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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8f86693 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #51059 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51059) diff --git a/old/51059-0.txt b/old/51059-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 4890752..0000000 --- a/old/51059-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2011 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Mrs. Pendleton's Four-in-hand, by Gertrude Atherton - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Mrs. Pendleton's Four-in-hand - -Author: Gertrude Atherton - -Release Date: January 27, 2016 [EBook #51059] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS. PENDLETON'S FOUR-IN-HAND *** - - - - -Produced by Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed -Proofreaders Canada team (http://www.pgdpcanada.net) from -page images generously made available by the Internet -Archive American Libraries -(https://archive.org/details/mrspendletonsfou00atherich). - - - - - - _LITTLE NOVELS BY_ - _FAVOURITE AUTHORS_ - - Mrs. Pendleton’s - Four-in-hand - - GERTRUDE ATHERTON - - - - -[Illustration: Gertrude Atherton] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - - Mrs. Pendleton’s - Four-in-hand - - BY - GERTRUDE ATHERTON - - AUTHOR OF “THE CONQUEROR,” ETC. - - New York - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. - 1903 - - _All rights reserved_ - - - - -[Illustration] - - COPYRIGHT, 1902, - BY MRS. GERTRUDE ATHERTON. - - COPYRIGHT, 1903, - BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. - - * * * * * - - Set up, electrotyped, and published June, 1903. - - Norwood Press - J. S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith Co. - Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. - - - - - ILLUSTRATIONS - - Portrait of Gertrude Atherton _Frontispiece_ - - FACING PAGE - - “‘I have been insulted’” 11 - - “‘Well, why don’t you go?’” 87 - - - - -[Illustration] - - MRS. PENDLETON’S - FOUR-IN-HAND - - - - - I - - -Jessica, her hands clenched and teeth set, stood looking with hard -eyes at a small heap of letters lying on the floor. The sun, blazing -through the open window, made her blink unconsciously, and the ocean’s -deep voice rising to the Newport sands seemed to reiterate:— - -“Contempt! Contempt!” - -Tall, finely pointed with the indescribable air and style of the New -York woman, she did not suggest intimate knowledge of the word the ocean -hurled to her. In that moss-green room, with her haughty face and clean -skin, her severe faultless gown, she rather suggested the type to whom -poets a century hence would indite their sonnets—when she and her kind -had been set in the frame of the past. And if her dress was -conventional, she had let imagination play with her hair. The clear -evasive colour of flame, it was brushed down to her neck, parted, -crossed, and brought tightly up each side of her head just behind her -ears. Meeting above her bang, the curling ends allowed to fly loose, it -vaguely resembled Medusa’s wreath. Her eyes were grey, the colour of -mid-ocean, calm, beneath a grey sky. Not twenty-four, she had the repose -and “air” of one whose cradle had been rocked by Society’s foot; and -although at this moment her pride was in the dust, there was more anger -than shame in her face. - -The door opened and her hostess entered. As Mrs. Pendleton turned slowly -and looked at her, Miss Decker gave a little cry. - -[Illustration: “‘I HAVE BEEN INSULTED.’”] - -“Jessica!” she said, “what is the matter?” - -“I have been insulted,” said Mrs. Pendleton, deliberately. She felt a -savage pleasure in further humiliating herself. - -“Insulted! You!” Miss Decker’s correct voice and calm brown eyes could -not have expressed more surprise and horror if a foreign diplomatist had -snapped his fingers in the face of the President’s wife. Even her sleek -brown hair almost quivered. - -“Yes,” Mrs. Pendleton went on in the same measured tones; “four men have -told me how much they despise me.” She walked slowly up and down the -room. Miss Decker sank upon the divan, incredulity, curiosity, -expectation, feminine satisfaction marching across her face in rapid -procession. - -“I have always maintained that a married woman has a perfect right to -flirt,” continued Mrs. Pendleton. “The more if she has married an old -man and life is somewhat of a bore. ‘Why do you marry an old man?’ snaps -the virtuous world. ‘What a contemptible creature you are to marry for -anything but love!’ it cries, as it eats the dust at Mammon’s feet. I -married an old man because with the wisdom of twenty, I had made up my -mind that I could never love and that position and wealth alone made up -the sum of existence. I had more excuse than a girl who has been always -poor, for I had never known the arithmetic of money until my father -failed, the year before I married. People who have never known wealth do -not realise the purely physical suffering of those inured to luxury and -suddenly bereft of it: it makes no difference what one’s will or -strength of character is. So—I married Mr. Pendleton. So—I amused -myself with other men. Mr. Pendleton gave me my head, because I kept -clear of scandal: he knew my pride. Now, if I had spent my life -demoralising myself and the society that received me, I could not be -more bitterly punished. I suppose I deserve it. I suppose that the -married flirt is just as poor and paltry and contemptible a creature as -the moralist and the minister depict her. We measure morals by results. -Therefore I hold to-day that it is the business of a lifetime to throw -stones at the married flirt.” - -“For Heaven’s sake,” cried Miss Decker, in a tone of exasperation, “stop -moralising and tell me what has happened!” - -“Do you remember Clarence Trent, Edward Dedham, John Severance, Norton -Boswell?” - -“Do I? Poor moths!” - -“They were apparently devoted to me.” - -Dryly: “Apparently.” - -“How long is it since Mr. Pendleton’s death?” - -“About—he died on the sixteenth—why, yes, it was six months yesterday -since he died.” - -“Exactly. You see these four notes on the floor? They are four -proposals—four proposals”—and she gave a short hard laugh through lips -whose red had suddenly faded—“from the four men I have just mentioned.” - -Miss Decker gasped. “Four proposals! Then what on earth are you angry -about?” - -Mrs. Pendleton’s lip curled scornfully. She did not condescend to answer -at once. “You are clever enough at times,” she said coldly, after a -moment. “It is odd you cannot grasp the very palpable fact that four -proposals received on the same day, by the same mail, from four men who -are each other’s most intimate friends, can mean but one thing—a -practical joke. Oh!” she cried, the jealously mastered passion springing -into her voice, “that is what infuriates me—more even than the -insult—that they should think me such a fool as to be so easily -deceived! O—h—h!” - -“If I remember aright,” ventured Miss Decker, feebly, “the intimacy to -which you allude was a thing of the past some time before you -disappeared from the world. In fact, they were not on speaking terms.” - -“Oh, they have made it up long ago! Don’t make any weak explanations, -but tell me how to turn the tables on them. I would give my hair and -wear a grey wig—my complexion and paint—to get even with them. And I -will. But how? How?” - -She paced up and down the room with nervous steps, glancing for -inspiration from the delicate etchings on the walls to the divan that -was like a moss bank, to the carpet that might have been a patch of -forest green, and thence to the sparkling ocean. Miss Decker offered no -suggestions. She had perfect faith in the genius of her friend. - -Suddenly Mrs. Pendleton paused and turned to her hostess. The red had -come back to her curled mouth. Her eyes were luminous, as when the sun -breaks through the grey sky and falls, dazzling, on the waters. - -“I have it!” she said. “And a week from to-day—I will keep them in -suspense that long—New York will have no corner small enough to hold -them.” - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - - II - - -The hot September day was ten hours old. The office of the St. -Christopher Club was still deserted but for a clerk who looked warm and -sleepy. The postman had just left a heap of letters on his desk, and he -was sorting them for their various pigeonholes. A young man entered, and -the clerk began to turn over the letters more rapidly. The newcomer, -tall, thin, with sharp features and shrewd American face, had an -extremely nervous manner. As he passed through the vestibule a clerk at -a table put a mark opposite the name “Mr. Clarence Trent,” to indicate -that he was in the Club. - -“Any letters?” he demanded of the office clerk. - -The man handed him two, and he darted into the morning-room and tore one -open, letting the other fall to the floor. He read as follows:— - - “Mon ami!—I have but this moment received your letter, which - seems to have been delayed. [“Of course! Why did I not think of - that?”] I say nothing here of the happiness which its contents - have given me. Come at once. - - “Jessica Pendleton. - - “Our engagement must be a profound secret until the year of my - mourning is over.” - -Trent’s drab and scanty whiskers seemed to curl into hard knots over the -nervous facial contortion in which he indulged. Nature being out of -material when at work upon him had seemingly constructed his muscles -from stout twine. An inch of it joining his nose to the upper lip, the -former’s pointed tip was wont to punctuate his conversation and emotions -with the direct downward movement of a machine needle puncturing cloth. -He crumpled the letter in his bony nervous fingers, and his pale sharp -grey eyes opened and shut with sudden rapidity. - -“I knew I could not be mistaken,” he thought triumphantly. “She is -mine!” - -In the vestibule another name was checked off,—“Mr. Norton -Boswell,”—and its owner made eagerly for the desk. His dark -intellectual face was flushed, and his sensitive mouth twitched suddenly -as the clerk handed him a roll of Mss. - -“Never mind that,” he said hastily. “Give me my letters.” - -The clerk handed him several, and, whisking them from left to right -through his impatient hands, he thrust all but one into his pocket and -walked rapidly to the morning-room. Seating himself before a table, he -looked at the envelope as if not daring to solve its mystery, then -hastily tore it apart. - - “Mon ami! [Boswell, despite his ardour, threw a glance down a - certain corridor in his memory and thought with kindling eyes: - “Oh! with what divine sweetness did she use to utter those two - little words!” Then he fixed his eyes greedily on the page once - more.] I have but this moment received your letter, which seems - to have been delayed.” [“Ah!” rapturously, the paper dancing - before his eyes, “that accounts for it. I knew she was the most - tender-hearted creature on earth.”] “I say nothing here of the - happiness which its contents have given me. Come at once. - - “Jessica Pendleton. - - “Our engagement must be a profound secret until the year of my - mourning is over.” - -Boswell, with quivering nostrils, plunged a pen into the ink-well, and -in that quiet room two hearts thumped so loudly that only passion and -scratching pens averted mutual and withering contempt. - -As Boswell left the office a very young man entered it. He possessed -that nondescript blond complexion which seems to be the uniform of the -New York youth of fashion. The ciphers of the Four Hundred have achieved -the well-scrubbed appearance of the Anglo-Saxon more successfully than -his accent. Mr. Dedham might have been put through a clothes-wringer. -Even his minute and recent moustache looked as if each hair had its -particular nurse, and his pink and chubby face defied conscientious -dissipation. He sauntered up to the clerk’s desk with an elaborate -affectation of indifference, and drawled a demand for his mail. - -The clerk handed him a dainty note sealed with a crest. He accepted it -with an absent air, although a look of genuine boyish delight thrust its -way through the fishy inertness of his average expression. - -It took him a minute and a half to get into the morning-room and read -these fateful lines:— - - “Mon ami,—[“Enchanting phrase! I can hear her say it.”] I have - but this moment received your letter, which seems to have been - delayed. [“Ah! this perfume! this perfume!”] I say nothing here - of the happiness which its contents have given me. Come at once. - - “Jessica Pendleton. - - “Our engagement must be a profound secret until the year of my - mourning is over.” - -A rosy tide wandered to the roots of Mr. Dedham’s ashen locks, and he -made a wild uncertain dab at his upper lip. Again there was no sound in -the morning-room of the St. Christopher Club but the furious dashing of -pens, the rending of parchment paper, the sudden scraping of a nervous -foot. - -A tall broad-shouldered young man, with much repose of face and manner, -entered the office from the avenue, glanced at the pigeon-holes above -the clerk’s desk, then sauntered deliberately into the morning-room and -looked out of the window. A slight rigidity of the nostrils alone -betokened the impatience within, and his uneasy thoughts ran somewhat as -follows:— - -“What a fool I have been! After all my experience with women to make -such an ass of myself over the veriest coquette that ever breathed; but -her preference for me last winter was so pointed—oh, damnation!” - -He stood gnawing his underlip at the lumbering ’bus, but turned suddenly -as a man approached from behind and presented several letters on a tray. -The first and only one he opened ran thus:— - - “Mon ami!—I have but this moment received your letter, which - seems to have been delayed. I say nothing here of the happiness - which its contents have given me. Come at once. - - “Jessica Pendleton. - - “Our engagement must be a profound secret until the year of my - mourning is over.” - -Severance folded the note, his face paling a little. - -“Well, well, she is true after all. What a brute I was to misjudge her!” -He strolled back to the office. “I will go home and write to her, and -to-morrow I shall see her! Great Heaven! Were six months ever so long -before?” - -As he turned from the coat-room Boswell entered the office by the -opposite door. - -“The fellow looks as gay as a lark,” he thought. “He hasn’t looked like -that for six months. I believe I’ll make it up with him—particularly as -I’ve come out ahead!” - -“Give me that package,” demanded Boswell dreamily of the clerk. Then he -caught sight of Severance. “Why, Jack, old fellow!” he cried, “how are -you? Haven’t seen you looking so well for an age. Don’t go out. It’s too -hot.” - -“Oh, hang it! I’ve got to. I’m off for Newport to-morrow. It’s so -infernally dull in town.” - -“Going to Newport to-morrow! So am I. My aunt is quite ill and has sent -for me. I’m her heir, you know.” - -“No? Didn’t know you had an aunt. I congratulate you. Hope she’ll go -off, I’m sure.” - -“Hope so. Here comes Teddy,—looks like an elongated rubber ball. It’s -some time since I’ve seen him so buoyant. How are you, Teddy?” - -“How are you, Norton, old boy?” explained Dedham, rapturously. “How glad -I am to hear the old name once more! You’ve given me the cold shoulder -of late.” - -“Oh, well, my boy, you know men will be fools occasionally. But give -by-gones the go-by. I’m going to Newport to-morrow. Can I take any -messages to your numerous—” - -“Dear boy! I’m going to Newport to-morrow. Sea-bathing ordered by my -physician.” - -“Jove! I am in luck! Severance is going over, too. We’ll have a jolly -time of it.” - -“I should say so!” murmured Teddy. “Heaven! Hello, Sev, how are you? -Didn’t see you. As long as we are all going the same way we might as -well bury our hatchet. What do you say, dear boy?” - -“Only too happy,” said Severance, heartily. “And may we never unearth it -again. Here comes Trent. He looks as if he had just been returned for -the Senate.” - -“How are you?” demanded Trent, peremptorily. “You have made it up? Don’t -leave me out in the cold.” - -Dedham made a final lunge for his deserting dignity, then sent it on its -way. “I should think not,” he cried, with dancing eyes. “Give me your -fist.” - -In a moment they were all shaking each other’s hand off, and -good-fellowship was streaming from every eye. - -“Come over to my rooms, all of you,” gurgled Teddy, “and have a drink.” - -“With pleasure, my boy,” said Trent. “But native rudeness will compel me -to drink and run. I am off for Newport—” - -“Newport!” cried three voices. - -“Yes; anything strange in that? I’m going on vital business connected -with the coming election.” - -“This is a coincidence!” exclaimed Boswell, with the appreciation of the -romanticist. “Why, we are all going to Newport. Dedham in search of -health, Severance of pleasure, and I of a fortune—only the old mummy is -always making out her cheques, but never passes them in. Well, I hope -we’ll see a lot of each other when we get there.” - -“Oh, of course,” said Severance, hastily. “We will have many another -game of polo together.” - -“Well,” said Dedham, “come over to my rooms now and drink to the success -of our separate quests.” - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - - III - - -Miss Decker paced restlessly up and down the sea-room waiting for the -mail. Mrs. Pendleton, more composed but equally nervous, lay in a long -chair, with expectation in her eyes and triumph on her lips. - -“Will they answer or will they not?” exclaimed Miss Decker. “If the mail -would only come! Will they be crushed?—furious?