1 files changed, 8813 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/43773-0.txt b/43773-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9f3b69a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/43773-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8813 @@
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43773 ***
+
+After days of fog Stanley Heath, a stranger whose power-boat runs
+aground on the treacherous Cape Cod shoals, stumbles into the Homestead
+and into the life of Marcia Howe, a young widow with whom half the men
+in the village are already in love. Out of his clothing falls a leather
+case crammed with gems and the enigma of this puzzling possession
+provides the pivot around which the story revolves. Marcia's blind,
+intuitive belief in the man's innocence brings its own reward. The
+hamlets of Wilton and Belleport, already so well known to Miss Bassett's
+readers, are again the setting of this new novel. A sparkling love story
+of Cape Cod.
+
+
+Shifting Sands
+
+ Other Books by
+ SARA WARE BASSETT
+
+ The Harbor Road
+ The Green Dolphin
+ Bayberry Lane
+ Twin Lights
+
+
+
+
+                             SHIFTING SANDS
+
+                           SARA WARE BASSETT
+
+                          THE PENN PUBLISHING
+                         COMPANY · PHILADELPHIA
+
+             COPYRIGHT 1933 BY THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY
+
+
+Shifting Sands
+
+Manufactured in the United States of America
+
+  _Our lives are like the ever shifting sands
+  Which ocean currents whirl in the ebb and flow
+  Of their unresisting tides_
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+
+_The Widder_ lived on the spit of sand jutting out into Crocker's Cove.
+
+Just why she should have been singled out by this significant sobriquet
+was a subtle psychological problem. There were other women in Belleport
+and in Wilton, too, who had lost husbands. Maria Eldridge was a widow
+and so was Susan Ann Beals. Indeed death had claimed the head of many
+a household in the community, for to follow the sea was a treacherous
+business.
+
+Nevertheless, despite the various homes in which solitary women reigned,
+none of their owners was designated by the appellation allotted to
+Marcia Howe.
+
+Moreover, there seemed in the name the hamlet had elected to bestow upon
+her a ring of satisfaction, even of rejoicing, rather than the note of
+condolence commonly echoing in the term. Persons rolled it on their
+tongues as if flaunting it triumphantly on the breeze.
+
+"Marcia ought never to have married Jason Howe, anyway," asserted Abbie
+Brewster when one day she reminiscently gossiped with her friend,
+Rebecca Gill. "She was head an' shoulders above him. Whatever coaxed her
+into it I never could understand. She could have had her pick of half a
+dozen husbands. Why take up with a rollin' stone like him?"
+
+"She was nothin' but a slip of a thing when she married. Mebbe she had
+the notion she could reform him," Rebecca suggested.
+
+"Mebbe," agreed Abbie. "Still, young as she was, she might 'a' known
+she couldn't. Ten years ago he was the same, unsteady, drinkin' idler
+he proved himself to be up to the last minute of his life. He hadn't
+changed a hair. Such men seldom do, unless they set out to; an' Jason
+Howe never set out to do, or be, anything. He was too selfish an' too
+lazy. Grit an' determination was qualities left out of him. Well,
+he's gone, an' Marcia's well rid of him. For 'most three years now,
+she's been her own mistress an' the feelin' that she is must be highly
+enjoyable."
+
+"Poor Marcia," sighed Rebecca.
+
+"Poor Marcia?" Abbie repeated. "Lucky Marcia, I say. 'Most likely she'd
+say so herself was she to speak the truth. She never would, though.
+Since the day she married, she's been close-mouthed as an oyster. What
+she thought of Jason, or didn't think of him, she's certainly kept to
+herself. Nobody in this village has ever heard her bewail her lot. She
+made her bargain an' poor as 'twas she stuck to it."
+
+"S'pose she'll always go on livin' there on that deserted strip of
+sand?" speculated Rebecca. "Why, it's 'most an island. In fact, it is an
+island at high tide."
+
+"So 'tis. An' Zenas Henry says it's gettin' to be more an' more so every
+minute," Abbie replied. "The tide runs through that channel swift as
+a race horse an' each day it cuts a wider path 'twixt Marcia an' the
+shore. Before long, she's goin' to be as completely cut off from the
+mainland at low water as at high."
+
+"It must be a terrible lonely place."
+
+"I wouldn't want to live there," shrugged the sociable Abbie. "But
+there's folks that don't seem to mind solitude, an' Marcia Howe's one
+of 'em. Mebbe, after the life she led with Jason, she kinder relishes
+bein' alone. 'Twould be no marvel if she did. Furthermore, dynamite
+couldn't blast her out of that old Daniels Homestead. Her father an'
+her grandfather were born there, an' the house is the apple of her eye.
+It is a fine old place if only it stood somewheres else. Of course,
+when it was built the ocean hadn't et away the beach, an' instead of
+bein' narrow, the Point was a wide, sightly piece of land. Who'd 'a'
+foreseen the tides would wash 'round it 'til they'd whittled it down
+to little more'n a sand bar, an' as good as detached it from the coast
+altogether?"
+
+"Who'd 'a' foreseen lots of pranks the sea's played? The Cape's a-swirl
+with shiftin' sands. They drift out here, they pile up there. What's
+terra firma today is swallered up tomorrow. Why, even Wilton Harbor's
+fillin' in so fast that 'fore we know it there won't be a channel deep
+enough to float a dory left us. We'll be land-locked."
+
+"Well, say what you will against the sea an' the sand, they did a good
+turn for Marcia all them years of her married life. At least they helped
+her keep track of Jason. Once she got him on the Point with the tide
+runnin' strong 'twixt him and the village, she'd padlock the skiff an'
+there he'd be! She had him safe an' sound," Abbie chuckled.
+
+"Yes," acquiesced Rebecca. "But the scheme worked both ways. Let Jason
+walk over to town across the flats an' then let the tide rise an' there
+he be, too! Without a boat there was no earthly way of his gettin' home.
+Marcia might fidget 'til she was black in the face. He had the best of
+excuses for loiterin' an' carousin' ashore."
+
+"Well, he don't loiter and carouse here no longer. Marcia knows where he
+is now," declared Abbie with spirit. "I reckon she's slept more durin'
+these last three years than ever she slept in the ten that went before
+'em. She certainly looks it. All her worries seem to have fallen away
+from her, leavin' her lookin' like a girl of twenty. She's pretty as a
+picture."
+
+"She must be thirty-five if she's a day," Rebecca reflected.
+
+"She ain't. She's scarce over thirty. I can tell you 'xactly when she
+was born," disputed the other woman. "But thirty or even more, she don't
+look her age."
+
+"S'pose she'll marry again?" ventured Rebecca, leaning forward and
+dropping her voice.
+
+"Marry? There you go, 'Becca, romancin' as usual."
+
+"I ain't romancin'. I was just wonderin'. An' I ain't the only person
+in town askin' the question, neither," retorted Mrs. Gill with a
+sniff. "There's scores of others. In fact, I figger the thought is the
+uppermost one in the minds of 'most everybody."
+
+Abbie laughed.
+
+"Mebbe. In fact, I reckon 'tis," conceded she. "It's the thought that
+come to everyone quick as Jason was buried. 'Course, 'twouldn't be
+decent to own it--an' yet I don't know why. Folks 'round about here are
+fond of Marcia an' feel she's been cheated out of what was her rightful
+due. They want her to begin anew an' have what she'd oughter have had
+years ago--a good husband an' half a dozen children. There's nothin' to
+be ashamed of in a wish like that. I ain't denyin' there are certain
+persons who are more self-seekin'. I ain't blind to the fact that once
+Jason was under the sod, 'bout every widower in town sorter spruced up
+an' began to take notice; an' before a week was out every bachelor had
+bought a new necktie. Eben Snow told me so an' he'd oughter know bein'
+the one that sells 'em."
+
+"Abbie!"
+
+"It's true. An' why, pray, shouldn't the men cast sheep's eyes at
+Marcia? Can you blame 'em? She'd be one wife in a hundred could a body
+win her. There ain't a thing she can't do from shinglin' a barn down to
+trimmin' a hat. She's the match of any old salt at sailin' a boat an'
+can pull an oar strong as the best of 'em. Along with that she can sew,
+cook, an' mend; plow an' plant; paper a room. An' all the time, whatever
+she's doin', she'd bewitch you with her smile an' her pretty ways. It's
+a marvel to me how she's kept out of matrimony long's this with so many
+men millerin' 'round her."
+
+"She certainly's takin' her time. She don't 'pear to be in no hurry to
+get a husband," smiled Rebecca.
+
+"Why should she be? Her parents left her with money in the bank an' the
+Homestead to boot, an' Marcia was smart enough not to let Jason make
+ducks and drakes of her property. She dealt out to him what she thought
+he better have an' held fast to the rest. As a result, she's uncommon
+well-off."
+
+"All men mightn't fancy havin' a wife hold the tiller, though."
+
+Rebecca Gill pursed her lips.
+
+"Any man Marcia Howe married would have to put up with it," Abbie
+asserted, biting off a needleful of thread with a snap of her fine
+white teeth. "Marcia's always been captain of the ship an' she always
+will be."
+
+Gathering up her mending, Rebecca rose.
+
+"Well, I can't stay here settlin' Marcia's future," she laughed. "I've
+got to be goin' home. Lemmy'll be wantin' his supper. He can't, though,
+accuse me of fritterin' the afternoon away. I've darned every pair of
+stockin's in this bag an' there was scores of 'em. You turn off such
+things quicker when you're in good company."
+
+A scuffling on the steps and the sound of men's voices interrupted the
+words.
+
+The kitchen door swung open and Zenas Henry's lanky form appeared on the
+threshold. Behind him, like a foreshortened shadow, tagged his crony,
+Lemuel Gill.
+
+"Well, well, 'Becca, if here ain't Lemmy come to fetch you!" Abbie
+cried. "'Fraid your wife had deserted you, Lemmy? She ain't. She was
+just this minute settin' out for home."
+
+"I warn't worryin' none," grinned Lemuel.
+
+"What you two been doin'?" Abbie inquired of her husband.
+
+"Oh, nothin' much," answered the big, loose-jointed fellow, shuffling
+into the room. "We've been settin' out, drinkin' in the air."
+
+The carelessness of the reply was a trifle overdone, and instantly
+aroused the keen-eyed Abbie's suspicions.
+
+She glanced into his face.
+
+"Guess we're goin' to have rain," he ventured.
+
+"I wouldn't wonder," rejoined Lemuel Gill.
+
+Humming to prove he was entirely at his ease, Zenas Henry ambled to the
+window and looked out.
+
+"Where you been settin'?" demanded Abbie.
+
+"Settin'? Oh, Lemmy an' me took sort of a little jaunt along the shore.
+Grand day to be abroad. I never saw a finer. The sea's blue as a
+corn-flower, an' the waves are rollin' in, an' rollin' in, an'--"
+
+"They generally are," Abbie interrupted dryly. "Just where'd you
+particularly notice 'em?"
+
+Lemuel Gill stepped into the breach.
+
+"'Twas this way," began he. "Zenas Henry an' me thought we'd take a
+bit of a meander. We'd been to the postoffice an' was standin' in the
+doorway when we spied Charlie Eldridge goin' by with a fish-pole--"
+
+"Charlie Eldridge--the bank cashier?" Rebecca echoed. "But he ain't no
+fisherman. What on earth was he doin' with a fish-pole?"
+
+"That's what we wondered," said Lemuel.
+
+"Charlie Eldridge with a fish-pole," repeated Abbie. "Mercy! Where do
+you s'pose he was goin'?"
+
+"I never in all my life knew of Charlie Eldridge goin' a-fishin',"
+Rebecca rejoined. "Not that he ain't got a perfect right to fish if he
+wants to outside bankin' hours. But--"
+
+"But Charlie fishin'!" interrupted Abbie, cutting her friend short.
+"Why, he'd no more dirty his lily-white hands puttin' a squirmin' worm
+on a fish-hook than he'd cut off his head. In fact, I don't believe he'd
+know how. You didn't, likely, see where he went."
+
+"Wal--er--yes. We did."
+
+Zenas Henry wheeled about.
+
+Clearing his throat, he darted a glance at Lemuel.
+
+"Havin' completed the business that took us to the store--" he began.
+
+"Havin', in short, asked for the mail an' found there warn't none,"
+laughed Abbie, mischievously.
+
+Zenas Henry ignored the comment.
+
+"We walked along in Charlie's wake," he continued.
+
+"Followed him?"
+
+"Wal--somethin' of the sort. You might, I s'pose, call it follerin',"
+Zenas Henry admitted shamefacedly. "Anyhow, Lemmy an' me trudged along
+behind him at what we considered a suitable distance."
+
+"Where'd he go?" Rebecca urged, her face alight with curiosity.
+
+"Wal, Charlie swung along, kinder whistlin' to himself, an' ketchin' his
+pole in the trees and brushes 'til he come to the fork of the road. Then
+he made for the shore."
+
+"So he was really goin' fishin'," mused Abbie, a suggestion of
+disappointment in her voice.
+
+"He certainly was. Oh, Charlie was goin' fishin' right 'nough. He was
+aimed for deep water," grinned Zenas Henry.
+
+"He wouldn't ketch no fish in Wilton Harbor," sniffed Rebecca
+contemptuously. "Wouldn't you think he'd 'a' known that?"
+
+"He warn't," observed Zenas Henry mildly, "figgerin' to. In fact,
+'twarn't to Wilton Harbor he was goin'."
+
+With a simultaneous start, both women looked up.
+
+"No-siree. Bank cashier or not, Charlie warn't that much of a numskull.
+He was primed to fish in more propitious waters."
+
+"Zenas Henry, do stop beatin' round the bush an' say what you have to
+say. If you're goin' to tell us where Charlie Eldridge went, out with
+it. If not, stop talkin' about it," burst out his wife sharply.
+
+"Ain't I tellin' you fast as I can? Why get so het up? If you must know
+an' can't wait another minute, Charlie went fishin' in Crocker's Cove."
+
+"Crocker's Cove!" cried two feminine voices.
+
+Zenas Henry's only reply was a deliberate nod.
+
+"Crocker's Cove?" gasped Abbie.
+
+"Crocker's Cove?" echoed Rebecca.
+
+"Crocker's Cove," nodded Zenas Henry.
+
+"Mercy on us! Why--! Why, he--he must 'a' been goin'"--began Abbie.
+
+"--to see _The Widder_," Rebecca interrupted, completing the sentence.
+
+"I'd no notion he was tendin' up to her," Abbie said.
+
+"Wal, he warn't 'xactly tendin' up to her--least-way, not today. Not
+what you could really call tendin' up," contradicted Zenas Henry, a
+twinkle in his eye. "Rather, I'd say 'twas t'other way round. Wouldn't
+you, Lemmy? Wouldn't you say that instead 'twas she who tended up to
+him?"
+
+Sagaciously, Lemuel bowed.
+
+The tapping of Abbie's foot precipitated the remainder of the story.
+
+"You see," drawled on Zenas Henry, "no sooner had Charlie got into the
+boat an' pulled out into the channel than he had the usual beginner's
+luck an' hooked a stragglin' bluefish--one of the pert kind that ain't
+fer bein' hauled in. Law! You'd oughter seen that critter pull! He 'most
+had Charlie out of the boat.
+
+"I shouted to him to hang on an' so did Lemmy. We couldn't help it. The
+idiot had no more notion what to do than the man in the moon.
+
+"In our excitement, we must 'a' bellered louder'n we meant to, 'cause
+in no time _The Widder_ popped outer the house. She took one look at
+Charlie strugglin' in the boat, raced down to the landin' an' put out to
+him just about at the minute he was waverin' as to whether he'd chuck
+pole, line, an' sinker overboard, or go overboard himself.
+
+"Quicker'n scat she had the fish-pole, an' while we looked on, Charlie
+dropped down kinder limp on the seat of the boat an' begun tyin' up his
+hand in a spandy clean pocket handkerchief while _The Widder_ gaffed the
+fish an' hauled it in."
+
+"My soul!" exploded Abbie Brewster. "My soul an' body!"
+
+"Later on," continued Zenas Henry, "Charlie overtook us. He'd stowed
+away his fish-pole somewheres. Leastway, he didn't have it with him.
+When Lemmy an' me asked him where his fish was, he looked blacker'n
+thunder an' snapped out: 'Hang the fish!'
+
+"Seein' he warn't in no mood for neighborly conversation, we left him
+an' come along home."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter II
+
+
+In the meantime, Marcia Howe, the heroine of this escapade, comfortably
+ensconced in her island homestead, paid scant heed to the fact that
+she and her affairs were continually on the tongues of the outlying
+community.
+
+She was not ignorant of it for, although too modest to think herself of
+any great concern to others, her intuitive sixth sense made her well
+aware her goings and comings were watched. This knowledge, however, far
+from nettling her, as it might have done had she been a woman blessed
+with less sense of humor, afforded her infinite amusement. She liked
+people and because of her habit of looking for the best in them she
+usually found it. Their spying, she realized, came from motives of
+interest. She had never known it to be put to malicious use. Hence, she
+never let it annoy her.
+
+She loved her home; valued her kindly, if inquisitive, neighbors at
+their true worth; and met the world with a smile singularly free from
+hardness or cynicism.
+
+Bitter though her experience had been, it had neither taken from,
+nor, miraculously, had it dimmed her faith in her particular star.
+On the contrary there still glowed in her grey eyes that sparkle of
+anticipation one sees in the eyes of one who stands a-tiptoe on the
+threshold of adventure. Apparently she had in her nature an unquenchable
+spirit of hope that nothing could destroy. No doubt youth had aided her
+to retain this vision for she was still young and the highway of life,
+alluring in rosy mists, beckoned her along its mysterious path with
+persuasive hand. Who could tell what its hidden vistas might contain?
+
+Her start, she confessed, had been an unpropitious one. But starts
+sometimes were like that; and did not the old adage affirm that a bad
+beginning made for a fair ending?
+
+Furthermore, the error had been her own. She had been free to choose and
+she had chosen unwisely. Why whine about it? One must be a sport and
+play the game. She was older now and better fitted to look after herself
+than she had been at seventeen. Only a fool made the same blunder twice,
+and if experience had been a pitiless teacher, it had also been a
+helpful and convincing one.
+
+Marcia did not begrudge her lesson. Unquestionably, it had taken
+from her its toll; but on the other hand it had left as compensation
+something she would not have exchanged for gold.
+
+The past with its griefs, its humiliations, its heartbreak, its failure
+lay behind--the future all before her. It was hers--hers! She would be
+wary what she did with it and never again would she squander it for
+dross.
+
+Precisely what she wished or intended to make of that future she did not
+know. There were times when a wave of longing for something she could
+not put into words surged up within her with a force not to be denied.
+Was it loneliness? She was not so lonely that she did not find joy in
+her home and its daily routine of domestic duties.
+
+On the contrary, she attacked these pursuits with tireless zeal. She
+liked sweeping, dusting, polishing brasses, and making her house as
+fresh as the sea breezes that blew through it. She liked to brew and
+bake; to sniff browning pie crust and the warm spiciness of ginger
+cookies. Keen pleasure came to her when she surveyed spotless beds,
+square at the corners and covered with immaculate counterpanes. She
+found peace and refreshment in softened lights, flowers, the glow of
+driftwood fires.
+
+As for the more strenuous tasks connected with homemaking, they served
+as natural and pleasurable vents for her surplus energy. She revelled in
+painting, papering, shingling; and the solution of the balking enigmas
+presented by plumbing, chimneys, drains and furnaces.
+
+If there lingered deep within her heart vague, unsatisfied yearnings,
+Marcia resolutely held over these filmy imaginings a tight rein. To be
+busy--that was her gospel. She never allowed herself to remain idle for
+any great length of time. To prescribe the remedy and faithfully apply
+it was no hardship to one whose active physique and abounding vigor
+demanded an abundance of exercise. Like an athlete set to run a race,
+she gloried in her physical strength.
+
+When she tramped the shore, the wind blowing her hair and the rich blood
+pulsing in her cheeks; when her muscles stretched taut beneath an oar or
+shot out against the resistance of the tide, a feeling of unity with a
+power greater than herself caught her up, thrilling every fibre of her
+being. She was never unsatisfied then. She felt herself to be part of a
+force mighty and infinite--a happy, throbbing part. Today, as she moved
+swiftly about the house and her deft hands made tidy the rooms, she had
+that sense of being in step with the world.
+
+The morning, crisp with an easterly breeze, had stirred the sea into a
+swell that rose rhythmically in measureless, breathing immensity far
+away to its clear-cut, sapphire horizon. The sands had never glistened
+more white; the surf never curled at her doorway in a prettier, more
+feathery line. On the ocean side, where winter's lashing storms had
+thrown up a protecting phalanx of dunes, the coarse grasses she had sown
+to hold them tossed in the wind, while from the Point, where her snowy
+domains dipped into more turbulent waters, she could hear the grating
+roar of pebbles mingle with the crash of heavier breakers.
+
+It all spoke to her of home--home as she had known it from childhood--as
+her father and her father's father had known it. Boats, nets, the
+screaming of gulls, piping winds, and the sting of spray on her face
+were bone of her bone, flesh of her flesh. The salt of deep buried
+caverns was in her veins; the chant of the ocean echoed the beating of
+her own heart.
+
+Lonely?
+
+If she needed anything it was a companion to whom to cry: "Isn't it
+glorious to be alive?" and she already had such a one.
+
+Never was there such a comrade as Prince Hal!
+
+Human beings often proved themselves incapable of grasping one another's
+moods--but he? Never!
+
+He knew when to speak and when to be silent; when to be in evidence and
+when to absent himself. His understanding was infinite; his fidelity
+as unchanging as the stars. Moreover, he was an honorable dog, a
+thoroughbred, a gentleman. That was why she had bestowed upon him an
+aristocratic name. He demanded it.
+
+She would never want for a welcome while he had strength to wag his
+white plume of tail; nor lack affection so long as he was able to race
+up the beach and race back again to hurl himself upon her with his
+sharp, staccato yelp of joy.
+
+When easterly gales rocked the rafters and the wind howled with eerie
+moanings down the broad chimney; when line after line of foaming
+breakers steadily advanced, crashing up on the shore with a fury that
+threatened to invade the house, then it was comforting to have near-by a
+companion unashamed to draw closer to her and confess himself humbled in
+the presence of the sea's majesty.
+
+Oh, she was worlds better off with Prince Hal than if she were linked up
+with someone of her own genus who could not understand.
+
+Besides, she was not going to be alone. She had decided to try an
+experiment.
+
+Jason had had an orphaned niece out in the middle west--his sister's
+child--a girl in her early twenties, and Marcia had invited her to the
+island for a visit.
+
+In fact, Sylvia was expected today.
+
+That was why a bowl of pansies stood upon the table in the big bedroom
+at the head of the stairs, and why its fireplace was heaped with
+driftwood ready for lighting. That was also the reason Marcia now stood
+critically surveying her preparations.
+
+The house did look welcoming. With justifiable pride, she confessed to
+herself that Heaven had bestowed upon her a gift for that sort of thing.
+She knew where to place a chair, a table, a lamp, a book, a flower.
+
+She was especially desirous the old home should look its best today, for
+the outside world had contributed a richness of setting that left her
+much to live up to. Sylvia had never seen the ocean. She must love it.
+But would she? That was to be the test.
+
+If the girl came hither with eyes that saw not; if the splendor
+stretched out before her was wasted then undeterred, she might go back
+to her wheat fields, her flat inland air, her school teaching.
+
+If, on the other hand, Wilton's beauty opened to her a new heaven and
+a new earth, if she proved herself a good comrade--well, who could say
+what might come of it?
+
+There was room, money, affection enough for two beneath the Homestead
+roof and Sylvia was alone in the world. Moreover, Marcia felt an odd
+sense of obligation toward Jason. At the price of his life he had given
+her back her freedom. It was a royal gift and she owed him something in
+return.
+
+She was too honest to pretend she had loved him or mourned his loss.
+Soon after the beginning of their life together, she had discovered he
+was not at all the person she had supposed him. The gay recklessness
+which had so completely bewitched her and which she had thought to
+be manliness had been mere bombast and bravado. At bottom he was a
+braggart--small, cowardly, purposeless--a ship without a rudder.
+
+Endowed with good looks and a devil-may-care charm, he had called her
+his star and pleaded his need of her, and she had mistaken pity for love
+and believed that to help guide his foundering craft into port was a
+heaven-sent mission.
+
+Alas, she had over-estimated both her own power and his sincerity.
+Jason had no real desire to alter his conduct. He lacked not only the
+inclination but the moral stamina to do so. Instead, day by day he
+slipped lower and lower and, unable to aid him or prevent disaster, she
+had been forced to look on.
+
+Her love for him was dead, and her self-conceit was dealt a humiliating
+blow.
+
+She was to have been his anchor in time of stress, the planet by which
+when he married her he boasted that he intended to steer his course. But
+she had been forced to stand impotent at his side and see self-respect,
+honor, and every essential of manhood go down and he shrivel to a
+fawning, deceitful, ambitionless wreck.
+
+Sometimes she reproached herself for the tragedy and, scrutinizing the
+past, wondered whether she might not have prevented it. Had she done her
+full part; been as patient, sympathetic, understanding as she ought to
+have been? Did his defeat lay at her door?
+
+With the honesty characteristic of her, she could not see that it did.
+She might, no doubt, have played her role better. One always could if
+given a second chance. Nevertheless she had tried, tried with every
+ounce of strength in her--tried and failed!
+
+Well, it was too late for regrets now. Such reflections belonged to the
+past and she must put them behind her as useless, morbid abstractions.
+Her back was set against the twilight; she was facing the dawn--the dawn
+with its promise of happier things.
+
+Surely that magic, unlived future touched with hope and dim with the
+prophecy of the unknown could not be so unfriendly as the past had been.
+It might bring pain; but she had suffered pain and no longer feared
+it. Moreover, no pain could ever be as poignant as that which she had
+already endured.
+
+And why anticipate pain? Life held joy as well--countless untried
+experiences that radiated happiness. Were there not a balance between
+sunshine and shadow this world would be a wretched place in which to
+live, and its Maker an unjust dealer.
+
+No, she believed not only in a fair-minded but in a generous God and she
+had faith that he was in his Heaven.
+
+She had paid for her folly--if indeed folly it had been. Now with
+optimism and courage she looked fearlessly forward. That was why, as she
+caught up her hat, a smile curled her lips.
+
+The house did look pretty, the day was glorious. She was a-tingle with
+eagerness to see what it might bring.
+
+Calling Prince Hal, she stood before him.
+
+"Take good care of the house, old man," she admonished, as she patted
+his silky head. "I'll be home soon."
+
+He followed her to the piazza and stopped. His eyes pleaded to go, but
+he understood his orders and obeying them lay down with paws extended,
+the keeper of the Homestead.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter III
+
+
+The train was ten minutes late, and while she paced the platform at
+Sawyer Falls, the nearest station, Marcia fidgeted.
+
+She had never seen any of Jason's family. At first a desultory
+correspondence had taken place between him and his sister, Margaret;
+then gradually it had died a natural death--the result, no doubt, of his
+indolence and neglect. When the letters ceased coming, Marcia had let
+matters take their course.
+
+Was it not kinder to allow the few who still loved him to remain
+ignorant of what he had become and to remember instead only as the
+dashing lad who in his teens had left the farm and gone to seek his
+fortune in the great world?
+
+She had written Margaret a short note after his death and had received
+a reply expressing such genuine grief it had more than ever convinced
+her that her course had been the wise and generous one. What troubled
+her most in the letter had been its outpouring of sympathy for herself.
+She detested subterfuge and as she read sentence after sentence,
+which should have meant so much and in reality meant so little, the
+knowledge that she had not been entirely frank had brought with it an
+uncomfortable sense of guilt. It was not what she had said but what she
+had withheld that accused her.
+
+Marcia Howe was no masquerader, and until this moment the hypocrisy
+she had practiced had demanded no sustained acting. Little by little,
+moreover, the pricking of her conscience had ceased and, fading into
+the past, the incident had been forgotten. Miles of distance, years of
+silence separated her from Jason's relatives and it had been easy to
+allow the deceit, if deceit it had been, to stand.
+
+But now those barriers were to be broken down and she suddenly realized
+that to keep up the fraud so artlessly begun was going to be exceedingly
+difficult. She was not a clever dissembler.
+
+Moreover, any insincerity between herself and Sylvia would strike at the
+very core of the sincere, earnest companionship she hoped would spring
+up between them. Even should she be a more skillful fraud than she dared
+anticipate and succeed in playing her role convincingly, would there not
+loom ever before her the danger of betrayal from outside sources?
+
+Everyone in the outlying district had known Jason for what he was. There
+had been no possibility of screening the sordid melodrama from the
+public. Times without number one fisherman and then another had come
+bringing the recreant back home across the channel, and had aided in
+getting him into the house and to bed. His shame had been one of the
+blots on the upright, self-respecting community.
+
+As a result, her private life had perforce become common property and
+all its wretchedness and degradation, stripped of concealment, had been
+spread stark beneath the glare of the sunlight.
+
+It was because the villagers had helped her so loyally to shoulder a
+burden she never could have borne alone that Marcia felt toward them
+this abiding affection and gratitude. They might discuss her affairs if
+they chose; ingenuously build up romances where none existed; they might
+even gossip about her clothes, her friends, her expenditures. Their
+chatter did not trouble her. She had tried them out, and in the face
+of larger issues had found their virtues so admirable that their vices
+became, by contrast, mere trivialities.
+
+Moreover, having watched her romance begin, flourish, and crumble; and
+having shared in the joy and sorrow of it, it was not only natural,
+but to some degree legitimate they should feel they had the right to
+interest themselves in her future.
+
+Not all their watchfulness was prompted by curiosity. Some of it
+emanated from an impulse of guardianship--a desire to shield her from
+further misery and mishap. She was alone in the world, and in the eyes
+of the older inhabitants who had known her parents, she was still a
+girl--one of the daughters of the town. They did not mean to stand idly
+by and see her duped a second time.
+
+The assurance that she had behind her this support; that she was
+respected, beloved, held blameless of the past, not only comforted but
+lent to her solitary existence a sense of background which acted as a
+sort of anchor.
+
+Not that she was without standards or ideals.
+
+Nevertheless, human nature is human nature and it did her no harm to
+realize she was not an isolated being whose actions were of no concern
+to anyone in the wide world.
+
+Separated though she was by the confines of her island home, she was
+not allowed to let her remoteness from Wilton detach her from it, nor
+absolve her from her share in its obligations. She had her place and
+every day of the year a score of lookers-on, familiar with her general
+schedule, checked up on her fulfillment of it.
+
+If, given limited leeway, she did not appear for her mail or for
+provisions; if she was not at church; if the lights that should have
+twinkled from her windows were darkened, someone unfailingly put out
+across the channel to make sure all was well with her. Nay, more, if
+any emergency befell her, she had only to run up a red lantern on the
+pole beside her door and aid would come. What wonder then that, in face
+of such friendliness, Marcia Howe failed to resent the community's
+grandmotherly solicitude?
+
+She had never kept secrets from her neighbors--indeed she never had had
+secrets to keep. Her nature was too crystalline, her love of truth too
+intense.
+
+If she had followed her usual custom and been open with Jason's sister,
+the dilemma in which she now found herself would never have arisen.
+Granted that her motive had been a worthy one had it not been audacious
+to make of herself a god and withhold from Margaret Hayden facts she had
+had every right to know, facts that belonged to her? Such burdens were
+given human beings to bear, not to escape from.
+
+Why should she have taken it upon herself to shield, nay prevent Jason's
+flesh and blood from participating in the sorrow, shame, disappointment
+she herself had borne? The experience had had immeasurable influence in
+her own life. Why should it not have had as much in Margaret's?
+
+Alas, matters of right and wrong, questions of one's responsibility
+toward others were gigantic, deeply involved problems. What her duty
+in this particular case had been she did not and would now never know,
+nor was it of any great moment that she should. Margaret was beyond the
+reach of this world's harassing enigmas. If with mistaken kindness she
+had been guided by a pygmy, short-sighted philosophy, it was too late,
+reflected Marcia, for her to remedy her error in judgment.
+
+But Sylvia--Jason's niece?
+
+With her coming, all the arguments Marcia had worn threadbare for and
+against the exposure of Jason's true character presented themselves
+afresh. Should she deceive the girl as she had her mother? Or should she
+tell her the truth?
+
+She was still pondering the question when a shrill whistle cut short her
+reverie.
+
+There was a puffing of steam; a grinding of brakes, the spasmodic
+panting of a weary engine and the train, with its single car, came to a
+stop beside the platform.
+
+Three passengers descended.
+
+The first was a young Portuguese woman, dark of face, and carrying a
+bulging bag from which protruded gay bits of embroidery.
+
+Behind her came a slender, blue-eyed girl, burdened not only with her
+own suit-case but with a basket apparently belonging to a wee, wizened
+old lady who followed her.
+
+"Now we must find Henry," the girl was saying in a clear but gentle
+voice. "Of course he'll be here. Look! Isn't that he--the man just
+driving up in a car? I guessed as much from your description. You need
+not have worried, you see. Yes, the brakeman has your bag and umbrella;
+and here is the kitten safe and sound, despite her crying. Goodbye, Mrs.
+Doane. I hope you'll have a lovely visit with your son."
+
+The little old lady smiled up at her.
+
+"Goodbye, my dear. You've taken care of me like as if you'd been my own
+daughter. I ain't much used to jauntin' about, an' it frets me. Are your
+folks here? If not, I'm sure Henry wouldn't mind--"
+
+"Oh, somebody'll turn up to meet me, Mrs. Doane. I'll be all right.
+Goodbye. We did have a pleasant trip down, didn't we? Traveling isn't
+really so bad after all."
+
+Then as Marcia watched, she saw the lithe young creature stoop suddenly
+and kiss the withered cheek.
+
+The next instant she was swinging up the platform.
+
+The slim figure in its well-tailored blue suit; the trimly shod feet;
+the small hat so provokingly tilted over the bright eyes, the wealth
+of golden curls that escaped from beneath it all shattered Marcia's
+calculations. She had thought of Sylvia Hayden as farm-bred--the product
+of an inland, country town--a creature starved for breadth of outlook
+and social opportunity. It was disconcerting to discover that she was
+none of these things.
+
+In view of her sophistication, Marcia's proposed philanthropy took on an
+aspect of impertinence.
+
+Well, if she herself was chagrined, there was consolation in seeing that
+the girl was equally discomfited.
+
+As she approached Marcia, she accosted her uncertainly with the words:
+
+"Pardon me. I am looking for a relative--a Mrs. Howe. You don't happen
+to know, do you--"
+
+"I'm Marcia."
+
+"But I thought--I expected--" gasped the girl.
+
+"And I thought--I expected--" Marcia mimicked gaily.
+
+For a moment they looked searchingly into one another's faces, then
+laughed.
+
+"Fancy having an aunt like you!" exclaimed the incredulous Sylvia, still
+staring with unconcealed amazement.
+
+"And fancy having a niece like you!"
+
+"Well, all I can say is I'm glad I came," was the girl's retort. "I
+wasn't altogether sure I should be when I started East. I said to
+myself: 'Sylvia you are taking a big chance. You may just be wasting
+your money.'"
+
+"You may still find it's been wasted."
+
+"No, I shan't. I know already it has been well spent," announced the
+girl, a whimsical smile curving her lips.
+
+"Wait until you see where you're going."
+
+"I am going to Paradise--I'm certain of it. The glimpses I've had of the
+ocean from the train have convinced me of that. Do you live where you
+can see it, Aunt Marcia? Will it be nearby?"
+
+"I shall not tell you one thing," Marcia replied. "At least only one,
+and that is that I flatly refuse to be Aunt Marcia to you!"
+
+"Don't you like me?" pouted Sylvia, arching her brows.
+
+"So much that your aunt-ing me is absurd. It would make me feel like
+Methuselah. I really haven't that amount of dignity."
+
+"Ah, now my last weak, wavering doubt is vanquished. Not only am I glad
+I came but I wish I'd come before."
+
+She saw a shadow flit across her aunt's face.
+
+"You weren't asked until now," observed Marcia with cryptic brevity.
+
+"That wouldn't have mattered. Had I known what you were like, I should
+have come without an invitation."
+
+In spite of herself, Marcia smiled.
+
+"Here's the car," she answered. "What about your trunk?"
+
+"I didn't bring one."
+
+"You didn't bring a trunk! But you are to make a long visit, child."
+
+"I--I wasn't sure that I'd want to," Sylvia replied. "You see, I was a
+wee bit afraid of you. I thought you'd be a New England prune. I had no
+idea what you were like. If I'd brought my things, I'd have been obliged
+to stay."
+
+"You're a cautious young person," was Marcia's dry observation. "'Twould
+serve you right if I sent you home at the end of a fortnight."
+
+"Oh, please don't do that," begged Sylvia. "It's in _The Alton City
+Courier_ that I have gone East to visit relatives for a few weeks. If
+I should come right back, everybody would decide I'd stolen the family
+silver or done something disgraceful. Besides--my trunk is all packed,
+locked, strapped and I've brought the key," added she with disarming
+frankness. "It can be sent for in case--"
+
+"I see!" nodded Marcia, her lips curving into a smile in spite of
+herself, "I said you were cautious."
+
+"Don't you ever watch your own step?"
+
+As the myriad pros and cons she had weighed and eliminated before
+inviting her guest passed in quick review before Marcia's mind, she
+chuckled:
+
+"Sometimes I do," she conceded grimly.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IV
+
+
+The village store, grandiloquently styled by a red sign the Wilton
+Emporium, was thronged with the usual noontime crowd.
+
+It was a still, grey day, murky with fog and the odors of wet oilskins,
+steaming rubber coats, damp woolens blended with a mixture of tar,
+coffee and tobacco smoke, made its interior thick and stuffy. Long ago
+the air-tight stove had consumed such remnants of oxygen as the room
+contained. The windows reeked with moisture; the floor was gritty with
+sand.
+
+These discomforts, however, failed to be of consequence to the knot
+of men who, rain or shine, congregated there at mail time. They were
+accustomed to them. Indeed, a drizzle, far from keeping the habitués
+away, rendered the meeting place unusually popular. Not but that plenty
+of work, capable of being performed as well in foul as in fair weather,
+could not have been found at home.
+
+Zenas Henry Brewster's back stairs were at the very moment crying out
+for paint; the leg was off his hair-cloth sofa; the pantry window stuck;
+the bolt dangled from his side door and could have been wrenched off
+with a single pull.
+
+Here was an ideal opportunity to make such repairs. Yet, why take today?
+
+Nobody really saw the stairs. If the sofa pitched the brick tucked
+underneath, it at least prevented it from lurching dangerously. The
+pantry window was as well closed as open, anyway. And as for the side
+door--if it was not bolted at all, no great harm would result.
+
+"Nobody's got in yet," Zenas Henry optimistically philosophized as,
+despite his wife's protests, he slipped into his sou'wester, "an' I see
+no cause to think thieves will pitch on today to come. Fur's that goes,
+Wilton ain't never had a burglary in all its history. We could leave all
+the bolts off the doors."
+
+To this cheery observation he added over his shoulder a jaunty
+"Goodbye!" and, striding out through the shed, was off to join his
+cronies.
+
+The argument with Abbie had not only delayed him, but had left him a bit
+irritated, and he was more nettled still to find, when he crossed the
+threshold of the post-office, that the daily conclave was in full swing.
+Nevertheless, the session had not become as interesting as it would
+after those who dropped in simply to call for mail or make purchases had
+thinned out. He had, to be sure, missed seeing the letters distributed,
+but the best yet remained.
+
+Shuffling over to the counter where his friends were huddled, Zenas
+Henry unostentatiously joined them.
