authority or not, and +Saxton dropped the discussion. John rose and found a candle with which +he lighted himself to bed in one of the rooms above. The whole place was +dirty and desolate. The house had never been filled save once, and that +was on the occasion of a housewarming which Poindexter and his fellows +had given when they first took possession. One of their friends had +chartered a private car and had brought out a party of young men and +women, who had enlivened the house for a few days; but since then no +woman had entered the place. In the Poindexter days it had been +carefully kept, but now it was in a sorry plight. There had been a whole +year of neglect and vacancy, in which the house had been used as a +meeting place for the wilder spirits of the neighborhood, who had not +hesitated to carry off whatever pleased their fancy and could be put on +the back of a horse. Saxton chose for himself the least disorderly of +the rooms, in which the furniture was whole, and where there were even a +few books lying about. He determined to leave for Clarkson the following +morning, and formulated in his mind the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> result of his journey and plans +for the future of the incongruous combination of properties that had +been entrusted to him. He sat for an hour looking out over the moon-lit +valley. He followed the long sweep of the plain, through which he could +see for miles the bright ribbon of the river. A train of cars rumbled +far away, on the iron trail between the two oceans, intensifying the +loneliness of the strange house.</p> + +<p>"I seem to find only the lonely places," he said aloud, setting his +teeth hard into his pipe.</p> + +<p>In the morning he ate the breakfast of coffee, hard-tack and bacon which +Snyder prepared.</p> + +<p>"I guess you want me to hustle things up a little," said Snyder, more +amiably than on the day before. He turned his one eye and his grin on +Saxton, who merely said that matters must take a new turn, and that if a +ranch could be made out of the place there was no better time to begin +than the present. He had not formulated plans for the future, and could +not do so without the consent and approval of his principals; but he +meant to put the property in as good condition as possible without +waiting for instructions. Snyder rode with him to the railway station.</p> + +<p>"Give my regards to Mr. Wheaton," he said, as Saxton swung himself into +the train. "You'll find me here at the old stand when you come back."</p> + +<p>"A queer customer and undoubtedly a bad lot," was Saxton's reflection.</p> + +<p>When Saxton had written out the report of his trip he took it to +Wheaton, to get his suggestions before forwarding it to Boston. He +looked upon the cashier as his predecessor, and wished to avail himself +of Wheaton's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> knowledge of the local conditions affecting the several +properties that had now passed to his care. Wheaton undoubtedly wished +to be of assistance, and in their discussion of the report, the cashier +made many suggestions of value, of which Saxton was glad to avail himself.</p> + +<p>"As to the Poindexter place," said Saxton finally, "I've been +advertising it for sale in the hope of finding a buyer, but without +results. The people at headquarters can't bother about the details of +these things, but I'm blessed if I can see why we should maintain a +caretaker. There's nothing there to take care of. That house is worse +than useless. I'm going back in a few days to see if I can't coax home +some of the cattle we're entitled to; they must be wandering over the +country,—if they haven't been rustled, and then I suppose we may as +well dispense with Snyder."</p> + +<p>He had used the plural pronoun out of courtesy to Wheaton, wishing him +to feel that his sanction was asked in any changes that were made.</p> + +<p>"I don't see that there's anything else to do," Wheaton answered. "I've +been to the ranch, and there's little personal property there worth +caring for. That man Snyder came along one day and asked for a job and I +sent him out there thinking he'd keep things in order until the Trust +Company sent its own representative here."</p> + +<p>There were times when Wheaton's black eyes contracted curiously, and +this was one of the times.</p> + +<p>"I don't like discharging a man that you've employed," Saxton replied.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's all right. You can't keep him if he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>performs no service. +Don't trouble about him on my account. How soon are you going back there?"</p> + +<p>"Next week some time."</p> + +<p>"Traveling about the country isn't much fun," Wheaton said, sympathetically.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I rather like it," replied Saxton, putting on his hat.</p> + +<p>Saxton was not surprised when he returned to the ranch to find that +Snyder had made no effort to obey his instructions. He made his visit +unexpectedly, leaving the train at Great River, where he secured a horse +and rode over to the ranch. He reached the house in the middle of the +morning and found the front door bolted and barred on the inside. After +much pounding he succeeded in bringing Snyder to the door, evidently +both surprised and displeased at his interruption.</p> + +<p>"Howdy, boss," was the salutation of the frowsy custodian; "I wasn't +feeling just right to-day and was takin' a little nap."</p> + +<p>The great hall showed signs of a carousal. The dirt had increased since +Saxton's first appearance. Empty bottles that had been doing service as +candlesticks stood in their greasy shrouds on the table. Saxton sat down +on a keg, which had evidently been recently emptied, and lighted a pipe. +He resolved to make quick work of Snyder.</p> + +<p>"How many cattle have you rounded up since I was here?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"Well, to tell the truth," began Snyder, "there ain't been much time for +doing that since you was here."</p> + +<p>"No; I suppose you were busy mending fences and cleaning house. Now you +have been drawing forty <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>dollars a month for doing nothing. I'll treat +you better than you deserve and give you ten dollars bonus to get out. I +believe the pony in the corral belongs to you. We'll let it go at that. +Here's your money."</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess as Mr. Wheaton hired me, he'd better fire me," the fellow +began, bringing his eye to bear upon Saxton.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I spoke to Mr. Wheaton about you. He understands that you're to go."</p> + +<p>"He does, does he?" Snyder replied with a sneer. "He must have forgot +that I had an arrangement with him by the year."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's all off," said Saxton, rising. He began throwing open the +windows and doors to let in fresh air, for the place was foul with the +stale fumes of whisky and tobacco.</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess I'll have to see Mr. Wheaton," Snyder retorted, finding +that Saxton was paying no further attention to him. He collected his few +belongings, watching in astonishment the violence with which Saxton was +gathering up and disposing of rubbish.</p> + +<p>"Going to clean up a little?" he asked, with his leer.</p> + +<p>"No, I'm just exercising for fun," replied Saxton. "If you're ready, +you'd better take your pony and skip."</p> + +<p>Snyder growled his resentment and moved toward the door with a bundle +under his arm and a saddle and bridle thrown over his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"I'll be up town to see Mr. Wheaton in a day or two," he declared, as he +slouched through the door.</p> + +<p>"He seems to be more interested in Wheaton than Wheaton is in him," +observed Saxton to himself.</p> + +<p>Saxton spent a week at Great River. He hired a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> man to repair fences and +put the house in order. He visited several of the large ranch owners and +asked them for aid in picking out the scattered remnants of the +Poindexter herd. Nearly all of them volunteered to help, with the result +that he collected about one hundred cattle and sold them at Great River +for cash. He expected to see or hear of Snyder in the town but the +fellow had disappeared.</p> + +<p>The fact was that Snyder had ridden over to the next station beyond +Great River for his spree, that place being to his liking because it was +beyond the jurisdiction of the sheriff whose headquarters were +maintained at Great River,—an official who took his office seriously, +and who had warned Snyder that his latest offense—getting drunk and +smashing a saloon sideboard—must not be repeated. After he had been +satisfactorily drunk for a week and had gambled away such of his fortune +as the saloonkeeper had not acquired in direct course of commerce, +Snyder came to himself sufficiently to send a telegram. Then he sat down +to wait, with something of the ease of spirit with which an honest man +sends forth a sight draft for collection from a town where he is a +stranger, and awaits returns in the full enjoyment of the comforts of his inn.</p> + +<p>On the third day, receiving no message from the outside world, Snyder +sold his pony and took the train for Clarkson.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER V</span> <span class="smaller">DEBATABLE QUESTIONS</span></h2> + +<p>Evelyn Porter had come home in June to take her place as mistress of her +father's house. The fact that she alone of the girls belonging to +families of position in the town had gone to college had set her a +little apart from the others. During her four years at Smith she had +evinced no unusual interest in acquiring knowledge; she was a fair +student only and had been graduated without honors save those which her +class had admiringly bestowed on her. She had entered into social and +athletic diversions with zest and had been much more popular with her +fellow students than with the faculty. She brought home no ambition save +to make her father's home as comfortable as possible. She said to +herself that she would keep up her French and German, and straightway +put books within reach to this end. She had looked with wonder unmixed +with admiration upon the strenuous woman as she had seen her, full of +ambition to remake the world in less than six days; and she dreaded the +type with the dread natural in a girl of twenty-two who has a sound +appetite, a taste in clothes, with money to gratify it, and a liking for +fresh air and sunshine.</p> + +<p>She found it pleasant to slip back into the life of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> town; and the +girl friends or older women who met her on summer mornings in the +shopping district of Clarkson, remarked to one another and reported to +their sons and husbands, that Evelyn Porter was at home to stay, and +that she was just as cordial and friendly as ever and had no airs. It +pleased Evelyn to find that the clerks in the shops remembered her and +called her by name; and there was something homelike and simple and +characteristic in the way women that met in the shops visited with one +another in these places. She caught their habit of going into Vortini's +for soda water, where she found her acquaintances of all ages sitting at +tables, with their little parcels huddled in their laps, discussing +absentees and the weather. She found, in these encounters, that most of +the people she knew were again agitated, as always at this season, +because Clarkson was no cooler than in previous years; and that the +women were expressing their old reluctance to leave their husbands, who +could not get away for more than two weeks, if at all. Some were already +preparing for Mackinac or Oconomowoc or Wequetonsing, and a few of the +more adventurous for the remoter coasts of New Jersey and Massachusetts. +The same people were discussing these same questions in the same old +spirit, and, when necessary, confessing with delightful frankness their +financial disabilities, in excusing their presence in town at a season +when it was only an indulgence of providence that all the inhabitants +did not perish from the heat.</p> + +<p>As a child Evelyn had played in the tower of the house on the hill, and +she now made a den of it. Some of her childish playthings were still +hidden away in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> window seat, and stirred freshly the remembrance of +her mother,—her gentleness, her frailty, her interest in the world's +work. She often wondered whether the four years at college had realized +all that her dead mother had hoped for; but she was not morbid, and she +did not brood. She found a pleasure in stealing up to the tower in the +summer nights, and watching the shifting lights of the great railway +yards far down the valley, but at such times she had no romantic +visions. She knew that the fitful bell of the switch engine and the +rumble of wheels symbolized the very practical life of this restless +region in which she had been born. She cherished no delusion that she +was a princess in a tower, waiting for a lover to come riding from east +or west. She had always shared with her companions the young men who +visited her at college. When they sometimes sent her small gifts, she +had shared these also. Warrick Raridan had gone to see her several +times, as an old friend, and he had on these occasions, with +characteristic enterprise, made the most of the opportunity to widen his +acquaintance among Evelyn's friends, to whom she frankly introduced him.</p> + +<p>On the day following John Saxton's introduction to the house, Evelyn was +busy pouring oil on rusty places in the domestic machinery, when three +cards were brought up to her bearing unfamiliar names. They belonged, +she imagined, to some of the newer people of the town who had come to +Clarkson during her years from home.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Atherton?" she said inquiringly, pausing before the trio in the drawing-room.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p><p>Two of the ladies looked toward the third, with whom Evelyn shook +hands.</p> + +<p>"Miss Morris and Mrs. Wingate," murmured the lady identified as Mrs. +Atherton. They all sat down.</p> + +<p>"It's so very nice to know that you are at home again," said Mrs. +Atherton, "although I've not had the pleasure of meeting you before. I +knew your mother very well, many years ago, but I have been away for a +long time and have only recently come back to Clarkson.</p> + +<p>"It is very pleasant to be at home again," Evelyn responded.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Atherton smiled nervously and looked pointedly at her companions, +evidently expecting them to participate in the conversation. The younger +woman, who had been presented as Miss Morris, sat rigid in a gilt +reception chair. She was of severe aspect and glared at Mrs. Atherton, +who threw herself again into the breach.</p> + +<p>"I hope you do not dislike the West?" Mrs. Atherton inquired of Evelyn.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed! On the other hand I am very proud of it. You know I am a +native here, and very loyal."</p> + +<p>Miss Morris seized this as if it had been her cue, and declared in severe tones:</p> + +<p>"We of the West are fortunate in living away from the artificiality of +the East. There is some freedom here; the star of empire hovers here; +the strength of the nation lies in the rugged but honest people of the +great West, who gave Lincoln to the nation and the nation to Liberty." +There was a glitter of excitement in the woman's eyes, but she spoke in +low<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> monotonous tones. Evelyn thought for a moment that this was +conscious hyperbole, but Miss Morris's aspect of unrelenting severity +undeceived her. Something seemed to be expected of her, and Evelyn said:</p> + +<p>"That is all very true, but, you know, they say down East that we are +far too thoroughly persuaded of our greatness and brag too much."</p> + +<p>"But," continued Miss Morris, "they are coming to us more and more for +statesmen. Look at literature! See what our western writers are doing! +The most vital books we are now producing are written west of the Alleghanies!"</p> + +<p>"You know Miss Morris is a writer," interrupted Mrs. Atherton. "We +should say Doctor Morris," she continued, with a rising inflection on +the title,—"not an M.D. Miss Morris is a doctor of philosophy."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Evelyn. "What college, Doctor Morris?"</p> + +<p>"The University of North Dakota," with emphasis on the university. "I +had intended going to Heidelberg, but felt that we loyal Americans +should patronize home institutions. The choruses of Euripides may ring +as grandly on our Western plains as in Athens itself," she added with +finality. She enunciated with great care and seemed terribly in earnest +to Evelyn, who felt an uncontrollable desire to laugh. But there was, +she now imagined, something back of all this, and she waited patiently +for its unfolding. The dénouement was, she hoped, near at hand, for Miss +Morris moved her eyeglasses higher up on her nose and appeared even more +formidable than before.</p> + +<p>"I have heard that great emphasis is laid at Smith on social and +political economy. You must be very anxious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> to make practical use of +your knowledge," continued Miss Morris.</p> + +<p>Evelyn recalled guiltily her cuts in these studies.</p> + +<p>"Carlyle or somebody"—she was afraid to quote before a doctor of +philosophy, and thought it wise to give a vague citation—"calls +political economy the dismal science, and I'm afraid I have looked at it +a little bit that way myself." She smiled hopefully, but Miss Morris did +not relax her severity.</p> + +<p>"Civic responsibility rests on women as strongly as on men; even more +so," declared Miss Morris.</p> + +<p>"Well, I think we ought to do what we can," assented Evelyn.</p> + +<p>"Now, our Local Council has been doing a great deal toward improving the +sanitation of Clarkson."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes," exclaimed Mrs. Wingate from her corner.</p> + +<p>"And we feel that every educated woman in the community should lend her +aid to all the causes of the Local Council."</p> + +<p>"Yes?" said Evelyn, rather weakly. She felt that the plot was +thickening. "I really know very little of such things, but—" The "but" +was highly equivocal.</p> + +<p>"And we are very anxious to get a representative on the School Board," +continued Miss Morris. "The election is in November. Has it ever +occurred to you how perfectly absurd it is for men to conduct our +educational affairs when the schools are properly a branch of the home +and should be administered, in part, at least, by women?" She punctuated +her talk so that her commas cut into the air. Mrs. Wingate, the third +and silent lady, approved this more or less inarticulately.</p> + +<p>"I know there's a great deal in that," said Evelyn.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p><p>"And we, the Executive Committee of the Council, have been directed to +ask you"—Mrs. Wingate and Mrs. Atherton moved nervously in their seats, +but Miss Morris now spoke with more deliberation, and with pedagogic +care of her pronunciation—"to become a candidate for the School Board."</p> + +<p>Evelyn felt a cold chill creeping over her, and swallowed hard in an +effort to summon some word to meet this shock.</p> + +<p>"Your social position," continued Miss Morris volubly, "and the prestige +which you as a bachelor of arts have brought home from college, make you +a most natural candidate."</p> + +<p>"Destiny really seems to be pointing to you," said Mrs. Atherton, with +coaxing sweetness in her tone.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but I couldn't think of it!" exclaimed Evelyn, recovering her +courage. "I have had no experience in such matters! Why, that would be +politics!—and I have always felt,—it has seemed to me,—I simply can't +consider it!"</p> + +<p>She had gained her composure now. She had been called a bachelor of +arts, and she felt an impulse to laugh.</p> + +<p>"Ah! we had expected that it would seem strange to you at first," said +Mrs. Atherton, who appeared to be in charge of the grand strategy of the +call, while Miss Morris carried the rapid firing guns and Mrs. Wingate +lent moral support, as of a shore battery.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Atherton had risen.</p> + +<p>"We have all set our hearts on it, and you must not decline. Think it +over well, and when you come to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> the first meeting of the Council in +September, you will, I am sure, be convinced of your duty."</p> + +<p>"Yes; a very solemn obligation that wealth and education have laid upon +you," Miss Morris amplified.</p> + +<p>"A solemn obligation," echoed Mrs. Wingate.</p> + +<p>The three filed out, Miss Morris leading the way, while Mrs. Atherton +lingeringly covered their retreat with a few words that were intended to +convey a knowledge of the summer frivolities then pending.</p> + +<p>"I should be very glad to have you come to see me at my rooms," said +Miss Morris, wheeling in her short skirt as she reached the door. "I +have rooms in the Ætna Building."</p> + +<p>"Do come and see us, too," murmured the convoy, smiling in relief as +they turned away.</p> + +<p>Evelyn sat down in the nearest chair and laughed.</p> + +<p>"I wonder whether they think college has made me like that?" she asked herself.</p> + +<p>At dinner she gave her father a humorous account of the interview. Grant +was away dining with a playmate and they were alone. Porter was in one +of his perverse moods, and he began gruffly:</p> + +<p>"I should like to know why not! Haven't I spent thousands of dollars on +your education? The lady was right; you are, at least so I have +understood, a bachelor of arts. Why a bachelor I'm sure I don't know—" +He was buttering a bit of bread with deliberation and did not look at +Evelyn, who waited patiently, knowing that he would have his whim out.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me," he went on, "a proper recognition of your talents and +education, and also of me, as one of the oldest citizens of Clarkson. I +tell you it is good to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> get a little recognition once in a while. I have +a painful recollection of having been defeated for School Commissioner +about ten years ago. Now here's a chance for the family to redeem +itself. Of course you accepted the nomination, and after your election +I'll expect you to bring the school funds to my bank, and I'll say to +you now that the directors will do the right thing by you."</p> + +<p>He was still avoiding Evelyn's eyes, but his humor was growing impatient for recognition.</p> + +<p>"Now, father!" she pleaded, and they laughed together.</p> + +<p>"Father," she said seriously, "I don't want these people here to get an +idea that I'm not an ordinary being."</p> + +<p>"That's an astonishing statement," he began, ready for further banter; +but she would not have it.</p> + +<p>"There are," she said, "certain things that a woman ought to do, whether +she's educated or not; and I have ideas about that. So you think these +people here are expecting great things of me,—"</p> + +<p>"Of course they are, and with reason," said Porter, still anxious to +return to his joke.</p> + +<p>"But I do not intend to have it! When I'm forty years old I may change +my mind, but right now I want—"</p> + +<p>She hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Well, what do you want, child?" he said gently, with the fun gone out +of his voice. They had had their coffee, and she sat with her elbow on +the table and her chin in her hand.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p><p>"Why, I'm afraid I want to have a good time," she declared, rising.</p> + +<p>"And that's just what I want you to have, child," he said kindly, +putting his arm about her as they went out together.</p> + +<p>Evelyn declined the honor offered her by the local council, at long +range, in a note to Doctor Morris, giving no reasons beyond her +unfamiliarity with political and school matters. These she knew would +not be considered adequate by Doctor Morris, but the latter, after +writing a somewhat caustic reply, in which she dwelt upon the new +woman's duties and responsibilities, immediately announced her own +candidacy. The incident was closed as far as Evelyn was concerned and +she was not again approached in the matter.</p> + +<p>Her father continued to joke about it, and a few weeks later, when they +were alone, referred to it in a way which she knew by experience was +merely a feint that concealed some serious purpose. Men of Porter's age +are usually clumsy in dealing with their own children, and Porter was no +exception. When he had anything of weight on his mind to discuss with +Evelyn, he brooded over it for several days before attacking her. His +manner with men was easy, and he was known down town as a good bluffer; +but he stood not a little in awe of his daughter.</p> + +<p>"I suppose things will be gay here this winter," he said, as they sat +together on the porch.</p> + +<p>"About the same old story, I imagine. The people and their ways don't +seem to have changed much."</p> + +<p>"You must have some parties yourself. Better start<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> them up early. Get +some of the college girls out, and turn it on strong."</p> + +<p>"Well, I shan't want to overdo it. I don't want to be a nuisance to you, +and entertaining isn't as easy as it looks."</p> + +<p>"It'll do me good, too," he replied. He fidgeted in his chair and played +with his hat, which, however, he did not remove, but shifted from one +side to the other, smoking his cigar meanwhile without taking it from +his mouth. He rose and walked out to one of his sprinklers which had +been placed too near the walk and kicked it off into the grass. She +watched him with a twinkle in her eyes, and then laughed. "What is it, +father?" she asked, when he came back to the porch.</p> + +<p>"What's what?" he replied, with assumed irritation. He knew that he must +now face the music, and grew composed at once.</p> + +<p>"Well, it's this,—" with sudden decision.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I knew it was something," she said, still laughing and not willing +to make it too easy for him.</p> + +<p>"You know the Knights of Midas are quite an institution here—boom the +town, and give a fall festival every year. The idea is to get the +country people in to spend their money. Lots of tom-foolishness about +it,—swords and plumes and that kind of rubbish; but we all have to go +in for it. Local pride and so on."</p> + +<p>"Yes; do you want me to join the Knights?"</p> + +<p>"No, not precisely. But you see, they have a ball every year in +connection with the festival, with a queen and maids of honor. I guess +you've never seen one of these things, as they have them in October, and +you've always been away at school. Now the committee on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> entertainment +has been after me to see if you'd be queen of the ball this year—"</p> + +<p>"Oh!—" ominously.</p> + +<p>"Just hold on a minute." He was wholly at ease now, and assumed the +manner which he had found effective in dealing with obstreperous +customers of his bank. "I'm free to say that I don't like the idea of +this myself particularly. There's a lot of publicity about it and you +know I don't like that—and the newspapers make an awful fuss. But you +see it isn't wise for us"—he laid emphasis on the pronoun—"to set up +to be better than other people. Now", with a twinkle in his eye, "you +turned down this School Board business the other day and said you wanted +to have a good time, just like other girls, and I reckon most of the +girls in town would be tickled at a chance like this—"</p> + +<p>"And you want me to do it, father? Is that what you mean? But it must be +perfectly awful,—the crowd and the foolish mummery."</p> + +<p>"Well, there's one thing sure, you'll never have to do it a second +time." Porter smiled reassuringly.</p> + +<p>"But I haven't said I'd do it once, father."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to have you; I'd like it very much, and should appreciate your +doing it. But don't say anything about it." Some callers were coming up +the walk, so the matter was dropped. Porter recurred to the subject +again next day, and Evelyn saw that he wished very much to have her take +part in the carnival, but the idea did not grow pleasanter as she +considered it. It was quite true, as she had told her father, that she +wanted to enjoy herself after the manner of other young women, and +without constant reference to her advantages, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> she had heard them +called; but the thought of a public appearance in what she felt to be a +very ridiculous function did not please her. On the other hand, her +father rarely asked anything of her and he would not have made this +request without considering it carefully beforehand.</p> + +<p>In her uncertainty she went for advice to Mrs. Whipple, the wife of a +retired army officer, who had been her mother's friend. Mrs. Whipple was +a woman of wide social experience and unusual common sense. She had +settled in her day many of those distressing complications which arise +at military posts in times of national peace. Young officers still came +to her for advice in their love affairs, which she always took +seriously, but not too seriously. Warry Raridan maintained unjustly that +Mrs. Whipple's advice was bad, but that it did the soul good to see how +much joy she got out of giving it. The army had communicated both social +dignity and liveliness to Clarkson, as to many western cities which had +military posts for neighbors. In the old times when civilians were busy +with the struggle for bread and had little opportunity for social +recreation, army men and women had leisure for a punctilious courtesy. +The mule-drawn ambulance was a picturesque feature of the urban +landscape as it bore the army women about the rough streets of the new +cities; it was not elegant, but it was so eminently respectable! There +might be an occasional colonel that was a snob, or a major that drank +too much; or a Mrs. Colonel who was a trifle too conscious of her rights +over her sisters at the Post, or a Mrs. Major whose syntax was +unbearable; but the stars and stripes covered them all, even as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> they +cover worse people and worse errors in our civil administrators.</p> + +<p>It gave Evelyn a pleasant sensation to find herself again in the little +Whipple parlor. The furniture was the same that she remembered of old in +the commandant's house at the fort. It had at last found repose, for the +Whipples' marching days were over. They made an effort to have an Indian +room, where they kept their books, but they refrained from calling the +place a library. On the walls were the headdress of a Sioux chief, and a +few colored photographs of red men; the couch was covered with a Navajo +blanket, and on the floor were wolf and bear skins. When chairs were +needed for callers, the general brought them in from other rooms; he +himself sat in a canvas camp chair, which he said was more comfortable +than any other kind, but which was prone to collapse under a civilian. +The wastepaper-basket by the general's table, and a basket for fire-wood +were of Indian make, dyed in dull shades of red and green.</p> + +<p>"My dear child," Mrs. Whipple began, when Evelyn had explained her +errand; "this is a very pretty compliment they're paying you,—don't you know that?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I don't want it," declared the girl, with emphasis.</p> + +<p>"That is wholly unreasonable. There are girls in Clarkson that could not +afford to take it; the strength of your position is that you can afford +to do it! It's not going to injure you in any way; can't you see that? +Everybody knows all about you,—that you naturally wouldn't want it. +Why, there's that Margrave girl, whose father does something or other in +one of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>railways,—she had this honor that is worrying you two years +ago, and her father and all his friends worked hard to get it for her."</p> + +<p>Evelyn laughed at her friend's earnestness. "I'm afraid you're trying to +lift this to an impersonal plane, but I'm considering myself in this +matter. I simply don't want to be mixed up in that kind of thing."</p> + +<p>"These business men work awfully hard for all of us," Mrs. Whipple +continued. "It seems to me that their daily business contests and +troubles are fiercer than real wars. I'd a lot rather take my chances in +the army than in commercial life,—if I were doing it all over +again,—that is, from the woman's side. The government always gives us +our bread if it can't supply the butter; and if the poor men lose a +fight they are forgiven and we still eat. But in the business battle—" +she shrugged her shoulders to indicate the sorry plight of the vanquished.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose that's all true," Evelyn conceded. "But you mustn't be +so abstract! I really haven't a philosophical mind. I came here to ask +you to tell me how to get out of this, but you seem to be urging me in!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Whipple rallied her forces while she poured the iced tea which a +maid had brought.</p> + +<p>"We can't always have our 'ruthers.' Now this looks like a very large +sacrifice of comfort and dignity to you. I'll grant you the discomfort, +but not any loss of dignity. If you were vain and foolish, I'd take your +side, just to protect you, but you have no such weaknesses. You must not +consider at all that girls in Eastern cities don't do such things; +that's because there aren't the things to do. Our great-grandchildren +won't be doing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> them either. But these carnivals, and things like that, +are necessary evils of our development. Army people like ourselves, who +have always been cared for by a paternal government, can hardly +appreciate the troubles of business people; and a girl like you, who has +always led a carefully sheltered life, with both comforts and luxuries +given her without the asking, must try to appreciate the fact that +everybody is not so fortunate. I don't know whether these affairs are +really of any advantage to the town commercially; I have heard business +men say that they are not; but so long as they have them, the rest of us +have got to submit to the confetti throwers and the country brass bands, +on the theory that it's good for the town."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Whipple covered all the ground when she talked. She had daringly +addressed department commanders in this ample fashion when her husband +was only a second lieutenant, and she was not easily driven from her position.</p> + +<p>"But what's good for the town isn't necessarily good for me," pleaded +Evelyn. Her animation was becoming, and Mrs. Whipple was noting the +points of the girl's beauty with delight. "Any other girl's clothes +would look just as sweet to the multitude," Evelyn asserted.</p> + +<p>"That's where you are mistaken. If it's a sacrifice, the town is +offering Iphigenia, and only our fairest daughter will do. I'll be +talking fine language in a minute, and one of us will be lost." She +laughed; Mrs. Whipple always laughed at herself at the right moment. She +said it discounted the pleasure other people might have in laughing at +her. "Now Evelyn Porter, you're a nice girl and a sensible one. So far +as you can see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> you're going to spend your days in this town, and it +isn't a bad place. We preferred to live here after the general retired +because we liked it, and that was when we had the world to choose from. +I've lived in every part of this country, but the people in this region +are simple and honest and wholesome, and they have human hearts in them, +and at my age that counts for a good deal. The general and I were both +born in Massachusetts, where you hear a lot about ancestors and +background; but I've driven over these plains and prairies in an army +ambulance, since before the Civil War, and it hasn't all been fun, +either; I love every mile of the country, and I don't want you, who are +the apple of my eye, to come home with patronizing airs—"</p> + +<p>"Not guilty!" exclaimed Evelyn throwing up her hands in protest. "I have +no such ideas and you know it; but you ignore the point. What I can't +see is that there's any question of patriotism in this Knights of Midas +affair, as far as I'm concerned, and I'm not so young as I was. The +queen of the ball should be much younger than I am."</p> + +<p>"Well, if you're reduced to that kind of argument, I think we'll have to +call the debate closed. But remember,—you're asked to give only an hour +of your life to please your father, and a great many other people. And +you'll be doing your town a great service, too."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Evelyn dolefully, as she got up to go, "this isn't the kind +of counsel I came for. If I'd expected this from you, I'd have taken my +troubles elsewhere." She had risen and stood swinging her parasol back +and forth and regarding the tip of her boot. "You almost make it seem right."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p><p>"You'd better make a note of it as one of those things that are not +pleasant, but necessary. If I thought it would harm you, child, I'd +certainly warn you against it—I'd do that for your mother's sake."</p> + +<p>"I like your saying that," said Evelyn, softly.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Whipple had been a beauty in the old army days, and was still a +handsome woman. She had retained the slenderness of her girlhood, and +the hot suns and blighting winds of the plains and mountains had dealt +gently with her. She took both of Evelyn's hands at the door, and kissed her.</p> + +<p>"Don't go away hating me, dear. Come up often; and after it's all over, +I'll tell you how good you've been."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll go to a convent afterward," Evelyn answered; "that is, if I +find that you've really persuaded me!"</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER VI</span> <span class="smaller">A SAFE MAN</span></h2> + +<p>James Wheaton was thirty-five years old, and was reckoned among the +solid young business men of Clarkson. He had succeeded far beyond his +expectations and was fairly content with the round of the ladder that he +had reached. He never talked about himself and as he had no intimate +friends it had never been necessary for him to give confidences. His +father had been a harness-maker in a little Ohio town; he and his older +brother were expected to follow the same business; but the brother grew +restless under the threat of enforced apprenticeship and prevailed on +James to run away with him. They became tramps and enjoyed themselves +roaming through the country, until finally they were caught stealing in +a little Illinois village and both were arrested.</p> + +<p>James was discharged through the generosity of his brother in taking all +the blame on himself; the older boy was sent to a reformatory alone. +James then went to Chicago, where he sold papers and blacked boots for a +year until he found employment as a train boy, with a company operating +on various lines running out of Chicago. This gave him a wide +acquaintance with western towns, and incidentally with railroads and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +railroad men. He grew tired of the road, and obtained at Clarkson a +position in the office of Timothy Margrave, the general manager of the +Transcontinental, which, he had heard, was a great primary school for ambitious boys.</p> + +<p>It was thus that his residence in Clarkson was established. He attended +night school, was assiduous in his duties, and attained in due course +the dignity of a desk at which he took the cards of Margrave's callers, +indexed the letter books and copied figures under the direction of the +chief clerk. After a year, hearing that one of the Clarkson National +Bank's messengers was about to resign, he applied for this place. +Margrave recommended him; the local manager of the news agency vouched +for his integrity, and in due course he wended the streets of Clarkson +with a long bill-book, the outward and visible sign of his position as +messenger. He was steadily promoted in the bank and felt his past +receding farther and farther behind him.</p> + +<p>When, at an important hour of his life, Wheaton was promoted to be +paying teller, he was in the receiving teller's cage. He had known that +the more desirable position was vacant and had heard his fellow clerks +speculating as to the possibility of a promotion from among their +number. Thompson, the cashier, had a nephew in the bank; and among the +clerks he was thought to have the best chance. They all knew that the +directors were in session, and several whose tasks for the day were +finished, lingered later than was their wont to see what would happen. +Wheaton kept quietly at his work; but he had an eye on the door of the +directors' room, and an ear that insensibly turned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> toward the +annunciator by which messengers were called to the board room. It rang +at last, and Wheaton wiped his pen with a little more than his usual +care as he waited for the result of the summons. This was on his +twenty-fifth birthday.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Wheaton!" The other clerks looked at one another. The question that +had been uppermost with all of them for a week past was answered. +Thompson's nephew slammed his book shut and carried it into the vault. +Wheaton put aside the balance sheet over which he had been lingering and +went into the directors' room. There had been no note of joy among his +associates. He knew that he was not popular with them; he was not, in +their sense, a good fellow. When they rushed off after hours to the ball +games or horse races, he never joined them. When their books did not +balance he never volunteered to help them. As for himself, he always +balanced, and did not need their help; and they hated him for it. This +was his hour of triumph, but he went to his victory without the cheer of his comrades.</p> + +<p>He heard Mr. Porter's question as to whether he felt qualified to accept +the promotion; and he sat patiently under the inquiries of the others as +to his fitness. It required no great powers of intuition to know that +these old men had already appointed him; that if they had not known to +their own satisfaction that he was the best available man, they would +not be taking advice from him in the matter.</p> + +<p>"Sanders leaves on Monday to take another position, and we will put you +in his cage to give you a trial," the president said, finally. Wheaton +expressed his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>gratitude for this mark of confidence. He was not +troubled by the suggestion of a trial. Porter and Thompson, the cashier, +always spoke of his promotions as "trials." He had never failed thus far +and his self-confidence was not disturbed by the care these men always +took to tie strings to everything they did with a view to easy +withdrawal, if the results were not satisfactory. The position had been +filled and there was nothing more to be said. Thompson, however, always +liked to have a last word.</p> + +<p>"Wheaton, your family live here, don't they?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Wheaton, smiling his difficult smile, "I haven't any family. +My parents are dead. I came here from Ohio, and board over on the north side."</p> + +<p>"Another Ohio man," said Porter, "you can't keep 'em down." They all +laughed at Porter's joke and Wheaton bowed himself out under cover of it.</p> + +<p>Later, when need arose for creating the position of assistant cashier, +it was natural that the new desk should be assigned to Wheaton. He was +faithful and competent; neither Porter nor Thompson had a son to install +in the bank; and, as they said to each other and to their fellow +directors, Wheaton had two distinguishing qualifications,—he did his +work and he kept his mouth shut.</p> + +<p>In the course of time Thompson's health broke down and the doctors +ordered him away to New Mexico, and again there seemed nothing to do but +to promote Wheaton. Thompson wished to sell his stock and resign, but +Porter would not have it so; but when, after two years, it was clear +that the cashier would never again be fit for continuous service in the +bank, Wheaton was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> duly elected cashier and Thompson was made +vice-president.</p> + +<p>Wheaton had now been in Clarkson fifteen years, and he was well aware +that other young men, with influential connections, had not done nearly +so well as he. He treasured no illusions as to his abilities; he did not +think he had a genius for business; but he had demonstrated to his own +satisfaction that such qualities as he possessed,—industry, sobriety +and obedience,—brought results, and with these results he was well +satisfied. He hoped some day to be rich, but he was content to make +haste slowly. He never speculated. He read in the newspapers every day +of men holding responsible positions who embezzled and absconded, but +there was never any question in his mind as between honesty and knavery. +It irritated him when these occurrences were commented on facetiously +before him; he did not relish jokes which carried an implication that he +too might belong to the dubious cashier class; and inquiries as to +whether he would spend his vacation in Canada or, if it were winter, in +Guatemala, were not received in good part, for he had much personal +dignity and little humor. He was counted among the older men of the town +rather than among men of his own age, and he found himself much more at +ease among his seniors. The young men appreciated his good qualities and +respected him; but he felt that he was not one of them; socially, he was +voted very slow, and there was an impression abroad that he was stingy. +Certainly he did not spend his money frivolously, and he never had done +so. Many fathers held him up as an example to their sons, and this +tended further to the creation of a feeling among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> his contemporaries +that he was lacking in good fellowship.</p> + +<p>Raridan knew the personal history of most of his fellow townsmen, and he +was fond of characterizing those whom he particularly liked or disliked, +for the benefit of his friends. He took it upon himself to sketch +Wheaton for John Saxton's benefit in this fashion.</p> + +<p>"Jim Wheaton's one of those men who never make mistakes," said Raridan, +with the scorn of a man whose own mistakes do not worry him. "He went +into that bank as a boy, and was first a model messenger, and then a +model clerk; and when they had to have a cashier there was the model +assistant, who had been a model everything else, so they put him in. +There wasn't anybody else for the job; and I guess he's a good man for +it, too. A bank cashier doesn't dare to make mistakes; and as Wheaton is +not of that warm, emotional nature that would lead him to lend money +without getting something substantial to hold before the borrower got +away, he's the model cashier. You've heard of those bank cashiers who +can refuse a loan to a man and send him out of the bank singing happy +chants. Well, Jim isn't that kind. When he turns down a man, the man +doesn't go on his way rejoicing. I don't know how much money Wheaton's +got. He's made something, of course, and Porter would probably sell him +stock up to a certain point. He'll die rich, and nobody, I fancy, will +ever be any gladder because he's favored this little old earth with his presence."</p> + +<p>As a bank clerk the teller's cage had shut Wheaton off from the world. +Young women of social distinction<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> who came sometimes to get checks +cashed, knew him as a kind of automaton, that looked at both sides of +their checks and at themselves, and then passed out coin and paper to +them; they saw him nowhere else, and did not bother themselves about +him. After his promotion to be assistant cashier, he saw the world +closer at hand. He had a desk and could sit down and talk to the men +whom he had studied from the cage for so long. The young women, too, +approached him no longer with checks to be cashed, but with little books +in which they urged him officially and personally to subscribe to +charities. Porter, who was naturally a man of generous impulses, knew +his own weakness and made the cashier the bank's almoner. He was very +sure that Wheaton would be as careful of the bank's money as of his own; +he had taken judicial knowledge of the fact that Wheaton's balance on +the bank's books had shown a marked and steady growth through all the +years of his connection with it.</p> + +<p>Wheaton's promotion to the cashiership had come in the spring; and +shortly afterward he had changed his way of living in a few particulars. +He had lodged for years in a boarding house frequented by clerks; a +place where his fellow boarders were, among others, a music teacher, a +milliner and the chief operator of the telephone exchange. He had not +felt above them; their dancing class and occasional theater party had +seemed fine to him. Porter now suggested that Wheaton should be a member +of the Clarkson Club, and Wheaton assented, on the president's +representation that "it would be a good thing for the bank." Vacant +apartments were offered at this time in The Bachelors', as it was +called, and he availed himself of the opportunity to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> change his place +of residence. He had considered the matter of taking a room at the club, +but this, after reflection, he rejected as unwise. The club was a new +institution in the town, and he was aware that there were conservative +people in Clarkson who looked on it as a den of iniquity,—with what +justification he did not know from personal experience, but he had heard +it referred to in this way at the boarding house table. He knew Raridan +and the others at The Bachelors', but his acquaintance with them was of +a perfunctory business character. When he moved to The Bachelors', +Raridan, who was always punctilious in social matters, formally called +on him in his room, as did also Captain Wheelock, the army officer then +stationed in Clarkson on recruiting service. The others in the house +welcomed him less formally as they chanced to meet him in the hall or on +the stairway; they were busy men who worked long hours and did not +bother themselves about the amenities and graces of life.</p> + +<p>His change to The Bachelors' was of importance to Wheaton in many ways. +He saw here, in the intimacies of their common table, men of a higher +social standing than he had known before. Their way of chaffing one +another seemed to him very bright; they mocked at the gods and were not +destroyed. Raridan was a new species and spoke a strange tongue. Raridan +and Wheelock appeared at the table in dinner-coats, and after a few +weeks Wheaton followed their example. Raridan, he knew, dressed whether +he went out or not, and he established his own habit in this particular +with as little delay as possible. The table then balanced, the smelter +manager, the secretary of the terra cotta manufacturing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> company, and +the traveling passenger agent of the Transcontinental Railroad appearing +in the habiliments which they wore at their respective places of +business, and Raridan, Wheaton and Wheelock in black and white.</p> + +<p>The humor of this division was not lost on the traveling passenger +agent, who chaffed the "glad rag" faction, as he called it, until +Raridan took up arms for his own side of the table.</p> + +<p>"It may be true, sir, what you say about a division here between the +working and non-working classes; but wit and beauty have from most +ancient times bedecked themselves in robes of purity. A man like +yourself, whose business is to persuade people to ride on the worst +railroad on earth, should properly array himself in sackcloth and ashes, +and not in purple and fine linen, which belong to those who severally +give their thoughts to the,—er—promotion of peace"—indicating +Wheelock—"sound finances," indicating Wheaton, "and—er—in my own +case—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, do tell us," said the railroad man, ironically.</p> + +<p>"To faith and good works," said Warrick imperturbably.</p> + +<p>"And mostly works,—I don't think!" declared Wheelock.</p> + +<p>The relations between Porter and Wheaton were strictly of a business +character. This was not by intention on Porter's part. He assumed that +at some time he or Thompson had known all about Wheaton's antecedents; +and after so many years of satisfactory service, during the greater part +of which the bank had been protected against Wheaton, as against all the +rest of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> employees, by a bonding company, he accepted the cashier +without any question. Before Evelyn's return he had one day expressed to +Wheaton his satisfaction that he would soon have a home again, and +Wheaton remarked with civil sympathy that Miss Porter must now be "quite a young lady."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; you must come up to the house when we get going again," Porter answered.</p> + +<p>Wheaton had seen the inside of few houses in Clarkson. He had a +recollection of having been sent to Porter's several times, while he was +still an errand boy in the bank, to fetch Porter's bag on occasions when +the president had been called away unexpectedly. He remembered Evelyn +Porter as she used to come as a child and sit in the carriage outside +the bank to wait for her father; the Porters stood to him then, and now, +for wealth and power.</p> + +<p>Raridan had a contempt for Wheaton's intellectual deficiencies; and +praise of Wheaton's steadiness and success vexed him as having some +sting for himself; but his own amiable impulses got the better of his +prejudices, and he showed Wheaton many kindnesses. When the others at +The Bachelors' nagged Wheaton, it was Raridan who threw himself into the +controversy to take Wheaton's part. He took him to call at some of the +houses he knew best, and though this was a matter of propinquity he knew +nevertheless that he preferred Wheaton to the others in the house. +Wheaton was not noisy nor pretentious and the others were sometimes both.</p> + +<p>Wheaton soon found it easy to do things that he had never thought of +doing before. He became known<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> to the florist and the haberdasher; there +was a little Hambletonian at a certain liveryman's which Warry Raridan +drove a good deal, and he had learned from Warry how pleasant it was to +drive out to the new country club in a runabout instead of using the +street car, which left a margin of plebeian walking at the end of the +line. He had never smoked, but he now made it a point to carry +cigarettes with him. Raridan and many other young men of his +acquaintance always had them; he fancied that the smoking of a cigarette +gave a touch of elegance to a gentleman. Captain Wheelock smoked +cigarettes which bore his own monogram, and as he said that these did +not cost any more than others of the same brand, Wheaton allowed the +captain to order some for him. But while he acquired the superficial +graces, he did not lose his instinctive thrift; he had never attempted +to plunge, even on what his associates at The Bachelors' called "sure +things"; and he was equally incapable of personal extravagances. If he +bought flowers he sent them where they would tell in his favor. If he +had five dollars to give to the <i>Gazette's</i> Ice Fund for the poor, he +considered that when the newspaper printed his name in its list of +acknowledgments, between Timothy Margrave, who gave fifty dollars, and +William Porter, who gave twenty-five, he had received an adequate return +on his investment.</p> + +<p>A few days after Evelyn Porter came home, Wheaton followed Raridan to +his room one evening after dinner. Raridan had set The Bachelors' an +example of white flannels for the warm weather, and Wheaton also had +abolished his evening clothes. Raridan's rooms had not yet lost their +novelty for him. The pictures, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>statuettes, the books, the broad +couch with its heap of varicolored pillows, the table with its +candelabra, by which Raridan always read certain of the poets,—these +still had their mystery for Wheaton.</p> + +<p>"Going out to-night?" he asked with a show of indifference.</p> + +<p>"Hadn't thought of it," answered Raridan, who was cutting the pages of a +magazine. "Kick the cat off the couch there, won't you?—it's that +blessed Chinaman's beast. Don't know what a Mongolian is doing with a +cat,—Egyptian bird, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Don't let me interrupt if you're reading," said Wheaton. "But I thought +some of dropping in at Mr. Porter's. Miss Porter's home now, I believe."</p> + +<p>"That's a good idea," said Raridan, who saw what was wanted. He threw +his magazine at the cat and got up and yawned. "Suppose we do go?"</p> + +<p>The call had been successfully managed. Miss Porter was very pretty, and +not so young as Wheaton expected to find her. Raridan left him talking +to her and went across to the library, where Mr. Porter was reading his +evening paper. Raridan had a way of wandering about in other people's +houses, which Wheaton envied him. Miss Porter seemed to take his call as +a matter of course, and when her father came out presently and greeted +him casually as if he were a familiar of the house he felt relieved and gratified.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER VII</span> <span class="smaller">WARRY RARIDAN'S INDIGNATION</span></h2> + +<p>Raridan stayed in town all summer, and he and Saxton saw a good deal of +each other. They drove often to the country club together, and Saxton +became, as people said, another of Warry's enthusiasms. Saxton was no +idler, and he was conscientiously striving to bring order out of chaos +in the interests which had been confided to him. He was annoyed, at +first, when Raridan in his unlimited leisure, began to invade his +office; but as the confidence and ease of real friendship grew between +them he did not scruple to send him away, or to throw him a newspaper +and bid him read and keep still. Raridan was the plaything of many +moods; Saxton was equable and steady. They sought each other with the +old perversity of antipodal natures.</p> + +<p>Saxton came in unexpectedly on Raridan at The Bachelors' one evening in +September. The day had been hot with the final fling of summer, but a +thunder shower had cooled the atmosphere, and there stole in pleasantly +the drip, drip, of the rain which was now abating. Heat lightning glowed +in the west with the luminousness so marked in that region.</p> + +<p>"It's an infernal, hideous shame," called Raridan fiercely through the +dark, recognizing Saxton's step.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p><p>"Thanks! I'm glad I came," said Saxton, cheerfully.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to be a cannibal for a few hours," growled Raridan, kicking a +chair toward Saxton without rising from the couch where he lay sprawled. +Saxton went about quietly, lighting the gas, picking up the books and +newspapers which Raridan had evidently cast from him in his rage, and +making a seat for himself by the window.</p> + +<p>"I'm not an expert in lunacy, but I'll hear your trouble. Go ahead."</p> + +<p>Raridan got up suddenly, his glasses swinging wildly from their cord.</p> + +<p>"Put out that light," he commanded savagely; and Saxton did as he was bidden.</p> + +<p>"Do you know what Evelyn Porter's going to do?" demanded Raridan.</p> + +<p>"I certainly do not. You seem to want to leave me in the dark; and that's no joke."</p> + +<p>"She's going to be queen of their infernal Knights of Midas ball, that's what."</p> + +<p>"Your language is spirited, I must say. I think we may classify that as +important if true."</p> + +<p>"It's an outrage; an infernal damned shame!" Raridan went on.</p> + +<p>"Language unbecoming an officer and a gentleman—"</p> + +<p>"There's a fine girl, as charming as any girl dare be. She has a father +who doesn't appreciate her;—a good fellow and all that and he wouldn't +hurt her for anything on earth; but he hasn't got any sensibility; +that's the trouble with scores of American fathers. These Western ones +are worse than any others. They break<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> their sons in, whenever they can, +to the same collars they've worn themselves. Their daughters they +usually don't understand at all! They intimidate their wives so that the +poor things don't dare call their souls their own; but the women are the +saving remnant out here. And when a particularly fine one turns up she +ought to be protected from the curse of our infernal commercialism."</p> + +<p>He threw himself into a chair and lighted a cigarette.</p> + +<p>Saxton laughed silently.</p> + +<p>"Isn't this a new responsibility you've taken on? I don't believe these +things are as bad as you make them out to be. The commercial curse is +one of the things you can't dodge these days. It's just as bad in Boston +as it is here; and you find it wherever you find live people who want +bread to eat and cake if they can get it."</p> + +<p>"But to visit the curse on a girl,—a fine girl,—"</p> + +<p>"A pretty girl,—" Saxton suggested.</p> + +<p>"A really charming girl," continued Warrick, with unabated earnestness, +"is a rotten shame."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you're taking it too seriously," said Saxton. "If Miss +Porter were not a very sensible young woman it would be different. You +don't think for a moment that she would have her head turned—"</p> + +<p>"No, sir; not a bit of it; but it's the principle of the thing that I'm +kicking about. This is one of the things that I detest in these Western +towns. It's the inability to escape from their infernal business. On the +face of it their Midas ball is a social event, but at the bottom, it's +merely a business venture. All the business men have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> got to go in for +it, but it doesn't stop there; they must drag their families in. Evelyn +Porter has got to mix up with the daughters of the plumbers and the +candlestick makers in order that the god of commerce may be satisfied."</p> + +<p>"You don't quite grasp the situation," said Saxton. "If you had to get +out among these men who have hard work to do every day you'd have a +different feeling about such things. They've got to make the town go, +and this carnival is one of the ways in which they can stir things up +commercially, and at the same time give pleasure to a whole lot of people."</p> + +<p>"Now look here, you know as well as I do that you can't mix up all sorts +and conditions of men, and particularly women, in this way, without +making a mess of it. A man may introduce the green grocer at the corner, +and all that kind of ruck, to his wife and daughter, but what's the good of it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, what's the good of a democracy anyhow?" demanded Saxton. "I used +to have those ideas, too, when I was younger, but I thought it all over +when I was herding cattle up in Wyoming and I renounced such notions for +all time, even before I went broke. I found when I got back East that I +carried my new convictions with me, and the sight of civilized people +and good food did not change me."</p> + +<p>"Well, the girl oughtn't to be sacrificed anyhow," said Warrick, spitefully.</p> + +<p>Saxton bit his pipe hard and grinned.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Raridan, I'm afraid it's the girl and not the philosophy of +the thing that's worrying you.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> Why didn't you tell me it was the girl, +and not the social fabric generally, that you want to defend?"</p> + +<p>Both Saxton and Raridan were a good deal at the Porters'. He knew that +Raridan had been a playmate of Evelyn's in their youth, when the elder +Porters and Raridans had been friends and neighbors. There existed +between them the lighthearted camaraderie that young people carry from +youth to maturity, and it had touched Saxton with envy. As a man having +no fixed duties, Raridan sometimes went, in the middle of the hot +mornings, to the Porter hilltop, where it was pleasant to sit and talk +to a pretty girl and look down on the seething caldron below, when every +other man of the community was sweltering at the business of earning his daily bread.</p> + +<p>"You oughtn't to get so violent about these things," Saxton went on to +say. "You will yourself be one of the ornaments of the show, and you +will dance before the throne and be glad of the chance. They have a +king, don't they? You might get the job. Who's going to be king, by the way?"</p> + +<p>"Wheaton, I fancy; the announcement hasn't been made yet."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Saxton, significantly. "Is this a little jealousy? Are we +sorry that we're not to wear the royal robes ourself? Well! well, I +begin to understand!"</p> + +<p>"I don't like that either, if you want to know. It all gets back to the +accursed commercial idea. Wheaton's the cashier in Porter's bank. It's +very fitting that the president's daughter and the young and brilliant +cashier should be identified together in a public function like this. No +doubt Wheaton is fixing it up."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p><p>"Well, why don't you fix it up? I have been deluding myself with the +idea that you were a person of consequence in this town, yet you admit +that in a mere trifling social matter you are outwitted, or about to be, +by one of these commercial persons you hate so much, or say you do."</p> + +<p>He spoke tauntingly, but Raridan was evidently serious in his complaint, +and Saxton turned the talk into other channels. The Chinese servant came +in presently with a card for Raridan.</p> + +<p>"By Jove!" he exclaimed, "it's Bishop Delafield." He plunged downstairs +and returned immediately with a man whose great figure loomed darkly in the doorway.</p> + +<p>Raridan made a light.</p> + +<p>"We've been doing the dim, religious act here," he said, after +introducing Saxton. "The lightning out there has been fine."</p> + +<p>"You feel that you can't trust me in the dark," said the bishop; "or +perhaps that I won't appreciate the 'dim religious,' as you call it. +Turn down the gas and save my feelings."</p> + +<p>Saxton was well acquainted with Warrick's zeal in church matters and was +not surprised to find a church dignitary in his friend's rooms. He had +never met the Bishop of Clarkson before, and he was a little awestruck +at the heroic size of this man who had just given him so masculine a +grasp of the hand and so keen a scrutiny.</p> + +<p>The bishop extended his vast bulk in Raridan's easiest chair, and +accepted a cigar from the box which Warry passed to him.</p> + +<p>"You've come just in time to save us from fierce <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>contentions," said +Raridan, all amiability once more, while the bishop lighted his cigar. +He was very bald, and his head shone so radiantly that Saxton felt that +he could still see it in the dark after Warrick had turned down the +lights. There was an atmosphere about the man of great physical +strength, and his deep-set eyes under their shaggy brows were quick and +penetrating. Here was a man famous in his church for the energy and +sacrifice which he had brought to the work of a missionary in one of the +great Western dioceses. He had been bereft, in his young manhood, of his +wife and children, and had thereafter offered himself for the roughest +work of his church. He was sixty years old and for twenty years had been +a bishop, first in a vast region of the farther Northwest, where the +diocesan limits were hardly known, and where he had traveled ponyback +and muleback until called to be the Bishop of Clarkson. He was famous as +a preacher, and when he appeared from time to time in the pulpits of +Eastern churches, he swayed men mightily by the vigor and simplicity of +his eloquence. He had, in his younger days, been reckoned a scholar, but +the study of humanity at close hand had superseded long ago his interest +in books and learning. He had a deep, melodious voice and there was +charm and magnetism in him, as many people of many sorts and conditions knew.</p> + +<p>"What's the subject, gentlemen?" he asked, smoking contentedly. "I'm +sure something very serious must be before the house."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Raridan has been abusing the commercialism of his neighbors," said Saxton.</p> + +<p>"Saxton's a new-comer, Bishop, and doesn't <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>understand the situation +here as you and I do. You know that I'm the only native that dares to +hold honest opinions. The rest all follow the crowd."</p> + +<p>"Reformers always have a hard time of it," said the bishop. "If you're +going to make over your fellowmen, you'll have to get hardened to their +indifference. But what's the matter with things to-night; and what are +you gentlemen doing in town, anyway? Aren't there places to go where +it's cool and where there are pretty girls to enchant you?"</p> + +<p>Raridan attacked the bishop about some question of ritual that was +agitating the English Church. It was worse than Greek to Saxton, but +Raridan seemed fully informed about it, and turned up the lights to read +a paragraph from an English church paper which was, he protested, rankly +heretical. The bishop smoked his cigar calmly until Raridan had finished.</p> + +<p>"They tell me," he said, when Raridan had concluded by flinging the +whole matter upon his clerical caller with an air of arraigning the +entire episcopate, "that you're a pretty fair lawyer, Warry, only you +won't work. And I hear occasionally that you're about to embrace the +ministry. Now, just think what a time I'd have with you on my hands! You +couldn't get the water hot enough for me. Isn't he ungracious"—turning +to Saxton—"when I came here for rest and recreation, to put me on trial +for my life? You ought to know, young man, that a bishop can be tried +only by his peers."</p> + +<p>Raridan threw down his paper, and rang for the Chinaman.</p> + +<p>"When I embrace the ministry under you, Bishop, you may be sure that +I'll be humble enough to be good."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p><p>The Chinaman brought a variety of liquids, from which they helped +themselves.</p> + +<p>"Don't be afraid of the Scotch, Saxton," said Raridan, "the bishop has +seen the bottle before."</p> + +<p>The bishop, who was pouring seltzer on his lemon juice, smiled +tolerantly at Raridan's chatter, with whose temper and quality he had +long been familiar, and addressed himself to Saxton. He liked young men, +and had an agreeable way of drawing them out and making them talk about +themselves. When it was disclosed that Saxton had been in the cattle +business, the bishop showed an intimate knowledge of the range and its ways.</p> + +<p>"You see, the bishop's ridden over most of the cattle country in his +day," explained Raridan.</p> + +<p>"And evidently not all in Pullman cars," said Saxton.</p> + +<p>"I'm considered a heavy load for a cow pony," said the bishop, smiling +down at his great bulk, "so they used sometimes to find a mule for me."</p> + +<p>"How are the Porters?" he asked presently of Raridan.</p> + +<p>"Very well, and staying on in the heat with the usual Clarkson fortitude."</p> + +<p>"Porter's one of the men that never rest," said the bishop. "I've known +him ever since I've known the West, and he's taken few vacations in that time."</p> + +<p>"Well, he's showing signs of wear," said Raridan. "He's one of the men +who begin with a small business where they do all the work themselves, +and when the business outgrows them, they never realize that they need +help, or that they can have any. Before they made Wheaton cashier, +Porter carried the whole bank in his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> head. He's improving a little, and +has a stenographer now; but he's nervous and anxious all the while and +terribly fussy over all he does."</p> + +<p>"Wheaton ought to be a great help to him," said the bishop. "He seems a +steady fellow, hard working and industrious."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's all those things," Raridan answered carelessly. "He'll never +steal anybody's money."</p> + +<p>The bishop talked directly to Raridan about some work which it seemed +the young man had done for him, and rose to go. He had been in town only +a few hours, after a business journey to New York, and on reaching his +rooms had found a summons calling him to a neighboring jurisdiction, to +perform episcopal functions for a brother bishop who was ill. Saxton and +Warrick went down to the car with him, carrying the battered suit cases +which contained his episcopal robes and personal effects. These cases +showed rough usage; they had been to Canterbury and had found lodging +many nights in the sod houses of the plains.</p> + +<p>"How do you like him?" asked Raridan, as the bishop climbed into a +street car headed toward the station.</p> + +<p>"He looks like the real thing," said Saxton. "He has a voice and a beard +like a prophet."</p> + +<p>"He's a fine character,—one of the people that understand things +without being told. A few men and women in the world have that kind of +instinct. They're put here, I guess, to help those who don't understand themselves."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER VIII</span> <span class="smaller">TIMOTHY MARGRAVE MAKES A CHOICE</span></h2> + +<p>There was a tradition that no one had ever been black-balled in the +Knights of Midas, so when Timothy Margrave got Wheaton's signature to an +application for membership the cashier was beset by no fear of +rejection. The citizens of Clarkson were indebted to Margrave for many +schemes for booming their town. He lectured his fellow business men +constantly about their lack of enterprise.</p> + +<p>"Look at Kansas City," he would say at the club, bending forward +ponderously on his fat knees, "they ain't got half the terminal +facilities that we have, and there ain't any better country around 'em, +but they're bigger than we are and ahead of us because they've got more +hustle than we have; and hustle's what makes a town,—look at Chicago! +But we've got a lot of salt mackerel business men here, so pickled in +their brine of conservatism that they won't do anything. There's Billy +Porter; when we want to raise money to help boom the town, I'm always +dead sure that Billy will cough up, but you've got to show 'im;—tell +'im all about it, and he likes to play with you and guy you and rub it +in before he puts his name down. Now he may be a safe banker and all +that, but I say that there's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> such a thing as pushing conservatism too +damned far. We're going to be a long time getting over the panic and +we've got to give a strong pull and all pull together if we get in the +procession." His voice rose as he proceeded. "Look at little Sioux City! +busted wide open and knocked over the ropes, but here they come waltzing +up again, as full of sass as a fox terrier with a flea on his tail. Talk +about grit, the time a man wants to show that article's when he's +busted. Any fool can be cheerful on a bull market."</p> + +<p>Then he would settle himself back with an air of complacency, as if he +had done all that he could do to arrest decay in the town; if his fellow +citizens failed to rouse themselves it was not his fault. Margrave held +no office in the Knights of Midas, but this was because he had learned +by political experience that it was much simpler to lurk in the +background and manipulate the men he placed in power. It was on this +high principle that he built up the order of the Knights of Midas and +directed its course from the office of the general manager of the +Transcontinental. There was nothing incongruous to him in the annual +ball, which was the only public social manifestation of the +organization. It was he who directed that twenty members be chosen from +the membership list each year, to conduct the purely social functions of +the ball, and that these be taken in alphabetical order. Thus the +Adamses and the Bakers and the Cummingses, who belonged in different +constellations, found themselves in the same orbit. If they were +unacquainted or were enemies of long standing, this did not trouble +Margrave when the fact<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> was brought to his notice. It was time, he said, +that the people of Clarkson got together.</p> + +<p>"We may as well get some work out of Jim Wheaton," he remarked to the +grand chief of the Knights of Midas. "He's pretty solemn, but Jim was +solemn when he was a kid and worked for me. Porter and Thompson have +always been too slow for this earth and if we pull Wheaton in, it may +wake up the old chaps so they'll do something besides sit on the fence +and watch the rest of us hustle."</p> + +<p>"See here," said Norton, the grand chief, "what's the matter with +shoving him in for the king of the carnival? We've got to make a strong +push this year to give tone to the show socially; that's the only way we +can keep up the town interest. Having these jays come in from the +country won't do any good unless we can hold these eminently respectable +people who think they're Clarkson society."</p> + +<p>"You're dead right on that point," said Margrave; "that's a big card +with the jays,—they think they come to town and get right in the push +and are tickled to pay ten dollars a ticket for a taste of high life. I +tell you what we'll do, we'll get Porter to let his daughter appear as +queen of the carnival, and if that ain't a big enough jolly, we can make +Wheaton king. That's what I'd call giving the Clarkson National a run +for its money. If Porter don't double his subscription on the strength of that—"</p> + +<p>He looked at Norton and they both laughed.</p> + +<p>A few days later Margrave called on Wheaton at the bank. He was a little +proud of having discovered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> Wheaton. Since his quondam messenger had +become a bank cashier he had begun to take notice of him.</p> + +<p>"I guess we're going to need you to take a star part in the carnival +this year," he said, leading him into the empty directors' room and +looking carefully about to make sure that they were alone. "Yon see, +we've been casting about to find a good representative from among the +younger business men to take the part of king in the carnival. The board +of control are unanimous that you're the man."</p> + +<p>"But I've just gone into the Knights,—there are plenty of older members."</p> + +<p>"That's the point! we want new men and you're just the fellow we're after."</p> + +<p>He had been holding his hat in his hand and wiping his brow with his +handkerchief, and he now backed toward the door, saying, without leaving +Wheaton time for further quibble:</p> + +<p>"Keep it mum. You understand about that; we always want to jar the +public. We'll put you on to the curves all right."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I'm very much surprised," said Wheaton, "but—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's all fixed," said Margrave, moving off. "You're the only one +and we never let anybody decline. It would knock all the compliment out +of it, if we let two or three fellows refuse before we caught one that would accept."</p> + +<p>Wheaton went back to his desk, surprised and flattered. Margrave's good +will was worth having. Wheaton had never outgrown the impression he +formed of Margrave when, as a boy, he had indexed letter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> books and +received callers in the general manager's outer office. He knew that Mr. +Porter was more respectable and stood higher in the community, but there +was something that took hold of even Wheaton's dull imagination in the +bolder achievements of Timothy Margrave, who rolled over the country in +a private car, dictating, when need arose, to the legislatures of a +chain of states, and looming large in the press's discussions of those +combinations and contests of transportation companies which marked the +last years of the nineteenth century. Wheaton had acquired a banker's +habitual distrust of men who offer favors; but as this came on the +personal invitation of one who had no dealings with his bank he could +see no harm in accepting.</p> + +<p>Margrave winked at him a few days later when they met at the club.</p> + +<p>"The boys are all glad you're going to lead the show, Jim," said the +general manager; and Wheaton experienced a feeling of having fallen into +the larger currents of Clarkson life. Margrave was the man who, more +than any other, made things happen in Clarkson.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER IX</span> <span class="smaller">PARLEYINGS</span></h2> + +<p>Evelyn acted on her father's suggestion that she ask some friends to +visit her, and she summoned two of her classmates to come out for the +carnival. She told Raridan of their coming one evening when they were +alone, and he began propounding inquiries about them with the zealous +interest, half mocking and half earnest, which he always manifested in +girls that crossed his horizon.</p> + +<p>"And Miss Warren—is she the one from Dedham Crossing, Connecticut? Yes, +I suppose they will want to go right out to see the Indians. I'll see if +the War Department won't lend us a few from a reservation to show off +with. It's too bad for our guests to be disappointed. And Miss +Marshall—she's from Virginia? It will really be rather amusing to bring +the types together on our rude frontier."</p> + +<p>"But you're not to play tricks with these friends of mine, Warrick +Raridan. You are to be very nice to them, but you are not to make too +much of an impression—unless—!"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid Miss Warren's a trifle too serious for human nature's daily +food," he said, complainingly.</p> + +<p>"Yes? I remember that she was strong in entomology.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> She surely knows a +moth from a bumblebee when she sees it."</p> + +<p>"Tut! tut! One shouldn't be spiteful. Miss Warren is a nice girl. She +knows where the pussy willows purr first in the harsh Connecticut +spring. She is strong on golden rod and ah-tum leaves; she reads 'Sesame +and Lilies' once a week, and Channing's 'Symphony' hangs in her room in +blue and gold. She's very sweet with her Sunday School class. She shall +be saluted with the Chautauqua salute—thus!" He flourished his +handkerchief at a picture on the wall.</p> + +<p>"How brutal! Deliver me from the cynical man! By the way, Warry, I saw +Minnie Metchen in New York this spring, and she asked me all the +questions about you she dared. That really wasn't good of you. She +hadn't been an army girl long—her father was a new paymaster, or +something like that; she wasn't fair game. You were her first, and she +thought you meant it all,—the poems and the flowers and all that kind +of thing. She thought you were very good, too. You remember, I hope, +that you dragged her across town to that colored mission where you were +lay-reading at the time. Now, you mustn't do that any more."</p> + +<p>Raridan buried his face in his hands and groaned.</p> + +<p>"My sins are more than I can bear. But I'm really disappointed in you. +It isn't good form in this town to remember from one winter to another +what my enthusiasms have been. But, Evelyn—"</p> + +<p>His manner changed suddenly and he rose and walked the floor. He was so +full of mockery, and his fun took so many unexpected turns, that Evelyn, +who had known him from his wilful, spoiled childhood, was never sure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> of +his moods. He seemed very serious as he stood before her with his arms +folded and looked at her. His voice broke a little as he said:</p> + +<p>"Evelyn, I don't want you to remember this kind of thing of me. Nobody +takes me seriously; I'm getting tired of it. I'm all kinds of a failure. +I ought to be doing things, like all the other men here. Maybe it's too late—"</p> + +<p>"No, it's never too late to do what we want to do, Warry," she said very +kindly. "But I don't know that you're such a failure." She was still on +guard for some flash of the joke that he was always playing.</p> + +<p>"But it's a question with me whether I haven't lost my chance," he +persisted. He sat down, dejectedly. Then he laughed.</p> + +<p>"Do you know why I'm like the Juniata River?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"I'm not good at guessing," she answered, wondering whether he was +laying a trap for her.</p> + +<p>"Why, Captain Wheelock told somebody that it was because I am very +beautiful and very shallow." He did not laugh with her.</p> + +<p>"Those things aren't funny to me any more," he declared, scowling.</p> + +<p>"But to be called beautiful—"</p> + +<p>"No man is beautiful," he returned savagely. "No man wants to be called +that. It's my eye-glasses, I suppose." He took them off and played with +them. "Maybe they do make me look dudish. I'd wear spectacles if they +didn't cut my ears. Or I might go without and come to a sudden end by +walking over some lonely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> precipice." He expected her to remonstrate, +but she said:</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll promise not to tell the new visitors about you;" as if, of +course, this was what he had been leading up to.</p> + +<p>"I don't care anything about them."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry. I had rather counted on you, as the only person here who has +met them,—and an old friend of the family."</p> + +<p>He stood up again.</p> + +<p>"But I don't want to be your friend—"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" She seized and fortified all the strategic positions. "This is +certainly surprising in you, Warrick Raridan, after all the years I've +known you. I didn't expect to be renounced so early." He stood looking +at her quizzically, and too fixedly for her comfort.</p> + +<p>"Tragedy doesn't become the Juniata type of beauty. You'd better sit +down." He had been pacing the floor, but now threw himself into a chair.</p> + +<p>"That chair," she continued, "is a relic of the Inquisition. If you'll +move those cushions about a little on the divan you'll be a lot more comfortable."</p> + +<p>He mumbled that he didn't want to be comfortable, but obeyed.</p> + +<p>"Now, if you'll be good," she went on tranquilly, folding her arms and +looking at him benignantly, "I'll tell you a secret."</p> + +<p>He had thrust his hands into his pockets and sat watching her sulkily.</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"I'm to be queen of the ball, sir, I'm to be queen of the ball."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p><p>"I'm sorry I can't congratulate you," he said grimly. "You have no +business mixing up with their infernal idiocy. I've been expecting to +hear that you'd refused." He grew hot as he went on. "Your father +oughtn't to make you do such a thing."</p> + +<p>"Warry!" She sat up straight and bent toward him in an attitude of +remonstrance; "you really mustn't! Why, I'm amazed at you!"</p> + +<p>The enormity of the thing, as Raridan saw it, had grown on him since his +talk with Saxton, and he did not relent; but he relaxed his severity for +the moment, to assume an aggrieved air.</p> + +<p>"Maybe I'm presuming too far on old acquaintance!" he said gloomily.</p> + +<p>"I still have that copy of Aldrich you gave me once,—you remember that +they</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>'Met as acquaintances meet,</div> +<div class="i1">Smiling, tranquil-eyed—</div> +<div>Not even the least little beat</div> +<div class="i1">Of the heart, upon either side!'</div> +</div></div> + +<p>But,—should old acquaintance be forgot?" she hummed. He was still a +spoilt boy who had to be coaxed into good humor.</p> + +<p>"You know what I mean, Evelyn. I feel a particular interest in having +you start right here, now that you've come home to stay. People will be +surprised to hear of your taking a part like that; they want to take you +seriously. You've been to college—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Warry!" she cried appealingly. "And are you to throw this at me? A +few minutes ago you were complaining that people wouldn't take you +seriously,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> but I'm afraid they want to take me much too seriously. I +don't like it! In fact, I don't intend to have it!"</p> + +<p>"But you don't mean to get down to a level with these girls who've been +ground out of boarding schools, and who don't know anything? The kind +that play badly on the piano, or sing worse, and come home to mix Fifth +Avenue boarding school with Missouri River every-day life!"</p> + +<p>"I'm really disappointed in you. I supposed you weren't like the others. +A few days ago some estimable women called here to get me to become a +candidate for school commissioner. They talked beautifully to me. There +was one of them, a Miss Morris—" Raridan extended his arms to Heaven, +as if imploring mercy—"who told me that I was a bachelor of arts and +that all kinds of things were therefore to be expected of me."</p> + +<p>"But I don't mean that! It's just that sort of thing I think you ought +to keep free from,—it's this awful publicity; it's making yourself +public property! Women must keep out of such things. School +commissioner!" His spirits were rising again and he laughed aloud.</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't you vote for me?"</p> + +<p>He stared. "You're not going to—"</p> + +<p>"Decidedly not. I want you to understand, and everybody to find out that +I'm a very ordinary being. I hope if I've learned anything in college +it's common sense. I don't feel a bit interested in regulating the +universe, or in getting more rights for women, or in politics of any +kind, any more than every sane woman is interested in such things. About +this carnival and the ball, I don't mind telling you that I dislike it +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>particularly. But I'm going to do it for two reasons, to be much +franker with you than you deserve; to please father, for whom I can do +very little, and to set at rest this idea about my being a divinely +gifted individual who has come home from college to rub up the universe +with a witch cloth. And now, Warrick Raridan, we will, if you please, +consider the incident closed; and if you are very good you may dance +with me at the ball."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the noble king will have first place there."</p> + +<p>"Well, if you're the king you can't object," she said. "I'm sure I don't +know who the king's to be—"</p> + +<p>"Well, I do—"</p> + +<p>"Then you needn't tell me, please. I want to be surprised."</p> + +<p>"But he's likely to be somebody you won't care to know under any +circumstances," he persisted. His contempt for the carnival and his rage +at the thought of this girl being publicly identified with Wheaton rose +in him and he grew morose again. Evelyn, seeing another storm, +approaching and wishing to restore his good humor, returned to her +expected guests and her plans for entertaining them.</p> + +<p>It must be confessed that in her heart Evelyn was one of those who, in +Raridan's own phrase, did not take him seriously. She had seen more of +him than of any other man. She had a great fondness for him, and she was +glad to find that after her absences he always came to the house as if +there had been no break, and took up their pleasant comradeship where +they had left it. She had speculated not a little as to the violent +flirtations which he carried on so openly, and had wondered whether he +would sometime grow serious in one of them,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> and what manner of girl +would finally steady him and win him to a real affection. She did not +understand the mood that had swayed him, or that seemed about to sway +him to-night; but a woman's natural instinct in such matters had warned +her that he wanted to change their old attitude toward each other, and +she knew that she did not want to change it. She liked his gentleness, +his humor and his generous impulses. She had seen enough of the world to +know that the qualities which set him apart from most men were rare. His +likings in themselves were unusual, and though they were not sincere +enough for his own good, they constituted an element of charm in him. +His easy susceptibility was amusing; and it was no more marked in +flirtations with girls than in dallyings with books or pictures or +music. He was certainly a delightful companion, almost as satisfactory +to talk to as a bright girl! She felt, though, that there was a real +power in him; she could dramatize him in situations where he would be a +leader of forlorn hopes on battlefields; but she stopped short of loving +him; she had, she told herself, no idea of loving any one now; but +neither did she wish to lose a friend who was so entirely agreeable and +charming. She resolved as they sat talking of perfectly safe matters, +that their old footing must be maintained, and she felt confident that +she could manage this.</p> + +<p>"Don't you like John Saxton very much?" he asked, and she felt that the +day was saved when he would talk of another man. "I like him better all the time."</p> + +<p>"Yes; people are saying agreeable things about him. But he's pretty +serious, isn't he?"</p> + +<p>"Well, that makes him a good companion for me, you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> know. Acute gaiety +is diagnosed as my chief trouble," he said, a little bitterly. He was +trying to feel his way back to the talk of an hour ago, but she had +resolved not to have it so.</p> + +<p>"It's very nice of you to be kind to him."</p> + +<p>"If you mean that I bring him up here, that isn't kindness, it's just +ordinary decent humanity."</p> + +<p>He was cheerful again, and he went away assuring her that he would be at +the station to meet the approaching visitors the following afternoon. He +abused himself, as he went down the hill toward the electric lights of +the city, for having permitted Evelyn to defeat him in what he had +intended to say. He stopped on the long viaduct that spanned the railway +tracks and looked moodily down on the lights of the switch targets and +the signal lanterns of the trainmen. Then he turned his eyes toward the +Porter house which stood darkly against the starlit sky among the trees. +As he looked a light flashed suddenly in the tower. He laughed softly to +himself as he turned with a quickened step on his way.</p> + +<p>"Maybe it's Evelyn, and maybe it's the cook; but any lady in a tower! +The thought of it doth please me well."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER X</span> <span class="smaller">A WRECKED CANNA BED</span></h2> + +<p>Raridan was at the station to meet Evelyn's guests, as he had promised. +He had established a claim upon their notice on the occasion of one of +his visits to Evelyn at college, and he greeted them with an air of +possession which would have been intolerable in another man. He pressed +Miss Warren for news of the Connecticut nutmeg crop, and hoped that Miss +Marshall had not lost her accent in crossing the Missouri, while he +begged their baggage checks and waved their minor impedimenta into the +hands of the station porters.</p> + +<p>Wise men, long ago, abandoned the hope of accounting for college +friendships in either sex, and there was nothing proved in Evelyn's case +by her choice of these young women as her intimate friends. Annie Warren +was as reserved and quiet as Evelyn could be in her soberest moments; +Belle Marshall was as frank and friendly as Evelyn became in her +lightest moods. Evelyn had been the beauty of her class; her two friends +were what is called, by people that wish to be kind, nice looking. Annie +Warren had been the best scholar in her class; Belle Marshall had been +among the poorest; and Evelyn had maintained a happy medium between the +two. And so it fortunately happened that the trio mitigated one +another's imperfections.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p><p>Evelyn had summoned her guests at this time principally to have their +support through the carnival. They made light of the perplexities and +difficulties of Evelyn's own participation when she unfolded them; there +would be a lot of fun in it, they thought, and they deemed it, too, a +recognition of Evelyn's fine qualities. They were fresh from college and +they could see nothing in the carnival and the coronation of the +carnival's queen that was inconsistent with a girl's dignity; it ranked +at least with some of the festivals of girl's colleges. The whole matter +presently resolved itself into the question of clothes, and Evelyn's +coronation gown was laid before them and duly praised.</p> + +<p>"It is worth while," declared Miss Marshall, "to have a chance to wear +clothes like that just once in your life."</p> + +<p>Evelyn had discussed with her father ways and means of entertaining her +guests; he was anxious for her to celebrate her home-coming with a great +deal of entertaining. He preferred large functions, perhaps for the +reason that he could lose himself better in them than in small +gatherings, in which his responsibilities as host could not be dodged. +In a large company he could take one or two of his old friends into a +corner and enjoy a smoke with them. He wished Evelyn to give a lawn +party before the blight of fall came upon his flowers and shrubbery; but +she persuaded him to wait until after the carnival. He still felt a +little guilty about having asked Evelyn to appear in this public way, +but she showed no resentment; she was honestly glad to do anything that +would please him. The ball was near at hand and she proposed that they +give a small dinner in the interval.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p><p>"I'll ask Warry and Mr. Saxton." People were already coupling Saxton's +name with Raridan's.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, that's all right."</p> + +<p>"I don't want very many; I'd like to ask the Whipples;" she went on, +with the anxious, far-away look that comes into the eyes of a woman who +is weighing dinner guests or matching fabrics.</p> + +<p>"Can't you ask Wheaton?" ventured Mr. Porter cautiously from behind his +paper. Men grow humble in such matters from the long series of +rejections to which they are subjected by the women of their households.</p> + +<p>"If you say so," Evelyn assented. "He isn't exciting, but Belle Marshall +can get on with anybody. I'm out of practice and won't try too many. +Mrs. Whipple will help over the hard places."</p> + +<p>Finally, however, her party numbered ten, but it seemed to Wheaton a +large assemblage. He had never taken a lady in to dinner before, but he +had studied a book of etiquette, and the chapter on "Dining Out" had +given him a hint of what was expected. It had not, however, supplied him +with a fund of talk, but he was glad to find, when he reached the table, +that the company was so small that talk could be general, and he was +thankful for the shelter made for him by the light banter which followed +the settling of chairs. Saxton went in with Evelyn, who wished to make +amends for his clumsy reception on the occasion of his first appearance in the house.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you could come to our board once without being snubbed by the +maid," she said to John, when they were seated.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p><p>"I came under convoy of Mr. Raridan this time. I find that he is pretty +hard to lose."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's a splendid guide! He declares that there are just as +interesting things to see here in Clarkson as there are in Rome or +Venice. He told Miss Warren this afternoon that it would take him a +month to show her half the sights."</p> + +<p>"He certainly makes things interesting. His local history is delightful."</p> + +<p>"Yes; father tells him that he knows nearly everything, but that the +pity is it isn't all true. You see, Warry and I have known each other +always. The Raridans lived very near us, just over the way."</p> + +<p>"He has shown me the place; it's on the clay sugar loaf across the street."</p> + +<p>"Isn't it shameful of him not to bring his ancestral home down to the street level?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he says he'd rather burn the money. It seems that he fought the +assessment as long as he could and has refused to abide by it. He enjoys +fighting it in the courts. It gives him something to do."</p> + +<p>"That's like Warry. He can be more steadfast in error than anybody."</p> + +<p>Raridan was exchanging chaff with Miss Marshall across the table and +Wheaton was stranded for the moment.</p> + +<p>"You must tell us about that Chinaman at your bachelors' house, Mr. +Wheaton. Mr. Raridan has told me many funny stories about him, but I +think he makes up most of them."</p> + +<p>"I'd hardly dare repudiate any of Mr. Raridan's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> stories; but I'll say +that we couldn't get on without the Chinaman. He's a very faithful fellow."</p> + +<p>"But Mr. Raridan says he isn't!" exclaimed Evelyn. "He says that you +bachelors suffer terribly from his mistakes, and that he can't keep any +rice for use at weddings because the Oriental takes it out of his +pockets and makes puddings of it."</p> + +<p>"That must be one of Mr. Raridan's jokes," said Wheaton. "We have had no +rice pudding since I went to live at The Bachelors'." Wheaton was +suspicious of Raridan's jokes. He was not always sure that he caught the +point of them. He saw that Saxton, who sat opposite him, got on very +well with Miss Porter, and he was surprised at this; he had thought +Saxton very slow, and yet he seemed to be as much at his ease as +Raridan, who was Wheaton's ideal master of social accomplishment. He was +somewhat dismayed by the array of silver beside his plate, and he found +himself covertly taking his cue from Saxton, who seemed to make his +choice without difficulty. It dawned on him presently that the forks and +spoons were arranged in order; that it was not necessary to exercise any +judgment of selection, and he felt elated to see how easily it was +managed. In his relief he engaged Miss Marshall in a talk about +Richmond. He knew the names of banks and bankers there, from having +looked them up in the bank directories in the course of business. He +liked the Southern girl's vivacity, though he thought Evelyn much +handsomer and more dignified. She asked him whether he played golf, +which had just been introduced into Clarkson, and he was forced to admit +that he did not; and he ventured to add that he had heard it called<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> an +old man's game. When she replied that she shouldn't imagine then that it +would interest him particularly, he felt foolish and could not think of +anything to say in reply. Raridan again claimed Miss Marshall's +attention, and Wheaton was drawn into talk with Evelyn and Saxton.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Saxton has never seen one of our carnivals," she said, "and neither +have I. You know I've missed them by being away so much."</p> + +<p>"They expect to have a great entertainment this year," said Wheaton. He +was sorry for the secrecy with which the names of the principal +participants were guarded; he would have liked to say something to Miss +Porter about it, but he did not dare, with Saxton listening. Moreover, +he was not sure that she had consented to take part.</p> + +<p>"I suppose it's a good deal like amateur theatricals, only on a larger +scale," suggested Saxton.</p> + +<p>"That's not taking the carnival in the right spirit," said Evelyn. "The +word amateur is jarring, I think. We must try to imagine that King Midas +really and truly comes floating down the Missouri River on a barge, +supported by his men of magic, and that they are met by a delegation of +the wise men of Clarkson, all properly clad, and escorted to the local +parthenon, or whatever it is called, where the keys of the city are +given to him. I'm sure it's all very plausible."</p> + +<p>"But I don't see," said Saxton, "why all the western towns that go in +for these carnivals have to go back to mythology and medieval customs. +Why don't they use something indigenous,—the Indians for instance?"</p> + +<p>"They're too recent," Evelyn answered. "The people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> around here—a good +many of them, at least—were here before the savages had all gone. And +those whose fathers and mothers were scalped might take it as +unpleasantly suggestive if a lot of white men, dressed up as Indians, +paraded themselves through the streets."</p> + +<p>"What was that about Indians?" demanded Mr. Porter, who had been busy +exchanging reminiscences with Mrs. Whipple. "Why, there hasn't been an +Indian on the place for twenty years!"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, there has, father," said Evelyn. "It was only five years ago +that there were two in this room. Don't you remember, when Warry had his +hobby for educating Indian youth? He brought those boys up here for Christmas dinner."</p> + +<p>"I remember; and they didn't like turkey," added Mr. Porter. "They were +hungry for their native bear meat."</p> + +<p>"It's too bad," said Raridan sorrowfully, "that a man never can live +down his good deeds."</p> + +<p>Raridan liked to pretend that Clarkson society had a deep philosophy +which he alone understood. He had fallen into his favorite rôle as a +social sage for the benefit of the strangers, and Mrs. Whipple was +correcting or denying what he said. He had assured the table that the +supreme social test was whether people could walk on their own hardwood +floors and rugs without taking the long slide into eternity. Philistines +could buy hardwood floors, but only the elect could walk on them.</p> + +<p>"Society in Clarkson is easily classified," said Raridan readily, as +though he had often given thought to this subject. "There are three +classes of homes in this town,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> namely, those in which no servants are +kept, those in which two are kept, and those in which the maids wear caps."</p> + +<p>"Warry is going from bad to worse," declared Mrs. Whipple. "I'm sure he +could give in advance the menu of any dinner he's asked to."</p> + +<p>"A tax on the memory and not on the imagination," retorted Warry.</p> + +<p>Miss Warren was asking Mr. Porter's opinion of local political +conditions which were just then attracting wide-spread attention. Mr. +Porter was expressing his distrust of a leader who had leaped into fame +by a violent arraignment of the rich.</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't be so terribly hard for us all to get rich," said Warry. "I +sometimes marvel at the squalor about us. All that a man need do is to +concentrate his attention on one thing, and if he is capable of earning +a dollar a day he can just as easily earn ten thousand a year. Why"—he +continued earnestly, "I knew a fellow in Peoria, who devised a scheme +for building duplicates of some of the architectural wonders of the Old +World in American cities. His plan was to send out a million postal +cards inviting a dollar apiece from a million people. Almost anybody can +give away a dollar and not miss it."</p> + +<p>"How did the scheme work?" asked Mr. Porter.</p> + +<p>"It wasn't tested," answered Warry. "The doctors in the sanitarium +wouldn't let him out long enough to mail his postal cards."</p> + +<p>General Whipple persuaded Miss Marshall to tell a negro story, which she +did delightfully, while the table listened. Southerners are, after all, +the most natural<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> talkers we have and the only ones who can talk freely +of themselves without offense. Her speech was musical, and she told her +story with a nice sense of its dramatic quality. At the climax, after +the laughter had abated, she asked, with an air of surprise at their +pleasure in her tale:</p> + +<p>"Didn't you all ever hear that story before?" She was guiltless of final +r's, and her drawl was delicious.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Miss Marshall! I <i>knew</i> you'd say it!" Raridan appealed to the +others to be sure of witnesses.</p> + +<p>"What are you all laughing at?" demanded the girl, flushing and smiling about her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you did it twice!"</p> + +<p>"I <i>didn't</i> say it, Mr. Raridan," she said, with dignity. "I never said +that after I went North to school."</p> + +<p>"Well, Belle," said Evelyn, "I'm heartily ashamed of you. After all we +did in college to break you of it, you are at it again though you've +been only a few months away from us."</p> + +<p>"It's hopeless, I'm afraid," said Miss Warren. "You know, Evelyn, she +said 'I-alls' when she first came to college."</p> + +<p>They had their coffee on the veranda, where the lights from within made +a pleasant dusk about them. Porter's heart was warm with the joy of +Evelyn's home-coming. She had been away from him so much that he was +realizing for the first time the common experience of fathers, who find +that their daughters have escaped suddenly and inexplicably from +girlhood into womanhood; and yet the girl heart in her had not lost its +freshness nor its thirst for pleasure. She had carried off her little +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>company charmingly; Porter had enjoyed it himself, and he felt young +again in the presence of youth.</p> + +<p>General Whipple had attached himself to one of the couples of young +people that were strolling here and there in the grounds. Porter and +Mrs. Whipple held the veranda alone; both were unconsciously watching +Evelyn and Saxton as they walked back and forth in front of the house, +talking gaily; and Porter smiled at the eagerness and quickness of her +movements. Saxton's deliberateness contrasted oddly with the girl's +light step. Such a girl must marry a man worthy of her; there could be +no question of that; and for the first time the thought of losing her +rose in his heart and numbed it.</p> + +<p>Porter's cigar had gone out, a fact to which Mrs. Whipple called his attention.</p> + +<p>"I've heard that it's a great compliment for a man to let his cigar go +out when he's talking to a woman. But I don't believe my chatter was +responsible for it this time." She nodded toward Evelyn, as if she +understood what had been in his thought.</p> + +<p>"She's very fine. Both handsome and sensible, and at our age we know how +rare the combination is."</p> + +<p>"I shall have to trust you to keep an eye on her. I want her to know the +right people." He spoke between the flashes of the cigar he was relighting.</p> + +<p>"Don't worry about her. You may trust her around the world. Evelyn has +already manifested an interest in my advice," she added, smiling to +herself in the dark,—"and she didn't seem much pleased with it!"</p> + +<p>Evelyn and Saxton had met the others, who were coming up from the walks, +and there was a redistribution at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> the house; it was too beautiful to go +in, they said, and the strolling abroad continued. A great flood of +moonlight poured over the grounds. A breeze stole up from the valley and +made a soothing rustle in the trees. Evelyn rescued Wheaton and Miss +Warren from each other; she sent Raridan away to impart, as he said, +further western lore to the Yankee. She followed, with Wheaton, the arc +which the others were transcribing. A feeling of elation possessed him. +The tide of good fortune was bearing him far, but memory played hide and +seek with him as he walked there talking to Evelyn Porter; he was struck +with the unreality of this new experience. He was afraid of blundering; +of failing to meet even the trifling demands of her careless talk. He +remembered once, in his train-boy days, having pressed upon a pretty +girl one of Miss Braddon's novels; and the girl's scornful rejection of +the book and of himself came back and mocked him. Raridan's merry laugh +rang out suddenly far across the lawn; he had done more with his life +than Raridan would ever do with his; Raridan was a foolish fellow. +Saxton passed them with Miss Marshall; Saxton was dull; he had failed in +the cattle business. James Wheaton was not a town's jester, and he was +not a failure. Evelyn was telling him some of Belle Marshall's pranks at school.</p> + +<p>"She was the greatest cut-up. I suppose she'll never change. I don't +believe we do change so much as the wiseacres pretend, do you?"</p> + +<p>She was aware that she had talked a great deal and threw out this line +to him a little desperately; he was proving even more difficult than she +had imagined him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> He had been thinking of his mother—forgotten these +many years—who was old even when he left home. He remembered her only +as the dominant figure of the steaming kitchen where she had ministered +with rough kindness and severity to her uncouth brood. His sisters—what +loutish, brawling girls they were, and how they fought over whatever +silly finery they were able to procure for themselves! A faint +flower-scent rose from the soft skirts of the tall young woman beside +him. He hated himself for his memories.</p> + +<p>He felt suddenly alarmed by her question, which seemed to aim at the +undercurrent of his own silent thought.</p> + +<p>"There are those of us who ought to change," he said.</p> + +<p>The others had straggled back toward the veranda and were disappearing indoors.</p> + +<p>"They seem to be going in. We can find our way through the sun-porch; I +suppose it might be called a moon-porch, too," she said, leading the way.</p> + +<p>They heard the sound of the piano through the open windows, and a girl's +voice broke gaily into song.</p> + +<p>"It's Belle. She does sing those coon songs wonderfully. Let us wait +here until she finishes this one." The sun-porch opened from the +dining-room. They could see beyond it, into the drawing-room; the singer +was in plain view, sitting at the piano; Raridan stood facing her, +keeping time with an imaginary baton.</p> + +<p>A man came unobserved to the glass door of the porch and stood +unsteadily peering in. He was very dirty and balanced himself in that +abandon with which intoxicated men belie Newton's discovery. He had +gained the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> top step with difficulty; the light from the window blinded +him and for a moment he stood within the inclosure blinking. An ugly +grin spread over his face as he made out the two figures by the window, +and he began a laborious journey toward them. He tried to tiptoe, and +this added further to his embarrassments; but the figures by the window +were intent on the song and did not hear him. He drew slowly nearer; one +more step and he would have concluded his journey. He poised on his toes +before taking it, but the law of gravitation now asserted itself. He +lunged forward heavily, casting himself upon Wheaton, and nearly +knocking him from his feet.</p> + +<p>"Jimmy," he blurted in a drunken voice. "Jim-my!"</p> + +<p>Evelyn turned quickly and shrank back with a cry. Wheaton was slowly +rallying from the shock of his surprise. He grabbed the man by the arms +and began pushing him toward the door.</p> + +<p>"Don't be alarmed," he said over his shoulder to Evelyn, who had shrunk +back against the wall. "I'll manage him."</p> + +<p>This, however, was not so easily done. The tramp, as Evelyn supposed him +to be, had been sobered by Wheaton's attack. He clasped his fingers +about Wheaton's throat and planted his feet firmly. He clearly intended +to stand his ground, and he dug his fingers into Wheaton's neck with the +intention of hurting.</p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/col03.jpg" width='431' height='700' alt="Illustration" /></div> + +<p>"Father!" cried Evelyn once, but the song was growing noisier toward its +end and the circle about the piano did not hear. She was about to call +again when a heavy step sounded outside on the walk and Bishop Delafield +came swiftly into the porch. He had entered the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> grounds from the rear +and was walking around the house to the front door.</p> + +<p>"Quick! that man there,—I'll call the others!" cried Evelyn, still +shrinking against the wall. Wheaton had been forced to his knees and his +assailant was choking him. But there was no need of other help. The +bishop had already seized the tramp about the body with his great hands, +tearing him from Wheaton's neck. He strode, with the squirming figure in +his grasp, toward an open window at the back of the glass inclosure, and +pushed the man out. There was a great snorting and threshing below. The +hill dipped abruptly away from this side of the house and the man had +fallen several feet, into a flower bed.</p> + +<p>"Get away from here," the bishop said, in his deep voice, "and be quick +about it." The man rose and ran swiftly down the slope toward the street.</p> + +<p>The bishop walked back to the window. The others had now hurried out in +response to Evelyn's peremptory calls, and she was telling of the +tramp's visit, while Wheaton received their condolences, and readjusted +his tie. His collar and shirt-front showed signs of contact with dirt.</p> + +<p>"It was a tramp," said Evelyn, as the others plied her with questions, +"and he attacked Mr. Wheaton."</p> + +<p>"Where's he gone?" demanded Porter, excitedly.</p> + +<p>"There he goes," said the bishop, pointing toward the window. "He +smelled horribly of whisky, and I dropped him gently out of the window. +The shock seems to have inspired his legs."</p> + +<p>"I'll have the police—," began Porter.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p><p>"Oh, he's gone now, Mr. Porter," said Wheaton coolly, as he restored +his tie. "Bishop Delafield disposed of him so vigorously that he'll +hardly come back."</p> + +<p>"Yes, let him go," said the bishop, wiping his hands on his +handkerchief. "I'm only afraid, Porter, that I've spoiled your best canna bed."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XI</span> <span class="smaller">THE KNIGHTS OF MIDAS BALL</span></h2> + +<p>There were two separate and distinct sides to the annual carnival of the +Knights of Midas. The main object to which the many committees on +arrangements addressed themselves was the assembling in Clarkson of as +many people as could be collected by assiduous advertising and the +granting of special privileges by the railroads. The streets must be +filled, and to fill them and keep them filled it was necessary to +entertain the masses; and this was done by providing what the committee +on publicity and promotion proclaimed to be a monster Pageant of +Industry. The spectacle was not tawdry nor ugly. It did not lack touches +of real beauty. The gaily decked floats, borne over the street car +tracks by trolleys, were like barges from a pageant of the Old World in +the long ago, impelled by mysterious forces. From many floats fireworks +summoned the heavens to behold the splendor and bravery of the parade. +The procession was led by the Knights of Midas, arrayed in yellow robes +and wearing helmets which shone with all the effulgence of bright tin. +There was a series of floats on which Commerce, Agriculture, +Transportation and Manufacturing were embodied and deified in the +persons of sundry young women, posed in appropriate attitudes and lifted +high on uncertain pedestals for the admiration of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> the multitude. On +other cars men followed strenuously their callings; coopers hammered +hoops upon their barrels; a blacksmith, with an infant forge at his +command, made the sparks fly from his anvil as his float rumbled by. An +enormous steer was held in check by ropes, and surrounded by murderous +giants from the abattoirs; Gambrinus smiled down from a proud height of +kegs on men that bottled beer below. Many brass bands, including a +famous cowboy band from Lone Prairie, and an Indian boy band from a +Wyoming reservation, played the newest and most dashing marches of the +day. Thus were the thrift, the enterprise, the audacity, and the +generosity of the people of Clarkson exemplified.</p> + +<p>Such was the first night's entertainment. The crowd which was brought to +town to spend its money certainly was not defrauded. The second night it +was treated to band concerts, a horse-show and other entertainments, +while the Knights of Midas closed the door of their wooden temple upon +all but their chosen guests. These were, of course, expected to pay a +certain sum for their tickets, and the sum was not small. The Knights of +Midas ball was not, it should be said, a cheap affair. Raridan and +Saxton had taken a balcony box for the ball and they asked Evelyn's +guests to share it with them. Raridan still growled to Saxton over what +he called Evelyn's debasement, but he had said nothing more to Evelyn about it.</p> + +<p>"Here's to the deification of Jim Wheaton," he sighed, as he and Saxton +waited for the young ladies in the Porter drawing-room.</p> + +<p>Saxton grinned at him unsympathetically.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p><p>"Stop sighing like an air-brake. You will be dancing yourself to death +in an hour."</p> + +<p>When the two young women came in, Raridan's spirits brightened. Evelyn +was, Miss Marshall declared, "perfectly adorable" in her gown; but the +young men did not see her. She was to go later with her father.</p> + +<p>They were early at the hall, whose bareness had been relieved by a gay +show of bunting and flags.</p> + +<p>"I will now give you a succinct running account of the first families of +this community as they assemble," Raridan announced, when they had +settled in their chairs. There were no seats on the main floor, as the +ceremonial part of the entertainment was brief, and the greater number +of the spectators stood until it was over. An aisle was kept down the +middle of the hall and on each side the crowd gossiped, while a band +high above played popular airs.</p> + +<p>"We're all here," said Raridan, when the band rested. "The butcher, the +baker and the candlestick-maker; also probably some of our cooks. We are +the spectators at one of Nero's matinees; the goodly knights are ready +for combat, and those who have had practice in the adjacent packing +houses have the best chance of winning the victory. There comes Tim +Margrave, one of the merriest of them all, full of Arthurian valor and +as gentle a knight as ever held lance or bought a city council. And +there is the master of our largest and goriest abattoir. That is not a +star on his chest, but a diamond pig, rampant on a field of dress-shirt. +He used to wear it on his watch-chain, but it was too inconspicuous there—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>'On his breast a five-point star</div> +<div>Points the way that his kingdoms are.'"</div> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p><p>Miss Marshall was scrutinizing the man indicated through her opera +glasses.</p> + +<p>"Why, it <i>is</i> a pig!" she declared.</p> + +<p>"Of course it is," said Warry, with an aggrieved air. "I hope you don't +think I'd fib about it. Now, the girl over there by the window, with the +young man with the pompadour hair, is Mabel Margrave, whose father you +saw a minute ago. She is looking this way with her lorgnette; but don't +flinch; there's only the plain window glass of our rude western commerce +in it; she handles it awfully well, though."</p> + +<p>"And the man coming in who looks like a statesman?" asked Miss Marshall.</p> + +<p>"That's Wilkins, the boy orator of the Range. He palpitates with +Ciceronian speech. He's our greatest authority on the demonetization of +wampum. The young man who's talking to him is telling him what hot stuff +he is, and that the speech he made at Tin Cup, Texas, last week on the +'Inequalities of Taxation' is the warmest little speech that has been +made in this country since Patrick Henry died. He's a good +thing,—Wilkins. The Indians back on the reservation, where he goes to +raise the wolf's mournful howl when white people won't listen to him, +call him Young-man-not-afraid-of-his-voice. Our Chinaman calls him Yung +Lung. Quite a character, Wilkins."</p> + +<p>"And," Miss Warren inquired, "the grave, handsome man, who must be an eminent jurist?"</p> + +<p>"He does one's laundry," Raridan replied, "and," looking at his cuffs +critically, "he does it rather decently."</p> + +<p>"There's another side to this," said Saxton to Miss<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> Warren, while +Raridan babbled on to the pretty Virginian. "These people have had a +terribly hard time of it. They've been through a panic that would have +killed an ordinary community; a good many of the nicest of them have had +to begin over again; and it's uphill work. It isn't so funny when we +consider that these older people have tried their level best to make the +wilderness blossom as the rose, and after they'd made a fine beginning +the desert repossessed it. There's something splendid in their courage."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's hard for us who live on the outside to appreciate it. And +they seem such nice people, too."</p> + +<p>"Don't they! They're big-hearted and plucky and generous! Eastern people +don't begin to appreciate the people who do their rough work for them."</p> + +<p>The other boxes and the gallery had filled, and the main floor was +crowded, save where the broad aisle had been maintained down the center +from the front door to the stage. A buzz of talk floated over the hall. +The band was silent while its leader peered down upon the floor waiting +his signal. He turned suddenly and the trumpets broke forth into the +notes of a dignified march. All eyes turned to the front of the hall, +where the knights, in their robes, preceded by the grand seneschal, +bearing his staff of office, were emerging slowly from the outer door +into the aisle. When the stage was reached, the procession formed in +long lines, facing inward on the steps, making a path through which the +governors, who were distinguished by scarlet robes, came attending the +person of the king.</p> + +<p>"All hail the king!" A crowd of knights in evening<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> dress, who were +honorary members of the organization and had no parts in costume, sent up the shout.</p> + +<p>"Hail to Midas!"</p> + +<p>"Isn't he noble and grand?" shouted Raridan in Miss Marshall's ear. A +murmur ran through the hall as Wheaton was recognized; his name was +passed to those who did not know him, and everybody applauded. He was +really imposing in the robes of his kingship. He walked with a fitting +deliberation among his escort. He was conscious of the lights, the +applause, the music, and of the fact that he was the center of it all. +The cheers were subsiding as the party neared the throne.</p> + +<p>"I'll wager he's badly frightened," said Raridan to Saxton.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think it," declared Saxton, "he looks as cool as a cucumber."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's cool enough," grumbled Raridan.</p> + +<p>"You see what envy will do for a man," remarked Saxton to Miss Marshall. +"Mr. Raridan's simply perishing because he isn't there himself. But what's this?"</p> + +<p>The king had reached his throne and faced the audience. All the knights +bowed low; the king returned the salutation while the audience cheered.</p> + +<p>"It's like a comic opera," said Miss Marshall.</p> + +<p>The supreme knight advanced and handed Wheaton the scepter and there was +renewed applause and cheering.</p> + +<p>"Only funnier," said Raridan. "Yell, Saxton, yell!" He rose to his feet +and led his end of the house in cheering. "It makes me think of old +times at football," he declared, sinking back into his chair with an air +of exhaustion, and wiping his face.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p><p>The king had seated himself, and expectancy again possessed the hall. +The band struck up another air, and a line of girls in filmy, trailing +gowns was filing in.</p> + +<p>"There are the foolish virgins who didn't fill their lamps," said +Raridan; "that's why they have brought bouquets."</p> + +<p>"But they ought to have got their gowns at the same place," said Miss +Marshall, who was abetting Raridan in his comments. Miss Warren and +Saxton, on the other side of her, were taking it all more seriously.</p> + +<p>"It's really very pretty and impressive," Miss Warren declared, "and not +at all silly as I feared it might be."</p> + +<p>"Well, <i>that</i> is very pretty," replied Saxton.</p> + +<p>The queen, following her ladies in waiting, had appeared at the door. +There was a pause, a murmur, and then a great burst of applause as those +who were in the secret identified the queen, and those who were not +learned it as Evelyn's name passed from lip to lip. Whatever there was +of absurdity in the scene was dispelled by Evelyn's loveliness and +dignity. Her white gown intensified her fairness, and her long court +train added an illusion of height. She carried her head high, with a +serene air that was habitual. The charm that set her apart from other +girls was in no wise lost in the mock splendor of this ceremony.</p> + +<p>"She's as lovely as a bride," murmured Belle Marshall, so low that only +Raridan heard her. Something caught in his throat and he looked steadily +down upon the approaching queen and said nothing. The supreme knight +descended to escort the queen to the dais. The king came down to meet +her and led her to a place beside him, where they turned and faced the applauding crowd.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p><p>The grand chamberlain now stepped forward and read the proclamation of +the Knights of Midas, announcing that the king had reached their city, +and urging upon all subjects the duty of showing strict obedience. He +read a formula to which Evelyn and Wheaton made responses. A page stood +beside the queen holding a crown, which glittered with false brilliants +upon a richly embroidered pillow, and when the king knelt before her, +she placed it upon his head. At this there was more cheering and +handclapping. Saxton glanced toward Raridan as he beat his own hands +together, expecting one of Raridan's gibes at the chamberlain's bombast; +but there was a fierce light in Raridan's eyes that Saxton had never +seen there before. He was staring before him at Evelyn Porter, as she +now sat beside Wheaton on the tawdry throne; his face was white and his +lips were set. Saxton was struck with sorrow for him.</p> + +<p>There was a stir throughout the hall. The king and queen were +descending; the floor manager was already manifesting his authority.</p> + +<p>"Let's stay here until the grand march is over," said Raridan. He had +partly regained his spirits, and was again pointing out people of +interest on the floor below.</p> + +<p>"Now wasn't it magnificent?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"Wasn't Evelyn lovely?" exclaimed the girls in a breath.</p> + +<p>"We didn't need this circus to prove it, did we?" asked Raridan cynically.</p> + +<p>"Aren't there any more exercises—is it all over?" cried Miss Marshall.</p> + +<p>"Bless us, no!" replied Raridan.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p><p>The evolutions of the grand march were now in progress and they stood +watching it.</p> + +<p>"They didn't get enough rehearsals for this," said Raridan. "Look at +that mix up!" One of the knights had tripped and stumbled over the skirt +of his robe. "They ought to behead him for that."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Raridan's terribly severe," said Saxton. The king and queen, +leading the march, were passing under the box.</p> + +<p>"The king really looks scared," remarked Miss Warren.</p> + +<p>"Yes; he's rather conscious of his clothes," said Raridan. "His train +rattles him." Evelyn glanced up at them and laughed and nodded.</p> + +<p>Before the march broke up into dancing they went down from the gallery. +On the floor, the older people were resolving themselves into lay +figures against the wall. They found Mr. Porter leaning against one of +the rude supports of the gallery, wondering whether he might now escape +to the retirement of the cloak-room to get his hat and cigar. The young +people burst upon him with congratulations.</p> + +<p>"You must he dying of pride," exclaimed Miss Marshall.</p> + +<p>"Evelyn never looked better," declared Miss Warren. "It was splendid!"</p> + +<p>"We are proud to know you, sir," said Raridan, shaking hands.</p> + +<p>"I surely came to Clarkson in the right year," said Saxton.</p> + +<p>Porter regarded them with the patronizing smile which he kept for those +who praised Evelyn to his face.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p><p>"The only thing now," he said, "is to get that girl home before +daylight."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the queen gives her own orders," said Raridan. "You'll never be +boss at the Hill any more!" He was bringing up all the unattached men he +knew to present them to the visitors. He never forgot any one, and not +merely the débutantes of other years, but girls that were voted slow in +the brutal court of social opinion, were always sure of rescue at his +hands. Evelyn and Wheaton were bearing down upon them; Evelyn, flushed +and happy, and Wheaton in a glow from the exercise of the march and a +dance with her. There was a fusillade of interjections as many crowded +about with praise of the leading actors. It was all breathless and +incoherent. The crowd was uncomfortably large, and the hall was hot. +Porter found General Whipple and escaped with him to the smoking room. +Young men were everywhere writing their names on elaborate dance cards.</p> + +<p>"Save a few for us," Raridan pleaded airily as the men he had introduced +hovered about Evelyn's guests. He made no effort to speak to Evelyn, who +was besieged by a throng that wished to congratulate her or to dance +with her. She gave Saxton her fingers through a rift in the crowd and he +turned again to find himself deserted. Raridan was dancing with Belle +Marshall and Annie Warren nodded to him over the shoulder of a youth who +had waltzed her away. While Saxton waited for the quadrilles to which +his dancing limitations restricted him, he made a circuit of the room. +Mrs. Whipple was holding forth to a group of dowagers but turned from them to him.</p> + +<p>"I'm hardly sure of you without Warry, and this is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> the first time I've +seen you alone. Of course, you were looking for me!"</p> + +<p>"That's what I came for."</p> + +<p>"Please say something more like that. I saw you come in, young man; they +are very nice girls, too."</p> + +<p>She was trying to remember who had told her that Saxton was stupid.</p> + +<p>"How did you like it? This was your first, I think."</p> + +<p>"Beautiful! charming! An enchanting entertainment!"</p> + +<p>"Is that for you and Warry, too? He always has to approve everything +here."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can't speak for him," John answered; "we don't necessarily always agree."</p> + +<p>"I'll have to find out later, from him. You and Warry appear to be fast +friends, and he talks a great deal. What has he told you about me?"</p> + +<p>"He said you were kind to strange young men; but that wasn't information."</p> + +<p>"You'll do, I think. Here comes Warry now."</p> + +<p>Raridan came along looking for a country girl whose brother he knew, and +with whom he had engaged the dance which was now in progress.</p> + +<p>"I think she's hiding from me," he complained to Mrs. Whipple, "but the +gods are kind; I can talk to you. The general is a generous man." He +regarded critically a great bunch of red roses which she held in her +lap. "That's why the florist didn't have any for me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, these are Evelyn's," explained Mrs. Whipple. "She asked me to keep +them for her—the king's gift, you know. I feel highly honored."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p><p>"By the king? Impossible! I'll give you something nice to let me drop +them into the alley."</p> + +<p>"Is it as bad as that? Well, good luck to you!"</p> + +<p>He stood with his hands in his pockets looking musingly out over the +heads of the dancers. Mrs. Whipple eyed him attentively.</p> + +<p>"You know you always tell me all of them," she persisted; but he was +following a fair head and a pair of graceful shoulders and ever and anon +a laughing face that flashed into sight and then out of range. His rural +friend's sister loomed before him, in an attitude of dejection against +the wall, and he hastened to her with contrition, and made paradise fly +under her feet.</p> + +<p>Saxton was doing his best with the square dances, and had finished a +quadrille with Evelyn, who had thereafter asked him to sit out a round +dance with her; still Raridan did not come near them. He was busy with +Evelyn's guests or immolating himself for the benefit of the country +wallflowers. Supper was served at midnight in an annex of the hall.</p> + +<p>"Here's where we forget to be polite," Raridan announced. "If we die in +the struggle I hope you fair young charges will treasure our memories."</p> + +<p>The king and queen and the high powers of the knights enjoyed the +distinction of sitting at a table where they were served by waiters, +while the multitude fought for their food.</p> + +<p>"If you lose our seats while we're gone," Raridan warned Miss Marshall +and Miss Warren, "you shall have only six olives apiece." He led Saxton +in a descent upon an array of long tables at which men were harpooning +sandwiches and dipping salad. The successful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> raiders were rewarded by +the waiters with cups of coffee to add to their perils as they bore +their plates away. There was a great clatter and buzz in the room. On +the platform where the distinguished personages of the carnival sat +there was now much laughing.</p> + +<p>"Margrave's pretty noisy to-night," observed Raridan, biting into his +sandwich, and sweeping the platform with a comprehensive glance.</p> + +<p>"You mustn't forget that this is a carnival," replied Saxton. He had +followed his friend's eyes and knew that it was not the horse-laugh of +Margrave that troubled him, but the vista which disclosed both Wheaton +and Evelyn Porter.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Raridan's really not so funny as Evelyn said he was," remarked Belle Marshall.</p> + +<p>"The truth is," Raridan answered, rallying, "that I'm getting old. Miss +Porter remembers only my light-hearted youth."</p> + +<p>"Well, let's revive our youth in another food rush," suggested Saxton. +They repeated their tactics of a few minutes before, returning with +ice-cream, which the waiters were cutting from bricks for supplicants +who stood before them in Oliver Twist's favorite attitude.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Saxton's a terrible tenderfoot," lamented Raridan, when they +returned from the charge. "He was giving your ice-cream, Miss Warren, to +an old gentleman, who stood horror-struck in the midst of the carnage."</p> + +<p>"You'd think we rehearsed our talk," Saxton objected. "He wants me to +tell you that he got the poor old gentleman not only food for all his +relations, but took away other people's chairs for him, as well."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p><p>"Lying isn't a lost art, after all," said Raridan.</p> + +<p>As they returned to the hall they met a crowd of the nobility who were +descending from their high seats.</p> + +<p>"So sorry to have deserted you all evening," said Evelyn to her girl +friends as they came together in a crush at the door; "but the worst is +over." She looked up curiously at Raridan, who seemed purposely to have +turned away to talk to Captain Wheelock, and was commenting ironically +on the management that made such a mob possible. There was only a moment +for any interchange, but she was sure now that Raridan was avoiding her +and it touched her pride.</p> + +<p>"I hope you won't forget our dance, Mr. Saxton," she said, struggling to +follow a young man who had come to claim her. Raridan turned again, but +hung protectingly over Miss Marshall, whom the noisy Margrave seemed +bent on crushing. Raridan had not asked Evelyn to dance, though she had +been importuned by every other man she knew, and by a great many others +whom she did not know. As the gay music of a waltz carried her down the +hall with a proud youngster who had been waiting for her, the lightness +of her heart was gone for the moment. She remembered Raridan's curious +mood on the night before her friends came, and his unfriendliness to the +idea of her taking part in the carnival. She was piqued that he had +studiously avoided her to-night. The others must have noticed it. Warry +needed discipline; he had been spoilt and she meant to visit punishment +upon him. She did not care, she told herself; whether Warry Raridan +liked what she did or not.</p> + +<p>But something of the glory of the evening had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>departed. She was really +growing tired, and several of the youths who came for dances were told +that they must sit them out, and she welcomed their chatter, throwing in +her yes and no occasionally merely to impel them on. Wheaton had grown a +little afraid of her after the glow of his royal honors had begun to +fade. It is often so with players in amateur theatricals, who think they +are growing wonderfully well acquainted during rehearsals; but after the +performance is concluded, they are surprised to find how easily they +slip back to the old footing of casual acquaintance. There was a flutter +about Evelyn at the last, when her father made bold to ask her when she +would be ready to go.</p> + +<p>"The girls have already gone," he said, replying to her question. When +they were in the carriage together and were rolling homeward, she gave a sigh of relief.</p> + +<p>"Are you glad it's over?" asked her father.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I believe I am."</p> + +<p>"Well, they all said fine things about you, girl. I guess I've got to be +proud of you." This was his way of saying that he was both proud and grateful.</p> + +<p>As they reached the entrance to the Hill they passed another carriage +just leaving the grounds. Saxton put his head out of the window and +called a cheery good night, and Evelyn waved a hand to him.</p> + +<p>"It was Warry and Saxton," said Mr. Porter. "I thought they'd stop to talk it over."</p> + +<p>Evelyn had thought so too, but she did not say so.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XII</span> <span class="smaller">A MORNING AT ST. PAUL'S</span></h2> + +<p>Wheaton ran away from the livelier spirits of the Knights of Midas, who +urged him to join in a celebration at the club after the ball broke up. +He pleaded the necessity of early rising and went home and to bed, +where, however, he slept little, but lay dreaming over the incidents of +the night, particularly those in which he had figured. Many people had +congratulated him, and while there was an irony in much of this, as if +the whole proceeding were a joke, he had taken it all in the spirit, in +which it had been offered. He felt a trifle anxious as to his reception +at the breakfast table as he dressed, but his mirror gave him +confidence. The night had been an important one for him, and he could +afford to bear with his fellows, who would, he knew, spare him no more +than they spared any one else in their chaff.</p> + +<p>They flaunted at him the morning papers with portraits of the king and +queen of the ball bracketed together in double column. He took the +papers from them as he replied to their ironies, and casually inspected +them while the Chinaman brought in his breakfast.</p> + +<p>"Didn't expect to see you this morning," said Caldwell, the +Transcontinental agent, stirring his coffee and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> winking at Brown, the +smelter manager. "You society men are usually shy at breakfast."</p> + +<p>Wheaton put down his paper carelessly, and spread his napkin.</p> + +<p>"Oh, a king has to eat," said Brown.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Wheaton, with an air of relief, "it's worth something to be +alive the morning after."</p> + +<p>But they had no sympathy for him.</p> + +<p>"Listen to him," said Caldwell derisively, "just as if he didn't wish he +could do it all over again to-night."</p> + +<p>"Not for a million dollars," declared Wheaton, shaking his head dolefully.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Captain Wheelock, "I suppose that show last night bored you +nearly to death."</p> + +<p>"I'm always glad to see these fellows sacrifice themselves for the +public good," said Brown. "Wheaton's a martyr now, with a nice pink halo."</p> + +<p>"Well, it doesn't go here," said the army officer severely. "We've got +to take him down a peg if he gets too gay."</p> + +<p>"Why, we've already got one sassiety man in the house," said Caldwell, +"and that's hard enough to bear." He referred to Raridan, who was +breakfasting in his room.</p> + +<p>They were addressing one another, rather than Wheaton, whose presence +they affected to ignore.</p> + +<p>"I suppose there'll be no holding him now," said Caldwell. "It's like +the taste for strong drink, this society business. They never get over +it. It's ruined Raridan; he'd be a good fellow if it wasn't for that."</p> + +<p>"Humph! you fellows are envious," said Wheaton, with an effort at swagger.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p><p>"Oh, I don't know!" said Brown, with rising inflection. "I suppose any +of us could do it if we'd put up the money."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Wheaton, "if they let you off as cheaply as they did me, +you may call it a bargain."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he jewed 'em down," persisted Caldwell, explaining to the others, +"and he has the cheek to boast of it. I'll see that Margrave hears that."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you do that," Wheaton retorted. "Everybody knows that Margrave's +an easy mark." This counted as a palpable hit with Brown and Wheelock. +Margrave was notorious for his hard bargains. Wheaton gathered up his +papers and went out.</p> + +<p>"He takes it pretty well," said Caldwell as they heard the door close +after Wheaton. "He ought to make a pretty good fellow in time if he +doesn't get stuck on himself."</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess Billy Porter'll take him down if he gets too gay," exclaimed Brown.</p> + +<p>"Porter may leave it to his daughter to do that," said Caldwell, shaking +out the match with which he had lighted his cigar, and dropping it into +his coffee cup.</p> + +<p>"It'll never come to that," returned Brown.</p> + +<p>"You never can tell. People were looking wise about it last night," said +Captain Wheelock, who was a purveyor of gossip.</p> + +<p>"Don't trouble yourself," volunteered Caldwell, who read the society +items thoroughly every morning and created a social fabric out of them. +"I guess Warry will have something to say to that."</p> + +<p>At the bank Wheaton found that the men who came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> in to transact business +had a knowing nod for him, that implied a common knowledge of matters +which it was not necessary to discuss. A good many who came to his desk +asked him if he was tired. They referred to the carnival ball as a +"push" and said it was "great" with all the emphasis that slang has +imparted to these words.</p> + +<p>Porter came down early and enveloped himself in a cloud of smoke. This +in the bank was the outward and visible sign of a "grouch." When he +pressed the button to call one of the messengers, he pushed it long and +hard, so that the boys remarked to one another that the boss had been +out late last night and wasn't feeling good.</p> + +<p>Porter did not mention the ball to Wheaton in any way, except when he +threw over to him a memorandum of the bank's subscription to the fund, +remarking: "Send them a check. That's all of that for one year."</p> + +<p>Wheaton made no reply, but did as Porter bade him. It was his business +to accommodate himself to the president's moods, and he was very +successful in doing so. A few of the bank's customers made use of him as +a kind of human barometer, telephoning sometimes to ask how the old man +was feeling, and whether it was a good time to approach him. He +attributed the president's reticence this morning to late hours, and was +very careful to answer promptly when Porter spoke to him. He knew that +there would be no recognition by Porter of the fact that he had +participated in a public function the night before; he would have to +gather the glory of it elsewhere. He thought of Evelyn in moments when +his work was not pressing, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>wondered whether he could safely ask her +father how she stood the night's gaiety. It occurred to him to pay his +compliments by telephone; Raridan was always telephoning to girls; but +he could not quite put himself in Raridan's place. Warry presumed a good +deal, and was younger; he did many things which Wheaton considered +undignified, though he envied the younger man's ease in carrying them off.</p> + +<p>One of Porter's callers asked how Miss Porter had "stood the racket," as +he phrased it.</p> + +<p>"Don't ask me," growled Porter. "Didn't show up for breakfast."</p> + +<p>William Porter did not often eat salad at midnight, but when he did it punished him.</p> + +<p>As Wheaton was opening the afternoon mail he was called to the +telephone-box to speak to Mrs. Jordan, a lady whom he had met at the +ball. She was inviting a few friends for dinner the next evening to meet +some guests who were with her for the carnival. She begged that Mr. +Wheaton would pardon the informality of the invitation and come. He +answered that he should be very glad to come; but when he got back to +his desk he realized that he had probably made a mistake; the Jordans +were socially anomalous, and there was nothing to be gained by +cultivating them. However, he consoled himself with the recollection of +one of Raridan's social dicta—that a dinner invitation should never be +declined unless smallpox existed in the house of the hostess. He swayed +between the disposition to consider the Jordans patronizingly and an +honest feeling of gratitude for their invitation, as he bent over his +desk signing drafts.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p><p>He found the Jordans very cordial. He was their star, and they made +much of him; he was pleased that they showed him a real deference; when +he spoke at the table, the others paused to listen. He knew the other +young men slightly; one was a clerk in a railway office, and the other +was the assistant manager of the city's largest dry goods house. The +guests were young women from Mrs. Jordan's old home, in Piqua, Ohio. +(Mrs. Jordan always gave the name of the state.) Wheaton realized that +these young women were much easier to get on with than Miss Porter and +other young women he had known latterly; they were more pointedly +interested in pleasing him.</p> + +<p>After a few days the carnival seemed to be forgotten; Wheaton's fellows +at The Bachelors' stopped joking him about it. Raridan had never +referred to it at all. On Sunday the newspapers printed a résumé of the +social features of the carnival, and Wheaton read the familiar story, +and all the other social news in the paper, in bed. He noticed with a +twinge an item stating that Mrs. J. Elihu Jordan had entertained at +dinner on Thursday evening for the Misses Sweetser, of Piqua, but was +relieved to find that neither paper printed the names of the guests. The +bachelors were very lazy on Sunday morning, excepting Raridan, who +attended what he called "early church." This practice his fellow-lodgers +accepted in silence as one of his vagaries. That a man should go to +church at seven o'clock and then again at eleven, signified mere +eccentricity to Raridan's fellow-boarders, who were not instructed in +catholic practices, but divided their own Sunday <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>mornings much more +rationally between the barber shop, the post-office and their places of business.