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diff --git a/old/panwh10.txt b/old/panwh10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3ee5ac --- /dev/null +++ b/old/panwh10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14564 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Peter: A Novel of Which He is Not the Hero +by F. Hopkinson Smith +(#3 in our series by F. Hopkinson Smith) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before distributing this or any other +Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your +own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future +readers. Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. 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HOPKINSON SMITH + + + + + +PETER + + + + + +CHAPTER I + + + + +Peter was still poring over his ledger one dark afternoon in +December, his bald head glistening like a huge ostrich egg under +the flare of the overhead gas jets, when Patrick, the night +watchman, catching sight of my face peering through the outer +grating, opened the door of the Bank. + +The sight so late in the day was an unusual one, for in all the +years that I have called at the Bank--ten, now--no, eleven since +we first knew each other--Peter had seldom failed to be ready for +our walk uptown when the old moon-faced clock high up on the wall +above the stove pointed at four. + +"I thought there was something up!" I cried. "What is it, Peter-- +balance wrong?" + +He did not answer, only waved his hand in reply, his bushy gray +eyebrows moving slowly, like two shutters that opened and closed, +as he scanned the lines of figures up and down, his long pen +gripped tight between his thin, straight lips, as a dog carries a +bone. + +I never interrupt him when his brain is nosing about like this; it +is better to keep still and let him ferret it out. So I sat down +outside the curved rail with its wooden slats backed by faded +green curtains, close to the big stove screened off at the end of +the long room, fixed one eye on the moon-face and the other on the +ostrich egg, and waited. + +There are no such banks at the present time--were no others then, +and this story begins not so very many years' ago--A queer, out- +of-date, mouldy old barn of a bank, you would say, this Exeter-- +for an institution wielding its influence. Not a coat of paint for +half a century; not a brushful of whitewash for goodness knows how +much longer. As for the floor, it still showed the gullies and +grooves, with here and there a sturdy knot sticking up like a nut +on a boiler, marking the track of countless impatient depositors +and countless anxious borrowers, it may be, who had lock-stepped +one behind the other for fifty years or more, in their journey +from the outer door to the windows where the Peters of the old +days, and the Peter of the present, presided over the funds +entrusted to their care. + +Well enough in its day, you might have said, with a shrug, as you +looked over its forlorn interior. Well enough in its day! Why, +man, old John Astor, James Beekman, Rhinelander Stewart, Moses +Grinnell, and a lot of just such worthies--men whose word was as +good as their notes--and whose notes were often better than the +Government's, presided over its destinies. and helped to stuff the +old-fashioned vault with wads of gilt-edged securities--millions +in value if you did but know it--and making it what it is to-day. +If you don't believe the first part of my statement, you've only +to fumble among the heap of dusty ledgers piled on top of the +dusty shelves; and if you doubt the latter part, then try to buy +some of the stock and see what you have to pay for it. Although +the gas was turned off in the directors' room, I could still see +from where I sat the very mahogany table under which these same +ruffle-shirted, watch-fobbed, snuff-taking old fellows tucked +their legs when they decided on who should and who should not +share the bank's confidence. + +And the side walls and surroundings were none the less shabby and +quite as dilapidated. Even the windows had long since given up the +fight to maintain a decent amount of light, and as for the grated +opening protected by iron shutters which would have had barely +room to swing themselves clear of the building next door, no +Patrick past or present had ever dared loosen their bolts for a +peep even an inch wide into the canyon below, so gruesome was the +collection of old shoes, tin cans, broken bottles and battered +hats which successive generations had hurried into the narrow un- +get-at-able space that lay between the two structures. + +Indeed the only thing inside or out of this time-worn building +which the most fertile of imaginations could consider as being at +all up to date was the clock. Not its face--that was old-timey +enough with its sun, moon and stars in blue and gold, and the name +of the Liverpool maker engraved on its enamel; nor its hands, +fiddle-shaped and stiff, nor its case, which always reminded me of +a coffin set up on end awaiting burial--but its strike. Whatever +divergences the Exeter allowed itself in its youth, or whatever +latitude or longitude it had given its depositors, and that, we +may be sure, was precious little so long as that Board of +Directors was alive, there was no wabbling or wavering, no being +behind time, when the hour hand of the old clock reached three and +its note of warning rang out. + +Peter obeyed the ominous sound and closed his Teller's window with +a gentle bang. Patrick took notice and swung to the iron grating +of the outer door. You might peer in and beg ever so hard--unless, +of course, you were a visitor like myself, and even then Peter +would have to give his consent--you might peer through, I say, or +tap on the glass, or you might plead that you were late and very +sorry, but the ostrich egg never turned in its nest nor did the +eyebrows vibrate. Three o'clock was three o'clock at the Exeter, +and everybody might go to the devil--financially, of course-- +before the rule would be broken. Other banks in panicky times +might keep a side door open until four, five or six--that is, the +bronze-rail, marble-top, glass-front, certify-your-checks-as- +early-as-ten-in-the-morning-without-a-penny-on-deposit kind of +banks--but not the Exeter--that is, not with Peter's consent--and +Peter was the Exeter so far as his department was concerned--and +had been for nearly thirty years--twenty as bookkeeper, five as +paying teller and five as receiving teller. + +And the regularity and persistency of this clock! Not only did it +announce the hours, but it sounded the halves and quarters, +clearing its throat with a whirr like an admonitory cough before +each utterance. I had samples of its entire repertoire as I sat +there: One ...two...three...four...five--then half an hour later a +whir-r and a single note. "Half-past five," I said to myself. +"Will Peter never find that mistake?" Once during the long wait +the night watchman shifted his leg--he was on the other side of +the stove--and once Peter reached up above his head for a pile of +papers, spreading them out before him under the white glare of the +overhead light, then silence again, broken only by the slow, +dogged tock-tick, tock-tick, or the sagging of a hot coal +adjusting itself for the night. + +Suddenly a cheery voice rang out and Peter's hands shot up above +his head. + +"Ah, Breen & Co.! One of those plaguey sevens for a nine. Here we +are! Oh, Peter Grayson, how often have I told you to be careful! +Ah, what a sorry block of wood you carry on your shoulders. I +won't be a minute now, Major." A gratuitous compliment on the part +of my friend, I being a poor devil of a contractor without +military aspirations of any kind. "Well, well, how could I have +been so stupid. Get ready to close up, Patrick. No, thank you, +Patrick, my coat's inside; I'll fetch it." + +He was quite another man now, closing the great ledger with a +bang; shouldering it as Moses did the Tables of the Law, and +carrying it into the big vault behind him--big enough to back a +buggy into had the great door been wider--shooting the bolts, +whirring the combination into so hopeless and confused a state +that should even the most daring and expert of burglars have tried +his hand or his jimmy on its steel plating he would have given up +in despair (that is unless big Patrick fell asleep--an unheard-of +occurrence) and all with such spring and joyousness of movement +that had I not seen him like this many times before I would have +been deluded into the belief that the real Peter had been locked +up in the dismal vault with the musty books and that an entirely +different kind of Peter was skipping about outside. + +But that was nothing to the air with which he swept his papers +into the drawer of his desk, brushed away the crumpled sheets upon +which he had figured his balance, and darted to the washstand +behind the narrow partition. Nor could it be compared to the way +in which he stripped off his black bombazine office-coat with its +baggy pockets--quite a disreputable-looking coat I must say-- +taking it by the nape of the neck, as if it were some loathsome +object to be got rid of, and hanging it upon a hook behind him; +nor to the way in which he pulled up his shirt sleeves and plunged +his white, long-fingered, delicately modeled hands into the basin, +as if cleanliness were a thing to be welcomed as a part of his +life. These carefully dried, each finger by itself--not forgetting +the small seal ring on the little one--he gave an extra polish to +his glistening pate with the towel, patted his fresh, smooth- +shaven cheeks with an unrumpled handkerchief which he had taken +from his inside pocket, carefully adjusted his white neck-cloth, +refastening the diamond pin--a tiny one but clear as a baby's +tear--put on his frock-coat with its high collar and flaring +tails, took down his silk hat, gave it a flourish with his +handkerchief, unhooked his overcoat from a peg behind the door (a +gray surtout cut something like the first Napoleon's) and stepped +out to where I sat. + +You would never have put him down as being sixty years of age had +you known him as well as I did--and it is a great pity you +didn't. Really, now that I come to think of it, I never did put +him down as being of any age at all. Peter Grayson and age never +seemed to have anything to do with each other. Sometimes when I +have looked in through the Receiving Teller's window and have +passed in my book--I kept my account at the Exeter--and he has +lifted his bushy shutters and gazed at me suddenly with his merry +Scotch-terrier eyes, I have caught, I must admit, a line of +anxiety, or rather of concentrated cautiousness on his face, which +for the moment made me think that perhaps he was looking a trifle +older than when I last saw him; but all this was scattered to the +winds when I met him an hour afterward swinging up Wall Street +with that cheery lift of the heels so peculiarly his own, a lift +that the occupants of every office window on both sides of the +street knew to be Peter's even when they failed to recognize the +surtout and straight-brimmed high hat. Had any doubting Thomas, +however, walked beside him on his way up Broadway to his rooms on +Fifteenth Street, and had the quick, almost boyish lift of Peter's +heels not entirely convinced the unbeliever of Peter's youth, all +questions would have been at once disposed of had the cheery bank +teller invited him into his apartment up three flights of stairs +over the tailor's shop--and he would have invited him had he been +his friend--and then and there forced him into an easy chair near +the open wood fire, with some such remark as: "Down, you rascal, +and sit close up where I can get my hands on you!" No--there was +no trace of old age about Peter. + +He was ready now--hatted, coated and gloved--not a hint of the +ostrich egg or shaggy shutters visible, but a well-preserved +bachelor of forty or forty-five; strictly in the mode and of the +mode, looking more like some stray diplomat caught in the wiles of +the Street, or some retired magnate, than a modest bank clerk on +three thousand a year. The next instant he was tripping down the +granite steps between the rusty iron railings--on his toes most of +the way; the same cheery spring in his heels, slapping his thin, +shapely legs with his tightly rolled umbrella, adjusting his hat +at the proper angle so that the well-trimmed side whiskers--the +veriest little dabs of whiskers hardly an inch long--would show as +well as the fringes of his grey hair. + +Not that he was anxious to conceal these slight indications of +advancing years, nor did he have a spark of cheap personal vanity +about him, but because it was his nature always to put his best +foot foremost and keep it there; because, too, it behooved him in +manner, dress and morals, to maintain the standards he had set for +himself, he being a Grayson, with the best blood of the State in +his veins, and with every table worth dining at open to him from +Fourteenth Street to Murray Hill, and beyond. + +"Now, it's all behind me, my dear boy," he cried, as we reached +the sidewalk and turned our faces up Wall Street toward Broadway. +"Fifteen hours to live my own life! No care until ten o'clock to- +morrow. Lovely life, my dear Major, when you think of it. Ah, old +Micawber was right--income one pound, expense one pound ten +shillings; result, misery: income one pound ten, expense one +pound, outcome, happiness! What a curse this Street is to those +who abuse its power for good; half of them trying to keep out of +jail and the other half fighting to keep out of the poor-house! +And most of them get so little out of it. Just as I can detect a +counterfeit bill at sight, my boy, so can I put my ringer on these +money-getters when the poison of money-getting for money's sake +begins to work in their veins. I don't mean the laying up of money +for a rainy day, or the providing for one's family. Every man +should lay up a six-months' doctor's bill, just as every man +should lay up money enough to keep his body out of Potter's Field. +It's laying up the SURPLUS that hurts." + +Peter had his arm firmly locked in mine now. + +"Now that concern of Breen & Company, where I found my error, are +no better than the others. They are new to this whirlpool, but +they will soon get in over their heads. I think it is only the +third or fourth year since they started business, but they are +already floating all sorts of schemes, and some of them--if you +will permit me in confidence, strictly in confidence, my dear boy +--are rather shady, I think: at least I judge so from their +deposits." + +"What are they, bankers?" I ventured. I had never heard of the +firm; not an extraordinary thing in my case when bankers were +concerned. + +Peter laughed: + +"Yes, BANKERS--all in capital letters--the imitation kind. Breen +came from some place out of town and made a lucky hit in his first +year--mines or something--I forget what. Oh, but you must know +that it takes very little now-a-days to make a full-fledged +banker. All you have to do is to hoist in a safe--through the +window, generally, with the crowd looking on; rail off half the +office; scatter some big ledgers over two or three newly varnished +desks; move in a dozen arm-chairs, get a ticker, a black-board and +a boy with a piece of chalk; be pleasant to every fellow you meet +with his own or somebody else's money in his pocket, and there you +are. But we won't talk of these things--it isn't kind, and, +really, I hardly know Breen, and I'm quite sure he wouldn't know +me if he saw me, and he's a very decent gentleman in many ways, I +hear. He never overdraws his account, any way--never tries--and +that's more than I can say for some of his neighbors." + +The fog, which earlier in the afternoon had been but a blue haze, +softening the hard outlines of the street, had now settled down in +earnest, choking up the doorways, wiping out the tops of the +buildings, their facades starred here and there with gas-jets, and +making a smudged drawing of the columns of the Custom House +opposite. + +"Superb, are they not?" said Peter, as he wheeled and stood +looking at the row of monoliths supporting the roof of the huge +granite pile, each column in relief against the dark shadows of +the portico. "And they are never so beautiful to me, my boy, as +when the ugly parts of the old building are lost in the fog. +Follow the lines of these watchmen of the temple! These grave, +dignified, majestic columns standing out in the gloom keeping +guard! But it is only a question of time--down they'll come! See +if they don't!" + +"They will never dare move them," I protested. "It would be too +great a sacrilege." The best way to get Peter properly started is +never to agree with him. + +"Not move them! They will break them up for dock-filling before +ten years are out. They're in the way, my boy; they shut out the +light; can't hang signs on them; can't plaster them over with +theatre bills; no earthly use. 'Wall Street isn't Rome or any +other excavated ruin; it's the centre of the universe'--that's +the way the fellows behind these glass windows talk." Here Peter +pointed to the offices of some prominent bankers, where other +belated clerks were still at work under shaded gas-jets. "These +fellows don't want anything classic; they want something that'll +earn four per cent." + +We were now opposite the Sub-Treasury, its roof lost in the +settling fogs, the bronze figure of the Father of His Country +dominating the flight of marble steps and the adjacent streets. + +Again Peter wheeled; this time he lifted his hat to the statue. + +"Good evening, your Excellency," he said in a voice mellowed to +the same respectful tone with which he would have addressed the +original in the flesh. + +Suddenly he loosened his arm from mine and squared himself so he +could look into my face. + +"I notice that you seldom salute him, Major, and it grieves me," +he said with a grim smile. + +I broke into a laugh. "Do you think he would feel hurt if I +didn't." + +"Of course he would, and so should you. He wasn't put there for +ornament, my boy, but to be kept in mind, and I want to tell you +that there's no place in the world where his example is so much +needed as right here in Wall Street. Want of reverence, my dear +boy"--here he adjusted his umbrella to the hollow of his arm--"is +our national sin. Nobody reveres anything now-a-days. Much as you +can do to keep people from running railroads through your family +vaults, and, as to one's character, all a man needs to get himself +battered black and blue, is to try to be of some service to his +country. Even our presidents have to be murdered before we stop +abusing them. By Jove! Major, you've GOT to salute him! You're too +fine a man to run to seed and lose your respect for things worth +while. I won't have it, I tell you! Off with your hat!" + +I at once uncovered my head (the fog helped to conceal my own +identity, if it didn't Peter's) and stood for a brief instant in a +respectful attitude. + +There was nothing new in the discussion. Sometimes I would laugh +at him; sometimes I would only touch my hat in unison; sometimes I +let him do the bowing alone, an act on his part which never +attracted attention--looking more as if he had accosted some +passing friend. + +We had reached Broadway by this time and were crossing the street +opposite Trinity Churchyard. + +"Come over here with me," he cried, "and let us look in through +the iron railings. The study of the dead is often more profitable +than knowledge of the living. Ah, the gate is open! It is not +often I am here at this time, and on a foggy afternoon. What a +noble charity, my boy, is a fog--it hides such a multitude of +sins--bad architecture for one," and he laughed softly. + +I always let Peter run on--in fact I always encourage him to run +on. No one I know talks quite in the same way; many with a larger +experience of life are more profound, but none have the personal +note which characterizes the old fellow's discussions. + +"And how do you suppose these by-gones feel about what is going on +around them?" he rattled on, tapping the wet slab of a tomb with +the end of his umbrella. "And not only these sturdy patriots who +lie here, but the queer old ghosts who live in the steeple?" he +added, waving his hand upward to the slender spire, its cross lost +in the fog. "Yes, ghosts and goblins, my boy. You don't believe +it?--I do--or I persuade myself I do, which is better. Sometimes I +can see them straddling the chimes when they ring out the hours, +or I catch them peeping out between the slats of the windows away +up near the cross. Very often in the hot afternoons when you are +stretching your lazy body under the tents of the mighty--" (Peter +referred to some friends of mine who owned a villa down on Long +Island, and were good enough to ask me down for a week in August) +"I come up here out of the rush and sit on these old tombstones +and talk to these old fellows--both kinds--the steeple boys and +the old cronies under the sod. You never come, I know. You will +when you're my age." + +I had it in my mind to tell him that the inside of a dry tent had +some advantages over the outside of a damp tomb, so far as +entertaining one's friends, even in hot weather, was concerned, +but I was afraid it might stop the flow of his thoughts, and +checked myself. + +"It is not so much the rest and quiet that delights me, as the +feeling that I am walled about for the moment and protected; +jerked out of the whirlpool, as it were, and given a breathing +spell. On these afternoons the old church becomes a church once +more--not a gate to bar out the rush of commercialism. See where +she stands--quite out to the very curb, her warning finger +pointing upward. 'Thus far shalt thou come, and no farther,' she +cries out to the Four Per Cents. 'Hug up close to me, you old +fellows asleep in your graves; get under my lea. Let us fight it +out together, the living and the dead!' And now hear these +abominable Four Per Cents behind their glass windows: 'No place +for a church,' they say. 'No place for the dead! Property too +valuable. Move it up town. Move it out in the country--move it any +where so you get it out of our way. We are the Great Amalgamated +Crunch Company. Into our maw goes respect for tradition, reverence +for the dead, decency, love of religion, sentiment, and beauty. +These are back numbers. In their place, we give you something real +and up-to-date from basement to flagstaff, with fifty applicants +on the waiting list. If you don't believe it read our +prospectus!'" + +Peter had straightened and was standing with his hand lifted above +his head, as if he were about to pronounce a benediction. Then he +said slowly, and with a note of sadness in his voice: + +"Do you wonder, now, my boy, why I touch my hat to His +Excellency?" + + + + + +CHAPTER II + + + + +All the way up Broadway he kept up his good-natured tirade, +railing at the extravagance of the age, at the costly dinners, +equipages, dress of the women, until we reached the foot of the +dilapidated flight of brown-stone steps leading to the front door +of his home on Fifteenth Street. Here a flood of gas light from +inside a shop in the basement brought into view the figure of a +short, squat, spectacled little man bending over a cutting-table, +a pair of shears in his hand. + +"Isaac is still at work," he cried. "If we were not so late we'd +go in and have a word with him. Now there's a man who has solved +the problem, my boy. Nobody will ever coax Isaac Cohen up to Fifth +Avenue and into a 'By appointment to His Majesty' kind of a tailor +shop. Just pegs away year after year--he was here long before I +came--supporting his family, storing his mind with all sorts of +rare knowledge. Do you know he's one of the most delightful men +you will meet in a day's journey?" + +"No--never knew anything of the kind. Thought he was just plain +tailor." + +"And an intimate friend of many of the English actors who come +over here?" continued Peter. + +"I never heard a word about it" I answered meekly; Peter's +acquaintances being too varied and too numerous for me to keep +track of. That he should have a tailor among them as learned and +wise as Solomon, and with friends all over the globe, was quite to +be expected. + +"Well, he is," answered Peter. "They always hunt him up the first +thing they do. He lived in London for years and made their +costumes. There's no one, I assure you, I am more glad to see when +he makes an excuse to rap at my door. You'll come up, of course, +until I read my letters." + +"No, I'll keep on to my rooms and meet you later at the club." + +"You'll do nothing of the kind, you restless mortal. You'll come +upstairs with me until I open my mail. It's really like touching +the spring of a Jack-in-the-box, this mail of mine--all sorts of +things pop out, generally the unexpected. Mighty interesting, I +tell you," and with a cheery wave of the hand to his friend Isaac, +whose eyes had been looking streetward at the precise moment, +Peter pushed me ahead of him up the worn marble steps flanked by +the rust-eaten iron railing which led to the hallway and stairs, +and so on up to his apartment. + +It was just the sort of house Peter, of all men in the world, +would have picked out to live in--and he had been here for twenty +years or more. Not only did the estimable Isaac occupy the +basement, but Madame Montini, the dress-maker, had the first floor +back; a real-estate agent made free with the first floor front, +and a very worthy teacher of music, whose piano could be heard at +all hours of the day, and far into the night, was paying rent for +the second, both front and back. Peter's own apartments ran the +whole length of the third floor, immediately under the slanting, +low-ceiled garret, which was inhabited by the good Mrs. McGuffey, +the janitress, who, in addition to her regular duties, took +especial care of Peter's rooms. Adjoining these was a small +apartment consisting of two rooms, connecting with Peter's suite +by a door cut through for some former lodger. These were also +under Mrs. McGuffey's special care and very good care did she take +of them, especially when Peter's sister, Miss Felicia Grayson, +occupied them for certain weeks in the year. + +These changes had all taken place in the time the old fellow had +mounted the quaint stairs with the thin mahogany banisters, and +yet Peter stayed on. "The gnarled pear tree in the back yard is so +charming," he would urge in excuse, "especially in the spring, +when the perfume of its blossoms fills the air," or, "the view +overlooking Union Square is so delightful," or, "the fireplace has +such a good draught." What mattered it who lived next door, or +below, or overhead, for that matter, so that he was not disturbed +--and he never was. The property, of course, had gone from bad to +worse since the owner had died; the neighborhood had run down, and +the better class of tenants down, up, and even across the street-- +had moved away, but none of these things had troubled Peter. + +And no wonder, when once you got inside the two rooms and looked +about! + +There was a four-post bedstead with chintz curtains draped about +the posts, that Martha Washington might have slept in, and a +chintz petticoat which reached the floor and hid its toes of +rollers, which the dear lady could have made with her own hands; +there was a most ancient mahogany bureau to match, all brass +fittings. There were easy chairs with restful arms within reach of +tables holding lamps, ash receivers and the like; and rows and +rows of books on open shelves edged with leather; not to mention +engravings of distinguished men and old portraits in heavy gilt +frames: one of his grandfather who fought in the Revolution, and +another of his mother--this last by Rembrandt Peale--a dear old +lady with the face of a saint framed in a head of gray hair, the +whole surmounted by a cluster of silvery curls. There were quaint +brass candelabra with square marble bases on each end of the +mantel, holding candles showing burnt wicks in the day time and +cheery lights at night; and a red carpet covering both rooms and +red table covers and red damask curtains, and a lounge with a red +afghan thrown over it; and last, but by no means least--in fact it +was the most important thing in the sitting-room, so far as +comfort was concerned--there was a big open-hearth Franklin, full +of blazing red logs, with brass andirons and fender, and a draught +of such marvellous suction that stray scraps of paper, to say +nothing of uncommonly large sparks, had been known more than once +to have been picked up in a jiffy and whirled into its capacious +throat. + +Just the very background for dear old Peter, I always said, +whenever I watched him moving about the cheery interior, pushing +up a chair, lighting a fresh candle, or replacing a book on the +shelf. What a half-length the great Sully would have made of him, +with his high collar, white shirt-front and wonderful neck-cloth +with its pleats and counterpleats, to say nothing of his rosy +cheeks and bald head, the high light glistening on one of his big +bumps of benevolence. And what a background of deep reds and warm +mahoganys with a glint of yellow brass for contrast! + +Indeed, I have often thought that not only Peter's love of red, +but much of Peter's quaintness of dress, had been suggested by +some of the old portraits which lined the walls of his sitting- +room--his grandfather, by Sully, among them; and I firmly believe, +although I assure you I have never mentioned it to any human being +before, that had custom permitted (the directors of his bank, +perhaps), Peter would not only have indulged in the high coat- +collar and quaint neck-cloths of his fathers, but would also have +worn a dainty cue tied with a flowing black ribbon, always +supposing, of course, that his hair had held out, and, what is +more important, always supposing, that the wisp was long enough to +hold on. + +The one article, however, which, more than any other one thing in +his apartment, revealed his tastes and habits, was a long, wide, +ample mahogany desk, once the property of an ancestor, which stood +under the window in the front room. In this, ready to his hand, +were drawers little and big, full of miscellaneous papers and +envelopes; pigeon-holes crammed full of answered and unanswered +notes, some with crests on them, some with plain wax clinging to +the flap of the broken envelopes; many held together with the gum +of the common world. Here, too, were bundles of old letters tied +with tape; piles of pamphlets, quaint trays holding pens and +pencils, and here too was always to be found, in summer or in +winter, a big vase full of roses or blossoms, or whatever was in +season--a luxury he never denied himself. + +To this desk, then, Peter betook himself the moment he had hung +his gray surtout on its hook in the closet and disposed of his hat +and umbrella. This was his up-town office, really, and here his +letters awaited him. + +First came a notice of the next meeting of the Numismatic Society +of which he was an honored member; then a bill for his semi-annual +dues at the Century Club; next a delicately scented sheet inviting +him to dine with the Van Wormleys of Washington Square, to meet an +English lord and his lady, followed by a pressing letter to spend +Sunday with friends in the country. Then came a long letter from +his sister, Miss Felicia Grayson, who lived in the Genesee Valley +and who came to New York every winter for what she was pleased to +call "The Season" (a very remarkable old lady, this Miss Felicia +Grayson, with a mind of her own, sections of which she did not +hesitate to ventilate when anybody crossed her or her path, and of +whom we shall hear more in these pages), together with the usual +assortment of bills and receipts, the whole an enlivening record +not only of Peter's daily life and range of taste, but of the +limitations of his purse as well. + +One letter was reserved for the last. This he held in his hand +until he again ran his eye over the pile before him. It was from +Holker Morris the architect, a man who stood at the head of his +profession. + +"Yes, Holker's handwriting," he said as he inserted the end of the +paper cutter. "I wonder what the dear fellow wants now?" Here he +ran his eye over the first page. "Listen, Major. What an +extraordinary man ... He's going to give a dinner, he says, to his +draughtsmen ... in his offices at the top of his new building, six +stories up. Does the rascal think I have nothing to do but crawl +up his stairs? Here, I'll read it to you." + +"'You, dear Peter:' That's just like Holker! He begins that way +when he wants me to do something for him. 'No use saying you won't +come, for I shall be around for you at seven o'clock with a club-- +'No, that's not it--he writes so badly--'with a cab.' Yes, that's +it--'with a cab.' I wonder if he can drive me up those six flights +of stairs? 'There'll be something to eat, and drink, and there +will be fifty or more of my draughtsmen and former employes. I'm +going to give them a dinner and a house-warming. Bring the Major +if you see him. I have sent a note to his room, but it may not +reach him. No dress suit, remember. Some of my men wouldn't know +one if they saw it." + +As the letter dropped from Peter's hand a scraping of feet was +heard at the hall door, followed by a cheery word from Mrs. +McGuffey--she had her favorites among Peter's friends--and Holker +Morris burst into the room. + +"Ah, caught you both!" he cried, all out of breath with his run +upstairs, his hat still on his head. No one blew in and blew out +of Peter's room (literally so) with the breeze and dash of the +distinguished architect. "Into your coats, you two--we haven't a +moment to spare. You got my letter, of course," he added, throwing +back the cape of his raincoat. + +"Yes, Holker, just opened it!" cried Peter, holding out both hands +to his guest. "But I'm not going. I am too old for your young +fellows--take the Major and leave me behind." + +The architect grabbed Peter by the arm. "When did that mighty idea +crack its way through that shell of yours, you tottering +Methusaleh! Old! You're spryer than a frolicking lamb in March. +You are coining, too, Major. Get into your coats and things!" + +"But Isaac is pressing my swallow-tail." + +"I don't mean your dress-coat, man--your OVERCOAT! Now I am sure +you didn't read my letter? Some of my young fellows haven't got +such a thing--too poor." + +"But look at YOURS!" + +"Yes, I had to slip into mine out of respect to the occasion; my +boys wouldn't like it if I didn't. Sort of uniform to them, but +they'd be mighty uncomfortable if you wore yours. Hurry up, we +haven't a minute to lose." + +Peter had forced the architect into one of the big chairs by the +fire by this time, and stood bending over him, his hands resting +on Morris's broad shoulders. + +"Take the Major with you, that's a good fellow, and let me drop in +about eleven o'clock," he pleaded, an expression on his face seen +only when two men understand and love each other. "There's a +letter from Felicia to attend to; she writes she is coming down +for a couple of weeks, and then I've really had a devil of a day +at the bank." + +"No, you old fraud, you can't wheedle me that way. I want you +before everybody sits down, so my young chaps can look you over. +Why, Peter, you're better than a whole course of lectures, and you +mean something, you beggar! I tell you" (here he lifted himself +from the depths of the chair and scrambled to his feet) "you've +got to go if I have to tie your hands and feet and carry you +downstairs on my back! And you, too, Major--both of you. Here's +your overcoat--into it, you humbug! ... the other arm. Is this +your hat? Out you go!" and before I had stopped laughing--I had +refused to crowd the cab--Morris had buttoned the surtout over +Peter's breast, crammed the straight-brimmed hat over his eyes, +and the two were clattering downstairs. + + + + + +CHAPTER III + + + + +Long before the two had reached the top floor of the building in +which the dinner was to be given, they had caught the hum of the +merrymakers, the sound bringing a smile of satisfaction to Peter's +face, but it was when he entered the richly colored room itself, +hazy with cigarette smoke, and began to look into the faces of the +guests grouped about him and down the long table illumined by +myriads of wax candles that all his doubts and misgivings faded +into thin air. Never since his school days, he told me afterwards, +had he seen so many boisterously happy young fellows grouped +together. And not only young fellows, with rosy cheeks and bright +eyes, but older men with thoughtful faces, who had relinquished +for a day the charge of some one of the important buildings +designed in the distinguished architect's office, and had spent +the night on the train that they might do honor to their Chief. + +But it was when Morris, with his arm fast locked in his, began +introducing him right and left as the "Guest of Honor of the +Evening," the two shaking hands first with one and then another, +Morris breaking out into joyous salvos of welcome over some +arrival from a distant city, or greeting with marked kindness and +courtesy one of the younger men from his own office, that the old +fellow's enthusiasm became uncontrollable. + +"Isn't it glorious, Holker!" he cried joyously, with uplifted +hands. "Oh, I'm so glad I came! I wouldn't have missed this for +anything in the world. Did you ever see anything like it? This is +classic, my boy--it has the tang and the spice of the ancients." + +Morris's greeting to me was none the less hearty, although he had +left me but half an hour before. + +"Late, as I expected, Major," he cried with out-stretched hand, +"and serves you right for not sitting in Peter's lap in the cab. +Somebody ought to sit on him once in a while. He's twenty years +younger already. Here, take this seat alongside of me where you +can keep him in order--they were at table when I entered. Waiter, +bring back that bottle--Just a light claret, Major--all we allow +ourselves." + +As the evening wore away the charm of the room grew upon me. +Vistas hazy with tobacco smoke opened up; the ceiling lost in the +fog gave one the impression of out-of-doors--like a roof-garden at +night; a delusion made all the more real by the happy uproar. And +then the touches here and there by men whose life had been the +study of color and effects; the appointments of the table, the +massing of flowers relieving the white cloth; the placing of +shaded candles, so that only a rosy glow filtered through the +loom, softening the light on the happy faces--each scalp crowned +with chaplets of laurel tied with red ribbons: an enchantment of +color, form and light where but an hour before only the practical +and the commonplace had held sway. + +No vestige of the business side of the offices remained. Peter +pointed out to me a big plaster model of the State House, which +filled one end of the room, and two great figures, original +plaster casts, heroic in size, that Harding, the sculptor, had +modelled for either side of the entrance of the building; but +everything that smacked of T-square or scale was hidden from +sight. In their place, lining the walls, stood a row of standards +of red and orange silk, stretched on rods and supported by poles; +the same patterns of banners which were carried before Imperial +Caesars when they took an airing; and now emblazoned with the +titles of the several structures conceived in the brain of Holker +Morris and executed by his staff: the Imperial Library in Tokio; +the great Corn Exchange covering a city block; the superb Art +Museum crowning the highest hill in the Park; the beautiful +chateau of the millionaire surrounded by thousands of acres of +virgin forest; the spacious warehouses on the water front, and +many others. + +With the passing of the flagons an electric current of good +fellowship flashed around the circle. Stories that would have been +received with but a bare smile at the club were here greeted with +shouts of laughter. Bon-mots, skits, puns and squibs mouldy with +age or threadbare with use, were told with a new gusto and +welcomed with delight. + +Suddenly, and without any apparent reason, these burst forth a +roar like that of a great orchestra with every instrument played +at its loudest--rounds of applause from kettle-drums, trombones +and big horns; screams of laughter from piccolos, clarionettes and +flutes, buzzings of subdued talk by groups of bass viols and the +lesser strings, the whole broken by the ringing notes of a song +that soared for an instant clear of the din, only to be overtaken +and drowned in the mighty shout of approval. This was followed by +a stampede from the table; the banners were caught up with a +mighty shout and carried around the room; Morris, boy for the +moment, springing to his feet and joining in the uproar. + +The only guest who kept his chair, except Peter and myself, was a +young fellow two seats away, whose eyes, brilliant with +excitement, followed the merrymaking, but who seemed too much +abashed, or too ill at ease, to join in the fun. I had noticed how +quiet he was and wondered at the cause. Peter had also been +watching the boy and had said to me that he had a good face and +was evidently from out of town. + +"Why don't you get up?" Peter called to him at last. "Up with you, +my lad. This is one of the times when every one of you young +fellows should be on your feet." He would have grabbed a banner +himself had any one given him the slightest encouragement. + +"I would, sir, but I'm out of it," said the young man with a +deferential bow, moving to the empty seat next to Peter. He too +had been glancing at Peter from time to time. + +"Aren't you with Mr. Morris?" + +"No, I wish I were. I came with my friend, Garry Minott, that +young fellow carrying the banner with 'Corn Exchange' marked on +it." + +"And may I ask, then, what you do?" continued Peter. + +The young fellow looked into the older man's kindly eyes-- +something in their expression implied a wish to draw him the +closer--and said quite simply: "I don't do anything that is of any +use, sir. Garry says that I might as well work in a faro bank." + +Peter leaned forward. For the moment the hubbub was forgotten as +he scrutinized the young man, who seemed scarcely twenty-one, his +well-knit, well-dressed body, his soft brown hair curled about his +scalp, cleanly modelled ears, steady brown eyes, white teeth-- +especially the mobile lips which seemed quivering from some +suppressed emotion--all telling of a boy delicately nurtured. + +"And do you really work in a faro bank?" Peter's knowledge of +human nature had failed him for once. + +"Oh, no sir, that is only one of Garry's jokes. I'm clerk in a +stock broker's office on Wall Street. Arthur Breen & Company. My +uncle is head of the firm." + +"Oh, that's it, is it?" answered Peter in a relieved tone. + +"And now will you tell me what your business is, sir?" asked the +young man. "You seem so different from the others." + +"Me! Oh, I take care of the money your gamblers win," replied +Peter, at which they both laughed, a spark of sympathy being +kindled between them. + +Then, seeing the puzzled expression on the boy's face, he added +with a smile: "I'm Receiving Teller in a bank, one of the oldest +in Wall Street." + +A look of relief passed over the young fellow's face. + +"I'm very glad, sir," he said, with a smile. "Do you know, sir, +you look something like my own father--what I can remember of +him--that is, he was--" The lad checked himself, fearing he might +be discourteous. "That is, he had lost his hair, sir, and he wore +his cravats like you, too. I have his portrait in my room." + +Peter leaned still closer to the speaker. This time he laid his +hand on his arm. The tumult around him made conversation almost +impossible. "And now tell me your name?" + +"My name is Breen, sir. John Breen. I live with my uncle." + +The roar of the dinner now became so fast and furious that further +confidences were impossible. The banners had been replaced and +every one was reseated, talking or laughing. On one side raged a +discussion as to how far the decoration of a plain surface should +go--"Roughing it," some of them called it. At the end of the table +two men were wrangling as to whether the upper or the lower half +of a tall structure should have its vertical lines broken; and, if +so, by what. Further down high-keyed voices were crying out +against the abomination of the flat roof on the more costly +buildings; wondering whether some of their clients would wake up +to the necessity of breaking the sky-line with something less +ugly--even if it did cost a little more. Still a third group were +in shouts of laughter over a story told by one of the staff who +had just returned from an inspection trip west. + +Young Breen looked down the length of the table, watched for a +moment a couple of draughtsmen who stood bowing and drinking to +each other in mock ceremony out of the quaint glasses filled from +the borrowed flagons, then glanced toward his friend Minott, just +then the centre of a cyclone that was stirring the group midway +the table. + +"Come over here, Garry," he called, half rising to his feet to +attract his friend's attention. + +Minott waved his hand in answer, waited until the point of the +story had been reached, and made his way toward Peter's end of the +table. + +"Garry," he whispered, "I want to introduce you to Mr. Grayson-- +the very dearest old gentleman you ever met in your whole life. +Sits right next to me." + +"What, that old fellow that looks like a billiard ball in a high +collar?" muttered Minott with a twinkle in his eye. "We've been +wondering where Mr. Morris dug him up." + +"Hush," said Breen--"he'll hear you." + +"All right, but hurry up. I must say he doesn't look near so bad +when you get close to him." + +"Mr. Grayson, I want you to know my friend Garry Minott." + +Peter rose to his feet. "I DO know him," he said, holding out his +hand cordially. "I've been knowing him all the evening. He's made +most of the fun at his end of the table. You seem to have flaunted +your Corn Exchange banner on the smallest provocation, Mr. +Minott," and Peter's fingers gripped those of the young man. + +"That's because I've been in charge of the inside work. Great +dinner, isn't it, Mr. Grayson. But it's Britton who has made the +dinner. He's more fun than a Harlem goat with a hoopskirt. See +him--that's Brit with a red head and blue neck-tie. He's been all +winter in Wisconsin looking after some iron work and has come back +jam full of stories." The dignity of Peter's personality had +evidently not impressed the young man, judging from the careless +tone with which he addressed him. "And how are you getting on, +Jack--glad you came, arn't you?" As he spoke he laid his hand +affectionately on the boy's shoulder. "Didn't I tell you it would +be a corker? Out of sight, isn't it? Everything is out of sight +around our office." This last remark was directed to Peter in the +same casual way. + +"I should say that every stopper was certainly out," answered +Peter in graver tones. He detested slang and would never +understand it. Then again the bearing and air of Jack's friend +jarred on him. "You know, of course, the old couplet--'When the +wine flows the--'" + +"No, I don't know it," interrupted Minott with an impatient +glance. "I'm not much on poetry--but you can bet your bottom +dollar it's flowing all right." Then seeing the shade of +disappointment on Breen's face at the flippant way in which he had +returned Peter's courtesies, but without understanding the cause, +he added, tightening his arm around his friend's neck, "Brace up, +Jack, old man, and let yourself go. That's what I'm always telling +Jack, Mr. Grayson. He's got to cut loose from a lot of old- +fashioned notions that he brought from home if he wants to get +anywhere around here. I had to." + +"What do you want him to give up, Mr. Minott?" Peter had put on +his glasses now, and was inspecting Garry at closer range. + +"Oh, I don't know--just get into the swing of things and let her +go." + +"That is no trouble for you to do," rejoined Jack, looking into +his friend's face. "You're doing something that's worth while." + +"Well, aren't you doing something that's worth while? Why you'll +be a millionaire if you keep on. First thing you know the +lightning will strike you just as it did your uncle." + +Morris leaned forward at the moment and called Minott by name. +Instantly the young man's manner changed to one of respectful +attention as he stepped to his Chief's side. + +"Yes, Mr. Morris." + +"You tell the men up your way to get ready to come to order, or we +won't get through in time--it's getting late." + +"All right, sir, I'll take care of 'em. Just as soon as you begin +to speak you won't hear a sound." + +As Minott moved from Morris's seat another and louder shout arose +from the other end of the table: + +"Garry, Garry, hurry up!" came the cry. It was evident the young +man was very popular. + +Peter dropped his glasses from his nose, and turning toward Morris +said in a low voice: + +"That's a very breezy young man, Holker, the one who has just left +us. Got something in him, has he, besides noise?" + +"Yes, considerable. Wants toning down once in a while, but there's +no question of his ability or of his loyalty. He never shirks a +duty and never forgets a kindness. Queer combination when you +think of it, Peter. What he will make of himself is another +matter." + +Peter drew his body back and sent his thoughts out on an +investigating tour. He was wondering what effect the influence of +a young man like Minott would have on a young man like Breen. + +The waiters at this point brought in huge trays holding bowls of +tobacco and long white clay pipes, followed by even larger trays +bearing coffee in little cups. Morris waited a moment and then +rapped for order. Instantly a hush fell upon the noisy room; +plates and glasses were pushed back so as to give the men elbow +room; pipes were hurriedly lighted, and each guest turned his +chair so as to face the Chief, who was now on his feet. + +As he stood erect, one hand behind his back, the other stretched +toward the table in his appeal for silence, I thought for the +hundredth time how kind his fifty years had been to him; how +tightly knit his figure; how well his clothes became him. A +handsome, well-groomed man at all times and in any costume--but +never so handsome or so well groomed as in evening dress. +Everything in his make-up helped: the broad, square shoulders, +arms held close to his side; flat waist; incurving back and narrow +hips. His well-modelled, aristocratic head, too, seemed to gain +increased distinction when it rose clear from a white shirt-front +which served as a kind of marble pedestal for his sculptured head. +There was, moreover, in his every move and look, that quality of +transparent sincerity which always won him friends at sight. "If +men's faces are clocks," Peter always said, "Holker's is fitted +with a glass dial. You can not only see what time it is, but you +can see the wheels that move his heart." + +He was about to speak now, his eyes roaming the room waiting for +the last man to be still. No fumbling of glasses or rearranging of +napkin, but erect, with a certain fearless air that was as much a +part of his nature as was his genius. Beginning in a clear, +distinct voice which reached every ear in the room, he told them +first how welcome they were. How great an honor it was for him to +have them so close to him--so close that he could look into all +their faces with one glance; not only those who came from a +distance but those of his personal staff, to whom really the +success of the year's work had been due. As for himself, he was, +as they knew, only the lead horse in the team, going ahead to show +them the way, while they did the effective pulling that brought +the load to market! Here he slipped his hand in his pocket, took +from it a small box which he laid beside his plate, and continued: + +"At these festivals, as you know, and if my memory serves me this +is our third, it has always been our custom to give some slight +token of our appreciation to the man who has done most during the +year to further the work of the office. This has always been a +difficult thing to decide, because every one of you, without a +single exception, has given the best that is in you in the general +result. Three years ago, you remember, it was awarded to the man +who by common consent had carried to completion, and without a +single error, the detailed drawings of the Museum which was +finished last year. I am looking at you, Mr. Downey, and again +congratulate you. Last year it was awarded to Mr. Buttrick for the +masterly way with which he put together the big arches of the +Government warehouses--a man whom it would have been my pleasure +to congratulate again to-night had it been possible for him to +reach us. To-night I think you will all agree with me that this +small token, not only of my own, but of your 'personal regard and +appreciation'" (here he opened the box and took from it a man's +ring set with three jewels), "should be given to the man who has +carried out in so thorough a way the part allotted to him in the +Corn Exchange, and who is none other than Mr. Garrison Minott, who +for--" + +The rest of the sentence was lost in the uproar. + +"Garry! Garry! Garry Minott!" came from all parts of the room. +"Bully for Garry! You deserve it, old man! Three cheers for Garry +Minott! Hip ... Hip ...!" + +Morris's voice now dominated the room. + +"Come this way, Mr. Minott." + +The face of the young superintendent, which had been in a broad +laugh all the evening, grew white and red by turns. Out of pure +astonishment he could neither move nor speak. + +"All right--stay where you are!" cried Morris laughing. "Pass it +up to him, please." + +John Breen sprang from his chair with the alertness of a man who +had been accustomed to follow his impulse. In his joy over his +friend's good fortune he forgot his embarrassment, forgot that he +was a stranger; forgot that he alone, perhaps, was the only young +man in the room whose life and training had not fitted him for the +fullest enjoyment of what was passing around him; forgot +everything, in fact, but that his comrade, his friend, his chum, +had won the highest honors his Chief could bestow. + +With cheeks aflame he darted to Morris's chair. + +"Let me hand it to him, sir," he cried, all the love for his +friend in his eyes, seizing the ring and plunging toward Garry, +the shouts increasing as he neared his side and placed the prize +in his hand. Only then did Minott find his breath and his feet. + +"Why, Mr. Morris!--Why, fellows!--Why, there's plenty of men in +the office who have done more than I have to--" + +Then he sat down, the ring fast in his hand. + +When the applause had subside--the young fellow's modesty had +caused a fresh outburst--Morris again rose in his chair and once +more the room grew still. + +"Twelve o'clock, gentlemen," he said. "Mr. Downey, you are always +our stand-by in starting the old hymn." + +The diners--host and guests alike--rose to their feet as one man. +Then to Peter's and my own intense surprise that most impressive +of all chants, the Doxology in long metre, surged out, gaining in +volume and strength as its strains were caught up by the different +voices. + +With the ending of the grand old hymn--it had been sung with every +mark of respect by every man in the room--John Breen walked back +to his chair, leaned toward Peter, and with an apologetic tone in +his voice--he had evidently noticed the unfavorable impression +that Garry had made on his neighbor--said: + +"Don't misjudge Garry, Mr. Grayson; he's the kindest hearted +fellow in the world when you know him. He's a little rough +sometimes, as you can see, but he doesn't mean it. He thinks his +way of talking and acting is what he calls 'up-to-date.'" Then he +added with a sigh: "I wish I had a ring like that--one that I had +earned. I tell you, Mr. Grayson, THAT'S something worth while." + +Peter laid his hand on the young man's shoulder and looked him +straight in the face, the same look in his eyes that a proud +father would have given a son who had pleased him. He had heard +with delight the boy's defence of his friend and he had read the +boy's mind as he sang the words of the hymn, his face grave, his +whole attitude one of devotion. "You'd think he was in his +father's pew at home," Peter had whispered to me with a smile. It +was the latter outburst though--the one that came with a sigh-- +that stirred him most. + +"And you would really have liked a ring yourself, my lad?" + +"Would I like it! Why, Mr. Grayson, I'd rather have had Mr. Morris +give me a thing like that and DESERVED IT, than have all the money +you could pile on this table." + +One of those sudden smiles which his friends loved so well +irradiated Peter's face. + +"Keep on the way you're going, my son," he said, seizing the boy's +hand, a slight tremble in his voice, "and you'll get a dozen of +them." + +"How?" The boy's eyes were wide in wonderment. + +"By being yourself. Don't let go of your ideals no matter what +Minott or anybody else says. Let him go his way and do you keep on +in yours. Don't ... but I can't talk here. Come and see me. I mean +it." + +Breen's eyes glistened. "When?" + +"To-morrow night, at my rooms. Here's my card. And you, too, Mr. +Minott--glad to see both of you." Garry has just joined them. + +"Thanks awfully," answered Minott. "I'm very sorry, Mr. Grayson, +but I'm booked for a supper at the Magnolia. "Lot of the fellows +want to whoop up this--" and he held the finger bearing the ring +within an inch of Peter's nose. "And they want you, too, Jack." + +"No, please let me have him," Peter urged. Minott, I could see, he +did not want; Breen he was determined to have. + +"I would love to come, sir, and it's very kind of you to ask me. +There's to be a dance at my uncle's tomorrow night, though I +reckon I can be excused. Would you--would you come to see me +instead? I want you to see my father's portrait. It's not you, and +yet it's like you when you turn your head; and there are some +other things. I'd like--" Here the boy stopped. + +Peter considered for a moment. Calling at the house of a man he +did not know, even to continue the acquaintance of so charming a +young fellow as his nephew, was not one of the things punctilious +Mr. Grayson--punctilious as to forms of etiquette--was accustomed +to do. The young man read his thoughts and added quickly: + +"Of course I'll do just as you say, but if you only would come we +will be entirely alone and won't see anybody else in the house." + +"But couldn't you possibly come to me?" Peter urged. The fact that +young Breen had a suite of rooms so sequestered as to be beyond +the reach even of a dance, altered the situation to some extent, +but he was still undecided. "I live all alone when my sister is +not with me, and I, too, have many things I am sure would interest +you. Say you'll come now--I shall expect you, shall I not?" + +The boy hesitated. "You may not know exactly what I mean," he said +slowly. "Maybe you can't understand, for everybody about here +seems to love you, and you must have lots of friends. The fact is, +I feel out of everything. I get pretty lonely sometimes. Garry, +here, never stays five minutes when he comes to see me, so many +people are after him all the time. Please say you'll come!" + +There was a note in the boy's voice that swept away all the older +man's scruples. + +"Come, my son! Of course I'll come," burst out Peter. "I'll be +there at nine o'clock." + +As Morris and the others passed between the table and the wall on +their way to the cloak-room, Minott, who had listened to the whole +conversation, waited until he thought Peter had gone ahead, and +then, with an impatient gesture, said: + +"What the devil, Jack, do you want to waste your time over an old +fellow like that for?" + +"Oh, Garry, don't--" + +"Don't! A bald-headed old pill who ought to have--" + +Then the two passed out of hearing. + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + + + +Breakfast--any meal for that matter--in the high-wainscoted, dark- +as-a-pocket dining-room of the successful Wall Street broker--the +senior member of the firm of A. Breen & Co., uncle, guardian and +employer of the fresh, rosy-cheeked lad who sat next to Peter on +the night of Morris's dinner, was never a joyous function. + +The room itself, its light shut out by the adjoining extensions, +prevented it; so did the glimpse of hard asphalt covering the +scrap of a yard, its four melancholy posts hung about with wire +clothes-lines; and so did the clean-shaven, smug-faced butler, who +invariably conducted his master's guests to their chairs with the +movement of an undertaker, and who had never been known to crack a +smile of any kind, long or short, during his five years' sojourn +with the family of Breen. + +Not that anybody wanted Parkins to crack one, that is, not his +master, and certainly not his mistress, and most assuredly not his +other mistress, Miss Corinne, the daughter of the lady whom the +successful Wall Street broker had made his first and only wife. + +All this gloomy atmosphere might have been changed for the better +had there been a big, cheery open wood fire snapping and blazing +away, sputtering out its good morning as you entered--and there +would have been if any one of the real inmates had insisted upon +it--fought for it, if necessary; or if in summer one could have +seen through the curtained windows a stretch of green grass with +here and there a tree, or one or two twisted vines craning their +necks to find out what was going on inside; or if in any or all +seasons, a wholesome, happy-hearted, sunny wife looking like a +bunch of roses just out of a bath, had sat behind the smoking +coffee-urn, inquiring whether one or two lumps of sugar would be +enough; or a gladsome daughter who, in a sudden burst of +affection, had thrown her arms around her father's neck and kissed +him because she loved him, and because she wanted his day and her +day to begin that way:--if, I say, there had been all, or one- +half, or one-quarter of these things, the atmosphere of this +sepulchral interior might have been improved--but there wasn't. + +There was a wife, of course, a woman two years older than Arthur +Breen--the relict of a Captain Barker, an army officer--who had +spent her early life in moving from one army post to another until +she had settled down in Washington, where Breen had married her, +and where the Scribe first met her. But this sharer of the +fortunes of Breen preferred her breakfast in bed, New York life +having proved even more wearing than military upheavals. And there +was also a daughter, Miss Corinne Barker, Captain and Mrs. +Barker's only offspring, who had known nothing of army posts, +except as a child, but who had known everything of Washington life +from the time she was twelve until she was fifteen, and she was +now twenty; but that young woman, I regret to say, also +breakfasted in bed, where her maid had special instructions not to +disturb her until my lady's jewelled fingers touched a button +within reach of her dainty hand; whereupon another instalment of +buttered rolls and coffee would be served with such accessories of +linen, porcelain and silver as befitted the appetite and station +of one so beautiful and so accomplished. + +These conditions never ceased to depress Jack. Fresh from a life +out of doors, accustomed to an old-fashioned dining-room--the +living room, really, of the family who had cared for him since his +father's death, where not only the sun made free with the open +doors and windows, but the dogs and neighbors as well--the sober +formality of this early meal--all of his uncle's meals, for that +matter--sent shivers down his back that chilled him to the bone. + +He had looked about him the first morning of his arrival, had +noted the heavy carved sideboard laden with the garish silver; had +examined the pictures lining the walls, separated from the dark +background of leather by heavy gold frames; had touched with his +fingers the dial of the solemn bronze clock, flanked by its +equally solemn candelabra; had peered between the steel andirons, +bright as carving knives, and into the freshly varnished, spacious +chimney up which no dancing blaze had ever whirled in madcap glee +since the mason's trowel had left it and never would to the end of +time,--not as long as the steam heat held out; had watched the +crane-like step of Parkins as he moved about the room--cold, +immaculate, impassive; had listened to his "Yes, sir--thank you, +sir, very good, sir," until he wanted to take him by the throat +and shake something spontaneous and human out of him, and as each +cheerless feature passed in review his spirits had sunk lower and +lower. + +This, then, was what he could expect as long as he lived under his +uncle's roof--a period of time which seemed to him must stretch +out into dim futurity. No laughing halloos from passing neighbors +through wide-open windows; no Aunt Hannahs running in with a plate +of cakes fresh from the griddle which would cool too quickly if +she waited for that slow-coach of a Tom to bring them to her young +master. No sweep of leaf-covered hills seen through bending +branches laden with blossoms; no stretch of sky or slant of +sunshine; only a grim, funereal, artificial formality, as ungenial +and flattening to a boy of his tastes, education and earlier +environment as a State asylum's would have been to a red Indian +fresh from the prairie. + +On the morning after Morris's dinner (within eight hours really of +the time when he had been so thrilled by the singing of the +Doxology), Jack was in his accustomed seat at the small, +adjustable accordion-built table--it could be stretched out to +accommodate twenty-four covers--when his uncle entered this room. +Parkins was genuflecting at the time with his--"Cream, sir,--yes, +sir. Devilled kidney, sir? Thank you, sir." (Parkins had been +second man with Lord Colchester, so he told Breen when he hired +him.) Jack had about made up his mind to order him out when a +peculiar tone in his uncle's "Good morning" made the boy scan that +gentleman's face and figure the closer. + +His uncle was as well dressed as usual, looking as neat and as +smart in his dark cut-away coat with the invariable red carnation +in his buttonhole, but the boy's quick eye caught the marks of a +certain wear and tear in the face which neither his bath nor his +valet had been able to obliterate. The thin lips--thin for a man +so fat, and which showed, more than any other feature, something +of the desultory firmness of his character--drooped at the +corners. The eyes were half their size, the snap all out of them, +the whites lost under the swollen lids. His greeting, moreover, +had lost its customary heartiness. + +"You were out late, I hear," he grumbled, dropping into his chair. +"I didn't get in myself until two o'clock and feel like a boiled +owl. May have caught a little cold, but I think it was that +champagne of Duckworth's; always gives me a headache. Don't put +any sugar and cream in that coffee, Parkins--want it straight." + +"Yes, sir," replied the flunky, moving toward the sideboard. + +"And now, Jack, what did you do?" he continued, picking up his +napkin. "You and Garry made a night of it, didn't you? Some kind +of an artist's bat, wasn't it?" + +"No, sir; Mr. Morris gave a dinner to his clerks, and--" + +"Who's Morris?" + +"Why, the great architect." + +"Oh, that fellow! Yes, I know him, that is, I know who he is. Say +the rest. Parkins! didn't I tell you I didn't want any sugar or +cream." + +Parkins hadn't offered any. He had only forgotten to remove them +from the tray. + +Jack kept straight on; these differences between the master and +Parkins were of daily occurrence. + +"And, Uncle Arthur, I met the most wonderful gentleman I ever saw; +he looked just as if he had stepped out of an old frame, and yet +he is down in the Street every day and--" + +"What firm?" + +"No firm, he is--" + +"Curbstone man, then?" Here Breen lifted the cup to his lips and +as quickly put it down. "Parkins!" + +"Yes, sir," came the monotone. + +"Why the devil can't I get my coffee hot?" + +"Is it cold, sir?"--slight modulation, but still lifeless. + +"IS IT COLD? Of course it's cold! Might have been standing in a +morgue. Take that down and have some fresh coffee sent up. +Servants running oer each other and yet I can't get a--Go on, +Jack! I didn't mean to interrupt, but I'll clean the whole lot of +'em out of here if I don't get better service." + +"No, Uncle Arthur, he isn't a banker--isn't even a broker; he's +only a paying teller in a bank," continued Jack. + +The older man turned his head and a look of surprise swept over +his round, fat face. + +"Teller in a BANK?" he asked in an altered tone. + +"Yes, the most charming, the most courteous old gentleman I have +ever met; I haven't seen anybody like him since I left home, and, +just think, he has promised to come and see me to-night." + +The drooping lips straightened and a shrewd, searching glance shot +from Arthur Breen's eyes. There was a brain behind this sleepy +face--as many of his competitors knew. It was not always in +working order, but when it was the man became another personality. + +"Jack--" The voice was now as thin as the drawn lips permitted, +with caution in every tone, "you stop short off. You mustn't +cotton to everybody you pick up in New York--it won't do. Get you +into trouble. Don't bring him here; your aunt won't like it. When +you get into a hole with a fellow and can't help yourself, take +him to the club. That's one of the things I got you into the +Magnolia for; but don't ever bring 'em here." + +"But he's a personal friend of Mr. Morris, and a friend of another +friend of Mr. Morris's they called 'Major.'" It was not the first +time he had heard such inhospitable suggestions from his uncle. + +"Oh, yes, I know; they've all got some old retainers hanging on +that they give a square meal to once a year, but don't you get +mixed up with 'em." + +Parkins had returned by this time and was pouring a fresh cup of +coffee. + +"Now, Parkins, that's something like--No, I don't want any +kidneys--I don't want any toast--I don't want anything, Parkins-- +haven't I told you so?" + +"Yes, sir; thank you sir." + +"Black coffee is the only thing that'll settle this head. What you +want to do, Jack, is to send that old fossil word that you've got +another engagement, and . . .Parkins, is there anything going on +here to-night?" + +"Yes, sir; Miss Cocinne is giving a small dance." + +"There, Jack--that's it. That'll let you out with a whole skin." + +"No, I can't, and I won't, Uncle Arthur," he answered in an +indignant tone. "If you knew him as I do, and had seen him last +night, you would--" + +"No, I don't want to know him and I don't want to see him. You are +all balled up, I see, and can't work loose, but take him upstairs; +don't let your aunt come across him or she'll have a fit." Here he +glanced at the bronze clock. "What!--ten minutes past nine! +Parkins, see if my cab is at the door. . . . Jack, you ride down +with me. I walked when I was your age, and got up at daylight. +Some difference, Jack, isn't there, whether you've got a rich +uncle to look after you or not." This last came with a wink. + +It was only one of his pleasantries. He knew he was not rich; not +in the accepted sense. He might be a small star in the myriads +forming the Milky-Way of Finance, but there were planets millions +of miles beyond him, whose brilliancy he was sure he could never +equal. The fact was that the money which he had accumulated had +been so much greater sum than he had ever hoped for when he was a +boy in a Western State--his father went to Iowa in '49--and the +changes in his finances had come with such lightning rapidity +(half a million made on a tip given him by a friend, followed by +other tips more or less profitable) that he loved to pat his +pride, so to speak, in speeches like this. + +That he had been swept off his feet by the social and financial +rush about him was quite natural. His wife, whose early life had +been one long economy, had ambitions to which there was no limit +and her escape from her former thraldom had been as sudden and as +swift as the upward spring of a loosened balloon. Then again all +the money needed to make the ascension successful was at her +disposal. Hence jewels, laces, and clothes; hence elaborate +dinners, the talk of the town: hence teas, receptions, opera +parties, week-end parties at their hired country seat on Long +Island; dances for Corinne; dinners for Corinne; birthday parties +for Corinne; everything, in fact, for Corinne, from manicures to +pug dogs and hunters. + +His two redeeming qualities were his affection for his wife and +his respect for his word. He had no child of his own, and Corinne, +though respectful never showed him any affection. He had sent Jack +to a Southern school and college, managing meanwhile the little +property his father had left him, which, with some wild lands in +the Cumberland Mountains, practically worthless, was the boy's +whole inheritance, and of late had treated him as if he had been +his own son. + +As to his own affairs, close as he sailed to the wind in his money +transactions--so close sometimes that the Exchange had more than +once overhauled his dealings--it was generally admitted that when +Arthur Breen gave his WORD--a difficult thing often to get--he +never broke it. This was offset by another peculiarity with less +beneficial results: When he had once done a man a service only to +find him ungrateful, no amount of apologies or atonement +thereafter ever moved him to forgiveness. Narrow-gauge men are +sometimes built that way. + +It was to be expected, therefore, considering the quality of +Duckworth's champagne and the impression made on Jack by his +uncle's outburst, that the ride down town in the cab was marked by +anything but cheerful conversation between Breen and his nephew, +each of whom sat absorbed in his own reflections. "I didn't mean +to be hard on the boy," ruminated Breen, "but if I had picked up +everybody who wanted to know me, as Jack has done, where would I +be now?" Then, his mind still clouded by the night at the club (he +had not confined himself entirely to champagne), he began, as was +his custom, to concentrate his attention upon the work of the day +--on the way the market would open; on the remittance a belated +customer had promised and about which he had some doubt; the +meeting of the board of directors in the new mining company--"The +Great Mukton Lode," in which he had an interest, and a large one-- +etc. + +Jack looked out of the windows, his eyes taking in the remnants of +the autumnal tints in the Park, now nearly gone, the crowd filling +the sidewalks; the lumbering stages and the swifter-moving horse- +cars crammed with eager men anxious to begin the struggle of the +day--not with their hands--that mob had swept past hours before-- +but with their brains--wits against wits and the devil take the +man who slips and falls. + +Nothing of it all interested him. His mind was on the talk at the +breakfast table, especially his uncle's ideas of hospitality, all +of which had appalled and disgusted him. With his father there had +always been a welcome for every one, no matter what the position +in life, the only standard being one of breeding and character-- +and certainly Peter had both. His uncle had helped him, of course +--put him under obligations he could never repay. Yet after all, it +was proved now to him that he was but a guest in the house +enjoying only such rights as any other guest might possess, and +with no voice in the welcome--a condition which would never be +altered, until he became independent himself--a possibility which +at the moment was too remote to be considered. Then his mind +reverted to his conversation the night before with Mr. Grayson and +with this change of thought his father's portrait--the one that +hung in his room--loomed up. He had the night before turned on the +lights--to their fullest--and had scanned the picture closely, +eager to find some trace of Peter in the counterfeit presentment +of the man he loved best, and whose memory was still almost a +religion, but except that both Peter and his father were bald, and +that both wore high, old-fashioned collars and neck-cloths, he had +been compelled to admit with a sigh that there was nothing about +the portrait on which to base the slightest claim to resemblance. + +"Yet he's like my father, he is, he is," he kept repeating to +himself as the cab sped on. "I'll find out what it is when I know +him better. To-night when Mr. Grayson comes I'll study it out," +and a joyous smile flashed across his features as he thought of +the treat in store for him. + +When at last the boy reached his office, where, behind the +mahogany partition with its pigeon-hole cut through the glass +front he sat every day, he swung back the doors of the safe, took +out his books and papers and made ready for work. He had charge of +the check book, and he alone signed the firm's name outside of the +partners. "Rather young," one of them protested, until he looked +into the boy's face, then he gave his consent; something better +than years of experience and discretion are wanted where a scratch +of a pen might mean financial ruin. + +Breen had preceded him with but a nod to his clerks, and had +disappeared into his private office--another erection of ground +glass and mahogany. Here the senior member of the firm shut the +door carefully, and turning his back fished up a tiny key attached +to a chain leading to the rear pocket of his trousers. With this +he opened a small closet near his desk--a mere box of a closet-- +took from it a squatty-shaped decanter labelled "Rye, 1840," +poured out half a glass, emptied it into his person with one gulp, +and with the remark in a low voice to himself that he was now +"copper fastened inside and out"--removed all traces of the +incident and took up his morning's mail. + +By this time the circle of chairs facing the huge blackboard in +the spacious outer office had begun to fill up. Some of the +customers, before taking their seats, hurried anxiously to the +ticker, chattering away in its glass case; others turned abruptly +and left the room without a word. Now and then a customer would +dive into Breen's private room, remain a moment and burst out +again, his face an index of the condition of his bank account. + +When the chatter of the ticker had shifted from the London +quotations to the opening sales on the Exchange, a sallow-faced +clerk mounted a low step-ladder and swept a scurry of chalk marks +over the huge blackboard, its margin lettered with the initials of +the principal stocks. The appearance of this nimble-fingered young +man with his piece of chalk always impressed Jack as a sort of +vaudeville performance. On ordinary days, with the market +lifeless, but half of the orchestra seats would be occupied. In +whirl-times, with the ticker spelling ruin, not only were the +chairs full, but standing room only was available in the offices. + +Their occupants came from all classes; clerks from up-town dry- +goods houses, who had run down during lunch time to see whether +U.P. or Erie, or St. Paul had moved up an eighth, or down a +quarter, since they had devoured the morning papers on their way +to town; old speculators who had spent their lives waiting +buzzard-like for some calamity, enabling them to swoop down and +make off with what fragments they could pick up; well-dressed, +well-fed club men, who had had a run of luck and who never carried +less than a thousand shares to keep their hands in; gray-haired +novices nervously rolling little wads of paper between their +fingers and thumbs--up every few minutes to listen to the talk of +the ticker, too anxious to wait until the sallow-faced young man +with the piece of chalk could make his record on the board. Some +of them had gathered together their last dollar. Two per cent. or +one percent, or even one-half of one per cent. rise or fall was +all that stood between them and ruin. + +"Very sorry, sir, but you know we told you when you opened the +account that you must keep your margins up," Breen had said to an +old man. The old man knew; had known it all night as he lay awake, +afraid to tell his wife of the sword hanging above their heads. +Knew it, too, when without her knowledge he had taken the last +dollar of the little nest-egg to make good the deficit owed Breen +& Co. over and above his margins, together with some other things +"not negotiable"--not our kind of collateral but "stuff" that +could "lie in the safe until he could make some other +arrangement," the cashier had said with the firm's consent. + +Queer safe, that of Breen & Co., and queer things went into it. +Most of them were still there. Jack thought some jeweller had sent +part of his stock down for safe-keeping when he first came across +a tiny drawer of which Breen alone kept the key. Each object could +tell a story: a pair of diamond ear-rings surely could, and so +could four pearls on a gold chain, and perhaps, too, a certain +small watch, the case set with jewels. One of these days they may +be redeemed, or they may not, depending upon whether the owners +can scrape money enough together to pay the balances owed in cash. +But the four pearls on the gold chain are likely to remain there-- +that poor fellow went overboard one morning off Nantucket Light, +and his secret went with him. + +During the six months Jack had stood at his desk new faces had +filled the chairs--the talk had varied; though he felt only the +weary monotony of it all. Sometimes there had been hours of tense +excitement, when even his uncle had stood by the ticker, and when +every bankable security in the box had been overhauled and sent +post-haste to the bank or trust company. Jack, followed by the +porter with a self-cocking revolver in his outside pocket, had +more than once carried the securities himself, returning to the +office on the run with a small scrap of paper good for half a +million or so tucked away in his inside pocket. Then the old +monotony had returned with its dull routine and so had the chatter +and talk. "Buy me a hundred." "Yes, let 'em go." "No, I don't want +to risk it." "What's my balance?" "Thought you'd get another +eighth for that stock." "Sold at that figure, anyhow," etc. + +Under these conditions life to a boy of Jack's provincial training +and temperament seemed narrowed down to an arm-chair, a black- +board, a piece of chalk and a restless little devil sputtering +away in a glass case, whose fiat meant happiness or misery. Only +the tongue of the demon was in evidence. The brain behind it, with +its thousand slender nerves quivering with the energy of the +globe, Jack never saw, nor, for that matter, did nine-tenths of +the occupants of the chairs. To them its spoken word was the +dictum of fate. Success meant debts paid, a balance in the bank, +houses, horses, even yachts and estates--failure meant obscurity +and suffering. The turn of the roulette wheel or the roll of a +cube of ivory they well knew brought the same results, but these +turnings they also knew were attended with a certain loss of +prestige. Taking a flier in the Street was altogether different-- +great financiers were behind the fluctuations of values told by +the tongue of the ticker, and behind them was the wealth of the +Republic and still in the far distance the power of the American +people. Few of them ever looked below the grease paint, nor did +the most discerning ever detect the laugh on the clown's face. + +The boy half hidden by the glass screen, through which millions +were passed and repassed every month, caught now and then a +glimpse. + +Once a faded, white-haired old man had handed Jack a check after +banking hours to make good an account--a man whose face had +haunted him for hours. His uncle told him the poor fellow had "run +up solid" against a short interest in a stock that some Croesus +was manipulating to get even with another Croesus who had +manipulated HIM, and that the two Croesuses had "buried the old +man alive." The name of the stock Jack had forgotten, but the +suffering in the victim's face had made an indelible impression. +In reply to Jack's further inquiry, his uncle had spoken as if the +poor fellow had been wandering about on some unknown highway when +the accident happened, failing to add that he himself had led him +through the gate and started him on the road; forgetting, too, to +say that he had collected the toll in margins, a sum which still +formed a considerable portion of Breen & Co.'s bank account. One +bit of information which Breen had vouchsafed, while it did not +relieve the gloom of the incident, added a note of courage to the +affair: + +"He was game, however, all the same, Jack. Had to go down into his +wife's stocking, I hear. Hard hit, but he took it like a man." + + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + + + +While all this was going on downtown under the direction of the +business end of the house of Breen, equally interesting events +were taking place uptown under the guidance of its social head. +Strict orders had been given by Mrs. Breen the night before that +certain dustings and arrangings of furniture should take place, +the spacious stairs swept, and the hectic hired palms in their +great china pots watered. I say "the night before," because +especial stress was laid upon the fact that on no account whatever +were either Mrs. Breen or her daughter Corinne to be disturbed +until noon--neither of them having retired until a late hour the +night before. + +So strictly were these orders carried out that all that did reach +the younger woman's ear--and this was not until long after mid- +day--was a scrap of news which crept upstairs from the breakfast +table via Parkins wireless, was caught by Corinne's maid and +delivered in manifold with that young lady's coffee and buttered +rolls. This when deciphered meant that Jack was not to be at the +dance that evening--he having determined instead to spend his time +up stairs with a disreputable old fellow whom he had picked up +somewhere at a supper the preceding night. + +Corinne thought over the announcement for a moment, gazed into the +egg-shell cup that Hortense was filling from the tiny silver +coffee-pot, and a troubled expression crossed her face. "What has +come over Jack?" she asked herself. "I never knew him to do +anything like this before. Is he angry, I wonder, because I danced +with Garry the other night? It WAS his dance, but I didn't think +he would care. He has always done everything to please me--until +now." Perhaps the boy was about to slip the slight collar he had +worn in her service--one buckled on by him willingly because-- +though she had not known it--he was a guest in the house. +Heretofore she said to herself Jack had been her willing slave, a +feather in her cap--going everywhere with her; half the girls were +convinced he was in love with her--a theory which she had +encouraged. What would they say now? This prospect so disturbed +the young woman that she again touched the button, and again +Hortense glided in. + +"Hortense, tell Parkins to let me know the moment Mr. John comes +in--and get me my blue tea-gown; I sha'n't go out to-day." This +done she sank back on her pillows. + +She was a slight little body, this Corinne--blue-eyed, fair- +haired, with a saucy face and upturned nose. Jack thought when he +first saw her that she looked like a wren with its tiny bill in +the air--and Jack was not far out of the way. And yet she was a +very methodical, level-headed little wren, with several positive +convictions which dominated her life--one of them being that +everybody about her ought to do, not as they, but as she, pleased. +She had begun, and with pronounced success, on her mother as far +back as she could remember, and had then tried her hand on her +stepfather until it became evident that as her mother controlled +that gentleman it was a waste of time to experiment further. All +of which was a saving of stones without the loss of any birds. + +Where she failed--and she certainly had failed, was with Jack, who +though punctiliously polite was elusive and--never quite subdued. +Yet the discovery made, she neither pouted nor lost her temper, +but merely bided her time. Sooner or later, she knew, of course, +this boy, who had seen nothing of city life and who was evidently +dazed with all the magificence of the stately home overlooking the +Park, would find his happiest resting-place beneath the soft +plumage of her little wing. And if by any chance he should fall in +love with her--and what more natural; did not everybody fall in +love with her?