—or—will they -apologise?” - -“I care nothing what they do,” said Mrs. Pendleton, languidly. “All I -wanted was to see them when they received my notes, and later when they -met to compare them. I hold that my revenge is a masterpiece—to turn -the joke on them and to let them see that they could not make a fool of -me at the same time! Oh! how dared they?” - -“Well, they’ll never perpetrate another practical joke, my dear. You -have your revenge, Jessica; you have blunted their sense of humour for -life. I doubt if they ever even read the funny page of a newspaper -again. Here comes the postman. There! the bell has rung. Why doesn’t -Hart go? I’ll go myself in a minute.” - -Mrs. Pendleton’s nostrils dilated a little, but she did not turn her -head even when the manservant entered and held a silver tray before her. - -Four letters lay thereon. She placed them on her lap but did not speak -until the man had left the room. Then she looked at Miss Decker and gave -the letters a little sweep with the tips of her fingers. - -“They have answered,” she said. - -“Oh, Jessica, for Heaven’s sake don’t be so iron-bound!” cried her -friend. “Read them.” - -“You can read them if you choose. I have no interest beyond knowing that -they received mine.” - -Miss Decker needed no second invitation. She caught the letters from -Mrs. Pendleton’s lap and tore one of them open. She read a few lines, -then dropped limply on a chair. - -“Jessica!” she whispered, with a little agonised gasp, “listen to this.” - -Mrs. Pendleton turned her eyes inquiringly, but would not stoop to -curiosity. “Well,” she said, “I am listening.” - -“It is from Mr. Trent. And—listen:— - - “‘Angel! I think if you had kept me waiting one day longer you - would have met a lunatic wandering on the Newport cliffs. Last - night I attended a primary and made such an egregious idiot of - myself (although I was complimented later upon my speech) that I - shall never understand why I was not hissed. But hereafter I - shall be inspired. And how you will shine in Washington! That is - the place for our talents. After reading your reserved yet - impassioned note, I do not feel that I can talk more rationally - upon politics than while in suspense. What do you think I did? I - made it all up with Severance, Dedham, and Boswell, whom I met - just after receiving it. I could afford to forgive them. They, - by the way, go to Newport to-morrow. Farewell, most brilliant of - women, destined by Heaven to be the wife of a diplomatist—for I - will confide to you that that is my ultimate ambition. Until - to-morrow, - - “‘Clarence Trent.’” - -“Well! What do you think of that?” - -A pink wave had risen to Mrs. Pendleton’s hair, then receded and broken -upon the haughty curve of her mouth. - -“Read the others,” she said briefly. - -“Oh! how can you be so cool?” and Miss Decker opened another note with -trembling fingers. - -“It is from Norton Boswell:— - - “‘You once chided me for looking at the world through grey - spectacles, and bade me always hope for the best until the worst - was decided. When you were near to encourage me the sky was - often pink, but even the memory of the last six months has faded - before the agonised suspense of these seven days. Oh! I shall be - an author now, if suffering is the final lesson. But what - incoherent stuff I am writing! Loneliness and despair are alike - forgotten. I can write no more! To-morrow! To-morrow! - - “‘Boswell.’” - -“Read Severance’s,” said Jessica, quickly. - -“I believe you like that man!” exclaimed Miss Decker. “I think he’s a -brute. But you’re in a scrape. This is from the lordly Severance:— - - “‘An Englishman once said of you, with a drawl which wound the - words about my memory—“Y-a-a-s; she flirts on ice, so to - speak.” Coldest and most subtle of women, why did you keep me in - suspense for seven long days? Do you think I believe that - fiction of the delayed letter? You forget that we have met - before. But why torment me? Did I not in common decency have to - wait six months before I dared put my fate to the test? How I - counted those days! I had a calendar and a pencil—in short, I - made a fool of myself. Now the chess-board is between us once - more: we start on even ground; we will play a keen and close - game to the end of our natural lives. I love you; but I know - you. I will kiss the rod—until we marry; after that—we shall - play chess. I shall see you to-morrow. - - “‘S.’” - -“Well, that’s what I call a beast of a man,” said Miss Decker. - -“I hate him!” said Jessica, between her teeth. - -She looked hard at the ocean. Under its grey sky to-day it was the -colour of her eyes, as cold and as unfathomable. The glittering -Medusa-like ends of her hair seemed to leap upward and writhe at each -other. - -“I should think you would hate him,” said Miss Decker; “he is the only -living man who ever got the best of you. But listen to what your devoted -infant has to say. Nice little boy, Teddy:— - - “‘Dearest! Sweetest! Do you know that I am almost dancing for - joy at this moment? Indeed, my feet are going faster than my - pen. To think! To think!—you really _do_ love me after all. But - I always said you were not a flirt. I knocked a man down once - and challenged him to a duel because he said you were. He - wouldn’t fight, but I had the satisfaction of letting him know - what I thought of him. And now I can prove it to all the world! - But I can’t write any more. There are three blots on this - now—the pen is jumping and you know I never was much at writing - letters. But I can talk, and to-morrow I will tell you all. - - “‘Your own Teddy. - - “‘P.S.—Is it not queer—quite a coincidence—Severance, Trent, - and Boswell are going to Newport to-morrow, too. How proud I - shall be! But no, I take that back; I only pity them, poor - devils, from the bottom of my heart; or I would if it wasn’t - filled up with you. - - “‘T.’” - -“Well, madam, you’re in a scrape, and I don’t envy you. What will you -do?” - -Mrs. Pendleton pressed her head against the back of the chair, straining -her head upward as if she wanted the salt breeze to rasp her throat. - -“I have been so bored for six months,” she said slowly. “Let them come. -I will see each of them alone, and keep the farce going for a week or -so. It will be amusing—to be engaged to four men at once. You will -command the forces and see that they do not meet. Of course, it cannot -be kept up very long, and when all resources are failing I will let them -meet and make them madly jealous. It will do one of them good, at -least.” - -“Well, you have courage,” ejaculated Miss Decker. “You can’t do it. But -yes, you can. If the woman lives who can play jackstraws with -firebrands, that woman is you. And what fun! We are so dull here—both -in mourning. I’ll help you. I’ll carry out your instructions like a -major.” - -Mrs. Pendleton rose and walked up and down the room once or twice. -“There is only one thing,” she said, drawing her brows together: “if I -am engaged to them they will want to—h’m—kiss me, you know. It will be -rather awkward. I never was engaged to any one but Mr. Pendleton, and he -used to kiss me on my forehead and say, ‘My dear child.’ I am afraid -they won’t be contented with that.” - -“I am afraid they won’t! But you have tact enough. Come, say you will do -it.” - -“Yes,” said Jessica, “I will do it. In my boarding-school days I used to -dream of being a tragedy queen; I find myself thrust by circumstances -into comedy. But I have no doubt it will suit my talents better.” - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - - IV - - - SCENE I - -Severance strode impatiently up and down the room overlooking the -ocean. - -“‘Will be down in a minute.’ I suppose that means the usual thirty for -reflection and contemplation of bric-à-brac. What a pretty room! No -bric-à-brac in it, by the way. I wonder if this is the room my lady -Jessica is said to have furnished to suit herself? It looks like a -woodland glade. She must look stunning against those moss-green -curtains. I wonder how madam liked my letter? It was rather brutal, but -to manage a witch you have got to be Jove astride a high horse. Here she -comes. I know that perfume. She uses it to sweeten the venom of those -snakes of hers.” - -Mrs. Pendleton entered and gave him her hand with frank welcome. Her -“snakes” seemed vibrant with life and defiance, and her individuality -pierced through her white conventional gown like a solitary star in a -hueless sky. - -“How do you do?” she asked, shaking his hand warmly; then she sat down -at once as a matter of course. - -He understood the manœuvre. - -“Let us play chess, by all means,” he said and took a chair opposite. -“Your seclusion has done you good,” he added, smiling as the crest of a -wave appeared in her eyes. “You have lost your fagged look and are more -like a girl than a widow. Dissipation does not agree with you. Two more -winters! You would try to make up for it by your wit, and then your nose -would get sharp, and you would have a line down the middle of your -forehead and another on each side of your mouth.” - -“You are as rude as ever,” said Jessica, coldly; but the wave in her -eyes threatened to become tidal. “If you marry a blonde and incarcerate -her, however, you may find the effect more bleaching than Society.” - -“Was that a reflection upon my own society? I do not incarcerate; I only -warn.” - -“So do I,” said Mrs. Pendleton, significantly; “I have occasionally got -the best of a bad bargain.” - -“And as you will find me the worst in the world you are already on the -defensive,” said Severance, with a laugh. “Come, I have not seen you for -six months, and I am hard hit. I wrote you that I marked off each day -with a pencil—a red one at that; I bought it for the occasion. Don’t -take a base advantage of the admission, but give me one kind syllable. I -ask for it as humbly as a dog does for a bone.” - -“You do, indeed. I began by making disagreeable remarks about your -personal appearance, did I not? If you will be a brute, I will be -a—cat.” - -“You will acquit yourself with credit. But I will not quarrel with you -to-day.” He rose suddenly and went over to her, but she was already on -her feet. She dropped her eyes, then raised them appealingly; but the -sea was level. - -“Do not kiss me,” she said. - -“Why not?” - -“I would rather not—yet. Do you know that I have never kissed a man—a -lover, I mean—in my life? And this is so sudden—I would rather wait.” - -He raised her hand chivalrously to his lips. “I will wait,” he said; -“but you will wear my ring?” And he took a circlet from his pocket and -slipped it on her finger. - -“Thank you,” she said simply and touched it with a little caressing -motion. - -He dropped her hand and stepped back. Miss Decker had pushed aside the -portière. - -“How do you do, Mr. Severance?” she said cordially; “I did not interrupt -even to congratulate, but to take Jessica away for a moment. My dear, -your dressmaker came down on the train with Mr. Severance and has but a -minute. You had better go at once, for you know her temper is not -sweet.” - -“Provoking thing!” said Jessica, with a pout. It was the fourth mood to -which she treated Severance in this short interview, and he looked at -her with delight. “But I will get rid of her as soon as possible. Will -you excuse me for a few moments? I will be back in ten.” - -“A dressmaker is the only tyrant to whom I bow, the only foe before whom -I lay down my arms. Go; but come back soon.” - -“In ten minutes.” - -“Which is it, and where is he?” she whispered eagerly as they crossed -the hall. - -“Mr. Trent. He is in the library.” - - - SCENE II - -Trent was standing before a bust of Daniel Webster, speculating upon how -his own profile would look in bronze. - -“You would have to shave off your side-whiskers,” murmured a soft voice -behind him. - -He turned with a nervous start, and a suspicion of colour appeared under -his grey skin. Mrs. Pendleton was standing with her hands resting -lightly on the table. She smiled with saucy dignity—an art she had -brought to perfection. - -“I give you five years,” she said. - -“With you to help me,” he cried enthusiastically. “Ah! I see you now, -leaning on the arm of a foreign ambassador, going in to some great -diplomatic dinner!” - -“It is too bad, I shall have to take the arm of a small one; you will be -but the American minister, you know. (Great Heaven! how determined he -looks! I know he means to kiss me. If I can only keep his ambition -going.)” - -“I will be senator first, and pass a bill placing this country on an -equal diplomatic footing with the proudest in Europe. You will then go -to your embassy as the wife of an ambassador.” - -“I know you will accomplish it; and let it be Paris. I cannot endure to -shop anywhere else.” - -“It shall be Paris.” - -“Are you not tired?” she asked hurriedly. - -“Tired? I have not thought of fatigue.” - -“The day is so warm.” - -“I have not felt it. Jessica!” - -“O—h—h—h!” and catching her face convulsively in her hand, she sank -into a chair. - -“What is it? What is it?” he cried, hopping about her like an agitated -spider, the tip of his nose punctuating his excitement. “What can I do? -Are you ill?” - -Faintly: “Neuralgia.” - -“What shall I ring for? Antipyrine? Horse-radish for your wrists? -Belladonna? What?” - -“Nothing. Sit down and talk to me, and perhaps it will go away. Tell me -something about yourself, and I’ll forget it. Sit down.” - -“There is but little to tell. I have been busy making friends against -the next election. I have addressed several meetings with great success. -I have every chance for the House this time—for the Senate next term. -How’s your face?” - -“Misery! You said that several of my old friends came down with you. How -odd!” - -“Was it not?” - -“I suppose they will all come to see me.” - -“H’m. I don’t know. Doubt if they know you are here. I shall not tell -them. They would only be coming to see you and getting in my way. I’ll -wait until our wedding-day approaches and ask them to be ushers. But -now, Jessica, that you do not seem to suffer so acutely—” - -“Oh! Oh! (Thank Heaven, I hear Edith.)” - -Trent sprang to his feet in genuine alarm. “Dearest! Let me go for the -doctor. I cannot stand this—” - -Miss Decker entered with apparent haste, spoke to Trent, then stopped -abruptly. - -“Jessica!” she cried. “What is the matter?” - -“My face! You know how I have suffered—worse than ever.” - -“Oh, you poor dear! She is such a martyr, Mr. Trent, with that tooth—” - -“Neuralgia!” - -“I mean neuralgia! She was up all night. But, my dear, don’t think me a -heartless fiend, but you must see your lawyer. He is here with those -deeds for you to sign, and he says that he must catch the train.” - -“That estate has given me so much trouble,” murmured Mrs. Pendleton, -wretchedly; “and how can I talk business when my head is on the rack? I -do not wish to leave Mr. Trent so soon, either.” - -“Leave Mr. Trent to me. I will entertain him. I will talk to him about -you.” - -“May I speak to you one moment before you go?” asked Trent. - -“Yes,” pinching her lips with extremest pain, “you need not mind Edith.” - -“Not in the least.” He took a box from his pocket with an air of -resignation which boded well for the trials of a diplomatic career. “I -cannot wait longer to fetter you. You told me once that the emerald was -your favourite stone.” - -She relaxed her lips and swept her lashes down and up rapturously. “So -good of you to remember,” she murmured; “it reminds me of mermaids and -things, and I love it.” - -“You were always so poetical! But where did you get that ring? I thought -you never wore rings. On your engagement finger, too!” - -“It was a present from grandma, and I wear it to please her. I’ll slip -it in my pocket now—it is too large for any other finger—and you can -put yours where it belongs.” - -“You will never take it off until you need its place for your -wedding-ring?” - -“Never!” - -“Angel! And your face is better?” - -“Yes; but Edith is looking directly this way.” - - - SCENE III - -Mrs. Pendleton entered the drawing-room on tiptoe, with hand upraised. - -“Well! the sky did not fall, and the train did not ditch, and the -lightning did not strike, and we are neither of us dead. And you—you -look as strapping as a West Point cadet. Fie upon your principles!” - -“That is a charming tirade with which to greet an impatient lover,” -cried Boswell, with beaming face. “You are serious, of course?” - -“You have heard the parable of a woman’s ‘No’?” She gave both his -outstretched hands a little shake, then retreated behind a chair and -rested both arms on its back. - -“My anger is appeased, but I think I am entitled to some recompense.” - -“What can he mean? Would you prefer sherry or red wine?” - -“There is a draught brewed upon Olympus which the gods call nectar—” - -“So sorry. We are just out. I gave the last thimbleful away an hour -ago.” - -“Oh, you did! May I inquire to whom you gave it?” - -“You may, indeed. And I would tell you—could I only remember.” - -“Provoking—goddess! But perhaps you will allow me to look for myself. -Perchance I might find a drop or two remaining. I am willing to take -what I can get and be thankful.” - -“Then you will never get much,” she thought. “The dregs are always -bitter.” - -“There can be no dregs to the nectar in question.” - -“And the last drop always goes to the head. I have heard it asserted -upon authority. Think of the scandal—the butler—oh, Heaven!” - -“The intoxication would make me but tread the air. I should walk right -over the butler’s head. Where did you get that ring?” - -“Is it not lovely? It was” (heaving a profound sigh) “the last gift of -poor dear Mr. Pendleton.” - -“Indeed! Well, under the circumstances, perhaps you will not mind -removing it and wearing that of another unfortunate,” and he placed one -knee on the chair over which she leaned and produced a ring. - -“Not at all. What a beauty! How did you know that the ruby was my -favourite stone?” And she bent her body backward, under pretence of -holding the stone up to the light. - -“But you have a number of rubies and pearls in your possession, of which -I consider myself the rightful owner. Shall I have to call in the law to -give me mine own?” - -“The pearls are sharp, and the rubies may be paste. I have the best of -the bargain.” - -“I am a connoisseur on the subject of precious stones—of precious -articles of all sorts, in fact. What an outrageous coquette you are! -What is the use of keeping a man in misery?” - -“Why are men always in such a hurry? If I were a man now—and an -author—I should wait for moonlight, waves breaking on rocks, and all -the rest of it.” - -“All the old property business, in short. I am both a man and an author, -therefore I know the folly of delay in this short life.” - -“But suppose the door should open suddenly?” - -“I have been here ten minutes, and it has not opened yet.” - -“But it might, you know; and the small boys of this house are an -exaggeration of all that have gone before. Ah! here comes some one. Sit -down on that chair instantly.” - -Miss Decker entered and looked deprecatingly at Boswell. - -“You have come at last,” she said. “We were afraid something had -happened to you. I cannot help this interruption, Jessica. Your -grandmother is here and wants to see you immediately. She has been -telegraphed for to go to Philadelphia; Mrs. Armstrong is very ill. I -would not keep her waiting.” - -“Poor grandma! To think of her being obliged to go to Philadelphia in -September. Where is she?” - -“In the yellow reception-room. Mr. Boswell will excuse you for a few -minutes.” - -Boswell bowed, his face stamped with gloom. - -“What have you done with the others?” asked Jessica, as she closed the -door. - -“Mr. Severance