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diff --git a/5121.txt b/5121.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c4e2af --- /dev/null +++ b/5121.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10725 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dark Hollow, by Anna Katherine Green + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Dark Hollow + +Author: Anna Katherine Green + +Illustrator: Thomas Fogarty + +Posting Date: May 27, 2012 [EBook #5121] +Release Date: February, 2004 +[This file was first posted on May 4, 2002] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DARK HOLLOW *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team +Html version by Chuck Greif + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: IMAGE OF THE BOOK'S COVER] + +[Illustration: ON THE INSTANT HE RECOGNIZED THAT NO COMMON INTERVIEW LAY +BEFORE HIM (Page 61)] + + + + +DARK HOLLOW + +By ANNA KATHARINE GREEN + +Author of "The House of the Whispering Pines," "Initials Only," "That +Affair Next Door," Etc. + +With Four Illustrations By THOMAS FOGARTY + +[Illustration: COLOPHON] + +NEW YORK DODD, MEAD & COMPANY + +1914 + + + + CONTENTS + + BOOK I + + THE WOMAN IN PURPLE + + I WHERE IS BELA? + II WAS HE LIVING--WAS HE DEAD? + III BELA THE REDOUBTABLE + IV "AND WHERE WAS I WHEN ALL THIS HAPPENED?" + V "SHE WORE PURPLE" + VI ACROSS THE BRIDGE + VII WITH HER VEIL DOWN + VIII WITH HER VEIL LIFTED + IX EXCERPTS + X THE SHADOW + XI "I WILL THINK ABOUT IT" + XII SOUNDS IN THE NIGHT + + BOOK II + + THE HOUSE AND THE ROOM + + XIII A BIT OF STEEL + XIV ALL IS CLEAR + XV THE PICTURE + XVI "DON'T! DON'T!" + XVII UNWELCOME TRUTHS + XVIII REFLECTIONS + XIX ALANSON BLACK + XX WHAT HAD MADE THE CHANGE? + XXI IN THE COURT ROOM + XXII BEFORE THE GATES + XXIII THE MISFORTUNES OF MY HOUSE + XXIV ONE SECRET LESS + XXV "WHAT DO YOU THINK OF HIM NOW?" + XXVI THE TELEGRAM + + BOOK III + + THE DOOR OF MYSTERY + + XXVII HE MUST BE FOUND + XXVIII THE FIRST EFFORT + XXIX "THERE IS BUT ONE THING TO DO" + XXX TEMPEST LODGE + XXXI ESCAPE + XXXII THE VIGIL + XXXIII THE CURTAIN LIFTED + XXXIV DARK HOLLOW + XXXV SUNSET + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +On the instant he recognised that no common interview lay before him + +After one look he assumed some show of his old commanding presence and +advanced bravely down the steps + +Silence! Not even Heaven spoke + +"Tell me what this means," said he, but he did not turn his head as he +made this request + + + + +BOOK I + +THE WOMAN IN PURPLE + + + + +I + +WHERE IS BELA? + + +A high and narrow gate of carefully joined boards, standing ajar in a +fence of the same construction! What is there in this to rouse a whole +neighbourhood and collect before it a group of eager, anxious, +hesitating people? + +I will tell you. + +This fence is no ordinary fence, and this gate no ordinary gate; nor is +the fact of the latter standing a trifle open, one to be lightly +regarded or taken an inconsiderate advantage of. For this is Judge +Ostrander's place, and any one who knows Shelby or the gossip of its +suburbs, knows that this house of his has not opened its doors to any +outsider, man or woman, for over a dozen years; nor have his gates--in +saying which, I include the great one in front--been seen in all that +time to gape at any one's instance or to stand unclosed to public +intrusion, no, not for a moment. The seclusion sought was absolute. The +men and women who passed and repassed this corner many times a day were +as ignorant as the townspeople in general of what lay behind the grey, +monotonous exterior of the weather-beaten boards they so frequently +brushed against. The house was there, of course,--they all knew the +house, or did once--but there were rumours (no one ever knew how they +originated) of another fence, a second barrier, standing a few feet +inside the first and similar to it in all respects, even to the gates +which corresponded exactly with these outer and visible ones and +probably were just as fully provided with bolts and bars. + +To be sure, these were reports rather than acknowledged facts, but the +possibility of their truth roused endless wonder and gave to the +eccentricities of this well-known man a mysterious significance which +lost little or nothing in the slow passage of years. + +And now! in the freshness of this summer morning, without warning or any +seeming reason for the change, the strict habit of years has been broken +into and this gate of gates is not only standing unlocked before their +eyes, but a woman--a stranger to the town as her very act shows--has +been seen to enter there!--to enter, but not come out; which means that +she must still be inside, and possibly in the very presence of the +judge. + +Where is Bela? Why does he allow his errands--But it was Bela, or so +they have been told, who left this gate ajar ... he, the awe and terror +of the town, the enormous, redoubtable, close-mouthed negro, trusted as +man is seldom trusted, and faithful to his trust, yes, up to this very +hour, as all must acknowledge, in spite of every temptation (and they +had been many and alluring) to disclose the secret of this home of which +he was not the least interesting factor. What has made him thus suddenly +careless, he who has never been careless before? Money? A bribe from the +woman who had entered there? + +Impossible to believe, his virtue has always been so impeccable, his +devotion to his strange and dominating master so sturdy and so seemingly +unaffected by time and chance! + +Yet, what else was there to believe? There stood the gate with the +pebble holding it away from the post; and here stood half the +neighbourhood, staring at that pebble and at the all but invisible crack +it made where an opening had never been seen before, in a fascination +which had for its motif, not so much the knowledge that these forbidden +precincts had been invaded by a stranger, as that they were open to any +intruding foot--that they, themselves, if they had courage enough, might +go in, just as this woman had gone in, and see--why, what she is seeing +now--the unknown, unguessed reason for all these mysteries;--the hidden +treasure or the hidden sorrow which would explain why he, their first +citizen, the respected, even revered judge of their highest court, +should make use of such precautions and show such unvarying +determination to bar out all comers from the place he called his home. + +It had not always been so. Within the memory of many there it had been +an abode of cheer and good fellowship. Not a few of the men and women +now hesitating before its portals could boast of meals taken at the +judge's ample board, and of evenings spent in animated conversation in +the great room where he kept his books and did his writing. + +But that was before his son left him in so unaccountable a manner; +before--yes, all were agreed on this point--before that other bitter +ordeal of his middle age, the trial and condemnation of the man who had +waylaid and murdered his best friend. + +Though the effect of these combined sorrows had not seemed to be +immediate (one month had seen both); though a half-year had elapsed +before all sociability was lost in extreme self-absorption, and a full +one before he took down the picket-fence which had hitherto been +considered a sufficient protection to his simple grounds, and put up +these boards which had so completely isolated him from the rest of the +world, it was evident enough to the friends who recalled his look and +step as he walked the streets with Algernon Etheridge on one side and +his brilliant, ever-successful son on the other, that the change now +observable in him was due to the violent sundering of these two ties. +Affections so centred wreck the lives from which they are torn; and +Time, which reconciles most men to their losses, had failed to reconcile +him to his. Grief slowly settled into confirmed melancholy, and +melancholy into the eccentricities of which I have spoken and upon which +I must now enlarge a trifle further, in order that the curiosity and +subsequent action of the small group of people in whom we are interested +may be fully understood and, possibly, in some degree pardoned. + +Judge Ostrander was, as I have certainly made you see, a recluse of the +most uncompromising type; but he was such for only half his time. From +ten in the morning till five in the afternoon, he came and went like any +other citizen, fulfilling his judicial duties with the same scrupulous +care as formerly and with more affability. Indeed, he showed at times, +and often when it was least expected, a mellowness of temper quite +foreign to him in his early days. The admiration awakened by his fine +appearance on the bench was never marred now by those quick and rasping +tones of an easily disturbed temper which had given edge to his +invective when he stood as pleader in the very court where he now +presided as judge. But away from the bench, once quit of the courthouse +and the town, the man who attempted to accost him on his way to his +carriage or sought to waylay him at his own gate, had need of all his +courage to sustain the rebuff his presumption incurred. + +One more detail and I will proceed with my story. + +The son, a man of great ability who was making his way as a journalist +in another city, had no explanation to give of his father's +peculiarities. Though he never came to Shelby--the rupture between the +two, if rupture it were, seeming to be complete--there were many who had +visited him in his own place of business and put such questions +concerning the judge and his eccentric manner of living as must have +provoked response had the young man had any response to give. But he +appeared to have none. Either he was as ignorant as themselves of the +causes which had led to his father's habit of extreme isolation, or he +showed powers of dissimulation hardly in accordance with the other +traits of his admirable character. + +All of which closed inquiry in this direction, but left the maw of +curiosity unsatisfied. + +And unsatisfied it had remained up to this hour, when through +accident--or was it treachery--the barrier to knowledge was down and the +question of years seemed at last upon the point of being answered. + + + + +II + +WAS HE LIVING?--WAS HE DEAD? + + +Meantime, a fussy, talkative man was endeavouring to impress the rapidly +collecting crowd with the advisability of their entering all together +and approaching the judge in a body. + +"We can say that we felt it to be our dooty to follow this woman in," he +argued. "We don't know who she is, or what her errand is. She may mean +harm; I've heard of such things, and are we goin' to see the judge in +danger and do nothin'?" + +"Oh, the woman's all right," spoke up another voice. "She has a child +with her. Didn't you say she had a child with her, Miss Weeks?" + +"Yes, and--" + +"Tell us the whole story, Miss Weeks. Some of us haven't heard it. Then +if it seems our duty as his neighbours and well-wishers to go in, we'll +just go in." + +The little woman towards whom this appeal--or shall I say command--was +directed, flushed a fine colour under so many eyes, but immediately +began her ingenuous tale. She had already related it a half dozen times +into as many sympathising ears, but she was not one to shirk publicity, +for all her retiring manners and meekness of disposition. + +It was to this effect: + +She was sitting in her front window sewing. (Everybody knew that this +window faced the end of the lane in which they were then standing.) The +blinds were drawn but not quite, being held in just the desired position +by a string. Naturally, she could see out without being very plainly +seen herself; and quite naturally, too, since she had watched the same +proceeding for years, she had her eyes on this gate when Bela, prompt to +the minute as he always was, issued forth on his morning walk to town +for the day's supplies. + +Always exact, always in a hurry--knowing as he did that the judge would +not leave for court till his return--he had never, in all the eight +years she had been sitting in that window making button-holes, shown any +hesitation in his methodical relocking of the gate and subsequent quick +departure. + +But this morning he had neither borne himself with his usual spirit nor +moved with his usual promptitude. Instead of stepping at once into the +lane, he had lingered in the gateway peering to right and left and +pushing the gravel aside with his foot in a way so unlike himself that +the moment he was out of sight, she could not help running down the lane +to see if her suspicions were correct. + +And they were. Not only had he left the gate unlocked, but he had done +so purposely. The movement he had made with his foot had been done for +the purpose of pushing into place a small pebble, which, as all could +see, lay where it would best prevent the gate from closing. + +What could such treachery mean, and what was her neighbourly duty under +circumstances so unparalleled? Should she go away, or stop and take one +peep just to see that there really was another and similar fence inside +of this one? She had about decided that it was only proper for her to +enter and make sure that all was right with the judge, when she +experienced that peculiar sense of being watched with which all of us +are familiar, and turning quickly round, saw a woman looking at her from +the road,--a woman all in purple even to the veil which hid her +features. A little child was with her, and the two must have stepped +into the road from behind some of the bushes, as neither of them were +anywhere in sight when she herself came running down from the corner. + +It was enough to startle any one, especially as the woman did not speak +but just stood silent and watchful till Miss Weeks in her embarrassment +began to edge away towards home in the hope that the other would follow +her example and so leave the place free for her to return and take the +little peep she had promised herself. + +But before she had gone far, she realised that the other was not +following her, but was still standing in the same spot, watching her +through a veil the like of which is not to be found in Shelby, and which +in itself was enough to rouse a decent woman's suspicions. + +She was so amazed at this that she stepped back and attempted to address +the stranger. But before she had got much further than a timid and +hesitating Madam, the woman, roused into action possibly by her +interference, made a quick gesture suggestive of impatience if not +rebuke, and moving resolutely towards the gate Miss Weeks had so +indiscreetly left unguarded, pushed it open and disappeared within, +dragging the little child after her. + +The audacity of this act, perpetrated without apology before Miss Weeks' +very eyes, was too much for that lady's equanimity. She stopped +stock-still, and, as she did so, beheld the gate swing heavily to and +stop an inch from the post, hindered as we know by the intervening +pebble. She had scarcely got over the shock of this when plainly from +the space beyond she heard a second creaking noise, then the swinging to +of another gate, followed, after a breathless moment of intense +listening, by a series of more distant sounds, which could only be +explained by the supposition that the house door had been reached, +opened and passed. + +"And you didn't follow?" + +"I didn't dare." + +"And she's in there still?" + +"I haven't seen her come out." + +"Then what's the matter with you?" called out a burly, high-strung +woman, stepping hastily from the group and laying her hand upon the gate +still standing temptingly ajar. "It's no time for nonsense," she +announced, as she pushed it open and stepped promptly in, followed by +the motley group of men and women who, if they lacked courage to lead, +certainly showed willingness enough to follow. + +One glance and they felt their courage rewarded. + +Rumour, which so often deceives, proved itself correct in this case. A +second gate confronted them exactly like the first even to the point of +being held open by a pebble placed against the post. And a second fence +also! built upon the same pattern as the one they had just passed +through; the two forming a double barrier as mysterious to contemplate +in fact as it had ever been in fancy. In gazing at these fences and the +canyon-like walk stretching between them, the band of curious invaders +forgot their prime errand. Many were for entering this path whose +terminus they could not see for the sharp turns it took in rounding +either corner. Among them was a couple of girls who had but one thought, +as was evinced by their hurried whispers. "If it looks like this in the +daytime, what must it be at night!" To which came the quick retort: +"I've heard that the judge walks here. Imagine it under the moon!" + +But whatever the mysteries of the place, a greater one awaited them +beyond, and presently realising this, they burst with one accord through +the second gate into the mass of greenery, which, either from neglect or +intention, masked this side of the Ostrander homestead. + +Never before had they beheld so lawless a growth or a house so +completely lost amid vines and shrubbery. So unchecked had been the +spread of verdure from base to chimney, that the impression made by the +indistinguishable mass was one of studied secrecy and concealment. Not a +window remained in view, and had it not been for some chance glimmers +here and there where some small, unguarded portion of the enshrouded +panes caught and reflected the sunbeams, they could not have told where +they were located in these once well-known walls. + +Two solemn fir trees, which were all that remained of an old-time and +famous group, kept guard over the untended lawn, adding their suggestion +of age and brooding melancholy to the air of desolation infecting the +whole place. One might be approaching a tomb for all token that appeared +of human presence. Even sound was lacking. It was like a painted +scene--a dream of human extinction. + +Instinctively the women faltered and the men drew back; then the very +silence caused a sudden reaction, and with one simultaneous rush, they +made for the only entrance they saw and burst without further ceremony +into the house. + +A common hall and common furnishings confronted them. They had entered +at the side and were evidently close upon the kitchen. More they could +not gather; for blocked as the doorway was by their crowding figures, +the little light which sifted in over their heads was not enough to show +up details. + +But it was even darker in the room towards which their determined leader +now piloted them. Here there was no light at all; or if some stray +glimmer forced its way through the network of leaves swathing the outer +walls, it was of too faint a character to reach the corners or even to +make the furniture about them distinguishable. + +Halting with one accord in what seemed to be the middle of the +uncarpeted floor, they waited for some indication of a clear passageway +to the great room where the judge would undoubtedly be found in +conversation with his strange guest, unless, forewarned by their noisy +entrance, he should have risen already to meet them. In that case they +might expect at any minute to see his tall form emerging in anger upon +them through some door at present unseen. + +This possibility, new to some but recognised from the first by others, +fluttered the breasts of such as were not quite impervious to a sense of +their own presumption, and as they stood in a close group, swaying from +side to side in a vain endeavour to see their way through the gloom +before them, the whimper of a child and the muttered ejaculations of the +men testified that the general feeling was one of discontent which might +very easily end in an outburst of vociferous expression. + +But the demon of curiosity holds fast and as soon as their eyes had +become sufficiently used to the darkness to notice the faint line of +light marking the sill of a door directly in front of them, they all +plunged forward in spite of the fear I have mentioned. + +The woman of the harsh voice and self-satisfied demeanour, who had +started them upon this adventure, was still ahead; but even she quailed +when, upon laying her hand upon the panel of the door she was the first +to reach, she felt it to be cold and knew it to be made not of wood but +of iron. How great must be the treasure or terrible the secret to make +necessary such extraordinary precautions! Was it for her to push open +this door, and so come upon discoveries which-- + +But here her doubts were cut short by finding herself face to face with +a heavy curtain instead of a yielding door. The pressure of the crowd +behind had precipitated her past the latter into a small vestibule which +acted as an ante-chamber to the very room they were in search of. + +The shock restored her self-possession. Bracing herself, she held her +place for a moment, while she looked back, with a finger laid on her +lip. The light was much better here and they could all see both the move +she made and the expression which accompanied it. + +"Look at this!" she whispered, pushing the curtain inward with a quick +movement. + +Her hand had encountered no resistance. There was nothing between them +and the room beyond but a bit of drapery. + +"Now hark, all of you," fell almost soundlessly from her lips, as she +laid her own ear against the curtain. + +And they hearkened. + +Not a murmur came from within, not so much as the faintest rustle of +clothing or the flutter of a withheld breath. All was perfectly +still--too still. As the full force of this fact impressed itself upon +them, a blankness settled over their features. The significance of this +undisturbed quiet was making itself felt. If the two were there, or if +he were there alone, they would certainly hear some movement, voluntary +or involuntary--and they could hear nothing. Was the woman gone? Had she +found her way out front while they approached from the rear? And the +judge! Was he gone also?--this man of inalterable habits--gone before +Bela's return--a thing he had not been known to do in the last twelve +years? No, no, this could not be. Yet even this supposition was not so +incredible as that he should still be here and SILENT. Men like him do +not hold their peace under a provocation so great as the intrusion of a +mob of strangers into a spot where he never anticipated seeing anybody, +nor had seen anybody but his man Bela for years. Soon they would hear +his voice. It was not in nature for him to be as quiet as this in face +of such audacity. + +Yet who could count upon the actions of an Ostrander, or reckon with the +imperious whims of a man mysterious beyond all precedent?--He may be +there but silent, or-- + +A single glance would settle all. + +The woman drew the curtain. + +Sunshine! A stream of it, dazzling them almost to blindness and sending +them, one and all, pellmell back upon each other! However dismal the +approach, here all was in brilliant light with every evidence before +them of busy life. + +The room was not only filled, but crammed, with furniture. This was the +first thing they noticed; then, as their blinking eyes became accustomed +to the glare and to the unexpected confusion of tables and chairs and +screens and standing receptacles for books and pamphlets and boxes +labelled and padlocked, they beheld something else; something, which +once seen, held the eye from further wandering and made the +apprehensions from which they had suffered sink into insignificance +before a real and only too present terror. + +The judge was there! but in what a condition. + +From the end of the forty foot room, his seated figure confronted them, +silent, staring and unmoving. With clenched fingers gripping the arms of +his great chair, and head held forward, he looked like one frozen at the +moment of doom, such the expression of features usually so noble, and +now almost unrecognisable were it not for the snow of his locks and his +unmistakable brow. + +Frozen! Not an eyelash quivered, nor was there any perceptible movement +in his sturdy chest. His eyes were on their eyes, but he saw no one; and +down upon his head and over his whole form the sunshine poured from a +large window let into the ceiling directly above him, lighting up the +strained and unnatural aspect of his remarkable countenance and bringing +into sharp prominence the commonplace objects cluttering the table at +his elbow; such as his hat and gloves, and the bundle of papers he had +doubtless made ready for court. + +Was he living? Was he dead?--stricken by the sight of so many faces in a +doorway considered sacred from all intrusion? No! the emotion capable of +thus transforming the features of so strong a man must have a deeper +source than that. The woman was to blame for this--the audacious, the +unknown, the mysteriously clad woman. Let her be found. Let her be made +to explain herself and the condition into which she had thrown this good +man. + +Indignation burst into words, and pity was beginning to voice itself in +inarticulate murmurs which swelled and ebbed, now louder, now more +faintly as the crowd surged forward or drew back, appalled by that +moveless, breathless, awe-compelling figure. Indignation and pity were +at their height when the strain which held them all in one common leash +was loosed by the movement of a little child. + +Attracted possibly by what it did not understand, or simply made +fearless because of its non-comprehension of the mystery before him, a +curly-haired boy suddenly escaped its mother's clutch, and, toddling up +by a pathway of his own to the awesome form in the great chair, laid his +little hand on the judge's rigid arm and, looking up into his face, +babbled out: + +"Why don't you get up, man? I like oo better up." + +A breathless moment; then the horrified murmur rose here, there and +everywhere: "He's dead! He's dead!" and the mother, with a rush, caught +the child back, and confusion began its reign, when quietly and +convincingly a bluff and masculine voice spoke from the doorway behind +them and they heard: + +"You needn't be frightened. In an hour or a half-hour he will be the +same as ever. My aunt has such attacks. They call it catalepsy." + + + + +III + +BELA THE REDOUBTABLE + + +CATALEPSY! + +A dread word to the ignorant. + +Imperceptibly the crowd dwindled; the most discreet among them quite +content to leave the house; others, with their curiosity inflamed anew, +to poke about and peer into corners and curtained recesses while the +opportunity remained theirs and the man of whom they stood in fear sat +lapsed in helpless unconsciousness. A few, and these the most +thoughtful, devoted all their energies to a serious quest for the woman +and child whom they continued to believe to be in hiding somewhere +inside the walls she had so audaciously entered. + +Among these was Miss Weeks whose importance none felt more than herself, +and it was at her insistence and under her advice (for she only, of all +who remained, had ever had a previous acquaintance with the house) that +the small party decided to start their search by a hasty inspection of +the front hall. As this could not be reached from the room where its +owner's motionless figure sat at its grim watch, they were sidling +hastily out, with eyes still turned back in awful fascination upon those +other eyes which seemed to follow all their movements and yet gave no +token of life, when a shout and scramble in the passages beyond cut +short their intent and held them panting and eager, each to his place. + +"They've seen her! They've found her!" ran in quick, whispered +suggestion from lip to lip, and some were for rushing to see. + +But Miss Weeks' trim and precise figure blocked the doorway, and she did +not move. + +"Hark!" she murmured in quick admonishment; "what is that other sound? +Something is happening--something dreadful. What is it? It does not seem +to be near here yet, but it is coming--coming." + +Frightened in spite of themselves, both by her manner and tone, they +drew their gaze from the rigid figure in the chair, and, with bated +breaths and rapidly paling cheeks, listened to the distant murmur on the +far-off road, plainly to be heard pulsing through the nearer sounds of +rushing feet and chattering voices in the rooms about. + +What was it? They could not guess, and it was with unbounded relief they +pressed forward to greet the shadowy form of a young girl hurrying +towards them from the rear, with news in her face. She spoke quickly and +before Miss Weeks could frame her question. + +"The woman is gone. Harry Doane saw her sliding out behind us just after +we came in. She was hiding in some of the corners here, and slipped out +by the kitchen-way when we were not looking. He has gone to see--" + +But interesting as this was, the wonder of the now rapidly increasing +hubbub was more so. A mob was at the gates! Men, women and children +shouting, panting and making loud calls. + +Breathlessly Miss Weeks cut the girl's story short; breathlessly she +rushed to the nearest window, and, helped by willing hands, succeeded in +forcing it up and tearing a hole in the vines, through which they one +and all looked out in eager excitement. + +A motley throng of people were crowding in through the double gateway. +Some one was in their grasp. Was it the woman? No; it was Bela! Bela, +the giant! Bela, the terror of the town, but no longer a terror now but +a struggling, half-fainting figure, fighting to free itself and get in +advance, despite some awful hurt which blanched his coal-black features +into an indescribable hue and made his great limbs falter and his +gasping mouth writhe in anguish while still keeping his own and making +his way, by sheer force of will, up the path and the two steps of +entrance--his body alternately sinking back or plunging forward as those +in the rear or those in front got the upper hand. + +It was an awful and a terrifying sight to little Miss Weeks and, +screaming loudly, she left her window and ran, scattering her small +party before her like sheep, not into the near refuge of the front hall +and its quiet parlours, but into the very spot towards which this mob +seemed headed--the great library pulsing with its own terror, in the +shape of the yet speechless and unconscious man to whom the loudest +noise and the most utter silence were yet as one, and the worst struggle +of human passion a blank lost in unmeaning chaos. + +Why this instinctive move? She could not tell. Impulse prevailed, and +without a thought she flew into Judge Ostrander's presence, and, gazing +wildly about, wormed her way towards a heavily carved screen guarding a +distant corner, and cowered down behind it. + +What awaited her? + +What awaited the judge? + +As the little woman shook with terror in her secret hiding-place she +felt that she had played him false; that she had no right to save +herself by the violation of a privacy she should have held in awe. She +was paying for her temerity now, paying for it with every terrible +moment that her suspense endured. The gasping, struggling men, the +frantic negro, were in the next room now--she could catch the sound of +the latter's panting breath rising above the clamour of strange +entreaties and excited cries with which the air was full; then a quick, +hoarse shout of "Judge! Judge!" rose in the doorway, and she became +conscious of the presence of a headlong, rushing force struck midway +into silence as the frozen figure of his master flashed upon the negro's +eyes;--then,--a growl of concentrated emotion, uttered almost in her +ear, and the screen which had been her refuge was violently thrust away +from before her, and in its place she beheld a terrible being standing +over her, in whose eyes, dilating under this fresh surprise, she beheld +her doom, even while recognising that if she must suffer it would be +simply as an obstacle to some goal at her back which he must +reach--now--before he fell in his blood and died. + +What was this goal? As she felt herself lifted, nay, almost hurled +aside, she turned to see and found it to be a door before which the +devoted Bela had now thrown himself, guarding it with every inch of his +powerful but rapidly sinking body, and chattering defiance with his +bloodless, quivering lips--a figure terrible in anger, sublime in +purpose, and piteous in its failing energies. + +"Back! all of you!" he cried, and stopped, clutching at the door-casing +on either side to hold himself erect. "You cannot come in here. This is +the judge's--" + +Not even his iron resolve or once unequalled physique could stand the +sapping of the terrible gash which disfigured his forehead. He had been +run over by an automobile in a moment of blind abstraction, and his hurt +was mortal. But though his tongue refused to finish, his eye still +possessed its power to awe and restrain. Though the crowd had followed +him almost into the centre of the room, they felt themselves held back +by the spirit of this man, who as long as he lived and breathed would +hold himself a determined barrier between them and what he had been set +to guard. + +As long as he lived and breathed. Alas! that would be but a little while +now. Already his head, held erect by the passion of his purpose, was +sinking on his breast; already his glazing eye was losing its power of +concentration, when with a final rally of his decaying strength, he +started erect again and cried out in terrible appeal: + +"I have disobeyed the judge, and, as you see, it has killed him. Do not +make me guilty of giving away his secret. Swear that you will leave this +door unpassed; swear that no one but his son shall ever turn this lock; +or I will haunt you, I, Bela, man by man, till you sink in terror to +your graves. Swear! sw--" + +The last adjuration ended in a moan. His head fell forward again and in +that intense moment of complete silence they could hear the splash of +his life-blood as it dropped from his forehead on to the polished boards +beneath; then he threw up his arms and fell in a heap to the floor. + +They had not been driven to answer. Wherever that great soul had gone, +his ears were no longer open to mortal promise, nor would any oath from +the lip of man avail to smooth his way into the shadowy unknown. + +"Dead!" broke from little Miss Weeks as she flung herself down in +reckless abandonment at his side. She had never known an agitation +beyond some fluttering woman's hope she had stifled as soon as born, and +now she knelt in blood. "Dead!" she again repeated. And there was no one +this time to cry: "You need not be frightened; in a few minutes he will +be himself again." The master might reawaken to life, but never more the +man. + +A solemn hush, then a mighty sigh of accumulated emotion swept from lip +to lip, and the crowd of later invaders, already abashed if not +terrified by the unexpected spectacle of suspended animation which +confronted them from the judge's chair, shrank tumultuously back as +little Miss Weeks advanced upon them, holding out her meagre arms in +late defence of the secret to save which she had just seen a man die. + +"Let us do as he wished," she prayed. "I feel myself much to blame. What +right had we to come in here?" + +"The fellow was hurt. We were just bringing him home," spoke up a voice, +rough with the surprise of unaccustomed feeling. "If he had let us carry +him, he might have been alive this minute; but he would run and struggle +to keep us back. He says he killed his master. If so, his death is a +retribution. Don't you say so, fellows? The judge was a good man---" + +"Hush! hush! the judge is all right," admonished one of the party; +"he'll be waking up soon"; and then, as every eye flew in fresh wonder +towards the chair and its impassive occupant, the low whisper was +heard,--no one ever could tell from whose lips it fell: "If we are ever +to know this wonderful secret, now is the time, before he wakes and +turns us out of the house." + +No one in authority was present; no one representing the law, not even a +doctor; only haphazard persons from the street and a few neighbours who +had not been on social terms with the judge for years and never expected +to be so again. His secret!--always a source of wonder to every +inhabitant of Shelby, but lifted now into a matter of vital importance +by the events of the day and the tragic death of the negro! Were they to +miss its solution, when only a door lay between it and them--a door +which they might not even have to unlock? If the judge should rouse,--if +from a source of superstitious terror he became an active one, how pat +their excuse might be. They were but seeking a proper place--a couch--a +bed--on which to lay the dead man. They had been witness to his hurt; +they had been witness to his death, and were they to leave him lying in +his blood, to shock the eyes of his master when he came out of his long +swoon? No tongue spoke these words, but the cunning visible in many an +eye and the slight start made by more than one eager foot in the +direction of the forbidden door gave Miss Weeks sufficient warning of +what she might expect in another moment. Making the most of her +diminutive figure,--such a startling contrast to the one which had just +dominated there!--she was about to utter an impassioned appeal to their +honour, when the current of her and their thoughts, as well as the +direction of all looks, was changed by a sudden sense common to all, of +some strange new influence at work in the room, and turning, they beheld +the judge upon his feet, his mind awakened, but his eyes still fixed--an +awesome figure; some thought more awesome than before; for the terror +which still held him removed from all about, was no longer passive but +active and had to do with what no man there could understand or +alleviate. Death was present with them--he saw it not. Strangers were +making havoc with his solitude--he was as oblivious of their presence as +he had been unconscious of it before. His faculties and all his +attention were absorbed by the thought which had filled his brain when +the cogs of that subtle mechanism had slipped and his faculties paused +inert. + +This was shown by his first question: + +"WHERE IS THE WOMAN?" + +It was a cry of fear; not of mastery. + + + + +IV + +"AND WHERE WAS I WHEN ALL THIS HAPPENED?" + + +The intensity of the question, the compelling, self-forgetful passion of +the man, had a startling effect upon the crowd of people huddled before +him. With one accord, and without stopping to pick their way, they made +for the open doorway, knocking the smaller pieces of furniture about and +creating havoc generally. Some fled the house; others stopped to peer in +again from behind the folds of the curtain which had been only partially +torn from its fastenings. Miss Weeks was the only one to stand her +ground. + +When the room was quite cleared and the noise abated (it was a frightful +experience to see how little the judge had been affected by all this +hubbub of combined movement and sound), she stepped within the line of +his vision and lifted her feeble and ineffectual hand in an effort to +attract his attention to herself. + +But he did not notice her, any more than he had noticed the others. +Still looking in the one direction, he cried aloud in troubled tones: + +"She stood there! the woman stood there and I saw her! Where is she +now?" + +"She is no longer in the house," came in gentle reply from the only one +in or out of the room courageous enough to speak. "She went out when she +saw us coming. We knew that she had no right to be here. That is why we +intruded ourselves, sir. We did not like the looks of her, and so +followed her in to prevent mischief." + +"Ah!" + +The expletive fell unconsciously. He seemed to be trying to adjust +himself to some mental experience he could neither share with others nor +explain to himself. + +"She was here, then?--a woman with a little child? It wasn't an +illusion, a--." Memory was coming back and with it a realisation of his +position. Stopping short, he gazed down from his great height upon the +trembling little body of whose identity he had but a vague idea, and +thundered out in great indignation: + +"How dared you! How dared she!" Then as his mind regained its full +poise, "And how, even if you had the temerity to venture an entrance +here, did you manage to pass my gates? They are never open. Bela sees to +that." + +Bela! + +He may have observed the pallor which blanched her small, tense features +as this name fell so naturally from his lips, or some instinct of his +own may have led him to suspect tragedy where all was so abnormally +still, for, as she watched, she saw his eyes, fixed up to now upon her +face, leave it and pass furtively and with many hesitations from object +to object, towards that spot behind him, where lay the source of her +great terror, if not of his. So lingeringly and with such dread was this +done, that she could barely hold back her weak woman's scream in the +intensity of her suspense. She knew just where his glances fell without +following them with her own. She saw them pass the door where so many +faces yet peered in (he saw them not), and creep along the wall beyond, +inch by inch, breathlessly and with dread, till finally, with fatal +precision, they reached the point where the screen had stood, and not +finding it, flew in open terror to the door it was set there to +conceal--when that something else, huddled in oozing blood, on the floor +beneath, drew them unto itself with the irresistibleness of grim +reality, and he forgot all else in the horror of a sight for which his +fears, however great, had failed to prepare him. + +Dead! BELA! Dead! and lying in his blood! The rest may have been no +dream, but this was surely one, or his eyes, used to inner visions, were +playing him false. + +Grasping the table at his side to steady his failing limbs, he pulled +himself along by its curving edge till he came almost abreast of the +helpless figure which for so many years had been the embodiment of +faithful and unwearied service. + +Then and then only, did the truth of his great misfortune burst upon his +bewildered soul; and with a cry which tore the ears of all hearers and +was never forgotten by any one there, he flung himself down beside the +dead negro, and, turning him hastily over, gazed in his face. + +Was that a sob? Yes; thus much the heart gave; but next moment the +piteous fact of loss was swallowed up in the recognition of its manner, +and, bounding to his feet with the cry, "Killed! Killed at his post!" he +confronted the one witness of his anguish of whose presence he was +aware, and fiercely demanded: "Where are the wretches who have done +this? No single arm could have knocked down Bela. He has been set +upon--beaten with clubs, and--" Here his thought was caught up by +another, and that one so fearsome and unsettling that bewilderment again +followed rage, and with the look of a haunted spirit, he demanded in a +voice made low by awe and dread of its own sound, "AND WHERE WAS I, WHEN +ALL THIS HAPPENED?" + +"You? You were seated there," murmured the little woman, pointing at the +great chair. "You were not--quite--quite yourself," she softly +explained, wondering at her own composure. Then quickly, as she saw his +thoughts revert to the dead friend at his feet, "Bela was not hurt here. +He was down town when it happened; but he managed to struggle home and +gain this place, which he tried to hold against the men who followed +him. He thought you were dead, you sat there so rigid and so white, and, +before he quite gave up, he asked us all to promise not to let any one +enter this room till your son Oliver came." + +Understanding partly, but not yet quite clear in his mind, the judge +sighed, and stooping again, straightened the faithful negro's limbs. +Then, with a side-long look in her direction, he felt in one of the +pockets of the dead negro's coat, and drawing out a small key, held it +in one hand while he fumbled in his own for another, which found, he +became on the instant his own man again. + +Miss Weeks, seeing the difference in him, and seeing too, that the +doorway was now clear of the wondering, awestruck group which had +previously blocked it, bowed her slight body and proceeded to withdraw; +but the judge, staying her by a gesture, she waited patiently near one +of the book-racks against which she had stumbled, to hear what he had to +say. + +"I must have had an attack of some kind," he calmly remarked. "Will you +be good enough to explain exactly what occurred here that I may more +fully comprehend my own misfortune and the death of this faithful +friend?" + +Then she saw that his faculties were now fully restored, and came a step +forward. But before she could begin her story, he added this searching +question: + +"Was it he who let you in--you and others--I think you said others? Was +it he who unlocked my gates?" + +Miss Weeks sighed and betrayed fluster. It was not easy to relate her +story; besides it was wofully incomplete. She knew nothing of what had +happened down town, she could only tell what had passed before her eyes. +But there was one thing she could make clear, to him, and that was how +the seemingly impassable gates had been made ready for the woman's +entrance and afterwards taken such advantage of by herself and others. A +pebble had done it all,--a pebble placed in the gateway by Bela's hands. + +As she described this, and insisted upon the fact in face of the judge's +almost frenzied disclaimer, she thought she saw the hair move on his +forehead. Bela a traitor, and in the interests of the woman who had +fronted him from the other end of the room at the moment consciousness +had left him! Evidently this intrusive little body did not know Bela or +his story, or-- + +Why should interruption come then? Why was he stopped, when in the +passion of the moment, he might have let fall some word of enlightenment +which would have eased the agitated curiosity of the whole town! Miss +Weeks often asked herself this question, and bewailed the sudden access +of sounds in the rooms without, which proclaimed the entrance of the +police and put a new strain upon the judge's faculty of self-control and +attention to the one matter in hand. + +The commonplaces of an official inquiry were about to supersede the play +of a startled spirit struggling with a problem of whose complexities he +had received but a glimpse. + + + + +V + +"SHE WORE PURPLE" + + +The library again! but how changed! Evening light now instead of blazing +sunshine; and evening light so shaded that the corners seemed far and +the many articles of furniture, cumbering the spaces between, larger for +the shadows in which they stood hidden. Perhaps the man who sat there in +company with the judge regretted this. Perhaps, he would have preferred +to see more perfectly that portion of the room where Bela had taken his +stand and finally fallen. It would have been interesting to note whether +the screen had been replaced before the mysterious door which this most +devoted of servants had protected to his last gasp. Curiosity is +admissible, even in a man, when the cause is really great. + +But from the place where he sat there was no getting any possible view +of that part of the wall or of anything connected with it; and so, with +every appearance of satisfaction at being allowed in the room at all, +Sergeant Doolittle from Headquarters, drank the judge's wine and +listened for the judge's commands. + +These were slow in coming, and they were unexpected when they came. + +"Sergeant, I have lost a faithful servant under circumstances which have +called an unfortunate attention to my house. I should like to have this +place guarded--carefully guarded, you understand--from any and all +intrusion till I can look about me and secure protection of my own. May +I rely upon the police to do this, beginning to-night at an early hour? +There are loiterers already at the corner and in front of the two gates. +I am not accustomed to these attentions, and ask to have my fence +cleared." + +"Two men are already detailed for the job, your honour. I heard the +order given just as I left Headquarters." + +The judge showed small satisfaction. Indeed, in his silence there was +the hint of something like displeasure. This surprised Sergeant +Doolittle and led him to attempt to read its cause in his host's +countenance. But the shade of the lamp intervened too completely, and he +had to be content to wait till the judge chose to speak, which he +presently did, though not in the exact tones the Sergeant expected. + +"Two men! Couldn't I have three? One for each gate and one to patrol the +fence separating these grounds from the adjoining lot?" + +The sergeant hesitated; he felt an emotion of wonder--a sense of +something more nearly approaching the uncanny than was usual to his +matter-of-fact mind. He had heard, often enough, what store the judge +set on his privacy and of the extraordinary measures he had taken to +insure it, but that a man, even if he aped the hermit, should consider +three men necessary to hold the public away from a two hundred and fifty +foot lot argued apprehensions of a character verging on the ridiculous. +But he refrained from expressing his surprise and replied, after a +minute of thought: + +"If two men are not enough to ensure you a quiet sleep, you shall have +three or four or even more, Judge Ostrander. Do you want one of them to +stay inside? That might do the business better than a dozen out." + +"No. While Bela lies above ground, we want no third here. When he is +buried, I may call upon you for a special to watch my room door. But +it's of outside protection we're talking now. Only, who is to protect me +against your men?" + +"What do you mean by that, your honour?" + +"They are human, are they not? They have instincts of curiosity like the +rest of us. How can I be made sure that they won't yield to the +temptation of their position and climb the fences they are detailed to +guard?" + +"And would this be so fatal to your peace, judge?" A smile tempered the +suggestion. + +"It would be a breach of trust which would greatly disturb me. I want +nobody on my grounds, nobody at all. Has not my long life of solitude +within these walls sufficiently proved this? I want to feel that these +men of yours would no more climb my fence than they would burst into my +house without a warrant." + +"Judge, I will be one of the men. You can trust me." + +"Thank you, sergeant; I appreciate the favour. I shall rest now as +quietly as any man can who has met with a great loss. The coroner's +inquiry has decided that the injuries which Bela received in the street +were of a fatal character and would have killed him within an hour, even +if he had not exhausted his strength in the effort he made to return to +his home and die in my presence. But I shall always suffer from regret +that I was not in a condition to receive his last sigh. He was a man in +a thousand. One seldom sees his like among white or black." + +"He was a very powerfully built man. It took a sixty horse-power racing +machine, going at a high rate of speed, to kill him." + +A spasm of grief or unavailing regret crossed the judge's face as his +head sank back again against the high back of his chair. + +"Enough," said he; "tread softly when you go by the sofa on which he +lies. Will you fill your glass again, sergeant?" + +The sergeant declined. + +"Not if my watch is to be effective to-night," he smiled, and rose to +depart. + +The judge, grown suddenly thoughtful, rapped with his finger-tips on the +table-edge. He had not yet risen to show his visitor out. + +"I should like to ask a question," he finally observed, motioning the +other to re-seat himself. "You were not at the inquiry this afternoon, +and may not know that just as Bela and the crowd about him turned this +corner, they ran into a woman leading a small child, who stopped the +whole throng in order to address him. No one heard what she said; and no +one could give any information as to who she was or in what direction +she vanished. But I saw that woman myself, earlier. She was in this +house. She was in this room. She came as far as that open space just +inside the doorway. I can describe her, and will, if you will consent to +look for her. It is to be a money transaction, sergeant, and if she is +found and no stir made and no talk started among the Force, I will pay +all that you think it right to demand." + +"Let me hear her description, your honour." The judge, who had withdrawn +into the shadow, considered for a moment, then said: + +"I cannot describe her features, for she was heavily veiled; neither can +I describe her figure except to say that she is tall and slender. But +her dress I remember to the last detail, though I am not usually so +observant. She wore purple; not an old woman's purple, but a soft shade +which did not take from her youth. There was something floating round +her shoulders of the same colour, and on her arms were long gloves such +as you see our young ladies wear. The child did not seem to belong to +her, though she held her tightly by the hand. I mean by that, that its +clothes were of a coarser material than hers and perhaps were a little +soiled. If the child wore a hat, I do not remember it. In age it +appeared to be about six--or that was the impression I received +before--" + +The sergeant, who had been watching the speaker very closely, leaned +forward with a hasty, inquiring glance expressive of something like +consternation. Was the judge falling again into unconsciousness? Was he +destined to witness in this solitary meeting a return of the phenomenon +which had so startled the intruding populace that morning? + +No, or if he had been witness to something of the kind, it was for a +moment only; for the eyes which had gone blank had turned his way again, +and only a disconnected expression which fell from the judge's lips, +showed that his mind had been wandering. + +"It's not the same but another one; that's all." + +Inconsequent words, but the sergeant meant to remember them, for with +their utterance, a change passed over the judge; and his manner, which +had been constrained and hurried during his attempted description, +became at once more natural, and therefore more courteous. + +"Do you think you can find her with such insufficient data? A woman +dressed in purple, leading a little child without any hat?" + +"Judge, I not only feel sure that I can find her, but I think she is +found already. Do you remember the old tavern on the Rushville road? I +believe they call it an inn now, or some such fancy name." + +The judge sat quiet, but the sergeant who dared not peer too closely, +noticed a sudden constriction in the fingers of the hand with which his +host fingered a paper-cutter lying on the table between them. + +"The one where--" + +"I respect your hesitation, judge. Yes, the one run by the man you +sentenced--" + +A gesture had stopped him. He waited respectfully for the judge's next +words. + +They came quickly and with stern and solemn emphasis. + +"For a hideous and wholly unprovoked