+
+"Yes-siree, there'll be somethin' doin' in Wilton now," Enoch Morton,
+the fish-man, was saying. "That sand bar's goin' to be the centre of
+the town, if I don't miss my guess. There'll be more'n Charlie Eldridge
+fishin' in the channel."
+
+A laugh greeted the prediction.
+
+"Who's seen her?" Captain Benjamin Todd inquired.
+
+"I have," came the piping voice of Lemuel Gill. "Me and 'Becca rowed
+over from Belleport Saturday. We went a-purpose, takin' some jelly
+to Marcia as an excuse. The girl's Jason's niece all right, same's
+folks say, though she looks no more like him than chalk like cheese. A
+prettier little critter 'twould be hard to find. It 'pears that at the
+outset Marcia invited her for no more'n a short visit. Inside the week,
+though, the two of 'em have got so friendly, Sylvia's sent home for her
+trunk, an' is plannin' to stay all summer. She's head over heels in love
+with the place. I'm almighty glad she's come, too, for it's goin' to
+be grand for Marcia, who must be lonely enough out there with only the
+setter for company."
+
+"It's her own fault. She could have other companions was she so minded,"
+declared Captain Phineas Taylor, significantly.
+
+"Oh, we all know that, Phineas," agreed the gentle Lemuel Gill. "There's
+plenty of folks hankerin' to be comrades to Marcia. The only trouble is
+she doesn't want 'em."
+
+"With this girl at her elbow, she'll want 'em even less, I reckon,"
+Asaph Holmes interposed.
+
+"Mebbe. Still, I figger that ain't a-goin' to discourage her admirers
+none. Why, within the week Sylvia's been here, I happen to know Marcia's
+had four buckets of clams, a catch of flounders, an' a couple of cuts of
+sword-fish presented to her," Ephraim Wise, the mail carrier announced.
+
+"That stray blue-fish of Charlie Eldridge's must 'a' swelled the
+collection some, too," put in Lemuel. "When I asked Charlie what he done
+with it, he owned he left it over at the Homestead. He said he never
+wanted to see another fish long's he lived."
+
+"That ain't all the gifts The Widder's had, neither," volunteered Silas
+Nickerson, the postmaster, who now joined the group. "Not by a long
+shot. I can see the whole of that spit of sand from my back porch, an'
+often after I've had my supper an' set out there smokin' an' sorter--"
+
+"Sorter keepin' a weather eye out," chuckled a voice.
+
+"Smokin' an' takin' the air," repeated Silas, firmly. "I look in that
+direction, 'cause it's a pleasant direction to look. That's how I come
+to know more'n one lobster's been sneaked to Marcia after dusk."
+
+"I don't so much mind folks makin' Marcia friendly donations," Captain
+Jonas Baker declared with guilty haste. "In my opinion, it's right an'
+proper they should. But when it comes to Eleazer Crocker, who's head of
+the fire department an' undertaker as well, goin' over there for the
+entire evenin' with the keys to the engine house in his pocket, I think
+the town oughter take some action 'bout it. S'pose there was to be a
+fire an' him hemmed in by the tide t'other side the channel? The whole
+village might burn to the ground 'fore ever he could be fetched home."
+
+"That certainly ain't right," Zenas Henry agreed. "Eleazer'd either
+oughter hang the keys on a bush near the shore or leave 'em with some
+responsible person when he goes a-courtin'."
+
+"When you went courtin', would you 'a' wanted the whole town made aware
+of it?" queried Enoch Morton.
+
+Chagrined, Zenas Henry colored.
+
+"Well, anyhow, he's got no business goin' off the mainland. Even if
+there ain't a fire, somebody might die. He's a mighty important citizen,
+an' his place is at home."
+
+"Oh, I wouldn't go that fur," soothed peace-loving Lemuel Gill. "Fires
+an' dyin' don't happen every day."
+
+"No. But when they do come, they're liable to come sudden," maintained
+Zenas Henry stoutly.
+
+"Not always. Besides, we've got to go a bit easy with Eleazer. Remember
+from the first he warn't anxious to be undertaker, anyway. He said so
+over an' over again," put in the gruff voice of Benjamin Todd. "He
+'xplained he hadn't a mite of talent for the job an' no leanin's toward
+it. It was foisted on him 'gainst his will."
+
+"Well, somebody had to be undertaker. I didn't hanker to be town
+sheriff, but I got hauled into bein'," rejoined Elisha Winslow. "In a
+place small as this honors sometimes go a-beggin' unless folks muster up
+their public spirit."
+
+"I don't see, 'Lish, that the duties of sheriff have been so heavy here
+in Wilton that they've undermined your health," grinned Captain Phineas
+Taylor. "You ain't been what one could call over-worked by crime. Was
+you to need a pair of handcuffs in a hurry, it's my belief you wouldn't
+be able to find 'em. As for Eleazer--nobody's died for nigh onto a year;
+an' the only fire that's took place was a brush one that we put out
+'most an hour 'fore the key to the engine-house could be found, the door
+unlocked, an' the chemical coaxed into workin'."
+
+"That's true enough," conceded Captain Benjamin. "Still, I'll bet you a
+nickel was you to come down hard on Eleazer, an' tell him that in future
+he'd have to choose 'twixt undertakin' an' courtin', he'd pick the
+courtin'. He's human. You can't press a man too hard. Besides, you've
+no right to blame that mix-up 'bout the engine-house key on him, Cap'n
+Phineas. Give the devil his due. Eleazer warn't responsible for that.
+His sister borrowed the brass polish for her candle-sticks an' afterward
+slipped the key into her pocket by mistake. Remember that? At the minute
+the fire broke out she was leadin' a women's missionary meetin' at the
+church an' was in the act of prayin' for the heathens out in China. It
+didn't seem decent to interrupt either her or the Lord. Unluckily the
+prayer turned out to be an uncommon long one an' in consequence the
+chemical got delayed."
+
+"Well, anyhow, I'm glad this niece of Marcia's come," broke in Lemuel
+Gill, shifting the subject. "She's a pleasant little critter an' will
+kinder stir things up."
+
+"Oh, there's no danger but she'll do that all right, Lemmy," Zenas Henry
+drawled. "You can generally depend on a pretty girl to raise a rumpus.
+Give her a month in town an' she'll most likely have all the male
+population cuttin' one another's throats."
+
+Fortunately both Marcia and Sylvia were at the moment too far out of
+ear-shot for this menacing prediction to reach them. Cut off by curtains
+of fog and a tide that foamed through the channel, they were standing in
+the homestead kitchen.
+
+The builder of it would have laughed to scorn the present day apology
+for an interior so delightful.
+
+Here was a room boasting space enough for an old-fashioned brick oven;
+an oil stove; two sand-scrubbed tables, snow white and smooth as satin;
+a high-backed rocker cushioned in red calico; braided rugs and shelves
+for plants. A regal kitchen truly--one that bespoke both comfort and
+hospitality.
+
+The copper tea kettle, singing softly and sending up a genial spiral of
+steam, gleamed bright as sunshine; and the two big pantries, through
+which one glimpsed rows of shining tins and papered shelves laden with
+china, contributed to the general atmosphere of homeliness.
+
+Fog might shroud the outer world in its blanket of unreality, but it was
+powerless to banish from Marcia's kitchen the cheer which perpetually
+reigned there.
+
+Before the fire, stretched upon his side, lay Prince Hal, his body
+relaxed, his eyes drowsy with sleep; while from her vantage-ground on
+the rocking-chair above, the tiger kitten, Winkie-Wee, gazed watchfully
+down upon his slumbers.
+
+It was Sylvia, however, who, in a smock of flowered chintz, lent the
+room its supreme touch of color. She looked as if all the blossoms in
+all the world had suddenly burst into bloom and twined themselves about
+her slender body.
+
+Out of their midst rose her head, golden with curls and her blue eyes,
+large and child-like.
+
+With her coming, a new world had opened to Marcia.
+
+The girl's lightness of touch on life; her irrepressible gaiety; her
+sense of humor and unique point of view all bespoke a newer generation
+and one far removed from her aunt's environment. Not that she was
+without moral standards. She had them, but they were kept far in the
+background and were not the strained and anxious creeds which the woman
+of New England ancestry had inherited.
+
+To see Sylvia jauntily sweep aside old conventions; to behold the
+different emphasis she put upon familiar problems; to witness her
+audacious belittling of issues her elders had been wont to grapple with
+was an experience that continually shocked, stimulated, challenged and
+amused.
+
+Yet, there was something big and wholesome in it withal; something
+refreshingly sincere and free from morbidity; a high courage that took
+things as they came and never anticipated calamity.
+
+Marcia found herself half reluctantly admiring this splendidly normal
+outlook; this mixture of sophistication and naïveté; her niece's novel
+and definitely formed opinions.
+
+For, youthful though Sylvia was, she had personality, character,
+stratums of wisdom far in advance of her years. A very intriguing
+companion, Marcia admitted, one of whose many-sidedness she would not
+soon tire.
+
+"Now what shall our menu be, Marcia, dear?" she was asking. "Remember,
+according to our compact, it is my turn to get the dinner."
+
+"Anything but fish!" Marcia answered with a groan. "I'm so tired of
+salt-water products it seems as if never again could I touch another."
+
+"But my dear, if you will have a stag line of nautical admirers, what
+can you expect? You must pay the penalty. Besides, I think you're
+ungrateful," Sylvia pouted. "I love clams and other sea foods."
+
+"You've not had so many of them in your lifetime as I have. Besides, I
+suspect you are not telling the truth. Come, confess. Aren't you a wee
+bit fed up on clams? Clam chowder Monday night, steamed clams Tuesday
+noon; clam fritters Tuesday night. And then that blue-fish. Why, it
+was big as a shark! I almost lost my courage when the sword-fish and
+the flounders came, but fortunately with the aid of Prince Hal and the
+kitten, we disposed of them fairly well. The lobsters, alas, yet remain.
+I used to think it would be romantic to be a Lorelei and live deep down
+beneath the waves; but this avalanche of fish--!" Despairingly she
+shrugged her shoulders.
+
+Sylvia laughed.
+
+"I don't feel at all like that. I've had a feast of fish and enjoyed it.
+But if I were to express a preference it would be for the hard-shelled
+suitors. Do select one of those for a husband, Marcia," begged she,
+whimsically. "The others are all very well. Indeed, that blue-fish swain
+was magnificent in his way, but me for the crustaceans."
+
+"Sylvia! You absurd child!"
+
+"Just consider the clam character for a moment--so silent, so
+close-mouthed; never stirring up trouble or wanting to be out nights. In
+my opinion, he would be an ideal helpmate. Not sensitive, either; nor
+jealous. Marcia, do marry one of the clams!
+
+"I'm not so sure," went on the girl reflectively, "whether he would be
+affectionate. He seems somewhat undemonstrative. Still, contrast him
+with the lobster. Oh, I realize the lobster has more style, originality,
+and is more pretentious in every way. However, say what you will, he is
+grasping by nature and has a much less gentle disposition. Besides, he
+is restless and always eager to be on the move.
+
+"Yes, all things taken together, I lean strongly toward a nice,
+peaceable clam husband for you, Marcia. He'd be twice as domestic in his
+tastes. I acknowledge the blue-fish has more back-bone, but you do not
+need that. You have plenty yourself. Most women, I suppose, would be
+carried away by his dash, his daring, his persistence. He has a certain
+sporty quality that appeals; but he is so outrageously stubborn! He
+never gives in until he has to. He'd be dreadful to live with."
+
+"Sylvia, you are ridiculous!" Marcia protested. "You forget I am your
+aunt."
+
+"My mistake. I did forget it, I'll confess; and what's more I probably
+always shall. To me you are just a girl I'd be head-over-heels in
+love with if I were a man. I don't blame all the clams, lobsters, and
+flounders for flocking over here to make love to you."
+
+"Stop talking nonsense."
+
+"But it isn't nonsense. It's the truth. Isn't that precisely what
+they're doing? You certainly are not deluding yourself into thinking
+these men come gallivanting out here over the flats with the mere
+philanthropic purpose of seeing you don't starve to death, do you?"
+Sylvia demanded.
+
+"Perhaps they come to see you," hedged Marcia feebly.
+
+"Me! Now Marcia, pray do not resort to deceit and attempt to poke
+this legion of mermen off on me. As a relative, I insist on having a
+truthful, respectable aunt. Consider my youth. Isn't it your Christian
+duty to set me a good example? Whether you wed any of these nautical
+worshippers or not is your own affair. But at least honesty compels you
+to acknowledge they're your property."
+
+A shadow, fleet as the rift in a summer cloud, passed over Marcia's
+face, but transient as it was Sylvia, sensitively attuned and alert to
+changes of mood in others, noticed it.
+
+"What a little beast I am, Marcia," she cried, throwing her arm
+impulsively about the other woman. "Forgive my thoughtlessness. I
+wouldn't have hurt you for the world. You know I never saw Uncle Jason.
+He left home when I was a child and is no reality to me. Even mother
+remembered him only as he was when a boy. She kept a little picture of
+him on her bureau, and on his birthdays always placed flowers beside
+it. She was fond of him, because he was only six when Grandmother died.
+After that, Mother took care of him and brought him up. She worried
+a good deal about him, I'm afraid, for it was a great responsibility
+and she herself was nothing but a girl. However, she did the best she
+could."
+
+Sylvia stole a look at Marcia who had stiffened and now stood with eyes
+fixed on the misty world outside.
+
+"Mother felt sorry, hurt, that Uncle Jason should have left home as he
+did, and never came back to see her. He was an impulsive, hot-headed boy
+and she said he resented her watchfulness and authority. But even though
+he ran away in a moment of anger, one would think years of absence would
+have smoothed away his resentment.
+
+"For a little while he wrote to her; then gradually even his letters
+stopped. She never knew what sort of a man he became. Once she told me
+she supposed there must be lots of mothers in the world who merely sowed
+and never reaped--never saw the results of their care and sacrifice."
+
+"Jason--Jason loved your mother," Marcia murmured in a voice scarcely
+audible. "I am sure of that."
+
+"But if he loved her, why didn't he come to see her? I know it was a
+long journey, but if he could only have come once--just once. It would
+have meant so much!"
+
+"Men are selfish--unfeeling. They forget," replied Marcia, bitterly.
+"You give your life to them and they toss aside your love and devotion
+as if it were so much rubbish."
+
+The outburst, sharp with pain, burst from her involuntarily, awing
+Sylvia into silence.
+
+What did she know of Jason, that dim heritage of her childhood? Of
+Marcia? Of their life together, she suddenly asked herself.
+
+Dismayed, she stole a glance at her companion.
+
+It was as if idly treading a flower-strewn path she had without warning
+come upon the unplumbed depths of a volcano's crater.
+
+To cover the awkwardness of the moment, she bent to caress Prince Hal
+who had risen and stood, alert and listening beside her.
+
+Only an instant passed before Marcia spoke again--this time with
+visible effort to recapture her customary manner.
+
+"Suppose we have lobster Newburg this noon," suggested she. "I'll get
+the chafing-dish. What's the matter, Hal, old man? You look worried.
+Don't tell me you hear more fish swimming our way?"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter V
+
+
+The nose of the setter quivered and, going to the window, he growled.
+
+"He does hear something," asserted Sylvia. "What do you suppose it is?"
+
+"Gulls, most likely. They circle above the house in clouds," was
+Marcia's careless answer. "The Prince regards them as his natural
+enemies. He delights to chase them up the beach and send them whirling
+into the air. Apparently he resents their chatter. He seems to think
+they are talking about him--and they may be for aught I know--talking
+about all of us."
+
+A faint echo of her recent irritation still lingered in the tone and,
+conscious of it, she laughed to conceal it.
+
+Again the dog growled.
+
+Almost immediately a hand fumbled with the latch, and as the door swung
+open, a man staggered blindly into the room.
+
+He was hatless, wet to the skin, and shivering with cold, and before
+Marcia could reach his side, he lurched forward and fell at her feet.
+
+"Quick, Sylvia, close the door and heat some broth. The poor fellow is
+exhausted. He's chilled to the bone."
+
+"Who is it?"
+
+"No one I know--a stranger. Bring that pillow and help me to slip it
+under his head. We'll let him rest where he is a moment."
+
+Her fingers moved to the bronzed wrist.
+
+"He's all right," she whispered. "Just cold and worn out. He'll be
+himself presently."
+
+She swept the matted hair, lightly sprinkled with grey, from the man's
+forehead and wiped his face.
+
+An interesting face it was--intelligent and highbred, with well-cut
+features and a firm, determined chin.
+
+A sweater of blue wool, a blue serge suit, socks of tan and sport shoes
+to match them clung to the tall, slender figure, and on the hand lying
+across it sparkled a diamond sunk in a band of wrought gold.
+
+It was not the hand of a fisherman, tanned though it was; nor yet that
+of a sailor. There could be no doubt about that. Rather, it belonged to
+a scholar, a writer, a painter, or possibly to a physician, for it was
+strong as well as beautifully formed.
+
+Sylvia bent to adjust the pillow, and her eyes and Marcia's met.
+
+Who was this man?
+
+Whence came he?
+
+What disaster had laid him here helpless before them?
+
+As if their questions penetrated his consciousness, the stranger slowly
+opened his eyes.
+
+"Sorry to come here like this," he murmured. "The fog was so thick, I
+lost my bearings and my power-boat ran aground. I've been trying hours
+to get her off. She's hard and fast on your sand-bar."
+
+"Not on the ocean side?" Marcia exclaimed.
+
+The man shook his head.
+
+"Luckily not. I rounded the point all right, but missed the channel."
+
+He struggled to rise and Marcia, kneeling beside him, helped him into an
+upright position where he sat, leaning against her shoulder.
+
+"I seem to have brought in about half the sea with me," he apologized,
+looking about in vague, half-dazed fashion.
+
+"No matter. We're used to salt water here," she answered. "How do you
+feel? You're not hurt?"
+
+"Only a little. Nothing much. I've done something queer to my wrist."
+
+Attempting to move it, he winced.
+
+"It isn't broken?"
+
+"I don't know. I was trying to push the boat off, and something suddenly
+gave way."
+
+Turning his head aside, he bit his lip as if in pain.
+
+"We'll telephone Doctor Stetson. The town is fortunate in having a very
+good physician. Meantime, you mustn't remain in these wet clothes. There
+is no surer way of catching cold. Do you think you could get upstairs
+if Sylvia and I guided you?"
+
+"I guess so--if it isn't far. I'm absurdly dizzy. I don't know why. I
+suppose, though, I must shed these wet togs."
+
+"You certainly must. Come, Sylvia, lend a hand! We'll help him up."
+
+"Oh, I'm not in such a bad way as all that. I can get up alone," he
+protested. "Only please wait just another minute. The whole place has
+suddenly begun to pitch again like a ship in midocean. Either I've lost
+my sea-legs or I'm all sea-legs, and nothing else. Perhaps I may be
+faint. I haven't eaten anything for a day or two."
+
+"Why didn't you tell me? The soup, quick, Sylvia. I only wish I had
+some brandy. Well, at least this is hot, and will warm you up. I'll
+feed you."
+
+"No, no. I needn't trouble you to do that. I'm sure I can manage with my
+left hand."
+
+"Don't be silly. You'll spill it all over yourself. Goodness knows,
+you're wet enough as it is. Hand me the cup and spoon, Sylvia."
+
+"But I feel like a baby," fretted the stranger.
+
+"No matter. We must get something hot inside you right away. Don't fuss
+about how it's done," said the practical-minded Marcia. "There! You
+look better already! Later you shall have a real, honest-to-goodness
+meal. Run and call Doctor Stetson, Sylvia, and open the bed in the room
+opposite mine. You might light the heater there, too."
+
+As the girl sped away, Marcia turned toward her visitor.
+
+"Suppose we try to make the rocking-chair now. Shall we? We won't aspire
+to going upstairs until the doctor comes. You're not quite good for that
+yet. But at least you needn't sit on the floor. What worries me is your
+wet clothing. I'm afraid you'll take your death of cold. Let me peel off
+your shoes and socks. I can do that. And I believe I could get you out
+of your water-soaked sweater if I were to cut the sleeve. May I try? We
+needn't mind wrecking it, for I have another I can give you."
+
+The man did not answer.
+
+Instead, he sat tense and unsmiling, his penetrating brown eyes fixed
+on Marcia's face. Apparently the scrutiny crystalized in him some swift
+resolution, for after letting his glance travel about the room to
+convince himself that no one was within hearing, he leaned forward:
+
+"There is something else I'd rather you did for me first," he whispered,
+dropping his voice until it became almost inaudible. "I've a package
+here I wish you'd take charge of. It's inside my shirt. But for this
+infernal wrist, I could reach it."
+
+"I'll get it."
+
+"I'd rather you didn't talk about it," continued he, hurriedly. "Just
+put it in a safe place. Will you, please?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+Puzzled, but unquestioning, Marcia thrust her hand beneath his sodden
+clothing and drew forth a small, flat box, wrapped in a bedraggled
+handkerchief.
+
+"If you'll look out for it, I'll be tremendously obliged."
+
+"Of course I will," smiled Marcia. "Is it valuable?"
+
+The question, prompted by a desire to perform faithfully the service
+entrusted to her, rather than by curiosity, produced a disconcerting
+result.
+
+The man's eyes fell.
+
+"I shouldn't like to--to lose it," he stammered.
+
+"I'll be careful. You yourself shall see where it is put. Look! Here is
+my pet hiding-place. This brick in the hearth is loose and under it is
+plenty of space for this small box. I'll tuck it in there. Just hold it
+a second until I pry the brick up. There we are! Now give it to me."
+
+She reached hurriedly for the package, but as their hands met, the
+moist, clinging handkerchief became entangled in their fingers and
+slipping from its coverings a leather jewel-case dropped to the floor.
+
+Out of it rolled a flashing necklace and a confusion of smaller gems.
+
+Marcia stifled an involuntary cry.
+
+Nevertheless, she neither looked up nor delayed.
+
+"Sorry to be so clumsy," she muttered, as she swiftly scooped up the
+jewels.
+
+It was well she had made haste, for no sooner was the clasp on the
+box snapped and the treasure concealed beneath the floor than Sylvia
+returned, and a moment later came both Doctor Jared Stetson and Elisha
+Winslow.
+
+"Mornin', Marcia," nodded the doctor. "'Lish happened to be in the
+office when your niece called up, an' hearin' you had a man patient, he
+thought mebbe he might be of use. What 'pears to be the trouble, sir?"
+
+"I've done something to my right wrist."
+
+"H--m--m! Keepin' your diagnosis private, I see. That's wise. A wrist
+can be broken, fractured, dislocated, or just plain sprained an' still
+pain like the deuce." With skilled hand, he pushed back the dripping
+sleeve.
+
+"You're a mite water-logged, I notice," observed he. "Been overboard?"
+
+"Something of the sort," returned the man with the flicker of a smile.
+
+"Mr.--" for the fraction of a second, Marcia hesitated; then continued
+in an even tone, "--Mr. Carlton grounded his boat and had to swim
+ashore."
+
+"You don't say! Well, I ain't surprised. 'Tain't no day to be afloat.
+You couldn't cut this fog with a carvin'-knife. But for knowin' the
+channel well's I do, I might 'a' been aground myself. How come you to
+take your boat out in such weather?" the doctor demanded.
+
+"I was--was cruising."
+
+"Oh, an' the fog shut down on you. I see. That's different. Fog has a
+trick of doin' that, unless one keeps an eye out for fog symptoms. Now,
+what I'd recommend for you first of all, Mr. Carlton, is a warm bed. You
+look clean beat out. Had an anxious, tiresome trip, I'll wager."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I 'magined as much. Well, you can rest here. There'll be nothin' to
+disturb your slumbers. We sell quiet by the square yard in Wilton."
+
+A kindly chuckle accompanied the words.
+
+"Better let 'Lish an' me help you upstairs, an' out of your wet things,
+'cause with a wrist such as yours, I figger you won't be very handy
+at buttons. Not that 'Lish is a professional lady's maid. That ain't
+exactly his callin'. Still, in spite of bein' town sheriff, he can turn
+his hand to other things. It's lucky he can, too, for he don't get much
+sheriffin' down this way. Wilton doesn't go in for crime. In fact, we
+was laughin' 'bout that very thing this noon at the post-office. 'Pears
+there's been a robbery at one of the Long Island estates. Quantities of
+jewelry taken, an' no trace of the thief. The alarm was sent out over
+the radio early yesterday an' listenin' in 'Lish, here, got quite het up
+an' not a little envious. He said he 'most wished the burglary had took
+place in our town, excitement bein' at a pretty low ebb now."
+
+"Zenas Henry suggested mebbe we might hire an up-to-date robber, was we
+to advertise," put in the sheriff, "but on thinkin' it over, we decided
+the scheme wouldn't work, 'cause of there bein' nothin' in the village
+worth stealin'." He laughed.
+
+Marcia, standing by the stove, spun about.
+
+"Now, Elisha, don't you run down Wilton. Why, I have twenty-five dollars
+in my purse this minute," she asserted, taking a worn pocket-book from
+her dress and slapping it with challenging candor down upon the table.
+"I keep it in that china box above the stove."
+
+"That might serve as a starter," remarked the stranger, regarding her
+quizzically.
+
+She faced him, chin drawn in, and head high and defiant.
+
+"Besides that, in my top bureau drawer is a string of gold beads that
+belonged to my great-grandmother," she continued, daring laughter
+curling her lips. "They are very old and are really quite valuable."
+
+"We'll make a note of those, too," nodded the man, his eyes on hers.
+
+"I'm afraid that's all I can offer in the way of burglary inducements."
+
+"That bein' the case, s'pose you an' me start gettin' the patient
+upstairs, 'Lish," broke in Doctor Stetson. "If we don't, next we know
+he'll be havin' pneumonia as well as a bad wrist. Besides, I want to get
+a good look at that wrist. Mebbe 'tain't goin' to be bad as it 'pears."
+
+The stranger's admiring glance fixed itself on Marcia's.
+
+"What is my next move?" he inquired.
+
+"I told you before--you must take off your wet things and rest," she
+repeated.
+
+"You still prescribe that treatment?"
+
+"I still prescribe it."
+
+"In spite of the--the symptoms?"
+
+"Why not?" was her quick answer.
+
+"Very well. I am ready, gentlemen." Erect, even with a hint of defiance
+in his mocking smile, the man rose to his full height. "Before we go,
+however, I must correct a slight error. You misunderstood my name. It is
+not Carlton. It is Heath--Stanley Heath."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VI
+
+
+"And yet you told me, Marcia, this was a quiet, adventureless place!"
+burst out Sylvia, the instant the door had closed.
+
+"Isn't it?"
+
+"It doesn't seem so to me. When shipwrecked mariners fall into your
+arms entirely without warning, I call it thrilling. Who do you suppose
+he is?"
+
+"He told us his name."
+
+"Of course--Heath. Stanley Heath. It's quite a romantic name, too. But I
+didn't mean that. I mean where did he come from and why? Didn't he tell
+you?"
+
+"Not a word."
+
+Obviously the girl was disappointed.
+
+"I thought perhaps he might have while I was upstairs. I was gone long
+enough for him to pour out to you his entire history. At least it seemed
+so to me. I ransacked every closet and drawer in sight trying to find
+something for him to put on. It wasn't until I struck that old sea-chest
+in the hall that I discovered pajamas and underwear. I hope you don't
+mind my taking them."
+
+A shiver passed over Marcia.
+
+"No. They were Jason's. I ought to have told you they were there. I kept
+them because I thought they might sometime be useful."
+
+"Well, they certainly are," replied Sylvia. "They will exactly fit Mr.
+Heath. He must be lots like Uncle Jason."
+
+"He isn't," contradicted Marcia sharply. "He isn't at all like him."
+
+"In size, I mean," amended Sylvia, timidly.
+
+"Oh, in size. Possibly. I haven't thought about it," came tersely from
+Marcia. "Let me see! We planned to have lobster this noon, didn't we?
+But that won't do for him. He will need something more substantial."
+
+"There are chops," suggested Sylvia, following to the door.
+
+"So there are!" Marcia brightened. "I'd forgotten that. We have had such
+a confusing morning--" absently she reached for the plates.
+
+"Shall I put some potatoes in the oven?"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Potatoes. Shall I put some in the oven? For him, I mean."
+
+"Oh, yes--yes. Of course. Chops and--" regarding the girl vaguely,
+Marcia fingered the dishes in her hand.
+
+"And baked potatoes," Sylvia repeated, a trifle sharply.
+
+"Yes. Chops and baked potatoes," echoed Marcia, dragging her mind with
+an effort from the thoughts she was pursuing. "That will do nicely. And
+hot tea."
+
+"Won't tea keep him awake?"
+
+"I don't believe anything could keep him awake."
+
+Marcia was herself now and smiled.
+
+"Where do you suppose he came from? And how long has he been knocking
+about in that boat, I wonder," ventured Sylvia, her curiosity once again
+flaring up.
+
+"How do I know, dear?" Marcia sighed, as if determined to control her
+patience. "You know as much about him as I do. I mean," she corrected,
+honesty forcing her to amend the assertion, "almost as much. I did, to
+be sure, talk with him a little while waiting for the doctor, but he did
+not tell me anything about himself."
+
+"One would never suspect you were such a matter-of-fact, unimaginative
+person, Marcia," laughed Sylvia, "Now I am much more romantic. I am
+curious--just plain, commonplace curious--and I don't mind admitting
+it."
+
+Again Marcia's conscience triumphed.
+
+"I am curious, too," she confessed. "Only perhaps in a different way."
+
+The moving of chairs overhead and the sound of feet creaking down the
+stairway heralded the return of Jared Stetson and Elisha.
+
+She went to meet them.
+
+"'Tain't a broken wrist, Marcia," was the doctor's greeting on entering
+the kitchen. "Leastways, I don't think it is. I've bandaged it an' 'Lish
+an' me have your friend snug an' warm in bed. Tomorrow I'll look in
+again. Mebbe with daylight, I'll decide to whisk him down to the Hyannis
+Hospital for an X-ray just to make sure everything's O.K. There's no use
+takin' chances with a thing so useful to a feller as his wrist. But for
+tonight, the bandage will do. A hot water-bottle mightn't be amiss. Nor
+a square meal, neither. Beyond them two things, there ain't much you can
+do at present, but let him sleep."
+
+"We were starting to broil some chops."
+
+"Fine!" Doctor Stetson rubbed his hands. "Nothin' better. He was a mite
+fretted 'bout the boat; but I told him some of us men would ease her
+up 'fore dark an' see she was anchored good an' firm. There's a chance
+she'll float at high tide, I wouldn't wonder--that is if she ain't stuck
+too firm. The Life-Savin' crew will lend us a hand, I reckon. Cap'n
+Austin an' the boys have been itchin' for a job. Anyhow, I told Mr.
+Heath to quit troublin' 'bout his ship an' go to sleep, an' he promised
+he would. Seems a nice sort of feller. Known him long?"
+
+"Not so very long."
+
+"Why, Marcia--" broke in Sylvia.
+
+"One sometimes comes to know a person rather well, though, even in a
+short time," went on the older woman, ignoring the interruption.
+
+"S'pose 'twas a-comin' to see you that brought him down this way,"
+Elisha volunteered. "Somehow I don't recall meetin' him before."
+
+"He hasn't been here before," was the measured response.
+
+"Oh, so he's new to Wilton waters, eh? That prob'ly accounts for his
+runnin' aground. I was certain I'd 'a' remembered his face had I seen
+it. I'm kinder good at faces," declared the sheriff. "Fine lookin' chap.
+Has quite an air to him. Nothin' cheap 'bout his clothes, neither. They
+was A1 quality clear through to his skin. Silk, with monograms on 'em.
+Must be a man of means."
+
+Silence greeted the observation.
+
+"Likely he is--havin' a power-boat an' leisure to cruise round in her,"
+persisted the undaunted Elisha.
+
+"I really couldn't say."
+
+"Well, apparently he ain't one that boasts of his possessions, an'
+that's to his credit," interposed Jared Stetson good-humoredly.
+
+Elisha's interest in the stranger was not, however, to be so easily
+diverted.
+
+"Seen the boat?" he inquired.
+
+"No."
+
+"Oh, you ain't! I forgot to ask Heath the name of her. I'm sort of a
+crank on the names of boats. It always riles me to have a foolish name
+given a boat. No matter how small she is, her plankin' is all that
+divides her owner from fathoms of water, an' in view of the fact he'd
+oughter regard her soberly an' give her a decent name."
+
+Elisha stroked his chin, rough with the stubble of a reddish beard.
+
+"Years ago," he continued, "folks stood in awe of ships an' understood
+better what they owed 'em. In them days there warn't no wireless,
+nor no big ocean liners an' a man that sailed the deep warn't so
+hail-feller-well-met with the sea. It put the fear of God into him. When
+he started out on a cruise across the Atlantic or round the Horn, there
+warn't no slappin' his ship on the back. He respected her an' named her
+accordin'ly. _The Flyin' Cloud!_ Can you beat that? Or _Sovereign of
+the Seas_? Them names meant somethin'. They made you want to lift your
+hat to the lady. But now--! Why, last season a feller come into the
+harbor with as pretty a knockabout as you'd want to see. Small though
+she was, every line of her was of the quality. A reg'lar little queen
+she was. An' what do you s'pose that smart aleck had christened her?
+The _Ah-there_! Thought himself funny, no doubt. 'Twould 'a' served him
+right had she capsized under him some day when he was well out of sight
+of land an' left him to swim ashore. Yes-siree, it would. If a man has
+no more regard for the keel that's under him an' the floorin' that's
+'twixt him an' forty fathoms of water than that he deserves to drown an'
+I wouldn't care the flip of a cod's tail if he did," Elisha blustered.
+
+"Oh, come now, 'Lish--you know you wouldn't stand by an' see no feller
+drown, no matter what kind of a fool he was," laughed the doctor.
+
+"Yes, I would," Elisha insisted, tugging on his coat.
+
+"Well, all I can say is I hope the name of Mr. Heath's boat will meet
+with your approval," ventured Sylvia archly.
+
+"I hope 'twill," was the glum retort, as the sheriff followed Doctor
+Stetson through the doorway.
+
+The moment the door banged behind them, Sylvia turned toward Marcia.
+
+"Forgive my butting in, dear," apologized she. "But I was so surprised.
+You did say you didn't know Mr. Heath, didn't you?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But--but--"
+
+"Sometimes it's just as well not to tell all you know--especially in a
+place like this," was the evasive response.
+
+Was the reply a rebuke or merely a caution?
+
+Sylvia did not know.
+
+And what was the meaning of the rose color that flooded the elder
+woman's cheek?
+
+Had Marcia really meant to give the impression that she knew Stanley
+Heath? And if so, why?
+
+Sylvia wracked her brain for answers to these questions.
+
+Why, only an hour before, she and Marcia had been on the frankest
+footing imaginable. Now, like a sea-turn, had come a swift, inexplicable
+change whose cause she was at a loss to understand and which had
+rendered her aunt as remote as the farthest star.
+
+Sylvia would have been interested indeed had she known that while she
+wrestled with the enigma, Marcia, to all appearances busy preparing the
+tray for the invalid upstairs, was searching her heart for answers to
+the same questions.
+
+Why had she sought to shield this stranger?
+
+Why had she evaded Doctor Stetson's inquiries and deliberately tried to
+mislead him into thinking she and Stanley Heath were friends?
+
+What had prompted the deception?
+
+The man was nothing to her. Of his past she had not the slightest
+knowledge, indeed he might be the greatest villain in the world. In
+fact, circumstances proclaimed him a thief. Nevertheless, she did not,
+could not, believe it. There was something too fine in his face; his
+eyes.
+
+True, he had made no attempt either to defend himself or to explain
+away the suspicions he must have known would arise in her mind. On
+the contrary, with a devil-may-care audacity that fascinated her, he
+actually appeared to have tried to deepen in her mind the impression of
+his guilt.
+
+Still she refused to believe. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence
+she clung to her unreasoning faith in him.
+
+Suppose he had stolen the gems and fled with them from Long Island?
+Suppose he had lost his bearings in the fog; tossed aimlessly on the
+sea for a day and a night; and then run aground at her doorstep? It was
+possible, quite possible, even probable.
+
+Yet was it?
+
+Not for a man like Stanley Heath. Marcia stubbornly insisted. So deep
+was the conviction, she shrank lest he should feel called upon to
+justify or defend himself.
+
+Far from demanding explanations, she resolved she would give him no
+chance to make them.
+
+Therefore, when his meal was ready and every last inviting touch had
+been given the tray, she said casually to Sylvia:
+
+"Suppose you take it up, dear?"
+
+"I?"
+
+"Yes. Why not? Do you mind?"
+
+"Not at all. I just thought perhaps you'd rather."
+
+Marcia shook her head.
+
+"I want to stir the Newburg and see it doesn't catch," she explained,
+avoiding the girl's eyes. "We are too hungry to risk having our dinner
+spoiled. You might just wait and cut the chops for Mr. Heath and fix his
+potato. Find out, too, if there is anything more he wants. You needn't
+hurry back. I'll keep things hot."
+
+The task suggested did not, apparently, displease Sylvia.
+
+She dimpled and sauntering to the mirror, she glanced in giving her mass
+of golden curls a feminine poke. She even slipped a vanity-case from her
+pocket and powdered her wee, up-tilted nose.
+
+"We may as well look our best," laughed she over her shoulder.
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Perhaps I might take off my smock and go up in my dark dress."
+
+"I wouldn't. The smock is gay and suits you. Invalids need cheering up."
+
+"So they do," agreed Sylvia demurely, now quite self-possessed.
+
+A flutter of anticipation had put a sparkle into her eyes and faint
+color into her cheeks. She looked bewilderingly pretty.
+
+"Here goes Red-Ridinghood," she murmured, taking up the tray. "All is,
+if I don't come back, you'll know the wolf has eaten me."
+
+In spite of herself, Marcia smiled.
+
+She opened the door and stood watching while the girl ascended the
+stairs, for the hall was unlighted and the tray heavy.
+
+"I'm safe," called a merry voice from the topmost stair.
+
+Marcia came back into the kitchen. She finished preparing the lobster,
+straightened the silver on the table, let in Prince Hal who came
+bounding to her side, picked a few dead blossoms from the geraniums, and
+sat down to wait.
+
+Ten minutes passed!
+
+Fifteen!
+
+Half an hour went by.
+
+She fidgeted and stooped to pat the setter. Then she went to the
+window. Slowly the fog was lifting. It hung like a filmy curtain, its
+frayed edges receding from a dull steel-blue sea and through it she
+could discern the irregular sweep of the channel and the shore opposite
+where dimly outlined stood the spired church and the huddle of houses
+clustered like wraiths about the curving margin of the bay.
+
+Yes, it was clearing.
+
+The tide had turned and a breeze sprung up.
+
+By afternoon the weather would be fine--just the right sort to get the
+boat off. She would go up the beach and watch the men while they worked.
+The house was close. She longed for air and the big reaches of the
+out-of-doors.
+
+A jingle of glass and silver! It was Sylvia returning with the tray. Her
+eyes were shining.
+
+"He ate every bit!" she cried. "You should have seen him, Marcia. It
+would have done your heart good. The poor lamb was almost starved. He
+asked for you the first thing. I don't think he altogether liked your
+not carrying up the tray, although of course, he was too polite to say
+so."
+
+"You explained I was busy?"
+
+"Yes. But at first he didn't seem satisfied with the excuse. However,
+he soon forgot about it and became gay as a lark. Didn't you hear us
+laughing? The potato would fall off the fork. I'm not as good a nurse
+as you. My hands weren't so steady. I'm going back again for his wet
+clothes. We can dry them here by the fire, can't we?"
+
+"Yes, indeed."
+
+"It's a pity there isn't a tailor at hand. His suit ought to be
+pressed."