is storming up and down the sea-room. Mr. Trent is like a -caged lion in the library; I expect to hear a crash every minute. But -both know what lawyers and dressmakers mean. Boswell will learn -something of grandmothers. But they are safe for a quarter of an hour -longer. Trust all to me.” - - - SCENE IV - -Dedham was sitting on the edge of one of the reception-room chairs, -locking and unlocking his fingers until his hands were as red as those -of a son of toil. He was nervous, happy, terrified, annoyed. - -“That beastly porter to keep me waiting so long for my portmanteau!” he -almost cried aloud. “What must she think of me?” - -“You wicked boy!” said a voice of gentle reproach. “What made you so -late? I was just about to send and inquire if anything had happened to -you. But sit down. How tired you must be! Would you like a glass of -sherry and a biscuit?” - -“Nothing! Nothing! You know, it’s not my fault that I’m late. My -portmanteau got mislaid and my travelling clothes were so dusty. And you -really are glad to see me?” - -“What a question! It makes me feel young again to see you.” - -“Young again! You!” - -“I am twenty-four, Teddy, and a widow,” and she shook her head sadly. “I -feel fearfully old—like your mother. I have had so much care and -responsibility in my life, and you are so careless and debonair.” - -“You’ll make me cry in a minute,” said Teddy; “and I wish you wouldn’t -talk like that. You seem to put a whole Adirondack between us.” - -“I can’t help it. Perhaps I’ll get over it after a time. It’s so sad -being mewed up six whole months!” - -“Then marry me right off. That’s just the point. We’ll go and travel and -have a jolly good time. That’ll brace you up and make you feel as young -as you look.” - -“I can’t, Teddy. I must wait a year in common decency. Think how people -would talk.” - -“Let ’em. They’ll soon find something else and forget us. Marry me next -month.” - -“Next month—well—” - -“It would be rather fun to be the hero and heroine of a sensation, -anyhow. That’s what everybody’s after. You’re just a nonentity until -you’ve been black-guarded in the papers. Whose ring is that?” - -“One of Edith’s. I put it on to remember something by.” - -“Well, take it off and wear this instead. It’ll help your memory just as -well.” - -“What, a solitaire!” - -“I knew you would prefer it. I know all your tastes by instinct.” - -“You do, Teddy. Coloured stones are so tiresome.” - -“By the way, I think your old admirer, Severance, must be about to put -himself in silken fetters, as Boswell would say. I caught him buying an -unusually fine sapphire in Tiffany’s yesterday. Said it was for his -sister. H’m—h’m.” - -“Ah! I wonder who it can be?” - -“Don’t know. Hasn’t looked at a woman since you left. But I have a -strong suspicion that it is some one here in Newport.” - -“Here! I wonder if it can be Edith?” - -“Miss Decker? Sure enough. Never seemed to pay her much attention, -though. She’s not my style; too much like sixteen dozen other New York -girls.” - -He buttoned up his coat, braced himself against it, and gave his -moustache a frantic twist. - -“Mrs.—Jessica!” he ejaculated desperately, “you are engaged to -me—won’t you—won’t you—” - -She drew herself up and glanced down upon him from her higher chair with -a look of sad disapproval. - -“I did not think it of you, Teddy,” she said. “And it is one of the -things of which I have never approved.” - -“But why not?” asked Teddy, feebly. - -“I thought you knew me better than to ask such a question.” - -“I know you are an angel—oh, hang it! You do make me feel as if you -_were_ my mother.” - -“Now, don’t be unreasonable, or I shall believe that you are a tyrant.” - -“A tyrant? I? Horri—no, I wish I was. What a model of propriety you -are! I never should have thought it—I mean—darling! you were always -such a coquette, you know. Not that I ever thought so. You know I never -did—oh, hang it all—but if I let you have your own way in this -unreasonable—I mean this perfectly natural whim—you might at least -promise to marry me in a month. And, indeed, I think that if you are an -angel, I am a saint.” - -“Well, on one condition.” - -“Any! Any!” - -“It must be an absolute secret until the wedding is over. I hate -congratulations, and if we are going to have a sensation we might as -well have a good concentrated one.” - -“I agree with you, and I’ll never find fault with you again. You—” - -Miss Decker almost ran into the room. - -“Jessica!” she cried. “Oh, dear Mr. Dedham, how are you? Jessica, mother -has one of her terrible attacks, and I must ask you to stay with her -while I go for the doctor myself. I cannot trust servants.” - -“Let me go! let me go!” cried Teddy. “I’ll bring him back in a quarter -of an hour. Who shall—” - -“Coleman. He lives—” - -“I know. Au revoir!” And the girls were alone. - -“There!” exclaimed Miss Decker, “we have got rid of him. Now for the -others. You slip upstairs, and I’ll dispose of them one by one. You are -taken suddenly ill. Teddy will not be back for an hour. Dr. Coleman has -moved.” - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - - V - - -A lamp burned in the sea-room, and the two girls were sitting in their -evening gowns before a bright log fire. Miss Decker was in white this -time—an elaborate French concoction of embroidered muslin which made -her look like an expensive fashion plate. Jessica wore a low-cut black -crêpe, above which she rose like carved ivory and brass. The snakes -to-night were held in place by diamond hair-pins that glittered like -baleful eyes. In her lap sparkled four rings. - -“What shall I do?” she exclaimed. “If my life depended upon it, I could -not remember who gave me which.” - -“Let us think. What sort of a stone would a politician be most likely to -choose?” - -Mrs. Pendleton laughed. “A good idea. If couleur de rose be synonymous -with conceit, then I think the ruby must have come from Mr. Trent.” - -“I am sure of it. And as your author is always in the dumps, I am -certain he takes naturally to the sapphire.” - -“But the emerald—” - -“Is emblematic of your deluded Teddy. The solitaire therefore falls -naturally to Mr. Severance. Well, now that you have got through the -first interviews in safety, what are you going to do next?” - -“Edith, I do not know. They are all so dreadfully in earnest that I -believe I shall finally take to my heels in down-right terror. But no, I -won’t. I’ll come out of it with the upper hand and save my reputation as -an actress. I will keep it up for two or three days more, but after that -it will be impossible. They are bound to meet here sooner or later. -Thank Heaven, we are rid of them for to-night, at least!” - -The manservant threw back the portière. - -“Mr. Trent!” - -“Heavens!” cried Edith, under her breath; “I forgot to give orders that -we were not receiv—how do you do, Mr. Trent?” - -“And which is his ring?” Jessica made a frenzied dab at the jewels in -her lap. She slipped the sapphire on her finger and hid the others under -a cushion. Trent, who had been detained a moment by Miss Decker, -advanced to her. - -“It is very soon to come again,” he said, “but I simply had to call and -inquire if you felt better. I am delighted to see that you apparently -do.” - -“I am better, thank you.” Her voice was weak. “It was good of you to -come again.” - -“Whose ring is that?” - -“Why—a—to—sure—” - -“Jessica!” cried Miss Decker, “have you gone off with my ring again? You -are so absent-minded! I hunted for that ring high and low!” - -“You should not be so good-natured, and my memory would turn over a new -leaf. Here, take it.” She tossed the ring to Miss Decker and raised her -eyes guiltily to Trent’s. “Shall I go up and get the other?” - -“No. But I thought you promised never to take it off.” - -“I forgot that water ruins stones.” - -“Well, it is a consolation to know that water does not ruin a certain -plain gold circlet.” - -“Mr. Boswell!” - -Jessica gasped and looked at the flames. A crisis had come. Would she be -clever enough? Then the situation stimulated her. She held out her hand -to Boswell. - -“You have come to see me?” she cried delightedly. “Mr. Trent has just -been telling us that you came down with him, and I hoped you would call -soon.” - -“Yes, to be sure—to be sure. You might have known I would call soon.” -He bowed stiffly to Trent, and, seating himself close beside Jessica, -murmured in her ear: “Cannot you get rid of that fellow? How did he find -you out so soon?” - -“Why, he came to see Edith, of course. Do you not remember how devoted -he always was to her?” - -“I do not—” - -“May I ask what you are whispering about, Mr. Boswell?” demanded Trent, -breaking from Miss Decker. “Is he confiding to you the astounding -success of his last novel, Mrs. Pendleton? Or was it a history of the -United States? I really forget.” - -“Not the last, certainly. I leave it to you to make history—an abridged -edition. My ambition is a more humble one.” - -“Oh, you will both need biographers,” said Mrs. Pendleton, who was -beginning to enjoy herself. “I will give you an idea. Join the -Theosophists. Arrange for reincarnation. Come back in the next -generation and write your own biographies. Then your friends and -families cannot complain you have not had justice done you.” - -“Ha! ha!” said Trent. - -“You are as cruel as ever,” said Boswell, with a sigh. “Where is my -ring?” he whispered. - -“It was so large that I could not keep it on. I must have a guard made.” - -“Dear little fingers—” - -“You may never have been taught when you were a small boy, Mr. Boswell,” -interrupted Trent, “that it is rude to whisper in company. Therefore, to -save your manners in Mrs. Pendleton’s eyes, I will do you the kindness -to prevent further lapse.” And he seated himself on the other side of -Jessica and glared defiantly at Boswell. - -“Mr. Severance and Mr. Dedham!” - -Severance entered hurriedly. “I am so glad to hear—ah, Boswell! Trent!” - -“How odd that you should all find your way here the very first evening -of your arrival!” And Jessica held out her hand with a placid smile. -Miss Decker was more nervous, but five seasons were behind her. “Ah!” -continued Mrs. Pendleton, “and Mr. Dedham, too! This is a most charming -reunion!” - -“Charming beyond expression!” said Severance. - -Trent and Boswell being obliged to rise when Miss Decker went forward to -meet the newcomers, Severance took the former’s chair, Dedham that of -the future statesman. - -“You are better?” whispered Severance. “I have been anxious.” - -“Oh, I have been worried to death!” murmured Teddy in her other ear. -“That wretched doctor had not only moved but gone out of town; and when -I came back at last and found—” - -“Mr. Severance,” exclaimed Trent, “you have my chair.” - -“Is this your chair? You have good taste. A remarkably comfortable -chair.” - -“You would oblige me—” - -“By keeping it? Certainly. You were ever generous, but that I believe is -a characteristic of genius.” - -“Mrs. Pendleton,” said Boswell, plaintively, “as Mr. Dedham has taken my -chair, I will take this stool at your feet.” - -Trent was obliged to lean his elbow on the mantelpiece, for want of a -better view of Mrs. Pendleton, and Miss Decker sat on the other side of -Dedham. - -“How are you, Teddy?” she said. - -“Young and happy. You must let me congratulate you.” - -“For what?” - -“I see you wear Severance’s ring. Ah, Sev, did the ring suit your -sister?” - -“To a T. Said it was her favourite stone.” He stopped abruptly. “What -the deuce—” below his breath; and Jessica whispered hurriedly:— - -“Edith was looking at it when Mr. Trent came in, and forgot to return -it.” - -“Ah! Boswell, I am sure you are sitting on Mrs. Pendleton’s foot. By the -way, how is your aunt?” - -“Dead—better.” - -“I wonder you could tear yourself away so soon,” said Trent, viciously. -“You’d better be careful. She might make a new will.” - -“Don’t worry. I spent the happiest fifteen minutes of my life with her -this afternoon. She promised me all.” He turned to Severance. “You have -been breaking hearts on the beach, I suppose.” - -“Which is better, at all events, than breaking one’s head against a -stone wall.” - -“Politics brought you here, I suppose, Mr. Trent,” interrupted Miss -Decker. “I hear you made a stirring speech the other night.” - -“I did. It was on the question of Radicalism in the Press _versus_ Civil -Service Reform. Something must be done to revolutionise this hotbed of -iniquity, American politics. Such principles need courage, but when the -hour comes the man must not be wanting—” - -“That was all in the paper next morning,” drawled Boswell. “Mrs. -Pendleton, did you receive the copy of my new book I sent a fortnight -ago? Unlike many of my others, I had no difficulty in disposing of it. -It was lighter, brighter, less philosophy, less—brains. The critics -understood it, therefore they were kind. They even said—” - -“Don’t quote the critics, for Heaven’s sake,” said Severance. “It is -enough to have read them.” - -“Oh, Mrs. Pendleton,” exclaimed Teddy, “if you could have been at the -yacht race! Such excitement, such—” - -“To change the subject,” said Trent, with determination in his eye, -“Mrs. Pendleton, did you receive all the marked papers I sent you -containing my speeches, especially the one on Jesuitism in Politics?” - -“Don’t bother Mrs. Pendleton with politics!” exclaimed Boswell, whose -own egotism was kicking against its bars. “You did not think my book too -long, did you? One purblind critic said—” - -“Good night, Mrs. Pendleton,” said Severance, rising abruptly. “Good -evening,” and he bowed to Miss Decker and to the men. Jessica rose -suddenly and went with him to the door. - -“I am going to walk on the cliffs—‘Forty Steps’—at eleven to-morrow,” -she said, as she gave him her hand. “This may be unconventional, but _I_ -choose to do it.” - -He bowed over her hand. “Mrs. Pendleton will only have set one more -fashion,” he said. “I shall be there.” - -As he left the room by one door, Jessica crossed the room and opened -another. - -“Good night,” she said to the astounded company, and withdrew. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - - VI - - -Severance sauntered up and down the “Forty Steps,” the repose of his -bearing belying the agitation within. - -“Why on earth doesn’t she come?” he thought uneasily. “Can she be ill -again? She is ten minutes behind time now. What did it mean—all those -fellows there last night? She looked like an amused spectator at a play, -and Miss Decker was nervous, actually nervous. Damn it! Here they all -come. What do they mean by keeping under my heels like this?” - -Dedham, Trent, and Boswell strolled up from various directions, and, -although each had expectation in his eye, none looked overjoyed to see -the other men. There were four cold nods, a dead pause, and then Teddy -gave a little cough. - -“Beautiful after—I mean morning.” - -“It is indeed,” said Severance. “I wonder you are not taking your -salt-water constitutional.” - -“I always take a walk in the morning;” and Teddy glanced nervously over -his shoulder. - -Boswell and Trent, each with a little missive burning his pocket, turned -red, fidgeted, glared at the ocean, and made no remark. Severance darted -a glance at each of the three in succession, and then looked at the -ground with a contemplative stare. At this moment Mrs. Pendleton -appeared. - -Three of the men advanced to meet her with an awkward attempt at -surprise, but she waved them back. - -“I have something to say to you,” she said. - -The cold languor of her face had given place to an expression of haughty -triumph. A gleam of conscious power lay deep in her scornful eyes. The -final act in the drama had come, and the dénouement should be worthy of -her talents. She looked like a judge who had smiled encouragement to a -guilty defendant only to confer the sentence of capital punishment at -last. - -“Gentlemen,” she said, and even her voice was judicatorial, “I have -asked you all to meet me here this morning”—(three angry starts, but -she went on unmoved)—“because I came to the conclusion last night that -it is quite time this farce should end. I am somewhat bored myself, and -I have no doubt you are so, as well. Your joke was a clever one, worthy -of the idle days of autumn. When I received your four proposals by the -same mail, I appreciated your wit—I will say more, your genius—and -felt glad to do anything I could to contribute to your amusement, -especially as all the world is away and I knew how dull you must be. So -I accepted each of you, as you know, had four charming interviews and -one memorable one of a more composite nature; and now that we have all -agreed that the spicy and original little drama has run its length I -take pleasure in restoring your rings.” - -She took from her handkerchief a beautiful little casket of blue onyx, -upon which reposed the Pendleton crest in diamonds, touched a spring, -and revealed four rings sparkling about as many velvet cushions. The -four men stood speechless; not one dared protest his sincerity and see -ridicule in the eyes of his neighbour. - -Mrs. Pendleton dropped her judicial air, and taking the ruby between her -fingers, smiled like a teacher bestowing a prize. - -“Mr. Boswell,” she said, “I believe this belongs to you;” and she handed -the ring to the stupefied author. He put it in his pocket with never a -word. - -She raised the emerald. “Mr. Trent, this is yours?