</p> + +<p>It was a bright morning; the week just ended had been, in a sense, +epochal, and Wheaton resolved to go to church. It had been his habit to +attend services occasionally, on Sunday evenings, at the People's +Church, whose minister frequently found occasion to preach on topics of +the day or on literary subjects. Doctor Morningstar was the most popular +preacher in Clarkson; the People's Church was filled at all services; on +Sunday evenings it was crowded. Doctor Morningstar's series of lectures +on the Italian Renaissance, illustrated by the stereopticon, and his +even more popular course of lectures on the Victorian novelists, had +appealed to Wheaton and to many; but the People's Church was not +fashionable; he decided to go this morning to St. Paul's, the Episcopal +Cathedral. It was the oldest church in town, and many of the first +families attended there. All fashionable weddings in Clarkson were held +in the cathedral, not because it was popularly supposed to confer a +spiritual benefit upon those who were blessed from its altar, but for +the more excellent reason that the main aisle of this Gothic edifice +gave ample space for the free sweep of bridal trains, and the chancel +lent itself charmingly to the decorative purposes of the florist.</p> + +<p>Wheaton found Raridan breakfasting alone, the others of the mess not +having appeared. Raridan's good morning was not very cordial; he had +worn a gloomy air for several days. Whenever Raridan seemed out of +sorts, Caldwell always declared solemnly that Warry had been writing poetry.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p><p>"Going to church as usual?" Wheaton asked amiably.</p> + +<p>Every Sunday morning some one asked Raridan this question; he supposed +Wheaton was attempting to be facetious.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he answered patiently; and added, as usual, "better go along."</p> + +<p>"Don't care if I do," Wheaton replied, carelessly.</p> + +<p>Raridan eyed him in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Oh! glad to have you."</p> + +<p>They walked toward the cathedral together, Wheaton satisfied that his +own hat was as shiny and his frock coat as proper as Raridan's; their +gloves were almost of the same shade. There was a stir in the vestibule +of the cathedral, which many people in their Sunday finery were +entering. Wheaton had never been in an Episcopal church before; it all +seemed very strange to him—the rambling music of the voluntary, the +unfamiliar scenes depicted on the stained glass windows, the soft light +through which he saw well-dressed people coming to their places, and the +scent of flowers and the faint breath of orris from the skirts of women. +The boy choir came in singing a stirring processional that was both +challenge and inspiration. It was like witnessing a little drama: the +procession, the singing, the flutter of surplices as the choir found +their stalls in the dim chancel. Raridan bowed when the processional +cross passed him. Wheaton observed that no one else did so.</p> + +<p>A young clergyman began reading the service, and Wheaton followed it in +the prayer book which Raridan handed him with the places marked. He felt +ashamed that the people about him should see that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> places had to be +found for him; he wished to have the appearance of being very much at +home. He suddenly caught sight of Evelyn Porter's profile far across the +church, and presently her father and their guests were disclosed. He +soon discovered others that he knew, with surprise that so many men of +unimpeachable position in town were there. Here, then, was a stage of +development that he had not reckoned with; surely it was a very +respectable thing to go to church,—to this church, at least,—on Sunday +mornings. The bewilderment of reading and chanting continued, and he +wondered whether there would be a sermon; at Doctor Morningstar's the +sermon was the main thing. He remembered Captain Wheelock's joke with +Raridan, that "the Episcopal Church had neither politics nor religion;" +but it was at least very aristocratic.</p> + +<p>He stood and seated himself many times, bowing his head on the seat in +front of him when the others knelt, and now the great figure of Bishop +Delafield came from somewhere in the depths of the chancel and rose in +the pulpit. The presence of the bishop reminded him unpleasantly of the +Porters' sun-porch and of the disgraceful encounter there. The +congregation resettled themselves in their places with a rustle of +skirts and a rattling of books into the racks. It was not often that the +bishop appeared in his cathedral; he was rarely in his see city on +Sundays; but whenever he preached men listened to him. Wheaton was +relieved to find that there was to be a cessation of the standing up and +sitting down which seemed so complicated.</p> + +<p>He now found that he could see the Porter pew easily by turning his head +slightly. The roses in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> Evelyn's hat were very pretty; he wondered +whether she came every Sunday; he concluded that she did; and he decided +that he should attend hereafter. The bishop had carried no manuscript +into the pulpit with him, and he gave his text from memory, resting one +arm on the pulpit rail. He was an august figure in his robes, and he +seemed to Wheaton, as he looked up at him, to pervade and possess the +place. Wheaton had a vague idea of the episcopal office; bishops were, +he imagined, persons of considerable social distinction; in his notion +of them they ranked with the higher civil lawgivers, and were comparable +to military commandants. In a line with the Porters he could see General +Whipple's white head—all the conditions of exalted respectability were present.</p> + +<p><i>And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they +strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, 'For now +the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.'</i></p> + +<p><i>For now the Lord hath made room for us.</i> The preacher sketched lightly +the primal scene to which his text related. He knew the color and light +of language and made it seem to his hearers that the Asian plain lay +almost at the doors of the cathedral. He reconstructed the simple social +life of the early times, and followed westward the campfires of the +shepherd kings. He built up the modern social and political structure, +with the home as its foundation, before the eyes of the congregation. A +broad democracy and humanity dominated the discourse as it unfolded +itself. The bishop hardly lifted his voice; he did not rant nor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> make +gestures, but he spoke as one having authority. Wheaton turned uneasily +and looked furtively about. He had not expected anything so earnest as +this; there was a tenseness in the air that oppressed him. What he was +hearing from that quiet old man in the pulpit was without the gloss of +fashion; it was inconsonant with the spirit of the place as he had +conceived it. Doctor Morningstar's discourses on Browning's poetry had +been far more entertaining.</p> + +<p><i>For now the Lord hath made room for us.</i> The preacher's voice was even +quieter as he repeated these words. "We are very near the heart of the +world, here at the edge of the great plain. Who of us but feels the +freedom, the ampler ether, the diviner air of these new lands? We hear +over and over that in the West, men may begin again; that here we may +put off our old garments and re-clothe ourselves. We must not too +radically adopt this idea. I am not so sanguine that it is an easy +matter to be transformed and remade; I am not persuaded that geography +enters into heart or mind or soul so that by crossing the older borders +into a new land we obliterate old ties. Here we may dig new wells, but +we shall thirst often, like David, for a drink of water from the well by +the gate of Bethlehem."</p> + +<p>Wheaton's mind wandered. It was a pleasure to look about over these +well-groomed people; this was what success meant—access to such +conditions as these. The fragrance of the violets worn by a girl in the +next pew stole over him; it was a far cry to his father's stifling +harness shop in the dull little Ohio town. His hand crept to the pin +which held his tie in place; he could not give just the touch to an +Ascot that Warry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> Raridan could, but then Warry had practised longer. +The old bishop's voice boomed steadily over the congregation. It caught +and held Wheaton's attention once more.</p> + +<p>"It is here that God hath made room for us; but it is not that we may +begin life anew. There is no such thing as beginning life anew; we may +begin again, but we may not obliterate nor ignore the past. Rather we +should turn to it more and more for those teachings of experience which +build character. Here on the Western plains the light and heat of +cloudless skies beat freely upon us; the soul, too, must yield itself to +the sun. The spirit of man was not made for the pit or the garret, but +for the open."</p> + +<p>Wheaton stirred restlessly, so that Raridan turned his head and looked +at him. He had been leaning forward, listening intently, and had +suddenly come to himself. He crossed his arms and settled back in his +seat. A man in front of him yawned, and he was grateful to him. But +again his ear caught an insistent phrase.</p> + +<p>"Life would be a simple matter if memory did not carry our yesterdays +into our to-days, and if it were as easy as Cain thought it was to cast +aside the past. A man must deal with evil openly and bravely. He must +turn upon himself with reproof the moment he finds that he has been +trampling conscience under his feet. An artisan may slight work in a +dark corner of a house, thinking that it is hidden forever; but I say to +you that we are all builders in the house of life, and that there are no +dark corners where we may safely practise deceit or slight the task God +assigns us. I would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> leave a word of courage and hope with you. +Christianity is a militant religion; it strengthens those who stand +forth bravely on the battle line, it comforts and helps the +weak-hearted, and it lifts up those who fall. I pray that God may +freshen and renew courage in us—courage not as against the world, but +courage to deal honestly and fairly and openly with ourselves."</p> + +<p>The organ was throbbing again; the massive figure had gone from the +pulpit; the people were stirring in their seats. The young minister who +had read the service repeated the offertory sentences, and the voice of +a boy soprano stole tremulously over the congregation. Raridan had left +the pew and was passing the plate. The tinkle of coin reassured Wheaton; +the return to mundane things brought him relief and restored his +confidence. His spirit grew tranquil as he looked about him. The +pleasant and graceful things of life were visible again.</p> + +<p>The voice of the bishop rose finally in benediction. The choir marched +out to a hymn of victory; people were talking as they moved through the +aisles to the doors. The organ pealed gaily now; there was light and +cheer in the world after all. At the door Wheaton became separated from +Raridan, and as he stood waiting at the steps Evelyn and her friends +detached themselves from the throng on the sidewalk and got into their +carriage. Mr. Porter, snugly buttoned in his frock coat, and with his +silk hat tipped back from his forehead, stood in the doorway talking to +General Whipple, who was, as usual in crowds, lost from the more agile +comrade of his marches many. Wheaton hastened down to the Porter +carriage, where the smiles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> and good mornings of the occupants gave him +further benediction. Evelyn and Miss Warren were nearest him; as he +stood talking to them, Belle Marshall espied Raridan across his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Oh, there's Mr. Raridan!" she cried, but when Wheaton stood aside, +Raridan had already disappeared around the carriage and had come into +view at the opposite window with a general salutation, which included +them all, but Miss Marshall more particularly.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure that sermon will do you good, Mr. Raridan," the Virginia girl +drawled. She was one of those young women who flatter men by assuming +that they are very depraved. Even impeccable youngsters are susceptible +to this harmless form of cajolery.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm always good. Miss Porter can tell you that."</p> + +<p>"Don't take my name in vain," said Evelyn, covertly looking at him, but +turning again to Wheaton.</p> + +<p>"You see your witness has failed you. Going to church isn't all of being good."</p> + +<p>Wheaton and Evelyn were holding a lively conversation. Evelyn's +animation was for his benefit, Raridan knew, and it enraged him. He had +been ready for peace, but Evelyn had snubbed him. He was, moreover, +standing in the mud in his patent leather shoes while another man +chatted with her in greater dignity from the curb. His chaff with Miss +Marshall lacked its usual teasing quality; he was glad when Mr. Porter +came and took his place in the carriage.</p> + +<p>Raridan had little to say as he and Wheaton walked homeward together, +though Wheaton felt in duty bound to express his pleasure in the music +and, a little less<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> heartily, in the sermon. Raridan's mind was on +something else, and Wheaton turned inward to his own thoughts. He was +complacent in his own virtue; he had made the most of the talents God +had given him, and in his Sunday evening lectures Doctor Morningstar had +laid great stress on this; it was the doctor's idea of the preaching +office to make life appear easy, and he filled his church twice every +Sunday with people who were glad to see it that way. As Wheaton walked +beside Raridan he thought of the venerable figure that had leaned out +over the congregation of St. Paul's that morning, and appealed in his +own mind from Bishop Delafield to Doctor Morningstar, and felt that the +bishop was overruled. As he understood Doctor Morningstar's preaching it +dealt chiefly with what the doctor called ideality, and this, as near as +Wheaton could make out, was derived from Ruskin, Emerson and Carlyle, +who were the doctor's favorite authors. The impression which remained +with him of the morning at St. Paul's was not of the rugged old bishop's +sermon, which he had already dismissed, but of the novel exercises in +the chancel, the faint breath of perfumes that were to him the true odor +of sanctity, and what he would have called, if he had defined it, the +high-toned atmosphere of the place. The bishop was only an occasional +visitor in the cathedral; he was old-fashioned and a crank; but no doubt +the regular minister of the congregation preached a cheerfuller idea of +life than his bishop, and more of that amiable conduct which is, as +Doctor Morningstar was forever quoting from a man named Arnold, +three-fourths of life.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p><p>When Wheaton reached his room he found an envelope lying on his table, +much soiled, and addressed, in an unformed hand, to himself. It +contained a dirty scrap of paper bearing these words:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Jim: I'll be at the Occidental Hotel tonight at 8 o'clock. Don't +fail to come.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Billy.</span>"</p></blockquote> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XIII</span> <span class="smaller">BARGAIN AND SALE</span></h2> + +<p>That is a disastrous moment in the history of any man in which he +concludes that the problems of life are easy of solution. Life has been +likened by teachers of ethics to a great school, but the comparison is +not wholly apt. As an educational system, life is decidedly not up to +date; the curriculum lacks flexibility, and the list of easy electives +and "snap" courses is discouragingly brief. A reputable poet holds that +"life is a game the soul can play"; but the game, it should be +remembered, is not always so easy as it looks. It could hardly be said +that James Wheaton made the most of all his opportunities, or that he +had mastered circumstances, although his biography as printed in the +daily press on the occasion of his succession to the mock throne of the +Knights of Midas gave this impression with a fine color of truth, and +with no purpose to deceive.</p> + +<p>The West makes much of its self-made men, and points to them with pride, +whenever the self-making includes material gain. The god Success is +enthroned on a new Olympus, and all are slaves to him; and when public +teachers thunder at him, his humblest subjects smile at one another, and +say that it is, no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> doubt, well enough to be reminded of such things +occasionally, but that, after all, nothing succeeds like success. Life +is a series of hazards, and we are all looking for the main chance.</p> + +<p>James Wheaton's code of morals was very simple. Honesty he knew to be +the best policy; he had learned this in his harsh youth, but he had no +instinct for the subtler distinctions in matters of conduct. Behind +glass and wire barricades in the bank where he had spent so many of his +thirty-five years, he had known little real contact with men. He knew +the pains and penalties of overdrafts; and life resolved itself into a +formal kind of accountancy where the chief thing was to maintain credit +balances. His transfer from a clerical to an official position had +widened his horizon without giving him the charts with which to sail new +seas. Life had never resolved itself into capital letters in his +meditations; he never indulged in serious speculation about it. It was +hardly even a game for the soul to play with him; if he had been capable +of analyzing his own feelings about it he would have likened it to a +mechanical novelty, whose printed instructions are confusingly obscure, +but with a little fumbling you find the spring, and presto! the wheels +turn and all is very simple.</p> + +<p>He tore up the note with irritation and threw it into the waste paper +basket. He called the Chinese servant, who explained that a boy had left +it in the course of the morning and had said nothing about an answer.</p> + +<p>The Bachelors' did not usually muster a full table at Sunday dinner. All +Clarkson dined at noon on Sunday, and most of the bachelors were +fortunate enough to be asked out. Wheaton was not frequently a diner +out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> by reason of his more slender acquaintance; and to-day all were +present, including Raridan, the most fickle of all in his attendance. It +had pleased Wheaton to find that the others had been setting him apart +more and more with Raridan for the daily discipline they dealt one +another. They liked to poke fun at Raridan on the score of what they +called his mad social whirl; there was no resentment about it; they were +themselves of sterner stuff and had no patience with Raridan's +frivolities; and they were within the fact when they assumed that, if +they wished, they could go anywhere that he did. It touched Wheaton's +vanity to find himself a joint target with Raridan for the arrows which +the other bachelors fired at folly.</p> + +<p>The table cheer opened to-day with a debate between Caldwell and Captain +Wheelock as to the annual cost to Raridan of the carnation which he +habitually wore in his coat. This, in the usual manner of their froth, +was treated indirectly; the aim was to continue the cross-firing until +the victim was goaded into a scornful rejoinder. Raridan usually evened +matters before he finished with them; but he affected not to be +listening to them now.</p> + +<p>"I was reading an article in the Contemporary Review the other day that +set me to thinking," he said casually to Wheaton. "It was an effort to +answer the old question, 'Is stupidity a sin?' You may not recall that a +learned Christian writer—I am not sure but that it was Saint Francis de +Sales,—holds that stupidity is a sin."</p> + +<p>The others had stopped, baffled in their debate over the carnation and +were listening to Raridan. They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> never knew how much amusement he got +out of them; they attributed great learning to him and were never sure +when he began in this way whether he was speaking in an exalted +spiritual mood and from fullness of knowledge, or was merely preparing a +pitfall for them.</p> + +<p>Warry continued:</p> + +<p>"But while this dictum is very generally accepted among learned +theologians, it has nevertheless led to many amusing discussions among +men of deep learning and piety who have striven to define and analyze +stupidity. It is, however, safe to accept as the consensus of their +opinions these conclusions." He made his own salad dressing, and paused +now with the oil cruet in his hand while he continued to address himself +solely to Wheaton: "Primarily, stupidity is inevitable; in the second +place it is an offense not only to Deity but to man; and thirdly, being +incurable, as"—nodding first toward Wheelock and then toward +Caldwell—"we have daily, even hourly testimony, man is helpless and +cannot prevail against it."</p> + +<p>"Now will you be good?" demanded Wheaton gleefully. He had an air of +having connived at Raridan's fling at them.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't think!" sneered Caldwell. "Don't you get gay! You're not in this."</p> + +<p>"In the name of the saints, Caldwell, do give us a little peace," begged Raridan.</p> + +<p>Wheelock turned his attention to the Chinaman who was serving them, and +abused him, and Wheaton sought to make talk with Raridan, to emphasize +their isolation and superiority to the others.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p><p>"That's good music they have at the cathedral," he said.</p> + +<p>Brown now took the scent.</p> + +<p>"Did you hear that, Wheelock? Well, I'll be damned. See here, Wheaton, +where are you at anyhow? We've been looking on you as one of the sinners +of this house, but if you've joined Raridan's church, I see our finish."</p> + +<p>"Don't worry about your finish, Brown. It'll be a scorcher all right," +said Raridan, "and while you wait your turn you might pass the salt."</p> + +<p>There was no common room at The Bachelors', and the men did not meet +except at the table. They loafed in their rooms, and rarely visited one +another. Raridan was the most social among them and lounged in on one or +the other in his easy fashion. They in turn sought him out to deride +him, or to poke among his effects and to ask him why he never had any +interesting books. The books that he was always buying—minor poems and +minor essays, did not tempt them. The presence of <i>L'Illustrazione +Italiana</i> on his table from week to week amused them; they liked to look +at the pictures and they had once gone forth in a body to the peanut +vender at the next corner, to witness a test of Raridan's Italian, about +which they were skeptical. The stormy interview that followed between +Raridan and the Sicilian had been immensely entertaining and had proved +that Raridan could really buy peanuts in a foreign tongue, though the +fine points which he tried to explain to the bachelors touching the +differences in Italian dialects did not interest them. Warry himself was +interested in Italian dialects for that winter only.</p> + +<p>Wheaton went to his room and made himself <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>comfortable. He re-read the +Sunday papers through all their supplements, dwelling again on the +events of the carnival. He had saved all the other papers that contained +carnival news, and now brought them out and cut from them all references +to himself. He resolved to open a kind of social scrap book in which to +preserve a record of his social doings. The joint portraits of the king +and queen of the carnival had not been very good; the picture of Evelyn +Porter was a caricature. In Raridan's room he had seen a photograph of +Evelyn as a child; it was very pretty, and Wheaton, too, remembered her +from the days in which she wore her hair down her back and waited in the +carriage at the front door of the bank for her father. She had lived in +a world far removed from him then; but now the chasm had been bridged. +He had heard it said in the last year that Evelyn and Warry were +undoubtedly fated to marry; but others hinted darkly that some Eastern +man would presently appear on the scene.</p> + +<p>All this gossip Wheaton turned over in his mind, as he lay on his divan, +with the cuttings from the Clarkson papers in his hands. He remembered a +complaint often heard in Clarkson that there were no eligible men there; +he was not sure just what constituted eligibility, but as he reviewed +the men that went about he could not see that they possessed any +advantages over himself. It occurred to him for the first time that he +was the only unmarried bank cashier in town; and this in itself +conferred a distinction. He was not so secure in his place as he should +like to be; if Thompson died there would undoubtedly be a reorganization +of the bank and the few shares that Porter had sold to him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> would not +hold the cashiership for him. It might be that Porter's plan was to keep +him in the place until Grant grew up. Again, he reflected, the man who +married Evelyn Porter would become an element to reckon with; and yet if +he were to be that man—</p> + +<p>He slept and dreamed that he was king of a great realm and that Evelyn +Porter reigned with him as queen; then he awoke with a start to find +that it was late. He sat up on the couch and gathered together the +newspaper cuttings which had fallen about him. He remembered the +imperative summons which had been left for him during the morning; it +was already six o'clock. Before going out he changed his clothes to a +rough business suit and took a car that bore him rapidly through the +business district and beyond, into the older part of Clarkson. The +locality was very shabby, and when he left the car presently it was to +continue his journey in an ill-lighted street over board walks which +yielded a precarious footing. The Occidental Hotel was in the old part +of town, and had long ago ceased to be what it had once been, the first +hostelry of Clarkson. It had descended to the level of a cheap boarding +house, little patronized except by the rougher element of cattlemen and +by railroad crews that found it convenient to the yards. Over the door a +dim light blinked, and this, it was understood in the neighborhood, +meant not merely an invitation to bed and board but also to the +Occidental bar, which was accessible at all hours of the day and night, +and was open through all the spasms of virtue with which the city +administration was seized from time to time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> The door stood open and +Wheaton stepped up to the counter on which a boy sat playing with a cat.</p> + +<p>"Is William Snyder stopping here?" he asked.</p> + +<p>The boy looked up lazily from his play.</p> + +<p>"Are you the gent he's expecting?"</p> + +<p>"Very likely. Is he in?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, he's number eighteen." He dropped the cat and led Wheaton down a +dark hall which was stale with the odors of cooked vegetables, up a +steep flight of stairs to a landing from which he pointed to an oblong +of light above a door.</p> + +<p>"There you are," said the boy. He kicked the door and retreated down the +stairs, leaving Wheaton to obey the summons to enter which was bawled from within.</p> + +<p>William Snyder unfolded his long figure and rose to greet his visitor.</p> + +<p>"Well, Jim," he said, putting out his hand. "I hope you're feelin' out +of sight." Wheaton took his hand and said good evening. He threw open +his coat and put down his hat.</p> + +<p>"A little fresh air wouldn't hurt you any," he said, tipping himself +back in his chair.</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess your own freshness will make up for it," said Snyder.</p> + +<p>Wheaton did not smile; he was very cool and master of the situation.</p> + +<p>"I came to see what you want, and it had better not be much."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you cheer up, Jim," said Snyder with his ugly grin. "I don't know +that you've ever done so much for me. I don't want you to forget that I +did time for you once."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p><p>"You'd better not rely on that too much. I was a poor little kid and +all the mischief I ever knew I learned from you. What is it you want now?"</p> + +<p>"Well, Jim, you've seen fit to get me fired from that nice lonesome job +you got me, back in the country."</p> + +<p>"I had nothing to do with it. The ranch owners sent a man here to +represent them and I had nothing more to do with it. The fact is I +stretched a point to put you in there. Mr. Saxton has taken the whole +matter of the ranch out of my hands."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know anything about that," said Snyder contemptuously. +"But that don't make any difference. I'm out, and I don't know but I'm +glad to be out. That was a fool job; about the lonesomest thing I ever +struck. Your friend Saxton didn't seem to take a shine to me; wanted me +to go chasing cattle all over the whole Northwest—"</p> + +<p>"He flattered you," said Wheaton, a faint smile drawing at the corners of his mouth.</p> + +<p>"None of that kind of talk," returned Snyder sharply. "Now what you got +to say for yourself?"</p> + +<p>"It isn't necessary for me to say anything about myself," said Wheaton +coolly. "What I'm going to say is that you've got to get out of here in +a hurry and stay out."</p> + +<p>Snyder leaned back in his chair and recrossed his legs on the table.</p> + +<p>"Don't get funny, Jim. Large bodies move slow. It took me a long time to +find you and I don't intend to let go in a hurry."</p> + +<p>"I have no more jobs for you; if you stay about here you'll get into +trouble. I was a fool to send you to that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> ranch. I heard about your +little round with the sheriff, and the gambling you carried on in the ranch house."</p> + +<p>"Well, when you admit you're a fool you're getting on," said Snyder with a chuckle.</p> + +<p>"Now I'm going to make you a fair offer; I'll give you one hundred +dollars to clear out,—go to Mexico or Canada—"</p> + +<p>"Or hell or any comfortable place," interrupted Snyder derisively.</p> + +<p>"And not come here again," continued Wheaton calmly. "If you do—!"</p> + +<p>It was to be a question of bargain and sale, as both men realized.</p> + +<p>"Raise your price, Jim," said Snyder. "A hundred wouldn't take me very far."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, it will; I propose buying your ticket myself."</p> + +<p>Snyder laughed his ugly laugh.</p> + +<p>"Well, you ain't very complimentary. You'd ought to have invited me to +your party the other night, Jim. I'd like to have seen you doing stunts +as a king. That was the worst,"—he wagged his head and chuckled. "A +king, a real king, and your picture put into the papers along of the +millionaire's daughter,—well, you may damn me!"</p> + +<p>"What I'll do," Wheaton went on undisturbed, "is to buy you a ticket to +Spokane to-morrow. I'll meet you here and give you your transportation +and a hundred dollars in cash. Now that's all I'll do for you, and it's +a lot more than you deserve."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no it ain't," said Snyder.</p> + +<p>"And it's the last I'll ever do."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p><p>"Don't be too sure of that. I want five hundred and a regular +allowance, say twenty-five dollars a month."</p> + +<p>"I don't intend to fool with you," said Wheaton sharply. He rose and +picked up his hat. "What I offer you is out of pure kindness; we may as +well understand each other. You and I are walking along different lines. +I'd be glad to see you succeed in some honorable business; you're not +too old to begin. I can't have you around here. It's out of the +question—my giving you a pension. I can't do anything of the kind."</p> + +<p>His tone gradually softened; he took on an air of patient magnanimity.</p> + +<p>Snyder broke in with a sneer.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Jim, don't try the goody-goody business on me. You think +you're mighty smooth and you're mighty good and you're gettin' on pretty +fast. Your picture in the papers is mighty handsome, and you looked real +swell in them fine clothes up at the banker's talkin' to that girl."</p> + +<p>"That's another thing," said Wheaton, still standing. "I ought to refuse +to do anything for you after that. Getting drunk and attacking me +couldn't possibly do you or me any good. It was sheer luck that you +weren't turned over to the police."</p> + +<p>Snyder chuckled.</p> + +<p>"That old preacher gave me a pretty hard jar."</p> + +<p>"You ought to be jarred. You're no good. You haven't even been +successful in your own particular line of business."</p> + +<p>"There ain't nothing against me anywhere," said Snyder, doggedly.</p> + +<p>"I have different information," said Wheaton,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> blandly. "There was the +matter of that post-office robbery in Michigan; attempted bank robbery +in Wisconsin, and a few little things of that sort scattered through the +country, that make a pretty ugly list. But they say you're not very +strong in the profession." He smiled an unpleasant smile.</p> + +<p>Snyder drew his feet from the table and jumped up with an oath.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Jim, if you ain't playin' square with me—"</p> + +<p>"I intend playing more than square with you, but I want you to know that +I'm not afraid of you; I've taken the trouble to look you up. The +Pinkertons have long memories," he said, significantly.</p> + +<p>Snyder was visibly impressed, and Wheaton made haste to follow up his advantage.</p> + +<p>"You've got to get away from here, Billy, and be in a hurry about it. +How much money have you?"</p> + +<p>"Not a red cent."</p> + +<p>"What became of that money Mr. Saxton gave you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, to tell the truth I owed a few little bills back at Great River +and I settled up, like any square man would."</p> + +<p>"If you told the truth, you'd say you drank up what you hadn't gambled +away." Wheaton moved toward the door.</p> + +<p>"At eight to-morrow night."</p> + +<p>"Make it two hundred, Jim," whined Snyder.</p> + +<p>Wheaton paused in the door; Snyder had followed him. They were the same +height as they stood up together.</p> + +<p>"That's too much money to trust you with."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p><p>"The more money the farther I can get," pleaded Snyder.</p> + +<p>"I'll be here at eight to-morrow evening," said Wheaton, "and you stay +here until I come."</p> + +<p>"Give me a dollar on account; I haven't a cent."</p> + +<p>"You're better off that way; I want to find you sober to-morrow night." +He went out and closed the door after him.</p> + +<p>Two or three men who were sitting in the office below eyed Wheaton +curiously as he went out. The thought that they might recognize him from +his portraits in the papers pleased him.</p> + +<p>He retraced his steps from the hotel and boarded a car filled with +people of the laboring class who were returning from an outing in the +suburbs. They were making merry in a strange tongue, and their +boisterous mirth was an offense to him. He was a gentleman of position +returning from an errand of philanthropy, and he remained on the +platform, where the atmosphere was purer than that within, which was +contaminated by the rough young Swedes and their yellow-haired +sweethearts. When he reached The Bachelors' the dozing Chinaman told him +that all the others were out. He went to his room and spent the rest of +the evening reading a novel which he had heard Evelyn Porter mention the +night that he had dined at her house.</p> + +<p>The next day he bought a ticket to Spokane, and drew one hundred dollars +from his account in the bank. He went at eight o'clock to the Occidental +to keep his appointment, and found Snyder patiently waiting for him in +the hotel office, holding a shabby valise between his knees.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p><p>"You'll have to pay my bill before I take this out," said Snyder +grinning, and Wheaton gave him money and waited while he paid at the +counter. The proprietor recognized Wheaton and nodded to him. Questions +were not asked at the Occidental.</p> + +<p>At the railway station Wheaton stepped inside the door and pulled two +sealed envelopes from his pocket. "Here's your ticket, and here's your +money. The ticket's good through to Spokane; and that's your train, the +first one in the shed. Now I want you to understand that this is the +last time, Billy; you've got to work and make your own living. I can't +do anything more for you; and what's more, I won't."</p> + +<p>"All right, Jim," said Snyder. "You won't ever lose anything by helping +me along. You're in big luck and it ain't going to hurt you to give me a +little boost now and then."</p> + +<p>"This is the last time," said Wheaton, firmly, angry at Snyder's hint +for further assistance.</p> + +<p>Snyder put out his hand.</p> + +<p>"Good by, Jim," he said.</p> + +<p>"Good by, Billy."</p> + +<p>Wheaton stood inside the station and watched the man cross the +electric-lighted platform, show his ticket at the gate, and walk to the +train. He still waited, watching the car which the man boarded, until +the train rolled out into the night.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XIV</span> <span class="smaller">THE GIRL THAT TRIES HARD</span></h2> + +<p>The Girl That Tries Hard was giving a dance at the Country Club. The +Girl That Tries Hard was otherwise Mabel Margrave, wherein lay the only +point of difference between herself and other Girls That Try Hard. There +was hardly room in Clarkson for cliques; and yet one often heard the +expression "Mabel Margrave and her set" and this indicated that Mabel +Margrave had a following and that to some extent she was a leader. She +prided herself on doing things differently, which is what The Girl That +Tries Hard is forever doing everywhere. She was the only girl in the +town that gave dinners at the Clarkson Club; and while these functions +were not necessarily a shock to the Clarkson moral sense, yet the first +of these entertainments, at which Mabel Margrave danced a skirt dance at +the end of the dinner, caused talk in conservative circles. It might be +assumed that Mabel's father and mother could have checked her +exuberance, but the fact was that Mabel's parents wielded little +influence in their own household. Timothy Margrave was busy with his +railroad and his wife was a timid, shrinking person, who viewed her +daughter's social performances with wonder and admiration. It would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> +have been much better for Mabel if she had not tried so hard, but this +was something that she did not understand, and there was no one to teach +her. She derived an immense pleasure from her father's private car, in +which she had been over most of the United States, and had gone even to +Mexico. In the Margrave household it was always spoken of as "the car." +Its cook and porter were kept on the pay-roll of the company, but when +they were not on active service in the car, one of them drove the +Margrave carriage, and the other opened the Margrave front door.</p> + +<p>The Margrave house was one of the handsomest in Clarkson. Margrave had +not coursed in the orbits of luminaries greater than himself without +acquiring wisdom. When he built a house he turned the whole matter over +to a Boston architect with instructions to go ahead just as if a +gentleman had employed him; he did not want a house which his neighbors +could say was exactly what any one would expect of the Margraves. +Clarkson was proud of the Margrave house, which was better than the +Porter house, though it lacked the setting of the Porter grounds. The +architect had done everything; Margrave kept his own hands off and sent +his wife and Mabel abroad to stay until it was ready for occupancy. When +the house was nearly completed Margrave took Warry Raridan up to see it +and displayed with pride a large and handsomely furnished library whose +ample shelves were devoid of books.</p> + +<p>"Now, Warry," he said, "I want books for this house and I want 'em +right. I never read any books, and I never expect to, and I guess the +rest of the family ain't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> very literary, either. I want you to fill +these shelves, and I don't want trash. Are you on?"</p> + +<p>The situation appealed to Warry and he had given his best attention to +Margrave's request. He took his time and bought a representative library +in good bindings. As Mrs. Margrave was a Roman Catholic, Warry thought +it well that theological literature should be represented. Mrs. +Margrave's parish priest, dining early at the new home, contemplated the +"libery," as its owner called it, with amazement.</p> + +<p>"Ain't they all there, Father Donovan?" asked Margrave. "I hope you like my selection."</p> + +<p>"Couldn't be better," declared the priest, "if I'd picked them myself." +He had taken down a volume of a rare edition of Cornelius a Lapide and +passed his hand over the Latin title page with a scholar's satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Mabel had declined to go to the convent which her mother selected for +her; convents were not fashionable; and she herself selected Tyringham +because she had once met a Tyringham graduate who was the most "stylish" +girl she had ever seen. Since her return from school she had found it +convenient to abandon, as far as possible, the church of her baptism. +There had been no other Roman Catholics at her school; the Episcopal +church was the official spiritual channel of Tyringham; and she brought +home a pretty Anglican prayer book, and attended early masses with her +mother only to the end that she might go later to the services of St. +Paul's, to the scandal of Father Donovan, and somewhat to the sneaking +delight of her father. Margrave held that religion of whatever kind was +a matter for women,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> and that they were entitled to their whim about it.</p> + +<p>Tyringham is, it is well known, a place where girls of the proper +instinct and spirit acquire a manner that is everywhere unmistakable. +Mabel had given new grace and impressiveness to Tyringham itself; she +touched nothing that she did not improve, and she came home with an +ambition to give tone to Clarkson society. A great phrase with Mabel was +The Men; this did not mean the <i>genus homo</i> in any philosophical +abstraction, but certain young gentlemen that followed much in her +train. There were a few young women who were much in Mabel's company and +who conscientiously imitated Mabel's ways. All the devices and desires +of Mabel's heart tended toward one consummation, and that was the +destruction of monotony.</p> + +<p>Mabel had announced to a few of her cronies that she would show Evelyn +Porter how things were done; and as the Country Club was new, she chose +it as the place for her exhibition. Mabel was two years older than +Evelyn; they had never been more than casually acquainted, and now that +Evelyn's college days were over,—Mabel had "finished" several years +before,—and they were to live in the same town, it seemed expedient to +the older girl to take the initiative, to the end that their respective +positions in the community might be definitely fixed. Evelyn's name +carried far more prestige than Mabel's; the Margraves had not been in +the Clarkson Blue Book at all, until Mabel came home from school and +demonstrated her right to enlistment among the elect.</p> + +<p>She dressed herself as sumptuously as she dared for a morning call and +drove the highest trap that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>Clarkson had ever seen up Porter Hill. The +man beside her was the only correctly liveried adjunct of any Clarkson +stable,—at least this was Mabel's opinion. Whatever people said of +Mabel and her ways, they could not deny that her clothes were good, +though they were usually a trifle pronounced in color and cut. She wore +about her neck a long, thin chain from which dangled a silver heart. +Mabel's was the largest that could be found at any Chicago jeweler's. +Its purpose in Mabel's case was to convey to the curious the impression +that there was a photograph of a young man inside. This was no fraud on +Mabel's part, for she carried in this trinket the photograph of a +popular actor, whose pictures were purchasable anywhere in the country +at twenty-five cents each. While Mabel waited for Evelyn to appear, she +threw open her new driving coat, which forced the season a trifle, and +studied the furnishings of the Porter parlor, criticising them +adversely. She was not clear in her mind whether she should call Evelyn +"Miss Porter" or not. Clarkson people usually said "Evelyn Porter" when +speaking of her. In Mabel's own case they all said "Mabel."</p> + +<p>When Evelyn came into the parlor she seemed very tall to Mabel, and +impulse solved the problem of how to address her.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, Miss Porter."</p> + +<p>She gave her hand to Evelyn, thrusting it out straight before her, yet +hanging back from it archly as if in rebuke of her own forwardness. This +was decidedly Tyringhamesque, and was only one of the many amiable and +useful things she had learned at Miss Alton's school.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p><p>Mabel sat up very straight in her chair when she talked, and played +with the silver heart.</p> + +<p>"I didn't ask for the others, as it's a wretchedly indecent hour to be +making a call."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the girls are up and about," said Evelyn. "I shall be glad—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, please don't trouble to call them! I came on an errand. You know +the Country Club has just taken a new lease of life. Have you been out +yet? It's a bit crude"—this phrase was taught as a separate course at +Tyringham—"but there's the making of a lovely place there."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I've barely seen it. I went out the other day to look at the golf +course. The golf wave seems to be sweeping the country."</p> + +<p>"Do you play?"</p> + +<p>"A little; we had a course near the college that we used."</p> + +<p>"You college girls are awfully athletic. I'm crazy about golf. I thought +it might be good sport to ask a few girls and some of the men to go to +the club for supper,—we really couldn't have dinner there, you know. +This heavenly weather won't last always. We'll get a drag and Captain +Wheelock will see that I don't drive you into trouble. He's a very safe +whip, you know, if I'm not; and we'll come back in the moonlight. This +includes your guests, of course."</p> + +<p>"That will be delightful," said Evelyn. "I'm sure we'll all be glad to +go. I'm anxious to have the girls see as much as possible. I want them +to be favorably impressed, and this will be an event."</p> + +<p>When Mabel had taken herself off, Evelyn returned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> to the tower where +Belle Marshall and Annie Warren awaited her. These young women were +lounging in the low window-seat exchanging reminiscences of college days.</p> + +<p>"It was Mabel Margrave," explained Evelyn. "She's asked us to go +coaching with her to the Country Club and have supper there and I took +the liberty of accepting for you."</p> + +<p>"What's she like?" asked Annie.</p> + +<p>"Tyringham," said Evelyn succinctly.</p> + +<p>"Oh! your words affect me strangely, child," drawled Belle, casting up +her eyes in a pretended imitation of the Tyringham manner.</p> + +<p>"How are her <i>a's</i>?" asked Annie.</p> + +<p>"Broader than the Atlantic. I think she wants to patronize me. She's a +real Tyringham in that she thinks us college women very slow."</p> + +<p>"Well, they do have a style," said Belle, sighing. "You can always tell +one of Miss Alton's girls."</p> + +<p>"Yes, there's no doubt about that," retorted Annie coolly. She had taken +her education seriously and was disposed to look down upon the product +of fashionable boarding schools.</p> + +<p>"Cheer up! The worst is yet to come," declared Evelyn. "You'd better not +encourage the idea here that we are different from young women of any +other sort. I've got to live here! I'm going to be pretty lonely too, +the first thing you know, after you desert me."</p> + +<p>"You'll have plenty of chances to root for the college," suggested +Belle. "You won't have anything like the time I'll have. In Virginia we +have traditions that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> I've got to reconcile myself to, in some way; out +here, you can start even."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and we have the Tyringham type, and a few of the convent sort, and +a few of the co-eds to combat."</p> + +<p>"Well, there's nothing so radically wrong with the co-eds, is there?" +asked Annie, who believed in education for its own sake.</p> + +<p>"Only the ones that want to go in for politics and that sort of thing. +There's a lady—I said lady—doctor of philosophy here in town who +casually invited me to become a candidate for school commissioner a few weeks ago."</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure that you oughtn't to have done it," said Annie, "assuming +that you declined. It would have been a good stroke for alma mater."</p> + +<p>"No; that's what it wouldn't have been," said Evelyn seriously. "If you +and I believe that college education is good for women, we'd better +suppress this notion that's abroad in the world that college makes a +woman different. I hold that we're not necessarily unlike our sisters of +the convent, or the Tyringham teach-you-how-to-enter-a-room variety." +Evelyn drew herself up with an oratorical gesture and inflection. "I'm +here to defend my rights as a human being—"</p> + +<p>"You will be hit with a pillow in a minute," remarked Belle, rising and +preparing to make her threat good. "Let's talk about what to wear to +Lady Tyringham's party."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XV</span> <span class="smaller">AT THE COUNTRY CLUB</span></h2> + +<p>To show that she was not limited to her own particular set in her choice +of guests, Mabel had asked Raridan, whom she wished to know better, and +Wheaton, who had danced with her at the carnival ball, to be of her +party. Chaperons were tolerated but not required in Clarkson. For this +reason Mabel had thought it wise to ask Mrs. Whipple, whom she wished to +impress; and as she liked to surprise her fellow citizens, it was worth +while in this instance to yield something to the <i>convenances</i>. The +general was too old for such nonsense; but he was willing to sacrifice +his wife, and she went, giving as her excuse for taking "that Margrave +girl's bait," that she was doing it in Evelyn's interest.</p> + +<p>The coach rolled with loud yodeling to the Porter door, where there was +much laughing and bantering as the guests settled into their places. +When the locked wheels ground the hillside and the horn was bravely +blown by an admirer of Mabel's from Keokuk, it was clear to every one +that Timothy Margrave's daughter was achieving another triumph. The +young man from Keokuk was zealous with the horn; a four-in-hand was not +often seen in the streets of Clarkson, albeit this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> same vehicle was +always to be had from the leading liveryman, and town and country turned +admiring eyes on the party as the coach rolled along in the golden haze +of early October. The sun warmed the dry air; and far across the +Missouri flats its light fell mildly upon yellow bluffs where the clay +was exposed in broad surfaces which held the light. The foliage of the +hills beyond the river was lit with color in many places; a shower in +the morning had freshened the green things of earth, giving them a new, +brief lease of life, and there was no dust in the highways. In such a +day the dying year bends benignantly to earth and is fain to loiter in the ways of youth.</p> + +<p>The paint was still fresh in the club house, which was a long bungalow, +set in a clump of cottonwoods. There was an amplitude of veranda, and +the rooms within were roughly furnished in Texas pine. The older people +of the town looked upon the club with some suspicion as something new +and untried. The younger element was just beginning to know the +implements and vocabulary of golf. The first tee was only a few feet +from the veranda, so that a degree of heroism and Christian resignation +was essential in those who began their game under the eyes of a full +gallery. There were the usual members of both sexes who talked a good +deal about their swing without really having any worth mentioning; and +there were others more given to reading the golf news in the golf papers +at the club house, than to playing, to the end that they might discuss +the game volubly without the discomfort of acquiring practical knowledge.</p> + +<p>The walls of the dining-room had not been smoothed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> or whitened. They +were hung with prints which ranged in subject from golf to Gibson girls. +Mabel had supplemented the meager furnishings of the club pantry with +embellishments from her own house, and had given her own touch to the +table. As her touch carried a certain style, her crystal and silver +shone to good advantage under the lamps which she had substituted for +the bare incandescents of the room. The young man from Keokuk who was, +just then, as the gossips said, "devoted" to Mabel, had supplied a +prodigal array of flowers, ordered by telegraph from Chicago for the +occasion. The table was served by colored men, who had been previously +subsidized by Mabel, in violation of the club rules; and they +accordingly made up in zeal what they lacked in skill.</p> + +<p>Mabel talked a great deal about informality, and drove her guests into +the dining-room without any attempt at order, and they found their +name-cards with the surprises and exclamations which usually +characterize that proceeding.</p> + +<p>Captain Wheelock sat at the end of the oblong table opposite Mabel, who +placed the man from Keokuk at her right and Raridan at her left. Evelyn +was between Raridan and one of Mabel's "men," who was evidently +impressed by this propinquity. He was the Assistant General Something of +one of the railroads and owned a horse that was known as far away from +home as the Independence, Iowa, track. There was a great deal of talking +back and forth, and Evelyn told herself that it did not much matter that +her guests had fallen into rather poor hands. She was quite sure that +Captain Wheelock, who liked showy girls, would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> not be much interested +in Annie Warren, who was distinctly not showy. Belle Marshall, with her +drollery, was not likely to be dismayed by Wheaton's years and poverty +of small talk. Belle was not easily abashed, and when the others paused +now and then under the spell of her dialect, which seemed funny when she +did not mean it to be so, she was not distressed. She had grown used to +having people listen to her drawl, and to complimentary speeches from +"you No'the'ne's" on her charming accent. Evelyn found that it was +unnecessary to talk to Raridan; he and Mabel seemed to get on very well +together, and in her pique at him, Evelyn was glad to have it so.</p> + +<p>Mabel's supper was bountiful, and Raridan, who thought he knew the +possibilities of the club's cuisine, marveled at the chicken, fried in +Maryland style, and at the shoestring potatoes and flaky rolls, which +marked an advance on anything that the club kitchen had produced before. +There was champagne from the stock which the Margraves carried in their +car, and it foamed and bubbled in the Venetian glasses that Mabel had +brought from home, at a temperature that Mabel herself had regulated. +Captain Wheelock made much of frequently lifting his glass to Mabel in +imaginary toasts. The man from Keokuk drank his champagne with awe; he +had heard that Mabel Margrave was a "tank," and he thought this a +delightful thing to be said of a girl. Mrs. Whipple noted with wonder +Mabel's capacity, while most of the others tried not to be conscious of +it. Mabel grew a little boisterous at times through the dinner, but no +one dared think that it was the champagne. Mrs. Whipple remembered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> with +satisfaction that she had no son to marry Mabel. There were, she +considered, certain things which one escapes by being childless, and a +bibulous daughter-in-law was one of them.</p> + +<p>Attention was arrested for a time by a colloquy between Mrs. Whipple and +Captain Wheelock as to the merits of army girls compared with their +civilian sisters; and the whole table gave heed. Wheelock maintained +that the army girl was the only cosmopolitan type of American girl, and +Mrs. Whipple combated the idea. She took the ground that American girls +are never provincial; that they all wear the same clothes, though, she +admitted, they wore them with a difference; and that the army girl as a +distinct type was a myth.</p> + +<p>"My furniture," she said, "has followed the flag as much as anybody's; +but the army girl is only a superstition among fledgling lieutenants. On +my street are people from Maine, Indiana and Georgia. You don't have to +go to the army to find cosmopolitan young women; they are the first +generation after the founders of all this western country. Right here in +the Missouri valley are the real Americans, made by the mingling of +elements from everywhere. Am I stepping on anybody's toes?" she asked, +looking around suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't mind us," drawled Belle, turning with a mournful air to Annie.</p> + +<p>"We've counting on you to marry and settle amongst us," said Mrs. Whipple palliatingly.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen!" exclaimed Raridan, looking significantly from one man to +another; "destiny is pointing to us!"</p> + +<p>"You're in no danger, Mr. Raridan," Belle flung<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> back at him. "Miss +Warren and I can go back where we came from."</p> + +<p>Raridan's rage at Evelyn had spent itself; he was ready for peace. She +had been politely indifferent to him at the table, to the mischievous +joy of Belle Marshall, who had an eye for such little bits of comedy. As +they all stood about after supper in the outer hall, Evelyn chatted with +Wheaton, and continued to be oblivious of Raridan, who watched her over +the shoulder of one of Mabel's particular allies and waited for a +tête-à-tête. Warry had the skill of long practice in such matters; there +were men whom it was difficult to dislodge, but Wheaton was not one of +them. He took advantage of a movement toward benches and chairs to +attach himself to Evelyn and to shunt Wheaton into Belle's company,—a +manœuver which that young woman understood perfectly and did not +enjoy. There was something so open and casual in Warry's tactics that +the beholder was likely to be misled by them. Evelyn was half disposed +to thwart him; he had been distinctly disagreeable at the ball, and had +not appeared at the house since. She knew what he wanted, and she had no +intention of making his approaches easy. Some of the others moved toward +the verandas, and Warry led the way thither, while he talked on, telling +some bits of news about a common acquaintance from whom he had just +heard. It was cool outside and she sent him for her cape, and then they +walked the length of the long promenade. He paused several times to +point out to her some of the improvements which were to be made in the +grounds the following spring. This also was a part of the game; it +served to interrupt the walk; and he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> spoke of the guests at the Hill, +and said that it was too bad they had not come when things were +livelier. Then he stood silent for a moment, busy with his cigarette. +Evelyn gathered her golf cape about her, leaned against a pillar and +tapped the floor with her shoe.</p> + +<p>"You haven't been particularly attentive to them, have you?" she said. +"I thought you really liked them."</p> + +<p>"Of course I like them, but I've been very busy." Warry stared ahead of +him across the dim starlit golf grounds.</p> + +<p>"That's very nice," she said, still tapping the floor and looking past +him into the night. "Industry is always an excuse for any one. But, come +to think of it, you were very good in showing them about at the ball. I +appreciate it, I'm sure."</p> + +<p>It was of his conduct at the ball that he wished to speak; she knew it, +and tried to make it hard for him.</p> + +<p>"See here, Evelyn, you know well enough why I kept away from you that +night. I told you before the ball that I didn't,—well, I didn't like +it! If I hadn't cared a whole lot it wouldn't have made any +difference—but that show was so tawdry and hideous—"</p> + +<p>Evelyn readjusted her cape and sat down on the veranda railing.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I was tawdry, was I?" she asked, sweetly. "I knew some one would +tell me the real truth about it if I waited."</p> + +<p>"I didn't come here to have you make fun of me," he said, bitterly. He +imagined that since the ball he had been suffering a kind of martyrdom.</p> + +<p>Evelyn could not help laughing.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p><p>"Poor Warry!" she exclaimed in mock sympathy. "What a hard time you +make yourself have! Just listen to Mr. Foster laughing on the other side +of the porch; it must be much cheerfuller over there." Mr. Foster was +the young man from Keokuk; he wore a secret society pin in his cravat, +and Warry hated him particularly.</p> + +<p>"What an ass that fellow is!" he blurted, savagely. He had just lighted +a fresh cigarette, and threw away the stump of the discarded one with an +unnecessary exercise of strength.</p> + +<p>"But he's cheerful, and has very nice manners!" said Evelyn. Warry was +still looking away from her petulantly. Her attitude toward him just now +was that of an older sister toward a young offending brother. He felt +that the interview lacked dignity on his side, and he swung around suddenly.</p> + +<p>"You know we can't go on this way. You know I wouldn't offend you for +anything in the world,—that if I've been churlish it's simply because I +care a great deal; because it has hurt me to find you getting mixed up +with the wrong people. If you knew what your coming home meant to me, +how much I've been counting on it! and then to find that you wouldn't +meet me on our old friendly basis, and didn't want any suggestions from me."</p> + +<p>He had, almost unconsciously, been expecting her to interrupt him; but +she did not do so, and left him to flounder along as best he could. When +he paused helplessly, she said, still like a forbearing sister:</p> + +<p>"I didn't know you could be so tragic, Warry. The first thing I know +you'll be really quarreling with me,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> and I don't intend to have that. +Why don't you change your tactics and be a good little boy? You've been +spoiled by too much indulgence of late. Now I don't intend to spoil you +a bit. You were terribly rude,—I didn't think you capable of it, and +all because I wouldn't offend my father and his friends and other very +good people, by refusing to take part in the harmless exercises of that +perfectly ridiculous but useful society, the Knights of Midas. That's +all over now; and the sun comes up every morning just as it used to. You +and I live in the same small town and it's too small to quarrel in."</p> + +<p>She paused and laughed, seeing how he was swaying between the impulse to +accept her truce and the inclination to parley further. He had been +persuading himself that he loved her, and he had found keen joy in the +misery into which he had worked himself, thinking that there was +something ideal and noble in his attitude. He did not know Evelyn as +well as he thought he did; when she came home he had imagined that all +would go smoothly between them; he had meant to monopolize her, and to +dictate to her when need be. He had assumed that they would meet on a +plane that would be accessible to no other man in Clarkson; and his +conceit was shaken to find that she was disposed to be generously +hospitable toward all. It was this that enraged him particularly against +Wheaton, who stood quite as well with her, he assured himself, as he +did. Her beauty and sweetness seemed to mock him; if he did not love her +now as he thought he did, he at least was deeply appreciative of the +qualities which set her apart from other women.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p><p>There are men like Raridan, who are devoid of evil impulse, and who are +swayed and touched by the charm of women through an excess in themselves +of that nicer feeling which we call feminine, usually in depreciation, +as if it were contemptible. But there is something appealing and fine +about it; it is not altogether a weakness; doers of the world's +worthiest tasks have been notable possessors of this quality. Raridan +had a true sense of personal honor, and yet his imagination was strong +enough to play tricks with his conscience. He had argued himself into a +mood of desperate love; he felt that he was swayed by passion; but it +was of jealousy and not of love.</p> + +<p>Evelyn walked a little way toward the door and he followed gloomily +along. He called her name and she paused. They were not alone on the +veranda, and she did not want a scene. Raridan began again:</p> + +<p>"Why, ever since we were children together I've looked forward to this +time. It always seemed the most natural thing in the world that I should +love you. When you went away to college, I never had any fear that it +would make any difference; when I saw you down there you were always kind,—"</p> + +<p>"Of course I was kind," she interrupted; "and I don't mean to be +anything else now."</p> + +<p>"You know what I mean," he urged, though he did not know himself what he +meant. "I had no idea that your going away would make any difference; if +I had dreamed of it, I should have spoken long ago. And when I went to +see you those few times at college—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you came and I was awfully glad to see you,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> too; but how many +women's colleges have you visited in these four years? There was that +Brooklyn girl you were devoted to at Bryn Mawr; and that pretty little +French Canadian you rushed at Wellesley,—but of course I don't pretend +to know the whole catalogue of them. That was all perfectly proper, you +understand; I'm not complaining—"</p> + +<p>"No; I wish you were," he said, bitterly. If he had known it, he was +really enjoying this; there was, perhaps, at the bottom of his heart, a +little vanity which these reminiscences appealed to. He rallied now:</p> + +<p>"But you could afford to have me see other girls," he said. "You ought +to know—you should have known all the time that you were the only one +in all the world for me."</p> + +<p>"That's a trifle obvious, Warry;" and she laughed. "You're not living up +to your reputation for subtlety of approach."</p> + +<p>"Evelyn"—his voice trembled; he was sure now that he was very much in +love; "I tried to tell you before the carnival that the reason I didn't +want you to appear in the ball was that I cared a great deal,—so very +much,—that I love you!"</p> + +<p>She stepped back, drawing the cape together at her throat.</p> + +<p>"Please, Warry," she said pleadingly, "don't spoil everything by talking +of such things. I wished that we might be the best of friends, but you +insist on spoiling everything."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know," he broke in, "that I spoil things, that I'm a failure—a +ne'er-do-well." It was not love that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> he was hungry for half so much as +sympathy; they are often identical in such natures as his.</p> + +<p>She bent toward him, as she always did when she talked earnestly, and as +frankly as though she were speaking to a girl.</p> + +<p>"Warry Raridan, it's exactly as I told you a moment ago. You've been +spoiled, and it shows in a lot of ways. Why, you're positively +childish!" She laughed softly. He had thrust his hands into his pockets +and was feeling foolish. He wanted to make another effort to maintain +his position as a serious lover, but was not equal to it. She went on, +with growing kindness in her tone: "Now, I'll say to you frankly that I +didn't at all like being mixed up in the Knights of Midas ball; if you +had been as wise as I have always thought, you might have known it. You +ought to have shown your interest in me by helping me; but you chose to +take a very ungenerous and unkind attitude about it; you helped to make +it harder for me than it might have been. I relied on you as an old +friend, but you deserted me at your first chance to show that you really +had my interests at heart. If you had cared about me, you certainly +wouldn't have acted so."</p> + +<p>"Why, Evelyn, I wouldn't hurt you for anything in the world; if I had +understood—"</p> + +<p>"But that's the trouble," she interrupted, still very patiently. She saw +that she had struck the right chord in appealing to his chivalry, and in +conceding as much as she had by the reference to their old comradeship. +She had never liked him better than she did now; but she certainly did +not love him.</p> + +<p>She had directed the talk safely into tranquil <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>channels, and he was +growing happier, and, if he had known it, relieved besides. He wanted to +be nearer to her than any one else, and he was touched by her +declaration that she had needed him, and that he had failed her.</p> + +<p>"But sometime—you will not forget—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, sometime! we are not going to bother about that now. Just at +present it's getting too cool for the open air and we must go inside."</p> + +<p>"But is it all right? You will pardon my offenses, won't you? And you +won't let any one else—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you must be careful, and very good," she answered lightly, and +gathered up her skirts in her hand. "We must go in, and," she looked +down at him, laughing, "there must be a smile on the face of the tiger!"</p> + +<p>A fire of piñon logs, brought from the Colorado hills, blazed in the +wide fireplace at the end of the hall, and Evelyn and Warry joined the +circle which had formed about it.</p> + +<p>"Has the moon gone down?" asked Captain Wheelock, as a place was made for them.</p> + +<p>"Not necessarily," said Raridan coolly. "Anybody but you would know that +the moon isn't due yet."</p> + +<p>"It was getting cool outside," said Evelyn, finding a seat in the ingle-nook.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed the captain significantly, and looking hard at Raridan. +"Poor Mr. Raridan! The weather bureau has hardly reported a single frost +thus far, and yet—and yet!" The others laughed, and Evelyn looked at him reproachfully.</p> + +<p>"You might try the weather conditions yourself," said Raridan easily, +wishing to draw the fire to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>himself. "But at your age a man must be +careful of the night air."</p> + +<p>He and Wheelock abused each other until the others begged them to +desist; then some one attacked the piano and a few couples began to +dance. Mabel was anxious to stimulate the interest of the young man from +Keokuk, who had not thus far manifested sufficient courage to lead her +off for a tête-à-tête. He had proved a little slow, and she sought to +treat him cruelly by seeming very much interested in Raridan, who sat +down to talk to her. Warry was certainly much more distinguished than +any other young man in Clarkson,—a conclusion which was, in her mind, +based on the fact that Warry lived without labor. The pilgrim from +Keokuk was the vice-president of an elevator company, and it seemed to +her much nobler to live on the income of property that had been acquired +by one's ancestors than to be immediately concerned in earning a +livelihood. She and Warry took several turns about the hall to the waltz +which Belle Marshall was playing, and when the music ceased suddenly +they were in a far corner of the room. The chain on which her +heart-pendant hung caught on a button of Raridan's coat as they stopped, +and he took off his glasses to find and loosen the tangle, while she +stood in a kind of triumphant embarrassment, knowing that Evelyn could +see them from her corner by the fire. After the chain had been freed she +led the way to the window seat and sat down with a great show of fatigue from her dance.</p> + +<p>"A girl that wears her heart on a chain is likely to have daws pecking +at it, isn't she?" suggested Raridan,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> wiping his glasses, and looking +at her with the vagueness of near-sighted eyes. This was, he knew, +somewhat flirtatious; but he could no more help saying such things to +young women than he could help his good looks. The fact that he had a +few moments before been making love to another girl, with what he +believed at the time to be real ardor, did not deter him. Mabel was a +girl, and therefore pretty speeches were to be made to her. She was +unmistakably handsome, and a handsome girl, in particular, deserves a +man's tribute of admiration. Mabel was not, however, used to Raridan's +methods; the men she had known best did not paraphrase Shakspere to her. +But it was very agreeable to be sitting thus with the most eligible and +brilliant young man of Clarkson. Evelyn Porter, she could see, was +entertaining the young man from Keokuk, and the situation pleased her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, the chain is strong enough to hold it," she answered, running the +slight strands through her fingers, and looking up archly. Her black +eyes were fine; she exercised a kind of witchery with them.</p> + +<p>"Lucky chap—the victim inside," continued Raridan, indicating the heart.</p> + +<p>"Well, that depends on the way you look at it."</p> + +<p>"I hope he knows," continued Warry. "It would be a shame for a man to +enjoy that kind of distinction and not know it."</p> + +<p>Mabel held the silver heart in one hand and stroked it carefully with +the other. Most of the men she knew would be capable of taking the +heart, even at the cost of a scuffle, and looking into it. She felt safe +with Raridan. The young romantic actor whose picture <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>enjoyed the +distinction of a place in the trinket did not know, of course, and would +have been bored if he had.</p> + +<p>"It would hardly be fair to carry his picture around if he didn't know +it, would it?" asked Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Of course not," said Warry; "I didn't imagine that you bought it!"</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't be nice for you to," said Mabel. The fact that she had +acquired it for twenty-five cents at a local bookstore did not trouble her.</p> + +<p>The music had begun again, but they continued talking, though others +were dancing. Wheaton had joined Evelyn in the ingle-nook; and Evelyn +was aware, without looking, that Mabel was making the most of her +opportunity with Raridan; and she knew, too, that he was not averse to a +bit of by-play with her. She knew that if she really cared for him it +would hurt her to see him thus talking to another girl, but she was +conscious of no pang. Her heart burned with anger for a moment at the +thought that he must think her conquest assured; but this was, she +remembered, "Warry's way," falling back on a phrase that was often +spoken of him. She was a little tired, and experienced a feeling of +relief in sitting here with Wheaton and listening to his commonplace +talk, which could be followed without effort.</p> + +<p>Wheaton was finding himself much at ease at Mabel's party, though he +questioned its propriety; he had a great respect for conventions. He was +well aware that there were differences between Evelyn Porter and her +friends, and Miss Margrave and those whom he knew to be her intimates. +Miss Porter was much finer in her instincts and her intelligence; he +would have been puzzled for an explanation of the points of variance, +but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> he knew that they existed. The young man from Keokuk had moved away +and left him with Evelyn, and it was certainly very pleasant to be +sitting in a quiet corner with a girl whom everybody admired, and who +was, he felt sure, easily the most distinguished girl in town. He had +arrived late, to be sure, in the first social circle of Clarkson, but he +had found the gate open, and he was suffered to enter and make himself +at home just as thoroughly as any other man might—as completely so, for +instance, as Warrick Raridan, who had wealth and the prestige of an old +family behind him.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure we shall all get much pleasure out of the Country Club," said +Evelyn, who sat on the low bench between him and the fire.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and the house is pretty good, considering the small amount of +money that was put into it."</p> + +<p>"Another case where good taste is better than money. We Americans have +been so slow about such things; but now there seems to be widespread +interest in outdoor life." Wheaton knew only vaguely that there was, but +he was learning that it was not necessary to know much about things to +be able to talk of them; so he acquiesced, and they fell to discussing +golf, or at least Evelyn did, with the zeal of the fresh convert.</p> + +<p>"I think I'll have to take it up. You make it sound very attractive."</p> + +<p>"The Scotch owed us something good," said Evelyn; "they gave us oatmeal +for breakfast, and made life unendurable to that extent. But we can +forgive them if they take us out of doors and get us away from offices +and houses. Our western business men are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>incorrigible, though. The +farther west you go, the more hours a day men put into business."</p> + +<p>Evelyn soon sent Wheaton to bring Mrs. Whipple and Annie Warren, who +were stranded in a corner, and they became spectators of the pranks of +some of the others, who had now gathered about the piano, where Captain +Wheelock had undertaken to lead in the singing of popular airs. The +singers were not taking their efforts very seriously. All knew some of +the words of "Annie Carroll," but none knew all, so that their efforts +were marked by scattering good-will rather than by unanimity of +knowledge. When one lost the words and broke down, they all laughed in +derision. Mabel and Raridan had joined the circle, and Warry entered +into the tentative singing with the spirit he always brought to any +occasion. Mabel, who imported all the new songs from New York, gave +"Don't Throw Snowballs at the Soda-water Man" as a solo, and did it +well—almost too well. Occasionally one of the group at the piano turned +to demand that those who lingered by the fireside join in the singing, +but Wheaton was shy of this hilarity, and was comfortable in his belief +that Evelyn was showing a preference for him in electing to remain +aloof. He did not understand that her evident preference was due to a +feeling that he was older than the rest and too stiff and formal for their frivolity.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Whipple made little effort to talk to Wheaton, though she +occasionally threw out some comment on the singers to Evelyn. Wheaton +did not amuse Mrs. Whipple. He had only lately dawned on her horizon, +and she had already appraised him and filed her impression away in her +memory. He was not, she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> had determined, a complex character; she knew, +as perfectly as if he had made a full confession of himself to her, his +new ambitions, his increasing conceit and belief in himself. She had +been more successful in preventing marriages than in effecting them, and +she sat watching him with a quizzical expression in her eyes; for there +might be danger in him for this girl, though it had not appeared. But +when her eyes rested on Evelyn she seemed to find an answer that allayed +her fears; Evelyn was hardly a girl that would need guardianship. As the +noise from the group at the piano rose to the crescendo at which it +broke into laughing discord, Evelyn met suddenly the gaze with which +this old friend had been regarding her, and gave back a nod and smile +that were in themselves unconsciously reassuring.</p> + +<p>Some one suggested presently that if they were to drive home in the +moonlight they should be going; and the coach soon swung away from the +door into the moon's floodtide. The wind was still, as if in awe of the +lighted world. The town lay far below in a white pool. Mabel again took +the reins, and as the coach rumbled and crunched over the road, light +hearts had recourse to song; but even the singing was subdued, and the +trumpeter's note failed miserably when the horses' hoofs struck smartly +on the streets of the town.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XVI</span> <span class="smaller">THE LADY AND THE BUNKER</span></h2> + +<p>The afternoon invited the eyes to far, blue horizons, and as Evelyn +stood up and shook loosely in her hand the sand she had taken from the +box, she contemplated the hazy distances with satisfaction before +bending to make her tee. Her visitors had left; Grant had gone east to +school, and she was driven in upon herself for amusement. Her movements +were lithe and swift, and when once the ball had been placed in position +there were only two points of interest for her in the landscape—the +ball itself and the first green. The driver was a part of herself, and +she stepped back and swung it to freshen her memory of its +characteristics. The caddy watched her in silent joy; these were not the +fussy preliminaries that he had been used to in young ladies who played +on the Country Club links; he kept one eye on the player and backed off +down the course. The sleeves of her crimson flannel shirt-waist were +turned up at the wrists; the loose end of her cravat fluttered in the +soft wind, that was like a breath of mid-May. She addressed the ball, +standing but slightly bent above it and glancing swiftly from tee to +target, then swung with the certainty and ease of the natural golf +player. Her first ball was a slice, but it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> fell seventy-five yards down +the course; she altered her position slightly and tried again, but she +did not hit the ball squarely, and it went bounding over the grass. At +the third attempt her ball was caught fairly and sped straight down the +course at a level not higher than her head. The caddy trotted to where +it lay; it was on a line with the one hundred and fifty yard mark. The +player motioned him to get the other balls. She had begun her game.</p> + +<p>The fever was as yet in its incipient stage in Clarkson; players were +few; the greens were poorly kept, and there were bramble patches along +the course which were of material benefit to the golf ball makers. But +it was better than nothing, John Saxton said to himself this bright +October afternoon, as he stood at the first tee, listening to the +cheerful discourse of his caddy, who lingered to study the equipment of +a visitor whom he had not served before.</p> + +<p>"Anybody out?" asked John, trying the weight of several drivers.</p> + +<p>"Lady," said the boy succinctly. He pointed across the links to where +Evelyn was distinguishable as she doubled back on the course.</p> + +<p>"Good player?"</p> + +<p>"Great—for a girl," the boy declared. "She's the best lady player here."</p> + +<p>"Maybe we can pick up some points from her game," said Saxton, smiling +at the boy's enthusiasm. He had been very busy and much away from town, +and this was his first day of golf since he had come to Clarkson. +Raridan had declined to accompany him; Raridan was, in fact, at work +just now, having been for a month<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> constant in attendance upon his +office; and Saxton had left him barricaded behind a pile of law books. +Saxton was slow in his golf, as in all things, and he gave a good deal +of study to his form. He played steadily down the course, noting from +time to time the girl that was the only other occupant of the links. She +was playing toward him on the parallel course home, and while he had not +recognized her, he could see that she was a player of skill, and he +paused several times to watch the freedom of her swing and to admire the +pretty picture she made as she followed her ball rapidly and with evident absorption.</p> + +<p>He was taking careful measurement for a difficult approach shot from the +highest grass on the course, when he heard men calling and shouting in +the road which ran by one of the boundary fences of the club property. A +drove of cattle was coming along the road, driven, as Saxton saw, by +several men on horseback. It was a small bunch bound for the city. +Several obstreperous steers showed an inclination to bolt at the +crossroads, but the horsemen brought them back with much yelling and a +great shuffling of hoofs which sent a cloud of dust into the quiet air. +Saxton bent again with his lofter, when his caddy gave a cry.</p> + +<p>"Hi! He's making for the gate!"</p> + +<p>One of the steers had bolted and plunged down the side road toward the +gate of the club grounds, which stood open through the daytime.</p> + +<p>"You'd better trot over there and close the gate," said Saxton, seeing +that the cattle were excited.</p> + +<p>The boy ran for the gate, which lay not more than a hundred yards +distant, and the steer which had broken<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> away and been reclaimed with so +much difficulty in the roadway bolted for it at almost the same moment. +Saxton, seeing that a collision was imminent, began trotting toward the +gate himself. The steer could not see the boy who was racing for the +gate from the inside, and boy and beast plunged on toward it.</p> + +<p>"Run for the fence," called Saxton.</p> + +<p>The boy gained the fence and clambered to the top of it. The steer +reached the gate, and, seeing open fields beyond, bounded in and made +across the golf course at full speed. He dashed past Saxton, who stopped +and watched him, his club still in his hand. The steer seemed pleased to +have gained access to an ampler area, and loped leisurely across the +links. Evelyn, manœuvering to escape a bunker that lay formidably +before her, had not yet seen the animal and was not aware of the +invasion of the course until her caddy, who, expecting one of her long +plays, had posted himself far ahead, came plunging over the bunker's +ridge with a clatter of bag and clubs. The steer, following him with an +amiable show of interest, paused at the bunker and viewed the boy and +the young woman in the red shirt-waist uneasily. One of the drovers was +in hot pursuit, galloping across the course toward the runaway member of +his herd, lariat in hand. Hearing an enemy in the rear, the steer broke +over the lightly packed barricade, and Evelyn's red shirt-waist proving +the most brilliant object on the horizon, he made toward it at a lively pace.</p> + +<p>The caddy was now in full flight, pulling the strap of Evelyn's bag over +his head and scattering the clubs as he fled. A moment later he had +joined Saxton's caddy on top of the fence and the two boys viewed +current<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> history from that point with absorption. Meanwhile Evelyn was +making no valiant stand. She gave a gasp of dismay and turned and ran, +for the drover was pushing the steer rapidly now, and was getting ready +to cast his lariat. He made a botch of it, however, and at the instant +of the rope's flight, his pony, poorly trained to the business, bucked +and tried to unseat his rider; and the drover swore volubly as he tried +to control him. The pony backed upon a putting green and bucked again, +this time dislodging his rider. Before the dazed drover could recover, +Saxton, who had run up behind him, sprang to the pony's head, and as the +animal settled on all fours again, leaped into the saddle and gathered +up bridle and lariat. The pony suddenly grew tired of making trouble, in +the whimsical way of his kind, and Saxton impelled him at a rapid lope +toward the steer. John was bareheaded and the sleeves of his outing +shirt were rolled to the elbows; he looked more like a polo player than a cowboy.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Evelyn was running toward a bunker which stood across her +path; it was the only break in the level of the course that offered any +hope of refuge. She could hear the pounding of the steer's hoofs, and +less distinctly the pattering hoofbeat of the pony. She had had a long +run and was breathing hard. The bunker seemed the remotest thing in the +world as she ran down the course; then suddenly it rose a mile high, and +as she scaled its rough slope and sank breathlessly into the sand, +Saxton cast the lariat. With mathematical nicety the looped rope cut the +air and the noose fell about the broad horns of the Texan as his fore +feet struck the bunker. The pony stood with firmly planted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> hoofs, +supporting the taut rope as steadfastly as a rock. The owner of the pony +came panting up, and another of the drovers who had ridden into the arena joined them.</p> + +<p>"Here's your cow," said Saxton. The steer was, indeed, any one's for the +taking, as he was winded and the spirit had gone out of him. "You won't +need another rope on him; he'll follow the pony."</p> + +<p>"You threw that rope all right," said the dismounted drover.</p> + +<p>"An old woman taught me with a clothes line," said John, kicking his +feet out of the stirrups; "take your pony."</p> + +<p>"Where's that girl?" asked one of the men.</p> + +<p>"I guess she's all right," answered Saxton, walking toward the bunker. +"You'd better get your cow out of here; this isn't free range, you know."</p> + +<p>He mounted the bunker with a jump and looked anxiously down into the sand-pit.</p> + +<p>"Good afternoon, Mr. Saxton. You see I'm bunkered. Is it safe to come out?"</p> + +<p>"Is it you, Miss Porter?" said Saxton, jumping down into the sand. "Are you hurt?"</p> + +<p>"No; but I'll not say that I'm not scared." She was still panting from +her long run, and her cheeks were scarlet. She put up her hands to her +hair, which had tumbled loose. "This is really the wild West, after all; +and that was a very pretty throw you made."</p> + +<p>"It seemed necessary to do something. But you couldn't have seen it?"</p> + +<p>"Another case of woman's curiosity. Perhaps I ought to turn into a +pillar of salt. I peeped! I suppose it was in the hope that I might play +hide and seek with that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> wild beast as he came over after me, but you +stopped his flight just in time." She had restored her hair as she +talked. "Where is that caddy of mine?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, the boys took to the fence to get a better view of the show. +They're coming up now."</p> + +<p>Evelyn stood up quickly, and shook her skirt free of sand.</p> + +<p>"I need hardly say that I'm greatly obliged to you," she said, giving him her hand.</p> + +<p>Saxton was relieved to find that she took the incident so coolly.</p> + +<p>She was laughing; her color was very becoming, and John beamed upon her. +His face was of that blond type which radiates light and flushes into a +kind of sunburn with excitement. There was something very boyish about +John Saxton. The curves of his face were still those of youth; he had +never dared to encourage a mustache or beard, owing to a disinclination +to produce more than was necessary of the soft, silky hair which covered +his head abundantly. He had a straight nose, a firm chin and a brave +showing of square, white teeth. His mouth was his best feature, for it +expressed his good nature and a wish to be pleased,—a wish that shone +also in his blue eyes. John Saxton was determined to like life and +people; and he liked both just now.</p> + +<p>"Are you entirely sound? Won't you have witch-hazel, arnica, brandy?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, thanks; nothing. I've got my breath again and am all right."</p> + +<p>"But they always sprain their ankles."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p><p>"Yes, but I'm not a romantic young person. I'll be sorry if that caddy +has lost my best driver."</p> + +<p>"He's out on the battlefield now looking for it," said John, indicating +their two caddies, who were gathering up the lost implements.</p> + +<p>"I think you're away," John added, musingly.</p> + +<p>"Yes; for the club house."</p> + +<p>"That's poor golf, to give up just because you're bunkered. And yet my +caddy said you were the greatest."</p> + +<p>They walked over the course toward the club house, discussing their encounter.</p> + +<p>"What hole were you playing when the meek-eyed kine invaded the field?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I was doing very badly. I was only at the fourth, and breaking all +my records," said John. "I was glad of a diversion. The gentle +footprints of that steer didn't improve the quality of this course," he +added, looking about. The ground was soft from recent rains, and the +hoofs of the animal had dug into it and marred the turf.</p> + +<p>"It's a rule of the club," said Evelyn, "that players must replace their +own divots. That can hardly be enforced against that ferocious beast."</p> + +<p>"Hardly; but he was easily master of the game while he remained with +us." The caddies had recovered the scattered equipment of the players, +and were following, discussing the incidents of the busiest quarter of +an hour they had known in their golfing experience.</p> + +<p>Evelyn turned suddenly upon John.</p> + +<p>"Did I look very foolish?" she demanded.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I don't know what you mean."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p><p>"Yes, you do, Mr. Saxton. A woman always looks ridiculous when she +runs." She laughed. "I'm sure I must have looked so. But you couldn't +have seen me; you were pretty busy yourself just then."</p> + +<p>"Well, of course, if I'm asked about it, I'll have to tell of your +sprinting powers; I'm not sure that you didn't lower a record."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you're the hero of the occasion! I cut a sorry figure in it. I +suppose, though, that as the maiden in distress I'll get a little +glory—just a little."</p> + +<p>"And your picture in the Sunday papers."</p> + +<p>"Horrors, no! But you will appear on your fiery steed swinging the lasso."</p> + +<p>He threw up his hands.</p> + +<p>"That would never do! It would ruin my social reputation."</p> + +<p>"In Boston?"</p> + +<p>"No; down there they'd like it. It would be proof positive of the +woolliness of the West. Golf playing interrupted by a herd of wild +cattle—cowboys, lassoes—Buffalo Bill effects. Down East they're always +looking for Western atmosphere."</p> + +<p>"You don't dislike the West very much, do you?" asked Evelyn. "We aren't +so bad, do you think?"</p> + +<p>"Dislike it?" John looked at her. He had never liked anything so much as +this place and hour. "I altogether love it," he declared; and then he +was conscious of having used a verb not usual in his vocabulary.</p> + +<p>"And so you learned how to do all the cowboy tricks up in Wyoming?" +Evelyn went on. "I wish Annie<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> Warren had seen that!" and she laughed; +it seemed to John that she was always laughing.</p> + +<p>"I wasn't very much of a cowboy," John said. "That is, I wasn't very +good at it." He was an honest soul and did not want Evelyn Porter to +think that he was posing as a dramatic and cocksure character. "Roping a +cow is the easiest thing in the business, and then a tame, foolish, +domestic co-bos like that one!"</p> + +<p>"Co-bos! If this is likely to happen again they ought to provide a box +of salt at every tee."</p> + +<p>When Evelyn had gone into the club house, John gathered the caddies into +a corner and bestowed a dollar on each of them and promised them other +bounty if they maintained silence touching the events of the afternoon +in which he had participated. They and the drovers were the only +witnesses besides the more active participants, and he would have to +take chances with the drovers. Then, having bribed the boys, he also +threatened them. He was walking across the veranda when he met Evelyn, +whose horse he had already called for.</p> + +<p>"If you're not driving, I'd be glad to have you share my cart."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, very much," said John. "The street car would be rather a heavy +slump after this afternoon's gaiety."</p> + +<p>"I spoiled your game and endangered your social reputation; I can hardly do less."</p> + +<p>John thought that she could hardly do more. He had known men whom girls +drove in their traps, but he had never expected to be enrolled in their +class. It was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> pleasant, just once, not to be walking in the highway and +taking the dust of other people's wheels—pleasant to find himself +tolerated by a pretty girl. She was prettier than any he had ever seen +at class day, or in the grand stands at football games, or on the +observation trains at New London, when he had gone alone, or with a +sober college classmate, to see the boat races.</p> + +<p>Deep currents of happiness coursed through him which were not all +because of the October sunlight and the laughing talk of Evelyn Porter. +He had that sensation of pleasure, always a joy to a man of conscience, +which is his self-approval for labor well performed. He had worked +faithfully ever since he had come to Clarkson; he had traveled much, +visiting the properties which the Neponset Trust Company had confided to +his care; and he had already so adjusted them that they earned enough to +pay taxes and expenses. He had effected a few sales, at prices which the +Neponset's clients were glad to accept. He had never been so happy in +his work. He had rather grudgingly taken this afternoon off; but here he +was, laughing with Evelyn Porter over an amusing adventure that had +befallen them, and which, as they talked of it and kept referring to it, +seemed to establish between them a real comradeship. He wondered what +Raridan would say, and he resolved that he would not tell him of the +hasty termination of his golfing; probably Miss Porter would prefer not +to have the incident mentioned. He even thought that he would not tell +Raridan that she had driven him to town. It was not for him to interpose +between Warry Raridan, a man who had brought him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> the sweetest +friendship he had ever known, and the girl whom fate had clearly +appointed Warry to marry.</p> + +<p>As they turned into the main highway leading townward, a trap came +rapidly toward them.</p> + +<p>"Miss Margrave's trap," said Evelyn, as they espied it.</p> + +<p>The figures were not yet distinguishable, though Mabel's belongings were +always unmistakable.</p> + +<p>"Then that must be one of 'The Men'?"</p> + +<p>John was angry at himself the moment he had spoken, for as the trap came +nearer there was no doubt of the identity of Mabel's companion. It was +Warry. Evelyn bowed and smiled as they passed. Mabel gave the quick nod +that she was introducing in Clarkson; Saxton and Raridan lifted their hats.</p> + +<p>"Miss Margrave has a lot of style; don't you think so, Mr. Saxton?"</p> + +<p>"Apparently, yes; but I don't know her, you know;" and he wondered.</p> + +<p>Warry Raridan's days were not all lucky. He had been keeping his office +with great fidelity of late. He had even found a client or two; and he +had determined to rebuke his critics by giving proof of his possession +of those staying qualities which they were always denying him. He had +been hard at work in his office this afternoon, when a note came to him +from Mabel, who begged that he would drive with her to the Country Club. +He had already thought of telephoning to Evelyn to ask her if she would +not go with him, but had dropped the idea when he remembered his new +resolutions; it was for Evelyn that he was at work now. But Mabel was a +friendly soul, and perfectly harmless.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> It certainly looked very +pleasant outside; the next citation in the authorities he was +consulting,—Sweetbriar <i>vs.</i> O'Neill, 84 N. Y., 26,—would lead him +over to the law library, which was a gloomy hole with wretched +ventilation. So he had given himself a vacation, with the best grace and excuse in the world.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XVII</span> <span class="smaller">WARRY'S REPENTANCE</span></h2> + +<p>Saxton dined alone at the Clarkson Club, as he usually did, and went +afterward to his office, which he still maintained in the Clarkson +National Building. He had been studying the report of an engineering +expert on a Colorado irrigation scheme and he was trying to master and +correct its weaknesses. As he hung over the blue-prints and the pages of +figures that lay before him, the flashing red wheels of Mabel Margrave's +trap kept interfering; he wished Warry had not turned up just as he had. +He thought he understood why his friend had been so occupied in his +office of late; but whether Warry and Evelyn Porter were engaged or not, +Warry ought to find better use for his talents than in amusing Mabel +Margrave. John lighted his pipe to help with the blue-prints, and while +he drew it into cozy accord with himself, the elevator outside +discharged a passenger; he heard the click of the wire door as the cage +receded, followed by Raridan's quick step in the hall, and Warry broke +in on him. "Well, you're the limit! I'd like to know what you mean by +roosting up here and not staying in your room where a white man can find +you." He stood with his hands thrust into the pockets of his top-coat, +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> glared at Saxton, who lay back in his chair and bit his pipe. "I +wish by all the gods I could rattle you once and shake you out of your +damned Harvard aplomb!" Raridan did not usually invoke the gods, and he +rarely damned anything or anybody.</p> + +<p>"That's a very pretty coat you have on, Mr. Raridan. It must be nice to +be a plutocrat and wear clothes like that."</p> + +<p>"The beastly thing doesn't fit," growled Raridan, throwing himself into +a chair. "I don't fit, and my clothes don't fit, and—"</p> + +<p>"And you're having a fit. You'd better see a nerve specialist." Warry +was pounding a cigarette on the back of his case.</p> + +<p>"I say, Saxton," he said calmly.</p> + +<p>"Well! Has Vesuvius subsided?" Saxton sat up in his chair and watched +Raridan breaking matches wastefully in a nervous effort to strike a light.</p> + +<p>"John Saxton, what a beastly ass I am! What a merry-go-round of a fool I +make of myself!" Warry blew a cloud of smoke into the air.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said John, pulling away at his pipe.</p> + +<p>"As I'm a living man, I had no more intention of driving with that girl +than I had of going up in a balloon and walking back. You know I never +knew her well; I don't want to know her, for that matter; not on your life!"</p> + +<p>"Is this a guessing contest? I suppose I'm the goat. Well, you didn't +care for Miss Margrave's society; is that what you're driving at? She +shan't hear this from me; I'm as safe as a tomb. Moreover, I don't enjoy +her acquaintance. Go ahead now, full speed."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p><p>"And it was just my infernal hard luck that I got caught this +afternoon," continued Warry, ignoring him. "Sometimes it seems to me +that I'm predestined and foreordained to do fool things. I've been +working like blue blazes on that washerwoman's suit against the +Transcontinental,—running their switch through her back yard,—and I +had put away all kinds of temptation and was feeling particularly +virtuous; but here came the Margrave nigger with that girl's note, and I +went up the street in long jumps to meet her, and let her drive me all +over town and all over the country, and order me a highball on the +Country Club porch, and generally make an ass of me. I wish you'd do +something to me; hit me with a club, or throw me down the elevator, or +do something equally brutal and coarse that would jar a little of the +folly out of me. Why," he continued, with utter self-contempt, through +which his humor glimmered, "I ought to have turned down Mabel's +invitation as soon as I saw the monogram on her note paper. Three +colors, and letters as big as your hand! My instinctive good taste +falters, old man; it needs restoring and chastening."</p> + +<p>"I quite agree with you, sir. But it's more gallant to abuse yourself +than Miss Margrave's stationery—that is, if I am correctly gathering up +the crumbs of your thought. I believe you had reached the highball +incident in your recital. Was it rye or Scotch? This is the day of +realism, and if I'm to give you counsel, or sympathy, or whatever it is +you want, I must know all the petty details."</p> + +<p>"Don't be foolish," said Raridan, staring abstractedly; then he bent his +eyes sharply on Saxton.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p><p>"See here, John," he said quietly, folding his arms. He had never +before called Saxton by his first name; and the change marked a further advance of intimacy.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"You know I'm a good deal of a fool and all that sort of thing—"</p> + +<p>"Chuck that and go ahead."</p> + +<p>"But she means a whole lot to me. You know whom I mean." Saxton knew he +did not mean Mabel Margrave. "You know," Raridan went on, "we were kids +together up there on those hills. We both had our dancing lessons at her +house, and did such stunts as that together."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Saxton.</p> + +<p>"I want to work and show that I'm some good. I want to make myself +worthy of her." He got up and walked the floor, while Saxton sat and watched him.</p> + +<p>"I can't talk about it; you understand what I want to do. It has seemed +to me lately that I have more to overcome than I can ever manage. I made +a lot of fuss about that Knights of Midas rot. I ought to have helped +her about that; it was hard for her, but I was too big a fool to know +it, and I made myself ridiculous lecturing her. I forgot that she'd +grown up, and I didn't know she felt as she did about it. I acted as if +I thought she was crazy to pose in that fool show, when I might have +known better. It was downright low of me." He stood at the window +playing with the cord of the shade and looking out over the town. Saxton +walked to the window and stood by him, saying nothing; and after a +moment he put his hand on Raridan's shoulder and turned him round and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> +grasped Warry's slender fingers in his broad, strong hand.</p> + +<p>"I understand how it is, old man. It isn't so bad as you think it is, +I'm sure. It will all come out right, and while we're making confessions +I want to make one too. I feel rather foolish doing it—as if I were in +the game—" and he smiled in the way he had, which brought his humility +and patience and desire to be on good terms with the world into his +face,—"but I want you to know about this afternoon—that—that just +happened—my being with her. You see, I didn't know she was there, and +she had—I guess she had broken her driver or something, and quit, and I +was coming in and she picked me up, and I'm sorry, and—"</p> + +<p>Raridan wheeled on him as if he had just caught the drift of his talk.</p> + +<p>"Oh, come off! You howling idiot! Don't you talk that way to me again. +Get your hat now and let's get out of this."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you're feeling better," said Saxton, and laughed with real relief.</p> + +<p>John turned out the light, and while they waited for the elevator to +come up for them Warry jingled the coins and keys in his pockets before he blurted:</p> + +<p>"I say, John, I'm an underbred, low person, and am not worthy to be +called thy friend, and you may hate me all you like, but one thing I'd +like to know. Did she say anything about me when you passed us this +afternoon—make any comment or anything? You know I despise myself for +asking, but—"</p> + +<p>Saxton laughed quietly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p><p>"Yes, she did; but I don't know that I ought to tell you. It was really +encouraging."</p> + +<p>"Well, hurry up."</p> + +<p>"She said, 'Miss Margrave has a lot of style; don't you think so?'"</p> + +<p>"Is that all?" demanded Raridan, stepping into the car.</p> + +<p>"That's all. It wasn't very much; but it was the way she said it; and as +she said it she brushed a fly from the horse with the whip, and she did +it very carefully."</p> + +<p>In the corridor below they met Wheaton coming out of the side door of +the bank. He had been at work, he said. Raridan asked him to go with +them to the club for a game of billiards, but he pleaded weariness and +said he was going to bed.</p> + +<p>The three men walked up Varney Street together. Those spirits that order +our lives for us must have viewed them with interest as they tramped +through the street. They were men of widely different antecedents and +qualities. Circumstances, in themselves natural and harmless, had +brought them together. The lives of all three were to be influenced by +the weakness of one, and one woman's life was to be profoundly affected +by contact with all of them. It is not ordained for us to know whether +those we touch hands with, and even break bread with, from day to day, +are to bring us good or evil. The electric light reveals nothing in the +sibyl's book which was not disclosed of old to those who pondered the +mysteries by starlight and rushlight.</p> + +<p>Wheaton left them at the club door and went on to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> The Bachelors', +which, was only a step farther up the street.</p> + +<p>"How do you like Wheaton by this time?" asked Raridan, as they entered the club.</p> + +<p>"I hardly know how to answer that," Saxton answered. "He's treated me +well enough. It seems to me I'm always trying to find some reason for +not liking him, but I can't put my hand on anything tangible."</p> + +<p>"That's the way I feel," said Raridan, hanging up his coat in the +billiard room. "He's a rigid devil, some way. There's no let-go in him. +I guess the law allows us to dislike some people just on general +principles, and Jim likes himself so well that you and I don't matter. It's your shot."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XVIII</span> <span class="smaller">FATHER AND DAUGHTER</span></h2> + +<p>The winds of January had no better luck in shaking down the leaves of +the scrub oaks on the Porter hillside than their predecessors of +November and December. The snows came and went on the dull slopes, and +the canna beds were little blots of ruin in the gray stubble. The house +was a place of light and life once more, for Evelyn had obeyed her +father's wish rather than her own inclination in opening its doors for +frequent teas and dinners and once for a large ball. Many people had +entertained for her; she had never been introduced formally, but her +mother's friends made up for this omission; she went out a great deal, +and enjoyed it. Many young men climbed the hill to see her, and many +went to the theater or to dances with her at least once. The number who +came to call diminished by Christmas; but those who still came, and were +identified as frequenters of the house, came oftener.</p> + +<p>Warry Raridan had raged at the mob, as he called it, which he seemed +always to find installed in the Porter drawing-room; but he raged +inwardly these days, save as he went explosively to Saxton for comfort; +he had stopped raging at Evelyn. He was at work more steadily than he +had ever been before, and wished the credit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> for it which people denied +him, to his secret disgust. He had idled too long, or he had too often +before given fitful allegiance to labor. Young women and old, who +expected him to pass tea for them in the afternoons, refused to believe +that he had experienced a change of heart. Those who had bragged of him +abroad, and who now lured the eternal visiting girl to town to behold +him, were chagrined to find that he was difficult to produce, and +mollified their guests by declaring that Warry was getting more fickle +and uncertain as he grew older, or took vengeance by encouraging the +rumor that he and Evelyn Porter were engaged.</p> + +<p>Wheaton called at the Porters' often, but he did not go now with Warry +Raridan; he even took some pains to go when Raridan did not. He knew +just how much time to allow himself between The Bachelors' and the +Porter door bell in order to reach the drawing-room at five minutes past +eight. He was now considered one of the men that went out a good deal in +Clarkson; he was invited to many houses, and began to wonder that social +enjoyment was so easy. It seemed long ago that he had been a leading +figure in the ball of the Knights of Midas. Looking back at that +incident he was sensible of its poverty and tawdriness; he had +sacrificed himself for the public good, and the community shared in the joke of it.</p> + +<p>Porter had an amiable way of darting out of the library in the evenings +when he and Evelyn were both at home, to see who came in; not that he +was abnormally curious as to who rang the door bell, though he enjoyed +occasionally a colloquy with a tramp; but he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> was always on the lookout +for telegrams, of which he received a great many at home, and he +declared in his chaffing note of complaint that the people in the house +were forever hiding them from him. He sometimes brought home bundles of +papers and spent whole evenings digesting them and making computations. +Without realizing that Wheaton was in his house pretty often, he was +glad to know that his cashier came. When he found that Wheaton was in +the drawing-room he usually went over to talk to him in the interim +before Evelyn came down. Sometimes a bit of news in the evening paper gave him a text.</p> + +<p>"I see that they've had a shaking up over at St. Joe. Well, Wigglesworth +never was any good. They ought to have had more sense than to get caught +by him. Well, sir, you remember he was offering his paper up here. We +could have had a barrel of it; but when a man of his credit peddles his +paper away from home, it's a good thing to let alone. When they figure +up Wigglesworth's liabilities they will find that he has paper scattered +all over the Missouri Valley, and I'll bet the Second's stuck. The last +time I saw Wigglesworth he was up at the club one day with Buskirk. He'd +been in to see me the day before. I guessed then that he was looking for +help which they didn't think he was worth at home." And then, with a +chuckle: "Our people," meaning his directors, "think sometimes we're too +conservative, and I reckon I do lose a lot of business for them that +other fellows would take and get out of all right; but I guess we make +more in the long run by being careful. Banking ain't exactly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> stove +polish or vitalized barley, to put up in pretty packages and advertise on the billboards."</p> + +<p>Wheaton was honestly sympathetic and responsive along these lines. He +admired Porter, although he often felt that the president made mistakes; +yet he, too, believed in conservatism; it was a matter of temperament +rather than principle. This mingling of social and business elements +pleased and flattered Wheaton. He felt that his position in the Porter +bank gave him a double footing in the Porter house. Porter usually +ignored Evelyn's presence while he finished whatever he was saying. Then +he would go back to his chair in the library, where he could hear the +voices across the hall; but he never remained after he had concluded his +own talk with Wheaton.</p> + +<p>Sometimes, however, when there were other men in the house, Porter would +come and stand in the door and regard them good-humoredly, and nod to +them amiably, usually with his cigar in his mouth and the evening +newspaper in his hand. When there was a good deal of laughing he would +go over and gaze upon them questioningly and quiz them; but they usually +felt the restraint of his presence. If they repeated to him some story +which had prompted their mirth, he was wont to rebuke them with affected +seriousness, or he would tell them a story of his own. He expected +Evelyn to receive a great deal of attention. He liked to know who her +callers were and where she herself visited, and it pleased him that she +had called on all her mother's old friends, whether they had been to see +her or not. He had a sense of the dignities and proprieties of life, and +he felt his own prestige as a founder of the town; it would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> have been a +source of grief to him if Evelyn had not taken a leading place among its young people.</p> + +<p>The theater was the one diversion that appealed to him, and he liked to +take Evelyn with him, and wanted her to sit in a box so that he might +show her off to better advantage. He could not understand why she +preferred seats in the orchestra; Timothy Margrave and his daughter +always sat in a box, and young men were forever running in to talk to +Mabel between the acts. Porter thought that this showed a special +deference to the Margrave girl, as he called her, and for her father +too, by implication, and he resented anything that looked like a slight +upon Evelyn. He was afraid that she did not entertain enough, and since +the girls who visited them in the fall had left, he had been insisting +that she must have others come to see her. He had made her tell him +about all the girls she had known in college; his curiosity in such +directions was almost insatiable. He always demanded to know what their +fathers did for a livelihood, and he had been surprised to find that so +many of Evelyn's classmates had been daughters of inconspicuous +families, and that the young women were in many cases fitting themselves +to teach. He had pretty thoroughly catalogued all of Evelyn's college +friends, and he suggested about once a week that she have some of them out.</p> + +<p>Sometimes, after Evelyn's callers had gone, she and her father sat and +talked in the library.</p> + +<p>"I don't see what you young people can find to say so much about," he +would say; or: "What was Warry gabbling about so long?"</p> + +<p>She always told him what had been talked about,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> with a careful +frankness, lest he might imagine that the visits of Wheaton or Warry, or +any one else, had a special intention. She crossed over to the library +one night after several callers had left, and found her father more +absorbed than usual in a mass of papers which lay on the large table +before him. He put down his glasses and lay back in his chair wearily.</p> + +<p>"Well, girl, is it time to go to bed? Sit down there and tell me the news."</p> + +<p>"There isn't anything worth telling; you know there isn't much +information in the average caller." He yawned and rubbed his eyes and +paid no attention to her answer. He had asked a few days before whether +she cared to go to Chicago to hear the opera, and she had said that she +would go if he would; and he now wished to talk this out with her.</p> + +<p>"The Whipples are going over to Chicago for the opera," he ventured.</p> + +<p>"But you're not getting ready to back out! You ought to be ashamed of +yourself." She rose and went toward him menacingly, and he put up his +hands as if to ward off her attack.</p> + +<p>"But you can have just as much fun with the general as you could with me."</p> + +<p>"No, I can't; and for another thing you need a rest. You never go away +except on business; the fact is, you never get business out of your +mind. Now, let me gather up these things for you." She reached for the +array of balance sheets on his table, and he threw his arms over them protectingly.</p> + +<p>"Please go away! I've spent all evening <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>straightening these things +out." She retreated to her chair, and he began rolling up his papers.</p> + +<p>"You'd better go with the Whipples, and Mrs. Whipple will help you do +your shopping. It doesn't seem to me that you have many clothes. You'd +better get some more."</p> + +<p>"You can't buy me off that way, father. Either you go or I don't." He +turned toward her again when he had rolled his papers into a packet and +fixed a rubber band around them. She knew, as she usually did after such +approaches, that he wanted to say something in particular.</p> + +<p>"You mustn't settle down too soon. You can't always be young, and you +can easily get into a rut here."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I haven't had time yet; I've hardly got settled. I want to get +acquainted at home before I go away. I'm afraid they still look on me as +a pilgrim and a stranger here."</p> + +<p>"But they're all nice to you, ain't they?" he demanded sharply.</p> + +<p>"They are certainly as kind as can be," she answered. "I haven't a +single complaint. I'm having just the time I wanted to have when I came home."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to lose you too soon, girl." It was half a question. She +wondered whether this could be what he had been leading up to.</p> + +<p>"And I don't want you to lose me at all! I didn't come home after all +these years to have you lose me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't mean right away," he said. "But sometime—sometime you will +have to go, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"I'm certainly not thinking of it." She was laughing and trying to break +his mood; but he was very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> serious, and took a cigar from his pocket and +put it in his mouth.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to go sometime; and when you do, I want the right kind of a +man to have you."</p> + +<p>"So do I, father."</p> + +<p>"You are old enough to understand that a girl in your position is likely +to be sought by men who may—who may—well, who may be swayed somewhat +by worldly considerations."</p> + +<p>"Isn't that a trifle hard on me? I hoped I was a little more attractive +than that, father."</p> + +<p>"You know what I mean," he went on. "I guess we can tell that sort when +they come around. I've had an idea that you might choose to marry away +from here; you've been away a good deal; you must have met a good many +young men, brothers of your friends—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I met them, father, and that was all there was to it."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't like you to marry away from here. I've been afraid you +wouldn't like our old town. I guess we fellows that started it like it +better than anybody else does; but I can see how you might not care so +much for it." He waited, and she knew that he wanted her to disavow any such feeling.</p> + +<p>"Why, I've never had any idea of wanting to live anywhere else! I don't +believe I'd be happy away from here. It's home, and it always will be +home. I hope we can stay and keep the old house here—"</p> + +<p>She sat forward with her arms on the curved sides of the chair. He did +not heed what she said. Older people have this way with youth when they +are intent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> on the impression they wish to make and count upon +acquiescence.</p> + +<p>"I don't want you to sacrifice yourself for me out of any sense of duty; +the time will come when it will be all right for you to go, and when it +comes I want you to go to a man who's decent and square—" He paused as +if trying to think of desirable attributes. "I don't care whether he's +got much or not, but I like young men who know how to work for a living +and who've got a little common sense. I guess we don't need any dukes or +counts in our family; we've all been honest and decent as far as I know, +and I reckon Americans are good enough for us. I don't know that what +I've got would support one of those French counts more than a week or +two." His eyes brightened as they met hers. The idea of a titled +son-in-law amused him, and Evelyn laughed out merrily. She did not +altogether like the turn of the talk, but she was curious to know what +he was driving at.</p> + +<p>"You understand I don't want to appear to dictate," he went on +magnanimously. "I don't believe in that. Nobody knows as well as a girl +whom she wants to marry. Sometimes girls make pretty bad breaks; but I +guess most marriages are happy. Men are not all good, and there are some +mighty foolish women, besides the downright wicked ones. I guess our +young men in Clarkson are as good as there are anywhere. Most of them +have to work, and that's good for them. I guess I appreciate family and +that kind of thing as well as the next man, but it ain't everything." He +was speaking slowly, and when he made a long pause here, Evelyn rose and +went over to the open grate and poked in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> ashes for the few +remaining coals. He watched her as she stooped, noting, half +consciously, the fine line of her profile, the ripple of light in her +hair, the girlishness of her slim figure.</p> + +<p>"No use of fooling with that fire," he said. She knew that he wished to +say more, and she put the poker in its brass rack and rose and stood by the mantel.</p> + +<p>"At my age, life gets more uncertain every day; I seem to be pretty +sound, but I was sixty-four my last birthday, and if I'd been in the +army they would have kicked me out of my job; but so long as I work for +myself I suppose I'll hang on until I can't stand up in the harness any more."</p> + +<p>"But that's a mistake, father," she put in. "Why shouldn't you take some +rest now? If there's no other way, why not close out your interest in +the bank and take things easier? You ought to travel; you've never been +out of the country, and there are lots of things in Europe that you'd +enjoy; the rest and change would do you a world of good. Can't we go +this summer, and take Grant? It would be nice for us all to go together."</p> + +<p>He shook his head with the deprecating air which men of Porter's type +have for such suggestions. "It would be mighty nice, but I can't do it. +Here's Thompson away, and no telling when he'll be back, and I have +other things besides the bank to look after; more than you know about." +She knew only vaguely what his interests were, for he never mentioned +them to her; he believed that women are incapable of comprehending such +things; and his natural secretiveness was always on guard. He even +entertained a kind of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> superstition that if he told of anything he was +planning he jeopardized his chances of success.</p> + +<p>"No, I guess there ain't going to be any Europe for me just now. But I'd +be glad to have you and Grant go." He had been side-tracked in his talk, +and chewed his cigar while trying to find the way back to the main line. +Then he broke out irrelevantly:</p> + +<p>"Warry doesn't seem to settle down. We used to think Warry had great +things in him, but they're mighty slow coming out."</p> + +<p>"Well, he's still young," said Evelyn. "It takes a young man a long time +to get a start these days in the professions." Her father looked at her keenly.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it isn't lack of opportunity with Warry. If he'd ever get +after anything in real earnest he could make it go; but he seems to fool +away his time." He said this as if he expected Evelyn to continue her +defense, but she said merely:</p> + +<p>"It's too bad if he's doing that when he has ability." She walked back +to her chair and sat down. She knew that Warry was really at work, but +she was afraid to show any particular knowledge of him.</p> + +<p>"It's one of the queer things to me that young fellows who have every +chance don't seem to get on as well as others who haven't any backing. +Now, all Warry had to do was to stay in his office and attend to +business—or that's all he needed to do three or four years ago, when he +set up to practise; but now everybody's given him up. A man who doesn't +want an opportunity in this world doesn't have to kick it very hard to +get rid of it. Other fellows, who never had any chance, are watching for +the luckier ones to slip<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> back. There are never any lonesome places on +the ladder. Now, there's Wheaton—" He again examined Evelyn's face in +one of those tranquil stares with which he made his most minute scrutiny +of people. "Wheaton ain't a showy fellow like Warry, but he's one of the +sort that make their way because they keep an eye open to the main +chance. Jim came into the bank as a messenger, and I guess he's had +pretty much every job we've got, and he's done them well." He had +lighted his cigar and was talking volubly. "When Thompson played out and +had to go away, we looked around for somebody on the inside who knew the +run of our business to put in there to help me. None of the directors +wanted to come in, and so we pulled Jim out of the paying teller's cage, +and he's just about saved my back. Now, Jim's not so smart, but he's +steady and safe, and that's what counts in business."</p> + +<p>He leaned back in his chair and wobbled the cigar in his mouth.</p> + +<p>"These young Napoleons of finance are forever chasing off to Canada with +other folks' money; they're too brilliant. I tell 'em down town that it +ain't genius we want in business, it's just ordinary, plain, every-day +talent for getting down early and staying at your job. That's what I +say. There was Smith over at the Drovers' National; he was a clear case +of genius. They thought over there that he was making business by +chasing around the country attending banquets and speaking at bankers' +conventions. I guess Smith's essays were financially sound too, for +Smith knew finance, scientific finance, like a college professor, and +used to come to the clearing-house <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>meetings and talk to beat the band +about what Bagehot said and how the Bank of England did; but all the +time he was spending his Sundays over in Kansas City, drumming up +banking business by playing poker with the gentlemen he expected to get +for his customers. He's running a laundry now on the wrong side of the +Canadian border. Over at the Drovers' they ain't so terribly scientific +now, and their cashier don't have an expense fund to carry him around +the country making connections. Making connections!" he repeated, and +chuckled. He had the conceit of his own wisdom, and while he was always +generous in his dealings with his rivals, and had several times helped +them out of difficulties, he rejoiced in their errors and congratulated +himself on his foresight and caution.</p> + +<p>"You oughtn't to laugh at the downfall of other people," said Evelyn; +"it's wicked of you." But she was laughing herself at his enjoyment of +his own joke, and was proud of the qualities which she knew had +contributed to his success. He felt baffled that he had not fully +concluded all he had intended to say about Wheaton and his merits, but +he did not see his way back to the subject, and he rose yawning.</p> + +<p>"I guess it's time to go to bed," he said, and he went about turning off +the electric lights by the buttons in the hall. Evelyn went upstairs +ahead of him, and kissed him good night at his door.</p> + +<p>"You'd better go to the opera with the Whipples," he called to her over +his shoulder, as he waited for her to reach her own door before turning +off the upper hall light.</p> + +<p>"Not a bit of it," she answered through the dark.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span></p><p>The novel with which Evelyn tried to read herself to sleep that night +did not hold her attention, and after her memory had teased her into +impatience, she threw the book down and for a long time lay thinking. +She knew her father so well that she had no doubt of the current of his +thought and his wish to praise James Wheaton and disparage Warry +Raridan, and it troubled her; not because she herself had any +well-defined preferences as between them or in their favor as against +all other men she knew; but it seemed to her that her father had +disclosed his own feeling rather unnecessarily and pointedly.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, as she lay thinking and staring at the walls, life took on new +and serious aspects, and she did not want it to be so. Because she had +been so much away from home the provincial idea that every man that +calls on a girl, or takes her to a theater in our free, unchaperoned +way, is a serious suitor had not impressed her. She had expected to come +home and enjoy herself indefinitely, and had idealized a situation in +which she should be the stay of her father through his old age, and the +chum and guide of her brother, in whom the repetition of her mother's +characteristics strongly appealed to her. There had been little trouble +or grief in her life, and now for the first time she saw uncertainties +ahead where a few hours before everything had seemed simple and clear. +She had felt no offense when her father spoke slightingly of Warry +Raridan; she knew that her father really liked him, as every one did, +and she would not have hesitated to say that she admired him greatly, +even in his possession of those traits which betrayed the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> weaknesses of +his character. She certainly had no thought of him save as a whimsical +and amusing friend, a playmate who had never grown up.</p> + +<p>It was true that he had made love to her, or had tried to; but she had +no faith in his sincerity. She had first felt amused, and then a little +sorry, when he had gone to work so earnestly. He took the trouble to +remind her frequently that it was all for her, and she laughed at him +and at the love-making which he was always attempting and which she +always thwarted. Saxton did not come often to the house, but when he +came he exercised his ingenuity to bring Raridan into the talk in the +rare times that they were alone together. She knew why Saxton praised +her friend to her, and it increased her liking for him. It is curious +how a woman's pity goes out to a man; any suggestion of misfortune makes +an excuse for her to clothe him with her compassion. It is as though +Nature, in denying gifts or inflicting punishment, hastened to throw in +compensations. Saxton asked so little, and beamed so radiantly when +given so little; he received kindnesses so shyly, as if, of course, they +could not be meant for him, but it was all right anyway, and he would +move on just as soon as the other fellow came.</p> + +<p>As for Wheaton, he was certainly not frivolous, and her father's respect +for him and dependence on him had communicated itself to her. He was so +much older than she; and at twenty-two, thirty-five savors of antiquity; +but he was steady, and steadiness was a trait that she respected. He was +terribly formal, but he was kind and thoughtful; he was even handsome, +or at least so every one said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p><p>She lay dreaming until the clock on the mantel chimed midnight, when +she reached for the novel that had fallen on the coverlet, to put it on +the stand beside her bed. A card which she had been using as a mark fell +from the book; she picked it up and turned it over to see whose it was. +It was John Saxton's.</p> + +<p>"Father didn't say anything about him," she said aloud. She thrust the +card back into the book and reached up and snapped out the light.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XIX</span> <span class="smaller">A FORECAST AT THE WHIPPLES'</span></h2> + +<p>There was a cup of tea at the Whipples' for any one that dropped in at +five o'clock. The general kept a syphon in the icebox, and his wife's +tea, which he loathed, gave him his excuse. He was fond of saying that +an exacting government made it impossible for an army officer to get +acquainted with his wife until after his retirement, and then, he +declared, there was nothing to discuss but the opportunities in life +which they had missed. They talked a great deal to each other about +their neighbors, and about their friends in the army whose lives they +were able to follow through the daily list of transfers in the +newspapers, and the ampler current history of the military establishment +in the Army and Navy Journal. Few men in Clarkson had time for the +general. He found the club an unsocial place, and he preferred his own +battered copies of "Pendennis" and "Henry Esmond" to anything in the +club library. Occasionally when Mrs. Whipple was out for luncheon he +went to the club for midday sustenance, but the other men who hurried +through their forty cents' worth of table d'hôte, talked of matters that +were as alien to him as marine law. It would have suited the general +much better to live in Washington, where others with equally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> little to +do assembled in force; but his wife would not hear to it. She would not +have her husband, she said, becoming a professional pall bearer, and +this was the occupation of retired officers of the army and navy at the +capital. He submitted to her superior authority, as he always did, and +settled in Clarkson, where one could get much more for one's money than in Washington.</p> + +<p>The general usually remained in the Indian room at the tea hour, +particularly if he liked the talk of the women who appeared, or if they +were good to look at; otherwise he carried his syphon to the +dining-room, where there was a bottle of the same brand of rye whisky +which he kept back of "The Life of Peter the Great" in a book case in +the Indian room. He and Mrs. Whipple had gone to the opera without +Evelyn, and the general was now settling himself to his domestic +routine. He had dodged a woman whose prattle vexed him and whose call +had been prolonged, and having heard the door close upon her, he was +returning to his own preserve with the intention of getting some hot +water from Mrs. Whipple's tea kettle for use in compounding a punch, +when Bishop Delafield came in, bringing a great draft of cold air with +his huge figure. The bishop was a friend of many years' standing. His +sonorous voice filled the room and aided the fire in promoting +cheeriness. Mrs. Whipple brewed her tea, and the general made his +punch,—for two—for it was certainly snowing somewhere in the Diocese +of Clarkson, the bishop said, and he had established his joke with the +general that he might allow himself spirits in bad weather, as a +preventive of the rheumatism which he never had. The three made a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> cozy +picture as they grouped themselves about the bright hearth. They were +discussing the marriage of an old officer whom they all knew, a man of +Whipple's own age, who had just married a woman much his junior.</p> + +<p>"It's easy for us all to philosophize adversely about such things," said +the general, sitting up straight in his camp chair. "I have a good deal +of sympathy with Bixby. He was lonely and his children were all married +and scattered to the four winds. I suppose there's nothing worse than loneliness."</p> + +<p>His wife frowned at him; their friend's long sorrow and his fidelity to +his memories appealed to all the romance in her.</p> + +<p>"It's very different," Mrs. Whipple made haste to say, "where there are +children at home. Now there's Mr. Porter; he has Evelyn and Grant."</p> + +<p>"But that probably won't last long," said the bishop. "Girls have a way +of leaving home."</p> + +<p>"Well, there's nothing imminent?" asked Mrs. Whipple, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! And girls that have been educated as she has been are likely to +choose warily, aren't they?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing in it," said the general, stirring his glass. "They all go when +they get ready, without notice. Education doesn't change that."</p> + +<p>"It strikes me that there aren't many eligible men here," said the +bishop. "To be explicit, just whom shall a girl like Evelyn Porter +marry?" He did not intend this for the general, who was refilling the +glasses, but the general refused to be ignored.</p> + +<p>"It's my observation," he began, with an air of having much to impart, +if they would only let him alone, "that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> in every town the size of this +there are people who are predestined to marry. They fight it as hard as +they can, and dodge their destinies wherever possible; but it's a pretty +sure thing that ultimately they'll hit it off."</p> + +<p>"That sounds like a sort of social presbyterianism to me," said the +bishop dryly, "and therefore heretical." He was really interested in +knowing what Mrs. Whipple knew or felt on this subject as it affected +Evelyn Porter. "Now you've been better trained, Mrs. Whipple," he said.</p> + +<p>"Well, so far as Evelyn's concerned," she answered, knowing that this +was what the bishop wanted, "I'm not worrying about her. She's a +sensible girl and will take care of herself. I'm not half so much afraid +of destiny as of propinquity. We all know how the bachelor captain goes +down before the sister, or the in-law of some kind, of the colonel of the regiment."</p> + +<p>"That's not propinquity," said the general; "that's ordinary Christian +charity on the captain's part."</p> + +<p>"Suppose," said the bishop slowly, "the commandant so to speak, is +really a banker, with a trusted officer, a kind of adjutant at his +elbow; and also a handsome daughter. Assume such a hypothetical case, +and what are you going to do about it?" He drained his glass and put it down carefully.</p> + +<p>"This looks like the appeal direct," answered Mrs. Whipple, laughing and +looking at her husband, who was meditating another punch and feeling for +the scent blindly.</p> + +<p>"I don't know about that Mr. Wheaton," said Mrs. Whipple, meeting the +issue squarely. "He doesn't seem amusing to me, but then—I don't know him!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p><p>"Must one be amusing?" asked the bishop.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I mean more than that!" exclaimed Mrs. Whipple. "Don't we always +mean intelligent when we say amusing?"</p> + +<p>"Definitions certainly change. We are growing terribly exacting these +days. But," he added, serious again, "Wheaton's a success; he's pointed +to as one of Clarkson's rising men; one of the really self-made."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I fancy he never knew Evelyn before the Knights of Midas ball;" +and she sighed, wondering whether she was culpable. She knew that the +bishop meant more than he had said and that this was a kind of warning +to her. She felt guilty, remembering the ball, and the appeal Evelyn had +made to her beforehand. A woman that has enjoyed a long career of +fancied infallibility experiences sorrow when she suddenly questions the +wisdom of her own judgments.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with Warry Raridan?" demanded the general. "He's got +to marry somebody some day; he and Evelyn would make a very proper +match. Wouldn't they?" he pleaded, when his wife and their visitor did +not respond promptly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Warry's well enough," the bishop answered. "But Warry's an +uncertain quantity. He's a fine, clean fellow, with all kinds of +possibilities; but—they're possibilities!"</p> + +<p>"Warry's certainly bright enough," said General Whipple.</p> + +<p>"His sense of humor is a trifle too keen for every-day use," said the bishop.</p> + +<p>"What's he been up to now?" asked the general.</p> + +<p>The bishop laughed quietly to himself.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p><p>"It was this way. You know Warry's interest in church matters is +abnormal. The boy really knows a lot of theology for one who has never +studied it. He has, he says, a neat taste in bishops, whatever that +means—" the bishop chuckled softly,—"and whenever one of my brethren +visits me, Warry always lays himself out to give us what he calls a warm +little time. A few days ago I had a letter from the Patriarch of +Alexandria, whom I don't know, in which he set forth that Doctor Warrick +Raridan, of my diocese, had written him proposing a great reunion of +Christendom, based on the Coptic rite. As neither the Roman, the Greek, +nor the Anglican Church afforded a common meeting ground, owing to many +difficulties, the American gentleman had suggested that all might meet +at Alexandria. The Patriarch was delighted. Doctor Raridan had suggested +me as a reference, hence the venerable prelate wished to know my opinion +of the extent of the movement. I suppose Warry did that as a joke on me, +or to get the Patriarch's autograph, I don't know which. I haven't seen +Warry since, but I'm disposed to dust his jacket for him in a fatherly +way when I get hold of him. I don't know why the Patriarch should call +Warry 'Doctor.' He probably assumed that a man who could write as good a +letter as Warry is capable of must be a person of distinction."</p> + +<p>"Warry's a gentleman, at any rate," said Mrs. Whipple.</p> + +<p>"Which Wheaton isn't; is that the idea?" demanded the general; and then +added: "This Wheaton strikes me as being a wooden kind of fellow. He +acts as if he hadn't been used to things."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p><p>"Sh-h! be careful! That's no test of worth on the banks of the +Missouri," said his wife warningly.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say that Evelyn Porter's chances have been fully +covered?" demanded the general. He liked gossip and hoped the subject +would prove more fruitful.</p> + +<p>"There's Mr. Saxton," said his wife. "He seems altogether possible."</p> + +<p>"He's the new man, isn't he? He always lifts his hat to me in the +street; an unusual attention in this ill-mannered age."</p> + +<p>"Does <i>he</i> act as if he had been used to things?" asked the bishop. He +was still seriously interested in canvassing Evelyn's case.</p> + +<p>"He's very nice," Mrs. Whipple said; "but he's not desperately exciting, +as the girls say."</p> + +<p>"But then!" The bishop lifted his hands with a despairing gesture, "must +young men be amusing or exciting in these days? Is he honest? Does he +lead a clean life? Has he, as the saying is, an outlook on life?"</p> + +<p>"He isn't seeing much of Evelyn, I think," said Mrs. Whipple. "And he's +a great friend of Warry's. They may offset each other."</p> + +<p>"Bless my soul!" exclaimed the general, "I don't see any use in worrying +over Evelyn Porter and her suitors. She'll have plenty of them. And when +she gets good and ready she'll up and marry one of them."</p> + +<p>"No girl with at least three possibilities in one town, to say nothing +of dozens she may have elsewhere, need be a subject of commiseration," said Mrs. Whipple.</p> + +<p>"But," began the bishop slowly, "it might be better to eliminate at least one."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p><p>"Not Warry!" threw in Mrs. Whipple.</p> + +<p>"Not Saxton," added the general. "I like him; he's polite and thoughtful +about us old folks."</p> + +<p>The bishop had risen, knowing that the climax of a conversation is best given standing.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't cut out either of them," he said, smiling.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XX</span> <span class="smaller">ORCHARD LANE</span></h2> + +<p>After the interim of quiet that Lent always brings in Clarkson, the +spring came swiftly. There was a renewal of social activities which ran +from dances and teas into outdoor gatherings. Evelyn had enjoyed to the +full her experience of home. She had plunged into the frivolities of the +town with a zest that was a trifle emphasized through her wish to escape +any charge of being pedantic or literary. She was glad that she had gone +to college, but she did not wish this fact of her life to be the +haunting ghost of her days; and by the end of the winter she felt that +she had pretty effectually laid it.</p> + +<p>In June Mr. Porter began discussing summer plans with Evelyn. He +eliminated himself from them; he could not get away, he said. But there +was Grant to be considered. The boy was at school in New Hampshire, and +Evelyn protested that it was not wise to subject him to the intense heat +of a Clarkson summer. The first hot wave sent Porter to bed with a +trifling illness, and his doctor took the opportunity to look him over +and tell him that it was imperative for him to rest. Thompson came home +from Arizona to spend the summer. He and Wheaton were certainly equal to +the care of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> bank, so they urged upon Porter, and he finally +yielded. Evelyn found a hotel on the Massachusetts North Shore which +sounded well in the circulars, and her father agreed to it. When they +reached Orchard Lane he liked it better than he had expected; the hotel +was one of those vast caravansaries where all sorts and conditions +assemble; and he was reassured by the click of the telegraph instrument +and the presence of the long distance telephone booth in the office. He +was a cockney of the rankest kind and it dulled the edge of his +isolation to know that he was not entirely cut off from the world. Every +night he sat down with cipher telegrams, and constructed from Thompson's +statistics the day's business in the bank. He received daily from New +York the closing quotations on the shares he was interested in, and as +he walked the long hotel verandas he effected a transmigration of spirit +which put him back in his swivel chair in the Clarkson National.</p> + +<p>Evelyn made him drive with her and Grant, and dragged him to the golf +course, where she was the star player, and where Grant was learning the game.</p> + +<p>A college friend of Evelyn's, in one of the near-by cottages, asked her +neighbors to call on the Porters. The fact that the cottagers thus set +the mark of their approval upon the Westerners, gave them distinction at +the hotel. Several men of Porter's age took him to their quieter porches +and found him interesting; they liked his stories, though they hardly +excused his ignorance of whist; in their hearts they accused him of +poker, of which he was guiltless. Incidentally they got a good deal of +information from him touching their Western interests; it was worth +while to know a man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> that received the crop news ahead of the +newspapers. He liked the praise of Evelyn which was constantly reaching +him; she was the prettiest girl in the place; her golf was certainly +better than any other girl's. When she won a cup in the tournament he +waited anxiously to see what the Boston papers said about it, and he +surreptitiously mailed the cuttings home to the Clarkson <i>Gazette</i>.</p> + +<p>In August Warry Raridan appeared suddenly and threw himself into the +gaieties of the place for a fortnight. Mr. Porter asked him to sit at +their table and marveled at the way Evelyn snubbed him, even to the +extent of running away for three days with some friends who had a yacht +and who carried her to Newport for a dance. During her absence Warry +made all the other girls about the place happy; they were sure that +"that Miss Porter" was treating him shabbily and their hearts went out +to him. Warry sulked when Evelyn returned and they had an interview +between dances at a Saturday night hop.