--would it not be wiser to let him think she +returned it, especially if she saw any disposition on the young +man's part to thwart her undisputed sway of the household? + +For months she had played her little game, yet to her amazement +none of the things she had anticipated had happened. Jack had +treated her as he would any other young woman of his acquaintance +--always with courtesy--always doing everything to oblige her, but +never yielding to her sway. He would laugh sometimes at her +pretensions, just as he would have laughed at similar self- +assertiveness on the part of any one else with whom he must +necessarily be thrown, but never by thought, word or deed had he +ever given my Lady Wren the faintest suspicion that he considered +her more beautiful, better dressed, or more entertaining, either +in song, chirp, flight or plumage, than the flock of other birds +about her. Indeed, the Scribe knows it to be a fact that if Jack's +innate politeness had not forbidden, he would many times have told +her truths, some of them mighty unpleasant ones, to which her ears +had been strangers since her school-girl days. + +This unstudied treatment, strange to say--the result really, of +the boy's indifference--had of late absorbed her. What she could +not have she generally longed for, and there was not the slightest +question up to the present moment that Jack was still afield. + +Again the girl pressed the button of the cord within reach of her +hand, and for the third time Hortense entered. + +"Have you told Parkins I want to know the very instant Mr. John +comes in?" + +"Yes, miss." + +"And, Hortense, did you understand that Mr. John was to go out to +meet the gentleman, or was the gentleman to come to his rooms?" + +"To his rooms, I think, miss." + + She was wearing her blue tea-gown, stretched out on the cushions +of one of the big divans in the silent drawing-room, when she +heard Jack's night-key touch the lock. Springing to her feet she +ran toward him. + +"Why, Jack, what's this I hear about your not coming to my dance? +It isn't true, is it?" She was close to him now, her little head +cocked on one side, her thin, silken draperies dripping about her +slender figure. + +"Who told you?" + +"Parkins told Hortense." + +"Leaky Parkins?" laughed Jack, tossing his hat on the hall table. + +"But you are coming, aren't you, Jack? Please do!" + +"Not to-night; you don't need me, Corinne." His voice told her at +once that not only was the leash gone but that the collar was off +as well. + +"Yes, but I do." + +"Then please excuse me, for I have an old gentleman coming to pay +me a visit. The finest old gentleman, by the way, you ever saw! A +regular thoroughbred, Corinne--who looks like a magnificent +portrait!" he added in his effort to interest her. + +"But let him come some other time," she coaxed, holding the lapel +of his coat, her eyes searching his. + +"What, turn to the wall a magnificent old portrait!" This came +with a mock grimace, his body bent forward, his eyes brimming with +laughter. + +"Be serious, Jack, and tell me if you think it very nice in you to +stay upstairs in your den when I am giving a dance? Everybody will +know you are at home, and we haven't enough men as it is. Garry +can't come, he writes me. He has to dine with some men at the +club." + +"I really AM sorry, Corinne, but I can't this time." Jack had hold +of her hand now; for a brief moment he was sorry he had not +postponed Peter's visit until the next day; he hated to cause any +woman a disappointment. "If it was anybody else I might send him +word to call another night, but you don't know Mr. Grayson; he +isn't the kind of a man you can treat like that. He does me a +great honor to come, anyhow. Just think of his coming to see a boy +like me--and he so--" + +"Well, bring him downstairs, then." Her eyes began to flash; she +had tried all the arts she knew--they were not many--but they had +won heretofore. "Mother will take care of him. A good many of the +girls' fathers come for them." + +"Bring him downstairs to a dance!" Jack answered with a merry +laugh. "He isn't that kind of an old gentleman, either. Why, +Corinne, you ought to see him! You might as well ask old Bishop +Gooley to lead the german." + +Jack's foot was now ready to mount the lower step of the stairs. +Corinne bit her lip. + +"You never do anything to please me!" she snapped back. She knew +she was fibbing, but something must be done to check this new form +of independence--and then, now that Garry couldn't come, she +really needed him. "You don't want to come, that's it--" She +facing him now, her little nose high in the air, her cheeks +flaming with anger. + +"You must not say that, Corinne," he answered in a slightly +indignant tone. + +Corinne drew herself up to her full height--toes included; not +very high, but all she could do--and said in a voice pitched to a +high key, her finger within a few inches of his nose: + +"It's true, and I will say it!" + +The rustle of silk was heard overhead, and a plump, tightly laced +woman in voluminous furs, her head crowned by a picture hat piled +high with plumes, was making her way down the stairs. Jack looked +up and waved his hand to his aunt, and then stood at mock +attention, like a corporal on guard, one hand raised to salute her +as she passed. The boy, with the thought of Peter coming, was very +happy this afternoon. + +"What are you two quarrelling about?" came the voice. Rather a +soft voice with a thread of laziness running through it. + +"Jack's too mean for anything, mother. He knows we haven't men +enough without him for a cotillion, now that Garry has dropped +out, and he's been just stupid enough to invite some old man to +come and see him this evening." + +The furs and picture hat swept down and on, Jack standing at +attention, hands clasping an imaginary musket his face drawn down +to its severest lines, his cheeks puffed out to make him look the +more solemn. When the wren got "real mad" he would often say she +was the funniest thing alive. + +"I'm a pig, I know, aunty" (here Jack completed his salute with a +great flourish), "but Corinne does not really want me, and she +knows it. She only wants to have her own way. They don't dance +cotillions when they come here--at least they didn't last time, +and I don't believe they will to-night. They sit around with each +other in the corners and waltz with the fellows they've picked +out--and it's all arranged between them, and has been for a week-- +ever since they heard Corinne was going to give a dance." The boy +spoke with earnestness and a certain tone of conviction in his +voice, although his face was still radiant. + +"Well, can't you sit around, too, Jack?" remarked his aunt, +pausing in her onward movement for an instant. "I'm sure there +will be some lovely girls." + +"Yes, but they don't want me. I've tried it too often, aunty-- +they've all got their own set." + +"It's because you don't want to be polite to any of them," snapped +Corinne with a twist of her body, so as to face him again. + +"Now, Corinne, that isn't fair; I am never impolite to anybody in +this house, but I'm tired of--" + +"Well, Garry isn't tired." This last shot was fired at random. + +Again the aunt poured oil: "Come, children, come! Don't let's talk +any more about it. If Jack has made an engagement it can't be +helped, I suppose, but don't spoil your party, my dear. Find +Parkins, Jack, and send him to me. ... Ah, Parkins--if any one +calls say I'll be out until six o'clock." + +"Yes, my Lady." Parkins knew on which side his bread was buttered. +She had reproved him at first, but his excuse was that she was so +like his former mistress, Lady Colchester, that he sometimes +forgot himself. + +And again "my Lady" swept on, this time out of the door and into +her waiting carriage. + + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + + + +Jack's impatience increased as the hour for Peter's visit +approached. Quarter of nine found him leaning over the banisters +outside his small suite of rooms, peering down between the hand- +rails watching the top of every head that crossed the spacious +hall three flights below--he dare not go down to welcome his +guest, fearing some of the girls, many of whom had already +arrived, would know he was in the house. Fifteen minutes later the +flash of a bald head, glistening in the glare of the lower hall +lantern, told him that the finest old gentleman in the world had +arrived, and on the very minute. Parkins's special instructions, +repeated for the third time, were to bring Mr. Peter Grayson--it +was wonderful what an impressive note was in the boy's voice when +he rolled out the syllables--up at once, surtout, straight-brimmed +hat, overshoes (if he wore any), umbrella and all, and the four +foot-falls--two cat-like and wabbly, as befitted the obsequious +flunky, and two firm and decided, as befitted a grenadier crossing +a bridge--could now be heard mounting the stairs. + +"So here you are!" cried Peter, holding out both hands to the +overjoyed boy--"'way up near the sky. One flight less than my own. +Let me get my breath, my boy, before I say another word. No, don't +worry, only Anno Domini--you'll come to it some day. How +delightfully you are settled!" + +They had entered the cosey sitting-room and Jack was helping with +his coat; Parkins, with his nose in the air (he had heard his +master's criticism), having already placed his hat on a side table +and the umbrella in the corner. + +"Where will you sit--in the big chair by the fire or in this long +straw one?" cried the boy, Peter's coat still in his hand. + +"Nowhere yet; let me look around a little." One of Peter's tests +of a man was the things he lived with. "Ah! books?" and he peered +at a row on the mantel. "Macaulay, I see, and here's Poe: Good, +very good--why, certainly it is--Where did you get this Morland?" +and again Peter's glasses went up. "Through that door is your +bedroom--yes, and the bath. Very charming, I must say. You ought +to live very happily here; few young fellows I know have half your +comforts." + +Jack had interrupted him to say that the Morland print was one +that he had brought from his father's home, and that the books had +come from the same source, but Peter kept on in his tour around +the room. Suddenly he stopped and looked steadily at a portrait +over the mantel. + +"Yes--your father--" + +"You knew!" cried Jack. + +"Knew! How could any one make a mistake? Fine head. About fifty I +should say. No question about his firmness or his kindness. Yes-- +fine head--and a gentleman, that is best of all. When you come to +marry always hunt up the grandfather--saves such a lot of trouble +in after life," and one of Peter's infectious laughs filled the +room. + +"Do you think he looks anything like Uncle Arthur? You have seen +him, I think you said." + +Peter scanned the portrait. "Not a trace. That may also be a +question of grandfathers--" and another laugh rippled out. "But +just be thankful you bear his name. It isn't always necessary to +have a long line of gentlemen behind you, and if you haven't any, +or can't trace them, a man, if he has pluck and grit, can get +along without them; but it's very comforting to know they once +existed. Now let me sit down and listen to you," added Peter, +whose random talk had been inspired by the look of boyish +embarrassment on Jack's face. He had purposely struck many notes +in order to see which one would echo in the lad's heart, so that +his host might find himself, just as he had done when Jack with +generous impulse had sprang from his chair to carry Minott the +ring. + +The two seated themselves--Peter in the easy chair and Jack +opposite. The boy's eyes roamed from the portrait, with its round, +grave face, to Peter's head resting on the cushioned back, +illumined by the light of the lamp, throwing into relief the +clear-cut lips, little gray side-whiskers and the tightly drawn +skin covering his scalp, smooth as polished ivory. + +"Am I like him?" asked Peter. He had caught the boy's glances and +had read his thoughts. + +"No--and yes. I can't see it in the portrait, but I do in the way +you move your hands and in the way you bow. I keep thinking of him +when I am with you. It may, as you say, be a good thing to have a +gentleman for a father, sir, but it is a dreadful thing, all the +same, to lose him just as you need him most. I wouldn't hate so +many of the things about me if I had him to go to now and then." + +"Tell me about him and your early life," cried Peter, crossing one +leg over the other. He knew the key had been struck; the boy might +now play on as he chose. + +"There is very little to tell. I lived in the old home with an +aunt after my father's death. And went to school and then to +college at Hagerstown--quite a small college--where uncle looked +after me--he paid the expenses really--and then I was clerk in a +law office for a while, and at my aunt's death about a year ago +the old place was sold and I had no home, and Uncle Arthur sent +for me to come here." + +"Very decent in him, and you should never forget him for it," and +again Peter's eyes roamed around the perfectly appointed room. + +"I know it, sir, and at first the very newness and strangeness of +everything delighted me. Then I began to meet the people. They +were so different from those in my part of the country, especially +the young fellows--Garry is not so bad, because he really loves +his work and is bound to succeed--everybody says he has a genius +for architecture--but the others--and the way they treat the young +girls, and what is more unaccountable to me is the way the young +girls put up with it." + +Peter had settled himself deeper in his chair, his eyes shaded +with one hand and looked intently at the boy. + +"Uncle Arthur is kind to me, but the life smothers me. I can't +breathe sometimes. Nothing my father taught me is considered worth +while here. People care for other things." + +"What, for instance?" Peter's hand never moved, nor did his body. + +"Why stocks and bonds and money, for instance," laughed Jack, +beginning to be annoyed at his own tirade--half ashamed of it in +fact. "Stocks are good enough in their way, but you don't want to +live with them from ten o'clock in the morning till four o'clock +in the afternoon, and then hear nothing else talked about until +you go to bed. That's why that dinner last night made such an +impression on me. Nobody said money once." + +"But every one of those men had his own hobby--" + +"Yes, but in my uncle's world they all ride one and the same +horse. I don't want to be a pessimist, Mr. Grayson, and I want you +to set me straight if I am wrong, but Mr. Morris and every one of +those men about him were the first men I've seen in New York who +appear to me to be doing the things that will live after them. +What are we doing down-town? Gambling the most of us." + +"But your life here isn't confined to your uncle and his stock- +gambling friends. Surely these lovely young girls--two of them +came in with me--" and Peter smiled, "must make your life +delightful." + +Jack's eyes sought the floor, then he answered slowly: + +"I hope you won't think me a cad, but--No, I'm not going to say a +word about them, only I can't get accustomed to them and there's +no use of my saying that I can. I couldn't treat any girl the way +they are treated here. And I tell you another thing--none of the +young girls whom I know at home would treat me as these girls +treat the men they know. I'm queer, I guess, but I might as well +make a clean breast of it all. I am an ingrate, perhaps, but I +can't help thinking that the old life at home was the best. We +loved our friends, and they were welcome at our table any hour, +day or night. We had plenty of time for everything; we lived out +of doors or in doors, just as we pleased, and we dressed to suit +ourselves, and nobody criticised. Why, if I drop into the Magnolia +on my way up-town and forget to wear a derby hat with a sack coat, +or a black tie with a dinner-jacket, everybody winks and nudges +his neighbor. Did you ever hear of such nonsense in your life?" + +The boy paused as if the memory of some incident in which he was +ridiculed was alive in his mind. Peter's eyes were still fixed on +his face. + +"Go on--I'm listening; and what else hurts you? Pour it all out. +That's what I came for. You said last night nobody would listen--I +will." + +"Well, then, I hate the sham of it all; the silly social +distinctions; the fits and starts of hospitality; the dinners +given for show. Nothing else going on between times; even the +music is hired. I want to hear music that bubbles out--old Hannah +singing in the kitchen, and Tom, my father's old butler, whistling +to himself--and the dogs barking, and the birds singing outside. +I'm ashamed of myself making comparisons, but that was the kind of +life I loved, because there was sincerity in it." + +"No work?" There was a note of sly merriment in the inquiry, but +Jack never caught it. + +"Not much. My father was Judge and spent part of the time holding +court, and his work never lasted but a few hours a day, and when I +wanted to go fishing or shooting, or riding with the girls, Mr. +Larkin always let me off. And I had plenty of time to read--and +for that matter I do here, if I lock myself up in this room. That +low library over there is full of my father's books." + +Again Peter's voice had a tinge of merriment in it. + +"And who supported the family?" he asked in a lower voice. + +"My father." + +"And who supported him?" + +The question brought Jack to a full stop. He had been running on, +pouring out his heart for the first time since his sojourn in New +York, and to a listener whom he knew he could trust. + +"Why--his salary, of course," answered Jack in astonishment, after +a pause. + +"Anything else?" + +"Yes--the farm." + +"And who worked that?" + +"My father's negroes--some of them his former slaves." + +"And have you any money of your own--anything your father left +you?" + +"Only enough to pay taxes on some wild lands up in Cumberland +County, and which I'm going to hold on to for his sake." + +Peter dropped his shading fingers, lifted his body from the depths +of the easy chair and leaned forward so that the light fell full +on his face. He had all the information he wanted now. + +"And now let me tell you my story, my lad. It is a very short one. +I had the same sort of a home, but no father--none that I +remember--and no mother, they both died before my sister Felicia +and I were grown up. At twelve I left school; at fifteen I worked +in a country store--up at daylight and to bed at midnight, often. +From twenty to twenty-five I was entry clerk in a hardware store; +then book-keeper; then cashier in a wagon factory; then clerk in a +village bank--then book-keeper again in my present bank, and there +I have been ever since. My only advantages were a good +constitution and the fact that I came of gentle people. Here we +are both alike--you at twenty--how old?--twenty two? ... Well, +make it twenty-two. ... You at twenty-two and I at twenty-two +seem to have started out in life with the same natural advantages, +so far as years and money go, but with this difference--Shall I +tell you what it is?" + +"Yes." + +"That I worked and loved it, and love it still, and that you are +lazy and love your ease. Don't be offended--" Here Peter laid his +hand on the boy's knee. He waited an instant, and not getting any +reply, kept on: "What you want to do is to go to work. It wouldn't +have been honorable in you to let your father support you after +you were old enough to earn your own living, and it isn't +honorable in you, with your present opinions, to live on your +uncle's bounty, and to be discontented and rebellious at that, for +that's about what it all amounts to. You certainly couldn't pay +for these comforts outside of this house on what Breen & Co. can +afford to pay you. Half of your mental unrest, my lad, is due to +the fact that you do not know the joy and comfort to be got out of +plain, common, unadulterated work." + +"I'll do anything that is not menial." + +"What do you mean by 'menial'?" + +"Well, working like a day-laborer." + +"Most men who have succeeded have first worked with their hands." + +"Not my uncle." + +"No, not your uncle--he's an exception--one among a million, and +then again he isn't through." + +"But he's worth two million, they say." + +"Yes, but he never earned it, and he never worked for it, and he +doesn't now. Do you want to follow in his footsteps?" + +"No--not with all his money." This came in a decided tone. "But +surely you wouldn't want me to work with my hands, would you?" + +"I certainly should, if necessary." + +Jack looked at him, and a shade of disappointment crossed his +face. + +"But I COULDN'T do anything menial." + +"There isn't anything menial in any kind of work from cleaning a +stable up! The menial things are the evasions of work--tricks by +which men are cheated out of their just dues." + +"Stock gambling?" + +"Yes--sometimes, when the truth is withheld." + +"That's what I think; that's what I meant last night when I told +you about the faro-bank. I laughed over it, and yet I can't see +much difference, although I have never seen one." + +"So I understood, but you were wrong about it. Your uncle bears a +very good name in the Street. He is not as much to blame as the +system. Perhaps some day the firm will become real bankers, than +which there is no more honorable calling." + +"But is it wrong to want to fish and shoot and have time to read." + +"No, it is wrong not to do it when you have the time and the +money. I like that side of your nature. My own theory is that +every man should in the twenty-four hours of the day devote eight +to work, eight to sleep and eight to play. But this can only be +done when the money to support the whole twenty-four hours is in +sight, either in wages, or salary, or invested securities. More +money than this--that is the surplusage that men lock up in their +tin boxes, is a curse. But with that you have nothing to do--not +yet, anyhow. Now, if I catch your meaning, your idea is to go back +to your life at home. In other words you want to live the last end +of your life first--and without earning the right to it. And +because you cannot do this you give yourself up to criticising +everything about you. Getting only at the faults and missing all +the finer things in life. If you would permit me to advise you--" +he still had his hand on the lad's knee, searching the soft brown +eyes--"I would give up finding fault and first try to better +things, and I would begin right here where you are. Some of the +great banking houses which keep the pendulum of the world swinging +true have grown to importance through just such young men as +yourself, who were honest and had high ideals and who so impressed +their own personalities upon everybody about them--customers and +employers--that the tone of the concern was raised at once and +with it came a world-wide success. I have been thirty years on the +Street and have watched the rise of half the firms about me, and +in every single instance some one of the younger men--boys, many +of them--has pulled the concern up and out of a quagmire and stood +it on its feet. And the reverse is true: half the downfalls have +come from those same juniors, who thought they knew some short +road to success, which half the time was across disreputable back +lots. Why not give up complaining and see what better things you +can do? I'm not quite satisfied about your having stayed upstairs +even to receive me. Your aunt loves society and the daughter--what +did you say her name was--Corinne? Yes, Miss Corinne being young, +loves to have a good time. Listen! do you hear?--there goes +another waltz. Now, as long as you do live here, why not join in +it too and help out the best you can?--and if you have anything of +your own to offer in the way of good cheer, or thoughtfulness, or +kindness, or whatever you do have which they lack--or rather what +you think they lack--wouldn't it be wiser--wouldn't it--if you +will permit me, my lad--be a little BETTER BRED to contribute +something of your own excellence to the festivity?" + +It was now Jack's turn to lean back in his chair and cover his +face, but with two ashamed hands. Not since his father's death had +any one talked to him like this--never with so much tenderness and +truth and with every word meant for his good. All his +selfrighteousness, his silly conceit and vainglory stood out +before him. What an ass he had been. What a coxcomb. What a boor, +really. + +"What would you have me do?" he asked, a tone of complete +surrender in his voice. The portrait and Peter were one and the +same! His father had come to life. + +"I don't know yet. We'll think about that another time, but we +won't do it now. I ought to be ashamed of myself for having +spoiled your evening by such serious talk (he wasn't ashamed--he +had come for that very purpose). Now show me some of your books +and tell me what you read, and what you love best." + +He was out of the chair before he ceased speaking, his heels +striking the floor, bustling about in his prompt, exact manner, +examining the few curios and keepsakes on the mantel and tables, +running his eyes over the rows of bindings lining the small +bookcase; his hand on Jack's shoulder whenever the boy opened some +favorite author to hunt for a passage to read aloud to Peter, +listening with delight, whether the quotation was old or new to +him. + +Jack, suddenly remembering that his guest was standing, tried to +lead him back to his seat by the fire, but Peter would have none +of it. + +"No--too late. Why, bless me, it's after eleven o'clock! Hear the +music--they are still at it. Now I'm going to insist that you go +down and have a turn around the room yourself; there were such a +lot of pretty girls when I came in." + +"Too late for that, too," laughed Jack, merry once more. "Corinne +wouldn't speak to me if I showed my face now, and then there will +be plenty more dances which I can go to, and so make it all up +with her. I'm not yet as sorry as I ought to be about this dance. +Your being here has been such a delight. May I--may--I come and +see you some time?" + +"That's just what you will do, and right away. Just as soon as my +dear sister Felicia comes down, and she'll be here very soon. I'll +send for you, never fear. Yes, the right sleeve first, and now my +hat and umbrella. Ah, here they are. Now, good night, my boy, and +thank you for letting me come." + +"You know I dare not go down with you," explained Jack with a +smile. + +"Oh, yes--I know--I know. Good night--" and the sharp, quick tread +of the old man grew fainter and fainter as he descended the +stairs. + +Jack waited, craning his head, until he caught a glimpse of the +glistening head as it passed once more under the lantern, then he +went into his room and shut the door. + +Had he followed behind his guest he would have witnessed a little +comedy which would have gone far in wiping clean all trace of his +uncle's disparaging remarks of the morning. He would have enjoyed, +too, Parkins's amazement. As the Receiving Teller of the Exeter +Bank reached the hall floor the President of the Clearing House-- +the most distinguished man in the Street and one to whom Breen +kotowed with genuflections equalling those of Parkins--accompanied +by his daughter and followed by the senior partner of Breen & Co., +were making their way to the front door. The second man in the +chocolate livery with the potato-bug waistcoat had brought the +Magnate's coat and hat, and Parkins stood with his hand on the +door-knob. Then, to the consternation of both master and servant, +the great man darted forward and seized Peter's hand. + +"Why, my dear Mr. Grayson! This is indeed a pleasure. I didn't see +you--were you inside?" + +"No--I've been upstairs with young Mr. Breen," replied Peter, with +a comprehensive bow to Host, Magnate and Magnate's daughter. Then, +with the grace and dignity of an ambassador quitting a salon, he +passed out into the night. + +Breen found his breath first: "And you know him?" + +"Know him!" cried the Magnate--"of course I know him! One of the +most delightful men in New York; and I'm glad that you do--you're +luckier than I--try as I may I can hardly ever get him inside my +house." + +I was sitting up for the old fellow when he entered his cosey red +room and dropped into a chair before the fire. I had seen the +impression the young man had made upon him at the dinner and was +anxious to learn the result of his visit. I had studied the boy +somewhat myself, noting his bright smile, clear, open face without +a trace of guile, and the enthusiasm that took possession of him +when his friend won the prize That he was outside the class of +young men about him I could see from a certain timidity of glance +and gesture--as if he wanted to be kept in the background. Would +the old fellow, I wondered, burden his soul with still another +charge? + +Peter was laughing when he entered; he had laughed all the way +down-town, he told me. What particularly delighted him--and here +he related the Portman incident--was the change in Breen's face +when old Portman grasped his hand so cordially. + +"Made of pinchbeck, my dear Major, both of them, and yet how +genuine it looks on the surface, and what a lot of it is in +circulation. Quite as good as the real thing if you don't know the +difference," and again he laughed heartily. + +"And the boy," I asked, "was he disappointing?" + +"Young Breen?--not a bit of it. He's like all the young fellows +who come up here from the South--especially the country +districts--and he's from western Maryland, he says. Got queer +ideas about work and what a gentleman should do to earn his +living--same old talk. Hot-house plants most of them--never amount +to anything, really, until they are pruned and set out in the +cold." + +"Got any sense?" I ventured. + +"No, not much--not yet--but he's got temperament and refinement +and a ten commandments' code of morals." + +"Rather rare, isn't it?" I asked. + +"Yes--perhaps so." + +"And I suppose you are going to take him up and do for him, like +the others." + +Peter picked up the poker and made a jab at the fire; then he +answered slowly: + +"Well, Major, I can't tell yet--not positively. But he's certainly +worth saving." + + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + + + +With the closing of the front door upon the finest Old Gentleman +in the World, a marked change took place in the mental mechanism +of several of our most important characters. The head of the firm +of Breen & Co. was so taken aback that for the moment that +shrewdest of financiers was undecided as to whether he or Parkins +should rush out into the night after the departing visitor and +bring him back, and open the best in the cellar. "Send a man out +of my house," he said to himself, "whom Portman couldn't get to +his table except at rare intervals! Well, that's one on me!" + +The lid that covered the upper half of Parkins's intelligence also +received a jolt; it was a coal-hole lid that covered emptiness, +but now and then admitted the light. + +"Might 'ave known from the clothes 'e wore 'e was no common PUR- +son," he said to himself. "To tell you the truth--" this to the +second man in the potato-bug waistcoat, when they were dividing +between them the bottle of "Extra Dry" three-quarters full, that +Parkins had smuggled into the pantry with the empty bottles ("Dead +Men," Breen called them)--" to tell you the truth, Frederick, when +I took 'is 'at and coat hupstairs 'e give me a real start 'e +looked that respectable" + +As to Jack, not only his mind but his heart were in a whirl. + +Half the night he lay awake wondering what he could do to follow +Peter's advice while preserving his own ideals. He had quite +forgotten that part of the older man's counsel which referred to +the dignity of work, even of that work which might be considered +as menial. If the truth must be told, it was his vanity alone +which had been touched by the suggestion that in him might lay the +possibility of reforming certain conditions around him. He was +willing, even anxious, to begin on Breen & Co., subjecting his +uncle, if need be, to a vigorous overhauling. Nothing he felt +could daunt him in his present militant state, upheld, as he felt +that he was, by the approval of Peter. Not a very rational state +of mind, the Scribe must confess, and only to be accounted for by +the fact that Peter's talk, instead of clearing Jack's mind of old +doubts, had really clouded it the more--quite as a bottle of +mixture when shaken sends its insoluble particles whirling +throughout the whole. + +It was not until the following morning, indeed, that the sediment +began to settle, and some of the sanity of Peter's wholesome +prescription to produce a clarifying effect. As long as he, Jack, +lived upon his uncle's bounty--and that was really what it +amounted it--he must at least try to contribute his own quota of +good cheer and courtesy. This was what Peter had done him the +honor to advise, and he must begin at once if he wanted to show +his appreciation of the courtesy. + +His uncle opened the way: + +"Why, I didn't know until I saw him go out that he was a friend of +Mr. Portman's," he said as he sipped his coffee. + +"Neither did I. But does it make any difference?" answered Jack, +flipping off the top of his egg. + +"Well I should think so--about ninety-nine and nine-tenths +percent," replied the older man emphatically. "Let's invite him to +dinner, Jack. Maybe he'll come to one I'm giving next week and--" + +"I'll ask him--that is ... perhaps, though, you might write him a +note, uncle, and--" + +"Of course," interrupted Breen, ignoring the suggestion, "when I +wanted you to take him to the club I didn't know who he was." + +"Of course you did not," echoed Jack, suppressing a smile. + +"The club! No, not by a damned sight!" exclaimed the head of the +house of Breen. As this latter observation was addressed to the +circumambient air, and not immediately to Jack, it elicited no +response. Although slightly profane, Jack was clever enough to +read in its tones not only ample apology for previous criticisms +but a sort of prospective reparation, whereupon our generous young +gentleman forgave his uncle at once, and thought that from this on +he might like him the better. + +Even Parkins came in for a share of Jack's most gracious +intentions, and though he was as silent as an automaton playing a +game of chess, a slight crack was visible in the veneer of his +face when Jack thanked him for having brought Mr. Grayson--same +reverential pronunciation--upstairs himself instead of allowing +Frederick or one of the maid-servants to perform that service. + +As for his apologies to Corinne and his aunt for having remained +in his room after Mr. Grayson's departure, instead of taking part +in the last hours of the dance--one o'clock was the exact hour-- +these were reserved until those ladies should appear at dinner, +when they were made with so penitential a ring in his voice that +his aunt at once jumped to the conclusion that he must have been +bored to death by the old fellow, while Corinne hugged herself in +the belief that perhaps after all Jack was renewing his interest +in her; a delusion which took such possession of her small head +that she finally determined to send Garry a note begging him to +come to her at once, on business of the UTMOST IMPORTANCE; two +strings being better than one, especially when they were to be +played each against the other. + +As to the uplifting of the house of Breen & Co., and the +possibility of so small a tail as himself being able to wag so +large a dog as his uncle and his partners, that seemed now to be +so chimerical an undertaking that he laughed when he thought of +it. + +This urbanity of mood was still with him when some days later he +dropped into the Magnolia Club on his way home, his purpose being +to find Garry and to hear about the supper which his club friends +had given him to celebrate his winning of the Morris ring. + +Little Biffton was keeping watch when Jack swung in with that free +stride of his that showed more than anything else his muscular +body and the way he had taken care of and improved it. No dumb- +bells or clubs for fifteen minutes in the morning--but astride a +horse, his thighs gripping a bare-back, roaming the hills day +after day--the kind of outdoor experience that hardens a man all +over without specializing his biceps or his running gear. Little +Biff never had any swing to his gait--none that his fellows ever +noticed. Biff went in for repose--sometimes hours at a time. Given +a club chair, a package of cigarettes and some one to talk to him +and Biff could be happy a whole afternoon. + +"Ah, Breen, old man! Come to anchor." Here he moved back a chair +an inch or two with his foot, and pushed his silver cigarette-case +toward the newcomer. + +"Thank you," replied Jack. "I've just dropped in to look for Garry +Minott. Has he been in?" + +Biff was the bulletin-board of the Magnolia club. As he roomed +upstairs, he could be found here at any hour of the day or night. + +Biff did not reply at once; there was no use in hurrying--not +about anything. Besides, the connection between Biff's ears and +his brain was never very good. One had to ring him up several +times before he answered. + +Jack waited for an instant, and finding that the message was +delayed in transmission, helped himself to one of Biff's +"Specials"--bearing in gold letters his name "Brent Biffton" in +full on the rice paper--dropped into the proffered chair and +repeated the question: + +"Have you seen Garry?" + +"Yes--upstairs. Got a deck in the little room. Been there all +afternoon. Might go up and butt in. Touch that bell before you go +and say what." + +"No--I won't drink anything, if you don't mind. You heard about +Garry's winning the prize?" + +"No." Biffton hadn't moved since he had elongated his foot in +search of Jack's chair. + +"Why Garry got first prize in his office. I went with him to the +supper; he's with Holker Morris, you know." + +"Yes. Rather nice. Yes, I did hear. The fellows blew him off +upstairs. Kept it up till the steward shut 'em out. Awfully clever +fellow, Minott. My Governor wanted me to do something in +architecture, but it takes such a lot of time ... Funny how a +fellow will dress himself." Biffton's sleepy eyes were sweeping +the Avenue. "Pendergast just passed wearing white spats--A month +too late for spats--ought to know better. Touch the bell, Breen, +and say what." + +Again Jack thanked him, and again Biffton relapsed into silence. +Rather a damper on a man of his calibre, when a fellow wouldn't +touch a bell and say what. + +Jack having a certain timidity about "butting in"--outsiders +didn't do such things where he came from--settled himself into +the depths of the comfortable leather-covered arm-chair and waited +for Garry to finish his game. From where he sat he could not only +overlook the small tables holding a choice collection of little +tear-bottles, bowls of crushed ice and high-pressure siphons, but +his eye also took in the stretch beyond, the club windows +commanding the view up and down and quite across the Avenue, as +well as the vista to the left. + +This outlook was the most valuable asset the Magnolia possessed. +If the parasol was held flat, with its back to the club-house, and +no glimpse of the pretty face possible, it was, of course, +unquestionable evidence to the member looking over the top of his +cocktail that neither the hour or the place was propitious. If, +however, it swayed to the right or left, or better still, was +folded tight, then it was equally conclusive that not only was the +coast clear, but that any number of things might happen, either at +Tiffany's, or the Academy, or wherever else one of those +altogether accidental--"Why-who-would-have-thought-of-seeing-you- +here" kind of meetings take place--meetings so delightful in +themselves because so unexpected. + +These outlooks, too, were useful in solving many of the social +problems that afflicted the young men about town; the identity, +for instance, of the occupant of the hansom who had just driven +past, heavily veiled, together with her destination and her reason +for being out at all; why the four-in-hand went up empty and came +back with a pretty woman beside the "Tooler," and then turned up a +side street toward the Park, instead of taking the Avenue into its +confidence; what the young wife of the old doctor meant when she +waved her hand to the occupant of a third-story window, and who +lived there, and why--None of their business, of course--never +could be--but each and every escapade, incident and adventure +being so much thrice-blessed manna to souls stranded in the desert +waste of club conversation. + +None of these things interested our hero, and he soon found +himself listening to the talk at an adjoining table. Topping, a +young lawyer, Whitman Bunce, a man of leisure--unlimited leisure-- +and one or two others, were rewarming some of the day's gossip. + +"Had the gall to tell Bob's man he couldn't sleep in linen sheets; +had his own violet silk ones in his trunk, to match his pajamas. +The goat had 'em out and half on the bed when Bob came in and +stopped him. Awful row, I heard, when Mrs. Bob got on to it. He'll +never go there again." + +"And I heard," broke in Bunce, "that she ordered the trap and sent +him back to the station." + +Other bits drifted Jack's way: + +"Why he was waiting at the stage-door and she slipped out +somewhere in front. Billy was with her, so I heard. ... When they +got to Delmonico's there came near being a scrap. ... No. ... +Never had a dollar on Daisy Belle, or any other horse. ..." + +Loud laughter was now heard at the end of the hall. A party of +young men had reached the foot of the stairs and were approaching +Biffton and Jack. Garry's merry voice led the others. + +"Still hard at work, are you, Biffy? Why, hello, Jack!--how long +have you been here? Morlon, you know Mr. Breen, don't you?--Yes, +of course you do--new member--just elected. Get a move on that +carcass of yours, Biffy, and let somebody else get up to that +table. Charles, take the orders." + +Jack had shaken everybody's hand by this time, Biffton having +moved back a foot or two, and the circle had widened so that the +poker party could reach their cocktails. Garry extended his arm +till his hand rested on Jack's shoulder. + +"Nothing sets me up like a game of poker, old man. Been on the +building all day. You ought to come up with me some time--I'll +show you the greatest piece of steel construction you ever saw. +Mr. Morris was all over it to-day. Oh, by the way! Did that old +chunk of sandstone come up to see you last night? What did you say +his name was?" + +Jack repeated Peter's cognomen--this time without rolling the +syllables under his tongue--said that Mr. Grayson had kept his +promise; that the evening had been delightful, and immediately +changed the subject. There was no use trying to convert Garry. + +"And now tell me about the supper," asked Jack. + +"Oh, that was all right. We whooped it up till they closed the bar +and then went home with the milk. Had an awful head on me next +morning; nearly fell off the scaffold, I was so sleepy. How's Miss +Corinne? I'm going to stop in on my way uptown this afternoon and +apologize to her. I have her note, but I haven't had a minute to +let her know why I didn't come. I'll show her the ring; then +she'll know why. Saw it, didn't you?" + +Jack hadn't seen it. He had been too excited to look. Now he +examined it. With the flash of the gems Biffy sat up straight, and +the others craned their heads. Garry slipped it off his finger for +the hundredth time for similar inspections, and Jack utilized the +pause in the conversation to say that Corinne had received the +note and that in reply she had vented most of her disappointment +on himself, a disclosure which sent a cloud across Garry's face. + +The cocktail hour had now arrived--one hour before dinner, an hour +which was fixed by that distinguished compounder of herbs and +spirits, Mr. Biffton--and the room began filling up. Most of the +members were young fellows but a few years out of college, men who +renewed their Society and club life within its walls; some were +from out of town--students in the various professions. Here and +there was a man of forty--one even of fifty-five--who preferred +the gayer and fresher life of the younger generation to the more +solemn conclaves of the more exclusive clubs further up and +further down town. As is usual in such combinations, the units +forming the whole sought out their own congenial units and were +thereafter amalgamated into groups, a classification to be found +in all clubs the world over. While Biffy and his chums could +always be found together, there were other less-fortunate young +fellows, not only without coupon shears, but sometimes without the +means of paying their dues--who formed a little coterie of their +own, and who valued and used the club for what it brought them, +their election carrying with it a certain social recognition: it +also widened one's circle of acquaintances and, perhaps, of +clients. + +The sound of loud talking now struck upon Jack's ear. Something +more important than the angle of a parasol or the wearing of out- +of-date spats was engrossing the attention of a group of young men +who had just entered. Jack caught such expressions as--"Might as +well have picked his pocket. ..." "He's flat broke, anyhow. ..." +"Got to sell his house, I hear. ..." + +Then came a voice louder than the others. + +"There's Breen talking to Minott and Biffy. He's in the Street; +he'll know. ... Say, Breen!" + +Jack rose to his feet and met the speaker half way. + +"What do you know, Breen, about that scoop in gold stock? Heard +anything about it? Who engineered it? Charley Gilbert's cleaned +out, I hear." + +"I don't know anything," said Jack. "I left the office at noon and +came up town. Who did you say was cleaned out?" + +"Why, Charley Gilbert. You must know him." + +"Yes, I know him. What's happened to him?" + +"Flat broke--that's what happened to him. Got caught in that gold +swindle. The stock dropped out of sight this afternoon, I hear-- +went down forty points." + +Garry crowded his way into the group: "Which Mr. Gilbert?--not +Charley M., the--" + +"Yes; Sam's just left him. What did he tell you, Sam?" + +"Just what you've said--I hear, too, that he has got to stop on +his house out in Jersey. Can't finish it and can't pay for what's +been done." + +Garry gave a low whistle and looked at Jack. + +"That's rough. Mr. Morris drew the plan of Gilbert's house +himself. I worked on the details." + +"Rough!" burst out the first speaker. "I should say it was--might +as well have burglared his safe. They have been working up this +game for months, so Charley told me. Then they gave out that the +lode had petered out and they threw it overboard and everybody +with it. They said they tried to find Charley to post him, but he +was out of town." + +"Who tried?" asked Jack, with renewed interest, edging his way +close to the group. It was just as well to know the sheep from the +goats, if he was to spend the remainder of his life in the Street. + +"That's what we want to know. Thought you might have heard." + +Jack shook his head and resumed his seat beside Biffy, who had not +moved or shown the slightest interest in the affair. Nobody could +sell Biff any gold stock--nor any other kind of stock. His came on +the first of every month in a check from the Trust Company. + +For some moments Jack did not speak. He knew young Gilbert, and he +knew his young and very charming wife. He had once sat next to her +at dinner, when her whole conversation had been about this new +home and the keen interest that Morris, a friend of her father's, +had taken in it. "Mr. Breen, you and Miss Corinne must be among +our earliest guests," she had said, at which Corinne, who was next +to Garry, had ducked her little head in acceptance. This was the +young fellow, then, who had been caught in one of the eddies +whirling over the sunken rocks of the Street. Not very creditable +to his intelligence, perhaps, thought Jack; but, then, again, who +had placed them there, a menace to navigation?--and why? Certainly +Peter could not have known everything that was going on around +him, if he thought the effort of so insignificant an individual as +himself could be of use in clearing out obstructions like these. + +Garry noticed the thoughtful expression settling over Jack's face, +and mistaking the cause called Charles to take the additional +orders. + +"Cheer up--try a high-ball, Jack. It's none of your funeral. You +didn't scoop Gilbert; we are the worst sufferers. Can't finish his +house now, and Mr. Morris is just wild over the design. It's on a +ledge of rock overlooking the lake, and the whole thing goes +together. We've got the roof on, and from across the lake it looks +as if it had grown there. Mr. Morris repeated the rock forms +everywhere. Stunning, I tell you!" + +Jack didn't want any high-ball, and said so. (Biffy didn't care if +he did.) The boy's mind was still on the scoop, particularly on +the way in which every one of his fellow-members had spoken of the +incident. + +"Horrid business, all of it. Don't you think so, Garry?" Jack said +after a pause. + +"No, not if you keep your eyes peeled," answered Garry, emptying +his glass. "Never saw Gilbert but once, and then he looked to me +like a softy from Pillowville. Couldn't fool me, I tell you, on a +deal like that. I'd have had a 'stop order' somewhere. Served +Gilbert right; no business to be monkeying with a buzz-saw unless +he knew how to throw off the belt." + +Jack straightened his shoulders and his brows knit. The lines of +the portrait were in the lad's face now. + +"Well, maybe it's all right, Garry. My own opinion is that it's no +better than swindling. Anyway, I'm mighty glad Uncle Arthur isn't +mixed up in it. You heard what Sam and the other fellows thought, +didn't you? How would you like to have that said of you?" + +Garry tossed back his head and laughed. + +"Biffy, are you listening to his Reverence, the Bishop of +Cumberland? Here endeth the first lesson." + +Biff nodded over his high-ball. He wasn't listening--discussions +of any kind bored him. + +"But what do you care, Jack, what they say--what anybody says?" +continued Garry. "Keep right on. You are in the Street to make +money, aren't you? Everybody else is there for the same purpose. +What goes up must come down. If you don't want to get your head +smashed, stand from under. The game is to jump in, grab what you +can, and jump out, dodging the bricks as they come. Let's go up- +town, old man." + +Neither of the young men was expressing his own views. Both were +too young and too inexperienced to have any fixed ideas on so +vital a subject. + +It was the old fellow in the snuff-colored coat, black stock and +dog-eared collar that was behind Jack. If he were alive to-day +Jack's view would have been his view, and that was the reason why +it was Jack's view. The boy could no more explain it than he could +prove why his eyes were brown and his hair a dark chestnut, or why +he always walked with his toes very much turned out, or made +gestures with his hands when he talked. Had any of the jury been +alive--and some of them were--or the prosecuting-attorney, or +even any one of the old settlers who attended court, they could +have told in a minute which one of the two young men was Judge +Breen's son. Not that Jack looked like his father. No young man of +twenty-two looks like an old fellow of sixty, but he certainly +moved and talked like him--and had the same way of looking at +things. "The written law may uphold you, sir, and the jury may so +consider, but I shall instruct them to disregard your plea. There +is a higher law, sir, than justice--a law of mercy--That I myself +shall exercise." The old Judge had sat straight up on his bench +when he said it, his face cast-iron, his eyes burning. The jury +brought in an acquittal without leaving their seats. There was an +outbreak, of course, but the man went free. This young offshoot +was from the same old stock, that was all; same sap in his veins, +same twist to his branch; same bud, same blossom and--same fruit. + +And Garry! + +Not many years have elapsed since I watched him running in and out +of his father's spacious drawing-rooms on Fourteenth Street--the +court end of town in those days. In the days, I mean, when his +father was Collector of the Port, and his father's house with its +high ceilings, mahogany doors and wide hall, and the great dining- +room overlooking a garden with a stable in the rear. It had not +been many years, I say, since the Hon. Creighton Minott had thrown +wide its doors to whoever came--that is, whoever came properly +accredited. It didn't last long, of course. Politics changed; the +"ins" became the "outs." And with the change came the bridging- +over period--the kind of cantilever which hope thrusts out from +one side of the bank of the swift-flowing stream of adversity in +the belief that somebody on the other side of the chasm will build +the other half, and the two form a highway leading to a change of +scene and renewed prosperity. + +The hospitable Collector continued to be hospitable. He had always +taken chances--he would again. The catch-terms of Garry's day, +such as "couldn't fool him," "keep your eye peeled," "a buzz-saw," +etc., etc., were not current in the father's day, but their +synonyms were. He knew what he was about. As soon as a particular +member of the Board got back from the other side the Honorable +Collector would have the position of Treasurer, and then it was +only a question of time when he would be President of the new +corporation. I can see now the smile that lighted up his rather +handsome face when he told me. He was "monkeying with a buzz-saw" +all the same if he did but know it, and yet he always professed to +follow the metaphor that he could "throw off the belt" that drove +the pulley at his own good pleasure and so stop the connecting +machinery before the teeth of the whirling blade could reach his +fingers. Should it get beyond his control--of which there was not +the remotest possibility--he would, of course, rent his house, +sell his books and curtail. "In the meantime, my dear fellow, +there is some of the old Madeira left and a game of whist will +only help to drive dull care away." + +Garry never whimpered when the crash came. The dear mother died-- +how patient and uncomplaining she was in all their ups and downs-- +and Garry was all that was left. What he had gained since in life +he had worked for; first as office boy, then as draughtsman and +then in charge of special work, earning his Chief's approval, as +the Scribe has duly set forth. He got his inheritance, of course. +Don't we all get ours? Sometimes it skips a generation--some times +two--but generally we are wearing the old gentleman's suit of +clothes cut down to fit our small bodies, making believe all the +time that they are our very own, unconscious of the discerning +eyes who recognize their cut and origin. + +Nothing tangible, it is safe to say, came with Garry's share of +the estate--and he got it all. That is, nothing he could exchange +for value received--no houses or lots, or stocks or bonds. It was +the INTANGIBLE that proved his richest possession, viz.:--a +certain buoyancy of spirits; a cheery, optimistic view of life; a +winning personality and the power of both making and holding +friends. With this came another asset--the willingness to take +chances, and still a third--an absolute belief in his luck. Down +at the bottom of the box littered with old papers, unpaid tax +bills and protested notes--all valueless--was a fourth which his +father used to fish out when every other asset failed--a certain +confidence in the turn of a card. + +But the virtues and the peccadilloes of their ancestors, we may be +sure, were not interesting, our two young men as they swung up the +Avenue arm in arm, this particular afternoon, the sidewalks +crowded with the fashion of the day, the roadway blocked with +carriages. Nor did any passing objects occupy their attention. + +Garry's mind was on Corinne, and what he would tell her, and how +she would look as she listened, the pretty head tucked on one +side, her sparkling eyes drinking in every word of his story, +although he knew she wouldn't believe one-half of it. Elusive and +irritating as she sometimes was, there was really nobody exactly +like Miss Corinne. + +Jack's mind had resumed its normal tone. Garry's merry laugh and +good-natured ridicule had helped, so had the discovery that none +of his friends had had anything to do with Gilbert's fall. After +all, he said to himself, as he strode up the street beside his +friend, it was "none of his funeral," none of his business, +really. Such things went on every day and in every part of the +world. Neither was it his Uncle Arthur's. That was the most +comforting part of all. + +Corinne's voice calling over the banisters: "Is that you, Jack?" +met the two young men as they handed their hats to the noiseless +Frederick. Both craned their necks and caught sight of the Wren's +head framed by the hand-rail and in silhouette against the oval +sky-light in the roof above. + +"Yes, and Garry's here, too. Come down." + +The patter of little feet grew louder, then the swish of silken +skirts, and with a spring she was beside them. + +"No, don't you say a word, Garry. I'm not going to listen and I +won't forgive you no matter what you say." She had both of his +hands now. + +"Ah, but you don't know, Miss Corinne. Has Jack told you?" + +"Yes, told me everything; that you had a big supper and everybody +stamped around the room; that Mr. Morris gave you a ring, or +something" (Garry held up his finger, but she wasn't ready to +examine it yet), "and that some of the men wanted to celebrate it, +and that you went to the club and stayed there goodness knows how +long--all night, so Mollie Crane told me. Paul, her brother, was +there--and you never thought a word about your promise to me" +(this came with a little pout, her chin uplifted, her lips quite +near his face), "and we didn't have half men enough and our +cotillion was all spoiled. I don't care--we had a lovely time, +even if you two men did behave disgracefully. No--I don't want to +listen to a thing. I didn't come down to see either of you. (She +had watched them both from her window as they crossed the street.) +"What I want to know, Jack, is, who is Miss Felicia Grayson?" + +"Why, Mr. Grayson's sister," burst out Jack--"the old gentleman +who came to see me." + +"That old fellow!" + +"Yes, that old fellow--the most charming--" + +"Not that remnant!" interrupted Garry. + +"No, Garry--not that kind of a man at all, but a most delightful +old gentleman by the name of Mr. Grayson," and Jack's eyes +flashed. "He told me his sister was coming to town. What do you +know about her, Corinne?" He was all excitement: Peter was to send +for him when his sister arrived. + +"Nothing--that's why I ask you. I've just got a note from her. She +says she knew mamma when she lied in Washington, and that her +brother has fallen in love with you, and that she won't have +another happy moment--or something like that--if you and I don't +come to a tea she is giving to a Miss Ruth MacFarlane; and that I +am to give her love to mamma, and bring anybody I please with me." + +"When?" asked Jack. He could hardly restrain his joy. + +"I think next Saturday--yes, next Saturday," consulting the letter +in her hand. + +"Where? At Mr. Grayson's rooms?" cried Jack. + +"Yes, at her brother's, she says. Here, Jack--you read it. Some +number in East Fifteenth Street--queer place for people to live, +isn't it, Garry?--people who want anybody to come to their teas. +I've got a dressmaker lives over there somewhere; she's in +Fifteenth Street, anyhow, for I always drive there." + +Jack devoured the letter. This was what he had been hoping for. He +knew the old gentleman would keep his word! + +"Well, of course you'll go, Corinne?" he cried eagerly. + +"Of course I'll do nothing of the kind. I think it's a great piece +of impudence. I've never heard of her. Because you had her brother +upstairs, that's no reason why--But that's just like these people. +You give them an inch and--" + +Jack's cheeks flushed: "But, Corinne! She's offered you a +courtesy--asked you to her house, and--" + +"I don't care; I'm not going! Would you, Garry?" + +The son of the Collector hesitated for a moment. He had his own +ideas of getting on in the world. They were not Jack's--his, he +knew, would never succeed. And they were not exactly Corinne's-- +she was too particular. The fence was evidently the best place for +him. + +"Would be rather a bore, wouldn't it?" he replied. evasively, with +a laugh. "Lives up under the roof, I guess, wears a dyed wig, got +Cousin Mary Ann's daguerreotype on the mantle, and tells you how +Uncle Ephraim--" + +The door opened and Jack's aunt swept in. She never walked, or +ambled, or stepped jauntily, or firmly, or as if she wanted to get +anywhere in particular; she SWEPT in, her skirts following meekly +behind--half a yard behind, sometimes. + +Corinne launched the inquiry at her mother, even before she could +return Garry's handshake. "Who's Miss Grayson, mamma?" + +"I don't know. Why, my child?" + +"Well, she says she knows you. Met you in Washington." + +"The only Miss Grayson I ever met in Washington, my dear, was an +old maid, the niece of the Secretary of State. She kept house for +him after his wife died. She held herself very high, let me tell +you. A very grand lady, indeed. But she must be an old woman now, +if she is still living. What did you say her first name was?" + +Corinne took the open letter from Jack's hand. "Felicia ... Yes, +Felicia." + +"And what does she want?--money for some charity?" Almost +everybody she knew, and some she didn't, wanted money for some +charity. She was loosening her cloak as she spoke, Frederick +standing by to relieve my lady of her wraps. + +"No; she's going to give a tea and wants us all to come. She's the +sister of that old man who came to see Jack the other night, and-- +" + +"Going to give a tea!--and the sister of--Well, then, she +certainly isn't the Miss Grayson I know. Don't you answer her, +Corinne, until I find out who she is." + +"I'll tell you who she is," burst out Jack. His face was aflame +now. Never had he listened to such discourtesy. He could hardly +believe his ears. + +"It wouldn't help me in the least, my dear Jack; so don't you +begin. I am the best judge of who shall come to my house. She may +be all right, and she may not, you can never tell in a city like +New York, and you can't be too particular. People really do such +curious pushing things now-a-days." This to Garry. "Now serve tea, +Parkins. Come in all of you." + +Jack was on the point of blazing out in indignation over the false +position in which his friend had been placed when Peter's warning +voice rang in his ears. The vulgarity of the whole proceeding +appalled him, yet he kept control of himself. + +"None for me, please, aunty," he said quietly. "I will join you +later, Garry," and he mounted the stairs to his room. + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + + + +Peter was up and dressed when Miss Felicia arrived, despite the +early hour. Indeed that gay cavalier was the first to help the +dear lady off with her travelling cloak and bonnet, Mrs. McGuffey +folding her veil, smoothing out her gloves and laying them all +upon the bed in the adjoining room--the one she kept in prime +order for Miss Grayson's use. + +The old fellow was facing the coffee-urn when he told her Jack's +story and what he himself had said in reply, and how fine the boy +was in his beliefs, and how well-nigh impossible it was for him +to help him, considering his environment. + +The dear lady had listened with her eyes fixed on Peter. It was +but another of his benevolent finds; it had been the son of an old +music teacher the winter before, and a boy struggling through +college last spring;--always somebody who wanted to get ahead in +one direction or another, no matter how impracticable his +ambitions might be. This young man, however, seemed different; +certain remarks had a true ring. Perhaps, after all, her foolish +old brother--foolish when his heart misled him--might have found +somebody at last who would pay for the time he spent upon him. The +name, too, had a familiar sound. She was quite sure the aunt must +be the same rather over-dressed persistent young widow who had +flitted in and out of Washington society the last year of her own +stay in the capital. She had finally married a rich New York man +of the same name. So she had heard. + +The tea to which Jack and Corinne were invited was the result of +this conversation. Trust Miss Felicia for doing the right thing +and in the right way, whatever her underlying purpose might be; +and then again she must look this new protege over. + +Peter at once joined in the project. Nothing pleased him so much +as a function of any kind in which his dear sister was the centre +of attraction, and this was always the case. Was not Mrs. McGuffey +put to it, at these same teas, to know what to do with the hats +and coats, and the long and short cloaks and overshoes, and lots +of other things beside--umbrellas and the like--whenever Miss +Felicia came to town? And did not the good woman have many of the +cards of the former function hidden in her bureau drawer to show +her curious friends just how grand a lady Miss Felicia was? +General Waterbury, U.S.A., commanding the Department of the East, +with headquarters at Governors Island, was one of them. And so +were Colonel Edgerton, Judge Lambert and Mrs. Lambert; and His +Excellency the French Ambassador, whom she had known as an attache +and who was passing through the city and had been overjoyed to +leave a card; as well as Sir Anthony Broadstairs, who expected to +spend a week with her in her quaint home in Geneseo, but who had +made it convenient to pay his respects in Fifteenth Street +instead: to say nothing of the Coleridges, Thomases, Bordeauxs and +Worthing tons, besides any number of people from Washington +Square, with plenty more from Murray Hill and be yond. + +Peter in his enthusiasm had made a mental picture of a repetition +of all this and had already voiced it in the suggestion of these +and various other prominent names, "when Miss Felicia stopped him +with: + +"No, Peter--No. It's not to be a museum of fossils, but a garden +full of rosebuds; nobody with a strand of gray hair will be +invited. As for the lame, the halt and the blind, they can come +next week. I've just been looking you over, Peter; you are getting +old and wrinkled and pretty soon you'll be as cranky as the rest +of them, and there will be no living with you. The Major, who is +half your age"--I had come early, as was my custom, to pay my +respects to the dear woman--"is no better. You are both of you +getting into a rut. What you want is some young blood pumped into +your shrivelled veins. I am going to hunt up every girl I know and +all the boys, including that young Breen you are so wild over, and +then I'll send for dear Ruth MacFarlane, who has just come North +with her father to live, and who doesn't know a soul, and nobody +over twenty-five is to be admitted. So if you and the Major want +to come to Ruth's tea--Ruth's, remember; not yours or the +Major's, or mine--you will either have to pass the cake or take +the gentlemen's hats. Do you hear?" + +We heard, and we heard her laugh as she spoke, raising her gold +lorgnon to her eyes and gazing at us with that half-quizzical look +which so often comes over her face. + +She was older than Peter--must have been: I never knew exactly. It +would not have been wise to ask her, and nobody else knew but +Peter, and he never told. And yet there was no mark of real old +age upon her. She and Peter were alike in this. Her hair, worn +Pompadour, was gray--an honest black-and-white gray; her eyes were +bright as needle points; the skin slightly wrinkled, but fresh and +rosy--a spare, straight, well-groomed old lady of--perhaps sixty +--perhaps sixty-five, depending on her dress, or undress, for her +shoulders were still full and well rounded. "The most beautiful +neck and throat, sir, in all Washington in her day," old General +Waterbury once told me, and the General was an authority. "You +should have seen her in her prime, sir. What the devil the men +were thinking of I don't know, but they let her go back to +Geneseo, and there she has lived ever since. Why, sir, at a ball +at the German Embassy she made such a sensation that--" but then +the General always tells such stories of most of the women he +knows. + +There was but little left of that kind of beauty. She had kept her +figure, it is true--a graceful, easy moving figure, with the waist +of a girl; well-proportioned arms and small, dainty hands. She had +kept, too, her charm of manner and keen sense of humor--she +wouldn't have been Peter's sister otherwise--as well as her +interest in her friend's affairs, especially the love affairs of +all the young people about her. + +Her knowledge of men and women had broadened. She read them more +easily now than when she was a girl--had suffered, perhaps, by +trusting them too much. This had sharpened the tip end of her +tongue to so fine a point that when it became active--and once in +a while it did--it could rip a sham reputation up the back as +easily as a keen blade loosens the seams of a bodice. + +Peter fell in at once with her plan for a "Rosebud Tea," in spite +of her raillery and the threatened possibility of our exclusion, +promising not only to assist her with the invitations, but to be +more than careful at the Bank in avoiding serious mistakes in his +balances--so as to be on hand promptly at four. Moreover, if Jack +had a sweetheart--and there was no question of it, or ought not to +be--and Corinne had another, what would be better than bringing +them all down together, so that Miss Felicia could look them over, +and Miss Ruth and the Major could get better acquainted, +especially Jack and Miss Felicia; and more especially Jack and +himself. + +Miss Felicia's proposal having therefore been duly carried out, +with a number of others not thought of when the tea was first +discussed--including some pots of geraniums in the window, red, of +course, to match the color of Peter's room--and the freshening up +of certain swiss curtains which so offended Miss Felicia's ever- +watchful eyes that she burst out with: "It is positively +disgraceful, Peter, to see how careless you are getting--" At +which Mrs. McGuffey blushed to the roots of her hair, and washed +them herself that very night before she closed her eyes. The great +day having arrived, I say the tea-table was set with Peter's best, +including "the dearest of silver teapots" that Miss Felicia had +given him for special occasions; the table covered with a damask +cloth and all made ready for the arrival of her guests. This done, +the lady returned to her own room, from which she emerged an hour +later in a soft gray silk relieved by a film of old lace at her +throat, blending into the tones of her gray hair brushed straight +up from her forehead and worn high over a cushion, the whole +topped by a tiny jewel which caught the light like a drop of dew. + +And a veritable grand dame she looked, and was, as she took her +seat and awaited the arrival of her guests--in bearing, in the way +she moved her head; in the way she opened her fan--in the +selection of the fan itself, for that matter. You felt it in the +color and length of her gloves; the size of her pearl ear rings +(not too large, and yet not too small), in the choice of the few +rings that encircled her slender and now somewhat shrunken fingers +(one hoop of gold had a history that the old French Ambassador +could have told if he wanted to, so Peter once hinted to me)-- +everything she did in fact betrayed a wide acquaintance with the +great world and its requirements and exactions. + +Other women of her age might of their choice drop into charities, +or cats, or nephews and nieces, railing against the present and +living only in the past; holding on like grim death to everything +that made it respect able, so that they looked for all the world +like so many old daguerreotypes pulled from the frames. Not so +Miss Felicia Grayson of Geneseo, New York. Her past was a +flexible, india-rubber kind of a past that she stretched out after +her. She might still wear her hair as she did when the old General +raved over her, although the frost of many winters had touched it; +but she would never hold on to the sleeves of those days or the +skirts or the mantles: Out or in they must go, be puffed, cut +bias, or made plain, just as the fashion of the day insisted. Oh! +a most level-headed, common-sense, old aristocrat was Dame +Felicia! + +With the arrival of the first carriage old Isaac Cohen moved his +seat from the back to the front of his shop, so he could see +everybody who got out and went in, as well as everybody who walked +past and gazed up at the shabby old house and its shabbier steps +and railings. Not that the shabby surroundings ever made any +difference whether the guests were "carriage company" or not, to +quote good Mrs. McGuffey. Peter would not be Peter if he lived +anywhere else, and Miss Felicia wouldn't be half so quaint and +charming if she had received her guests behind a marble or +brownstone front with an awning stretched to the curbstone and a +red velvet carpet laid across the sidewalk, the whole patrolled by +a bluecoat and two hired men. + +The little tailor had watched many such functions before. So had +the neighbors, who were craning their heads from the windows. They +all knew by the carriages when Miss Felicia came to town and when +she left, and by the same token for that matter. The only +difference between this reception and former receptions, or teas, +or whatever the great people upstairs called them, was in the ages +of the guests; not any gray whiskers and white heads under high +silk hats, this time; nor any demure or pompous, or gentle, or, +perhaps, faded old ladies puffing up Peter's stairs--and they did +puff before they reached his door, where they handed their wraps +to Mrs. McGuffey in her brave white cap and braver white apron. +Only bright eyes and rosy faces today framed in tiny bon nets, and +well-groomed young fellows in white scarfs and black coats. + +But if anybody had thought of the shabby surroundings they forgot +all about it when they mounted the third flight of stairs and +looked in the door. Not only was Peter's bedroom full of outer +garments, and Miss Felicia's, too, for that matter--but the +banisters looked like a clothes-shop undergoing a spring cleaning, +so thickly were the coats slung over its hand rail. So, too, were +the hall, and the hall chairs, and the gas bracket, and even the +hooks where Peter hung his clothes to be brushed in the morning-- +every conceivable place, in fact, wherever an outer wrap of any +kind could be suspended, poked, or laid flat. That Mrs. McGuffey +was at her wits' end--only a short walk--was evident from the way +she grabbed my hat and coat and disappeared through a door which +led to her own apartments, returning a moment later out of breath +and, I fancied, a little out of temper. + +And that was nothing to the way in which the owners of all these +several habiliments were wedged inside. First came the dome of +Peter's bald head surmounting his merry face, then the top of Miss +Felicia's pompadour, with its tiny diamond spark bobbing about as +she laughed and moved her head in saluting her guests and then +mobs and mobs of young people packed tight, looking for all the +world like a matinee crowd leaving a theatre (that is when you +crane your neck to see over their heads), except that the guests +were without their wraps and were talking sixteen to the dozen, +and as merry as they could be. + +"They are all here, Major," Peter cried, dragging me inside. It +was wonderful how young and happy he looked. "Miss Corinne, and +that loud Hullaballoo, Garry Minott, we saw prancing around at the +supper--you remember--Holker gave him the ring." + +"And Miss MacFarlane?" I asked. + +"Ruth! Turn your head, my boy, and take a look at her. Isn't she a +picture? Did you ever see a prettier girl in all your life, and +one more charmingly dressed? Ruth, this is the Major ... nothing +else ... just the Major. He is perfectly docile, kind and safe, +and--" + +"--And drives equally well in single or double harness, I +suppose," laughed the girl, extending her hand and giving me the +slightest dip of her head and bend of her back in recognition, no +doubt, of my advancing years and dignified bearing--in apology, +too, perhaps, for her metaphor. + +"In SINGLE--not double," rejoined Peter. "He's the sourest, +crabbedest old bachelor in the world--except myself." + +Again her laugh bubbled out--a catching, spontaneous kind of +laugh, as if there were plenty more packed away behind her lips +ready to break loose whenever they found an opening. + +"Then, Major, you shall have two lumps to sweeten you up," and +down went the sugar-tongs into the silver bowl. + +Here young Breen leaned forward and lifted the bowl nearer to her +hand, while I waited for my cup. He had not left her side since +Miss Felicia had presented him, so Peter told me afterward. I had +evidently interrupted a conversation, for his eyes were still +fastened upon hers, drinking in her every word and movement. + +"And is sugar your cure for disagreeable people, Miss MacFarlane?" +I heard him ask under his breath as I stood sipping my tea. + +"That depends on how disagreeable they are," she answered. This +came with a look from beneath her eyelids. + +"I must be all right, then, for you only gave me one lump--" still +under his breath. + +"Only one! I made a mistake--" Eyes looking straight into Jack's, +with a merry twinkle gathering around their corners. + +"Perhaps I don't need any at all." + +"Yes, I'm sure you do. Here--hold your cup, sir; I'll fill it +full." + +"No, I'm going to wait and see what effect one lump has. I'm +beginning to get pleasant already--and I was cross as two sticks +when I--" + +And then she insisted he should have at least three more to make +him at all bearable, and he said there would be no living with him +he would be so charming and agreeable, and so the talk ran on, the +battledoor and shuttlecock kind of talk--the same prattle that we +have all listened to dozens of times, or should have listened to, +to have kept our hearts young. And yet not a talk at all; a play, +rather, in which words count for little and the action is +everything: Listening to the toss of a curl or the lowering of an +eyelid; answering with a lift of the hand--such a strong brown +hand, that could pull an oar, perhaps, or help her over dangerous +places! Then her white teeth, and the way the head bent; and then +his ears and how close they lay to his head; and the short, glossy +hair with the faintest bit of a curl in it. And then the sudden +awakening: Oh, yes--it was the sugar Mr. Breen wanted, of course. +What was I thinking of? + +And so the game went on, neither of them caring where the ball +went so that it could be hit again when it came their way. + +When it was about to stay its flight I ventured in with the remark +that she must not forget to give my kindest and best to her good +father. I think she had forgotten I was standing so near. + +"And you know daddy!" she cried--the real girl was shining in her +eyes now--all the coquetry had vanished from her face. + +"Yes--we worked together on the piers of the big bridge over the +Delaware; oh, long ago." + +"Isn't he the very dearest? He promised to come here today, but I +know he won't. Poor daddy, he gets home so tired sometimes. He has +just started on the big tunnel and there is so much to do. I have +been helping him with his papers every night. But when Aunt +Felicia's note came--she isn't my real aunt, you know, but I have +called her so ever since I was a little girl--daddy insisted on my +coming, and so I have left him for just a few days. He will be so +glad when I tell him I have met one of his old friends." There was +no question of her beauty, or poise, or her naturalness. + +"Been a lady all her life, my dear Major, and her mother before +her," Miss Felicia said when I joined her afterward, and Miss +Felicia knew. "She is not like any of the young girls about, as +you can see for yourself. Look at her now," she whispered, with an +approving nod of her head. + +Again my eyes sought the girl. The figure was willowy and +graceful; the shoulders sloping, the arms tapering to the wrists. +The hair was jet black--"Some Spanish blood somewhere," I +suggested, but the dear lady answered sharply, "Not a drop; French +Huguenot, my dear Major, and I am surprised you should have made +such a mistake." This black hair parted in the middle, lay close +to her head--such a wealth and torrent of it; even with tucking it +behind her ears and gathering it in a coil in her neck it seemed +just ready to fall. The face was oval, the nose perfect, the mouth +never still for an instant, so full was it of curves and twinkles +and little quivers; the eyes big, absorbing, restful, with lazy +lids that lifted slowly and lay motionless as the wings of a +resting butterfly, the eyebrows full and exquisitely arched. Had +you met her in mantilla and high-heeled shoes, her fan half +shading her face, you would have declared, despite Miss Felicia's +protest, that only the click of the castanets was needed to send +her whirling to their rhythm. Had she tied that same mantilla +close under her lovely chin, and passed you with upturned eyes and +trembling lips, you would have sworn that the Madonna from the +neighboring church had strayed from its frame in search of the +helpless and the unhappy; and had none of these disguises been +hers, and she had flashed by you in the open some bright morning +mounted on her own black mare, face aglow, eyes like stars, her +wonderful hair waving in the wind, you would have stood stock- +still in admiration, fear gripping your throat, a prayer in your +heart for the safe home-coming of one so fearless and so +beautiful. + +There was, too, about her a certain gentleness, a certain +disposition to be kind, even when her inherent coquetry--natural +in the Southern girl--led her into deep waters; a certain +tenderness that made friends of even unhappy suitors (and I heard +that she could not count them on her fingers) who had asked for +more than she could give--a tenderness which healed the wound and +made lovers of them all for life. + +And then her Southern speech, indescribable and impossible in cold +type. The softening of the consonants, the slipping away of the +terminals, the slurring of vowels, and all in that low, musical +voice born out side of the roar and crash of city streets and +crowded drawing-rooms with each tongue fighting for mastery. + +All this Jack had taken in, besides a thousand other charms +visible only to the young enthusiast, before he had been two +minutes in her presence. As to her voice, he knew she was one of +his own people when she had finished pronouncing his name. +Somebody worthwhile had crossed his path at last! + +And with this there had followed, even as he talked to her, the +usual comparisons made by all young fellows when the girl they +don't like is placed side by side with the girl they do. Miss +MacFarlane was tall and Corinne was short; Miss MacFarlane was +dark, and he adored dark, handsome people--and Corinne was light; +Miss MacFarlane's voice was low and soft, her movements slow and +graceful, her speech gentle--as if she were afraid she might hurt +someone inadvertently; her hair and dress were simple to severity. +While Corinne--well, in every one of these details Corinne +represented the exact opposite. It was the blood! Yes, that was +it--it was her blood! Who was she, and where did she come from? +Would Corinne like her? What impression would this high bred +Southern beauty make upon the pert Miss Wren, whose little nose +had gone down a point or two when her mother had discovered, much +to her joy, the week before, that it was the REAL Miss Grayson and +not an imitation Miss Grayson who had been good enough to invite +her daughter and any of her daughter's friends to tea; and it had +fallen another point when she learned that Miss Felicia had left +her card the next day, expressing to the potato-bug how sorry she +was to hear that the ladies were out, but that she hoped it would +only be a matter of a few days before "she would welcome them" to +her own apartments, or words to that effect, Frederick's memory +being slightly defective. + +It was in answer to this request that Mrs. Breen, after consulting +her husband, had written three acceptances before she was willing +that Frederick should leave it with his own hands in Fifteenth +Street--one beginning, "It certainly is a pleasure after all these +years"--which was discarded as being too familiar; another, "So +good of you, dear Miss Grayson," which had a similar fate; and the +third, which ran, "My daughter will be most happy, dear Miss +Grayson, to be with you," etc., which was finally sealed with the +Breen crest--a four-legged beastie of some kind on its hind legs, +with a motto explanatory of the promptness of his ancestors in +times of danger. Even then Corinne had hesitated about accepting +until Garry said: "Well, let's take it in, anyhow--we can skip out +if they bore us stiff." + +Knowing these things, therefore, and fearing that after all +something would happen to mar the pleasant relations he had +established with Peter, and with the honor of his uncle's family +in his keeping, so to speak, Jack had awaited the arrival of +Corinne and Garry with considerable trepidation. What if, after +all, they should stay away, ignoring the great courtesy which this +most charming of old ladies--never had he seen one so lovable or +distinguished--had extended to them; and she a stranger, too, and +all because her brother Peter had asked her to be kind to a boy +like himself. + +The entrance of Corinne and Garry, therefore, into the crowded +room half an hour after his own had brought a relief to Jack's +mind (he had been watching the door, so as to be ready to present +them), which Miss Felicia's gracious salutation only intensified. + +"I remember your dear mother perfectly," he heard the old lady say +as she advanced to Corinne and took both her hands. "And she was +quite lovely. And this I am very sure is Mr. Breen's friend, Mr. +Minott, who has carried off all the honors. I am delighted to see +you both. Peter, do you take these dear young people and present +them to Ruth." + +The two had thereupon squeezed through to Ruth's side; Peter in +his formal introduction awarding to Garry all the honors to which +he was entitled, and then Ruth, remembering her duties, said how +glad she was to know them; and would they have lemon or sugar?