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diff --git a/43773-8.txt b/43773-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e8f331b..0000000 --- a/43773-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9205 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shifting Sands, by Sara Ware Bassett - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Shifting Sands - -Author: Sara Ware Bassett - -Release Date: September 20, 2013 [EBook #43773] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHIFTING SANDS *** - - - - -Produced by Dianna Adair, Marc-André Seekamp, La Monte -H.P. Yarroll and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - -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 naďveté; 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 naďvely 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 tęte-ŕ-tętes, 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 THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHIFTING SANDS *** - -***** This file should be named 43773-8.txt or 43773-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/7/7/43773/ - -Produced by Dianna Adair, Marc-André Seekamp, La Monte -H.P. 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