—or is it the -sapphire?” - -[Illustration: “‘WELL, WHY DON’T YOU GO?’”] - -“The emerald,” snorted Trent. - -She dropped it in his nerveless palm with a gracious bend of the head, -and turned to Teddy. - -“You gave me a solitaire, I remember,” she said sweetly. “A most -appropriate gift, for it is the ideal life.” - -Teddy looked as if about to burst into tears, gave her one beseeching -glance, then took his ring and strode feebly over the cliffs. Trent and -Boswell hesitated a moment, then hurried after. - -Jessica held the casket to Severance, with a little outward sweep of her -wrist. He took it and, folding his arms, looked at her steadily. A tide -of angry colour rose to her hair, then she turned her back upon him and -looking out over the water tapped her foot on the rocks. - -“Why do you not go?” she asked. “I hate you more than any one on earth.” - -“No. You love me.” - -“I hate you! You are a brute! The coolest, the rudest, the most -exasperating man on—on earth.” - -“That is the reason you love me. My dear Mrs. Pendleton,” he continued, -taking the ring from the casket and laying the latter on a rock, “a -woman of brains and headstrong will—but unegoistic—likes a brutal and -masterful man. An egoistical woman, whether she be fool or brilliant, -likes a slave. The reason is that egoism, not being a feminine quality -primarily, but borrowed from man, places its fair possessor outside of -her sex’s limitations and supplies her with the satisfying simulacrum of -those stronger characteristics which she would otherwise look for in -man. You are not an egoist.” - -He took her hand and removed her glove in spite of her resistance. - -“Don’t struggle. You would only look ridiculous if any one should pass. -Besides, it is useless. I am so much stronger. I do not know or care -what really possessed you to indulge in such a freak as to engage -yourself to four men at once,” he continued, slipping the ring on her -finger. “You had your joke, and I hope you enjoyed it. The dénouement -was highly dramatic. As I said, I desire no explanation, for I am never -concerned with anything but results. And now—you are going to marry -me.” - -“I am not!” sobbed Jessica. - -“You are.” He glanced about. No one was in sight. He put his arm about -her shoulders, forcing her own to her sides, then bent back her head and -kissed her on the mouth. - -“Checkmate!” he said. - -[Illustration] - - - - - GERTRUDE ATHERTON was born in San Francisco and received her - early education in California and Kentucky, but her best - training was in her grandfather’s library, a collection, it is - said, of English masterpieces only, containing no American - fiction whatever. Yet Mrs. Atherton is as thorough an American - as a niece, in the third generation, of Benjamin Franklin should - be. - - It seems to have been the English critics who first recognised - her originality, power, intensity, vividness, and vitality, but - from her first book, “What Dreams May Come,” published in 1888, - her writings have revealed the unusual combination of brains and - feeling. This gives her work both keen, clever strength and - brilliancy of colour, developed through years of hard work, many - of which were spent abroad, and reaching their best - manifestation in her latest fiction, the one quality in “The - Conqueror” and the other in “The Splendid Idle Forties.” Both of - these books go to prove the foresight of Mr. Harold Frederic, - who, shortly before his death, declared her to be “the only - woman in contemporary literature who knew how to write a novel,” - and that her future work would be her best. Another eminent - English critic, Dr. Robertson Nicholl, spoke for some of the - best students of modern literature in saying:— - - “Gertrude Atherton is the ablest woman writer of fiction - now living.” - - In her most notable novel, “The Conqueror,” Gertrude Atherton - has chosen in “the true and romantic story of Alexander - Hamilton” a subject which would have attracted few woman - writers, and has handled those parts of it with which many men - have busied their brains in such a way that _The New York Times - Saturday Review_ remarked that it - - “Holds more romance than nine-tenths of the imaginative - fiction of the day and more veracity than ninety-nine - hundredths of the history. She is master of her - material.” - - “Certainly this country has produced no writer who approaches - Mrs. Atherton,” says one critic, while another adds that to have - so “re-created a great man as Mrs. Atherton has done in this - novel is to have written one’s own title to greatness.” All - alike regard it as “a thing apart” (_The Critic_); “a remarkable - production, full of force, vigour, brains, and insight” (_Boston - Herald_); “an entrancing book . . . brilliantly written” - (_Glasgow Herald_). “It is hardly too much to say that she has - invented a new kind of historical novel” is the comment of the - _Athenæum_ (London), with the addition that “the experiment is a - remarkable success.” - - Equally strong in fascination and vigour is “The Splendid Idle - Forties,” but as far removed from “The Conqueror” as were the - Eastern and Western seaboards of this country in the times of - which the stories treat, “the long, drowsy, shimmering days - before the Gringo came,” to the California of which she writes. - “Pointed, spirited, and Spanish” are these “rich and impressive” - stories; “such as could hardly have been told in any other - country since the Bagdad of the ‘Thousand and One Nights.’ The - book is full of weird fascination, and will add to Mrs. - Atherton’s deservedly high reputation,” says _The Athenæum_. - - “In this book even more than in her others is shown that - imaginative brilliancy so striking as to set one - wondering what is the secret of the effect. . . . For - the rest, her charm lies in temperament, magnetic, - restless, assertive, vivid.”—_Washington Times._ - - In close relation to “The Conqueror” stands Mrs. Atherton’s - still more recent selection of “A Few of Hamilton’s Letters,” - chosen from the great bulk of his state papers and other letters - in such a way as to bring to the average reader the means of - estimating the personality of this remarkable man from his own - words. Incidentally it is the surest refutation of some of the - hasty criticisms upon the picture of him in “The Conqueror,” - where, as Mr. Le Gallienne justly observes, “it was reserved for - Mrs. Atherton to make him really alive to the present - generation.” - - - - - The Macmillan Little Novels - - BY FAVOURITE AUTHORS - - Handsomely Bound in Decorated Cloth - 16mo 50 cents each - - * * * * * - - PHILOSOPHY FOUR - A STORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY - By Owen Wister - Author of “The Virginian,” etc. - - MAN OVERBOARD - By F. Marion Crawford - Author of “Cecilia,” “Marietta,” etc. - - MR. KEEGAN’S ELOPEMENT - By Winston Churchill - Author of “The Crisis,” “Richard Carvel,” etc. - - MRS. PENDLETON’S FOUR-IN-HAND - By Gertrude Atherton - Author of “The Conqueror,” “The Splendid - Idle Forties,” etc. - - * * * * * - - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - 66 Fifth Avenue, New York - - * * * * * - -Transcriber’s Notes: - -Spelling and hyphenation have been retained as in the original -publication. Punctuation errors have been corrected without note. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Mrs. Pendleton's Four-in-hand, by Gertrude Atherton - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Mrs. Pendleton's Four-in-hand - -Author: Gertrude Atherton - -Release Date: January 27, 2016 [EBook #51059] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS. PENDLETON'S FOUR-IN-HAND *** - - - - -Produced by Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed -Proofreaders Canada team (http://www.pgdpcanada.net) from -page images generously made available by the Internet -Archive American Libraries -(https://archive.org/details/mrspendletonsfou00atherich). - - - - - - -</pre> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0000' style='width:350px;height:auto;'/> -</div> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line'><span class='it'>LITTLE NOVELS BY</span></p> -<p class='line'><span class='it'>FAVOURITE AUTHORS</span></p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line' style='font-size:1.3em;font-weight:bold;'>Mrs. Pendleton’s</p> -<p class='line' style='font-size:1.3em;font-weight:bold;'> Four-in-hand</p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line'>GERTRUDE ATHERTON</p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<p class='pindent'><a id='front'></a></p> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i003.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0001' style='width:300px;height:auto;'/> -<p class='caption'>Gertrude Atherton</p> -</div> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i004.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0002' style='width:300px;height:auto;'/> -</div> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line' style='font-size:1.8em;font-weight:bold;'>Mrs. Pendleton’s</p> -<p class='line' style='font-size:1.8em;font-weight:bold;'> Four-in-hand</p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:1em;'>BY</p> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1.3em;font-weight:bold;'>GERTRUDE ATHERTON</p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:3em;font-size:0.9em;'>AUTHOR OF “THE CONQUEROR,” ETC.</p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:0.5em;font-size:0.9em;'>New York</p> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:0.5em;font-size:1.3em;'>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</p> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:1em;'><span class='sc'>London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.</span></p> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:1.5em;font-size:0.9em;'>1903</p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:1em;font-size:0.9em;'><span class='it'>All rights reserved</span></p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i002.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0003' style='width:150px;height:auto;'/> -</div> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:1em;'><span class='sc'>Copyright, 1902,</span></p> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:1em;'><span class='sc'>By MRS. GERTRUDE ATHERTON.</span></p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:1em;'><span class='sc'>Copyright, 1903,</span></p> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:1em;'><span class='sc'>By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.</span></p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<hr class='tbk100'/> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:2em;font-size:0.9em;'>Set up, electrotyped, and published June, 1903.</p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line'>Norwood Press</p> -<p class='line'>J. S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.</p> -<p class='line'>Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.</p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1.3em;font-weight:bold;'>ILLUSTRATIONS</p> - -<table id='tab1' summary='' class='center'> -<colgroup> -<col span='1' style='width: 20em;'/> -<col span='1' style='width: 2em;'/> -<col span='1' style='width: 10em;'/> -<col span='1' style='width: 0em;'/> -</colgroup> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>Portrait of Gertrude Atherton</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'><a href='#front'><span class='it'>Frontispiece</span></a></td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle0'></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle0'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>FACING PAGE</td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle0'></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle0'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>“‘I have been insulted’”</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'> <a href='#insul'>11</a></td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle0'></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle0'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>“‘Well, why don’t you go?’”</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'> <a href='#well'>87</a></td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle0'></td></tr> -</table> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i009.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0004' style='width:450px;height:auto;'/> -</div> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.5em;font-size:1.3em;font-weight:bold;'>MRS. PENDLETON’S</p> -<p class='line' style='font-size:1.3em;font-weight:bold;'>FOUR-IN-HAND</p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<div><h1 class='nobreak'>I</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><img src='images/J.jpg' style='float:left;' alt='J'/>essica, her hands clenched -and teeth set, stood looking -with hard eyes at a small heap -of letters lying on the floor. -The sun, blazing through the open window, -made her blink unconsciously, and -the ocean’s deep voice rising to the Newport -sands seemed to reiterate:—</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Contempt! Contempt!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Tall, finely pointed with the indescribable -air and style of the New York -woman, she did not suggest intimate -knowledge of the word the ocean hurled -to her. In that moss-green room, with -her haughty face and clean skin, her -severe faultless gown, she rather suggested -the type to whom poets a century -hence would indite their sonnets—when -she and her kind had been set in the -frame of the past. And if her dress was -conventional, she had let imagination -play with her hair. The clear evasive -colour of flame, it was brushed down to -her neck, parted, crossed, and brought -tightly up each side of her head just -behind her ears. Meeting above her -bang, the curling ends allowed to fly -loose, it vaguely resembled Medusa’s -wreath. Her eyes were grey, the colour -of mid-ocean, calm, beneath a grey sky. -Not twenty-four, she had the repose and -“air” of one whose cradle had been -rocked by Society’s foot; and although -at this moment her pride was in the -dust, there was more anger than shame -in her face.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The door opened and her hostess entered. -As Mrs. Pendleton turned slowly -and looked at her, Miss Decker gave a -little cry.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><a id='insul'></a></p> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i011.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0005' style='width:300px;height:auto;'/> -<p class='caption'>“‘I HAVE BEEN INSULTED.’”</p> -</div> - -<p class='pindent'>“Jessica!” she said, “what is the -matter?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have been insulted,” said Mrs. Pendleton, -deliberately. She felt a savage -pleasure in further humiliating herself.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Insulted! You!” Miss Decker’s -correct voice and calm brown eyes could -not have expressed more surprise and -horror if a foreign diplomatist had -snapped his fingers in the face of the -President’s wife. Even her sleek brown -hair almost quivered.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” Mrs. Pendleton went on in the -same measured tones; “four men have -told me how much they despise me.” -She walked slowly up and down the -room. Miss Decker sank upon the divan, -incredulity, curiosity, expectation, feminine -satisfaction marching across her -face in rapid procession.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have always maintained that -a married woman has a perfect right -to flirt,” continued Mrs. Pendleton. -“The more if she has married an -old man and life is somewhat of a bore. -‘Why do you marry an old man?’ -snaps the virtuous world. ‘What a -contemptible creature you are to marry -for anything but love!’ it cries, as it -eats the dust at Mammon’s feet. I -married an old man because with the -wisdom of twenty, I had made up my -mind that I could never love and -that position and wealth alone made up -the sum of existence. I had more excuse -than a girl who has been always -poor, for I had never known the arithmetic -of money until my father failed, -the year before I married. People who -have never known wealth do not realise -the purely physical suffering of those -inured to luxury and suddenly bereft -of it: it makes no difference what one’s -will or strength of character is. So—I -married Mr. Pendleton. So—I -amused myself with other men. Mr. -Pendleton gave me my head, because I -kept clear of scandal: he knew my pride. -Now, if I had spent my life demoralising -myself and the society that received -me, I could not be more bitterly punished. -I suppose I deserve it. I suppose -that the married flirt is just as -poor and paltry and contemptible a -creature as the moralist and the minister -depict her. We measure morals -by results. Therefore I hold to-day -that it is the business of a lifetime to -throw stones at the married flirt.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“For Heaven’s sake,” cried Miss -Decker, in a tone of exasperation, “stop -moralising and tell me what has happened!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do you remember Clarence Trent, -Edward Dedham, John Severance, Norton -Boswell?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do I? Poor moths!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They were apparently devoted to -me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dryly: “Apparently.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How long is it since Mr. Pendleton’s -death?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“About—he died on the sixteenth—why, -yes, it was six months yesterday -since he died.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Exactly. You see these four notes -on the floor? They are four proposals—four -proposals”—and she gave -a short hard laugh through lips whose -red had suddenly faded—“from the -four men I have just mentioned.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Miss Decker gasped. “Four proposals! -Then what on earth are you -angry about?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Pendleton’s lip curled scornfully. -She did not condescend to answer at -once. “You are clever enough at -times,” she said coldly, after a moment. -“It is odd you cannot grasp the very -palpable fact that four proposals received -on the same day, by the same -mail, from four men who are each -other’s most intimate friends, can mean -but one thing—a practical joke. Oh!” -she cried, the jealously mastered passion -springing into her voice, “that is what -infuriates me—more even than the -insult—that they should think me -such a fool as to be so easily deceived! -O—h—h!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If I remember aright,” ventured -Miss Decker, feebly, “the intimacy to -which you allude was a thing of the -past some time before you disappeared -from the world. In fact, they were not -on speaking terms.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, they have made it up long ago! -Don’t make any weak explanations, but -tell me how to turn the tables on them. -I would give my hair and wear a grey -wig—my complexion and paint—to -get even with them. And I will. But -how? How?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She paced up and down the room with -nervous steps, glancing for inspiration -from the delicate etchings on the walls to -the divan that was like a moss bank, to -the carpet that might have been a patch -of forest green, and thence to the sparkling -ocean. Miss Decker offered no -suggestions. She had perfect faith in -the genius of her friend.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Suddenly Mrs. Pendleton paused and -turned to her hostess. The red had -come back to her curled mouth. Her -eyes were luminous, as when the sun -breaks through the grey sky and falls, -dazzling, on the waters.