-- +and Corinne, with a comprehensive glance of her rival, declined +both, her excuse being that she was nearly dead now with the heat +and that a cup of tea would finish her. Jack had winced when his +ears caught the flippant answer, but it was nothing to the way in +which he shrivelled up when Garry, after shaking Miss MacFarlane's +hand as if it had been a pump-handle instead of a thing so dainty +that no boy had a right to touch it except with reverence in his +heart, had burst out with: "Glad to see you. From the South, I +hear--" as if she was a kangaroo or a Fiji Islander. He had seen +Miss MacFarlane give a little start at Garry's familiar way of +speaking, and had noticed how Ruth shrank behind the urn as if she +were afraid he would touch her again, although she had laughed +quite good-naturedly as she answered: + +"Not very far South; only from Maryland," and had then turned to +Jack and continued her talk with the air of one not wishing to be +further interrupted. + +The Scribe does not dare to relate what would have become of one +so sensitive as our hero could he have heard the discussion going +on later between the two young people when they were backed into +one of Peter's bookcases and stood surveying the room. "Miss +MacFarlane isn't at all my kind of a girl," Corinne had declared +to Garry. "Really, I can't see why the men rave over her. Pretty? +--yes, sort of so-so; but no style, and SUCH clothes! Fancy wearing +a pink lawn and a sash tied around her waist like a girl at a +college commencement--and as to her hair--why no one has ever +THOUGHT of dressing her hair that way for AGES and AGES." + +Her mind thus relieved, my Lady Wren had made a survey of the +rooms, wondering what they wanted with so many funny old +portraits, and whether the old gentleman or his sister read the +dusty books, Garry remarking that there were a lot of "swells" +among the young fellows, many of whom he had heard of but had +never met before. This done, the two wedged their way out, without +ever troubling Peter or Miss Felicia with their good-bys, Garry +telling Corinne that the old lady wouldn't know they were gone, +and Corinne adding under her breath that it didn't make any +difference to her if she did. + + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + + + +But Jack stayed on. + +This was the atmosphere he had longed for. This, too, was where +Peter lived. Here were the chairs he sat in, the books he read, +the pictures he enjoyed. And the well-dressed, well-bred people, +the hum of low voices, the clusters of roses, the shaded candles, +their soft rosy light falling on the egg-shell cups and saucers +and silver service, and the lovely girl dispensing all this +hospitality and cheer! Yes, here he could live, breathe, enjoy +life. Everything was worth while and just as he had expected to +find it. + +When the throng grew thick about her table he left Ruth's side, +taking the opportunity to speak to Peter or Miss Felicia (he knew +few others), but he was back again whenever the chance offered. + +"Don't send me away again," he pleaded when he came back for the +twentieth time, and with so much meaning in his voice that she +looked at him with wide-open eyes. It was not what he said--she +had been brought up on that kind of talk--it was the way he said +it, and the inflection in his voice. + +"I have been literally starving for somebody like you to talk to," +he continued, drawing up a stool and settling himself determinedly +beside her. + +"For me! Why, Mr. Breen, I'm not a piece of bread--" she laughed. +"I'm just girl." He had begun to interest her--this brown-eyed +young fellow who wore his heart on his sleeve, spoke her dialect +and treated her as if she were a duchess. + +"You are life-giving bread to me, Miss MacFarlane," answered Jack +with a smile. "I have only been here six months; I am from the +South, too." And then the boy poured out his heart, telling her, +as he had told Peter, how lonely he got sometimes for some of his +own kind; and how the young girl in the lace hat and feathers, who +had come in with Garry, was his aunt's daughter; and how he +himself was in the Street, signing checks all day--at which she +laughed, saying in reply that nothing would give her greater +pleasure than a big book with plenty of blank checks--she had +never had enough, and her dear father had never had enough, +either. But he omitted all mention of the faro bank and of the +gamblers--such things not being proper for her ears, especially +such little pink shells of ears, nestling and half hidden in her +beautiful hair. + +There was no knowing how long this absorbing conversation might +have continued (it had already attracted the attention of Miss +Felicia) had not a great stir taken place at the door of the +outside hall. Somebody was coming upstairs; or had come upstairs; +somebody that Peter was laughing with--great, hearty laughs, which +showed his delight; somebody that made Miss Felicia raise her head +and listen, a light breaking over her face. Then Peter's head was +thrust in the door: + +"Here he is, Felicia. Come along, Holker--I have been wondering--" + +"Been wondering what, Peter? That I'd stay away a minute longer +than I could help after this dear lady had arrived? ... Ah, Miss +Felicia! Just as magnificent and as young as ever. Still got that +Marie Antoinette look about you--you ought really--" + +"Stop that nonsense, Holker, right away," she cried, advancing a +step to greet him. + +"But it's all true, and--" + +"Stop, I tell you; none of your sugar-coated lies. I am seventy if +I am a day, and look it, and if it were not for these furbelows I +would look eighty. Now tell me about yourself and Kitty and the +boys, and whether the Queen has sent you the Gold Medal yet, and +if the big Library is finished and--" + +"Whew! what a cross examination. Wait--I'll draw up a set of +specifications and hand them in with a new plan of my life." + +"You will do nothing of the kind! You will draw up a chair--here, +right alongside of me, and tell me about Kitty and--No, Peter, he +is not going to be taken over and introduced to Ruth for at least +five minutes. Peter has fallen in love with her, Holker, and I do +not blame him. One of these young fellows--there he is still +talking to her--hasn't left her side since he put his eyes on her. +Now begin--The Medal?-- + +"Expected by next steamer." + +"The Corn Exchange?" + +"All finished but the inside work." + +"Kitty?" + +"All finished but the outside work." + +Miss Felicia looked up. "Your wife, I mean, you stupid fellow." + +"Yes, I know. She would have come with me but her dress didn't +arrive in time." + +Miss Felicia laughed: "And the boys?" + +"Still in Paris--buying bric-a-brac and making believe they're +studying architecture and--But I'm not going to answer another +question. Attention! Miss Felicia Grayson at the bar!" + +The dear lady straightened her back, her face crinkling with +merriment. + +"Present!" she replied, drawing down the corners Of her mouth. + +"When did you leave home? How long will you stay? Can you come to +dinner--you and Methusaleh--on Wednesday night?" + +"I refuse to answer by advice of counsel. As to coming to dinner, +I am not going anywhere for a week--then I am coming to you and +Kitty, whether it is Wednesday or any other night. Now, Peter, +take him away. He's so puffed up with his Gold Medal he's +positively unbearable." + +All this time Jack had been standing beside Ruth. He had heard the +stir at the door and had seen Holker join Miss Felicia, and while +the talk between the two lasted he had interspersed his talk to +Ruth with accounts of the supper, and Garry's getting the ring, to +which was added the boy's enthusiastic tribute to the architect +himself. "The greatest man I have met yet," he said in his quick, +impulsive way. "We don't have any of them down our way. I never +saw one--nobody ever did. Here he comes with Mr. Grayson. I hope +you will like him." + +Ruth made a movement as if to start to her feet. To sit still and +look her best and attend to her cups and hot water and tiny wafers +was all right for men like Jack, but not with distinguished men +like Mr. Morris. + +Morris had his hand on her chair before she could move it back. + +"No, my dear young lady--you'll please keep your seat. I've been +watching you from across the room sand you make too pretty a +picture as you are. Tea?--Not a drop." + +"Oh, but it is so delicious--and I will give you the very biggest +piece of lemon that is left." + +"No--not a drop; and as to lemon--that's rank poison to me. You +should have seen me hobbling around with gout only last week, and +all because somebody at a reception, or tea, or some such plaguey +affair, made me drink a glass of lemonade. Give it to this aged +old gentleman--it will keep him awake. Here, Peter!" + +Up to this moment no word had been addressed to Jack, who stood +outside the half circle waiting for some sign of recognition from +the great man; and a little disappointed when none came. He did +not know that one of the great man's failings was his forgetting +the names even of those of his intimate friends--such breaks as +"Glad to see you--I remember you very well, and very pleasantly, +and now please tell me your name," being a common occurrence with +the great architect--a failing that everybody pardoned. + +Peter noticed the boy's embarrassment and touched Morris' arm. + +"You remember Mr. Breen, don't you, Holker? He was at your supper +that night--and sat next to me." + +Morris whirled quickly and held out his hand, all his graciousness +in his manner. + +"Yes, certainly. You took the ring to Minott, of course. Very glad +to meet you again--and what did you say his name was, Peter?" This +in the same tone of voice--quite as if Jack were miles away. + +"Breen--John Breen," answered Peter, putting his arm on Jack's +shoulder, to accentuate more clearly his friendship for the boy. + +"All the better, Mr. John Breen--doubly glad to see you, now that +I know your name. I'll try not to forget it next time. Breen! +Breen! Peter, where have I heard that name before? Breen--where +the devil have I--Oh, yes--I've got it now. Quite a common name, +isn't it?" + +Jack assured him with a laugh that it was; there were more than a +hundred in the city directory. He wasn't offended at Morris +forgetting his name, and wanted him to see it. + +"Glad to know it; wouldn't like to think you were mixed up in the +swindle. You ought to thank your stars, my dear fellow, that you +got into architecture instead of into Wall--" + +"But I am in--" + +"Yes, I know--you're with Hunt--" (another instance of a defective +memory) "and you couldn't be with a better man--the best in the +profession, really. I'm talking of some scoundrels of your name-- +Breen & Co., the firm is--who, I hear, have cheated one of my +clients--young Gilbert--fine fellow--just married--persuaded him +to buy some gold stock--Mukton Lode, I think they called it--and +robbed him of all he has. He must stop on his house I hear. And +now, my dear Miss--" here he turned to the young girl--"I really +forget--" + +"Ruth," she answered with a smile. She had taken Morris's measure +and had already begun to like him as much as Jack did. + +"Yes--Miss Ruth--Now, please, my dear girl, keep on being young +and very beautiful and very wholesome, for you are every one of +these things, and I know you'll forgive me for saying so when I +tell you that I have two strapping young fellows for sons who are +almost old enough to make love to you. Come, Peter, show me that +copy of Tacitus you wrote me about. Is it in good condition?" They +were out of Jack's hearing now, Morris adding, "Fine type of +Southern beauty, Peter. Big design, with broad lines everywhere. +Good, too--good as gold. Something about her forehead that reminds +me of the Italian school. Looks as if Bellini might have loved +her. Hello, Major! What are you doing here all by yourself?" + +Jack stood transfixed! + +Horror, anger, humiliation over the exposure (it was unheard, if +he had but known it, by anyone in the room except Peter and +himself) rushed over him in hot concurrent waves. It was his +uncle, then, who had robbed young Gilbert! The Mukton Lode! He had +handled dozens of the certificates, just as he had handled dozens +of others, hardly glancing at the names. He remembered overhearing +some talk one day in which his uncle had taken part. Only a few +days before he had sent a bundle of Mukton certificates to the +transfer office of the company. + +Then a chill struck him full in the chest and he shivered to his +finger-tips. Had Ruth heard?--and if she had heard, would she +understand? In his talk he had given her his true self--his +standards of honor--his beliefs in what was true and worth having. +When she knew all--and she must know--would she look upon him as a +fraud? That his uncle had been accused of a shrewd scoop in the +Street did not make his clerk a thief, but would she see the +difference? + +All these thoughts surged through his mind as he stood looking +into her eyes, her hand in his while he made his adieux. He had +determined, before Morris fired the bomb which shattered his +hopes, to ask if he might see her again, and where, and if there +could be found no place fitting and proper, she being motherless +and Miss Felicia but a chaperon, to write her a note inviting her +to walk up through the Park with him, and so on into the open +where she really belonged. All this was given up now. The best +thing for him was to take his leave as quietly as possible, +without committing her to anything--anything which he felt sure +she would repudiate as soon as she learned--if she did not know +already--how undesirable an acquaintance John Breen, of Breen & +Co., was, etc. + +As to his uncle's share in the miserable transaction, there was +but one thing to do--to find out, and from his own lips, if +possible, if the story were true, and if so to tell him exactly +what he thought of Breen & Co. and the business in which they were +engaged. Peter's advice was good, and he wished he could follow +it, but here was a matter in which his honor was concerned. When +this side of the matter was presented to Mr. Grayson he would +commend him for his course of action. To think that his own uncle +should be accused of a transaction of this kind--his own uncle and +a Breen! Could anything be more horrible! + +So sudden was his departure from the room--just "I must go now; +I'm so grateful to you all for asking me, and I've had such a +good--Good-by--" that Miss Felicia looked after him in +astonishment, turning to Peter with: + +"Why, what's the matter with the boy? I wanted him to dine with +us. Did you say anything to him, Peter, to hurt his feelings?" + +Peter shook his head. Morris, he knew, was the unconscious +culprit, but this was not for his sister's or Ruth's ears--not, at +least, until he could get at the exact facts for himself. + +"He is as sensitive as a plant," continued Peter; "he closes all +up at times. But he is genuine, and he is sincere--that's better +than poise, sometimes." + +"Well, then, maybe Ruth has offended him," suggested Miss Felicia. +"No--she couldn't. Ruth, what have you done to young Mr. Breen?" + +The girl threw back her head and laughed. + +"Nothing." + +"Well, he went off as if he had been shot from a gun. That is not +like him at all, I should say, from what I have seen of him. +Perhaps I should have looked after him a little more. I tried +once, but I could not get him away from you. His manner is really +charming when he talks, and he is so natural and so well bred; not +at all like his friend, of whom he seems to think so much. How did +you like him, dear Ruth?" + +"Oh, I don't know." She knew, but she didn't intend to tell +anybody. "He's very shy and--" + +"--And very young." + +"Yes, perhaps." + +"And very much of a gentleman," broke in Peter in a decided tone. +None should misunderstand the boy if he could help it. + +Again Ruth laughed. Neither of them had touched the button which +had rung up her sympathy and admiration. + +"Of course he is a gentleman. He couldn't be anything else. He is +from Maryland, you know." + + + + + +CHAPTER X + + + + +Reference has been made in these pages to a dinner to be given in +the house of Breen to various important people, and to which Mr. +Peter Grayson, the honored friend of the distinguished President +of the Clearing House, was to be invited. The Scribe is unable to +say whether the distinguished Mr. Grayson received an invitation +or not. Breen may have thought better of it, or Jack may have +discouraged it after closer acquaintance with the man who had +delighted his soul as no other man except his father had ever +done--but certain it is that he was not present, and equally +certain is it that the distinguished Mr. Portman was, and so were +many of the directors of the Mukton Lode, not to mention various +others--capitalists whose presence would lend dignity to the +occasion and whose names and influence would be of inestimable +value to the future of the corporation. + +As fate would have it the day for assuaging the appetites of these +financial magnates was the same that Miss Felicia had selected for +her tea to Ruth, and the time at which they were to draw up their +chairs but two hours subsequent to that in which Jack, crushed sad +humiliated by his uncle's knavery, had crept downstairs and into +the street. + +In this frame of mind the poor boy had stopped at the Magnolia in +the hope of finding Garry, who must, he thought, have left Corinne +at home, and then retraced his steps to the club. He must explode +somewhere and with someone, and the young architect was the very +man he wanted. Garry had ridiculed his old-fashioned ideas and had +advised him to let himself go. Was the wiping out of Gilbert's +fortune part of the System? he asked himself. + +As he hunted through the rooms, almost deserted at this hour, his +eyes searching for his friend, a new thought popped into his head, +and with such force that it bowled him over into a chair, where he +sat staring straight in front of him. Tonight, he suddenly +remembered, was the night of the dinner his uncle was to give to +some business friends--"A Gold-Mine Dinner," his aunt had called +it. His cheeks flamed again when he thought that these very men +had helped in the Mukton swindle. To interrupt them, though, at +their feast--or even to mention the subject to his uncle while the +dinner was in progress--was, of course, out of the question. He +would stay where he was; dine alone, unless Garry came in, and +then when the last man had left his uncle's house he would have it +out with him. + +Biffton was the only man who disturbed his solitude. Biffy was in +full evening dress--an enormous white carnation in his button-hole +and a crush hat under his arm. He was booked for a "Stag," he said +with a yawn, or he would stay and keep him company. Jack didn't +want any company--certainly not Biffy--most assuredly not any of +the young fellows who had asked him about Gilbert's failure. What +he wanted was to be left alone until eleven o'clock, during which +time he would get something to eat. + +Dinner over, he buried himself in a chair in the library and let +his mind roam. Angry as he was, Ruth's image still haunted him. +How pretty she was--how gracefully she moved her arm as she +lifted the cups; and the way the hair waved about her temples; and +the tones of her voice--and dear Peter, so kind and thoughtful of +him, so careful that he should be introduced to this and that +person; and Miss Felicia! What a great lady she was; and yet he +was not a bit afraid of her. What would they all think of him when +the facts of his uncle's crime came to their ears, and they MUST +come sooner or later. What, too, would Peter think of him for +breaking out on his uncle, which he firmly intended to do as soon +as the hour hand reached eleven? Nor would he mince his words. +That an outrage of this kind could be committed on an unsuspecting +man was bad enough, but that it should have taken place in his own +uncle's office, bringing into disrepute his father's and his own +good name, was something he could not tolerate for a moment. This +he intended saying to his uncle in so many plain words; and so +leaving our hero with his soul on fire, his mind bent on +inflammables, explosives, high-pressures--anything in fact that +once inserted under the solid body of the senior Breen would blow +that gentleman into space--we will betake ourselves to his +palatial home. The dinner being an important one, no expense had +been spared. + +All day long boys in white aprons had sprung from canvas-covered +wagons, dived in Arthur Breen's kitchen and dived out again after +depositing various eatables, drinkables and cookables--among them +six pair of redheads, two saddles of mutton, besides such uncanny +things as mushrooms, truffles and the like, all of which had been +turned over to the chef, who was expressly engaged for the +occasion, and whose white cap--to quote Parkins--"Gives a hair to +the scullery which reminded him more of 'ome than anything 'e 'ad +seen since 'e left 'is lordship's service." + +Upstairs more wonderful things had been done. The table of the +sepulchral dining-room was trans formed into a bed of tulips, the +mantel a parterre of flowers, while the sideboard, its rear packed +with the family silver, was guarded by a row of bottles of various +sizes, shapes and colors; various degrees of cob webbed +shabbiness, too--containing the priceless vintages which the +senior member of the firm of Breen & Co. intended to set before +his friends. + +Finally, as the dinner hour approached, all the gas jets were +ablaze; not only the side lights in the main hall, and the +overhead lantern which had shed its rays on Peter's bald head, but +the huge glass chandelier hung in the middle of the satin- +upholstered drawing room, as well as the candelabra on the mantel +with their imitation wax candles and brass wicks--every thing, in +fact, that could add to the brilliancy of the occasion. + +All this, despite the orderly way in which the millionaire's house +was run, had developed a certain nervous anxiety in the host +himself, the effect of which had not yet worn off, although but a +few minutes would elapse before the arrival of the guests. This +was apparent in the rise and fall of Breen's heels, as he seesawed +back and forth on the hearth-rug in the satin-lined drawing-room, +with his coattails spread to the life less grate, and from the way +he glanced nervously at the mirror to see that his cravat was +properly tied and that his collar did not ride up in the back. + +The only calm person in the house was the ex-widow. With the eyes +of a major-general sweeping the field on the eve of an important +battle, she had taken in the disposition of the furniture, the +hang of the curtains and the placing of the cushions and lesser +comforts. She had also arranged with her own hands the masses of +narcissus and jonquils on the mantels, and had selected the exact +shade of yellow tulips which centred the dining-room table. It was +to be a "Gold-Mine Dinner," so Arthur had told her, "and +everything must be in harmony." + +Then seeing Parkins, who had entered unexpectedly and caught her +in the act (it is bad form for a hostess to arrange flowers in +some houses--the butler does that), she asked in an indifferent +tone: "And how many are we to have for dinner, Parkins?" She knew, +of course, having spent an hour over a diagram placing the guests. + +"Fourteen, my lady." + +"Fourteen!--really, quite a small affair." And with the air of one +accustomed all her life to banquets in palaces of state, she swept +out of the room. + +The only time she betrayed herself was just before the arrival of +the guests, when her mind reverted to her daughter. + +"The Portmans are giving a ball next week, Arthur, and I want +Corinne to go. Are you sure he is coming?" + +"Don't worry, Kitty, Portman's coming; and so are the Colonel, and +Crossbin, and Hodges, and the two Chicago directors, and Mason, +and a lot more. Everybody's coming, I tell you. If Mukton Lode +doesn't sit up and take notice with a new lease of life after +tonight, I'm a Dutchman. Run, there's the bell." + +The merciful Scribe will spare the reader the details incident +upon the arrival of the several guests. These dinners are all +alike: the announcements by the butler; the passing of the +cocktails on a wine tray; the standing around until the last man +has entered the drawing-room; the perfunctory talk--the men who +have met before hobnobbing instantly with each other, the host +bearing the brunt of the strangers; the saunter into the dining- +room, the reading of cards, and the "Here you are, Mr. Portman, +right alongside Mr. Hodges. And Crossbin, you are down there +somewhere"; the spreading of napkins and squaring of everybody's +elbow as each man drops into his seat. + +Neither will the reader be told of the various dishes or their +garnishings. These pages have so far been filled with little else +beside eating and drinking, and with reason, too, for have not all +the great things in life been begun over some tea-table, carried +on at a luncheon, and completed between the soup and the cordials? +Kings, diplomats and statesmen have long since agreed that for +baiting a trap there is nothing like a soup, an entree and a +roast, the whole moistened by a flagon of honest wine. The bait +varies when the financier or promoter sets out to catch a +capitalist, just as it does when one sets out to catch a mouse, +and yet the two mammals are much alike--timid, one foot at a time, +nosing about to find out if any of his friends have had a nibble; +scared at the least disturbing echo--then the fat, toothsome +cheese looms up (Breen's Madeira this time), and in they go. + +But if fuller description of this special bait be omitted, there +is no reason why that of the baiters and the baited should be left +out of the narrative. + +Old Colonel Purviance, of the Chesapeake Club, for one--a big- +paunched man who always wore, summer and winter, a reasonably +white waistcoat and a sleazy necktie; swore in a loud voice and +dropped his g's when he talked. "Bit 'em off," his friends said, +as he did the end of his cigars. He had, in honor of the occasion +so contrived that his black coat and trousers matched this time, +while his shoestring tie had been replaced by a white cravat. But +the waistcoat was of the old pattern and the top button loose, as +usual. The Colonel earned his living--and a very comfortable one +it was--by promoting various enterprises--some of them rather +shady. He had also a gift for both starting and maintaining a +boom. Most of the Mukton stock owned by the Southern contingent +had been floated by him. Another of his accomplishments was his +ability to label correctly, with his eyes shut, any bottle of +Madeira from anybody's cellar, and to his credit, be it said, he +never lied about the quality, be it good, bad or abominable. + +Next to him sat Mason, from Chicago--a Westerner who had made his +money in a sudden rise in real estate, and who had moved to New +York to spend it: an out-spoken, common-sense, plain man, with +yellow eyebrows, yellow head partly bald, and his red face blue +specked with powder marks due to a premature blast in his mining +days. Mason couldn't tell the best Tiernan Madeira from corner- +grocery sherry, and preferred whiskey at any and all hours--and +what was more, never assumed for one instant that he could. + +Then came Hodges, the immaculately dressed epicure--a pale, clean- +shaven, eye-glassed, sterilized kind of a man with a long neck and +skinny fingers, who boasted of having twenty-one different clarets +stored away under his sidewalk which were served to ordinary +guests, and five special vintages which he kept under lock and +key, and which were only uncorked for the elect, and who +invariably munched an olive before sampling the next wine. Then +followed such lesser lights, as Nixon, Leslie and the other +guests. + +A most exacting group of bons vivants, these. The host had +realized it and had brought out his best. Most of it, to be sure, +had come from Beaver Street, something "rather dry, with an +excellent bouquet," the crafty salesman with gimlet eyes had said; +but, then, most of the old Madeira does come from Beaver Street, +except Portman's, who has a fellow with a nose and a palate +hunting the auction rooms for that particular Sunset of 1834 which +had lain in old Mr. Grinnells cellar for twenty-two years; and +that other of 1839, once possessed by Colonel Purviance, a wine +which had so sharpened the Colonel's taste that he was always +uncomfortable when dining outside of his club or away from the +tables of one or two experts like himself. + +These, then, were the palates to which Breen catered. Back of them +lay their good-will and good feeling; still back of them, again, +their bank accounts and--another scoop in Mukton! Most of the +guests had had a hand in the last deal and they were ready to +share in the next. Although this particular dinner was supposed to +be a celebration of the late victory, two others, equally +elaborate, had preceded it; both Crossbin and Hodges having +entertained nearly this same group of men at their own tables. +That Breen, with his reputation for old Madeira and his supposed +acquaintance with the intricacies of a Maryland kitchen, would +outclass them both, had been whispered a dozen times since the +receipt of his invitation, and he knew it. Hence the alert boy, +the chef in the white cap, and hence the seesawing on the hearth- +rug. + +"Like it, Crossbin?" asked Breen. + +Parkins had just passed down the table with a dust covered bottle +which he handled with the care of a collector fingering a +peachblow vase. The precious fluid had been poured into that +gentleman's glass and its contents were now within an inch of his +nose. + +The moment was too grave for instant reply; Mr. Crossbin was +allowing the aroma to mount to the innermost recesses of his +nostrils. It had only been a few years since he had performed this +same trick with a gourd suspended from a nail in his father's back +kitchen, overlooking a field of growing corn; but that fact was +not public property--not here in New York. + +"Yes--smooth, and with something of the hills in it. Chateau +Lamont, is it not, of '61?" It was Chateau of something-or-other, +and of some year, but Breen was too wise to correct him. He +supposed it was Chateau Lafitte--that is, he had instructed +Parkins to serve that particular wine and vintage. + +"Either '61 or '63," replied Breen with the air of positive +certainty. (How that boy in the white apron, who had watched the +boss paste on the labels, would have laughed had he been under the +table.) + +Further down the cloth Hodges, the epicure, was giving his views +as to the proper way of serving truffles. A dish had just passed, +with an underpinning of crust. Hodges's early life had qualified +him as an expert in cooking, as well as in wines: Ten years in a +country store swapping sugar for sausages and tea for butter and +eggs; five more clerk in a Broadway cloth house, with varied +boarding-house experiences (boiled mutton twice a week, with +pudding on Sundays); three years junior partner, with a room over +Delmonico's; then a rich wife and a directorship in a bank (his +father-in-law was the heaviest depositor); next, one year in +Europe and home, as vice-president, and at the present writing +president of one of the certify-as-early-as-ten-o' clock-in-the- +morning kind of banks, at which Peter would so often laugh. With +these experiences there came the usual blooming and expanding--all +the earlier life for gotten, really ignored. Soon the food of the +country became unbearable. Even the canvasbacks must feed on a +certain kind of wild celery; the oysters be dredged from a +particular cove, and the terrapin drawn from their beds with the +Hodges' coat of arms cut in their backs before they would be +allowed a place on the ex-clerk's table. + +It is no wonder, then, that everybody listened when the +distinguished epicure launched out on the proper way to both +acquire and serve so rare and toothsome a morsel as a truffle. + +"Mine come by every steamer," Hodges asserted in a positive tone-- +not to anybody in particular, but with a sweep of the table to +attract enough listeners to make it worthwhile for him to proceed. +"My man is aboard before the gang-plank is secure--gets my package +from the chief steward and is at my house with the truffles within +an hour. Then I at once take proper care of them. That is why my +truffles have that peculiar flavor you spoke of, Mr. Portman, when +you last dined at my house. You remember, don't you?" + +Portman nodded. He did not remember--not the truffles. He recalled +some white port--but that was because he had bought the balance of +the lot himself. + +"Where do they come from?" inquired Mason, the man from Chicago. +He wanted to know and wasn't afraid to ask. + +"All through France. Mine are rooted near a little village in the +Province of Perigord." + +"What roots'em?" + +"Hogs--trained hogs. You are familiar, of course, with the way +they are secured?" + +Mason--plain man as he was--wasn't familiar with anything remotely +connected with the coralling of truffles, and said so. Hodges +talked on, his eye resting first on one and then another of the +guests, his voice increasing in volume whenever a fresh listener +craned his neck, as if the information was directed to him alone-- +a trick of Hodges' when he wanted an audience. + +"And now a word of caution," he continued; "some thing that most +of you may not know--always root on a rainy day--sunshine spoils +their flavor--makes them tough and leathery." + +"Kind of hog got anything to do with the taste?" asked Mason in +all sincerity. He was learning New York ways--a new lesson each +day, and intended to keep on, but not by keeping his mouth shut. + +"Nothing whatever," replied Hodges. "They must never be allowed to +bite them, of course. You can wound a truffle as you can +everything else." + +Mason looked off into space and the Colonel bent his ear. +Purviance's diet had been largely drawn from his beloved +Chesapeake, and "dug-up dead things"--as he called the subject +under discussion--didn't interest him. He wanted to laugh--came +near it--then he suddenly remembered how important a man Hodges +might be and how necessary it was to give him air space in which +to float his pet balloons and so keep him well satisfied with +himself. + +Mason, the Chicago man, had no such scruples. He had twice as much +money as Hodges, four times his digestion and ten times his +commonsense. + +"Send that dish back here, Breen," Mason cried out in a clear +voice--so loud that Parkins, winged by the shot, retraced his +steps. "I want to see what Mr. Hodges is talking about. Never saw +a truffle that I know of." Here he turned the bits of raw rubber +over with his fork. "No. Take it away. Guess I'll pass. Hog saw it +first; he can have it." + +Hodges's face flushed, then he joined in the laugh. The Chicago +man was too valuable a would-be subscriber to quarrel with. And, +then, how impossible to expect a person brought up as Mason had +been to understand the ordinary refinements of civilization. + +"Rough diamond, Mason--Good fellow. Backbone of our country," +Hodges whispered to the Colonel, who was sore from the strain of +repressed hilarity. "A little coarse now and then--but that comes +of his early life, no doubt." + +Hodges waited his chance and again launched out; this time it was +upon the various kinds of wines his cellar contained--their cost-- +who had approved of them--how impossible it was to duplicate some +of them, especially some Johannesburg of '74. + +"Forty-two dollars a bottle--not pressed in the ordinary way--just +the weight of the grapes in the basket in which they are gathered +in the vineyard, and what naturally drips through is caught and +put aside," etc. + +Breen winced. First his truffles were criticised, and now his pet +Johannesburg that Parkins was pouring into special glasses--cooled +to an exact temperature--part of a case, he explained to Nixon, +who sat on his right, that Count Mosenheim had sent to a friend +here. Something must be done to head Hodges off or there was no +telling what might happen. The Madeira was the thing. He knew that +was all right, for Purviance had found it in Baltimore--part of a +private cellar belonging some time in the past to either the Swan +or Thomas families--he could not remember which. + +The redheads were now in order, with squares of fried hominy, and +for the moment Hodges held his peace. This was Nixon's +opportunity, and he made the most of it. He had been born on the +eastern shore of Maryland and was brought up on canvasbacks, soft- +shell crabs and terrapin--not to mention clams and sheepshead. +Nixon therefore launched out on the habits of the sacred bird--the +crimes committed by the swivel-gun in the hands of the marketmen, +the consequent scarcity of the game and the near approach of the +time when the only rare specimens would be found in the glass +cases of the museums, ending his talk with a graphic description +of the great wooden platters of boiling-hot terrapin which were +served to passengers crossing to Norfolk in the old days. The +servants would split off the hot shell--this was turned top side +down, used as a dish and filled with butter, pepper and salt, into +which toothsome bits of the reptile, torn out by the guests' +forks, were dipped before being eaten. + +The talk now caromed from birds, reptiles and fish to guns and +tackles, and then to the sportsmen who used them, and then to the +millionaires who owned the largest shares in the ducking clubs, +and so on to the stock of the same, and finally to the one subject +of the evening--the one uppermost in everybody's thoughts which so +far had not been touched upon--the Mukton Lode. There was no +question about the proper mechanism of the traps--the directors +were attending to that; the quality of the bait, too, seemed all +that could be desired--that was Breen's part. How many mice were +nosing about was the question, and of the number how many would be +inside when the spring snapped? + +The Colonel, after a nod of his head and a reassuring glance from +his host, took full charge of the field, soaring away with minute +accounts of the last inspection of the mine. He told how the +"tailings" at Mukton City had panned out 30 per cent, to the ton-- +with two hundred thousand tons in the dump thrown away until the +new smelter was started and they could get rid of the sulphides; +of what Aetna Cobb's Crest had done and Beals Hollow and Morgan +Creek--all on the same ridge, and was about launching out on the +future value of Mukton Lode when Mason broke the silence by asking +if any one present had heard of a mine somewhere in Nevada which +an Englishman had bought and which had panned out $1,200 to the +ton the first week and not a cent to the square mile ever +afterward? The Chicago man was the most important mouse of the +lot, and the tone of his voice and his way of speaking seemed +fraught with a purpose. + +Breen leaned forward in rapt attention, and even Hodges and +Portman (both of them were loaded to the scuppers with Mukton) +stopped talking. + +"Slickest game I ever heard of," continued Mason. "Two men came +into town--two poor prospectors, remember--ran across the +Englishman at the hotel--told the story of their claim: "Take it +or leave it after you look it over," they said. Didn't want but +sixty thousand for it; that would give them thirty thousand +apiece, after which they'd quit and live on a ranch. No, they +wouldn't go with him to inspect the mine; there was the map. He +couldn't miss it; man at the hotel would drive him out there. +There was, of course, a foot of snow on the ground, which was +frozen hard, but they had provided for that and had cut a lot of +cord-wood, intending to stay till spring. The Englishman could +have the wood to thaw out the ground. + +"The Englishman went and found everything as the two prospectors +had said; thawed out the soil in half a dozen places; scooped up +the dirt and every shovelful panned out about twelve hundred to +the ton. Then he came back and paid the money; that was the last +of it. Began to dig again in the spring--and not a trace of +anything." + +"What was the matter?" asked Breen. So far his interest in mines +had been centred on the stock. + +"Oh, the same old swindle," said Mason, looking around the table, +a grim smile on his face--"only in a different way." + +"Was it salted?" called out a man from the lower end of the table. + +"Yes," replied Mason; "not the mine, but the cord-wood. The two +poor prospectors had bored auger holes in each stick, stuffed 'em +full of gold dust and plugged the openings. It was the ashes that +panned out $1,200 to the ton." + +Mason was roaring, as were one or two about him. Portman looked +grave, and so did Breen. Nothing of that kind had ever soiled +their hands; everything with them was open and above-board. They +might start a rumor that the Lode had petered out, throw an +avalanche of stock on the market, knock it down ten points, +freezing out the helpless (poor Gilbert had been one of them), buy +in what was offered and then declare an extra dividend, sending +the stock skyward, but anything so low as--"Oh, very +reprehensible--scandalous in fact." + +Hodges was so moved by the incident that he asked Breen if he +would not bring back that Madeira (it had been served now in the +pipe-stem glasses which had been crossed in finger-bowls). This he +sipped slowly and thoughtfully, as if the enormity of the crime +had quite appalled him. Mason was no longer a "rough diamond," but +an example of what a "Western training will sometimes do for a +man," he whispered under his breath to Crossbin. + +With the departure of the last guest--one or two of them were a +little unsteady; not Mason, we may be sure--Jack, who had come +home and was waiting upstairs in his room for the feast to be +over, squared his shoulders, threw up his chin and, like many +another crusader bent on straightening the affairs of the world, +started out to confront his uncle. His visor was down, his lance +in rest, his banner unfurled, the scarf of the blessed damosel +tied in double bow-knot around his trusty right arm. Both knight +and maid were unconscious of the scarf, and yet if the truth be +told it was Ruth's eyes that had swung him into battle. Now he was +ready to fight; to renounce the comforts of life and live on a +crust rather than be party to the crimes that were being daily +committed under his very eyes! + +His uncle was in the library, having just bowed out his last +guest, when the boy strode in. About him were squatty little +tables holding the remnants of the aftermath of the feast--siphons +and decanters and the sample boxes of cigars--full to the lid when +Parkins first passed them (why fresh cigars out of a full box +should have a better flavor than the same cigars from a half- +empty one has always been a mystery to the Scribe). + +That the dinner had been a success gastronomically, socially and +financially, was apparent from the beatific boozy smile that +pervaded Breen's face as he lay back in his easy-chair. To disturb +a reverie of this kind was as bad as riding rough-shod over some +good father digesting his first meal after Lent, but the boy's +purpose was too lofty to be blunted by any such considerations. +Into the arena went his glove and out rang his challenge. + +"What I have got to say to you, Uncle Arthur, breaks my heart, but +you have got to listen to me! I have waited until they were all +gone to tell you." + +Breen laid his glass on the table and straightened himself in his +chair. His brain was reeling from the wine he had taken and his +hand unsteady, but he still had control of his arms and legs. + +"Well, out with it! What's it all about, Jack?" + +"I heard this afternoon that my friend Gilbert was ruined in our +office. The presence of these men to-night makes me believe it to +be true. If it is true, I want to tell you that I'll never enter +the office again as long as I live!" + +Breen's eyes flashed: + +"You'll never enter! ... What the devil is the matter with you, +Jack!--are you drunk or crazy?" + +"Neither! And I want to tell you, sir, too, that I won't be +pointed out as having anything to do with such a swindling concern +as the Mukton Lode Company. You've stopped the work on Gilbert's +house--Mr., Morris told me so--you've--" + +The older man sprang from his seat and lunged toward the boy. + +"Stop it!" he cried. "Now--quick!" + +"Yes--and you've just given a dinner to the very men who helped +steal his money, and they sat here and laughed about it! I heard +them as I came in!" The boy's tears were choking him now. + +"Didn't I tell you to stop, you idiot!" His fist was within an +inch of Jack's nose: "Do you want me to knock your head off? What +the hell is it your business who I invite to dinner--and what do +you know about Mukton Lode? Now you go to bed, and damn quick, +too! Parkins, put out the lights!" + +And so ended the great crusade with our knight unhorsed and +floundering in the dust. Routed by the powers of darkness, like +many another gallant youth in the old chivalric days, his ideals +laughed at, his reforms flouted, his protests ignored--and this, +too, before he could fairly draw his sword or couch his lance. + + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + + + +That Jack hardly closed his eyes that night, and that the first +thing he did after opening them the next morning was to fly to +Peter for comfort and advice, goes without saying. Even a +sensible, well-balanced young man--and our Jack, to the Scribe's +great regret, is none of these--would have done this with his skin +still smarting from an older man's verbal scorching--especially a +man like his uncle, provided, of course, he had a friend like +Peter within reach. How much more reasonable, therefore, to +conclude that a man so quixotic as our young hero would seek +similar relief. + +As to the correctness of the details of this verbal scorching, so +minutely described in the preceding chapter, should the reader ask +how it is possible for the Scribe to set down in exact order the +goings-on around a dinner-table to which he was not invited, as +well as the particulars of a family row where only two persons +participated--neither of whom was himself--and this, too, in the +dead of night, with the outside doors locked and the shades and +curtains drawn--he must plead guilty without leaving the +prisoner's dock. + +And yet he asks in all humility--is the play not enough?--or must +he lift the back-drop and bring into view the net-work of pulleys +and lines, the tanks of moonlight gas and fake properties of +papier-mache that produce the illusion? As a compromise would it +not be the better way after this for him to play the Harlequin, +popping in and out at the unexpected moment, helping the plot here +and there by a gesture, a whack, or a pirouette; hobnobbing with +Peter or Miss Felicia, and their friends; listening to Jack's and +Ruth's talk, or following them at a distance, whenever his +presence might embarrass either them or the comedy? + +This being agreed upon, we will leave our hero this bright +morning--the one succeeding the row with his uncle--at the door of +Peter's bank, confident that Jack can take care of himself. + +And the confidence is not misplaced. Only once did the boy's +glance waver, and that was when his eyes sought the window facing +Peter's desk. Some egg other than Peter's was nesting on the open +ledger spread out on the Receiving Teller's desk--not an ostrich +egg of a head at all, but an evenly parted, well-combed, well- +slicked brown wig, covering the careful pate of one of the other +clerks who, in the goodness of his heart, was filling Peter's +place for the day. + +Everybody being busy--too busy to answer questions outside of +payments and deposits--Patrick, the porter, must necessarily +conduct the negotiations. + +"No, sur; he's not down to-day--" was the ever-watchful Patrick's +answer to Jack's anxious inquiry. "His sister's come from the +country and he takes a day off now and thin when she's here. +You'll find him up at his place in Fifteenth Street, I'm thinkin." + +Jack bit his lip. Here was another complication. Not to find Peter +at the Bank meant a visit to his rooms--on his holiday, too--and +when he doubtless wished to be alone with Miss Felicia. And yet +how could he wait a moment longer? He himself had sent word to the +office of Breen & Co. that he would not be there that day--a thing +he had never done before--nor did he intend to go on the morrow-- +not until he knew where he stood. While his uncle had grossly +misunderstood him, and, for that matter, grossly insulted him, he +had neither admitted nor denied the outrage on Gilbert. + +When he did--this question had only now begun to loom up--where +would he go and what would he do? There was but little money due +him at the office--and none would come--until the next month's +pay--hardly enough, in any event, to take him back to his +Maryland home, even if that refuge were still open to him. What +then would become of him? Peter was, in fact, his main and only +reliance. Peter he must see, and at once. + +Not that he wavered or grew faint at heart when he thought of his +defeat the night before. He was only thinking of his exit and the +way to make it. "Always take your leave like a gentleman," was one +of his father's maxims. This he would try his best to accomplish. + +Mrs. McGuffey, in white cap and snow-white apron, now that Miss +Felicia had arrived, was the medium of communication this time: + +"Indeed, they are both in--this way, sir, and let me have your hat +and coat." + +It was a delightful party that greeted the boy. Peter was standing +on the hearth-rug with his back to the fire, his coat-tails hooked +over his wrists. Miss Felicia sat by a small table pretending to +sew. Holker Morris was swallowed up in one of Peter's big easy- +chairs, only the top of his distinguished head visible, while a +little chub of a man, gray-haired, spectacled and plainly dressed, +was seated behind him, the two talking in an undertone. + +"Why, Breen!--why, my dear boy!--And you have a holiday, too? How +did you know I was home?" cried Peter, extending both hands in the +joy of his greeting. + +"I stopped at the Bank, sir." + +"Did you?--and who told you?" + +"The janitor, I suppose." + +"Oh, the good Patrick! Well, well! Holker, you remember young +Breen." + +Holker did remember, for a wonder, and extended one hand to prove +it, and Felicia--but the boy was already bending over her, all his +respect and admiration in his eyes. The little chub of a man was +now on his feet, standing in an attentive attitude, ready to take +his cue from Peter. + +"And now, my boy, turn this way, and let me introduce you to my +very dear friend, Mr. Isaac Cohen." + +A pudgy hand was thrust out and the spectacled little man, his +eyes on the boy, said he was glad to know any friend of Mr. +Grayson, and resuming his seat continued his conversation in still +lower tones with the great architect. + +Jack stood irresolute for an instant, not knowing whether to make +some excuse for his evidently inopportune visit and return later, +or to keep his seat until the others had gone. Miss Felicia, who +had not taken her gaze from the lad since he entered the room, +called him to her side. + +"Now, tell me what you are all doing at home, and how your dear +aunt is, and--Miss Corinne, isn't it? And that very bright young +fellow who came with you at Ruth's tea?" + +It was the last subject that Jack wanted to discuss, but he +stumbled through it as best he could, and ended in hoping, in a +halting tone, that Miss MacFarlane was well. + +"Ruth! Oh, she is a darling! Didn't you think so?" + +Jack blushed to the roots of his hair, but Miss Felicia's all- +comprehensive glance never wavered. This was the young man whom +Ruth had been mysterious about. She intended to know how far the +affair had gone, and it would have been useless, she knew, for +Jack to try to deceive her. + +"All our Southern girls are lovely," he answered in all sincerity. + +"And you like them better than the New York belles?" + +"I don't know any." + +"Then that means that you do." + +"Do what?" + +"Do like them better." + +The boy thought for a moment. + +"Yes, and Miss MacFarlane best of all; she is so--so--" the boy +faltered--"so sincere, and just the kind of girl you would trust +with anything. Why, I told her all about myself before I'd known +her half an hour." + +"Yes, she was greatly pleased." The match-making instinct was +always uppermost in Miss Felicia's moves, and then, again, this +young man had possibilities, his uncle being rich and he being his +only nephew. + +"Oh, then she told you!" The boy's heart gave a great leap. +Perhaps, after all, Ruth had not heard--at all events she did not +despise him. + +"No, I told her myself. The only thing that seemed to worry Ruth +was that you had not told her enough. If I remember right, she +said you were very shy." + +"And she did not say anything about--" Jack stopped. He had not +intended to put the question quite in this way, although he was +still in doubt. Give this keen-eyed, white-haired old lady but an +inkling of what was uppermost in his mind and he knew she would +have its every detail. + +"About what?" Here Miss Felicia's eyes were suddenly diverted, and +became fastened on the short figure of Mr. Isaac Cohen, who had +risen to his feet and stood talking in the most confidential way +with Morris--Peter listening intently. Such phrases as "Better +make the columns of marble," from Morris, and, "Well, I will talk +it over with the Rabbi," from the tailor, reached his ears. +Further relief came when Miss Felicia rose from her chair with her +hand extended to Morris, who was already taking leave of Peter and +all danger was passed when host and hostess conducted the tailor +and the architect to the door; Morris bending over Miss Felicia's +hand and kissing it with the air of a courtier suddenly aroused by +the appearance of royalty (he had been completely immersed in +Cohen's talk), and the tailor bowing to her on his way out without +even so much as touching the tips of her fingers. + +"There, my dear Breen," said Peter, when he had adjusted his +cravat before the glass and brushed a few stray hairs over his +temples, "that's a man it would do you an immense amount of good +to know; the kind of a man you call worthwhile. Not only does he +speak three languages, Hebrew being one of them, but he can talk +on any subject from Greek temples to the raising of violets. +Morris thinks the world of him--So do I." + +"Yes, I heard him say something about columns." + +"Oh!--then you overheard! Yes, they are for the new synagogue that +Morris is building. Cohen is chairman of the committee." + +"And he is the banker, too, I suppose?" rejoined Jack, in a tone +which showed his lack of interest in both man and subject. It was +Peter's ear he wanted, and at once. + +The old man's eyes twinkled: "Banker!--not a bit of it. He's a +tailor, my dear boy--a most delightful gentleman tailor, who works +in the basement below us and who only yesterday pressed the coat I +have on." Here Peter surveyed himself with a comprehensive glance. +"All the respectable people in New York are not money mad." Then, +seeing Jack's look of astonishment over the announcement, he laid +his hand on the boy's shoulder and said with a twinkle of his eye +and a little laugh: "Only one tailor--not nine--my boy, was +required to make Mr. Cohen a man. And now about yourself. Why are +you not at work? Old fellows like me once in a while have a +holiday--but young fellows! Come!--What is it brings you here +during business hours? Anything I can help you in?--anything at +home?" and Peter's eyes bored holes in the boy's brain. + +Jack glanced at Miss Felicia, who was arranging the roses Morris +had brought her, and then said in a half whisper: "I have had a +row with my uncle, sir. Maybe I had better come some other day, +when--" + +"No--out with it! Row with your uncle, eh? Rows with one's uncles +are too commonplace to get mysterious over, and, then, we have no +secrets. Ten chances to one I shall tell Felicia every word you +say after you've gone, so she might as well hear it at first- +hand. Felicia, this young fellow is so thin-skinned he is afraid +you will laugh at him." + +"Oh, he knows better. I have just been telling him how charming he +must be to have won Miss MacFarlane's good opinion," rejoined his +sister as she moved her work-basket nearer her elbow. + +And then, with mind at rest, now that he was sure Ruth had not +heard, and with eyes again blazing as his thoughts dwelt upon the +outrage, he poured out his story, Miss Felicia listening intently, +a curious expression on her face, Peter grave and silent, his gaze +now on the boy, now on the hearth-rug on which he stood. Only once +did a flash illumine his countenance; that was when Jack reached +that part of his narrative which told of the denunciation he had +flung in his uncle's face concerning the methods by which poor +Gilbert had been ruined. + +"And you dared tell your uncle that, you young firebrand?" + +"Yes, Mr. Grayson, I had to; what else could I say? Don't you +think it cruel to cheat like that?" + +"And what did he say?" asked Peter. + +"He would not listen--he swore at me--told me--well, he ordered +me out of the room and had the lights put out." + +"And it served you right, you young dog! Well, upon my word! Here +you are without a dollar in the world except what your uncle pays +you, and you fly off at a tangent and insult him in his own house +--and you his guest, remember. Well! Well! What are we coming to? +Felicia, did you ever hear of such a performance?" + +Miss Felicia made no answer. She knew from her brother's tone that +there was not a drop of bitterness in any one of the words that +fell from his lips; she had heard him talk that way dozens of +times before, when he was casting about for some means of letting +the culprit down the easier. She even detected a slight wrinkling +of the corners of his mouth as the denunciation rolled out. + +Not so Jack: To him the end of the world had come. Peter was his +last resort--that one so good and so clear-headed had not flared +up at once over the villainy was the severest blow of all. Perhaps +he WAS a firebrand; perhaps, after all, it was none of his +business; perhaps--perhaps--now that Ruth would not blame him, +knew nothing, in fact, of the disgraceful episode, it would have +been better for him to have ignored the whole matter and taken +Garry's advice. + +"Then I have done wrong again, Mr. Grayson?" he said at last, in +so pleading a tone that even Miss Felicia's reserve was on the +point of giving away. + +"Yes, in the manner in which you acted. Your father wouldn't have +lost his temper and called people names. Gentlemen, my dear boy, +don't do that sort of thing. They make up their minds about what +they want to do and then do it quietly, and, let me say, with a +certain amount of courtesy." + +"Then, what must I do?" All the fight was out of the lad now. + +"Why, go back to your desk in the office and your very delightful +suite of rooms at your uncle's. Tell him you are sorry you let +your feelings get the best of you; then, when you have entirely +quieted down, you and I will put our heads together and see what +can be done to improve matters. And that, let me tell you, my dear +boy, is going to be rather a difficult thing, for you see you are +rather particular as to what you should and should not do to earn +your living." Peter's wrinkles had now crept up his cheeks and +were playing hide and seek with the twinkles in his eyes. "Of +course any kind of healthy work--such, for instance, as hauling a +chain through a swamp, carrying a level, prospecting for oil, or +copper, or gold--all very respectable occupations for some men-- +are quite impossible in your case. But we will think it out and +find something easier--something that won't soil your hands, and--" + +"Please don't, Mr. Grayson," interrupted Jack. The boy had begun +to see through the raillery now. "I will do anything you want me +to do." + +Peter burst into a laugh and grabbed him by both shoulders: "Of +course, my dear boy, you will do anything except what you believe +to be wrong. That's right--right as can be; nobody wants you to do +any different, and--" + +The opening of a door leading into the hall caused Peter to stop +in his harangue and turn his head. Mrs. McGuffey was ushering in a +young woman whose radiant face was like a burst of sunshine. Peter +strained his eyes and then sprang forward: + +"Why, Ruth!" + +There was no doubt about it! That young woman, her cheeks like two +June peonies, her eyes dancing, the daintiest and prettiest hat in +the world on her head, was already half across the room and close +to Peter's rug before Jack could even realize that he and she were +breathing the same air. + +"Oh! I just could not wait a minute longer!" she cried in a joyous +tone. "I had such a good time yesterday, dear aunt Felicia, and-- +Why!--it is you, Mr. Breen, and have you come to tell aunty the +same thing? Wasn't it lovely?" + +Then Jack said that it was lovely, and that he hadn't come for any +such purpose--then that he had--and then Peter patted her hand and +told her she was the prettiest thing he had ever seen in all his +life, and that he was going to throw overboard all his other +sweethearts at once and cleave to her alone; and Miss Felicia +vowed that she was the life of the party; and Jack devoured her +with his eyes, his heart thumping away at high pressure; and so +the moments fled until the blithesome young girl, saying she had +not a minute to spare, as she had to meet her father, who would +not wait, readjusted her wraps, kissed Miss Felicia on both +cheeks, sent another flying through the air toward Peter from the +tips of her fingers, and with Jack as escort--he also had to see a +friend who would not wait a minute--danced out of the room and so +on down to the street. + +The Scribe will not follow them very far in their walk uptown. +Both were very happy, Jack because the scandal he had been +dreading, since he had last looked into her eyes, had escaped her +ears, and Ruth because of all the young men she had met in her +brief sojourn in New York this young Mr. Breen treated her with +most consideration. + +While the two were making their way through the crowded streets, +Jack helping her over the crossings, picking out the drier spots +for her dainty feet to step upon, shielding her from the polluting +touch of the passing throng, Miss Felicia had resumed her sewing +--it was a bit of lace that needed a stitch here and there--and +Peter, dragging a chair before the fire, had thrown himself into +its depths, his long, thin white fingers open fan-like to its +blaze. + +"You are just wasting your time, Peter, over that young man," Miss +Felicia said at last, snipping the end of a thread with her +scissors. "Better buy him a guitar with a broad blue ribbon and +start him off troubadouring, or, better still, put him into a suit +of tin armor and give him a lance. He doesn't belong to this +world. It's just as well Ruth did not hear that rigmarole. +Charming manners, I admit--lovely, sitting on a cushion looking up +into some young girl's eyes, but he will never make his way here +with those notions. Why he should want to anger his uncle, who is +certainly most kind to him, is past finding out. He's stupid, +that's what he is--just stupid!"--to break with your bread and +butter and to defy those who could be of service to you being an +unpardonable sin with Miss Felicia. No, he would not do at all for +Ruth. + +Peter settled himself deeper in his chair and studied the cheery +blaze between his outspread fingers. + +"That's the very thing will save him, Felicia." + +"What--his manners?" + +"No--his adorable stupidity. I grant you he's fighting windmills, +but, then, my dear, don't forget that he's FIGHTING--that's +something." + +"But they are only windmills, and, more extraordinary still, this +one is grinding corn to keep him from starving," and she folded up +her sewing preparatory to leaving the room. + +Peter's fingers closed tight: "I'm not so sure of that," he +answered gravely. + +Miss Felicia had risen from her seat and was now bending over the +back of his chair, her spare sharp elbows resting on its edge, her +two hands clasping his cheeks. + +"And are you really going to add this stupid boy to your string, +you goose of a Peter?" she asked in a bantering tone, as her +fingers caressed his temples. "Don't forget Mosenthal and little +Perkins, and the waiter you brought home and fed for a week, and +sent away in your best overcoat, which he pawned the next day; or +the two boys at college. Aren't you ever going to learn?" and she +leaned forward and kissed the top of his bald head. + +Peter's only reply was to reach up and smooth her jewelled fingers +with his own. He remembered them all; there was an excuse, of +course, he reminded her, for his action in each and every case. +But for him Mosenthal--really a great violinist--would have +starved, little Perkins would have been sent to the reformatory, +and the waiter to the dogs. That none of them, except the two +college boys, had ever thanked him for his assistance--a fact well +known to Miss Felicia--never once crossed his mind--wouldn't have +made any difference if it had. + +"But this young Breen is worth saving, Felicia," he answered at +last. + +"From what--the penitentiary?" she laughed--this time with a +slight note of anger in her voice. + +"No, you foolish thing--much worse." + +"From what, then?" + +"From himself." + +Long after his sister had left the room Peter kept his seat by the +fire, his eyes gazing into the slumbering coals. His holiday had +been a happy one until Jack's entrance: Morris had come to an +early breakfast and had then run down and dragged up Cohen so that +he could talk with him in comfort and away from the smell of the +tailor's goose and the noise of the opening and shutting of the +shop door; Miss Felicia had summoned all her good humor and +patience (she did not always approve of Peter's acquaintances--the +little tailor being one), and had received Cohen as she would have +done a savant from another country--one whose personal appearance +belied his intellect but who on no account must be made aware of +that fact, and Peter himself had spent the hour before and after +breakfast--especially the hour after, when the Bank always claimed +him--in pulling out and putting back one book after another from +the shelves of his small library, reading a page here and a line +there, the lights and shadows that crossed his eager, absorbed +face, an index of his enjoyment. + +All this had been spoiled by a wild, untamed colt of a boy whom he +could not help liking in spite of his peculiarities. + +And yet, was his sister not right? Why bother himself any more +about a man so explosive and so tactless--and he WAS a man, so +far as years and stature went, who, no matter what he might +attempt for his advancement, would as surely topple it over as lie +would a house of cards. That the boy's ideals were high, and his +sincerity beyond question, was true, but what use would these +qualities be to him if he lacked the common-sense to put them +into practice? + +All this he told to the fire--first to one little heap of coals-- +then another--snuggling together--and then to the big back-log +scarred all over in its fight to keep everybody warm and happy. + +Suddenly his round, glistening head ceased bobbing back and forth; +his lips, which had talked incessantly without a sound falling +from them, straightened; his gesticulating fingers tightened into +a hard knot and the old fellow rose from his easy-chair. He had +made up his mind. + +Then began a search through his desk in and out of the pigeon- +holes, under a heap of letters--most of them unanswered; beneath a +package tied with tape, until his eyes fell upon an envelope +sealed with wax, in which was embedded the crest of the ancestors +of the young gentleman whose future had so absorbed his thoughts. +It was Mrs. Breen's acceptance of Miss Felicia's invitation to +Miss MacFarlane's tea. + +"Ah, here it is! Now I'll find the number--yes, 864--I thought it +was a "4"--but I didn't want to make any mistake." + +This done, and the note with the number and street of Jack's +uncle's house spread out before him, Peter squared his elbows, +took a sheet of paper from a drawer, covered it with half a dozen +lines beginning "My dear Breen--" enclosed it in an envelope and +addressed it to "Mr. John Breen, care of Arthur Breen, Esq.," etc. +This complete, he affixed the stamp in the upper left-hand corner, +and with the letter fast in his hand disappeared in his bedroom, +from which he emerged ten minutes later in full walking costume, +even to his buckskin gloves and shiny high hat, not to mention a +brand-new silk scarf held in place by his diamond tear-drop, the +two in high relief above the lapels of his tightly buttoned +surtout. + +"No, Mrs. McGuffey," he said with a cheery smile as he passed out +of the door (she had caught sight of the letter and had stretched +out her hand)--"No--I am going for a walk, and I'll mail it +myself." + + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + + + +Whatever the function--whether it was a cosey dinner for the +congenial few, a crowded reception for the uncongenial many, or a +coming-out party for some one of the eager-expectant buds just +bursting into bloom--most of whom he had known from babyhood-- +Peter was always ready with his "Of course I'll come--" or +"Nothing would delight me more--" or the formal "Mr. Grayson +accepts with great pleasure," etc., unless the event should fall +upon a Saturday night; then there was certain to be a prompt +refusal. + +Even Miss Felicia recognized this unbreakable engagement and made +her plans accordingly. So did good Mrs. McGuffey, who selected +this night for her own social outings; and so did most of his +intimate friends who were familiar with his habits. + +On any other night you might, or you might not, find Peter at +home, dependent upon his various engagements, but if you really +wanted to get hold of his hand, or his ear, or the whole or any +other part of his delightful body, and if by any mischance you +happened to select a Saturday night for your purpose, you must +search for him at the Century. To spend this one evening at his +favorite club had been his custom for years--ever since he had +been elected to full membership--a date so far back in the dim +past that the oldest habitue had to search the records to make +sure of the year, and this custom he still regularly kept up. + +That the quaint old club-house was but a stone's throw from his +own quarters in Fifteenth Street made no difference; he would +willingly have tramped to Murray Hill and beyond--even as far as +the big reservoir, had the younger and more progressive element +among the members picked the institution up bodily and moved it +that far--as later on they did. + +Not that he favored any such innovation: "Move up-town! Why, my +dear sir!" he protested, when the subject was first mentioned, "is +there nothing in the polish of these old tables and chairs, rubbed +bright by the elbows of countless good fellows, that appeals to +you? Do you think any modern varnish can replace it? Here I have +sat for thirty years or more, and--please God!--here I want to +continue to sit." + +He was at his own small table in the front room overlooking the +street when he spoke--his by right of long use, as it was also of +Morris, MacFarlane, Wright, old Partridge the painter, and Knight +the sculptor. For years this group of Centurions, after circling +the rooms on meeting nights, criticising the pictures and helping +themselves to the punch, had dropped into these same seats by the +side of Peter. + +And these were not the only chairs tacitly recognized as carrying +special privileges by reason of long usage. Over in the corner +between the two rooms could be found Bayard Taylor's chair--his +for years, from which he dispensed wisdom, adventure and raillery +to a listening coterie--King, MacDonough and Collins among them, +while near the stairs, his great shaggy head glistening in the +overhead light, Parke Godwin held court, with Sterling, Martin and +Porter, to say nothing of still older habitues who in the years of +their membership were as much a part of the fittings of the club +as the smoke-begrimed portraits which lined its walls. + +On this Saturday night he had stepped into the clubhouse with more +than his usual briskness. Sweeping a comprehensive glance around +as he entered, as if looking for some one in the hall, he slipped +off his overcoat and hat and handed both to the negro servant in +charge of the cloak-room. + +"George." + +"Yes, Mr. Grayson." + +"If anybody inquires for me you will find me either on this floor +or in the library above. Don't forget, and don't make any mistake. + +"No, suh--ain't goin' to be no mistake." + +This done, the old gentleman moved to the mirror, and gave a +sidelong glance at his perfectly appointed person--he had been +dining at the Portmans', had left the table early, and was in full +evening dress. + +The inspection proved that the points of his collar wanted +straightening the thousandth part of an inch, and that his sparse +gray locks needed combing a wee bit further toward his cheek +bones. These, with a certain rebellious fold in his necktie, +having been brought into place, the guardian of the Exeter entered +the crowded room, picked a magazine from the shelves and dropped +into his accustomed seat. + +Holker Morris and Lagarge now strolled in and drawing up to a +small table adjoining Peter's touched a tiny bell. This answered, +and the order given, the two renewed a conversation which had +evidently been begun outside, and which was of so absorbing a +character that for a moment Peter's face, half hidden by his book, +was unnoticed. + +"Oh!--that's you, Methusaleh, is it!" cried Morris at last. "Move +over--have something?" + +Peter looked up smiling: "Not now, Holker. I will later." + +Morris kept on talking. Lagarge, his companion--a thin, +cadaverous-looking man with a big head and the general air of +having been carved out of an old root--a great expert in +ceramics--listening intently, bobbing his head in toy-mandarin +fashion whenever one of Holker's iconoelasms cleared the air. + +"Suppose they did pay thirty thousand dollars for it," Holker +insisted, slapping his knee with his outspread palm. "That makes +the picture no better and no worse. If it was mine, and I could +afford it, I would sell it to anybody who loved it for thirty +cents rather than sell it to a man who didn't, for thirty +millions. When Troyon painted it he put his soul into it, and you +can no more tack a price to that than you can stick an auction +card on a summer cloud, or appraise the perfume from a rose +garden. It has no money value, Legarge, and never will have. You +might as well list sunsets on the Stock Exchange." + +"But Troyon had to live, Holker," chimed in Harrington, who, with +the freedom accorded every member of the club--one of its greatest +charms--had just joined the group and sat listening. + +"Yes," rejoined Morris, a quizzjeal expression crossing his face-- +"that was the curse of it. He was born a man and had a stomach +instead of being born a god without one. As to living--he didn't +really live--no great painter really lives until he is dead. And +that's the way it should be--they would never have become immortal +with a box full of bonds among their assets. They would have +stopped work. Now they can rest in their graves with the +consciousness that they have done their level best." + +"There is one thing would lift him out of it, or ought to," +remarked Harrington, with a glance around the circle. "I am, of +course, speaking of Troyon." + +"What?" asked Morris. + +"The news that Roberts paid thirty thousand dollors for a picture +for which the painter was glad to get three thousand francs," a +reply which brought a roar from the group, Morris joining in +heartily. + +The circle had now widened to the filling of a dozen chairs, +Morris's way of putting things being one of the features of club +nights, he, as usual, dominating the talk, calling out "Period"-- +his way of notifying some speaker to come to a full stop, whenever +he broke away from the facts and began soaring into hyperbolics-- +Morgan, Harrington and the others laughing in unison at his +sallies. + +The clouds of tobacco smoke grew thicker. The hum of conversation +louder; especially at an adjoining table where one lean old +Academician in a velvet skull cap was discussing the new +impressionistic craze which had just begun to show itself in the +work of the younger men. This had gone on for some minutes when +the old man turned upon them savagely and began ridiculing the new +departure as a cloak to hide poor drawing, an outspoken young +painter asserting in their defence, that any technique was helpful +if it would kill off the snuff-box school in which the man under +the skull cap held first place. + +Morris had lent an ear to the discussion and again took up the +cudgels. + +"You young fellows are right," he cried, twisting his body toward +their table. The realists have had their day; they work a picture +to death; all of them. If you did but know it, it really takes two +men to paint a great picture--one to do the work and the other to +kill him when he has done enough." + +"Pity some of your murderers, Holker, didn't start before they +stretched their canvases," laughed Harrington. + +And so the hours sped on. + +All this time Peter had been listening with one ear wide open--the +one nearest the door--for any sound in that direction. French +masterpieces Impressionism and the rest of it did not interest him +to-night. Something else was stirring him--something he had been +hugging to his heart all day. + +Only the big and little coals in his own fireplace in Fifteenth +Street, and perhaps the great back-log, beside himself, knew the +cause. He had not taken Miss Felicia into his confidence--that +would never have done--might, indeed, have spoilt everything. Even +when he had risen from Morris's coterie to greet Henry MacFarlane +--Ruth's father--his intimate friend for years, and who answered +his hand-shake with--"Well, you old rascal--what makes you look so +happy?--anybody left you a million?"