+
+"I can do it," Marcia declared with eagerness. "I'm quite used to
+pressing men's clothes. I always pressed Jason's."
+
+This time the name dropped unnoticed from her lips. Indeed she was not
+conscious she had uttered it. She was not thinking of Jason.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VII
+
+
+It was late afternoon and, alone in the kitchen, Sylvia yawned.
+
+Since noontime she had sat reading and straining her ears for a sound in
+the room overhead, but there had been none. He was sleeping after his
+hearty dinner and that was encouraging.
+
+Doctor Stetson had hoped the wrist would not be painful enough to
+interfere with the rest the patient so obviously needed, and apparently
+this hope was being realized.
+
+Sylvia was glad he was asleep--very glad indeed. She did not begrudge
+him a moment of his slumber. But what a delightful person he was when
+awake! His eyes were wonderful--so dark and penetrating. They bored
+right through you. And then he listened with such intentness, watching
+every curve of your lips as if fearing to lose a word. Such attention
+was distinctly flattering. Even though your chatter was trivial, he
+dignified it and transformed it into something of importance.
+
+How interested, for example, he had been in Marcia; in learning she had
+been married and now lived a widow in the old Daniels Homestead! And
+what a host of inquiries he had made about Jason--the sort of man he
+was and how long ago he had died!
+
+Sylvia had not been able to answer all his questions, but of course
+she had asserted that Marcia had adored her husband because--well, not
+so much because she actually knew it, as because widows always did.
+Certainly Marcia had declared she loved the Homestead so deeply she
+never intended to leave it, and was not that practically the same thing
+as saying she loved Jason, too?
+
+Anyway, how she had felt toward him was not really a matter of any great
+importance now because he was dead.
+
+The thing that really mattered was Mr. Heath's interest in her--Sylvia;
+in her trip East and her description of Alton City, the little
+mid-western town which was her home. How he had laughed at her rebellion
+at being a school-teacher, and how insidiously he had hinted she might
+not always be one! And when she had tossed her curls at him as she often
+tossed them at Billie Sparks, the soda fountain clerk, how cleverly he
+had remarked that sunlight was especially welcome on a grey day.
+
+Oh, he knew what to say--knew much better than Billie Sparks or even
+Horatio Fuller, the acknowledged beau of the town. In fact he made both
+of them seem quite commonplace--even Hortie. Fancy it!
+
+Probably that was because he had traveled.
+
+Apparently he had been almost everywhere--except to Alton City. Odd he
+should never have been there when he had visited just about every other
+corner, both of America and of Europe. Not that he had deliberately said
+so. He was far too modest for that.
+
+It was while trying to find out where his home was that she had stumbled
+upon the information.
+
+And come to think of it, she did not know now where he lived, she
+suddenly remembered.
+
+At the time she thought he had named the place; but she realized on
+reviewing the conversation that he had not. In fact, he had not told her
+much of anything about himself. It had all been about surfboating in
+the Pacific; skiing at Lake Placid and St. Moritz; climbing the Alps;
+motoring in Brittany.
+
+She actually did not know whether he had a father or a mother; a brother
+or a sister.
+
+At Alton City you would have found out all those things within the first
+ten minutes.
+
+Perhaps that was the reason he piqued her interest--because he was not
+like Alton City--not like it at all.
+
+Why, were Stanley Heath to stroll up Maple Avenue on a fine, sunny
+afternoon everybody--even the boys that loafed in front of Bailey's
+cigar store and the men who loitered on the post-office steps--would
+turn to look at him.
+
+He would be so different from everybody else he would seem a being from
+another planet.
+
+It would be fun, she mused, to walk with him through this main street
+while those on both sides of it craned their necks and asked one another
+who he was. More fun yet to dash through its shaded arch of trees in
+a smart little car, talking and laughing with him all the way, and
+pretending to be unconscious of the staring spectators, although of
+course she would be seeing them all perfectly well out of the corner of
+her eye.
+
+She had done this sometimes with Hortie Fuller, simply because she knew
+every girl in Alton City envied her his devotion.
+
+But what was Hortie compared with Mr. Stanley Heath?
+
+Sylvia tilted her small up-tilted nose even higher.
+
+So occupied was she with these dramatic fancies she had not thought once
+of Prince Hal. In fact she had supposed that he had gone up the beach
+with Marcia.
+
+Now she suddenly became aware that he stood sniffing about the hearth,
+scratching at its surface as if he scented something beneath.
+
+He must not do that, and she told him so in no uncertain terms.
+
+Nevertheless, in spite of the rebuke, he continued to poke away at the
+spot, whining faintly, until his persistence aroused her curiosity and
+she went to see what disturbed him.
+
+One brick projected ever so slightly from the others, and it was at this
+the setter was clawing.
+
+"What is it, Prince? What's the matter?" whispered she.
+
+Delighted to have gained her attention, the dog barked.
+
+"Oh, you mustn't bark, darling," she cautioned, muzzling his nose with
+her hand. "You'll wake Mr. Heath. Tell Missy what the trouble is. Do you
+smell a mousie under there?"
+
+For answer the dog wagged his tail.
+
+"I don't believe it," Sylvia demurred. "You're only bluffing. Between
+you and Winkie-Wee there isn't a mouse about the place. Still, you seem
+terribly sure something is wrong. Well, to convince you, I'll take up
+the brick."
+
+Fetching from the pantry a steel fork, she inserted the prongs in the
+crack and pried the offending brick out of its hole.
+
+Instantly the dog snatched from the space beneath a handkerchief
+containing a small, hard object.
+
+Sylvia chased after him.
+
+"Bring it here, Hal! That's a good dog! Bring it to Missy."
+
+The setter came fawning to her side and unwillingly dropped his prize at
+her feet.
+
+As it fell to the ground, out rolled such a glory of jewels the girl
+could scarcely believe her eyes.
+
+There was a string of diamonds, dazzling as giant dewdrops; a pearl
+and sapphire pendant; several beautiful rings; and an oval brooch, its
+emerald centre surrounded by tier after tier of brilliants.
+
+Sylvia panted, breathless. She had never seen such gems, much less held
+them in her hands. How she longed to slip the rings upon her fingers and
+try the effect of the diamonds about her slender throat!
+
+Prudence, however, overmastered the impulse. Marcia might return and
+surprise her at any moment. Before that the treasure must be returned to
+the place from which it had been taken.
+
+Gathering the rainbow heap together, she reluctantly thrust it into its
+blue leather case, snapped the catch, and placed it once more under the
+brick.
+
+Then with relief she stood up and wiped the perspiration from her
+forehead.
+
+It was not until she was again in her chair, book in hand, and
+struggling to quiet her quick breathing that she discovered she still
+held in her hand the handkerchief that had been wrapped about the
+jewel-case.
+
+How stupid of her! How insufferably careless!
+
+Well, she dared not attempt to replace it now. There was no time.
+Instead, she smoothed it out and inspected it.
+
+It was a man's handkerchief of finest linen and one corner bore the
+embroidered initials S. C. H.
+
+She had known it all the time! There was no need to be told the jewels
+were his. What puzzled her was when he had found time to hide them. He
+had not, so far as she knew, been left alone a moment and yet here was
+his booty safe beneath the floor.
+
+She rated it as booty, because there could be no doubt he had stolen it.
+He had stolen it from that Long Island estate, escaped in his speed boat
+and here he was--here, under this very roof!
+
+A robber--that was what he was!
+
+A robber--a bandit, such as one saw in the movies!
+
+That explained why he was so well-dressed, so handsome, had such
+fascinating manners. He was a gentleman burglar.
+
+All up-to-date villains in these days were gentlemen. Not that she had
+ever encountered a villain in the flesh. Still, she had read romances
+about them and was there not one in every moving-picture? They were not
+difficult to recognize.
+
+Now here she was, actually in the same house with one! How thrilling!
+Here was an adventure worthy of the name. She was not in the least
+frightened. On the contrary, from the top of her head to the soles of
+her feet she tingled with excitement. She could feel the hot, pulsing
+blood throb in her throat and wrists. It was exhilarating--wonderful!
+
+Of course Marcia must not know.
+
+She, with her Puritan ideas, would unquestionably be shocked to discover
+that the man she was sheltering was a thief. She would probably feel it
+her Christian duty to surrender him to Elisha Winslow.
+
+How unsuspecting she had been! How naïvely she had clapped her purse
+down on the table and proclaimed exactly where her gold beads were kept!
+
+A thief in the room overhead! Think of it! The very thief for whom all
+the police in the countryside were searching! He was no small, cheap
+type of criminal. He did things on a big scale--so big that radio
+announcements had been broadcast about him and no doubt at this instant
+detectives and crime inspectors were chasing up and down the highways;
+dashing through cities; and keeping telephone wires hot in wild search
+for the gentleman asleep upstairs!
+
+Sylvia stifled her laughter. The whole thing was ironic.
+
+Why, that very morning had not Elisha Winslow, the Wilton sheriff, who
+had frankly admitted he yearned for excitement, helped undress the
+wretch and put him comfortably to bed? The humor of the situation almost
+overcame her.
+
+It seemed as if she must have someone to share the joke. But no one
+should. No! Nobody should be the wiser because of her. The poor, hunted
+fellow should have his chance. He was an under-dog and she had always
+been romantically sorry for under-dogs.
+
+It was a little venturesome and risky, she admitted, to obstruct justice
+and should she be found out she would, without doubt, be clapped into
+jail. Still she resolved to take a chance.
+
+After all, who could prove she had known Stanley Heath to be what he
+was? Nobody. She would not even let him suspect it.
+
+The important thing was to await an opportunity and soon--before he was
+able to be about--return the handkerchief she held in her hand to its
+place beneath the brick. Then all would be well. This should not be
+difficult. It would be quite easy to get Marcia to take up Mr. Heath's
+supper.
+
+In the meantime, the situation was intensely amusing. Its danger
+appealed to her. She had always enjoyed hair-breadth escapades. Anything
+but dullness. That had been the trouble with Alton City--it had been
+dull--deadly dull.
+
+But Wilton was not dull. In spite of the fact that only this morning
+Elisha Winslow had complained the town was in need of a stirring up, it
+seethed with electricity. If she chose, she could hurl a bomb-shell into
+its midst this very minute. But she did not choose.
+
+Instead she intended to play her own quiet game and keep what she knew
+to herself. She wondered why. Perhaps she was falling in love with this
+adventurer. Yes, that must be it. She was in love with him--in love with
+a bandit!
+
+How scandalized Alton City would be! How the whole town would hold up
+its hands in horror if it knew!
+
+Horatio Fuller--dubbed Hortie because of his high-hat manners and
+because his father owned the largest store in town--picture his dismay
+if he guessed her guilty secret! Perhaps he would shoot the fellow--or
+the fellow shoot him. That was what usually happened in moving-pictures,
+somebody always shot somebody else.
+
+She wouldn't want Hortie to be shot. The thought of it sobered her.
+After all, Hortie was a dear, she liked him--liked him very much. On the
+other hand, she would not want Stanley Heath shot either.
+
+Perhaps it would be just as well to leave out all this shooting, why
+heap horror upon horror? To be married to a bandit was adventure enough
+without being the wife of a murderer.
+
+Sylvia's imagination had traveled so swiftly and so far that it came to
+earth with a crash when Marcia opened the door.
+
+Her hair, tossed by the wind, clustered about her face in small, moist
+ringlets; her cheeks were scarlet, her eyes shone.
+
+It was not alone the buffeting of the salt breeze nor the exhilaration
+of walking against it that had transformed her into something radiantly
+lovely. From within glowed a strange fire that made her another creature
+altogether.
+
+"Why--why--Marcia!" breathed Sylvia, bewildered.
+
+"I've had such a glorious walk, dear!" cried Marcia. "The fog has lifted
+and the sky is a sheet of amethyst and gold."
+
+"Did the men get the boat off?"
+
+"Yes. She is floating tranquilly as a dove."
+
+"What is her name?"
+
+"_My Unknown Lady._"
+
+"Mercy on us! That ought to satisfy even Elisha."
+
+"It did," said Marcia.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+
+Sylvia's plans, so well laid and apparently so easy of execution did
+not, to her chagrin, work out, for instead of awaking and demanding
+supper Stanley Heath slept without a break until morning.
+
+Had not Marcia insisted on leaving her door ajar lest the invalid call,
+the girl might have slipped down stairs in the darkness and returned the
+handkerchief.
+
+As it was, fate forced her to put it into her bureau drawer and await
+more favorable opportunity.
+
+This, alas, did not come.
+
+Sun was tinting the lavender sands to rose and gilding the water with
+its first flecks of gold when she saw Marcia standing at the foot of her
+bed.
+
+"Mr. Heath has a high fever and can scarcely speak aloud," explained
+she. "I'm afraid he is quite ill. I wish you'd call up Doctor Stetson."
+
+"Mercy on us!"
+
+The girl, drowsy and heavy-eyed, sprang out of bed.
+
+"I'll be down in just a minute," she exclaimed. "How do you happen to be
+up so early?"
+
+"I've been up off and on all night," answered Marcia. "Mr. Heath was
+restless and thirsty. About midnight I heard him tossing about, and
+thinking he might be hungry, I heated some broth and took it to him."
+
+"I didn't hear you. I must have been dead to the world. Why didn't you
+speak?"
+
+"There was no need of it. You were tired."
+
+"No more than you."
+
+"I was wakeful, anyway. I don't know why. Perhaps I had him on my mind.
+If so, it is fortunate, for he did not call."
+
+"I'm dreadfully sorry he feels so miserable."
+
+"He won't admit it. He declares he is going back to New York today."
+
+"But he can't--he mustn't."
+
+"He is determined to. He says he has something very important to attend
+to. Of course I have no authority over him but perhaps Doctor Stetson
+can exert some. That is why I am anxious to reach him before he goes
+out," explained Marcia, moving toward the door.
+
+"I will call him right away."
+
+"I'll go down and start breakfast, then. Mr. Heath is dozing. He has
+promised not to get up for at least an hour. We must have the doctor
+here within that time."
+
+"I'll tell him to hurry."
+
+Marcia tiptoed down the stairs.
+
+The freshness of early morning was upon the day. Through the kitchen
+window pale shafts of light shot across the floor, brightening the
+colored rugs and making brass and copper glisten. Starting the fire, she
+threw open the door to let in the salt breeze.
+
+The dampness and chill of the night had disappeared and the air was mild
+with the breath of coming spring. Mingling with the gulls' cries she
+could hear the twitter of sparrows and the occasional chirp of a robin.
+The village, still hazy in mist, was taking on sharper outlines and from
+the bay the voices of fishermen and the chug of a motor-boat drifted
+distinctly across the water.
+
+Prince came bounding into the house from some distant pilgrimage of his
+own, almost knocking her down in his eagerness for breakfast.
+
+She glanced far up the shore and saw, serenely rocking with the tide,
+_My Unknown Lady_.
+
+As she whispered the name, she was conscious of hot blood rushing to her
+cheeks.
+
+How ridiculous! Stanley Heath was simply a stranger of a night, he was
+nothing to her.
+
+Well indeed was it, too, that he was not!
+
+During her hours of sleeplessness the ardor of her faith in him had,
+to a degree, cooled. True, she still maintained her belief in his
+innocence; but that belief, she now realized, was only a blind unfounded
+intuition. Both the circumstances and sober second thought failed to
+back it up. The man's impatience to be gone, his complete silence
+with regard to the jewels, although perfectly justifiable, did not
+strengthen it.
+
+Marcia conceded he had every right to keep his affairs to himself. She
+was close-mouthed and therefore sympathetic with the quality in others.
+
+But such an unusual happening! What more natural than that one should
+offer some explanation?
+
+Last night, transported by emotion to a mood superheroic, she had wished
+none; nay, more, she had deliberately placed herself beyond the reach of
+it. Today she toppled from her pedestal and became human, shifting from
+goddess to woman.
+
+Had Stanley Heath started to confide his secret to her, she would even
+now have held up her hand to stay him.
+
+It was the fact that through the dim hours of the night, while she sat
+at his elbow trying to make the discomforts he suffered more bearable,
+he talked of almost everything else but the thing uppermost in both
+their minds. That was what hurt. She did not want to know. She wanted to
+be trusted; to help; to feel his dependence upon her. Instead he held
+her at arm's length.
+
+Oh, he voiced his gratitude for what she had done. He did that over and
+over again, apologizing at having caused her so much trouble. As if she
+minded! Why, she was glad, glad to be troubled!
+
+He spoke with almost an equal measure of appreciation of the crew who
+had dragged his boat off the sand-bar, appearing to consider them also
+tremendously kind--as undoubtedly they were! Still, they had not begun
+to come into the close contact with him that she had.
+
+Marcia caught herself up with a round turn. Here she was being
+sensitive, womanish. How detestable! Why should Stanley Heath pour out
+his soul to her? She had never laid eyes on him until yesterday. In a
+day or two he would be gone never again to come into her life. She was
+glad of it. It was better so.
+
+She had just reached a state of complete tranquillity and happiness. Why
+have her serenity stirred into turmoil and she herself transformed once
+more from a free woman to a slave? Her mind should dwell no more on this
+man or his affairs. If he decided to go back to New York today, ill as
+he was, she would not attempt to deter him. His business was his own and
+he must manage it as he thought best.
+
+This decision reached, she drew in her chin, lifted her head a wee bit
+and began to get the breakfast.
+
+Even Doctor Stetson's arrival and his subsequent verdict that the
+patient had bronchitis and would take his life in his hands should he
+leave his bed, afforded her only scant satisfaction.
+
+So she was to keep Stanley Heath under her roof after all--but against
+his will. It was not a very flattering situation.
+
+She sent Sylvia up with his coffee and toast, and began her usual round
+of morning duties.
+
+And then just as they were finished and the clock was striking eleven,
+he called.
+
+She went up, cheerful but with her head still held high, and paused on
+the threshold.
+
+Glancing at her he smiled.
+
+"You look like a bird about to take flight. Won't you sit down?"
+
+She went nearer. Nevertheless she did not take the chair he indicated.
+
+"I see you are busy," he said. "I thought perhaps your housework might
+be done by this time and you might have a moment to spare. Well, I
+mustn't interrupt. Forgive me for calling."
+
+"I'm not busy."
+
+"You seem hurried."
+
+"I'm not. I haven't a thing in the world to do," Marcia burst out.
+
+"Good! Then you can stay a little while," he coaxed. "Now answer this
+question truthfully, please. You heard what Doctor Stetson said about my
+returning to New York today. I don't want to be pig-headed and take a
+risk if it is imprudent; that is neither fair to others nor to myself.
+Still, it is important that I go and I am anxious to. What is your
+advice?"
+
+"I think you are too ill."
+
+A frown of annoyance wrinkled his forehead.
+
+"If you will consent to stay where you are a few days, you will then be
+all right to go," she added.
+
+Obviously the suggestion did not please him. However, he answered more
+mildly:
+
+"Perhaps you're right. Yet for all that I am disappointed. I want very
+much to go. It is necessary."
+
+"Can't anything be done from here?" queried she.
+
+"Such as--?"
+
+"Letters, telegrams--whatever you wish. I can telephone or telegraph
+anywhere. Or I can write."
+
+Surprise stole over his face, then deepened to admiration.
+
+"You would do that for me--blindfolded?"
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"You know why."
+
+"I simply want to help. I always like to help when I can," she explained
+hurriedly.
+
+"Even when you do not understand?"
+
+Piercingly his eyes rested on her face.
+
+"I--I--do not need to understand," was her proud retort.
+
+For the fraction of a second, their glances met. Then she turned away
+and a pause, broken only by the crash of the surf on the outer beach,
+fell between them.
+
+When at last he spoke his voice was low--imperative.
+
+"Marcia--come here!"
+
+She went--she knew not why.
+
+"Give me your hand."
+
+Again, half-trembling, half reluctant, she obeyed.
+
+He took it in his and bending, kissed it.
+
+"I will stay and you shall telegraph," was all he said.
+
+She sprang to fetch paper and pencil, as if welcoming this break in the
+tension.
+
+"I'm afraid I cannot write plainly enough with my left hand," he said.
+"Will you take down the message?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"_Mrs. S. C. Heath_"
+
+Her pencil, so firm only an instant before, quivered.
+
+"Have you that?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"_The Biltmore, New York City._"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"_Everything safe with me. Do not worry. Marooned on Cape Cod with cold.
+Nothing serious. Home soon. Love. Stanley._"
+
+"Got that?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Had something gone out of her voice? The monosyllable was flat,
+colorless. Heath looked at her. Even her expression was different--or
+did he merely imagine it?
+
+"Perhaps I would better just glance over the message before you send
+it--simply to make sure it's right."
+
+"Let me copy it first," she objected.
+
+"Copy it? Nonsense! What for? Nobody's going to see it."
+
+He reached for the paper.
+
+Still she withheld it.
+
+"What's the trouble?"
+
+"It isn't written well enough. I'd rather copy it."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"It's wobbly. I--I--perhaps my hands were cold."
+
+"You're not chilly?"
+
+"No--oh, no."
+
+"If the room is cool you mustn't stay here."
+
+"It isn't. I'm not cold at all."
+
+"Will you let me take the telegram?"
+
+She placed it in his hand.
+
+"It is shaky. However, that's of no consequence, since you are to 'phone
+Western Union. Now, if you truly are not cold, I'd like to dictate a
+second wire."
+
+"All right."
+
+"This one is for Currier. _Mr. James Currier, The Biltmore, New York
+City. Safe on Cape with My Lady. Shall return with her later. Motor here
+at once, bringing whatever I need for indefinite stay._
+
+                                                  _Stanley C. Heath_
+
+"Got that?"
+
+"O.K.," nodded Marcia.
+
+This time, without hesitation, she passed him the paper.
+
+"This, I see, is your normal hand-writing," he commented as he placed
+the messages side by side. "I must admit it is an improvement on the
+other."
+
+Taking up the sheets, he studied them with interest.
+
+"Hadn't I better go and get off the messages?" suggested Marcia, rising
+nervously.
+
+"What's your hurry?"
+
+"You said they were important."
+
+"So I did. Nevertheless they can wait a few minutes."
+
+"The station might be closed. Often it is at noontime."
+
+"It doesn't matter if they don't go until afternoon."
+
+"But there might be some slip."
+
+He glanced at her with his keen eyes.
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+"Matter?"
+
+"Yes, with you? All of a sudden you've turned easterly."
+
+"Have I?" Lightly, she laughed. "I probably have caught the habit from
+the sea. Environment does influence character, psychologists say."
+
+"Nevertheless, you are not fickle."
+
+"How do you know? Even if I were, to change one's mind is no crime," she
+went on in the same jesting tone. "The wind bloweth whither it listeth,
+and the good God does not condemn it for doing so."
+
+"But you are not the wind."
+
+"Perhaps I am," she flashed teasingly. "Or I may have inherited
+qualities from the sands that gave me birth. They are forever shifting."
+
+"You haven't."
+
+"You know an amazing amount about me, seems to me, considering the
+length of our acquaintance," she observed with a tantalizing smile.
+
+"I do," was the grim retort. "I know more than you think--more, perhaps
+than you know yourself. Shall I hold the betraying mirror up before
+you?"
+
+"The mirror of truth? God forbid! Who of us would dare face it?" she
+protested, still smiling but with genuine alarm. "Now do let me run
+along and send off the messages. I must not loiter here talking. You are
+forgetting that you're ill. The next you know your temperature will go
+up and Doctor Stetson will blame me."
+
+"My temperature has gone up," growled Stanley Heath, turning his back on
+her and burying his face in the pillow with the touchiness of a small
+boy.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IX
+
+
+Sylvia, meanwhile, had heard Stanley Heath call Marcia and hailed her
+aunt's departure from the kitchen as the opportunity for which she had
+so anxiously been waiting.
+
+No sooner was the elder woman upstairs and out of earshot than she
+tiptoed from her room, the monogrammed handkerchief in her pocket.
+
+She had pried out the brick and had the jewel-case in her hand, wrapped
+and ready for its return when conversation overhead suddenly ceased and
+she heard Marcia pass through the hall and start down stairs.
+
+Sylvia gasped. She must not be found here. Yet what was she to do?
+
+There was no chance now to put the package back and replace the brick
+which fitted so tightly that its adjustment was a process requiring
+patience, care, and time.
+
+Flustered, frightened, she jammed the jewel-case into her dress and
+frantically restoring the brick to the yawning hole in the hearth as
+best she could, she fled up the back stairs at the same moment Marcia
+descended the front ones.
+
+Once in her room, she closed and locked the door and sank panting into a
+chair to recover her breath.
+
+Well, at least she had not been caught and in the meantime the jewels
+were quite safe.
+
+Mr. Heath was too ill to be up and about for several days and until he
+was able to leave his room there was not the slightest danger their
+absence would be discovered. Long before that time, Marcia would
+doubtless go to walk or to the village for mail and leave her ample
+opportunity to put the loot back where Mr. Heath had hidden it.
+
+She took the case stealthily from her pocket.
+
+Now that the gems were in her possession, it certainly could do no harm
+for her to look at them--even try them on, as she had been tempted to
+do when she first discovered them. Probably never again in all her life
+would she hold in her hand so much wealth and beauty. No one, not Heath
+himself, could begrudge her a peep at the trinkets.
+
+Accordingly she unwound the handkerchief and opened the box.
+
+There lay the glistening heap of treasure, resplendent in the sunshine,
+a far more gorgeous spectacle than she had realized.
+
+Going to the bureau, Sylvia took out the jewels, one by one.
+
+She clasped the diamonds about her neck; fastened the emerald brooch in
+place; put on the sapphire pendant; then added the rings and looked at
+herself in the gold-framed mirror.
+
+What she saw reflected dazzled her. Who would have believed jewels could
+make such a difference in one's appearance? They set off her blonde
+beauty so that she was suddenly transformed into a princess.
+
+No wonder Stanley Heath had risked his life and his freedom for spoils
+such as these!
+
+If she could have only one of the jewels she would be satisfied--the
+string of diamonds, the brooch, a ring--which would she choose?
+
+Of course she never could own anything so gorgeous or so valuable.
+Notwithstanding the certainty, however, it was fun to imagine she might.
+
+Slowly, and with conscious coquetry, like a preening bird, she turned
+her head this way and that, delighting in the creaminess of the neck the
+gems encircled, and in the fairness of her golden curls.
+
+She really ought to have jewels. She was born for them and could carry
+them off. There were myriad women in the world on whom such adornment
+would be wasted--good and worthy women, too. Fancy Maria Eldridge or
+Susan Ann Bearse, for instance, arrayed in pomp like this! But Marcia
+would be magnificent, with her rich complexion, her finely poised head,
+her splendid shoulders, her lovely neck. Marcia dressed in all this
+wealth would be well worth looking at.
+
+Then a voice interrupted her reverie.
+
+It was Stanley Heath calling.
+
+She heard Marcia reply and come hurrying upstairs.
+
+Guiltily Sylvia took off her sparkling regalia; tumbled it
+unceremoniously into its case; and slipped it into the drawer underneath
+a pile of nightdresses. Then she softly unlocked the door and sauntered
+out.
+
+It was none too soon, for Marcia was speaking to her.
+
+"Sylvia?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How would you feel about going over to the village for the mail and
+to do some errands? The tide is out and you could walk. Prince needs a
+run."
+
+"I'd love to go."
+
+"That's fine. Here is a list of things we need at the store. Just be
+sure not to dally too long and get marooned over in town."
+
+"I'll watch out."
+
+"You're sure you don't mind going?"
+
+"No, indeed. I shall enjoy being out."
+
+Then suddenly Sylvia had an inspiration which she instantly acted upon.
+
+"Why don't you go?" she inquired. "You didn't sleep much last night, and
+a walk might do you good."
+
+"Oh, I couldn't," objected Marcia with haste. "I've a hundred and one
+things to do."
+
+"Tell me what they are and I'll do them for you."
+
+"I couldn't. They are things I must do myself. Thanks just the same."
+
+"Well, you know your own business best. Is this the list?"
+
+"Yes. There are quite a few items, but they won't be heavy. Here is the
+basket. Prince will carry it. That is his job and very proud he is of
+doing it. Goodbye, dear."
+
+"She's dreadfully anxious to get us out of the way, isn't she, Prince?"
+commented young Sylvia as she and the setter started out over the sand.
+"Now what do you suppose she has on her mind? She's up to something.
+Marcia isn't a bit of an actress. She's too genuine."
+
+Marcia, standing at the window watching the girl in her blue sweater
+and matching beret swing along over the flats mirrored with tiny pools
+of water, would have been astonished enough had she heard this astute
+observation.
+
+She did want Sylvia out of the way. The girl had read her correctly.
+
+She must telephone the messages to the station-master at Sawyer Falls,
+the adjoining town where the railroad ended and the nearest telegraph
+station was.
+
+She got the line and had no sooner dictated the telegrams than she heard
+Heath's voice.
+
+During the interval that had elapsed since she had left him, both of
+them had experienced a reaction and each was eager to make amends.
+
+Marcia regretted her flippancy. It had been childish of her to give way
+to pique and punish Heath simply because it was proved he had a wife.
+Why should he not be married? No doubt the absent Mrs. Stanley Heath was
+a dashing, sophisticated beauty, too, who lived in luxury at the great
+city hotel to which the first wire had been sent.
+
+Heath had been quite frank about the message and its destination. On
+thinking matters over, it occurred to Marcia he might have considered
+this the easiest way to inform her of things he found it embarrassing to
+put into words.
+
+She had been made aware in delicate fashion that he was rich, married
+and moved in a circle far removed from the humble one she herself
+occupied.
+
+No doubt he felt she should realize this.
+
+It regulated their relationship and prevented any possible
+misunderstandings.
+
+And she?
+
+Instead of appreciating his honesty, chivalry, gentlemanly conduct as
+she should have done, and receiving it graciously, surprise had betrayed
+her into displaying resentment.
+
+She was heartily ashamed of herself. No matter how much it humbled her
+pride, she must put things right. Fortunately it was not too late to do
+so.
+
+Therefore, a very different Marcia Howe responded to Stanley Heath's
+summons.
+
+She was now all gentleness, friendliness, and shyly penitent. If her
+former coquetry had been bewitching, this new artless self of hers was a
+hundredfold more alluring.
+
+Stanley, again master of himself, welcomed her with amazement. Could man
+ever fathom a woman's moods, he asked himself? Why this chastened and
+distractingly adorable Marcia?
+
+It was he who had been in the wrong and given way to temper, yet instead
+of demanding the apology which trembled on his tongue, here she was
+taking the blame and passing over his irritability with the charity of a
+mother humoring a fretful child.
+
+Well, if he could not fathom her, he at least was grateful for her
+understanding.
+
+Nevertheless he did mentally observe he had not dreamed her to be so
+many-sided or credited her with a tithe the fascinations he had so
+unexpectedly discovered her to possess.
+
+"Here I am, Mr. Heath. What can I do for you?" was her greeting.
+
+This time she did not hesitate, but went directly to the chair beside
+his bed and sat down. He smiled and, meeting his eyes, she smiled back.
+This was better. Heath sighed a sigh of relief.
+
+"I've been thinking, since you went down stairs, about Currier. He ought
+to arrive late tonight or early tomorrow morning. He will start the
+moment he gets my wire. Although he will not know in which house I am
+quartered, he will have the wit to inquire, for he has more than the
+ordinary quota of brains. I don't know what I should do without him. He
+has been with me for years and is an Admirable Crichton and a good man
+Friday rolled into one. I shall have him leave the car in the village
+and after he has delivered over the clothing he is to bring, he can take
+the noon train back to New York, carrying the jewels with him."
+
+"I see," nodded Marcia.
+
+She did not see.
+
+She did not understand any of the snarl of events in which so
+unwittingly she found herself entangled.
+
+Nevertheless she heartily welcomed the intelligence that the jewels with
+their damning evidence, if evidence it was, were to be removed from the
+house. The sooner they were out of the way the better. If they were not
+damning evidence they at least were a great responsibility.
+
+Suppose something were to happen to them? Suppose somebody suspected
+they were in the house?
+
+The thought had occurred to her more than once.
+
+"So," continued Stanley Heath, "I think sometime today when you have a
+good opportunity you'd better get the case and bring it up here. I shall
+then have it here in my room and I can hand it over to Currier without
+any trouble."
+
+"I'll go and fetch it now. Sylvia has gone to the village and this is a
+splendid chance," cried Marcia.
+
+"Fine!"
+
+"I'll be right back."
+
+He heard her speed down the stairs and listened to her step in the room
+below.
+
+Then there was silence.
+
+A few moments later she came racing back, white and breathless.
+
+"They're gone!" she cried. "The place is empty! The jewels are not
+there!"
+
+Her terror and the fear lest her pallor foreshadowed collapse produced
+in Heath that artificial calm one sometimes sees when a strong nature
+reins itself in and calls upon its reserve control.
+
+Marcia had fallen to her knees beside the bed and buried her face,
+trembling with agitation.
+
+The man thought only of how to quiet her. Reaching out, he touched her
+hair.
+
+"Hush, Marcia. The jewels will be found. Don't give way like this. I
+cannot bear to see you. The whole lot of them are not worth your tears."
+
+"But you left them in my care. It was I who suggested where to hide
+them," she moaned.
+
+"I know. And it was a splendid idea, too. Besides, we had no time to
+hunt hiding-places. We were forced to act right away. I could not let
+that sheriff of yours peel off my clothes and find the diamonds on me.
+He isn't a man of sufficient imagination--or perhaps he is one of far
+too much. I am not blaming you,--not in the least. We did the best we
+could in the emergency. If things have gone wrong, it is no fault of
+yours."
+
+"But you trusted me. I ought to have watched. I should not have left the
+kitchen day or night," declared Marcia, lifting her tear-stained face to
+his.
+
+"You have been there most of the time, haven't you?"
+
+"I went to see them get the boat off yesterday."
+
+"Still, someone was here. Sylvia was in the house."
+
+"Yes, but she knew nothing about the jewels and therefore may not have
+realized the importance of staying on deck. How could she, unless she
+had been warned? All I asked her to do was to remain within call. She
+may have gone upstairs, or into another room."
+
+"When she comes back, you can ask her."
+
+It was he who now soothed and cheered, his caressing hand moving from
+her shoulder down her arm until her fingers lay in his.
+
+Convulsively she caught and clung to them.
+
+"Now we must pull ourselves together, dear," went on Stanley gently. "It
+is important that we do not give ourselves away. Sylvia may know nothing
+and if she does not, we must not let her suspect. The fewer people there
+are mixed up in this dilemma the better."
+
+"Yes."
+
+She rose but he still held her hand, a common misery routing every
+thought of conventionality.
+
+The firmness and magnetism of his touch brought strength. It was a
+new experience, for during her life with Jason, Marcia had been the
+oak--the one who consoled, sustained. For a few delicious moments, she
+let herself rest, weary and unresisting, within the shelter of Stanley
+Heath's grasp. Then she drew away and, passing her hand across her
+forehead as if awaking from a dream murmured:
+
+"I'd better go down. Sylvia will be coming."
+
+"Very well. Now keep a stiff upper lip. Remember, I depend on you to see
+the apple-cart does not upset."
+
+"I will--I'll do my best."
+
+Even as she spoke the outer door opened, then closed with a bang.
+
+"There's Sylvia now. I must go."
+
+The girl came in, aglow from her walk.
+
+"I'm awfully sorry I banged the door," she apologized. "A gust of wind
+took it. I do hope I didn't wake up Mr. Heath. Here's the marketing. I
+thought I should never get out of that store. Everybody in the whole
+town was there for mail and I had to stop and tell each one all about
+Mr. Heath and his shipwreck, his boat and his health. I must have
+answered a million questions. People are dreadfully curious about him.
+
+"And Marcia, what do you suppose? I had a letter from Hortie
+Fuller--that fellow back home that I've told you about. He's sent me a
+five-pound box of candy and he wants to come to Wilton and spend his
+summer vacation."
+
+The girl's eyes were shining and she breathed quickly.
+
+"Of course I don't care a button for Hortie. Still, it would be rather
+good fun to see him. He always dropped in every day when I was at home.
+It seems ages since I've laid eyes on him. You know how it is--you get
+used to a person who is always under foot. You have to think about him
+if only to avoid stepping on him. And after all, Hortie isn't so bad.
+Thinking him over from a distance, he really is rather nice. Come and
+sample the candy. It's wonderful. He must have blown himself and sent to
+Chicago for it, poor dear! I suppose Eben Snow read the address, because
+he called out 'Guess you've got a beau out West, Miss Sylvia.' Everybody
+heard him and I thought I should go through the floor. He looked the
+letter all over, too. I'll let you see the letter, all except the part
+which is too frightfully silly. You wouldn't care about that. I don't
+myself."
+
+Sylvia shrugged her shoulders.
+
+Alas, this was no moment to talk with her, and artfully draw from her
+the happenings of the previous day.
+
+Inwardly distraught but outwardly calm, Marcia took the letter and tried
+valiantly to focus her attention upon it.
+
+To her surprise, it was a manly, intelligent letter, filled with town
+gossip, to be sure, yet written in delightfully interesting fashion.
+
+"Your Mr. Fuller sounds charming," she said as she gave it back.
+
+"Oh, Hortie is all right--in some ways." Patronizingly slipping the
+letter into her pocket, Sylvia shifted the subject. Nevertheless, a
+betraying flush colored her cheeks. "Now we must start dinner, mustn't
+we? See, it's noon already. I had no idea it was so late."
+
+She tossed her hat into a chair.
+
+"Don't you want to ask Mr. Heath which way he prefers his eggs--poached
+or boiled? I suppose with a temperature, he isn't going to be allowed
+anything but simple food. And Marcia, while you're there, do put a pair
+of fresh pillow-slips on his pillows. The ones he has are frightfully
+tumbled. I meant to do it this morning."
+
+As the door closed behind the elder woman, artful young Sylvia smiled.
+
+"There! That will keep her busy for a few moments at least. I know those
+pillow-cases. They fit like a snake's skin and are terribly hard to get
+off and on."
+
+She crept into the hall and listened.
+
+Yes, Marcia and Stanley Heath were talking. She could hear her aunt's
+gentle insistence and the man's protests. That was all she wished to
+know. The pillow-cases were in process of being taken off.
+
+Up the stairs flew Sylvia, to return a second later, the jewel-case
+swathed in its loose wrappings.
+
+"If I can only scramble it in there before she comes," whispered she. "I
+shall draw the first long breath I've taken since last night. I wouldn't
+own those things if they were given me. They would worry me into my
+grave."
+
+An anxious interval elapsed before the brick was pried out and the
+case slipped beneath it. Nevertheless the feat was accomplished and
+triumphant, relieved, happy Sylvia set about preparing dinner.
+
+She even ventured to hum softly that when Marcia returned she might find
+her entirely serene.
+
+"Mr. Heath, alas, will never know how becoming his jewelry was to me,"
+she mused. "Had a Hollywood producer seen me, he would have snapped me
+up for a movie star within ten minutes. I certainly looked the part."
+
+What a long while Marcia was staying upstairs! Why, one could change a
+dozen pillow-slips in this time.
+
+"I guess they are tighter than I remembered them. I needn't have rushed
+as I did," pouted Sylvia. "What can she be doing?"
+
+When at last Marcia returned, something evidently was wrong.
+
+"What's the matter?" demanded Sylvia. "Is Mr. Heath worse?"
+
+"Worse? No indeed. What made you think so?"
+
+"You look fussed."
+
+"Do I? You'd be fussed had you wrestled with those pillow-slips as I
+have," was the reply. "Either the pillows have swelled or the cases have
+shrunk frightfully. Well, they are on now, anyway."
+
+"Come and get dinner then. I'm starved. My walk has made me hungry as a
+bear. You must go out this afternoon, Marcia. It is a glorious day and
+you need to be pepped up. I know what staying in the house means. Didn't
+I sit in this kitchen all yesterday afternoon until I got so dopey I
+could scarcely keep my eyes open? Not that I wasn't glad to," she added
+hastily. "I never mind staying in when there is a reason for doing it,
+and of course I want to do my bit toward taking care of Mr. Heath.