crime. Why do you mention it +and--and his tavern?" + +"Because of something I have lately heard in its connection. You know +that the old house has been all made over since that time and run as a +place of resort for automobilists in search of light refreshments. The +proprietor's name is Yardley. We have nothing against him; the place is +highly respectable. But it harbours a boarder, a permanent one, I +believe, who has occasioned no little comment. No one has ever seen her +face; unless it is the landlord's wife. She has all her meals served in +her room, and when she goes out she wears the purple dress and purple +veil you've been talking about. Perhaps she's your visitor of to-day. +Hadn't I better find out?" + +"Has she a child? Is she a mother?" + +"I haven't heard of any child, but Mrs. Yardley has seven." + +The judge's hand withdrew from the table and for an instant the room was +so quiet that you could hear some far-off clock ticking out the minutes. +Then Judge Ostrander rose and in a peremptory tone said: + +"To-morrow. After you hear from me again. Make no move to-night. Let me +feel that all your energies are devoted to securing my privacy." + +The sergeant, who had sprung to his feet at the same instant as the +judge, cast a last look about him, curiosity burning in his heart and a +sort of desperate desire to get all he could out of his present +opportunity. For he felt absolutely sure that he would never be allowed +to enter this room again. + +But the arrangement of light was such as to hold in shadow all but the +central portion of the room; and this central portion held nothing out +of the common--nothing to explain the mysteries of the dwelling or the +apprehensions of its suspicious owner. With a sigh, the sergeant dropped +his eyes from the walls he could barely distinguish, and following Judge +Ostrander's lead, passed with him under the torn folds of the curtain +and through the narrow vestibule whose door was made of iron, into the +room, where, in a stronger blaze of light than they had left, lay the +body of the dead negro awaiting the last rites. + +Would the judge pass this body, or turn away from it towards a door +leading front? The sergeant had come in at the rear, but he greatly +desired to go out front, as this would give him so much additional +knowledge of the house. Unexpectedly to himself, the judge's intentions +were in the direction of his own wishes. He was led front; and, entering +an old-fashioned hall dimly lighted, passed a staircase and two closed +doors, both of which gave him the impression of having been shut upon a +past it had pleasured no one to revive in many years. + +Beyond them was the great front door of Colonial style and workmanship, +a fine specimen once, but greatly disfigured now by the bolts and bars +which had been added to it in satisfaction of the judge's ideas of +security. + +Many years had passed since Judge Ostrander had played the host; but he +had not lost a sense of its obligations. It was for him to shoot the +bolts and lift the bars; but he went about it so clumsily and with such +evident aversion to the task, that the sergeant instinctively sprang to +help him. + +"I shall miss Bela at every turn," remarked the judge, turning with a +sad smile as he finally pulled the door open. "This is an unaccustomed +effort for me. Excuse my awkwardness." + +Something in his attitude, something in the way he lifted his hand to +push back a fallen lock from his forehead, impressed itself upon the +sergeant's mind so vividly that he always remembered the judge as he +appeared to him at that minute. Certainly there were but few men like +him in the country, and none in his own town. Of a commanding +personality by reason of his height, his features were of a cast to +express his mental attributes and enforce attention, and the incongruity +between his dominating figure and the apprehensions which he displayed +in these multiplied and extraordinary arrangements for personal security +was forcible enough to arouse any man's interest. + +The sergeant was so occupied by the mystery of the man and the mystery +of the house that they had passed the first gate (which the judge had +unlocked without much difficulty) before he realised that there still +remained something of interest for him to see and to talk about later. +The two dark openings on either side, raised questions which the most +unimaginative mind would feel glad to hear explained. Ere the second +gate swung open and he found himself again in the street, he had built +up more than one theory in explanation of this freak of parallel fences +with the strip of gloom between. + +Would he have felt the suggestion of the spot still more deeply, had it +been given him to see the anxious and hesitating figure which, +immediately upon his departure entered this dark maze, and with feeling +hands and cautious step, wound its way from corner to corner--now +stopping abruptly to listen, now shrinking from some imaginary +presence--a shadow among shadows--till it stood again between the gates +from which it had started. + +Possibly; even the hardiest of men respond to the unusual, and prove +themselves not ungifted with imagination when brought face to face with +that for which their experience furnishes no precedent. + + + + +VI + +ACROSS THE BRIDGE + + +It was ten o'clock, not later, when the judge re-entered his front door. +He was alone,--absolutely alone, as he had never been since that night +of long ago, when with the inner fence completed and the gates all +locked, he turned to the great negro at his side and quietly said: + +"We are done with the world, Bela. Are you satisfied to share this +solitude with me?" And Bela had replied: "Night and day, your honour. +And when you are not here,--when you are at court, to bear it alone." + +And now this faithful friend was dead, and it was he who must bear it +alone,--alone! How could he face it! He sought for no answer, nor did he +allow himself to dwell for one minute on the thought. There was +something else he must do first,--do this very night, if possible. + +Taking down his hat from the rack he turned and went out again, this +time carefully locking the door behind him, also the first gate. But he +stopped to listen before lifting his hand to the second one. + +A sound of steady breathing, accompanied by a few impatient movements, +came from the other side. A man was posted there within a foot of the +gate. Noiselessly the judge recoiled, and made his way around to the +other set of gates. Here all was quiet enough, and sliding quickly out, +he cast a hasty glance up and down the lane, and seeing nothing more +alarming than the back of a second officer lounging at the corner, +pulled the gate quietly to, and locked it. + +He was well down the road towards the ravine, before the officer turned. + +The time has now come for giving you a clearer idea of this especial +neighbourhood. Judge Ostrander's house, situated as you all know at the +juncture of an unimportant road with the main highway, had in its rear +three small houses, two of them let and one still unrented. Farther on, +but on the opposite side of the way, stood a very old dwelling in which +there lived and presumably worked, a solitary woman, the sole and final +survivor of a large family. Beyond was the ravine, cutting across the +road and terminating it. This ravine merits some description. + +It was a picturesque addition to the town through which it cut at the +point of greatest activity. With the various bridges connecting the +residence portion with the lower business streets we have nothing to do. +But there was a nearer one of which the demands of my story necessitate +a clear presentation. + +This bridge was called Long, and spanned the ravine and its shallow +stream of water not a quarter of a mile below the short road or lane we +have just seen Judge Ostrander enter. Between it and this lane, a narrow +path ran amid the trees and bushes bordering the ravine. This path was +seldom used, but when it was, it acted as a short cut to a certain part +of the town mostly given over to factories. Indeed the road of which +this bridge formed a part was called Factory on this account. Starting +from the main highway a half mile or so below Ostrander Lane, it ran +diagonally back to the bridge, where it received a turn which sent it +south and east again towards the lower town. A high bluff rose at this +point, which made the farther side of the ravine much more imposing than +the one on the near side where the slope was gradual. + +This path, and even the bridge itself, were almost wholly unlighted. +They were seldom used at night--seldom used at any time. But it was by +this route the judge elected to go into town; not for the pleasure of +the walk, as was very apparent from the extreme depression of his +manner, but from some inward necessity which drove him on, against his +wishes, possibly against his secret misgivings. + +He had met no one in his short walk down the lane, but for all that, he +paused before entering the path just mentioned, to glance back and see +if he were being watched or followed. When satisfied that he was not, he +looked up, from the solitary waste where he stood, to the cheerless +heavens and sighed; then forward into the mass of impenetrable shadow +that he must yet traverse and shuddered as many another had shuddered +ere beginning this walk. For it was near the end of this path, in full +sight of the bridge he must cross, that his friend, Algernon Etheridge, +had been set upon and murdered so many years before; and the shadow of +this ancient crime still lingered over the spot, deepening its natural +gloom even for minds much less sympathetic and responsive to spiritual +influences than Judge Ostrander. + +But this shudder, whether premonitory or just the involuntary tribute of +friend to friend, did not prevent his entering the path or following its +line of shadow as it rose and dipped in its course down the gorge. + +I have spoken of the cheerlessness of the heavens. It was one of those +nights when the sky, piled thick with hurrying clouds, hangs above one +like a pall. But the moon, hidden behind these rushing masses, was at +its full, and the judge soon found that he could see his way better than +he had anticipated--better than was desirable, perhaps. He had been on +the descent of the path for some little time now, and could not be far +from the more level ground which marked the approach to Long Bridge. +Determined not to stop or to cast one faltering look to right or left, +he hurried on with his eyes fixed upon the ground and every nerve braced +to resist the influence of the place and its undying memories. But with +the striking of his foot against the boards of the bridge, nature was +too much for him, and his resolve vanished. Instead of hastening on, he +stopped; and, having stopped, paused long enough to take in all the +features of the scene, and any changes which time might have wrought. He +even forced his shrinking eyes to turn and gaze upon the exact spot +where his beloved Algernon had been found, with his sightless eyes +turned to the sky. + +This latter place, singular in that it lay open to the opposite bank +without the mask of bush or tree to hide it, was in immediate proximity +to the end of the bridge he had attempted to cross. It bore the name of +Dark Hollow, and hollow and dark it looked in the universal gloom. But +the power of its associations was upon him, and before he knew it, he +was retracing his steps as though drawn by a magnetism he could not +resist, till he stood within this hollow and possibly on the very foot +of ground from the mere memory of which he had recoiled for years. + +A moment of contemplation--a sigh, such as only escapes the bursting +heart in moments of extreme grief or desolation--and he tore his eyes +from the ground to raise them slowly but with deep meaning to where the +high line of trees on the opposite side of the ravine met the grey vault +of the sky. Darkness piled itself against darkness, but with a +difference to one who knew all the undulations of this bluff and just +where it ended in the sheer fall which gave a turn to the road at the +farther end of the bridge. + +But it was not upon the mass of undistinguishable tree-tops or the line +they made against the sky that his gaze lingered. It was on something +more material; something which rose from the brow of the hill in stark +and curious outline not explainable in itself, but clear enough to one +who had seen its shape by daylight. Judge Ostrander had thus seen it +many times in the past, and knew just where to look for the one +remaining chimney and solitary gable of a house struck many years before +by lightning and left a grinning shell to mock the eye of all who walked +this path or crossed this bridge. + +Black amid blackness, with just the contrast of its straight lines to +the curve of natural objects about it, it commanded the bluff, summoning +up memories of an evil race cut short in a moment by an outraged +Providence, and Judge Ostrander marking it, found himself muttering +aloud as he dragged himself slowly away: "Why should Time, so +destructive elsewhere, leave one stone upon another of this accursed +ruin?" + +Alas! Heaven has no answer for such questions. + +When he had reached the middle of the bridge, he stopped short to look +back at Dark Hollow and utter in a smothered groan, which would not be +repressed, a name which by all the rights of the spot should have been +Algernon's, but was not. + +The utterance of this name seemed to startle him, for, with a shuddering +look around, he hastily traversed the rest of the bridge, and took the +turn about the hill to where Factory Road branched off towards the town. +Here he stopped again and for the first time revealed the true nature of +his destination. For when he moved on again it was to take the road +along the bluff, and not the one leading directly into town. + +This meant a speedy passing by the lightning-struck house. He knew this +of course, and evidently shrunk from the ordeal, for once up the hill +and on the level stretch above, he resolutely forbore to cast a glance +at its dilapidated fence and decayed gate posts. Had he not done +this--had his eyes followed the long line of the path leading from these +toppling posts to the face of the ruin, he would have been witness to a +strange sight. For gleaming through the demolished heart of it,--between +the chimney on the one side and the broken line of the gable on the +other--could be seen the half circle of the moon suddenly released from +the clouds which had hitherto enshrouded it. A weird sight, to be seen +only when all conditions favoured. It was to be seen here to-night; but +the judge's eye was bent another way, and he passed on, unnoting. + +The ground was high along this bluff; almost fifty feet above the level +of the city upon, which he had just turned his back. Of stony formation +and much exposed to the elements, it had been considered an undesirable +site by builders, and not a house was to be seen between the broken +shell of the one he had just left, and the long, low, brilliantly +illuminated structure ahead, for which he was evidently making. The +sight of these lights and of the trees by which the house was +surrounded, suggested festival and caused a qualm of indecision to +momentarily disturb him in his purpose. But this purpose was too strong, +and the circumstances too urgent for him to be deterred by anything less +potent than a stroke of lightning. He rather increased his pace than +slackened it and was rewarded by seeing lamp after lamp go out as he +approached. + +The pant of a dozen motors, the shouting of various farewells and then +the sudden rushing forth of a long line of automobiles, proclaimed that +the fete of the day was about over and that peace and order would soon +prevail again in Claymore Inn. + +Without waiting for the final one to pass, the judge slid around to the +rear and peered in at the kitchen door. If Mrs. Yardley were the woman +he supposed her to be from the sergeant's description, she would be just +then in the thick of the dish-washing. And it was Mrs. Yardley he wished +to see. + +Three women were at work in this busiest of scenes, and, deciding at a +glance which was the able mistress of the house, he approached the +large, pleasant and commanding figure piling plates at the farther end +of the room and courteously remarked: + +"Mrs. Yardley, I believe?" + +The answer came quickly, and not without a curious smile of constraint: + +"Oh, no. Mrs. Yardley is in the entry behind." + +Bowing his thanks, he stepped in the direction named, just as the three +women's heads came simultaneously together. There was reason for their +whispers. His figure, his head, his face, were all unusual, and at that +moment highly expressive, and coming as he did out of the darkness, his +presence had an uncanny effect upon their simple minds. They had been +laughing before; they ceased to laugh now. Why? + +Meanwhile, Judge Ostrander was looking about him for Mrs. Yardley. The +quiet figure of a squat little body blocked up a certain doorway. + +"I am looking for Mrs. Yardley," he ventured. + +The little figure turned; he was conscious of two very piercing eyes +being raised to his, and heard in shaking accents, which yet were not +the accents of weakness, the surprised ejaculation: + +"Judge Ostrander!" + +Next minute they were together in a small room, with the door shut +behind them. The energy and decision of this mite of a woman were +surprising. + +"I was going--to you--in the morning--" she panted in her excitement. +"To apologise," she respectfully finished. + +"Then," said he, "it was your child who visited my house to-day?" + +She nodded. Her large head was somewhat disproportioned to her short and +stocky body. But her glance and manner were not unpleasing. There was a +moment of silence which she hastened to break. + +"Peggy is very young; it was not her fault. She is so young she doesn't +even know where she went. She was found loitering around the bridge--a +dangerous place for a child, but we've been very busy all day--and she +was found there and taken along by--by the other person. I hope that you +will excuse it, sir." + +Was she giving the judge an opportunity to recover from his +embarrassment, or was she simply making good her own cause? Whichever +impulse animated her, the result was favourable to both. Judge Ostrander +lost something of his strained look, and it was no longer difficult for +her to meet his eye. + +Nevertheless, what he had to say came with a decided abruptness. + +"Who is the woman, Mrs. Yardley? That's what I have come to learn, and +not to complain of your child." + +The answer struck him very strangely, though he saw nothing to lead him +to distrust her candour. + +"I don't know, Judge Ostrander. She calls herself Averill, but that +doesn't make me sure of her. You wonder that I should keep a lodger +about whom I have any doubts, but there are times when Mr. Yardley uses +his own judgment, and this is one of the times. The woman pays well and +promptly," she added in a lower tone. + +"Her status? Is she maid, wife or widow?" + +"Oh, she says she is a widow, and I see every reason to believe her." + +A slight grimness in her manner, the smallest possible edge to her +voice, led the judge to remark: + +"She's good-looking, I suppose." + +A laugh, short and unmusical but not without a biting humour, broke +unexpectedly from the landlady's lips. + +"If she is, HE don't know it. He hasn't seen her." + +"Not seen her?" + +"No. Her veil was very thick the night she came and she did not lift it +as long as he was by. If she had--" + +"Well, what?" + +"I'm afraid that he wouldn't have exacted as much from her as he did. +She's one of those women--" + +"Don't hesitate, Mrs. Yardley." + +"I'm thinking how to put it. Who has her will of your sex, I might say. +Now I'm not." + +"Pretty?" + +"Not like a girl, sir. She's old enough to show fade; but I don't +believe that a man would mind that. She has a look--a way, that even +women feel. You may judge, sir, if we, old stagers at the business, have +been willing to take her in and keep her, at any price,--a woman who +won't show her face except to me, and who will not leave her room +without her veil and then only for walks in places where no one else +wants to go,--she must have some queer sort of charm to overcome all +scruples. But she's gone too far to-day. She shall leave the Inn +to-morrow. I promise you that, sir, whatever Samuel says. But sit down; +sit down; you look tired, judge. Is there anything you would like? Shall +I call Samuel?" + +"No. I'm not much used to walking. Besides, I have had a great loss +to-day. My man, Bela--" Then with his former abruptness: "Have you no +idea who this Mrs. Averill is, or why she broke into my house?" + +"There's but one explanation, sir. I've been thinking about it ever +since I got wind of where she took my Peggy. The woman is not +responsible. She has some sort of mania. Why else should she go into a +strange gate just because she saw it open?" + +"She hasn't confided in you?" + +"No, sir. I haven't seen her since she brought Peggy back. We've had +this big automobile party, and I thought my reckoning with her would +keep. I heard about what had happened at your place from the man who +brought us fruit." + +"Mrs. Yardley, you've seen this woman's face?" + +"Yes, I've seen her." + +"Describe it more particularly." + +"I can't. She has brown hair, brown eyes and a skin as white as milk; +but that don't describe her. Lots of women have all that." + +"No, it doesn't describe her." His manner seemed to pray for further +details, but she stared back, unresponsive. In fact, she felt quite +helpless. With a sigh of impatience, he resorted again to question. + +"You speak of her as a stranger. Are you quite sure that she is a +stranger to Shelby? You have not been so very many years here, and her +constant wearing of a veil in-doors and out is very suspicious." + +"So I'm beginning to think. And there is something else, judge, which +makes me suspect you may be quite correct about her not being an entire +stranger here. She knows this house too well." + +The judge started. The strength of his self-control had relaxed a bit, +and he showed in the look he cast about him what it had cost him to +enter these doors. + +"It is not the same, of course," continued Mrs. Yardley, affected in a +peculiar way by the glimpse she had caught of the other's emotion +unnatural and incomprehensible as it appeared to her. "The place has +been greatly changed, but there is a certain portion of the old house +left which only a person who knew it as it originally was would be apt +to find; and yesterday, on going into one of these remote rooms I came +upon her sitting in one of the windows looking out. How she got there or +why she went, I cannot tell you. She didn't choose to tell me, and I +didn't ask. But I've not felt real easy about her since." + +"Excuse me, Mrs. Yardley, it may be a matter of no moment, but do you +mind telling me where this room is?" + +"It's on the top floor, sir; and it looks out over the ravine. Perhaps +she was spying out the path to your house." + +The judge's face hardened. He felt baffled and greatly disturbed; but he +spoke kindly enough when he again addressed Mrs. Yardley: + +"I am as ignorant as you of this woman's personality and of her reasons +for intruding into my presence this morning. But there is something so +peculiar about this presumptuous attempt of hers at an interview, that I +feel impelled to inquire into it more fully, even if I have to approach +the only source of information capable of giving me what I want--that +is, herself. Mrs. Yardley, will you procure me an immediate interview +with this woman? I am sure that you can be relied upon to do this and to +do it with caution. You have the countenance of a woman unusually +discreet." + +The subtle flattery did its work. She was not blind to the fact that he +had introduced it for that very purpose, but it was not in her nature to +withstand any appeal from so exalted a source however made. Lifting her +eyes fearlessly to his, she responded earnestly: + +"I am proud to serve you. I will see what I can do. Will you wait here +for just a few minutes?" + +He bowed quietly enough; but he was very restless when once he found +himself alone. Those few minutes of waiting seemed interminable to him. +Would the woman come? Was she as anxious to see him now as she had been +in the early morning? Much depended on her mood, but more on the nature +of the errand which had taken her into his house. If that errand was a +vital one, he would soon hear her steps; indeed, he was hearing her +steps now--he was sure of it. Those of Mrs. Yardley were quicker, +shorter, more businesslike. These, now advancing through the corridor, +lingered as if held back by dread or a fateful indecision. + +He would fain hasten them, but discretion forbade. + +They faltered, turned, then, in an instant, all hesitation was lost in +purpose and they again advanced this time to the threshold. Judge +Ostrander had just time to brace himself to meet the unknown, when the +door fell back and the woman of the morning appeared in the opening. + + + + +VII + +WITH HER VEIL DOWN + + +On the instant he recognised that no common interview lay before him. +She was still the mysterious stranger, and she still wore her veil--a +fact all the more impressive that it was no longer the accompaniment of +a hat, but flung freely over her bare head. He frowned as he met her +eyes through this disguising gauze. This attempt at an incognito for +which there seemed to be no adequate reason, had a theatrical look +wholly out of keeping with the situation. But he made no allusion to it, +nor was the bow with which he acknowledged her presence and ushered her +into the room, other than courteous. Nevertheless, she was the first to +speak. + +"This is very good of you, Judge Ostrander," she remarked, in a voice +both cultured and pleasant. "I could hardly have hoped for this honour. +After what happened this morning at your house, I feared that my wish +for an interview would not only be disregarded by you, but that you +would utterly refuse me the privilege of seeing you. I own to feeling +greatly relieved. Such consideration shown to a stranger, argues a +spirit of unusual kindliness." + +A tirade. He simply bowed. + +"Or perhaps I am mistaken in my supposition," she suggested, advancing a +step, but no more. "Perhaps I am no stranger to you? Perhaps you know my +name?" + +"Averill? No." + +She paused, showing her disappointment quite openly. Then drawing up a +chair, she leaned heavily on its back, saying in low, monotonous tones +from which the former eager thrill had departed: + +"I see that the intended marriage of your son has made very little +impression upon you." + +Aghast for the moment, this was such a different topic from the one he +expected, the judge regarded her in silence before remarking: + +"I have known nothing of it. My son's concerns are no longer mine. If +you have broken into my course of life for no other purpose than to +discuss the affairs of Oliver Ostrander, I must beg you to excuse me. I +have nothing to say in his connection to you or to any one." + +"Is the breach between you so deep as that!" + +This she said in a low tone and more as if to herself than to him. Then, +with a renewal of courage indicated by the steadying of her form and a +spirited uplift of her head, she observed with a touch of command in her +voice: + +"There are some things which must be discussed whatever our wishes or +preconceived resolves. The separation between you and Mr. Oliver +Ostrander cannot be so absolute (since whatever your cause of complaint +you are still his father and he your son) that you will allow his whole +life's happiness to be destroyed for the lack of a few words between +yourself and me." + +He had made his bow, and he now proceeded to depart, severity in his +face and an implacable resolution in his eye. But some impulse made him +stop; some secret call from deeply hidden, possibly unrecognised, +affections gave him the will to say: + +"A plea uttered through a veil is like an unsigned message. It partakes +too much of the indefinite. Will you lift your veil, madam?" + +"In a minute," she assured him. "The voice can convey truth as certainly +as the features. I will not deny you a glimpse of the latter after you +have heard my story. Will you hear it, judge? Issues of no common +importance hang upon your decision. I entreat--but no, you are a just +man; I will rely upon your sense of right. If your son's happiness fails +to appeal to you, let that of a young and innocent girl lovely as few +are lovely either in body or mind." + +"Yourself, madam?" + +"No, my daughter! Oliver Ostrander has done us that honour, sir. He had +every wish and had made every preparation to marry my child, when--Shall +I go on?" + +"You may." + +It was shortly said, but a burden seemed to fall from her shoulders at +its utterance. Her whole graceful form relaxed swiftly into its natural +curves, and an atmosphere of charm from this moment enveloped her, which +justified the description of Mrs. Yardley, even without a sight of the +features she still kept hidden. + +"I am a widow, sir." Thus she began with studied simplicity. "With my +one child I have been living in Detroit these many years,--ever since my +husband's death, in fact. We are not unliked there, nor have we lacked +respect. When some six months ago, your son, who stands high in every +one's regard, as befits his parentage and his varied talents, met my +daughter and fell seriously in love with her, no one, so far as I know, +criticised his taste or found fault with his choice. I was happy, after +many years of anxiety; for I idolised my child and I had suffered from +many apprehensions as to her future. Not that I had the right to be +happy; I see that now. A woman with a secret,--and my heart held a woful +and desperate one,--should never feel that that secret lacks power to +destroy her because it has long lain quiescent. I thought my child safe, +and rejoiced as any woman might rejoice, and as I would rejoice now, if +Fate were to obliterate that secret and emancipate us all from the +horror of it." + +She paused, waiting for some acknowledgment of his interest, but not +getting it, went on bitterly enough, for his stolidity was a very great +mystery to her: + +"And she WAS safe, to all appearance, up to the very morning of her +marriage--the marriage of which you say you had received no intimation +though Oliver seems a very dutiful son." + +"Madam!"--The hoarseness of his tone possibly increased its peremptory +character--"I really must ask you to lay aside your veil." + +It was a rebuke and she felt it to be so; but though she blushed behind +her veil, she did not remove it. + +"Pardon me," she begged and very humbly, "but I cannot yet. You will see +why later.--Let me reveal my secret first. I am coming to it, Judge +Ostrander; I cannot keep it back much longer." + +He was too much of a gentleman to insist upon his wishes, but she saw by +the gloom of his eye and a certain nervous twitching of his hands that +it was not from mere impassiveness that his features had acquired their +rigidity. Smitten with compunction, she altered her tone into one more +deprecatory: + +"My story will be best told," she now said, "if I keep all personal +element out of it. You must imagine Reuther, dressed in her wedding +finery, waiting for her bridegroom to take her to church. We were +sitting, she and I, in our little parlour, watching the clock,--for it +was very near the hour. At times, her face turned towards me for a brief +moment, and I felt all the pang of motherhood again, for her loveliness +was not of this earth but of a land where there is no sin, no--There! +the memory was a little too much for me, sir; but I'll not transgress +again; the future holds too many possibilities of suffering for me to +dwell upon the past. She was lovely and her loveliness sprang from a +pure hope. We will let that suffice, and what I dreaded was not what +happened, inexcusable as such blindness and presumption may appear in a +woman who has had her troubles and seen the desperate side of life. + +"A carriage had driven up; and we heard his step; but it was not the +step of a bridegroom, Judge Ostrander, nor was the gentleman he left +behind him at the kerb, the friend who was to stand up with him. To +Reuther, innocent of all deception, this occasioned only surprise, but +to me it meant the end of Reuther's marriage and of my own hopes. I +shrank from the ordeal and stood with my back half turned when, dashed +by his own emotions, he bounded into our presence. + +"One look my way and his question was answered before he put it. Judge +Ostrander, the name under which I had lived in Detroit was not my real +one. I had let him court and all but marry my daughter, without warning +him in any way of what this deception on my part covered. But +others--one other, I have reason now to believe--had detected my +identity under the altered circumstances of my new life, and surprised +him with the news at this late hour. We are--Judge Ostrander, you know +who we are. This is not the first time you and I have seen each other +face to face." And lifting up a hand, trembling with emotion, she put +aside her veil. + + + + +VIII + +WITH HER VEIL LIFTED + + +"MRS.--" + +"You recognise me?" + +"Too well." The tone was deep with meaning but there was no accusation +in it; nor was there any note of relief. It was more as if some hope +deeply, and perhaps unconsciously, cherished had suffered a sudden and +complete extinction. + +The change this made in him was too perceptible for her not to observe +it. The shadow lying deep in her eyes now darkened her whole face. She +had tried to prepare him for this moment; tried to prepare herself. But +who can prepare the soul for the return of old troubles or make other +than startling the resurrection of a ghost laid, as men thought, +forever. + +"You see that it was no fault of my own I was trying to hide," she +finally remarked in her rich and sympathetic voice. + +"Put back your veil." + +It was all he said. + +Trembling she complied, murmuring as she fumbled with its folds: + +"Disgrace to an Ostrander! I know that I was mad to risk it for a +moment. Forgive me for the attempt, and listen to my errand. Oliver was +willing to marry my child, even after he knew the shame it would entail. +But Reuther would not accept the sacrifice. When she learned, as she was +obliged to now, that her father had not only been sentenced to death for +the worst crime in the calendar, but had suffered the full penalty, +leaving only a legacy of eternal disgrace to his wife and innocent +child, she showed a spirit becoming a better parentage. In his presence, +and in spite of his dissuasions (for he acted with all the nobility one +might expect) she took off her veil with her own hands and laid it aside +with a look expressive of eternal renunciation. She loves him, sir; and +there is no selfishness in her heart and never has been. For all her +frail appearance and the mildness of her temper, she is like flint where +principle is involved or the welfare of those she loves is at stake. My +daughter may die from shock or shame, but she will never cloud your +son's prospects with the obloquy which has settled over her own. Judge +Ostrander, I am not worthy of such a child, but such she is. If John--" + +"We will not speak his name," broke in Judge Ostrander, assuming a +peremptory bearing quite unlike his former one of dignified reserve. "I +should like to hear, instead, your explanation of how my son became +inveigled into an engagement of which you, if no one else, knew the +preposterous nature." + +"Judge Ostrander, you do right to blame me. I should never have given my +consent, never. But I thought our past so completely hidden--our +identity so entirely lost under the accepted name of Averill." + +"You thought!" He towered over her in his anger. He looked and acted as +in the old days, when witnesses cowered under his eye and voice. "Say +that you KNEW, madam; that you planned this unholy trap for my son. You +had a pretty daughter, and you saw to it that she came under his notice; +nay, more, ignoring the claims of decency, you allowed the folly to +proceed, if you did not help it on in your misguided ambition to marry +your daughter well." + +"Judge Ostrander, I did not plan their meeting, nor did I at first +encourage his addresses. Not till I saw the extent of their mutual +attachment, did I yield to the event and accept the consequences. But I +was wrong, wholly wrong to allow him to visit her a second time; but now +that the mischief is done--" + +Judge Ostrander was not listening. + +"I have a question to put you," said he, when he realised that she had +ceased speaking. "Oliver was never a fool. When he was told who your +daughter was, what did he say of the coincidence which made him the +lover of the woman against whose father, his father had uttered a +sentence of death? Didn't he marvel and call it extraordinary--the work +of the devil?" + +"Possibly; but if he did, it was not in any conversation he had with +me." + +"Detroit is a large city and must possess hundreds of sweet young girls +within its borders. Could he contemplate without wonder the fact that he +had been led to the door of the one above all others between whom and +himself Fate had set such an insurmountable barrier? He must have been +struck deeply by the coincidence; he must have been, madam." + +Astonished at his manner, at the emphasis he placed upon this point +which seemed to her so much less serious than many others, she regarded +him doubtfully before saying: + +"I was if he was not. From the very first I wondered. But I got used to +the fact during the five months of his courtship. And I got used to +another fact too; that my secret was safe so far as it ran the risk of +being endangered by a meeting with yourself. Mr. Ostrander made it very +plain to us that we need never expect to see you in Detroit." + +"He did? Did he offer any explanation for this lack of--of sympathy +between us?" + +"Never. It was a topic he forbore to enter into and I think he only said +what he did, to prevent any expectations on our part of ever seeing +you." + +"And your daughter? Was he as close-mouthed in speaking of me to her as +he was to you?" + +"I have no doubt of it. Reuther betrays no knowledge of you or of your +habits, and has never expressed but one curiosity in your regard. As you +can imagine what that is, I will not mention it." + +"You are at liberty to. I have listened to much and can well listen to a +little more." + +"Judge, she is of a very affectionate nature and her appreciation of +your son's virtues is very great. Though her conception of yourself is +naturally a very vague one, it is only to be expected that she should +wonder how you could live so long without a visit from Oliver." + +Expectant as he was of this reply, and resolved as he was, to hear it +unmoved, he had miscalculated his strength or his power of concealment, +for he turned aside immediately upon hearing it, and walked away from +her towards the further extremity of the room. Covertly she watched him; +first through her veil, and then with it partly removed. She did not +understand his mood; and she hardly understood her own. When she entered +upon this interview, her mind had been so intent upon one purpose that +it seemed to absorb all her faculties and reach every corner of her +heart; yet here she was, after the exchange of many words between them, +with her purpose uncommunicated and her heart unrelieved, staring at him +not in the interest of her own griefs, but in commiseration of his. + +Yet when he faced her once more every thought vanished from her mind +save the one which had sustained her through the extraordinary measures +she had taken to secure herself this opportunity of presenting her lost +cause to the judgment of the only man from whom she could expect aid. + +But her impulse was stayed and her thoughts sent wandering again by the +penetrating look he gave her before she let her veil fall again. + +"How long have you been in Detroit?" he asked. + +"Ever since--" + +"And how old is Reuther?" + +"Eighteen, but--" + +"Twelve years ago, then." He paused and glanced about him before adding, +"She was about the age of the child you brought to my house to-day." + +"Yes, sir, very nearly." + +His lips took a strange twist. There was self-contempt in it, and some +other very peculiar and contradictory emotion. But when this semblance +of a smile had passed, it was no longer Oliver's father she saw before +her, but the county's judge. Even his tone partook of the change as he +dryly remarked: + +"What you have told me concerning your daughter and my son is very +interesting. But it was not for the simple purpose of informing me that +this untoward engagement was at an end that you came to Shelby. You have +another purpose. What is it? I can remain with you just five minutes +longer." + +Five minutes! It only takes one to kill a hope but five are far too few +for the reconstruction of one. But she gave no sign of her secret +doubts, as she plunged at once into her subject. + +"I will be brief," said she; "as brief as any mother can be who is +pleading for her daughter's life as well as happiness. Reuther has no +real ailment, but her constitution is abnormally weak, and she will die +of this grief if some miracle does not save her. Strong as her will is, +determined as she is to do her duty at all cost, she has very little +physical stamina. See! here is her photograph taken but a short time +ago. Look at it I beg. See what she was like when life was full of hope; +and then imagine her with all hope eliminated." + +"Excuse me. What use? I can do nothing. I am very sorry for the child, +but--" His very attitude showed his disinclination to look at the +picture. + +But she would not be denied. She thrust it upon him and once his eyes +had fallen upon it, they clung there though evidently against his will. +Ah, she knew that Reuther's exquisite countenance would plead for +itself! God seldom grants to such beauty, so lovely a spirit. If the +features themselves failed to appeal, certainly he must feel the charm +of an expression which had already netted so many hearts. Breathlessly +she watched him, and, as she watched, she noted the heavy lines carved +in his face by thought and possibly by sorrow, slowly relax and his eyes +fill with a wistful tenderness. + +In the egotism of her relief, she thought to deepen the impression she +had made by one vivid picture of her daughter as she was now. Mistaking +his temperament or his story, classing him in with other strong men, the +well of whose feeling once roused overflows in sympathetic emotion, she +observed very gently but, as she soon saw, unwisely: + +"Such delicacy can withstand a blow, but not a steady heartbreak. When, +on that dreadful night I crept in from my sleepless bed to see how my +darling was bearing her long watch, this was what I saw. She had not +moved, no, not an inch in the long hours which had passed since I left +her. She had not even stirred the hand from which, at her request, I had +myself drawn her engagement ring. I doubt even if her lids had shut once +over her strained and wide-staring eyes. It was as if she were laid out +for her grave--" + +"Madam!" + +The harsh tone recalled her to herself. She took back the picture he was +holding towards her and was hardly surprised when he said: + +"Parents must learn to endure bitterness. I have not been exempt myself +from such. Your child will not die. You have years of mutual +companionship before you, while I have nothing. And now let us end this +interview so painful to both. You have said--" + +"No," she broke in with sudden vehemence, all the more startling from +the restraint in which she had--held herself up to this moment, "I have +not said--I have not begun to say what seethes like a consuming fire in +my breast. Judge Ostrander, I do not know what has estranged you from +Oliver. It must be something serious;--for you are both good men. But +whatever it is, of this I am certain: you would not wilfully deliver an +innocent child like mine to a wretched fate which a well-directed effort +might avert. I spoke of a miracle--Will you not listen, judge? I am not +wild; I am not unconscious of presumption. I am only in earnest, in +deadly earnest. A miracle is possible. The gulf between these two may +yet be spanned. I see a way--" + +What change was this to which she had suddenly become witness? The face +which had not lost all its underlying benignancy even when it looked its +coldest, had now become settled and hard. His manner was absolutely +repellent as he broke in with the quick disclaimer: + +"But there IS no way. What miracle could ever make your daughter, lovely +as she undoubtedly is, a fitting match for my son! None, madam, +absolutely none. Such an alliance would be monstrous; unnatural." + +"Why?" The word came out boldly. If she was intimidated by this +unexpected attack from a man accustomed to deference and altogether able +to exact it, she did not show it. "Because her father died the death of +a criminal?" she asked. + +The answer was equally blunt: + +"Yes; a criminal over whose trial his father presided as judge." + +Was she daunted? No. Quick as a flash came the retort. + +"A judge, however, who showed him every consideration possible. I was +told at the time and I have been assured by many since that you were +more than just to him in your rulings. Such a memory creates a bond of +gratitude, not hate. Judge Ostrander"--He had taken a step towards the +hall-door; but he paused at this utterance of his name--"answer me this +one question. Why did you do this? As his widow, as the mother of his +child, I implore you to tell me why you showed him this leniency? You +must have hated him deeply--" + +"Yes. I have never hated any one more." + +"The slayer of your dearest friend; of your inseparable companion; of +the one person who stood next to your son in your affections and +regard!" + +He put up his hand. The gesture, the way he turned his face aside showed +that she had touched the raw of a wound still unhealed. Insensibly, the +woman in her responded to this evidence of an undying sorrow, and +modulating her voice, she went on, with just a touch of the subtle +fascination which made her always listened to: + +"Your feeling for Mr. Etheridge was well known. THEN WHY SUCH +MAGNANIMITY TOWARDS THE MAN WHO STOOD ON TRIAL FOR KILLING HIM?" + +Unaccustomed to be questioned, though living in an atmosphere of +continual yes and no, he stared at the veiled features of one who so +dared, as if he found it hard to excuse such presumption. But he +answered her nevertheless, and with decided emphasis: + +"Possibly because his victim was my friend and lifelong companion. A +judge fears his own prejudices." + +"Possibly; but you had another reason, judge; a reason which justified +you in your own eyes at the time and which justifies you in mine now and +always. Am I not right? This is no court-room; the case is one of the +past; it can never be reopened; the prisoner is dead. Answer me then, as +one sorrowing mortal replies to another, hadn't you another reason?" + +The judge, panoplied though he was or thought he was, against all +conceivable attack, winced at this repetition of a question he had hoped +to ignore, and in his anxiety to hide this involuntary betrayal of +weakness, allowed his anger to have full vent, as he cried out in no +measured terms: + +"What is the meaning of all this? What are you after? Why are you raking +up these bygones which only make the present condition of affairs darker +and more hopeless? You say that you know some way of making the match +between your daughter and my son feasible and proper. I say that nothing +can do this. Fact--the sternest of facts is against it. If you found a +way, I shouldn't accept it. Oliver Ostrander, under no circumstances and +by means of no sophistries, can ever marry the daughter of John +Scoville. I should think you would see that for yourself." + +"But if John should be proved to have suffered wrongfully? If he should +be shown to have been innocent?" + +"Innocent?" + +"Yes. I have always had doubts of his guilt, even when circumstances +bore most heavily against him; and now, as I look back upon the trial +and remember certain things, I feel sure that you had doubts of it, +yourself." + +His rebuke was quick, instant. With a force and earnestness which +recalled the court-room he replied: + +"Madam, your hopes and wishes have misled you. Your husband was a guilty +man; as guilty a man as any judge ever passed sentence upon." + +"Oh!" she wailed forth, reeling heavily back and almost succumbing to +the shock, she had so thoroughly convinced herself that what she said +was true. But hers was a courageous soul. She rallied instantly and +approaching him again with face uncovered and her whole potent +personality alive with magnetism, she retorted: + +"You say that, eye to my eye, hand on my hand, heart beating with my +heart above the grave of our children's mutual happiness?" + +"I do." + +Convinced; for there was no wavering in his eye, no trembling in the +hand she had clasped; convinced but ready notwithstanding to repudiate +her own convictions, so much of the mother-passion, if not the wife's, +tugged at her heart, she remained immovable for a moment, waiting for +the impossible, hoping against hope for a withdrawal of his words and +the reillumination of hope. Then her hand fell away from his; she gave a +great sob, and, lowering her head, muttered: + +"John Scoville smote down Algernon Etheridge! O God! O God! what +horror!" + +A sigh from her one auditor welled up in the silence, holding a note +which startled her erect and brought back a memory which drove her again +into passionate speech: + +"But he swore the day I last visited him in the prison, with his arms +pressed tight about me and his eye looking straight into mine as you are +looking now, that he never struck that blow. I did not believe him then, +there were too many dark spots in my memory of old lies premeditated and +destructive of my happiness; but I believed him later, AND I BELIEVE HIM +NOW." + +"Madam, this is quite unprofitable. A jury of his peers condemned him as +guilty and the law compelled me to pass sentence upon him. That his +innocent child should be forced, by the inexorable decrees of fate, to +suffer for a father's misdoing, I regret as much, perhaps more, than you +do; for my son--beloved, though irreconcilably separated from +me--suffers with her, you say. But I see no remedy;--NO REMEDY, I +repeat. Were Oliver to forget himself so far as to ignore the past and +marry Reuther Scoville, a stigma would fall upon them both for which no +amount of domestic happiness could ever compensate. Indeed, there can be +no domestic happiness for a man and woman so situated. The inevitable +must be accepted. Madam, I have said my last word." + +"But not heard mine," she panted. "For me to acknowledge the inevitable +where my daughter's life and happiness are concerned would make me seem +a coward in my own eyes. Helped or unhelped, with the sympathy or +without the sympathy of one who I hoped would show himself my friend, I +shall proceed with the task to which I have dedicated myself. You will +forgive me, judge. You see that John's last declaration of innocence +goes farther with me than your belief, backed as it is by the full +weight of the law." + +Gazing at her as at one gone suddenly demented, he said: + +"I fail to understand you, Mrs.