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have it!” she said. “And a week -from to-day—I will keep them in suspense -that long—New York will have -no corner small enough to hold them.”</p> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i017.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0006' style='width:300px;height:auto;'/> -</div> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i020.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0007' style='width:450px;height:auto;'/> -</div> - -<div><h1 class='nobreak'>II</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><img src='images/T.jpg' style='float:left;' alt='T'/>he hot September day was -ten hours old. The office of -the St. Christopher Club was -still deserted but for a clerk -who looked warm and sleepy. The postman -had just left a heap of letters on his -desk, and he was sorting them for their -various pigeonholes. A young man entered, -and the clerk began to turn over -the letters more rapidly. The newcomer, -tall, thin, with sharp features -and shrewd American face, had an -extremely nervous manner. As he -passed through the vestibule a clerk at -a table put a mark opposite the name -“Mr. Clarence Trent,” to indicate that -he was in the Club.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Any letters?” he demanded of the -office clerk.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The man handed him two, and he -darted into the morning-room and tore -one open, letting the other fall to the -floor. He read as follows:—</p> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mon ami!—I have but this moment -received your letter, which seems -to have been delayed. [“Of course! -Why did I not think of that?”] I say -nothing here of the happiness which -its contents have given me. Come at -once.</p> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:5em;margin-bottom:1em;'>“Jessica Pendleton.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Our engagement must be a profound -secret until the year of my -mourning is over.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='pindent'>Trent’s drab and scanty whiskers -seemed to curl into hard knots over -the nervous facial contortion in which -he indulged. Nature being out of -material when at work upon him had -seemingly constructed his muscles from -stout twine. An inch of it joining his -nose to the upper lip, the former’s -pointed tip was wont to punctuate his -conversation and emotions with the direct -downward movement of a machine -needle puncturing cloth. He crumpled -the letter in his bony nervous fingers, -and his pale sharp grey eyes opened and -shut with sudden rapidity.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I knew I could not be mistaken,” -he thought triumphantly. “She is -mine!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In the vestibule another name was -checked off,—“Mr. Norton Boswell,”—and -its owner made eagerly for -the desk. His dark intellectual face -was flushed, and his sensitive mouth -twitched suddenly as the clerk handed -him a roll of Mss.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Never mind that,” he said hastily. -“Give me my letters.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The clerk handed him several, and, -whisking them from left to right through -his impatient hands, he thrust all but one -into his pocket and walked rapidly to -the morning-room. Seating himself -before a table, he looked at the envelope -as if not daring to solve its mystery, -then hastily tore it apart.</p> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mon ami! [Boswell, despite his ardour, -threw a glance down a certain corridor -in his memory and thought with -kindling eyes: “Oh! with what divine -sweetness did she use to utter those -two little words!” Then he fixed his -eyes greedily on the page once more.] -I have but this moment received your -letter, which seems to have been delayed.” -[“Ah!” rapturously, the paper -dancing before his eyes, “that accounts -for it. I knew she was the most tender-hearted -creature on earth.”] “I say -nothing here of the happiness which its -contents have given me. Come at once.</p> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:5em;margin-bottom:1em;'>“Jessica Pendleton.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Our engagement must be a profound -secret until the year of my mourning is -over.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='pindent'>Boswell, with quivering nostrils, -plunged a pen into the ink-well, and in -that quiet room two hearts thumped so -loudly that only passion and scratching -pens averted mutual and withering -contempt.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As Boswell left the office a very -young man entered it. He possessed -that nondescript blond complexion -which seems to be the uniform of the -New York youth of fashion. The -ciphers of the Four Hundred have -achieved the well-scrubbed appearance -of the Anglo-Saxon more successfully -than his accent. Mr. Dedham might -have been put through a clothes-wringer. -Even his minute and recent moustache -looked as if each hair had its particular -nurse, and his pink and chubby face -defied conscientious dissipation. He -sauntered up to the clerk’s desk with an -elaborate affectation of indifference, and -drawled a demand for his mail.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The clerk handed him a dainty note -sealed with a crest. He accepted it -with an absent air, although a look of -genuine boyish delight thrust its way -through the fishy inertness of his average -expression.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It took him a minute and a half -to get into the morning-room and read -these fateful lines:—</p> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mon ami,—[“Enchanting phrase! -I can hear her say it.”] I have -but this moment received your letter, -which seems to have been delayed. -[“Ah! this perfume! this perfume!”] -I say nothing here of the happiness -which its contents have given -me. Come at once.</p> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:5em;margin-bottom:1em;'>“Jessica Pendleton.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Our engagement must be a profound -secret until the year of my mourning is -over.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='pindent'>A rosy tide wandered to the roots of -Mr. Dedham’s ashen locks, and he made -a wild uncertain dab at his upper lip. -Again there was no sound in the -morning-room of the St. Christopher -Club but the furious dashing of pens, -the rending of parchment paper, the -sudden scraping of a nervous foot.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A tall broad-shouldered young man, -with much repose of face and manner, -entered the office from the avenue, -glanced at the pigeon-holes above the -clerk’s desk, then sauntered deliberately -into the morning-room and looked out -of the window. A slight rigidity of the -nostrils alone betokened the impatience -within, and his uneasy thoughts ran -somewhat as follows:—</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What a fool I have been! After all -my experience with women to make such -an ass of myself over the veriest coquette -that ever breathed; but her preference -for me last winter was so -pointed—oh, damnation!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He stood gnawing his underlip at the -lumbering ’bus, but turned suddenly as -a man approached from behind and presented -several letters on a tray. The -first and only one he opened ran thus:—</p> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mon ami!—I have but this moment -received your letter, which seems -to have been delayed. I say nothing -here of the happiness which its contents -have given me. Come at once.</p> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:5em;margin-bottom:1em;'>“Jessica Pendleton.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Our engagement must be a profound -secret until the year of my mourning is -over.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='pindent'>Severance folded the note, his face -paling a little.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, well, she is true after all. -What a brute I was to misjudge her!” -He strolled back to the office. “I will -go home and write to her, and to-morrow -I shall see her! Great Heaven! Were -six months ever so long before?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As he turned from the coat-room Boswell -entered the office by the opposite -door.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The fellow looks as gay as a lark,” -he thought. “He hasn’t looked like -that for six months. I believe I’ll make -it up with him—particularly as I’ve -come out ahead!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Give me that package,” demanded -Boswell dreamily of the clerk. Then he -caught sight of Severance. “Why, -Jack, old fellow!” he cried, “how are -you? Haven’t seen you looking so well -for an age. Don’t go out. It’s too -hot.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, hang it! I’ve got to. I’m off -for Newport to-morrow. It’s so infernally -dull in town.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Going to Newport to-morrow! So -am I. My aunt is quite ill and has sent -for me. I’m her heir, you know.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No? Didn’t know you had an -aunt. I congratulate you. Hope she’ll -go off, I’m sure.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hope so. Here comes Teddy,—looks -like an elongated rubber ball. It’s -some time since I’ve seen him so buoyant. -How are you, Teddy?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How are you, Norton, old boy?” -explained Dedham, rapturously. “How -glad I am to hear the old name once -more! You’ve given me the cold shoulder -of late.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, well, my boy, you know men -will be fools occasionally. But give by-gones -the go-by. I’m going to Newport -to-morrow. Can I take any messages -to your numerous—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Dear boy! I’m going to Newport -to-morrow. Sea-bathing ordered by my -physician.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Jove! I am in luck! Severance is -going over, too. We’ll have a jolly -time of it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I should say so!” murmured Teddy. -“Heaven! Hello, Sev, how are you? -Didn’t see you. As long as we are all -going the same way we might as well -bury our hatchet. What do you say, -dear boy?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Only too happy,” said Severance, -heartily. “And may we never unearth -it again. Here comes Trent. He looks -as if he had just been returned for the -Senate.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How are you?” demanded Trent, -peremptorily. “You have made it up? -Don’t leave me out in the cold.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dedham made a final lunge for his -deserting dignity, then sent it on its -way. “I should think not,” he cried, -with dancing eyes. “Give me your -fist.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In a moment they were all shaking -each other’s hand off, and good-fellowship -was streaming from every eye.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come over to my rooms, all of you,” -gurgled Teddy, “and have a drink.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“With pleasure, my boy,” said Trent. -“But native rudeness will compel me -to drink and run. I am off for Newport—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Newport!” cried three voices.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes; anything strange in that? -I’m going on vital business connected -with the coming election.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“This is a coincidence!” exclaimed -Boswell, with the appreciation of the -romanticist. “Why, we are all going to -Newport. Dedham in search of health, -Severance of pleasure, and I of a fortune—only -the old mummy is always -making out her cheques, but never -passes them in. Well, I hope we’ll see -a lot of each other when we get there.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, of course,” said Severance, hastily. -“We will have many another -game of polo together.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” said Dedham, “come over to -my rooms now and drink to the success -of our separate quests.”</p> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i031.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0008' style='width:300px;height:auto;'/> -</div> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i034.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0009' style='width:450px;height:auto;'/> -</div> - -<div><h1 class='nobreak'>III</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><img src='images/M.jpg' style='float:left;' alt='M'/>iss Decker paced restlessly -up and down the sea-room -waiting for the mail. Mrs. -Pendleton, more composed -but equally nervous, lay in a long -chair, with expectation in her eyes and -triumph on her lips.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Will they answer or will they not?” -exclaimed Miss Decker. “If the mail -would only come! Will they be crushed?—furious?—or—will -they apologise?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I care nothing what they do,” said -Mrs. Pendleton, languidly. “All I -wanted was to see them when they -received my notes, and later when -they met to compare them. I hold -that my revenge is a masterpiece—to -turn the joke on them and to let -them see that they could not make a -fool of me at the same time! Oh! how -dared they?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, they’ll never perpetrate another -practical joke, my dear. You have your -revenge, Jessica; you have blunted their -sense of humour for life. I doubt if they -ever even read the funny page of a newspaper -again. Here comes the postman. -There! the bell has rung. Why doesn’t -Hart go? I’ll go myself in a minute.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Pendleton’s nostrils dilated a -little, but she did not turn her head -even when the manservant entered and -held a silver tray before her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Four letters lay thereon. She placed -them on her lap but did not speak until -the man had left the room. Then she -looked at Miss Decker and gave the -letters a little sweep with the tips of -her fingers.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They have answered,” she said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Jessica, for Heaven’s sake don’t -be so iron-bound!” cried her friend. -“Read them.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You can read them if you choose. -I have no interest beyond knowing that -they received mine.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Miss Decker needed no second invitation. -She caught the letters from Mrs. -Pendleton’s lap and tore one of them -open. She read a few lines, then -dropped limply on a chair.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Jessica!” she whispered, with a -little agonised gasp, “listen to this.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Pendleton turned her eyes inquiringly, -but would not stoop to curiosity. -“Well,” she said, “I am listening.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is from Mr. Trent. And—listen:—</p> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='pindent'>“‘Angel! I think if you had kept me -waiting one day longer you would have -met a lunatic wandering on the Newport -cliffs. Last night I attended a primary -and made such an egregious idiot of myself -(although I was complimented later -upon my speech) that I shall never understand -why I was not hissed. But hereafter -I shall be inspired. And how you -will shine in Washington! That is the -place for our talents. After reading -your reserved yet impassioned note, I -do not feel that I can talk more -rationally upon politics than while in -suspense. What do you think I did? -I made it all up with Severance, Dedham, -and Boswell, whom I met just -after receiving it. I could afford to -forgive them. They, by the way, go -to Newport to-morrow. Farewell, most -brilliant of women, destined by Heaven -to be the wife of a diplomatist—for I -will confide to you that that is my ultimate -ambition. Until to-morrow,</p> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:5em;'>“‘Clarence Trent.’”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well! What do you think of that?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A pink wave had risen to Mrs. Pendleton’s -hair, then receded and broken upon -the haughty curve of her mouth.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Read the others,” she said briefly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh! how can you be so cool?” and -Miss Decker opened another note with -trembling fingers.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is from Norton Boswell:—</p> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='pindent'>“‘You once chided me for looking at -the world through grey spectacles, and -bade me always hope for the best until -the worst was decided. When you were -near to encourage me the sky was often -pink, but even the memory of the last -six months has faded before the agonised -suspense of these seven days. Oh! I -shall be an author now, if suffering is the -final lesson. But what incoherent stuff I -am writing! Loneliness and despair are -alike forgotten. I can write no more! -To-morrow! To-morrow!</p> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:5em;'>“‘Boswell.’”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='pindent'>“Read Severance’s,” said Jessica, -quickly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I believe you like that man!” exclaimed -Miss Decker. “I think he’s -a brute. But you’re in a scrape. This -is from the lordly Severance:—</p> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='pindent'>“‘An Englishman once said of you, -with a drawl which wound the words -about my memory—“Y-a-a-s; she flirts -on ice, so to speak.” Coldest and most -subtle of women, why did you keep me -in suspense for seven long days? Do -you think I believe that fiction of the -delayed letter? You forget that we -have met before. But why torment me? -Did I not in common decency have to -wait six months before I dared put my -fate to the test? How I counted those -days! I had a calendar and a pencil—in -short, I made a fool of myself. Now -the chess-board is between us once more: -we start on even ground; we will play a -keen and close game to the end of our -natural lives. I love you; but I know -you. I will kiss the rod—until we -marry; after that—we shall play chess. -I shall see you to-morrow.