</p> + +<p>He sought again for recognition as a lover; she had not praised the +efforts he had been making to win her approval by diligence at his +office; he took care to call her attention to his changed habits.</p> + +<p>"But, Evelyn, I am doing differently. I know that I wasted myself for +years so that I'm a kind of joke and everybody laughs about me. But I +want to know—I want to feel that I'm doing it for you! Don't you know +how that would help me and steady me? Won't you let it be for you?" He +came close to her and stood with his arms folded, but she drew away from +him with a despairing gesture.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p><p>"Oh, Warry," she cried, wearily, "you poor, foolish boy! Don't you know +that you must do all things for yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he returned eagerly. "I know that; I understand perfectly; but if +you'd only let me feel that you wanted it—"</p> + +<p>"I want you to succeed, but you will never do it for any one, if you +don't do it for yourself."</p> + +<p>He went home by an early train next morning to receive Saxton's +consolation and to turn again to his law books. Margrave, on behalf of +the Transcontinental, had offered to compromise the case of the poor +widow whose clothes lines had been interfered with; but Raridan rejected +this tender. He needed something on which to vent his bad spirits, and +he gave his thought to devising means of transferring the widow's cause +to the federal court. The removal of causes from state to federal courts +was, Warry frequently said, one of the best things he did.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXI</span> <span class="smaller">JAMES WHEATON MAKES A COMPUTATION</span></h2> + +<p>Porter's vacation was not altogether wasted. As he lounged about and +philosophized to the Bostonians on Western business conditions, his +restless mind took hold of a new project. It was suggested to him by the +inquiries of a Boston banker, who owned a considerable amount of +Clarkson Traction bonds and stock which he was anxious to sell. Porter +gave a discouraging account of the company, whose history he knew +thoroughly. The Traction Company had been organized in the boom days and +its stock had been inflated in keeping with the prevailing spirit of the +time. It was first equipped with the cable system in deference to the +Clarkson hills, but later the company made the introduction of the +trolley an excuse for a reorganization of its finances with an even more +generous inflation. The panic then descended and wrought a diminution of +revenue; the company was unable to make the repairs which constantly +became necessary, and the local management fell into the hands of a +series of corrupt directorates.</p> + +<p>There had been much litigation, and some of the Eastern bondholders had +threatened a receivership; but the local stockholders made plausible +excuses for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> default of interest when approached amicably, and when +menaced grew insolent and promised trouble if an attempt were made to +deprive them of power. A secretary and a treasurer under one +administration had connived to appropriate a large share of the daily +cash receipts, and before they left the office they destroyed or +concealed the books and records of the company. The effect of this was +to create a mystery as to the distribution of the bonds and the stock. +When Porter came home from his summer vacation, the newspapers were +demanding that steps be taken to declare the Traction franchise forfeit. +But the franchise had been renewed lately and had twenty years to run. +This extension had been procured by the element in control, and the +foreign bondholders, biding their time, were glad to avail themselves of +the political skill of the local officers.</p> + +<p>Porter had been casually asked by his Boston friend whether there was +any local market for the stock or bonds; and he had answered that there +was not; that the holders of shares in Clarkson kept what they had +because they could no longer sell to one another and that they were only +waiting for the larger outside bondholders and shareholders to assert +themselves. Porter had ridden down to Boston with his brother banker and +when they parted it was with an understanding that the Bostonian was to +collect for Porter the Clarkson Traction securities that were held by +New England banks, a considerable amount, as Porter knew; and he went +home with a well-formed plan of buying the control of the company. Times +were improving and he had faith in Clarkson's future; he did not believe +in it so noisily as Timothy Margrave did; but he knew the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> resources of +the tributary country, and he had, what all successful business men must +have, an alert imagination.</p> + +<p>It was not necessary for Porter to disclose the fact of his purchases to +the officers of the Traction Company, whom he knew to be corrupt and +vicious; the transfer of ownership on the company's books made no +difference, as the original stock books had been destroyed,—a fact +which had become public property through a legal effort to levy on the +holdings of a shareholder in the interest of a creditor. Moreover, if he +could help it, Porter never told any one about anything he did. He even +had several dummies in whose names he frequently held securities and +real estate. One of these was Peckham, a clerk in the office of Fenton, Porter's lawyer.</p> + +<p>Wheaton had not long been an officer of the bank before he began to be +aware that there was considerable mystery about Porter's outside +transactions. Porter occasionally perused with much interest several +small memorandum books which he kept carefully locked in his desk. The +president often wrote letters with his own hand and copied them himself +after bank hours, in a private letter-book. Wheaton was naturally +curious as to what these outside interests might be. It had piqued him +to find that while he was cashier of the bank he was not consulted in +its larger transactions; and that of Porter's personal affairs he knew nothing.</p> + +<p>One afternoon shortly after Porter's return from the East, Wheaton, who +was waiting for some letters to sign, picked up a bundle of checks from +the desk of one of the individual bookkeepers. They were Porter's +personal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> checks which had that day been paid and were now being charged +to his private account. Wheaton turned them over mechanically; it was +not very long since he had been an individual bookkeeper himself; he had +entered innumerable checks bearing Porter's name without giving them a +thought. As the slips of paper passed through his fingers, he accounted +for them in one way or another and put them back on the desk, face down, +as a man always does who has been trained as a bank clerk. The last of +them he held and studied. It was a check made payable to Peckham, +Fenton's clerk. The amount was $9,999.00,—too large to be accounted for +as a payment for services; for Peckham was an elderly failure at the law +who ran errands to the courts for Fenton and sometimes took charge of +small collection matters for the bank. Wheaton paid the attorney fees +for the bank; this check had nothing to do with the bank, he was sure. +The check, with its curious combination of figures, puzzled and fascinated him.</p> + +<p>A few days later, in the course of business, he asked Porter what +disposition he should make of an application for a loan from a country +customer. Porter rang for the past correspondence with their client, and +threw several letters to Wheaton for his information. Wheaton read them +and called the stenographer to dictate the answer which Porter had +indicated should be made. He held the client's last letter in his hand, +and in concluding turned it over into the wire basket which stood on his +desk. As it fell face downwards his eye caught some figures on the back, +and he picked it up thinking that they might relate to the letter. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> +memorandum was in Porter's large uneven hand and read:</p> + +<table class="right" summary="memorandum"> + <tr> + <td>303</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>33</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>——</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>909</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>909 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>——</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>9999</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The result of the multiplication was identical with the amount of +Peckham's check. Again the figures held his attention. Local securities +were quoted daily in the newspapers, and he examined the list for that +day. There was no quotation of thirty-three on anything; the nearest +approach was Clarkson Traction Company at thirty-five. The check which +had interested him had been dated three days before, and he looked back +to the quotation list for that date. Traction was given at thirty-three. +Wheaton was pleased by the discovery; it was a fair assumption that +Porter was buying shares of Clarkson Traction; he would hardly be buying +foreign securities through Peckham. The stock had advanced two points +since it had been purchased, and this, too, was interesting. Clearly, +Porter knew what he was about,—he had a reputation for knowing; and if +Clarkson Traction was a good thing for the president to pick up quietly, +why was it not a good thing for the cashier? He waited a day; Traction +went to thirty-six. Then he called after banking hours at the office of +a real estate dealer who also dealt in local stocks and bonds on a small +scale. He chose this man because he was not a customer of the bank, and +had never had any transactions with the bank or with Porter, so far as +Wheaton<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> knew. His name was Burton, and he welcomed Wheaton cordially. +He was alone in his office, and after an interchange of courtesies, +Wheaton came directly to the point of his errand.</p> + +<p>"Some friends of mine in the country own a small amount of Traction +stock; they've written me to find out what its prospects are. Of course +in the bank we know in a general way about it, but I suppose you handle +such things and I want to get good advice for my friends."</p> + +<p>"Well, the truth is," said Burton, flattered by this appeal, "the bottom +was pretty well gone out of it, but it's sprucing up a little just now. +If the charter's knocked out it is only worth so much a pound as old +paper; but if the right people get hold of it the newspapers will let +up, and there's a big thing in it. How much do your friends own?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know exactly," said Wheaton, evenly; "I think not a great deal. +Who are buying just now? I notice that it has been advancing for several +days. Some one seems to be forcing up the price."</p> + +<p>"Nobody in particular, that is, nobody that I know of. I asked Billy +Barnes, the secretary, the other day what was going on. He must know who +the certificates are made out to; but he winked and gave me the laugh. +You know Barnes. He don't cough up very easy; and he looks wise when he +doesn't know anything."</p> + +<p>"No; Barnes has the reputation of being pretty close-mouthed," replied Wheaton.</p> + +<p>"If your friends want to sell, bring in the shares and I'll see what I +can do with them," said Burton. "The outsiders are sure to act soon. +This spurt right now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> may have nothing back of it. The town's full of +gossip about the company and it ought to send the price down. Your +friend Porter's a smooth one. He was in once, a long time ago, but he +knew when to get out all right." Wheaton laughed with Burton at this +tribute to Porter's sagacity, but he laughed discreetly. He did not +forget that he was a bank officer and dignity was an essential in the +business, as he understood it.</p> + +<p>Within a few days two more checks from Porter to Peckham passed through +the usual channels of the bank. By the simple feat of dividing the +amount of each check by the current quotation on Traction, Wheaton was +able to follow Porter's purchases. The price had remained pretty steady. +Then suddenly it fell to thirty. He wondered what was happening, but the +newspapers, which were continuing their war on the company, readily +attributed it to a lack of confidence in the franchise. Wheaton met the +broker, apparently by chance, but really by intention, in the club one +evening, and remarked casually:</p> + +<p>"Traction seems to be off a little?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; there's something going on there that I can't make out. I imagine +that the fellows that were buying got tired of stimulating the market, +and have thrown a few bunches back to keep the outsiders guessing."</p> + +<p>"Right now might be a good time to get in," suggested Wheaton.</p> + +<p>"I should call it a good buy myself. I guess that franchise is all +right. Better pick up a little," he said, tentatively.</p> + +<p>"To tell the truth," said Wheaton, choosing his words carefully, "those +out of town people I spoke to you about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> have written me that they'd +like a little more, if it can be got at the right figure. You might pick +up a hundred shares for me at the current price, if you can."</p> + +<p>"How do you want to hold it?"</p> + +<p>"Have it made to me," he answered. He had debated whether he should do +this, and he had been unable to devise any method of holding the stock +without letting his own name appear. Porter would not know; Porter was +concealing his own purchases. Wheaton could not see that it made any +difference; he was surely entitled to invest his money as he liked, and +he raised the sum necessary in this case by the sale of some railroad +bonds which he had been holding, and on which he could realize at once +by sending them to the bank's correspondent at Chicago. He might have +sold them at home; Porter would probably have taken them off his hands; +but the president knew that his capital was small, and might have asked +how he intended to reinvest the proceeds.</p> + +<p>"Of course this is all confidential," said Wheaton.</p> + +<p>"Sure," said Burton.</p> + +<p>"And when you get it, telephone me and I'll come up and settle," said Wheaton.</p> + +<p>A few days later Burton sent for Wheaton to come to his office. One +hundred shares had been secured from a ranchman. Wheaton carried the +purchase money in currency to Burton's office; he was as shrewd as +William Porter, and he did not care to have the clerks in the bank +speculating about his checks.</p> + +<p>He locked his certificate, when Burton got it for him, in his private +box in the vault, and waited the rebound which he firmly expected in the +price of the stock. His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> sole idea was to make a profit by the purchase. +He felt perfectly confident that Porter had bought Traction stock with a +definite purpose; he still had no idea who were the principal holders of +Traction stock or bonds, and he was afraid to make inquiry. A man who +was as secretive as Porter probably had confidential sources of +information, and it was not safe to tap Porter's wires. His conscience +was easy as to the method by which he had gained his knowledge of +Porter's purchases; he certainly meant no harm to Porter.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXII</span> <span class="smaller">AN ANNUAL PASS</span></h2> + +<p>Timothy Margrave was, in common phrase, a good railroad man. He had +advanced by slow degrees from the incumbency of those lowly manual +offices called jobs, to the performance of those nobler functions known +as positions. Margrave's elevation to the office of third vice-president +and general manager was due to his Pull. This was originally political +but later financial; and he now had both kinds of Pulls. There is no +greater arrogance among us than that of our railway officials; they are +greater tyrants than any that sit in public office. The General +Something or Other is a despot, the records of whose life are written in +tissue manifold; his ideals are established for him by those of his own +order who have been raised to a higher power, which he himself aspires +to reach in due season. Margrave had gone as high as he expected to go +with the corporation whose destinies he had done so much to promote; all +who were below him in the Transcontinental knew that he held their lives +in his hands; all his subordinates, down to the boys who carried long +manila envelopes marked R. R. B. to and from trains called him IT.</p> + +<p>Margrave had resolved that the railroad was getting too much out of him +and that he must do more to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> promote his own fortunes. The directors +were good fellows, and they had certainly treated him well; but it +seemed within the pale of legitimate enterprise for him to broaden his +interests a trifle without in any wise diminishing his zeal for the +Transcontinental. The street railway business was a good business, and +Clarkson Traction appealed to Margrave, moreover, on its political side. +If he reorganized the company and made himself its president he could +greatly fortify and strengthen his Pull. Tim Margrave's Pull was already +of consequence and it would be of great use in this new undertaking; +moreover, it would naturally be augmented by his control of the little +army of Traction employees. He proposed getting some of the Eastern +stockholders of the Transcontinental to help him acquire Traction +holdings sufficient to get control of the company; and, with Margrave, +to decide was to act.</p> + +<p>Almost any day, he was told, the Eastern bondholders might pounce down +and put a receiver in charge of the company. Margrave did not understand +receiverships according to High or Beach or any other legal authority; +but according to Margrave they were an excuse for pillage, and it was a +regret of his life that no fat receivership had ever fallen to his lot. +But he was not going into Traction blindly. He wanted to know who else +was interested, that he might avoid complications. William Porter was +the only man in Clarkson who could swing Traction without assistance; he +must not run afoul of Porter. Margrave was a master of the art of +getting information, and he decided, on reflection, that the easiest way +to get information about Porter was to coax it out of Wheaton.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p><p>He always called Wheaton "Jim," in remembrance of those early days of +Wheaton's residence in Clarkson when Wheaton had worked in his office. +He had watched Wheaton's rise with interest; he took to himself the +credit of being his discoverer. When Wheaton called on his daughter he +made no comment; he knew nothing to Wheaton's discredit, and he would no +more have thought of criticizing Mabel than of ordering dynamite +substituted for coal in the locomotives of his railroad. When he +concluded that he needed Wheaton, he began playing for him, just as if +the cashier had been a councilman or a member of the legislature or a +large shipper or any other fair prey.</p> + +<p>He had unconsciously made a good beginning by making Wheaton the King of +the Carnival; he now resorted to that most insidious and economical form +of bribery known as the annual pass.</p> + +<p>One of these pretty bits of pasteboard was at once mailed to Wheaton by +the Second Assistant General Something on Margrave's recommendation.</p> + +<p>Wheaton accepted the pass as a tribute to his growing prominence in the +town. He knew that Porter refused railroad passes on practical grounds, +holding that such favors were extended in the hope of reciprocal +compliments, and he believed that a banker was better off without them. +Wheaton, whose vanity had been touched, could see no harm in them. He +had little use for passes as he knew and cared little about traveling, +but he had always envied men who carried their "annuals" in little +brass-bound books made for the purpose. To be sure it was late in the +year and passes were usually sent out in January, but this made the +compliment seem<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> much more direct; the Transcontinental had forgotten +him, and had thought it well to rectify the error between seasons. He +felt that he must not make too much of the railroad's courtesy; he did +not know to which official in particular he was indebted, but he ran +into Margrave one evening at the club and decided to thank him.</p> + +<p>"How's traffic?" he asked, as Margrave made room for him on the settee +where he sat reading the evening paper.</p> + +<p>"Fair. Anything new?"</p> + +<p>"No; it's the same routine with me pretty much all the time."</p> + +<p>"I guess that's right. I shouldn't think there was much fun in banking. +You got to keep the public too far away. I like to be up against people myself."</p> + +<p>"Banking is hardly a sociable business," said Wheaton.</p> + +<p>"No; a good banker's got to have cold feet, as the fellow said."</p> + +<p>"But you railroad people are not considered so very warm," said Wheaton. +"The fellows who want favors seem to think so. By the way, I'm much +obliged to some one for an annual that turned up in my mail the other +day. I don't know who sent it to me,—if it's you—"</p> + +<p>"Um?" Margrave affected to have been wandering in his thoughts, but this +was what he was waiting for. "Oh, I guess that was Wilson. I never fool +with the pass business myself; I've got troubles of my own."</p> + +<p>"I guess I'll not use it very often," said Wheaton, as if he owed an +apology to the road for accepting it.</p> + +<p>"Better come out with me in the car sometime and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> see the road," +Margrave suggested, throwing his newspaper on the table.</p> + +<p>"I'd like that very much," said Wheaton.</p> + +<p>"Where's Thompson now? Old man's pretty well done up, ain't he?"</p> + +<p>"He went back to Arizona. He was here at work all summer. He's afraid of our winters."</p> + +<p>"Well, that gives you your chance," said Margrave, affably. "There ain't +any young man in town that's got a better chance than you have, Jim."</p> + +<p>"I know that," said Wheaton, humbly.</p> + +<p>"You don't go in much on the outside, do you? I suppose you don't have much time."</p> + +<p>"No; I'm held down pretty close; and in a bank you can't go into everything."</p> + +<p>"Well, there's nothing like keeping an eye out. Good things are not so +terribly common these days." Margrave got up and walked the floor once +or twice, apparently in a musing humor, but he really wished to look +into the adjoining room to make sure they were alone.</p> + +<p>"I believe," he said, with emphasis on the pronoun, "there's going to be +a good thing for some one in Traction stock. Porter ought to let you in +on that." Margrave didn't know that Porter was in, but he expected to find out.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Porter has a way of keeping things to himself," said Wheaton, +cautiously; yet he was flattered by Margrave's friendliness, and anxious +to make a favorable impression. Vanity is not, as is usually assumed, a +mere incident of character; it is a disease.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p><p>"I suppose," said Margrave, "that a man could buy a barrel of that +stuff just now at a low figure."</p> + +<p>Wheaton could not resist this opportunity.</p> + +<p>"What I have, I got at thirty-one," he answered, as if it were the most +natural thing in the world for him to have Traction stock. This was not +a bank confidence; there was no reason why he should not talk of his own +investments if he wished to do so.</p> + +<p>Margrave had reseated himself, and lounged on the settee with a +confidential air that he had found very effective in the committee rooms +at the state capital when it was necessary to deal with a difficult legislator.</p> + +<p>"I suppose Porter must have got in lower than that," he said, +carelessly. "Billy usually gets in on the ground floor." He chuckled to +himself in admiration of the banker's shrewdness. "But a fellow can do +what he pleases when he's got money. Most of us see good things and +can't go into the market after 'em."</p> + +<p>"What's your guess as to the turn this Traction business will take?" +asked Wheaton. He had not expected an opportunity to talk to any one of +Margrave's standing on this subject, and he thought he would get some +information while the opportunity offered.</p> + +<p>"Don't ask me! If I knew I'd like to get into the game. But, look +here"—he moved his fat body a little nearer to Wheaton—"the way to go +into that thing is to go into it big! I've had my eye on it for a good +while, but I ain't going to touch it unless I can swing it all. Now, you +know Porter, and I know him, and you can bet your last dollar he'll +never be able to handle it. He ain't built for it!" His voice sank to a +whisper. "But if I decide to go in, I've got to get rid of Porter.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> Me +and Porter can't travel in the same harness. You know that," he added, +pleadingly, as if there were the bitterness of years of controversy in +his relations with Porter.</p> + +<p>Wheaton nodded sympathetically.</p> + +<p>"Now, I don't know how much he's got"—this in an angry tone, as if +Porter were guilty of some grave offense against him—"and he's so +damned mysterious you can't tell what he's up to. You know how he is; +you can't go to a fellow like that and do business with him, and he +won't play anyhow, unless you play his way."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know anything about his affairs, of course," said +Wheaton, yet feeling that Margrave's confidences must be reciprocated. +"Just between ourselves,"—he waited for Margrave to nod and grunt in +his solemn way—"he did buy a little some time ago, but no great amount. +It would take a good deal of money to control that company."</p> + +<p>"You're dead right, it would; and Porter hasn't any business fooling +with it. You've got to syndicate a thing like that. He's probably got a +tip from some one of his Eastern friends as to what they're going to do, +and he's buying in, when he can, to get next. But say, he hasn't any +Traction bonds, has he?"</p> + +<p>Wheaton had already said more than he had intended, and repented now +that he had been drawn into this conversation; but Margrave was bending +toward him with a great air of condescending intimacy. Porter had never +been confidential with him; and it was really Margrave who had given him his start.</p> + +<p>"I don't think so; at least I never knew of it." His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> mind was on those +checks to Peckham, which clearly represented purchases of stock. Of +course, Porter might have bonds, too, but having gone thus far he did +not like to admit to Margrave how little he really knew of Porter's +doings. Margrave was puffing solemnly at his cigar, and changed the +subject. When he rose to go and stood stamping down his trousers, which +were forever climbing up his fat legs when he sat, Wheaton felt an +impulse to correct any false impressions which he might have given +Margrave; but he was afraid to try this. He would discredit himself with +Margrave by doing so. He had not intended to leave so early, but he +hated to let go of Margrave, and he followed him into the coat room.</p> + +<p>"That's all between us—that little matter," said Margrave, as they were +helped into their coats by the sleepy colored boy. Wheaton wanted to say +this himself, but Margrave saved him the trouble.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, Mr. Margrave."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXIII</span> <span class="smaller">WILLIAM PORTER RETURNS FROM A JOURNEY</span></h2> + +<p>Porter went into Fenton's private office and shut and locked the door +after him. He always did this, and Fenton, who humored his best client's +whims perforce, pushed back the law book which he was reading and +straightened the pens on his blotter.</p> + +<p>"I didn't expect you back so soon," he said. Porter looked tired and +there were dark rings under his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Short horse soon curried," he remarked, pulling a packet from his overcoat.</p> + +<p>There was something boyish in Porter's mysterious methods, which always +amused Fenton when they did not alarm and exasperate him.</p> + +<p>Porter sat down at a long table and the lawyer drew up a chair opposite him.</p> + +<p>"Which way have you been this time?"</p> + +<p>"Down in the country," returned Porter, indefinitely.</p> + +<p>Fenton laughed and watched his client pulling the rubber bands from his package.</p> + +<p>"What have you there—oats or wheat?"</p> + +<p>"What I have here," said Porter, straightening out the crisp papers he +had taken from his bundle, "is a few shares of Clarkson Traction stock."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" Fenton picked up a ruler and played with it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> until Porter had +finished counting and smoothing the stock certificates.</p> + +<p>"There you are," said the banker, passing the papers over to Fenton. +"See if they're all right."</p> + +<p>Fenton compared the names on the face of the certificates with the +assignments on the back, while Porter watched him and played with a rubber band.</p> + +<p>"The assignments are all straight," said Fenton, finally.</p> + +<p>He sat waiting and his silence irritated Porter, who reached across and +took up the certificates again.</p> + +<p>"I want to talk to you a little about Traction."</p> + +<p>"All right, sir," said Fenton, respectfully.</p> + +<p>"I've gone in for that pretty deep this fall."</p> + +<p>Fenton nodded gravely. He felt trouble in the air.</p> + +<p>"I started in on this down East last summer. Those bonds all went East, +but a lot of the stock was kicked around out here. If I get enough and +reorganize the company I can handle the new securities down East all +right. That's business. Now, I've been gathering in the stock around +here on the quiet. Peckham's been buying some for me, and he's assigned +it in blank. There's no use in getting new shares issued until we're +ready to act, for Barnes and those fellows are not above doing something +nasty if they think they're going to lose their jobs."</p> + +<p>"The original stock issue was five thousand shares," said Fenton. "How much have you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, sir," said Porter, "I've got about half and I'm looking for a few +shares more right now."</p> + +<p>Fenton picked up his ruler again and beat his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> knuckles with it. Porter +had expected Fenton to lecture him sharply, but the lawyer was ominously quiet.</p> + +<p>"I'm free to confess," said Fenton, "that I'm sorry you've gone into +this. This isn't the kind of thing that you're in the habit of going +into. I am not much taken with the idea of mixing up in a corporation +that has as disreputable a record as the Traction Company. It's been +mismanaged and robbed until there's not much left for an honest man to +take hold of; they issue no statements; no one of any responsibility has +been connected with it for a long time. The outside stockholders are +scattered all over the country, and most of them have quit trying to +enforce their rights, if they may be said to have any rights. You +remember that the last time they went into court they were knocked out +and I'm free to say that I don't want to have to go into any litigation +against the company."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but the franchise is all straight, ain't it?"</p> + +<p>"Probably it is all right," admitted the lawyer reluctantly, "but that +isn't the whole story by any manner of means. If it's known that you're +picking up the stock, every fellow that has any will soak you good and +hard before he parts with it. Now, there are the bondholders—"</p> + +<p>"Well, what can the bondholders do?" demanded Porter.</p> + +<p>"Oh, get a receiver and have a lot of fun. You may expect that at any +time, too. Those Eastern fellows are slow sometimes, but they generally +know what they're about."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but if they weren't Eastern fellows—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, a bondholder's rights are as good one place as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> another. Those +suits are usually brought in the name of the trustee in their behalf."</p> + +<p>"Now, do you know what I'm going to do?" demanded Porter, settling back +in his chair and placing his feet on Fenton's table. "I'm going to turn +up at the next annual meeting and clean this thing out. You don't think +it's any good; I've got faith in the company and in the town; I believe +it's going to be a good thing. This little gang here that's been running +it has got to go. I've dug up some stock here that everybody thought was +lost. At the last meeting only eight hundred out of five thousand shares were voted."</p> + +<p>Fenton frowned and continued to punish himself with the ruler.</p> + +<p>"You beat me! You haven't the slightest idea who the other shareholders +are; the company is thoroughly rotten in all its past history, and here +you go plunging into it up to your eyes. And they say you're the most +conservative banker on the river."</p> + +<p>"I guess you don't have to get me out of many scrapes," said Porter, doggedly.</p> + +<p>"When's the annual meeting?" asked Fenton, suddenly.</p> + +<p>"It's day after to-morrow—a close call, but I'll make it all right."</p> + +<p>Fenton threw down his ruler impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Porter, I want you to remember that I haven't given you any advice +at all in this matter. It's an extra hazardous thing that you're doing. +Now, I don't know anything definitely about it, but—I've got the +impression that Margrave's paralleling your lines in this business." +Porter brought his feet down with a crash.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p><p>"Where'd you get that?"</p> + +<p>"It's this way," said Fenton, in his quietest tones. "A Baltimore lawyer +that I know wrote me a letter,—I just got it this morning,—asking me +about Margrave's responsibility. It seems that my friend has a client +who owns some of these shares. A good deal of that stock went to +Baltimore and Philadelphia, you may remember. I assume that Margrave is after it."</p> + +<p>"Wire your friend right away not to sell,—" shouted Porter, pounding +the table with his fist.</p> + +<p>"I did that this morning, and here's his answer. I got it just before +you came in. Margrave evidently got anxious and wired them to send +certificates with draft through the Drovers' National. They're probably +on the way now." He passed the telegram across to Porter, who put on his +glasses and read it.</p> + +<p>"Now," continued Fenton, "I don't know just what this means, but it +looks to me as if Margrave was hot on the track of the trolley company +himself; and Tim Margrave isn't a particularly pleasant fellow to go +into business with, is he?"</p> + +<p>"But the bondholders would still have their chance, wouldn't they, even +if he got a majority of the stock?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you haven't any bonds, have you? First thing I know you'll be +telling me that you've got a few barrels of them," he added, jokingly. +He could not help laughing at Porter.</p> + +<p>Porter took the cigar from his mouth, looked carefully at the lighted +end of it, and said with a casual air, as if he had a particularly +decisive and conclusive statement to make and wished to avail himself of +its dramatic possibilities:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p><p>"My dear boy, I've got every blamed bond!"</p> + +<p>Fenton sat gazing at him in stupefied wonder.</p> + +<p>"Would you mind saying that again?" he said, after a full minute of +silent amazement in which he sat staring at his client, who was blowing +rings of smoke with great equanimity.</p> + +<p>"I've got all the bonds, was what I said."</p> + +<p>The lawyer walked around the table and put his hand on Porter's +shoulder. He was trying to keep from laughing, like a parent who is +about to rebuke a child and yet laughs at the cause of its offense. +Porter evidently thought that he had done an extremely bright thing.</p> + +<p>"As I understand you, you have bought all of the bonds and half of the stock."</p> + +<p>"About half. I'm a little—just a little—short."</p> + +<p>"Will you kindly tell me what you wanted with the stock if you had the bonds?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I figured it this way, that the franchise was worth the price I +had to pay for the whole thing, and if I had the stock control I'd save +the fuss of foreclosing. You lawyers always make a lot of rumpus about +those things, and a receivership would prejudice the Eastern market when +I come to reorganize and sell out."</p> + +<p>Fenton lay back in his chair and laughed, while Porter looked at him a +little defiantly, with his hat tipped over his eyes and a cigar sticking +in his mouth at an impertinent angle.</p> + +<p>"You'd better finish your job and make sure of your majority," said +Fenton. His rage was rising now and he did not urge Porter to remain +when the banker got up to go. He was not at all anxious to defend a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>franchise which the local courts, always sensitive to public sentiment, +might set aside.</p> + +<p>"I'll see you in the morning first thing," said Porter at the door, +which Fenton opened for him. "I want you to go to the meeting with me +and we'll need a day to get ready."</p> + +<p>The lawyer watched his client walk toward the elevator. It occurred to +him that Porter's step was losing its elasticity. While the banker +waited for the elevator car he leaned wearily against the wire screen of the shaft.</p> + +<p>Fenton swore quietly to himself for a few minutes and then sat down with +a copy of the charter of the Clarkson Traction Company before him, and +spent the remainder of the day studying it. He had troubled much over +Porter's secretive ways, and had labored to shatter the dangerous +conceit which had gradually grown up in his client. Porter had, in fact, +a contempt for lawyers, though he leaned on Fenton more than he would +admit. Fenton, on the other hand, was constantly fearful lest his client +should undo himself by his secretive methods. He had difficulty in +getting all the facts out of him even when they were imperatively +required. Once in the trial of a case for Porter, the opposing counsel +made a statement which Fenton rose in full confidence to refute. His +antagonist reaffirmed it, and Fenton, not doubting that he understood +Porter's position thoroughly, appealed to him to deny the charge, fully +expecting to score an effective point before the court. To his +consternation, Porter coolly admitted the truth of the imputation. But +even this incident and Fenton's importunity in every matter that arose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> +thereafter did not cure Porter of his weakness. He was a difficult +client, who was, as Fenton often said to himself, a good deal harder to +manage in a lawsuit than the trial judge or opposing counsel.</p> + +<p>The next morning Fenton was at his office early and sent his boy at once +to ask Mr. Porter to come up. The boy reported that Mr. Porter had not +been at the bank. Fenton went down himself at ten o'clock and found the +president's desk closed.</p> + +<p>"Where's the boss?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"Won't be down this morning," said Wheaton. "Miss Porter telephoned that +he wasn't feeling well, but he expected to be down after luncheon."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXIV</span> <span class="smaller">INTERRUPTED PLANS</span></h2> + +<p>Porter had wakened that morning with a pain-racked body and the hot +taste of fever in his mouth. He dressed and went downstairs to +breakfast, but left the table and returned to his room to lie down.</p> + +<p>"I'll be all right in an hour or so; I guess I've taken cold," he said +to Evelyn. At the end of an hour he was shaking with a chill.</p> + +<p>Evelyn left him alone to telephone for the doctor and in her absence he +tried to rise and fainted. He was still lying on the floor when she +returned. When the doctor came he found the household in a panic, and +almost before Porter realized it, he was hazily watching the white cap +of the trained nurse whom the doctor ordered with his medicines.</p> + +<p>"Your father has a fever of some sort," he said to Evelyn. "It may be +only a severe attack of malaria; but it's probably typhoid. In any +event, there's nothing to be alarmed about. Mr. Porter has one of the +old-fashioned constitutions," he added, reassuringly, "and there's +nothing to fear for him."</p> + +<p>Porter protested all the morning that he would go to his office after +luncheon, but the temperature line on the nurse's chart climbed steadily +upward. He resented the tyranny of the nurse, who moved about the room +with an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> air of having been there always, and he was impatient under the +efforts of Evelyn to soothe him. The doctor came again at noon. He was +of Porter's age and an old friend; he dealt frankly with his patient +now. Evelyn stood by and listened, adding her own words of pleading and +cheer; and while the doctor gave instructions to the nurse outside, he +relaxed, and let her smooth his pillow and bathe his hot brow.</p> + +<p>"This may be my turn—" he began.</p> + +<p>"Not by any manner of means, father," she broke in with a lightness she +did not feel. It moved her greatly to see his weakness.</p> + +<p>"It's an unfortunate time," he said, "and there's something you must do +for me. I've got to see Wheaton or Fenton. It's very important."</p> + +<p>"But you mustn't, father; business can wait until you're well again. It +will be only a few days—"</p> + +<p>"You mustn't question what I ask," he went on very steadily. "It's of +great importance," and she knew that he meant it.</p> + +<p>"Can't I see them for you?" she asked. He turned his slight lean body +under the covers, and shook his head helplessly on his pillow.</p> + +<p>"You see you can't talk, father," she said very gently. "Is there +anything I can say to them for you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said weakly, "I want you to give the key to one of my boxes to +Wheaton. Tell him to take out a package—marked Traction—and give it to +Fenton."</p> + +<p>Evelyn brought his key ring and he pointed out the key and watched her +slip it from the ring.</p> + +<p>"I'll send for Mr. Wheaton at once," she said. "Don't worry any more about it, father."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p><p>"Evelyn!" She had started for the door, but now hurried back to him.</p> + +<p>"Don't tell him anything over the telephone; just ask him to come up." +She went out at once that he might be assured, and he turned wearily on +his pillow and slept.</p> + +<p>Porter's illness was proclaimed in the first editions of the afternoon +papers, which Wheaton saw at his desk. News gains force by publication, +and when he read the printed statement that the president of the +Clarkson National Bank was confined to his house by illness, he felt +that Porter must really be very sick; and he naturally turned the fact +over in his mind to see how this might affect him. The directors came in +and sat about in the directors' room with their hats on, and Wingate, +the starch manufacturer, who had seen Porter's doctor, pronounced the +president a very sick man and suggested that Thompson, the invalid +vice-president, ought to be notified. The others acquiesced, and they +prepared a telegram to Thompson at Phoenix, suggesting his immediate return, if possible.</p> + +<p>Wheaton sat with them and listened respectfully. When he was first +appointed to his position, he had waited with a kind of awe for the +pronouncements of the directors; but he had acquired a low opinion of +them. He certainly knew more about the affairs of the bank than any of +them except Porter and he knew more than Porter of the details. During +this informal conference of the directors, Wheaton was called to the +telephone, and was cheered by the sound of Evelyn's voice. She asked him +to come up as soon as convenient; she wished to give him a message from +her father, who was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> very comfortable, she said. After dinner would do; +she knew that he must be very busy. He expressed his sympathy formally, +and went back to the directors with a kindlier feeling toward the world. +There was a consolation for him in the knowledge that Miss Porter must +summon him to her in this way; her father's illness made another tie between them.</p> + +<p>Wingate and the others came out of the directors' room as he put down +the telephone receiver, and they stood talking at his desk. He found a +secret pleasure in being able to answer at once the questions which +Wingate put to him, as to how the discounts were running, and what they +were carrying of county money, and how much government money they had on +hand. Wingate knew no more of banking than he knew of Egyptian +hieroglyphics; but he thought he did, because he had read the national +banking act through and had once met the comptroller of the currency at +dinner. The other directors listened to Wheaton's answers with +admiration. When they got outside Wingate remarked, as they stood at the +front door before dispersing:</p> + +<p>"I wish to thunder I could ask Jim Wheaton something just once that he +didn't know. That fellow knows every balance in the bank, and the date +of the maturity of every loan. He's almost too good to be true."</p> + +<p>They laughed.</p> + +<p>"I guess Jim's all right," said the wholesale dry goods merchant, who +was a good deal impressed with the fact of his directorship.</p> + +<p>"Sure," said Wingate. "But you can bet Thompson's lungs will get a lot +better when he gets our telegram." They had no great belief in +Thompson's invalidism. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> is one of the drolleries of our American life +that men, particularly in Western cities, never dare to be ill; it is +much nobler and far more convenient to die than to be sick.</p> + +<p>Fenton spent the afternoon in court. He intended to call at the Porters' +on his way home, and stopped at the bank before going to his office, +thinking that the banker might be there; but the president's desk was closed.</p> + +<p>"How sick is Mr. Porter?" he asked Wheaton.</p> + +<p>"He's pretty sick," said Wheaton. "It's typhoid fever."</p> + +<p>Fenton whistled.</p> + +<p>"That's what the doctor calls it. I spoke to Miss Porter over the +telephone a few minutes ago, and she did not seem to be alarmed about +her father. He's very strong, you know."</p> + +<p>But Fenton was not listening. "See here, Wheaton," he said suddenly, "do +you know anything about Porter's private affairs?"</p> + +<p>"Not very much," said Wheaton guardedly.</p> + +<p>"I guess you don't and I guess nobody does, worse luck! You know how +morbidly secretive he is, and how he shies off from publicity,—I +suppose you do," he went on a little grimly. He did not like Wheaton +particularly. "Well, he has some Traction stock,—the annual meeting is +held to-morrow and he's got to be represented."</p> + +<p>"He never told me of it," said Wheaton, truthfully.</p> + +<p>"His shares are probably in his inside pocket, or hid under the bed at +home; but we've got to get them if he has any, and get them quick. If he +has his wits he'll<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> probably try and send word to me. I suppose I +couldn't see him if I went up."</p> + +<p>"Miss Porter telephoned me to come,—on some business matter, she said, +and no doubt that's what it is."</p> + +<p>"Then I won't go just now, but I'll see you here as soon as you get down +town. I'll be at my office right after dinner." He paused, deliberating. +Fenton was a careful man, who rose to emergencies.</p> + +<p>"I'll come directly back here," said Wheaton. "No doubt the papers you +want are in one of Mr. Porter's private boxes."</p> + +<p>"Can you get into it to-night?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; it's in the vault where we keep the account books, and there's no time lock."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXV</span> <span class="smaller">JAMES WHEATON DECLINES AN OFFER</span></h2> + +<p>Margrave hung up the receiver of his desk telephone with a slam, and +rang a bell for the office boy.</p> + +<p>"Call the Clarkson National, and tell Mr. Wheaton to come over,—right away."</p> + +<p>It was late in the afternoon. Wheaton had been unusually busy with +routine work and the directors had taken an hour of his time. He had +turned away from Fenton to answer Margrave's message, and went toward +the Transcontinental office with a feeling of foreboding. He remembered +the place very well; it had hardly changed since the days of his own +brief service there. As he crossed the threshold of the private office, +the sight of Margrave's fat bulk squeezed into a chair that was too +small for him, impressed him unpleasantly; he had come with mixed +feelings, not knowing whether his friendly relations with the railroader +were to be further emphasized, or whether Margrave was about to make +some demand of him. His doubts were quickly dispelled by Margrave, who +turned around fiercely as the door closed.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Wheaton," he said, indicating a chair by his desk. His face +was very red and his stubby mustache seemed stiffer and more wire-like +than ever. He was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> breathing in the difficult choked manner of fat men +in their rage.</p> + +<p>"Now, I want you to tell me something; I want you to answer up fair and +square. I've got to come right down to brass tacks with you and I want +you to tell me the God's truth. How much Traction has Billy Porter got?"</p> + +<p>Wheaton grew white, and the lids closed over his eyes sleepily.</p> + +<p>"Come out with it," puffed Margrave. "If you've been making a fool of me +I want to know it."</p> + +<p>"I don't know what right you've got to ask me such a question," Wheaton +answered coldly.</p> + +<p>"No right,—no right!" Margrave panted. "You damned miserable fool, what +do you know or mean by right or wrong either? I can take my medicine as +well as the next man, but when a friend does me up, then I throw up my +hands. Why did you tell me you knew what Porter was doing, and lead me to think—"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Margrave," said Wheaton, "I didn't come here to be abused by you. +If I've done you any injury, I'm not aware of it."</p> + +<p>"I guess that's right," said Margrave ironically. "What I want to know +is what you let me think Porter wasn't taking hold of Traction for? You +knew I was going into it. I told you that with the fool idea that you +were a friend of mine. You told me the old man had stopped buying—"</p> + +<p>"And when I did I betrayed a confidence," said Wheaton, virtuously. "I +had no business telling you anything of the kind."</p> + +<p>"When you told me that," Margrave went on in bitter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> derision, shaking +his finger in Wheaton's face,—"when you told me that you told me a +damned lie, that's what you did, Jim Wheaton."</p> + +<p>"You can't talk to me that way," said Wheaton, sitting up in his chair +resentfully. "When I told you that, I believed it," and he added, with a +second's hesitation, "I still believe it."</p> + +<p>"Don't lie any more to me about it. I can take my medicine as well as +the next man, but—" swaying his big head back and forth on his fat +shoulders,—"when a man plays a dirty trick on Tim Margrave, I want him +to know when Margrave finds it out. I never thought it of you, Jim. I've +always treated you as white as I knew how; I've been glad to see you in my house,—"</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you're driving at, but I want you to stop abusing +me," said Wheaton, with more vigor of tone than he had yet manifested. +"I never said a word to you about Mr. Porter in connection with Traction +that I didn't think true. The only mistake I made was in saying anything +to you at all; but I thought you were a friend of mine. If anybody's +been deceived, I'm the one."</p> + +<p>Margrave watched him contemptuously.</p> + +<p>"Let me ask you something, Jim," he said, dropping his blustering tone. +"Haven't you known all these weeks when I've been seeing you every few +days at the club, and at my own house several times,"—he dwelt on the +second clause as if the breach of hospitality on Wheaton's part had been +the grievous offense,—"haven't you known that the old man was chasing +over the country in his carpet slippers buying all that stock he could +lay his hands on?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p><p>"On my sacred honor, I have not. When we talked of it I knew he had +been buying some, but I thought he'd stopped, as I let you understand. +I'm sorry if you were misled by anything I said."</p> + +<p>"Well, that's all over now," said Margrave, in a conciliatory tone. "I'm +in the devil's own hole, Jim. I've been relying on your information; in +fact, I've had it in mind to make you treasurer of the company when we +get reorganized. That ought to show you what a lot of confidence I've +been putting in you all this time that you've been watching me run into +the soup clear up to my chin."</p> + +<p>"I'm honestly sorry,"—began Wheaton. "I had no idea you were depending +on me. You ought to have known that I couldn't betray Mr. Porter."</p> + +<p>"You ought to be sorry," said Margrave dolefully. "But, look here, Jim, +I don't believe you're going to do me up on this."</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to do anybody up; but I don't see what I can do to help you."</p> + +<p>"Well, I do. You gave me to understand that you were buying this stuff +yourself. You still got what you had?"</p> + +<p>Margrave knew from the secretary of the company that Wheaton owned one +hundred shares. He thrust his hands into his pockets and looked at Wheaton appealingly.</p> + +<p>"Yes," Wheaton answered reluctantly. He knew now why he had been summoned.</p> + +<p>"Now, how many shares have you, Jim?" with increasing amiability of tone and manner.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p><p>"Just what I bought in the beginning; one hundred shares."</p> + +<p>Margrave took a pad from his desk and added one hundred to a short +column of figures. He made the footing and regarded the total with +careless interest before looking up.</p> + +<p>"How much do you want for that, Jim?"</p> + +<p>"To tell the truth, Mr. Margrave, I don't know that I want to sell it."</p> + +<p>"Now, Jim, you ain't going to hold me up on this? You've got me into a +pretty mess, and I hope you're not going to keep on pushing me in."</p> + +<p>Wheaton crossed and recrossed his legs. There was Porter and there was +Margrave. To whom did he owe allegiance? He resented the way in which +Margrave had taken him to task; he could not see that he had been +culpable, unless as against Porter. Yet Porter had told him nothing; if +Porter had treated him with a little more frankness, he certainly would +never have mentioned Traction to Margrave.</p> + +<p>"What I have wouldn't do you any good," he said finally.</p> + +<p>"But it might do me some harm! Now, you don't want these shares, Jim. +You're entitled to a profit, and I'll pay you a fair price."</p> + +<p>"I can't do anything to hurt Mr. Porter," said Wheaton. He remembered +just how the drawing-room at the Porters' looked, and the kindness and +frankness of Evelyn Porter's eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but you've got a duty to me," he stormed, getting red in the face +again. "You can bet your life that if it hadn't been for you, I'd never +have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> in this pickle. Come along now, Jim, I've got a lot of our +railroad people to go in on this. They depend absolutely on my judgment. +I'm a ruined man if I fail to show up at the meeting to-morrow with a +majority of these shares. It won't make any difference to Billy Porter +whether he wins out or not. He's got plenty of irons in the fire. I +don't know as a matter of fact that I need these shares; but I want to +be on the safe side. Does Porter know what you've got?"</p> + +<p>Wheaton shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Then what's the harm in selling them where you've got a chance, even if +you wasn't under any obligations to me? If you didn't know until I told +you that the old man was still on the hunt for this stuff, I don't see +that you're bound to wait for him to come around and ask you to sell to +him. How much shall I make it for?" He opened a drawer and pulled out his check-book.</p> + +<p>"They tell me Porter's pretty sick," Margrave continued, running the +stubs of the check-book through his thick thumb and forefinger. "Billy +isn't as young as he used to be. Very likely he'll never know you had +any Traction stock," he added significantly. "How much shall I make it for, Jim?"</p> + +<p>Wheaton walked over to the window and looked down into the street, while +Margrave watched him with pen in hand.</p> + +<p>"How much shall I make it for?" he asked more sharply.</p> + +<p>"You can't make it for anything, Mr. Margrave, and I want to say that +I'm very much disappointed in the way you've tried to get it from me."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p><p>Margrave swung around on him with an oath. But Wheaton went on, +speaking carefully.</p> + +<p>"I can't imagine that the few shares of stock I hold can be of real +importance in deciding the control of this company. I don't say I won't +give you these shares, but I can't do it now."</p> + +<p>Margrave's face grew red and purple as Wheaton walked toward the door.</p> + +<p>"Maybe you think you can wring more out of Porter than you can out of +me. But, by God, I'll take this out of you and out of him, too, if I go broke doing it."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXVI</span> <span class="smaller">THE KEY TO A DILEMMA</span></h2> + +<p>Evelyn had telephoned to Mrs. Whipple of her father's illness in terms +which allayed alarm; but when the afternoon paper referred to it +ominously, the good woman set out through the first snowstorm of the +season for the Porter house, carrying her campaign outfit, as the +general called it, in a suit-case. Mrs. Whipple's hopeful equanimity was +very welcome to Evelyn, who suffered as women do when denied the +privilege of ministering to their sick and forced to see their natural +office usurped by others. Mrs. Whipple brought a breath of May into the +atmosphere of the house. She found ways of dulling the edge of Evelyn's +anxiety and idleness; she even found things for Evelyn to do, and busied +herself disposing of inquiries at the door and telephone to save Evelyn +the trouble. In Evelyn's sitting-room Mrs. Whipple talked of clothes and +made it seem a great favor for the girl to drag out several new gowns +for inspection,—a kind of first view, she called it; and she sighed +over them and said they were more perfect than perfect lyrics and would +appeal to a larger audience.</p> + +<p>She chose one of the lyrics of black chiffon and lace, with a high +collar and half sleeves and forced Evelyn to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> put it on; and when they +sat down to dinner together she planned a portrait of Evelyn in the same +gown, which Chase or Sargent must paint. She managed the talk tactfully, +without committing the error of trying to ignore the sick man upstairs. +She made his illness seem incidental merely, and with a bright side, in +that it gave her a chance to spend a few days at the Hill. Then she went on:</p> + +<p>"Warry and Mr. Saxton were at the house last night. It's delightful to +see men so devoted to each other as they are; and it's great fun to hear +them banter each other. I didn't know that Mr. Saxton could be funny, +but in his quiet way he says the drollest things!"</p> + +<p>"I thought he was very serious," said Evelyn. "I rarely see him, but +when I do, he flatters me by talking about books. He thinks I'm literary!"</p> + +<p>"I can't imagine it."</p> + +<p>Evelyn laughed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, thanks! I'm making progress!"</p> + +<p>"It's funny," Mrs. Whipple continued, "the way he takes care of Warry. +The general says Mr. Saxton is a Newfoundland and Warry a fox terrier. +Warry's at work again, and I suppose we have Mr. Saxton's influence to thank."</p> + +<p>"A man like that could do a great deal for Warry," said Evelyn. "If +Warry doesn't settle down pretty soon he'll lose his chance." Then, her +father coming into her thoughts, she added irrelevantly: "Mr. Thompson +will probably come home. Mr. Wheaton telephoned that the directors had wired him."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Mrs. Whipple, looking at the girl<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> quickly,—"so much +responsibility,—I suppose it would be hardly fair to Mr. Wheaton—"</p> + +<p>"I suppose not," said Evelyn.</p> + +<p>"It's just the same in business as it is in the army," continued Mrs. +Whipple, who referred everything back to the military establishment. +"The bugle's got to blow every morning whether the colonel's sick or +not. I suppose the bank keeps open just the same. When a thing's once +well started it has a way of running on, whether anybody attends to it or not."</p> + +<p>"But you couldn't get father to believe that," said Evelyn, smiling in +recollection of her father's life-long refutation of this philosophy.</p> + +<p>"No indeed," assented Mrs. Whipple. "But in the army there is a good +deal to make a man humble. If he gets transferred from one end of the +land to another, somebody else does the work he has been doing, and +usually you wouldn't know the difference. The individual is really +extinguished; they all sign their reports in exactly the same place, and +one signature is just as good at Washington as another." This was a +favorite line of discourse with Mrs. Whipple; she had reduced her army +experience to a philosophy, which she was fond of presenting on any occasion.</p> + +<p>The maid brought Evelyn a card before they had finished coffee.</p> + +<p>"It's Mr. Wheaton," she explained; "I asked him to come. Father was +greatly troubled about some matter which he said must not be neglected. +He wanted me to give the key of his box to Mr. Wheaton,—there are some +papers which it is very necessary for Mr. Fenton to have. It's something +I hadn't heard of before, but it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> must be important. He's been flighty +this afternoon and has tried to talk about it."</p> + +<p>Evelyn had risen and stood by the table with a troubled look on her +face, as if expecting counsel; but she was thinking of the sick man +upstairs and not of his business affairs.</p> + +<p>"Yes; don't wait for me," said the older woman, as though it were merely +a question of the girl's excusing herself. When Evelyn had gone, Mrs. +Whipple plied her spoon in her cup long after the single lump of sugar +was dissolved. Mrs. Whipple had a way of disliking people thoroughly +when they did not please her, and she did not like James Wheaton. She +was wondering why, as she sat alone at the table and played with the spoon.</p> + +<p>The maid who admitted Wheaton had let him elect between the drawing room +and the library, and he chose the latter instinctively, as less formal +and more appropriate for an interview based on his dual social and +business relations with the Porters. His slim figure appeared to +advantage in evening clothes; he was no longer afraid of rooms that were +handsome and spacious like this. There was nowadays no more correctly +groomed man in Clarkson than he, though Warry Raridan had remarked to +Wheaton at the Bachelors' that his ties were composed a trifle too +neatly; a tie to be properly done should, Raridan held, leave something +to the imagination. Wheaton heard the swish of Evelyn's skirts in the +hall with a quickening heartbeat. Her black gown intensified her +fairness; he had never seen her in black before, and it gave a new +accent to her beauty as she came toward him.</p> + +<p>"It was a great shock to us down town to hear of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> your father's illness. +He seemed as well as usual yesterday."</p> + +<p>"Did you think so? I thought he looked worn when he came home last +evening. He has been working very hard lately."</p> + +<p>Wheaton had never seen her so grave. He was sincerely sorry for her +trouble, and he tried to say so. There was something appealing in her +unusual calm; the low tones of her voice were not wasted on him.</p> + +<p>"Father asked me to send for you this morning, but he had grown so ill +in a few hours that I took the responsibility of not doing it. The +doctor said emphatically that he must not see people. But something in +particular was on his mind, some papers that Mr. Fenton should have. +They are in his box at the bank, and I was to give you the key to it. It +is something about the Traction Company; no doubt you know of it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," Wheaton assented. It was not necessary for him to say that Mr. +Porter had told him nothing about it.</p> + +<p>"You can attend to this easily?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, certainly. Mr. Fenton spoke to me about the matter this afternoon. +It is very important and he wished me to report to him as soon as I +found the papers. No doubt they are in your father's box," he said. "He +is always very methodical." He smiled at her reassuringly and rose. She +did not ask him to stay longer, but went to fetch the key.</p> + +<p>It was a small, thin bit of steel. Wheaton turned it over in his hand.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p><p>"I'll return the key to-morrow, after I've found the papers Mr. Fenton +wants."</p> + +<p>"Very well. I hope you will have no difficulty."</p> + +<p>He still held the key in his fingers, not knowing whether this was his +dismissal or not.</p> + +<p>"There is one thing more, Mr. Wheaton. Father seemed very much troubled +about this Traction matter—"</p> + +<p>"Very unnecessarily, I'm sure," said Wheaton soothingly.</p> + +<p>"He evidently wished all the papers he has concerning the company to be +given to Mr. Fenton. Now, this probably is of no importance whatever, +but several years ago father gave me some stock in the street railway +company. It came about through a little fun-making between us. We were +talking of railway passes,—you know he never accepts any"—Wheaton +blinked—"and I told him I'd like to have a pass on something, even if +it was only a street car line."</p> + +<p>She was smiling in her eagerness that he should understand perfectly.</p> + +<p>"And he said he guessed he could fix that by giving me some stock in the +company. I remember that he made light of it when I thanked him, and +said it wasn't so important as it looked. He probably forgot it long +ago. I had forgotten it myself—I never got the pass, either! but I +brought the stock down that Mr. Fenton might have use for it." She went +over to the mantel and picked up a paper, while he watched her; and when +she put it into his hand he turned it over. It was a certificate for one +hundred shares, issued in due form to Evelyn Porter, but was not assigned.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p><p>"It may be important," said Wheaton, regarding the paper thoughtfully. +"Mr. Fenton will know. It couldn't be used without your name on the +back," he said, indicating the place on the certificate.</p> + +<p>"Oh, should I sign it?" she asked, in the curious fluttering way in +which many women approach the minor details of business. Wheaton +hesitated; he did not imagine that this block of stock could be of +importance, and yet the tentative business association with Miss Porter +was so pleasant that he yielded to a temptation to prolong it.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you might sign it," he said.</p> + +<p>Evelyn went to her father's table and wrote her name as Wheaton indicated.</p> + +<p>"A witness is required and I will supply that." And Wheaton sat down at +the table and signed his name beside hers, while she stood opposite him, +the tips of her fingers resting on the table.</p> + +<p>"Evelyn Porter" and "James Wheaton." He blotted the names with Porter's +blotter, Evelyn still standing by him, slightly mystified as women often +are by the fact that their signatures have a value. He felt that there +was something intimate in the fact of their signing themselves together +there. He was thrilled by her beauty. The black lace falling from her +elbows made a filmy tracery upon her white arms. Her head was bent +toward him, the shaded lamp cast a glow upon her face and throat, and +her slim, white hands rested on the table so near that he could have +touched them. She bent her gaze upon him gravely; she, too, felt that +his relations with her father made a tie between them; he was older than +the other men who came to see her; she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> yielded him a respect for his +well-won success. A vague sense of what her father liked in him crept +into her mind in the moment that she stood looking down on him; he was +quiet, deft and sure,—qualities which his smoothly-combed black hair +and immaculate linen seemed to emphasize. She gave, in her ignorance of +business, an exaggerated importance to the trifling transaction which he +had now concluded. He smiled up at her as he put down the pen.</p> + +<p>"It isn't as serious as it looks," he said, rising.</p> + +<p>"It must be very interesting when you understand it," she answered.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry—so very sorry for your trouble. I hope—if I can serve you +in any way you will not hesitate—"</p> + +<p>"You are very kind," she said. Neither moved. They regarded each other +across the table with a serious fixed gaze; the sweet girlish spirit in +her was held by some curious fascinating power in him. He bent toward +her, his hand lightly clenched on the edge of the table.</p> + +<p>"I hope there may never be a time when you will not feel free to command +me—in any way." He spoke slowly; his words seemed to bind a chain about +her and she could not move or answer. With a sudden gesture he put out +his hand; it almost touched hers, and she did not shrink away.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, Mr. Wheaton!" Mrs. Whipple, handsome and smiling, sent +her greeting from the threshold, and swept into the room; and when she +took his hand she held it for a moment, as an elderly woman may, while +she chid him for his remissness in never coming to call on her.</p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/col04.jpg" width='461' height='700' alt="Illustration" /></div> + +<p>On his way down the slope to the car, Wheaton felt in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> his pocket +several times to be sure of the key. There was something the least bit +uncanny in his possession of it. Yesterday, as he knew well enough, +William Porter would no more have intrusted the key of his private box +to him or to any one else than he would have burned down his house. He +read into his errand a trust on Porter's part that included Porter's +daughter, too; but he got little satisfaction from this. He was only the +most convenient messenger available. His spirits rose and fell as he debated.</p> + +<p>The down-town streets were very quiet when he reached the business +district. He went to the side door of the bank and knocked for the +watchman to admit him. He took off his overcoat and hat and laid them +down carefully on his own desk.</p> + +<p>"Going to work to-night, Mr. Wheaton?" asked the watchman.</p> + +<p>Wheaton felt that he owed it to the watchman to explain, and he said:</p> + +<p>"There are some papers in Mr. Porter's box that I must give to Mr. +Fenton to-night. They are in the old vault." This vault was often opened +at night by the bookkeepers and there was no reason why the cashier +should not enter it when he pleased. The watchman turned up the lights +so that Wheaton could manipulate the combination, and then swung open +the door. Wheaton thanked him and went in. Two keys were necessary to +open all of the boxes; one was common to all and was kept by the bank. +Wheaton easily found it, and then he took from his pocket Porter's key +which supplemented the other. His pulses beat fast as he felt the lock +yield to the thin strip of steel, and in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> moment the box lay open +before his eyes. He had flashed on the electric light bulb in the vault +and recognized instantly Porter's inscription "Traction" on a brown +bundle. He then opened his own box and took out his Traction certificate +and carried it with Porter's packet into the directors' room.</p> + +<p>He sat playing with the package, which was sealed in green wax with the +plain oval insignium of the bank. The packet was larger than he had +expected it to be; he had no idea of the amount of stock it contained; +and he knew nothing of the bonds. He felt tempted to open it; but +clearly that was not within his instructions. He must deliver it intact +to Fenton, and he would do it instantly. He hesitated, though, and drew +out the certificate which Evelyn had given him and turned the crisp +paper over in his hand. Each of them owned one hundred shares of +Traction stock; he was not thinking of this, but of Evelyn, whose +signature held his eye. It was an angular hand, and she ran her two +names together with a long sweep of the pen.</p> + +<p>His thoughts were given a new direction by the noise of a colloquy +between the watchman and some one at the door. He heard his own name +mentioned, and thrusting the certificates into his pocket, he went out +to learn what was the matter.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Wheaton," called the watchman, who held the door partly closed on +some one, "Mr. Margrave wishes to see you."</p> + +<p>As Wheaton walked toward the watchman, Margrave strode in heavily on the +tile floor of the bank.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXVII</span> <span class="smaller">A MEETING BETWEEN GENTLEMEN</span></h2> + +<p>"Hello, Wheaton," said Margrave cheerfully. "I've had the devil's own +time finding you."</p> + +<p>He advanced upon Wheaton and shook him warmly by the hand. Then, this +having been for the benefit of the watchman, he said, in a low tone:</p> + +<p>"Let's go into the directors' room, Jim, I want to see you."</p> + +<p>The main bank room was only dimly lighted, but a cluster of electric +lights burned brilliantly above the directors' mahogany table, around +which were chairs of the Bank of England pattern.</p> + +<p>"Have a seat, Mr. Margrave," said Wheaton formally. He had left the door +open, but Margrave closed it carefully. Porter's bundle of papers in its +manila wrapper lay on the table, and Wheaton sat down close to it.</p> + +<p>"What you got there, greenbacks?" asked Margrave. "If you were just +leaving for Canada, don't miss the train on my account."</p> + +<p>"That isn't funny," said Wheaton, severely.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I wouldn't be so damned sensitive," said Margrave, throwing open +his overcoat and placing his hat on the table in front of him. "I guess +you ain't any better than some of the rest of 'em."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p><p>"I suppose you didn't come to say that," said Wheaton. He ran his +fingers over the wax seal on the packet. He wished that it were back in Porter's box.</p> + +<p>"We were having a little talk this afternoon, Jim," began Margrave in a +friendly and familiar tone, "about Traction matters. As I remember it, +in our last talk, it was understood that if I needed your little bunch +of Traction shares you'd let me have 'em when the time came. Now our +friend Porter's sick," continued Margrave, watching Wheaton sharply with +his small, keen eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes; he's sick," repeated Wheaton.</p> + +<p>"He's pretty damned sick."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you mean he is very sick; I don't know that it's so serious. +I was at the house this evening."</p> + +<p>"Comforting the daughter, no doubt," with a sneer. "Now, Jim, I'm going +to say something to you and I don't want you to give back any prayer +meeting talk. The chances are that Porter's going to die." He waited a +moment to let the remark sink into Wheaton's consciousness, and then he +went on: "I guess he won't be able to vote his stock to-morrow. I +suppose you've got it or know where it is." He eyed the bundle on which +Wheaton's hand at that moment rested nervously, and Wheaton sat back in +his chair and thrust his hand into his trousers' pockets, looking +unconcernedly at Margrave.</p> + +<p>"I want that stock, Jim," said the railroader, quietly, "and I want you +to give it to me to-night."</p> + +<p>"Margrave," said Wheaton, and it was the first time he had so addressed +him, "you must be crazy, or a fool."</p> + +<p>"Things are going pretty well with you, Jim," <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>Margrave continued, as if +in friendly canvass of Wheaton's future. "You have a good position here; +when the old man's out of the way, you can marry the girl and be +president of the bank. It's dead easy for a smart fellow like you. It +would be too bad for you to spoil such prospects right now, when the +game is all in your own hands, by failing to help a friend in trouble." +Wheaton said nothing and Margrave resumed:</p> + +<p>"You're trying to catch on to this damned society business here, and I +want you to do it. I haven't got any objections to your sailing as high +as you can. I know all about you. I gave you your first job when you came here—"</p> + +<p>"I appreciate all that, Mr. Margrave," Wheaton broke in. "You said the +word that got me into the Clarkson National, and I have never forgotten it."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't want you to forget it. But see here: as long as I +recommended you and stood by you when you were a ratty little train +butcher, and without knowing anything about you except that you were +always on hand and kept your mouth shut, I think you owe something to +me." He bent forward in his chair, which creaked under him as he shifted +his bulk. "One night last fall, just before the Knights of Midas show, a +drunken scamp came into my yard, and made a nasty row. I was about to +turn him over to the police when he began whimpering and said he knew +you. He wasn't doing any particular harm and I gave him a quarter and +told him to get out; but he wanted to talk. He said—" Margrave dropped +his voice and fastened his eyes on Wheaton—"he was a long-lost brother +of yours. He was pretty drunk, but he seemed clear on your family<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> +history, Jim. He said he'd done time once back in Illinois, and got you +out of a scrape. He told me his name was William Wheaton, but that he +had lost it in the shuffle somewhere and was known as Snyder. I gave him +a quarter and started him toward Porter's where I knew you were doing +the society act. I heard afterward that he found you."</p> + +<p>Margrave creaked back in his chair and chuckled.</p> + +<p>"He was an infernal liar," said Wheaton hotly. "And so you sent that +scamp over there to make a row. I didn't think you would play me a trick +like that." He was betrayed out of his usual calm control and his mouth twitched.</p> + +<p>"Now, Jim," Margrave continued magnanimously, "I don't care a damn about +your family connections. You're all right. You're good enough for me, +you understand, and you're good enough for the Porters. My father was a +butcher and I began life sweeping out the shop, and I guess everybody +knows it; and if they don't like it, they know what they can do."</p> + +<p>Wheaton's hand rested again on the packet before him; he had flushed to +the temples, but the color slowly died out of his face. It was very +still in the room, and the watchman could be heard walking across the +tiled lobby outside. A patrol wagon rattled in the street with a great +clang of its gong. Wheaton had moved the brown parcel a little nearer to +the edge of the table; Margrave noticed this and for the first time took +a serious interest in the packet. He was not built for quick evolutions, +but he made what was, for a man of his bulk, a sudden movement around +the table toward Wheaton, who was between him and the door.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p><p>"What you got in that paper, Jim?" he asked, puffing from his exertion.</p> + +<p>Still Wheaton did not speak, but he picked up the parcel and took a step +toward the door, Margrave advancing upon him.</p> + +<p>Wheaton reached the door, holding the package under his arm.</p> + +<p>"Don't touch me; don't touch me," he said, hoarsely. Margrave still came +toward him. Wheaton's unengaged hand went nervously to his throat, and +he fumbled at his tie. The sweat came out on his forehead. It was a +curious scene, the tall, dark man in his evening clothes, pitiful in his +agitation, with his back against the door, hugging the bundle under one +arm; and Margrave, in his rough business suit, walking slowly toward +Wheaton, who retreated before him.</p> + +<p>"I want that package, Jim."</p> + +<p>"Go away! go away!" The sweat shone on Wheaton's forehead in great +drops. "I can't, I can't—you know I can't!"</p> + +<p>"You damned coward!" said Margrave, laughing suddenly. "I want that +bundle." He made a gesture and Wheaton dodged and shrank away. Margrave +laughed again; a malicious mirth possessed him. But he grew suddenly +fierce and his fat fingers closed about Wheaton's neck. Wheaton huddled +against the door, holding the brown packet with both hands.</p> + +<p>"Drop it! Drop it!" blurted Margrave. He was breathing hard.</p> + +<p>A sharp knock at the door against which they struggled caused Margrave +to spring away. He walked down the room several paces with an assumption +of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>carelessness, and Wheaton, with the bundle still under his arm, +turned the knob of the door.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Wheaton!" called Fenton, blinking in the glare of the lights.</p> + +<p>"Good evening," said Wheaton.</p> + +<p>"How're you, Fenton," said Margrave, carelessly, but mopping his +forehead with his handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"Here are your papers," said Wheaton, almost thrusting his parcel into +the lawyer's hands.</p> + +<p>"All right," said Fenton, looking curiously from one to the other. And +then he glanced at the package, as if absent-mindedly, and saw that the +seal was unbroken.</p> + +<p>"Good night, gentlemen," he said. "Sorry to have disturbed you."</p> + +<p>"Hope you're not going to work to-night," said Margrave, solicitously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, not very long," said the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Hard on honest men when lawyers work at night," continued Margrave, as +the lawyer walked across the lobby.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you railroad people can say that," Fenton flung back at him.</p> + +<p>"How much Traction was in that package?" asked Margrave, closing the +door.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Wheaton, smoothing his tie. The watchman could be +heard closing the outside door on Fenton.</p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/col05.jpg" width='475' height='700' alt="Illustration" /></div> + +<p>"No, I don't think you do," returned Margrave. "You'd fixed it pretty +well with Fenton. If he'd only been a minute later I'd have got that +bundle. I didn't realize at first what you had there, Jim, until you +kept fingering it so desperately."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p><p>"Now," he said amiably, as if the real business of the evening had just +been reached, "there are those shares you own, Jim. I hope we won't be +interrupted while you're getting them for me."</p> + +<p>Wheaton hesitated.</p> + +<p>"You get them for me," said Margrave with a change of manner, "quick!"</p> + +<p>Wheaton still hesitated.</p> + +<p>Margrave picked up his hat.</p> + +<p>"I'm going from here to the <i>Gazette</i> office. You know they do what I +tell 'em over there. They'd like a little story about the aristocratic +Wheaton family of Ohio. Porter's girl would like that for breakfast to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>Wheaton hung between two inclinations, one to make terms with Margrave +and assure his friendship at any hazard, the other to break with him, +let the consequences be what they might. It is one of the impressive +facts of human destiny that the frail barks among us are those which are +sent into the least known seas. Great mariners have made charts and set +warning lights, but the hidden reefs change hourly, and the great +chartographer Experience cannot keep pace with them.</p> + +<p>"Hurry up," said Margrave impatiently; "this is my busy night and I +can't wait on you. Dig it up."</p> + +<p>Wheaton's hand went slowly to his pocket. As he drew out his own +certificate with nervous fingers, the certificate which Evelyn Porter +had given him an hour before fell upon the table.</p> + +<p>"That's the right color," said Margrave, snatching the paper as Wheaton +sprang forward to regain it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span></p><p>"Not that! not that! That isn't mine!"</p> + +<p>Margrave stepped back and swept the face of the certificate with his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Well, this does beat hell! I knew you stood next, Jim," he said +insolently, "but I didn't know that you were on such confidential terms +as all this. And you witnessed the signature. Gosh! How sweet and pretty +it all is!" The paper exhaled the faint odor of sachet, and Margrave +lifted it to his nostrils with a mockery of delight.</p> + +<p>"I must have that, Margrave. I will do anything, but I must have +that—— You wouldn't——"</p> + +<p>Margrave watched him maliciously, thoroughly enjoying his terror.</p> + +<p>"How do you know I wouldn't? Give me the other one, Jim."</p> + +<p>Still Wheaton held his own certificate; he believed for a moment that he +could trade the one for the other.</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to fool with you much longer, Jim; you either give me +that certificate or I go to the <i>Gazette</i> office as straight as I can +walk. Just sign it in blank, the way the other one is. I'll witness it all right."</p> + +<p>Wheaton wrote while Margrave stood over him, holding ready a blotter +which he applied to Wheaton's signature with unnecessary care.</p> + +<p>"I hope this won't cause you any inconvenience with the lady, but you're +undoubtedly a fair liar and you can fix that all right, +particularly"—with a chuckle—"if the old man cashes in."</p> + +<p>Wheaton followed Margrave's movements as if under a spell that he could +not shake off. Margrave walked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> toward the door with an air of +nonchalance, pulling on his gloves.</p> + +<p>"I haven't my check-book with me, Jim, but I'll settle for your stock +and Miss Evelyn's, too, after I get things reorganized. It'll be worth +more money then. Please give the young lady my compliments," with +irritating suavity. He stopped, smoothing the backs of his gloves +placidly. "That's all right, Jim, ain't it?" he asked mockingly.</p> + +<p>"I hope you're satisfied," said Wheaton weakly. Twice, within a year, he +had felt the fingers of an angry man at his throat and he did not relish the experience.</p> + +<p>"I'm never satisfied," said Margrave, picking up his hat.</p> + +<p>Wheaton wished to make a bargain with him, to assure his own immunity; +but he did not know how to accomplish it. Margrave had threatened him, +and he wished to dull the point of the threat, but he was afraid to ask +a promise of him. He said, as Margrave opened the door to go out:</p> + +<p>"Do you think Fenton noticed anything?" His tone was so pitiful in its +eagerness that Margrave laughed in his face.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Jim, and I don't give a damn."</p> + +<p>Wheaton did not follow him to the door, but Margrave seemed in no hurry +to leave. The watchman went forward to let him out at the side entrance, +and Margrave paused to light a cigar very deliberately and to urge one +on the watchman.</p> + +<p>"If he'd only been sure the old man would have died to-night," he +reflected as he walked up the street, "he'd<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> have given me Porter's +shares, easy." He went to his office, entertaining himself with this +pleasant speculation. "If I'd got out of the bank with that package he'd +never dared squeal," he presently concluded.</p> + +<p>Timothy Margrave was a fair judge of character.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXVIII</span> <span class="smaller">BROKEN GLASS</span></h2> + +<p>John Saxton was a good deal the worse for wear as he swung himself from +a sleeper in the Clarkson station and bolted for a down-town car. Coal +mining is a dirty business, and there are limits to the things that can +be crowded into a suit-case. He had been crawling through four-foot +veins of Kansas coal in the interest of the Neponset Trust Company, and +had been delayed a day longer than he had expected. He continued to be +in a good deal of a hurry after he reached his office, and he kicked +aside the mail which rustled under the door as he opened it, and knelt +hastily before the safe and began rattling the tumblers of the +combination. He pulled out a long envelope and then with more composure +consulted his watch.</p> + +<p>It was half-past eight. He took from his memorandum calendar the leaf +for the day; on it he had posted a cutting from a local newspaper +announcing the annual meeting of the stockholders of the Clarkson +Traction Company. The meeting was to be held, so the notice recited, +between the hours of 9 a. m. and 5 p. m. of the second Tuesday of +November, at the general offices of the Company in the city of Clarkson. +The Exchange Building was specified, though the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>administrative offices +of the Company were on the other side of town. Before setting forth +Saxton examined his papers, which were certificates of stock in the +Clarkson Traction Company. They had been sent to him by a personal +friend in Boston, the trustee of an estate, with instructions to +investigate and report. Having received them just as he was leaving for +Kansas, there had been no opportunity for consulting Porter or Wheaton, +his usual advisers in perplexing matters. Traction stock had advanced +lately, despite newspaper attacks on the company and he hoped to sell +his friend's shares to advantage.</p> + +<p>Saxton had never been in the Exchange Building before and he poked about +in the dark upper floors, uncertainly looking for the rooms described in +the advertisement. Another man, also peering about in the hall, ran against him.</p> + +<p>"Beg pardon, but can you tell me——"</p> + +<p>"Good morning, Mr. Saxton, are you acquainted in this rookery?" It was +Fenton, who carried a brown parcel under his arm and appeared annoyed.</p> + +<p>"No; but I'm learning," John answered. "I'm looking for the offices of +the Traction Company. Its light seems to be hid under a bushel."</p> + +<p>"I'm looking for it, too," said Fenton. "Some humorist seems to have +changed the numbers on this floor."</p> + +<p>They traversed the halls of several floors in an effort to find the +numbers specified in the notice. Fenton swore in an agreeable tone and +occasionally kicked at a door in his rage. Saxton called to him +presently from a dark corner where he held up a lighted match to read +the number on the transom.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span></p><p>"Here's our number, but there's no name on the door."</p> + +<p>Fenton advanced upon the door with long strides, but it did not open as +he grasped the knob. He kicked it sharply, but there was still no +response from within.</p> + +<p>"What time is it, Saxton?" he asked over his shoulder, without abating +his pounding or knocking.</p> + +<p>Saxton stepped back and peered into his watch.</p> + +<p>"Five minutes of nine." He was aware now that something important was in +progress. He did not know Fenton well, but he knew that he was the +attorney for Porter and the Clarkson National, and that he was a serious +character who did not beat on doors unless he had business on the +inside. Fenton now called out loudly, demanding admission. There was a +low sound of voices and a sharp noise of chairs being pushed over an +uncarpeted floor within; but the knob which Fenton still held and shook did not turn.</p> + +<p>On the inside of the door Timothy Margrave and Horton, the president, +Barnes, the secretary, and Percival, the treasurer of the Clarkson +Traction Company, were holding the annual meeting of that corporation, +in conformity with its articles of association, and according to the +duly advertised notice as required by the statutes in such cases made +and provided. They had, however, anticipated the hour slightly; but this +was not, Margrave said, an important matter. His notions of the proper +way of holding business meetings were based on his long experience in +managing ward primaries.</p> + +<p>Horton, the president, called the meeting to order. "Well, boys," said +Margrave, "there ain't any use waiting on the other fellows. Business is +business and we might as well get through with it."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span></p><p>"Shall we hear the report of the secretary and treasurer?" the +president asked Margrave deferentially.</p> + +<p>"I move that we pass that," said Margrave. He was smoothing out the +certificates of his shares on the table. "I move that we proceed at once +to the election of officers of the company. Is the door locked?"</p> + +<p>"Sure," said Barnes, the secretary, but he went over and tried it. "I +guess Porter ain't coming," he said in a tone of regret that was +intended to be facetious, "and he must have forgotten to send proxies."</p> + +<p>"I vote twenty-five hundred and ninety-seven shares of the common stock +of this company; you gentlemen haven't more than that, have you?" The +fact was that the three officers present owned only one share each as +their strict legal qualification for holding office.</p> + +<p>"I think the minutes ought to show," said the secretary, "that these +were the only shares represented, and that due advertisement was +published according to law, but that owing to the loss of the stock +register, written notice to individual stockholders was given only to +such holders of certificates as disclosed themselves."</p> + +<p>"That's all right," said Margrave. "You fix it up, Barnes, and you'd +better get Congreve to see that it's done with the legal frills." +Congreve was the local counsel of Margrave's railroad, and was a man +that could be trusted.</p> + +<p>"I move," said Barnes, "that we proceed to the election of officers for the ensuing year."</p> + +<p>"And I move," said Percival, "that the secretary be instructed to cast +the ballot of the stockholders for Timothy Margrave for president."</p> + +<p>"Consent," exclaimed Barnes, hurriedly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span></p><p>Steps could be heard in the outer hall, and Margrave looked at his +watch.</p> + +<p>"I move that we adjourn to meet at my office at two o'clock, to conclude +the election of officers."</p> + +<p>Some one was shaking the outside door.</p> + +<p>"Can't we finish now?" asked Horton, who had been promised the +vice-presidency. He and the other officers were afraid of Margrave, and +were reluctant to have their own elections deferred even for a few hours.</p> + +<p>There was another knock at the door.</p> + +<p>"At two o'clock," said Margrave decisively, as the knocking at the door +was renewed. He gathered up his certificates and prepared to leave.</p> + +<p>Saxton, standing with Fenton in the dark hall, referred to his watch again.</p> + +<p>"Shall we go in?" he asked.</p> + +<p>The lawyer dropped the knob of the door and drew back out of the way.</p> + +<p>"It's too bad it's glass," said Saxton, setting his shoulder against the +wooden frame over the lock. The lock held, but the door bent away from +it. He braced his feet and drove his shoulder harder into the corner, at +the same time pressing his hip against the lock. It refused to yield, +but the glass cracked, and finally half of it fell with a crash to the floor within.</p> + +<p>"Don't hurry yourselves, gentlemen," said Fenton, coolly, speaking +through the ragged edges of broken glass. Saxton thrust his hand in to +the catch and opened the door.</p> + +<p>"Why, it's only Fenton," called Margrave in a pleasant tone to his +associates, who had effected their exits safely into a rear room.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p><p>"It's only Fenton," continued the lawyer, stepping inside, "but I'll +have to trouble you to wait a few minutes."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the meeting's adjourned, if that's what you want," said Margrave.</p> + +<p>"That won't go down," said Fenton, placing his package on the table. +"You're old enough to know, Margrave, that one man can't hold a +stockholders' meeting behind locked doors in a pigeon roost."</p> + +<p>"The meeting was held regular, at the hour and place advertised," said +Margrave with dignity. "A majority of the stockholders were represented."</p> + +<p>"By you, I suppose," said Fenton, who had walked into the room followed by Saxton.</p> + +<p>"By me," said Margrave. He had not taken off his overcoat and he now +began to button it about his portly figure.</p> + +<p>"How many shares have you?" asked the lawyer, seating himself on the +edge of the table.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you think I'm working a bluff, but I've really got the stuff +this time, Fenton. To be real decent with you I don't mind telling you +that I've got exactly twenty-five hundred and ninety-seven shares of +this stock. I guess that's a majority all right. Now one good turn +deserves another; how much has Porter got? I don't care a damn, but I'd +just like to know." He stood by the table and ostentatiously played with +his certificates to make Fenton's humiliation all the keener. Margrave's +associates stood at the back of the room and watched him admiringly. +Fenton's bundle still lay on the table, and Saxton stood with his hands +in his pockets watching events. There had been no chance for him to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> +explain to Fenton his reasons for seeking the offices of the Traction +Company and it had pleased Margrave to ignore his presence; Fenton paid +no further attention to him. He wondered at Fenton's forbearance, and +expected the lawyer to demolish Margrave, but Fenton said:</p> + +<p>"You are quite right, Margrave. I hold for Mr. Porter exactly +twenty-three hundred and fifty shares."</p> + +<p>Margrave nodded patronizingly.</p> + +<p>"Just a little under the mark."</p> + +<p>"You may make that twenty-four hundred even," said Saxton, "if it will +do you any good."</p> + +<p>"I'm still shy," said Fenton. "Our friend clearly has the advantage."</p> + +<p>"I suppose if you'd known how near you'd come, you'd have hustled pretty +hard for the others," said Margrave, sympathetically.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know!" said Fenton, with the taunting inflection which +gives slang to the phrase. He did not seem greatly disturbed. Saxton +expected him to try to make terms; but the lawyer yawned in a +preoccupied way, before he said:</p> + +<p>"So long as the margin's so small, you'd better be decent and hold your +stockholders' meeting according to law and let us in. I'm sure Mr. +Saxton and I would be of great assistance—wise counsel and all that."</p> + +<p>Margrave laughed his horse laugh. "You're a pretty good fellow, Fenton, +and I'm sorry we can't do business together."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, if you won't, you won't." Fenton took up his bundle and +turned to the door.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you've got large chunks of Traction bonds,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> too, Margrave. +There's nothing like going in deep in these things."</p> + +<p>Margrave winked.</p> + +<p>"Bonds be damned. I've been hearing for four years that Traction +bondholders were going to tear up the earth, but I guess those old +frosts down in New England won't foreclose on me. I'll pay 'em their +interest as soon as I get to going and they'll think I'm hot stuff. And +say!" he ejaculated, suddenly, "if Porter's got any of those bonds don't +you get gay with 'em. It's a big thing for the town to have a practical +railroad man like me running the street car lines; and if I can't make +'em pay nobody can."</p> + +<p>"You're not conceited or anything, are you, Margrave?"</p> + +<p>"By the way, young man," said Margrave, addressing Saxton for the first +time, "we won't charge you anything for breakage to-day, but don't let +it happen again."</p> + +<p>Margrave lingered to reassure and instruct his associates as to the +adjourned meeting, and Saxton went out with Fenton.</p> + +<p>"That was rather tame," said John, as he and Fenton reached the street +together. "I hoped there would be some fun. These shares belong to a +Boston friend and they're for sale."</p> + +<p>"I wonder how Porter came to miss them," said Fenton, grimly. "You'd +better keep them as souvenirs of the occasion. The engraving isn't bad. +I turn up this way." They paused at the corner. He still carried his +bundle and he drew from his pocket now a number of documents in manila jackets.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span></p><p>"I have a little errand at the Federal Court." They stood by a letter +box and the cars of the Traction Company wheezed and clanged up Varney +Street past them.</p> + +<p>"The fact is," he said, "that Mr. Porter owns all of the bonds of the +Traction Company."</p> + +<p>Saxton nodded. He understood now why the stockholders' meeting had not +disturbed Fenton.</p> + +<p>"This is an ugly mess," the lawyer continued. "It would have suited me +better to control the company through the stock so long as we had so +much, but we didn't quite make it. You're friendly to Mr. Porter, aren't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I don't know how he feels toward me—"</p> + +<p>"We can't ask him just now, so we'll take it for granted. The court will +unquestionably appoint a receiver, independent of this morning's +proceedings, and if you don't mind, I'll ask to have you put in +temporarily, or until we can learn Mr. Porter's wishes."</p> + +<p>"But—there are other and better men—"</p> + +<p>"Very likely; but I particularly wish this."</p> + +<p>"There's Mr. Wheaton—isn't he the natural man—in the bank and all +that?" urged Saxton.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Wheaton has a very exacting position and it would be unfair to add +to his duties," said the lawyer. "Will you keep where I can find you the +rest of the day?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said John; "I'll be at my office as soon as I hit a tub and a +breakfast. But you can do better," he called after Fenton, who was +walking rapidly toward the post-office building.</p> + +<p>Wheaton sat at his desk all the morning hoping that Fenton would drop in +to give him the result of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span>Traction meeting; but the lawyer did not +appear at the bank. He concluded that there was little chance of +learning of the outcome of the meeting until he saw the afternoon +papers. A dumb terror possessed him as he reflected upon the events of +the past day. It might be that the shares which Margrave had forced from +him would carry the balance of power. He felt keenly the ignominy of his +interview of the night before at the bank; he was sure that if he could +do it over again he would eject Margrave and dare him to do his worst.</p> + +<p>He could dramatize himself into a very heroic figure in combating +Margrave. If only Margrave had not seen Snyder! It was long ago that he +and his brother had made acquaintance with crime: that was the merest +slip; it was his only error. It had been kind of William Wheaton to take +the full burden of that theft upon himself; yet he thought with +repugnance of his brother's long career of crime; he detested the +weakness of a man who chose crime and squalor as his portion. He talked +to customers and did his detail work as usual, and went out for luncheon +to a near-by restaurant, as he had done when he was a clerk, making lack +of time an excuse for not going to The Bachelors' or the club. He felt a +sudden impulse to keep very much to himself, as if security lay in doing +so. His confidence returned as he reviewed his relations with Timothy +Margrave. He would demand the two certificates of Margrave whether they +had been used against Porter or not.</p> + +<p>Having reached this decision by the time he came in from luncheon he +went to the telephone and called Evelyn to ask her how her father was +and to report his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> delivery of the papers in her father's box to Mr. +Fenton, as instructed. Evelyn spoke hopefully of her father's illness; +there were no unfavorable symptoms, and everything pointed to his +recovery. It was very sweet to hear her voice in this way; and he went +to his desk comforted.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXIX</span> <span class="smaller">JOHN SAXTON, RECEIVER</span></h2> + +<p>At two o'clock Warry Raridan sat on a table in the United States court +room, kicking his heels together and smoking a cigarette. A number of +reporters stood about; the ex-president, the secretary and the treasurer +of the Clarkson Traction Company loafed within the space set apart for +attorneys and played with their hats. The court was sitting in chambers, +and those who waited knew that in the judge's private room something was +happening. The clerk came out presently with his hands full of papers +and affixed the official file mark to them. Raridan was waiting for +Fenton and Saxton and when they appeared together, he went across the +room to meet them.</p> + +<p>"How is it?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"It's all right," said Fenton. "Saxton has been appointed, pending a +hearing of the case on its merits, which can't be had until Mr. Porter is out again."</p> + +<p>"I knew it was coming," said Raridan, in a low tone to Saxton, "so I +came up to say that I'm glad you're recognized by the powers."</p> + +<p>"But it's only temporary," said John. "The little interest I represent +wouldn't justify it, of course. I'm still dazed that Fenton should have +urged my appointment on the court."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p><p>"What I'm here for is to go on your bond, old man."</p> + +<p>"But Fenton has fixed that,—some of the bank directors."</p> + +<p>"All right, John."</p> + +<p>Saxton was walking away, but he turned back. Something had gone amiss +with Raridan. Several times in their friendship Saxton had unconsciously +offended him. He saw that Warry was really hurt now.</p> + +<p>"I appreciate it, Warry, and it's like you to offer; of course I'd be +glad to have you."</p> + +<p>"Well, I hoped I was as good as those other fellows," said Raridan, more +cheerfully; and he went to the clerk's desk and signed the bond.</p> + +<p>Margrave came out now with his lawyer, and they were joined by +Margrave's allies of the morning. Margrave stopped to give the reporters +his side of the story. He assured them that this was merely a contest +between two interests for the control of the Traction Company. There had +been a misunderstanding, and until the differences between the two +factions of stockholders could be reconciled, the business of the +company would be managed by a receiver, who was, he said, "friendly to +all parties." The fact was that he had objected strenuously to Saxton's +appointment, but Fenton had insisted on it and the court had paid a good +deal of attention to what Fenton said. Margrave made much to the +reporters of his own election to the presidency, and intimated to them +that the receiver would soon be discharged and that he would assume the +active management of affairs.</p> + +<p>The papers that had been filed in the case disclosed a somewhat +different situation, which was fully laid before the public, greatly to +its surprise. It appeared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> that William Porter owned all the bonds of +the company, and only narrowly missed the stock control. The situation +was thoroughly interesting. A contention between Porter and Margrave was +novel in the history of Clarkson and the press made the most of it. The +<i>Gazette</i>, Margrave's paper, proved him to be wholly in the right, and +cited the summary action of the court in appointing an inexperienced man +to the receivership as another proof of the brutal abuse of power by federal courts.</p> + +<p>Margrave had put none of his own money into Traction stock, but had +invested funds belonging to the stockholders of the Transcontinental, +who had every confidence in his sagacity, and who trusted him +implicitly. He advised them of the receivership in terms which led them +to believe that he had brought it about as a part of his own plans. He +maintained an air of mystery and winked knowingly at friends who joked +him about the little <i>coup</i> by which Porter, though sick in bed, had, as +they said, "cleaned him up." He told those who flattered him by twitting +him on this score that he guessed Tim Margrave hadn't lost his grip yet, +and that before he was knocked out, the place of eternal damnation would +have been transformed into a skating rink.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXX</span> <span class="smaller">GREEN CHARTREUSE</span></h2> + +<p>There is a common law of character which is greater than the canons. It +fills many volumes of records in the high court of Experience, and we +add to it daily by our instinctive decisions in small matters; but only +the finer natures, highly endowed with discernment, master its +intricacies. The decalogue is a safe guidepost on the great highway of +life; but it does not avail the lost pilgrim who stumbles in remote +by-paths. The spirit is the only arbiter of the nicer distinctions +between right and wrong. James Wheaton did not steal; he would do no +murder; he was not even unusually covetous. If the tests which Destiny +applied to him had related to the great fundamentals of conduct, he +would not have been found wanting; but they were directed against +seemingly unimportant weaknesses, along the lines of his least +resistance to evil.</p> + +<p>A week had passed since Saxton's appointment to the receivership and +Wheaton went to and from his work with many misgivings. Several of +Wheaton's friends had confided to him their belief that he ought to have +been appointed receiver instead of Saxton, and there was little that he +could say to this, except that he had no time for it. He had become +nervous and distraught,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> and was irritable under the jesting of his +associates at The Bachelors'. There was a good deal of joking at their +table for several days after Saxton's appointment over Margrave's +discomfiture, to which Wheaton contributed little. He felt decidedly ill +at ease under it. Thompson, the cashier, had come home, and Wheaton +found his presence irksome.</p> + +<p>He had seen Margrave several times at the club since their last +interview at the bank and Margrave had nodded distantly, as if he hardly +remembered Wheaton. Wheaton assumed that sooner or later Margrave would +offer to pay him for his shares of Traction stock. But while the loss of +his own certificate, under all the circumstances, did not trouble him, +Margrave's appropriation of Evelyn Porter's shares was an unpleasant +fact that haunted all his waking hours.</p> + +<p>One evening, a week after the receivership incident, he resolved to go +to Margrave and demand, at any hazard, the return of Evelyn's +certificate. The idea seized firm hold upon him, and he set out at once +for Margrave's house. He inquired for Margrave at the door, and the maid +asked him to go into the library. They were entertaining at dinner, she +told him, and he said he would wait. He walked nervously up and down in +the well-appointed library, where Warry Raridan's purchases looked out +at him from the solid mahogany bookcases. He heard the hum of voices +faintly from the dining-room.</p> + +<p>He picked up a magazine and tried to read, but the printed pages did not +hold his eyes. He did not know how Margrave would treat him, and he +would have escaped from the house if he had dared. Margrave came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> in +presently, fat and ugly in his evening clothes. He welcomed Wheaton +noisily and introduced him to his guests, two directors of the +Transcontinental and their wives, who were passing through town on their +way to California.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Margrave and Mabel greeted Wheaton cordially. Mabel was dressed to +impress the ladies from New York, and was succeeding. The colored butler +passed coffee and cigars and green chartreuse, and when Wheaton declined +a cigar, Mabel brought him a cigarette from the taboret from which "The +Men" were helped to such trifles. Mrs. Margrave was oppressed by the +presence in her home of so many millions and so much social distinction +as her guests represented, and she contributed only murmurs of assent to +the conversation which Mabel led with ease, discoursing in her most +Tyringhamesque manner of yacht races, horse shows and like matters of +metropolitan interest. Wheaton was glad now that he had come; Margrave's +guests were people worth meeting; he liked the talk, and the chartreuse +gave elegance to the occasion.</p> + +<p>Margrave accommodated his heavy frame to the soft indulgence of a huge +leather chair and drained the liqueur from his glass at a gulp.</p> + +<p>"Well, gentlemen, I'm glad Mr. Wheaton could drop in to-night. He's a +friend of the road and of ours. If everybody treated the +Transcontinental as well as he does,—well, a good many things would be different!"</p> + +<p>He looked at Wheaton admiringly, and his guests followed his gaze with polite interest.</p> + +<p>"Why, gentlemen," said Margrave, straining forward until his face was +purple, "Wheaton did his level best for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> me in that Traction deal; yes, +sir, he worked with us on that, and if it hadn't been for that fool +judge we'd have had it all fixed." He leaned back and nodded at Wheaton benignantly.</p> + +<p>Wheaton had merely murmured at intervals during this deliverance. He did +not know what Margrave meant. He moved over by Mrs. Margrave and tried +to make talk with her. As soon as he felt that he could go decently, he +rose and shook hands with the visiting gentlemen and bowed to the +ladies. Margrave took him by the arm with an air of great intimacy and +affection and walked with him to the hall, where he made much of helping +Wheaton into his overcoat.</p> + +<p>"I wanted to see you on a business matter," Wheaton began, in a low tone.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Margrave loudly, "I forgot to mail you that check. I've +been terribly rushed lately; but in time, my boy, in time!"</p> + +<p>The people in the library could hardly have failed to hear every word.</p> + +<p>"Oh, not that, not that! I mean that other certificate." Wheaton was +trying to drop the conversation to a whispering basis as he drew on his +gloves. Margrave had again taken his arm and was walking with him toward +the front door, talking gustily all the while. He swung the door open +and followed Wheaton out upon the front step.</p> + +<p>"A glorious night! glorious!" he ejaculated, puffing from his walk. His +hand wandered up Wheaton's arm until it reached his collar, and after he +had allowed his fingers to grasp this lingeringly, he gave Wheaton a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> +sudden push forward, still holding his collar, then raised his fat leg +and kicked him from the step.</p> + +<p>"Come again, Jim?" he called pleasantly, as he backed within the door +and closed it to return to his guests.</p> + +<p>Wheaton reached his room, filled with righteous indignation. He might +have known that a coarse fellow like Margrave cared only for people whom +he could control; and he decided after a night of reflection that he had +acted handsomely in saving Porter's package of securities from Margrave +the night of the encounter at the bank. The more he thought of it, the +more certain he grew that he could, if it became necessary to protect +himself in any way, turn the tables on Margrave. He called Margrave a +scoundrel in his thoughts, and was half persuaded to go at once to +Fenton and explain why Margrave had been at the bank on the night that +Fenton had found him there.</p> + +<p>Wheaton continued to call at the Porters' daily to make inquiry for the +head of the house. On some of these occasions he saw Evelyn, but Mrs. +Whipple, whose staying qualities were born of a rigid military sense of +duty, was always there; and he had not seen Evelyn alone since she gave +him her father's key. Other young men, friends of Evelyn, called, he +found, just as he did, to make inquiry about Mr. Porter. Mrs. Whipple +had a way of saying very artlessly, and with a little sigh that carried +weight, that Mr. Raridan was so very kind. Wheaton wanted to be very +kind himself, but he never happened to be about when the servants were +busy and there were important prescriptions to be filled at the apothecary's.</p> + +<p>On the whole he was very miserable and when, one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> morning, while +Porter's condition was still precarious, he received a letter from +Snyder, postmarked Spokane, declaring that money was immediately +required to support him until he could find work, he closed that issue +finally in a brief letter which was not couched in diplomatic language. +The four days that were necessary for the delivery of this letter had +hardly passed before Wheaton received a telegram sharply demanding a +remittance by wire. This Wheaton did not answer; he had done all that he +intended to do for William Snyder, who was well out of the way, and much +more safely so if he had no money. The correspondence was not at an end, +however, for a threatening letter in Snyder's eccentric orthography +followed, and this, too, Wheaton dropped into his waste paper basket and +dismissed from his mind.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXXI</span> <span class="smaller">PUZZLING AUTOGRAPHS</span></h2> + +<p>The affairs of the Traction Company proved to be in a wretched tangle. +Saxton employed an expert accountant to open a set of books for the +company, while he gave his own immediate attention to the physical +condition of the property. The company's service was a byword and a +hissing in the town, and he did what he could to better it, working long +hours, but enjoying the labor. It had been a sudden impulse on Fenton's +part to have Saxton made receiver. In Saxton's first days at Clarkson he +had taken legal advice of Fenton in matters which had already been +placed in the lawyer's hands by the bank; but most of these had long +been closed, and Saxton had latterly gone to Raridan for such legal +assistance as he needed from time to time. Fenton had firmly intended +asking Wheaton's appointment; this seemed to him perfectly natural and +proper in view of Wheaton's position in the bank and his relations with +Porter, which were much less confidential than even Fenton imagined.</p> + +<p>Fenton had been disturbed to find Margrave and Wheaton together in the +directors' room the night before the annual meeting of the Traction +stockholders. He could imagine no business that would bring them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> +together; and the hour and the place were not propitious for forming new +alliances for the bank. Wheaton had appeared agitated as he passed out +the packet of bonds and stocks; and Margrave's efforts at gaiety had +only increased Fenton's suspicions. From every point of view it was +unfortunate that Porter should have fallen ill just at this time; but it +was, on the whole, just as well to take warning from circumstances that +were even slightly suspicious, and he had decided that Wheaton should +not have the receivership. He had not considered Saxton in this +connection until the hour of the Traction meeting; and he had inwardly +debated it until the moment of his decision at the street corner.</p> + +<p>He had expected to supervise Saxton's acts, but the receiver had taken +hold of the company's affairs with a zeal and an intelligence which +surprised him. Saxton wasn't so slow as he looked, he said to the +federal judge, who had accepted Saxton wholly on Fenton's +recommendation. Within a fortnight Saxton had improved the service of +the company to the public so markedly that the newspapers praised him. +He reduced the office force to a working basis and installed a cashier +who was warranted not to steal. It appeared that the motormen and +conductors held their positions by paying tribute to certain minor +officers, and Saxton applied heroic treatment to these abuses without ado.</p> + +<p>The motormen and conductors grew used to the big blond in the long gray +ulster who was forever swinging himself aboard the cars and asking them +questions. They affectionately called him "Whiskers," for no obvious +reason, and the report that Saxton had, in one of the power-houses, +filled his pipe with sweepings of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span>tobacco factories known in the trade +as "Trolleyman's Special," had further endeared him to those men whose +pay checks bore his name as receiver. In snow-storms the Traction +Company had usually given up with only a tame struggle, but Saxton +devised a new snow-plow, which he hitched to a trolley and drove with +his own hand over the Traction Company's tracks.</p> + +<p>John was cleaning out the desk of the late secretary of the company one +evening while Raridan read a newspaper and waited for him. Warry was +often lonely these days. Saxton was too much engrossed to find time for +frivolity, and Mr. Porter's illness cut sharply in on Warry's visits to +the Hill. The widow's clothes lines were tied in a hard knot in the +federal court, to which he had removed them, and he was resting while he +waited for the Transcontinental to exhaust its usual tactics of delay +and come to trial. On Fenton's suggestion Saxton had intrusted to +Raridan some matters pertaining to the receivership, and these served to +carry Warry over an interval of idleness and restlessness.</p> + +<p>"You may hang me!" said Saxton suddenly. He had that day unexpectedly +come upon the long-lost stock records of the company and was now +examining them. Thrust into one of the books were two canceled certificates.</p> + +<p>"It's certainly queer," he said, as Warry went over to his desk. He +spread out one of the certificates which Margrave had taken from Wheaton +the night before the annual meeting. "That's certainly Wheaton's +endorsement all right enough."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span></p><p>Raridan took off his glasses and brought his near-sighted gaze to bear +critically upon the paper.</p> + +<p>"There's no doubt about it."</p> + +<p>"And look at this, too." Saxton handed him Evelyn Porter's certificate. +Raridan examined it and Evelyn's signature on the back with greater +care. He carried the paper nearer to the light, and scanned it again +while Saxton watched him and smoked his pipe.</p> + +<p>"You notice that Wheaton witnessed the signature."</p> + +<p>Raridan nodded. Saxton, who knew his friend's moods thoroughly, saw that +he was troubled.</p> + +<p>"I can find no plausible explanation of that," said Saxton. "Anybody may +be called on to witness a signature; but I can't explain this." He +opened the stock record and followed the history of the two certificates +from one page to another. It was clear enough that the certificates held +by Evelyn Porter and James Wheaton had been merged into one, which had +been made out in the name of Timothy Margrave, and dated the day before +the annual meeting.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't make much difference at present," said Saxton. "When Mr. +Porter comes down town he will undoubtedly go over this whole business +and he can easily explain these matters."</p> + +<p>"It makes a lot of difference," said Warry, gloomily.</p> + +<p>"We'd better not say anything about this just now—not even to Fenton," +Saxton suggested. "I'll take these things over to my other office for +safe keeping. Some one may want them badly enough to look for them."</p> + +<p>Raridan sat down with his newspaper and pretended to be reading until +Saxton was ready to go.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXXII</span> <span class="smaller">CROSSED WIRES</span></h2> + +<p>A great storm came out of the north late in January and beat fiercely +upon Clarkson. It left a burden of snow on the town and was followed by +a week of bitter cold. The sun shone impotently upon the great drifts +which filled the streets; it seemed curiously remote, and ashamed of its +failure to impress the white, dazzling masses. The wires sang their song +of the cold; even the confused wires of the Clarkson Traction Company +lifted up their voices, somewhat to the irritation of John Saxton, +receiver, as he fought the snow banks below and sought to disentangle +the twisted wires above. Upper Varney Street, beyond Porter Hill, was +receiving his attention late one afternoon as the winter sunset burned +red in the west. The iron poles of the trolley wires had been pulled far +over into the street by the blast and the weight of snow; and trolley, +telephone, and electric light wires were a baffling tangle which workmen +were seeking to straighten. Saxton's men had detached their own wires +and were restoring them to the poles. Traffic on the Varney Street line +would, he concluded, be resumed on the morrow; and he gave final +instructions to the foreman of the repair crew and turned toward his office.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span></p><p>Evelyn Porter, who had come out for the walk she had been taking every +afternoon since the beginning of her father's illness, stopped at the +narrow aisle which had been trampled in the snow-piled sidewalk to watch +an adventurous lineman scale an icy telephone pole. There is a vintage +of the North that is more stimulating than any that comes out of +Southern vineyards. It brings a glow to the cheeks, a sparkle to the +eyes, and a nimbleness to the tongue which no product of the winepress +ever gives. It is a wine that makes the heart leap and the blood tingle. +It is distilled in the great ice-clasped seas of the North, and the pine +and balsam of snowy woods add their quintessence to it; it tickles no +palate but is assimilated directly into the blood of the brave and +strong; it is the wine of youth, of perpetual youth. Evelyn felt the joy +of it to-day, her heart leaped with it,—it was a delight to be abroad +in the pure, cold air. Her coloring was freshly accented. The remote +Scotch grandmother who conferred it upon her, across years of migration, +would have rejoiced in it; where the Irish strain maintained its light +of humor in her blue eyes, the gray mist of the Scotch moors still held +its own. There are women who are dominated by their clothes; but Evelyn +Porter was not one of them. Her dark green skirt might have belonged to +any other girl, but it would not have swayed in just the same way to any +other step; and her toque and cape of sable would have lost their +distinction on any other head and shoulders. Her father's convalescence +was only a matter of time and care; he had withstood the fever better +than the physicians had thought possible, and there was no question of +his restoration to health. It was good to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> free of the anxious +strain, and the keen air was like a tonic to her happiness. Saxton +recognized her as he jumped over the drifted snow at the curb to the +path. His face, where it was visible between his cap and collar, was red from the cold.</p> + +<p>"They say freezing to death's an easy way,—but I don't believe I'd prefer it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's you, is it? I wondered who the busy man was." She was +interested in the lineman, the points of whose climbers were shaking +down the ice coating of the pole as he ascended.</p> + +<p>"Won't you order that man to come down? It isn't nice to make him risk +his life for a wire or two."</p> + +<p>"He's not my man," said John, beating his hands together, "he's fixing +telephone wires, and besides, he's not taking any chances."</p> + +<p>Evelyn half turned away to continue her walk, still with her eyes on the lineman.</p> + +<p>"Poor fellow; it must be very cold up there."</p> + +<p>"Yes, polar expeditions are usually that way."</p> + +<p>"Wretched man, to pun about a human life in peril!" The lineman was +sitting on one of the cross beams, and Evelyn started ahead, Saxton following.</p> + +<p>"Is that the overcoat?" she asked, over her shoulder.</p> + +<p>"What overcoat?"</p> + +<p>"The one that's in the newspapers. Aren't you the man in the gray ulster +who runs the trolleys?"</p> + +<p>"I've been too busy to read the papers, so I don't know."</p> + +<p>"It might pay you to join a current topics class and learn what's going on."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span></p><p>"That presupposes a little knowledge. I'd never pass the entrance +exams."</p> + +<p>"You needn't be afraid, they probably carry a prep. department."</p> + +<p>"My wires are down and the trolley isn't running!"</p> + +<p>She laughed, and it was pleasant to hear her, John thought.</p> + +<p>"Is that the kind of things you say? They are making you out a humorist."</p> + +<p>"There's no harder lot. Who is this enemy that's undoing me?"</p> + +<p>"There's a certain person called Raridan. He's always telling me of the +things you say."</p> + +<p>"The villain! I merely lecture him for his good; and so he thought I was joking!"</p> + +<p>They had reached the Porter grounds where the walk had been cleared, and +they stamped the snow from their shoes on the cement pavement and walked +on together. Evelyn dropped her tone of raillery, and John asked about +her father. John had followed Mr. Porter's sickness through Raridan's +reports, and had called at the house only a few times since the banker's +seizure. They entered the gate at the foot of the hill and walked up the +long slope to the door.</p> + +<p>"Won't you come in?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I oughtn't to; there's work waiting for me down town."</p> + +<p>She sent the maid who let them in for hot water, and threw down her furs +in the hall while it was being brought. The tea table had been moved +into the library during Mrs. Whipple's visit, and Evelyn left John to +revive the fire while she went to speak to her father.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> Saxton had not +taken off his coat, and when she came back he stood buttoning it as if +he meant to leave.</p> + +<p>"It's historic, but not exactly a handsome garment," she said, shaking the tea caddy.</p> + +<p>"You shake the caddy when you can't hit the ball: new rule of golf." He +had buttoned his ulster to the chin, and really intended to go. She +poured the steaming water into the tea-pot, and walked to the fire with +folded arms, shivering.</p> + +<p>"Of course, if you prefer your uniform!" She spread her hands to the +flames. Her mood was new to him; he felt suddenly that he knew her +better than ever before; and this having occurred to him as he stood +watching her, he accused himself instantly. He had no right to be there; +no one had any right to be there but Warry Raridan! She had turned +swiftly and was smiling at him. The darkness had fallen suddenly +outside. The maid went about closing blinds and turning on the lights. +He felt, by anticipation, the loneliness that lay for him beyond the +soft glow of this room. This was, after all, only a moment's respite.</p> + +<p>Evelyn was back at the tea table. She held a lump of sugar poised above +a cup, and looked at him inquiringly, as though of course he was staying +and wished his tea. He unbuttoned the coat and threw it on a chair.</p> + +<p>"One lump, thanks!"</p> + +<p>"It was the sandwiches that did it, I'm sure," she said, passing him a +plate of bread and butter.</p> + +<p>"I should like to refute your statement, but candor compels me to admit +its truth," he answered. "I just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> happen to remember that I haven't had +luncheon yet. Excuse me if I take two."</p> + +<p>She went to the wall and pushed a button.</p> + +<p>"You're a foolish person and I'm going to punish you. Father's beef tea +is ready day and night, and"—she said to the Swedish maid,—"bring some +more hot water and the decanter."</p> + +<p>"<i>J'y suis; j'y reste.</i> I think I have died and gone to Heaven."</p> + +<p>"You don't deserve Heaven. Why didn't you tell me?"</p> + +<p>"That I wanted a sandwich? They advised me against it as a kid. We are +taught repression in Massachusetts and I try to live up to my training."</p> + +<p>He pronounced beef tea no such deadly drug as it was reported to be, and +he drank it until she was content. He concocted a hot toddy while she +twitted him about his use of the tea-table implements for so ignoble a +use; and she made him talk of his work and of the Traction Company's affairs.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Wheaton has explained about it," she said, "and Warry too. Warry +seems to be very much interested in some work he is doing in connection with it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, he does his work well, too!" said John, with enthusiasm. He had no +right to be there; but being there he could praise his friend. He told +her in detail about some of Warry's work. Warry had, he said, a legal +mind, and knew the philosophy of the law as only the old-time lawyers +did. He rose and replenished the fire and went on talking. Some amusing +incidents had occurred in the adjustment of legal questions relating<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> to +the receivership and he told of them in a way to reflect the greatest credit on Warry.</p> + +<p>"It looks awfully complicated—the receivership and all that. Father has +begun to ask questions, but we don't encourage him."</p> + +<p>"I'll have a good deal to explain and apologize for, when he is able to +take a hand," said John.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure father will be grateful. Mr. Wheaton and Warry are very +enthusiastic about your work." She laughed out suddenly. "Warry says you +have made two cars go where none had gone before."</p> + +<p>"They have a joke down town in refutation of that. They illustrate the +erratic service of the Varney Street line by saying that the cars are +like bananas—short, yellow, and come in bunches."</p> + +<p>He walked to the fireplace and took up the poker. "I have been +prodigally generous with Mr. Porter's wood. It burns awfully fast." The +flame had died down to a few uncertain embers which he touched +tentatively with the poker. "When it goes out I'll have to go with it."</p> + +<p>"The joke is poor, Mr. Saxton. You can hardly sustain a reputation on +sayings of that sort." She put down her tea cup and went over to the +fire and poked the ashes gravely.</p> + +<p>"One might construe those actions in two ways," he said, meditatively, +as if the subject were one of weight. "One cannot tell whether the sibyl +is trying to encourage or to blight the dying flame. Just another poke +in that corner and it will be gone."</p> + +<p>Evelyn menaced the ember with the iron rod but did not touch it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span></p><p>"The lady's position is one of great delicacy," continued John. +"Between her instinct for self defense, and her gracious hospitality, +she wavers. A touch might revive the flame, or it might extinguish it +utterly! She hesitates between two inclinations—"</p> + +<p>"Why should you intimate that I hesitate?"</p> + +<p>"Her seeming reluctance to apply the poker to the crucial point, speaks +for itself," continued John, solemnly, while Evelyn still hung over the +fitful flame, which was growing fainter and fainter. "She's clearly +afraid of the chance of resuscitating the fire and thereby saving a poor +guest from the cold, hard world."</p> + +<p>Evelyn administered a gentle prod; the burnt fragment of wood fell +apart, the flame flared hopefully once and then passed into a wraith of +itself that curled dolorously into the chimney.</p> + +<p>"You see you made me do it," said Evelyn, turning on him. He looked at +her very seriously and there was no mirth in his laugh.</p> + +<p>"Good night," he said, and came toward her. "I feel like a burnt sacrifice."</p> + +<p>"But you brought it on yourself! I wish, though, you'd stay to dinner. +Sandwiches aren't very filling."</p> + +<p>"In wholesale lots they are. Mine were seven; and my strength is as the +strength of ten because the punch was pure."</p> + +<p>He had buttoned himself into his ulster, which magnified his tall, broad +figure, and was walking toward the door. His time was now filled with +congenial work, which he was doing well, but still he did not quite lose +that air of injury, of having suffered defeat, which had from the first +touched her in him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span></p><p>When Grant, who had not returned to school after the Christmas +holidays, came in, she was still standing by the fire. He had been +coasting on the hillside, and was aglow from the exercise.</p> + +<p>"I met Mr. Saxton outside and asked him to stay to dinner," said the +boy, helping himself to sandwiches at the tea table.</p> + +<p>"I asked him, too," said Evelyn, "but he couldn't stay. I didn't know he +was a friend of yours, Grant."</p> + +<p>"Well, he's all right," continued Grant, biting into a fresh sandwich, +and unconsciously adopting one of his father's phrases. "He doesn't guy +me the way Warry does. He talks to me as if I had some sense, and he's +going to let me ride on the trolley plow the next time it snows. He's a +Harvard man. I want to go to Harvard, Evelyn."</p> + +<p>The girl laughed.</p> + +<p>"You're a funny boy, Grant," she said.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXXIII</span> <span class="smaller">A DISAPPEARANCE</span></h2> + +<p>The iron thrall of winter was broken at last. Great winds still blew in +the valley, but their keen edge was dulled. Their errand was not to +destroy now, but to build. Robins and bluejays, coming before the +daffodils dared, looked down from bare boughs upon the receding line of +snow on the Porter hillside. The yellow river had shaken itself free of +ice, and its swollen flood rolled seaward. Porter watched it from his +windows; and early in March he was allowed to take short walks in the +grounds, followed by his Scotch gardener, with whom he planned the +floral campaign of the summer. Indoors he studied the alluring +catalogues of the seedsmen, an annual joy with him.</p> + +<p>Grant was still at home. He had not been well, and Evelyn kept him out +of school on the plea that he would help to amuse his father. Porter was +much weakened by his illness, and though he pleaded daily to be allowed +to go to the bank, he submitted to Evelyn's refusal with a tameness that +was new in him. Fenton came several times for short interviews; Thompson +called as an old friend as well as a business associate, but he was +prone to discuss his own health to the exclusion of bank affairs. +Wheaton was often at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> the house, and Porter preferred his account of +bank matters to Thompson's. Wheaton carried the figures in his head, and +answered questions offhand, while Thompson was helpless without the +statements which he was always having the clerks make for him. Porter +fretted and fumed over Traction matters, though Fenton did his best to reassure him.</p> + +<p>He did not understand why Saxton should have been made receiver; if +Fenton was able to dictate the appointment, why did he ignore Wheaton, +who could have been spared from the bank easily enough when Thompson +returned. Fenton did not tell him the true reason—he was not sure of it +himself—but he urged the fact that Saxton represented certain shares +which were entitled to consideration, and he made much of the danger of +Thompson's breaking down at any moment and having to leave. Porter +dreaded litigation, and wanted to know how soon the receivership could +be terminated and the company reorganized. The only comfort he derived +from the situation was the victory which had been gained over Margrave, +who had repeatedly sent messages to the house asking for an interview +with Porter at the earliest moment possible. The banker's humor had not +been injured by the fever, and he told Evelyn and the doctor that he'd +almost be willing to stay in bed a while longer merely to annoy Tim Margrave.</p> + +<p>"If I'd known I was going to be sick, I guess I wouldn't have tackled +it," he said to Fenton one day, holding up his thin hand to the fire. +The doctors had found his heart weak and had cut off his tobacco,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> which +he missed sorely. "I might unload as soon as we can rebond and reorganize."</p> + +<p>"That's for you to say," answered the lawyer. "Margrave wanted it, and +no doubt he would be glad to take it off your hands if you care to deal with him."</p> + +<p>"If I was sure I had a dead horse, I guess I'd as lief let Tim curry him +as any man in town; but I don't believe this animal is dead."</p> + +<p>"Not much", said the lawyer reassuringly. "Saxton says he's making money +every day, now that nobody is stealing the revenues. He's painting the +open cars and expects to do much better through the summer."</p> + +<p>"I guess Saxton doesn't know much about the business," said Porter.</p> + +<p>"He knows more than he did. He's all right, that fellow—slow but sure. +He's been a surprise to everybody. He's solid with the men too, they +tell me. I guess there won't be any strikes while he's in charge."</p> + +<p>"You'd better get a good man to keep the accounts," Porter suggested. +"Wheaton's pretty keen on such things."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's all fixed. Saxton brought a man out from an Eastern audit +company to run that for him, and he deposits with the bank."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Porter, weakly.</p> + +<p>Saxton came and talked to him of the receivership several times, and +Porter quizzed him about it in his characteristic vein. Saxton was very +patient under his cross-examination, and reassured the banker by his +manner and his facts. Porter had lost his cocky, jaunty way, and after +the first interview he contented himself with asking how the receipts +were running and how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> they compared with those of the year previous. +Saxton suggested several times to Fenton that he would relinquish the +receivership, now that Porter was able to nominate some one to his own +liking. The lawyer would not have it so. He believed in Saxton and he +felt sure that when Porter could get about and see what the receiver had +accomplished he would be satisfied. It would be foolish to make a change +until Porter had fully recovered and was able to take hold of Traction +matters in earnest.</p> + +<p>Saxton had suddenly become a person of importance in the community. The +public continued to be mystified by the legal stroke which had placed +William Porter virtually in possession of the property; and it naturally +took a deep interest in the court's agent who was managing it so +successfully. Warry Raridan was delighted to find Saxton praised, and he +dealt ironically with those who expressed surprise at Saxton's capacity. +He was glad to be associated with John, and when he could find an +excuse, he liked to visit the power house with him, and to identify +himself in any way possible with his friend's work. During the extreme +cold he paid, from his own pocket for the hot coffee which was handed up +to the motormen along all the lines, and gave it out to the newspapers +that the receiver was doing it. John warned him that this would appear +reckless and injure him with the judge of the court to whom he was responsible.</p> + +<p>Though Porter was not strong enough to resume his business burdens, he +was the better able in his abundant leisure to quibble over domestic and +social matters with an invalid's unreason. He was troubled because<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> +Evelyn would not go out; she had missed practically all the social +gaiety of the winter by reason of his illness, and he wished her to feel +free to leave him when she liked. In his careful reading of the +newspapers he noted the items classified under "The Giddy Throng" and +"Social Clarkson," and it pained him to miss Evelyn's name in the list +of those who "poured," or "assisted," or "were charming" in some +particular raiment. Evelyn was now able to plead Lent as an excuse for +spending her evenings at home, but when he found invitations lying about +as he prowled over the house, he continued to reprove her for declining +them. He had an idea that she would lose prestige by her abstinence; but +she declared that she had adopted a new rule of life, and that +henceforth she would not go anywhere without him.</p> + +<p>The doctor now advised a change for Porter, the purpose of which was to +make it impossible for him to return to his work before his complete +recovery. Evelyn and the doctor chose Asheville before they mentioned it +to him, and the plan, of course, included Grant. Mrs. Whipple still +supervised the Porter household at long range, and the general +frequently called alone to help the banker over the hard places in his +convalescence, and to soothe him for the loss of his tobacco, which the +doctors did not promise to restore.</p> + +<p>A day had been fixed for their departure, and Mrs. Whipple was reviewing +and approving their plans in the library, as Evelyn and her father and +Grant discussed them.</p> + +<p>"We shall probably not see you at home much in the future," Mrs. Whipple +said to Mr. Porter, who lay in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> invalid ease on a lounge, with a Roman +comforter over his knees. "You'll be sure to become the worst of +gad-abouts—Europe, the far East, and all that."</p> + +<p>Porter groaned, knowing that she was mocking him.</p> + +<p>"I guess not," he said, emphatically. "I never expect to have any time +for loafing, and you can't teach an old dog new tricks."</p> + +<p>"Well, you're going now, anyhow. Don't let this girl get into mischief +while you're away. An invalid father—only a young brother to care for +her and keep the suitors away! Be sure and bring her back without a +trail of encumbrances. Grant," she said, turning to the boy, "you must +protect Evelyn from those Eastern men."</p> + +<p>"I'll do my best," the lad answered. "Evelyn doesn't like dudes, and +Warry says all the real men live out West."</p> + +<p>"I guess that's right," said Mr. Porter.</p> + +<p>She rose, gathering her wrap about her. Grant rose as she did. His +manners were very nice, and he walked into the hall and took up his hat +to go down to the car with Mrs. Whipple. It was dusk, and a man was +going through the grounds lighting the lamps. Mrs. Whipple talked with +her usual vivacity of the New Hampshire school which the boy had +attended, and of the trip he was about to make with his father and +sister. They stood at the curb in front of the Porter gate waiting for +her car. A buggy stopped near them and a man alighted and stood talking +to a companion who remained seated.</p> + +<p>"Is this the way to Mr. Porter's stable?" one of the men called to them.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span></p><p>"Yes," Grant answered, as he stepped into the street to signal the car. +The man who had alighted got back into the buggy as if to drive into the +grounds. The street light overhead hissed and then burned brightly above +them. Mrs. Whipple turned and saw one of the men plainly. The car came +to a stop; Grant helped her aboard, and waved his hand to her as she +gained the platform.</p> + +<p>At nine o'clock a general alarm was sent out in Clarkson that Grant +Porter had disappeared.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXXIV</span> <span class="smaller">JOHN SAXTON SUGGESTS A CLUE</span></h2> + +<p>Wheaton sat in his room at The Bachelors' the next evening, clutching a +copy of a <i>Gazette</i> extra in which a few sentences under long headlines +gave the latest rumor about the mysterious disappearance of Grant +Porter. Within a fortnight he had received several warnings from his +brother marking his itinerary eastward. Snyder was evidently moving with +a fixed purpose; and, as Wheaton had received brief notes from him +couched in phrases of amiable irony, postmarked Denver, and then, within +a few days, Kansas City, he surmised that his brother was traveling on +fast trains and therefore with money in his purse.</p> + +<p>He had that morning received a postal card, signed "W. W.," which bore a +few taunting sentences in a handwriting which Wheaton readily +recognized. He did not for an instant question that William Wheaton, +<i>alias</i> Snyder, had abducted Grant Porter, nor did he belittle the +situation thus created as it affected him. He faced it coldly, as was +his way. He ought not to have refused Snyder's appeals, he confessed to +himself; the debt he owed his brother for bearing the whole burden of +their common youthful crime had never been discharged. The bribes and +subterfuges which Wheaton had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span>employed to keep him away from Clarkson +had never been prompted by brotherly gratitude or generosity, but always +by his fear of having so odious a connection made public. This was one +line of reflection; on the other hand, the time for dealing with his +brother in a spirit of tolerant philanthropy was now past. He was face +to face with the crucial moment where concealment involved complicity in +a crime. His duty lay clear before him—his duty to his friends, the +Porters—to the woman whom he knew he loved. Was he equal to it? If +Snyder were caught he would be sure to take revenge on him; and Wheaton +knew that no matter how guiltless he might show himself in the eyes of +the world, his career would be at an end; he could not live in Clarkson; +Evelyn Porter would never see him again.</p> + +<p>The <i>Gazette</i> stated that a district telegraph messenger had left at Mr. +Porter's door a note which named the terms on which Grant could be +ransomed. The amount was large,—more money than James Wheaton +possessed; it was not a great deal for William Porter to pay. It had +already occurred to Wheaton that he might pay the ransom himself and +carry the boy home, thus establishing forever a claim upon the Porters. +He quickly dismissed this; the risks of exposure were too great. He +smoked a cigarette as he turned all these matters over in his mind. +Clearly, the best thing to do was to let the climax come. His brother +was a criminal with a record, who would not find it easy to drag him +into the mire. His own career and position in Clarkson were +unassailable. Very likely the boy would be found quickly and the +incident would close with Snyder's sentence to a long imprisonment. By +the time the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span>Chinaman called him to dinner he was able to view the case +calmly. He would face it out no matter what happened; and the more he +thought of it the likelier it seemed that Snyder had overleaped himself +and would soon be where he could no longer be a menace.