--I will call you Mrs. Averill. You speak +of a task. What task?" + +"The only one I have heart for: the proving that Reuther is not the +child of a wilful murderer; that another man did the deed for which he +suffered. I can do it. I feel confident that I can do it; and if you +will not help me--" + +"Help you! After what I have said and reiterated that he is guilty, +GUILTY, GUILTY?" + +Advancing upon her with each repetition of the word, he towered before +her, an imposing, almost formidable figure. Where was her courage now? +In what pit of despair had it finally gone down? She eyed him +fascinated, feeling her inconsequence and all the madness of her +romantic, ill-digested effort, when from somewhere in the maze of +confused memories there came to her a cry, not of the disappointed heart +but of a daughter's shame, and she saw again the desperate, haunted look +with which the stricken child had said in answer to some plea, "A +criminal's daughter has no place in this world but with the suffering +and the lost"; and nerved anew, she faced again his anger which might +well be righteous, and with almost preternatural insight, boldly +declared: + +"You are too vehement to quite convince me, Judge Ostrander. Acknowledge +it or not, there is more doubt than certainty in your mind; a doubt +which ultimately will lead you to help me. You are too honest not to. +When you see that I have some reason for the hopes I express, your sense +of justice will prevail and you will confide to me the point untouched +or the fact unmet, which has left this rankling dissatisfaction to +fester in your mind. That known, my way should broaden;--a way, at the +end of which I see a united couple--my daughter and your son. Oh, she is +worthy of him--" the woman broke forth, as he made another repellent and +imperative gesture. "Ask any one in the town where we have lived." + +Abruptly, and without apology for his rudeness, Judge Ostrander again +turned his back and walked away from her to an old-fashioned bookcase +which stood in one corner of the room. Halting mechanically before it, +he let his eyes roam up and down over the shelves, seeing nothing, as +she was well aware, but weighing, as she hoped, the merits of the +problem she had propounded him. She was, therefore, unduly startled when +with a quick whirl about which brought him face to face with her once +more, he impetuously asked: + +"Madam, you were in my house this morning. You came in through a gate +which Bela had left unlocked. Will you explain how you came to do this? +Did you know that he was going down street, leaving the way open behind +him? Was there collusion between you?" + +Her eyes looked up clearly into his. She felt that she had nothing to +disguise or conceal. + +"I had urged him to do this, Judge Ostrander. I had met him more than +once in the street when he went out to do your errands, and I used all +my persuasion to induce him to give me this one opportunity of pleading +my cause with you. He was your devoted servant, he showed it in his +death, but he never got over his affection for Oliver. He told me that +he would wake oftentimes in the night feeling about for the boy he used +to carry in his arms. When I told him--" + +"Enough! He knew who you were then?" + +"He remembered me when I lifted my veil. Oh, I know very well that I had +not the right to influence your own man to disobey your orders. But my +cause was so pressing and your seclusion seemingly so arbitrary. How +could I dream that your nerves could not bear any sudden shock? or that +Bela--that giant among negroes--would be so affected by his emotions +that he would not see or hear an approaching automobile? You must not +blame me for these tragedies; and you must not blame Bela. He was torn +by conflicting duties, and only yielded because of his great love for +the absent." + +"I do not blame Bela." + +Startled, she looked at him with wondering eyes. There was a brooding +despair in his tone which caught at her heart, and for an instant made +her feel the full extent of her temerity. In a vain endeavour to regain +her confidence, she falteringly remarked. + +"I had listened to what folks said. I had heard that you would receive +nobody; talk to nobody. Bela was my only resource." + +"Madam, I do not blame YOU." + +He was scrutinising her keenly and for the first time understandingly. +Whatever her station past or present, she was certainly no ordinary +woman, nor was her face without beauty, lit as it was by passion and +every ardour of which a loving woman is capable. No man would be likely +to resist it unless his armour were thrice forged. Would he himself be +able to? He began to experience a cold fear,--a dread which drew a black +veil over the future; a blacker veil than that which had hitherto rested +upon it. + +But his face showed nothing. He was master of that yet. Only his tone. +That silenced her. She was therefore scarcely surprised when, with a +slight change of attitude which brought their faces more closely +together, he proceeded, with a piercing intensity not to be withstood: + +"When you entered my house this morning, did you come directly to my +room?" + +"Yes. Bela told me just how to reach it." + +"And when you saw me indisposed--unable, in fact, to greet you--what did +you do then?" + +With the force and meaning of one who takes an oath, she brought her +hand, palm downward on the table before her, as she steadily replied: + +"I flew back into the room through which I had come, undecided whether +to fly the house or wait for what might happen to you, I had never seen +any one in such an attack before, and almost expected to hear you fall +forward to the floor. But when you did not and the silence, which seemed +so awful, remained unbroken, I pulled the curtain aside and looked in +again. There was no change in your posture; and, alarmed now for your +sake rather than for my own, I did not dare to go till Bela came back. +So I stayed watching." + +"Stayed where?" + +"In a dark corner of that same room. I never left it till the crowd came +in. Then I slid out behind them." + +"Was the child with you--at your side I mean, all this time?" + +"I never let go her hand." + +"Woman, you are keeping nothing back?" + +"Nothing but my terror at the sight of Bela running in all bloody to +escape the people pressing after him. I thought then that I had been the +death of servant as well as master. You can imagine my relief when I +heard that yours was but a passing attack." + +Sincerity was in her manner and in her voice. The judge breathed more +easily, and made the remark: + +"No one with hearing unimpaired can realise the suspicion of the deaf, +nor can any one who is not subject to attacks like mine conceive the +doubts with which a man so cursed views those who have been active about +him while the world to him was blank." + +Thus he dismissed the present subject, to surprise her by a renewal of +the old one. + +"What are your reasons," said he, "for the hopes you have just +expressed? I think it your duty to tell me before we go any further." + +It was an acknowledgment, uttered after his own fashion, of the truth of +her plea and the correctness of her woman's insight. She contemplated +his face anew, and wondered that the dart she had so inconsiderately +launched should have found the one weak joint in this strong man's +armour. But she made no immediate reply, rather stopped to ponder, +finally saying, with drooped head and nervously working fingers: + +"Excuse me for to-night. What I have to tell--or rather, what I have to +show you,--requires daylight." Then, as she became conscious of his +astonishment, added falteringly: + +"Have you any objection to meeting me to-morrow on the bluff overlooking +Dark---" + +The voice of the clock, and that only! Tick! Tick! Tick! Tick! That +only! Why then had she felt it impossible to finish her sentence? The +judge was looking at her; he had not moved; nor had an eyelash stirred, +but the rest of that sentence had stuck in her throat, and she found +herself standing as immovably quiet as he. + +Then she remembered. He had loved Algernon Etheridge. Memory still +lived. The spot she had mentioned was a horror to him. Weakly she strove +to apologise. + +"I am sorry," she began, but he cut her short at once. + +"Why there?" he asked. + +"Because"--her words came slowly, haltingly, as she tremulously, almost +fearfully, felt her way with him--"because--there--is--no--other +place--where--I can make--my point." + +He smiled. It was his first smile in years and naturally was a little +constrained,--and to her eyes at least, almost more terrifying than his +frown. + +"You have a point, then, to make?" + +"A good one." + +He started as if to approach her, and then stood stock-still. + +"Why have you waited till NOW?" he called out, forgetful that they were +not alone in the house, forgetful apparently of everything but his +surprise and repulsion. "Why not have made use of this point before it +was too late? You were at your husband's trial; you were even on the +witness-stand?" + +She nodded, thoroughly cowed at last both by his indignation and the +revelation contained in this question of the judicial mind--"Why now, +when the time was THEN?" + +Happily, she had an answer. + +"Judge Ostrander, I had a reason for that too; and, like my point, it is +a good one. But do not ask me for it to-night. To-morrow I will tell you +everything. But it will have to be in the place I have mentioned. Will +you come to the bluff where the ruins are one-half hour before sunset? +Please, be exact as to the time. You will see why, if you come." + +He leaned across the table--they were on opposite sides of it--and +plunging his eyes into hers stood so, while the clock ticked out one +slow minute more, then he drew back, and remarking with an aspect of +gloom but with much less appearance of distrust: + +"A very odd request, madam. I hope you have good reason for it;" adding, +"I bury Bela to-morrow and the cemetery is in this direction. I will +meet you where you say and at the hour you name." + +And, regarding him closely as he spoke, she saw that for all the +correctness of his manner and the bow of respectful courtesy with which +he instantly withdrew, that deep would be his anger and unquestionable +the results to her if she failed to satisfy him at this meeting of the +value of her POINT in reawakening justice and changing public opinion. + + + + +IX + +EXCERPTS + + +One of the lodgers at the Claymore Inn had great cause for complaint the +next morning. A restless tramping over his head had kept him awake all +night. That it was intermittent had made it all the more intolerable. +Just when he thought it had stopped, it would start up again,--to and +fro, to and fro, as regular as clockwork and much more disturbing. + +But the complaint never reached Mrs. Averill. The landlady had been +restless herself. Indeed, the night had been one of thought and feeling +to more than one person in whom we are interested. The feeling we can +understand; the thought--that is, Mrs. Averill's thought--we should do +well to follow. + +The one great question which had agitated her was this: Should she trust +the judge? Ever since the discovery which had changed Reuther's +prospects, she had instinctively looked to this one source for aid and +sympathy. Her reasons she has already given. His bearing during the +trial, the compunction he showed in uttering her husband's sentence were +sufficient proof to her that for all his natural revulsion against the +crime which had robbed him of his dearest friend, he was the victim of +an undercurrent of sympathy for the accused which could mean but one +thing--a doubt of the prisoner's actual guilt. + +But her faith had been sorely shaken in the interview just related. He +was not the friend she had hoped to find. He had insisted upon her +husband's guilt, when she had expected consideration and a thoughtful +recapitulation of the evidence; and he had remained unmoved, or but very +little moved, by the disappointment of his son--his only remaining link +to life. + +Why? Was the alienation between these two so complete as to block out +natural sympathy? Had the separation of years rendered them callous to +every mutual impression? She dwelt in tenderness upon the bond uniting +herself and Reuther and could not believe in such unresponsiveness. No +parent could carry resentment or even righteous anger so far as that. +Judge Ostrander might seem cold,--both manner and temper would naturally +be much affected by his unique and solitary mode of life,--but at heart +he must love Oliver. It was not in nature for it to be otherwise. And +yet-- + +It was at this point in her musing that there came one of the breaks in +her restless pacing. She was always of an impulsive temperament, and +always giving way to it. Sitting down before paper and ink she wrote the +following lines: + + My Darling if Unhappy Child: + + I know that this sudden journey on my part must strike you as + cruel, when, if ever, you need your mother's presence and care. But + the love I feel for you, my Reuther, is deep enough to cause you + momentary pain for the sake of the great good I hope to bring you + out of this shadowy quest. I believe, what I said to you on + leaving, that a great injustice was done your father. Feeling so, + shall I remain quiescent and see youth and love slip from you, + without any effort on my part to set this matter straight? I + cannot. I have done you the wrong of silence when knowledge would + have saved you shock and bitter disillusion, but I will not add to + my fault the inertia of a cowardly soul. Have patience with me, + then; and continue to cherish those treasures of truth and + affection which you may one day feel free to bestow once more upon + one who has a right to each and all of them. + + This is your mother's prayer. + + DEBORAH SCOVILLE. + +It was not easy for her to sign herself thus. It was a name which she +had tried her best to forget for twelve long, preoccupied years. But how +could she use any other in addressing her daughter who had already +declared her intention of resuming her father's name, despite the +opprobrium it carried and the everlasting bar it must in itself raise +between herself and Oliver Ostrander? + +Deborah Scoville! + +A groan broke from her lips as she rapidly folded that name in, and hid +it out of sight in the envelope she as rapidly addressed. + +But her purpose had been accomplished, or would be when once this letter +reached Reuther. With these words in declaration against her she could +not retreat from the stand she had therein taken. It was another +instance of burning one's ships upon disembarking, and the effect made +upon the writer showed itself at once in her altered manner. Henceforth, +the question should be not what awaited her, but how she should show her +strength in face of the opposition she now expected to meet from this +clear-minded, amply equipped lawyer and judge she had called to her aid. + +[Illustration: AFTER ONE LOOK HE ASSUMED SOME SHOW OF HIS OLD +COMMANDING PRESENCE AND ADVANCED BRAVELY DOWN THE STEPS.] + +"A task for his equal, not for an ignorant, untried woman like myself," +she thought; and, following another of her impulses, she leaped from her +seat at the table and rushed across to her dresser on which she placed +two candles, one at her right and another at her left. Then she sat down +between them and in the stillness of midnight surveyed herself in the +glass, as she might survey the face of a stranger. + +What did she see? A countenance no longer young, and yet with some of +the charm of youth still lingering in the brooding eyes and in the +dangerous curves of a mobile and expressive mouth. But it was not for +charm she was looking, but for some signs of power quite apart from that +of sex. Did her face express intellect, persistence and, above all, +courage? The brow was good;--she would so characterise it in another. +Surely a woman with such a forehead might do something even against +odds. Nor was her chin weak; sometimes she had thought it too pronounced +for beauty; but what had she to do with beauty now? And the neck so +proudly erect! the heaving breast! the heart all aflame! Defeat is not +for such; or only such defeat as bears within it the germ of future +victory. + +Is her reading correct? Time will prove. Meanwhile she will have +confidence in herself, and that this confidence might be well founded +she decided to spend the rest of the night in formulating her plans and +laying out her imaginary campaign. + +Leaving the dresser she recommenced that rapid walking to and fro which +was working such havoc in the nerves of the man in the room below her. +When she paused, it was to ransack a trunk and bring out a flat wallet +filled with newspaper clippings, many of them discoloured by time, and +all of them showing marks of frequent handling. + +A handling now to be repeated. For after a few moments spent in +arranging them, she deliberately set about their complete reperusal, a +task in which it has now become necessary for us to join her. + +The first was black with old head-lines: + +[Illustration: CRIME IN DARK HOLLOW] + + CRIME IN DARK HOLLOW + + ---- + +Algernon Etheridge, One of Our Most Esteemed +Citizens, Waylaid and Murdered at Long Bridge. + + ---- + + A DIRECT CLUE TO THE MURDERER + + ---- + + The Stick With Which the Crime was Committed + Easily Traced to Its Owner. + The Landlord of Claymore Tavern + in the Toils. He Denies His + Guilt But Submits Sullenly + to Arrest. + +Particulars followed. + +"Last evening Shelby's clean record was blackened by outrageous crime. +Some time after nightfall a carter was driving home by Factory Road, +when just as he was nearing Long Bridge one of his horses shied so +violently that he barely escaped being thrown from his seat. As he had +never known the animal to shy like this before, he was curious enough to +get down and look about him for the cause. Dark Hollow is never light, +but it is impenetrable after dark, and not being able to see anything, +he knelt down in the road and began to feel about with his hand. This +brought results. In a few moments he came upon the body of a man lying +without movement, and seemingly without life. + +"Long Bridge is not a favourite spot at night, and, knowing that in all +probability an hour might elapse before assistance would arrive in the +shape of another passer-by, he decided to carry his story straight to +Claymore Tavern. Afterwards he was heard to declare that it was +fortunate his horses were headed that way instead of the other, or he +might have missed seeing the skulking figure which slipped down into the +ravine as he made the turn at the far end of the bridge--a figure which +had no other response to his loud 'Hola!' than a short cough, hurriedly +choked back. He could not see the face or identify the figure, but he +knew the cough. He had heard it a hundred times; and, saying to himself, +'I'll find fellers enough at the tavern, but there's one I won't find +there and that's John Scoville,' he whipped his horse up the hill and +took the road to Claymore. + +"And he was right. A dozen fellows started up at his call, but Scoville +was not among them. He had been out for two hours; which the carter +having heard, he looked down, but said nothing except 'Come along, boys! +I'll drive you to the turn of the bridge.' + +"But just as they were starting Scoville appeared. He was hatless and +dishevelled and reeled heavily with liquor. He also tried to smile, +which made the carter lean quickly down and with very little ceremony +drag him up into the cart. So with Scoville amongst them they rode +quickly back to the bridge, the landlord coughing, the men all grimly +silent. + +"In crossing the bridge he made more than one effort to escape, but the +men were determined, and when they finally stooped over the man lying in +Dark Hollow, he was in their midst and was forced to stoop also. + +"One flash of the lantern told the dismal tale. The man was not only +dead, but murdered. His forehead had been battered in with a knotted +stick; all his pockets hung out empty; and from the general disorder of +his dress it was evident that his watch had been torn away by a ruthless +hand. But the face they failed to recognise till some people, running +down from the upper town where the alarm had by this time spread, sent +up the shout of 'It's Mr. Etheridge! Judge Ostrander's great friend. Let +some one run and notify the judge.' + +"But the fact was settled long before the judge came upon the scene, and +another fact too. In beating the bushes, they had lighted on a heavy +stick. When it was brought forward and held under the strong light made +by a circle of lanterns, a big movement took place in the crowd. The +stick had been recognised. Indeed, it was well known to all the Claymore +men. They had seen it in Scoville's hands a dozen times. Even he could +not deny its ownership; explaining, or trying to, that he had been in +the ravine looking for this stick only a little while before, and +adding, as he met their eyes: + +"'I lost it in these woods this afternoon. I hadn't anything to do with +this killing.' + +"He had not been accused; but he found it impossible to escape after +this, and when at the instance of Coroner Haines he was carefully looked +over and a small red ribbon found in one of his pockets, he was +immediately put under arrest and taken to the city lock-up. For the +ribbon had been identified as well as the stick. Oliver Ostrander, who +had accompanied his father to the scene of crime, declared that he had +observed it that very afternoon, dangling from one end of Mr. +Etheridge's watch-chain where it had been used to fasten temporarily a +broken link. + +"As we go to press we hear that Judge Ostrander has been prostrated by +this blow. The deceased had been playing chess up at his house, and in +taking the short cut home had met with his death. + +"Long Bridge should be provided with lights. It is a dangerous place for +foot passengers on a dark night." + +A later paragraph. + +"The detectives were busy this morning, going over the whole ground in +the vicinity of the bridge. + +"They were rewarded by two important discoveries. The impression of a +foot in a certain soft place halfway up the bluff; and a small heap of +fresh earth nearby which, on being dug into, revealed the watch of the +murdered man. The broken chain lay with it. + +"The footprint has been measured. It coincides exactly with the shoe +worn that night by the suspect. + +"The case will be laid before the Grand Jury next week." + + * * * * * + +"The prisoner continues to deny his guilt. The story he gives out is to +the effect that he left the tavern some few minutes before seven +o'clock, to look for his child who had wandered into the ravine. That he +entered the woods from the road running by his house, and was searching +the bushes skirting the stream when he heard little Reuther's shout from +somewhere up on the bluff. He had his stick with him, for he never went +out without it, but, finding it in his way, he leaned it against a tree +and went plunging up the bluff without it. Why he didn't call out the +child's name he doesn't know; he guessed he thought he would surprise +her; and why, when he got to the top of the bluff and didn't find her, +he should turn about for his stick instead of hunting for her on the +road, he also fails to explain, saying again, he doesn't know. What +circumstances force him to tell and what he declares to be true is this: +That instead of going back diagonally through the woods to the lone +chestnut where he had left his stick, he crossed the bridge and took the +path running along the edge of the ravine: That in doing this he came +upon the body of a man in the black recesses of the Hollow, a man so +evidently beyond all help that he would have hurried by without a second +look if it had not been for the watch he saw lying on the ground close +to the dead man's side. It was a very fine watch, and it seemed like +tempting Providence to leave it lying there exposed to the view of any +chance tramp who might come along. It seemed better for him to take it +into his own charge till he found some responsible person willing to +carry it to Police Headquarters. So, without stopping to consider what +the consequences might be to himself, he tore it away by the chain from +the hold it had on the dead man's coat and put it in his pocket. He also +took some other little things; after which he fled away into town, where +the sight of a saloon was too much for him and he went in to have a +drink to take the horrors out of him. Since then, the detectives have +followed all his movements and know just how much liquor he drank and to +whom, in tipsy bravado, he showed the contents of his pockets. But he +wasn't so far gone as not to have moments of apprehension when he +thought of the dead man lying with his feet in Dark Hollow, and of the +hue and cry which would soon be raised, and what folks might think if +that accursed watch he had taken so innocently should be found in his +pocket. Finally his fears overcame his scruples, and, starting for home, +he stopped at the bluff, meaning to run down over the bridge and drop +the watch as near as possible to the spot where he had found it. But as +he turned to descend, he heard a team approaching from the other side +and, terrified still more, he dashed into the woods, and, tearing up the +ground with his hands, buried his booty in the loose soil, and made for +home. Even then he had no intention of appropriating the watch, only of +safe-guarding himself, nor did he have any hand at all in the murder of +Mr. Etheridge. This he would swear to; also, to the leaving of the stick +where he said. + +"It is understood that in case of his indictment, his lawyer will follow +the line of defence thus indicated." + + * * * * * + +"To-day, John Scoville was taken to the tree where he insists he left +his stick. It is a big chestnut some hundred and fifty feet beyond the +point where the ravine turns west. It has a big enough trunk for a stick +to stand upright against it, as was shown by Inspector Snow who had +charge of this affair. But we are told that after demonstrating this +fact with the same bludgeon which had done its bloody work in the +Hollow, the prisoner showed a sudden interest in this weapon and begged +to see it closer. This being granted, he pointed out where a splinter or +two had been freshly whittled from the handle, and declared that no +knife had touched it while it remained in his hands. But, as he had no +evidence to support this statement (a knife having been found amongst +the other effects taken from his pocket at the time of his arrest), the +impression made by this declaration is not likely to go far towards +influencing public opinion in his favour. + +"A true bill was found to-day against John Scoville for the murder of +Algernon Etheridge." + + * * * * * + +A third clipping: + +"We feel it our duty, as the one independent paper of this city, to +insist upon the right of a man to the consideration of the public till a +jury of his peers has pronounced upon his guilt and thus rendered him a +criminal before the law. The way our hitherto sufficiently respected +citizen, John Scoville, has been maligned and his every fault and +failing magnified for the delectation of a greedy public is unworthy of +a Christian community. No man saw him kill Algernon Etheridge, and he +himself denies most strenuously that he did so, yet from the first +moment of his arrest till now, not a voice has been raised in his +favour, or the least account taken of his defence. Yet he is the husband +of an estimable wife and the father of a child of such exceptional +loveliness that she has been the petted darling of high and low ever +since John Scoville became the proprietor of Claymore Tavern. + +"Give the man a chance. It is our wish to see justice vindicated and the +guilty punished; but not before the jury has pronounced its verdict." + +"The Star was his only friend," sighed Deborah Scoville, as she laid +this clipping aside and took up another headed by a picture of her +husband. This picture she subjected to the same scrutiny she had just +given to her own reflection in the glass: "Seeing him anew," as she said +to herself, "after all these years of determined forgetfulness." + +It was not an unhandsome face. Indeed, it was his good looks which had +prevailed over her judgment in the early days of their courtship. +Reuther had inherited her harmony of feature from him,--the chiselled +nose, the well-modelled chin, and all the other physical graces which +had made him a fine figure behind his bar. But even with the softening +of her feelings towards him since she had thus set herself up in his +defence, Deborah could not fail to perceive under all these surface +attractions an expression of unreliability, or, as some would say, of +actual cruelty. Ruddy-haired and fair of skin, he should have had an +optimistic temperament; but, on the contrary, he was of a gloomy nature, +and only infrequently social. No company was better for his being in it. +Never had she seen any man sit out the evening with him without effort. +Yet the house had prospered. How often had she said to herself, in +noting these facts: "Yet the house prospers!" There was always money in +the till even when the patronage was small. Their difficulties were +never financial ones. She was still living on the proceeds of what they +had laid by in those old days. + +Her mind continued to plunge back. He had had no business worries; yet +his temper was always uncertain. She had not often suffered from it +herself, for her ascendency over men extended even to him. But Reuther +had shrunk before it more than once--the gentle Reuther, who was the +refined, the etherealised picture of himself. And he had loved the child +as well as he could love anybody. Great gusts of fondness would come +over him at times, and then he would pet and cajole the child almost +beyond a parent's prerogative. But he was capable of striking her +too--had struck her frequently. And for nothing--an innocent look; a +shrinking movement; a smile when he wasn't in the mood for smiles. It +was for this Deborah had hated him; and it was for this the mother in +her now held him responsible for the doubts which had shadowed their +final parting. Was not the man, who could bring his hand down upon so +frail and exquisite a creature as Reuther was in those days, capable of +any act of violence? Yes; but in this case he had been guiltless. She +could not but concede this even while yielding to extreme revulsion as +she laid his picture aside. + + * * * * * + +The next slip she took up contained an eulogy of the victim. + +"The sudden death of Algernon Etheridge has been in more than one sense +a great shock to the community. Though a man of passive rather than +active qualities, his scholarly figure, long, lean and bowed, has been +seen too often in our streets not to be missed, when thus suddenly +withdrawn. His method of living; the rigid habits of an almost ascetic +life; such an hour for this thing, such an hour for that--his smile, +which made you soon forget his irascibility and pride of learning; made +up a character unique in our town and one that we can ill afford to +spare. The closed doors of the little cottage, so associated with his +name that it will be hard to imagine it occupied by any one else, +possess a pathos of their own which is felt by young and old alike. The +gate that never would latch, the garden, where at a stated hour in the +morning his bowed figure would always be seen hoeing or weeding or +raking, the windows without curtains showing the stacks of books within, +are eloquent of a presence gone, which can never be duplicated. Alone on +its desolate corner, it seems to mourn the child, the boy, the man who +gave it life, and made it, in its simplicity, more noted and more +frequently pointed at than any other house in town. + +"Why he should have become the target of Fate is one of the mysteries of +life. His watch, which aside from his books was his most valuable +possession, was the gift of Judge Ostrander. That it should be +associated in any way with the tragic circumstances of his death is a +source of the deepest regret to the unhappy donor." + + * * * * * + +This excerpt she hardly looked at; but the following she studied +carefully: + +"Judge Ostrander has from the first expressed a strong desire that some +associate judge should be called upon to preside over the trial of John +Scoville for the murder of Algernon Etheridge. But Judge Saunders' +sudden illness and Judge Dole's departure for Europe have put an end to +these hopes. Judge Ostrander will take his seat on the bench as usual +next Monday. Fortunately for the accused, his well-known judicial mind +will prevent any unfair treatment of the defence." + + * * * * * + +"The prosecution, in the able hands of District Attorney Foss, made all +its points this morning. Unless the defence has some very strong plea in +the background, the verdict seems foredoomed. A dogged look has replaced +the callous and indifferent sneer on the prisoner's face, and sympathy, +if sympathy there is, is centred entirely upon the wife, the able, +agreeable and bitterly humiliated landlady of Claymore Tavern. She it is +who has attracted the most attention during this trial, little as she +seems to court it." + + * * * * * + +"Only one new detail of evidence was laid before the jury to-day. +Scoville has been known for some time to have a great hankering after a +repeating watch. He had once seen that of Algernon Etheridge, and was +never tired of talking about it. Several witnesses testified to his +various remarks on this subject. Thus the motive for his dastardly +assault upon an unoffending citizen, which to many minds has seemed +lacking, has been supplied. + +"The full particulars of this day's proceedings will be found below." + + * * * * * + +We omit these to save repetition; but they were very carefully conned by +Deborah Scoville. Also the following: + +"The defence is in a line with the statement already given out. The +prisoner acknowledges taking the watch but from motives quite opposed to +those of thievery. Unfortunately he can produce no witnesses to +substantiate his declaration that he had heard voices in the direction +of the bridge while he was wandering the woods in search of his lost +child. No evidence of any other presence there is promised or likely to +be produced. It was thought that when his wife was called to the stand +she might have something to say helpful to his case. She had been the +one to ultimately find and lead home the child, and, silent as she had +been up to this time, it has been thought possible that she might swear +to having heard these voices also. + +"But her testimony was very disappointing. She had seen nobody, heard +nobody but the child whom she had found playing with stones in the old +ruin. Though by a close calculation of time she could not have been far +from Dark Hollow at the instant of the crime, yet neither on direct or +cross-examination could anything more be elicited from her than what has +been mentioned above. Nevertheless, we feel obliged to state that, +irreproachable as her conduct was on the stand, the impression she made +was, on the whole, whether intentionally or unintentionally, +unfavourable to her husband. + +"Some anxiety was felt during the morning session that an adjournment +would have to be called, owing to some slight signs of indisposition on +the part of the presiding judge. But he rallied very speedily, and the +proceedings continued without interruption." + + * * * * * + +"Ah!" + +The exclamation escaped the lips of Deborah Scoville as she laid this +clipping aside. "I remember his appearance well. He had the ghost of one +of those attacks, the full force of which I was a witness to this +morning. I am sure of this now, though nobody thought of it then. I +happened to glance his way as I left the stand, and he was certainly for +one minute without consciousness of himself or his surroundings. But it +passed so quickly it drew little attention; not so, the attack of +to-day. What a misfortune rests upon this man. Will they let him +continue on the bench when his full condition is known?" These were her +thoughts, as she recalled that day and compared it with the present. + +There were other slips, which she read but which we may pass by. The +fate of the prisoner was in the hands of a jury. The possibility +suggested by the defence made no appeal to men who had the unfortunate +prisoner under their eye at every stage of the proceedings. The shifty +eye, the hang-dog look, outweighed the plea of his counsel and the call +for strict impartiality from the bench. He was adjudged guilty of murder +in the first degree, and sentence called for. + +This was the end; and as she read these words, the horror which +overwhelmed her was infinitely greater than when she heard them uttered +in that fatal court room. For then she regarded him as guilty and +deserving his fate and now she knew him to be innocent. + +Well, well! too much dwelling on this point would only unfit her for +what lay before her on the morrow. She would read no more. Sleep were a +better preparation for her second interview with the judge than this +reconsideration of facts already known to their last detail. + +Alas, when her eyelids finally obeyed the dictates of her will, the +first glimmering rays of dawn were beginning to scatter the gloom of her +darkened chamber! + + + + +X + +THE SHADOW + + +Bela was to be buried at four. As Judge Ostrander prepared to lock his +gate behind the simple cortege which was destined to grow into a vast +crowd before it reached the cemetery, he was stopped by the sergeant who +whispered in his ear: + +"I thought your honour might like to know that the woman--you know the +one I mean without my naming her--has been amusing herself this morning +in a very peculiar manner. She broke down some branches in the +ravine,--small ones, of course,--and would give no account of herself +when one of my men asked her what she was up to. It may mean nothing, +but I thought you would like to know." + +"Have you found out who she is?" + +"No, sir. The man couldn't very well ask her to lift her veil, and at +the tavern they have nothing to say about her." + +"It's a small matter. I will see her myself to-day and find out what she +wants of me. Meanwhile, remember that I leave this house and grounds +absolutely to your protection for the next three hours. I shall be known +to be absent, so that a more careful watch than ever is necessary. Not a +man, boy or child is to climb the fence. I may rely on you?" + +"You may, judge." + +"On my return you can all go. I will guard my own property after to-day. +You understand me, sergeant?" + +"Perfectly, your honour." + +This ended the colloquy. + +Spencer's Folly, as the old ruin on the bluff was called in memory of +the vanished magnificence which was once the talk of the county, +presented a very different appearance to the eye in broad daylight from +what it did at night with a low moon sending its mellow rays through the +great gap made in its walls by that ancient stroke of lightning. Even +the enkindling beams of the westering sun striking level through the +forest failed to adorn its broken walls and battered foundations. To the +judge, approaching it from the highway, it was as ugly a sight as the +world contained. He hated its arid desolation and all the litter of +blackened bricks blocking up the site of former feastings and reckless +merriment, and, above all, the incongruous aspect of the one gable still +standing undemolished, with the zigzag marks of vanished staircases +outlined upon its mildewed walls. But, most of all, he shrank from a +sight of the one corner still intact where the ghosts of dead memories +lingered, making the whole place horrible to his eye and one to be +shunned by all men. How long it had been shunned by him he realised when +he noticed the increased decay of the walls and the growth of the +verdure encompassing the abominable place! + +The cemetery from which he had come looked less lonesome to his eyes and +far less ominous; and, for a passing instant, as he contemplated the +scene hideous with old memories and threatening new sorrows, he envied +Bela his narrow bed and honourable rest. + +A tall figure and an impressive presence are not without their +disadvantages. This he felt as he left the highway and proceeded up the +path which had once led through a double box hedge to the high, pillared +entrance. He abhorred scandal and shrank with almost a woman's distaste +from anything which savoured of the clandestine. Yet here he was about +to meet on a spot open to the view of every passing vehicle, a woman +who, if known to him, was a mystery to every one else. His expression +showed the scorn with which he regarded his own compliance, yet he knew +that no instinct of threatened dignity, no generous thought for her or +selfish one for himself would turn him back from this interview till he +had learned what she had to tell him and why she had so carefully +exacted that he should hear her story in a spot overlooking the Hollow +it would beseem them both to shun. + +There had originally been in the days of Spencer's magnificence a lordly +portico at the end of this approach, girt by pillars of extraordinary +height. But no sign remained of pillar, or doorway--only a gap, as I +have said. Towards this gap he stepped, feeling a strange reluctance in +entering it. But he had no choice. He knew what he should see--No, he +did not know what he should see, for when he finally stepped in, it was +not an open view of the Hollow which met his eyes, but the purple-clad +figure of Mrs. Averill with little Peggy at her side. He had not +expected to see the child, and, standing as they were with their backs +to him, they presented a picture which, for some reason to be found in +the mysterious recesses of his disordered mind, was exceedingly +repellent to him. Indeed, he was so stricken by it that he had actually +made a move to withdraw, when the exigency of the occasion returned upon +him in full force, and, with a smothered oath, he overcame his weakness +and stepped firmly up into the ruins. + +The noise he made should have caused Deborah's tall and graceful figure +to turn. But the spell of her own thoughts was too great; and he would +have found himself compelled to utter the first word, if the child, who +had heard him plainly enough, had not dragged at the woman's hand and so +woke her from her dream. + +"Ah, Judge Ostrander," she exclaimed in a hasty but not ungraceful +greeting, "you are very punctual. I was not looking for you yet." Then, +as she noted the gloom under which he was labouring, she continued with +real feeling, "Indeed, I appreciate this sacrifice you have made to my +wishes. It was asking a great deal of you to come here; but I saw no +other way of making my point clear. Come over here, Peggy, and build me +a little house out of these stones. You don't mind the child, do you, +judge? She may offer a diversion if our retreat is invaded." + +The gesture of disavowal which he made was courteous but insincere. He +did mind the child, but he could not explain why; besides he must +overcome such folly. + +"Now," she continued as she rejoined him on the place where he had taken +his stand, "I will ask you to go back with me to the hour when John +Scoville left the tavern on that fatal day. I am not now on oath, but I +might as well be for any slip I shall make in the exact truth. I was +making pies in the kitchen, when some one came running in to say that +Reuther had strayed away from the front yard. She was about the age of +the little one over there, and we never allowed her out alone for fear +of her tumbling off the bluff. So I set down the pie I was just putting +in the oven, and was about to run out after her when my husband called +to me from the front, and said he would go. I didn't like his tone--it +was sullen and impatient, but I knew he loved the child too well to see +her suffer any danger, and so I settled back to work and was satisfied +enough till the pies were all in. Then I got uneasy, and, hearing +nothing of either of them, I started in this direction because they told +me John had taken the other. And here I found her, sir, right in the +heart of these ruins. She was playing with stones just as Peggy dear is +doing now. Greatly relieved, I was taking her away when I thought I +heard John calling. Stepping up to the edge just behind where you are +standing, sir--yes, there, where you get such a broad outlook up and +down the ravine, I glanced in the direction from which I had heard his +call--Just wait a moment, sir; I want to know the exact time." + +Stopping, she pulled out her watch and looked at it, while he, faltering +up to the verge which she had pointed out, followed her movements with +strange intensity as she went on to say in explanation of her act: + +"The time is important, on account of a certain demonstration I am +anxious to make. You will remember that I was expecting to see John, +having heard his voice in the ravine. Now if you will lean a little +forward and look where I am pointing, you will notice at the turn of the +stream, a spot of ground more open than the rest. Please keep your eyes +on that spot, for it was there I saw at this very hour twelve years ago +the shadow of an approaching figure; and it is there you will presently +see one similar, if the boy I have tried to interest in this experiment +does not fail me. Now, now, sir! We should see his shadow before we see +him. Oh, I hope the underbrush and trees have not grown up too thick! I +tried to thin them out to-day. Are you watching, sir?" + +He seemed to be, but she dared not turn to look. Both figures leaned, +intent, and in another moment she had gripped his arm and clung there. + +"Did you see?" she whispered, "Don't mind the boy; it's the shadow I +wanted you to notice. Did you observe anything marked about it?" + +She had drawn him back into the ruins. They were standing in that one +secluded corner under the ruinous gable, and she was gazing up at him +very earnestly. "Tell me, judge," she entreated as he made no effort to +answer. + +With a hurried moistening of his lips, he met her look and responded, +with a slight emphasis: + +"The boy held a stick. I should say that he was whittling it." + +"Ah!" Her tone was triumphant. "That was what I told him to do. Did you +see anything else?" + +"No. I do not understand this experiment or what you hope from it." + +"I will tell you. The shadow which I saw at a moment very like this, +twelve years ago, showed a man whittling a stick and wearing a cap with +a decided peak in front. My husband wore such a cap--the only one I knew +of in town. What more did I need as proof that it was his shadow I saw?" + +"And wasn't it?" + +"Judge Ostrander, I never thought differently till after the trial--till +after the earth closed over my poor husband's remains. That was why I +could say nothing in his defence--why I did not believe him when he +declared that he had left his stick behind him when he ran up the bluff +after Reuther. The tree he pointed out as the one against which he had +stood it, was far behind the place where I saw this advancing shadow. +Even the oath he made to me of his innocence at the last interview we +held in prison did not impress me at the time as truthful. But later, +when it was all over, when the disgrace of his death and the necessity +of seeking a home elsewhere drove me into selling the tavern and all its +effects, I found something which changed my mind in this regard, and +made me confident that I had done my husband a great injustice." + +"You found? What do you mean by that? What could you have found?" + +"His peaked cap lying in a corner of the garret. He had not worn it that +day." + +The judge stared. She repeated her statement, and with more emphasis: + +"He had not worn it that day; for when he came back to be hustled off +again by the crowd, he was without hat of any kind, and he never +returned again to his home--you know that, judge. I had seen the shadow +of some other man approaching Dark Hollow. WHOSE, I AM IN THIS TOWN NOW +TO FIND OUT." + + + + +XI + +"I WILL THINK ABOUT IT" + + +Judge Ostrander was a man of keen perception, quick to grasp an idea, +quick to form an opinion. But his mind acted slowly to-night. Deborah +Scoville wondered at the blankness of his gaze and the slow way in which +he seemed to take in this astounding fact. + +At last he found voice and with it gave some evidence of his usual +acumen. + +"Madam, a shadow is an uncertain foundation on which to build such an +edifice as you plan. How do you know that the fact you mention was +coincident with the crime? Mr. Etheridge's body was not found till after +dark. A dozen men might have come down that path with or without sticks +before he reached the bridge and fell a victim to the assault which laid +him low." + +"I thought the time was pretty clearly settled by the hour he left your +house. The sun had not set when he turned your corner on his way home. +So several people said who saw him. Besides--" + +"Yes; there is a BESIDES. I'm sure of it." + +"I saw the tall figure of a man, whom I afterwards made sure was Mr. +Etheridge, coming down Factory Road on his way to the bridge when I +turned about to get Reuther." + +"All of which you suppressed at the trial." + +"I was not questioned on this point, sir." + +"Madam,"--he was standing very near to her now, hemming her as it were +into that decaying corner--"I should have a very much higher opinion of +your candour if you told me the whole story." + +"I have, sir." + +His hands rose, one to the right hand wall, the other to the left, and +remained there with their palms resting heavily against the rotting +plaster. She was more than ever hemmed in; but, though she felt a trifle +frightened at his aspect which certainly was not usual, she faced him +without shrinking and in very evident surprise. + +"You went immediately home with the child after that glimpse you got of +Mr. Etheridge?" + +"Yes; I had no reason in the world to suppose that anything was going to +happen in the ravine below us. Of course, I went straight on; there were +things to be done at home, and--you don't believe me, sir." + +His hands fell; an indefinable change had come over his aspect; he bowed +and seemed about to utter an ironic apology. She felt puzzled and +unconsciously she began to think. What was lacking in her statement? +Something. Could she remember what? Something which he had expected; +something which as presiding judge over John's trial he had been made +aware of and now recalled to render her story futile. It couldn't be +that one little thing--But yes, it might be. Nothing is little where a +great crime is concerned. She smiled a dubious smile, then she said: + +"It seems too slight a fact to mention, and, indeed, I had forgotten it +till you pressed me, but after we had passed the gates and were well out +on the highway, I found that Reuther had left her little pail behind her +here, and we came back and got it. Did you mean that, sir?" + +"I meant nothing; but I felt sure you had not told all you could about +that fatal ten minutes. You came back. It is quite a walk from the road. +The man whose shadow you saw must have reached the bridge by this time. +What did you see then or--hear?" + +"Nothing. Absolutely nothing, judge. I was intent on finding the baby's +pail, and having found it I hurried back home all the faster." + +"And tragedy was going on or was just completed, in plain sight from +this gap!" + +"I have no doubt, sir; and if I had looked, possibly John might have +been saved." + +The silence following this was broken by a crash and a little cry. +Peggy's house had tumbled down. + +The small incident was a relief. Both assumed more natural postures. + +"So the shadow is your great and only point," remarked the judge. + +"It is sufficient for me." + +"Ah, perhaps." + +"But not enough for the public?" + +"Hardly." + +"Not enough for you, either?" + +"Madam, I have already told you that, in my opinion, John Scoville was a +guilty man." + +"And this fact, with which I have just acquainted you, has done nothing +to alter this opinion?" + +"I can only repeat what I have just said." + +"Oh, Reuther! Oh, Oliver!" + +"Do not speak my son's name. I am in no mood for it. The boy and girl +are two and can never become one. I have other views for her--she is an +innocent victim and she has my sympathy. You, too, madam, though I +consider you as following a will-o'-the-wisp which will only lead you +hopelessly astray." + +"I shall not desist, Judge Ostrander." + +"You are going to pursue this Jack-o'-Lanthorn?" + +"I am determined to. If you deny me aid and advice, I shall seek another +counsellor. John's name must be vindicated." + +"Obstinacy, madam." + +"No; conscience." + +He gave her a look, turned and glanced down at the child piling stone on +stone and whimpering just a little when they fell. + +"Watch that baby for a while," he remarked, "and you will learn the +lesson of most human endeavour. Madam, I have a proposition to make you. +You cannot wish to remain at the inn, nor can you be long happy +separated from your daughter. I have lost Bela. I do not know how, nor +would I be willing, to replace him by another servant. I need a +housekeeper; some one devoted to my interests and who will not ask me to +change my habits too materially. Will you accept the position, if I add +as an inducement my desire to have Reuther also as an inmate of my home? +This does not mean that I countenance or in any way anticipate her union +with my son. I do not; but any other advantages she may desire, she +shall have. I will not be strict with her." + +"Judge Ostrander!" + +Deborah Scoville was never more taken aback in her life. The recluse +opening his doors to two women! The man of mystery flinging aside the +reticences of years to harbour an innocence which he refused to let +weigh against the claims of a son he has seen fit to banish from his +heart and home! + +"You may take time to think of it," he continued, as he watched the +confused emotions change from moment to moment the character of her +mobile features. "I shall not have my affairs adjusted for such a change +before a week. If you accept, I shall be very grateful. If you decline, +I shall close up my two rear gates, and go into solitary seclusion. I +can cook a meal if I have to." + +And she saw that he would do it; saw and wondered still more. + +"I shall have to write to Reuther," she murmured. "How soon do you want +my decision?" + +"In four days." + +"I am too disturbed to thank you, judge. Should--should we have to keep +the gates locked?" + +"No. But you would have to keep out unwelcome intruders. And the rights +of my library will have to be respected. In all other regards I should +wish, under these new circumstances, to live as other people live. I +have been very lonely these past twelve years." + +"I will think about it." + +"And you may make note of these two conditions: Oliver's name is not to +be mentioned in my hearing, and you and Reuther are to be known by your +real names." + +"You would--" + +"Yes, madam. No secrecy is to be maintained in future as to your +identity or my reasons for desiring you in my house. I need a +housekeeper and you please me. That you have a past to forget and +Reuther a disappointment to overcome, gives additional point to the +arrangement." + +Her answer was: + +"I cannot take back what I have said about my determined purpose." In +repeating this, she looked up at him askance. + +He smiled. She remembered that smile long after the interview was over +and only its memory remained. + + + + +XII + +SOUNDS IN THE NIGHT + + +Dearest Mother: + +Where could we go that disgrace would not follow us? Let us +then accept the judge's offer. I am the more inclined to do +this because of the possible hope that some day he may come +to care for me and allow me to make life a little brighter +for him. The fact that for some mysterious reason he feels +himself cut off from all intercourse with his son, may prove +a bond of sympathy between us. I, too, am cut off from all +companionship with Oliver. Between us also a wall is raised. +Do not mind that tear-drop, mamma. It is the last. + +Kisses for my comforter. Come soon. + +REUTHER. + +Over this letter Deborah Scoville sat for two hours, then she rang for +Mrs. Yardley. + +The maid who answered her summons surveyed her in amazement. It was the +first time that she had seen her uncovered face. + +Mrs. Yardley was not long in coming up. + +"Mrs. Averill--" she began in a sort of fluster, as she met her strange +guest's quiet eye. + +But she got no further. That guest had a correction to make. + +"My name is not Averill," she protested. "You must excuse the temporary +deception. It is Scoville. I once occupied your present position in this +house." + +Mrs. Yardley had heard all about the Scovilles; and, while a flush rose +to her cheeks, her eyes snapped with sudden interest. + +"Ah!" came in quick exclamation, followed, however, by an apologetic +cough and the somewhat forced and conventional remark: "You find the +place changed, no doubt?" + +"Very much so, and for the better, Mrs. Yardley." Then, with a +straightforward meeting of the other's eye calculated to disarm whatever +criticism the situation might evoke, she quietly added, "You need no +longer trouble yourself with serving me my meals in my room. I will eat +dinner in the public dining-room to-day with the rest of the boarders. I +have no further reason for concealing who I am or what my future +intentions are. I am going to live with Judge Ostrander, Mrs. +Yardley;--keep house for him, myself and daughter. His man is dead and +he feels very helpless. I hope that I shall be able to make him +comfortable." + +Mrs. Yardley's face was a study. In all her life she had never heard +news that surprised her more. In fact, she was mentally aghast. Judge +Ostrander admitting any one into his home, and this woman above all! +Yet, why not? He, certainly, would have to have some one. And this woman +had always been known as a notable housekeeper. In another moment, she +had accepted the situation, like the very sensible woman she was, and +Mrs. Scoville had the satisfaction of seeing the promise of real +friendly support in the smile with which Mrs. Yardley remarked: + +"It's a good