</p> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:5em;'>“‘S.’”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, that’s what I call a beast of a -man,” said Miss Decker.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I hate him!” said Jessica, between -her teeth.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She looked hard at the ocean. Under -its grey sky to-day it was the colour of -her eyes, as cold and as unfathomable. -The glittering Medusa-like ends of her -hair seemed to leap upward and writhe -at each other.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I should think you would hate him,” -said Miss Decker; “he is the only living -man who ever got the best of you. But -listen to what your devoted infant has -to say. Nice little boy, Teddy:—</p> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='pindent'>“‘Dearest! Sweetest! Do you know -that I am almost dancing for joy at this -moment? Indeed, my feet are going -faster than my pen. To think! To -think!—you really <span class='it'>do</span> love me after -all. But I always said you were not a -flirt. I knocked a man down once and -challenged him to a duel because he -said you were. He wouldn’t fight, but -I had the satisfaction of letting him -know what I thought of him. And now -I can prove it to all the world! But I -can’t write any more. There are three -blots on this now—the pen is jumping -and you know I never was much at -writing letters. But I can talk, and to-morrow -I will tell you all.</p> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:5em;margin-bottom:1em;'>“‘Your own Teddy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“‘P.S.—Is it not queer—quite a coincidence—Severance, -Trent, and Boswell -are going to Newport to-morrow, -too. How proud I shall be! But no, -I take that back; I only pity them, poor -devils, from the bottom of my heart; or -I would if it wasn’t filled up with you.</p> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:5em;'>“‘T.’”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, madam, you’re in a scrape, and -I don’t envy you. What will you do?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Pendleton pressed her head -against the back of the chair, straining -her head upward as if she wanted the -salt breeze to rasp her throat.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have been so bored for six -months,” she said slowly. “Let them -come. I will see each of them alone, -and keep the farce going for a week or -so. It will be amusing—to be engaged -to four men at once. You will command -the forces and see that they do -not meet. Of course, it cannot be kept -up very long, and when all resources -are failing I will let them meet and -make them madly jealous. It will do -one of them good, at least.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, you have courage,” ejaculated -Miss Decker. “You can’t do it. But -yes, you can. If the woman lives who -can play jackstraws with firebrands, that -woman is you. And what fun! We -are so dull here—both in mourning. -I’ll help you. I’ll carry out your instructions -like a major.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Pendleton rose and walked up -and down the room once or twice. -“There is only one thing,” she said, -drawing her brows together: “if I am -engaged to them they will want to—h’m—kiss -me, you know. It will be rather -awkward. I never was engaged to any -one but Mr. Pendleton, and he used to -kiss me on my forehead and say, ‘My -dear child.’ I am afraid they won’t be -contented with that.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am afraid they won’t! But you -have tact enough. Come, say you will -do it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said Jessica, “I will do it. In -my boarding-school days I used to dream -of being a tragedy queen; I find myself -thrust by circumstances into comedy. -But I have no doubt it will suit my -talents better.”</p> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i043.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0010' style='width:300px;height:auto;'/> -</div> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i046.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0011' style='width:450px;height:auto;'/> -</div> - -<div><h1 class='nobreak'>IV</h1></div> - -<h2 class='nobreak'>SCENE I</h2> - -<p class='noindent'><img src='images/S.jpg' style='float:left;' alt='S'/>everance strode impatiently -up and down the room -overlooking the ocean.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“‘Will be down in a minute.’ I suppose -that means the usual thirty for -reflection and contemplation of bric-à-brac. -What a pretty room! No bric-à-brac -in it, by the way. I wonder if -this is the room my lady Jessica is said -to have furnished to suit herself? It -looks like a woodland glade. She must -look stunning against those moss-green -curtains. I wonder how madam liked -my letter? It was rather brutal, but to -manage a witch you have got to be Jove -astride a high horse. Here she comes. -I know that perfume. She uses it to -sweeten the venom of those snakes of -hers.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Pendleton entered and gave him -her hand with frank welcome. Her -“snakes” seemed vibrant with life and -defiance, and her individuality pierced -through her white conventional gown -like a solitary star in a hueless sky.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How do you do?” she asked, shaking -his hand warmly; then she sat -down at once as a matter of course.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He understood the manœuvre.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let us play chess, by all means,” he -said and took a chair opposite. “Your -seclusion has done you good,” he added, -smiling as the crest of a wave appeared -in her eyes. “You have lost your -fagged look and are more like a girl -than a widow. Dissipation does not -agree with you. Two more winters! -You would try to make up for it by -your wit, and then your nose would get -sharp, and you would have a line down -the middle of your forehead and another -on each side of your mouth.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are as rude as ever,” said Jessica, -coldly; but the wave in her eyes -threatened to become tidal. “If you -marry a blonde and incarcerate her, -however, you may find the effect more -bleaching than Society.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Was that a reflection upon my own -society? I do not incarcerate; I only -warn.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“So do I,” said Mrs. Pendleton, significantly; -“I have occasionally got -the best of a bad bargain.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And as you will find me the worst -in the world you are already on the -defensive,” said Severance, with a laugh. -“Come, I have not seen you for six -months, and I am hard hit. I wrote -you that I marked off each day with -a pencil—a red one at that; I bought -it for the occasion. Don’t take a base -advantage of the admission, but give -me one kind syllable. I ask for it as -humbly as a dog does for a bone.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You do, indeed. I began by making -disagreeable remarks about your personal -appearance, did I not? If -you will be a brute, I will be a—cat.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You will acquit yourself with credit. -But I will not quarrel with you to-day.” -He rose suddenly and went over to her, -but she was already on her feet. She -dropped her eyes, then raised them appealingly; -but the sea was level.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do not kiss me,” she said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why not?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I would rather not—yet. Do you -know that I have never kissed a man—a -lover, I mean—in my life? And -this is so sudden—I would rather -wait.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He raised her hand chivalrously to -his lips. “I will wait,” he said; “but -you will wear my ring?” And he took -a circlet from his pocket and slipped it -on her finger.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Thank you,” she said simply and -touched it with a little caressing motion.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He dropped her hand and stepped -back. Miss Decker had pushed aside -the portière.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How do you do, Mr. Severance?” -she said cordially; “I did not interrupt -even to congratulate, but to take Jessica -away for a moment. My dear, your -dressmaker came down on the train -with Mr. Severance and has but a -minute. You had better go at once, -for you know her temper is not sweet.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Provoking thing!” said Jessica, -with a pout. It was the fourth mood -to which she treated Severance in this -short interview, and he looked at her -with delight. “But I will get rid of -her as soon as possible. Will you excuse -me for a few moments? I will be -back in ten.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“A dressmaker is the only tyrant to -whom I bow, the only foe before whom -I lay down my arms. Go; but come -back soon.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“In ten minutes.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Which is it, and where is he?” she -whispered eagerly as they crossed the -hall.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mr. Trent. He is in the library.”</p> - -<h2 class='nobreak'>SCENE II</h2> - -<p class='pindent'>Trent was standing before a bust of -Daniel Webster, speculating upon how -his own profile would look in bronze.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You would have to shave off your -side-whiskers,” murmured a soft voice -behind him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He turned with a nervous start, and a -suspicion of colour appeared under his -grey skin. Mrs. Pendleton was standing -with her hands resting lightly on -the table. She smiled with saucy dignity—an -art she had brought to perfection.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I give you five years,” she said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“With you to help me,” he cried -enthusiastically. “Ah! I see you now, -leaning on the arm of a foreign ambassador, -going in to some great diplomatic -dinner!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is too bad, I shall have to take -the arm of a small one; you will be -but the American minister, you know. -(Great Heaven! how determined he -looks! I know he means to kiss me. -If I can only keep his ambition going.)”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I will be senator first, and pass a -bill placing this country on an equal -diplomatic footing with the proudest in -Europe. You will then go to your embassy -as the wife of an ambassador.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I know you will accomplish it; and -let it be Paris. I cannot endure to shop -anywhere else.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It shall be Paris.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Are you not tired?” she asked -hurriedly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tired? I have not thought of -fatigue.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The day is so warm.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have not felt it. Jessica!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“O—h—h—h!” and catching her -face convulsively in her hand, she sank -into a chair.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What is it? What is it?” he cried, -hopping about her like an agitated spider, -the tip of his nose punctuating his excitement. -“What can I do? Are you ill?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Faintly: “Neuralgia.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What shall I ring for? Antipyrine? -Horse-radish for your wrists? Belladonna? -What?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Nothing. Sit down and talk to me, -and perhaps it will go away. Tell me -something about yourself, and I’ll forget -it. Sit down.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There is but little to tell. I have -been busy making friends against the -next election. I have addressed several -meetings with great success. I -have every chance for the House -this time—for the Senate next term. -How’s your face?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Misery! You said that several of -my old friends came down with you. -How odd!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Was it not?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I suppose they will all come to see -me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“H’m. I don’t know. Doubt if they -know you are here. I shall not tell -them. They would only be coming to -see you and getting in my way. I’ll -wait until our wedding-day approaches -and ask them to be ushers. But now, -Jessica, that you do not seem to suffer -so acutely—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh! Oh! (Thank Heaven, I hear -Edith.)”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Trent sprang to his feet in genuine -alarm. “Dearest! Let me go for the -doctor. I cannot stand this—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Miss Decker entered with apparent -haste, spoke to Trent, then stopped -abruptly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Jessica!” she cried. “What is the -matter?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“My face! You know how I have -suffered—worse than ever.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you poor dear! She is such a -martyr, Mr. Trent, with that tooth—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Neuralgia!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I mean neuralgia! She was up -all night. But, my dear, don’t think -me a heartless fiend, but you must see -your lawyer. He is here with those -deeds for you to sign, and he says -that he must catch the train.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That estate has given me so much -trouble,” murmured Mrs. Pendleton, -wretchedly; “and how can I talk -business when my head is on the -rack? I do not wish to leave Mr. -Trent so soon, either.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Leave Mr. Trent to me. I will entertain -him. I will talk to him about -you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“May I speak to you one moment -before you go?” asked Trent.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” pinching her lips with extremest -pain, “you need not mind -Edith.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Not in the least.” He took a box -from his pocket with an air of resignation -which boded well for the trials of a -diplomatic career. “I cannot wait longer -to fetter you. You told me once that -the emerald was your favourite stone.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She relaxed her lips and swept her -lashes down and up rapturously. “So -good of you to remember,” she murmured; -“it reminds me of mermaids -and things, and I love it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You were always so poetical! But -where did you get that ring? I thought -you never wore rings. On your engagement -finger, too!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It was a present from grandma, and -I wear it to please her. I’ll slip it in my -pocket now—it is too large for any other -finger—and you can put yours where it -belongs.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You will never take it off until you -need its place for your wedding-ring?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Never!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Angel! And your face is better?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes; but Edith is looking directly -this way.”</p> - -<h2 class='nobreak'>SCENE III</h2> - -<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Pendleton entered the drawing-room -on tiptoe, with hand upraised.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well! the sky did not fall, and the -train did not ditch, and the lightning did -not strike, and we are neither of us dead. -And you—you look as strapping as a -West Point cadet. Fie upon your principles!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That is a charming tirade with which -to greet an impatient lover,” cried Boswell, -with beaming face. “You are -serious, of course?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have heard the parable of a -woman’s ‘No’?” She gave both his -outstretched hands a little shake, then -retreated behind a chair and rested both -arms on its back.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“My anger is appeased, but I think I -am entitled to some recompense.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What can he mean? Would you -prefer sherry or red wine?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There is a draught brewed upon -Olympus which the gods call nectar—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“So sorry. We are just out. I gave -the last thimbleful away an hour ago.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you did! May I inquire to -whom you gave it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You may, indeed. And I would tell -you—could I only remember.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Provoking—goddess! But perhaps -you will allow me to look for myself. -Perchance I might find a drop or two -remaining. I am willing to take what -I can get and be thankful.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then you will never get much,” she -thought. “The dregs are always bitter.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There can be no dregs to the nectar -in question.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And the last drop always goes to the -head. I have heard it asserted upon -authority. Think of the scandal—the -butler—oh, Heaven!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The intoxication would make me but -tread the air. I should walk right over -the butler’s head. Where did you get -that ring?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Is it not lovely? It was” (heaving -a profound sigh) “the last gift of -poor dear Mr. Pendleton.