--even then he gave no inkling +of the amount of bottled sunshine he was at the precise moment +carrying inside his well-groomed body, except to remark with all +his twinkles and wrinkles scampering loose: + +"Seeing you, Henry--" an answer which, while it only excited +derision and a sly thrust of his thumb into Peter's ribs, was +nevertheless literally true if the distinguished engineer did but +know it. + +It was only when the hours dragged on and his oft-consulted watch +marked ten o'clock that the merry wrinkles began to straighten and +the eyes to wander. + +When an additional ten minutes had ticked themselves out, and then +a five and then a ten more, the old fellow became so nervous that +he began to make a tour of the club-house, even ascending the +stairs, searching the library and dining-room, scanning each group +and solitary individual he passed, until, thoroughly discouraged, +he regained his seat only to press a bell lying among some half- +empty glasses. The summoned waiter listened attentively, his head +bent low to catch the whispered order, and then disappeared +noiselessly in the direction of the front door, Peter's fingers +meanwhile beating an impatient staccato on the arm of his chair. + +Nothing resulting from this experiment he at last gave up all hope +and again sought MacFarlane who was trying to pound into the head +of a brother engineer some new theory of spontaneous explosions. + +Hardly had he drawn up a chair to listen--he was a better listener +to-night, somehow, than a talker, when a hand was laid on his +shoulder, and looking up, he saw Jack bending over him. + +With a little cry of joy Peter sprang to his feet, both palms +outstretched: "Oh!--you're here at last! Didn't I say nine +o'clock, my dear boy, or am I wrong? Well, so you are here it's +all right." Then with face aglow he turned to MacFarlane: "Henry, +here's a young fellow you ought to know; his name's John Breen, +and he's from your State." + +The engineer stopped short in his talk and absorbed Jack from his +neatly brushed hair, worn long at the back of his neck, to his +well-shod feet, and held out his hand. + +"From Maryland? So am I; I was raised down in Prince George +County. Glad to know you. Are you any connection of the Breens of +Ann Arundle?" + +"Yes, sir--all my people came from Ann Arundle. My father was +Judge Breen," answered Jack with embarrassment. He had not yet +become accustomed to the novelty of the scene around him. + +"Now I know just where you belong. My father and yours were +friends. I have often heard him speak of Judge Breen. And did you +not meet my daughter at Miss Grayson's the other day? She told me +she had met a Mr. Breen from our part of the country." + +Jack's eyes danced. Was this what Peter had invited him to the +club for? Now it was all clear. And then again he had not said a +word about his being in the Street, or connected with it in any +way. Was there ever such a good Peter? + +"Oh, yes, sir!--and I hope she is very well." + +The engineer said she was extremely well, never better in her +life, and that he was delighted to meet a son of his old friend-- +then, turning to the others, immediately forgot Jack's existence, +and for the time being his daughter, in the discussion still going +on around him. + +The young fellow settled himself in his seat and looked about him +--at the smoke-stained ceiling, the old portraits and quaint +fittings and furniture--more particularly at the men. He would +have liked to talk to Ruth's father a little longer, but he felt +dazed and ill at ease--out of his element, somehow--although he +remembered the same kind of people at his father's house, except +that they wore different clothes. + +But Peter did not leave him long in meditation. There were other +surprises for him upstairs, in the small dining-room opening out +of the library, where a long table was spread with eatables and +drinkables--salads, baby sausages, escaloped oysters, devilled +crabs and other dishes dear to old and new members. Here men were +met standing in groups, their plates in their hands, or seated at +the smaller tables, when a siphon and a beer bottle, or a mug of +Bass would be added to their comfort. + +It was there the Scribe met him for the second time, my first +being the Morris dinner, when he sat within speaking distance. I +had heard of him, of course, as Peter's new protege--indeed, the +old fellow had talked of nothing else, and so I was glad to renew +the acquaintance. I found him to be like all other young fellows +of his class--I had lived among his people, and knew--rather shy, +with a certain deferential air toward older people--but with the +composure belonging to unconscious youth--no fidgeting or fussing +--modest, unassertive--his big brown eyes under their heavy lashes +studying everything about him, his face brightening when you +addressed him. I discovered, too, a certain indefinable charm +which won me to him at once. Perhaps it was his youth; perhaps it +was a certain honest directness, together with a total lack of all +affectation that appealed to me, but certain it is that not many +minutes had passed before I saw why Peter liked him, and I saw, +too, why he liked Peter. + +When I asked him--we had found three empty seats at a table--what +impressed him most in the club, it being his first visit, he +answered in his simple, direct way, that he thought it was the +note of good-fellowship everywhere apparent, the men greeting each +other as if they really meant it. Another feature was the dress +and faces of the members--especially the authors, to whom Peter +had introduced him, whose books he had read, and whose +personalities he had heard discussed, and who, to his astonishment, +had turned out to be shabby-looking old fellows who smoked and +drank, or played chess, like other ordinary mortals, and without +pretence of any kind so far as he could detect. + +"Just like one big family, isn't it, Mr. Grayson?" the boy said. +"Don't you two gentlemen love to come here?" + +"Yes." + +"They don't look like very rich men." + +"They're not. Now and then a camel crawls through but it is a +tight squeeze," remarked Peter arching his gray, bushy eyebrows, a +smile hovering about his lips. + +The boy laughed: "Well, then, how did they get here?" + +"Principally because they lead decent lives, are not puffed up +with conceit, have creative brains and put them to some honest +use," answered Peter. + +The boy looked away for a moment and remarked quietly that about +everybody he knew would fail in one or more of these +qualifications. Then he added: + +"And now tell me, Mr. Grayson, what most of them do--that +gentleman, for instance, who is talking to the old man in the +velvet cap." + +"That is General Norton, one of our most distinguished engineers. +He is Consulting Engineer in the Croton Aqueduct Department, and +his opinion is sought all over the country. He started life as a +tow-boy on the Erie Canal, and when he was your age he was keeping +tally of dump-cars from a cut on the Pennsylvania Railroad." + +Jack looked at the General in wonderment, but he was too much +interested in the other persons about him to pursue the inquiry +any further. + +"And the man next to him--the one with his hand to his head?" + +"I don't recall him, but the Major may." + +"That is Professor Hastings of Yale," I replied--"perhaps the +most eminent chemist in this or any other country." + +"And what did he do when he was a boy?" asked young Breen. + +"Made pills, I expect, and washed out test tubes and retorts," +interrupted Peter, with a look on his face as if the poor +professor were more to be pitied than commended. + +"Did any of them dig?" asked the boy. + +"What kind of digging?" inquired Peter. + +"Well, the kind you spoke of the night you came to see me." + +"Oh, with their hands?" cried Peter with a laugh. "Well, now, let +me see--" and his glance roved about the room. "There is Mr. +Schlessinger, the Egyptologist, but of course he was after +mummies, not dirt; and then there is--yes--that sun-burned young +fellow of forty, talking to Mr. Eastman Johnson; he has been at +work in Yucatan looking for Toltec ruins, because he told me his +experience only a few nights ago; but then, of course, that can +hardly be said to be--Oh!--now I have it. You see that tall man +with side-whiskers, looking like a young bank president--my kind-- +my boy--well, he started life with a pick and shovel. The steel +point of the pick if I remember rightly, turned up a nugget of +gold that made him rich, but he DUG all the same, and he may again +some day--you can't tell." + +It had all been a delightful experience for Jack and his face +showed it, but it was not until after I left that the story of why +he had come late was told. He had started several times to explain +but the constant interruption of members anxious to shake Peter's +hand, had always prevented. + +"I haven't apologized for being late, sir," Jack had said at last. +"It was long after ten, I am afraid, but I could not help it." + +"No; what was the matter?" + +"I didn't get the letter until half an hour before I reached +here." + +"Why, I sent it to your uncle's house, and mailed it myself, just +after you had gone out with Miss MacFarlane." + +"Yes, sir; but I am not at my uncle's house any more. I am staying +with Garry Minott in his rooms; I have the sofa." + +Peter gave a low whistle. + +"And you have given up your desk at the office as well?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Bless my soul, my boy! And what are you going to do now?" + +"I don't know; but I will not go on as I have been doing. I can't, +Mr. Grayson, and you must not ask it. I would rather sweep the +streets. I have just seen poor Charley Gilbert and Mrs. Gilbert. +He has not a dollar in the world, and is going West, he tells me." + +Peter reflected for a moment. It was all he could do to hide his +delight. + +"And what do your people say?" + +"My aunt says I am an idiot, and Corinne won't speak to me." + +"And your uncle?" + +"Nothing, to me. He told Garry that if I didn't come back in three +days I should never enter his house or his office again." + +"But you are going back? Are you not?" + +"No,--never. Not if I starve!" + +Peter's eyes were twinkling when he related the conversation to me +the next day. + +"I could have hugged him, Major," he said, when he finished, "and +I would if we had not been at the club." + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + + + +The Scribe is quite positive that had you only heard about it as +he had, even with the details elaborated, not only by Peter, who +was conservatism itself in his every statement, but by Miss +Felicia as well--who certainly ought to have known--you would not +have believed it possible until you had seen it. Even then you +would have had to drop into one of Miss Felicia's cretonne- +upholstered chairs--big easy-chairs that fitted into every hollow +and bone in your back--looked the length of the uneven porch, run +your astonished eye down the damp, water-soaked wooden steps to +the moist brick pavement below, and so on to the beds of crocuses +blooming beneath the clustering palms and orange trees, before you +could realize (in spite of the drifting snow heaped up on the +door-steps of her house outside--some of it still on your shoes) +that you were in Miss Felicia's tropical garden, attached to Miss +Felicia's Geneseo house, and not in the back yard of some old home +in the far-off sunny South. + +It was an old story, of course, to Peter, who had the easy-chair +beside me, and so it was to Morris, who had helped Miss Felicia +carry out so Utopian a scheme, but it had come to me as a complete +surprise, and I was still wide-eyed and incredulous. + +"And what keeps out the cold?" I asked Morris, who was lying back +blowing rings into the summer night, the glow of an overhead +lantern lighting up his handsome face. + +"Glass," he laughed. + +"Where?" + +"There, just above the vines, my dear Major," interrupted Miss +Felicia, pointing upward. "Come and let me show you my frog pond-- +"and away we went along the brick paths, bordered with pots of +flowers, to a tiny lake covered with lily-pads and circled by +water-plants. + +"I did not want a greenhouse--I wanted a back yard," she +continued, "and I just would have it. Holker sent his men up, and +on three sides we built a wall that looked a hundred years old-- +but it is not five--and roofed it over with glass, and just where +you see the little flight of stairs is the heat. That old arbor in +the corner has been here ever since I was a child, and so have the +syringa bushes and the green box next the wall. I wanted them all +the year round--not just for three or four months in the year-- +and that witch Holker said he could do it, and he has. Half the +weddings in town have been begun right on that bench, and when the +lanterns are lighted and the fountain turned on outside, no +gentleman ever escapes. You and Peter are immune, so I sha'n't +waste any of my precious ammunition on you. And now what will you +wear in your button-hole--a gardenia, or some violets? Ruth will +be down in a minute, and you must look your prettiest." + +But if the frog pond, damp porch and old-fashioned garden had come +as a surprise, what shall I say of the rest of Miss Felicia's +house which I am now about to inspect under Peter's guidance. + +"Here, come along," he cried, slipping his arm through mine. "You +have had enough of the garden, for between you and me, my dear +Major"--here he looked askance at Miss Felicia--"I think it an +admirable place in which to take cold, and that's why--" and he +passed his hand over his scalp--"I always insist on wearing my hat +when I walk here. Mere question of imagination, perhaps, but old +fellows like you and me should take no chances--" and he laughed +heartily. + +"This room was my father's," continued Peter. "The bookcases have +still some of the volumes he loved; he liked the low ceiling and +the big fireplace, and always wrote here--it was his library, +really. There opens the old drawing-room and next to it is +Felicia's den, where she concocts most of her deviltry, and the +dining-room beyond--and that's all there is on this floor, except +the kitchen, which you'll hear from later." + +And as Peter rattled on, telling me the history of this and that +piece of old furniture, or portrait, or queer clock, my eyes were +absorbing the air of cosey comfort that permeated every corner of +the several rooms. Everything had the air of being used. In the +library the chairs were of leather, stretched into saggy folds by +many tired backs; the wide, high fender fronting the hearth, +though polished so that you could see your face in it, showed the +marks of many a drying shoe, while on the bricks framing the +fireplace could still be seen the scratchings of countless +matches. + +The drawing-room, too--although, as in all houses of its class and +period, a thing of gilt frames, high mirrors and stiff furniture-- +was softened by heaps of cushions, low stools and soothing arm- +chairs, while Miss Felicia's own particular room was so veritable +a symphony in chintz, white paint and old mahogany, with cubby- +holes crammed with knickknacks, its walls hung with rare etchings; +pots of flowers everywhere and the shelves and mantels crowded +with photographs of princes, ambassadors, grand dukes, grand +ladies, flossy-headed children, chubby-cheeked babies (all +souvenirs of her varied and busy life), that it was some minutes +before I could throw myself into one of her heavenly arm-chairs, +there to be rested as I had never been before, and never expect to +be again. + +It being Peter's winter holiday, he and Morris had stopped over on +their way down from Buffalo, where Holker had spoken at a public +dinner. The other present and expected guests were Ruth +MacFarlane, who was already upstairs; her father, Henry +MacFarlane, who was to arrive by the next train, and last and by +no means lest, his confidential clerk, Mr. John Breen, now two +years older and, it is to be hoped, with considerable more common- +sense than when he chucked himself neck and heels out into the +cold world. Whether the expected arrival of this young gentleman +had anything to do with the length of time it took Ruth to dress, +the Scribe knoweth not. There is no counting upon the whims and +vagaries of even the average young woman of the day, and as Ruth +was a long way above that medium grade, and with positive ideas of +her own as to whom she liked and whom she did not like, and was, +besides, a most discreet and close-mouthed young person, it will +be just as well for us to watch the game of battledoor and +shuttlecock still being played between Jack and herself, before we +arrive at any fixed conclusions. + +Any known and admitted facts connected with either one of the +contestants are, however, in order, and so while we are waiting +for old Moggins, who drives the village 'bus, and who has been +charged by Miss Felicia on no account to omit bringing in his next +load a certain straight, bronzed-cheeked, well-set-up young man +with a springy step, accompanied by a middle-aged gentleman who +looked like a soldier, and deliver them both with their attendant +baggage at her snow-banked door, any data regarding this same +young man's movements since the night Peter wanted to hug him for +leaving his uncle's service, cannot fail to be of interest. + +To begin then with the day on which Jack, with Frederick, the +second man's assistance, packed his belongings and accepted +Garry's invitation to make a bed of his lounge. + +The kind-hearted Frederick knew what it was to lose a place, and +so his sympathies had been all the more keen. Parkins's nose, on +the contrary, had risen a full degree and stood at an angle of 45 +degrees, for he had not only heard the ultimatum of his employer, +but was rather pleased with the result. As for the others, no one +ever believed the boy really meant it, and everybody--even the +maids and the high-priced chef--fully expected Jack would turn +prodigal as soon as his diet of husks had whetted his appetite for +dishes more nourishing and more toothsome. But no one of them took +account of the quality of the blood that ran in the young man's +veins. + +It was scheming Peter who saved the day. + +"Put that young fellow to work, Henry," he had said to MacFarlane +the morning after the three had met at the Century Club. + +"What does he know, Peter?" + +"Nothing, except to speak the truth." + +And thus it had come to pass that within twenty-four hours +thereafter the boy had shaken the dust of New York from his feet-- +even to resigning from the Magnolia, and a day later was found +bending over a pine desk knocked together by a hammer and some +ten-penny nails in a six-by-nine shanty, the whole situated at the +mouth of a tunnel half a mile from Corklesville, where he was at +work on the pay-roll of the preceding week. + +Many things had helped in deciding him to take the proffered +place. First, Peter had wanted it; second, his uncle did not want +it, Corinne and his aunt being furious that he should go to work +like a common laborer, or--as Garry had put it--"a shovel-spanked +dago." Third, Ruth was within calling distance, and that in itself +meant Heaven. Once installed, however, he had risen steadily, both +in MacFarlane's estimation and in the estimation of his fellow- +workers; especially the young engineers who were helping his Chief +in the difficult task before him. Other important changes had also +taken place in the two years: his body had strengthened, his face +had grown graver, his views of life had broadened and, best of +all, his mind was at rest. Of one thing he was sure--no confiding +young Gilberts would be fleeced in his present occupation--not if +he knew anything about it. + +Moreover, the outdoor life which he had so longed for was his +again. On Saturday afternoons and Sundays he tramped the hills, or +spent hours rowing on the river. His employer's villa was also +always open to him--a privilege not granted to the others in the +working force. The old tie of family was the sesame. Judge Breen's +son was, both by blood and training, the social equal of any man, +and although the distinguished engineer, being well born himself, +seldom set store on such things, he recognized his obligation in +Jack's case and sought the first opportunity to tell him so. + +"You will find a great change in your surroundings, Mr. Breen," he +had said. "The little hotel where you will have to put up is +rather rough and uncomfortable, but you are always welcome at my +home, and this I mean, and I hope you will understand it that way +without my mentioning it again." + +The boy's heart leaped to his throat as he listened, and a dozen +additional times that day his eyes had rested on the clump of +trees which shaded the roof sheltering Ruth. + +That the exclusive Miss Grayson should now have invited him to +pass some days at her home had brought with it a thrill of greater +delight. Her opinion of the boy had changed somewhat. His +willingness to put up with the discomforts of the village inn--"a +truly dreadful place," to quote one of Miss Felicia's own letters +--and to continue to put up with them for more than two years, +while losing nothing of his good-humor and good manners, had +shaken her belief in the troubadour and tin-armor theory, although +nothing in Jack's surroundings or in his prospects for the future +fitted him, so far as she could see, to life companionship with so +dear a girl as her beloved Ruth--a view which, of course, she kept +strictly to herself. + +But she still continued to criticise him, at which Peter would rub +his hands and break out with: + +"Fine fellow!--square peg in a square hole this time. Fine fellow, +I tell you, Felicia!" + +He receiving in reply some such answer as: + +"Yes, quite lovely in fairy tales, Peter, and when you have taught +him--for you did it, remember--how to shovel and clean up +underbrush and split rocks--and that just's what Ruth told me he +was doing when she took a telegram to her father which had come to +the house--and he in a pair of overalls, like any common workman-- +what, may I ask, will you have him doing next? Is he to be an +engineer or a clerk all his life? He might have had a share in his +uncle's business by this time if he had had any common-sense;" +Peter retorting often with but a broad smile and that little gulp +of satisfaction--something between a chuckle and a sigh--which +always escaped him when some one of his proteges were living up to +his pet theories. + +And yet it was Miss Felicia herself who was the first to welcome +the reprobate, even going to the front door and standing in the +icy draught, with the snowflakes whirling about her pompadoured +head, until Jack had alighted from the tail-end of Moggins's 'bus +and, with his satchel in his hand, had cleared the sidewalk with a +bound and stood beside her. + +"Oh, I'm so glad to be here," Jack had begun, "and it was so good +of you to want me," when a voice rang clear from the top of the +stairs: + +"And where's daddy--isn't he coming?" + +"Oh!--how do you do, Miss Ruth? No; I am sorry to say he could not +leave--that is, we could not persuade him to leave. He sent you +all manner of messages, and you, too, Miss--" + +"He isn't coming? Oh, I am so disappointed! What is the matter, is +he ill?" She was half-way down the staircase now, her face showing +how keen was her disappointment. + +"No--nothing's the matter--only we are arranging for an important +blast in a day or two, and he felt he couldn't be away. I can only +stay the night." Jack had his overcoat stripped from his broad +shoulders now and the two had reached each other's hands. + +Miss Felicia watched them narrowly out of her sharp, kindly eyes. +This love-affair--if it were a love-affair--had been going on for +years now and she was still in the dark as to the outcome. There +was no question that the boy was head over heels in love with the +girl--she could see that from the way the color mounted to his +cheeks when Ruth's voice rang out, and the joy in his eyes when +they looked into hers. How Ruth felt toward her new guest was what +she wanted to know. This was, perhaps, the only reason why she had +invited him--another thing she kept strictly to herself. + +But the two understood it--if Miss Felicia did not. There may be +shrewd old ladies who can read minds at a glance, and fussy old +men who can see through blind millstones, and who know it all, but +give me two lovers to fool them both to the top of their bent, be +they so minded. + +"And now, dear, let Mr. Breen go to his room, for we dine in an +hour, and Holker will be cross as two sticks if we keep it waiting +a minute." + +But Holker was not cross--not when dinner was served; nobody was +cross--certainly not Peter, who was in his gayest mood; and +certainly not Ruth or Jack, who babbled away next to each other. +Peter's heart swelled with pride and satisfaction as he saw the +change which two years of hard work had made in Jack--not only in +his bearing and in a certain fearless independence which had +become a part of his personality, but in the unmistakable note of +joyousness which flowed out of him, so marked in contrast to the +depression which used to haunt him like a spectre. Stories of his +life at his boarding-house--vaguely christened a hotel by its +landlady, Mrs. Hicks--bubbled out of the boy as well as accounts +of various escapades among the men he worked with--especially the +younger engineers and one of the foremen who had rooms next his +own--all told with a gusto and ring that kept the table in shouts +of merriment--Morris laughing loudest and longest, Peter +whispering behind his hand to Miss Felicia: + +"Charming, isn't he?--and please note, my dear, that none of the +dirt from his shovel seems to have clogged his wit--" at which +there was another merry laugh--Peter's, this time, his being the +only voice in evidence. + +"And she is such fun, Miss Felicia" (Mrs. Hicks was under +discussion), called out Jack, realizing that he had, perhaps-- +although unconsciously--failed to include his hostess in his +coterie of listeners. "You should see her caps, and the +magnificent airs she puts on when we come down late to breakfast +on Sunday mornings." + +"And tell them about the potatoes," interrupted Ruth. + +"Oh, that was disgraceful, but it really could not be helped--we +had greasy fried potatoes until we could not stand them another +day, and Bolton found them in the kitchen late one night ready for +the skillet the next morning, and filled them with tooth powder, +and that ended it." + +"I'd have set you fellows out on the sidewalk if I'd been Mrs. +Hicks," laughed Morris. "I know that old lady--I used to stop with +her myself when I was building the town hall--and she's good as +gold. And now tell me how MacFarlane is getting on--building a +railroad, isn't he? He told me about it, but I forget." + +"No," replied Jack, his face growing suddenly serious as he turned +toward the speaker; "the company is building the road. We have +only got a fill of half a mile and then a tunnel of a mile more." + +Miss Felicia beamed sententiously when Jack said "we," but she did +not interrupt the speaker. + +"And what sort of cutting?" continued the architect in a tone that +showed his entire familiarity with work of the kind. + +"Gneiss rock for eleven hundred feet and then some mica schist +that we have had to shore up every time we move our drills," +answered Jack quietly. + +"Any cave-ins?" Morris was leaning forward now, his eyes riveted +on the boy's. What information he wanted he felt sure he now could +get. + +"Not yet, but plenty of water. We struck a spring last week" (this +time the "we" didn't seem so preposterous) "that came near +drowning us out, but we managed to keep it under with a six-inch +centrifugal; but it meant pumping night and day." + +"And when is he going to get through?" + +"That depends on what is ahead of us. Our borings show up all +right--most of it is tough gneiss--but if we strike gravel or +shale again it means more timbering, of course. Perhaps another +year--perhaps a few months. I am not giving you my own opinion, +for I've had very little experience, but that is what Bolton +thinks--he's second in command next to Mr. MacFarlane--and so do +the other fellows at our boarding house." + +And then followed a discussion on "struts," roof timbers and tie- +rods, Jack describing in a modest, impersonal way the various +methods used by the members of the staff with which he was +connected, Morris, as usual, becoming so absorbed in the warding +off of "cave-ins" that for the moment he forgot the table, his +hostess and everybody about him, a situation which, while it +delighted Peter, who was bursting with pride over Jack, was +beginning to wear upon Miss Felicia, who was entirely indifferent +as to whether the top covering of MacFarlane's underground hole +fell in or not. + +"There, now, Holker," she said with a smile as she laid her hand +on his coat sleeve--"not another word. Tunnels are things +everybody wants to get through with as quick as possible--and I'm +not going to spend all night in yours--awful damp places full of +smoke--No--not another word. Ruth, ask that young Roebling next +you to tell us another story--No, wait until we have our coffee +and you gentlemen have lighted your cigars. Perhaps, Ruth, you had +better take Mr. Breen into the smoking-room. Now, give me your +arm, Holker, and you come, too, Major, and bring Peter with you to +my boudoir. I want to show you the most delicious copy of Shelley +you ever saw. No, Mr. Breen, Ruth wants you; we will be with you +in a few minutes--" Then after the two had passed on ahead--"Look +at them, Major--aren't they a joy, just to watch?--and aren't you +ashamed of yourself that you have wasted your life? No arbor for +you! What would you give if a lovely girl like that wanted you all +to herself by the side of my frog pond?" + +A shout ahead from Jack, and a rippling laugh from Ruth now +floated our way. + +"Oh!--OH!--" and "Yes--isn't it wonderful--come and see the +arbor--" and then a clatter of feet down the soggy steps and +fainter footfalls on the moist bricks, ending in silence. + +"There!" laughed Miss Felicia, turning toward us and clapping her +hands--"they have reached the arbor and it's all over, and now we +will all go out on the porch for our coffee. I haven't any Shelley +that you have not seen a dozen times--I just intended that +surprise to come to the boy and in the way Ruth wanted it--she has +talked of nothing else since she knew he was coming. Mighty +dangerous, I can tell you, that old bench. Ruth can take care of +herself, but that poor fellow will be in a dreadful state if we +leave them alone too long. Sit here, Holker, and tell me about the +dinner and what you said. All that Peter could remember was that +you never did better, and that everybody cheered, and that the +squabs were so dry he couldn't eat them." + +But the Scribe refuses to be interested in Holker's talk, however +brilliant, or in Miss Felicia's crisp repartee. His thoughts are +down among the palms, where the two figures are entering the +arbor, the soft glow of half a dozen lanterns falling upon the +joyous face of the beautiful girl, as, with hand in Jack's, she +leads him to a seat beside her on the bench. + +"But it's like home," Jack gasped. "Why, you must remember your +own garden, and the porch that ran alongside of the kitchen, and +the brick walls--and just see how big it is and you never told me +a word about it! Why?" + +"Oh, because it would have spoiled all the fun; I was so afraid +daddy would tell you that I made him promise not to say a word; +and nobody else had seen it except Mr. Morris, and he said torture +couldn't drag it out of him. That old Major that Uncle Peter +thinks so much of came near spoiling the surprise, but Aunt +Felicia said she would take care of him in the back of the house-- +and she did; and I mounted guard at the top of the stairs before +anybody could get hold of you. Isn't it too lovely?--and, do you +know, there are real live frogs in that pond and you can hear them +croak? And now tell me about daddy, and how he gets on without +me." + +But Jack was not ready yet to talk about daddy, or the work, or +anything that concerned Corklesville and its tunnel--the +transition had been too sudden and too startling. To be fired from +a gun loaded with care, hard work and anxiety--hurled through +hours of winter travel and landed at a dinner-table next some +charming young woman, was an experience which had occurred to him +more than once in the past two years. But to be thrust still +further into space until he reached an Elysium replete with +whispering fountains, flowering vines and the perfume of countless +blossoms--the whole tucked away in a cosey arbor containing a seat +for two--AND NO MORE--and this millions of miles away, so far as +he could see, from the listening ear or watchful eye of mortal man +or woman--and with Ruth, too--the tips of whose fingers were so +many little shrines for devout kisses--that was like having been +transported into Paradise. + +"Oh, please let me look around a little," he begged at last. "And +this is why you love to come here?" + +"Yes--wouldn't you?" + +"I would not live anywhere else if I could--and it has just the +air of summer--and it feels like a summer's night, too--as if the +moon was coming up somewhere." + +Ruth's delight equalled his own; she must show him the new tulips +just sprouting, taking down a lantern so that he could see the +better; and he must see how the jessamine was twisted in and out +the criss-cross slats of the trellis, so that the flowers bloomed +both outside and in; and the little gully in the flagging of the +pavement through which ran the overflow of the tiny pond--till the +circuit of the garden was made and they were again seated on the +dangerous bench, with a cushion tucked behind her beautiful +shoulders. + +They talked of the tunnel and when it would be finished; and of +the village people and whom they liked and whom they didn't--and +why--and of Corinne, whose upturned little nose and superior, +dominating airs Ruth thought were too funny for words; and of her +recently announced engagement to Garry Minott, who had started for +himself in business and already had a commission to build a church +at Elm Crest--known to all New Jersey as Corklesville until the +real-estate agencies took possession of its uplands--Jack being +instrumental, with Mr. MacFarlane's help, in securing him the +order; and of the dinner to be given next week at Mrs. Brent +Foster's on Washington Square, to which they were both invited, +thanks to Miss Felicia for Ruth's invitation, and thanks to Peter +for that of Jack, who, at Peter's request, had accompanied him one +afternoon to one of Mrs. Foster's receptions, where he had made so +favorable an impression that he was at once added to Mrs. Foster's +list of eligible young men--the same being a scarce article. They +had discussed, I say, all these things and many more, in +sentences, the Scribe devoutly hopes, much shorter than the one he +has just written--when in a casual--oh, so casual a way--merely as +a matter of form--Ruth asked him if he really must go back to +Corklesville in the morning. + +"Yes," answered Jack--"there is no one to take charge of the new +battery but myself, and we have ten holes already filled for +blasting." + +"But isn't it only to put the two wires together? Daddy explained +it to me." + +"Yes--but at just the right moment. Half a minute too early might +ruin weeks of work. We have some supports to blow out. Three +charges are at their bases--everything must go off together." + +"But it is such a short visit." + +Some note in her voice rang through Jack's ears and down into his +heart. In all their intercourse--and it had been a free and +untrammelled one so far as their meetings and being together were +concerned--there was invariably a barrier which he could never +pass, and one that he was always afraid to scale. This time her +face was toward him, the rosy light bathing her glorious hair and +the round of her dimpled cheek. For an instant a half-regretful +smile quivered on her lips, and then faded as if some indrawn sigh +had strangled it. + +Jack's heart gave a bound. + +"Are you really sorry to have me go, Miss Ruth?" he asked, +searching her eyes. + +"Why should I not be? Is not this better than Mrs. Hicks's, and +Aunt Felicia would love to have you stay--she told me so at +dinner." + +"But you, Miss Ruth?" He had moved a trifle closer--so close that +his eager fingers almost touched her own: "Do you want me to +stay?" + +"Why, of course, we all want you to stay. Uncle Peter has talked +of nothing else for days." + +"But do you want me to stay, Miss Ruth?" + +She lifted her head and looked him fearlessly in the eyes: + +"Yes, I do--now that you will have it that way. We are going to +have a sleigh-ride to-morrow, and I know you would love the open +country, it is so beautiful, and so is--" + +"Ruth! Ruth! you dear child," came a voice--"are you two never +coming in?--the coffee is stone cold." + +"Yes, Aunt Felicia, right away. Run, Mr. Breen--" and she flew up +the brick path. + +For the second time Miss Felicia's keen, kindly eyes scanned the +young girl's face, but only a laugh, the best and surest of masks, +greeted her. + +"He thinks it all lovely," Ruth rippled out. "Don't you, Mr. +Breen?" + +"Lovely? Why, it is the most wonderful place I ever saw; I could +hardly believe my senses. I am quite sure old Aunt Hannah is +cooking behind that door--" here he pointed to the kitchen--"and +that poor old Tom will come hobbling along in a minute with 'dat +mis'ry' in his back. How in the world you ever did it, and what--" + +"And did you hear my frogs?" interrupted his hostess. + +"Of course he didn't, Felicia," broke in Peter. "What a question +to ask a man! Listen to the croakings of your miserable tadpoles +with the prettiest girl in seven counties--in seven States, for +that matter--sitting beside him! Oh!--you needn't look, you. +minx! If he heard a single croak he ought to be ducked in the +puddle--and then packed off home soaking wet." + +"And that is what he is going to do himself," rejoined Ruth, +dropping into a chair which Peter had drawn up for her. + +"Do what!" cried Peter. + +"Pack himself off--going by the early train--nothing I can do or +say has made the slightest impression on him," she said with a +toss of her head. + +Jack raised his hands in protest, but Peter wouldn't listen. + +"Then you'll come back, sir, on Saturday and stay until Monday, +and then we'll all go down together and you'll take Ruth across +the ferry to her father's. + +"Thank you, sir, but I am afraid I can't. You see, it all depends +on the work--" this last came with a certain tone of regret. + +"But I'll send MacFarlane a note, and have you detailed as an +escort of one to bring his only daughter----" + +"It would not do any good, Mr. Grayson." + +"Stop your nonsense, Jack--" Peter called him so now--"You come +back for Sunday." These days with the boy were the pleasantest of +his life. + +"Well, I would love to--" Here his eyes sought, Ruth--"but we have +an important blast to make, and we are doing our best to get +things into shape before the week is out." + +"Well, but suppose it isn't ready?" demanded Peter. + +"But it will be," answered Jack in a more positive tone; this part +of the work was in his hands. + +"Well, anyhow, send me a telegram." + +"I will send it, sir, but I am afraid it won't help matters. Miss +Ruth knows how delighted I would be to return here and see her +safe home." + +"Whether she does or whether she doesn't," broke in Miss Felicia, +"hasn't got a single thing to do with it, Peter. You just go back +to your work, Mr. Breen, and look after your gunpowder plots, or +whatever you call them, and if some one of these gentlemen of +elegant leisure--not one of whom so far has offered his services-- +cannot manage to escort you to your father's house, Ruth, I will +take you myself. Now come inside the drawing-room, every one of +you, or you will all blame me for undermining your precious +healths--you, too, Major, and bring your cigars with you. So you +don't drop your ashes into my tea-caddy, I don't care where you +throw them." + +It was late in the afternoon of the second day when the telegram +arrived, a delay which caused no apparent suffering to any one +except, perhaps, Peter, who wandered about with a "Nothing from +Jack yet, eh?" A question which no one answered, it being +addressed to nobody in particular, unless it was to Ruth, who had +started at every ring of the door-bell. As to Miss Felicia--she +had already dismissed the young man from her mind. + +When it did arrive there was a slight flutter of interest, but +nothing more; Miss Felicia laying down her book, Ruth asking in +indifferent tones--even before the despatch was opened--"Is he +coming?" and Morris, who was playing chess with Peter, holding his +pawn in mid-air until the interruption was over. + +Not so Peter--who with a joyous "Didn't I tell you the boy would +keep his promise--" sprang from his chair, nearly upsetting the +chess-board in his eagerness to hear from Jack, an eagerness +shared by Ruth, whose voice again rang out, this time in an +anxious tone, + +"Hurry up, Uncle Peter--is he coming?" + +Peter made no answer; he was staring straight at the open slip, +his face deathly pale, his hand trembling. + +"I'll tell you all about it in a minute, dear," he said at last +with a forced smile. Then he touched Morris's arm and the two left +the room. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + + + +The Scribe would willingly omit this chapter. Dying men, hurrying +doctors, improvised stretchers made of wrenched fence rails; +silent, slow-moving throngs following limp, bruised bodies,--are +not pleasant objects to write about and should be disposed of as +quickly as possible. + +Exactly whose fault it was nobody knew; if any one did, no one +ever told. Every precaution had been taken each charge had been +properly placed and tamped; all the fulminates inspected and the +connections made with the greatest care. As to the battery--that +was known to be half a mile away in the pay shanty, lying on Jack +Breen's table. + +Nor was the weather unfavorable. True, there had been rain the day +before, starting a general thaw, but none of the downpour had +soaked through the outer crust of the tunnel to the working force +inside and no extra labor had devolved on the pumps. This, of +course, upset all theories as to there having been a readjustment +of surface rock, dangerous sometimes, to magnetic connections. + +Then again, no man understood tunnel construction better than +Henry MacFarlane, C.E., Member of the American Society of +Engineers, Fellow of the Institute of Sciences, etc., etc. Nor was +there ever an engineer more careful of his men. Indeed, it was his +boast that he had never lost a life by a premature discharge in +the twenty years of his experience. Nor did the men, those who +worked under him--those who escaped alive--come to any definite +conclusion as to the cause of the catastrophe: the night and day +gang, I mean,--those who breathed the foul air, who had felt the +chill of the clammy interior and who were therefore familiar with +the handling of explosives and the proper tamping of the charges +--a slip of the steel meaning instantaneous annihilation. + +The Beast knew and could tell if he chose. + +I say "The Beast," for that is what MacFarlane's tunnel was to me. +To the passer-by and to the expert, it was, of course, merely a +short cut through the steep hills flanking one end of the huge +"earth fill" which MacFarlane was constructing across the +Corklesville brook, and which, when completed would form a road- +bed for future trains; but to me it was always The Beast. + +This illusion was helped by its low-browed, rocky head, crouching +close to the end of the "fill," its length concealed in the clefts +of the rocks--as if lying in wait for whatever crossed its path-- +as well as its ragged, half-round, catfish gash of a mouth from +out of which poured at regular intervals a sickening breath-- +yellow, blue, greenish often--and from which, too, often came +dulled explosions, followed by belchings of debris which +centipedes of cars dragged clear of its slimy lips. + +So I reiterate, The Beast knew. + +Every day the gang had bored and pounded and wrenched, piercing +his body with nervous, nagging drills; propping up his backbone, +cutting out tender bits of flesh, carving--bracing--only to carve +again. He had tried to wriggle and twist, but the mountain had +held him fast. Once he had straightened out, smashing the tiny +cars and the tugging locomotive; breaking a leg and an arm, and +once a head, but the devils had begun again, boring and digging +and the cruel wound was opened afresh. Another time, after a big +rain, with the help of some friendly rocks who had rushed down to +his help, he had snapped his jaws tight shut, penning the devils +up inside, but a hundred others had wrenched them open, breaking +his teeth, shoring up his lips with iron beams, tearing out what +was left of his tongue. He could only sulk now, breathing hard and +grunting when the pain was unbearable. One thought comforted him, +and one only: Far back in his bulk he knew of a thin place in his +hide,--so thin, owing to a dip in the contour of the hill,--that +but a few yards of overlying rock and earth lay between it and the +free air. + +Here his tormentors had stopped; why, he could not tell until he +began to keep tally of what had passed his mouth: The long trains +of cars had ceased; so had the snorting locomotives; so had the +steam drills. Curious-looking boxes and kegs were being passed in, +none of which ever came back; men with rolls of paper on which +were zigzag markings stumbled inside, stayed an hour and stumbled +out again; these men wore no lamps in their hats and were better +dressed than the others. Then a huge wooden drum wrapped with wire +was left overnight outside his lips and unrolled the next morning, +every yard of it being stretched so far down his throat that he +lost all track of it. + +On the following morning work of every kind ceased; not a man with +a lamp anywhere--and these The Beast hated most; that is, none +that he could see or feel. After an hour or more the head man +arrived and with two others went inside. The head man was tall and +fair, had gray side whiskers and wore a slouch hat; the second man +was straight and well built, with a boyish face tanned by the +weather. The third man was short and fat: this one carried a plan. +Behind the three walked five other men. + +All were talking. + +"The dip is to the eastward," the head man said. "The uplift ought +to clear things so we won't have to handle the stuff twice. Hard +to rig derricks on that slope. Let's have powder enough, anyhow, +Bolton." + +The fat man nodded and consulted his plan with the help of his +eye-glasses. Then the three men and the five men passed in out of +hearing. + +The Beast was sure now. The men were going to blow out the side of +the hill where his hide was thinnest so as to make room for an +air-shaft. + +An hour later a gang in charge of a red-shirted foreman who were +shifting a section of toy track on the "fill" felt the earth shake +under them. Then came a dull roar followed by a cloud of yellow +smoke mounting skyward from an opening high up on the hillside. +Flashing through this cloud leaped tongues of flame intermingled +with rocks and splintered trees. From the tunnel's mouth streamed +a thin, steel-colored gas that licked its way along the upper +edges of the opening and was lost in the underbrush fringing its +upper lip. + +"What's that?" muttered the red-shirted foreman--"that ain't no +blast--My God!--they're blowed up!" + +He sprang on a car and waved his arms with all his might: "Drop +them shovels! Git to the tunnel, every man of ye: here,--this +way!" and he plunged on, the men scrambling after him. + +The Beast was a magnet now, drawing everything to its mouth. Gangs +of men swarmed up the side of the hill; stumbling, falling; +picking themselves up only to stumble and fall again. Down the +railroad tracks swept a repair squad who had been straightening a +switch, their foreman in the lead. From out of the cabins +bareheaded women and children ran screaming. + +The end of the "fill" nearest the tunnel was now black with +people; those nearest to the opening were shielding their faces +from the deadly gas. The roar of voices was incessant; some +shouted from sheer excitement; others broke into curses, shaking +their fists at The Beast; blaming the management. All about stood +shivering women with white faces, some chewing the corners of +their shawls in their agony. + +Then a cry clearer than the others soared above the heads of the +terror-stricken mob as a rescue gang made ready to enter the +tunnel: + +"Water! Water! Get a bucket, some of ye! Ye can't live in that +smoke yet! Tie your mouth up if you're going in! Wet it, damn ye! +--do ye want to be choked stiff!" + +A shrill voice now cut the air. + +"It's the boss and the clerk and Mr. Bolton that's catched!" + +"Yes--and a gang from the big shanty; I seen 'em goin' in," +shouted back the red-shirted foreman. + +The volunteers--big, brawny men, who, warned by the foreman, had +been binding wet cloths over their mouths, now sprang forward, +peering into the gloom. Then the sound of footsteps was heard-- +nearer--nearer. Groping through the blue haze stumbled a man, his +shirt sleeve shielding his mouth. On he came, staggering from side +to side, reached the edge of the mouth and pitched head-foremost +as the fresh air filled his lungs. A dozen hands dragged him +clear. It was Bolton. + +His clothes were torn and scorched; his face blackened; his left +hand dripping blood. Two of the shanty gang were next hauled out +and laid on the back of an overturned dirt car. They had been near +the mouth when the explosion came, and throwing themselves flat +had crawled toward the opening. + +Bolton was still unconscious, but the two shanty men gasped out +the terrible facts: "The boss and the clerk, was jes' starting out +when everything let go"; they choked; "ther' ain't nothing left of +the other men. We passed the boss and the clerk; they was blowed +agin a car; the boss was stove up, the clerk was crawlin' toward +him. They'll never git out alive: none on 'em. We fellers was jes' +givin' up when we see the daylight and heared you a-yellin'." + +A hush now fell on the mass of people, broken by the piercing +shriek of a woman,--the wife of a shanty man. She would have +rushed in had not some one held her. + +Bolton sat up, gazing stupidly about him. Part of the story of the +escaped men had reached his ears. He struggled to his feet and +staggerd toward the opening of the tunnel. The red-shirted foreman +caught him under the armpits and whirled him back. + +"That ain't no place for you!" he cried--"I'll go!" + +A muffled cry was heard. It came from a bystander lying flat on +his belly inside the mouth: he had crawled in as far as he could. + +"Here they come!" + +New footfalls grew distinct, whether one or more the listeners +could not make out. Under the shouts of the red-shirted foreman to +give them air, the throng fell back. + +Out of the grimy smoke two figures slowly loomed up; one carried +the other on his back; whether shanty men or not, no one could +tell. + +The crowd, no longer controlled by the foreman, surged about the +opening. Ready hands were held out, but the man carrying his +comrade waved them aside and staggered on, one hand steadying his +load, the other hanging loose. The big foreman started to rush in, +but stopped. Something in the burdened man's eye had checked him, +it was as if a team were straining up a steep hill, making any +halt fatal. + +"It's the boss and the clerk!" shouted the foreman. "Fall back, +men,--fall back, damn ye!" + +The man came straight on, reached the lips of the opening, lunged +heavily to the right, tried to steady his burden and fell +headlong. + + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + + + +The street lamps were already lighted on the following afternoon-- +when Ruth, with Peter and Miss Felicia, alighted at the small +station of Corklesville. All through the day she had gone over in +her mind the words of the despatch: + +Explosion in tunnel. MacFarlane hurt--serious--will recover. Break +news gently to daughter. + +Bolton Asst. Engineer + +Other despatches had met the party on the way down; one saying, +"No change," signed by the trained nurse, and a second one from +Bolton in answer to one of Peter's: "Three men killed--others +escaped. MacFarlane's operation successful. Explosion premature." + +Their anxiety only increased: Why hadn't Jack telegraphed? Why +leave it to Bolton? Why was there no word of him,--and yet how +could Bolton have known that Peter was with Ruth, except from +young Breen. In this mortal terror Peter had wired from Albany: +"Is Breen hurt?" but no answer had been received at Poughkeepsie. +There had not been time for it, perhaps, but still there was no +answer, nor had his name been mentioned in any of the other +telegrams. That in itself was ominous. + +This same question Ruth had asked herself a dozen times. Jack was +to have had charge of the battery--he had told her so. Was he one +of the killed?--why didn't somebody tell her?--why hadn't Mr. +Bolton said something?--why--why--Then the picture of her father's +mangled body would rise before her and all thought of Jack pass +out of her mind. + +As the train rolled into the grimy station she was the first to +spring from the car; she knew the way best, and the short cut from +the station to where her father lay. Her face was drawn; her eyes +bloodshot from restrained tears--all the color gone from her +cheeks. + +"You bring Aunt Felicia, Uncle Peter,--and the bags;--I will go +ahead," she said, tying her veil so as to shield her face. "No, I +won't wait for anything." + +News of Ruth's expected arrival had reached the village, and the +crowd at the station had increased. On its inner circle, close to +a gate leading from the platform, stood a young man in a slouch +hat, with his left wrist bandaged. The arm had hung in a sling +until the train rolled in, then the silk support had been slipped +and hidden in his pocket. Under the slouch hat, the white edge of +a bandage was visible which the wearer vainly tried to conceal by +pulling the hat further on his head,--this subterfuge also +concealed a dark scar on his temple. Whenever the young man +pressed closer to the gate, the crowd would fall back as if to +give him room. Now and then one would come up, grab his well hand +and pat his shoulder approvingly. He seemed to be as much an +object of interest as the daughter of the injured boss. + +When Ruth gained the gate the wounded man laid his fingers on her +gloved wrist. The girl started back, peered into his face, and +uttered a cry of relief. + +"Mr. Breen!" For one wild moment a spirit of overwhelming joy +welled up in her heart and shone out of her eyes. Thank God he was +not dead! + +"Yes, Miss Ruth,--what is left of me. I wanted to see you as soon +as you reached here. You must not be alarmed about your father." +The voice did not sound like Jack's. + +"Is he worse? Tell me quick!" she exclaimed, the old fear +confronting her. + +"No. He is all right," he wheezed, "and is going to get well. His +left arm is broken and his head badly cut, but he is out of +danger. The doctor told me so an hour ago." + +"And you?" she pleaded, clinging to his proffered hand. + +"Oh! I am all right, too. The smoke got into my throat so I croak, +but that is nothing. Why, Mr. Grayson,--and Miss Felicia! I am so +glad, Miss Ruth, that you did not have to come alone! This way, +everybody." + +Without other words they hurried into the carriage, driving like +mad for the cottage, a mile away; all the worn look gone from +Ruth's face. + +"And you're not hurt, my boy?" asked Peter in a trembling voice-- +Jack's well hand in his own. + +"No, only a few scratches, sir; that's all. Bolton's hand's in a +bad way, though; lose two of his fingers, I'm afraid." + +"And how did you escape?" + +"I don't know. I got out the best way I could. First thing I knew +I was lying on the grass and some one was pouring water over my +head; then they got me home and put me to bed." + +"And MacFarlane?" + +"Oh, he came along with me. I had to help him some." + +Peter heaved a sigh of relief, then he asked: + +"How did it happen?" + +"Nobody knows. One of the shanty men might have dropped a box of +fulminates. Poor fellow,--he never knew; they could find nothing +of him," Jack whispered behind his hand so Ruth would not hear. + +"But when did you get out of bed?" continued Peter. He was less +anxious now. + +Jack looked at Ruth and again lowered his voice; the sound of the +carriage preventing its hoarse notes from reaching her ears. + +"About half an hour ago, sir; they don't know I have gone, but I +didn't want anybody to frighten Miss Ruth. I don't look so bad, do +I? I fixed myself up as well as I could. I have got on Bolton's +hat; I couldn't get mine over the bandages. My wrist is the worst +--sprained badly, the doctor says." + +If Ruth heard she made no answer, nor did she speak during the +ride. Now and then she would gaze out of the window and once her +fingers tightened on Miss Felicia's arm as she passed in full view +of the "fill" with the gaping mouth of the tunnel beyond. Miss +Felicia was occupied in watching Jack. In fact, she had not taken +her eyes from him since they entered the carriage. She saw what +neither Peter nor Ruth had seen;--that the boy was suffering +intensely from hidden wounds and that the strain was so great he +was verging on a collapse. No telling what these foolish +Southerners will do, she said to herself, when a woman is to be +looked after,--but she said nothing of all this to Ruth. + +When the carriage stopped and Ruth with a spring leaped from her +seat and bounded upstairs to her father's bedside, Miss Felicia +holding Jack's hand, her eyes reading the boy's face, turned and +said to Peter: + +"Now you take him home where he belongs and put him to bed; and +don't you let him get up until I see him. No--" she continued in a +more decided tone, in answer to Jack's protest--"I won't have it. +You go to bed just as I tell you--you can hardly stand now." + +"Perhaps I had better, Miss Felicia. I am a little shaky," replied +Jack, in a faint voice, and the carriage kept on its way to Mrs. +Hicks's leaving the good lady on MacFarlane's porch. + +MacFarlane was asleep when Ruth, trembling with excitement, +reached the house. Outside the sick room, lighted by a single +taper, she met the nurse whose few hurried words, spoken with +authority, calmed her, as Jack had been unable to do, and +reassured her mind. "Compound fracture of the right arm, Miss," +she whispered, "and badly bruised about the head, as they all +were. Poor Mr. Breen was the worst." + +Ruth looked at her in astonishment. That was why he had not lifted +his hat, she thought to herself, as she tiptoed into the sick room +and sank to her knees beside her father's bed. + +The injured man opened his eyes, and his free hand moved slowly +till it rested on his daughter's head. + +"I got an awful crack, Ruth, but I am all right now. Too bad to +bring you home. Who came with you?" + +"Aunt Felicia and Uncle Peter," she whispered as she stroked his +uninjured hand. + +"Mighty good of them--just like old Peter. Send the old boy up--I +want to see him." + +Ruth made no answer; her heart was too full. That her father was +alive was enough. + +"I'm not pretty to look at, am I, child, but I'll pull out; I have +been hurt before--had a leg broken once in the Virginia mountains +when you were a baby. The smoke was the worst; I swallowed a lot +of it; and I am sore now all over my chest. Poor Bolton's badly +crippled, I hear--and Breen--they've told you about Breen, haven't +they, daughter?" His voice rose as he mentioned the boy's name. + +Ruth shook her head. + +"Well, I wouldn't be here but for him! He's a plucky boy. I will +never forget him for it; you mustn't either," he continued in a +more positive tone. + +The nurse now moved to the bed. + +"I would not talk any more, Mr. MacFarlane. Miss Ruth is going to +be at home now right along and she will hear the story." + +"Well, I won't, nurse, if you don't want me to--but they won't be +able to tell her what a fix we were in--I remember everything up +to the time Breen dragged me from under the dirt car. I knew right +away what had happened and what we had to do; I've been there +before, but--" + +"There,--that will do, Mr. MacFarlane," interrupted the nurse. +"Come, Miss Ruth, suppose you go to your room for a while." + +The girl rose to her feet. + +"You can come back as soon as I fix your father for the night." +She pointed significantly to the patient's head, whispering, "He +must not get excited." + +"Yes, dear daddy--I will come back just as soon as I can get the +dust out of my hair and get brushed up a little," cried Ruth +bravely, in the effort to hide her anxiety, "and then Aunt Felicia +is downstairs." + +Once outside she drew the nurse, who had followed her, to the +window so as to be out of hearing of the patient and then asked +breathlessly: + +"What did Mr. Breen do?" + +"I don't know exactly, but everybody is talking about him." + +At this moment Miss Felicia arrived at the top of the stairs: she +had heard Ruth's question and had caught the dazed expression on +the girl's face. + +"I will tell you, my dear, what he did, for I have heard every +word of it from the servants. The blast went off before he and +your father had reached the opening of the tunnel. They left your +father for dead, then John Breen crawled back on his hands and +knees through the dreadful smoke until he reached him, lifted him +up on his shoulders and carried him out alive. That's what he did; +and he is a big, fine, strong, noble fellow, and I am going to +tell him so the moment I get my eyes on him. And that is not all. +He got out of bed this afternoon, though he could hardly stand, +and covered up all his bruises and his broken wrist so you +couldn't see them, and then he limped down to the station so you +would get the truth about your father and not be frightened. And +now he is in a dead faint." + +Ruth's eyes flamed and the color left her cheeks. She stretched +out both hands as if to keep from falling. + +"Saved daddy!" she gasped--"Carried him out on--Oh! Aunt +Felicia!--and I have been so mean! To think he got up out of bed +and--and--" Everything swam before her eyes. + +Miss Felicia sprang forward and caught her in her arms. + +"Come!--none of this, Child. Pull yourself together right away. +Get her some water, nurse,--she has stood all she can. There now, +dearie--" Ruth's head was on her breast now. "There--there--Such a +poor darling, and so many things coming all at once. There, +darling, put your head on my shoulder and cry it all out." + +The girl sobbed on, the wrinkled hand patting her cheek. + +"Oh, but you don't know, aunty--" she crooned. + +"Yes, but I do--you blessed child. I know it all." + +"And won't somebody go and help him? He is all alone, he told me +so." + +"Uncle Peter is with him, dearie.'" + +"Yes,--but some one who can--" she straightened up--"I will go, +aunty--I will go now." + +"You will do nothing of the kind, you little goose; you will stay +just where you are." + +"Well, won't you go, then? Oh, please--please--aunty." Peter's +bald head now rose above the edge of the banisters. Miss Felicia +motioned him to go back, but Ruth heard his step and raised her +tear-drenched face half hidden in her dishevelled hair. + +"Oh, Uncle Peter, is Jack--is Mr. Breen--" + +Miss Felicia's warning face behind Ruth's own, for once reached +Peter in time. + +"In his bed and covered up, and his landlady, Mrs. Hicks, sitting +beside him," responded Peter in his cheeriest tones. + +"But he fainted from pain--and--" + +"Yes, but that's all over now, my dear," broke in Miss Felicia. + +"But you will go, anyhow--won't you, aunty?" pleaded Ruth. + +"Certainly--just as soon as I put you to bed, and that is just +where you have got to go this very minute," and she led the +overwrought trembling girl into her room and shut the door. + +Peter stood for an instant looking about him, his mind taking in +the situation. Ruth was being cared for now, and so was +MacFarlane--the white cap and apron of the noiseless nurse passing +in and out of the room in which he lay, assured him of that. +Bolton, too, in the room next to Jack's, was being looked after by +his sister who had just arrived. He, too, was fairly comfortable, +though a couple of his fingers had been shortened. But there was +nobody to look after Jack--no father, mother, sister--nobody. To +send for the boy's uncle, or Corinne, or his aunt, was out of the +question, none of them having had more than a word with him since +his departure. Yet Jack needed attention. The doctor had just +pulled him out of one fainting spell only to have him collapse +again when his coat was taken off, and the bandages were loosened. +He was suffering greatly and was by no means out of danger. + +If for the next hour or two there was anything to be done at +MacFarlane's, Peter was ready to do it, but this accomplished, he +would shoulder his bag and camp out for the night beside the boy's +bed. He had come, indeed, to tell Felicia so, and he meant to +sleep there whatever her protests. He was preparing himself for +her objections, when she reentered the room. + +"How is young Breen?" Miss Felicia asked in a whisper, closing the +door behind her. She had put Ruth to bed, where she had again +given way to an uncontrollable fit of weeping. + +"Pretty weak. The doctor is with him now." + +"What did the fool get up for?" She did not mean to surrender too +quickly about Jack despite his heroism--not to Peter, at any +rate. Then, again, she half suspected that Ruth's tears were +equally divided between the rescuer and the rescued. + +"He couldn't help it, I suppose," answered Peter, with a gleam in +his eyes--"he was born that way." + +"Born! What stuff, Peter--no man of any common-sense would have--" + +"I quite agree with you, my dear--no man except a gentleman. There +is no telling what one of that kind might do under such +circumstances." And with a wave of his hand and a twinkle in his +merry scotch-terrier eyes, the old fellow disappeared below the +handrail. + +Miss Felicia leaned over the banisters: + +"Peter, PETER," she called after him, "where are you going?" + +"To stay all night with Jack." + +"Well, that's the most sensible thing I have heard of yet. Will +you take him a message from me?" + +Peter looked up: "Yes, Felicia, what is it?" + +"Give him my love." + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + + + +Miss Felicia kept her promise to Ruth. Before that young woman, +indeed, tired out with anxiety, had opened her beautiful eyes the +next morning and pushed back her beautiful hair from her beautiful +face--and it was still beautiful, despite all the storms it had +met and weathered, the energetic, old lady had presented herself +at the front door of Mrs. Hicks's Boarding Hotel (it was but a +step from MacFarlane's) and had sent her name to the young man in +the third floor back. + +A stout person, with a head of adjustable hair held in place by a +band of black velvet skewered by a gold pin, the whole surmounted +by a flaring mob-cap of various hues and dyes, looked Miss Felicia +all over and replied in a dubious tone: + +"He's had a bad mash-up, and I don't think--" + +"I am quite aware of it, my dear madam, or I would not be here. +Now, please show me the way to Mr. Breen's room--my brother was +here last night and--" + +"Oh, the bald-headed gentleman?" exclaimed Mrs. Hicks. "Such a +dear, kind man; and it was as much as I could do to get him to bed +and he a--" + +But Miss Felicia was already inside the sitting-room, her critical +eyes noting its bare, forbidding furnishing and appointment--she +had not yet let down her skirts, the floor not being inviting. As +each article passed in review--the unsteady rocking-chairs +upholstered in haircloth and protected by stringy tidies, the +disconsolate, almost bottomless lounge, fly-specked brass clock +and mantel ornaments, she could not but recall the palatial +entrance, drawing-room, and boudoir into which Parkins had ushered +her on that memorable afternoon when she had paid a visit to Mrs. +Arthur Breen--(her "last visit" the old lady would say with a sly +grimace at Holker, who had never forgiven "that pirate, Breen," +for robbing Gilbert of his house). + +"And this is what this idiot has got in exchange," she said to +herself as she peered into the dining-room beyond, with its +bespattered table-cloth flanked by cheap china plates and ivory +napkin rings--the castors mounting guard at either end. + +The entrance of the lady with the transferable hair cut short her +revery. + +"Mr. Breen says come up, ma'am," she said in a subdued voice. It +was astonishing how little time it took for Miss Felicia's +personality to have its effect. + +Up the uncarpeted stairs marched the great lady, down an equally +bare hall lined on either side by bedroom doors, some marked by +unblacked shoes others by tin trays holding fragments of late or +early breakfasts, the flaring cap obsequiously pointing the way +until the two had reached a door at the end of the corridor. + +"Now I won't bother you any more," said Miss Felicia. "Thank you +very much. Are you in here Mr. Breen?" she called in a cheery +voice as she pushed open the door, and advanced to his bedside:-- +"Oh, you poor fellow! Oh, I AM so sorry!" + +The boy lay on a cot-bed pushed close to the wall. His face was +like chalk; his eyes deep set in his head; his scalp one criss- +cross of bandages, and his right hand and wrist a misshapen lump +of cotton wadding and splints. + +"No, don't move. Why, you did not look as bad as this yesterday," +she added in sympathetic tones, patting his free hand with her +own, her glance wandering over the cramped little room with its +meagre appointments. + +Jack smiled faintly and a light gleamed in his eyes. The memory of +yesterday evidently brought no regrets. + +"I dared not look any other way," he answered faintly; "I was so +afraid of alarming Miss Ruth." Then after a pause in which the +smile and the gleam flickered over his pain-tortured face, he +added in a more determined voice: "I am glad I went, though the +doctor was furious. He says it was the worst thing I could have +done--and thought I ought to have had sense enough to--But don't +let's talk any more about it, Miss Felicia. It was so good of you +to come. Mr. Grayson has just left. You'd think he was a woman, he +is so gentle and tender. But I'll be around in a day or two, and +as soon as I can get on my feet and look less like a scarecrow +than I do, I am coming over to see you and Miss Ruth and--yes, and +UNCLE PETER--" Miss Felicia arched her eyebrows: "Oh, you needn't +look!--that's what I am going to call him after this; we settled +all that last night." + +A smile overspread Miss Felicia's face. "Uncle Peter, is it? And I +suppose you will be calling me Aunt Felicia next?" + +Jack turned his eyes: "That was just what I was trying to screw up +my courage to do. Please let me, won't you?" Again Miss Felicia +lifted her eyebrows, but she did not say she would. + +"And Ruth--what do you intend to call that young lady? Of course, +without her permission, as that seems to be the fashion." And the +old lady's eyes danced in restrained merriment. + +The sufferer's face became suddenly grave; for an instant he did +not answer, then he said slowly: + +"But what can I call her except Miss Ruth?" + +Miss Felicia laughed. Nothing was so delicious as a love affair +which she could see into. This boy's heart was an open book. +Besides, this kind of talk would take his mind from his miseries. + +"Oh, but I am not so sure of that," she rejoined, in an +encouraging tone. + +A light broke out in Jack's eyes: "You mean that she WOULD let me +call her--call her Ruth?" + +"I don't mean anything of the kind, you foolish fellow. You have +got to ask her yourself; but there's no telling what she would not +do for you now, she's so grateful to you for saving her father's +life." + +"But I did not," he exclaimed, an expression as of acute pain +crossing his brows. "I only helped him along. But she must not be +grateful. I don't like the word. Gratitude hasn't got anything to +do with--" he did not finish the sentence. + +"But you DID save his life, and you know it, and I just love you +for it," she insisted, ignoring his criticism as she again +smoothed his hand. "You did a fine, noble act, and I am proud of +you and I came to tell you so." Then she added suddenly: "You +received my message last night, didn't you? Now, don't tell me +that that good-for-nothing Peter forgot it." + +"No, he gave it to me, and it was so kind of you." + +"Well, then I forgive him. And now," here she made a little salaam +with both her hands--"now you have Ruth's message." + +"I have what?" he asked in astonishment. + +"Ruth's message." She still kept her face straight although her +lips quivered with merriment. + +Jack tried to lift his head: "What is her message?" he asked with +expectant eyes--perhaps she had sent him a letter! + +Miss Felicia tapped her bosom with her forefinger. + +"ME!" she cried, "I am her message. She was so worried last night +when she found out how ill you were that I promised her to come +and comfort you; that is why it is ME. And now, don't you think +you ought to get down on your knees and thank her? Why, you don't +seem a bit pleased!" + +"And she sent you to me--because--because--she was GRATEFUL that I +saved her father's life?" he asked in a bewildered tone. + +"Of course--why shouldn't she be; is there anything else you can +give her she would value as much as her father's life, you +conceited young Jackanapes?" + +She had the pin through the butterfly now and was watching it +squirm; not maliciously--she was never malicious. He would get +over the prick, she knew. It might help him in the end, really. + +"No, I suppose not," he replied simply, as he sank back on his +pillow and turned his bruised face toward the wall. + +For some moments he lay in deep thought. The last half-hour in the +arbor under the palms came back to him; the tones of Ruth's voice; +the casual way in which she returned his devouring glance. She +didn't love him; never had loved him; wouldn't ever love him. +Anybody could carry another fellow out on his back; was done every +day by firemen and life-savers,--everybody, in fact, who happened +to be around when their services were most needed. Grateful! Of +course the rescued people and their friends were grateful until +they forgot all about it, as they were sure to do the next day, or +week, or month. Gratitude was not what he wanted. It was love. +That was the way he felt; that was the way he would always feel. +He who loved every hair on Ruth's beautiful head, loved her +wonderful hands, loved her darling feet, loved the very ground on +which she walked "Gratitude!" eh! That was the word his uncle had +used the day he slammed the door of his private office in his +face. "Common gratitude, damn you, Jack, ought to put more sense +in your head," as though one ought to have been "grateful" for a +seat at a gambling table and two rooms in a house supported by its +profits. Garry had said "gratitude," too, and so had Corinne, and +all the rest of them. Peter had never talked gratitude; dear +Peter, who had done more for him than anybody in the world except +his own father. Peter wanted his love if he wanted anything, and +that was what he was going to give him--big, broad, all-absorbing +LOVE. And he did love him. Even his wrinkled hands, so soft and +white, and his glistening head, and his dabs of gray whiskers, and +his sweet, firm, human mouth were precious to him. Peter--his +friend, his father, his comrade! Could he ever insult him by such +a mean, cowardly feeling as gratitude? And was the woman he loved +as he loved nothing else in life--was she--was Ruth going to +belittle their relations with the same substitute? It was a big +pin, that which Miss Felicia had impaled him on, and it is no +wonder the poor fluttering wings were nigh exhausted in the +struggle! + +Relief came at last. + +"And now what shall I tell her?" asked Miss Felicia. "She worries +more over you than she does over her father; she can get hold of +him any minute, but you won't be presentable for a week. Come, +what shall I tell her?" + +Jack shifted his shoulders so that he could move the easier and +with less pain, and raised himself on his well elbow. There was no +use of his hoping any more; she had evidently sent Miss Felicia to +end the matter with one of her polite phrases,--a weapon which +she, of all women, knew so well how to use. + +"Give Miss Ruth my kindest regards," he said in a low voice, still +husky from the effects of the smoke and the strain of the last +half-hour--"and say how thankful I am for her gratitude, and--No, +--don't tell her anything of the kind. I don't know what you are to +tell her." The words seemed to die in his throat. + +"But she will ask me, and I have got to say something. Come,--out +with it." Her eyes were still on his face; not a beat of his wings +or a squirm of his body had she missed. + +"Well just say how glad I am she is at home again and that her +father is getting on so well, and tell her I will be up and around +in a day or two, and that I am not a bit worse off for going to +the station yesterday." + +"Anything else?" + +"No,--unless you can think of something." + +"And if I do shall I add it?" + +"Yes." + +"Oh,--then I know exactly what to do,--it will be something like +this: 'Please, Ruth, take care of your precious self, and don't be +worried about me or anything else, and remember that every minute +I am away from you is misery, for I love you to distraction and-- +'" + +"Oh, Miss Felicia!" + +"No--none of your protests, sir!" she laughed. "That is just what +I am going to tell her. And now don't you dare to move till Peter +comes back," and with a toss of her aristocratic head the dear +lady left the room, closing the door behind her. + +And so our poor butterfly was left flat against the wall--all his +flights ended. No more roaming over honeysuckles, drinking in the +honey of Ruth's talk; no more soaring up into the blue, the +sunshine of hope dazzling his wings. It made no difference what +Miss Felicia might say to Ruth. It was what she had said to HIM +which made him realize the absurdity of all his hopes. Everything +that he had longed for, worked for, dreamed about, was over now-- +the long walks in the garden, her dear hand in his, even the song +of the choir boys, and the burst of joyous music as they passed +out of the church door only to enter their own for life. All this +was gone--never to return--never had existed, in fact, except in +his own wild imagination. And once more the disheartened boy +turned his tired pain-racked face toward the bare wall. + +Miss Felicia tripped downstairs with an untroubled air, extended +two fingers to Mrs. Hicks, and without more ado passed out into +the morning air. No thought of the torment she had inflicted +affected the dear woman. What were pins made for except to curb +the ambitious wings of flighty young men who were soaring higher +than was good for them. She would let him know that Ruth was a +prize not to be too easily won, especially by penniless young +gentlemen, however brave and heroic they might be. + +Hardly had she crossed the dreary village street encumbered with +piles of half-melted snow and mud, than she espied Peter picking +his way toward her, his silk hat brushed to a turn, his gray +surtout buttoned close, showing but the edge of his white silk +muffler, his carefully rolled umbrella serving as a divining rod +the better to detect the water holes. No one who met him and +looked into his fresh, rosy face, or caught the merry twinkle of +his eyes, would ever have supposed he had been pouring liniment +over broken arms and bandaged fingers until two o'clock in the +morning of the night before. It had only been when Bolton's sister +had discovered an empty "cell," as Jack called the bedroom next to +his, that he had abandoned his intention of camping out on Jack's +disheartened lounge, and had retired like a gentleman carrying +with him all his toilet articles, ready to be set out in the +morning. + +Long before that time he had captured everybody in the place: from +Mrs. Hicks, who never dreamed that such a well of tenderness over +suffering could exist in an old fellow's heart, down to the +freckled-faced boy who came for his muddy shoes and who, after a +moment's talk with Peter as to how they should be polished, +retired later in the firm belief that they belonged to "a gent way +up in G," as he expressed it, he never having waited on "the likes +of him before." As to Bolton, he thought he was the "best ever," +and as to his prim, patient sister who had closed her school to be +near her brother--she declared to Mrs. Hicks five minutes after +she had laid her eyes on him, that Mr. Breen's uncle was "just too +dear for anything,"--to which the lady with the movable hair and +mob-cap not only agreed, but added the remark of her own, "that +folks like him was a sight better than the kind she was a-gettin'." + +All these happenings of the night and early hours of this bright, +beautiful morning--and it was bright and sunny overhead despite +the old fellow's precautionary umbrella--had helped turn out the +spick and span gentleman who was now making his way carefully over +the unpaved road which stood for Corklesville's principal street. + +Miss Felicia saw him first. + +"Oh! there you are!" she cried before he could raise his eyes. +"Did you ever see anything so disgraceful as this crossing--not a +plank--nothing. No--get out of my way, Peter; you will just upset +me, and I would rather help myself." + +In reply Peter, promptly ignoring her protest, stepped in front of +her, poked into several fraudulent solidities covering +unfathomable depths, found one hard enough to bear the weight of +Miss Felicia's dainty shoe--it was about as long as a baby's +hand--and holding out his own said, in his most courtly manner: + +"Be very careful now, my dear: put your foot on mine; so! now give +me your hand and jump. There--that's it." To see Peter help a +lady across a muddy street, Holker Morris always said, was a +lesson in all the finer virtues. Sir Walter was a bungler beside +him. But then Miss Felicia could also have passed muster as the +gay gallant's companion. + +And just here the Scribe remarks, parenthetically, that there is +nothing that shows a woman's refinement more clearly than the way +she crosses a street. + +Miss Felicia, for instance, would no more have soiled the toes of +her shoes in a puddle than a milk-white pussy would have dampened +its feet in the splash of an overturned bowl: a calm survey up and +down; a taking in of the dry and wet spots; a careful gathering up +of her skirts, and over skimmed the slender, willowy old lady with +a one--two--and three--followed by a stamp of her absurd feet and +the shaking out of ruffle and pleat. When a woman strides through +mud without a shiver because she has plenty of dry shoes and good +ones at home, there are other parts of her make-up, inside and +out, that may want a looking after. + +Miss Felicia safely landed on the dry and comparatively clean +sidewalk, Peter put the question he had been framing in his mind +since he first caught sight of that lady picking her way among the +puddles. + +"Well, how is he now?" + +"His head, or his heart?" she asked with a knowing smile, dropping +her still spotless skirts. "Both are broken; the last into +smithereens. It is hopeless. He will never be any better. Oh, +Peter, what a mess you have made of things!" + +"What have I done?" he laughed. + +"Got these two people dead in love with each other,--both of them +--Ruth is just as bad--and no more chance of their ever being +married than you or I. Perfectly silly, Peter, and I have always +told you so--and now you will have to take the consequences." + +"Beautiful--beautiful!" chuckled Peter; "everything is coming my +way. I was sure of Jack, for he told me so, but Ruth puzzled me. +Did she tell you she loved him?" + +"No, stupid, of course she did not. But have I not a pair of eyes +in my head? What do you suppose I got up for this morning at such +an unearthly hour and went over to--Oh, such an awful place!--to +see that idiot? Just to tell him I was sorry? Not a bit of it! I +went to find out what was going on, and now I know; and what is to +become of it all nobody can tell. Here is her father with every +penny he has in the world in this work--so Holker tells me--and +here are a lot of damages for dead men and Heaven knows what else; +and there is Jack Breen with not a penny to his name except his +month's wages; and here is Ruth who can marry anybody she chooses, +bewitched by that boy--and I grant you she has every reason for +he is as brave as he can be, and what is better he is a gentleman. +And there lies Henry MacFarlane blind as a bat as to what is going +on! Oh!