</p> + +<p>He went down to dinner late, in the clothes that he had worn at the bank +all day and thus brought upon himself the banter of Caldwell, the +Transcontinental agent, who sang out as he entered the dining-room door:</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Wheaton? Sold or pawned your other clothes?"</p> + +<p>Wheaton smiled wanly.</p> + +<p>"Only a little tired," he said.</p> + +<p>"Come on now and give us the real truth about the kidnapping," said +Caldwell with cheerful interest. "You'd better watch the bank or the +same gang may carry it off next."</p> + +<p>"I guess the bank's safe enough," Wheaton answered. "And I don't know +anything except what I read in the papers." He hoped the others would +not think him indifferent; but they were busy discussing various rumors +and theories as to the route taken by the kidnappers and the amount of +ransom. He threw in his own comment and speculations from time to time.</p> + +<p>"Raridan's out chasing them," said Caldwell. "I passed him and Saxton +driving like mad out Merriam Street at noon." The mention of Raridan and +Saxton did not comfort Wheaton. He reflected that they had undoubtedly +been to the Porter house since the alarm had been sounded, and he +wondered whether his own remissness in this regard had been remarked at +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> Hill. His fingers were cold as he stirred his coffee; and when he +had finished he hurriedly left the room, and the men who lingered over +their cigars heard the outer door close after him.</p> + +<p>He felt easier when he got out into the cool night air. His day at the +bank had been one long horror; but the clang of the cars, the lights in +the streets, gave him contact with life again. He must hasten to offer +his services to the Porters, though he knew that every means of +assistance had been employed, and that there was nothing to do but to +make inquiries. He grew uneasy as his car neared the house, and he +climbed the slope of the hill like one who bears a burden. He had +traversed this walk many times in the past year, in the varying moods of +a lover, who one day walks the heights and is the next plunged into the +depths; and latterly, since his affair with Margrave, he had known moods +of conscience, too, and these returned upon him with forebodings now. If +Porter had not been ill, there would never have been that interview with +Margrave at the bank; and Grant would not have been at home to be +kidnapped. It seemed to him that the troubles of other people rather +than his own errors were bearing down the balance against his happiness.</p> + +<p>Evelyn came into the parlor with eyes red from weeping. "Oh, have you no +news?" she cried to him. He had kept on his overcoat and held his hat in +his hand. Her grief stung him; a great wave of tenderness swept over +him, but it was followed by a wave of terror. Evelyn wept as she tried +to tell her story.</p> + +<p>"It is dreadful, horrible!" he forced himself to say.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> "But certainly no +harm can come to the boy. No doubt in a few hours—"</p> + +<p>"But he isn't strong and father is still weak—"</p> + +<p>She threw herself in a chair and her tears broke forth afresh.</p> + +<p>Wheaton stood impotently watching her anguish. It is a new and strange +sensation which a man experiences when for the first time he sees tears +in the eyes of the woman he loves.</p> + +<p>Evelyn sprang up suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Have you seen Warry?" she asked—"has he come back yet?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing had been heard from them when I came up town." He still stood, +watching her pityingly. "I hope you understand how sorry I am—how +dreadful I feel about it." He walked over to her and she thought he +meant to go. She had not heard what he said, but she thought he had been offering help.</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you! Everything is being done, I know. They will find him +to-night, won't they? They surely must," she pleaded. Her father called +her in his weakened voice to know who was there and she hurried away to him.</p> + +<p>Wheaton's eyes followed her as she went weeping from the room, and he +watched her, feeling that he might never see her again. He felt the +poignancy of this hour's history,—of his having brought upon this house +a hideous wrong. The French clock on the mantel struck seven and then +tinkled the three quarters lingeringly. There were roses in a vase on +the mantel; he had sent them to her the day before. He stood as one +dazed for a minute after she had vanished. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> could hear Porter back in +the house somewhere, and Evelyn's voice reassuring him. The musical +stroke of the bell, the scent of the roses, the familiar surroundings of +the room, wrought upon him like a pain. He stared stupidly about, as if +amid a ruin that he had brought upon the place; and then he went out of +the house and down the slope into the street, like a man in a dream.</p> + +<p>While Wheaton swayed between fear and hope, the community was athrill +with excitement. The probable fate of the missing boy was the subject of +anxious debate in every home in Clarkson, and the whole country eagerly +awaited further news of the kidnapping. Raridan and Saxton hearing early +of the boy's disappearance had at once placed every known agency at work +to find him. Not satisfied with the local police, they had summoned +detectives from Chicago, and these were already at work. Rewards for the +boy's return were telegraphed in every direction. The only clue was the +slight testimony of Mrs. Whipple. She had told and re-told her story to +detectives and reporters. There was only too little to tell. Grant had +walked with her to the car. She had seen only one of the men that had +driven up to the curb,—the one that had inquired about the entrance to +Mr. Porter's grounds. She remembered that he had moved his head +curiously to one side as he spoke, and there was something unusual about +his eyes which she could not describe. Perhaps he had only one eye; she did not know.</p> + +<p>Every other man in Clarkson had turned detective, and the whole city had +been ransacked. Suspicion fastened itself upon an empty house in a +hollow back<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> of the Porter hill, which had been rented by a stranger a +few days before Grant Porter's disappearance; it was inspected solemnly +by all the detectives but without results.</p> + +<p>Raridan and Saxton, acting independently of the authorities in the +confusion and excitement, followed a slight clue that led them far +countryward. They lost the trail completely at a village fifteen miles +away, and after alarming the country drove back to town. Meanwhile +another message had been sent to the father of the boy stating that the +ransom money could be taken by a single messenger to a certain spot in +the country, at midnight, and that within forty-eight hours thereafter +the boy would be returned. He was safe from pursuit, the note stated, +and an ominous hint was dropped that it would be wise to abandon the +idea of procuring the captive's return unharmed without paying the sum +asked. Mr. Porter told the detectives that he would pay the money; but +the proposed meeting was set for the third night after the abduction; +the captors were in no hurry, they wrote. The crime was clearly the work +of daring men, and had been carefully planned with a view to quickening +the anxiety of the family of the stolen boy. And so twenty-four hours passed.</p> + +<p>"This is a queer game," said Raridan, on the second evening, as he and +John discussed the subject again in John's room at the club. "I don't +just make it out. If the money was all these fellows wanted, they could +make a quick touch of it. Mr. Porter's crazy to pay any sum. But they +seem to want to prolong the agony."</p> + +<p>"That looks queer," said Saxton. "There may be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> something back of it; +but Porter hasn't any enemies who would try this kind of thing. There +are business men here who would like to do him up in a trade, but this +is a little out of the usual channels."</p> + +<p>Saxton got up and walked the floor.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Warry, did you ever know a one-eyed man?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid not, except the traditional Cyclops."</p> + +<p>"It has just occurred to me that I have seen such a man since I came to +this part of the country; but the circumstances were peculiar. This +thing is queerer than ever as I think of it."</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"It was back at the Poindexter place when I first went there. A fellow +named Snyder was in charge. He had made a rats' nest of the house, and +resented the idea of doing any work. He seemed to think he was there to +stay. Wheaton had given him the job before I came. I remember that I +asked Wheaton if it made any difference to him what I did with the +fellow. He didn't seem to care and I bounced him. That was two years ago +and I haven't heard of him since."</p> + +<p>Raridan drew the smoke of a cigarette into his lungs and blew it out in a cloud.</p> + +<p>"Who's at the Poindexter place now?"</p> + +<p>"Nobody; I haven't been there myself for a year or more."</p> + +<p>"Is it likely that fellow is at the bottom of this, and that he has made +a break for the ranch house? That must be a good lonesome place out there."</p> + +<p>"Well, it won't take long to find out. The thing to do is to go +ourselves without saying a word to any one."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span></p><p>Saxton looked at his watch.</p> + +<p>"It's half past nine. The Rocky Mountain limited leaves at ten o'clock, +and stops at Great River at three in the morning. Poindexter's is about +an hour from the station."</p> + +<p>"Let's make a still hunt of it," said Warry. "The detectives are busy on +what may be real clues and this is only a guess."</p> + +<p>They rose.</p> + +<p>"I can't imagine that fellow Snyder doing anything so dashing as +carrying off a millionaire's son. He didn't look to me as if he had the nerve."</p> + +<p>"It's only a chance, but it's worth trying."</p> + +<p>In the lower hall they met Wheaton who was pacing up and down.</p> + +<p>"Is there any news?" he asked, with a show of eagerness.</p> + +<p>"No. We lost our trail at Rollins," said Raridan. "Have you heard anything?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing so far," Wheaton replied. He uttered the "so far" bravely, as +if he really might be working on clues of his own. His speculations of +one moment were abandoned the next. He was building and destroying and +rebuilding theories and plans of action. He was strong and weak in the +same breath. He envied Raridan and Saxton their air of determined +activity. He resolved to join them, to steady himself by them. He was +struggling between two inclinations: one to show his last threatening +note from Snyder, which was buttoned in his pocket, and boldly confess +that the blow at Porter was also an indirect blow at himself; and on the +other hand he held to a cowardly hope that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> the boy would yet be +recovered without his name appearing in the matter. He was aware that +all his hopes for the future hung in the balance. He was sure that every +one would soon know of his connection with the kidnapping; and yet he +still tried to convince himself that he was wholly guiltless.</p> + +<p>He was afraid of John Saxton; Saxton, he felt, probably knew the part he +had played in the street railway matter. It seemed to him that Saxton +must have told others; probably Saxton had Evelyn's certificate put away +for use when William Porter should be restored to health; but on second +thought he was not sure of this. Saxton might not know after all! This +went through his mind as John and Warry stood talking to him.</p> + +<p>"Wheaton," said Saxton, "do you remember that fellow Snyder who was in +charge of the Poindexter place when I came here?"</p> + +<p>"What—oh yes!" His hand rose quickly to his carefully tied four-in-hand +and he fingered it nervously.</p> + +<p>"You may not remember it, but he had only one eye."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's so," said Wheaton, as if recalling the fact with difficulty.</p> + +<p>"And Mrs. Whipple says there was something wrong about one of the eyes +of the man who accosted her and Grant at Mr. Porter's gate. What became +of that fellow after he left the ranch—have you any idea?" Raridan had +walked away to talk to a group of men in the reading room, leaving +Saxton and Wheaton alone.</p> + +<p>"He went West the last I knew of him," Wheaton answered, steadily.</p> + +<p>"It has struck me that he might be in this thing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> It's only a guess, +but Raridan and I thought we'd run out to the Poindexter ranch and see +if it could possibly be the rendezvous of the kidnappers. It's probably +a fool's errand but it won't take long, and we'll do it unofficially +without saying anything to the authorities." His mind was on the plan +and he looked at his watch and called to Raridan to come.</p> + +<p>"I believe I'll go along," said Wheaton, suddenly. "We can be back by +noon to-morrow," he added, conscientiously, remembering his duties at the bank.</p> + +<p>"All right," said Warry. "We're taking bags along in case of +emergencies." A boy came down carrying Saxton's suit-case. Wheaton and +Raridan hurried out together to The Bachelors' to get their own things. +It was a relief to Wheaton to have something to do; it was hardly +possible that Snyder had fled to the ranch house; but in any event he +was glad to get away from Clarkson for a few hours.</p> + +<p>As the train drew out of the station Raridan and Saxton left Wheaton and +went to the rear of their sleeper, which was the last, and stood on the +observation platform, watching the receding lights of the city. The day +had been warm for the season; as the air quickened into life with the +movement of the train they sat down, with a feeling of relief, on the +stools which the porter brought them. They had done all that they could +do, and there was nothing now but to wait. The train rattled heavily +through the yards at the edge of town, and the many lights of the city +grew dimmer as they receded. Suddenly Raridan rose and pointed to a +single star that glowed high on a hill.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span></p><p>"It's the light in the tower at the Porters'," he said, bending down to +Saxton, "her light!"</p> + +<p>"It's the light of all the valley," said Saxton, rising and putting his +hand on his friend's shoulder. He, too, knew the light!</p> + +<p>The train was gathering speed now; the wheels began to croon their +melody of distance; one last curve, and the star of the Hill had been blotted out.</p> + +<p>"It's like a flower in an inaccessible place on a hillside," said +Raridan; and he repeated half aloud some lines of a poem that had lately haunted him:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>"'Though I be mad, I shall not wake;</div> +<div>I shall not fall to common sight;</div> +<div>Only the god himself may take</div> +<div>This music out of my blood, this glory out of my breath,</div> +<div>This lift, this rapture, this singing might,</div> +<div>And love that outlasts death.'"</div> +</div></div> + +<p>When they went in, Wheaton was alone in the smoking compartment and they +joined him to discuss their plans for the drive to Poindexter's place.</p> + +<p>"We'd better push right on to the ranch house as soon as we get to Great +River," said Saxton. "We're due there at three o'clock. We ought to get +back to take the nine o'clock train home in any event."</p> + +<p>"And what's going to happen if we find the man there?" asked Raridan. +"We want the boy and him, too, don't we?"</p> + +<p>Wheaton sat with his eyes turned toward the window, which the darkness made opaque.</p> + +<p>"If he's cornered he'll be glad to drop the boy and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> clear out. But we +want to take him home with us too, don't we, Wheaton?" asked Saxton.</p> + +<p>"I should think we'd better make sure of the boy first," Wheaton +answered. "That would be a good night's work."</p> + +<p>The porter came to tell them that their berths were ready.</p> + +<p>"It's hardly worth while to turn in," said Warry, yawning. "I shudder at +the thought of getting up at three o'clock." "But," he added, "if we're +on the right track, this time to-morrow night they'll probably be +welcoming us home with brass bands and the freedom of the city. Perhaps +they'll have a public meeting at the Board of Trade. Cheer up, Jim; +those detectives will go out of business if we really take the boy home."</p> + +<p>Wheaton smiled wearily; he did not relish Raridan's jesting.</p> + +<p>"Will your imagination never rest?" growled Saxton, knocking the ashes from his pipe.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXXV</span> <span class="smaller">SHOTS IN THE DARK</span></h2> + +<p>The night wind of the plain blew cold in their faces as they stepped out +upon the Great River platform. There was a hint of storm in the air and +clouds rode swiftly overhead. The voices of the trainmen and the throb +of the locomotive, resting for its long climb mountainward, broke +strangely upon the silence. A great figure muffled in a long ulster came +down the platform toward the vestibule from which the trio had descended.</p> + +<p>"Hello," called Raridan cheerily, "there's only one like that! Good morning, Bishop!"</p> + +<p>"Good morning, gentlemen," said Bishop Delafield, peering into their +faces. The waiting porter took his bags from him. "Has the boy been found yet?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"I should have gone on home to-night if I had known that. But what are +you doing here?"</p> + +<p>Raridan told him in a few words. They were following a slight clue, and +were going over to the old Poindexter place, in the hope of finding +Grant Porter there. Saxton was holding a colloquy with the driver of the +station hack who had come in quest of passengers, and he hurried off +with the man to get a buckboard.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span></p><p>The conductor signaled with his lantern to go ahead, and the engine +answered with a doleful peal of the bell. The porter had gathered up the +bishop's things and waited for him to step aboard.</p> + +<p>"Never mind," the bishop said to him; "I won't go to-night." The train +was already moving and the bishop turned to Raridan and Wheaton. "I'll +wait and see what comes of this."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Raridan. "We won't need our bags. We can leave them +with the station agent." Wheaton stepped forward eagerly, glad to have +something to do; he had not slept and was grateful for the cover of +darkness which shut him out from the others.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen with flasks had better take them," said Warry, opening his +bag. "It's a cold morning!"</p> + +<p>"Wretchedly intemperate man," said the bishop. "Where's yours, Mr. Wheaton?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't any," Wheaton answered.</p> + +<p>When he went into the station, the agent eyed him curiously as he looked +up from his telegraphing and nodded his promise to care for the bags. He +remembered Saxton and Wheaton and supposed that they were going to +Poindexter's on ranch business.</p> + +<p>Saxton drove up to the platform with the buckboard.</p> + +<p>"All ready," he said, and the three men climbed in, the bishop and +Wheaton in the back seat and Raridan by Saxton, who drove.</p> + +<p>"The roads out here are the worst. It's a good thing the ground's frozen."</p> + +<p>"It's a better thing that you know the way," said Raridan. "I'm a lost +child in the wilderness."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span></p><p>"If you lose me, Wheaton can find the way," said Saxton.</p> + +<p>They could hear the train puffing far in the distance. Its passage had +not disturbed the sleep of the little village. The lantern of the +station-master flashed in the main street as he picked his way homeward. +Stars could be seen beyond the flying clouds. The road lay between +wire-fenced ranches, and the scattered homes of their owners were +indistinguishable in the darkness of the night. A pair of ponies drew +the buckboard briskly over the hard, rough road.</p> + +<p>"How far is it?" asked the bishop.</p> + +<p>"Five miles. We can do it in an hour," said Saxton over his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"We'll be in Clarkson laughing at the police to-morrow afternoon if we +have good luck," said Raridan. "If we've made a bad guess we'll sneak +home and not tell where we've been."</p> + +<p>The road proved to be in better condition than Saxton had expected, and +he kept the ponies at their work with his whip. The rumble of the wagon +rose above the men's voices and they ceased trying to talk. Raridan and +Saxton smoked in silence, lighting one cigar from another. The bishop +rode with his head bowed on his breast, asleep; he had learned the trick +of taking sleep when and where he could.</p> + +<p>Wheaton felt the numbing of his hands and feet in the cold night air and +welcomed the discomfort, as a man long used to a particular sensation of +pain welcomes a new one that proves a counter-irritant. He reviewed +again the grounds on which he might have excused himself from taking +this trip. Nothing, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> argued, could be more absurd than this adventure +on an errand which might much better have been left to professional +detectives. But it seemed a far cry back to his desk at the bank, and to +the tasks there which he really enjoyed. In a few hours the daily +routine would be in progress. The familiar scenes of the opening passed +before him—the clerks taking their places; the slamming of the big +books upon the desks as they were brought from the vault; the jingle of +coin in the cages as the tellers assorted it and made ready for the +day's business. He saw himself at his desk, the executive officer of the +most substantial institution in Clarkson, his signature carrying the +bank's pledge, his position one of dignity and authority.</p> + +<p>But he was on William Porter's service; he pictured himself walking into +the bank from a fruitless quest, but one which would attract attention +to himself. If they found the boy and released him safely, he would +share the thanks and praise which would be the reward of the rescuing +party. He had no idea that Snyder would be captured; and he even planned +to help him escape if he could do so.</p> + +<p>They had turned off from the main highway and were well up in the branch +road that ran to the Poindexter place.</p> + +<p>"This is right, Wheaton, isn't it?" asked Saxton, drawing up the ponies.</p> + +<p>"Yes, this is the ranch road."</p> + +<p>They went forward slowly. The clouds were more compactly marshaled now +and the stars were fewer. Suddenly Saxton brought the ponies to a stand +and pointed to a dark pile that loomed ahead of them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> The Poindexter +house stood forth somber in the thin starlight.</p> + +<p>"Is that the place?" asked the bishop, now wide awake.</p> + +<p>"That's it," said Wheaton. "This road ends there. The river's just +beyond the cottonwoods. That first building was Poindexter's barn. It +cost more than the court house of this county."</p> + +<p>Saxton gave the reins to Raridan and jumped out. "No more smoking," he +said, throwing away his cigar. "You stay here and I'll reconnoiter a +bit." He walked swiftly toward the great barn which lay between him and +the house. There was no sign of life in the place. He crept through the +barb-wire fence into the corral. He had barred and padlocked the barn +door on his last visit, and he satisfied himself that the fastenings had +not been disturbed. There were no indications that any one had visited +the place. He reasoned that if Snyder had sought the ranch house for a +rendezvous he had not come afoot. Saxton was therefore disappointed to +find the barn door locked and the corral empty; there was little use in +looking further, he concluded; but before joining the others he resolved +to make sure that the house also was empty. It was quite dark and he +walked boldly up to it. The wind had risen and whistled shrilly around +it; a loose blind under the eaves flapped noisily as he drew near. The +great front door was closed; he pushed against it and found it securely +fastened. He had brought with him a key to a rear door, and he started +around the house to try it and to make sure that the house was not occupied.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span></p><p>At the corner toward the river, glass suddenly crunched under his feet. +The windows were deeply embrasured all over the house, and he could not +determine where the glass had fallen from. The windows were all intact +when he left, he was sure. He drew off his glove and tiptoed to the +nearest panes, ran his fingers over the smooth glass, and instantly +touched a broken edge. As he was feeling the frame to discover the size +of the opening, the low whinny of a horse came distinctly from within.</p> + +<p>He stood perfectly quiet, listening, and in a moment heard the stamp of +a hoof on the wooden floor of the hall. He backed off toward the drive +way, which swept around in front of the house, and waited, but all +remained as silent and as dark as before. He ran back through the corral +to the other men, who stood talking beside the blanketed ponies.</p> + +<p>"There's something or somebody in the house," he said. He told them of +the broken window and of the sounds he had heard. "Whoever's there has +no business there and we may as well turn him out. I've thought of a +good many schemes for utilizing that house, but the idea of making a +barn of it hadn't occurred to me."</p> + +<p>He threw off his overcoat and tossed it into the buckboard.</p> + +<p>"I guess that's a good idea, John," said Raridan, following his example. +Wheaton stood muffled in his coat. His teeth were chattering, and he +fumbled at the buttons but kept his coat on, walking toward the house +with the others.</p> + +<p>"We may have a horse thief or we may have a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span>kidnapper," said Saxton, +who had taken charge of the party; "but in either case we may as well +take him with his live stock."</p> + +<p>"Let us not be rash," said the bishop, following the others. "He may +prove an unruly customer."</p> + +<p>"He's probably a dude tramp who rides a horse and has taken a fancy to +Poindexter architecture," said Warry.</p> + +<p>"Quiet!" admonished Saxton, who had lighted a lantern, which he +concealed under his coat.</p> + +<p>"You two watch the corners of the house," he said, indicating Raridan +and Wheaton; "and you, Bishop, can stand off here, if you will, and +watch for signs of light in the upper windows. The big front doors are +barred on the inside, and my key opens only the back door."</p> + +<p>"I'll go with you," said Raridan.</p> + +<p>"Not yet, old man. You stay right here and watch until I throw open the front doors."</p> + +<p>"But that's a foolish risk," insisted Raridan. "There may be a dozen men inside."</p> + +<p>"That's all right, Warry. It takes only a minute to cross the hall and +unbar the front doors. There's no risk about it. I'll be out in half a minute."</p> + +<p>Raridan felt that Saxton was taking all the hazards, but he yielded, as +he usually did, when Saxton was decisive, as now.</p> + +<p>"Good luck to you, old man!" he said, slapping Saxton on the back. He +patrolled the grass-plot before the house, while Saxton went to the rear.</p> + +<p>The door opened easily, and John stepped into the lower hall. The place +was pitch dark. He remembered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> the position of the articles of furniture +as he had left them on his last visit, and started across the hall +toward the stairway, using his lantern warily. When half way, he heard +the whinny of a horse which he could not see. A moment later an animal +shrank away from him in the darkness and was still again. Then another +horse whinnied by the window whose broken glass he had found on the +outside. There were, then, two horses, from which he argued that there +were at least two persons in the house. He found the doors and lifted +the heavy bar that held them and drew the bolts at top and bottom. As +the doors swung open slowly Raridan ran up to see if anything was wanted.</p> + +<p>"All right," said Saxton in a low tone. "They're mighty quiet if they're +here. But there's no doubt about the horses. You stay where you are and +I'll explore a little."</p> + +<p>Raridan started to follow him, but Saxton pushed him back.</p> + +<p>"Watch the door," he said, and walked guardedly into the house again. +The horses stamped fretfully as he went toward the stairway, but all was +quiet above. He felt his way slowly up the stair-rail, whose heavy dust +stuck to his fingers. Having gained the upper hall, he paused to take +fresh bearings. His memory brought back gradually the position of the +rooms. In putting out his hand he touched a picture which swung slightly +on its wire and grated harshly against the rough plaster of the wall. At +the same instant he heard a noise directly in front of him as of some +one moving about in the chamber at the head of the stairs. The knob of a +door was suddenly grasped from within.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> John waited, crouched down, and +drew his revolver from the side pocket of his coat. The door stuck in +the frame, but being violently shaken, suddenly pulled free. The person +who had opened the door stepped back into the room and scratched a match.</p> + +<p>"Wake up there," called a voice within the room.</p> + +<p>Saxton crept softly across the hall, settling the revolver into his hand +ready for use. A man could be heard mumbling and cursing.</p> + +<p>"Hurry up, boy, it's time we were out of this."</p> + +<p>The owner of the voice now reappeared at the door holding a lantern; he +was pushing some one in front of him. The crisis had come quickly; John +Saxton knew that he had found Grant Porter; and he remembered that he +was there to get the boy whether he caught his abductor or not.</p> + +<p>The man was carrying his lantern in his right hand and pushing the boy +toward the staircase with his left. As he came well out of the door, +Saxton sprang up and kicked the lantern from the man's hand. At the same +moment he grabbed the boy by the collar, drew him back and stepped in +front of him. The lantern crashed against the wall opposite and went +rolling down the stairway with its light extinguished. Saxton had +dropped his own lantern and the hall was in darkness.</p> + +<p>"Stop where you are, Snyder," said Saxton, "or I'll shoot. I'm John +Saxton; you may remember me." He spoke in steady, even tones.</p> + +<p>The lantern, rolling down the stairway, startled the horses, which +stamped restlessly on the floor. The wind whistled dismally outside. He +heard Snyder, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> he assumed the man to be, cautiously feeling his way +toward the staircase.</p> + +<p>"You may as well stop there," Saxton said, without moving, and holding +the boy to the floor with his left hand. He spoke in sharp, even tones. +"It's all right, Grant," he added in the same key to the boy, who was +crying with fright. "Stay where you are. The house is surrounded, +Snyder," he went on. "You may as well give in."</p> + +<p>The man said nothing. He had found the stairway. Suddenly a revolver +flashed and cracked, and the man went leaping down the stairs. The ball +whistled over Saxton's head, and the boy clutched him about the legs. A +bit of plaster, shaken loose by the bullet, fell from the ceiling. The +noise of the revolver roared through the house.</p> + +<p>"It's all right, Grant," Saxton said again.</p> + +<p>The retreating man slipped and fell at the landing, midway of the +stairs, and as he stumbled to his feet Saxton ran back into the room +from which the fellow had emerged. He threw up the window with a crash +and shouted to the men in the darkness below:</p> + +<p>"He's coming! Get out of the way and let him go! The boy's all right!"</p> + +<p>He hurried back into the hall where he had left Grant, who crouched +moaning in the dark.</p> + +<p>"You stay here a minute, Grant. They won't get you again," he called as +he ran down the steps. One of the horses below was snorting with fright +and making a great clatter with its hoofs. From the sound Saxton knew +that the fleeing man was trying to mount, and as he plunged down the +last half of the stairway,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> the horse broke through the door with the +man on his back.</p> + +<p>"Let him go, Warry," yelled Saxton with all his lungs.</p> + +<p>The horse was already across the threshold at a leap, his rider bending +low over the animal's neck to avoid the top of the door. Raridan ran +forward, taking his bearings by sounds.</p> + +<p>"Stop!" he shouted. "Come on, Wheaton!" Wheaton was running toward him +at the top of his speed; Raridan sprang in front of the horse and +grabbed at the throat-latch of its bridle. The horse, surprised, and +terrified by the noise, and feeling the rider digging his heels into his +sides, reared, carrying Warry off his feet.</p> + +<p>"Let go, you fool," screamed the rider. "Let go, I say!"</p> + +<p>"Let him alone," cried Wheaton, now close at hand; but Raridan still +held to the strap at the throat of the plunging horse.</p> + +<p>The rider sat up straight on his horse and his revolver barked into the +night twice in sharp succession, the sounds crashing against the house, +and the flashes lighting up the struggling horse and rider, and Raridan, +clutching at the bridle. Raridan's hold loosened at the first shot, and +as the second echoed into the night, the horse leaped free, running +madly down the road, past Bishop Delafield, who was coming rapidly +toward the house. Wheaton and Saxton met in the driveway where Raridan +had fallen. The flying horse could be heard pounding down the hard road.</p> + +<p>"Warry, Warry!" called Saxton, on his knees by his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> friend. "Hold the +lantern," he said to Wheaton. "He's hurt." Raridan said nothing, but lay +very still, moaning.</p> + +<p>"Who's hurt?" asked the bishop coming up. Saxton had recovered his own +lantern as he ran from the house. It was still burning and Wheaton +turned up the wick. The three men bent over Raridan, who lay as he had fallen.</p> + +<p>"We must get him inside," said Saxton. "The horse knocked him down."</p> + +<p>The bishop bent over and put his arms under Raridan; and gathering him +up as if the prone man had been a child, he carried him slowly toward +the house. Wheaton started ahead with the lantern, but Saxton snatched +it from him and ran through the doors into the hall, and back to the dining-room.</p> + +<p>"Come in here," he called, and the old bishop followed, bearing Raridan +carefully in his great arms. The others helped him to place his burden +on the long table at which, in Poindexter's day, many light-hearted +companies had gathered. They peered down upon him in the lantern light.</p> + +<p>"We must get a doctor quick," said Saxton, half turning to go.</p> + +<p>"He's badly hurt," said the old man. There was a dark stain on his coat +where Raridan had lain against him. He tore open Raridan's shirt and +thrust his hand underneath; and when he drew it out, shaking his gray +head, it had touched something wet. Wheaton came with a pail of water, +pumped by the windmill into a trough at the rear of the house. He had +broken the thin ice with his hands.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span></p><p>"Go for a doctor," said the bishop, very quietly, nodding to Saxton; +"and go fast."</p> + +<p>Wheaton followed Saxton to the hall, where they cut loose the remaining +horse. Saxton flung himself upon it, and the animal sprang into a gallop +at the door. Wheaton watched the horse and rider disappear through the +starlight; he wished that he could go with Saxton. He turned back with +sick terror to the room where Raridan lay white and still; but Wheaton +was as white as he.</p> + +<p>The bishop had rolled his overcoat into a support for Warry's head, and +with a wet handkerchief laved his temples. Wheaton stood watching him, +silent, and anxious to serve, but with his powers of initiative frozen in him.</p> + +<p>"Get the flask from his pocket," said the old man; and Wheaton drew near +the table, and with a shudder thrust his hand into the pocket of Raridan's coat.</p> + +<p>"Shall I pour some?" he asked. Raridan had moved his arms slightly and +groaned as Wheaton bent close to him. Wheaton detached the cup from the +bottom of the flask and poured some of the brandy into it. The bishop, +motioning him to stand ready with it, raised Raridan gently, and +together they pressed the silver cup to his lips.</p> + +<p>"That will do. I think he swallowed a little," said the bishop. "Bring +wood, if you can," he said, "and make a fire here." Raridan's head was +growing hot under his touch, and he continued to lave it gently with the +wet handkerchief. There was a shed at the back of the house where wood +had been kept in the old days of the Poindexter ascendancy, and Wheaton, +glad of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> an excuse to get away from the prostrate figure on the long +table, went stumbling through the hall to find this place. There was a +terrible silence in the old house,—a silence that filled all the world, +a silence that could not be broken, it seemed to him, save by some new +thing of dread. There beyond the prairie, day would break soon in the +town where he had striven and failed,—not the failure that proceeds +from lack of opportunity or ability to gain the successes which men +value most, but the failure of a man in self-mastery and courage.</p> + +<p>He felt his soul shrivel in the few seconds that he stood at the door +looking across the windy plain,—like a dreamer who turns from his +dreams and welcomes the morning with the hope that his dream may not +prove true. He drew the doors together and turned to go on his errand, +lighting a match to get his bearings, when a sound on the stairway +startled him; there was a figure there—the wan, frightened face of +Grant Porter looked down at him. He had forgotten the boy, whom Saxton +had left in the hall above. Grant shrank back on the stairs, not +recognizing him. It seemed to Wheaton that there was something of +loathing in the boy's movement, and that always afterward people would shrink from him.</p> + +<p>"Is that you, Grant?" he asked. The boy did not answer. "It's all right, +Grant," he added, trying to throw some kindness into his voice. "You'd +better stay upstairs, until—we're ready to go."</p> + +<p>The boy turned and stole back up the stairway, and Wheaton, encouraged +by the sound of his own voice,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> brought wood and kindled it with some +straw in the dining-room fireplace.</p> + +<p>"Let us try the brandy again," said the bishop. Again Wheaton poured it, +and they forced a little between the lips of the stricken man. Raridan's +face, as Wheaton touched it with his fingers, was warm; he had expected +to find it cold; he had a feeling that the man lying there must be dead. +If only help would come, Raridan might live! He would accept everything +else, but to be a murderer—to have lured a man to his doom! The bishop +did not speak to him save now and then a word in a low tone, to call +attention to some change in Raridan, or to ask help in moving him. The +dry wood burned brightly in the fireplace and lighted the room. The +bishop asked the time.</p> + +<p>"He could hardly go and come in less than two hours," said Wheaton. He lifted his head.</p> + +<p>"They are coming now." The short patter of pony hoofs was heard and he +went into the hall to open the doors. Two horsemen were just turning +into the corral. Saxton had found the one doctor of the village at +home,—a young man trained in an eastern hospital but already used to +long, rough rides over the prairies. The two men threw themselves to the +ground, and let their ponies run loose. Saxton did not speak to Wheaton, +who followed him and the doctor into the house.</p> + +<p>"Has he been conscious at all?" asked the doctor.</p> + +<p>The bishop shook his head. The doctor was already busy with his +examination, and the three men stood and watched him silently. Saxton +stepped <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span>forward and helped, when there was need, to turn the wounded +man and to strip away his clothing. The skilled fingers of the surgeon +worked swiftly, producing shining instruments and sponges as he needed +them, from the blue lining of his pea-jacket. Suddenly he paused and +bent down close to the stricken man's heart. He poured more brandy into +the silver cup and Saxton lifted Warry while the liquor was forced +between his lips. The doctor stood up then and put his finger on +Raridan's wrist. He had not spoken and his face was very grave. Saxton touched his arm.</p> + +<p>"Is there nothing more you can do now?" The doctor shook his head, but +bent again over Raridan, who gave a deep sigh and opened his eyes.</p> + +<p>"John," he said in a whisper as he closed them again wearily. The doctor +put Warry's hand down gently, and the others, at a glance from him, drew nearer.</p> + +<p>"John," he repeated. His voice was stronger. The white light of dawn was +struggling now against the flame of the fireplace. John stood on one +side of the table, the doctor on the other. The old bishop's tall figure +rose majestically by the head of the dying man. Wheaton alone hung +aloof, but his eyes were riveted on Warry Raridan's face.</p> + +<p>"It was another—another of my foolish chances," said Warry faintly and +slowly, the words coming hard; but all in the room could hear. He looked +from one to another, and seemed to know who the doctor was and why he was there.</p> + +<p>"The boy's safe and well. We got what we came for. Just once—just +once,—I got what I came for. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> wasn't fair—in the dark that way—" +His voice failed and the doctor gave him more brandy. He lay very still +for several minutes, with his eyes closed, while the three men stood as +they had been, save that the surgeon now kept his finger on Warry's wrist.</p> + +<p>"I never—quite arrived—quite—arrived," he went on, with his eyes on +the old bishop, as if this were something that he would understand; "but +you must forgive all that." He smiled in a patient, tired way.</p> + +<p>"You have been a good man, Warry, there's nothing that can trouble you."</p> + +<p>"I was really doing better, wasn't I, John?" he went on, still smiling. +"You had helped,—you two,"—he looked from his young friend to the +older one, with the intentness of his near-sighted gaze. "Tell +them"—his eyes closed and his voice sank until it was almost +inaudible,—"tell them at the hill—Evelyn—the light of all—of +all—the year."</p> + +<p>The doctor had put down Warry's wrist and turned away. The dawn-wind +sweeping across the prairie shook the windows in the room and moaned far +away in the lonely house. The bishop's great hand rested gently on the +dying man's head; his voice rose in supplication,—the words coming +slowly, as if he remembered them from a far-off time:</p> + +<p><i>Unto God's gracious mercy and protection we commit thee.</i> Saxton +dropped to his knees, and a sob broke from him. <i>The Lord bless thee, +and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be +gracious unto thee.</i> The old man's voice was very low, and sank to a +whisper. <i>The Lord lift up his countenance</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> <i>upon thee and give thee +peace, both now and evermore.</i></p> + +<p>No one moved until the doctor put his head down to Warry's heart to +listen. Then Wheaton watched him with fascinated eyes as he gathered up +his instruments, which shone cold and bright in the gray light of the morning.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXXVI</span> <span class="smaller">HOME THROUGH THE SNOW</span></h2> + +<p>There was much to do, and John Saxton had been back and forth twice +between the ranch house and the village before the sun had crept high +into the heavens. The little village had been slow to grasp the fact of +the tragedy at its doors which had already carried its name afar. There +was much to do and yet it was so pitifully little after all! Warry +Raridan was dead, and eager men were scouring the country for his +murderer; but John Saxton sat in the room where Warry had died. It +seemed to John that the end had come of all the world. He sharpened his +grief with self-reproach that he had been a party to an exploit so +foolhardy: they should never have attempted a midnight descent upon an +unknown foe; and yet it was Raridan's own plan.</p> + +<p>It was like Warry, too, and the thought turned John's memory into +grooves that time was to deepen. This was the only man who had ever +brought him friendship. The first night at the club in Clarkson, when +Raridan had spoken to him, came back, vivid in all its details. He +recalled with a great ache in his heart their talk there in the summer +twilight; the charm that he had felt first that night, and how Warry had +grown more and more into his life, and brightened it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> He could not, in +the fullness of his sorrow, see himself again walking alone the ways +they had known together. Even the town seemed to him in these early +hours an unreal place; it was not possible that it lay only a few hours +distant, with its affairs going on uninterruptedly; nor could he realize +that he would himself take up there the threads of his life that now +seemed so hopelessly broken.</p> + +<p>Saxton had ministered to the boy Grant with characteristic kindness. +Grant knew now of Warry's death, and this, with his own sharp +experiences, had unnerved him. He clung to Saxton, and John soothed him +until he slept, in one of the upper chambers.</p> + +<p>Wheaton stood suddenly in the door, and beckoned to Saxton, who went out +to him. They had exchanged no words since that moment when the old +bishop's prayer had stilled the room where Warry Raridan died. Through +the events of the morning hours, Wheaton had been merely a spectator of +what was done; Saxton had hardly noticed him, and glancing at Wheaton +now, he was shocked at the look of great age that had come upon him.</p> + +<p>"I want to speak to you a minute,—you and Bishop Delafield," said +Wheaton. The bishop was pacing up and down in the outer hall, which had +been quietly cleaned and put in order by men from the village. Wheaton +led the way to the room once used as the ranch office.</p> + +<p>"Will you sit down, gentlemen?" He spoke with so much calmness that the +others looked at him curiously. The bishop and Saxton remained standing, +and Wheaton repeated, sharply, "Will you sit down?" The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> two men sat +down side by side on the leather-covered bench that ran around the room, +and Wheaton stood up before them; and so they met together here, the +three men left of the four who had come to the ranch house in the early morning.</p> + +<p>"I have something to say to you, before you—before we go," he said. +Their silence seemed to confuse him for a moment, but he regained his +composure. He looked from Saxton to the bishop, who nodded, and he went on:</p> + +<p>"The man who killed Warry Raridan was my brother," he said, and waited.</p> + +<p>Saxton started slightly; his numbed senses quickened under Wheaton's +words, and in a flash he saw the explanation of many things.</p> + +<p>"He was my brother," Wheaton went on quietly. "He had wanted money from +me. I had refused to help him. He carried away Grant Porter thinking to +injure me in that way. It was that, I think, as much as the hope of +getting a large sum for the boy's return."</p> + +<p>"But—" began the bishop.</p> + +<p>"There are many questions that will occur to you—and to others," +Wheaton resumed, with an assurance that transformed him for the moment. +He spoke as of events in ages past which had no relation to himself. +"There are many things that might have been different, that would have +been different, if I had not been"—he hesitated and then finished +abruptly—"if I had not been a coward."</p> + +<p>A great quiet lay upon the house; the two men remained sitting, and +Wheaton stood before them with his arms crossed, the bishop and Saxton +watching him,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> and Wheaton looking from one to the other of his +companions. Contempt and anger were rising in John Saxton's heart; but +the old bishop waited calmly; this was not the first time that a +troubled soul had opened its door to him.</p> + +<p>"Go on," he said, kindly.</p> + +<p>"My brother and I ran away from the little Ohio town where we were born. +Our father was a harness maker. I hated the place. I think I hated my +father and mother." He paused, as we do sometimes when we have suddenly +spoken a thought which we have long carried in our hearts but have never +uttered. The words had elements of surprise for James Wheaton, and he +waited, weighing his words and wishing to deal justly with himself. "My +brother was a bad boy; he had never gone to school, as I had; he had +several times been guilty of petty stealing. I joined him once in a +theft; we were arrested, but he took the blame and was punished, and I +went free. I am not sure that I was any better, or that I am now any +better than he is. But that is the only time I ever stole."</p> + +<p>Saxton remembered that Warry had once said of James Wheaton that he +would not steal.</p> + +<p>"I wanted to be honest; I tried my best to do right. I never expected to +do as well as I have—I mean in business and things like that. Then +after all the years in which I had not seen anything of my brother he +came into the bank one day as a tramp, begging, and recognized me. At +first I helped him. I sent him here; you will remember the man Snyder +you found here when you came," turning to Saxton. "I knew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> you would not +keep him. There was nothing else that I could do for him. I had new +ambitions," his voice fell and broke, "there were—there were other +things that meant a great deal to me—I could not have him about. It was +he who assaulted me one night at Mr. Porter's two years ago, when you," +he turned to the bishop, "came up and drove him away. After that I gave +him money to leave the country and he promised to stay away; but he +began blackmailing me again, and I thought then that I had done enough +for him and refused to help him any more. When Grant Porter disappeared +I knew at once what had happened. He had threatened—but there is +something—something wrong with me!"</p> + +<p>These last words broke from him like a cry, and he staggered suddenly +and would have fallen if Saxton had not sprung up and caught him. He +recovered quickly and sat down on the bench.</p> + +<p>"Let us drop this now," said Saxton, standing over him; "it's no time—"</p> + +<p>"There's something wrong with me," said Wheaton huskily, without +heeding, and Saxton drew back from him. "I was a vain, cowardly fool. +But I did the best I could," he passed his hand over his face, and his +fingers crept nervously to his collar, "but it wasn't any use! It wasn't +any use!" He turned again to the bishop. "I heard you preach a sermon +once. It was about our opportunities. You said we must live in the open. +I had never thought of that before," and he looked at the bishop with a +foolish grin on his face. He stood up suddenly and extended his arms. +"Now I want you to tell me what to do. I want to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span>punished! This +man's blood is on my hands. I want to be punished!" And he sank to the +floor in a heap, repeating, as if to himself, "I want to be punished!"</p> + +<p>There are two great crises in the life of a man. One is that moment of +disclosure when for the first time he recognizes some vital weakness in +his own character. The other comes when, under stress, he submits this +defect to the eyes of another. James Wheaton hardly knew when he had +realized the first, but he was conscious now that he had passed the +second. It had carried him like a high tide to a point of rest; but it +was a point of helplessness, too.</p> + +<p>"It isn't for us to punish you," the bishop began, "and I do not see +that you have transgressed any law."</p> + +<p>"That is it! that is it! It would be easier! I would to God I had!" +moaned Wheaton. John turned away. James Wheaton's face was not good to see.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it would be easier," the bishop continued. "Man's penalties are +lighter than God's. I can see that in going back to Clarkson many things +will be hard for you—"</p> + +<p>"I can't! Oh, I can't!" He still crouched on the floor, with his arms +extended along the bench.</p> + +<p>"But that is the manly thing for you. If you have acted a cowardly part, +now is the time for you to change, and you must change on the field of +battle. I can imagine the discomfort of facing your old friends; that +you will suffer keen humiliation; that you may have to begin again; but +you must do it, my friend, if you wish to rise above yourself, and you +may depend upon my help."</p> + +<p>The old man had spoken with emphasis, but with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> great gentleness. He +turned to Saxton, wishing him to speak.</p> + +<p>"The bishop is right. You must go back with us, Wheaton." But he did not +say that he would help him. John Saxton neither forgot nor forgave +easily. He did not see in this dark hour what he had to do with James +Wheaton's affairs. But the Bishop of Clarkson went over to James Wheaton +and lifted him up; it was as though he would make the physical act carry +a spiritual aid with it.</p> + +<p>"We can talk of this to better purpose when we get home," he said. "You +are broken now and see your future darkly; but I say to you that you can +be restored; there's light and hope ahead for you. If there is any +meaning in my ministry it is that with the help of God a man may come +out of darkness into the light again."</p> + +<p>There was a moment's silence. Wheaton sat bent forward on the bench, +with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands.</p> + +<p>"They are waiting for us," said Saxton.</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>A special train was sent to Great River, and the little party waited for +it on the station platform, surrounded by awed villagers, who stood +silent in the presence of death and a mystery which they but dimly +comprehended. Officers of the law from Clarkson came with the train and +surrounded Bishop Delafield, Wheaton and Saxton as they stood with Grant +Porter by the rude bier of Warry Raridan. The men answered many +questions and the sheriff of the county took the detectives away with +him. Margrave had sent his private<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> car, and the returning party were +huddled in one end of it, save John Saxton, who sat alone with the body +of Warry Raridan. The train was to go back immediately, but it waited +for the west-bound express which followed it and passed the special +here. There was a moment's confusion as the special with its dark burden +was switched into a siding to allow the regular train to pass. Then the +special returned to the main track and began its homeward journey.</p> + +<p>John sat with his arms folded, sunk into his greatcoat, and watched the +gray landscape through the snow that was falling fast. The events of the +night seemed like a hideous dream. It was an inconceivable thing that +within a few hours so dire a calamity could have fallen. The very +nearness of the city to which they were bound added to the unreality of +all that had happened. But there the dark burden lay; and the snow fell +upon the gray earth and whitened it, as if to cleanse and remake it and +blot out its dolor and dread. The others left Saxton alone; he was +nearer than they; but late in the afternoon, as they approached the +city, Captain Wheelock came in and touched him on the shoulder; Bishop +Delafield wished to see him. John rose, giving Wheelock his place, and +went back to where the old man sat staring out at the snow. He beckoned +Saxton to sit down by him.</p> + +<p>"Where's Wheaton?" the bishop asked.</p> + +<p>John looked at him and at the other men who sat in silence about the +car. He went to one of them and repeated the bishop's question, but was +told that Wheaton was not on the train. He had been at the station and +had come aboard the car with the rest; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> he must have returned to the +station and been left. John remembered the passing of the west-bound +express, and went back and told the bishop that Wheaton had not come +with them. The old man shook his head and turned again to the window and +the flying panorama of the snowy landscape. John sat by him, and neither +spoke until the train's speed diminished at a crossing on the outskirts +of Clarkson. Then suddenly, hot at heart and with tears of sorrow and +rage in his eyes, Saxton said, so that only the bishop could hear:</p> + +<p>"He's a damned coward!"</p> + +<p>The Bishop of Clarkson stared steadily out upon the snow with troubled eyes.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXXVII</span> <span class="smaller">"A PECULIAR BRICK"</span></h2> + +<p>It was Fenton who most nearly voiced the public sorrow at the death of +Warrick Raridan. His address at the memorial meeting of the Clarkson Bar +Association surprised the community, which knew Fenton only as a +corporation lawyer who rarely made speeches, even to juries. Fenton put +into words the general appraisement of Warry Raridan—his social grace +and charm, his wit and variety. People who hardly knew that Raridan had +been a lawyer were surprised that the leader of the Clarkson bar dwelt +upon his instinctive grasp of legal questions, "the thoroughness of his +research and the clarity and force with which he presented legal +propositions." Raridan was a lawyer with an imagination, Fenton said, +thus seizing what had been considered a weakness of character and making +it count as an element of strength. Fenton was not given to careless +praise, and what he said of Raridan had much to do with formulating the +opinion that was to pass into Clarkson history. The last few months of +Warry's life had won him this eulogy—the work which he had done for +Evelyn. Fenton had learned to know him well after the appointment of +Saxton as receiver. He had thrown a number of important <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span>questions to +Warry to investigate, and he had been amazed at his young lieutenant's +capacity and industry. He did not know that a woman had been the +inspiration of this work; he thought that it proceeded from Saxton's +influence and the pleasure Warry found in labor that brought him near his friend.</p> + +<p>It was not alone Warry's death, but the sharp, tragic manner of it, so +wretchedly inconsonant with his life, that grieved and shocked the +community. But this too had its compensations; for many read into his +life now a recklessness and daring which it had lacked. They spoke of +him as though he had been a young soldier who had fallen at the first +skirmish, without having been tried in battle; all spoke of his promise +and mourned that his life had been harvested before he had finished +sowing. On every hand his good deeds were recounted; many unknown +witnesses rose to tell of acts of generosity and kindness which would +never have been disclosed in his lifetime. Those who had really known +him no longer lamented his erratic habits. They now magnified his +talents; and his whimsical, fanciful ways they attributed to genius.</p> + +<p>It was much easier to account for Raridan than to explain Wheaton. Most +of the people of Clarkson did not understand his flight, if he had +neither stolen the bank's money nor killed Warry Raridan. There was a +disposition for a time to reject the story of the tragedy at the +Poindexter ranch house as it had been given out by Bishop Delafield and +John Saxton; but the bishop's word in the matter was final; he was not a +man to conceal the truth. Those who had seen most of Wheaton were the +most puzzled. The men who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span>remained at The Bachelors' were stunned by +the whole affair, but in particular they failed to grasp the curious +phase presented by Wheaton's connection—or lack of connection—with it. +They expected him to return, and even discussed what should be their +attitude toward him if he came back. As the days passed and nothing was +heard, they gradually ceased talking of him; but by silent assent no one +took the seat he had occupied at their table. When presently the +landlord sent Wheaton's things to be stored in the cellar, and new men +appeared in the places of Raridan and Wheaton, they exchanged the oblong +table for a round one, to take away whatever ill luck might follow the +places of the lost members of their board.</p> + +<p>The chief shock to William Porter was a shock to his pride. He had +trusted Wheaton as implicitly as he trusted any man, and while his trust +at all times had limitations, he had extended these beyond precedent in +James Wheaton's case. Saxton and Bishop Delafield had gone to him as +soon as possible, with Fenton. It was important for Porter to understand +exactly what had occurred at the Poindexter ranch house. The newspapers +had now announced Wheaton's flight; it was natural that the bank should +fall under suspicion, and that all of Porter's interests should be +jeopardized. A cashier implicated in some way in a murder, and in full +flight for parts unknown, created a situation which could not be +ignored. But Porter met the issue squarely and sanely.</p> + +<p>The expert accountants who were put to work on the bank's books made an +absolutely clean report, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span> minutest scrutiny of the securities of +the bank proved everything intact. Wheaton had been a master of order +and system. The searching investigation of experts and directors +revealed nothing that was not creditable to the missing cashier.</p> + +<p>"Well, sir," said Porter, "you've got me. I guess Jim was crooked some +way, but he didn't do us up. I guess there's nothing we can say against him."</p> + +<p>"His case is unusual," said Fenton. "I think we'd better leave it to the psychologists."</p> + +<p>It was necessary to fill Wheaton's place, and while they were casting +about for a cashier Porter and Thompson received offers from a Chicago +syndicate for their stock in the bank. The offer was advantageous; both +of the founders were old and both were in broken health. They debated +long what they should do. The bank was a child of their own creating; +Porter was particularly loath to part with it; but Evelyn, to whom he +brought the matter in a new spirit of dependence on her, finally +prevailed upon him. They closed with the offer of the syndicate, parting +with the control but remaining in the directorate. Porter had other +interests that required his attention, chief among which was the +Traction Company; and after the bank question had been determined, he +gave himself to a careful study of its affairs.</p> + +<p>"I guess this thing ain't so terribly rotten after all," he said one +day, at a conference with Saxton and Fenton. The earnings were steadily increasing.</p> + +<p>"No, it's making a showing now, and unless you want to keep it for a +long run you had better sell it before you get into a strike or a row +with the city <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span>authorities or something like that, to spoil it. And I +fancy that Saxton's making a showing that the next fellow can't beat. +One thing's sure," said Fenton, "some extensions and improvements have +got to be made the coming summer, and they will take money."</p> + +<p>"Well, we won't make them," Porter declared. "We'll reorganize and bond and get out."</p> + +<p>While the newspapers, and the judge of the court to whom he reported, +praised Saxton, Porter never praised him. It was not his way; but Fenton +took care that Porter should understand fully the value of Saxton's +services. Praise had not often been John Saxton's portion, and he was +not seriously troubled by Porter's apparent indifference. He was not +working for William Porter, he told himself, at times when Porter's +attitude annoyed him; he was working for the United States District +Court; and he went on doing his duty as he saw it. He was, however, +anxious to be relieved, but Fenton begged him to remain through the +reorganization. He liked Saxton and admired his steady persistence. +Together they worked out the problem of the proposed new company, and +managed it with so much tact and self-effacement that Porter believed +all their suggestions to have originated with himself.</p> + +<p>"It's simpler that way," said Fenton, speaking to Saxton one day of the +necessity of this method of procedure. "He's a perfect brick, and he'll +like us a lot better if we let him think he's doing all the work."</p> + +<p>"He is a brick all right," said John thoughtfully, "but he's a peculiar brick."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXXVIII</span> <span class="smaller">OLD PHOTOGRAPHS</span></h2> + +<p>In the days that followed, John Saxton knew again the heartache and +loneliness which he had known before Warry Raridan came into his life. +He had lost the first real friend he had ever had, and his days were +once more empty of light and cheer. His work still engrossed him, but it +failed to bring him the happiness which he had found in it when he and +Warry discussed its perplexities together. His memory sought its old +ruts again; the hardship and failure of his years in Wyoming were like +fresh wounds. He talked to no one except Bishop Delafield, who had +reasoned him out of his self-indictment for Warry's death. He did not +know that his own part in the recovery of Grant Porter, as Bishop +Delafield described it, was touched with a fine and generous courage, +and he would have resented it if he had known.</p> + +<p>Warry was constantly in his thoughts; but he thought much of Evelyn too; +through all the years to come, he told himself, he would remember them +and they would be his ideals. Echoes of the gossip which connected +Warry's name and Evelyn's reached him, and he felt no shock that such +surmises should be afloat. Warry and he had understood each other; they +had talked of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span> Evelyn frequently; Warry had come to him often with the +confidences of a despairing lover, and John had encouraged and consoled +him. He predicted his ultimate success; it had always seemed to him an +inevitable thing that Warry and Evelyn should marry.</p> + +<p>Three weeks passed before he saw her, and then he went to her with an +excuse for his visit in his mind and heart. Warry had left a will in +which the bulk of his property—and it was a respectable fortune—was +given for the endowment of a hospital for children. Saxton was named as +executor and as a trustee of the fund thus set apart. Warry had never +mentioned the matter to any one; he had probably never thought of it +very seriously, and John wished to talk to Evelyn about it.</p> + +<p>It seemed strange that the Porter drawing-room was the same, when +everything else had changed; he had not been there since the afternoon +when he walked home with Evelyn through the cold. He despised himself +for that now; it was an act of disloyalty to Warry; but he would now be +more loyal to the dead than he had been to the living.</p> + +<p>As they talked together he saw no change in her; and he felt himself +wondering what manner of change it was that he had expected to find. He +had heard of people who aged suddenly with grief, but Evelyn was the +same, save for a greater composure, a more subdued note of manner and +voice. She bent forward in her deep interest in what he told her of +Warry's bequest. He wished her help, and asked for it as if it were her +right to give it. Surely no one had a better claim than she, he thought.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span></p><p>"It is so like Warry," she said. "It will be a beautiful memorial, and +there is enough to do it very handsomely."</p> + +<p>"He liked things to be done well," said John. He marveled that she could +speak of it so quietly. Failure and grief possessed his eyes, and Evelyn +was conscious of a deepening of the pathos she had always seen and felt +in him, as he sat talking of his dead friend. She pitied him, and was +obedient to his evident wish to talk of Warry.</p> + +<p>John spoke of Warry's last photographs, and Evelyn went and brought a +number which he had never seen. Several of them dated back to Warry's +boyhood. They were odd and interesting—boyish pictures which the +spectacles made appear preternaturally old. One of these, that John +liked particularly, Evelyn asked him to take, and his face lighted with +pleasure when she made it plain that she wished him to have it. She told +of some of Warry's pranks in their childhood, and they laughed over them +with guarded mirth.</p> + +<p>"It was wonderful that so many kinds of people were fond of Warry," said +Evelyn. "He never tried to please, and yet no man in town ever had so many friends."</p> + +<p>"It's like genius, I suppose," said John. "It's something in people that +wins admiration. No one can define it or explain it. I think, though," +he added in a lower tone, "I know how it was in my own case. I had +always wanted a friend like him to take me out of myself and help me; +but a man like Warry had never come my way before; and if he had he +would probably have been in a hurry."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span></p><p>He laughed and then was very grave. "But Warry always had time for me." +At his last words he looked up at her and saw tears shining in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Oh, forgive me—forgive me!" he cried. "It must—I know it must hurt +you to talk of him. But I couldn't help it. I thought you must +understand what he meant to me. Dear old Warry!"</p> + +<p>He held in his hand the little card photograph she had given him, and he +rose and thrust it into his pocket.</p> + +<p>"He was a charming, gentle spirit," said Evelyn. "It will mean a great +deal to us that we knew him. You meant a great deal to him, Mr. Saxton. +You helped him. It was—" She halted, confused, and had evidently +intended to say more. The color suddenly mounted to her face. She did +not offer him her hand which he had stepped forward to take, and he +dropped his own, which he had half extended.</p> + +<p>"Good night." Her eyes followed him to the hall.</p> + +<p>On his way home—he still lived at the club—John reviewed, sentence by +sentence, his talk with Evelyn. He had not expected her to speak so +frankly of Warry; but, he told himself, it was like her. He touched the +photograph she had given him, and held it up as he passed under an arc +lamp to be sure of it. He was surprised that she had given it to him; he +did not think a girl would give away a rare picture of a dead lover, +which must have a peculiar sacredness for her. Then he was angry with +himself for a thought that criticised her. She had given it to him +because he was Warry's friend!</p> + +<p>When he reached his room he put the photograph of Warry on his table and +took another similar card from a drawer. It was the little picture of +Evelyn which he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> had often seen on Warry's dressing-table. It showed her +standing by a tall chair; her hair hung in long braids. It was very +girlish and quaint; but it was unmistakably Evelyn.</p> + +<p>Warry in his will had directed that John should have such of his +personal effects as he might choose; the remainder he was to destroy or +sell. John chose a few of the books that Warry had liked best, and the +picture. He put it down now beside the photograph of Warry. They bore +the name of the same photographer, and had probably been taken in the +same year. He lighted his pipe and tramped back and forth across the +floor, occasionally stopping at his desk to look at the cards carefully. +He had no right to Evelyn Porter's picture, he told himself. He was +taking advantage of his dead friend's kindness to appropriate it. He +would not destroy it; he would give it to some one—to Mrs. Whipple, to +Evelyn herself! Yes, it should be to Evelyn; and having reached this +conclusion, he put the two pictures away together and went to bed.</p> + +<p>The next day he was called away unexpectedly to Colorado to close a sale +of the Neponset Trust Company's interest in the irrigation company. The +call came inopportunely, as the plans for the reorganization of the +Traction Company were not yet perfected; but the matter was urgent, and +Fenton told him to go. There was not time, he assured himself, to return +the photograph before leaving, so he carried both the little cards away +with him, with a half-formed intention of sending Evelyn's to her from +Denver; but when he returned to Clarkson he still carried the +photographs in his pocket.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XXXIX</span> <span class="smaller">"IT IS CRUEL"</span></h2> + +<p>"It is cruel of them to say it!"</p> + +<p>Evelyn was at the Whipples'. It was a morning in May. Spring possessed +the valley. The long vistas across the hills were closing as the leaves +crept into the trees again. The windows were open, and the snowy +curtains swayed to the wind. Lilacs again in the Whipples' dooryard +bloomed, and the general's young cherry trees were white with blossoms. +It was not well that any one should be heavy of heart on such a morning, +but Evelyn Porter was not happy. She sat leaning forward with both hands +resting on the ivory ball of her parasol. A querulous note crept into +her voice. It is strange how the heartache to which the face never +yields finds a ready prey in the voice.</p> + +<p>"It is cruel of them to say it!"</p> + +<p>"But it is natural too, dear," said Mrs. Whipple. "Many people must have +wondered about you and Warry. If it will help any, I will confess that I +wondered a good deal myself. Now you won't mind, will you? It seems +hard, now that he has gone—but before—before, it was not unreasonable!"</p> + +<p>"But the gossip! I don't care for myself, but it is cruel to him, to his +memory, that this should be said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span> If it had been true; if—if we had +been engaged, it would not be so wretched; but this—oh, it hurts me!" +She lay back in her chair. Her eyes were over-bright; her words ended in a wail.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Whipple felt that Evelyn's view of the matter was absurd. If the +people of Clarkson were trying to read an element of romance into Warry +Raridan's death, they were certainly working no injury to his memory. +Such a view of the matter was fantastic. Evelyn did not know that +another current story coupled her name with that of James Wheaton, who +was spoken of in some quarters, and even guardedly in newspapers outside +of Clarkson, as Raridan's rival for the affections of William Porter's +daughter. Mrs. Whipple had shuddered hourly since the tragedy at +Poindexter's when she remembered how much Wheaton had been about with +Evelyn. He had been with her almost as much as Warry. Mrs. Whipple +recalled the carnival of two years ago with shame. Her heart smote her +as she watched the girl. It was a hideous thing that evil should have +crept so near her life. Wheaton had been a strange species of reptile among them all.</p> + +<p>"Poor dear! You must not take it so!" The silence had grown oppressive. +It was incumbent upon her to comfort the girl if she could.</p> + +<p>"It isn't a thing that you can help, child. There's no way of stopping +gossip; and if they persist in saying such things, they will have to say +them, that's all. If you wish—if it will help you any, I will refute it +when I can—I mean among our friends only."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! That would make it worse. Please don't say anything!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span></p><p>Mrs. Whipple did not accept solicitude for Warry's memory as a +sufficient explanation of Evelyn's troubles; nor was it like Evelyn to +complain of gossip about herself. The girl had naturally felt Warry's +death deeply; she made no secret of her great fondness for him. But if +Evelyn had really cared for Warry with more than a friendly regard, she +would never have come to her in this way. She assumed this hypothesis as +she made irrelevant talk with the girl. Then she thought of Wheaton; if +Wheaton had been the one Evelyn had cared for—if Warry had been the +friend and he the lover! She gave rein for a moment to this idea. +Perhaps Evelyn followed the man now with sympathy—the thought was +repulsive; she rejected it instantly with self-loathing for having +harbored an idea that wronged Evelyn so miserably.</p> + +<p>"What father feels is that his mistake in Wheaton argues a great +weakness in himself," Evelyn was saying. She was more tranquil now. Mrs. +Whipple noticed that she spoke Wheaton's name without hesitation; she +had dropped the prefix of respect, as every one had. We have a way of +eliminating it in speaking of men who are markedly good or bad.</p> + +<p>"Father takes it very hard. He isn't naturally morbid, but he seems to +feel as if he had been responsible—Grant being back of it all. But we +didn't know those men were going out there—we knew nothing until it was +all over!" The girl spoke as if she too felt the responsibility. "And he +thinks he ought to have known about Wheaton—ought to have seen what +kind of man he was!"</p> + +<p>Evelyn's blue foulard was beyond criticism and it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> matched her parasol +perfectly; the girl had never been prettier. Mrs. Whipple inwardly +apologized for having admitted the thought of Wheaton to her mind.</p> + +<p>"We can all accuse ourselves in the same way. To think of it—that he +has actually passed tea in this very room!" Her shrug of loathing was so +real that Evelyn shuddered.</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Whipple laughed, so suddenly that it startled Evelyn.</p> + +<p>"It's dreadful! horrible!" Mrs. Whipple continued, "to find that a +person you have really looked upon with liking—perhaps with +admiration—has been all along eaten with a moral leprosy. If it weren't +for poor Warry we should be able to look upon it as a profitable +experience. There aren't many like Wheaton. The bishop thinks we ought +to be lenient in dealing with him—that he was not really so bad; that +he was simply weak—that his weakness was a kind of disease of his moral +nature. But I can't see it that way myself. The man ought not to go +scot-free. He ought to be punished. But it's too intangible and subtle +for the law to take hold of."</p> + +<p>Evelyn had picked up her card-case. It was a pretty trifle of silver and +leather; she tapped the handle of her parasol with it. Something had +occurred to Mrs. Whipple when she laughed a moment before, and seeing +that Evelyn was about to rise, she said casually:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Saxton doesn't share the bishop's gentle charity toward Wheaton." +She watched Evelyn as she applied the test. The girl did not raise her +eyes at once. She bent over the parasol meditatively, still tapping the +handle with the card-case.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span></p><p>"What does Mr. Saxton say?" Evelyn asked, dropping the trinket into her +lap and looking at her friend vaguely, as people do who ask questions +out of courtesy rather than from honest curiosity.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Saxton says that Wheaton's a scoundrel—a damned scoundrel, to be +literal. He told the general so, here, a few nights ago. He seemed very +bitter. You know what close friends he and Warry were!"</p> + +<p>"Yes; it was an ideal kind of friendship. They were devoted to each +other," said Evelyn very earnestly; there was a little cry in her voice +as she spoke. It was as though happiness, struggling against sorrow, had +almost gained the mastery.</p> + +<p>"It's fine to see that in men. I sometimes think that friendships among +them have a quality that ours lack. I think Mr. Saxton is very lonely. I +wasn't here when he called, but the general saw him. You know the +general likes him particularly."</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"You and he both knew and appreciated Warry."</p> + +<p>Evelyn had grasped her parasol, and she took up the card-case again. +Mrs. Whipple was half ashamed of herself; but she was also convinced. +She took another step.</p> + +<p>"Of course you see him; he must be reaching out to all Warry's friends +in his loneliness."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Whipple's powers of analysis were keen, but there were times when +they failed her. She did not know that her question hurt Evelyn Porter; +and she did not know that Evelyn had seen John Saxton but once since the +day they all stood by Warry's grave.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span></p><p>Mrs. Whipple disapproved of herself as she followed Evelyn to the door. +She had no business to pry into the girl's secrets in this way; the +sweep of the foulard touched her, and she sought to placate her +conscience by burying her new-found knowledge under less guilty information.</p> + +<p>Evelyn spoke of the place which her father had bought at Orchard Lane, +on the North Shore, and told Mrs. Whipple that she and the general were +expected to spend a month there.</p> + +<p>"You will be away all summer, I suppose. It's fine that your father has +taken the course he has. He might have felt that he must stay at home +closer than ever, to look after his interests."</p> + +<p>"It's more for Grant than for himself," said Evelyn; "but he realizes +too that he must take care of himself."</p> + +<p>"That's a good deal gained for a Western business man. It's been a +terrible year for you, dear,—your father's illness and these other +things. You need rest."</p> + +<p>She took the girl's cheeks in her hands and kissed her, and Evelyn went +out into the spring afternoon and walked homeward over the sloping streets.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Whipple pondered long after Evelyn left. Evelyn was not happy. She +was not mourning a dead lover, nor one whose life was eclipsed in shame; +but another man disturbed her peace, and Mrs. Whipple wondered why. She +was still pondering when the general came in. He had been out to take +the air, and after he had brought his syphon from the ice-box he was +ready to talk.</p> + +<p>"Evelyn has been here," said Mrs. Whipple. "She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span> asked us to come to +them for a visit. You know Mr. Porter has bought a place on the North Shore."</p> + +<p>"It sounds like a miracle. Jim Wheaton didn't live in vain if he's +responsible for that."</p> + +<p>They debated their invitation, which Mrs. Whipple had already accepted, +she explained, from a sense of duty to Evelyn. The general said he +supposed he would have to go, with a show of reluctance that was wholly +insincere and to which Mrs. Whipple gave no heed. They were asked for +July. They discussed the old friends whom they would probably see while +they were East, until the summer loomed pleasant before them, and then +the talk came back to Evelyn.</p> + +<p>"The child doesn't look well," said Mrs. Whipple.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't think she would, with all the row and rumpus they've been +having in their family. Abductions and murders and abscondings at one's +door are not conducive to light-heartedness."</p> + +<p>"She's annoyed by all this gossip about her and Warry. She doesn't know +that Wheaton is supposed to have taken more than a friendly interest in her."</p> + +<p>"Well, I wouldn't tell her that, if I were you—if Wheaton didn't."</p> + +<p>"Of course he didn't!"</p> + +<p>"Well, he didn't then." The syphon hissed into the glass.</p> + +<p>"Evelyn and Warry weren't engaged," said Mrs. Whipple. The general held +up the glass and watched the gas bubbling to the top.</p> + +<p>"It's just as well that way," he said. "It saves her a lot of heartache."</p> + +<p>"That's what I think," said Mrs. Whipple promptly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span> In such +conversations as this she usually combated the general's opinions. An +exception to the rule was so noteworthy that he began to pay serious attention.</p> + +<p>"They weren't, but they might have been. Is that it?"</p> + +<p>"No. Anything might have been. There's no use speculating about what can't be now."</p> + +<p>"I suppose that's true. Well?"</p> + +<p>"Something is troubling Evelyn, and I'll tell you what I think it is. I +think it was Saxton all along."</p> + +<p>"I always told you he was a good fellow. He's really shown me some +attentions, and that's more than most of the young men have done, except +Warry. Warry was nice to everybody. But Saxton's alive and hearty and +hasn't skipped for parts unknown. Why is Evelyn mourning?" He shook the +glass until the ice tinkled pleasantly.</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Maybe—maybe he doesn't understand!"</p> + +<p>"He isn't stupid," said the general, thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"Of course he isn't."</p> + +<p>"It may be that he isn't interested—that she doesn't appeal to him. +Such a thing is conceivable."</p> + +<p>"No, it isn't! Of course it isn't!"</p> + +<p>The general laughed at her scornful rejection of the idea.</p> + +<p>"You tell me, then."</p> + +<p>"What I think is, that there is some reason—perhaps some point of honor +with him—that keeps him away from her. He was Warry's friend. He was +nearer Warry in his last years than any one. Don't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span> you think that +something of that sort may be the matter?"</p> + +<p>The general was greatly amused, and he laughed so that Mrs. Whipple's +own dignity was shaken.</p> + +<p>"Amelia," he said, "your analytical powers are too sharp for this world. +You're shaving it down pretty fine, it seems to me. I wish you'd tell me +what you base that on."</p> + +<p>"I'm not basing it; but it seems so natural that that should be the way."</p> + +<p>The syphon gurgled harshly and sputtered, and the general put it down sadly.</p> + +<p>"Now that you've solved the riddle in your own mind, how are you going +to proceed? You'd better not try army tactics on a civilian job. Saxton +isn't a second lieutenant, to be regulated by the commandant's wife."</p> + +<p>"He's a dear!" declared Mrs. Whipple irrelevantly. "If Evelyn Porter +wants him, she's going to have him."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lord!" The general took up his syphon to carry it back to the case +in the pantry. "He's 'a dear,' is he? Amelia, John Saxton weighs at +least one hundred and eighty pounds. I don't believe I'd call him 'a +dear.' I'd reserve that for slim, elderly persons like me, or young +girls just out of school." He stood swinging the syphon at arm's length. +"Now, if my advice were worth anything, I'd tell you to let these young +people alone. If you've guessed the true inwardness of this matter—as +you probably haven't—they'll come out all right."</p> + +<p>"Of course they'll come out all right," she answered, dreamily. The +swinging door in the dining-room fanned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> upon her answer as the general +strode through into the pantry.</p> + +<p>For several weeks following Mrs. Whipple continued to think of Evelyn +and her affairs. Evelyn was not an object of pity, and yet there was a +certain pathos about her. Her position in the town as the daughter of +its wealthiest citizen isolated her, it seemed to Mrs. Whipple. A girl +would be less than human if the experiences to which Evelyn had been +subjected did not make a profound impression upon her. Mrs. Whipple had +seen a good deal of trouble in her day. She felt that Evelyn had learned +too much of life in one lesson; if she could ease the future for her, +she wished to do it. With such hopes as these she occupied herself as +spring waxed old and summer held the land.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XL</span> <span class="smaller">SHIFTED BURDENS</span></h2> + +<p>Porter insisted that Margrave should not have the Traction Company at +any price, though the general manager of the Transcontinental was +persistent in his offers. As Margrave did not care to deal with Porter, +who was not, he complained, "an easy trader," he negotiated with Fenton +and Saxton. After several weeks of ineffectual effort he concluded that +Fenton and Saxton were almost as difficult. He called Saxton a "stubborn +brute" to Saxton's face; but offered to continue him in a responsible +position with the company if he would help him with the purchase. He +still wanted to control the company for political reasons, but there was +also the fact of his having invested the money of several of his friends +in the Transcontinental directorate, prior to the last annual meeting.</p> + +<p>These gentlemen had begun to inquire in a respectful way when Margrave +was going to effect the <i>coup</i> which, he had been assuring them, he had +planned. They had, they were aware, no rights as against the +bondholders; and as Margrave understood this perfectly well, he was very +anxious to buy in the property at receiver's sale for an amount that +would satisfy Porter and his allies, and give him a chance to "square +himself," as he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span> put it. This required additional money, but he was able +to command it from his "people," for the receiver had demonstrated that +the property could be made to pay. While these negotiations were +pending, Saxton and Fenton were able to satisfy their curiosity as to +the relations which had existed between Wheaton and Margrave. Margrave +had no shame in confessing just what had passed between them; he viewed +it all as a joke, and explained, without compunction, exactly the manner +in which he had come by the shares which had belonged to Evelyn Porter and James Wheaton.</p> + +<p>When Saxton came back from Colorado, Porter was ill again, and Fenton +was seriously disposed to accept a price which Margrave's syndicate had +offered. Margrave's position had grown uncomfortable; he had to get +himself and "his people" out of a scrape at any cost. His plight pleased +Fenton, who tried to make Porter see the irony of it; and this view of +it, as much as the high offer, finally prevailed upon him. He saw at +last the futility of securing and managing the property for himself; his +health had become a matter of concern, and Fenton insisted that a street +railway company would prove no easier to manage than a bank.</p> + +<p>Porter was, as John had said, "a peculiar brick," and after the final +orders of the court had been made, and Saxton's fees allowed, Porter +sent him a check for five thousand dollars, without comment. Fenton made +him keep it; Porter had done well in Traction and he owed much to John; +but John protested that he preferred being thanked to being tipped; but +the lawyer persuaded him at last that the idiosyncrasies of the rich +ought to be respected.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span></p><p>Porter felt his burdens slipping from him with unexpected satisfaction. +He grew jaunty in his old way as he chid his contemporaries and friends +for holding on; as for himself, he told them, he intended "to die +rested," and he adjusted his affairs so that they would give him little +trouble in the future. The cottage which he had bought on the North +Shore was a place they had all admired the previous summer. Porter had +liked it because there was enough ground to afford the lawn and flower +beds which he cultivated with so much satisfaction at home. The place +was called "Red Gables," and Porter had bought it with its furniture, so +that there was little to do in taking possession but to move in. The +Whipples were their first guests, going to them in mid-July, when they +were fully installed.</p> + +<p>The elder Bostonians whom Porter had met the previous summer promptly +renewed their acquaintance with him. He had attained, in their eyes, a +new dignity in becoming a cottager. The previous owner of "Red Gables" +had lately failed in business and they found in the advent of the +Porters a sign of the replenishing of the East from the West, which +interested them philosophically. Porter lacked their own repose, but +they liked to hear him talk. He was amusing and interesting, and they +had already found his prophecies concerning the markets trustworthy. The +ladies of their families heard with horror his views on the Indian +question, which were not romantic, nor touched with the spirit of Boston +philanthropy; but his daughter was lovely, they said, and her accent was wholly inoffensive.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span></p><p>So the Porters were well received, and Evelyn was glad to find her +father accepting his new leisure so complacently. She and Mrs. Whipple +agreed that he and the general were as handsome and interesting as any +of the elderly Bostonians among their neighbors; and they undoubtedly were so.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XLI</span> <span class="smaller">RETROSPECTIVE VANITY</span></h2> + +<p>John Saxton sat in the office of the Traction Company on a hot night in +July. Fenton had just left him. The transfer to the Margrave syndicate +had been effected and John would no more sign himself "John Saxton, +Receiver." His work in Clarkson was at an end. The Neponset Trust +Company had called him to Boston for a conference, which meant, he knew, +a termination of his service with them. He had lately sold the +Poindexter ranch, and so little property remained on the Neponset's +books that it could be cared for from the home office. He had not opened +the afternoon mail. He picked up a letter from the top of the pile and read:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">San Francisco</span>, July 10, 189—.</p> + +<p>My Dear Sir:</p> + +<p>I hesitate about writing you, but there are some things which I +should like you to understand before I go away. I had fully +expected to remain with you and Bishop Delafield and to return to +Clarkson that last morning at Poindexter's. I cannot defend myself +for having run away; it must have seemed a strange thing to you +that I did so. I had fully intended acting on the bishop's advice, +which I knew then, and know now, was good. But when the west-bound +train came, my courage left me; I could not go back and face the +people I had known, after what had happened. I told<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span> you the truth +there in the ranch house that night; every word of it was true. +Maybe I did not make it clear enough how weak I am. I do not know +why God made me so; I know that I tried to fight it; but I was vain +and foolish. Things came too easy for me, I guess; at any rate I +was never worthy of the good fortune that befell me. It seemed to +me that for two years everything I did was a mistake. I suppose if +I had been a real criminal, and not merely a coward, I should not +have entangled myself as I did and brought calamity upon other +people.</p> + +<p>When I reached here, I found employment with a shipping house. I +have told my story to one of the firm, who has been kind to me. He +seems to understand my case, and is giving me a good chance to +begin over again. I suppose the worst possible things have been +said about me, and I do not care, except that I hope the people in +Clarkson will not think I was guilty of any wrong-doing at the +bank. I read in the newspapers that I had stolen the bank's money, +and I hope that was corrected. The books must have proved what I +say. I understand now that what I did was worse than stealing, but +I should like you and Mr. Porter to know that I not only did not +take other people's money, but that in my foolish relations with +Margrave I did not receive a cent for the shares of stock which he +took from me—neither for my own nor for those of Miss Porter. I +don't blame Margrave; if I had not been a coward he could not have +played with me as he did.</p> + +<p>The company is sending me to one of its South American houses. I go +by steamer to-morrow, and you will not hear from me again. I should +like you to know that I have neither seen nor heard anything of my +brother since that night. With best wishes for your own happiness and prosperity,</p> + +<p class="center">Yours sincerely,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">James Wheaton</span>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">John Saxton, Esq.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span></p><p>On his way home to the club Saxton stopped at Bishop Delafield's rooms, +and found the bishop, as usual, preparing for flight. Time did not +change Bishop Delafield. He was one of those men who reach sixty, and +never, apparently, pass it. He and Saxton were fast friends now. The +bishop missed Warry out of his life: Warry was always so accessible and +so cheering. John Saxton was not so accessible and he had not Warry's +lightness, but the Bishop of Clarkson liked John Saxton!</p> + +<p>The bishop sat with his inevitable hand-baggage by his side and read +Wheaton's letter through.</p> + +<p>"How ignorant we are!" he said, folding it. "I sometimes think that we +who try to minister to the needs of the poor in spirit do not even know +the rudiments of our trade. We are pretty helpless with men like +Wheaton. They are apparently strong; they yield to no temptations, so +far as any man knows; they are exemplary characters. I suppose that they +are living little tragedies all the time. The moral coward is more to be +pitied than the open criminal. You know where to find the criminal; but +the moral coward is an unknown quantity. Life is a strange business, +John, and the older I get the less I think I know of it." He sighed and +handed back the letter.</p> + +<p>"But he's doing better than we might have expected him to," said Saxton. +"A man's entitled to happiness if he can find it. He undoubtedly chose +the easier part in running away. I can't imagine him coming back here to +face the community after all that had happened."</p> + +<p>"I don't know that I can either. Preaching is easier<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span> than practising, +and I'm not sure that I gave him the best advice at the ranch house that morning."</p> + +<p>"Well, it was the only thing to do," Saxton answered. "I suppose neither +you nor I was sure he told the truth; it was a situation that was +calculated to make one skeptical. It isn't clear from his letter that +the whole thing has impressed him in any great way. He's anxious to have +us think well of him—a kind of retrospective vanity."</p> + +<p>"But his punishment is great. It's not for us to pass on its adequacy. I +must be going, John," and Saxton gathered up the battered cases and went +out to the car with him.</p> + +<p>Bishop Delafield always brought Warry back vividly to John, and as they +waited on the corner he remembered his first meeting with the bishop, in +Warry's rooms at The Bachelors'. And that was very long ago!</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>CHAPTER XLII</span> <span class="smaller">AT THE PARTING OF THE WAYS</span></h2> + +<p>The days that followed brought uncertainty and doubt to the heart and +mind of John Saxton. He had seen Evelyn several times before she left +home, on occasions when he went to the house with Fenton for conferences +with her father. He had intended saying good-by to her, but the Porters +went hurriedly at last and he was not sorry; it was easier that way. But +Mrs. Whipple, who was exercising a motherly supervision over John, had +exacted a promise from him to come to Orchard Lane during the time that +she and the general were to be with the Porters in their new cottage. +When he went East, Saxton settled down at his club in Boston, and +pretended that it was good to be at home again; but he went about with +homesickness gnawing his heart. He had reason to be happy and satisfied +with himself. He had practically concluded the difficult work which he +had been sent to Clarkson to do; he had realized more money from their +assets than the officers of the trust company had expected; and they +held out to him the promise of employment in their Boston office as a +reward. So he walked the familiar streets planning his future anew. He +had succeeded in something at last, and he would stay<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span> in Boston, +having, he told himself, earned the right to live there. The assistant +secretaryship of the trust company, which had been mentioned to him, +would be a position of dignity and promise. He had never hoped to do so +well. Moreover, it would be pleasant to be near his sister, who lived at +Worcester. There were only the two of them, and they ought to live near together.</p> + +<p>It is, however, an unpleasant habit of the fates never to suffer us to +debate simple problems long; they must throw in new elements to puzzle +us. While he deferred going to Orchard Lane a new perplexity confronted +him. One of Margrave's "people" came from New York as the representative +of the syndicate that had purchased the Clarkson Traction Company, and +sought an interview. John had met this gentleman at the time the sale +was closed; he was a person of consequence in the financial world, who +came quickly to the point of his errand. He offered John the position of +general manager of the company.</p> + +<p>Margrave, it appeared, was not to have full swing after all. He was to +be president, but John's visitor intimated broadly that the position was +to be largely honorary. They had looked into the matter thoroughly in +New York and were anxious that the policy and methods of the +receivership should continue. Mr. Margrave was an invaluable man, said +the New Yorker, but his duties with the railroad company had so +multiplied that he would be unable to give the necessary care to the +street car management. John should have absolute authority. The +syndicate would be greatly disappointed if he declined. A salary was +named which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span> was larger than John had ever dreamed of receiving in any +occupation; and they wished an answer within a few days. John Saxton was +human, and it was not easy to decline a salary of six thousand dollars +for services which he knew he could perform, offered to him by a +gentleman whom people were not in the habit of refusing. He remained +indoors at the club all day, smoking many pipes in a fruitless effort to +reconcile his resolves with his new problems.</p> + +<p>The next day he thought he saw it all more clearly. Perhaps, he +reflected, life in Boston would become endurable; there was his sister +to consider, and he owed something to her; she was all he had. He went +out and walked aimlessly through the hot streets, little heeding what he +did. He realized presently that he had gone into a railway office and +asked for a suburban time table. He carried this back to the club, where +the atmosphere of his cool, quiet room soothed him; and he lay down on a +couch and studied the list of Orchard Lane trains. He found that he +could run out almost any hour of the day. He slept and woke refreshed, +with the time table still grasped in his hand. He had been very foolish, +he concluded; it would be a simple matter to go out to Orchard Lane to +call on the Porters and Whipples, and he picked out one of the afternoon +trains and marked it on the folder with a lead pencil. He spent the +evening writing letters,—in particular a letter to the representative +of the Clarkson Traction syndicate, declining the general managership; +and the next afternoon when he went up to Orchard Lane he carried the +letter sealed and stamped in his pocket, as a kind of talisman that +would assure his safety.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span></p><p>It suited his righteous mood that he should find no one at home at Red +Gables but Mr. Porter, who played golf all the morning and slept and +experimented at landscape gardening all the afternoon. He welcomed John +with unwonted cordiality, in the inexplicable way people have of being +friendlier with a fellow townsman away from their common habitat than at +home. He led the way to a cool and cozy corner of the broad veranda, +where Japanese screens made a pleasant nook. The afternoon sea shimmered +beyond the trees; the lawn was tended with urban care. Porter was very +proud of the place and listened with approval to John's praise of it.</p> + +<p>"Well, sir; it's cooler than Clarkson."</p> + +<p>"A trifle, yes; the efforts of the Clarkson papers to make a summer +resort of the town were never very successful." John's eyes rested on a +wicker table where there were books and a little sewing basket, which it +wrung his heart to see.</p> + +<p>"Folks are all off somewhere. The Whipples are in town. Grant's gone +sailing and Evelyn's out visiting or attending a push of some kind up +the shore. But I guess I know when I've got a good thing. You don't +catch me gadding into town when I've got a cool place to sit." He +stretched his short legs comfortably. "I hope you'll smoke a cigar if +you've got one. They've cut mine off, and Evelyn won't let me keep any +around; thinks they'd be too much of a temptation."</p> + +<p>"It's just as well to keep away from temptation," said John, not +thinking of cigars. The sight of Porter and the mention of Clarkson +brought his homesickness to an acute stage.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span></p><p>"I suppose our old friend Margrave's enjoying himself running the +Traction Company by this time," continued Porter. "Well, sir; I guess he +can have it. I thought for a while that I wanted it myself, but Fenton +talked me out of it. It will pay, if they run it right; yes, sir; it's a +good thing. But the trouble with Margrave is that he won't play square. +It ain't in him. He's so crooked that they'll never find a coffin for +him,—no, sir; not in stock; I guess it'll tax the manufacturer to his +full capacity to fit Tim. But he seems to have those Transcontinental +people on the string, and they're smart fellows, too. I reckon +Margrave's a handy man for them. They used to say <i>I</i> was crooked,"—he +twirled his straw hat, and changed the position of his legs; "but I +guess that for pure sinuosity I was never in Tim Margrave's class. Well, +Tim's a good enough fellow when all's said and done!"</p> + +<p>"They say of him that he always stands by his friends," said John. "And +that's a good deal."</p> + +<p>"That's right. It's a whole lot," Porter assented.</p> + +<p>There were some details connected with the final transfer of the +Traction Company to Margrave's syndicate which Porter had not fully +understood, or which Fenton had purposely kept from him; and he pressed +John for new light on these matters. John answered or parried as he +thought wisest. He was surprised to find how completely Porter had freed +himself from business; the sometime banker talked of Clarkson affairs +with an accentuation of the past tense, as if to wave them all away as +far as possible. Events in themselves did not interest him particularly; +but he took a mildly patronizing tone in philosophizing about them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span> He +drew from John the fact that most of the property of the Neponset Trust +Company in the Trans-Missouri region had been sold.</p> + +<p>"That's good. I guess you've done pretty well for them, Saxton. But I +hope we shan't lose you from Clarkson. We need young men out there; and +I guess we've got as good a town as there is anywhere west of Chicago."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure of that," said John; and he rose to go.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry the rest of them are not here," said Mr. Porter. "Evelyn +ought to have been home before this. But you must come again. Come out +and try the golf course and have dinner with us any time. I'm playing a +little myself this summer. Evelyn and Grant can outdrive me all right; +but they're not in it with me on putting. I'm one of the warmest putters +on the links. You can find the shore path this way." He led John to an +exit at the rear of the house, where there was an old apple orchard. +"After you pass the lighthouse you come to a road that leads right into the village."</p> + +<p>John left his greetings for the rest of the household and turned away. +It had all happened much more easily than he had expected. He had burned +all his bridges behind him now; he would mail his letter in the village; +not that it would be delivered any sooner, but because it fell in with +his spirit of renunciation that it should go hence with the Orchard Lane postmark.</p> + +<p>He took it from his pocket and carried it in his hand. He found the walk +very pleasant, with the rough shore of the bay on one hand and pretty +villas on the other. Orchard Lane was not wholly a fiction of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span> +nomenclature. There were veritable lanes that survived the coming of +fashion and wealth, and spoke of simpler times on these northern shores. +The path was not altogether straight, but described a tortuous line past +the lighthouse which crouched on a point of the bay. There was a train +at six o'clock; it was now five and he loitered along, stopping often to +look out upon the sea. A group of people was gathered about a tea table +on the sloping lawn in front of one of the houses. The colors of the +women's dresses were bright against the dark green. It was a gay +company; their laughter floated out to him mockingly. He wondered +whether Evelyn was there, as he passed on, beating the rocky path with his stick.</p> + +<p>Evelyn was not there; but her destination was that particular lawn and +its tea table. Turning a fresh bend in the path he came upon her. He had +had no thought of seeing her; yet she was coming down the path toward +him, her picture hat framed in the dome of a blue parasol. He had +renounced her for all time, and he should greet her guardedly; but the +blood was singing in his temples and throbbing in his finger tips at the sight of her.</p> + +<p>"This is too bad!" she exclaimed, as they met. "I hope you can come back +to the house."</p> + +<p>She walked straight up to him and gave him her hand in her quick, frank way.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, but I must go in to town on this next train," he answered. +He turned in the path and walked along beside her.</p> + +<p>"This happened to be one of our scattering days, for all except father."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span></p><p>"We had a nice talk, he and I. Your place is charming."</p> + +<p>They descended the shore path until they came to the villa where the tea +drinkers were assembled.</p> + +<p>"Don't let me detain you. I'm sure you were going to join these lotus eaters."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe they need me," she answered, evasively. "They seem +pretty busy. But if you're hungry—or thirsty, I can get something for +you there." They passed the gate, walking slowly along. He knew that he +ought to urge her to stop, and that he must hurry on to catch his train; +but it was too sweet to be near her; this was the last time and it was his own!</p> + +<p>"I seem to remember your tea drinking ways," she said. "You use only +sugar and the hot water."</p> + +<p>"But that was in the winter," he responded. He wished she had not +referred to that afternoon, when he had been weak, just as he was +proving weak now. A yacht was steaming slowly into the bay. It was a +pretty, white plaything and they paused and commended its good qualities +with the easy certainty of superficial knowledge. They walked on, +passing the lighthouse, and slowly nearing the entrance to Red Gables. +She led the talk easily and her light-heartedness added to his +depression; every step he took was an error; but he would leave her at +the gate when they came to it and go on to the village and his train. +She paused abruptly and looked across a meadow which lay between them +and the Red Gables orchard.</p> + +<p>"I really believe it's a cow; yes, it is a cow," she declared, with quiet conviction.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span></p><p>"I thought it was a yacht. Was I as dull as that?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"Be it far from me to say; but I was getting a little breathless. Even +the professional monologuists in the vaudeville have to rest."</p> + +<p>He was not in a humor for frivolous conversation; but she had never been +so gay. He had committed himself to general chaos and yet she was +smiling amid the ruin of the world.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe there are any letter boxes along here," she continued, +looking straight ahead. He remembered his letter; he was stupidly +carrying it in his hand; his fingers were cramped from their clutch upon +it. It was not easy to resist her mood, and he now laughed in spite of himself.</p> + +<p>"I'm disappointed. I thought they had all the necessities of a +successful summer resort here,—even mails."</p> + +<p>"Rather poor, don't you think? I suppose you were carrying the letter to +get an opening for that."</p> + +<p>They paused and John held open the little gate in the stone wall. He was +grave again, and something of his seriousness communicated itself to +her. Clearly, he thought, this was the parting of the ways. He had not +relaxed his hold upon the letter; it was a straw at which he clutched for support.</p> + +<p>"Won't you come in? There are plenty of trains and we'd like you to dine with us."</p> + +<p>A great wave of loneliness and yearning swept over him. Her invitation +seemed to create new and limitless distances that stretched between +them. In fumbling with the latch of the gate he had dropped his letter. +The wind caught and carried it out into the grass.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span></p><p>He went soberly after it and picked it up. There was a dogged +resignation in his step as he walked slowly across the grass. While he +was securing the bit of paper, she sat down on a rustic bench and waited for him.</p> + +<p>"The fates don't agree with you about the letter, Mr. Saxton. You were +looking for a letter box and they tried to thwart you."</p> + +<p>"I'm not superstitious," said John, smiling a little.</p> + +<p>"One needn't be,—to act on the direct hints of Providence."</p> + +<p>She sat at comfortable ease on the bench, holding her parasol across her +lap. There was room for two, and John sat down.</p> + +<p>"Suppose it were a check on an overdrawn account; would Providence +intervene to prevent an overdraft?"</p> + +<p>"That's a commercial hypothesis; I think we should be above such +considerations." Then they were silent. John bent forward with his +elbows on his knees, playing with his stick and still holding the +letter. The wind came up out of the sea and blew in their faces. The +brass mountings of the yacht shone resplendent in the slanting rays of +the lowering sun. It was very calm and restful in the orchard. Two +robins came and inspected them, and then flew away to one of the gnarled +old trees to gossip about them.</p> + +<p>"It happens to be important," said John, indicating the letter.</p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/col06.jpg" width='461' height='700' alt="Illustration" /></div> + +<p>"Oh, pardon me!" with real contrition. It was not her way to flirt with +a young man over a letter. John held up the envelope so that she saw the +superscription. She knew the name very well. It was constantly in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span> the +newspapers, and the owner of it had dined once at her father's house.</p> + +<p>"He's the head of the syndicate that has bought the Traction Company. He +has asked me to stay in Clarkson and run the street cars."</p> + +<p>"That's very nice. But merit gets rewarded sometimes."</p> + +<p>"But I have refused the offer," he said quietly. He had not intended to +tell her; but it was doubtless just as well; and it would alter nothing. +"My work in Clarkson is finished," he went on. "Warry's affairs will +make it necessary for me to go back from time to time, but it will not be home again."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry," she said. "I thought you were to be of us. But I suppose +there is a greater difference between the East and the West than any one +can understand who has not known both." They regarded each other +gravely, as if this were, of course, the whole matter at issue.</p> + +<p>"I can't go back,—it's too much; I can't do it," he said wearily.</p> + +<p>"I know how it must be,—this last year and Warry! It was all so +terrible—for all of us." She was looking away; the wind had freshened; +the yacht's pennant stood out against the blue sky.</p> + +<p>John rose and looked down at her. It was natural that she should include +herself with him in a common grief for the man who had been his friend +and whom she had loved. She had always been kind to him; her kindness +stung him now, for he knew that it was because of Warry; and a resolve +woke in him suddenly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span> He would not suffer her kindness under a false +pretense; he could at least be honest with her.</p> + +<p>"I can't go back, because he is not there; and because—because you are +there! You don't know,—you should never know, but I was disloyal to +Warry from the first. I let him talk to me from day to day of you; I let +him tell me that he loved you; I never let him know—I never meant any +one to know—" He ceased speaking; she was very still and did not look +at him. "It was base of me," he went on. "I would gladly have died for +him if he had lived; but now that he is dead I can betray him. I hate +myself worse than you can hate me. I know how I must wound and shock you—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" she moaned.</p> + +<p>But he went on; he would spare himself nothing.</p> + +<p>"It is hideous—it was cowardly of me to come here."</p> + +<p>His hands were clenched and his face twitched with pain. "Oh, if he had +lived! If he had lived!"</p> + +<p>She rose now and looked at him with an infinite pity. This is one of +God's unreckoned gifts to man,—the gift of pity that He has made the +great secret of a woman's eyes. Evelyn's were gray now, like the stretch +of sea beyond her, where a mist was creeping shoreward over the blue water.</p> + +<p>"If he had lived," she said very softly, looking away through the +sun-dappled aisles of the orchard, "if he had lived—it would have been +the same, John."</p> + +<p>But he did not understand. His name as she spoke it rang strange in his +ears. The letter had fallen to the ground and lay in the grass between +them; he half stooped to pick it up, not knowing what he did.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span></p><p>She walked away through the orchard path, which suddenly became to him +a path of gold that stretched into paradise; and he sprang after her +with a great fear in his heart lest some barrier might descend and shut her out forever.</p> + +<p>"Evelyn! Evelyn!"</p> + +<p>It was not a voice that called her; it was a spirit, long held in +thrall, that had shaken free and become a name.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><span>A LIST <i>of</i> IMPORTANT FICTION<br /><br /> +THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY</span></h2> + +<hr /> + +<div class="block bbox"> +<p class="center"><i>It is fresh and spontaneous, having nothing of<br />that wooden quality +which is becoming<br />associated with the term<br />"historical novel."</i></p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="bold2">HEARTS<br />COURAGEOUS</p> + +<p class="center">By HALLIE ERMINIE RIVES</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote><p>"Hearts Courageous" is made of new material, a picturesque yet delicate +style, good plot and very dramatic situations. The best in the book are +the defence of George Washington by the Marquis; the duel between the +English officer and the Marquis; and Patrick Henry flinging the brand of +war into the assembly of the burgesses of Virginia.</p> + +<p>Williamsburg, Virginia, the country round about, and the life led in +that locality just before the Revolution, form an attractive setting for +the action of the story.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="center">With six illustrations by A. B. Wenzell</p> + +<p class="center">12mo. Price, $1.50</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center">The Bobbs-Merrill Company, <i>Indianapolis</i></p></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<div class="block bbox"><p class="center">THE GREAT NOVEL OF THE YEAR</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="bold2">THE MISSISSIPPI<br />BUBBLE</p> + +<p class="center"><i>How the star of good fortune rose and set and rose<br />again, by a woman's +grace, for one<br />John Law, of Lauriston</i></p> + +<p class="center">A novel by EMERSON HOUGH</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote><p>Emerson Hough has written one of the best novels that has come out of +America in many a day. It is an exciting story, with the literary touch +on every page.—<span class="smcap">Jeannette L. Gilder</span>, of <i>The Critic</i>.</p> + +<p>In "The Mississippi Bubble" Emerson Hough has taken John Law and certain +known events in his career, and about them he has woven a web of romance +full of brilliant coloring and cunning work. It proves conclusively that +Mr. Hough is a novelist of no ordinary quality.—<i>The Brooklyn Eagle.</i></p> + +<p>As a novel embodying a wonderful period in the growth of America "The +Mississippi Bubble" is of intense interest. As a love story it is rarely +and beautifully told. John Law, as drawn in this novel, is a great +character, cool, debonair, audacious, he is an Admirable Crichton in his +personality, and a Napoleon in his far-reaching wisdom.—<i>The Chicago +American.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p class="center">The Illustrations by Henry Hutt</p> + +<p class="center">12mo, 452 pages, $1.50</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center">The Bobbs-Merrill Company, <i>Indianapolis</i></p></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<div class="block bbox"><p class="center">YOUTH, SPLENDOR AND TRAGEDY</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="bold2">FRANCEZKA</p> + +<p class="center">By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote><p>There is no character in fiction more lovable and appealing than is +Francezka. Miss Seawell has told a story of youth, splendor and tragedy +with an art which links it with summer dreams, which drowns the somber +in the picturesque, which makes pain and vice a stage wonder.</p> + +<p>The book is marked by the same sparkle and cleverness of the author's +earlier work, to which is added a dignity and force which makes it most +noteworthy.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>"Here is a novel that not only provides the reader with a succession of +sprightly adventures, but furnishes a narrative brilliant, witty and +clever. The period is the first half of that most fascinating, +picturesque and epoch-making century, the eighteenth. Francezka is a +winsome heroine. The story has light and shadow and high spirits, +tempered with the gay, mocking, debonair philosophy of the +time."—<i>Brooklyn Times.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p class="center">Charmingly illustrated by Harrison Fisher</p> + +<p class="center">Bound in green and white and gold</p> + +<p class="center">12mo, cloth. Price, $1.50</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center">The Bobbs-Merrill Company, <i>Indianapolis</i></p></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<div class="block bbox"><p class="center">A BRILLIANT AND SERIOUS NOVEL</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="bold2">CHILDREN OF<br />DESTINY</p> + +<p class="center">By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL</p> + +<p class="center">Author of Francezka and The Sprightly Romance of Marsac.</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote><p>One of Miss Seawell's most brilliant and serious works is this novel of +Old Virginia. One lives again the patrician elegance of those mannerly +times with all their freedom and all their limitations. In the midst of +those quiet people—some rich in worldly goods, all rich in their birth +and station—is born a man with the unrest of genius. Miss Seawell's +powerful delineations of this man's character, her charming presentation +of the old days, her sprightly humor, playing on the foibles of these +early nineteenth century aristocrats, the tenderness and beautiful love +of her heroine, show her as a brilliant writer and deep thinker. In none +of her other books is her art so true and her touch so poised.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="center">With six Illustrations by A. B. Wenzell and a</p> + +<p class="center">Cover in Blue and Gold.</p> + +<p class="center">12mo, Cloth. Price, $1.50</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center">The Bobbs-Merrill Company, <i>Indianapolis</i></p></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<div class="block bbox"><p class="center">A SPLENDIDLY VITAL NARRATION</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="bold2">THE MASTER OF<br />APPLEBY</p> + +<p class="center"><i>A romance of the Carolinas</i></p> + +<p class="center">By FRANCIS LYNDE</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote><p>Viewed either as a delightful entertainment or as a skilful and finished +piece of literary art, this is easily one of the most important of +recent novels. One can not read a dozen pages without realizing that the +author has mastered the magic of the story-teller's art. After the dozen +pages the author is forgotten in his creations.</p> + +<p>It is rare, indeed, that characters in fiction live and love, suffer and +fight, grasp and renounce in so human a fashion as in this splendidly +vital narration.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="center">With pictures by T. de Thulstrup</p> + +<p class="center">12mo, cloth. Price, $1.50</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center">The Bobbs-Merrill Company, <i>Indianapolis</i></p></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<div class="block bbox"><p class="center">WHAT BOOK BY A NEW AUTHOR HAS<br />RECEIVED SUCH PRAISE?</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="bold2">WHAT MANNER<br />OF MAN</p> + +<p class="center">By EDNA KENTON</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote><p>The novel, "What Manner of Man," is a study of what is commonly known as +the "artistic temperament," and a novel so far above the average level +of merit as to cause even tired reviewers to sit up and take hope once +more.—<i>New York Times.</i></p> + +<p>It will certainly stand out as one of the most notable novels of the +year.—<i>Philadelphia Press.</i></p> + +<p>It does not need a trained critical faculty to recognize that this book +is something more than clever.—<i>N. Y. Commercial.</i></p> + +<p>Note should be made of the literary charm and value of the work, and +likewise of its eminently readable quality, considered purely as a +romance.—<i>Philadelphia Record.</i></p> + +<p>Literary distinction is stamped on every page, and the author's insight +into the human heart gives promise of a brilliant future.—<i>Chicago +Record-Herald.</i></p> + +<p>The whole book is full of dramatic force. The author is an unusual +thinker and observer, and has a rare gift for creative +literature.—<i>Philadelphia Evening Telegraph.</i></p> + +<p>"What Manner of Man" is a study and a creation.—<i>N. Y. World.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p class="center">12mo, Cloth, Gilt Top, $1.50</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center">The Bobbs-Merrill Company, <i>Indianapolis</i></p></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<div class="block bbox"><p class="center">DIFFERENT AND DELIGHTFUL</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="bold2">UNDER THE<br />ROSE</p> + +<p class="center">A Story of the Loves of a Duke and a Jester</p> + +<p class="center">By FREDERIC S. ISHAM</p> + +<p class="center">Author of The Strollers</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote><p>In "Under the Rose" Mr. Isham has written a most entertaining book—the +plot is unique; the style is graceful and clever; the whole story is +pervaded by a spirit of sunshine and good humor, and the ending is a +happy one. Mr. Christy's pictures mark a distinct step forward in +illustrative art. There is only one way, and it is an entertaining one, +to find out what is "Under the Rose"—read it.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>"No one will take up 'Under the Rose' and lay it down before completion; +many will even return to it for a repeated reading"—<i>Book News.</i></p> + +<p>"Mr. Isham tells all of his fanciful, romantic tale delightfully. The +reader who loves romance, intrigue and adventure, love-seasoned, will +find it here."—<i>The Lamp.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p class="center">With Illustrations in Six Colors by</p> + +<p class="center">Howard Chandler Christy</p> + +<p class="center">12mo, Cloth, Price, $1.50</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center">The Bobbs-Merrill Company, <i>Indianapolis</i></p></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<div class="block bbox"><p class="center">A NEW NOTE IN FICTION</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="bold2">THE STROLLERS</p> + +<p class="center">By FREDERIC S. ISHAM</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote><p>"The Strollers" is a novel of much merit.</p> + +<p>The scenes are laid in that picturesque and interesting period of +American life--the last of the stage coach days--the days of the +strolling player.</p> + +<p>The author, Frederic S. Isham, gives a delightful and accurate account +of a troop of players making a circuit in the wilderness from New York +to New Orleans, travelling by stage, carrying one wagon load of scenery, +playing in town halls, taverns, barns or whatnot.</p> + +<p>"The Strollers" is a new note in fiction.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="center">With eight illustrations by Harrison Fisher</p> + +<p class="center">12mo. Price, $1.50</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center">The Bobbs-Merrill Company, <i>Indianapolis</i></p></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<div class="block bbox"><p class="center">"NOTHING BUT PRAISE"</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="bold2">LAZARRE</p> + +<p class="center">By MARY HARTWELL CATHERWOOD</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote><p>Glorified by a beautiful love story.—<i>Chicago Tribune.</i></p> + +<p>We feel quite justified in predicting a wide-spread and prolonged +popularity for this latest comer into the ranks of historical +fiction.—<i>The N. Y. Commercial Advertiser.</i></p> + +<p>After all the material for the story had been collected a year was +required for the writing of it. It is an historical romance of the +better sort, with stirring situations, good bits of character drawing +and a satisfactory knowledge of the tone and atmosphere of the period +involved.—<i>N. Y. Herald.</i></p> + +<p>Lazarre, is no less a person than the Dauphin, Louis XVII. of France, +and a right royal hero he makes. A prince who, for the sake of his lady, +scorns perils in two hemispheres, facing the wrath of kings in Europe +and the bullets of savages in America; who at the last spurns a kingdom +that he may wed her freely—here is one to redeem the sins of even those +who "never learn and never forget."—<i>Philadelphia North American.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p class="center">With six Illustrations by André Castaigne</p> + +<p class="center">12mo. Price, $1.50</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center">The Bobbs-Merrill Company, <i>Indianapolis</i></p></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<div class="block bbox"><p class="center">"THE MERRIEST NOVEL OF MANY,<br />MANY MOONS"</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="bold2">MY LADY PEGGY<br />GOES TO TOWN</p> + +<p class="center">By FRANCES AYMAR MATHEWS</p> + +<p class="center">The Daintiest and Most Delightful Book<br />of the Season.</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote><p>A heroine almost too charming to be true is Peggy, and it were a +churlish reader who is not, at the end of the first chapter, prostrate +before her red slippers.—<i>Washington Post.</i></p> + +<p>To make a comparison would be to rank "My Lady Peggy" with "Monsieur +Beaucaire" in points of attraction, and to applaud as heartily as that +delicate romance, this picture of the days "When patches nestled o'er +sweet lips at chocolate times."—<i>N. Y. Mail and Express.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p class="center">12 mo. Beautifully illustrated and bound.</p> + +<p class="center">Price, $1.25 net</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center">The Bobbs-Merrill Company, <i>Indianapolis</i></p></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<div class="block bbox"><p class="center">A VIVACIOUS ROMANCE OF REVOLUTIONARY DAYS</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="bold2">ALICE <i>of</i> OLD<br />VINCENNES</p> + +<p class="center">By MAURICE THOMPSON</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote><p><i>The Atlanta Constitution says</i>:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Mr. Thompson, whose delightful writings in prose and verse have +made his reputation national, has achieved his master stroke of +genius in this historical novel of revolutionary days in the West."</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>The Denver Daily News says:</i>:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"There are three great chapters of fiction: Scott's tournament on +Ashby field, General Wallace's chariot race, and now Maurice +Thompson's duel scene and the raising of Alice's flag over old Fort +Vincennes."</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>The Chicago Record-Herald says</i>:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"More original than 'Richard Carvel,' more cohesive than 'To Have +and To Hold,' more vital than 'Janice Meredith,' such is Maurice +Thompson's superb American romance, 'Alice of Old Vincennes.' It +is, in addition, more artistic and spontaneous than any of its +rivals."</p></blockquote></blockquote> + +<p class="center">VIRGINIA HARNED EDITION</p> + +<p class="center">12mo, with six Illustrations by F. C. Yohn, and a Frontispiece in Color +by Howard Chandler Christy. Price, $1.50</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center">The Bobbs-Merrill Company, <i>Indianapolis</i></p></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<div class="block bbox"><p class="center">A STORY BY THE "MARCH KING"</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="bold2">THE<br />FIFTH STRING</p> + +<p class="center">By JOHN PHILIP SOUSA</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote><p>The "March King" has written much in a musical way, but "The Fifth +String" is his first published story. In the choice of his subject, as +the title indicates, Mr. Sousa has remained faithful to his art; and the +great public, that has learned to love him for the marches he has made, +will be as delighted with his pen as with his baton.</p> + +<p>"The Fifth String" has a strong and clearly defined plot which shows in +its treatment the author's artistically sensitive temperament and his +tremendous dramatic power. It is a story of a marvelous violin, of a +wonderful love and of a strange temptation.</p> + +<p>A cover, especially designed, and six full-page illustrations by Howard +Chandler Christy, serve to give the distinguishing decorative +embellishments that this first book by Mr. Sousa so richly deserves.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="center">With Pictures by Howard Chandler Christy</p> + +<p class="center">12mo. Price, $1.25</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center">The Bobbs-Merrill Company, <i>Indianapolis</i></p></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<div class="block bbox"><p class="center">A GOOD DETECTIVE STORY</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="bold2">THE<br />FILIGREE BALL</p> + +<p class="center">By ANNA KATHERINE GREEN</p> + +<p class="center">Author of "The Leavenworth Case"</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote><p>This is something more than a mere detective story; it is a thrilling +romance—a romance of mystery and crime where a shrewd detective helps +to solve the mystery. The plot is a novel and intricate one, carefully +worked out. There are constant accessions to the main mystery, so that +the reader can not possibly imagine the conclusion. The story is +clean-cut and wholesome, with a quality that might be called manly. The +characters are depicted so as to make a living impression. Cora Tuttle +is a fine creation, and the flash of love which she gives the hero is +wonderfully well done. Unlike many mystery stories The Filigree Ball is +not disappointing at the end. The characters most liked but longest +suspected are proved not only guiltless, but above suspicion. It is a +story to be read with a rush and at a sitting, for no one can put it +down until the mystery is solved.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="center">Illustrated by C. M. Relyea.</p> + +<p class="center">12mo, Cloth, Price, $1.50</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center">The Bobbs-Merrill Company, <i>Indianapolis</i></p></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<div class="block bbox"><p class="center">A VIVID WESTERN STORY OF LOVE<br />AND POLITICS</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="bold2"><span class="smcap">THE 13th DISTRICT</span></p> + +<p class="center">By BRAND WHITLOCK</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote><p>This is a story of high order. By its scope and strength it deserves to +be spoken of as a novel—and that word has been very much abused by +hanging it to any old thing. It is a wonderfully good and interesting +account of the workings of politics from before the primaries on through +election, with a splendid love story also woven into it.</p> + +<p>One would think for instance, that it would be impossible to give an +account of a "primary" and keep it interesting; it is natural to suppose +a writer would become entangled with the dull routine of it all, but he +does not, he makes it interesting. He shows the tricks, the heat, the +passion, the tumult; the weariness and stubborness of a dead lock. The +descriptions of society life in the book are equally good.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="center">12mo. Price, $1.50</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center">The Bobbs-Merrill Company, <i>Indianapolis</i></p></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<div class="block bbox"><p class="center">THE TRIUMPH OF FORGIVENESS</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="bold2">THE LOOM<br />OF LIFE</p> + +<p class="center">By CHARLES FREDERIC GOSS</p> + +<p class="center">Author of "The Redemption of David Corson."</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote><p>In "The Loom of Life" Dr. Goss has written a powerful book, filled with +the poetry and tragedy of life. It tells a novel and impressive story in +a style marked by a charming felicity of expression.</p> + +<p>The story, which has an epic broadness and strength, is of a young girl +who revenges a wrong done to her with life-long persecution. Finally, +however, she is forced to realize that on earth peace and happiness can +be obtained only by forgiveness.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Goss' splendid powers have been demonstrated afresh. This book +alone is strong enough, big enough, important enough, enough suggestive +and informing, to make a reputation for any one.</p> + +<p>"He has already a large audience created by his earlier book, 'The +Redemption of David Corson.' The new book will at once find favorable +and eager readers."—<i>The Living Church.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p class="center">12mo. Price, $1.50</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center">The Bobbs-Merrill Company, <i>Indianapolis</i></p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Main Chance, by Meredith Nicholson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAIN CHANCE *** + +***** This file should be named 37190-h.htm or 37190-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/1/9/37190/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Main Chance + +Author: Meredith Nicholson + +Illustrator: Harrison Fisher + +Release Date: August 24, 2011 [EBook #37190] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAIN CHANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +THE MAIN CHANCE + +[Illustration] + + +THE MAIN CHANCE + +BY +MEREDITH NICHOLSON + +ILLUSTRATED BY +HARRISON FISHER + +INDIANAPOLIS +THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY +PUBLISHERS + + +COPYRIGHT 1903 +THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY + +MAY + + +PRESS OF +BRAUNWORTH & CO. +BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS +BROOKLYN, N. Y. + + +TO +E. K. N. + +WHO WILL REMEMBER AND UNDERSTAND + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + I A NEW MAN IN TOWN 1 + + II WARRICK RARIDAN 13 + + III SWEET PEAS 24 + + IV AT POINDEXTERS' 39 + + V DEBATABLE QUESTIONS 53 + + VI A SAFE MAN 70 + + VII WARRY RARIDAN'S INDIGNATION 82 + + VIII TIM MARGRAVE MAKES A CHOICE 92 + + IX PARLEYINGS 97 + + X A WRECKED CANNA BED 106 + + XI THE KNIGHTS OF MIDAS BALL 121 + + XII A MORNING AT ST. PAUL'S 136 + + XIII BARGAIN AND SALE 152 + + XIV THE GIRL THAT TRIES HARD 166 + + XV AT THE COUNTRY CLUB 174 + + XVI THE LADY AND THE BUNKER 193 + + XVII WARRY'S REPENTANCE 206 + + XVIII FATHER AND DAUGHTER 213 + + XIX A FORECAST AT THE WHIPPLES' 229 + + XX ORCHARD LANE 237 + + XXI JAMES WHEATON MAKES A COMPUTATION 241 + + XXII AN ANNUAL PASS 250 + + XXIII WILLIAM PORTER RETURNS FROM A JOURNEY 258 + + XXIV INTERRUPTED PLANS 266 + + XXV JAMES WHEATON DECLINES AN OFFER 272 + + XXVI THE KEY TO A DILEMMA 279 + + XXVII A MEETING BETWEEN GENTLEMEN 289 + + XXVIII BROKEN GLASS 299 + + XXIX JOHN SAXTON, RECEIVER 310 + + XXX GREEN CHARTREUSE 313 + + XXXI PUZZLING AUTOGRAPHS 319 + + XXXII CROSSED WIRES 323 + + XXXIII A DISAPPEARANCE 332 + + XXXIV JOHN SAXTON SUGGESTS A CLUE 339 + + XXXV SHOTS IN THE DARK 352 + + XXXVI HOME THROUGH THE SNOW 370 + + XXXVII "A PECULIAR BRICK" 379 + +XXXVIII OLD PHOTOGRAPHS 384 + + XXXIX "IT IS CRUEL" 389 + + XL SHIFTED BURDENS 399 + + XLI RETROSPECTIVE VANITY 403 + + XLII AT THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 407 + + + + +THE MAIN CHANCE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A NEW MAN IN TOWN + + +"Well, sir, they say I'm crooked!" + +William Porter tipped back his swivel chair and placidly puffed a cigar +as he watched the effect of this declaration on the young man who sat +talking to him. + +"That's said of every successful man nowadays, isn't it?" asked John +Saxton. + +The president of the Clarkson National Bank ignored the question and +rolled his cigar from one side of his mouth to the other, as he waited +for his words to make their full impression upon his visitor. + +"They say I'm crooked," he repeated, with a narrowing of the eyes, "but +they don't say it very loud!" + +Porter kicked his heels together gently and watched his visitor with +eyes in which there was no trace of humor; but Saxton saw that he was +expected to laugh. + +"No, sir;" the banker continued, "they don't say it very loud, and I +guess they don't any of them want to have to prove it. I'm afraid those +Boston friends of yours have given us up as a bad lot," he went on, +waiving the matter of his personal rectitude and returning to the +affairs of his visitor; "and they've sent you out here to get their +money, and I don't blame them. Well, sir; that money's got to come out +in time, but it's going to take time and money to get it." + +"I believe they sent me because I had plenty of time," said Saxton, +smiling. + +"Well, we want to help you win out," returned Porter. "And now what can +I do to start you off?" he asked briskly. "Have you got a place to stay? +Well, sir, I warn you solemnly against the hotels in this town; but +we've got a fairly decent club up here, and you'd better stay there till +you get acquainted. Been to breakfast? Breakfast on the train? That's +good. Just look over the papers till I get rid of these letters and I'll +be free." + +Porter turned to his desk and replaced the eye-glasses which he had +dropped while talking. There was an air of great alertness in his small, +lean figure as he pushed buttons to summon various members of the +clerical force and rapidly dictated terse telegrams and letters to a +stenographer. He continued to smoke, and he shifted constantly the +narrow-brimmed, red-banded straw hat that he wore above his shrewd face. +It was an agreeable face to see, of a type that is common wherever the +North-Irish stock is found in America, and its characteristics were +expressed in his firm, lean jaw and blue eyes, and his reddish hair and +mustache, through which there were streaks of gray. He wore his hair +short, but it was still thick, and he combed it with precision. His +clothes fitted him; he wore a bright cravat, well tied, and his shoes +were carefully polished. Saxton was impressed by the banker's perfect +confidence and ease; it manifested itself in the way he tapped buttons +to call his subordinates, or turned to satisfy the importunities of the +desk-telephone at his elbow. + +John Saxton had been sent to Clarkson by the Neponset Trust Company of +Boston to represent the interests of a group of clients who had made +rash investments in several of the Trans-Missouri states. Foreclosure +had, in many instances, resulted in the transfer to themselves of much +town and ranch property which was, in the conditions existing in the +early nineties, an exceedingly slow asset. It was necessary that some +one on the ground should care for these interests. The Clarkson National +Bank had been exercising a general supervision, but, as one of the +investors told his fellow sufferers in Boston, they should have an agent +whom they could call home and abuse, and here was Saxton, a +conscientious and steady fellow, who had some knowledge of the country, +and who, moreover, needed something to do. Saxton's acquaintance with +the West had been gained by a bitter experience of ranching in Wyoming. +A blizzard had destroyed his cattle, and the subsequent depression in +land values in the neighborhood of his ranch had left him encumbered +with a property for which there was no market. His friends had been +correct in the assumption that he needed employment, and he was, +moreover, glad of the chance to get away from home, where the impression +was making headway that he had failed at something in the vague, +non-interest-paying West. When, on his return from Wyoming, it became +necessary for his former acquaintances to identify him to one another, +they said, with varying degrees of kindness, that John had gone broke at +ranching; and if they liked him particularly, they said it was too bad; +if they had not known him well in his fortunate days, they mildly +intimated that a fool and his money found quicker divorce at ranching +than in any other way. Most of Saxton's friends and contemporaries had +made good beginnings at home, and he felt, unnecessarily perhaps, that +his failure made him a marked man among them. + +"Now," said Porter presently, scrutinizing a telegram carefully before +signing it, "I'll take you up to the office we've been keeping for your +people, and show you what it looks like. Some of these things are run as +corporations, you understand, and in our state corporations have to +maintain a tangible residence." + +"So that the sheriff may find them more easily," added Saxton. + +"Well, that's no joke," returned Porter, as they entered the elevator +from the outer hall; "but they don't necessarily have much office +furniture to levy on." + +The room proved to be a small one at the top of the building. On the +ground-glass door was inscribed "The Interstate Irrigation Company." The +room contained a safe, a flat-top desk and a few chairs. Several maps +hung on the wall, some of them railroad advertisements, and others were +engineers' charts of ranch lands and irrigation ditches. + +"It ain't pretty," said Porter critically, "but if you don't like it you +can move when you get ready. The bank is your landlord, and we don't +charge you much for it. You've doubtless got your inventory of stuff +with you, and here in the safe you'll find the accounts of these +companies, copies of public records relating to them, and so on." As +Porter talked he stood in the middle of the room with his hands in his +pockets, and puffed at a cigar, throwing his head back in an effort to +escape the smoke. He stood with one foot on a chair and pushed his hat +away from his forehead as he continued reflectively: "You're going up +against a pretty tough proposition, young man. You'll hear a hard luck +story wherever you go out here just now; people who owe your friends +money will be mighty sorry they can't pay. Many of the ranch lands your +people own will be worth something after a while. That Colorado +irrigation scheme ought to pan out in time, and I believe it will; but +you've got to nurse all these things. Make your principals let you +alone. Those fellows get in a hurry at the wrong time,--that's my +experience with Eastern investors. Tell them to go to Europe,--get rid +of them for a while, and make them give you a chance to work out their +money for them. They're not the only pebbles." A slight smile seemed to +creep over a small area about the banker's lips, but his cigar only +partly revealed it. His eyes rarely betrayed him, and the monotonous +drawl of his voice was without humorous intention. + +"I'll send the combination of the safe up by the boy," he said, moving +toward the door, "and you can get a bird's-eye view of the situation +before lunch. Mr. Wheaton, our cashier, is away to-day, but he's +familiar with these matters and will be glad to help you when he gets +home. He'll be back to-night. When you get stuck call on us. And drop +down about twelve thirty and go up to the club for lunch. Take it easy; +you can't do it all in one day," he added. + +"I hope I shan't be a nuisance to you," said the younger man. "I'm +going to fight it out on the best lines I know how,--if it takes several +summers." + +"Well, it'll take them all right," said Porter, sententiously. + +Left to himself Saxton examined his new quarters, found a feather duster +hanging in a corner and brushed the dirt from the scanty furniture. This +done, he drew a pipe from his pocket, filled it from his tobacco pouch +and sat down by the open window, through which the breeze came cool out +of the great valley; and here he could see, far over the roofs and +spires of the town, the bluffs that marked the broad bed of the tawny +Missouri. He was not as buoyant as his last words to the banker implied. +Here he was, he reflected, a man of good education, as such things go, +who had lost his patrimony in a single venture. He had been sent, partly +out of compassion, he felt, to take charge of investments that were +admitted to be almost hopelessly bad. The salary promised would provide +for him comfortably, and that was about all; anything further would +depend upon himself, the secretary of the Neponset Trust Company had +told him; it would, he felt, depend much more particularly on the making +over by benign powers of the considerable part of the earth's surface in +which his principals' money lay hidden. As his eyes wandered to one of +the office walls, the black trail of a great transcontinental railroad +caught and held his attention. On one of its northern prongs lay the +region of his first defeat. + +"Three years of life are up there," he meditated, "and all my good +dollars are scattered along the right of way." Many things came back to +him vividly--how the wind used to howl around the little ranch house, +and how he rode through the snow among his dying cattle in the great +storm that had been his undoing. With his eyes still resting on the map, +he recurred to his early school days and to his four years at Harvard. +There was a burden of heartache in these recollections. Incidents of the +unconscious brutality of playmates came back to him,--the cruel candor +with which they had rejected him from sports in which proficiency, and +not mere strength or zeal, was essential. He had enjoyed at college no +experience of success in any of those ways which mark the undergraduate +for brief authority or fame. He had never been accepted for the crew nor +for the teams that represented the university on diamond or gridiron, +though he had always participated in athletics, and was possessed of +unusual strength. None of the professions had appealed to him, and he +had not heeded his father's wish that he enter the law. The elder +Saxton, who was himself a lawyer of moderate success, died before John's +graduation; he had lost his mother in his youth, and his only remaining +relative was a sister who married before he left college. + +A review of these brief and discouraging annals did not hearten him; but +he fell back upon the better mood with which he had begun the morning; +he had a new chance, and he proposed to make the best of it. He put +aside his coat and hat, lighted the pipe which he had been holding in +his hand, and opened his desk. The banker had sent up the combination of +the safe, as he had promised, and Saxton began inspecting its contents +and putting his office in order. + +"I'm in for a long stay," he reflected. "Watson and Terrell and those +other fellows are just about reaching Park Street, perhaps with virtuous +thoughts of having given me a job, if they haven't forgotten me. It's +probably a pleasant day in Boston, with the flowers looking their best +in the Gardens; but this is better than my Wyoming pastures, anyhow." +The books and papers began to interest him, and he was soon classifying +the properties that had fallen to his care. He was one of those +fortunate individuals who are endowed with a capacity for complete +absorption in the work at hand,--the frequent possession of persons, +who, like Saxton, enjoy immunity from visits of the alluring +will-o'-the-wisps that beguile geniuses. He was so deeply occupied that +he did not mark the flight of time and was surprised when a boy came +with a message from Porter that he was ready to go to luncheon. + +"Yon mustn't overdo the thing, young man," said the banker amiably, as +he closed his desk. "Don't you adopt our Western method of working all +the hours there are. I do it now because my neighbors and customers +would talk about me if I didn't, and say that I had lost my grip in my +old age." + +They started up the sloping street, which was intensely hot. + +"In my last job I worked twenty hours a day," said Saxton, "and lost +money in spite of it." + +"You mean up in Wyoming; the Neponset people wrote me that you were a +reformed cattleman." + +"Yes, I was winter-killed at the business." He assumed that Porter would +not care particularly for the details of his failure. Western men are, +he knew, much more tolerant of failure than Eastern men; but he was +relieved to hear the banker drawling on with a comment on Clarkson, its +commercial history and prospects. + +At the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Clarkson Chamber of +Commerce, the local boy orator, who made a point of quoting Holy Writ in +his speeches, spoke of Clarkson as "no mean city," just as many another +orator has applied this same apt Pauline phrase to many another +metropolis. The business of Clarkson had to do with primary employments +and needs. The cattle of a thousand hills and of many rough pastures +were gathered here; and here wheat and corn from three states were +assembled. In exchange for these products, Clarkson returned to the +country all of the necessities and some of the luxuries of life. Several +important railway lines had their administrative offices here. Ores were +brought from the Rockies, from Mexico, and even from British Columbia, +to the great smelters whose smoke and fumes hung over the town. Neither +coal, wood nor iron lay near at hand, so that manufacturing was almost +unknown; but the packing-houses and smelters gave employment to many +laborers, drawn in great measure from the Slavonic races. + +Varney Street cut through the town at right angles to the river, +bisecting the business district. It then gradually threw off its +commercial aspect until at last it was lined with the homes of most of +Clarkson's wealthiest citizens. An exaggerated estimate of the value of +corner lots had caused many of them to be left vacant; and weeds and +signboards exercised eminent domain between booms. North and south of +Varney Street were other thoroughfares which strove to be equally +fashionable, and here citizens had sometimes built themselves houses +that were, as they said, as good as anything in Varney Street. +Everywhere ragged edges remained; old unpainted frame buildings lingered +in blocks that otherwise contained handsome houses. Sugar-loaf cubes of +clay loomed lonesomely, with houses stranded high on their summits, +where property owners had been too poor to cut down their bits of earth +to conform to new levels. The clay banks were ugly, but they were doomed +to remain until the next high tide of prosperity. + +The Clarkson Club stood at the edge of the commercial district, and its +Milwaukee brick walls rose hot and staring in the July sun as Porter and +Saxton approached. + +"Here we are," said Porter, leading the way into the wide hall. "We'll +arrange about your business relations later. There's a very bad lunch +ready upstairs, and we'll go against that first." + +There were only a few men in the dining-room, seated at a round table. +Porter exchanged salutations with them as he passed on to a small table +at the end of the room. Those who were of his own age called Porter, +"Billy," and he included them all in the careless nod of old +acquaintance. Porter offered Saxton the wine card, which the young man +declined with instinctive knowledge that he was expected to do so. They +took the simple table d'hote, which was, as Porter had predicted, very +bad. The banker ate little and carried the burden of the conversation. + +They went from the table for an inspection of the club, and arranged +with the clerk in the office for a room on the third floor, which Mr. +Saxton was to have, so Porter told the clerk, until he didn't want it +any more. + +"It's all right about the rules," he said; "if the house committee kick +about it, send them to me." They stopped in the lounging room, where the +men from the round table were now talking or looking at newspapers. +Porter introduced Saxton to all of them, stating in his humorous way, +with variations in every case, that this was a new man in town; that +victims were scarce in hard times, and that they must make the most of +him. Several of the men who shook hands with Saxton were railroad +officials, but nearly every line of business was represented. All seemed +to wear their business consciously, and Saxton was made aware of their +several employments in one way or another as he stood talking to them. +He felt that their own frankness should elicit a response on his part, +and he stated that he had come to represent the interests of "Eastern +people,"--a phrase which, in that territory, has weight and +significance. This, he thought, should be sufficiently explicit; and he +felt that his interlocutors were probably appraising him with selfish +eyes as a possible customer or client. However, they were very cordial, +and presently he found that they were chaffing one another for his +benefit, and trying to bring him within the arc of their own easy +comradeship. + +"If you're going with me," said Porter at his elbow, "you'd better get a +move on you." But the whole group went out together, Porter leaving +Saxton to the others, with that confidence in human friendliness which +is peculiar to the social intercourse of men. They made him feel their +honest wish to consider him one of themselves, making a point of saying +to him, as they dropped out one by one, that they hoped to see him +often. Porter led the way back down Varney Street, smoking meditatively +and carrying his hat in his hand. He said at the bank door: "Now you +make them give you what you want at the club, and if they don't, you +want to raise the everlasting Nick. I've got a house up here on Varney +Street,--come up for dinner to-morrow night and we'll see if we can't +raise a breeze for you. It's hotter than Suez here, and you'd better +take my advice about starting in slow." + +He went into the bank, leaving a trail of smoke behind him; and Saxton +took the elevator for his own office. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WARRICK RARIDAN + + +The Clarkson Club was, during most of the day, the loneliest place in +town. Only a few of the sleeping rooms were occupied regularly, and +luncheon was the one incident of the day that drew any considerable +number of men to the dining-room. The antlered heads of moose and elk +were hung in the hall, and colored prints of English hunting scenes and +bad oil portraits traits of several pioneers were scattered through the +reading and lounging rooms. There was a room which was referred to +flatteringly as the library, but its equipment of literature consisted +of an encyclopedia and of novels which had been contributed by members +at times coincident with housecleaning seasons at home. Clarkson +business men who maintained non-resident memberships in Chicago or St. +Louis clubs, said, in excusing the poor patronage of the Clarkson Club, +that Clarkson was not a club town, like Kansas City or Denver, where +there were more unattached men with money to spend. + +Saxton was not over-sensitive, but the stiffness and hardness of the +club house were not without their disagreeable impression on him as he +sat at dinner toward the close of his first day in Clarkson. Two of the +men to whom Porter had introduced him at noon proved to be fellow +lodgers, and they exchanged greetings with him from the table where they +sat together. They unsociably read their evening papers as they ate, and +left before he finished. He had lighted a cigar over his coffee, and was +watching the fading colors of a brilliant sunset when a young man +appeared at the door, and after a brief inspection of Saxton's back +walked over to him. + +"Aren't you Mr. Saxton? I thought you must be he. My name is Raridan. +Don't let me break in on your meditations," he added, taking the chair +which the waiter drew out for him. "I met Mr. Porter a while ago, and he +adjured me on penalties that I won't name to be good to you. I don't +know whether this is obeying orders,"--he broke off in a laugh,--"that +depends on the point of view." He had produced a cigarette case from his +pocket and rolled a white cylinder between his palms before lighting it. +As the flame leaped from the match, Saxton noted the young man's thin +face, his thick, curling dark hair, his slight mustache, the slenderness +of his fingers. The eyes that lay back of rimless glasses were almost +too fine for a man; but their gentleness and kindliness were charming. + +"You are guilty of a very Christian act," Saxton said. "I was just +wondering whether, after the sun had gone down behind that ridge over +there, the world would still be going round." + +"The world never stops entirely here," returned Raridan, "but the motion +sometimes gets very slow. Mr. Porter tells me that you're to be one of +us. Let me congratulate us,--and you!" + +"I'm not so sure about you," rejoined Saxton. "At my last stopping +place in the West they had a way of getting rid of undesirable members +of the community, and I've never got over being nervous. But that was +Wyoming. I'm sure you're more civilized here." + +"Not merely civilized; we are civilization! You see I'm a native, and +devoted to the home sod. My father was one of the first settlers. I +never knew why," he laughed again--it was a pleasant laugh--"but I've +tried to live up to my duties as one of the first Caucasians born in the +county. Some day I'll be exhibited at the State Fair and little children +will look at me with awe and admiration." + +"That makes me feel very humble. I'm almost afraid to tell you that I'm +a native of Boston, with a long line of highly undistinguished and +terribly conventional ancestors back of me. My father was never west of +Albany; my mother was never in a sleeping-car. But I'm not a tenderfoot. +I rode the initiating bronco in Wyoming through all the degrees; and a +cowboy once shot at me on his unlucky day." + +"Oh, your title's clear. That record gives you all the rights of a +native." + +Raridan waved away the waiter who had been hovering near, and who now +went over to the electric switch and threatened them with light. + +"That's too good to lose," Raridan said, nodding toward the west in +explanation. + +Warrick Raridan was, socially speaking, the most available man in the +Clarkson Blue Book. He was a graduate in law who did not practise, for +he had, unfortunately, been left alone in the world at twenty-six, with +an income that seemed wholly adequate for his immediate or future +needs. He maintained an office, which was fairly well equipped with the +literature of his profession, but this was merely to take away the +reproach of his busier fellow citizens; it was not thought respectable +to be an idler in Clarkson, even on reputable antecedents and +established credit. But Raridan's office was useful otherwise than in +providing its owner with a place for receiving his mail. It was the +rendezvous for a variety of committees to which he was appointed by such +unrelated bodies as the Clarkson Dramatic Club and the Diocesan Board of +Missions of the Episcopal Church. He had never, by any chance, been +pointed to as a model young man, but religious matters interested him +sporadically, and he was referred to facetiously by his friends, when +his punctilious religious observances were mentioned, as a fine type of +the "cheerful Christian." He appeared every Sunday at the cathedral, +which was the fashionable church in Clarkson, where he passed the plate +for the alms and oblations of the well-dressed congregation; and he said +of himself, with conscious humor, that he thought he did it rather well. + +He was capable of quixotism of the most whimsical sort. He had, for a +year, taken his meals at a cheap boarding-house in order that he might +maintain two Indian boys in school. He was not at all aggrieved when, at +the end of the first year, they ran away and resumed tribal relations +with their brethren. He chaffed himself about it to his friends. + +"It was wrong for me," he would say, "to try to pervert the tastes of +those young savages. I nearly ruined my own digestion to buy them white +man's luxuries; I wore out my old clothes that they might not go naked; +and all they learned was to smoke cigarettes." + +It was not enough to say that Warry Raridan could lead a german or tie +an Ascot tie better than any other man on the Missouri River; for he was +also the best informed man in that same strenuous valley concerning the +traditions of the English stage, and was a fairly good actor himself, as +amateurs go. He had an almost fatal cleverness, which made him impatient +of the restraints of college; and he left in his sophomore year owing to +difficulties with the mathematical requirements. Good books had abounded +in his father's house, and he was from boyhood a persistent, though +erratic reader. He threw himself with enthusiasm into the study of the +rise of monastic orders; and from this he changed lightly to the newest +books on psychology. There were many ways in which he could be +entertaining. He had a slight literary gift, which he cultivated for his +own amusement. His humor was fine and keen, and he occasionally wrote +screeds for the local papers, or mailed, apropos of something or +nothing, pleasant jingles to his intimate friends. + +No Clarkson hostess felt that a visiting girl had received courteous +attention unless she carried home a portfolio of verses written in her +honor by Warry Raridan. He gave, indeed, an impression of great +frivolity, but there were people who took him seriously, and lawyers who +knew him well said that he might win success in his profession if he +would apply himself. He had once appeared for the people in a suit to +compel the street-railway company to pave certain streets, as provided +by the terms of its franchise, and had gained his point against the best +lawyers in the state. This accomplished, he refused an appointment as +local counsel for a great railway, and with characteristic perverseness +spent the following summer managing an open-air mission for poor +children. + +Saxton was greatly amused and entertained by Raridan. Even those of his +fellow townsmen who did not wholly approve Warry Raridan, admitted his +entertaining qualities; and Saxton, who was painfully conscious of his +own shortcomings and knew that he had not usually been considered worth +cultivating, found himself responding with unwonted lightness to +Raridan's inconsequential talk. Few people had ever thought it necessary +to take pains with John Saxton, and he greatly enjoyed the novelty of +this intercourse with a man of his own age who was not a bore. The +bores, as Saxton remembered from his college days, had taken advantage +of his good nature and marked him for their own; and with a keen +realization of this he had often wondered in bitterness whether they did +not classify him correctly. + +"I'll wager that if you stay here a year you'll never leave," said +Raridan, as they went downstairs together. "I've been about a good deal, +and know that we who live here miss a lot of comfort and amusement which +go as a matter of course in older towns. But there's a roominess and +expansiveness about things out here that I like, and I believe most men +who strike it early enough like it, and are lonesome for it if they go +away. These people here think I stay because my few business interests +are here. The truth is that I've tried running away, but after I've +spent a week east of the Alleghanies, I'm sated with the fleshpots and +pine for the wilderness. Why, I go to the stockyards now and then just +to see the train-loads of steers come in. I get sensations out of the +rush and drive of all this that I wouldn't take a good deal for." + +"I think I understand how you feel about it," said Saxton, looking more +closely at this young man, who was not ashamed to mention his sensations +of sentiment to a stranger. "There were times in Wyoming when Western +life seemed pretty arid, but when I went back to Boston I was homesick +for Cheyenne." + +"That's a far cry, from Boston to Cheyenne," said Raridan, laughing. He +began again volubly: "A good deal depends, I suppose, on which end you +cry from. There's a lot of talk these days about the _nouveaux riches_ +by people who haven't any more French than that. We are advised by a +fairly competent poet that men may climb on stepping-stones of their +dead selves to higher things; but if they climb on the pickled remains +of the common or garden pig I don't see anything ignoble about it. I'd a +lot rather ascend on a pyramid of Minnehaha Hams than on my dead self, +which I hope to avoid using for step-ladder purposes as long as +possible. The people here are human beings, and they're all good enough +to suit me. I'd as lief be descended from a canvased ham as an Astor +peltry or a Vanderbilt steamboat. And I'm tired of the jokes in the +barber-shop comic weeklies, about the rich Westerners who make a vulgar +display of themselves in New York. If we do it, it's merely because +we're doing in Rome as the Romans do. These same shampoo and hair-cut +humorists are unable to get away from their jests about the homicidal +tendencies of Western barkeepers and the woolliness of the cowboys. +Those anemic commuters down there know no higher joy than a Weber & +Fields matinee or a Rogers Brothers on the Bronx first-night. Sometimes +I feel moved to grow a line of whiskers and add my barbaric yawp to the +long howl of the Populist wolf. But, you know," he added, suddenly +lowering his voice, "I reserve the right to abuse my fellow citizens +when I love them most. I tore Populism to tatters last fall in a few +speeches they let me make in the back counties. Our central committee +hadn't anything to lose out there. That's why they sent me!" + +Saxton was walking beside Raridan in the lower hall. He felt an impulse +to express gratitude for his rescue from the loneliness of the twilight; +but Raridan, talking incessantly, and with hands thrust easily into his +trousers' pockets, led the way into the reading-room. + +"Hello, Wheaton, I didn't know you were at home," he called to a man who +sat reading a newspaper, and who now rose on seeing a stranger with +Raridan. + +"This is Mr. Saxton, Mr. Wheaton." + +"Oh, yes," said the man introduced as Wheaton. "I wondered whether I +shouldn't see you here. Mr. Porter told me you had come." + +"I've been bringing Mr. Saxton up to date in local history," said +Raridan. + +"Chiefly concerning yourself, I suppose," said Wheaton, with a smile +that did not wholly succeed in being amiable. + +"It isn't often I get a chance at a brand new man," Raridan ran on. +"I've told the worst about you, so conduct yourself accordingly." + +"Mr. Raridan's worst isn't very bad," said Saxton. "From his account of +this town and its people, the place must be paradise and the inhabitants +saints." + +Raridan called for cigars, but Wheaton declined them. + +"Remarkable fellow," said Raridan, busy with his match. "Paragon among +our business men; exemplary habits, and so forth." He waved the smoking +matchstick to imply virtues in Wheaton which it was unnecessary to +mention. + +Wheaton ignored Raridan's chaffing way. He seemed very serious, and had +not much to say. He had just come home, from a tedious trip to the +western part of the state, he said, on an errand for his bank. He was +tall, slim and dark. There was a suggestion of sleepy indifference in +his black eyes, though he had a well-established reputation for energy +and industry. Saxton commented to himself that Wheaton's hands and feet +were smaller than he thought becoming in a man. + +"Mr. Porter told me you were quartered here. I hope they can make you +comfortable. I'm personally relieved that you have come. Your Boston +friends were getting very impatient with us. We shall do all in our +power to aid you; but of course Mr. Porter has said all that to you." +His smile was by a movement of the lips, and his eyes did not seem to +participate in it. He did not refer again to possible business relations +with Saxton, but turned the conversation into general channels. They sat +together for an hour, Raridan, as was his way in any company, doing most +of the talking. They seemed to have the club house to themselves. Now +and then one of the negro servants came and looked in upon them +sleepily. A clerk at the desk in the hall read in peace. A party of +young people could be heard entering by the side door set apart for +women; and muffled echoes of their gaiety reached the trio in the +reading-room. + +"That's back in the incurables' ward," said Raridan, in explanation to +Saxton. + +"It isn't nice of you to speak of the gentler sex in that way," +admonished Wheaton. + +"Oh, there are girls and girls," said Raridan wearily. "It does seem to +me that Mabel Margrave is always hungry. Why can't she do her eating at +home?" + +"He's simply jealous," Wheaton remarked to Saxton. "He always acts that +way when he hears a girl in the ladies' dining-room, and doesn't dare go +back and break in on some other fellow's party." + +"When you show signs of mental decay, it's time for us to go home, +Wheaton." Raridan held out his hand to Saxton. "I'm glad you're here, +and you may be sure we'll try to make you like us. Wheaton and I live in +a barracks around the corner, with a few other homeless wanderers. An +ill-favored thing,--but our own! I hope to see you there. Don't be +afraid of the Chinaman at the door. My cell is up one flight and to the +right." + +"And don't overlook me there," Wheaton interposed. "I suppose we shall +see you down town very often. Mr. Raridan is the only man in Clarkson +who has no visible means of support. The rest of us are pretty busy; but +that doesn't mean that we shan't be glad to see you at the Clarkson +National." + +"You see how intensely commercial he is," said Raridan. "He's talking +for the bank, you notice, and not for himself." + +"I'm sure he means both." Saxton had followed them to the front door, +where they repeated their good nights; he then climbed slowly to his +room. He had never before met a man so volatile and fanciful as Warrick +Raridan. He felt the warmth and friendliness of Raridan's nature as +people always did; Wheaton seemed cold and dull in comparison. Saxton +unpacked his trunks and distributed his things about the room. His +effects were simple, as befitted a man who was plain of mind and person. +He had collected none of the memorabilia which young men usually have +assembled at twenty-five. The furnishings of his dressing table and desk +were his own purchases, or those of his sister, who was the only woman +that had ever made him gifts. Having emptied his trunks and sent them to +the storeroom above, he seated himself comfortably in a lounging chair +and smoked a final pipe before turning in. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +SWEET PEAS + + +When he confided to John Saxton his belief that there were those among +his fellow townsmen who thought him "crooked," William Porter had no +serious idea that such was the case. He had, however, an impression that +the term "crooked" implied a high degree of sagacity and shrewdness. He +knew men in other cities whose methods were, to put it mildly, indirect, +and their names were synonymous with success. It pleased him to think +that he was of their order, and he was rich enough to indulge this +idiosyncrasy without fear of the criticisms of his neighbors. It amused +him to quiz customers of his bank, though he took care not to estrange +them. While his fellow citizens never seriously reflected on his +integrity, yet they did say that "Billy" Porter knew his business; that +he was "on to his job"; or, that to get ahead of him one must "get up +early in the morning". "Billy Porter's luck" was a significant phrase in +Clarkson. Porter had occasionally scored phenomenal successes, until his +legitimate credit as a man of business was reinforced by this +reputation. He believed that he enjoyed the high favor of fortune, and +it lent assurance to his movements. + +Porter lived well, as became a first citizen of Clarkson. His house +stood at the summit of a hill near the end of Varney Street, and the +gradual slope leading up to it was a pretty park, whose lawn and +shrubbery showed the intelligent care of a good gardener. The dry air +was still hot as John Saxton climbed the cement walk which wound over +the slope at the proper degree to bring the greatest comfort to +pedestrians. The green of the lawn was grateful to Saxton's eyes, which +dwelt with relief on the fine spray of the rotary sprinklers that hissed +coolly at the end of long lines of hose. Interspersed among the +indigenous scrub-oaks were elms, maples and cedars, and the mottled bark +of white birches showed here and there. The lawn was broken by beds of +cannas, and it was evident that the owner of the place had a taste for +landscape gardening and spent his money generously in cultivating it. +The house itself was of red brick dating from those years in which a +Mansard roof and a tower were thought indispensable in serious domestic +architecture. There was a broad veranda on the river side, accessible +through French windows of the same architectural period. + +A maid admitted Saxton and left him to find his own way into the +drawing-room, through which a breeze was blowing pleasantly from across +the valley. The ceilings in the house were high and the hardwood floors +seemed inconsonant with them and had evidently been added at a later +date. A white marble mantel and the grate beneath it were hidden by +palms. Above the mantel was a large mirror framed in heavy gilt. A piano +formed a barricade across the lower end of the room. One wall was +covered with a wonderful old French tapestry depicting a fierce +hand-to-hand battle in which the warriors and their horses were greatly +confused. + +Saxton sat in a deep wicker chair, mopping his forehead. He had spent a +busy day, and it was with real satisfaction that he found himself in a +cool house where the atmosphere of comfort and good taste brought ease +to all his senses. He had not expected to find so pleasant a house; +verily, the marks of philistinism were not upon it. It seemed to him +unlikely that Porter maintained solitary state here, and he wondered who +could be the other members of the household. The maid had disappeared +into the silent depths of the house without waiting for his name, and +did not return. His eyes moved again in leisurely fashion to the wall +before him, and to the mirror, which reflected nothing of his immediate +surroundings, but disclosed the shelves and books of a room on the +opposite side of the hall. + +He was amusing himself in speculations as to what manner of library a +man like Porter would have, and whether he read anything but the +newspapers, when the shadow of a young woman crept into the mirror; she +stood placing flowers in a vase on a table in the center of the room. He +thought for a moment that a figure from a painting had given a pretty +head and a pair of graceful shoulders to the mirror. In the room where +he sat the frames contained peasants in sabots, generous panels of +Hudson River landscape, a Detaille and an Inness. He changed the +direction of his eyes to inspect again the Brittany girl that stood +looking out over the sea in the manner of Brittany girls in pictures. +The girl in the mirror was not the same; moreover, he could hear her +humming softly; her head moved gracefully; there was no question of her +reality. Her hands had brought a bunch of sweet peas within the mirror's +compass, and were detaching a part of them for the vase by which she +stood. She hummed on in her absorption, bending again, so that Saxton +lost sight of her; then she stood upright, holding the unused flowers as +if uncertain what to do with them. The head flashed out of the mirror, +which reflected again only the library shelves and books. Then he heard +a light step crossing the hall, and the girl, still singing softly to +herself, passed back of him to a little stand which stood by one of the +drawing-room windows. The back of the wicker chair hid him; she was +wholly unconscious that any one was there. The breath of the sweet peas +which she was distributing suddenly sweetened the cool air of the room. +Seeing that the girl did not know of his presence in the house, and that +she would certainly discover him when she turned to go, he rose and +faced her. + +"I beg your pardon!" + +"Oh!" The sweet peas fell to the floor, and the girl looked anxiously +toward the hall door. + +"I beg your pardon," Saxton repeated. "I think--I fear--I wasn't +announced. But I believe that Mr. Porter is expecting me." + +"Yes?" The girl looked at John for the first time. He was taking the +situation seriously, and was sincerely sorry for having startled her. +His breadth of shoulders was impressive; he was clad in gray homespun, +and there seemed to be a good deal of it in the room. His smooth-shaven +face was sunburned. She thought he might be an Englishman. He was of the +big blond English type common in the American cattle country. + +"Father will be here very soon, I think." She moved toward the door +with dignity, ignoring the fallen flowers, and Saxton stepped forward +and picked them up. + +"Allow me." The girl took them from him, a little uncertainly and +guardedly, then returned to the vase and placed the flowers in it. + +"Thank you very much," she said. "I think I hear my father now." She +went to the outer door and opened it, inclining her head slightly as she +passed John, who also heard Mr. Porter's voice outside. He was +remonstrating with the gardener about the position of the sprinklers, +which he wished reset in keeping with ideas of his own. + +"Well, Evelyn?" he said, as he came up the steps. Saxton could hear the +young woman making an explanation in low tones to her father. He knew, +of course, that she was telling him that some one was waiting, and Mr. +Porter stood suddenly in the door with his hat still on his head. + +"Well, this beats me," he began effusively, coming forward and wringing +Saxton's hand. "This beats me! I'm not going to try to explain. I simply +forgot, that's all." He took Saxton's arm and turned him toward the door +where the girl still stood, smiling. + +"Evelyn, this is Mr. Saxton. He's come to dine with us. Bless my soul! +but I forgot all about it. See here, Evelyn, you've got to square this +for me," he concluded, and pushed his hat back from his forehead as he +appealed to her. + +[Illustration] + +She came forward and shook hands with Saxton. + +"I don't know how it can be 'squared.' This is only one of father's +lapses, Mr. Saxton. You may be sure he didn't mean to do it." + +"No, indeed," declared Porter, "but I'm ashamed of myself. Guess I'm +losing my wits." He waved the young people to seats with his hat, as if +anxious to have the apologies over as quickly as possible. "Positively +no reflection,--no, sir. Why, the last time it happened--" + +"A week ago to-night," his daughter interpolated. + +"The victim was the lord mayor of somewhere, who was passing through +town, and I asked him and his gang for dinner, and actually didn't +telephone to the house about it until half-past five in the afternoon. +I'm losing my wits, that's all." He continued to paint his social +crimes, while his daughter disappeared to correct his latest error by +having a plate laid for the unannounced guest. When she returned he left +the room, but reappeared at the lower door of the drawing-room, still +holding his hat, and exclaimed sharply: "Evelyn, I'm sure I must have +told you about Mr. Saxton being here when we were talking of the +Poindexter place last night. I told you some one was coming out to take +charge of those things." + +"Very well, father," she said patiently, turning toward him. He again +vanished into the hall having, he thought, justified himself before his +guest. + +"This is one of our standing jokes, you see, and father feels that he +must defend himself. I was away for so long and father lived down town +until his domestic instinct has suffered." + +"But I'm sure he hasn't lost his instinct of hospitality," said Saxton. + +"No; but it's his instinct of consideration for the housekeeper that's +blunted." She was still smiling over the incident in a way that had the +effect of including Saxton as a party to the joke, rather than as its +victim. He found himself feeling altogether comfortable and was able to +lead off into a discussion of the heat and of the appearance of the +grounds, which he pronounced charming. + +"Oh, that's father's great delight," she said. "I tell him he's far more +interested in the grounds than the house. He's an easy prey to the +compilers of flower catalogues, and people who sell trees go to him +first; then they never need to go any farther. He always buys them out!" + +They were touching upon the beneficence of Arbor Day when Porter +returned with an appearance of clean cuffs and without his hat, and +launched into statistics as to the number of trees that had been planted +in the state by school children during the past year. The maid came to +announce dinner, and Porter talked on as he led the way to the +dining-room. As they were taking their seats a boy of twelve took the +place opposite Saxton. + +"This is my brother Grant," said Miss Porter. The boy was shy and silent +and looked frail. The efforts of his sister to bring him into the talk +were fruitless. When his father or sister spoke to him it was with an +accented kindness. He would not talk before a stranger; but his face +brightened at the humor of the others. + +There was a round table very prettily set with glass candlesticks at the +four plates and a bowl of sweet peas in the center. Porter began a +discussion of some problems relating to improvements and changes in the +grounds, talking directly across to his daughter, as she served the +soup. Her manner with him was very gentle. She added "father" to most of +her sentences in addressing him, and there was a kind of caress in the +word as she spoke it. Her head, whose outlines had seemed graceful to +Saxton as he studied them in the mirror, was now disclosed fully in the +soft candle-light of the table. She had a pretty way of bending forward +when she spoke which was characteristic and quite in keeping with the +frankness of her speech; there was no hint of coquetry or archness about +her. Her eyes, which Saxton had thought blue in the drawing-room, were +now gray by candle-light. She was very like her father; she had his +clear-cut features, though softened and refined, and thoroughly +feminine. His eyes were smaller, and there was a quizzical, furtive play +of humor in them, which hers lacked. William Porter always seemed to be +laughing at you; his daughter laughed with you. You might question the +friendliness of her father's quiet joking sometimes, but there was +nothing equivocal in her smile or speech. + +A woman who is not too subservient to fashion may reveal a good deal of +herself in the way she wears her hair. The straight part in Evelyn +Porter's seemed to be akin to her clear, frank eyes, contributing to an +impression of simplicity and directness. The waves came down upon her +forehead and then retreated quickly to each side, as if they had been +conscious intruders there, and were only secure when they found refuge +in the knot that was gathered low behind. There was in her hair that +pretty ripple which men are reluctant to believe is acquired by +processes in which nature has little part. The result in Evelyn's case +was to give the light a better playground, and it caught and brightened +wherever a ripple held it. Her arms were bare from the elbow and there +were suppleness and strength in their firm outlines; her hands were long +and slender and had known vigorous service with racket and driver. + +Porter was full of a scheme for planting a line of poplars around some +lots, which, it seemed, he owned in another part of the town; but he +dropped this during a prolonged absence of the waitress from the room, +to ask where the girl had gone and whether there was going to be any +more dinner. + +"It's bad enough, child, for us to forget we've got a guest for dinner, +but we needn't rub it in by starving him after he's at the table." + +"There is food out there, father, if you'll abide in patience. This is a +new girl and she's pretty green. She let Mr. Saxton in and then forgot +to tell anybody he'd come." She wished to touch on this, without +recurring to the awkward plight in which Saxton had been placed; and +John now seized the chance to minimize it so that the incident might be +closed. + +"Oh, it was very flattering to me! She left me alone with an air that +implied my familiar acquaintance with the house. It was much kinder than +asking for credentials." + +"You're not hard enough on these people, Evelyn," declared Porter. +"That's something they didn't teach you at college. If you let the +impression get out that you're easy, you'll never make a housekeeper. +Fire them! fire them whenever you find they're no good!" He looked to +Saxton for corroboration, with a severe air, as if this were something +that masculine minds understood but which was beyond the reach of women. + +When all were served he grew abstracted as he ate, and Saxton appealed +to his hostess, as one college graduate may appeal to another, along the +line of their college experiences. They had, it appeared, several +acquaintances in common, and Saxon recalled that some of his classmates +had often visited the college in which Miss Porter had been a student; +and a little of the old ache crept into his heart as he remembered the +ways in which the social side of college life had meant so much less to +him than to most of the men he knew; but as she talked freely of her own +experience, he found that her humor was contagious, and he even fell so +far under its spell as to recount anecdotes of his own student life in +which his part had not been heroic. Porter came back occasionally from +the land of his commercial dreams, and they all laughed together at the +climaxes. He presently directed the talk to the cattle business. + +"You'd better get Mr. Saxton to tell you how much fun ranching is," he +said, turning to the boy, who at once became interested in Saxton. + +"I'm going to be a ranchman," the lad declared. "Father's going to buy +me the Poindexter ranch some day." + +"That's one of Mr. Saxton's properties. Maybe he'd trade it to you for a +tin whistle." + +"Is it as bad as that?" asked Saxton. + +"Just wait until you see it. It's pretty bad." + +"The house must have been charming," said Miss Porter. + +"And that's about all it was," replied her father. + +The dinner ended with a salad. This was not an incident but an event. +The highest note of civilization is struck when a salad is dressed by a +master of the chemistry of gastronomy. The clumsy and unworthy hesitate +in the performance of this sacred rite, and are never sure of their +proportions; the oil refuses intimacy with the vinegar, and sulks and +selfishly creates little yellow isles for itself in the estranging sea +of acid. The salt becomes indissoluble and the paprika is irrecoverable +flotsam. The clove of garlic, always recalcitrant under clumsy handling, +refuses to impart the merest hint of its wild tang, but the visible and +tangible world reeks with it. It was a joy to John Saxton to see the +deftness with which Evelyn Porter performed her miracle; he did not know +much about girls, but he surmised that a girl who composed a salad +dressing with such certainty did many things gracefully and well. There +were no false starts, no "ohs" of regret and appeal, no questions of +quantity. The light struck goldenly on the result as she poured it +finally upon the crisply-curling lettuce leaves which showed discreetly +over the edge of a deep Doulton bowl. It seemed to him high treason that +his host should decline the dressing thus produced by an art which +realized the dreams of alchemy, and should pour vinegar from the cruet +with his own hand upon the helpless leaves. + +Porter demanded cigars before the others had finished, and smoked over +his coffee. He was in a hurry to leave, and at the earliest possible +moment led the way to the veranda, picking up his hat as he stepped +blithely along. + +It was warmer outside than in, but Porter pretended that it was +pleasanter out of doors, and insisted that there was always a breeze on +the hill at night. He ran on in drawling monologue about the weather +conditions, and how much cooler it was in Clarkson than at the summer +places which people foolishly sought at the expense of home comforts. He +made his shy boy report his experiences of the day. In addressing the +lad he fell into his quizzical manner, but the boy understood it and +yielded to it with the same submission that his father's customers +adopted when they sought a loan and knew that Porter must prod them with +immaterial questions, and irritate them with petty ironies, before he +finally scribbled his initials in the corner of their notes and passed +them over to the discount clerk. + +Raridan appeared at the step presently. They all rose as he came up, and +he said to Saxton as he shook hands with him last: "I see you've found +the way to headquarters. All roads lead up to this Alpine height,--and I +fear--I fear--that all roads lead down again," he added, with a doleful +sigh, and laughed. He drew out his cigarettes and began making himself +greatly at home. He assured Mr. Porter, with amiable insolence, that his +veranda chairs were the most uncomfortable ones he knew, and went to +fetch himself a better seat from the hall. + +"Mr. Raridan likes to be comfortable," said Miss Porter in his absence. + +"But he finds pleasure in making others comfortable, too," Saxton +ventured. + +"Oh, he's the very kindest of men," Miss Porter affirmed. + +"What a nuisance you are, Warry," said Porter, as the young man fussed +about to find a place for his chair. "We were all very easy here till +you came. Even the breeze has died out." + +"Father insists that there has been a breeze," said Miss Porter. "But it +really has gone." + +"_Et tu, Brute?_ What we ought to do, Mr. Porter," said Raridan, who had +at last settled himself, "is to organize a company to supply breezes. +'The Clarkson Breeze Company, Limited.' I can see the name on the +factory now, in my mind's eye. We'd get up an ice trust first, then +bring in the ice cream people and make vast fortunes out of it, besides +becoming benefactors of our kind. The ice and the ice cream would pay +for the cold air; our cold air service would bring a clear profit. We'd +guarantee a temperature through the summer months of, say, seventy +degrees." + +"Then," Porter drawled, "the next thing would be to get the doctors in, +for a pneumonia branch; and after that the undertakers would demand +admission, and then the tombstone people. You're a bright young man, +Warry. I heard you stringing that Englishman at the club the other day +about your scheme for piping water from the Atlantic Ocean to irrigate +the American desert, and he thought you meant it." + +"Then we'll all suffer," Miss Porter declared, "for he'll go home and +put it in a book, and there'll be no end of it." + +Raridan was in gay spirits. He had come from a call on a young married +couple who had just gone to housekeeping. He had met there a +notoriously awkward young man, who moved through Clarkson houses leaving +ruin in his wake. + +"There ought to be some way of insuring against Whitely," said Raridan, +musingly. "Perhaps a social casualty company could be formed to protect +people from his depredations. You know, Mr. Saxton, they've really had +to cut him off from refreshments at parties,--he was always spilling +salads on the most expensive gowns in town. And these poor young married +things, with their wedding loot huddled about them in their little +parlors! There is a delightful mathematical nicety in the way he sweeps +a tea table with his coat tails. He never leaves enough for a sample. +But this was the worst! You know that polar bear skin that Mamie Shepard +got for a wedding present; well, it makes her house look like a +menagerie. Whitely was backing out--a thing I've begged him never to +try--and got mixed up with the head of that monster; kicked all the +teeth out, started to fall, gathered in the hat rack, broke the glass +out of it, and before Shepard could head him off, he pulled down the +front door shade." + +"But Mr. Whitely sings beautifully," urged Miss Porter. + +"He'd have to," said Warry, "with those feet." + +"You needn't mind what Raridan says," Mr. Porter remarked. "He's very +unreliable." + +"The office of social censor is always an ungrateful one," Raridan +returned, dolefully. "But I really don't know what you'd do without me +here." + +"I notice that you never give us a chance to try," said Mr. Porter, +dryly. + +"That is the unkindest cut; and in the shadow of your own house, too." + +Saxton got up to go presently and Raridan rose with him, declaring that +they had been terribly severe and that he could not be left alone with +them. + +"I hope you'll overlook that little slip of mine," said Mr. Porter, as +he shook hands with Saxton. "You'd better not tell Raridan about it. It +would be terrible ammunition in his hands." + +"And we'll all do better next time," said Miss Porter; "so do come again +to show that you don't treasure it against us." + +"I don't know that anything's happened," pleaded John, "except that I've +had a remarkably good time." + +"I fear that's more generous than just; but the next time I hope the +maid will do better." + +"And next time I hope I shan't frighten you," Saxton went on. Raridan +and Mr. Porter had walked down the long veranda to the steps, and Saxton +and Miss Porter were following. + +"Oh, but you didn't!" the girl laughed at him. + +"But you dropped the flowers--" + +"But you shouldn't have noticed! It wasn't gallant!" + +They had reached the others, and Raridan broke in with his good night, +and he and Saxton went down the walk together. + +"They seem to have struck up an acquaintance," observed Mr. Porter, +settling himself to a fresh cigar. + +"Mr. Saxton is very nice," said Evelyn. + +"Oh, he's all right," said her father, easily. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AT POINDEXTER'S + + +John Saxton trotted his pony through a broken gate into a great yard +that had once been sown in blue grass, and at the center of which lay +the crumbled ruins of a fountain. This was clearly no ordinary +establishment, as he had been warned, and he was uncertain how to hail +it. However, before he could make his presence known, a frowsy man in +corduroy emerged from the great front door and came toward him. + +"My name's Saxton, and you must be Snyder." + +"Correct," said the man and they shook hands. + +"Going to stay a while?" + +"A day or two." John threw down the slicker in which he had wrapped a +few articles from his bag at Great River, the nearest railway station. + +"I got your letter all right," said Snyder. "Walk in and help yourself." +He led the pony toward the outbuildings, while Saxton filled his pipe +and viewed the pile before him with interest. He had been making a +careful inspection of all the properties that had fallen to his care. +This had necessitated a good deal of traveling. He had begun in Colorado +and worked eastward, going slowly, and getting the best advice +obtainable as to the value of his principals' holdings. Much of their +property was practically worthless. Title had been gained under +foreclosure to vast areas which had no value. A waterworks plant stood +in the prairie where there had once been a Kansas town. The place was +depopulated and the smokestack stood as a monument to blighted hopes. +Ranch houses were inhabited by squatters, who had not been on his books +at all, and who paid no tribute to Boston. He was viewed with suspicion +by these tenants, and on inquiry at the county seats, he found generally +that they were lawless men, and that it would be better for him to let +them alone. It was patent that they would not pay rent, and to eject +them merely in the maintenance of a principle involved useless expense +and violence. + +"This certainly beats them all," Saxton muttered aloud. + +He had reached in his itinerary what his papers called the Poindexter +property. He had found that the place was famous throughout this part of +the country for the idiosyncrasies of its sometime owners, three young +men who had come out of the East to show how the cattle business should +be managed. They had secured an immense acreage and built a stone ranch +house whose curious architecture imparted to the Platte Valley a touch +of medievalism that was little appreciated by the neighboring cattlemen. +One of the owners, a Philadelphian named Poindexter, who had a weakness +for architecture and had studied the subject briefly at his university, +contributed the buildings and his two associates bought the cattle. +There were one thousand acres of rolling pasture here, much of it lying +along the river, and a practical man could hardly have failed to +succeed; but theft, disease in the herd and inexperience in buying and +selling, had wrought the ranchmen's destruction. Before their money was +exhausted, Poindexter and his associates lived in considerable state, +and entertained the friends who came to see them according to the best +usages of Eastern country life within, and their own mild approximation +of Western life without. Tom Poindexter's preceptor in architecture, an +elderly gentleman with a sense of humor, had found a pleasure which he +hardly dared to express in the medieval tone of the house and buildings. + +"All you need, Tom," he said, "to make the thing complete, is a +drawbridge and a moat. The possibilities are great in the light of +modern improvements in such things. An electric drawbridge, operated +solely by switches and buttons, would be worth while." The folly of man +seems to express itself naturally in the habitations which he builds for +himself; the folly of Tom Poindexter had been of huge dimensions and he +had built a fairly permanent monument to it. He and his associates began +with an ambition to give tone to the cattle business, and if novel ideas +could have saved them, they would not have failed. One of their happy +notions was to use Poindexter's coat of arms as a brand, and this was +only abandoned when their foreman declared that no calf so elaborately +marked could live. They finally devised an insignium consisting of the +Greek Omega in a circle of stars. + +"There's a remnant of the Poindexter herd out there somewhere," Wheaton +had said to Saxton. "The fellow Snyder, that I put in as a caretaker, +ought to have gathered up the loose cattle by this time; that's what I +told him to do when I put him there." + +Saxton turned and looked out over the rolling plain. A few rods away lay +the river, and where it curved nearest the house stood a group of +cottonwoods, like sentinels drawn together for colloquy. Scattered here +and there over the plain were straggling herds. On a far crest of the +rolling pastures a lonely horseman paused, sharply outlined for a moment +against the sky; in another direction, a blur drew his eyes to where a +group of the black Polled Angus cattle grazed, giving the one blot of +deep color to the plain. + +Snyder reappeared, and Saxton followed him into the house. + +"It isn't haunted or anything like that?" John asked, glancing over the +long hall. + +"No. They have a joke about that at Great River. They say the only +reason is that there ain't any idiot ghosts." + +There was much in the place to appeal to Saxton's quiet humor. The house +was two stories high and there was a great hall, with an immense +fireplace at one end. The sleeping rooms opened on a gallery above the +hall. An effort had been made to give the house the appearance of +Western wildness by introducing a great abundance of skins of wild +beasts,--a highly dishonest bit of decorating, for they had been bought +in Chicago. How else, indeed, would skins of German boars and Polar +bears be found in a ranch house on the Platte River! Under one wing of +the stairway, which divided to left and right at the center of the hall, +was the dining-room; under the other was the ranch office. + +"Those fellows thought a good deal of their stomachs," said Snyder, as +Saxton opened and shut the empty drawers of the sideboard, which had +been built into one end of the western wall of the room, in such a +manner that a pane of glass, instead of a mirror, filled the center. The +intention of this was obviously to utilize the sunset for decorative +purposes, and Saxton chuckled as he comprehended the idea. + +"I suppose our mortgage covers the sunset, too," he said. Nearly every +portable thing of value had been removed, and evidently in haste; but +the heavy oak chairs and the table remained. Snyder did his own modest +cooking in the kitchen, which was in great disorder. The floor of the +office was littered with scraps of paper. The original tenants had +evidently made a quick settlement of their business affairs before +leaving. Snyder slept here; his blanket lay in a heap on the long bench +that was built into one side of the room, and a battered valise +otherwise marked it as his lodging place. Saxton viewed the room with +disgust; it was more like a kennel than a bedroom. His foot struck +something on the floor; it was a silver letter-seal bearing the peculiar +Poindexter brand, and he thrust it into his pocket with a laugh. + +"My ranching wasn't so bad after all," he muttered. + +"What's that?" asked Snyder, who was stolidly following him about. + +"Nothing. If you have a pony we'll take a ride around the fences." + +They spent the day in the saddle riding over the range. The ridiculous +character of the Poindexter undertaking could not spoil the real value +of the land. There was, Saxton could see, the making here of a great +farming property; he felt his old interest in outdoor life quickening as +he rode back to the house in the evening. + +Snyder cooked supper for both of them, while Saxton repaired a decrepit +windmill which had been designed to supply the house with water. He had +formed a poor opinion of the caretaker, who seemed to know nothing of +the property and who had, as far as he could see, no well defined +duties. The man struck him as an odd person for the bank to have chosen +to be the custodian of a ranch property. There was nothing for any one +to do unless the range were again stocked and cattle raising undertaken +as a serious business. Saxton was used to rough men and their ways. He +had a happy faculty of adapting himself to the conversational capacities +of illiterate men, and enjoyed drawing them out and getting their point +of view; but Snyder's was not a visage that inspired confidence. He had +a great shock of black hair and a scraggy beard. He lacked an eye, and +he had a habit of drawing his head around in order to accommodate his +remaining orb to any necessity. He did this with an insinuating kind of +deliberation that became tiresome in a long interview. + +"This place is too fancy to be of much use," the man vouchsafed, puffing +at his pipe. "You may find some dude that wants to plant money where +another dude has dug the first hole; but I reckon you'll have a hard +time catching him. A real cattleman wouldn't care for all this house. It +might be made into a stable, but a horse would look ridiculous in here. +You might have a corn crib made out of it; or it would do for a hotel if +you could get dudes to spend the summer here; but I reckon it's a +little hot out here for summer boarders." + +"The only real value is in the land," said Saxton. "I'm told there's no +better on the river. The house is a handicap, or would be so regarded by +the kind of men who make money out of cattle. Have you ever tried +rounding up the cattle that strayed through the fences? The Poindexter +crowd must have branded their last calves about two years ago. Assuming +that only a part of them was sold or run off, there ought to be some +two-year-olds still loose in this country and they'd be worth finding." + +Snyder took his pipe from his mouth and snorted. "Yer jokin' I guess. +These fellers around here are good fellers, and all that, but I guess +they don't give anything back. I guess we ain't got any cattle coming to +us." + +"You think you'd rather not try it?" + +"Not much!" was the expressive reply. The fellow smoked slowly, bringing +his eye into position to see how Saxton had taken his answer. + +John was refilling his own pipe and did not look up. + +"Who've you been reporting to, Snyder?" + +"How's that?" + +"Who have you been considering yourself responsible to?" + +"Well, Jim Wheaton at the Clarkson National hired me, and I reckon I'd +report to him if I reported to anybody. But if you're going to run this +shebang and want to be reported to, I guess I can report to you." He +brought his turret around again and Saxton this time met his eye. + +"I want you to report to me," said John quietly. "In the first place I +want the house and the other buildings cleaned out. After that the +fences must be put in shape. And then we'll see if we can't find some of +our cows. You can't tell; we may open up a real ranch here and go into +business." + +Snyder was sprawling at his ease in a Morris chair, and had placed his +feet on a barrel. He did not seem interested in the activities hinted +at. + +"Well, if you're the boss I'll do it your way. I got along all right +with Wheaton." + +He did not say whether he intended to submit to authority or not, and +Saxton dropped the discussion. John rose and found a candle with which +he lighted himself to bed in one of the rooms above. The whole place was +dirty and desolate. The house had never been filled save once, and that +was on the occasion of a housewarming which Poindexter and his fellows +had given when they first took possession. One of their friends had +chartered a private car and had brought out a party of young men and +women, who had enlivened the house for a few days; but since then no +woman had entered the place. In the Poindexter days it had been +carefully kept, but now it was in a sorry plight. There had been a whole +year of neglect and vacancy, in which the house had been used as a +meeting place for the wilder spirits of the neighborhood, who had not +hesitated to carry off whatever pleased their fancy and could be put on +the back of a horse. Saxton chose for himself the least disorderly of +the rooms, in which the furniture was whole, and where there were even a +few books lying about. He determined to leave for Clarkson the following +morning, and formulated in his mind the result of his journey and plans +for the future of the incongruous combination of properties that had +been entrusted to him. He sat for an hour looking out over the moon-lit +valley. He followed the long sweep of the plain, through which he could +see for miles the bright ribbon of the river. A train of cars rumbled +far away, on the iron trail between the two oceans, intensifying the +loneliness of the strange house. + +"I seem to find only the lonely places," he said aloud, setting his +teeth hard into his pipe. + +In the morning he ate the breakfast of coffee, hard-tack and bacon which +Snyder prepared. + +"I guess you want me to hustle things up a little," said Snyder, more +amiably than on the day before. He turned his one eye and his grin on +Saxton, who merely said that matters must take a new turn, and that if a +ranch could be made out of the place there was no better time to begin +than the present. He had not formulated plans for the future, and could +not do so without the consent and approval of his principals; but he +meant to put the property in as good condition as possible without +waiting for instructions. Snyder rode with him to the railway station. + +"Give my regards to Mr. Wheaton," he said, as Saxton swung himself into +the train. "You'll find me here at the old stand when you come back." + +"A queer customer and undoubtedly a bad lot," was Saxton's reflection. + +When Saxton had written out the report of his trip he took it to +Wheaton, to get his suggestions before forwarding it to Boston. He +looked upon the cashier as his predecessor, and wished to avail himself +of Wheaton's knowledge of the local conditions affecting the several +properties that had now passed to his care. Wheaton undoubtedly wished +to be of assistance, and in their discussion of the report, the cashier +made many suggestions of value, of which Saxton was glad to avail +himself. + +"As to the Poindexter place," said Saxton finally, "I've been +advertising it for sale in the hope of finding a buyer, but without +results. The people at headquarters can't bother about the details of +these things, but I'm blessed if I can see why we should maintain a +caretaker. There's nothing there to take care of. That house is worse +than useless. I'm going back in a few days to see if I can't coax home +some of the cattle we're entitled to; they must be wandering over the +country,--if they haven't been rustled, and then I suppose we may as +well dispense with Snyder." + +He had used the plural pronoun out of courtesy to Wheaton, wishing him +to feel that his sanction was asked in any changes that were made. + +"I don't see that there's anything else to do," Wheaton answered. "I've +been to the ranch, and there's little personal property there worth +caring for. That man Snyder came along one day and asked for a job and I +sent him out there thinking he'd keep things in order until the Trust +Company sent its own representative here." + +There were times when Wheaton's black eyes contracted curiously, and +this was one of the times. + +"I don't like discharging a man that you've employed," Saxton replied. + +"Oh, that's all right. You can't keep him if he performs no service. +Don't trouble about him on my account. How soon are you going back +there?" + +"Next week some time." + +"Traveling about the country isn't much fun," Wheaton said, +sympathetically. + +"Oh, I rather like it," replied Saxton, putting on his hat. + +Saxton was not surprised when he returned to the ranch to find that +Snyder had made no effort to obey his instructions. He made his visit +unexpectedly, leaving the train at Great River, where he secured a horse +and rode over to the ranch. He reached the house in the middle of the +morning and found the front door bolted and barred on the inside. After +much pounding he succeeded in bringing Snyder to the door, evidently +both surprised and displeased at his interruption. + +"Howdy, boss," was the salutation of the frowsy custodian; "I wasn't +feeling just right to-day and was takin' a little nap." + +The great hall showed signs of a carousal. The dirt had increased since +Saxton's first appearance. Empty bottles that had been doing service as +candlesticks stood in their greasy shrouds on the table. Saxton sat down +on a keg, which had evidently been recently emptied, and lighted a pipe. +He resolved to make quick work of Snyder. + +"How many cattle have you rounded up since I was here?" he demanded. + +"Well, to tell the truth," began Snyder, "there ain't been much time for +doing that since you was here." + +"No; I suppose you were busy mending fences and cleaning house. Now you +have been drawing forty dollars a month for doing nothing. I'll treat +you better than you deserve and give you ten dollars bonus to get out. I +believe the pony in the corral belongs to you. We'll let it go at that. +Here's your money." + +"Well, I guess as Mr. Wheaton hired me, he'd better fire me," the fellow +began, bringing his eye to bear upon Saxton. + +"Yes, I spoke to Mr. Wheaton about you. He understands that you're to +go." + +"He does, does he?" Snyder replied with a sneer. "He must have forgot +that I had an arrangement with him by the year." + +"Well, it's all off," said Saxton, rising. He began throwing open the +windows and doors to let in fresh air, for the place was foul with the +stale fumes of whisky and tobacco. + +"Well, I guess I'll have to see Mr. Wheaton," Snyder retorted, finding +that Saxton was paying no further attention to him. He collected his few +belongings, watching in astonishment the violence with which Saxton was +gathering up and disposing of rubbish. + +"Going to clean up a little?" he asked, with his leer. + +"No, I'm just exercising for fun," replied Saxton. "If you're ready, +you'd better take your pony and skip." + +Snyder growled his resentment and moved toward the door with a bundle +under his arm and a saddle and bridle thrown over his shoulder. + +"I'll be up town to see Mr. Wheaton in a day or two," he declared, as he +slouched through the door. + +"He seems to be more interested in Wheaton than Wheaton is in him," +observed Saxton to himself. + +Saxton spent a week at Great River. He hired a man to repair fences and +put the house in order. He visited several of the large ranch owners and +asked them for aid in picking out the scattered remnants of the +Poindexter herd. Nearly all of them volunteered to help, with the result +that he collected about one hundred cattle and sold them at Great River +for cash. He expected to see or hear of Snyder in the town but the +fellow had disappeared. + +The fact was that Snyder had ridden over to the next station beyond +Great River for his spree, that place being to his liking because it was +beyond the jurisdiction of the sheriff whose headquarters were +maintained at Great River,--an official who took his office seriously, +and who had warned Snyder that his latest offense--getting drunk and +smashing a saloon sideboard--must not be repeated. After he had been +satisfactorily drunk for a week and had gambled away such of his fortune +as the saloonkeeper had not acquired in direct course of commerce, +Snyder came to himself sufficiently to send a telegram. Then he sat down +to wait, with something of the ease of spirit with which an honest man +sends forth a sight draft for collection from a town where he is a +stranger, and awaits returns in the full enjoyment of the comforts of +his inn. + +On the third day, receiving no message from the outside world, Snyder +sold his pony and took the train for Clarkson. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +DEBATABLE QUESTIONS + + +Evelyn Porter had come home in June to take her place as mistress of her +father's house. The fact that she alone of the girls belonging to +families of position in the town had gone to college had set her a +little apart from the others. During her four years at Smith she had +evinced no unusual interest in acquiring knowledge; she was a fair +student only and had been graduated without honors save those which her +class had admiringly bestowed on her. She had entered into social and +athletic diversions with zest and had been much more popular with her +fellow students than with the faculty. She brought home no ambition save +to make her father's home as comfortable as possible. She said to +herself that she would keep up her French and German, and straightway +put books within reach to this end. She had looked with wonder unmixed +with admiration upon the strenuous woman as she had seen her, full of +ambition to remake the world in less than six days; and she dreaded the +type with the dread natural in a girl of twenty-two who has a sound +appetite, a taste in clothes, with money to gratify it, and a liking for +fresh air and sunshine. + +She found it pleasant to slip back into the life of the town; and the +girl friends or older women who met her on summer mornings in the +shopping district of Clarkson, remarked to one another and reported to +their sons and husbands, that Evelyn Porter was at home to stay, and +that she was just as cordial and friendly as ever and had no airs. It +pleased Evelyn to find that the clerks in the shops remembered her and +called her by name; and there was something homelike and simple and +characteristic in the way women that met in the shops visited with one +another in these places. She caught their habit of going into Vortini's +for soda water, where she found her acquaintances of all ages sitting at +tables, with their little parcels huddled in their laps, discussing +absentees and the weather. She found, in these encounters, that most of +the people she knew were again agitated, as always at this season, +because Clarkson was no cooler than in previous years; and that the +women were expressing their old reluctance to leave their husbands, who +could not get away for more than two weeks, if at all. Some were already +preparing for Mackinac or Oconomowoc or Wequetonsing, and a few of the +more adventurous for the remoter coasts of New Jersey and Massachusetts. +The same people were discussing these same questions in the same old +spirit, and, when necessary, confessing with delightful frankness their +financial disabilities, in excusing their presence in town at a season +when it was only an indulgence of providence that all the inhabitants +did not perish from the heat. + +As a child Evelyn had played in the tower of the house on the hill, and +she now made a den of it. Some of her childish playthings were still +hidden away in the window seat, and stirred freshly the remembrance of +her mother,--her gentleness, her frailty, her interest in the world's +work. She often wondered whether the four years at college had realized +all that her dead mother had hoped for; but she was not morbid, and she +did not brood. She found a pleasure in stealing up to the tower in the +summer nights, and watching the shifting lights of the great railway +yards far down the valley, but at such times she had no romantic +visions. She knew that the fitful bell of the switch engine and the +rumble of wheels symbolized the very practical life of this restless +region in which she had been born. She cherished no delusion that she +was a princess in a tower, waiting for a lover to come riding from east +or west. She had always shared with her companions the young men who +visited her at college. When they sometimes sent her small gifts, she +had shared these also. Warrick Raridan had gone to see her several +times, as an old friend, and he had on these occasions, with +characteristic enterprise, made the most of the opportunity to widen his +acquaintance among Evelyn's friends, to whom she frankly introduced him. + +On the day following John Saxton's introduction to the house, Evelyn was +busy pouring oil on rusty places in the domestic machinery, when three +cards were brought up to her bearing unfamiliar names. They belonged, +she imagined, to some of the newer people of the town who had come to +Clarkson during her years from home. + +"Mrs. Atherton?" she said inquiringly, pausing before the trio in the +drawing-room. + +Two of the ladies looked toward the third, with whom Evelyn shook +hands. + +"Miss Morris and Mrs. Wingate," murmured the lady identified as Mrs. +Atherton. They all sat down. + +"It's so very nice to know that you are at home again," said Mrs. +Atherton, "although I've not had the pleasure of meeting you before. I +knew your mother very well, many years ago, but I have been away for a +long time and have only recently come back to Clarkson. + +"It is very pleasant to be at home again," Evelyn responded. + +Mrs. Atherton smiled nervously and looked pointedly at her companions, +evidently expecting them to participate in the conversation. The younger +woman, who had been presented as Miss Morris, sat rigid in a gilt +reception chair. She was of severe aspect and glared at Mrs. Atherton, +who threw herself again into the breach. + +"I hope you do not dislike the West?" Mrs. Atherton inquired of Evelyn. + +"No, indeed! On the other hand I am very proud of it. You know I am a +native here, and very loyal." + +Miss Morris seized this as if it had been her cue, and declared in +severe tones: + +"We of the West are fortunate in living away from the artificiality of +the East. There is some freedom here; the star of empire hovers here; +the strength of the nation lies in the rugged but honest people of the +great West, who gave Lincoln to the nation and the nation to Liberty." +There was a glitter of excitement in the woman's eyes, but she spoke in +low monotonous tones. Evelyn thought for a moment that this was +conscious hyperbole, but Miss Morris's aspect of unrelenting severity +undeceived her. Something seemed to be expected of her, and Evelyn said: + +"That is all very true, but, you know, they say down East that we are +far too thoroughly persuaded of our greatness and brag too much." + +"But," continued Miss Morris, "they are coming to us more and more for +statesmen. Look at literature! See what our western writers are doing! +The most vital books we are now producing are written west of the +Alleghanies!" + +"You know Miss Morris is a writer," interrupted Mrs. Atherton. "We +should say Doctor Morris," she continued, with a rising inflection on +the title,--"not an M.D. Miss Morris is a doctor of philosophy." + +"Oh," said Evelyn. "What college, Doctor Morris?" + +"The University of North Dakota," with emphasis on the university. "I +had intended going to Heidelberg, but felt that we loyal Americans +should patronize home institutions. The choruses of Euripides may ring +as grandly on our Western plains as in Athens itself," she added with +finality. She enunciated with great care and seemed terribly in earnest +to Evelyn, who felt an uncontrollable desire to laugh. But there was, +she now imagined, something back of all this, and she waited patiently +for its unfolding. The denouement was, she hoped, near at hand, for Miss +Morris moved her eyeglasses higher up on her nose and appeared even more +formidable than before. + +"I have heard that great emphasis is laid at Smith on social and +political economy. You must be very anxious to make practical use of +your knowledge," continued Miss Morris. + +Evelyn recalled guiltily her cuts in these studies. + +"Carlyle or somebody"--she was afraid to quote before a doctor of +philosophy, and thought it wise to give a vague citation--"calls +political economy the dismal science, and I'm afraid I have looked at it +a little bit that way myself." She smiled hopefully, but Miss Morris did +not relax her severity. + +"Civic responsibility rests on women as strongly as on men; even more +so," declared Miss Morris. + +"Well, I think we ought to do what we can," assented Evelyn. + +"Now, our Local Council has been doing a great deal toward improving the +sanitation of Clarkson." + +"Oh yes," exclaimed Mrs. Wingate from her corner. + +"And we feel that every educated woman in the community should lend her +aid to all the causes of the Local Council." + +"Yes?" said Evelyn, rather weakly. She felt that the plot was +thickening. "I really know very little of such things, but--" The "but" +was highly equivocal. + +"And we are very anxious to get a representative on the School Board," +continued Miss Morris. "The election is in November. Has it ever +occurred to you how perfectly absurd it is for men to conduct our +educational affairs when the schools are properly a branch of the home +and should be administered, in part, at least, by women?" She punctuated +her talk so that her commas cut into the air. Mrs. Wingate, the third +and silent lady, approved this more or less inarticulately. + +"I know there's a great deal in that," said Evelyn. + +"And we, the Executive Committee of the Council, have been directed to +ask you"--Mrs. Wingate and Mrs. Atherton moved nervously in their seats, +but Miss Morris now spoke with more deliberation, and with pedagogic +care of her pronunciation--"to become a candidate for the School Board." + +Evelyn felt a cold chill creeping over her, and swallowed hard in an +effort to summon some word to meet this shock. + +"Your social position," continued Miss Morris volubly, "and the prestige +which you as a bachelor of arts have brought home from college, make you +a most natural candidate." + +"Destiny really seems to be pointing to you," said Mrs. Atherton, with +coaxing sweetness in her tone. + +"Oh, but I couldn't think of it!" exclaimed Evelyn, recovering her +courage. "I have had no experience in such matters! Why, that would be +politics!--and I have always felt,--it has seemed to me,--I simply can't +consider it!" + +She had gained her composure now. She had been called a bachelor of +arts, and she felt an impulse to laugh. + +"Ah! we had expected that it would seem strange to you at first," said +Mrs. Atherton, who appeared to be in charge of the grand strategy of the +call, while Miss Morris carried the rapid firing guns and Mrs. Wingate +lent moral support, as of a shore battery. + +Mrs. Atherton had risen. + +"We have all set our hearts on it, and you must not decline. Think it +over well, and when you come to the first meeting of the Council in +September, you will, I am sure, be convinced of your duty." + +"Yes; a very solemn obligation that wealth and education have laid upon +you," Miss Morris amplified. + +"A solemn obligation," echoed Mrs. Wingate. + +The three filed out, Miss Morris leading the way, while Mrs. Atherton +lingeringly covered their retreat with a few words that were intended to +convey a knowledge of the summer frivolities then pending. + +"I should be very glad to have you come to see me at my rooms," said +Miss Morris, wheeling in her short skirt as she reached the door. "I +have rooms in the AEtna Building." + +"Do come and see us, too," murmured the convoy, smiling in relief as +they turned away. + +Evelyn sat down in the nearest chair and laughed. + +"I wonder whether they think college has made me like that?" she asked +herself. + +At dinner she gave her father a humorous account of the interview. Grant +was away dining with a playmate and they were alone. Porter was in one +of his perverse moods, and he began gruffly: + +"I should like to know why not! Haven't I spent thousands of dollars on +your education? The lady was right; you are, at least so I have +understood, a bachelor of arts. Why a bachelor I'm sure I don't know--" +He was buttering a bit of bread with deliberation and did not look at +Evelyn, who waited patiently, knowing that he would have his whim out. + +"It seems to me," he went on, "a proper recognition of your talents and +education, and also of me, as one of the oldest citizens of Clarkson. I +tell you it is good to get a little recognition once in a while. I have +a painful recollection of having been defeated for School Commissioner +about ten years ago. Now here's a chance for the family to redeem +itself. Of course you accepted the nomination, and after your election +I'll expect you to bring the school funds to my bank, and I'll say to +you now that the directors will do the right thing by you." + +He was still avoiding Evelyn's eyes, but his humor was growing impatient +for recognition. + +"Now, father!" she pleaded, and they laughed together. + +"Father," she said seriously, "I don't want these people here to get an +idea that I'm not an ordinary being." + +"That's an astonishing statement," he began, ready for further banter; +but she would not have it. + +"There are," she said, "certain things that a woman ought to do, whether +she's educated or not; and I have ideas about that. So you think these +people here are expecting great things of me,--" + +"Of course they are, and with reason," said Porter, still anxious to +return to his joke. + +"But I do not intend to have it! When I'm forty years old I may change +my mind, but right now I want--" + +She hesitated. + +"Well, what do you want, child?" he said gently, with the fun gone out +of his voice. They had had their coffee, and she sat with her elbow on +the table and her chin in her hand. + +"Why, I'm afraid I want to have a good time," she declared, rising. + +"And that's just what I want you to have, child," he said kindly, +putting his arm about her as they went out together. + +Evelyn declined the honor offered her by the local council, at long +range, in a note to Doctor Morris, giving no reasons beyond her +unfamiliarity with political and school matters. These she knew would +not be considered adequate by Doctor Morris, but the latter, after +writing a somewhat caustic reply, in which she dwelt upon the new +woman's duties and responsibilities, immediately announced her own +candidacy. The incident was closed as far as Evelyn was concerned and +she was not again approached in the matter. + +Her father continued to joke about it, and a few weeks later, when they +were alone, referred to it in a way which she knew by experience was +merely a feint that concealed some serious purpose. Men of Porter's age +are usually clumsy in dealing with their own children, and Porter was no +exception. When he had anything of weight on his mind to discuss with +Evelyn, he brooded over it for several days before attacking her. His +manner with men was easy, and he was known down town as a good bluffer; +but he stood not a little in awe of his daughter. + +"I suppose things will be gay here this winter," he said, as they sat +together on the porch. + +"About the same old story, I imagine. The people and their ways don't +seem to have changed much." + +"You must have some parties yourself. Better start them up early. Get +some of the college girls out, and turn it on strong." + +"Well, I shan't want to overdo it. I don't want to be a nuisance to you, +and entertaining isn't as easy as it looks." + +"It'll do me good, too," he replied. He fidgeted in his chair and played +with his hat, which, however, he did not remove, but shifted from one +side to the other, smoking his cigar meanwhile without taking it from +his mouth. He rose and walked out to one of his sprinklers which had +been placed too near the walk and kicked it off into the grass. She +watched him with a twinkle in her eyes, and then laughed. "What is it, +father?" she asked, when he came back to the porch. + +"What's what?" he replied, with assumed irritation. He knew that he must +now face the music, and grew composed at once. + +"Well, it's this,--" with sudden decision. + +"Yes, I knew it was something," she said, still laughing and not willing +to make it too easy for him. + +"You know the Knights of Midas are quite an institution here--boom the +town, and give a fall festival every year. The idea is to get the +country people in to spend their money. Lots of tom-foolishness about +it,--swords and plumes and that kind of rubbish; but we all have to go +in for it. Local pride and so on." + +"Yes; do you want me to join the Knights?" + +"No, not precisely. But you see, they have a ball every year in +connection with the festival, with a queen and maids of honor. I guess +you've never seen one of these things, as they have them in October, and +you've always been away at school. Now the committee on entertainment +has been after me to see if you'd be queen of the ball this year--" + +"Oh!--" ominously. + +"Just hold on a minute." He was wholly at ease now, and assumed the +manner which he had found effective in dealing with obstreperous +customers of his bank. "I'm free to say that I don't like the idea of +this myself particularly. There's a lot of publicity about it and you +know I don't like that--and the newspapers make an awful fuss. But you +see it isn't wise for us"--he laid emphasis on the pronoun--"to set up +to be better than other people. Now", with a twinkle in his eye, "you +turned down this School Board business the other day and said you wanted +to have a good time, just like other girls, and I reckon most of the +girls in town would be tickled at a chance like this--" + +"And you want me to do it, father? Is that what you mean? But it must be +perfectly awful,--the crowd and the foolish mummery." + +"Well, there's one thing sure, you'll never have to do it a second +time." Porter smiled reassuringly. + +"But I haven't said I'd do it once, father." + +"I'd like to have you; I'd like it very much, and should appreciate your +doing it. But don't say anything about it." Some callers were coming up +the walk, so the matter was dropped. Porter recurred to the subject +again next day, and Evelyn saw that he wished very much to have her take +part in the carnival, but the idea did not grow pleasanter as she +considered it. It was quite true, as she had told her father, that she +wanted to enjoy herself after the manner of other young women, and +without constant reference to her advantages, as she had heard them +called; but the thought of a public appearance in what she felt to be a +very ridiculous function did not please her. On the other hand, her +father rarely asked anything of her and he would not have made this +request without considering it carefully beforehand. + +In her uncertainty she went for advice to Mrs. Whipple, the wife of a +retired army officer, who had been her mother's friend. Mrs. Whipple was +a woman of wide social experience and unusual common sense. She had +settled in her day many of those distressing complications which arise +at military posts in times of national peace. Young officers still came +to her for advice in their love affairs, which she always took +seriously, but not too seriously. Warry Raridan maintained unjustly that +Mrs. Whipple's advice was bad, but that it did the soul good to see how +much joy she got out of giving it. The army had communicated both social +dignity and liveliness to Clarkson, as to many western cities which had +military posts for neighbors. In the old times when civilians were busy +with the struggle for bread and had little opportunity for social +recreation, army men and women had leisure for a punctilious courtesy. +The mule-drawn ambulance was a picturesque feature of the urban +landscape as it bore the army women about the rough streets of the new +cities; it was not elegant, but it was so eminently respectable! There +might be an occasional colonel that was a snob, or a major that drank +too much; or a Mrs. Colonel who was a trifle too conscious of her rights +over her sisters at the Post, or a Mrs. Major whose syntax was +unbearable; but the stars and stripes covered them all, even as they +cover worse people and worse errors in our civil administrators. + +It gave Evelyn a pleasant sensation to find herself again in the little +Whipple parlor. The furniture was the same that she remembered of old in +the commandant's house at the fort. It had at last found repose, for the +Whipples' marching days were over. They made an effort to have an Indian +room, where they kept their books, but they refrained from calling the +place a library. On the walls were the headdress of a Sioux chief, and a +few colored photographs of red men; the couch was covered with a Navajo +blanket, and on the floor were wolf and bear skins. When chairs were +needed for callers, the general brought them in from other rooms; he +himself sat in a canvas camp chair, which he said was more comfortable +than any other kind, but which was prone to collapse under a civilian. +The wastepaper-basket by the general's table, and a basket for fire-wood +were of Indian make, dyed in dull shades of red and green. + +"My dear child," Mrs. Whipple began, when Evelyn had explained her +errand; "this is a very pretty compliment they're paying you,--don't you +know that?" + +"Yes, but I don't want it," declared the girl, with emphasis. + +"That is wholly unreasonable. There are girls in Clarkson that could not +afford to take it; the strength of your position is that you can afford +to do it! It's not going to injure you in any way; can't you see that? +Everybody knows all about you,--that you naturally wouldn't want it. +Why, there's that Margrave girl, whose father does something or other in +one of the railways,--she had this honor that is worrying you two years +ago, and her father and all his friends worked hard to get it for her." + +Evelyn laughed at her friend's earnestness. "I'm afraid you're trying to +lift this to an impersonal plane, but I'm considering myself in this +matter. I simply don't want to be mixed up in that kind of thing." + +"These business men work awfully hard for all of us," Mrs. Whipple +continued. "It seems to me that their daily business contests and +troubles are fiercer than real wars. I'd a lot rather take my chances in +the army than in commercial life,--if I were doing it all over +again,--that is, from the woman's side. The government always gives us +our bread if it can't supply the butter; and if the poor men lose a +fight they are forgiven and we still eat. But in the business battle--" +she shrugged her shoulders to indicate the sorry plight of the +vanquished. + +"Yes, I suppose that's all true," Evelyn conceded. "But you mustn't be +so abstract! I really haven't a philosophical mind. I came here to ask +you to tell me how to get out of this, but you seem to be urging me in!" + +Mrs. Whipple rallied her forces while she poured the iced tea which a +maid had brought. + +"We can't always have our 'ruthers.' Now this looks like a very large +sacrifice of comfort and dignity to you. I'll grant you the discomfort, +but not any loss of dignity. If you were vain and foolish, I'd take your +side, just to protect you, but you have no such weaknesses. You must not +consider at all that girls in Eastern cities don't do such things; +that's because there aren't the things to do. Our great-grandchildren +won't be doing them either. But these carnivals, and things like that, +are necessary evils of our development. Army people like ourselves, who +have always been cared for by a paternal government, can hardly +appreciate the troubles of business people; and a girl like you, who has +always led a carefully sheltered life, with both comforts and luxuries +given her without the asking, must try to appreciate the fact that +everybody is not so fortunate. I don't know whether these affairs are +really of any advantage to the town commercially; I have heard business +men say that they are not; but so long as they have them, the rest of us +have got to submit to the confetti throwers and the country brass bands, +on the theory that it's good for the town." + +Mrs. Whipple covered all the ground when she talked. She had daringly +addressed department commanders in this ample fashion when her husband +was only a second lieutenant, and she was not easily driven from her +position. + +"But what's good for the town isn't necessarily good for me," pleaded +Evelyn. Her animation was becoming, and Mrs. Whipple was noting the +points of the girl's beauty with delight. "Any other girl's clothes +would look just as sweet to the multitude," Evelyn asserted. + +"That's where you are mistaken. If it's a sacrifice, the town is +offering Iphigenia, and only our fairest daughter will do. I'll be +talking fine language in a minute, and one of us will be lost." She +laughed; Mrs. Whipple always laughed at herself at the right moment. She +said it discounted the pleasure other people might have in laughing at +her. "Now Evelyn Porter, you're a nice girl and a sensible one. So far +as you can see you're going to spend your days in this town, and it +isn't a bad place. We preferred to live here after the general retired +because we liked it, and that was when we had the world to choose from. +I've lived in every part of this country, but the people in this region +are simple and honest and wholesome, and they have human hearts in them, +and at my age that counts for a good deal. The general and I were both +born in Massachusetts, where you hear a lot about ancestors and +background; but I've driven over these plains and prairies in an army +ambulance, since before the Civil War, and it hasn't all been fun, +either; I love every mile of the country, and I don't want you, who are +the apple of my eye, to come home with patronizing airs--" + +"Not guilty!" exclaimed Evelyn throwing up her hands in protest. "I have +no such ideas and you know it; but you ignore the point. What I can't +see is that there's any question of patriotism in this Knights of Midas +affair, as far as I'm concerned, and I'm not so young as I was. The +queen of the ball should be much younger than I am." + +"Well, if you're reduced to that kind of argument, I think we'll have to +call the debate closed. But remember,--you're asked to give only an hour +of your life to please your father, and a great many other people. And +you'll be doing your town a great service, too." + +"Well," said Evelyn dolefully, as she got up to go, "this isn't the kind +of counsel I came for. If I'd expected this from you, I'd have taken my +troubles elsewhere." She had risen and stood swinging her parasol back +and forth and regarding the tip of her boot. "You almost make it seem +right." + +"You'd better make a note of it as one of those things that are not +pleasant, but necessary. If I thought it would harm you, child, I'd +certainly warn you against it--I'd do that for your mother's sake." + +"I like your saying that," said Evelyn, softly. + +Mrs. Whipple had been a beauty in the old army days, and was still a +handsome woman. She had retained the slenderness of her girlhood, and +the hot suns and blighting winds of the plains and mountains had dealt +gently with her. She took both of Evelyn's hands at the door, and kissed +her. + +"Don't go away hating me, dear. Come up often; and after it's all over, +I'll tell you how good you've been." + +"Oh, I'll go to a convent afterward," Evelyn answered; "that is, if I +find that you've really persuaded me!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A SAFE MAN + + +James Wheaton was thirty-five years old, and was reckoned among the +solid young business men of Clarkson. He had succeeded far beyond his +expectations and was fairly content with the round of the ladder that he +had reached. He never talked about himself and as he had no intimate +friends it had never been necessary for him to give confidences. His +father had been a harness-maker in a little Ohio town; he and his older +brother were expected to follow the same business; but the brother grew +restless under the threat of enforced apprenticeship and prevailed on +James to run away with him. They became tramps and enjoyed themselves +roaming through the country, until finally they were caught stealing in +a little Illinois village and both were arrested. + +James was discharged through the generosity of his brother in taking all +the blame on himself; the older boy was sent to a reformatory alone. +James then went to Chicago, where he sold papers and blacked boots for a +year until he found employment as a train boy, with a company operating +on various lines running out of Chicago. This gave him a wide +acquaintance with western towns, and incidentally with railroads and +railroad men. He grew tired of the road, and obtained at Clarkson a +position in the office of Timothy Margrave, the general manager of the +Transcontinental, which, he had heard, was a great primary school for +ambitious boys. + +It was thus that his residence in Clarkson was established. He attended +night school, was assiduous in his duties, and attained in due course +the dignity of a desk at which he took the cards of Margrave's callers, +indexed the letter books and copied figures under the direction of the +chief clerk. After a year, hearing that one of the Clarkson National +Bank's messengers was about to resign, he applied for this place. +Margrave recommended him; the local manager of the news agency vouched +for his integrity, and in due course he wended the streets of Clarkson +with a long bill-book, the outward and visible sign of his position as +messenger. He was steadily promoted in the bank and felt his past +receding farther and farther behind him. + +When, at an important hour of his life, Wheaton was promoted to be +paying teller, he was in the receiving teller's cage. He had known that +the more desirable position was vacant and had heard his fellow clerks +speculating as to the possibility of a promotion from among their +number. Thompson, the cashier, had a nephew in the bank; and among the +clerks he was thought to have the best chance. They all knew that the +directors were in session, and several whose tasks for the day were +finished, lingered later than was their wont to see what would happen. +Wheaton kept quietly at his work; but he had an eye on the door of the +directors' room, and an ear that insensibly turned toward the +annunciator by which messengers were called to the board room. It rang +at last, and Wheaton wiped his pen with a little more than his usual +care as he waited for the result of the summons. This was on his +twenty-fifth birthday. + +"Mr. Wheaton!" The other clerks looked at one another. The question that +had been uppermost with all of them for a week past was answered. +Thompson's nephew slammed his book shut and carried it into the vault. +Wheaton put aside the balance sheet over which he had been lingering and +went into the directors' room. There had been no note of joy among his +associates. He knew that he was not popular with them; he was not, in +their sense, a good fellow. When they rushed off after hours to the ball +games or horse races, he never joined them. When their books did not +balance he never volunteered to help them. As for himself, he always +balanced, and did not need their help; and they hated him for it. This +was his hour of triumph, but he went to his victory without the cheer of +his comrades. + +He heard Mr. Porter's question as to whether he felt qualified to accept +the promotion; and he sat patiently under the inquiries of the others as +to his fitness. It required no great powers of intuition to know that +these old men had already appointed him; that if they had not known to +their own satisfaction that he was the best available man, they would +not be taking advice from him in the matter. + +"Sanders leaves on Monday to take another position, and we will put you +in his cage to give you a trial," the president said, finally. Wheaton +expressed his gratitude for this mark of confidence. He was not +troubled by the suggestion of a trial. Porter and Thompson, the cashier, +always spoke of his promotions as "trials." He had never failed thus far +and his self-confidence was not disturbed by the care these men always +took to tie strings to everything they did with a view to easy +withdrawal, if the results were not satisfactory. The position had been +filled and there was nothing more to be said. Thompson, however, always +liked to have a last word. + +"Wheaton, your family live here, don't they?" + +"No," said Wheaton, smiling his difficult smile, "I haven't any family. +My parents are dead. I came here from Ohio, and board over on the north +side." + +"Another Ohio man," said Porter, "you can't keep 'em down." They all +laughed at Porter's joke and Wheaton bowed himself out under cover of +it. + +Later, when need arose for creating the position of assistant cashier, +it was natural that the new desk should be assigned to Wheaton. He was +faithful and competent; neither Porter nor Thompson had a son to install +in the bank; and, as they said to each other and to their fellow +directors, Wheaton had two distinguishing qualifications,--he did his +work and he kept his mouth shut. + +In the course of time Thompson's health broke down and the doctors +ordered him away to New Mexico, and again there seemed nothing to do but +to promote Wheaton. Thompson wished to sell his stock and resign, but +Porter would not have it so; but when, after two years, it was clear +that the cashier would never again be fit for continuous service in the +bank, Wheaton was duly elected cashier and Thompson was made +vice-president. + +Wheaton had now been in Clarkson fifteen years, and he was well aware +that other young men, with influential connections, had not done nearly +so well as he. He treasured no illusions as to his abilities; he did not +think he had a genius for business; but he had demonstrated to his own +satisfaction that such qualities as he possessed,--industry, sobriety +and obedience,--brought results, and with these results he was well +satisfied. He hoped some day to be rich, but he was content to make +haste slowly. He never speculated. He read in the newspapers every day +of men holding responsible positions who embezzled and absconded, but +there was never any question in his mind as between honesty and knavery. +It irritated him when these occurrences were commented on facetiously +before him; he did not relish jokes which carried an implication that he +too might belong to the dubious cashier class; and inquiries as to +whether he would spend his vacation in Canada or, if it were winter, in +Guatemala, were not received in good part, for he had much personal +dignity and little humor. He was counted among the older men of the town +rather than among men of his own age, and he found himself much more at +ease among his seniors. The young men appreciated his good qualities and +respected him; but he felt that he was not one of them; socially, he was +voted very slow, and there was an impression abroad that he was stingy. +Certainly he did not spend his money frivolously, and he never had done +so. Many fathers held him up as an example to their sons, and this +tended further to the creation of a feeling among his contemporaries +that he was lacking in good fellowship. + +Raridan knew the personal history of most of his fellow townsmen, and he +was fond of characterizing those whom he particularly liked or disliked, +for the benefit of his friends. He took it upon himself to sketch +Wheaton for John Saxton's benefit in this fashion. + +"Jim Wheaton's one of those men who never make mistakes," said Raridan, +with the scorn of a man whose own mistakes do not worry him. "He went +into that bank as a boy, and was first a model messenger, and then a +model clerk; and when they had to have a cashier there was the model +assistant, who had been a model everything else, so they put him in. +There wasn't anybody else for the job; and I guess he's a good man for +it, too. A bank cashier doesn't dare to make mistakes; and as Wheaton is +not of that warm, emotional nature that would lead him to lend money +without getting something substantial to hold before the borrower got +away, he's the model cashier. You've heard of those bank cashiers who +can refuse a loan to a man and send him out of the bank singing happy +chants. Well, Jim isn't that kind. When he turns down a man, the man +doesn't go on his way rejoicing. I don't know how much money Wheaton's +got. He's made something, of course, and Porter would probably sell him +stock up to a certain point. He'll die rich, and nobody, I fancy, will +ever be any gladder because he's favored this little old earth with his +presence." + +As a bank clerk the teller's cage had shut Wheaton off from the world. +Young women of social distinction who came sometimes to get checks +cashed, knew him as a kind of automaton, that looked at both sides of +their checks and at themselves, and then passed out coin and paper to +them; they saw him nowhere else, and did not bother themselves about +him. After his promotion to be assistant cashier, he saw the world +closer at hand. He had a desk and could sit down and talk to the men +whom he had studied from the cage for so long. The young women, too, +approached him no longer with checks to be cashed, but with little books +in which they urged him officially and personally to subscribe to +charities. Porter, who was naturally a man of generous impulses, knew +his own weakness and made the cashier the bank's almoner. He was very +sure that Wheaton would be as careful of the bank's money as of his own; +he had taken judicial knowledge of the fact that Wheaton's balance on +the bank's books had shown a marked and steady growth through all the +years of his connection with it. + +Wheaton's promotion to the cashiership had come in the spring; and +shortly afterward he had changed his way of living in a few particulars. +He had lodged for years in a boarding house frequented by clerks; a +place where his fellow boarders were, among others, a music teacher, a +milliner and the chief operator of the telephone exchange. He had not +felt above them; their dancing class and occasional theater party had +seemed fine to him. Porter now suggested that Wheaton should be a member +of the Clarkson Club, and Wheaton assented, on the president's +representation that "it would be a good thing for the bank." Vacant +apartments were offered at this time in The Bachelors', as it was +called, and he availed himself of the opportunity to change his place +of residence. He had considered the matter of taking a room at the club, +but this, after reflection, he rejected as unwise. The club was a new +institution in the town, and he was aware that there were conservative +people in Clarkson who looked on it as a den of iniquity,--with what +justification he did not know from personal experience, but he had heard +it referred to in this way at the boarding house table. He knew Raridan +and the others at The Bachelors', but his acquaintance with them was of +a perfunctory business character. When he moved to The Bachelors', +Raridan, who was always punctilious in social matters, formally called +on him in his room, as did also Captain Wheelock, the army officer then +stationed in Clarkson on recruiting service. The others in the house +welcomed him less formally as they chanced to meet him in the hall or on +the stairway; they were busy men who worked long hours and did not +bother themselves about the amenities and graces of life. + +His change to The Bachelors' was of importance to Wheaton in many ways. +He saw here, in the intimacies of their common table, men of a higher +social standing than he had known before. Their way of chaffing one +another seemed to him very bright; they mocked at the gods and were not +destroyed. Raridan was a new species and spoke a strange tongue. Raridan +and Wheelock appeared at the table in dinner-coats, and after a few +weeks Wheaton followed their example. Raridan, he knew, dressed whether +he went out or not, and he established his own habit in this particular +with as little delay as possible. The table then balanced, the smelter +manager, the secretary of the terra cotta manufacturing company, and +the traveling passenger agent of the Transcontinental Railroad appearing +in the habiliments which they wore at their respective places of +business, and Raridan, Wheaton and Wheelock in black and white. + +The humor of this division was not lost on the traveling passenger +agent, who chaffed the "glad rag" faction, as he called it, until +Raridan took up arms for his own side of the table. + +"It may be true, sir, what you say about a division here between the +working and non-working classes; but wit and beauty have from most +ancient times bedecked themselves in robes of purity. A man like +yourself, whose business is to persuade people to ride on the worst +railroad on earth, should properly array himself in sackcloth and ashes, +and not in purple and fine linen, which belong to those who severally +give their thoughts to the,--er--promotion of peace"--indicating +Wheelock--"sound finances," indicating Wheaton, "and--er--in my own +case--" + +"Yes, do tell us," said the railroad man, ironically. + +"To faith and good works," said Warrick imperturbably. + +"And mostly works,--I don't think!" declared Wheelock. + +The relations between Porter and Wheaton were strictly of a business +character. This was not by intention on Porter's part. He assumed that +at some time he or Thompson had known all about Wheaton's antecedents; +and after so many years of satisfactory service, during the greater part +of which the bank had been protected against Wheaton, as against all the +rest of the employees, by a bonding company, he accepted the cashier +without any question. Before Evelyn's return he had one day expressed to +Wheaton his satisfaction that he would soon have a home again, and +Wheaton remarked with civil sympathy that Miss Porter must now be "quite +a young lady." + +"Oh, yes; you must come up to the house when we get going again," Porter +answered. + +Wheaton had seen the inside of few houses in Clarkson. He had a +recollection of having been sent to Porter's several times, while he was +still an errand boy in the bank, to fetch Porter's bag on occasions when +the president had been called away unexpectedly. He remembered Evelyn +Porter as she used to come as a child and sit in the carriage outside +the bank to wait for her father; the Porters stood to him then, and now, +for wealth and power. + +Raridan had a contempt for Wheaton's intellectual deficiencies; and +praise of Wheaton's steadiness and success vexed him as having some +sting for himself; but his own amiable impulses got the better of his +prejudices, and he showed Wheaton many kindnesses. When the others at +The Bachelors' nagged Wheaton, it was Raridan who threw himself into the +controversy to take Wheaton's part. He took him to call at some of the +houses he knew best, and though this was a matter of propinquity he knew +nevertheless that he preferred Wheaton to the others in the house. +Wheaton was not noisy nor pretentious and the others were sometimes +both. + +Wheaton soon found it easy to do things that he had never thought of +doing before. He became known to the florist and the haberdasher; there +was a little Hambletonian at a certain liveryman's which Warry Raridan +drove a good deal, and he had learned from Warry how pleasant it was to +drive out to the new country club in a runabout instead of using the +street car, which left a margin of plebeian walking at the end of the +line. He had never smoked, but he now made it a point to carry +cigarettes with him. Raridan and many other young men of his +acquaintance always had them; he fancied that the smoking of a cigarette +gave a touch of elegance to a gentleman. Captain Wheelock smoked +cigarettes which bore his own monogram, and as he said that these did +not cost any more than others of the same brand, Wheaton allowed the +captain to order some for him. But while he acquired the superficial +graces, he did not lose his instinctive thrift; he had never attempted +to plunge, even on what his associates at The Bachelors' called "sure +things"; and he was equally incapable of personal extravagances. If he +bought flowers he sent them where they would tell in his favor. If he +had five dollars to give to the _Gazette's_ Ice Fund for the poor, he +considered that when the newspaper printed his name in its list of +acknowledgments, between Timothy Margrave, who gave fifty dollars, and +William Porter, who gave twenty-five, he had received an adequate return +on his investment. + +A few days after Evelyn Porter came home, Wheaton followed Raridan to +his room one evening after dinner. Raridan had set The Bachelors' an +example of white flannels for the warm weather, and Wheaton also had +abolished his evening clothes. Raridan's rooms had not yet lost their +novelty for him. The pictures, the statuettes, the books, the broad +couch with its heap of varicolored pillows, the table with its +candelabra, by which Raridan always read certain of the poets,--these +still had their mystery for Wheaton. + +"Going out to-night?" he asked with a show of indifference. + +"Hadn't thought of it," answered Raridan, who was cutting the pages of a +magazine. "Kick the cat off the couch there, won't you?--it's that +blessed Chinaman's beast. Don't know what a Mongolian is doing with a +cat,--Egyptian bird, isn't it?" + +"Don't let me interrupt if you're reading," said Wheaton. "But I thought +some of dropping in at Mr. Porter's. Miss Porter's home now, I believe." + +"That's a good idea," said Raridan, who saw what was wanted. He threw +his magazine at the cat and got up and yawned. "Suppose we do go?" + +The call had been successfully managed. Miss Porter was very pretty, and +not so young as Wheaton expected to find her. Raridan left him talking +to her and went across to the library, where Mr. Porter was reading his +evening paper. Raridan had a way of wandering about in other people's +houses, which Wheaton envied him. Miss Porter seemed to take his call as +a matter of course, and when her father came out presently and greeted +him casually as if he were a familiar of the house he felt relieved and +gratified. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +WARRY RARIDAN'S INDIGNATION + + +Raridan stayed in town all summer, and he and Saxton saw a good deal of +each other. They drove often to the country club together, and Saxton +became, as people said, another of Warry's enthusiasms. Saxton was no +idler, and he was conscientiously striving to bring order out of chaos +in the interests which had been confided to him. He was annoyed, at +first, when Raridan in his unlimited leisure, began to invade his +office; but as the confidence and ease of real friendship grew between +them he did not scruple to send him away, or to throw him a newspaper +and bid him read and keep still. Raridan was the plaything of many +moods; Saxton was equable and steady. They sought each other with the +old perversity of antipodal natures. + +Saxton came in unexpectedly on Raridan at The Bachelors' one evening in +September. The day had been hot with the final fling of summer, but a +thunder shower had cooled the atmosphere, and there stole in pleasantly +the drip, drip, of the rain which was now abating. Heat lightning glowed +in the west with the luminousness so marked in that region. + +"It's an infernal, hideous shame," called Raridan fiercely through the +dark, recognizing Saxton's step. + +"Thanks! I'm glad I came," said Saxton, cheerfully. + +"I'd like to be a cannibal for a few hours," growled Raridan, kicking a +chair toward Saxton without rising from the couch where he lay sprawled. +Saxton went about quietly, lighting the gas, picking up the books and +newspapers which Raridan had evidently cast from him in his rage, and +making a seat for himself by the window. + +"I'm not an expert in lunacy, but I'll hear your trouble. Go ahead." + +Raridan got up suddenly, his glasses swinging wildly from their cord. + +"Put out that light," he commanded savagely; and Saxton did as he was +bidden. + +"Do you know what Evelyn Porter's going to do?" demanded Raridan. + +"I certainly do not. You seem to want to leave me in the dark; and +that's no joke." + +"She's going to be queen of their infernal Knights of Midas ball, that's +what." + +"Your language is spirited, I must say. I think we may classify that as +important if true." + +"It's an outrage; an infernal damned shame!" Raridan went on. + +"Language unbecoming an officer and a gentleman--" + +"There's a fine girl, as charming as any girl dare be. She has a father +who doesn't appreciate her;--a good fellow and all that and he wouldn't +hurt her for anything on earth; but he hasn't got any sensibility; +that's the trouble with scores of American fathers. These Western ones +are worse than any others. They break their sons in, whenever they can, +to the same collars they've worn themselves. Their daughters they +usually don't understand at all! They intimidate their wives so that the +poor things don't dare call their souls their own; but the women are the +saving remnant out here. And when a particularly fine one turns up she +ought to be protected from the curse of our infernal commercialism." + +He threw himself into a chair and lighted a cigarette. + +Saxton laughed silently. + +"Isn't this a new responsibility you've taken on? I don't believe these +things are as bad as you make them out to be. The commercial curse is +one of the things you can't dodge these days. It's just as bad in Boston +as it is here; and you find it wherever you find live people who want +bread to eat and cake if they can get it." + +"But to visit the curse on a girl,--a fine girl,--" + +"A pretty girl,--" Saxton suggested. + +"A really charming girl," continued Warrick, with unabated earnestness, +"is a rotten shame." + +"I'm afraid you're taking it too seriously," said Saxton. "If Miss +Porter were not a very sensible young woman it would be different. You +don't think for a moment that she would have her head turned--" + +"No, sir; not a bit of it; but it's the principle of the thing that I'm +kicking about. This is one of the things that I detest in these Western +towns. It's the inability to escape from their infernal business. On the +face of it their Midas ball is a social event, but at the bottom, it's +merely a business venture. All the business men have got to go in for +it, but it doesn't stop there; they must drag their families in. Evelyn +Porter has got to mix up with the daughters of the plumbers and the +candlestick makers in order that the god of commerce may be satisfied." + +"You don't quite grasp the situation," said Saxton. "If you had to get +out among these men who have hard work to do every day you'd have a +different feeling about such things. They've got to make the town go, +and this carnival is one of the ways in which they can stir things up +commercially, and at the same time give pleasure to a whole lot of +people." + +"Now look here, you know as well as I do that you can't mix up all sorts +and conditions of men, and particularly women, in this way, without +making a mess of it. A man may introduce the green grocer at the corner, +and all that kind of ruck, to his wife and daughter, but what's the good +of it?" + +"Well, what's the good of a democracy anyhow?" demanded Saxton. "I used +to have those ideas, too, when I was younger, but I thought it all over +when I was herding cattle up in Wyoming and I renounced such notions for +all time, even before I went broke. I found when I got back East that I +carried my new convictions with me, and the sight of civilized people +and good food did not change me." + +"Well, the girl oughtn't to be sacrificed anyhow," said Warrick, +spitefully. + +Saxton bit his pipe hard and grinned. + +"Look here, Raridan, I'm afraid it's the girl and not the philosophy of +the thing that's worrying you. Why didn't you tell me it was the girl, +and not the social fabric generally, that you want to defend?" + +Both Saxton and Raridan were a good deal at the Porters'. He knew that +Raridan had been a playmate of Evelyn's in their youth, when the elder +Porters and Raridans had been friends and neighbors. There existed +between them the lighthearted camaraderie that young people carry from +youth to maturity, and it had touched Saxton with envy. As a man having +no fixed duties, Raridan sometimes went, in the middle of the hot +mornings, to the Porter hilltop, where it was pleasant to sit and talk +to a pretty girl and look down on the seething caldron below, when every +other man of the community was sweltering at the business of earning his +daily bread. + +"You oughtn't to get so violent about these things," Saxton went on to +say. "You will yourself be one of the ornaments of the show, and you +will dance before the throne and be glad of the chance. They have a +king, don't they? You might get the job. Who's going to be king, by the +way?" + +"Wheaton, I fancy; the announcement hasn't been made yet." + +"Oh," said Saxton, significantly. "Is this a little jealousy? Are we +sorry that we're not to wear the royal robes ourself? Well! well, I +begin to understand!" + +"I don't like that either, if you want to know. It all gets back to the +accursed commercial idea. Wheaton's the cashier in Porter's bank. It's +very fitting that the president's daughter and the young and brilliant +cashier should be identified together in a public function like this. No +doubt Wheaton is fixing it up." + +"Well, why don't you fix it up? I have been deluding myself with the +idea that you were a person of consequence in this town, yet you admit +that in a mere trifling social matter you are outwitted, or about to be, +by one of these commercial persons you hate so much, or say you do." + +He spoke tauntingly, but Raridan was evidently serious in his complaint, +and Saxton turned the talk into other channels. The Chinese servant came +in presently with a card for Raridan. + +"By Jove!" he exclaimed, "it's Bishop Delafield." He plunged downstairs +and returned immediately with a man whose great figure loomed darkly in +the doorway. + +Raridan made a light. + +"We've been doing the dim, religious act here," he said, after +introducing Saxton. "The lightning out there has been fine." + +"You feel that you can't trust me in the dark," said the bishop; "or +perhaps that I won't appreciate the 'dim religious,' as you call it. +Turn down the gas and save my feelings." + +Saxton was well acquainted with Warrick's zeal in church matters and was +not surprised to find a church dignitary in his friend's rooms. He had +never met the Bishop of Clarkson before, and he was a little awestruck +at the heroic size of this man who had just given him so masculine a +grasp of the hand and so keen a scrutiny. + +The bishop extended his vast bulk in Raridan's easiest chair, and +accepted a cigar from the box which Warry passed to him. + +"You've come just in time to save us from fierce contentions," said +Raridan, all amiability once more, while the bishop lighted his cigar. +He was very bald, and his head shone so radiantly that Saxton felt that +he could still see it in the dark after Warrick had turned down the +lights. There was an atmosphere about the man of great physical +strength, and his deep-set eyes under their shaggy brows were quick and +penetrating. Here was a man famous in his church for the energy and +sacrifice which he had brought to the work of a missionary in one of the +great Western dioceses. He had been bereft, in his young manhood, of his +wife and children, and had thereafter offered himself for the roughest +work of his church. He was sixty years old and for twenty years had been +a bishop, first in a vast region of the farther Northwest, where the +diocesan limits were hardly known, and where he had traveled ponyback +and muleback until called to be the Bishop of Clarkson. He was famous as +a preacher, and when he appeared from time to time in the pulpits of +Eastern churches, he swayed men mightily by the vigor and simplicity of +his eloquence. He had, in his younger days, been reckoned a scholar, but +the study of humanity at close hand had superseded long ago his interest +in books and learning. He had a deep, melodious voice and there was +charm and magnetism in him, as many people of many sorts and conditions +knew. + +"What's the subject, gentlemen?" he asked, smoking contentedly. "I'm +sure something very serious must be before the house." + +"Mr. Raridan has been abusing the commercialism of his neighbors," said +Saxton. + +"Saxton's a new-comer, Bishop, and doesn't understand the situation +here as you and I do. You know that I'm the only native that dares to +hold honest opinions. The rest all follow the crowd." + +"Reformers always have a hard time of it," said the bishop. "If you're +going to make over your fellowmen, you'll have to get hardened to their +indifference. But what's the matter with things to-night; and what are +you gentlemen doing in town, anyway? Aren't there places to go where +it's cool and where there are pretty girls to enchant you?" + +Raridan attacked the bishop about some question of ritual that was +agitating the English Church. It was worse than Greek to Saxton, but +Raridan seemed fully informed about it, and turned up the lights to read +a paragraph from an English church paper which was, he protested, rankly +heretical. The bishop smoked his cigar calmly until Raridan had +finished. + +"They tell me," he said, when Raridan had concluded by flinging the +whole matter upon his clerical caller with an air of arraigning the +entire episcopate, "that you're a pretty fair lawyer, Warry, only you +won't work. And I hear occasionally that you're about to embrace the +ministry. Now, just think what a time I'd have with you on my hands! You +couldn't get the water hot enough for me. Isn't he ungracious"--turning +to Saxton--"when I came here for rest and recreation, to put me on trial +for my life? You ought to know, young man, that a bishop can be tried +only by his peers." + +Raridan threw down his paper, and rang for the Chinaman. + +"When I embrace the ministry under you, Bishop, you may be sure that +I'll be humble enough to be good." + +The Chinaman brought a variety of liquids, from which they helped +themselves. + +"Don't be afraid of the Scotch, Saxton," said Raridan, "the bishop has +seen the bottle before." + +The bishop, who was pouring seltzer on his lemon juice, smiled +tolerantly at Raridan's chatter, with whose temper and quality he had +long been familiar, and addressed himself to Saxton. He liked young men, +and had an agreeable way of drawing them out and making them talk about +themselves. When it was disclosed that Saxton had been in the cattle +business, the bishop showed an intimate knowledge of the range and its +ways. + +"You see, the bishop's ridden over most of the cattle country in his +day," explained Raridan. + +"And evidently not all in Pullman cars," said Saxton. + +"I'm considered a heavy load for a cow pony," said the bishop, smiling +down at his great bulk, "so they used sometimes to find a mule for me." + +"How are the Porters?" he asked presently of Raridan. + +"Very well, and staying on in the heat with the usual Clarkson +fortitude." + +"Porter's one of the men that never rest," said the bishop. "I've known +him ever since I've known the West, and he's taken few vacations in that +time." + +"Well, he's showing signs of wear," said Raridan. "He's one of the men +who begin with a small business where they do all the work themselves, +and when the business outgrows them, they never realize that they need +help, or that they can have any. Before they made Wheaton cashier, +Porter carried the whole bank in his head. He's improving a little, and +has a stenographer now; but he's nervous and anxious all the while and +terribly fussy over all he does." + +"Wheaton ought to be a great help to him," said the bishop. "He seems a +steady fellow, hard working and industrious." + +"Oh, he's all those things," Raridan answered carelessly. "He'll never +steal anybody's money." + +The bishop talked directly to Raridan about some work which it seemed +the young man had done for him, and rose to go. He had been in town only +a few hours, after a business journey to New York, and on reaching his +rooms had found a summons calling him to a neighboring jurisdiction, to +perform episcopal functions for a brother bishop who was ill. Saxton and +Warrick went down to the car with him, carrying the battered suit cases +which contained his episcopal robes and personal effects. These cases +showed rough usage; they had been to Canterbury and had found lodging +many nights in the sod houses of the plains. + +"How do you like him?" asked Raridan, as the bishop climbed into a +street car headed toward the station. + +"He looks like the real thing," said Saxton. "He has a voice and a beard +like a prophet." + +"He's a fine character,--one of the people that understand things +without being told. A few men and women in the world have that kind of +instinct. They're put here, I guess, to help those who don't understand +themselves." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +TIMOTHY MARGRAVE MAKES A CHOICE + + +There was a tradition that no one had ever been black-balled in the +Knights of Midas, so when Timothy Margrave got Wheaton's signature to an +application for membership the cashier was beset by no fear of +rejection. The citizens of Clarkson were indebted to Margrave for many +schemes for booming their town. He lectured his fellow business men +constantly about their lack of enterprise. + +"Look at Kansas City," he would say at the club, bending forward +ponderously on his fat knees, "they ain't got half the terminal +facilities that we have, and there ain't any better country around 'em, +but they're bigger than we are and ahead of us because they've got more +hustle than we have; and hustle's what makes a town,--look at Chicago! +But we've got a lot of salt mackerel business men here, so pickled in +their brine of conservatism that they won't do anything. There's Billy +Porter; when we want to raise money to help boom the town, I'm always +dead sure that Billy will cough up, but you've got to show 'im;--tell +'im all about it, and he likes to play with you and guy you and rub it +in before he puts his name down. Now he may be a safe banker and all +that, but I say that there's such a thing as pushing conservatism too +damned far. We're going to be a long time getting over the panic and +we've got to give a strong pull and all pull together if we get in the +procession." His voice rose as he proceeded. "Look at little Sioux City! +busted wide open and knocked over the ropes, but here they come waltzing +up again, as full of sass as a fox terrier with a flea on his tail. Talk +about grit, the time a man wants to show that article's when he's +busted. Any fool can be cheerful on a bull market." + +Then he would settle himself back with an air of complacency, as if he +had done all that he could do to arrest decay in the town; if his fellow +citizens failed to rouse themselves it was not his fault. Margrave held +no office in the Knights of Midas, but this was because he had learned +by political experience that it was much simpler to lurk in the +background and manipulate the men he placed in power. It was on this +high principle that he built up the order of the Knights of Midas and +directed its course from the office of the general manager of the +Transcontinental. There was nothing incongruous to him in the annual +ball, which was the only public social manifestation of the +organization. It was he who directed that twenty members be chosen from +the membership list each year, to conduct the purely social functions of +the ball, and that these be taken in alphabetical order. Thus the +Adamses and the Bakers and the Cummingses, who belonged in different +constellations, found themselves in the same orbit. If they were +unacquainted or were enemies of long standing, this did not trouble +Margrave when the fact was brought to his notice. It was time, he said, +that the people of Clarkson got together. + +"We may as well get some work out of Jim Wheaton," he remarked to the +grand chief of the Knights of Midas. "He's pretty solemn, but Jim was +solemn when he was a kid and worked for me. Porter and Thompson have +always been too slow for this earth and if we pull Wheaton in, it may +wake up the old chaps so they'll do something besides sit on the fence +and watch the rest of us hustle." + +"See here," said Norton, the grand chief, "what's the matter with +shoving him in for the king of the carnival? We've got to make a strong +push this year to give tone to the show socially; that's the only way we +can keep up the town interest. Having these jays come in from the +country won't do any good unless we can hold these eminently respectable +people who think they're Clarkson society." + +"You're dead right on that point," said Margrave; "that's a big card +with the jays,--they think they come to town and get right in the push +and are tickled to pay ten dollars a ticket for a taste of high life. I +tell you what we'll do, we'll get Porter to let his daughter appear as +queen of the carnival, and if that ain't a big enough jolly, we can make +Wheaton king. That's what I'd call giving the Clarkson National a run +for its money. If Porter don't double his subscription on the strength +of that--" + +He looked at Norton and they both laughed. + +A few days later Margrave called on Wheaton at the bank. He was a little +proud of having discovered Wheaton. Since his quondam messenger had +become a bank cashier he had begun to take notice of him. + +"I guess we're going to need you to take a star part in the carnival +this year," he said, leading him into the empty directors' room and +looking carefully about to make sure that they were alone. "Yon see, +we've been casting about to find a good representative from among the +younger business men to take the part of king in the carnival. The board +of control are unanimous that you're the man." + +"But I've just gone into the Knights,--there are plenty of older +members." + +"That's the point! we want new men and you're just the fellow we're +after." + +He had been holding his hat in his hand and wiping his brow with his +handkerchief, and he now backed toward the door, saying, without leaving +Wheaton time for further quibble: + +"Keep it mum. You understand about that; we always want to jar the +public. We'll put you on to the curves all right." + +"I'm sure I'm very much surprised," said Wheaton, "but--" + +"Oh, it's all fixed," said Margrave, moving off. "You're the only one +and we never let anybody decline. It would knock all the compliment out +of it, if we let two or three fellows refuse before we caught one that +would accept." + +Wheaton went back to his desk, surprised and flattered. Margrave's good +will was worth having. Wheaton had never outgrown the impression he +formed of Margrave when, as a boy, he had indexed letter books and +received callers in the general manager's outer office. He knew that Mr. +Porter was more respectable and stood higher in the community, but there +was something that took hold of even Wheaton's dull imagination in the +bolder achievements of Timothy Margrave, who rolled over the country in +a private car, dictating, when need arose, to the legislatures of a +chain of states, and looming large in the press's discussions of those +combinations and contests of transportation companies which marked the +last years of the nineteenth century. Wheaton had acquired a banker's +habitual distrust of men who offer favors; but as this came on the +personal invitation of one who had no dealings with his bank he could +see no harm in accepting. + +Margrave winked at him a few days later when they met at the club. + +"The boys are all glad you're going to lead the show, Jim," said the +general manager; and Wheaton experienced a feeling of having fallen into +the larger currents of Clarkson life. Margrave was the man who, more +than any other, made things happen in Clarkson. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +PARLEYINGS + + +Evelyn acted on her father's suggestion that she ask some friends to +visit her, and she summoned two of her classmates to come out for the +carnival. She told Raridan of their coming one evening when they were +alone, and he began propounding inquiries about them with the zealous +interest, half mocking and half earnest, which he always manifested in +girls that crossed his horizon. + +"And Miss Warren--is she the one from Dedham Crossing, Connecticut? Yes, +I suppose they will want to go right out to see the Indians. I'll see if +the War Department won't lend us a few from a reservation to show off +with. It's too bad for our guests to be disappointed. And Miss +Marshall--she's from Virginia? It will really be rather amusing to bring +the types together on our rude frontier." + +"But you're not to play tricks with these friends of mine, Warrick +Raridan. You are to be very nice to them, but you are not to make too +much of an impression--unless--!" + +"I'm afraid Miss Warren's a trifle too serious for human nature's daily +food," he said, complainingly. + +"Yes? I remember that she was strong in entomology. She surely knows a +moth from a bumblebee when she sees it." + +"Tut! tut! One shouldn't be spiteful. Miss Warren is a nice girl. She +knows where the pussy willows purr first in the harsh Connecticut +spring. She is strong on golden rod and ah-tum leaves; she reads 'Sesame +and Lilies' once a week, and Channing's 'Symphony' hangs in her room in +blue and gold. She's very sweet with her Sunday School class. She shall +be saluted with the Chautauqua salute--thus!" He flourished his +handkerchief at a picture on the wall. + +"How brutal! Deliver me from the cynical man! By the way, Warry, I saw +Minnie Metchen in New York this spring, and she asked me all the +questions about you she dared. That really wasn't good of you. She +hadn't been an army girl long--her father was a new paymaster, or +something like that; she wasn't fair game. You were her first, and she +thought you meant it all,--the poems and the flowers and all that kind +of thing. She thought you were very good, too. You remember, I hope, +that you dragged her across town to that colored mission where you were +lay-reading at the time. Now, you mustn't do that any more." + +Raridan buried his face in his hands and groaned. + +"My sins are more than I can bear. But I'm really disappointed in you. +It isn't good form in this town to remember from one winter to another +what my enthusiasms have been. But, Evelyn--" + +His manner changed suddenly and he rose and walked the floor. He was so +full of mockery, and his fun took so many unexpected turns, that Evelyn, +who had known him from his wilful, spoiled childhood, was never sure of +his moods. He seemed very serious as he stood before her with his arms +folded and looked at her. His voice broke a little as he said: + +"Evelyn, I don't want you to remember this kind of thing of me. Nobody +takes me seriously; I'm getting tired of it. I'm all kinds of a failure. +I ought to be doing things, like all the other men here. Maybe it's too +late--" + +"No, it's never too late to do what we want to do, Warry," she said very +kindly. "But I don't know that you're such a failure." She was still on +guard for some flash of the joke that he was always playing. + +"But it's a question with me whether I haven't lost my chance," he +persisted. He sat down, dejectedly. Then he laughed. + +"Do you know why I'm like the Juniata River?" he demanded. + +"I'm not good at guessing," she answered, wondering whether he was +laying a trap for her. + +"Why, Captain Wheelock told somebody that it was because I am very +beautiful and very shallow." He did not laugh with her. + +"Those things aren't funny to me any more," he declared, scowling. + +"But to be called beautiful--" + +"No man is beautiful," he returned savagely. "No man wants to be called +that. It's my eye-glasses, I suppose." He took them off and played with +them. "Maybe they do make me look dudish. I'd wear spectacles if they +didn't cut my ears. Or I might go without and come to a sudden end by +walking over some lonely precipice." He expected her to remonstrate, +but she said: + +"Well, I'll promise not to tell the new visitors about you;" as if, of +course, this was what he had been leading up to. + +"I don't care anything about them." + +"I'm sorry. I had rather counted on you, as the only person here who has +met them,--and an old friend of the family." + +He stood up again. + +"But I don't want to be your friend--" + +"Oh!" She seized and fortified all the strategic positions. "This is +certainly surprising in you, Warrick Raridan, after all the years I've +known you. I didn't expect to be renounced so early." He stood looking +at her quizzically, and too fixedly for her comfort. + +"Tragedy doesn't become the Juniata type of beauty. You'd better sit +down." He had been pacing the floor, but now threw himself into a chair. + +"That chair," she continued, "is a relic of the Inquisition. If you'll +move those cushions about a little on the divan you'll be a lot more +comfortable." + +He mumbled that he didn't want to be comfortable, but obeyed. + +"Now, if you'll be good," she went on tranquilly, folding her arms and +looking at him benignantly, "I'll tell you a secret." + +He had thrust his hands into his pockets and sat watching her sulkily. + +"Well?" + +"I'm to be queen of the ball, sir, I'm to be queen of the ball." + +"I'm sorry I can't congratulate you," he said grimly. "You have no +business mixing up with their infernal idiocy. I've been expecting to +hear that you'd refused." He grew hot as he went on. "Your father +oughtn't to make you do such a thing." + +"Warry!" She sat up straight and bent toward him in an attitude of +remonstrance; "you really mustn't! Why, I'm amazed at you!" + +The enormity of the thing, as Raridan saw it, had grown on him since his +talk with Saxton, and he did not relent; but he relaxed his severity for +the moment, to assume an aggrieved air. + +"Maybe I'm presuming too far on old acquaintance!" he said gloomily. + +"I still have that copy of Aldrich you gave me once,--you remember that +they + + + 'Met as acquaintances meet, + Smiling, tranquil-eyed-- + Not even the least little beat + Of the heart, upon either side!' + + +But,--should old acquaintance be forgot?" she hummed. He was still a +spoilt boy who had to be coaxed into good humor. + +"You know what I mean, Evelyn. I feel a particular interest in having +you start right here, now that you've come home to stay. People will be +surprised to hear of your taking a part like that; they want to take you +seriously. You've been to college--" + +"Oh, Warry!" she cried appealingly. "And are you to throw this at me? A +few minutes ago you were complaining that people wouldn't take you +seriously, but I'm afraid they want to take me much too seriously. I +don't like it! In fact, I don't intend to have it!" + +"But you don't mean to get down to a level with these girls who've been +ground out of boarding schools, and who don't know anything? The kind +that play badly on the piano, or sing worse, and come home to mix Fifth +Avenue boarding school with Missouri River every-day life!" + +"I'm really disappointed in you. I supposed you weren't like the others. +A few days ago some estimable women called here to get me to become a +candidate for school commissioner. They talked beautifully to me. There +was one of them, a Miss Morris--" Raridan extended his arms to Heaven, +as if imploring mercy--"who told me that I was a bachelor of arts and +that all kinds of things were therefore to be expected of me." + +"But I don't mean that! It's just that sort of thing I think you ought +to keep free from,--it's this awful publicity; it's making yourself +public property! Women must keep out of such things. School +commissioner!" His spirits were rising again and he laughed aloud. + +"Wouldn't you vote for me?" + +He stared. "You're not going to--" + +"Decidedly not. I want you to understand, and everybody to find out that +I'm a very ordinary being. I hope if I've learned anything in college +it's common sense. I don't feel a bit interested in regulating the +universe, or in getting more rights for women, or in politics of any +kind, any more than every sane woman is interested in such things. About +this carnival and the ball, I don't mind telling you that I dislike it +particularly. But I'm going to do it for two reasons, to be much +franker with you than you deserve; to please father, for whom I can do +very little, and to set at rest this idea about my being a divinely +gifted individual who has come home from college to rub up the universe +with a witch cloth. And now, Warrick Raridan, we will, if you please, +consider the incident closed; and if you are very good you may dance +with me at the ball." + +"Oh, the noble king will have first place there." + +"Well, if you're the king you can't object," she said. "I'm sure I don't +know who the king's to be--" + +"Well, I do--" + +"Then you needn't tell me, please. I want to be surprised." + +"But he's likely to be somebody you won't care to know under any +circumstances," he persisted. His contempt for the carnival and his rage +at the thought of this girl being publicly identified with Wheaton rose +in him and he grew morose again. Evelyn, seeing another storm, +approaching and wishing to restore his good humor, returned to her +expected guests and her plans for entertaining them. + +It must be confessed that in her heart Evelyn was one of those who, in +Raridan's own phrase, did not take him seriously. She had seen more of +him than of any other man. She had a great fondness for him, and she was +glad to find that after her absences he always came to the house as if +there had been no break, and took up their pleasant comradeship where +they had left it. She had speculated not a little as to the violent +flirtations which he carried on so openly, and had wondered whether he +would sometime grow serious in one of them, and what manner of girl +would finally steady him and win him to a real affection. She did not +understand the mood that had swayed him, or that seemed about to sway +him to-night; but a woman's natural instinct in such matters had warned +her that he wanted to change their old attitude toward each other, and +she knew that she did not want to change it. She liked his gentleness, +his humor and his generous impulses. She had seen enough of the world to +know that the qualities which set him apart from most men were rare. His +likings in themselves were unusual, and though they were not sincere +enough for his own good, they constituted an element of charm in him. +His easy susceptibility was amusing; and it was no more marked in +flirtations with girls than in dallyings with books or pictures or +music. He was certainly a delightful companion, almost as satisfactory +to talk to as a bright girl! She felt, though, that there was a real +power in him; she could dramatize him in situations where he would be a +leader of forlorn hopes on battlefields; but she stopped short of loving +him; she had, she told herself, no idea of loving any one now; but +neither did she wish to lose a friend who was so entirely agreeable and +charming. She resolved as they sat talking of perfectly safe matters, +that their old footing must be maintained, and she felt confident that +she could manage this. + +"Don't you like John Saxton very much?" he asked, and she felt that the +day was saved when he would talk of another man. "I like him better all +the time." + +"Yes; people are saying agreeable things about him. But he's pretty +serious, isn't he?" + +"Well, that makes him a good companion for me, you know. Acute gaiety +is diagnosed as my chief trouble," he said, a little bitterly. He was +trying to feel his way back to the talk of an hour ago, but she had +resolved not to have it so. + +"It's very nice of you to be kind to him." + +"If you mean that I bring him up here, that isn't kindness, it's just +ordinary decent humanity." + +He was cheerful again, and he went away assuring her that he would be at +the station to meet the approaching visitors the following afternoon. He +abused himself, as he went down the hill toward the electric lights of +the city, for having permitted Evelyn to defeat him in what he had +intended to say. He stopped on the long viaduct that spanned the railway +tracks and looked moodily down on the lights of the switch targets and +the signal lanterns of the trainmen. Then he turned his eyes toward the +Porter house which stood darkly against the starlit sky among the trees. +As he looked a light flashed suddenly in the tower. He laughed softly to +himself as he turned with a quickened step on his way. + +"Maybe it's Evelyn, and maybe it's the cook; but any lady in a tower! +The thought of it doth please me well." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A WRECKED CANNA BED + + +Raridan was at the station to meet Evelyn's guests, as he had promised. +He had established a claim upon their notice on the occasion of one of +his visits to Evelyn at college, and he greeted them with an air of +possession which would have been intolerable in another man. He pressed +Miss Warren for news of the Connecticut nutmeg crop, and hoped that Miss +Marshall had not lost her accent in crossing the Missouri, while he +begged their baggage checks and waved their minor impedimenta into the +hands of the station porters. + +Wise men, long ago, abandoned the hope of accounting for college +friendships in either sex, and there was nothing proved in Evelyn's case +by her choice of these young women as her intimate friends. Annie Warren +was as reserved and quiet as Evelyn could be in her soberest moments; +Belle Marshall was as frank and friendly as Evelyn became in her +lightest moods. Evelyn had been the beauty of her class; her two friends +were what is called, by people that wish to be kind, nice looking. Annie +Warren had been the best scholar in her class; Belle Marshall had been +among the poorest; and Evelyn had maintained a happy medium between the +two. And so it fortunately happened that the trio mitigated one +another's imperfections. + +Evelyn had summoned her guests at this time principally to have their +support through the carnival. They made light of the perplexities and +difficulties of Evelyn's own participation when she unfolded them; there +would be a lot of fun in it, they thought, and they deemed it, too, a +recognition of Evelyn's fine qualities. They were fresh from college and +they could see nothing in the carnival and the coronation of the +carnival's queen that was inconsistent with a girl's dignity; it ranked +at least with some of the festivals of girl's colleges. The whole matter +presently resolved itself into the question of clothes, and Evelyn's +coronation gown was laid before them and duly praised. + +"It is worth while," declared Miss Marshall, "to have a chance to wear +clothes like that just once in your life." + +Evelyn had discussed with her father ways and means of entertaining her +guests; he was anxious for her to celebrate her home-coming with a great +deal of entertaining. He preferred large functions, perhaps for the +reason that he could lose himself better in them than in small +gatherings, in which his responsibilities as host could not be dodged. +In a large company he could take one or two of his old friends into a +corner and enjoy a smoke with them. He wished Evelyn to give a lawn +party before the blight of fall came upon his flowers and shrubbery; but +she persuaded him to wait until after the carnival. He still felt a +little guilty about having asked Evelyn to appear in this public way, +but she showed no resentment; she was honestly glad to do anything that +would please him. The ball was near at hand and she proposed that they +give a small dinner in the interval. + +"I'll ask Warry and Mr. Saxton." People were already coupling Saxton's +name with Raridan's. + +"Oh, yes, that's all right." + +"I don't want very many; I'd like to ask the Whipples;" she went on, +with the anxious, far-away look that comes into the eyes of a woman who +is weighing dinner guests or matching fabrics. + +"Can't you ask Wheaton?" ventured Mr. Porter cautiously from behind his +paper. Men grow humble in such matters from the long series of +rejections to which they are subjected by the women of their households. + +"If you say so," Evelyn assented. "He isn't exciting, but Belle Marshall +can get on with anybody. I'm out of practice and won't try too many. +Mrs. Whipple will help over the hard places." + +Finally, however, her party numbered ten, but it seemed to Wheaton a +large assemblage. He had never taken a lady in to dinner before, but he +had studied a book of etiquette, and the chapter on "Dining Out" had +given him a hint of what was expected. It had not, however, supplied him +with a fund of talk, but he was glad to find, when he reached the table, +that the company was so small that talk could be general, and he was +thankful for the shelter made for him by the light banter which followed +the settling of chairs. Saxton went in with Evelyn, who wished to make +amends for his clumsy reception on the occasion of his first appearance +in the house. + +"I'm glad you could come to our board once without being snubbed by the +maid," she said to John, when they were seated. + +"I came under convoy of Mr. Raridan this time. I find that he is pretty +hard to lose." + +"Oh, he's a splendid guide! He declares that there are just as +interesting things to see here in Clarkson as there are in Rome or +Venice. He told Miss Warren this afternoon that it would take him a +month to show her half the sights." + +"He certainly makes things interesting. His local history is +delightful." + +"Yes; father tells him that he knows nearly everything, but that the +pity is it isn't all true. You see, Warry and I have known each other +always. The Raridans lived very near us, just over the way." + +"He has shown me the place; it's on the clay sugar loaf across the +street." + +"Isn't it shameful of him not to bring his ancestral home down to the +street level?" + +"Oh, he says he'd rather burn the money. It seems that he fought the +assessment as long as he could and has refused to abide by it. He enjoys +fighting it in the courts. It gives him something to do." + +"That's like Warry. He can be more steadfast in error than anybody." + +Raridan was exchanging chaff with Miss Marshall across the table and +Wheaton was stranded for the moment. + +"You must tell us about that Chinaman at your bachelors' house, Mr. +Wheaton. Mr. Raridan has told me many funny stories about him, but I +think he makes up most of them." + +"I'd hardly dare repudiate any of Mr. Raridan's stories; but I'll say +that we couldn't get on without the Chinaman. He's a very faithful +fellow." + +"But Mr. Raridan says he isn't!" exclaimed Evelyn. "He says that you +bachelors suffer terribly from his mistakes, and that he can't keep any +rice for use at weddings because the Oriental takes it out of his +pockets and makes puddings of it." + +"That must be one of Mr. Raridan's jokes," said Wheaton. "We have had no +rice pudding since I went to live at The Bachelors'." Wheaton was +suspicious of Raridan's jokes. He was not always sure that he caught the +point of them. He saw that Saxton, who sat opposite him, got on very +well with Miss Porter, and he was surprised at this; he had thought +Saxton very slow, and yet he seemed to be as much at his ease as +Raridan, who was Wheaton's ideal master of social accomplishment. He was +somewhat dismayed by the array of silver beside his plate, and he found +himself covertly taking his cue from Saxton, who seemed to make his +choice without difficulty. It dawned on him presently that the forks and +spoons were arranged in order; that it was not necessary to exercise any +judgment of selection, and he felt elated to see how easily it was +managed. In his relief he engaged Miss Marshall in a talk about +Richmond. He knew the names of banks and bankers there, from having +looked them up in the bank directories in the course of business. He +liked the Southern girl's vivacity, though he thought Evelyn much +handsomer and more dignified. She asked him whether he played golf, +which had just been introduced into Clarkson, and he was forced to admit +that he did not; and he ventured to add that he had heard it called an +old man's game. When she replied that she shouldn't imagine then that it +would interest him particularly, he felt foolish and could not think of +anything to say in reply. Raridan again claimed Miss Marshall's +attention, and Wheaton was drawn into talk with Evelyn and Saxton. + +"Mr. Saxton has never seen one of our carnivals," she said, "and neither +have I. You know I've missed them by being away so much." + +"They expect to have a great entertainment this year," said Wheaton. He +was sorry for the secrecy with which the names of the principal +participants were guarded; he would have liked to say something to Miss +Porter about it, but he did not dare, with Saxton listening. Moreover, +he was not sure that she had consented to take part. + +"I suppose it's a good deal like amateur theatricals, only on a larger +scale," suggested Saxton. + +"That's not taking the carnival in the right spirit," said Evelyn. "The +word amateur is jarring, I think. We must try to imagine that King Midas +really and truly comes floating down the Missouri River on a barge, +supported by his men of magic, and that they are met by a delegation of +the wise men of Clarkson, all properly clad, and escorted to the local +parthenon, or whatever it is called, where the keys of the city are +given to him. I'm sure it's all very plausible." + +"But I don't see," said Saxton, "why all the western towns that go in +for these carnivals have to go back to mythology and medieval customs. +Why don't they use something indigenous,--the Indians for instance?" + +"They're too recent," Evelyn answered. "The people around here--a good +many of them, at least--were here before the savages had all gone. And +those whose fathers and mothers were scalped might take it as +unpleasantly suggestive if a lot of white men, dressed up as Indians, +paraded themselves through the streets." + +"What was that about Indians?" demanded Mr. Porter, who had been busy +exchanging reminiscences with Mrs. Whipple. "Why, there hasn't been an +Indian on the place for twenty years!" + +"Oh yes, there has, father," said Evelyn. "It was only five years ago +that there were two in this room. Don't you remember, when Warry had his +hobby for educating Indian youth? He brought those boys up here for +Christmas dinner." + +"I remember; and they didn't like turkey," added Mr. Porter. "They were +hungry for their native bear meat." + +"It's too bad," said Raridan sorrowfully, "that a man never can live +down his good deeds." + +Raridan liked to pretend that Clarkson society had a deep philosophy +which he alone understood. He had fallen into his favorite role as a +social sage for the benefit of the strangers, and Mrs. Whipple was +correcting or denying what he said. He had assured the table that the +supreme social test was whether people could walk on their own hardwood +floors and rugs without taking the long slide into eternity. Philistines +could buy hardwood floors, but only the elect could walk on them. + +"Society in Clarkson is easily classified," said Raridan readily, as +though he had often given thought to this subject. "There are three +classes of homes in this town, namely, those in which no servants are +kept, those in which two are kept, and those in which the maids wear +caps." + +"Warry is going from bad to worse," declared Mrs. Whipple. "I'm sure he +could give in advance the menu of any dinner he's asked to." + +"A tax on the memory and not on the imagination," retorted Warry. + +Miss Warren was asking Mr. Porter's opinion of local political +conditions which were just then attracting wide-spread attention. Mr. +Porter was expressing his distrust of a leader who had leaped into fame +by a violent arraignment of the rich. + +"It wouldn't be so terribly hard for us all to get rich," said Warry. "I +sometimes marvel at the squalor about us. All that a man need do is to +concentrate his attention on one thing, and if he is capable of earning +a dollar a day he can just as easily earn ten thousand a year. Why"--he +continued earnestly, "I knew a fellow in Peoria, who devised a scheme +for building duplicates of some of the architectural wonders of the Old +World in American cities. His plan was to send out a million postal +cards inviting a dollar apiece from a million people. Almost anybody can +give away a dollar and not miss it." + +"How did the scheme work?" asked Mr. Porter. + +"It wasn't tested," answered Warry. "The doctors in the sanitarium +wouldn't let him out long enough to mail his postal cards." + +General Whipple persuaded Miss Marshall to tell a negro story, which she +did delightfully, while the table listened. Southerners are, after all, +the most natural talkers we have and the only ones who can talk freely +of themselves without offense. Her speech was musical, and she told her +story with a nice sense of its dramatic quality. At the climax, after +the laughter had abated, she asked, with an air of surprise at their +pleasure in her tale: + +"Didn't you all ever hear that story before?" She was guiltless of final +r's, and her drawl was delicious. + +"Oh, Miss Marshall! I _knew_ you'd say it!" Raridan appealed to the +others to be sure of witnesses. + +"What are you all laughing at?" demanded the girl, flushing and smiling +about her. + +"Oh, you did it twice!" + +"I _didn't_ say it, Mr. Raridan," she said, with dignity. "I never said +that after I went North to school." + +"Well, Belle," said Evelyn, "I'm heartily ashamed of you. After all we +did in college to break you of it, you are at it again though you've +been only a few months away from us." + +"It's hopeless, I'm afraid," said Miss Warren. "You know, Evelyn, she +said 'I-alls' when she first came to college." + +They had their coffee on the veranda, where the lights from within made +a pleasant dusk about them. Porter's heart was warm with the joy of +Evelyn's home-coming. She had been away from him so much that he was +realizing for the first time the common experience of fathers, who find +that their daughters have escaped suddenly and inexplicably from +girlhood into womanhood; and yet the girl heart in her had not lost its +freshness nor its thirst for pleasure. She had carried off her little +company charmingly; Porter had enjoyed it himself, and he felt young +again in the presence of youth. + +General Whipple had attached himself to one of the couples of young +people that were strolling here and there in the grounds. Porter and +Mrs. Whipple held the veranda alone; both were unconsciously watching +Evelyn and Saxton as they walked back and forth in front of the house, +talking gaily; and Porter smiled at the eagerness and quickness of her +movements. Saxton's deliberateness contrasted oddly with the girl's +light step. Such a girl must marry a man worthy of her; there could be +no question of that; and for the first time the thought of losing her +rose in his heart and numbed it. + +Porter's cigar had gone out, a fact to which Mrs. Whipple called his +attention. + +"I've heard that it's a great compliment for a man to let his cigar go +out when he's talking to a woman. But I don't believe my chatter was +responsible for it this time." She nodded toward Evelyn, as if she +understood what had been in his thought. + +"She's very fine. Both handsome and sensible, and at our age we know how +rare the combination is." + +"I shall have to trust you to keep an eye on her. I want her to know the +right people." He spoke between the flashes of the cigar he was +relighting. + +"Don't worry about her. You may trust her around the world. Evelyn has +already manifested an interest in my advice," she added, smiling to +herself in the dark,--"and she didn't seem much pleased with it!" + +Evelyn and Saxton had met the others, who were coming up from the walks, +and there was a redistribution at the house; it was too beautiful to go +in, they said, and the strolling abroad continued. A great flood of +moonlight poured over the grounds. A breeze stole up from the valley and +made a soothing rustle in the trees. Evelyn rescued Wheaton and Miss +Warren from each other; she sent Raridan away to impart, as he said, +further western lore to the Yankee. She followed, with Wheaton, the arc +which the others were transcribing. A feeling of elation possessed him. +The tide of good fortune was bearing him far, but memory played hide and +seek with him as he walked there talking to Evelyn Porter; he was struck +with the unreality of this new experience. He was afraid of blundering; +of failing to meet even the trifling demands of her careless talk. He +remembered once, in his train-boy days, having pressed upon a pretty +girl one of Miss Braddon's novels; and the girl's scornful rejection of +the book and of himself came back and mocked him. Raridan's merry laugh +rang out suddenly far across the lawn; he had done more with his life +than Raridan would ever do with his; Raridan was a foolish fellow. +Saxton passed them with Miss Marshall; Saxton was dull; he had failed in +the cattle business. James Wheaton was not a town's jester, and he was +not a failure. Evelyn was telling him some of Belle Marshall's pranks at +school. + +"She was the greatest cut-up. I suppose she'll never change. I don't +believe we do change so much as the wiseacres pretend, do you?" + +She was aware that she had talked a great deal and threw out this line +to him a little desperately; he was proving even more difficult than she +had imagined him. He had been thinking of his mother--forgotten these +many years--who was old even when he left home. He remembered her only +as the dominant figure of the steaming kitchen where she had ministered +with rough kindness and severity to her uncouth brood. His sisters--what +loutish, brawling girls they were, and how they fought over whatever +silly finery they were able to procure for themselves! A faint +flower-scent rose from the soft skirts of the tall young woman beside +him. He hated himself for his memories. + +He felt suddenly alarmed by her question, which seemed to aim at the +undercurrent of his own silent thought. + +"There are those of us who ought to change," he said. + +The others had straggled back toward the veranda and were disappearing +indoors. + +"They seem to be going in. We can find our way through the sun-porch; I +suppose it might be called a moon-porch, too," she said, leading the +way. + +They heard the sound of the piano through the open windows, and a girl's +voice broke gaily into song. + +"It's Belle. She does sing those coon songs wonderfully. Let us wait +here until she finishes this one." The sun-porch opened from the +dining-room. They could see beyond it, into the drawing-room; the singer +was in plain view, sitting at the piano; Raridan stood facing her, +keeping time with an imaginary baton. + +A man came unobserved to the glass door of the porch and stood +unsteadily peering in. He was very dirty and balanced himself in that +abandon with which intoxicated men belie Newton's discovery. He had +gained the top step with difficulty; the light from the window blinded +him and for a moment he stood within the inclosure blinking. An ugly +grin spread over his face as he made out the two figures by the window, +and he began a laborious journey toward them. He tried to tiptoe, and +this added further to his embarrassments; but the figures by the window +were intent on the song and did not hear him. He drew slowly nearer; one +more step and he would have concluded his journey. He poised on his toes +before taking it, but the law of gravitation now asserted itself. He +lunged forward heavily, casting himself upon Wheaton, and nearly +knocking him from his feet. + +"Jimmy," he blurted in a drunken voice. "Jim-my!" + +Evelyn turned quickly and shrank back with a cry. Wheaton was slowly +rallying from the shock of his surprise. He grabbed the man by the arms +and began pushing him toward the door. + +"Don't be alarmed," he said over his shoulder to Evelyn, who had shrunk +back against the wall. "I'll manage him." + +This, however, was not so easily done. The tramp, as Evelyn supposed him +to be, had been sobered by Wheaton's attack. He clasped his fingers +about Wheaton's throat and planted his feet firmly. He clearly intended +to stand his ground, and he dug his fingers into Wheaton's neck with the +intention of hurting. + +[Illustration] + +"Father!" cried Evelyn once, but the song was growing noisier toward its +end and the circle about the piano did not hear. She was about to call +again when a heavy step sounded outside on the walk and Bishop Delafield +came swiftly into the porch. He had entered the grounds from the rear +and was walking around the house to the front door. + +"Quick! that man there,--I'll call the others!" cried Evelyn, still +shrinking against the wall. Wheaton had been forced to his knees and his +assailant was choking him. But there was no need of other help. The +bishop had already seized the tramp about the body with his great hands, +tearing him from Wheaton's neck. He strode, with the squirming figure in +his grasp, toward an open window at the back of the glass inclosure, and +pushed the man out. There was a great snorting and threshing below. The +hill dipped abruptly away from this side of the house and the man had +fallen several feet, into a flower bed. + +"Get away from here," the bishop said, in his deep voice, "and be quick +about it." The man rose and ran swiftly down the slope toward the +street. + +The bishop walked back to the window. The others had now hurried out in +response to Evelyn's peremptory calls, and she was telling of the +tramp's visit, while Wheaton received their condolences, and readjusted +his tie. His collar and shirt-front showed signs of contact with dirt. + +"It was a tramp," said Evelyn, as the others plied her with questions, +"and he attacked Mr. Wheaton." + +"Where's he gone?" demanded Porter, excitedly. + +"There he goes," said the bishop, pointing toward the window. "He +smelled horribly of whisky, and I dropped him gently out of the window. +The shock seems to have inspired his legs." + +"I'll have the police--," began Porter. + +"Oh, he's gone now, Mr. Porter," said Wheaton coolly, as he restored +his tie. "Bishop Delafield disposed of him so vigorously that he'll +hardly come back." + +"Yes, let him go," said the bishop, wiping his hands on his +handkerchief. "I'm only afraid, Porter, that I've spoiled your best +canna bed." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE KNIGHTS OF MIDAS BALL + + +There were two separate and distinct sides to the annual carnival of the +Knights of Midas. The main object to which the many committees on +arrangements addressed themselves was the assembling in Clarkson of as +many people as could be collected by assiduous advertising and the +granting of special privileges by the railroads. The streets must be +filled, and to fill them and keep them filled it was necessary to +entertain the masses; and this was done by providing what the committee +on publicity and promotion proclaimed to be a monster Pageant of +Industry. The spectacle was not tawdry nor ugly. It did not lack touches +of real beauty. The gaily decked floats, borne over the street car +tracks by trolleys, were like barges from a pageant of the Old World in +the long ago, impelled by mysterious forces. From many floats fireworks +summoned the heavens to behold the splendor and bravery of the parade. +The procession was led by the Knights of Midas, arrayed in yellow robes +and wearing helmets which shone with all the effulgence of bright tin. +There was a series of floats on which Commerce, Agriculture, +Transportation and Manufacturing were embodied and deified in the +persons of sundry young women, posed in appropriate attitudes and lifted +high on uncertain pedestals for the admiration of the multitude. On +other cars men followed strenuously their callings; coopers hammered +hoops upon their barrels; a blacksmith, with an infant forge at his +command, made the sparks fly from his anvil as his float rumbled by. An +enormous steer was held in check by ropes, and surrounded by murderous +giants from the abattoirs; Gambrinus smiled down from a proud height of +kegs on men that bottled beer below. Many brass bands, including a +famous cowboy band from Lone Prairie, and an Indian boy band from a +Wyoming reservation, played the newest and most dashing marches of the +day. Thus were the thrift, the enterprise, the audacity, and the +generosity of the people of Clarkson exemplified. + +Such was the first night's entertainment. The crowd which was brought to +town to spend its money certainly was not defrauded. The second night it +was treated to band concerts, a horse-show and other entertainments, +while the Knights of Midas closed the door of their wooden temple upon +all but their chosen guests. These were, of course, expected to pay a +certain sum for their tickets, and the sum was not small. The Knights of +Midas ball was not, it should be said, a cheap affair. Raridan and +Saxton had taken a balcony box for the ball and they asked Evelyn's +guests to share it with them. Raridan still growled to Saxton over what +he called Evelyn's debasement, but he had said nothing more to Evelyn +about it. + +"Here's to the deification of Jim Wheaton," he sighed, as he and Saxton +waited for the young ladies in the Porter drawing-room. + +Saxton grinned at him unsympathetically. + +"Stop sighing like an air-brake. You will be dancing yourself to death +in an hour." + +When the two young women came in, Raridan's spirits brightened. Evelyn +was, Miss Marshall declared, "perfectly adorable" in her gown; but the +young men did not see her. She was to go later with her father. + +They were early at the hall, whose bareness had been relieved by a gay +show of bunting and flags. + +"I will now give you a succinct running account of the first families of +this community as they assemble," Raridan announced, when they had +settled in their chairs. There were no seats on the main floor, as the +ceremonial part of the entertainment was brief, and the greater number +of the spectators stood until it was over. An aisle was kept down the +middle of the hall and on each side the crowd gossiped, while a band +high above played popular airs. + +"We're all here," said Raridan, when the band rested. "The butcher, the +baker and the candlestick-maker; also probably some of our cooks. We are +the spectators at one of Nero's matinees; the goodly knights are ready +for combat, and those who have had practice in the adjacent packing +houses have the best chance of winning the victory. There comes Tim +Margrave, one of the merriest of them all, full of Arthurian valor and +as gentle a knight as ever held lance or bought a city council. And +there is the master of our largest and goriest abattoir. That is not a +star on his chest, but a diamond pig, rampant on a field of dress-shirt. +He used to wear it on his watch-chain, but it was too inconspicuous +there-- + + + 'On his breast a five-point star + Points the way that his kingdoms are.'" + + +Miss Marshall was scrutinizing the man indicated through her opera +glasses. + +"Why, it _is_ a pig!" she declared. + +"Of course it is," said Warry, with an aggrieved air. "I hope you don't +think I'd fib about it. Now, the girl over there by the window, with the +young man with the pompadour hair, is Mabel Margrave, whose father you +saw a minute ago. She is looking this way with her lorgnette; but don't +flinch; there's only the plain window glass of our rude western commerce +in it; she handles it awfully well, though." + +"And the man coming in who looks like a statesman?" asked Miss Marshall. + +"That's Wilkins, the boy orator of the Range. He palpitates with +Ciceronian speech. He's our greatest authority on the demonetization of +wampum. The young man who's talking to him is telling him what hot stuff +he is, and that the speech he made at Tin Cup, Texas, last week on the +'Inequalities of Taxation' is the warmest little speech that has been +made in this country since Patrick Henry died. He's a good +thing,--Wilkins. The Indians back on the reservation, where he goes to +raise the wolf's mournful howl when white people won't listen to him, +call him Young-man-not-afraid-of-his-voice. Our Chinaman calls him Yung +Lung. Quite a character, Wilkins." + +"And," Miss Warren inquired, "the grave, handsome man, who must be an +eminent jurist?" + +"He does one's laundry," Raridan replied, "and," looking at his cuffs +critically, "he does it rather decently." + +"There's another side to this," said Saxton to Miss Warren, while +Raridan babbled on to the pretty Virginian. "These people have had a +terribly hard time of it. They've been through a panic that would have +killed an ordinary community; a good many of the nicest of them have had +to begin over again; and it's uphill work. It isn't so funny when we +consider that these older people have tried their level best to make the +wilderness blossom as the rose, and after they'd made a fine beginning +the desert repossessed it. There's something splendid in their courage." + +"Yes, it's hard for us who live on the outside to appreciate it. And +they seem such nice people, too." + +"Don't they! They're big-hearted and plucky and generous! Eastern people +don't begin to appreciate the people who do their rough work for them." + +The other boxes and the gallery had filled, and the main floor was +crowded, save where the broad aisle had been maintained down the center +from the front door to the stage. A buzz of talk floated over the hall. +The band was silent while its leader peered down upon the floor waiting +his signal. He turned suddenly and the trumpets broke forth into the +notes of a dignified march. All eyes turned to the front of the hall, +where the knights, in their robes, preceded by the grand seneschal, +bearing his staff of office, were emerging slowly from the outer door +into the aisle. When the stage was reached, the procession formed in +long lines, facing inward on the steps, making a path through which the +governors, who were distinguished by scarlet robes, came attending the +person of the king. + +"All hail the king!" A crowd of knights in evening dress, who were +honorary members of the organization and had no parts in costume, sent +up the shout. + +"Hail to Midas!" + +"Isn't he noble and grand?" shouted Raridan in Miss Marshall's ear. A +murmur ran through the hall as Wheaton was recognized; his name was +passed to those who did not know him, and everybody applauded. He was +really imposing in the robes of his kingship. He walked with a fitting +deliberation among his escort. He was conscious of the lights, the +applause, the music, and of the fact that he was the center of it all. +The cheers were subsiding as the party neared the throne. + +"I'll wager he's badly frightened," said Raridan to Saxton. + +"Don't you think it," declared Saxton, "he looks as cool as a cucumber." + +"Oh, he's cool enough," grumbled Raridan. + +"You see what envy will do for a man," remarked Saxton to Miss Marshall. +"Mr. Raridan's simply perishing because he isn't there himself. But +what's this?" + +The king had reached his throne and faced the audience. All the knights +bowed low; the king returned the salutation while the audience cheered. + +"It's like a comic opera," said Miss Marshall. + +The supreme knight advanced and handed Wheaton the scepter and there was +renewed applause and cheering. + +"Only funnier," said Raridan. "Yell, Saxton, yell!" He rose to his feet +and led his end of the house in cheering. "It makes me think of old +times at football," he declared, sinking back into his chair with an air +of exhaustion, and wiping his face. + +The king had seated himself, and expectancy again possessed the hall. +The band struck up another air, and a line of girls in filmy, trailing +gowns was filing in. + +"There are the foolish virgins who didn't fill their lamps," said +Raridan; "that's why they have brought bouquets." + +"But they ought to have got their gowns at the same place," said Miss +Marshall, who was abetting Raridan in his comments. Miss Warren and +Saxton, on the other side of her, were taking it all more seriously. + +"It's really very pretty and impressive," Miss Warren declared, "and not +at all silly as I feared it might be." + +"Well, _that_ is very pretty," replied Saxton. + +The queen, following her ladies in waiting, had appeared at the door. +There was a pause, a murmur, and then a great burst of applause as those +who were in the secret identified the queen, and those who were not +learned it as Evelyn's name passed from lip to lip. Whatever there was +of absurdity in the scene was dispelled by Evelyn's loveliness and +dignity. Her white gown intensified her fairness, and her long court +train added an illusion of height. She carried her head high, with a +serene air that was habitual. The charm that set her apart from other +girls was in no wise lost in the mock splendor of this ceremony. + +"She's as lovely as a bride," murmured Belle Marshall, so low that only +Raridan heard her. Something caught in his throat and he looked steadily +down upon the approaching queen and said nothing. The supreme knight +descended to escort the queen to the dais. The king came down to meet +her and led her to a place beside him, where they turned and faced the +applauding crowd. + +The grand chamberlain now stepped forward and read the proclamation of +the Knights of Midas, announcing that the king had reached their city, +and urging upon all subjects the duty of showing strict obedience. He +read a formula to which Evelyn and Wheaton made responses. A page stood +beside the queen holding a crown, which glittered with false brilliants +upon a richly embroidered pillow, and when the king knelt before her, +she placed it upon his head. At this there was more cheering and +handclapping. Saxton glanced toward Raridan as he beat his own hands +together, expecting one of Raridan's gibes at the chamberlain's bombast; +but there was a fierce light in Raridan's eyes that Saxton had never +seen there before. He was staring before him at Evelyn Porter, as she +now sat beside Wheaton on the tawdry throne; his face was white and his +lips were set. Saxton was struck with sorrow for him. + +There was a stir throughout the hall. The king and queen were +descending; the floor manager was already manifesting his authority. + +"Let's stay here until the grand march is over," said Raridan. He had +partly regained his spirits, and was again pointing out people of +interest on the floor below. + +"Now wasn't it magnificent?" he demanded. + +"Wasn't Evelyn lovely?" exclaimed the girls in a breath. + +"We didn't need this circus to prove it, did we?" asked Raridan +cynically. + +"Aren't there any more exercises--is it all over?" cried Miss Marshall. + +"Bless us, no!" replied Raridan. + +The evolutions of the grand march were now in progress and they stood +watching it. + +"They didn't get enough rehearsals for this," said Raridan. "Look at +that mix up!" One of the knights had tripped and stumbled over the skirt +of his robe. "They ought to behead him for that." + +"Mr. Raridan's terribly severe," said Saxton. The king and queen, +leading the march, were passing under the box. + +"The king really looks scared," remarked Miss Warren. + +"Yes; he's rather conscious of his clothes," said Raridan. "His train +rattles him." Evelyn glanced up at them and laughed and nodded. + +Before the march broke up into dancing they went down from the gallery. +On the floor, the older people were resolving themselves into lay +figures against the wall. They found Mr. Porter leaning against one of +the rude supports of the gallery, wondering whether he might now escape +to the retirement of the cloak-room to get his hat and cigar. The young +people burst upon him with congratulations. + +"You must he dying of pride," exclaimed Miss Marshall. + +"Evelyn never looked better," declared Miss Warren. "It was splendid!" + +"We are proud to know you, sir," said Raridan, shaking hands. + +"I surely came to Clarkson in the right year," said Saxton. + +Porter regarded them with the patronizing smile which he kept for those +who praised Evelyn to his face. + +"The only thing now," he said, "is to get that girl home before +daylight." + +"Oh, the queen gives her own orders," said Raridan. "You'll never be +boss at the Hill any more!" He was bringing up all the unattached men he +knew to present them to the visitors. He never forgot any one, and not +merely the debutantes of other years, but girls that were voted slow in +the brutal court of social opinion, were always sure of rescue at his +hands. Evelyn and Wheaton were bearing down upon them; Evelyn, flushed +and happy, and Wheaton in a glow from the exercise of the march and a +dance with her. There was a fusillade of interjections as many crowded +about with praise of the leading actors. It was all breathless and +incoherent. The crowd was uncomfortably large, and the hall was hot. +Porter found General Whipple and escaped with him to the smoking room. +Young men were everywhere writing their names on elaborate dance cards. + +"Save a few for us," Raridan pleaded airily as the men he had introduced +hovered about Evelyn's guests. He made no effort to speak to Evelyn, who +was besieged by a throng that wished to congratulate her or to dance +with her. She gave Saxton her fingers through a rift in the crowd and he +turned again to find himself deserted. Raridan was dancing with Belle +Marshall and Annie Warren nodded to him over the shoulder of a youth who +had waltzed her away. While Saxton waited for the quadrilles to which +his dancing limitations restricted him, he made a circuit of the room. +Mrs. Whipple was holding forth to a group of dowagers but turned from +them to him. + +"I'm hardly sure of you without Warry, and this is the first time I've +seen you alone. Of course, you were looking for me!" + +"That's what I came for." + +"Please say something more like that. I saw you come in, young man; they +are very nice girls, too." + +She was trying to remember who had told her that Saxton was stupid. + +"How did you like it? This was your first, I think." + +"Beautiful! charming! An enchanting entertainment!" + +"Is that for you and Warry, too? He always has to approve everything +here." + +"Oh, I can't speak for him," John answered; "we don't necessarily always +agree." + +"I'll have to find out later, from him. You and Warry appear to be fast +friends, and he talks a great deal. What has he told you about me?" + +"He said you were kind to strange young men; but that wasn't +information." + +"You'll do, I think. Here comes Warry now." + +Raridan came along looking for a country girl whose brother he knew, and +with whom he had engaged the dance which was now in progress. + +"I think she's hiding from me," he complained to Mrs. Whipple, "but the +gods are kind; I can talk to you. The general is a generous man." He +regarded critically a great bunch of red roses which she held in her +lap. "That's why the florist didn't have any for me." + +"Oh, these are Evelyn's," explained Mrs. Whipple. "She asked me to keep +them for her--the king's gift, you know. I feel highly honored." + +"By the king? Impossible! I'll give you something nice to let me drop +them into the alley." + +"Is it as bad as that? Well, good luck to you!" + +He stood with his hands in his pockets looking musingly out over the +heads of the dancers. Mrs. Whipple eyed him attentively. + +"You know you always tell me all of them," she persisted; but he was +following a fair head and a pair of graceful shoulders and ever and anon +a laughing face that flashed into sight and then out of range. His rural +friend's sister loomed before him, in an attitude of dejection against +the wall, and he hastened to her with contrition, and made paradise fly +under her feet. + +Saxton was doing his best with the square dances, and had finished a +quadrille with Evelyn, who had thereafter asked him to sit out a round +dance with her; still Raridan did not come near them. He was busy with +Evelyn's guests or immolating himself for the benefit of the country +wallflowers. Supper was served at midnight in an annex of the hall. + +"Here's where we forget to be polite," Raridan announced. "If we die in +the struggle I hope you fair young charges will treasure our memories." + +The king and queen and the high powers of the knights enjoyed the +distinction of sitting at a table where they were served by waiters, +while the multitude fought for their food. + +"If you lose our seats while we're gone," Raridan warned Miss Marshall +and Miss Warren, "you shall have only six olives apiece." He led Saxton +in a descent upon an array of long tables at which men were harpooning +sandwiches and dipping salad. The successful raiders were rewarded by +the waiters with cups of coffee to add to their perils as they bore +their plates away. There was a great clatter and buzz in the room. On +the platform where the distinguished personages of the carnival sat +there was now much laughing. + +"Margrave's pretty noisy to-night," observed Raridan, biting into his +sandwich, and sweeping the platform with a comprehensive glance. + +"You mustn't forget that this is a carnival," replied Saxton. He had +followed his friend's eyes and knew that it was not the horse-laugh of +Margrave that troubled him, but the vista which disclosed both Wheaton +and Evelyn Porter. + +"Mr. Raridan's really not so funny as Evelyn said he was," remarked +Belle Marshall. + +"The truth is," Raridan answered, rallying, "that I'm getting old. Miss +Porter remembers only my light-hearted youth." + +"Well, let's revive our youth in another food rush," suggested Saxton. +They repeated their tactics of a few minutes before, returning with +ice-cream, which the waiters were cutting from bricks for supplicants +who stood before them in Oliver Twist's favorite attitude. + +"Mr. Saxton's a terrible tenderfoot," lamented Raridan, when they +returned from the charge. "He was giving your ice-cream, Miss Warren, to +an old gentleman, who stood horror-struck in the midst of the carnage." + +"You'd think we rehearsed our talk," Saxton objected. "He wants me to +tell you that he got the poor old gentleman not only food for all his +relations, but took away other people's chairs for him, as well." + +"Lying isn't a lost art, after all," said Raridan. + +As they returned to the hall they met a crowd of the nobility who were +descending from their high seats. + +"So sorry to have deserted you all evening," said Evelyn to her girl +friends as they came together in a crush at the door; "but the worst is +over." She looked up curiously at Raridan, who seemed purposely to have +turned away to talk to Captain Wheelock, and was commenting ironically +on the management that made such a mob possible. There was only a moment +for any interchange, but she was sure now that Raridan was avoiding her +and it touched her pride. + +"I hope you won't forget our dance, Mr. Saxton," she said, struggling to +follow a young man who had come to claim her. Raridan turned again, but +hung protectingly over Miss Marshall, whom the noisy Margrave seemed +bent on crushing. Raridan had not asked Evelyn to dance, though she had +been importuned by every other man she knew, and by a great many others +whom she did not know. As the gay music of a waltz carried her down the +hall with a proud youngster who had been waiting for her, the lightness +of her heart was gone for the moment. She remembered Raridan's curious +mood on the night before her friends came, and his unfriendliness to the +idea of her taking part in the carnival. She was piqued that he had +studiously avoided her to-night. The others must have noticed it. Warry +needed discipline; he had been spoilt and she meant to visit punishment +upon him. She did not care, she told herself; whether Warry Raridan +liked what she did or not. + +But something of the glory of the evening had departed. She was really +growing tired, and several of the youths who came for dances were told +that they must sit them out, and she welcomed their chatter, throwing in +her yes and no occasionally merely to impel them on. Wheaton had grown a +little afraid of her after the glow of his royal honors had begun to +fade. It is often so with players in amateur theatricals, who think they +are growing wonderfully well acquainted during rehearsals; but after the +performance is concluded, they are surprised to find how easily they +slip back to the old footing of casual acquaintance. There was a flutter +about Evelyn at the last, when her father made bold to ask her when she +would be ready to go. + +"The girls have already gone," he said, replying to her question. When +they were in the carriage together and were rolling homeward, she gave a +sigh of relief. + +"Are you glad it's over?" asked her father. + +"Yes, I believe I am." + +"Well, they all said fine things about you, girl. I guess I've got to be +proud of you." This was his way of saying that he was both proud and +grateful. + +As they reached the entrance to the Hill they passed another carriage +just leaving the grounds. Saxton put his head out of the window and +called a cheery good night, and Evelyn waved a hand to him. + +"It was Warry and Saxton," said Mr. Porter. "I thought they'd stop to +talk it over." + +Evelyn had thought so too, but she did not say so. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A MORNING AT ST. PAUL'S + + +Wheaton ran away from the livelier spirits of the Knights of Midas, who +urged him to join in a celebration at the club after the ball broke up. +He pleaded the necessity of early rising and went home and to bed, +where, however, he slept little, but lay dreaming over the incidents of +the night, particularly those in which he had figured. Many people had +congratulated him, and while there was an irony in much of this, as if +the whole proceeding were a joke, he had taken it all in the spirit, in +which it had been offered. He felt a trifle anxious as to his reception +at the breakfast table as he dressed, but his mirror gave him +confidence. The night had been an important one for him, and he could +afford to bear with his fellows, who would, he knew, spare him no more +than they spared any one else in their chaff. + +They flaunted at him the morning papers with portraits of the king and +queen of the ball bracketed together in double column. He took the +papers from them as he replied to their ironies, and casually inspected +them while the Chinaman brought in his breakfast. + +"Didn't expect to see you this morning," said Caldwell, the +Transcontinental agent, stirring his coffee and winking at Brown, the +smelter manager. "You society men are usually shy at breakfast." + +Wheaton put down his paper carelessly, and spread his napkin. + +"Oh, a king has to eat," said Brown. + +"Well," said Wheaton, with an air of relief, "it's worth something to be +alive the morning after." + +But they had no sympathy for him. + +"Listen to him," said Caldwell derisively, "just as if he didn't wish he +could do it all over again to-night." + +"Not for a million dollars," declared Wheaton, shaking his head +dolefully. + +"Yes," said Captain Wheelock, "I suppose that show last night bored you +nearly to death." + +"I'm always glad to see these fellows sacrifice themselves for the +public good," said Brown. "Wheaton's a martyr now, with a nice pink +halo." + +"Well, it doesn't go here," said the army officer severely. "We've got +to take him down a peg if he gets too gay." + +"Why, we've already got one sassiety man in the house," said Caldwell, +"and that's hard enough to bear." He referred to Raridan, who was +breakfasting in his room. + +They were addressing one another, rather than Wheaton, whose presence +they affected to ignore. + +"I suppose there'll be no holding him now," said Caldwell. "It's like +the taste for strong drink, this society business. They never get over +it. It's ruined Raridan; he'd be a good fellow if it wasn't for that." + +"Humph! you fellows are envious," said Wheaton, with an effort at +swagger. + +"Oh, I don't know!" said Brown, with rising inflection. "I suppose any +of us could do it if we'd put up the money." + +"Well," said Wheaton, "if they let you off as cheaply as they did me, +you may call it a bargain." + +"Oh, he jewed 'em down," persisted Caldwell, explaining to the others, +"and he has the cheek to boast of it. I'll see that Margrave hears +that." + +"Yes, you do that," Wheaton retorted. "Everybody knows that Margrave's +an easy mark." This counted as a palpable hit with Brown and Wheelock. +Margrave was notorious for his hard bargains. Wheaton gathered up his +papers and went out. + +"He takes it pretty well," said Caldwell as they heard the door close +after Wheaton. "He ought to make a pretty good fellow in time if he +doesn't get stuck on himself." + +"Well, I guess Billy Porter'll take him down if he gets too gay," +exclaimed Brown. + +"Porter may leave it to his daughter to do that," said Caldwell, shaking +out the match with which he had lighted his cigar, and dropping it into +his coffee cup. + +"It'll never come to that," returned Brown. + +"You never can tell. People were looking wise about it last night," said +Captain Wheelock, who was a purveyor of gossip. + +"Don't trouble yourself," volunteered Caldwell, who read the society +items thoroughly every morning and created a social fabric out of them. +"I guess Warry will have something to say to that." + +At the bank Wheaton found that the men who came in to transact business +had a knowing nod for him, that implied a common knowledge of matters +which it was not necessary to discuss. A good many who came to his desk +asked him if he was tired. They referred to the carnival ball as a +"push" and said it was "great" with all the emphasis that slang has +imparted to these words. + +Porter came down early and enveloped himself in a cloud of smoke. This +in the bank was the outward and visible sign of a "grouch." When he +pressed the button to call one of the messengers, he pushed it long and +hard, so that the boys remarked to one another that the boss had been +out late last night and wasn't feeling good. + +Porter did not mention the ball to Wheaton in any way, except when he +threw over to him a memorandum of the bank's subscription to the fund, +remarking: "Send them a check. That's all of that for one year." + +Wheaton made no reply, but did as Porter bade him. It was his business +to accommodate himself to the president's moods, and he was very +successful in doing so. A few of the bank's customers made use of him as +a kind of human barometer, telephoning sometimes to ask how the old man +was feeling, and whether it was a good time to approach him. He +attributed the president's reticence this morning to late hours, and was +very careful to answer promptly when Porter spoke to him. He knew that +there would be no recognition by Porter of the fact that he had +participated in a public function the night before; he would have to +gather the glory of it elsewhere. He thought of Evelyn in moments when +his work was not pressing, and wondered whether he could safely ask her +father how she stood the night's gaiety. It occurred to him to pay his +compliments by telephone; Raridan was always telephoning to girls; but +he could not quite put himself in Raridan's place. Warry presumed a good +deal, and was younger; he did many things which Wheaton considered +undignified, though he envied the younger man's ease in carrying them +off. + +One of Porter's callers asked how Miss Porter had "stood the racket," as +he phrased it. + +"Don't ask me," growled Porter. "Didn't show up for breakfast." + +William Porter did not often eat salad at midnight, but when he did it +punished him. + +As Wheaton was opening the afternoon mail he was called to the +telephone-box to speak to Mrs. Jordan, a lady whom he had met at the +ball. She was inviting a few friends for dinner the next evening to meet +some guests who were with her for the carnival. She begged that Mr. +Wheaton would pardon the informality of the invitation and come. He +answered that he should be very glad to come; but when he got back to +his desk he realized that he had probably made a mistake; the Jordans +were socially anomalous, and there was nothing to be gained by +cultivating them. However, he consoled himself with the recollection of +one of Raridan's social dicta--that a dinner invitation should never be +declined unless smallpox existed in the house of the hostess. He swayed +between the disposition to consider the Jordans patronizingly and an +honest feeling of gratitude for their invitation, as he bent over his +desk signing drafts. + +He found the Jordans very cordial. He was their star, and they made +much of him; he was pleased that they showed him a real deference; when +he spoke at the table, the others paused to listen. He knew the other +young men slightly; one was a clerk in a railway office, and the other +was the assistant manager of the city's largest dry goods house. The +guests were young women from Mrs. Jordan's old home, in Piqua, Ohio. +(Mrs. Jordan always gave the name of the state.) Wheaton realized that +these young women were much easier to get on with than Miss Porter and +other young women he had known latterly; they were more pointedly +interested in pleasing him. + +After a few days the carnival seemed to be forgotten; Wheaton's fellows +at The Bachelors' stopped joking him about it. Raridan had never +referred to it at all. On Sunday the newspapers printed a resume of the +social features of the carnival, and Wheaton read the familiar story, +and all the other social news in the paper, in bed. He noticed with a +twinge an item stating that Mrs. J. Elihu Jordan had entertained at +dinner on Thursday evening for the Misses Sweetser, of Piqua, but was +relieved to find that neither paper printed the names of the guests. The +bachelors were very lazy on Sunday morning, excepting Raridan, who +attended what he called "early church." This practice his fellow-lodgers +accepted in silence as one of his vagaries. That a man should go to +church at seven o'clock and then again at eleven, signified mere +eccentricity to Raridan's fellow-boarders, who were not instructed in +catholic practices, but divided their own Sunday mornings much more +rationally between the barber shop, the post-office and their places of +business. + +It was a bright morning; the week just ended had been, in a sense, +epochal, and Wheaton resolved to go to church. It had been his habit to +attend services occasionally, on Sunday evenings, at the People's +Church, whose minister frequently found occasion to preach on topics of +the day or on literary subjects. Doctor Morningstar was the most popular +preacher in Clarkson; the People's Church was filled at all services; on +Sunday evenings it was crowded. Doctor Morningstar's series of lectures +on the Italian Renaissance, illustrated by the stereopticon, and his +even more popular course of lectures on the Victorian novelists, had +appealed to Wheaton and to many; but the People's Church was not +fashionable; he decided to go this morning to St. Paul's, the Episcopal +Cathedral. It was the oldest church in town, and many of the first +families attended there. All fashionable weddings in Clarkson were held +in the cathedral, not because it was popularly supposed to confer a +spiritual benefit upon those who were blessed from its altar, but for +the more excellent reason that the main aisle of this Gothic edifice +gave ample space for the free sweep of bridal trains, and the chancel +lent itself charmingly to the decorative purposes of the florist. + +Wheaton found Raridan breakfasting alone, the others of the mess not +having appeared. Raridan's good morning was not very cordial; he had +worn a gloomy air for several days. Whenever Raridan seemed out of +sorts, Caldwell always declared solemnly that Warry had been writing +poetry. + +"Going to church as usual?" Wheaton asked amiably. + +Every Sunday morning some one asked Raridan this question; he supposed +Wheaton was attempting to be facetious. + +"Yes," he answered patiently; and added, as usual, "better go along." + +"Don't care if I do," Wheaton replied, carelessly. + +Raridan eyed him in surprise. + +"Oh! glad to have you." + +They walked toward the cathedral together, Wheaton satisfied that his +own hat was as shiny and his frock coat as proper as Raridan's; their +gloves were almost of the same shade. There was a stir in the vestibule +of the cathedral, which many people in their Sunday finery were +entering. Wheaton had never been in an Episcopal church before; it all +seemed very strange to him--the rambling music of the voluntary, the +unfamiliar scenes depicted on the stained glass windows, the soft light +through which he saw well-dressed people coming to their places, and the +scent of flowers and the faint breath of orris from the skirts of women. +The boy choir came in singing a stirring processional that was both +challenge and inspiration. It was like witnessing a little drama: the +procession, the singing, the flutter of surplices as the choir found +their stalls in the dim chancel. Raridan bowed when the processional +cross passed him. Wheaton observed that no one else did so. + +A young clergyman began reading the service, and Wheaton followed it in +the prayer book which Raridan handed him with the places marked. He felt +ashamed that the people about him should see that the places had to be +found for him; he wished to have the appearance of being very much at +home. He suddenly caught sight of Evelyn Porter's profile far across the +church, and presently her father and their guests were disclosed. He +soon discovered others that he knew, with surprise that so many men of +unimpeachable position in town were there. Here, then, was a stage of +development that he had not reckoned with; surely it was a very +respectable thing to go to church,--to this church, at least,--on Sunday +mornings. The bewilderment of reading and chanting continued, and he +wondered whether there would be a sermon; at Doctor Morningstar's the +sermon was the main thing. He remembered Captain Wheelock's joke with +Raridan, that "the Episcopal Church had neither politics nor religion;" +but it was at least very aristocratic. + +He stood and seated himself many times, bowing his head on the seat in +front of him when the others knelt, and now the great figure of Bishop +Delafield came from somewhere in the depths of the chancel and rose in +the pulpit. The presence of the bishop reminded him unpleasantly of the +Porters' sun-porch and of the disgraceful encounter there. The +congregation resettled themselves in their places with a rustle of +skirts and a rattling of books into the racks. It was not often that the +bishop appeared in his cathedral; he was rarely in his see city on +Sundays; but whenever he preached men listened to him. Wheaton was +relieved to find that there was to be a cessation of the standing up and +sitting down which seemed so complicated. + +He now found that he could see the Porter pew easily by turning his head +slightly. The roses in Evelyn's hat were very pretty; he wondered +whether she came every Sunday; he concluded that she did; and he decided +that he should attend hereafter. The bishop had carried no manuscript +into the pulpit with him, and he gave his text from memory, resting one +arm on the pulpit rail. He was an august figure in his robes, and he +seemed to Wheaton, as he looked up at him, to pervade and possess the +place. Wheaton had a vague idea of the episcopal office; bishops were, +he imagined, persons of considerable social distinction; in his notion +of them they ranked with the higher civil lawgivers, and were comparable +to military commandants. In a line with the Porters he could see General +Whipple's white head--all the conditions of exalted respectability were +present. + +_And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they +strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, 'For now +the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.'_ + +_For now the Lord hath made room for us._ The preacher sketched lightly +the primal scene to which his text related. He knew the color and light +of language and made it seem to his hearers that the Asian plain lay +almost at the doors of the cathedral. He reconstructed the simple social +life of the early times, and followed westward the campfires of the +shepherd kings. He built up the modern social and political structure, +with the home as its foundation, before the eyes of the congregation. A +broad democracy and humanity dominated the discourse as it unfolded +itself. The bishop hardly lifted his voice; he did not rant nor make +gestures, but he spoke as one having authority. Wheaton turned uneasily +and looked furtively about. He had not expected anything so earnest as +this; there was a tenseness in the air that oppressed him. What he was +hearing from that quiet old man in the pulpit was without the gloss of +fashion; it was inconsonant with the spirit of the place as he had +conceived it. Doctor Morningstar's discourses on Browning's poetry had +been far more entertaining. + +_For now the Lord hath made room for us._ The preacher's voice was even +quieter as he repeated these words. "We are very near the heart of the +world, here at the edge of the great plain. Who of us but feels the +freedom, the ampler ether, the diviner air of these new lands? We hear +over and over that in the West, men may begin again; that here we may +put off our old garments and re-clothe ourselves. We must not too +radically adopt this idea. I am not so sanguine that it is an easy +matter to be transformed and remade; I am not persuaded that geography +enters into heart or mind or soul so that by crossing the older borders +into a new land we obliterate old ties. Here we may dig new wells, but +we shall thirst often, like David, for a drink of water from the well by +the gate of Bethlehem." + +Wheaton's mind wandered. It was a pleasure to look about over these +well-groomed people; this was what success meant--access to such +conditions as these. The fragrance of the violets worn by a girl in the +next pew stole over him; it was a far cry to his father's stifling +harness shop in the dull little Ohio town. His hand crept to the pin +which held his tie in place; he could not give just the touch to an +Ascot that Warry Raridan could, but then Warry had practised longer. +The old bishop's voice boomed steadily over the congregation. It caught +and held Wheaton's attention once more. + +"It is here that God hath made room for us; but it is not that we may +begin life anew. There is no such thing as beginning life anew; we may +begin again, but we may not obliterate nor ignore the past. Rather we +should turn to it more and more for those teachings of experience which +build character. Here on the Western plains the light and heat of +cloudless skies beat freely upon us; the soul, too, must yield itself to +the sun. The spirit of man was not made for the pit or the garret, but +for the open." + +Wheaton stirred restlessly, so that Raridan turned his head and looked +at him. He had been leaning forward, listening intently, and had +suddenly come to himself. He crossed his arms and settled back in his +seat. A man in front of him yawned, and he was grateful to him. But +again his ear caught an insistent phrase. + +"Life would be a simple matter if memory did not carry our yesterdays +into our to-days, and if it were as easy as Cain thought it was to cast +aside the past. A man must deal with evil openly and bravely. He must +turn upon himself with reproof the moment he finds that he has been +trampling conscience under his feet. An artisan may slight work in a +dark corner of a house, thinking that it is hidden forever; but I say to +you that we are all builders in the house of life, and that there are no +dark corners where we may safely practise deceit or slight the task God +assigns us. I would leave a word of courage and hope with you. +Christianity is a militant religion; it strengthens those who stand +forth bravely on the battle line, it comforts and helps the +weak-hearted, and it lifts up those who fall. I pray that God may +freshen and renew courage in us--courage not as against the world, but +courage to deal honestly and fairly and openly with ourselves." + +The organ was throbbing again; the massive figure had gone from the +pulpit; the people were stirring in their seats. The young minister who +had read the service repeated the offertory sentences, and the voice of +a boy soprano stole tremulously over the congregation. Raridan had left +the pew and was passing the plate. The tinkle of coin reassured Wheaton; +the return to mundane things brought him relief and restored his +confidence. His spirit grew tranquil as he looked about him. The +pleasant and graceful things of life were visible again. + +The voice of the bishop rose finally in benediction. The choir marched +out to a hymn of victory; people were talking as they moved through the +aisles to the doors. The organ pealed gaily now; there was light and +cheer in the world after all. At the door Wheaton became separated from +Raridan, and as he stood waiting at the steps Evelyn and her friends +detached themselves from the throng on the sidewalk and got into their +carriage. Mr. Porter, snugly buttoned in his frock coat, and with his +silk hat tipped back from his forehead, stood in the doorway talking to +General Whipple, who was, as usual in crowds, lost from the more agile +comrade of his marches many. Wheaton hastened down to the Porter +carriage, where the smiles and good mornings of the occupants gave him +further benediction. Evelyn and Miss Warren were nearest him; as he +stood talking to them, Belle Marshall espied Raridan across his +shoulders. + +"Oh, there's Mr. Raridan!" she cried, but when Wheaton stood aside, +Raridan had already disappeared around the carriage and had come into +view at the opposite window with a general salutation, which included +them all, but Miss Marshall more particularly. + +"I'm sure that sermon will do you good, Mr. Raridan," the Virginia girl +drawled. She was one of those young women who flatter men by assuming +that they are very depraved. Even impeccable youngsters are susceptible +to this harmless form of cajolery. + +"Oh, I'm always good. Miss Porter can tell you that." + +"Don't take my name in vain," said Evelyn, covertly looking at him, but +turning again to Wheaton. + +"You see your witness has failed you. Going to church isn't all of being +good." + +Wheaton and Evelyn were holding a lively conversation. Evelyn's +animation was for his benefit, Raridan knew, and it enraged him. He had +been ready for peace, but Evelyn had snubbed him. He was, moreover, +standing in the mud in his patent leather shoes while another man +chatted with her in greater dignity from the curb. His chaff with Miss +Marshall lacked its usual teasing quality; he was glad when Mr. Porter +came and took his place in the carriage. + +Raridan had little to say as he and Wheaton walked homeward together, +though Wheaton felt in duty bound to express his pleasure in the music +and, a little less heartily, in the sermon. Raridan's mind was on +something else, and Wheaton turned inward to his own thoughts. He was +complacent in his own virtue; he had made the most of the talents God +had given him, and in his Sunday evening lectures Doctor Morningstar had +laid great stress on this; it was the doctor's idea of the preaching +office to make life appear easy, and he filled his church twice every +Sunday with people who were glad to see it that way. As Wheaton walked +beside Raridan he thought of the venerable figure that had leaned out +over the congregation of St. Paul's that morning, and appealed in his +own mind from Bishop Delafield to Doctor Morningstar, and felt that the +bishop was overruled. As he understood Doctor Morningstar's preaching it +dealt chiefly with what the doctor called ideality, and this, as near as +Wheaton could make out, was derived from Ruskin, Emerson and Carlyle, +who were the doctor's favorite authors. The impression which remained +with him of the morning at St. Paul's was not of the rugged old bishop's +sermon, which he had already dismissed, but of the novel exercises in +the chancel, the faint breath of perfumes that were to him the true odor +of sanctity, and what he would have called, if he had defined it, the +high-toned atmosphere of the place. The bishop was only an occasional +visitor in the cathedral; he was old-fashioned and a crank; but no doubt +the regular minister of the congregation preached a cheerfuller idea of +life than his bishop, and more of that amiable conduct which is, as +Doctor Morningstar was forever quoting from a man named Arnold, +three-fourths of life. + +When Wheaton reached his room he found an envelope lying on his table, +much soiled, and addressed, in an unformed hand, to himself. It +contained a dirty scrap of paper bearing these words: + + + "Jim: I'll be at the Occidental Hotel tonight at 8 o'clock. Don't + fail to come. + + BILLY." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +BARGAIN AND SALE + + +That is a disastrous moment in the history of any man in which he +concludes that the problems of life are easy of solution. Life has been +likened by teachers of ethics to a great school, but the comparison is +not wholly apt. As an educational system, life is decidedly not up to +date; the curriculum lacks flexibility, and the list of easy electives +and "snap" courses is discouragingly brief. A reputable poet holds that +"life is a game the soul can play"; but the game, it should be +remembered, is not always so easy as it looks. It could hardly be said +that James Wheaton made the most of all his opportunities, or that he +had mastered circumstances, although his biography as printed in the +daily press on the occasion of his succession to the mock throne of the +Knights of Midas gave this impression with a fine color of truth, and +with no purpose to deceive. + +The West makes much of its self-made men, and points to them with pride, +whenever the self-making includes material gain. The god Success is +enthroned on a new Olympus, and all are slaves to him; and when public +teachers thunder at him, his humblest subjects smile at one another, and +say that it is, no doubt, well enough to be reminded of such things +occasionally, but that, after all, nothing succeeds like success. Life +is a series of hazards, and we are all looking for the main chance. + +James Wheaton's code of morals was very simple. Honesty he knew to be +the best policy; he had learned this in his harsh youth, but he had no +instinct for the subtler distinctions in matters of conduct. Behind +glass and wire barricades in the bank where he had spent so many of his +thirty-five years, he had known little real contact with men. He knew +the pains and penalties of overdrafts; and life resolved itself into a +formal kind of accountancy where the chief thing was to maintain credit +balances. His transfer from a clerical to an official position had +widened his horizon without giving him the charts with which to sail new +seas. Life had never resolved itself into capital letters in his +meditations; he never indulged in serious speculation about it. It was +hardly even a game for the soul to play with him; if he had been capable +of analyzing his own feelings about it he would have likened it to a +mechanical novelty, whose printed instructions are confusingly obscure, +but with a little fumbling you find the spring, and presto! the wheels +turn and all is very simple. + +He tore up the note with irritation and threw it into the waste paper +basket. He called the Chinese servant, who explained that a boy had left +it in the course of the morning and had said nothing about an answer. + +The Bachelors' did not usually muster a full table at Sunday dinner. All +Clarkson dined at noon on Sunday, and most of the bachelors were +fortunate enough to be asked out. Wheaton was not frequently a diner +out by reason of his more slender acquaintance; and to-day all were +present, including Raridan, the most fickle of all in his attendance. It +had pleased Wheaton to find that the others had been setting him apart +more and more with Raridan for the daily discipline they dealt one +another. They liked to poke fun at Raridan on the score of what they +called his mad social whirl; there was no resentment about it; they were +themselves of sterner stuff and had no patience with Raridan's +frivolities; and they were within the fact when they assumed that, if +they wished, they could go anywhere that he did. It touched Wheaton's +vanity to find himself a joint target with Raridan for the arrows which +the other bachelors fired at folly. + +The table cheer opened to-day with a debate between Caldwell and Captain +Wheelock as to the annual cost to Raridan of the carnation which he +habitually wore in his coat. This, in the usual manner of their froth, +was treated indirectly; the aim was to continue the cross-firing until +the victim was goaded into a scornful rejoinder. Raridan usually evened +matters before he finished with them; but he affected not to be +listening to them now. + +"I was reading an article in the Contemporary Review the other day that +set me to thinking," he said casually to Wheaton. "It was an effort to +answer the old question, 'Is stupidity a sin?' You may not recall that a +learned Christian writer--I am not sure but that it was Saint Francis de +Sales,--holds that stupidity is a sin." + +The others had stopped, baffled in their debate over the carnation and +were listening to Raridan. They never knew how much amusement he got +out of them; they attributed great learning to him and were never sure +when he began in this way whether he was speaking in an exalted +spiritual mood and from fullness of knowledge, or was merely preparing a +pitfall for them. + +Warry continued: + +"But while this dictum is very generally accepted among learned +theologians, it has nevertheless led to many amusing discussions among +men of deep learning and piety who have striven to define and analyze +stupidity. It is, however, safe to accept as the consensus of their +opinions these conclusions." He made his own salad dressing, and paused +now with the oil cruet in his hand while he continued to address himself +solely to Wheaton: "Primarily, stupidity is inevitable; in the second +place it is an offense not only to Deity but to man; and thirdly, being +incurable, as"--nodding first toward Wheelock and then toward +Caldwell--"we have daily, even hourly testimony, man is helpless and +cannot prevail against it." + +"Now will you be good?" demanded Wheaton gleefully. He had an air of +having connived at Raridan's fling at them. + +"Oh, I don't think!" sneered Caldwell. "Don't you get gay! You're not in +this." + +"In the name of the saints, Caldwell, do give us a little peace," begged +Raridan. + +Wheelock turned his attention to the Chinaman who was serving them, and +abused him, and Wheaton sought to make talk with Raridan, to emphasize +their isolation and superiority to the others. + +"That's good music they have at the cathedral," he said. + +Brown now took the scent. + +"Did you hear that, Wheelock? Well, I'll be damned. See here, Wheaton, +where are you at anyhow? We've been looking on you as one of the sinners +of this house, but if you've joined Raridan's church, I see our finish." + +"Don't worry about your finish, Brown. It'll be a scorcher all right," +said Raridan, "and while you wait your turn you might pass the salt." + +There was no common room at The Bachelors', and the men did not meet +except at the table. They loafed in their rooms, and rarely visited one +another. Raridan was the most social among them and lounged in on one or +the other in his easy fashion. They in turn sought him out to deride +him, or to poke among his effects and to ask him why he never had any +interesting books. The books that he was always buying--minor poems and +minor essays, did not tempt them. The presence of _L'Illustrazione +Italiana_ on his table from week to week amused them; they liked to look +at the pictures and they had once gone forth in a body to the peanut +vender at the next corner, to witness a test of Raridan's Italian, about +which they were skeptical. The stormy interview that followed between +Raridan and the Sicilian had been immensely entertaining and had proved +that Raridan could really buy peanuts in a foreign tongue, though the +fine points which he tried to explain to the bachelors touching the +differences in Italian dialects did not interest them. Warry himself was +interested in Italian dialects for that winter only. + +Wheaton went to his room and made himself comfortable. He re-read the +Sunday papers through all their supplements, dwelling again on the +events of the carnival. He had saved all the other papers that contained +carnival news, and now brought them out and cut from them all references +to himself. He resolved to open a kind of social scrap book in which to +preserve a record of his social doings. The joint portraits of the king +and queen of the carnival had not been very good; the picture of Evelyn +Porter was a caricature. In Raridan's room he had seen a photograph of +Evelyn as a child; it was very pretty, and Wheaton, too, remembered her +from the days in which she wore her hair down her back and waited in the +carriage at the front door of the bank for her father. She had lived in +a world far removed from him then; but now the chasm had been bridged. +He had heard it said in the last year that Evelyn and Warry were +undoubtedly fated to marry; but others hinted darkly that some Eastern +man would presently appear on the scene. + +All this gossip Wheaton turned over in his mind, as he lay on his divan, +with the cuttings from the Clarkson papers in his hands. He remembered a +complaint often heard in Clarkson that there were no eligible men there; +he was not sure just what constituted eligibility, but as he reviewed +the men that went about he could not see that they possessed any +advantages over himself. It occurred to him for the first time that he +was the only unmarried bank cashier in town; and this in itself +conferred a distinction. He was not so secure in his place as he should +like to be; if Thompson died there would undoubtedly be a reorganization +of the bank and the few shares that Porter had sold to him would not +hold the cashiership for him. It might be that Porter's plan was to keep +him in the place until Grant grew up. Again, he reflected, the man who +married Evelyn Porter would become an element to reckon with; and yet if +he were to be that man-- + +He slept and dreamed that he was king of a great realm and that Evelyn +Porter reigned with him as queen; then he awoke with a start to find +that it was late. He sat up on the couch and gathered together the +newspaper cuttings which had fallen about him. He remembered the +imperative summons which had been left for him during the morning; it +was already six o'clock. Before going out he changed his clothes to a +rough business suit and took a car that bore him rapidly through the +business district and beyond, into the older part of Clarkson. The +locality was very shabby, and when he left the car presently it was to +continue his journey in an ill-lighted street over board walks which +yielded a precarious footing. The Occidental Hotel was in the old part +of town, and had long ago ceased to be what it had once been, the first +hostelry of Clarkson. It had descended to the level of a cheap boarding +house, little patronized except by the rougher element of cattlemen and +by railroad crews that found it convenient to the yards. Over the door a +dim light blinked, and this, it was understood in the neighborhood, +meant not merely an invitation to bed and board but also to the +Occidental bar, which was accessible at all hours of the day and night, +and was open through all the spasms of virtue with which the city +administration was seized from time to time. The door stood open and +Wheaton stepped up to the counter on which a boy sat playing with a cat. + +"Is William Snyder stopping here?" he asked. + +The boy looked up lazily from his play. + +"Are you the gent he's expecting?" + +"Very likely. Is he in?" + +"Yes, he's number eighteen." He dropped the cat and led Wheaton down a +dark hall which was stale with the odors of cooked vegetables, up a +steep flight of stairs to a landing from which he pointed to an oblong +of light above a door. + +"There you are," said the boy. He kicked the door and retreated down the +stairs, leaving Wheaton to obey the summons to enter which was bawled +from within. + +William Snyder unfolded his long figure and rose to greet his visitor. + +"Well, Jim," he said, putting out his hand. "I hope you're feelin' out +of sight." Wheaton took his hand and said good evening. He threw open +his coat and put down his hat. + +"A little fresh air wouldn't hurt you any," he said, tipping himself +back in his chair. + +"Well, I guess your own freshness will make up for it," said Snyder. + +Wheaton did not smile; he was very cool and master of the situation. + +"I came to see what you want, and it had better not be much." + +"Oh, you cheer up, Jim," said Snyder with his ugly grin. "I don't know +that you've ever done so much for me. I don't want you to forget that I +did time for you once." + +"You'd better not rely on that too much. I was a poor little kid and +all the mischief I ever knew I learned from you. What is it you want +now?" + +"Well, Jim, you've seen fit to get me fired from that nice lonesome job +you got me, back in the country." + +"I had nothing to do with it. The ranch owners sent a man here to +represent them and I had nothing more to do with it. The fact is I +stretched a point to put you in there. Mr. Saxton has taken the whole +matter of the ranch out of my hands." + +"Well, I don't know anything about that," said Snyder contemptuously. +"But that don't make any difference. I'm out, and I don't know but I'm +glad to be out. That was a fool job; about the lonesomest thing I ever +struck. Your friend Saxton didn't seem to take a shine to me; wanted me +to go chasing cattle all over the whole Northwest--" + +"He flattered you," said Wheaton, a faint smile drawing at the corners +of his mouth. + +"None of that kind of talk," returned Snyder sharply. "Now what you got +to say for yourself?" + +"It isn't necessary for me to say anything about myself," said Wheaton +coolly. "What I'm going to say is that you've got to get out of here in +a hurry and stay out." + +Snyder leaned back in his chair and recrossed his legs on the table. + +"Don't get funny, Jim. Large bodies move slow. It took me a long time to +find you and I don't intend to let go in a hurry." + +"I have no more jobs for you; if you stay about here you'll get into +trouble. I was a fool to send you to that ranch. I heard about your +little round with the sheriff, and the gambling you carried on in the +ranch house." + +"Well, when you admit you're a fool you're getting on," said Snyder with +a chuckle. + +"Now I'm going to make you a fair offer; I'll give you one hundred +dollars to clear out,--go to Mexico or Canada--" + +"Or hell or any comfortable place," interrupted Snyder derisively. + +"And not come here again," continued Wheaton calmly. "If you do--!" + +It was to be a question of bargain and sale, as both men realized. + +"Raise your price, Jim," said Snyder. "A hundred wouldn't take me very +far." + +"Oh yes, it will; I propose buying your ticket myself." + +Snyder laughed his ugly laugh. + +"Well, you ain't very complimentary. You'd ought to have invited me to +your party the other night, Jim. I'd like to have seen you doing stunts +as a king. That was the worst,"--he wagged his head and chuckled. "A +king, a real king, and your picture put into the papers along of the +millionaire's daughter,--well, you may damn me!" + +"What I'll do," Wheaton went on undisturbed, "is to buy you a ticket to +Spokane to-morrow. I'll meet you here and give you your transportation +and a hundred dollars in cash. Now that's all I'll do for you, and it's +a lot more than you deserve." + +"Oh, no it ain't," said Snyder. + +"And it's the last I'll ever do." + +"Don't be too sure of that. I want five hundred and a regular +allowance, say twenty-five dollars a month." + +"I don't intend to fool with you," said Wheaton sharply. He rose and +picked up his hat. "What I offer you is out of pure kindness; we may as +well understand each other. You and I are walking along different lines. +I'd be glad to see you succeed in some honorable business; you're not +too old to begin. I can't have you around here. It's out of the +question--my giving you a pension. I can't do anything of the kind." + +His tone gradually softened; he took on an air of patient magnanimity. + +Snyder broke in with a sneer. + +"Look here, Jim, don't try the goody-goody business on me. You think +you're mighty smooth and you're mighty good and you're gettin' on pretty +fast. Your picture in the papers is mighty handsome, and you looked real +swell in them fine clothes up at the banker's talkin' to that girl." + +"That's another thing," said Wheaton, still standing. "I ought to refuse +to do anything for you after that. Getting drunk and attacking me +couldn't possibly do you or me any good. It was sheer luck that you +weren't turned over to the police." + +Snyder chuckled. + +"That old preacher gave me a pretty hard jar." + +"You ought to be jarred. You're no good. You haven't even been +successful in your own particular line of business." + +"There ain't nothing against me anywhere," said Snyder, doggedly. + +"I have different information," said Wheaton, blandly. "There was the +matter of that post-office robbery in Michigan; attempted bank robbery +in Wisconsin, and a few little things of that sort scattered through the +country, that make a pretty ugly list. But they say you're not very +strong in the profession." He smiled an unpleasant smile. + +Snyder drew his feet from the table and jumped up with an oath. + +"Look here, Jim, if you ain't playin' square with me--" + +"I intend playing more than square with you, but I want you to know that +I'm not afraid of you; I've taken the trouble to look you up. The +Pinkertons have long memories," he said, significantly. + +Snyder was visibly impressed, and Wheaton made haste to follow up his +advantage. + +"You've got to get away from here, Billy, and be in a hurry about it. +How much money have you?" + +"Not a red cent." + +"What became of that money Mr. Saxton gave you?" + +"Well, to tell the truth I owed a few little bills back at Great River +and I settled up, like any square man would." + +"If you told the truth, you'd say you drank up what you hadn't gambled +away." Wheaton moved toward the door. + +"At eight to-morrow night." + +"Make it two hundred, Jim," whined Snyder. + +Wheaton paused in the door; Snyder had followed him. They were the same +height as they stood up together. + +"That's too much money to trust you with." + +"The more money the farther I can get," pleaded Snyder. + +"I'll be here at eight to-morrow evening," said Wheaton, "and you stay +here until I come." + +"Give me a dollar on account; I haven't a cent." + +"You're better off that way; I want to find you sober to-morrow night." +He went out and closed the door after him. + +Two or three men who were sitting in the office below eyed Wheaton +curiously as he went out. The thought that they might recognize him from +his portraits in the papers pleased him. + +He retraced his steps from the hotel and boarded a car filled with +people of the laboring class who were returning from an outing in the +suburbs. They were making merry in a strange tongue, and their +boisterous mirth was an offense to him. He was a gentleman of position +returning from an errand of philanthropy, and he remained on the +platform, where the atmosphere was purer than that within, which was +contaminated by the rough young Swedes and their yellow-haired +sweethearts. When he reached The Bachelors' the dozing Chinaman told him +that all the others were out. He went to his room and spent the rest of +the evening reading a novel which he had heard Evelyn Porter mention the +night that he had dined at her house. + +The next day he bought a ticket to Spokane, and drew one hundred dollars +from his account in the bank. He went at eight o'clock to the Occidental +to keep his appointment, and found Snyder patiently waiting for him in +the hotel office, holding a shabby valise between his knees. + +"You'll have to pay my bill before I take this out," said Snyder +grinning, and Wheaton gave him money and waited while he paid at the +counter. The proprietor recognized Wheaton and nodded to him. Questions +were not asked at the Occidental. + +At the railway station Wheaton stepped inside the door and pulled two +sealed envelopes from his pocket. "Here's your ticket, and here's your +money. The ticket's good through to Spokane; and that's your train, the +first one in the shed. Now I want you to understand that this is the +last time, Billy; you've got to work and make your own living. I can't +do anything more for you; and what's more, I won't." + +"All right, Jim," said Snyder. "You won't ever lose anything by helping +me along. You're in big luck and it ain't going to hurt you to give me a +little boost now and then." + +"This is the last time," said Wheaton, firmly, angry at Snyder's hint +for further assistance. + +Snyder put out his hand. + +"Good by, Jim," he said. + +"Good by, Billy." + +Wheaton stood inside the station and watched the man cross the +electric-lighted platform, show his ticket at the gate, and walk to the +train. He still waited, watching the car which the man boarded, until +the train rolled out into the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE GIRL THAT TRIES HARD + + +The Girl That Tries Hard was giving a dance at the Country Club. The +Girl That Tries Hard was otherwise Mabel Margrave, wherein lay the only +point of difference between herself and other Girls That Try Hard. There +was hardly room in Clarkson for cliques; and yet one often heard the +expression "Mabel Margrave and her set" and this indicated that Mabel +Margrave had a following and that to some extent she was a leader. She +prided herself on doing things differently, which is what The Girl That +Tries Hard is forever doing everywhere. She was the only girl in the +town that gave dinners at the Clarkson Club; and while these functions +were not necessarily a shock to the Clarkson moral sense, yet the first +of these entertainments, at which Mabel Margrave danced a skirt dance at +the end of the dinner, caused talk in conservative circles. It might be +assumed that Mabel's father and mother could have checked her +exuberance, but the fact was that Mabel's parents wielded little +influence in their own household. Timothy Margrave was busy with his +railroad and his wife was a timid, shrinking person, who viewed her +daughter's social performances with wonder and admiration. It would +have been much better for Mabel if she had not tried so hard, but this +was something that she did not understand, and there was no one to teach +her. She derived an immense pleasure from her father's private car, in +which she had been over most of the United States, and had gone even to +Mexico. In the Margrave household it was always spoken of as "the car." +Its cook and porter were kept on the pay-roll of the company, but when +they were not on active service in the car, one of them drove the +Margrave carriage, and the other opened the Margrave front door. + +The Margrave house was one of the handsomest in Clarkson. Margrave had +not coursed in the orbits of luminaries greater than himself without +acquiring wisdom. When he built a house he turned the whole matter over +to a Boston architect with instructions to go ahead just as if a +gentleman had employed him; he did not want a house which his neighbors +could say was exactly what any one would expect of the Margraves. +Clarkson was proud of the Margrave house, which was better than the +Porter house, though it lacked the setting of the Porter grounds. The +architect had done everything; Margrave kept his own hands off and sent +his wife and Mabel abroad to stay until it was ready for occupancy. When +the house was nearly completed Margrave took Warry Raridan up to see it +and displayed with pride a large and handsomely furnished library whose +ample shelves were devoid of books. + +"Now, Warry," he said, "I want books for this house and I want 'em +right. I never read any books, and I never expect to, and I guess the +rest of the family ain't very literary, either. I want you to fill +these shelves, and I don't want trash. Are you on?" + +The situation appealed to Warry and he had given his best attention to +Margrave's request. He took his time and bought a representative library +in good bindings. As Mrs. Margrave was a Roman Catholic, Warry thought +it well that theological literature should be represented. Mrs. +Margrave's parish priest, dining early at the new home, contemplated the +"libery," as its owner called it, with amazement. + +"Ain't they all there, Father Donovan?" asked Margrave. "I hope you like +my selection." + +"Couldn't be better," declared the priest, "if I'd picked them myself." +He had taken down a volume of a rare edition of Cornelius a Lapide and +passed his hand over the Latin title page with a scholar's satisfaction. + +Mabel had declined to go to the convent which her mother selected for +her; convents were not fashionable; and she herself selected Tyringham +because she had once met a Tyringham graduate who was the most "stylish" +girl she had ever seen. Since her return from school she had found it +convenient to abandon, as far as possible, the church of her baptism. +There had been no other Roman Catholics at her school; the Episcopal +church was the official spiritual channel of Tyringham; and she brought +home a pretty Anglican prayer book, and attended early masses with her +mother only to the end that she might go later to the services of St. +Paul's, to the scandal of Father Donovan, and somewhat to the sneaking +delight of her father. Margrave held that religion of whatever kind was +a matter for women, and that they were entitled to their whim about it. + +Tyringham is, it is well known, a place where girls of the proper +instinct and spirit acquire a manner that is everywhere unmistakable. +Mabel had given new grace and impressiveness to Tyringham itself; she +touched nothing that she did not improve, and she came home with an +ambition to give tone to Clarkson society. A great phrase with Mabel was +The Men; this did not mean the _genus homo_ in any philosophical +abstraction, but certain young gentlemen that followed much in her +train. There were a few young women who were much in Mabel's company and +who conscientiously imitated Mabel's ways. All the devices and desires +of Mabel's heart tended toward one consummation, and that was the +destruction of monotony. + +Mabel had announced to a few of her cronies that she would show Evelyn +Porter how things were done; and as the Country Club was new, she chose +it as the place for her exhibition. Mabel was two years older than +Evelyn; they had never been more than casually acquainted, and now that +Evelyn's college days were over,--Mabel had "finished" several years +before,--and they were to live in the same town, it seemed expedient to +the older girl to take the initiative, to the end that their respective +positions in the community might be definitely fixed. Evelyn's name +carried far more prestige than Mabel's; the Margraves had not been in +the Clarkson Blue Book at all, until Mabel came home from school and +demonstrated her right to enlistment among the elect. + +She dressed herself as sumptuously as she dared for a morning call and +drove the highest trap that Clarkson had ever seen up Porter Hill. The +man beside her was the only correctly liveried adjunct of any Clarkson +stable,--at least this was Mabel's opinion. Whatever people said of +Mabel and her ways, they could not deny that her clothes were good, +though they were usually a trifle pronounced in color and cut. She wore +about her neck a long, thin chain from which dangled a silver heart. +Mabel's was the largest that could be found at any Chicago jeweler's. +Its purpose in Mabel's case was to convey to the curious the impression +that there was a photograph of a young man inside. This was no fraud on +Mabel's part, for she carried in this trinket the photograph of a +popular actor, whose pictures were purchasable anywhere in the country +at twenty-five cents each. While Mabel waited for Evelyn to appear, she +threw open her new driving coat, which forced the season a trifle, and +studied the furnishings of the Porter parlor, criticising them +adversely. She was not clear in her mind whether she should call Evelyn +"Miss Porter" or not. Clarkson people usually said "Evelyn Porter" when +speaking of her. In Mabel's own case they all said "Mabel." + +When Evelyn came into the parlor she seemed very tall to Mabel, and +impulse solved the problem of how to address her. + +"Good morning, Miss Porter." + +She gave her hand to Evelyn, thrusting it out straight before her, yet +hanging back from it archly as if in rebuke of her own forwardness. This +was decidedly Tyringhamesque, and was only one of the many amiable and +useful things she had learned at Miss Alton's school. + +Mabel sat up very straight in her chair when she talked, and played +with the silver heart. + +"I didn't ask for the others, as it's a wretchedly indecent hour to be +making a call." + +"Oh, the girls are up and about," said Evelyn. "I shall be glad--" + +"Oh, please don't trouble to call them! I came on an errand. You know +the Country Club has just taken a new lease of life. Have you been out +yet? It's a bit crude"--this phrase was taught as a separate course at +Tyringham--"but there's the making of a lovely place there." + +"Yes, I've barely seen it. I went out the other day to look at the golf +course. The golf wave seems to be sweeping the country." + +"Do you play?" + +"A little; we had a course near the college that we used." + +"You college girls are awfully athletic. I'm crazy about golf. I thought +it might be good sport to ask a few girls and some of the men to go to +the club for supper,--we really couldn't have dinner there, you know. +This heavenly weather won't last always. We'll get a drag and Captain +Wheelock will see that I don't drive you into trouble. He's a very safe +whip, you know, if I'm not; and we'll come back in the moonlight. This +includes your guests, of course." + +"That will be delightful," said Evelyn. "I'm sure we'll all be glad to +go. I'm anxious to have the girls see as much as possible. I want them +to be favorably impressed, and this will be an event." + +When Mabel had taken herself off, Evelyn returned to the tower where +Belle Marshall and Annie Warren awaited her. These young women were +lounging in the low window-seat exchanging reminiscences of college +days. + +"It was Mabel Margrave," explained Evelyn. "She's asked us to go +coaching with her to the Country Club and have supper there and I took +the liberty of accepting for you." + +"What's she like?" asked Annie. + +"Tyringham," said Evelyn succinctly. + +"Oh! your words affect me strangely, child," drawled Belle, casting up +her eyes in a pretended imitation of the Tyringham manner. + +"How are her _a's_?" asked Annie. + +"Broader than the Atlantic. I think she wants to patronize me. She's a +real Tyringham in that she thinks us college women very slow." + +"Well, they do have a style," said Belle, sighing. "You can always tell +one of Miss Alton's girls." + +"Yes, there's no doubt about that," retorted Annie coolly. She had taken +her education seriously and was disposed to look down upon the product +of fashionable boarding schools. + +"Cheer up! The worst is yet to come," declared Evelyn. "You'd better not +encourage the idea here that we are different from young women of any +other sort. I've got to live here! I'm going to be pretty lonely too, +the first thing you know, after you desert me." + +"You'll have plenty of chances to root for the college," suggested +Belle. "You won't have anything like the time I'll have. In Virginia we +have traditions that I've got to reconcile myself to, in some way; out +here, you can start even." + +"Yes, and we have the Tyringham type, and a few of the convent sort, and +a few of the co-eds to combat." + +"Well, there's nothing so radically wrong with the co-eds, is there?" +asked Annie, who believed in education for its own sake. + +"Only the ones that want to go in for politics and that sort of thing. +There's a lady--I said lady--doctor of philosophy here in town who +casually invited me to become a candidate for school commissioner a few +weeks ago." + +"I'm not sure that you oughtn't to have done it," said Annie, "assuming +that you declined. It would have been a good stroke for alma mater." + +"No; that's what it wouldn't have been," said Evelyn seriously. "If you +and I believe that college education is good for women, we'd better +suppress this notion that's abroad in the world that college makes a +woman different. I hold that we're not necessarily unlike our sisters of +the convent, or the Tyringham teach-you-how-to-enter-a-room variety." +Evelyn drew herself up with an oratorical gesture and inflection. "I'm +here to defend my rights as a human being--" + +"You will be hit with a pillow in a minute," remarked Belle, rising and +preparing to make her threat good. "Let's talk about what to wear to +Lady Tyringham's party." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +AT THE COUNTRY CLUB + + +To show that she was not limited to her own particular set in her choice +of guests, Mabel had asked Raridan, whom she wished to know better, and +Wheaton, who had danced with her at the carnival ball, to be of her +party. Chaperons were tolerated but not required in Clarkson. For this +reason Mabel had thought it wise to ask Mrs. Whipple, whom she wished to +impress; and as she liked to surprise her fellow citizens, it was worth +while in this instance to yield something to the _convenances_. The +general was too old for such nonsense; but he was willing to sacrifice +his wife, and she went, giving as her excuse for taking "that Margrave +girl's bait," that she was doing it in Evelyn's interest. + +The coach rolled with loud yodeling to the Porter door, where there was +much laughing and bantering as the guests settled into their places. +When the locked wheels ground the hillside and the horn was bravely +blown by an admirer of Mabel's from Keokuk, it was clear to every one +that Timothy Margrave's daughter was achieving another triumph. The +young man from Keokuk was zealous with the horn; a four-in-hand was not +often seen in the streets of Clarkson, albeit this same vehicle was +always to be had from the leading liveryman, and town and country turned +admiring eyes on the party as the coach rolled along in the golden haze +of early October. The sun warmed the dry air; and far across the +Missouri flats its light fell mildly upon yellow bluffs where the clay +was exposed in broad surfaces which held the light. The foliage of the +hills beyond the river was lit with color in many places; a shower in +the morning had freshened the green things of earth, giving them a new, +brief lease of life, and there was no dust in the highways. In such a +day the dying year bends benignantly to earth and is fain to loiter in +the ways of youth. + +The paint was still fresh in the club house, which was a long bungalow, +set in a clump of cottonwoods. There was an amplitude of veranda, and +the rooms within were roughly furnished in Texas pine. The older people +of the town looked upon the club with some suspicion as something new +and untried. The younger element was just beginning to know the +implements and vocabulary of golf. The first tee was only a few feet +from the veranda, so that a degree of heroism and Christian resignation +was essential in those who began their game under the eyes of a full +gallery. There were the usual members of both sexes who talked a good +deal about their swing without really having any worth mentioning; and +there were others more given to reading the golf news in the golf papers +at the club house, than to playing, to the end that they might discuss +the game volubly without the discomfort of acquiring practical +knowledge. + +The walls of the dining-room had not been smoothed or whitened. They +were hung with prints which ranged in subject from golf to Gibson girls. +Mabel had supplemented the meager furnishings of the club pantry with +embellishments from her own house, and had given her own touch to the +table. As her touch carried a certain style, her crystal and silver +shone to good advantage under the lamps which she had substituted for +the bare incandescents of the room. The young man from Keokuk who was, +just then, as the gossips said, "devoted" to Mabel, had supplied a +prodigal array of flowers, ordered by telegraph from Chicago for the +occasion. The table was served by colored men, who had been previously +subsidized by Mabel, in violation of the club rules; and they +accordingly made up in zeal what they lacked in skill. + +Mabel talked a great deal about informality, and drove her guests into +the dining-room without any attempt at order, and they found their +name-cards with the surprises and exclamations which usually +characterize that proceeding. + +Captain Wheelock sat at the end of the oblong table opposite Mabel, who +placed the man from Keokuk at her right and Raridan at her left. Evelyn +was between Raridan and one of Mabel's "men," who was evidently +impressed by this propinquity. He was the Assistant General Something of +one of the railroads and owned a horse that was known as far away from +home as the Independence, Iowa, track. There was a great deal of talking +back and forth, and Evelyn told herself that it did not much matter that +her guests had fallen into rather poor hands. She was quite sure that +Captain Wheelock, who liked showy girls, would not be much interested +in Annie Warren, who was distinctly not showy. Belle Marshall, with her +drollery, was not likely to be dismayed by Wheaton's years and poverty +of small talk. Belle was not easily abashed, and when the others paused +now and then under the spell of her dialect, which seemed funny when she +did not mean it to be so, she was not distressed. She had grown used to +having people listen to her drawl, and to complimentary speeches from +"you No'the'ne's" on her charming accent. Evelyn found that it was +unnecessary to talk to Raridan; he and Mabel seemed to get on very well +together, and in her pique at him, Evelyn was glad to have it so. + +Mabel's supper was bountiful, and Raridan, who thought he knew the +possibilities of the club's cuisine, marveled at the chicken, fried in +Maryland style, and at the shoestring potatoes and flaky rolls, which +marked an advance on anything that the club kitchen had produced before. +There was champagne from the stock which the Margraves carried in their +car, and it foamed and bubbled in the Venetian glasses that Mabel had +brought from home, at a temperature that Mabel herself had regulated. +Captain Wheelock made much of frequently lifting his glass to Mabel in +imaginary toasts. The man from Keokuk drank his champagne with awe; he +had heard that Mabel Margrave was a "tank," and he thought this a +delightful thing to be said of a girl. Mrs. Whipple noted with wonder +Mabel's capacity, while most of the others tried not to be conscious of +it. Mabel grew a little boisterous at times through the dinner, but no +one dared think that it was the champagne. Mrs. Whipple remembered with +satisfaction that she had no son to marry Mabel. There were, she +considered, certain things which one escapes by being childless, and a +bibulous daughter-in-law was one of them. + +Attention was arrested for a time by a colloquy between Mrs. Whipple and +Captain Wheelock as to the merits of army girls compared with their +civilian sisters; and the whole table gave heed. Wheelock maintained +that the army girl was the only cosmopolitan type of American girl, and +Mrs. Whipple combated the idea. She took the ground that American girls +are never provincial; that they all wear the same clothes, though, she +admitted, they wore them with a difference; and that the army girl as a +distinct type was a myth. + +"My furniture," she said, "has followed the flag as much as anybody's; +but the army girl is only a superstition among fledgling lieutenants. On +my street are people from Maine, Indiana and Georgia. You don't have to +go to the army to find cosmopolitan young women; they are the first +generation after the founders of all this western country. Right here in +the Missouri valley are the real Americans, made by the mingling of +elements from everywhere. Am I stepping on anybody's toes?" she asked, +looking around suddenly. + +"Oh, don't mind us," drawled Belle, turning with a mournful air to +Annie. + +"We've counting on you to marry and settle amongst us," said Mrs. +Whipple palliatingly. + +"Gentlemen!" exclaimed Raridan, looking significantly from one man to +another; "destiny is pointing to us!" + +"You're in no danger, Mr. Raridan," Belle flung back at him. "Miss +Warren and I can go back where we came from." + +Raridan's rage at Evelyn had spent itself; he was ready for peace. She +had been politely indifferent to him at the table, to the mischievous +joy of Belle Marshall, who had an eye for such little bits of comedy. As +they all stood about after supper in the outer hall, Evelyn chatted with +Wheaton, and continued to be oblivious of Raridan, who watched her over +the shoulder of one of Mabel's particular allies and waited for a +tete-a-tete. Warry had the skill of long practice in such matters; there +were men whom it was difficult to dislodge, but Wheaton was not one of +them. He took advantage of a movement toward benches and chairs to +attach himself to Evelyn and to shunt Wheaton into Belle's company,--a +manoeuver which that young woman understood perfectly and did not enjoy. +There was something so open and casual in Warry's tactics that the +beholder was likely to be misled by them. Evelyn was half disposed to +thwart him; he had been distinctly disagreeable at the ball, and had not +appeared at the house since. She knew what he wanted, and she had no +intention of making his approaches easy. Some of the others moved toward +the verandas, and Warry led the way thither, while he talked on, telling +some bits of news about a common acquaintance from whom he had just +heard. It was cool outside and she sent him for her cape, and then they +walked the length of the long promenade. He paused several times to +point out to her some of the improvements which were to be made in the +grounds the following spring. This also was a part of the game; it +served to interrupt the walk; and he spoke of the guests at the Hill, +and said that it was too bad they had not come when things were +livelier. Then he stood silent for a moment, busy with his cigarette. +Evelyn gathered her golf cape about her, leaned against a pillar and +tapped the floor with her shoe. + +"You haven't been particularly attentive to them, have you?" she said. +"I thought you really liked them." + +"Of course I like them, but I've been very busy." Warry stared ahead of +him across the dim starlit golf grounds. + +"That's very nice," she said, still tapping the floor and looking past +him into the night. "Industry is always an excuse for any one. But, come +to think of it, you were very good in showing them about at the ball. I +appreciate it, I'm sure." + +It was of his conduct at the ball that he wished to speak; she knew it, +and tried to make it hard for him. + +"See here, Evelyn, you know well enough why I kept away from you that +night. I told you before the ball that I didn't,--well, I didn't like +it! If I hadn't cared a whole lot it wouldn't have made any +difference--but that show was so tawdry and hideous--" + +Evelyn readjusted her cape and sat down on the veranda railing. + +"Oh, I was tawdry, was I?" she asked, sweetly. "I knew some one would +tell me the real truth about it if I waited." + +"I didn't come here to have you make fun of me," he said, bitterly. He +imagined that since the ball he had been suffering a kind of martyrdom. + +Evelyn could not help laughing. + +"Poor Warry!" she exclaimed in mock sympathy. "What a hard time you +make yourself have! Just listen to Mr. Foster laughing on the other side +of the porch; it must be much cheerfuller over there." Mr. Foster was +the young man from Keokuk; he wore a secret society pin in his cravat, +and Warry hated him particularly. + +"What an ass that fellow is!" he blurted, savagely. He had just lighted +a fresh cigarette, and threw away the stump of the discarded one with an +unnecessary exercise of strength. + +"But he's cheerful, and has very nice manners!" said Evelyn. Warry was +still looking away from her petulantly. Her attitude toward him just now +was that of an older sister toward a young offending brother. He felt +that the interview lacked dignity on his side, and he swung around +suddenly. + +"You know we can't go on this way. You know I wouldn't offend you for +anything in the world,--that if I've been churlish it's simply because I +care a great deal; because it has hurt me to find you getting mixed up +with the wrong people. If you knew what your coming home meant to me, +how much I've been counting on it! and then to find that you wouldn't +meet me on our old friendly basis, and didn't want any suggestions from +me." + +He had, almost unconsciously, been expecting her to interrupt him; but +she did not do so, and left him to flounder along as best he could. When +he paused helplessly, she said, still like a forbearing sister: + +"I didn't know you could be so tragic, Warry. The first thing I know +you'll be really quarreling with me, and I don't intend to have that. +Why don't you change your tactics and be a good little boy? You've been +spoiled by too much indulgence of late. Now I don't intend to spoil you +a bit. You were terribly rude,--I didn't think you capable of it, and +all because I wouldn't offend my father and his friends and other very +good people, by refusing to take part in the harmless exercises of that +perfectly ridiculous but useful society, the Knights of Midas. That's +all over now; and the sun comes up every morning just as it used to. You +and I live in the same small town and it's too small to quarrel in." + +She paused and laughed, seeing how he was swaying between the impulse to +accept her truce and the inclination to parley further. He had been +persuading himself that he loved her, and he had found keen joy in the +misery into which he had worked himself, thinking that there was +something ideal and noble in his attitude. He did not know Evelyn as +well as he thought he did; when she came home he had imagined that all +would go smoothly between them; he had meant to monopolize her, and to +dictate to her when need be. He had assumed that they would meet on a +plane that would be accessible to no other man in Clarkson; and his +conceit was shaken to find that she was disposed to be generously +hospitable toward all. It was this that enraged him particularly against +Wheaton, who stood quite as well with her, he assured himself, as he +did. Her beauty and sweetness seemed to mock him; if he did not love her +now as he thought he did, he at least was deeply appreciative of the +qualities which set her apart from other women. + +There are men like Raridan, who are devoid of evil impulse, and who are +swayed and touched by the charm of women through an excess in themselves +of that nicer feeling which we call feminine, usually in depreciation, +as if it were contemptible. But there is something appealing and fine +about it; it is not altogether a weakness; doers of the world's +worthiest tasks have been notable possessors of this quality. Raridan +had a true sense of personal honor, and yet his imagination was strong +enough to play tricks with his conscience. He had argued himself into a +mood of desperate love; he felt that he was swayed by passion; but it +was of jealousy and not of love. + +Evelyn walked a little way toward the door and he followed gloomily +along. He called her name and she paused. They were not alone on the +veranda, and she did not want a scene. Raridan began again: + +"Why, ever since we were children together I've looked forward to this +time. It always seemed the most natural thing in the world that I should +love you. When you went away to college, I never had any fear that it +would make any difference; when I saw you down there you were always +kind,--" + +"Of course I was kind," she interrupted; "and I don't mean to be +anything else now." + +"You know what I mean," he urged, though he did not know himself what he +meant. "I had no idea that your going away would make any difference; if +I had dreamed of it, I should have spoken long ago. And when I went to +see you those few times at college--" + +"Yes, you came and I was awfully glad to see you, too; but how many +women's colleges have you visited in these four years? There was that +Brooklyn girl you were devoted to at Bryn Mawr; and that pretty little +French Canadian you rushed at Wellesley,--but of course I don't pretend +to know the whole catalogue of them. That was all perfectly proper, you +understand; I'm not complaining--" + +"No; I wish you were," he said, bitterly. If he had known it, he was +really enjoying this; there was, perhaps, at the bottom of his heart, a +little vanity which these reminiscences appealed to. He rallied now: + +"But you could afford to have me see other girls," he said. "You ought +to know--you should have known all the time that you were the only one +in all the world for me." + +"That's a trifle obvious, Warry;" and she laughed. "You're not living up +to your reputation for subtlety of approach." + +"Evelyn"--his voice trembled; he was sure now that he was very much in +love; "I tried to tell you before the carnival that the reason I didn't +want you to appear in the ball was that I cared a great deal,--so very +much,--that I love you!" + +She stepped back, drawing the cape together at her throat. + +"Please, Warry," she said pleadingly, "don't spoil everything by talking +of such things. I wished that we might be the best of friends, but you +insist on spoiling everything." + +"Oh, I know," he broke in, "that I spoil things, that I'm a failure--a +ne'er-do-well." It was not love that he was hungry for half so much as +sympathy; they are often identical in such natures as his. + +She bent toward him, as she always did when she talked earnestly, and as +frankly as though she were speaking to a girl. + +"Warry Raridan, it's exactly as I told you a moment ago. You've been +spoiled, and it shows in a lot of ways. Why, you're positively +childish!" She laughed softly. He had thrust his hands into his pockets +and was feeling foolish. He wanted to make another effort to maintain +his position as a serious lover, but was not equal to it. She went on, +with growing kindness in her tone: "Now, I'll say to you frankly that I +didn't at all like being mixed up in the Knights of Midas ball; if you +had been as wise as I have always thought, you might have known it. You +ought to have shown your interest in me by helping me; but you chose to +take a very ungenerous and unkind attitude about it; you helped to make +it harder for me than it might have been. I relied on you as an old +friend, but you deserted me at your first chance to show that you really +had my interests at heart. If you had cared about me, you certainly +wouldn't have acted so." + +"Why, Evelyn, I wouldn't hurt you for anything in the world; if I had +understood--" + +"But that's the trouble," she interrupted, still very patiently. She saw +that she had struck the right chord in appealing to his chivalry, and in +conceding as much as she had by the reference to their old comradeship. +She had never liked him better than she did now; but she certainly did +not love him. + +She had directed the talk safely into tranquil channels, and he was +growing happier, and, if he had known it, relieved besides. He wanted to +be nearer to her than any one else, and he was touched by her +declaration that she had needed him, and that he had failed her. + +"But sometime--you will not forget--" + +"Oh, sometime! we are not going to bother about that now. Just at +present it's getting too cool for the open air and we must go inside." + +"But is it all right? You will pardon my offenses, won't you? And you +won't let any one else--" + +"Oh, you must be careful, and very good," she answered lightly, and +gathered up her skirts in her hand. "We must go in, and," she looked +down at him, laughing, "there must be a smile on the face of the tiger!" + +A fire of pinyon logs, brought from the Colorado hills, blazed in the +wide fireplace at the end of the hall, and Evelyn and Warry joined the +circle which had formed about it. + +"Has the moon gone down?" asked Captain Wheelock, as a place was made +for them. + +"Not necessarily," said Raridan coolly. "Anybody but you would know that +the moon isn't due yet." + +"It was getting cool outside," said Evelyn, finding a seat in the +ingle-nook. + +"Oh!" exclaimed the captain significantly, and looking hard at Raridan. +"Poor Mr. Raridan! The weather bureau has hardly reported a single frost +thus far, and yet--and yet!" The others laughed, and Evelyn looked at +him reproachfully. + +"You might try the weather conditions yourself," said Raridan easily, +wishing to draw the fire to himself. "But at your age a man must be +careful of the night air." + +He and Wheelock abused each other until the others begged them to +desist; then some one attacked the piano and a few couples began to +dance. Mabel was anxious to stimulate the interest of the young man from +Keokuk, who had not thus far manifested sufficient courage to lead her +off for a tete-a-tete. He had proved a little slow, and she sought to +treat him cruelly by seeming very much interested in Raridan, who sat +down to talk to her. Warry was certainly much more distinguished than +any other young man in Clarkson,--a conclusion which was, in her mind, +based on the fact that Warry lived without labor. The pilgrim from +Keokuk was the vice-president of an elevator company, and it seemed to +her much nobler to live on the income of property that had been acquired +by one's ancestors than to be immediately concerned in earning a +livelihood. She and Warry took several turns about the hall to the waltz +which Belle Marshall was playing, and when the music ceased suddenly +they were in a far corner of the room. The chain on which her +heart-pendant hung caught on a button of Raridan's coat as they stopped, +and he took off his glasses to find and loosen the tangle, while she +stood in a kind of triumphant embarrassment, knowing that Evelyn could +see them from her corner by the fire. After the chain had been freed she +led the way to the window seat and sat down with a great show of fatigue +from her dance. + +"A girl that wears her heart on a chain is likely to have daws pecking +at it, isn't she?" suggested Raridan, wiping his glasses, and looking +at her with the vagueness of near-sighted eyes. This was, he knew, +somewhat flirtatious; but he could no more help saying such things to +young women than he could help his good looks. The fact that he had a +few moments before been making love to another girl, with what he +believed at the time to be real ardor, did not deter him. Mabel was a +girl, and therefore pretty speeches were to be made to her. She was +unmistakably handsome, and a handsome girl, in particular, deserves a +man's tribute of admiration. Mabel was not, however, used to Raridan's +methods; the men she had known best did not paraphrase Shakspere to her. +But it was very agreeable to be sitting thus with the most eligible and +brilliant young man of Clarkson. Evelyn Porter, she could see, was +entertaining the young man from Keokuk, and the situation pleased her. + +"Oh, the chain is strong enough to hold it," she answered, running the +slight strands through her fingers, and looking up archly. Her black +eyes were fine; she exercised a kind of witchery with them. + +"Lucky chap--the victim inside," continued Raridan, indicating the +heart. + +"Well, that depends on the way you look at it." + +"I hope he knows," continued Warry. "It would be a shame for a man to +enjoy that kind of distinction and not know it." + +Mabel held the silver heart in one hand and stroked it carefully with +the other. Most of the men she knew would be capable of taking the +heart, even at the cost of a scuffle, and looking into it. She felt safe +with Raridan. The young romantic actor whose picture enjoyed the +distinction of a place in the trinket did not know, of course, and would +have been bored if he had. + +"It would hardly be fair to carry his picture around if he didn't know +it, would it?" asked Mabel. + +"Of course not," said Warry; "I didn't imagine that you bought it!" + +"It wouldn't be nice for you to," said Mabel. The fact that she had +acquired it for twenty-five cents at a local bookstore did not trouble +her. + +The music had begun again, but they continued talking, though others +were dancing. Wheaton had joined Evelyn in the ingle-nook; and Evelyn +was aware, without looking, that Mabel was making the most of her +opportunity with Raridan; and she knew, too, that he was not averse to a +bit of by-play with her. She knew that if she really cared for him it +would hurt her to see him thus talking to another girl, but she was +conscious of no pang. Her heart burned with anger for a moment at the +thought that he must think her conquest assured; but this was, she +remembered, "Warry's way," falling back on a phrase that was often +spoken of him. She was a little tired, and experienced a feeling of +relief in sitting here with Wheaton and listening to his commonplace +talk, which could be followed without effort. + +Wheaton was finding himself much at ease at Mabel's party, though he +questioned its propriety; he had a great respect for conventions. He was +well aware that there were differences between Evelyn Porter and her +friends, and Miss Margrave and those whom he knew to be her intimates. +Miss Porter was much finer in her instincts and her intelligence; he +would have been puzzled for an explanation of the points of variance, +but he knew that they existed. The young man from Keokuk had moved away +and left him with Evelyn, and it was certainly very pleasant to be +sitting in a quiet corner with a girl whom everybody admired, and who +was, he felt sure, easily the most distinguished girl in town. He had +arrived late, to be sure, in the first social circle of Clarkson, but he +had found the gate open, and he was suffered to enter and make himself +at home just as thoroughly as any other man might--as completely so, for +instance, as Warrick Raridan, who had wealth and the prestige of an old +family behind him. + +"I'm sure we shall all get much pleasure out of the Country Club," said +Evelyn, who sat on the low bench between him and the fire. + +"Yes, and the house is pretty good, considering the small amount of +money that was put into it." + +"Another case where good taste is better than money. We Americans have +been so slow about such things; but now there seems to be widespread +interest in outdoor life." Wheaton knew only vaguely that there was, but +he was learning that it was not necessary to know much about things to +be able to talk of them; so he acquiesced, and they fell to discussing +golf, or at least Evelyn did, with the zeal of the fresh convert. + +"I think I'll have to take it up. You make it sound very attractive." + +"The Scotch owed us something good," said Evelyn; "they gave us oatmeal +for breakfast, and made life unendurable to that extent. But we can +forgive them if they take us out of doors and get us away from offices +and houses. Our western business men are incorrigible, though. The +farther west you go, the more hours a day men put into business." + +Evelyn soon sent Wheaton to bring Mrs. Whipple and Annie Warren, who +were stranded in a corner, and they became spectators of the pranks of +some of the others, who had now gathered about the piano, where Captain +Wheelock had undertaken to lead in the singing of popular airs. The +singers were not taking their efforts very seriously. All knew some of +the words of "Annie Carroll," but none knew all, so that their efforts +were marked by scattering good-will rather than by unanimity of +knowledge. When one lost the words and broke down, they all laughed in +derision. Mabel and Raridan had joined the circle, and Warry entered +into the tentative singing with the spirit he always brought to any +occasion. Mabel, who imported all the new songs from New York, gave +"Don't Throw Snowballs at the Soda-water Man" as a solo, and did it +well--almost too well. Occasionally one of the group at the piano turned +to demand that those who lingered by the fireside join in the singing, +but Wheaton was shy of this hilarity, and was comfortable in his belief +that Evelyn was showing a preference for him in electing to remain +aloof. He did not understand that her evident preference was due to a +feeling that he was older than the rest and too stiff and formal for +their frivolity. + +Mrs. Whipple made little effort to talk to Wheaton, though she +occasionally threw out some comment on the singers to Evelyn. Wheaton +did not amuse Mrs. Whipple. He had only lately dawned on her horizon, +and she had already appraised him and filed her impression away in her +memory. He was not, she had determined, a complex character; she knew, +as perfectly as if he had made a full confession of himself to her, his +new ambitions, his increasing conceit and belief in himself. She had +been more successful in preventing marriages than in effecting them, and +she sat watching him with a quizzical expression in her eyes; for there +might be danger in him for this girl, though it had not appeared. But +when her eyes rested on Evelyn she seemed to find an answer that allayed +her fears; Evelyn was hardly a girl that would need guardianship. As the +noise from the group at the piano rose to the crescendo at which it +broke into laughing discord, Evelyn met suddenly the gaze with which +this old friend had been regarding her, and gave back a nod and smile +that were in themselves unconsciously reassuring. + +Some one suggested presently that if they were to drive home in the +moonlight they should be going; and the coach soon swung away from the +door into the moon's floodtide. The wind was still, as if in awe of the +lighted world. The town lay far below in a white pool. Mabel again took +the reins, and as the coach rumbled and crunched over the road, light +hearts had recourse to song; but even the singing was subdued, and the +trumpeter's note failed miserably when the horses' hoofs struck smartly +on the streets of the town. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE LADY AND THE BUNKER + + +The afternoon invited the eyes to far, blue horizons, and as Evelyn +stood up and shook loosely in her hand the sand she had taken from the +box, she contemplated the hazy distances with satisfaction before +bending to make her tee. Her visitors had left; Grant had gone east to +school, and she was driven in upon herself for amusement. Her movements +were lithe and swift, and when once the ball had been placed in position +there were only two points of interest for her in the landscape--the +ball itself and the first green. The driver was a part of herself, and +she stepped back and swung it to freshen her memory of its +characteristics. The caddy watched her in silent joy; these were not the +fussy preliminaries that he had been used to in young ladies who played +on the Country Club links; he kept one eye on the player and backed off +down the course. The sleeves of her crimson flannel shirt-waist were +turned up at the wrists; the loose end of her cravat fluttered in the +soft wind, that was like a breath of mid-May. She addressed the ball, +standing but slightly bent above it and glancing swiftly from tee to +target, then swung with the certainty and ease of the natural golf +player. Her first ball was a slice, but it fell seventy-five yards down +the course; she altered her position slightly and tried again, but she +did not hit the ball squarely, and it went bounding over the grass. At +the third attempt her ball was caught fairly and sped straight down the +course at a level not higher than her head. The caddy trotted to where +it lay; it was on a line with the one hundred and fifty yard mark. The +player motioned him to get the other balls. She had begun her game. + +The fever was as yet in its incipient stage in Clarkson; players were +few; the greens were poorly kept, and there were bramble patches along +the course which were of material benefit to the golf ball makers. But +it was better than nothing, John Saxton said to himself this bright +October afternoon, as he stood at the first tee, listening to the +cheerful discourse of his caddy, who lingered to study the equipment of +a visitor whom he had not served before. + +"Anybody out?" asked John, trying the weight of several drivers. + +"Lady," said the boy succinctly. He pointed across the links to where +Evelyn was distinguishable as she doubled back on the course. + +"Good player?" + +"Great--for a girl," the boy declared. "She's the best lady player +here." + +"Maybe we can pick up some points from her game," said Saxton, smiling +at the boy's enthusiasm. He had been very busy and much away from town, +and this was his first day of golf since he had come to Clarkson. +Raridan had declined to accompany him; Raridan was, in fact, at work +just now, having been for a month constant in attendance upon his +office; and Saxton had left him barricaded behind a pile of law books. +Saxton was slow in his golf, as in all things, and he gave a good deal +of study to his form. He played steadily down the course, noting from +time to time the girl that was the only other occupant of the links. She +was playing toward him on the parallel course home, and while he had not +recognized her, he could see that she was a player of skill, and he +paused several times to watch the freedom of her swing and to admire the +pretty picture she made as she followed her ball rapidly and with +evident absorption. + +He was taking careful measurement for a difficult approach shot from the +highest grass on the course, when he heard men calling and shouting in +the road which ran by one of the boundary fences of the club property. A +drove of cattle was coming along the road, driven, as Saxton saw, by +several men on horseback. It was a small bunch bound for the city. +Several obstreperous steers showed an inclination to bolt at the +crossroads, but the horsemen brought them back with much yelling and a +great shuffling of hoofs which sent a cloud of dust into the quiet air. +Saxton bent again with his lofter, when his caddy gave a cry. + +"Hi! He's making for the gate!" + +One of the steers had bolted and plunged down the side road toward the +gate of the club grounds, which stood open through the daytime. + +"You'd better trot over there and close the gate," said Saxton, seeing +that the cattle were excited. + +The boy ran for the gate, which lay not more than a hundred yards +distant, and the steer which had broken away and been reclaimed with so +much difficulty in the roadway bolted for it at almost the same moment. +Saxton, seeing that a collision was imminent, began trotting toward the +gate himself. The steer could not see the boy who was racing for the +gate from the inside, and boy and beast plunged on toward it. + +"Run for the fence," called Saxton. + +The boy gained the fence and clambered to the top of it. The steer +reached the gate, and, seeing open fields beyond, bounded in and made +across the golf course at full speed. He dashed past Saxton, who stopped +and watched him, his club still in his hand. The steer seemed pleased to +have gained access to an ampler area, and loped leisurely across the +links. Evelyn, manoeuvering to escape a bunker that lay formidably +before her, had not yet seen the animal and was not aware of the +invasion of the course until her caddy, who, expecting one of her long +plays, had posted himself far ahead, came plunging over the bunker's +ridge with a clatter of bag and clubs. The steer, following him with an +amiable show of interest, paused at the bunker and viewed the boy and +the young woman in the red shirt-waist uneasily. One of the drovers was +in hot pursuit, galloping across the course toward the runaway member of +his herd, lariat in hand. Hearing an enemy in the rear, the steer broke +over the lightly packed barricade, and Evelyn's red shirt-waist proving +the most brilliant object on the horizon, he made toward it at a lively +pace. + +The caddy was now in full flight, pulling the strap of Evelyn's bag over +his head and scattering the clubs as he fled. A moment later he had +joined Saxton's caddy on top of the fence and the two boys viewed +current history from that point with absorption. Meanwhile Evelyn was +making no valiant stand. She gave a gasp of dismay and turned and ran, +for the drover was pushing the steer rapidly now, and was getting ready +to cast his lariat. He made a botch of it, however, and at the instant +of the rope's flight, his pony, poorly trained to the business, bucked +and tried to unseat his rider; and the drover swore volubly as he tried +to control him. The pony backed upon a putting green and bucked again, +this time dislodging his rider. Before the dazed drover could recover, +Saxton, who had run up behind him, sprang to the pony's head, and as the +animal settled on all fours again, leaped into the saddle and gathered +up bridle and lariat. The pony suddenly grew tired of making trouble, in +the whimsical way of his kind, and Saxton impelled him at a rapid lope +toward the steer. John was bareheaded and the sleeves of his outing +shirt were rolled to the elbows; he looked more like a polo player than +a cowboy. + +Meanwhile Evelyn was running toward a bunker which stood across her +path; it was the only break in the level of the course that offered any +hope of refuge. She could hear the pounding of the steer's hoofs, and +less distinctly the pattering hoofbeat of the pony. She had had a long +run and was breathing hard. The bunker seemed the remotest thing in the +world as she ran down the course; then suddenly it rose a mile high, and +as she scaled its rough slope and sank breathlessly into the sand, +Saxton cast the lariat. With mathematical nicety the looped rope cut the +air and the noose fell about the broad horns of the Texan as his fore +feet struck the bunker. The pony stood with firmly planted hoofs, +supporting the taut rope as steadfastly as a rock. The owner of the pony +came panting up, and another of the drovers who had ridden into the +arena joined them. + +"Here's your cow," said Saxton. The steer was, indeed, any one's for the +taking, as he was winded and the spirit had gone out of him. "You won't +need another rope on him; he'll follow the pony." + +"You threw that rope all right," said the dismounted drover. + +"An old woman taught me with a clothes line," said John, kicking his +feet out of the stirrups; "take your pony." + +"Where's that girl?" asked one of the men. + +"I guess she's all right," answered Saxton, walking toward the bunker. +"You'd better get your cow out of here; this isn't free range, you +know." + +He mounted the bunker with a jump and looked anxiously down into the +sand-pit. + +"Good afternoon, Mr. Saxton. You see I'm bunkered. Is it safe to come +out?" + +"Is it you, Miss Porter?" said Saxton, jumping down into the sand. "Are +you hurt?" + +"No; but I'll not say that I'm not scared." She was still panting from +her long run, and her cheeks were scarlet. She put up her hands to her +hair, which had tumbled loose. "This is really the wild West, after all; +and that was a very pretty throw you made." + +"It seemed necessary to do something. But you couldn't have seen it?" + +"Another case of woman's curiosity. Perhaps I ought to turn into a +pillar of salt. I peeped! I suppose it was in the hope that I might play +hide and seek with that wild beast as he came over after me, but you +stopped his flight just in time." She had restored her hair as she +talked. "Where is that caddy of mine?" + +"Oh, the boys took to the fence to get a better view of the show. +They're coming up now." + +Evelyn stood up quickly, and shook her skirt free of sand. + +"I need hardly say that I'm greatly obliged to you," she said, giving +him her hand. + +Saxton was relieved to find that she took the incident so coolly. + +She was laughing; her color was very becoming, and John beamed upon her. +His face was of that blond type which radiates light and flushes into a +kind of sunburn with excitement. There was something very boyish about +John Saxton. The curves of his face were still those of youth; he had +never dared to encourage a mustache or beard, owing to a disinclination +to produce more than was necessary of the soft, silky hair which covered +his head abundantly. He had a straight nose, a firm chin and a brave +showing of square, white teeth. His mouth was his best feature, for it +expressed his good nature and a wish to be pleased,--a wish that shone +also in his blue eyes. John Saxton was determined to like life and +people; and he liked both just now. + +"Are you entirely sound? Won't you have witch-hazel, arnica, brandy?" + +"Oh, thanks; nothing. I've got my breath again and am all right." + +"But they always sprain their ankles." + +"Yes, but I'm not a romantic young person. I'll be sorry if that caddy +has lost my best driver." + +"He's out on the battlefield now looking for it," said John, indicating +their two caddies, who were gathering up the lost implements. + +"I think you're away," John added, musingly. + +"Yes; for the club house." + +"That's poor golf, to give up just because you're bunkered. And yet my +caddy said you were the greatest." + +They walked over the course toward the club house, discussing their +encounter. + +"What hole were you playing when the meek-eyed kine invaded the field?" + +"Oh, I was doing very badly. I was only at the fourth, and breaking all +my records," said John. "I was glad of a diversion. The gentle +footprints of that steer didn't improve the quality of this course," he +added, looking about. The ground was soft from recent rains, and the +hoofs of the animal had dug into it and marred the turf. + +"It's a rule of the club," said Evelyn, "that players must replace their +own divots. That can hardly be enforced against that ferocious beast." + +"Hardly; but he was easily master of the game while he remained with +us." The caddies had recovered the scattered equipment of the players, +and were following, discussing the incidents of the busiest quarter of +an hour they had known in their golfing experience. + +Evelyn turned suddenly upon John. + +"Did I look very foolish?" she demanded. + +"I'm sure I don't know what you mean." + +"Yes, you do, Mr. Saxton. A woman always looks ridiculous when she +runs." She laughed. "I'm sure I must have looked so. But you couldn't +have seen me; you were pretty busy yourself just then." + +"Well, of course, if I'm asked about it, I'll have to tell of your +sprinting powers; I'm not sure that you didn't lower a record." + +"Oh, you're the hero of the occasion! I cut a sorry figure in it. I +suppose, though, that as the maiden in distress I'll get a little +glory--just a little." + +"And your picture in the Sunday papers." + +"Horrors, no! But you will appear on your fiery steed swinging the +lasso." + +He threw up his hands. + +"That would never do! It would ruin my social reputation." + +"In Boston?" + +"No; down there they'd like it. It would be proof positive of the +woolliness of the West. Golf playing interrupted by a herd of wild +cattle--cowboys, lassoes--Buffalo Bill effects. Down East they're always +looking for Western atmosphere." + +"You don't dislike the West very much, do you?" asked Evelyn. "We aren't +so bad, do you think?" + +"Dislike it?" John looked at her. He had never liked anything so much as +this place and hour. "I altogether love it," he declared; and then he +was conscious of having used a verb not usual in his vocabulary. + +"And so you learned how to do all the cowboy tricks up in Wyoming?" +Evelyn went on. "I wish Annie Warren had seen that!" and she laughed; +it seemed to John that she was always laughing. + +"I wasn't very much of a cowboy," John said. "That is, I wasn't very +good at it." He was an honest soul and did not want Evelyn Porter to +think that he was posing as a dramatic and cocksure character. "Roping a +cow is the easiest thing in the business, and then a tame, foolish, +domestic co-bos like that one!" + +"Co-bos! If this is likely to happen again they ought to provide a box +of salt at every tee." + +When Evelyn had gone into the club house, John gathered the caddies into +a corner and bestowed a dollar on each of them and promised them other +bounty if they maintained silence touching the events of the afternoon +in which he had participated. They and the drovers were the only +witnesses besides the more active participants, and he would have to +take chances with the drovers. Then, having bribed the boys, he also +threatened them. He was walking across the veranda when he met Evelyn, +whose horse he had already called for. + +"If you're not driving, I'd be glad to have you share my cart." + +"Thanks, very much," said John. "The street car would be rather a heavy +slump after this afternoon's gaiety." + +"I spoiled your game and endangered your social reputation; I can hardly +do less." + +John thought that she could hardly do more. He had known men whom girls +drove in their traps, but he had never expected to be enrolled in their +class. It was pleasant, just once, not to be walking in the highway and +taking the dust of other people's wheels--pleasant to find himself +tolerated by a pretty girl. She was prettier than any he had ever seen +at class day, or in the grand stands at football games, or on the +observation trains at New London, when he had gone alone, or with a +sober college classmate, to see the boat races. + +Deep currents of happiness coursed through him which were not all +because of the October sunlight and the laughing talk of Evelyn Porter. +He had that sensation of pleasure, always a joy to a man of conscience, +which is his self-approval for labor well performed. He had worked +faithfully ever since he had come to Clarkson; he had traveled much, +visiting the properties which the Neponset Trust Company had confided to +his care; and he had already so adjusted them that they earned enough to +pay taxes and expenses. He had effected a few sales, at prices which the +Neponset's clients were glad to accept. He had never been so happy in +his work. He had rather grudgingly taken this afternoon off; but here he +was, laughing with Evelyn Porter over an amusing adventure that had +befallen them, and which, as they talked of it and kept referring to it, +seemed to establish between them a real comradeship. He wondered what +Raridan would say, and he resolved that he would not tell him of the +hasty termination of his golfing; probably Miss Porter would prefer not +to have the incident mentioned. He even thought that he would not tell +Raridan that she had driven him to town. It was not for him to interpose +between Warry Raridan, a man who had brought him the sweetest +friendship he had ever known, and the girl whom fate had clearly +appointed Warry to marry. + +As they turned into the main highway leading townward, a trap came +rapidly toward them. + +"Miss Margrave's trap," said Evelyn, as they espied it. + +The figures were not yet distinguishable, though Mabel's belongings were +always unmistakable. + +"Then that must be one of 'The Men'?" + +John was angry at himself the moment he had spoken, for as the trap came +nearer there was no doubt of the identity of Mabel's companion. It was +Warry. Evelyn bowed and smiled as they passed. Mabel gave the quick nod +that she was introducing in Clarkson; Saxton and Raridan lifted their +hats. + +"Miss Margrave has a lot of style; don't you think so, Mr. Saxton?" + +"Apparently, yes; but I don't know her, you know;" and he wondered. + +Warry Raridan's days were not all lucky. He had been keeping his office +with great fidelity of late. He had even found a client or two; and he +had determined to rebuke his critics by giving proof of his possession +of those staying qualities which they were always denying him. He had +been hard at work in his office this afternoon, when a note came to him +from Mabel, who begged that he would drive with her to the Country Club. +He had already thought of telephoning to Evelyn to ask her if she would +not go with him, but had dropped the idea when he remembered his new +resolutions; it was for Evelyn that he was at work now. But Mabel was a +friendly soul, and perfectly harmless. It certainly looked very +pleasant outside; the next citation in the authorities he was +consulting,--Sweetbriar _vs._ O'Neill, 84 N. Y., 26,--would lead him +over to the law library, which was a gloomy hole with wretched +ventilation. So he had given himself a vacation, with the best grace and +excuse in the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +WARRY'S REPENTANCE + + +Saxton dined alone at the Clarkson Club, as he usually did, and went +afterward to his office, which he still maintained in the Clarkson +National Building. He had been studying the report of an engineering +expert on a Colorado irrigation scheme and he was trying to master and +correct its weaknesses. As he hung over the blue-prints and the pages of +figures that lay before him, the flashing red wheels of Mabel Margrave's +trap kept interfering; he wished Warry had not turned up just as he had. +He thought he understood why his friend had been so occupied in his +office of late; but whether Warry and Evelyn Porter were engaged or not, +Warry ought to find better use for his talents than in amusing Mabel +Margrave. John lighted his pipe to help with the blue-prints, and while +he drew it into cozy accord with himself, the elevator outside +discharged a passenger; he heard the click of the wire door as the cage +receded, followed by Raridan's quick step in the hall, and Warry broke +in on him. "Well, you're the limit! I'd like to know what you mean by +roosting up here and not staying in your room where a white man can find +you." He stood with his hands thrust into the pockets of his top-coat, +and glared at Saxton, who lay back in his chair and bit his pipe. "I +wish by all the gods I could rattle you once and shake you out of your +damned Harvard aplomb!" Raridan did not usually invoke the gods, and he +rarely damned anything or anybody. + +"That's a very pretty coat you have on, Mr. Raridan. It must be nice to +be a plutocrat and wear clothes like that." + +"The beastly thing doesn't fit," growled Raridan, throwing himself into +a chair. "I don't fit, and my clothes don't fit, and--" + +"And you're having a fit. You'd better see a nerve specialist." Warry +was pounding a cigarette on the back of his case. + +"I say, Saxton," he said calmly. + +"Well! Has Vesuvius subsided?" Saxton sat up in his chair and watched +Raridan breaking matches wastefully in a nervous effort to strike a +light. + +"John Saxton, what a beastly ass I am! What a merry-go-round of a fool I +make of myself!" Warry blew a cloud of smoke into the air. + +"Yes," said John, pulling away at his pipe. + +"As I'm a living man, I had no more intention of driving with that girl +than I had of going up in a balloon and walking back. You know I never +knew her well; I don't want to know her, for that matter; not on your +life!" + +"Is this a guessing contest? I suppose I'm the goat. Well, you didn't +care for Miss Margrave's society; is that what you're driving at? She +shan't hear this from me; I'm as safe as a tomb. Moreover, I don't enjoy +her acquaintance. Go ahead now, full speed." + +"And it was just my infernal hard luck that I got caught this +afternoon," continued Warry, ignoring him. "Sometimes it seems to me +that I'm predestined and foreordained to do fool things. I've been +working like blue blazes on that washerwoman's suit against the +Transcontinental,--running their switch through her back yard,--and I +had put away all kinds of temptation and was feeling particularly +virtuous; but here came the Margrave nigger with that girl's note, and I +went up the street in long jumps to meet her, and let her drive me all +over town and all over the country, and order me a highball on the +Country Club porch, and generally make an ass of me. I wish you'd do +something to me; hit me with a club, or throw me down the elevator, or +do something equally brutal and coarse that would jar a little of the +folly out of me. Why," he continued, with utter self-contempt, through +which his humor glimmered, "I ought to have turned down Mabel's +invitation as soon as I saw the monogram on her note paper. Three +colors, and letters as big as your hand! My instinctive good taste +falters, old man; it needs restoring and chastening." + +"I quite agree with you, sir. But it's more gallant to abuse yourself +than Miss Margrave's stationery--that is, if I am correctly gathering up +the crumbs of your thought. I believe you had reached the highball +incident in your recital. Was it rye or Scotch? This is the day of +realism, and if I'm to give you counsel, or sympathy, or whatever it is +you want, I must know all the petty details." + +"Don't be foolish," said Raridan, staring abstractedly; then he bent his +eyes sharply on Saxton. + +"See here, John," he said quietly, folding his arms. He had never +before called Saxton by his first name; and the change marked a further +advance of intimacy. + +"Yes." + +"You know I'm a good deal of a fool and all that sort of thing--" + +"Chuck that and go ahead." + +"But she means a whole lot to me. You know whom I mean." Saxton knew he +did not mean Mabel Margrave. "You know," Raridan went on, "we were kids +together up there on those hills. We both had our dancing lessons at her +house, and did such stunts as that together." + +"Yes," said Saxton. + +"I want to work and show that I'm some good. I want to make myself +worthy of her." He got up and walked the floor, while Saxton sat and +watched him. + +"I can't talk about it; you understand what I want to do. It has seemed +to me lately that I have more to overcome than I can ever manage. I made +a lot of fuss about that Knights of Midas rot. I ought to have helped +her about that; it was hard for her, but I was too big a fool to know +it, and I made myself ridiculous lecturing her. I forgot that she'd +grown up, and I didn't know she felt as she did about it. I acted as if +I thought she was crazy to pose in that fool show, when I might have +known better. It was downright low of me." He stood at the window +playing with the cord of the shade and looking out over the town. Saxton +walked to the window and stood by him, saying nothing; and after a +moment he put his hand on Raridan's shoulder and turned him round and +grasped Warry's slender fingers in his broad, strong hand. + +"I understand how it is, old man. It isn't so bad as you think it is, +I'm sure. It will all come out right, and while we're making confessions +I want to make one too. I feel rather foolish doing it--as if I were in +the game--" and he smiled in the way he had, which brought his humility +and patience and desire to be on good terms with the world into his +face,--"but I want you to know about this afternoon--that--that just +happened--my being with her. You see, I didn't know she was there, and +she had--I guess she had broken her driver or something, and quit, and I +was coming in and she picked me up, and I'm sorry, and--" + +Raridan wheeled on him as if he had just caught the drift of his talk. + +"Oh, come off! You howling idiot! Don't you talk that way to me again. +Get your hat now and let's get out of this." + +"I'm glad you're feeling better," said Saxton, and laughed with real +relief. + +John turned out the light, and while they waited for the elevator to +come up for them Warry jingled the coins and keys in his pockets before +he blurted: + +"I say, John, I'm an underbred, low person, and am not worthy to be +called thy friend, and you may hate me all you like, but one thing I'd +like to know. Did she say anything about me when you passed us this +afternoon--make any comment or anything? You know I despise myself for +asking, but--" + +Saxton laughed quietly. + +"Yes, she did; but I don't know that I ought to tell you. It was really +encouraging." + +"Well, hurry up." + +"She said, 'Miss Margrave has a lot of style; don't you think so?'" + +"Is that all?" demanded Raridan, stepping into the car. + +"That's all. It wasn't very much; but it was the way she said it; and as +she said it she brushed a fly from the horse with the whip, and she did +it very carefully." + +In the corridor below they met Wheaton coming out of the side door of +the bank. He had been at work, he said. Raridan asked him to go with +them to the club for a game of billiards, but he pleaded weariness and +said he was going to bed. + +The three men walked up Varney Street together. Those spirits that order +our lives for us must have viewed them with interest as they tramped +through the street. They were men of widely different antecedents and +qualities. Circumstances, in themselves natural and harmless, had +brought them together. The lives of all three were to be influenced by +the weakness of one, and one woman's life was to be profoundly affected +by contact with all of them. It is not ordained for us to know whether +those we touch hands with, and even break bread with, from day to day, +are to bring us good or evil. The electric light reveals nothing in the +sibyl's book which was not disclosed of old to those who pondered the +mysteries by starlight and rushlight. + +Wheaton left them at the club door and went on to The Bachelors', +which, was only a step farther up the street. + +"How do you like Wheaton by this time?" asked Raridan, as they entered +the club. + +"I hardly know how to answer that," Saxton answered. "He's treated me +well enough. It seems to me I'm always trying to find some reason for +not liking him, but I can't put my hand on anything tangible." + +"That's the way I feel," said Raridan, hanging up his coat in the +billiard room. "He's a rigid devil, some way. There's no let-go in him. +I guess the law allows us to dislike some people just on general +principles, and Jim likes himself so well that you and I don't matter. +It's your shot." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +FATHER AND DAUGHTER + + +The winds of January had no better luck in shaking down the leaves of +the scrub oaks on the Porter hillside than their predecessors of +November and December. The snows came and went on the dull slopes, and +the canna beds were little blots of ruin in the gray stubble. The house +was a place of light and life once more, for Evelyn had obeyed her +father's wish rather than her own inclination in opening its doors for +frequent teas and dinners and once for a large ball. Many people had +entertained for her; she had never been introduced formally, but her +mother's friends made up for this omission; she went out a great deal, +and enjoyed it. Many young men climbed the hill to see her, and many +went to the theater or to dances with her at least once. The number who +came to call diminished by Christmas; but those who still came, and were +identified as frequenters of the house, came oftener. + +Warry Raridan had raged at the mob, as he called it, which he seemed +always to find installed in the Porter drawing-room; but he raged +inwardly these days, save as he went explosively to Saxton for comfort; +he had stopped raging at Evelyn. He was at work more steadily than he +had ever been before, and wished the credit for it which people denied +him, to his secret disgust. He had idled too long, or he had too often +before given fitful allegiance to labor. Young women and old, who +expected him to pass tea for them in the afternoons, refused to believe +that he had experienced a change of heart. Those who had bragged of him +abroad, and who now lured the eternal visiting girl to town to behold +him, were chagrined to find that he was difficult to produce, and +mollified their guests by declaring that Warry was getting more fickle +and uncertain as he grew older, or took vengeance by encouraging the +rumor that he and Evelyn Porter were engaged. + +Wheaton called at the Porters' often, but he did not go now with Warry +Raridan; he even took some pains to go when Raridan did not. He knew +just how much time to allow himself between The Bachelors' and the +Porter door bell in order to reach the drawing-room at five minutes past +eight. He was now considered one of the men that went out a good deal in +Clarkson; he was invited to many houses, and began to wonder that social +enjoyment was so easy. It seemed long ago that he had been a leading +figure in the ball of the Knights of Midas. Looking back at that +incident he was sensible of its poverty and tawdriness; he had +sacrificed himself for the public good, and the community shared in the +joke of it. + +Porter had an amiable way of darting out of the library in the evenings +when he and Evelyn were both at home, to see who came in; not that he +was abnormally curious as to who rang the door bell, though he enjoyed +occasionally a colloquy with a tramp; but he was always on the lookout +for telegrams, of which he received a great many at home, and he +declared in his chaffing note of complaint that the people in the house +were forever hiding them from him. He sometimes brought home bundles of +papers and spent whole evenings digesting them and making computations. +Without realizing that Wheaton was in his house pretty often, he was +glad to know that his cashier came. When he found that Wheaton was in +the drawing-room he usually went over to talk to him in the interim +before Evelyn came down. Sometimes a bit of news in the evening paper +gave him a text. + +"I see that they've had a shaking up over at St. Joe. Well, Wigglesworth +never was any good. They ought to have had more sense than to get caught +by him. Well, sir, you remember he was offering his paper up here. We +could have had a barrel of it; but when a man of his credit peddles his +paper away from home, it's a good thing to let alone. When they figure +up Wigglesworth's liabilities they will find that he has paper scattered +all over the Missouri Valley, and I'll bet the Second's stuck. The last +time I saw Wigglesworth he was up at the club one day with Buskirk. He'd +been in to see me the day before. I guessed then that he was looking for +help which they didn't think he was worth at home." And then, with a +chuckle: "Our people," meaning his directors, "think sometimes we're too +conservative, and I reckon I do lose a lot of business for them that +other fellows would take and get out of all right; but I guess we make +more in the long run by being careful. Banking ain't exactly stove +polish or vitalized barley, to put up in pretty packages and advertise +on the billboards." + +Wheaton was honestly sympathetic and responsive along these lines. He +admired Porter, although he often felt that the president made mistakes; +yet he, too, believed in conservatism; it was a matter of temperament +rather than principle. This mingling of social and business elements +pleased and flattered Wheaton. He felt that his position in the Porter +bank gave him a double footing in the Porter house. Porter usually +ignored Evelyn's presence while he finished whatever he was saying. Then +he would go back to his chair in the library, where he could hear the +voices across the hall; but he never remained after he had concluded his +own talk with Wheaton. + +Sometimes, however, when there were other men in the house, Porter would +come and stand in the door and regard them good-humoredly, and nod to +them amiably, usually with his cigar in his mouth and the evening +newspaper in his hand. When there was a good deal of laughing he would +go over and gaze upon them questioningly and quiz them; but they usually +felt the restraint of his presence. If they repeated to him some story +which had prompted their mirth, he was wont to rebuke them with affected +seriousness, or he would tell them a story of his own. He expected +Evelyn to receive a great deal of attention. He liked to know who her +callers were and where she herself visited, and it pleased him that she +had called on all her mother's old friends, whether they had been to see +her or not. He had a sense of the dignities and proprieties of life, and +he felt his own prestige as a founder of the town; it would have been a +source of grief to him if Evelyn had not taken a leading place among its +young people. + +The theater was the one diversion that appealed to him, and he liked to +take Evelyn with him, and wanted her to sit in a box so that he might +show her off to better advantage. He could not understand why she +preferred seats in the orchestra; Timothy Margrave and his daughter +always sat in a box, and young men were forever running in to talk to +Mabel between the acts. Porter thought that this showed a special +deference to the Margrave girl, as he called her, and for her father +too, by implication, and he resented anything that looked like a slight +upon Evelyn. He was afraid that she did not entertain enough, and since +the girls who visited them in the fall had left, he had been insisting +that she must have others come to see her. He had made her tell him +about all the girls she had known in college; his curiosity in such +directions was almost insatiable. He always demanded to know what their +fathers did for a livelihood, and he had been surprised to find that so +many of Evelyn's classmates had been daughters of inconspicuous +families, and that the young women were in many cases fitting themselves +to teach. He had pretty thoroughly catalogued all of Evelyn's college +friends, and he suggested about once a week that she have some of them +out. + +Sometimes, after Evelyn's callers had gone, she and her father sat and +talked in the library. + +"I don't see what you young people can find to say so much about," he +would say; or: "What was Warry gabbling about so long?" + +She always told him what had been talked about, with a careful +frankness, lest he might imagine that the visits of Wheaton or Warry, or +any one else, had a special intention. She crossed over to the library +one night after several callers had left, and found her father more +absorbed than usual in a mass of papers which lay on the large table +before him. He put down his glasses and lay back in his chair wearily. + +"Well, girl, is it time to go to bed? Sit down there and tell me the +news." + +"There isn't anything worth telling; you know there isn't much +information in the average caller." He yawned and rubbed his eyes and +paid no attention to her answer. He had asked a few days before whether +she cared to go to Chicago to hear the opera, and she had said that she +would go if he would; and he now wished to talk this out with her. + +"The Whipples are going over to Chicago for the opera," he ventured. + +"But you're not getting ready to back out! You ought to be ashamed of +yourself." She rose and went toward him menacingly, and he put up his +hands as if to ward off her attack. + +"But you can have just as much fun with the general as you could with +me." + +"No, I can't; and for another thing you need a rest. You never go away +except on business; the fact is, you never get business out of your +mind. Now, let me gather up these things for you." She reached for the +array of balance sheets on his table, and he threw his arms over them +protectingly. + +"Please go away! I've spent all evening straightening these things +out." She retreated to her chair, and he began rolling up his papers. + +"You'd better go with the Whipples, and Mrs. Whipple will help you do +your shopping. It doesn't seem to me that you have many clothes. You'd +better get some more." + +"You can't buy me off that way, father. Either you go or I don't." He +turned toward her again when he had rolled his papers into a packet and +fixed a rubber band around them. She knew, as she usually did after such +approaches, that he wanted to say something in particular. + +"You mustn't settle down too soon. You can't always be young, and you +can easily get into a rut here." + +"Yes, but I haven't had time yet; I've hardly got settled. I want to get +acquainted at home before I go away. I'm afraid they still look on me as +a pilgrim and a stranger here." + +"But they're all nice to you, ain't they?" he demanded sharply. + +"They are certainly as kind as can be," she answered. "I haven't a +single complaint. I'm having just the time I wanted to have when I came +home." + +"I don't want to lose you too soon, girl." It was half a question. She +wondered whether this could be what he had been leading up to. + +"And I don't want you to lose me at all! I didn't come home after all +these years to have you lose me." + +"Oh, I don't mean right away," he said. "But sometime--sometime you will +have to go, I suppose." + +"I'm certainly not thinking of it." She was laughing and trying to break +his mood; but he was very serious, and took a cigar from his pocket and +put it in his mouth. + +"You'll have to go sometime; and when you do, I want the right kind of a +man to have you." + +"So do I, father." + +"You are old enough to understand that a girl in your position is likely +to be sought by men who may--who may--well, who may be swayed somewhat +by worldly considerations." + +"Isn't that a trifle hard on me? I hoped I was a little more attractive +than that, father." + +"You know what I mean," he went on. "I guess we can tell that sort when +they come around. I've had an idea that you might choose to marry away +from here; you've been away a good deal; you must have met a good many +young men, brothers of your friends--" + +"Yes, I met them, father, and that was all there was to it." + +"I shouldn't like you to marry away from here. I've been afraid you +wouldn't like our old town. I guess we fellows that started it like it +better than anybody else does; but I can see how you might not care so +much for it." He waited, and she knew that he wanted her to disavow any +such feeling. + +"Why, I've never had any idea of wanting to live anywhere else! I don't +believe I'd be happy away from here. It's home, and it always will be +home. I hope we can stay and keep the old house here--" + +She sat forward with her arms on the curved sides of the chair. He did +not heed what she said. Older people have this way with youth when they +are intent on the impression they wish to make and count upon +acquiescence. + +"I don't want you to sacrifice yourself for me out of any sense of duty; +the time will come when it will be all right for you to go, and when it +comes I want you to go to a man who's decent and square--" He paused as +if trying to think of desirable attributes. "I don't care whether he's +got much or not, but I like young men who know how to work for a living +and who've got a little common sense. I guess we don't need any dukes or +counts in our family; we've all been honest and decent as far as I know, +and I reckon Americans are good enough for us. I don't know that what +I've got would support one of those French counts more than a week or +two." His eyes brightened as they met hers. The idea of a titled +son-in-law amused him, and Evelyn laughed out merrily. She did not +altogether like the turn of the talk, but she was curious to know what +he was driving at. + +"You understand I don't want to appear to dictate," he went on +magnanimously. "I don't believe in that. Nobody knows as well as a girl +whom she wants to marry. Sometimes girls make pretty bad breaks; but I +guess most marriages are happy. Men are not all good, and there are some +mighty foolish women, besides the downright wicked ones. I guess our +young men in Clarkson are as good as there are anywhere. Most of them +have to work, and that's good for them. I guess I appreciate family and +that kind of thing as well as the next man, but it ain't everything." He +was speaking slowly, and when he made a long pause here, Evelyn rose and +went over to the open grate and poked in the ashes for the few +remaining coals. He watched her as she stooped, noting, half +consciously, the fine line of her profile, the ripple of light in her +hair, the girlishness of her slim figure. + +"No use of fooling with that fire," he said. She knew that he wished to +say more, and she put the poker in its brass rack and rose and stood by +the mantel. + +"At my age, life gets more uncertain every day; I seem to be pretty +sound, but I was sixty-four my last birthday, and if I'd been in the +army they would have kicked me out of my job; but so long as I work for +myself I suppose I'll hang on until I can't stand up in the harness any +more." + +"But that's a mistake, father," she put in. "Why shouldn't you take some +rest now? If there's no other way, why not close out your interest in +the bank and take things easier? You ought to travel; you've never been +out of the country, and there are lots of things in Europe that you'd +enjoy; the rest and change would do you a world of good. Can't we go +this summer, and take Grant? It would be nice for us all to go +together." + +He shook his head with the deprecating air which men of Porter's type +have for such suggestions. "It would be mighty nice, but I can't do it. +Here's Thompson away, and no telling when he'll be back, and I have +other things besides the bank to look after; more than you know about." +She knew only vaguely what his interests were, for he never mentioned +them to her; he believed that women are incapable of comprehending such +things; and his natural secretiveness was always on guard. He even +entertained a kind of superstition that if he told of anything he was +planning he jeopardized his chances of success. + +"No, I guess there ain't going to be any Europe for me just now. But I'd +be glad to have you and Grant go." He had been side-tracked in his talk, +and chewed his cigar while trying to find the way back to the main line. +Then he broke out irrelevantly: + +"Warry doesn't seem to settle down. We used to think Warry had great +things in him, but they're mighty slow coming out." + +"Well, he's still young," said Evelyn. "It takes a young man a long time +to get a start these days in the professions." Her father looked at her +keenly. + +"I'm afraid it isn't lack of opportunity with Warry. If he'd ever get +after anything in real earnest he could make it go; but he seems to fool +away his time." He said this as if he expected Evelyn to continue her +defense, but she said merely: + +"It's too bad if he's doing that when he has ability." She walked back +to her chair and sat down. She knew that Warry was really at work, but +she was afraid to show any particular knowledge of him. + +"It's one of the queer things to me that young fellows who have every +chance don't seem to get on as well as others who haven't any backing. +Now, all Warry had to do was to stay in his office and attend to +business--or that's all he needed to do three or four years ago, when he +set up to practise; but now everybody's given him up. A man who doesn't +want an opportunity in this world doesn't have to kick it very hard to +get rid of it. Other fellows, who never had any chance, are watching for +the luckier ones to slip back. There are never any lonesome places on +the ladder. Now, there's Wheaton--" He again examined Evelyn's face in +one of those tranquil stares with which he made his most minute scrutiny +of people. "Wheaton ain't a showy fellow like Warry, but he's one of the +sort that make their way because they keep an eye open to the main +chance. Jim came into the bank as a messenger, and I guess he's had +pretty much every job we've got, and he's done them well." He had +lighted his cigar and was talking volubly. "When Thompson played out and +had to go away, we looked around for somebody on the inside who knew the +run of our business to put in there to help me. None of the directors +wanted to come in, and so we pulled Jim out of the paying teller's cage, +and he's just about saved my back. Now, Jim's not so smart, but he's +steady and safe, and that's what counts in business." + +He leaned back in his chair and wobbled the cigar in his mouth. + +"These young Napoleons of finance are forever chasing off to Canada with +other folks' money; they're too brilliant. I tell 'em down town that it +ain't genius we want in business, it's just ordinary, plain, every-day +talent for getting down early and staying at your job. That's what I +say. There was Smith over at the Drovers' National; he was a clear case +of genius. They thought over there that he was making business by +chasing around the country attending banquets and speaking at bankers' +conventions. I guess Smith's essays were financially sound too, for +Smith knew finance, scientific finance, like a college professor, and +used to come to the clearing-house meetings and talk to beat the band +about what Bagehot said and how the Bank of England did; but all the +time he was spending his Sundays over in Kansas City, drumming up +banking business by playing poker with the gentlemen he expected to get +for his customers. He's running a laundry now on the wrong side of the +Canadian border. Over at the Drovers' they ain't so terribly scientific +now, and their cashier don't have an expense fund to carry him around +the country making connections. Making connections!" he repeated, and +chuckled. He had the conceit of his own wisdom, and while he was always +generous in his dealings with his rivals, and had several times helped +them out of difficulties, he rejoiced in their errors and congratulated +himself on his foresight and caution. + +"You oughtn't to laugh at the downfall of other people," said Evelyn; +"it's wicked of you." But she was laughing herself at his enjoyment of +his own joke, and was proud of the qualities which she knew had +contributed to his success. He felt baffled that he had not fully +concluded all he had intended to say about Wheaton and his merits, but +he did not see his way back to the subject, and he rose yawning. + +"I guess it's time to go to bed," he said, and he went about turning off +the electric lights by the buttons in the hall. Evelyn went upstairs +ahead of him, and kissed him good night at his door. + +"You'd better go to the opera with the Whipples," he called to her over +his shoulder, as he waited for her to reach her own door before turning +off the upper hall light. + +"Not a bit of it," she answered through the dark. + +The novel with which Evelyn tried to read herself to sleep that night +did not hold her attention, and after her memory had teased her into +impatience, she threw the book down and for a long time lay thinking. +She knew her father so well that she had no doubt of the current of his +thought and his wish to praise James Wheaton and disparage Warry +Raridan, and it troubled her; not because she herself had any +well-defined preferences as between them or in their favor as against +all other men she knew; but it seemed to her that her father had +disclosed his own feeling rather unnecessarily and pointedly. + +Suddenly, as she lay thinking and staring at the walls, life took on new +and serious aspects, and she did not want it to be so. Because she had +been so much away from home the provincial idea that every man that +calls on a girl, or takes her to a theater in our free, unchaperoned +way, is a serious suitor had not impressed her. She had expected to come +home and enjoy herself indefinitely, and had idealized a situation in +which she should be the stay of her father through his old age, and the +chum and guide of her brother, in whom the repetition of her mother's +characteristics strongly appealed to her. There had been little trouble +or grief in her life, and now for the first time she saw uncertainties +ahead where a few hours before everything had seemed simple and clear. +She had felt no offense when her father spoke slightingly of Warry +Raridan; she knew that her father really liked him, as every one did, +and she would not have hesitated to say that she admired him greatly, +even in his possession of those traits which betrayed the weaknesses of +his character. She certainly had no thought of him save as a whimsical +and amusing friend, a playmate who had never grown up. + +It was true that he had made love to her, or had tried to; but she had +no faith in his sincerity. She had first felt amused, and then a little +sorry, when he had gone to work so earnestly. He took the trouble to +remind her frequently that it was all for her, and she laughed at him +and at the love-making which he was always attempting and which she +always thwarted. Saxton did not come often to the house, but when he +came he exercised his ingenuity to bring Raridan into the talk in the +rare times that they were alone together. She knew why Saxton praised +her friend to her, and it increased her liking for him. It is curious +how a woman's pity goes out to a man; any suggestion of misfortune makes +an excuse for her to clothe him with her compassion. It is as though +Nature, in denying gifts or inflicting punishment, hastened to throw in +compensations. Saxton asked so little, and beamed so radiantly when +given so little; he received kindnesses so shyly, as if, of course, they +could not be meant for him, but it was all right anyway, and he would +move on just as soon as the other fellow came. + +As for Wheaton, he was certainly not frivolous, and her father's respect +for him and dependence on him had communicated itself to her. He was so +much older than she; and at twenty-two, thirty-five savors of antiquity; +but he was steady, and steadiness was a trait that she respected. He was +terribly formal, but he was kind and thoughtful; he was even handsome, +or at least so every one said. + +She lay dreaming until the clock on the mantel chimed midnight, when +she reached for the novel that had fallen on the coverlet, to put it on +the stand beside her bed. A card which she had been using as a mark fell +from the book; she picked it up and turned it over to see whose it was. +It was John Saxton's. + +"Father didn't say anything about him," she said aloud. She thrust the +card back into the book and reached up and snapped out the light. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A FORECAST AT THE WHIPPLES' + + +There was a cup of tea at the Whipples' for any one that dropped in at +five o'clock. The general kept a syphon in the icebox, and his wife's +tea, which he loathed, gave him his excuse. He was fond of saying that +an exacting government made it impossible for an army officer to get +acquainted with his wife until after his retirement, and then, he +declared, there was nothing to discuss but the opportunities in life +which they had missed. They talked a great deal to each other about +their neighbors, and about their friends in the army whose lives they +were able to follow through the daily list of transfers in the +newspapers, and the ampler current history of the military establishment +in the Army and Navy Journal. Few men in Clarkson had time for the +general. He found the club an unsocial place, and he preferred his own +battered copies of "Pendennis" and "Henry Esmond" to anything in the +club library. Occasionally when Mrs. Whipple was out for luncheon he +went to the club for midday sustenance, but the other men who hurried +through their forty cents' worth of table d'hote, talked of matters that +were as alien to him as marine law. It would have suited the general +much better to live in Washington, where others with equally little to +do assembled in force; but his wife would not hear to it. She would not +have her husband, she said, becoming a professional pall bearer, and +this was the occupation of retired officers of the army and navy at the +capital. He submitted to her superior authority, as he always did, and +settled in Clarkson, where one could get much more for one's money than +in Washington. + +The general usually remained in the Indian room at the tea hour, +particularly if he liked the talk of the women who appeared, or if they +were good to look at; otherwise he carried his syphon to the +dining-room, where there was a bottle of the same brand of rye whisky +which he kept back of "The Life of Peter the Great" in a book case in +the Indian room. He and Mrs. Whipple had gone to the opera without +Evelyn, and the general was now settling himself to his domestic +routine. He had dodged a woman whose prattle vexed him and whose call +had been prolonged, and having heard the door close upon her, he was +returning to his own preserve with the intention of getting some hot +water from Mrs. Whipple's tea kettle for use in compounding a punch, +when Bishop Delafield came in, bringing a great draft of cold air with +his huge figure. The bishop was a friend of many years' standing. His +sonorous voice filled the room and aided the fire in promoting +cheeriness. Mrs. Whipple brewed her tea, and the general made his +punch,--for two--for it was certainly snowing somewhere in the Diocese +of Clarkson, the bishop said, and he had established his joke with the +general that he might allow himself spirits in bad weather, as a +preventive of the rheumatism which he never had. The three made a cozy +picture as they grouped themselves about the bright hearth. They were +discussing the marriage of an old officer whom they all knew, a man of +Whipple's own age, who had just married a woman much his junior. + +"It's easy for us all to philosophize adversely about such things," said +the general, sitting up straight in his camp chair. "I have a good deal +of sympathy with Bixby. He was lonely and his children were all married +and scattered to the four winds. I suppose there's nothing worse than +loneliness." + +His wife frowned at him; their friend's long sorrow and his fidelity to +his memories appealed to all the romance in her. + +"It's very different," Mrs. Whipple made haste to say, "where there are +children at home. Now there's Mr. Porter; he has Evelyn and Grant." + +"But that probably won't last long," said the bishop. "Girls have a way +of leaving home." + +"Well, there's nothing imminent?" asked Mrs. Whipple, anxiously. + +"Oh, no! And girls that have been educated as she has been are likely to +choose warily, aren't they?" + +"Nothing in it," said the general, stirring his glass. "They all go when +they get ready, without notice. Education doesn't change that." + +"It strikes me that there aren't many eligible men here," said the +bishop. "To be explicit, just whom shall a girl like Evelyn Porter +marry?" He did not intend this for the general, who was refilling the +glasses, but the general refused to be ignored. + +"It's my observation," he began, with an air of having much to impart, +if they would only let him alone, "that in every town the size of this +there are people who are predestined to marry. They fight it as hard as +they can, and dodge their destinies wherever possible; but it's a pretty +sure thing that ultimately they'll hit it off." + +"That sounds like a sort of social presbyterianism to me," said the +bishop dryly, "and therefore heretical." He was really interested in +knowing what Mrs. Whipple knew or felt on this subject as it affected +Evelyn Porter. "Now you've been better trained, Mrs. Whipple," he said. + +"Well, so far as Evelyn's concerned," she answered, knowing that this +was what the bishop wanted, "I'm not worrying about her. She's a +sensible girl and will take care of herself. I'm not half so much afraid +of destiny as of propinquity. We all know how the bachelor captain goes +down before the sister, or the in-law of some kind, of the colonel of +the regiment." + +"That's not propinquity," said the general; "that's ordinary Christian +charity on the captain's part." + +"Suppose," said the bishop slowly, "the commandant so to speak, is +really a banker, with a trusted officer, a kind of adjutant at his +elbow; and also a handsome daughter. Assume such a hypothetical case, +and what are you going to do about it?" He drained his glass and put it +down carefully. + +"This looks like the appeal direct," answered Mrs. Whipple, laughing and +looking at her husband, who was meditating another punch and feeling for +the scent blindly. + +"I don't know about that Mr. Wheaton," said Mrs. Whipple, meeting the +issue squarely. "He doesn't seem amusing to me, but then--I don't know +him!" + +"Must one be amusing?" asked the bishop. + +"Oh, I mean more than that!" exclaimed Mrs. Whipple. "Don't we always +mean intelligent when we say amusing?" + +"Definitions certainly change. We are growing terribly exacting these +days. But," he added, serious again, "Wheaton's a success; he's pointed +to as one of Clarkson's rising men; one of the really self-made." + +"Yes; I fancy he never knew Evelyn before the Knights of Midas ball;" +and she sighed, wondering whether she was culpable. She knew that the +bishop meant more than he had said and that this was a kind of warning +to her. She felt guilty, remembering the ball, and the appeal Evelyn had +made to her beforehand. A woman that has enjoyed a long career of +fancied infallibility experiences sorrow when she suddenly questions the +wisdom of her own judgments. + +"What's the matter with Warry Raridan?" demanded the general. "He's got +to marry somebody some day; he and Evelyn would make a very proper +match. Wouldn't they?" he pleaded, when his wife and their visitor did +not respond promptly. + +"Oh, Warry's well enough," the bishop answered. "But Warry's an +uncertain quantity. He's a fine, clean fellow, with all kinds of +possibilities; but--they're possibilities!" + +"Warry's certainly bright enough," said General Whipple. + +"His sense of humor is a trifle too keen for every-day use," said the +bishop. + +"What's he been up to now?" asked the general. + +The bishop laughed quietly to himself. + +"It was this way. You know Warry's interest in church matters is +abnormal. The boy really knows a lot of theology for one who has never +studied it. He has, he says, a neat taste in bishops, whatever that +means--" the bishop chuckled softly,--"and whenever one of my brethren +visits me, Warry always lays himself out to give us what he calls a warm +little time. A few days ago I had a letter from the Patriarch of +Alexandria, whom I don't know, in which he set forth that Doctor Warrick +Raridan, of my diocese, had written him proposing a great reunion of +Christendom, based on the Coptic rite. As neither the Roman, the Greek, +nor the Anglican Church afforded a common meeting ground, owing to many +difficulties, the American gentleman had suggested that all might meet +at Alexandria. The Patriarch was delighted. Doctor Raridan had suggested +me as a reference, hence the venerable prelate wished to know my opinion +of the extent of the movement. I suppose Warry did that as a joke on me, +or to get the Patriarch's autograph, I don't know which. I haven't seen +Warry since, but I'm disposed to dust his jacket for him in a fatherly +way when I get hold of him. I don't know why the Patriarch should call +Warry 'Doctor.' He probably assumed that a man who could write as good a +letter as Warry is capable of must be a person of distinction." + +"Warry's a gentleman, at any rate," said Mrs. Whipple. + +"Which Wheaton isn't; is that the idea?" demanded the general; and then +added: "This Wheaton strikes me as being a wooden kind of fellow. He +acts as if he hadn't been used to things." + +"Sh-h! be careful! That's no test of worth on the banks of the +Missouri," said his wife warningly. + +"Do you mean to say that Evelyn Porter's chances have been fully +covered?" demanded the general. He liked gossip and hoped the subject +would prove more fruitful. + +"There's Mr. Saxton," said his wife. "He seems altogether possible." + +"He's the new man, isn't he? He always lifts his hat to me in the +street; an unusual attention in this ill-mannered age." + +"Does _he_ act as if he had been used to things?" asked the bishop. He +was still seriously interested in canvassing Evelyn's case. + +"He's very nice," Mrs. Whipple said; "but he's not desperately exciting, +as the girls say." + +"But then!" The bishop lifted his hands with a despairing gesture, "must +young men be amusing or exciting in these days? Is he honest? Does he +lead a clean life? Has he, as the saying is, an outlook on life?" + +"He isn't seeing much of Evelyn, I think," said Mrs. Whipple. "And he's +a great friend of Warry's. They may offset each other." + +"Bless my soul!" exclaimed the general, "I don't see any use in worrying +over Evelyn Porter and her suitors. She'll have plenty of them. And when +she gets good and ready she'll up and marry one of them." + +"No girl with at least three possibilities in one town, to say nothing +of dozens she may have elsewhere, need be a subject of commiseration," +said Mrs. Whipple. + +"But," began the bishop slowly, "it might be better to eliminate at +least one." + +"Not Warry!" threw in Mrs. Whipple. + +"Not Saxton," added the general. "I like him; he's polite and thoughtful +about us old folks." + +The bishop had risen, knowing that the climax of a conversation is best +given standing. + +"I shouldn't cut out either of them," he said, smiling. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +ORCHARD LANE + + +After the interim of quiet that Lent always brings in Clarkson, the +spring came swiftly. There was a renewal of social activities which ran +from dances and teas into outdoor gatherings. Evelyn had enjoyed to the +full her experience of home. She had plunged into the frivolities of the +town with a zest that was a trifle emphasized through her wish to escape +any charge of being pedantic or literary. She was glad that she had gone +to college, but she did not wish this fact of her life to be the +haunting ghost of her days; and by the end of the winter she felt that +she had pretty effectually laid it. + +In June Mr. Porter began discussing summer plans with Evelyn. He +eliminated himself from them; he could not get away, he said. But there +was Grant to be considered. The boy was at school in New Hampshire, and +Evelyn protested that it was not wise to subject him to the intense heat +of a Clarkson summer. The first hot wave sent Porter to bed with a +trifling illness, and his doctor took the opportunity to look him over +and tell him that it was imperative for him to rest. Thompson came home +from Arizona to spend the summer. He and Wheaton were certainly equal to +the care of the bank, so they urged upon Porter, and he finally +yielded. Evelyn found a hotel on the Massachusetts North Shore which +sounded well in the circulars, and her father agreed to it. When they +reached Orchard Lane he liked it better than he had expected; the hotel +was one of those vast caravansaries where all sorts and conditions +assemble; and he was reassured by the click of the telegraph instrument +and the presence of the long distance telephone booth in the office. He +was a cockney of the rankest kind and it dulled the edge of his +isolation to know that he was not entirely cut off from the world. Every +night he sat down with cipher telegrams, and constructed from Thompson's +statistics the day's business in the bank. He received daily from New +York the closing quotations on the shares he was interested in, and as +he walked the long hotel verandas he effected a transmigration of spirit +which put him back in his swivel chair in the Clarkson National. + +Evelyn made him drive with her and Grant, and dragged him to the golf +course, where she was the star player, and where Grant was learning the +game. + +A college friend of Evelyn's, in one of the near-by cottages, asked her +neighbors to call on the Porters. The fact that the cottagers thus set +the mark of their approval upon the Westerners, gave them distinction at +the hotel. Several men of Porter's age took him to their quieter porches +and found him interesting; they liked his stories, though they hardly +excused his ignorance of whist; in their hearts they accused him of +poker, of which he was guiltless. Incidentally they got a good deal of +information from him touching their Western interests; it was worth +while to know a man that received the crop news ahead of the +newspapers. He liked the praise of Evelyn which was constantly reaching +him; she was the prettiest girl in the place; her golf was certainly +better than any other girl's. When she won a cup in the tournament he +waited anxiously to see what the Boston papers said about it, and he +surreptitiously mailed the cuttings home to the Clarkson _Gazette_. + +In August Warry Raridan appeared suddenly and threw himself into the +gaieties of the place for a fortnight. Mr. Porter asked him to sit at +their table and marveled at the way Evelyn snubbed him, even to the +extent of running away for three days with some friends who had a yacht +and who carried her to Newport for a dance. During her absence Warry +made all the other girls about the place happy; they were sure that +"that Miss Porter" was treating him shabbily and their hearts went out +to him. Warry sulked when Evelyn returned and they had an interview +between dances at a Saturday night hop. + +He sought again for recognition as a lover; she had not praised the +efforts he had been making to win her approval by diligence at his +office; he took care to call her attention to his changed habits. + +"But, Evelyn, I am doing differently. I know that I wasted myself for +years so that I'm a kind of joke and everybody laughs about me. But I +want to know--I want to feel that I'm doing it for you! Don't you know +how that would help me and steady me? Won't you let it be for you?" He +came close to her and stood with his arms folded, but she drew away from +him with a despairing gesture. + +"Oh, Warry," she cried, wearily, "you poor, foolish boy! Don't you know +that you must do all things for yourself?" + +"Yes," he returned eagerly. "I know that; I understand perfectly; but if +you'd only let me feel that you wanted it--" + +"I want you to succeed, but you will never do it for any one, if you +don't do it for yourself." + +He went home by an early train next morning to receive Saxton's +consolation and to turn again to his law books. Margrave, on behalf of +the Transcontinental, had offered to compromise the case of the poor +widow whose clothes lines had been interfered with; but Raridan rejected +this tender. He needed something on which to vent his bad spirits, and +he gave his thought to devising means of transferring the widow's cause +to the federal court. The removal of causes from state to federal courts +was, Warry frequently said, one of the best things he did. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +JAMES WHEATON MAKES A COMPUTATION + + +Porter's vacation was not altogether wasted. As he lounged about and +philosophized to the Bostonians on Western business conditions, his +restless mind took hold of a new project. It was suggested to him by the +inquiries of a Boston banker, who owned a considerable amount of +Clarkson Traction bonds and stock which he was anxious to sell. Porter +gave a discouraging account of the company, whose history he knew +thoroughly. The Traction Company had been organized in the boom days and +its stock had been inflated in keeping with the prevailing spirit of the +time. It was first equipped with the cable system in deference to the +Clarkson hills, but later the company made the introduction of the +trolley an excuse for a reorganization of its finances with an even more +generous inflation. The panic then descended and wrought a diminution of +revenue; the company was unable to make the repairs which constantly +became necessary, and the local management fell into the hands of a +series of corrupt directorates. + +There had been much litigation, and some of the Eastern bondholders had +threatened a receivership; but the local stockholders made plausible +excuses for the default of interest when approached amicably, and when +menaced grew insolent and promised trouble if an attempt were made to +deprive them of power. A secretary and a treasurer under one +administration had connived to appropriate a large share of the daily +cash receipts, and before they left the office they destroyed or +concealed the books and records of the company. The effect of this was +to create a mystery as to the distribution of the bonds and the stock. +When Porter came home from his summer vacation, the newspapers were +demanding that steps be taken to declare the Traction franchise forfeit. +But the franchise had been renewed lately and had twenty years to run. +This extension had been procured by the element in control, and the +foreign bondholders, biding their time, were glad to avail themselves of +the political skill of the local officers. + +Porter had been casually asked by his Boston friend whether there was +any local market for the stock or bonds; and he had answered that there +was not; that the holders of shares in Clarkson kept what they had +because they could no longer sell to one another and that they were only +waiting for the larger outside bondholders and shareholders to assert +themselves. Porter had ridden down to Boston with his brother banker and +when they parted it was with an understanding that the Bostonian was to +collect for Porter the Clarkson Traction securities that were held by +New England banks, a considerable amount, as Porter knew; and he went +home with a well-formed plan of buying the control of the company. Times +were improving and he had faith in Clarkson's future; he did not believe +in it so noisily as Timothy Margrave did; but he knew the resources of +the tributary country, and he had, what all successful business men must +have, an alert imagination. + +It was not necessary for Porter to disclose the fact of his purchases to +the officers of the Traction Company, whom he knew to be corrupt and +vicious; the transfer of ownership on the company's books made no +difference, as the original stock books had been destroyed,--a fact +which had become public property through a legal effort to levy on the +holdings of a shareholder in the interest of a creditor. Moreover, if he +could help it, Porter never told any one about anything he did. He even +had several dummies in whose names he frequently held securities and +real estate. One of these was Peckham, a clerk in the office of Fenton, +Porter's lawyer. + +Wheaton had not long been an officer of the bank before he began to be +aware that there was considerable mystery about Porter's outside +transactions. Porter occasionally perused with much interest several +small memorandum books which he kept carefully locked in his desk. The +president often wrote letters with his own hand and copied them himself +after bank hours, in a private letter-book. Wheaton was naturally +curious as to what these outside interests might be. It had piqued him +to find that while he was cashier of the bank he was not consulted in +its larger transactions; and that of Porter's personal affairs he knew +nothing. + +One afternoon shortly after Porter's return from the East, Wheaton, who +was waiting for some letters to sign, picked up a bundle of checks from +the desk of one of the individual bookkeepers. They were Porter's +personal checks which had that day been paid and were now being charged +to his private account. Wheaton turned them over mechanically; it was +not very long since he had been an individual bookkeeper himself; he had +entered innumerable checks bearing Porter's name without giving them a +thought. As the slips of paper passed through his fingers, he accounted +for them in one way or another and put them back on the desk, face down, +as a man always does who has been trained as a bank clerk. The last of +them he held and studied. It was a check made payable to Peckham, +Fenton's clerk. The amount was $9,999.00,--too large to be accounted for +as a payment for services; for Peckham was an elderly failure at the law +who ran errands to the courts for Fenton and sometimes took charge of +small collection matters for the bank. Wheaton paid the attorney fees +for the bank; this check had nothing to do with the bank, he was sure. +The check, with its curious combination of figures, puzzled and +fascinated him. + +A few days later, in the course of business, he asked Porter what +disposition he should make of an application for a loan from a country +customer. Porter rang for the past correspondence with their client, and +threw several letters to Wheaton for his information. Wheaton read them +and called the stenographer to dictate the answer which Porter had +indicated should be made. He held the client's last letter in his hand, +and in concluding turned it over into the wire basket which stood on his +desk. As it fell face downwards his eye caught some figures on the back, +and he picked it up thinking that they might relate to the letter. The +memorandum was in Porter's large uneven hand and read: + + + 303 + 33 + ---- + 909 + 909 + ---- + 9999 + + +The result of the multiplication was identical with the amount of +Peckham's check. Again the figures held his attention. Local securities +were quoted daily in the newspapers, and he examined the list for that +day. There was no quotation of thirty-three on anything; the nearest +approach was Clarkson Traction Company at thirty-five. The check which +had interested him had been dated three days before, and he looked back +to the quotation list for that date. Traction was given at thirty-three. +Wheaton was pleased by the discovery; it was a fair assumption that +Porter was buying shares of Clarkson Traction; he would hardly be buying +foreign securities through Peckham. The stock had advanced two points +since it had been purchased, and this, too, was interesting. Clearly, +Porter knew what he was about,--he had a reputation for knowing; and if +Clarkson Traction was a good thing for the president to pick up quietly, +why was it not a good thing for the cashier? He waited a day; Traction +went to thirty-six. Then he called after banking hours at the office of +a real estate dealer who also dealt in local stocks and bonds on a small +scale. He chose this man because he was not a customer of the bank, and +had never had any transactions with the bank or with Porter, so far as +Wheaton knew. His name was Burton, and he welcomed Wheaton cordially. +He was alone in his office, and after an interchange of courtesies, +Wheaton came directly to the point of his errand. + +"Some friends of mine in the country own a small amount of Traction +stock; they've written me to find out what its prospects are. Of course +in the bank we know in a general way about it, but I suppose you handle +such things and I want to get good advice for my friends." + +"Well, the truth is," said Burton, flattered by this appeal, "the bottom +was pretty well gone out of it, but it's sprucing up a little just now. +If the charter's knocked out it is only worth so much a pound as old +paper; but if the right people get hold of it the newspapers will let +up, and there's a big thing in it. How much do your friends own?" + +"I don't know exactly," said Wheaton, evenly; "I think not a great deal. +Who are buying just now? I notice that it has been advancing for several +days. Some one seems to be forcing up the price." + +"Nobody in particular, that is, nobody that I know of. I asked Billy +Barnes, the secretary, the other day what was going on. He must know who +the certificates are made out to; but he winked and gave me the laugh. +You know Barnes. He don't cough up very easy; and he looks wise when he +doesn't know anything." + +"No; Barnes has the reputation of being pretty close-mouthed," replied +Wheaton. + +"If your friends want to sell, bring in the shares and I'll see what I +can do with them," said Burton. "The outsiders are sure to act soon. +This spurt right now may have nothing back of it. The town's full of +gossip about the company and it ought to send the price down. Your +friend Porter's a smooth one. He was in once, a long time ago, but he +knew when to get out all right." Wheaton laughed with Burton at this +tribute to Porter's sagacity, but he laughed discreetly. He did not +forget that he was a bank officer and dignity was an essential in the +business, as he understood it. + +Within a few days two more checks from Porter to Peckham passed through +the usual channels of the bank. By the simple feat of dividing the +amount of each check by the current quotation on Traction, Wheaton was +able to follow Porter's purchases. The price had remained pretty steady. +Then suddenly it fell to thirty. He wondered what was happening, but the +newspapers, which were continuing their war on the company, readily +attributed it to a lack of confidence in the franchise. Wheaton met the +broker, apparently by chance, but really by intention, in the club one +evening, and remarked casually: + +"Traction seems to be off a little?" + +"Yes; there's something going on there that I can't make out. I imagine +that the fellows that were buying got tired of stimulating the market, +and have thrown a few bunches back to keep the outsiders guessing." + +"Right now might be a good time to get in," suggested Wheaton. + +"I should call it a good buy myself. I guess that franchise is all +right. Better pick up a little," he said, tentatively. + +"To tell the truth," said Wheaton, choosing his words carefully, "those +out of town people I spoke to you about have written me that they'd +like a little more, if it can be got at the right figure. You might pick +up a hundred shares for me at the current price, if you can." + +"How do you want to hold it?" + +"Have it made to me," he answered. He had debated whether he should do +this, and he had been unable to devise any method of holding the stock +without letting his own name appear. Porter would not know; Porter was +concealing his own purchases. Wheaton could not see that it made any +difference; he was surely entitled to invest his money as he liked, and +he raised the sum necessary in this case by the sale of some railroad +bonds which he had been holding, and on which he could realize at once +by sending them to the bank's correspondent at Chicago. He might have +sold them at home; Porter would probably have taken them off his hands; +but the president knew that his capital was small, and might have asked +how he intended to reinvest the proceeds. + +"Of course this is all confidential," said Wheaton. + +"Sure," said Burton. + +"And when you get it, telephone me and I'll come up and settle," said +Wheaton. + +A few days later Burton sent for Wheaton to come to his office. One +hundred shares had been secured from a ranchman. Wheaton carried the +purchase money in currency to Burton's office; he was as shrewd as +William Porter, and he did not care to have the clerks in the bank +speculating about his checks. + +He locked his certificate, when Burton got it for him, in his private +box in the vault, and waited the rebound which he firmly expected in the +price of the stock. His sole idea was to make a profit by the purchase. +He felt perfectly confident that Porter had bought Traction stock with a +definite purpose; he still had no idea who were the principal holders of +Traction stock or bonds, and he was afraid to make inquiry. A man who +was as secretive as Porter probably had confidential sources of +information, and it was not safe to tap Porter's wires. His conscience +was easy as to the method by which he had gained his knowledge of +Porter's purchases; he certainly meant no harm to Porter. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +AN ANNUAL PASS + + +Timothy Margrave was, in common phrase, a good railroad man. He had +advanced by slow degrees from the incumbency of those lowly manual +offices called jobs, to the performance of those nobler functions known +as positions. Margrave's elevation to the office of third vice-president +and general manager was due to his Pull. This was originally political +but later financial; and he now had both kinds of Pulls. There is no +greater arrogance among us than that of our railway officials; they are +greater tyrants than any that sit in public office. The General +Something or Other is a despot, the records of whose life are written in +tissue manifold; his ideals are established for him by those of his own +order who have been raised to a higher power, which he himself aspires +to reach in due season. Margrave had gone as high as he expected to go +with the corporation whose destinies he had done so much to promote; all +who were below him in the Transcontinental knew that he held their lives +in his hands; all his subordinates, down to the boys who carried long +manila envelopes marked R. R. B. to and from trains called him IT. + +Margrave had resolved that the railroad was getting too much out of him +and that he must do more to promote his own fortunes. The directors +were good fellows, and they had certainly treated him well; but it +seemed within the pale of legitimate enterprise for him to broaden his +interests a trifle without in any wise diminishing his zeal for the +Transcontinental. The street railway business was a good business, and +Clarkson Traction appealed to Margrave, moreover, on its political side. +If he reorganized the company and made himself its president he could +greatly fortify and strengthen his Pull. Tim Margrave's Pull was already +of consequence and it would be of great use in this new undertaking; +moreover, it would naturally be augmented by his control of the little +army of Traction employees. He proposed getting some of the Eastern +stockholders of the Transcontinental to help him acquire Traction +holdings sufficient to get control of the company; and, with Margrave, +to decide was to act. + +Almost any day, he was told, the Eastern bondholders might pounce down +and put a receiver in charge of the company. Margrave did not understand +receiverships according to High or Beach or any other legal authority; +but according to Margrave they were an excuse for pillage, and it was a +regret of his life that no fat receivership had ever fallen to his lot. +But he was not going into Traction blindly. He wanted to know who else +was interested, that he might avoid complications. William Porter was +the only man in Clarkson who could swing Traction without assistance; he +must not run afoul of Porter. Margrave was a master of the art of +getting information, and he decided, on reflection, that the easiest way +to get information about Porter was to coax it out of Wheaton. + +He always called Wheaton "Jim," in remembrance of those early days of +Wheaton's residence in Clarkson when Wheaton had worked in his office. +He had watched Wheaton's rise with interest; he took to himself the +credit of being his discoverer. When Wheaton called on his daughter he +made no comment; he knew nothing to Wheaton's discredit, and he would no +more have thought of criticizing Mabel than of ordering dynamite +substituted for coal in the locomotives of his railroad. When he +concluded that he needed Wheaton, he began playing for him, just as if +the cashier had been a councilman or a member of the legislature or a +large shipper or any other fair prey. + +He had unconsciously made a good beginning by making Wheaton the King of +the Carnival; he now resorted to that most insidious and economical form +of bribery known as the annual pass. + +One of these pretty bits of pasteboard was at once mailed to Wheaton by +the Second Assistant General Something on Margrave's recommendation. + +Wheaton accepted the pass as a tribute to his growing prominence in the +town. He knew that Porter refused railroad passes on practical grounds, +holding that such favors were extended in the hope of reciprocal +compliments, and he believed that a banker was better off without them. +Wheaton, whose vanity had been touched, could see no harm in them. He +had little use for passes as he knew and cared little about traveling, +but he had always envied men who carried their "annuals" in little +brass-bound books made for the purpose. To be sure it was late in the +year and passes were usually sent out in January, but this made the +compliment seem much more direct; the Transcontinental had forgotten +him, and had thought it well to rectify the error between seasons. He +felt that he must not make too much of the railroad's courtesy; he did +not know to which official in particular he was indebted, but he ran +into Margrave one evening at the club and decided to thank him. + +"How's traffic?" he asked, as Margrave made room for him on the settee +where he sat reading the evening paper. + +"Fair. Anything new?" + +"No; it's the same routine with me pretty much all the time." + +"I guess that's right. I shouldn't think there was much fun in banking. +You got to keep the public too far away. I like to be up against people +myself." + +"Banking is hardly a sociable business," said Wheaton. + +"No; a good banker's got to have cold feet, as the fellow said." + +"But you railroad people are not considered so very warm," said Wheaton. +"The fellows who want favors seem to think so. By the way, I'm much +obliged to some one for an annual that turned up in my mail the other +day. I don't know who sent it to me,--if it's you--" + +"Um?" Margrave affected to have been wandering in his thoughts, but this +was what he was waiting for. "Oh, I guess that was Wilson. I never fool +with the pass business myself; I've got troubles of my own." + +"I guess I'll not use it very often," said Wheaton, as if he owed an +apology to the road for accepting it. + +"Better come out with me in the car sometime and see the road," +Margrave suggested, throwing his newspaper on the table. + +"I'd like that very much," said Wheaton. + +"Where's Thompson now? Old man's pretty well done up, ain't he?" + +"He went back to Arizona. He was here at work all summer. He's afraid of +our winters." + +"Well, that gives you your chance," said Margrave, affably. "There ain't +any young man in town that's got a better chance than you have, Jim." + +"I know that," said Wheaton, humbly. + +"You don't go in much on the outside, do you? I suppose you don't have +much time." + +"No; I'm held down pretty close; and in a bank you can't go into +everything." + +"Well, there's nothing like keeping an eye out. Good things are not so +terribly common these days." Margrave got up and walked the floor once +or twice, apparently in a musing humor, but he really wished to look +into the adjoining room to make sure they were alone. + +"I believe," he said, with emphasis on the pronoun, "there's going to be +a good thing for some one in Traction stock. Porter ought to let you in +on that." Margrave didn't know that Porter was in, but he expected to +find out. + +"Mr. Porter has a way of keeping things to himself," said Wheaton, +cautiously; yet he was flattered by Margrave's friendliness, and anxious +to make a favorable impression. Vanity is not, as is usually assumed, a +mere incident of character; it is a disease. + +"I suppose," said Margrave, "that a man could buy a barrel of that +stuff just now at a low figure." + +Wheaton could not resist this opportunity. + +"What I have, I got at thirty-one," he answered, as if it were the most +natural thing in the world for him to have Traction stock. This was not +a bank confidence; there was no reason why he should not talk of his own +investments if he wished to do so. + +Margrave had reseated himself, and lounged on the settee with a +confidential air that he had found very effective in the committee rooms +at the state capital when it was necessary to deal with a difficult +legislator. + +"I suppose Porter must have got in lower than that," he said, +carelessly. "Billy usually gets in on the ground floor." He chuckled to +himself in admiration of the banker's shrewdness. "But a fellow can do +what he pleases when he's got money. Most of us see good things and +can't go into the market after 'em." + +"What's your guess as to the turn this Traction business will take?" +asked Wheaton. He had not expected an opportunity to talk to any one of +Margrave's standing on this subject, and he thought he would get some +information while the opportunity offered. + +"Don't ask me! If I knew I'd like to get into the game. But, look +here"--he moved his fat body a little nearer to Wheaton--"the way to go +into that thing is to go into it big! I've had my eye on it for a good +while, but I ain't going to touch it unless I can swing it all. Now, you +know Porter, and I know him, and you can bet your last dollar he'll +never be able to handle it. He ain't built for it!" His voice sank to a +whisper. "But if I decide to go in, I've got to get rid of Porter. Me +and Porter can't travel in the same harness. You know that," he added, +pleadingly, as if there were the bitterness of years of controversy in +his relations with Porter. + +Wheaton nodded sympathetically. + +"Now, I don't know how much he's got"--this in an angry tone, as if +Porter were guilty of some grave offense against him--"and he's so +damned mysterious you can't tell what he's up to. You know how he is; +you can't go to a fellow like that and do business with him, and he +won't play anyhow, unless you play his way." + +"Well, I don't know anything about his affairs, of course," said +Wheaton, yet feeling that Margrave's confidences must be reciprocated. +"Just between ourselves,"--he waited for Margrave to nod and grunt in +his solemn way--"he did buy a little some time ago, but no great amount. +It would take a good deal of money to control that company." + +"You're dead right, it would; and Porter hasn't any business fooling +with it. You've got to syndicate a thing like that. He's probably got a +tip from some one of his Eastern friends as to what they're going to do, +and he's buying in, when he can, to get next. But say, he hasn't any +Traction bonds, has he?" + +Wheaton had already said more than he had intended, and repented now +that he had been drawn into this conversation; but Margrave was bending +toward him with a great air of condescending intimacy. Porter had never +been confidential with him; and it was really Margrave who had given him +his start. + +"I don't think so; at least I never knew of it." His mind was on those +checks to Peckham, which clearly represented purchases of stock. Of +course, Porter might have bonds, too, but having gone thus far he did +not like to admit to Margrave how little he really knew of Porter's +doings. Margrave was puffing solemnly at his cigar, and changed the +subject. When he rose to go and stood stamping down his trousers, which +were forever climbing up his fat legs when he sat, Wheaton felt an +impulse to correct any false impressions which he might have given +Margrave; but he was afraid to try this. He would discredit himself with +Margrave by doing so. He had not intended to leave so early, but he +hated to let go of Margrave, and he followed him into the coat room. + +"That's all between us--that little matter," said Margrave, as they were +helped into their coats by the sleepy colored boy. Wheaton wanted to say +this himself, but Margrave saved him the trouble. + +"Certainly, Mr. Margrave." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +WILLIAM PORTER RETURNS FROM A JOURNEY + + +Porter went into Fenton's private office and shut and locked the door +after him. He always did this, and Fenton, who humored his best client's +whims perforce, pushed back the law book which he was reading and +straightened the pens on his blotter. + +"I didn't expect you back so soon," he said. Porter looked tired and +there were dark rings under his eyes. + +"Short horse soon curried," he remarked, pulling a packet from his +overcoat. + +There was something boyish in Porter's mysterious methods, which always +amused Fenton when they did not alarm and exasperate him. + +Porter sat down at a long table and the lawyer drew up a chair opposite +him. + +"Which way have you been this time?" + +"Down in the country," returned Porter, indefinitely. + +Fenton laughed and watched his client pulling the rubber bands from his +package. + +"What have you there--oats or wheat?" + +"What I have here," said Porter, straightening out the crisp papers he +had taken from his bundle, "is a few shares of Clarkson Traction stock." + +"Oh!" Fenton picked up a ruler and played with it until Porter had +finished counting and smoothing the stock certificates. + +"There you are," said the banker, passing the papers over to Fenton. +"See if they're all right." + +Fenton compared the names on the face of the certificates with the +assignments on the back, while Porter watched him and played with a +rubber band. + +"The assignments are all straight," said Fenton, finally. + +He sat waiting and his silence irritated Porter, who reached across and +took up the certificates again. + +"I want to talk to you a little about Traction." + +"All right, sir," said Fenton, respectfully. + +"I've gone in for that pretty deep this fall." + +Fenton nodded gravely. He felt trouble in the air. + +"I started in on this down East last summer. Those bonds all went East, +but a lot of the stock was kicked around out here. If I get enough and +reorganize the company I can handle the new securities down East all +right. That's business. Now, I've been gathering in the stock around +here on the quiet. Peckham's been buying some for me, and he's assigned +it in blank. There's no use in getting new shares issued until we're +ready to act, for Barnes and those fellows are not above doing something +nasty if they think they're going to lose their jobs." + +"The original stock issue was five thousand shares," said Fenton. "How +much have you?" + +"Well, sir," said Porter, "I've got about half and I'm looking for a few +shares more right now." + +Fenton picked up his ruler again and beat his knuckles with it. Porter +had expected Fenton to lecture him sharply, but the lawyer was ominously +quiet. + +"I'm free to confess," said Fenton, "that I'm sorry you've gone into +this. This isn't the kind of thing that you're in the habit of going +into. I am not much taken with the idea of mixing up in a corporation +that has as disreputable a record as the Traction Company. It's been +mismanaged and robbed until there's not much left for an honest man to +take hold of; they issue no statements; no one of any responsibility has +been connected with it for a long time. The outside stockholders are +scattered all over the country, and most of them have quit trying to +enforce their rights, if they may be said to have any rights. You +remember that the last time they went into court they were knocked out +and I'm free to say that I don't want to have to go into any litigation +against the company." + +"Yes, but the franchise is all straight, ain't it?" + +"Probably it is all right," admitted the lawyer reluctantly, "but that +isn't the whole story by any manner of means. If it's known that you're +picking up the stock, every fellow that has any will soak you good and +hard before he parts with it. Now, there are the bondholders--" + +"Well, what can the bondholders do?" demanded Porter. + +"Oh, get a receiver and have a lot of fun. You may expect that at any +time, too. Those Eastern fellows are slow sometimes, but they generally +know what they're about." + +"Yes, but if they weren't Eastern fellows--" + +"Oh, a bondholder's rights are as good one place as another. Those +suits are usually brought in the name of the trustee in their behalf." + +"Now, do you know what I'm going to do?" demanded Porter, settling back +in his chair and placing his feet on Fenton's table. "I'm going to turn +up at the next annual meeting and clean this thing out. You don't think +it's any good; I've got faith in the company and in the town; I believe +it's going to be a good thing. This little gang here that's been running +it has got to go. I've dug up some stock here that everybody thought was +lost. At the last meeting only eight hundred out of five thousand shares +were voted." + +Fenton frowned and continued to punish himself with the ruler. + +"You beat me! You haven't the slightest idea who the other shareholders +are; the company is thoroughly rotten in all its past history, and here +you go plunging into it up to your eyes. And they say you're the most +conservative banker on the river." + +"I guess you don't have to get me out of many scrapes," said Porter, +doggedly. + +"When's the annual meeting?" asked Fenton, suddenly. + +"It's day after to-morrow--a close call, but I'll make it all right." + +Fenton threw down his ruler impatiently. + +"Mr. Porter, I want you to remember that I haven't given you any advice +at all in this matter. It's an extra hazardous thing that you're doing. +Now, I don't know anything definitely about it, but--I've got the +impression that Margrave's paralleling your lines in this business." +Porter brought his feet down with a crash. + +"Where'd you get that?" + +"It's this way," said Fenton, in his quietest tones. "A Baltimore lawyer +that I know wrote me a letter,--I just got it this morning,--asking me +about Margrave's responsibility. It seems that my friend has a client +who owns some of these shares. A good deal of that stock went to +Baltimore and Philadelphia, you may remember. I assume that Margrave is +after it." + +"Wire your friend right away not to sell,--" shouted Porter, pounding +the table with his fist. + +"I did that this morning, and here's his answer. I got it just before +you came in. Margrave evidently got anxious and wired them to send +certificates with draft through the Drovers' National. They're probably +on the way now." He passed the telegram across to Porter, who put on his +glasses and read it. + +"Now," continued Fenton, "I don't know just what this means, but it +looks to me as if Margrave was hot on the track of the trolley company +himself; and Tim Margrave isn't a particularly pleasant fellow to go +into business with, is he?" + +"But the bondholders would still have their chance, wouldn't they, even +if he got a majority of the stock?" + +"Well, you haven't any bonds, have you? First thing I know you'll be +telling me that you've got a few barrels of them," he added, jokingly. +He could not help laughing at Porter. + +Porter took the cigar from his mouth, looked carefully at the lighted +end of it, and said with a casual air, as if he had a particularly +decisive and conclusive statement to make and wished to avail himself of +its dramatic possibilities: + +"My dear boy, I've got every blamed bond!" + +Fenton sat gazing at him in stupefied wonder. + +"Would you mind saying that again?" he said, after a full minute of +silent amazement in which he sat staring at his client, who was blowing +rings of smoke with great equanimity. + +"I've got all the bonds, was what I said." + +The lawyer walked around the table and put his hand on Porter's +shoulder. He was trying to keep from laughing, like a parent who is +about to rebuke a child and yet laughs at the cause of its offense. +Porter evidently thought that he had done an extremely bright thing. + +"As I understand you, you have bought all of the bonds and half of the +stock." + +"About half. I'm a little--just a little--short." + +"Will you kindly tell me what you wanted with the stock if you had the +bonds?" + +"Well, I figured it this way, that the franchise was worth the price I +had to pay for the whole thing, and if I had the stock control I'd save +the fuss of foreclosing. You lawyers always make a lot of rumpus about +those things, and a receivership would prejudice the Eastern market when +I come to reorganize and sell out." + +Fenton lay back in his chair and laughed, while Porter looked at him a +little defiantly, with his hat tipped over his eyes and a cigar sticking +in his mouth at an impertinent angle. + +"You'd better finish your job and make sure of your majority," said +Fenton. His rage was rising now and he did not urge Porter to remain +when the banker got up to go. He was not at all anxious to defend a +franchise which the local courts, always sensitive to public sentiment, +might set aside. + +"I'll see you in the morning first thing," said Porter at the door, +which Fenton opened for him. "I want you to go to the meeting with me +and we'll need a day to get ready." + +The lawyer watched his client walk toward the elevator. It occurred to +him that Porter's step was losing its elasticity. While the banker +waited for the elevator car he leaned wearily against the wire screen of +the shaft. + +Fenton swore quietly to himself for a few minutes and then sat down with +a copy of the charter of the Clarkson Traction Company before him, and +spent the remainder of the day studying it. He had troubled much over +Porter's secretive ways, and had labored to shatter the dangerous +conceit which had gradually grown up in his client. Porter had, in fact, +a contempt for lawyers, though he leaned on Fenton more than he would +admit. Fenton, on the other hand, was constantly fearful lest his client +should undo himself by his secretive methods. He had difficulty in +getting all the facts out of him even when they were imperatively +required. Once in the trial of a case for Porter, the opposing counsel +made a statement which Fenton rose in full confidence to refute. His +antagonist reaffirmed it, and Fenton, not doubting that he understood +Porter's position thoroughly, appealed to him to deny the charge, fully +expecting to score an effective point before the court. To his +consternation, Porter coolly admitted the truth of the imputation. But +even this incident and Fenton's importunity in every matter that arose +thereafter did not cure Porter of his weakness. He was a difficult +client, who was, as Fenton often said to himself, a good deal harder to +manage in a lawsuit than the trial judge or opposing counsel. + +The next morning Fenton was at his office early and sent his boy at once +to ask Mr. Porter to come up. The boy reported that Mr. Porter had not +been at the bank. Fenton went down himself at ten o'clock and found the +president's desk closed. + +"Where's the boss?" he demanded. + +"Won't be down this morning," said Wheaton. "Miss Porter telephoned that +he wasn't feeling well, but he expected to be down after luncheon." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +INTERRUPTED PLANS + + +Porter had wakened that morning with a pain-racked body and the hot +taste of fever in his mouth. He dressed and went downstairs to +breakfast, but left the table and returned to his room to lie down. + +"I'll be all right in an hour or so; I guess I've taken cold," he said +to Evelyn. At the end of an hour he was shaking with a chill. + +Evelyn left him alone to telephone for the doctor and in her absence he +tried to rise and fainted. He was still lying on the floor when she +returned. When the doctor came he found the household in a panic, and +almost before Porter realized it, he was hazily watching the white cap +of the trained nurse whom the doctor ordered with his medicines. + +"Your father has a fever of some sort," he said to Evelyn. "It may be +only a severe attack of malaria; but it's probably typhoid. In any +event, there's nothing to be alarmed about. Mr. Porter has one of the +old-fashioned constitutions," he added, reassuringly, "and there's +nothing to fear for him." + +Porter protested all the morning that he would go to his office after +luncheon, but the temperature line on the nurse's chart climbed steadily +upward. He resented the tyranny of the nurse, who moved about the room +with an air of having been there always, and he was impatient under the +efforts of Evelyn to soothe him. The doctor came again at noon. He was +of Porter's age and an old friend; he dealt frankly with his patient +now. Evelyn stood by and listened, adding her own words of pleading and +cheer; and while the doctor gave instructions to the nurse outside, he +relaxed, and let her smooth his pillow and bathe his hot brow. + +"This may be my turn--" he began. + +"Not by any manner of means, father," she broke in with a lightness she +did not feel. It moved her greatly to see his weakness. + +"It's an unfortunate time," he said, "and there's something you must do +for me. I've got to see Wheaton or Fenton. It's very important." + +"But you mustn't, father; business can wait until you're well again. It +will be only a few days--" + +"You mustn't question what I ask," he went on very steadily. "It's of +great importance," and she knew that he meant it. + +"Can't I see them for you?" she asked. He turned his slight lean body +under the covers, and shook his head helplessly on his pillow. + +"You see you can't talk, father," she said very gently. "Is there +anything I can say to them for you?" + +"Yes," he said weakly, "I want you to give the key to one of my boxes to +Wheaton. Tell him to take out a package--marked Traction--and give it to +Fenton." + +Evelyn brought his key ring and he pointed out the key and watched her +slip it from the ring. + +"I'll send for Mr. Wheaton at once," she said. "Don't worry any more +about it, father." + +"Evelyn!" She had started for the door, but now hurried back to him. + +"Don't tell him anything over the telephone; just ask him to come up." +She went out at once that he might be assured, and he turned wearily on +his pillow and slept. + +Porter's illness was proclaimed in the first editions of the afternoon +papers, which Wheaton saw at his desk. News gains force by publication, +and when he read the printed statement that the president of the +Clarkson National Bank was confined to his house by illness, he felt +that Porter must really be very sick; and he naturally turned the fact +over in his mind to see how this might affect him. The directors came in +and sat about in the directors' room with their hats on, and Wingate, +the starch manufacturer, who had seen Porter's doctor, pronounced the +president a very sick man and suggested that Thompson, the invalid +vice-president, ought to be notified. The others acquiesced, and they +prepared a telegram to Thompson at Phoenix, suggesting his immediate +return, if possible. + +Wheaton sat with them and listened respectfully. When he was first +appointed to his position, he had waited with a kind of awe for the +pronouncements of the directors; but he had acquired a low opinion of +them. He certainly knew more about the affairs of the bank than any of +them except Porter and he knew more than Porter of the details. During +this informal conference of the directors, Wheaton was called to the +telephone, and was cheered by the sound of Evelyn's voice. She asked him +to come up as soon as convenient; she wished to give him a message from +her father, who was very comfortable, she said. After dinner would do; +she knew that he must be very busy. He expressed his sympathy formally, +and went back to the directors with a kindlier feeling toward the world. +There was a consolation for him in the knowledge that Miss Porter must +summon him to her in this way; her father's illness made another tie +between them. + +Wingate and the others came out of the directors' room as he put down +the telephone receiver, and they stood talking at his desk. He found a +secret pleasure in being able to answer at once the questions which +Wingate put to him, as to how the discounts were running, and what they +were carrying of county money, and how much government money they had on +hand. Wingate knew no more of banking than he knew of Egyptian +hieroglyphics; but he thought he did, because he had read the national +banking act through and had once met the comptroller of the currency at +dinner. The other directors listened to Wheaton's answers with +admiration. When they got outside Wingate remarked, as they stood at the +front door before dispersing: + +"I wish to thunder I could ask Jim Wheaton something just once that he +didn't know. That fellow knows every balance in the bank, and the date +of the maturity of every loan. He's almost too good to be true." + +They laughed. + +"I guess Jim's all right," said the wholesale dry goods merchant, who +was a good deal impressed with the fact of his directorship. + +"Sure," said Wingate. "But you can bet Thompson's lungs will get a lot +better when he gets our telegram." They had no great belief in +Thompson's invalidism. It is one of the drolleries of our American life +that men, particularly in Western cities, never dare to be ill; it is +much nobler and far more convenient to die than to be sick. + +Fenton spent the afternoon in court. He intended to call at the Porters' +on his way home, and stopped at the bank before going to his office, +thinking that the banker might be there; but the president's desk was +closed. + +"How sick is Mr. Porter?" he asked Wheaton. + +"He's pretty sick," said Wheaton. "It's typhoid fever." + +Fenton whistled. + +"That's what the doctor calls it. I spoke to Miss Porter over the +telephone a few minutes ago, and she did not seem to be alarmed about +her father. He's very strong, you know." + +But Fenton was not listening. "See here, Wheaton," he said suddenly, "do +you know anything about Porter's private affairs?" + +"Not very much," said Wheaton guardedly. + +"I guess you don't and I guess nobody does, worse luck! You know how +morbidly secretive he is, and how he shies off from publicity,--I +suppose you do," he went on a little grimly. He did not like Wheaton +particularly. "Well, he has some Traction stock,--the annual meeting is +held to-morrow and he's got to be represented." + +"He never told me of it," said Wheaton, truthfully. + +"His shares are probably in his inside pocket, or hid under the bed at +home; but we've got to get them if he has any, and get them quick. If he +has his wits he'll probably try and send word to me. I suppose I +couldn't see him if I went up." + +"Miss Porter telephoned me to come,--on some business matter, she said, +and no doubt that's what it is." + +"Then I won't go just now, but I'll see you here as soon as you get down +town. I'll be at my office right after dinner." He paused, deliberating. +Fenton was a careful man, who rose to emergencies. + +"I'll come directly back here," said Wheaton. "No doubt the papers you +want are in one of Mr. Porter's private boxes." + +"Can you get into it to-night?" + +"Yes; it's in the vault where we keep the account books, and there's no +time lock." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +JAMES WHEATON DECLINES AN OFFER + + +Margrave hung up the receiver of his desk telephone with a slam, and +rang a bell for the office boy. + +"Call the Clarkson National, and tell Mr. Wheaton to come over,--right +away." + +It was late in the afternoon. Wheaton had been unusually busy with +routine work and the directors had taken an hour of his time. He had +turned away from Fenton to answer Margrave's message, and went toward +the Transcontinental office with a feeling of foreboding. He remembered +the place very well; it had hardly changed since the days of his own +brief service there. As he crossed the threshold of the private office, +the sight of Margrave's fat bulk squeezed into a chair that was too +small for him, impressed him unpleasantly; he had come with mixed +feelings, not knowing whether his friendly relations with the railroader +were to be further emphasized, or whether Margrave was about to make +some demand of him. His doubts were quickly dispelled by Margrave, who +turned around fiercely as the door closed. + +"Sit down, Wheaton," he said, indicating a chair by his desk. His face +was very red and his stubby mustache seemed stiffer and more wire-like +than ever. He was breathing in the difficult choked manner of fat men +in their rage. + +"Now, I want you to tell me something; I want you to answer up fair and +square. I've got to come right down to brass tacks with you and I want +you to tell me the God's truth. How much Traction has Billy Porter got?" + +Wheaton grew white, and the lids closed over his eyes sleepily. + +"Come out with it," puffed Margrave. "If you've been making a fool of me +I want to know it." + +"I don't know what right you've got to ask me such a question," Wheaton +answered coldly. + +"No right,--no right!" Margrave panted. "You damned miserable fool, what +do you know or mean by right or wrong either? I can take my medicine as +well as the next man, but when a friend does me up, then I throw up my +hands. Why did you tell me you knew what Porter was doing, and lead me +to think--" + +"Mr. Margrave," said Wheaton, "I didn't come here to be abused by you. +If I've done you any injury, I'm not aware of it." + +"I guess that's right," said Margrave ironically. "What I want to know +is what you let me think Porter wasn't taking hold of Traction for? You +knew I was going into it. I told you that with the fool idea that you +were a friend of mine. You told me the old man had stopped buying--" + +"And when I did I betrayed a confidence," said Wheaton, virtuously. "I +had no business telling you anything of the kind." + +"When you told me that," Margrave went on in bitter derision, shaking +his finger in Wheaton's face,--"when you told me that you told me a +damned lie, that's what you did, Jim Wheaton." + +"You can't talk to me that way," said Wheaton, sitting up in his chair +resentfully. "When I told you that, I believed it," and he added, with a +second's hesitation, "I still believe it." + +"Don't lie any more to me about it. I can take my medicine as well as +the next man, but--" swaying his big head back and forth on his fat +shoulders,--"when a man plays a dirty trick on Tim Margrave, I want him +to know when Margrave finds it out. I never thought it of you, Jim. I've +always treated you as white as I knew how; I've been glad to see you in +my house,--" + +"I don't know what you're driving at, but I want you to stop abusing +me," said Wheaton, with more vigor of tone than he had yet manifested. +"I never said a word to you about Mr. Porter in connection with Traction +that I didn't think true. The only mistake I made was in saying anything +to you at all; but I thought you were a friend of mine. If anybody's +been deceived, I'm the one." + +Margrave watched him contemptuously. + +"Let me ask you something, Jim," he said, dropping his blustering tone. +"Haven't you known all these weeks when I've been seeing you every few +days at the club, and at my own house several times,"--he dwelt on the +second clause as if the breach of hospitality on Wheaton's part had been +the grievous offense,--"haven't you known that the old man was chasing +over the country in his carpet slippers buying all that stock he could +lay his hands on?" + +"On my sacred honor, I have not. When we talked of it I knew he had +been buying some, but I thought he'd stopped, as I let you understand. +I'm sorry if you were misled by anything I said." + +"Well, that's all over now," said Margrave, in a conciliatory tone. "I'm +in the devil's own hole, Jim. I've been relying on your information; in +fact, I've had it in mind to make you treasurer of the company when we +get reorganized. That ought to show you what a lot of confidence I've +been putting in you all this time that you've been watching me run into +the soup clear up to my chin." + +"I'm honestly sorry,"--began Wheaton. "I had no idea you were depending +on me. You ought to have known that I couldn't betray Mr. Porter." + +"You ought to be sorry," said Margrave dolefully. "But, look here, Jim, +I don't believe you're going to do me up on this." + +"I'm not going to do anybody up; but I don't see what I can do to help +you." + +"Well, I do. You gave me to understand that you were buying this stuff +yourself. You still got what you had?" + +Margrave knew from the secretary of the company that Wheaton owned one +hundred shares. He thrust his hands into his pockets and looked at +Wheaton appealingly. + +"Yes," Wheaton answered reluctantly. He knew now why he had been +summoned. + +"Now, how many shares have you, Jim?" with increasing amiability of tone +and manner. + +"Just what I bought in the beginning; one hundred shares." + +Margrave took a pad from his desk and added one hundred to a short +column of figures. He made the footing and regarded the total with +careless interest before looking up. + +"How much do you want for that, Jim?" + +"To tell the truth, Mr. Margrave, I don't know that I want to sell it." + +"Now, Jim, you ain't going to hold me up on this? You've got me into a +pretty mess, and I hope you're not going to keep on pushing me in." + +Wheaton crossed and recrossed his legs. There was Porter and there was +Margrave. To whom did he owe allegiance? He resented the way in which +Margrave had taken him to task; he could not see that he had been +culpable, unless as against Porter. Yet Porter had told him nothing; if +Porter had treated him with a little more frankness, he certainly would +never have mentioned Traction to Margrave. + +"What I have wouldn't do you any good," he said finally. + +"But it might do me some harm! Now, you don't want these shares, Jim. +You're entitled to a profit, and I'll pay you a fair price." + +"I can't do anything to hurt Mr. Porter," said Wheaton. He remembered +just how the drawing-room at the Porters' looked, and the kindness and +frankness of Evelyn Porter's eyes. + +"Yes, but you've got a duty to me," he stormed, getting red in the face +again. "You can bet your life that if it hadn't been for you, I'd never +have been in this pickle. Come along now, Jim, I've got a lot of our +railroad people to go in on this. They depend absolutely on my judgment. +I'm a ruined man if I fail to show up at the meeting to-morrow with a +majority of these shares. It won't make any difference to Billy Porter +whether he wins out or not. He's got plenty of irons in the fire. I +don't know as a matter of fact that I need these shares; but I want to +be on the safe side. Does Porter know what you've got?" + +Wheaton shook his head. + +"Then what's the harm in selling them where you've got a chance, even if +you wasn't under any obligations to me? If you didn't know until I told +you that the old man was still on the hunt for this stuff, I don't see +that you're bound to wait for him to come around and ask you to sell to +him. How much shall I make it for?" He opened a drawer and pulled out +his check-book. + +"They tell me Porter's pretty sick," Margrave continued, running the +stubs of the check-book through his thick thumb and forefinger. "Billy +isn't as young as he used to be. Very likely he'll never know you had +any Traction stock," he added significantly. "How much shall I make it +for, Jim?" + +Wheaton walked over to the window and looked down into the street, while +Margrave watched him with pen in hand. + +"How much shall I make it for?" he asked more sharply. + +"You can't make it for anything, Mr. Margrave, and I want to say that +I'm very much disappointed in the way you've tried to get it from me." + +Margrave swung around on him with an oath. But Wheaton went on, +speaking carefully. + +"I can't imagine that the few shares of stock I hold can be of real +importance in deciding the control of this company. I don't say I won't +give you these shares, but I can't do it now." + +Margrave's face grew red and purple as Wheaton walked toward the door. + +"Maybe you think you can wring more out of Porter than you can out of +me. But, by God, I'll take this out of you and out of him, too, if I go +broke doing it." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE KEY TO A DILEMMA + + +Evelyn had telephoned to Mrs. Whipple of her father's illness in terms +which allayed alarm; but when the afternoon paper referred to it +ominously, the good woman set out through the first snowstorm of the +season for the Porter house, carrying her campaign outfit, as the +general called it, in a suit-case. Mrs. Whipple's hopeful equanimity was +very welcome to Evelyn, who suffered as women do when denied the +privilege of ministering to their sick and forced to see their natural +office usurped by others. Mrs. Whipple brought a breath of May into the +atmosphere of the house. She found ways of dulling the edge of Evelyn's +anxiety and idleness; she even found things for Evelyn to do, and busied +herself disposing of inquiries at the door and telephone to save Evelyn +the trouble. In Evelyn's sitting-room Mrs. Whipple talked of clothes and +made it seem a great favor for the girl to drag out several new gowns +for inspection,--a kind of first view, she called it; and she sighed +over them and said they were more perfect than perfect lyrics and would +appeal to a larger audience. + +She chose one of the lyrics of black chiffon and lace, with a high +collar and half sleeves and forced Evelyn to put it on; and when they +sat down to dinner together she planned a portrait of Evelyn in the same +gown, which Chase or Sargent must paint. She managed the talk tactfully, +without committing the error of trying to ignore the sick man upstairs. +She made his illness seem incidental merely, and with a bright side, in +that it gave her a chance to spend a few days at the Hill. Then she went +on: + +"Warry and Mr. Saxton were at the house last night. It's delightful to +see men so devoted to each other as they are; and it's great fun to hear +them banter each other. I didn't know that Mr. Saxton could be funny, +but in his quiet way he says the drollest things!" + +"I thought he was very serious," said Evelyn. "I rarely see him, but +when I do, he flatters me by talking about books. He thinks I'm +literary!" + +"I can't imagine it." + +Evelyn laughed. + +"Oh, thanks! I'm making progress!" + +"It's funny," Mrs. Whipple continued, "the way he takes care of Warry. +The general says Mr. Saxton is a Newfoundland and Warry a fox terrier. +Warry's at work again, and I suppose we have Mr. Saxton's influence to +thank." + +"A man like that could do a great deal for Warry," said Evelyn. "If +Warry doesn't settle down pretty soon he'll lose his chance." Then, her +father coming into her thoughts, she added irrelevantly: "Mr. Thompson +will probably come home. Mr. Wheaton telephoned that the directors had +wired him." + +"Oh, yes," said Mrs. Whipple, looking at the girl quickly,--"so much +responsibility,--I suppose it would be hardly fair to Mr. Wheaton--" + +"I suppose not," said Evelyn. + +"It's just the same in business as it is in the army," continued Mrs. +Whipple, who referred everything back to the military establishment. +"The bugle's got to blow every morning whether the colonel's sick or +not. I suppose the bank keeps open just the same. When a thing's once +well started it has a way of running on, whether anybody attends to it +or not." + +"But you couldn't get father to believe that," said Evelyn, smiling in +recollection of her father's life-long refutation of this philosophy. + +"No indeed," assented Mrs. Whipple. "But in the army there is a good +deal to make a man humble. If he gets transferred from one end of the +land to another, somebody else does the work he has been doing, and +usually you wouldn't know the difference. The individual is really +extinguished; they all sign their reports in exactly the same place, and +one signature is just as good at Washington as another." This was a +favorite line of discourse with Mrs. Whipple; she had reduced her army +experience to a philosophy, which she was fond of presenting on any +occasion. + +The maid brought Evelyn a card before they had finished coffee. + +"It's Mr. Wheaton," she explained; "I asked him to come. Father was +greatly troubled about some matter which he said must not be neglected. +He wanted me to give the key of his box to Mr. Wheaton,--there are some +papers which it is very necessary for Mr. Fenton to have. It's something +I hadn't heard of before, but it must be important. He's been flighty +this afternoon and has tried to talk about it." + +Evelyn had risen and stood by the table with a troubled look on her +face, as if expecting counsel; but she was thinking of the sick man +upstairs and not of his business affairs. + +"Yes; don't wait for me," said the older woman, as though it were merely +a question of the girl's excusing herself. When Evelyn had gone, Mrs. +Whipple plied her spoon in her cup long after the single lump of sugar +was dissolved. Mrs. Whipple had a way of disliking people thoroughly +when they did not please her, and she did not like James Wheaton. She +was wondering why, as she sat alone at the table and played with the +spoon. + +The maid who admitted Wheaton had let him elect between the drawing room +and the library, and he chose the latter instinctively, as less formal +and more appropriate for an interview based on his dual social and +business relations with the Porters. His slim figure appeared to +advantage in evening clothes; he was no longer afraid of rooms that were +handsome and spacious like this. There was nowadays no more correctly +groomed man in Clarkson than he, though Warry Raridan had remarked to +Wheaton at the Bachelors' that his ties were composed a trifle too +neatly; a tie to be properly done should, Raridan held, leave something +to the imagination. Wheaton heard the swish of Evelyn's skirts in the +hall with a quickening heartbeat. Her black gown intensified her +fairness; he had never seen her in black before, and it gave a new +accent to her beauty as she came toward him. + +"It was a great shock to us down town to hear of your father's illness. +He seemed as well as usual yesterday." + +"Did you think so? I thought he looked worn when he came home last +evening. He has been working very hard lately." + +Wheaton had never seen her so grave. He was sincerely sorry for her +trouble, and he tried to say so. There was something appealing in her +unusual calm; the low tones of her voice were not wasted on him. + +"Father asked me to send for you this morning, but he had grown so ill +in a few hours that I took the responsibility of not doing it. The +doctor said emphatically that he must not see people. But something in +particular was on his mind, some papers that Mr. Fenton should have. +They are in his box at the bank, and I was to give you the key to it. It +is something about the Traction Company; no doubt you know of it?" + +"Yes," Wheaton assented. It was not necessary for him to say that Mr. +Porter had told him nothing about it. + +"You can attend to this easily?" + +"Yes, certainly. Mr. Fenton spoke to me about the matter this afternoon. +It is very important and he wished me to report to him as soon as I +found the papers. No doubt they are in your father's box," he said. "He +is always very methodical." He smiled at her reassuringly and rose. She +did not ask him to stay longer, but went to fetch the key. + +It was a small, thin bit of steel. Wheaton turned it over in his hand. + +"I'll return the key to-morrow, after I've found the papers Mr. Fenton +wants." + +"Very well. I hope you will have no difficulty." + +He still held the key in his fingers, not knowing whether this was his +dismissal or not. + +"There is one thing more, Mr. Wheaton. Father seemed very much troubled +about this Traction matter--" + +"Very unnecessarily, I'm sure," said Wheaton soothingly. + +"He evidently wished all the papers he has concerning the company to be +given to Mr. Fenton. Now, this probably is of no importance whatever, +but several years ago father gave me some stock in the street railway +company. It came about through a little fun-making between us. We were +talking of railway passes,--you know he never accepts any"--Wheaton +blinked--"and I told him I'd like to have a pass on something, even if +it was only a street car line." + +She was smiling in her eagerness that he should understand perfectly. + +"And he said he guessed he could fix that by giving me some stock in the +company. I remember that he made light of it when I thanked him, and +said it wasn't so important as it looked. He probably forgot it long +ago. I had forgotten it myself--I never got the pass, either! but I +brought the stock down that Mr. Fenton might have use for it." She went +over to the mantel and picked up a paper, while he watched her; and when +she put it into his hand he turned it over. It was a certificate for one +hundred shares, issued in due form to Evelyn Porter, but was not +assigned. + +"It may be important," said Wheaton, regarding the paper thoughtfully. +"Mr. Fenton will know. It couldn't be used without your name on the +back," he said, indicating the place on the certificate. + +"Oh, should I sign it?" she asked, in the curious fluttering way in +which many women approach the minor details of business. Wheaton +hesitated; he did not imagine that this block of stock could be of +importance, and yet the tentative business association with Miss Porter +was so pleasant that he yielded to a temptation to prolong it. + +"Yes, you might sign it," he said. + +Evelyn went to her father's table and wrote her name as Wheaton +indicated. + +"A witness is required and I will supply that." And Wheaton sat down at +the table and signed his name beside hers, while she stood opposite him, +the tips of her fingers resting on the table. + +"Evelyn Porter" and "James Wheaton." He blotted the names with Porter's +blotter, Evelyn still standing by him, slightly mystified as women often +are by the fact that their signatures have a value. He felt that there +was something intimate in the fact of their signing themselves together +there. He was thrilled by her beauty. The black lace falling from her +elbows made a filmy tracery upon her white arms. Her head was bent +toward him, the shaded lamp cast a glow upon her face and throat, and +her slim, white hands rested on the table so near that he could have +touched them. She bent her gaze upon him gravely; she, too, felt that +his relations with her father made a tie between them; he was older than +the other men who came to see her; she yielded him a respect for his +well-won success. A vague sense of what her father liked in him crept +into her mind in the moment that she stood looking down on him; he was +quiet, deft and sure,--qualities which his smoothly-combed black hair +and immaculate linen seemed to emphasize. She gave, in her ignorance of +business, an exaggerated importance to the trifling transaction which he +had now concluded. He smiled up at her as he put down the pen. + +"It isn't as serious as it looks," he said, rising. + +"It must be very interesting when you understand it," she answered. + +"I'm sorry--so very sorry for your trouble. I hope--if I can serve you +in any way you will not hesitate--" + +"You are very kind," she said. Neither moved. They regarded each other +across the table with a serious fixed gaze; the sweet girlish spirit in +her was held by some curious fascinating power in him. He bent toward +her, his hand lightly clenched on the edge of the table. + +"I hope there may never be a time when you will not feel free to command +me--in any way." He spoke slowly; his words seemed to bind a chain about +her and she could not move or answer. With a sudden gesture he put out +his hand; it almost touched hers, and she did not shrink away. + +"Good evening, Mr. Wheaton!" Mrs. Whipple, handsome and smiling, sent +her greeting from the threshold, and swept into the room; and when she +took his hand she held it for a moment, as an elderly woman may, while +she chid him for his remissness in never coming to call on her. + +[Illustration] + +On his way down the slope to the car, Wheaton felt in his pocket +several times to be sure of the key. There was something the least bit +uncanny in his possession of it. Yesterday, as he knew well enough, +William Porter would no more have intrusted the key of his private box +to him or to any one else than he would have burned down his house. He +read into his errand a trust on Porter's part that included Porter's +daughter, too; but he got little satisfaction from this. He was only the +most convenient messenger available. His spirits rose and fell as he +debated. + +The down-town streets were very quiet when he reached the business +district. He went to the side door of the bank and knocked for the +watchman to admit him. He took off his overcoat and hat and laid them +down carefully on his own desk. + +"Going to work to-night, Mr. Wheaton?" asked the watchman. + +Wheaton felt that he owed it to the watchman to explain, and he said: + +"There are some papers in Mr. Porter's box that I must give to Mr. +Fenton to-night. They are in the old vault." This vault was often opened +at night by the bookkeepers and there was no reason why the cashier +should not enter it when he pleased. The watchman turned up the lights +so that Wheaton could manipulate the combination, and then swung open +the door. Wheaton thanked him and went in. Two keys were necessary to +open all of the boxes; one was common to all and was kept by the bank. +Wheaton easily found it, and then he took from his pocket Porter's key +which supplemented the other. His pulses beat fast as he felt the lock +yield to the thin strip of steel, and in a moment the box lay open +before his eyes. He had flashed on the electric light bulb in the vault +and recognized instantly Porter's inscription "Traction" on a brown +bundle. He then opened his own box and took out his Traction certificate +and carried it with Porter's packet into the directors' room. + +He sat playing with the package, which was sealed in green wax with the +plain oval insignium of the bank. The packet was larger than he had +expected it to be; he had no idea of the amount of stock it contained; +and he knew nothing of the bonds. He felt tempted to open it; but +clearly that was not within his instructions. He must deliver it intact +to Fenton, and he would do it instantly. He hesitated, though, and drew +out the certificate which Evelyn had given him and turned the crisp +paper over in his hand. Each of them owned one hundred shares of +Traction stock; he was not thinking of this, but of Evelyn, whose +signature held his eye. It was an angular hand, and she ran her two +names together with a long sweep of the pen. + +His thoughts were given a new direction by the noise of a colloquy +between the watchman and some one at the door. He heard his own name +mentioned, and thrusting the certificates into his pocket, he went out +to learn what was the matter. + +"Mr. Wheaton," called the watchman, who held the door partly closed on +some one, "Mr. Margrave wishes to see you." + +As Wheaton walked toward the watchman, Margrave strode in heavily on the +tile floor of the bank. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A MEETING BETWEEN GENTLEMEN + + +"Hello, Wheaton," said Margrave cheerfully. "I've had the devil's own +time finding you." + +He advanced upon Wheaton and shook him warmly by the hand. Then, this +having been for the benefit of the watchman, he said, in a low tone: + +"Let's go into the directors' room, Jim, I want to see you." + +The main bank room was only dimly lighted, but a cluster of electric +lights burned brilliantly above the directors' mahogany table, around +which were chairs of the Bank of England pattern. + +"Have a seat, Mr. Margrave," said Wheaton formally. He had left the door +open, but Margrave closed it carefully. Porter's bundle of papers in its +manila wrapper lay on the table, and Wheaton sat down close to it. + +"What you got there, greenbacks?" asked Margrave. "If you were just +leaving for Canada, don't miss the train on my account." + +"That isn't funny," said Wheaton, severely. + +"Oh, I wouldn't be so damned sensitive," said Margrave, throwing open +his overcoat and placing his hat on the table in front of him. "I guess +you ain't any better than some of the rest of 'em." + +"I suppose you didn't come to say that," said Wheaton. He ran his +fingers over the wax seal on the packet. He wished that it were back in +Porter's box. + +"We were having a little talk this afternoon, Jim," began Margrave in a +friendly and familiar tone, "about Traction matters. As I remember it, +in our last talk, it was understood that if I needed your little bunch +of Traction shares you'd let me have 'em when the time came. Now our +friend Porter's sick," continued Margrave, watching Wheaton sharply with +his small, keen eyes. + +"Yes; he's sick," repeated Wheaton. + +"He's pretty damned sick." + +"I suppose you mean he is very sick; I don't know that it's so serious. +I was at the house this evening." + +"Comforting the daughter, no doubt," with a sneer. "Now, Jim, I'm going +to say something to you and I don't want you to give back any prayer +meeting talk. The chances are that Porter's going to die." He waited a +moment to let the remark sink into Wheaton's consciousness, and then he +went on: "I guess he won't be able to vote his stock to-morrow. I +suppose you've got it or know where it is." He eyed the bundle on which +Wheaton's hand at that moment rested nervously, and Wheaton sat back in +his chair and thrust his hand into his trousers' pockets, looking +unconcernedly at Margrave. + +"I want that stock, Jim," said the railroader, quietly, "and I want you +to give it to me to-night." + +"Margrave," said Wheaton, and it was the first time he had so addressed +him, "you must be crazy, or a fool." + +"Things are going pretty well with you, Jim," Margrave continued, as if +in friendly canvass of Wheaton's future. "You have a good position here; +when the old man's out of the way, you can marry the girl and be +president of the bank. It's dead easy for a smart fellow like you. It +would be too bad for you to spoil such prospects right now, when the +game is all in your own hands, by failing to help a friend in trouble." +Wheaton said nothing and Margrave resumed: + +"You're trying to catch on to this damned society business here, and I +want you to do it. I haven't got any objections to your sailing as high +as you can. I know all about you. I gave you your first job when you +came here--" + +"I appreciate all that, Mr. Margrave," Wheaton broke in. "You said the +word that got me into the Clarkson National, and I have never forgotten +it." + +"Well, I don't want you to forget it. But see here: as long as I +recommended you and stood by you when you were a ratty little train +butcher, and without knowing anything about you except that you were +always on hand and kept your mouth shut, I think you owe something to +me." He bent forward in his chair, which creaked under him as he shifted +his bulk. "One night last fall, just before the Knights of Midas show, a +drunken scamp came into my yard, and made a nasty row. I was about to +turn him over to the police when he began whimpering and said he knew +you. He wasn't doing any particular harm and I gave him a quarter and +told him to get out; but he wanted to talk. He said--" Margrave dropped +his voice and fastened his eyes on Wheaton--"he was a long-lost brother +of yours. He was pretty drunk, but he seemed clear on your family +history, Jim. He said he'd done time once back in Illinois, and got you +out of a scrape. He told me his name was William Wheaton, but that he +had lost it in the shuffle somewhere and was known as Snyder. I gave him +a quarter and started him toward Porter's where I knew you were doing +the society act. I heard afterward that he found you." + +Margrave creaked back in his chair and chuckled. + +"He was an infernal liar," said Wheaton hotly. "And so you sent that +scamp over there to make a row. I didn't think you would play me a trick +like that." He was betrayed out of his usual calm control and his mouth +twitched. + +"Now, Jim," Margrave continued magnanimously, "I don't care a damn about +your family connections. You're all right. You're good enough for me, +you understand, and you're good enough for the Porters. My father was a +butcher and I began life sweeping out the shop, and I guess everybody +knows it; and if they don't like it, they know what they can do." + +Wheaton's hand rested again on the packet before him; he had flushed to +the temples, but the color slowly died out of his face. It was very +still in the room, and the watchman could be heard walking across the +tiled lobby outside. A patrol wagon rattled in the street with a great +clang of its gong. Wheaton had moved the brown parcel a little nearer to +the edge of the table; Margrave noticed this and for the first time took +a serious interest in the packet. He was not built for quick evolutions, +but he made what was, for a man of his bulk, a sudden movement around +the table toward Wheaton, who was between him and the door. + +"What you got in that paper, Jim?" he asked, puffing from his exertion. + +Still Wheaton did not speak, but he picked up the parcel and took a step +toward the door, Margrave advancing upon him. + +Wheaton reached the door, holding the package under his arm. + +"Don't touch me; don't touch me," he said, hoarsely. Margrave still came +toward him. Wheaton's unengaged hand went nervously to his throat, and +he fumbled at his tie. The sweat came out on his forehead. It was a +curious scene, the tall, dark man in his evening clothes, pitiful in his +agitation, with his back against the door, hugging the bundle under one +arm; and Margrave, in his rough business suit, walking slowly toward +Wheaton, who retreated before him. + +"I want that package, Jim." + +"Go away! go away!" The sweat shone on Wheaton's forehead in great +drops. "I can't, I can't--you know I can't!" + +"You damned coward!" said Margrave, laughing suddenly. "I want that +bundle." He made a gesture and Wheaton dodged and shrank away. Margrave +laughed again; a malicious mirth possessed him. But he grew suddenly +fierce and his fat fingers closed about Wheaton's neck. Wheaton huddled +against the door, holding the brown packet with both hands. + +"Drop it! Drop it!" blurted Margrave. He was breathing hard. + +A sharp knock at the door against which they struggled caused Margrave +to spring away. He walked down the room several paces with an assumption +of carelessness, and Wheaton, with the bundle still under his arm, +turned the knob of the door. + +"Hello, Wheaton!" called Fenton, blinking in the glare of the lights. + +"Good evening," said Wheaton. + +"How're you, Fenton," said Margrave, carelessly, but mopping his +forehead with his handkerchief. + +"Here are your papers," said Wheaton, almost thrusting his parcel into +the lawyer's hands. + +"All right," said Fenton, looking curiously from one to the other. And +then he glanced at the package, as if absent-mindedly, and saw that the +seal was unbroken. + +"Good night, gentlemen," he said. "Sorry to have disturbed you." + +"Hope you're not going to work to-night," said Margrave, solicitously. + +"Oh, not very long," said the lawyer. + +"Hard on honest men when lawyers work at night," continued Margrave, as +the lawyer walked across the lobby. + +"Yes, you railroad people can say that," Fenton flung back at him. + +"How much Traction was in that package?" asked Margrave, closing the +door. + +"I don't know," said Wheaton, smoothing his tie. The watchman could be +heard closing the outside door on Fenton. + +[Illustration] + +"No, I don't think you do," returned Margrave. "You'd fixed it pretty +well with Fenton. If he'd only been a minute later I'd have got that +bundle. I didn't realize at first what you had there, Jim, until you +kept fingering it so desperately." + +"Now," he said amiably, as if the real business of the evening had just +been reached, "there are those shares you own, Jim. I hope we won't be +interrupted while you're getting them for me." + +Wheaton hesitated. + +"You get them for me," said Margrave with a change of manner, "quick!" + +Wheaton still hesitated. + +Margrave picked up his hat. + +"I'm going from here to the _Gazette_ office. You know they do what I +tell 'em over there. They'd like a little story about the aristocratic +Wheaton family of Ohio. Porter's girl would like that for breakfast +to-morrow morning." + +Wheaton hung between two inclinations, one to make terms with Margrave +and assure his friendship at any hazard, the other to break with him, +let the consequences be what they might. It is one of the impressive +facts of human destiny that the frail barks among us are those which are +sent into the least known seas. Great mariners have made charts and set +warning lights, but the hidden reefs change hourly, and the great +chartographer Experience cannot keep pace with them. + +"Hurry up," said Margrave impatiently; "this is my busy night and I +can't wait on you. Dig it up." + +Wheaton's hand went slowly to his pocket. As he drew out his own +certificate with nervous fingers, the certificate which Evelyn Porter +had given him an hour before fell upon the table. + +"That's the right color," said Margrave, snatching the paper as Wheaton +sprang forward to regain it. + +"Not that! not that! That isn't mine!" + +Margrave stepped back and swept the face of the certificate with his +eyes. + +"Well, this does beat hell! I knew you stood next, Jim," he said +insolently, "but I didn't know that you were on such confidential terms +as all this. And you witnessed the signature. Gosh! How sweet and pretty +it all is!" The paper exhaled the faint odor of sachet, and Margrave +lifted it to his nostrils with a mockery of delight. + +"I must have that, Margrave. I will do anything, but I must have +that---- You wouldn't----" + +Margrave watched him maliciously, thoroughly enjoying his terror. + +"How do you know I wouldn't? Give me the other one, Jim." + +Still Wheaton held his own certificate; he believed for a moment that he +could trade the one for the other. + +"I'm not going to fool with you much longer, Jim; you either give me +that certificate or I go to the _Gazette_ office as straight as I can +walk. Just sign it in blank, the way the other one is. I'll witness it +all right." + +Wheaton wrote while Margrave stood over him, holding ready a blotter +which he applied to Wheaton's signature with unnecessary care. + +"I hope this won't cause you any inconvenience with the lady, but you're +undoubtedly a fair liar and you can fix that all right, +particularly"--with a chuckle--"if the old man cashes in." + +Wheaton followed Margrave's movements as if under a spell that he could +not shake off. Margrave walked toward the door with an air of +nonchalance, pulling on his gloves. + +"I haven't my check-book with me, Jim, but I'll settle for your stock +and Miss Evelyn's, too, after I get things reorganized. It'll be worth +more money then. Please give the young lady my compliments," with +irritating suavity. He stopped, smoothing the backs of his gloves +placidly. "That's all right, Jim, ain't it?" he asked mockingly. + +"I hope you're satisfied," said Wheaton weakly. Twice, within a year, he +had felt the fingers of an angry man at his throat and he did not relish +the experience. + +"I'm never satisfied," said Margrave, picking up his hat. + +Wheaton wished to make a bargain with him, to assure his own immunity; +but he did not know how to accomplish it. Margrave had threatened him, +and he wished to dull the point of the threat, but he was afraid to ask +a promise of him. He said, as Margrave opened the door to go out: + +"Do you think Fenton noticed anything?" His tone was so pitiful in its +eagerness that Margrave laughed in his face. + +"I don't know, Jim, and I don't give a damn." + +Wheaton did not follow him to the door, but Margrave seemed in no hurry +to leave. The watchman went forward to let him out at the side entrance, +and Margrave paused to light a cigar very deliberately and to urge one +on the watchman. + +"If he'd only been sure the old man would have died to-night," he +reflected as he walked up the street, "he'd have given me Porter's +shares, easy." He went to his office, entertaining himself with this +pleasant speculation. "If I'd got out of the bank with that package he'd +never dared squeal," he presently concluded. + +Timothy Margrave was a fair judge of character. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +BROKEN GLASS + + +John Saxton was a good deal the worse for wear as he swung himself from +a sleeper in the Clarkson station and bolted for a down-town car. Coal +mining is a dirty business, and there are limits to the things that can +be crowded into a suit-case. He had been crawling through four-foot +veins of Kansas coal in the interest of the Neponset Trust Company, and +had been delayed a day longer than he had expected. He continued to be +in a good deal of a hurry after he reached his office, and he kicked +aside the mail which rustled under the door as he opened it, and knelt +hastily before the safe and began rattling the tumblers of the +combination. He pulled out a long envelope and then with more composure +consulted his watch. + +It was half-past eight. He took from his memorandum calendar the leaf +for the day; on it he had posted a cutting from a local newspaper +announcing the annual meeting of the stockholders of the Clarkson +Traction Company. The meeting was to be held, so the notice recited, +between the hours of 9 a. m. and 5 p. m. of the second Tuesday of +November, at the general offices of the Company in the city of Clarkson. +The Exchange Building was specified, though the administrative offices +of the Company were on the other side of town. Before setting forth +Saxton examined his papers, which were certificates of stock in the +Clarkson Traction Company. They had been sent to him by a personal +friend in Boston, the trustee of an estate, with instructions to +investigate and report. Having received them just as he was leaving for +Kansas, there had been no opportunity for consulting Porter or Wheaton, +his usual advisers in perplexing matters. Traction stock had advanced +lately, despite newspaper attacks on the company and he hoped to sell +his friend's shares to advantage. + +Saxton had never been in the Exchange Building before and he poked about +in the dark upper floors, uncertainly looking for the rooms described in +the advertisement. Another man, also peering about in the hall, ran +against him. + +"Beg pardon, but can you tell me----" + +"Good morning, Mr. Saxton, are you acquainted in this rookery?" It was +Fenton, who carried a brown parcel under his arm and appeared annoyed. + +"No; but I'm learning," John answered. "I'm looking for the offices of +the Traction Company. Its light seems to be hid under a bushel." + +"I'm looking for it, too," said Fenton. "Some humorist seems to have +changed the numbers on this floor." + +They traversed the halls of several floors in an effort to find the +numbers specified in the notice. Fenton swore in an agreeable tone and +occasionally kicked at a door in his rage. Saxton called to him +presently from a dark corner where he held up a lighted match to read +the number on the transom. + +"Here's our number, but there's no name on the door." + +Fenton advanced upon the door with long strides, but it did not open as +he grasped the knob. He kicked it sharply, but there was still no +response from within. + +"What time is it, Saxton?" he asked over his shoulder, without abating +his pounding or knocking. + +Saxton stepped back and peered into his watch. + +"Five minutes of nine." He was aware now that something important was in +progress. He did not know Fenton well, but he knew that he was the +attorney for Porter and the Clarkson National, and that he was a serious +character who did not beat on doors unless he had business on the +inside. Fenton now called out loudly, demanding admission. There was a +low sound of voices and a sharp noise of chairs being pushed over an +uncarpeted floor within; but the knob which Fenton still held and shook +did not turn. + +On the inside of the door Timothy Margrave and Horton, the president, +Barnes, the secretary, and Percival, the treasurer of the Clarkson +Traction Company, were holding the annual meeting of that corporation, +in conformity with its articles of association, and according to the +duly advertised notice as required by the statutes in such cases made +and provided. They had, however, anticipated the hour slightly; but this +was not, Margrave said, an important matter. His notions of the proper +way of holding business meetings were based on his long experience in +managing ward primaries. + +Horton, the president, called the meeting to order. "Well, boys," said +Margrave, "there ain't any use waiting on the other fellows. Business is +business and we might as well get through with it." + +"Shall we hear the report of the secretary and treasurer?" the +president asked Margrave deferentially. + +"I move that we pass that," said Margrave. He was smoothing out the +certificates of his shares on the table. "I move that we proceed at once +to the election of officers of the company. Is the door locked?" + +"Sure," said Barnes, the secretary, but he went over and tried it. "I +guess Porter ain't coming," he said in a tone of regret that was +intended to be facetious, "and he must have forgotten to send proxies." + +"I vote twenty-five hundred and ninety-seven shares of the common stock +of this company; you gentlemen haven't more than that, have you?" The +fact was that the three officers present owned only one share each as +their strict legal qualification for holding office. + +"I think the minutes ought to show," said the secretary, "that these +were the only shares represented, and that due advertisement was +published according to law, but that owing to the loss of the stock +register, written notice to individual stockholders was given only to +such holders of certificates as disclosed themselves." + +"That's all right," said Margrave. "You fix it up, Barnes, and you'd +better get Congreve to see that it's done with the legal frills." +Congreve was the local counsel of Margrave's railroad, and was a man +that could be trusted. + +"I move," said Barnes, "that we proceed to the election of officers for +the ensuing year." + +"And I move," said Percival, "that the secretary be instructed to cast +the ballot of the stockholders for Timothy Margrave for president." + +"Consent," exclaimed Barnes, hurriedly. + +Steps could be heard in the outer hall, and Margrave looked at his +watch. + +"I move that we adjourn to meet at my office at two o'clock, to conclude +the election of officers." + +Some one was shaking the outside door. + +"Can't we finish now?" asked Horton, who had been promised the +vice-presidency. He and the other officers were afraid of Margrave, and +were reluctant to have their own elections deferred even for a few +hours. + +There was another knock at the door. + +"At two o'clock," said Margrave decisively, as the knocking at the door +was renewed. He gathered up his certificates and prepared to leave. + +Saxton, standing with Fenton in the dark hall, referred to his watch +again. + +"Shall we go in?" he asked. + +The lawyer dropped the knob of the door and drew back out of the way. + +"It's too bad it's glass," said Saxton, setting his shoulder against the +wooden frame over the lock. The lock held, but the door bent away from +it. He braced his feet and drove his shoulder harder into the corner, at +the same time pressing his hip against the lock. It refused to yield, +but the glass cracked, and finally half of it fell with a crash to the +floor within. + +"Don't hurry yourselves, gentlemen," said Fenton, coolly, speaking +through the ragged edges of broken glass. Saxton thrust his hand in to +the catch and opened the door. + +"Why, it's only Fenton," called Margrave in a pleasant tone to his +associates, who had effected their exits safely into a rear room. + +"It's only Fenton," continued the lawyer, stepping inside, "but I'll +have to trouble you to wait a few minutes." + +"Oh, the meeting's adjourned, if that's what you want," said Margrave. + +"That won't go down," said Fenton, placing his package on the table. +"You're old enough to know, Margrave, that one man can't hold a +stockholders' meeting behind locked doors in a pigeon roost." + +"The meeting was held regular, at the hour and place advertised," said +Margrave with dignity. "A majority of the stockholders were +represented." + +"By you, I suppose," said Fenton, who had walked into the room followed +by Saxton. + +"By me," said Margrave. He had not taken off his overcoat and he now +began to button it about his portly figure. + +"How many shares have you?" asked the lawyer, seating himself on the +edge of the table. + +"I suppose you think I'm working a bluff, but I've really got the stuff +this time, Fenton. To be real decent with you I don't mind telling you +that I've got exactly twenty-five hundred and ninety-seven shares of +this stock. I guess that's a majority all right. Now one good turn +deserves another; how much has Porter got? I don't care a damn, but I'd +just like to know." He stood by the table and ostentatiously played with +his certificates to make Fenton's humiliation all the keener. Margrave's +associates stood at the back of the room and watched him admiringly. +Fenton's bundle still lay on the table, and Saxton stood with his hands +in his pockets watching events. There had been no chance for him to +explain to Fenton his reasons for seeking the offices of the Traction +Company and it had pleased Margrave to ignore his presence; Fenton paid +no further attention to him. He wondered at Fenton's forbearance, and +expected the lawyer to demolish Margrave, but Fenton said: + +"You are quite right, Margrave. I hold for Mr. Porter exactly +twenty-three hundred and fifty shares." + +Margrave nodded patronizingly. + +"Just a little under the mark." + +"You may make that twenty-four hundred even," said Saxton, "if it will +do you any good." + +"I'm still shy," said Fenton. "Our friend clearly has the advantage." + +"I suppose if you'd known how near you'd come, you'd have hustled pretty +hard for the others," said Margrave, sympathetically. + +"Oh, I don't know!" said Fenton, with the taunting inflection which +gives slang to the phrase. He did not seem greatly disturbed. Saxton +expected him to try to make terms; but the lawyer yawned in a +preoccupied way, before he said: + +"So long as the margin's so small, you'd better be decent and hold your +stockholders' meeting according to law and let us in. I'm sure Mr. +Saxton and I would be of great assistance--wise counsel and all that." + +Margrave laughed his horse laugh. "You're a pretty good fellow, Fenton, +and I'm sorry we can't do business together." + +"Oh, well, if you won't, you won't." Fenton took up his bundle and +turned to the door. + +"I suppose you've got large chunks of Traction bonds, too, Margrave. +There's nothing like going in deep in these things." + +Margrave winked. + +"Bonds be damned. I've been hearing for four years that Traction +bondholders were going to tear up the earth, but I guess those old +frosts down in New England won't foreclose on me. I'll pay 'em their +interest as soon as I get to going and they'll think I'm hot stuff. And +say!" he ejaculated, suddenly, "if Porter's got any of those bonds don't +you get gay with 'em. It's a big thing for the town to have a practical +railroad man like me running the street car lines; and if I can't make +'em pay nobody can." + +"You're not conceited or anything, are you, Margrave?" + +"By the way, young man," said Margrave, addressing Saxton for the first +time, "we won't charge you anything for breakage to-day, but don't let +it happen again." + +Margrave lingered to reassure and instruct his associates as to the +adjourned meeting, and Saxton went out with Fenton. + +"That was rather tame," said John, as he and Fenton reached the street +together. "I hoped there would be some fun. These shares belong to a +Boston friend and they're for sale." + +"I wonder how Porter came to miss them," said Fenton, grimly. "You'd +better keep them as souvenirs of the occasion. The engraving isn't bad. +I turn up this way." They paused at the corner. He still carried his +bundle and he drew from his pocket now a number of documents in manila +jackets. + +"I have a little errand at the Federal Court." They stood by a letter +box and the cars of the Traction Company wheezed and clanged up Varney +Street past them. + +"The fact is," he said, "that Mr. Porter owns all of the bonds of the +Traction Company." + +Saxton nodded. He understood now why the stockholders' meeting had not +disturbed Fenton. + +"This is an ugly mess," the lawyer continued. "It would have suited me +better to control the company through the stock so long as we had so +much, but we didn't quite make it. You're friendly to Mr. Porter, aren't +you?" + +"Yes; I don't know how he feels toward me--" + +"We can't ask him just now, so we'll take it for granted. The court will +unquestionably appoint a receiver, independent of this morning's +proceedings, and if you don't mind, I'll ask to have you put in +temporarily, or until we can learn Mr. Porter's wishes." + +"But--there are other and better men--" + +"Very likely; but I particularly wish this." + +"There's Mr. Wheaton--isn't he the natural man--in the bank and all +that?" urged Saxton. + +"Mr. Wheaton has a very exacting position and it would be unfair to add +to his duties," said the lawyer. "Will you keep where I can find you the +rest of the day?" + +"Yes," said John; "I'll be at my office as soon as I hit a tub and a +breakfast. But you can do better," he called after Fenton, who was +walking rapidly toward the post-office building. + +Wheaton sat at his desk all the morning hoping that Fenton would drop in +to give him the result of the Traction meeting; but the lawyer did not +appear at the bank. He concluded that there was little chance of +learning of the outcome of the meeting until he saw the afternoon +papers. A dumb terror possessed him as he reflected upon the events of +the past day. It might be that the shares which Margrave had forced from +him would carry the balance of power. He felt keenly the ignominy of his +interview of the night before at the bank; he was sure that if he could +do it over again he would eject Margrave and dare him to do his worst. + +He could dramatize himself into a very heroic figure in combating +Margrave. If only Margrave had not seen Snyder! It was long ago that he +and his brother had made acquaintance with crime: that was the merest +slip; it was his only error. It had been kind of William Wheaton to take +the full burden of that theft upon himself; yet he thought with +repugnance of his brother's long career of crime; he detested the +weakness of a man who chose crime and squalor as his portion. He talked +to customers and did his detail work as usual, and went out for luncheon +to a near-by restaurant, as he had done when he was a clerk, making lack +of time an excuse for not going to The Bachelors' or the club. He felt a +sudden impulse to keep very much to himself, as if security lay in doing +so. His confidence returned as he reviewed his relations with Timothy +Margrave. He would demand the two certificates of Margrave whether they +had been used against Porter or not. + +Having reached this decision by the time he came in from luncheon he +went to the telephone and called Evelyn to ask her how her father was +and to report his delivery of the papers in her father's box to Mr. +Fenton, as instructed. Evelyn spoke hopefully of her father's illness; +there were no unfavorable symptoms, and everything pointed to his +recovery. It was very sweet to hear her voice in this way; and he went +to his desk comforted. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +JOHN SAXTON, RECEIVER + + +At two o'clock Warry Raridan sat on a table in the United States court +room, kicking his heels together and smoking a cigarette. A number of +reporters stood about; the ex-president, the secretary and the treasurer +of the Clarkson Traction Company loafed within the space set apart for +attorneys and played with their hats. The court was sitting in chambers, +and those who waited knew that in the judge's private room something was +happening. The clerk came out presently with his hands full of papers +and affixed the official file mark to them. Raridan was waiting for +Fenton and Saxton and when they appeared together, he went across the +room to meet them. + +"How is it?" he asked. + +"It's all right," said Fenton. "Saxton has been appointed, pending a +hearing of the case on its merits, which can't be had until Mr. Porter +is out again." + +"I knew it was coming," said Raridan, in a low tone to Saxton, "so I +came up to say that I'm glad you're recognized by the powers." + +"But it's only temporary," said John. "The little interest I represent +wouldn't justify it, of course. I'm still dazed that Fenton should have +urged my appointment on the court." + +"What I'm here for is to go on your bond, old man." + +"But Fenton has fixed that,--some of the bank directors." + +"All right, John." + +Saxton was walking away, but he turned back. Something had gone amiss +with Raridan. Several times in their friendship Saxton had unconsciously +offended him. He saw that Warry was really hurt now. + +"I appreciate it, Warry, and it's like you to offer; of course I'd be +glad to have you." + +"Well, I hoped I was as good as those other fellows," said Raridan, more +cheerfully; and he went to the clerk's desk and signed the bond. + +Margrave came out now with his lawyer, and they were joined by +Margrave's allies of the morning. Margrave stopped to give the reporters +his side of the story. He assured them that this was merely a contest +between two interests for the control of the Traction Company. There had +been a misunderstanding, and until the differences between the two +factions of stockholders could be reconciled, the business of the +company would be managed by a receiver, who was, he said, "friendly to +all parties." The fact was that he had objected strenuously to Saxton's +appointment, but Fenton had insisted on it and the court had paid a good +deal of attention to what Fenton said. Margrave made much to the +reporters of his own election to the presidency, and intimated to them +that the receiver would soon be discharged and that he would assume the +active management of affairs. + +The papers that had been filed in the case disclosed a somewhat +different situation, which was fully laid before the public, greatly to +its surprise. It appeared that William Porter owned all the bonds of +the company, and only narrowly missed the stock control. The situation +was thoroughly interesting. A contention between Porter and Margrave was +novel in the history of Clarkson and the press made the most of it. The +_Gazette_, Margrave's paper, proved him to be wholly in the right, and +cited the summary action of the court in appointing an inexperienced man +to the receivership as another proof of the brutal abuse of power by +federal courts. + +Margrave had put none of his own money into Traction stock, but had +invested funds belonging to the stockholders of the Transcontinental, +who had every confidence in his sagacity, and who trusted him +implicitly. He advised them of the receivership in terms which led them +to believe that he had brought it about as a part of his own plans. He +maintained an air of mystery and winked knowingly at friends who joked +him about the little _coup_ by which Porter, though sick in bed, had, as +they said, "cleaned him up." He told those who flattered him by twitting +him on this score that he guessed Tim Margrave hadn't lost his grip yet, +and that before he was knocked out, the place of eternal damnation would +have been transformed into a skating rink. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +GREEN CHARTREUSE + + +There is a common law of character which is greater than the canons. It +fills many volumes of records in the high court of Experience, and we +add to it daily by our instinctive decisions in small matters; but only +the finer natures, highly endowed with discernment, master its +intricacies. The decalogue is a safe guidepost on the great highway of +life; but it does not avail the lost pilgrim who stumbles in remote +by-paths. The spirit is the only arbiter of the nicer distinctions +between right and wrong. James Wheaton did not steal; he would do no +murder; he was not even unusually covetous. If the tests which Destiny +applied to him had related to the great fundamentals of conduct, he +would not have been found wanting; but they were directed against +seemingly unimportant weaknesses, along the lines of his least +resistance to evil. + +A week had passed since Saxton's appointment to the receivership and +Wheaton went to and from his work with many misgivings. Several of +Wheaton's friends had confided to him their belief that he ought to have +been appointed receiver instead of Saxton, and there was little that he +could say to this, except that he had no time for it. He had become +nervous and distraught, and was irritable under the jesting of his +associates at The Bachelors'. There was a good deal of joking at their +table for several days after Saxton's appointment over Margrave's +discomfiture, to which Wheaton contributed little. He felt decidedly ill +at ease under it. Thompson, the cashier, had come home, and Wheaton +found his presence irksome. + +He had seen Margrave several times at the club since their last +interview at the bank and Margrave had nodded distantly, as if he hardly +remembered Wheaton. Wheaton assumed that sooner or later Margrave would +offer to pay him for his shares of Traction stock. But while the loss of +his own certificate, under all the circumstances, did not trouble him, +Margrave's appropriation of Evelyn Porter's shares was an unpleasant +fact that haunted all his waking hours. + +One evening, a week after the receivership incident, he resolved to go +to Margrave and demand, at any hazard, the return of Evelyn's +certificate. The idea seized firm hold upon him, and he set out at once +for Margrave's house. He inquired for Margrave at the door, and the maid +asked him to go into the library. They were entertaining at dinner, she +told him, and he said he would wait. He walked nervously up and down in +the well-appointed library, where Warry Raridan's purchases looked out +at him from the solid mahogany bookcases. He heard the hum of voices +faintly from the dining-room. + +He picked up a magazine and tried to read, but the printed pages did not +hold his eyes. He did not know how Margrave would treat him, and he +would have escaped from the house if he had dared. Margrave came in +presently, fat and ugly in his evening clothes. He welcomed Wheaton +noisily and introduced him to his guests, two directors of the +Transcontinental and their wives, who were passing through town on their +way to California. + +Mrs. Margrave and Mabel greeted Wheaton cordially. Mabel was dressed to +impress the ladies from New York, and was succeeding. The colored butler +passed coffee and cigars and green chartreuse, and when Wheaton declined +a cigar, Mabel brought him a cigarette from the taboret from which "The +Men" were helped to such trifles. Mrs. Margrave was oppressed by the +presence in her home of so many millions and so much social distinction +as her guests represented, and she contributed only murmurs of assent to +the conversation which Mabel led with ease, discoursing in her most +Tyringhamesque manner of yacht races, horse shows and like matters of +metropolitan interest. Wheaton was glad now that he had come; Margrave's +guests were people worth meeting; he liked the talk, and the chartreuse +gave elegance to the occasion. + +Margrave accommodated his heavy frame to the soft indulgence of a huge +leather chair and drained the liqueur from his glass at a gulp. + +"Well, gentlemen, I'm glad Mr. Wheaton could drop in to-night. He's a +friend of the road and of ours. If everybody treated the +Transcontinental as well as he does,--well, a good many things would be +different!" + +He looked at Wheaton admiringly, and his guests followed his gaze with +polite interest. + +"Why, gentlemen," said Margrave, straining forward until his face was +purple, "Wheaton did his level best for me in that Traction deal; yes, +sir, he worked with us on that, and if it hadn't been for that fool +judge we'd have had it all fixed." He leaned back and nodded at Wheaton +benignantly. + +Wheaton had merely murmured at intervals during this deliverance. He did +not know what Margrave meant. He moved over by Mrs. Margrave and tried +to make talk with her. As soon as he felt that he could go decently, he +rose and shook hands with the visiting gentlemen and bowed to the +ladies. Margrave took him by the arm with an air of great intimacy and +affection and walked with him to the hall, where he made much of helping +Wheaton into his overcoat. + +"I wanted to see you on a business matter," Wheaton began, in a low +tone. + +"Oh, yes," said Margrave loudly, "I forgot to mail you that check. I've +been terribly rushed lately; but in time, my boy, in time!" + +The people in the library could hardly have failed to hear every word. + +"Oh, not that, not that! I mean that other certificate." Wheaton was +trying to drop the conversation to a whispering basis as he drew on his +gloves. Margrave had again taken his arm and was walking with him toward +the front door, talking gustily all the while. He swung the door open +and followed Wheaton out upon the front step. + +"A glorious night! glorious!" he ejaculated, puffing from his walk. His +hand wandered up Wheaton's arm until it reached his collar, and after he +had allowed his fingers to grasp this lingeringly, he gave Wheaton a +sudden push forward, still holding his collar, then raised his fat leg +and kicked him from the step. + +"Come again, Jim?" he called pleasantly, as he backed within the door +and closed it to return to his guests. + +Wheaton reached his room, filled with righteous indignation. He might +have known that a coarse fellow like Margrave cared only for people whom +he could control; and he decided after a night of reflection that he had +acted handsomely in saving Porter's package of securities from Margrave +the night of the encounter at the bank. The more he thought of it, the +more certain he grew that he could, if it became necessary to protect +himself in any way, turn the tables on Margrave. He called Margrave a +scoundrel in his thoughts, and was half persuaded to go at once to +Fenton and explain why Margrave had been at the bank on the night that +Fenton had found him there. + +Wheaton continued to call at the Porters' daily to make inquiry for the +head of the house. On some of these occasions he saw Evelyn, but Mrs. +Whipple, whose staying qualities were born of a rigid military sense of +duty, was always there; and he had not seen Evelyn alone since she gave +him her father's key. Other young men, friends of Evelyn, called, he +found, just as he did, to make inquiry about Mr. Porter. Mrs. Whipple +had a way of saying very artlessly, and with a little sigh that carried +weight, that Mr. Raridan was so very kind. Wheaton wanted to be very +kind himself, but he never happened to be about when the servants were +busy and there were important prescriptions to be filled at the +apothecary's. + +On the whole he was very miserable and when, one morning, while +Porter's condition was still precarious, he received a letter from +Snyder, postmarked Spokane, declaring that money was immediately +required to support him until he could find work, he closed that issue +finally in a brief letter which was not couched in diplomatic language. +The four days that were necessary for the delivery of this letter had +hardly passed before Wheaton received a telegram sharply demanding a +remittance by wire. This Wheaton did not answer; he had done all that he +intended to do for William Snyder, who was well out of the way, and much +more safely so if he had no money. The correspondence was not at an end, +however, for a threatening letter in Snyder's eccentric orthography +followed, and this, too, Wheaton dropped into his waste paper basket and +dismissed from his mind. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +PUZZLING AUTOGRAPHS + + +The affairs of the Traction Company proved to be in a wretched tangle. +Saxton employed an expert accountant to open a set of books for the +company, while he gave his own immediate attention to the physical +condition of the property. The company's service was a byword and a +hissing in the town, and he did what he could to better it, working long +hours, but enjoying the labor. It had been a sudden impulse on Fenton's +part to have Saxton made receiver. In Saxton's first days at Clarkson he +had taken legal advice of Fenton in matters which had already been +placed in the lawyer's hands by the bank; but most of these had long +been closed, and Saxton had latterly gone to Raridan for such legal +assistance as he needed from time to time. Fenton had firmly intended +asking Wheaton's appointment; this seemed to him perfectly natural and +proper in view of Wheaton's position in the bank and his relations with +Porter, which were much less confidential than even Fenton imagined. + +Fenton had been disturbed to find Margrave and Wheaton together in the +directors' room the night before the annual meeting of the Traction +stockholders. He could imagine no business that would bring them +together; and the hour and the place were not propitious for forming new +alliances for the bank. Wheaton had appeared agitated as he passed out +the packet of bonds and stocks; and Margrave's efforts at gaiety had +only increased Fenton's suspicions. From every point of view it was +unfortunate that Porter should have fallen ill just at this time; but it +was, on the whole, just as well to take warning from circumstances that +were even slightly suspicious, and he had decided that Wheaton should +not have the receivership. He had not considered Saxton in this +connection until the hour of the Traction meeting; and he had inwardly +debated it until the moment of his decision at the street corner. + +He had expected to supervise Saxton's acts, but the receiver had taken +hold of the company's affairs with a zeal and an intelligence which +surprised him. Saxton wasn't so slow as he looked, he said to the +federal judge, who had accepted Saxton wholly on Fenton's +recommendation. Within a fortnight Saxton had improved the service of +the company to the public so markedly that the newspapers praised him. +He reduced the office force to a working basis and installed a cashier +who was warranted not to steal. It appeared that the motormen and +conductors held their positions by paying tribute to certain minor +officers, and Saxton applied heroic treatment to these abuses without +ado. + +The motormen and conductors grew used to the big blond in the long gray +ulster who was forever swinging himself aboard the cars and asking them +questions. They affectionately called him "Whiskers," for no obvious +reason, and the report that Saxton had, in one of the power-houses, +filled his pipe with sweepings of tobacco factories known in the trade +as "Trolleyman's Special," had further endeared him to those men whose +pay checks bore his name as receiver. In snow-storms the Traction +Company had usually given up with only a tame struggle, but Saxton +devised a new snow-plow, which he hitched to a trolley and drove with +his own hand over the Traction Company's tracks. + +John was cleaning out the desk of the late secretary of the company one +evening while Raridan read a newspaper and waited for him. Warry was +often lonely these days. Saxton was too much engrossed to find time for +frivolity, and Mr. Porter's illness cut sharply in on Warry's visits to +the Hill. The widow's clothes lines were tied in a hard knot in the +federal court, to which he had removed them, and he was resting while he +waited for the Transcontinental to exhaust its usual tactics of delay +and come to trial. On Fenton's suggestion Saxton had intrusted to +Raridan some matters pertaining to the receivership, and these served to +carry Warry over an interval of idleness and restlessness. + +"You may hang me!" said Saxton suddenly. He had that day unexpectedly +come upon the long-lost stock records of the company and was now +examining them. Thrust into one of the books were two canceled +certificates. + +"It's certainly queer," he said, as Warry went over to his desk. He +spread out one of the certificates which Margrave had taken from Wheaton +the night before the annual meeting. "That's certainly Wheaton's +endorsement all right enough." + +Raridan took off his glasses and brought his near-sighted gaze to bear +critically upon the paper. + +"There's no doubt about it." + +"And look at this, too." Saxton handed him Evelyn Porter's certificate. +Raridan examined it and Evelyn's signature on the back with greater +care. He carried the paper nearer to the light, and scanned it again +while Saxton watched him and smoked his pipe. + +"You notice that Wheaton witnessed the signature." + +Raridan nodded. Saxton, who knew his friend's moods thoroughly, saw that +he was troubled. + +"I can find no plausible explanation of that," said Saxton. "Anybody may +be called on to witness a signature; but I can't explain this." He +opened the stock record and followed the history of the two certificates +from one page to another. It was clear enough that the certificates held +by Evelyn Porter and James Wheaton had been merged into one, which had +been made out in the name of Timothy Margrave, and dated the day before +the annual meeting. + +"It doesn't make much difference at present," said Saxton. "When Mr. +Porter comes down town he will undoubtedly go over this whole business +and he can easily explain these matters." + +"It makes a lot of difference," said Warry, gloomily. + +"We'd better not say anything about this just now--not even to Fenton," +Saxton suggested. "I'll take these things over to my other office for +safe keeping. Some one may want them badly enough to look for them." + +Raridan sat down with his newspaper and pretended to be reading until +Saxton was ready to go. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +CROSSED WIRES + + +A great storm came out of the north late in January and beat fiercely +upon Clarkson. It left a burden of snow on the town and was followed by +a week of bitter cold. The sun shone impotently upon the great drifts +which filled the streets; it seemed curiously remote, and ashamed of its +failure to impress the white, dazzling masses. The wires sang their song +of the cold; even the confused wires of the Clarkson Traction Company +lifted up their voices, somewhat to the irritation of John Saxton, +receiver, as he fought the snow banks below and sought to disentangle +the twisted wires above. Upper Varney Street, beyond Porter Hill, was +receiving his attention late one afternoon as the winter sunset burned +red in the west. The iron poles of the trolley wires had been pulled far +over into the street by the blast and the weight of snow; and trolley, +telephone, and electric light wires were a baffling tangle which workmen +were seeking to straighten. Saxton's men had detached their own wires +and were restoring them to the poles. Traffic on the Varney Street line +would, he concluded, be resumed on the morrow; and he gave final +instructions to the foreman of the repair crew and turned toward his +office. + +Evelyn Porter, who had come out for the walk she had been taking every +afternoon since the beginning of her father's illness, stopped at the +narrow aisle which had been trampled in the snow-piled sidewalk to watch +an adventurous lineman scale an icy telephone pole. There is a vintage +of the North that is more stimulating than any that comes out of +Southern vineyards. It brings a glow to the cheeks, a sparkle to the +eyes, and a nimbleness to the tongue which no product of the winepress +ever gives. It is a wine that makes the heart leap and the blood tingle. +It is distilled in the great ice-clasped seas of the North, and the pine +and balsam of snowy woods add their quintessence to it; it tickles no +palate but is assimilated directly into the blood of the brave and +strong; it is the wine of youth, of perpetual youth. Evelyn felt the joy +of it to-day, her heart leaped with it,--it was a delight to be abroad +in the pure, cold air. Her coloring was freshly accented. The remote +Scotch grandmother who conferred it upon her, across years of migration, +would have rejoiced in it; where the Irish strain maintained its light +of humor in her blue eyes, the gray mist of the Scotch moors still held +its own. There are women who are dominated by their clothes; but Evelyn +Porter was not one of them. Her dark green skirt might have belonged to +any other girl, but it would not have swayed in just the same way to any +other step; and her toque and cape of sable would have lost their +distinction on any other head and shoulders. Her father's convalescence +was only a matter of time and care; he had withstood the fever better +than the physicians had thought possible, and there was no question of +his restoration to health. It was good to be free of the anxious +strain, and the keen air was like a tonic to her happiness. Saxton +recognized her as he jumped over the drifted snow at the curb to the +path. His face, where it was visible between his cap and collar, was red +from the cold. + +"They say freezing to death's an easy way,--but I don't believe I'd +prefer it." + +"Oh, it's you, is it? I wondered who the busy man was." She was +interested in the lineman, the points of whose climbers were shaking +down the ice coating of the pole as he ascended. + +"Won't you order that man to come down? It isn't nice to make him risk +his life for a wire or two." + +"He's not my man," said John, beating his hands together, "he's fixing +telephone wires, and besides, he's not taking any chances." + +Evelyn half turned away to continue her walk, still with her eyes on the +lineman. + +"Poor fellow; it must be very cold up there." + +"Yes, polar expeditions are usually that way." + +"Wretched man, to pun about a human life in peril!" The lineman was +sitting on one of the cross beams, and Evelyn started ahead, Saxton +following. + +"Is that the overcoat?" she asked, over her shoulder. + +"What overcoat?" + +"The one that's in the newspapers. Aren't you the man in the gray ulster +who runs the trolleys?" + +"I've been too busy to read the papers, so I don't know." + +"It might pay you to join a current topics class and learn what's going +on." + +"That presupposes a little knowledge. I'd never pass the entrance +exams." + +"You needn't be afraid, they probably carry a prep. department." + +"My wires are down and the trolley isn't running!" + +She laughed, and it was pleasant to hear her, John thought. + +"Is that the kind of things you say? They are making you out a +humorist." + +"There's no harder lot. Who is this enemy that's undoing me?" + +"There's a certain person called Raridan. He's always telling me of the +things you say." + +"The villain! I merely lecture him for his good; and so he thought I was +joking!" + +They had reached the Porter grounds where the walk had been cleared, and +they stamped the snow from their shoes on the cement pavement and walked +on together. Evelyn dropped her tone of raillery, and John asked about +her father. John had followed Mr. Porter's sickness through Raridan's +reports, and had called at the house only a few times since the banker's +seizure. They entered the gate at the foot of the hill and walked up the +long slope to the door. + +"Won't you come in?" she asked. + +"I oughtn't to; there's work waiting for me down town." + +She sent the maid who let them in for hot water, and threw down her furs +in the hall while it was being brought. The tea table had been moved +into the library during Mrs. Whipple's visit, and Evelyn left John to +revive the fire while she went to speak to her father. Saxton had not +taken off his coat, and when she came back he stood buttoning it as if +he meant to leave. + +"It's historic, but not exactly a handsome garment," she said, shaking +the tea caddy. + +"You shake the caddy when you can't hit the ball: new rule of golf." He +had buttoned his ulster to the chin, and really intended to go. She +poured the steaming water into the tea-pot, and walked to the fire with +folded arms, shivering. + +"Of course, if you prefer your uniform!" She spread her hands to the +flames. Her mood was new to him; he felt suddenly that he knew her +better than ever before; and this having occurred to him as he stood +watching her, he accused himself instantly. He had no right to be there; +no one had any right to be there but Warry Raridan! She had turned +swiftly and was smiling at him. The darkness had fallen suddenly +outside. The maid went about closing blinds and turning on the lights. +He felt, by anticipation, the loneliness that lay for him beyond the +soft glow of this room. This was, after all, only a moment's respite. + +Evelyn was back at the tea table. She held a lump of sugar poised above +a cup, and looked at him inquiringly, as though of course he was staying +and wished his tea. He unbuttoned the coat and threw it on a chair. + +"One lump, thanks!" + +"It was the sandwiches that did it, I'm sure," she said, passing him a +plate of bread and butter. + +"I should like to refute your statement, but candor compels me to admit +its truth," he answered. "I just happen to remember that I haven't had +luncheon yet. Excuse me if I take two." + +She went to the wall and pushed a button. + +"You're a foolish person and I'm going to punish you. Father's beef tea +is ready day and night, and"--she said to the Swedish maid,--"bring some +more hot water and the decanter." + +"_J'y suis; j'y reste._ I think I have died and gone to Heaven." + +"You don't deserve Heaven. Why didn't you tell me?" + +"That I wanted a sandwich? They advised me against it as a kid. We are +taught repression in Massachusetts and I try to live up to my training." + +He pronounced beef tea no such deadly drug as it was reported to be, and +he drank it until she was content. He concocted a hot toddy while she +twitted him about his use of the tea-table implements for so ignoble a +use; and she made him talk of his work and of the Traction Company's +affairs. + +"Mr. Wheaton has explained about it," she said, "and Warry too. Warry +seems to be very much interested in some work he is doing in connection +with it." + +"Yes, he does his work well, too!" said John, with enthusiasm. He had no +right to be there; but being there he could praise his friend. He told +her in detail about some of Warry's work. Warry had, he said, a legal +mind, and knew the philosophy of the law as only the old-time lawyers +did. He rose and replenished the fire and went on talking. Some amusing +incidents had occurred in the adjustment of legal questions relating to +the receivership and he told of them in a way to reflect the greatest +credit on Warry. + +"It looks awfully complicated--the receivership and all that. Father has +begun to ask questions, but we don't encourage him." + +"I'll have a good deal to explain and apologize for, when he is able to +take a hand," said John. + +"I'm sure father will be grateful. Mr. Wheaton and Warry are very +enthusiastic about your work." She laughed out suddenly. "Warry says you +have made two cars go where none had gone before." + +"They have a joke down town in refutation of that. They illustrate the +erratic service of the Varney Street line by saying that the cars are +like bananas--short, yellow, and come in bunches." + +He walked to the fireplace and took up the poker. "I have been +prodigally generous with Mr. Porter's wood. It burns awfully fast." The +flame had died down to a few uncertain embers which he touched +tentatively with the poker. "When it goes out I'll have to go with it." + +"The joke is poor, Mr. Saxton. You can hardly sustain a reputation on +sayings of that sort." She put down her tea cup and went over to the +fire and poked the ashes gravely. + +"One might construe those actions in two ways," he said, meditatively, +as if the subject were one of weight. "One cannot tell whether the sibyl +is trying to encourage or to blight the dying flame. Just another poke +in that corner and it will be gone." + +Evelyn menaced the ember with the iron rod but did not touch it. + +"The lady's position is one of great delicacy," continued John. +"Between her instinct for self defense, and her gracious hospitality, +she wavers. A touch might revive the flame, or it might extinguish it +utterly! She hesitates between two inclinations--" + +"Why should you intimate that I hesitate?" + +"Her seeming reluctance to apply the poker to the crucial point, speaks +for itself," continued John, solemnly, while Evelyn still hung over the +fitful flame, which was growing fainter and fainter. "She's clearly +afraid of the chance of resuscitating the fire and thereby saving a poor +guest from the cold, hard world." + +Evelyn administered a gentle prod; the burnt fragment of wood fell +apart, the flame flared hopefully once and then passed into a wraith of +itself that curled dolorously into the chimney. + +"You see you made me do it," said Evelyn, turning on him. He looked at +her very seriously and there was no mirth in his laugh. + +"Good night," he said, and came toward her. "I feel like a burnt +sacrifice." + +"But you brought it on yourself! I wish, though, you'd stay to dinner. +Sandwiches aren't very filling." + +"In wholesale lots they are. Mine were seven; and my strength is as the +strength of ten because the punch was pure." + +He had buttoned himself into his ulster, which magnified his tall, broad +figure, and was walking toward the door. His time was now filled with +congenial work, which he was doing well, but still he did not quite lose +that air of injury, of having suffered defeat, which had from the first +touched her in him. + +When Grant, who had not returned to school after the Christmas +holidays, came in, she was still standing by the fire. He had been +coasting on the hillside, and was aglow from the exercise. + +"I met Mr. Saxton outside and asked him to stay to dinner," said the +boy, helping himself to sandwiches at the tea table. + +"I asked him, too," said Evelyn, "but he couldn't stay. I didn't know he +was a friend of yours, Grant." + +"Well, he's all right," continued Grant, biting into a fresh sandwich, +and unconsciously adopting one of his father's phrases. "He doesn't guy +me the way Warry does. He talks to me as if I had some sense, and he's +going to let me ride on the trolley plow the next time it snows. He's a +Harvard man. I want to go to Harvard, Evelyn." + +The girl laughed. + +"You're a funny boy, Grant," she said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +A DISAPPEARANCE + + +The iron thrall of winter was broken at last. Great winds still blew in +the valley, but their keen edge was dulled. Their errand was not to +destroy now, but to build. Robins and bluejays, coming before the +daffodils dared, looked down from bare boughs upon the receding line of +snow on the Porter hillside. The yellow river had shaken itself free of +ice, and its swollen flood rolled seaward. Porter watched it from his +windows; and early in March he was allowed to take short walks in the +grounds, followed by his Scotch gardener, with whom he planned the +floral campaign of the summer. Indoors he studied the alluring +catalogues of the seedsmen, an annual joy with him. + +Grant was still at home. He had not been well, and Evelyn kept him out +of school on the plea that he would help to amuse his father. Porter was +much weakened by his illness, and though he pleaded daily to be allowed +to go to the bank, he submitted to Evelyn's refusal with a tameness that +was new in him. Fenton came several times for short interviews; Thompson +called as an old friend as well as a business associate, but he was +prone to discuss his own health to the exclusion of bank affairs. +Wheaton was often at the house, and Porter preferred his account of +bank matters to Thompson's. Wheaton carried the figures in his head, and +answered questions offhand, while Thompson was helpless without the +statements which he was always having the clerks make for him. Porter +fretted and fumed over Traction matters, though Fenton did his best to +reassure him. + +He did not understand why Saxton should have been made receiver; if +Fenton was able to dictate the appointment, why did he ignore Wheaton, +who could have been spared from the bank easily enough when Thompson +returned. Fenton did not tell him the true reason--he was not sure of it +himself--but he urged the fact that Saxton represented certain shares +which were entitled to consideration, and he made much of the danger of +Thompson's breaking down at any moment and having to leave. Porter +dreaded litigation, and wanted to know how soon the receivership could +be terminated and the company reorganized. The only comfort he derived +from the situation was the victory which had been gained over Margrave, +who had repeatedly sent messages to the house asking for an interview +with Porter at the earliest moment possible. The banker's humor had not +been injured by the fever, and he told Evelyn and the doctor that he'd +almost be willing to stay in bed a while longer merely to annoy Tim +Margrave. + +"If I'd known I was going to be sick, I guess I wouldn't have tackled +it," he said to Fenton one day, holding up his thin hand to the fire. +The doctors had found his heart weak and had cut off his tobacco, which +he missed sorely. "I might unload as soon as we can rebond and +reorganize." + +"That's for you to say," answered the lawyer. "Margrave wanted it, and +no doubt he would be glad to take it off your hands if you care to deal +with him." + +"If I was sure I had a dead horse, I guess I'd as lief let Tim curry him +as any man in town; but I don't believe this animal is dead." + +"Not much", said the lawyer reassuringly. "Saxton says he's making money +every day, now that nobody is stealing the revenues. He's painting the +open cars and expects to do much better through the summer." + +"I guess Saxton doesn't know much about the business," said Porter. + +"He knows more than he did. He's all right, that fellow--slow but sure. +He's been a surprise to everybody. He's solid with the men too, they +tell me. I guess there won't be any strikes while he's in charge." + +"You'd better get a good man to keep the accounts," Porter suggested. +"Wheaton's pretty keen on such things." + +"Oh, that's all fixed. Saxton brought a man out from an Eastern audit +company to run that for him, and he deposits with the bank." + +"All right," said Porter, weakly. + +Saxton came and talked to him of the receivership several times, and +Porter quizzed him about it in his characteristic vein. Saxton was very +patient under his cross-examination, and reassured the banker by his +manner and his facts. Porter had lost his cocky, jaunty way, and after +the first interview he contented himself with asking how the receipts +were running and how they compared with those of the year previous. +Saxton suggested several times to Fenton that he would relinquish the +receivership, now that Porter was able to nominate some one to his own +liking. The lawyer would not have it so. He believed in Saxton and he +felt sure that when Porter could get about and see what the receiver had +accomplished he would be satisfied. It would be foolish to make a change +until Porter had fully recovered and was able to take hold of Traction +matters in earnest. + +Saxton had suddenly become a person of importance in the community. The +public continued to be mystified by the legal stroke which had placed +William Porter virtually in possession of the property; and it naturally +took a deep interest in the court's agent who was managing it so +successfully. Warry Raridan was delighted to find Saxton praised, and he +dealt ironically with those who expressed surprise at Saxton's capacity. +He was glad to be associated with John, and when he could find an +excuse, he liked to visit the power house with him, and to identify +himself in any way possible with his friend's work. During the extreme +cold he paid, from his own pocket for the hot coffee which was handed up +to the motormen along all the lines, and gave it out to the newspapers +that the receiver was doing it. John warned him that this would appear +reckless and injure him with the judge of the court to whom he was +responsible. + +Though Porter was not strong enough to resume his business burdens, he +was the better able in his abundant leisure to quibble over domestic and +social matters with an invalid's unreason. He was troubled because +Evelyn would not go out; she had missed practically all the social +gaiety of the winter by reason of his illness, and he wished her to feel +free to leave him when she liked. In his careful reading of the +newspapers he noted the items classified under "The Giddy Throng" and +"Social Clarkson," and it pained him to miss Evelyn's name in the list +of those who "poured," or "assisted," or "were charming" in some +particular raiment. Evelyn was now able to plead Lent as an excuse for +spending her evenings at home, but when he found invitations lying about +as he prowled over the house, he continued to reprove her for declining +them. He had an idea that she would lose prestige by her abstinence; but +she declared that she had adopted a new rule of life, and that +henceforth she would not go anywhere without him. + +The doctor now advised a change for Porter, the purpose of which was to +make it impossible for him to return to his work before his complete +recovery. Evelyn and the doctor chose Asheville before they mentioned it +to him, and the plan, of course, included Grant. Mrs. Whipple still +supervised the Porter household at long range, and the general +frequently called alone to help the banker over the hard places in his +convalescence, and to soothe him for the loss of his tobacco, which the +doctors did not promise to restore. + +A day had been fixed for their departure, and Mrs. Whipple was reviewing +and approving their plans in the library, as Evelyn and her father and +Grant discussed them. + +"We shall probably not see you at home much in the future," Mrs. Whipple +said to Mr. Porter, who lay in invalid ease on a lounge, with a Roman +comforter over his knees. "You'll be sure to become the worst of +gad-abouts--Europe, the far East, and all that." + +Porter groaned, knowing that she was mocking him. + +"I guess not," he said, emphatically. "I never expect to have any time +for loafing, and you can't teach an old dog new tricks." + +"Well, you're going now, anyhow. Don't let this girl get into mischief +while you're away. An invalid father--only a young brother to care for +her and keep the suitors away! Be sure and bring her back without a +trail of encumbrances. Grant," she said, turning to the boy, "you must +protect Evelyn from those Eastern men." + +"I'll do my best," the lad answered. "Evelyn doesn't like dudes, and +Warry says all the real men live out West." + +"I guess that's right," said Mr. Porter. + +She rose, gathering her wrap about her. Grant rose as she did. His +manners were very nice, and he walked into the hall and took up his hat +to go down to the car with Mrs. Whipple. It was dusk, and a man was +going through the grounds lighting the lamps. Mrs. Whipple talked with +her usual vivacity of the New Hampshire school which the boy had +attended, and of the trip he was about to make with his father and +sister. They stood at the curb in front of the Porter gate waiting for +her car. A buggy stopped near them and a man alighted and stood talking +to a companion who remained seated. + +"Is this the way to Mr. Porter's stable?" one of the men called to them. + +"Yes," Grant answered, as he stepped into the street to signal the car. +The man who had alighted got back into the buggy as if to drive into the +grounds. The street light overhead hissed and then burned brightly above +them. Mrs. Whipple turned and saw one of the men plainly. The car came +to a stop; Grant helped her aboard, and waved his hand to her as she +gained the platform. + +At nine o'clock a general alarm was sent out in Clarkson that Grant +Porter had disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +JOHN SAXTON SUGGESTS A CLUE + + +Wheaton sat in his room at The Bachelors' the next evening, clutching a +copy of a _Gazette_ extra in which a few sentences under long headlines +gave the latest rumor about the mysterious disappearance of Grant +Porter. Within a fortnight he had received several warnings from his +brother marking his itinerary eastward. Snyder was evidently moving with +a fixed purpose; and, as Wheaton had received brief notes from him +couched in phrases of amiable irony, postmarked Denver, and then, within +a few days, Kansas City, he surmised that his brother was traveling on +fast trains and therefore with money in his purse. + +He had that morning received a postal card, signed "W. W.," which bore a +few taunting sentences in a handwriting which Wheaton readily +recognized. He did not for an instant question that William Wheaton, +_alias_ Snyder, had abducted Grant Porter, nor did he belittle the +situation thus created as it affected him. He faced it coldly, as was +his way. He ought not to have refused Snyder's appeals, he confessed to +himself; the debt he owed his brother for bearing the whole burden of +their common youthful crime had never been discharged. The bribes and +subterfuges which Wheaton had employed to keep him away from Clarkson +had never been prompted by brotherly gratitude or generosity, but always +by his fear of having so odious a connection made public. This was one +line of reflection; on the other hand, the time for dealing with his +brother in a spirit of tolerant philanthropy was now past. He was face +to face with the crucial moment where concealment involved complicity in +a crime. His duty lay clear before him--his duty to his friends, the +Porters--to the woman whom he knew he loved. Was he equal to it? If +Snyder were caught he would be sure to take revenge on him; and Wheaton +knew that no matter how guiltless he might show himself in the eyes of +the world, his career would be at an end; he could not live in Clarkson; +Evelyn Porter would never see him again. + +The _Gazette_ stated that a district telegraph messenger had left at Mr. +Porter's door a note which named the terms on which Grant could be +ransomed. The amount was large,--more money than James Wheaton +possessed; it was not a great deal for William Porter to pay. It had +already occurred to Wheaton that he might pay the ransom himself and +carry the boy home, thus establishing forever a claim upon the Porters. +He quickly dismissed this; the risks of exposure were too great. He +smoked a cigarette as he turned all these matters over in his mind. +Clearly, the best thing to do was to let the climax come. His brother +was a criminal with a record, who would not find it easy to drag him +into the mire. His own career and position in Clarkson were +unassailable. Very likely the boy would be found quickly and the +incident would close with Snyder's sentence to a long imprisonment. By +the time the Chinaman called him to dinner he was able to view the case +calmly. He would face it out no matter what happened; and the more he +thought of it the likelier it seemed that Snyder had overleaped himself +and would soon be where he could no longer be a menace. + +He went down to dinner late, in the clothes that he had worn at the bank +all day and thus brought upon himself the banter of Caldwell, the +Transcontinental agent, who sang out as he entered the dining-room door: + +"What's the matter, Wheaton? Sold or pawned your other clothes?" + +Wheaton smiled wanly. + +"Only a little tired," he said. + +"Come on now and give us the real truth about the kidnapping," said +Caldwell with cheerful interest. "You'd better watch the bank or the +same gang may carry it off next." + +"I guess the bank's safe enough," Wheaton answered. "And I don't know +anything except what I read in the papers." He hoped the others would +not think him indifferent; but they were busy discussing various rumors +and theories as to the route taken by the kidnappers and the amount of +ransom. He threw in his own comment and speculations from time to time. + +"Raridan's out chasing them," said Caldwell. "I passed him and Saxton +driving like mad out Merriam Street at noon." The mention of Raridan and +Saxton did not comfort Wheaton. He reflected that they had undoubtedly +been to the Porter house since the alarm had been sounded, and he +wondered whether his own remissness in this regard had been remarked at +the Hill. His fingers were cold as he stirred his coffee; and when he +had finished he hurriedly left the room, and the men who lingered over +their cigars heard the outer door close after him. + +He felt easier when he got out into the cool night air. His day at the +bank had been one long horror; but the clang of the cars, the lights in +the streets, gave him contact with life again. He must hasten to offer +his services to the Porters, though he knew that every means of +assistance had been employed, and that there was nothing to do but to +make inquiries. He grew uneasy as his car neared the house, and he +climbed the slope of the hill like one who bears a burden. He had +traversed this walk many times in the past year, in the varying moods of +a lover, who one day walks the heights and is the next plunged into the +depths; and latterly, since his affair with Margrave, he had known moods +of conscience, too, and these returned upon him with forebodings now. If +Porter had not been ill, there would never have been that interview with +Margrave at the bank; and Grant would not have been at home to be +kidnapped. It seemed to him that the troubles of other people rather +than his own errors were bearing down the balance against his happiness. + +Evelyn came into the parlor with eyes red from weeping. "Oh, have you no +news?" she cried to him. He had kept on his overcoat and held his hat in +his hand. Her grief stung him; a great wave of tenderness swept over +him, but it was followed by a wave of terror. Evelyn wept as she tried +to tell her story. + +"It is dreadful, horrible!" he forced himself to say. "But certainly no +harm can come to the boy. No doubt in a few hours--" + +"But he isn't strong and father is still weak--" + +She threw herself in a chair and her tears broke forth afresh. + +Wheaton stood impotently watching her anguish. It is a new and strange +sensation which a man experiences when for the first time he sees tears +in the eyes of the woman he loves. + +Evelyn sprang up suddenly. + +"Have you seen Warry?" she asked--"has he come back yet?" + +"Nothing had been heard from them when I came up town." He still stood, +watching her pityingly. "I hope you understand how sorry I am--how +dreadful I feel about it." He walked over to her and she thought he +meant to go. She had not heard what he said, but she thought he had been +offering help. + +"Oh, thank you! Everything is being done, I know. They will find him +to-night, won't they? They surely must," she pleaded. Her father called +her in his weakened voice to know who was there and she hurried away to +him. + +Wheaton's eyes followed her as she went weeping from the room, and he +watched her, feeling that he might never see her again. He felt the +poignancy of this hour's history,--of his having brought upon this house +a hideous wrong. The French clock on the mantel struck seven and then +tinkled the three quarters lingeringly. There were roses in a vase on +the mantel; he had sent them to her the day before. He stood as one +dazed for a minute after she had vanished. He could hear Porter back in +the house somewhere, and Evelyn's voice reassuring him. The musical +stroke of the bell, the scent of the roses, the familiar surroundings of +the room, wrought upon him like a pain. He stared stupidly about, as if +amid a ruin that he had brought upon the place; and then he went out of +the house and down the slope into the street, like a man in a dream. + +While Wheaton swayed between fear and hope, the community was athrill +with excitement. The probable fate of the missing boy was the subject of +anxious debate in every home in Clarkson, and the whole country eagerly +awaited further news of the kidnapping. Raridan and Saxton hearing early +of the boy's disappearance had at once placed every known agency at work +to find him. Not satisfied with the local police, they had summoned +detectives from Chicago, and these were already at work. Rewards for the +boy's return were telegraphed in every direction. The only clue was the +slight testimony of Mrs. Whipple. She had told and re-told her story to +detectives and reporters. There was only too little to tell. Grant had +walked with her to the car. She had seen only one of the men that had +driven up to the curb,--the one that had inquired about the entrance to +Mr. Porter's grounds. She remembered that he had moved his head +curiously to one side as he spoke, and there was something unusual about +his eyes which she could not describe. Perhaps he had only one eye; she +did not know. + +Every other man in Clarkson had turned detective, and the whole city had +been ransacked. Suspicion fastened itself upon an empty house in a +hollow back of the Porter hill, which had been rented by a stranger a +few days before Grant Porter's disappearance; it was inspected solemnly +by all the detectives but without results. + +Raridan and Saxton, acting independently of the authorities in the +confusion and excitement, followed a slight clue that led them far +countryward. They lost the trail completely at a village fifteen miles +away, and after alarming the country drove back to town. Meanwhile +another message had been sent to the father of the boy stating that the +ransom money could be taken by a single messenger to a certain spot in +the country, at midnight, and that within forty-eight hours thereafter +the boy would be returned. He was safe from pursuit, the note stated, +and an ominous hint was dropped that it would be wise to abandon the +idea of procuring the captive's return unharmed without paying the sum +asked. Mr. Porter told the detectives that he would pay the money; but +the proposed meeting was set for the third night after the abduction; +the captors were in no hurry, they wrote. The crime was clearly the work +of daring men, and had been carefully planned with a view to quickening +the anxiety of the family of the stolen boy. And so twenty-four hours +passed. + +"This is a queer game," said Raridan, on the second evening, as he and +John discussed the subject again in John's room at the club. "I don't +just make it out. If the money was all these fellows wanted, they could +make a quick touch of it. Mr. Porter's crazy to pay any sum. But they +seem to want to prolong the agony." + +"That looks queer," said Saxton. "There may be something back of it; +but Porter hasn't any enemies who would try this kind of thing. There +are business men here who would like to do him up in a trade, but this +is a little out of the usual channels." + +Saxton got up and walked the floor. + +"Look here, Warry, did you ever know a one-eyed man?" + +"I'm afraid not, except the traditional Cyclops." + +"It has just occurred to me that I have seen such a man since I came to +this part of the country; but the circumstances were peculiar. This +thing is queerer than ever as I think of it." + +"Well?" + +"It was back at the Poindexter place when I first went there. A fellow +named Snyder was in charge. He had made a rats' nest of the house, and +resented the idea of doing any work. He seemed to think he was there to +stay. Wheaton had given him the job before I came. I remember that I +asked Wheaton if it made any difference to him what I did with the +fellow. He didn't seem to care and I bounced him. That was two years ago +and I haven't heard of him since." + +Raridan drew the smoke of a cigarette into his lungs and blew it out in +a cloud. + +"Who's at the Poindexter place now?" + +"Nobody; I haven't been there myself for a year or more." + +"Is it likely that fellow is at the bottom of this, and that he has made +a break for the ranch house? That must be a good lonesome place out +there." + +"Well, it won't take long to find out. The thing to do is to go +ourselves without saying a word to any one." + +Saxton looked at his watch. + +"It's half past nine. The Rocky Mountain limited leaves at ten o'clock, +and stops at Great River at three in the morning. Poindexter's is about +an hour from the station." + +"Let's make a still hunt of it," said Warry. "The detectives are busy on +what may be real clues and this is only a guess." + +They rose. + +"I can't imagine that fellow Snyder doing anything so dashing as +carrying off a millionaire's son. He didn't look to me as if he had the +nerve." + +"It's only a chance, but it's worth trying." + +In the lower hall they met Wheaton who was pacing up and down. + +"Is there any news?" he asked, with a show of eagerness. + +"No. We lost our trail at Rollins," said Raridan. "Have you heard +anything?" + +"Nothing so far," Wheaton replied. He uttered the "so far" bravely, as +if he really might be working on clues of his own. His speculations of +one moment were abandoned the next. He was building and destroying and +rebuilding theories and plans of action. He was strong and weak in the +same breath. He envied Raridan and Saxton their air of determined +activity. He resolved to join them, to steady himself by them. He was +struggling between two inclinations: one to show his last threatening +note from Snyder, which was buttoned in his pocket, and boldly confess +that the blow at Porter was also an indirect blow at himself; and on the +other hand he held to a cowardly hope that the boy would yet be +recovered without his name appearing in the matter. He was aware that +all his hopes for the future hung in the balance. He was sure that every +one would soon know of his connection with the kidnapping; and yet he +still tried to convince himself that he was wholly guiltless. + +He was afraid of John Saxton; Saxton, he felt, probably knew the part he +had played in the street railway matter. It seemed to him that Saxton +must have told others; probably Saxton had Evelyn's certificate put away +for use when William Porter should be restored to health; but on second +thought he was not sure of this. Saxton might not know after all! This +went through his mind as John and Warry stood talking to him. + +"Wheaton," said Saxton, "do you remember that fellow Snyder who was in +charge of the Poindexter place when I came here?" + +"What--oh yes!" His hand rose quickly to his carefully tied four-in-hand +and he fingered it nervously. + +"You may not remember it, but he had only one eye." + +"Yes, that's so," said Wheaton, as if recalling the fact with +difficulty. + +"And Mrs. Whipple says there was something wrong about one of the eyes +of the man who accosted her and Grant at Mr. Porter's gate. What became +of that fellow after he left the ranch--have you any idea?" Raridan had +walked away to talk to a group of men in the reading room, leaving +Saxton and Wheaton alone. + +"He went West the last I knew of him," Wheaton answered, steadily. + +"It has struck me that he might be in this thing. It's only a guess, +but Raridan and I thought we'd run out to the Poindexter ranch and see +if it could possibly be the rendezvous of the kidnappers. It's probably +a fool's errand but it won't take long, and we'll do it unofficially +without saying anything to the authorities." His mind was on the plan +and he looked at his watch and called to Raridan to come. + +"I believe I'll go along," said Wheaton, suddenly. "We can be back by +noon to-morrow," he added, conscientiously, remembering his duties at +the bank. + +"All right," said Warry. "We're taking bags along in case of +emergencies." A boy came down carrying Saxton's suit-case. Wheaton and +Raridan hurried out together to The Bachelors' to get their own things. +It was a relief to Wheaton to have something to do; it was hardly +possible that Snyder had fled to the ranch house; but in any event he +was glad to get away from Clarkson for a few hours. + +As the train drew out of the station Raridan and Saxton left Wheaton and +went to the rear of their sleeper, which was the last, and stood on the +observation platform, watching the receding lights of the city. The day +had been warm for the season; as the air quickened into life with the +movement of the train they sat down, with a feeling of relief, on the +stools which the porter brought them. They had done all that they could +do, and there was nothing now but to wait. The train rattled heavily +through the yards at the edge of town, and the many lights of the city +grew dimmer as they receded. Suddenly Raridan rose and pointed to a +single star that glowed high on a hill. + +"It's the light in the tower at the Porters'," he said, bending down to +Saxton, "her light!" + +"It's the light of all the valley," said Saxton, rising and putting his +hand on his friend's shoulder. He, too, knew the light! + +The train was gathering speed now; the wheels began to croon their +melody of distance; one last curve, and the star of the Hill had been +blotted out. + +"It's like a flower in an inaccessible place on a hillside," said +Raridan; and he repeated half aloud some lines of a poem that had lately +haunted him: + + + "'Though I be mad, I shall not wake; + I shall not fall to common sight; + Only the god himself may take + This music out of my blood, this glory out of my breath, + This lift, this rapture, this singing might, + And love that outlasts death.'" + + +When they went in, Wheaton was alone in the smoking compartment and they +joined him to discuss their plans for the drive to Poindexter's place. + +"We'd better push right on to the ranch house as soon as we get to Great +River," said Saxton. "We're due there at three o'clock. We ought to get +back to take the nine o'clock train home in any event." + +"And what's going to happen if we find the man there?" asked Raridan. +"We want the boy and him, too, don't we?" + +Wheaton sat with his eyes turned toward the window, which the darkness +made opaque. + +"If he's cornered he'll be glad to drop the boy and clear out. But we +want to take him home with us too, don't we, Wheaton?" asked Saxton. + +"I should think we'd better make sure of the boy first," Wheaton +answered. "That would be a good night's work." + +The porter came to tell them that their berths were ready. + +"It's hardly worth while to turn in," said Warry, yawning. "I shudder at +the thought of getting up at three o'clock." "But," he added, "if we're +on the right track, this time to-morrow night they'll probably be +welcoming us home with brass bands and the freedom of the city. Perhaps +they'll have a public meeting at the Board of Trade. Cheer up, Jim; +those detectives will go out of business if we really take the boy +home." + +Wheaton smiled wearily; he did not relish Raridan's jesting. + +"Will your imagination never rest?" growled Saxton, knocking the ashes +from his pipe. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +SHOTS IN THE DARK + + +The night wind of the plain blew cold in their faces as they stepped out +upon the Great River platform. There was a hint of storm in the air and +clouds rode swiftly overhead. The voices of the trainmen and the throb +of the locomotive, resting for its long climb mountainward, broke +strangely upon the silence. A great figure muffled in a long ulster came +down the platform toward the vestibule from which the trio had +descended. + +"Hello," called Raridan cheerily, "there's only one like that! Good +morning, Bishop!" + +"Good morning, gentlemen," said Bishop Delafield, peering into their +faces. The waiting porter took his bags from him. "Has the boy been +found yet?" + +"No." + +"I should have gone on home to-night if I had known that. But what are +you doing here?" + +Raridan told him in a few words. They were following a slight clue, and +were going over to the old Poindexter place, in the hope of finding +Grant Porter there. Saxton was holding a colloquy with the driver of the +station hack who had come in quest of passengers, and he hurried off +with the man to get a buckboard. + +The conductor signaled with his lantern to go ahead, and the engine +answered with a doleful peal of the bell. The porter had gathered up the +bishop's things and waited for him to step aboard. + +"Never mind," the bishop said to him; "I won't go to-night." The train +was already moving and the bishop turned to Raridan and Wheaton. "I'll +wait and see what comes of this." + +"Very well," said Raridan. "We won't need our bags. We can leave them +with the station agent." Wheaton stepped forward eagerly, glad to have +something to do; he had not slept and was grateful for the cover of +darkness which shut him out from the others. + +"Gentlemen with flasks had better take them," said Warry, opening his +bag. "It's a cold morning!" + +"Wretchedly intemperate man," said the bishop. "Where's yours, Mr. +Wheaton?" + +"I haven't any," Wheaton answered. + +When he went into the station, the agent eyed him curiously as he looked +up from his telegraphing and nodded his promise to care for the bags. He +remembered Saxton and Wheaton and supposed that they were going to +Poindexter's on ranch business. + +Saxton drove up to the platform with the buckboard. + +"All ready," he said, and the three men climbed in, the bishop and +Wheaton in the back seat and Raridan by Saxton, who drove. + +"The roads out here are the worst. It's a good thing the ground's +frozen." + +"It's a better thing that you know the way," said Raridan. "I'm a lost +child in the wilderness." + +"If you lose me, Wheaton can find the way," said Saxton. + +They could hear the train puffing far in the distance. Its passage had +not disturbed the sleep of the little village. The lantern of the +station-master flashed in the main street as he picked his way homeward. +Stars could be seen beyond the flying clouds. The road lay between +wire-fenced ranches, and the scattered homes of their owners were +indistinguishable in the darkness of the night. A pair of ponies drew +the buckboard briskly over the hard, rough road. + +"How far is it?" asked the bishop. + +"Five miles. We can do it in an hour," said Saxton over his shoulder. + +"We'll be in Clarkson laughing at the police to-morrow afternoon if we +have good luck," said Raridan. "If we've made a bad guess we'll sneak +home and not tell where we've been." + +The road proved to be in better condition than Saxton had expected, and +he kept the ponies at their work with his whip. The rumble of the wagon +rose above the men's voices and they ceased trying to talk. Raridan and +Saxton smoked in silence, lighting one cigar from another. The bishop +rode with his head bowed on his breast, asleep; he had learned the trick +of taking sleep when and where he could. + +Wheaton felt the numbing of his hands and feet in the cold night air and +welcomed the discomfort, as a man long used to a particular sensation of +pain welcomes a new one that proves a counter-irritant. He reviewed +again the grounds on which he might have excused himself from taking +this trip. Nothing, he argued, could be more absurd than this adventure +on an errand which might much better have been left to professional +detectives. But it seemed a far cry back to his desk at the bank, and to +the tasks there which he really enjoyed. In a few hours the daily +routine would be in progress. The familiar scenes of the opening passed +before him--the clerks taking their places; the slamming of the big +books upon the desks as they were brought from the vault; the jingle of +coin in the cages as the tellers assorted it and made ready for the +day's business. He saw himself at his desk, the executive officer of the +most substantial institution in Clarkson, his signature carrying the +bank's pledge, his position one of dignity and authority. + +But he was on William Porter's service; he pictured himself walking into +the bank from a fruitless quest, but one which would attract attention +to himself. If they found the boy and released him safely, he would +share the thanks and praise which would be the reward of the rescuing +party. He had no idea that Snyder would be captured; and he even planned +to help him escape if he could do so. + +They had turned off from the main highway and were well up in the branch +road that ran to the Poindexter place. + +"This is right, Wheaton, isn't it?" asked Saxton, drawing up the ponies. + +"Yes, this is the ranch road." + +They went forward slowly. The clouds were more compactly marshaled now +and the stars were fewer. Suddenly Saxton brought the ponies to a stand +and pointed to a dark pile that loomed ahead of them. The Poindexter +house stood forth somber in the thin starlight. + +"Is that the place?" asked the bishop, now wide awake. + +"That's it," said Wheaton. "This road ends there. The river's just +beyond the cottonwoods. That first building was Poindexter's barn. It +cost more than the court house of this county." + +Saxton gave the reins to Raridan and jumped out. "No more smoking," he +said, throwing away his cigar. "You stay here and I'll reconnoiter a +bit." He walked swiftly toward the great barn which lay between him and +the house. There was no sign of life in the place. He crept through the +barb-wire fence into the corral. He had barred and padlocked the barn +door on his last visit, and he satisfied himself that the fastenings had +not been disturbed. There were no indications that any one had visited +the place. He reasoned that if Snyder had sought the ranch house for a +rendezvous he had not come afoot. Saxton was therefore disappointed to +find the barn door locked and the corral empty; there was little use in +looking further, he concluded; but before joining the others he resolved +to make sure that the house also was empty. It was quite dark and he +walked boldly up to it. The wind had risen and whistled shrilly around +it; a loose blind under the eaves flapped noisily as he drew near. The +great front door was closed; he pushed against it and found it securely +fastened. He had brought with him a key to a rear door, and he started +around the house to try it and to make sure that the house was not +occupied. + +At the corner toward the river, glass suddenly crunched under his feet. +The windows were deeply embrasured all over the house, and he could not +determine where the glass had fallen from. The windows were all intact +when he left, he was sure. He drew off his glove and tiptoed to the +nearest panes, ran his fingers over the smooth glass, and instantly +touched a broken edge. As he was feeling the frame to discover the size +of the opening, the low whinny of a horse came distinctly from within. + +He stood perfectly quiet, listening, and in a moment heard the stamp of +a hoof on the wooden floor of the hall. He backed off toward the drive +way, which swept around in front of the house, and waited, but all +remained as silent and as dark as before. He ran back through the corral +to the other men, who stood talking beside the blanketed ponies. + +"There's something or somebody in the house," he said. He told them of +the broken window and of the sounds he had heard. "Whoever's there has +no business there and we may as well turn him out. I've thought of a +good many schemes for utilizing that house, but the idea of making a +barn of it hadn't occurred to me." + +He threw off his overcoat and tossed it into the buckboard. + +"I guess that's a good idea, John," said Raridan, following his example. +Wheaton stood muffled in his coat. His teeth were chattering, and he +fumbled at the buttons but kept his coat on, walking toward the house +with the others. + +"We may have a horse thief or we may have a kidnapper," said Saxton, +who had taken charge of the party; "but in either case we may as well +take him with his live stock." + +"Let us not be rash," said the bishop, following the others. "He may +prove an unruly customer." + +"He's probably a dude tramp who rides a horse and has taken a fancy to +Poindexter architecture," said Warry. + +"Quiet!" admonished Saxton, who had lighted a lantern, which he +concealed under his coat. + +"You two watch the corners of the house," he said, indicating Raridan +and Wheaton; "and you, Bishop, can stand off here, if you will, and +watch for signs of light in the upper windows. The big front doors are +barred on the inside, and my key opens only the back door." + +"I'll go with you," said Raridan. + +"Not yet, old man. You stay right here and watch until I throw open the +front doors." + +"But that's a foolish risk," insisted Raridan. "There may be a dozen men +inside." + +"That's all right, Warry. It takes only a minute to cross the hall and +unbar the front doors. There's no risk about it. I'll be out in half a +minute." + +Raridan felt that Saxton was taking all the hazards, but he yielded, as +he usually did, when Saxton was decisive, as now. + +"Good luck to you, old man!" he said, slapping Saxton on the back. He +patrolled the grass-plot before the house, while Saxton went to the +rear. + +The door opened easily, and John stepped into the lower hall. The place +was pitch dark. He remembered the position of the articles of furniture +as he had left them on his last visit, and started across the hall +toward the stairway, using his lantern warily. When half way, he heard +the whinny of a horse which he could not see. A moment later an animal +shrank away from him in the darkness and was still again. Then another +horse whinnied by the window whose broken glass he had found on the +outside. There were, then, two horses, from which he argued that there +were at least two persons in the house. He found the doors and lifted +the heavy bar that held them and drew the bolts at top and bottom. As +the doors swung open slowly Raridan ran up to see if anything was +wanted. + +"All right," said Saxton in a low tone. "They're mighty quiet if they're +here. But there's no doubt about the horses. You stay where you are and +I'll explore a little." + +Raridan started to follow him, but Saxton pushed him back. + +"Watch the door," he said, and walked guardedly into the house again. +The horses stamped fretfully as he went toward the stairway, but all was +quiet above. He felt his way slowly up the stair-rail, whose heavy dust +stuck to his fingers. Having gained the upper hall, he paused to take +fresh bearings. His memory brought back gradually the position of the +rooms. In putting out his hand he touched a picture which swung slightly +on its wire and grated harshly against the rough plaster of the wall. At +the same instant he heard a noise directly in front of him as of some +one moving about in the chamber at the head of the stairs. The knob of a +door was suddenly grasped from within. John waited, crouched down, and +drew his revolver from the side pocket of his coat. The door stuck in +the frame, but being violently shaken, suddenly pulled free. The person +who had opened the door stepped back into the room and scratched a +match. + +"Wake up there," called a voice within the room. + +Saxton crept softly across the hall, settling the revolver into his hand +ready for use. A man could be heard mumbling and cursing. + +"Hurry up, boy, it's time we were out of this." + +The owner of the voice now reappeared at the door holding a lantern; he +was pushing some one in front of him. The crisis had come quickly; John +Saxton knew that he had found Grant Porter; and he remembered that he +was there to get the boy whether he caught his abductor or not. + +The man was carrying his lantern in his right hand and pushing the boy +toward the staircase with his left. As he came well out of the door, +Saxton sprang up and kicked the lantern from the man's hand. At the same +moment he grabbed the boy by the collar, drew him back and stepped in +front of him. The lantern crashed against the wall opposite and went +rolling down the stairway with its light extinguished. Saxton had +dropped his own lantern and the hall was in darkness. + +"Stop where you are, Snyder," said Saxton, "or I'll shoot. I'm John +Saxton; you may remember me." He spoke in steady, even tones. + +The lantern, rolling down the stairway, startled the horses, which +stamped restlessly on the floor. The wind whistled dismally outside. He +heard Snyder, as he assumed the man to be, cautiously feeling his way +toward the staircase. + +"You may as well stop there," Saxton said, without moving, and holding +the boy to the floor with his left hand. He spoke in sharp, even tones. +"It's all right, Grant," he added in the same key to the boy, who was +crying with fright. "Stay where you are. The house is surrounded, +Snyder," he went on. "You may as well give in." + +The man said nothing. He had found the stairway. Suddenly a revolver +flashed and cracked, and the man went leaping down the stairs. The ball +whistled over Saxton's head, and the boy clutched him about the legs. A +bit of plaster, shaken loose by the bullet, fell from the ceiling. The +noise of the revolver roared through the house. + +"It's all right, Grant," Saxton said again. + +The retreating man slipped and fell at the landing, midway of the +stairs, and as he stumbled to his feet Saxton ran back into the room +from which the fellow had emerged. He threw up the window with a crash +and shouted to the men in the darkness below: + +"He's coming! Get out of the way and let him go! The boy's all right!" + +He hurried back into the hall where he had left Grant, who crouched +moaning in the dark. + +"You stay here a minute, Grant. They won't get you again," he called as +he ran down the steps. One of the horses below was snorting with fright +and making a great clatter with its hoofs. From the sound Saxton knew +that the fleeing man was trying to mount, and as he plunged down the +last half of the stairway, the horse broke through the door with the +man on his back. + +"Let him go, Warry," yelled Saxton with all his lungs. + +The horse was already across the threshold at a leap, his rider bending +low over the animal's neck to avoid the top of the door. Raridan ran +forward, taking his bearings by sounds. + +"Stop!" he shouted. "Come on, Wheaton!" Wheaton was running toward him +at the top of his speed; Raridan sprang in front of the horse and +grabbed at the throat-latch of its bridle. The horse, surprised, and +terrified by the noise, and feeling the rider digging his heels into his +sides, reared, carrying Warry off his feet. + +"Let go, you fool," screamed the rider. "Let go, I say!" + +"Let him alone," cried Wheaton, now close at hand; but Raridan still +held to the strap at the throat of the plunging horse. + +The rider sat up straight on his horse and his revolver barked into the +night twice in sharp succession, the sounds crashing against the house, +and the flashes lighting up the struggling horse and rider, and Raridan, +clutching at the bridle. Raridan's hold loosened at the first shot, and +as the second echoed into the night, the horse leaped free, running +madly down the road, past Bishop Delafield, who was coming rapidly +toward the house. Wheaton and Saxton met in the driveway where Raridan +had fallen. The flying horse could be heard pounding down the hard road. + +"Warry, Warry!" called Saxton, on his knees by his friend. "Hold the +lantern," he said to Wheaton. "He's hurt." Raridan said nothing, but lay +very still, moaning. + +"Who's hurt?" asked the bishop coming up. Saxton had recovered his own +lantern as he ran from the house. It was still burning and Wheaton +turned up the wick. The three men bent over Raridan, who lay as he had +fallen. + +"We must get him inside," said Saxton. "The horse knocked him down." + +The bishop bent over and put his arms under Raridan; and gathering him +up as if the prone man had been a child, he carried him slowly toward +the house. Wheaton started ahead with the lantern, but Saxton snatched +it from him and ran through the doors into the hall, and back to the +dining-room. + +"Come in here," he called, and the old bishop followed, bearing Raridan +carefully in his great arms. The others helped him to place his burden +on the long table at which, in Poindexter's day, many light-hearted +companies had gathered. They peered down upon him in the lantern light. + +"We must get a doctor quick," said Saxton, half turning to go. + +"He's badly hurt," said the old man. There was a dark stain on his coat +where Raridan had lain against him. He tore open Raridan's shirt and +thrust his hand underneath; and when he drew it out, shaking his gray +head, it had touched something wet. Wheaton came with a pail of water, +pumped by the windmill into a trough at the rear of the house. He had +broken the thin ice with his hands. + +"Go for a doctor," said the bishop, very quietly, nodding to Saxton; +"and go fast." + +Wheaton followed Saxton to the hall, where they cut loose the remaining +horse. Saxton flung himself upon it, and the animal sprang into a gallop +at the door. Wheaton watched the horse and rider disappear through the +starlight; he wished that he could go with Saxton. He turned back with +sick terror to the room where Raridan lay white and still; but Wheaton +was as white as he. + +The bishop had rolled his overcoat into a support for Warry's head, and +with a wet handkerchief laved his temples. Wheaton stood watching him, +silent, and anxious to serve, but with his powers of initiative frozen +in him. + +"Get the flask from his pocket," said the old man; and Wheaton drew near +the table, and with a shudder thrust his hand into the pocket of +Raridan's coat. + +"Shall I pour some?" he asked. Raridan had moved his arms slightly and +groaned as Wheaton bent close to him. Wheaton detached the cup from the +bottom of the flask and poured some of the brandy into it. The bishop, +motioning him to stand ready with it, raised Raridan gently, and +together they pressed the silver cup to his lips. + +"That will do. I think he swallowed a little," said the bishop. "Bring +wood, if you can," he said, "and make a fire here." Raridan's head was +growing hot under his touch, and he continued to lave it gently with the +wet handkerchief. There was a shed at the back of the house where wood +had been kept in the old days of the Poindexter ascendancy, and Wheaton, +glad of an excuse to get away from the prostrate figure on the long +table, went stumbling through the hall to find this place. There was a +terrible silence in the old house,--a silence that filled all the world, +a silence that could not be broken, it seemed to him, save by some new +thing of dread. There beyond the prairie, day would break soon in the +town where he had striven and failed,--not the failure that proceeds +from lack of opportunity or ability to gain the successes which men +value most, but the failure of a man in self-mastery and courage. + +He felt his soul shrivel in the few seconds that he stood at the door +looking across the windy plain,--like a dreamer who turns from his +dreams and welcomes the morning with the hope that his dream may not +prove true. He drew the doors together and turned to go on his errand, +lighting a match to get his bearings, when a sound on the stairway +startled him; there was a figure there--the wan, frightened face of +Grant Porter looked down at him. He had forgotten the boy, whom Saxton +had left in the hall above. Grant shrank back on the stairs, not +recognizing him. It seemed to Wheaton that there was something of +loathing in the boy's movement, and that always afterward people would +shrink from him. + +"Is that you, Grant?" he asked. The boy did not answer. "It's all right, +Grant," he added, trying to throw some kindness into his voice. "You'd +better stay upstairs, until--we're ready to go." + +The boy turned and stole back up the stairway, and Wheaton, encouraged +by the sound of his own voice, brought wood and kindled it with some +straw in the dining-room fireplace. + +"Let us try the brandy again," said the bishop. Again Wheaton poured it, +and they forced a little between the lips of the stricken man. Raridan's +face, as Wheaton touched it with his fingers, was warm; he had expected +to find it cold; he had a feeling that the man lying there must be dead. +If only help would come, Raridan might live! He would accept everything +else, but to be a murderer--to have lured a man to his doom! The bishop +did not speak to him save now and then a word in a low tone, to call +attention to some change in Raridan, or to ask help in moving him. The +dry wood burned brightly in the fireplace and lighted the room. The +bishop asked the time. + +"He could hardly go and come in less than two hours," said Wheaton. He +lifted his head. + +"They are coming now." The short patter of pony hoofs was heard and he +went into the hall to open the doors. Two horsemen were just turning +into the corral. Saxton had found the one doctor of the village at +home,--a young man trained in an eastern hospital but already used to +long, rough rides over the prairies. The two men threw themselves to the +ground, and let their ponies run loose. Saxton did not speak to Wheaton, +who followed him and the doctor into the house. + +"Has he been conscious at all?" asked the doctor. + +The bishop shook his head. The doctor was already busy with his +examination, and the three men stood and watched him silently. Saxton +stepped forward and helped, when there was need, to turn the wounded +man and to strip away his clothing. The skilled fingers of the surgeon +worked swiftly, producing shining instruments and sponges as he needed +them, from the blue lining of his pea-jacket. Suddenly he paused and +bent down close to the stricken man's heart. He poured more brandy into +the silver cup and Saxton lifted Warry while the liquor was forced +between his lips. The doctor stood up then and put his finger on +Raridan's wrist. He had not spoken and his face was very grave. Saxton +touched his arm. + +"Is there nothing more you can do now?" The doctor shook his head, but +bent again over Raridan, who gave a deep sigh and opened his eyes. + +"John," he said in a whisper as he closed them again wearily. The doctor +put Warry's hand down gently, and the others, at a glance from him, drew +nearer. + +"John," he repeated. His voice was stronger. The white light of dawn was +struggling now against the flame of the fireplace. John stood on one +side of the table, the doctor on the other. The old bishop's tall figure +rose majestically by the head of the dying man. Wheaton alone hung +aloof, but his eyes were riveted on Warry Raridan's face. + +"It was another--another of my foolish chances," said Warry faintly and +slowly, the words coming hard; but all in the room could hear. He looked +from one to another, and seemed to know who the doctor was and why he +was there. + +"The boy's safe and well. We got what we came for. Just once--just +once,--I got what I came for. It wasn't fair--in the dark that way--" +His voice failed and the doctor gave him more brandy. He lay very still +for several minutes, with his eyes closed, while the three men stood as +they had been, save that the surgeon now kept his finger on Warry's +wrist. + +"I never--quite arrived--quite--arrived," he went on, with his eyes on +the old bishop, as if this were something that he would understand; "but +you must forgive all that." He smiled in a patient, tired way. + +"You have been a good man, Warry, there's nothing that can trouble you." + +"I was really doing better, wasn't I, John?" he went on, still smiling. +"You had helped,--you two,"--he looked from his young friend to the +older one, with the intentness of his near-sighted gaze. "Tell +them"--his eyes closed and his voice sank until it was almost +inaudible,--"tell them at the hill--Evelyn--the light of all--of +all--the year." + +The doctor had put down Warry's wrist and turned away. The dawn-wind +sweeping across the prairie shook the windows in the room and moaned far +away in the lonely house. The bishop's great hand rested gently on the +dying man's head; his voice rose in supplication,--the words coming +slowly, as if he remembered them from a far-off time: + +_Unto God's gracious mercy and protection we commit thee._ Saxton +dropped to his knees, and a sob broke from him. _The Lord bless thee, +and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be +gracious unto thee._ The old man's voice was very low, and sank to a +whisper. _The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee +peace, both now and evermore._ + +No one moved until the doctor put his head down to Warry's heart to +listen. Then Wheaton watched him with fascinated eyes as he gathered up +his instruments, which shone cold and bright in the gray light of the +morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +HOME THROUGH THE SNOW + + +There was much to do, and John Saxton had been back and forth twice +between the ranch house and the village before the sun had crept high +into the heavens. The little village had been slow to grasp the fact of +the tragedy at its doors which had already carried its name afar. There +was much to do and yet it was so pitifully little after all! Warry +Raridan was dead, and eager men were scouring the country for his +murderer; but John Saxton sat in the room where Warry had died. It +seemed to John that the end had come of all the world. He sharpened his +grief with self-reproach that he had been a party to an exploit so +foolhardy: they should never have attempted a midnight descent upon an +unknown foe; and yet it was Raridan's own plan. + +It was like Warry, too, and the thought turned John's memory into +grooves that time was to deepen. This was the only man who had ever +brought him friendship. The first night at the club in Clarkson, when +Raridan had spoken to him, came back, vivid in all its details. He +recalled with a great ache in his heart their talk there in the summer +twilight; the charm that he had felt first that night, and how Warry had +grown more and more into his life, and brightened it. He could not, in +the fullness of his sorrow, see himself again walking alone the ways +they had known together. Even the town seemed to him in these early +hours an unreal place; it was not possible that it lay only a few hours +distant, with its affairs going on uninterruptedly; nor could he realize +that he would himself take up there the threads of his life that now +seemed so hopelessly broken. + +Saxton had ministered to the boy Grant with characteristic kindness. +Grant knew now of Warry's death, and this, with his own sharp +experiences, had unnerved him. He clung to Saxton, and John soothed him +until he slept, in one of the upper chambers. + +Wheaton stood suddenly in the door, and beckoned to Saxton, who went out +to him. They had exchanged no words since that moment when the old +bishop's prayer had stilled the room where Warry Raridan died. Through +the events of the morning hours, Wheaton had been merely a spectator of +what was done; Saxton had hardly noticed him, and glancing at Wheaton +now, he was shocked at the look of great age that had come upon him. + +"I want to speak to you a minute,--you and Bishop Delafield," said +Wheaton. The bishop was pacing up and down in the outer hall, which had +been quietly cleaned and put in order by men from the village. Wheaton +led the way to the room once used as the ranch office. + +"Will you sit down, gentlemen?" He spoke with so much calmness that the +others looked at him curiously. The bishop and Saxton remained standing, +and Wheaton repeated, sharply, "Will you sit down?" The two men sat +down side by side on the leather-covered bench that ran around the room, +and Wheaton stood up before them; and so they met together here, the +three men left of the four who had come to the ranch house in the early +morning. + +"I have something to say to you, before you--before we go," he said. +Their silence seemed to confuse him for a moment, but he regained his +composure. He looked from Saxton to the bishop, who nodded, and he went +on: + +"The man who killed Warry Raridan was my brother," he said, and waited. + +Saxton started slightly; his numbed senses quickened under Wheaton's +words, and in a flash he saw the explanation of many things. + +"He was my brother," Wheaton went on quietly. "He had wanted money from +me. I had refused to help him. He carried away Grant Porter thinking to +injure me in that way. It was that, I think, as much as the hope of +getting a large sum for the boy's return." + +"But--" began the bishop. + +"There are many questions that will occur to you--and to others," +Wheaton resumed, with an assurance that transformed him for the moment. +He spoke as of events in ages past which had no relation to himself. +"There are many things that might have been different, that would have +been different, if I had not been"--he hesitated and then finished +abruptly--"if I had not been a coward." + +A great quiet lay upon the house; the two men remained sitting, and +Wheaton stood before them with his arms crossed, the bishop and Saxton +watching him, and Wheaton looking from one to the other of his +companions. Contempt and anger were rising in John Saxton's heart; but +the old bishop waited calmly; this was not the first time that a +troubled soul had opened its door to him. + +"Go on," he said, kindly. + +"My brother and I ran away from the little Ohio town where we were born. +Our father was a harness maker. I hated the place. I think I hated my +father and mother." He paused, as we do sometimes when we have suddenly +spoken a thought which we have long carried in our hearts but have never +uttered. The words had elements of surprise for James Wheaton, and he +waited, weighing his words and wishing to deal justly with himself. "My +brother was a bad boy; he had never gone to school, as I had; he had +several times been guilty of petty stealing. I joined him once in a +theft; we were arrested, but he took the blame and was punished, and I +went free. I am not sure that I was any better, or that I am now any +better than he is. But that is the only time I ever stole." + +Saxton remembered that Warry had once said of James Wheaton that he +would not steal. + +"I wanted to be honest; I tried my best to do right. I never expected to +do as well as I have--I mean in business and things like that. Then +after all the years in which I had not seen anything of my brother he +came into the bank one day as a tramp, begging, and recognized me. At +first I helped him. I sent him here; you will remember the man Snyder +you found here when you came," turning to Saxton. "I knew you would not +keep him. There was nothing else that I could do for him. I had new +ambitions," his voice fell and broke, "there were--there were other +things that meant a great deal to me--I could not have him about. It was +he who assaulted me one night at Mr. Porter's two years ago, when you," +he turned to the bishop, "came up and drove him away. After that I gave +him money to leave the country and he promised to stay away; but he +began blackmailing me again, and I thought then that I had done enough +for him and refused to help him any more. When Grant Porter disappeared +I knew at once what had happened. He had threatened--but there is +something--something wrong with me!" + +These last words broke from him like a cry, and he staggered suddenly +and would have fallen if Saxton had not sprung up and caught him. He +recovered quickly and sat down on the bench. + +"Let us drop this now," said Saxton, standing over him; "it's no time--" + +"There's something wrong with me," said Wheaton huskily, without +heeding, and Saxton drew back from him. "I was a vain, cowardly fool. +But I did the best I could," he passed his hand over his face, and his +fingers crept nervously to his collar, "but it wasn't any use! It wasn't +any use!" He turned again to the bishop. "I heard you preach a sermon +once. It was about our opportunities. You said we must live in the open. +I had never thought of that before," and he looked at the bishop with a +foolish grin on his face. He stood up suddenly and extended his arms. +"Now I want you to tell me what to do. I want to be punished! This +man's blood is on my hands. I want to be punished!" And he sank to the +floor in a heap, repeating, as if to himself, "I want to be punished!" + +There are two great crises in the life of a man. One is that moment of +disclosure when for the first time he recognizes some vital weakness in +his own character. The other comes when, under stress, he submits this +defect to the eyes of another. James Wheaton hardly knew when he had +realized the first, but he was conscious now that he had passed the +second. It had carried him like a high tide to a point of rest; but it +was a point of helplessness, too. + +"It isn't for us to punish you," the bishop began, "and I do not see +that you have transgressed any law." + +"That is it! that is it! It would be easier! I would to God I had!" +moaned Wheaton. John turned away. James Wheaton's face was not good to +see. + +"Yes, it would be easier," the bishop continued. "Man's penalties are +lighter than God's. I can see that in going back to Clarkson many things +will be hard for you--" + +"I can't! Oh, I can't!" He still crouched on the floor, with his arms +extended along the bench. + +"But that is the manly thing for you. If you have acted a cowardly part, +now is the time for you to change, and you must change on the field of +battle. I can imagine the discomfort of facing your old friends; that +you will suffer keen humiliation; that you may have to begin again; but +you must do it, my friend, if you wish to rise above yourself, and you +may depend upon my help." + +The old man had spoken with emphasis, but with great gentleness. He +turned to Saxton, wishing him to speak. + +"The bishop is right. You must go back with us, Wheaton." But he did not +say that he would help him. John Saxton neither forgot nor forgave +easily. He did not see in this dark hour what he had to do with James +Wheaton's affairs. But the Bishop of Clarkson went over to James Wheaton +and lifted him up; it was as though he would make the physical act carry +a spiritual aid with it. + +"We can talk of this to better purpose when we get home," he said. "You +are broken now and see your future darkly; but I say to you that you can +be restored; there's light and hope ahead for you. If there is any +meaning in my ministry it is that with the help of God a man may come +out of darkness into the light again." + +There was a moment's silence. Wheaton sat bent forward on the bench, +with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. + +"They are waiting for us," said Saxton. + + +A special train was sent to Great River, and the little party waited for +it on the station platform, surrounded by awed villagers, who stood +silent in the presence of death and a mystery which they but dimly +comprehended. Officers of the law from Clarkson came with the train and +surrounded Bishop Delafield, Wheaton and Saxton as they stood with Grant +Porter by the rude bier of Warry Raridan. The men answered many +questions and the sheriff of the county took the detectives away with +him. Margrave had sent his private car, and the returning party were +huddled in one end of it, save John Saxton, who sat alone with the body +of Warry Raridan. The train was to go back immediately, but it waited +for the west-bound express which followed it and passed the special +here. There was a moment's confusion as the special with its dark burden +was switched into a siding to allow the regular train to pass. Then the +special returned to the main track and began its homeward journey. + +John sat with his arms folded, sunk into his greatcoat, and watched the +gray landscape through the snow that was falling fast. The events of the +night seemed like a hideous dream. It was an inconceivable thing that +within a few hours so dire a calamity could have fallen. The very +nearness of the city to which they were bound added to the unreality of +all that had happened. But there the dark burden lay; and the snow fell +upon the gray earth and whitened it, as if to cleanse and remake it and +blot out its dolor and dread. The others left Saxton alone; he was +nearer than they; but late in the afternoon, as they approached the +city, Captain Wheelock came in and touched him on the shoulder; Bishop +Delafield wished to see him. John rose, giving Wheelock his place, and +went back to where the old man sat staring out at the snow. He beckoned +Saxton to sit down by him. + +"Where's Wheaton?" the bishop asked. + +John looked at him and at the other men who sat in silence about the +car. He went to one of them and repeated the bishop's question, but was +told that Wheaton was not on the train. He had been at the station and +had come aboard the car with the rest; but he must have returned to the +station and been left. John remembered the passing of the west-bound +express, and went back and told the bishop that Wheaton had not come +with them. The old man shook his head and turned again to the window and +the flying panorama of the snowy landscape. John sat by him, and neither +spoke until the train's speed diminished at a crossing on the outskirts +of Clarkson. Then suddenly, hot at heart and with tears of sorrow and +rage in his eyes, Saxton said, so that only the bishop could hear: + +"He's a damned coward!" + +The Bishop of Clarkson stared steadily out upon the snow with troubled +eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +"A PECULIAR BRICK" + + +It was Fenton who most nearly voiced the public sorrow at the death of +Warrick Raridan. His address at the memorial meeting of the Clarkson Bar +Association surprised the community, which knew Fenton only as a +corporation lawyer who rarely made speeches, even to juries. Fenton put +into words the general appraisement of Warry Raridan--his social grace +and charm, his wit and variety. People who hardly knew that Raridan had +been a lawyer were surprised that the leader of the Clarkson bar dwelt +upon his instinctive grasp of legal questions, "the thoroughness of his +research and the clarity and force with which he presented legal +propositions." Raridan was a lawyer with an imagination, Fenton said, +thus seizing what had been considered a weakness of character and making +it count as an element of strength. Fenton was not given to careless +praise, and what he said of Raridan had much to do with formulating the +opinion that was to pass into Clarkson history. The last few months of +Warry's life had won him this eulogy--the work which he had done for +Evelyn. Fenton had learned to know him well after the appointment of +Saxton as receiver. He had thrown a number of important questions to +Warry to investigate, and he had been amazed at his young lieutenant's +capacity and industry. He did not know that a woman had been the +inspiration of this work; he thought that it proceeded from Saxton's +influence and the pleasure Warry found in labor that brought him near +his friend. + +It was not alone Warry's death, but the sharp, tragic manner of it, so +wretchedly inconsonant with his life, that grieved and shocked the +community. But this too had its compensations; for many read into his +life now a recklessness and daring which it had lacked. They spoke of +him as though he had been a young soldier who had fallen at the first +skirmish, without having been tried in battle; all spoke of his promise +and mourned that his life had been harvested before he had finished +sowing. On every hand his good deeds were recounted; many unknown +witnesses rose to tell of acts of generosity and kindness which would +never have been disclosed in his lifetime. Those who had really known +him no longer lamented his erratic habits. They now magnified his +talents; and his whimsical, fanciful ways they attributed to genius. + +It was much easier to account for Raridan than to explain Wheaton. Most +of the people of Clarkson did not understand his flight, if he had +neither stolen the bank's money nor killed Warry Raridan. There was a +disposition for a time to reject the story of the tragedy at the +Poindexter ranch house as it had been given out by Bishop Delafield and +John Saxton; but the bishop's word in the matter was final; he was not a +man to conceal the truth. Those who had seen most of Wheaton were the +most puzzled. The men who remained at The Bachelors' were stunned by +the whole affair, but in particular they failed to grasp the curious +phase presented by Wheaton's connection--or lack of connection--with it. +They expected him to return, and even discussed what should be their +attitude toward him if he came back. As the days passed and nothing was +heard, they gradually ceased talking of him; but by silent assent no one +took the seat he had occupied at their table. When presently the +landlord sent Wheaton's things to be stored in the cellar, and new men +appeared in the places of Raridan and Wheaton, they exchanged the oblong +table for a round one, to take away whatever ill luck might follow the +places of the lost members of their board. + +The chief shock to William Porter was a shock to his pride. He had +trusted Wheaton as implicitly as he trusted any man, and while his trust +at all times had limitations, he had extended these beyond precedent in +James Wheaton's case. Saxton and Bishop Delafield had gone to him as +soon as possible, with Fenton. It was important for Porter to understand +exactly what had occurred at the Poindexter ranch house. The newspapers +had now announced Wheaton's flight; it was natural that the bank should +fall under suspicion, and that all of Porter's interests should be +jeopardized. A cashier implicated in some way in a murder, and in full +flight for parts unknown, created a situation which could not be +ignored. But Porter met the issue squarely and sanely. + +The expert accountants who were put to work on the bank's books made an +absolutely clean report, and the minutest scrutiny of the securities of +the bank proved everything intact. Wheaton had been a master of order +and system. The searching investigation of experts and directors +revealed nothing that was not creditable to the missing cashier. + +"Well, sir," said Porter, "you've got me. I guess Jim was crooked some +way, but he didn't do us up. I guess there's nothing we can say against +him." + +"His case is unusual," said Fenton. "I think we'd better leave it to the +psychologists." + +It was necessary to fill Wheaton's place, and while they were casting +about for a cashier Porter and Thompson received offers from a Chicago +syndicate for their stock in the bank. The offer was advantageous; both +of the founders were old and both were in broken health. They debated +long what they should do. The bank was a child of their own creating; +Porter was particularly loath to part with it; but Evelyn, to whom he +brought the matter in a new spirit of dependence on her, finally +prevailed upon him. They closed with the offer of the syndicate, parting +with the control but remaining in the directorate. Porter had other +interests that required his attention, chief among which was the +Traction Company; and after the bank question had been determined, he +gave himself to a careful study of its affairs. + +"I guess this thing ain't so terribly rotten after all," he said one +day, at a conference with Saxton and Fenton. The earnings were steadily +increasing. + +"No, it's making a showing now, and unless you want to keep it for a +long run you had better sell it before you get into a strike or a row +with the city authorities or something like that, to spoil it. And I +fancy that Saxton's making a showing that the next fellow can't beat. +One thing's sure," said Fenton, "some extensions and improvements have +got to be made the coming summer, and they will take money." + +"Well, we won't make them," Porter declared. "We'll reorganize and bond +and get out." + +While the newspapers, and the judge of the court to whom he reported, +praised Saxton, Porter never praised him. It was not his way; but Fenton +took care that Porter should understand fully the value of Saxton's +services. Praise had not often been John Saxton's portion, and he was +not seriously troubled by Porter's apparent indifference. He was not +working for William Porter, he told himself, at times when Porter's +attitude annoyed him; he was working for the United States District +Court; and he went on doing his duty as he saw it. He was, however, +anxious to be relieved, but Fenton begged him to remain through the +reorganization. He liked Saxton and admired his steady persistence. +Together they worked out the problem of the proposed new company, and +managed it with so much tact and self-effacement that Porter believed +all their suggestions to have originated with himself. + +"It's simpler that way," said Fenton, speaking to Saxton one day of the +necessity of this method of procedure. "He's a perfect brick, and he'll +like us a lot better if we let him think he's doing all the work." + +"He is a brick all right," said John thoughtfully, "but he's a peculiar +brick." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +OLD PHOTOGRAPHS + + +In the days that followed, John Saxton knew again the heartache and +loneliness which he had known before Warry Raridan came into his life. +He had lost the first real friend he had ever had, and his days were +once more empty of light and cheer. His work still engrossed him, but it +failed to bring him the happiness which he had found in it when he and +Warry discussed its perplexities together. His memory sought its old +ruts again; the hardship and failure of his years in Wyoming were like +fresh wounds. He talked to no one except Bishop Delafield, who had +reasoned him out of his self-indictment for Warry's death. He did not +know that his own part in the recovery of Grant Porter, as Bishop +Delafield described it, was touched with a fine and generous courage, +and he would have resented it if he had known. + +Warry was constantly in his thoughts; but he thought much of Evelyn too; +through all the years to come, he told himself, he would remember them +and they would be his ideals. Echoes of the gossip which connected +Warry's name and Evelyn's reached him, and he felt no shock that such +surmises should be afloat. Warry and he had understood each other; they +had talked of Evelyn frequently; Warry had come to him often with the +confidences of a despairing lover, and John had encouraged and consoled +him. He predicted his ultimate success; it had always seemed to him an +inevitable thing that Warry and Evelyn should marry. + +Three weeks passed before he saw her, and then he went to her with an +excuse for his visit in his mind and heart. Warry had left a will in +which the bulk of his property--and it was a respectable fortune--was +given for the endowment of a hospital for children. Saxton was named as +executor and as a trustee of the fund thus set apart. Warry had never +mentioned the matter to any one; he had probably never thought of it +very seriously, and John wished to talk to Evelyn about it. + +It seemed strange that the Porter drawing-room was the same, when +everything else had changed; he had not been there since the afternoon +when he walked home with Evelyn through the cold. He despised himself +for that now; it was an act of disloyalty to Warry; but he would now be +more loyal to the dead than he had been to the living. + +As they talked together he saw no change in her; and he felt himself +wondering what manner of change it was that he had expected to find. He +had heard of people who aged suddenly with grief, but Evelyn was the +same, save for a greater composure, a more subdued note of manner and +voice. She bent forward in her deep interest in what he told her of +Warry's bequest. He wished her help, and asked for it as if it were her +right to give it. Surely no one had a better claim than she, he thought. + +"It is so like Warry," she said. "It will be a beautiful memorial, and +there is enough to do it very handsomely." + +"He liked things to be done well," said John. He marveled that she could +speak of it so quietly. Failure and grief possessed his eyes, and Evelyn +was conscious of a deepening of the pathos she had always seen and felt +in him, as he sat talking of his dead friend. She pitied him, and was +obedient to his evident wish to talk of Warry. + +John spoke of Warry's last photographs, and Evelyn went and brought a +number which he had never seen. Several of them dated back to Warry's +boyhood. They were odd and interesting--boyish pictures which the +spectacles made appear preternaturally old. One of these, that John +liked particularly, Evelyn asked him to take, and his face lighted with +pleasure when she made it plain that she wished him to have it. She told +of some of Warry's pranks in their childhood, and they laughed over them +with guarded mirth. + +"It was wonderful that so many kinds of people were fond of Warry," said +Evelyn. "He never tried to please, and yet no man in town ever had so +many friends." + +"It's like genius, I suppose," said John. "It's something in people that +wins admiration. No one can define it or explain it. I think, though," +he added in a lower tone, "I know how it was in my own case. I had +always wanted a friend like him to take me out of myself and help me; +but a man like Warry had never come my way before; and if he had he +would probably have been in a hurry." + +He laughed and then was very grave. "But Warry always had time for me." +At his last words he looked up at her and saw tears shining in her eyes. + +"Oh, forgive me--forgive me!" he cried. "It must--I know it must hurt +you to talk of him. But I couldn't help it. I thought you must +understand what he meant to me. Dear old Warry!" + +He held in his hand the little card photograph she had given him, and he +rose and thrust it into his pocket. + +"He was a charming, gentle spirit," said Evelyn. "It will mean a great +deal to us that we knew him. You meant a great deal to him, Mr. Saxton. +You helped him. It was--" She halted, confused, and had evidently +intended to say more. The color suddenly mounted to her face. She did +not offer him her hand which he had stepped forward to take, and he +dropped his own, which he had half extended. + +"Good night." Her eyes followed him to the hall. + +On his way home--he still lived at the club--John reviewed, sentence by +sentence, his talk with Evelyn. He had not expected her to speak so +frankly of Warry; but, he told himself, it was like her. He touched the +photograph she had given him, and held it up as he passed under an arc +lamp to be sure of it. He was surprised that she had given it to him; he +did not think a girl would give away a rare picture of a dead lover, +which must have a peculiar sacredness for her. Then he was angry with +himself for a thought that criticised her. She had given it to him +because he was Warry's friend! + +When he reached his room he put the photograph of Warry on his table and +took another similar card from a drawer. It was the little picture of +Evelyn which he had often seen on Warry's dressing-table. It showed her +standing by a tall chair; her hair hung in long braids. It was very +girlish and quaint; but it was unmistakably Evelyn. + +Warry in his will had directed that John should have such of his +personal effects as he might choose; the remainder he was to destroy or +sell. John chose a few of the books that Warry had liked best, and the +picture. He put it down now beside the photograph of Warry. They bore +the name of the same photographer, and had probably been taken in the +same year. He lighted his pipe and tramped back and forth across the +floor, occasionally stopping at his desk to look at the cards carefully. +He had no right to Evelyn Porter's picture, he told himself. He was +taking advantage of his dead friend's kindness to appropriate it. He +would not destroy it; he would give it to some one--to Mrs. Whipple, to +Evelyn herself! Yes, it should be to Evelyn; and having reached this +conclusion, he put the two pictures away together and went to bed. + +The next day he was called away unexpectedly to Colorado to close a sale +of the Neponset Trust Company's interest in the irrigation company. The +call came inopportunely, as the plans for the reorganization of the +Traction Company were not yet perfected; but the matter was urgent, and +Fenton told him to go. There was not time, he assured himself, to return +the photograph before leaving, so he carried both the little cards away +with him, with a half-formed intention of sending Evelyn's to her from +Denver; but when he returned to Clarkson he still carried the +photographs in his pocket. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +"IT IS CRUEL" + + +"It is cruel of them to say it!" + +Evelyn was at the Whipples'. It was a morning in May. Spring possessed +the valley. The long vistas across the hills were closing as the leaves +crept into the trees again. The windows were open, and the snowy +curtains swayed to the wind. Lilacs again in the Whipples' dooryard +bloomed, and the general's young cherry trees were white with blossoms. +It was not well that any one should be heavy of heart on such a morning, +but Evelyn Porter was not happy. She sat leaning forward with both hands +resting on the ivory ball of her parasol. A querulous note crept into +her voice. It is strange how the heartache to which the face never +yields finds a ready prey in the voice. + +"It is cruel of them to say it!" + +"But it is natural too, dear," said Mrs. Whipple. "Many people must have +wondered about you and Warry. If it will help any, I will confess that I +wondered a good deal myself. Now you won't mind, will you? It seems +hard, now that he has gone--but before--before, it was not +unreasonable!" + +"But the gossip! I don't care for myself, but it is cruel to him, to his +memory, that this should be said. If it had been true; if--if we had +been engaged, it would not be so wretched; but this--oh, it hurts me!" +She lay back in her chair. Her eyes were over-bright; her words ended in +a wail. + +Mrs. Whipple felt that Evelyn's view of the matter was absurd. If the +people of Clarkson were trying to read an element of romance into Warry +Raridan's death, they were certainly working no injury to his memory. +Such a view of the matter was fantastic. Evelyn did not know that +another current story coupled her name with that of James Wheaton, who +was spoken of in some quarters, and even guardedly in newspapers outside +of Clarkson, as Raridan's rival for the affections of William Porter's +daughter. Mrs. Whipple had shuddered hourly since the tragedy at +Poindexter's when she remembered how much Wheaton had been about with +Evelyn. He had been with her almost as much as Warry. Mrs. Whipple +recalled the carnival of two years ago with shame. Her heart smote her +as she watched the girl. It was a hideous thing that evil should have +crept so near her life. Wheaton had been a strange species of reptile +among them all. + +"Poor dear! You must not take it so!" The silence had grown oppressive. +It was incumbent upon her to comfort the girl if she could. + +"It isn't a thing that you can help, child. There's no way of stopping +gossip; and if they persist in saying such things, they will have to say +them, that's all. If you wish--if it will help you any, I will refute it +when I can--I mean among our friends only." + +"Oh, no! That would make it worse. Please don't say anything!" + +Mrs. Whipple did not accept solicitude for Warry's memory as a +sufficient explanation of Evelyn's troubles; nor was it like Evelyn to +complain of gossip about herself. The girl had naturally felt Warry's +death deeply; she made no secret of her great fondness for him. But if +Evelyn had really cared for Warry with more than a friendly regard, she +would never have come to her in this way. She assumed this hypothesis as +she made irrelevant talk with the girl. Then she thought of Wheaton; if +Wheaton had been the one Evelyn had cared for--if Warry had been the +friend and he the lover! She gave rein for a moment to this idea. +Perhaps Evelyn followed the man now with sympathy--the thought was +repulsive; she rejected it instantly with self-loathing for having +harbored an idea that wronged Evelyn so miserably. + +"What father feels is that his mistake in Wheaton argues a great +weakness in himself," Evelyn was saying. She was more tranquil now. Mrs. +Whipple noticed that she spoke Wheaton's name without hesitation; she +had dropped the prefix of respect, as every one had. We have a way of +eliminating it in speaking of men who are markedly good or bad. + +"Father takes it very hard. He isn't naturally morbid, but he seems to +feel as if he had been responsible--Grant being back of it all. But we +didn't know those men were going out there--we knew nothing until it was +all over!" The girl spoke as if she too felt the responsibility. "And he +thinks he ought to have known about Wheaton--ought to have seen what +kind of man he was!" + +Evelyn's blue foulard was beyond criticism and it matched her parasol +perfectly; the girl had never been prettier. Mrs. Whipple inwardly +apologized for having admitted the thought of Wheaton to her mind. + +"We can all accuse ourselves in the same way. To think of it--that he +has actually passed tea in this very room!" Her shrug of loathing was so +real that Evelyn shuddered. + +Then Mrs. Whipple laughed, so suddenly that it startled Evelyn. + +"It's dreadful! horrible!" Mrs. Whipple continued, "to find that a +person you have really looked upon with liking--perhaps with +admiration--has been all along eaten with a moral leprosy. If it weren't +for poor Warry we should be able to look upon it as a profitable +experience. There aren't many like Wheaton. The bishop thinks we ought +to be lenient in dealing with him--that he was not really so bad; that +he was simply weak--that his weakness was a kind of disease of his moral +nature. But I can't see it that way myself. The man ought not to go +scot-free. He ought to be punished. But it's too intangible and subtle +for the law to take hold of." + +Evelyn had picked up her card-case. It was a pretty trifle of silver and +leather; she tapped the handle of her parasol with it. Something had +occurred to Mrs. Whipple when she laughed a moment before, and seeing +that Evelyn was about to rise, she said casually: + +"Mr. Saxton doesn't share the bishop's gentle charity toward Wheaton." +She watched Evelyn as she applied the test. The girl did not raise her +eyes at once. She bent over the parasol meditatively, still tapping the +handle with the card-case. + +"What does Mr. Saxton say?" Evelyn asked, dropping the trinket into her +lap and looking at her friend vaguely, as people do who ask questions +out of courtesy rather than from honest curiosity. + +"Mr. Saxton says that Wheaton's a scoundrel--a damned scoundrel, to be +literal. He told the general so, here, a few nights ago. He seemed very +bitter. You know what close friends he and Warry were!" + +"Yes; it was an ideal kind of friendship. They were devoted to each +other," said Evelyn very earnestly; there was a little cry in her voice +as she spoke. It was as though happiness, struggling against sorrow, had +almost gained the mastery. + +"It's fine to see that in men. I sometimes think that friendships among +them have a quality that ours lack. I think Mr. Saxton is very lonely. I +wasn't here when he called, but the general saw him. You know the +general likes him particularly." + +"Yes." + +"You and he both knew and appreciated Warry." + +Evelyn had grasped her parasol, and she took up the card-case again. +Mrs. Whipple was half ashamed of herself; but she was also convinced. +She took another step. + +"Of course you see him; he must be reaching out to all Warry's friends +in his loneliness." + +Mrs. Whipple's powers of analysis were keen, but there were times when +they failed her. She did not know that her question hurt Evelyn Porter; +and she did not know that Evelyn had seen John Saxton but once since the +day they all stood by Warry's grave. + +Mrs. Whipple disapproved of herself as she followed Evelyn to the door. +She had no business to pry into the girl's secrets in this way; the +sweep of the foulard touched her, and she sought to placate her +conscience by burying her new-found knowledge under less guilty +information. + +Evelyn spoke of the place which her father had bought at Orchard Lane, +on the North Shore, and told Mrs. Whipple that she and the general were +expected to spend a month there. + +"You will be away all summer, I suppose. It's fine that your father has +taken the course he has. He might have felt that he must stay at home +closer than ever, to look after his interests." + +"It's more for Grant than for himself," said Evelyn; "but he realizes +too that he must take care of himself." + +"That's a good deal gained for a Western business man. It's been a +terrible year for you, dear,--your father's illness and these other +things. You need rest." + +She took the girl's cheeks in her hands and kissed her, and Evelyn went +out into the spring afternoon and walked homeward over the sloping +streets. + +Mrs. Whipple pondered long after Evelyn left. Evelyn was not happy. She +was not mourning a dead lover, nor one whose life was eclipsed in shame; +but another man disturbed her peace, and Mrs. Whipple wondered why. She +was still pondering when the general came in. He had been out to take +the air, and after he had brought his syphon from the ice-box he was +ready to talk. + +"Evelyn has been here," said Mrs. Whipple. "She asked us to come to +them for a visit. You know Mr. Porter has bought a place on the North +Shore." + +"It sounds like a miracle. Jim Wheaton didn't live in vain if he's +responsible for that." + +They debated their invitation, which Mrs. Whipple had already accepted, +she explained, from a sense of duty to Evelyn. The general said he +supposed he would have to go, with a show of reluctance that was wholly +insincere and to which Mrs. Whipple gave no heed. They were asked for +July. They discussed the old friends whom they would probably see while +they were East, until the summer loomed pleasant before them, and then +the talk came back to Evelyn. + +"The child doesn't look well," said Mrs. Whipple. + +"I shouldn't think she would, with all the row and rumpus they've been +having in their family. Abductions and murders and abscondings at one's +door are not conducive to light-heartedness." + +"She's annoyed by all this gossip about her and Warry. She doesn't know +that Wheaton is supposed to have taken more than a friendly interest in +her." + +"Well, I wouldn't tell her that, if I were you--if Wheaton didn't." + +"Of course he didn't!" + +"Well, he didn't then." The syphon hissed into the glass. + +"Evelyn and Warry weren't engaged," said Mrs. Whipple. The general held +up the glass and watched the gas bubbling to the top. + +"It's just as well that way," he said. "It saves her a lot of +heartache." + +"That's what I think," said Mrs. Whipple promptly. In such +conversations as this she usually combated the general's opinions. An +exception to the rule was so noteworthy that he began to pay serious +attention. + +"They weren't, but they might have been. Is that it?" + +"No. Anything might have been. There's no use speculating about what +can't be now." + +"I suppose that's true. Well?" + +"Something is troubling Evelyn, and I'll tell you what I think it is. I +think it was Saxton all along." + +"I always told you he was a good fellow. He's really shown me some +attentions, and that's more than most of the young men have done, except +Warry. Warry was nice to everybody. But Saxton's alive and hearty and +hasn't skipped for parts unknown. Why is Evelyn mourning?" He shook the +glass until the ice tinkled pleasantly. + +"I don't know. Maybe--maybe he doesn't understand!" + +"He isn't stupid," said the general, thoughtfully. + +"Of course he isn't." + +"It may be that he isn't interested--that she doesn't appeal to him. +Such a thing is conceivable." + +"No, it isn't! Of course it isn't!" + +The general laughed at her scornful rejection of the idea. + +"You tell me, then." + +"What I think is, that there is some reason--perhaps some point of honor +with him--that keeps him away from her. He was Warry's friend. He was +nearer Warry in his last years than any one. Don't you think that +something of that sort may be the matter?" + +The general was greatly amused, and he laughed so that Mrs. Whipple's +own dignity was shaken. + +"Amelia," he said, "your analytical powers are too sharp for this world. +You're shaving it down pretty fine, it seems to me. I wish you'd tell me +what you base that on." + +"I'm not basing it; but it seems so natural that that should be the +way." + +The syphon gurgled harshly and sputtered, and the general put it down +sadly. + +"Now that you've solved the riddle in your own mind, how are you going +to proceed? You'd better not try army tactics on a civilian job. Saxton +isn't a second lieutenant, to be regulated by the commandant's wife." + +"He's a dear!" declared Mrs. Whipple irrelevantly. "If Evelyn Porter +wants him, she's going to have him." + +"Oh, Lord!" The general took up his syphon to carry it back to the case +in the pantry. "He's 'a dear,' is he? Amelia, John Saxton weighs at +least one hundred and eighty pounds. I don't believe I'd call him 'a +dear.' I'd reserve that for slim, elderly persons like me, or young +girls just out of school." He stood swinging the syphon at arm's length. +"Now, if my advice were worth anything, I'd tell you to let these young +people alone. If you've guessed the true inwardness of this matter--as +you probably haven't--they'll come out all right." + +"Of course they'll come out all right," she answered, dreamily. The +swinging door in the dining-room fanned upon her answer as the general +strode through into the pantry. + +For several weeks following Mrs. Whipple continued to think of Evelyn +and her affairs. Evelyn was not an object of pity, and yet there was a +certain pathos about her. Her position in the town as the daughter of +its wealthiest citizen isolated her, it seemed to Mrs. Whipple. A girl +would be less than human if the experiences to which Evelyn had been +subjected did not make a profound impression upon her. Mrs. Whipple had +seen a good deal of trouble in her day. She felt that Evelyn had learned +too much of life in one lesson; if she could ease the future for her, +she wished to do it. With such hopes as these she occupied herself as +spring waxed old and summer held the land. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +SHIFTED BURDENS + + +Porter insisted that Margrave should not have the Traction Company at +any price, though the general manager of the Transcontinental was +persistent in his offers. As Margrave did not care to deal with Porter, +who was not, he complained, "an easy trader," he negotiated with Fenton +and Saxton. After several weeks of ineffectual effort he concluded that +Fenton and Saxton were almost as difficult. He called Saxton a "stubborn +brute" to Saxton's face; but offered to continue him in a responsible +position with the company if he would help him with the purchase. He +still wanted to control the company for political reasons, but there was +also the fact of his having invested the money of several of his friends +in the Transcontinental directorate, prior to the last annual meeting. + +These gentlemen had begun to inquire in a respectful way when Margrave +was going to effect the _coup_ which, he had been assuring them, he had +planned. They had, they were aware, no rights as against the +bondholders; and as Margrave understood this perfectly well, he was very +anxious to buy in the property at receiver's sale for an amount that +would satisfy Porter and his allies, and give him a chance to "square +himself," as he put it. This required additional money, but he was able +to command it from his "people," for the receiver had demonstrated that +the property could be made to pay. While these negotiations were +pending, Saxton and Fenton were able to satisfy their curiosity as to +the relations which had existed between Wheaton and Margrave. Margrave +had no shame in confessing just what had passed between them; he viewed +it all as a joke, and explained, without compunction, exactly the manner +in which he had come by the shares which had belonged to Evelyn Porter +and James Wheaton. + +When Saxton came back from Colorado, Porter was ill again, and Fenton +was seriously disposed to accept a price which Margrave's syndicate had +offered. Margrave's position had grown uncomfortable; he had to get +himself and "his people" out of a scrape at any cost. His plight pleased +Fenton, who tried to make Porter see the irony of it; and this view of +it, as much as the high offer, finally prevailed upon him. He saw at +last the futility of securing and managing the property for himself; his +health had become a matter of concern, and Fenton insisted that a street +railway company would prove no easier to manage than a bank. + +Porter was, as John had said, "a peculiar brick," and after the final +orders of the court had been made, and Saxton's fees allowed, Porter +sent him a check for five thousand dollars, without comment. Fenton made +him keep it; Porter had done well in Traction and he owed much to John; +but John protested that he preferred being thanked to being tipped; but +the lawyer persuaded him at last that the idiosyncrasies of the rich +ought to be respected. + +Porter felt his burdens slipping from him with unexpected satisfaction. +He grew jaunty in his old way as he chid his contemporaries and friends +for holding on; as for himself, he told them, he intended "to die +rested," and he adjusted his affairs so that they would give him little +trouble in the future. The cottage which he had bought on the North +Shore was a place they had all admired the previous summer. Porter had +liked it because there was enough ground to afford the lawn and flower +beds which he cultivated with so much satisfaction at home. The place +was called "Red Gables," and Porter had bought it with its furniture, so +that there was little to do in taking possession but to move in. The +Whipples were their first guests, going to them in mid-July, when they +were fully installed. + +The elder Bostonians whom Porter had met the previous summer promptly +renewed their acquaintance with him. He had attained, in their eyes, a +new dignity in becoming a cottager. The previous owner of "Red Gables" +had lately failed in business and they found in the advent of the +Porters a sign of the replenishing of the East from the West, which +interested them philosophically. Porter lacked their own repose, but +they liked to hear him talk. He was amusing and interesting, and they +had already found his prophecies concerning the markets trustworthy. The +ladies of their families heard with horror his views on the Indian +question, which were not romantic, nor touched with the spirit of Boston +philanthropy; but his daughter was lovely, they said, and her accent was +wholly inoffensive. + +So the Porters were well received, and Evelyn was glad to find her +father accepting his new leisure so complacently. She and Mrs. Whipple +agreed that he and the general were as handsome and interesting as any +of the elderly Bostonians among their neighbors; and they undoubtedly +were so. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +RETROSPECTIVE VANITY + + +John Saxton sat in the office of the Traction Company on a hot night in +July. Fenton had just left him. The transfer to the Margrave syndicate +had been effected and John would no more sign himself "John Saxton, +Receiver." His work in Clarkson was at an end. The Neponset Trust +Company had called him to Boston for a conference, which meant, he knew, +a termination of his service with them. He had lately sold the +Poindexter ranch, and so little property remained on the Neponset's +books that it could be cared for from the home office. He had not opened +the afternoon mail. He picked up a letter from the top of the pile and +read: + + + SAN FRANCISCO, July 10, 189--. + + My Dear Sir: + + I hesitate about writing you, but there are some things which I + should like you to understand before I go away. I had fully + expected to remain with you and Bishop Delafield and to return to + Clarkson that last morning at Poindexter's. I cannot defend myself + for having run away; it must have seemed a strange thing to you + that I did so. I had fully intended acting on the bishop's advice, + which I knew then, and know now, was good. But when the west-bound + train came, my courage left me; I could not go back and face the + people I had known, after what had happened. I told you the truth + there in the ranch house that night; every word of it was true. + Maybe I did not make it clear enough how weak I am. I do not know + why God made me so; I know that I tried to fight it; but I was vain + and foolish. Things came too easy for me, I guess; at any rate I + was never worthy of the good fortune that befell me. It seemed to + me that for two years everything I did was a mistake. I suppose if + I had been a real criminal, and not merely a coward, I should not + have entangled myself as I did and brought calamity upon other + people. + + When I reached here, I found employment with a shipping house. I + have told my story to one of the firm, who has been kind to me. He + seems to understand my case, and is giving me a good chance to + begin over again. I suppose the worst possible things have been + said about me, and I do not care, except that I hope the people in + Clarkson will not think I was guilty of any wrong-doing at the + bank. I read in the newspapers that I had stolen the bank's money, + and I hope that was corrected. The books must have proved what I + say. I understand now that what I did was worse than stealing, but + I should like you and Mr. Porter to know that I not only did not + take other people's money, but that in my foolish relations with + Margrave I did not receive a cent for the shares of stock which he + took from me--neither for my own nor for those of Miss Porter. I + don't blame Margrave; if I had not been a coward he could not have + played with me as he did. + + The company is sending me to one of its South American houses. I go + by steamer to-morrow, and you will not hear from me again. I should + like you to know that I have neither seen nor heard anything of my + brother since that night. With best wishes for your own happiness + and prosperity, + + Yours sincerely, + + JAMES WHEATON. + + JOHN SAXTON, ESQ. + + +On his way home to the club Saxton stopped at Bishop Delafield's rooms, +and found the bishop, as usual, preparing for flight. Time did not +change Bishop Delafield. He was one of those men who reach sixty, and +never, apparently, pass it. He and Saxton were fast friends now. The +bishop missed Warry out of his life: Warry was always so accessible and +so cheering. John Saxton was not so accessible and he had not Warry's +lightness, but the Bishop of Clarkson liked John Saxton! + +The bishop sat with his inevitable hand-baggage by his side and read +Wheaton's letter through. + +"How ignorant we are!" he said, folding it. "I sometimes think that we +who try to minister to the needs of the poor in spirit do not even know +the rudiments of our trade. We are pretty helpless with men like +Wheaton. They are apparently strong; they yield to no temptations, so +far as any man knows; they are exemplary characters. I suppose that they +are living little tragedies all the time. The moral coward is more to be +pitied than the open criminal. You know where to find the criminal; but +the moral coward is an unknown quantity. Life is a strange business, +John, and the older I get the less I think I know of it." He sighed and +handed back the letter. + +"But he's doing better than we might have expected him to," said Saxton. +"A man's entitled to happiness if he can find it. He undoubtedly chose +the easier part in running away. I can't imagine him coming back here to +face the community after all that had happened." + +"I don't know that I can either. Preaching is easier than practising, +and I'm not sure that I gave him the best advice at the ranch house that +morning." + +"Well, it was the only thing to do," Saxton answered. "I suppose neither +you nor I was sure he told the truth; it was a situation that was +calculated to make one skeptical. It isn't clear from his letter that +the whole thing has impressed him in any great way. He's anxious to have +us think well of him--a kind of retrospective vanity." + +"But his punishment is great. It's not for us to pass on its adequacy. I +must be going, John," and Saxton gathered up the battered cases and went +out to the car with him. + +Bishop Delafield always brought Warry back vividly to John, and as they +waited on the corner he remembered his first meeting with the bishop, in +Warry's rooms at The Bachelors'. And that was very long ago! + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +AT THE PARTING OF THE WAYS + + +The days that followed brought uncertainty and doubt to the heart and +mind of John Saxton. He had seen Evelyn several times before she left +home, on occasions when he went to the house with Fenton for conferences +with her father. He had intended saying good-by to her, but the Porters +went hurriedly at last and he was not sorry; it was easier that way. But +Mrs. Whipple, who was exercising a motherly supervision over John, had +exacted a promise from him to come to Orchard Lane during the time that +she and the general were to be with the Porters in their new cottage. +When he went East, Saxton settled down at his club in Boston, and +pretended that it was good to be at home again; but he went about with +homesickness gnawing his heart. He had reason to be happy and satisfied +with himself. He had practically concluded the difficult work which he +had been sent to Clarkson to do; he had realized more money from their +assets than the officers of the trust company had expected; and they +held out to him the promise of employment in their Boston office as a +reward. So he walked the familiar streets planning his future anew. He +had succeeded in something at last, and he would stay in Boston, +having, he told himself, earned the right to live there. The assistant +secretaryship of the trust company, which had been mentioned to him, +would be a position of dignity and promise. He had never hoped to do so +well. Moreover, it would be pleasant to be near his sister, who lived at +Worcester. There were only the two of them, and they ought to live near +together. + +It is, however, an unpleasant habit of the fates never to suffer us to +debate simple problems long; they must throw in new elements to puzzle +us. While he deferred going to Orchard Lane a new perplexity confronted +him. One of Margrave's "people" came from New York as the representative +of the syndicate that had purchased the Clarkson Traction Company, and +sought an interview. John had met this gentleman at the time the sale +was closed; he was a person of consequence in the financial world, who +came quickly to the point of his errand. He offered John the position of +general manager of the company. + +Margrave, it appeared, was not to have full swing after all. He was to +be president, but John's visitor intimated broadly that the position was +to be largely honorary. They had looked into the matter thoroughly in +New York and were anxious that the policy and methods of the +receivership should continue. Mr. Margrave was an invaluable man, said +the New Yorker, but his duties with the railroad company had so +multiplied that he would be unable to give the necessary care to the +street car management. John should have absolute authority. The +syndicate would be greatly disappointed if he declined. A salary was +named which was larger than John had ever dreamed of receiving in any +occupation; and they wished an answer within a few days. John Saxton was +human, and it was not easy to decline a salary of six thousand dollars +for services which he knew he could perform, offered to him by a +gentleman whom people were not in the habit of refusing. He remained +indoors at the club all day, smoking many pipes in a fruitless effort to +reconcile his resolves with his new problems. + +The next day he thought he saw it all more clearly. Perhaps, he +reflected, life in Boston would become endurable; there was his sister +to consider, and he owed something to her; she was all he had. He went +out and walked aimlessly through the hot streets, little heeding what he +did. He realized presently that he had gone into a railway office and +asked for a suburban time table. He carried this back to the club, where +the atmosphere of his cool, quiet room soothed him; and he lay down on a +couch and studied the list of Orchard Lane trains. He found that he +could run out almost any hour of the day. He slept and woke refreshed, +with the time table still grasped in his hand. He had been very foolish, +he concluded; it would be a simple matter to go out to Orchard Lane to +call on the Porters and Whipples, and he picked out one of the afternoon +trains and marked it on the folder with a lead pencil. He spent the +evening writing letters,--in particular a letter to the representative +of the Clarkson Traction syndicate, declining the general managership; +and the next afternoon when he went up to Orchard Lane he carried the +letter sealed and stamped in his pocket, as a kind of talisman that +would assure his safety. + +It suited his righteous mood that he should find no one at home at Red +Gables but Mr. Porter, who played golf all the morning and slept and +experimented at landscape gardening all the afternoon. He welcomed John +with unwonted cordiality, in the inexplicable way people have of being +friendlier with a fellow townsman away from their common habitat than at +home. He led the way to a cool and cozy corner of the broad veranda, +where Japanese screens made a pleasant nook. The afternoon sea shimmered +beyond the trees; the lawn was tended with urban care. Porter was very +proud of the place and listened with approval to John's praise of it. + +"Well, sir; it's cooler than Clarkson." + +"A trifle, yes; the efforts of the Clarkson papers to make a summer +resort of the town were never very successful." John's eyes rested on a +wicker table where there were books and a little sewing basket, which it +wrung his heart to see. + +"Folks are all off somewhere. The Whipples are in town. Grant's gone +sailing and Evelyn's out visiting or attending a push of some kind up +the shore. But I guess I know when I've got a good thing. You don't +catch me gadding into town when I've got a cool place to sit." He +stretched his short legs comfortably. "I hope you'll smoke a cigar if +you've got one. They've cut mine off, and Evelyn won't let me keep any +around; thinks they'd be too much of a temptation." + +"It's just as well to keep away from temptation," said John, not +thinking of cigars. The sight of Porter and the mention of Clarkson +brought his homesickness to an acute stage. + +"I suppose our old friend Margrave's enjoying himself running the +Traction Company by this time," continued Porter. "Well, sir; I guess he +can have it. I thought for a while that I wanted it myself, but Fenton +talked me out of it. It will pay, if they run it right; yes, sir; it's a +good thing. But the trouble with Margrave is that he won't play square. +It ain't in him. He's so crooked that they'll never find a coffin for +him,--no, sir; not in stock; I guess it'll tax the manufacturer to his +full capacity to fit Tim. But he seems to have those Transcontinental +people on the string, and they're smart fellows, too. I reckon +Margrave's a handy man for them. They used to say _I_ was crooked,"--he +twirled his straw hat, and changed the position of his legs; "but I +guess that for pure sinuosity I was never in Tim Margrave's class. Well, +Tim's a good enough fellow when all's said and done!" + +"They say of him that he always stands by his friends," said John. "And +that's a good deal." + +"That's right. It's a whole lot," Porter assented. + +There were some details connected with the final transfer of the +Traction Company to Margrave's syndicate which Porter had not fully +understood, or which Fenton had purposely kept from him; and he pressed +John for new light on these matters. John answered or parried as he +thought wisest. He was surprised to find how completely Porter had freed +himself from business; the sometime banker talked of Clarkson affairs +with an accentuation of the past tense, as if to wave them all away as +far as possible. Events in themselves did not interest him particularly; +but he took a mildly patronizing tone in philosophizing about them. He +drew from John the fact that most of the property of the Neponset Trust +Company in the Trans-Missouri region had been sold. + +"That's good. I guess you've done pretty well for them, Saxton. But I +hope we shan't lose you from Clarkson. We need young men out there; and +I guess we've got as good a town as there is anywhere west of Chicago." + +"I'm sure of that," said John; and he rose to go. + +"I'm sorry the rest of them are not here," said Mr. Porter. "Evelyn +ought to have been home before this. But you must come again. Come out +and try the golf course and have dinner with us any time. I'm playing a +little myself this summer. Evelyn and Grant can outdrive me all right; +but they're not in it with me on putting. I'm one of the warmest putters +on the links. You can find the shore path this way." He led John to an +exit at the rear of the house, where there was an old apple orchard. +"After you pass the lighthouse you come to a road that leads right into +the village." + +John left his greetings for the rest of the household and turned away. +It had all happened much more easily than he had expected. He had burned +all his bridges behind him now; he would mail his letter in the village; +not that it would be delivered any sooner, but because it fell in with +his spirit of renunciation that it should go hence with the Orchard Lane +postmark. + +He took it from his pocket and carried it in his hand. He found the walk +very pleasant, with the rough shore of the bay on one hand and pretty +villas on the other. Orchard Lane was not wholly a fiction of +nomenclature. There were veritable lanes that survived the coming of +fashion and wealth, and spoke of simpler times on these northern shores. +The path was not altogether straight, but described a tortuous line past +the lighthouse which crouched on a point of the bay. There was a train +at six o'clock; it was now five and he loitered along, stopping often to +look out upon the sea. A group of people was gathered about a tea table +on the sloping lawn in front of one of the houses. The colors of the +women's dresses were bright against the dark green. It was a gay +company; their laughter floated out to him mockingly. He wondered +whether Evelyn was there, as he passed on, beating the rocky path with +his stick. + +Evelyn was not there; but her destination was that particular lawn and +its tea table. Turning a fresh bend in the path he came upon her. He had +had no thought of seeing her; yet she was coming down the path toward +him, her picture hat framed in the dome of a blue parasol. He had +renounced her for all time, and he should greet her guardedly; but the +blood was singing in his temples and throbbing in his finger tips at the +sight of her. + +"This is too bad!" she exclaimed, as they met. "I hope you can come back +to the house." + +She walked straight up to him and gave him her hand in her quick, frank +way. + +"I'm sorry, but I must go in to town on this next train," he answered. +He turned in the path and walked along beside her. + +"This happened to be one of our scattering days, for all except father." + +"We had a nice talk, he and I. Your place is charming." + +They descended the shore path until they came to the villa where the tea +drinkers were assembled. + +"Don't let me detain you. I'm sure you were going to join these lotus +eaters." + +"I don't believe they need me," she answered, evasively. "They seem +pretty busy. But if you're hungry--or thirsty, I can get something for +you there." They passed the gate, walking slowly along. He knew that he +ought to urge her to stop, and that he must hurry on to catch his train; +but it was too sweet to be near her; this was the last time and it was +his own! + +"I seem to remember your tea drinking ways," she said. "You use only +sugar and the hot water." + +"But that was in the winter," he responded. He wished she had not +referred to that afternoon, when he had been weak, just as he was +proving weak now. A yacht was steaming slowly into the bay. It was a +pretty, white plaything and they paused and commended its good qualities +with the easy certainty of superficial knowledge. They walked on, +passing the lighthouse, and slowly nearing the entrance to Red Gables. +She led the talk easily and her light-heartedness added to his +depression; every step he took was an error; but he would leave her at +the gate when they came to it and go on to the village and his train. +She paused abruptly and looked across a meadow which lay between them +and the Red Gables orchard. + +"I really believe it's a cow; yes, it is a cow," she declared, with +quiet conviction. + +"I thought it was a yacht. Was I as dull as that?" he demanded. + +"Be it far from me to say; but I was getting a little breathless. Even +the professional monologuists in the vaudeville have to rest." + +He was not in a humor for frivolous conversation; but she had never been +so gay. He had committed himself to general chaos and yet she was +smiling amid the ruin of the world. + +"I don't believe there are any letter boxes along here," she continued, +looking straight ahead. He remembered his letter; he was stupidly +carrying it in his hand; his fingers were cramped from their clutch upon +it. It was not easy to resist her mood, and he now laughed in spite of +himself. + +"I'm disappointed. I thought they had all the necessities of a +successful summer resort here,--even mails." + +"Rather poor, don't you think? I suppose you were carrying the letter to +get an opening for that." + +They paused and John held open the little gate in the stone wall. He was +grave again, and something of his seriousness communicated itself to +her. Clearly, he thought, this was the parting of the ways. He had not +relaxed his hold upon the letter; it was a straw at which he clutched +for support. + +"Won't you come in? There are plenty of trains and we'd like you to dine +with us." + +A great wave of loneliness and yearning swept over him. Her invitation +seemed to create new and limitless distances that stretched between +them. In fumbling with the latch of the gate he had dropped his letter. +The wind caught and carried it out into the grass. + +He went soberly after it and picked it up. There was a dogged +resignation in his step as he walked slowly across the grass. While he +was securing the bit of paper, she sat down on a rustic bench and waited +for him. + +"The fates don't agree with you about the letter, Mr. Saxton. You were +looking for a letter box and they tried to thwart you." + +"I'm not superstitious," said John, smiling a little. + +"One needn't be,--to act on the direct hints of Providence." + +She sat at comfortable ease on the bench, holding her parasol across her +lap. There was room for two, and John sat down. + +"Suppose it were a check on an overdrawn account; would Providence +intervene to prevent an overdraft?" + +"That's a commercial hypothesis; I think we should be above such +considerations." Then they were silent. John bent forward with his +elbows on his knees, playing with his stick and still holding the +letter. The wind came up out of the sea and blew in their faces. The +brass mountings of the yacht shone resplendent in the slanting rays of +the lowering sun. It was very calm and restful in the orchard. Two +robins came and inspected them, and then flew away to one of the gnarled +old trees to gossip about them. + +"It happens to be important," said John, indicating the letter. + +[Illustration] + +"Oh, pardon me!" with real contrition. It was not her way to flirt with +a young man over a letter. John held up the envelope so that she saw the +superscription. She knew the name very well. It was constantly in the +newspapers, and the owner of it had dined once at her father's house. + +"He's the head of the syndicate that has bought the Traction Company. He +has asked me to stay in Clarkson and run the street cars." + +"That's very nice. But merit gets rewarded sometimes." + +"But I have refused the offer," he said quietly. He had not intended to +tell her; but it was doubtless just as well; and it would alter nothing. +"My work in Clarkson is finished," he went on. "Warry's affairs will +make it necessary for me to go back from time to time, but it will not +be home again." + +"I'm sorry," she said. "I thought you were to be of us. But I suppose +there is a greater difference between the East and the West than any one +can understand who has not known both." They regarded each other +gravely, as if this were, of course, the whole matter at issue. + +"I can't go back,--it's too much; I can't do it," he said wearily. + +"I know how it must be,--this last year and Warry! It was all so +terrible--for all of us." She was looking away; the wind had freshened; +the yacht's pennant stood out against the blue sky. + +John rose and looked down at her. It was natural that she should include +herself with him in a common grief for the man who had been his friend +and whom she had loved. She had always been kind to him; her kindness +stung him now, for he knew that it was because of Warry; and a resolve +woke in him suddenly. He would not suffer her kindness under a false +pretense; he could at least be honest with her. + +"I can't go back, because he is not there; and because--because you are +there! You don't know,--you should never know, but I was disloyal to +Warry from the first. I let him talk to me from day to day of you; I let +him tell me that he loved you; I never let him know--I never meant any +one to know--" He ceased speaking; she was very still and did not look +at him. "It was base of me," he went on. "I would gladly have died for +him if he had lived; but now that he is dead I can betray him. I hate +myself worse than you can hate me. I know how I must wound and shock +you--" + +"Oh, no!" she moaned. + +But he went on; he would spare himself nothing. + +"It is hideous--it was cowardly of me to come here." + +His hands were clenched and his face twitched with pain. "Oh, if he had +lived! If he had lived!" + +She rose now and looked at him with an infinite pity. This is one of +God's unreckoned gifts to man,--the gift of pity that He has made the +great secret of a woman's eyes. Evelyn's were gray now, like the stretch +of sea beyond her, where a mist was creeping shoreward over the blue +water. + +"If he had lived," she said very softly, looking away through the +sun-dappled aisles of the orchard, "if he had lived--it would have been +the same, John." + +But he did not understand. His name as she spoke it rang strange in his +ears. The letter had fallen to the ground and lay in the grass between +them; he half stooped to pick it up, not knowing what he did. + +She walked away through the orchard path, which suddenly became to him +a path of gold that stretched into paradise; and he sprang after her +with a great fear in his heart lest some barrier might descend and shut +her out forever. + +"Evelyn! Evelyn!" + +It was not a voice that called her; it was a spirit, long held in +thrall, that had shaken free and become a name. + + * * * * * + +A LIST _of_ IMPORTANT FICTION + +THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY + + +_It is fresh and spontaneous, having nothing of that wooden quality +which is becoming associated with the term "historical novel."_ + +HEARTS COURAGEOUS + +By HALLIE ERMINIE RIVES + +"Hearts Courageous" is made of new material, a picturesque yet delicate +style, good plot and very dramatic situations. 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GILDER, of _The Critic_. + +In "The Mississippi Bubble" Emerson Hough has taken John Law and certain +known events in his career, and about them he has woven a web of romance +full of brilliant coloring and cunning work. It proves conclusively that +Mr. Hough is a novelist of no ordinary quality.--_The Brooklyn Eagle._ + +As a novel embodying a wonderful period in the growth of America "The +Mississippi Bubble" is of intense interest. As a love story it is rarely +and beautifully told. John Law, as drawn in this novel, is a great +character, cool, debonair, audacious, he is an Admirable Crichton in his +personality, and a Napoleon in his far-reaching wisdom.--_The Chicago +American._ + +The Illustrations by Henry Hutt + +12mo, 452 pages, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +YOUTH, SPLENDOR AND TRAGEDY + +FRANCEZKA + +By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL + +There is no character in fiction more lovable and appealing than is +Francezka. Miss Seawell has told a story of youth, splendor and tragedy +with an art which links it with summer dreams, which drowns the somber +in the picturesque, which makes pain and vice a stage wonder. + +The book is marked by the same sparkle and cleverness of the author's +earlier work, to which is added a dignity and force which makes it most +noteworthy. + +"Here is a novel that not only provides the reader with a succession of +sprightly adventures, but furnishes a narrative brilliant, witty and +clever. The period is the first half of that most fascinating, +picturesque and epoch-making century, the eighteenth. Francezka is a +winsome heroine. The story has light and shadow and high spirits, +tempered with the gay, mocking, debonair philosophy of the +time."--_Brooklyn Times._ + +Charmingly illustrated by Harrison Fisher + +Bound in green and white and gold + +12mo, cloth. Price, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +A BRILLIANT AND SERIOUS NOVEL + +CHILDREN OF DESTINY + +By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL + +Author of Francezka and The Sprightly Romance of Marsac. + +One of Miss Seawell's most brilliant and serious works is this novel of +Old Virginia. One lives again the patrician elegance of those mannerly +times with all their freedom and all their limitations. In the midst of +those quiet people--some rich in worldly goods, all rich in their birth +and station--is born a man with the unrest of genius. Miss Seawell's +powerful delineations of this man's character, her charming presentation +of the old days, her sprightly humor, playing on the foibles of these +early nineteenth century aristocrats, the tenderness and beautiful love +of her heroine, show her as a brilliant writer and deep thinker. In none +of her other books is her art so true and her touch so poised. + +With six Illustrations by A. B. Wenzell and a Cover in Blue and Gold. + +12mo, Cloth, Price, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +A SPLENDIDLY VITAL NARRATION + +THE MASTER OF APPLEBY + +_A romance of the Carolinas_ + +By FRANCIS LYNDE + +Viewed either as a delightful entertainment or as a skilful and finished +piece of literary art, this is easily one of the most important of +recent novels. One can not read a dozen pages without realizing that the +author has mastered the magic of the story-teller's art. After the dozen +pages the author is forgotten in his creations. + +It is rare, indeed, that characters in fiction live and love, suffer and +fight, grasp and renounce in so human a fashion as in this splendidly +vital narration. + +With pictures by T. de Thulstrup + +12mo, cloth. Price, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +WHAT BOOK BY A NEW AUTHOR HAS RECEIVED SUCH PRAISE? + +WHAT MANNER OF MAN + +By EDNA KENTON + +The novel, "What Manner of Man," is a study of what is commonly known as +the "artistic temperament," and a novel so far above the average level +of merit as to cause even tired reviewers to sit up and take hope once +more.--_New York Times._ + +It will certainly stand out as one of the most notable novels of the +year.--_Philadelphia Press._ + +It does not need a trained critical faculty to recognize that this book +is something more than clever.--_N. Y. Commercial._ + +Note should be made of the literary charm and value of the work, and +likewise of its eminently readable quality, considered purely as a +romance.--_Philadelphia Record._ + +Literary distinction is stamped on every page, and the author's insight +into the human heart gives promise of a brilliant future.--_Chicago +Record-Herald._ + +The whole book is full of dramatic force. The author is an unusual +thinker and observer, and has a rare gift for creative +literature.--_Philadelphia Evening Telegraph._ + +"What Manner of Man" is a study and a creation.--_N. Y. World._ + +12mo, Cloth, Gilt Top, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +DIFFERENT AND DELIGHTFUL + +UNDER THE ROSE + +A Story of the Loves of a Duke and a Jester + +By FREDERIC S. ISHAM + +Author of The Strollers + +In "Under the Rose" Mr. Isham has written a most entertaining book--the +plot is unique; the style is graceful and clever; the whole story is +pervaded by a spirit of sunshine and good humor, and the ending is a +happy one. Mr. Christy's pictures mark a distinct step forward in +illustrative art. There is only one way, and it is an entertaining one, +to find out what is "Under the Rose"--read it. + +"No one will take up 'Under the Rose' and lay it down before completion; +many will even return to it for a repeated reading"--_Book News._ + +"Mr. Isham tells all of his fanciful, romantic tale delightfully. The +reader who loves romance, intrigue and adventure, love-seasoned, will +find it here."--_The Lamp._ + +With Illustrations in Six Colors by Howard Chandler Christy +12mo, Cloth, Price, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +A NEW NOTE IN FICTION + +THE STROLLERS + +By FREDERIC S. ISHAM + +"The Strollers" is a novel of much merit. + +The scenes are laid in that picturesque and interesting period of +American life--the last of the stage coach days--the days of the +strolling player. + +The author, Frederic S. Isham, gives a delightful and accurate account +of a troop of players making a circuit in the wilderness from New York +to New Orleans, travelling by stage, carrying one wagon load of scenery, +playing in town halls, taverns, barns or whatnot. + +"The Strollers" is a new note in fiction. + +With eight illustrations by Harrison Fisher + +12mo. Price, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +"NOTHING BUT PRAISE" + +LAZARRE + +By MARY HARTWELL CATHERWOOD + +Glorified by a beautiful love story.--_Chicago Tribune._ + +We feel quite justified in predicting a wide-spread and prolonged +popularity for this latest comer into the ranks of historical +fiction.--_The N. Y. Commercial Advertiser._ + +After all the material for the story had been collected a year was +required for the writing of it. It is an historical romance of the +better sort, with stirring situations, good bits of character drawing +and a satisfactory knowledge of the tone and atmosphere of the period +involved.--_N. Y. Herald._ + +Lazarre, is no less a person than the Dauphin, Louis XVII. of France, +and a right royal hero he makes. A prince who, for the sake of his lady, +scorns perils in two hemispheres, facing the wrath of kings in Europe +and the bullets of savages in America; who at the last spurns a kingdom +that he may wed her freely--here is one to redeem the sins of even those +who "never learn and never forget."--_Philadelphia North American._ + +With six Illustrations by Andre Castaigne + +12 mo. Price, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +"THE MERRIEST NOVEL OF MANY, MANY MOONS" + +MY LADY PEGGY GOES TO TOWN + +By FRANCES AYMAR MATHEWS + +The Daintiest and Most Delightful Book of the Season. + +A heroine almost too charming to be true is Peggy, and it were a +churlish reader who is not, at the end of the first chapter, prostrate +before her red slippers.--_Washington Post._ + +To make a comparison would be to rank "My Lady Peggy" with "Monsieur +Beaucaire" in points of attraction, and to applaud as heartily as that +delicate romance, this picture of the days "When patches nestled o'er +sweet lips at chocolate times."--_N. Y. Mail and Express._ + +12 mo. Beautifully illustrated and bound. + +Price, $1.25 net + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +A VIVACIOUS ROMANCE OF REVOLUTIONARY DAYS + +ALICE _of_ OLD VINCENNES + +By MAURICE THOMPSON + +_The Atlanta Constitution says_: + +"Mr. Thompson, whose delightful writings in prose and verse have made +his reputation national, has achieved his master stroke of genius in +this historical novel of revolutionary days in the West." + +_The Denver Daily News says:_: + +"There are three great chapters of fiction: Scott's tournament on Ashby +field, General Wallace's chariot race, and now Maurice Thompson's duel +scene and the raising of Alice's flag over old Fort Vincennes." + +_The Chicago Record-Herald says_: + +"More original than 'Richard Carvel,' more cohesive than 'To Have and To +Hold,' more vital than 'Janice Meredith,' such is Maurice Thompson's +superb American romance, 'Alice of Old Vincennes.' It is, in addition, +more artistic and spontaneous than any of its rivals." + +VIRGINIA HARNED EDITION + +12mo, with six Illustrations by F. C. Yohn, and a Frontispiece in Color +by Howard Chandler Christy. Price, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +A STORY BY THE "MARCH KING" + +THE FIFTH STRING + +By JOHN PHILIP SOUSA + +The "March King" has written much in a musical way, but "The Fifth +String" is his first published story. In the choice of his subject, as +the title indicates, Mr. Sousa has remained faithful to his art; and the +great public, that has learned to love him for the marches he has made, +will be as delighted with his pen as with his baton. + +"The Fifth String" has a strong and clearly defined plot which shows in +its treatment the author's artistically sensitive temperament and his +tremendous dramatic power. It is a story of a marvelous violin, of a +wonderful love and of a strange temptation. + +A cover, especially designed, and six full-page illustrations by Howard +Chandler Christy, serve to give the distinguishing decorative +embellishments that this first book by Mr. Sousa so richly deserves. + +With Pictures by Howard Chandler Christy + +12mo. Price, $1.25 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +A GOOD DETECTIVE STORY + +THE FILIGREE BALL + +By ANNA KATHERINE GREEN + +Author of "The Leavenworth Case" + +This is something more than a mere detective story; it is a thrilling +romance--a romance of mystery and crime where a shrewd detective helps +to solve the mystery. The plot is a novel and intricate one, carefully +worked out. There are constant accessions to the main mystery, so that +the reader can not possibly imagine the conclusion. The story is +clean-cut and wholesome, with a quality that might be called manly. The +characters are depicted so as to make a living impression. Cora Tuttle +is a fine creation, and the flash of love which she gives the hero is +wonderfully well done. Unlike many mystery stories The Filigree Ball is +not disappointing at the end. The characters most liked but longest +suspected are proved not only guiltless, but above suspicion. It is a +story to be read with a rush and at a sitting, for no one can put it +down until the mystery is solved. + +Illustrated by C. M. Relyea. + +12mo, Cloth, Price, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +A VIVID WESTERN STORY OF LOVE AND POLITICS + +THE 13TH DISTRICT + +By BRAND WHITLOCK + +This is a story of high order. By its scope and strength it deserves to +be spoken of as a novel--and that word has been very much abused by +hanging it to any old thing. It is a wonderfully good and interesting +account of the workings of politics from before the primaries on through +election, with a splendid love story also woven into it. + +One would think for instance, that it would be impossible to give an +account of a "primary" and keep it interesting; it is natural to suppose +a writer would become entangled with the dull routine of it all, but he +does not, he makes it interesting. He shows the tricks, the heat, the +passion, the tumult; the weariness and stubborness of a dead lock. The +descriptions of society life in the book are equally good. + +12mo. Price, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + * * * * * + +THE TRIUMPH OF FORGIVENESS + +THE LOOM OF LIFE + +By CHARLES FREDERIC GOSS + +Author of "The Redemption of David Corson." + +In "The Loom of Life" Dr. Goss has written a powerful book, filled with +the poetry and tragedy of life. It tells a novel and impressive story in +a style marked by a charming felicity of expression. + +The story, which has an epic broadness and strength, is of a young girl +who revenges a wrong done to her with life-long persecution. Finally, +however, she is forced to realize that on earth peace and happiness can +be obtained only by forgiveness. + +"Mr. Goss' splendid powers have been demonstrated afresh. This book +alone is strong enough, big enough, important enough, enough suggestive +and informing, to make a reputation for any one. + +"He has already a large audience created by his earlier book, 'The +Redemption of David Corson.' The new book will at once find favorable +and eager readers."--_The Living Church._ + +12mo, cloth. Price, $1.50 + + +The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Main Chance, by Meredith Nicholson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAIN CHANCE *** + +***** This file should be named 37190.txt or 37190.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/1/9/37190/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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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