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Indeed! Well, under the circumstances, -perhaps you will not mind removing -it and wearing that of another -unfortunate,” and he placed one knee -on the chair over which she leaned and -produced a ring.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Not at all. What a beauty! How -did you know that the ruby was my -favourite stone?” And she bent her -body backward, under pretence of holding -the stone up to the light.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But you have a number of rubies -and pearls in your possession, of which -I consider myself the rightful owner. -Shall I have to call in the law to give -me mine own?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The pearls are sharp, and the rubies -may be paste. I have the best of the -bargain.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am a connoisseur on the subject of -precious stones—of precious articles of -all sorts, in fact. What an outrageous -coquette you are! What is the use of -keeping a man in misery?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why are men always in such a -hurry? If I were a man now—and an -author—I should wait for moonlight, -waves breaking on rocks, and all the -rest of it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All the old property business, in -short. I am both a man and an author, -therefore I know the folly of delay in -this short life.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But suppose the door should open -suddenly?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have been here ten minutes, and it -has not opened yet.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But it might, you know; and the -small boys of this house are an exaggeration -of all that have gone before. -Ah! here comes some one. Sit down on -that chair instantly.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Miss Decker entered and looked deprecatingly -at Boswell.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have come at last,” she said. -“We were afraid something had happened -to you. I cannot help this -interruption, Jessica. Your grandmother -is here and wants to see you -immediately. She has been telegraphed -for to go to Philadelphia; -Mrs. Armstrong is very ill. I would -not keep her waiting.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Poor grandma! To think of her -being obliged to go to Philadelphia in -September. Where is she?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“In the yellow reception-room. Mr. -Boswell will excuse you for a few -minutes.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Boswell bowed, his face stamped with -gloom.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What have you done with the -others?” asked Jessica, as she closed -the door.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mr. Severance is storming up and -down the sea-room. Mr. Trent is like -a caged lion in the library; I expect -to hear a crash every minute. But both -know what lawyers and dressmakers -mean. Boswell will learn something of -grandmothers. But they are safe for -a quarter of an hour longer. Trust all -to me.”</p> - -<h2 class='nobreak'>SCENE IV</h2> - -<p class='pindent'>Dedham was sitting on the edge of -one of the reception-room chairs, locking -and unlocking his fingers until his -hands were as red as those of a son of -toil. He was nervous, happy, terrified, -annoyed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That beastly porter to keep me -waiting so long for my portmanteau!” -he almost cried aloud. “What must -she think of me?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You wicked boy!” said a voice -of gentle reproach. “What made you -so late? I was just about to send -and inquire if anything had happened -to you. But sit down. How tired you -must be! Would you like a glass of -sherry and a biscuit?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Nothing! Nothing! You know, it’s -not my fault that I’m late. My portmanteau -got mislaid and my travelling -clothes were so dusty. And you really -are glad to see me?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What a question! It makes me feel -young again to see you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Young again! You!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am twenty-four, Teddy, and a -widow,” and she shook her head sadly. -“I feel fearfully old—like your mother. -I have had so much care and responsibility -in my life, and you are so careless -and debonair.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’ll make me cry in a minute,” -said Teddy; “and I wish you wouldn’t -talk like that. You seem to put a whole -Adirondack between us.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I can’t help it. Perhaps I’ll get over -it after a time. It’s so sad being mewed -up six whole months!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then marry me right off. That’s -just the point. We’ll go and travel and -have a jolly good time. That’ll brace -you up and make you feel as young as -you look.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I can’t, Teddy. I must wait a year -in common decency. Think how people -would talk.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let ’em. They’ll soon find something -else and forget us. Marry me -next month.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Next month—well—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It would be rather fun to be the hero -and heroine of a sensation, anyhow. -That’s what everybody’s after. You’re -just a nonentity until you’ve been black-guarded -in the papers. Whose ring is -that?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“One of Edith’s. I put it on to remember -something by.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, take it off and wear this instead. -It’ll help your memory just as -well.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What, a solitaire!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I knew you would prefer it. I know -all your tastes by instinct.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You do, Teddy. Coloured stones -are so tiresome.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“By the way, I think your old admirer, -Severance, must be about to put himself -in silken fetters, as Boswell would say. -I caught him buying an unusually fine -sapphire in Tiffany’s yesterday. Said -it was for his sister. H’m—h’m.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ah! I wonder who it can be?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t know. Hasn’t looked at a -woman since you left. But I have a -strong suspicion that it is some one here -in Newport.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Here! I wonder if it can be Edith?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Miss Decker? Sure enough. Never -seemed to pay her much attention, -though. She’s not my style; too much -like sixteen dozen other New York girls.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He buttoned up his coat, braced himself -against it, and gave his moustache -a frantic twist.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mrs.—Jessica!” he ejaculated desperately, -“you are engaged to me—won’t -you—won’t you—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She drew herself up and glanced down -upon him from her higher chair with a -look of sad disapproval.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I did not think it of you, Teddy,” -she said. “And it is one of the things -of which I have never approved.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But why not?” asked Teddy, feebly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I thought you knew me better than -to ask such a question.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I know you are an angel—oh, hang -it! You do make me feel as if you -<span class='it'>were</span> my mother.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Now, don’t be unreasonable, or I -shall believe that you are a tyrant.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“A tyrant? I? Horri—no, I wish -I was. What a model of propriety you -are! I never should have thought it—I -mean—darling! you were always such -a coquette, you know. Not that I ever -thought so. You know I never did—oh, -hang it all—but if I let you have -your own way in this unreasonable—I -mean this perfectly natural whim—you -might at least promise to marry me -in a month. And, indeed, I think that -if you are an angel, I am a saint.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, on one condition.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Any! Any!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It must be an absolute secret until -the wedding is over. I hate congratulations, -and if we are going to have a sensation -we might as well have a good -concentrated one.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I agree with you, and I’ll never find -fault with you again. You—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Miss Decker almost ran into the room.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Jessica!” she cried. “Oh, dear Mr. -Dedham, how are you? Jessica, mother -has one of her terrible attacks, and I -must ask you to stay with her while I -go for the doctor myself. I cannot trust -servants.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let me go! let me go!” cried Teddy. -“I’ll bring him back in a quarter of an -hour. Who shall—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Coleman. He lives—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I know. Au revoir!” And the -girls were alone.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There!” exclaimed Miss Decker, -“we have got rid of him. Now for the -others. You slip upstairs, and I’ll dispose -of them one by one. You are taken -suddenly ill. Teddy will not be back -for an hour. Dr. Coleman has moved.”</p> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i067.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0012' style='width:300px;height:auto;'/> -</div> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i070.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0013' style='width:450px;height:auto;'/> -</div> - -<div><h1 class='nobreak'>V</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><img src='images/A.jpg' style='float:left;' alt='A'/> lamp burned in the sea-room, -and the two girls were sitting -in their evening gowns before a -bright log fire. Miss Decker -was in white this time—an elaborate -French concoction of embroidered muslin -which made her look like an expensive -fashion plate. Jessica wore a low-cut -black crêpe, above which she rose like -carved ivory and brass. The snakes -to-night were held in place by diamond -hair-pins that glittered like baleful eyes. -In her lap sparkled four rings.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What shall I do?” she exclaimed. -“If my life depended upon it, I could -not remember who gave me which.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let us think. What sort of a stone -would a politician be most likely to -choose?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Pendleton laughed. “A good -idea. If couleur de rose be synonymous -with conceit, then I think the ruby must -have come from Mr. Trent.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am sure of it. And as your author -is always in the dumps, I am certain he -takes naturally to the sapphire.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But the emerald—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Is emblematic of your deluded -Teddy. The solitaire therefore falls -naturally to Mr. Severance. Well, now -that you have got through the first interviews -in safety, what are you going to -do next?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Edith, I do not know. They are all -so dreadfully in earnest that I believe -I shall finally take to my heels in down-right -terror. But no, I won’t. I’ll come -out of it with the upper hand and save -my reputation as an actress. I will keep -it up for two or three days more, but -after that it will be impossible. They -are bound to meet here sooner or later. -Thank Heaven, we are rid of them for -to-night, at least!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The manservant threw back the -portière.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mr. Trent!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Heavens!” cried Edith, under her -breath; “I forgot to give orders that we -were not receiv—how do you do, Mr. -Trent?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And which is his ring?” Jessica -made a frenzied dab at the jewels in her -lap. She slipped the sapphire on her -finger and hid the others under a -cushion. Trent, who had been detained -a moment by Miss Decker, advanced to -her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is very soon to come again,” he -said, “but I simply had to call and inquire -if you felt better. I am delighted -to see that you apparently do.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am better, thank you.” Her voice -was weak. “It was good of you to -come again.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Whose ring is that?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why—a—to—sure—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Jessica!” cried Miss Decker, “have -you gone off with my ring again? You -are so absent-minded! I hunted for -that ring high and low!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You should not be so good-natured, -and my memory would turn over a new -leaf. Here, take it.” She tossed the -ring to Miss Decker and raised her eyes -guiltily to Trent’s. “Shall I go up and -get the other?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No. But I thought you promised -never to take it off.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I forgot that water ruins stones.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, it is a consolation to know that -water does not ruin a certain plain gold -circlet.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mr. Boswell!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Jessica gasped and looked at the -flames. A crisis had come. Would -she be clever enough? Then the situation -stimulated her. She held out her -hand to Boswell.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have come to see me?” she -cried delightedly. “Mr. Trent has just -been telling us that you came down with -him, and I hoped you would call soon.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, to be sure—to be sure. You -might have known I would call soon.” -He bowed stiffly to Trent, and, seating -himself close beside Jessica, murmured -in her ear: “Cannot you get rid of that -fellow? How did he find you out so -soon?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why, he came to see Edith, of -course. Do you not remember how -devoted he always was to her?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I do not—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“May I ask what you are whispering -about, Mr. Boswell?” demanded Trent, -breaking from Miss Decker. “Is he -confiding to you the astounding success -of his last novel, Mrs. Pendleton? Or -was it a history of the United States? -I really forget.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Not the last, certainly. I leave it -to you to make history—an abridged -edition. My ambition is a more humble -one.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you will both need biographers,” -said Mrs. Pendleton, who was beginning -to enjoy herself. “I will give you an -idea. Join the Theosophists. Arrange -for reincarnation. Come back in the -next generation and write your own -biographies. Then your friends and -families cannot complain you have -not had justice done you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ha! ha!” said Trent.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are as cruel as ever,” said Boswell, -with a sigh. “Where is my ring?” -he whispered.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It was so large that I could not -keep it on. I must have a guard -made.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Dear little fingers—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You may never have been taught -when you were a small boy, Mr. Boswell,” -interrupted Trent, “that it is -rude to whisper in company. Therefore, -to save your manners in Mrs. Pendleton’s -eyes, I will do you the kindness -to prevent further lapse.” And he -seated himself on the other side of -Jessica and glared defiantly at Boswell.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mr. Severance and Mr. Dedham!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Severance entered hurriedly. “I am -so glad to hear—ah, Boswell! Trent!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How odd that you should all find -your way here the very first evening -of your arrival!” And Jessica held -out her hand with a placid smile. Miss -Decker was more nervous, but five -seasons were behind her. “Ah!” continued -Mrs. Pendleton, “and Mr. Dedham, -too! This is a most charming -reunion!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Charming beyond expression!” said -Severance.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Trent and Boswell being obliged to -rise when Miss Decker went forward to -meet the newcomers, Severance took -the former’s chair, Dedham that of the -future statesman.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are better?” whispered Severance. -“I have been anxious.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I have been worried to death!” -murmured Teddy in her other ear. -“That wretched doctor had not only -moved but gone out of town; and when -I came back at last and found—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mr. Severance,” exclaimed Trent, -“you have my chair.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Is this your chair? You have good -taste. A remarkably comfortable chair.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You would oblige me—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“By keeping it? Certainly. You -were ever generous, but that I believe -is a characteristic of genius.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mrs. Pendleton,” said Boswell, plaintively, -“as Mr. Dedham has taken my -chair, I will take this stool at your -feet.