--really, Peter, there cannot be anything more absurd." + +During the outbreak Peter stood leaning on his umbrella, a smile +playing over his smooth-shaven face, his eyes snapping as if at +some inwardly suppressed fun. These were the kind of outbursts +Peter loved. It was only when Felicia was about to come over to +your way of thinking that she talked like this. It was her way of +hearing the other side. + +"Dreadful!--dreadful!" sighed Peter, looking the picture of woe. +"Love in a garret--everybody in rags,--one meal a day--awful +situation! Something's got to be done at once. I'll begin by +taking up a collection this very day. In the meantime, Felicia, +I'll just keep on to Jack's and see how his arm's getting on and +his head. As to his heart,--I'll talk to Ruth and see--" + +"Are you crazy, Peter? You will do nothing of the kind. If you do, +I will--" + +But Peter, his hat in the air, was now out of hearing. When he +reached the mud line he turned, drew his umbrella as if from an +imaginary scabbard, made a military salute, and, with a suppressed +gurgle in his throat, kept on to Jack's room. + +Somehow the sunshine had crept into the old fellow's veins this +morning. None of Miss Felicia's pins for him! + +Ruth, from her place by the sitting-room window, had seen the two +talking and had opened the front door, before Miss Felicia's hand +touched the bell. She had already subjected Peter to a running +fire of questions while he was taking his coffee and thus had the +latest intelligence down to the moment when Peter turned low +Jack's light and had tucked him in. He was asleep when Peter had +peered into his cramped room early this morning, and the bulletin +therefore could go no further. + +"And how is he, aunty?" Ruth asked in a breathless tone before the +front door could be closed. + +"Getting on splendidly, my dear. Slept pretty well. It is a +dreadful place for any one to be in, but I suppose he is +accustomed to it by this time." + +"And is he no worse for coming to meet us, Aunt Felicia?" Ruth +asked, her voice betraying her anxiety. She had relieved the old +lady of her cloak now, and had passed one arm around her slender +waist. + +"No, he doesn't seem to be, dearie. Tired, of course--and it may +keep him in bed a day or two longer, but it won't make any +difference in his getting well. He will be out in a week or so." + +Ruth paused for a moment and then asked in a hesitating way, all +her sympathy in her eyes: + +"And I don't suppose there is anybody to look after him, is +there?" + +"Oh, yes, plenty: Mrs. Hicks seems a kind, motherly person, and +then Mr. Bolton's sister runs in and out." It was marvellous how +little interest the dear woman took in the condition of the +patient. Again the girl paused. She was sorry now she had not +braved everything and gone with her. + +"And did he send me any message, aunty?" This came quite as a +matter of form--merely to learn all the details. + +"Oh, yes,--I forgot: he told me to tell you how glad he was to +hear your father was getting well," replied Miss Felicia searching +the mantel for a book she had placed there. + +Ruth bit her lips and a certain dull feeling crept about her +heart. Jack, with his broken arm and bruised head rose before her. +Then another figure supplanted it. + +"And what sort of a girl is that Miss Bolton?" There was no +curiosity--merely for information. "Uncle Peter was so full of her +brother and how badly he had been hurt he hardly mentioned her +name" + +"I did not see her very well; she was just coming out of her +brother's room, and the hall was dark. Oh, here's my book--I knew +I had left it here." + +"Pretty?" continued Ruth, in a slightly anxious tone. + +"No,--I should say not," replied the old lady, moving to the door. + +"Then you don't think there is anything I can do?" Ruth called +after her. + +"Not now." + +Ruth picked up Miss Felicia's wrap from the chair where that lady +had thrown it, mounted the stairs, peered from between the pots of +geraniums screening a view of the street with the Hicks Hotel +dominating one corner, wondered which window along the desolate +front gave Jack light and air, and with whispered instructions to +the nurse to be sure and let her know when her father awoke, shut +herself in her room. + +As for the horrible old ogre who had made all the trouble, nipping +off buds, skewering butterflies and otherwise disporting herself +after the manner of busybodies who are eternally and forever +poking their thin, pointed noses into what doesn't concern them, +no hot, scalding tears, the Scribe regrets to say, dimmed her +knowing eyes, nor did any unbidden sigh leap from her old heart. +Foolish young people ought to thank her really for what she had +done--what she would still try to do--and they would when they +were a year older. + +Poor, meddling Miss Felicia! Have you forgotten that night thirty +years ago when you stood in a darkened room facing a straight, +soldierly looking man, and listened to the slow dropping of words +that scalded your heart like molten metal? Have you forgotten, +too, the look on his handsome face when he uttered his protest at +the persistent intermeddling of another, and the square of his +broad shoulders as he disappeared through the open door never to +return again? + + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + + + +Some of the sunshine that had helped dry the muddy road, making +possible the path between Jack's abode and MacFarlane's hired +villa--where there was only room for Miss Felicia, Peter still +occupying his cell at Mrs. Hicks's, but taking his meals with +Ruth, so that he could be within call of MacFarlane when needed-- +some of this same sunshine, I say, may have been responsible for +the temporary drying up of Ruth's tears and the establishing of +various ways of communication between two hearts that had for some +days been floundering in the deeps. Or, perhaps, the rebound may +have been due to the fact that Peter had whispered something in +Jack's ear, or that Ruth had overheard Miss Felicia praising +Jack's heroism to her father--it was common talk everywhere--or it +may have been that the coming of spring which always brings hope +and cheer--making old into new, may have led to the general +lighting up of the gloom that had settled over the house of +MacFarlane and its dependents; but certain it is that such was the +case. + +MacFarlane began by taking a sudden change for the better--so +decided a change that he was out of his room and dressed on the +fifth day (although half his coat hid his broken arm, tightly +bandaged to his side). He had even talked as far as the geraniums +in the window, through which he could not only see Jack's hotel, +but the big "earth fill" and mouth of The Beast beyond. + +Then Bolton surprised everybody by appearing outdoors, his hand +alone in a sling. What was left of the poor shanty men, too, had +been buried, the dreadful newspaper articles had ceased, and work +was again in full blast. + +Jack, to be sure, was still in his room, having swallowed more gas +and smoke than the others, badly scorching his insides, as he had +panted under the weight of MacFarlane's body. The crisis, however, +brought on by his imprudence in meeting Ruth at the station, had +passed, and even he was expected to be out in a few days. + +As for Miss Felicia, although she had blown hot and blown cold on +Ruth's heart, until that delicate instrument stood at zero one day +and at fever heat the next, she had, on the whole, kept up an +equable temperature, and meant to do so until she shook the dust +of Corklesville from her dainty feet and went back to the clean, +moist bricks of her garden. + +And as for Peter! Had he not been a continuous joy; cheering +everybody; telling MacFarlane funny stories until that harassed +invalid laughed himself, unconscious of the pain to his arm; +bringing roses for the prim, wizened-up Miss Bolton, that she +might have a glimpse of something fresh and alive while she sat by +her brother's bed. And last, and by no means least, had he not the +morning he had left for New York, his holiday being over, taken +Ruth in his arms and putting his lips close to her ear, whispered +something into its pink shell that had started northern lights +dancing all over her cheeks and away up to the roots of her hair; +and had she not given him a good hug and kissed him in return, a +thing she had never done in her whole life before? And had he not +stopped on his way to the station for a last hand-shake with Jack +and to congratulate him for the hundredth time for his plucky +rescue of MacFarlane--a subject he never ceased to talk about-- +and had he not at the very last moment, told Jack every word of +what he and Ruth talked about, with all the details elaborated, +even to the hug, which was no sooner told than another set of +northern lights got into action at once, and another hug followed; +only this time it took the form of a hearty hand-shake and a pat +on Peter's back, followed by a big tear which the boy tried his +best to conceal? Peter had no theories detrimental to penniless +young gentlemen, pursued by intermeddling old ladies. + +And yet with all this there was one corner deep down in Ruth's +heart so overgrown with "wonderings" and "whys," so thick with +tangled doubts and misgivings, that no cheering ray of certainty +had yet been able to pierce it. Nor had any one tried. Miss +Felicia, good as she was and loving as she had been, had done +nothing in the pruning way--that is, nothing which would let in +any sunshine radiating from Jack. She had talked about him, it is +true; not to her, we may be sure, but to her father, saying how +handsome he had grown and what a fine man he was making of +himself. She had, too, more than once commented--and this before +everybody--on his good manners and his breeding, especially on the +way he had received her the first morning she called, and to his +never apologizing for his miserable surroundings, meagre as they +were--just a theodolite, his father's portrait and half a dozen +books alone being visible, the white walls covered with working +plans. But when the poor girl had tried to draw from her some word +that was personal to himself, or one that might become personal-- +and she did try even to the verge of betraying herself, which +would never have done--Miss Felicia had always turned the subject +at once or had pleaded forgetfulness. Not a word could she drag +out of this very perverse and determined old lady concerning the +state of the patient, nothing except that he was "better," or +"doing nicely," or that the bandage was being shortened, or some +other commonplace. Uncle Peter had been kinder. He understood--she +saw that in his eyes. Still even Uncle Peter had not told her all +that she wanted to know, and of course she could not ask him. + +Soon a certain vague antagonism began to assert itself toward the +old lady who knew so much and yet who said so little! who was too +old really to understand--no old person, in fact, could +understand--that is, no old woman. This proved, too, that this +particular person could never have loved any other particular +person in her life. Not that she, Ruth, loved Jack--by no manner +of means--not in that way, at least. But she would have liked to +know what he said, and how he said it, and whether his eyes had +lost that terrible look which they wore when he turned away at the +station to go back to his sick bed in the dingy hotel. All these +things her Aunt Felicia knew about and yet she could not drag a +word out of her. + +What she ought to have done was to go herself that first night, +bravely, honestly, fearlessly as any friend had a right to do; go +to him in his miserable little hotel and try to cheer him up as +Miss Felicia, and perhaps Miss Bolton, had done. Then she might +have found out all about it. Exactly what it was that she wanted +to find out all about--and this increased her perplexity--she +could not formulate, although she was convinced it would help her +to bear the anxiety she was suffering. Now it was too late; more +than a week had passed, and no excuse for going was possible. + +It was not until the morning after Peter's departure,--she, +sitting alone, sad and silent in her chair at the head of her +father's breakfast table (Miss Felicia, as was her custom, had her +coffee in her room), that the first ray of light had crept into +her troubled brain. It had only shone a brief moment,--and had +then gone out in darkness, but it held a certain promise for +better days, and on this she had built her hopes. + +"I am going to send for Breen to-morrow, Ruth," her father had +said as he kissed her good-night. "There are some things I want to +talk over with him, and then I want to thank him for what he did +for me. He's a man, every inch of him; I haven't told him so yet, +--not to his face,--but I will to-morrow. Fine fellow is Breen; +blood will always tell in the end, my daughter, and he's got the +best in the country in his veins. Looks more like his father every +day he lives." + +She had hardly slept all night, thinking of the pleasure in store +for her. She had dressed herself, too, in her most becoming +breakfast gown--one she had worn when Jack first arrived at +Corklesville, and which he said reminded him of a picture he had +seen as a boy. There were pink rosebuds woven in its soft texture, +and the wide peach-blossom ribbon that bound her dainty waist +contrasted so delightfully, as he had timidly hinted, with the +tones of her hair and cheeks. + +It was the puffy, bespectacled little doctor who shut out the +light. + +"No, your father has still one degree of fever," he grumbled, with +a wise shake of his bushy head. "No--nobody, Miss MacFarlane,--do +you understand? He can see NOBODY--or I won't be responsible," and +with this the crabbed old fellow climbed into his gig and drove +away. + +She looked after him for a moment and two hot tears dropped from +her eyes and dashed themselves to pieces on the peach-blossom +ribbon. + +But the sky was clearing again--she didn't realize it,--but it +was. April skies always make alternate lights and darks. The old +curmudgeon had gone, but the garden gate was again a-swing. + +Ruth heard the tread on the porch and drawing back the curtains +looked out. The most brilliant sunbeams were but dull rays +compared with what now flashed from her eyes. Nor did she wait for +any other hand than her own to turn the knob of the door. + +"Why, Mr. Breen!" + +"Yes, Miss Ruth," Jack answered, lifting his hat, an unrestrained +gladness at the sight of her beauty and freshness illumining his +face. "I have come to report for duty to your father." + +"But you cannot see him. You must report to me," she laughed +gayly, her heart brimming over now that he was before her again. +"Father was going to send for you to-day, but the doctor would not +let him. Hush! he musn't hear us." + +"He would not let me go out either, but as I am tired to death of +being cooped up in my room, I broke jail. Can't I see him?" he +continued in a lower key. He had his coat off and had hung it on +the rack, she following him into the sitting-room, absorbing every +inch of his strong, well-knit body from his short-cropped hair +where the bandages had been wound, down to the sprained wrist +which was still in splints. She noted, too, with a little choke in +her throat, the shadows under the cheek bones and the thinness of +the nose. She could see plainly how he had suffered. + +"I am sorry you cannot see father." She was too moved to say +more." He still has one degree of fever." + +"I have two degrees myself," Jack laughed softly,--"one records +how anxious I was to get out of my cell and the other how eager I +was to get here. And now I suppose I can't stay." + +"Oh, yes, you can stay if you will keep as still as a mouse so +father can't hear you," she whispered, a note of joy woven in her +tones. + +She was leading him to the sofa as she spoke. He placed a cushion +for her, and took his place beside her, resting his injured hand, +which was in a sling, on the arm. He was still weak and shaking. + +"Daddy is still in his room," she rattled on nervously, "but he +may be out and prowling about the upstairs hall any minute. He has +a heap of things to talk over with you--he told me so last night-- +and if he knew you were here nothing would stop him. Wait till I +shut the door. And now tell me about yourself," she continued in a +louder voice, regaining her seat. "You have had a dreadful time, I +hear--it was the wrist, wasn't it?" She felt she was beginning +badly; although conscious of her nervous joy and her desire to +conceal it, somehow it seemed hard for her to say the right thing. + +"Oh, I reckon it was everything, Miss Ruth, but it's all over +now." He was not nervous. He was in an ecstasy. His eyes were +drinking in the round of her throat and the waves of glorious hair +that crowned her lovely head. He noticed, too, some tiny threads +that lay close to her ears: he had been so hungry for a glimpse of +them! + +"Oh, I hope so, but you shouldn't have come to the station that +day," she struggled on. "We had Uncle Peter with us, and only a +hand-bag, each of us,--we came away so suddenly." + +"I didn't want you to be frightened about your father. I didn't +know that Uncle Peter was with you; in fact, I didn't know much of +anything until it was all over. Bolton sent the telegram as soon +as he got his breath." + +"That's what frightened us. Why didn't YOU send it?" she was +gaining control of herself now and something of her old poise had +returned. + +"I hadn't got MY breath,--not all of it. I remember his coming +into my room where they were tying me up and bawling out something +about how to reach you by wire, and he says now that I gave him +Mr. Grayson's address. I cannot remember that part of it, except +that I--Well, never mind about that--" he hesitated turning away +his gaze--the memory seemed to bring with it a certain pain. + +"Yes,--tell me," she pleaded. She was too happy. This was what she +had been waiting for. There was no detail he must omit. + +"It was nothing, only I kept thinking it was you who were hurt," +he stammered. + +"Me!" she cried, her eyes dancing. The ray of light was breaking-- +one with a promise in it for the future! + +"Yes,--you, Miss Ruth! Funny, isn't it, how when you are half dead +you get things mixed up." Oh, the stupidity of these lovers! Not a +thing had he seen of the flash of expectation in her eyes or of +the hot color rising to her cheeks. "I thought somebody was trying +to tell your father that you were hurt, and I was fighting to keep +him from hearing it. But you must thank Bolton for letting you +know." + +Ruth's face clouded and the sparkle died out in her eyes. What was +Mr. Bolton to her, and at a time like this? + +"It was most kind of Mr. Bolton," she answered in a constrained +voice. "I only wish he had said something more; we had a terrible +day. Uncle Peter was nearly crazy about you; he telegraphed and +telegraphed, but we could get no answer. That's why it was such a +relief to find you at the station." + +But the bat had not finished banging his head against the wall. +"Then I did do some good by going?" he asked earnestly. + +"Oh, indeed you did." If he did not care whether she had been hurt +or not, even in his delirium, she was not going to betray herself. +"It was the first time anybody had seen Uncle Peter smile; he was +wretched all day. He loves you very dearly, Mr. Breen." + +Jack's hand dropped so suddenly to his side that the pain made him +tighten his lips. For a moment he did not answer. + +"Then it was only Uncle Peter who was anxious, was it? I am glad +he loves me. I love him, too," he said at last in a perfunctory +tone--"he's been everything to me." + +"And you have been everything to him." She determined to change +the subject now. He told me only--well,--two days ago--that you +had made him ten years younger." + +"Me?--Miss Ruth!" Still the same monotonous cadence. + +"Yes." + +"How?" + +"Well,--maybe because he is old and you are young." As she spoke +her eyes measured the width of his shoulders and his broad chest-- +she saw now to what her father owed his life--" and another thing; +he said that he would always thank you for getting out alive. And +I owe you a debt of gratitude, too, Mr. Breen;--you gave me back +my dear daddy," she added in a more assured tone. Here at last was +something she could talk unreservedly about. Something that she +had wanted to say ever since he came. + +Jack straightened and threw back his shoulders: that word again! +Was that all that Ruth had to say? + +"No, Miss Ruth, you don't." There was a slight ring of defiance +now. "You do not owe me anything, and please don't think so, and +please--please--do not say so!" + +"I don't owe you anything! Not for saving my father's life?" This +came with genuine surprise. + +"No! What would you have thought of me, what would I have thought +of myself had I left him to suffocate when I could just as well +have brought him out? Do you think I could ever have looked you in +the face again? You might not have ever known I could have saved +him--but I should have hated myself every hour of my life. Men are +not to be thanked for these things; they are to be despised if +they don't do them. Can't you see the difference?" + +"But you might have been killed, too!" she exclaimed. Her own +voice was rising, irritation and disappointment swaying it. +"Everybody says it was a miracle you were not." + +"Not a miracle at all. All I was afraid of was stumbling over +something in the dark--and it was nearly dark--only a few of the +rock lights burning--and not be able to get on my feet again. But +don't let us talk about it any more." + +"Yes--but I will, I MUST. I must feel right about it all, and I +cannot unless you listen. I shall never forget you for it as long +as I live." There was a note of pathos in her voice. Why did he +make it so hard for her, she thought. Why would he not look in her +face and see? Why would he not let her thank him? "Nothing in the +world is so precious to me as daddy, and never will be," she went +on resolutely, driving back the feeling of injustice that surged +up in her heart at his attitude--"and it is you, Mr. Breen, who +have given him back to me. And daddy feels the same way about it; +and he is going to tell you so the minute he sees you," she +insisted. "He has sent you a lot of messages, he says, but they do +not count. Please, now. won't you let me thank you?" + +Jack raised his head. He had been fingering a tassel on the end of +the sofa, missing all the play of feeling in her eyes, taking in +nothing but the changes that she rang on that one word +"gratitude." Gratitude!--when he loved the ground she stepped on. +But he must face the issue fairly now: + +"No,--I don't want you to thank me," he answered simply. + +"Well, what do you want, then?" She was at sea now,--compass and +rudder gone,--wind blowing from every quarter at once,--she trying +to reach the harbor of his heart while every tack was taking her +farther from port. If the Scribe had his way the whole coast of +love would be lighted and all rocks of doubt and misunderstanding +charted for just such hapless lovers as these two. How often a +twist of the tiller could send them into the haven of each other's +arms, and yet how often they go ashore and stay ashore and worse +still, stay ashore all their lives. + +Jack looked into her eyes and a hopeless, tired expression crossed +his face. + +"I don't know," he said in a barely audible voice:--"I just-- +please, Miss Ruth, let us talk of something else; let me tell you +how lovely your gown is and how glad I am you wore it to-day. I +always liked it, and--" + +"No,--never mind about my gown; I would rather you did not like +anything about me than misunderstand me!" The tears were just +under the lids;--one more thrust like the last and they would be +streaming down her cheeks. + +"But I haven't misunderstood you." He saw the lips quiver, but it +was anger, he thought, that caused it. + +"Yes, you have!"--a great lump had risen in her throat. "You have +done a brave, noble act,--everybody says so; you carried my dear +father out on your back when there was not but one chance in a +thousand you would ever get out alive; you lay in a faint for +hours and once they gave you up for dead; then you thought enough +of Uncle Peter and all of us to get that telegram sent so we +wouldn't be terrified to death and then at the risk of your life +you met us at the station and have been in bed ever since, and yet +I am to sit still and not say a word!" It was all she could do to +control herself. "I do feel grateful to you and I always shall +feel grateful to you as long as I live. And now will you take my +hand and tell me you are sorry, and let me say it all over again, +and with my whole heart? for that's the way I mean it." + +She was facing him now, her hand held out, her head thrown back, +her dark eyes flashing, her bosom heaving. Slowly and reverently, +as a devotee would kiss the robe of a passing priest, Jack bent +his head and touched her fingers with his lips. + +Then, raising his eyes to hers, he asked, "And is that all, Miss +Ruth? Isn't there something more?" Not once had she mentioned his +own safety--not once had she been glad over him--"Something more?" +he repeated, an ineffable tenderness in his tones--"something--it +isn't all, is it?" + +"Why, how can I say anything more?" she murmured in a lowered +voice, withdrawing her hand as the sound of a step in the hall +reached her ear. + +The door swung wide: "Well, what are you two young people +quarrelling about?" came a soft, purring voice. + +"We weren't quarrelling, Aunty. Mr. Breen is so modest he doesn't +want anybody to thank him, and I just would." + +Miss Felicia felt that she had entered just in time. Scarred and +penniless heroes fresh from battle-fields of glory and desirable +young women whose fathers have been carried bodily out of burning +death pits must never be left too long together. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + + + +As the weeks rolled by, two questions constantly rose in Ruth's +mind: Why had he not wanted her to thank him?--and what had he +meant by--"And is that all?" + +Her other admirers--and there had been many in her Maryland home-- +had never behaved like this. Was it because they liked her better +than she liked them? The fact was--and she might as well admit it +once for all--that Jack did not like her at all, he really +DISliked her, and only his loyalty to her father and that inborn +courtesy which made him polite to every woman he met--young or +old--prevented his betraying himself. She tried to suggest +something like this to Miss Felicia, but that good woman had only +said: "Men are queer, my dear, and these Southerners are the +queerest of them all. They are so chivalrous that at times they +get tiresome. Breen is no better than the rest of them." This had +ended it with Miss Felicia. Nor would she ever mention his name to +her again. Jack was not tiresome; on the contrary, he was the soul +of honor and as brave as he could be--a conclusion quite as +illogical as that of her would-be adviser. + +If she could only have seen Peter, the poor child thought,--Peter +understood--just as some women not as old as her aunt would have +understood. Dear Uncle Peter! He had told her once what Jack had +said about her--how beautiful he thought her and how he loved her +devotion to her father. Jack MUST have said it, for Uncle Peter +never spoke anything but the exact truth. Then why had Jack, and +everything else, changed so cruelly? she would say--talking to +herself, sometimes aloud. For the ring had gone from his voice and +the tenderness from his touch. Not that he ever was tender, not +that she wanted him to be, for that matter; and then she would +shut her door and throw herself on her bed in an agony of tears-- +pleading a headache or fatigue that she might escape her father's +inquiry, and often his anxious glance. + +The only ray of light that had pierced her troubled heart--and +this only flashed for a brief moment--was the glimpse she had had +of Jack's mind when he and her father first met. The boy had +called to inquire after his Chief's health and for any +instructions he might wish to give, when MacFarlane, hearing the +young hero's voice in the hall below, hurried down to greet him. +Ruth was leaning over the banister at the time and saw all that +passed. Once within reach MacFarlane strode up to Jack, and with +the look on his face of a man who had at last found the son he had +been hunting for all his life, laid his hand on the lad's +shoulder. + +"I think we understand each other, Breen,--don't we?" he said +simply, his voice breaking. + +"I think so, sir," answered Jack, his own eyes aglow, as their +hands met. + +Nothing else had followed. There was no outburst. Both were men; +in the broadest and strongest sense each had weighed the other. +The eyes and the quivering lips and the lingering hand-clasp told +the rest. A sudden light broke in on Ruth. Her father's quiet +words, and his rescuer's direct answer came as a revelation. Jack, +then, did want to be thanked! Yes, but not by her! Why was it? Why +had he not understood? And why had he made her suffer, and what +had she done to deserve it? + +If Jack suspected any of these heartaches and misgivings, no one +would have surmised it. He came and went as usual, passing an hour +in the morning and an hour at night with his Chief, until he had +entirely recovered his strength--bringing with him the records of +the work; the number of feet drilled in a day; cost of +maintenance; cubic contents of dump; extent and slope and angles +of "fill"--all the matters which since his promotion (Jack now had +Bolton's place) came under his immediate supervision. Nor had any +word passed between himself and Ruth, other than the merest +commonplace. He was cheery, buoyant, always ready to help,--always +at her service if she took the train for New York or stayed after +dark at a neighbor's house, when he would insist on bringing her +home, no matter how late he had been up the night before. + +If the truth were known, he neither suspected nor could he be made +to believe that Ruth had any troubles. The facts were that he had +given her all his heart and had been ready to lay himself at her +feet, that being the accepted term in his mental vocabulary--and +she would have none of him. She had let him understand so-- +rebuffed him--not once, but every time he had tried to broach the +subject of his devotion;--once in the Geneseo arbor, and again on +that morning when he had really crawled to her side because he +could no longer live without seeing her. The manly thing to do now +was to accept the situation: to do his work; look after his +employer's interests, read, study, run over whenever he could to +see Peter--and these were never-to-be-forgotten oases in the +desert of his despair--and above all never to forget that he owed +a duty to Miss Ruth in which no personal wish of his own could +ever find a place. She was alone and without an escort except her +father, who was often so absorbed in his work, or so tired at +night, as to be of little help to her. Moreover, his Chief had, in +a way, added his daughter's care to his other duties. "Can't you +take Ruth to-night--" or "I wish you'd meet her at the ferry," or +"if you are going to that dinner in New York, at so-and-so's, +would you mind calling for her--" etc., etc. Don't start, dear +reader. These two came of a breed where the night key and the +daughter go together and where a chaperon would be as useless as a +policeman locked inside a bank vault. + +And so the boy struggled on, growing in bodily strength and mental +experience, still the hero among the men for his heroic rescue of +the "Boss"--a reputation which he never lost; making friends every +day both in the village and in New York and keeping them; absorbed +in his slender library, and living within his means, which small +as they were, now gave him two rooms at Mrs. Hicks's,--one of +which he had fitted up as a little sitting-room and in which Ruth +had poured the first cup of tea, her father and some of the +village people being guests. + +His one secret--and it was his only one--he kept locked up in his +heart, even from Peter. Why worry the dear old fellow, he had said +to himself a dozen times, since nothing would ever come of it. + +While all this had been going on in the house of MacFarlane, much +more astonishing things had been developing in the house of Breen. + +The second Mukton Lode scoop,--the one so deftly handled the night +of Arthur Breen's dinner to the directors,--had somehow struck a +snag in the scooping with the result that most of the "scoopings" +had been spilled over the edge there to be gathered up by the +gamins of the Street, instead of being hived in the strong boxes +of the scoopers. Some of the habitues in the orchestra chairs in +Breen's office had cursed loud and deep when they saw their +margins melt away; and one or two of the directors had broken out +into open revolt, charging Breen with the fiasco, but most of the +others had held their peace. It was better to crawl away into the +tall grass there to nurse their wounds than to give the enemy a +list of the killed and wounded. Now and then an outsider--one who +had watched the battle from afar--saw more of the fight than the +contestants themselves. Among these was Garry Minott. + +"You heard how Mason, the Chicago man, euchred the Mukton gang, +didn't you?" he had shouted to a friend one night at the Magnolia +--"Oh, listen! boys. They set up a job on him,--he's a countryman, +you know a poor little countryman--from a small village called +Chicago--he's got three millions, remember, all in hard cash. +Nice, quiet motherly old gentleman is Mr. Mason--butter wouldn't +melt in his mouth. Went into Mukton with every dollar he had--so +kind of Mr. Breen to let him in--yes, put him down for 2,000 +shares more. Then Breen & Co. began to hoist her up--five points-- +ten points--twenty points. At the end of the week they had, +without knowing it, bought every share of Mason's stock." Here +Garry roared, as did the others within hearing. "And they've got +it yet. Next day the bottom dropped out. Some of them heard Mason +laugh all the way to the bank. He's cleaned up half a million and +gone back home--'so afraid his mother would spank him for being +out late o' nights without his nurse,'" and again Garry's laugh +rang out with such force and earnestness that the glasses on +Biffy's table chinked in response. + +This financial set-back, while it had injured, for the time, +Arthur Breen's reputation for being "up and dressed," had not, to +any appreciable extent, curtailed his expenditures or narrowed the +area of his social domain. Mrs. Breen's dinners and entertainments +had been as frequent and as exclusive, and Miss Corinne had +continued to run the gamut of the gayest and best patronized +functions without, the Scribe is pained to admit, bringing home +with her for good and all both her cotillion favors and the +gentleman who had bestowed them. Her little wren-like head had +moved from side to side, and she had sung her sweetest and +prettiest, but somehow, when the song was over and the crumbs all +eaten (and there were often two dinners a week and at least one +dance), off went the male birds to other and more captivating +roosts. + +Mrs. Breen, of course, raved when Corinne at last opened the door +of her cage for Garry,--went to bed, in fact, for the day, to +accentuate her despair and mark her near approach to death because +of it--a piece of inconsistency she could well have spared +herself, knowing Corinne as she had, from the day of her birth, +and remembering as she must have done, her own escapade with the +almost penniless young army officer who afterward became Corinne's +father. + +Breen did not rave; Breen rather liked it. Garry had no money, it +is true, except what he could earn,--neither had Corinne. Garry +seemed to do as he darned pleased,--so did Corinne;--Garry had no +mother,--neither had Corinne so far as yielding to any authority +was concerned. "Yes,--let 'em marry,--good thing--begin at the +bottom round and work up--" all of which meant that the honorable +banker was delighted over the prospect of considerable more +freedom for himself and considerable less expense in the +household. + +And so the wedding had taken place with all the necessary +trimmings: awning over the carpeted sidewalk; four policemen on +the curb; detectives in the hall and up the staircase and in the +front bedroom where the jewels were exposed (all the directors of +the Mukton Lode were represented); crowds lining the sidewalk; mob +outside the church door--mob inside the church door and clear up +to the altar; flowers, palms, special choir, with little bank- +notes to the boys and a big bank-note to the leader; checks for +the ranking clergyman and the two assistant clergymen, not +forgetting crisp bills for the sexton and the janitor and the +policemen and the detectives and everybody else who could hold out +a hand and not be locked up in jail for highway robbery. Yes, a +most fashionable and a most distinguished and a most exclusive +wedding--there was no mistake about that. + +No one had ever seen anything like it before; some hoped they +never would again, so great was the crush in the drawing-room. And +not only in the drawing-room, but over every square inch of the +house for that matter, from the front door where Parkins's +assistant (an extra man from Delmonico's) shouted out--"Third +floor back for the gentlemen and second floor front for the +ladies"--to the innermost recesses of the library made over into a +banquet hall, where that great functionary himself was pouring +champagne into batteries of tumblers as if it were so much water, +and distributing cuts of cold salmon and portions of terrapin with +the prodigality of a charity committee serving a picnic. + +And then the heartaches over the cards that never came; and the +presents that were never sent, and the wrath of the relations who +got below the ribbon in the church and the airs of the strangers +who got above it; and the tears over the costly dresses that did +not arrive in time and the chagrin over those they had to wear or +stay at home--and the heat and the jam and tear and squeeze--and +the aftermath of wet glasses on inlaid tables and fine-spun table- +cloths burnt into holes with careless cigarettes; and the little +puddles of ice cream on the Turkish rugs and silk divans and the +broken glass and smashed china!--No--there never had been such a +wedding! + +This over, Corinne and Garry had gone to housekeeping in a dear +little flat, to which we may be sure Jack was rarely ever invited +(he had only received "cards" to the church, an invitation which +he had religiously accepted, standing at the door so he could bow +to them both as they passed)--the two, I say, had gone to a dear +little flat--so dear, in fact, that before the year was out +Garry's finances were in such a deplorable condition that the +lease could not be renewed, and another and a cheaper nest had to +be sought for. + +It was at this time that the new church to be built at +Corklesville needed an architect--a fact which Jack communicated +to Garry. Then it happened that with the aid of MacFarlane and +Holker Morris the commission was finally awarded to that "rising +young genius who had so justly distinguished himself in the +atelier of America's greatest architect--Holker Morris--" all of +which Garry wrote himself and had inserted in the county paper, he +having called upon the editor for that very purpose. This service +--and it came at a most critical time in the young man's affairs-- +the Scribe is glad to say, Garry, with his old-time generous +spirit suddenly revived, graciously acknowledged thanking Jack +heartily and with meaning in his voice, as well as MacFarlane--not +forgetting Ruth, to whom he sent a mass of roses as big as a +bandbox. + +The gaining of this church building--the largest and most +important given the young architect since he had left Morris's +protection and guidance--decided Garry to give up at once his +expensive quarters in New York and move to Corklesville. So far as +any help from the house of Breen was concerned, all hope had ended +with the expensive and much-advertised wedding (a shrewd financial +move, really, for a firm selling shady securities). Corinne had +cooed, wept, and then succumbed into an illness, but Breen had +only replied: "No, let 'em paddle their own canoe." + +This is why the sign "To Let," on one of the new houses built by +the Elm Crest Land and Improvement Company--old Tom Corkle who +owned the market garden farms that gave the village of +Corklesville its name, would have laughed himself sore had he been +alive--was ripped off and various teams loaded with all sorts of +furniture, some very expensive and showy and some quite the +contrary--especially that belonging to the servants' rooms--were +backed up to the newly finished porch with its second coat of +paint still wet, and their contents duly distributed upstairs and +downstairs and in my lady Corinne's chamber. + +"Got to put on the brakes, old man," Garry had said one day to +Jack. The boy had heard of the expected change in the architect's +finances before the villa was rented, and so Garry's confidential +communication was not news to him. + +"Been up to look at one of those new houses. Regular bird cage, +but we can get along. Besides, this town is going to grow and I'm +going to help it along. They are all dead out here--embalmed, some +of them--but dead." Here he opened the pamphlet of the company-- +"See this house--an hour from New York; high ground; view of the +harbor--(all a lie, Jack, but it goes all the same); sewers, +running water, gas (lot of the last,--most of it in the +prospectus) It's called Elm Crest--beautiful, isn't it,--and not a +stump within half a mile." + +Jack always remembered the interview. That Garry should help along +anything that he took an interest in was quite in the line of his +ambition and ability. Minott was as "smart as a steel trap," +Holker Morris had always said of him, "and a wonderful fellow +among the men. He can get anything out of them; he would really +make a good politician. His handling of the Corn Exchange showed +that." + +And so it was not surprising,--not to Jack,--that when a new +village councilman was to be elected, Garry should have secured +votes enough to be included among their number. Nor was it at all +wonderful that after taking his seat he should have been placed in +charge of the village funds so far as the expenditures for +contract work went. The prestige of Morris's office settled all +doubts as to his fitness in construction; and the splendor of the +wedding--there could still be seen posted in the houses of the +workmen the newspaper cuts showing the bride and groom leaving the +church--silenced all opposition to "our fellow townsman's" +financial responsibility, even when that opposition was led by so +prominent a ward heeler as Mr. Patrick McGowan, who had planned to +get the position himself--and who became Garry's arch enemy +thereafter. + +In these financial and political advancements Corinne helped but +little. None of the village people interested her, nor did she put +herself out in the least to be polite to them. Ruth had called and +had brought her hands full of roses--and so had her father. Garry +had continued to thank them both for their good word to the church +wardens--and he himself now and then spent an evening at +MacFarlane's house without Corinne, who generally pleaded illness; +but the little flame of friendship which had flashed after their +arrival in Corklesville had died down again. + +This had gone on until the acquaintance had practically ended, +except when they met on the trains or in crossing the ferry. Then +again, Ruth and her father lived at one end of the village known +as Corklesville, and Garry and Corinne lived at the other end, +known as Elm Crest, the connecting link being the railroad, a fact +which Jack told Garry with a suggestive laugh, made them always +turn their backs on each other when they parted to go to their +respective homes, to which Garry would reply that it was an +outrage and that he was coming up that very night--all of which he +failed to do when the proposed visit was talked over with Corinne. + +None of this affected Jack. He would greet Corinne as +affectionately and cordially as he had ever done. He had taken her +measure years before, but that made no difference to him, he never +forgetting that she was his uncle's nominal daughter; that they +had been sheltered by the same roof and that she therefore in a +way belonged to his people. Moreover, he realized, that like +himself, she had been compelled to give up many of the luxuries +and surroundings to which she had been accustomed and which she +loved,--worthless now to Jack in his freedom, but still precious +to her. This in itself was enough to bespeak his sympathy. Not +that she valued it;--she rather sniffed at it. + +"I wish Jack wouldn't stand with his hat off until I get aboard +the train," she had told Garry one day shortly after their +arrival--"he makes me so conspicuous. And he wears such queer +clothes. He was in his slouch hat and rough flannel shirt and high +boots the other day and looked like a tramp." + +"Better not laugh at Jack, Cory," Garry had replied; "you'll be +taking your own hat off to him one of these days; we all shall. +Arthur Breen missed it when he let him go. Jack's queer about some +things, but he's a thoroughbred and he's got brains!" + +"He insulted Mr. Breen in his own house, that's why he let him +go," snapped Corinne. The idea of her ever taking off her hat, +even figuratively, to John Breen, was not to be brooked,--not for +an instant. + +"Yes, that's one way of looking at it, Cory, but I tell you if +Arthur Breen had had Jack with him these last few months--ever +since he left him, in fact,--and had listened once in a while to +what Jack thought was fair and square, the firm of A. B. & Co. +would have a better hold on things than they've got now; and he +wouldn't have dropped that million either. The cards don't always +come up the right way, even when they're stacked." + +"It just served my stepfather right for not giving us some of it, +and I'm glad he lost it," Corinne rejoined, her anger rising +again. "I have never forgiven him for not making me an allowance +after I married, and I never will. He could, at least, have +continued the one he always gave me." + +Garry winked sententiously, and remarked in reply that he might be +making the distinguished money-bags an allowance himself one of +these fine days, and he could if some of the things he was +counting on came out top side up, but Corinne's opinions did not +change either toward Jack or her stepfather. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + + + +When the pain in Jack's heart over Ruth became unbearable, there +was always one refuge left--one balm which never failed to soothe, +and that was Peter. + +For though he held himself in readiness for her call, being seldom +absent lest she might need his services, their constrained +intercourse brought with it more pain than pleasure. It was then +that he longed for the comfort which only his dear mentor could +give. + +On these occasions Mrs. McGuffey would take the lace cover off +Miss Felicia's bureau, as a matter of precaution, provided that +lady was away and the room available, and roll in a big tub for +the young gentleman--"who do be washin' hisself all the time and +he that sloppy that I'm afeared everything will be spi'lt for the +mistress," and Jack would slip out of his working clothes (he +would often come away in his flannel shirt and loose tie, +especially when he was late in paying off) and shed his heavy +boots with the red clay of Jersey still clinging to their soles, +and get into his white linen and black clothes and dress shoes, +and then the two chums would lock arms and saunter up Fifth Avenue +to dine either at one of Peter's clubs or at some house where he +and that "handsome young ward of yours, Mr. Grayson--do bring him +again," were so welcome. + +If Miss Felicia was in town and her room in use, there was never +any change in the programme, Mrs. McGuffey rising to the emergency +and discovering another and somewhat larger apartment in the next +house but two--"for one of the finest gintlemen ye ever saw and +that quiet," etc.--into which Jack would move and which the good +woman would insist on taking full charge of herself. + +It was on one of these blessed and always welcome nights, after +the two had been dining at "a little crack in the wall," as Peter +called a near-by Italian restaurant, that he and Jack stopped to +speak to Isaac Cohen whom they found closing his shop for the +night. Cohen invited them in and Jack, after following the little +tailor through the deserted shop--all the work people had left-- +found himself, to his great surprise, in a small room at the rear, +which Isaac opened with a key taken from his vest pocket, and +which even in the dim light of a single gas jet had more the +appearance of the den of a scholar, or the workshop of a +scientist, than the private office of a fashioner of clothes. + +Peter only stayed a moment--long enough to borrow the second +volume of one of Isaac's books, but the quaint interior and what +it contained made a great impression on Jack,--so much so that +when the two had said good-night and mounted the stairs to Peter's +rooms, it was with increased interest that the boy listened to the +old fellow who stopped on every landing to tell him some incident +connected with the little tailor and his life: How after his +wife's death some years before, and his only daughter's marriage-- +"and a great affair it was, my boy, I was there and know,"--Cohen +had moved down to his shop and fitted up the back room for a +little shelter of his own, where he had lived with his books and +his personal belongings and where he had met the queerest looking +people--with big heads and bushy beards--foreigners, some of them +--speaking all kinds of languages, as well as many highly educated +men in town. + +Once inside his own cosey rooms Peter bustled about, poking the +fire into life, drawing the red curtains closer, moving a vase of +roses so he could catch their fragrance from where he sat, +wheeling two big, easy, all-embracing arm-chairs to the blaze, +rolling a small table laden with various burnables and pourables +within reach of their elbows, and otherwise disporting himself +after the manner of the most cheery and lovable of hosts. This +done, he again took up the thread of his discourse. + +"Yes! He's a wonderful old fellow, this Isaac Cohen," he rattled +on when the two were seated. "You had only a glimpse of that den +of his, but you should see his books on costumes,--he's an +authority, you know,--and his miniatures,--Oh, a Cosway, which he +keeps in his safe, that is a wonder!--and his old manuscripts. +Those are locked up too. And he's a gentleman, too, Jack; not once +in all the years I have known him have I ever heard him mention +the word money in an objectionable way, and he has plenty of it +even if he does press off my coat with his own hands. Can you +recall anybody you know, my boy--even in the houses where you and +I have been lately, who doesn't let the word slip out in a dozen +different ways before the evening is over? And best of all, he's +sane,--one of the few men whom it is safe to let walk around +loose." + +"And you like him?" + +"Immensely." + +"And you never remember he is a Jew?" This was one of the things +Jack had never understood. + +"Never;--that's not his fault,--rather to his credit." + +"Why?" + +"Because the world is against both him and his race, and yet in +all the years I have known him, nothing has ever soured his +temper." + +Jack struck a match, relit his cigar and settling himself more +comfortably in his chair, said in a positive tone: + +"Sour or sweet,--I don't like Jews,--never did." + +"You don't like him because you don't know him. That's your fault, +not his. But you would like him, let me tell you, if you could +hear him talk. And now I think of it, I am determined you shall +know him, and right away. Not that he cares--Cohen's friends are +among the best men in London, especially the better grade of +theatrical people, whose clothes he has made and whose purses he +has kept full--yes--and whom he sometimes had to bury to keep them +out of Potter's field; and those he knows here--his kind of +people, I mean, not yours." + +"All in his line of business, Uncle Peter," Jack laughed. "How +much interest did they pay,--cent per cent?" + +"I am ashamed of you, Jack. Not a penny. Don't let your mind get +clogged up, my boy, with such prejudices,--keep the slate of your +judgment sponged clean." + +"But you believe everybody is clean, Uncle Peter." + +"And so must you, until you prove them dirty. Now, will you do me +a very great kindness and yourself one as well? Please go +downstairs, rap three times at Mr. Cohen's shutters--hard, so that +he can hear you--that's my signal--present my compliments and ask +him to be kind enough to come up and have a cigar with us." + +Jack leaned forward in his seat, his face showing his +astonishment. + +"You don't mean it?" + +"I do." + +"All right." + +The boy was out of his chair and clattering down-stairs before +Peter could add another word to his message. If he had asked him +to crawl out on the roof and drop himself into the third-story +window of the next house, he would have obeyed him with the same +alacrity. + +Peter wheeled up another chair; added some small and large glasses +to the collection on the tray and awaited Jack's return. The +experience was not new. The stupid, illogical prejudice was not +confined to inexperienced lads. + +He had had the same thing to contend with dozens of times before. +Even Holker had once said: "Peter, what the devil do you find in +that little shrimp of a Hebrew to interest you? Is he cold that +you warm him, or hungry that you feed him,--or lonely that--" + +"Stop right there, Holker! You've said it,--lonely--that's it-- +LONELY! That's what made me bring him up the first time he was +ever here. It seemed such a wicked thing to me to have him at one +end of the house--the bottom end, too--crooning over a fire, and I +at the top end crooning over another, when one blaze could warm us +both. So up he came, Holker, and now it is I who am lonely when a +week passes and Isaac does not tap at my door, or I tap at his." + +The distinguished architect understood it all a week later when +the new uptown synagogue was being talked of and he was invited to +meet the board, and found to his astonishment that the wise little +man with the big gold spectacles, occupying the chair was none +other than Peter's tailor. + +"Our mutual friend Mr. Grayson, of the Exeter Bank, spoke to me +about you, Mr. Morris," said the little man without a trace of +foreign accent and with all the composure of a great banker making +a government loan; rising at the same time, with great dignity +introducing Morris to his brother trustees and then placing him in +the empty seat next his own. After that, and on more than one +occasion, there were three chairs around Peter's blaze, with +Morris in one of them. + +All these thoughts coursed through Peter's head as Jack and Cohen +were mounting the three flights of stairs. + +"Ah, Isaac," he cried at first sight of his friend, "I just wanted +you to know my boy, Jack Breen, better, and as his legs are +younger than mine, I sent him down instead of going myself--you +don't mind, do you?" + +"Mind!--of course I do not mind,--but I do know Mr. Breen. I first +met him many months ago--when your sister was here--and then I +see him going in and out all the time--and--" + +"Stop your nonsense, Isaac;--that's not the way to know a man; +that's the way not to know him, but what's more to the point is, I +want Jack to know you. These young fellows have very peculiar +ideas about a good many things,--and this boy is like all the +rest--some of which ought to be knocked out of his head,--your +race, for one thing. He thinks that because you are a Jew that +you--" + +Jack uttered a smothered, "Oh, Uncle Peter!" but the old fellow +who now had the tailor in one of his big chairs and was filling a +thin wineglass with a brown liquid (ten years in the wood)--Holker +sent it--kept straight on. "Jack's all right inside, or I wouldn't +love him, but there are a good many things he has got to learn, +and you happen to be one of them." + +Cohen lay back in his chair and laughed heartily. + +"Do not mind him, Mr. Breen,--do not mind a word he says. He +mortifies me that same way. And now--" here he turned his head to +Peter--"what does he think of my race?" + +"Oh! He thinks you are a lot of money-getters and pawnbrokers, +gouging the poor and squeezing the rich." + +Jack broke out into a cold perspiration: "Really, Uncle Peter! +Now, Mr. Cohen, won't you please believe that I never said one +word of it," exclaimed Jack in pleading tones, his face expressing +his embarrassment. + +"I never said you did, Jack," rejoined Peter with mock solemnity +in his voice. "I said you THOUGHT so. And now here he is,--look at +him. Does he look like Scrooge or Shylock or some old skinflint +who--" here he faced Cohen, his eyes brimming with merriment-- +"What are we going to do with this blasphemer, Isaac? Shall we +boil him in oil as they did that old sixteenth-century saint you +were telling me about the other night, or shall we--?" + +The little tailor threw out his hands--each finger an exclamation +point--and laughed heartily, cutting short Peter's tirade. + +"No--no--we do none of these dreadful things to Mr. Breen; he is +too good to be a saint," and he patted Jack's knees--"and then +again it is only the truth. Mr. Breen is quite right; we are a +race of money-getters, and we are also the world's pawnbrokers and +will always be. Sometimes we make a loan on a watch or a wedding +ring to keep some poor soul from starving; sometimes it is a +railroad to give a millionaire a yacht, or help buy his wife a +string of pearls. It is quite the same, only over one shop we hang +three gilt balls: on the other we nail a sign which reads: +'Financial Agents.' And it is the same Jew, remember, who stands +behind both counters. The first Jew is overhauled almost every day +by the police; the second Jew is regarded as our public-spirited +citizen. So you see, my young friend, that it is only a question +of the amount of money you have got whether you loan on rings or +railroads." + +"And whether the Christian lifts his hat or his boot," laughed +Peter. + +Cohen leaned his elbows on his plump knees and went on, the +slender glass still in his hand, from which now and then he took a +sip. Peter sat buried in his chair, his cigar between his fingers. +Jack held his peace; it was not for him to air his opinions in the +presence of the two older men, and then again the tailor had +suddenly become a savant. + +"Of course, there are many things I wish were different," the +tailor continued in a more thoughtful tone. "Many of my people +forget their birthright and force themselves on the Christian, +trying to break down the fence which has always divided us, and +which is really our best protection. As long as we keep to +ourselves we are a power. Persecution,--and sometimes it amounts +to that--is better than amalgamation; it brings out our better +fighting qualities and makes us rely on ourselves. This is the +view of our best thinkers, and they are right. Just hear me run +on! Why talk about these things? They are for graybeards, not +young fellows with the world before them." Cohen straightened up-- +laid his glass on the small table, waved his hand in denial to +Peter who started to refill it, and continued, turning to Jack: +"And now let me hear something about your own work, Mr. Breen," he +said in his kindest and most interested voice. "Mr. Grayson tells +me you are cutting a great tunnel. Under a mountain, is it not? +Ah!--that is something worth doing. And here is this old uncle of +yours with his fine clothes and his old wine, who does nothing but +pore over his musty bank-books, and here am I in the cellar below, +who can only sew on buttons, and yet we have the impudence to +criticise you. Really, I never heard of such conceit!" + +"Oh!--but it isn't my tunnel," Jack eagerly protested, greatly +amused at the Jew's talk; "I am just an assistant, Mr. Cohen." +Somehow he had grown suddenly smaller since the little man had +been talking. + +"Yes,--of course, we are all assistants; Mr. Grayson assists at +the bank, and I assist my man, Jacob, who makes such funny +mistakes in the cut of his trousers. Oh, yes, that is quite the +way life is made up. But about this tunnel? It is part of this new +branch, is it not? Some of my friends have told me about it. And +it is going straight through the mountain." + +And then before Jack or Peter could reply the speaker branched out +into an account of the financing of the great Mt. Cenis tunnel, +and why the founder of the house of Rothschild, who had "assisted" +in its construction, got so many decorations from foreign +governments; the talk finally switching off to the enamelled and +jewelled snuff boxes of Baron James Rothschild, whose collection +had been the largest in Europe; and what had become of it; and +then by one of those illogical jumps--often indulged in by well- +informed men discussing any subject that absorbs them--brought up +at Voltaire and Taine and the earlier days of the Revolution in +which one of the little tailor's ancestors had suffered spoliation +and death. + +Jack sat silent--he had long since found himself out of his depth +--drinking in every word of the talk, his wonderment increasing +every moment, not only over Cohen, but over Peter as well, whom he +had never before heard so eloquent or so learned, or so +entertaining. When at last the little man rose to go, the boy, +with one of those spontaneous impulses which was part of his +nature, sprang from his seat, found the tailor's hat himself, and +conducting him to the door, wished him good-night with all the +grace and well-meant courtesy he would show a prince of the blood, +should he ever be fortunate enough to meet one. + +Peter was standing on the mat, his back to the fire, when the boy +returned. + +"Jack, you delight me!" the old fellow cried. "Your father +couldn't have played host better. Really, I am beginning to +believe I won't have to lock you up in an asylum. You're getting +wonderfully sane, my boy,--real human. Jack, do you know that if +you keep on this way I shall really begin to love you!" + +"But what an extraordinary man," exclaimed Jack, ignoring Peter's +compliment and badinage. "Is there anything he does not know?" + +"Yes,--many things. Oh! a great many things. He doesn't know how +to be rude, or ill bred, or purse-proud. He doesn't know how to +snub people who are poorer than he is, or to push himself in where +he isn't wanted; or to talk behind people's backs after he has +accepted their hospitality. Just plain gentleman journeyman +tailor, Jack. And now, my boy, be honest. Isn't he a relief after +some of the people you and I meet every day?" + +Jack settled again in his chair. His mind was not at all easy. + +"Yes, he is, and that makes me afraid I was rude. I didn't mean to +be." + +"No,--you acted just right. I wanted to draw him out so you could +hear, and you must say that he was charming. And the best of it is +that he could have talked equally well on a dozen other subjects." + +For some time Jack did not answer. Despite Peter's good opinion of +him, he still felt that he had either said or done something he +should be ashamed of. He knew it was his snap judgment about Cohen +that had been the cause of the object lesson he had just received. +Peter had not said so in so many words--it was always with a jest +or a laugh that he corrected his faults, but he felt their truth +all the same. + +For some minutes he leaned back in his chair, his eyes on the +ceiling; then he said in a tone of conviction: + +"I WAS wrong about Mr. Cohen, Uncle Peter. I am always putting my +foot in it. He is an extraordinary man. He certainly is, to listen +to, whatever he is in his business." + +"No, Jack, my boy--you were only honest," Peter rejoined, passing +over the covert allusion to the financial side of the tailor. "You +didn't like his race and you said so. Act first. Then you found +out you were wrong and you said so. Act second. Then you +discovered you owed him an ample apology and you bowed him out as +if he had been a duke. Act third. And now comes the epilogue-- +Better be kind and human than be king! Eh, Jack?" and the old +gentleman threw back his head and laughed heartily. + +Jack made no reply. He was through with Cohen;--something else +was on his mind of far more importance than the likes and dislikes +of all the Jews in Christendom. Something he had intended to lay +before Peter at the very moment the old fellow had sent him for +Isaac--something he had come all the way to New York to discuss +with him; something that had worried him for days. There was but +half an hour left; then he must get his bag and say good-night and +good-by for another week or more. + +Peter noticed the boy's mood and laid his hand on his wrist. +Somehow this was not the same Jack. + +"I haven't hurt you, my son, have I?" he asked with a note of +tenderness in his voice. + +"Hurt me! You couldn't hurt me, Uncle Peter!" There was no +question of his sincerity as he spoke. It sprang straight from his +heart. + +"Well, then, what's the matter?--out with it. No secrets from +blundering old Peter," he rejoined in a satisfied tone. + +Jack laughed gently: "Well, sir, it's about the work." It wasn't; +but it might lead to it later on, + +"Work!--what's the matter with the work! Anything wrong?" There +was a note of alarm now that made Jack reply hastily: + +"No, it will be finished next month: we are lining up the arches +this week and the railroad people have already begun to dump their +cross ties along the road bed. It's about another job. Mr. +MacFarlane, I am afraid, hasn't made much money on the fill and +tunnel, but he has some other work offered him up in Western +Maryland, which he may take, and which, if he does, may pay +handsomely. He wants me to go with him. It means a shanty and a +negro cook, as near as I can figure it, but I shall get used to +that, I suppose. What do you think about it?" + +"Well," chuckled Peter--it was not news; MacFarlane had told him +all about it the week before at the Century--"if you can keep the +shanty tight and the cook sober you may weather it. It must be +great fun living in a shanty. I never tried it, but I would like +to." + +"Yes, perhaps it is,--but it has its drawbacks. I can't come to +see you for one thing, and then the home will be broken up. Miss +Ruth will go back to her grandmother's for a while, she says, and +later on she will visit the Fosters at Newport and perhaps spend a +month with Aunt Felicia." He called her so now. + +Jack paused for some further expression of opinion from his always +ready adviser, but Peter's eyes were still fixed on the slow, +dying fire. + +"It will be rather a rough job from what I saw of it," Jack went +on. "We are to run a horizontal shaft into some ore deposits. Mr. +MacFarlane and I have been studying the plans for some time; we +went over the ground together last month. That's why I didn't come +to you last week." + +Peter twisted his head: "What's the name of the nearest town?" +MacFarlane had told him but he had forgotten. + +"Morfordsburg. I was there once with my father when I was a boy. +He had some ore lands near where these are;--those he left me. The +Cumberland property we always called it. I told you about it once. +It will never amount to anything,--except by expensive boring. +That is also what hurts the value of this new property the +Maryland Mining Company owns. That's what they want Mr. MacFarlane +for. Now, what would you do if you were me?" + +"What sort of a town is Morfordsburg?" inquired Peter, ignoring +Jack's question, his head still buried between his shoulders. + +"Oh, like all other country villages, away from railroad +connection." + +"Any good houses,--any to rent?" + +"Yes,--I saw two." + +"And you want my advice, do you, Jack?" he burst out, rising erect +in his seat. + +"Yes." + +"Well, I'd stick to MacFarlane and take Ruth with me." + +Jack broke out into a forced laugh. Peter had arrived by a short +cut! Now he knew, he was a mind reader. + +"She won't go," he answered in a voice that showed he was open to +conviction. Peter, perhaps, had something up his sleeve. + +"Have you asked her?" The old fellow's eyes were upon him now. + +"No,--not in so many words." + +"Well, try it. She has always gone with her father; she loves the +outdoor life and it loves her. I never saw her look as pretty as +she is now, and she has her horse too. Try asking her yourself, +beg her to come along and keep house and make a home for the three +of you." + +Jack leaned back in his seat, his face a tangle of hopes and +fears. What was Uncle Peter driving at, anyhow? + +"I have tried other things, and she would not listen," he said in +a more positive tone. Again the two interviews he had had with +Ruth came into his mind; the last one as if it had been yesterday. + +"Try until she DOES listen," continued Peter. "Tell her you will +be very lonely if she doesn't go, and that she is the one and only +thing in Corklesville that interests you outside of your work--and +be sure you mention the dear girl first and the work last--and +that you won't have another happy hour if she leaves you in the--" + +"Oh!--Uncle Peter!" + +"And why not? It's a fact, isn't it? You were honest about Isaac; +why not be honest with Ruth?" + +"I am." + +"No, you're not,--you only tell her half what's in your heart. +Tell her all of it! The poor child has been very much depressed of +late, so Felicia tells me, over something that troubles her, and I +wouldn't be at all surprised if you were at the bottom of it. Give +yourself an overhauling and find out what you have said or done to +hurt her. She will never forget you for pulling her father out of +that hole, nor will he." + +Jack bristled up: "I don't want her to think of me in that way!" + +"Oh, you don't! don't you? Oh, of course not! You want her to +think of you as a great and glorious young knight who goes +prancing about the world doing good from habit, and yet you are so +high and mighty that--Jack, you rascal, do you know you are the +stupidest thing that breathes? You're like a turkey, my boy, +trying to get over the top rail of a pen with its head in the air, +when all it has to do is to stoop a little and march out on its +toes." + +Jack rose from his seat and walked toward the fire, where he stood +with one hand on the mantel. He knew Peter had a purpose in all +his raillery and yet he dared not voice the words that trembled on +his lips; he could tell the old fellow everything in his life +except his love for Ruth and her refusal to listen to him. This +was the bitterest of all his failures, and this he would not and +could not pour into Peter's ears. Neither did he want Ruth to have +Peter's help, nor Miss Felicia's; nor MacFarlane's; not anybody's +help where her heart was concerned. If Ruth loved him that was +enough, but he wouldn't have anybody persuade her to love him, or +advise with her about loving him. How much Peter knew he could not +say. Perhaps!--perhaps Ruth told him something!--something he was +keeping to himself! + +As this last thought forced itself into his brain a great surge of +joy swept over him. For a brief moment he stood irresolute. One of +Peter's phrases now rang clear: "Stoop a little!" Stoop?--hadn't +he done everything a man could do to win a woman, and had he not +found the bars always facing him? + +With this his heart sank again. No, there was no use of thinking +anything more about it, nor would he tell him. There were some +things that even Peter couldn't understand,--and no wonder, when +you think how many years had gone by since he loved any woman. + +The chime of the little clock rang out. + +Jack turned quickly: "Eleven o'clock, Uncle Peter, and I must go; +time's up. I hate to leave you." + +"And what about the shanty and the cook?" said Peter, his eyes +searching Jack's. + +"I'll go,--I intended to go all the time if you approved." + +"And what about Ruth?" + +"Don't ask me, Uncle Peter, not now." And he hurried off to pack +his bag. + + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + + + +If Jack, after leaving Peter and racing for the ferry, had, under +Peter's advice, formulated in his mind any plan by which he could +break down Ruth's resolve to leave both her father and himself in +the lurch and go out in the gay world alone, there was one factor +which he must have left out of his calculations--and that was the +unexpected. + +One expression of Peter's, however, haunted him all the way home: +--that Ruth was suffering and that he had been the cause of it. Had +he hurt her?--and if so, how and when? With this, the dear girl's +face, with the look of pain on it which Miss Felicia had noticed, +rose before him. Perhaps Peter was right. He had never thought of +Ruth's side of the matter--had never realized that she, too, might +have suffered. To-morrow he would go to her. If he could not win +her for himself he could, at least, find out the cause and help +relieve her pain. + +This idea so possessed him that it was nearly dawn before he +dropped to sleep. + +With the morning everything changed. + +Such a rain had never been known to fall--not in the memory of the +oldest moss-back in the village--if any such ancient inhabitant +existed. Twelve hours of it had made rivers of the streets, +quagmires of the roads, and covered the crossings ankle-deep with +mud. It had begun in the night while Isaac was expounding his +views on snuff boxes, tunnels, and Voltaire to Peter and Jack, had +followed Jack across the river and had continued to soak into his +clothes until he opened Mrs. Hicks's front door with his private +key. It was still pelting away the next morning, when Jack, +alarmed at its fury, bolted his breakfast, and, donning his +oilskins and rubber boots, hurried to the brick office from whose +front windows he could get a view of the fill, the culvert, and +the angry stream, and from whose rear windows could be seen half a +mile up the raging torrent, the curve of the unfinished embankment +flanking one side of the new boulevard which McGowan was building +under a contract with the village. + +Hardly had he slipped off his boots and tarpaulins when +MacFarlane, in mackintosh and long rubber boots, splashed in: + +"Breen," said his Chief, loosening the top button of his storm +coat and threshing the water from his cap: + +Jack was on his feet in an instant: + +"Yes, sir." + +"I wish you would take a look at the boulevard spillway. I know +McGowan's work and how he skins it sometimes, and I'm getting +worried. Coggins says the water is backing up, and that the slopes +are giving way. You can see yourself what a lot of water is coming +down--" here they both gazed through the open window. "I never saw +that stream look like that since I've been here; there must be a +frightful pressure now on McGowan's retaining walls. We should +have a close shave if anything gave way above us. Our own +culvert's working all right, but it's taxed now to its utmost." + +Jack unhooked his water-proof from a nail behind the door--he had +began putting on his rubber boots again before MacFarlane finished +speaking. + +"He will have to pay the bills, sir, if anything gives way--" Jack +replied in a determined voice. "Garry told me only last week that +McGowan had to take care of his own water; that was part of his +contract. It comes under Garry's supervision, you know." + +"Yes, I know, and that may all be so, Breen," he replied with a +flickering smile, "but it won't do us any good,--or the road +either. They want to run cars next month." + +The door again swung wide, and a man drenched to the skin, the +water glistening on his bushy gray beard stepped in. + +"I heard you were here, sir, and had to see you. There's only four +feet lee-way in our culvert, sir, and the scour's eating into the +underpinning; I am just up from there. We are trying bags of +cement, but it doesn't do much good." + +MacFarlane caught up his hat and the two hurried down stream to +the "fill," while Jack, buttoning his oilskin jacket over his +chest, and crowding his slouch hat close to his eyebrows and ears +strode out into the downpour, his steps bent in the opposite +direction. + +The sight that met his eyes was even more alarming. The once quiet +little stream, with its stretch of meadowland reaching to the foot +of the steep hills, was now a swirl of angry reddish water +careering toward the big culvert under the "fill." There it struck +the two flanking walls of solid masonry, doubled in volume and +thus baffled, shot straight into and under the culvert and so on +over the broad fields below. + +Up the stream toward the boulevard on the other side of its sky +line, groups of men were already engaged carrying shovels, or +lugging pieces of timber as they hurried along its edge, only to +disappear for an instant and reappear again empty-handed. Shouts +could be heard, as if some one were giving orders. Against the +storm-swept sky, McGowan's short, squat figure was visible, his +hands waving wildly to other gangs of men who were running at full +speed toward where he stood. + +Soon a knife-edge of water glistened along the crest of the earth +embankment supporting the roadway of the boulevard, scattered into +a dozen sluiceways, gashing the sides of the slopes, and then, +before Jack could realize his own danger, the whole mass collapsed +only to be swallowed up in a mighty torrent which leaped straight +at him. + +Jack wheeled suddenly, shouted to a man behind him to run for his +life, and raced on down stream toward the "fill" a mile below +where MacFarlane and his men, unconscious of their danger, were +strengthening the culvert and its approaches. + +On swept the flood, tearing up trees, cabins, shanties, fences; +swirling along the tortuous bed only to leap and swirl again, its +solid front bristling with the debris it had wrenched loose in its +mad onslaught, Jack in his line of flight keeping abreast of its +mighty thrust, shouting as he ran, pressing into service every man +who could help in the rescue. + +But MacFarlane had already been forewarned. The engineer of the +morning express, who had crossed close to the boulevard at the +moment the break occurred, had leaned far out of his cab as the +train thundered by at right angles to the "fill," and with cupped +hands to his mouth, had hurled this yell into the ravine: + +"Water! Look out! Everything busted up above! Water! Water! Run, +for God's sake!" + +The men stood irresolute, but MacFarlane sprang to instant action. +Grabbing the man next him,--an Italian who understood no English-- +he dragged him along, shouting to the others, the crowd swarming +up, throwing away their shovels in their flight until the whole +posse reached a point of safety near the mouth of the tunnel. + +There he turned and braced himself for the shock. He realized +fully what had happened: McGowan's ill-constructed culvert had +sagged and choked; a huge basin of water had formed behind it; the +retaining walls had been undermined and the whole mass was +sweeping down upon him. Would there be enough of it to overflow +the crest line of his own "fill" or not? If it could stand the +first on-thrust there was one chance in a hundred of its safety, +provided the wing-walls and the foundations of the culvert held up +its arch, thus affording gradual relief until the flood should +have spent its force. + +It was but a question of minutes. He could already see the trees +sway as the mad flood struck them, the smaller ones rebounding, +the large ones toppling over. Then came a dull roar like that of a +tram through a covered bridge, and then a great wall of yellow +suds, boiling, curling, its surface covered with sticks, planks, +shingles, floating barrels, parts of buildings, dashed itself +against the smoothed earth slopes of his own "fill," surged a +third of its height, recoiled on itself, swirled furiously again, +and then inch by inch rose toward the top. Should it plunge over +the crest, the "fill" would melt away as a rising tide melts a +sand fort, the work of months be destroyed, and his financial ruin +be a certainty. + +But the man who had crawled out on the shore end of the great +cantilever bridge over the Ohio, and who had with his own hands +practically set the last rebellious steel girder one hundred feet +above the water level, had still some resources left. Grabbing a +shovel from a railroad employe, he called to his men and began +digging a trench on the tunnel end of the "fill" to form a +temporary spillway should the top of the flood reach the crest of +the road bed. + +Fifty or more men sprang to his assistance with pick and shovel +wherever one could stand and dig. The water had now reached within +five feet of the top: the rise was slower, showing that the volume +had lessened; the soakage, too, was helping, but the water still +gained. The bottom of the trench, cut transversely across the road +bed of the "fill," out of which the dirt was still flying from +scores of willing shovels, had reached the height of the flood +line. It was wide enough and deep enough to take care of the +slowly rising overflow and would relieve the pressure on the whole +structure; but the danger was not there. What was to be feared was +the scour on the down-stream--far side--slope of the "fill." This +also, was of loose earth: too great a gulch might mean total +collapse. + +To lessen this scour MacFarlane had looted a carload of plank +switched on to a siding, and a gang of men in charge of Jack,--who +had now reached his Chief's side,--were dragging them along the +downstream slope to form sluices with which to break the force of +the scour. + +The top of the flood now poured into the mouth of the newly dug +trench, biting huge mouthfuls of earth from its sides in its rush; +spreading the reddish water fan-like over the down-stream slope: +first into gullies; then a broad sluiceway that sunk out of sight +in the soft earth; then crumblings, slidings of tons of sand and +gravel, with here and there a bowlder washed clean; the men +working like beavers,--here to free a rock, there to drive home a +plank, the trench all the while deepening, widening--now a gulch +ten feet across and as deep, now a canon through which surged a +solid mass of frenzied water. + +With the completion of the first row of planking MacFarlane took +up a position where he could overlook all parts of the work. Every +now and then his eyes would rest on a water-gauge which he had +improvised from the handle of a pick; the rise and fall of the wet +mark showing him both the danger and the safety lines. He seemed +the least interested man in the group. Once in a while he would +consult his watch, counting the seconds, only to return to the +gauge. + +That thousands of dollars' damage had so far been done did not +seem to affect him in the least. Only when Jack would call out +that everything so far was solid on the main "fill" did his calm +face light up. + +Tightening his wide slouch hat farther down on his head, he drew +up the tops of his high-water boots and strode through the slush +to the pick-handle. His wooden record showed that half an hour +before the water had been rising at the rate of an inch every +three minutes; that it had then taken six, and now required eight! +He glanced at the sky; it had stopped raining and a light was +breaking in the West. + +Pocketing his watch he beckoned to Jack: + +"The worst is over, Breen," he said in a voice of perfect +calmness--the tone of a doctor after feeling a patient's pulse. +"Our culvert is doing its work and relieving the pressure. This +water will be out of here by morning. Tell the foreman to keep +those planks moving wherever they do any good, but they won't +count much longer. You can see the difference already in the +overflow. And now go up to the house and tell Ruth. She may not +know we are all right and will be worrying." + +Jack's heart gave a bound. No more delightful duty could devolve +on him. + +"What shall I tell her about the damage if she asks me, sir?" he +demanded, hiding his pleasure in a perfunctory, businesslike tone, +"and she will." + +"Tell her it means all summer here for me and no new bonnets for +her until next winter," replied MacFarlane with a grim smile. + +"Yes, I suppose, but I referred to the money loss," Jack laughed +in reply. "There is no use worrying her if we are not to blame for +this." He didn't intend to worry her. He was only feeling about +for some topic which would prolong his visit and encourage +conversation. + +"If we are, it means some thousands of dollars on the wrong side +of the ledger," answered MacFarlane after a pause, a graver tone +in his voice. "But don't tell Ruth that. Just give her my message +about the bonnet--she will understand." + +"But not if McGowan is liable," argued Jack. If Ruth was to hear +bad news it could at least be qualified. + +"That depends somewhat on the wording of his contract, Breen, and +a good deal on whether this village wants to hold him to it. I'm +not crossing any bridges of that kind, and don't you. What I'm +worrying about is the number of days and nights it's going to take +to patch this work so they can get trains through our tunnel-- +And, Breen--" + +"Yes, sir," answered Jack, as he stopped and looked over his +shoulder. There were wings on his feet now. + +"Get into some dry clothes before you come back." + +While all this had been going on Ruth had stood at the window in +the upper hall opposite the one banked with geraniums, too +horrified to move. She had watched with the aid of her opera-glass +the wild torrent rushing through the meadow, and she had heard the +shouts of the people in the streets and the prolonged roar when +the boulevard embankment gave way. + +The hurried entrance and startled cry of the grocer's boy in the +kitchen below, and the loud talk that followed, made her move to +the head of the stairs. There she stood listening, her heart in +her mouth, her knees trembling. Such expressions as "drownded,"-- +"more'n a hundred of 'em--" reached her ears. Then came the words +--"de boss's work busted; ain't nobody seen him alive, so dey say." + +For an instant she clutched the hand rail to keep her from +falling, then with a cry of terror she caught up an old cloth +cape, bound a hat to her head with a loose veil, and was +downstairs and into the street before the boy had reached the +curb. + +"Yes, mum," he stammered, breathlessly, his eyes bulging from his +head,--"Oh! it's awful, mum! Don't know how many's drownded! +Everybody's shovelin' on de railroad dump, but dere ain't nothin' +kin save it, dey say!" + +She raced on--across the long street, avoiding the puddles as best +she could; past the Hicks Hotel--no sign of Jack anywhere--past +the factory fence, until she reached the railroad, where she +stopped, gathered her bedraggled skirts in her hand and then sped +on over the cross-ties like a swallow, her little feet scarce +touching the cinders. + +Jack had caught sight of the flying girl as she gained the +railroad and awaited her approach; he supposed she was the half- +crazed wife or daughter of some workman, bringing news of fresh +disaster, until she approached near enough for him to note the +shape and size of her boots and the way the hat and veil framed +her face. But it was not until she uttered a cry of agony and ran +straight toward him, that he sprang forward to meet her and caught +her in his aims to keep her from falling. + +"Oh, Jack!