+Still, indoors isn't the same as outdoors. We all need exercise. I've
+had my quota for the day. You must have yours."
+
+To her surprise, Marcia demurred.
+
+"Thank you, dear, but I think I won't go out today."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"I don't feel like it. I'd rather sit here and read."
+
+"Nonsense, Marcia! You're getting middle-aged and lazy. You'll lose your
+nice slim, hipless figure if you don't watch out."
+
+"I guess I shan't lose it today. Soon Mr. Heath will be gone and we can
+both go."
+
+"But I can play nurse for the afternoon."
+
+"I'm too tired to go out."
+
+"The air would rest you."
+
+"Not today, dear," Marcia said with finality. "I have some mending to do
+and lots of other little things that I have been saving up for a long
+time. Since I prefer to stay, why don't you tramp up the shore and see
+_My Unknown Lady_? She is beautiful and you haven't seen her yet."
+
+"I'd love to--if I cannot coax you to go out."
+
+"You can't. I'm adamant on not stirring out of this room."
+
+"Well, if your mind is made up to that extent, I suppose there is no use
+in my trying to change it. I would like to see the boat."
+
+"I'm sure you would. Stay as long as you like. There will be nothing to
+do here. Somebody ought to enjoy the sunshine and blue sky. Mr. Heath
+will probably sleep and in the meantime I shall get my sewing done."
+
+As Marcia spoke the words, her mind was busy.
+
+So Sylvia had not stirred from the kitchen on the previous afternoon!
+The theft of the jewels must, then, have taken place during the night.
+
+Nevertheless, she was puzzled, for she had no memory of finding anything
+awry when she came down at sunrise to lay the fire.
+
+Moreover, she now recalled she had been in the kitchen several times
+during the night, heating soup and getting water for Stanley Heath.
+
+There had been nothing wrong then, at least she had noticed nothing.
+
+When had the gems been taken, and who had taken them? No wonder she
+craved solitude to ponder the conundrum! This, however, was not the
+paramount reason she desired to be alone.
+
+Despite the enigma of the jewels; despite the mystery surrounding
+Stanley Heath, deep in her heart something that would not be stilled was
+singing--singing!
+
+
+
+
+Chapter X
+
+
+In the meantime, the throng of neighbors Sylvia had precipitately left
+in the village post office had received their mail and reached that
+anticipated interval for gossip which never failed to be stimulating.
+
+Clustered about the counter loitered the standbys.
+
+Zenas Henry was speaking:
+
+"A mighty fine little girl--that Sylvia," commented he. "A high stepper!
+We'd oughter tie her down to Wilton so'st she won't go back West. She's
+too pretty to be spared from the Cape."
+
+"I figger you'd have trouble keepin' her here," rejoined Silas
+Nickerson, the postmaster, sauntering out from his wicker cage. "She's
+got a beau in her home town. Had a letter an' a box of candy from him
+today. Same writin' an' same postmark on both of 'em, I noticed. She
+blushed red as a peony when I passed 'em out to her."
+
+"Didn't by any chance see the name, did you, Silas?" Eleazer Crocker
+inquired.
+
+"Wal, come to think of it, it did catch my eye. You know how such things
+will. Fuller, he's called. Horatio Fuller."
+
+"Horatio Fuller, eh?" Eleazer repeated. "Kinder high soundin'. Wonder
+who he is? From Alton City, you say."
+
+Silas nodded.
+
+"That was the address."
+
+"Never heard of the place," Captain Benjamin Todd put in.
+
+"That don't in no way prevent its existin', Ben," answered Zenas Henry
+with his customary drawl.
+
+"If we had a map handy we might look it up," suggested Captain Phineas
+Taylor. "I'd like to see just where it's located."
+
+"I tried doin' that," the postmaster admitted. "I got out my map, but
+the place warn't on it."
+
+"No wonder I never heard of it!" blustered Benjamin Todd.
+
+"That don't prove nothin', Benjamin," his friend Phineas Taylor
+expostulated. "Silas's map was drawed before the flood. Even Wilton
+ain't on it."
+
+"It ain't?"
+
+A simultaneous gasp rose from the assembly.
+
+"Then all I can say is it's a darn poor map," Enoch Morton sniffed. "A
+map that ain't got Wilton on it might as well be burned. 'Tain't worth
+botherin' with."
+
+"It's all the map I've got," Silas apologized.
+
+"You'd oughter ask the government for another. Why don't you write to
+Washington, explainin' that neither Wilton nor Alton City are on this
+one an' ask 'em for a better one?"
+
+"'Fore you start complainin', you might make sure Belleport's down,"
+suggested Lemuel Gill, a resident of the adjoining village. "Last I
+knew, that warn't on this map, neither."
+
+"'Twarn't?"
+
+"Who makes these maps, I wonder?" bristled Zenas Henry. "Some numskull
+who ain't traveled none, I'll bet a hat. Why don't he go round an'
+see what places there is 'fore he starts map-makin'? Why, any one of
+us knows more 'bout the job already than he does. We know there's
+Belleport, an' Wilton, an' Alton City."
+
+"Bet you couldn't tell what state Alton City is in, though, Zenas
+Henry," Silas challenged.
+
+"Alton City? Let me think! Alton City!" Thoughtfully he stroked his
+chin. "'Tain't my business to know where 'tis," he presently sputtered.
+"If everybody knew where all the blasted places in the country were,
+what use would they have for maps? 'Twould put the map-makin' folks
+clean out of business."
+
+"If map-makers don't know where Wilton an' Belleport are they'd better
+be out of business, in my opinion," countered Benjamin Todd. "Say,
+Ephraim," he exclaimed, inspired by a bright idea, "you're the mail
+carrier. You'd oughter be primed on the location of places. Where's
+Alton City?"
+
+"Alton City? Hanged if I know. To hear you talk, anybody'd think 'twas
+my job to tote round the country deliverin' letters in person at the
+doors of every house in the United States."
+
+"But you must have some notion 'bout geography. Ain't you got no pocket
+atlas nor nothin'?"
+
+"I may have a small map somewheres; I carry most everything," Ephraim
+grinned. With deliberation, he began to disgorge upon the counter the
+contents of his many pockets.
+
+There was a tangle of pink string; two stumpy pencils without points;
+a fragment of fish-line; a soiled scrap of court-plaster; a box
+of matches; a plug of tobacco; a red bandanna handkerchief; three
+cough-drops, moist and sticky; several screws; a worn tube of paste; a
+jack-knife.
+
+"My soul, Eph!" ejaculated Zenas Henry. "You're a reg'lar travelin' junk
+shop, ain't you?"
+
+"I have to have things by me."
+
+"Was you Robinson Crusoe, you'd never have call for any such mess of
+truck as this. Where's the map?"
+
+"Must be in my breast pocket," replied the mail-carrier, thrusting his
+hand inside his pea-coat. "My eye! If I ain't forgot that telegram!" he
+abruptly exclaimed. "The station-master at Sawyer Falls gave it to me
+when he handed out the mail. It clean went out of my mind."
+
+"A telegram!" came in chorus from his audience. "Who for?"
+
+"It's for that chap Heath who's stayin' over at The Widder's."
+
+"Hadn't you been wool-gatherin' you might 'a' given it to Sylvia to take
+back with her. She was here only a little while ago," Silas Nickerson
+said.
+
+"I know it."
+
+"S'pose I was to take it over," Elisha Winslow suggested eagerly. "I'm
+willin' to."
+
+"Fur's that goes, I can carry it," Captain Phineas Taylor piped.
+
+"Give it to me, Eph, an' I'll see it's landed there within half an
+hour," proposed Benjamin Todd, elbowing his way forward.
+
+"Now there's no use in all you fellers volunteerin'," Eleazer Crocker
+asserted. "I'm goin' straight over to Marcia's, as it happens, soon's
+I've et my dinner, an' I'll take the telegram."
+
+With an air of authority, he held out his hand.
+
+The crowd fell back.
+
+Yet notwithstanding their acquiescence, Zenas Henry, not to be awed into
+subjection, had the temerity to add:
+
+"Remember, though, Eleazer, you ain't to go off the mainland without
+leavin' the key to the engine-house where we can get it. We've no
+hankerin' to be burnt alive while you're philanderin' at The Widder's."
+
+"Hang it on the peg inside Benjamin Todd's fish shanty as you go by,"
+called another voice.
+
+"I'll do that," Eleazer agreed as he pocketed the telegram.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Early afternoon found Marcia alone in the Homestead sitting-room.
+
+A driftwood fire flickered upon the hearth, for although spring was on
+the way, the large, high-studded rooms were not yet entirely free of
+winter's chill and dampness.
+
+Sylvia had gone up the beach. Stanley Heath was asleep; and at last the
+delicious interval of solitude which the woman coveted was here.
+
+The basket at her elbow overflowed with mending, but she had not yet
+taken up her needle.
+
+Instead she sat motionless before the blaze, dreamily watching the vivid
+blues and greens as they flared up into the glow of the flame there to
+blend with its splendor, and afterwards melt into embers of scarlet and
+orange.
+
+She could not work.
+
+Try as she would, her mind wandered off into by-ways too fascinating
+to be resisted--by-ways which no matter how remote their windings,
+invariably led her back to Stanley Heath.
+
+In retrospect she lived over again every incident, every word, every
+look that had passed between them until she came to the barrier of the
+unknown which her fancy bridged with intricate rainbow-hued imaginings.
+
+While the fire crackled and flashes of sapphire and emerald shot up and
+died away, she twisted possible explanations this way and that and would
+contentedly have continued the pastime had not Eleazer Crocker knocked
+at the door.
+
+Eleazer could not have chosen a more inopportune moment to drag her back
+to earth.
+
+With a frown and a deep sigh, Marcia went reluctantly to let him in.
+
+"Wal, now ain't it nice to find you by yourself!" was his greeting. "The
+kitchen looks cozy as can be. Spring may be comin' but for all that cool
+weather still hangs on. Where was you settin'?"
+
+"I was in the front room, but perhaps we better drop down here so I can
+listen in case Mr. Heath should call."
+
+"Anywhere you say. Wherever you are suits me."
+
+"I'll just run in and put the screen round the fire and get my mending,"
+Marcia replied a trifle uneasily.
+
+"Let me go."
+
+"No, indeed. You wait here. I'll be right back."
+
+Left to himself, Eleazer smiled a smile of satisfaction.
+
+The kitchen was warm, Marcia was alone and apparently not busy. Could
+circumstances be more propitious? Fortune certainly was with him. Today,
+this very afternoon, he would take his future in his hands and put to
+her the question he had so often determined to put.
+
+Times without number he had mentally rehearsed what he meant to say.
+In fact he habitually fell into this intriguing dialogue whenever he
+had nothing else to occupy him. It commenced with a few preliminary
+observations concerning the weather, the springtime, the birds--the
+birds who would soon be mating. That was the keynote--mating. The rest
+followed very naturally. It was, Eleazer felt, a neat, in fact quite a
+poetic proposal.
+
+He cleared his throat in preparation.
+
+When Marcia came back, he was primed and ready to begin his declaration.
+
+"Weather's been fine, ain't it?" he started out.
+
+Marcia took up her sewing.
+
+"Do you think so?" questioned she, raising her brows. "Seems to me we've
+had lots of rain and fog."
+
+"Wal, yes, now you mention it I do recall a few thick days. Still,
+spring is comin'."
+
+"I'd like to shingle the south ell this spring," announced Marcia,
+giving a disconcertingly practical twist to the conversation. "How many
+shingles do you suppose it would take?"
+
+Eleazer frowned.
+
+The dialogue was not proceeding along the lines he had mapped out.
+
+Determined to fetter it and bring it back into the prescribed channels,
+he answered:
+
+"I'd have to reckon that out. It's a good notion, though, to make the
+ell tight. That's what the birds are doin'."
+
+Astonished, Marcia glanced up from her work.
+
+"I mean," floundered on Eleazer, "they're gettin' their nests built an'
+kinder pickin' out their mates. Pickin' the right mate's quite a job for
+some folks."
+
+He saw Marcia turn scarlet. Mercy! What a slip! She thought he was
+twitting her about Jason.
+
+"What I set out to say was that when you get the wrong mate you know
+it," he countered hastily.
+
+No sooner, however, were the words out of his mouth than he saw they
+were no better.
+
+Perhaps it would be well to abandon the mating question and start on a
+new tack. He had tried the spring. Suppose he took summer as his theme?
+
+"Summer's a nice season, ain't it?" ventured he.
+
+"Yes, although I never enjoy it as much as the other months. I don't
+like the heat and I detest the summer boarders."
+
+Eleazer swallowed hard. He would better have clung to the spring. He saw
+that now. He would retrace his steps.
+
+"Spring is nice," he agreed. "With the birds a-buildin' their nests,
+an'--"
+
+At last he was back on familiar ground.
+
+"I did not realize you were so much interested in birds, Eleazer,"
+Marcia exclaimed. "I have a fine bird book I must lend you. It's in the
+other room. I'll fetch it."
+
+Springing up, she disappeared.
+
+"Drat it!" murmured Eleazer. "Could anything be more exasperatin'?
+An' me neither knowin' nor carin' a hang whether a bird's a robin or
+a sparrow. Just when I was gettin' the way paved so nice, too." He
+wandered to the window. "Oh, heavens, who's this comin'? If it ain't
+'Lish Winslow! Now what in thunder does he want, buttin' in? He's
+walkin' like as if the evil one was at his heels."
+
+Eleazer threw open the door.
+
+Before he could speak, however, Elisha puffing and out of breath bawled:
+
+"Where in the name of goodness did you put the engine-house key,
+Eleazer? Whipple's hen house is afire an' we've hunted high an' low for
+it."
+
+Eleazer purpled.
+
+"My soul an' body," he gasped. "I clean forgot to leave it. Must be here
+in my pocket."
+
+Wildly he began to search.
+
+"You're a fine head of the fire department, you are!" roared Elisha. "If
+you'd put your mind on town business 'stead of on Marcia Howe, we'd all
+be better off. Traipsing over here to see her in the middle of the day,
+palmin' off that telegram as an excuse--"
+
+If Eleazer had been purple before, he was livid now.
+
+"Well, you better go straight back to the village fast as you can leg
+it an' carry the key with you," went on the accuser. "Don't wait for
+nothin'. I'll explain matters to Marcia."
+
+"But I've got to see her. I've got to speak to her private," protested
+the wretched official.
+
+"Private? Ain't you been talkin' to her private an' hour or more? What
+else have you got to say to her?"
+
+"I want to give her somethin'."
+
+"Give it to me. I'll hand it to her."
+
+Elisha's extended palm was not to be ignored.
+
+"This--this--telegram," quavered Eleazer. "I ain't had a chance to--"
+
+"Do you mean to say you ain't given her that telegram yet?"
+
+"I was intendin' to. I was just about to when--"
+
+"Wal, of all the--" words failed Elisha. "Here, give it to me," he
+commanded. "I can be depended on to deliver messages if you can't. I'll
+see she has it. In the meantime, the best thing you can do is to hoof
+it to town quick's ever you can. If the whole place ain't burned to
+the ground an' if they don't tar an' feather you when you put in your
+appearance, you'll be lucky."
+
+"Ain't you comin'?"
+
+"I? No. Fire's ain't in my line. Long's Marcia's here by herself an'
+ain't busy, I'm goin' to pay her a call," Elisha grinned. "I've got to
+deliver the telegram."
+
+"Still, you don't need to stay," pleaded Eleazer, facing his triumphant
+rival.
+
+"Mebbe I do," was Elisha's hectoring retort. "Mebbe this is the very
+time for me to linger behind. The coast's clear. Why shouldn't I stay?"
+
+"You might be needed at the fire."
+
+"I shan't be," was the calm reply. "Not unless there's somethin'
+criminal about it."
+
+"It might be arson."
+
+"I'll take a chance on it startin' from Dan Whipple's cigarette. In fact
+he owned as much. Dan's terrible careless with his cigarettes. Now, hop
+along, Eleazer, else the whole conflagration will be out 'fore you get
+there."
+
+The unlucky fire-chief had no choice.
+
+"Drat it!" raged he, as he strode off across the sand. "Drat it! Ain't
+that just my luck!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XI
+
+
+Either the book for which Marcia searched was not to be found or she was
+in no haste to return to her awaiting suitor.
+
+Whatever the explanation, her absence lengthened from a few moments into
+a quarter of an hour.
+
+In the meantime Elisha, like his predecessor, was formulating his mode
+of attack.
+
+Eleazer, apparently, had not been successful.
+
+Might not this be his own golden opportunity?
+
+Before another snatched the prize from him; before Heath with his yacht
+and his monogrammed silken garments recovered his strength, he would put
+his fate to the test.
+
+Women were unaccountable creatures.
+
+You never could predict what they might do.
+
+Smoothing a man's pillow and feeding broth to him sometimes brought
+about surprising results.
+
+Furthermore, thus far no one had been able to find out how well Marcia
+really knew this Stanley Heath. Perhaps a romance of long standing, of
+which the village was ignorant, existed between them.
+
+Who could tell?
+
+In any case, it behooved an aspirant for the hand of this matchless
+creature to put in his claim without delay.
+
+Elisha wandered about the empty kitchen, mentally summing up the
+situation.
+
+He had a small deposit in the bank which, added to Marcia's larger
+fortune, would provide sumptuously for his old age. In addition, if she
+became his wife she would, of course, do the cooking and housework and
+he could dismiss May Ellen Howard, his housekeeper, thereby saving her
+salary.
+
+As to a house, he could not quite decide whether it would be wiser
+to take up residence in the Homestead or continue to live in his own
+smaller abode in Wilton. The Homestead undoubtedly was finer and
+more pretentious, but it was large and probably expensive to heat.
+Furthermore, its location was breezy and draughts always aggravated his
+rheumatism. If it could be sold, it should net a neat sum.
+
+Well, he need not decide these questions now. There would be time enough
+to smooth out all such trivial details after the wedding.
+
+He strolled up to the stove and, standing on the hearth with his back to
+the fire, rocked back and forth on his heels reflectively.
+
+As he did so, a brick beneath his feet rocked with him.
+
+Elisha looked down.
+
+He saw it was quite loose.
+
+"That thing's goin' to trip up somebody some fine day," commented he.
+"It oughter be cemented."
+
+He stooped to investigate.
+
+It was then he noticed for the first time an edge of linen projecting
+above the masonry.
+
+"Marcia must 'a' stuffed a rag in there to keep the thing from
+wobblin'," he mused. "Ain't that like a woman? She ain't helped matters
+none, neither. It wobbles just the same. I can fix it better'n that."
+
+Producing his knife, Elisha pried the brick from its place.
+
+As he lifted it out, a handkerchief came with it disgorging at his feet
+a flat, blue leather case.
+
+If the sheriff's eyes bulged when he caught sight of it, they all but
+popped from his head when, egged on by curiosity, he pressed the catch
+on the box.
+
+Quick as a flash the whole situation clarified in his mind.
+
+These were the widely heralded Long Island jewels; and the thief who had
+stolen them was here beneath this roof!
+
+It was plain as a pikestaff. Hidden by fog he had escaped in his boat
+and inadvertently run aground at the mouth of Wilton Harbor.
+
+Of course Marcia did not know. Even though a friendship existed between
+herself and Heath, she was unquestionably ignorant of the nefarious
+means by which he earned his living.
+
+Far from cherishing anger or resentment toward the person who exposed
+his villainy and prevented her from sacrificing herself to such an
+unprincipled adventurer, would she not regard her rescuer with deepest
+gratitude? Elisha's head whirled.
+
+Nevertheless, confused though he was, it was clear to him he must not
+make a misstep and neglect to perform his official duty with dignity.
+
+Heath was ill. There would be no danger of his leaving the Homestead
+at present, especially as he had no suspicion the jewels had been
+discovered.
+
+The best plan was for him to return to the mainland; get his badge and
+handcuffs; find out what formalities such a momentous event as an arrest
+demanded; and return later and round up the criminal.
+
+He did not dally. Carefully putting the gems back where he had found
+them, he placed the telegram upon the table and went out, softly closing
+the door behind him.
+
+It flashed into his mind that as the tide was coming in it might be well
+to borrow Marcia's boat and row back to shore.
+
+This would serve two purposes. He would reach home sooner; and Heath,
+cut off by the sweep of the channel, would in the meantime be unable to
+escape.
+
+Elisha rubbed his hands. He was pretty farsighted--pretty cute. In fact,
+his management of this affair was going to put a big feather in his
+cap. He could see now his name emblazoned on the front pages of the
+papers:
+
+_Elisha Winslow, Wilton sheriff, makes daring arrest! Cape official
+rounds up gem thief!_
+
+All over the country people would read that it was he who had tracked
+down this notorious criminal.
+
+And the police--those brass-buttoned city men who rated themselves so
+high and looked down on village constables and sheriffs as if they were
+the dirt beneath their feet--they would be given a lesson they would
+remember!
+
+They would be pretty sore about it, too, when they found the glory of
+making this capture going to a small-town deputy.
+
+Never had Elisha rowed as he rowed that day! The dory fairly leaped
+through the water. Reaching shore, he sprang from it and dragged it up
+on the sand. Then, trembling with excitement, he set out for home.
+
+Everything must be done in ship-shape fashion. There must be no
+bungling--no slips that would detract from the dignity of the event. He
+was almost at his gate when to his consternation he saw Eleazer puffing
+after him.
+
+"You didn't make much of a stop at The Widder's, I see," jeered he.
+
+"No. Had other business," came crisply from Elisha.
+
+"You don't say! I can't imagine your havin' business important enough to
+cut short a call on Marcia Howe. Mebbe she didn't urge you to loiter."
+
+"I didn't see Marcia. I come away 'fore she got back," snapped the
+sheriff.
+
+Unbelievingly, Eleazer scanned his countenance.
+
+"You 'pear to be kinder stirred up, 'Lish," he commented. "What's the
+matter?"
+
+Elisha determined upon a sudden and bold move.
+
+"Say, Eleazer," began he cautiously, "was you ever at an arrest?"
+
+"An arrest!"
+
+"Yes. Did you ever see a man arrested?"
+
+"Wal, I dunno as I ever did--not really. I've seen it done, though, in
+the movies."
+
+"That oughter be up-to-date an' proper. Just how was the proceedin' put
+through?"
+
+Thoughtfully Eleazer regarded the toes of his boots.
+
+"Wal, near's I can recollect, the policeman went up to the criminal an'
+grabbin' him by the arm says: 'You villain! I've got you now. Scram!'
+I ain't exactly positive he says Scram at that precise minute, but in
+all such scenes, somebody always says Scram to somebody else 'fore the
+mix-up is through. That, in the main, is what happens."
+
+"I s'pose the policeman wore a badge an' carried handcuffs."
+
+"Oh, law, yes. But what's the game? What do you want to know for?"
+
+Furtively Elisha glanced up and down the empty road and after peering
+over his shoulder, he dropped his voice to a confidential whisper and
+hissed:
+
+"'Cause I'm goin' to make an arrest--a big arrest! I've tracked down the
+thief that committed the Long Island burglary. Moreover, I know this
+very second where the jewels are."
+
+Eleazer's jaw dropped.
+
+"I'm goin' to 'phone the New York police I've got their man," he
+concluded, drawing himself to his full height and expanding his chest
+until the buttons on his coat threatened to burst off.
+
+"You be? My soul an' body!"
+
+"Yes, I'm goin' to call long distance straight away."
+
+Eleazer's cunning mind worked quickly.
+
+"I don't know, 'Lish, as I'd do that," he cautioned.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Wal, in the first place, you might be mistook in your calculations
+an' not only get yourself into hot water but make the town a laughin'
+stock. Furthermore, was you wrong, you might get sued for defamin' the
+accused's character."
+
+"I ain't wrong. I'm right."
+
+"Wal, even so, I'd move careful," urged his companion. "Most likely
+there's a reward out for this criminal. Why split it with a host of
+others? Why don't you an' me divide it? I'll help you land your man,
+since you're a bit--" Eleazer, fearing to offend, hesitated, "--a bit
+out of practice 'bout arrestin'."
+
+The advice was good. Elisha, shrewd in his dealings, instantly saw the
+advantages of the plan proposed.
+
+"Wal, mebbe 'twould be better if I didn't let too many ignorant city
+chaps in on a big thing like this," he conceded pompously. "You an' me
+know what we're about. I figger we could handle it."
+
+"Sure we could. We can put it through in first-class shape. First you
+must change your ole clothes for your Sunday ones. A black frock coat's
+what you really oughter wear. I wish we dared borrow the minister's.
+Still, I reckon your Sunday suit'll do. Then you must pin your sheriff's
+badge on your chest where it'll show good an' plain. Be sure to bring
+along your handcuffs, 'cause you're certain to need 'em with an
+experienced criminal such as this. He won't have no mind to be took up.
+He'll have a gun an' put up a fight."
+
+"Have a gun?"
+
+"Sure he'll have a gun! In fact he'll prob'ly have several of 'em."
+
+Elisha paled and a tremor twitched his lips.
+
+"That needn't concern you none, though. All you'll have to do will be
+to steal up behind him, put your pistol 'twixt his shoulder-blades an'
+shout: 'Stick 'em up!'"
+
+"Stick 'em up?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Stick what up?"
+
+"His hands, man--his hands," explained Eleazer impatiently.
+
+"I ain't got no pistol."
+
+"For the land's sake! You ain't got a pistol? You--a sheriff?"
+
+"Somehow I never got round to purchasin' a pistol," Elisha apologized.
+"I ain't fond of fire-arms. In fact, I don't know's I ever shot off a
+revolver in my life."
+
+"Wal, I have. I've shot dozens of skunks."
+
+"You might lend me yours."
+
+"I s'pose I might. It ain't, though, workin' very well right now. It's
+kinder rusty. Furthermore, I'm out of ammunition."
+
+"That wouldn't matter. I ain't calculatin' to fire it."
+
+"But you'll have to."
+
+Elisha's mounting disapproval changed to consternation.
+
+Turning, he faced Eleazer.
+
+"Say, Eleazer," he faltered, "s'pose we was to make a deal on this
+thing. S'pose, for the time bein' I was to take over your job an' you
+was to take over mine. S'pose you did the arrestin'? This affair's a
+big one an' oughter be given all the frills a city policeman would give
+it. That's due the town. Now you seem to know a sight more 'bout how to
+manage it than I do."
+
+"You put on the badge; you tell the thief to stick 'em up; you put the
+pistol 'twixt his shoulders, or wherever you think 'twill do the most
+good; an' you snap the handcuffs on him. I'll see you get full credit
+for it. Meanwhile, if there's a fire or an undertakin' job, I'll manage
+'em somehow."
+
+Eleazer shook his head.
+
+"That wouldn't do, 'Lish, no way in the world," he objected. "We can't
+go swappin' offices voted us by the town. Folks wouldn't like it. Was
+I, a common citizen, to shoot the criminal, I'd likely be hauled up for
+murder. I'm willin' to stand by you to the extent of goin' along an'
+keepin' you company; but you must be the one that bears the brunt of the
+job."
+
+"I could resign my office."
+
+"When?"
+
+"Right now. In fact, I've had a notion to do so, off an' on, for some
+time. You see, I never did want to be sheriff. The office was foisted on
+me. I'm findin' it pretty wearin'."
+
+"Man alive! Bein' sheriff in Wilton can't be wearin'."
+
+"U--m. Wal, mebbe it don't 'pear to be to an onlooker. Still, it's an
+almighty big responsibility for all that," Elisha insisted. "Besides,
+'twas kinder understood when I took the office there'd be no arrestin'
+nor shootin'. Jewel robberies warn't in the contract."
+
+"But man alive, you ain't been burdened with jewel robberies. 'Tain't as
+if they come every day in the week."
+
+"They're wearin' when they do come," Elisha persisted.
+
+"Everything's wearin' when it comes--fires an' all such things. Did they
+happen seven days in the week, we'd all be wore to the bone. But they
+don't."
+
+"N--o."
+
+"Wal, then, what you wailin' about? I should think you'd kinder welcome
+a break in the monotony instead of groanin' over it. 'Twill give you a
+chance to show folks what you can do. The feller can't do more'n shoot
+you an' should you be shot at the post of duty, why the town would give
+you a big funeral an' I myself would lay you out in just the style you'd
+hanker to be laid out in."
+
+"But--but--I don't hanker to be laid out," whimpered Elisha in an
+aggrieved tone.
+
+"I don't s'pose you do. None of us does. Still, you might display a
+measure of gratitude for the offer."
+
+"Oh, I appreciate your kindness," amended the wretched sheriff, fearful
+of losing his solitary prop. "I appreciate it very much indeed."
+
+Eleazer appeared mollified.
+
+"You ain't told me yet none of the details of this business," he
+suddenly remarked. "If I'm goin' to help you, I'd oughter be told
+everything about it. Who is the criminal? An' where is he? An' how'd you
+come to get track of him?"
+
+Alas, the questions were the very ones Elisha had hoped to escape
+answering.
+
+He had no mind to lay his cards on the table. Nevertheless, he knew of
+no way to evade his confederate's curiosity. Eleazer was touchy. It
+would not do to risk offending him a second time.
+
+Reluctantly, cautiously, Elisha poured out his story and was rewarded to
+see the other town official gape at him, open-mouthed.
+
+"Bless my soul," he reiterated. "Bless my soul! Who would 'a' drempt
+it?" he burst out when he could contain himself no longer. "Wal, I
+never did like that feller Heath. I suspected from the first there was
+somethin' wrong about him. Prob'ly he has queer eyes. You can always
+spot a criminal by his eye. Kinder shifty an' fishy."
+
+"I didn't notice he had fishy eyes," mildly rejoined Elisha.
+
+"You ain't seen as much of the world as I have, 'Lish," was the
+patronizing retort.
+
+"I don't know why," bristled the sheriff. "You ain't never been twenty
+miles beyond Wilton."
+
+"Possibly I ain't. Possibly I ain't," grudgingly confessed Eleazer.
+"Travelin' ain't all there is to life, though. I'm observin', I am. I
+understand human nature. This Heath feller, now. I understand him."
+
+"Then p'raps you can foretell what he's likely to do when I arrest him,"
+put in Elisha eagerly.
+
+"I can," Eleazer nodded. "I can prophesy just about what he'll do."
+
+"What?"
+
+"It's better I shouldn't tell you. 'Twouldn't be wise. We must do our
+duty no matter what comes of it."
+
+Again Elisha's knees weakened beneath him.
+
+"Seems to me," went on Eleazer, "that 'stead of loiterin' here
+discussin' the calamities of the future you'd better be gettin' on to
+your house. You've got to put on your other clothes. The press, most
+likely, will want to photograph you. Then you must hunt up your badge,
+your handcuffs an' all your paraphernalia. I'd better cut across the
+field, meantime, an' oil up my pistol. Mebbe I can fix it so'st it'll
+go off. I'll try an' find you some cartridges, too. I wouldn't want
+to stand by an' see you struck down without your havin' some slight
+defense, poor as 'tis."
+
+With this dubious farewell, Eleazer bustled off across the dingle and
+was lost to sight.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XII
+
+
+Left alone, Elisha gloomily pursued his way to his own cottage and
+entering it by the side door passed through the back hall and upstairs.
+
+From the shed he could hear May Ellen, his housekeeper, singing lustily
+as she mopped the floor to the refrain of _Smile, Smile, Smile_.
+
+The sentiment jarred on him. He could not smile.
+
+Going to the closet, he took out his Sunday suit, shook it, and with the
+air of one making ready his shroud, spread it upon the bed. It exhaled a
+pungent, funereal mustiness, particularly disagreeable at the moment.
+
+Next he produced a boiled shirt, a collar, and a black tie.
+
+It took him some time to assemble these infrequently used accessories,
+and he was dismayed to find no collar-button.
+
+Nervously he searched the drawers, tossing their contents upside down in
+fruitless quest for this indispensable article.
+
+A collar-button was the corner-stone of his toilet--the object on which
+everything else depended. Should it fail to be forthcoming, the game was
+up. He could not administer the law without it.
+
+Perhaps, viewing the matter from every angle, its disappearance was a
+fortunate, rather than an unfortunate, omen.
+
+Now that he had had time for sober reflection, the enterprise on which
+he had embarked appeared a foolhardy--almost mad undertaking. To grapple
+with an experienced criminal was suicidal. It was bad enough to do so
+if forced into the dilemma by chance. But to seek out such an issue
+deliberately! He wondered what he had been thinking of. Excitement had
+swept him off his feet and put to rout both his caution and his common
+sense.
+
+He wished with all his heart he had never mentioned the matter to
+Eleazer. But for that, he could pull out of it and no one would be the
+wiser.
+
+Suppose the criminal did escape? Were not lawbreakers doing so every
+day?
+
+One more at large could make little difference in the general moral tone
+of society. Anyway, no criminal--no matter what a rascal he might be,
+was worth the sacrifice of a man's life--particularly his life, argued
+Elisha.
+
+But, alas, there was Eleazer to whom he had precipitately confided the
+entire story!
+
+No, there was no possibility of his backing out of the affair now and
+washing his hands of it. He must go through with it.
+
+Nevertheless, he would postpone the moment for action as long as he was
+able.
+
+Therefore, instead of donning his official garb, he went down stairs
+to hunt up his badge and handcuffs. These he kept in the drawer of the
+tall secretary in the sitting-room and although he had not seen them for
+months, he felt certain they would still be there.
+
+In order to make no noise and arouse May Ellen's phenomenal curiosity,
+he took off his shoes.
+
+To his consternation, the drawer was empty!
+
+And not only was it empty but it had been left open as if a marauder
+possessed of sticky hands had hastily abandoned it.
+
+Elisha paused, confounded. Who could have taken these symbols of the
+law? Who would wish to take them? Certainly not May Ellen.
+
+Even if her inquiring mind had prompted her to ransack his property,
+she was far too honest a person to make off with it. Furthermore, what
+use could a peaceable woman have for a sheriff's badge and a pair of
+handcuffs?
+
+Unwilling to believe the articles were gone, Elisha peered feverishly
+into every corner the piece of furniture contained. He even hauled out
+the books and ran his hand along the grimy shelves behind them. But
+beyond a thick coating of dust, nothing rewarded his search.
+
+At length, as a last resort, he reluctantly shouted for May Ellen.
+
+She came, a drab woman--thin-haired, hollow-chested with a wiry, hipless
+figure and protruding teeth.
+
+"Wal, sir?"
+
+"May Ellen, who's been explorin' this secretary of mine? Some of the
+things that oughter be in it, ain't," blustered he.
+
+"What things?"
+
+The woman's eye was faded, but it held a quality that warned the sheriff
+she was not, perhaps, as spiritless as she looked.
+
+"Oh--oh, just some little things I was huntin' for," he amended,
+adopting a more conciliatory tone.
+
+"If I knew what they was, I could tell you better where they might be
+lurkin'."
+
+Alas, there was no help for it!
+
+"I'm lookin' for my handcuffs an' sheriff's badge," answered Elisha.
+
+"There ain't been a crime? You ain't goin' to arrest somebody?"
+
+"I ain't at liberty to answer that question just now," replied Elisha
+with importance.
+
+"Mercy on us! You don't tell me a crime's been committed in Wilton! I
+guess it's the first time in all the town's history. Won't folks be
+agog? It'll stir up the whole community."
+
+The sentiment held for Elisha a vaguely familiar ring. As he speculated
+why, he recalled with dismay that it was he himself who, not a week ago,
+had brazenly willed the very calamity that had now befallen the village.
+
+To be sure, he spoke in jest. Still it behooved a man to be careful
+what he wished for. Providence sometimes took folks at their word and
+answered prayers--even idle ones.
+
+"You mustn't peep about this outside, May Ellen," he cautioned. "Was you
+to, no end of harm might be done. The criminal, you see, is still at
+large an' we want to trap him 'fore he suspects we're after him."
+
+"I see," replied the woman with an understanding nod. "I won't breathe
+a breath of it to a soul. But while we're mentionin' it, I would dearly
+like to know who the wretch is."
+
+"That's a secret of the law. I ain't free to publish it. You shall be
+told it, though, soon's the arrest is made. Now 'bout the badge an'
+handcuffs. You see how important 'tis I should have 'em. They was in
+the drawer an' they'd oughter be there now. Instead, the whole place is
+messed up an' sticky as if some person who had no business meddlin' had
+overhauled it."
+
+He saw May Ellen's faded eyes dilate with sudden terror.
+
+"It's that miserable Tommy Cahoon!" interrupted she. "His mother left
+him an' Willie here with me a week ago when she went to Sawyer Falls
+shoppin'. I saw 'em playin' policeman out in the back yard, an' noticed
+one of 'em was wearin' a badge, but I thought nothin' of it, supposin'
+they'd brought it with 'em. The little monkeys must 'a' sneaked indoors
+when I wasn't lookin' an' took that an' the handcuffs. I'm dretful
+sorry. Still, boys will be boys, I reckon," concluded she with a
+deprecatory smile and a shrug of her angular shoulders.
+
+"But--but--good Heavens--" sputtered Elisha.
+
+"I'm sure we can find the missin' articles, unless the children took 'em
+home--which I doubt," went on the woman serenely. "Last I saw of the
+imps they was out yonder under the apple trees. S'pose we have a look
+there."
+
+Almost beside himself with an indignation he dared not voice, Elisha
+followed May Ellen out of doors.
+
+Yes, trampled into the sodden ground lay the badge--its gleaming metal
+surface defaced by mud, and its fastening broken. There, too, lay the
+handcuffs, tightly snapped together and without a trace of a key to
+unlock them.
+
+Elisha, livid with rage, opened his lips prepared to consign to the
+lower regions not only Tommy and Willie Cahoon, but their mother and May
+Ellen as well.
+
+Before he could get the words out of his mouth, however, the suave voice
+of his housekeeper fell gently on his ear.
+
+"'Course you can't lay this mishap up against me, Elisha," she was
+saying. "I ain't no more responsible for the children's thievin' than
+you are for the crime of the criminal you're preparin' to arrest. The
+actions of others are beyond our control. All we can do is to live moral
+lives ourselves."
+
+"But--but--"
+
+"If you do feel I'm to blame, you'll just have to get somebody else to
+do your work. I wouldn't stay in no situation an' be regarded as--"
+
+"I ain't blamin' you a mite, May Ellen," Elisha hurriedly broke in,
+panic-stricken lest his domestic tranquillity trembling so delicately on
+the brink of cataclysm topple into the void and be swallowed up. "As you
+say, the doin's of others are somethin' we can't take on our shoulders.
+Thank you for helpin' me hunt up these things."
+
+As he spoke, he dubiously eyed the muddy objects in his hand. Well, at
+least, thought he, everything was not lost. He had gained time.
+
+To wear his badge until a new pin was soddered to it was out of the
+question. In addition, the handcuffs were of no use at all unless a key
+could be found to unlock them.
+
+He felt like a doomed man who had been granted an unlooked-for reprieve.
+
+Eleazer would be nettled.
+
+When he came steaming back with the revolver he would storm and rage
+like a bluefish in a net.
+
+Nevertheless, accidents were unavoidable and in the meantime, while
+the emblems of the law were being repaired, who could tell what might
+happen?
+
+Stanley Heath might escape and take the jewels with him--escape to some
+other part of the world and pass on to a larger and more competent party
+of criminal investigators the unenviable task of arresting him.
+
+Elisha was quite willing to forego the honor.
+
+No longer did he desire to see his picture emblazoned on the front pages
+of the papers or behold his name in print. If he could shrink back into
+being merely a humble, insignificant citizen of Cape Cod, it was all he
+asked.
+
+As he turned to reënter the house, Eleazer hailed him.
