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diff --git a/40116-0.txt b/40116-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5155246 --- /dev/null +++ b/40116-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11604 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40116 *** + + EDITH AND JOHN + + _A Story of Pittsburgh_ + + _By_ FRANKLIN S. FARQUHAR + + + Copyright 1912 + by + Franklin S. Farquhar + + Published May, 1912 + + Type set by Rush G. Faler & Co., + Linotypers + + Printed by + Commercial Bindery & Printing Co., + Tacoma, Wash. + + + + +EDITH AND JOHN + +_A Story of Pittsburgh_ + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE WRECKED UMBRELLA. + + +Fog and smoke and grime hung over the city of Pittsburgh: a thickening +blanket, soggy in its cumbrous pall. The rain came down like gimlets; +the air was savage, miserably embracing; the streets were sodden, muddy, +filthy, with dirty streams babbling along the gutters; the lights +gleamed ghastly, ghostly, hideously, in radiating through the gloom; +water dripped from eave, awning, wire, sign, lamppost--from everything, +spattering, trickling, everlastingly dripping, till the whole world +seemed to be in an advanced stage of the diabetes. It was a gray, grim, +medieval night--a cold, raw, nerve-racking night in November. + +The gleaming forges, the ponderous hammers, the monstrous rolls of the +mills boomed in the distance, sullenly, ceaselessly, like unto the +grumblings of a maddened Tubal Cain irritated beyond endurance. Mill and +factory and boat and shop whistles tooted and screeched and howled +demoniacally, with little agreement as to rhythm. Trains rumbled, cars +rattled, and all manner of conveyances bumped along, over crossings and +grades and Y's, through tunnels, under sheds, through yards, beneath +buildings, over streets, across bridges; some rapidly, some slowly, some +cautiously, some recklessly--all going, coming, hither and yon, with a +remorseless energy, and for an inexorable purpose. A medley of bells +smote the air with a harshness, a sweetness, a madness, that was +startling enough to drive the nervous into a wild panic. The rumble of +cart, the thud of horse, the crack of whip, the tread of feet, the +sound of voice, was a confused mass of noises added to the greater +roaring of the turbulent city of iron and steel. + +Tired, wan women, coarsely dressed; proud, haughty women, fashionably +attired; strips of boys and girls, shivering and chattering, bedraggled +and humped up; horny-handed men, roughly clothed; kid-gloved men, +faultlessly groomed: some with bundles, baskets, dinner-buckets, or +nothing--all hurrying through the elemental dreariness, bending their +way from office, from store, from shop, from mill, from factory to home, +to hotel, to palace, to mansion, to hovel, to downy beds, to straw +pallets, to bunk, to bench, or doorstep; or to place of nightly service, +or to pleasure; to rest and refresh themselves, and await the coming of +another day of toil, or leisure. + + * * * * * + +John Winthrope was a strapping young man but a few months from the +country--aged twenty-two. He had quit his pen and ink and account sheets +at his high desk in the office of Jarney & Lowman as the clock in the +court house tower pealed out six deliberately solemn strokes. He put on +his coat and hat, took up a bundle of reading matter selected for its +quality from that which daily cumbered the desks and waste-baskets, +procured an umbrella from the many that had been left in a rack in one +corner, and went out the door, down the elevator, and into the street. +As rain was falling, he turned up his pantaloons, turned up his coat +collar, raised the umbrella, and joined the throng of hurrying +pedestrians, homeward bound. + +Home! John had no home in the city. He had left his home behind--the +modest, cheaply builded, scantily furnished and illy appointed home of +his parents in the mountains--to come to the city to make his fortune. + +His home now was a "room"--merely a room among a multiplicity of similar +rooms, in between the four angles of plastered walls. His remuneration +as the lowest bookkeeper in the line of such functionaries was +insufficient to purchase more than the most meager accommodations in a +cheap boarding house up Diamond Alley way. + +This room in question was in an ancient brick and timber building, that, +in its earlier days, was an architectural ornament in its stateliness +compared to other business blocks; but by reason of the rapid striding +of modern prosperity, it was long ago left in the vast shades that great +fortunes had reared into iron and concrete, standing by. + +There were only two sides open to the light and air in this low and aged +building--one in front and one on top. In between were three tiers of +small dark rooms, one tier above the other, resembling very much the +little cubes of a concentrated egg case. Two small paned windows looked +drearily into them from the street, on each floor, with a smaller +time-stained window in each resounding hallway. + +The inner rooms were lighted by abbreviated wells dug in from a skylight +on the side adjoining the blank walls of a dizzy skyscraper. And cloudy +and shadowy and dim and cheerless, indeed, was the light let in on the +brightest of days, while on dull days it was nothing more than the +semblance of a waning twilight; so that, if used in day time at all, a +light were needed to make out and clearly discern any object within. + +In one of these dark and inodorous rooms, John Winthrope had his +temporary abiding place. There were in it a cheap iron bed, with musty +smelling tick, sheet and coverlets; a small oak-grained pine washstand, +with such a wavy little mirror hanging over it, that one could not tell, +in looking at himself in it, whether he were a Chinaman, a Greaser, or a +crooked-faced Irishman toiling in the streets; a small bowl, for +washing, and a correspondingly small pitcher, with water in it, sat upon +the shaky stand; a cheap chair, a weak imitation of quartered oak, with +many marks of usage all over it, stood by a little table, also with many +marks of usage on it; a flowered carpet, faded, worn and fretted by the +sure hand of wearing time, covered the floor, with here and there ragged +spots of bareness to enhance the room's impoverishment. + +Leaving the office of Jarney & Lowman on that very disagreeable evening, +as mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, John pushed down the +foggy thoroughfares, with a rain: which seemed to be coming from a +reservoir in the infinite space above: pouring down. The streets were +crowded with people, going in various directions, and jostling each +other with little regard as to manners. Everybody had, apparently, but +one motive, and that was to get somewhere out of the terrors of the +elements. Nobody went with any precision as to plan of action, aiming +only to reach a near or remote destination. + +John pressed along the best he could, with what care that the rain, the +umbrellas and the crowd permitted. He drew his shoulders downward, and +bent forward, leaning against the driving rain, with his umbrella in +front of him. He hugged the buildings closely, stepped rapidly, dodged +from right to left of the other pedestrians, who were attempting the +same artful measures as himself, to keep out of the rain, if that were +possible. + +So absorbed was he in his own behalf, that he did not observe a young +lady approaching, in line with him, with the same absorbing carefulness +as to herself. She had but a moment before stepped from a store, not +perceiving that it was raining hard till she was plodding along through +it. She was also bending forward slightly, picking her way with dainty +but quickly executed steps to get where everybody else was aiming +for--home. Like John, she was unobserving as to the actions of the +fleeing people about her; and it is difficult to tell just how she +expected to keep her feet dry, considering how the water fell, and how +it splashed about. + +Howsoever, the lady, all of a sudden, came to a stop; two ribs of her +umbrella snapped with a loud click, one side flapping down over her +shoulders; her hat flew off as if it had been kicked by an athlete, and +rolled across the swimming pavement into the gutter. She uttered a +little cry of distress, and was in the act of turning around, and +repairing to the store whence she came, when she beheld a young man +performing an ungraceful act in attempting the recovery of her hat. He +was fleeing after it, with upspread umbrella over him, and running and +stopping and reaching for the piece of headgear that seemed determined +to evade his efforts to secure it. Seeing him thus, in his ludicrous +movements, she half smiled, and then decided to await further +developments. + +Securing the hat, finally, after it had started to float away on the +tide of the gutter, John (for that is whom the young man was) returned +with it to her, he himself showing some moiling, like the hat, as a +result of his gallant endeavors. When he approached her, with it in his +hand, she exhibited such an air of respectability and unfeigned +independence that John was fairly startled. + +"Beg your pardon, lady," he said, handing her the hat, bowing as he did +so; "it was an unavoidable accident--or rather the result of my +heedlessness. I beg your pardon." + +The lady stood a short moment confused, hesitating as to whether she +should deign to answer a stranger in the street, any more than to say +"thank you," and acknowledge, lady-like, that she was partly in the +blame, and ask his pardon also; or accept his blunder in good nature, as +he seemed to take it, and go her way. But John's voice was so mild, and +his manner so gentlemanly, that she felt as soon as he had spoken that +she need have no fear of him. + +"Oh, sir," she said, pleasantly, with a laugh; "as much my fault as +yours. Thank you." + +"May I hold your umbrella while you adjust your hat?" he asked, seeing +her dilapidated rain shade, with water streaming off of it on her +shoulders, falling about her head. + +"If you wish, you may," she replied, shyly. "I fear it is about done +for." + +"You may have mine," he returned. "May I take yours?" + +"You may hold it," she answered, as she began to lower it, having her +hat now also in her hand. "My, what a predicament I am in!" + +"Pardon me," he said; "but you will be left in the rain, if I take yours +and you do not accept mine." + +"Why, yes, indeed, I forgot it was raining," she responded, with a laugh +that indicated her confusion. + +"Give it me," he said, as her umbrella shut up tightly. "Will you accept +the protection of mine? The rain is falling hard," he continued, as he +took hers; and then reached as far as possible, without going closer, +holding his over her, and standing himself in the rain. + +"Oh, my, this hat is so soiled and nasty from the street," she said, as +she held it before her in the light of a fog enshrouded street lamp. + +"If you will give it me a moment, I will make an effort to remove some +of the grime," he said, in such a deferential tone that she was moved to +reply: + +"Indeed, sir, I find now I need your assistance, or perhaps I would be +doing a wrong in standing here in the rain with you. I find most men are +gentlemen, though, when a lady is in trouble." + +"Thank you," he returned. "May I take the hat for a moment?" + +She hesitated a second time about accepting his proffered aid, but +finally, becoming more convinced of the futility of aiding herself +alone, said: "You may." + +He then took the hat to clean, and she took the umbrella to hold, and +they both stood together, closely, under his rain protector. While he +cleaned the hat of its smutage, she watched him with some trepidation as +to the propriety of the act. + +When she saw him draw forth his pocket handkerchief and begin, with +delicate carefulness, to mop the slimy accretions from the rich +material, she breathed more easily, and stood as silent noting the +performance as the street lamp that gave forth such an haloic light. +They were both facing the light, he holding the hat in his left hand, +whirling it round and round as he diligently soaked up, with his +handkerchief, the water from it. His head was bent forward, with his +eyes cast directly upon the object of his attention. She glanced up into +his face from time to time, wondering at the strange situation she was +in, and seeing how good a face he had. She was very careful that he did +not catch her throwing furtive glances at him, fearful that he might +think her very bold. John paid no heed to her for the time, so bent was +he in attempting to make courteous amends for his awkwardness. But when +he had so soiled his handkerchief that it would not absorb any more of +the hat's defilement, he raised his eyes to her and said: + +"There!" + +"Thank you," she returned, taking the hat, and handing him his umbrella. +"Will you be so kind as to hold the umbrella while I put on my hat?" + +"With your permission," he replied, with condign simplicity. "I am +delighted to be of service to you for the grievous work I have done this +night," and he took the umbrella again, and held it over her. + +After a few minutes of prodding about her head with two long silver +pins, with something sparkling like diamonds on one end of each, she +said, as she lowered her hands: + +"Now, my umbrella, if you please?" + +"You may have mine," he answered. "Yours is so desolate looking that you +might as well go on your way without one as to attempt to use it again." + +"You are kind, indeed," she replied, with reserve, as she was making an +effort to hoist her wrecked umbrella, which he had turned over to her, +but still standing under his. + +She was now facing the lamp that was feebly radiating down upon them, +and he could see, plainly enough, that she was pretty. He had divined as +much, however, basing his divination upon her beautifully modulated and +sweet voice, which he thought could accompany no other than blue eyes, +rosy cheeks and cupid lips. + +"Will you accept mine?" he asked again, seeing she was having trouble in +raising her own to a due and rigid uprightness. + +"To whom shall I return it, should I accept it?" she asked. + +"Oh, never mind its return," he replied. + +"Then I shall not accept it," she insisted. + +"If you insist on returning it, then to the office of Jarney & Lowman," +he answered. + +"Why, what have you to do with that firm?" she asked, with surprise. + +"I am one of the bookkeepers in the office of that firm," he answered, +hesitatingly, for her tone of surprise was such that he could not guess +its meaning. + +"Ha, ha, ha!" she laughed. "It seems so ridiculous in me standing here +this soggy night, feeling so fearful all the while that I might have +fallen into the hands of a ruffian! Ha, ha, ha! I must tell papa as soon +as I get home. Such a strange coincidence one never heard of before!" + +The pleasant demeanor of the young lady, so suddenly taken on, set John +to staring at her, now in a great quandary, now in mingled confusion and +hesitancy as to what to say further. + +"To whom have I the honor of being so unceremoniously introduced on such +an aqueous night?" he asked. + +"Why, I am Edith Jarney, daughter of Hiram Jarney," she replied, with so +much more confidence in herself that she felt she would not now hesitate +to be on friendly terms with this humble worker in her father's office. +"And your name?" she was emboldened to ask. + +"John Winthrope," he blurted out, a little flustrated over the turn the +accidental meeting had taken. + +"Mr. Winthrope," she said, extending her hand; "I am very glad to know +you, and to know that you are an employe of my father." As he took her +gloved hand, she continued, "yes, with your permission, I will accept +your umbrella; but it seems so ungracious for me to do so. What will you +do without one, and the rain coming down so?" + +"I have not far to go," he answered. + +He pressed her hand lightly, while she held his firmly and sincerely in +her effort to impress upon him how very thankful she was for his +kindness. + +"It gives me pleasure, indeed, Miss Jarney," he returned, looking +steadily at her, "to assist you. I hope I may have the further pleasure +of seeing you again, some day; but I can hardly expect that--" + +"Why not?" she interrupted. + +"--unless it should be by chance," he finished, releasing her hand. + +"Mr. Winthrope, really, I have enjoyed our accidental tete-a-tete," she +pursued. "When we first ran together, I was somewhat angered, as I had a +right to be, at your awkwardness; but when I saw you running for my hat, +and when I heard you speak, and when you offered to aid me in my +distress, all fear left me. I felt that a gentleman was at hand to +mollify the grievous circumstance. Now, you know what I think of you." + +"Thank you," he replied, bowing, with considerable condescension, for +her praiseworthy remarks. + +"I would like to prolong our now quite interesting little episode, were +it possible," she said, with more earnestness in her feelings than he +could believe; "but this horrid night is already sending the shivers +through me, and I am beginning to realize that, should we stand here +longer, the rain will have, soaked us through and through." + +John gasped at this reassuring confidence and interest in himself. He +would have asked her, as a matter of continuing his courtesy, to +accompany her to her home, or to some convenient point for her to take a +taxicab; but recognizing his station in life was not on a plain with +hers, he could not conscientiously attempt to ingratiate himself into +her favor, let alone asking the pleasure of her company homeward. He +felt it would be exceedingly bold and entirely out of place for him, +being as he was poor, to make such a dubious request of her. But still +she remained continuing the conversation. And the rain still came +pouring down. + +"I assure you, Miss Jarney," he did say at last, "I have, since I came +to know you, never enjoyed anything so monumentally humorous as this +affair; and I would have been greatly disappointed on it, and weightily +embarrassed over it, had you not have taken my umbrella, even though I +had not learned your name, nor ever expected to see you again." + +"That is very clever in you," she replied, with the sweetest little +chuckle, being amused at the simplicity of his manner and loftiness of +his speech. "The eloquence of your deportment cannot be improved on." + +"Thank you, Miss Jarney, for your kind opinion," he answered. + +Still Edith Jarney stood, on this cold, gloomy, miserable November +evening, talking to this young man from the mountains, who was without +money, or fame, or glory, or name, except that which his good parents +had bestowed upon him--this young man alone in a big city, with a +multitude of others in the struggle for existence, and she so rich. + +And still she talked on with this unassuming country youth, emboldened +to the act by the strange hand of chance that should bring her to it, +and by the novelty of the situation, and by some other unfathomable +mystery that caused her to see in him something more than usual, +continuing to intimate the while that she was loath to forego further +indulgence in their very entertaining meeting; and she so rich, and he +so poor. But as all happy events in one's life must have an ending, she +at length said, while the rain still kept pouring down: + +"Mr. Winthrope, I must express my sincere regret that the time and place +are inappropriate for a continuance of our very, very pleasant talk on +this highly felicitous event, as it has turned out to be." + +Again she extended her hand, and still the rain came beating down as +before. He took it, and pressed it more firmly, and she permitted him to +hold it as he said: + +"The pleasure is not all yours, Miss Jarney, I assure you. Were I--were +I equal to the occasion, which I can never hope to be, I might ask the +pleasure of accompanying you--part way at least--through this soaking +night to your home, or to your nearest friends. But I shall not ask it +of you." + +"Good bye," she replied, with some disappointment, it appeared to him, +as he released her hand. + +"Good bye," he returned; and they parted. + +She turned, and disappeared, like a spectre, into the depths of the +grayish shroud of the melancholy night. + +He turned a corner, lost his way in the hurrying crowd, and drew up +eventually at a restaurant. After refreshing himself, he returned to the +street again, and plodded on, with the broken umbrella over him, through +the dampage to his cold and dimly lighted chamber--there to sleep, and +dream, perhaps, of a fair young face, miles and miles above his station +in life. + +And the rain beat down above him with the same homely sound, it seemed, +as it did in the past, upon the roof above his chamber in his mountain +home. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +AT THE MANSION ON THE HILL. + + +In Highland avenue, far removed from the crowded thoroughfares, the +congested tenements, the cheap homes of the middle class, the rush and +roar of industry--out where the wind and sun (when they combine together +to have a sky cleaning and an air purification) first lay hold with +brush and broom and water to scour away the smokage of the manufactories +of wealth--stands a mansion. + +It is a dull gray mansion on a hill, with an outlook to the four +winds--over every hill and valley, park, suburb, town and +community--embracing everything that a prospect could possibly be +endowed with. Standing alone in a small private park, studded with oaks, +beech and maple trees, and brightened by a sward faultlessly maintained, +with gently sloping hillsides, rockeries, aquariums and flower beds, and +winding paths and roads and byways, it impresses one not much unlike +that of same landed member of nobility when men were masters of men even +with less harshness than now. + +It does not resemble an ancient castle. It does not resemble a manor +house of England. It resembles nothing at all that ever was in the way +of abode of men. It resembles more the newer ideas of builders put into +stone and mortar and glass--a conglomeration of the old styles blended +into one more modern, more pleasing to the eye, more harmonious with the +colors of the air, the trees, the fields and all things +around--representing the craft and graft and greed of men of this age. + +Without, on this November day, it seemed to be forsaken, cold, damp, +dull, forbidding, sombre in every delineation of its outline, rearing +through the haze of smoke and fog and rain like a stranded Adamaster in +a sea of penury, misery and woe, with the lesser lights of affluence +beaming dimly in its neighborhood. But within, there were the warmth of +the tropics, the effulgence of the Riviera, the glitter of the Orient, +the polish of the court of France in the hey-day of its kings, the +laughter of youth, the smile of the aged, the cheer of the domestic, and +over all the atmosphere of those brought into the world to conquer among +men in the science of business. + +This is the home of Hiram Jarney of the firm of Jarney & Lowman, makers +of iron and steel. Here lived Miss Edith Jarney, the only child. She was +twenty-two, tall, willowy, graceful. She was raised as became a daughter +of a man of wealth; but she was not spoiled. She was not a sham, as many +such young ladies are. She was not affected. She was level-headed, +self-possessed, modest, kind, beautifully unselfish, lovable, very +handsome, very noble. + +Mrs. Jarney was a buxom woman still, although gray was sprinkled well +through her hair. She must have been handsome when young, for yet her +cheeks were rosy, with the refining marks of motherhood toning them down +to the fading point. She was bouncing in her manner, lofty in her +speech, pleasant in her smile, and a little haughty in her bearing, but +always cheerful. She had come up from adversity with her husband, +climbing the ladder of success side by side with him, adjusting herself +to each rung as the dangers of the height increased, till at last she +sat, with him, on the top, and scornfully, although not willfully, cast +disparaging glances on those below seeking her altitudinous +environments. + +The husband and father, Hiram Jarney, was a tall, clean-cut business +man, proud, vain, nice, neat, with a monumental ambition to accomplish +in every purpose he set out to do. And he had accomplished many. + +When Edith Jarney took the taxicab for her home, after parting with +John Winthrope in the rain, she was in great good humor all the way, and +for some hours after arriving at her domicile. Thinking little of the +wet condition of her clothing, or her hat, or her shoes, or anything +else, she leaned back on the soft, dry cushions of the cab and laughed +and laughed, time after time, over the singular episode with that young +man. In truth, it raised her sense of risibility to such a degree so +often that she had to hold her sides for the pain of laughing. + +Nothing in all her short and interesting life appealed to her as so +ridiculous, nothing so amusing, nothing so ludicrous, nothing so out of +the ordinary, nothing so new, nothing so out of the common run of +happenings in her daily ins and outs, as her encounter with this +unspoiled youth of the mountains. And the more she thought of it, the +more she laughed over her own discomposure, over the cheerful attitude +she had assumed toward him, over her apparent boldness, over her clever +mastery of a situation made possible only by the cheerless night. + +Indeed, so forcibly was she impressed with the affair that she began +already, while riding in the cab, to write the incident down in the +tablet of her memory as one of the most extraordinary events of her +life. And more--the longer she thought of it, the more impressed she was +with John Winthrope. His politeness, his bearing, his voice, his face, +his size, appealed to her young idea of what constituted proper +proportions in a good young man. She gave no thought of him being a poor +employe of her father; she gave no thought whether he was possessed with +worldly riches; she gave no thought as to whether he had blooded +ancestry; or who, or what he was, any more than that he appeared to be +above the stuff of the average man with whom she had previously come in +contact. + +"Ah, he must be a good young man," she said, almost aloud, during one of +her oft recurring spells of happiness. "He cannot be so bad," she +thought, "when he was so good to me. But still--" + +The taxicab was at her home. The door was opened by the chauffeur, who +had raised her umbrella, and was standing waiting for her at the door. +It took a word from him to rouse her from her meditation. + +"Oh, are we home?" she said, as she bounded out. She grasped the +umbrella, and ran up the pathway to the big piazza of the mansion. + +She was so gleeful that she bolted toward the door, which was not opened +soon enough to suit her impetuous haste to get within; and when it was +opened, she rushed in, forgetting to lower the umbrella. This action +caused the footman to look aghast at the dripping water and her much +bedraggled skirts. And not till she had gone to the center of the big +reception room, and had left a trail of water behind on the polished +floors and turkish rugs, on curtains, chairs and settees, much to their +ruination, did she notice her absentmindedness. + +"Why, Edith!" exclaimed her mother, with uplifted hands. + +"Oh, mamma! mamma!" exclaimed Edith, out of breath, almost. + +"What is the matter, Edith?" asked her mother, excitedly, as she came +rushing toward her from her cozy corner, where she had been embowered +this dreary night, among richly-scented cushions. "One would think it +raining in here, Edith, from the way your umbrella is shedding water. +Put it down, and explain yourself, Edith!" + +"My, oh, my," laughed Edith, for the first time realizing that she was +still carrying the umbrella. + +"What is it, Edith? What has happened?" continued her mother. "My! Your +clothing are so wet! What has happened to that hat?" + +"Enough for one night, mamma--enough," returned Edith, now lowering the +umbrella, and looking it over searchingly--at the handle, at the +material, at the ferrule, at the tassel, at the "J. W." on the silver +plated strip that formed a narrow ring around the briar root handle. +Then, without answering her mother definitely, she went into the great +hall and deposited "J. W.'s" rain shade into a glistening receptacle of +pottery with a dragon's head looking viciously at her from one side. + +"Mamma! Mamma!" she exclaimed, joyfully, with soiled hat, wet coat and +soaked shoes still on. + +"What is it, Edith? Do tell me! What has happened?" questioned her +mother for the third time, as she stood with her hands clasped before +her in expectation of hearing something terrible, and wringing them +sometimes to give vent to her wrought up feelings. + +"I had a most extraordinary experience this evening, mamma," answered +Edith, slowly pulling off her wet gloves that seemed to want to adhere +to the flesh. Edith was looking down at her hands, with a very pleasant +smile lighting up her face, which she turned into gyratory expressions +now and then as she pulled and jerked at the clinging glove fingers. + +"Tell me, Edith--tell me quickly, before something happens to me," said +her mother, now impatient at Edith's slowness. + +"It was such an extraordinary affair, mamma," answered Edith, finally +getting off her gloves, and then reaching up to remove her hat, "that I +am still all excited about it, mamma--and the old hat is ruined--call +the maid to assist me into dry clothing--look at that hat, mamma; it +fell into the gutter," and she turned it round and round, just as John +had done, looking at it admiringly--not that she admired it for its +beauty in its present condition, oh, no; but for something else; and she +touched it in several spots with her little bare hands, which she could +not forbore doing on any other occasion. + +"Edith! Why are you so procrastinating? I cannot tolerate your delay +longer! Answer me! What has happened?" demanded the little bouncing +mother, with some pretention toward exasperation. + +"Oh, mamma," answered Edith, with charming affection, "I will, I will, +if you will only give me time. It was such an extraordinary event that I +want plenty of breath to proceed with the story. Nothing serious has +happened, mamma--but it was unusual." + +"Go to your room, Edith, and then return to me with changed clothing, +and tell me what it is that excites you so," said her mother, now +reconciled and satisfied that her daughter had not met with any serious +mishap. + +Edith, thereupon, kissed her mother, fondly patted her cheek, and then, +when her maid came, tripped lightly to her dressing room. + +"Sarah, I never before felt like doing things for myself as I do now," +said Edith to her maid, as she sat down to have her shoes removed. + +"And would you?" meekly asked the maid, looking up at her mistress. + +"Indeed, I would," returned Edith. "I would commence to learn at once +were it not for giving offense to my parents." + +"And leave me without my lady to wait on and love?" asked the maid, +apprehensive of her position. "I could not bear it, dear lady. Why, Miss +Edith, I have been with you since you were a teeny baby, and I love you +so that I imagine sometimes you are my own dear child." + +"Never mind, Sarah; don't be alarmed," returned Edith. "I will keep you +if I do learn to wait on myself. But I was thinking, Sarah, that you +cannot always tell what might happen. Every one of we mortals is a +possible subject for the poorhouse; and if it should come to anything +like that I should want to know how to bear my own burdens." + +"Don't tell me, Edith," cried Sarah, now alarmed, "that it has come to +that!" + +"Oh, no, indeed, Sarah," replied Edith, consolingly. "At least not that +I know of anything of the kind as being likely to happen. But that was +not it, Sarah--not it--why, what am I saying?--it is something else." + +Sarah looked up quickly at Edith. Edith was half serious, half mirthful +in the little laugh that followed her words. And she toyed with Sarah's +graying hairs. + +"Edith, are you keeping any secrets from me?" asked the suspicious +Sarah. + +"Now, Sarah, do not be cross with me, will you, if I tell you?" asked +Edith, with some hesitancy about revealing what had so recently happened +to give her such a wonderful new vision of life. + +"Never--never, Edith--unless you say," promised Sarah. + +"I met the finest young man this evening, Sarah," began Edith, slowly, +blushingly, still toying with Sarah's hair, Sarah still being on her +knees before her mistress. "There--I have let it out! Now, don't you +tell, Sarah. No, of course, you will not?" + +"Since you have forbidden any of the young bloods of your own set coming +to see you, I am anxious to know just where you got your 'finest young +man,'" said Sarah, sarcastically. + +"I found him!" + +"Is he rich?" asked Sarah. + +"Never thought of that!" + +"Where did you find him, Edith?" + +"Bumped into him in the streets--now, don't scold me, Sarah!" + +"Why, Edith!" exclaimed Sarah, rising, and holding up her hands, and +opening wide her prudish eyes. Sarah's sense of the proper fitness of +things old-maidenishly would not permit her even to meditate on such a +horrible deed. + +"Do not be unduly alarmed, Sarah," calmly remarked Edith. "It was an +accident--oh, such an extraordinary accident, Sarah, and so ridiculous +on my part that I still feel the effects of it on my mirthful nature." + +"Tell me all about it, my dear Edith?" said Sarah, now buttoning up the +back of Edith's dinner gown. + +"If you will not tell--promise?" + +"You have my promise, Edith; but you wouldn't keep such a secret from +your mother, would you?" + +"I do not want to, Sarah; but I am afraid, if I tell her, she will scold +me." + +"Now, what did you do, Edith?" asked Sarah. + +"Stood in the rain the longest time talking to the strange young man." + +"Why, Edith!" exclaimed Sarah, for the fifth or sixth time. + +"No why about it, Sarah. It was an unavoidable accident. I ran into him, +he into me. My hat fell off, rolled into the gutter, and my umbrella was +rendered limp in one of its poor wings. Now, could I help that, Sarah?" + +"Perhaps not." + +"Well, he recovered my hat, held his umbrella over me while I put it on +again, gave me his umbrella and he took my crippled one." + +"Is that all?" + +"We talked some." + +"Talked? Good gracious!" + +"Yes, talked, Sarah--really talked." + +"Why, Edith!" + +"Now, Sarah, be sensible, and listen. He was so polite, so courteous--" + +"They're all that way," interrupted Sarah, a man hater. + +"--but him," returned Edith, not meaning it in the same sense that +Sarah did. "I was going to say, Sarah, that I could not resist his good +face." + +"Who is he?" asked Sarah, coldly. + +"John Winthrope!" + +"What does he do?" + +"Works in my father's office!" + +"Lordy!" exploded Sarah at this revelation, for really Sarah was the +snob instead of Edith. "And you stopped to talk with him in the street?" + +"Sarah, you are mean--real mean--cruel, exasperating. Sarah, I will have +nothing more to do with you, if you talk that way any more! I will get a +new maid, or have none at all--that I will, Sarah! Now, take your +choice!" + +This from Edith, who was usually so calm, so even tempered, and so +reasonable in all matters. But Sarah had aroused her dormant nature by +such a reference to class distinction, that Edith, in her liberal way of +looking at the world in general, could not reconcile Sarah's views with +justice, if each human being concerned was equally endowed morally, +physically and mentally. + +"I will say no more, Edith," humbly surrendered the prudent Sarah. + +Dinner was announced, and Edith descended to the brilliancy of the great +dining room, where her parents were awaiting her arrival to be seated +with them. Edith was charming in her changed habiliment. Could John but +see her now! But John had no password as yet to this rich home. + +"Now, Edith, to the story," said Mrs. Jarney, after they had seated +themselves around the sumptuously provided table. + +"What is that?" asked Mr. Jarney, looking at his wife, and for the first +time getting an inkling of Edith's experiences, then turning his eyes +questioningly upon Edith. + +"Nothing serious, papa," said Edith, noting that he was surprised over +the manner in which her mother had put the question. + +"Well, then, dear Edith, go on," said her father, in his usually kind +tone. + +"Promise, papa, that you will not be hard on me?" pressed Edith. + +"As long as you have done no wrong, Edith, I promise," he replied. + +Then Edith related her tale, down to the minutest detail, even as to how +it affected her afterwards--except that she kept the impression that it +left upon her heart as her own inviolable secret. + +"Edith," said her father, after she had finished, and after he had +pondered a few moments over the possible effect on the young man in the +office, and after smiling and laughing heartily, "Edith, it certainly is +a peculiar coincidence. I am glad to know the party turned out to be our +newest addition to the office force, and not a ruffian." + +This ended the general conversation about John Winthrope. None of them +considered the event in any other light than if she had had a similar +encounter with the ash-man--except Edith. But still they did not cease +referring to the matter occasionally for some time, for after all they +could not help but marvel on it. + +Edith was unusually cheerful after she found her parents were not vexed. +She sang and played on the piano, read a few pages in a novel, talked, +laughed, went up and down the rooms, wondering, wondering what it was +that agitated her so and raised her spirits to such a high tension. + +Finally, after what appeared to be an age in passing, she became weary, +and went to bed, to sleep, and dream, perhaps, of a fair young man, +miles and miles below her station in life. + +And the rain beat down upon the roof above her with the same homely +sound as it beat down upon the roofs above all mankind that night. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE OLD JUNK SHOP. + + +The rusty perspective of a four story building rises in the midst of +many similarly nondescript structures, between Wood and Liberty streets, +looking out over the cobblestoned wharf skirting the Monongahela river, +flowing lazily by. + +It was builded in the days when it was a lofty office building: when its +three flights of darkened stairs were mounted by leg muscle: in the days +when its little windows were barn-doors of undimmed light, and the +panes were of minimum size for economy sake: in the days when the +steamboat trade was a valuable asset of the river front merchants: in +the days when men fought in the merry war of competition, and when life +was not so strenuous as it is now: in the days when its name stood +prominently among the business blocks in the city directory. But now it +has no resemblance to its former self; it makes no impression on the +passer-by, unless he be the curious delving into ancient lore; it is +silently languishing into the past, waiting for the strong arm of +Progress to raze it to the ground for something more imposing in its +place. + +Here, in the past, were offices on the upper floors devoted to the +exclusive use of professional men; while on the ground floor, for years, +a merchant held sway with an assortment of merchandise that equaled in +variety, if not in quantity, the great department stores of the present. + +Where the store was, there is a junk shop now, and it is called The Die. +In it may be found, collected together in an heterogeneous mass, a +miscellaneous lot of rubbish that even the bearish-like proprietor +himself wonders, sometimes, where it all comes from, and whither it all +goes. Here may be found the worn out and cast off articles of rivermen: +boatmen, wharfmen, raftsmen, and every other class of men who ply their +trade in, on, and about the water. Here may be found an indeterminable +assortment of wearing apparel, for all ages of men, women and children, +in all conditions of wear and tear, from a riverman's oiled coat, with +greasy spots upon it and burned holes in many places in it, to a worn +out pair of infantine shoes. Here may be found a hecatomb of articles of +the household, of the store, of the office, of the hotel, of the church, +of the school, of the cemetery, of the railway yards, of the building of +justice, of jail, of penitentiary--from every place, almost--all telling +a tale of grandeur, of poverty, of happiness, of misery; of pride, of +modesty, of virtue; of honor, of dishonor; of sickness, pain and death. + +The keeper of this shop, at this period in this narrative, was Peter +Dieman--a red-jowled, pig-eyed, sharp-nosed, dirty-mouthed, +frowsy-headed, big-bellied American, whose ancestry may be determined by +his name. A glance into his gloomy place was enough to convince the most +unobserving that he was specially adapted to his established trade of +buying and selling all manner of second-hand goods, ranging in value +from a penny to the enormous sum of one great American Eagle; and +seldom, if ever, did anything go above the latter figure, when he was +the purchaser; but when he was the seller--that was different. + +In the rear of the darksome room, on the ground floor, there was a +little cubby-hole built around a little window that opened on the rear +street. The window was so begrimed with dust and cobwebs that it was +necessary, even on the brightest days, to keep a sixteen candle power +incandescent globe going continually to furnish sufficient light for the +proprietor to see himself, and enable him to scribble down his accounts, +what few he kept in books. In this gruesome little office Peter sat, +from early morning to late night, smoking his foul smelling pipe, +receiving his cash from sales, and also receiving the people who did not +call on strictly commercial affairs; and betimes he peered through a +smoky glass-covered square hole that perforated one side of the thin +partition that circled him about, into the store, watching, with +squinting eyes, Eli Jerey, his clerk, dealing out the junk to the poor +purchasers. + +Peter Dieman was a fiend incarnate, after money. He was avaricious to +the core. He was relentlessly pressing in the collection of overdue +bills, and heartlessly "jewing" in the purchase of the worn-out, +worm-eaten, moth-ravaged articles that he gathered up, in his rounds, +from the unfortunates, the n'er-do-wells, the hopeless mortals who had +to sacrifice their goods and chattels to make ends meet; or who, +peradventure, were glad to dispose of any cumbersome article of their +more prosperous days. Further, besides being a close dealer, he was a +shaver of notes, a conscienceless dealer without regard whatever for the +principles of justice, or the duties of a citizen, or the honor of the +brethren of his tribe of men. And still further, he was so selfishly +constituted that no barterer could ever equal him in his surprisingly +pronounced talents for cheating, filching and over-charging. Without +education, and alone, on his own initiative, and through his own +painstaking, persistent, persevering efforts he arose from nothing to, +what would be considered by many, a state of enviable affluence for his +station in the ranks of the commercial men of the city. + +He could neither read nor write when he started out for himself on the +road of life; but by dint of much endeavor he learned to write by rote, +like a blind man, and talk by imitation, like a parrot. For many years +he was his own buyer, his own seller, his own bookkeeper, his own handy +man and henchman. But when he had accumulated a world of experience, a +great quantity of junk, a large sum of money, and the desire to be an +expert ward heeler, he hired Eli Jerey, as a boy of ten, to be his +helper. + +Now, Eli was a lad with no more ambition than a toad. Being obsessed +with that slavish passion one finds in so many of his class to serve a +master for a mere competance that would meet his daily expenses, he went +about his business with such translucent simplicity and dutiful +obedience to his master's will that he worked from six in the morning +till seven in the evening with such a zeal that Peter could make no +complaint whatever to his energy in keeping shop, while he in turn kept +office and watched through the little square hole aforesaid. + +This place became known as The Die early in the career of Peter--a +corruption of the name of Dieman, and perhaps a revealer of his +principles. + +One day, in September, while the fog and smoke hung darkly over the +river and everything, a short heavyset man, very plainly dressed, but +with an inquisitorial air in his bearing, sauntered into the shop, and +looked about as carelessly and indolently as if he were a sojourner come +to view, with a curious eye, the accumulation of things as if on display +in a museum. The stranger walked about, with his hands in his pockets, +through the narrow aisles between ropes, chains, furniture, pictures, +old shoes, hats, clothing, saws, hammers, hatchets, and a thousand and +one other things piled up, hanging about, swinging here, or perching +there. He was so mysterious in his movements that Eli, upon concluding a +simple deal with a louting riverman, came timidly up to him in such a +condescending manner that the stranger was struck with amusing amazement +at the deferential halo that seemed to pervade the shrimp-like head of +the clerk. + +"Anything?" asked Eli, approaching. + +"Well, I don't know," answered the stranger, his eyes roving about the +room. "I just came in to see if you had anything I wanted." Still +gazing abstractedly into a far corner where lay deeper piles of junk, he +went on, "I guess, though, from the looks of things, I might get +anything I want here, from a gimlet to a gibet." + +Eli stared doubtfully at the man, wondering at his utter lack of +concentration on the object sought. In the meantime, Peter was not off +his guard at his peephole. He was standing, looking out, rubbing his +hands and squinting, in an effort to make out the identity of the man. + +"Nothing in iron? Nothing in ropes? Nothing in old clothes? Nothing in +furniture?" asked Eli. + +"Don't know just yet," answered the stranger, now with his eyes cast +down upon the docile but ever guardful Eli. + +"What then?" asked Eli, still pursuing his questioning, and still +indecisive as to how to approach this uncommunicative customer. + +"I am just looking," answered the stranger, vacantly. "Oh, well--just to +see if I can see anything of benefit that I might carry off." + +Then off he went, mozying through the congested aisles, with that +vacuous stare about him that is assumed, usually, by a Jehue in a +vaudeville show. Eli followed him, very closely, watching very sharply, +being suspicious all the time that he might pick up a stray pin and +carry it off without just compensation to his close-fisted master. The +stranger strayed on, in and out, in and out, among the junkage, till he +came at last to the cubby-hole, eyed through at that moment by old +Peter. + +Arriving at the entrance of Peter's sanctuary, the stranger stopped, +looked about him listlessly, and took hold of the latch of the door, +pressed his thumb slowly upon it, opened it, and walked within, without +invitation, or concern as to who might be the occupant therein--bear or +man. + +"Good morning," said Peter, eyeing him suspiciously. "What do you want?" + +"Well, sir," answered the stranger, "I just stepped in a moment to see +if you could supply me with a kit of tools." + +"This is my office, sir; my office," said Peter, cross as a she-bear. +"Why didn't you ask my clerk, sir; my clerk?"--now rubbing his hands +briskly and leering at the stranger. "He will supply your wants, maybe, +sir, if he has what you want." + +"I always deal with the proprietor of an establishment," remarked the +stranger, seating himself. "No harm in that, I reckon, sir?" + +"None," returned Peter, with a growl. "None, sir." + +"Then, do you have a kit of burglar tools?" asked the stranger, with a +suavity of an oily-tongued vender of patent medicine. + +Peter looked him over again more critically, eyed him more suspiciously, +growled out an unintelligible word or two, and sat down himself in a +corner, but in such a position that he still could keep one eye on his +loophole of observance. + +"No, sir!" deliberately groaned out Peter, "I never carry such articles +by choice." + +"Then by chance, perhaps?" questioned the stranger. + +"Nor by chance, if I can help it," screeched the crusty Peter. "I am an +honest dealer in my wares." + +"I presume so," returned the stranger, with his eyes roaming about the +four bare walls of the cubby-hole, as if he were unwinding his thoughts +preparatory to a plunge into the secrets of something hidden within his +breast. + +"You doubt my word, sir?" said Peter, on his dignity. + +"Your veracity, I presume," calmly remarked the stranger, "is equal to +the rest of men in business." + +"It is, sir," answered Peter, foaming. + +"Well, if you have not got what I want, I must leave your place without +it," said the stranger, with a nonchalance that caused Peter to squint +one of his little eyes up like a question mark. + +"I am a fair dealer in all things, I am, sir," retorted Peter, "and I +don't like for strangers coming about here and eyeing as if I was in +league with criminals, or any other such disreputables." + +"That's all right, stranger," replied the stranger, with mollifying +effectiveness. "This being a junk shop, I took it to be no more than +natural to find here such tools as I have indicated." + +Peter rubbed his dirty hands together for a moment, gave an avaricious +curl to his under lip, squinted his porcine eyes, and asked: + +"What do you propose doing with them tools?" + +Then he suddenly turned his head, with a grin of malice on his +countenance, and looked through his peephole at Eli, whom he saw at that +moment parlying with a forlorn creature of the feminine gender. After +gazing thereat for a moment, he turned to the stranger to receive an +answer to his question. + +"Nothing, any more than that I want them," answered the stranger, +carelessly. + +"That is not a satisfactory answer," said Peter, again turning to his +peephole, from which place he could not now unrivet his eyes. + +"That's my only answer," replied the stranger. "Your name is Peter +Dieman, is it not?" + +Peter quickly unriveted his eyes, and looked up with astonishment at the +peculiar tone in the stranger's voice, and the sharp look in his +steel-gray eyes. + +"It is my name," growled Peter. + +"I knew it was--judging by the sign over the door," said the stranger. + +"Then why in the devil do you ask such a foolish question, if you knew +it?" said Peter, ferociously. + +"Because, I wanted to make sure," said the stranger. "Say, Mr. Dieman," +he now asked, "do you know Ford & Ford, who are after the contract for +repaving 444th street with wood blocks?" + +"I do." + +"Do you know Councilman Biff?" + +"I do." + +"You know all the other councilmen?" + +"I do." + +"Very well. Do you know the chief clerk?" + +"I do." + +"How many can you buy?" + +Peter eyed him again, growled again, again peeped out of his place of +espial at Eli and the forlorn creature still parlying, rubbed his hands, +ran his greasy fingers through his thin setting of hair, coughed, +sneezed, looked out the peephole, screwed his mouth to one side, +hem-hawed, then snorted: + +"Who do you represent?" + +"Ford & Ford. Here is my passport to you," replied the stranger, handing +Peter a typewritten sheet of paper signed by a member of that firm. + +"Why, in the devil, didn't you make yourself known in the beginning?" + +"Oh, I just wanted to lead you up to the question." + +"What do they want?" + +"They want the contract." + +"Have they got the money?" + +"They have." + +"It will cost you--" + +"We have the necessary amount." + +"--Fifty thousand to get it--money first." + +"When do you want the money?" + +"Tomorrow at eleven o'clock." + +The stranger arose, went out into the smoke and fog, and disappeared +somewhere into the infolding channels of great business undertakings of +this wonderfully prosperous city of steel and iron, where even the +hearts of men are as the material that the great blast furnaces spew +out, day and night, for seven days in the week, week in and week out. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +IN HELL'S HALF ACRE. + + +The forlorn individual whom Peter Dieman saw through his spyhole, during +his soul stirring conversation with the stranger, was Kate Barton, the +wife of Billy Barton, the waterman, and the ragged but chunky young +woman with her was her daughter, Star Barton. + +They had come into Peter's place to redeem, if possible, or to take away +as a gift of charity, if lucky, a few battered and broken kitchen +utensils that Billy Barton had sold during one of his thirsty spells +while staggering through a vaporless period of inebriacy. + +Kate Barton's outlook on life was hopeless. She came into the world as +poor as the proverbial church mouse, and seemed doomed to go out of it +even poorer. She married Billy Barton, a shiftless young man, with an +inherent predilection for hankering after the flowing bowl, and ere she +had passed a score of years of wedded life twelve innocent starvelings +had opened their eyes to her as their mother to gravitate for themselves +around the "old block." + +The poor woman! She was a meek victim of the direst kind of +circumstances that could possibly surround a human being. She was one of +those submissive and inept mortals that blindly plod the road of +domesticity without a spark of the beautiful to light up the narrow +channel of unrequitted effort. When she married Billy Barton, she went +about it with that fatality of purpose as is usual with her class, and +bore her burdens with the equanimity of a horse hitched to a loaded cart +on the uphill pull, without a thought for anything beyond her daily +tribulations, save that vague idea that the good Lord would take care of +her in the after while. She had no ambition further than the difficult +task of caring for her home with its limited accommodations and +plethoric adornment of young life. The unworthy addition of an imbibing +husband, on whom she looked as an inalienable part of her existence, did +in no sense tend her thoughts to any less love for him than if he had +been a more renowned character among men. Poor, helpless woman! + +When Peter Dieman saw her that day through his place of outlook, he saw +a woman as lean as a bean pole, as tall as a rail splitter, as +cadaverous as a ghost, with a hook nose, deeply sunken gray eyes, a +complexion that was a cross between yellow and black, brown stringy hair +and toothless mouth. Her dress was of faded black alpaca, her shoes +coarse and well worn, with a dirty yellow shawl hooded over her head and +hanging with frayed edges over her shoulders. + +After the stranger had left him, Peter stood a few moments, blinkingly +observing her. He then stepped out of his office into the less dingy +shop. He lumbered up to where she stood having an altercation with Eli +Jerey. + +"Well, Mrs. Barton," he said, rubbing his hands as if very cold, and +grinning like a cheshire cat; "can't you and Eli come to terms? What is +the trouble?" + +"Eli Jerey says I cannot redeem my goods without I pay a profit for your +trouble," she answered. + +"Can't have what?" he quizzed. + +"Them things that Bill sold you to get drink money with," she replied. + +"What things?" asked Peter. + +"Them dishes of mine--them tin pans--them knives--them forks--them +spoons--he carried off," she whimperingly returned. + +"I paid him the cash for them--the cold cash, Mrs. Barton," said Peter, +with a stony smile. + +"You did, no doubt, or else he wouldn't've been drunk last night," she +replied. + +"I never ask any questions where the things I buy come from--I give all +anything is worth; no more, no less, and never ask where the money goes +when it leaves my hands--I expect to sell them for a profit, or else +what am I in business for?" thus screeched the junkman. + +"Oh, Mr. Dieman!" wailed the poor creature. "I have nothing left to cook +with or eat on. He's taken the last dish in the house. My children have +been eating off the bare boards--and eating their vituals raw." + +"That's not my outlook, Mrs. Barton," retorted Peter, rubbing his hands +now more vigorously than ever, as if he had a fresh chill, or had just +come in out of a cold blast of weather. + +"I thought you might return them to me," said Mrs. Barton, appealingly. + +"Thought nothing," he answered, with a croak. "Give me my price and you +can take them." + +"I have only fifty cents," said the forlorn woman, "and I need that to +buy something to eat." + +"I have nothing to give you, Mrs. Barton," he snorted, turning his back +to her, and rubbing his hands as if in meditation, and batting his small +eyes, as if he were winking at his little god--Mammom. + +Feeling that it was hopeless to plead with him for the articles, and +wanting to save her fifty cents, Mrs. Barton turned slowly, pulled the +yellow shawl closer over her head and shoulders, and started to leave +the junk shop. Eli stood by agape, without a sign of sympathy for her, +or an emotion of any kind, any more than if he had been a fence post. +Mrs. Barton bowed her head as she walked away, and her daughter, Star, +after casting a disdainful look at Eli, followed. Eli stood still +looking after them. Peter stood still rubbing his hands and batting his +eyes, as if he were preparing to offer up devotion to his deity. Then of +a sudden he turned, and roared: + +"Come back, Mrs. Barton!" + +Mrs. Barton stopped as suddenly as Peter had cried out, faced about, and +looked blankly at the object who gave the command. + +"Come back!" roared Peter again. + +The poor woman, having no reason to be independent about the matter, +went hesitatingly toward him. When she came up to the blinking idol of +greed, she stood waiting for him to speak further. + +"Take your old things, and tell Bill the next time he comes into my +place of business I'll tear him to pieces," he cried. "I've had enough +of him already. He's nothing but an old sot, unworthy of a woman like +you," now with commiseration in his sordid heart for her, and only +condemnation for her weak husband. "Take them, and go, and tell him that +I'll get even with him sometime." + +"Thank you; thank you," said Mrs. Barton, with a gleam of merciful +gratitude in her eyes for this philanthropic pig. + +"Eli," said Peter, without returning a "welcome" to Mrs. Barton, as he +turned to that dutiful menial, "give the woman her trumphery and let her +begone." + +Then rubbing his hands more furiously, and squinting his eyes more +swiftly and gritting his teeth more viciously at the turn this action of +benefaction gave his conscience, he waddled to his black office, where +he resumed his smoking, and took to calculating to a certainty as to how +he could recover from some one else the small pittance he was out by +this disreputable transaction, as he termed it, on the part of Billy +Barton, the waterman. + +Eli Jerey at once proceeded to obey his superior, for that was his only +aim at that period in his life. Into a gunny sack he piled the chipped +and broken dishes, the battered pans, the rusty iron forks and knives, +and tin spoons, composing the entire culinary outfit of Kate Barton. + +With the sack thus loaded, Mrs. Barton swung it once in front of her, +and with a quick jerk whirled it over her right shoulder, bent under it +as if it were of great weight, said good bye to Eli, and strode out, +with Star following. They crossed the street and went down the glacis of +the cobblestoned wharf. Following the water's edge, they passed among +the miscellaneous collection of freight piled high on every hand. Over +taut ropes, holding boats, barges and rivermen's houses, they stepped, +catching their toes now and then, and almost falling; proceeding ever +on, through all kinds of heaps and piles of freightage; ever on, among +the men moving about performing their duties silently. Ever on, Kate +Barton led the way, a tireless, fearless, forbidding being, who created +no more comment among the habitues of this district than if she were +nowhere to be seen; till, at last, she, like one with the joy of success +bound up in a spiritless heart, arrived where a dog-boat lay tethered to +a ring-bolt in the stone abutment of the Point bridge. + +Into the boat she tumbled her bundle, with no thought as to the result +such an act might have upon the dishes, ordered Star to climb in and +take a seat in the rear, untied the rope, and jumped in herself as she +gave the boat a shove into the stream. Taking up the oars she bent to +them with the energy of a man, and pulled through the puffing, snorting, +wheezing, churning craft for the farther shore--where house boats lay +moored; where shanties hugged dangerously close to the water line; where +decrepit buildings stood in all stages of deformity; where every inch of +ground on the narrow space between the margin of the river and the +verticle cliff behind was utilized to its utmost with everything +imaginable, from the detritus of the hill to a pretentious manufacturing +plant of equivocal worth in its baleful aspect. The hill above was +straight up and down, almost, rock ribbed and bleak, a barrier to the +pleasant places above and beyond; and at its base a railway system held +indisputable sway; while betwixt it and the river were the straggling +homes of men, with a few stunted and wheezy domesticated animals and +fowls roaming about them. + +Once upon a time this place bore the evil name of Hell's Half Acre. + +To a low-browed, unpainted, unadorned, uninviting three-roomed shack +Mrs. Barton took her way, with the bundle of precious household articles +on her back, with Star following. They passed along narrow, winding +alleys, with frightful looking fences bulging out, or leaning in; past +foul mud holes; past filthy doorsteps, where brawling children, like her +own, screamed at her, or taunted her, or spoke friendly to her; through +sticky mire, over rickety board walks, over stepping stones at watery +places, and on, over everything and through everything that had a +squalid and sickly hue she went--with Star following--and with one +unswerving gait, or changed expression of her leathery face, to the door +of her own abode. + +The door squeaked with the pain of lassitude as she shoved it open. She +entered the kitchen--Star following. Dropping the sack on a dilapidated +chair, she began lifting the contents therefrom, as the children +gathered around, in all stages of filthiness, to see the operation. A +toddling three-year-old grasped a spoon, as soon as he saw it come +forth, and resorted to the ashes in the grate as material by which to +test its usefulness. Another child took up a knife and began hacking at +a table leg; another took up a cup and ran out to procure some water; +while another took up a small battered tin pail to fetch in a little +coal to replenish the dying fire. + +The children ranged in age from one to nineteen, the +eldest--Michael--being away earning money for his own keep, so that she +had a short dozen mouths to fill for the nonce. + +After completing the task of unburdening the sack, Mrs. Barton delivered +the youngest child unto Star to tend while she set about to cook a meal. +Her bill of fare was meager and simple, withal. It consisted wholly of +fried potatoes, dough-bread hurryingly mixed, and coffee. After the fare +was spread upon the table, ten greedy youngsters and their mother sat +down to dine, while Star stood off, waiting to take potluck with the +leavings. Unselfish child, as she was, she deferred always first to the +appeasement of the hunger of the others. The savory provender lay heaped +in a lusterless dish in the center of the table, and the coffee stood +hot in a tin pot on a corner of the stove, while the bread was broken +into fragments, as per age of child and capacity, and laid by each +place. As plates and cups and saucers, knives and forks, were not +sufficient to go around, the younger children fought and scratched and +pulled as to whose turn should come "next" in being served. Some being +ferociously hungry, and impatient over delays, dipped into the platter +with their hands, clapping the contents to their mouths, like monkeys, +and ate their bread with such an eager determination to get filled up +that they almost choked. Some drank the coffee out of the pot, and +spluttered and cried and slobbered with such wild frenzy that they were +called she-wolves by their mother sitting by eating sparingly but as +contentedly and as heartily as if her young hopefuls were angels instead +of brats. + +"Where's your pap?" asked the mother, directing her question to any, or +all, of them, so indifferently was the question pronounced. + +"Went to the city," answered the eldest. + +"Naw he didn't," said the ten-year-old, after taking a swallow of the +faintly discolored water called coffee. + +"When did he go?" again questioned the mother, after the lapse of a few +minutes. + +"Soon after you left," answered the fourteen-year-old, indifferent as to +where he went, "and took his overcoat with him." + +"To sell it, too, s'pose," said the mother unconcernedly. + +"Yep," replied the ten-year-old; "said he'd bring me a pair of shoes." + +"I see you gettin' a pair of shoes from him, Liz," retorted the mother, +without the least concern whether the child had any or no, as she rolled +the fried potatoes and dough-bread between her gums. + +Thus the mother and the children talked about "pap," the father, who had +that day wandered out of his beaten course, the one that he had learned +to travel in so regularly for twenty years or more. This course lay +between his squalid home and the tempting saloons that lined the streets +of old Birmingham farther up the river way. Billy Barton was a man with +an unconquerable appetite for strong drink as might be judged from what +has been said heretofore. All his unvarying life before this memorable +day he had but one thought, but one ambition, but one predominating +idea, and that was to get drink--either by buying, begging, stealing, or +trading for it. But when his wife left him this morning, with the +parting word that she would fetch home the things that he had sold the +day before, he, too, left shortly after her departure, taking with him +an old rusty overcoat. + +As he departed from his door, with his flock of half-starved children +standing in it watching him leave, he went with a new resolution in his +mind, a new determination formed, a new purpose in view. This was that +he would go away and find work--away from his old environments, away +from his drunken associates. With this new resolve burning feebly in his +irresolute breast, he struck a course for the mills in the Soho +district. + +That night he did not return; nor the next day; nor the next night; nor +the following day. Mrs. Barton and the family thought little of his +failure to return in the space of time, for they had been used to his +absence on a spree for almost a whole week at a stretch. But when a week +had gone by, and when ten days had gone by, and two weeks had finally +passed, they began to feel uneasy at his prolonged absence. When a third +week had passed and he did not put in an appearance in the hilarious +condition they anticipated to behold him wheeling down upon them, the +mother thought it time to make some concerted attempt to ascertain the +cause of his disappearance. + +She took the matter very calmly, consoling herself with the reflection +that her spouse was safe somewhere, or otherwise she would have heard +about him through the police department, or through the gossips of her +disreputable neighborhood. Little by little she began to inquire +cursorily among the neighbors, then among the keepers of the saloons, +then of the policeman of the district. She got no tidings of him. A +month passed; no news. Another month passed; no news. He was gone. + +So Kate Barton, with her twelve children, was left alone to fight +against starvation, or go to the poor house, or have her family broken +up, and scattered among the charitable, who are very often among the +worst as saviors of the outcasts. + +Alone, alone! What if we, who live in gilded halls, had to take her +place! Ah, we would call on a merciful God to deliver us! For there are +things in this life, mind you, my good keepers of the loaves and fishes, +that are even worse than death--worse than death. + +Alas, too often, men of piety are prone to shun their christian duty. +Millions of beings, such as she, vegetate from the cradle to the grave +and never see the ministering hand of the followers of that Christ who +taught that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Millions go up +and down the obscure pathways of this world, within the sacred sound of +the clanking bells of religion, and never receive the helping meed that +was promised them. Millions live like the rioting motes invisible in the +air about us as if all the philanthrophy of Christendom were set aside +for the chosen few. The successful gloat over and glory in their +achievements, and extend a cursory hand to those below as if they were +fulfilling the ten commandments as a great finale of their +extravaganza. But, do they do any good? There are many Kate Bartons all +around us, the natural among the unnatural, who deserve more compassion +from those preachers of the Good Will than they ever receive. It is not +believed by all that only the chosen few shall answer the call. It is +not believed by all that the doctrine of the Christ should prevail one +day in the week and be sunk in oblivion for the other six. No, not by +all. + +But Kate Barton's day shall come, some day; and those who shun her now +will assert their cringing hypocracy when she has been lifted up, and +not lifted by their hands. + +Charity is not what the Kate Bartons want--it is the meed of +opportunity. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +STAR BARTON SEEKS A NEW HOME. + + +Star Barton? She was the one scintillating light that shone out of the +milky way of the Barton family. She was a sport of the family tree--a +lily nourished in a quagmire. And how a wondering world marvels at such +unaccountable things of nature! + +Through eighteen weary summers and eighteen dreary winters she went, +before seeing a light above the dim horizon of her impoverished world. +Through babyhood she crawled in frightful filth, as if it were a part of +her wretched existence, seeing nothing beyond the bare walls and bare +floors of her cramped up playgrounds; through childhood she toddled, +with the same dismal conditions abetting her expanding innocence; +through the period of adolescence she walked without a thought of what +the outside world contained, except as she intuitively gathered such +knowledge as the thick curtain of ignorance slowly rose before her; till +now she had come to the springtime of womanhood, full of its snares and +pitfalls for such as she. Then, like the bursting of the sun through a +rent-way in the clouds on a rainy day, she, for the first time, saw the +beckoning star that should lead her on--on--on--to a life of rectitude, +or--dissoluteness. + +Star Barton was the second child of Kate Barton, and early in her +teening years gave some promise of her future. When only ten she began +to be a drudge, doing all the things that her delicate hands could, with +exertion, be laid to. She was the patient "little mother" to all the new +babies as they yearly floated out of Paradise to this place of +desolation. She was the scrub-woman, the washer-woman, the charwoman, +the cook, the chamber maid, ever cheerful in her efforts to perform her +tasks. Illy clad, scantily fed, roundly abused by her father, +continually scolded by her mother, and never praised by either parent, +she mutely submitted, like a black slave, to all the torments of +blighting servitude that could be heaped upon her. Thus, for eighteen +long years, Star Barton was subjected to all the demoralizing influences +of drunkenness and poverty; and how she came out of it unblighted any +one may wonder at. And now, at this age, she stood looking out the +narrow window of her vantage point, seeing the promise of a brighter +life. + +Then why was she a freak of nature from the family tree? Because she had +a round face, pink cheeks, two even rows of white teeth, two mild blue +eyes underneath dark eyebrows, a sharp, shrewd, straight nose, and dark +hair; and because she was of average height, well formed, muscular and +courageous; and still, because nature had provided her, as it provides +the offspring of the weak, sometimes, with all the qualities and graces +that were necessary to combat the deteriorating effects of a life of +toil. + +As suddenly as she had seen the new light mount the horizon of her life, +as suddenly did she long for better ways, a better home, a better life. +This longing came to her the very time her father disappeared. She +sought work, and found it, still as a drudge, in a lodging house up in +Birmingham. The small pittance that she earned she took home every +Saturday night, and gave it to her mother as a helping mite towards +banishing the horde of wolves that constantly prowled about her door. +This small sum was not sufficient to maintain a successful contest with +those beasts of starvation that gnawed their way, like famished whelps, +into the growing bodies of the ten starvelings of Kate Barton. But, +notwithstanding, Star never failed in her willingness to turn her last +penny for their sustenance. An older brother had been her assistant in +this trial, and he kept it up with a good will till about the hour the +father had deserted them; but he, losing heart, after acquiring new +habits and forming ill-savored acquaintances, so far forgot his duty to +his mother that he also deserted her in her time of greatest need. He +went away as suddenly as her father--they knew not where. And Star was +ever faithful, ever trustworthy, ever to be relied upon by her hapless +mother. + +One day, after ten hours of the severest toil, Star came home, with the +little bundle of her personal effects under her arm. It was on that +memorable day in November when the heavens seemed to have bursted their +flood gates and let out a deluge to come down in gimlets to pierce the +fog and smoke with its weird pattering. Without cloak, or coat, or +protection of any kind, Star waded through the sodden streets, arriving +at the door of her home as wet as a drowning rat. Entering, she +deposited her bundle on the only table in the house, and took up a +position close to a cast iron stove that was about as cheerless in its +warmth as the evening itself. She was so thoroughly soaked that every +lineament of her form could be seen through the thin garment that clung +to her body as closely as paper on a wall. + +"Mother," said Star, as that lean creature came indolently into the +room, "I have quit my job." + +"You have?" answered the mother, about as carelessly as if she were +talking gossip over the back fence. + +"Yes, mother, I have quit." + +"Very well, I've lots to do here; I reckon you can keep busy," said the +mother, as if the future had been provided with all the necessaries of +life. + +Star left her mother suckling a child by the stove, and proceeded to her +dark and shabbily furnished room for a change of clothing. Presently she +returned looking less distressful. Then she bathed her face in a water +bucket that stood on a box by a besmoked window, following with the +combing of her long dark hair. After which, she rolled her hair into a +knot at the back of her head, looked into a crooked mirror, dampened her +fingers on her tongue and touched her eyebrows, then set to work to cook +the evening meal for the brats caterwauling around like so many +wild-cats. + +Kate Barton gave no concern about Star's future. She asked no questions +as to why she quit her work as scrub-woman at the lodging house. She +said nothing that would leave the least impression as to what she +thought about providing for the family. Deplorable mortal! + +"Mother," said Star, after awhile, "I am going away tomorrow to look for +a new place." + +"It makes no difference, Star," was the response of the mother. "I can +use you here." + +"How will we live, if I don't work, mother?" + +"As we have always lived, s'pose." + +"And that has been poorly, mother." + +"Yes." + +"Don't you want me to go away, mother?" + +"It makes no difference, s'pose," answered the mother. "I've put up with +it this long, s'pose I can put up with it the rest of my days." + +"Mother," said Star, whose love for her mother was of the +undemonstrative kind, the kind born of instinct, and is taken for +granted among the very poor; "mother, I am going to the East End +tomorrow to look for a job as a domestic in a rich man's home." + +"Yes," replied the mother. + +"A woman came to me today and told me to go to a certain house, in the +East End, where I could get work at six dollars a week, and board thrown +in." + +"Yes, Star," returned the mother, now showing a little more interest in +the conversation than she had shown in any thing before--unless it was, +perhaps, her drunken husband. + +"Mother?" + +"Yes, Star." + +"That is twenty-four dollars a month; that will keep me in clothing, and +plenty for the children to eat." + +"Yes, Star," said the mother, as she rose from her chair, with the +suckling still hanging to her breast, and walked across the floor, for +no purpose whatever, other than that perhaps the performance might +dissolve her cold brooding into a semblance of interest in her material +welfare. Then she sat down again and rocked to and fro with the +rockerless chair, as a jolting dose of soothing syrup for the pain that +had suddenly twisted the child's mouth into a howling breadth. + +"And mother," continued Star, "the woman gave me the address of a rich +family that wants a maid for a young lady, or a cook, or something +else, I forget which." + +"Yes, Star." + +"And she said I could get the job if I go at once." + +"Yes, Star," responded the mother between the infinitisimal intervals of +the noise of the thumping chair and the yelling child. + +"And mother, she said they live in a grand house as big as all our forty +shanties here put together." + +"Yes," said the mother. + +"And she said it was lit up by electric lights, and had steam heat, and +furniture as grand as any place, mother--as grand as any king's palace, +mother. I am going tomorrow, mother." + +"Yes," returned the mother, as she turned the yelling child over her +knee and gave it two or three smacks, causing it to become so red in the +face that its phiz shone more brightly than the lambent rays that +filtered through the smoky chimney of the kerosene lamp sitting on the +table. + +"And she said, mother," still pursued Star, as she went about among the +battered pans and rattled the cracked and broken dishes she was +displaying on the family board, the while stirring the frying potatoes +in the sheet-iron skillet, and watching the coffee pot that it did not +boil away all the aroma, "that the young lady who wants a maid is so +very handsome and so fine that I cannot sleep till I get there." + +"Yes," croaked the mother, a little irritated, it appeared, by all these +revelations that Star was unfolding before her; for nothing disturbed +her so, it seemed, as the mention of such hifalutin things, although she +herself, in all her lowliness, never disparaged, by word, anybody who +had more than she, being a woman absolutely contented with her lot. + +"May I go?" asked Star, who always felt it a matter of filial respect to +defer to her parents' beck and call. + +"Yes," dolefully replied the mother, as she rocked the squalling brat on +the rockerless chair with greater vigor than had been her practice. + + * * * * * + +That night Star Barton went to bed with more stirring imaginings in her +untrained head than she had ever presumed upon before in all her dreary +life. For a long time she lay awake seeing of the new vista that so +suddenly opened before her disreputable habitat; dreaming of another +place, so widely dissevered from hers, that it was like the enchanted +land she once read about in a book that some roving spirit had conveyed +to her haunts; dreaming of the wonders she had oftentimes conjured up to +placate her plagued thoughts that hung like burning tapers of despair in +her abiding place of want; dreaming, yea dreaming, for the first time in +her whole unvaried life, of the things that are beautiful, grand and +regal. Then she went to sleep to dream some more:--of the fantasies of +an idle brain, of the children of her unconscious world, of the evil +spirits that had ever been a part of her uneventful being, of the +spirits that come to checkmate us in our mad rush, causing us to turn +aside to ponder over their real meaning. + +But none of the visions of the sleeping hours was as promising as the +fancies of her wakeful time. For when she awoke in the morning, the +lustre that had pervaded her dreaming had waned, and she faltered over +making the new and uncertain step. Oh what a bad little imp it is that +seems to possess those of us, at times, who, when a new undertaking is +to be entered upon, hesitate, procrastinate, pause and deliberate, till +the time of opportunity is over! + +Star was, on this morning, in such a state of uncertainty, probably very +much on account of the continuation of the nasty weather, that it was +near the noon hour before she could resolve finally to spend ten cents +for the fare to take the journey she had so set her head on the previous +day. She donned her best blue gingham dress; coiled her hair up into a +knot on top of her head; tied a faded black ribbon in it; adjusted an +odd looking round black straw hat, with some faded flowers breaking its +sombre monotony, to her head; looked into the crazy little mirror that +reflected her not much unlike some distorted beast with a white face; +threw a grayish cape over her shoulders, and went out into the rain. + +After a period of time that was very slow in passing, and after much +fluttering of her virtuous heart, and considerable indecision whether to +go on or to return to the place she knew so well, she arrived at the +Highland avenue address given her the day before by the unknown, but +friendly disposed, woman who met her at her last place of bondage. When +she reached the great iron gate that opened into the spacious yard of +the mansion on the hill, she again hesitated, and walked back and forth +on the pavement so many times that the keeper of the gate, with +suspicion cast upon her, came out to inquire the meaning of her actions. + +"I have come--I have come--" faltered Star, feeling like fleeing from +him in that moment of her bewilderment over the bigness of the outside +world, "--to look for a place. They gave me this number," handing the +keeper a card. + +The keeper, who was an oldish man, and perhaps had a daughter of his +own, took the card, looked it over, looked at her, then looked at it; +then looked at her. He saw that she had a beautiful face, was innocent +and unbeguiling. + +"This is the place, miss," he answered, kindly. "This is the way in," +and he opened the large gate, and passed her in. + +Star went up the smooth asphaltum walk with considerable trepidation, +heeding nothing about her, and seeing only the big house at the end. The +most serious thing that she did was to go directly to the big front +door, with its shining knocker that looked to her like the face of a +bull in brass with a pendulous ring in its nose. She was in such a +flurry that she could not have believed her own tongue, had she spoken +then and there. She had never, in all her dreaming, imagined such +things. Her head was in a whirl, and more than once she was on the point +of turning back to her forlorn mother, where she felt she would be equal +to her surroundings. + +However, summoning up all the courage and fortitude that she possessed, +she at last tapped timidly at the door. No answer. She touched her red +knuckles on one of the polished panels. No answer. Then, merely as a +matter of curiosity, caught hold of the ring in the bull's nose, pulled +on it, and let it drop back into place, which was immediately followed +by a dull brassy ring. Suddenly the door swung wide open, appearing to +her as the door of a factory building, in its immensity. + +A tall, pompous gentleman--dressed like the men she had seen in a book +on colonial characters, only this one had short hair and scragly +sideburns--loomed up before her, like the Giant did to Jack, perhaps. +His sudden appearance caused her to involuntarily start and draw back, +with a greater desire than ever to flee; but in a moment he spoke, +hoarsely: + +"Go to the rear door!" + +Whereupon, he closed the door. The way into such gilded piles of luxury, +for such as Star Barton in her present condition, is not by the front +entrance. No graven lintel was ever raised to pass such as Star +thereunder. Away, away, like a rat to its hole, steal into the less +prominent openings leading to the apartments of the flunkies! + +Star was dazed by this action; but not knowing that it was any more than +a big apartment house for the rich, she judged she had gone to the wrong +door. So she, with a still fluttering heart, proceeded in the direction +indicated. Before she had found the proper place, she had tried a number +of the openings in the grim, gray walls, receiving the same reception at +all of them as at the first. "Go to the rear," "go to the rear," was +repeated so often to her that she began to feel dizzy from its +repetition, and drowsy and faint over the possibility of failure. + +Then she came to a door where a cook answered her knock. He wore a +white, brimless cap, and a big white apron covered up the rotundity of +his front clear up to his chin and almost to his feet. He was large and +fat and filled up almost the entire space of the opened door. He was +red-faced and genial, and had a merry twinkle in his blue eyes. He +reminded Star of a big German butcher whom she knew in the marts of +Birmingham. + +"Well!" he exclaimed, seeing the visitor to his quarters was a lady. + +"I came to see if you want a cook," said Star, now feeling more composed +since some one deigned to talk with her. + +"A cook!" he exclaimed, grinning. + +"A cook, yes, sir," she answered. + +"We employ none but men cooks here, lady," he replied, and was about to +close the door. + +"Surely, I have made a mistake," thought Star, in this moment of her +rebuff, as she took it. Her heart was failing her. She felt +disconsolate. She was about to turn and flee--back to her own elements, +back to her own humble surroundings; to all the shortcomings of her +home, to her stupid mother, to her unfortunate brothers and sisters, to +her wretched existence again, and there take up her burdens as she +before had borne them. + +The fat cook noticed the pallor that had come over Star's face, as the +consequence of his remark, and instead of closing the door in her face, +as he intended, he opened it wider, and said: + +"You must be in the wrong place, Miss." + +"No sir; I am not," she answered. "This is the address that was given +me, where a cook was wanted--or I might be mistaken--it might be a maid +is wanted for a young lady." + +"Very doubtful," said the cook, scratching his head. + +"None wanted?" she asked. + +"To get a place here you must have recommendations," he answered. + +"I have never worked away from home," she replied, "except for a few +months. I have never been a maid to a lady. But--but--I want to learn." + +"Wait," said the cook, quickly, as if he had thought of something that +had been commended to his keeping and it had slipped his memory, as he +retreated, and closed the door. + +In a few minutes the cook returned, with a smile on his round face that +made him look like the full moon, and bade Star to walk within. Star +walked within, dazed, trembling and mortally afraid of the line of +domestics, before whom it appeared she was passing in review. She was +conducted into the presence of a bouncing little lady, dressed like a +princess, with gold on her wrists, in her ears, on her breast, around +her neck--a charmingly spry little lady, with a dignified nose, a pretty +smile, and an air of geniality about her that might not be expected in +the mistress of such a household. The little lady looked Star over, +scrutinized her from head to foot. Every inch of the plumpy girl she +seemed to weigh in the fine scale of her discrimination. She was neither +pleased, nor displeased, so far as Star could see. She took her in as if +she read the whole story of her life without the aid of a palmist's text +book, or geanalogical dictionary from which to take her cue. + +"So you want to be my daughter's maid?" asked Mrs. Jarney, for that is +whom the lady was, the mother of Edith. + +"I had thought I would like to learn," replied Star, who was already +feeling at home in the presence of this fine lady. + +"Have you had experience?" + +"None; but I can learn." + +"How old are you?" + +"Eighteen, past." + +"You are large for your age." + +"But I have worked hard--that has made me strong." + +"You will need a little fixing up--what's your name?" + +"Miss Barton." + +"I kn--I mean your given name?" + +"Star." + +"Have Edith come down," said Mrs. Jarney to her maid; and she told Star +to be seated. + +Edith came down in a few moments. She was so radiant that Star fairly +held her breath. Edith advanced and presented her hand to Star, saying: + +"What is your name?" + +"Star Barton." + +"I kn--that is a fine name," replied Edith, holding Star's hand, and for +the first time she began to feel that there was some mystery about her +coming here, or else why this kindly greeting? "Mama," she said, still +holding Star's hand and turning to her mother, "I shall like her, I +know. I shall take her to my room and have her redressed. Will you come +with me? Yes, of course." + +Edith, who had been very light hearted all that day, wheeled gracefully, +lifted her skirts, and went up the stairs so lightly that she was like a +bird of Paradise, so fairily did she trip along. Star Barton, in her +poverty-stricken clothing, followed in such a delirium of amazement that +she felt as if she were treading the clouds into Heaven itself. + +And thus into a new Heaven she went, with as little formality +surrounding her going--once she was let into the mansion by the ever +guardful servants--as is seldom found in this world of inequality. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE TRANSFORMATION OF STAR BARTON. + + +To Star Barton, it was like going into a fairyland. Edith was the fairy, +Star the lowly nymph. Edith was the sparkling diamond that gave it its +setting, Star was the rough jewel come to be recast. + +The rich, velvety, orange-colored rug, with pale pink flowers blooming +like butterfly eyes peeping at her, was as soft as snow to the rough +maiden's touch; only it gave back, instead of a chill, an enthralling +sensation like the sound of a distant harp that beats upon a wayfarer's +ears. The creamy, snow-fringed curtains evolved themselves into +miniature cascades of dazzling frost, to her eyes; and gave back, +instead of a shiver, a lulling peace to her disturbed imagination. The +gilded furniture, the beautifully crocheted lavender cushions, the +paintings, the photos of friends, the pink tint of the walls, the +shining chandeliers, with sparkling globes and translucent shades, gave +back, instead of a frown, a smile. + +Edith was, on this occasion, the advent of Star Barton into her life, an +animated piece of pinkness, which gave the room its vitality. To Star's +eyes, unused to such things, she was an angel without the wings. Her +gossimer gown of pink, her gold, her diamonds, her fine face, all +appealed to the poor girl of such lowliness to such an ecstatic degree +that she was astonished beyond belief. + +It was all so entrancing, so enrapturing, so overpowering to her +theretofore undemonstrative spirit that she sat down and burst into +tears. This was the outward sign of her joy over her disenthrallment. +Poor simple maiden! To be brought from a hovel to this place of glory, +so suddenly, was even more than her strong nature could endure. The +transition was too sudden. The climax to the fanciful things she had +conjured up in the short time she had put into such imaginings was too +real. No pathway had ever been struck out by her with such beautiful +borderings as this. No, no; not in her limited sphere. Simple, +uneducated, modest, as she was, with a pure soul and a heart that beat +for better things, she gave way when the door of chance was thrown open +for her, at last, and poured out her joy in the agony of tears. + +Edith, who had been so radiantly happy, and who had formulated such +great plans for this girl, ceased in her joyous behavior when she saw +Star sink into a chair and put her soiled handkerchief to her eyes. +Edith at once divined the cause of Star's weeping, and knelt down by her +side in commiseration. She took both of Star's rough hands between hers, +so soft and delicate, and cried herself in the fullness of her heart. + +"Do not weep, dear girl; it grieves me so," she said, looking up into +the blue eyes of her poor benighted sister. + +"Dear, kind lady, I cannot help it," returned Star, in an effort to stop +her tears. + +"Come, come, my dear girl, you must prepare yourself to be my +companion," said Edith. "Be brave; that is a good girl. I shall love +you." + +"Dear lady, I am not fit to be here," said Star, still weeping. "These +are all the good clothes I have." + +"I have new clothing for you, my dear; come, and make ready to go down +to dinner with me," said Edith, rising, and still holding Star's hands. + +"Oh, I am so rough, I am afraid I will contaminate this place should I +remain," replied Star, hesitatingly. + +"No, no; you must not think of such a thing, my dear girl. Cheer up and +follow me," said Edith, as Star arose from her chair. Edith kissed her. +Star wiped away her tears, and smiled. + +Then Edith lead her to her private bath room, which glistened so in its +whiteness that Star drew back when she came to the door of it. This was +something that Star had never seen before; but she entered, as if it +were a place to be shunned, and was seated. Edith knelt down, in all her +finery, and unfastened Star's coarse shoes, and removed them, revealing +a foot that was as small as Edith's, but reeking with water. Edith then +prepared the bath, and gave Star instructions how to use such a modern +thing of sanitation--all foreign to Star. Then Edith left to fetch new +garments, when Star should give the signal that her ablutions had been +performed. In the course of time, Star gave the signal as agreed upon, +when Edith opened the door and entered, with both arms piled to her chin +with sweet smelling clothing, and a merry smile on her face, and a +laughing twinkle in her eyes. Modesty caused Star to conceal herself +behind the door, in the attitude of the statue of Venus. + +"My dear girl, do not be alarmed at me; I am as harmless as a kitten," +said Edith, as she beheld how naturally modest Star impelled herself to +be, even in the presence of her own sex. + +"It is my nature, dear good lady," replied Star, reaching for something +to conceal her person. + +"In deference to your modesty, dear, I shall retire, if it is your +wish," said Edith, laughing, as she put down her bundle of clothing. + +"Just for a moment, if you please, kind lady," said Star. + +So Edith sidled out of the room without looking around at her protege, +while Star pulled on her unmentionables. After which she called Edith to +assist in the furtherance of her dressing in some of the new things she +was thereafter to be seen in. + +"These must have been made for me," said Star, as one article after +another was adjusted to her form, seeing that they all fit so well and +so charmingly. + +"They were," said Edith, buttoning up the back of Star's dress, an act +she had never done before, being as she always had a maid for that +performance. + +"Made for me?" replied Star, with some surprise. + +"Yes, you, my dear girl." + +"By whose orders?" + +"Mine." + +"I don't understand," said Star, still more surprised. + +"Didn't you know you were to come here?" + +"Why, no; I thought I came by chance!" + +"You apparently did." + +"I wonder who had that much interest in me?" asked Star, for the first +time realizing that she had not been so altogether overlooked as she +imagined she had been. + +"I had--I have." + +"How? Tell me, dear lady." + +"It is a long story, dear girl, and I will tell it you some other time. +Dinner is about ready. You must go down with me. Put your hair up +quickly, so we will not keep them waiting. Oh, let me help twist it +round for you! How do you do it? I will learn some day, perhaps. Yes, +this way. Now, look in the mirror. Isn't that better? It certainly is. +You are charming. Why, I didn't know you were so sweet. Let me kiss you +now to bind our companionship henceforward. There!" + +This from Edith while she was acting as maid, in her finery, for this +poor girl, who but an hour before exhibited all the characteristics of +having been pulled from the ruins of Peter Dieman's junk heap. Indeed, +such a transformation had Star gone through in that short hour that the +fair Edith herself hardly recognized her as the same untidy being who +had come to her boudoir for what she knew not. + +"It is all so strange, dear lady, that it seems more like a dream," said +Star, now with her cheeks aflame from the bathing and the attending +excitement of the ordeal through which she had passed. + +"Oh, stranger things than what has already happened you may come to +pass," replied Edith, as she turned to take the lead down the stairs. + +"What about my old clothes?" asked Star. + +"I will send the washer-woman after them," answered Edith. + +"I shall want to send them home to mother." + +"Never mind them," returned Edith; "your mother will be provided for." + +"Oh," said Star, mystified. + +Star Barton was now a fit subject of envy for any young lady, even with +less aspiring thoughts than she. Edith might have been jealous of Star's +good looks, had it been her nature; but Edith was not so inclined, in +this instance. The fact is, that Edith was so pleased over her +handiwork, in rejuvenating this fair damsel, that she bubbled over with +happiness. Star was now clothed as became a lady of rank, except that +sparkling jewelry was lacking as yet. Star's dress was almost a +counterpart of Edith's, and set her off to advantage, in a comparative +sense. Her mild blue eyes, pink cheeks, noble white forehead, dark wavy +hair, caused the dining room attendants to stare when she came down the +great staircase and passed under the brilliant lights into the presence +of the mighty man of wealth and his bouncing little wife. Hah, even +those two august personages held their breath for a moment when they +cast their searching, but kindly, eyes upon her. + +"This is Miss Barton, papa," said Edith, as she came up to him with her +fair charge and presented her, "and my mamma, whom you have met before." + +Both parents received her so graciously that Star was dumfounded, and +exceedingly awkward in returning their salutation. + +"Miss Barton, I am happy to make your acquaintance," said Mr. Jarney. "I +assure you that you are welcome." + +Neither Mr. Jarney's pride, nor vanity, nor money, prevented him from +taking kindly to this young maiden, for he knew already whom she was, +and often longed for the time to help her, although at present he must +act with some circumspection toward her for reasons that he did not wish +her to know. And Mrs. Jarney, for the same reasons, had to conduct +herself accordingly, and meet Star on the basis of a stranger to the +name of Jarney. So keeping her in ignorance of her true relationship to +them, they hoped to make a lady of her, and do all that generous hearts +could do, under cover of being Edith's companion, to help her to a +brighter life. + +Star needed some instruction in the art of being a grand lady, which +function she never conceived in acting when she humbly presented +herself, so recently, at the back door of this mansion. The +transposition of her habitat was so expeditiously executed that she saw +in it something of the miraculous. In nowise, on so short a notice, +could she be expected to conform to the spirit and the letter of the +laws of usage in this undiscovered country to which she had been +unceremoniously transported. So, recognizing these deficiencies in Star, +Edith took it upon herself to be her teacher and took a seat by her side +at the table. But Star was not so uncouth that she was wholly deficient +in quickness of perception, and constantly kept on guard; noting every +move that the others made; noting every move of Edith with sly glances; +noting every action of those opposite, so that she should not, if +possible to prevent it, make herself ridiculous in her first appearance +on the stage of grandeur. Thus, with much carefulness on her part, in +this respect at least, she got through the dinner fairly well, +considering the great length of time--one hour--they took in +mastication, conversation, deglutition. Finally, when it was all over +with, she arose, with the rest of them, with a gladsome thanksgiving +beating in her breast. + +But the worst ordeal yet, for her, was to come. The entire family +adjourned to the parlor, where Edith sat down to the piano, and ran her +hands across the key-board so rapidly and with such a wild harmonious +result that Star almost had the ague. Then Edith sang a song--a +lullaby--so appealing in its sentimentality that Star was lost in +oblivion for a time. She let her agitated thoughts wander, unrestrained, +back to her own haunts--to the misery, want and woe she had left behind; +to the crooning mother attempting a similar lullaby; to her dark old +face, to her tearless eyes, to her faded cheeks; to her hopeless life, +in her sad, dull, stupid, sullen contentment in her wretchedness. +Verily, what mortal, with a heart, could withstand the contrasts as were +revealed to this tender maiden? No one could. She broke down under it, +like the strongest of us break down, sometimes, under the strain of +sentiment when dear ones are under the ban of misfortune. The sweet +voice of Edith was to her an angelic orison to heaven for a lost soul; +and who knows but that the angels then were pleading with the Great +Father to send His benediction down upon that other home and save it +from further damnation. + +Without being the least concerned as to who might take notice, or +without any effort to control herself in the company of those grand +people, Star let her emotions have full swing, and the tears flowed down +her cheeks as freely as they flowed when her father beat her as a child. +The dainty handkerchief that she now carried was soon soaked with the +lachrymose outburst of her misery. Her eyes became red, her cheeks +paled, and her hair, which had not been put up by trained hands, fell +down over her shoulders. Despair! despair! despair! + +Edith played on, and sang, wholly unconscious of Star's sad moments. But +her mother, happening to look Star's way, noticed her despairing plight, +and went to her side with a consoling smile and a sympathetic word. When +Edith had finished playing, she wheeled about on her seat, with beaming +face, to receive the plaudits of her auditors; but a mournful silence +greeted her. Her smiling face calmed to a serious tone when she saw her +friends standing about Star in all manner of comforting attitudes. Then +Edith, grasping the situation at once, glided to her side, and, kneeling +down, took Star's two red hands in hers, and cried. Dear Edith, so good +of you. Then she assisted Star to rise, placed her arm around her waist, +and conducted her up the great white stairs, like a guiding angel going +into Heaven with a new soul. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +JOHN WINTHROPE PROMOTED. + + +The day following the accidental meeting of Miss Jarney and Mr. +Winthrope, under such wretched meteorological circumstances, was spent +by the latter in the office of Jarney & Lowman as usual; with this +exception, that the young man went about his duties as assistant +bookkeeper with more alertness and decisiveness of purpose, at the same +time pondering over another chance meeting of the morning. + +He arose an hour earlier than had been his wont, sleep having been +dispelled by the train of thoughts that the awakening moments had set in +motion in his brain. Notwithstanding that the inclement weather held +almost at the same steady pace as on the night previous, after dressing +himself, he went out, with the broken umbrella over him, into the +streets to wander aimlessly about; observing, as he did so, the mad rush +of the people; or taking a percursory view of the store windows; or +standing in the shelter of a door; or beneath an awning, looking idly at +the crowd, ever on the go. + +He wended down Fourth avenue to Smithfield, up to Fifth, down to Wood, +down to Second; halting now and then, in his sauntering, to gaze in the +windows, being interested in nothing in particular any more than to have +time go as rapidly as it would go, so that he could get down to the +absorbing task of putting down and reckoning up columns of figures in +his books. So he wended on in this irresponsible manner till half way up +the block on Second avenue, when he was compelled, by a sudden outburst +of the elements in pumping down more water than he could contend with in +the flabby condition of his umbrella, to take shelter in a doorway that +was sunk deeply into a wall of brick, which was grimly garnished by the +wear of years. + +He had let down the umbrella, and was scanning it, with perhaps some +vagrant thoughts as to its former user; of the fine quality of the +material, and of the "E. J." engraved on the gold handle; when the door +at his back opened noiselessly, and was closed just as noiselessly, and +quickly. A young man stepped to his side with a rain shade of his own in +his hands. He was of medium height, dressed fairly well in a +hand-me-down, and sported a flaming red necktie. His face was neither +handsome, nor ugly, but there was in it signs of recent dissipation. + +"A beastly morning," he remarked, as he began turning up his collar and +buttoning up his coat. + +"A very bad morning," answered John, not with the view of striking up a +conversation, but simply to be civil to a stranger. + +"Couldn't be worse in h----!" said the stranger, as if talking to +himself. + +"No; I suppose there is not much water falling in that region," said +John, looking up at the cork-screws of water twisting their way down, +and breaking into pieces on the hard pavement. + +"I reckon not," responded the stranger, for the first time turning his +dull gray eyes upon John. As John made no further response, the stranger +continued: "What are you doing in here? Looking for a place like this, +eh?" + +"I merely stopped to await a moderation of the rain," answered John, +innocently, knowing nothing of the character of the place into which the +door led. + +"Then you are not looking for a joint like this?" said the stranger, +eyeing John. + +"What kind of a place is it?" asked John. + +"Don't you know?" + +"Have not the least idea." + +"You must be from the country?" + +"Not very long since I came from that indefinite place." + +"Come around some evening and ask for Mike Barton, and you'll find out," +said the stranger, in a whisper, sizing John up as a likely victim for +such an institution. + +"I never go to a place unless I know of its character first," returned +John. + +"Huh, you don't! I pity such greenhorns as you," flippantly retorted the +stranger. + +"You scamp!" exclaimed John, hotly, and his dark blue eyes snapped with +anger, as the insolent chappy cringed beneath him. "Don't leer at me, or +I will wipe up the streets with you." + +"Now, my dear sir," replied the stranger, seeing his mistaken opinion of +the man he had met; "don't get angry; I feel a little blue this +morning." + +"You should be more courteous, young man, whatever the time, or place, +or your state of mind," answered John. + +"I'll heed your advice hereafter," said the stranger, with a sarcastic +smile. "But take the number and come around sometime, when I'll make +amends for this insult, if you choose still to take it as such." + +"Oh, never mind about that; but what did you say your name was?" + +"Mike Barton. Your name?" + +"John Winthrope." + +"Do you work?" asked Mike. + +"I do." + +"Where?" + +"At Jarney & Lowman's." + +"Jarney & Lowman! Jarney! Jarney! Hah! Well, good morning," saying this +rapidly, Mike Barton stepped to the wet pavement, hugged the walls as he +went along, and disappeared directly. + +John Winthrope then resorted to a cheap restaurant. After eating a +hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs and coffee, he, having plenty of time +yet to spare, mozied out into the elemental downpour, and sauntered to +his office. He arrived there just in time to see the doors flung open to +let in an army of clerical men and women for the day. His shoes being +damp, he exchanged them for a pair of slippers, a supply of which aided +in cumbering up a rubbish room in the building. In selecting a pair, +through the scramble with the others, he was unfortunate enough to get a +size too small. Thus he was caused no little pain in his big toes during +the rest of the day, which detracted his attention a great deal from his +work. + +It was a busy day in the office of Jarney & Lowman, by reason of the +approaching end of the fiscal month; and he was therefore kept busy, +sparing not a moment from his accounting for casual conversation with +his associates, or for anything for that matter. + +In about the middle of the afternoon, while John was very industriously +setting down, and adding up, and balancing and counter balancing books +in his department, Miram Monroe, a thin, sleek, middle-aged gentleman, +with the polish of a Chesterfield about him, came up to him as silently +as a mouse steals up to a trap, and tapped him on the shoulder. + +Now, Mr. Monroe was the general manager of the office, and went about +his duties in such a sly unsentimental manner that no one could ever +unravel his motives when he approached an individual of the staff. There +was never any change in his expression, nor in the hump of his +shoulders, nor in his step, nor in his actions whenever he took upon +himself his bestowed privilege of approaching a subordinate, either to +inspect his work, or to tell him gently that his services were not +wanted longer. He was always the same in handing out his authority. He +never laughed. He never smiled. He never winked. He never talked, except +in a low voice, and then in an unrhythmic monotone. + +So, knowing the peculiar character of this gentleman, John had a severe +shock of surprise when he turned at the tap on his shoulder and beheld +the light brown eyes of Mr. Monroe shedding their unintelligible lustre +on him. + +"Mr. Winthrope," said Monroe, so smoothly, so gently, so mildly, so +blandly, that John felt a faintness steal all over him, "will you have +the kindness to step into the private office of Mr. Jarney?" + +Ho! John had never been in that office before. What did it all mean? Was +the head of the firm to dismiss him? For what? It was, indeed, a very +deep mystery to John. + +John obeyed the summons, and followed his conductor through many rooms, +with a fear possessing him all the while that he was to be summarily +dealt with for some unaccountable transaction with which he had been +charged. He was ushered to the inner sanctum of the head of the firm. He +saw Hiram Jarney sitting in a deep mahogany chair before a big mahogany +roll-top desk that stood in the center of one side of the room. On the +floor he saw a green Turkish rug, and on the green-tinted walls he saw, +displayed appropriately and proportionately about, steel engravings of +Washington, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Roosevelt, the latter being +directly above Mr. Jarney's desk, from which high position that +bespectacled president and mighty nimrod continually looked down upon +him, as if he were the chief's main idol of modern strenuousness. + +John halted a moment, on seeing all these things, stepped lightly, with +his pinching slippers causing him to wince, into the deep velvet, as if +he were treading on a field of the most delicate violets. He took in the +room at a glance. He had never seen the head of the firm but once +before. This was the first time he had come face to face with the great +captain of industry. Although he was uncertain of the wishes of Mr. +Jarney to have him in his presence, he did not quail at advancing to be +presented; but he trembled unnecessarily over the fear that he might be +discharged, and thrown out of a position, for what, as he thought, as +the affair of the night before. + +"Mr. Jarney, this is Mr. Winthrope," said Monroe, almost in a whisper, +and he turned and left the room, going as quickly as a fleeing ghost. + +"Glad to meet you, Mr. Winthrope," said Mr. Jarney, rising and +presenting a warm hand. Mr. Jarney shook the extended hand of John's +with such vigor that John came near losing his tight-fitting slippers +and his balance in the pulling force of Mr. Jarney's grip. + +"I am glad to know you," returned John, recovering his surprise over Mr. +Jarney's graciousness. + +"Sit down," said Mr. Jarney, releasing John's hand, and motioning him to +a deep mahogany chair by his desk. John sat down. + +Without removing his eyes from John, Mr. Jarney drew a box of cigars out +of the depths of his desk, and, opening it, extended it toward him. + +"Have a smoke?" he said, pleasantly. + +"Thank you; I do not smoke," answered John, confusedly. + +"Good!" exclaimed Mr. Jarney, as he flapped the lid on the box. As he +laid it away he still kept his eyes on his visitor. + +John was so uncomfortable in the big chair, and the slippers were +pinching him so unmercifully, that he was very miserable. When he leaned +backward, he seemed to have fallen to the floor on his back; when he sat +up straight, his back pained him; when he leaned forward, he felt +awkward. + +"Young man," said Mr. Jarney, easily, lighting a cigar, and still +keeping his keen eyes on John, "this is an unusual procedure on my part, +you will no doubt think." + +"I don't know," gasped John. + +"Well," continued Mr. Jarney, "I have summoned you here for a quiet +chat." + +John wondered what this great man could find in him to talk about. + +"Yes, I want to talk with you," he continued. "You are a good young man, +I understand. How old are you?" + +"Twenty-two." + +"Hah! twenty-two; the proper age. Where is your home?" + +"In the city, at present." + +"I mean, where were you raised?" + +"In the mountains of Fayette county." + +"Hah! just so. Another point in your favor. Now, then, do you have any +money?" + +"None; only what I earn here." + +"How much is that?" + +"Fifteen per week." + +"Hah! what do you do with your money above your keep?" + +"Send it to my parents." + +"Hah! another point in your favor. With whom do you associate?" + +"Have not been in the city long enough to acquire intimate associates." + +"Hah! four good points in your favor. What is the extent of your +education?" + +"I attended the common schools of my district, then learned bookkeeping +and stenography at a business college." + +"Hah! five good points in your favor. That is enough. Would you like to +be my private secretary?" + +John was calm under the ordeal of this examination into his character +and habits and ability, answering the questions as deliberately as if he +were before a court-witness examiner. But when the last question was put +to him he became unduly nervous, as is so often true of young men of +sterling worth and latent capabilities. The question came so +unexpectedly and from such an unexpected source that he could not, at +first, clearly comprehend its meaning; nor could he frame an appropriate +answer on such a momentous proposition. While he was ambitious and +desirous of rising to an eminence in the world of business that would +place him where he thought he deserved, he, at the same time, knew his +failings, if any he had worth mentioning. + +"Mr. Jarney," said John, finally, after studying for a few moments; +"this has been unsought on my part, and is a great surprise. If I +deserve such a promotion, so soon after coming into your service, I +assure you I am thankful, and shall endeavor to make good." + +"I take it, then, that you have accepted?" said Mr. Jarney. + +"I have." + +"Mr. Winthrope, your duties will be to look after my private affairs. +You will have your office in the adjoining room. You are to be under no +one's orders but my own. Your salary will be increased to twenty-five +per week, and if you prove satisfactory, after a fair trial, which I +believe you will, you will be compensated according as I value your +services. Be at your desk at ten a. m. tomorrow. Now you may go." + +John arose; Mr. Jarney arose. They stood a moment looking at each other. +Mr. Jarney then laid his hand upon John's shoulder, and said: + +"Mr. Winthrope, I believe you will make good." + +"I will be faithful to any trust imposed in me," returned John. + +Together they walked across the room. Mr. Jarney opened the door, as he +said, "Good bye." John stepped out. The door closed behind him. John +stopped a few seconds before that blasted flower, Monroe, who gazed at +him without the least intimation of what was going on in his apparently +inactive brain. John gazed at Monroe as if he meant to inquire the +reason for his unimaginative stare, for he thought he wanted to ask a +question. John stood waiting for it to issue forth from his thin lips; +but, as none came, he went out through the labyrinth of offices, and to +his desk, where he resumed his pen and figuring as if nothing in the +world had come up to alter his preconceived routine of existence--except +the pinching slippers, which he soon discarded. + +At the quitting hour, Monroe, as empty as ever in his stare, came to him +and whispered: + +"He has told me of your promotion." + +"Yes," answered John, without looking up. + +"Your desk will be ready at ten." + +"Yes, I have been instructed." + +"Yes," returned Monroe; and he walked away, with the same mouse-like +tread he always assumed among the main office force. + +That evening, in his dingy little room, John meditated a long time over +this extraordinary turn in his wheel of fate. He could attribute it to +no other cause than the incident of the night before. What other reason +had Mr. Jarney for selecting him, he thought, for this important post, +when there were above him in the office men with more experience, more +capabilities, more knowledge of the world of business than he? Could it +be, he thought, that Mr. Jarney was repaying him for his gentlemanly +actions toward his daughter? Could it be? Mr. Jarney gave no reason for +his promotion, nor intimation as to why he favored him above so many +others who had been in his service so much the longer time. John never +thought that such men as Mr. Jarney give no reason for their actions, +except, perhaps, on graver questions. + +If it was not for that affair, then what was it? But why should Mr. +Jarney favor him for that? He had given Edith Jarney a great amount of +compound consideration. He thought of their chance meeting from the +viewpoint of one, who, knowing fully his lowly station, could not, by +any unheard of reasoning, ever hope to meet her on friendly or intimate +terms. He might chance upon her, of course, sometime, somewhere; but +that was, while possible, hardly likely--unless it should be in her +father's office. But recalling that he had never seen her there, nor +ever heard her name spoken in the office no more than if she did not +exist, he was still less inclined to a faint hope. Such young ladies +were not the topic of confabulating remarks among the employes of such +great fathers as hers. + +Still, with all his meditating, deliberating, weighing this and +balancing that, he could not get her out of his bucolic head. Ah, he +thought, he would fill a new position on the morrow! Perhaps she would +come to her father's office, sometime; not an improbable thing for Edith +to do. Then, in that event, he could only hope to bow to her as she +should switch her way in or out past him, with a toss of her dignified +head; or a contemptuous look out of her bright blue eyes; or, more like +it, to give him a blank stare for his presumptuous ogling. + +Would Edith Jarney do this? Dear Edith, it is hoped that John has a +wrong impression of you. + +So, after thinking on all these things, John could, in nowise, bring +himself to believe, or ever to expect that he would receive any +recognition from Edith. Therefore, with such extraneous ideas excluded +from his thoughts, he concluded that day-dreams were useless; and with +all the assumed wisdom that was stored up in his soul, he deliberately +cast her aside as beyond his attainment. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +PETER DIEMAN RECEIVES VISITORS. + + +Peter Dieman, since he had reached his present state of affluence and +influence, did not condescend to wait on customers. He was now above +that menial branch of his trade. He seldom went into his store, as a +clerk; but he went occasionally to settle some dispute, of one kind or +another, that Eli Jerey was continually involved in with some one of the +many people, who, for one reason or another, visited The Die. + +Eli, in this period of his trammeled existence, was a combative sort of +an individual--not through a natural disposition in that direction, but +mainly by force of circumstances. Being a creature who was impelled by +any line of action by the urgent necessity of earning his bread and +butter, he became a willing tool in the hands of Peter for the +furtherance of that man's business, or any other of the transactions +with which he might be connected. Eli, therefore, was a good servant +more through a sense of duty, than through any reason he would bring to +bear in applying himself. He might be classed with one of those trusties +who is purblind to any one else's good, save that of his employer. +Hence, he loved Peter, not for any attraction that the personality of +the man had for him, but simply for the job that he filled. + +Peter Dieman had that way about him that causes men of any rank, almost, +to bow down to force and power and money. While he was revolting in his +general aspect, as a man socially, he was certainly a genius when it +came to manipulating the "ropes" that so often lead men and women into +combinations against society's welfare. Even in the building up of an +established business in the marts of other men, he exhibited a wonderful +gift of sagacity in organization, and in a knack of accumulating wealth, +so far as his endeavors went in the one particular line that to the +world at large he was supposed to follow. + +One day Peter was sitting at his place of espial, intently concerned for +the time with the one predominating thought as to whether his +spider-like clerk, Eli Jerey, could accommodate all the customers he saw +in waiting, before any of them could get away without leaving a few +shekels behind. As he looked, he rubbed his hands nervously, +whimsically, naturally, as was his habit; then he squinted up one of his +piggish eyes, and scowled menacingly. The reason for this contorting +facial expression and revolutionary exhibition with his hands was that +he noted his clerk suddenly throw up his left arm to a guarding +position, rear backward, clinch his fists, look daggers out of his +cat-like eyes, and then lunge forward, with the force of a battering ram +going into execution. He also saw two other long arms whirling through +the air like a Dutch wind-wheel in motion, saw a head duck, saw the +bodies of two men writhe and squirm, and then saw them fall together on +a bundle of dirty coiled-up ropes. Seeing all which, he put down his +pipe, put on his black cap, and waddled out with the intensity of the +furies spread over the wide expanse of his red and rounded visage. + +"Wow!" he roared like an exploding blunderbuss. "What in God Almighty's +name be you doing, Eli?" + +Eli did not look up to respond to the query. He could not look up had he +wanted to. The stranger, with whom Eli was in combat, had him gripped so +tightly around the neck with one arm, that Eli could neither hurt his +antagonist, nor get hurt himself. All that Eli could do was to breathe +heavily, strike out at random with his one free hand, hitting the ropes, +the floor, a bench leg, and many other things about him. Meanwhile the +stranger seemed to lie contentedly on his back surveying the upper +regions of the interior of the junkery. + +When Peter came up to the combatants, he stopped, with his hands upon +his hips, and his arms akimbo, sized up the situation in an instant, and +then seized Eli by the scruff of the neck, and raised him to the floor, +with his victim still clinging to him in a very loving-like embrace, and +with Eli still beating the air at random with his free hand. + +"Loosen yourself, brute!" squealed Peter to the stranger. "Loosen +yourself, I say!" he shouted. + +But the stranger paid no heed to him. Whereupon, Peter, using his fat +hands as an entering wedge, heaved away with mighty force, to left and +to right, and the twain came asunder. The stranger now stood back, with +tousled head and frightful mien, glaring savagely at Eli; while Eli +looked the same in the matter of dishevelment, his scanty face showed +little more of the baser passions than would a paving stone. + +"You rascals! What's all this about?" demanded Peter, directing his eyes +on Eli. + +"Nothing," piped Eli. + +Then turning to the stranger, who was a young man, Peter said, +stentoriously: "Clear out at once!" + +The stranger took up his fallen hat, turned malevolently upon Peter, and +hissed: "All right, you hog! You will pay dear for such an insult!" He +turned toward Eli. "You scoundrel," he shouted, "your master keeps you +here to insult people--" but he did not finish the sentence, so wroth +was he in his anger. + +Peter rubbed his hands so rapidly that it would be a wild guess to say +whether he was doing it in jest or in earnest. The stranger proceeded +toward the front door. + +"Wait!" exclaimed Peter, as the stranger was about to make his exit. + +The young man turned about, very deliberately, in his tracks, leered at +Peter as if he would again hurl a terrible threat at him, but he said +nothing. + +"Mike Barton," commanded Peter, for that is whom the young man proved to +be, "come to my office." + +Whereupon, Peter led the way, and Mike Barton followed him to the little +black office. Peter removed his cap, resumed his pipe, and sat down, +wheezing like an asthmatic pup, near his place of espionage; and he +looked curiously at Mike, who had taken a seat unbidden. + +"What was the trouble, Mike?" he asked. + +"I simply sought to pass him to get to your office, when he confronted +me with the insulting remark, 'No pimps allowed in there--your +office--without permission of the boss.'" + +"He's a good clerk, Mike; he is; and he serves me well." + +"Too well, Mr. Dieman, for your safety." + +"Ha, ha! Well, he has my instructions, and you know the password to this +office." + +"I do, sir; but I resent the insult." + +"All right, my boy, it's over with now; Eli is a good one for me, you +know." + +"I reckon he is," returned Mike. + +"Now, what can I do for you?" asked Peter, eyeing Mike with one of his +singularly inquisitorial stares, which gave Mike a spell of the fidgets. + +"I was sent here by the keeper of our place to know the outlook for a +continuance of police protection," he replied without any circumlocution +about saying what he had in mind. + +"Eh!" Peter ejaculated. + +"Yes; we want to know--or they want to know. What's the prospects?" + +"Eh?" + +"What's the prospects? is my question," said Mike, surlily, put out by +the evasiveness of Peter. + +"Hey?" + +"You have my question." + +"I have." + +"Then answer me." + +"How much more is it worth?" + +"You and your gang are getting enough already," retorted Mike. + +"Don't get gay, young man; don't get gay," said Peter, raising his furzy +eyebrows with surprise. "You people are in business--I'm in +business--we're all in business--for money." + +"Yes, Peter, yes; all in business--all in business--a nasty thing it is, +sir, this grafting business," returned Mike. "But my employers are +getting tired of having their legs pulled so often. All the profits +already go to your bunch--how can they pay any more?" + +"Eh, young man, you are talking a little too gay--a little too gay, for +one of your experience; hey?" + +"Well, it's the truth," answered Mike. + +"What have I to do with that? Yes, I, sir; I? Answer me that question?" +asked Peter, with a little more animation than he had previously shown +in the conversation. + +"A whole d---- lot!" exclaimed Mike. + +"Don't! don't! don't! boy! Don't cause me to throw you out!" roared +Peter, now looking out his peephole. + +"I am not a bit afraid of you--no more than I am of that door knob," +answered Mike, haughtily. + +"Maybe not, Mike; but you fellows must be reasonable," said Peter, less +uproariously than before. + +"So must you fellows," remarked Mike, placidly, as he indolently shifted +one leg over the other and bent forward. + +Peter pursued his quest no further for a few moments, being interested +in Eli in the outer room. He drummed with his fingers on one arm of the +chair, then rubbed his fat hands together. Peter then turned to Mike, as +Mike said: + +"I want to know, Mr. Dieman, what your gang intends doing?" + +"One thousand more per month," was Peter's reply. + +"That means two thousand for our house, does it?" + +"If I figure right, it does." + +"Then, you can go--to--h----!" returned Mike, rising to depart. + +"Five hundred will do this time," said Peter, now feeling inclined to be +decent in such a deal. + +"Go to----" responded Mike, looking back at Peter over his shoulder, as +he turned to go out the door. + +"Set down, boy, and be respectable," said Peter in a mollifying tone. +"Anything new, Mike?" + +"Nothing unusual, only I hear that my sister left home today for a finer +home in the East End." + +"Did sh-e-e?" asked Peter, with a comical leer out of his right eye, +which he turned upon Mike, as if the information was of vast importance +to him. + +"She did," answered Mike. + +"Good for her!" said Peter, musingly. "When did you learn this?" + +"This afternoon, when I was home for the first time since I got my new +job, over three months now," replied Mike, looking down at the floor. "I +meant to take her out of that place myself to a finer one, where life is +worth while; but she eluded me--if that is the right word, eh." + +"Did you intend taking her to the place where you work?" asked Peter. + +"I did." + +"I have always had such a notion of you in my head," said Peter, +squinting at Mike. + +"You had? How did you know?" shouted Mike. + +"Guessed as much," said Peter, rubbing and looking Mike squarely in the +face. + +"You old reprobate!" exclaimed Mike, hotly. + +"Be careful, boy; be careful. I am no fool," admonished Peter, unruffled +as yet, in outward signs. "What other news?" + +"I understand my sister's at Hiram Jarney's home," said Mike. + +"Yes," responded Peter. + +"A strange coincidence," mused Mike. "I met a young man named Winthrope +this morning, who works in Jarney's office." + +"Good or bad subject?" asked Peter. + +"Bad--I judge from his answers." + +"That's good," said Peter, rubbing his hands vigorously. + +"I don't understand," said Mike. + +"You don't?" quizzed Peter, drawling out the words sluringly. + +"No, d---- if I do!" + +"Well, then go about your miserable business and quit bothering me," +commanded Peter. + +"You haven't answered me yet about police protection," said Mike. + +"Oh, go away; they'll not bother you," replied Peter, impatiently, +shaking his head as if he were shaking the words out of his mouth. + +"Have I your word for it?" demanded Mike. + +"That's all I have to say. Go!" snorted the now exasperated Peter, +resuming his habitual work of spying. + +Mike retreated, like a man who is cornered by a bear in his den, going +out at the opportune time. Passing through the store he beheld Eli +looking as dumbly as a lamppost at him. Mike skinned his eyes, as it +were, lest Eli should pounce upon him again, and complete the operation +of a sound threshing. But Mike got safely to the outer door, and was +about to go out, when he turned and hurled back at Eli, shaking his +fist: + +"I'll fix you, you hireling!" + +Eli, becoming riled at the threatening taunt, made a rush for Mike, like +a terrier after a scampering cat; but Mike soon disappeared around a +corner, leaving Eli standing in the door shaking his fist at the +vanishing figure, who did not cease running till he got two or three +blocks away, so fearful was he of Eli. + +As Eli turned to re-enter the shop, he ran counter to a man--a tall, +slouchy fellow with a stubby moustache, short hair, red nose, round +face, brown eyes, white complexioned--who had entered unobserved, while +Eli was sending his sworn enemy threateningly away. The man sallied +lazily through the alleys of junk, paying no heed whatever to the +ubiquitous clerk, who was dogging his heels at every turn for an +opportunity to inquire about his wants. Several times Eli was sure the +man was about to stop and make reply to his questions; but in this he +was sorely disappointed. For the man proceeded till he came to the door +of Peter's cubby-hole, and was in the act of entering it, when, to his +astonishment, he found Eli wraithing up before him in the doorway. The +man hesitated for an instant, gave Eli a contemptuous smile, then, with +a quick sweep of his strong arm, thrust him aside, as if he were only a +part of The Die's junk that had got into his way. Eli, of course, was +taken off his feet, both figuratively and literally, and went sprawling +in a heap in a corner, on a pile of rubbish. + +"Come in!" shouted Peter to the man, with no thought as to what harm +might have befallen the dutiful Eli, who, on catching his master's voice +as meaning an intimate acquaintanceship with the man, gathered himself +together, and took up his burdens still feeling unsquelched as a +faithful servant. + +"Well, Jim," said Peter to the man, when he seated himself, "how's +things going these days?" + +"Well enough," answered Jim Dalls. + +"Ford & Ford got the contract?" said Peter, without a semblance of his +gladness over the matter in his own face. + +"Yes; they got it; but hell'll be to pay some day for that dirty piece +of work," answered Jim Dalls, moodily. + +"That's a hard old place to satisfy," remarked Peter. + +"Can't be worse than the grafters of this old city," returned Dalls. + +"Don't be pessimistic, Jim." + +"Don't like to be; but, I say, there'll be a reckoning up some day, I +suppose, when the people once wake up, and find out what is going on in +this old town." + +"Ah, the people; the dear people," answered Peter; "they don't know +enough to eat mud pies." + +"Why, haven't they been fed on them a long time, eh, Peter? Their +stomachs will revolt at the mess sometime, Peter; then, look out!" + +"Have no fear, Jim; have no fear; they'll never catch us," replied +Peter, with confidence in his secureness behind the throne of graft. + +"But, nevertheless, it is rotten business, Peter; rotten business, and I +am tired of playing the game," said Dalls. + +"Oh, I'm not; I'll play it till I die," returned Peter, with a bravado +air. + +"You can afford to, Peter; it's been a gold mine to you and your +backers. But to me? Look at me! Nothing is all I get--nothing but a +pittance." + +"You are paid well, Jim," said Peter, severely. + +"Paid well; yes; but it takes it all to keep those below me in line." + +"Well, what more do you want, Jim?" + +"Nothing--I'm quitting the business." + +"Ho! you are? You can't quit, Jim; you can't. If you do, what'll become +of the ring?" asked Peter, now for the first time bringing his reasoning +faculties into play in connection with such a probable event. + +"Bust, I suppose," replied Dalls. + +"Never!" exclaimed Peter. + +"I am going to quit, I tell you, Peter." + +"How much do you want to go away from here?" asked Peter, rubbing and +squinting. + +"Ten thousand," replied Jim Dalls, slowly. + +"You are cheap," said Peter. "Come around tomorrow, when I will pay you +and furnish a ticket for you to Europe." + +"Agreed, Peter! Shake! I always knew you'd be on the square with me. But +put it down in writing," returned Dalls, with less gloom pictured in his +face than when he entered. + +"I never put anything down in writing, Jim; particularly such things as +we have been discussing. I consider my word good, Jim," answered Peter, +palaveringly. + +"I'll take you at your word, then, Peter." + +"Very well; you have been a good lieutenant, Jim, and we don't like to +lose you. But if you have scruples on the matter, Jim, I want you to +leave--get out of the country, and stay out till I call you back. Jim, +do you understand?" + +"Just so I get the cash, I'll go anywhere, Peter," answered Jim Dalls. + +"That will do, then, Jim; come tomorrow at two," said Peter. + +"You have a mighty obnoxious clerk out here," said Dalls, rising to go +away. + +"Oh, he's all right, Jim; you know the password, and didn't give it," +replied Peter. + +"That's my fault, then," answered Dalls, as he stepped into the shop, +there to encounter the angry look of Eli, who was at that moment waiting +on a customer, or otherwise there might have been another little affray, +on the spot. + +Jim Dalls, as he was familiarly known among Peter's henchmen, had been a +member of the present political ring since its inception back in the +early nineties. He had now but a poor chance of ever rising higher in +the ranks than a poorly paid lieutenant; and so what was the use, he +argued with himself, of playing third fiddle any longer, if there was +any likelihood at all of getting out with a good round sum in cash. So, +as a bluff, he preferred to work the "conscientious scruple" scheme to +get what he thought was due him for his valiant services in the +corporals' guard of the gang; and he went to Peter playing that he +wanted to lead a new life, and his bluff worked out better than he ever +anticipated. + +It was very necessary, in the workings of this mysterious institution, +that whenever an officer felt conscience stricken to remove him, with +great dispatch, from the scene of operation, so as to keep out the light +of investigation when house-cleaning time should come, which it would +sometime. Jim Dalls had been bred in the business and knew its entire +ramifications in every branch of civic affairs of the city. He had not +prospered in it, as some others had, considering the length of his +services and the good that he had done, and the care he had taken in +fighting for success. He had not been raised to the sublime degree in +the ranks of the upper luminaries, where marched the fitted, to which +others had been raised, considering the amount of service he had put +into the cause. He had not been treated as equitably in the division of +the spoils that had come into the coffers of the charmed circle of +grafters, as others had been treated, considering the sum of his own +earnings he had put into the hands of his own satellites shining around +him, as those above him shone around the great center of this gigantic +solar system. In consequence, the monster, Disaffection, lurked within +his breast, and became a thing for the master minds to watch with care. +Yes, watch with care, and hold in check. + +Of course, Jim Dalls was no squealer. No--if he got his price. And now, +getting his price, he would leave the city. He would leave his country; +and go to Europe, and live like an American Captain of Industry lives in +that land when his native soil becomes sterile in its bountifulness of +pleasure. Yes, he would go to Europe at the behest of his superiors, so +that he could not, for a time, tamper with any of their marked cards, +and cause a breaking up in their game. + +And to Europe he would go, with his trusting wife and family believing +that he had earned his lucre honestly; and they proudly looked every one +in the face, believing that the world is on the square. + +Oh Europe! Europe! If you only knew the private history of many of those +Americans you receive with open arms, craft and graft and greed you +would see as their only virtues. + +But, ho! Let us smile, instead of crying at their follies. For no nation +ever yet raised a monument to men representing such principles. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +A THANKSGIVING PARTY. + + +In Oakland avenue there stands another mansion. It is a lofty pile of +brownish stone, and is luxuriously complete in its every detail. +Standing as it does on a prominent hill, it comes in for a great share +of excellent praise for its beauty and magnificence, and is classed as a +close rival of that other mansion in Highland avenue. + +Here lived, when in the effulgence of his power and influence in the +complicated machinery of a big city, one Jacob Cobb--a short, squatty, +round-faced, blue-eyed, clear-complexioned man of business, so far as +anybody knew about his worldly affairs. Here his wife Betty, and +daughters, Susanna and Marjorie, entertained the eclat of society +according to the àla mode of fashion; and many were the gay parties, +balls and dinners that they gave for the select few constituting their +circle of acquaintances. + +Charming, indeed, were these great affairs, unrivaled in all their +appointments in the high-toned residential district in this unequaled +city of social madness and financial debauchery. Oh, yes; charming they +were, indeed, to those select of the very select who pandered to Mammon +in the workaday hours and to Bacchus in the time of refreshment. + +Aye, aye; here came the proud, the haughty, the vapid, the insipid; the +hilarious strumpets of swelldom, the strutting monstrosities of fashion, +the pompous parrots of mimicry; the glib scandal-mongers, the gregarious +loiterers over afternoon teas; the straight-laced of the kid-gloved +gentry, the snobs, the prudes, the fops; the blase young men, the +genteel puppets, the vacuous gentlemen, the bombasts, the old +curmudgeons; the doting mothers, the innocent maidens; with now and then +a sprinkling of the good, the sage, the savant, as a savory condiment to +the mess of social pottage the Cobbs dished out of their pot of ethics. + +These events were wonderful achievements in the life of Mrs. Cobb, and +Mr. Cobb paid the bills without a murmur or complaint. + +Mrs. Cobb was sumptuously independent in the conduct of these affairs. +All the glories of the Queen of Henry of Navarre could not equal her +glorious accomplishments in the one great and only ambition of her +life--shining in society. Mr. Cobb was bumptuously indifferent as to how +his wife shone, just so she shone, and that in her shining she did not +obfuscate him altogether. + +Mrs. Cobb was chunky, like her husband. She was the quintessence of +charm. She was the substantive mood of the present tense of the verb to +be. She was gay, humorous, and a true leader--in her line of activity. +She was near the middle time of life, but she had lost little of her +beauty. Her dark brown eyes snapped like sparks of fire, and her cheeks +glowed pink when she was enjoying the company around her; when in a +different mood, she ever had the fine quality of knowing how to be +pleasant when most bored. + +Mrs. Cobb's afternoons were of course mild affairs, but still very grand +to all those idle ladies who deemed it a distinctive honor to receive an +invitation, and a compliment to their refinement to be there. +Accomplishment and refinement! O, fudge! + +Mrs. Cobb must celebrate Thanksgiving day. She and her husband must +offer up their oblation, in their own unhampered fashion, to the +gracious Lord who had blessed them with so much to be thankful for. And +they did celebrate. + +It was to be an unsurpassed dinner at seven, a violation of the rule of +etiquette for such state affairs; but as dancing was to follow, the +order of formality was modified, so that the exhilarating whirl could +thereby be prolonged. She, therefore, sent out the exact number of fifty +invitations, equally distributed among ladies and gentlemen. The dinner +was served in the great dining room, dazzling with its silver, gold, +glass and polished wood, with carnations and roses burdening the air +with their mesmeric fragrance. + +Promptly at the hour of seven, Mr. Cobb, with Mrs. Cobb on his arm, +struck out through the maze of palms and smilax and other greenery, for +the feasting board. Arriving at the table, with her husband, she +delivered him at the head, and she took a seat on his right hand (all +contrary to form, but she was original, if anything), with her favorite +bachelor friend, Miram Monroe, on Mr. Cobb's left, as a cold balancing +weight to old man Cobb's ebulliting spirits. Next to Mr. Monroe sat Miss +Edith Jarney. Jasper Cobb sat opposite Miss Jarney, and by his side was +Miss Star Barton; and so on down the long table sat the other +sublunaries of the Cleopatra of fashion, the number not stopping till a +second long table was filled with similarly handsomely gowned ladies, +and gloomily groomed gentlemen, with the Cobb girls sitting among them +in peek-a-boo fluffiness. + +"Mr. Monroe," said Mrs. Cobb, after having made some trifling remarks to +some of the other guests, showing her white teeth with the vivaciousness +of a young girl, "you appear not to be enjoying yourself tonight." + +"Oh, yes, Mrs. Cobb," he replied, with a board-like stiffness, "I am +delighted." + +"Mrs. Cobb," interjected her husband, beaming one of his sly winks at +her, "you should not tease Mr. Monroe tonight. Just behold the fair +young lady he has by his side!" + +"Mr. Cobb, you are so jolly tonight," she answered. "Mr. Monroe did not +salute me when he arrived this evening, so I am in ill-humor with him." + +"Beg your pardon, Mrs. Cobb," said the ghostly Monroe. "The fact is I +had no opportunity. Sure, madam, I would not slight you for the world, +did you give me the opportunity." + +"Mr. Monroe," said Mrs. Cobb, in her best humor, "you must get rid of +your rigidity of expression, or I will be compelled to get another man, +younger than you, to take your place. I am now almost tempted to put my +son in your place; Jasper, you know." + +"I will not hear to that, Mrs. Cobb," interrupted Edith. "Why, I shall +attempt to enliven Mr. Monroe." Then to that sedate imbecile, she said: +"Mr. Monroe, cheer up. See, every gentleman present but you is in the +fullness of his grandiose verboseness tonight. Cheer up, and be alive +for once!" + +Mr. Monroe turned a lethargic smile upon Edith, and whispered, loud +enough for his near auditors to hear: "Miss Jarney will do me the +pleasure, I am sure, of reaching me the salt." + +"Why, with pleasure--salt--salt," said Edith, with a gay and mischievous +laugh. "This man--waiter, waiter--wants some salt to salt down his +opinion of women's rights." + +"Good, good!" applauded Mrs. Cobb. "Now, what are your opinions of +women's rights, Mr. Monroe?" + +"I am salting them down," he replied, sadly, as he began to spray most +liberally his salad, which looked, before he ceased, as if it would be +in a brine of thick salineness. "My opinion of women is--aside from my +mother--that they are a lot of soap bubbles." + +"You bad man," said Mrs. Cobb, lowering her eyebrows; "that is no +definition. Women's rights--what is your opinion?" + +"They haven't any rights, save what the men choose to give them," he +whispered looking at Edith, with as much expression as a monkey. + +"You bleak old bachelor," retorted Mrs. Cobb. "Edith will never have you +for saying that." + +Edith turned a wrathful glance upon Mrs. Cobb, and gave a scornful laugh +at the jest. Then she turned to Mr. Monroe, who had ceased in his +rapid-fire eating long enough to look at her like a plaster cast might +look. + +"Miss Edith," said Jasper Cobb, who had been earnestly engaged with Miss +Barton, paying her the closest attention with his palavering nonsense, +"I am jealous of Mr. Monroe." + +"Indeed," returned Edith. + +"I am, indeed," he answered, and the impropriety of his remark struck +Edith's ear discordantly. + +"What a great teaser you are, Jasper," said Mrs. Cobb. + +"A chip of the old block," said Mr. Cobb, smiling at his joke, as he +took it to be. + +"Jasper does not mean a word of it," said Mrs. Cobb, at the same time +hoping that he did. + +"With due consideration for my friend, Mr. Monroe," said Edith, "I will +turn my attention to him." + +Then Edith summoned up all her latent substitutes for naturalness, and +bore down upon Mr. Monroe with such a load of banter and mirthful +sayings that that gentleman eventually smiled, to the surprise of +everybody. Then it became alarmingly noticeable that Mr. Monroe was +paying close attention to Edith's highly interesting but entirely +assumed form of gabbling--so much so, in fact, that it was feared by +Mrs. Cobb once that he was on the point of taking Edith in his unloving +embrace, and running away with her. But Mrs. Cobb saved him from this +duncely possibility by saying: + +"Be careful, Mr. Monroe, or you will do something desperate directly!" + +Mr. Monroe quickly recovered himself and became a living sphynx again. + +"Hah, Miss Edith," said Jasper Cobb, catching the trend of things +Edithward, "now, I am jealous." + +Miss Edith turned to him, with pretended hautiness, and should liked to +have said, "Impudence," but forbore that unlady-like expression in +deference to her own good breeding. She was relieved, however, from +making any answer to him by Mr. Cobb, who arose at that critical moment +and announced, most graciously and grandiloquently, that the table would +be cleared of the women and menu to make way for cigars and wine. + +All of which orders being carried into execution, as per custom, the +waiters proceeded to serve those two refreshing desserts. They sat long +over their cigars, and longer over their wine--till the air was an +ultramarine blueness, and the men in tipsy joyousness. + +Mr. Monroe was very thirsty, it turned out, from the number of glasses +that he drained, which had an happy effect upon him. For, with the +disappearance of the wine down his esophagus, came a set grin on his +face, akin to the smile of a disgruntled ghost. Young Cobb, aside from +smoking enormously, imbibed freely, much against his personal appearance +and qualifications to enter much farther into the pleasures of the +evening. All the other gentlemen, including old man Cobb, entered into +the libations with rare partiality--except Mr. Jarney, who, it was seen, +refrained from participating in the dispatching of the invigorating +liquor, a constitutional habit with him. This trait was looked upon by +his now inebriating friends as a high breach of etiquette in not sipping +wine after breaking bread at the home of a friend, and was an affront +not to be condoned on such an occasion. But Mr. Jarney, while not +approving of such bacchanalian practices, as far as he and his family +were concerned, looked askance at them, so long as they were confined to +others, and he made no protest. + +After the free lubrication of their unsettled nerves and muddled heads, +the men arose to join the ladies, who in the meantime had dressed for +the ball, now to follow. + +When all was in readiness and the band had struck up a softly +insinuating waltz, Mr. and Mrs. Cobb wheeled out on the floor and glided +around the room with the agility of two sixteen-year-olds. Mr. and Mrs. +Jarney came after them, stately and graceful in their evolutions. Then +came the ghost--Monroe--looking like a piece of burning asbestos, as a +result of the wine, with his arm around the waist of Miss Edith. Then +came young Cobb, whispering words of foolishness into the ear of Miss +Barton, as they went round and round in a delirious whirl--to him. Then +came all the other ladies and gentlemen, the latter suffering wondrously +in the advanced stage of booziness. No, we will not cast all the shame +upon the men in their journey of giddiness, for some of the bewitching +woman, ah, and even unbewitching, too, presumed it their blessed +privilege to partake of a little of the tonic of joy, as an equalizer to +the wabbling motions of their husbands or friends. + +Number after number, in this wise, was pulled off, each time the bibbers +adding more and more wine as a wash down after each exhausting +exhibition. So in consequence, after awhile, man after man began to fall +by the wayside, and call feebly upon the good Samaritan: Bromo-seltzer, +or bromo-something else: to keep them in condition to continue the mad +seance. But the little imp Wine, once he secrets himself in the +corpuscles of the blood, is a pretty difficult being to placate in so +short a time. Not satisfied was he in laying hold of the faultless +gentlemen in spike-tailed coats and immaculate bosoms, sparkling with +all the iridescence of the purchasing power of money, but he sought out +some of the decolleted dames and gauzyed damsels, and enveloped them in +his opiatic arms. Even Mr. and Mrs. Cobb were not spared from his +envelopment; for, after the fourth set, they became so maudlin in their +hilarity that the sober servants were called upon to lead them out of +the ballroom, from which they went, in a great state of regal debility, +into the seclusion of their own bedchamber, there to sleep away their +Thanksgiving potation. + +And it was not long till every corner in the house had a sleeper +languishing in the happy shades of somnolence. Mr. Monroe, the astute +ghost of quietness, after cavorting for a considerable time like a nanny +goat in a field of crimson clover, was among the first to succumb to the +silencing influence of the giver of potency, and disappeared, like a +settling stone, into a whirlpool of revelry. And young Jasper Cobb, the +gay and handsome son of the Thanksgiving father and mother, after +cutting capers that would put to ignominious flight a colored gen'man at +a cake walk, gave up the contest at last and became numbered among the +recumbent forms that rested, like so many babes in the woods, along the +walls. + +You are not supposed to believe that the Jarneys witnessed all these +antics of the merry makers at this party, to which a half column space +in the society page of the Sunday newspapers was devoted. No, you are +not to believe they remained, retaining all their senses, to witness +this pyretic debauch of high society. The truth is, that the Jarneys +came as a matter of form in deference to Mr. Cobb, one of the high-ups +in business; and they left in deference to their conscience and +self-respect. The fact is, that after the second number was rendered, +Mr. and Mrs. Jarney, seeing how things were going, and also at the +solicitation of Miss Edith, took their ward, Star Barton, and repaired +to their home. + +"Well, how do you like high society?" asked Edith, when she and Star had +reached their boudoir for a short lounging before going to bed. + +"If that party is a fair sample, I don't like it," emphatically answered +Star. "Why, it is no more respectable, if half as much, with all their +fine things and glitter, than some of the hoe-downs in Hell's Half +Acre." + +"I am very sorry we attended," said Edith. + +"I am not," returned Star. "It has been a great lesson to me." + +"Would you go again?" asked Edith. + +"I shall always be guided by you, dear Edith." + +"Then you will have no further opportunity to attend a function of that +kind, for that is the last for me," said Edith; "especially with that +class of people. Papa and mamma care nothing for such doings; neither do +I; but owing to business connections, we are obliged to lend our +presence, sometimes. Formality! Star; formality!" + +"Is it one of the requirements of business?" asked Star, innocently. + +"It is a deplorable truth," answered Edith. + +"I am glad, dear Edith, you are not wrapped up, heart and soul, with +such people," said Star. + +"It is my pleasure to be independent, Star." + +"And I shall follow your example, dear Edith," returned Star, with +unbounden confidence in her friend. + +"Say, Star," said Edith, as she seated herself on an ottoman at the feet +of Star, and taking one of Star's hands in hers, "I have a trip planned +for you; will you go?" + +"If it is your wish, I will," answered Star. + +"Star," and Edith looked up into her friend's face, blushing the least +bit, "you remember the young man of whom I was telling you about meeting +by chance? Yes. He is now my father's private secretary." + +"Oh, is he?" asked Star, by rote. + +"Yes; and by my request, too. I will take you to my father's office +tomorrow, and, if he is there, you shall share his acquaintance with +me." + +"I shall be glad to meet him--if he is your friend," said Star. + +"He is my friend, Star--no, not yet--but I want him to be, Star," and +Edith buried her head in Star's lap to hide her tell-tale face. Then +raising her head, in a moment, "Will you go? Of course you will." + +"If you permit me to talk with him," said Star, teasingly, "I will go." + +"Who would think of being jealous of you, my dear Star? Why should I? He +is no more--yes, he is--" and Edith buried her face again, while Star +stroked her long silken tresses in loving admiration. + +"Ho, ho, Edith! I know," said Star, pointing a finger of jest at her, as +she raised her face. + +"Do you guess my secret, Star?" + +"Why, dear girl, I cannot help but know it." + +"And you will keep it, Star?" + +"To my dying day. Does he know it?" + +"Oh, no, no; I have seen him only once. Do you think it right in me, +Star?" + +"I don't know, Edith. How will you ever make it known to him?" + +"Oh, Star! I do not wish to; I do not wish to! He must find it out for +himself. I know he is such a fine young man; for my father even praises +him." + +"He may never know it, Edith," said Star, not yet knowing herself the +secrets of love, as old as she was; albeit, she possessed a true sense +of the great mystery of life; "and then what?" + +"I can only live in hope that he will, some day, see and know. Do you +think it wrong in me, Star, to say these things?" + +"If it is from your heart, no." + +"Let me kiss you, Star? There!" + +Love comes to a pure woman veiled in mystery, and departs only when her +spirit returns unto God who gave it. Were they all as pure as Edith, the +temptations of our modern Edens would be as holy as the waters of +Siloam's Pool. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +JOHN WINTHROPE'S SECOND PROMOTION. + + +John Winthrope had a small cozy room by himself off the main office of +Hiram Jarney. It was about the size of a twelve by sixteen rug, and so +richly furnished that when he got into it, he felt as if he had been +clandestinely concealed in a bandbox lined with rare and costly velvets. + +There were a green rugget on the floor, a miniature roll-top desk in one +corner, glistening in its polish; a typewriting desk near a wide plate +glass window; a cabinet for letter stationery; three leather-seated +mahogany chairs, one at each desk, and another for company. The walls +were green tinted, and around them John had hung some landscape pictures +in chromo, mostly rural scenes; photographs of his parents; one of a +mountain girl, his sister; one of a big young man, his brother; and +those of two boyhood friends. + +Every morning at nine o'clock John came into this palatial private +office. First, he perused the morning newspapers, then looked over the +bundle of private letters that came to the head of the firm, and +assorted them according to the postmark, or the nature he judged of the +contents as near as he could make out from outside indications; after +which he placed them in a letter tray, got ready his note book, and +placed them all together orderly, to be picked up, at the ring of the +bell, to be carried to the desk of Mr. Jarney, who arrived at the +office, when in the city, every day punctually at ten. + +John learned rapidly. A week had not gone by, after he assumed his new +post, till he was master of every detail of a secretary's work in such +an important place. He was quick in taking down the dictation of Mr. +Jarney, who was a rapid talker, a clear enunciator, never lacking for +the exact word to lucidly express himself. John was speedy on the +typewriter; hence he was but a brief time in conveying, what would +appear to the average person, the unintelligible phonetic characters +into Englishized words, sentences, paragraphs, and finally completed +letters, ready for the chirography of that great man to be attached +thereto. Many letters of little importance, such as from the beggars, +cranks, politicians, boodlers, or of the routine kind, John was soon +authorized to answer himself, to the relief of the chief. + +For a whole week John had been at this pleasureable labor, doing it with +far greater ease than he had the more arduous task of keeping books; and +he did it with such dispatch that Mr. Jarney was surprised at his +adeptness, and he favored him with due commendation. + +For several days Mr. Jarney was taciturn in the presence of his new +secretary. He talked with him purely on matters in hand after the +dictating period was over, and then but briefly. Not once for nearly a +week did he condescend to converse with him on any other +question--except that occasionally he would remark about the continuing +"beastly weather," as he invariably termed such climatic conditions. + +John went through the daily routine earnestly and methodically, with no +thought for anything but that he might make good, and prove himself +worthy of his hire; and also thinking very often of his good old +parents, his dear little sister and big strong brother on the farm in +the hills. He had dismissed Edith Jarney from his mind, as a lost cause +goes before the reasoning man. He had not seen her, nor heard of her, +since that memorable night. He was not presumptuous enough to imagine +that she would contaminate her thoughts about him. For why should he be +so imaginative? He had no reason for believing that such a conventional +lady, as she appeared to be (basing his opinion of her on her station), +would ever think of the affair one moment after she was gone out of his +sight, or was ensconced in her own palatial home, where the shadow of +such as he was not likely of ever being cast. + +Still, in his idle moments, he would revert to the event, and simply +wonder what had become of her: whether she had gone to some sunnier +clime to bask in the smiles and receive the addresses of richer bloods +than his; or whether she was not then leading a gay existence among her +class in the gilded halls of her surroundings, where flash and gleam the +lads and maidens of her own selected set in the brighter light that +luxury provides. + +But such musings were on rare occasions, and then only reverted to as a +pleasing pastime in his lonesome hours. For, since assuming his new +duties, he not only was serving his own master, but was serving himself +by reading, studying, and working out the mysteries that surrounded the +privacy of Mr. Jarney's business. He did this so that, if the time ever +came, he should be fitted to perform further duties in the advancing +line. However, no matter how busy he was, there were times when +homesickness would steal over him, and he would long for his own people +and their humble fireside to soften his distraught feelings, whenever +they should assert themselves. + +Be these things as they may, two weeks, almost, had passed by since he +went into his bandbox office, when Edith Jarney, accompanied by Star +Barton, came to see her father. + +The time was in the middle of the afternoon. Mr. Jarney was sitting at +his desk dictating a third and last batch of letters, and John was +sitting by diligently taking notes. Edith opened the office door of her +own accord, and she and Star walked within unannounced. Edith was +dressed in dark colors in harmony with the weather. She carried a +sealskin muff, and had a boa of the same fur around her neck, and the +cutest round hat possible sat upon her head. Verily, she looked like a +princess out on winter parade as she advanced toward a broad, flat-top +table in the center of the room. Star, dressed much in the same fashion, +and looking as stately as any lady at court, followed Edith. + +Both young ladies sat down at the table to await Mr. Jarney's +convenience to greet them. John was sitting with his back to them, and +so silent was their tread that he did not hear them enter. His pen flew +from left to right on the pages of his note book as Mr. Jarney talked in +his low monotonous voice, without inflection to his words, or change in +his countenance. Mr. Jarney saw the young ladies enter, but, through a +habit of his of never being disturbed when in the throes of grinding out +letters, the young ladies' coming did not bother him in the least. + +Edith and Star sat quietly, abiding their time to speak. Edith tapped +the polished top of the table with her gloved hand. Star sat meditating, +with her eyes bent upon the young man. Thus they sat for ten minutes or +more, watching master and servant at the fountain head of industrial +achievement. + +Then, without a word to John, Mr. Jarney arose; and, coming forward, +grasped his daughter by the hand and kissed her on the lips. Turning to +Star, he accorded her the same fatherly greeting. + +John arose as Mr. Jarney arose, and was folding his note book as he was +taking a step to make his exit. In that moment, when Mr. Jarney was +saluting Edith, he looked toward her. Recognizing the young lady, he +hesitated for a second, flushed, faltered, hesitated again, for he had +not known they were present. As Mr. Jarney turned to Star to greet her, +Miss Edith turned to John. Her face flushed also. She stood a moment, +with that light of recognition in her eyes, that gives a peculiarly +sensational effect upon the beholder, sometimes. He was uncertain. She +was uncertain. He made a step forward to continue toward his office, +when Edith smiled, came up to him, and extended her hand. + +"Mr. Winthrope, I believe?" she said. + +John was in the act of bowing when he saw her extended hand, and +foregoing a completion of that act of politeness, he extended his hand +to meet Edith's. John looked very grave. He had needs to look grave, if +the beating of his heart indicated a particle of his feelings at that +moment. Edith continued smiling as only she could smile. Then John +pulled himself together sufficiently in his embarrassment and said: + +"Miss Jarney, if I am not mistaken?" + +"You are not mistaken, Mr. Winthrope," she said. "I am very glad to meet +you again; but under more pleasant circumstances than when we last met." + +"The pleasure is not all yours, Miss Jarney," he replied, releasing her +hand. + +"How are you?" she asked, still smiling. + +"Fine, thank you," he answered. + +"I want you to meet my dear friend, Miss Barton," she said to him, and +then turning to Star: "Miss Barton, my friend, Mr. Winthrope." + +Star advanced, and made a low bow in return to that of John's. Mr. +Jarney stood off a few steps taking in the formal introductions and +salaams of his daughter and her friend with his new secretary, at the +same time looking as unbending in his demeanor as a cast iron pillar, +from all outward appearances; but really relishing, with a glad heart, +the simplicity of his beautiful daughter in her cordiality toward Mr. +Winthrope. + +"Star--Miss Barton, this is the young man of whom I was speaking." Then, +looking at him, with a quizzical air, as if she wanted to be +patronizingly humble, said, directing her words at Star: "He is the +young man, Star, who rescued my hat and gave me his own umbrella." + +"That was a gallant act," said Star, smiling genially upon him. "I have +heard nothing but praise of you for the past two weeks." + +Edith thereat blushed more crimson than ever before in all her innocent +career; and sought to turn the subject by saying: "Oh, Star--it is +spitting snow," looking out the window as she said it. + +John's face turned a pinky color also, and he began to have qualms of +consternation in being detained from a prompt execution of his work at +hand. + +Star immediately saw she had made a blunder, and tried to make amends by +continuing: "I told Miss Edith that I should be happy to meet such a +gallant young man, as she says you are." + +Edith was now more flushed. She burned with confusion and despair over +Star's untimely statement of facts. + +"If you ladies will excuse me, I will resume my work," said John, to +avoid further complications between Edith's expressive face and Star's +expressive words. + +"We will excuse you, Mr. Winthrope--business before pleasure, always," +said Edith. + +"I am glad to meet you--to have met you--and hope to see you again, Miss +Barton," said John, bowing to Star; and then, bowing to Edith, he +departed. + +In the meantime, Mr. Jarney had taken his seat at his desk in a highly +flustered state of mind by reason of his daughter's sudden change of +countenance over the unintentional reflect assertion of Star's. When +John had closed the door of his office behind him, and the two ladies +were alone with Mr. Jarney, the latter turned about in his chair, as if +in a passion of rage, and said: + +"My dear Edith, what is the meaning of your actions?" + +"Why, papa, dear," she answered, "it is only my way of showing my +appreciation of his former kindness." + +"My little chit," he returned, as she put one arm around his neck, "you +exhibited more than simple appreciation in your looks, when you greeted +Mr. Winthrope." + +"Now, do not scold me, dear papa; if you do, I will cry," said Edith, +fumbling for a handkerchief somewhere about her garments, with which to +stay the flow of tears already glistening in her eyes. + +"Ha, ha, Edith," replied her father; "I am not chiding you; I know my +little girl would do nothing unbecoming." + +"Papa, is it unbecoming to be civil to a young man like him?" she asked. + +"Not in the least, my child; he is a fine young man--" and Edith hugged +her father more closely--"and--ah, Edith, you make me wonder, +sometimes, at your way of looking at other young men of our class." + +"None of them is as good as he, I know," she said, with such sincerity, +and so pensively, that her father was really disturbed. + +"I know he is a good young man; but, Edith, it would be very naughty for +you to encourage him," he said advisedly. + +"Then, you do not like him, papa? I know you do not. Wish I had never +requested you to advance him to this place, then--then--I would not have +seen him again." + +"Why, Edith, my child! what are you saying? If you persist in your +talking that way, it will be necessary for me to dismiss him at once, +and have no more of this benefactor business on my hands," replied her +father, sternly; at the same time winking at Star, belying the asperity +of his voice. + +"Now, papa, you do not mean that," she responded, patting him on the +head. "I know you too well, you bad dear papa. If I thought you did, it +would make me feel very cross toward you. There--now--papa--do +not--say--any more." She concluded the last phrase with kisses between +the words. + +"My dear, we will drop the matter," he said. "I mean to keep him, Edith; +for I like him; really I do. Miss Barton what is your opinion?" + +"The same as Edith's," she answered. + +Edith turned quickly and looked at Star, a mobile stiffness clouding her +face, not knowing how to take Star's words. + +"Ha, ha, ha," laughed her father; "you are an extraordinary girl, Miss +Barton--as extraordinary as Edith." + +"Thank you," returned Star, bowing to him. "I have reasons to feel +extraordinary since two weeks ago." + +Father, daughter and ward whiled away the time for an hour in such kind +of interchange of colloquy. Then John returned, with his tray full of +letters, and set it down on Mr. Jarney's desk. + +"Mr. Winthrope," said Mr. Jarney, looking up, with a deceiving frown, +which caused John to have queer sensations go through him at first; "Mr. +Winthrope, I am going to--I am tired of signing letters, and shall +delegate that power to you. So sit down here at my desk, and put your +'John Hancock' on these, using my name, of course, instead of your own. +You may do this while Miss Barton and I take a little turn down the +street. Edith, I will leave you here to see that Mr. Winthrope does not +shirk his work." + +John was amazed; Edith was astounded; Star was astonished. Mr. Jarney +repaired to the cloak room, from whence he returned in a few minutes +wearing a high silk hat and heavy overcoat, and carrying a gold-headed +cane. + +"Miss Barton, will you accompany me?" he said to Star, after his +preparation, taking it for granted that she would not refuse. + +When they went out, Edith seated herself in the chair where John sat +when he took down her father's dictations. John sat in her father's +chair at the desk, looking so near overwhelmed at the turn of things, +since morning, that he felt like sinking through the floor, or going +straight up to the ceiling and out through the roof to some other +country. As Mr. Jarney and Miss Barton went out the door, John turned +and looked at Edith. He blushed; she blushed. + +"This is certainly an unusual situation," said John. + +"It more equals our encounter that night," she replied. + +"But under pleasanter circumstances," he returned. + +"If we had that old umbrella of mine, how realistic we might make it," +she said, giving a little laugh, and sinking back into the depths of the +cushioned chair, folding her gloved hands as though perfectly at ease, +although showing some timidity of expression in her conversation. + +"I have it yet," he said, as he took up a pen loaded with ink, as if it +were his intention to commence signing the letters but looking at Edith +shyly. + +"Yet?" she raised her eyebrows. + +"I put it away among my other keepsakes," he answered, turning now as if +he really did intend to execute his "John Hancock" on the letters. + +"What for?" asked Edith, tapping a finger on the arm of her chair. + +"Oh, as a hobby; I always try to keep something to remember any unusual +happening in my life," said he, forgetting to sign the name of "Hiram +Jarney." + +"Do you know what I did with yours?" she asked, folding her arms. + +"Consigned it to the garbage heap, I suppose," he replied, letting the +ink fall off his pen to the spoilment of a letter. + +"You are not a good guesser," she replied, her blue eyes sparkling. "It +came near going there--but I have 'J. W.' as an ornament in my boudoir." + +"I imagine it would be out of harmony with the rest of the decorations," +he said, dropping more ink, and still neglecting to sign the name. + +"It harmonizes with my sentiments on certain matters," she said. + +"For instance?" He looked at her. + +"Class distinction." + +"What does mine signify?" attempting to sign, but only getting down the +capital H. + +"You," she looked to the floor. + +"And yours?" Now interested. + +"Me." Still looking down. + +"Then, we should exchange them," he said wonderingly. + +"That would not be to my liking," as she looked up. + +"Not?" he asked, turning from his paper and pen. + +"No," she said, demurly. + +"Ah, Miss Jarney," he said, with despair indicated in his voice, "I have +presumed, at times, to wish to be better acquainted with you, since that +night; but I have thought it useless." + +"Mr. Winthrope, nothing would give me more happiness than to be on good +terms with you." + +"But I see no possibility of that, except--I believe we ought to be on +good terms--that is, friends." + +"So do I." + +"May I hope--no, I must not--may I hope to see you here again, +sometime?" he asked seriously. + +"I used to come here often." + +"I never saw you here before." + +"No--I did not like the last secretary." + +"Then you will come again?" + +"I anticipate that I shall." + +"Then we may become better acquainted?" dropping his pen. + +"If you wish it, Mr. Winthrope," she answered, looking at her hands +lying on the arms of the chair, then up to John, who was taking up his +pen again to reach for a new dip of ink. + +At that moment the door opened and Mr. Jarney and Miss Barton entered. +He carried his hat and cane in one hand, and arrived at his desk in time +to see John completing the signing of his name to the first letter of +the pile before him. + +"Mr. Winthrope," he said, "you have been remiss in your duties. Edith, I +am afraid you would make a poor overseer in this office." + +John, thereupon, fell to work with a will to expedite the signing of the +letters that had been so woefully neglected during his entertaining +tete-a-tete with Edith. + +Edith and Miss Barton prepared to take their departure. Both were +standing before Mr. Jarney in low conversation, when John turned around, +as a new thought came to him, and said, to Miss Barton: + +"Miss Barton, do you have a brother?" + +"I have several brothers, Mr. Winthrope," she replied; "but one of them +disappeared months ago." + +"What was his given name?" + +"Michael." + +"Meeting you today. Miss Barton, reminds me that I met a young man about +two weeks ago who gave the name of Mike Barton." + +Then John related to her the incident of meeting her brother, and of the +words that had passed between them, without making it clear to the young +ladies, however, that the nature of the business that he followed was of +the most questionable. + +"Poor brother! that must be Michael," said Star, when John had concluded +his story. "Wish I could see him; I know I could prevail on him going +home." + +"Would you help us find him?" asked Edith, directing her question to +John. + +"It would give me pleasure to aid you," replied John. + +"How interesting a company we three can make in this undertaking," cried +Edith, with enthusiasm. "Papa, will you permit me to join them?" + +"If Mr. Winthrope is your guide, you may," he answered, now interested +himself. + +"When shall we begin our search?" asked Edith, eagerly looking at John, +and beaming one of her sweetest smiles on him. + +"Whenever Mr. Jarney gives me leave of absence--or, better, I can do it +before or after hours. How will that do?" + +"Capital!" cried Edith. "Papa, that will be fine. You can trust me with +Mr. Winthrope?" + +"Oh, of course," he answered. + +"Good, papa, dear!" she exclaimed. "Now, Star--Miss Barton, we will go +home. When shall we begin?" + +"When I notify you," replied John, rising to bid the ladies good day. + +The two young ladies departed. To John, it was like the going of two +sunbeams that had crossed his lonely pathway, to shine for a moment, +then disappear, with the promise of returning on a fairer day to come. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT. + + +Mike Barton, the rounder, knocked off from his lecherous avocation the +afternoon referred to in the previous chapter, as was his custom every +day at that time, and wandered aimlessly through the throngs of +pedestrians in the main thoroughfares of the city. He was submerged in +an elegant overcoat of black that shut him up from head to foot, so that +only his feet stuck out below, and his head half protruded above; for +the day was in its nastiest mood. A new derby hat sat cocked to one side +of his head, and his hair was in imitation of the devotees of the game +of football. + +With his hands poked deeply into his side coat pockets, he shambled +along, smoking a cigarette, that, at times, sent up a cloud, like a halo +of fog, around his head. He was careless, unconcerned, and impudently +independent in his gait. He pushed his way through the crowds with such +an abandon of gentility that the curious stared at him, and gave a shrug +of their shoulders, as much as to say, "There goes a bad one." He would +stop at times, when a crowd had formed to gaze at some new attraction in +a window; then, with a toss of his head, would push on, maybe +shouldering a meek little woman out of the way; or sidling up to an +unsophisticated girl with a licentious stare, or a suggestive smile; or +he would drop into a saloon, or billiard hall, or tobacco stand to see +his fellow touts; and then go on, ever aimless in his peregrinations. + +After lighting a fresh cigarette, he took up a position on the steps at +the main entrance to the Park building; looking into the faces of the +passers-by, or doing nothing but kill time; when his attention was +arrested by a tall, sleek gentleman in a plug hat and heavy overcoat, +and who was slinging a gold-headed cane, crossing Smithfleld street, +with a lady on his arm. + +"By the Gods!" he exclaimed, so loudly that those standing by gazed at +him in wonderment. The cause of his exclamation was the lady and +gentleman in question, crossing the street. + +The tall gentleman was talking animatedly, and the lady was smiling and +laughing in return, as if what he said gave her great merriment. As they +passed the corner, going down Fifth, Mike stepped to the pavement, and +followed. He kept a few paces in the rear, but always in sight of the +swiftly moving pair. + +The plug hat loomed above the heads of other people, and the lady was +conspicuous by her elegant costume. As they walked on, he followed, ever +in view of the high hat. They turned up Wood, he followed. They crossed +Wood and went down Sixth street, he followed. They came to Liberty and +went down Sixth avenue, he followed. They went out on the Federal street +bridge, he followed. They stopped at the center span, he stopped. They +looked down the river, he took up a position behind an iron girder of +the bridge, and peeped around at them. + +The wind was blowing briskly, skudding snow-like clouds across the sky, +and white caps danced upon the river. Smoke from factory chimney, or +train, or boat, lay in horizontal rolls of grayish blackness, like +tubular pillars floating in the air on the breast of the wind. They +looked down the Alleghany, facing the pelting breezes--through the maze +of craft; through the uplifted arms of many bridges, rearing themselves +like spider-lines criss-crossing the vista of the river; through the +distance over black buildings, sheds and shanties, and everything, they +looked, over and above to the bald bluffs of Washington Heights, where +clung the homes of the middle class, like crows' nests in aerie oaks. +Then down beneath that hill of rock, staggering under its weight of +poverty, they looked--she seeing, as if in a vision, the depressing +hovels of the very poor; and a tear came to her eyes. But Mr. Jarney did +not see those tears. He was intent only in passing away a short space of +time with Star, as a gratifying diversion in his daily course of life. + +The wind brushed by her skirts with great vehemence, and blew her hair +about her face in straggling strands of plaits. She placed one elbow +upon the iron railing, and rested her chin in her hand, and looked down +at the dancing water. Her mild blue eyes were still moistened, and she +wondered how deep and cold the water below her was, and what there was +beneath its surface. Her lips were blue from the chaffing wind, her +teeth chattered from the chill, and her cheeks paled before the +scurrying blasts. + +"I wonder if there is life down there in that dirty yellow water," she +said, meditatively. + +"There used to be many fish in there, at least there was when I was a +boy," he answered, leaning over the railing and looking downward; "but +the defilement of the water by the mills and mines has killed every bit +of life, almost." + +"Nothing escapes the hand of men, it seems, in their search for wealth," +she mused. + +"Nothing--you have been crying," he said, turning his eyes upon her. + +"No; it is the wind," she answered. + +"Ah, the wind; it is raw today," he returned. "Let us turn our backs and +go to the other side of the bridge." + +They crossed the bridge; and looked northward--through the interminable +spans of other bridges; through the blue fog and smoke that rose in the +distance like vapor from smouldering pits of peat, suffering their eyes +to wander over the serrated house-tops that filled Alleghany City as a +checker-board filled with "men." He directed her attention, by his +raised and extended cane, to some prominent objects that stood out +bolder in the landscape than any of the rest. + +And of all their movements, Mike Barton was a stealthy observer from his +place of espionage. He recognized his sister when first he set eyes on +her. He was inclined to approach her as she stood with Mr. Jarney on the +bridge, and make himself known, and take the consequences of the +possible result of meeting such a gentleman under such dubious +circumstances. But the longer he stood observing them in their quiet +contemplation of the scene, the more disinclined he was in attempting to +carry out his scheme. + +Mike Barton knew very well where his sister had gone when she left home. +He knew the home that she lived in; but in his vaccillation he could not +formulate a plan that he could operate tending to its fulfillment, in +reaching her. Therefore, he concluded to wait his time to meet her +alone. This was the first time that he had seen her since she had +entered upon her new life, or in months for that matter. Ah, my +dastardly brother, with all your vile thoughts and debased notions, thy +chaste sister is beyond your unholy machinations! He was not deterred, +however, by pity, or brotherly love, or homely feelings from pursuing +his purpose. + +After the panorama had been viewed from the bridge to Star's complete +satisfaction and joy, Mr. Jarney, after taking out his watch to note the +time of day, turned, with Star on his arm, and began retracing his +steps. Mike followed doggedly, surreptitiously, going into stores, into +hotel lobbies--out again into the streets, always at a safe distance, +that his actions would not be noticed by those being followed. + +Finally, the trail and the quarry ended at the entrance of the Frick +building. Here Mike took up his post, after Mr. Jarney and Miss Barton +had gone within. There he stood buried deeply in his collar, still +smoking the delectable cigarette (to him), with as much energy and +enjoyment as when he started out on his perambulatory quest for fresh +air. The air being chilly, Mike crouched in a corner beneath the big +arch of the doors to keep the chills from going up and down and through +and through his snakish frame. + +An enclosed auto, complete in all its appointments, stood closely +hugging the curbstone, the chauffeur having taken refuge from the +rawness in a nearby lounging place, where a little warmth was obtainable +while he waited for his charges to be taken homeward. + +Shortly, after Mike had taken up his position as a sentry might on more +important and graver business, the great doors by him suddenly bursted +open, and the two young ladies hurried out. They approached the auto +together. Edith opened the door of the cab, and let Star within, she +following. After being seated, they leaned back on the soft cushions of +the enclosed conveyance to wait the coming of the chauffeur to take them +at a giddy speed to the mansion on the hill. + +Mike, from his sentry corner, watched their every movement. Twice, or +thrice, he was tempted to approach them, and make himself known; but he +was restrained by an inward impulse that told him, even in his vapid +sense of reasoning, that he would be committing an egregious mistake, +should he do so at that time and place. + +The chauffeur did not come. The ladies sat quietly, happy, oblivious of +their surroundings, quietly talking; with now and then a little laugh +from each other as a climax to their joyous spirits. Still the chauffeur +did not return; and still the ladies sat on, paying no heed as to +whether the chauffeur was at his post, or off somewhere in China. + +Suddenly the machine puffed, snorted, and sent up a fog of acrid fumes. +Then a lever clicked over a rachet, then another; and the auto began +puffing regularly, and moved slowly out into the street. It creeped and +crawled among the wagons and carts and horses to Smithfield street. Up +that crowded thoroughfare it went, weaving its way certainly, +cautiously, deliberately, determinedly, till it was out of the congested +district; and out where the streets were freer from the impedimenta of +human contrivances. As the distance increased, the speed of the machine +increased, accordingly; and they were directly whizzing onward at a +lively whirring, gathering speed continually as the course lengthened +into the thinly traversed streets. + +Onward they flew--over crossings, past wagons in a flash; past street +cars, autos, vehicles of all kinds and without number; past block after +block, dingy and austre, shooting by like moving picture scenes; up hill +and down, over smooth asphaltum, jolting over cobbles, over rubbish, +over everything imaginable; fleeing, fleeing, with policemen shouting at +the driver to cease his mad race, and noting down the number for haling +him into court. + +But on, ever on, they went, with silent tread, but wild whirring of the +thing that gave it life; and still on, with a swerve and a turn, and a +humming; past naked trees, tall gangling poles, beautiful residences, +sere lawns, barns, stables, fences, open fields and now wooded places, +they traveled, with meteoric speed; up steep hills, down; up, across, +over--ever on, at the same hair-raising flight, throwing mud and water +and gravel with a furious splashing. + +At first, Edith and her companion supposed they were bounding homeward +at the usual rate of progress in that direction when riding in the +Jarney auto. But when Edith beheld new scenes--new objects, new places +on the way, and finally a countryside in its wintery dress, she became +necessarily alarmed; and she was still more alarmed when she saw that +darkness was hovering over the land, and they not yet home. Star, being +composed and guided mostly by Edith's actions, was not bothering +herself, but when she saw Edith exhibiting intense anxiety, she, too, +became alarmed. + +Whereupon, Edith attempted to attract the attention of the chauffeur to +the strangeness of the places they were passing; but he paid no more +heed to her calling than if she were not inside; and he went on, ever +faster, if possible. Edith opened the side door of the auto once, and +put her head without, but owing to the swaying of the machine under the +prodigiousness of its hurrying, she momentarily closed it again, fearing +an accident. + +In the flight, Edith and Star paid no attention to the identity of the +man at the steering wheel, believing that he was their old faithful one, +who had gone quite crazy, or had met with hail companions, and had +imbibed too freely. + +"Oh, oh, Star!" cried Edith; "if we do not stop that man there will be a +terrible accident soon," and she tapped on the plate glass window in +front of her. + +"He must be crazy," suggested Star. + +"Poor man, if I could only get at him, I would soon check the machine," +said Edith as the car turned a corner, throwing her into the arms of +Star, who caught her, in her fright, and pressed her to her breast. +Edith was in a very agitated state of mind, for their situation, seemed +to her, to be of the most precarious kind. + +Star had already clasped Edith in her arms, but she wanted to hold her +closer, if possible, to whisper consoling words. And as she was about to +say a word of comfort, there was a sudden stoppage of the machine. They +were thrown forward, and it turned on its side, buckling up like a +crushed egg shell. All that Star remembered was a terrific crash, a +grinding noise, and the breaking of glass--then darkness. + +Edith rose up from the middle of the road, stunned, dazed, bewildered. +She stood a moment beholding the wreckage; then, quickly surveying the +scene, rushed to the ruined cab, from which she had been flung, and +seized Star by the arm, and lifted her up and dragged her out. Star was +unconscious. Edith administered a little dirty water, taken from a +puddle in the road, to her face; and she soon recovered. + +"Are you hurt?" asked Edith, kneeling by her side, as she lay by the +roadside. + +"Not much," she replied. "Only had my wits knocked out a little; I am +all right now. Are you hurt?" + +"Not much," answered Edith, as she brushed back the hair that had fallen +over Star's face. Then Star arose. + +"Where are we?" she asked. + +"We seem to be in the country," replied Edith. "I see a house across the +field aways. We must have help, Star, at once. I do not see the +chauffeur; he must have disappeared." + +Edith now released Star, seeing that she was not hurt, and began to +brush her clothing to remove some of the be-spatterment that came as a +result of her dropping so miraculously in the mire of the highway. + +"The chauffeur may be under the car," said Star. + +"Why, I do not see him; it is strange," said Edith, as she walked about +the car, and looked beneath it. "Let us search the weeds by the fence." + +Carrying out the suggestion, the two young ladies, now fully recovered, +but much excited still, began to tramp among the dead herbage by the +fence. Edith plunged in among the weeds and thistles and briars, with as +much courage as she would have shown in hunting for some piece of finery +in her boudoir, having no regard for the dispoilment of her fine clothes +any more than if they were of linsey-woolsey. Star climbed the fence and +was treading down the reedage of the field with an earnestness of +purpose that became her character to act her part well in any +employment. + +"Here he is!" shouted Star, after trampling down a few square feet of +bramble to get to a spot, where she thought she saw, while mounting the +fence, a man's coat. "He is dead!" The man was lying on his face, and +Star stood over him. + +"Dead!" cried Edith, climbing the fence, and running toward Star, +tearing her dress on the briars in her haste to join her friend. + +"Dead!" she repeated, as she took Star by the arm. "Dead! Poor man!" + +Both stood looking down upon him, wondering what next to do. Edith +stooped down and turned him on his back. + +"Oh, Edith! He is my poor brother!" wildly cried Star. + +Edith arose, shocked by Star's sudden outburst, wondering what it all +meant. Star knelt down by his side, and tenderly took up one of the dead +man's hands in hers. + +"He is dead! dead! dead! Poor brother!" she said sadly, with her tears +falling over him. "We have found him alone, dear Edith, ourselves. God +must have sent him on this wild ride to reach the pearly gates before +his time. Poor brother! We did not know it was him. It is better that we +did not know. Poor brother, he is dead!" + +Edith bowed her head and wept in sympathy with the grief-stricken Star. + +The hollow face of Michael Barton turned up to them, like a Death's +Head, in the twilight. He was dead! And this loving sister never knew of +the depravity of her fallen brother. It is probably well. For he must +have his reckoning with his God. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +JOHN IS CALLED UPON AN EXTRAORDINARY MISSION. + + +John Winthrope was sitting by his inelegant little table, and was +reading, by the dim gas light, a new text book on modern business +methods, and feeling perfectly contented and extremely happy over his +prospects for the future, when there came three distinct and quickly +repeated knocks at his door. The knocks were made apparently by a person +impatient to gain admission. John dropped his book; ran to the door to +ascertain the cause of the alarm, so significantly given, and threw it +wide open. A messenger of the telephone company, standing in the +hallway, handed him a message, and with it the additional information +that he (the messenger) was to await an answer. Nervously John tore open +the envelope, took out the contents, and read, with considerable +trepidation, the following, dated eight p. m.: + +"Come at once to my Highland avenue residence. Hiram Jarney." + +Without taking time to think or meditate for a fractional part of a +second over the call, John hastily wrote out the following: "Will be on +hand as soon as possible," and gave it to the messenger, with the +instruction to dispatch it immediately upon arrival at the office. + +He then began grooming himself for the journey, so suddenly called upon +to undertake. He could not conceive the urgent necessity of the summons, +except in the light of his position as a servitor of Hiram Jarney, who, +he thought, might have very important matters to look after that night. +He pondered confusedly, while dressing, over what the business might be +that required attention so promptly, and at that late hour of the day. +He had never been called on such a mission before; nor had he been +instructed that he would, at any time, be requested to go to Mr. +Jarney's home on business. + +As he always dressed neatly and looked very tidy while on duty in the +office, he deemed it advisable, on such an occasion, to don his best +Sunday suit; for he did not know but that some fortuitous event might +occur to take him into the presence of the young ladies, who had that +day made such an impression on him. So in less than a half hour he was +prepared to start, and in fifteen minutes more, so speedily did the +taxicab travel with him inside, he was pulling at the ring in the bull's +nose at the Jarney front door. He had noticed, on ascending the high +front steps leading to the great piazza of the mansion, that people were +moving about in the interior as if everybody and everything was in +commotion; and this puzzled him. No sooner had he given the alarm, +however, than the door flew open, and he saw a brazen man standing like +a statue before him. It was evident that he was expected, for the +flunkey, after receiving his card, passed him in without ceremony, and +without relieving him of his coat or hat. + +He now saw, at a glance, that something out of the common had happened. +The maids and waiters were rushing about excitedly, and Mr. Jarney was +pacing the floor with nervous movements; and the little bouncing lady, +all in pink, was ringing her hands and crying. On seeing John, Mr. +Jarney rushed up to him, with the tension gone from his nerves, and +grasped him by the hand, saying: + +"Mr. Winthrope, I am glad you have come--something has happened my +daughter and Miss Barton. They have not been seen since leaving the +office this afternoon." + +John gasped. + +"What can I do to aid you, Mr. Jarney?" he asked. "I am glad to be of +any service my help will avail." + +"I do not know what has occurred to cause them to disappear so +mysteriously," answered Mr. Jarney. "We must find them, if possible, +this night." + +"Have you notified the police?" asked John, believing, like many people, +that these hawkashaws of the law readily knew how to solve any kind of a +mystery. + +"I have already informed the police--miserable service we have--some two +hours ago, and no tidings have they found," he replied, as he again took +up his nervous walk, leaving Mrs. Jarney to talk with John. + +"No clue?" asked John. + +"None whatever," said Mr. Jarney, turning again to him. + +"It is strange," said John. "Where is the chauffeur?" + +"Why, that rascal was off his seat, and a stranger is supposed to have +driven the car away," replied Mr. Jarney. "Beg your pardon, Mr. +Winthrope, in my distraction I have so far forgotten myself to fail to +introduce you to Mrs. Jarney." This formality being then dispensed with, +although John had already struck up a conversation with that lady, Mr. +Jarney said. "Mr. Winthrope, I have called you here to lead a searching +party for their recovery." + +"Oh, Mr. Winthrope," wailed the little lady; "I hope you can find them +this night." + +Just then a maid came rushing in with the information that Mr. Jarney +was expressly wanted at the telephone. + +"It has been ringing all evening, and to no purpose," said Mr. Jarney, +impatiently; "answer it." + +The maid retreated; but in a moment she returned again with the further +information that a lady was at the other end of the line, and wanted +especially to see Mr. Jarney, as the maid put it. + +Mr. Jarney begged John to accompany him to the phone room of his +residence, and, when the former took down the receiver, he made the +following replies to the voice at the other end: + +"Hello! This is Mr. Jarney!" + +"Yes; this is he." + +"Talk louder?" + +"Talk louder?" + +"I can't hear yet!" + +"Who is this?" + +"Ed-d-Edith?" + +"God bless us!" + +"Where are you?" + +"At Millvale? Good gracious!" + +"What the deuce are you doing there?" + +"You were!" + +"You did?" + +"Ah, she is safe?" + +"He is dead! Who is dead?" + +"Mike Barton?" + +"Killed! Accident!" + +"Farmer brought you to Millvale, eh?" + +"Coming in on the street cars, did you say?" + +"I'll send Mr. Winthrope in a taxicab for you." + +"Yes, he is here." + +"Yes; he came out to direct a search for you." + +"Wouldn't know where to look for you?" + +"Never could have found you?" + +"You wait there till he arrives." + +"Well; I thought you would be glad." + +"Do with the body?" + +"Leave it there, of course." + +"Yes; he will come at once." + +"Good bye!" + +Putting up the receiver to disconnect the phone, Mr. Jarney called up +the main office of the taxicab company, and ordered a cab post haste to +his residence. Then turning to John, he said: + +"It is very strange; very strange! Miss Barton's brother was killed in +an accident with my machine! Very strange, indeed." + +John took the answer to the voice at the other end of the phone to mean +a peremptory command for him to go; still he thought his services were +not now particularly needed to conduct the lost ones home. Mr. Jarney +simply wanted him to go and act as their body guard on this momentous +night. John would have been glad of the opportunity to thank him for the +new trust imposed in him had Mr. Jarney asked him to go; but as he did +not make a request for his services, but a command instead, he took it +to mean that he was to comply implicitly, as any faithful servant would +have complied. + +When the taxicab arrived, and after John had been admonished repeatedly +as to how to proceed, and loaded down with wraps and robes and other +things, he made his exit and went upon his mission. + +Arriving at Millvale without incident, but feeling very much concerned +as to how he should conduct himself with his charges, he found Edith and +Star both laboring under great mental and physical strain, as a +consequence of their experiences, with Star at that moment the worse of +the two, by reason of the tragic ending of her brother. Both young +ladies were bedraggled. Their fine clothes were bespattered with mud and +their shoes soaked with water. They trembled from the strain, and shook +from the cold. But John could do nothing at that hour to give them +relief, except to wrap them up in blankets and bundle them into the cab; +which he did with much tenderness and courteous behavior toward each, +slighting neither in any little attention that would tend to their +immediate comfort. Then, after giving orders for the disposition of the +body of Mike Barton, he seated himself within the cab, and they were +directly speeding homeward. + +On the way, Edith related to John, with many a break in her story, of +all that had befallen them since leaving the office that afternoon. + +"A very sad ending, indeed, for you, Miss Barton," said John, after +Edith had concluded. + +Star was not of an emotional nature, consequently she bore up under the +ordeal with great fortitude. She felt very sad; naturally, very sad. + +"It is a miracle that we both were not killed," said Edith. "The car was +left a total wreck by the roadside. It struck a telegraph pole in making +a turn, and Star was struck unconscious, while I was thrown to the road. +Star's brother was thrown at least forty feet away, so terrific was his +driving." + +"What impelled him to such a trick, do you suppose?" asked John. + +"I cannot fathom his motive," answered Edith. "Nor I," said Star. "Poor +boy!" + +"Perhaps he was unawares of whom you were," suggested John; "and was out +for a lark to give some one a scare." + +"Poor boy!" said Star. "I will forgive him." + +"Oh--my--I am so dizzy!" suddenly exclaimed Edith. "I do not know +whether it is this car or my head that is whirling round so. Oh, o--o!" + +She was sliding forward on her seat, and her head was falling to one +side. She sighed. "Oh--o--o!" she uttered. Sighed; then was quiet. + +In the darkness of the cab John could not discern her movements plainly; +but he knew, by her heavy breathing, that something was wrong with her. +Star being in a very distressed condition herself, failed to understand +or comprehend the suffering signs of Edith; so John, noting all these +things, lent his personal attentions to Edith, who was just then in a +mortal state of suspended animation. + +John was very careful that he did not make himself promiscuous in either +one's behalf, except when the most imminent danger was confronting them. +By the reflected lights of the streets, as they were whirled along, John +caught a glimpse of Edith, and was not slow to see that she was in need +of care from some source. He therefore caught her by the arms, just as +she was senselessly keeling over, and raised her to a sitting posture. +As he lifted her up, her head fell to one side; but in a moment she +roused herself and attempted to sit up straight. In another moment she +lapsed unconscious, and limply declined into helplessness. + +At first, John placed her head on the cushion in the corner of the cab. +Seeing this position made her look uncomfortable, he then put an arm +around her, and laid her head upon his shoulder. Thus they rode for a +brief time. Then he lifted up one of her gloved hands. Finding it wet +and cold, with Star's assistance he removed the gloves. After having +chafed her hands, and rubbing them together to start up a circulation +brisker than appeared to be natural, he drew his own heavy gloves over +her quivering fingers. After which Star removed Edith's shoes and +stockings, and rubbed her cold damp feet, and wrapped a blanket around +them. Shortly her blood resumed a freer circulation, and she roused +herself, faintly asking where she was. + +"We are on our way to your home," answered John, removing his arm from +around her. + +He acted voluntarily in this matter, always having the fear upon him +that what he might be then doing for her would appear to be impertinent. +But she was growing more serious, and in spite of his desire to withdraw +his arm from her support, he was compelled to hold her more firmly than +before. She was now breathing heavily and her hot breath he could feel +in his face as her head lay on his shoulder. She was like a child, and +was beginning to mumble, and mutter inarticulate words, disconnected in +their sequence, none of which could he form into intelligible +sentences--except the two words, "Papa and mamma." Once he thought she +was trying to say "Mr. Winthrope"; but he could not exactly tell. This +troubled him some now, for his only thoughts toward her were of dutiful +respect in this her hour of great trouble. + +They arrived home at last, with Edith still in a comatose state, and +breathing like one entering into the dreadful sickness of pneumonia. She +was hot and feverish. Her hands twitched nervously. She was muttering +incoherently, but not ravingly. + +When the cab rolled up the driveway to the side entrance of the mansion, +John lifted Edith up in his arms, and, bidding Miss Barton to collect +their effects together and follow, went into the brilliantly lighted +hall. He was about to hand her over to her parents, but, by their +direction, he continued, silently, with the father and mother, maids and +physician coming after him, to her own room, and there he laid her down +upon her bed. + +As he released her, he gave one longing look at her pretty white face; +and trusted, in his heart of hearts, that her parents would tenderly +care for her, and fetch her back to life and health. Then, bidding them +a whispered adieu, he departed for his own simple abode, with some +lingering regrets that he could not have stayed by her bedside and +nursed her through her illness. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +SECRET WORKINGS OF THE SYSTEM. + + +Peter Dieman was happier than usual one morning, if he could ever be +called happy by any possibility of reading such a state of feeling in +his otherwise perverse and irascible countenance. + +Happy! Well, Peter was never more happy in all his born days; but what +the extent of that emotion might become in his after life was hard to +predict at that time. Whenever he was in good humor, it was his never +failing custom to puff at his pipe like a locomotive getting off a +dead-center, and to rub his hands with less expenditure of energy, and +to squint his eyes with less vigor, and to shut his mouth with less +desire to keep it closed. In fact, on such rare occasions, it might be +said of him that he was in his subconscious region of retroflection, one +peculiarly of his own conception. + +The cause of all his good humor was nothing more nor less than the +refreshing information, imparted to him the day before by Jim Dalls, i. +e., that Jim Dalls had decided to go to Europe. Ever since this +enlightening piece of intelligence broke in upon the deepness of Peter's +outward density of intellect, that gentleman was in a high fever of +unemotional genuflexion. Why, mortal man! Peter sat in his chair all +that night offering up his devotion to the Gods that They might be +propitiated for Their timely intervention. And betimes eating cheese and +crackers, and drinking beer, and surfeiting the air with the delicious +fumes of his strong pipe. He was, as it were, riding on the back of +Alborak into the Seventh Heaven of satisfaction. + +Not only did he offer up devotion to his Deity, but to other people's +Deity as well. Oh, ah, he would think often, but never utter; it being +merely his manner of getting rid of superfluous enthusiasm. And his oh, +ah's extended on through the night, mixed with cheese, crackers, beer +and smoke, to the hour of nine o'clock in the forenoon, at which time he +suddenly aroused himself to the position of the hands on the dial of the +dollar-clock that hung above his desk, where he could always keep his +eyes on its horological exactness. + +Having noted the time, Eli, after having opened the shop without the +least interference with his master's meditations, was summarily summoned +into the august presence of Peter through the tintinnabulating medium of +a large iron spike applied to a piece of sounding brass suspended by a +string from the ceiling on the right hand of his chair. Eli came to +attention, with the alertness of an orderly, before Peter, and waited to +be commanded. + +"Call up 206070-m and tell him to come to my office by 9:45 sharp," said +Peter in a less tragic tone than he had been used to in hurling his +commands at Eli. + +"Yes, sir," said Eli, departing. Directly he returned, stood attention, +and said: "He will be here." + +"Ha! Good!" cried Peter. "Go to work, you lazy scamp." The last to Eli. + +Peter sat still and mused on in the same barbarous manner, with only one +change in the program of his devotions, and that was, that since 7:30 +o'clock he had kept his face close to the peephole that gave him a view +into his store, and upon Eli's performances. + +With his sharp little eyes he saw the store, with all its junk and +jumble; he saw poor imbecilic Eli skipping about with undying devotion +in his heart; but his devotion was to serve his master, and serve him +well he did. Verily, he saw everything within the store, almost; at +least what he did not see, he knew of, as if his eyes were optical +divining rods. And he saw also beyond the confines of the four walls +that bound him about during his personifying period of the devil:--He +saw his henchmen going here and there, like earth-worms, through the +devious passages of the dark and dangerous undermining of the civic +welfare; he saw the policemen on their beats, wielding their maces, as +if he had as many hands as there were officers, and doing the execution +thereof himself; he saw the aldermanic bodies sitting in grave +deliberation on important or unimportant questions, knowing well himself +what their action might be on anything out of the purely routine order; +he saw the fawning sycophants, with their justifiable tale of complaint, +being brushed aside by the higher hands; he saw the givers of tribute +paying into the coffers of the system the doubloons of unwholesome +preferment; he saw special privilege unsatisfied, always; he saw the +needy come up with their last dollar out of the depths of their +nefarious haunts and lay it at the feet of the King of Graft; he saw the +glow-worms of society in a trail of phosphorescent splendor making the +welkin ring with the hallelujahs of their perfections; he saw the +merchant, the lawyer, the doctor, the craftsman, the civic officer, the +banker, the broker, the justice, the bailiff, the warden--all he saw +bending to the power of the system in all its ramifying debasement. + +Aye, aye, he saw, too, the danger of it all to that system; to himself, +to his friends, and to those who sat above him on the high throne +erected to the debauchment of popular government, should Jim Dalls not +be removed to some other ruler's domains. And Jim must go; and he must +remain away; and all those of his present tendencies must go, and they, +too, must remain away, if money was all that were needed to that end. + +While Peter was reflecting on all these things, there came into view in +the store, the short stalky form of a man past middle life. He walked +with a business air in his every movement directly into the presence of +Eli, to whom he gave the pass, which was 206070-m, and then continued +through the alleyways of junk to the black hole in the rear occupied by +Peter. Arriving at the door, he stepped inside, took off his hat, and +sat down, sniffing with some annoyance at the foul atmosphere. + +"Now, what is the game?" he asked Peter. + +"I want ten thousand by ten o'clock," replied Peter, without any +ceremonious introduction of the question. + +"That's mighty short notice, I must say, Peter," replied the man. + +"Fifteen minutes is time enough to rob any man or institution," answered +Peter. + +"The pull on our purse strings is very great at present," said the man. + +"Cut the strings," retorted Peter. + +"Cut them, you all say; but that won't preserve enough to pay the +fiddlers," responded the man. + +"Fiddlers be damned," roared Peter; "we must get Jim Dalls out of the +country." + +"Is he wanting to squeal?" asked the man, with upraised eyebrows. + +"He is ready," answered Peter. + +"Can't he be staved off by bluff?" asked the man. + +"He's best in Europe." + +"Is he going there?" + +"He's going." + +"When?" asked the man, bluntly. + +"Get the money, and buy a ticket also." + +"Why, Peter, it will take a little more time than you have given to +complete the transaction." + +"You may have till 10:30 to fix it up." + +"I will return at that time with the amount," said the man, +reflectively. + +The man was rising to pass out, when the tall figure of Jim Dalls +entered. The latter halted, and stood a moment gazing at Peter and the +man, with a contemptuous smile breaking up his smooth features. + +"Well, Jacob Cobb, you here?" he asked, with some asperity in his +voice. + +"Who else do you see, Jim Dalls, I would like to know, besides we +three?" asked Jacob, for that is whom the man proved to be, and who was +known to Peter only as 206070-m; and to his henchmen as the same. + +"You fellows are not turning a trick on me?" asked Jim Dalls, with +suspicion. + +"We will be only too glad to get rid of you," answered Peter. + +"And see you safely out of the country," joined Cobb. + +"I think I should have more money," remarked Jim; "ten thousand won't +last long in Europe, where you have to bribe every sonofagun who looks +at you; it's worse than Pittsburgh." + +"How much more?" asked Peter, in alarm. + +"Twenty thousand ought to be sufficient," answered Jim. + +"Bring three tickets, Cobb, reading from Pittsburgh to Paris, and twenty +thousand," said Peter. "And that's the last sou I'll give you, you cur." + +"Don't be too sure, Peter; I may ask for ten thousand more," said Jim, +independently. + +"You won't get it," barked Peter. "Get the tickets and the money, Cobb." + +Jacob Cobb forthwith departed, going direct to a vault in one of the big +banking institutions. Procuring the money, he purchased three tickets +for Jim Jones and wife and daughter. Returning with the tickets in his +pocket, and the money safely lodged in the depths of an immense sack, he +hiked it, with expeditious tread, to The Die; and thereat turned the +sack, with its valuable contents, over to the lamentable Eli for secret +delivery. + +In the office. Jacob Cobb confronted Jim Dalls with the three tickets, +which that gentleman refused, at first, to accept without the +accompanying "dough;" but being informed that that little feature of the +transaction would be consummated through the faithful Eli, Jim returned +to the store to be further set upon by more mysterious signs of secrecy +as to the source of the money. + +On entering the store, Jacob threw the sack, with all its preciousness, +under a bundle of other similar sacks, and told Eli to offer it for sale +to the man in the office, who would, in a moment, be along to make a +purchase in that article of usefulness. So when Eli saw Jim Dalls +approaching, not then being busy himself, he casually withdrew the sack, +and laid it upon a table, and asked him if he did not want to purchase +it. Only ten cents, he said, was asked for it. Didn't he want it in his +line of business, whatever that might be? Jim caught the cue, of course, +and paid the ten cents without protest. After obtaining it, he returned +to the office. + +"Good bye, Peter; good bye, Jacob," he said, extending his hand. "I'll +be off this very day; but, remember, if I should run short in touring +Europe, I expect more help from you two." + +"You dog!" howled Peter. + +"Ah! you may 'you dog' all you want to now; I have you where I want you. +I will see that as long as you fellows play the game, I am properly +cared for--so long, gentlemen." + +With these parting remarks, Jim Dalls took his leave; and in another +twenty-four hours had vanished from his beaten tracks in the city that +knew him so well. A newspaper announcement said that he had gone to +Europe for his health. + +Alter Jim Dalls left that day, the implacable Peter turned upon Jacob +Cobb and said: + +"We must raise the levy." + +"It's already reaching the high tide mark," said Jacob. + +"We will let her reach it; then we will let her ebb, after this sum is +raised," said Peter, rubbing his hands. + +"But we may be drowned in the flow before it turns," answered Jacob, +with emphasis on the may. + +"Let her drown," replied Peter, resolutely. + +"We'll go down in the wreck, if we get too reckless," said Jacob, +fearfully. + +"Who cares?" responded Peter, inexorably. + +"I care," said Jacob, with some humility. + +"I don't," said the dogmatic Peter. + +"But I have daughters and a son," protested Jacob. + +"No more than lots of other men," replied the angry Peter, rubbing +excitedly. + +"But look at the difference?" now pleaded Jacob. + +"There isn't any," snapped Peter. + +"Do you infer, Peter, that you will play false, too?" asked Jacob, +seized with the impression that his fellow grafters would desert him. + +"I infer nothing; I act," said Peter, turning to look out his place of +espial. + +"You think you are safe?" said Jacob. + +"I think nothing; I act. If I fail, I fail, and don't cry!" he shouted. + +"You are exasperating, Peter; come, now, let's get down to +business--what will we raise it on first?" asked Jacob. + +"On every resort in town; I'll send word tonight to my entire force to +press on the screws," answered Peter. + +"Good!" exclaimed Jacob, now in full accord with Peter's views. + +"Have you seen Monroe?" asked Peter, now turning to a new subject. + +"Had a talk with him yesterday." + +"What did he say?" + +"Said he was with us still." + +"Can he be trusted?" + +"Without a doubt." + +"Does Jarney know of his connection with us?" + +"No." + +"Jarney, the goody-goody, must be made to pay for big knocking." + +"Monroe has been detailed to work on him," said Jacob. + +"And you can trust to Monroe for that?" asked Peter. + +"I believe we can; but he is handicapped now by the firing of Jarney's +old reliable secretary." + +"He's been fired? Who has he now?" + +"A young country bumpkin." + +"Can't you get him in your ranks?" asked Peter. + +"I fear not," replied Jacob, with a shake of the head. "He's been +approached, and seems to be as susceptible as a cow." + +"Ah, we must get rid of him, some way--get him out of Monroe's way." + +"That's what Monroe will attempt to do," said Jacob. + +"Can he do it?" asked Peter, squinting. + +"If he's slick enough, he can; nobody else can get so near the scene of +operation like Monroe." + +"How's Jarney's adopted daughter coming on in society?" asked Peter, +with a faint attempt at smiling. + +"Fine, I hear," answered Jacob, rising in his chair, and turning around +with his back to Peter. + +"That's a funny piece of business on Jarney's part," said Peter, puffing +very hard at his pipe. + +"His daughter took a fancy to her, on seeing her one day while slumming +on the South Side, and she's trying to make a lady of her," said Jacob, +sitting down again, after throwing away the stump of a cigar. + +"Can she do it?" asked Peter, with considerable interest. + +"She's doing it," responded Jacob, who noticed the change of Peter's +interest, which was now of the kindly kind. + +"God bless her!" exclaimed Peter, as he turned again to his ever present +peephole expression. + +"Mike Barton's dead," said Jacob, slowly. + +"The devil!" shouted Peter, turning from his peephole. + +"Yes; didn't you hear of it?" + +"No. How?" + +"Automobile accident." + +"There are others to take his place," said Peter, grunting like a +satisfied pig after eating heartily. "How did it happen?" + +"Stole Jarney's auto, with the two young ladies in it; run it like h---- +to the country, to kidnap them, I suppose; ran into a telegraph +pole--busted the machine, and busted his head." + +"Poor wretch! I am glad he is gone, for his sister's sake," said Peter, +sighing, which he could do sometimes. + +"Ah, I see you are very compassionate for the girl all at once," said +Jacob, eyeing Peter. + +"I have reasons to be," replied Peter, spiritedly. "Were the girls +hurt?" + +"No; but Edith Jarney is very ill--." + +"Very ill! What?" interrupted Peter. + +"Brain fever, she's got." + +"Ah, she is too good to live," said Peter, looking out his peephole +again. Then turning quickly, with his peculiar little eyes turned up +sidewise at Jacob, he said: "Say, Jacob, we must put our sleuths on the +trail of that old drunkard, Billy Barton. He has been gone a long time, +and not a single word from him." + +"What do you want with the sot?" asked Jacob, mystified. "He's no good." + +"That's my business--poor Billy," and Peter lapsed into a moody spell, +for sometimes he seemed to have a little of the feelings of a natural +heart; but this quality in him was as rare as the air on Pike's Peak. +"His family must be cared for." + +"Jarney's doing that," answered Jacob. + +"Is he?" jerked out Peter, wrathfully. "I'll not allow it from him, the +interloper!" + +"You are getting generous all at once, Peter; I should not begrudge him +the privilege." + +"Well, then, I don't," replied Peter, after a moment's reflection. "Let +him keep them; he owes it to them." + +"It is time for me to be at my office, Peter; so good bye," said Jacob, +rising to leave. + +"Remember Monroe," said Peter. + +"Oh, I'll see to that," said Jacob, as he went out. + +So are the "ropes" laid, as per the rule of things, to further the ends +of the men who neither toil nor spin. Were the dear people less disposed +to supine indifference toward their public officials, the government of +our country would be as perfect, no doubt, as that of the fabled Utopia. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +JOHN WINTHROPE IS SURROUNDED BY PERPLEXITIES. + + +The morbidly silent Monroe went about his duties with the serenity of a +cat out on a dark night. The immobility of his starched face left no +impression on the beholder of it as to whether he could be successfully +punctured with the light of pleasantry. His feline movements from office +to office among the clerical force cast an uncanny glamour over them +all; and when not in the act of always appearing to be ready to make a +spring upon them, as he glided whisperingly through the aisles of desks +and high stands, he would be sitting at his own desk, in a corner of his +private room, scanning sheet after sheet of reports and balances, and +running over leaf after leaf of notations that had been left on his +spindle for his especial perusal. + +He was a very precise man, very accurate, very painstaking. He was a +very obdurate man, very exacting, very positive. He was a very efficient +man, very dependable, very obliging. He was a very incomprehensible man, +very calculating, very mysterious. And besides, he was by nature very +crafty, revengeful and egotistic. None of which traits could be read in +his marble-like physiognomy; but they had to be worked out, to see them +plainly, by a system of watching, and close scrutiny of his acts. He had +risen in the office force from the bottom, and held his present post by +right of apparent merit. + +No one under him, or above, for that matter, ever dreamed that behind +his iron mask lay another man, unscrupulous and unfaithful. No one ever +thought of him but that he was honest, upright and beyond reproach. No +one ever thought of him being a depraved man, as being licentious, as +being impure in thought and actions; because all these things were +hidden under his bushel of contrarieties. + +At his desk, Mr. Monroe always worked with dispatch in disposing of the +matters that daily came before him; and rarely could he be approached, +except by the carrier of messages, or by an important personage, and +then by announcement--except the head of the firm, who, of course, had +free access to his room. + +He was sitting, one day, enveloped in a great pile of work, when it was +announced that Mr. Winthrope, the secretary, desired an audience with +him. The secretary was admitted; but he was not asked to sit down. He +stood before him in his own power; and he drew his own conclusions. But +he said: + +"Mr. Monroe, do you have at hand the balance sheet of last month?" + +"I can get it," he answered, automatically. + +"Mr. Jarney desires to go over it again," said John. + +Mr. Monroe procured the sheet, and stiffly handed it to John, with one +of his stony stares. John took the sheet and left him. When he reached +the door, going out, he turned and caught the stolid face of Monroe +still upon him. Neither said a word. John went out. Mr. Monroe pressed a +button. A short, heavy set, square shouldered man, with green eyes, +answered the button's call. He was Welty Morne, the head of the +bookkeeping department. + +"Welty," said Monroe, familiarly, "do you ever see the secretary after +work hours?" + +"No." + +"Do you know where he lives?" + +"At The King House, Diamond alley." + +"He is never out at night, is he?" + +"I have never seen him." + +"He never associates with the boys, does he?" + +"He seems to be a seclusive chap," said Welty. + +"Yes; and very selfish," said Monroe, quietly. "Does he spend any +money?" + +"Have no way of knowing--except, perhaps, he pays his board and rent." + +"Let us call on him tonight, and initiate him; will you?" + +"I should like a little outing in this disagreeable weather, and will be +happy to join you," replied Welty, with his green eyes beaming in +anticipation of a lark. + +"Will you call at my place at nine p. m.?" + +"I will--whee-e-e!" + +Welty Morne retires. The button is pressed again. Bate Yenger, assistant +to the head bookkeeper, enters. He sits down, and looks indolent. He is +a slim chap, with a fair face and black eyes, which show indications of +night-hawking. + +"Bate," said the impressionless Monroe, "have you met the new secretary +after work hours?" + +"Have not." + +"Know anything of his habits?" + +"Nothing." + +"Do you want to go on a lark tonight?" + +"Wouldn't mind it." + +"Then come to my place at nine p. m." + +Bate Yenger disappears. Monroe resumes his work. John returns the +balance sheet, and hands it to Monroe. Monroe takes it, and scans it +over. He sees some check-marks upon it. He folds it up, and puts it +away. John remains a moment, as if he would like to speak to Monroe; but +Monroe does not speak. John, then, goes out. + + * * * * * + +Promptly on the hour of nine p. m., Welty Morne and his boon companion, +Bate Yenger, called at the apartments of Mr. Monroe at the St. Charles. +That chunk of stiffness they found was ready, and together the three +fared forth for a night of rounding. + +They called upon John Winthrope in his dingy quarters--a hideous +contrast, they thought, to their own bright and luxurious living places. +John was surprised, of course, to see them. Would he go out with them? +Whither? For sight-seeing. + +John looked at his open books and papers on his little table, glanced +down at himself, half inclined to accept; but very perplexed about it. +He hesitated, and then asked them into his room. They entered, but did +not sit down, as there was only one chair, which later was preempted by +Welty. + +"Why don't you get decent quarters, Mr. Winthrope?" asked Welty, who was +a lively and a very talkative fellow. + +"Cannot afford it," answered John. + +"Oh, bosh! You receive as much, and more, than many of the other young +men in our office, and the way they fly one would think they were +millionaires' sons," replied Welty. + +"I have a mother and father to assist," said John. + +"Won't you go tonight; we will pay the way," insisted the persuasive +Welty. + +John still hesitated. He pondered a moment, and then replied: "No, thank +you; I do not care to go." + +"Just tonight, Mr. Winthrope; three is a company, and four is a crowd," +pursued Welty. + +"I thank you very much, Mr. Morne; but really, now, I do not care to +go," persisted John. + +During this ineffectual conversation, Monroe stood leaning against the +door as passive as a tombstone, with Bate Yenger leaning awkwardly +against the wall near him, looking as vapid as a snake in winter time. +Welty was disconcerted, disappointed, and aggravated. At John's last +remark, he tried to hide his displeasure of it beneath a subtle smile +that was a cross between sarcasm and disgust. John sat on the edge of +his bed in a thoughtless mood, chewing the end of a tooth-pick. All four +were silent for an uncomfortable period of time. Then Welty broke the +spell. + +"So you won't join us?" he asked. + +"No; thank you; I do not care to go," answered John. + +"Ah, he is not so easy as I thought," said Monroe to himself. + +Silence followed. John sat still, masticating his tooth-pick, being +little concerned as to how they took his answer. He wanted to be curt to +them, by demeanor; and wished they would depart. For reasons of his own, +which he considered private, as far as he was concerned, he did not +desire their company under any circumstances. Therefore, while he aimed +always to be polite to the triumvirate schemers, he would rather show +himself to be a boor than to have them about him. + +So, disgusted with John's susceptibility to fall into their trap, and +displeased at their own lack of tact, the three gentlemen went rattling +down the stairs, and out into the street. + +"He's a Sunday-schooler, all right," said Welty, as they lined up side +by side, with Monroe in between, to go down the avenue. + +"Aw, a cheap skate," said Bate. + +After Monroe began to realize the abject failure of his scheme, and +after the words of the other gentlemen had percolated through his +adamantine head, he remarked, in reply to each of the other's opinion, +that Winthrope was a sissy, which application, it is readily seen, was +not well placed; then he said: "He is an impeccable good-for-nothing. He +needs to be shown a thing or two in this old town--but he will learn all +right, like the rest of them." + +"You are a poor inveigler," said Welty to Monroe, facetiously. + +"My time, like that of all dogs, will come yet," said Monroe. + +"Well; I would like to know your motive?" asked Welty. + +"Oh, I just wanted to get him limbered up a little," answered the astute +one. + +Thus being vanquished in his purpose, Monroe excused himself, after they +had walked a few blocks, and retreated to his rooms, there to enter upon +the duties of outlining a more ingenious campaign toward the destruction +of John Winthrope's name, and to ruin his chances for continuing in the +office of Jarney & Lowman. His first conceived plan was to get John +Winthrope out of the way, in the head office. This he could only hope to +do by besmirching his character, or cause him to commit some overt act +of deportment that would be laid up against him in the eyes of Mr. +Jarney. + +So, after being rebuffed in his first effort, Monroe concluded to take +another tack, and would thereafter become and be John's intimate friend, +a good fellow towards him, and a hearty supporter of him before the +firm, and thereby get results. These things he thought out pretty +clearly, and definitely decided that on the morrow he would bombard the +fort from another angle. + +So on the morrow, as soon as Mr. Winthrope had arrived, he was surprised +to receive a polite little note, via the messenger, to call in the +office of Mr. Monroe as early as convenient, and without interference in +his official capacity. Ever prompt in complying with such informal +invitations (which he took it to be, instead of a command), and having +time to spare before the arrival of Mr. Jarney, he repaired at once to +the sanctum of Mr. Monroe. + +That gentleman, John was also surprised to see, had unbended to such +proportions, that, when John approached his desk, he arose, and shook +hands with him, an heretofore unheard of performance of cordiality on +Mr. Monroe's part. + +"I have asked you in, Mr. Winthrope," said Monroe, "to apologize for +intruding on you last night. It was only a whim of one of the boys out +on a lark, with whom, unfortunately, I fell in with at the untimely +hour." + +"Oh, that is all right, Mr. Monroe," replied John. "I took no offense at +your visit." + +"I thought, perhaps, you might have been offended." + +"The fact is, I was very busy last night and forgot all about your +intrusion after you had gone," said John, smiling affably, but with +noticeable indifference in his voice. + +"I should like to have your confidence, Mr. Winthrope," said the wily +one. "Inasmuch, as we are near to the head of the firm, we should be on +better terms." + +"Perhaps we should," answered John, still indifferent. + +"I shall deem it a pleasure to have you call on me some evening, and +accompany me to dinner; or, if you will set the time, I shall call on +you." + +"You are very kind, Mr. Monroe." + +"May I call, or will you call?" + +"Neither," replied John, without exhibiting a sign of what he meant. + +"Then, I am to understand, you do not court my company?" said the +unruffled one. + +"No; not that, Mr. Monroe. I am very busy of evenings. Sometime I may +accept your invitation; but not for the present," responded John. + +"What is it that so engrosses you of evenings, may I inquire?" asked the +worming Monroe. + +"Yes; you may ask whatever you please--I am taking a post-graduate +course in business on my own time," said John. + +"To what end?" asked Monroe. + +"That I may be better prepared to perform my duties; for that reason I +do not care to spare the time to go out." + +"Very well, Mr. Winthrope; success to you," said Monroe. "But may I not +anticipate your company to dinner before very long?" + +"I cannot now decide, Mr. Monroe--not now; but will inform you of my +decision at a later date," replied John. + +Hearing Mr. Jarney enter his office at this juncture, John said good bye +to the cat, and retired. He found Mr. Jarney tuned to a conversational +degree that morning that perplexed him. Mr. Jarney dictated a few +letters, beginning on them as was his custom, immediately after taking +his seat, and looking over some important ones; then he lighted a cigar, +and reared back in his chair in pleasant contemplation of the circles +that he blew out and sent upwards like escaping halos. John sat +regarding him for a few seconds with calm complacency; then, seeing that +he did not intend to proceed further, for the present, with the +dictation, said that he would retire and transcribe the letters. + +"No hurry, Mr. Winthrope; no hurry," said Mr. Jarney, looking +searchingly at John. "You are the most unfathomable chap I ever saw, Mr. +Winthrope," he continued. "Here a week has gone by and you have not yet +made inquiry about my daughter's health." + +John was astonished at this statement. + +"Mr. Jarney, I should have inquired," he said; "but I felt it out of +place for me to be so familiar with your family matters." + +"Why so?" he asked, with sharpness. + +"I feared you might think me presumptuous," replied John, timidly. + +"You presumptuous? I am not snobbish, Mr. Winthrope," he returned. + +"Well, I felt that I would be keeping my place, by keeping silent," said +John. + +"I never mentioned the matter, Mr. Winthrope, because I wanted to see +just how long you would be silent," said Mr. Jarney. "And don't you care +to know?" + +"Why, Mr. Jarney, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to know +that Miss Jarney is improving." + +"She is not," he said, despondently. + +"Is she serious?" asked John. + +"Very serious," he replied. Mr. Jarney must have noticed the pallor that +stole over John's face at this unwelcome information; but if he did not, +he divined John's eagerness to know more of Edith's complaint, and +continued: "Yes, Mr. Winthrope, she is very serious. She has brain +fever. The escapade of young Barton brought a great blow upon us all; +for I have great fears of her recovery." + +"Do the doctors give no hope?" asked John, eagerly. + +"No hope," was the reply, as Mr. Jarney shook his head, and resuming his +old demeanor of being affected by some inward impulses that had pervaded +him for the week past. + +"I am very sorry, Mr. Jarney, that I did not know of this before now, so +that I could have sympathized with you," said John, feelingly. + +"I appreciate your modesty, Mr. Winthrope, in not inquiring, and I +deplore my disposition in not being more communicative; for I knew all +along you were anxious to know, after the kind services you rendered us +by bringing her home," said Mr. Jarney, speaking now with considerable +emotion. + +"I know I should have inquired, Mr. Jarney, and was on the point of +doing so several times, but I always felt that you were indifferent as +to how I felt about the matter." + +"Mr. Winthrope, I must be frank with you, for dear Edith's sake, and +tell you all. She--" + +"--not expected to recover," interrupted John, bending forward intently. + +"No, that is not what I was about to say," he replied, scanning John's +face. "While in a delirium, she repeatedly calls for you. Every day and +every night she has been doing this, since you brought her home. We +would have sent for you to come to see her had we believed your presence +would have been of any avail in bringing her to her reason. But, as the +doctors said that is true in all such cases, we deferred to their +advice. As her father, I do not believe their opinion is of much moment +in her present critical condition, so I am going to request you to +accompany me to my home this evening for dinner, and incidentally you +may see Edith, for what comfort she, or you, may have in such a +meeting." + +This was certainly startling information to Mr. Winthrope. He had put +through many fruitless hours wondering about the outcome of Edith's +illness, and suffered some pangs of heart thereby; but little did he +dream, or anticipate, that he could, in any manner, be considered by the +lady, whose station in life was miles and miles above him. The statement +of Mr. Jarney only caused him more regret, for he considered Edith's use +of his name, in her delirious hours, the wild fancies of an afflicted +brain. And he was perplexed. + +"If it is your wish, I shall be glad to go with you, Mr. Jarney," said +John, after gaining his composure. + +Mr. Jarney noticed the effect of what he said upon the young man, and he +could not restrain from saying: "I shall deem it a pleasure; and I know +it will be a great favor to Mrs. Jarney if you go." + +"I shall go," he said. + +"Then we will leave the office early," said Mr. Jarney. + +"May I have time to dress?" asked John. + +"All the time you require, Mr. Winthrope. You may leave the office at +three, and be ready to go at four." + +"Thank you; I will be ready," returned John, as he gathered up his note +book and papers, and repaired to his office. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +WHAT DOES THE HEART SAY? + + +An auto being in waiting at the curb, and John being ready at the +appointed time, he and Mr. Jarney joined each other at the main entrance +of the office building; and together were whirled away, in a twinkling, +toward the mansion on the hill. + +This was the second time that he had been summoned to that palace of a +Croesus; for a second time he went, not of his own volition; for a +second time he drew near the place, with a strange feeling in his soul; +and he wondered if Fate, after all, is not a strange outliner of one's +life. The first time, a deep mystery surrounded his sudden summoning, +ending with a very romantic sequel; the second time, the cause leading +up to his going was as deep a mystery as the first, with no telling +what the climax might be. So, with these thoughts alone passing through +his head as he rode silently by the side of his superior through the +whizzing wind and beating rain and whirling smoke, he was not a little +agitated when the chauffeur drew up at the side door, and the master had +stepped out, and he was bidden to follow. + +He remembered well that entrance on the former occasion, in the night, +with its beaming lights and glistening panels of glass and brilliancy of +the interior reflecting over him in his amazement. He remembered very +well the gliding through the rooms of the family and the attendants, +like roving spirits in despair in a fairy bower. He remembered all these +things through the eye of the night:--of his sudden departure from the +mansion; of his mission through the space of miles, and his quick +return, and triumphant end--for the sake of duty. All these things he +recalled, as if ruminating on a hazy dream. But when he came the second +time, in the gloom of the late afternoon, and seeing the sombreness of +the walls, the doors, the porches, the lawn and everything, stripped of +the glare of artificial light, he felt that within the house a similar +gloom prevailed. + +He followed Mr. Jarney, now with a palpitating heart. The valet took his +coat and hat and umbrella; and he was escorted to the warmth, the cheer, +the beauty, the radiance, the grandeur of the parlor, and was begged to +be seated. And he saw that the house was as silent as a morgue; he saw +the long faces of the servants, and noted their confidential looks and +glances toward him; he saw that the lights were burning dimly, and as +they might burn for several days to come; he saw friends of the family +glide in like spectres, with inquiring faces, and whisper, and saw them +depart as silently; he saw the piano was closed, and the music piled up. +He saw Mrs. Jarney coming down the great white stairway, darkly clothed, +with tear-stained eyes and tired movements. He felt the oppressive dread +that was over all. And he trembled. + +Mrs. Jarney approached him, with Mr. Jarney at her side, he having met +her at the foot of the stairs. John arose as she put out her hand, and +when he shook it, he noticed that she was excessively perturbed. + +"I am very happy to see you, Mr. Winthrope," she said, with some effort. +"I wish to thank you for your services in behalf of my daughter on that +dreadful evening." + +"You have my sincere sympathy, Mrs. Jarney," responded John. "May I +inquire if Miss Jarney is improving?" + +"No improvement, Mr. Winthrope, that we can see," she replied. + +"Is it so that Mr. Winthrope can see her?" asked Mr. Jarney of his wife. + +"He may go now, if he does not feel it too great a favor to us," replied +Mrs. Jarney, wiping away her tears. + +"I assure you, Mrs. Jarney," said John, "that I do not hold such a +matter in the light of favor; but as a matter of the gravest importance +to you both." + +"Mr. Winthrope," said Mrs. Jarney, placing her hand upon his arm, "there +are trials in this life, to a mother, which no man can understand; and +this is one of them. We have asked you to come here because we believe +in you, because we know and feel that you are good. Do not think that we +are not under obligations to you, and that my dear Edith will not be +thankful to you, if she recovers. We know and you know that your coming +is by reason of unusual circumstances; and as her mother, I do not want +you to think, Mr. Winthrope, that my emotions have gone beyond my +reason. She has called your name so many times that I could not bear to +hear it longer without you coming here. I fancied, at first, that it +was, as the doctors have said, only the fancy of an afflicted brain; but +I believe it is more than that. I beg your pardon, Mr. Winthrope, if I +have spoken too plainly. Now, if you are ready we will proceed to her +room." + +John was proud himself, though poor. He was proud of his good name; +proud of his old father and mother, and his own dear sister and brother +in the mountains; he was proud that others held him in high esteem; +proud of their friendly consideration, of the confidence in which they +held him, and of their frankness. When Mr. Jarney first broached the +subject of his going to see his daughter, he took it as a question of +duty, albeit he was not altogether dum to its influence on his heart; +and when Mrs. Jarney spoke to him, with even more freedom than her +husband, he could not resist the effect any longer. + +He therefore went up the stairs in a state of mind that was a mixture +between despair and hope. He was preceded by the parents of Edith. They +passed through a hall bewildering to John in its elegance, he following, +and at length came to the door of a bed room. Mrs. Jarney opened it, and +they silently filed within, like going into the chamber of the dead, so +softly did they move. + +At one side of a bed sat a nurse, on the other sat Star Barton, faithful +in her bleeding heart. On the bed lay the fevered form of Edith in snowy +whiteness. To the beholders she was like a transporting angel, only the +flush of life was in her cheeks--the flush of her affliction. Her white +hands lay twitching over the coverlets. Her face was upturned, her blue +eyes staring, her lips mumbling indistinct words. She was apparently +dead to all things mortal. No wonder Star was in tears; no wonder the +parents felt a dread shudder pass through them; no wonder the nurse had +a solemn face; for the spirit of this pure young woman seemed to be +passing, passing. + +John was not unmoved by the scene, for even his brave strong heart sent +forth a sigh. The parents stood by the bedside looking down upon their +unconscious child in her struggle. After a few moments Mr. Jarney turned +to John, and whispered: + +"We will leave you alone with her and her friend, Miss Barton." + +Then they went out, and the nurse went out. John spoke a word of +recognition to Star, and drew a chair up to the bed and sat down, +looking meditatively at Edith. + +"Has she been unconscious since the night I brought her here?" asked +John. + +"Almost all the time," answered Star. "Sometimes she is rational--then +she calls for you." + +"If she should become rational while I am here, and should see me, do +you think my being here would have any beneficial effect upon her?" +asked John. + +"That is the opinion of her parents," replied Star. + +"You appear to be pretty well worn out by your vigil, Miss Barton," said +John, turning to her, sitting close by his side. + +"I have been in this room ever since she took ill, or since you brought +her here," answered Star. + +"Haven't you taken any rest?" asked John, dubious about her statement. + +"I lie down on the couch there sometimes," pointing to one in the room; +"but I cannot sleep." + +"I fear the trial will be too much for you, Miss Barton." + +"Oh, it is no trial for me to sit here, where I can see her dear face +all the time," responded Star, and then she burst into tears, and John +could hardly restrain his own from flowing, through his deep sympathy +for her in her simple faith. + +Just then Edith turned her face toward them, and gazed wildly about with +her pretty blue eyes rolling in their sockets. Then she threw one hand +over the side of the bed. John lifted it up tenderly, and laid it back +in place, and then it was that he became aware of how feverish she was. +Edith mumbled something. + +"She is making an effort to speak your name," said Star, who was now +used to her strange fancyings, and could interpret almost any +unintelligible word she spoke. Then bending over Edith, she said: "He is +here, dear Edith." + +Edith looked up at Star, with what appeared to be a faint smile. Star +took one hand, and held it, patting it lovingly. "Here he is, dear +Edith; don't you see him?" she said, as Edith now uttered the name +distinctly. + +Edith paid no heed to Star, but rolled her head and muttered John's +name. Then she became calmer, and lay still; arousing herself after a +few minutes, and repeating the name again. + +"He is here, Edith, by your bedside; can't you see?" said Star, bending +over her. "Come closer, Mr. Winthrope, that she might see you." + +John thereat moved nearer to the bed, and leaned over her. + +"Here is Mr. Winthrope, Edith," said Star, as she placed a hand upon her +hot forehead. + +Edith turned her head, and sighed. Her eyes ceased their starey look. +She became calmer; sighed again. Then, without assistance, she raised +herself up, and her long hair fell over her shoulders. In her illness +now, John thought she was prettier than before when he saw her in her +best of health. As she arose, Star caught her by the shoulders, and made +an attempt to lay her down on her pillow again; but Edith shook her off, +with her fever-strength supreme in her. She then crossed her hands +before her, bent her head forward; then threw it backward, and gazed +across the room to the farther wall, like one staring into the +infinitude of time in its blankness. + +John sat watching her, moved to piteous supplication for this fair young +lady in her distress of mind. + +"Star," said Edith, turning upon Miss Barton, in a strange clear voice, +"have you seen Mr. Winthrope?" + +"Here he is, dear Edith," replied Star, stroking her hair. "Here by your +bed; don't you see him?" + +"That is not Mr. Winthrope," she answered, in the same strange tone. + +"No, no, dear Edith; he is here--Mr. Winthrope look into her face?" said +Star, turning to John, whose head was bowed under the weight of the +impression that this girl's ravings made on him. John obeyed Star's +request, and looked Edith in the face. Edith then put out a hand, and +touched that of his; then fell back, burying her head in her soft +pillow, with her hands over her face. + +"She knows you," whispered Star. + +"Shall I retire?" asked John, believing that the crisis had been +reached. + +"Oh, not yet," answered Star. Then leaning over Edith again, said: +"Edith, do you want to see Mr. Winthrope again before he goes?" + +Edith reached out a hand toward him, turned her head, and let her eyes +move slowly in his direction. Then she laid her hand upon his. He picked +it up, and she permitted him to hold it. + +"Mr. Winthrope?" she said. + +"I am he," he replied. + +She smiled, and her eyes became less roving. "I am better," she +whispered. + +"Edith, I knew you would be better as soon as he came," said Star, +kissing her. "Are you not glad, Mr. Winthrope?" asked Star of him. + +"Very, very," he responded. He touched his lips to her fevered hand; and +how it thrilled him. + +"Now, you may retire, if you wish," said Star. + +"Will you come again?" said Edith, in a very low voice; "often; often?" + +"If I am permitted," replied John, releasing her hand, and rising. + +"You have my permission," whispered Edith, feebly attempting to smile. +"Oh, I am so weak, I am afraid it will be such a long time before I can +leave this bed." Turning to Star, she said: "Have mamma keep him for +dinner, if it is near that time--or breakfast, or lunch." + +"He will remain," answered Star. + +"You will come in before you go--you will come again, Mr. Winthrope?" +asked Edith, faintly. + +"By your father's permission," he answered, smiling down upon her. + +"He will permit you," said Edith. + +"Good bye," said John, taking Edith's hand again. + +"Good bye; don't fail to come in again before you go?" said Edith. + +"I shall come," he said, kissing her lily hand; after which he lay it +down with the greatest reluctance. + +Then he left her, with a world of thrilling emotions consuming him. +Seeing no one in the hallway, he proceeded alone down the stairs to the +parlor, there to be met by the gloomy countenances of Edith's loving +parents, who were at that moment in such a distracted state of mind that +they almost collapsed over wrong expectations over this singular meeting +of their daughter with John Winthrope. Both rose as they saw John +approaching, and sighed. + +"How is she?" both asked together. + +"Better," was John's response. + +Mr. Jarney took John by the hand, and said: "How greatly relieved I am." +Mrs. Jarney did not wait for further information; but ran up the stairs, +and went headlong into her daughter's room. + +"Oh, my child! my child!" she cried in the excess of her joy, seeing the +token of rationality in Edith's face. She fell on the bed by Edith's +side, almost in a faint, throwing her arms about her. Edith was not in +condition to withstand such a stormy outburst of motherly affection. +Star, understanding the bad effect such extreme commotion might have +upon her charge, persuaded Mrs. Jarney to be calm, and all would be +well. + +"Did you know him, Edith?" asked her mother, still mentally agitated. + +"Yes, mamma," replied Edith, so low she could hardly be heard. + +"Was it he that effected a cure, Edith?" + +"Oh, mamma, I am not well yet," said Edith; "and it may be a long time +before I get out of this." + +"Was it he, Edith, that brought about the crisis?" persisted the mother. + +"It might have been, mamma," said Edith. + +"Edith, are you keeping a secret from me?" pursued her mother. + +"Dear mamma, I cannot bear up, if you keep on," whispered Edith, growing +restless. + +"Mrs. Jarney, it would be best not to disturb her any more; she needs +sleep," said Star, advisedly. + +Mrs. Jarney, realizing her mistaken enthusiasm, quieted down, and +slipped out of the room, and bustled down the stairs in an +uncontrollable plight of flusteration. She rushed up to Mr. Winthrope, +and was almost in the act of embracing that young gentleman, who had +earned his way unconsciously into her faver to such proportions that the +good lady could not keep away from him all evening. In verity, Mrs. +Jarney was so dignifiedly considerate that she would have, under the +spur of the stimulent of joy, given her consent right then to John +becoming a permanent member of her household (had he thought of asking +that privilege of her) had it not have been that a little bit of +money-pride overbalanced her gratitude. And, in truth, too, Mr. Jarney +might have fallen under the same magic that John had also cast over him, +had it not have been that his pride was a little greater than he could +consistently overcome. But this did not prevent Mr. Jarney from +showering upon John encomiums of all kinds for the rest of his stay in +the house that evening. + +John, being prodigiously sensitive on the matter of the propriety of a +thing done, was with difficulty persuaded in his own mind that Edith's +wish was any more than a good woman's gratefulness. Although he made a +great effort that evening to keep down the blazing fires of the one +great human passion, he could not extinguish them altogether, for the +more he thought of the cause that led up to his coming there, the +fiercer the coals blazed within him: till his soul was almost afire. + +Dinner was eaten in great state, the first of the kind for John; but he, +being an adaptable young man, was equal to anything that confronted +him. And while dining, he did not fail to notice the changed spirits of +all the inmates of the house, from the head of it down to the waiter; +for the later were profuse in showing him deference, in their looks and +actions; he did not fail to notice the change in the lights that gave +back a much more cheerful caress, where before they were feebly +lifeless; he did not fail to notice the change in the countenances of +the friends of the family, who came in with a deadening look, and went +out with a smile; he did not fail to notice all these things; nor could +he help but feel that he was the one person who might have brought it +about. In consequence, he passed through the evening in the ascending +mood of rapturous delight; but, though, always with a fear--a fear bound +up in one corner of his heart--that he was only being rewarded for his +services as the servant of this great man of money, the father of Edith. +But John, do not despair; there are worse people in this world, who are +rich, than the Jarneys. + +John kept his promise, and called to see Edith just before he was ready +to leave the mansion. She was sleeping when he was let into the darkened +room; and when he looked down upon her, in her purity, dreaming, perhaps +of him, he felt the power of love that was bearing him down. Were +everything made of sweet toned bells, and they were every one ringing, +no greater would be the alarum than that which at that moment knelled +through him. The fear of death coming to her, the fear of her loss +should she come back to life, the fear of those who brought her into the +world, the fear of Fate, the fear of Chance, struck him dumb. Would her +death be worse than life? he thought; would her life be worse than +death? Sleeping calmly, peacefully, without a murmur from her lips; +breathing lightly, evenly, without a break in the respiration; resting +now as if the angels had brought a cure from out the skies--John felt +the holy thrall which controlled him. + +He knelt down by the bed, and took her white hand in his, and tears of +his mercy wet her limp fingers; and he prayed. + +Then, rising, with his heart too full to speak, he turned to the door to +leave. Miss Barton, seeing his agitation, came up to speak to him, with +her eyes also filled with tears. + +"Wait till she awakes," she said. + +"I cannot," he replied. + +"She expects to see you before you go." + +"Tell her--" and he was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +BILLY BARTON'S FLIGHT. + + +When Billy Barton left his home and family, he went without a clue to +his destination; and he left no word behind of his going. + +The world to him had been a series of degenerating allurements ever +since he could remember anything; and Evil Repute was the sum of his +reward. He was brought up amid the scenes of the river's traffic as a +wharf man, or roustabout; and was called the waterman, by reason of an +ineradicable habit he had of invariably falling into the stream when +intoxicated. This predilection of Billy's might have cured such a +failing in any other man; but the more often Billy fell into the river +the less inclined he was to accept the water cure. The frequency of +these periodic immersions grew to such dimensions that his +qualifications as a wharfman became nil, and he thereby lost his right +to a permanancy among the gang, causing him, one day early in his years, +to be placed on the reserve list to take his chances for obtaining work +as an extra. + +Billy was like many another man of his class: he had no inclination to +reach a higher level, or lacked the ability to go higher; and by these +well developed attributes, in him, he found it pretty hard picking among +the dispensers of jobs. It appears that he was continually in ill-luck, +when it came to making assignments for the long line of men in waiting. +Sometimes he would put in a day or so of work, with a disposition to be +light-hearted over his luck; but it very often happened that when he was +wanted, he was under the influence of drink; or had just recovered +himself from a baptism in the river; and so he was many times +overlooked. This vicarious situation did not tend to better his +condition. It only made him worse. What between his few spells of work, +and his numerous spells of sprees, he had a petty sum left on which to +keep his growing family. + +Billy Barton was a very clever man in his sober moments; but so seldom +was he ever in that state of good behavior, that his cleverness was +overlooked even by his most intimates. What is hereof meant by this use +of the word clever, is that it was applied to him in the vernacular +sense, and not in its strict usage. So when in that state of temporary +sanity, he was ever ready with a rough wit of the hang-dog style--the +wit of the waterfront, of the grog shop, of the slums, of the +rough-and-ready characters of his calling; and this he carried to his +home, very often to his sorrow. He used to tell the "boys" that he had +an "old woman" who could give any one spades in cards in her fetching +ways toward general cussedness. But Billy would condone all that poor +woman's incapacities, whenever he would get drunk, and, with a great +display of imaginary wealth, which he said he would fall heir to some +day, impress upon her impressionable mind the beauties of their future. + +Thus by such tactics, he, for a number of years, kept her hopefully on +the high wave of anticipation and expectation. This trait of Billy's was +one of his redeeming qualities, if he ever had any other; so much so +that ere he had reached his present age of discretion, he began really +to believe that he was as rich as the man in the mansion on the hill; +which mansion he always kept a weather's eye out for, no difference how +much smoke or fog clouded his sense of perception. + +But Kate Barton, long ago, began to realize that his tantalizing +predictions and promises were merely vaporings. So, when things with her +became inordinately unbearable, she began to attempt a reformation of +him by the process of her voluableless tongue. At first she scolded him +gently; then firmly, then remorselessly; tongue-lashed him; berated him +from Soho to McKee's Rocks; and, finally, seeing that this method was +without effect, adopted the corporal punishment plan. But by no such +inducements, however, could she prevail upon him to reform, and act the +true part of a husband and father. Thus, being in an environment that +would, without a doubt, corrupt old Satan himself, Billy went from bad +to worse, and from worse to the finite degree of dissipation. Resorting +to the saloons as a solace for his sorrows, he there found out, when too +late, that as long as he had a penny he could secure the required +consolation that he craved. Ultimately, reaching an end in this +direction, he became obsessed with the desire to flee. And flee he did. + + * * * * * + +Any one standing, at any point, on the south side of the Smithfield +street bridge, on the day of his departure, might have seen the bent +form of a once well built, square-shouldered, red-faced, blue-eyed man, +wearing a slouch hat, check shirt, blue overalls, faded coat, and +brogans on his feet, and a rusty overcoat on his arm, aimlessly walking +across it, going northward. Had he been followed, the observer would +have seen him turn up Second avenue, with the same shambling gait, and +with his nose directed toward the devious ways of Soho. + +They would have seen him wind in and out among the alley ways and +bypaths between the mills and factories and shops, have heard him ask +for work, and have heard the answer, "Don't want you." They would have +seen him come out into the street, stop, hesitate; go on, with the same +determination in his bleary eyes. They would have seen him continuing, +with an inquiry here and there; they would have seen him brushed aside, +and go on. They would have seen him treading the ties of the Baltimore & +Ohio, through the interminable region of noise--of belching furnaces, of +rattling factories, of shouting men, of screeching engines, mile after +mile. They would have seen him stop at a poor man's house--one almost +like his own--and heard him ask for food and bed, and would have seen +him receive it, sometimes. They would have seen him stop, and rest, and +meditate; have seen him sneered at, chased by policemen, stoned by boys, +hooted by ruffians, scolded by women; have seen him rejected, dejected, +despondent, and in despair--a weary wayfarer, an outcast, discarded by +his family, condemned by his fellow man--a human wreck, with not a hand +outstretched to him to lend him the aid and encouragement that he needed +in that hour--except, perhaps, the hand of the Almighty, in retribution. + +And more; they would have seen Billy Barton go through the suburbs of +Glenwood, Hazelwood, Rankin; through the boroughs of Braddock, of +Homestead, of Duquesne, and on to McKeesport, meeting always with the +same inglorious reception--day after day, week after week, asking, +begging, starving. They would have seen him sleeping in deserted +buildings, in fields, in box cars; by the roadsides, on the hillsides, +in the woods; everywhere where man was not, save some stragglers of his +own ilk. They would have seen him eventually entering saloons in the +slum quarters; have seen him set upon, beaten, kicked and thrown into +the streets, a poor worthless cuss, too vile, even now, for any of his +former cronies to recognize, had they chanced across him. They would, as +a climax to his wanderings, have seen him dragged into a town's nasty, +filthy, foul, venom-infested jail, there to await the merciful order of +a just and honest judge, who might, peradventure, take compassion on +him; and, as a finality, have seen him sentenced to penal servitude as a +vagrant. + +Holy of Holies! praise be to God! cry the keepers of the loaves and +fishes! But for the goodness of a pure young woman, his children might +have starved. And say that the male-man is a generous creature! + + * * * * * + +In the little black office of The Die, Peter sat humped up, like a +drooling ape, scanning the interior of his junk shop through his +peephole. He saw the cringing Eli, like a witless ass, having another +set-to with a short stalky fellow because he did not give the password. +He saw Eli floored, and thumped in the ribs by the man's foot. Whereat +Peter gathered up his courage and went out to ascertain the wherefor of +the disturbance. + +"Hah, Welty Morne," whispered Peter, seeing who the man was; "come in;" +and he waddled rearward, leaving the defeated servant to readjust +himself as to how he may. + +"Set down," said he to Welty, after falling down himself like a bloated +lobster, and taking up his pipe, and espionage. "What? What now?" he +asked. + +"We have heard at last from Billy Barton," said Welty. + +"Where'd you get that information? The wretch!" roared Peter, +sardonically. + +"From Monroe." + +"And Monroe?" + +"From Cobb." + +"And Cobb?" + +"From the warden." + +"The wretch!" shouted Peter. "Let him die there! What's his time?" + +"Six months." + +"Good! We'll make it six more." + +"Am I to return that information?" asked Welty. + +"Yes," snapped Peter. "What else from Monroe?" + +"He has failed to rope in Winthrope." + +"What next?" + +"His new scheme is to put him as treasurer of the company." + +"Good! Go to it, tell him. How's the girl?" + +"Jarney took the young man to his home to see her, and she is +recovering." + +Peter frowned at this, that is at that part of the information relating +to taking Winthrope to the Jarney home. He rubbed his hands, pulled at +his pipe vigorously, almost spat on Welty in an effort to reach a +saw-dust box used as a receptacle for his expectorations. + +"She's a mighty fine girl," said Peter. "What does Monroe draw from that +incident?" + +"That Winthrope has inclinations toward her." + +"And her father?" asked Peter. + +"He permits it." + +"Why don't young Cobb push his suit?" asked Peter. + +"Oh, she would never have anything to do with him." + +"Why doesn't he get Winthrope out of the way!" exclaimed Peter. + +"He is laying the ropes to ensnare him," said Welty, showing his teeth +like a grinning dog, and flashing his green eyes. + +"What else?" asked Peter, ceasing to rub his hands, and looking up at +Welty with some anxiety. + +"There's going to be a strike on all the papers," replied Welty. + +"Oh, that's all fixed up," said Peter, with consuming pride (judging +from the speed he rubbed his hands). "The police have instructions to +arrest every dog of them so soon as they step out of their jobs. What +else?" + +"An extra levy has been made on the red-lighters," replied Welty. + +"Good!" exploded Peter. "Tell Monroe to watch out for flurries among +them." + +"They will all come through." + +"Hah, I thought Jacob would bring them to time," whispered Peter. "How's +he coming with his new company?" + +"He'll have a million to float in a week." + +"Why didn't he make it ten?" asked Peter. + +"He's afraid the people are getting weary with so much stock already on +the market." + +"The coal combine went," said Peter, smiling. + +"But that was the project of the other gang," said Welty. + +"Well, I got my tribute, as well as Jacob, for our little assistance," +he answered, with more fierce rubbing. + +"Ah, they will all pay--that is, the big ones." + +"Some of the little ones, too, eh?" said Peter. + +"Where do I come in, Peter?" suddenly asked Welty. This question caused +Peter to look up quickly, with a leer. + +"You're not showing the white feather?" asked Peter. + +"No, no; but I need some money." + +"How much?" + +"A thousand." + +"I will have Jacob see you," returned Peter. + +Then Welty departed. He found Eli where he had left him, unconscious, +with some customers standing about waiting for the young man to take his +own good time about rising. The customers had come into the store, and +when they saw Eli lying on the floor, remarked among themselves that he +was taking an afternoon's nap. When one of them sought to arouse him, +they became alarmed as to what might have happened, for Eli would not +rouse himself. So they were standing about him in contemplation when +Welty came out of Peter's office. Welty glanced at Eli obliquely, as if +deigning to stoop so low as to lend aid to his victim, brushed past the +onlookers, and made his exit by the front door. + +Peter, seeing that something was wrong, strutted out in a fluster, with +his belly about a foot ahead of him. He had not observed from his +peephole that Eli had not resumed his duties while Welty was in his +office, so great was his interest in that visitor. But finding Eli in +his predicament, Peter called on one of his customers to assist in his +resurrection. Eli, thereupon, was lifted to his feet, but he was so near +the limberness of a rope it was impossible to cause him to assume the +perpendicularity of a standing man. Then that old remedy--water--was +applied, with no effect. Eli looked like a faded piece of blue calico, +so deathly was his face. + +They called a doctor; with no results. They called an ambulance, and +conveyed him to a hospital. They called in the police to make an +investigation; with no results. Peter knew nothing. It was a strange +affair. The customers, of course, knew nothing; nobody could get head +nor tail of what had happened Eli. It was a deep mystery--to the police +department. + +Peter employed a new clerk, temporarily, and resumed his pipe and +peephole. Welty resumed his duties in the office of Jarney & Lowman. In +the meantime Eli Jerey's life hung in the balance; and the world of +business still moved on; for he was only a poor clerk. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +GOOD BYE! GOOD BYE! GOOD BYE! + + +As a metaphysician, John Winthrope could not present his bill of +services, in the nonprofessional sense, for his visit to the Jarneys. +This was the calamitous burden that bore so heavily upon him as he left +the mansion on the hill that night, and kept his head in a whirl all the +way to the city, and to his room, and to his bed, and even late into the +night, till exhausting time relieved him near the breaking of another +day. + +It was the first time that the real tempest of passion had broken in +upon his sea of life; it was the first time that Cupid, with his +implements of war, came to offer battle on his serene and peaceful field +of budding bachelorhood. It was the very first time for him, so +amourously passive was he toward the whiles of the little meddler into +one's heart affairs. It is so with many people, men and women; but when +the storm once breaks in upon their unimpressionable souls it is like a +hurricane let loose, and is unrestrainable. + +He now saw a new light in the heavens, even through the smoke of +Pittsburgh; a new evening star appeared in his firmament, and whirled +through the universe of his night to meet him in the dawn; a new moon +arose, and burst into full reflection of shadowy mysticism; a new sun +circled the arch of his cold earth, and made the plants of joy come into +leafage. Ah, there were no seasons to him now--it was light by day, +light by night--and he was seeing everywhere through his visual +horoscope--except--always except--as to a solution of the great problem +that confronted him. + +The next morning after John's visit to see Miss Edith, Mr. Jarney +arrived at the office a half hour before his time. He was so different +to what he had been on the previous few days that John instinctively +felt his exuberance of pleasantry throughout the entire day. Instead of +taking up his dictation, as had been his wont, Mr. Jarney paced the +floor in his proud and haughty way of doing such things. He spoke to +John, on entering, in his calm, formal explicitness, as had been his +custom, when John entered to take his seat by his master's desk. John +sat waiting for Mr. Jarney to open his letters and proceed; but he did +not touch a letter, at first. He said nothing for some time, but walked +the floor, pondering, as if wrestling with conflicting thoughts. After +awhile he broke the spell. + +"Young man," he said, as he stopped in his walk in front of John, with +his hands deep in his pockets, and his keen eyes sparkling, "I do not +know what to make of you." + +"Am I such a conundrum as all that?" asked John, as he met his master's +eyes, with his own as sharp as those cast upon him. + +"In truth, you are," returned Mr. Jarney. "You are the biggest puzzle I +have ever had to work out." + +"Mr. Jarney, you place me in a very awkward position," answered John. "I +am not certain yet as to what you mean by your allusions." + +"My dear boy--" he started to say, then checked himself, thinking his +manner too familiar, and went on: "Mr. Winthrope, you are master of your +own destiny. You can make it what you will. You can be a leader of +affairs, or you can be nothing." + +"I only hope for an opportunity, Mr. Jarney, to claim the honor of the +first," responded John. + +"That is not what I mean, Mr. Winthrope; it is--well, it is--that you +can do it." + +"I am certainly at a greater loss to understand you, Mr. Jarney," said +John smiling, but still believing that he understood. "Nevertheless, I +appreciate what you say, and will always regard your views with much +favor." + +"Let me tell you, Mr. Winthrope," he pursued; "that business life is a +terror to the average man. It has so many ups and downs that I have +often wondered how so many succeed through all its uncertainties. I +started out as poor as you, and maybe poorer, and have arrived where I +am, with many a pain to accompany me. And still they call me successful. +Had I to start again, I would pursue a different calling--science, +literature, art, or music. These are the things that are a compensation +to one's peace of mind. But most people believe it is money. I do not. I +did once; but I have passed that period of putting money above +everything else. Some will say, no doubt, that it is my view now, since +I have got the money. Truly, had I not a cent, I would be of the same +opinion. It was my opinion before I accumulated it, and I still cling to +that hobby. Still I must continue on acquiring it. Making money is an +endless chain proposition. Once you get into its entanglements, you +cannot let go--you cannot resist its wonderful influence. Why, I should +like to be free from its thralldom; I should like to be as you are, +without the worry and the bother that money entails; I would like to +exchange places with you, were it possible. But that can never happen, I +suppose, so long as I have my present connections. I have often thought +that I would like to tear myself away from its engrossments, to be free +to go at will; to enjoy life with my wife and daughter in some way that +would be to our liking--some way that is different from our present +existence. I do not say that I will take up such a life; I may. I did +not mean to make this lecture to you, Mr. Winthrope; but as I have made +it. I will stand by it." + +"Still I am in as deep a mystery as ever, Mr. Jarney," said John +frankly, and more familiarly than he had ever spoken to him before. + +"If I were a young man like you, and had my money, I would go to my +home--assuming that your home is mine--and there live peacefully the +rest of my days," he replied. + +"Would you suggest that I do it, in my present poverty?" asked John. + +"No; I am just supposing," he returned. + +"I cannot suppose anything, Mr. Jarney; I am not in a supposing +position." + +"That is right, Mr. Winthrope, don't suppose anything; always believe +it, and then go ahead," he said. + +"That is what I have attempted to do; but believing a thing and +obtaining it are two entirely different matters." + +"Yes; you are right." + +He then strode across the room, and returned. + +"I am shocked at your manner of conduct," he said, looking down upon +John. "You have not yet asked about my daughter's health?" + +"I fully intended to, Mr. Jarney, at the first opportunity of breaking +in on our line of conversation," said John. + +"I am very happy to report she is growing better every hour," said Mr. +Jarney, turning on his heel and walking across the room again, and +returning, with a freshly lighted cigar in his mouth. + +"I wish her well," replied John, and then he halted in what he intended +to say further--halted for a moment only, when he asked: "Mr. Jarney, +with your permission, I should like to see Miss Jarney, once in awhile +during her illness. May I have the wish granted?" + +"I have no objection--while she is ill," he answered, with that singular +proviso attached. + +Then he sat down, and took up his work. At noon he asked John to lunch +with him. John accepted, and lunched. At four p. m. he asked John to +accompany him home for dinner. John accepted, and went. + +The combination of circumstances surrounding John's intimacies with the +Jarney family was very indefinable to him, at first. But, as the days +passed, he was slowly and assuredly convinced that his services as +employe of that man of wealth were not of the sordid kind alone. Mr. +Jarney's condescending manner, his straight-forwardness, his implicit +faith in him, his good will toward him, his extinguishment of form, all +showed to him that he was not so unapproachable as might be believed by +any young man of the qualities of John Winthrope. + +Possessed with an unquenchable desire to do that which is right, +honest, honorable, or justifiable, John pursued a course that ever kept +him in good favor. He did not do this with any preconceived plan, or +scheme, to accomplish a purpose, but it was through an inherent +prepossession of his makeup. Through the days he labored with great +assiduity to get results; through the evenings he studied with great +concentration on his subjects--always busy, always ready to answer a +call, or a summons. All these traits in him, Mr. Jarney was not slow in +perceiving, and he gave encouragement, as he would, like any other man +of his mould, to any one who showed the same relative adaptation and +faithfulness. Mr. Jarney looked upon John as having many parts worth +cultivating. As he had, for a long time, been gleaning in the field of +young manhood for such a reaping, he now considered, since he acquired +John, that he had harvested a good sheaf of wheat when he garnered him; +and he purposed, if all continued straight in him, to flail out his true +worth, if the throwing out of opportunity would be effectually grasped. +But while he had these views concerning such material for his purpose, +he, at no time, thought that his daughter would, in any manner, enter +into the proposition. He would not have thought of compromising his +views on business with his paternal ideas; nor would he ever have +condoned himself, or his wife, should either have entertained an iota of +a notion that it were necessary to bring her name into such mercenary +transactions. + +By reason of the extraordinary events, however, that had come to pass, +anent his daughter, he was perforce compelled to extenuate any +qualifying conducements that might connect her with whomsoever claimed +the privilege of being his second, as John was, in business. His +amiableness toward John during the past few days might be interpreted in +one particularity by the reader; which is, that he was encouraging that +young man to press his suit for his daughter's hand; but this is farther +from the thought than that he would give her away to any young +profligate who might ask the favor of him. He was, withal, a true +father, in its supremest meaning. He loved his daughter. He granted her +every reasonable wish. He even went so far as to make unrelenting +enemies among the Four Hundred, of which he was considered a worthy +member, by discanting and discouraging their form of pleasures for the +young men and women, and looking with disfavor upon the youths who paid +his daughter the least attention. One of his most unpardonable offenses, +in this connection, was his unsparing resentment toward Jasper Cobb's +persistency in wanting to pay court to Edith, with matrimonial intent. +The Cobbs could not, naturally, forgive him for such treatment of their +young hopeful, who was just then strewing his pathway with the wildest +kind of oats. And, as if fortune never failed him, Edith and her mother, +coincided with him. This attitude of theirs, therefore, gave him the +greatest kind of pleasure, and enhanced his inclination to stop at +nothing that would satisfy their claims to his patronage. + +The foregoing statement is made to show what manner of man he was with +his family; but not to excuse him for the manner of man he was with his +business associates. So, in showing favors toward his secretary, he +acted from a double possibility, i. e.: one to have a trustworthy +employe in a very important position; the other to curry favor with a +very lovable daughter, who had an independence that might run wild on a +clear trackage of his own building. + +He had asked John to lunch with him that day mostly to be generous. He +had asked him to his home again mostly for the good that his going might +do for his afflicted child, in her hallucination. Nothing more. He did +these things in such a cheerful way, and in such an unusual manner, that +John was confounded. And he did it without reckoning the consequences, +as many fathers act in the excitable moments of their infinite love for +their offspring. + +Entering the mansion on the hill, on this, his third visit, John had a +very different feeling than before. The interval since he had been there +had been spent in musing and meditating, with the consequent result of +him being hopelessly smitten. No gilded hall of magic palace, no form of +cast or idol of fetich, no conventional rule of wealth or arm of power, +no scornful threat of irate father or scolding mother, no nothing could +desist him in his conquest, if Edith were willing. If not, then he would +forgive her, and--perhaps, perhaps-- + +Edith was sleeping when John was ushered into her room. Star, ever +hopeful, ever faithful, sat by her bedside. Seeing John, Star arose and +advanced to meet him, whispering, as she took his hand: "She is +better--growing better every hour; but very slowly. She now sleeps." + +"Then I shall retire till she awakes," said John. + +"No; remain; she will awake soon," said Star. + +No sound came from the sleeper, so peaceful was her rest, and so low her +breathing. Her hands lay exposed above the spotless covers, with no +nervous tremors in them. The flush of fever of the day before was gone. +Her eyes were closed, and her lips were tightly shut. Her hair lay in +ringlets over her temples. Was she dead? thought John; or was it the +peace of a tired soul in rest that hung upon her? He trembled with great +fear. Those dear blue eyes were closed to the light of day; those rosy +cheeks had faded; the smile was gone. There was nothing to convince him +that she lived. + +Emboldened by the great anxiety that overwhelmed him, he drew up a chair +and sat down by her bed. He picked up one of her hands, and felt her +pulse. He found it throbbing, and he was relieved. He sat there +silently, inconceivably happy, with his own heart throbbing so loudly +that he could hear it beating. Ah, Edith, in her slumbering, might have +heard its telepathic beating, too, for she suddenly opened her eyes, and +turned them upon John, and smiled, so undisturbing was her awakening. +She did not withdraw the hand that John was holding, nor did she seem to +give a sign of recognition. But she sighed. Was it a sigh of her malady, +or a sigh for him? + +"How do you feel this evening, Miss Jarney?" asked John, in a low voice, +deep with sympathetic tenderness. + +Then, she opened wide her eyes, as if surprised, and withdrew her hand. + +"Don't you know me, Miss Jarney?" asked John, with a fearsome thought +that she had declined to her former condition. + +"Is it you, Mr. Winthrope?" she asked, with her eyes lighting up. "Why, +yes; I believed you were the doctor. I am so very weak, Mr. Winthrope, +that I can scarcely speak." + +"Do you feel better?" he asked. + +"A little," she responded, feebly. "How glad it makes me feel to think +you have come." + +"Perhaps it would be better for me not to come while you are so low," he +said. + +"I feel better every time you come," she answered. + +She involuntarily threw her hand over the side of the bed. He took it +up, and held it; and then touched his lips to her small fingers--fingers +so small and delicate and white now that they were like chiseled marble, +pliable in his. She did not resist, through inability mostly to draw it +away, had she been so disposed. She made no pretense to conceal her +fondness for him, nor did she attempt to talk with any design to hurry +him away, when he suggested that she would better rest in absolute +quiet. John saw all this. But he believed that, in her frailty, he +should be very prudent in how he acted, and leave nature, and what +little he could do himself, to restore her to her former mental and +physical health. + +"You will remain awhile longer, Mr. Winthrope? I am growing better," she +said. + +"I hesitate about remaining, Miss Jarney, for fear of disturbing your +peace," he answered. + +"I rest better after seeing you," she whispered, with a trembling voice, +as if she would break into crying. + +"Then I am assured that I may come again?" he asked. + +"You must come often--very often--every day--will you?" + +"If your father continues his permission to that extent?" + +"Oh, he will; papa is so good." + +Is it an hallucination she is laboring under, thought John; or is it the +will of a pure heart, feebly speaking? He was still perplexed; but his +hopes were not deserting him. + +"Mr. Winthrope," she said, after a silent spell, "will you go with Miss +Barton on Sunday to her home, and act for me in what I had planned to do +before I took ill?" + +"Indeed, I shall be glad to accompany her, and shall do anything you +wish," he answered. + +"I had planned to do so much for the poor in Miss Barton's district," +she continued. "I brought her here to be my companion and my aid--such a +good girl she is--but I cannot do anything now, unless you will help. +Will you?" + +"I will, willingly," he responded, wonderingly. + +"When I recover I shall enlist you in my service; we can do so much good +for those distressed people." + +"Nothing would please me better than to help you in this work." + +"Then, you and Miss Barton may begin it now; I shall join you when I +have recovered." + +"That will be a fine combination for charity's sake," he replied, +enthusiastically. + +"I knew you would enter into the scheme. How good you are!" she said, +with a feeble effort to express her gratitude for him in a smile. + +"I am afraid you flatter me, Miss Jarney," he answered, still holding +her trembling hand. + +"Oh, no; papa says you are so good; and I know you are." + +"What time Sunday shall we go, Miss Barton?" asked John, turning to that +young lady, with increasing enthusiasm over his accumulating duties. + +"About ten o'clock, perhaps. You call here at that hour, when the auto +will be in waiting for us," answered Star, sitting by him, with as much +interest in him as Edith had herself. + +"I shall be prompt to the minute," he replied. + +John had remained an hour by Edith's bed talking in very confidential +terms to those two divine maidens--one of them rich, one of them poor, +but both blessed with many heavenly virtues. Edith was growing restless; +although through it all John had been careful of what he said, and how +he said it, so as not to excite her. + +"Are you going?" she asked, seeing him rise. "I am sorry I cannot +withstand the strain longer." + +"I should go," he answered. + +"You will come tomorrow? then I will be better," lifting up her hand to +bid him good bye. + +He knelt down by the bed, and held her hand in both of his for a moment. +How it trembled, and how it thrilled him! + +"Good bye," she said. + +Oh, he prayed, within his heart, that she might be well in that moment +of his own deep affliction, so that the fear that was in him might be +expelled, and he knew his fate. + +"Good bye," she said. + +Going down the stairs he could hear that tremulous little voice saying, +"Good bye." All through the dinner he heard it ringing like the distant +trembulations of a wind-bell; going out the house he heard it calling +after him; all the way to the city he heard it tinkling, tinkling from +everything about the fleeting things in the streets, turning all the +grime and misery into music. Going to his room it kept trembling, +trembling, till that dingy little place was a Paradise. And going +into sleep it kept singing--singing "Good bye! Good b-y-e! +G-o-o-d----b--y--e!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +PETER DIEMAN IS AVENGED. + + +Black and sinister, like The Bastille, rears the bulky rambling building +of that famous institution where infractors of the law are compensated +for their weaknesses. Amidst verdent hills and by the murky river it +sits as a ramparted fortress in a savage land. In sunshine and cloud, in +fog and smoke and grime, it stands brooding, ever silent, ever sullen; +it is a place of the damned, the wonderment of law-abiding men who hap +to pass it by. Beyond the sounds of the teeming river, beyond the noise +of forge and hammer, beyond the regular haunts of men, it is like a +secluded bee-hive, when the workers are all within. No one hears the +hammering, no one hears the sawing, pounding, dinning, breaking, +singing, chanting, praying of all of those therein, save the unambitious +workers themselves. For it is a penal institution. + +Grim-visaged men, with loaded gun, stalk through its ringing halls, +while haunting faces peer out from behind steel bars. The tread of many +feet is hard, in step, on the hardened floors, as the men file to their +places, like trained dogs cringing before their masters; the thump of +many hammers is like a dreadful funeral march for the lost; the chant of +many a tune is heard, in the time of rest, as the only cheerful note +issuing therefrom. And above all is the old familiar human smell. + +In one corner of a cell, on a cot, lies a man. He is bleary-eyed, and +his face is swollen. His feet are bleeding, and his worn-out shoes lie +on the floor. His old blue overalls and check shirt are torn, filthy and +ready to fall from him. He rolls his head from side to side, and beats +his breast with his knotted hands. The spume of an hectic cough hangs +around his mouth, and blood flows out his nostrils. He is Billy +Barton--dying--dying--alone! While the hammers ring, and the men chant, +and the guards pace to and fro; while the clock is ticking for other men +to come and go; while the sun is shining somewhere for the happy, the +good and the bad alike, and all life outside is palpitating with a +vigorous existence, Billy is going upon his final journey. + +He was brought from a nasty jail, where mephitic filth was supreme, to +this place where brutal men are supreme in their cruelty. Emaciated, +gaunt, and made desperate by reason of the abuse heaped upon his crazed +head, he was terrible in his obstinacy of prison rules. He was put to +work with ball and chain tied about his ankles, when lying down on a +feather bed would have been a severe and painful task to him. He was +weak. He could not work, let alone stand. He was faint, sick, heartsore. +But no one saw his misery. No one wanted to see it. For why should they? +He was only a vagabond, and why should he receive attention? + +He was pushed and pounded and thumped and beaten because he could not +work. He was fed on bread and water for his failure; he was +straight-jacketed, hung up by the wrists, given the water-cure; thrown +into the dungeon and flogged. But the brute rises in man, sometimes, +when met by a brute, and Billy struck back. This was the beginning of +his end; for the deputy, being not yet satisfied in the full exercise of +his authority, threw more of his brutishness into display, and laid +Billy low with a cudgel that he carried, and dragged him, like a dog, to +his cell, and threw him on his cot to die--alone! + +An investigation into poor Billy Barton's death by the Honorable Board +of Authorities revealed one of the most peculiar and singular cases that +ever came to their discriminating notice. Billy died of heart failure, +they announced. Of course, every man dies when his heart ceases to beat. +Even those good and upright members of the Honorable Board of +Authorities will die of that disease some day; and no doubt a tombstone +will have all their virtues enscribed upon it. Billy Barton's--will +simply be, William Barton, that's all. + +Who should claim the body? Had he any friends? they punctiliously +inquired. Yes; they found one. A man of worth, too--Peter Dieman, the +humble junkman; Billy's old friend, of course, who would provide a +decent funeral, and see that the last sad rites were said over his +corruptible remains. Yes; Peter Dieman would do all this, being very +generous, and a philanthropic man; for who would impinge his motives? + + * * * * * + +The body was, in the true fiction of such events, conveyed in very +solemn state to that hovel on the south side of the Monongahela river, +near which and within which all of Billy Barton's living time was spent. +All his children were present at the funeral, except that one of +ill-repute who had preceded his father upon the long unknown trail. All +his former friends were present, with one extra added: Peter Dieman. +Another friend was present, in the person of John Winthrope, as the +representative of Edith, who sent the only flowers. + +Had Billy Barton been resurrected the time he lay in his coffin, +supported on two chairs, he would have seen a change in the furnishings +of his earthly home; he would have seen paper on the walls, where once +were the smutchings of discoloring time; he would have seen a carpet on +the floor, pictures on the walls, one of which he would have seen was +Madonna and her child; he would have seen many things that were not +there when he was its besotted, irresponsible master. Ah, he would have +seen his little girls dressed in new frocks, with a simple imitation of +pride in their deportment; and his boys he would have seen, although +still very rude, in a feeble effort to be vain over their new toggery. +He would also have seen his slattern wife in a new dress, with her hair +done up, and a new hope masked behind her stoical face. And he would +have seen that other one, his daughter Star, whom he maltreated all her +sorrowful years, come to offer up to God supplication for his soul; and, +if his spirit had not yet departed, he would have heard her weeping in +her anguish. As he lay in his shroud he would have felt the warm touch +of little hands on his hard face, as the little ones stood about his +bier taking a last farewell look at "Pap" before the man in black had +covered up his face from their view forever; and he would have seen +John, in all the freshness and beauty of young manhood, a consoling +support to his only child that shed a tear. Still more, he would have +seen that exaggerated piece of humanity, Peter Dieman, in all his +implacable hatred for him, sitting in one corner, listening with +exhultation to the droning voice of the minister saying the ritual words +and singing "Rock of Ages." + +Solemnly went the funeral cortege through the crowded thoroughfares +bearing him away; and as the people looked with awe on his passing, +remembering, perhaps, that they would take the same long ride some day, +little did they reck how he lived and how he died. + +To Homewood, a pretty decent place, they bore him, and put him beneath +the ground, with the skeltering winds singing his funeral dirge. Above +his grave Star and John placed a tombstone, with, "Our Father, William +Barton; born Friday, December 13, 1861; died Friday, December 13, 1907," +as the only legend. No virtues had he to be recorded, like those of the +Honorable Board of Authorities. But he was gone--finally gone--out of +the turmoil of this world. + + * * * * * + +Peter Dieman again sat in his little black office in The Die, smoking +his scandalous pipe, rubbing his red hands, and squinting his piggish +eyes; and giving vent occasionally to devlish outbursts of perfect +satisfaction. Nothing consumed his mind so much at present as the +reflection over his victory--his victory over Billy Barton, the +worthless drunkard. + +In his youth Peter went into the contest with Billy for the hand of Kate +Jarney, a cousin of Hiram Jarney. Kate, being young and ignorant, +selected the most prepossessing face, and took up her lot with that +face, and all the horrors that accompanied it. Peter being of a +revengeful nature, took up his life alone, a disappointed man, and +sought to drown his sorrows in the role of Chief Ward Heeler. + +Peter was not such a bad man in his younger days, but remorse over his +unrequitted love drove him to diabolical things. Hence his attitude +toward all mankind. For twenty years, almost, he was cross, crabbed and +oppressive; and the wonder is how he maintained his power in his +invidious treatment of his henchmen and his superiors. But this may be +explained by his one saving grace of knowing how to string the "ropes" +for the system--Graft--without breaking any of them, and screening the +arch conspirators; for which he was amply rewarded. For twenty years, +almost, he lived like a bear, spending his days in his black shop, and +his nights in a shabby room above, like a miser--always with an +irreconcilable fury burning beneath his hairy breast. For twenty years, +almost, he brooded while he amassed a fortune, which gave him but the +one comfort that the "some day" might bring. And his day had come at +last. + +Thus, as he sat in his office smoking and rubbing, the old light came +back to him; and he was not slow to act. Leaving the shop in the care of +the new clerk (Eli Jerey being yet indisposed) he went out. Finding a +purveyor of "houses for sale," he traveled the circuitous rounds with +that individual in search of a satisfying heap of stone and mortar. +Selecting one of approved style and with the requisite number of rooms, +in the rich men's district of the East End, he purchased. Then, fitting +it up with all the dazzle that money could buy, he installed therein the +entire Barton family, with one exception, of course; and ere the month +was out, so little was his compunction as to propriety, he made the +withered love of his youth his wife. And the gods caused him to smile, +at last. + +So affecting was this piece of news on Eli Jerey's mind that he +forthwith began to arouse himself from his convalescing lethargy; and by +another fortnight was down at his old post, with the same cadavorous +look in his face, and the same slavish notions in his head. Since Peter +had left his office: which he did immediately after his marriage: that +little black hole stood silent, smokeless, with the accumulated filth of +years still clinging to it. The little peephole was there, now with no +wolfish eyes behind to peer through it, but still a source of much +anxiety to Eli, who, so strong was the force of habit in him, even after +he knew his master was gone, looked suspiciously at it ever and anon, as +if it itself would turn into green eyes and knock him down by their +stare, as those without the secret password had often done before. +Otherwise, Eli had peace of soul, since that irritable old curmudgeon +had surprised him into getting well. + +Being faithful to his trust, he could not do different than he did; and +it is well for him. For after Peter had returned from his long-delayed +honeymoon, he came to the office only as a visitor. So magnanimous was +he now, in his rejuvenated character, that he turned the junk shop and +all his business over to Eli, to be managed as he willed. But this +change in proprietorship in nowise took from the place the name it had +acquired, nor from it the honor of being the repository of all the +secrets of the System built up around it, with no apparent connection. +So, instead of Peter being in his den, curled up like a stoat, he +delegated, after awhile, to Eli the perfunctory duties of receiving and +transmitting messages between himself and the henchmen, with Eli +ensconced in the black office. + +One day after taking up his incumbency therein, Eli received a call from +Welty Morne. + +"Where is Peter?" asked Welty, as he softly entered the sacred precinct +of The Die, unawares to Eli. + +Remembering his encounter with that young gentleman, Eli bustled up like +a porcupine on the approach of an enemy, forgetting that he was to let +by-gone be by-gones, and serve his master in a new role. + +"Gone," answered Eli, boldly; "I'm boss here. What will you have?" + +"Where's he gone?" asked Welty, a little ruffled. + +"He's quit these quarters for good," answered Eli. + +"Wonder he wouldn't let a fellow know such things," said Welty. + +"I'm his messenger; what can I do for you?" + +"You! I hope not to that extent!" + +"Yes; me--to that extent," retorted Eli. + +"Well;" and Welty studied a few moments; then continued: "Convey to him +that Monroe wants to get in communication with him at once." + +"I will do it," responded Eli. + +Whereat, Eli descended into the darkness of his private phone booth, +remained a few minutes, and returned, with the information that Peter +would see him that evening at eight o'clock at the "Bartonage," as he +called his new residence. + +"Very well," said Welty, leaving in a sulky temper. + +At the hour of eight p. m., Peter was sitting at his home in all his +pomp and grandeur, when the starched smile of Monroe irradially floated +in upon his complacency in an hitherto unknown expansiveness. + +"You old tout," said Monroe feelingly; "you surprise us all by your new +stunt." + +When Peter laughed, which he did now sometimes, he was the picture of a +crying calf, if the simile is permissible; so when he broke his face +into one of his cunning signs of mirth, Monroe could not but help +feeling amused himself, and accordingly split his barren face up into +waves of noncommittal wrinkles. + +"Ho, ho, ha, ha," cried Peter, forgetting now to rub his hands, and +instead slapped his fat hand on his fat leg; "you old batches will have +to fall in line. Look! and see how glorious it all is, Monroe; and to +think that I have missed it all these twenty years! Ho, ho, ha, ha, he, +he; you ought to try it, Monroe, and get those crimps out of your face!" +Peter laughed at this jolly till tears ran down his cheeks. + +"Why, I should think you were happy, Peter, the way you are going on +about it," said Monroe, gloomily. + +"Yes; try it, Monroe; you can get some one; can't you?" said Peter, with +an extra bang on his fat leg as an extra emphasis to his seriousness. + +"I've never met my Fate--that is, no Fate that would care to take me," +he remarked, with the smile gone. + +"How about Jarney's girl?" asked Peter, in a confidential tone. + +"That young chap, Winthrope, seems to have the way to her door all to +himself," responded the gloomy one. + +"Who did you say?" + +"Winthrope." + +"I told you to get him out of the way." + +"Well?" + +"Well?" + +"He can't be got out so easy," cried Monroe, with asperity. "He's an +immovable, unapproachable, indefinable young cuss, who can't be +inveigled." + +"Have you given it up?" + +"Oh, not yet." + +"What you leading up to now?" asked Peter. + +"To have the boss send him to the New York office." + +"Will he send him?" + +"He may." + +"Say," said Peter, whisperingly, with an idea, "get him in the bribing +line, and then let him drop." + +"He's beyond that," said the undaunted Monroe. "We are going to send him +to New York; give him authority to handle money, and lay our net to +catch him. This can be done. We will work it so slick, with Bate Yenger +as his assistant, that he can't crawl out; and we'll keep the money for +our trouble." + +"Good!" said Peter, forgetting himself and rubbing this time. "Go on?" + +"That's all." + +"Humph;" ejaculated Peter. "You are a genuine dough-god!" + +"You bear!" scowled Monroe--that is, he tried to scowl. + +"You unplastic scoundrel," shouted Peter, turning on him, "if you don't +get him out of the way, and get that girl, I'll get your job away from +you!" + +"Oh, no more of your jollying," said the putty-faced Monroe; "get down +to business. How much do I get out of the swag I get with the girl?" + +"Half," replied Peter. + +"Well, it's worth trying for," said Monroe. + +"Say, by the by, Monroe; I received this today from Europe. Read it," +said Peter, handing Monroe a letter, which had the following P. S. at +the end: "I have lost fifteen at Monte Carlo; send ten, or I will return +at once. (Signed) J. D." + +"Does he mean fifteen thousand and ten thousand?" asked Monroe. + +"He does." + +"What will you do?" + +"Send for Jacob Cobb." + +"What will he do?" + +"Furnish the money, of course." + +"Jim Dalls is bleeding you for all the game is worth," said Monroe. + +"We can do nothing else till we cease bleeding other people." + +"You are plain about it, Peter." + +"I am always plain, Monroe." + +"Have you seen Cobb lately?" asked Monroe. + +"Yesterday." + +"How're things coming?" + +"They're coming for the present," answered Peter. "Don't you think I +need them coming to keep up this establishment when I am fully in the +swim?" + +"You probably do, Peter. I will run opposition to you when I get what's +coming to me." + +"Be sure you don't get into the Pen, Monroe," said Peter, looking up +sidewise at Monroe, with a strange meaning in his eyes. + +"And you?" asked Monroe. + +"Oh, they can't get me; too much pull with the--" + +Just then a howling brat, in silks and satins, came tearing into the +room, riding a brass curtain pole as his "horse." On seeing a stranger, +the youngster promptly made a flail out of the said curtain pole, and +began to belabor Peter over the head with such effectiveness that Peter +caught the child by the seat of his breeches, and hurled him blubbering +into a corner. + +"I thought you enjoyed your new existence," humorously remarked the +staid Monroe. + +"I do," answered the angered Peter, with a "humph." + +"Well, if that is an example of what married life is, I don't think I +want any of it in mine," said Monroe, with some dejection in the curl of +his lips. + +"Don't be so easily discouraged, Monroe; I've got ten like that one, on +whom I spend my time in reforming." + +"Oh, Lordy!" exclaimed the placid Monroe. + +"Yes; it is Lordy sometimes, you would think, if you were here when they +are all in." + +"Why, I'd soon be in an asylum," said Monroe, despairingly. + +"Say, Monroe, I've put Eli Jerey in my office," said Peter, changing the +subject. + +"He deserves promotion, no doubt; can he be trusted?" + +"None more so; that's why I put him there. I'll give him the store when +we pull off the next big deal." + +"Will she go through?" asked Monroe. + +"She will." + +"How much?" + +"One hundred thousand; then I'll quit." + +"And we poor devils will have to take the crumbs," said the disheartened +Monroe. + +"Every one is paid according to his services," said Peter, in reply. +"Get Winthrope out of the way, get the girl, and you'll have yours." + +Monroe departed, feeling better. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +WHILE THE FATHER WORRIES, MONROE SCHEMES AND CELEBRATES. + + +"Mr. Winthrope," said Mr. Jarney, abstractedly, pacing his office floor, +with his hands behind his back, and his head bowed in commiseration, "my +daughter is getting no better--no better." + +John made no reply, feeling that no reply should be made at that time, +while the father was worrying so; for in that same moment he was moved +himself beyond the efficacy of a consoling word. The garish light of the +burning incandescents, in that late afternoon, was tantalizing and +unbearable. The pictures on the wall stared down like taunting ghosts; +the green-hued carpet and the reflect glimmer of the polished furniture +seemed to reproach them for any sense of alleviation either might feel. +The busy sound, the clamor, the roar and rumble of the streets was a +hideous nightmare dinning in their ears. The heavy pall of smoke that +heaved and rolled over the house-tops, infiltrating in its aqueous +touch, was a magnet of melancholy. + +Mr. Jarney stood by the window and looked out upon the flat-roofed +buildings sitting below. He wondered if all the life therein and +thereabout was so torn with dread expectation as his own; or whether any +of them thought of life at all; or of the past, or of the present, or of +the future. All his years he had had no inflictions, no sorrows, no +troubles to set his latent sentimentality into ebullition. He had gone +through the mill of business always prospering, always successful, +always a leader, without a counteractive element to his iron will. He +had gone through his wedded period with a love for his wife, his child +and his home, that was unsurpassable, believing that no untoward thing +could ever happen to disturb the tranquility of his perfect life. He +believed that God had blessed him in this respect alone, to the +exclusion of other men. But now the blasting hand of Fate, he felt, was +turned upon him; and he had no peace while his child lay ill near unto +death. + +Back and forth he walked his office floor, in his anguish, fretfully +silent, and deeply feeling for every one who might have a similar +burden to bear. Coming to a stop by John's chair, he gazed down at his +secretary, with a fixedness that caused John to have pity for his +master. + +"Mr. Winthrope," he said, "if she dies, my grief will be irreconcilable. +The doctors say there is no hope." + +"No hope?" faltered John. + +"No hope," and the father sat down and cried. + +Tears of sympathy came into John's eyes. Under the trying situation, he +could not control his emotions. The breaking down of that strong man was +more than he could stand, and he arose and walked across the room to a +window, where he stopped for some time looking out, contending with his +own passion. Then he returned to his chair, where he stood in an +undecided frame of mind as to what to say. + +"Mr. Jarney, you have my full sympathy," he said, about as expressive as +he could say it, without unburdening his own heart's secret. + +"Mr. Winthrope," he replied, turning to John, "it may seem weak in me +giving way so easily; but you do not know, you cannot know what a father +suffers in such extremities--no man can know, if he has a heart, unless +he goes through it as I have these past few weeks. With all my worldly +ambitions, I have willingly permitted my whole being to be infolded by +her being, till no other thought so dominated me. She was such a lovable +child, so good, so kind, so generous, so unlike any one else I ever saw, +that my fatherly soul rebelled at the thought that anything would ever +happen to tarnish her name, or that of my own. Of these things I was +very careful that they did not come to pass. I have brought her up and +educated her, with the one purpose, that she would be my one consolation +in my declining years. And I intend, if she lives, that all I have shall +be hers; and I know that she will give no cause for me to ever regret, +like so many of the daughters of the rich do. I am rich, Mr. Winthrope, +very rich; but I will give all I have, if that would save her for me, +and would face the world anew without a dollar. Oh, you do not +know--nobody can know what my anguish is!" + +"Mr. Jarney, I realize what it might be," said John. + +"I had hopes that when she came out of the trance the first time the +crisis had passed," he went on. "She did improve for a few days; but +suddenly she took a relapse and began to weaken, and weaken day by day, +and now I fear for the worst. She is of my own flesh and blood--oh, God, +I cannot bear it--yes--I must bear it. But in bearing it, what have I as +a compensation? Money is nothing; home is nothing; life is nothing, +without some one like her depending on you. A child might be ever so +bad, but still a parent's love goes out to it, in all its misfortunes +and shortcomings. But to have a child like her is not given to every +man, and the parent of such a child should be doubly blessed. I know +that I am selfish in these views. I know that other parents will differ +with me in what I say as to my child being the best; but no one can say +that I am wrong did they but know her. I do not know what I shall do, if +she is taken from me--I do not know. I am already losing interest in +things." + +"Mr. Jarney," said John, after he had ceased, "I hope the doctors' +conclusions are wrong, and that your expectations will not come to pass. +I believe that she will recover; I have believed it all through her +trial; but I may be mistaken." + +"I hope you are not mistaken, Mr. Winthrope," he replied. "I hope I am. +I have never hoped before that I might be mistaken, and I hope I shall +not be disappointed this time." + +Mr. Jarney then took up his accumulation of letters, that had not been +attended to for three days, and began dictating answers. He was so +overcome by anxiety, dread and fear, that he had great difficulty in +composing himself sufficiently to go through them all. Some he answered +with a line, where a whole page would have been necessary before. Many +he did not answer at all, being indifferent as to what became of them. +He was nervous, agitated, and careless. After he had finished, although +not very satisfactorily to John, who had been used to his methodical +handling of his correspondence, and after John began to prepare to +depart, he turned to him and said: + +"Mr. Winthrope, I am thinking of promoting you; would you like to go to +New York?" + +"I should not care to leave you, Mr. Jarney, so agreeable have my +connections been in this office; but if you desire me to make a change, +and if I am capable, I shall go wherever I am sent," said John. + +"An assistant treasurer is wanted for the New York office; how would you +like that?" + +"Well, Mr. Jarney, this comes as a greater surprise than when you gave +me this position; but, however, I shall accept, if it is the wish of my +superiors." + +"They want a man immediately for the place; but--I do not want to see +you go away yet, though I want to see you get the place. You are +capable, and deserving of it." + +"I would rather remain here; but if I am to go higher, I suppose I +should go at once to wherever I am to go." + +"Another thing, Mr. Winthrope; you should not go while my daughter +continues ill. Or--or--No, you shall remain here till she recovers. Some +one else can fill the place till that time comes. It may seem strange +for me to say so, her recovery may depend upon you remaining. It is only +an hallucination of her mind, I know; but if her seeing you will do any +good, I shall not forget it." + +"Do you believe it is an hallucination?" asked John. + +"Can be nothing else," he replied, gravely and reflectively. "You were +the last one whom she saw and talked with while in her rational mind. +The doctors say this is invariably true in all such cases--the +impression of that person is indelibly left on the mind of the one +afflicted, and remains there till recovery." + +"But Miss Barton was there also," returned John, in disputation of his +theory. + +"That is true; but Miss Barton is with her all the time," he replied, as +an argumentative fact. + +"It may be," said John, in a deeper quandary than ever. "Then I am to +remain here?" + +"Yes--till her recovery, or--Be ready to go home with me an hour later +today--five o'clock," said Mr. Jarney, as John left him. + +In the meantime, while the confidential conversation was going on +between master and secretary, Miram Monroe sat in his office scheming +against his employer, against the secretary, and against the sick young +woman, whose knowledge of things worldly was now a blank. It is always +true of men of limited ability that they aim far above the possible. +Monroe, with his microscopic smile this day stretched almost into a +cynical grin, so satisfied was he with his genius, was perusing page +after page of complicated figures. He was doing this mechanically, +though, or otherwise he could not have O K'd them, being as he was in +such a ruminating turn, with his mind set on other things so much dearer +to his undefiling heart. Who was possessed with his special inborn +faculty, qualifying him for his employment? Who had such a special +disposition to accomplish what he purposed? Who had such a presiding +genius for good or evil over the destiny of other men? Why, Miram +Monroe--Mr. Monroe, if you please. He rang a bell. Welty Morne stepped +within, and closed the door behind him, meeting his superior with a +superior smile to that of the rigid face. + +"Welty," said Monroe, with the solemnity of a gray goose, "I have seen +the boss of the Board of Directors." + +"Well?" + +"They have decided, he tells me, to create the office of assistant +treasurer in the New York branch." + +"No!" + +"Yes," without a crow's foot. + +"Good, old boy; we must celebrate it tonight," said Welty, in a whisper. + +"And the young chap goes." + +"No!" + +"Yes," without a wrinkle. + +"We must celebrate that tomorrow night--When?" + +"At once," without a crack. + +"Bully! We must celebrate that the next night--Who?" + +"You," without a wink. + +"No!" + +"Yes," without a twinkle. + +"Whee! We'll celebrate that the next night--Where?" + +"At the Bottomless Pit," with a microscopic smile. "Be at my room at +nine p. m." + +"With joy, old boy; I'll be with you! Hah, you're no two-spot!" With +this Welty expired, almost, over his good feelings that his promotion +brought over him. + +The bell rang again. In came Bate Yenger, with a crimped smile on his +stale face. + +"Bate, do you want Welty's place?" asked the marble idol. + +"Want it?" exclaimed the idolizing Bate. "Can I get it? or are you +buffooning?" + +"You have it, Bate," without a twitch. + +"When?" asked the anxious Bate. + +"Soon," without a quiver. + +"Shall we celebrate?" asked Bate. + +"We will," with a smack. + +"Where?" + +"At the Bottomless Pit," with a feathered smile. "Be at my room at nine +p. m." + +"Bully!" With this Bate also expired--with joy over his air castles. + +Accordingly, at nine p. m., the trio met in rooms Nos. 4-11-44 in the +St. Charles hotel, a hostelry of good repute where men of disrepute +would sometimes get through the cordon of morality that was strung +around it. Monroe had a suite of three rooms, as became a man of +quality, as he was, with no disparagement of the "quality." These +quarters were furnished, of course, in such magnificence that contrast +between the riches of the room and the nature of the man was like the +temperate and the frigid zones. His bed room was in white enamel, with +cream-colored carpet, a frail white iron bed-stead, with dainty white +materials on it. Why the combination? It was that he, when he donned his +white night gown, imagined he would be in a little heaven of his own, +during his nocturnal sojournings into Dreamland--the only heaven he ever +would be enabled to approach, perhaps. He had a lounging room fitted up +in gray, in which he lounged during his hours of rest, and in which he +received his friends. The other room he called the Bottomless Pit--not +that it was bottomless, nor that it was a pit, in the strict sense, but +that here was where he refreshed himself and entertained. It was done in +dark-brown, probably in commemoration of that old jest, "dark-brown +taste the morning after." + +Welty and Bate had been there before, so they needed no formal reception +to cause them to make themselves at home. So repairing to the Pit, a +spread was in waiting. The bill-of-fare (ach, god in himmel, it should +be menu) was mushrooms on toast, frogs' legs in butter, calves' brains +in cracker meal, squabs in stew, oysters in whisky, rolls in brown, +butter in squares, sugar in cubes, coffee in percolator, pickles in +acetics, cheese in limburger, nuts in hull, desserts in bottle, and +cigars in box. All this in honor of Monroe's erudition as a manipulator +of things clandestine in his attempt at circumvention of a certain +favored young man. + +When they sat down at the table, which was just big enough for three to +hear each other across with loud talk, with the load of savory things in +china, garnished by genuine sterling, upon it, they were all very +hungry, and besides very thirsty. + +"Gentlemen," said the stiffness, rising, without a break in his metallic +visage, the others rising with him, "gentlemen, a toast to the lady; may +the good Lord preserve her." + +"The lady! the lady!" cried the two Monroe dupes in unison. + +"And to Welty and Bate; may they ever prosper in their new jobs," he +continued. "Hah, too conscientiously modest to toast yourselves, are +you?--take water, you kids." This last remark was made by him when he +saw that Welty and Bate hesitated about toasting themselves. However, +they toasted. + +Thus they toasted, and they gabbled, and they ate, till all the viands +had vanished, and nothing was left upon the board but the smeared +platters. Then to the bottles they betook themselves with a wild and +merry gusto. Monroe pulled the corks, and poured. He drank, and they +drank. He smoked, and they smoked, till the air was a blue haze of +whirling objects, only to be dispelled by the dark-brown in the morning. + +Once, during a fit of eructation, Monroe thought he would surely die, +and got ready to make his will. + +"Write it out, Welty," he commanded, in a severe maudlin tone; "and +write it out so that She shall get it all, with a codicil that you and +Bate are to get one-third of what is left, after I am gone. Whoop! Woe +me! Woe me!" he wailed, with his face like that of a gargoyle. "Write it +out before I die," he said, as he went staggering against a wall, +falling over a chair, crushing down a rocker, flailing his hands like +bat's wings, as he retched and perambulated through the Pit. + +"Give me a pen first, and paper; I can't write (hic) with my fingers +like a chink," said the hysterical Welty--hysterical in mirth only over +the wild effusions of Monroe. + +"I'll write it; I'll write it, if I have to use my toes, if you get me +the ink, or tar, or something else that is black--only get it; get it!" +weeped the disconsolate Bate, who at that moment had a fearsome feeling +that his friend Monroe would die before the act was done, lolling his +head the while over the back of his chair, as if that part of his +anatomy was too loose ever to be set back to its normality. + +At this outburst of Bate, Monroe plunged forward through the door of the +Pit to the gray room, and to his secretary, from which he withdrew +everything before he found the ink, the pen and the paper. Returning +with these articles, Welty wrote the will in such hiroglyphic +chirography that a Greely himself could not make it out. But it was +writ, and signed, and sealed in due form. Welty in his hilarity did not +lose sight of its import, and put it away in a secret pocket, for future +use should the occasion ever demand it. + +He then shouldered Monroe into his downy bed, in full dress, with "Woe +me! Woe me!" escaping in a groan from his unsmiling lips. Then Welty +took the inebriated Bate, in the completeness of debauch, and rolled +him, shoes and all, into that otherwise spotless couch. Then, before he +should completely lose the balance of his own muddled reason, he also +tumbled into Monroe's heaven, leaving the dark-brown room to clarify +itself of their revelings. + +And amid the stillness of the lights, all left burning brightly, they +went sailing into the land of ethereal asphyxia, to await the hour of +the "dark-brown taste" to bring them back to the time of remorse, and +its painful complications. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +WHAT THE SPRINGTIME BROUGHT FORTH. + + +Christmas had come and gone; New Years was here, and passing, and Edith +still lay upon her bed. Her face was thin and wan and spiritless. Her +form had wasted away till she was almost as a skeleton. Her little hands +were fleshless and cold, and her eyes were dull. The malady was in her +brain yet, refusing to lift its anchorage, although she saw and +recognized everybody permitted in her sight. + +John came and went every day, in the late afternoons; and every day he +came with the same perplexed feelings. The "good byes" rang in his ears, +growing weaker and weaker in their timbreling, from morning unto +night--following him everywhere, till he was near crazed himself, in his +helplessness, for the sweet one that breathed the "good byes" in his +ears. He went up and down and in and out the pathways of his small +world, and got no comfort in anything, save what consolation there was +in his work, which was meagre now in the sadness of his love-making. + +As he would sit by the bed holding her hand in his, tears would roll +down his cheeks. She would lie so still, so beautifully transcendent in +her weakness, looking at him, and speak so low and so trembling that he +could scarce make out her words. Oftentimes he would kneel down and pray +for her deliverance from the scourge that lay upon her. Sometimes the +sun would break through the clouds and smoke, in its setting, and throw +its transient rays upon her face, and he would take it as a good omen; +but most often the days were dark, and the light was sombre, like his +spirits. Sometimes he would sit by the window, while she slept, watching +the snow driving by in its purity, and his mind would revert to the +sleeper, whose purity was whiter than the snow. Day after day, he would +come full of hope, and depart full of fear; for she was growing worse; +and all the inmates of that mansion were in despair. Would she die +before she waked? they all would question in their looks, looking at her +in her sleep. Would she ever reach the crisis again that once before had +given joy? or would she linger on, and finally pass away, without a +murmur, like a child? + +No one could tell--no one could tell! Still she lingered on, bravely +refusing to give up her fluttering spirit. + +Sometimes she would brighten up, and talk with Star on her only +theme--John--and then relapse into comatose. Often she would ask for +him, when he was away, as if he were gone forever, and when he would +come would only look, with a faint smile of satisfaction in her face. +Sometimes she would raise her hand, and lay it on his, as if she wished +to express her love, but could not. "I am so weak--so weak," was her +constant plaint, as if weary of the fight she was making. Whenever John +was ready to depart, she roused herself to the saying of "Good bye, good +bye," and then sleep. + +O, what are the pains one must endure, in this life, to keep it going! + +Through the days and through the weeks this continued, without an +indication that there was any chance. Through the weeks and through the +months, the Reaper, with his Scythe, sat outside her chamber +door--waiting, waiting; and the angels appeared to hover over +her--waiting, waiting--to transport her to their own abode, where she +seemed more fittingly to belong. + +But he, nor they, never entered that chamber door. For the coming of the +birds and the budding of the trees was the magic cure. Her eyes opened +up, like a startled violet, in the springtime, as if she had slept, like +the violet, through the winter season. The wild rose lodged its colors +in her cheeks, after playing with the April winds, and the spirit of the +new life overwhelmed her. The little skeleton that she had been for +months was transformed into a vitalized being. As she once was, she was +again, only more lovely, with the effects of a lingering illness still +in its subduing tones. + +Sitting by the window, when the birds were singing in the park about her +home, she was dreaming of the new world that was opened to her view. It +was not the singing birds alone, nor the budding trees, nor the greening +grass, nor the blooming cowslips or jonquils that she saw outside +rejoicing at the turn of the season, that made her heart rejoice; +neither was it returning health alone that brought the glint of the +diamond in her eyes, the pulsing flush upon her cheeks, the happier +smile to her lips, the sweeter tone to her voice. It was--it was--it was +that Love that lights the Soul, and causes even smoke and grime to be +dancing gems and pearls. + +Sitting by the window, she was dreaming of him, who had gone, and who +had said he would return--some day--some day. Oh, that some day is what +makes the heart so sore, at the parting; for it is an indefinite time of +chance, but still a solace to the craving heart. Edith was dreaming of +the last words that John had said before he went away, "May I come to +see you some day, now that you are getting well." They kept ringing in +her ears as a pleading hope, as "good bye, good bye," still was ringing +in his. She was thinking of what she had said, as he was going, "You may +come, you may come--yes--yes, you may come," as she still was lying on +her bed. And now, in this time of her day-dreaming, she hoped that he +had not gone. In dreaming back over the oblivious days, she remembered +faintly that he came to her somewhere. Was it in this world that she saw +him all the time? or had it been in some other that she saw him? or was +it a mere illusion, after all? and he had come at last only to say +farewell, as a duty. No; she saw him every day through the long silence +of her sleep. It was he; it must have been; and did he know, or think, +or believe, that she loved him? He must have known it, she kept +dreaming, if that were he that she saw every day. And would he return to +meet her love in that Some Day. He would, she kept dreaming; he would. + +Sitting by the window, on this the first day of her convalescing period, +she saw the smoke and fog roll by; she saw the sun warming everything +into life, as the time was stirring her into a loving being again. Star +was sitting by her side holding one hand in hers, with faith and hope in +her own dear heart. + +"You are getting well so fast, dear Edith," said Star, patting her +delicate hand. + +"I feel new all over, dear Star," said Edith, smiling down upon her +dearest friend. "Everything is so bright and so charming outside today, +it seems it was made just for me in my recovery. How I wish I could go +out upon the lawn and pluck the flowers, and listen to the birds, and +even sing myself." + +"You may go some day, dear Edith; you may go, and I will be the first to +go and lead you the way," replied the constant Star. + +"Oh, Star! that some day, some day, always keeps ringing in my ears--I +hope it will come," said Edith, with a tear of regret coming down her +brightening cheek. + +"Do not be despondent, dear," said Star, brushing away Edith's tears. + +"I am not despondent, dear," said Edith; "I am happy." + +"I thought tears were shed in sorrow, Edith," responded Star, in her +innocence. + +"I have had no sorrow, dear. My life has been one of happiness; and when +I am most happy, I shed tears, sometimes," said Edith. + +"Oh, Edith, I know," said Star, with a mischievous look. + +"Does he know?" asked Edith, putting her arm around the neck of her +friend. + +"He must know," answered Star, seriously. + +"Tell me all about it, Star--all?" said Edith. + +"Since you first took ill?" asked Star. + +"Everything--I want to know," said Edith. + +"My, Edith! he did so many things, that it might make you blush, did I +tell you," said Star, laughing. + +"Why! what did he do?" asked Edith, with an inkling that she had not +been dreaming all the time. + +"Do? Why, Edith! the first thing he did, was to put his arm around you +in the cab coming home that night," began Star. + +"Why, my faithful Star! Did you permit him to do that?" asked Edith, +appearing to be repellent in her tone. + +"He couldn't help it, dear; you was as limp as a rag, and he had to hold +you up. When we got home, he picked you up, and carried you into this +very room, and laid you on your bed." + +"My! oh, my, Star! he didn't do that, did he?" exclaimed Edith. "How +dreadful!" + +"It couldn't be helped," replied the sympathetic Star, as her only +explanation. + +"Now, I am real mad at you, Star, for permitting such a thing. I would +have been real mad at him, too--I would not have permitted it, had I +been in my senses," said Edith, affecting anger. + +"That is the reason he did it, Edith; you couldn't help yourself; you +were not in your senses," said the compromising Star. + +"Go on, Star," said Edith, seeing that Star was hesitating about telling +her more. + +"You called for him every day for a week, Edith, till--" + +"--I am a little goose, Star; I always knew I was; now I know it. Did he +come?" + +"He came; and brought you back to your senses, dear." + +"I do now remember seeing him somewhere--sometime--I can't think, +Star--where it was--what else?" said Edith, growing nervous. + +"He came every day, Edith--every day, after that, and sat by your bed +for an hour, and held your hand--" + +"--now I know I am a goose for allowing such conduct--no, I am not mad, +Star. Did he do that?" + +"--and he knelt down and prayed for you, every day, almost, Edith." + +"God bless him!" said Edith, as the tears came to her eyes. + +"--and you talked to him, Edith, sometimes, and always asked him to come +again--" + +"--I must have been out of my head." + +"Don't you remember it, Edith--any of it, at all?" + +"I have a faint recollection of something, which I cannot clearly make +out--I know--I know, Star. It has possessed me ever since I saw him--I +am not provoked at anything he did, Star." + +"But, Edith; Edith, listen," said Star, in an admonishing tone; "he came +as a matter of duty, believing it was an hallucination of yours." + +"He will forgive me, then," returned Edith, with calm resignation, "if I +did or said anything unbecoming a lady, who--who--oh, Star, I cannot +believe that I did anything wrong, do you? If he never knows, I will +keep my secret, and you will help me in my troubled heart, will you not, +dear?" + +"He loves you, Edith." + +"Dear Star," said Edith, as she threw both arms around her friend's +neck; "does he? Does he? Are you sure?" + +"I am sure, Edith," said Star, kissing Edith. "He told me as much." + +"That was not kind in him; he should tell me first," said Edith, +pensively. + +"But he told me not to tell," replied Star, regretfully; "and he said he +never expected to claim your hand--" + +"Why? My riches will not be in the way," she said, as she began to cry. + +"That is why, Edith," said Star, consolingly. "He said he could not hope +to meet you on the same level--" + +"Money!" exclaimed Edith. + +"Money," replied Star, very low; "he hasn't any." + +"That is why I love him, Star; and because he is better than any man I +have ever seen, except, perhaps, my father. This is one of the greatest +troubles the daughters of the rich have--the finding of a good young man +among them; and the good young men who are poor are too self-conscious +to seek us." + +"But he has asked to come again, Edith," said Star, hopefully. + +"Some day--some day," sighed Edith, looking out the window. Then: "I +wish I had never seen--no, no; that is not what I mean. Had I never seen +him, I would not have this pain, the pain of uncertainty, in my heart. +Awhile ago I was very happy; but now I feel like lying down in the bed +again, and remaining there till--oh, I wish he would come, and I--no, I +could not do that; he must find it out, if he is ever to know. I will +get well first, Star, and then we will take up the work, Star, I had +planned before I became ill; and work to do some good in the world. I am +feeling very weak, Star. This has been too much for me; will you assist +me to my bed. Oh, Star, I am sorry--sorry for it all. You do not know, +dear Star. You will not know till some good man comes along and strikes +a responsive chord in your heart--you will not know, Star, till then. +Help me to bed, and let me rest." + +Sitting by her bedside, Star heard, for the first time, the story that +Edith promised to tell her that day when she first came into Edith's +life. After lying down, Edith was more calm, and was still in the mood +to continue her confidential talk with Star. + +"Star, do you know that you are my cousin?" asked Edith. + +"Cousin!" exclaimed Star, as if she did not understand. + +"Yes, Star; cousin! Your mother is a first cousin to my father; but I +never knew it till about the time I sent for you." + +Star leant over and kissed Edith, and drew her face up till their cheeks +touched. + +"Edith," whispered Star, "you are an angel," and then released her, and +assumed a kneeling position, while Edith continued: + +"I saw you one day, Star, when I was with my father on a mission of +mercy in the poor districts of the South Side. When first I saw you, you +were on your knees scrubbing the floor--at that place where you worked. +I saw your face, and fell in love with you as soon as I saw you, for I +knew that you were good. I told papa that it was a pity for a beautiful +girl like you to be doing that kind of drudgery, when he said that we +could, perhaps, get you a better place. We asked you your name, if you +remember--" + +"I remember," said Star. + +"--and when you said it was Star Barton, papa gave such a turn to his +countenance that I thought it meant something that he had concealed from +us at home. So when we came home I asked him what he meant, and he told +me then who you were; and he told me who your father and mother were; +and how they, when young, ran away from home and were married. I sent my +maid, Sarah Devore, to search you out, telling her who you were, and +have you come to this place in search of a position as a domestic, for +fear that if I told you the truth you would be too proud to work for +your rich relations. You came, as you know how, and when I saw you +again, I fell in love with you. First, I wanted you to be my maid; but +my pride of you was too great to make you anything but my equal in this +house. So you see, instead of being my maid, you have been my faithful +companion--and nurse. Dear Star, I love you, and if you will always +remain with me, I shall be the happiest person on earth." + +"Dear Edith," said Star, with tears of gratitude in her eyes, "I knew +you were good when first I beheld you; but I never knew that such +goodness could be in any kinsman of mine. I never told you of the life I +lived; I never told you how we lived at home; I never told you of my +father or my mother. For it always gave me grief to think of it. Poor +father is dead!" + +"Dead!" said Edith. + +"Yes; died last December; and my mother has married Peter Dieman, who +courted her--" + +"Dieman!" + +"Yes; the junkman. They live in one of the finest places in the East +End. I am sorry, very sorry, that my father died, as he was the only +father I shall ever know; but I am glad that my mother has married +again. When you get well, I shall take you out to see her, and you can +see how she now lives. I never was ashamed of my parents, Edith, never. +I did all I could for them, in my simple way, and would do it again, if +called upon to do it. After you took ill, I carried out your wish, and, +with Mr. Winthrope, went to our home and fitted it out decently for my +mother and the children. My mother was always sad and brooded over her +troubles, and had no heart for anything. Poor mother! I am glad that she +has married again." + +Star cried in remembrance of it all; for her heart was good. Even dear +Edith could not help but shed a tear. And they sobbed on each other's +breast over sorrows that had passed. + +Then, brushing away their tears, and laughing over their +tender-heartedness, they resumed their talk. + +"Edith," said Star, "I must confess that I marveled at your actions. I +could not resist you, though. I cannot see how anybody can. It seemed +strange to me that any one so good and rich as you should light upon me, +and make me your companion. Yes, I marveled at it. Now, I know it is not +strange. I love you, dear Edith, and shall never leave you, unless--" + +"Unless what?" asked Edith, smiling. + +"--he should come to claim you." + +"He shall never know from me, dear Star; that would not be womanly--why, +yes, you dear, you had to go and tell him. But will he ever see the true +light burning--burning for him?" + +"He shall, if I ever see him again; or I shall write," said Star, +teasingly, still with her eyes red from crying over recollections. + +"You must not, Star; I could not forgive you--oh, yes, Star, I would +forgive you anything--but not that," said Edith, concealing and +revealing her true feelings at the same time. "What do you think papa +would say, if he knew my love for him?" asked Edith. "Oh, I dread the +time he hears of it! And my mamma? but she will be with me, I know, for +she has told me that she likes him." + +"She suspects something of the kind, Edith," said Star. "She asked you +once just after Mr. Winthrope was here the first time; but she did not +pursue the question. She believes it now." + +"Star, I shall get well; that is my first duty, now that I am this far +on toward recovery. I shall get well, Star, and you and I shall +go--go--go--" + +"Where. Edith?" asked Star, seeing her hesitancy in saying what she +wanted to reveal. + +"--to do missionary work among the poor." + +True love comes but once in life to the pure in heart. Were we all as +pure in heart as Edith, mankind's tribulations might be less irksome. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +MONROE AND COBB VISIT PETER DIEMAN'S HOME TOGETHER. + + +Peter Dieman sat in his high-backed leather-cushioned chair smoking a +black cigar, surrounded with all the ease and sumptuousness of a +successfully domesticated gentleman. As he smoked his favorite weed, the +circumambient gray was as a smudge in the midst of a fruiting orange +grove. And above it all, he smelled like one who had been soused in +aromatic oils. + +A pair of satin-embroidered slippers encased his broad flat feet; a red +skull-cap, with a maroon tassel on top of it, bore down upon his rufous +head of hair; a purple-flowered mandarin-like robe enfolded his pudgy +body. The hairsuite appendage that had gone neglected for years, had +been unceremoniously removed from his chin; a yellow stubby moustache, +closely cropped, hung above his lips like clipped porcupine quills, and +a new set of hand-made teeth filled his sprawling mouth. The rubicundity +of his face might have been taken as a danger sign on a dark night, with +his green-gray eyes lighted up as a companion signal. A masseur had +rubbed the scowl of years and the hate of time out of his face, till its +rotundity was equaled only by the full moon recovering from a case of +the dumps. So, all that were necessary to complete his personification +of Old King Cole were the long-stemmed pipe and the serrated crown. +While the latter would not have been essential to the enhancement of his +kingly appearance, it might have been a fitting part toward the +completion of his princely makeup. + +Thus he sat and thus he looked in his spectacular pomp of power--a +sub-king of the grafters--since he went into the soul-quieting business +of matrimony. Thus he sat and thus he looked, when Miram Monroe, the +genteel ghost, was let into his presence. Thus he sat and thus he +looked, when Jacob Cobb, the ring-master, was ushered in--one following +the other. + +Would the visitors smoke? asked His Majesty. Yes, the visitors would +smoke, as a favor to this potentate. And they smoked, and they smoked +till they filled the air so full of toxic fumes that the fair king was +almost obscured by the baleful haze. + +"Before we get down to business, gentlemen," said Peter, in all his +suavity of new refinement, as he slapped his fat right leg with his +heavy right hand, and scratched his head behind the ear with his left, +"I must escort you through my palace. I've got a place--" waving now his +right hand above his head in indication of the building that enclosed +him--"good as any man's; and I want you two old friends to see it before +we get down to business. Pleasure first, gentlemen, you know; pleasure +first, to me, now." + +"I'll be glorified to see it," said the ghost. + +"I'll be sanctified to see it," said the ring-master. + +Peter arose with kingly mien, shaking the rheumatism out of his joints +and the gout out of his toes, and then swelling out his breast to a +boa constrictor size after swallowing a goat, wheezing like a horse with +the heaves. He led the way, with his robe dragging on the carpet, to +circumnavigate the building, the ghost and the ring-master following, +respectively, with the sanctimonious bearing of laymen following a +high-priest. + +"The kiddies are out this evening attending a party, and I have all this +great house to myself--" waving his right hand around like a preacher of +the Word. "We will go up the stairs first." + +Up the stairs Peter went, the ghost next after him, looking ahead and +considering fearfully what he would feel like should the king lose his +balance, in mounting the steps, which he seemed likely to do constantly +as he elevated himself lift after lift, so clumsily did Peter climb; and +the circus-master took his time, a safe distance behind, with a sweet +air of passivity in his patience over Peter's laughable pomposity. + +Peter led the way through brilliant halls and brilliant rooms, without a +dark corner in any of them, nor even a blind closet in which to conceal +the proverbial family ghost; which shadowy being, however, was not +likely to seek a place of concealment in this home, since, as it +happens, he had evaded all these pure pleasures of domesticity for so +many years; so it would be an hazardous presumption to expect the +stalker of family trouble to abide with him. + +"Where're you going to keep the family ghost?" asked the real ghost. + +"You old batch! Do you think I'd tolerate him round here?" said Peter, +with connubial pride. "Cobb has a cinch on them all; eh, Cobb?" with a +refreshened squint towards Cobb. + +"Don't be so rude, Peter, as to bring me into your argumentations with +Monroe here, whose own reputation needs a little stringing up," +responded Cobb. + +"Never mind your moralizing--show us your house," replied the ghost, +without being the least irritated. + +When they came to the bath room, they all stepped within; and the +visitors were charmed. Peter took on a new halo of beamingness as he saw +how delighted his patrons were over this dream of modern bathery, with +its shining fixtures and alabastine walls. + +"Do you bathe, Peter?" asked the ghost. + +"I guess, yes--every morning at eight," answered Peter, with a swell. + +"Humph!" responded the ghost; "and you didn't catch cold the first +time?" with no attempt to be facetious. + +"Alcohol is a great preventative," answered Peter. + +"Within, or without?" asked the ghost. + +"Without; you mummy," retorted Peter. + +"You surprise me, Peter," said Cobb, as he was testing one of the +faucets; "the last time I saw you, you looked as if you hadn't touched +water in years." + +"Once a year then; once a day now; three hundred and sixty-five days in +the year," said Peter, grinning. + +"I always believed you had some redeeming qualities," said Cobb; "but +how does it come you have clean water?" he asked, holding up a glassful +between his eyes and the light. + +"Private filter," answered the king. + +"That's infernal water to turn into the public trough," remarked Cobb. +"I mean this, before it was filtered," pointing to the glassful still in +his hand. + +"It's all they deserve," said the king, snapping his eyes. + +"When ought we to work them for a new system?" asked Cobb, emptying the +glass. "Pretty decent water, this--when filtered," he observed, washing +his hands. + +"We'll talk about water systems when we get back to business," answered +the king. + +"Do you wash your feet in water or alcohol?" asked the ghost. + +"Don't get too fresh, Monroe, or I'll loosen up your face with some soap +and water," with a hearty chuckle. + +"Oh, sometimes I forget, Peter, seeing you heretofore as a bear," as a +mollifier to his allusions. + +"You're a corrugated donkey, Monroe," said the king, with a louder +chuckle than before, rubbing his hands, this time with a towel between +them. + +"You're a convoluted mule," returned the ghost, tapping the enameled +wall with his knuckle, as a clincher to his assertion. + +"Here, here! You fellows are getting too personal," said Cobb, stepping +forward, as if he expected trouble, so as to be ready as a queller of +what he thought might lead to a melee. + +"Hah, ha, ha!" roared Peter, strutting out like a gallinaceous cock. +"Cobb, you must pay no attention to Monroe's foolishness," as he swept +theatrically along the hallway to the stairs; but still presenting the +incongruous habits of a waddling duck. + +Monroe followed languidly, puckering his mouth into a low whistle, that +might have meant more than the blowing out of good humor. With most men, +whistling means the venting of a superfluity of joy; but with Monroe, it +might have meant a cooling drop in his cup of anger. Cobb came lolling +after them, in his usual undisturbed forbearance. + +Debouching into the parlor, with the stellar lights trailing, the king +touched a button; presto! starlight, moonlight, sunlight, all together, +in one grand aurora borealis, flashed mute darkness into palpitating +day. + +"This is my universe," cried the king, throwing up both hands, as if he +were beginning the Sermon on the Mount. + +"Grand!" whispered the ghost. + +"Grand!" said the ring-master. + +"Grand" cried back The Moses, The Napoleon, The Wellington, The +Washington, The Roosevelt, The Pathfinder, The Man With the Hoe, The +Babes in the Woods, The Doves, The Dieman, on the walls. + +"Grand!" echoed Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Shakespeare, Milton, Poe, +Irving, Longfellow, Emerson, standing about in corners and alcoves in +their statuary dumbness. + +"Grand!" pealed the Giant Grand resting on four legs, like an exhibition +slab of mahogany, in a corner. + +"Grand!" laughed the settees, the tete-a-tetes, the rockers, the +cushions, the chairs, as if they were ready to jump up and slap the +visitors on the back and seat them down. + +"Grand!" shouted the king. "Well, I should eat a bedbug, if you can +surpass it in this old town for dazzle." And everything hung its head in +mortification. + +"Grand!" they all said, as the king entered the dining room, with its +glitter and its glimmer and its splendor and its grandeur. "Here is +where I eat," he remarked, after seeing his friends dumfounded and +speechless. + +Dumfounded? Why, of course! + +Speechless? Why, to be sure! + +Shucks! Who said the average man isn't a pompous idiot? + +"To business, now, gentlemen; to business," said Peter, waving his hand +toward his private den, where first he was greeted in his royal robes by +the genteel ghost and the ring-master. + +"Well?" said Peter, after seating himself in his chair of state, +directing his question to Cobb. + +"Let Monroe speak," said Cobb. + +"Let Cobb speak," said Monroe. + +"Gentlemen, my proposition is the proposed new water system," said Cobb, +venturing forth. "What about it?" + +"Well, what about it?" asked Peter. + +"Can we pull it off?" asked Cobb. + +"How much is there in it?" asked the generous Peter. + +"Couple hundred thousand," said Cobb. + +"Pull her off, then," decided Peter. + +"How much do I get out of it?" asked Monroe. + +"Aren't you working your little stunt for bigger game, Monroe?" asked +Peter. + +"What new stunt you up to now?" asked Cobb, suspiciously. + +"That's a private matter," replied Monroe. + +"What is it, Peter?" asked Cobb. Then to Monroe: "Not scheming behind my +back, Monroe?" + +"No such intention," answered Monroe. + +"What is it, Peter?" asked Cobb, feelingly. + +"Monroe, I told you to keep no secrets from Cobb," said Peter. + +"What is it. Peter?" asked Cobb. + +"Shall I tell, Monroe?" said Peter. + +"Dogged if I care," said the unimpressionable Monroe. + +"He's after Jarney's daughter and her money," said Peter, rubbing his +hands on his legs, and pulling hard on a freshly lighted cigar. + +"Ho, that's why young Winthrope was sent to the New York office, was +it?" said Cobb, carelessly. + +"Yes; it looked too serious seeing him going to her home every day," +replied Monroe. "While I also went, sometimes, I never got a squint at +her." + +Cobb became serious at this piece of intelligence. He thought of young +Jasper Cobb, his son, as being entitled to a share of the spoils that +might be obtained by an alliance with the Jarneys. He thought all plans +had been laid for this catch, and all that were needed was to draw in +the net and sort the fishes. He thought that, as a matter of course, +there could be no failure. He never thought that his son was unfit for a +young lady of the graces of Miss Jarney. He never thought children had a +right to be heard in making their choice of a life partner. He never +thought that Jarney should be consulted. Men of Cobb's stripe never +think of the ethical side of a question. They never think of anything +but money--how to get it, and how to spend it. They never think of +anything, aside from getting money, but of the voluptuous side of life. +And this astounding statement of Peter's, relative to Monroe's plotting, +came as a cross-complaint to him. Baseless wretch is Mr. Monroe! + +"What're your prospects, Monroe?" asked Cobb, leaning his head far back +in his chair, and blowing smoke upwards, indolently meditating over +something that did not go down very well. + +"Good," said Monroe. + +"Explain?" said Cobb. + +"Oh; why, that's a private matter, Mr. Cobb," said Monroe, looking more +uncommunicable than ever. + +"I must know," insisted Cobb, fidgeting in his chair, with a fine +interrogative smile of assertive power. + +"Tell him, Monroe; tell him," said Peter, rubbing his hands, and blowing +smoke like a whale spouting water. + +"There's nothing tangible yet," said the yielding Monroe. + +"Tell it, Monroe!" commanded Peter. + +"What is it?" asked Cobb, sarcastically. + +"Well; here goes. First, I am working into the good graces of the +father first," said he. "When I accomplish that feat, having Winthrope +out of my way, I shall press my suit for the young lady's hand. I have +been to the Jarney home a great many times for dinner this winter"--he +looked as if he wanted to keep the matter a secret--"and I have always +found young Winthrope there. He was permitted to see her, as Mr. Jarney +explained, as the result of an hallucination caused by an auto accident, +and her illness following it. I never got an opportunity to see her. Of +course--" he seemed to be unconcerned about her illness, so listlessly +did he talk--"it would have been a delicate matter for me to have +attempted to have seen her while ill; so I concluded to abide my time. +Getting him away was my first scheme. This accomplished, and, she +recovering as I am told, I shall take the first opportunity presented to +ask her." + +During the recital of the above. Monroe acted more like an automatic +talking machine, than a human, so inanimate was his facial expression. + +"Would she throw herself away on you?" asked Cobb, drawing one eyelid +down as an accompaniment to a mental sneer. + +"Am I not as worthy as anybody else, especially Winthrope, who is poor, +and has no ancestry?" said Monroe, without a rising or falling +inflection in his voice. + +"Bully, Monroe; well said!" roared Peter, rubbing and smoking. "But you +fellows forget that a woman is usually made a party to such little +affairs of the heart. I've had experience, gentlemen; experience; and +look at this grand house," waving his hand, with a flourish, around the +maroon tassel. + +"That's true," assented Monroe, without a tremor. + +Cobb assented too, as it suited him to assent. Peter assented to his own +theory, looking through his own mirror of experience. They all assented, +and reassented, acquiesced, agreed, yielded--to this assertion, time +after time. + +"Still, I have a fighting chance, like all dogs," soliloquized Monroe. + +"Ah, you must win," said Peter, not yet discouraged, like Monroe +appeared to be; "I never lost hope." + +"But what did you get, Peter?" said Monroe, without a glint that would +indicate that he meant a jest; "a woman and ten kids!" + +"That's all I wanted," replied Peter, grinning. "Why, you old poltroon, +I don't pretend to have ancestry; but I do pretend to have money and +gratitude." + +"Don't get personal, Peter," said the admonitory Monroe. + +"Don't, don't get personal," said the pacifying Cobb. + +"Oh, no, Cobb; I do not mean to be personal; but how is the money coming +from the dives?" answered Peter, rubbing his hands first, then +scratching his ear, then pulling an extra pull on his pipe, then +spitting, then squinting, then sneezing as if to give three cheers for +his observations on the various subjects up for discussion, in all of +which he seemed to have the best of the results. + +"Fine!" exclaimed Cobb, with his eyes lighting up. "The police are just +rolling it into our coffers." + +"I need ten thousand more for Jim Dalls," said Peter, looking gloomy, +and ceasing to rub his hands. + +"It would be cheaper to send a man over there to kill him," answered +Cobb. + +"Maybe it would; maybe it wouldn't," said Peter; "but he will be back, +if he don't get it." + +"Well, send it, then," said Cobb, relenting of his grim suggestion as to +the best means of disposing of Dalls. + +The door bell rang. A servant answered it. Into the house filed ten +children, in all stages of wildness, accompanied by the mother. Seeing +them rushing in like an invading army of young Turks, the visitors +retreated with as little loss to their dignity as they could spare. And +Peter was happy again in the bosom of his family--a Prince at home; a +King at the office of Graft. + +Mrs. Dieman was now the acme of reincarnation. The jaundice of a +sorrowed life had been burned out of her face by the new brand of +cosmetics, and she now stood before the world a justly deserving woman. +But such is the passage of poverty when embellished by a little of the +olive oil of good treatment, fairer living, and a chance. Instead of the +downcast woman, with a heart laden with lead, as she once was, she was +now an upcast personage, with a heart that was a jardiniere of roses, +doing her duty, and bearing her old sorrows silently as the mistress of +a mansion. Chance was all that were needed. But still she loved Billy +Barton, the drunkard. And this is the way of woman, sometimes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE CONSPIRATORS' PLOT IS REVEALED. + + +Hiram Jarney sat in his lounging chair, in evening clothes, reading the +daily newspapers, and smoking a Santa Clara cigar. His feet were encased +in a pair of patent-leather slippers. A diamond sparkled on his spotless +bosom front. His right leg hung comfortably crossed over his left. His +clear cut features denoted his strength, and his active blue eyes his +power; both combining to produce a wholesome pride of peace. There was +not a smutch to mar his impeccability. He was immaculate from the top of +his head to the tips of his toes. His closely cropped hair revealed a +head that might be taken as a perfect model by a phrenologist to show +the parts of a well-balanced man. With a broad high forehead, high +arched brows, fine nose, and a pink complexion, his completeness as a +man of parts was unequaled. + +As he read the news, turning his paper over and over, as he glanced at +the head lines, or waded through the matter of some article that +interested him most, an almost invisible vapor lazily ascended from his +cigar--a man at ease in the bosom of his family. + +Thus he sat and thus he looked, when Miram Monroe, the genteel ghost, +was ushered in for a chat and to take dinner. When he saw who his +visitor was, Mr. Jarney laid down his paper, crossed his left leg over +his right, and leaned back in his chair, in such a resigned state of +studied equanimity (always his pose in the presence of Monroe) that +Monroe felt he must let loose one of his evanescent smiles. + +"Have a seat," said Mr. Jarney, in his familiar way of greeting Monroe; +"dinner will be ready soon." + +"Thank you," said Monroe, as he stiffly bent himself into the capacious +depths of an arm chair, sitting near. + +Monroe was faultlessly groomed. He wore an evening suit, and had a +diamond in a shirt front that looked no more starched than his frosted +face. + +"My daughter will be down tonight for the first time to take dinner with +the family," said Mr. Jarney, in a conversational mood. "She is +improving rapidly, Mr. Monroe; rapidly; and you don't know, being a +bachelor, how much I am relieved of worry since she began to mend." + +"I imagine how one would feel," said the feeling Monroe, now inwardly +cogitating over how to approach the subject that brought him there on +this occasion. + +Having no hint of Mr. Monroe's intentions, Mr. Jarney proceeded: + +"Yes; she has improved so rapidly lately that I feel, myself, like +coming out of a long illness. My daughter and I are planning a trip, +Monroe, just as soon as she is quite able." + +"A trip!" said Monroe, without expressing his surprise in his visage. + +"We had thought of going to Europe," pursued Mr. Jarney; "but my +business affairs are such that I cannot leave here this summer." + +"Where then?" asked Monroe, as if it were any of his affair where they +went. + +"We may go to the mountains for a few months, so that she can +recuperate, and later in the summer we may go to Europe," answered Mr. +Jarney. + +"Mr. Jarney," said the ghost, in a muffled voice, as if he +would burst with his secret, and as if his tongue were tied, +"Mr. Jarney, what--what--do you--think of me--as a suitor for +your--daughter's--hand?" And then he looked as if he were made of +translucent glass, or polished marble, or anything that was hard and +white and had a polished surface, with sterile spots on top of it. + +This was a stunner to the placid Mr. Jarney. The irrepressible Monroe +looked stony enough that he might be taken for a real stone god of the +Stares, as Mr. Jarney pierced him through with his piercingly keen eyes. + +"You don't mean it, Monroe?" he finally said, after looking at him a +long time, with a smile of the ridiculous mould. + +"I am in earnest, Mr. Jarney--never more in earnest," responded Monroe. + +"Have you asked the young lady yet?" asked Mr. Jarney, still unable to +believe the man was in earnest. + +"Not yet; but I want your opinion first, Mr. Jarney," answered Monroe, +fingering his watch fob. + +"You are very amusing, Mr. Monroe; very amusing," said Mr. Jarney, +facetiously. + +"Then you don't look upon me with favor?" asked Monroe. + +"Mr. Monroe, I am afraid you lack experience--at least in this respect," +said Mr. Jarney. + +"I have money--I have ancestry," said the imperturbable Monroe. + +"Oh, fudge, Monroe! fudge on your money, and your ancestry!" said Mr. +Jarney. "You need a little schooling in the art of love-making," he +said, smiling at the audacity of the ghost. "Do you suppose I would put +my daughter up to be sold to the highest bidder, and knocked down to any +old money bag that should come along? Do you? Do you? Answer me that?" + +No answer. + +"Do you think, or presume to think," he continued, "that I would allow a +child of mine to be bandied about in this mercenary manner? She is my +daughter--my only child; she has a mind of her own; she is independent; +so when she makes up her mind to that end, I shall consider it. She will +first counsel with me before her intended suitor does. Mr. Monroe, it is +very unbecoming, ungentlemanly, ungracious in you to come here this +evening, and speak as you have spoken, not having seen her in months, or +talked with her at all on the subject. I would do well, Mr. Monroe," +continued Mr. Jarney, in the same equinimity of temper, "to dismiss you +from my house, and from my service; don't you think so?" + +"Beg your pardon, Mr. Jarney; beg your pardon, if I have given offense," +said the ghost, with frozen affability. "I have given these thoughts +considerable consideration, and I thought it only proper and meet in me +to ask your opinion--it was only your opinion I asked, Mr. Jarney; so I +beg your pardon. May I ask the young lady, then?" + +"You may do as you like about that," said Mr. Jarney, knowing, in his +kind fatherly heart, the finality of such a procedure. + +"Mr. Winthrope has been permitted to see--" pursued Monroe; but Mr. +Jarney broke him off by saying: "Don't mention Mr. Winthrope's name in +this connection as an excuse for your imbecility." + +Mr. Monroe sat through this grilling, unmoved as a donkey might. After +cogitating again for a moment, he said: "I thought I was as good as +anyone else, when I broached the subject." + +"You have lost the point of view, Mr. Monroe; lost it entirely," +answered Mr. Jarney. "Lest you fall into brambles, you would better +brush yourself up a little on the subject of courting. You will find a +book of rules, perhaps in a ten cent store; get one, and brush up a +little, Mr. Monroe." + +Dinner was announced. Monroe, unabashed and stiffly congruous, descended +upon the dining table with such great gravity that he was likely to +break in two before his hunger could be appeased. Opposite him sat Edith +and Star. Edith, in her pale blue evening gown, was the essence of +delicacy. Her face was fulling into health again, though showing the +toning wounds of long illness. Her eyes sparkled almost as the diamonds +that were set in ring and brooch. Star was like a fresh young sun on a +bright summer day. Mrs. Jarney was as bouncing as ever in her +sprightliness. Monroe was cold, as marble-like, as statue-like, as ever. +The dinner was very formal, very cheerless, very unappetizing to every +one, save Monroe, who ate with relish everything set before him. + +The cause of all this coldness may be laid to the front door of Mr. +Monroe. He had cast a shade of the grouch over them all. Somehow, the +mother was calmed by the sense of some pervading evil thing, +inexpressibly unaccountable. Somehow, the two young ladies felt the +chilly presence of a tentacled fish out of water, that was wholly +inexplicable. Somehow, the father (unknown to the rest) could not raise +himself out of the coolness, into which the ghost had plunged him. + +The two young ladies had greeted Monroe very gracefully and profusely, +when they first came down stairs; but they momentarily lapsed into +mediocre silence by the all pervading something they could not fathom. +The mother started out to be very gleeful over her daughter's recovering +health: but instinctively having a premonition of a mysterious caul +overhanging her, she slumped into an unbearable quietude. So dinner was +eaten with a sort of wingless spirit in them all, proving a +discomforting failure in its pleasureableness. + +Monroe, in his impenetrability, did not see anything unusual. Had he +seen, had he noticed, had he heeded, he would have departed at the most +opportune time. But no; he loitered in the parlor, after dinner, and +sought to engage Edith in quiet conversation. And he succeeded. Edith +was sitting on a settee, with a silk mantle thrown over her shoulders. +Star was drumming on the piano, on which she was now taking lessons, the +father and mother being out. Monroe sat down by Edith. After foolishly +gazing about the room, as if in an indecisive state of mind about how to +entertain himself, he said, icily: + +"Miss Jarney, may I have the pleasure of calling on you sometimes?" + +Edith was startled at this unheard of piece of rashness participated in +by the ghost. She trembled through the inward fear she had of this man +of unapproachable demeanor. But summoning up what little of her former +courage she had left after the blighting effect of her long illness, she +replied. + +"Oh, Mr. Monroe, I have no objections to your coming here sometimes as a +guest of my papa; but as for calling on me, for the purpose you +intimate, that is impossible." + +"Why do you object to me, Miss Jarney?" he asked, undeterred by repulses +that would have sent any self-respecting man into hiding. + +"Why, you are as old as Adam himself," replied Edith, feigning to be +gay, but still frightened. + +Seeing Edith's dainty hand, with a diamond shining on it, he caught it +up, as if he would touch his vile lips to it. Edith withdrew her hand +quickly, without a word, arose and walked toward the piano, leaving the +ghost sitting alone like a confused statue when hit with a snow ball. +Thereupon, Monroe came to his senses, and forthwith departed, leaving a +cloud of mystification behind, over his actions. + +In a huff (inwardly), he sought his companions, and escorted them to the +Bottomless Pit, there to celebrate his great victory, as he called it. + +"Well, what luck?" asked Welty Morne, as soon as a bottle had been +uncorked, and he held a glass of its contents before his admiring eyes. + +"Aye, what luck?" chimed in Bate Yenger. + +"Bully good luck," said the ghost, like an owl. + +"All right with the old man, I suppose?" said Welty, swallowing down his +glassful. + +"All right--the old duffer," said Monroe, draining his glass. + +"How about the girl?" they asked. + +"She fell right into my arms, and accepted," responded the ghost, +seemingly without the glint of a frown. + +"Whew! Quick work, old boy; quick work! When is it to come off?" asked +Welty, speaking loudly. + +"Sometime in the future," answered Monroe, mysteriously. + +"Drink! and the devil have done for the rest!" shouted Welty, and he +imbibed another glass as an additional stimulant to his joy. + +"Bully good people, boys; bully good people," said Monroe, pulling +another cork. + +"How soon you going to drop the pole set up to impale Winthrope?" asked +Welty, unrestrained now in his enthusiasm, which he gave vent to +occasionally, by whistling and humming a doggerel, alternately. + +"The dog," growled Monroe, changing his tone. "Not yet, boys; not yet. +It goes up as if nothing had happened." + +"When will you transfix him?" asked Welty. + +"I am going to New York tomorrow to complete plans," said the invincible +ghost. + +"Up goes the flag of destruction!" shouted Welty, with Bate repeating +the words after him, both raising glasses and emptying them. + +Thus they talked and thus they drank, till the potent power of wine laid +them low in a delirious sense of delirium in Monroe's downy bed. + +After Monroe had left the Jarney home, Edith and Star ascended to the +former's chamber for that rest which night should bring to the pure in +heart. + +Divesting themselves of their day clothing, they invested themselves in +their night robes, and laid down together, side by side, in the bed +where Edith had lain so long as an invalid. When the lights were out and +the coverlets were drawn up over them, Edith heaved a sigh, like one +does who lies down in exhaustion to find that peace that darkness and a +soft bed fetches on. Star fell asleep directly, and lay in that peaceful +calm which comes to one in good health and having no intangible fancies +in the mind. + +But to Edith, repose was as difficult as the quietness sought by the +brook in seeking an eddying pool after long racing down a roughened +mountain bed. She turned first on one side, and then on the other, +dozing many times almost to the slumberous point, where the transport to +the land of dreams is imminent; then awakening with a start, as if the +nightmare were treading her down to death, only to see the little +imaginary beings that the half-closed eyes see in the illusory +light-disks that whirl through impenetrable darkness. She tried to +recollect some few of the nights through which she had passed, lying +here, as if they were transitory dreams, remembering indistinctly how +long and dreary some were, with flitting spirits and hurrying beings +filling up the surroundings; she tried to recall the forms of hopes and +doubts that seemed always to possess her, and wondered how intangible +creative mind is in its wandering; she tried to conjure up the scenes of +the tall, handsome figure in black that called every day and knelt by +her bedside, but all that she could see was the form kneeling there, and +never losing sight of the face, as if it were a part of her existence; +she tried to recall the last day that he was there, when he said +farewell, but all that she could remember was, "May I come, some +day--some day;" she tried to recall whether she had said yes, or no, so +uncertain was she now in her remembrance. She did, however, recall very +distinctly what the unconfiding Star had told her--a secret given by +John--and she was happy. And still there lurked before her the white +marble face of a man, whom she had repulsed that evening. She saw it, +when she closed her eyes, like a menacing statue in every corner of her +brain; she saw it, when she opened her eyes, like a statue in every +corner of the room, grimly and remorselessly pursuing her. And she +shuddered. Finding sleep impossible under the wild riding of her +thoughts, she placed a hand on Star's shoulder, and shook her into +drowsy wakefulness. + +"Star, Star," she whispered. "Are you awake?" + +"Yes," said Star, yawning. + +"Star, I cannot sleep; will you talk to me?" she asked. + +"Yes, deary," responded Star, in a semi-conscious tone. + +"Well, talk then; I cannot sleep," pleaded Edith, to arouse her +companion from her natural stupor. + +"Yes; I will talk, deary; go on," answered Star, not yet being willing +to comply with Edith's request. + +"Star, are you awake?" asked Edith, shaking the sleeper. + +"I am awake," answered Star, rising full upright in bed. "Can't you +sleep, Edith? Lie down and count the sheep jumping over the fence." + +"Now, do not be cross, Star," said Edith, sighing; "I am very nervous +tonight." + +"Poor dear; this day has been too much for you," said Star, leaning over +and kissing Edith. + +"Talk awhile, Star; then maybe I can sleep," said Edith. + +"Shall I tell you about the wolf that comes to poor people's doors?" +asked Star, jocularly. + +"Oh, no; not so hideous a story as that, Star; I am nervous enough now," +replied Edith. + +"Then about the mouse that moved the mountain?" + +"That is a fable, Star; something real!" + +"Then about the man as old as Adam, who asked a maid of twenty-two to +marry him?" + +"He did not ask me, Star. Do you believe he was in earnest?" + +"I think he is a sham, Edith," replied Star; "and I think he was in +earnest. Now, Edith, if I tell you what was pledged to me in secrecy, +will you not tell where it came from? Yes, you will. When I was home +today, Mr. Dieman told me that Mr. Monroe is going to New York for the +purpose of causing Mr. Winthrope trouble before he should ever get home +to see you again. I should have told you this, Edith, before now; but +seeing how nervous you were all evening, I thought it well to put it off +till tomorrow; or till you get better." + +Star ceased, yawned, and became quiet. + +"Did he tell you any more?" asked Edith, sitting up herself in bed. + +"Yes, Edith; it is too awful for me to tell you tonight." + +"I cannot sleep till you finish, Star," said Edith, lying down again, +with Star following her actions. + +"Mr. Dieman told me of the whole plot, Edith," said Star, talking in a +low sleepy voice; "not sparing himself for the part he played in it; for +when the plot was conceived Mr. Dieman was unforgiving toward any of my +mother's people who had opposed his marriage to her before she ran away +with father. But now, that he is going through a period of penitence +and reconciliation with his conscience, he was not loath to tell me +all." + +"What is the plot, Star? Don't keep me waiting; I am impatient to hear +it." + +"Mr. Winthrope," continued Star, "was sent to the New York office +through the conniving of Monroe, to keep him out of your sight. His aim +was to make an effort to have you marry him, get your money, and divide +the spoils (that is your money) between himself and his fellow +conspirators. That failing, he is to ruin Mr. Winthrope's chances by +tempting him to steal the company's money, but stealing it himself and +laying the blame on Mr. Winthrope, and then flee to Europe." + +Edith lay quiet during the recital, breathing lightly. + +"That failing, they will cause him to carry certain large sums of money +to a certain place; then hold him up and rob him," continued Star. "They +have been planning all winter, and are now about ready to bring it to a +conclusion. The time set, was to be as soon as possible after you were +able to be seen by Monroe. Having seen him this evening, Edith, it must +be time for them to strike. We must intercede to save him, Edith, if +possible." + +"I cannot do anything, in my enfeebled condition; but I shall see papa +early in the morning. I shall forestall Monroe, in his madness! Mr. +Winthrope shall be saved from those bad men! Star, something seemed to +have told me that all was not going well for him. Bless your dear +heart!" said Edith, firmly, sternly, but calmer. + +Concluding her story, Star soon fell asleep. Edith, after having her +fancies put to rout by the serious things that causes a more determined +course to mark its way through the brain, also fell asleep; and did not +awake till the morning sun, breaking through the smoke, had kissed the +damp of slumber from her cheeks. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +EDITH REVEALS HER SECRET TO HER FATHER AND HE GOES TO NEW YORK. + + +Refreshing sleep, though late in coming, restored Edith's composure. She +came down to breakfast temperamentally disposed to enter into +negotiations with her father toward the combating of any plot laid by +Monroe and his friends to entice John Winthrope into questionable +dealings. + +Like a wronged woman, through an excess of virtuous actions, she felt it +peculiarly incumbent upon herself to frustrate the plotters--not that it +would save John alone; but that it would, as well, be consistently in +line with her ideas of just dealings between man and man. During the +hour which she consumed in making her toilet, she revolved the whole +matter, as related to her by Star, over and over in her now becalmed and +determined little head; and the more she revolved it, the brighter +became the sparkle in her strong blue eyes, and fiercer grew the +militant spirit in her nature. The fatigue that had put her into a +nervous state the night before had been routed by that blind force that +comes upon depression through a quick series of changes attendant upon a +wrong done, to be displaced only through wearying fortitude. + +Edith, being primarily one of those strong natures that survives by +shock of incident, went boldly to her conceived duty, as though it were +given her to be ever strong when the crucial moment arrived. She now +knew that her father's good nature was being imposed on by that man of +unconscienceable principles. Before she fell ill the year before, the +actions of Monroe, two or three times, excited her suspicion, and she +had then thought of a plan to forestall him; but by reason of the fatal +auto ride, her movements were delayed; and as well did it delay the +schemers in their dark and dastardly plotting. It seemed a formidable +undertaking for one so frail as Edith, just coming out of a spell of +mental derangement; not in its simpleness of action was it so big, but +in the momentousness of its results on her enervated system. She would +brook no importunate pleading of her friend, Star, to stay her in her +course, and leaped into it, as if she were a veritable Goliath of +strength. + +When she arrived in the dining room that morning with re-enforced +courage, she greeted her father and mother, both waiting her arrival, +with a kiss, and sat down next to them. Several times she was on the +point of bringing up the subject, but lest it should disturb her mother, +she calmly awaited a more convenient time for the rehearsal she expected +to have with him. Breakfast was usually a quiet affair with the Jarneys, +so little was thought of the reserve with which each held speech. After +breakfast, Edith took her father's arm and guided him to a quiet nook in +the drawing room, and seated him in his favorite seat on one side of a +long plate-glass window that opened on his private grounds in front of +the mansion. + +"Papa, I want a word or two with you this morning before you leave," +said Edith, drawing a chair up and sitting down by his side. + +"This is unusual, Edith; now, what can my little girl want?" he said, +endearingly, taking one of her hands. "You are not going to give me a +secret, are you?" + +"Too true, papa," replied Edith, and Mr. Jarney expected something else +just then than what he heard. + +"I am not going to lose my little girl, I hope?" he said, patting her +hand. + +"Not yet, papa; now, you must sit real quiet, and be not so inquisitive, +nor so suspecting till you have heard me," she said, fondly. + +"Why, Edith, I had suspected some dark and mysterious deed you had +committed; but, with your assurance that I am not to lose you yet. I am +listening," he replied. + +Then she related all that Star had unfolded to her the night previous; +and even how Monroe had acted. + +"From whom did Star get the information?" he asked, meditatively, after +Edith had finished. + +"From her step-father, Peter Dieman." + +"Humph! Peter Dieman! and he married Kate Jarney at last--to her +betterment," he said, in a ruminating mood. "Well, after all, I am +satisfied. Had she heeded me, she would not have gone through all these +years of misery that her profligate husband brought upon her. Once I +offered to assist her; but she was too proud in her lowliness to respond +to my proffered aid. It is better, perhaps; it is better. It seems that +the scheme of things is wrong, sometimes; but in the end it is +righted." + +"Now, what is to be done, dear papa?" asked Edith, seeing that he had +taken a discursive course in response to her irrefutable facts. + +"I shall act at once," said he, gazing out the window, abstractedly, as +if he had been wounded by an aspersion cast upon his magnanimity. +"Ingrate! Ingrate! all of them!" he mused, drumming on the arm of the +chair with his fingers, deep in study over some plan of action. "Edith, +what would you do?" he asked, as he turned his head and looked at her +trustfully. "I have trusted him in his department all these years, and +he has given such satisfaction that no one mistrusted his motives, or +questioned his integrity. I can hardly believe it, Edith. What would you +do?" + +"Do you leave it to me?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with suppressed +fire. + +"I do," he answered, half seriously; half in jest. + +"Then eliminate him, and his dupes, at once," she answered, with great +seriousness. + +"It is hard for me to do that of my own volition," he replied. "He is so +fortified with friends on the board of directorate that they must all be +taken into consideration." + +"Will they not see the necessity of his removal, when apprised of the +facts?" she asked. + +"They may; but he is so strongly entrenched that his removal would be +almost disastrous to me." + +"How, papa? How?" she asked, now quickly perceiving a new gleam of the +entangling meshes of business associates. + +"By turning them against me, if the story should turn out to be false," +he answered, reflectively. "But I shall lay it before them at once and +investigate." + +"In the event that you should remove him, would you bring Mr. Winthrope +to your office?" asked Edith, and a tiny flush suffused her cheeks. + +"No; Mr. Winthrope must remain in New York," unthinking of the effect +his answer might have on his daughter. + +Edith turned a little pale at this response, and her hand trembled in +his. + +"Why, Edith, are you so much interested in him that you want him to be +ever present?" asked the father, noting the tremor of her hand. + +"Oh, no, papa--not that much--yes--what am I saying, papa--I don't +know," she replied, excitedly, turning her head at the sound of her +mother approaching, which seemed to have been prearranged at that +moment; but, of course, was not. Mrs. Jarney left, after seeing the +interview was private. + +"It appears to me, Edith, that you are acting strangely about this +matter," said her father, beginning to be enlightened. + +"Papa, I--I--love him," she whispered in his ear, as she put her cheek +up to his to hide the blushes in her face, and to conceal his own +countenance which she expected to see turn into a frown upon her at this +unexpected answer. "Papa, you will forgive me, won't you?--yes, you +will. It is my heart, dear papa--I cannot help it--do forgive me?" she +went on, with her eyes filled with tears of happiness and weakness and +misery over her uncontrollable feelings. + +"Let me see your face, Edith?" said her father, making an effort to turn +his head, which she held pressed to her own. + +"No, no; I won't papa, till you say you will forgive me," she answered, +kissing him. + +"To keep peace, Edith, I will forgive you; let me see your face?" + +"There!" she exclaimed, suddenly releasing him, and standing off, with +tear stains marking through her flushes, and her hair tousled by the +performance. + +"I believe you," he said, beholding her in a state of mixed emotions; +"but I am not yet ready to approve of your selection." + +Her heart sank at this answer, and she sank to the floor by his side. +Throwing one arm over his knee, and her head upon her arm, she burst +into a fit of passionate grief that shook her frame. + +"My dear Edith," said he, placing his hand on her head, grieved himself +by her outburst of new affliction, "you cause me grief. I would not hurt +your dear little heart for anything. Now, come, explain to me fully what +that heart of yours tells you?" + +She arose, half laughing, half crying, almost hysterically discomposed, +rubbing her tears away, as she smiled through them rolling down her +face. + +"I feel ashamed, papa, for being so weak; but I cannot help it," she +said, sitting down on his knee, and throwing her head upon his shoulder +and one arm around his neck. + +"Well! Edith. I am in sympathy with you," said he; "but you gave me a +severe shock being so plainly spoken about such an affair of the heart. +Does he suspect it of you?" + +"I do not think so, papa--but, papa, he told Star that he loved me, and +told her not to tell--and, goosey that she is, she told me, and caused +me more--because he said he could not expect to ever meet me on the same +level; and that is all I have against him--" + +"Well! Of all things I ever heard of," said the father. "I had not been +inclined to interfere with you, Edith, in such affairs; but I--" he +hesitated. "You make your choice, but be careful, child; be careful." + +"Don't you think he is good, papa?" she asked. + +"Very good--fine--perfect, Edith! I should not disfavor him; but he must +love you for your own dear self before I shall ever give my consent." + +"He may never find it out, papa," she said, drearily; "and if he does +not, I shall never let him know, and shall go through the world alone." + +"That is noble in you, Edith," said her father, kissing her. "It is time +for me to go," he said, as she released him. + + * * * * * + +On arriving at his office, Mr. Jarney was informed that Mr. Monroe had +quietly taken himself off that morning for New York. He was further +informed that Mr. Monroe had been requested to make the trip by certain +members of the Board of Directors; and further, that he was entrusted +with a large sum of money, in the form of drafts, made payable to the +order of the treasurer of the company at the Broadway office. When this +news was flashed upon Mr. Jarney, there seemed to penetrate his +tractable mind, like a thunderbolt, the concatenating links of a plot, +too realistic to be waived aside; which he was prone to do, when Edith +gave him her story that morning. + +Side by side with the facts concerning Monroe's leave-taking and +purpose, he also learned that the genteel ghost had taken with him +certain office books and papers, to be used in checking over accounts +while auditing the books of the branch office. This was not in +accordance with precedence, and proved another corroborative +circumstance in the duplicity of the culpable Monroe. + +Putting all these correlated facts together, Mr. Jarney, after due +deliberation, and after duely weighing them all as incriminating +integral parts, and after combining them with the main story of the +plot, arrived at the inevitable conclusion that Monroe was up to some +deviltry that should be probed to the bottom. He, therefore, called a +meeting of the Board of Directors, and put the whole question, in all +its phases, before that body. It was almost noon when the board met. +They must act without going through the circumlocution of formal +discussion and the entanglements of red tape, he told them. Some of the +members were for postponing the meeting till the next day, to await a +telegram from New York, so great was their faith in Monroe's honor. +Monroe, they said, would be in the metropolis on the morrow. The +procrastinating members prevailed in their vote on the question, and +adjournment was had till the next day. + +But Mr. Jarney was not disconcerted, nor did he allow himself to be +wholly blocked in his plan of action. So as soon as the board had +arrived at the decision to go slow, he took it upon himself, knowing the +shrewdness of John Winthrope, to send him a private wire, addressed +personally, briefly saying: + +"Beware of Monroe; I will be there tomorrow afternoon, if possible." + +Dispatching this message, Mr. Jarney returned home, related to Edith +what he had discovered as confirmatory evidence against Monroe, got +ready, and left on the next train for the seat of trouble. + +Edith, from the morning of her conversation with her father to the time +she received a wire from him, went through a siege of terrible mental +conflicts. She confided in no one, at first, not even Star, the cause of +her father's sudden call to New York. She was in a highly nervous fright +throughout the hours that seemed never to pass between his going and the +receipt of the telegram. Her flights of fancy went to unreasonable +complications for the doomed young man in the New York office. She +thought she must rescue him at all odds to her health. Had she been in a +condition physically able to bear the journey, she would have gone +alone, if need be; or with her father, if permitted; but as it was, she +remained in her prison like an unwilling subject in a sanitorium. Thus +exhibiting an excitable demeanor in her actions, her mother and Star +made futile attempts to draw from her the cause of her fervid agitation. +Still strung to a high tension of determination, still overcome with an +uncommon fear, still anxious and studiously meditating over the +eventualities that might come to pass before her father should reach his +destination, she wandered about the house in uncontrollable +perturbation, sticking tenaciously to her secret. + +"Edith," said Star, approaching her in one of her rounds of walking the +floor, "come, tell me what is agitating you so today, that I might be of +help." + +Placing her arm around Star's waist, without a word, she drew Star along +in her walk, looking dreamily, and seeing nothing, save what the +illusive eye might see in the distance. Star returned the friendly +embrace of Edith, and with their arms around each other, the two walked +and walked, both silent. Edith silent over what she was pondering on, +Star silent over what she feared was an unnatural mental balance. + +"Are you ill today, Edith?" asked Star. + +"Oh, no, Star; I am feeling very well today," replied Edith. + +"But you are so quiet and unresponsive that I can't quite make you out," +said Star. + +Then leading Star to the window where she sat with her father the day +before, Edith asked her to sit down that she might have a word with her. + +"Star," she said, seriously, relenting in her purpose to keep her secret +longer, "what you told me two nights ago I have discovered to be too +true--at least in a circumstantial way," said Edith. + +"Why, then, haven't you told me, Edith, so that I could have a +fellow-feeling for you?" asked Star. + +"Papa requested me to keep it a secret till he returns; which I should +do. But, deary, you know I am like you, it is hard to keep a secret," +said Edith, still uncertain whether to proceed farther. + +"Now, my dear Edith! I never tell anybody any secrets but you, and you +tell them to nobody else, and you never tell any to me, so that is as +far as yours ever get." + +"Star. I must refreshen your memory a little," said Edith, playfully. "I +am not scolding you, you know; but just reminding you a little. Now, +didn't you tell Mr. Winthrope something?" + +"Well, wasn't he entitled to it?" said Star, laughing. + +"Then you won't, in this instance, tell anybody?" + +"No--o--hope'm'die," returned Star, crossing her breast. + +"Papa has gone to New York to intercept Monroe." + +"Has he?" said Star, with wide eyes. "Monroe, then, has gone?" + +"Went yesterday morning before papa reached his office. Papa learned +some things that substantiated what Mr. Dieman told you, and, putting +everything together, he became convinced of the truthfulness of the +stratagem of that man Monroe to bring Mr. Winthrope into disrepute. +Star, had Monroe succeeded in his designs before I had learned the true +status of affairs, I should not have believed anything against him; but +now that I have been forewarned, I shall never lose faith in his honor +and integrity. Star, I told papa of my love for him, which papa did not +accept pleasantly at first, thinking I was in fun, or doing it as a lark +to tease him; but when he realized I was never more serious, he called +him a fine, perfect young man, and was pleased. There, Star, I have told +you what has been on my mind since yesterday. Am I a goosey still?" + +"You are a little dove, Edith," said Star, sweetly. + +"Star, I should like to see Mr. Dieman," said Edith, changing the +subject. "Can you have him come here?" + +"I may; but it is doubtful." + +"I would go to him, if I could." + +"He has a young man named Eli Jerey, who transacts business matters for +him. He might be summoned. Mr. Dieman places implicit confidence in him. +Everything now must be conveyed through him to Mr. Dieman, I am told. I +have seen Mr. Jerey; and I can have him called here to see you for +whatever you might want to impose upon Mr. Dieman." + +"Is Mr. Dieman so exclusive as that?" asked Edith. + +"He is, indeed, Edith. Since his marriage to mother, he has set up in +great state, and does nothing but look after his family affairs +personally, and transacts other affairs by the way of Mr. Jerey." + +"You will vouch for his trustworthiness? at least you can promise that +much through what Mr. Dieman represents him to be?" + +"Oh, yes; whatever Mr. Dieman says can be relied on." + +"Then you may have Mr. Jerey call here at eight o'clock this evening, if +he can come." + +"Shall I call him now?" asked Star, rising to go to the phone to have a +talk with that gentleman. + +"Yes. Papa must be in New York by this time; I should know soon, by +wire, what Monroe has accomplished," said Edith, as Star was leaving +her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +ELI JEREY IS CALLED INTO REQUISITION. + + +It is wonderful how prosperity transcends every other medium in working +a transformation in a poor stick of humanity, who has been chortled, +like a shuttle-lock, through the shifting warp of adversity. It is +refreshing to observe, sometimes, how often men and women of lowly state +can rise, as it were, by their own boot-straps from the great misfortune +of having nothing to the ravishing luck of plentitude. It is, indeed, +very promising to know that favoring chance does not fall altogether +upon the many who are born with silver spoons in their mouths. + +It may not have been by his own boot-straps, unaided, that Eli Jerey +rose to his plenary rank, or to his financial exhaltation. It may not +have been luck alone, or chance, or extended aid, that hoisted him to +the skies in the estimation of Peter Dieman; neither could it have been +native ability, for his qualifications were of the superficial kind, to +the casual observer. + +However, whatever the cause might have been, it is one of the +certainties of the things that be, that Eli was now in high favor with +his former master, and was prospering like a well-conditioned house cat. +For Peter was certainly expiating himself for all the cuffs and rebuffs +that he had heaped upon that poor lad's head during the period of his +vengefulness. Eli was now made plenipotentiary extraordinary of the +former junkman, with full rank of major-domo of his private affairs, +insofar as they appertained, incidentally, to the junk shop, and the +purveying of news of the System between the main totem himself and his +sub-lunary lights. + +And this elevation of Eli remodeled him as a being. Instead of the +stoop-shouldered, thin-faced, frowsy-headed, dirty, unwashed, ill-clad, +uncared-for individual that a scanty stipend produces, we now see an +erect, sharp-featured, cleanly-shaved, neatly-clad, bright-eyed young +man. Although not handsome, his face called for an adulatory +responsiveness on the part of those who came in contact with him. +Instead of having his hands continually soiled by the labors that he +performed in sorting junk and displaying it to customers, it was not +uncommon to see him going about the shop gloved in brown kid. Instead of +a dark-brown lay-down-collar shirt that always gave him the appearance +of a water front workman, he wore boiled linen, decorated with a +sparkling stud and flashy necktie. Instead of a greasy coat that hung +loosely over his shoulders, he wore a neat business suit. Instead of the +sweat-marked slouch hat, that used to loll on one side of his head, he +wore a derby. Instead of a chain made of leather, to which was attached +a brass watch, he carried a gold ticker fastened to his vest by a +delicately-linked chain. Instead of the black, filthy office, in which +his master sat for years, and in which he sat for a time after his +advancement, he could now be found in a bright, clean place, papered and +tinsled and decorated, with a new desk to write at, and a +leather-cushioned chair to recline in. Thus he appeared in his new role, +when the phone rang one day, as it often did, but now with a different +purport than ever before. + +"Hello!" responded Eli, taking down the receiver and adjusting it to his +ear. + +"Yes; this is Mr. Jerey." + +"Eli Jerey; yes." + +"Yes; Mr. Dieman's office." + +"Very busy day; but we're always open for new business." + +"A private interview!" + +"Can't you come to my office?