--where is daddy--where--" she gasped. + +"Why, he is all right, Miss Ruth,--everybody's all right! Why did +you come here? Oh! I am so sorry you have had this fright! Don't +answer,--just lean on me until you get your breath." + +"Yes--but are you sure he is safe? The grocer's boy said nobody +had seen him alive." + +"Of course I am sure! Just look across--there he is; nobody could +ever mistake that old slouch hat of his. And look at the big +'fill.' It hasn't given an inch, Miss Ruth--think of it! What a +shame you have had such a fright," he continued as he led her to a +pile of lumber beside the track and moved out a dry plank where he +seated her as tenderly as if she had been a frightened child, +standing over her until she breathed easier. + +"But then, if he is safe, why did you leave daddy? You are not +hurt yourself, are you?" she exclaimed suddenly, reaching up her +hand and catching the sleeve of his tarpaulin, a great lump in her +throat. + +"Me, hurt!--not a bit of it,--not a scratch of any kind,--see!" As +an object-lesson he stretched out his arm and with one clenched +hand smote his chest gorilla fashion. + +"But you are all wet--" she persisted, in a more reassured tone. +"You must not stand here in this wind; you will get chilled to the +bone. You must go home and get into dry clothes;--please say you +will go?" + +Something warm and scintillating started from Jack's toes as the +words left her lips, surged along his spinal column, set his +finger tips tingling and his heart thumping like a trip hammer. +She had called him "Jack!" She had run a mile to rescue him and +her father, and she was anxious lest he should endanger his +precious life by catching cold. Cold!--had he been dragged through +the whirlpool of Niagara in the dead of winter with the +thermometer at zero and then cast on a stranded iceberg he would +now be sizzling hot. + +Again she repeated her command,--this time in a more peremptory +tone, the same anxious note in her voice. + +"Please come, if daddy doesn't want you any more you must go home +at once. I wouldn't have you take cold for--" she did not finish +the sentence; something in his face told her that her solicitude +might already have betrayed her. + +"Of course, I will go just as soon as you are rested a little, but +you mustn't worry about me, Miss Ruth, I am as wet as a rat, I +know, but I am that way half the time when it rains. These +tarpaulins let in a lot of water--" here he lifted his arms so she +could see the openings herself--"and then I got in over my boots +trying to plug the holes in the sluiceway with some plank." He was +looking down into her eyes now. Never had he seen her so pretty. +The exercise had made roses of her cheeks, and the up-turned face +framed by the thatch of a bonnet bound with the veil, reminded him +of a Madonna. + +"And is everything all right with daddy? And was there nobody in +the shanties?" she went on. "Perhaps I might better try to get +over where he is;--do you think I can? I would just like to tell +him how glad I am it is no worse." + +"Yes, if you change boots with me," laughed Jack, determined to +divert her mind; "I was nearly swamped getting back here. That is +where most of this mud came from--" and Jack turned his long, +clay-encrusted boot so that Ruth could see how large a section of +the "fill" he had brought with him. + +Ruth began to laugh. There was no ostensible reason why she should +laugh; there was nothing about Jack's make-up to cause it. Indeed, +she thought he had never looked so handsome, even if his hair were +plastered to his temples under his water-soaked hat and his +clothes daubed with mud. + +And yet she did laugh:--At the way her veil got knotted under her +chin,--so tightly knotted that Jack had to take both hands to +loosen it, begging pardon for touching her throat, and hoping all +the while that his clumsy fingers had not hurt her;--at the way +her hat was crumpled, the flowers "never,--never, being of the +slightest use to anybody again"; at her bedraggled skirts--"such a +sight, and sopping wet." + +And Jack laughed, too,--agreeing to everything she said, until she +reached that stage in the conversation, never omitted on occasions +of this kind, when she declared, arching her head, that she must +look like a perfect fright, which Jack at once refuted exclaiming +that he had never seen her look so--he was going to say "pretty," +but checked himself and substituted "well," instead, adding, as he +wiped off her ridiculously small boots, despite her protests, with +his wet handkerchief,--that cloud-bursts were not such bad +things, after all, now that he was to have the pleasure of +escorting her home. + +And so the two walked back to the village, the afternoon sun, +which had now shattered the lowering clouds, gilding and +glorifying their two faces, Jack stopping at Mrs. Hicks's to +change his clothes and Ruth keeping on to the house, where he was +to join her an hour later, when the two would have a cup of tea +and such other comforts as that young lady might prepare for her +water-soaked lover. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + + + +If ten minutes make half an hour, then it took Jack that long to +rush upstairs, two steps at a time, burst into his room, strip off +his boots, tear off his wet clothes, struggle into others jerked +from his wardrobe, tie a loose, red-silk scarf under the rolling +collar of his light-blue flannel shirt, slip into a grey pea- +jacket and unmentionables, give his hair a brush and a promise, +tilt a dry hat on one side of his head and skip down-stairs +again. + +Old Mrs. Hicks had seen him coming and had tried to catch him as +he flew out the door, hoping to get some more definite news of the +calamity which had stirred the village, but he was gone before she +could reach the front hall. + +He had not thought of his better clothes; there might still be +work to do, and his Chief might again need his services. Ruth +would understand, he said to himself--all of which was true. +Indeed, she liked him better in his high-water rubber boots, wide +slouch hat and tarpaulins than in the more conventional suit of +immaculate black with which he clothed his shapely body whenever +he took her to one of the big dinners at one of the great houses +on Washington Square. + +And she liked this suit best of all. She had been peeping through +the curtains and her critical admiring eyes had missed no detail. +She saw that the cavalier boots were gone, but she recognized the +short pea-jacket and the loose rolling collar of the soft flannel +shirt circling the strong, bronzed throat, and the dash of red in +the silken scarf. + +And so it is not surprising that when he got within sight of her +windows, his cheeks aflame with the crisp air, his eyes snapping +with the joy of once more hearing her voice, her heart should have +throbbed with an undefinable happiness and pride as she realized +that for a time, at least, he was to be all her own. And yet when +he had again taken her hand--the warmth of his last pressure still +lingered in her palm--and had looked into her eyes and had said +how he hoped he had not kept her waiting, all she could answer in +reply was the non-committal remark: + +"Well, now you look something like"--at which Jack's heart gave a +great bound, any compliment, however slight, being so much manna +to his hungry soul; Ruth adding, as she led the way into the +sitting-room, "I lighted the wood fire because I was afraid you +might still be cold." + +And ten minutes had been enough for Ruth. + +It had been one of those lightning changes which a pretty girl can +always make when her lover is expected any instant and she does +not want to lose a moment of his time, but it had sufficed. +Something soft and clinging it was now; her lovely, rounded figure +moving in its folds as a mermaid moves in the surf; her hair +shaken cut and caught up again in all its delicious abandon; her +cheeks, lips, throat, rose-color in the joy of her expectancy. + +He sat drinking it all in. Had a mass of outdoor roses been laid +by his side, their fragrance filling the air, the beauty of their +coloring entrancing his soul, he could not have been more +intoxicated by their beauty. + +And yet, strange to say, only commonplaces rose to his lips. All +the volcano beneath, and only little spats of smoke and dying bits +of ashes in evidence! Even the message of his Chief about her not +getting a new bonnet all summer seemed a godsend under the +circumstances. Had there been any basis for her self-denial he +would not have told her, knowing how much anxiety she had suffered +an hour before. But there was no real good reason why she should +economize either in bonnets or in anything else she wanted. +McGowan, of course, would be held responsible; for whatever damage +had been done he would have to pay. He had been present when the +young architect's watchful and trained eye had discovered some +defects in the masonry of the wing walls of the McGowan culvert +bridging the stream, and had heard him tell the contractor, in so +many words that if the water got away and smashed anything below +him he would charge the loss to his account. McGowan had groveled +in dissent, but it had made no impression on Garry, whose duty it +was to see that the work was properly carried out and whose +signature loosened the village purse strings. + +None of these details would interest Ruth; nor was it necessary +that they should. The bonnet, however, was another matter. Bonnets +were worn over pretty heads and framed lovely hair and faces and +eyes--one especially! And then again any pleasantry of her +father's would tend to relieve her mind after the anxiety of the +morning. Yes, the bonnet by all means! + +"Oh, I never gave you your father's message," he began, laying +aside his cup, quite as if he had just remembered it. "I ought to +have done so before you hung up the hat you wore a while ago." + +Ruth looked up, smiling: "Why?" There was a roguish expression +about her mouth as she spoke. She was very happy this afternoon. + +"He says you won't get a new bonnet all summer," continued Jack, +toying with the end of the ribbon that floated from her waist. + +Ruth put down her cup and half rose from her chair All the color +had faded from her cheeks. + +"Did he tell you that?" she cried, her eyes staring into his, her +voice trembling as if from some sudden fright. + +Jack gazed at her in wonderment: + +"Yes--of course he did and--Why, Miss Ruth!--Why, what's the +matter! Have I said anything that--" + +"Then something serious has happened," she interrupted in a +decided tone. "That is always his message to me when he is in +trouble. That is what he telegraphed me when he lost the coffer- +dam in the Susquehanna. Oh!--he did not really tell you that, did +he, Mr. Breen?" The old anxious note had returned--the one he had +heard at the "fill." + +"Yes--but nothing serious HAS happened, Miss Ruth," Jack +persisted, his voice rising in the intensity of his conviction, +his earnest, truthful eyes fixed on hers--"nothing that will not +come out all right in the end. Please, don't be worried, I know +what I am talking about." + +"Oh, yes, it is serious," she rejoined with equal positiveness. +"You do not know daddy. Nothing ever discourages him, and he meets +everything with a smile--but he cannot stand any more losses. The +explosion was bad enough, but if this 'fill' is to be rebuilt, I +don't know what will be the end of it. Tell me over again, please +--how did he look when he said it?--and give me just the very +words. Oh, dear, dear daddy! What will he do?" The anxious note +had now fallen to one of the deepest suffering. + +Jack repeated the message word for word, all his tenderness in his +tones--patting her shoulder in his effort to comfort her--ending +with a minute explanation of what Garry had told him: but Ruth +would not be convinced. + +"But you don't know daddy," she kept repeating "You don't know +him. Nobody does but me. He would not have sent that message had +he not meant it. Listen! There he is now!" she cried, springing to +her feet. + +She had her arms around her father's neck, her head nestling on +his shoulder before he had fairly entered the door. "Daddy, dear, +is it very bad?" she murmured. + +"Pretty bad, little girl," he answered, smoothing her cheek +tenderly with his chilled fingers as he moved with her toward the +fire, "but it might have been worse but for the way Breen handled +the men." + +"And will it all have to be rebuilt?" + +She was glad for Jack, but it was her father who now filled her +mind. + +"That I can't tell, Puss"--one of his pet names for her, +particularly when she needed comforting--"but it's safe for the +night, anyway." + +"And you have worked so hard--so hard!" Her beautiful arms, bare +from the elbow, were still around his neck, her cheek pressed +close--her lovely, clinging body in strong contrast to the +straight, gray, forceful man in the wet storm-coat, who stood with +arms about her while he caressed her head with his brown fingers. + +"Well, Puss, we have one consolation--it wasn't our fault--the +'fill' is holding splendidly although it has had a lively shaking +up. The worst was over in ten minutes, but it was pretty rough +while it lasted. I don't think I ever saw water come so fast. I +saw you with Breen, but I couldn't reach you then. Look out for +your dress, daughter. I'm pretty wet." + +He released her arms from his neck and walked toward the fire, +stripping off his gray mackintosh as he moved. There he stretched +his hands to the blaze sod went on: "As I say, the 'fill' is safe +and will stay so, for the water is going down rapidly; dropped ten +feet, Breen, since you left. My!--but this fire feels good! Got +into something dry--did you, Breen? That's right. But I am not +satisfied about the way the down-stream end of the culvert acts"-- +this also was addressed to Jack--"I am afraid some part of the +arch has caved in. It will be bad if it has--we shall know in the +morning. You weren't frightened, Puss, were you?" + +She did not answer. She had heard that cheery, optimistic note in +her father's voice before; she knew how much of it was meant for +her ears. None of his disasters were ever serious, to hear daddy +talk--"only the common lot of the contracting engineer, little +girl," he would say, kissing her good-night, while he again pored +over his plans, sometimes until daylight. + +She crept up to him the closer and nestled her fingers inside his +collar--an old caress of hers when she was a child, then looking +up into his eyes she asked with almost a throb of suffering in her +voice, "Is it as bad as the coffer-dam, daddy?" + +Jack looked on in silence. He dared not add a word of comfort of +his own while his Chief held first place in soothing her fears. + +MacFarlane passed his hand over her forehead--"Don't ask me, +child! Why do you want to bother your dear head over such things, +Puss?" he asked, as he stroked her hair. + +"Because I must and will know. Tell me the truth," she demanded, +lifting her head, a note of resolve in her voice. "I can help you +the better if I know it all." Some of the blood of one of her +great-great-grandmothers, who had helped defend a log-house in +Indian times, was asserting itself. She could weep, but she could +fight, too, if necessary. + +"Well, then, I'm afraid it is worse than the coffer-dam," he +answered in all seriousness. "It may be a matter of twelve or +fifteen thousand dollars--maybe more, if we have to rebuild the +'fill.' I can't tell yet." + +Ruth released her grasp, moved to the sofa and sank down, her chin +resting on her hand. Twelve or fifteen thousand dollars! This +meant ruin to everybody--to her father, to--a new terror now +flashed into her mind--to Jack--yes, Jack! Jack would have to go +away and find other work--and just at the time, too, when he was +getting to be the old Jack once more. With this came another +thought, followed by an instantaneous decision--what could she do +to help? Already she had determined on her course. She would work +--support herself--relieve her father just that much. + +An uncomfortable silence followed. For some moments no one spoke. +Her father, stifling a sigh, turned slowly, pushed a chair to the +fire and settled into it, his rubber-encased knees wide apart, so +that the warmth of the blaze could reach most of his body. Jack +found a seat beside him, his mind on Ruth and her evident +suffering, his ears alert for any fresh word from his Chief. + +"I forgot to tell you, Breen," MacFarlane said at last, "that I +came up the track just now as far as the round-house with the +General Manager of the Road. He has sent one of his engineers to +look after that Irishman's job before he can pull it to pieces to +hide his rotten work--that is, what is left of it. Of course it +means a lawsuit or a fight in the Village Council. That takes time +and money, and generally costs more than you get. I've been there +before, Breen, and know." + +"Does he understand about McGowan's contract?" inquired Jack +mechanically, his eyes on Ruth. Her voice still rang in his ears-- +its pathos and suffering stirred him to his very depths. + +"Yes--I told him all about it," MacFarlane replied. "The Road will +stand behind us--so the General Manager says--but every day's +delay is ruinous to them. It will be night-and-day work for us +now, and no let-up. I have notified the men." He rose from his +seat and crossed to his daughter's side, and leaning over, drew +her toward him: "Brace up, little girl," there was infinite +tenderness in his cadences--"it's all in a lifetime. There are +only two of us, you know--just you and me, daughter--just you and +me--just two of us. Kiss me, Puss." + +Regaining his full height he picked up his storm-coat from the +chair where he had flung it, and with the remark to Jack, that he +would change his clothes, moved toward the door. There he beckoned +to him, waited until he had reached his side, and whispering in +his ear: "Talk to her and cheer her up, Breen. Poor little girl-- +she worries so when anything like this happens"--mounted the +stairs to his room. + +"Don't worry, Miss Ruth," said Jack in comforting tones as he +returned to where she sat. "We will all pull out yet." + +"It is good of you to say so," she replied, lifting her head and +leaning back so that she could look into his eyes the better, "but +I know you don't think so. Daddy was just getting over his losses +on the Susquehanna bridge. This work would have set him on his +feet. Those were his very words--and he was getting so easy in his +mind, too--and we had planned so many things!" + +"But you can still go to Newport," Jack pleaded. "We will be here +some months yet, and--" + +"Oh--but I won't go a step anywhere. I could not leave him now-- +that is, not as long as I can help him." + +"But aren't you going to the Fosters' and Aunt Felicia's?" She +might not be, but it was good all the same to hear her deny it. + +"Not to anybody's!" she replied, with an emphasis that left no +doubt in his mind. + +Jack's heart gave a bound. + +"But you were going if we went to Morfordsburg," he persisted. He +was determined to get at the bottom of all his misgivings. +Perhaps, after all, Peter was right. + +Ruth caught her breath. The name of the town had reopened a vista +which her anxiety over her father's affairs had for the moment +shut out. + +"Well, but that is over now. I am going to stay here and help +daddy." Again the new fear tugged at her heart. "You are going to +stay, too, aren't you, Mr. Breen?" she added in quick alarm. "You +won't leave him, will you?--not if--" again the terrible money +loss rose before her. What if there should not be money enough to +pay Jack? + +"Me! Why, Miss Ruth!" + +"But suppose he was not able to--" she could not frame the rest of +the sentence. + +"You can't suppose anything that would make me leave him, or the +work." This also came with an emphasis of positive certainty. "I +have never been so happy as I have been here. I never knew what it +was to be myself. I never knew," he added in softened tones, "what +it was to really live until I joined your father. Only last night +Uncle Peter and I were talking about it. 'Stick to Mac,' the dear +old fellow said." It was to Ruth, but he dared not express +himself, except in parables. "Then you HAD thought of going?" she +asked quickly, a shadow falling across her face. + +"No--" he hesitated--"I had only thought of STAYING. It was you +who were going--I was all broken up about being left here alone, +and Uncle Peter wanted to know why I did not beg you to stay, and +I--" + +Ruth turned her face toward him. + +"Well, I am going to stay," she answered simply. She did not dare +to trust herself further. + +"Yes!--and now I don't care what happens!" he exclaimed with a +thrill in his voice. "If you will only trust me, Miss Ruth, and +let me come in with you and your father. Let me help! Don't let +there be only two--let us be three! Don't you see what a +difference it would make? I will work and save every penny I can +for him and take every bit of the care from his shoulders; but +can't you understand how much easier it would be if you would only +let me help you too? I could hardly keep the tears back a moment +ago when I saw you sink down here. I can't see you unhappy like +this and not try to comfort you." + +"You do help me," she murmured softly. Her eyes had now dropped to +the cushion at her side. + +"Yes, but not--Oh, Ruth, don't you see how I love you! What +difference does this accident make--what difference does anything +make if we have each other?" He had his hand on hers now, and was +bending over, his eyes eager for some answer in her own. "I have +suffered so," he went on, "and I am so tired and so lonely without +you. When you wouldn't understand me that time when I came to you +after the tunnel blew up, I went about like one in a dream--and +then I determined to forget it all, and you, and everything--but +I couldn't, and I can't now. Maybe you won't listen--but please--" + +Ruth withdrew her hand quickly and straightened her shoulders. The +mention of the tunnel and what followed had brought with it a rush +of memories that had caused her the bitterest tears of her life. +And then again what did he mean by "helping"? + +"Jack," she said slowly, as if every word gave her pain, "listen +to me. When you saved my father's life and I wanted to tell you +how much I thanked you for it, you would not let me tell you. Is +not that true?" + +"I did not want your gratitude, Ruth," he pleaded in excuse, his +lips quivering, "I wanted your love." + +"And why, then, should I not say to you now that I do not want +your pity? Is it because you are--" her voice sank to a whisper, +every note told of her suffering--"you are--sorry for me, Jack, +that you tell me you love me?" + +Jack sprang to his feet and stood looking down upon her. The +cruelty of her injustice smote his heart. Had a man's glove been +dashed in his face he could not have been more incensed. For a +brief moment there surged through him all he had suffered for her +sake; the sleepless nights, the days of doubts and +misunderstandings! And it had come to this! Again he was treated +with contempt--again his heart and all it held was trampled on. A +wild protest rose in his throat and trembled on his lips. + +At that instant she raised her eyes and looked into his. A look so +pleading--so patient--so weary of the struggle--so ready to +receive the blow--that the hot words recoiled in his throat. He +bent his head to search her eyes the better. Down in their depths, +as one sees the bottom of a clear pool he read the truth, and with +it came a reaction that sent the hot blood rushing through his +veins. + +"Sorry for you, my darling!" he burst out joyously--"I who love +you like my own soul! Oh, Ruth!--Ruth!--my beloved!" + +He had her in his arms now, her cheek to his, her yielding body +held close. + +Then their lips met. + +The Scribe lays down his pen. This be holy ground on which we +tread. All she has she has given him: all the fantasies of her +childhood, all the dreams of her girlhood, all her trust, her +loyalty--her reverence--all to the very last pulsation of her +being. + +And this girl he holds in his arms! So pliant, so yielding, so +pure and undefiled! And the silken sheen and intoxicating perfume +of her hair, and the trembling lashes shading the eager, longing, +soul-hungry eyes; and the way the little pink ears nestle; and the +fair, white, dovelike throat, with its ripple of lace. And then +the dear arms about his neck and the soft clinging fingers that +are intertwined with his own! And more wonderful still, the +perfect unison, the oneness, the sameness; no jar, no discordant +note; mind, soul, desire--a harmony. + +The wise men say there are no parallels in nature; that no one +thing in the wide universe exactly mates and matches any other one +thing; that each cloud has differed from every other cloud-form in +every hour of the day and night, to-day, yesterday and so on back +through the forgotten centuries; that no two leaves in form, +color, or texture, lift the same faces to the sun on any of the +million trees; that no wave on any beach curves and falls as any +wave has curved and fallen before--not since the planet cooled. +And so it is with the drift of wandering winds; with the whirl and +crystals of driving snow, with the slant and splash of rain. And +so, too, with the flight of birds; the dash and tumble of restless +brooks; the roar of lawless thunder and the songs of birds. + +The one exception is when we hold in our arms the woman we love, +and for the first time drink in her willing soul through her lips. +Then, and only then, does the note of perfect harmony ring true +through the spheres. + +For a long time they sat perfectly still. Not many words had +passed, and these were only repetitions of those they had used +before. "Such dear hands," Jack would say, and kiss them both up +and down the fingers, and then press the warm, pink shell palm to +his lips and kiss it again, shutting his eyes, with the reverence +of a devotee at the feet of the Madonna. + +"And, Jack dear," Ruth would murmur, as if some new thought had +welled up in her heart--and then nothing would follow, until Jack +would loosen his clasp a little--just enough to free the dear +cheek and say: + +"Go on, my darling," and then would come-- + +"Oh, nothing, Jack--I--" and once more their lips would meet. + +It was only when MacFarlane's firm step was heard on the stairs +outside that the two awoke to another world. Jack reached his feet +first. + +"Shall we tell him?" he asked, looking down into her face. + +"Of course, tell him," braved out Ruth, uptilting her head with +the movement of a fawn surprised in the forest. + +"When?" asked Jack, his eager eyes on the opening door. + +"Now, this very minute. I never keep anything from daddy." + +MacFarlane came sauntering in, his strong, determined, finely cut +features illumined by a cheery smile. He had squared things with +himself while he had been dressing: "Hard lines, Henry, isn't it?" +he had asked of himself, a trick of his when he faced any disaster +like the present. "Better get Ruth off somewhere, Henry, don't you +think so? Yes, get her off to-morrow. The little girl can't stand +everything, plucky as she is." It was this last thought of his +daughter that had sent the cheery smile careering around his firm +lips. No glum face for Ruth! + +They met him half-way down the room, the two standing together, +Jack's arm around her waist. + +"Daddy!" + +"Yes, dear." He had not yet noted the position of the two, +although he had caught the joyous tones in her voice. + +"Jack and I want to tell you something. You won't be cross, will +you?" + +"Cross, Puss!" He stopped and looked at her wonderingly. Had Jack +comforted her? Was she no longer worried over the disaster? + +Jack released his arm and would have stepped forward, but she held +him back. + +"No, Jack,--let me tell him. You said a while ago, daddy, that +there were only two of us--just you and I--and that it had always +been so and--" + +"Well, isn't it true, little girl?" It's extraordinary how blind +and stupid a reasonably intelligent father can be on some +occasions, and this one was as blind as a cave-locked fish. + +"Yes, it WAS true, daddy, when you went upstairs, but--but--it +isn't true any more! There are three of us now!" She was trembling +all over with uncontrollable joy, her voice quavering in her +excitement. + +Again Jack tried to speak, but she laid her hand on his lips with-- + +"No, please don't, Jack--not yet--you will spoil everything." + +MacFarlane still looked on in wonderment. She was much happier, he +could see, and he was convinced that Jack was in some way +responsible for the change, but it was all a mystery yet. + +"Three of us!" MacFarlane repeated mechanically--"well, who is +the other, Puss?" + +"Why, Jack, of course! Who else could it be but Jack? Oh! Daddy!-- +Please--please--we love each other so!" + +That night a telegram went singing down the wires leaving a trail +of light behind. A sleepy, tired girl behind an iron screen +recorded it on a slip of yellow paper, enclosed it in an envelope, +handed it to a half-awake boy, who strolled leisurely up to Union +Square, turned into Fifteenth Street, mounted Peter's front stoop +and so on up three flights of stairs to Peter's door. There he +awoke the echoes into life with his knuckles. + +In answer, a charming and most courtly old gentleman in an +embroidered dressing-gown and slippers, a pair of gold spectacles +pushed high up on his round, white head, his index finger marking +the place in his book, opened the door. + +"Telegram for Mr. Grayson," yawned the boy. + +Ah! but there were high jinks inside the cosey red room with its +low reading lamp and easy chairs, when Peter tore that envelope +apart. + +"Jack--Ruth--engaged!" he cried, throwing down his book. +"MacFarlane delighted--What!--WHAT? Oh, Jack, you rascal!--you did +take my advice, did you? Well I--well! I'll write them both--No, +I'll telegraph Felicia--No, I won't!--I'll--Well!--well!--WELL! +Did you ever hear anything like that?" and again his eyes devoured +the yellow slip. + +Not a word of the freshet; of the frightful loss; of the change of +plans for the summer; of the weeks of delay and the uncertain +financial outlook! And alas, dear reader--not a syllable, as you +have perhaps noticed, of poor daddy tottering on the brink of +bankruptcy; nor the slightest reference to brave young women going +out alone in the cold, cold world to earn their bread! What were +floods, earthquakes, cyclones, poverty, debt--what was anything +that might, could, would or should happen, compared to the joy of +their plighted troth! + + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + + + +Summer has come: along the banks of the repentant stream the +willows are in full leaf; stretches of grass, braving the coal +smoke and dust hide the ugly red earth. The roads are dry again; +the slopes of the "fill" once more are true; all the arches in the +mouth of the tunnel are finished; the tracks have been laid and +the first train has crawled out on the newly tracked road where it +haggled, snorted and stopped, only to crawl back and be swallowed +by The Beast. + +And with the first warm day came Miss Felicia. "When your +wretched, abominable roads, my dear, dry up so that a body can +walk without sinking up to their neck in mud--" ran Miss Felicia's +letter in answer to Ruth's invitation,--"I'll come down for the +night," and she did, bringing Ruth half of her laces, now that she +was determined to throw herself away on "that good-for nothing-- +Yes, Jack, I mean you and nobody else, and you needn't stand there +laughing at me, for every word of it's true; for what in the world +you two babes in the wood are going to live on no mortal man +knows;" Ruth answering with her arm tight around the dear lady's +neck,--a liberty nobody,--not even Peter, ever dared take--and a +whisper in her ear that Jack was the blessedest ever, and that she +loved him so sometimes she was well-nigh distracted--a statement +which the old lady remarked was literally true. + +And we may be sure that Peter came too--and we may be equally +positive that no impassable roads could have held him back. +Indeed, on the very afternoon of the very day following the +receipt of the joyful telegram, he had closed his books with a +bang, performed the Moses act until he had put them into the big +safe, slipped on his coat, given an extra brush to his hat and +started for the ferry. All that day his face had been in a broad +smile; even the old book-keeper noticed it and so did Patrick, the +night-watchman and sometimes porter; and so did the line of +depositors who inched along to his window and were greeted with a +flash-light play of humor on his face instead of the more sedate, +though equally kindly expression which always rested on his +features when at work. But that was nothing to the way he hugged +Jack and Ruth--separately--together--then Ruth, then Jack--and +then both together again, only stopping at MacFarlane, whose hand +he grabbed with a "Great day! hey? Great day! By Cricky, Henry, +these are the things that put new wine into old leather bottles +like you and me." + +And this was not all that the spring and summer had brought. Fresh +sap had risen in Jack's veins. This girl by his side was his own-- +something to work for--something to fight for. MacFarlane felt +the expansion and put him in full charge of the work, relieving +him often in the night shifts, when the boy would catch a few +hours' sleep, and when, you may be sure, he stopped long enough at +the house to get his arms around Ruth before he turned in for the +night or the morning, or whenever he did turn in. + +As to the injury which McGowan's slipshod work had caused to the +"fill," the question of damages and responsibility for the same +still hung in the air. The "fill" did not require rebuilding--nor +did any part of the main work--a great relief. The loss had not, +therefore, been as great as MacFarlane had feared. Moreover, the +scour and slash of the down-stream slope, thanks to Jack's quick +work, required but few weeks to repair; the culvert, contrary to +everybody's expectation, standing the test, and the up-stream +slope showing only here and there marks of the onslaught. The wing +walls were the worst; these had to be completely rebuilt, +involving an expense of several thousands of dollars, the exact +amount being one point in the discussion. + +Garry, to his credit, had put his official foot down with so +strong a pressure that McGowan, fearing that he would have to +reconstruct everything from the bed of the stream up, if he held +out any longer, agreed to arbitrate the matter, he selecting one +expert and MacFarlane the other; and the Council--that is, Garry-- +the third. MacFarlane had chosen the engineer of the railroad who +had examined McGowan's masonry an hour after the embankment had +given way. McGowan picked out a brother contractor and Garry wrote +a personal letter to Holker Morris, following it up by a personal +visit to the office of the distinguished architect, who, when he +learned that not only Garry, MacFarlane, and Jack were concerned +in the outcome of the investigation, but also Ruth--whose marriage +might depend on the outcome,--broke his invariable rule of never +getting mixed up in anybody's quarrels, and accepted the position +without a murmur. + +This done everybody interested sat down to await the result of the +independent investigations of each expert, Garry receiving the +reports in sealed envelopes and locking them in the official safe, +to be opened in full committee at its next monthly meeting, when a +final report, with recommendations as to liability and costs, +would be drawn up; the same, when adopted by a majority of the +Council the following week, to be binding. + +It was during this suspense--it happened really on the morning +succeeding the one on which Garry had opened the official +envelopes--that an envelope of quite a different character was +laid on Jack's table by the lady with the adjustable hair, who +invariably made herself acquainted with as much of that young +gentleman's mail as could be gathered from square envelopes sealed +in violet wax, or bearing family crests in low relief, or stamped +with monograms in light blue giving out delicate perfumes, each +one of which that lady sniffed with great satisfaction; to say +nothing of business addresses and postal-cards,--the latter being +readable, and, therefore, her delight. + +This envelope, however, was different from any she had ever +fumbled, sniffed at, or pondered over. It was not only of unusual +size, but it bore in the upper left-hand corner in bold black +letters the words: + +ARTHUR BREEN & COMPANY, BANKERS. + +It was this last word which set the good woman to thinking. +Epistles from banks were not common,--never found at all, in +fact, among the letters of her boarders. + +Jack was even more astonished. + +"Call at the office," the letter ran, "the first time you are in +New York,--the sooner the better. I have some information +regarding the ore properties that may interest you." + +As the young fellow had not heard from his uncle in many moons, +the surprise was all the greater. Nor, if the truth be known, had +he laid eyes on that gentleman since he left the shelter of his +home, except at Corinne's wedding,--and then only across the +church, and again in the street, when his uncle stopped and shook +his hand in a rather perfunctory way, complimenting him on his +bravery in rescuing MacFarlane, an account of which he had seen in +the newspapers, and ending by hoping that his new life would "drop +some shekels into his clothes." Mrs. Breen, on the contrary, while +she had had no opportunity of expressing her mental attitude +toward the exile, never having seen him since he walked out of her +front door, was by no means oblivious to Jack's social and +business successes. "I hear Jack was at Mrs. Portman's last +night," she said to her husband the morning after one of the ex- +Clearing House Magnate's great receptions. "They say he goes +everywhere, and that Mr. Grayson has adopted him and is going to +leave him all his money," to which Breen had grunted back that +Jack was welcome to the Portmans and the Portmans to Jack, and +that if old Grayson had any money, which he very much doubted, +he'd better hoist it overboard than give it to that rattlebrain. +Mrs. Breen heaved a deep sigh. Neither she nor Breen had been +invited to the Portmans', nor had Corinne (the Scribe has often +wondered whether the second scoop in Mukton was the cause)--and +yet Ruth MacFarlane, and Jack and Miss Felicia Grayson, and a lot +more out-of-town people--so that insufferable Mrs. Bennett had +told her--had come long distances to be present, the insufferable +adding significantly that "Miss MacFarlane looked too lovely and +was by all odds the prettiest girl in the room, and as for young +Breen, really she could have fallen in love with him herself!" + +Jack tucked his uncle's letter in his pocket, skipped over to read +it to Ruth and MacFarlane, in explanation of his enforced absence +for the day, and kept on his way to the station. The missive +referred to the Morfordsburg contract, of course, and was +evidently an attempt to gain information regarding the proposed +work, Arthur Breen & Co. being the financial agents of many +similar properties. + +"I will take care of him, sir," Jack had said as he left his +Chief. "My uncle, no doubt, means all right, and it is just as +well to hear what he says--besides he has been good enough to +write to me, and of course I must go, but I shall not commit +myself one way or the other--" and with a whispered word in Ruth's +ear, a kiss and a laugh, he left the house. + +As he turned down the short street leading to the station, he +caught sight of Garry forging ahead on his way to the train. That +rising young architect, chairman of the Building Committee of the +Council, trustee of church funds, politician and all-round man of +the world--most of which he carried in a sling--seemed in a +particularly happy frame of mind this morning judging from the +buoyancy with which he stepped. This had communicated itself to +the gayety of his attire, for he was dressed in a light-gray check +suit, and wore a straw hat (the first to see the light of summer) +with a green ribbon about the crown,--together with a white +waistcoat and white spats, the whole enriched by a red rose bud +which Corinne had with her own hands pinned in his buttonhole. + +"Why, hello! Jack, old man! just the very fellow I'm looking for," +cried the joyous traveller. "You going to New York?--So am I,--go +every day now,--got something on ice,--the biggest thing I've ever +struck. I'll show that uncle of yours that two can play at his +game. He hasn't lifted his hand to help us, and I don't want him +to,--Cory and I can get along; but you'd think he'd come out and +see us once in a while, wouldn't you, or ask after the baby; Mrs. +Breen comes, but not Breen. We live in the country and have tar on +our heels, he thinks. Here,--sit by the window! Now let's talk of +something else. How's Miss Ruth and the governor? He's a daisy;-- +best engineer anywhere round here. Yes, Cory's all right. Baby +keeps her awake half the night; I've moved out and camp upstairs; +can't stand it. Oh, by the way, I see you are about finishing up +on the railroad work. I'll have something to say to you next week +on the damage question. Got all the reports in last night. I tell +you, my old chief, Mr. Morris, is a corker! What he doesn't know +about masonry isn't worth picking up;--can't fool him! That's +what's the matter with half of our younger men; they sharpen lead- +pencils, mix ink, and think they are drawing; or they walk down a +stone wall and don't know any more what's behind it and what holds +it up than a child. Mr. Morris can not only design a wall, but he +can teach some first-class mechanics how to lay it." + +Jack looked out the window and watched the fences fly past. For +the moment he made no reply to Garry's long harangue--especially +the part referring to the report. Anxious as he was to learn the +result of the award, he did not want the facts from the chairman +of the committee in advance of the confirmation by the Council. + +"What is it you have on ice, Garry?" he asked at last with a +laugh, yielding to an overpowering conviction that he must change +the subject--"a new Corn Exchange? Nobody can beat you in corn +exchanges." + +"Not by a long shot, Jack,--got something better; I am five +thousand ahead now, and it's all velvet." + +"Gold-mine, Garry?" queried Jack, turning his head. "Another +Mukton Lode? Don't forget poor Charlie Gilbert; he's been clerking +it ever since, I hear." + +"No, a big warehouse company; I'll get the buildings later on. +That Mukton Lode deal was a clear skin game, Jack, if it is your +uncle, and A. B. & Co. got paid up for it--downtown and uptown. +You ought to hear the boys at the Magnolia talk about it. My +scheme is not that kind; I'm on the ground floor; got some of the +promoter's stock. When you are through with your railroad contract +and get your money, let me know. I can show you a thing or two;-- +open your eyes! No Wall Street racket, remember,--just a plain +business deal." + +"There won't be much money left over, Garry, from the 'fill' and +tunnel work, if we keep on. We ought to have a cyclone next to +finish up with; we've had about everything else." + +"You're all through, Jack," replied Garry with emphasis. + +"I'll believe that when I see it," said Jack with a smile. + +"I tell you, Jack, YOU ARE ALL THROUGH. Do you understand? Don't +ask me any questions and I won't tell you any lies. The first +thing that strikes you will be a check, and don't you forget it!" + +Jack's heart gave a bound. The information had come as a surprise +and without his aid, and yet it was none the less welcome. The +dreaded anxiety was over; he knew now what the verdict of the +Council would be. He had been right from the first in this matter, +and Garry had not failed despite the strong political pressure +which must have been brought against him. The new work now would +go on and he and Ruth could go to Morfordsburg together! He could +already see her trim, lovely figure in silhouette against the +morning light, her eyes dancing, her face aglow in the crisp air +of the hills. + +Garry continued to talk on as they sped into the city, elaborating +the details of the warehouse venture in which he had invested his +present and some of his future commissions, but his words fell on +stony ground. The expected check was the only thing that filled +Jack's thoughts. There was no doubt in his mind now that the +decision would be in MacFarlane's favor, and that the sum, whether +large or small, would be paid without delay,--Garry being +treasurer and a large amount of money being still due McGowan on +the embankment and boulevard. It would be joyous news to Ruth, he +said to himself, with a thrill surging through his heart. + +Jack left Garry on the Jersey side and crossed alone. The boy +loved the salt air in his face and the jewelled lights flashed +from the ever-restless sea. He loved, too, the dash and vim of it +all. Forcing his way through the crowds of passengers to the +forward part of the boat, he stood where he could get the full +sweep of the wonderful panorama: + +The jagged purple line of the vast city stretching as far as the +eye could reach; with its flat-top, square-sided, boxlike +buildings, with here and there a structure taller than the others; +the flash of light from Trinity's spire, its cross aflame; the +awkward, crab-like movements of innumerable ferry-boats, their +gaping alligator mouths filled with human flies; the impudent, +nervous little tugs, spitting steam in every passing face; the +long strings of sausage-linked canalers kept together by grunting, +slow-moving tows; the great floating track-yards bearing ponderous +cars--eight days from the Pacific without break of bulk; the +skinny, far-reaching fingers of innumerable docks clutching prey +of barge, steamer, and ship; the stately ocean-liner moving to +sea, scattering water-bugs of boats, scows and barges as it glided +on its way:--all this stirred his imagination and filled him with +a strange resolve. He, too, would win a place among the masses-- +Ruth's hand fast in his. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + + + +When Jack, in reply to Breen's note, stepped into his uncle's +office, no one would have recognized in the quick, alert, bronze- +faced young fellow the retiring, almost timid, boy who once peered +out of the port-hole of the cashier's desk. Nor did Jack's eyes +fall on any human being he had ever seen before. New occupants +filled the chairs about the ticker. A few lucky ones--very few-- +had pulled out and stayed out, and could now be found at their +country seats in various parts of the State, or on the Riviera, or +in Egypt; but by far the larger part had crawled out of the fight +to nurse their wounds within the privacy of their own homes where +the outward show had to be kept up no matter how stringent the +inside economies, or how severe the privations. Others, less +fortunate, had disappeared altogether from their accustomed haunts +and were to be found filling minor positions in some far Western +frontier town or camp, or menial berths on a railroad, while at +least one victim, too cowardly to leave the field, had haunted the +lunch counters, hotel lobbies, and race-tracks for months, preying +on friends and acquaintances alike until dire poverty forced him +into crime, and a stone cell and a steel grille had ended the +struggle. + +Failing to find any face he recognized, Jack approached a group +around the ticker, and inquired for the head of the firm. The +answer came from a red-cheeked, clean-shaven, bullet-headed, +immaculately upholstered gentleman--(silk scarf, diamond horse- +shoe stick-pin, high collar, cut-away coat, speckled-trout +waistcoat--everything perfect)--who stood, paring his nails in +front of the plate-glass window overlooking the street, and who +conveyed news of the elder Breen's whereabouts by a bob of his +head and a jerk of his fat forefinger in the direction of the +familiar glass door. + +Breen sat at his desk when Jack entered, but it was only when he +spoke that his uncle looked up;--so many men swung back that door +with favors to ask, that spontaneous affability was often bad +policy. + +"I received your letter, Uncle Arthur," Jack began. + +Breen raised his eyes, and a deep color suffused his face. In his +heart he had a sneaking admiration for the boy. He liked his +pluck. Strange, too, he liked him the better for having left him +and striking out for himself, and stranger still, he was a little +ashamed for having brought about the revolt. + +"Why, Jack!" He was on his feet now, his hand extended, something +of his old-time cordiality in his manner. "You got my letter, did +you? Well, I wanted to talk to you about that ore property. You +own it still, don't you?" The habit of his life of going straight +at the business in hand, precluded every other topic. Then again +he wanted a chance to look the boy over under fire,--"size him +up," in his own vocabulary. He might need his help later on. + +"Oh, we don't own a foot of it,--don't want to. If Mr. MacFarlane +decides to--" + +"I'm not talking about MacFarlane's job; I'm talking about your +own property,--the Cumberland ore property,--the one your father +left you. You haven't sold it, have you?" This came in an anxious +tone. + +"No," answered Jack simply, wondering what his father's legacy had +to do with his Chief's proposed work. + +"Have you paid the taxes?" Arthur's eyes were now boring into his. + +"Yes, every year; they were not much. Why do you ask?" + +"I'll tell you that later on," answered his uncle with a more +satisfied air. "You were up there with MacFarlane, weren't you?-- +when he went to look over the ground of the Maryland Mining +Company where he is to cut the horizontal shaft?" Jack nodded. "So +I heard. Well, it may interest you to learn that some of our +Mukton people own the property. It was I who sent MacFarlane up, +really, although he may not know it." + +"That was very kind of you, sir," rejoined Jack, without a trace +of either gratitude or surprise. + +"Well, I'm glad you think so. Some of our directors also own a +block of that new road MacFarlane is finishing. They wouldn't hire +anybody else after they had gone up to Corklesville and had seen +how he did his work, so I had the secretary of the company write +MacFarlane, and that's how it came about." + +Jack nodded and waited; his uncle's drift was not yet apparent. + +"Well, what I wanted to see you about, Jack, is this:" here he +settled his fat back into the chair. "All the ore in that section +of the county,--so our experts say, dips to the east. They've +located the vein and they think a horizontal shaft and gravity +will get the stuff to tide water much cheaper than a vertical +shaft and hoist. Now if the ore should peter out--and the devil +himself can't tell always about that--we've got to get some ore +somewhere round there to brace up and make good our prospectus, +even if it does cost a little more, and that's where your +Cumberland property might come in,--see? One of our lawyers looked +over a record of your deed in the town hall of Mulford--" here he +bent forward and consulted a paper on his desk--"No,--that's not +it,--Morfordsburg,--yes, that's it,--Morfordsburg,--looked up the +deed, I say, Jack, and from what he says I don't believe your +property is more than a quarter of a mile, as the crow flies, from +where they want MacFarlane to begin cutting. If the lawyer's right +there may be a few dollars in it for you--not much, but something; +and if there is,--of course, I don't want to commit myself, and I +don't want to encourage you too much--but if he's right I should +advise your bringing me what papers you've got and have our +attorney look them over, and if everything's O.K. in the title, +your property might be turned over to the new company and form +part of the deal. You can understand, of course, that we don't +want any other deposits in that section but our own." + +Breen's meaning was clear now. So was the purpose of the letter. + +Jack leaned back in his chair, an expression first of triumph and +then of disgust crossing his face. That his uncle should actually +want him back in his business in any capacity was as complimentary +as it was unexpected. That the basis of the copartnership--and it +was this that brought the curl to his lip--was such that neither a +quarter of a mile nor two miles would stand in the way of a +connecting vein of ore on paper, was to be expected by any one at +all familiar with his uncle's methods. + +"Thank you, Uncle Arthur," he answered simply, "but there's +nothing decided yet about the Morfordsburg work. I heard a bit of +news coming down on the train this morning that may cause Mr. +MacFarlane to look upon the proposed work more favorably, but that +is for him to say. As to my own property, when I am there again, +if I do go,--I will look over the ground myself and have Mr. +MacFarlane go with me and then I can decide." + +Breen knitted his brows. It was not the answer he had expected. In +fact, he was very much astonished both at the reply and the way in +which it was given. He began to be sorry he had raised the +question at all. He would gladly have helped Jack in getting a +good price for his property, provided it did not interfere with +his own plans, but to educate him up to the position of an +obstructionist, was quite another matter. + +"Well, think it over," he replied in a tone that was meant to show +his entire indifference to the whole affair,--"and some time when +you are in town drop in again. And now tell me about Ruth, as we +must call her, I suppose. Your aunt just missed her at the +Cosgroves' the other day." Then came a short disquisition on Garry +and Corinne and their life at Elm Crest, followed by an +embarrassing pause, during which the head of the house of Breen +lowered the flow line on a black bottle which he took from a +closet behind his desk,--"his digestion being a little out that +morning," he explained. And so with renewed thanks for the +interest he had taken in his behalf, and with his whole mind now +concentrated on Peter and the unspeakable happiness in store for +him when he poured into the old gentleman's willing and astonished +ears the details of the interview, Mr. John Breen, Henry +MacFarlane's Chief Assistant in Charge of Outside Work, bowed +himself out. + +He had not long to wait. + +Indeed, that delightful old gentleman had but a short time before +called to a second old gentleman, a more or less delightful fossil +in black wig and spectacles, to take his place at the teller's +window, and the first delightful old gentleman was at the precise +moment standing on the top step of the Exeter, overlooking the +street, where he had caught sight of Jack wending his way toward +him. + +"Jack! JACK!" Peter cried, waving his hand at the boy. + +"Oh! that's you, Uncle Peter, is it? Shall I--?" + +"No, Jack, stay where you are until I come to you." + +"And where are you going now?" burst out Jack, overjoyed at +reaching his side. + +"To luncheon, my dear boy! We'll go to Favre's, and have a stuffed +pepper and a plate of spaghetti an inch deep, after my own +receipt. Botti cooks it deliciously;--and a bottle of red wine, +my boy,--WINE,--not logwood and vinegar. No standing up at a +trough, or sitting on a high stool, or wandering about with a +sandwich between your fingers,--ruining your table manners and +your digestion. And now tell me about dear Ruth, and what she says +about coming down to dinner next week?" + +It was wonderful how young he looked, and how happy he was, and +how spry his step, as the two turned into William Street and so on +to the cheap little French restaurant with its sanded floor, +little tables for two and four, with their tiny pots of mustard +and flagons of oil and red vinegar,--this last, the "left-overs" +of countless bottles of Bordeaux,--to say nothing of the great +piles of French bread weighing down a shelf beside the +proprietor's desk, racked up like cordwood, and all of the same +color, length, and thickness. + +Every foot of the way through the room toward his own table--his +for years, and which was placed in the far corner overlooking the +doleful little garden with its half-starved vine and hanging +baskets--Peter had been obliged to speak to everybody he passed +(some of the younger men rose to their feet to shake his hand)-- +until he reached the proprietor and gave his order. + +Auguste, plump and oily, his napkin over his arm, drew out his +chair (it was always tipped back in reserve until he arrived), +laid another plate and accessories for his guest, and then bent +his head in attention until Peter indicated the particular brand +of Bordeaux--the color of the wax sealing its top was the only +label--with which he proposed to entertain his friend. + +All this time Jack had been on the point of bursting. Once he had +slipped his hand into his pocket for Breen's letter, in the belief +that the best way to get the most enjoyment out of the incident of +his visit and the result,--for it was still a joke to Jack,--would +be to lay the half sheet on Peter's plate and watch the old +fellow's face as he read it. Then he decided to lead gradually up +to it, concealing the best part of the story--the prospectus and +how it was to be braced--until the last. + +But the boy could not wait; so, after he had told Peter about +Ruth,--and that took ten minutes, try as hard as he could to +shorten the telling,--during which the stuffed peppers were in +evidence,--and after Peter had replied with certain messages to +Ruth,--during which the spaghetti was served sizzling hot, with +entrancing frazzlings of brown cheese clinging to the edges of the +tin plate--the Chief Assistant squared his elbows and plunged +head-foremost into the subject. + +"And now, I have got a surprise for you, Uncle Peter," cried Jack, +smothering his eagerness as best he could. + +The old fellow held up his hand, reached for the shabby, dust- +begrimed bottle, that had been sound asleep under the sidewalk for +years; filled Jack's glass, then his own; settled himself in his +chair and said with a dry smile: + +"If it's something startling, Jack, wait until we drink this," and +he lifted the slender rim to his lips. "If it's something +delightful, you can spring it now." + +"It is both," answered Jack. "Listen and doubt your ears. I had a +letter from Uncle Arthur this morning asking me to come and see +him about my Cumberland ore property, and I have just spent an +hour with him." + +Peter put down his glass: + +"You had a letter from Arthur Breen--about--what do you mean, +Jack." + +"Just what I say." + +Peter moved close to the table, and looked at the boy in +wonderment. + +"Well, what did he want?" He was all attention now. Arthur Breen +sending for Jack!--and after all that had happened! Well--well! + +"Wants me to put the Cumberland ore property father left me into +one of his companies." + +"That fox!" The explosion cleared the atmosphere for an instant. + +"That fox!" answered Jack, in a confirmatory tone; and then +followed an account of the interview, the boy chuckling at the end +of every sentence in his delight over the situation. + +"And what are YOU going to do?" asked Peter in an undecided tone. +He had heard nothing so comical as this for years. + +"Going to do nothing,--that is, nothing with Uncle Arthur. In the +first place, the property is worthless, unless half a million of +money is spent upon it." + +"Or is SAID to have been spent upon it," rejoined Peter with a +smile, remembering the Breen methods. + +"Exactly so;--and in the second place, I would rather tear up the +deed than have it added to Uncle Arthur's stock of balloons." + +Peter drummed on the table-cloth and looked out of the window. The +boy was right in principle, but then the property might not be a +balloon at all; might in fact be worth a great deal more than the +boy dreamed of. That Arthur Breen had gone out of his way to send +for Jack--knowing, as Peter did, how systematically both he and +his wife had abused and ridiculed him whenever his name was +mentioned--was positive evidence to Peter's mind not only that the +property had a value of some kind but that the discovery was of +recent origin. + +"Would you know yourself, Jack, what the property was worth,--that +is, do you feel yourself competent to pass upon its value?" asked +Peter, lifting his glass to his lips. He was getting back to his +normal condition now. + +"Yes, to a certain extent, and if I fail, Mr. MacFarlane will help +me out. He was superintendent of the Rockford Mines for five +years. He received his early training there,--but there is no use +talking about it, Uncle Peter. I only told you to let you see how +the same old thing is going on day after day at Uncle Arthur's. If +it isn't Mukton, it's Ginsing, or Black Royal, or some other gas +bag." + +"What did you tell him?" + +"Nothing,--not in all the hour I talked with him. He did the +talking; I did the listening." + +"I hope you were courteous to him, my boy?" + +"I was,--particularly so." + +"He wants your property, does he?" ruminated Peter, rolling a +crumb of bread between his thumb and forefinger. "I wonder what's +up? He has made some bad breaks lately and there were ugly rumors +about the house for a time. He has withdrawn his account from the +Exeter and so I've lost sight of all of his transactions." Here a +new idea seemed to strike him: "Did he seem very anxious about +getting hold of the land?" + +A queer smile played about Jack's lips: + +"He seemed NOT to be, but he was" + +"You're sure?" + +"Very sure; and so would you be if you knew him as well as I do. I +have heard him talk that way to dozens of men and then brag how +he'd 'covered his tracks,' as he used to call it." + +"Then, Jack," exclaimed Peter in a decided tone, "there is +something in it. What it is you will find out before many weeks, +but something. I will wager you he has not only had your title +searched but has had test holes driven all over your land. These +fellows stop at nothing. Let him alone for a while and keep him +guessing. When he writes to you again to come and see him, answer +that you are too busy, and if he adds a word about the ore beds +tell him you have withdrawn them from the market. In the meantime +I will have a talk with one of our directors who has an interest, +so he told me, in a new steel company up in the Cumberland +Mountains, somewhere near your property, I believe. He may know +something of what's going on, if anything is going on." + +Jack's eyes blazed. Something going on! Suppose that after all he +and Ruth would not have to wait. Peter read his thoughts and laid +his hand on Jack's wrist: + +"Keep your toes on the earth, my boy:--no balloon ascensions and +no bubbles,--none of your own blowing. They are bad things to have +burst in your hands--four hands now, remember, with Ruth's. If +there's any money in your Cumberland ore bank, it will come to +light without your help. Keep still and say nothing, and don't you +sign your name to a piece of paper as big as a postage stamp until +you let me see it." + +Here Peter looked at his watch and rose from the table. + +"Time's up, my boy. I never allow myself but an hour at luncheon, +and I am due at the bank in ten minutes. Thank you, Auguste,--and +Auguste! please tell Botti the spaghetti was delicious. Come, +Jack." + +It was when he held Ruth in his arms that same afternoon--behind +the door, really,--she couldn't wait until they reached the room, +--that Jack whispered in her astonished and delighted ears the good +news of the expected check from Garry's committee. + +"And daddy won't lose anything; and he can take the new work!" she +cried joyously. "And we can all go up to the mountains together! +Oh, Jack!--let me run and tell daddy!" + +"No, my darling,--not a word, Garry had no business to tell me +what he did; and it might leak out and get him into trouble:--No, +don't say a word. It is only a few days off. We shall all know +next week." + +He had led her to the sofa, their favorite seat. + +"And now I am going to tell you something that would be a million +times better than Garry's check if it were only true,--but it +isn't." + +"Tell me, Jack,--quick!" Her lips were close to his. + +"Uncle Arthur wants to buy my ore lands." + +"Buy your--And we are going to be--married right away! Oh, you +darling Jack!" + +"Wait,--wait, my precious, until I tell you!" She did not wait, +and he did not want her to. Only when he could loosen her arms +from his neck did he find her ear again, then he poured into it +the rest of the story. + +"But, oh, Jack!--wouldn't it be lovely if it were true,--and just +think of all the things we could do." + +"Yes,--but it Isn't true." + +"But just suppose it WAS, Jack! You would have a horse of your own +and we'd build the dearest little home and--" + +"But it never can be true, blessed,--not out of the Cumberland +property--" protested Jack. + +"But, Jack! Can't we SUPPOSE? Why, supposing is the best fun in +the world. I used to suppose all sorts of things when I was a +little girl. Some of them came true, and some of them didn't, but +I had just as much fun as if they HAD all come true." + +"Did you ever suppose ME?" asked Jack. He knew she never had,--he +wasn't worth it;--but what difference did it make what they talked +about! + +"Yes,--a thousand times. I always knew, my blessed, that there was +somebody like you in the world somewhere,--and when the girls +would break out and say ugly things of men,--all men,--I just knew +they were not true of everybody. I knew that you would come--and +that I should always look for you until I found you! And now tell +me! Did you suppose about me, too, you darling Jack?" + +"No,--never. There couldn't be any supposing;--there isn't any +now. It's just you I love, Ruth,--you,--and I love the 'YOU' in +you--That's the best part of you." + +And so they talked on, she close in his arms, their cheeks +together; building castles of rose marble and ivory, laying out +gardens with vistas ending in summer sunsets; dreaming dreams that +lovers only dream, + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + + + + +The check "struck" MacFarlane just as the chairman had said it +would, wiping out his losses by the flood with something ahead for +his next undertaking. + +That the verdict was a just one was apparent from the reports of +both McGowan's and the Railroad Company's experts. These showed +that the McGowan mortar held but little cement, and that not of +the best; that the backing of the masonry was composed of loose +rubble instead of split stone, and that the collapse of his +structure was not caused by the downpour, but by the caving in of +culverts and spillways, which were built of materials in direct +violation of the provisions of the contract. Even then there might +have been some doubt as to the outcome but for Holker Morris's +testimony. He not only sent in his report, but appeared himself, +he told the Council, so as to answer any questions Mr. McGowan or +his friends might ask. He had done this, as he said openly at the +meeting, to aid his personal friend, Mr. MacFarlane, and also that +he might raise his voice against the slipshod work that was being +done by men who either did not know their business or purposely +evaded their responsibilities. "This construction of McGowan's," +he continued, "is especially to be condemned, as there is not the +slightest doubt that the contractor has intentionally slighted his +work--a neglect which, but for the thorough manner in which +MacFarlane had constructed the lower culvert, might have resulted +in the loss of many lives." + +McGowan snarled and sputtered, denouncing Garry and his "swallow- +tails" in the bar rooms and at the board meetings, but the +decision was unanimous, two of his friends concurring, fearing, as +they explained afterward, that the "New York crowd" might claim +even a larger sum in a suit for damages. + +The meeting over, Morris and Jack dined with MacFarlane and again +the distinguished architect won Ruth's heart by the charm of his +personality, she telling Jack the next day that he was the only +OLD MAN--fifty was old for Ruth--she had ever seen with whom she +could have fallen in love, and that she was not sure after all but +that Jack was too young for her, at which there was a great +scrimmage and a blind-man's-buff chase around the table, up the +front stairs and into the corner by the window, where she was +finally caught, smothered in kisses and made to correct her +arithmetic. + +This ghost of damages having been laid--it was buried the week +after Jack had called on his uncle--the Chief, the First +Assistant, and Bangs, the head foreman, disappeared from +Corklesville and reappeared at Morfordsburg. + +The Chief came to select a site for the entrance of the shaft; the +First Assistant came to compare certain maps and documents, which +he had taken from the trunk he had brought with him from his +Maryland home, with the archives resting in the queer old +courthouse; while Foreman Bangs was to help with the level and +target, should a survey be found necessary. + +The faded-out old town clerk looked Jack all over when he asked to +see the duplicate of a certain deed, remarking, as he led the way +to the Hall of Records,--it was under a table in the back room,-- +"Reckon there's somethin' goin' on jedgin' from the way you New +Yorkers is lookin' into ore lands up here. There come a lawyer +only last month from a man named Breen, huntin' up this same +property." + +The comparisons over and found to be correct, "starting from a +certain stone marked 'B' one hundred and eighty-seven feet East by +South," etc., etc., the whole party, including a small boy to help +carry the level and target and a reliable citizen who said he +could find the property blindfold--and who finally collapsed with +a "Goll darn!--if I know where I'm at!"--the five jumped onto a +mud-encrusted vehicle and started for the site. + +Up hill and down hill, across one stream and then another; through +the dense timber and into the open again. Here their work began, +Jack handling the level (his Chief had taught him), Bangs holding +the target, MacFarlane taking a squint now and then so as to be +sure,--and then the final result,--to wit:--First, that the +Maryland Company's property, Arthur Breen & Co., agents, lay under +a hill some two miles from Morfordsburg; that Jack's lay some +miles to the south of Breen's. Second, that outcroppings showed +the Maryland Mining Company's ore dipped, as the Senior Breen had +said, to the east, and third, that similar outcroppings showed +Jack's dipped to the west. + +And so the airy bubble filled with his own and Ruth's iridescent +hopes,--a bubble which had floated before him as he tramped +through the cool woods, and out upon the hillside, vanished into +thin air. + +For with Ruth's arms around him, her lips close to his, her +boundless enthusiasm filling his soul, the boy's emotions had for +the time overcome his judgment. So much so that all the way up in +the train he had been "supposing" and resupposing. Even the reply +of the town clerk had set his heart to thumping; his uncle had +sent some one then! Then came the thought,--Yes, to boom one of +his misleading prospectuses--and for a time the pounding had +ceased: by no possible combination now, either honest or +dishonest, could the two properties be considered one and the same +mine. + +Again his thoughts went back to Ruth. He knew how keenly she would +be disappointed. She had made him promise to telegraph her at once +if his own and her father's inspection of the ore lands should +hold out any rose-colored prospects for the future. This he had +not now the heart to do. One thing, however, he must do, and at +once, and that was to write to Peter, or see him immediately on +his return. There was no use now of the old fellow talking the +matter over with the director; there was nothing to talk over, +except a bare hill three miles from anywhere, covering a possible +deposit of doubtful richness and which, whether good or bad, would +cost more to get to market than it was worth. + +They were on the extreme edge of the forest when the final +decision was reached, MacFarlane leaning against a rock, the level +and tripod tilted against his arm, Jack sitting on a fallen tree, +the map spread out on his knees. + +For some minutes Jack sat silent, his eyes roaming over the +landscape. Below him stretched an undulating mantle of velvet, +laid loosely over valley, ravine and hill, embroidered in tints of +corn-yellow, purplings of full-blossomed clover and the softer +greens of meadow and swamp. In and out, now straight, now in +curves and bows, was threaded a ribbon of silver, with here and +there a connecting mirror in which flashed the sun. Bordering its +furthermost edge a chain of mountains lost themselves in low, +rolling clouds, while here and there, in its many crumplings, were +studded jewels of barn stack and house, their facets aflame in the +morning light. + +Jack absorbed it all, its beauty filling his soul, the sunshine +bathing his cheeks. Soon all trace of his disappointment vanished: +with Ruth here,--with his work to occupy him,--and this mighty, +all-inspiring, all-intoxicating sweep of loveliness spread out, +his own and Ruth's every hour of the day and night, what did ore +beds or anything else matter? + +MacFarlane's voice woke him to consciousness. He had called to him +before, but the boy had not heard. + +"As I have just remarked, Jack," MacFarlane began again, "there is +nothing but an earthquake will make your property of any use. It +is a low-grade ore, I should say, and tunnelling and shoring would +eat it up. Wipe it off the books. There are thousands of acres of +this kind of land lying around loose from here to the Cumberland +Valley. It may get better as you go down--only an assay can tell +about that--but I don't think it will. To begin sinking shafts +might mean sinking one or a dozen; and there's nothing so +expensive. I am sorry, Jack, but wipe it out. Some bright +scoundrel might sell stock on it, but they'll never melt any of it +up into stove plate." + +"All right, sir," Jack said at last, with a light laugh. "It is +the same old piece of bread, I reckon, and it has fallen on the +same old buttered side. Uncle Peter told me to beware of bubbles-- +said they were hard to carry around. This one has burst before I +got my hand on it. All right--let her go! I hope Ruth won't take +it too much to heart. Here, boy, get hold of this map and put it +with the other traps in the wagon. And now, Mr. MacFarlane, what +comes next?" + +Before the day was over MacFarlane had perfected his plans. The +town was to be avoided as too demoralizing a shelter for the men, +and barracks were to be erected in which to house them. Locations +of the principal derricks were selected and staked, as well as the +sites for the entrance to the shaft, for the machine and +blacksmith's shops and for a storage shanty for tools: the +Maryland Mining Company's work would require at least two years to +complete, and a rational, well-studied plan of procedure was +imperative. + +"And now, Jack, where are you going to live,--in the village?" +asked his Chief, resting the level and tripod carefully against a +tree trunk and seating himself beside Jack on a fallen log. + +"Out here, if you don't mind, sir, where I can be on top of the +work all the time. It's but a short ride for Ruth and she can come +and go all the time. I am going to drop some of these trees; get +two or three choppers from the village and knock up a log-house +like the one I camped in when I was a boy." + +"Where will you put it?" asked MacFarlane with a smile, as he +turned his head as if in search of a site. It was just where he +wanted Jack to live, but he would not have suggested it. + +"Not a hundred yards from where we sit, sir--a little back of +those two big oaks. There's a spring above on the hill and sloping +ground for drainage; and shade, and a great sweep of country in +front. I've been hungry for this life ever since I left home; now +I am going to have it." + +"It will be rather lonely, won't it?" The engineer's eyes softened +as they rested on the young fellow, his face flushed with the +enthusiasm of his new resolve. He and Ruth's mother had lived in +just such a shanty, and not so very long ago, either, it seemed,-- +those were the happiest years of his life. + +"No!" exclaimed Jack. "It's only a step to the town; I can walk it +in half an hour. No, it won't be lonely. I will fix up a room for +Uncle Peter somewhere, so he can be comfortable,--he would love to +come here on his holidays; and Ruth can come out for the day,-- +she will be crazy about it when I tell her. No, I will get along. +If the lightning had struck my ore beds I would probably have +painted and papered some musty back room in the village and lived +a respectable life. Now I am going to turn savage." + +The next day the contracts were signed: work to commence in three +months. Henry MacFarlane, Engineer-in-Chief, John Breen in charge +of construction. + +It was on that same sofa in the far corner of the sitting-room +that Jack told Ruth,--gently, one word at a time,--making the best +of it, but telling her the exact truth. + +"And then we are not going to have any of the things we dreamed +about, Jack," she said with a sigh. + +"I am afraid not, my darling,--not now, unless the lightning +strikes us, which it won't." + +She looked out of the window for a moment, and her eyes filled +with tears. Then she thought of her father, and how hard he had +worked, and what disappointments he had suffered, and yet how, +with all his troubles, he had always put his best foot foremost-- +always encouraging her. She would not let Jack see her chagrin. +This was part of Jack's life, just as similar disappointments had +been part of her father's. + +"Never mind, blessed. Well, we had lots of fun 'supposing,' didn't +we, Jack. This one didn't come true, but some of the others will +and what difference does it make, anyway, as long as I have you," +and she nestled her face in his neck. "And now tell me what sort +of a place it is and where daddy and I are going to live, and all +about it." + +And then, to soften the disappointment the more and to keep a new +bubble afloat, Jack launched out into a description of the country +and how beautiful the view was from the edge of the hill +overlooking the valley, with the big oaks crowning the top and the +lichen-covered rocks and fallen timber blanketed with green moss, +and the spring of water that gushed out of the ground and ran +laughing down the hillside, and the sweep of mountains losing +themselves in the blue haze of the distance, and then finally to +the log-cabin he was going to build for his own especial use. + +"And only two miles away," she cried in a joyous tone,--"and I can +ride out every day! Oh, Jack!--just think of it!" And so, with +the breath of this new enthusiasm filling their souls, a new +bubble of hope and gladness was floated, and again the two fell to +planning, and "supposing," the rose-glow once more lightening up +the peaks. + +For days nothing else was talked of. An onslaught was at once made +on Carry's office, two doors below Mrs. Hicks, for photographs, +plans of bungalows, shanties, White Mountain lean-tos, and the +like, and as quickly tucked under Ruth's arm and carried off, with +only the permission of the office boy,--Garry himself being absent +owing to some matters connected with a big warehouse company in +which he was interested, the boy said, and which took him to New +York on the early train and did not allow his return sometimes, +until after midnight. + +These plans were spread out under the lamp on the sitting-room +table, the two studying the details, their heads together, +MacFarlane sitting beside them reading or listening,--the light of +the lamp falling on his earnest, thoughtful face,--Jack consulting +him now and then as to the advisability of further extensions, the +same being two rooms shingled inside and out, with an annex of +bark and plank for Ruth's horse, and a kitchen and laundry and no +end of comforts, big and little,--all to be occupied whenever +their lucky day would come and the merry bells ring out the joyful +tidings of their marriage. + +Nor was this all this particularly radiant bubble contained. Not +only was there to be a big open fireplace built of stone, and +overhead rafters of birch, the bark left on and still glistening, +--but there were to be palms, ferns, hanging baskets, chintz +curtains, rugs, pots of flowers, Chinese lanterns, hammocks, easy +chairs; and for all Jack knew, porcelain tubs, electric bells, +steam heat and hot and cold water, so enthusiastic had Ruth become +over the possibilities lurking in the 15 X 20 log-hut which Jack +proposed to throw together as a shelter in his exile. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + + + +The news of MacFarlane's expected departure soon became known in +the village. There were not many people to say good-by, the +inhabitants having seen but little of the engineer and still less +of his daughter, except as she flew past, in a mad gallop, on her +brown mare, her hair sometimes down her back. The pastor of the +new church came, however, to express his regrets, and to thank Mr. +MacFarlane for his interest in the church building. He also took +occasion to say many complimentary things about Garry, extolling +him for the wonderful manner in which that brilliant young +architect had kept within the sum set apart by the trustees for +its construction, and for the skill with which the work was being +done, adding that as a slight reward for such devotion the church +trustees had made Mr. Minott treasurer of the building fund, +believing that in this way all disputes could the better be +avoided,--one of some importance having already arisen (here the +reverend gentleman lowered his voice) in which Mr. McGowan, he was +sorry to say, who was building the masonry, had attempted an +overcharge which only Mr. Minott's watchful eye could have +detected, adding, with a glance over his shoulder, that the +collapse of the embankment had undermined the contractor's +reputation quite as much as the freshet had his culvert, at which +MacFarlane smiled but made no reply. + +Corinne also came to express her regrets, bringing with her a +scrap of an infant in a teetering baby carriage, the whole +presided over by a nurse in a blue dress, white cap, and white +apron, the ends reaching to her feet: not the Corinne, the Scribe +is pained to say, who, in the old days would twist her head and +stamp her little feet and have her way in everything. But a woman +terribly shrunken, with deep lines in her face and under her eyes. +Jack, man-like, did not notice the change, but Ruth did. + +After the baby had been duly admired, Ruth tossing it in her arms +until it crowed, Corinne being too tired for much enthusiasm, had +sent it home, Ruth escorting it herself to the garden gate. + +"I am sorry you are going," Corinne said in Ruth's absence. "I +suppose we must stay on here until Garry finishes the new church. +I haven't seen much of Ruth,--or of you, either, Jack. But I don't +see much of anybody now,--not even of Garry. He never gets home +until midnight, or even later, if the train is behind time, and it +generally is." + +"Then he must have lots of new work," cried Jack in a cheerful +tone. "He told me the last time I saw him on the train that he +expected some big warehouse job." + +Corinne looked out of the window and fingered the handle of her +parasol. + +"I don't believe that is what keeps him in town, Jack," she said +slowly. "I hoped you would come and see him last Sunday. Did Garry +give you my message? I heard you were at home to-day, and that is +why I came." + +"No, he never said a single word about it or I would have come, of +course. What do you think, then, keeps him in town so late?" +Something in her voice made Jack leave his own and take a seat +beside her. "Tell me, Corinne. I'll do anything I can for Garry +and you too. What is it?" + +"I don't know, Jack,--I wish I did. He has changed lately. When I +went to his room the other night he was walking the floor; he said +he couldn't sleep, and the next morning when he didn't come down +to breakfast I went up and found him in a half stupor. I had hard +work to wake him. Don't tell Ruth,--I don't want anybody but you +to know, but I wish you'd come and see him. I've nobody else to +turn to,--won't you, Jack?" + +"Come! of course I'll come, Corinne,--now,--this minute, if he's +home, or to-night, or any time you say. Suppose I go back with you +and wait. Garry's working too hard, that's it,--he was always that +way, puts his whole soul into anything he gets interested in and +never lets up until it's accomplished." He waited for some reply, +but she was still toying with the handle of her parasol. Her mind +had not been on his proffered help,--she had not heard him, in +fact. + +"And, Jack," she went on in the same heart-broken tone through +which an unbidden sob seemed to struggle. + +"Yes, I am listening, Corinne,--what is it?" + +"I want you to forgive me for the way I have always treated you. I +have--" + +"Why, Corinne, what nonsense! Don't you bother your head about +such--" + +"Yes, but I do, and it is because I have never done anything but +be ugly to you. When you lived with us I--" + +"But we were children then, Corinne, and neither of us knew any +better. I won't hear one word of such. nonsense. Why, my dear +girl--" he had taken her hand as she spoke and the pair rested on +his knee--" do you think I am--No--you are too sensible a woman to +think anything of the kind. But that is not it, Corinne--something +worries you;" he asked suddenly with a quick glance at her face. +"What is it? You shall have the best in me, and Ruth will help +too." + +Her fingers closed over his. The touch of the young fellow, so +full of buoyant strength and hope and happiness, seemed to put new +life into her. + +"I don't know, Jack." Her voice fell to a whisper. "There may not +be anything, yet I live under an awful terror. Don't ask me;--only +tell me you will help me if I need you. I have nobody else--my +stepfather almost turned me out of his office when I went to see +him the other day,--my mother doesn't care. She has only been here +half a dozen times, and that was when baby was born. Hush,--here +comes Ruth,--she must not know." + +"But she MUST know, Corinne. I never have any secrets from Ruth, +and don't you have any either. Ruth couldn't be anything but kind +to you and she never misunderstands, and she is so helpful. Here +she is. Ruth, dear, we were just waiting for you. Corinne is +nervous and depressed, and imagines all sorts of things, one of +which is that we don't care for her: and I've just told her that +we do?" + +Ruth looked into Jack's eyes as if to get his meaning--she must +always get her cue from him now--she was entirely unconscious of +the cause of it all, or why Corinne should feel so, but if Jack +thought Corinne was suffering and that she wanted comforting, all +she had was at Corinne's and Jack's disposal. With a quick +movement she leaned forward and laid her hand on Corinne's +shoulder. + +"Why, you dear Corinne,--Jack and I are not like that. What has +gone wrong,--tell me," she urged. + +For a brief instant Corinne made no answer. Once she tried to +speak but the words died in her throat. Then, lifting up her hands +appealingly, she faltered out: + +"I only said that I--Oh, Ruth!--I am so wretched!" and sank back +on the lounge in an agony of tears. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + + + + +At ten o'clock that same night Jack went to the station to meet +Garry. He and Ruth had talked over the strange scene-- +unaccountable to both of them--and had determined that Jack should +see Garry at once. + +"I must help him, Ruth, no matter at what cost. Garry has been my +friend for years; he has been taken up with his work, and so have +I, and we have drifted apart a little, but I shall never forget +him for his kindness to me when I first came to New York. I would +never have known Uncle Peter but for Garry, or Aunt Felicia, or-- +you, my darling." + +Jack waited under the shelter of the overhanging roof until the +young architect stepped from the car and crossed the track. Garry +walked with the sluggish movement of a tired man--hardly able to +drag his feet after him. + +"I thought I'd come down to meet you, Garry," Jack cried in his +old buoyant tone. "It's pretty rough on you, old fellow, working +so hard." + +Garry raised his head and peered into the speaker's face. + +"Why, Jack!" he exclaimed in a surprised tone; the voice did not +sound like Garry's. "I didn't see you in the train. Have you been +in New York too?" He evidently understood nothing of Jack's +explanation. + +"No, I came down to meet you. Corinne was at Mr. MacFarlane's to- +day, and said you were not well,--and so I thought I'd walk home +with you." + +"Oh, thank you, old man, but I'm all right. Corinne's nervous;-- +you mustn't mind her. I've been up against it for two or three +weeks now,--lot of work of all kinds, and that's kept me a good +deal from home. I don't wonder Cory's worried, but I can't help +it--not yet." + +They had reached an overhead light, and Jack caught a clearer view +of the man. What he saw sent a shiver through him. A great change +had come over his friend. His untidy dress,--always so neat and +well kept; his haggard eyes and shambling, unsteady walk, so +different from his springy, debonair manner, all showed that he +had been and still was under some terrible mental strain. That he +had not been drinking was evident from his utterance and gait. +This last discovery when his condition was considered, disturbed +him most of all, for he saw that Garry was going through some +terrible crisis, either professional or financial. + +As the two advanced toward the door of the station on their way to +the street, the big, burly form of McGowan, the contractor, loomed +up. + +"I heard you wouldn't be up till late, Mr. Minott," he exclaimed +gruffly, blocking Garry's exit to the street. "I couldn't find you +at the Council or at your office, so I had to come here. We +haven't had that last payment on the church. The vouchers is all +ready for your signature, so the head trustee says,--and the +money's where you can git at it." + +Garry braced his shoulders and his jaw tightened. One secret of +the young architect's professional success lay in his command over +his men. Although he was considerate, and sometimes familiar, he +never permitted any disrespect. + +"Why, yes, Mr. McGowan, that's so," he answered stiffly. "I've +been in New York a good deal lately and I guess I've neglected +things here. I'll try to come up in the morning, and if +everything's all right I'll get a certificate and fill it up and +you'll get a check in a few days." + +"Yes, but you said that last week." There was a sound of defiance +in McGowan's voice. + +"If I did I had good reason for the delay," answered Garry with a +flash of anger. "I'm not running my office to suit you." + +"Nor for anybody else who wants his money and who's got to have +it, and I want to tell you, Mr. Minott, right here, and I don't +care who hears it, that I want mine or I'll know the reason why." + +Garry wheeled fiercely and raised his hand as if to strike the +speaker, then it dropped to his side. + +"I don't blame you, Mr. McGowan," he said in a restrained, even +voice. "I have no doubt that it's due you and you ought to have +it, but I've been pretty hard pressed lately with some matters in +New York; so much so that I've been obliged to take the early +morning train,--and you can see yourself what time I get home. +Just give me a day or two longer and I'll examine the work and +straighten it out. And then again, I'm not very well." + +The contractor glared into the speaker's face as if to continue +the discussion, then his features relaxed. Something in the sound +of Carry's voice, or perhaps some line of suffering in his face +must have touched him. + +"Well, of course, I ain't no hog," he exclaimed in a softer tone, +which was meant as an apology, "and if you're sick that ends it, +but I've got all them men to pay and--" + +"Yes, I understand and I won't forget. Thank you, Mr. McGowan, and +good-night. Come along, Jack,--Corinne's worrying, and will be +till I get home." + +The two kept silent as they walked up the hill Garry, because he +was too tired to discuss the cowardly attack; Jack, because what +he had to say must be said when they were alone,--when he could +get hold of Garry's hand and make him open his heart. + +As they approached the small house and mounted the steps leading +to the front porch, Corinne's face could be seen pressed against a +pane in one of the dining-room windows. Garry touched Jack's arm +and pointed ahead: + +"Poor Cory!" he exclaimed with a deep sigh, "that's the way she is +every night. Coming home is sometimes the worst part of it all, +Jack." + +The door flew open and Corinne sprang out: "Are you tired, dear?" +she asked, peering into his face and kissing him. Then turning to +Jack: "Thank you, Jack!--It was so good of you to go. Ruth sent me +word you had gone to meet him." + +She led the way into the house, relieving Garry of his hat, and +moving up an easy chair stood beside it until he had settled +himself into its depths. + +Again she bent over and kissed him: "How are things to-day, dear? +--any better?" she inquired in a quavering voice. + +"Some of them are better and some are worse, Cory; but there's +nothing for you to worry about. That's what I've been telling +Jack. How's baby? Anybody been here from the board?--Any letters?" + +"Baby's all right," the words came slowly, as if all utterance +gave her pain. "No, there are no letters. Mr. McGowan was here, +but I told him you wouldn't be home till late." + +"Yes, I saw him," replied Garry, dropping his voice suddenly to a +monotone, an expression of pain followed by a shade of anxiety +settling on his face: McGowan and his affairs were evidently +unpleasant subjects. At this instant the cry of a child was heard. +Garry roused himself and turned his head. + +"Listen--that's baby crying! Better go to her, Cory," + +Garry waited until his wife had left the room, then he rose from, +his chair, crossed to the sideboard, poured out three-quarters of +a glass of raw whiskey and drank it without drawing a breath. + +"That's the first to-day, Jack. I dare not touch it when I'm on a +strain like this. Can't think clearly, and I want my head,--all of +it. There's a lot of sharks down in New York,--skin you alive if +they could. I beg your pardon, old man,--have a drop?" + +Jack waved his hand in denial, his eyes still on his friend: "Not +now, Garry, thank you." + +Garry dropped the stopper into the decanter, pushed back the empty +tumbler and began pacing the floor, halting now and then to toe +some pattern in the carpet, talking all the time to himself in +broken sentences, like one thinking aloud. All Jack's heart went +out to his friend as he watched him. He and Ruth were so happy. +All their future was so full of hope and promise, and Garry-- +brilliant, successful Garry,--the envy of all his associates, so +harassed and so wretched! + +"Garry, sit down and listen to me," Jack said at last. "I am your +oldest friend; no one you know thinks any more of you than I do, +or will be more ready to help. Now, what troubles you?" + +"I tell you, Jack, I'm not troubled!"--something of the old +bravado rang in his voice,--"except as everybody is troubled when +he's trying to straighten out something that won't straighten. I'm +knocked out, that's all,--can't you see it?" + +"Yes, I see it,--and that's not all I see. Is it your work here or +in New York? I want to know, and I'm going to know, and I have a +right to know, and you are not going to bed until you tell me,-- +nor will I. I can and will help you, and so will Mr. MacFarlane, +and Uncle Peter, and everybody I ask. What's gone wrong?--Tell +me!" + +Garry continued to walk the floor. Then he wheeled suddenly and +threw himself into his chair. + +"Well, Jack," he answered with an indrawn sigh,--"if you must +know, I'm on the wrong side of the market." + +"Stocks?" + +"Not exactly. The bottom's fallen out of the Warehouse Company." + +Jack's heart gave a rebound. After all, it was only a question of +money and this could be straightened out. He had begun to fear +that it might be something worse; what, he dared not conjecture. + +"And you have lost money?" Jack continued in a less eager tone. + +"A whole lot of money." + +"How much?" + +"I don't know, but a lot. It went up three points to-day and so I +am hanging on by my eyelids." + +"Well, that's not the first time men have been in that position," +Jack replied in a hopeful tone. "Is there anything more,-- +something you are keeping back?" + +"Yes,--a good deal more. I'm afraid I'll have to let go. If I do +I'm ruined." + +Jack kept silent for a moment. Various ways of raising money to +help his friend passed in review, none of which at the moment +seemed feasible or possible. + +"How much will make your account good?" he asked after a pause. + +"About ten thousand dollars." + +Jack leaned forward in his chair. "Ten thousand dollars!" he +exclaimed in a startled tone. "Why, Garry--how in the name of +common-sense did you get in as deep as that?" + +"Because I was a damned fool!" + +Again there was silence, during which Garry fumbled for a match, +opened his case and lighted a cigarette. Then he said slowly, as +he tossed the burnt end of the match from him: + +"You said something, Jack, about some of your friends helping. +Could Mr. MacFarlane?" + +"No,--he hasn't got it,--not to spare. I was thinking of another +kind of help when I spoke. I supposed you had got into debt, or +something, and were depending on your commissions to pull you out, +and that some new job was hanging fire and perhaps some of us +could help as we did on the church." + +"No," rejoined Garry, in a hopeless tone, "nothing will help but a +certified check. Perhaps your Mr. Grayson might do something," he +continued in the same voice. + +"Uncle Peter! Why, Garry, he doesn't earn ten thousand dollars in +three years." + +Again there was silence. + +"Well, would it be any use for you to ask Arthur Breen? He +wouldn't give me a cent, and I wouldn't ask him. I don't believe +in laying down on your wife's relations, but he might do it for +you now that you're getting up in the world." + +Jack bent his head in deep thought. The proposal that his uncle +had made him for the ore lands passed in review. At that time he +could have turned over the property to Breen. But it was worthless +now. He shook his head: + +"I don't think so." Then he added quickly--"Have you been to Mr. +Morris?" + +"No, and won't. I'd die first!" this came in a sharp, determined +voice, as if it had jumped hot from his heart. + +"But he thinks the world of you; it was only a week ago that he +told Mr. MacFarlane that you were the best man he ever had in his +office." + +"Yes,--that's why I won't go, Jack. I'll play my hand alone and +take the consequences, but I won't beg of my friends; not a friend +like Mr. Morris; any coward can do that. Mr. Morris believes in +me,--I want him to continue to believe in me. That's worth twenty +times ten thousand dollars." His eyes flashed for the first time. +Again the old Garry shone out. + +"When must you have this money?" + +"By the end of the week,--before next Monday, anyhow." + +"Then the situation is not hopeless?" + +"No, not entirely. I have one card left;--I'll play it to-morrow, +then I'll know." + +"Is there a chance of its winning?" + +"Yes and no. As for the 'yes,' I've always had my father's luck. +Minotts don't go under and I don't believe I shall, we take risks +and we win. That's what brought me to Corklesville, and you see +what I have made of myself. Just at present I've got my foot in a +bear trap, but I'll pull out somehow. As for the 'no' part of it, +--I ought to tell you that the warehouse stock has been knocked +endways by another corporation which has a right of way that cuts +ours and is going to steal our business. I think it's a put-up job +to bear our stock so they can scoop it and consolidate; that's why +I am holding on. I've flung in every dollar I can rake and scrape +for margin and my stocking's about turned inside out. I got a tip +last week that I thought would land us all on our feet, but it +worked the other way." Something connected with the tip must have +stirred him for his face clouded as he rose to his feet, +exclaiming: "Have a drop, Jack?--that last one braced me up." + +Again Jack shook his head, and again Garry settled himself back in +his chair. + +"I am powerless, Garry," said Jack. "If I had the money you should +have it. I have nothing but my salary and I have drawn only a +little of that lately, so as to help out in starting the new work. +I thought I had something in an ore bank my father left me, but it +is valueless, I find. I suppose I could put some life in it if I +would work it along the lines Uncle Arthur wants me to, but I +can't and won't do that. Somehow, Garry, this stock business +follows me everywhere. It drove me out of Uncle Arthur's office +and house, although I never regretted that,--and now it hits you. +I couldn't do anything to help Charlie Gilbert then and I can't do +anything to help you now, unless you can think of some way. Is +there any one that I can see except Uncle Arthur,--anybody I can +talk to?" + +Garry shook his head. + +"I've done that, Jack. I've followed every lead, borrowed every +dollar I could,--been turned down half a dozen times, but I kept +on. Got it in the neck twice to-day from some fellows I thought +would help push." + +Jack started forward, a light breaking over his face. + +"I have it, Garry! Suppose that I go to Mr. Morris. I can talk to +him, maybe, in a way you would not like to." + +Garry lifted his head and sat erect. + +"No, by God!--you'll do nothing of the kind!" he cried, as he +brought his fist down on the arm of his chair. "That man I love as +I love nothing else in this world--wife--baby--nothing! I'll go +under, but I'll never let him see me crawl. I'll be Garry Minott +to him as long as I breathe. The same man he trusted,--the same +man he loved,--for he does love me, and always did!" He hesitated +and his voice broke, as if a sob clogged it. After a moment's +struggle he went on: "I was a damned fool to leave him or I +wouldn't be where I am. 'Garry,' he said to me that last day when +he took me into his office and shut the door,--'Garry, stay on +here a while longer; wait till next year. If it's more pay you +want, fix it to suit yourself. I've got two boys coming along; +they'll both be through the Beaux Arts in a year or so. I'm +getting on and I'm getting tired. Stay on and go in with them.' +And what did I do? Well, what's the use of talking?--you know it +all." + +Jack moved his chair and put his arm over his shoulder as a woman +would have done. He had caught the break in his voice and knew how +manfully he was struggling to keep up. + +"Garry, old man." + +"Yes, Jack." + +"If Mr. Morris thought that way, then, why won't he help you now? +What's ten thousand to him?" + +"Nothing,--not a drop in the bucket! He'd begin drawing the check +before I'd finished telling him what I wanted it for. I'm in a +hole and don't know which way to turn, but when I think of what +he's done for me I'll rot in hell before I'll take his money." +Again his voice had the old ring. + +"But, Garry," insisted Jack, "if I can see Morris in the morning +and lay the whole matter before him--" + +"You'll do nothing of the kind, do you hear!--keep still-- +somebody's coming downstairs. Not a word if it is Corinne. She is +carrying now all she can stand up under." + +He passed his hand across his face with a quick movement and +brushed the tears from his cheeks. + +"Remember, not a word. I haven't told her everything. I tried to, +but I couldn't." + +"Tell her now, Garry," cried Jack. "Now--to-night," his voice +rising on the last word. "Before you close your eyes. You never +needed her help as you do now." + +"I can't--it would break her heart. Keep still!--that's her +step." + +Corinne entered the room slowly and walked to Garry's chair. + +"Baby's asleep now," she said in a subdued voice, "and I'm going +to take you to bed. You won't mind, Jack, will you? Come, dear," +and she slipped her hand under his arm to lift him from his chair. + +Garry rose from his seat. + +"All right," he answered assuming his old cheerful tone, "I'll go. +I AM tired, I guess, Cory, and bed's the best place for me. Good- +night, old man,--give my love to Ruth," and he followed his wife +out of the room. + +Jack waited until the two had turned to mount the stairs, caught a +significant flash from Garry's dark eyes as a further reminder of +his silence, and, opening the front door, closed it softly behind +him. + +Ruth was waiting for him. She had been walking the floor during +the last half hour peering out now and then into the dark, with +ears wide open for his step. + +"I was so worried, my precious," she cried, drawing his cheek down +to her lips. "You stayed so long. Is it very dreadful?" + +Jack put his arm around her, led her into the sitting-room and +shut the door. Then the two settled beside each other on the sofa. + +"Pretty bad,--my darling--" Jack answered at last,--"very bad, +really." + +"Has he been drinking?" + +"Worse,--he has been dabbling in Wall Street and may lose every +cent he has." + +Ruth leaned her head on her hand: "I was afraid it was something +awful from the way Corinne spoke. Oh, poor dear,--I'm so sorry! +Does she know now?" + +"She knows he's in trouble, but she doesn't know how bad it is. I +begged him to tell her, but he wouldn't promise. He's afraid of +hurting her--afraid to trust her, I think, with his sufferings. +He's making an awful mistake, but I could not move him. He might +listen to you if you tried." + +"But he must tell her, Jack," Ruth cried in an indignant tone. "It +is not fair to her; it is not fair to any woman,--and it is not +kind. Corinne is not a child any longer;--she's a grown woman, and +a mother. How can she help him unless she knows? Jack, dear, look +into my eyes;" her face was raised to his;--"Promise me, my +darling, that no matter what happens to you you'll tell me first." + +And Jack promised. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + + + + +When Jack awoke the next morning his mind was still intent on +helping Garry out of his difficulties. Where the money was to come +from, and how far even ten thousand dollars would go in bridging +over the crisis, even should he succeed in raising so large a sum, +were the questions which caused him the most anxiety. + +A letter from Peter, while it did not bring any positive relief, +shed a ray of light on the situation: + +I have just had another talk with the director of our bank--the +one I told you was interested in steel works in Western Maryland. +He by no means agrees with either you or MacFarlane as to the +value of the ore deposits in that section, and is going to make an +investigation of your property and let me know. You may, in fact, +hear from him direct as I gave him your address. + +Dear love to Ruth and your own good self. + +This was indeed good news if anything came of it, but it wouldn't +help Garry. Should he wait till Garry had played that last card he +had spoken of, which he was so sure would win, or should he begin +at once to try and raise the money? + +This news at any other time would have set his hopes to +fluttering. If Peter's director was made of money and intent on +throwing it away; and if a blast furnace or a steel plant, or +whatever could turn worthless rock into pruning-hooks and +ploughshares, should by some act of folly be built in the valley +at the foot of the hill he owned, why something might come of it. +But, then, so might skies fall and everybody have larks on toast +for breakfast. Until then his concern was with Garry. + +He realized that the young architect was too broken down +physically and mentally to decide any question of real moment. His +will power was gone and his nerves unstrung. The kindest thing +therefore that any friend could do for him, would be to step in +and conduct the fight without him. Garry's wishes to keep the +situation from Corinne would be respected, but that did not mean +that his own efforts should be relaxed. Yet where would he begin, +and on whom? MacFarlane had just told him that Morris was away +from home and would not be back for several days. Peter was out of +the question so far as his own means--or lack of means--was +concerned, and he could not, of course, ask him to go into debt +for a man who had never been his friend, especially when neither +he nor Garry had any security to offer. + +He finally decided to talk the whole matter over with MacFarlane +and act on his advice. The clear business head of his Chief +cleared the situation as a north-west wind blows out a fog. + +"Stay out of it, Jack," he exclaimed in a quick, positive voice +that showed he had made up his mind long before Jack had finished +his recital. "Minott is a gambler, and so was his father before +him. He has got to take his lean with his fat. If you pulled him +out of this hole he would be in another in six months. It's in his +blood, just as much as it is in your blood to love horses and the +woods. Let him alone;--Corinne's stepfather is the man to help; +that's his business, and that's where Minott wants to go. If there +is anything of value in this Warehouse Company, Arthur Breen & Co. +can carry the certificates for Minott until they go up and he can +get out. If there is nothing, then the sooner Garry sells out and +lets it go the better. Stay out, Jack. It's not in the line of +your duty. It's hard on his wife and he is having a devil of a row +to hoe, but it will be the best thing for him in the end." + +Jack listened in respectful silence, as he always did, to +MacFarlane's frank outburst, but it neither changed his mind nor +cooled his ardor. Where his heart was concerned his judgment +rarely worked. Then, loyalty to a friend in distress was the one +thing his father had taught him. He did not agree with his Chief's +view of the situation. If Garry was born a gambler, he had kept +that fact concealed from him and from his wife. He recalled the +conversation he had had with him some weeks before, when he was so +enthusiastic over the money he was going to make in the new +Warehouse deal. He had been selected as the architect for the new +buildings, and it was quite natural that he should have become +interested in the securities of the company. This threatened +calamity was one that might overtake any man. Get Garry out of +this hole and he would stay out; let him sink, and his whole +career would be ruined. And then there was a sentimental side to +it even if Garry was a gambler--one that could not be ignored when +he thought of Corinne and the child. + +Late in the afternoon, his mind still unsettled, he poured out his +anxieties to Ruth. She did not disappoint him. Her big heart +swelled only with sympathy for the wife who was suffering. It made +no difference to her that Corinne had never been even polite, +never once during the sojourn of the Minotts in the village having +manifested the slightest interest either in her own or Jack's +affairs--not even when MacFarlane was injured, nor yet when the +freshet might have ruined them all. Ruth's generous nature had no +room in it for petty rancors or little hurts. Then, too, Jack was +troubled for his friend. What was there for her to do but to +follow the lamp he held up to guide her feet--the lamp which now +shed its glad effulgence over both? So they talked on, discussing +various ways and means, new ties born of a deeper understanding +binding them the closer--these two, who, as they sometimes +whispered to each other, were "enlisted for life," ready to meet +it side by side, whatever the day developed. + +Before they parted, she promised again to go and see Corinne and +cheer her up. "She cannot be left alone, Jack, with this terrible +thing hanging over her," she urged, "and you must meet Garry when +he returns to-night. Then we can learn what he has done--perhaps +he will have fixed everything himself." But though Jack went to +the station and waited until the arrival of the last train had +dropped its passengers, there was no sign of Garry. Nor did Ruth +find Corinne. She had gone to the city, so the nurse said, with +Mr. Minott by the early train and would not be back until the next +day. Until their return Jack and Ruth found their hands tied. + +On the afternoon of the second day a boy called at the brick +office where Jack was settling up the final accounts connected +with the "fill" and the tunnel, preparatory to the move to +Morfordsburg, and handed him a note. It was from Corinne. + +"I am in great trouble. Please come to me at once," it read. "I am +here at home." + +Corinne was waiting for him in the hall. She took his hand without +a word of welcome, and drew him into the small room where she had +seen him two nights before. This time she shut and locked the +door. + +"Mr. McGowan has just been here," she moaned in a voice that +showed how terrible was the strain. "He tried to force his way up +into Garry's room but I held him back. He is coming again with +some one of the church trustees. Garry had a bad turn in New York +and we came home by the noon train, and I have made him lie down +and sent for the doctor. McGowan must not see him; it will kill +him if he does. Don't leave us, Jack!" + +"But how dare he come here and try to force his--" + +"He will dare. He cursed and went on dreadfully. The door was +shut, but Garry heard him. Oh, Jack!--what are we to do?" + +"Don't worry, Corinne; I'll take care of Mr. McGowan. I myself +heard Garry tell him that he would attend to his payments in a few +days, and he went away satisfied." + +"Yes, but McGowan says he has been to the bank and has also seen +the Rector, and will stop at nothing." + +Jack's fingers tightened and his lips came together. + +"He will stop on that threshold," he said in a low, determined +voice, "and never pass it--no matter what he wants. I will go up +and tell Garry so." + +"No, not yet--wait," she pleaded, in nervous twitching tones--with +pauses between each sentence. "You must hear it all first. Garry +had not told me all when you were here two nights ago; he did not +tell me until after you left. Then I knelt down by his bed and put +my arms around him and he told me everything--about the people he +had seen--and--McGowan--everything." She ceased speaking and hid +her eyes with the back of one hand as if to shut out some spectre, +then she stumbled on. "We took the early train for New York, and I +waited until my stepfather was in his office and went into his +private room. It was Garry's last hope. He thought Mr. Breen would +listen to me on account of mother. I told him of our dreadful +situation; how Garry must have ten thousand dollars, and must have +it in twenty-four hours, to save us all from ruin. Would you +believe, Jack--that he laughed and said it was an old story; that +Garry had no business to be speculating; that he had told him a +dozen times to keep out of the Street; that if Garry had any +collaterals of any kind, he would loan him ten thousand dollars or +any other sum, but that he had no good money to throw after bad. I +did all I could; I almost went down on my knees to him; I begged +for myself and my mother, but he only kept saying--'You go home, +Corinne, and look after your baby--women don't understand these +things.' Oh, Jack!--I could not believe that he was the same man +who married my mother--and he isn't. Every year he has grown +harder and harder; he is a thousand times worse than when you +lived with him. Garry was waiting outside for me, and when I told +him he turned as white as a sheet, and had to hold on to the iron +railing for a moment. It was all I could do to get him home. If he +sees Mr. McGowan now it will kill him; he can't pay him and he +must tell him so, and it will all come out." + +"But he will pay him, Corinne, when he gets well." + +There came a pause. Then she said slowly as if each word was wrung +from her heart: + +"There is no money. Garry took the trust funds from the church." + +"No money, Corinne! You don't mean--you can't--Oh! My God! Not +Garry! No--not Garry!" + +"Yes! I mean it. He expected to pay it back, but the people he is +with in New York lied to him, and now it is all gone." There was +no change in her voice. + +She stood gazing into his face; not a tear in her eyes; no quiver +of her lips. She had passed that stage; she was like a victim led +to the stake in whom nothing but dull endurance is left. + +Jack backed into a chair and sat with bowed head, his cheeks in +his hands. Had the earth opened under him he could not have been +more astounded. Garry Minott a defaulter! Garry a thief! +Everything seemed to whirl about him--only the woman remained +quiet--still standing--her calm, impassive eyes fixed on his +bowed head; her dry, withering, soulless words still vibrating in +the hushed room. + +"When did this happen, Corinne--this--this taking of Mr. McGowan's +money?" The words came between his closed fingers, as if he, too, +would shut out some horrible shape. + +"Some two weeks ago." + +"When did you know of it?" + +"Night before last, after you left him. I knew he was in trouble, +but I did not know it was as bad as this. If Mr. Breen had helped +me everything would have been all right, for Garry sold out all +the stock he had in the Warehouse Company, and this ten thousand +dollars is all he owes." She shivered as she spoke, and her pale, +tired eyes closed as if in pain. Nothing was said between them for +a while, and neither of them stirred. During the silence the front +door was heard to open, letting in the village doctor, who mounted +the stairs, his footfalls reverberating in Garry's room overhead. + +Jack raised his eyes at last and studied her closely. The frail +body seemed more crumpled and forlorn in the depths of the chair, +where she had sunk, than when she had been standing before him. +The blonde hair, always so glossy, was dry as hemp; the small, +upturned nose, once so piquant and saucy, was thin and pinched-- +almost transparent; the washed-out, colorless eyes, which in her +girlhood had flashed and sparkled so roguishly, were half hidden +under swollen lids. The arms were flat, the hands like bird claws. +The white heat of a furnace of agony had shrivelled her poor body, +drying up all the juices of its youth. + +And yet with the scorching there had crept into the wan face, and +into the tones of her tired, heart-broken voice something Jack had +never found in her as a girl--something of tenderness, +unselfishness--of self-sacrifice for another and with it there +flamed up in his own heart a determination to help--to wipe out +everything--to sponge the record, to reestablish the man who in a +moment of agony had given way to an overpowering temptation and +brought his wife to this condition. A lump rose in his throat, and +a look of his old father shone out of his face--that look with +which in the years gone by he had defied jury, district attorney, +and public opinion for what he considered mercy. And mercy should +be exercised now. Garry had never done one dishonest act before, +and never, God helping, should he be judged for this. + +He, John Breen, let Garry be called a common thief! Garry whose +every stand in Corklesville had been for justice; Garry whom +Morris loved, whose presence brought a cheery word of welcome from +every room he entered! Let him be proclaimed a defaulter, insulted +by ruffians like McGowan, and treated like a felon--brilliant, +lovable, forceful Garry! Never, if he had to go down on his knees +to Holker Morris or any other man who could lend him a dollar. + +Corinne must have seen the new look in his face, for her own eyes +brightened as she asked: + +"Have you thought of something that can help him?" + +Jack did not answer. His mind was too intent on finding some +thread which would unravel the tangle. + +"Does anybody else know of this, Corinne?" he asked at last in a +low-pitched voice. + +"Nobody." + +"Nobody must," he exclaimed firmly. Then he added gently--"Why did +you tell me?" + +"He asked me to. It would all have come out in the end, and he +didn't want you to see McGowan and not know the truth. Keep still +--some one is knocking," she whispered, her fingers pressed to her +lips in her fright. "I know it is McGowan, Jack. Shall I see him, +or will you?" + +"I will--you stay here." + +Jack lifted himself erect and braced back his shoulders. He +intended to be polite to McGowan, but he also intended to be firm. +He also intended to refuse him any information or promise of any +kind until the regular monthly meeting of the Church Board which +would occur on Monday. This would give him time to act, and +perhaps to save the situation, desperate as it looked. + +With this in his mind he turned the key and threw wide the door. +It was the doctor who stood outside. He seemed to be laboring +under some excitement. + +"I heard you were here, Mr. Breen--come upstairs." + +Jacked obeyed mechanically. Garry had evidently heard of his being +downstairs and had some instructions to give, or some further +confession to make. He would save him now from that humiliation; +he would get his arms around him, as Corinne had done, and tell +him he was still his friend and what he yet intended to do to pull +him through, and that nothing which he had done had wrecked his +affection for him. + +As these thoughts rushed over him his pace quickened, mounting the +stairs two steps at a time so that he might save his friend even a +moment of additional suffering. The doctor touched Jack on the +shoulder, made a sign for him to moderate his steps, and the two +moved to where his patient lay. + +Garry was on the bed, outside the covering, when they entered. He +was lying on his back, his head and neck flat on a pillow, one +foot resting on the floor. He was in his trousers and shirt; his +coat and waistcoat lay where he had thrown them. + +"Garry," began Jack in a low voice--"I just ran in to say that--" + +The sick man did not move. + +Jack stopped, and turned his head to the doctor. + +"Asleep?" he whispered. + +"No;--drugged. That's why I wanted you to see him before I called +his wife. Is he accustomed to this sort of thing?" and he picked +up a bottle from the table. + +Jack took the phial in his hand; it was quite small, and had a +glass stopper. + +"What is it, doctor?" + +"I don't know. Some preparation of chloral, I should think; smells +and looks like it. I'll take it home and find out. If he's been +taking this right along he may know how much he can stand, but if +he's experimenting with it, he'll wake up some fine morning in the +next world. What do you know about it?" + +"Only what I have heard Mrs. Minott say," Jack whispered behind +his hand. "He can't sleep without it, she told me. He's been under +a terrible business strain lately and couldn't stand the pressure, +I expect." + +"Well, that's a little better," returned the doctor, moving the +apparently lifeless arm aside and placing his ear close to the +patient's breast. For a moment he listened intently, then he drew +up a chair and sat down beside him, his fingers on Garry's pulse. + +"You don't think he's in danger, do you, doctor?" asked Jack in an +anxious tone. + +"No--he'll pull through. His breathing is bad, but his heart is +doing fairly well. But he's got to stop this sort of thing." Here +the old doctor's voice rose as his indignation increased (nothing +would wake Garry). "It's criminal--it's damnable! Every time one +of you New York people get worried, or short of money or stocks, +or what not, off you go to a two-cent drug shop and buy enough +poison to kill a family. It's damnable, Breen--and you must tell +Minott so when he wakes up" + +Jack made no protest against being included in the denunciation. +He was too completely absorbed in the fate of the man who lay in a +stupor. + +"Is there anything can be done for him?" he asked. + +"I can't tell yet. He may only have taken a small dose. I will +watch him for a while. But if his pulse weakens we must shake him +awake somehow. You needn't wait I'll call you if I want you, +You've told me what I wanted to know." + +Again Jack bent over Garry, his heart wrung with pity and dismay. +He was still there when the door opened softly and a servant +entered, tiptoed to where he stood, and whispered in his ear: + +"Mrs. Minott says, sir, that Mr. McGowan and another man are +downstairs." + +The contractor was standing in the hall, his hat still on his +head. The other man Jack recognized as Murphy, one of the church +building trustees. That McGowan was in an ugly mood was evident +from the expression on his face, his jaw setting tighter when he +discovered that Jack and not Garry was coming down to meet him; +Jack having been associated with MacFarlane, who had "robbed him +of damages" to the "fill." + +"I came to see Mr. Minott," McGowan blurted out before Jack's feet +had touched the bottom step of the stairs. "I hear he's in--come +home at dinner time." + +Jack continued his advance without answering until he had reached +their side. Then with a "Good-evening, gentlemen," he said in a +perfectly even voice: + +"Mr. Minott is ill and can see no one. I have just left the doctor +sitting beside his bed. If there is anything I can do for either +of you I will do it with pleasure." + +McGowan shoved his hat back on his forehead as if to give himself +more air. + +"That kind of guff won't go with me no longer," he snarled, his +face growing redder every instant. "This ill business is played +out. He promised me three nights ago he'd make out a certificate +next day--you heard him say it--and I waited for him all the +morning and he never showed up. And then he sneaks off to New York +at daylight and stays away for two nights more, and then sneaks +home again in the middle of the day when you don't expect him, and +goes to bed and sends for the doctor. How many kinds of a damned +fool does he take me for? That work's been finished three weeks +yesterday; the money is all in the bank to pay for it just as soon +as he signs the check, and he don't sign it, and ye can't get him +to sign it. Ain't that so, Jim Murphy?" + +Murphy nodded, and McGowan blazed on: "If you want to know what I +think about it--there's something crooked about the whole +business, and it gets crookeder all the time. He's drunk, if he's +anything--boiling drunk and--" + +Jack laid the full weight of his hand on the speaker's shoulder: + +"Stop short off where you are, Mr. McGowan." The voice came as if +through tightly clenched teeth. "If you have any business that I +can attend to I am here to do it, but you can't remain here and +abuse Mr. Minott. My purpose in coming downstairs was to help you +if I could, but you must act like a man, not like a ruffian." + +Murphy stepped quickly between the two men: + +"Go easy, Mac," he cried in a conciliatory tone. "If the doctor's +with him ye can't see him. Hear what Mr. Breen has to say; ye got +to wait anyhow. Of course, Mr. Breen, Mr. McGowan is het up +because the men is gettin' ugly, and he ain't got money enough for +his next pay-roll, and the last one ain't all paid yit." + +McGowan again shifted his hat--this time he canted it on one side. +His companion's warning had had its effect, for his voice was now +pitched in a lower key. + +"There ain't no use talking pay-roll to Mr. Breen, Jim," he +growled. "He knows what it is; he gits up agin' it once in a while +himself. If he'll tell me just when I'm going to get my money I'll +wait like any decent man would wait, but I want to know, and I +want to know now." + +At that instant the door of the sitting-room opened, and Corinne, +shrinking as one in mortal fright, glided out and made a hurried +escape upstairs. Murphy sagged back against the wall and waited +respectfully for her to disappear. McGowan did not alter his +position nor did he remove his hat, though he waited until she had +reached the landing before speaking again: + +"And now, what are you going to do, Mr. Breen?" he demanded in +threatening tones. + +"Nothing," said Jack in his same even voice, his eyes never moving +from the contractor's. "Nothing, until you get into a different +frame of mind." Then he turned to Murphy: "When Mr. McGowan +removes his hat, Mr. Murphy, and shows some sign of being a +gentleman I will take you both into the next room and talk this +matter over." + +McGowan flushed scarlet and jerked his hat from his head. + +"Well she come on me sudden like and I didn't see her till she'd +got by. Of course, if you've got anything to say, I'm here to +listen, Where'll we go?" + +Jack turned and led the way into the sitting-room, where he +motioned them both to seats. + +"And now what is the exact amount of your voucher?" he asked, when +he had drawn up a chair and sat facing them. + +McGowan fumbled in his inside pocket and drew forth a slip of +paper. + +"A little short of ten thousand dollars," he answered in a +business-like tone of voice. "There's the figures," and he handed +the slip to Jack. + +"When is this payment to be made?" continued Jack, glancing at the +slip. + +"Why, when the money is due, of course," he cried in a louder key. +"Here's the contract--see--read it; then you'll know." + +Jack ran his eye over the document until it fell on the payment +clause. This he read twice, weighing each word. + +"It says at the monthly meeting of the Board of Trustees, does it +not?" he answered, smothering all trace of the relief the words +brought him. + +McGowan changed color. "Well, yes--but that ain't the way the +payments has always been made," he stammered out. + +"And if I am right, the meeting takes place on Monday next?" +continued Jack in a decided tone, not noticing the interruption. + +"Yes, I suppose so." + +"Well, then, Monday night, Mr. McGowan, either Mr., Minott or I +will be on hand. You must excuse me now. Mrs. Minott wants me, I +think," and he handed McGowan the contract and walked toward the +door, where he stood listening. Something was happening upstairs. + +McGowan and his friend looked at each other in silence. The +commotion overhead only added to their discomfiture. + +"Well, what do you think, Jim?" McGowan said at last in a subdued, +baffled voice. + +"Well, there ain't no use thinkin', Mac. If it's writ that way, +it's writ that way; that's all there is to it--" and the two +joined Jack who had stepped into the hall, his eyes up the +stairway as if he was listening intensely. + +"Then you say, Mr. Breen, that Mr. Minott will meet us at the +Board meeting on Monday?" + +Jack was about to reply when he caught sight of the doctor, his +hand sliding rapidly down the stair-rail as he approached. + +McGowan, fearing to be interrupted, repeated his question in a +louder voice: + +"Then you say I'll see Mr. Minott on Monday?" + +The doctor crossed to Jack's side. He was breathing heavily, his +lips quivering; he looked like a man who had received some sudden +shock. + +"Go up to Mrs. Minott," he gasped. "It's all over, Breen. He's +dying. He took the whole bottle." + +At this instant an agonizing shriek cut the air. It was the voice +of Corinne. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + + + + +No one suspected that the young architect had killed himself. +Garry was known to have suffered from insomnia, and was supposed +to have taken an overdose of chloral. The doctor so decided, and +the doctor's word was law in such MATTERS, and so there was no +coroner's inquest. Then again, it was also known that he was doing +a prosperous business with several buildings still in course of +construction, and that his wife's stepfather was a prominent +banker. + +McGowan and his friends were stupefied. One hope was left, and +that was Jack's promise that either he or Garry would be at the +trustees' meeting on Monday night. + +Jack had not forgotten. Indeed nothing else filled his mind. There +were still three days in which to work. The shock of his friend's +death, tremendous as it was, had only roused him to a greater need +of action. The funeral was to take place on Sunday, but he had +Saturday and Monday left. What he intended to do for Garry and his +career he must now do for Garry's family and Garry's reputation. +The obligation had really increased, because Garry could no longer +fight his battles himself; nor was there a moment to lose. The +slightest spark of suspicion would kindle a flame of inquiry, and +the roar of an investigation would follow. McGowan had already +voiced his own distrust of Garry's methods. No matter what the +cost, this money must be found before Monday night. + +The secret of both the suicide and the defalcation was carefully +guarded from MacFarlane, who, with his daughter, went at once to +Minott's house, proffering his services to the stricken widow, but +nothing was withheld from Ruth. The serious financial obligations +which Jack was about to undertake would inevitably affect their +two lives; greater, therefore, than the loyalty he owed to the +memory of his dead friend, was the loyalty which he owed to the +woman who was to be his wife, and from whom he had promised to +hide no secrets. Though he felt sure what her answer would be, his +heart gave a great bound of relief when she answered impulsively, +without a thought for herself or their future: + +"You are right, dearest. These things make me love you more. You +are so splendid, Jack. And you never disappoint me. It is Garry's +poor little boy who must be protected. Everybody would pity the +wife, but nobody would pity the child. He will always be pointed +at when he grows up. Dear little tot! He lay in my arms so sweet +and fresh this morning, and put his baby hands upon my cheek, and +looked so appealingly into my face. Oh, Jack, we must help him. He +has done nothing." + +They were sitting together as she spoke, her head on his shoulder, +her fingers held tight in his strong, brown hand. She could get +closer to him in this position, she always told him: these hands +and cheeks were the poles of a battery between which flowed and +flashed the vitality of two sound bodies, and through which +quivered the ecstasy of two souls. + +Suddenly the thought of Garry and what he had been, in the days of +his brilliancy, and of what he had done to crush the lives about +him came to her. Could she not find some excuse for him, something +which she might use as her own silent defence of him in the years +that were to come? + +"Do you think Garry was out of his mind, Jack? He's been so +depressed lately?" she asked, all her sympathy in her voice. + +"No, my blessed, I don't think so. Everybody is more or less +insane who succumbs to a crisis. Garry believed absolutely in +himself and his luck, and when the cards went against him he +collapsed. And yet he was no more a criminal at heart than I am. +But that is all over now. He has his punishment, poor boy, and it +is awful when you think of it. How he could bring himself to prove +false to his trust is the worst thing about it. This is a queer +world, my darling, in which we live. I never knew much about it +until lately. It is not so at home, or was not when I was a boy-- +but here you can take away a man's character, rob him of his home, +corrupt his children. You can break your wife's heart, be cruel, +revengeful; you can lie and be tricky, and no law can touch you-- +in fact, you are still a respectable citizen. But if you take a +dollar-bill out of another man's cash drawer, you are sent to jail +and branded as a thief. And it is right--looked at from one +standpoint--the protection of society. It is the absence of all +mercy in the enforcement of the law that angers me." + +Ruth moved her head and nestled the closer. How had she lived all +the years of her life, she thought to herself, without this +shoulder to lean on and this hand to guide her? She made no +answer. She had never thought about these things in that way +before, but she would now. It was so restful and so blissful just +to have him lead her, he who was so strong and self-reliant, and +whose vision was so clear, and who never dwelt upon the little +issues. And it was such a relief to reach up her arms and kiss him +and say, "Yes, blessed," and to feel herself safe in his hands. +She had never been able to do that with her father. He had always +leaned on her when schemes of economies were to be thought out, or +details of their daily lives planned. All this was changed now. +She had found Jack's heart wide open and had slipped inside, his +strong will henceforth to be hers. + +Still cuddling close, her head on his shoulder, her heart going +out to him as she thought of the next morning and the task before +him, she talked of their coming move to the mountains, and of the +log-cabin for which Jack had already given orders; of the +approaching autumn and winter and what they would make of it, and +of dear daddy's plans and profits, and of how long they must wait +before a larger log-cabin--one big enough for two--would be +theirs for life--any and every topic which she thought would +divert his mind--but Garry's ghost would not down. + +"And what are you going to do first, my darling?" she asked at +last, finding that Jack answered only in monosyllables or remained +silent altogether. + +"I am going to see Uncle Arthur in the morning," he answered +quickly, uncovering his brooding thoughts. "It won't do any good, +perhaps, but I will try it. I have never asked him for a cent for +myself, and I won't now. He may help Corinne this time, now that +Garry is dead. There must be some outside money due Garry that he +has not been able to collect--commissions on unfinished work. This +can be turned in when it is due. Then I am going to Uncle Peter, +and after that to some of the people we trade with." + +Breen was standing by the ticker when Jack entered. It was a busy +day in the Street and values were going up by leaps and bounds. +The broker was not in a good humor; many of his customers were +short of the market. + +He followed Jack into his private office and faced him. + +"Funeral's at one o'clock Sunday, I see," he said in a sharp +voice, as if he resented the incident. "Your aunt and I will be +out on the noon train. She got back this morning, pretty well +bunged up. Killed himself, didn't he?" + +"That is not the doctor's opinion, sir, and he was with him when +he died." + +"Well, it looks that way to me. He's busted--and all balled up in +the Street. If you know anybody who will take the lease off +Corinne's hands, let me know. She and the baby are coming to live +with us." + +Jack replied that he would make it his business to do so, with +pleasure, and after giving his uncle the details of Garry's death +he finally arrived at the tangled condition of his affairs. + +Breen promptly interrupted him. + +"Yes, so Corinne told me. She was in here one day last week and +wanted to borrow ten thousand dollars. I told her it didn't grow +on trees. Suppose I had given it to her? Where would it be now. +Might as well have thrown it in the waste-basket. So I shut down +on the whole business--had to." + +Jack waited until his uncle had relieved his mind. The state of +the market had something to do with his merciless point of view; +increasing irritability, due to loss of sleep, and his habits had +more. The outburst over, Jack said in a calm direct voice, +watching the effect of the words as a gunner watches a shell from +his gun: + +"Will you lend it to me, sir?" + +Arthur was pacing his private office, casting about in his mind +how to terminate the interview, when Jack's shot overhauled him. +Garry's sudden death had already led him to waste a few more +minutes of his time than he was accustomed to on a morning like +this, unless there was business in it. + +He turned sharply, looked at Jack for an instant, and dropped into +the revolving chair fronting his desk. + +Then he said in a tone of undisguised surprise: + +"Lend you ten thousand dollars! What for?" + +"To clear up some matters of Garry's at Corklesville. The +Warehouse matter has been closed out, so Corinne tells me." + +"Oh, that's it, is it? I thought you wanted it for yourself. Who +signs for it?" + +"I do." + +"On what collateral?" + +"My word." + +Breen leaned back in his chair. The unsophisticated innocence of +this boy from the country would be amusing if it were not so +stupid. + +"What are you earning, Jack?" he said at last, with a half- +derisive, half-humorous expression on his face. + +"A thousand dollars a year." Jack had never taken his eyes from +his uncle's face, nor had he moved a muscle of his body. + +"And it would take you ten years to pay it if you dumped it all +in?" + +"Yes." + +"Got anything else to offer?" This came in a less supercilious +tone. The calm, direct manner of the young man had begun to have +its effect. + +"Nothing but my ore property." + +"That's good for nothing. I made a mistake when I wanted you to +put it in here. Glad you didn't take me up." + +"So am I. My own investigation showed the same thing." + +"And the ore's of poor quality," continued Breen in a decided +tone. + +"Very poor quality, what I saw of it," rejoined Jack. + +"Well, we will check that off. MacFarlane got any thing he could +turn in?" + +"No--and I wouldn't ask him." + +"And you mean to tell me, Jack, that you are going broke yourself +to help a dead man pay his debts?" + +"If you choose to put it that way," + +"Put it that way? Why, what other way is there to put it? You'll +excuse me, Jack--but you always were a fool when your damned +idiotic notions of what is right and wrong got into your head--and +you'll never get over it. You might have had an interest in my +business by this time, and be able to write your check in four +figures; and yet here you are cooped up in a Jersey village, +living at a roadside tavern, and getting a thousand dollars a +year. That's what your father did before you; went round paying +everybody's debts; never could teach him anything; died poor, just +as I told him he would." + +Jack had to hold on to his chair to keep his mouth closed. His +father's memory was dangerous ground for any man to tread on--even +his father's brother; but the stake for which he was playing was +too great to be risked by his own anger. + +"No, Jack," Breen continued, gathering up a mass of letters and +jamming them into a pigeon-hole in front of him, as if the whole +matter was set forth in their pages and he was through with it +forever. "No--I guess I'll pass on that ten thousand-dollar loan. +I am sorry, but A. B. & Co, haven't any shekels for that kind of +tommy-rot. As to your helping Minott, what I've got to say to you +is just this: let the other fellow walk--the fellow Garry owes +money to--but don't you butt in. They'll only laugh at you. Now +you will have to excuse me--the market's kiting, and I've got to +watch it. Give my love to Ruth. Your aunt and I will be out on the +noon train for the funeral. Good-by." + +It was what he had expected. He would, perhaps, have stood a +better chance if he had read him Peter's encouraging letter of the +director's opinion of his Cumberland property, and he might also +have brought him up standing (and gone away with the check in his +pocket) if he had told him that the money was to save his own +wife's daughter and grandchild from disgrace--but that secret was +not his. Only as a last, desperate resource would he lay that fact +bare to a man like Arthur Breen, and perhaps not even then. John +Breen's word was, or ought to be, sacred enough on which to borrow +ten thousand dollars or any other sum. That meant a mortgage on +his life until every cent was paid. + +Do not smile, dear reader. He is only learning his first lesson in +modern finance. All young men "raised" as Jack had been--and the +Scribe is one of them--would have been of the same mind at his +age. In a great city, when your tea-kettle starts to leaking, you +never borrow a whole one from your neighbor; you send to the shop +at the corner and buy another. In the country--Jack's country, I +mean--miles from a store, you borrow your neighbor's, who promptly +borrows your saucepan in return. And it was so in larger matters: +the old Chippendale desk with its secret drawer was often the +bank--the only one, perhaps, in a week's journey. It is +astonishing in these days to think how many dingy, tattered or +torn bank-notes were fished out of these same receptacles and +handed over to a neighbor with the customary--"With the greatest +pleasure, my dear sir. When you can sell your corn or hogs, or +that mortgage is paid off, you can return it." A man who was able +to lend, and who still refused to lend, to a friend in his +adversity, was a pariah. He had committed the unpardonable sin. +And the last drop of the best Madeira went the same way and with +equal graciousness! + +Peter, at Jack's knock, opened the door himself. Isaac Cohen had +just come in to show him a new book, and Peter supposed some one +from the shop below had sent upstairs for him. + +"Oh! it's you, my boy!" Peter cried in his hearty way, his arms +around Jack's shoulders as he drew him inside the room. Then +something in the boy's face checked him, bringing to mind the +tragedy. "Yes, I read it all in the papers," he exclaimed in a +sympathetic voice. "Terrible, isn't it! Poor Minott. How are his +wife and the poor little baby--and dear Ruth. The funeral is to- +morrow I see by the papers. Yes, of course I'm going." As he spoke +he turned his head and scanned Jack closely. + +"Are you ill, my boy?" he asked in an anxious tone, leading him to +a seat on the sofa. "You look terribly worn." + +"We all have our troubles, Uncle Peter," Jack replied with a +glance at Cohen, who had risen from his chair to shake his hand. + +"Yes--but not you. Out with it! Isaac doesn't count. Anything you +can tell me you can tell him. What's the matter?--is it Ruth?" + +Jack's face cleared. "No, she is lovely, and sent you her dearest +love." + +"Then it's your work up in the valley?" + +"No--we begin in a month. Everything's ready--or will be." + +"Oh! I see, it's the loss of Minott. Oh, yes, I understand it all +now. Forgive me, Jack. I did not remember how intimate you and he +were once. Yes, it is a dreadful thing to lose a friend. Poor +boy!" + +"No--it's not that altogether, Uncle Peter." + +He could not tell him. The dear old gentleman was ignorant of +everything regarding Garry and his affairs, except that he was a +brilliant young architect, with a dashing way about him, of whom +Morris was proud. This image he could not and would not destroy. +And yet something must be done to switch Peter from the main +subject--at least until Cohen should leave. + +"The fact is I have just had an interview with Uncle Arthur, and +he has rather hurt my feelings," Jack continued in explanation, a +forced smile on his face. "I wanted to borrow a little money. All +I had to offer as security was my word." + +Peter immediately became interested. Nothing delighted him so much +as to talk over Jack's affairs. Was he not a silent partner in the +concern? + +"You wanted it, of course, to help out on the new work," he +rejoined. "Yes, it always takes money in the beginning. And what +did the old fox say?" + +Jack smiled meaningly. "He said that what I called 'my word' +wasn't a collateral. Wanted something better. So I've got to hunt +for it somewhere else." + +"And he wouldn't give it to you?" cried Peter indignantly. "No, of +course not! A man's word doesn't count with these pickers and +stealers. Half--three-quarters--of the business of the globe is +done on a man's word. He writes it on the bottom or on the back of +a slip of paper small enough to light a cigar with--but it's only +his word that counts. In these mouse-traps, however, these cracks +in the wall, they want something they can get rid of the moment +somebody else says it is not worth what they loaned on it; or they +want a bond with the Government behind it. Oh, I know them!" + +Cohen laughed--a dry laugh--in compliment to Peter's way of +putting it--but there was no ring of humor in it. He had been +reading Jack's mind. There was something behind the forced smile +that Peter had missed--something deeper than the lines of anxiety +and the haunted look in the eyes. This was a different lad from +the one with whom he had spent so pleasant an evening some weeks +before. What had caused the change? + +"Don't you abuse them, Mr. Grayson--these pawn-brokers," he said +in his slow, measured way. "If every man was a Turk we could take +his word, but when they are Jews and Christians and such other +unreliable people, of course they want something for their ducats. +It's the same old pound of flesh. Very respectable firm this, Mr. +Arthur Breen & Co.--VERY respectable people. I used to press off +the elder gentleman's coat--he had only two--one of them I made +myself when he first came to New York--but he has forgotten all +about it now," and the little tailor purred softly. + +"If you had pressed out his morals, Isaac, it would have helped +some." + +"They didn't need it. He was a very quiet young man and very +polite; not so fat, or so red or so rich, as he is now. I saw him +the other day in our bank. You see," and he winked slyly at Jack, +"these grand people must borrow sometimes, like the rest of us; +but he never remembers me any more." Isaac paused for a moment as +if the reminiscence had recalled some amusing incident. When he +continued his face had a broad smile--"and I must say, too, that +he always paid his bills. Once, when he was afraid he could not +pay, he wanted to bring the coat back, but I wouldn't let him. Oh, +yes, a very nice young man, Mr. Arthur Breen," and the tailor's +plump body shook with suppressed laughter. + +"You know, of course, that he is this young man's uncle," said +Peter, laying his hand affectionately on Jack's shoulder. + +"Oh, yes, I know about it. I saw the likeness that first day you +came in," he continued, nodding to Jack. "It was one of the times +when your sister, the magnificent Miss Grayson was here, Mr. +Grayson." Isaac always called her so, a merry twinkle in his eye +when he said it, but with a face and voice showing nothing but the +deepest respect; at which Peter would laugh a gentle laugh in +apology for his sister's peculiarities, a dislike of little +tailors being one of them--this little tailor especially. + +"And now, Mr. Breen, I hope you will have better luck," Isaac +said, rising from his chair and holding out his hand. + +"But you are not going, Isaac," protested Peter. + +"Yes, this young gentleman, I see, is in a good deal of trouble +and I cannot help him much, so I will go away," and with a wave of +his pudgy hand he shut the door behind him and trotted downstairs +to his shop. + +Jack waited until the sound of his retreating footsteps assured +the Jew's permanent departure, then he turned to Peter. + +"I did not want to say too much before Mr. Cohen, but Uncle +Arthur's refusal has upset me completely. I could not have +believed it of him. You must help me somehow, Uncle Peter. I don't +mean with your own money; you have not got it to spare--but so I +can get it somewhere. I must have it, and I can't rest until I do +get it." + +"Why, my dear boy! Is it so bad as that? I thought you were +joking." + +"I tried to joke about it while Mr. Cohen was here, but he saw +through it, I know, from the way he spoke: but this really is a +very serious matter; more serious than anything that ever happened +to me." + +Peter walked to the sofa and sat down. Jack's manner and the tone +of his voice showed that a grave calamity had overtaken the boy. +He sat looking into Jack's eyes. + +"Go on," he said, his heart in his mouth. + +"I must have ten thousand dollars. How and where can I borrow it?" + +Peter started. "Ten thousand dollars!" he repeated in undisguised +surprise. "Whew! Why, Jack, that's a very large sum of money for +you to want. Why, my dear boy, this is--well--well!" + +"It is not for me, Uncle Peter--or I would not come to you for +it." + +"For whom is it, then?" Peter asked, in a tone that showed how +great was his relief now that Jack was not involved. + +"Don't ask me, please." + +Peter was about to speak, but he checked himself. He saw it all +now. The money was for MacFarlane, and the boy did not like to say +so. He had heard something of Henry's financial difficulties +caused by the damage to the "fill." He thought that this had been +made good; he saw now that he was misinformed. + +"When do you want it, Jack?" he resumed. He was willing to help, +no matter who it was for. + +"Before Monday night." + +Peter drew out his watch as if to find some relief from its dial, +and slipped it into his pocket again. It was not yet three o'clock +and his bank was still open, but it did not contain ten thousand +dollars or any other sum that he could draw upon. Besides, neither +Jack, nor MacFarlane, nor anybody connected with Jack, had an +account at the Exeter. The discounting of their notes was, +therefore, out of the question. + +"To-day is a short business day, Jack, being Saturday," he said +with a sigh. "If I had known of this before I might have--and yet +to tell you the simple truth, my boy, I don't know a human being +in the world who would lend me that much money, or whom I could +ask for it." + +"I thought maybe Mr. Morris might, if you went to him, but I +understand he is out of town," returned Jack. + +"Yes," answered Peter in a perplexed tone--"yes--Holker has gone +to Chicago and won't be back for a week." He, too, had thought of +Morris and the instantaneous way in which he would have reached +for his check-book. + +"And you must have it by Monday night?" Peter continued, his +thoughts bringing into review one after the other all the moneyed +men he knew. "Well--well--that IS a very short notice. It means +Monday to hunt in, really--to-morrow being Sunday." + +He leaned back and sat in deep thought, Jack watching every +expression that crossed his face. Perhaps Ruth was mixed up in it +in some way. Perhaps their marriage depended upon it--not +directly, but indirectly--making a long postponement inevitable. +Perhaps MacFarlane had some old score to settle. This contracting +was precarious business. Once before he had known Henry to be in +just such straits. Again he consulted his watch. + +Then a new and cheering thought struck him. He rose quickly from +his seat on the sofa and crossed the room to get his hat. + +"It is a forlorn hope, Jack, but I'll try it. Come back here in an +hour--or stay here and wait." + +"No, I'll keep moving," replied Jack. "I have thought of some +supply men who know me; our account is considerable; they would +lend it to Mr. MacFarlane, but that's not the way I want it. I'll +see them and get back as soon as I can--perhaps in a couple of +hours." + +"Then make it eight o'clock, so as to be sure. I have thought of +something else. Ten thousand dollars," he kept muttering to +himself--"ten thousand dollars"--as he put on his hat and moved to +the door. There he stopped and faced about--his bushy brows +tightening as a new difficulty confronted him. "Well, but for how +long?" That part of the transaction Jack had forgotten to mention. + +"I can't tell; maybe a year--maybe more." + +Peter advanced a step as if to return to the room and give up the +whole business. + +"But Jack, my boy, don't you see how impossible a loan of that +kind is?" + +Jack stood irresolute. In his mad desire to save Garry he had not +considered that phase of the matter. + +"Yes--but I've GOT TO HAVE IT," he cried in a positive tone. "You +would feel just as I do, if you knew the circumstances." + +Peter turned without a word and opened the door leading into the +hall. "Be back here at eight," was all he said as he shut the door +behind him and clattered down the uncarpeted stairs. + +Shortly before the appointed hour Jack again mounted the three +flights of steps to Peter's rooms. He had had a queer experience-- +queer for him. The senior member of one supply firm had looked at +him sharply, and had then said with a contemptuous smile, "Well, +we are looking for ten thousand dollars ourselves, and will pay a +commission to get it." Another had replied that they were short, +or would be glad to oblige him, and as soon as Jack left the +office had called to their bookkeeper to "send MacFarlane his +account, and say we have some heavy payments to meet, and will he +oblige us with a check"--adding to his partner--"Something rotten +in Denmark, or that young fellow wouldn't be looking around for a +wad as big as that." A third merchant heard him out, and with some +feeling in his voice said: "I'm sorry for you, Breen"--Jack's need +of money was excuse enough for the familiarity--"for Mr. +MacFarlane thinks everything of you, he's told me so a dozen +times--and there isn't any finer man living than Henry MacFarlane. +But, just as your friend, let me tell you to stay out of the +Street; it's no place for a young man like you. No--I don't mean +any offence. If I didn't believe in you myself, I wouldn't say it. +Take my advice and stay out." + +And so footsore and heart-sore, his face haggard from hunger, for +he had eaten nothing since breakfast, his purpose misunderstood, +his own character assailed, his pride humiliated, and with courage +almost gone, he strode into Peter's room and threw himself into a +chair. + +Peter heard his step and entered from his bedroom, where he had +finished dressing for dinner. The old fellow seemed greatly +troubled. One glance at Jack's face told the story of the +afternoon. + +"You have done nothing, Jack?" he asked in a despondent tone. + +"No--have you?" + +"Nothing. Portman has gone to his place on Long Island, the others +were out. Whom did you see?" + +"Some people we do business with; some of them laughed at me; some +gave me advice; none of them had any money." + +"I expected it. I don't think you are quite aware of what you ask, +my dear boy." + +"Perhaps I am not, but I am beginning to see. It is a new +experience for me. If my father had wanted the money for the same +purpose for which I want this, he would not have had to drive a +mile from his house before he would have had it." + +"Your father lived in a different atmosphere, my boy; in another +age, really. In his environment money meant the education of +children, the comfort of women, and the hospitalities that make up +social life." + +"Well, is not that true now, among decent people?" protested Jack, +his mind going back to some homes he remembered. + +"No--not generally--not here in New York. Money here means the +right to exist on the planet; we fight for it as we do for our +lives. Your own need of this ten thousand dollars proves it. The +men I tried to find this afternoon have more than they need or +ever will need; that's why I called on them. If I lost it, it +wouldn't matter to them, but I would never hear the last of it all +the same," and a shudder ran through him. + +Peter did not tell Jack that had Portman been at home and, out of +friendship for him, had agreed to his request, he would have +required the old fellow's name on a demand note for the amount of +the loan; and that he would willingly have signed it, to relieve +the boy's mind and ward off the calamity that threatened those he +loved and those who loved him--not one cent of which, the Scribe +adds in all positiveness, would the boy have taken had he known +that the dear fellow had in any way pledged himself for its +return. + +For some minutes Jack sat stretched out in his chair, his body +aslant; Peter still beside him. All the events of the day and +night passed in review before him; Garry's face and heavy +breathing; McGowan's visit and defiance; Corinne's agonized +shriek--even the remembrance made him creep--then Ruth's voice and +her pleading look: "The poor little boy. Jack. He has done no +wrong--all his life he must be pointed at." + +He dragged himself to his feet. + +"I will go back to Ruth now, Uncle Peter. Thank you for trying. I +know it is a wild goose chase, but I must keep moving. You will be +out to-morrow; we bury poor Garry at one o'clock. I still have all +day Monday. Good-night." + +"Come out and dine with me, my boy--we will go to--" + +"No, Ruth is worrying. I will get something to eat when I get +home. Good-night!" + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + + + + +Jack descended Peter's stairs one step at a time, Each seemed to +plunge him the deeper into some pit of despair. Before he reached +the bottom he began to realize the futility of his efforts. He +began to realize, too, that both he and Ruth had been swept off +their feet by their emotions. MacFarlane, the elder Breen, and now +Peter, had all either openly condemned his course or had given it +scant encouragement. There was nothing to go new but go home and +tell Ruth. Then, after the funeral was over, he would have another +talk with MacFarlane. + +He had reached the cool air of the street, and stood hesitating +whether to cross the Square on his way to the ferry, or to turn +down the avenue, when the door of Isaac Cohen's shop opened, and +the little tailor put out his head. + +"I have been waiting for you." he said in a measured voice. "Come +inside." + +Jack was about to tell him that he must catch a train, when +something in the tailor's manner and the earnestness with which he +spoke, made the young fellow alter his mind and follow him. + +The little man led the way through the now darkened and empty +shop, lighted by one gas jet--past the long cutting counter +flanked by shelves bearing rolls of cloth and paper patterns, +around the octagon stove where the irons were still warm, and +through the small door which led into his private room. There he +turned up a reading lamp, its light softened by a green shade. and +motioning Jack to a seat, said abruptly, but politely--more as a +request than a demand: + +"I have a question to ask you, and you will please tell me the +truth. How much money do you want, and what do you want it for?" + +Jack bit his lip. He wanted money, and he wanted it badly, but the +tailor had no right to pry into his private affairs--certainly not +in this way. + +"Well, that was something I was talking to Uncle Peter about," he +rejoined stiffly. "I suppose you must have overheard." + +"Yes, I did. Go on--how much money do you want, and what do you +want it for?" + +"But, Mr. Cohen, I don't think I ought to bother you with my +troubles. They wouldn't interest you." + +"Now, my dear young man, you will please not misunderstand me. You +are very intelligent, and you are very honest, and you always say +what is in your heart; I have heard you do it many times. Now say +it to me." + +There was no mistaking the tailor's earnestness. It evidently was +not mere curiosity which prompted him. It was something else. Jack +wondered vaguely if the Jew wanted to turn money-lender at a big +percentage. + +"Why do you want to know?" he asked; more to gain time to fathom +his purpose than with any intention of giving him the facts. + +Isaac went to his desk, opened with great deliberation an ebony +box, took out two cigars, offered one to Jack, leaned over the +lamp until his own was alight, and took the chair opposite Jack's. +All this time Jack sat watching him as a child does a necromancer, +wondering what he meant to do next. + +"Why do I want to know, Mr. Breen? Well, I will tell you. I have +loved Mr. Grayson for a great many years. When he goes out in the +morning he always looks through the glass window and waves his +hand. If I am not in sight, he opens the door and calls inside, +'Ah, good-morning, Isaac.' At night, when he comes home, he waves +his hand again. I know every line in his face, and it is always a +happy face. Once or twice a week he comes in here, and we talk. +That is his chair--the one you are sitting in. Once or twice a +week I go up and sit in his chair and talk. In all the years I +have known him I have only seen him troubled once or twice. Then I +asked him the reason, and he told me. To-day I heard you speak +about some money you wanted, and then I saw that something had +gone wrong. After I left he came downstairs and passed my window +and did not look in. I watched him go up the street, he walked +very slow, and his head was down on his chest. I did not like it. +A little while ago he came back; I went out to meet him. I said, +'Mr. Grayson, what troubles you?' And he said--'Nothing, Isaac, +thank you,' and went upstairs. That is the first time in all the +years I know him that he answered me like that. So now I ask you +once more--how much money do you want, and what do you want it +for? When I know this, then I will know what troubles Mr. Grayson. +There is always a woman or a sum of money at the bottom of every +complication. Mr. Grayson never worries over either. I do not +believe you do, but I have had many surprises in my life." + +Jack had heard him through without interruption. Most of it-- +especially Cohen's affection for Peter--he had known before. It +was the last statement that roused him. + +"Well, if you must know, Mr. Cohen--it is not for myself, but for +a friend." + +The Jew smiled. He saw that the young man had told the truth. +Peter's confidence in the boy, then, need not be shaken. + +"And how much money do you need for your friend?" His eyes were +still reading Jack. + +"Well, a very large sum." Jack did not like the cross-examination, +but somehow he could not resent it. + +"But, my dear young man, will you not tell me? If you buy a coat, +do you not want to know the price? If you pay for an indiscretion, +is not the sum named in the settlement?" + +"Ten thousand dollars." + +There was no change in the Jew's face. The smile did not alter. + +"And this is the money that Mr. Grayson tried to borrow for you, +and failed? Is it not so?" + +Jack nodded. + +"And you have tried everywhere to get it yourself? All the +afternoon you have been at it?" Still the same queer smile--one of +confirmation, as if he had known it all the time. + +Again Jack nodded. Isaac was either a mind reader or he must have +been listening at the keyhole when he poured out his heart to +Peter. + +"Yes, that is what I thought when I saw you come in a little while +ago, dragging your feet as if they were lead, and your eyes on the +ground. The step and the eye, Mr. Breen, if you did but know it, +make a very good commercial agency. When the eye is bright and the +walk is quick, your customer has the money to pay either in his +pocket or in his bank; when the step is dull and sluggish, you +take a risk; when the eye looks about with an anxious glance and +the step is stealthy, and then when you take the measure for the +coat, both go out dancing, you may never get a penny. But that is +only to tell you how I know," the tailor chuckled softly. "And now +one thing more"--he was serious now--"when must you have this ten +thousand dollars?" + +"Before Monday night." + +"In cash?" + +"In cash or something I can get cash on." + +The tailor rose from his seat with a satisfied air--he had +evidently reached the point he had been striving for--laid the +stump of his cigar on the edge of the mantel, crossed the room, +fumbled in the side pocket of a coat which hung on a nail in an +open closet; drew out a small key; sauntered leisurely to his +desk, all the while crooning a tune to himself--Jack following his +every movement, wondering what it all meant, and half regretting +that he had not kept on to the ferry instead of wasting his time. +Here he unlocked a drawer, took out a still smaller key--a flat +one this time--removed some books and a small Barye bronze tiger +from what appeared to be a high square table, rolled back the +cloth, bringing into view an old-fashioned safe, applied the key +and swung back a heavy steel door. Here, still crooning his song +in a low key, dropping it and picking it up again as he moved-- +quite as does the grave-digger in "Hamlet"--he drew forth a long, +flat bundle and handed it to Jack. + +"Take them, Mr. Breen, and put them in your inside pocket. There +are ten United States Government bonds. If these Breen people will +not lend you the amount of money you want, take them to Mr. +Grayson's bank. Only do not tell him I gave them to you. I bought +them yesterday and was going to lock them up in my safe deposit +vault, only I could not leave my shop. Oh, you needn't look so +scared. They are good," and he loosened the wrapper. + +Jack sprang from his seat. For a moment he could not speak. + +"But, Mr. Cohen! Do you know I haven't any security to offer you, +and that I have only my salary and--" + +"Have I asked you for any?" Isaac replied with a slight shrug, a +quizzical smile crossing his face. + +"No--but--" + +"Ah, then, we will not talk about it. You are young--you are +hard-working; you left a very rich home on Fifth Avenue to go and +live in a dirty hotel in a country village--all because you were +honest; you risked your life to save your employer; and now you +want to go into debt to save a friend. Ah--you see, I know all +about you, my dear Mr. John Breen. Mr. Grayson has told me, and if +he had not, I could read your face. No--no--no--we will not talk +about such things as cent per cent and security. No--no--I am very +glad I had the bonds where I could get at them quick. There now-- +do you run home as fast as you can and tell your friend. He is +more unhappy than anybody." + +Jack had his breath now and he had also made up his mind. Every +drop of blood in his body was in revolt. Take money from a Jew +tailor whom he had not seen half a dozen times; with whom he had +no business relations or dealings, or even social acquaintance? + +He laid the bonds back on the desk. + +"I cannot take them, Mr. Cohen. I thank you most sincerely, but-- +no--you must not give them to me. I--" + +Isaac wheeled suddenly and drew himself up. His little mouse eyes +were snapping, and his face fiery red. + +"You will not take them! Why?" + +"I don't know--I can't!" + +"I know!" he cried angrily, but with a certain dignity. "It is +because I am a Jew. Not because I am a tailor--you have too much +sense for that--but because I am a Jew!" + +"Oh, Mr. Cohen!" + +"Yes--I know--I see inside of you. I read you just as if you were +a page in a book. Who taught you to think that? Not your Uncle +Peter; he loves me--I love him. Who taught you such nonsense?" His +voice had risen with every sentence. In his indignation he looked +twice his size. "Is not my money as good as that man Breen's--who +insults you when you go to him?