thing for you and a very good thing for the judge. It may +shake him out of his habit of seclusion. If it does, you will be the +city's benefactor. Good luck to you, madam. And you have a daughter, you +say?" + + * * * * * + +After Mrs. Yardley's departure, Mrs. Scoville, as she now expected +herself to be called, sat for a long time brooding. Would her quest be +facilitated or irretrievably hindered by her presence in the judge's +house? She had that yet to learn. Meanwhile, there was one thing more to +be accomplished. She set about it that evening. + +Veiled, but in black now, she went into town. Getting down at the corner +of Colburn Avenue and Perry Street, she walked a short distance on +Perry, then rang the bell of an attractive-looking house of moderate +dimensions. Being admitted, she asked to see Mr. Black, and for an hour +sat in close conversation with him. Then she took a trolley-car which +carried her into the suburbs. When she alighted, it was unusually late +for a woman to be out alone; but she had very little physical fear, and +walked on steadily enough for a block or two till she came to a corner, +where a high fence loomed forbiddingly between her and a house so dark +that it was impossible to distinguish between its chimneys and the +encompassing trees whose swaying tops could be heard swishing about +uneasily in the keen night air. An eerie accompaniment, this latter, to +the beating of Deborah's heart already throbbing with anticipation and +keyed to an unusual pitch by her own daring. + +Was she quite alone in the seemingly quiet street? She could hear no +one, see no one. A lamp burned in front of Miss Weeks' small house, but +the road it illumined (I speak of the one running down to the ravine) +showed only darkened houses. + +She had left the corner and was passing the gate of the Ostrander +homestead, when she heard, coming from some distant point within, a low +and peculiar sound which held her immovable for a moment, then sent her +on shuddering. + +It was the sound of hammering. + +What is there in a rat-tat-tat in the dead of night which rouses the +imagination and fills the mind with suggestions which we had rather not +harbour when in the dark and alone? Deborah Scoville was not +superstitious, but she had keen senses and mercurial spirits and was +easily moved by suggestion. + +Hearing this sound and locating it where she did, she remembered, with a +quick inner disturbance, that the judge's house held a secret; a secret +of such import to its owner that the dying Bela had sought to preserve +it at the cost of his life. + +Oh, she had heard all about that! The gossip at Claymore Inn had been +great, and nothing had been spared her curiosity. There was something in +this house which it behooved the judge to secrete from sight yet more +completely before her own and Reuther's entrance, and he was at work +upon it now, hammering with his own hand while other persons slept! No +wonder she edged her way along the fence with a shrinking, yet +persistent, step. She was circling her future home and that house held a +mystery. + +And yet, like any other imaginative person under a stress of aroused +feeling, she might very easily be magnifying some commonplace act into +one of terrifying possibilities. One can hammer very innocently in his +own house, even at night, when making preparations to receive fresh +inmates after many years of household neglect. + +She recognised her folly before reaching the adjoining field. But she +went on. Where the fence turned, she turned, there being no obstruction +to her doing so. This brought her into a wilderness of tangled grasses +where free stepping was difficult. As she groped her way along, she had +ample opportunity to hear again the intermittent sounds of the hammer, +and to note that they reached their maximum at a point where the ell of +the judge's study approached the fences. + +Rat-tat-tat; rat-tat-tat. She hated the sound even while she whispered +to herself: + +"It is just some household matter he is at work upon;--rehanging +pictures or putting up shelves. It can be nothing else." + +Yet on laying her ear to the fence, she felt her sinister fears return; +and, with shrinking glances into a darkness which told her nothing, she +added in fearful murmur to herself: + +"What am I taking Reuther into? I wish I knew. I wish I knew." + + + + +BOOK II + +THE HOUSE AND THE ROOM + + + + +XIII + +A BIT OF STEEL + + +"When are you going to Judge Ostrander's?" + +"To-morrow. This is my last free day. So if there is anything for me to +do, do tell me, Mr. Black, and let me get to work at once." + +"There is nothing you can do. The matter is hopeless." + +"You think so?" + +There was misery in the tone, but the seasoned old lawyer, who had +conducted her husband's defence, did not allow his sympathies to run +away with his judgment. + +"I certainly do, madam. I told you so the other night, and now, after a +couple of days of thought on the subject, I am obliged to repeat my +assertion. Your own convictions in the matter, and your story of the +shadow and the peaked cap may appeal to the public and assure you some +sympathy, but for an entire reversal of its opinion you will need +substantial and incontrovertible evidence. You must remember--you will +pardon my frankness--that your husband's character failed to stand the +test of inquiry. His principles were slack, his temper violent. You have +suffered from both and must know. A poor foundation I found it for his +defence; and a poor one you will find it for that reversal of public +opinion upon which you count, without very strong proof that the crime +for which he was punished was committed by another man. You think you +have such proof, but it is meagre, very meagre. Find me something +definite to go upon and we will talk." + +"Discouragement; discouragement everywhere," she complained. "Yet I know +John to have been innocent of this crime." + +The lawyer raised his brows, and toyed impatiently with his watch-chain. +If her convictions found any echo in his own mind, he gave no evidence +of it. Doubtfully she eyed him. + +"What you want," she observed at length, with a sigh, "is the name of +the man who sauntered down the ravine ahead of my husband. I cannot give +it to you now, but I do not despair of learning it." + +"Twelve years ago, madam; twelve years ago." + +"I know; but I have too much confidence in my cause to be daunted even +by so serious an obstacle as that. I shall yet put my finger on this +man. But I do not say that it will be immediately. I have got to renew +old acquaintances; revive old gossip; possibly, recall to life almost +obliterated memories." + +Mr. Black, dropping his hand from his vest, gave her his first look of +unqualified admiration. + +"You ring true," said he. "I have met men qualified to lead a Forlorn +Hope; but never before a woman. Allow me to express my regret that it is +such a forlorn one." Then, with a twinkle in his eye which bespoke a +lighter mood, he remarked in a curiously casual tone. + +"Talking of gossip, there is but one person in town who is a complete +repository of all that is said or known this side of Colchester." (The +next town.) "I never knew her to forget anything; and I never knew her +to be very far from the truth. She lives near Judge Ostrander--a quaint +little body, not uninteresting to talk to; a regular character, in fact. +Do you know what they say about her house? That everything on God's +earth can be found in it. That you've but to name an object, and she +will produce it. She's had strange opportunities for collecting odds and +ends, and she's never neglected one of them. Yet her house is but a box. +Miss Weeks is her name." + +"I will remember it." + +Mrs. Scoville rose. Then she sat down again, with the remark: + +"I have a strange notion. It's a hard thing to explain and you may not +understand me, but I should like to see, if it still exists, the +stick--my husband's stick--with which this crime was committed. Do the +police retain such things? Is there any possibility of my finding it +laid away in some drawer at Headquarters or on some dusty shelf?" + +Mr. Black was again astonished. Was this callousness or a very deep and +determined purpose. + +"I don't know. I never go pottering about at Headquarters. What do you +want to see that for? What help can you get out of that?" + +"None probably; but in the presence of defeat you grasp at every hope. I +dreamt of that stick last night. I was in an awful wilderness, all +rocks, terrific gorges and cloud-covered, unassailable peaks. A +light--one ray and one only--shone on me through the darkness. Towards +this ray I was driven through great gaps in the yawning rocks and along +narrow galleries sloping above an unfathomable abyss. Hope lay beyond, +rescue, light. But a wall reared its black length between. I came upon +it suddenly; a barrier mighty and impenetrable with its ends lost in +obscurity. And the ray! the one long beam! It was still there. It shone +directly upon me from an opening in this wall. It marked a gate,--a gate +for which I only lacked the key. Where should I find one to fit a lock +so gigantic! Nowhere! unless the something which I held--which had been +in my hands from the first--would be found to move its stubborn wards. I +tried it and it did! it did! I hear the squeak of those tremendous +hinges now, and--Mr. Black, you must have guessed what that something +was. My husband's stick! the bludgeon with whose shape I was so familiar +twelve years ago! It is that and that only which will lead us to the +light. Of this I feel quite sure." + +A short and ironical grunt answered her. Mr. Black was not always the +pink of politeness even in the presence of ladies. + +"Most interesting," he commented sarcastically. "The squeak you heard +was probably the protest of the bed you were reclining on against such a +misuse of the opportunities it offered you. A dream listened to as +evidence in this office! You must have a woman's idea of the value of my +time." + +Flushing with discomfiture, she attempted to apologise, when he cut her +short. "Nevertheless, you shall see the stick if it is still to be +found. I will take you to Police Headquarters if you will go heavily +veiled. We don't want any recognition of you there YET." + +"You will take me--" + +"The fact that I never go there may make my visit not unwelcome. I'll do +it; yes, I'll do it." + +"Mr. Black, you are very good. How soon--" + +"Now," he announced, jumping up to get his hat. "A woman who can take up +a man's time, with poetry and dreams, might as well have the whole +afternoon. Are you ready? Shall we go?" + +All alacrity, in spite of the irony of his bow and smile, he stood at +the door waiting for her to follow him. This she did slowly and with +manifest hesitation. She did not understand the man. People often said +of her that she did not understand her own charm. + +There was one little fact of which Mr. Black was ignorant;--that the +police had had their eye on the veiled lady at Claymore Inn for several +days now and knew who his companion was the instant they stepped into +Headquarters. In vain his plausible excuses for showing his lady friend +the curiosities of the place; her interest in the details of criminology +was well understood by Sergeant Doolittle, though of course he had not +sounded its full depths, and could not know from any one but Judge +Ostrander himself, her grave reasons for steeping her mind again in the +horrors of her husband's long-since expiated crime. And Judge Ostrander +was the last man who would be likely to give him this information. + +Therefore, when he saw the small, mocking eye of the lawyer begin to +roam over the shelves, and beheld his jaw drop as it sometimes did when +he sought to veil his purpose in an air of mild preoccupation, he knew +what the next request would be, as well as if the low sounds which left +Mr. Black's lips at intervals had been words instead of inarticulate +grunts. He was, therefore, prepared when the question did come. + +"Any memorial of the Etheridge case?" + +"Nothing but a stick with blood-marks on it. That, I'm afraid, wouldn't +be a very agreeable sight for a lady's eye." + +"She's proof," the lawyer whispered in the officer's ear. "Let's see the +stick." + +The sergeant considered this a very interesting experience--quite a +jolly break in the dull monotony of the day. Hunting up the stick, he +laid it in the lawyer's hands, and then turned his eye upon the lady. + +She had gone pale, but it took her but an instant to regain her +equanimity and hold out her own hand for the weapon. + +With what purpose? What did she expect to see in it which others had not +seen many times? She did not know, herself. She was simply following an +impulse, just as she had felt herself borne on by some irresistible +force in her dream. And so, the three stood there, the men's faces +ironic, inquisitive, wondering at the woman's phlegm if not at her +motive; hers, hidden behind her veil, but bent forward over the weapon +in an attitude of devouring interest. Thus for a long, slow minute; then +she impulsively raised her head and, beckoning the two men nearer, she +directed attention to a splintered portion of the handle and asked them +what they saw there. + +"Nothing; just stick," declared the sergeant. "The marks you are looking +for are higher up." + +"And you, Mr. Black?" + +He saw nothing either but stick. But he was little less abrupt in his +answer. + +"Do you mean those roughnesses?" he asked. "That's where the stick was +whittled. You remember that he had been whittling at the stick--" + +"Who?" + +The word shot from her lips so violently that for a moment both men +looked staggered by it. Then Mr. Black, with unaccustomed forbearance, +answered gently enough: + +"Why, Scoville, madam; or so the prosecution congratulated itself upon +having proved to the jury's satisfaction. It did not tally with +Scoville's story or with common sense I know. You remember,--pardon +me,--I mean that any one who read a report of the case, will remember +how I handled the matter in my speech. But the prejudice in favour of +the prosecution--I will not say against the defence--was too much for +me, and common sense, the defendant's declarations, and my eloquence all +went for nothing." + +"Of course they produced the knife?" + +"Yes, they produced the knife." + +"It was in his pocket?" + +"Yes." + +"Have they that here?" + +"No, we haven't that here." + +"But you remember it?" + +"Remember it?" + +"Was it a new knife, a whole one, I mean, with all its blades sharp and +in good order?" + +"Yes. I can say that. I handled it several times." + +"Then, whose blade left that?" And again she pointed to the same place +on the stick where her finger had fallen before. + +"I don't know what you mean." The sergeant looked puzzled. Perhaps, his +eyesight was not very keen. + +"Have you a magnifying-glass? There is something embedded in this wood. +Try and find out what it is." + +The sergeant, with a queer look at Mr. Black, who returned it with +interest, went for a glass, and when he had used it, the stare he gave +the heavily veiled woman drove Mr. Black to reach out his own hand for +the glass. + +"Well," he burst forth, after a prolonged scrutiny, "there is something +there." + +"The point of a knife blade. The extreme point," she emphasised. "It +might easily escape the observation even of the most critical, without +such aid as is given by this glass." + +"No one thought of using a magnifying-glass on this," blurted out the +sergeant. "The marks made by the knife were plain enough for all to see, +and that was all which seemed important." + +Mr. Black said nothing; he was feeling a trifle cheap;--something which +did not agree with his crusty nature. Not having seen Mrs. Scoville for +a half-hour without her veil, her influence over him was on the wane, +and he began to regret that he had laid himself open to this +humiliation. + +She saw that it would be left for her to wind up the interview and get +out of the place without arousing too much attention. With a +self-possession which astonished both men, knowing her immense interest +in this matter, she laid down the stick, and, with a gentle shrug of her +shoulders, remarked in an easy tone: + +"Well, it's curious! The inns and outs of a crime, I mean. Such a +discovery ten years after the event (I think you said ten years) is very +interesting." Then she sighed: "Alas! it's too late to benefit the one +whose life it might have saved. Mr. Black, shall we be going? I have +spent a most entertaining quarter of an hour." + +Mr. Black glanced from her to the sergeant before he joined her. Then, +with one of his sour smiles directed towards the former, he said: + +"I wouldn't be talking about this, sergeant. It will do no good, and may +subject us to ridicule." + +The sergeant, none too well pleased, nodded slightly. Seeing which, she +spoke up: + +"I don't know about that, I should think it but proper reparation to the +dead to let it be known that his own story of innocence has received +this late confirmation." + +But the lawyer continued to shake his head, with a very sharp look at +the sergeant. If he could have his way, he would have this matter stop +just where it was. + +Alas! he was not to have his way, as he saw, when at parting he essayed +to make a final protest against a public as well as premature reopening +of this old case. She did not see her position as he did, and wound up +her plea by saying: + +"The public must lend their aid, if we are to get the evidence we need +to help us. Can we find the man who whittled that stick? Never. But some +one else may. I am going to give the men and women of this town a +chance. I'm too anxious to clear my husband's memory to shrink from any +publicity. You see, I believe that the real culprit will yet be found." + +The lawyer dropped argument. When a woman speaks in that tone, +persuasion is worse than useless. Besides, she had raised her veil. +Strange, what a sensitive countenance will do! + + + + +XIV + +ALL IS CLEAR + + +"This is my daughter, Judge Ostrander, Reuther, this is the judge." + +The introduction took place at the outer gates whither the judge had +gone to receive them. + +Reuther threw aside her veil, and looked up into the face bent +courteously towards her. It had no look of Oliver. Somehow she felt +glad. She could hardly have restrained herself if he had met her gaze +with Oliver's eyes. They were fine eyes notwithstanding, piercing by +nature but just now misty with a feeling that took away all her fear. He +was going to like her; she saw it in every trembling line of his +countenance, and at the thought a smile rose to her lips which, if +fleeting, lent such an ethereal aspect to her beauty that he forgave +Oliver then and there for a love which never could be crowned, but which +henceforth could no longer be regarded by him as despicable. + +With a courteous gesture he invited them in, but stopping to lock one +gate before leading them through the other, Mrs. Scoville had time to +observe that since her last visit with its accompanying inroad of the +populace, the two openings which at this point gave access to the walk +between the fences had been closed up with boards so rude and dingy that +they must have come from some old lumber pile in attic or cellar. + +The judge detected her looking at them. + +"I have cut off my nightly promenade," said he. "With youth in the +house, more cheerful habits must prevail. To-morrow I shall have my lawn +cut, and if I must walk after sundown I will walk there." + +The two women exchanged glances. Perhaps their gloomy anticipations were +not going to be realised. + +But once within the house, the judge showed embarrassment. He was +conscious of its unfitness for their fastidious taste and yet he had not +known how to improve matters. In his best days he had concerned himself +very little with household affairs, and for the last few years he had +not given a thought to anything outside his own rooms. Bela had done +all--and Bela was pre-eminently a cook, not a general house-servant. How +would these women regard the disorder and the dust? + +"I have few comforts to offer," said he, opening a door at his right and +then hastily closing it again. "This part of the house is, as you see, +completely dismantled and not--very clean. But you shall have carte +blanche to arrange to your liking one of these rooms for your +sitting-room and parlour. There is furniture in the attic and you may +buy freely whatever else is necessary. I don't want to discourage little +Reuther. As for your bedrooms--" He stopped, hemmed a little and flushed +a vivid red as he pointed up the dingy flight of uncarpeted stairs +towards which he had led them. "They are above; but it is with shame I +admit that I have not gone above this floor for many years. +Consequently, I don't know how it looks up there or whether you can even +find towels and things. Perhaps you will go up first, Mrs. Scoville. I +will stay here while you take a look. I really, couldn't have a strange +cleaning-woman here, or any one who would make remarks. Have I counted +too much on your good-nature?" + +"No; not at all. In fact, you simply arouse all the housekeeping +instincts within me. I will be down in a minute. Reuther, I leave you +with the judge." + +She ran lightly up. The next instant they heard her sneeze, then they +caught the sound of a window rattling up, followed by a streak of light +falling slant-wise across the dismal stairs. + +The judge drew a breath of relief and led Reuther towards a door at the +end of the hall. + +"This is the way to the dining-room and kitchen," he explained. "I have +been accustomed to having my meals served in my own room, but after this +I shall join you at table. Here," he continued, leading her up to the +iron door, "is the entrance to my den. You may knock here if you want +me, but there is a curtain beyond, which no one lifts but myself. You +understand, my dear, and will excuse an old man's eccentricities?" + +She smiled, rejoicing only in the caressing voice, and in the yearning, +almost fatherly, manner with which he surveyed her. + +"I quite understand," said she; "and so will mother." + +"Reuther," he now observed with a strange intermixture of gentleness and +authority, "there is one thing I wish to say to you at the very start. I +may grow to love you--God knows that a little affection would be a +welcome change in my life--but I want you to know and know now, that all +the love in the world will not change my decision as to the impropriety +of a match between you and my son Oliver. That settled, there is no +reason why all should not be clear between us." + +"All is clear." + +Faint and far off the words sounded, though she was standing so near he +could have laid his hand on her shoulder. Then she gave one sob as +though in saying this she heard the last clod fall upon what would never +see resurrection again in this life, and, lifting her head, looked him +straight in the eye with a decision and a sweetness which bowed his +spirit and caused his head in turn to fall upon his breast. + +"What a father can do for a child, I will do for you," he murmured, and +led her back to her mother, who was now coming down stairs. + +A week, and Deborah Scoville had evolved a home out of chaos. That is, +within limits. There was one door on that upper story which she had +simply opened and shut; nor had she entered the judge's rooms, or even +offered to do so. The ban which had been laid upon her daughter she felt +applied equally to herself; that is for the present. Later, there must +be a change. So particular a man as the judge would soon find himself +too uncomfortable to endure the lack of those attentions which he had +been used to in Bela's day. He had not even asked for clean sheets, and +sometimes she had found herself wondering, with a strange shrinking of +her heart, if his bed was ever made, or whether he had not been driven +at times to lie down in his clothes. + +She had some reason for these doubtful conclusions. In her ramblings +through the house she had come upon Bela's room. It was in a loft over +the kitchen and she had been much amazed at its condition. In some +respects it looked as decent as she could expect, but in the matter of +bed and bedclothes it presented an aspect somewhat startling. The +clothes were there, tossed in a heap on the floor, but there was no bed +in sight nor anything which could have served as such. + +IT HAD BEEN DRAGGED OUT. Evidences of this were everywhere; dragged out, +and down the narrow, twisted staircase which was the only medium of +communication between the lower floor and this loft. As she noted the +marks made by its passage down the steps, the unhappy vision rose before +her of the judge, immaculate in attire and unaccustomed of hand, tugging +at this bed and alternately pushing and pulling it by main strength down +this contracted, many-cornered staircase. A smile, half pitiful, half +self-scornful curved her lips as she remembered the rat-tat-tat she had +heard on that dismal night when she clung listening to the fence, and +wondered now if it had not been the bumping of this cot sliding from +step to step. + +But no! the repeated stroke of a hammer is unmistakable. He had played +the carpenter that night as well as the mover, and with no visible +results. Mystery still reigned in the house for all the charm and order +she had brought into it; a mystery which deeply interested her, and +which she yet hoped to solve, notwithstanding its remoteness from the +real problem of her existence. + + + + +XV + +THE PICTURE + + +NIGHT! and Deborah Scoville waiting anxiously for Reuther to sleep, that +she might brood undisturbed over a new and disturbing event which for +the whole day had shaken her out of her wonted poise, and given, as it +were, a new phase to her life in this house. + +Already had she stepped several times to her daughter's room and looked +in, only to meet Reuther's unquiet eye turned towards hers in silent +inquiry. Was her own uneasiness infectious? Was the child determined to +share her vigil? She would wait a little longer this time and see. + +Their rooms were over the parlour and thus as far removed as possible +from the judge's den. In her own, which was front, she felt at perfect +ease, and it was without any fear of disturbing either him or Reuther +that she finally raised her window and allowed the cool wind to soothe +her heated cheeks. + +How calm the aspect of the lawn and its clustering shrubs. Dimly seen +though they were through the leaves of the vines she had but partially +clipped, she felt the element of peace which comes with perfect quiet, +and was fain to forget for awhile the terrors it so frequently conceals. +The moon, which had been invisible up to this moment, emerged from +skurrying clouds as she quietly watched the scene; and in an instant her +peace was gone and all the thronging difficulties of her position came +rushing back upon her in full force, as all the details of the scene, so +mercifully hidden just now, flashed again upon her vision. + +Perched, as she was, in a window overlooking the lane, she had but to +lift her eyes from the double fence (that symbol of sad seclusion) to +light on the trees rising above that unspeakable ravine, black with +memories she felt strangely like forgetting to-night. Beyond ... how it +stood out on the bluff! it had never seemed to stand out more +threateningly!... the bifurcated mass of dismal ruin from which men had +turned their eyes these many years now! But the moon loved it; caressed +it; dallied with it, lighting up its toppling chimney and empty, staring +gable. There, where the black streak could be seen, she had stood with +the judge in that struggle of wills which had left its scars upon them +both to this very day. There, hidden but always seen by those who +remembered the traditions of the place, mouldered away the walls of that +old closet where the timorous, God-stricken suicide had breathed out his +soul. She had stood in it only the other day, penned from outsiders' +view by the judge's outstretched arms. Then, she had no mind for bygone +horrors, her own tragedy weighed too heavily upon her; but to-night, as +she gazed, fascinated, anxious to forget herself, anxious to indulge in +any thought which would relieve her from dwelling on the question she +must settle before she slept, she allowed her wonder and her revulsion +to have free course. Instead of ignoring, she would recall the story of +the place as it had been told her when she first came to settle in its +neighbourhood. + +Spencer's Folly! Well, it had been that, and Spencer's den of +dissipation too! There were great tales--but it was not of these she was +thinking, but of the night of storm--(of the greatest storm of which any +record remained in Shelby) when the wind tore down branches and toppled +down chimneys; when cattle were smitten in the field and men on the +highway; when the old bridge, since replaced, buckled up and sank in the +roaring flood it could no longer span, and the bluff towering overhead, +flared into flame, and the house which was its glory, was smitten apart +by the descending bolt as by a Titan sword, and blazed like a beacon to +the sky. + +This was long before she herself had come to Shelby; but she had been +told the story so often that it was quite as vivid to her as if she had +been one of the innumerable men and women who had crowded the +glistening, swimming streets to view this spectacle of destruction. The +family had been gone for months, and so no pity mingled with the +excitement. Not till the following day did the awful nature of the event +break in its full horror upon the town. Among the ruins, in a closet +which the flames had spared, they found hunched up in one corner, the +body of a man, in whose seared throat a wound appeared which had not +been made by lightning or fire. Spencer! Spencer himself, returned they +knew not how, to die of this self-inflicted wound, in the dark corner of +his grand but neglected dwelling. + +And this was what made the horror of the place till the tragedy of the +opposite hollow added crime to crime, and the spot became outlawed to +all sensitive citizens. Folly and madness and the vengeance of high +heaven upon unhallowed walls, spoke to her from that towering mass, +bathed though it was just now in liquid light under the impartial moon. + +But as she continued to survey it, the clouds came trooping up once +more, and the vision was wiped out and with it all memories save those +of a nearer trouble--a more pressing necessity. + +Withdrawing from the window, she crept again to Reuther's room and +peered carefully in. Innocence was asleep at last. Not a movement +disturbed the closed lids on the wax-like cheek. Even the breath came so +softly that it hardly lifted the youthful breast. Repose the most +perfect and in the form of all others the sweetest to a tender mother, +lay before her and touched her already yearning heart to tears. Lighting +a candle and shielding it with her hand, she gazed long and earnestly at +Reuther's sweet face. Yes, she was right. Sorrow was slowly sapping the +fountain of her darling's youth. If Reuther was to be saved, hope must +come soon. With a sob and a prayer, the mother left the room, and +locking herself into her own, sat down at last to face the new +perplexity, the monstrous enigma which had come into her life. + +It had followed in natural sequence from a proposal made by the judge +that some attention should be given his long-neglected rooms. He had +said on rising from the breakfast table--(the words are more or less +important): + +"I am really sorry to trouble you, Mrs. Scoville; but if you have time +this morning, will you clean up my study before I leave? The carriage is +ordered for half-past nine." + +The task was one she had long desired to perform, and would have urged +upon him daily had she dared, but the limitations he set for its +accomplishment struck her aghast. + +"Do you mean that you wish to remain there while I work? You will be +choked, Judge." + +"No more than I have been for the last two days. You may enter any +time." And going in, he left the door open behind him. + +"He will lock it when he goes out," she commented to herself. "I had +better hasten." + +Giving Reuther the rest of the work to do, she presently appeared before +him with pail and broom and a pile of fresh linen. Nothing more +commonplace could be imagined, but to her, if not to him, there underlay +this especial act of ordinary housewifery a possible enlightenment on a +subject which had held the whole community in a state of curiosity for +years. She was going to enter the room which had been barred from public +sight by poor Bela's dying body. She was going to see--or had he only +meant that she was to have her way with the library--the room where she +had already been and much of which she remembered. The doubt gave a +tremulous eagerness to her step and caused her eye to wander immediately +to that forbidden corner soon as she had stepped over the threshold. + +The bedroom door was open;--proof that she was expected to enter there. +Meanwhile, she felt the eye of the judge upon her and endeavoured to +preserve a perfect composure and to sink the curious and inquiring woman +in the diligent housekeeper. + +But she could not, quite. Two facts of which she immediately became +cognisant, prevented this. First, the great room before her presented a +bare floor, whereas on her first visit it had been very decently, if not +cheerfully, covered by a huge carpet rug. Secondly, the judge's chair, +which had once looked immovable, had been dragged forward into such a +position that he could keep his own eye on the bedroom door. Manifestly +she was not to be allowed to pursue her duties unwatched. Certainly she +had to take more than one look at the every-day implements she carried to +retain that balance of judgment which should prevent her from becoming +the dupe of her own expectations. + +"I do not expect you to clean up here as thoroughly as you have your own +rooms up stairs," he remarked, as she passed him. "You haven't the time, +or I the patience for too many strokes of the broom. And Mrs. Scoville," +he called out as she slipped through the doorway, "leave the door open +and keep away as much as possible from the side of the room where I have +nailed up the curtain. I had rather not have that touched." + +She turned with a smile and nodded. She felt that she had been set to +work with a string tied round her feet. Not touch the curtain! Why, that +was the one thing in the room she wanted to touch; for in it she not +only saw the carpet which had been taken up from the floor of the study, +but a possible screen behind which anything might lurk--even his +redoubtable secret. + +Or had it another and much simpler explanation? Might it not have been +hung there merely as a shield to the window. The room must have a window +and there was none to be seen elsewhere. It would be like him to shut +out light and air. She would ask. + +"There is no window," she observed, looking back at the judge. + +"No," was his short reply. + +Slowly she set down her pail. One thing was settled. It was Bela's cot +she saw before her--a cot without any sheets. These had been left behind +in the dead negro's room, and the judge had been sleeping just as she +had feared, wrapped in a rug and with uncovered pillow. This pillow was +his own; it had not been brought down with the bed. She hastily slipped +a cover on it, and without calling any further attention to her act, +began to make up the bed. + +Conscious that the papers he made a feint of reading were but a cover +for his watchfulness, she moved about in a matter-of-fact way and did +not spare him the clouds of dust which presently rose before her broom. +She could have managed it more deftly,--would have done so at another +time, but it was her express intention just now to make him move back +out of her way, if only to give her an opportunity to disturb by a +backward stroke of her broom the folds of the carpet-rug and learn if +she could what lay hidden behind it. + +But the judge was impervious to discomfort. He coughed and shook his +head, but did not budge an inch. Before she had begun to put things in +order, the clock struck the half-hour. + +"Oh!" she protested, with a pleading glance his way, "I'm not half +done." + +"There's another day to follow," he dryly remarked, rising and taking a +key from his pocket. + +The act expressed his wishes; and she was proceeding to carry out her +things when a quick sliding noise from the wall she was passing, drew +her attention and caused her to spring forward in an involuntary effort +to catch a picture which had slipped its cord and was falling to the +floor. + +A shout from the judge of "Stand aside, let me come!" reached her too +late. She had grasped and lifted the picture and seen-- + +But first, let me explain. This picture was not like the others hanging +about. It was a veiled one. From some motive of precaution or +characteristic desire for concealment on the part of the judge, it had +been closely wrapped about in heavy brown paper before being hung, and +in the encounter which ensued between the falling picture and the spear +of an image standing on a table underneath, this paper had received a +slit through which Deborah had been given a glimpse of the canvas +beneath. + +The shock of what she saw would have unnerved a less courageous woman. + +IT WAS A HIGHLY FINISHED PORTRAIT OF OLIVER IN HIS YOUTH, WITH A BROAD +BAND OF BLACK PAINTED DIRECTLY ACROSS THE EYES. + + + + +XVI + +"DON'T! DON'T!" + + +In recalling this startling moment, Deborah wondered as much at her own +aplomb as at that of Judge Ostrander. Not only had she succeeded in +suppressing all recognition of what had thus been discovered to her, but +had carried her powers of self-repression so far as to offer, and with +good grace too, to assist him in rehanging the picture. This perfection +of acting had its full reward. With equal composure he excused her from +the task, and, adding some expression of regret at his well-known +carelessness in not looking better after his effects, bowed her from the +room with only a slight increase of his usual courteous reserve. + +But later, when thought came and with it a certain recollections, what +significance the incident acquired in her mind, and what a long line of +terrors it brought in its train! + +It was no casual act, this defacing of a son's well-loved features. It +had a meaning--a dark and desperate meaning. Nor was the study-wall the +natural home of this picture. An unfaded square which she had noted on +the wall-paper of the inner room showed where its original place had +been. There in full view of the broken-hearted father when he woke and +in darksome watchfulness while he slept, it had played its heavy part in +his long torment--a galling reminder of--what? + +It was to answer this question--to face this new view of Oliver and the +bearing it had on the relations she had hoped to establish between him +and Reuther, that she had waited for the house to be silent and her +child asleep. If the defacing marks she had seen meant that the cause of +separation between father and son lay in some past fault of Oliver +himself, serious enough for such a symbol to be necessary to reconcile +the judge to their divided lives, she should know it and know it soon. +The night should not pass without that review of the past by which alone +she could now judge Oliver Ostrander. + +She had spoken of him as noble; she had forced herself to believe him +so, and in profession and in many of his actions he had been so, but had +she ever been wholly pleased with him? To go back to their first +meeting, what impression had he made upon her then? Had it been +altogether favourable and such as would be natural in one of his repute? +Hardly; but then the shock of her presentation to one who had possibly +seen her under other and shameful conditions had been great, and her +judgment could scarcely have full play while her whole attention was +absorbed in watching for some hint of recognition on his part. + +But when this apprehension had vanished; when quite assured that he had +failed to see in the widowed Mrs. Averill the wife of the man who had +died a felon's death in Shelby, had her spirits risen and her eyes +cleared to his great merits as she had heard them extolled by people of +worth and intellectual standing? Alas, no. There had been something in +his look--a lack of spontaneity which had not fitted in with her +expectations. + +And in the months which followed, when as Reuther's suitor she saw him +often and intimately--how had she regarded him then? More leniently of +course. In her gratification at prospects so far beyond any she had a +right to expect for her child, she had taken less note of this +successful man's defects. Peculiarities of conversation and manner which +had seemed to bespeak a soul far from confident in its hopes, resolved +themselves into the uneasy moods of a man who had a home he never +visited, a father he never saw. + +But had she been really justified in this easy view of things? If the +break between his father and himself was the result of nothing deeper +than a difference of temperament, tastes or even opinions, why should he +have shrunk with such morbid distaste from all allusions to that father? +Was it natural? She may have looked upon it as being so in the heyday of +her hopes and when she had a secret herself to hide, but could she so +degrade her judgment now? + +And what of his conduct towards Reuther? Had that been all her mother +heart could ask of a man of his seemingly high instincts? She had +assured his father in her first memorable interview with him that it had +been perfectly honourable and above all reproach. And so it had been as +far as mere words went. But words are not all; it is the tender look, +the manly bearing, the tone which springs from the heart which tells in +great crises; and these had all been lacking. Generous as he attempted +to show himself, there was nothing in his bearing to match that of +Reuther as she took her quiet leave of him and entered upon a fate so +much bitterer for her than for him. + +This lack of grace in him had not passed unnoted by her even at the +time, but being herself so greatly in fault she had ascribed it to the +recoil of a proud man from the dread of social humiliation. But it took +another aspect under the strong light just thrown upon his early life by +her discovery in the room below. Nothing but some act, unforgivable and +unforgettable would account for that black mark drawn between a father's +eyes and his son's face. No bar sinister could tell a stronger tale. But +this was no bar sinister; rather the deliberate stigmatising of one yet +loved, but banned for a reason which was little short of--Here her +conclusions stopped; she would not allow her imagination to carry her +any farther. + +Unhappy mother, just as she saw something like a prospect of releasing +her long-dead husband from the odium of an unjust sentence, to be shaken +by this new doubt as to the story and character of the man for whose +union with her beloved child she was so anxiously struggling! Should it +not make her pause? Should she not show wisdom in giving a different +meaning from any she had hitherto done, to that stern and inexorable +dictum of the father, that no marriage between the two could or should +ever be considered? + +It was a question for which no ready answer seemed possible in her +present mood. Better to await the time when some move had to be made or +some definite decision reached. Now she must rest,--rest and not think. + +Have any of us ever made the like acknowledgment and then tried to +sleep? In half an hour Mrs. Scoville was again upon her feet, this time +with a determination which ignored the hour and welcomed night as though +it were broad noon day. + +There was a room on this upper floor into which neither she nor Reuther +had ever stepped. She had once looked in but that was all. +To-night--because she could not sleep; because she must not think--she +was resolved to enter it. Oliver's room! left as he had left it years +before! What might it not tell of a past concerning which she longed to +be reassured? + +The father had laid no restrictions upon her, in giving her this floor +for her use. Rights which he ignored she could afford to appropriate. +Dressing sufficiently for warmth, she lit a candle, put out the light in +her own room and started down the hall. + +If she paused on reaching the threshold of this long-closed room, it was +but natural. The clock on Reuther's mantel had sent its three clear +strokes through the house as her hand fell on the knob, and to her +fearing heart and now well-awakened imagination these strokes had +sounded in her ear like a "DON'T! DON'T!" The silence, so gruesome, now +that this shrill echo had ceased, was poor preparation for her task. Yet +would she have welcomed any sound--the least which could have been +heard? No, that were a worse alternative than silence; and, relieved of +that momentary obsession consequent upon an undertaking of doubtful +outcome, she pushed the door fully open and entered. + +A smother of dust--an odour of decay--a lack of all order in the room's +arrangements and furnishings--even a general disarray, hallowed, if not +affected, by time--for all this she was prepared. But not for the wild +confusion--the inconceivable litter and all the other signs she saw +about her of a boy's mad packing and reckless departure. Here her +imagination, so lively at times, had failed her; and, as her eye became +accustomed to the semi-obscurity, and she noted the heaps of mouldering +clothing lying amid overturned chairs and trampled draperies, she felt +her heart grow cold with a nameless dread she could only hope to +counteract by quick and impulsive action. + +But what action? Was it for her to touch, to rearrange, to render clean +and orderly this place of unknown memories? She shrank with +inconceivable distaste from the very idea of such meddling; and, though +she saw and noted all, she did not put out so much as a finger towards +any object there till--There was an inner door, and this some impulse +drove her to open. A small closet stood revealed, empty but for one +article. When she saw this article she gave a great gasp; then she +uttered a low PSHAW! and with a shrug of the shoulders drew back and +flung to the door. But she opened it again. She had to. One cannot live +in hideous doubt, without an effort to allay it. She must look at that +small, black article again; look at it with candle in hand; see for +herself that her fears were without foundation; that a shadow had made +the outline on the wall which-- + +She found herself laughing. There was nothing else to do. SHE with +thoughts like these; SHE, Reuther's mother! Verily, the early hours of +morning were unsuited for any such work as this. She would go back to +her own room and bed--But she only went as far as the bureau where she +had left the candlestick, which having seized, she returned to the +closet and slowly, reluctantly reopened the door. Before her on the wall +hung a cap,--and it was no shadow which gave it that look like her +husband's; the broad peak was there. She had not been mistaken; it was +the duplicate of the one she had picked up in the attic of the Claymore +Inn when that inn was simply a tavern. + +Well, and what if it was!