+
+"I've had the devil of a time with this revolver," announced he, puffing
+into the yard and jauntily flourishing the weapon.
+
+"Take care, Eleazer! Don't you go pointin' that thing at me!" Elisha
+yelled.
+
+"I ain't pointin' it at you. Even if I was, there'd be no chance of it
+hurtin' you. 'Tain't loaded."
+
+"That's the kind that always goes off," the sheriff insisted. "For
+Heaven's sake, wheel it the other way, can't you? Or else aim it at the
+ground."
+
+"Wal, since you're so 'fraid of it, I will. But for all that, there
+ain't an atom of danger." Then regarding his comrade's greenish
+countenance, he remarked abruptly, "Say, what's the matter with you,
+'Lish? You ain't got on your other suit, nor your badge, nor nothin'.
+What in thunder have you been doin' all this time? I've been gone 'most
+an hour."
+
+Elisha told his story.
+
+"Wal, if that ain't the ole Harry!" fumed Eleazer. "That's goin' to
+ball us all up. There's no use doin' this thing if it ain't done in
+bang-up style. We don't want a lot of city cops jeerin' at us. We got
+to get that badge soddered an' them handcuffs unlocked 'fore another
+move can be made. I s'pose mebbe Nate Harlow over to Belleport could
+help us out."
+
+"An' go blabbin' all over town the predicament the Wilton sheriff was
+in? No--sir--ee! Not if I know it. I wouldn't turn to a Belleport man
+for aid was the criminal to rush from hidin' an' go free. The only
+thing to do is to motor to Sawyer Falls an' hunt up Pete McGrath, the
+blacksmith. He's a wizard with tools. I never knew no job to stump him
+yet. He'll know what to do. The notion of goin' over there ain't such a
+bad one, neither, 'cause Artie Nickerson, the station-master's, got a
+relation on the Chicago police force an' had oughter be able to give us
+a few pointers 'bout how folks is arrested."
+
+Accordingly the two men set forth on their errand.
+
+As the shabby Ford rattled over the sandy thoroughfare, Elisha's
+strained countenance began gradually to relax.
+
+"Nice day for a ride," remarked he glancing toward the sea. "Fine
+weather's certainly on the way. Air's mild as summer. 'Fore long we'll
+be havin' days worth noticin'."
+
+"So we will. April's 'bout over an' May'll be on us 'fore we know it.
+Then June'll come--the month of brides an' roses."
+
+The allusion was an unfortunate one.
+
+Elisha stiffened in his seat.
+
+Amid the whirlwind happenings of the day, he had forgotten that the man
+at his elbow was his rival.
+
+"You plannin' to wed in June, Eleazer?" asked he disagreeably.
+
+"That's my present intention."
+
+"It's mine, too," said Elisha.
+
+"Humph! Expectin' to live at the Homestead?"
+
+Elisha nodded.
+
+"So'm I," grinned Eleazer.
+
+"Hope you'll invite me over, now and then," Elisha drawled
+sarcastically.
+
+"Hope you'll do the same," came from Eleazer.
+
+For an interval they rode on in uncomfortable silence.
+
+"Them boats is pretty heavy loaded," Eleazer presently volunteered,
+gazing off towards the horizon where a string of dull red coal barges
+trailed along in the wake of a blackened tug.
+
+"Makin' for New York, I reckon," Elisha responded, thawing a little.
+
+"Wouldn't be s'prised if that Heath chap came from New York," ruminated
+Eleazer.
+
+"Confound Heath! I wish I'd never laid eyes on him!" exploded Elisha.
+
+"Oh, I dunno as I'd go so fur as to say that," came mildly from his
+companion. "Ain't Heath's comin' goin' to put Wilton on the map? Bad's
+he is, we've got him to thank for that. With him safely handed over to
+the authorities, our fortune's made. What you plannin' to do with your
+half of the reward?"
+
+Here was a delightful topic for conversation!
+
+Elisha's eyes brightened.
+
+"I ain't decided yet," smiled he.
+
+"Wonder how much 'twill be? Oughter come to quite a sum, considerin' the
+risk one takes to get it."
+
+Elisha's newly captured good-humor vanished. Lapsing into moody silence,
+he did not speak again until the white spire of the Sawyer Falls church
+appeared and, rounding the bend of the road, the car rolled into the
+town.
+
+Compared to the villages of Wilton or Belleport, this railroad terminus
+was quite a metropolis. It boasted two dry-goods stores, an A & P, a
+drug store, a coal office, a hardware shop, and a grain shed. Around its
+shabby station clustered a group of motor cars, a truck or two, and the
+usual knot of loitering men and boys.
+
+In spite of his depression, Elisha's spirits took another upward turn.
+
+It was interesting to see something different, something more bustling
+and novel than his home town.
+
+"S'pose we drop in an' get a moxie," he suggested.
+
+"'Twould go kinder good. I want to buy a roll of lozengers, too, an'
+some cough drops now I'm here."
+
+"Come ahead."
+
+"Don't you s'pose we'd oughter go to the smithy first an' leave the
+badge? It may take some little time to get it mended," Eleazer said.
+
+The badge!
+
+Would the man never cease dangling before his vision the wretched
+memories Elisha was struggling so valiantly to forget?
+
+With an ungracious, wordless grunt, he grudgingly turned the nose of the
+car toward the railroad.
+
+The small shed where the forge stood was close by the tracks and as
+he pulled up before it, he espied through its doorway not only Peter
+McGrath, the blacksmith, but also the rotund figure of Artie Nickerson,
+the Sawyer Falls station agent.
+
+"Art's inside! Ain't that luck?" he remarked, clambering out of the car.
+"The station must be closed an' he's come across the road to neighbor
+with Pete."
+
+They went in and after the usual greetings, Elisha stated his errand.
+
+McGrath took the handcuffs and badge to the light and examined them.
+
+"Humph! Looks as if you'd been in some sort of a scrimmage," he
+commented.
+
+"I ain't. Things get weared out in time. The pin on that badge warn't
+never right. 'Twouldn't clasp. As for the handcuffs, I reckon they're
+O.K. 'cept for the key bein' gone. Think you can make me one?"
+
+"Sure. That ain't no trick at all. I can hammer you out a skeleton key
+which, though 'twon't take no prize as to beauty, will do what you want
+it to. I can sodder some sort of a pin an' catch on the badge, too.
+S'pose you ain't in no 'special hurry for 'em. There don't 'pear to be a
+cryin' need round here for such articles," he concluded with a chuckle.
+
+"Nevertheless, I would like 'em," Elisha demurred. "You see I'm plannin'
+to take 'em back with me. I don't often get over here an' you never can
+tell these days when such things may be wanted."
+
+"Just as you say. I'll start on 'em straight away. I ain't busy on
+nothin' that can't be put aside."
+
+Elisha strolled over to a box and sat down to wait.
+
+"How are you, Art?" he inquired.
+
+"Tol'able. Havin' some rheumatism, though. Reckon we've all got to
+expect aches an' pains at our age."
+
+"That's right. Speakin' of handcuffs an' badges, didn't you have a
+nephew or a cousin 'sociated with a police force somewheres?"
+
+"Bennie, you mean? Oh, yes. He's a policeman out in Chicago."
+
+"How's he gettin' on?"
+
+"Fine! Fine! Just now he's laid up in the hospital, but he 'spects to be
+out again 'fore long. Got shot through the arm a couple of weeks ago."
+
+"You don't say? Huntin'?" Elisha queried pleasantly.
+
+"Huntin'? Mercy, no! He got winged by a stray bullet while chasin' up a
+guy that had broke into a store. The shrimp hit him. Luckily he didn't
+kill him. Ben thought he got off pretty easy."
+
+Elisha's smile faded.
+
+"These fellers that's at large now don't give a hang who they murder,"
+went on the station agent affably. "They're a desperate crew. They'd as
+soon kill you as not. Bennie landed his man, though, 'spite of bein'
+hurt. 'Twill, most likely, mean a promotion for him. He'd oughter be
+promoted, too, for he's done great work on the force. Been shot three
+or four times while on duty. 'Tain't a callin' I myself would choose,
+but he seems to get a big kick out of it."
+
+Elisha, pale to the lips, suddenly decided he had heard enough of Bennie
+and shifted the subject.
+
+"S'pose you're still goin' round in the same ole treadmill over at the
+station, Art," he observed.
+
+"Yep. Same ole rut. Two trains a day as usual. I've had, though, a bit
+more telegraphin' to do of late than formerly. It's all come from your
+part of the world, too. Know a feller over to Wilton named Heath? He's
+sent off several wires."
+
+Both Elisha, perched on the box, and Eleazer astride a keg straightened
+up.
+
+"Heath? Yes, indeed. He's stoppin' in town for a while."
+
+"So I gathered. Lives in New York at one of them big hotels."
+
+"Who told you that?" Eleazer demanded.
+
+"He sent a wire to his wife. Leastways, I figger 'twas his wife. He
+signed himself _Lovingly, Stanley_, an' addressed it to Mrs. Stanley
+Heath."
+
+"You don't say! That's news to me," Elisha cried. He darted a glance at
+Eleazer.
+
+Artie, gratified at seeing he had created a sensation, beamed broadly.
+
+"'Course I ain't permitted to divulge messages that go through my
+hands. They're confidential. But for that I could tell you somethin'
+that would make your eyes pop outer their sockets."
+
+"Somethin' about Heath?"
+
+"Somethin' he said in a telegram."
+
+"You might give us a hint," Eleazer suggested.
+
+"I couldn't. Was I to, I might lose my job."
+
+"Oh, I ain't askin' you to repeat no private wire."
+
+"I couldn't even if you did."
+
+Emphatically Artie shook his head.
+
+Then Elisha had an inspiration.
+
+"S'pose I was to ask you officially?" he suggested. "S'pose it's
+important for me to know what was in that message? S'pose I demanded you
+tell me in the name of the law?"
+
+"Shucks, 'Lish. You don't get round me that way," the station agent
+laughed.
+
+"I ain't attemptin' to get round you. I'm askin' you seriously as
+sheriff of the town of Wilton."
+
+"Are you in earnest? What do you want to know for?" Artie asked.
+
+"Never you mind. That's my business. I've a right to the information."
+
+"Oh, that's different. Still, I reckon it's as well I shouldn't repeat
+what Heath said word for word. 'Twouldn't interest you, anyhow. The
+wire was just sent to a friend. The part that astonished me was its
+beginnin'. It ran somethin' like this:
+
+"'_Safe on Cape with my lady. Shall return with her later._'"
+
+Simultaneously Elisha shot up from the box on which he was sitting and
+Eleazer sprang from the keg of nails.
+
+"What interested me," droned on Artie, "was who this lady could be.
+Heath, apparently, is a married man. What business has he taggin' after
+some Wilton woman an' totin' her back to New York with him when he
+goes?"
+
+"He ain't got no business doin' it," Eleazer shouted. "He's a
+blackguard--that's what he is! But don't you worry, Artie. He ain't
+goin' to put no such scurvy trick over on any Wilton woman. Me an'
+'Lish'll see to that. We're onto him an' his doin's, we are. How much
+more tinkerin' have you got to do on them trinkets, Pete? The sheriff
+an' me is in a hurry to get home."
+
+"You'll have to give me a good half hour more."
+
+"The deuce we will!"
+
+"Can't do it in less."
+
+"That'll mean we won't fetch up at Wilton 'til after dark," Eleazer
+fretted.
+
+"Sorry. I'm workin' at top speed. I can't go no faster. You've set me
+quite a chore."
+
+"There's no use goin' up in the air an' rilin' Pete all up, Eleazer,"
+Elisha intervened. "We'll just have to be patient an' put off what we
+was plannin' to do until tomorrow. I reckon mornin'll be a better time,
+anyway. Certainly 'twill do just as well."
+
+"Mebbe," Eleazer grumbled. "Still, I'm disappointed. Wal, that bein' the
+case, s'pose you an' me step over to the drug store while we're hangin'
+round an' do them errands we mentioned."
+
+Elisha agreed.
+
+A faint flush had crept back into his cheeks and his eyes had regained
+their light of hope.
+
+Chance was on his side.
+
+He had wrested from Fate another twelve hours of life, and life was
+sweet.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII
+
+
+Dawn was breaking over Wilton and the first shafts of sunlight
+transforming its pearly sands into sparkling splendor and its sea into
+spangled gold, when a trim motor car, bearing a New York number plate,
+slipped quietly into the village and drew up at the town garage.
+
+From it stepped a man, small and somewhat bent, with rosy cheeks, kindly
+brown eyes, a countenance schooled to stolidity rather than naturally
+so, and hair touched with grey.
+
+"May I leave my car here?" he inquired of the lad who was sweeping out
+the building.
+
+"Sure!"
+
+"Fill her up for me, please. And you might clean her a bit. Some of the
+roads were pretty soft."
+
+"They always are at this season of the year, sir. You are astir early. I
+thought I was, but I reckon you've beaten me. Come far?"
+
+"New York."
+
+"Been riding all night?"
+
+The stranger nodded.
+
+"I like traveling at night," he volunteered. "Less traffic. Can you tell
+me where a Mr. Heath is staying?"
+
+"Heath? The chap who ran aground on the Crocker Cove sand bar?"
+
+"He came in a boat," replied the other cautiously.
+
+"Then he's your party. He's over to The Widder's."
+
+"The Widow's?"
+
+"U--h--aah."
+
+"Where's that?"
+
+"New round here, ain't you? If you warn't, you wouldn't be askin' that
+question. The Widder lives out yonder at the Homestead."
+
+"How does one get there?"
+
+"Wal, there are several ways. When the tide's low, folks walk. It's even
+possible to motor round by the shore if you've a light car. The quickest
+way, though, an' the only way to reach the house when the tide's full,
+as 'tis now, is to row."
+
+Although the keen eyes of his listener narrowed, they expressed no
+surprise. Apparently he was accustomed to obstacles, and the surmounting
+of them was all in the day's work.
+
+"Where'll I find a boat?"
+
+"That I couldn't say. The Widder keeps hers t'other side of the channel.
+Mebbe, though, if you was to go down to the beach some fisherman would
+give you a lift across. 'Most any of 'em would admire to if you're a
+friend of Marcia Howe's."
+
+The stranger bowed but offered no comment. If curiosity stirred within
+him concerning the information the lad vouchsafed, at least he gave no
+sign.
+
+"Thank you," he replied briefly. "You'll see the car is put in good
+shape?"
+
+"The very best."
+
+"Much obliged. Will this road take me to the beach?"
+
+"Straight as an arrow. Pity you have to tote that suit-case."
+
+"I'm used to carrying luggage. It never bothers me. Good morning."
+
+Without wasting additional words or time, the stranger nodded and
+started off briskly in the direction indicated. Nevertheless, swiftly as
+he moved, his eyes missed none of the panorama stretched before him.
+
+The swelling expanse of sea, rising and falling to the rhythm of its own
+whispered music, caught his ear; he noted the circling gulls that dipped
+to the crests of the incoming waves or drifted in snowy serenity upon
+the tide; saw the opalescent flash of the mica-studded sands. Twice he
+stopped to fill his lungs with the fresh morning air, breathing deeply
+as if such crystalline draughts were an infrequent and appreciated
+luxury.
+
+When he reached the beach he halted, glancing up and down its solitary
+crescent and scanning eagerly the silvered house beyond the channel.
+Discovering no one in sight, he dragged from the shore a yellow dory,
+clambered into it, and catching up the oars began to row toward the
+dwelling silhouetted against the water and the glory of the morning sky.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the meantime, both Marcia and Sylvia had wakened early and were
+astir.
+
+The kitchen fire was already snapping merrily in the stove, however, and
+the table was spread before the latter made her appearance.
+
+She came in, sweater and beret in hand, and carrying a thick envelope
+with its dashingly scrawled address still wet.
+
+"Why, Sylvia, how you startled me!" Marcia exclaimed. "I did not hear
+you come down stairs. Why are you up so early?"
+
+"I'm going to town to catch the morning mail."
+
+"The mail? But, my dear child, why such haste?"
+
+Sylvia colored.
+
+"I have to get off this letter."
+
+"Have to?"
+
+"Yes--to Hortie. You see, if I didn't answer promptly he might think the
+candy had gone astray," explained the girl stepping to the mirror and
+arranging a curl that rippled distractingly above her forehead.
+
+"Oh, of course, you must thank him for the candy," Marcia agreed.
+"Still, is it necessary to do so in such a rush--to walk to the village
+this morning?"
+
+"I mean to row over."
+
+"I'm afraid you can't, dear. I discovered last night the boat was gone.
+Eleazer Crocker must have appropriated it when he was here yesterday."
+
+"How horrid of him! What earthly right had he to take it?"
+
+"None at all."
+
+"Didn't he ask if he might?"
+
+"No. To tell the truth, I went to find a book for him and was gone so
+long he apparently became either peeved or impatient at my delay and
+like a silly small boy went home mad, taking the boat with him--at least
+that's my version of the story."
+
+"Perhaps he did it to punish you."
+
+"Perhaps. Anyway, whether he took it as a joke or as a reprisal, I shall
+give him a good lecture when I see him. It is a serious thing to be left
+out here with no way of getting to land. We might have needed the dory
+sorely. In fact, here we are with this tremendously important letter
+that must be posted immediately--willy-nilly."
+
+With eyes brimming with laughter, Marcia shot a mischievous glance at
+her companion.
+
+"It isn't just to thank Hortie for the candy that I'm writing," that
+young lady replied sedately. "You see, he asked if he might come to
+Wilton for his summer vacation. He has to know so he can make his
+plans."
+
+"But it is only the last of April, beloved."
+
+"Men need to know such things well in advance. They have to adjust their
+business," returned Sylvia magnificently.
+
+"I see," smiled Marcia. "Under such conditions, I suppose the sooner the
+letter is sent the better."
+
+She did not say precisely what conditions were in her mind, but
+evidently the comment mollified Sylvia who, after wriggling her mop of
+curls through the neck of her blue sweater, tossed beret and letter into
+a chair and began, in high spirits, to help with the breakfast.
+
+Yet notwithstanding she did so graciously, it was quite obvious her eyes
+were on the clock and that she was fidgeting to be off; so as soon as
+the coffee and toast were ready, Marcia begged her not to delay.
+
+The girl needed no urging.
+
+"The sooner I start, the sooner I shall be back, I suppose," she
+answered with feigned reluctance. "Men are so unreasonable. It's a
+perfect nuisance to trot to Wilton with this letter at this hour of the
+morning, especially if I must go the long way round. Still, there's no
+other way to get it there. Any errands?"
+
+"Not today, thanks. Just the mail."
+
+"I'll wait for it."
+
+The eagerness betrayed by the reply left not the slightest doubt that
+Sylvia would wait, and gladly.
+
+As the door closed behind her, Marcia smiled whimsically.
+
+She continued to smile, even to hum softly to herself while she prepared
+Heath's breakfast tray, and she was just about to take it upstairs when
+there was a gentle knock at the kitchen door.
+
+A stranger stood upon the threshold.
+
+"Is Mr. Stanley Heath staying here?" inquired he.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I am Currier. Mr. Heath sent for me."
+
+"Of course! Come in, won't you? Mr. Heath is expecting you. I'll tell
+him you are here."
+
+"You needn't do that, madam. Mr. Heath is quite accustomed to my coming
+to his room at all hours. If you will just show me where he is--"
+
+"At the head of the stairs."
+
+"Very good. Thank you, madam. I will go up."
+
+"Tell him I am bringing his breakfast very soon."
+
+"I will, madam."
+
+"Have you breakfasted yourself?"
+
+"I? No, madam. But I beg you will not--"
+
+"I'll bring coffee and toast enough for both of you."
+
+"Please--"
+
+"It is no trouble."
+
+"I will come back and fetch Mr. Heath's breakfast, madam. Afterward, if
+I may have a snack here in the kitchen, I shall be grateful."
+
+"Any way that you prefer."
+
+Marcia saw rather than heard the stranger mount the staircase.
+
+His step was like velvet. So noiseless was it, it made not a sound
+either on the broad creaking staircase, or on the floor overhead.
+
+Nevertheless, he must have entered Stanley Heath's room, for soon she
+detected the invalid's voice, imperative and eager, each sentence ending
+with an interrogation. The lapses of silence which intervened and which
+at first she took to be pauses, she presently decided represented the
+inaudible and subdued replies of Currier.
+
+To judge from the sounds, Heath was pouring out an avalanche of
+questions.
+
+Sometimes he choked as if words came faster than he could utter them;
+and once he broke into peals of hearty laughter, followed by a paroxysm
+of coughing.
+
+Still, Currier failed to return for the waiting tray.
+
+"He has forgotten all about it," murmured Marcia. "The coffee will be
+stone cold and the toast ruined. I'll carry them up myself."
+
+She mounted the stairs softly that her coming might break in as little
+as possible upon the conversation of her two guests.
+
+"She was alone in the library when I went in," Heath was saying, "and
+turned so white I feared she might faint or scream. Luckily she did
+neither. Steadying herself against the table, she faced me.
+
+"'You know what I'm after,' I said--'the jewels.'
+
+"She hedged a moment.
+
+"'What makes you think I have them?'
+
+"'I know. Come, hand them over.'
+
+"At that, she began to cry.
+
+"'Quickly,' I repeated. 'Someone may come.'
+
+"With that, she fumbled under her skirt and produced the jewel-case,
+pouring out a torrent of explanations.
+
+"I stopped no longer than I had to, I assure you. With the jewels in my
+hand, I slipped through the French window and made for the landing where
+I had left the boat. In no time I had made my get-away. Every detail of
+my plan would have gone smoothly but for the fog. I lost my bearings
+completely. Imagine my amazement at finding myself here."
+
+Marcia waited to hear no more.
+
+Her knees trembled beneath her.
+
+So Heath really had taken the jewels--taken them from the resisting
+woman who owned them--taken them against her will and made off with
+them!
+
+He owned it!
+
+Nay, more! Far from regretting what he had done, in his tone rang a
+note of satisfaction in his accomplishment.
+
+She had never believed him guilty.
+
+Even with the gems spread out before her and every evidence of crime
+apparent, she had not believed it.
+
+Not until she heard the bitter, irrevocable confession from his own lips
+did she waver, and even then she battled against the truth, refusing
+to be convinced. There must be some explanation, she told herself.
+Nevertheless, the shock of what she had learned was overwhelming.
+
+It seemed as if every ounce of strength left her body. Her head swam.
+Her heart beat wildly.
+
+"I must not give way!" she reiterated to herself. "I must put on a brave
+front. He must not suspect I know."
+
+It took a few moments for her to regain her grip on herself, to quiet
+her throbbing heart, to drag back her ebbing strength.
+
+Then she knocked at the door.
+
+"Here is your coffee, Mr. Heath," she called.
+
+She hoped his friend would open the door and relieve her of the tray
+that she might immediately withdraw, but instead, Heath himself
+responded:
+
+"Come in, Mrs. Howe. I'm afraid we've delayed you. I had entirely
+forgotten about breakfast and so, I'll be bound, had Currier. You met my
+right-hand man down stairs, I take it. By traveling all night, he made
+very good time."
+
+"He must be tired after his trip!"
+
+"Oh, Currier is used to traveling at all hours. Night or day are both
+alike to him," laughed Heath.
+
+"You found the house without trouble?" Marcia inquired, making an effort
+to address the newcomer in a natural, off-hand manner.
+
+"Yes, Mrs. Howe. A young man at the garage directed me to the beach and
+there I discovered a yellow dory which I appropriated. I don't know
+as I should have taken it, but as I needed a boat, I pressed it into
+service."
+
+"The boat happens to be mine."
+
+"Indeed. Then perhaps you will pardon my using it."
+
+"Certainly. In fact, I am glad you did. It was left on the mainland by
+mistake."
+
+As Marcia turned to go, her unfailing courtesy prompted her to add:
+
+"Mr. Currier is welcome to stay if he wishes to, Mr. Heath. We can put
+him up perfectly well."
+
+"Oh, no. He is returning directly. It seems wiser for him to go back in
+the boat and leave the car for me to use here. Nevertheless, I greatly
+appreciate your kindness."
+
+"Mrs. Heath is anxious," put in Currier. "She begged me to come home as
+soon as possible that she might know how Mr. Heath was. Naturally she
+has been much worried."
+
+"There, there, Currier--that will do," broke in Stanley Heath, flushing.
+"And now, since Mrs. Howe is here and is in our secret, I may as well
+break to you something I have not yet had the chance to tell you. Part
+of the mission on which you came cannot be accomplished. You cannot take
+the gems back with you to New York. A calamity has befallen them."
+
+"A calamity, sir?"
+
+The small, grey-haired man looked from Stanley Heath to Marcia, and for
+the first time, his imperturbable countenance betrayed mingled amazement
+and distress. Presently, however, he had it under control and as if he
+had donned a mask, it became as expressionless as the sphinx while he
+waited for the rest of the story.
+
+"Mrs. Howe helped me conceal the jewels downstairs in a hiding-place
+under the kitchen floor," continued Stanley Heath. "When she went to get
+them, they were gone."
+
+"You don't tell me so, sir!"
+
+"It is all very mysterious," broke in Marcia, taking up the tale.
+"I cannot in any way account for their disappearance and am much
+distressed."
+
+"Naturally so, madam--naturally so," responded Currier politely. "And
+you have searched the place carefully? Sometimes such things get
+misplaced."
+
+"I've looked everywhere. They are not there."
+
+"Have you any theory as to who could have taken them?" inquired Currier
+with more animation than he had up to the moment displayed.
+
+"Absolutely none. I cannot even see how anybody had the chance to take
+them. No one knew they were there."
+
+"Would you be willing to show me where they were hidden and allow me to
+investigate?"
+
+"Certainly. I fear, however, search will be useless."
+
+"Still I should like to look."
+
+"I'll take you downstairs then, while we have the opportunity. You must
+have something to eat, too, for you must be hungry after your long
+ride."
+
+"I could do with a cup of coffee, if convenient."
+
+"You shall have more than that--a hearty breakfast. I am sure you need
+it. When do you start back?"
+
+"That is for Mr. Heath to decide."
+
+"Right off. As soon as you can get under way," Stanley Heath said
+decisively. "It is a fine day and you had better make the most of the
+tide."
+
+"That certainly would be wise, sir."
+
+"Go down now with Mrs. Howe, since she is so gracious, and have your
+breakfast. Examine, too, the place where we concealed the jewel-case.
+You may discover a clue she has missed."
+
+"That is extremely unlikely, I fear, sir," was the man's modest answer.
+"Still, I will look."
+
+"I am sick at heart about all this," Marcia murmured as the two
+descended the stairs. "You see, it was I who suggested to Mr. Heath
+where to hide the gems. We were hurried and had no time to think up a
+place. I had used this hide-out before and as it had always proved safe,
+I thought it would be so now. I feel responsible--as if this loss was my
+fault."
+
+"It is a great pity," was Currier's ambiguous reply.
+
+Preceding him into the kitchen, Marcia went straight to the hearth and
+pointed to the brick at her feet.
+
+"It was here we put the jewel-case," she said.
+
+"I think, with your permission, I will take up the brick," the little
+man at her elbow quietly announced.
+
+"Certainly," acquiesced Marcia wearily.
+
+"There might be some crevice, some opening--"
+
+"I fear there isn't. Still you can try."
+
+Taking out his knife, Currier knelt and soon had the brick out of its
+hole.
+
+Beneath it lay the jewel-case, wrapped as before in Stanley Heath's
+monogrammed handkerchief.
+
+Marcia could not believe her eyes.
+
+"But--but--it wasn't there when I looked. I could swear it wasn't."
+
+"Who could have taken it out? And if someone did why return anything so
+valuable?" Currier inquired.
+
+"I don't know. I do not understand it at all," the woman replied,
+passing a hand across her forehead in complete bewilderment. "There is
+something uncanny about the whole affair."
+
+"Well, at any rate, the gems are here now," said Currier in a
+matter-of-fact tone. "Mr. Heath will be much relieved. Their loss must,
+I am sure, have distressed him deeply. Shall I go up and--"
+
+"I'll go," Marcia cried. "It won't take me a minute. I'll be right
+back."
+
+"As you prefer, madam."
+
+Off flew Marcia.
+
+Her haste, the radiance of her face must have suggested to the stranger
+a thought that had not occurred to him before, for after she had gone,
+he stood immovable in the middle of the floor looking after her.
+
+Then a slow, shadowy smile passed across his features.
+
+Thrusting his hands into his pockets, he took two or three meditative
+strides up and down the room.
+
+"So--ho!" he muttered. "So--ho!"
+
+It happened he had quite an opportunity for thought before his hostess
+returned and he employed it to the utmost.
+
+He was still absorbed in reverie when Marcia, breathless and flushed,
+rejoined him.
+
+She made no apology for her absence.
+
+Perhaps she did not realize the length of time she had been gone.
+
+"Well," queried she, "what conclusion have you arrived at?"
+
+"A very interesting one," Currier returned promptly.
+
+"Really? What is it?"
+
+The man appeared taken aback.
+
+"I misunderstood your question," he faltered. "I had something else in
+mind."
+
+"I don't see how you could have. I can think of nothing but the jewels
+and their recovery. I am so happy I had completely forgotten your
+breakfast. Forgive me. You shall have it right away."
+
+"If you would allow me, I can prepare it myself. I am accustomed to
+doing such things."
+
+"No, indeed. Scrambled eggs take only a few moments; and bacon. You
+might run up to see Mr. Heath while I am getting them ready."
+
+"I will do that. I shall be leaving at once and he may have final orders
+for me, or perhaps a letter for Mrs. Heath."
+
+"Mrs. Heath!" Marcia repeated, as if the name suddenly brought before
+her consciousness something hitherto forgotten. "Yes, yes! Of course!"
+
+Then turning her head aside, she inquired with studied carelessness:
+
+"How long, I wonder, does Mr. Heath plan to remain in Wilton?"
+
+"I could not say, madam."
+
+"I think," hurried on the woman, "that as soon as he is able to make the
+journey he would better go home. This climate is--is--damp and he will,
+perhaps, pick up faster away from the sea. If you have any influence
+with him, won't you please advise it?"
+
+The man's small, grey eyes narrowed.
+
+"I have no influence with Mr. Heath," replied he. "Mrs. Heath has,
+however. Shall I tell her?"
+
+"I wish you would."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+An hour later _My Unknown Lady_ weighed anchor and on the breast of the
+high tide, rounded the Point and disappeared out to sea, carrying with
+her Currier and the jewels.
+
+Marcia watched until the last snowy ripple foaming in her wake had
+disappeared. When the infinitesimal, bobbing craft was no longer
+visible, she sank into a chair and brushed her hand across her eyes.
+
+The lips which but a short time before had curled into smiles were now
+set and determined.
+
+"And that's the end of that foolishness!" she muttered. "The end!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV
+
+
+In spite of Elisha's indignation toward Stanley Heath, and his resolve
+to go to the Homestead with the break of dawn, it was noon before he and
+Eleazer got under way.
+
+In the first place, the two men disagreed as to the proper method of
+arresting the alleged criminal.
+
+"You can't take him on no warrant, 'Lish," Eleazer objected, "'cause you
+ain't actually got proof he's guilty."
+
+"Proof? Ain't I got a clear case? Ain't I roundin' him up with the loot
+on him?" blustered Elisha.
+
+"Mebbe. Still, it's my opinion you can't do more'n take him on
+suspicion."
+
+"Suspicion!" Elisha repeated scornfully. "Suspicion! Would you call a
+fistful of diamonds suspicion? I wouldn't."
+
+"P'raps--p'raps you didn't really see the jewels," Eleazer quavered.
+"Sometimes folks get to imaginin' things--seein' what ain't there. Are
+you plumb certain you saw them things?"
+
+"Certain?"
+
+"Come, come! Don't go up in the air, 'Lish. I ain't doubtin' your word.
+Nothin' of the sort. I just want to make sure we don't take no missteps
+an' make jackasses of ourselves," Eleazer explained. "This is a big
+affair. We've got to move careful."
+
+"Humph! You're shifty as the sands. You didn't talk like this
+yesterday."
+
+"No, I didn't. But after sleepin' on the matter, I've thought more 'bout
+it."
+
+"Sleepin' on it! You were lucky if you could sleep on it. I didn't. I
+never closed my eyes from the time I went to bed 'till mornin'. Heard
+the clock strike every hour. You can't 'cuse me of not thinkin'. I'll
+bet I've done full as much thinkin' as you--mebbe more. Had you the
+prospect of bein' shot ahead of you, you'd think--think pretty hard, I
+figger," Elisha growled.
+
+"No doubt I would," conceded Eleazer mildly. "Wal, 'long's we've both
+chewed the matter over, I reckon there's nothin' more to be done now but
+go ahead."
+
+"Take Heath on suspicion, you mean? Humph! Seems an awful cheap sort of
+way to do it, in my opinion. Kinder meechin'. There ain't no dignity to
+it."
+
+"What's the use of standin' here bickerin' half the mornin', 'Lish?"
+Eleazer said fretfully. "Let's get started. Next we know Heath may get
+wind of what we're up to an' light out."
+
+"No danger of that with the Homestead dory on this side of the channel,"
+Elisha sniffed.
+
+"For all that, no purpose is served by puttin' off the evil hour. I say
+we get under way," Eleazer urged. "Have you got everythin'?"
+
+"I--I--guess so," Elisha said weakly.
+
+"Pete fixed up your badge in great shape, didn't he?" was Eleazer's
+cheerful comment. "It's bright as a new dollar. Anybody could see it a
+mile away."
+
+Elisha offered no reply.
+
+"An' the handcuffs, too--they look grand. Why don't you kinder dangle
+'em so'st they show? Why stuff 'em in your pocket? Was I in your place,
+I'd stalk into the Homestead with the handcuffs in one hand an' the
+pistol in the other."
+
+"You ain't in my place!" Elisha snapped. "I wish to heaven you were."
+
+"No, I ain't," his confederate returned promptly. "I'm only playin'
+second fiddle on this job. The whole responsibility's yours."
+
+"Don't I know it? Why rub it in?"
+
+"I ain't rubbin' it in. I'm just sorter cautionin' myself. You see when
+I'm mixed up in a job, I get so interested I'm liable to forget an' go
+ahead as if the whole enterprise was my own."
+
+"You're welcome to shoulder this one if you want to. I give you
+permission," Elisha said eagerly.
+
+"Oh, I wouldn't think of doin' that, 'Lish. I wouldn't want to steal the
+glory from you. You're the big shot on this occasion," cajoled Eleazer.
+"Wal, what do you say to our settin' out?"
+
+Elisha did not move.
+
+"Don't it 'most seem as if we'd oughter eat somethin' 'fore we go? I
+might turn faint doin' arrestin' on an empty stomach."
+
+"But man alive, you et your breakfast, didn't you?"
+
+"That was some little while ago," argued Elisha. "I'm feelin' a wee mite
+gone a'ready. I'd oughter have a lunch or somethin'."
+
+"Wal, since you mention it, I could do with a couple of doughnuts an'
+slab of cheese myself," Eleazer confessed.
+
+This information delighted Elisha.
+
+"We might put off goin' 'til after dinner," he suggested. "Then we'd be
+primed by a good square meal an' be braced for it."
+
+"Oh, we can't wait that long," his comrade immediately objected.
+
+"N--o, I s'pose we can't. Wal, anyhow, I'll go hunt up a snack of
+somethin'."
+
+"Don't bring nothin' but doughnuts an' cheese," Eleazer bellowed after
+him. "We can munch on them while walkin' to the beach."
+
+The stroll to Crocker's Cove was not a hilarious one, even May Ellen's
+twisted crullers failing to stimulate Elisha's rapidly ebbing strength.
+With each successive step his spirits dropped lower and lower.
+
+"You walk like as if you was chief mourner at your own funeral, 'Lish,"
+Eleazer fretted. "We'll never make the Cove if you don't brace up."
+
+"My shoes kinder pinch me."
+
+"Walk on your toes."
+
+"It's my toes that hurt."
+
+"Walk on your heels then. Walk anywhere that's most comfortable, only
+come along."
+
+"I am comin'."
+
+"At a snail's pace," Eleazer retorted. "Soon folks will be comin' from
+the noon mail an' what we're doin' will get noised abroad."
+
+Reluctantly Elisha quickened his steps.
+
+At last they came within sight of the bay.
+
+"Where'd you leave the boat?" Eleazer questioned.
+
+"I pulled her up opposite the fish-shanty."
+
+"She ain't here."
+
+"Ain't here!"
+
+"No. Look for yourself."
+
+"My soul an' body!"
+
+"I told you you hadn't oughter dally. What's to be done now?"
+
+"I reckon we'll just have to give it all up," the sheriff responded with
+a sickly grin. "Call it off."
+
+"Call it off? But you can't call it off. Officers of the law have got to
+do their duty no matter what."
+
+"Yes--yes! Of course. I only meant we'd call it off for the
+present--for today, p'raps."
+
+"An' let the thief escape? No sir--ee! We've got to go through with
+this thing now we've started if it takes a leg. We'll walk round by the
+shore."
+
+"It's too far. My feet would never carry me that distance."
+
+"They've got to. Come along."
+
+"I can't walk in all these clothes. This collar is murderin' me."
+
+"Oh, shut up, 'Lish. Quit whinin'."
+
+"I ain't whinin'. Can't a man make a remark without your snappin' him
+up, I'd like to know? Who's sheriff anyhow--me or you?"
+
+Eleazer vouchsafed no reply.
+
+In high dudgeon the two men plodded through the sand, its grit seeping
+into their shoes with every step.
+
+It was not until they came within sight of the Homestead that the
+silence between them was broken.
+
+"Wal, here we are!" Eleazer announced more genially.
+
+"Yes--here--here we are!" his comrade panted. "S'pose we set down a
+minute an' ketch our breath. My soul an' body--what a tramp! There's
+blisters on both my heels. I can hardly rest 'em on the ground."
+
+"You do look sorter winded."
+
+"I'm worse'n winded. I'm near dead! It's this infernal collar. It's
+most sawed the head off me," groaned Elisha.
+
+"I don't see how it could. Every mite of starch is out of it. It's limp
+as a pocket handkerchief."
+
+"Mebbe. Still, for all that, it's sand-papered my skin down to the raw.
+Collars are the devil's own invention. Nobody oughter wear 'em. Nobody
+oughter be made to wear 'em," raged Elisha. "Had I known when I was made
+sheriff I'd got to wear a collar, I'd never have took the job--never.
+'Twarn't fair play not to tell me. In fact, there was nothin' fair 'bout
+any of it. This arrestin', now! I warn't justly warned 'bout that."
+
+"Mebbe not," Eleazer agreed. "Still, I don't see's there's anything to
+be done 'bout all that now. You're sheriff an' your duty lies straight
+ahead of you. You've got to do it. Come along."
+
+"Wait a minute, Eleazer. Just hold on a second. Let's take 'count of
+stock an' decide how we're goin' to proceed. We've got to make a plan,"
+pleaded Elisha.
+
+"But we've made a plan a'ready."
+
+"No, we ain't--not a real plan. We've got to decide 'xactly how we'll go
+'bout the affair," contradicted his companion. "After you've knocked at
+the door an' gone in--"
+
+"I knocked an' gone in?"
+
+"Yes, yes," Elisha repeated. "After that, you'll sorter state the case
+to Marcia, 'xplainin' why we've come an' everythin'--"
+
+"An' what'll you be doin' meantime?" Eleazer inquired, wheeling sharply.
+
+"Me? Why, I'll be waitin' outside, kinder loiterin' 'til it's time for
+me to go in--don't you see?"
+
+"I don't. The time for you to go in is straight after the door is
+opened. It's you that'll enter first an' you who'll do the explainin'."
+
+"But--but--s'pose Heath was to put up a fight an' rush past me?"