--and who laughed at you? Have I +laughed at you? Does Mr. Grayson laugh?" + +Jack tried to interrupt, but the tailor's words poured on. + +"And now let me tell you one thing more, Mr. John Breen. I do not +give you the bonds. I give them to Mr. Grayson. Never once has he +insulted me as you do now. All these years--fifteen years this +winter--he has been my friend. And now when the boy whom he loves +wants some money for a friend, and Mr. Grayson has none to give +him, and I, who am Mr. Grayson's friend, come to help that boy out +of his trouble, you--you--remember, you who have nothing to do +with it--you turn up your nose and stop it all. Are you not +ashamed of yourself?" + +Jack's eyes blazed. He was not accustomed to be spoken to in that +way by anybody; certainly not by a tailor. + +"Then give them to Uncle Peter," Jack flung back. "See what he +will say." + +"No, I will not give them to your Uncle Peter. It will spoil +everything with me if he knows about it. He always does things for +me behind my back. He never lets me know. Now I shall do something +for him behind his back and not let him know." + +"But--" + +"There are no buts! Listen to me, young man. I have no son; I have +no grandchild; I live here alone--you see how small it is? Do you +know why?--because I am happiest here. I know what it is to +suffer, and I know what it is for other people to suffer. I have +seen more misery in London in a year than you will see in your +whole life. Those ten bonds there are of no more use to me than an +extra coat of paint on that door. I have many more like them shut +up in a box. Almost every day people come to me for money-- +sometimes they get it--oftener they do not. I have no money for +beggars, or for idlers, or for liars. I have worked all my life, +and shall to the end--and so must they. Now and then something +happens like this. Now do you understand?" + +Again Jack tried to speak. His anger was gone; the pathos in the +Jew's voice had robbed him of all antagonism, but Cohen would +allow no interruptions. + +"And now one thing more before I let you speak, And then I am +through. In all the years I have known Mr. Grayson, this is the +first time I have ever been able to help him with the only thing I +have that can help him--my money. If it was five times what you +want, he should have it. Do you hear? Five times!" + +Isaac threw himself into his chair and sat with his chin in his +hand. The last few words had come in a dry, choking whisper--as if +they had been pumped from the depths of his heart. + +Jack instinctively put out his hand and touched the Jew's knee. + +"Will you please forgive me, Mr. Cohen--and will you please listen +to me. I won't tell you a lie. I did feel that way at first--I do +not now. I will take the bonds, and I thank you from the bottom of +my heart for them. You will never know how much good they will do; +I have hardly slept since I knew I had to get this money. I am, +perhaps, too tired to think straight, but you must do something +for me--you must make it right with my own conscience. I want to +sign something--give you something as security. I have only one +thing in the world and that is some ore property my father left me +in Maryland. At present it is worthless and may always be, but +still it is all I have. Let me give you this. If it turns out to +be of value you can take out your loan with interest and give me +the rest; if it does not, I will pay it back as I can; it may be +ten years or it may be less, but I will pay it if I live." + +Isaac raised his head. "Well, that is fair." His voice was again +under control. "Not for me--but for you. Yes, that is quite right +for you to feel that way. Next week you can bring in the papers." +He picked up the bonds. "Now put these in your inside pocket and +look out for them as you cross the ferry. Good-by." + + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + + + + +Jack strode out into the night, his mind in a whirl. No sense of +elation over the money had possession of him. All his thoughts +were on Isaac. What manner of man was this Jew? he kept asking +himself in a sort of stunned surprise, who could handle his shears +like a journeyman, talk like a savant, spend money like a prince, +and still keep the heart of a child? Whoever heard of such an act +of kindness; and so spontaneous and direct; reading his heart, +sympathizing with him in his troubles--as his friend would have +done--as his own father might have done. + +And with the thought of Cohen's supreme instantaneous response +there followed with a rush of shame and self-humiliation that of +his own narrow-mindedness, his mean prejudices, his hatred of the +race, his questionings of Peter's intimacy, and his frequent +comments on their acquaintance--the one thing he could never +understand in his beloved mentor. Again Isaac's words rang in his +ears. "Is it because I am a Jew? Who taught you such nonsense? Not +your Uncle Peter--he loves me. I love him." And with them arose +the vision of the man stretched to his full height, the light of +the lamp glinting on his moist forehead, his bead-like eyes +flashing in the rush of his anger. + +As to the sacrifice both he and Ruth had just made, and it was now +final, this no longer troubled him. He had already weighed for her +every side of the question, taking especial pains to discuss each +phase of the subject, even going so far as to disagree with +MacFarlane's opinion as to the worthlessness of the ore lands. But +the dear child had never wavered. + +"No!--I don't care," she had answered with a toss of her head. +"Let the land go if there is no other way. We can get on without +it, my darling, and these poor people cannot." She had not, of +course, if the truth must be told, weighed any of the consequences +of what their double sacrifice might entail, nor had she realized +the long years of work which might ensue, or the self-denial and +constant anxiety attending its repayment. Practical questions on +so large a scale had been outside the range of her experience. +Hers was the spirit of Joan of old, who reckoned nothing of value +but her ideal. + +Nor can we blame her. When your cheeks are twin roses; your hair +black as a crow's wing and fine as silk; and your teeth--not one +missing--so many seed pearls peeping from pomegranate lips; when +your blood goes skipping and bubbling through your veins; when at +night you sleep like a baby, and at morn you spring from your bed +in the joy of another day; when there are two strong brown hands +and two strong arms, and a great, loving, honest heart every bit +your own; and when, too, there are crisp autumn afternoons to +come, with gold and brown for a carpet, and long winter evenings, +the fire-light dancing on the overhead rafters; and 'way--'way-- +beyond this--somewhere in the far future there rises a slender +spire holding a chime of bells, and beneath it a deep-toned organ +--when this, I say, is, or will be, your own--the gold of the +Indies is but so much tinkling brass, and Cleopatra's diadem a +mere bauble with which to quiet a child. + +It was not until he was nearing Corklesville that the sense of the +money really came to him. He knew what it would mean to Ruth and +what her eyes would hold of gladness and relief. Suddenly there +sprang to his lips an unbidden laugh, a spontaneous overflow from +the joy of his heart; the first he had uttered for days. Ruth +should know first. He would take her in his arms and tell her to +hunt in all his pockets, and then he would kiss her and place the +package in her hands. And then the two would go to Corinne. It +would be late, and she would be in bed, perhaps, but that made no +difference. Ruth would steal noiselessly upstairs; past where +Garry lay, the flowers heaped upon his coffin, and Corinne would +learn the glad tidings before to-morrow's sun. At last the ghost +which had haunted them all these days was banished; her child +would be safe, and Corinne would no longer have to hide her head. + +Once more the precious package became the dominant thought. Ten +bonds! More than enough! What would McGowan say now? What would +his Uncle Arthur say? He slipped his hand under his coat fondling +the wrapper, caressing it as a lover does a long-delayed letter, +as a prisoner does a key which is to turn darkness into light, as +a hunted man a weapon which may save his life. + +It did not take Jack many minutes we may be sure to hurry from the +station to Ruth's home. There it all happened just as he had +planned and schemed it should--even to the kiss and the hunting +for the package of bonds, and Ruth's cry of joy, and the walk +through the starlight night to Corinne's, and the finding her +upstairs; except that the poor woman was not yet in bed. + +"Who gave it to you, Jack?" Corinne asked in a tired voice. + +"A friend of Uncle Peter's." + +"You mean Mr. Grayson?" + +"Yes." + +There was no outburst, no cry of gratitude, no flood of long-pent- +up tears. The storm had so crushed and bruised this plant that +many days must elapse before it would again lift its leaves from +the mud. + +"It was very good of Mr. Grayson, Jack," was all she said in +answer, and then relapsed into the apathy which had been hers +since the hour when the details of her husband's dishonesty had +dropped from his lips. + +Poor girl! she had no delusions to sustain her. She knew right +from wrong. Emotions never misled her. In her earlier years she +and her mother had been accustomed to look things squarely in the +face, and to work out their own careers; a game of chance, it is +true, until her mother's marriage with the elder Breen; but they +had both been honest careers, and they had owed no man a penny. +Garry had fought the battle for her within the last few years, and +in return she had loved him as much as she was able to love +anybody but she had loved him as a man of honor, not as a thief. +Now he had lied to her, had refused to listen to her pleadings, +and the end had come. What was there left, and to whom should she +now turn--she without a penny to her name--except to her +stepfather, who had insulted and despised her. She had even been +compelled to seek help from Ruth and Jack; and now at last to +accept it from Mr. Grayson--he almost a stranger. These were the +thoughts which, like strange nightmares, swept across her tired +brain, taking grewsome shapes, each one more horrible than its +predecessor. + +At the funeral, next day, she presented the same impassive front. +Breen and her mother rode with her in the carriage to the church, +and Jack and Ruth helped her alight, but she might have been made +of stone so far as she evinced either sorrow or interest in what +was taking place about her. And yet nothing had been omitted by +friend or foe expressive of the grief and heart-felt sorrow the +occasion demanded. Holker Morris sent a wreath of roses with a +special letter to her, expressing his confidence in and respect +for the man he had brought up from a boy. A committee was present +from the Society of Architects to which Garry belonged; half a +dozen of his old friends from the Magnolia were present, Biffy +among them; the village Council and the Board of Church Trustees +came in a body, and even McGowan felt it incumbent upon him to +stand up during the service and assume the air of one who had been +especially bereft. Nor were the notices in the country and city +papers wanting in respect. "One of our most distinguished +citizens--a man who has reached the topmost round of the ladder," +etc., etc., one editorial began. + +It was only when the funeral was over, and she was once more at +home, that she expressed the slightest concern. Then she laid her +hand in Peter's and threw back her heavy crepe veil: "You have +saved me from disgrace, Mr. Grayson," she said, in a low, +monotonous voice, "and my little boy as well. I try to think that +Garry must have been out of his mind when he took the money. He +would not listen to me, and he would not tell me the truth. Jack +is going to pay it back to-morrow, and nobody will ever know that +my husband did wrong; but I couldn't let you go away without +thanking you for having saved us. My stepfather wouldn't help-- +nobody would help but you. I don't know why you did it. It seems +so strange. I had given up all hope when Jack came back last +night." + +Peter sat perfectly still, his hand on her wrist, where he had +placed it to show by a kindly touch his sympathy for her. Not +knowing what her lips would tell, he had begun to pat the back of +her black glove when she started to speak, as one would quiet a +child who pours out its troubles, but he stopped in amazement as +she proceeded. He had not loaned her a dollar, nor had Jack, as he +knew, succeeded in getting a penny, unless by a miracle he had met +some one on the train who had come to his rescue. + +What did the poor woman mean? Disgrace! Trouble! Garry taking +money, and Jack paying it back on Monday! The horror of her +husband's sudden death had undoubtedly turned her mind, distorting +some simple business transaction into a crime, or she would not be +thanking him for something that he had never done. This talk of +Jack's could only have been a ruse to keep up her spirits and give +her false strength until she had passed through the agonizing +ordeal of the funeral--he accepting all her delusions as true--as +one does when an insane person is to be coaxed back into a cell. +These thoughts went whirling through his mind, as Peter watched +her face closely, wondering what would be his course. He had not +met her often, yet he could see that she was terribly changed. He +noticed, too, that all through the interview she had not shed a +tear. Yes--there was no question that her mind was unbalanced. The +best plan would be to bring the interview to an end as quickly as +possible, so she should not dwell too long on her sorrow. + +"If I have done anything to help you, my dear lady," he said with +gentle courtesy, rising from his chair and taking her hand again, +"or can do anything for you in the future, I shall be most happy, +and you must certainly let me know. And now, may I not ask you to +go upstairs and lie down. You are greatly fatigued--I assure you +I feel for you most deeply." + +But his mind was still disturbed. Ruth and Jack wondered at his +quiet as he sat beside them on the way back to MacFarlane's-- +gazing out of the carriage window, his clean-shaven, placid face +at rest, his straight thin lips close shut. He hardly spoke until +they reached the house, and then it was when he helped Ruth +alight. Once inside, however, he beckoned Jack, and without a word +led him alone into MacFarlane's study--now almost dismantled for +the move to Morfordsburg--and closed the door. + +"Mrs. Minott has just told me the most extraordinary thing, Jack-- +an unbelievable story. Is she quite sane?" + +Jack scanned Peter's face and read the truth. Corinne had +evidently told him everything. This was the severest blow of all. + +"She supposed you knew, sir;" answered Jack quietly, further +concealment now being useless. + +"Knew what?" Peter was staring at him with wide-open eyes. + +"What she told you, sir," faltered Jack. + +The old man threw up his hands in horror. + +"What! You really mean to tell me, Jack, that Minott has been +stealing?" + +Jack bent his head and his eyes sought the floor. He could hardly +have been more ashamed had he himself been the culprit. + +"God bless my soul! From whom?" + +"The church funds--he was trustee. The meeting is to-morrow, and +it would all have come out." + +A great light broke over Peter--as when a window is opened in a +darkened room in which one has bees stumbling. + +"And you have walked the streets trying to beggar yourself, not to +help MacFarlane but to keep Minott out of jail!" Amazement had +taken the place of horror. + +"He was my friend, sir--and there are Corinne and the little boy. +It is all over now. I have the money--that is, I have got +something to raise it on." + +"Who gave it to you?" He was still groping, blinded by the +revelations, his gray eyes staring at Jack, his voice trembling, +beads of perspiration moistening his forehead. + +"Isaac Cohen. He has given me ten Government bonds. They are in +that drawer behind you. He overheard what I said to you yesterday +about wanting some money, and was waiting for me when I went +downstairs. He gave them to me because he loved you, he said. I am +to give him my ore property as security, although I told him it +was of no value." + +Peter made a step forward, stretching out a hand as if to steady +himself. His face grew white then suddenly flushed. His breath +seemed to have left him. + +"And Cohen did this!" he gasped--"and you for Minott! Why--why--" + +Jack caught him in his arms, thinking he was about to fall. + +"No! No! I'm all right," he cried, patting Jack's shoulder. "It's +you!--you--YOU, my splendid boy! Oh!--how I love you!" + + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + + + + +The following morning Jack walked into Arthur Breen's private +office while his uncle was reading his mail, and laid the package +containing the ten bonds on his desk. So far as their borrowing +capacity was concerned, he could have walked up the marble steps +of any broker's office or bank on either side of the street--that +is, wherever he was known, and he was still remembered by many of +them--thrust the package through the cashier's window, and walked +down again with a certified check for their face value in his +pocket. + +But the boy had other ends in view. Being human, and still +smarting under his uncle's ridicule and contempt, he wanted to +clear his own name and character; being loyal to his friend's +memory and feeling that Garry's reputation must be at least +patched up--and here in Breen's place and before the man who had +so bitterly denounced it; and being above all tender-hearted and +gallant where a woman, and a sorrowing one, was concerned, he must +give Corinne and the child a fair and square start in the house of +Breen, with no overdue accounts to vex her except such petty ones +as a small life insurance and a few uncollected commissions could +liquidate. + +These much-to-be-desired results could only be attained when the +senior member of the firm was made acquainted with the fact that, +after all, Garry's debts could be paid and his reputation saved. +The money must, therefore, be borrowed of Arthur Breen & Co. His +uncle would know then beyond doubt; his axiom being that the only +thing that talked loud enough ever to make him listen was "money." + +It was therefore with a sense of supreme satisfaction, interwoven +with certain suppressed exuberance born of freedom and self- +reliance, that Jack, in answer to Breen's "What's this?" when his +eyes rested on the bundle of bonds, replied in an off-hand but +entirely respectful manner: + +"Ten United States Government bonds, sir; and will you please give +me a check drawn to my order for this amount?" and he handed the +astounded broker the slip of paper McGowan had given him, on which +was scrawled the total of the overdue vouchers. + +Breen slipped off the rubber band, spread out the securities as a +lady opens a fan, noted the title, date, and issue, and having +assured himself of their genuineness, asked in a confused, almost +apologetic way, as he touched a bell to summon the cashier: + +"Where did you get these? Did MacFarlane give them to you?" + +"No--a friend," answered Jack casually, and without betraying a +trace of either excitement or impatience. + +"On what?" snapped Breen, something of his old dictatorial manner +asserting itself. + +"On my word," replied Jack, with a note of triumph, which he could +not wholly conceal. + +The door opened and the cashier entered. Breen handed him the +bonds, gave instructions about the drawing of the check, and +turned to Jack again. He was still suffering from amazement, the +boy's imperturbable manner being responsible for most of it. + +"And does this pay Minott's debts?" he asked in a more +conciliatory tone. + +"Every dollar," replied Jack. + +Breen looked up. Where had the boy got this poise and confidence, +he asked himself, as a flush of pride swept through him; after +all, Jack was of his own blood, his brother's son. + +"And I suppose now that it's you who will be doing the walking +instead of Minott's creditors?" Breen inquired with a frown that +softened into a smile as he gazed the longer into Jack's calm +eyes. + +"Yes, for a time," rejoined Jack in the same even, unhurried +voice. + +The clerk brought in the slip of paper, passed it to his employer, +who examined it closely, and who then affixed his signature. + +"If you get any more of that kind of stuff and want help in the +new work, let me know." + +"Thank you, sir," said Jack, folding up the precious scrap and +slipping it into his pocket. + +Breen waited until Jack had closed the door, pulled from a pigeon- +hole a bundle of papers labelled Maryland Mining Company, touched +another button summoning his stenographer, and said in a low voice +to himself: + +"Yes, I have it! Something is going on in that ore property. I'll +write and find out." + + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + + + + +The Board of Church Trustees met, as customary, on Monday night, +but there was no business transacted except the passing of a +resolution expressing its deep regret over the loss of "our +distinguished fellow-townsman, whose genius has added so much to +the beautifying of our village, and whose uprightness of character +will always be," etc., etc. + +Neither Jack nor McGowan, nor any one representing their +interests, was present. A hurried glance over Garry's check and +bank-books showed that the money to pay McGowan's vouchers--the +exact sum--had been drawn from the fund and deposited to Garry's +personal credit in his own bank in New York. Former payments to +McGowan had been made in this way. There was therefore no proof +that this sum had been diverted into illegitimate channels. + +McGowan was paid that same Monday afternoon, Jack bringing the +papers to the contractor's office, where they were signed in the +presence of Murphy and his clerk. + +And so the matter was closed, each and every one concerned being +rejoiced over the outcome. + +"Mr. Minott (it was 'Mr.' now) had a big stack of money over at +his stepfather's bank," was Murphy's statement to a group around a +table in one of the bar-rooms of the village. "He was in a big +deal, so Mac thinks, and didn't want to haul any of it out. So +when he died Mr. Breen never squawked--just went over and told the +old man that Mac wanted the money and to fork out; and he did, +like a good one. I seen the check, I tell ye. Oh! they're all in +together. Mr. Breen's kin to them New York folks, and so is Mrs. +Minott. He's her father, I hear. I think Mac shot off his mouth +too quick, and I told him so, but he was so het up he couldn't +keep still. Why, them fellers has got more money than they can +throw away. Mac sees his mistake now. Heard him tell Mr. Breen +that Mr. Minott was the whitest man he ever knowed; and you bet +yer life he's right." + +Nor was Murphy's eulogium the only one heard in the village. +Within a week after the funeral a committee was appointed to +gather funds for the placing of a stained-glass window in the new +church in memory of the young architect who had designed and +erected it; with the result that Holker Morris headed the +subscription list, an example which was followed by many of the +townspeople, including McGowan and Murphy and several others of +their class, as well as various members of the Village Council, +together with many of Garry's friends in New York, all of which +was duly set forth in the county and New York papers; a fact which +so impressed the head of the great banking firm of Arthur Breen & +Co. that he immediately sent his personal check for a considerable +amount, desiring, as he stated at a club dinner that same night, +to pay some slight tribute to that brilliant young fellow, Minott, +who, you know, married Mrs. Breen's daughter--a lovely girl, +brought up in my own house, and who has now come home again to +live with us. + +Peter listened attentively while Jack imparted these details, a +peculiar smile playing about the corners of his eyes and mouth, +his only comment at the strangeness of such posthumous honors to +such a man, but he became positively hilarious when Jack reached +that part in the narrative in which the head of the house of Breen +figured as chief contributor. + +"And you mean to tell me, Jack," he roared, "that Breen has pushed +himself into poor Minott's stained-glass window, with the saints +and the gold crowns, and--oh, Jack, you can't be serious!" + +"That's what the Rector tells me, sir." + +"But, Jack--forgive me, my boy, but I have never in all my life +heard anything so delicious. Don't you think if Holker spoke to +the artist that Mr. Iscariot, or perhaps the estimable Mr. +Ananias, or Mr. Pecksniff, or Uriah Heep might also be tucked away +in the background?" And with this the old fellow, in spite of his +sympathy for Jack and the solemnity of the occasion, threw back +his head and laughed so long and so heartily that Mrs. McGuffey +made excuse to enter the room to find out what it was all about. + +With the subletting of Garry's house and the shipping of his +furniture--that which was not sold--to her step-father's house, +Jack's efforts on behalf of his dead friend and his family came to +a close. Ruth helped Corinne pack her personal belongings, and +Jack found a tenant who moved in the following week. Willing hands +are oftenest called upon, and so it happened that the two lovers +bore all the brunt of the domestic upheaval. + +Their own packing had long since been completed; not a difficult +matter in a furnished house; easy always to Ruth and her father, +whose nomadic life was marked by constant changes. Indeed, the +various boxes, cases, crates, and barrels containing much of the +linen, china, and glass, to say nothing of the portieres, rugs and +small tables, and the whole of Ruth's bedroom furniture, had +already been loaded aboard a box car and sent on its way to +Morfordsburg, there to await the arrival of the joyous young girl, +whose clear brain and competent hands would bring order out of +chaos, no matter how desolate the interior and the environment. + +For these dainty white hands with their pink nails and soft palms, +so wonderfully graceful over teapot or fan, could wield a broom or +even a dust-pan did necessity require. Ruth in a ball gown, all +frills and ruffles and lace, was a sight to charm the eye of any +man, but Ruth in calico and white apron, her beautiful hair piled +on top of her still more beautiful head; her skirts pinned up and +her dear little feet pattering about, was a sight not only for men +but for gods as well. Jack loved her in this costume, and so would +you had you known her. I myself, old and wrinkled as I am, have +never forgotten how I rapped at the wrong door one morning--the +kitchen door--and found her in that same costume, with her arms +bare to the elbows and covered with flour, where she had been +making a "sally lunn" for daddy. Nor can I forget her ringing +laugh as she saw the look of astonishment on my face, or my +delight when she ordered me inside and made me open the oven door +so that she could slide in the finished product without burning +her fingers. + +The packing up of their own household impedimenta complete, there +came a few days of leisure--the first breathing spell that either +MacFarlane or Jack, or Ruth, too, for that matter, had had for +weeks. MacFarlane, in view of the coming winter--a long and +arduous one, took advantage of the interim and went south, to his +club, for a few days' shooting--a rare luxury for him of late +years. Jack made up his mind to devote every one of his spare +hours to getting better acquainted with Ruth, and that young +woman, not wishing to be considered either neglectful or selfish, +determined to sacrifice every hour of the day and as much of the +night as was proper and possible to getting better acquainted with +Jack; and the two had a royal time in the doing. + +Jack, too, had another feeling about it all. It seemed to him that +he had a debt of gratitude--the rasping word had long since lost +its edge--to discharge; and that he owed her every leisure hour he +could steal from his work. He had spent days and nights in the +service of his friends, and had, besides, laid the burden of their +anxieties upon her. He would pay her in return twice as many days +of gladness to make up for the pain she had so cheerfully borne. +What could he do to thank her?--how discharge the obligation? +Every hour he would tell her, and in different ways--by his +tenderness, by his obedience to her slightest wish, anticipating +her every want--how much he appreciated her unselfishness, and how +much better, if that were possible, he loved her for her +sacrifice. Nor was there, when the day came, any limit to his +devotion or to her enjoyment. There were rides over the hills in +the soft September mornings--Indian summer in its most dreamy and +summery state; there were theatre parties of two and no more; when +they sat in the third row in the balcony, where it was cheaper, +and where, too, they wouldn't have to speak to anybody else. There +were teas in Washington Square, where nobody but themselves and +their hostess were present, as well as other unexpected outings, +in which all the rest of the world was forgotten. + +The house, too, was all their own. Nobody upstairs; nobody +downstairs but the servants; even the emptiness of daddy's room, +so grewsome in the old days, brought a certain feeling of delight. +"Just you and me," as they said a dozen times a day to each other. +And then the long talks on that blessed old sofa with its +cushions--(what a wonderful old sofa it was, and how much it had +heard); talks about when she was a girl--as if she had ever passed +the age; and when he was a boy; and of what they both thought and +did in that blissful state of innocence and inexperience. Talks +about the bungalow they would build some day--that bungalow which +Garry had toppled over--and how it would be furnished; and whether +they could not persuade the landlord to sell them the dear sofa +and move it out there bodily; talks about their life during the +coming winter, and whether she should visit Aunt Felicia's--and if +so, whether Jack would come too; and if she didn't, wouldn't it be +just as well for Jack to have some place in Morfordsburg where he +could find a bed in case he got storm-bound and couldn't get back +to the cabin that same night. All kinds and conditions and sorts +of talks that only two lovers enjoy, and for which only two lovers +can find the material. + +Sometimes she thought he might be too lonely and neglected at the +log-cabin. Then she would make believe she was going to ask daddy +to let them be married right away, insisting that two rooms were +enough for them, and that she herself would do the washing and +ironing and the cooking, at which Jack would laugh over the joy of +it all, conjuring up in his mind the pattern of apron she would +wear and how pretty her bare arms would be bending over the tub, +knowing all the time that he would no more have allowed her to do +any one of these things than he would have permitted her to chop +the winter's wood. + +Most of these day dreams, plots, and imaginings were duly reported +by letter to Miss Felicia to see what she thought of them all. For +the dear lady's opposition had long since broken down. In these +letters Ruth poured out her heart as she did to no one except +Jack; each missive interspersed with asides as to how dear Jack +was, and how considerate, and how it would not be a very long time +before she would soon get the other half of the dear lady's laces, +now that daddy and Jack (the boy had been given an interest in the +business) were going to make lots of money on the new work--to +all of which Miss Felicia replied that love in a garret was what +might be expected of fools, but that love in a log-cabin could +only be practised by lunatics. + +It was toward the close of this pre-honey-moon--it lasted only ten +days, but it was full moon every hour and no clouds--when, early +one morning--before nine o'clock, really--a night message was +handed to Jack. It had been sent to the brick office, but the +telegraph boy, finding that building closed and abandoned, had +delivered it to Mrs. Hicks, who, discovering it to be sealed, +forwarded it at once, and by the same hand, to the MacFarlane +house, known now to everybody as the temporary headquarters, +especially in the day time, of the young superintendent who was +going to marry the daughter--"and there ain't a nicer, nor a +better, nor a prettier." + +On this morning, then, the two had planned a day in the woods back +of the hills; Ruth's mare was to be hooked up to a hired buggy, +and such comforts as a bucket of ice, lettuce sandwiches thin as +wafers, a cold chicken, a spirit lamp, teapot, and cups and +saucers, not to mention a big shawl for my sweetheart to sit on, +and another smaller one for her lovely shoulders when the cool of +the evening came on, were to be stowed away under the seat. + +"That telegram is from Aunt Felicia, I know," said Ruth. "She has +set her heart on my coming up to Geneseo, but I cannot go, Jack. I +don't want to be a minute away from you." + +Jack had now broken the seal and was scanning the contents. +Instantly his face grew grave. + +"No--it's not from Aunt Felicia," he said in a thoughtful tone, +his eyes studying the despatch. "I don't know whom it's from; it +is signed T. Ballantree; I never heard of him before. He wants me +to meet him at the Astor House to-day at eleven o'clock. Some +business of your father's, I expect--see, it's dated Morfordsburg. +Too bad, isn't it, blessed--but I must go. Here, boy"--this to the +messenger, who was moving out of the door--"stop at the livery +stable as you go by and tell them I won't want the horse and +wagon, that I'm going to New York. All in a life-time, my +blessed--but I'm dreadfully sorry." + +"And you MUST go? Isn't it mean, Jack--and it's such a lovely +day." + +"Yes--but it can't be helped. What are you going to do with the +sandwiches and chicken and things? And you had so much trouble +making them. And you will be lonely, too." + +"Why, I shall keep them till you come back, and we'll have a +lovely feast at home," she said with a light laugh in her effort +to hide her feelings. "Oh, no, I shan't be lonely. You won't be +gone long, Jack, will you, dear?" + +"I hope not." His mind must no longer rest on the outing. There +was work to do for Ruth as well as himself. His play time had come +to a sudden end; the bell had rung and recess was over. He looked +at his watch; there was just time to catch the train. + +She followed him to the door and kissed her hand as he swung down +the path and through the gate, and watched him until he had +disappeared behind the long wall of the factory; then she went in, +put away the sandwiches and chicken, and the teapot and the cups +and saucers, and emptied the ice. + +Yes, the day was spoiled, she said to herself--part of it anyway; +but the night would come, and with it Jack would burst in with +news of all he had seen and done, and they would each have an end +of the table; their last dinner in the old home, where everything +on which her eyes rested revived some memory of their happiness. +But then there would be other outings at Morfordsburg, and so what +mattered one day when there were so many left? And with this +thought her tears dried up and she began to sing again as she +busied herself about the house--bursting into a refrain from one +of the operas she loved, or crooning some of the old-time +melodies which her black mammy had taught her when a child. + +But now for Jack and what the day held for him of wonders and +surprises. + +Some pessimistic wiseacre has said that all the dire and dreadful +things in life drop out of a clear sky; that it is the unexpected +which is to be feared, and that the unknown bridges are the ones +in which dangers lurk and where calamity is to be feared. + +The optimistic Scribe bites his derisive thumb at such ominous +prophecies. Once in a while some rain does fall, and now and then +a roar of thunder, or sharp slash of sleet will split the air +during our journey through life, but the blue is always above, and +the clouds but drilting ships that pass and are gone. In and +through them all the warm, cheery sun fights on for joyous light +and happy endings, and almost always wins. + +This time the unexpected took shape in the person of T. +Ballantree, from Morfordsburg--a plain, direct, straight-to-the- +point kind of a man, whom Jack found in the corridor of the Astor +House with his eyes on the clock. + +"You are very prompt, Mr. Breen," he said in clear-cut tones, "so +am I. What I wanted to see you about is just this: You own some +ore property three miles east of the Maryland Mining Company's +lay-out. Am I right?" + +"Yes, you are right," answered Jack with a comprehensive glance +which began at the speaker's black derby hat, traversed his suit +of store clothes, and ended in a pair of boots which still showed +some traces of yellow clay, as if their wearer had been +prospecting the day before. + +"Are there any encumbrances on the property--any mortgages or +liens not yet recorded? I don't mean taxes; I find they have been +paid," continued Ballantree. + +Jack shifted his seat so he could get a better view of the +speaker's face, and said in answer: + +"Why do you ask?" + +"Because," said the man with entire frankness, "we understand that +the Maryland Mining Company have an option on it. If that is so, +I'll stop where I am. We don't care to buck up against Breen & +Co." + +"No," answered Jack, now convinced of the man's sincerity; "no-- +it's free and clear except for a loan of ten thousand dollars held +by a friend, which can be paid off at any time." + +Ballantree ducked his head in token of his satisfaction over the +statement and asked another question--this time with his eyes +straight on Jack. + +"Is it for sale--now--for money?" + +It was Jack's turn to focus his gaze. This was the first time any +one had asked that question in the memory of the oldest +inhabitant. + +"Well, that depends on what it is wanted for, Mr. Ballantree," +laughed Jack. He had already begun to like the man. "And perhaps, +too, on who wants it. Is it for speculation?" + +Ballantree laughed in return. "No--not a square foot of it. I am +the general manager of the Guthrie Steel Company with head- +quarters here in New York. We have been looking for mineral up in +that section of the State, and struck yours. I might as well tell +you that I made the borings myself." + +"Are you an expert?" asked Jack. The way people searched his +title, examined his tax receipts and rammed hypodermics into his +property without permission was, to say the least, amusing. + +"Been at it thirty years," replied Ballantree in a tone that +settled all doubt on the subject. + +"It is a low-grade ore, you know," explained Jack, feeling bound +to express his own doubts of its value. + +"No, it's a high-grade ore," returned Ballantree with some +positiveness; "that is, it was when we got down into it. But I'm +not here to talk about percentage--that may come in later. I came +to save Mr. Guthrie's time. I was to bring you down to see him if +you were the man and everything was clean, and if you'll go--and +I wouldn't advise you to stay away--I'll meet you at his office at +twelve o'clock sharp; there's his card. It isn't more than four +blocks from here." + +Jack took the card, looked on both sides of it, tucked it in his +inside pocket, and said he would come, with pleasure. Ballantree +nodded contentedly, pulled a cigar from his upper breast pocket, +bit off one end, slid a match along his trousers until it burst +into flame, held it to the unbitten end until it was a-light, blew +out the blaze, adjusted his derby and with another nod to Jack-- +and the magic words--"Twelve sharp"--passed out into Broadway. + +Ten minutes later--perhaps five, for Jack arrived on the run--Jack +bounded into Peter's bank, and slipping ahead of the line of +depositors, thrust his overheated face into the opening. There he +gasped out a bit of information that came near cracking the +ostrich egg in two, so wide was the smile that overspread Peter's +face. + +"What--really! You don't say so! Telegraphed you? Who?" + +"A Mr. Ballantree," panted Jack. "I have just left him at the +Astor House." + +"I never heard of him. Look out, my boy--don't sign anything until +you--" + +"Oh, he is only the general manager. It's a Mr. Guthrie--Robert A. +Guthrie--who wants it. He sent Mr. Ballantree." + +"Robert Guthrie! The banker! That's our director; that's the man I +told you of. I gave him your address. Go and see him by all means +and tell him everything. Talk just as you would to me. One of the +best men in the Street. Not a crooked hair on his head, Jack. +Well--well--this does look like business." + +"Pardon me, sir, one minute, if you please--" interpolated Peter +to an insistent depositor whom Jack in his impatience had crowded +out. "Now your book--thank you--And Jack"--this over the hat of +the depositor, his face a marvel of delight--"come to my rooms at +four--wait for me--I'll be there." + +Out again and around the block; anything to kill time until the +precious hour should arrive. Lord!--how the minutes dragged. The +hands of the old clock of Trinity spire must be stuck together. +Any other day it would take him at least half an hour to walk up +Wall Street, down Broadway to the Battery and back again--now ten +minutes was enough. Would the minute hand never climb up the face +to the hour hand and the two get together at twelve, and so end +his impatience. He wished now he had telegraphed to Ruth not to +expect him until the late afternoon train. He thought he would do +it now. Then he changed his mind. No; it would be better to await +the result of his interview. Yet still the clock dragged on, and +still he waited for the magic hour. Ten minutes to twelve--five-- +then twelve precisely--but by this time he was closeted inside Mr. +Guthrie's private office. + +Peter also found the hours dragging. What could it all mean? he +kept asking himself as he handed back the books through his +window, his eyes wandering up to the old-fashioned clock. Robert +Guthrie the banker--a REAL banker--had sent for the boy--Guthrie, +who never made a too hurried move. Could it be possible that good +fortune was coming to Jack?--that he and Ruth--that--Ah! old +fellow, you nearly made a mistake with the amount of that check! +No--there was no use in supposing. He would just wait for Jack's +story. + +When he reached home he was still in the same overwrought, anxious +state--hoping against hope. When would the boy come? he asked +himself a hundred times as he fussed about his room, nipping off +the dead leaves from his geraniums, drawing the red curtains back; +opening and shutting the books, only to throw himself into his +chair at last. Should he smoke until four?--should he read? What a +fool he was making of himself! It was astonishing that one of his +age should be so excited over a mere business proposition--really +not a proposition at all, when he came to think of it--just an +ordinary question asked. He must compose himself. It was quite +absurd for him to go on this way. But would the boy NEVER come? It +was four o'clock now--or would be in ten minutes, and--and-- + +Yes! + +He sprang toward the door and caught the young fellow in his arms. + +"Oh! such good news! Mr. Guthrie's bought the property!" roared +Jack. + +He had made one long spring from the sidewalk up three flights of +steps to the old-fashioned door, but he still had breath to gasp +the glad tidings. + +"Bought!--Who?--Not Guthrie!" + +"Yes--I am to sign the papers to-morrow. Oh!--Uncle Peter, I am +half crazy with delight!" + +"Hurrah," shouted Peter. "HURRAH, I say! This IS good news! Well! +--Well!" He was still bending over him, his eyes blinking in his +joy, scurries of irradiating smiles chasing each other over his +face. Never had the old gentleman been in such a state. + +"And how much, Jack?" + +"Guess." + +"Will there be enough to pay Isaac's ten thousand?" + +"More!" Jack was nearly bursting, but he still held in. + +"Twenty thousand?" This came timidly, fearing that it was too +much, and yet hoping that it might be true. + +"More!" The strain on Jack was getting dangerous. + +"Twenty-five thousand?" Peter's voice now showed that he was +convinced that this sum was too small. + +"More! Go on, Uncle Peter! Go on!" + +"Thirty-five thousand, Jack?" It was getting hot; certainly this +was the limit. Was there ever such luck? + +"Yes!--and five thousand more! Forty thousand dollars and one- +fifth interest in the output! Just think what Ruth will say. I've +just sent her a telegram. Oh!--what a home-coming!" + +And then, with Peter drawn up beside him, his face radiant and his +eyes sparkling with joy, he poured out the story of the morning. +How he had begun by telling Mr. Guthrie of his own and Mr. +MacFarlane's opinion of the property, as he did not want to sell +anything he himself considered worthless. How he had told him +frankly what Peter had said of his--Mr. Guthrie's--fairness and +honesty; how he was at work for his prospective father-in-law, the +distinguished engineer of whom Mr. Guthrie had no doubt heard--at +which the gentleman nodded. How this property had been given him +by his father, and was all he had in the world except what he +could earn; how he already owed ten thousand dollars and had +pledged the property as part payment, and how, in view of these +facts, he would take any sum over ten thousand dollars that Mr. +Guthrie would give him, provided Mr. Guthrie thought it was worth +that much. + +"But I am buying, not selling, your land, young man," the banker +had said. "I know it, sir, and I am willing to take your own +figures," Jack replied--at which Mr. Guthrie had laughed in a +kindly way, and had then called in Mr. Ballantree and another man +how the three had then talked in a corner, and how he had heard +Mr. Guthrie say, "No, that is not fair--add another five thousand +and increase the interest to one-fifth"; whereupon the two men +went out and came back later with a letter in duplicate, one of +which Mr. Guthrie had signed, and the other which he, Jack, +signed--and here was Mr., Guthrie's letter to prove it. With this +Jack took out the document and laid it before Peter's delighted +eyes; adding that the deeds and Isaac's release were to be signed +in the morning, and that Mr. Guthrie had sent a special message by +him to the effect that he very much wished Mr. Grayson would also +be present when the final transfers would be signed and the money +paid. + +Whereupon the Scribe again maintains--and he is rubbing his hands +with the joy of it all as he does it--that there was more +sunshine than clouds in this particular Unexpected, and that if +all the boys in the world were as frank and sincere as young Jack +Breen, and all the grown-ups as honest as old Robert Guthrie, the +REAL banker, the jails would be empty and the millennium knocking +at our doors. + +Peter had drunk in every word of the story, bowing his head, +fanning out his fingers, or interrupting with his customary "Well, +well!" whenever some particular detail seemed to tend toward the +final success. + +And then, the story over, there came the part that Peter never +forgot; that he has told me a dozen times, and always with the +same trembling tear under the eyelids, and the same quivering of +his lower lip. + +Jack had drawn his chair nearer the old gentleman, and had thrown +one arm over the shoulder of his dearest friend in the world. +There was a moment's silence as they sat there, and then Jack +began. "There is something I want you to do for me, Uncle Peter," +he said, drawing his arm closer till his own fresh cheek almost +touched the head of the older man. "Please, don't refuse." + +"Refuse, my dear boy! I am too happy to-day to refuse anything. +Come, out with it." + +"I am going to give you half of this money. I love you better than +any one in this world except Ruth, and I want you to have it." + +Peter threw up his hands and sprang to his feet. + +"What!--You want to--Why, Jack! Are you crazy! Me! My dear boy, +it's very lovely of you to wish to do it, but just think. Oh, you +dear Jack! No!--no, no!" He was beating the air now deprecatingly +with his outspread fingers as he strode around the room, laughing +short laughs in his effort to keep back the tears. + +Jack followed him in his circuit, talking all the while, until he +had penned the old gentleman in a corner between the open desk and +the window. + +"But, Uncle Peter--think what you have done for me! Do you suppose +for one moment that I don't know that it was you and not I who +sold the property? Do you think Mr. Guthrie would have added that +five thousand dollars to the price if he hadn't wanted to help you +as well as me?" + +"Five thousand dollars, my dear Jack, is no more to Robert Guthrie +than a ferry ticket is to you or me. He gave you the full price +because you trusted to his honesty and told him the truth, and he +saw your inexperience." + +"No--it was YOU he was thinking of, I tell you," protested Jack, +with eager emphasis. "He would never have sent Ballantree for me +had you not talked to him--and it has been so with everything +since I knew you. You have been father, friend, everybody to me. +You gave me Ruth and my work. Everything I am I owe to you. You +must--you SHALL have half of this money! Ruth and I can be +married, and that is all we want, and what is left I can put into +our new work to help Mr. MacFarlane. Please, Uncle Peter!--we will +both be so much happier if we know you share it with us." Here his +voice rose and a strain of determination rang through it. "And, by +George!--Uncle Peter, the more I think of it, the more I am +convinced that it is fair. It's yours--not mine. I WILL have it +that way--you are getting old, and you need it." + +Peter broke into a laugh. It was the only way he could keep down +the tears. + +"What a dear boy you are, Jack," he said, backing toward the sofa +and regaining his seat. "You've got a heart as big as a house, and +I'm proud of you, but no--not a penny of your money. Think a +moment! Your father didn't leave the property to me--not any part +of it--he left it to you, you spendthrift! When I get too old to +work I am going up to Felicia's and pick out an easy-chair and sit +in a corner and dry up gradually and be laid away in lavender. No, +my lad, not a penny! Gift money should go to cripples and +hypochondriacs, not to spry old gentlemen. I would not take it +from my own father's estate when I was your age, and I certainly +won't take it now from you. I made Felicia take it all." Jack +opened his eyes. He had often wondered why Peter had so little and +she so much. "Oh, yes, nearly forty years ago! But I have never +regretted it since! And you must see how just it was, for there +wasn't enough for two, and Felicia was a woman. No--be very +careful of gift money, my boy, and be very careful, also, of too +much of anybody's money--even your own. What makes me most glad in +this whole affair is that Guthrie didn't give you a million--that +might have spoilt you. This is just enough. You and Ruth can start +square. You can help Henry--and you ought to, he has been mighty +good to you. And, best of all, you can keep at work. Yes--that's +the best part of it--that you can keep at work. Go right on as you +are; work every single day of your life, and earn your bread as +you have done ever since you left New York, and, one thing more, +and don't you ever forget it: Be sure you take your proper share +of fun and rest as you go. Eight hours' work, eight hours' play, +eight hours' sleep--that's the golden rule and the only one to +live by. Money will never get its grip on you if you keep this up. +This fortune hasn't yet tightened its fingers around your throat, +or you would never have come up here to give me half of it--and +never let it! Money is your servant, my boy, not your master. And +now go home and kiss Ruth for me, and tell her that I love her +dearly. Wait a moment. I will go with you as far as Isaac's. I am +going to tell him the good news. Then I'll have him measure me for +a coat to dance at your wedding." + +And the Unexpecteds are not yet over. There was still another, of +quite a different character, about to fall--and out of another +clear sky, too--a sort of April-shower sky, where you get wet on +one side of the street and keep dry on the other. Jack had the dry +side this time, and went on his way rejoicing, but the head of the +house of Breen caught the downpour, and a very wet downpour it +was. + +It all occurred when Jack was hurrying to the ferry and when he +ran into the senior member of the firm, who was hurrying in the +opposite direction. + +"Ah, Jack!--the very man I wanted to see," cried Breen. "I was +going to write you. There's something doing up in that ore +country. Better drop in to-morrow, I may be able to handle it for +you, after all." + +"I am sorry, sir, but it's not for sale," said Jack, trying to +smother his glee. + +"Why?" demanded Breen bluntly. + +"I have sold it to Mr. Robert Guthrie." + +"Guthrie! The devil you say!--When?" + +"To-day. The final papers are signed to-morrow. Excuse me, I must +catch my boat--" and away he went, his cup now brimming over, +leaving Breen biting his lips and muttering to himself as he gazed +after him. + +"Guthrie!--My customer! Damn that boy--I might have known he would +land on his feet." + +But Jack kept on home to his sweetheart, most of the way in the +air. + +Down in the little room all this time in the rear of the tailor's +shop the two old men sat talking. Peter kept nothing back; his +lips quivering again and another unbidden tear peeping over the +edge of his eyelid when he told of Jack's offer. + +"A dear boy, Isaac--yes, a dear boy. He never thinks with his +head--only with his heart. Never has since I knew him. Impulsive, +emotional, unpractical, no doubt--and yet somehow he always wins. +Queer--very queer! He comes upstairs to me and I start out on a +fool's errand. He goes down to you, and you hand him out your +money. He gives it all away the next day, and then we have Guthrie +doubling the price. Queer, I tell you, Isaac--extraordinary, +that's what it is--almost uncanny." + +The Jew threw away his cigar, rested his short elbows on the arms +of his chair, and made a basket of his hands, the tips of all his +fingers touching. + +"No, you are wrong, my good friend. It is not extraordinary and it +is not uncanny. It is very simple--exceedingly simple. Nobody +runs over a child if he can help it. Even a thief will bring you +back your pocket-book if you trust him to take care of it. It is +the trusting that does it. Few men, no matter how crooked, can +resist the temptation of reaching, if only for a moment, an honest +man's level." + + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + + + + +Peter's coat was finished in time for the wedding--trust Isaac +for that--and so was his double-breasted white waistcoat--he had +not changed the cut in twenty years; and so were his pepper-and- +salt trousers and all his several appointments, little and big, +even to his polka-dot scarf of blue silk, patent-leather shoes and +white gaiters. Quite the best-dressed man in the room, everybody +said, and they of all the people in the world should have known. + +And the wedding! + +And all that went before it, and all that took place on that +joyous day; and all that came after that happiest of events! + +Ruth and Jack, with Peter's covert endorsement, had wanted to slip +into the village church some afternoon at dusk, with daddy and +Peter and Miss Felicia, and one or two more, and then to slip out +again and disappear. MacFarlane had been in favor of the old +Maryland home, with Ruth's grandmother in charge, and the +neighbors driving up in mud-encrusted buggies and lumbering +coaches, their inmates warmed by roaring fires and roaring +welcomes--fat turkeys, hot waffles, egg-nogg, apple-toddy, and the +rest of it. The head of the house of Breen expressed the opinion +(this on the day Jack gave his check for the bonds prior to +returning them to Isaac, who wouldn't take a cent of interest) +that the ceremony should by all means take place in Grace Church, +after which everybody would adjourn to his house on the Avenue, +where the wedding-breakfast would be served, he being nearest of +kin to the groom, and the bride being temporarily without a home +of her own--a proposition which, it is needless to say, Jack +declined on the spot, but in terms so courteous and with so grand +and distinguished an air that the head of the house of Breen found +his wonder increasing at the change that had come over the boy +since he shook the dust of the Breen home and office from his +feet. + +The Grande Dame of Geneseo did not agree with any of these +makeshifts. There would be no Corklesville wedding if she could +help it, with gaping loungers at the church door; nor would there +be any Maryland wedding with a ten-mile ride over rough roads to a +draughty country-house, where your back would freeze while your +cheeks burned up; nor yet again any city wedding, with an awning +over the sidewalk, a red carpet and squad of police, with Tom, +Dick, and Harry inside the church, and Harry, Dick and Tom +squeezed into an oak-panelled dining-room at high noon with every +gas-jet blazing. + +And she did not waste many seconds coming to this conclusion. Off +went a telegram, after hearing the various propositions, followed +by a letter, that might have melted the wires and set fire to the +mail-sack, so fervid were the contents. + +"Nonsense! My dear Ruth, you will be married in my house and the +breakfast will be in the garden. If Peter and your father haven't +got any common sense, that's no reason why you and Jack should +lose your wits." + +This, of course, ended the matter. No one living or dead had ever +been found with nerve enough to withstand Felicia Grayson when she +had once made up her mind. + +And then, again, there was no time to lose in unnecessary +discussions. Were not Ruth and her father picnicking in a hired +villa, with half their household goods in a box-car at +Morfordsburg?--and was not Jack still living in his two rooms at +Mrs. Hicks's? The only change suggested by the lovers was in the +date of the wedding, Miss Felicia having insisted that it should +not take place until November, "FOUR WHOLE WEEKS AWAY." But the +old lady would not budge. Four weeks at least, she insisted, would +be required for the purchase and making of the wedding clothes, +which, with four more for the honeymoon (at this both Jack and +Ruth shouted with laughter, they having determined on a honeymoon +the like of which had never been seen since Adam and Eve went to +housekeeping in the Garden). These eight weeks, continued the +practical old lady, would be required to provide a suitable home +for them both; now an absolute necessity, seeing that Mr. Guthrie +had made extensive contracts with MacFarlane, which, with Jack's +one-fifth interest in the ore banks was sure to keep Jack and +MacFarlane at Morfordsburg for some years to come. + +So whizz went another telegram--this time from Jack--there was no +time for letters these days--stopping all work on the nearly +completed log cabin which the poor young superintendent had +ordered, and which was all he could afford, before the sale of the +ore lands. But then THAT seemed ages and ages ago. + +"Don't tell me what I want, sir," roared Mr. Golightly at the +waiter, in "Lend Me Five Shillings," when he brought a crust of +bread and cheese and a pickle with which to entertain Mrs. Phobbs; +Golightly in the meantime having discovered a purse full of +sovereigns in the coat the waiter had handed him by mistake. +"Don't tell me what I said, sir. I know what I said, sir! I said +champagne, sir, and plenty of it, sir!--turkeys, and plenty of +them! Burgundy--partridges--lobsters--pineapple punch--pickled +salmon--everything! Look sharp, Be off!" (Can't you hear dear Joe +Jefferson's voice, gentle reader, through it all?) + +And now listen to our proud Jack, with the clink of his own gold +in his own pocket. + +"What did you say? A six by nine log hut, with a sheet-iron stove +in one corner and a cast-iron bedstead in another, and a board +closet, and a table and two chairs--and this, too, for a princess +of quality and station? Zounds, sirrah!--" (Holker Morris was the +"Sirrah")--"I didn't order anything of the kind. I ordered a +bungalow all on one floor--that's what I ordered--with a boudoir +and two bedrooms, and an extra one for my honored father-in-law, +and still another for my thrice-honored uncle, Mr. Peter Grayson, +when he shall come to stay o' nights; and porches front and back +where my lady's hammock may be slung: and a fireplace big enough +to roll logs into as thick around as your body and wide enough to +warm every one all over; and a stable for my lady's mare, with a +stall for my saddle-horse. Out upon you, you Dago!" + +Presto, what a change! Away went the completed roof of the modest +cabin and down tumbled the sides. More post-holes were dug; more +trenches excavated; more great oaks toppled over to be sliced into +rafters, joists and uprights; more shingles--two carloads; more +brick; more plaster; more everything, including nails, locks, +hinges, sash; bath-tubs--two; lead pipe, basins, kitchen range-- +and so the new bungalow was begun. + +Neither was there any time to be lost over the invitations. Miss +Felicia, we may be sure, prepared the list. It never bothered her +head whether the trip to Geneseo--and that, too, in the fall of +the year, when early snows were to be expected--might prevent any +of the invited guests from witnessing the glad ceremony. Those who +loved Ruth she knew would come even if they had to be accompanied +by St. Bernard dogs with kegs of brandy tied to their necks to get +them across the glaciers, including Uncle Peter, of course; as +would also Ruth's dear grandmother, who was just Miss Felicia's +age, and MacFarlane's saintly sister Kate, who had never taken off +her widow's weeds since the war, and two of her girl friends, with +whom Ruth went to school, and who were to be her bridesmaids. + +Then there were those who might or might not struggle through the +drifts, if there happened to be any--the head of the house of +Breen, for instance, and Mrs. B., and lots and lots of people of +whom Jack had never heard, aunts and uncles and cousins by the +dozens; and lots and lots of people of whom Ruth had never heard, +of the same blood relationship; and lots more of people from +Washington Square and Murray Hill, who loved the young people, and +Peter, and his outspoken sister, all of whom must be invited to +the ceremony; including the Rector and his wife from Corklesville, +and--(no--that was all from Corklesville) together with such +selected inhabitants of Geneseo as dame Felicia permitted inside +of her doors. As for the several ambassadors, generals, judges, +dignitaries, attaches, secretaries, and other high and mighty +folks forming the circle of Miss Felicia's acquaintance, both here +and abroad, they were only to receive "announcement" cards, just +as a reminder that Miss Grayson of Geneseo was still in and of the +world. + +The hardest nut of all to crack was given to Jack. They had all +talked it over, the dear girl saying "of course he shall come, +Jack, if you would like to have him." Jack adding that he should +"never forget his generosity," and MacFarlane closing the +discussion by saying: + +"Go slow, Jack. I'd say yes in a minute. I am past all those +foolish prejudices, but it isn't your house, remember. Better ask +Peter--he'll tell you." + +Peter pursed his mouth when Jack laid the matter before him in +Peter's room the next day, tipped his head so far on one side that +it looked as if it might roll off any minute and go smash, and +with an arching of his eyebrows said: + +"Well, but why NOT invite Isaac? Has anybody ever been as good to +you?" + +"Never any one, Uncle Peter--and I think as you do, and so does +Ruth and Mr. MacFarlane, but--" The boy hesitated and looked away. + +"But what?" queried Peter. + +"Well--there's Aunt Felicia. You know how particular she is; and +she doesn't know how splendid Mr. Cohen has been, and if he came +to the wedding she might not like it." + +"But Felicia is not going to be married, my boy," remarked Peter, +with a dry smile wrinkling the corners of his eyes. + +Jack laughed. "Yes--but it's her house." + +"Yes--and your wedding. Now go down and ask Mr. Cohen yourself. +You'll send him a card, of course, but do more than that. Call on +him personally and tell you want him to come, and why--and that I +want him, too. That will please him still more. The poor fellow +lives a great deal alone. Whether he will come or not, I don't +know--but ask him. You owe it to yourself as much as you do to +him." + +"And you don't think Aunt Felicia will--" + +"Hang Felicia! You do what you think is right; it does not matter +what Felicia or anybody else thinks." + +Jack wheeled about and strode downstairs and into the back room +where the little man sat at his desk looking over some papers. +Isaac's hand was out and he was on his feet before Jack had +reached his side. + +"Ah!--Mr. Millionaire. And so you have come to tell me some more +good news. Have you sold another mine? I should have looked out to +see whether your carriage did not stop at my door; and now sit +down and tell me what I can do for you. How well you look, and how +happy. Ah, it is very good to be young!" + +"What you can do for me is this, Mr. Cohen. I want you to come to +our wedding--will you? I have come myself to ask you," said Jack +in all sincerity. + +"So! And you have come yourself." He was greatly pleased; his face +showed it. "Well, that is very kind of you, but let me first +congratulate you. Yes--Mr. Grayson told me all about it, and how +lovely the young lady is. And now tell me, when is your wedding?" + +"Next month." + +"And where will it be?" + +"At Uncle Peter's old home up at Geneseo." + +"Oh, at that grand lady's place--the magnificent Miss Grayson." +"Yes, but it is only one night away. I will see that you are taken +care of." + +The little man paused and toyed with the papers on his desk. His +black, diamond-pointed eyes sparkled and an irrepressible smile +hung around his lips. + +"Thank you very much, Mr. Breen--and thank your young lady too. +You are very kind and you are very polite. Yes--I mean it--very +polite. And you are sincere in what you say; that is the best of +all. But I cannot go. It is not the travelling at night--that is +nothing. You and your lady would be glad to see me and that would +be worth it all, but the magnificent Miss Grayson, she would not +be glad to see me. You see, my dear young man"--here the smile got +loose and scampered up to his eyelids--"I am a most unfortunate +combination--oh, most unfortunate--for the magnificent Miss +Grayson. If I was only a tailor I might be forgiven; if I was just +a Jew I might be forgiven; but when I am both a tailor and a Jew-- +"here the irrepressible went to pieces in a merry laugh--"don't +you see how impossible it is? And you--you, Mr. Breen! She would +never forgive you. 'My friend, Mr. Cohen,' you would have to say, +and she could do nothing. She must answer that she is most glad to +see me--or she might NOT answer, which would be worse. And it is +not her fault. You can't break down the barriers of centuries in a +day. No--no--I will not compromise you in that way. Let me come to +see you some time when it is all over, when your good uncle can +come too. He will bring me; perhaps. And now give my best respects +to the lady--I forget her name, and say to her for me, that if she +is as thoughtful of other people as you are, you deserve to be a +very happy couple." + +Jack shook the little man's hand and went his way. He was sorry +and he was glad. He was also somewhat ashamed in his heart. It was +not altogether himself who had been thoughtful of other people. +But for Peter, perhaps, he might never have paid the visit. + +As the blissful day approached Geneseo was shaken to its centre, +the vibrations reaching to the extreme limits of the town. Not +only was Moggins who drove the village 'bus and tucked small +packages under the seat on the sly, overworked, but all the +regular and irregular express companies had to put on extra teams. +Big box, little box, band box, bundle, began to pour in, to say +nothing of precious packages that nobody but "Miss Grayson" could +sign for. And then such a litter of cut paper and such mounds of +pasteboard boxes poked under Miss Felicia's bed, so she could +defend them in the dead of night, and with her life if necessary, +each one containing presents, big and little; the very biggest +being a flamboyant service of silver from the head of the house of +Breen and his wife, and the smallest a velvet-bound prayer-book +from Aunt Kate with inter-remembrances from MacFarlane (all the +linen, glass, and china); from Peter (two old decanters with +silver coasters); from Miss Felicia (the rest of her laces, +besides innumerable fans and some bits of rare jewelry); besides +no end of things from the Holker Morrises and the Fosters and +dozens of others, who loved either Ruth or Jack, or somebody whom +each one or both of them loved, or perhaps their fathers and +mothers before them. The Scribe has forgotten the list and the +donors, and really it is of no value, except as confirmation of +the fact that they are still in the possession of the couple, and +that none of them was ever exchanged for something else nor will +be until the end of time. + +One curious-looking box, however, smelling of sandalwood and dried +cinnamon, and which arrived the day the ceremony took place, is +worthy of recall, because of the universal interest which it +excited. It was marked "Fragile" on the outside, and was packed +with extraordinary care. Miss Felicia superintended the unrolling +and led the chorus of "Oh, how lovely!" herself, when an Imari +jar, with carved teakwood stand, was brought to light. So +exquisite was it in glaze, form, and color that for a moment no +one thought of the donor. Then their curiosity got the better of +them and they began to search through the wrappings for the card. +It wasn't in the box; it wasn't hidden in the final bag; it +wasn't--here a bright thought now flashed through the dear lady's +brain--down went her shapely hand into the depths of the tall jar, +and up came an envelope bearing Ruth's name and enclosing a card +which made the grande dame catch her breath. + +"Mr. Isaac Cohen! What--the little tailor!" she gasped out. "The +Jew! Well, upon my word--did you ever hear of such impudence!" + +Isaac would have laughed the harder could he have seen her face. + +Jack caught up the vase and ran with it to Ruth, who burst out +with another: "Oh, what a beauty!" followed by "Who sent it?" + +"A gentleman journeyman tailor, my darling," said Jack, with a +flash of his eye at Peter, his face wreathed in smiles. + +And with the great day--a soft November day--summer had lingered +on a-purpose--came the guests: the head of the house of Breen and +his wife--not poor Corinne, of course, who poured out her heart in +a letter instead, which she entrusted to her mother to deliver; +and Holker Morris and Mrs. Morris, and the Fosters and the +Granthams and Wildermings and their wives and daughters and sons, +and one stray general, who stopped over on his way to the West, +and who said when he entered, looking so very grand and important, +that he didn't care whether he had been invited to the ceremony or +not, at which Miss Felicia was delighted, he being a major-general +on the retired list, and not a poor tailor who--no, we won't refer +to that again; besides a very, VERY select portion of the dear +lady's townspeople--the house being small, as she explained, and +Miss MacFarlane's intimates and acquaintances being both +importunate and numerous. + +And with the gladsome hour came the bride. + +None of us will ever forget her. Not only was she a vision of rare +loveliness, but there was in her every glance and movement that +stateliness and grace that poise and sureness of herself that +marks the high-born woman the world over when she finds herself +the cynosure of all eyes. + +All who saw her descend Miss Felicia's stairs held their breath in +adoration: Not a flight of steps at all. but a Jacob's ladder down +which floated a company of angels in pink and ivory--one all in +white, her lovely head crowned by a film of old lace in which +nestled a single rose. + +On she came--slowly--proudly--her slippered feet touching the +carpeted steps as daintily as treads a fawn; her gown crinkling +into folds of silver about her knees, one fair hand lost in a mist +of gauze, the other holding the blossoms which Jack had pressed to +his lips--until she reached her father's side. + +"Dear daddy," I heard her whisper as she patted his sleeve with +her fingers. + +Ah! but it was a proud day for MacFarlane. I saw his bronzed and +weather-beaten face flush when he caught sight of her in all her +gracious beauty; but it was when she reached his side and laid her +hand on his arm, as he told me afterward, that the choke came. She +was so like her mother. + +The two swept past me into the old-fashioned parlor, now a bower +of roses, where Jack and Peter and Felicia, with the elect, waited +their coming, and I followed, halting at the doorway. From this +point of vantage I peered in as best I could over and between the +heads of the more fortunate, but I heard all that went on; the +precise, sonorous voice of the bishop--(catch Miss Felicia having +anybody but a bishop); the clear responses--especially Jack's--as +if he had been waiting all his life to say those very words and +insisted on being heard; the soft crush of satin as Ruth knelt; +the rustle of her gown when she regained her feet; the measured +words: "Whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder"-- +and then the outbreak of joyous congratulations. As I looked in +upon them all--old fellow as I am--listening to their joyous +laughter; noting the wonderful toilettes, the festoons and masses +of flowers; watching Miss Felicia as she moved about the room (and +never had I seen her more the "Grande Dame" than she was that +day), welcoming her guests with a graciousness that must have +opened some of their eyes--even fat, red-faced Arthur Breen, +perspiring in pearl-colored gloves and a morning frock coat that +fitted all sides of him except the front, and Mrs. Arthur in moire +antique and diamonds, were enchanted; noting, too, Peter's +perfectly appointed dress and courtly manners, he taking the whole +responsibility of the occasion on his own shoulders--head of the +house, really, for the time; receiving people at the door; bowing +them out again; carrying glasses of punch--stopping to hobnob +with this or that old neighbor: "Ah, my dear Mrs. Townehalle, how +young and well you look; and you tell me this is your daughter. I +knew your mother, my dear, when she was your age, and she was the +very prettiest girl in the county. And now let me present you to a +most charming woman, Mrs. Foster, of New York, who--" etc., etc. +Or greeting some old gray-head with: "Well, well--of coarse it is +--why, Judge, I haven't seen you since you left the bench which you +graced so admirably," etc, etc.; watching, too, Ruth and Jack as +they stood beneath a bower of arching roses--(Miss Felicia had put +it together with her own hands)--receiving the congratulations and +good wishes of those they knew and those they did not know; both +trying to remember the names of strangers; both laughing over +their mistakes, and both famished for just one kiss behind some +door or curtain where nobody could see. As I looked on, I say, +noting all these and a dozen other things, it was good to feel +that there was yet another spot in this world of care where +unbridled happiness held full sway and joy and gladness were +contagious. + +But it was in the tropical garden, with its frog pond, climbing +roses in full bloom, water-lilies, honeysuckle, and other warm- +weather shrubs and plants (not a single thing was a-bloom outside, +even the chrysanthemums had been frost-bitten), that the greatest +fun took place. That was a sight worth ten nights on the train to +see. + +Here the wedding breakfast was spread, the bride's table being +placed outside that same arbor where Jack once tried so hard to +tell Ruth he loved her (how often have they laughed over it +since); a table with covers for seven, counting the two +bridesmaids and the two gallants in puffy steel-gray scarfs and +smooth steel-gray gloves. The other guests--the relations and +intimate friends who had been invited to remain after the +ceremony--were to find seats either at the big or little tables +placed under the palms or beneath the trellises of jasmine, or +upon the old porch overlooking the tropical garden. + +It was Jack's voice that finally caught my attention. I could not +see clearly on account of the leaves and tangled vines, but I +could hear. + +"But we want you, and you must." + +"Oh, please, do," pleaded Ruth; there was no mistaking the music +of her tones, or the southern accent that softened them. + +"But what nonsense--an old duffer like me!" This was Peter's +voice--no question about it. + +"We won't any of us sit down if you don't," Jack was speaking now. + +"And it will spoil everything," cried Ruth. "Jack and I planned it +long ago; and we have brought you out a special chair; and see +your card--see what it says: 'Dear Uncle Peter--'" + +"Sit down with you young people at your wedding breakfast!" cried +Peter, "and--" He didn't get any farther. Ruth had stopped what +was to follow with a kiss. I know, for I craned my neck and caught +the flash of the old fellow's bald head with the fair girl's cheek +close to his own. + +"Well, then--just as you want it--but there's the Major and +Felicia and your father." + +But they did not want any of these people, Ruth cried with a +ringing laugh; didn't want any old people; they just wanted their +dear Uncle Peter, and they were going to have him; a resolution +which was put to vote and carried unanimously, the two pink +bridesmaids and the two steel-gray gentlemen voting the loudest. + +The merriment ceased when Ruth disappeared and came back in a +dark-blue travelling dress and Jack in a brown suit. We were all +in the doorway, our hands filled with rose petals--no worn-out +slippers or hail of rice for this bride--when she tried to slip +through in a dash for the carriage, but the dear lady caught and +held her, clasping the girl to her heart, kissing her lips, her +forehead, her hands--she could be very tender when she loved +anybody; and she loved Ruth as her life; Peter and her father +going ahead to hold open the door where they had their kisses and +handshakes, their blessings, and their last words all to +themselves. + +The honeymoon slipped away as do all honeymoons, and one crisp, +cool December day a lumbering country stage containing two +passengers struggled up a steep hill and stopped before a long, +rambling building nearing completion. All about were piles of +partly used lumber, broken bundles of shingles, empty barrels, and +abandoned mortar beds. Straight from the low slanting roof with +its queer gables, rose a curl of blue smoke, telling of comfort +and cheer within. Back of it towered huge trees, and away off in +the distance swept a broad valley hazy in the morning light. + +"Oh, Jack--what a love!" cried one passenger--she had alighted +with a spring, her cheeks aglow with the bracing mountain air, and +was standing taking it all in. "And, oh--see the porch!--and the +darling windows and the dear little panes of glass! And, Jack--" +she had reached the open door now, and was sweeping her eyes +around the interior--"Oh!--oh!--what a fireplace!--and such ducky +little shelves--and the flowers, and the table and the big easy +chairs and rugs! ISN'T it lovely!!" + +And then the two, hand in hand, stepped inside and shut the door. + +THE END. + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Peter: A Novel of Which He is Not the Hero +by F. Hopkinson Smith + |