--Such was her thought a moment later. She +would take down the cap, set it before her and look at it till her brain +grew clear of its follies. + +But after she had it in her hand she found herself looking anywhere but +at the cap. She stared at the floor, the walls about, the desk she had +mechanically approached. She even noticed the books lying about on the +shelves before her and took down one or two, to glance at their +title-pages in a blind curiosity she could not account for the next +minute. Then she found herself looking into a drawer half drawn out and +filled with all sorts of heterogeneous articles: sealing-wax, a roll of +pins, a pen-holder, a knife--A KNIFE! Why should she recoil again at +that? Nothing could be more ordinary than to find a knife in the +desk-drawer of a young man! The fact was not worth a thought; yet before +she knew it, her fingers were creeping towards this knife, had picked it +up from among the other scattered articles, had closed upon it, let it +drop again, only to seize hold of it yet more determinedly and carry it +straight to the light. + +Who spoke? Had any one spoken? Was there any sound in the air at all? +She heard none, yet the sense of sound was in her ear, as though it had +been and passed. When the glance she threw about her came back to her +outstretched hand, she knew that the cry, if cry it were, had been +within, and that the echoes of the room had remained undisturbed. The +knife was lying open on her palm, and from one of the blades the end had +been nipped, just enough of it to match-- + +Was she mad! She thought so for a moment; then she laid down the knife +close against the cap and contemplated them both for more minutes than +she ever reckoned. + +And the stillness, which had been profound, became deeper yet. Not even +Reuther's clock sounded its small note. + +The candle fluttering low in its socket roused her at last from her +abstraction. Catching up the two articles which had so enthralled her, +she restored the one to the closet, the other to the drawer, and, with +swift but silent step, regained her own room where she buried her head +in her pillow, weeping and praying until the morning light, breaking in +upon her grief, awoke her to the obligations of her position and the +necessity of silence concerning all the experiences of this night. + + + + +XVII + +UNWELCOME TRUTHS + + +Silence. Yes, silence was the one and only refuge remaining to her. Yet, +after a few days, the constant self-restraint which it entailed, ate +like a canker into her peace, and undermined a strength which she had +always considered inexhaustible. Reuther began to notice her pallor, and +the judge to look grave. She was forced to complain of a cold (and in +this she was truthful enough) to account for her alternations of +feverish impulse and deadly lassitude. + +The trouble she had suppressed was having its quiet revenge. Should she +continue to lie inert and breathless under the threatening hand of Fate, +or risk precipitating the doom she sought to evade, by proceeding with +inquiries upon the result of which she could no longer calculate? + +She recalled the many mistakes made by those who had based their +conclusions upon circumstantial evidence (her husband's conviction in +fact) and made up her mind to brave everything by having this matter out +with Mr. Black. Then the pendulum swung back, and she found that she +could not do this because, deep down in her heart, there burrowed a +monstrous doubt (how born or how cherished she would not question), +which Mr. Black, with an avidity she could not combat, would at once +detect and pounce upon. Better silence and a slow death than that. + +But was there no medium course? Could she not learn from some other +source where Oliver had been on the night of that old-time murder? Miss +Weeks was a near neighbour and saw everything. Miss Weeks never +forgot;--to Miss Weeks she would go. + +With instructions to Reuther calculated to keep that diligent child +absorbed and busy in her absence, she started out upon her quest. She +had reached the first gate, passed it and was on the point of opening +the second one, when she saw on the walk before her a small slip of +brown paper. Lifting it, she perceived upon it an almost illegible +scrawl which she made out to read thus:-- + + For Mrs. Scoville: + + Do not go wandering all over the town for clews. Look closer home. + +And below: + + You remember the old saying about jumping from the frying pan into + the fire. Let your daughter be warned. It is better to be singed + than consumed. + +Warned! Reuther? Better be singed than consumed? What madness was this? +How singed and how consumed? Then because Deborah's mind was quick, it +all flashed upon her, bowing her in spirit to the ground. Reuther had +been singed by the knowledge of her father's ignominy, she would be +consumed if inquiry were carried further and this ignominy transferred +to the proper culprit. CONSUMED! There was but one person whose disgrace +could consume Reuther. Oliver alone could be meant. The doubts she had +tried to suppress from her own mind were shared by others,--OTHERS! + +The discovery overpowered her and she caught herself crying aloud in +utter self-abandonment: + +"I will not go to Miss Weeks. I will take Reuther and fly to some +wilderness so remote and obscure that we can never be found." + +Yet in five minutes she was crossing the road, her face composed, her +manner genial, her tongue ready for any encounter. The truth must be +hers at all hazards. If it could be found here, then here would she seek +it. Her long struggle with fate had brought to the fore every latent +power she possessed. + +One stroke on the tiny brass knocker, old-fashioned and quaint like +everything else in this doll-house, brought Miss Weeks' small and +animated figure to the door. She had seen Mrs. Scoville coming, and was +ready with her greeting. A dog from the big house across the way would +have been welcomed there. The eager little seamstress had never +forgotten her hour in the library with the half-unconscious judge. + +"Mrs. Scoville!" she exclaimed, fluttering and leading the way into the +best room; "how very kind you are to give me this chance for making my +apologies. You know we have met before." + +"Have we?" Mrs. Scoville did not remember, but she smiled her best smile +and was gratified to note the look of admiration with which Miss Weeks +surveyed her more than tasty dress before she raised her eyes to meet +the smile to whose indefinable charm so many had succumbed. "It is a +long time since I lived here," Deborah proceeded as soon as she saw that +she had this woman, too, in her net. "The friends I had then, I scarcely +hope to have now; my trouble was of the kind which isolates one +completely. I am glad to have you acknowledge an old acquaintance. It +makes me feel less lonely in my new life." + +"Mrs. Scoville, I am only too happy." It was bravely said, for the +little woman was in a state of marked embarrassment. Could it be that +her visitor had not recognised her as the person who had accosted her on +that memorable morning she first entered Judge Ostrander's forbidden +gates? + +"I have been told--" thus Deborah easily proceeded, "that for a small +house yours contains the most wonderful assortment of interesting +objects. Where did you ever get them?" + +"My father was a collector, on a very small scale of course, and my +mother had a passion for hoarding which prevented anything from going +out of this house after it had once come into it,--and a great many +strange things have come into it. There have even been bets made as to +the finding or not finding of a given object under this roof. Pardon me, +perhaps I bore you." + +"Not at all. It's very interesting. But what about the bets?" + +"Oh, just this. One day two men were chaffing each other in one of the +hotel lobbies, and the conversation turning upon what this house held, +one of them wagered that he knew of something I could not fish out of my +attic, and when the other asked what, he said an aeroplane--Why he +didn't say a locomotive, I don't know; but he said an aeroplane, and the +other, taking him up, they came here together and put me the question +straight. Mrs. Scoville, you may not believe it, but my good friend won +that bet. Years ago when people were just beginning to talk about +air-sailing machines, my brother who was visiting me, amused his leisure +hours in putting together something he called a 'flyer.' And what is +more, he went up in it, too, but he came down so rapidly that he kept +quite still about it, and it fell to me to lug the broken thing in. So +when these gentlemen asked to see an aeroplane, I took them into a +lean-to where I store my least desirable things, and there pointed out a +mass of wings and bits of tangled wire, saying as dramatically as I +could: 'There she is!' And they first stared, then laughed; and when one +complained: 'That's a ruin, not an aeroplane,' I answered with all the +demureness possible; 'and what is any aeroplane but a ruin in prospect? +This has reached the ruin stage; that's all.' So the bet was paid and my +reputation sustained. Don't you find it a little amusing?" + +"I do, indeed," smiled Deborah. "Now, if I wanted to make the test, I +should take another course from these men. I should not pick out +something strange, or big, or unlikely. I should choose some every-day +object, some little matter--" She paused as if to think. + +"What little matter?" asked the other complacently. + +"My husband once had a cap," mused Mrs. Scoville thoughtfully. "It had +an astonishingly broad peak in front. Have you a cap like that?" + +Miss Weeks' eyes opened. She stared in some consternation at Mrs. +Scoville, who hastened to say: + +"You wonder that I can mention my husband. Perhaps you will not be so +surprised when I tell you that in my eyes he is a martyr, and quite +guiltless of the crime for which he was punished." + +"You think that?" There was real surprise in the manner of the +questioner. Mrs. Scoville's brow cleared. She was pleased at this proof +that her affairs had not yet reached the point of general gossip. + +"Miss Weeks, I am a mother. I have a young and lovely daughter. Can I +look in her innocent eyes and believe her father to have so forgotten +his responsibilities as to overshadow her life with crime? No, I will +not believe it. Circumstances were in favour of his conviction, but he +never lifted the stick which struck down Algernon Etheridge." + +Miss Weeks, who had sat quite still during the utterance of these +remarks, fidgetted about at their close, with what appeared to the +speaker, a sudden and quite welcome relief. + +"Oh!" she murmured; and said no more. It was not a topic she found easy +of discussion. + +"Let us go back to the cap," suggested Deborah, with another of her +fascinating smiles. "Are you going to show me one such as I have +described?" + +"Let me see. A man's cap with an extra broad peak! Mrs. Scoville, I fear +that you have caught me. There are caps hanging up in various closets, +but I don't remember any with a peak beyond the ordinary." + +"Yet they are worn? You have seen such?" + +A red spot sprang out on the faded cheek of the woman as she answered +impulsively: + +"Oh, yes. Young Mr. Oliver Ostrander used to wear one. I wish I had +asked him for it," she pursued, naively. "I should not have had to +acknowledge defeat at your very first inquiry." + +"Oh! you needn't care about that," laughed Deborah, in rather a hard +tone for her. She had made her point, but was rather more frightened +than pleased at her success. "There must be a thousand articles you +naturally would lack. I could name--" + +"Don't, don't!" the little woman put in breathlessly. "I have many odd +things but of course not everything. For instance--" But here she caught +sight of the other's abstracted eye, and dropped the subject. The +sadness which now spread over the very interesting countenance of her +visitor, offered her an excuse for the introduction of a far more +momentous topic; one she had burned to introduce but had not known how. + +"Mrs. Scoville, I hear that Judge Ostrander has got your daughter a +piano. That is really a wonderful thing for him to do. Not that he is so +close with his money, but that he has always been so set against all +gaiety and companionship. I suppose you did not know the shock it would +be to him when you asked Bela to let you into the gates." + +"No! I didn't know. But it is all right now. The judge seems to welcome +the change. Miss Weeks, did you know Algernon Etheridge well enough to +tell me if he was as good and irreproachable a man as they all say?" + +"He was a good man, but he had a dreadfully obstinate streak in his +disposition and very set ideas. I have heard that he and the judge used +to argue over a point for hours. And he was most always wrong. For +instance, he was wrong about Oliver." + +"Oliver?" + +"Judge Ostrander's son, you know. Mr. Etheridge wanted him to study for +a professorship; but the boy was determined to go into journalism, and +you see what a success he has made of it. As a professor he would +probably have been a failure." + +"Was this difference of opinion on the calling he should pursue, the +cause of Oliver's leaving home in the way he did?" continued Deborah, +conscious of walking on very thin ice. + +But Miss Weeks rather welcomed than resented this curiosity. Indeed she +was never tired of enlarging upon the Ostranders. It was, therefore, +with a very encouraging alacrity she responded: + +"I have never thought so. The judge would not quarrel with Oliver on so +small a point as that. My idea is, though I never talk of it much, that +they had a great quarrel over Mr. Etheridge. Oliver never liked the old +student; I've watched them and I've seen. He hated his coming to the +house so much; he hated the way his father singled him out and deferred +to him and made him the confidant of all his troubles. When they went on +their walks, Oliver always hung back, and more than once I have seen him +make a grimace of distaste when his father urged him forward. He was +only a boy, I know, but his dislikes meant something, and if it ever +happened that he spoke out his whole mind, you may be sure that some +very bitter words passed." + +Was this meant as an innuendo? Could it be that she shared the very +serious doubts of Deborah's anonymous correspondent? + +Impossible to tell. Such nervous, fussy little bodies often possess +minds of unexpected subtlety. Deborah gave up all hope of understanding +her, and, accepting her statements at their face value, effusively +remarked: + +"You must have a very superior mind to draw such conclusions from the +little you have seen. I have heard many explanations given for the +breach you name, but never any so reasonable." + +A flash from the spinster's wary eye, then a burst of courage and the +quick retort: + +"And what explanation does Oliver himself give? You ought to know, Mrs. +Scoville." + +The attack was as sudden as it was unexpected. Deborah flushed and +trimmed her sails for this new tack, and insinuating gently, "Then you +have heard--" waited for the enlightenment these words were likely to +evoke. + +It came quickly enough. + +"That he expected to marry your daughter? Oh, yes, Mrs. Scoville; it's +the common talk here now. I hope you don't mind my mentioning it." + +Deborah's head went up. She faced the other fairly, with the look born +of mother passion, and mother passion only. + +"Reuther is blameless in this matter," she protested. "She was brought +up in ignorance of what I felt sure would prove a handicap and misery to +her. She loves Oliver as she will never love any other man, but when she +was told her real name and understood fully what that name carries with +it, she declined to saddle him with her shame. That's her story, Miss +Weeks; one that hardly fits her appearance which is very delicate. And, +let me add, having once accepted her father's name, she refuses to be +known by any other. I have brought her to Shelby where to our own +surprise and Reuther's great happiness, we have been taken in by Judge +Ostrander, an act of kindness for which we are very grateful." Miss +Weeks got up, took down one of her rarest treasures from an old etagere +standing in one corner and laid it in Mrs. Scoville's hand. + +"For your daughter," she declared. "Noble girl! I hope she will be +happy." + +The mother was touched. But not quite satisfied yet of the giver's real +feelings towards Oliver, she was not willing to conclude the interview +until she understood her small hostess better. She, therefore, looked +admiringly at the vase (it was really choice); and, after thanking its +donor warmly, proceeded to remark: + +"There is but one thing that will ever make Reuther happy, and that she +cannot have unless a miracle occurs." + +"Oliver?" suggested the other, with a curious, wan little smile. + +Deborah nodded. + +"And what miracle--" + +"Oh, I do not wonder you pause. This is not the day of miracles. But if +my belief in my husband could be shared; if by some fortuitous chance I +should be enabled to clear his name, might not love and loyalty be left +to do the rest? Wouldn't the judge's objections, in that case, be +removed? What do you think, Miss Weeks?" + +The warmth, the abandon, the confidence she expressed in this final +question were indescribable. Miss Weeks' conventional mannerisms melted +before it. She could no more withstand the witchery of this woman's tone +and manner than if she had been a man subdued by the charm of sex. But +nothing, not even her newly awakened sympathy for this agreeable woman, +could make her untruthful. She might believe in the miracle of a +reversal of judgment in the case of a falsely condemned criminal, but +not of an Ostrander accepting humiliation, even at the hands of Love. +She felt that in justice to this new friendship she should say so. + +"Do you ask me?" she began. "Then I feel that I must admit to you that +the Ostrander pride is proverbial. Oliver may think he would be happy if +he married your daughter under these changed conditions; but I should be +fearful of the reaction which would certainly follow when he found that +old shames are not so easily outlived. There is temper in the family, +though you would never think it to hear the judge speak; and if your +daughter is delicate--" + +"Is it of her you are thinking?" interrupted Deborah, with a new tone in +her voice. + +"Not altogether; you see I knew Oliver first." + +"And are fond of him?" + +"Fond is a big word. But I cannot help having some feeling for the boy I +have seen grow up from a babe in arms to a healthy, brilliant manhood." + +"And having this feeling--" "There! we will say no more about it." The +little woman's attitude and voice were almost prayerful. "You have +judgment enough for two. Besides the miracle has not happened," she +interjected, with a smile which seemed to say it never would be. + +Deborah sighed. Whether or not it was quite an honest expression of her +feeling we will not inquire. She was there for a definite purpose and +her way to it was, as yet, far from plain. All that she had really +learned was this: that it was she, and not Miss Weeks who was playing a +part, and that whatever her inquiries, she need have no fear of rousing +suspicion against Oliver in a mind already dominated by a belief in John +Scoville's guilt. The negative with which she followed up this sigh was +consequently one of sorrowful acceptance. She made haste, however, to +qualify it with the remark: + +"But I have not given up all hope. My cause is too promising. True, I +may not succeed in marrying Reuther into the Ostrander family, even if +it should be my good lot to clear her father's name; but my efforts +would have one good result, as precious--perhaps more precious than the +one I name. She would no longer have to regard that father as guilty of +a criminal act. If such relief can be hers she should have it. But how +am I to proceed? I know as well as any one how impossible the task must +prove, unless I can light upon fresh evidence. And where am I to get +that? Only from some new witness." + +Miss Weeks' polite smile took on an expression of indulgence. This +roused Deborah's pride, and, hesitating no longer, she anxiously +remarked: + +"I have sometimes thought that Oliver Ostrander might be that witness. +He certainly was in the ravine the night Algernon Etheridge was struck +down." + +Had she been an experienced actress of years she could not have thrown +into this question a greater lack of all innuendo. Miss Weeks, already +under her fascination, heard the tone but never thought to notice the +quick rise and fall of her visitor's uneasy bosom, and so unwarned, +responded with all due frankness: + +"I know he was. But how will that help you? He had no testimony to give +in relation to this crime, or he would have given it." + +"That is true." The admission fell mechanically from Deborah's lips; she +was not conscious, even, of making it. She was struggling with the shock +of the simple statement, confirming her own fears that Oliver had +actually been in the ravine at the hour of Etheridge's murder. "Not even +a boy would hide knowledge of that kind," she stumblingly continued. +Then, as her emotion choked her into silence, she sat with piteous eyes +searching Miss Weeks' face, till she had recovered her voice, when she +added this vital question: + +"How did you know that Oliver was in the ravine that night? I only +guessed it." + +"Well, it was in this way. I do not often keep my eye on my neighbours +(oh, no, Miss Weeks!), but that night I chanced to be looking over the +way just at the minute Mr. Etheridge came out, and something I saw in +his manner and in that of the judge who had followed him to the door, +and in that of Oliver who, cap on head, was leaning towards them from a +window over the porch, made me think that a controversy was going on +between the two old people of which Oliver was the subject. This +naturally interested me, and I watched them long enough to see Oliver +suddenly raise his fist and shake it at old Etheridge; then, in great +rage, slam down the window and disappear inside. The next minute, and +before the two below had done talking; I caught another glimpse of him +as he dashed around the corner of the house on his way to the ravine." + +"And Mr. Etheridge?" + +"Oh, he left soon after. I watched him as he went by, his long cloak +flapping in the wind. Little did I think he would never pass my window +again." + +So interested were they both, the one in telling to new and sympathetic +ears the small experiences of her life, the other in listening for the +chance phrase or the unconscious admission which would fix the suspicion +already struggling into strong life within her breast, that neither for +the moment realised the strangeness of the situation or that it was in +connection with a crime for which the husband of one of them had +suffered, they were raking up this past, and gossiping over its petty +details. Possibly recollection returned to them both, when Mrs. Scoville +sighed and said: + +"It couldn't have been very long after you saw him that Mr. Etheridge +was struck?" + +"Only some twenty minutes. It takes just that long for a man to walk +from this corner to the bridge." + +"And you never heard where Oliver went?" + +"It was never talked about at the time. Later, when some hint got about +of his having been in the ravine that night, he said he had gone up the +ravine not down it. And we all believed him, madam." + +"Of course, of course. What a discriminating mind you have, Miss Weeks, +and what a wonderful memory! To think that after all these years you can +recall that Oliver had a cap on his head when he looked out of the +window at his father and Mr. Etheridge. If you were asked, I have no +doubt you could tell its very colour. Was it the peaked one?--the like +of which you haven't in your marvelous collection?" + +"Yes, I could swear to it." And Miss Weeks gave a little laugh, which +sounded incongruous enough to Deborah in whose heart at that moment, a +leaf was turned upon the past, which left the future hopelessly blank. + +"Must you go?" Deborah had risen mechanically. "Don't, I beg, till you +have relieved my mind about Judge Ostrander. I don't suppose that there +is really anything behind that door of his which it would alarm any one +to see?" + +Then, Deborah understood Miss Weeks. + +But she was ready for her. + +"I've never seen anything of the sort," said she, "and I make up his bed +in that very room every morning." + +"Oh!" And Miss Weeks drew a deep breath. "No article of immense value +such as that rare old bit of real Satsuma in the cabinet over there?" + +"No," answered Deborah, with all the patience she could muster. "Judge +Ostrander seems very simple in his tastes. I doubt if he would know +Satsuma if he saw it." + +Miss Weeks sighed. "Yes, he has never expressed the least wish to look +over my shelves. So the double fence means nothing?" + +"A whim," ejaculated Deborah, making quietly for the door. "The judge +likes to walk at night when quite through with his work; and he doesn't +like his ways to be noted. But he prefers the lawn now. I hear his step +out there every night." + +"Well, it's something to know that he leads a more normal life than +formerly!" sighed the little lady as she prepared to usher her guest +out. "Come again, Mrs. Scoville; and, if I may, I will drop in and see +you some day." + +Deborah accorded her permission and made her final adieux. She felt as +if a hand which had been stealing up her chest had suddenly gripped her +throat, choking her. She had found the man who had cast that fatal +shadow down the ravine, twelve years before. + + + + +XVIII + +REFLECTIONS + + +Deborah re-entered the judge's house a stricken woman. Evading Reuther, +she ran up stairs, taking off her things mechanically on the way. She +must have an hour alone. She must learn her first lesson in self-control +and justifiable duplicity before she came under her daughter's eyes. She +must-- + +Here she reached her room door and was about to enter, when at a sudden +thought she paused and let her eyes wander down the hall, till they +settled on another door, the one she had closed behind her the night +before, with the deep resolve never to open it again except under +compulsion. + +Had the compulsion arisen? Evidently, for a few minutes later she was +standing in one of the dim corners of Oliver's musty room, reopening a +book which she had taken down from the shelves on her former visit. She +remembered it from its torn back and the fact that it was an Algebra. +Turning to the fly leaf, she looked again at the names and schoolboy +phrases she had seen scribbled all over its surface, for the one which +she remembered as, I HATE ALGEBRA. + +It had not been a very clearly written ALGEBRA, and she would never have +given this interpretation to the scrawl, had she been in a better mood. +Now another thought had come to her, and she wanted to see the word +again. Was she glad or sorry to have yielded to this impulse, when by a +closer inspection she perceived that the word was not ALGEBRA at all, +but ALGERNON, I HATE A ETHERIDGE.--I HATE A. E.--I HATE ALGERNON E. all +over the page, and here and there on other pages, sometimes in +characters so rubbed and faint as to be almost unreadable and again so +pressed into the paper by a vicious pencil-point as to have broken their +way through to the leaf underneath. + +The work of an ill-conditioned schoolboy! but--this hate dated back many +years. Paler than ever, and with hands trembling almost to the point of +incapacity, she put the book back, and flew to her own room, the prey of +thoughts bitter almost to madness. + +It was the second time in her life that she had been called upon to go +through this precise torture. She remembered the hour only too well, +when first it was made known to her that one in closest relation to +herself was suspected of a hideous crime. And now, with her mind cleared +towards him and readjusted to new developments, this crushing experience +of seeing equal indications of guilt in another almost as dear and +almost as closely knit into her thoughts and future expectations as John +had ever been. Can one endure a repetition of such horror? She had never +gauged her strength, but it did not seem possible. Besides of the two +blows, this seemed the heaviest and the most revolting. Then, only her +own happiness and honour were involved; now it was Reuther's; and the +fortitude which sustained her through the ignominy of her own trouble, +failed her at the prospect of Reuther's. And again, the two cases were +not equal. Her husband had had traits which, in a manner, had prepared +her for the ready suspicion of people. But Oliver was a man of +reputation and kindly heart; and yet, in the course of time THIS had +come, and the question once agitating her as to whether Reuther was a +fit mate for him had now evolved itself into this: WAS HE A FIT MATE FOR +HER? + +She had rather have died, nay, have had Reuther die than to find herself +forced to weigh and decide so momentous a question. + +For, however she might feel about it, not a single illusion remained as +to whose hand had made use of John Scoville's stick to strike down +Algernon Etheridge. How could she have when she came to piece the whole +story together, and weigh the facts she had accumulated against Oliver +with those which had proved so fatal to her husband. + +First: the uncontrolled temper of the lad, hints of which she was daily +receiving. + +Secondly: his absolute, if unreasonable, hatred of the man thus brutally +assailed. She knew what such hatred was and how it eats into an +undeveloped mind. She had gone through its agonies herself when she was +a young girl, and knew its every stage. With jealousy and personal +distaste for a start, it was easy to trace the revolt of this boyish +heart from the intrusive, ever present mentor who not only shared his +father's affections but made use of them to influence that father +against the career he had chosen, in favour of one he not only disliked +but for which he lacked all aptitude. + +She saw it all from the moment his pencil dug into the paper these +tell-tale words: I HATE OLD E to that awful and final one when the +detested student fell in the woods and his reign over the judgment, as +well as over the heart, of Judge Ostrander was at an end. + +In hate, bitter, boiling, long-repressed hate, was found the motive for +an act so out of harmony with the condition and upbringing of a lad like +Oliver. She need look for no other. + +But motive goes for little if not supported by evidence. Was it +possible, with this new theory for a basis, to reconstruct the story of +this crime without encountering the contradiction of some well-known +fact? + +She would see. + +First, this matter of the bludgeon left, as her husband declared, +leaning against the old oak in the bottom of the ravine. All knew the +tree and just where it stood. If Oliver, in his eagerness to head off +Etheridge at the bridge, had rushed straight down into the gully from +Ostrander Lane, he would almost strike this tree in his descent. The +diagram sketched on page 185 will make this plain. What more natural, +then, than for him to catch up the stick he saw there, even if his mind +had not been deliberately set on violence. A weapon is a weapon; and an +angry man feels easier with something of the kind in hand. + +Armed, then, in this unexpected way, but evidently not yet decided upon +crime (or why his nervous whittling of the stick) he turned towards the +bridge, following the meandering of the stream which in time led him +across the bare spot where she had seen the shadow. That it was his +shadow no one could doubt who knew all the circumstances, and that she +should have leant just long enough from the ruins to mark this shadow +and take it for her husband's--and not long enough to see the man +himself and so detect her error, was one of those anomalies of crime +which make for judicial errors. John skurrying away through the thicket +towards Claymore, Oliver threading his way down the ravine, and she +hurrying away from the ruin above with her lost Reuther in hand! Such +was the situation at this critical moment. Afterwards when she came back +for the child's bucket, some power had withheld her from looking again +into the ravine or she might have been witness to the meeting at the +bridge, and so been saved the misery and shame of believing as long as +she did that the man who intercepted Algernon Etheridge at that place +was her unhappy husband. + +The knife with the broken point, which she had come upon in her search +among the lad's discarded effects, proved only too conclusively that it +was his hand which had whittled the end of the bludgeon; for the bit of +steel left in the wood and the bit lost from the knife were to her exact +eye of the same size and an undoubted fit. + +[Illustration: map] + +Oliver's remorse, the judge's discovery of his guilt (a discovery which +may have been soon but probably was late--so late that the penalty of +the doing had already been paid by the innocent), can only be guessed +from the terrible sequel: a son dismissed, a desolated home in which the +father lived as a recluse. + +How the mystery cleared, as she looked at it! The house barred from +guests--the double fence where, hidden from all eyes, the wretched +father might walk his dreary round when night forbade him rest or memory +became a whip of scorpions to lash him into fury or revolt--the stairs +never passed--(how could he look upon rooms where his wife had dreamed +the golden dreams of motherhood and the boy passed his days of innocent +youth)--aye, and his own closed-up room guarded by Bela from intrusion +as long as breath remained to animate his sinking body! What was its +secret? Why, Oliver's portrait! Had this been seen, marked as it was for +all men's reprobation, nothing could have stemmed inquiry; and inquiry +was to be dreaded as Judge Ostrander's own act had shown. Not till he +had made his clumsy attempt to cover this memorial of love and guilt and +rehanging it, thus hidden, where it would attract less attention, had +she been admitted to his room. Alas! alas! that he had not destroyed it +then and there. That, clinging to habits old as his grief and the +remorse which had undoubtedly devoured him for the part he had played in +this case of perverted justice, he had trusted to a sheet of paper to +cover what nothing on earth could cover, once Justice were aroused or +the wrath of God awakened. + +Deborah shuddered. Aye, the mystery had cleared, but only to enshroud +her spirits anew and make her long with all her bursting heart and +shuddering soul that death had been her portion before ever she had +essayed to lift the veil held down so tightly by these two remorseful +men. + +But was her fault irremediable? The only unanswerable connection between +this old crime and Oliver lay in the evidence she had herself collected. +As she had every intention of suppressing this evidence, and as she had +small dread of any one else digging out the facts to which she only +possessed a clew, might she not hope that any suspicions raised by her +inquiries would fall like a house of cards when she withdrew her hand +from the toppling structure? + +She would make her first effort and see. Mr. Black had heard her +complaint; he should be the first to learn that the encouragement she +had received was so small that she had decided to accept her present +good luck without further query, and not hark back to a past which most +people had buried. + + + + +XIX + +ALANSON BLACK + + +"You began it, as women begin most things, without thought and a due +weighing of consequences. And now you propose to drop it in the same +freakish manner. Isn't that it?" + +Deborah Scoville lifted her eyes in manifest distress and fixed them +deprecatingly upon her interrogator. She did not like his tone which was +dry and suspiciously sarcastic, and she did not like his attitude which +was formal and totally devoid of all sympathy. Instinctively she pushed +her veil still further from her features as she deprecatingly replied: + +"You are but echoing your sex in criticising mine as impulsive. And you +are quite within your rights in doing this. Women are impulsive; they +are even freakish. But it is given to one now and then to recognise this +fact and acknowledge it. I hope I am of this number; I hope that I have +the judgment to see when I have committed a mistake and to stop short +before I make myself ridiculous." + +The lawyer smiled,--a tight-lipped, acrid sort of smile which +nevertheless expressed as much admiration as he ever allowed himself to +show. + +"Judgment, eh?" he echoed. "You stop because your judgment tells you +that you were on the point of making a fool of yourself? No other +reason, eh?" + +"Is not that the best which can be given a hard-headed, clear-eyed +lawyer like yourself? Would you have me go on, with no real evidence to +back my claims; rouse up this town to reconsider his case when I have +nothing to talk about but my husband's oath and a shadow I cannot +verify?" + +"Then Miss Weeks' neighbourliness failed in point? She was not as +interesting as you had a right to expect from my recommendation?" + +"Miss Weeks is a very chatty and agreeable woman, but she cannot tell +what she does not know." + +Mr. Black smiled. The woman delighted him. The admiration which he had +hitherto felt for her person and for the character which could so +develop through misery and reproach as to make her in twelve short +years, the exponent of all that was most attractive and bewitching in +woman, seemed likely to extend to her mind. Sagacious, eh? and cautious, +eh? He was hardly prepared for such perfection, and let the transient +lighting up of his features speak for him till he was ready to say: + +"You find the judge very agreeable, now that you know him better?" + +"Yes, Mr. Black. But what has that got to do with the point at issue?" + +And SHE smiled, but not just in his manner nor with quite as little +effect. + +"Much," he growled. "It might make it easier for you to reconcile +yourself to the existing order of things." + +"I am reconciled to them simply from necessity," was her gentle +response. "Nothing is more precious to me than Reuther's happiness. I +should but endanger it further by raising false hopes. That is why I +have come to cry halt." + +"Madam, I commend your decision. It is that of a wise and considerate +woman. Your child's happiness is, of course, of paramount importance to +you. But why should you characterise your hopes as false, just when +there seems to be some justification for them." + +Her eyes widened, and she regarded him with a simulation of surprise +which interested without imposing upon him. + +"I do not understand you," said she. "Have YOU come upon some clew? Have +YOU heard something which I have not?" + +The smile with which he seasoned his reply was of a very different +nature from that which he had previously bestowed upon her. It prepared +her, possibly, for the shock of his words: + +"I hardly think so," said he. "If I do not mistake, we have been the +recipients of the same communications." + +She started to her feet, but sat again instantly. "Pray explain +yourself," she urged. "Who has been writing to you? And what have they +written?" she added, presuming a little upon her fascinations as a woman +to win an honest response. + +"Must I speak first?" + +If it was a tilt, it was between even forces. + +"It would be gentlemanly in you to do so." + +"But I am not of a gentlemanly temper." + +"I deal with no other," said she; but with what a glance and in what a +tone! + +A man may hold out long--and if a lawyer and a bachelor more than long, +but there is a point at which he succumbs. Mr. Black had reached that +point. Smoothing his brow and allowing a more kindly expression to creep +into his regard, he took two or three crushed and folded papers from a +drawer beside him and, holding them, none too plainly in sight, remarked +very quietly, but with legal firmness: + +"Do not let us play about the bush any longer. You have announced your +intention of making no further attempt to discover the man who in your +eyes merited the doom accorded to John Scoville. Your only reason for +this--if you are the woman I think you--lies in your fear of giving +further opportunity to the misguided rancour of an irresponsible writer +of anonymous epistles. Am I not right, madam?" + +Beaten, beaten by a direct assault, because she possessed the +weaknesses, as well as the pluck, of a woman. She could control the +language of her lips, but not their quivering; she could meet his eye +with steady assurance but she could not keep the pallor from her cheeks +or subdue the evidences of her heart's turmoil. Her pitiful glance +acknowledged her defeat, which she already saw mirrored in his eyes. + +Taking it for an answer, he said gently enough: + +"That we may understand each other at once, I will mention the person +who has been made the subject of these attacks. He--" + +"Don't speak the name," she prayed, leaning forward and laying her +gloved hand upon his sleeve. "It is not necessary. The whole thing is an +outrage." + +"Of course," he echoed, with some of his natural brusqueness, "and the +rankest folly. But to some follies we have to pay attention, and I fear +that we shall have to pay attention to this one if only for your +daughter Reuther's sake. You cannot wish her to become the butt of these +scandalous attempts?" + +"No, no." The words escaped her before she realised that in their +utterance she had given up irretrievably her secret. + +"You consider them scandalous?" + +"Most scandalous," she emphatically returned, with a vivacity and +seeming candour such as he had seldom seen equalled even on the +witness-stand. + +His admiration was quite evident. It did not prevent him, however, from +asking quite abruptly: + +"In what shape and by what means did this communication reach you?" + +"I found it lying on the walk between the gates." + +"The same by which Judge Ostrander leaves the house?" + +"Yes," came in faint reply. + +"I see that you share my fears. If one such scrap can be thrown over the +fence, why shouldn't another be? Men who indulge themselves in writing +anonymous accusations seldom limit themselves to one effusion. I will +stake my word that the judge has found more than one on his lawn." + +She could not have responded if she would; her mouth was dry, her tongue +half paralysed. What was coming? The glint in the lawyer's eye +forewarned her that something scarcely in consonance with her hopes and +wishes might be expected. + +"The judge has seen and read these barefaced insinuations against his +son and has not turned this whole town topsy-turvy! What are we to think +of that? A lion does not stop to meditate; HE SPRINGS. And Archibald +Ostrander has the nature of a lion. There is nothing of the fox or even +of the tiger in HIM. Mrs. Scoville, this is a very serious matter. I do +not wonder that you are a trifle overwhelmed by the results of your +ill-considered investigations." + +"Does the town know? Has the thing become a scandal--a byword? Miss +Weeks gave no proof of ever having heard one word of this dreadful +not-to-be-foreseen business." + +"That is good news. You relieve me. Perhaps it is not a general topic as +yet." Then shortly and with lawyer-like directness, "Show me the letter +which has disturbed all your plans." + +"I haven't it here." + +"You didn't bring it?" + +"No, Mr. Black. Why should I? I had no premonition that I should ever be +induced to show it to any one, least of all to you." + +"Look over these. Do they look at all familiar?" + +She glanced down at the crumpled sheets and half-sheets he had spread +out before her. They were similar in appearance to the one she had +picked up on the judge's grounds but the language was more forcible, as +witness these: + + When a man is trusted to defend another on trial for his life, he's + supposed to know his business. How came John Scoville to hang, + without a thought being given to the man who hated A. Etheridge + like poison? I could name a certain chap who more than once in the + old days boasted that he'd like to kill the fellow. And it wasn't + Scoville or any one of his low-down stamp either. + + A high and mighty name shouldn't shield a man who sent a poor, + unfriended wretch to his death in order to save his own bacon. + +"Horrible!" murmured Deborah, drawing back in terror of her own emotion. +"It's the work of some implacable enemy taking advantage of the +situation I have created. Mr. Black, this man must be found and made to +see that no one will believe, not even Scoville's widow--" + +"There! you needn't go any further with that," admonished the lawyer. "I +will manage him. But first we must make sure to rightly locate this +enemy of the Ostranders. You do detect some resemblance between this +writing and the specimen you have at home?" + +"They are very much alike." + +"You believe one person wrote them?" + +"I do." + +"Have you any idea who this person is?" + +"No; why should I?" + +"No suspicion?" + +"Not the least in the world." + +"I ask because of this," he explained, picking out another letter and +smilingly holding it out towards her. + +She read it with flushed cheeks. + + Listen to the lady. You can't listen to any one nicer. What she + wants she can get. There's a witness you never saw or heard of. + +A witness they had never heard of! What witness? Scarcely could she lift +her eyes from the paper. Yet there was a possibility, of course, that +this statement was a lie. + +"Stuff, isn't it?" muttered the lawyer. "Never mind, we'll soon have +hold of the writer." His face had taken on a much more serious aspect, +and she could no longer complain of his indifference or even of his +sarcasm. + +"You will give me another opportunity of talking with you on this +matter," pursued he. "If you do not come here, you may expect to see me +at Judge Ostrander's. I do not quite like the position into which you +have been thrown by these absurd insinuations from some unknown person +who may be thinking to do you a service, but who you must feel is very +far from being your friend. It may even lead to your losing the home +which has been so fortunately opened for you. If this occurs, you may +count on my friendship, Mrs. Scoville. I may have failed you once, but I +will not fail you twice." + +Surprised, almost touched, she held out her hand, with a cordial THANK +YOU, in which emotion struggled with her desire to preserve an +appearance of complete confidence in Judge Ostrander, and incidentally +in his son. Then, being on her feet by this time, she turned to go, +anxious to escape further embarrassment from a perspicacity she no +longer possessed the courage to meet. + +The lawyer appeared to acquiesce in the movement of departure. But when +he saw her about to vanish through the door, some impulse of +compunction, as real as it was surprising, led him to call her back and +seat her once more in the chair she had so lately left. + +"I cannot let you go," said he, "until you understand that these +insinuations from a self-called witness would not be worth our attention +if there were not a few facts to give colour to his wild claims. Oliver +Ostrander WAS in that ravine connecting with Dark Hollow, very near the +time of the onslaught on Mr. Etheridge; and he certainly hated the man +and wanted him out of the way. The whole town knows that, with one +exception. You know that exception?" + +"I think so," she acceded, taking a fresh grip upon her emotions. + +"That this was anything more than a coincidence has never been +questioned. He was not even summoned as a witness. With the judge's high +reputation in mind I do not think a single person could have been found +in those days to suggest any possible connection between this boy and a +crime so obviously premeditated. But people's minds change with time and +events, and Oliver Ostrander's name uttered in this connection to-day +would not occasion the same shock to the community as it would have done +then. You understand me, Mrs. Scoville?" + +"You allude to the unexplained separation between himself and father, +and not to any failure on his part to sustain the reputation of his +family?" + +"Oh, he has made a good position for himself, and earned universal +consideration. But that doesn't weigh against the prejudices of people, +roused by such eccentricities as have distinguished the conduct of these +two men." + +"Alas!" she murmured, frightened to the soul for the first time, both by +his manner and his words. + +"You know and I know," he went on with a grimness possibly suggested by +his subject, "that no mere whim lies back of such a preposterous +seclusion as that of Judge Ostrander behind his double fence. Sons do +not cut loose from fathers or fathers from sons without good cause. You +can see, then, that the peculiarities of their mutual history form but a +poor foundation for any light refutation of this scandal, should it +reach the public mind. Judge Ostrander knows this, and you know that he +knows this; hence your distress. Have I not read your mind, madam?" + +"No one can read my mind any more than they can read Judge Ostrander's," +she avowed in a last desperate attempt to preserve her secret. "You may +think you have done so, but what assurance can you have of the fact?" + +"You are strong in their defence," said he, "and you will need to be if +the matter ever comes up. The shadows from Dark Hollow reach far, and +engulf all they fall upon." + +"Mr. Black"--she had re-risen the better to face him--"you want +something from me--a promise, or a condition." + +"No," said he, "this is my affair only as it affects you. I simply +wished to warn you of what you might have to face; and what Judge +Ostrander will have to face (here I drop the lawyer and speak only as a +man) if he is not ready to give a more consistent explanation of the +curious facts I have mentioned." + +"I cannot warn him, Mr. Black." + +"You? Of course not. Nobody can warn him; possibly no one should warn +him. But I have warned YOU; and now, as a last word, let us hope that no +warning is necessary and that we shall soon see the last of these +calumniating letters and everything readjusted once more on a firm and +natural basis. Judge Ostrander's action in reopening his house in the +manner and for the purpose he has, has predisposed many in his favour. +It may, before we know it, make the past almost forgotten." + +"Meanwhile you will make an attempt to discover the author of these +anonymous attacks?" + +"To save YOU from annoyance." + +Obliged to make acknowledgment of the courtesy if not kindness prompting +these words, Mrs. Scoville expressed her gratitude and took farewell in +a way which did not seem to be at all displeasing to the crusty lawyer; +but when she found herself once more in the streets, her anxiety and +suspense took on a new phase. What was at the bottom of Mr. Black's +contradictory assertions? Sympathy with her, as he would have her +believe, or a secret feeling of animosity towards the man he openly +professed to admire? + + + + +XX + +WHAT HAD MADE THE CHANGE? + + +"Reuther, sit up here close by mother and let me talk to you for a +little while." + +"Yes, mother; oh, yes, mother." Deborah felt the beloved head pressed +close to her shoulder and two soft arms fall about her neck. + +"Are you very unhappy? Is my little one pining too much for the old +days?" + +A closer pressure of the head, a more vehement clasp of the encircling +arms, but no words. + +"You have seemed brighter lately. I have heard you sing now and then as +if the joy of youth was not quite absent from your heart. Is that true, +or were you merely trying to cheer your mother?" + +"I am afraid I was trying to cheer the judge," came in low whisper to +her ear. "When I hear his step in the study--that monotonous tramp, +tramp, which we both dread, I feel such an ache here, such a desire to +comfort him, that I try the one little means I have to divert him from +his thoughts. He must be so lonely without--" + +"Reuther, you forget how many years have passed since he had a +companion. A man becomes used to loneliness. A judge with heavy cases on +his mind must think and think very closely, you know." + +"Oh, mamma, it's not of his cases our judge is thinking when he walks +like that. I know him too well, love him too well, not to feel the +trouble in his step. I may be wrong, but all the sympathy and +understanding I may not give to Oliver I devote to his father, and when +he walks like that he seems to drag my heart after him. Mamma, mamma, do +not blame me. I have just as much affection for you, and I suffer just +as keenly when I see you unhappy. And, mamma, are you sure that you are +quite happy to-day? You look as if something had happened to trouble +you--something more than usual, I mean." + +They were sitting in the dark, with just the light of the stars shining +through the upper panes of the one unshaded window. Deborah, therefore, +had little to fear from her daughter's eye, only from the sensitiveness +of her touch and the quickness of her ear. Alas, in this delicately +organised girl these were both attuned to the nicest discrimination, and +before the mother could speak, Reuther had started up, crying: + +"Oh, how your heart beats! Something has happened, darling mother; +something which--" + +"Hush, Reuther; it is only this: When I came to Shelby it was with a +hope that I might some day smooth the way to your happiness. But it was +only a wild dream, Reuther; and the hour has come for me to tell you so. +What joys are left us must come in other ways; love unblessed must be +put aside resolutely and forever." + +She felt the shudder pass through the slender form which had thrown +itself again at her side; but when the young girl spoke it was with +unexpected bravery and calm. + +"I have long ago done that, mamma. I've had no hopes from the first. The +look with which Oliver accepted my refusal to go on with the ceremony +was one of gratitude, mother. I can never forget that. Relief struggled +with grief. Would you have me cherish any further illusions after that?" + +Mrs. Scoville was silent. So, after all, Reuther had not been so blind +on that day as she had always feared. + +"Oliver has faults--Oh, let me talk about him just for once, darling +mother," the poor, stricken child babbled on. "His temper is violent, or +so he has often told me, coming and going like a gust of--No, mamma, +don't make me stop. If he has faults he has good traits too. He was +always gentle with me and if that far-away look you did not like would +come at times and take him, as it were, out of our world, such a sweet +awakening would follow when he realised that I was waiting for his +spirit to come back, that I never minded the mystery, in my joy at the +comfort which my love gave him." + +"My child, my child!" + +"Mother, I can soothe the father, but I can no longer soothe Oliver. +That is my saddest thought. It makes me wish, sometimes, that he would +find another loving heart on which he could lean without any +self-reproach. I should soon learn to bear it. It would so assure his +future and rid me of the fear that he may fail to hold the place he has +won by such hard work and persistence." + +A moment's silence, then a last appeal on the part of the mother. + +"Reuther, have I ever been harsh to you?" + +"No, no." + +"Then you will not think me unkind or even untender if I say that every +loving thought you give now to Oliver is hurtful both to yourself and to +me. Don't indulge in them, my darling. Put your heart into work or into +music, and your mother will bless you. Won't it help you to know this, +Reuther? Your mother, who has had her griefs, will bless you." + +"Mother, mother!" + + * * * * * + +That night, at a later hour, Deborah struggled with a great temptation. + +The cap which hung in Oliver's closet--the knife which lay in the drawer +of Oliver's desk--were to her mind positive proofs of his actual +connection with the crime she now wished to see buried for all time in +her husband's grave. The threat of that unknown indicter of mysterious +letters, I KNOW A WITNESS, had sunk deep into her mind. A witness of +what? Of anything which the discovery of these articles might +substantiate? If so, what peril remained in their continued preservation +when an effort on her part might so easily destroy them. + +Sleep, long a stranger to her pillow, forsook her entirely as she faced +this question and realised the gain in peace which might be hers if cap +and knife were gone. Why then did she allow them to remain, the one in +the closet, the other in the drawer? Because she could not help herself. +Instinct was against her meddling with these possible proofs of crime. + +But this triumph of conscience cost her dear. The next morning found her +pale--almost as pale as Reuther. Was that why the judge surveyed her so +intently as she poured out the coffee, and seemed more than once on the +point of addressing her particularly, as she went through the usual +routine of tidying up his room? + +She asked herself this question more than once, and found it answered +every time she hurried by the mirror. Certainly she showed a remarkable +pallor. + +Knowing its cause herself, she did not invite his inquiries; and another +day passed. With the following morning she felt strong enough to open +the conversation which had now become necessary for her peace of mind. + +She waited till the moment when, her work all done, she was about to +leave his presence. Pausing till she caught his eye, which seemed a +little loth, she thought, to look her way, she observed, with perhaps +unnecessary distinctness: + +"I hope that everything is to your mind, Judge Ostrander. I should be +sorry not to make you as comfortable as is possible under the +circumstances." + +[Illustration: SILENCE! NOT EVEN HEAVEN SPOKE] + +Roused a little suddenly, perhaps, from thoughts quite disconnected with +those of material comfort, he nodded with the abstraction of one who +recognises that some sort of acknowledgment is expected from him; then, +seeing her still waiting, added politely: + +"I am very well looked after, if that is what you mean, Mrs. Scoville. +Bela could not do any better--if he ever did as well." + +"I am glad," she replied, thinking with what humour this would have +struck her once. "I--I ask because, having nothing on my mind but +housekeeping, I desire to remedy anything which is not in accordance +with your exact wishes." + +His attention was caught and by the very phrase she desired. + +"Nothing on your mind but housekeeping?" he repeated. "I thought you had +something else of a very particular nature with which to occupy +yourself." + +"I had; but I have been advised against pursuing it. The folly was too +great." + +"Who advised you?" + +The words came short and sharp just as they must have come in those old +days when he confronted his antagonists at the bar. + +"Mr. Black. He was my husband's counsel, you remember. He says that I +should only have my trouble for my pains, and I have come to agree with +him. Reuther must content herself with the happiness of living under +this roof; and I, with the hope of contributing to your comfort." + +Had she impressed him? Had she played her part with success? Dare she +lift her eye and meet the gaze she felt concentrated upon her? No. He +must speak first. She must have some clew to the effect she had produced +before she risked his penetration by a direct look. + +She had to wait longer than her beating heart desired. He had his own +agitation to master, and possibly his own doubts. This was not the +fiery, determined woman he had encountered amid the ruins of Spencer's +Folly. WHAT HAD MADE THE CHANGE? Black's discouraging advice? Hardly. +Why should she take from that hard-faced lawyer what she had not been +willing to take from himself? There must have been some other +influencing cause. + +His look, his attitude, his voice, betrayed his hesitations, as he +finally remarked: + +"Black is a man of excellent counsel, but he is hard as a stone and not +of the sort whose monitions I should expect to have weight with one like +you. What did he put in the balance,--or what have others put in the +balance, to send your passionate intentions flying up to the beam? I +should be glad to hear." + +Should she tell him? She had a momentary impulse that way. Then the +irrevocableness of such a move frightened her; and, pale with dismay at +what she felt to be a narrow escape from a grave error of judgment, she +answered with just enough truth, for her to hope that the modicum of +falsehood accompanying it would escape his attention: + +"What has changed my intentions? My experience here, Judge Ostrander. +With every day I pass under this roof, I realise more and more the +mistake I made in supposing that any change in circumstances would make +a union between our two children proper or feasible. Headstrong as I am +by nature, I have still some sense of the fitness of things, and it is +that sense awakened by a better knowledge of what the Ostrander name +stands for, which has outweighed my hopes and mad intentions. I am sorry +that I ever troubled you with them." + +The words were ambiguous; startlingly so, she felt; but, in hope that +they would strike him otherwise, she found courage at last to raise her +eyes in search of what lay in his. Nothing, or so she thought at first, +beyond the glint of a natural interest; then her mind changed, and she +felt that it would take one much better acquainted with his moods than +herself to read to its depths a gaze so sombre and inscrutable. + +His answer, coming after a moment of decided suspense, only deepened +this impression. It was to this effect: + +"Madam, we have said our say on this subject. If you have come to see +the matter as I see it, I can but congratulate you upon your good sense, +and express the hope that it will continue to prevail. Reuther is worthy +of the best--" he stopped abruptly. "Reuther is a girl after my own +heart," he gently supplemented, with a glance towards his papers lying +in a bundle at his elbow, "and she shall not suffer because of this +disappointment to her girlish hopes. Tell her so with my love." + +It was a plain dismissal. Mrs. Scoville took it as such, and quietly +left the room. As she did so she was approached by Reuther who handed +her a letter which had just been delivered. It was from Mr. Black and +read thus: + + We have found the rogue and have succeeded in inducing him to leave + town. He's a man in the bill-sticking business and he owns to a + grievance against the person we