+
+"Then I'll be outside to stop him," Eleazer cut in. "That's where I'm
+goin' to be--outside."
+
+"You promised you'd stand by me," reproached Elisha with an injured air.
+
+"Wal, ain't I? If I stay outside ready to trip up the criminal should he
+make a dash for freedom, ain't that standin' by you? What more do you
+want?"
+
+"I think 'twould be better was you to go ahead an' pave the way for me.
+That's how it's done in plays. Some kinder unimportant person goes first
+an' afterward the hero comes in."
+
+"So you consider yourself the hero of this show, do you?" commented
+Eleazer sarcastically.
+
+"Ain't I?"
+
+"Wal, you don't 'pear to me to be. Where'd you 'a' got that pistol but
+for me? Who egged you on an' marched you here--answer me that? You'd
+'a' given up beat hadn't I took you by the scruff of the neck an'
+hauled you here," Eleazer burst out indignantly. "If you ain't the most
+ungrateful cuss alive! I've a big half mind to go back home an' leave
+you to do your arrestin' alone."
+
+"There, there, Eleazer, don't misunderstand me," Elisha implored. "I was
+only jokin'. 'Course it's you an' not me that's the hero of the day.
+Don't I know it? That's why I was sayin' 'twas you should go into the
+house first. In that way you'll get all the attention an'--"
+
+"An' all the bullets!" supplemented Eleazer grimly. "No--sir--ee! You
+don't pull the wool over my eyes that way, 'Lish Winslow. You're goin'
+to be the first one inside that door an' the last one out. See? You're
+to do the arrestin'. If there's undertakin' to be done afterwards, I
+'tend to do it. You get that clear in your head. Otherwise, I go home."
+
+"Don't do that, Eleazer, don't do that!" Elisha begged. "Don't go home
+an' leave me--now--at the last minute."
+
+"You'll do the knockin' at the door? The announcin' of our errand?"
+
+"Yes. Yes. I swear I will."
+
+"Very well," Eleazer agreed magnificently. "Then I'll remain an' give
+you my moral support."
+
+"I hope you'll do more'n that," urged Elisha timidly.
+
+"I may. I'll see how matters work out," Eleazer returned pompously.
+
+With lagging feet, the sheriff approached the door of the big grey
+house.
+
+"There's the dory," observed Eleazer, pointing in the direction of the
+float. "Somebody's rowed it over."
+
+"I wonder who?"
+
+"P'raps an accomplice has arrived to aid Heath. What's the matter? You
+ain't sick, are you?"
+
+"I dunno. I feel kinder--kinder queer."
+
+"Indigestion! Them doughnuts most likely. You et 'em in a hurry," was
+Eleazer's tranquil reply. "Want a soda mint? I most generally carry some
+in my pocket."
+
+"No. I--I--I think it's my heart."
+
+"Heart--nothin'. It's just plain indigestion--that's what it is. I often
+have it. Don't think 'bout it an' 'twill go away. Put your mind on
+somethin' pleasanter--the arrestin' of Heath."
+
+"That ain't pleasanter."
+
+"Wal, think of somethin' that is then. Anything. An' while you're
+thinkin', be walkin' towards the house. You can think as well walkin' as
+settin' still, I reckon."
+
+"I don't believe I can."
+
+"Wal, try it, anyhow."
+
+Eleazer had a compelling personality. Under the force of his will,
+Elisha found his own weaker one yielding.
+
+He got up and, dragging one foot after the other, moved toward the
+house.
+
+"Now knock," commanded the dictator.
+
+Twice the sheriff reached forth his hand, wavered and withdrew it.
+
+"Why don't you knock, man?" Eleazer demanded.
+
+"I'm goin' to."
+
+Tremulously he tapped on the door.
+
+No answer came.
+
+"Knock, I tell you! That ain't knockin'. Give the door a good smart
+thump so'st folks'll hear it an' be made aware somethin' important's
+goin' on. I'll show you."
+
+Eleazer gave the door a spirited bang.
+
+"Law, Eleazer! A rap like that would wake the dead," Elisha protested.
+
+"I want it should--or at any rate wake the livin'," Eleazer frowned.
+
+"I hear somebody. Stand by me, Eleazer. Where are you goin'? Come back
+here, can't you? You promised--"
+
+"I didn't promise to go in first, remember. We had that out an' settled
+it for good an' all. You was to do that," Eleazer called from his
+vantage ground round the corner.
+
+"But--but--" Elisha whimpered.
+
+There was no more time for argument.
+
+The door swung open and Marcia stood upon the sill.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XV
+
+
+"Why, Elisha!" exclaimed Marcia. "How you startled me. Come in. You're
+all dressed up, aren't you? Have you been to a funeral?"
+
+"No. I--we--"
+
+The sheriff cleared his throat.
+
+"Me an' Eleazer--" he began.
+
+"Eleazer? Did he come with you?"
+
+Elisha nodded.
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+"Outside."
+
+"Isn't he coming in?"
+
+"Yes--yes. He's comin' presently."
+
+"Perhaps he doesn't dare," Marcia remarked with spirit. "I don't wonder
+he hesitates. He ran off with my dory yesterday."
+
+"That warn't Eleazer. That was me."
+
+"You? But I didn't know you were here."
+
+"I was. I took the boat on official business," Elisha explained.
+
+Marcia's laughter, crystalline as a mountain stream, musical as its
+melody, rippled through the room.
+
+"Official business!" she repeated derisively. "Official business indeed!
+When, I'd like to know, did Wilton ever have any official business?
+Don't joke, Elisha. This taking my boat is no joking matter. It is a
+serious thing to leave me here with no way of getting ashore quickly. I
+didn't like it at all."
+
+"I'm sorry," apologized the sheriff uncomfortably. "You see, an
+emergency arose--"
+
+"No emergency is important enough for you to take my boat without
+asking. Please remember that."
+
+"I will," squeaked the offender, coloring under the reprimand like a
+chastened schoolboy. "I won't do it again, I promise you."
+
+"All right. You're forgiven this time. Now sit down and tell me the
+news."
+
+His dignity, his pomposity put to rout Elisha, feeling very small
+indeed, backed into the nearest chair.
+
+Instead of making the rafters of the Homestead quake at his presence;
+instead of humbling Heath, reducing Marcia to trembling admiration, here
+he sat cowed and apologetic.
+
+It was not at all the sort of entrance he had mapped out. It would not
+do. He had got a wrong start.
+
+Before Eleazer put in an appearance, he must right himself.
+
+With a preliminary ahem, he hitched forward in the rocking chair.
+
+"You won't mind if I go on with my baking, will you?" Marcia said,
+bustling toward the stove. "I'm makin' dried apple turnovers. They'll be
+done in a second and you shall have one."
+
+"I thought I smelled pie crust," Elisha murmured vaguely.
+
+"You thought right."
+
+Kneeling, Marcia opened the door of the oven.
+
+"Isn't that a sight for sore eyes?" inquired she as she drew out a pan
+of spicy brown pastries and placed them, hot and fragrant, on the table.
+"Now, I'll get you a plate, fork and some cheese."
+
+"I don't need no fork," Elisha protested. "I can take it in my fingers."
+
+"Oh, you better not do that. It's sticky and you might get a spot on
+your Sunday clothes."
+
+His Sunday clothes!
+
+Elisha came to himself.
+
+He rose up.
+
+"I oughtn't to be eatin', anyhow," he called after Marcia as she
+retreated into the pantry. "You see, I come here this mornin' to--"
+
+"I guess a nice hot apple turnover won't go amiss no matter what you
+came for," interrupted the woman, returning with the plate, fork and
+cheese.
+
+With deftness she whisked the triangle of flaky pastry onto the plate
+and extended it toward her guest.
+
+Its warm, insidious perfume was too much for Elisha.
+
+He sat down with the plate in his lap.
+
+He had taken only an introductory mouthful, however, when the door
+parted a crack and Eleazer crept cautiously through the opening.
+
+For a moment he stood transfixed, viewing the scene with amazement; then
+he burst out in a torrent of reproach.
+
+"'Lish Winslow, what on earth are you doin'? Here I've been waitin'
+outside in the wind, ketchin' my death of cold an' worryin' lest you was
+dead--hearin' neither word nor sign of you--an' you settin' here by the
+stove rockin' an' eatin' pie! What do you think you come for, anyhow?"
+
+"I know, Eleazer, I know," Elisha stammered, ducking his head before the
+accusing finger of his colleague. "It may, mebbe, seem queer to you. I
+just hadn't got round to the business in hand, that's all. I'm comin' to
+it."
+
+"Comin' to it? You don't look as if you was."
+
+"I am," protested the sheriff, cramming the turnover into his mouth and
+drawing his hand hurriedly across his lips. "I'm comin' to it in time.
+Be patient, Eleazer! Be patient, can't you?"
+
+"I've been patient half an hour a'ready an' you ain't, apparently, even
+made a beginnin'."
+
+"Yes I have, Eleazer. I've made a start. The pie's et. That's done an'
+over."
+
+"But you had no right to stop an' eat. You had no business eatin' pie,
+anyhow. Ain't you got indigestion?"
+
+"I--wal, yes. I do recall havin' a qualm or two of dyspepsia," Elisha
+owned in a conciliatory tone. "That's gone, though. I reckon the fresh
+air kinder scat it off. I'd clean forgot about it."
+
+"Mebbe you'd clean forgot what you come here to do, too," derided
+Eleazer.
+
+"No. Oh, no. I didn't forget that. I was just leadin' up to it in a
+sorter tactful way."
+
+"There ain't no way of bein' tactful when you're arrestin' folks. You've
+got the thing to do an' you have to go straight to it."
+
+A fork clattered from Marcia's shaking hand to the floor.
+
+"Arresting folks?" she repeated, looking from one man to the other.
+
+"Yes. Since 'Lish is so spineless at his job, I may's well tell you what
+we come for. He don't 'pear to have no notion of doin' so," Eleazer
+sneered. "Pretty kind of a sheriff he is! You'd think to see him he was
+at an afternoon tea."
+
+"You better look out, Eleazer Crocker, how you insult an officer of the
+law," Elisha bawled angrily. "Say a word more an' I'll hail you into
+court."
+
+"If you don't land me there faster'n you do Heath I shan't worry,"
+jeered Eleazer.
+
+"Heath? Mr. Heath?" Marcia repeated.
+
+"Yes. We come over here this mornin' to place Mr. Stanley Heath under
+arrest," Eleazer announced.
+
+The woman caught at the edge of the table.
+
+"Place him under arrest? What for?"
+
+So they knew the truth! In some way they had found it out and the net of
+the law was closing in.
+
+Her mind worked rapidly. She must gain time--worm out of them how much
+they know.
+
+"Of what are you accusing Mr. Heath?" she demanded, drawing herself to
+her full height and unconsciously moving until her back was against the
+door leading to the stairway.
+
+"Of the Long Island robbery," Eleazer answered.
+
+"You mean to say you think him a thief?"
+
+"We know he's one--leastways Elisha does."
+
+"Don't go foistin' it all on me," snarled Elisha.
+
+"But you do know, don't you? You said you did."
+
+"I--yes! I'm tol'able sure. I have evidence," Elisha replied. "At least
+I figger I have."
+
+"Shucks, 'Lish!" Eleazer cried. "Where's your backbone? You figger you
+have! Don't you know it? Ain't you beheld the loot with your own eyes?"
+
+Elisha nodded.
+
+"Then why on earth don't you stand up in your boots an' say so?"
+
+The door opened and Sylvia entered then stopped, arrested on the
+threshold by the sound of angry voices.
+
+Inquiringly she looked from Marcia to the men, and back again.
+
+No one, however, heeded her presence.
+
+Marcia, with whitened lips but with face grave and determined, remained
+with her back to the stairway door, her arms stretched across its broad
+panels, her eyes never leaving Elisha Winslow's. There was something in
+her face Sylvia had never seen there--a light of battle; a fierceness as
+of a mother fighting for her child; a puzzling quality to which no name
+could be given.
+
+Suddenly, as the girl studied her, recognition of this new
+characteristic flashed upon her understanding.
+
+It was love!
+
+Anger, perhaps terror, had forced Marcia into betraying a secret no
+other power could have dragged from her.
+
+Sylvia marveled that the men whose gaze was riveted upon her did not
+also read her involuntary confession.
+
+Apparently they failed to do so.
+
+"Ain't I said a'ready I had proof? What more do you want me to do,
+Eleazer?" Elisha fumed.
+
+"What proof have you?" Marcia interposed.
+
+Elisha shifted from one foot to the other.
+
+"I've seen the jewels," he whispered. "They're here--in this room.
+Don't think I'm blamin' you, Marcia. 'Course Heath bein' what he is, is
+nothin' against you," he hurried on breathlessly. "We're all aware you
+wouldn't shelter no criminal did you know he was a criminal; nor would
+you furnish a hidin' place for his stolen goods. What I'm sayin' is news
+to you an' a shock. I can see that. Naturally it's hard to find our
+friends ain't what we thought 'em. When faced with the evidence, though,
+you'll see the truth same's Eleazer an' me see it.
+
+"Heath, the feller overhead, is the Long Island jewel robber.
+
+"The jewels he stole are under that brick. I've seen 'em."
+
+With finger pointing dramatically toward the hearth, Elisha strode
+forward.
+
+Sylvia, however, sprang before him, standing 'twixt him and his goal.
+
+"What a ridiculous story, Mr. Winslow!" she cried. "What a fantastic
+yarn! Do you imagine for one moment there could be anything hidden under
+those bricks and Marcia and I not know it? Why, one or the other of us
+has been in this room every instant since Mr. Heath arrived. When could
+he get the chance to hide anything? Didn't you and Doctor Stetson get
+here almost as soon as he did? Wasn't it you who undressed him? Had he
+brought jewels with him you would have found them inside his clothing.
+You took off every rag he wore. Did you discover any such thing?"
+
+"N--o."
+
+"Well, then, don't you see how absurd such an accusation is? How could
+the gems get here?"
+
+"I don't know how they got here. All I know is they're here," Elisha
+repeated stubbornly.
+
+Sylvia's brain was busy.
+
+That Elisha by some means or other had stumbled upon the truth there
+could be no doubt.
+
+How was she to prevent it if he insisted upon searching as it was
+obvious he intended to do?
+
+Not only was Marcia ignorant of Heath's true character but also that the
+jewels lay concealed close at hand. She would receive an overwhelming
+shock if the proof of his guilt came upon her in this brutal fashion.
+
+Did she not believe in him? Love him?
+
+It was for Marcia Sylvia was fighting, not Heath--Marcia whom she adored
+and whom she was determined to save from Elisha's power at any cost.
+
+If after the two meddling officials had gone she could be convinced that
+the hero on whom her heart was set was unworthy, that was matter for
+later discussion.
+
+All that was of import now was to defend him; shield him from discovery;
+give him the chance for escape.
+
+It was at the moment she reached this decision that Marcia's voice, calm
+and unwavering, broke upon the stillness:
+
+"If you are so certain about the jewels, Elisha, why don't you produce
+them?" she was saying.
+
+"No--no, Marcia!" Sylvia protested. "There is nothing here, Mr. Winslow,
+truly there is nothing. I swear it."
+
+"Nevertheless, let him look, Sylvia."
+
+"But Marcia--" begged the girl.
+
+"Step aside, dear, and let him look. Let them both look."
+
+"Please--please, Marcia--!"
+
+Sylvia was upon her knees now on the hearth, and the men, hesitating to
+remove her by force, halted awkwardly.
+
+Her face, drawn with terror, was upturned to Marcia and was pitiful in
+its pleading.
+
+Marcia regarded her first with startled incredulity--then with coldness.
+
+So Sylvia loved Heath, too!
+
+She was fighting for him--fighting with all her feeble strength.
+
+A pang wrenched the older woman's heart.
+
+What if Heath had played a double game--made love to Sylvia as he had
+made love to her? Convinced her of the depths of his affection with an
+ardor so compelling that against all odds she, too, believed in it?
+
+If so--if the man were a mountebank the sooner they both found it
+out--the sooner all the world knew it, the better.
+
+If, on the other hand, he was innocent, he should have his chance.
+
+The older woman went to the side of the pleading figure.
+
+The surprise of her discovery crisped her voice so that it was short and
+commanding.
+
+"Get up, Sylvia," she said. "The sheriff must search. He must do his
+duty. We have no right to prevent it."
+
+Obedient to the authoritative tone, the girl arose.
+
+"Now, gentlemen, you may search," Marcia said.
+
+Neither Elisha Winslow nor his companion had cause now to complain of
+any lack of dignity in the law's fulfillment.
+
+As if she were a magistrate seeing justice done, Marcia, magnificent in
+silence, towered above them while they stooped to perform their task.
+Her face was pale, her lips tightly set.
+
+The brick was lifted out.
+
+A smothered cry escaped Sylvia and was echoed by Elisha.
+
+"Why--land alive--there's nothin' here!" gasped the sheriff.
+
+"I told you there was nothing!" Sylvia taunted, beginning to laugh
+hysterically. "I told you so--but you would not believe me."
+
+Tears were rolling down her cheeks and she wiped them away, strangling a
+convulsive sob.
+
+"Wal, 'Lish, all I can say is you must either 'a' been wool gatherin' or
+dreamin' when you conceived this yarn," Eleazer jeered.
+
+"I warn't," hissed Elisha, stung to the quick. "I warn't dreamin'. Them
+jewels was there. I saw 'em with my own eyes. I swear to heaven I did."
+Then as if a new idea flashed into his mind, he confronted Sylvia. "They
+was there, young lady, warn't they? You know they was. That's why you
+was so scairt for me to look. You've seen 'em, too."
+
+"I?"
+
+"Yes, you. Deny it if you dare."
+
+"Of course I deny it."
+
+"Humph! But Marcia won't. You can lie if you want to to save the skin of
+that good-for-nothin' critter upstairs--though what purpose is served
+by your doin' it I can't see. But Marcia won't. She'll speak the truth
+same's she always has an' always will. No lie will cross her lips. If
+she says them jewels warn't here I'll believe it. Come now, Marcia.
+Mebbe you've evidence that'll hist me out of the idiot class. Was there
+ever diamonds an' things under this brick or warn't there?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You saw 'em?"
+
+As if the admission was dragged from her, Marcia formed, but did not
+utter, the word:
+
+"Yes."
+
+"They was under this brick, warn't they?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"There! Then I ain't gone daffy! What I said was true," Elisha
+acclaimed, rising in triumph and snapping his finger at Eleazer.
+
+"The jewels were Mr. Heath's. He hid them for safe keeping."
+
+"He told you that?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"A likely story! He stole 'em--that's what he did."
+
+"I don't believe it."
+
+"I do," leered the sheriff.
+
+"Prove it then," challenged Marcia, with sudden spirit, a spot of
+crimson burning on either cheek.
+
+"Prove it?" Elisha was taken aback. "Wal, I can't at the moment do that.
+I can't prove it. But even if I can't, I can make out a good enough case
+against him to arrest him on suspicion. That's what I mean to do--that's
+what I come for an' what I'll do 'fore I leave this house."
+
+Marcia swept across the floor.
+
+Once again she was poised, back against the door leading to the stairs.
+
+"Mr. Heath is sick."
+
+"I guess he ain't so sick but what I can go up an' cross-examine him."
+
+"I ask you not go to. I forbid it."
+
+"Law, Marcia!"
+
+"I forbid it," repeated the woman. "Drop this matter for a day or two,
+Elisha. Mr. Heath shall not leave the house. I promise you that. I will
+give you my bond. Leave him here in peace until he is well again. When
+he is able to--to--go with you I will telephone. You can trust me. When
+have I ever been false to my word?"
+
+"Never, Marcia! Never in all the years I've known you."
+
+"Then go and leave the affair in my hands."
+
+"I don't know--mebbe--I wonder if I'd oughter," ruminated Elisha.
+"'Tain't legal."
+
+"No matter."
+
+"I don't see why the mischief you're so crazy to stand 'twixt this Heath
+chap an' justice, Marcia. The feller's a scoundrel. That's what he
+is--an out an' out scoundrel. Not only is he a thief but he's a married
+man who's plottin' behind your back to betray you--boastin' openly in
+telegrams he is."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I wouldn't like to tell you. In fact I couldn't. 'Twould be repeatin'
+what was told me in confidence," hedged Elisha, frightened by the
+expression of the woman's face.
+
+"You must tell me."
+
+"Mebbe--mebbe--there warn't no truth in what I heard."
+
+"I must judge of that."
+
+"I ain't got no right to tell you. Things are often told me in
+confidence, 'cause of my bein' sheriff, that it ain't expected I'll pass
+on."
+
+"I have a right to know about the telegram you mention. Will you tell me
+or shall I call up the Sawyer Falls operator?"
+
+"Oh, for heaven's sake don't do that," Elisha pleaded. "Artie Nickerson
+would be ragin' mad did he find I'd told you. If you must know what the
+message was, I can repeat it near 'nough, I reckon. It ran somethin'
+like this:
+
+"_Safe on Cape with my lady. Shall return with her later._"
+
+"And that was all?" inquired Marcia calmly.
+
+"All! Ain't that enough?" Elisha demanded. "There was a word or two more
+'bout clothes bein' sent here, but nothin' of any note. The first of the
+message was the important part," concluded the sheriff.
+
+As she vouchsafed no reply and the ticking of the clock beat out an
+embarrassing silence, he presently continued:
+
+"I don't want you should think I told you this, Marcia, with any
+unfriendly motive. It's only that those of us who've seen you marry one
+worthless villain don't want you should marry another. Jason was a low
+down cuss. You know that well's I."
+
+The woman raised her hand to check him.
+
+"I'm aware 'tain't pleasant to hear me say so out loud, but it's God's
+truth. Every man an' woman in Wilton knows 'tis. Folks is fond of you,
+Marcia. We don't want you made miserable a second time."
+
+"Marcia!" Sylvia burst out. "Marcia!"
+
+"Hush, dear. We'll talk of this later. Elisha, I think I must ask you
+and Eleazer to go now. I will let you know when Mr. Heath is able to
+take up this affair with you."
+
+"You ain't goin' to tell me where the jewels are?"
+
+"I don't know where they are."
+
+"Nor nothin' 'bout--'bout the telegram."
+
+"Nothing except to thank you for your kind intentions and say you quoted
+it quite correctly. I sent it for Mr. Heath myself."
+
+"But--but--"
+
+"_My Lady_, as you have apparently forgotten, is the name of Mr. Heath's
+boat--the boat you yourself helped pull off the shoals."
+
+"My land! So 'tis," faltered Elisha. "I'm almighty sorry, Marcia--I ask
+your pardon."
+
+"Me, too! We come with the best of intentions--" rejoined Eleazer,
+fumbling for his cap. "Honest we did."
+
+"It's all right. Just leave us now, please."
+
+As the two men shuffled across the kitchen, a heavy object dropped to
+the floor, interrupting their jumbled apologies.
+
+"Pick up them handcuffs, 'Lish, an' come along double-quick," Eleazer
+muttered beneath his breath. "You've made a big enough fool of yourself
+as 'tis. Don't put your foot in any deeper."
+
+"And here's your hat," added Sylvia, handing the bewildered sheriff his
+property with an impish bow. "Take it and scram--both of you."
+
+As the door banged behind the discomfited officials, clear as a bell on
+the quiet air came the twitting voice of Eleazer:
+
+"Wal, Scram got said, didn't it, 'Lish, even if 'twarn't you said it?
+That gal is an up-to-date little piece. She knows what's what. I told
+you no shindy of this sort was complete unless somebody said: Scram!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI
+
+
+Left alone, Marcia, weary and spent, collapsed into a chair and closed
+her eyes, appearing to forget the presence of the girl who, with parted
+lips, hovered impatiently at her elbow.
+
+Something in the woman's aloofness not only discouraged speech but
+rendered any interruption an intrusion.
+
+At length, however, she roused herself and sighing deeply looked about,
+and taking the gesture as permission to break the silence, the torrent
+of words Sylvia had until now held in check, broke from her:
+
+"Was it true, Marcia--what they said about Uncle Jason I mean? Was it
+true?"
+
+"I'm afraid so, dear."
+
+"But you never told me; and you never told Mother, either. Of course I
+see why. You didn't want her to know because it would have broken her
+heart. So you kept it all to yourself. You did not mean I should find it
+out, did you?"
+
+"Not if I could help it."
+
+Sylvia knelt, taking the cold hands in hers.
+
+"I hate him!" cried she fiercely. "I hate him for making you unhappy and
+spoiling your life!"
+
+"Hush, child. Jason has not spoiled my life," contradicted Marcia with a
+grave, sad smile.
+
+"But he has scarred it--dashed to pieces all the dreams you started out
+with--those beautiful dreams a girl has when she is young. I know what
+they are, for I dream them myself sometimes. They are lovely, delicate
+things. We never quite expect they will come true; yet for all that we
+believe in them. I know you had such fancies once, for you are the sort
+who would. And Jason came and trampled on them--"
+
+"He made me see life as it was. Perhaps it was better I should."
+
+"We all have to see life as it is sooner or later. But there are plenty
+of years ahead in which to do it. The man who destroys the world of
+illusion in which a girl lives destroys something no one can ever give
+back to her."
+
+"I don't know that I should say that," returned Marcia with a faint,
+shadowy smile as if pursuing some secret, intriguing fancy.
+
+"But it's never the same again, I mean--never the same."
+
+"No, it's never the same," agreed the woman soberly.
+
+"Was Jason as bad as they said, Marcia? Ah, you don't have to answer.
+There is no need for you to try to reconcile your desire to spare
+me--spare him--with the truth. He was as bad--probably much worse. Dear,
+dear Marcia." Impulsively Sylvia bent her lips to the hands so tightly
+clasped in hers. "I cannot imagine," she rushed on, "why, when one of
+my family had made you as wretched as he did, you should have wanted
+another in the house. Had I suffered so I should never have wished to
+lay eyes on any more Howes as long as I lived."
+
+"But Jason had nothing to do with you, Sylvia."
+
+"The same blood ran in our veins."
+
+"Perhaps that was the reason."
+
+"Because you could forgive, you mean?" whispered Sylvia. "You are a
+better Christian than I, my dear. I could never have forgiven."
+
+"I have tried not only to forgive but to forget. I have closed the door
+on the past and begun a new life."
+
+"And now into it has come this Stanley Heath," the girl said.
+
+For the fraction of a second Marcia did not reply; then almost inaudibly
+she murmured:
+
+"Yes."
+
+Sylvia slipped one of her strong young arms about the bowed shoulders.
+
+"It just seems as if I could not bear it," she burst out passionately.
+
+"Sylvia, look at me. Tell me the truth. Do you, too, love Stanley
+Heath?"
+
+"I?"
+
+"Was that the reason you fought against Elisha's finding the jewels?
+Tell me. I must know."
+
+"No," she answered without hesitation. "At first he did fascinate me. He
+is a fascinating person. An older man always fascinates a younger girl
+if he has charm. I changed my mind, though, later on. Not because on
+acquaintance he became less charming. It wasn't that. If anything, he
+became more so. I just--just--changed my mind," she repeated, avoiding
+Marcia's eyes. "As for the jewels, I could not bear to let that little
+runt of a sheriff win out. You see, I thought the gems were there under
+the brick and that when you urged him to search, you did not know it.
+
+"I had known all along they were in the house, for I stumbled upon them
+by accident one day when I was here alone; but I had no idea you had. I
+truly believed Mr. Heath had hidden them beneath the hearth, and I was
+determined Elisha should not find them."
+
+"I knew they weren't there."
+
+"You'd moved them? Put them somewhere else?"
+
+"No, indeed. Didn't you hear me tell Elisha I did not know where they
+were?"
+
+"Oh, of course. But you'd have said that anyway," smiled Sylvia,
+dimpling.
+
+"Why--why, Sylvia!"
+
+"You certainly wouldn't have let those men find them," she added
+comfortably.
+
+"On the contrary, if the jewels had been in the house and I had been
+compelled to tell what I knew, I should have told the truth."
+
+"You would? You would have showed those two miserable blood-hounds where
+they were?" asked the girl incredulously.
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"I wouldn't," flashed Sylvia, clinching her small hands. "I would have
+fought that sheriff tooth and nail. I'd have lied--stooped to any means
+to prevent him from unearthing the evidence he was after."
+
+"But the law, Sylvia--the law."
+
+"I wouldn't give a rap for the law. You love Stanley Heath. That's
+enough for me. Besides, he is being tracked down--trapped. I want him to
+go free."
+
+"You think he took the jewels?" asked Marcia, slowly.
+
+"Certainly I do. Don't you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"But, Marcia, can't you see how plain it all is? I know it is terrible
+for you, dear. It almost breaks my heart. It is an awful thing to
+believe of anybody--harder still of a person one loves. Nevertheless,
+we must face the facts. People do not carry such things about with
+them--especially men. He came by them in no honest way, you may be sure
+of that. Hasn't he told you anything?--haven't you asked him?"
+
+"I wouldn't think of asking him," Marcia replied with a lift of her
+chin.
+
+"And he has not volunteered any information?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Most men, if honest and caught in such an odd situation, would
+explain," continued Sylvia. "The very fact that Mr. Heath has not is
+suspicious in itself. He is guilty, Marcia--guilty."
+
+"I do not believe it," was the stubborn protest.
+
+"I realize, dear, it is hard for you to own it," soothed Sylvia. "We
+hate to admit the faults of those we--we--care for. Still, nothing is to
+be gained by remaining blind to them."
+
+"You speak as if such a sin were a mere trivial flaw of character,
+Sylvia. Why, it is fundamental--a crime."
+
+"How can we measure sins and decide which ones are big and which little?
+Perhaps Mr. Heath was horribly tempted to commit this one. We do not
+know. We are not his judges. The thing for us to do is to help him out
+of the mess he is in."
+
+"Help him?"
+
+"Get him off. Aid him to escape."
+
+"Believing him guilty--you would do that?"
+
+"Surely I would."
+
+"You mean you would help him to evade the law? The punishment such
+wrongdoing merits?"
+
+Emphatically, Sylvia nodded her curls.
+
+"I'd help him to get away from those who are tracking him down just as
+I'd help a fox to escape from the hunters."
+
+"Regardless of right or wrong?"
+
+"Yes. To give him a sporting chance, the start of those who are after
+him. You love Stanley Heath. Don't you want to see him go free?"
+
+"Not if he is guilty."
+
+"Marcia! You mean you would deliver him over to the law?"
+
+"I would have him deliver himself over."
+
+"As if he would! As if any criminal would."
+
+"A criminal who thought of his soul might."
+
+"But criminals don't think of their souls, dear. They think only of
+their bodies--that's probably why they are criminals."
+
+Marcia made no answer.
+
+"Well, anyway, nobody is going to round up Mr. Heath if I can prevent
+it," asserted Sylvia, throwing back her head. "If you won't help him get
+away, I will. He must go in the boat--now--today."
+
+"The boat has gone."
+
+"Gone!"
+
+"Mr. Currier arrived this morning after you had gone and took the boat
+back to New York with him."
+
+"And the jewels?"
+
+"Yes, the jewels, too."
+
+"Humph! So that's where they are!"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Pretty cute of him to make so neat a get-away!" commented the girl with
+admiration. "Currier is, of course, the understudy--the accomplice."
+
+Marcia started.
+
+"What sort of man was he? A gentleman, like Mr. Heath?"
+
+The older woman colored.
+
+"Well, no. At least he--he--. Oh, he was polite and had a nice manner--a
+quiet voice--"
+
+"But he was different from Mr. Heath--an inferior--one who took orders,"
+interrupted Sylvia.
+
+"I hardly know. I saw very little of him," Marcia replied guardedly.
+
+"But Mr. Heath did tell him what to do. Currier did as he said."
+
+"I suppose so--yes."
+
+"In other words, he is the hands and Mr. Heath the brains of the team."
+
+"How can you, Sylvia?"
+
+Quivering, Marcia shrunk into her chair as if she had been struck.
+
+"Because I must, Marcia--because we must both look this affair in the
+face. Confess the circumstances are suspicious."
+
+"They seem to be," she owned with reluctance.
+
+"They are suspicious."
+
+"That proves nothing."
+
+"Perhaps not. Nevertheless it is all we have to go by and we should be
+fools not to take them at their face value, shouldn't we? We should at
+least consider them."
+
+"Of course we should do that," evaded the woman.
+
+"Have you considered them?" Sylvia suddenly inquired.
+
+Marcia drew her hand across her forehead.
+
+"I--I--yes. I have thought them over."
+
+"And what conclusion have you arrived at?"
+
+"I don't understand them at all. Nevertheless, I do not believe Stanley
+Heath is guilty," was the proud retort.
+
+"That is because you don't want to--because you won't."
+
+"Leave it at that, then, and say I won't," cried Marcia, leaping
+defiantly to her feet.
+
+"You are making a great mistake, if you will pardon me for saying so,"
+Sylvia responded gently. "You are deliberately closing your eyes and
+mind to facts that later are bound to cause you bitter unhappiness.
+Let alone the man's guilt. He has a wife. You seem to forget that. As
+Elisha Winslow remarked, you have already been miserable once. Why be so
+a second time? Help Stanley Heath to get out of Wilton and forget him."
+
+"I cannot do either of those things. In the first place, I have given
+my word to hand Mr. Heath over to the authorities. As for forgetting
+him--why ask the impossible?"
+
+Sylvia's patience gave way.
+
+"Go your own way then," she snapped. "Go your own way and if by and by
+you regret it--as you surely will--do not blame me. Don't blame me,
+either, if I do not agree with you. Stanley Heath shall never remain
+here and be betrayed to the law. I've enough mercy in me to prevent that
+if you haven't. Stick to your grim old puritanism if you must. I'll beat
+it by a more charitable creed. I'll help him get away."
+
+She started toward the stairway.
+
+"Sylvia, come back here!" Marcia cried.
+
+"I shall not come back."
+
+"I beg you! Insist!"
+
+The command fell on deaf ears.
+
+Marcia rushed after her, but it was too late.
+
+Sylvia was gone.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII
+
+
+Stanley Heath was lying with expectant face turned toward the door when
+Sylvia entered.
+
+"What's the rumpus?" he demanded.
+
+"You heard?"
+
+"Heard? Certainly I heard," he laughed. "I could not hear what was said,
+of course, but anyone within five miles could have heard those men
+roaring at one another. What's the trouble?"
+
+"The trouble is you," answered the girl.
+
+"Me?"
+
+"Yes. Didn't you expect trouble sometime?"
+
+"We all must expect trouble sooner or later, I suppose," was the
+enigmatic answer. "To just what particular variety of trouble did you
+refer?"
+
+"I guess you know. There is no use mincing matters or beating about the
+bush. We haven't the time to waste. The jewels have gone and you must
+go, too."
+
+The man looked dumbfounded.
+
+"Don't misunderstand me, please," Sylvia rushed on. "I'm not blaming
+you--nor judging you. I don't know why you took them. You may have been
+tempted beyond your strength. You may have needed money sorely. All that
+is none of my business."
+
+"You believe I stole them?"
+
+"Certainly I do."
+
+"Suppose I didn't?"
+
+"I expected you'd say that," was the calm retort. "Let it go that way if
+you prefer. I don't mind. What I want to do is to help you to get away."
+
+"Even if I am guilty."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But why?"
+
+"Because you're sick and in a trap; because I--I--well--" she faltered,
+her lips trembling, "I just can't bear to have that mean little sheriff
+who's after you catch you."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+Startled, Heath sat up.
+
+"That wretched Elisha Winslow who came here this morning with Eleazer
+Crocker tagging at his heels. In some way they had found out about
+the jewels and where you had hidden them. Prying into other people's
+affairs, no doubt, when they would have much better minded their own
+business. Well, it doesn't matter how they found out. They know the
+truth, which is the important thing. They even attempted to come
+upstairs and arrest you post haste; but Marcia wouldn't allow it."
+
+"Marcia!" he spoke the name softly. "She heard the story, too?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Poor Marcia!"
+
+"You may well say poor Marcia," Sylvia echoed sarcastically. "You have
+made her most unhappy. Oh, Mr. Heath, Marcia has not had the sort of
+life that I told you she had. She has been wretched--miserable. Go
+away before you heap more suffering upon her. She is fighting to make
+something of her wrecked life. Leave her and let her make it. I'll help
+you get out of town. I am sure we can devise a plan. I'll row you across
+to the mainland and contrive somehow to get you safely aboard a train.
+If we only had a car--"
+
+"My car is at the Wilton garage."
+
+"Oh, then it will be easy," exclaimed she with evident relief.
+
+"Not so easy as it seems."
+
+Heath held up his bandaged hand.
+
+"I doubt if I could drive any distance with this wrist," he said. "Of
+course it is on the mend. Nevertheless, it is still stiff from disuse,
+and pretty clumsy."
+
+"Couldn't I drive? I've driven quite a lot. What make is your car?"
+
+"A Buick."
+
+"I've never driven one of those. I wonder if I'd dare try? How I wish
+Hortie were here! He could drive it. He can drive anything."
+
+"Hortie?"
+
+"Horatio Fuller--a man I know out west. If only he wasn't so far away!
+He'd help us in a minute. He'd do it and ask no questions. That's what
+we need--someone who'll ask no questions."
+
+She frowned, thoughtfully.
+
+"Well, no matter. We can find somebody, I am sure--especially if we pay
+them liberally. I'll see what I can do."
+
+"Wait just a moment. What does Marcia say?"
+
+"Marcia? Oh, you must not listen to Marcia. She is too much upset to
+be depended on. She cannot see the case at all as it is. Her advice
+wouldn't be worth twopence. Trust me in this, please. Trust me, Mr.
+Heath. I promise you I'll stand by you to the last ditch. I'm not
+afraid."
+
+"I think I'd better talk with Marcia first."
+
+"Don't! It will only be a waste of time."
+
+"Still, I must hear what she has to say."
+
+"You won't like it. Marcia is hard, merciless. Her conscience drives her
+to extremes. Even should you get her opinion, you would not follow it."
+
+"What makes you so sure I wouldn't?"
+
+"Because it would be madness, sheer madness. You'll realize that, as
+I do," insisted Sylvia with an impatient tapping of her foot. "Marcia
+stubbornly shuts her mind to the truth and will only look on one side.
+She just repeats the same words over and over again."
+
+"What words?"
+
+"I shall not tell you."
+
+"Then she must tell me herself. Will you ask her to come up, please?"
+
+"I'd rather not."
+
+"You prefer I should call her?"
+
+Baffled, the girl turned away.
+
+"No. I'll send her to you--if I must. But remember, I warned you."
+
+"I shall not soon forget that, Sylvia, nor the splendid loyalty you've
+shown today. I shall always remember it. Whatever happens, please
+realize that I am grateful," Heath said earnestly. Then in less serious
+vein he added: "I never dreamed you were such a valiant little fighter."
+
+His smile, irresistible in brightness, brought a faint, involuntary
+reflection into Sylvia's clouded countenance.
+
+"Oh. I can fight for people--when I care," cried she, impulsively.
+
+Did the artless confession, the blush that accompanied it, soften the
+voice of the man so observantly watching until it unconsciously took on
+the fond, caressing tone one uses toward a child?
+
+"So I see. Run along now, little girl, and fetch Marcia."
+
+"I wish I could make you promise not to listen to her," coaxed Sylvia,
+making one last wistful appeal.
+
+"I cannot promise that."
+
+"I'm sorry. You'd be wiser if you did."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was some moments before Marcia answered the summons and when at last
+she came, it was with downcast eyes and evident reluctance.
+
+"You sent for me?" she said, halting stiffly at the foot of the bed.
+
+"Won't you please sit down?" Heath replied.
+
+"I've only a few moments. I'd rather stand."
+
+"But I cannot say what I wish to say while you flutter there as if
+poised for flight," urged the man, annoyance discernible in his husky
+voice.