--I never go out--except ordered by Mr. +Dieman." + +"Can I come without him knowing it?" + +"That depends on the business." + +"Well; who wants me?" + +"Can't set a time or date till I know." + +"What! Mr. Jarney's residence!" ("Well, did you ever!" on the side). + +"Miss Jarney!" + +"Who's this talking?" + +"Star Barton!" ("Well, did you ever!" on the side.) + +"Where are you?" now more interested. + +"At Mr. Jarney's?" ("Well, what now?" on the side.) + +"What time?" ("Bless me!" on the side.) + +"Yes; 7 p. m. will do." ("Ha, me!" on the side.) + +"I will be there." ("On the dot!" on the side.) + +Eli hung up the receiver, stood a moment tickling his right ear with his +right forefinger, a habit of his. He was in a confused and perplexed +state of mental consternation. Miss Barton! Miss Barton! Peter Dieman's +step-daughter! went through his head in a rollicking way. "Hah! Miss +Barton! I've heard of her; and Miss Jarney--rich--young--poorty--and +wants an interview with me! Humph!" he mused, after sitting down. "Well, +I must make myself presentable and go henceforth to meet them in all my +dignity; yes, meet my superiors now in all my dignity--hah!" + +In due time Eli repaired to his room in the Monongahela House, a very +ancient and a very honorable institution of its kind, no other being now +suitable to Eli's enlarged notions of refinement. He clothed himself in +his best bib and tucker, swatted down his hair so flat that it looked as +if it had been laid by a weaver's hand to his swelling head, and +powdered his sallow face till it was resplendent with the polish of good +looks. + +Now, when all was completed he stood before the mirror, like a +coquettish maid primping to make a hit, and there saw reflected back a +very well appearing young gentleman. He saw all that the art of +massaging and ointing and cologning and talcuming and starching and +tailoring could mould out of the material at hand. He saw reflected back +a youth five feet ten, with hollow eyes, peaked face, broad high +forehead, condensed lips, and good teeth, long fingers, all supported by +a suit of black, full dress style, with low white vest and +patent-leather shoes. He saw also a diamond in his shirt front, white +necktie banding a high collar, dark gray gloves, gold-headed cane, and +high silk hat. + +Before withdrawing from the allurements of the mirror, Eli touched his +fingers to his lips, stroked his sandy eyebrows, turned around a time or +two, with admiring glances over his shoulder, as he raised or lowered +his brows, or opened his mouth to show his teeth to himself; adjusted +the plug correctly on his head, drew on his gloves, took his cane in +one hand, and receded from his reflected self, with many glancing and +furtive farewells at the glass; closing the door at last, regretful that +he had so soon to part company with such an admirable picture of budding +manhood. + +Settling himself inside a glass enclosed auto, he was whizzed through +the appalling roar and grime of the city, like the formal gentleman that +he was, sitting among the soft and heaving cushions, and looking to the +passers-by, in his flight, like the silhouette of a grand bourgeois in +contradistinction to the votaries of swelldom. In his present state of +perverted obsequiousness, Eli was intensely vain, usually; but now, +while in the gentlemanly act of calling upon a lady, so rich that he +could not count all her money did he live a thousand years, and at her +own request, for an interview, he was ludicrously haughty, and +hopelessly ignorant of the rules of deportment surrounding the secluded +haunts of the refined and the mighty ones of power and place. Any +failings that he had, he did not recognize. His limitations were his +blisses. What he did not know, he took as a matter of no consequence. If +he saw a thing, it permeated him with unwarped fascination; if he did +not see it clearly, he was not troubled. Rising to his present state, +was of more importance as to present results, than as to permanency. In +truth, he was a queer combination of meritorious attainments now, +meaning well, and doing his best to be an efficient collaborator of his +famous mentor--Peter Dieman. He was a person of little imagination. +Everything was realistic to him. So, in journeying to the Jarneys on +this auspicious occasion, he imagined very little about how he should +act, or perform, or conduct himself, any more than what would come +naturally to him. + +When he presented himself to the two young ladies in the drawing room of +the mansion on the hill, he shocked them by sitting down with his hat on +his head, though they could not help but admire his rich habiliments. + +"May I take your hat?" said Edith, approaching him, of course expecting +to receive that piece of fine head covering to deposit it where it +belonged at such a time. + +"No, madam, no; it is just as well where it is," he replied, showing his +white teeth through a crooked smile. "I've been used to setting with it +on." + +He was so unapproachable that Edith was embarrassed before him. Star had +remembered him as the former disheartening clerk of her step-father. She +had seen him when she had gone to the junk shop with her mother that +time for the redemption of her kitchen utensils, and she had not +forgotten how cadaverous and impoverished he then looked. + +"I presume you remember me?" asked Star, to break the monotonous silence +into which the interview had perforce fallen. + +"I don't know that I do," said he, showing his fine teeth again, and +lifting his eyebrows. "So many people came into the store in those days +that I paid little attention to them all." + +"Don't you remember the girl who was so poorly clad that was with her +mother the day Mr. Dieman gave back the dishes her father had pawned, +and against which you protested?" asked Star. + +"Are you the gal?" he asked, with brightening face. + +"I am the gal," returned Star, laughing. + +"Well! how time makes changes in this world," he responded, looking her +over carefully, hardly believing that the pretty face of Star's, with +pretty gown to match, could possibly be the same. "It beats all; and you +are the sister of all of Mr. Dieman's children?" + +"Mrs. Dieman's children," she corrected. + +"Yes, that's it--I know your sister May," he said, with a smile. + +"Do you, really?" said Star. + +"I call on him often, and see her, sometimes--she's a dandy," he said. + +"A fine girl," corrected Edith. + +"Yes; mighty fine," he answered, as he crossed his gloved hands over the +head of his cane standing perpendicularly in front of him, and putting +his chin down upon them, as if posing as a rejuvenated old man "by the +wayside on a mossy stone," looking steadily at them both. "And you are +May's sister? Well!" + +"I have that honor," replied Star. + +"Well! Who would think it? You are so much poortier," he said, quietly +and naturally, without intending to be impertinent. + +Star blushed at first; but in a moment became vexed, and looked very +black at him; that is, as black as she could look, for no matter how she +tempered up, not much sign of her resentment was ever evidenced in her +face. Edith was astonished at his rudeness, and glanced at Star for an +explanation of the bold manner of this young man. Eli, in his +transparent innocence, did not feel the effects of their interchange of +glances, and was not disturbed. Anticipating that he might precipitate a +scene by an unfortunate remark, Edith took up the subject that had +caused her to have him present. + +"Mr. Jerey," she began, faltering in her speech, "you are Mr. Dieman's +agent, I understand?" + +"I am," he replied, loftily. + +"Do you know Mr. Monroe?" + +"I do." + +"Do you know Mr. Morne?" + +"I do--he's a scamp." + +"Do you know Mr. Yenger?" + +"I do--he's another scamp." + +"Do you know my father?" + +"Not personally." + +"Do you know Jacob Cobb?" + +"I do--he's a--" + +"Do you know Jasper Cobb?" + +"I do--he's an--" + +"Do you know James Dalls?" + +"I do--he's a--" + +"Well, now; has Mr. Dieman decided to continue keeping company with +these people?" asked Edith, warming to her subject. + +"For what reason do you ask?" he asked, eyeing her closely, so much so +that Edith was discomfitted by his sharp stare. + +"It is a matter that concerns me personally, Miss Barton here, and my +father," she answered. + +"That's not very informing," he replied. + +"Do you know Mr. John Winthrope, my father's former secretary?" she +asked. + +"I never saw him--don't recall that I ever heard of him--yes, believe +so--didn't Mr. Dieman speak to me once about him? (asking himself)--yes, +believe he did. Well, what of him?" + +"Do you know whether Mr. Dieman bears ill-will against him yet?" + +"Let me see," said Eli, now in a cogitating tone, still with his chin +upon his hands still on top of his cane, but lowering his eyes to the +floor; "he never mentioned him but once, and then in connection +with--let me see--what?--with your father as secretary, sometime +ago--got a phone?" he asked suddenly, now disposed toward being +cautiously communicative. + +"Yes; do you wish to use it?" asked Edith. + +"I would like to before going farther in this talk. Where is it?" + +Edith then led the way to the phone room, Eli following, with his hat +still on his head, to the disgust even of the servants. + +"I wish to be private," he said to Edith and Star, seeing they were +inclined to linger near. + +"As you wish," they returned, departing and closing the door behind +them. + +After finishing his phoning, Eli emerged from the room, and strode +through the dining room and on through to the drawing room, whistling a +ditty, with his plug hat cocked back on his head, swinging his cane +round and round, like one out walking for pleasure. He resumed his seat +as before, with the ladies as his examiners. + +"Well?" said Edith. + +"He says he has no ill-will against Mr. Winthrope any more; and requests +me to take steps necessary to right any wrong against him. What's your +wish?" + +"Before I go farther," said Edith, "may I ask you if it is Mr. Dieman's +purpose to remain the go-between in the graft system, of which Mr. Cobb +is the head?" + +"He's making an effort to break from the gang--he's been making the +effort ever since he married; but it's hard to let go," said Eli, +casting an admiring glance at Star. + +"Now, then; as to my wish, Mr. Jerey," said Edith, trying to get his +eyes away from Star; "I want you to assist me and my father to break up +the ring; in a quiet manner, if possible; if not quietly, then by law." + +"What's your object, mainly?" he asked. + +"To get such men as Monroe and his dupes and old Mr. Cobb into the +toils. These men have not been satisfied in working the graft system +for all they are worth, but they have been plotting for months against +me and my father. Can I depend on you?" + +"You can. But what has Mr. Winthrope to do with it?" + +"That is a part of the plot against my father and me." + +"Still I can't see--but never mind, I know the other fellers well, and +will help you." + +"First, get Mr. Dalls back from Europe, and--" + +"Say, miss," he broke in, "how did you know all this and these men?" + +"Dieman communicated the information to Miss Barton, and she to me." + +"Ha!" he ejaculated, and then subsided into a quiet turn for a few +moments. "He did, eh?" he proceeded; "then I know he'll approve anything +I agree to here. Understand, I only carry information between Mr. Dieman +and the lower men." + +"I understand," said Edith. + +"I will get Mr. Dieman to throw them all overboard soon as I can get my +hooks to going," he replied, rising. "Where is Mr. Winthrope?" + +"In New York," replied Edith, rising also, and standing awkwardly by +waiting for him to move. + +"I don't understand where he comes in?" said Eli, as he placed his cane +between his arms behind his back, and spraddling out his legs, with his +hat cocked back. + +"That is another matter," said Edith, attempting to pass it over. + +"I am very busy," he said, half-whistling a tune, then drawing his legs +together and whirling round on one foot, he directed his eyes upon Star, +and remarked: "You are so much poortier than your sister May; and this +young lady (turning to Edith) is poortier than all the rest," after +which he smiled broadly, showing his good teeth. + +It was rather a delicate moment for the young ladies. It was hard to +reprove him, when they had solicited his aid in their great undertaking. +Star was vexed. Edith was disappointed in him, for she expected that he +would show a little more solicitude for her affairs than he showed in +his actions and answers to her questions. She drew down her dark brows +when he spoke as he did, feeling indignant, and looking at him sharply, +said: + +"Mr. Jerey, that is very impolite in you." + +"Oh, my! beg your pardon!" he said, with an innocent smile. "I am so +used to talking to my own sisters when I go home that I really forgot +where I was. If you will pardon me, I will go? and not do it any +more--but that's my opinion." + +As he concluded his apology he simmered down as to smile, looked serious +after seeing the ladies were provoked, struck the toe of his patents +with his cane, set his hat squarely upon his head, crossed his legs, put +his hands in his pockets, with the cane under his right arm, smiled +again, resumed a correct form of standing, expecting the while to hear +the ladies go on with their scolding. But as they did not say any more, +he turned round, and walked out as straightly as a West Pointer on +parade, opened the door himself, and let himself out. After closing the +door behind him, he stepped to the piazza, and stopped on the edge of +it, gawking around like a country lout. + +He was nothing of the kind, being absolutely indifferent as to what +people thought of him, or as to how he acted, so long as he was not +immorally sensitized. He was playing his part in the drama of a great +city's life, and playing it excellently; so what did it matter, if the +sticklers for formality were shocked. + +Going down the long walk through the Jarney grounds, with frosted +incandescents throwing fantastic shadows about him, he whistled +something that sounded like a hot time in the old town--sometime soon. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +MONROE IS CAUGHT IN A NET OF HIS OWN WEAVING. + + +Ever efficient and ever advancing, though the time since he left his +mountain home was short, John Winthrope had pressed onward and upward +till he was not only the assistant treasurer in the New York office, but +stood high in the favor of the heads of the great firm; and, if he +continued on his outlined course, promised to enjoy still further favors +and special privileges. His rapid rising, his pecuniary uplift, his +progress in favor, his increasing enjoyment of privilege, his continuing +prosperity, did in nowise diminish his sense of duty, nor beguile him +from that course which he had laid out to follow when he first became +obsessed with the idea of making his mark in the world of finance, as +seen through the eyes of steel and iron. + +During all the months, dreary though they were, that he went through in +the city of Pittsburgh, he continued to live, according to his own +adopted code, at the cheap lodging house in Diamond alley. The +emoluments of his position, handsome though they might be considered for +one so young as he, and for one so new in the ranks of the employed, +were not any more compensatory than the allotments, as per schedule of +bills to be met, demanded. For, after paying for his simple lodging, his +small personal requirements, and sequestering a sum for the inevitable +rainy day, he sent the balance to his parents to assist them in the +liquidation of a debt of purchase on their home in the hills beyond the +roar and turmoil of business; to which home he hoped to go sometime, an +ever present dream, to spend his leisure days, or to rest when the +burdens of life should become too great for his shoulders to carry. + +Being steadfast of purpose, and retired in a social way, he had it over +other men in his unquenchable ambition to make good--in that, instead of +idling away his time in questionable company, as so many such young men +do, or loafing about clubs being a good fellow at a high cost, he +enlarged his knowledge of the details of business by utilizing his spare +moments in courses of suitable studies, in which he exercised his +energies and ability to their utmost. + +After being transferred to his new post, he did not change his plans, +even though his compensation was enhanced to a surprising and very +agreeable amount; nor did he deviate one iota from his habits of living. +He did one thing, however, which is pardonable and commendable, and that +was to dress as became his office with a much more satisfactory and +becoming taste. Blessed with good looks, a frank, open countenance, a +finished polish, and a natural grace, any personal adornment was +befitting to him. In his case, the clothes did not make the man, but the +man made the clothes, as is often true in some men and women. By gradual +degrees, his cheap shop clothes, as they gave way to the ravages of +wear and time, were displaced by stylish modern cuts, tailored and +otherwise; but this only happened as wages increased and exigencies +demanded. + +So he may now be seen at his desk in a neatly fitting business suit of +dark serge, with creases in the trousers, and his coat collar always +clean of dandruff and falling hair. His shirt fronts were the nattiest, +his collars the whitest, his ties the neatest, his shoes the highest +polished of anyone in the office. With his dark-brown hair, clear blue +eyes, fair skin, smooth face and dark eyebrows, he could well be envied +by those less gifted. + +Still, with all these characteristics, he was the least reconciled to +his lot. In March he was called upon to take his leave for New York. In +March he was compelled to take leave of the sick young woman, whom he +had visited every day without a break for months by force of the most +unusual circumstances that ever came to a young man, or to any man, +perhaps. He had become so accustomed to these daily visits to Edith's +bedside, and had become so fraught with the most formidable fire of +life, that when the final day came round, he seemed to have buried the +object before his going, and lived in a perpetual dream thereafter, +still perplexed and confounded by a mystery. + +Edith was not yet well when he last looked upon her face; but signs of +improvement were ever growing brighter. This is what gave him such pain +of heart--the thought that he had to leave when the time had come for +him to see her in her reason. But still, he thought, perhaps it was for +the best. For was she not laboring under an hallucination, a delusion, a +wild estrangement of the senses? And, of course, when she came to +herself, he would, by virtue of the natural laws of caste, have to go +his own way after all, and find solace for his passion in some other +person less worthy. It was better, thought he, that he was away--so far +away that he should never see her again; and time, the sure healer of +all ills, of all regrets, of all sorrows, of all misery, would bind his +wounds from the harrowing effects of proud flesh. He could never hope, +was his everlasting complaint, to vie with other men in the conquest of +her heart. So why fret away his time on such an improbable question? +Seeing all these things in this light, and believing in them seriously +and honorably, he exerted his best endeavors to cast the burden from +his soul. But the burden was too heavily laden to be so easily thrust +aside. + +He had not heard from her since the last evening he left her +home--except on one occasion, when a letter from her father to another +member of the firm in the branch office, indirectly referred to her +improving condition. This was all--a very slim thread it was upon which +to build any hope that she, in her enlightening mind, ever again called +for him, which seemed proof sufficient to convince him of his +preconceived opinion. + +But--why? but--why? he always asked himself, did she make such an +impression on him, unless he had struck, in her heart, a responsive +chord. No matter how he reasoned, he invariably got back to the premises +of his theme, namely, that he could not hope for any recognition on her +part so long as their stations in life were miles and miles apart. + +He had spent many days on this unsolvable proposition, in all its +various phases, and was still weighing it in his mind, even while busily +engaged at his desk, when, one day, Miram Monroe was announced, and led +into his office with all those outrageous formalities that flunkies +about such offices show to their superior beings, who have the brains +and money to conduct gigantic industrial corporations. Mr. Winthrope was +surprised more than he felt able to express himself; but he +good-humoredly extended his hand and saluted him with a cheerful, "How +are you? and how are all the people back in old Pittsburgh," meaning, of +course, the people only in the main office. + +Mr. Monroe was as stoical as ever, but he greeted John with considerable +more cordiality than had been his wont. "They are all prospering," he +answered, as he glanced around the room. + +John watched him closely, in a critical way, having in mind the telegram +he had received the day previous from Mr. Jarney that said, "Beware of +Monroe." John did not fully understand the meaning of this telegram; but +he read its significance in the face of the man standing now before him, +which, as he then looked at it, presented a mixture of tragedy, comedy, +treachery and sculduggery. He saw these traits now in Monroe, not that +his face had presented them to him on any other occasion, but the +telegram had revealed to him too forcibly what he could not before +comprehend. Why did Mr. Jarney send it, if the coming of Monroe was not +for some insidious purpose? he asked himself. + +"You do not often come to New York, Mr. Monroe--at least, not to this +office," said John, breaking the ice for a plunge into Mr. Monroe's +perverseness toward a hateful silence. + +"Not often," he answered, extracting some papers from an inside coat +pocket. He began deliberately to run over these papers, as if looking +for a particular one. Finding one that seemed to meet his searching +approval, he drew up a chair to a desk in the middle of the room and sat +down, still very deliberately, with his eyes bent upon the paper that he +held in his hand. + +Concluding that Monroe was not willing to be communicative about his +errand, John sat down at his own desk. Scrutinizing Monroe from a side +view, he saw it was the same face that was so indefinable to him in his +apprenticeship in the head office; the same lengthened visage that then +struck him so forcibly as that of a mountebank, clothed in undeserving +power; the same white, wrinkleless skin that reminded him perpetually of +a true portraiture of a ghost. John sat spell-bound, drawn irrisistably +to this peculiarly eccentric man. + +Monroe sat pouring over his papers, as if it had been his custom to come +there every day and do the same thing, unbelievably composed in his +manner. To John, there was a mephistophelean aspect about Monroe, as he +sat at the desk, apparently in the throes of some abstruse problem that +he could not readily make out. But, however, after awhile Monroe seemed +to have reached a solution of what he was delving into, and directly +turned and faced John, with his usual inane stare. + +"Mr. Winthrope," said he, with no change in the monotonous enunciation +of his words, so precise did he give utterance to them, "there seems to +be an error in your accounts, which indicates a shortage in this +office." + +"An error! A shortage!" gasped John, as if he had been stabbed from +behind with a dagger. + +"Yes;" answered Monroe very slowly, very mouse-like, very aggravatingly, +"a shortage--or an error." He straightened up in his chair, after saying +this, to see the effect of his assertion in John's countenance. + +Recovering his composure in a moment or so, John drew down his eyebrows +to a scornful straightness, and glared at his accuser. John was not very +often convertable to such an exhibition of temper; but when his name and +his honor were brought under reproach, his resentment became visibly +uncontrollable. + +"Do you mean, Mr. Monroe," said John, looking straight into his +gray-green eyes, "that I am short in my accounts with this office?" + +"That is my intimation," replied the insinuating Monroe, opening his +mouth squarely at the emphasizing of "my". "I have been sent here to +have a reckoning with you." + +The very bluntness of his statement was so monstrous to John, that he +could not, for a short time, comprehend what it meant for him. The very +essence of the assertion was too much for his grasp, so horrified was he +for the few moments that he sat facing the serene detractor of his +character. The very thought of such a crime was so contrary to his +nature, that he was almost blind from the sensations of the blow +coursing through him. + +"Are you in earnest? or are you here to jest with me, Mr. Monroe?" asked +John, rousing himself to face the inevitable. + +"I am in dead earnest," answered Monroe. + +"Then you," responded John, weighing his words, "lie--or some one +else--is lying--for--you." + +"Don't get agitated and go off half-cocked," said Monroe, in the same +icy tone as before. "I'll show to you, in due time, where you have been +peculating." + +At first, John was on the point of taking physical issue with the +challenger of his good name; but remembering the significant telegram +from Mr. Jarney, and remembering also that he was at a disadvantage with +Monroe over the question of fact, he subdued his passionate feelings, +and thought he would parley for time to await the coming of Mr. Jarney +before long. + +"Some one has been doctoring the books," said John, smoothly, "if there +is an apparent defalcation. I know what I have been doing, Mr. Monroe. +My cash has balanced each day. My accounts in this office are straight, +Mr. Monroe. I am straight, Mr. Monroe. You are crooked. And I will have +no more from you till my superiors have been consulted." + +"Well, Mr. Winthrope," responded Monroe to John's asseveration, "I am +the auditor of the firm for this office, and I am to be consulted first. +According to our books you are short. I was, therefore, sent here to +have an accounting with you, and if I find that our books are correct +and your accounts wrong, I am to have a warrant issued for your arrest. +Believe me, Mr. Winthrope, when I say that I find an error which +indicates peculating on your part. I do not want to see your name +blackened by an exposure that would naturally follow should I take it in +my head to proceed against you. I have a free hand to act any way I +choose, be that what it may. Now, I can fix this matter up for you so +that no word of it will get out, and so that you can leave with money in +your pockets, and mine, and no one will be the wiser. I can compromise +the matter by you being reasonable. Will you be reasonable and enter +into my scheme?" + +John was surely astounded at this long speech of Monroe's. He studied a +short moment. He did not want to compromise himself with Monroe in any +scheme that, if he were guilty, would cover up the crime with which he +was charged. If he was found to be responsible for any shortage, he was +fully willing to take the consequences which arrest and exposure might +entail, rather than attempt to clear himself of the blame, if blamable. +But not being guilty, as he had good reason to believe, he held that +justice, unless mercilessly blind, would deal fairly with him. Moreover, +he would be making a mistake if he did not draw Monroe out, and secure +from him his plan of a secret compromise. + +"How would you propose compromising the matter, if I am guilty?" he +asked. + +"By leaguing with you," answered Monroe, artlessly. + +"Leaguing with me?" said John, doubtful of his meaning. + +"Yes," he answered. "I have a draft here for one hundred thousand, made +payable to the treasurer of the New York office. You can get the money +yourself by signing it as assistant treasurer. Get it, and we will +divide the amount. I will fix the books at the other end so that a +discovery cannot be made till we are safely in Europe or South America. +Will you do it?" + +A new idea came to John, growing on him gradually as Monroe unfolded his +nefarious scheme. + +"Yes; I will do it," he answered, with alacrity. "Where is the draft?" + +Monroe immediately pulled the draft from an inside pocket of his vest. +He looked it over, as if he regretted to give it up; then he turned it +over to John, with a hesitating hand. + +"Get the money," said Monroe, without an intimation that he was pleased, +or not pleased, over the readiness with which John seemed to be falling +into his trap. + +John leisurely put the draft with a number of other drafts he had in his +possession belonging to the firm, placed them all together in the firm's +bank book, and retreated, without a word, from the enervating +personality of Monroe. After depositing the entire sum in the name of +the firm, he returned to the office to report to Monroe. + +"That is rather a crude piece of business, Mr. Monroe," said John, as he +entered the office. Standing with folded arms on the opposite side of +him at the flat-top desk, he gave a laugh, and smiled sarcastically, as +he said: "Crude! I should say; so crude that it smells of rusted iron!" + +Monroe looked up nonplused at the haughty and sneering tone of his +inferior; but he showed no irritation. + +"Did you get the money?" asked Monroe, blandly. + +"I did," answered John, good naturedly. + +"Well, divide up," said Monroe, having doubts. + +"Oh, I forgot to return with it, Monroe," replied John, as he laughed in +his superior's face. "I placed it to the credit of the firm. Believing +there was no hurry about dividing up, and thinking tomorrow would do as +well as today for that little formality, I changed my mind between here +and the bank. The money will keep where it is, Mr. Monroe." + +The door of the office opened. The form of Mr. Jarney stood in it for a +brief time. Then he closed the door and stood inside the room. He did +not advance at once. As Mr. Monroe saw him first, his face took on a +yellow pallor. John noticed the change in the coloring of his marbled +visage, and turned about. Seeing who the intruder was, he took a few +steps across the room, and lively grasped his former master by the hand. + +"Glad to see you, Mr. Jarney; very glad," said John. + +Mr. Jarney, in turn, greeted John very warmly, and said he was +inexpressively happy to see him looking so robust, and hoped that he +was still the same unpolluted young man as when he first met him. All of +which abashed John so that he blushed. + +"Did you get my telegram?" he asked John, yet not turning to greet +Monroe, who sat without a tremor at the desk. + +"Yes; I have been looking for you all day," replied John. "Here is Mr. +Monroe," he said, as he turned and waved his hand toward that brazen +piece of trickery. + +"Yes; yes; I see Mr. Monroe," said Mr. Jarney, shooting his sharpened +glances at him. "I came here to see about some little tricks he is up +to. What have you accomplished, Mr. Monroe?" + +"Aren't you laboring under a misapprehension, Mr. Jarney?" asked the +ghost. + +"Oh, not at all, Mr. Monroe," said Mr. Jarney. "I have found you out. I +came here to beard you before this young man," rising almost to the +angry point in the vehemence of his threat. + +"Why, Mr. Jarney," said the lamentable Monroe, "what have I done that +you, whom I have always served so faithfully, should hurl aspersions +upon my name and cast reflections upon my integrity?" + +"Your name and integrity!" said Mr. Jarney, with rising voice. "You +haven't either. Where is that draft and those office books? Turn them +over immediately to Mr. Winthrope here for safe keeping." + +"I have already deposited the draft," interrupted John. "Mr. Monroe +proposed to me that we cash it and divide the money. I assented--of +course not. He has accused me of being short in my accounts. But he +lies--I am not afraid of an investigation, Mr. Monroe." + +"Is this true, Mr. Monroe?" asked Mr. Jarney, fiercely, and piercing him +through and through with his firmness. + +Mr. Monroe cowered before Mr. Jarney's rage, like an abject criminal +brought to the confession stage of his stricken conscience, but as blank +as ever. + +"Is this true, Mr. Monroe?" demanded Mr. Jarney again, still upbraiding +him by his fierce tone. + +"I am afraid it is," responded Monroe, meekly, with a crestfallen tone, +but no change in his countenance. + +"I am very sorry for you, Mr. Monroe," said Mr. Jarney, relentingly. "I +was infuriated with you a moment ago, and meant to be harsh; but now all +that I can say is, that you deserve my pity. Ingratitude is the worst of +all mean traits, Mr. Monroe. My advice to you, coupled with my +injunction, is that you hasten to the Pittsburgh office, close up your +accounts and leave the employment of the firm, taking the other two +dupes with you. You may go now. I have no further use for you here." + +Mr. Monroe sat dumbly under this withering dressing up; but he was +obdurate in his inexpressiveness. Taking Mr. Jarney's cue, he arose, put +on his hat, and departed, without a farewell to either one. + +That was the last they ever saw of poor Monroe, alive. His body was +found next day on a muddy shore, where the sewer rats fight among +themselves for a share of the food that the foul sewage spews out with +its bile. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE CHIEF GRAFTER IS FOREWARNED AND GOES TO EUROPE. + + +Jacob Cobb, the big boss, sat in his easy chair, surrounded by his +spendthrift family, with whom he was communing on the glories of that +fame which money brings to those who earn not, nor spin. + +It was a bright evening in May, with a red sun setting through the upper +haze on the horizon, and throwing back through the windows of his +mansion a fiery glare, like the gleam of a blast furnace permeating the +density of the pall that ever hangs over the valleys skirting the hills +to either side. Had he, or they, or any of them, been of a meditative +turn, the evening scene might have been likened to the scenes that +surround the tempestuous lives of those who toil and dwell where the +counterpart of the sun, in this comparison, holds sway throughout the +day and night. + +But as they were not of a meditative turn, they never saw the black old +buildings of the workmen, as grimy as the squat old mills themselves +spouting fire from thousands of smoke-stacks, all huddled together in +the narrow ways and defiles, like so many barbarous places of +habitation, with sooty walls and streaked window panes, and fuming +chimney tops, and nowhere scarcely a sign of vegetation to brighten up +the dull tones of the desolation. They never saw the grim-visaged, +hard-fisted, half-naked men, sweating blood, almost, subjecting the +native element of iron to the changing process of the caves of fire, +before which they worked and strained their energies to produce the +finished product that made it possible for men like Cobb to live in +splendor. They never saw the simple homes, the poor homes, the +impoverished homes of some of these workmen; or their children in their +styles, their plays, their sports, their love-making, their dutifulness +to parent, their respect for law, or their shortcomings; nor heard their +ambitious cry; nor saw their cheerful endeavors to improve their worldly +affairs; nor saw the blight of poverty, nor the curse of rum. They saw +nothing, save the rolling smoke from the factory fires which the poor +man teased; and, even though it brought them plenty, it gave them long +periods of annoyance that they had to endure it. They only saw the +setting sun, in that direction, going down into a tarnished sky. But +they saw, in the iridescence of their surroundings, the gloat of pomp, +the pride of power, the sen-sen of gayety, the joy of lust, the glib of +society, the whirl of scandal--the right to graft. + +Jacob Cobb was at ease, if ever there was a man in such a heaven of +exalted purification, as he sat in his easy chair on this evening. It +was the time of his domestic enjoyment, in which no one ever took more +delight, the divorce scandal talk to the contrary notwithstanding; and +this is one thing to his credit, if he should have credit for anything +he has done in this world. Money was his God. Not being competent to +amass a fortune, had he applied his talents in genuine business, he, +early in life, became a petty politician. Starting as an election board +clerk, he ascended the winding stairs of a ward heeler up the many +flights till he reached the chief seat in the inner chamber of the +Temple of the Bosses, and there he reigned--till he should be dethroned +by an aroused public conscience. + +He was now in the hey-day of his power, and he ruled with a clenched +fist; albeit, at times, he heard temblors below him that might become +powerful enough to shake him from his seat. Through a College of +Embasies, with Peter Dieman as the dean, he worked the system through +the tortuous windings of every channel of business, collecting his +tiths as Pharoah collected his charges on his garnerings in the seven +years of famine, with about as pitiless a hand. And these tithings were +heavy. They poured into the System's exchequer from every source, like +the waters that flowed by the city of his birth to form the La Belle +Reviere; but, unlike that stream, which flowed to a bigger sea, they +stopped at Cobb's gate to enter silently into his dark pool to disappear +via an unseen outlet. + +Jacob, not being wholly satisfied with what was clandestinely coming his +way, connived at other schemes to perpetuate the inflow to his coffers; +which was to his shame. The worst of which of his many other designs, +was to marry his children to rich men or women, and divide the loot, if +money may be christened, in this instance, by that pelfic name. Susanna, +the eldest, and Marjorie, the youngest of his two daughters, were +already bargained for by two young scions of the rich who had no more +reputation to hang to them than discarded touts of the underworld; but +their daddies had money, and that counted for much, while innocence had +to suffer. But there was Jasper yet, his own young hopeful, past the age +of twenty-six, and not yet disposed of. A glimpse into that young man's +character has been given in a previous chapter, so here it will suffice +to say that he was a profligate of the evilest sort. And Jacob wanted +him to capture Edith Jarney! God forbid such a union! Purity joined to +degradation in holy wedlock? Not if Edith Jarney knew her mind; for it +would be unholy wedlock. Mrs. Cobb was equally as mercenary with her +children as their father. She it was that first proposed the horrid +scheme. She it was that taught them how to ensnare the victims marked +for their bows. She it was that led them to the idol that they were to +worship. She it was that schooled them in the ways of snobbery. And they +called her a doting mother. And Jacob willingly acquiesced. + +Those who teach that man is only a biological entity might find in such +sons and daughters good subjects for their experimentation, and prove +their theory by the aid of the divorce courts. + +"Jasper, it is time for you to make some headway with Miss Jarney," said +his doting mother, on this evening, as they all sat around their father +in his ease. + +Jasper, who had been sitting near in a despondently moping manner, +suddenly aroused himself to the importunate remark, and looked +disconsolate enough to arouse the sympathy of every one bent on +reforming young blades; for he had been out the night before, and showed +evidences of heavy dissipation. + +"Mother, you are always going on at me about Miss Jarney," he retorted. +"She's been sick for the past five months or more; I have seen her but +once, and then had no chance of seeing her alone." + +"Yes, dear Jasper, you must brace up, now, and make of yourself more of +a man, if you want to improve on your opportunity of winning such a +prize," said Jacob Cobb, with some disparaging sentiments in his tone. + +"Father, you too? Give me a chance, and when the opportunity arrives, I +shall propose," returned Jasper. + +"You should not lose a minute's time," said the mother, with faith. +"That man Monroe is out of the way now, and the other young man is too +poor for her to take in place of you. See your sisters! Both already +engaged, and soon to be married, yet both of them younger than you. You +are too slow in pursuit of such happiness. Why, you should have had it +settled long ago. Had I had my way about it, it would all have been over +with, and you two fixed comfortably in a house of your own, giving swell +dinners, balls and parties, eh, Jasper? Edith is a fine girl, and I know +she will be a good keeper of a house for you." + +"She is going to the mountains soon, mother, I am informed," said he, +with design; "and I have half a notion to go up there for awhile to get +away from my associates." + +"That's the thing! that's the thing!" exclaimed the father, delighted at +the prospect of getting the two together at some summer place. "Go it, +boy! go it, and push your suit." + +"How nice it would be, Jasper," said Susanna, with glee, "for you to get +away from the city for a time." + +"It would do you worlds of good, brother," assented Marjorie, "to get +away from the smoke awhile." + +"You know, Jasper, we had planned to go to Paris for the summer and take +you along; but we can spare your company this time," said the doting +mother, "if it will give you the opportunity to make good." + +This inane conversation anent Jasper's future was broken up by a +messenger appearing at the door, with a very urgent note from Peter +Dieman, requesting Jacob Cobb to come to his mansion without delay. +Jacob responded without delay, and was soon sitting by the throne of +that spectacular king, who still was wearing his mandarin robe, fez-like +cap, and smoking another vile cigar. + +"Have you heard the latest, Jacob?" asked Peter, when Jacob was seated +comfortably blowing up clouds of white vapor in corresponding rings with +Peter's smoke-stack. + +"No," answered Jacob, with no uncommon concern. + +"Well, be prepared to hear the worst--Jim Dalls is back from Europe, and +is going to squeal on us," said Peter, with as little concern as Cobb at +first appeared to show. + +"No!" exclaimed Jacob, with a cloud on his face that was sufficient +almost to obscure the smoke from his cigar. + +"It is true," said Peter, still unconcerned. "He was here this evening." + +"What brought him back?" said Jacob. + +"Run out of funds, he said," said Peter, blowing smoke with much +complacency. + +"Couldn't you send him any more?" asked Jacob. + +"I sent for him," said Peter, now looking at Jacob with an air of +supercilious gravity. + +"God man! what do you mean? Do you mean to ruin us all?" shouted Jacob, +excitedly. + +"Be calm, Jacob; be calm, and save your nerves for what is coming," said +Peter, gently. "He came by my request, and is to make a confession +before the grand jury--at my request, too. So if you want to save your +old bacon, pull down your shaky house of graft and hit the trail for +Europe; for you will be the first one caught in the net, Jacob." + +"Oh, Lord man! What do you mean? This is awful! This is horrid! This is +terrible! Exposed by my chief deputy like that! I'll never forgive you, +Peter! Never! And when it blows over, I shall return and cook you a dish +that you won't relish!" cried Jacob, now in a frenzy of excitement. + +"Why, I am safe from harm," said Peter, calmly. + +"What did you do it for?" asked Jacob, in great anger. + +"To be plain to you, sir, I may state that that's my business," said +Peter, cooly. + +"Then, we part enemies?" asked Jacob, with a daggerous look. + +"We do--if you want to; but, Jacob, you'd better take my humble advice, +and go to Europe as quick as you could skin a cat. You know the whole +thing will come out anyway when that bank affair is known, which I am +assured will be exploded soon, and then the whole shooting match will be +busted." + +"You had better call on heaven to help you, Peter, when I return--if I +go," said Jacob, rising, and leering down upon the king, who sat looking +at the floor now, in quiet thought. + +"I am not afraid of you, or any one else, Jacob," responded Peter, +looking up. "I am a domesticated man now, Jacob, and intend to enjoy the +rest of my days right here, in this house, with my wife and ten +children." + +"You scamp!" hissed Jacob, snarling down upon him, like one dog snarls +at another dog with the prize bone. + +"Take my advice, Jacob, and go home," said Peter, looking sidewise at +Jacob. "You'd better be there packing your grip than standing here +calling me hard names. Europe is the safest place for you for the next +ten years; so go. I can take care of myself." + +"Things have come to a nice pass," said Jacob, "when a man can't enjoy +the comforts of a home in this age without every upstart wanting to +interfere in his business!" + +"It's a nasty business that of yours," said Peter, remorselessly. "I've +been tired of it for a long time, and wanted my chance to get out. The +chance has come, and I am getting." + +"You are an ingrate," replied Jacob, wrathfully. "Being entrenched +yourself with safety lines thrown out, so that no one can invade your +private affairs, you care nothing for your friends who have divided with +you for years. An ingrate! An ingrate, I repeat, Peter! I shall go, and +may those vapid detectives who have been here for months trying to make +a break in our lines, find you out, and help to punish you." + +"Oh, that's all right, Jacob," said the suave Peter. "I know all about +their work in this city; but I am beyond their reach. So go, if you +don't want to be pinched within a week. Go, I say, to Europe, and maybe +you can enjoy life there; and while you are doing it, think of me +sometimes, just for old friendship's sake, and take an extra drink on +the side for me--that's all. I shall never forget you till my last +breath is gone; and I shall never forget the words you have just now +said to me, and what impression they have left upon me. Go! Jacob; go! +that I may be done with you; that's all." Peter concluded this speech, +without either smoking, rubbing or squinting. + +"Good night," said Jacob, leaving the king's throne; and the two old +cronies in legalized crime (for that is what graft is, nothing more), +parted forever. + +"Good bye," were the last words that Peter said to him; but Jacob did +not hear them, so blind was he in his rage when he stepped out into the +cool night air to take up his return to his home again to seek solace in +the bosom of his family. + +Arriving home, Jacob put his family into a wild uproar when he told them +of the result of his visit to Peter Dieman. + +"Well, we were going to Europe anyway," said Mrs. Cobb, as a consoling +climax to her bewailment. "It is good that I informed our friends of +this trip, so they will now be none the wiser. The wedding of the two +young ladies can come off in September, as planned. I can return for +that, and you can remain in Europe--ill, perhaps. And Jasper need not +postpone his expedition into the mountains, you see." + +"No, Jasper; you must not fail in that," said Cobb, still unable to give +up any of his schemes, so fascinating were they all to him yet, "as I +will be compelled to remain for some length of time. If you fail, our +fortunes may be somewhat impaired as a result of all this trouble. So +don't fail, my boy." + +"Oh, I'll win; don't despair, father, for me; I'll win," said Jasper, +hopefully, with more interest than ever now in getting a wife with +money. + +So to Europe Jacob Cobb and his family betook themselves, leaving young +Jasper at home, as agreed, to sport awhile with the vixenish little +Cupid. Punctilious, as on every other such occasion of the going of such +people, the Sunday newspapers, in their society columns, gave a glowing +account of the departure of Mr. and Mrs. Cobb and their two daughters +for Europe to spend the season (or several seasons it might have been) +in Paris; and probably, if not otherwise detained, to Baden-Baden, or +to some other noted place, purportedly for the benefit of Mr. Cobb, who +(poor man) had been in poor health for months past. + +Mercy on us! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +ELI JEREY AT THE DIEMAN HOME. + + +Dressed as on the great occasion when he visited Miss Jarney, Eli Jerey +called at the home of Peter Dieman but a short ten minutes after Jacob +Cobb had left in such a bad temper. Peter was in his jolliest frame of +mind, and was still having jerks of felicitation over his fine stroke in +besting Jacob Cobb, as he looked at it, when Eli floated into his +presence like a fluted lamppost with its light extinguished. Eli sat +down with his high hat on the top of his untutored head, as his only hat +rack, when Peter took up the thread of the subject about where he and +Jacob broke it in their slight misunderstanding. + +"When I told him to skip out, Eli, he flew the handle to beat all," said +Peter. "He threatened, if he ever returned, to cook a dish for me that I +would not relish." + +"Did he, though?" said Eli, raising his eyes to the level of Peter's. +"Now what kind of a dish could he cook for you, do you suppose?" + +"I suppose he refers to the street paving proposition," responded Peter. + +"Which one? Where the wooden blocks were used?" + +"I suppose so." + +"Well, Mr. Dieman, we might as well be honest now and say the truth +sometimes; but that was a very bad piece of jobbery for all connected +with it--even for the wood blocks, as you will see when a year has +passed." + +"How?" + +"In it, the city got its worst job, the contractors worser jobbed, the +grafters got jobbed good and plenty, and the wood blocks will be so +jobbed that you will not be able to find any in another turn of the sun +around the seasons." + +"But how will he connect me with it?" + +"He can't, Peter; he can't. I can swear that none of the money came to +you by the way of our office. It all went through Cobb's hands, and I +have the receipts." + +"Bully, boy! Bully for you! When I die, I will leave you the old shop +and all it holds. You have a slick head, Eli, for such things. Who'd +thought Jacob would have given his receipt?" + +"I forced it out of him. Told him: no receipt, no money." + +"I knew you'd fix it all right when I left it all to you. Why, boy, you +don't blame me for having confidence in you?--But Jim Dalls?" + +"Oh, he's to keep you out, as agreed, and is to go free on making his +confession, and sticking to it at the trial. I tell you, he'll fix a lot +of them high-ups and others who've been in the game so long they can't +believe but what they're honest and upright citizens." + +"Bully! Then all danger for me is over?" asked Peter, chuckling in such +a whimsical manner that Eli felt moved himself to get up and hammer him +on the back for fear he was choking on his good humor. + +"Over," returned Eli, decisively. + +"Good! Say Eli, I was only running a bluff on Cobb at first, when I said +they couldn't get me--I hear Monroe's dead?" + +"Deader'n a fried oyster since he jumped into the Hudson." + +"Poor Monroe, I always thought he would hang himself, if given enough +rope." + +"I am told Mr. Jarney has cleaned out the gang that helped Monroe in his +dirty work--that's what becomes of not being faithful to your job, like +I've always been, Mr. Dieman," moralized Eli. "Say, did I tell you about +seeing May's sister at the Jarneys?" + +"No; do tell me about it?" + +"Well, I saw her, that's all; and spoke to her, that's all--and my! +she's poorty; but I'll stick to May." + +"If I let you," said Peter, squinting his eyes, with a funny little +twinkle mixed in their movements. + +"Why, I came this very night to ask you, Mr. Dieman," said Eli, as an +opener to his subject. + +"Really, Eli? Impossible!" + +"What's impossible?" asked Eli, disheartened at the word "impossible." + +"That you came for that purpose," said Peter with a smile. + +"I did, sir; indeed, I did, Mr. Dieman," responded Eli, with much +feeling. + +"Well?" said Peter, with a bearish look. + +"May I have her?" blurted out Eli, as he snapped a piece of imaginary +lint from his angled knee with the index finger of his right hand. + +"Is she willin', Eli?" asked Peter, changing his tone. + +"She is," he responded, firmly. + +"You've made fine progress, my boy; but you'll have to ask her +moth--Kate--" turning his head as he shouted her name for his voice to +carry to where that lady sat in the parlor, in the distance, surrounded +by her squirming herd of youngsters--"come here!" + +Kate came, looking like a queen--in her "rags"--still bearing some of +her old sorrows in her lean face, now reduced to a pleasanter tone by +the artful hand of plenty. + +"This young man wants May; can you spare her?" said Peter, not giving +Eli a show at performing that part of his simple playing in courtship. +"I'll speak for him, Kate. He's a mighty good boy, and May might do a +thousand times worse." + +Eli sat like a docile lamb before the altar of matrimonial sacrifice, +humbly waiting his fate. Kate looked at him. He looked at Kate. Peter +looked at both. All silent. Intense was Eli's emotions--so tense that he +was like a pine board in the hot sun ready to warp with the intensity of +the heat that perforated the skin on his brow, sending forth scalding +globes of perspiration. + +"I re--I gu--how did you tell me to say it?" she said, turning to Peter +for intelligence on the right word. + +"May," answered Peter, rubbing. + +"I may--no, that's not it," she said, appealing to him. + +"You may!" suggested Peter again. + +"You may, Mr. Jerey," she said, finally hitting upon the proper phrase +that would express her answer. + +She had no more than uttered the word, than Eli leaped to his feet, +dropped his cane, and caught Mrs. Dieman in his sweeping arms, and +hugged her powerfully. It could not be told whether he exercised a son's +indubitable right to kiss her, for the very momentous reason that his +plug hat fell off at the critical moment when he appeared to be +performing that gracious act. But, in any event, his future +mother-in-law grunted from the grateful embracing that she underwent in +the clasp of Eli. Finding his prized and fashionable hat had toppled off +with imminent danger of being crushed by ruthless feet, he hastily +released her, picked up his hat, put it on his head again, with such +grandiloquent precipitation that he made things in the room look as if +they were going up in a whirlwind. + +After catching his breath, he glanced inquiringly toward the parlor. +There he saw May sitting in a very deep and richly decorated chair +perusing a novel, which she, since her coming out, had been taught was a +beautiful source of pastime for young ladies of noble families. But Eli +saw not the novel; neither did he see the pencil and tablet on May's +lap, with which she had been instructed to provide herself to jot down +the things that impressed her most when reading; nor did he see with +what beautiful material she was dressed. All that he saw was the plump +little face of May, a face that had no equal, to him; and all that she +saw was the tall Eli racing toward her, like a galloping giraffe, with +love-lit eyes, with grinning teeth, with plug hat on his head. Then-- + +"May! May! May!" + +The world turned upside-down, and he plunged headlong with May in his +arms, into the laughing stars that flecked his heaven of delight. + +In the sudden onrush, May dropped her novel, dropped her pencil, dropped +her note book; and Eli dropped his hat, which the youngest child +momentarily toddled to, and took his seat within it as contentedly as if +it had been placed there for his especial enjoyment. Eli minded nothing, +not even the cloud of children that rose around him like fairies in +astonishment at a bogie man come among them. + +But the whirlwind that Eli started soon abated, and its wreck and ruin +was more noticeable upon May than any one else; for, in his awkwardness, +he had loosened her hair, till it fell down around her waist, and mussed +her pink messaline till it needed ironing afresh, and caused a burning +place on the one cheek which he pressed so closely to the rough twill of +his coat collar, that she seemed to be aflame with indignation. She was +not indignant, however. Her little pout was only a sign of shame-faced +happiness brought about by the astonishing behavior of Eli in the +presence of her family; which she declared was shameful familiarity. + +"Why, May," said Eli, in support of his actions, "your mother says yes, +and your daddy says yes, and I say yes; now, what do you say--I don't +care who knows!" + +"I don't care what they say, you had no business to do it," she +answered, looking black at him, as she was brushing out some of the +wrinkle marks in her dress. + +"Is it yes, or no, May? Tell me quick, before I go hang myself!" he +cried in his anguish. + +"I haven't said no, Eli," replied May, as she attempted to put up her +hair, and blushing from ear to ear. + +"Is it yes, May?" said Eli, with eyes brightening. "I want to know." + +May glanced up pensively, with a hairpin between her lips cutting a +smile in two. + +"Yes," she answered, as the pin fell to the floor, and her hair +straggled down again. + +"I am happy, May," he replied; "now will you excuse me for my +impetuosity?" + +May was gathering up her hair again when Eli said this. She turned to +him with a smothered laugh, and remarked: "You are all right, Eli; I am +happy." + +Whereat, both being perfectly agreed as to their feelings and opinions, +Eli looked about for his hat, preparatory to taking his departure. + +"Well, Lord bless us! Look here, May!" he exclaimed, standing over the +youngster, sitting in his hat. + +Then, bursting into a loud guffaw, he stooped down, grasped the hat by +the side rims, and lifted it up, baby and all, and ventured forth to the +throne room. As he lifted the burden up before him, the baby laid hold +of his string necktie with one hand and his collar with the other, as a +support to his precarious position. In which position Eli, hat, and baby +proceeded, Eli singing a foolish ditty, till they arrived at Peter's +seat, by the side of whom sat Mrs. Dieman. + +Eli stood before them a moment that they might see the load and the +oddity of the situation of baby. They laughed; Eli laughed; baby +laughed. He swung the hat this way and that, up and down, and bounced +him a little. Eli blowed a tune of coo-coo at him, then whistled, and +sang snatches of songs, of all of which baby seemed highly appreciative, +judging from his looks. Then--the bottom fell out of the hat, and +through it, feet foremost, shot the baby like a stone, and fell in a +squalling bundle on the floor at Eli's feet. + +At the outcry that followed, all the other children came rushing in and +circled around the party; and laughed and clapped their hands in great +glee at the mishap to the baby and the hat. Eli picked up the crying +child, and stroked his hair, and cooed to him. The child placed his +little arms around Eli's neck, and sobbed till his grief was gone. And +this was the little child that touched his father's hard face with his +little hands, saying da-da; but perhaps he will never remember that day. + +Procuring a new hat from Peter, one that fit him illy, Eli tore himself +away from this man's dominions, encircled by Billy Barton's family, to +return some other day for a beautifully appointed wedding with his +beautiful May. + +The world may laugh and sneer at such as Eli Jerey; but, after all, in +such as he may be found the man who will make marriage a heaven to a +poor man's daughter, raised as she was in poverty, and lifted by chance +to a higher plane of living. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +IT IS DECIDED TO SEND EDITH TO THE MOUNTAINS. + + +It was a morning in May. Happy birds sang in the tree tops, and flowers +speckled the green grass of the park with their variegated bloom. The +sun, the first for days, threw his lustrous light over the smoke +begrimed hills; the air, which a brisk wind from the north cleared, was +bracing in its freshness, and all creation was breaking into renewed +vitality at the touch of advancing spring. + +Edith, on the arm of Star, walked down a bypath bordered by nodding +Easter lilies, late in blooming, and watched the bounding butterflies +and plunging bees and hopping birds, and heard the call of nature in all +its thrilling voices. + +Life is beautiful and life is sweet, but what is life when the soul is +craving for that which cannot be had? The wind may sing to you in its +softest notes, the birds may send forth their enchanting rhapsodies, +the flowers may emit their most becalming fragrance, but what are they +to a spirit unanswered in its callings? The sun may shine ever so +brilliantly, the moon may beam in mellowing brightness, the stars may +twinkle in their deepest mysteries, but what are they when love is +crying out, with no responsive cry? Deep, deep, unanswerable is the +mystery. Edith asked the flowers, the birds, the bees; she felt the +soothing wind, heard the sweetening notes, and caught the lulling +scents, but they all gave back the answer--mystery! mystery! + +They walked the paths together, Edith and Star, arm in arm; they sat in +the cooling nooks, and whisperingly conversed; they let the wind play +with their locks, like playful fairies; they saw, they heard, they sang, +they laughed. But still, to Edith, there was that mystery ever hanging +over her--a blot to everything that should entrance her--a dim, dark, +cold, benumbing longing that paints frightful pictures from a +palpitating heart that gets no response to its secret throbs. Weary, +worn out, lagging, spiritless, because of her long illness and worry +over late happenings among her father's unfaithful employes, Edith got +no comfort now out of her home, or its surroundings. Pale still, and +nervous, her spirits ever flagged, even under the promptings of her dear +friend Star, who had been resorting to all her charms and graces to give +pleasure to the sick young lady that she might be diverted from her +moody spells. Edith was bright at times, and laughed and chatted like a +child under Star's cheerful influence; but more often she was +melancholy, and seemed never to be reaching that time when the shadow of +her malady would fall off. Music had no charms for her, nor books, nor +young company. Life was lifeless to her. The mansion was a dreary +castle. Her days were spent in wishing for night, and nights in wishing +for morning. All her mother's endearments, all her father's love, all of +Star's sweet companionship, were alike to her--unconsoling. The mother +was in despair, the father grief stricken, but Star, of all of them, had +hope. + +"Edith," said Star, this day, while standing by the pond watching the +leaping fountain and playful golden fish, and noting how quiet Edith +was. "I wrote to Mr. Winthrope yesterday." + +"Oh, Star," said Edith, with a deprecating frown, "I hope you have not +gone and forgotten yourself to such an extent that you have written +first?" + +"Forgot myself, Edith? Why, bless your heart, no; he wrote me first," +replied Star, with a merry laugh. + +"Wrote first?" asked Edith, in surprise. + +"Yes; he just did write first; and I told him that he was real mean in +not writing sooner," said Star. + +"What did he say?" asked Edith, gazing vacantly into the water. + +"About all he said was asking about your health. It is mean in him, I +repeat, that he said no more. He said, though, that when your father was +in New York, he told him you were fast improving." + +"What was your answer, Star?" + +"Oh, goodness! I wrote six pages, about everything, almost, and informed +him that--" + +"Now, Star; you didn't write anything that would be indiscreet, did +you?" + +"Why, deary, no, of course not; I only told him that you--" + +"Star, don't tell me that you have violated my confidence?" + +"I will not say what I wrote, Edith, if your are not more attentive. I +said that--" + +"Star! Star!" said Edith, with tears glistening in her eyes; "do not +tell me that you have broken your pledge; if you do, I shall +never--no--go on; what did you tell him?" + +"That you--that you are getting better very slowly, and that your father +will take you to the mountains for the summer. I told him everything +else, Edith, but that which you forbade me telling." + +"You are very prudent, Star. Will he write again, do you suppose?" + +"I wound up my letter with a P. S.: 'Don't forget to write!'" + +"You bad girl! I suppose he will be coming to see you sometime?" + +"Wish he would," said Star, hopefully, with a teasing expression in her +face. + +"Really, Star?" + +"Yes; I do--I'd turn him over to you," she responded, with a laugh. + +"You are a tease, now! If he comes, it must be of his own free will." + +"You are not looking well, Edith; we had better go in the house," said +Star, seeing the pallor of weakness coming over her face. + +"Assist me in," responded Edith, willingly submitting to Star's +admonition. As they were nearing the steps leading up to the great +piazza, Edith remarked that she would go to the mountains next day, if +able, with her father, and, of course, Star was to be her companion. + +"I was never out of the city," replied Star, "and I am wondering what +mountains look like. Can you tell me?" + +"Oh, they are only big hills." + +"Do people live there?" + +"Yes. Many people live in them. He came from up there somewhere." + +"From the mountains?" + +"Yes; from the mountains." + +"Then, we may see his home," said Star, suggestively. + +"We may; but the mountains are very large, Star--miles long and miles +wide, with dense woods everywhere and with but few roads through them, +and homes of farmers scattered about." + +"Oo-oo!" exclaimed Star. "We would not want to go far into them; we +might get lost. Do people live there?" + +"Yes. There are bears there, Star, and deer and owls; and many birds +live in the gloomy depths of the forests." + +"My!" exclaimed Star, alarmed. "I would not want to go out after night. +Where will we live when we go up there?" + +"In a big hotel on top of the mountains." + +"How fine! I can hardly wait till I see it all!" + +"Our trunks should be packed today, Star, for a two months' stay. Father +says I will be benefitted when I get out of the smoke of this city." + +"Is your father going with us?" + +"Oh, yes; but for a short stay only. He will visit us once a week +thereafter." + +"Won't that be fine, Edith; and we will get to see the mountaineers, and +maybe his home," said Star, with all that fullness of anticipation that +comes to one emancipated from a round of daily worry and abject +commonplaceness, as they reached the top of the flight of steps, up +which Star had been assisting Edith. + +Edith looked up into the face of Star with a smile, showing neither hope +nor doubt, but full of that wearying pain that leaves a sore upon the +heart. + +"It will be very pleasant, no doubt, Star," returned Edith; "but I am so +weak that I am afraid I cannot enjoy anything. How kind and good you are +to me," and Edith glanced up with tears; "you take so much pains in +comforting me, and wishing for my welfare. I would be lost, dear Star, +if it were not for you--lost--utterly lost," and the poor nerve-wrecked, +distracted little Edith fell into Star's arms through utter exhaustion. + +Edith was carried to her room, and restoratives were administered. The +contemplated journey was therefore postponed for a week to await her +recuperation. The weeks passed, and Edith was still no better. Nobody +saw her condition. Nobody quite understood what it was. They were all +blind. + +Lying on her bed one day, when the sun was shining, and the fragrance of +the flowers and the songs of the birds came in the open window as a +caressing wave of sympathy, Edith was roused from her unpleasant +meditations by her father, who came in to see her. Sitting down by her +bed, the father took up one hand of his child and petted it, with his +eyes full of the tears of his abiding grief. + +"Edith, dear," he said, with his voice full of emotion, "do you think +you can now withstand the trip to the mountains?" + +"I think I will be just as well off here, papa," she answered, faintly +and indifferently. + +"If you are able, we will go at once, dear," said the father, noticing +how low her spirits were, and wishing to do anything that would tend to +revive them. "I believe a change of air and scenes will do you good. Do +you think you can make the trip?" + +"I will try, papa--any place; any place--it makes no difference, papa. I +am so weak all the time, papa, that I am--" + +"Don't; don't, Edith, my dear child," he said, with anguish in his kind +heart, and parental remorse on his conscience. "You would not have been +in this state, pet, had you not become so wrought up over that Monroe +affair, I know; and I am to blame for being so blind, so blind--so--" + +The father laid his head in his hands on the bed, and wept; and as he +wept, Edith laid her hand upon his head, and smoothed down his ruffled +hair. "Dear, papa," she said, "dear papa, don't cry for me; I will get +better." + +"Edith," said her father, raising his head, "I have sent for Mr. +Winthrope to return to my office to become my chief assistant. I expect +him here today, Edith. Shall I have him out for dinner?" + +Edith gave a nervous start, and for the first time in days her little +heart beat faster, and a color mounted to her pallid cheeks. + +"Do as you like, papa; I shall be glad to see him, if he comes to my +room," answered Edith. "When did you say you would take me to the +mountains?" + +"Tomorrow, if you are well enough." + +"I will go, papa." + +That evening John came, and ate dinner with the family. Instinctively he +felt the great veil of sorrow, of fear, of dread, of worry, of sadness +that brooded over the household. Strong, healthy, handsome, mannerly, +John seemed to have brought a new ray of sunshine with him that was +absent there before. His pleasing conversation, his cheerful smile, his +hearty laugh, his quick wit in repartee flooded every department of the +mansion--even into the cook's chamber, where was sung that evening +love-songs of youth long suppressed by the weighty forebodings of the +coming of the White Horse and his rider. + +"Mr. Winthrope," said the bouncing Mrs. Jarney, now less demonstrative +of her spirits by her long siege of fretting, "it seems so natural to +have you here. I told Mr. Jarney just the other day that I wished you +could come out occasionally to see us, for you were always such pleasant +company." + +"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or a pretty piece of +flattery, Mrs. Jarney," responded John. "I am sure, however you mean it, +I shall not be negligent in expressing my thanks to you." + +"Compliment, Mr. Winthrope; compliment," returned Mrs. Jarney, with a +sweet deference towards accenting the word compliment. "I never indulge +in flattery with people whom I like--leastwise, I do not care to with +you." + +"I feel grateful to you, Mrs. Jarney, and to Mr. Jarney also, for your +kindnesses in my behalf, and friendly consideration of my welfare. The +only manner in which I can express myself, is that you have my sincerest +thanks for your good deeds and kind words," was the way he thanked them. + +Mrs. Jarney never lost an opportunity to say a good word for John to her +friends, or to himself. Sometimes he was touched to a modest degree of +bashfulness in her presence by her assertive way of praising him. On +this evening he was more severely tested than ever before by reason of +her motherly familiarity. When he arrived, she was so over-joyed at +seeing him, that she was almost in the act of throwing her arms around +his neck, and weeping, perhaps, as the mother did on the return of her +prodigal son. She, no doubt, would have committed this informal act of +gladness, had it not been that to have accomplished it, she would had to +have stood on a chair, John being so much the taller. But as it was, she +took both his hands in hers in welcoming him, and shook them with such +energy that John was disconcerted for a brief time. Mr. Jarney was just +as profuse in his greeting, but more restrainful in his actions than his +wife. Why all this joyfulness, this gladsomeness, this unusual +cordiality, on their part, John never stopped to consider in any other +form of reason than duty and gratitude. + +"You will want to see Edith before you go?" said Star, after the diners +had risen from the table, and as she was walking with him to the drawing +room. + +"Of course," replied John, "if she is in condition to see a stranger. I +should not want to leave without seeing her." + +"She knows you are here, and is expecting you. Will you go up now?" +asked Star. + +"If it is her pleasure, and your wish, I shall go with you," replied +John. + +Together Star and John repaired to Edith's room, Star entering first and +John following. Edith lay in her night clothes, with the covers drawn up +well around her throat, her two white hands reposing on the white +spread. She had expected him for the last two hours, and began to be +weary over the long waiting. So when the door opened and Star entered, +she turned her head in time to catch him coming in the door; then as +quickly turned it away, in an attempt to stop the fluttering of her +heart. When he approached her bedside, she extended to him a hand, +which he took, as he sat down on a chair by her side. + +"Mr. Winthrope," she said, very low, "I am glad to see you." + +John saw that her mind was with her now, and he should act accordingly. +The appalling look of illness was in her face yet, the appealing smile +of hope was in her eyes. He was overcome again. Oh, for that hour of +health for her, when the raptures of a true soul answers to the +responsive note! + +"You look so much better, Miss Jarney," said John, the moment of his +recovery over her glad greeting, "than when I saw you last." + +"Do I; really, Mr. Winthrope?" she asked, with her eyes illuminating. + +"Surely, you are better; I can hope so anyway." + +"I was better for some time after you left in March; but lately I have +been gradually growing worse, till now I am in bed again, as you see." + +"I plainly see," he said jocularly; "but, if you would get out of here +and into the country somewhere, and get the fresh air and open doors, I +am sure you would improve rapidly?" + +"Do you think so?" she asked, withdrawing her hand and folding them both +together, as she turned on her side, facing him. + +"Why, nothing would be better," he answered. + +"I am going away tomorrow," she said decisively. + +"Tomorrow! So soon, and you in bed yet?" he exclaimed. + +"My papa insists that I shall have a change of environment at once." + +"Can you go? Where will they take you?" + +"To the mountains--up somewhere where you live." + +"That should make a very enjoyable journey for you, and you should be +benefitted," he said, cheerfully. "I am going home in June, and I shall +hope to find you improved in health by that time. May I anticipate the +pleasure of calling to inquire about your health, Miss Jarney?" + +"The pleasure will be mine as well as yours, Mr. Winthrope." + +"Then I may call some day?" + +"You may, if--" and Edith offered up the daintiest little smile to meet +his glowing looks--"if you will take me and Star to see your mountain +home." + +"Oh, I shall be glad to do that. I have got the nicest little sister and +the finest big brother you ever saw, and my mother will cook you such a +rare dinner that I know you will recover soon after eating of it." + +"My! I can scarcely wait the time, Mr. Winthrope. I can already taste +that dinner. When will you be there?" + +"The first week in June." + +"How delightful! I know I shall recover my health, once I get there. How +impatient I am already! Star, is everything packed?" + +"Almost, Edith," answered Star. + +"We will not want many fine clothes, Star; I am going out to rough it +for awhile. Is it rough up there, Mr. Winthrope?" + +"Very--in some places," he answered. + +"And you will be up in June?" she asked, now feeling enthusiastic. + +"That is my plan, now," he replied, uncertainly. + +"You will not let anything interfere, for I want to see your sister, and +I know Star will want to see your brother," she said, with a weak smile +toward Star, who blushed very red at the idea of meeting John's brother. + +Edith was by this time worked up to a high state of excitement over the +prospect of the new life she was to lead. John, discerning the bad +effect it had on her, and fearing further complications should he +remain, rose to depart. She raised her hand to bid him good bye. He took +it, touched his lips to her fingers, looked down upon her, and said, +"Good bye." + +"Good bye," she said, "till we meet in the mountains. Good bye!" + +And John was gone. + +The same wild emotions whirled through his soul, as in those other +times, when he was so fraught with the uncertainty of her demeanor +during her night of illusions, as he left the mansion on the hill. The +same musical good bye, he heard echoing from the buzz of the automobile +that wheeled him to the city. The same he heard following him, pursuing +him, pervading him and everything--in the crowds of the streets, under +the lights, in the hotel corridor, in the lobby, in his room; and, +finally, the last he heard singing him to peaceful sleep. But he heard +it now played on a different harp from that which lulled him into sleep +many times before. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +EDITH RECOVERS AND YOUNG COBB PAYS HIS RESPECTS. + + +It was another morning in May. The sun was climbing over the wooded +hills to the east; the wind was pulsing through the leafing trees; the +wild flowers were blooming by the roadside and in the dusky dells; the +butterfly, bee and bird were in their delights of mating, and all +creation was swinging in the swing of renewed vitality at the touch of +speeding spring. + +Edith, with the ever confiding Star by her side, sat wrapped in a summer +cloak on the eastern end of the sweeping reach of the veranda of the +Summit House, which sits, with much pretentious rambling, where the old +National way winds up from the east and twists up from the west in its +macadamed smoothness in crossing the mountain divide. + +Life is beautiful and life is sweet; but what is life without that which +the pure heart craves? The wind may sing to you in dulcing notes; the +birds may send forth their most ravishing rhapsodies; the flowers may +spray you with their cologne of incense; but what are they to the spirit +in which the call is answered? The sun may shine, the moon may beam, the +stars may twinkle; but what are they compared to the responsive cry of +the soul's affinity. Deep, deep, unanswerable is the mystery. + +Edith asked the sun, the moon, the stars; the wind, the trees, the +birds, the flowers, and everything; she felt the soothing wind, heard +the singing birds, caught the lulling scents; but they all gave back the +answer: mystery! mystery! It is all a mystery, that bright, beaming, +radiating longing that paints the beautiful pictures from a palping +heart that has received an echo from its secret throbs. + +As the sun climbed up his way, the wind lowered its beating pulses, and +a shimmer of warmth spread over the hills and woods and fields and deep +valleys. Life came up out of the east; and out of the depths of the +hotel. Farmers would pass in their rattling rigs; woodmen roll by in +their lumbering wagons; autos puff up the hills with their loads of +pleasure seekers, stop awhile, unload, and spin on again. Late risers +sauntered out on the veranda--ladies and gentlemen of leisure, and +children--in idling costumes, and tramp off time, as a bracer for the +morning feast. Noises came out of the interior, like a modified din from +chambers of revelry. Bells, on straying sheep, or browsing cattle, +tinkled in the distance. Axes rang somewhere in the silent forests; +sounds of many kind broke out from everywhere; and the world was full +astir. + +It was wonderful to Edith, this new life, with its healing balm of fresh +air, bright sun, green vegetation, pleasant sounds--all undimmed, +untarnished, uncontaminated by smoke and fog and grime of her native +city. It was wonderful, to Edith, to see the bright faces of the +mountain people, coming and going on their daily trips to Uniontown; it +was wonderful to see how light-hearted, how gay, how spirited were those +of the leisure class who spent their nights at this health-giving +resort, and their days in the towns below. + +It was all wonderful, indeed. It was wonderful how fast she recovered +her strength; how quickly the fires of health returned to her cheeks; +how speedily her drooping spirits mounted to that pinnacle where the +flagging soul ceases to repine. But was it all the bracing air, the +burning sun, the happy birds, the blooming flowers, that effected her +cure, as if by the magic touch of that enchantress, Isis? Mystery! + +Among those who arrived that morning from the nether lands was Jasper +Cobb. He came in due formality of traveling as was his wont. He had his +valet, who had his hat boxes and suit cases and trunks. He had his cane, +his pipe and his et cetera. He was surprised, of course, but delighted, +naturally, to see Edith and Star sitting on the wide veranda, as he +jauntily floated up to them after disposing of his valet and other +personal things. + +"Well, well! if this isn't a surprise to shock your grandmother and +throw your granddaddy into hysterics!" he exclaimed, coming up to them, +making a bow that almost threw them into the titters, over its profound +ridiculousness. "Why, when did you come here?" he asked, as if he had +not known beforehand. + +"We have been here for two weeks," answered Edith, respectfully, +although she abhorred him. + +"You certainly look better, Miss Jarney; you, too, Miss Barton," he +said, with a protracted smile of the wheedling variety. "This rarefied +atmosphere, away from the Pittsburgh smoke, appears to agree with you +two, charmingly." + +"It does very well; very well," said Edith, disinclined to be friendly. + +"I hope we may see each other often, Miss Jarney--and Miss Barton," he +continued, insinuatingly. "If you two have not dined I should deem it a +favor to have your company." + +"Thank you; we have already dined," responded Edith. + +"If you will excuse me, then, I will perform that necessary duty +myself," he returned. After a sweeping bow and another wheedling smile +that he might as well have kept to himself, he left them. + +"I do hope we will not be bored to death by that young man," said Edith. + +"What will we do, Edith?" asked Star. "If we remain here and he remains +here, it will be rather awkward to get rid of him." + +"Oh, we will show him what respect we can without losing our own +self-respect," said Edith. "I wonder what brought him here?" + +"Pursuing you, I suppose, Edith." + +"He will have his trouble for naught, Star," replied Edith, with a toss +of her head. + +"I should think he would know enough to comprehend a few hints," said +Star. + +"Some people don't, you know, Star," said Edith, rising and drawing the +mantle closer about her shoulders. "Let us go for a walk down the +mountain road, so we will not be bothered with him, at least for +awhile." + +But Jasper was not to be so easily shook by such a furtive departure on +the part of Edith and Star; for that young man, immediately after +finishing his breakfast, and ascertaining from the keeper of the grounds +the direction in which they had gone, lighted his pipe, gloved his +hands, and, armed with his cane, went after them at a pace that would do +well for a Weston in his hikes. He found them after a short walk down +the hill aways, sitting in the shade of a spreading chestnut tree. The +young ladies saw him coming, but they could not retreat, nor flee in any +direction, so had to make the most of him, for a time. He, being a very +brisk and bold young man, with a dandified swagger in his bearing and a +distorted vainness about his personality, approached Edith and Star with +such a rush of enthusiasm that they had cause to be exasperated at his +manners. + +"Hah, playing hide and seek with each other, are you?" he said, with an +overbearing sweetness and an impertinent geniality. + +"Not at all; just resting after our walk down the hill preparatory for +the returning climb," answered Edith, with an effort to be a little +disdainful; but if he noticed this in her, it was more than anybody else +could see, for it was quite contrary to her nature to be disrespectful, +except when brought to extremities, no matter how hard she tried, even +toward the worst of fists. "Finding it getting warm," she continued, "we +sat down here to rest before returning." + +"Aren't you going any farther? Which way?" he asked. + +"Up the hill," she answered his implied questions. + +"Then I may accompany you on the return?" he asked. + +Edith glanced at Star, Star at Edith, for an answer; but neither +answered for a moment. Then Edith, seeing the predicament they would be +in of either saying yes, or offering a rebuke, said: "We came out for a +quiet walk together, Mr. Cobb, and thought we would find rest down here, +and be away from the people up there--" pointing toward the hotel; "but +if you are going up the hill, we will see who can go the faster." + +"Banter me for a race, do you?" he said, ingratiatingly. + +"Oh, not necessarily," returned Edith, with a laugh. + +"All right, then a walk it shall be," he said airily, not a whit +disposed toward being piqued at the young ladies' desire to have done +with him. + +Edith and Star started off together at a lively step on the upgrade +tramp, Jasper keeping by their side, with even step, in a palavering +mood. His talk was simply airy nothings, commonplace enough in its most +brilliant stages, and foolish enough for the most twadling and +appreciative loiterer of swelldom. He had a sort of rude wit about him +that might be very interesting and enjoyable to a crowd of sports, but +to Edith and Star he was a driveling idiot. + +The walk progressed at such a rate that very soon Edith, in her desire +to keep in advance of him, began to lag, and her breath was coming too +fast and furious for her benefit; but Star, who yet showed no signs of +fatigue, had taken Edith by the arm to urge her along the best she +could. Edith's face was excessively red from the great exertion, and +sweat stood out on her forehead like morning dew on the crimson clover +bloom. + +"Whew!" exclaimed Edith, at last, puffing and blowing, and heaving her +breast in harmony with her rapid respiration, and saying between +breaths, "that is--a little--too--much." + +"You are blowing like a porpoise," said Jasper, as he stopped and was +contemplating her from head to foot, using his cane for a rest, on which +he leaned. "Shall I fetch an auto for you?" + +"No; I can make it up the hill; but I must take it slower," she +answered, holding her hand over her heart. + +"If you will permit me, I will assist you," he said. + +"Oh, never mind me, I will get there, eventually." + +"Come on, then," he said, with coarseness, as he laid hold of her arm to +urge her forward; and thus between the two they got her up the hill. + +Simultaneously with their rounding the hill from the east, there rounded +the same hill from the west a double team of farm horses hitched to a +cumbersome wagon. On a flat board seat, across the bed in front, sat a +young man about twenty years of age, and a lass of about sixteen +blooming summers in her face. The horses moved at a slow and lazy pace, +after having pulled a heavy load up the winding stretch of three mile +grade, and stopped at the apex for a "blow" before relieving the +pressure on their collars for the downward pull. At the stopping of the +team, Edith and Star and Jasper came abreast in their walking, and also +stopped for a "blow" before entering the hotel. + +This meeting seemed to have been the result of prearrangement, so +natural did the precise moment of stopping appear. The young man in the +wagon was a pronounced blonde; but the many seasons that he had spent in +the mountains had bronzed his cheeks to a coppery red, and made him a +very healthy and rugged youth, withal. He had a regularity of features +that could not be gainsayed for their Grecian similarity. His light +blue eyes were sharp, steady, penetrating. With a slouch hat on his +head, flapping down on both sides, and tending to pokeness at the crown; +a check shirt opened in front and turned aside, revealing a deep manly +breast, and turned up sleeves exposing muscular arms from the elbows to +a set of rough but well shaped hands--he sat like a monument of Strength +and Health and Robust Beauty, resting his horses, and indifferent to the +astonished gaze of the city bred people standing by. The young lady by +his side, in the flower of young maidenhood, was a counterpart of the +young man; and they were, without a doubt, from the same family tree. +Her pink-lined sun-bonnet of gingham, accentuated by the warming sun, +caused her face to glow, as if on fire, and her red calico dress could +not have added more demureness to her looks had it been made of the +richest silk. + +Thus, as they came by chance together, at such a time and at such a +place, and under such pleasant circumstances, the three a-foot and the +two a-riding cast contradictory glances at each other. Edith thought she +saw in the young mountaineer an embossed replica of some one else; and +also in the face of the young girl she was sure there was the +heavenly-traced picture of another face. Star, with her head thrown +back, in contemplative grandeur, looked at them with a stare of +uncertain recognition. The young man in the wagon was about to speak, +believing them to be friendly disposed vacationists, and would not mind +a turn of conversation with him, being as he was of the out of the way +places of their humdrum existence; but before he could do so, Edith +suddenly plucked Star by the arm, and with her ran toward the hotel +entrance, not stopping till she had gained the wide veranda, panting +again, and all excited. Reaching the vantage of that viewpoint, and +while standing behind a shielding porch column, she peeped from behind +it, like one frightened. She beheld the mountaineer, with the little +girl, disappear below the hill, and heard the screeching of the rubber +blocks of his wagon, and saw the louting Jasper ambling, with a +whistling note to keep him step, down the pikeway toward the hotel. + +"Star, that was John's brother!" exclaimed Edith, after he had +disappeared over the hill, "and that little girl was his sister." + +Resuming her composure over the excitement the incident caused, she sat +down in one of the lounging chairs, with Star by her looking serious +enough herself. + +"I believe so, Edith; but why didn't we stop long enough to talk with +them?" said Star, apparently disappointed. + +"Oh, I wanted to stop to speak--but that would not do, dear Star--would +not do at all; but I will have a talk with them when he comes here next +week, never mind," cried Edith, with much joyousness in the ring of her +voice. "Isn't she such a pretty creature--just like one of those little +fairy mountain girls you see sometimes in romantic plays in the +theaters, and I know she is more romantic." + +"What do you think of him, Edith--the man--her brother--if that is whom +he is?" asked Star, blushing for the first time Edith ever saw that +intelligible sign in her face. + +"If he is not Mr. Winthrope's brother, he is his living stature in +bronze," replied Edith; "and now, Star, tell me your opinion?" + +"I can't say that I have an opinion, Edith; I am really dumb with +amazement. He is such a big fellow--more like a mill-worker, or +such--oh, my, Edith; don't ask me for--" + +"Well, now, I like that way of speaking about Mr. Winthrope's brother. +Maybe it was not him at all, and we have had our little scare for +nothing. Oh, goodness! here comes Mr. Cobb again! dear me!" and Edith +subsided. + +Pursuing the tenor of his prevailing thoughts, Jasper Cobb sought Edith +and found her on the eastern end of the veranda. After saluting the two +young ladies again quite prodigiously, he asked Edith for a private +interview at once. Star, hearing the request, rose and left them, as if +she had an errand in her room, before Edith had time to ask her to +remain. Star, however, was waiting for such an opportunity to absent +herself, knowing what young Cobb's mission was. Having been informed by +Edith what her answer would be, she went away satisfied that she would +return to find that young man laboring under a severe jolt to his +mercenary soul. + +Now, when alone, Mr. Cobb drew up a seat and sat near Edith. + +"Miss Jarney, we have always been friends--our families?" + +"Yes." + +"And we have been friends for years, you and I?" + +"Yes." + +"Would you consider a proposition from me to make that friendship +permanent and lasting?" + +"Yes." + +His heart bounded--a little. + +"Well, Miss Jarney--may I call you Edith?--I came here to ask you to +marry me?" + +"You?" she said, turning on him. + +"Yes; me," he answered, dejectedly, for he caught the tone of her voice +in no uncertain meaning. + +"No," said Edith, firmly, looking at him, with a sort of a commiserated +smile for his imbecility. "If you want to be my friend, Mr. Cobb, all +right, you may consider me as such; but, as to marrying you, never can I +make up my mind to that end." + +"Dear Miss Jarney, you don't know the blow that you have struck me--it +almost topples me over," he insisted, and Edith came near laughing in +his face, so ludicrous was the expression that he had now assumed. "I +have always thought you had encouraged me--" + +"Oh, never was I guilty of such an offense, Mr. Cobb--never. You are +laboring under a misconception, or a delusion, or something else. +Encourage you, Mr. Cobb? How ridiculous!" + +"Then, you refuse?" he asked, coldly and fiercely. + +"I most certainly have my senses with me," she retorted, with a laugh. + +"Ah, then, I'll go my old way. I thought I might settle down some day +and be a man," he whispered. + +"Be a man first, Mr. Cobb, and settle down afterwards, is my advice to +you," she responded. + +"You are cruel, Miss Jarney--cruel--as cruel as all the other women of +the rich, who make monkeys of we men folk," he said, despairingly. + +"You must understand, Mr. Cobb, that I am not one 'of all the other +women' of the rich, of whom you speak so slightingly," she replied, +still keeping a good temper. + +"Well, I guess not, Miss Jarney," he said, with a sneer, looking away +from her. "I see, Miss Jarney--I am not blind--that you have set your +cap for that young man in your father's office." + +"You are disrespectful, Mr. Cobb; leave me at once," she replied, with +some scorn for the first time exhibiting itself in her bearing. She +arose and left him sitting there alone, with his pipe as his only +comforting companion. After recovering from this jolt, as Star +predicted, he gathered up his belongings, together with his valet, and +vanished. + +Imagine such a union of hearts! There are plenty of them founded upon +the rock of riches. Yes; imagine it! See this young man Cobb, and know +his worth! His face was like that of a well bred bull terrier, with a +pipe between its lips, and a red cap upon its head. He had a pair of +dull-gray pants on his hind legs, and they were turned up, with a pair +of yellow shoes sticking out below the turn-ups. Around the middle of +his body was a yellow belt fastened by a silver buckle, and above the +belt was a silken white shirt, with turn-down collar, and around the +collar was a red necktie, in which stuck a scarabee pin. And he called +himself a man worthy of Edith. + +He had been to Harvard, she to Vassar. She had learned to write a +grammatical sentence and spell in the good old Websterian way. She could +sing and play on the piano; and converse on the economic questions of +the day with the perspicacity of a Stowe. She read the poets down +through the catalogue of famous men and women, and the novelists of the +class of Dickens and Hawthorne. She knew of the painters, the musicians, +the theologians, and could talk intelligently on them all. + +Him? He had learned a lot of things. He could flip the Harvard stroke +with the ease of a Cook. He could make a touchdown without breaking +sixteen ribs of an adversary. He could twirl the pigskin like an artist +of the green cloth. He could take the long jump, or the long hike, with +the grace of a giraffe. He could dance like a terpsichorian dame. He +could drink whiskey, champagne and beer, smoke cigaretts, play cards. He +could talk with the profundity of an ass and write with the imbecility +of an ox. Yes, indeed, he had all the refinements of a college +education--the kind confined to the male gender. The only virtue he had +was his prospective inheritance from his father--money. + +And he wanted Edith to marry him! Pooh! + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +FOR JOHN IS COMING HOME. + + +There is a little frame house sitting, in the shade of maples and oaks, +by the roadside to the south aways from Chalk Hill. It is a leaning +building, to some extent, in many ways, by reason of its age. A crooked +little chimney heaves up on the exterior of one end, by reason of its +insecure foundation. Shingles curl, up, as if in dotage, by reason of +the sun. Weather boarding warp and twist and turn, grayed by the wash of +years, by reason of their antiquity. Windows peep out, with little +panes, and rattle in the wind, by reason of their frailty. Wasps and +bees, in season, build their mud nests beneath curling shingle and +behind twisting board; bats fly out, at eventide, from unseen holes in +the gables; and swallows chatter and circle round the chimney top in the +twilight of the summer days. An ancient porch, with oaken floor, hangs +against the front wall, and the woodbine and morning glory creep and +twine and bloom around its slanting columns. A gate swings out at the +end of the path leading from the door to the highway. Flowers--the rose, +the marigold, the bouncingbetty, the wild pink, the primrose, all as +old-fashioned as the people who dwell here--border the pathway. A paled +patch of ground stands to one side, as sacred as the Garden of +Gethsemane. In the rear a gnarled and aged orchard has but recently shed +its snowy burden of bloom, with lingering scents still in the air; and +beyond and around, fence-enclosed fields are greening with growing +crops, and still beyond are dark forests and open fields and noisy +ravines. + +Evening is coming on. The sun has gone down over the mountain top. +Shadows have disappeared into the gray of fading light. Odors of night +are ascending from the cooling earth. The robins are rendering the last +stanza of their solemn doxology to the dying day. The whippoorwills send +forth their melancholy praises to the approaching darkness through the +wooded chancel of their shadowy choir loft. And frogs swell their +throats in grave bass tones to the melody of country life at this time +of departing day. + +A gray-haired farmer, in rough garb, sits on the porch, smoking his +pipe, and by his side sits his patient, loving wife. On the top step of +the porch sits their young daughter, reading her fate, perhaps, in the +evening stars, the while glancing up the road, and listening for the +click of horses' feet on the stones. But no sound is heard before night +comes on. The mother rises, goes in, and lights the oil lamp, and sets +it by a window for the expected visitor to see. For John is coming home. + +"They are late in getting here," says the mother, as she descends from +the porch, and goes down the path to the gate. She looks up the road +through the shadows; then returns, and sits down by her daughter on the +steps. + +The father relights his pipe, clanks down to the gate, in his heavy +boots, looks up the road through its shadows; then returns. "They are +late," he says, and resumes his seat. + +"I wonder what is keeping them," says the daughter, with an expectant +hush in her sweet voice, as she rises, and goes down to the gate. She +looks up the road through its shadows; then returns, and sits down. + +Listen! + +John is coming home. + +They hear the clank of horses' hoofs, the rattling wheels, the rhythm of +a lively trot; then indistinct voices far in the distance. + +John is coming home. The son who went away the year before--the +brother--is coming home. The father's boots clank on the porch as he +impatiently walks back and forth. The mother rises, and shades her eyes, +and peers up the roadway through the shadows. The sister rises, with a +dancing heart, and flutters down to the gate, like an angel in the +darkness. + +For John is coming home. Home! His only place of sweet rememberance. + +It is an age, it seems, before the team draws up and John leaps out to +catch his sister in his arms. + +"Come into the light, Anne, that I may see your face, for I know you are +growing so handsome," said John, putting his arm around his sister, and +went laughing with her toward the house. Could he have seen those +blushes, in the darkness, because of his brotherly praising of her! + +"How is mother?" was his greeting to his mother, as he kissed her at +the foot of the steps. And, with her clinging to him on one side and +Anne on the other, he ascended the steps to the porch. + +"Where is father?" asked John, not seeing him in the darkness, standing +just ahead of them. "Oh, here he is!" John exclaimed, as he released +himself from his mother and sister, and grasped his father's rough hand. +"Come into the light and let me see you all," said John, after the +formalities of greeting had been performed, to the satisfaction of all +around. + +The light brought forth a revelation for them all, as light does for +everything. The family now saw in John a new being in outward +appearance, but still the same loving son and brother. John now saw his +father and mother a little older, it appeared, perhaps, from anxiety +over his absence, or it may have been their strenuous toil was showing +plainer on them. He also saw in his sister, a simple country maiden in +the rusticity of young beauty. + +"Anne, will you let me kiss you again?" asked John, as he stood in +admiration over her by the lamp, holding her hand, after his mother and +father had gone to complete the supper that had been almost ready for +hours waiting for him. + +Anne tip-toed up to her brother, at his request, and put up her sweet +lips to his. + +"And how has my little sister been all these months?" he asked, patting +her on the cheek. + +"Very well, John; I hope you have been a good boy," she answered. + +"Sister wouldn't expect anything else of me, would she?" he asked, +kissing her again. + +"Oh, no, indeed, John," she replied, with wide eyes. + +"And have you been good?" he asked. + +"Very, John," she responded. + +"No beaus yet, I hope?" he asked, in his teasing way he always had with +her. + +"Why, no, John!" and she blushed, not that she had a beau, but through +maiden coyness. "You are the only one I've got, John." + +Supper was then announced. James, who brought John from town, came in +after putting away the horses. And they all sat down in happy reunion +once more. For John was home. + +"What was the cause of your delay, John?" asked Michael Winthrope, the +father. + +"Oh, by the way, father, I must tell you about it," answered John, +laughing heartily, and looking slyly at James, who was now dressed in +his best clothes, and presented as good an appearance as John himself. +"I have two lady friends, who--" + +"Why, John!" exclaimed the mother, looking over her glasses. + +"Wait, mother; will you hear my story?" said John, turning a happy smile +upon his mother. "As I was going to say, I have two lady friends +stopping at the Summit House. One is the daughter of my employer; the +other her cousin. They saw us, as we were coming by, and, of course, we +saw them. Knowing them as I do, I could not come on without the +formality of greeting them. I introduced James to them, mother; and what +do you think?--" + +"Now, John, you mustn't be too severe on me," said James, modestly, "for +I don't pretend to your polish since you went away." + +"Never mind, James; you are a capital fellow, after all--but, mother, +James and sister here"--turning to Anne--"saw them the other day, and +they are--they think he and sister cannot be beaten as--roving +mountaineers--no, they didn't say that sister"--turning to his sister +again--"They did say they would come out to see us, if you will drive in +for them." + +"Law, me, John; we have no place here to entertain such grand people. +What do you mean?" asked the mother, holding up her spoon, and shaking +it with a remonstrative motion as emphasis to her thoughts. + +"Wait, mother; wait, and hear me out, before remonstrating any further," +said John, cheerfully. "They wouldn't accept my invitation; but they +want sister to drive our old rig in for them, and extend the invitation +to spend the day with us. They thought it would be so romantic to go on +a lark with little sister"--turning to her again with such a fond look +that Anne beamed under his countenance. "Will you go, sister?" he asked. + +"Shall I, mother?" asked Anne. + +"If John says so. What do you say, James?" asked the mother. + +"That is up to John," responded James. + +"And father?" asked the mother. + +"Whatever John says about it," replied the father. + +"Now, everything is up to you, sister," said John. "Are you going?" + +"Why, of course, brother," she answered. "When?" + +"Tomorrow," replied John. + +So it was settled. That night, as John lay down to sleep in his old bed, +so pure and white, in a little room up stairs, he heard again, above the +screeching insects, the booming frogs, the wailing owls, that old sweet +song that carried him into the slumberous land of nowhere--"Good bye! +Good bye!"--as on so many nights before. + +In the night, when the house was still, a gray-haired man, in night +clothes and carrying a lighted lamp, softly stole into John's room. John +lay with his face upturned, his eyes closed, and his lips parted in a +sleeping smile. The father stood over him a moment, bent down and +touched his lips to his son's brow. "He is a good boy yet," he said to +himself, and softly stole away. + +Anne was singing, as she went about her work, when John awoke in the +morning; and life was astir on every hand. The pigs were squealing in +their sty; the calves were bawling in their pens; ducks were squawking +in their pond; chickens were cackling in the barn yard, and the sun was +shining everywhere. John dressed himself and descended the narrow +stairway, with tousled head and open shirt front. The mother was milking +the cows, James was in the field, and the father was in the barn. Anne +was preparing breakfast. + +"Now, I may see you in the sunlight, sister," said John, as he sauntered +into the old-fashioned kitchen, and stood before her, with folded arms, +and half yawning yet from sleep, as she was spreading the cloth upon the +table. "I didn't know I had such a dear little sister," he said, as he +put his arm about her and kissed her on the lips. + +"You are such a fine brother, John, that I am almost in love with you," +she returned, as she lovingly left an imprint of a kiss on his cheek; +then leaving him to pursue her work. + +"Whose love would I want more than yours, Anne?" he asked, in his +laughing manner. + +"Oh, I don't know, John; maybe you have a girl better than me to love +you," she replied. + +"I shall never place any one above my dear little sister," he said +thoughtfully; "but--for no one can be your equal--except--one." + +"Is it one of those, John, whom I am going after this morning?" asked +Anne, rattling the skillet on the stove. "One of those whom brother +James and I met on the road a short time ago?" + +"One of those, Anne--the rich man's only child--but I am too poor for +her," he answered, regretfully. + +"Is she as good as you, brother--and me?" asked Anne, distributing the +plates around the table. She was innocent yet of the ways of the world; +but was feeling the first calling of young maidenhood. + +"She is very good, Anne; very good; but no better than you," he +returned, with the same uncertain cloud of perplexity that overcast him +so often before, still pervading him like a wave of blinding light that +comes to obscure the vision, at times, by reason of its intensity of +purpose. + +"She is very fine looking, John--both of them, John. Which one is it you +mean?" + +"The smaller of the two." + +"Oh, the one with the bluest eyes, who took fright at us and ran." + +"That is just like Edith, to run." + +"I know I could love her, John." + +"You are anticipating, sister." + +"Why, who couldn't love you, John?" asked Anne, looking up at him, with +some doubts as to what he meant. + +"That is a sister's opinion, child," said John. + +"A sister's opinion of her brother is better than any one else's. Maybe +she does love you, John. Did you ever ask her?" + +"Maybe she does," said John, going toward the door and looking out over +the garden fence and into the fields, and dreamily into the distance; +"but she is too rich to accept me, sister," he said, turning about. "How +soon will breakfast be ready?" + +"As soon as you wash your face," she answered. + +John, heeding this hint, went to a basin on a bench in the yard, which +forcibly recalled the old days. How refreshing it was to him to soap and +souse his face into the cold water! And how inconveniently unpleasant it +was, after such soaping and sousing, to rush with blinded eyes, and +water trickling down the neck beneath the shirt collar, to the kitchen +and fumble, like a blind man, for the towel. But it was home to John. + +The rattling wheels and squeaking springs of the old rig could be heard +far up the road after Anne, dressed in a clean white frock and wearing a +pink sun-bonnet, had left the front gate on her mission, guiding the old +farm horses on their sure and steady gait. + +Oh, John, John! If there is anything worth while, it is Edith's love, +the love that never dies. Blind man, as you are, and too considerate of +high state, and too proud of your own, you are the only one to make her +sweet soul happy. Bestir yourself, John, and come out of the fog of +self-consciousness that has kept you in obscurity so long as to your +final intentions. High state and low state are all the same to the Cupid +that has engaged you so relentlessly. High caste and low caste do not +count for him. Come and see the right, and see the light. She is only +mortal, you are only mortal. Money is nothing to her; money is nothing +to you. Love is all to her; love is all to you. It is the man and woman, +after all, that makes happiness supreme. Come! + +John has donned the garb of a mountaineer, which gives him a wild +romantic bearing. It is the garb of his former self. This is the one in +which Edith, secretly, wished to see him in, sometimes; and she shall +have her wish fulfilled. He wears a gray slouch hat; a check shirt, +opened in the front and turned up at the sleeves; a pair of blue +overalls, with bed-ticken suspenders, and high boots. Typical! He is in +his elements now, for his vacation period. He wishes Edith, when she +comes, to see him as he once was. It is not vanity; it is pride of home. +He wishes her to see life as it really is in a well directed loving +home, where toil is the simple reward of living. He wishes her to see +what life is to these people of the hills, how they thrive, and how they +bear their burdens. He wishes her to see all this in contrast to her own +life, and how love and duty can go on perpetually in a humble home, as +well as in a mansion. + +Work must not cease on the farm, at this season, except in case of +sickness or death; visitors must make themselves at home during the work +hours, and be entertained only at meal time, or go their way. The wheels +of industry must go on there as noisily, ever grinding, as the wheels +of industry, ever grinding, in the city. But there are rare occasions, +even in both instances, when surcease is had for a spell to meet the +call of recreation. And this was one of those rare occasions on the +farm. For Edith and Star were coming, and a half holiday was cut out for +their especial pleasure. James would cease his ploughing the corn at +noon. The father would knock off duty at eleven to help mother get up +the feast, and then smoke his pipe thereafter, perhaps, as his company. +Thus it was planned. + +After Anne had gone, John roamed about the place, speculating on the +tender association everything had for him. He went through the house +from garret to cellar, and beheld, with warming heart, how dear the old +things were, and how different they were to the things in the mansion on +the hill. Here was everything still that he knew in his boyhood days, +and he saw with a thrill of regret, but not remorse, for it was still +his home any time he wished to abide therein. And no one could gainsay +him that privilege. + +But how would Edith look upon all this, and not be struck by the simple +evidence of his lowly origin? Ah, the comparison is too great, he +thought, as he went into the garden, where he first learned the secrets +of plant life; and then into the orchard, where he first saw the +wonderfulness of the fruiting time; and then into the old barn, where +was taught him the nature of domesticated animals; and then into the +fields, where he had ploughed and sowed and reaped. How different from +his life for the past year! How different! + +Edith could see nothing of interest in such bucolic surroundings, he +thought. She would come, and see, and go, and want to forget him. It is +well, he thought, that she sees it now, and of her own coming. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +IN CONCLUSION. + + +The rattling wheels and squeaking springs could be heard far up the +road. Anne was returning with her precious load. The horses trotted down +the hill, and came up with a rattle and a bang, and a sudden stop, at +the gate, with Edith at the lines, and Anne by her side, and Star in the +rear seat alone holding on tightly lest she should be bumped out. + +"Wasn't that great!" exclaimed Edith. "I told you I could drive. This is +your home?" to Anne. + +"This is our home," replied Anne, as she began to climb over the wheel +in getting out. + +"Isn't it a beautiful place, Star!" said Edith. "Just look at the roses +blooming! and all those flowers around the porch! Anne you have such a +romantic little home! Well, if here isn't our mountaineer, for a +surety!" she exclaimed seeing John coming down the walk. "How do you do, +Mr. Winthrope? I see you at last in your true character! How will I ever +get over this wheel?" + +"If you will be real good, I will help you out--with your permission," +said John, as he approached, and offered up both hands for her to fall +into, as she liked. "Sister, I will put away the horses," he said to +Anne, as he saw she was holding the head of one of the horses to await +the unloading. "Remember, this is not an auto," he reminded Edith, as +she was cautiously putting out one little foot on the rim of the wheel +before her. + +"I would not have had so much fun if it had been an auto," returned +Edith, looking down into his upturned face, and laughing; "and you have +such a fine sister," as she turned her head toward Anne. + +"Now, jump," said John, as he caught her beneath the arms, she resting +her hands on his shoulders in the momentary act before the plunge. "Down +you come--there!--not so difficult after all," he said, as she bounced +on her feet on the ground. "Now, Miss Barton, we will see with what +grace you can perform the feat." + +"You will have to be careful; I am so awkward," said Star, preparing to +go through the same acrobatic act. + +"Jump, Star!" said Edith, seeing her hesitate. + +"Here I go, then!" she said, laughing, as she took the downward dive. + +"Oh, my! Miss Barton!" exclaimed John, as she tumbled into his arms, as +a big rag doll might. "Are you hurt?" he asked, as he released her from +the necessary embracing he had to perform to prevent her from falling to +the ground. + +"Not hurt, but a little frightened," she answered, flushed from the +incident, and brushing out her skirts. "I am all right." + +"Now, you ladies go into the house with my sister while I put the horses +away. Here, Anne, you take the ladies, and I will take the horses," he +said, leaving his guests, and taking up Anne's position in charge of the +team. + +"May I call you Anne?" asked Edith, as Anne came up to her. + +"Yes, Miss Jarney, if you wish; we all use our first names up here," +responded Anne, opening the gate. + +"You may call me Edith, if you like, and this other lady will be our +guiding Star," said Edith, walking with her arm around Anne's shoulders +up the walk, her face aflush, her eyes beaming, and seeing everything +about, talking continually. + +Star was not as talkative; but she was just as seeing as Edith was. She, +too, saw something in that home, more than its simplicity, to attract +her admiration. Was it the fragrant flowers and hopping birds and cool +freshness that she saw? or was it the peace of contentment, indefinably +overloading everything? or was it the radical difference in the two +homes, ideal though in both, and irresistable in their contradictory +elements, that caused her spirits to rise above the normal point of +enthusiasm? Or was it something else? Star did not know. + +Arriving at the door, arm in arm now, Anne passed straight through the +opening, holding on to Edith, and Star followed with considerable +wonderment at what she might encounter. + +"Take off your hats, ladies," said Anne, withdrawing her arm from +Edith's and standing off, with folded hands, looking at her, with +gladness all over her face. + +"No, you must say Edith and Star," said Edith, seeing how humbly +courteous Anne tried to be. + +"If you will have it that way; Edith and Star, take off your hats and +gloves. Now, I've said it, and I didn't mean to be so rude," said Anne, +abashed. + +"Anne, I will not love you if you do not call me Edith," said Edith, +scolding pleasantly, pulling off her gloves. "I do not like too much +formality. I have had so much of that that it does my heart good to get +out where I can be free; and you will let me be free here, Anne, won't +you?" + +"Oh, yes, Edith," answered Anne; "and Star, too; you may be as free as +you please, Edith, for we are such common folk, so long as you don't +carry off my brother, John." She said this without the least knowledge +of its true meaning; not mentioning her brother James, because she did +not think of such things in his connection. + +Edith blushed a deep crimson, as well as Star, at this extraordinary +remark on this the most extraordinary day that ever came into their +virtuous lives. Anne had a faint inkling of what these blushes meant, +for she continued: "Now, Miss Edith, since you want to be free with me, +I will be just as free with you, and tell you that my brother +l--l--likes you." + +Edith was not prepared for all this, and she had to turn her head in the +most confused state of feelings she ever fell into, all for wanting to +be tender and kind and loving toward this mountain girl, who was not yet +clearly or fully instructed in the propriety of fine speech. Edith made +no reply. She stood a moment, after facing Anne, cogitating on what an +appropriate reply should be. + +"Anne," she said directly, with a bright smile, "will you let me kiss +you?" + +Edith held out her hands for Anne to come to her. Anne responded to the +ineffable sweetness of Edith to make amends for her offense, which she +realized she had committed against the fine lady opening her heart to +her. + +"I love you, Anne," said Edith, holding the dear little girl to her +breast; "I love you; will you be my friend?" + +"Why, of course, Edith," replied Anne; then she broke away, and was +gone, leaving Edith and Star alone. + +They removed their hats and placed them on a table in a corner; and then +sat down on a lounge that graced the wall under a window looking out on +the porch, both in bewildered confusion and agitation. + +"What do you think of his sister, Star?" asked Edith. + +"She is a fine young child; no more than sixteen, perhaps," responded +Star, "and so lively that I wish I could be here with her all the time." + +"I wonder if they will let us take her with us to the city, Star, to be +our companion?" said Edith. "We would educate her, and teach her music +and everything." + +The kitchen door opened, and Anne came in with her mother, who wore a +gingham apron as the badge of her position in the household. Anne +advanced with her mother and presented her, with much dignity, as she +conceived it, to Edith and Star. + +"This is my mother, Edith and Star," said Anne, as the two young ladies +arose and advanced to the middle of the room. + +Edith presented her small white hand and took the coarse hand of Mrs. +Winthrope. "I am so glad to know you, Mrs. Winthrope," said Edith, as +she kissed the aging woman, whose age was more from toil than years. +Star having performed the same act of greeting, including the osculatory +part thereof, Mrs. Winthrope held up her hands in an astonished +attitude, and said: "Well, well; I declare; and you two are John's +friends, are you? I hope you are well." + +"We are well; thank you," they both repeated. + +"Just make yourselves at home, ladies, with what we have here to +entertain you, while I finish the dinner. Be seated by the window where +it is cool, for I know you must be warm after the long drive in the +sun." + +"Thank you, Mrs. Winthrope," they answered; and were seated. + +Then the mother and daughter disappeared again; and Anne returned, after +a little, with her father, who was in the clothes of a ploughman. Mr. +Winthrope was a tall man, a little stooped, with chin whiskers, and gray +blue eyes; and, while rough looking, was not boorish. Anne escorted him +to the young ladies, who arose at his approach. He greeted them so +warmly and effusively that, for some time thereafter, they felt the grip +of his vise-like hand on theirs. + +"Just make yourselves at home, as you like," he said. "We are farmers, +you know, and if you find any pleasure here it is yours. We will be +through our work by noon, then mother and me will find time to talk, if +you care to be bothered with us at all." Then he left them. + +"Are they not very good people," said Edith to Star, after the father +had gone out with Anne. + +"I like them very much," opined Star; "they are so pleasant." + +John came in shortly, and sat down on a split-bottom chair in the middle +of the room. + +"I hope you ladies are enjoying yourselves," he said, toying with his +hat he held in his hands. + +"I could not enjoy myself any more if it were my own home," answered +Edith. "Why, you have such a delightful home, Mr. Winthrope, and such +nice parents, and such a sweet little sister, with whom I have already +fallen in love. I am regretting that I have not known them longer." + +"That's a beautiful encomium, Miss Jarney, on my native heath; but you +know that you and your father and mother have been saying so many nice +things about me that I am uncertain whether you mean it or not." John +said this while glancing at the floor, picturing intangible things in +the woof and warp of the old rag carpet. + +"I mean every word of it. Mr. Winthrope," replied Edith, also picturing +similar intangible things in the old rag carpet as easily as if she had +pictured them out of the delicate flowers in the velvet rug in her +boudoir. + +Star sat gazing out the window, looking at some intangible shapes that +made up the green hills beyond. Their conversation thereafter was not of +the progressive kind, nor was it brilliant. Both became secretively +reserved, and time was hanging monstrously on their hands. John was +dreaming. Edith was dreaming. Both were uncertain as to what to say or +how to act, so discomposed were they. But James came in soon to break +the spell. He was such a strapping fine fellow, fine in texture, and as +good as he was fine. + +"I knew very well who you were the day we met you on the road," said +Edith, shaking his hand. + +"Had I known all this then. I should have bundled you into my wagon and +brought you right home," he replied, with considerable liveliness in his +speech. "But not knowing you, of course, I could do nothing else but +drive on. However, the pleasure of meeting you now, here, is certainly +beyond my mean ability to express." + +"We might have come," said Edith, with a ringing laugh. "Would it not +have been odd, and so romantic, just to have come right along with +you?" + +"I am sure I would have enjoyed it," he said; "and by this time I would +have had you converted into farm hands." + +"And wearing calico dresses," said Edith. + +"And brogan shoes," said Star, remembering how she used to wear such +articles of clothing. + +"Yes; it is certain one can't work here and wear silks," responded +James. Then looking down at himself, he was reminded that he was still +in his rough garb. "If you ladies will excuse me, I will make myself +more presentable for appearance at dinner." + +He then left them; and when he returned, wearing his best Sunday suit, +all brushed and fitting him very well, he was equally as stylish looking +as his brother John in his best. + +When dinner was announced (dinner is at the noon hour with the mountain +people), John lead Edith and James lead Star to the bounteously laden +dining table set in the kitchen. It might have been noticed by Edith, +had she not been otherwise engaged, that Star was more aflush than ever +before, just at this period of her proud behavior. James talked to her +very entertainingly during the progress of the long meal, and she was +very cordial toward him. She laughed and talked with great glee, being +amused at his ready wit and simple manner. But John and Edith were +distressingly quiet, for some reason, listening mostly to the +conversation of the others. Little Anne, at times, cast side glances at +Edith and John, that might have been suggestive of their meaning. + +"Would you ladies like to try your hand at fishing?" asked James, who +was warming up for any kind of sport that might be introduced for the +entertainment of their guests. + +"Oh, delighted!" cried Edith. "I never fished in my life." + +"Nor I," said Star; "will you teach me how, Mr. Winthrope?" (meaning +James.) + +"I thought we old people were to entertain you this afternoon," said the +father. + +"We will return in time for that, father," James said, rising. "John, +I'll get the bait; you get the tackle, and we will teach these young +ladies how to fish." + +"Be careful," admonished the mother; "don't fall into the stream." + +"Anne, are you not going?" asked Edith, as she rose with the others. + +"I must remain here and help mother; and will await your return," said +Anne, as she came around to Edith and put her arm around her. + +"You are a dutiful child, Anne," said Edith, kissing Anne thereat. + +Edith and Star were both dressed in gray serge skirts, white silk waists +and sailor hats. While John and James got ready the ladies prepared +themselves for the event of their lives. They were in waiting on the +porch when John and James came up, with plenty of bait and tackle in +their hands. So off they went immediately: John and Edith together, and +James and Star, the father and mother and Anne standing on the porch +watching their going. + +They struck the mountain stream a mile below the house, and the two +ladies fell to the sport with the spirited joy of youth. The pair became +separated after awhile, as all such sportsmen and women often do. One +pair went up the stream, and one went down, after the elusive fish. + +John and Edith came to a pool, after wandering through the bypaths of +the forest, far below the other two. Around the pool the trees hung low, +and the shades were heavy, and the water was dark and deep. By the pool +they sat down on a log, and cast their lines to await the fisherman's +luck. + +"Isn't this delightful," said Edith, holding her pole with inexperienced +hands over the water. + +"Fish won't bite, if we talk too loud," said John, critically, but +pleasantly, as he sat below her on the log, slanting into the stream. + +She became quiet; he became quiet. The water trickled over the miniature +falls at the head of the pool in such an isolated tone of ripling that +it made wild sweet music for Edith. The trees above them sighed in a low +crescendo, and the birds were singing everywhere. The sun rays glinted +through the boughs of the trees, and danced upon the water, making a +fretted work of moving lights and shadows. Water riders ran back and +forth, as if playing with the sunlight let into their darksome place of +habitation, and fish jumped up now and then, as if to taunt the patient +anglers. And Edith and John sat quietly--waiting, waiting. + +Then a fish came along, and caught the bait of Edith's hook; and went +tearing away in its struggle for liberty. So sudden was the unlooked for +happening that Edith lost her balance, by reason of the gyrations of +the fish, which she pluckily attempted to land, and plunged into the +water. It came so sudden that John, who was at that moment meditating on +the catch he would make, and on how he would boast over the rest of them +when he got home, did not notice Edith's danger till it was too late. +Without a moment's reflection, however, he dropped his pole and leaped +into the pool after her. Edith came up with a scared look, beating the +water with her hands, as he went down by her side. He seized her around +the waist, and swam for the shore, and when they reached the shore, she +laughed, being reminded of another watery occasion; but still permitting +him to hold her in his arms. + +"I am a pretty sight now," she said, still remaining in his arms on the +sloping bank, up which he was assisting her. + +"It seems we have an affinity for water, Edith," he said, reaching the +top of the slope, still holding her in his arms. "May I call you Edith, +now?" he said, clasping her wet form to his. + +She laid her dripping head upon his breast, one arm stole around his +neck, and she looked up into his face. "Yes," she answered. And he +kissed her for the first time on those sweet lips that had so often +uttered his name before; but now they said, "John." And still he held +her in his arms. + +"Edith, will you be my wife, some day?" he asked, looking with the +fervor of an impassioned youth into her dear blue eyes, and pushing back +the wet hair from her white temples. + +"Why, yes; dear John, I love you, as I always have since the first time +I met you," she answered, with such an appealing tone for that old +responsive note in him that he pressed her closer to his bosom. And the +longing in her soul was recompensed in that moment of her eternal bliss. + +"You know me, Edith; you know my people now; you know what I am. Are you +satisfied?" he asked, still harboring that same old uncertain doubt that +always perplexed him so; and still holding her in his arms. + +"I know you to be a noble young man, dear John. I know your people now, +and I love them. I am satisfied," she whispered. "You are all that I +care for, John--all. I love you, I love you," and she kissed him. + +"I am satisfied, dear Edith. It was not an hallucination, after all, was +it dear?" he answered. + +Thus, plighting their troth, they went hand in hand up the shady wood +path as happy as two young children over their mishap. + +Life is beautiful, and life is sweet; but what would life be to those +young people without the love between them? + +Coming to the path where they left James and Star, on parting, they +found them sitting there, waiting. When Star saw them coming, she +instinctively comprehended, and knew that the crisis was over between +Edith and John. Star was happy herself over a secret of her own. And +together they returned home. + +John proudly, on arriving in the old-fashioned sitting room, announced +to his parents and sister his intended bride, and told them they could +take her now, in her bedraggled condition, for their daughter and +sister. + +"Now, will you go with me, Anne, to the city?" asked Edith, after she +had been costumed in some of Anne's clothing that fit her narrowly. "I +will educate you, and have you for my own dear sister," hugging Anne to +her breast. + +"Some day, Edith; some day," answered Anne, uncertain in her mind. "When +will you come after me?" + +"When I am your real sister, Anne," replied Edith, stroking Anne's +golden hair, and then she looked up at Anne's mother, who could not +fully realize what it meant for her future life. "You will let her go, +Mrs. Winthrope?" + +"I may some day," answered the good old mother. + +"I wouldn't want to leave papa and mamma yet, Edith," said Anne, with a +happy smile. + +"You shall return to see them often; so shall I," said Edith. + +"I will go some time, Edith, after you are my sister," answered the coy +Anne. + +"That will be soon, dear sister," said Edith, folding Anne in her arms +and crying with excessive happiness. "You may have two sisters soon, +Anne--Star, I am sure, will be your other sister." Star blushed, and +therefore told her tale. + +The family stood on the porch that evening, and listened to the receding +sound of the rattling wheels and squeaking springs of the rig, as John +drove away with his precious load. "God bless them," said the good old +father; and Anne cried when the last hoof beat came down the shadowy +roadway. In silence they sat in darkness till they heard the clanking +hoofs returning. The mother went in and lighted the lamp; the father +went in, the sister went in, the two brothers went in; and they all +knelt down in family worship. + +As the curtain of the passing night drew thickly over the mountains, and +the lights in the corridor of the Summit House became dim, and their +room dark, Edith knelt down by her bed and offered up her prayers to the +Good Lord, who had brought her safely through her troubles; and Star, +kneeling by her side, said, "Amen." + +A few days thereafter, after Edith had written her parents of the happy +culmination of her fishing trip, the following message was received by +her from them: "Congratulations." + +So endeth the story of Edith and John. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Edith and John, by Franklin S. Farquhar + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40116 *** |