know. + +Deborah's sleep that night was without dreams. + + + + +XXI + +IN THE COURT ROOM + + +About this time, the restless pacing of the judge in his study at nights +became more frequent and lasted longer. In vain Reuther played her most +cheerful airs and sang her sweetest songs, the monotonous tramp kept up +with a regularity nothing could break. + +"He's worried by the big case now being tried before him," Deborah would +say, when Reuther's eyes grew wide and misty in her sympathetic trouble. +And there was no improbability in the plea, for it was a case of much +moment, and of great local interest. A man was on trial for his life and +the circumstances of the case were such that the feeling called forth +was unusually bitter; so much so, indeed, that every word uttered by the +counsel and every decision made by the judge were discussed from one end +of the county to the other, and in Shelby, if nowhere else, took +precedence of all other topics, though it was a Presidential year and +party sympathies ran high. + +The more thoughtful spirits were inclined to believe in the innocence of +the prisoner; but the lower elements of the town, moved by class +prejudice, were bitterly antagonistic to his cause and loud for his +conviction. + +Did the judge realise his position and the effect made upon the populace +by his very evident leaning towards this dissipated but well-connected +young man accused of a crime so brutal, that he must either have been +the sport of most malicious circumstances, or a degenerate of the worst +type. The time of Judge Ostrander's office was nearly up, and his future +continuance on the bench might very easily depend upon his attitude at +the present hearing. Yet HE, without apparent recognition of this fact, +showed without any hesitancy or possibly without self-consciousness, the +sympathy he felt for the man at the bar, and ruled accordingly almost +without variation. + +No wonder he paced the floor as the proceedings drew towards its close +and the inevitable hour approached when a verdict must be rendered. Mrs. +Scoville, reading his heart by the light of her recent discoveries, +understood as nobody else, the workings of his conscience and the +passion of sympathy which this unhappy father must have for misguided +youth. She began to fear for his health and count the days till this +ordeal was over. + +In other regards, quiet had come to them all and less tempestuous fears. +Could the judge but weather the possible conviction of this man and +restrain himself from a disclosure of his own suffering, more cheerful +days might be in store for them, for no further missives were to be seen +on the lawn, nor had anything occurred for days to recall to Deborah's +mind the move she had made towards re-establishing her husband's +innocence. + +A week passed, and the community was all agog, in anticipation of the +judge's charge in the case just mentioned. It was to be given at noon, +and Mrs. Scoville, conscious that he had not slept an hour the night +before (having crept down more than once to listen if his step had +ceased), approached him as he prepared to leave the house for the court +room, and anxiously asked if he were quite well. + +"Oh, yes, I'm well," he responded sharply, looking about for Reuther. + +The young girl was standing a little behind him, with his gloves in her +hand--a custom she had fallen into in her desire to have his last look +and fond good morning. + +"Come here, child," said he, in a way to make her heart beat; and, as he +took the gloves from her hand, he stooped and kissed her on the +forehead--something he had never done before. "Let me see you smile," +said he. "It's a memory I like to take with me into the court room." + +But when in her pure delight at his caress and the fatherly feeling +which gave a tremor to his simple request, she lifted her face with that +angelic look of hers which was far sweeter and far more moving than any +smile, he turned away abruptly as though he had been more hurt than +comforted, and strode out of the house without another word. + +Deborah's hand went to her heart, in the dark corner whither she had +withdrawn herself, and when she turned again towards the spot where +Reuther had stood, it was in some fear lest she had betrayed her +understanding of this deeply tried father's passionate pain. But Reuther +was no longer there. She had fled quickly away with the memory of what +was to make this day a less dreary one for her. + +Morning passed and the noon came, bringing Deborah an increased +uneasiness. When lunch was over and Reuther sat down to her piano, the +feeling had grown into an obsession, which soon resolved itself into a +definite fear. + +"What if an attack, such as I once saw, should come upon him while he +sits upon the bench! Why have I not thought of this before? O God! these +evil days! When will they be over!" + +She found herself so restless that she decided upon going out. Donning +her quietest gown and veil, she looked in on Reuther and expressed her +intention; then slipped out of the front door, hardly knowing whither +her feet would carry her. + +They did not carry her far,--not at this moment at least. On the walk +outside she met Miss Weeks hurrying towards her from the corner, +stumbling in her excitement and so weakened in body or spirit that she +caught at the unresponsive fence for the support which its smooth +surface refused to give her. + +At sight of Deborah's figure, she paused and threw up her hands. + +"Oh, Mrs. Scoville, such a dreadful thing!" she cried. "Look here!" And, +opening one of her hands, she showed a few torn scraps of paper whose +familiarity made Deborah's blood run cold. + +"On the bridge," gasped the little lady, leaning against the fence for +support. "Pasted on the railing of the bridge. I should never have seen +it, nor looked at it, if it hadn't been that I--" + +"Don't tell me here," urged Deborah. "Let's go over to your house. See, +there are people coming." + +The little lady yielded to the other's constraining hand and together +they crossed the street. Once in the house, Deborah allowed her full +apprehension to show itself. + +"What were the words? What was on the paper? Anything about--" + +The little woman's look of horror stopped her. + +"It's a lie, an awful, abominable lie. But think of such a lie being +pasted up on that dreadful bridge for any one to see. After twelve +years, Mrs. Scoville! After--" But here indignation changed suddenly +into suspicion, and eyeing her visitor with sudden disfavour she cried: +"This is your work, madam. Your inquiries and your talk of John +Scoville's innocence has set wagging all the villainous tongues in town. +And I remember something else. How you came smirking into this very room +one day, with your talk about caps and Oliver Ostrander's doings on the +day when Algernon Etheridge was murdered. You were in search of +information, I see; information against the best, the brightest--Well, +why don't you speak? I'll give you the chance if you want it. Don't +stand looking at me like that. I'm not used to it, Mrs. Scoville. I'm a +peaceable woman and I'm not used to it." + +"Miss Weeks--" Ah, the oil of that golden speech on troubled waters! +What was its charm? What message did it carry from Deborah's warm, true +heart that its influence should be so miraculous? "Miss Weeks, you have +forgotten my interest in Oliver Ostrander. He was my daughter's lover. +He was my own ideal of a gifted, kind-hearted, if somewhat mysterious, +young man. No calumny uttered against him can awaken in you half the +sorrow and indignation it does in me. Let me see those lines or what +there is left of them so that I may share your feelings. They must be +dreadful--" + +"They are more than dreadful. I don't know how I had strength to pull +these pieces off. I couldn't have done it if they had been quite dry. +But what do you want to see them for? I'd have left them there if I had +been willing to have them seen. They are for the kitchen fire. Wait a +moment and then we will talk." + +But Deborah had no mind to let these pieces escape her eye. Sick as she +felt at heart, she exerted herself to win the little woman's confidence; +and when Deborah exerted herself, even under such adverse conditions as +these, she seldom failed to succeed. + +Nor did she fail now. At the end of fifteen minutes she had the torn +bits of paper arranged in their proper position and was reading these +words: + +The scene of Oliv der's crime. + +Nothing could be more explicit nothing more damaging. As the glances of +the two women met, it would be difficult to tell on which face Distress +hung out the whiter flag. + +"The beginning of the end!" was Deborah's thought. "If after Mr. Black's +efforts, a charge like this is found posted up in the public ways, the +ruin of the Ostranders is determined upon, and nothing we can do can +stop it." + +In five minutes more she had said good-bye to Miss Weeks and was on her +way to the courthouse. + +This building occupied one end of a large paved square in the busiest +part of the town. As Deborah approached it, she was still further +alarmed by finding this square full of people, standing in groups or +walking impatiently up and down with their eyes fixed on the courthouse +doors. The case which had agitated the whole country for days was now in +the hands of the jury and a verdict was momentarily expected. + +So much for appearances outside. Within, there was the uneasy hum, the +anxious look, the subdued movement which marks an universal suspense. +Announcement had been made that the jury had reached their verdict, and +counsel were resuming their places and the judge his seat. + +Those who had eyes only for the latter--and these were many--noticed a +change in him. He looked older by years than when he delivered his +charge. Not the prisoner himself gave greater evidence of the effect +which this hour of waiting had had upon a heart whose covered griefs +were, consciously or unconsciously, revealing themselves to the public +eye. He did not wish this man sentenced. This was shown by his +charge--the most one-sided one he had given in all his career. Yet the +man awaiting verdict had small claim to his consideration--none, in +fact, save that he was young and well connected; facts in his favour +with which the people who packed the courthouse that day had little +sympathy, as their cold looks proved. + +To Deborah, who had succeeded in getting a seat in a remote and +inconspicuous corner, these looks conveyed a spirit of so much threat +that she gazed about her in wonder that so few saw where the real +tragedy in this room lay. + +But the jury is now seated, and the clatter of moving feet which but a +moment before filled the great room, sinks as if under a charm, and +silence, that awesome precursor of doom, lay in all its weight upon +every ear and heart, as the clerk advancing with the cry, "Order in the +court," put his momentous question: + +"Gentlemen of the jury, are you ready with your verdict?" + +A hush!--then, the clear voice of the foreman: + +"We are." + +"How do you find? Guilty or not guilty?" + +Another hesitation. Did the foreman feel the threat lurking in the air +about him? If so, he failed to show it in his tones as he uttered the +words which released the prisoner: + +"NOT GUILTY." + +A growl from the crowd, almost like that of a beast stirring its lair, +then a quick cessation of all hubbub as every one turned to the judge to +whose one-sided charge they attributed this release. + +Again he was a changed man. With the delivery of this verdict he had +regained his natural poise, and never had he looked more authoritative +or more pre-eminently the dominating spirit of the court than in the few +following moments in which he expressed the thanks of the court to the +jury and dismissed the prisoner. And yet, though each person there, from +the disappointed prosecutor to the least aggressive spectator, appeared +to feel the influence of a presence and voice difficult to duplicate on +the bench of this country, Deborah experienced in her quiet corner no +alleviation of the fear which had brought her into this forbidding spot +and held her breathless through all these formalities. + +For the end was not yet. Through all the turmoil of noisy departure and +the drifting out into the square of a vast, dissatisfied throng, she had +caught the flash of a bit of paper (how introduced into this moving mass +of people no one ever knew) passing from hand to hand, towards the +solitary figure of the judge who had not as yet left his seat. + +She knew--no one better--what this meant, and instinct bade her cry out +and bid those thoughtless hands to cease their work and let this letter +drop. But her discretion still held, and, subduing the mad impulse, she +watched with dilating eyes and heaving breast the slow passage of this +fatal note through the now rapidly thinning crowd, its delay as it +reached the open space between the last row of seats and the judge's +bench and its final delivery by some officious hand, who thrust it upon +his notice just as he was rising to leave. + +The picture he made in that instant of hesitation never left her mind. +To the end of her days she will carry a vision of his tall form, +imposing in his judicial robes and with the majesty of his office still +upon him, fingering this envelope in sight of such persons as still +lingered in his part of the room. Nemesis was lowering its black wings +over his devoted head, and, with feelings which left her dazed and +transfixed in silent terror, Deborah saw his finger tear its way through +the envelope and his eyes fall frowningly on the paper he drew out. + +Then the People's counsel and the counsel for the Defence and such +clerks and hangers-on as still lingered in the upper end of the room +experienced a decided sensation. + +The judge, who a moment before had towered above them all in melancholy +but impressive dignity, shrunk with one gasp into feebleness and sank +back stricken, if not unconscious, into his chair. + +Was it a stroke, or just one of his attacks of which all had heard? Was +he aware of his own condition and the disturbance it caused or was he, +on the contrary, dead to his own misery and oblivious of the rush which +was made from all sides to his assistance? Even Deborah could not tell, +and was forced to sit quiet in her corner, waiting for the parting of +the group which hid the judge from her sight. + +It happened suddenly and showed her the same figure she had seen once +before--a man with faculties suspended, but not impaired, facing them +all with open gaze but absolutely dead for the moment to his own +condition and to the world about. + +But, horrible as this was, what she saw going on behind him was +infinitely worse. A man had caught up the bit of paper Judge Ostrander +had let fall from his hand and was opening his lips to read it to the +curious people surrounding him. + +She tried to stop him. She forced a cry to her lips which should have +rung through the room, but which died away on the air unheard. The +terror which had paralysed her limbs had choked her voice. + +But her ears remained true. Low as he spoke, no trumpet-call could have +made its meaning clearer to Deborah Scoville than did these words: + +"We know why you favour criminals. Twelve years is a long time, but not +long enough to make wise men forget." + + + + +XXII + +BEFORE THE GATES + + +Had she not caught the words themselves she would have recognised their +import from the blighting effect they produced upon the persons grouped +within hearing. + +Schooled as most of them were to face with minds secure and tempers +quite unruffled the countless surprises of a court room, they paled at +the insinuation conveyed in these two sentences, and with scarcely the +interchange of glance or word, drew aside in a silence which no man +seemed inclined to break. + +As for the people still huddled in the doorway, they rushed away +helter-skelter into the street, there to proclaim the judge's condition +and its probable cause;--an event which to many quite eclipsed in +interest the more ordinary one which had just released to freedom a man +seemingly doomed. + +Few persons were now left in the great room, and Deborah, embarrassed to +find that she was the only woman present, was on the point of escaping +from her corner when she perceived a movement take place in the rigid +form from which she had not yet withdrawn her eyes, and, regarding Judge +Ostrander more attentively, she caught the gleam of his suspicious eye +as it glanced this way and that to see if his lapse of consciousness had +been noticed by those about him. + +Would the man still in possession of the paper whose contents had +brought about this attack understand these evidences of apprehension? +Yes; and what is more, he seems to take such means as offers to hide +from the judge all knowledge of the fact that any other eyes than his +own have read these invidious words. With unexpected address, he waits +for the judge to turn his head aside when with a quick and dextrous +movement he so launches the paper from his hand that it falls softly and +without flurry within an inch of the judicial seat. Then he goes back to +his papers. + +This suggestion, at once so marked and so delicate, did not fail of its +effect upon those about. Wherever the judge looked he saw abstracted +faces and busy hands, and, taking heart at not finding himself watched, +he started to rise. Then memory came,--blasting, overwhelming memory of +the letter he had been reading; and, rousing with a start, he looked +down at his hand, then at the floor before him, and, seeing the letter +lying there, picked it up with a secret, side-long glance to right and +left, which sank deep into the heart of the still watchful Deborah. + +If those about him saw, they made no motion. Not an eye looked round and +not a head turned as he straightened himself and proceeded to leave the +room. Only Deborah noted how his steps faltered and how little he was to +be trusted to find his way unguided to the door. It lay to the right and +he was going left. Now he stumbles--Isn't there any one to--Yes, she is +not the sole one on watch. The same man who had read aloud the note and +then dropped it within his reach, had stepped after him, and kindly, if +artfully, turned him towards the proper place of exit. As the two +disappear, Deborah wakes from her trance, and, finding herself alone +among the seats, hurries to quit her corner and leave the building. + +The glare--the noise of the square, as she dashes down into it seems for +the moment unendurable. The pushing, panting mass of men and women of +which she has now become a part, closes about her, and for the moment +she can see nothing but faces,--faces with working mouths and blazing +eyes,--a medley of antagonistic expression, all directed against +herself;--or so she felt in the heat of her self-consciousness. But +after the first recoil she knew that no such universal recognition could +be hers; that she was merely a new and inconsiderable atom caught in a +wave of feeling which engulfed all it met; that this mob was not raised +from the stones to overwhelm her but HIM, and that if she flew, it +should be to his aid, and not to save herself. But how was she to reach +him? He would not come out by the main entrance; that she knew. Where +look for him, then? Suddenly she remembered; and using some of her +strength of which she had good measure, and more of that address to +which I have already alluded, she began to worm herself along through +this astounding collection of people much too large already for the +ordinary force of police to handle, to that corner of the building where +a small door opened upon a rear street. She remembered it from those old +days when she had once entered this courthouse as a witness. + +But alas, others knew it also, and thick as the crowd was in front, it +was even thicker here, and far more tumultuous. Word had gone about that +the father of Oliver Ostrander had been given his lesson at last, and +the curiosity of the populace had risen to fever-heat in their anxiety +to see how the proud Ostrander would bear himself in his precipitate +downfall. They had crowded there to see and they would see. Were he to +shirk the ordeal! Were he to wait for the square to be cleared--But they +knew him too well to fear this. He will come--nay, he is coming now--and +coming alone! No other figure looms so grandly in a doorway, nor is +there any other face in Shelby whose pallor could strike so coldly to +the heart, or rouse such conflicting emotions. + +He was evidently not prepared to see his path quite so heavily marked +out for him by the gaping throng; but after one look, he assumed some +show of his old commanding presence and advanced bravely down the steps, +awing some and silencing all, until he had reached his carriage step and +the protection of the officers on guard. + +Then a hoot rose from some far-off quarter of the square, and he turned +short about and the people saw his face. Despair had seized it, and if +any one there desired vengeance, he had it. The knell of active life had +been rung for this man. He would never remount the courthouse steps, or +face again a respectful jury. + +As for Deborah, she had shrunk out of sight at his approach, but as soon +as he had ridden off, she looked eagerly for a taxicab to carry her in +his wake. She could not let him ride that mile alone. She was still +fearful for him, though the mass of people about her was rapidly +dissolving away, and the streets growing clear. + +But an apprehension still greater, because more personal, seized her +when she found herself behind him on the long road. Several minutes had +been lost in obtaining a taxicab and she feared that she would be unable +to overtake him before he reached his own gates. This would be to +subject Reuther to a shock which the poor child had little strength to +meet. She could not escape the truth long. Soon, very soon she would +have to be told that the man who stood so high in her esteem was now +regarded as a common criminal. But she must be prepared for the awful +news. She must be within reach of her mother's arms when the blow fell +destroying her past as well as her future. + +Were minutes really so long--the house really so far away? Deborah gazes +eagerly forward. There is very little traffic in the streets to-day and +the road ahead looks clear--too clear, she cannot even see the dust +raised by the judge's rapidly disappearing carriage. Can he have arrived +home already? No, or the carriage would be coming back, and not a +vehicle is in view. + +Her anxiety increases. She has reached the road debouching towards the +bridge--has crossed it--is drawing near--nearer--when, what is this? +Men--women--coming from the right, coming from the left, running out of +houses, flocking from every side street, filling up the road! A lesser +mob than that from which she had just escaped, but still, a mob, and all +making for one point--the judge's house! And he? She can see his +carriage now. Held up for a moment by the crowd, it has broken through, +and is rolling quickly towards Ostrander Lane. But the mob is following, +and she is yet far behind. + +Shouting to the chauffeur to hasten, the insistent honk! honk! of the +cab adds its raucous note to the turmoil. They have dashed through one +group;--they are dashing through another;--naught can withstand an +on-rushing automobile. She catches glimpses of raised arms threatening +retaliation; of eager, stolid, uncertain and furious faces--and her +breath held back during that one instant of wild passage rushes +pantingly forth again. Ostrander Lane is within sight. If only they can +reach it!--if only they can cross it! But they cannot without sowing +death in their track. No scattered groups here, the mob fills the +corner. It is packed close as a wall. Brought up against it, the motor +necessarily comes to a stand-still. + +Balked? No, not yet. Opening the door, Deborah leaps to the ground and +in one instant finds herself but a mote in this seethe of humanity. In +vain her efforts, she cannot move arm or limb. The gate is but a few +paces off, but all hope of reaching it is futile. She can only hold +herself still and listen as all around are listening. But to what? To +nothing. It is expectation which holds them all silent. She will have to +wait until the crowd sways apart, allowing her to--Ah, there, some heads +are moving now! She catches one glimpse ahead of her, and sees--What +does she see? The noble but shrunk figure of the judge drawn up before +his gate. His lips are moving, but no sound issues from them; and while +those about are waiting for his words, they peer, with an insolence +barely dashed by awe, at his white head and his high fence and now at +the gate swerving gently inward under the hand of some one whose figure +is invisible. + +But no words coming, a change passes like a stroke of lightning over the +surging mass. Some one shouts out COWARD! another, TRAITOR! and the +lifted head falls, the moving lips cease from their efforts and in place +of the great personality which filled their eyes a moment before, they +see a man entrapped, waking to the horror of a sudden death in life for +which no visions of the day, no dreams of the night, had been able to +prepare him. + +It was a sight to waken pity not derision. But these people had gathered +here in a bitter mood and their rancour had but scented the prey. Calls +of "Oliver!" and such threats as "You saved him at a poor man's expense, +but we'll have him yet, we'll have him yet!" began to rise about him; +followed by endless repetitions of the name from near and far: "Oliver! +Oliver!" + +Oliver! His own lips seemed to re-echo the word. Then like a lion baited +beyond his patience the judge lifted his head and faced them all with a +fiery intensity which for the moment made him a terrible figure to +contemplate. + +"Let no one utter that name to me here!" shot from his lips in tones of +unspeakable menace and power. "Spare me that name, or the curse of my +ruined life be upon you. I can bear no more to-day." + +Thrilled by his aspect, cowering under his denunciation, emphasised as +it was by a terrifying gesture, the people, pressing closest about him, +drew back and left the passage open to the gate. He took it with a +bound, and would have entered but that from the outskirts of the crowd +where his voice had not reached, the cry arose again of "Oliver! Oliver! +The sons of the rich go free, but ours have to hang!" + +At which he turned his head about, gave them one stare and fell back +against the door. It yielded and a woman's arms received him. The gentle +Reuther in that hour of dire extremity, showed herself stronger than her +mother who had fallen in a faint amid the crowd. + + + + +XXIII + +THE MISFORTUNES OF MY HOUSE + + +To one who swoons but seldom, the moment of returning consciousness is +often fraught with great pain and sometimes with unimaginable horror. It +was such to Deborah; the pain and horror holding her till her eyes, +accustomed to realities again, saw in the angel face which floated +before her vision amid a swarm of demon masks, the sweet and solicitous +countenance of Reuther. + +As she took this in, she took in other facts also: that there were no +demons, no strangers even about her: That she and her child were +comparatively alone in their own little parlour, and that Reuther's +sweet face wore a look of lofty courage which reminded her of something +she could not at the moment grasp, but which was so beautiful. At that +instant her full memory came, and, uttering a low cry, she started up, +and struggling to her feet, confronted her child, this time with a look +full of agonised inquiry. + +Reuther seemed to understand her; for, taking her mother's hand in hers, +she softly said: + +"I knew you were not seriously ill, only frightened by the crowd and +their senseless shoutings. Don't think of it any more, dear mother. The +people are dispersing now, and you will soon be quite restored and ready +to smile with us at an attack so groundless it is little short of +absurd." + +Astounded at such tranquillity where she had expected anguish if not +stark unreason, doubting her eyes, her ears--for this was no longer her +delicate, suffering Reuther to be shielded from all unhappy knowledge, +but a woman as strong if not as wise to the situation as herself--she +scrutinised the child closely, then turned her gaze slowly about the +room, and started in painful surprise, as she perceived standing in the +space behind her the tall figure of Judge Ostrander. + +He! and she must face him! the man whom she by her blind and untimely +efforts to regain happiness for Reuther, had brought to this woful pass! +The ordeal was too bitter for her broken spirit and, shrinking aside, +she covered her face with her hands like one who stands detected in a +guilty act. + +"Pardon," she entreated, forgetting Reuther's presence in her +consciousness of the misery she had brought upon her benefactor. "I +never meant--I never dreamed--" + +"Oh, no apologies!" Was this the judge speaking? The tone was an +admonitory, not a suffering one. It was not even that of a man +humiliated or distressed. "You have had an unfortunate experience, but +that is over now and so must your distress be." Then, as in her +astonishment she dropped her hands and looked up, he added very quietly, +"Your daughter has been much disturbed about you, but not at all about +Oliver or his good name. She knows my son too well, and so do you and I, +to be long affected by the virulent outcries of a mob seeking for an +object upon which to expend their spleen." + +Swaying yet in body and mind, quite unable in the turmoil of her spirits +to reconcile this strong and steady man with the crushed and despairing +figure she had so lately beheld shrinking under the insults of the +crowd, Deborah was glad to sit silent under this open rebuke and listen +to Reuther's ingenuous declarations, though she knew that they brought +no conviction and distilled no real comfort either to his mind or hers. + +"Yes, mother darling," the young girl was saying. "These people have not +seen Oliver in years, but we have, and nothing they can say, nothing +that any one can say but himself could ever shake my belief in him as a +man incapable of a really wicked act. He might be capable of striking a +sudden blow--most men are under great provocation--but to conceal such a +fact,--to live for years enjoying the respect of all who knew him, with +the knowledge festering in his heart of another having suffered for his +crime--that, THAT would be impossible to Oliver Ostrander." + +Some words ring in the heart long after their echo has left the ear. +IMPOSSIBLE! Deborah stole a look at the judge. But he was gazing at +Reuther, where he well might gaze, if his sinking heart craved support +or his abashed mind sought to lose itself in the enthusiasm of this pure +soul, with its loving, uncalculating instincts. + +"Am I not right, mother?" + +Ah! must she answer that? + +"Tell the judge who is as confident of Oliver as I am myself that you +are confident, too. That you could no more believe him capable of this +abominable act than you could believe it of my father." + +"I will--tell--the judge," stammered the unhappy mother. "Judge," she +briefly declared, as she rose with the help of her daughter's arm, "my +mind agrees with yours in this matter. What you think, I think." And +that was all she could say. + +As she fell again into her seat, the judge turned to Reuther: + +"Leave your mother for a little while," he urged with that rare +gentleness he always showed her. "Let her rest here a few minutes +longer, alone with me." + +"Yes, Reuther," murmured Deborah, seeing no way of avoiding this +inevitable interview. "I am feeling better every minute. I will come +soon." + +The young girl's eye faltered from one to the other, then settled, with +a strange and imploring look upon her mother. Had her clear intelligence +pierced at last to the core of that mother's misery? Had she seen what +Deborah would have spared her at the cost of her own life? It would seem +so, for when the mother, with great effort, began some conciliatory +speech, the young girl smiled with a certain sad patience, and, turning +towards Judge Ostrander, said as she softly withdrew: + +"You have been very kind to allow me to mention a name and discuss a +subject you have expressly forbidden. I want to show my gratitude, Judge +Ostrander, by never referring to it again without your permission. That +you know my mind,"--here her head rose with a sort of lofty pride which +lent a dazzling quality to her usually quiet beauty,--"and that I know +yours, is quite enough for me." + +"A noble girl! a mate for the best!" fell from the judge's lips after a +silence disturbed only by the faint, far-off murmur of a slowly +dispersing throng. + +Deborah made no answer. She could not yet trust her courage or her +voice. + +The judge, who was standing near, concentrated his look upon her +features. Still she made no effort to meet his eye. He did not speak, +and the silence grew appalling. To break it, he stepped away and took a +glance out of the window. There was nothing to be seen there; the fence +hid all, but he continued to look, the shadows from his soul settling +deeper and deeper upon his countenance as each heavy moment dragged by. +When he finally turned, it was with a powerful effort which communicated +itself to her and forced her long-bowed head to rise and her troubled +mind to disclose itself. + +"You wish to express your displeasure, and hesitate on account of +Reuther," she faltered. "You need not. We are quite prepared to leave +your house if our presence reminds you too much of the calamity I have +brought upon you by my inconsiderate revival of a past you had every +reason to believe buried." + +His reply was uttered with great courtesy. + +"Madam," said he, "I have never had a thought from the first moment of +your coming, of any change in the arrangements we then entered into; nor +is the demonstration we have just witnessed a calamity of sufficient +importance to again divide this household. To connect my high-minded son +with a crime for which he had no motive and from which he could reap no +benefit is, if you will pardon my plain speaking at a moment so +critical, even greater folly than to exculpate, after all these years, +the man whom a conscientious jury found guilty. Only a mob could so +indulge itself; individuals will not dare." + +She thought of the letter which had been passed up to him in court, and +surveyed him with an astonishment she made no effort to conceal. Never +had she felt at a greater disadvantage with him. Never had she +understood him less. Was this attempt at unconcern, so pitiably +transparent to her, made in an endeavour to probe her mind or to deceive +his own? In her anxiety to determine, she hesitatingly remarked: + +"Not the man who writes those anonymous letters?" + +"Letters?" Involuntarily his hand flew to one of his inner pockets. + +"Yes, you have found them, have you not, lying about the grounds?" + +"No." He looked startled. "Explain yourself," said he. "What letters? +Not such as--" Again his hand went to his pocket, but shrunk hastily +back as she pulled out a crumpled bit of paper and began to smooth it +out for his perusal. + +"What have you there?" he cried. + +"Such a letter as I speak of, Judge Ostrander. I picked it up from the +walk a day or so ago. Perhaps you have come upon the like?" + +"No; why should I?" + +He had started back, but his eye falling involuntarily upon the words +she had spread out before him, he rapidly read them, and aghast at their +import, glanced from the paper to her face and back again, crying: + +"He means Oliver! We have an enemy, Mrs. Scoville, an enemy! Do you +know"--here he leaned forward, and plunged his eye, now burning with +many passions, into hers--"who this enemy is?" + +"Yes." Softly as the word came, it seemed to infuriate him. Seizing her +by the arm, he was about to launch against her the whole weight of his +aroused nature, when she said simply: "He is a common bill-poster. I +took pains to find this out. I was as interested as you could be to +discover the author of such an outrage." + +"A bill-poster?" + +"Yes, Judge Ostrander." + +"What is his name?" + +"I do not know. I only know that he is resolved upon making you trouble. +It was he who incited this riot. He did it by circulating anonymous +missives and by--forgive me for telling you this--affixing scrawls of +the same ambiguous character on fences and on walls, and even on--on--" +(Here terror tied her tongue, for his hand had closed about her arm in a +forceful grip, and the fire in the eye holding hers was a consuming one) +"the rails--of--of BRIDGES." + +"Ah!" + +The cry was involuntary, but not so the steady settling of the lips +which followed it and the determined poise of his body as he waited for +her next word. + +"Miss Weeks, the little lady opposite, saw the latter and tore it off. +But the mischief had already spread. Oh, strike me! Send me from your +house!" + +He gave no token of hearing her. + +"Why is this man my enemy?" he asked. "I do not know any such person as +you describe." + +"Nor I," she answered more quietly. + +"A bill-poster! Well, he has done his worst. I shall think no more about +him." And the burning eye grew mild and the working lip calm again, with +a determination too devoid of sarcasm to be false. + +It was a change for which Deborah was in no wise prepared. She showed +her amazement as ingenuously as a child, and he, observing it, remarked +in a different tone from any he had used yet: + +"You do not look well. You are still suffering from the distress and +confusion into which this wretched swoon has thrown you. Or can it be +that you are not yet convinced of our wisdom in ignoring this diabolic +attack upon one whose reputation is as dear to us as our own? If that is +so, and I see that it is, let me remind you of a fact which cannot be +new to you if it is to others of happier memories, that no accusation of +this kind, however plausible--and this is not plausible--can hold its +own for a day without evidence to back it. And there is no evidence +against my son in this ancient matter of my friend Etheridge's violent +death, save the one coincidence known to many, that he chanced to be +somewhere in the ravine at that accursed hour. A petty point upon which +to hang this late and elaborate insult of suspicion!" And his voice rang +out in a laugh, but not as it would have rung, or as Deborah thought it +would have rung, had his mind been as free as his words. + +When it had quite ceased, Deborah threw off the last remnant of physical +as well as moral weakness, and deliberately rose to her feet. She +believed she understood him now; and she respected the effort he was +making, and would have seconded it gladly had she dared. + +But she did not dare. If he were really as ignorant as he appeared of +the extent of the peril threatening Oliver's good name; if he had +cheated himself during these long years into supposing that the secret +which had undermined his own happiness was an unshared one, and that his +own conduct since that hour he had characterised as accursed, had given +no point to the charges they had just heard hurled against his son, then +he ought to be undeceived and that right speedily. Evidence did exist +connecting Oliver with this crime; evidence as sure, nay, yet surer, +than that raised against her husband; and no man's laughter, no, not +even his father's--least of all his father's--could cover up the fact or +avail against the revelations which must follow, now that the scent was +on. Honouring as she did the man before her, understanding both his +misery and the courage he displayed in this superhuman effort to hide +his own convictions, she gathered up all her resources, and with a +resolution no less brave than his, said firmly: + +"You are too much respected in this town, Judge Ostrander, for any +collection of people, however thoughtless or vile, to so follow the lead +of a low-down miscreant as to greet you to your face with these damaging +assertions, unless they THOUGHT they had evidence, and good evidence, +too, with which to back these assertions." + +It was the hurling of an arrow poisoned at the point; the launching of a +bomb into the very citadel of his security. Had he burst into +outbreak--gripped her again or fiercely shown her the door, she would +not have been astonished. Indeed, she was prepared for some such result, +but it did not come. On the contrary, his answer was almost mild, though +tinged for the first time with a touch of that biting sarcasm for which +he had once been famous. + +"If they had not THOUGHT!" he repeated. "If you had said if they had not +KNOWN, then I might indeed have smelt danger. People THINK strange +things. Perhaps YOU think them, too." + +"I?" The moment was critical. She saw now that he was sounding her,--had +been sounding her from the first. Should she let everything go and let +him know her mind, or should she continue to conceal it? In either +course lay danger, if not to herself and Reuther, then to himself and +Oliver. She decided for the truth. Subterfuge had had its day. The +menace of the future called for the strongest weapons which lie at the +hand of man. She, therefore, answered: + +"Yes; I have been thinking, and this is the result: You must either +explain publicly and quite satisfactorily to the people of this town, +the mystery of your long separation from Oliver and the life you have +since led in this trebly barred house, or accept the opprobrium of such +accusations as we have listened to to-day. There is no middle course, +Judge Ostrander. I who have loved Oliver almost like a son;--who have a +daughter who not only loves him but regards him as a perfect model of +noble manhood, tell you so, though it breaks my heart to do it. I cannot +see you both fall headlong to destruction for lack of understanding the +nearness or the depth of the precipice you are approaching." + +"So!" + +The ejaculation came after a moment of intense silence--a silence during +which she seemed to discern the sturdiness of years drop slowly away +from him. + +"So that is the explanation which people give to my desire for +retirement and a life of contemplation. Well," he slowly added, with the +halting utterance of one to whom each word is an effort, "I can see some +justification for their conclusions now. I have been too self-centred, +and too short-sighted to recognise my own folly. I might have known that +anything out of the common course rouses a curiosity which supplies its +own explanation at any cost to propriety or respect. I have courted my +own doom. I am the victim of my own mistake. But," he continued, with a +flash of his old fire which made him a dignified figure again, "I'm not +going to cringe because I have lost ground in the first skirmish. I come +of fighting blood. Oliver's reputation shall not suffer long, whatever I +may have done in my parental confidence to endanger it. I have not spent +ten years at the bar, and fifteen on the bench for nothing. Let the +people look to it! I will stand by my own." + +He had as completely forgotten her as if she had never existed. John +Scoville, his widow, even the child bowed under troubles not unlike his +own, had faded alike from his consciousness. But the generous Deborah +felt no resentment at the determination which would only press her and +hers deeper into contumely. She had seen the father in the man for the +first time, and her whole heart went out in passionate sympathy which +blinded her to everything but her present duty. Alas, that it should be +so hard a one! Alas, that instead of encouraging him, she must point out +the one weakness of his cause which he did not or would not see, that +is, his own conviction of his absent son's guilt as typified by the line +he had deliberately smeared across Oliver's pictured countenance. The +task seemed so difficult, the first steps so blind, that she did not +know how to begin and stood staring at him with interest and dread +struggling for mastery in her heavily labouring breast. + +Did he perceive this or was it the silence which drew his attention to +her condition and the evils still threatening him? Whichever it was, the +light vanished from his face as he surveyed her and it was with a return +of his old manner, that he finally observed: + +"You are keeping something from me--some fancied discovery--some clew, +as they call it, to what you may consider my dear boy's guilt." + +With a deep breath she woke from her trance of indecision and letting +forth the full passion of her nature, she cried out in her anguish: + +"I have but one answer for that, Judge Ostrander. Look into your own +heart! Question your own conscience. I have seen what reveals it. I--" + +She stopped appalled. Rage, such as she had never even divined spoke +from every feature. He was no longer the wretched but calmly reasoning +man, but a creature hardly human, and when he spoke, it was in a frenzy +which swept everything before it. + +"You have SEEN!" he shouted. "You have broken your promise! You have +touched what you were forbidden to touch! You have--" + +"Not so," she broke in softly but very firmly. "I have touched nothing +that I was told not to, nor have I broken any promise. I simply saw more +than I was expected to, I suppose, of the picture which fell the day you +first allowed me to enter your study." + +"Is that true?" + +"It is true." + +They were whispering now. + +Drawing a deep breath, he gathered up his faculties. "Upon such +accidents," he muttered, "hang the fate and honour of men. And you have +gossiped about this picture," he again vociferated with sudden and +unrestrained violence, "told Reuther--told others--" + +"No." The denial was peremptory,--not to be disbelieved. "What I have +learned, I have kept religiously to myself. Alas!" she half moaned, half +cried, "that I should feel the necessity!" + +"Madam!"--he was searching her eyes, searching her very soul, as men +seldom search the mind of another. "You believe in the truth of these +calumnies that have just been shouted in our ears. You believe what they +say of Oliver. You with every prejudice in his favour; with every desire +to recognise his worth! You, who have shown yourself ready to drop your +husband's cause though you consider it an honest one, when you saw what +havoc it would entail to my boy's repute. YOU believe--and on what +evidence?" he broke in. "Because of the picture?" + +"Yes." + +"And the coincidence of his presence in the ravine?" + +"Yes." + +"But these are puerile reasons." He was speaking peremptorily now and +with all the weight of a master mind. "And you are not the woman to be +satisfied with anything puerile. There is something back of all this; +something you have not imparted. What is that something? Tell--tell--" + +"Oliver was a mere boy in those days and a very passionate one. He hated +Etheridge--the obtrusive mentor who came between him and yourself." + +"Hated?" + +"Yes." + +"HATED?" + +"Yes, there is proof." + +"Of his hate?" + +"Yes, judge." + +He did not ask where. Possibly he knew. And because he did not ask, she +did not tell him, holding on to her secret in a vague hope that so much +at least might never see light. + +"I knew the boy shrank sometimes from Algernon's company," the judge +admitted, after another glance at her face; "but that means nothing in a +boy full of his own affairs. What else have you against him? Speak up! I +can bear it all." + +"He handled the stick that--that-" + +"Oliver?" + +"Yes." + +"Never! Now you have gone mad, madam." + +"I would be willing to end my days in an asylum if that would disprove +this fact." + +"But, madam, what proof--what reason can you have for an assertion so +monstrous?" + +"You remember the shadow I saw which was not that of John Scoville? The +person who made that shadow was whittling a stick; that was a trick of +Oliver's. I have heard that he even whittled furniture." + +"Good God!" The judge's panoply was pierced at last. + +"They tried to prove, as you will remember, that it was John who thus +disfigured the bludgeon he always carried with pride. But the argument +was a sorry one and in itself would have broken down the prosecution had +he been a man of better repute. Now, those few chips taken from the +handle of this weapon will carry a different significance. For in my +folly I asked to see this stick which still exists at Police +Headquarters, and there in the wood I detected and pointed out a trifle +of steel which never came from the unbroken blades of the knife taken +from John's pocket." + +Fallen was the proud head now and fallen the great man's aspect. If he +spoke it was to utter a low "Oliver! Oliver!" + +The pathos of it--the heart-rending wonder in the tone brought the tears +to Deborah's eyes and made her last words very difficult. + +"But the one great thing which gives to these facts their really +dangerous point is the mystery you have made of your life and of this +so-called hermitage. If you can clear up that, you can afford to ignore +the rest." + +"The misfortunes of my house!" was his sole response. "The misfortunes +of my house!" + + + + +XXIV + +ONE SECRET LESS + + +Suddenly he faced Deborah again. The crisis of feeling had passed, and +he looked almost cold. + +"You have had advisers," said he. "Who are they?" + +"I have talked with Mr. Black." + +The judge's brows met. + +"Well, you were wise," said he. Then shortly, "What is his attitude?" + +Feeling that her position was fast becoming intolerable she falteringly +replied, "Friendly to you and Oliver but, even without all the reasons +which move me, sharing my convictions." + +"He has told you so?" + +"Not directly; but there was no misjudging his opinion of the necessity +you were under to explain, the mysteries of your life. AND IT WAS +YESTERDAY WE TALKED; NOT TO-DAY." + +Like words thrown into a void, these slow, lingering, half-uttered +phrases seemed to awaken an echo which rung not only in his inmost +being, but in hers. Not till in both natures silence had settled again +(the silence of despair, not peace), did he speak. When he did, it was +simply to breathe her name. + +"Deborah?" + +Startled, for it had always before been Madam, she looked up to find him +standing very near her and with his hand held out. + +"I am going through deep waters," said he. "Am I to have your support?" + +"O, Judge Ostrander, how can you doubt it?" she cried, dropping her hand +into his, and her eyes swimming with tears. "But what can I do? If I +remain here I will be questioned. If I fly--but, possibly, that is what +you want;--for me to go--to disappear--to take Reuther and sink out of +all men's sight forever. If this is your wish, I am ready to do it. +Gladly will we be gone--now--at once--this very night if you say so." + +His disclaimer was peremptory. + +"No; not that. I ask no such sacrifice. Neither would it avail. There is +but one thing which can reinstate Oliver and myself in the confidence +and regard of these people. Cannot you guess it, madam? I mean your own +restored conviction that the sentence passed upon John Scoville was a +just one. Once satisfied of this, your temperament is such that you +would be our advocate whether you wished it or no. Your very silence +would be eloquent." + +"Convince me; I am willing to have you, Judge Ostrander. But how can you +do so? A shadow stands between my wishes and the belief you mention. The +shadow cast by Oliver as he made his way towards the bridge, with my +husband's bludgeon in his hand." + +"Did you see him strike the blow? Were there any opportune shadows to +betray what happened between the instant of--let us say Oliver's +approach and the fall of my friend? Much can happen in a minute, and +this matter is one of minutes. Granted that the shadow you saw was that +of Oliver, and the stick he carried was the one under which Algernon +succumbed, what is to hinder the following from, having occurred. The +stick which Oliver may have caught up in an absent frame of mind becomes +burdensome; he has broken his knife against a knot in the handle and he +is provoked. Flinging the bludgeon down, he hurries up the embankment +and so on into town. John Scoville, lurking in the bushes, sees his +stick fall and regains it at or near the time Algernon Etheridge steps +into sight at the end of the bridge beyond Dark Hollow. Etheridge +carries a watch greatly desired by the man who finds himself thus armed. +The place is quiet; the impulse to possess himself of this watch is +sudden and irresistible, and the stick falls on Etheridge's head. Is +there anything impossible or even improbable about all this? Scoville +had a heart open to crime, Oliver not. This I knew when I sat upon the +bench at his trial; and now you shall know it too. Come! I have +something to show you." + +He turned towards the door and mechanically she followed. Her thoughts +were all in a whirl. She did not know what to make of him or of herself. +The rooted dread of weeks was stirring in its soil. This suggestion of +the transference of the stick from hand to hand was not impossible. Only +Scoville had sworn to her, and that, too, upon their child's head, that +he had not struck this blow. And she had believed him after finding the +cap; AND SHE BELIEVED HIM NOW. Yes, against her will, she believed him +now. Why? and again, why? + +They had crossed the hall and he was taking the turn to his room. + +"Enter," said he, lifting the curtain. + +Involuntarily she recoiled. Not from him, but from the revelation she +felt to be awaiting her in this place of unguessed mystery. Looking back +into the space behind her, she caught a fleeting glimpse of Reuther +hovering on a distant threshold. Leaving the judge, without even a +murmured word of apology, she ran to the child, embraced her, and +promised to join her soon; and then, satisfied with the comfort thus +gained, she returned quickly to where the judge still awaited her, with +his hand on the curtain. + +"Forgive me," said she; and meeting with no reply, stood trembling while +he unlocked the door and ushered her in. + +A new leaf in the history of this old crime was about to be turned. + + * * * * * + +Once within the room, he became his courteous self once more. "Be +seated," he begged, indicating a chair in the half gloom. As she took +it, the room sprang into sudden light. He had pulled the string which +regulated the curtains over the glazed panes in the ceiling. Then as +quickly all was gloom again; he had let the string escape from his hand. + +"Half light is better," he muttered in vague apology. + +It was a weird beginning to an interview whose object was as yet +incomprehensible to her. One minute a blinding glimpse of the room whose +details were so varied that many of them still remained unknown to +her,--the next, everything swept again into shadow through which the +tall form of the genius of the place loomed with melancholy suggestion! + +She was relieved when he spoke. + +"Mrs. Scoville (not Deborah