+
+Unwillingly Marcia slipped into the chair beside him.
+
+"That's better," he said, smiling. "Now tell me exactly what happened
+down stairs."
+
+"Didn't Sylvia tell you?"
+
+"She told me something. I want your version of the story."
+
+As if realizing the futility, both of protest and evasion, the woman let
+her gaze travel to the dim purple line where sea met sky and began to
+speak.
+
+She related the incident tersely; without comment; and in a dull,
+impersonal manner.
+
+Stanley Heath, scrutinizing her with keen, appraising eyes, could not
+but note the pallor of her cheeks, the unsteadiness of her lips, the
+nervous clasping and unclasping of her hands.
+
+The narrative concluded, her glance dropped to the floor and silence
+fell between them.
+
+"And that is all?" he inquired when convinced she had no intention of
+speaking further.
+
+"That is all."
+
+"Thank you. Now what had I better do?"
+
+She made no answer.
+
+"What do you think it best for me to do?" he repeated.
+
+"Best? How do you mean--best? Best for your body or best for your soul?"
+
+"For both."
+
+"But suppose the two should not coincide?"
+
+"Then I must reconcile them or choose between them."
+
+"You cannot reconcile them."
+
+"Choose between them then--compromise."
+
+At the word, he saw her shiver.
+
+"Well, you are not advising me," he persisted when she offered no reply.
+
+"How can I? You know your own affairs--know the truth and yourself far
+better than I."
+
+"Granting all that, nevertheless, I should like your opinion."
+
+"You will not thank me for it," cautioned she, bitterly. "Sylvia says I
+am quixotic, impractical."
+
+"Never mind Sylvia. Tell me what you think."
+
+"But how can I give a just opinion? I cannot judge," she burst out as
+if goaded beyond her patience. "I know none of the facts. To judge the
+conduct of another, one must know every influence that contributed to
+the final catastrophe. No person but God Himself can know that."
+
+A radiance, swift as the passage of a meteor, flashed across Stanley
+Heath's face and was gone.
+
+"Suppose you yourself had taken these jewels and were placed in this
+dilemma?" pressed he.
+
+"That would be entirely different."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"The case would not be similar at all."
+
+"Why not?" Heath reiterated.
+
+"Because--because I should be guilty."
+
+"You mean--you think--"
+
+"I do not believe you took the jewels," was the quiet answer.
+
+"Marcia! Marcia!" He reached for her hand, then sharply checked the
+gesture. "Why don't you believe I took them?"
+
+"It isn't like you."
+
+"The evidence is against me--every whit of it."
+
+"I cannot help that."
+
+"Have I ever told you I did not take them? Ever led you to suppose me
+innocent?"
+
+"You have never told me anything about it."
+
+"You have never asked."
+
+"As if I should put to you a question like that," she said proudly.
+
+"You had the right to inquire."
+
+"I did not need to."
+
+Once again the man restrained an impulse to imprison her hands in his.
+
+"Suppose I did take them?" he went on in an even, coolly modulated
+voice. "Suppose the case stands exactly as this shrewd-eyed Wilton
+sheriff suspects it does? What am I to do?"
+
+He saw the color drain from her face.
+
+"I only know what I should do, were I in your place."
+
+"Tell me that."
+
+"I should go through with it--clear my soul of guilt."
+
+"And afterward?"
+
+"Start over again."
+
+"That would be very difficult. The stigma of crime clings to a man. Its
+stamp remains on him, try as he will to shake it off. My life would be
+ruined were I to pursue such a course."
+
+"Not your real life. You would, of course, lose standing among your
+supposed friends; but you would not lose it among those whose regard
+went deeper. Even if you did--what would it matter?"
+
+"But to be alone, friendless! Who would help me piece together the
+mangled fragments of such a past--for I should need help; I could not do
+it alone? Do you imagine that in all the world there would be even one
+person whose loyalty and affection would survive so acid a test?"
+
+"There might be," she murmured, turning away her head.
+
+"Even so, would I have the presumption to accept such a service? The
+right to impose on a devotion so self-effacing?"
+
+"The person might be glad, proud to help you--consider it a privilege."
+
+"Who would, Marcia? Do you know of anyone?"
+
+She leaped to her feet.
+
+"Why do you ask me?" she demanded, the gentleness of her voice chilling
+to curtness. "You have such a helpmate near you--or should have."
+
+"I don't understand," pleaded the man, puzzled by her change of mood.
+
+"Perhaps we'd better not go into that now," was her response. "It is
+beside the point."
+
+"On the contrary it is the point."
+
+"I don't see how. What happens after the penalty has been paid has
+nothing to do with the paying of it."
+
+"In this case it has everything."
+
+"I cannot stay," she whispered, frightened by his insistence. "I must
+go."
+
+"Wait just a moment."
+
+"I cannot. I must get dinner."
+
+"Never mind the dinner!"
+
+She looked at him then for the first time.
+
+"We have to eat," she declared making an attempt at lightness.
+
+"Not always. Sometimes there are things more important."
+
+"To think of a man saying that!"
+
+The ring of the telephone chimed in with her silvery laughter.
+
+"I'll go, Sylvia," she called with a promptness that indicated the
+interruption was a welcome one.
+
+"Yes. Yes, this is Mrs. Howe at Wilton.
+
+"It's long distance," she called to Heath. "New York is on the line.
+
+"Yes, he is here. He can speak with you himself.
+
+"Mrs. Heath wishes to speak with you," she announced formally. "Slip on
+your bathrobe and come."
+
+Heath took the receiver from her hand.
+
+"Joan? This certainly is good of you, dear. Yes, I am much better, thank
+you. Bless your precious heart, you needn't have worried. Currier will
+be back late tonight or early tomorrow morning and he will tell you how
+well I am progressing. Yes, he has the jewels. Put them in the safe
+right away, won't you?
+
+"I can't say when I shall be home. Something has come up that may keep
+me here some time. I cannot explain just now. It is the thing you have
+always predicted would happen to me sometime. Well, it has happened. Do
+you get that? Yes, I am caught--hard and fast. It is a bit ironic to
+have traveled all over the world and then be taken captive in a small
+Cape Cod village. I guess I believe in Fate, destiny--whatever you call
+it.
+
+"I'm in something of a tangle just at present. I may even have to call
+on you to help me straighten it out. That's sweet of you, dear. You've
+never failed me. Oh, I can talk--it doesn't hurt me. You mustn't mind
+my croak. I'm not so badly off as I sound. I'll let you know the first
+minute I have anything definite to tell.
+
+"Goodbye, dear. Take care of yourself. It's done me a world of good to
+hear your voice."
+
+Heath returned the receiver to its hook and in high spirits strode back
+into his room.
+
+If, however, he hoped there to take up the threads of the conversation
+so unexpectedly broken off, he was disappointed.
+
+Marcia's chair was empty.
+
+She was nowhere to be seen.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII
+
+
+The days immediately following were like an armed truce.
+
+Marcia watched Sylvia.
+
+Sylvia watched Marcia.
+
+Heath watched them both.
+
+When, however, no further reference to the events of the past week was
+made, the tension slowly began to lessen, and life at the Howe Homestead
+took on again its customary aspect.
+
+One agency in this return to normal was the physical improvement of the
+invalid, who as a result of rest, fresh air, sleep, and good nursing now
+became well enough to come down stairs and join the family group.
+
+An additional, and by no means unimportant contributory factor, was the
+sudden onrush of fine weather.
+
+Never had there been such a spring--at least never within the memory of
+the owner of the house on the Point. The soft breath of the south wind;
+the radiance of the sunshine; the gentle lapping of the waves on the
+spangled shore; the stillness; the vivid beauty of the ocean's changing
+colors--all these blended to make a world that caught the breath and
+subordinated every mood save one of exuberant joy.
+
+Against a heaven gentian blue, snowy gulls wheeled and dipped, and
+far beyond them, miniature white sails cut the penciled indigo of the
+horizon.
+
+The old grey house with its fan-light and beaded doorway stood out in
+colonial simplicity from the background of sea and sky like a dim,
+silvered picture, every angle of it soft in relief against the splendors
+that flanked it.
+
+Marcia sang at her work--sang not so much because there was peace in her
+heart as because the gladness about her forced her to forget her pain.
+
+Sylvia sang, too, or rather whistled in a gay, boyish fashion and in
+company with Prince Hal raced like a young colt up the beach.
+
+Only a day or two more passed before it was possible to get Stanley
+Heath, warmly wrapped in rugs, out on the sheltered veranda where, like
+the others, he reveled in the sunshine.
+
+His cheeks bronzed, his eyes became clear and bright, laughter
+curled his lips. If just around the corner the spectre of trouble
+loitered, its presence was not, apparently, able to put to flight his
+lightheartedness. Over and over again he declared that every hour spent
+in this lotus-eaters' country was worth a miser's fortune.
+
+Sometimes when he lay motionless in the steamer-chair looking seaward
+beneath the rim of his soft felt hat, or following the circling gulls
+with preoccupied gaze Marcia, peeping at him from the window wondered of
+what he was thinking.
+
+That the fancies which intrigued him were pleasant and that he enjoyed
+his own company there could be no question.
+
+No attitude he might have assumed could have been better calculated to
+dispel awkwardness and force into the background the seriousness of the
+two women, whose interests were so inextricably entangled with his own,
+than the merry, bantering one he adopted when with them.
+
+Even Marcia, who at first had avoided all tête-à-têtes, quivering with
+dread whenever she found herself alone with him, gradually, beneath the
+spell of his new self, gained sufficient confidence to perch hatless on
+the piazza rail beside him in an unoccupied moment and spar with him,
+verbally.
+
+For he was a brilliant talker--one who gave unexpected, original twists
+to the conversation--twists that taxed one's power of repartee. The
+challenge to keep pace with his wit was to her like scouring a long
+disused rapier and seeing it clash against the deft blade of a master
+fencer.
+
+Here indeed was a hitherto undreamed-of Stanley Heath, a man whose
+dangerous charms had multiplied a hundredfold and who, if he had
+captivated her before now riveted her fetters with every word he spoke,
+every glance he gave her.
+
+She struggled to escape from the snare closing in on her, then finding
+combat useless, ceased to struggle and let herself drift with the tide.
+
+After all, why not enjoy the present?
+
+Soon, all too soon, its glamorous delights would be gone and she would
+be back once more in the uneventful past which had satisfied her and
+kept her happy until Heath had crossed her path, bringing with him the
+bewildering adventures that had destroyed her tranquillity.
+
+Would she ever find that former peace, she frequently asked herself.
+Would her world ever be the same after this magician who had touched it
+with the spell of his enchantment had left it? For he would leave it. A
+time must come, and soon now--when like a scene from a fairy play the
+mystic lights would fade, the haunting music cease, the glitter of the
+whole dreamlike pageant give place to reality.
+
+It was too beautiful, too ephemeral an idyll to last.
+
+In loving this stranger of whom she knew so little, she had set her
+heart upon a phantom that she knew must vanish. The future, grim with
+foreboding, was constantly drawing nearer.
+
+In her path stood a presence that said: Thou shalt not!
+
+There were, alas, but two ways of life--the way of right and the way of
+wrong, and between them lay no neutral zone. This she acknowledged with
+her mind. But her rebel heart would play her false, flouting her puritan
+codes and defying the creeds that conscience dictated.
+
+Meantime while she thus wrestled with the angel of her best self, Sylvia
+accepted the situation with characteristic lightness. Her life in this
+vast world and wide had been of short duration, but during its brief
+span she had learned a surprising amount about the earth and the human
+beings that peopled it.
+
+She knew more already about men than did Marcia--much more. Long ago
+they had ceased to be gods to her. She was accustomed to them and
+their ways, and was never at a loss to give back to each as good as he
+sent--frequently better.
+
+Her sophistication in the present instance greatly relieved the strain.
+
+She jested fearlessly with Heath, speaking a language with which he was
+familiar and one that amused him no end.
+
+Often he would sit watching her furtively, his glance moving from the
+gold of her hair to the blue of her eyes, the fine poise of her fair
+white throat, the slender lines of her girlish figure. Often, too,
+in such moments he would think of the possibilities that lay in the
+prodigal beauty she so heedlessly ignored.
+
+That he took pleasure in being with her and treating her with
+half playful, half affectionate admiration was incontestable. Yet
+notwithstanding this, his fondness was nicely restrained and never
+slipped into familiarity or license.
+
+It was the sort of delicately poised relation in which the girl was
+thoroughly at home and with which she knew well how to cope.
+
+Today Heath was taking his first walk and the two had strolled down to
+the water's edge where deep in a conversation more serious than usual
+they sat in the sun on the over-turned yellow dory.
+
+To Marcia, watching from the porch, they appeared to be arguing--Sylvia
+pleadingly, Heath with stern resistance.
+
+The woman could not but speculate as to the subject that engrossed them.
+
+Not that she was spying. She would have scorned to do that.
+
+She had merely stepped outside to shake a duster and they had caught
+her eye. It seemed, too, that she had chosen an inopportune moment
+for observation, for just at that instant Sylvia placed her hand
+entreatingly on Heath's arm and though he continued to talk, he caught
+and held it.
+
+The fact that Sylvia neither evinced surprise, nor withdrew it forced
+her to the disconcerting conclusion that the thing was no unusual
+happening.
+
+Marcia turned aside, jealousy clutching at her heart.
+
+When, later in the day, the pair reëntered the house Heath, with a few
+pleasant words, caught up his overcoat and went out onto the steps to
+smoke, while Sylvia hurried to her room.
+
+Marcia, passing through the hall, could see her golden head bent over
+the table as intent with pen and paper she dashed off page after page of
+a closely written letter.
+
+It was a pity the elder woman could not have read that letter, for
+had she been able to, it would not only have astonished but also have
+enlightened her and perhaps quieted the beating of her troubled heart.
+
+It was a letter that astonished Sylvia herself. Nevertheless, much as it
+surprised her, her amazement in no way approached that of young Horatio
+Fuller when he read it.
+
+So completely did it scatter to the winds of heaven every other thought
+his youthful head contained that he posted two important business
+documents--one without a stamp, and the other without an address. After
+that he decided he was unfit to cope with commercial duties and pleading
+a headache hastened home to his mother.
+
+Now Horatio's mother, far from possessing the appearance of a tower of
+strength to which one might flee in time of trouble, was a woman of
+colorless, vaguely defined personality indicative of little guile and
+still less determination. She listened well and gave the impression she
+could listen, with her hands passively folded in her lap, forever if
+necessary. She never interrupted; never offered comment or advice; never
+promised anything; and yet when she said, as she invariably did, "I'll
+talk with your father, dear," there was always infinite comfort in the
+observation.
+
+That was what she said today to Horatio Junior.
+
+Accordingly that evening after Horatio Senior had dined, and dined well;
+after he had smoked a good cigar and with no small measure of pride in
+his own skill put into place all the pieces of a jig-saw puzzle that had
+defied his prowess the night before--his wife artfully slipping them
+beneath his nose where he could not fail to find them--then and not
+until then did Mrs. Horatio take out the pink afghan she had been making
+and while she knit two and purled two, she gently imparted to Alton
+City's leading citizen the intelligence that his son, Horatio Junior,
+wished to go East; that he was in love; that, in short, he wished to
+marry.
+
+Up into the air like a whizzing rocket soared Horatio Senior!
+
+He raged; he tramped the floor; he heaped on the head of the absent
+Horatio Junior every epithet of reproach his wrath could devise, the
+phrases driveling idiot and audacious puppy appearing to afford him the
+greatest measure of relief. Continuing his harangue, he threatened to
+disinherit his son; he smoked four cigarettes in succession; he tipped
+over the Boston fern. The rest of the things Horatio Senior said and
+what he did would not only be too gross to write down in the Chronicles
+of the Kings of Judah, but also would be improper to record here.
+
+In the meantime, Mrs. Horatio knitted on.
+
+At last when breathless and panting Horatio Senior, like an alarm
+clock ran down and sank exhausted into his chair, Mrs. Horatio began
+the second row of knit two, purl two and ventured the irrefutable
+observation that after all Horatio Junior was their only child.
+
+As this could not be denied, it passed without challenge and gaining
+confidence to venture farther, she presently added, quite casually that
+a wife was a steadying influence in a young man's career.
+
+Horatio Senior vouchsafed no reply. Perhaps he had no breath left to
+demur.
+
+At any rate his wife, considering silence a favorable symptom, followed
+up her previous comments with the declaration that Sylvia Hayden was a
+nice little thing. This drew fire.
+
+Horatio Senior sputtered something about "nothing but a penniless
+school-teacher--a nobody."
+
+Very deliberately then Mrs. Horatio began the fourth row of her
+knitting and as her needles clicked off the stitches, she murmured
+pleasantly that if she remembered rightly this had been the very
+objection Horatio Senior's father had made to their own marriage.
+
+At this Horatio Senior flushed scarlet and said promptly that fathers
+did not know anything about choosing wives for their sons; that his
+marriage had been ideal; that his Jennie had been the one wife in the
+world for him; that time had proved it--even to his parents; that she
+was the only person on earth who really understood him--which latter
+statement unquestionably demonstrated that all that proceeded out of the
+mouth of Horatio Senior was not vanity and vexation of spirit.
+
+After this nothing was simpler than to complete the pink stripe and
+discuss just when Horatio Junior had better start East.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Had Sylvia dreamed when she licked the envelope's flap with her small
+red tongue and smoothed it down with her pretty white finger she was
+thus loosing Alton City's thunderbolts, she might, perhaps, have
+hesitated to send the letter she had penned and perhaps would not have
+started off so jauntily late that afternoon to post it.
+
+As it was, she was ignorant of the future consequences of her act and
+went skipping across the wee azure pools the tide had left behind as
+gaily as if she were not making history.
+
+And not only did she go swinging off in this carefree fashion, but
+toward six o'clock she telephoned she was at the Doanes and Henry and
+his mother--the little old lady she had met on the train the day she
+arrived--wanted her to stay to supper. He would bring her home early in
+the evening. There would be a moon--Marcia need not worry.
+
+Marcia had not thought of worrying until that minute, but now, in spite
+of knowing Sylvia was safe and in good hands she began, paradoxically
+enough, to worry madly.
+
+Her heart would palpitate, her hand tremble while she spread the cloth
+and prepared the supper; and when she could not put off the dreaded
+and yet anticipated moment any longer, timidly as a girl she summoned
+Stanley Heath to the small, round table.
+
+"Sylvia isn't coming," she explained, all blushes. "She telephoned she
+was going to stay over in town."
+
+They seated themselves.
+
+It was the first time they had ever been alone at a meal and the novelty
+of finding themselves opposite one another awed them into silence.
+
+"Would you--do you care for cheese soufflé?" stammered Marcia.
+
+"Thank you."
+
+"Perhaps you don't like cheese."
+
+"I do--very much."
+
+"I hope it is done."
+
+"It is perfect."
+
+"It's hard to get it out of the oven at the right moment. Sometimes it
+falls."
+
+"This one hasn't," beamed Stanley.
+
+"I don't know. Perhaps I might have left it in a second or two longer."
+
+"It's wonderful!"
+
+"I'm glad you like it. Rolls?"
+
+"Rather! My, but you are a marvelous cook."
+
+"Oh, not really. You're hungry--that's all. Things taste good when you
+are."
+
+"It isn't that. Everything you put your hand to is well done."
+
+"Nonsense!"
+
+"It isn't nonsense and you know it. You're a marvelous person, Marcia."
+
+"There is nothing marvelous about me."
+
+"There is--your eyes, for one thing. Don't drop them, dear. I want to
+look at them."
+
+"You are talking foolishness."
+
+"Every man talks foolishness once in his life, I suppose. Perhaps I am
+talking it tonight because our time together is so short. I am leaving
+here tomorrow morning."
+
+"Stanley!"
+
+Across the table he caught her hand.
+
+"I am well now and have no further excuse for imposing on your
+hospitality."
+
+"As if it were imposing!"
+
+"It is. I have accepted every manner of kindness from you--"
+
+"Don't call it that," she interrupted.
+
+"What else can I call it? I was a stranger and you took me in. It was
+sweet of you--especially when you knew nothing about me. Now the time
+has come for me to go. Tomorrow morning I am giving myself up to the
+Wilton sheriff."
+
+"Oh, no--no!"
+
+"But you said you wanted me to. It is the only square thing to do, isn't
+it?"
+
+She made no answer.
+
+He rose and came to her side, slipping an arm about her.
+
+"Marcia. Dearest! I am doing what you wish, am I not?"
+
+"I cannot bear it." The words were sharp with pain.
+
+"You wanted me to go through with it."
+
+She covered her face and he felt a shudder pass over her.
+
+"Yes. But that was then," she whispered.
+
+At the words, he drew her to her feet and into his arms.
+
+"Marcia, beloved! Oh, my dear one, do I need to tell you I love
+you--love you with all my heart--my soul--all that is in me? You know
+it--know that every moment we have been together has been heaven.
+Tell me you love me, dear--for you do love me. Don't deny it--not
+tonight--our last night together. Say that you love me."
+
+"You--know," she faltered, her arms creeping about his neck.
+
+He kissed her then--her hair, her eyes, her neck, her lips--long,
+burning kisses that left her quivering beneath the rush of them.
+
+Their passion brought her to herself and she drew away.
+
+"What is it, dear?" he asked.
+
+"We can't. We must not. I had forgotten."
+
+"Forgotten?"
+
+"Something stands between us--we have no right. Forgive me."
+
+"But my dear--"
+
+"We have no right," she repeated.
+
+"You are thinking of the past," he challenged. "Marcia, the past is
+dead. It is the present only in which we live--the present--just us
+two--who love."
+
+"We must not love."
+
+"But we do, sweetheart," was his triumphant cry. "We do!"
+
+"We must forget."
+
+"Can you forget?" he reproached.
+
+"I--I--can try."
+
+"Ah, your tongue is too honest, Marcia. You cannot forget. Neither can
+I. Our pledge is given. We belong to one another. I shall not surrender
+what is mine--never."
+
+"Tomorrow--"
+
+"Let us not talk of tomorrow."
+
+"We must. We shall be parted then."
+
+"Only for a little while. I shall come back to you. Our love will hold.
+Absence, distance, nothing can part us--not really."
+
+"No."
+
+"Then tell me you love me so I may leave knowing the truth from your own
+sweet lips."
+
+"I love you, Stanley--God help me!"
+
+"Ah, now I can go! It will not be for long."
+
+"It must be for forever, dear heart. You must not come back. Tonight
+must be--the end."
+
+"Marcia!"
+
+"Tonight must be the end," she repeated, turning away.
+
+"You mean you cannot face tomorrow--the disgrace--"
+
+"I mean tonight must be the end," she reiterated.
+
+Through narrowed lids, he looked at her, scanning her averted face.
+
+Then she heard him laugh bitterly, discordantly.
+
+"So we have come to the Great Divide, have we?" he said. "I have,
+apparently, expected too much of you. I might have known it would be so.
+All women are alike. They desert a man when he needs them most. Their
+affection has no toughness of fibre. It snaps under the first severe
+strain. The prospect of sharing my shame is more than you can bear."
+Again he laughed. "Well, tonight shall be the end--tonight--now. Don't
+think I blame you. It is not your fault. I merely rated you too high,
+Marcia--believed you a bigger woman than you are, that's all. I have
+asked more than you were capable of giving. The mistake was mine--not
+yours."
+
+He left her then.
+
+Stunned by the torrent of his reproach, she stood motionless, watching
+while, without a backward glance, he passed into the hall and up the
+stairs. His receding footsteps grew fainter.
+
+Even after he was out of sight, she remained immovable, her frightened
+eyes riveted on the doorway through which he had disappeared.
+
+Prince Hal raised his head and sensing all was not well came uneasily to
+her side and, thrusting his nose into her inert hand, whined.
+
+At his touch, something within her gave way. She swayed, caught at a
+chair and shrank into it, her body shaking and her breath coming in
+gasping, hysterical sobs.
+
+The clock ticked on, the surf broke in muffled undertone, the light
+faded; the candles burned lower, flickered and overflowed the old pewter
+candle sticks; and still she sat there, her tearless, dilated eyes fixed
+straight before her and the setter crouching unnoticed at her feet.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIX
+
+
+Sylvia, bubbling over with sociability after her evening at the Doanes',
+was surprised, on reaching the Homestead, to find a lamp set in the
+window and the living-room empty. Ten o'clock was not late and yet both
+occupants of the house had gone upstairs.
+
+This was unusual.
+
+She wondered at it.
+
+Certainly Marcia could not be asleep at so early an hour; nor Heath,
+either. In fact, beneath the latter's door she could see a streak of
+light, and could hear him moving about inside.
+
+Marcia's room, on the other hand, was still. Once, as she paused
+listening, wondering whether she dared knock and go in for a bedtime
+chat, she thought she detected a stifled sound and thus encouraged
+whispered the woman's name. No response came, however, and deciding she
+must have been mistaken she tiptoed away.
+
+Having, therefore, no inkling of a change in the delightful relations
+that had for the past week prevailed, the atmosphere that greeted her
+when she came down the next morning was a shock.
+
+Stanley Heath stood at the telephone talking to Elisha Winslow and on
+the porch outside were grouped his suit-case, overcoat and traveling
+rug. He himself was civil--nay, courteous--but was plainly ill at ease
+and had little except the most commonplace remarks to offer in way of
+conversation.
+
+Marcia had not slept, as her pallor and the violet shadows beneath her
+eyes attested.
+
+Sylvia could see that her duties as hostess of the breakfast table taxed
+her self-control almost to the breaking point and that only her pride
+and strong will-power prevented her from going to pieces.
+
+Although the girl did not understand, she sensed Marcia's need of her
+and rushed valiantly into the breach--filling every awkward pause with
+her customary sparkling chatter.
+
+Her impulse was to cry out:
+
+"What under the sun is the matter with you two?"
+
+She might have done so had not a dynamic quality vibrant in the air
+warned her not to meddle.
+
+When at length the meal was cut short by the arrival of Elisha Winslow,
+all three of the group rose with unconcealed relief.
+
+Even Elisha's presence, hateful as it would ordinarily have been, came
+now as a welcome interruption.
+
+"Wal, Mr. Heath, I see you're expectin' me," grinned the sheriff,
+pointing toward the luggage beside the door.
+
+"I am, Mr. Winslow."
+
+"I've got my boat. Are you ready to come right along?"
+
+"Quite ready."
+
+Heath went to Sylvia and took her hand.
+
+"Thank you very much," murmured he formally, "for all you've done for
+me. I appreciate it more than I can say. And you, too, Mrs. Howe. Your
+kindness has placed me deeply in your debt."
+
+"I wish you luck, Mr. Heath," called Sylvia.
+
+"Thanks."
+
+"And I, too," Marcia rejoined in a voice scarcely audible.
+
+To this the man offered no reply.
+
+Perhaps he did not hear the words.
+
+They followed him to the door.
+
+It was then that Marcia sprang forward and caught Elisha's arm.
+
+"Where are you taking him, Elisha?" she demanded, a catch in her voice.
+"Where are you taking him? Remember, Mr. Heath has been ill. You must
+not risk his getting cold or suffering any discomfort. Promise me you
+will not."
+
+"You need have no worries on that score, Marcia," replied the sheriff
+kindly, noticing the distress in her face. "You don't, naturally, want
+all you've done for Mr. Heath thrown away. No more do I. I'll look out
+for him."
+
+"Where is he going?"
+
+"To my house for the present," Elisha answered. "You see, the town
+ain't ever needed to make provision for a criminal. I can't lock him
+up in the church 'cause he could get out had he the mind; an' out of
+the school-house, too. Besides, them buildin's are kinder chilly. So
+after weighin' the matter, I decided to take him 'long home with me.
+I've a comfortable spare room an' I figger to put him in it 'til I've
+questioned him an' verified his story.
+
+"Meantime, nobody in town will be the wiser. I ain't even tellin' May
+Ellen why Mr. Heath's at the house. If I choose to harbor comp'ny,
+that's my business. Not a soul 'cept Eleazer's in on this affair an'
+he's keepin' mum. When him an' me decide we've got the truth, we'll
+act--not before."
+
+"That relieves my mind very much. Mr. Heath is--you see he--"
+
+"He's a friend of yours--I ain't forgettin' that. I shall treat him
+'cordin'ly, Marcia."
+
+"Thank you, Elisha--thank you a hundred times."
+
+There was nothing more to be said.
+
+Heath bowed once again and the two men walked down to the float where
+they clambered with the luggage into Elisha's dory and put out into the
+channel.
+
+Sylvia loitered to wave her hand and watch them row away, but Marcia,
+as if unable to bear the sight, waited for no further farewell.
+
+Even after the girl had followed her indoors and during the interval
+they washed the breakfast dishes together, Sylvia did not venture to
+ask any explanations. If Marcia preferred to exclude her from her
+confidence, she resolved not to intrude.
+
+Instead, she began to talk of her evening with the Doanes and although
+well aware Marcia scarcely listened, her gossip bridged the gulf of
+silence and gave the elder woman opportunity to recover her poise.
+
+By noon Marcia was, to outward appearances, entirely herself. She
+had not been able, to be sure, to banish her pallor or the traces of
+sleeplessness; but she had her emotions sufficiently under control to
+talk pleasantly, if not gaily so that only an understanding, lynx-eyed
+observer like Sylvia would have suspected she was still keyed to too
+high a pitch to put heart in what she mechanically said and did.
+
+That day and the next passed in much the same strained fashion.
+
+That the woman was grateful for her niece's forbearance was evident in
+a score of trivial ways. That she also sensed Sylvia's solicitude and
+appreciated her loyalty and impulsive outbursts of affection was also
+obvious.
+
+It was not until the third morning, however, that the barriers between
+the two collapsed.
+
+Marcia had gone into the living-room to write a letter--a duty she
+especially detested and one which it was her habit to shunt into the
+future whenever possible.
+
+Today, alas, there was no escape. A business communication had come that
+must be answered.
+
+She sat down before the infrequently used desk and started to take up
+her pen when Sylvia heard her utter a cry.
+
+"What's the matter, dear?" called the girl, hurrying into the other
+room.
+
+No answer came.
+
+Marcia was sitting fingering a slip of green paper she had taken from a
+long envelope.
+
+With wild, despairing eyes she regarded it.
+
+Then, as Sylvia came nearer, she bowed her head upon the desk and began
+to sob as if her heart would break.
+
+"Marcia, dear--Marcia--what is it?" cried Sylvia, rushing to her and
+clasping the shaking figure in her arms. "Tell me what it is, dear."
+
+"Oh, how could he!" moaned the woman. "How could he be so cruel!"
+
+"What has happened. Marcia?"
+
+"Stanley--he has left a check--money--thrown it in my face! And I did
+it so gladly--because I loved him. He knew that. Yet he could leave
+this--pay me--as if I were a common servant. I had rather he struck
+me--a hundred times rather."
+
+The girl took the check.
+
+It was filled out in Stanley Heath's clear, strong hand and was for the
+sum of a hundred dollars.
+
+"How detestable of him!" she exclaimed. "Tell me, Marcia--what happened
+between you and Mr. Heath? You quarreled--of course I know that. But
+why--why? I have not wanted to ask, but now--"
+
+"I'll tell you everything, Sylvia. I'd rather you knew. I thought at
+first I could keep it to myself, but I cannot. I need you to help me,
+dear."
+
+"If I only could!" murmured Sylvia, drawing her closer.
+
+As if quieted by the warmth of her embrace, Marcia wiped her eyes and
+began to speak, tremulously.
+
+She unfolded the story of her blind faith in Stanley Heath; her love for
+him--a love she could neither resist nor control--a love she had known
+from the first to be hopeless. She confessed how she had fought against
+his magnetic power; how she had struggled to conceal her feelings; how
+he himself had resisted a similar attraction in her; how at last he had
+discovered her secret and forced her to betray it.
+
+Slowly, reluctantly she went on to tell of the final scene between
+them--his insistence on coming back to her.
+
+"Of course I realized we could not go on," she explained bravely. "That
+we loved one another was calamity enough. All that remained was for
+him to go away and forget me--return to his wife, his home, and the
+interests and obligations of his former life. Soon, if he honestly
+tries, this infatuation will pass and everything will be as before. Men
+forget more easily than women. Absence, too, will help."
+
+"And you, Marcia?"
+
+"I am free. There is no law forbidding me to remember. I can go on
+caring, so long as he does not know. It will do no harm if here, far
+away, where he will never suspect it, I continue to love him."
+
+"Oh, my dear, my dear!"
+
+"I cannot give up my love. It is all I have now. Oh, I do not mean to
+mourn over it, pity myself, make life unhappy. Instead, I shall be glad,
+thankful. You will see. This experience will make every day of living
+richer. You need have no fears for me, Sylvia. You warned me, you know,"
+concluded she with a pathetic little smile.
+
+"I was a brute! I ought to have shielded you more," the girl cried. "I
+could have, had I realized. Well, I can yet do something, thank heaven.
+Give me that check."
+
+"What do you mean to do?"
+
+"Return it, of course--return it before Stanley Heath leaves town. Isn't
+that what you want done? Surely you do not wish to keep it."
+
+"No! No!"
+
+"I'll take it over to Elisha Winslow's now, this minute."
+
+"I wonder--yes, probably that will be best. You won't, I suppose, be
+allowed to see Stanley," speculated she timidly.
+
+"I don't suppose so."
+
+"If you should--"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Don't say anything harsh, Sylvia. Please do not blame him, or--"
+
+"I'll wring his neck!" was the emphatic retort.
+
+"Oh, please--please dear--for my sake! I can't let you go if you go in
+that spirit," pleaded Marcia in alarm.
+
+"There, there--you need not worry for fear I shall maltreat your Romeo,
+richly as he deserves it," was the response. "I could kill him--but I
+won't--because of you. Nevertheless, I warn you that if I get the chance
+I shall tell him what I think of him. No power on earth can keep me
+from doing that. He is terribly to blame and ought to realize it. No
+married man has any business playing round with another woman. He may
+get by with it in New York, but on Cape Cod or in Alton City," she drew
+herself up, "it just isn't done and the sooner Stanley Heath understands
+that, the better. That's that! Now I'll get my hat and go."
+
+"I am half afraid to let you, Sylvia."
+
+"You don't trust me? Don't you believe I love you?"
+
+"I am afraid you love me too much, dear."
+
+"I do love you, Marcia. I never dreamed I could care so intensely for
+anyone I have known for so short a time. What you did for my mother
+alone would make me love you. But aside from gratitude there are other
+reasons. I love you for your own splendid self, dear. Please do not fear
+to trust me. I promise you I will neither be unjust nor bitter. The fact
+that you care for Stanley Heath shall protect him and make me merciful."
+
+"Take the check then and go. I wish I were to see him."
+
+"Well, you're not! Rowing across that channel and hurrying to his side
+after the way he's treated you! Not a bit of it! I'd tie you to your
+own bedpost first," snapped Sylvia. "Let him do the explaining and
+apologizing. Let him cross the channel and grovel at your feet. That's
+what he ought to do!"
+
+"You won't tell him that."
+
+"I don't know what I shall tell him."
+
+"Please, Sylvia! You promised, remember."
+
+"Don't fret. Some of the mad will be taken out of me before I see Mr.
+Heath. The tide is running strong and it will be a pull to get the boat
+across to the mainland. Kiss me and wish me luck, Marcia. You do believe
+I will try to be wise, don't you?"
+
+"Yes, dear. Yes!"
+
+"That's right. You really can trust me, you know. I'm not so bad as I
+sound."
+
+Tucking the check into the wee pocket of her sweater, Sylvia caught up
+her pert beret and perched it upon her curls.
+
+"So long!" she called, looking back over her shoulder as she opened the
+door. "So long, Marcia! I'll be back as soon as ever I can."
+
+The haste with which she disappeared, suddenly precipitated her into the
+arms of a young man who stood upon the steps preparing to knock.
+
+"Hortie Fuller," cried Sylvia breathlessly. "Hortie! Where on earth did
+you come from?"
+
+Her arms closed about his neck and he had kissed her twice before she
+swiftly withdrew, rearranging her curls and saying coldly:
+
+"I cannot imagine what brought you here, Horatio."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XX
+
+
+"I can't imagine," repeated Sylvia, still very rosy and flustered, but
+with her most magnificent air, "what brought you to Wilton--I really
+cannot."
+
+"Can't you?" grinned Horatio cheerfully.
+
+"No, I cannot."
+
+From his superior height of six-feet-two, he looked down at her meager
+five feet, amusement twinkling in his eyes.
+
+Sylvia, however, was too intent on patting her curls into place to heed
+his glance.
+
+"You wrote me to come, didn't you?" he presently inquired.
+
+"I wrote you to come!"
+
+"Well, at least you led me to suppose you'd like it if I were here,"
+persisted Horatio. "Toward the bottom of page two you said: 'I am
+positively homesick'; and in the middle of the back of page three you
+wrote: 'It seems years since I've seen you.'"
+
+"What if I did?" answered the girl with a disdainful shrug.
+
+Nevertheless the dimples showed in her cheeks.
+
+"And that isn't all," Horatio went on. "At the end of page five you
+wrote: 'Would that you were here'!"
+
+Sylvia bit her lip.
+
+"That was only a figure of speech--what is called poetic license.
+Writers are always would-ing things: Would I were a bird; would I were a
+ring upon that hand; would I were--were--well, almost anything. But it
+doesn't mean at all that they would really like to be those things."
+
+"Then you didn't mean it when you said you wished I was here."
+
+Horatio was obviously disappointed.
+
+"Why, of course I am pleased to see you, Hortie. It is very nice of you
+to come to the Cape to meet my aunt and--"
+
+"Darn your aunt!" he scowled. "I didn't come to see her."
+
+"Hush! She's just inside."
+
+"I don't care."
+
+"But you will when you know her. She's darling."
+
+"I am not interested in aunts."
+
+"Take care! I happen to be very keen on this aunt of mine. If she didn't
+like you, you might get sent home. Don't be horrid, Hortie. I truly am
+glad you've come. You must make allowance for my being surprised. I
+haven't got over it yet. How in the world did you contrive to get away
+at this season? And what sort of a trip did you have?"
+
+"Swell! I stopped overnight in New York at the Gardeners. Mother wanted
+me to deliver a birthday cake to Estelle who, you may remember, is the
+mater's god-daughter. She's a pippin, too. I hadn't seen her since she
+graduated from Vassar."
+
+Sylvia listened.
+
+She did not need to be told about the Gardeners.
+
+They had visited Horatio's family more than once and rumor had it the
+elders of both families would be delighted were the young people to make
+a match of it.
+
+"I'm surprised you did not stay longer in New York," Sylvia observed,
+gazing reflectively at her white shoe.
+
+"New York wasn't my objective. I came on business, you see."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+This was not so flattering.
+
+"Yes," continued Horatio, "Dad gave me two months off so I could get
+married."
+
+This time he got the reaction for which he had been waiting.
+
+Sylvia jumped.
+
+"I was not aware you were engaged," murmured she in a formal, far-away
+tone.
+
+"I'm not," came frankly from Horatio Junior. "But I'm going to be. In
+fact I chance to have the ring with me this minute. Want to see it?"
+
+"I always enjoy looking at jewels," was her cautious retort.
+
+Horatio felt of his many pockets.
+
+"Where on earth did I put that thing?" he muttered. "Hope I haven't lost
+it. Oh, here it is."
+
+He took out a tiny velvet case and sprang the catch.
+
+"Oh, Hortie! Isn't it beautiful!" Sylvia cried. "It fairly takes away my
+breath."
+
+"Like it?"
+
+"It is perfectly lovely!"
+
+"Try it on."
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"It wouldn't fit me. My hands are too small."
+
+"It's a small ring. Here. Put it on," he urged, holding it toward her.
+
+"Well, I suppose I might try it to please you. But I know it will be too
+large."