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Trent was obliged to lean his elbow -on the mantelpiece, for want of a better -view of Mrs. Pendleton, and Miss -Decker sat on the other side of Dedham.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How are you, Teddy?” she said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Young and happy. You must let -me congratulate you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“For what?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I see you wear Severance’s ring. -Ah, Sev, did the ring suit your sister?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“To a T. Said it was her favourite -stone.” He stopped abruptly. “What -the deuce—” below his breath; and -Jessica whispered hurriedly:—</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Edith was looking at it when Mr. -Trent came in, and forgot to return -it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ah! Boswell, I am sure you are -sitting on Mrs. Pendleton’s foot. By -the way, how is your aunt?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Dead—better.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I wonder you could tear yourself -away so soon,” said Trent, viciously. -“You’d better be careful. She might -make a new will.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t worry. I spent the happiest -fifteen minutes of my life with her this -afternoon. She promised me all.” He -turned to Severance. “You have been -breaking hearts on the beach, I suppose.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Which is better, at all events, than -breaking one’s head against a stone -wall.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Politics brought you here, I suppose, -Mr. Trent,” interrupted Miss Decker. -“I hear you made a stirring speech the -other night.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I did. It was on the question of -Radicalism in the Press <span class='it'>versus</span> Civil -Service Reform. Something must be -done to revolutionise this hotbed of -iniquity, American politics. Such -principles need courage, but when the -hour comes the man must not be -wanting—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That was all in the paper next -morning,” drawled Boswell. “Mrs. -Pendleton, did you receive the copy of -my new book I sent a fortnight ago? -Unlike many of my others, I had no -difficulty in disposing of it. It was -lighter, brighter, less philosophy, less—brains. -The critics understood it, -therefore they were kind. They even -said—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t quote the critics, for Heaven’s -sake,” said Severance. “It is enough -to have read them.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Mrs. Pendleton,” exclaimed -Teddy, “if you could have been at -the yacht race! Such excitement, -such—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“To change the subject,” said Trent, -with determination in his eye, “Mrs. -Pendleton, did you receive all the -marked papers I sent you containing -my speeches, especially the one on -Jesuitism in Politics?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t bother Mrs. Pendleton with -politics!” exclaimed Boswell, whose -own egotism was kicking against its -bars. “You did not think my book -too long, did you? One purblind critic -said—”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good night, Mrs. Pendleton,” said -Severance, rising abruptly. “Good -evening,” and he bowed to Miss -Decker and to the men. Jessica rose -suddenly and went with him to the -door.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am going to walk on the cliffs—‘Forty -Steps’—at eleven to-morrow,” -she said, as she gave him her hand. -“This may be unconventional, but <span class='it'>I</span> -choose to do it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He bowed over her hand. “Mrs. -Pendleton will only have set one more -fashion,” he said. “I shall be there.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As he left the room by one door, Jessica -crossed the room and opened another.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good night,” she said to the astounded -company, and withdrew.</p> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i081.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0014' style='width:300px;height:auto;'/> -</div> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i084.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0015' style='width:450px;height:auto;'/> -</div> - -<div><h1 class='nobreak'>VI</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><img src='images/S.jpg' style='float:left;' alt='S'/>everance sauntered up and -down the “Forty Steps,” the -repose of his bearing belying -the agitation within.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why on earth doesn’t she come?” -he thought uneasily. “Can she be ill -again? She is ten minutes behind time -now. What did it mean—all those fellows -there last night? She looked like -an amused spectator at a play, and Miss -Decker was nervous, actually nervous. -Damn it! Here they all come. What -do they mean by keeping under my heels -like this?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dedham, Trent, and Boswell strolled -up from various directions, and, although -each had expectation in his eye, none -looked overjoyed to see the other men. -There were four cold nods, a dead -pause, and then Teddy gave a little -cough.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Beautiful after—I mean morning.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is indeed,” said Severance. “I -wonder you are not taking your salt-water -constitutional.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I always take a walk in the morning;” -and Teddy glanced nervously over -his shoulder.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Boswell and Trent, each with a little -missive burning his pocket, turned red, -fidgeted, glared at the ocean, and made -no remark. Severance darted a glance -at each of the three in succession, and -then looked at the ground with a contemplative -stare. At this moment Mrs. -Pendleton appeared.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Three of the men advanced to meet -her with an awkward attempt at surprise, -but she waved them back.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have something to say to you,” she -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The cold languor of her face had given -place to an expression of haughty triumph. -A gleam of conscious power lay -deep in her scornful eyes. The final act -in the drama had come, and the dénouement -should be worthy of her talents. -She looked like a judge who had smiled -encouragement to a guilty defendant -only to confer the sentence of capital -punishment at last.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Gentlemen,” she said, and even her -voice was judicatorial, “I have asked -you all to meet me here this morning”—(three -angry starts, but she went on -unmoved)—“because I came to the -conclusion last night that it is quite time -this farce should end. I am somewhat -bored myself, and I have no doubt you -are so, as well. Your joke was a clever -one, worthy of the idle days of autumn. -When I received your four proposals by -the same mail, I appreciated your wit—I -will say more, your genius—and felt -glad to do anything I could to contribute -to your amusement, especially as all the -world is away and I knew how dull you -must be. So I accepted each of you, -as you know, had four charming interviews -and one memorable one of a more -composite nature; and now that we have -all agreed that the spicy and original -little drama has run its length I take -pleasure in restoring your rings.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She took from her handkerchief a -beautiful little casket of blue onyx, upon -which reposed the Pendleton crest in -diamonds, touched a spring, and revealed -four rings sparkling about as -many velvet cushions. The four men -stood speechless; not one dared protest -his sincerity and see ridicule in the eyes -of his neighbour.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Pendleton dropped her judicial -air, and taking the ruby between her -fingers, smiled like a teacher bestowing -a prize.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mr. Boswell,” she said, “I believe -this belongs to you;” and she handed -the ring to the stupefied author. He -put it in his pocket with never a word.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She raised the emerald. “Mr. Trent, -this is yours?—or is it the sapphire?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'><a id='well'></a></p> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i088.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0016' style='width:300px;height:auto;'/> -<p class='caption'>“‘<span class='sc'>Well, why don’t you go?</span>’”</p> -</div> - -<p class='pindent'>“The emerald,” snorted Trent.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She dropped it in his nerveless palm -with a gracious bend of the head, and -turned to Teddy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You gave me a solitaire, I remember,” -she said sweetly. “A most appropriate -gift, for it is the ideal life.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Teddy looked as if about to burst into -tears, gave her one beseeching glance, -then took his ring and strode feebly over -the cliffs. Trent and Boswell hesitated -a moment, then hurried after.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Jessica held the casket to Severance, -with a little outward sweep of her wrist. -He took it and, folding his arms, looked -at her steadily. A tide of angry colour -rose to her hair, then she turned her -back upon him and looking out over -the water tapped her foot on the rocks.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why do you not go?” she asked. “I -hate you more than any one on earth.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No. You love me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I hate you! You are a brute! The -coolest, the rudest, the most exasperating -man on—on earth.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That is the reason you love me. My -dear Mrs. Pendleton,” he continued, taking -the ring from the casket and laying -the latter on a rock, “a woman of brains -and headstrong will—but unegoistic—likes -a brutal and masterful man. An -egoistical woman, whether she be fool -or brilliant, likes a slave. The reason is -that egoism, not being a feminine quality -primarily, but borrowed from man, places -its fair possessor outside of her sex’s -limitations and supplies her with the -satisfying simulacrum of those stronger -characteristics which she would otherwise -look for in man. You are not an -egoist.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He took her hand and removed her -glove in spite of her resistance.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t struggle. You would only -look ridiculous if any one should pass. -Besides, it is useless. I am so much -stronger. I do not know or care what -really possessed you to indulge in such -a freak as to engage yourself to four -men at once,” he continued, slipping the -ring on her finger. “You had your joke, -and I hope you enjoyed it. The dénouement -was highly dramatic. As I -said, I desire no explanation, for I am -never concerned with anything but results. -And now—you are going to -marry me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am not!” sobbed Jessica.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are.” He glanced about. No -one was in sight. He put his arm about -her shoulders, forcing her own to her -sides, then bent back her head and -kissed her on the mouth.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Checkmate!” he said.</p> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i091.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0017' style='width:300px;height:auto;'/> -</div> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='hang'>GERTRUDE ATHERTON was born in -San Francisco and received her early -education in California and Kentucky, -but her best training was in her grandfather’s -library, a collection, it is said, -of English masterpieces only, containing -no American fiction whatever. Yet Mrs. -Atherton is as thorough an American -as a niece, in the third generation, of -Benjamin Franklin should be.</p> - -<p class='hang'>It seems to have been the English critics -who first recognised her originality, -power, intensity, vividness, and vitality, -but from her first book, “What Dreams -May Come,” published in 1888, her writings -have revealed the unusual combination -of brains and feeling. This gives -her work both keen, clever strength and -brilliancy of colour, developed through -years of hard work, many of which were -spent abroad, and reaching their best -manifestation in her latest fiction, the -one quality in “The Conqueror” and the -other in “The Splendid Idle Forties.” -Both of these books go to prove the -foresight of Mr. Harold Frederic, who, -shortly before his death, declared her -to be “the only woman in contemporary -literature who knew how to write a -novel,” and that her future work would -be her best. Another eminent English -critic, Dr. Robertson Nicholl, spoke for -some of the best students of modern -literature in saying:—</p> - -<div class='blockquote0r9'> - -<p class='pindent'>“Gertrude Atherton is the ablest -woman writer of fiction now living.”</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='hang'>In her most notable novel, “The Conqueror,” -Gertrude Atherton has chosen -in “the true and romantic story of Alexander -Hamilton” a subject which would -have attracted few woman writers, and -has handled those parts of it with which -many men have busied their brains in -such a way that <span class='it'>The New York Times -Saturday Review</span> remarked that it</p> - -<div class='blockquote0r9'> - -<p class='pindent'>“Holds more romance than nine-tenths -of the imaginative fiction of the -day and more veracity than ninety-nine -hundredths of the history. She is master -of her material.”</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='hang'>“Certainly this country has produced no -writer who approaches Mrs. Atherton,” -says one critic, while another adds that -to have so “re-created a great man as -Mrs. Atherton has done in this novel is -to have written one’s own title to greatness.” -All alike regard it as “a thing -apart” (<span class='it'>The Critic</span>); “a remarkable production, -full of force, vigour, brains, and -insight” (<span class='it'>Boston Herald</span>); “an entrancing -book . . . brilliantly written” (<span class='it'>Glasgow -Herald</span>). “It is hardly too much to -say that she has invented a new kind of -historical novel” is the comment of the -<span class='it'>Athenæum</span> (London), with the addition -that “the experiment is a remarkable -success.”</p> - -<p class='hang'>Equally strong in fascination and vigour is -“The Splendid Idle Forties,” but as far -removed from “The Conqueror” as were -the Eastern and Western seaboards of -this country in the times of which the -stories treat, “the long, drowsy, shimmering -days before the Gringo came,” -to the California of which she writes. -“Pointed, spirited, and Spanish” are -these “rich and impressive” stories; -“such as could hardly have been told -in any other country since the Bagdad -of the ‘Thousand and One Nights.’ -The book is full of weird fascination, -and will add to Mrs. Atherton’s deservedly -high reputation,” says <span class='it'>The -Athenæum</span>.</p> - -<div class='blockquote0r9'> - -<p class='pindent'>“In this book even more than in -her others is shown that imaginative -brilliancy so striking as to set one wondering -what is the secret of the effect. -. . . For the rest, her charm lies in -temperament, magnetic, restless, assertive, -vivid.”—<span class='it'>Washington Times.</span></p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='hang'>In close relation to “The Conqueror” stands -Mrs. Atherton’s still more recent selection -of “A Few of Hamilton’s Letters,” -chosen from the great bulk of his state -papers and other letters in such a way -as to bring to the average reader the -means of estimating the personality of -this remarkable man from his own words. -Incidentally it is the surest refutation of -some of the hasty criticisms upon the -picture of him in “The Conqueror,” -where, as Mr. Le Gallienne justly observes, -“it was reserved for Mrs. Atherton -to make him really alive to the -present generation.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1.3em;'>The Macmillan Little Novels</p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:1em;'>BY FAVOURITE AUTHORS</p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line'>Handsomely Bound in Decorated Cloth</p> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:1em;'>16mo 50 cents each</p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<hr class='tbk101'/> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line' style='font-size:1.3em;'>PHILOSOPHY FOUR</p> -<p class='line'>A STORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY</p> -<p class='line'>By Owen Wister</p> -<p class='line'>Author of “The Virginian,” etc.</p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:1em;font-size:1.3em;'>MAN OVERBOARD</p> -<p class='line'>By F. Marion Crawford</p> -<p class='line'>Author of “Cecilia,” “Marietta,” etc.</p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:1em;font-size:1.3em;'>MR. KEEGAN’S ELOPEMENT</p> -<p class='line'>By Winston Churchill</p> -<p class='line'>Author of “The Crisis,” “Richard Carvel,” etc.</p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:1em;font-size:1.3em;'>MRS. PENDLETON’S FOUR-IN-HAND</p> -<p class='line'>By Gertrude Atherton</p> -<p class='line'>Author of “The Conqueror,” “The Splendid</p> -<p class='line'>Idle Forties,” etc.</p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<hr class='tbk102'/> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line'>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</p> -<p class='line'>66 Fifth Avenue, New York</p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<hr class='tbk103'/> - -<p class='line' style='margin-top:2em;font-size:1.1em;font-weight:bold;'>Transcriber’s Notes:</p> - -<p class='noindent'>Spelling and hyphenation have been retained as in the original publication. Punctuation errors have been -corrected without note.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Mrs. Pendleton's Four-in-hand, by Gertrude Atherton - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS. 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