now) have you any confidence in Oliver's +word?" + +She did not reply at once. Too much depended upon a simple yes or no. +Her first instinctive cry would have been YES, but if Oliver had been +guilty and yet held back his dreadful secret all these years, how could +she believe his word, when his whole life had been a lie? + +"Has there ever been anything in his conversation as you knew it in +Detroit to make you hesitate to reply?" the judge persisted, as she +continued speechless. + +"No; nothing. I had every confidence in his assertions. I should have +yet, if it were not for this horror." + +"Forget it for a moment. Recall his effect upon you as a man, a +prospective son-in-law,--for you meant him to marry Reuther." + +"I trusted him. I would trust him in many ways yet." + +"Would you trust him enough to believe that he would tell you the truth +if you asked him point-blank whether his hands were clean of crime?" + +"Yes." The word came in a whisper; but there was no wavering in it. She +had felt the conviction dart like an arrow through her mind that Oliver +might slay a man in his hate,--might even conceal his guilt for +years--but that he could not lie about it when brought face to face with +an accuser like herself. + +"Then I will let you read something he wrote at my request these many +years ago: An experience--the tale of one awful night, the horrors of +which, locked within his mind and mine, have never been revealed to a +third person. That you should share our secret now, is not only +necessary but fitting. It becomes the widow of John Scoville to know +what sort of a man she persists in regarding innocent. Wait here for +me." + +With a quick step he wound his way among the various encumbering pieces +of furniture, to the door opening into his bedroom. A breathless moment +ensued, during which she heard his key turn in the lock, followed by the +repeating sound of his footsteps, as he wended his way inside to a point +she could only guess at from her knowledge of the room, to be a dresser +in one of the corners. Here he lingered so long that, without any +conscious volition of her own,--almost in spite of her volition which +would have kept her where she was,--she found herself on her feet, then +moving step by step, more cautiously than he, in and out of huddling +chairs and cluttering tables till she came to a stand-still before the +reflection (in some mirror, no doubt) of the judge's tall form, bending +not over the dresser, as she had supposed, but before a cupboard in the +wall--a cupboard she had never seen, in a wall she had never seen, but +now recognised for the one hitherto concealed by the great carpet rug. +He had a roll of paper in his hand, which he bundled together as he +dropped the curtain back into place and then stopped to smooth it out +over the floor with the precision of long habit. All this she saw in the +mirror as though she had been at his back in the other room; but when +she beheld him turn, then panic seized her and she started breathlessly +for the spot where he had left her, glad that there was so little light, +and praying that he might be deaf to her steps, which, gently as they +fell, sounded portentously loud in her own ears. + +She had reached her chair, but she had not had time to re-seat herself +when she beheld him approaching with the bundle of loose sheets clutched +in his hand. + +"I want you to sit here and read," said he, laying the manuscript down +on a small table near the wall under a gas-jet which he immediately +lighted. "I am going back to my own desk. If you want to speak, you may; +I shall not be working." And she heard his footsteps retreating again in +and out among the furniture till he reached his own chair and sat before +his own table. + +This ended all sound in the room excepting the beating of her own heart, +which had become tumultuous. + +How could she sit there and read words, with the blood pounding in her +veins and her eyes half blind with terror and excitement? It was only +the necessity of the case which made it possible. She knew that she +would never be released from that spot until she had read what had been +placed before her. Thank God! the manuscript was legible. Oliver's +handwriting possessed the clearness of print. She had begun to read +before she knew it, and having begun, she never paused till she reached +the end. + + * * * * * + +I was fifteen. It was my birthday and I had my own ideas of how I wanted +to spend it. My hobby was modelling. My father had no sympathy with this +hobby. To him it was a waste of time better spent in study or such +sports as would fit me for study. But he had never absolutely forbidden +me to exercise my talent this way, and when on the day I mention I had a +few hours of freedom, I decided to begin a piece of work of which I had +long dreamed. This was the remodelling in clay of an exquisite statue +which had greatly aroused my admiration. + +This statue stood in a forbidden place. It was one of the art treasures +of the great house on the bluff commonly called Spencer's Folly. I had +seen this marble once, when dining there with father, and was so +impressed by its beauty, that it haunted me night and day, standing out +white and wonderful in my imagination, against backgrounds of endless +variation. To copy its lovely lines, to caress with a creative hand +those curves of beauty instinct, as I then felt, with soul, became my +one overmastering desire,--a desire which soon deepened into purpose. +The boy of fifteen would attempt the impossible. I procured my clay and +then awaited my opportunity. It came, as I have said, on my birthday. + +There was no one living in the house at this time. Mr. Spencer had gone +West for the winter. The servants had been dismissed, and the place +closed. Only that morning I had heard one of his boon companions say, +"Oh, Jack's done for. He's found a pretty widow in the Sierras, and +there's no knowing now when we'll drink his health again in Spencer's +Folly:" a statement which wakened but one picture in my mind and that +was a long stretch of empty rooms teeming with art treasures amid which +one gem rose supreme--the gem which through his reckless carelessness, I +now proposed to make my own, if loving fingers and the responsive clay +would allow it. + +What to every other person in town would have seemed an insuperable +obstacle to this undertaking, was no obstacle to me. _I_ KNEW HOW TO GET +IN. One day in my restless wanderings about a place which had something +of the nature of a shrine to me, I had noticed that one of the windows +(a swinging one) overlooking the ravine, moved as the wind took it. +Either the lock had given way or it had not been properly fastened. If I +could only bring myself to disregard the narrowness of the ledge +separating the house from the precipice beneath, I felt that I could +reach this window and sever the vines sufficiently for my body to press +in; and this I did that night, finding, just as I had expected, that +once a little force was brought to bear upon the sash, it yielded +easily, offering a free passage to the delights within. + +In all this I experienced little fear, but once inside, I began to +realise the hazard of my adventure, as hanging at full length from the +casement, I meditated on the drop I must take into what to my dazed eyes +looked like an absolute void. This taxed my courage; but after a moment +of sheer fright, I let myself go--I had to--and immediately found myself +standing upright in a space so narrow I could touch the walls on either +side. It was a closet I had entered, opening, as I soon discovered, into +the huge dining-hall where I had once sat beside my father at the one +formal meal of my life. + +I remembered that room; it had made a great impression upon me, and some +light finding its way through the panes of uncurtained glass which +topped each of the three windows overlooking the ravine, I soon was able +to find the door leading into the drawing-room. + +I had brought a small lantern in the bag slung to my shoulders, but I +had not hitherto dared to use it on account of the transparency of the +panes I have mentioned; but once in the perfectly dark recesses of the +room beyond, I drew it out, and without the least fear of detection +boldly turned it upon the small alcove where stood the object of my +adoration. + +It was another instance of the reckless confidence of youth. I was on +the verge of one of the most appalling adventures which could befall a +man, and yet no premonition disturbed the ecstasy with which I knelt +before the glimmering marble and unrolled my bundle of wet clay. + +I was not a complete fool. I only meant to attempt a miniature copy, but +my presumption led me to expect it to be like--yes, like--oh, I never +doubted it! + +But when, after a few minutes of rapturous contemplation of the +proportions which have been the despair of all lesser adepts than the +great sculptor who conceived them, I began my work, oh, then I began to +realise a little the nature of the task I had undertaken and to ask +myself whether if I stayed all night I could finish it to my mind. It +was during one of these moments of hesitation that I heard the first +growl of distant thunder. But it made little impression upon me, and I +returned to my work with renewed glow,--renewed hope. I felt so secure +in my shell of darkness, with only the one small beam lighting up my +model and my own fingers busy with the yielding clay. + +But the thunder growled again and my head rose, this time in real alarm. +Not because of that far-off struggle of the elements with which I had +nothing to do and hardly sensed, but because of a nearer sound, an +indistinguishable yet strangely perturbing sound, suggesting a step--no, +it was a voice, or if not a voice, some equally sure token of an +approaching presence on the porch in front. Some one going by on the +road two hundred feet away must have caught the gleam of my lantern +through some unperceived crack in the parlour shutters. In another +minute I should hear a shout at the window, or, perhaps, the pounding of +a heavy hand on the front door. I hated the interruption, but otherwise +I was but little disturbed. Whoever it was, he could not by any chance +find his way in. Nevertheless, I discreetly closed the shutter of my +lantern and began groping my way back to my own place of exit. I had +reached the dining-room door, when the blood suddenly stopped in my +veins. Another sound had reached my ear; an unmistakable one this +time--the rattling of a key in its lock. A man--two men were entering by +the great front door. They came in on a swoop of wind which seemed to +carry everything before it. I heard a loud laugh, coarsened by drink, +and the tipsy exclamation of a voice I knew: + +"There! shut the door, can't you, before it's blown from its hinges? +You'll find everything jolly here. Wine, lights, solitude in which to +finish our game and a roaring good opportunity to sleep afterwards. No +servants, no porters, not a soul to disturb us. This is my house and +it's a corker. I might be away for a year and"--here there was the +crackling of a match--"I've only to use my night-key to find everything +a man wants right to my hand." + +The answer I failed to catch. I was simply paralysed by terror. Should +their way lay through the drawing-room! My clay, my tools were all lying +there, and my unfinished model. Mr. Spencer was not an unkind man, but +he was very drunk, and I had heard that whisky makes a brute of the most +good-natured. He would trample on my work; perhaps he would destroy my +tools and then hunt the house till he found me. I did not know what to +expect; meantime, lights began to flame up; the room where I stood was +no longer a safe refuge, and creeping like a cat, I began to move +towards the closet door. Suddenly I made a dart for it; the two men, +trampling heavily on the marble floor of the hall were coming my way. I +could hear their rude talk--rude to me, though one of them called +himself a gentleman. As the door of the room opened to admit them, I +succeeded in shutting that of the closet into which I had flung +myself,--or almost so. I did not dare to latch it, for they were already +in the room and might hear me. + +"This is the spot for us," came in Spencer's most jovial tones. "Big +table, whisky handy, cards right here in my pocket. Wait, till I strike +a light!" + +But the lightning anticipated him. As he spoke, the walls which +surrounded me, the walls which surrounded them, leapt into glaring view +and I heard the second voice cry out: + +"I don't like that! Let's wait till the storm is over. I can't play with +such candles as those flaring about us." + +"Damn it! you won't know what candles you are playing by when once you +see the pile I've got ready for you. I'm in for a big bout. You have ten +dollars and I have a thousand. I'll play you for that ten. If, in the +meantime, you get my thousand, why, it'll be because you're the better +man." + +"I don't like it, I say. There, SEE!" + +A flood of white light had engulfed the house. My closet, with its +whitewashed walls flared about me like the mouth of a furnace. + +"See, yourself!" came the careless retort, and with the words a gas-jet +shot up, then two, then all that the room contained. "How's that? What's +a flash more or less now!" + +I heard no answer, only the slap of the cards as they were flung onto +the table; then the clatter of a key as it was turned in some distant +lock and the quick question: + +"Rum, or whisky. Irish or Scotch?" + +"Whisky and Irish." + +"Good! but you'll drink it alone." + +The bottles were brought forward and they sat down one on each side of +the dusty mahogany table. The man facing me was Spencer, the other sat +with his back my way, but I could now and then catch a glimpse of his +profile as he started at some flash or lifted his head in terror of the +thunder-claps. + +"We'll play till the hands point to three," announced Spencer, taking +out his watch and laying it down where both could see it. "Do you agree +to that?--Unless I win and your funds go a-begging before the hour." + +"I agree." The tone was harsh; it was almost smothered. The man was +staring at the watch; there was a strange set look to his figure; a +pausing as of thought--of sinister thought, I should now say; then I +never stopped to characterise it; it was followed too quickly by a loud +laugh and a sudden grab at the cards. + +"You'll win! I feel it in my bones," came in encouraging tones from the +rich man. "If you do"--here the storm lulled and his voice sank to an +encouraging whisper--"you can buy the old tavern up the road. It's going +for a song; and then we'll be neighbours and can play--play--" + +Thunder!--a terrific peal. It shook the house; it shook my boyish heart, +but it no longer had power to move the two gamesters. The fever of play +had reached its height, and I heard nothing more from their lips, but +such phrases as belong to the game. Why didn't I take advantage of their +absorption to fly? The sill above my head was within easy reach, the +sash was open and no sound that I could make would reach them in this +hurly-burly of storm. Why then, with all this invitation to escape, did +I remain crouched in my dark retreat with eyes fixed on the narrow crack +before me which, under some impulse of movement in the walls about, had +widened sufficiently for me to see all that I have related? I do not +know, unless I was hypnotised by the glare of expression on those men's +faces. + +I remember that it was my first glimpse of the human countenance under +the sway of wicked and absorbing passions. Hitherto my dreams had all +been of beauty--of lovely shapes or noble figures cast in heroic mould. +Henceforth, these ideal groups must visit my imagination mixed with the +bulging eyes of greed and the contortions of hate masking their +hideousness under false smiles or hiding them behind the motions of +riotous jollity. I was horrified, I was sickened, and I was frightened +to the very soul, but the fascination of the spectacle held me; I +watched the men and I watched the play and soon I forgot the tempest +also, or remembered it only when my small retreat flared into sudden +whiteness, or some gust, heavier than the rest, toppled the bricks from +the chimneys above us and sent them crashing down upon the rain-soaked +roof. + +The stranger was winning. I saw the heap of bills beside him grow and +grow while that of his opponent dwindled. I saw the latter smile--smile +softly at each toss of his losings across the board; but there was no +mirth in his smile, nor was there any common satisfaction in the way the +other's hand closed over his gains. + +"He will have it all," I thought. "The Claymore Tavern will soon change +owners;" and I was holding my breath over the final stake when suddenly +the house gave a lurch, resettled, then lurched again. The tempest had +become a hurricane, and with its first swoop a change took place in the +stranger's luck. + +The bills which had all gone one way began slowly to recross the board, +first singly, then in handfuls. They fell within Spencer's grasp, and +the smile with which he hailed their return was not the smile with which +he had seen them go, but a steady grin such as I had beheld on the faces +of sculptured demons. It frightened me, this smile. I could see nothing +else; but, when at another crashing peal I ducked my head, I found on +lifting it that my eyes sought instinctively the rigid back of the +stranger instead of the open face of Spencer. The passion of the winner +was nothing to that of the loser; and from this moment on, I saw but the +one figure, and thrilled to the one hope--that an opportunity would soon +come for me to see the face of the man whose back told such a tale of +fury and suspense. + +But it remained fixed on Spencer, and the cards. The roof might fall--he +was past heeding. A bill or two only lay now at his elbow, and I could +perceive the further stiffening of his already rigid muscles as he dealt +out the cards. Suddenly hard upon a rattling peal which seemed to unite +heaven and earth, I heard shouted out: + +"Half-past two! The game stops at three." + +"Damn your greedy eyes!" came back in a growl. Then all was still, +fearfully still, both in the atmosphere outside and in that within, +during which I caught sight of the stranger's hand moving slowly around +to his back and returning as slowly forward, all under cover of the +table-top and a stack of half-empty bottles. + +I was inexperienced. I knew nothing of the habits or the ways of such +men as these, but the alarm of innocence in the face of untold, +unsuspected but intuitively felt evil, seized me at this stealthy +movement, and I tried to rise,--tried to shriek,--but could not; for +events rushed upon us quicker than I could speak or move. + +"I can buy the Claymore Tavern, can I? Well, I'm going to," rang out +into the air as the speaker leaped to his feet. "Take that, you cheat! +And that! And that!" And the shots rang out--one, two, three! + +Spencer was dead in his Folly. I had seen him rise, throw up his hands +and then fall in a heap among the cards and glasses. + +Silence! Not even Heaven spoke. + +Then the man who stood there alone turned slightly and I saw his face. I +have seen it many times since; I have seen it at Claymore Tavern. +Distorted up to this moment by a thousand emotions,--all evil ones,--it +was calm now with the realisation of his act, and I could make no +mistake as to his identity. Later I will mention his name. + +Glancing first at his victim, then at the pistol still smoking in his +hand, he put the weapon back in his pocket, and began gathering up the +money for which he had just damned his soul. To get it all, he had to +move an arm of the body sprawling along the board. But he did not appear +to mind. When every bill was in his pockets, he reached out his hand for +the watch. Then I saw him smile. He smiled as he shut the case, he +smiled as he plunged it in after the bills. There was gloating in this +smile. He seemed to have got what he wanted more than when he fingered +the bills. I was stiff with horror. I was not conscious of noting these +details, but I saw them every one. Small things make an impression when +the mind is numb under the effect of a great blow. + +Next moment I woke to a realisation of myself and all the danger of my +own position. He was scanning very carefully the room about him. His +eyes were travelling slowly--very slowly but certainly, in my direction. +I saw them pause--concentrate their glances and fix them straight and +full upon mine. Not that he saw me. The crack through which we were +peering each in our several ways was too narrow for that. But the crack +itself--that was what he saw and the promise it gave of some room +beyond. I was a creature frozen. But when he suddenly turned away +instead of plunging towards me with his still smoking pistol, I had the +instinct to make a leap for the window over my head and clutch madly at +its narrow sill in a wild attempt at escape. + +But the effort ended precipitately. Terror had got me by the hair, and +terror made me look back. The crack had widened still further, and what +I now saw through it glued me to the wall and held me there transfixed, +with dangling feet and starting eyeballs. + +He was coming towards me--a straining, panting figure--half carrying, +half dragging, the dead man who flopped aside from his arms. + +God! what was I to do now! How meet those cold, indifferent eyes filled +only with thoughts of his own safety and see them flare again with +murderous impulse and that impulse directed towards myself! I couldn't +meet them; I couldn't stay; but how fly when not a muscle responded. I +had to stay--hanging from the sill and praying--praying--till my senses +blurred and I knew nothing till on a sudden they cleared again, and I +woke to the blessed realisation that the door had been pushed against my +slender figure, hiding it completely from his sight, and that this door +was now closed again and this time tightly, and I was safe--safe! + +The relief sent the perspiration in a reek from every pore; but the icy +revulsion came quickly. As I drew up my knees to get a better purchase +on the sill, heaven's torch was suddenly lit up, the closet became a pit +of dazzling whiteness amid which I saw the blot of that dead body, with +head propped against the wall and eyes-- + +Remember, I was but fifteen. The legs were hunched up and almost touched +mine. I could feel them--though there was no contact--pushing +me--forcing me from my frail support. Would it lighten again? Would I +have to see--No! any risk first. The window--I no longer thought of it. +It was too remote, too difficult. The door--the door--there was my +way--the only way which would rid me instantly of any proximity to this +hideous object. I flung myself at it--found the knob--turned it and +yelled aloud--My foot had brushed against him. I knew the difference and +it sent me palpitating over the threshold; but no further. Love of life +had returned with my escape from that awful prison-house, and I halted +in the semidarkness into which I had plunged, thanking Heaven for the +thunder peal which had drowned my loud cry. + +For I was not yet safe. He was still there. He had turned out all lights +but one, but this was sufficient to show me his tall figure straining up +to put out this last jet. + +Another instant and darkness enveloped the whole place. He had not seen +me and was going. I could hear the sound of his feet as he went +stumbling in his zigzag course towards the door. Then every sound both +on his part and on mine was lost in a swoop of down-falling rain and I +remember nothing more till out of the blankness before me, he started +again into view, within the open doorway where in the glare of what he +called heaven's candles he stood, poising himself to meet the gale which +seemed ready to catch him up and whirl him with other inconsequent +things into the void of nothingness. Then darkness settled again and I +was left alone with Murder;--all the innocence of my youth gone, and my +soul a very charnel house. + + * * * * * + +I had to re-enter that closet; I had to take the only means of escape +proffered. But I went through it as we go through the horrors of +nightmare. My muscles obeyed my volition, but my sensibilities were no +longer active. How I managed to draw myself up to that slippery sill all +reeking now with rain, or save myself from falling to my death in the +whirling blast that carried everything about me into the ravine below, I +do not know. + +I simply did it and escaped all--lightning-flash and falling limb, and +the lasso of swirling winds--to find myself at last lying my full length +along the bridge amid a shock of elements such as nature seldom sports +with. Here I clung, for I was breathless, waiting with head buried in my +arm for the rain to abate before I attempted a further escape from the +place which held such horror for me! + +But no abatement came, and feeling the bridge shaking under me almost to +cracking, I began to crawl, inch by inch, along its gaping boards till I +reached its middle. + +There God stopped me. + +For, with a clangour as of rending worlds, a bolt, hot from the zenith, +sped down upon the bluff behind me, throwing me down again upon my face +and engulfing sense and understanding for one wild moment. Then I sprang +upright and with a yell of terror sped across the rocking boards beneath +me to the road, no longer battling with my desire to look back; no +longer asking myself when and how that dead man would be found; no +longer even asking my own duty in the case; for Spencer's Folly was on +fire and the crime I had just seen perpetrated there would soon be a +crime stricken from the sight of men forever. + +In the flare of its tremendous burning I found my way up through the +forest road to my home and into my father's presence. He like everybody +else was up that night, and already alarmed at my continued absence. + +"Spencer's Folly is on fire," I cried, as he cast dismayed eyes at my +pallid and dripping figure. "If you go to the door, you can see it!" + +But I told him nothing more. + +Perhaps other boys of my age can understand my silence. + +I not only did not tell my father, but I told nobody, even after the +discovery of Spencer's charred body in the closet so miraculously +preserved. With every day that passed, it became harder to part with +this baleful secret. I felt it corroding my thoughts and destroying my +spirits, and yet I kept still. Only my taste for modelling was gone. I +have never touched clay since. + +Claymore Tavern did change owners. When I heard that a man by the name +of Scoville had bought it, I went over to see Scoville. He was the man. +Then I began to ask myself what I ought to do with my knowledge, and the +more I asked myself this question, and the more I brooded over the +matter, the less did I feel like taking, not the public, but my father, +into my confidence. + +I had never doubted his love for me, but I had always stood in great awe +of his reproof, and I did not know where I was to find courage to tell +him all the details of this adventure. + +There is one thing I did do, however. I made certain inquiries here and +there, and soon satisfied myself as to how Scoville had been able to +come into town, commit this horrid deed and escape without any one but +myself being the wiser. Spencer and he had come from the west en route +to New York without any intention of stopping off in Shelby. But once +involved in play, they got so interested that when within a few miles of +the town, Spencer proposed that they should leave the train and finish +the game in his own house. Whether circumstances aided them, or Spencer +took some extraordinary precautions against being recognised, will never +be known. But certain it is that he escaped all observation at the +station and even upon the road. When Scoville returned alone, the storm +had reached such a height that the roads were deserted, and he, being an +entire stranger here at that time, naturally attracted no attention, and +so was able to slip away on the next train with just the drawback of +buying a new ticket. I, a boy of fifteen, trespassing where I did not +belong, was the only living witness of what had happened on this night +of dreadful storm, in the house which was now a ruin. + +I realised the unpleasantness of the position in which this put me, but +not its responsibility. Scoville, ignorant that any other breast than +his own held the secret of that hour of fierce temptation and murder, +naturally scented no danger and rejoiced without stint in his new +acquisition. What evil might I not draw down upon myself by disturbing +him in it at this late day. If I were going to do anything, I should +have done it at first--so I reasoned, and let the matter slide. I became +interested in school and study, and the years passed and I had almost +forgotten the occurrence, when suddenly the full remembrance came back +upon me with a rush. A man--my father's friend--was found murdered in +sight of this spot of old-time horror, and Scoville was accused of the +act. + +I was older now and saw my fault in all its enormity. I was guilty of +that crime--or so I felt in the first heat of my sorrow and despair. I +may even have said so--in dreams or in some of my self-absorbed +broodings. Though I certainly had not lifted the stick against Mr. +Etheridge, I had left the hand free which did, and this was a sufficient +occasion for remorse--or so I truly felt. + +I was so affected by the thought that even my father, with his own +weight of troubles, noticed my care-worn face and asked me for an +explanation. But I held him off until the verdict was reached, and then +I told him. I had not liked his looks for some time; they seemed to +convey some doubt of the justice of this man's sentence, and I felt that +if he had such doubts, they might be eased by this certainty of +Scoville's murderous tendencies and unquestionable greed. + +And they were; but as Scoville was already doomed, we decided that it +was unnecessary to make public his past offences. However, with an eye +upon future contingencies, my father exacted from me in writing this +full account of my adventure, which with all the solemnity of an oath I +here declare to be the true story of what befell me in the house called +Spencer's Folly, on the night of awful storm, September Eleventh, 1895. + +OLIVER OSTRANDER. + +Witnesses to above signature, + +ARCHIBALD OSTRANDER, + +BELA JEFFERSON. + +Shelby........November 7, 1898. + + + + +XXV + +"WHAT DO YOU THINK OF HIM NOW?" + + +This was the document and these the words which Deborah, widow of the +man thus doubly denounced, had been given to read by the father of the +writer, in the darkened room which had been and still was to her, an +abode of brooding thought and unfathomable mystery. + +No wonder that during its reading more than one exclamation of terror +and dismay escaped her, as the once rehabilitated form of the dead and +gone started into dreadful life again before her eyes. There were so +many reasons for believing this record to be an absolute relation of the +truth. + +Incoherent phrases which had fallen from those long-closed lips took on +new meaning with this unveiling of an unknown past. Repugnances for +which she could not account in those old days, she now saw explained. He +would never, even in passing, give a look at the ruin on the bluff, so +attractive to every eye but his own. As for entering its gates--she had +never dared so much as to ask him to do so. He had never expressed his +antipathy for the place, but he had made her feel it. She doubted now if +he would have climbed to it from the ravine even to save his child from +falling over its verge. Indeed, she saw the reason now why he could not +explain the reason for the apathy he showed in his hunt for Reuther on +that fatal day, and his so marked avoidance of the height where she was +found. + +Then the watch! Deborah knew well that watch. She had often asked him by +what stroke of luck he had got so fine a timepiece. But he had never +told her. Later, it had been stolen from him; and as he had a mania for +watches, that was why, perhaps-- + +God! was her mind veering back to her old idea as to his responsibility +for the crime committed in Dark Hollow? Yes; she could not help it. +Denial from a monster like this--a man who with such memories and such +spoil, could return home to wife and child, with some gay and confused +story of a great stroke in speculation which had brought him in the +price of the tavern it had long been his ambition to own--what was +denial from such lips worth, though emphasised by the most sacred of +oaths, and uttered under the shadow of death. The judge was right. +Oliver--whose ingenuous story had restored his image to her mind, with +some of its old graces--had been the victim of circumstances and not +John Scoville. Henceforth, she would see him as such, and when she had +recovered a little from the effect of this sudden insight into the +revolting past, she would-- + +Her thoughts had reached this stage and her hand, in obedience to the +new mood, was lightly ruffling up the pages before her, when she felt a +light touch on her shoulder and turned with a start. + +The judge was at her back. How long he had stood there she did not know, +nor did he say. The muttered exclamations which had escaped her, the +irrepressible cry of despair she had given when she first recognised the +identity of the "stranger" may have reached him where he sat at the +other end of the room, and drawn him insensibly forward till he could +overlook her shoulder as she read, and taste with her the horror of +these revelations which yet were working so beneficent a result for him +and his. It may have been so, and it may have been that he had not made +his move till he saw her attitude change and her head droop +disconsolately at the reading of the last line. She did not ask, as I +have said, nor did he tell her; but when upon feeling his hand upon her +shoulder she turned, he was there; and while his lips failed to speak, +his eyes were eloquent and their question single and imperative. + +"What do you think of him now?" they seemed to ask, and rising to her +feet, she met him with a smile, ghastly perhaps with the lividness of +the shadows through which she had been groping, but encouraging withal +and soothing beyond measure to his anxious and harassed soul. + +"Oliver is innocent," she declared, turning once more to lay her hand +upon the sheets containing his naive confession. "The dastard who could +shoot his host for plunder is capable of a second crime holding out a +similar inducement. Nothing now will ever make me connect Oliver with +the crime at the bridge. As you said, he was simply near enough the +Hollow to toss into it the stick he had been whittling on his way from +the oak tree. I am his advocate from this minute." + +Her eyes were still resting mechanically upon that last page lying +spread out before her, and she did not observe in its full glory the +first gleam of triumphant joy which, in all probability, Judge +Ostrander's countenance had shown in years. Nor did he see, in the glad +confusion of the moment, the quick shudder with which she lifted her +trembling hand away from those papers and looked up, squarely at last, +into his transfigured visage. + +"Oh, judge!" she murmured, bursting into a torrent of tears. "How you +must have suffered to feel so great a relief!" Then she was still, very +still, and waited for him to speak. + +"I suffered," he presently proceeded to state, "because of the knowledge +which had come to me of the scandal with which circumstances threatened +us. Oliver had confided to me (after the trial, mind, not before) the +unfortunate fact of his having been in possession of the stick during +those few odd minutes preceding the murder. He had also told me how he +had boasted once, and in a big crowd, too, of his intention to do +Etheridge. He had meant nothing by the phrase, beyond what any body +means who mingles boasting with temper, but it was a nasty point of +corroborative evidence; and heart-breaking as it was for me to part with +him, I felt that his future career would be furthered by a fresh start +in another town. You see," he continued, a faint blush dyeing his old +cheek ... old in sorrow not in years ... "I am revealing mysteries of my +past life which I have hitherto kept strictly within my own breast. I +cannot do this without shame, because while in the many serious +conversations we have had on this subject, I have always insisted upon +John Scoville's guilt. I have never allowed myself to admit the least +fact which would in any way compromise Oliver. A cowardly attitude for a +judge you will say, and you are right; but for a father--Mrs. Scoville, +I love my boy. I--What's that?" + +The front door-bell was ringing. + +In a flash Deborah was out of the room. It was as if she had flown with +unnecessary eagerness to answer a bidding which, after all, Reuther +could easily have attended to. It struck him aghast for the instant, +then he began slowly to gather up the papers before him and carry them +back into the other room. Had he, instead, made straight for the doorway +leading to the front of the house, he would have come upon the figure of +Deborah standing alone and with her face pressed in anguish and +unspeakable despair against the lintel. Something had struck her heart +and darkened her soul since that exalted moment in which she cried: + +"Henceforth I will be Oliver's advocate." + +When the judge at last came forth, it was at Reuther's bidding. + +A gentleman wished to see him in the parlour. + +This was so unprecedented,--even of late when the ladies did receive +some callers, that he stopped short after his first instinctive step, to +ask her if the gentleman had given his name. + +She said no; but added that he was not alone; that he had a very strange +and not very nice-looking person with him whom mother insisted should +remain in the hall. "Mother requests you to see the gentleman, Judge +Ostrander. She said you would wish to, if you once saw the person +accompanying him." + +With a dark glance, not directed against her, however, the judge bade +her run away to the kitchen and as far from all these troubles as she +could, then, locking his door behind him, as he always did, he strode +towards the front. + +He found Deborah standing guard over an ill-conditioned fellow whose +slouching figure slouched still more under his eye, but gave no other +acknowledgment of his presence. Passing him without a second look, Judge +Ostrander entered the parlour where he found no less a person than Mr. +Black awaiting him. + +There was no bad blood between these two whatever their past relations +or present suspicions, and they were soon shaking hands with every +appearance of mutual cordiality. + +The judge was especially courteous. + +"I am glad," said he, "of any occasion which brings you again under my +roof, though from the appearance of your companion I judge the present +one to be of no very agreeable character." + +"He's honest enough," muttered Black, with a glance towards Deborah, for +the understanding of which the judge held no key. Then, changing the +subject, "You had a very unfortunate experience this afternoon. Allow me +to express my regret at an outbreak so totally unwarranted." + +A grumble came from the hall without. Evidently his charge, if we may so +designate the fellow he had brought there, had his own ideas on this +subject. + +"Quiet out there!" shouted Mr. Black. "Mrs. Scoville, you need not +trouble yourself to stand over Mr. Flannagan any longer. I'll look after +him." + +She bowed and was turning away when the judge intervened. + +"Is there any objection," he asked, "to Mrs. Scoville's remaining +present at this interview?" + +"None whatever," answered the lawyer. + +"Then, Mrs. Scoville, may I request you to come in?" + +If she hesitated, it was but natural. Exhaustion is the obvious result +of so many excitements, and that she was utterly exhausted was very +apparent. Mr. Black cast her a commiserating smile, but the judge only +noticed that she entered the room at his bidding and sat down by the +window. He was keying himself up to sustain a fresh excitement. He was +as exhausted as she, possibly more so. He had a greater number of +wearing years to his credit. + +"Judge, I'm your friend;" thus Mr. Black began. "Thinking you must wish +to know who started the riotous procedure which disgraced our town +to-day, I have brought the ringleader here to answer for himself--that +is, if you wish to question him." + +Judge Ostrander wheeled about, gave the man a searching look, and +failing to recognise him as any one he had ever seen before, beckoned +him in. + +"I suppose," said he, when the lounging and insolent figure was fairly +before their eyes, "that this is not the first time you have been asked +to explain your enmity to my long absent son." + +"Naw; I've had my talk wherever and whenever I took the notion. Oliver +Ostrander hit me once. I was jest a little chap then and meanin' no harm +to any one. I kept a-pesterin' of 'im and he hit me. He'd a better have +hit a feller who hadn't my memory. I've never forgiven that hit, and I +never will. That's why I'm hittin' him now. It's just my turn; that's +all." + +"Your turn! YOUR turn! And what do you think has given YOU an +opportunity to turn on HIM?" + +"I'm not in the talkin' mood just now," the fellow drawled, frankly +insolent, not only in his tone but in his bearing to all present. "Nor +can you make it worth my while, you gents. I'll not take money. I'm an +honest hard-workin' man who can earn his own livin', and you can't pay +me to keep still, or to go away from Shelby a day sooner than I want to. +I was goin' away, but I gave it up when they told me that things were +beginnin' to look black against Ol Ostrander;--that a woman had come +into town who was a-stirrin' up things generally about that old murder +for which a feller had already been 'lectrocuted, and knowin' somethin' +myself about that murder and Ol Ostrander, I--well, I stayed." + +The quiet threat, the suggested possibility, the attack which wraps +itself in vague uncertainty, are ever the most effective. As his raucous +voice, dry with sinister purpose which no man could shake, died out in +an offensive drawl, Mr. Black edged a step nearer the judge, before he +sprang and caught the young fellow by the coat-collar and gave him a +very vigorous shake. + +"See here!" he threatened. "Behave yourself and treat the judge like a +gentleman or--" + +"Or what?" the bulldog mouth sneered. "See here yourself," he now +shouted, as the lawyer's hands unloosed and he stood panting; "I'm not +afeard o' you, sir, nor of the jedge, nor of the lady nuther. I KNOWS +somethin', I do; and when I gets ready to tell it, we'll just see whose +coat-collar they'll be handlin'. I came 'cause I wanted to see the +inside o' the house Ol Ostrander's father doesn't think him good enough +to live in. It's grand; but this part here isn't the whole of it. +There's a door somewhere which nobody never opens unless it's the jedge +there. I'd like to see what's behind that 'ere door. If it's somethin' +to make a good story out of, I might be got to keep quiet about this +other thing. I don't know, but I MIGHT." + +The swagger with which he said this, the confidence in himself which he +showed and the reliance he so openly put in the something he knew but +could not be induced to tell, acted so strongly upon Mr. Black's nerves, +that he leaped towards him again, evidently with the intention of +dragging him from the house. + +But the judge was not ready for this. The judge had gained a new lease +of life in the last half-hour and he felt no fear of this sullen +bill-poster for all his sly innuendoes. He, therefore, hindered the +lawyer from his purpose, by a quick gesture of so much dignity and +resolve that even the lout himself was impressed and dropped some of his +sullen bravado. + +"I have something to say to this fellow," he announced, looking anywhere +but at the drooping figure in the window which ought, above all things +in the world, to have engaged his attention. "Perhaps he does not know +his folly. Perhaps he thinks because I was thrown aback to-day by those +public charges against my son and a string of insults for which no +father could be prepared, that I am seriously disturbed over the +position into which such unthinking men as himself have pushed Mr. +Oliver Ostrander. I might be if there were truth in these charges or any +serious reason for connecting my upright and honourable son with the low +crime of a highwayman. BUT THERE IS NOT. I aver it and so will this lady +here whom you have doubtless recognised for the one who has stirred this +matter up. You can bring no evidence to show guilt on my son's +part,"--these words he directed straight at the discomfited poster of +bills--"BECAUSE THERE IS NO EVIDENCE TO BRING." + +Mr. Black's eyes sparkled with admiration. He could not have used this +method with the lad, but he recognised the insight of the man who could. +Bribes were a sign of weakness, so were suggested force and +counter-attack; but scorn--a calm ignoring of the power of any one to +seriously shake Oliver Ostrander's established position--that might +rouse wrath and bring avowal; certainly it had shaken the man; he looked +much less aggressive and self-confident than before. + +However, though impressed, he was not yet ready to give in. Shuffling +about with his feet but not yet shrinking from an encounter few men of +his stamp would have cared to subject themselves to, he answered with a +remark delivered with a little more civility than any of his previous +ones: + +"What you call evidence may not be the same as I calls evidence. If +you're satisfied at thinkin' my word's no good, that's your business. I +know how I should feel if I was Ol Ostrander's father and knew what I +know." + +"Let him go," spoke up a wavering voice. It was Deborah's. + +But the judge was deaf to the warning. Deborah's voice had but reminded +him of Deborah's presence. Its tone had escaped him. He was too +engrossed in the purpose he had in mind to notice shades of inflection. + +But Mr. Black had, and quick as thought he echoed her request: + +"He is forgetting himself. Let him go, Judge Ostrander." + +But that astute magistrate, wise in all other causes but his own, was no +more ready now than before to do this. + +"In a moment," he conceded. "Let me first make sure that this man +understands me. I have said that there exists no evidence against my +son. I did not mean that there may not be supposed evidence. That is +more than probable. No suspicion could have been felt and none of these +outrageous charges made, without that. He was unfortunate enough not +only to have been in the ravine that night but to have picked up +Scoville's stick and carried it towards the bridge, whittling it as he +went. But his connection with the crime ends there. He dropped this +stick before he came to where the wood path joins Factory Road; and +another hand than his raised it against Etheridge. This I aver; and this +the lady here will aver. You have probably already recognised her. If +not, allow me to tell you that she is the lady whose efforts have +brought back this case to the public mind: Mrs. Scoville, the wife of +John Scoville and the one of all others who has the greatest interest in +proving her husband's innocence. If she says, that after the most +careful inquiry and a conscientious reconsideration of this case, she +has found herself forced to come to the conclusion that justice has +already been satisfied in this matter, you will believe her, won't you?" + +"I don't know," drawled the man, a low and cunning expression lighting +up his ugly countenance. "She wants to marry her daughter to your son. +Any live dog is better than a dead one; I guess her opinion don't go for +much." + +Recoiling before a cynicism that pierced with unerring skill the one +joint in his armour he knew to be vulnerable, the judge took a minute in +which to control his rage and then addressing the half-averted figure in +the window said: + +"Mrs. Scoville, will you assure this man that you have no expectations +of marrying your daughter to Oliver Ostrander?" + +With a slow movement more suggestive of despair than any she had been +seen to make since the hour of her indecision had first struck, she +shifted in her seat and finally faced them, with the assertion: + +"Reuther Scoville will never marry Oliver Ostrander. Whatever my wishes +or willingness in the matter, she herself is so determined. Not because +she does not believe in his integrity, for she does; but because she +will not unite herself to one whose prospects in life are more to her +than her own happiness." + +The fellow stared, then laughed: + +"She's a goodun," he sneered. "And you believe that bosh?" + +Mr. Black could no longer contain himself. + +"I believe you to be the biggest rascal in town," he shouted. "Get out, +or I won't answer for myself. Ladies are not to be treated in this +manner." + +Did he remember his own rough handling of the sex on the witness stand? + +"_I_ didn't ask to see the ladies," protested Flannagan, turning with a +slinking gait towards the door. + +If they only had let him go! If the judge in his new self-confidence had +not been so anxious to deepen the effect and make any future repetition +of the situation impossible! + +"You understand the lady," he interposed, with the quiet dignity which +was so imposing on the bench. "She has no sympathy with your ideas and +no faith in your conclusions. She believes absolutely in my son's +innocence." + +"Do you, ma'am?" The man had turned and was surveying her with the +dogged impudence of his class. "I'd like to hear you say it, if you +don't mind, ma'am. Perhaps, then, I'll believe it." + +"I--" she began, trembling so, that she failed to reach her feet, +although she made one spasmodic effort to do so. "I believe--Oh, I feel +ill! It's been too much--I--" her head fell forward and she turned +herself quite away from them all. + +"You see she ain't so eager, jedge, as you thought," laughed the +bill-poster, with a clumsy bow he evidently meant to be sarcastic. + +"Oh, what have I done!" moaned Deborah, starting up as though she would +fling herself after the retreating figure, now half way down the hall. + +She saw in the look of the judge as he forcibly stopped her, and heard +in the lawyer's whisper as he bounded past them both to see the fellow +out: "Useless; nothing will bridle him now"; and finding no support for +her despairing spirit either on earth or, as she thought, in heaven, she +collapsed where she sat and fell unnoticed to the floor, where she lay +prone at the feet of the equally unconscious figure of the judge, fixed +in another attack of his peculiar complaint. + +And thus the lawyer found them when he returned from closing the gate +behind Flannagan. + + + + +XXVI + +THE TELEGRAM + + +"I CANNOT say anything, I cannot do anything till I have had a few words +with Mrs. Scoville. How soon do you think I can speak to her?" + +"Not very soon. Her daughter says she is quite worn out. Would it not be +better to give her a rest for to-night, judge?" + +The judge, now quite recovered, but strangely shrunk and wan, showed no +surprise, at this request, odd as it was, on the lips of this honest but +somewhat crabbed lawyer, but answered out of the fulness of his own +heart and from the depths of his preoccupation: + +"My necessity is greater than hers. The change I saw in her is +inexplicable. One moment she was all fire and determination, satisfied +of Oliver's innocence and eager to proclaim it. The next--but you were +with us. You witnessed her hesitation--felt its force and what its +effect was upon the damnable scamp who has our honour--the honour of the +Ostranders under his tongue. Something must have produced this change. +What? good friend, what?" + +"I don't know any more than you do, judge. But I think you are mistaken +about the previous nature of her feelings. I noticed that she was not at +peace with herself when she came into the room." + +"What's that?" The tone was short, and for the first time irritable. + +"The change, if there was a change, was not so sudden as you think. She +looked troubled, and as I thought, irresolute when she came into the +room." + +"You don't know her; you don't know what passed between us. She was all +right then, but--Go to her, Black. She must have recovered by this time. +Ask her to come here for a minute. I won't detain her. I will wait for +her warning knock right here." + +Alanson Black was a harsh man, but he had a soft streak in him--a streak +which had been much developed of late. Where he loved, he could be +extraordinarily kind, and he loved, had loved for years, in his own way +which was not a very demonstrative one, this man whom he was now +striving to serve. But a counter affection was making difficulties for +him just at this minute. Against all probability, many would have said +possibility, Deborah Scoville had roused in this hard nature, a feeling +which he was not yet ready to name even to himself, but which +nevertheless stood very decidedly in his way when the judge made this +demand which meant further distress to her. + +But the judge had declared his necessity to be greater than hers, and +after Mr. Black had subjected him to one of his most searching looks he +decided that this was so, and quietly departed upon his errand. The +judge left alone, sat, a brooding figure in his great chair, with no +light in heart or mind to combat the shadows of approaching night +settling heavier and heavier upon the room and upon himself with every +slow passing and intolerable minute. + +At last, when the final ray had departed and darkness reigned supreme, +there came a low knock on the door. Then a troubled cry: + +"Oh, judge, are you here?" + +"I am here." + +"Alone and so dark?" + +"I am always alone, and it is always dark. Is there any one with you?" + +"No, sir. Shall I make a light?" + +"No light. Is the door quite shut?" + +"No, judge." + +"Shut it." + +There came the sound of a hand fumbling over the panels, then a quick +snap. + +"It is shut," she said. + +"Don't come any nearer; it is not necessary." A pause, then the quick +question ringing hollow from the darkness, "Why have your doubts +returned? Why are you no longer the woman you were when not an hour ago +and in this very spot you cried, 'I will be Oliver's advocate!'" Then, +as no answer came,--as minutes passed, and still no answer came, he +spoke again and added: "I know that you are ill and exhausted--broken +between duty and sympathy; but you must answer me, Mrs. Scoville. My +affairs won't wait. I must know the truth and all the truth before this +day is over." + +"You shall." Her voice sounded hollow too and oh, how weary! "You +allowed the document you showed me to remain a little too long before my +eyes. That last page--need I say it?" + +"Say it." + +"Shows--shows changes, Judge Ostrander. Some