+
+She slipped it on her finger.
+
+"Why, it does fit. How odd!"
+
+"Very odd indeed," he answered drily, as she reached her hand out into
+the sun and turned the diamonds so that they caught the light.
+
+"Looks rather well on, doesn't it?" was his comment.
+
+"It is a beautiful ring."
+
+Horatio, standing behind her, twice extended his arms as if to gather
+her into them and twice withdrew them, deciding the action to be
+premature.
+
+At length with a determined squaring of his shoulders, he locked his
+hands behind him and stood looking on while she continued to twist the
+ring this way and that.
+
+"Well," yawned he after an interval, "I suppose I may as well put it
+back in the box."
+
+"Don't you think it would be wiser if I took care of it for you,
+Hortie?" suggested she demurely. "You are dreadfully careless. Only a
+moment ago you had no idea where the ring was. If it is on my finger
+you'll know exactly."
+
+"Bully idea! So I shall! Now tell me where you're off to. You were in a
+frightful hurry when you burst through that door."
+
+"So I was," agreed Sylvia. "And here I am loitering and almost
+forgetting my errand. Come! We must hurry. I've got to go to town. Want
+to row me over?"
+
+"You bet your life!"
+
+"It may be quite a pull. The tide is running out and that means you will
+have to row against it."
+
+"Show me the boat."
+
+Still she hesitated.
+
+"I don't know how nautical you are."
+
+She thought she heard him chuckle.
+
+Leading the way to the yellow dory, she took her place opposite him and
+he pushed off.
+
+As they sat facing one another, her eyes roamed over his brown suit;
+his matching tie, handkerchief and socks; his immaculate linen; his
+general air of careful grooming, and she could not but admit he wore his
+clothes well. She was so accustomed to seeing him that she never before
+had stopped to analyze his appearance. Now after weeks of separation she
+regarded him from a fresh viewpoint and realized with something of a
+shock how very good-looking he was.
+
+He had the appearance of being scrubbed inside and out--of being not
+only clean but wholesome and upstanding; of knowing what he wanted and
+going after it.
+
+He was not a small town product.
+
+Three years in an eastern preparatory school, followed by four years
+of college life had knocked all that might have been provincial out of
+Horatio Junior.
+
+Nevertheless these reflections, interesting though they were, proved
+nothing about his knowledge of the water.
+
+Then she suddenly became aware that the boat was being guided by a
+master hand.
+
+"Why, Hortie Fuller, I had no idea you could row like this!" exclaimed
+she with admiration.
+
+Horatio deigned no response.
+
+"Wherever did you learn to pull such an oar?"
+
+"Varsity Crew."
+
+"Of course. I had forgotten," she apologized, her eyes following as
+with each splendid stroke the craft shot forward.
+
+Although the oarsman ignored her approbation he was not unmindful of it.
+
+"Where do we land?" he asked.
+
+"Anywhere."
+
+He bent forward and with one final magnificent sweep sent the nose of
+the dory out of the channel.
+
+"Come on," he called, leaping to the beach.
+
+"But--but, Hortie--I can't get ashore here. I'll wet my white shoes."
+
+"Jump."
+
+"It's too far. Pull the boat higher on the sand."
+
+"Not on your life. Jump, darling! I'll catch you."
+
+She stood up in the bow.
+
+"I can't. It's too far."
+
+"Nonsense! Where's your sporting blood? Don't be afraid. I'm right
+here."
+
+"Suppose you shouldn't catch me?"
+
+"But I shall."
+
+He would. She was certain of it.
+
+Still she wavered.
+
+"I don't want to jump," she pouted.
+
+"You'll have to. Come on, Beautiful. You're wasting time."
+
+"I think you are perfectly horrid," she flung out as she sprang forward.
+
+An instant later she was in his arms and tight in a grip she knew
+herself powerless to loosen.
+
+"Let me go, Hortie! Let me go!" she pleaded.
+
+"I shall, sweetheart. All in good time. Before I set you free, though,
+we must settle one trivial point. Are we engaged or are we not?"
+
+She made no answer.
+
+"If we're not," he went on, "I intend to duck you in the water. If we
+are, you shall tell me you love me and go free."
+
+"Don't be idiotic, Hortie. Please, please let me go. Somebody may come
+along and see us."
+
+"I don't mind if they do. There are other considerations more
+important."
+
+A swift, shy smile illuminated her face.
+
+"I--I--don't want to be ducked, Hortie," she murmured, raising her arms
+to his neck.
+
+"You precious thing! You shan't be. Now the rest of it. Say you love
+me."
+
+"I guess you know that."
+
+"But I wish to hear you say it."
+
+"I--I--think I do."
+
+"That's a half-hearted statement."
+
+"I--I--know I do, Hortie."
+
+"Ah, that is better. And I love you, Sylvia. Loving you is an old, old
+story with me--a sort of habit. I shall never change. You are too much
+a part of me, Sylvia. Now pay the boatman and you shall go. One is too
+cheap. Two is miserly. The fare is three. I won't take less."
+
+"I consider your methods despicable," announced the girl when at last he
+reluctantly put her down on her feet.
+
+"A warrior must study his adversary and plan his attack accordingly."
+
+"You blackmailed me."
+
+"I know my Sylvia," he countered.
+
+"Just the same you had no right to take advantage."
+
+"Perhaps you'd rather I trundled back to New York tomorrow and offered
+the ring to Estelle."
+
+"Silly! I was only fooling," she protested quickly, linking her arm
+in his. "This ring would never fit Estelle, dearest. Her hands are
+tremendous. Didn't you ever notice them? They are almost as large as a
+man's. I never saw such hands."
+
+"She's an awful nice girl just the same."
+
+"I don't doubt that. Come. We must quit fooling now and hurry or we
+shall never get home. Marcia will be frantic."
+
+"Marcia?"
+
+"My aunt. I have so much to tell you I hardly know where to begin,"
+sighed Sylvia. "Do listen carefully, for I need your advice."
+
+"What about?"
+
+"A lot of things. It is a long story. You see Marcia has fallen in love
+with a robber."
+
+"A robber? Your aunt?"
+
+"Uh-huh. I know it sounds odd, but you will understand it better after
+you have heard the details," nodded Sylvia. "This man, a jewel thief,
+came to our house one day shipwrecked and hurt, so we took him in."
+
+"A thief?"
+
+Again she nodded.
+
+"Yes. We didn't know then, of course, that he was a thief. Afterward,
+when we did, he was sick and we hadn't the heart to turn him out. In
+fact we couldn't have done it anyway. He was too fascinating. He was one
+of the most fascinating men you ever saw."
+
+"He must have been," Horatio growled.
+
+"Oh, he was. I myself almost lost my heart to him," confessed Sylvia
+earnestly. "Don't jeer. I am speaking the truth. I did not quite fall in
+love with him, but I came near it. Marcia did."
+
+"Your aunt?"
+
+"Yes. Don't look so horrified, Hortie. I realize it seems queer,
+unconventional; but you'll understand better when you see Marcia. She is
+no ordinary person."
+
+"I shouldn't think she was."
+
+Sylvia ignored the comment.
+
+"Well, anyway, the robber hid the loot and of course Marcia and I did
+all we could to protect him."
+
+"Why of course?"
+
+"I just told you--because he was so fascinating--because Marcia did not
+or would not believe he had stolen it. I knew better. Still I helped
+shield him just the same. Then one day the Wilton sheriff heard over the
+radio there had been a jewel robbery on Long Island, and stumbling upon
+the hidden gems, arrested Mr. Heath."
+
+"Mr. Heath?"
+
+"The thief, Hortie! The thief! How can you be so stupid?" ejaculated
+Sylvia sharply, squeezing his arm.
+
+"I get you now. You must admit, though, this is some story to
+understand."
+
+"I know it sounds confused, but in reality it is perfectly simple if
+you'll just pay attention. Well," the girl hurried on, "I cannot stop
+to explain all the twists and turns but anyway, the sheriff brought the
+burglar to Wilton and Marcia is broken-hearted."
+
+"Broken-hearted! I should think she'd be thankful to be rid of him."
+
+"But you keep forgetting she's in love with him."
+
+"Well, do you wonder I do? What kind of a woman is your aunt? What sort
+of a gang have you got in with anyhow?"
+
+"Hush, Hortie! You mustn't talk like that," Sylvia declared. "This
+affair is too serious. Marcia and the--the--she and Mr. Heath love one
+another. It is terrible because, you see, he has a wife."
+
+"I should call that a stroke of Providence, myself."
+
+"Horatio, I think you are being very nasty. You are joking about
+something that is no joking matter."
+
+"I beg your pardon, dear. I wasn't really joking. Don't be angry. But
+this yarn is unbelievable--preposterous," explained the man, taking her
+hand and gently caressing it.
+
+"I realize it sounds--unusual."
+
+"Unusual is mild."
+
+"Well--perhaps a little theatrical. Yet, for all that, it isn't. Now
+do stop interrupting and let me finish. When Mr. Heath went away from
+the Homestead, he left behind him a hundred dollars in payment for what
+Marcia had done for him. It almost killed her."
+
+"She--she--thought she ought to have had more, you mean?"
+
+"Horatio!"
+
+"But--a hundred dollars is quite a sum in these days. She would better
+have grabbed it tight and been thankful. My respect for this bandit chap
+is rising. I should call him an honest gentleman."
+
+"It is useless to talk with you, Horatio--I can see that," Sylvia said,
+stiffening. "A delicate affair like this is evidently beyond your
+comprehension. You can't seem to understand it. All you do is to make
+light of every word I say."
+
+"I'm not making light. On the contrary I guess I am taking the situation
+far more seriously than you are. I don't like the moral tone of this
+place at all. It looks to me as if you had got into most undesirable
+surroundings. It is high time I came and took you out of them. Thieves,
+and jewel-robberies, and sheriffs, and bandits with wives--Heavens!
+Alton City is a Garden of Eden compared with this town. The sooner you
+are married to me, young woman, and out of here the better. As for this
+remarkable aunt of yours--"
+
+"Stop, Horatio! Stop right where you are," bridled Sylvia. "One more
+word against Marcia and back home you go so fast you won't be able to
+see for dust. I'm in earnest, so watch your step."
+
+"The woman has bewitched you," frowned Horatio.
+
+"She has. She bewitches everybody. She'll bewitch you."
+
+"Not on your life!"
+
+"Wait and see. Mr. Heath will bewitch you, too."
+
+"The--the--?"
+
+"Yes, the burglar, bandit, thief--whatever you choose to call him.
+You'll admit it when you meet him. We are going there now."
+
+"To--to--call?"
+
+"To return the check I just told you about. You're the stupidest man I
+was ever engaged to, Horatio. Why can't you listen?"
+
+"I am listening with all my ears."
+
+"Then the trouble is with your imagination," Sylvia said in her loftiest
+tone.
+
+They walked on in silence until presently the girl stopped before the
+gate of a small, weather-beaten cottage.
+
+"Well, here we are at Elisha's," she remarked, turning in at the gate.
+
+"What's he got to do with it?"
+
+"Mercy, Hortie. You'll wear me to a shred. Elisha is the sheriff. I'm
+going to coax him to let us see the prisoner."
+
+"You don't mean the chap is jailed here! My--!" he clapped his hand over
+his mouth. "Why, any red-blooded man could knock the whole house flat to
+the ground with a single blow of his fist. I'll bet I could."
+
+"There wasn't any other place to put him."
+
+"Well, if he stays incarcerated in a detention pen like this, he's a
+noble-minded convict--that's all I have to say."
+
+They walked up the narrow clam-shell path, bordered by iris and thrifty
+perennials.
+
+As they did so, the sound of a radio drifted through the open window.
+
+Sylvia peeped in.
+
+Elisha, too intent on the music to hear her step, was sitting before the
+loud speaker, smoking.
+
+"I've come to see Mr. Heath," she shouted above the wails of a crooning
+orchestra.
+
+"You can't. 'Tain't allowed."
+
+"Nonsense! Prisoners are always permitted to see visitors. Where is he?"
+
+"I ain't sure as I'd oughter let you see him," hesitated Elisha.
+
+"I'll take the responsibility."
+
+"Wal--mebbe on second thought, 'twill do no harm," he drawled. "He's
+round on the back porch. I'd come with you warn't I waitin' for the news
+flashes."
+
+"That's all right. I can find him."
+
+"Say, who you got with you?" called the sheriff over his shoulder.
+
+"A friend from my home town."
+
+"Don't know 'bout his goin'."
+
+"Oh, he won't do any harm. He's nobody--just my fiancé."
+
+"Your what?"
+
+"The man I am going to marry."
+
+"You don't tell me! So you're gettin' married, are you? Good lookin'
+feller! I heard at the post office you had some chap in the offin'. But
+to let him see Mr. Heath--I dunno as 'twould be just--"
+
+"Where I go Horatio goes," Sylvia retorted.
+
+Elisha weakened.
+
+"Wal, in that case--" he began.
+
+She waited to hear no more.
+
+"Come on, Hortie," she called.
+
+Leaving Elisha absorbed in a saxophone solo, the two rounded the corner
+of the cottage and found themselves in the presence of Stanley Heath.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXI
+
+
+He was looking very fit and comfortable, lying at full length in a
+Gloucester hammock with cushions beneath his head, a book in his hand,
+and a package of cigarettes within reach.
+
+"Sylvia!" he cried, springing up and advancing toward her with
+outstretched hand. "Sylvia! What a brick you are to come!"
+
+Angry as she was, when face to face with him she could not resist the
+contagion of his smile.
+
+"I'm glad to see you so well," she said. "This is Mr. Horatio Fuller of
+Alton City."
+
+Horatio looked Heath up and down and then stepped forward and gripped
+his hand with unmistakable cordiality.
+
+"Mighty glad to know you, sir," was his greeting. "You seem to have got
+yourself into a jam. If there is anything I can do--any way I can be of
+service--"
+
+"Horatio, you forget we are not here to make a social call," interrupted
+Sylvia, who had by this time regained her routed chilliness and
+indignation. "On the contrary, Mr. Heath, we have come on a very painful
+errand. We are returning this check to you."
+
+She extended it toward him, gingerly holding its corner in the tips of
+her fingers as if it were too foul a thing to touch. "It was outrageous
+of you, insulting to leave a thing of this sort for Marcia--to attempt
+to pay in cash--kindness such as hers."
+
+"I'm--sorry," Heath stammered.
+
+"Sorry! You couldn't have been very sorry, or you would have sensed such
+an act would hurt her terribly."
+
+Horatio Fuller fumbled nervously with his tie.
+
+"You deserve," swept on young Sylvia with rising spirit, "to be
+thrashed. Hortie and I both think so--don't we, Hortie?"
+
+Horatio Junior turned crimson.
+
+"Oh, I say, Sylvia, go easy!" he protested. "Don't drag me into this. I
+don't know one darn thing about it."
+
+"But I've explained everything to you."
+
+"You've tried to. Nevertheless, the whole affair is beyond me. I can't
+make head or tail out of it," shrugged Horatio. "Suppose I just step
+inside and listen to the news flashes while you and Mr. Heath transact
+your business. It will be less awkward all round. If you want me you can
+speak."
+
+Nodding courteously in Heath's direction, Horatio Junior disappeared.
+
+"Your Mr. Fuller is a man of nice feeling," Stanley Heath declared
+looking after him. "I congratulate you."
+
+"Thank you."
+
+"Everything is settled then?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"I hope you will be very happy."
+
+She did not reply at once. When she did, it was to say with a humility
+new and appealing:
+
+"I shall be. I never appreciated Hortie until now. I was too silly."
+
+"Perhaps you were merely young."
+
+"It wasn't that. I was vain--feather-headed. I have realized it since
+knowing Marcia."
+
+"We all want to be different after we have seen Marcia," Stanley Heath
+said gently.
+
+"We don't just want to be--we set about it," was the girl's grave reply.
+
+"Sit down, Sylvia, and let us talk of Marcia," ventured Heath after a
+pause. "I am deeply sorry if I have wounded her--indeed I am."
+
+The girl searched his face.
+
+"I cannot understand you, Mr. Heath," she said. "What has Marcia done
+that you should have left her as you did? Hasn't she believed in you
+through thick and thin? Stood up for you against everybody--going it
+blind at that? Few women would have had such faith in a stranger."
+
+"I realize that. You do not need to tell me," he answered. "It is
+precisely because she has gone so far I believed her capable of going
+farther yet--the whole way."
+
+"What do you mean by the whole way?"
+
+"To the end."
+
+"Well, hasn't she?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"No. She has fallen short--disappointed me cruelly. When it came to
+the final test, her affection collapsed. Oh, she has been wonderful,"
+he added quickly. "Do not think I fail to appreciate that. She has far
+out-distanced every other woman I ever have known. I simply expected too
+much of her, doubtless the impossible. Human nature is frail--a woman's
+heart the frailest thing of all. I have always said so."
+
+"You wrong Marcia," cried Sylvia hotly. "Her heart is not frail. Neither
+is she the weak sort of person you have pictured. In all the world you
+could not match her loyalty or the depth of her affection. I owe Marcia
+a great debt. I could tell you things she has done that would make you
+thoroughly ashamed of your superficial rating of her. But why go into
+that? If after the experience we three have lived through together you
+have not discovered what she is, it is futile for me to attempt to show
+you.
+
+"You came into our lives like a meteor--entirely detached from
+everything. We knew nothing about you and in the face of damaging
+evidence you offered neither Marcia nor me one word of explanation.
+Marcia asked none. Without rhyme or reason she believed in you. I had
+not her faith. I freely confess I thought you guilty. Oh, I liked you
+sufficiently well to be ready to help you save your skin. But Marcia
+cared enough for you to want you to save your soul.
+
+"There is a difference in that sort of caring, Mr. Heath--a big
+difference. When you were taken ill, we both nursed you--I willingly,
+she devotedly. Here lay another difference had you been able to detect
+it. What happened as a result of this enforced intimacy? You know--know
+far better than I."
+
+"I fell in love with Marcia," replied the man without an instant's
+hesitation.
+
+"You fell in love!" Sylvia repeated, her lip curling. "You call it
+love--the poor thing you offered her! Why, Marcia would have gone to the
+world's end with you, Stanley Heath, had she the right. She would have
+faced any humiliation for your sake. If prison doors closed upon you,
+she would have remained faithful until they swung open and afterward
+followed you to any corner of the earth in which you chose to begin a
+new life."
+
+"That's where you're wrong, Sylvia," contradicted Heath. "Marcia was
+not ready to do that. I tried her out and she refused. When I told her
+I should return to her, and asked her in so many words whether she was
+willing to face shame and public scorn for my sake she turned her back
+on me. She could not go to that length."
+
+"Are you sure she understood?" asked Sylvia, stepping nearer and looking
+fearlessly into his eyes. "There is a shame Marcia never in this world
+would face for any man; but it is not the shame you have just described.
+
+"It is the shame of wronging another woman; destroying a home. I
+know that sounds old-fashioned in days like these. Perhaps Marcia is
+old-fashioned. Perhaps I am. In the villages where we have been brought
+up, we do not go in for the new standards sponsored by more up-to-date
+communities. We believe in marriage as a sacred, enduring sacrament--not
+a bond to be lightly broken. When you offered Marcia less than that--"
+
+"I never offered Marcia any such shameful position, Sylvia," cried
+Stanley Heath. "I would not so far insult her."
+
+"But you are married."
+
+"That is a lie. Who told you so?"
+
+"The--the wire to Mrs. Stanley Heath--the telephone message. I heard you
+call her Joan."
+
+"But, Sylvia, Mrs. Stanley Heath is not my wife. She is my young
+step-mother, my father's widow. I always have called her Joan."
+
+"Oh! I beg your pardon."
+
+"I see it all now," the man exclaimed. "You have entirely misunderstood
+the situation. I'm a Junior. Since my father's death, however, people
+have got out of the way of using the term. Sometimes I myself am
+careless about it. So Marcia thought--"
+
+"Of course she did. We both did. So did Elisha Winslow and Eleazer
+Crocker. So did lots of other people in Wilton."
+
+"Heavens!"
+
+"Well, how were we to know?" Sylvia demanded.
+
+"How, indeed? If an innocent citizen cannot visit a town without being
+arrested as a criminal within a week of his arrival, why shouldn't he be
+married without his knowledge? Circumstantial evidence can, apparently,
+work wonders."
+
+Then suddenly he threw back his head and laughed.
+
+"Bless you, little Sylvia--bless you for setting me right. I told you
+you were a brick and you've proved it. Thanks to you, everything is now
+straightened out."
+
+"Not quite everything, I am afraid," the girl protested.
+
+"Everything that is of importance," he amended. "The rest will untangle
+itself in time. I am not worrying about it. Here, give me your hand. How
+am I to thank you for what you have done? I only hope that young Horatio
+Fuller of yours realizes what a treasure he is getting."
+
+"He does, Mr. Heath--he does," observed that gentleman, strolling at the
+same instant through the door and encircling his tiny bride-to-be with
+his arm. "Haven't I traveled half way across this big country of ours to
+marry her?"
+
+"Oh, we're not going to be married yet, Hortie," demurred the girl
+trying to wrench herself free of the big fellow's hold.
+
+"Certainly we are, my dear. Didn't you know that? I'm surprised how many
+things there are that you don't know," he went on teasingly. "I thought
+I explained exactly what brought me East. Didn't I tell you this morning
+I came to get married? I was perfectly serious. Dad gave me two months
+vacation with that understanding. I must either produce a wife when
+I get home or lose my job. He'll never give me another furlough if I
+don't."
+
+"Looks to me as if you had Mr. Fuller's future prosperity in your hands,
+Sylvia," Heath said.
+
+"She has. She can make or break me. A big responsibility, eh, little
+Sylvia?"
+
+"I know it, Hortie," retorted the girl seriously.
+
+"She is equal to it, Fuller--never fear," Stanley Heath asserted.
+
+"I'm not doing any worrying," smiled Horatio. "I--"
+
+The sentence was cut short by the radio's loudspeaker:
+
+_The much sought Long Island gem thief was captured this morning at his
+lodgings in Jersey City. Harris Chalmers, alias Jimmie O'Hara, a paroled
+prisoner, was taken by the police at his room on K-- Street. A quantity
+of loot, together with firearms and the missing jewels were found
+concealed in the apartment. The man readily admitted the theft. He has a
+long prison record._
+
+For a second nobody spoke.
+
+Then as if prompted by common impulse, the three on the piazza rushed
+indoors.
+
+Elisha was sitting limply before the radio.
+
+"Did you hear that?" he gasped.
+
+"Well, rather!" Horatio Fuller shouted with a triumphant wave of his
+hand.
+
+"Ain't it the beateree?" exploded the astonished sheriff. "That sends
+the whole case up in the air. All that's needed now to make me out the
+darndest fool on God's earth is for Eleazer's young nephew-lawyer in New
+York, who's checking up Heath's story, to wire everything there is O.K.
+If he does, I'll go bury my head. There goes the telephone! That's him!
+That's Eleazer--I'll bet a hat."
+
+"_Hello!--Yes, I heard it.--You ain't surprised? Wal, I am. I'm took
+off my feet.--Oh, your nephew wired, did he, an' everything's O.K.?
+That bein' the case, I reckon there's no more to be said. I feel like a
+shrimp. How do you feel?_----"
+
+Elisha hung up the receiver.
+
+"Wal, Mr. Heath, the story you told Eleazer an' me is straight as a
+string in every particular," he announced. "You're free! There ain't
+nothin' I can say. To tell you I'm sorry ain't in no way adequate.
+I shan't offer you my hand neither, 'cause I know you wouldn't take
+it--leastways I wouldn't, was I in your place. There's some insults
+nothin' can wipe out an' this blunder of mine is one of 'em. You'll
+just have to set me down as one of them puddin'-headed idiots that was
+over-ambitious to do his duty. I ain't got no other explanation or
+excuse to make."
+
+"I shall not let it go at that, Mr. Winslow," Stanley Heath acclaimed,
+stepping to the old man's side and seizing his palm in a strong grip.
+"We all make errors. Forget it. I'm going to. Besides, you have treated
+me like a prince since I've been your guest."
+
+"You are the prince, sir. Livin' with you has shown me that. Had I
+knowed you 'fore I arrested you as well as I do now the thing wouldn't
+'a' happened. Wal, anyhow, all ain't been lost. At least I've met a
+thoroughbred an' that ain't none too frequent an occurrence in these
+days."
+
+"What I can't understand, Mr. Winslow, is why you didn't recognize he
+was a thoroughbred from the beginning," Horatio Fuller remarked.
+
+"You've a right to berate me, young man--a perfect right. I ain't goin'
+to put up no defense. 'Twas the circumstances that blinded me. Besides,
+I had only a single glimpse of Mr. Heath. Remember that. After he was
+took sick I never saw him again. Had we got acquainted, as we have now,
+everything would 'a' been different. Findin' them jewels--"
+
+"Great hat, man! I had a diamond ring in my pocket when I came to
+Wilton, but that didn't prove I'd stolen it."
+
+"I know! I know!" acquiesced the sheriff. "Eleazer an' me lost our
+bearin's entirely. We got completely turned round."
+
+"A thief with a Phi Beta Kappa key!" jeered Horatio. "Godfrey!" Then
+turning to Sylvia, he added in an undertone: "Well, so far as I can see
+the only person who has kept her head through this affair is our Aunt
+Marcia."
+
+Elisha overheard the final clause.
+
+"That's right!" he agreed with cordiality. "You're 'xactly right, Mr.
+Fuller. The Widder's head-piece can always be relied upon to stay
+steady."
+
+"Whose head-piece?" inquired Stanley Heath, puzzled by the term.
+
+"Marcia's. Here in town we call her The Widder."
+
+"Well, you'll not have the opportunity to call her that much longer,"
+Heath laughed.
+
+"You don't tell me!" Elisha regarded him, open-mouthed. "Humph! So
+that's how the wind blows, is it? Wal, I can see this mix-up would
+'a' ended my chances anyway. Marcia'd never have had me after this.
+Disappointed as I am, though, there's a sight of comfort in knowin'
+she won't have Eleazer neither. He don't come out of the shindy a whit
+better'n me. That's somethin'. In fact it's a heap!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXII
+
+
+Intense as was the joy of the three persons, who a little later set out
+toward the Homestead in the old yellow dory, they were a silent trio.
+
+Too much of seriousness had happened during the morning for them to
+dispel its aftermath lightly.
+
+Horatio, pulling at the oars, was unusually earnest, Sylvia turned the
+ring on her finger reflectively and Stanley Heath looked far out over
+the water, too deep in thought to be conscious of either of them.
+
+When, however, the boat swung into the channel, Sylvia spoke.
+
+"Hortie and I are not coming with you, Mr. Heath," she said. "We will
+stay behind. Only do, please, promise me one thing. Do not tell Marcia
+the whole story before we have a chance to hear it. There are ever so
+many connecting links I am curious beyond words to have you supply."
+
+"Such as--?"
+
+"The jewels in the first place. I can hardly wait to have that mystery
+solved."
+
+Stanley laughed.
+
+"The jewels are no mystery at all. I can satisfy your mind about those
+here and now. They were Joan's--Mrs. Heath's. Her maid, Corinne, took
+them and disappeared. Soon afterward, purely by accident, I met Paul
+Latimer, a friend who lives on Long Island, and played squash with him
+at the club and during the course of our conversation, he asked if I
+knew of a good man servant, saying that Julien, their butler, had just
+given notice that he was to be married shortly to Corinne, the new
+parlor-maid, and return with her to France.
+
+"The woman's name instantly caught my attention.
+
+"Why shouldn't I do a bit of sleuthing on my own account?
+
+"Thus far the detectives Joan and I had hired had made no headway at
+locating the jewels.
+
+"Why shouldn't I have a try at it myself? It chanced I had ordered a
+power-boat built in Rhode Island and had for some time been awaiting an
+opportunity to test her out. Why not combine the two errands?
+
+"I got the boat and used her a couple of days, and finding her
+satisfactory cruised along to the Latimers' at whose house I had
+frequently stayed, and with the habits of whose household I was
+familiar. My plan was to arrive early in the morning before the family
+was astir and catch the parlor-maid alone at her work.
+
+"Should she prove to be our Corinne, I would boldly confront her with
+the theft and demand the jewels; if, on the other hand, she turned out
+to be another person altogether, it would be perfectly easy to explain
+my presence by falling back on my acquaintance with Paul.
+
+"It seemed, on thinking the matter over, that this would be a far more
+considerate course anyway than to drag in the detectives, not only
+because I had no real evidence to present to them, but also because of
+my friendship for the Latimers and for Julien, who had been in their
+employ many years. I knew they esteemed him very highly and would
+be dreadfully cut up should they find him involved in an affair as
+unpleasant as this one. Beside, I felt practically certain he had had
+nothing to do with the crime. He was too fine--one of the old-fashioned,
+devoted type of servant.
+
+"To shame such a man and throw suspicion on him if he were blameless
+would be a pity, especially just on the eve of his resigning from
+service. It might mean that instead of leaving with the gratitude and
+good-will of his employers, he might be sent away under a cloud. I did
+not wish that to happen.
+
+"Well, my scheme worked to a dot.
+
+"I reached the Latimers' unobserved; found Corinne alone straightening
+up the library; faced her and demanded the jewels.
+
+"The instant she saw me she knew the game was up. Nevertheless, she
+made a pretense of denying the crime until I threatened to send for
+Julien, at which suggestion she broke down and, without more ado,
+produced the gems from her pocket, shouldering all the blame.
+
+"Julien, she protested, knew nothing of the theft. He was a
+self-respecting, honest man. Should he be told of what she had done it
+would end everything between them. She loved him. Indeed it was because
+of him she had committed the crime.
+
+"It proved they had been engaged some time and long before had agreed to
+save their money and sometime pool it so they might be married and buy a
+little home in France.
+
+"Julien had saved conscientiously; but Corinne had been extravagant and
+let the major part of her earnings slip through her fingers. He was now
+asking how much she had laid aside and to her consternation she found
+she had almost nothing.
+
+"She was ashamed to face him.
+
+"What could she say?
+
+"She did not know what impulse prompted her to take the jewels. She had
+never stolen before in all her life. The diamonds had been constantly in
+her care and it had never occurred to her to appropriate them. It had
+been a sudden, mad temptation created by the need of money and she had
+yielded to it without thought. Scarcely were the gems in her possession
+before she regretted her action and longed to undo it. She would have
+taken them back had she not feared the consequences. She begged Julien
+should not be told what she had done. If her crime could be concealed
+from him she was willing to make any restitution I demanded.
+
+"Perhaps I was a sentimental fool. Anyway I simply could not see it
+my duty to hand the unhappy creature over to the authorities; destroy
+Julien's faith in her; wipe out the future she had set her heart upon.
+She was young, with life before her. I felt sure if given a chance she
+would make good.
+
+"Promising I would remain silent, I pocketed the gems and came away.
+
+"Whether I acted rightly or wrongly I do not know.
+
+"I suppose by this time the two are married and on their way to France.
+I believe Corinne told the truth and that under other influences
+she will become an excellent wife and mother. At least she has the
+opportunity.
+
+"The other half of my tale--the half I neither foresaw nor planned--is
+familiar to you.
+
+"The fog that drove me out of my course; my subsequent shipwreck and
+illness; the coming of Currier, our old family servant; the chain of
+circumstances that brought upon me the calamities from which I have
+just extricated myself--these are an old story. The only thing that now
+remains to clear my sky is for me to right myself with Marcia."
+
+"That will be easy," smiled Sylvia.
+
+"I wish I thought so," was Heath's moody answer.
+
+"Marcia is no ordinary woman. Her understanding and love are
+measureless. Love, Mr. Heath, forgives a great deal."
+
+"I know it does. In that lies my only hope."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+She was not in the house when at last Stanley Heath overtook her, but
+far up the beach tossing driftwood into the surf for Prince Hal to
+retrieve.
+
+The man paused, watching them.
+
+Hatless, her splendid body aglow with exercise, Marcia had the freedom
+and wholesomeness of a young athlete. She threw the sticks with the
+overhand swing of a boy pitching a ball. Yet with all her strength and
+muscular ease, there was a grace unmistakably feminine in her every
+movement. Feminine, too, and very beautiful was her finely poised head,
+her blowing hair, her glorious color, and her sparkling eyes.
+
+When she turned and saw him, she uttered a faint cry, but she did not
+advance to meet him. Prince Hal did that, racing up the beach, uttering
+shrill yelps of welcome as he came.
+
+A second and the dog was again at Marcia's side, and in this ecstasy
+of delight he continued to run back and forth until Stanley Heath had
+covered the sandy curve that intervened and himself stood beside her.
+
+"Marcia--dearest--I have come back--come to ask your forgiveness. I
+misjudged you cruelly the night we parted and in anger spoke words I had
+no right to speak. Forgive me, dear! Forgive me! Can you?"
+
+"I forgave you long ago--before you asked," she whispered.
+
+"Forgave without understanding--how like you! But you must not do that.
+You have more to forgive in me than you know, Marcia. I have been
+proud, unbelieving, unworthy of a love like yours. I have made you
+suffer--suffer needlessly. Listen to what I have to tell and then see if
+you can still forgive."
+
+Turning, they walked slowly along the shore.
+
+"I could have told you about the jewels and how I came by them at the
+outset had I not suddenly conceived the idea of teasing you. The plan to
+conceal my story came to me as a form of sport--a subtle, psychological
+game. Here I was pitched without ceremony into a strange environment
+among persons who knew nothing of my background. What would they make
+of me? How rate me when cut off from my real setting? I resolved to
+try out the experiment. Women are said to be inquisitive, particularly
+those living in isolation. My advent could not but stimulate questions.
+I thought it would be an amusing adventure to circumvent not only your
+curiosity but also that of the village.
+
+"I placed scant dependence on feminine discernment and constancy.
+
+"When I went to the war, I left behind a girl who pledged herself to
+love and wait for me. When I came back it was to find her married to
+my best friend. The discovery shook my confidence in human nature, and
+especially in women, to its foundations. I derided love, vowing I never
+would marry and be made a puppet of a second time.
+
+"The remainder of the story you know.
+
+"I stumbled, a stranger, into your home and instantly you set at naught
+all my preconceived theories of womanhood by believing in me with an
+unreasoning faith. You asked no questions. You did not even exhibit
+a legitimate curiosity in the peculiar network of circumstances that
+entangled me. You were a new type of being and I regarded you with
+wonder.
+
+"Still, I was not satisfied. I felt sure that if pressed too far your
+trust in me would crumble and, therefore, I tried deliberately to break
+it down by throwing obstacles in its pathway. When suspicion closed in
+upon me I put you to further tests by withholding the explanations I
+could easily have made. It was a contemptible piece of egoism--selfish
+and cruel--and dearly have I paid for it. But at least remember that if
+I caused you suffering I have suffered also.
+
+"For, Marcia, through it all I loved you. I recognized from the moment
+I first looked into your eyes that a force mightier than ourselves drew
+us together--a force not to be denied. Nevertheless, so bitter had been
+my experience I dared not yield to this strange new power. Instead I
+opposed it with all my strength, giving my love reluctantly, fighting
+inch by inch the surrender I sensed to be inevitable.
+
+"You, on the other hand, had like myself known betrayal, but you had
+taken the larger view and not allowed it to warp or mar your outlook on
+life. When love came knocking a second time, you were neither too proud
+nor too cowardly to answer it, but freely gave your affection with the
+gladness and sincerity so characteristic of you.
+
+"I do not deserve such a love.
+
+"Beside the largeness of your nature my own shows itself childish--a
+small, poor thing for which I blush.
+
+"Help me to erase the past.
+
+"I love you with my whole soul, dear. Everything in me loves you. My
+life is worth nothing unless you share it.
+
+"Will you?
+
+"Ah, you need not fear, Marcia. Sylvia has told me everything. Beloved,
+there is not and never has been a barrier to our marriage. We have
+misunderstood one another. Let us do so no longer.
+
+"I am a free man--acquitted.
+
+"I also am free of any claim that would hinder our wedding. Come to me
+and let us begin life afresh."
+
+She came then, swiftly.
+
+As he held her in his arms, the last shadow that separated them melted
+away.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Under the glow of the noonday sun, they walked back toward the
+Homestead, hand in hand.
+
+Sylvia came running to meet them and, throwing her arms about Marcia,
+kissed her.
+
+"Everything is all right--I can see that," she cried. "Oh, I am so
+glad--so glad for both of you! I believe I just could not stand it if
+you were not happy, because I am so happy myself. Hortie is here, you
+know. Didn't Stanley tell you? Why, Stanley Heath, aren't you ashamed
+to forget all about Hortie and me? Yes, Hortie came this morning. We're
+engaged. See my ring!"
+
+"Ring!" repeated Heath. "Mercy on us, Marcia, you must have a ring. I
+cannot allow this young sprite of a niece to outdo you. I am afraid I
+was not as foresighted as Mr. Fuller, however. Still, I can produce a
+ring, such as it is. Here, dear, you shall wear this until I can get
+something better."
+
+He slipped from his little finger the wrought-gold ring with its
+beautifully cut diamond.
+
+"I picked this up in India," he said. "I am sure it will fit. Try it,
+Marcia."
+
+"I--I--do not need a ring," murmured she, drawing back and putting her
+hands nervously behind her.
+
+"Of course you do," interposed Sylvia. "How absurd! A ring is part of
+being engaged."
+
+"A very, very small part," Marcia answered.
+
+"Nevertheless, it is a part," the girl insisted. "Come, don't be silly.
+Let Stanley put it on."
+
+Playfully she caught Marcia's hands and imprisoning them, drew them
+forward.
+
+On the left one glistened a narrow gold band.
+
+"Jason's!" cried Sylvia. "Jason's! Take it off and give it to me. You
+owe nothing to Jason. Even I, a Howe, would not have you preserve longer
+that worn out allegiance, neither would my mother. The past is dead. You
+have closed the door upon it. You said so yourself. Never think of it
+again. You belong to Stanley now--to Stanley and to no one else."
+
+As she spoke, Sylvia took the ring from the older woman's hand and held
+it high in the air.
+
+"The past is dead," she repeated, "and the last reminder of
+it--is--gone."
+
+There was a gleam as the golden band spun aloft and catching an instant
+the sunlight's glory, disappeared beneath the foam that marked the line
+of incoming breakers.
+
+"Now, Stanley, put your ring upon her finger. It is a symbol of a new
+life, of hope, of happier things. Isn't it so, Marcia?"
+
+"Yes! Yes!"
+
+Sylvia drew a long breath.
+
+"There! Now we'll not be serious a minute longer. This is the greatest
+day of our four lives. There must not be even a shadow in our heaven.
+Kiss me, Marcia, and come and meet Hortie. Poor dear! He is paralyzed
+with fright at the thought of appearing into your presence. I left him
+hiding behind the door. I could not coax him out of the house."
+
+"How ridiculous! You must have made me out an ogre."
+
+"On the contrary, I made you out an enchantress. I told him you would
+bewitch him. That's why he became panic-stricken. Do be nice to him--for
+my sake. He really is a lamb."
+
+Sylvia stepped to the piazza.
+
+"Horatio," called she imperiously. "Come out here right away and meet
+your Aunt Marcia. And please, Stanley, forgive me for mistaking you for
+a bandit. I'm dreadfully mortified. Still, you must admit circumstantial
+evidence was strong against you. All of which proves on what shifting
+sands rest our moral characters!"
+
+"Say rather our reputations, dear child," Heath corrected.
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
+possible. Inconsistent hyphenation is as in the original.
+
+The following is a list of changes made to the original.
+
+  Page 19: ensconsed changed to ensconced
+  Page 70: s-pose changed to s'pose
+  Page 72 & 84: villian changed to villain
+  Page 153: housekeper changed to housekeeper
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Shifting Sands, by Sara Ware Bassett
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43773 ***