words have been erased and +new ones written in. They are not many, but--" + +"I understand. I do not blame you, Deborah." The words came after a +pause and very softly, almost as softly as her own BUT which had sounded +its low knell of doom through the darkness. "Too many stumbling-blocks +in your way, Deborah, too much to combat. The most trusting heart must +give way under such a strain. That page WAS tampered with. I tampered +with it myself. I am not expert at forgery. I had better have left it, +as he wrote it." Then after another silence, he added, with a certain +vehemence: "We will struggle no longer, either you or I. The boy must +come home. Prepare Reuther, or, if you think best, provide a place for +her where she will be safe from the storm which bids fair to wreck us +here. No, don't speak; just ask Mr. Black to return, will you?" + +"Judge--" + +"I understand. Mr. Black, Deborah." + +Slowly she moved away and began to grope for the door. As her hand fell +on the knob she thought she heard a sob in those impenetrable depths +behind her; but when she listened again, all was still; still as if +merciful death and not weary life gave its significance to the +surrounding gloom. + +Shuddering, she turned the knob and paused again for rebuff or command. +Neither came; and, realising that having spoken once the judge would not +speak again, she slipped softly away, and the door swung to after her. + +When Mr. Black re-entered the study, it was to find the room lighted and +the judge bent over the table, writing. + +"You are going to send for Oliver?" he queried. + +The judge hesitated, then motioning Black to sit, said abruptly: + +"What is Andrews' attitude in this matter?" + +Andrews was Shelby's District Attorney. + +Black's answer was like the man. + +"I saw him for one minute an hour ago. I think, at present, he is +inclined to be both deaf and dumb, but if he's driven to action, he will +act. And, judge, this man Flannagan isn't going to stop where he is." + +"Black, be merciful to my misery. What does this man know? Have you any +idea?" + +"No, judge, I haven't. He's as tight as a drum,--and as noisy. It is +possible--just possible that he's as empty. A few days will tell." + +"I cannot wait for a few days. I hardly feel as if I could wait a few +hours. Oliver must come, even if--if the consequences are likely to be +fatal. An Ostrander once accused cannot skulk. Oliver has been accused +and--Send that!" he quickly cried, pulling forward the telegram he had +been writing. + +Mr. Black took up the telegram and read: + + Come at once. Imperative. No delay and no excuse. + + ARCHIBALD OSTRANDER. + +"Mrs. Scoville will supply the address," continued the poor father. "You +will see that it goes, and that its sending is kept secret. The answer, +if any is sent, had better be directed to your office. What do you say, +Black?" + +"I am your friend, right straight through, judge. Your friend." + +"And my boy's adviser?" + +"You wish that?" + +"Very much." + +"Then, there's my hand on it, unless he wishes a change when we see +him." + +"He will not wish any change." + +"I don't know. I'm a surly fellow, judge. I have known you all these +years, yet I've never expressed--never said what I even find it hard to +say now, that--that my esteem is something more than esteem; that--that +I'll do anything for you, judge." + +"I--we won't talk of that, Black. Tell Mrs. Scoville to keep me +informed--and bring me any message that may come. The boy, even if he +leaves the first thing in the morning, cannot get here before to-morrow +night." + +"Not possibly." + +"He will telegraph. I shall hear from him. O God! the hours I must wait; +my boy! my boy!" + +It was nature's irrepressible cry. Black pressed his hand and went out +with the telegram. + + + + +BOOK III + +THE DOOR OF MYSTERY + + + + +XXVII + +HE MUST BE FOUND + + +Three hours later, an agitated confab took place at the gate, or rather +between the two front gates. Mr. Black had rung for admittance, and Mrs. +Scoville had answered the call. In the constrained interview which +followed, these words were said: + +"One moment, Mrs. Scoville. How can I tell the judge! Young Ostrander is +gone--flew the city, and I can get no clew to his whereabouts. Some +warning of what is happening here may have reached him, or he may be +simply following impulses consequent upon his personal disappointments; +but the fact is just this--he asked for two weeks' leave to go West upon +business,--and he's been gone three. Meanwhile, no word has come, nor +can his best friends tell the place of his destination. I have been +burning the telegraph wires ever since the first despatch, and this is +the result." + +"Poor Judge Ostrander!" Then, in lower and still more pathetic tones, +"Poor Reuther!" + +"Where is Reuther?" + +"At Miss Weeks'. I had to command her to leave me alone with the judge. +It's the first time I ever spoke unkindly to her." + +"Shall I tell the judge the result of his telegram, or will you?" + +"Have you the messages with you?" + +He bundled them into her hand. + +"I will hand them in to him. We can do nothing less and nothing more. +Then if he wants you, I will telephone." + +"Mrs. Scoville?" + +She felt his hand laid softly on her shoulder. + +"Yes, Mr. Black." + +"There is some one else in this matter to consider besides Judge +Ostrander." + +"Reuther? Oh, don't I know it! She's not out of my mind a moment." + +"Reuther is young, and has a gallant soul. I mean you, Mrs. Scoville, +you! You are not to succumb to this trial. You have a future--a bright +future--or should have. Do not endanger it by giving up all your +strength now. It's precious, that strength, or would be--" + +He broke off; she began to move away. Overhead in the narrow space of +sky visible to them from where they stood, the stars burned brightly. +Some instinct made them look up; as they did so, their hands met. Then a +gruff sound broke the silence. It was Alanson Black's voice uttering a +grim farewell. + + * * * * * + +"He must be found! Oliver must be found!" How the words rung in her +ears. She had handed in the messages to the waiting father; she had +uttered a word or two of explanation, and then, at his request, had left +him. But his last cry followed her: "He must be found!" + +When she told it to Mr. Black the next morning, he looked serious. + +"Pride or hope?" he asked. + +"Desperation," she responded, with a guilty look about her. "Possibly, +some hope is in it, too. Perhaps, he thinks that any charge of this +nature must fall before Oliver's manly appearance. Whatever he thinks, +there is but one thing to do: find Oliver." + +"Mrs. Scoville, the police have started upon that attempt. I got the tip +this morning." + +"We must forestall them. To satisfy the judge, Oliver must come of his +own accord to face these charges." + +"It's a brave stock. If Oliver gets his father's telegram he will come." + +"But how are we to reach him! We are absolutely in the dark." + +"If I could go to Detroit, I might strike some clew; but I cannot leave +the judge. Mr. Black, he told me this morning when I carried in his +breakfast that he should see no one and go nowhere till I brought him +word that Oliver was in the house. The hermit life has begun again. What +shall we do? Advise me in this emergency, for I feel as helpless as a +child,--as a lost child." + +They were standing far apart in the little front parlour, and he gave no +evidence of wishing to lessen the space between them, but he gave her a +look as she said this, which, as she thought it over afterwards, held in +its kindly flame something which had never shone upon her before, +whether as maid, wife or widow. But, while she noticed it, she did not +dwell upon it now, only upon the words which followed it. + +"You say you cannot go to Detroit. Shall I go?" + +"Mr. Black!" + +"Court is adjourned. I know of nothing more important than Judge +Ostrander's peace of mind--- unless it is yours. I will go if you say +so." + +"Will it avail? Let me think. I knew him well, and yet not well enough +to know where he would be most likely to go under impulse." + +"There is some one who knows him better than you do." + +"His father?" + +"No." + +"Reuther? Oh, she mustn't be told--" + +"Yes, she must. She's our one adviser. Go for her--or send me." + +"It won't be necessary. There's her ring at the gate. But oh, Mr. Black, +think again before you trouble this fragile child of mine with doubts +and questions which make her mother tremble." + +"Has she shown the greater weakness yet?" + +"No, but--" + +"She has sources of strength which you lack. She believes absolutely in +Oliver's integrity. It will carry her through." + +"Please let her in, Mr. Black. I will wait here while you tell her." + +Mr. Black hurried from the room. When his form became visible on the +walk without, Deborah watched him from where she stood far back in the +room. Why? Was this swelling of her impetuous heart in the midst of such +suspense an instinct of thankfulness? A staff had been put in her hand, +rough to the touch, but firm under pressure, and she needed such a +staff. Yes, it was thankfulness. + +But she forgot gratitude and every lesser emotion in watching Reuther's +expression as the two came up the path. The child was radiant, and the +mother, thus prepared, was not surprised when the young girl, running +into her arms, burst out with the glad cry: + +"Oliver is no longer in Detroit, but he's wanted here, and Mr. Black and +I are going to find him. I think I know where to look. Get me ready, +mother dear; we are going to-night." + + * * * * * + +"You are going to-night?" This was said after the first moment of +ebullition had past. "Where, Reuther? You have not been corresponding +with Oliver. How should you know where to look for him?" + +Then Reuther told her story. + +"Mr. Ostrander and I were talking very seriously one day. It was before +we became definitely engaged, and he seemed to feel very dispirited and +uncertain of the future. There was a treatise he wanted to write, and +for this he could get no opportunity in Detroit. 'I need time,' he said, +'and complete seclusion.' And then he made this remark: 'If ever life +becomes too much for me, I shall go to one of two places and give myself +up to this task.' 'And what are the places?' I asked. 'One is +Washington,' he answered, 'where I can have the run of a great library +and the influence of the most inspiring surroundings in the world; the +other is a little lodge in a mountain top above Lake Placid--Tempest +Lodge, they call it; perhaps, in contrast to the peacefulness it +dominates.' And he described this last place with so much enthusiasm and +weighed so carefully the advantages of the one spot against the other +for the absorbing piece of work that he contemplated, that I am sure +that if we do not find him in Washington, we certainly shall in the +Adirondacks." + +"Let us hope that it will be in Washington," replied the lawyer, with a +keen remembrance of the rigours of an Adirondack fall--rigours of which +Reuther in her enthusiasm, if not in her ignorance, appeared to take +little count. "And now," he went on, "this is how I hope to proceed. We +will go first to Washington, and, if unsuccessful there, to Tempest +Lodge. We will take Miss Weeks with us, for I am sure that I could not, +without some such assistance, do justice to this young lady's comfort. +If you have a picture of Mr. Ostrander as he looks now, I hope you will +take it, Miss Scoville. With that and the clew to his intentions, which +you have given me, I have no doubt that we shall find him within the +week." + +"But," objected Deborah, "if you know where to look for him, why take +the child? Why go yourself? Why not telegraph to these places?" + +His answer was a look, quick, sharp and enigmatical enough to require +explanation. He could not give it to her then, but later, when Reuther +had left them, he said: + +"Men who fly their engagements and secrete themselves, with or without a +pretext, are not so easily reached. We shall have to surprise Oliver +Ostrander, in order to place his father's message in his hands." + +"You may be right. But Reuther? Can she stand the excitement--the +physical strain?" + +"You have the harder task of the two, Mrs. Scoville. Leave the little +one to me. She shall not suffer." + +Deborah's response was eloquent. It was only a look, but it made his +harsh features glow and his hard eye soften. Alanson Black had waited +long, but his day of romance had come--and possibly hers also. + +But his thoughts, if not his hopes, received a check when, with every +plan made and Miss Weeks, as well as Reuther, in trembling anticipation +of the journey, he encountered the triumphant figure of Flannagan coming +out of Police Headquarters. + +His jaunty air, his complaisant nod, admitted of but one explanation. He +had told his story to the chief authorities and been listened to. Proof +that he had something of actual moment to tell them; something which the +District Attorney's office might feel bound to take up. + +Alanson Black felt the shock of this discovery, but was glad of the +warning it gave him. Plans which had seemed both simple and natural +before, he now saw must be altered to suit the emergency. He could no +longer hope to leave town with his little party without attracting +unwelcome attention. They might even be followed. For whatever Flannagan +may have told the police, there was one thing he had been unable to +impart, and that was where to look for Oliver. Only Reuther held that +clew, and if they once suspected this fact, she would certainly become +the victim of their closest surveillance. Little Reuther, therefore, +must not accompany him on his quest, but hold herself quite apart from +it; or, better still, be made to act as a diversion to draw off the +scent from the chief actor, which was himself. The idea was good, and +one to be immediately carried out. + +Continuing on to his office, he called up Miss Weeks. + +"Are you there?" he asked. + +Yes, she was there. + +"Alone?" + +Yes, Reuther was home packing. + +"Nobody around?" + +Nobody. + +"No one listening on the line?" + +[Illustration: "TELL ME WHAT THIS MEANS," HE SAID. BUT HE DID NOT TURN +HIS HEAD AS HE MADE THIS REQUEST] + +She was sure not. + +"Very well. Listen closely and act quickly. You are not to go to--I will +not mention the name; and you are not to wait for me. You are to start +at the hour named, but you will buy tickets for Atlantic City, where you +must get what accommodations you can. Our little friend needs to be +taken out of town,--not on business you understand, but to escape the +unpleasantness here and to get such change as will distract her mind. +Her mother cannot leave her duties, so you have undertaken to accompany +the child. The rest leave to me. Have you understood all this?" + +"Yes, perfectly; but--" + +"Not another word, Miss Weeks. The change will do our little friend +good. Trust my judgment, and ask her to do the same. Above all, do not +be late for the train. Telephone at once for a cab, and forget +everything but the pleasant trip before you.--Oh, one minute! There's an +article you had better send me. I hope you can guess what it is." + +"I think I can." + +"You know the city I am going to. Mark the package, General Delivery, +and let me have it soon. That's all." + +He hung up the receiver. + +At midnight he started for Washington. He gave a political reason in +excuse for this trip. He did not expect to be believed; but the spy, if +such had been sent, had taken the earlier train on which the two ladies +had left for Atlantic City. He knew every man who got on board of the +same train as himself; and none of them were in league with Police +Headquarters. + + + + +XXVIII + +THE FIRST EFFORT + + +LEAVES FROM ALANSON BLACK'S NOTE-BOOK, FOUND BY REUTHER SOME MONTHS +LATER, IN A VERY QUEER PLACE, VIZ.: HER MOTHER'S JEWEL-BOX + + * * * * * + +At the New Willard. Awaiting two articles--Oliver's picture and a few +lines in the judge's writing requesting his son's immediate return. +Meanwhile, I have made no secret of my reason for being here. All my +inquiries at the desk have shown it to be particularly connected with a +certain bill now before Congress, in which Shelby is vitally interested. + +Perhaps I can further the interests of this bill in off minutes. I am +willing to. + + The picture is here, as well as the name of the hotel where the two + women are staying. I have spent five minutes studying the face I + must be able to recognise at first glance in any crowd. It's not a + bad face; I can see his mother's looks in him. But it is not the + face I used to know. Trouble develops a man. + +There's a fellow here who rouses my suspicions. No one knows him;--I +don't myself. But he's strangely interested in me. If he's from +Shelby--in other words, if he's from the detective bureau there, I've +led him a chase to-day which must have greatly bewildered him. I'm not +slow, and I'm not above mixing things. From the Cairo where our present +congressman lives, I went to the Treasury, then to the White House, and +then to the Smithsonian--with a few newspaper offices thrown in, and +some hotels where I took pains that my interviews should not be too +brief. When quite satisfied that by these various and somewhat confusing +peregrinations I had thrown off any possible shadower, I fetched up at +the Library where I lunched. Then, as I thought the time had come for me +to enjoy myself, I took a walk about the great building, ending up with +the reading-room. Here I asked for a book on a certain abstruse subject. +Of course, it was not in my line, but I looked wise and spoke the name +glibly. When I sat down to consult it, the man who brought it threw me a +short glance which I chose to think peculiar. "You don't have many +readers for this volume?" I ventured. He smiled and answered, "Just sent +it back to the shelves. It's had a steady reader for ten days. Before +that, nobody." "Is this your steady reader?" I asked, showing him the +photograph I drew from my pocket. He stared, but said nothing. He did +not have to. In a state of strange satisfaction I opened the book. It +was Greek, if not worse, to me, but I meant to read a few paragraphs for +the sake of appearances, and was turning over the pages in search of a +promising chapter, when--Talk of remarkable happenings!--there in the +middle of the book was a card,--his card!--left as a marker, no doubt, +and on this card, an address hastily scribbled in lead pencil. It only +remained for me to find that the hotel designated in this address was a +Washington one, for me to recognise in this simple but strangely +opportune occurrence, a coincidence--or, as YOU would say,--an act of +Providence as startling as those we read of in books. + + * * * * * + +The first man I accosted in regard to the location of this hotel said +there was none of that name in Washington. The next, that he thought +there was, but that he could not tell me where to look for it. The +third, that I was within ten blocks of its doors. Did I walk? No, I took +a taxi. I thought of your impatience and became impatient too. But when +I got there, I stopped hurrying. I waited a full half-hour in the lobby +to be sure that I had not been followed before I approached the desk and +asked to see Mr. Ostrander. No such person was in the hotel or had been. +Then I brought out my photograph. The face was recognised, but not as +that of a guest. This seemed a puzzle. But after thinking it over for +awhile, I came to this conclusion: that the address I saw written on the +card was not his own, but that of some friend he had casually met. + +This put me in a quandary. The house was full of young men; how pick out +the friend? Besides, this friend was undoubtedly a transient and gone +long ago. My hopes seemed likely to end in smoke--my great coincidence +to prove valueless. I was so convinced of this, that I started to go; +then I remembered you, and remained. I even took a room, registering +myself for the second time that day,--which formality over, I sat down +in the office to write letters. + +Oliver Ostrander is in Washington. That's something. + + * * * * * + +I cannot sleep. Indeed, I may say that this is the first time in my life +when I failed to lose my cares the moment my head struck the pillow. + +The cause I will now relate. + +I had finished and mailed my letter to you and was just in the act of +sealing another, when I heard a loud salutation uttered behind me, and +turning, was witness to the meeting of two young men who had run upon +each other in the open doorway. The one going out was a stranger to me +and I hardly noticed him, but the one coming in was Oliver Ostrander (or +his photograph greatly belied him), and in my joy at an encounter so +greatly desired but so entirely unhoped for, I was on the point of +rising to intercept him, when some instinct of precaution led me to +glance about me first for the individual who had shown such a persistent +interest in me from the moment of my arrival. There he sat, not a dozen +chairs away, ostensibly reading, but with a quick eye ready for me the +instant I gave him the slightest chance:--a detective, as certainly as I +was Black, the lawyer. + +What was I to do? The boy was leaving town--was even then on his way to +the station as his whole appearance and such words as he let fall amply +denoted. If I let him go, would another such chance of delivering his +father's message be given me? Should I not lose him altogether; while if +I approached him or betrayed in any way my interest in him, the +detective would recognise his prey and, if he did not arrest him on the +spot, would never allow him to return to Shelby unattended. This would +be to defeat the object of my journey, and recalling the judge's +expression at parting, I dared not hesitate. My eyes returned with +seeming unconcern to the letter I was holding and the detective's to his +paper. When we both looked up again the two young men had quit the +building and the business which had brought me to Washington was at an +end. + +But I am far from being discouraged. A fresh start with the prospect of +Reuther's companionship, inspires me with more hope for my next venture. + + + + +XXIX + +"THERE IS BUT ONE THING TO DO" + + +A night of stars, seen through swaying tree-tops whose leaves crisping +to their fall, murmured gently of vanished hopes and approaching death. + +Below, a long, low building with a lighted window here and there, +surrounded by a heavy growth of trees which are but the earnest of the +illimitable stretch of the Adirondack woods which painted darkness on +the encircling horizon. + +In the air, one other sound beside the restless murmur I have +mentioned,--the lap, lap of the lake whose waters bathed the bank which +supported this building. + +Such the scene without. + +Within, Reuther seated in the glow of a hospitable fire of great logs, +talking earnestly to Mr. Black. As they were placed, he could see her +much better than she could see him, his back being to the blaze and she, +in its direct glare. + +He could, therefore, study her features, without offence, and this he +did, steadily and with deep interest, all the while she was talking. He +was looking for signs of physical weakness or fatigue; but he found +none. The pallor of her features was a natural pallor, and in their +expression, new forces were becoming apparent, which give him +encouragement, rather than anxiety, for the adventure whose most trying +events lay still before them. + +Crouching low on the hearth could be seen the diminutive figure of Miss +Weeks. She had no time to waste even in a solitude as remote as this, +and was crocheting busily by the firelight. Her earnestness gave +character to her features which sometimes lacked significance. Reuther +loved to glance at her from time to time, as she continued her +conversation with Mr. Black. + +This is what she was saying: + +"I cannot point to any one man of the many who have been about us ever +since we started north. But that we have been watched and our route +followed, I feel quite convinced. So does Miss Weeks. But, as you saw, +no one besides ourselves left the cars at this station, and I am +beginning to hope that we shall remain unmolested till we can take the +trip to Tempest Lodge. How far is it, Mr. Black?" + +"Twenty-five miles and over a very rough mountain road. Did I not +confidently expect to find Oliver there, I should not let you undertake +this ride. But the inquiries I have just made lead me to hope for the +best results. I was told that yesterday a young man bound for Tempest +Lodge, stopped to buy a large basket of supplies at the village below +us. I could not learn his name and I saw no one who could describe him; +but the fact that any one not born in these parts should choose to +isolate himself so late in the year as this, in a place considered +inaccessible after the snow flies, has roused much comment." + +"That looks as if--as if--" + +"As if it were Oliver. So it does; and if you feel that you can ride so +far, I will see that horses are saddled for us at an early hour +to-morrow morning." + +"I can ride, but will Oliver be pleased to see us at Tempest Lodge. Mr. +Black, I had an experience in Utica which makes it very hard for me to +contemplate obtruding myself upon him without some show of permission on +his part. We met--that is, I saw him and he saw me; but he gave me no +opportunity--that is, he did not do what he might have done, had he +felt--had he thought it best to exchange a word with me." + +"Where was this? You were not long in Utica?" + +"Only one night. But that was long enough for me to take a walk down one +of the principal thoroughfares and it was during this walk I saw him. He +was on the same side of the street as myself and rapidly coming my way, +but on his eye meeting mine--I could not mistake that unconscious flash +of recognition--he wheeled suddenly aside into a cross-street where I +dared not follow him. Of course, he did not know what hung on even a +momentary interview. That it was not for myself I--" The firelight +caught something new to shine upon--a tear on lashes which yet refused +to lower themselves. + +Mr. Black fidgeted, then put out his hand and laid it softly on hers. + +"Never mind," he grumbled; "men are--" he didn't say what; but it wasn't +anything very complimentary. "You have this comfort," said he: "the man +at the Lodge is undoubtedly Oliver. Had he gone West, he wouldn't have +been seen in Utica three days ago." + +"I have never had any doubt about that. I expect to see him to-morrow, +but I shall find it hard to utter my errand quick enough. There will be +a minute when he may misunderstand me. I dread that minute." + +"Perhaps, you can avoid it. Perhaps after you have positively identified +him I can do the rest. We will arrange it so, if we can." + +Her eyes flashed gratitude, then took on a new expression. She had +chanced to glance again at Miss Weeks, and Miss Weeks was not looking +quite natural. She was still crocheting, or trying to, but her attitude +was constrained and her gaze fixed; and that gaze was not on her work, +but directed towards a small object at her side, which Reuther +recognised from its open lid to be the little lady's work-box. + +"Something is the matter with Miss Weeks," she confided in a low whisper +to Mr. Black. "Don't turn; she's going to speak." + +But Miss Weeks did not speak. She just got up, and, with a careless +motion, stood stretching herself for a moment, then sauntered up to the +table and began showing her work to Reuther. + +"I've made a mistake," she pettishly complained. "See if you can find +out what's wrong." And, giving the work into Reuther's hand, she stood +watching, but with a face so pale that Mr. Black was not astonished when +she suddenly muttered in a very low tone: + +"Don't move or show surprise. The shade of the window is up, and +somebody is looking in from outside. I saw his face reflected in the +mirror of my work-box. It isn't any one I know, but he was looking very +fixedly this way and may be looking yet. Now I am going to snatch my +work. I don't think you're helping me one bit." + +She suited the action to the word; shook her head at Reuther and went +back to her old position on the hearth. + +"I was afraid of it," murmured Reuther. "If we take the ride to-morrow, +it will not be alone. If, on the other hand, we delay our trip, we may +be forestalled in the errand upon which so much depends. We are not the +only ones who have heard of the strange young man at Tempest Lodge." + +The answer came with quick decision. "There is but one thing for us to +do. I will tell you what it is a little later. Go and sit on the hearth +with Miss Weeks, and mind that you laugh and chat as if your minds were +quite undisturbed. I am going to have a talk with our host." + + + + +XXX + +TEMPEST LODGE + + +"What's that?" + +"That's the cry of a loon." + +"How awful! Do they often cry like that?" + +"Not often in the nighttime." + +Reuther shuddered. + +Mr. Black regarded her anxiously. Had he done wrong to let her join him +in this strange ride? + +"Shall we go back and wait for broad daylight?" he asked. + +"No, no. I could not bear the suspense of wondering whether all was +going well and the opportunity being given you of seeing and speaking to +him. We have taken such precautions--chosen so late (or should I say so +early) a start--that I'm sure we have outwitted the man who is so +watchful of us. But if we go back, we cannot slip away from him again; +and Oliver will have to submit to an humiliation it is our duty to spare +him. And the good judge, too. I don't care if the loons do cry; the +night is beautiful." + +And it was, had their hearts been in tune to enjoy it. A gibbous moon +had risen, and, inefficient as it was to light up the recesses of the +forest, it illumined the tree-tops and brought out the difference +between earth and sky. The road, known to the horses, if not to +themselves, extended like a black ribbon under their eyes, but the +patches of light which fell across it at intervals took from it the +uninterrupted gloom it must have otherwise had. Mr. Sloan, who was at +once their guide and host, promised that dawn would be upon them before +they reached the huge gully which was the one dangerous feature of the +road. But as yet there were no signs of dawn; and to Reuther, as well as +to Mr. Black, this ride through the heart of a wilderness in a darkness +which might have been that of midnight by any other measure than that of +the clock, had the effect of a dream in which one is only sufficiently +in touch with past commonplaces to say, "This is a dream and not +reality. I shall soon wake." A night to remember to the end of one's +days; an experience which did not seem real at the time and was never +looked back upon as real--and yet, one with which neither of them would +have been willing to part. + +Their guide had prophesied truly. Heralded by that long cry of the loon, +the dawn began to reveal itself in clearness of perspective and a +certain indefinable stir in the still, shrouded spaces of the woods. +Details began to appear where heretofore all had been mass. Pearl tints +proclaimed the east, and presently these were replaced by a flush of +delicate colour deepening into rose, and the every-day world of the +mighty forest was upon them with its night mystery gone. + +But not the romance of their errand, or the anxiety which both felt as +to its ultimate fulfilment. This it had been easier to face when they +themselves as well as all about them, were but moving shadows in each +other's eyes. Full sight brought full realisation. However they might +seek to cloak the fact, they could no longer disguise from themselves +that the object of their journey might not be acceptable to the man in +hiding at Tempest Lodge. Reuther's faith in him was strong, but even her +courage faltered as she thought of the disgrace awaiting him whatever +the circumstances or however he might look upon his father's imperative +command to return. + +But she did not draw rein, and the three continued to ride up and on. +Suddenly, however, one of them showed disturbance. Mr. Sloan was seen to +turn his head sharply, and in another moment his two companions heard +him say: + +"We are followed. Ride on and leave me to take a look." + +Instinctively they also glanced back before obeying. They were just +rounding the top of an abrupt hill, and expected to have an +uninterrupted view of the road behind. But the masses of foliage were as +yet too thick for them to see much but the autumnal red and yellow +spread out below them. + +"I hear them; I do not see them," remarked their guide. "Two horses are +approaching." + +"How far are we now from the Lodge?" + +"A half-hour's ride. We are just at the opening of the gully." + +"You will join us soon?" + +"As quickly as I make out who are on the horses behind us." + +Reuther and the lawyer rode on. Her cheeks had gained a slight flush, +but otherwise she looked unmoved. He was less at ease than she; for he +had less to sustain him. + +The gully, when they came to it, proved to be a formidable one. It was +not only deep but precipitous, descending with the sheerness of a wall +directly down from the road into a basin of enormous size, where trees +stood here and there in solitary majesty, amid an area of rock +forbidding to the eye and suggestive of sudden and impassable chasms. It +was like circumambulating the sinuous verge of a canyon; and for the two +miles they rode along its edge they saw no let-up in the steepness on +one side or of the almost equally abrupt rise of towering rock on the +other. It was Reuther's first experience of so precipitous a climb, and +under other circumstances she might have been timid; but in her present +heroic mood, it was all a part of her great adventure, and as such +accepted. + +The lawyer eyed her with growing admiration. He had not miscalculated +her pluck. + +As they were making a turn to gain the summit, they heard Mr. Sloan's +voice behind them. Drawing in their horses, they greeted him eagerly +when he appeared. + +"Were you right? Are we followed?" + +"That's as may be. I didn't hear or see anything more. I waited, but +nothing happened, so I came on." + +His words were surly and his looks sour; they, therefore, forebore to +question him further, especially as their keenest interest lay ahead, +rather than behind them. They were nearing Tempest Lodge. As it broke +upon their view, perched like an eagle's eyrie on the crest of a rising +peak, they drew rein, and, after a short consultation, Mr. Sloan wended +his way up alone. He was a well-known man throughout the whole region, +and would be likely to gain admittance if any one could. But all wished +the hour had been less early. + +However, somebody was up in the picturesque place. A small trail of +smoke could be seen hovering above its single chimney, and promptly upon +Mr. Sloan's approach, a rear door swung back and an old man showed +himself, but with no hospitable intent. On the contrary, he motioned the +intruder back, and shouting out some very decided words, resolutely +banged the door shut. + +Mr. Sloan turned slowly about. + +"Bad luck," he commented, upon joining his companions. "That was Deaf +Dan. He's got a warm nest here, and he's determined to keep it. 'No +visitors wanted,' was what he shouted, and he didn't even hold out his +hand when I offered him the letter." + +"Give me the letter," said Reuther. "He won't leave a lady standing out +in the cold." + +Mr. Sloan handed over the judge's message, and helped her down, and she +in turn began to approach the place. As she did so, she eyed it with the +curiosity of a hungry heart. It was a compact structure of closely +cemented stone, built to resist gales and harbour a would-be recluse, +even in an Adirondack winter. One end showed stacks of wood through its +heavily glazed windows, and between the small stable and the west door +there ran a covered way which insured communication, even when the snow +lay high about the windows. + +The place had a history which she learned later. At present all her +thoughts were on its possible occupant and the very serious question of +whether she would or would not gain admittance to him. + +Mr. Sloan had been repulsed from the west door; she would try the east. +Oliver (if Oliver it were) was probably asleep; but she would knock, and +knock, and knock; and if Deaf Dan did not open, his master soon would. + +But when she found herself in face of this simple barrier, her emotion +was so strong that she recoiled in spite of herself, and turned her face +about as if to seek strength from the magnificence of the outlook. + +But though the scene was one of splendour inconceivable, she did not see +it. Her visions were all inner ones. But these were not without their +strengthening power, as was soon shown. For presently she turned back +and was lifting her hand to the door, when it suddenly flew open and a +man appeared before her. + +It was Oliver. Oliver unkempt and with signs upon him of a night's work +of study or writing; but Oliver!--her lover once, but now just a +stranger into whose hand she must put this letter. + +She tried to stammer out her errand; but the sudden pallor, the starting +eyes--the whole shocked, almost terrified appearance of the man she was +facing, stopped her. She forgot the surprise, the incredulity of mind +with which he would naturally hail her presence at his door in a place +so remote and of such inaccessibility. She only saw that his hands had +gone up and out at sight of her, and to her sensitive soul, this looked +like a rebuff which, while expected, choked back her words and turned +her faintly flushing cheek scarlet. + +"It is not I," burst from her lips in incoherent disclaimer of his +possible thought. "I'm just a messenger. Your father--" + +"It IS you!" Quickly his hands passed across his eyes. "How--" Then his +glance, following hers, fell on the letter which she now remembered to +hold out. + +"It's the copy of a telegram," she tremblingly explained, as he +continued to gaze at it without reaching to take it. "You could not be +found in Detroit and as it was important that you should receive this +word from your father, I undertook to deliver it. I remembered your +fondness for this place and how you once said that this is where you +would like to write your book, and so I came on a venture--but not +alone--Mr. Black is with me and--" + +"Mr. Black! Who? What?" He was still staring at his father's letter; and +still had made no offer to take it. + +"Read this first," said she. + +Then he woke to the situation. He took the letter, and drawing her +inside, shut the door while he read it. She, trembling very much, did +not dare to lift her eyes to watch its effect, but she was conscious +that his back and not his face was turned her way, and that the moment +was the stillest one of her whole life. + +Then there came a rattling noise as he crushed the letter in his hand. + +"Tell me what this means," said he, but he did not turn his head as he +made this request. + +"Your father must do that," was her gentle reply. "I was only to deliver +the letter. I came--we came--thus early, because we thought--we feared +we should get no opportunity later to find you here alone. There seem to +be people on the road--whom--whom you might feel obliged to entertain +and as your father cannot wait--" + +He had wheeled about. His face confronted hers. It wore a look she did +not understand and which made him seem a stranger to her. Involuntarily +she took a step back. + +"I must be going now," said she, and fell--her physical weakness +triumphing at last over her will power. + + + + +XXXI + +ESCAPE + + +"Oliver? Where is Oliver?" + +These were Reuther's first words, as, coming to herself, she perceived +Mr. Black bending helplessly over her. + +The answer was brief, almost indifferent. Alanson Black was cursing +himself for allowing her to come to this house alone. + +"He was here a moment ago. When he saw you begin to give signs of life, +he slid out. How do you feel, my--my dear? What will your mother say?" + +"But Oliver?" She was on her feet now; she had been lying on some sort +of couch. "He must--Oh, I remember now. Mr. Black, we must go. I have +given him his father's letter." + +"We are not going till you have something to eat. Not a word. I'll--" +Why did his eye wander to the nearest window, and his words trail away +into silence? + +Reuther turned about to see. Oliver was in front, conversing earnestly +with Mr. Sloan. As they looked, he dashed back into the rear of the +house, and they heard his voice rise once or twice in some ineffectual +commands to his deaf servant, then there came a clatter and a rush from +the direction of the stable, and they saw him flash by on a gaunt but +fiery horse, and take with long bounds the road up which they had just +laboured. He had stopped to equip himself in some measure for this ride, +but not the horse, which was without saddle or any sort of bridle but a +halter strung about his neck. + +This was flight; or so it appeared to Mr. Sloan, as he watched the young +man disappear over the brow of the hill. What Mr. Black thought was not +so apparent. He had no wish to discourage Reuther whose feeling was one +of relief as her first word showed. + +"Oliver is gone. We shall not have to hurry now and perhaps if I had a +few minutes in which to rest---" + +She was on the verge of fainting again. + +And then Alanson Black showed of what stuff he was made. In ten minutes +he had bustled about the half-deserted building, and with the aid of the +dazed and uncomprehending deaf-mute, managed to prepare a cup of hot tea +and a plate of steaming eggs for the weary girl. + +After such an effort, Reuther felt obliged to eat, and she did; seeing +which, the lawyer left her for a moment and went out to interview their +guide. + +"Where's the young lady?" + +This from Mr. Sloan. + +"Eating something. Come in and have a bite; and let the horses eat, too. +She must have a rest. The young fellow went off pretty quick, eh?" + +"Ya-as." The drawl was one of doubt. "But quickness don't count. Fast or +slow, he's on his way to capture--if that's what you want to know." + +"What? We are followed then?" + +"There are men on the road; two, as I told you before. He can't get by +them--IF that's what he wants to do." + +"But I thought they fell back. We didn't hear them after you joined us." + +"No; they didn't come on. They didn't have to. This is the only road +down the mountain, and it's one you've got to follow or go tumbling over +the precipice. All they've got to do is to wait for him; and that's what +I tried to tell him, but he just shook his arm at me and rode on. He +might better have waited--for company." + +Mr. Black cast a glance behind him, saw that the door of the house was +almost closed and ventured to put another question. + +"What did he ask you when he came out here?" + +"Why we had chosen such an early hour to bring him his father's +message." + +"And what did you say?" + +"Wa'al, I said that there was another fellow down my way awful eager to +see him, too; and that you were mortal anxious to get to him first. That +was about it, wasn't it, sir?" + +"Yes. And how did he take that?" + +"He turned white, and asked me just what I meant. Then I said that some +one wanted him pretty bad, for, early as it was, this stranger was up as +soon as you, and had followed us into the mountains and might show up +any time on the road. At which he gave me a stare, then plunged back +into the house to get his hat and trot out his horse. I never saw +quicker work. But it's no use; he can't escape those men. They know it, +or they wouldn't have stopped where they did, waiting for him." + +Mr. Black recalled the aspect of the gully, and decided that Mr. Sloan +was right. There could be but one end to this adventure. Oliver would be +caught in a manifest effort to escape, and the judge's cup of sorrow and +humiliation would be full. He felt the shame of it himself; also the +folly of his own methods and of the part he had allowed Reuther to play. +Beckoning to his host to follow him, he turned towards the house. + +"Don't mention your fears to the young lady," said he. "At least, not +till we are well past the gully." + +"I shan't mention anything. Don't you be afeared of that." + +And with a simultaneous effort difficult for both, they assumed a more +cheerful air, and briskly entered the house. + +It was not until they were well upon the road back that Reuther ventured +to speak of Oliver. She was riding as far from the edge of the precipice +as possible. In descent it looked very formidable to her unaccustomed +eye. + +"This is a dangerous road for a man to ride bareback," she remarked. +"I'm terrified when I think of it, Mr. Black. Why did he go off quite so +suddenly? Is there a train he is anxious to reach? Mr. Sloan, is there a +train?" + +"Yes, Miss, there is a train." + +"Which he can get by riding fast?" + +"I've known it done!" + +"Then he is excusable." Yet her anxious glance stole ever and again to +the dizzy verge towards which she now unconsciously urged her own horse +till Mr. Black drew her aside. + +"There is nothing to fear in that direction," said he. "Oliver's horse +is to be trusted, if not himself. Cheer up, little one, we'll soon be on +more level ground and then for a quick ride and a speedy end to this +suspense." + +He was rewarded by a confiding look, after which they all fell silent. + +A half-hour's further descent, then a quick turn and Mr. Sloan, who had +ridden on before them, came galloping hastily back. + +"Wait a minute," he admonished them, putting up his hand to emphasise +the appeal. + +"Oh, what now?" cried Reuther, but with a rising head instead of a +sinking one. + +"We will see," said Mr. Black, hastening to meet their guide. "What +now?" he asked. "Have they come together? Have the detectives got him?" + +"No, not HIM; only his horse. The animal has just trotted +up--riderless." + +"Good God! the child's instinct was true. He has been thrown--" + +"No." Mr. Sloan's mouth was close to the lawyer's ear. "There is another +explanation. If the fellow is game, and anxious enough to reach the +train to risk his neck for it, there's a path he could have taken which +would get him there without his coming round this turn. I never thought +it a possible thing till I saw his horse trotting on ahead of us without +a rider." Then as Reuther came ambling up, "Young lady, don't let me +scare you, but it looks now as if the young man had taken a short cut to +the station, which, so far as I know, has never been taken but by one +man before. If you will draw up closer--here! give me hold of your +bridle. Now look back along the edge of the precipice for about half a +mile, and you will see shooting up from the gully a solitary tree whose +topmost branch reaches within a few feet of the road above." + +She looked. They were at the lower end of the gully which curved up and +away from this point like an enormous horseshoe. They could see the face +of the precipice for miles. + +"Yes," she suddenly replied, as her glance fell on the one red splash +showing against the dull grey of the cliff. + +"A leap from the road, if well-timed, would land a man among some very +stalwart branches. It's a risk and it takes nerve; but it succeeded +once, and I dare say has succeeded again." + +"But--but--if he didn't reach--didn't catch--" + +"Young lady, he's a man in a thousand. If you want the proof, look over +there." + +He was pointing again, but in a very different direction now. As her +anxious eye sought the place he indicated, her face flushed crimson with +evanescent joy. Just where the open ground of the gully melted again +into the forest, the figure of a man could be seen moving very quickly. +In another moment it had disappeared amid the foliage. + +"Straight for the station," announced Mr. Sloan; and, taking out his +watch, added quickly; "the train is not due for fifteen minutes. He'll +catch it." + +"The train south?" + +"Yes, and the train north. They pass here." + +Mr. Black turned a startled eye upon the guide. But Reuther's face was +still alight. She felt very happy. Their journey had not been for +naught. He would have six hours' start of his pursuers; he would be that +much sooner in Shelby; he would hear the accusation against him and +refute it before she saw him again. + +But Mr. Black's thoughts were less pleasing than hers. He had never had +more than a passing hope of Oliver's innocence, and now he had none at +all. The young man had fled, not in response to his father's telegram, +but under the impulse of his own fears. They would not find him in +Shelby when they returned. They might never find him anywhere again. A +pretty story to carry back to the judge. + +As he dwelt upon this thought, his reflections grew more and more +gloomy, and he had little to say till he reached the turn where the two +men still awaited them. + +In the encounter which followed no attempt was made by either party to +disguise the nature of the business which had brought them thus +together. The man whom Mr. Black took to be a Shelby detective nodded as +they met and remarked, with a quick glance at Reuther: + +"So you've come without him! I'm sorry for that. I was in hopes that I +might be spared the long ride up the mountain." + +Mr. Black limited his answer to one of his sour smiles. + +"Whose horse is this?" came in peremptory demand from the other man, +with a nod towards the animal which could now be seen idly grazing by +the wayside. "And how came it on the road alone?" + +"We can only give you these facts," rejoined the lawyer. "It came from +Tempest Lodge. It started out ahead of us with the gentleman we had gone +to visit on its back. We did not pass the gentleman on the road, and if +he has not passed you, he must have left the road somewhere on foot. He +did not go back to the Lodge." + +"Mr. Black--" + +"I am telling you the absolute truth. Make what you will of it. His +father desires him home; and sent a message. This message this young +lady undertook to deliver, and she did deliver it, with the consequences +I have mentioned. If you doubt me, take your ride. It is not an easy +one, and the only man remaining at the Lodge is deaf as a post." + +"Mr. Black has told the whole story," averred the guide. + +They looked at Reuther. + +"I have nothing to add," said she. "I have been terrified lest the +gentleman you wish to see was thrown from the horse's back over the +precipice. But perhaps he found some way of getting down on foot. He is +a very strong and daring man." + +"The tree!" ejaculated the detective's companion. He was from a +neighbouring locality and remembered this one natural ladder up the side +of the gully. + +"Yes, the tree," acknowledged Mr. Sloan. "That, or a fall. Let us hope +it was not a fall." + +As he ceased, a long screech from an approaching locomotive woke up the +echoes of the forest. It was answered by another from the opposite +direction. Both trains were on time. The relief felt by Reuther could +not be concealed. The detective noticed it. + +"I'm wasting time here," said he. "Excuse me, Mr. Black, if I push on +ahead of you. If we don't meet at the station, we shall meet in Shelby." + +Mr. Black's mouth twisted grimly. He had no doubt of the latter fact. + +Next minute, they were all cantering in the one direction; the detective +very much in the advance. + + * * * * * + +"Let me go with you to the station," entreated Reuther, as Mr. Black +held up his arms to lift her from her horse at the door of the hotel. + +But his refusal was peremptory. "You need Miss Weeks, and Miss Weeks +needs you," said he. "I'll be back in just five minutes." And without +waiting for a second pleading look, he lifted her gently off and carried +her in. + +When he returned, as he did in the time specified, he had but one word +for her. + +"Gone," said he. + +"Thank God!" she murmured and turned to Miss Weeks with a smile. + +Not having a smile to add to hers, the lawyer withdrew. + +Oliver was gone--but gone north. + + + + +XXXII + +THE VIGIL + + +When Mr. Black came into Shelby, he came alone. He was anxious to get +back; anxious to face his enemies if he had any; anxious to see Deborah +and explain. Miss Weeks and Reuther followed on more slowly; this was +better for them and better for him, and better, too, for Deborah, who +must hear his story without the distraction of her daughter's presence. + +It was dark when he stepped on to the platform, and darker still when he +rang the bell of Judge Ostrander's house. But it was not late, and his +agitation had but few minutes in which to grow, before the gate swung +wide and he felt her hand in his. + +She was expecting him. He had telegraphed the hour at which he should +arrive, and also when to look for Reuther. Consequently there was no +necessity for preliminaries, and he could ask at once for the judge and +whether he was strong enough to bear disappointment. + +Deborah's answer was certainly disconcerting. + +"I've not seen him. He admits nobody. When I enter the library, he +retreats to his bedroom. I have not even been allowed to hand him his +letters. I put them on his tray when I carry in his meals." + +"He has received letters then?" + +"Unimportant ones, yes." + +"None from Oliver?" + +"Oh, no." + +A pause. + +"Deborah?" + +Another pause. The echo of that name so uttered was too sweet in her ear +for her to cut it short by too hasty a reply. When she did speak, it was +humbly, or should I say, wistfully. + +"Yes, Mr. Black." + +"I am afraid he never will hear from Oliver. The boy gave us the slip in +the most remarkable manner. I will tell you when we get inside." + +She led him up the walk. She moved slowly, and he felt the influence of +her discouragement. But once in the lighted parlour, she turned upon him +the face he knew best--the mother face. + +"Did Reuther see him?" she asked. + +Then he told her the whole story. + +When she had heard him through, she looked about the room they were in, +with a lingering, abstracted gaze he hardly understood till he saw it +fall with an indescribable aspect of sorrow upon a picture which had +lately been found and rehung upon the wall. It was a portrait of +Oliver's mother. + +"I am disappointed," she murmured in bitter reflection to herself. "I +did not expect Oliver to clear himself, but I did expect him to face his +accusers if only for his father's sake. What am I to say now to the +judge?" + +"Nothing to-night. In the morning we will talk the whole subject over. I +must first explain myself to Andrews, and, if possible, learn his +intentions; then I shall know better what to advise." + +"Did the officer you met on your return from Tempest Lodge follow you to +Shelby?" + +"I have not seen him." + +"That is bad. He followed Oliver." + +"It was to be expected." + +"Oliver is in Canada?" + +"Undoubtedly." + +"Which means--" + +"Delay, then extradition. It's that fellow Flannagan who has brought +this upon us. The wretch knows something which forbids us to hope." + +"Alas, yes." And a silence followed, during which such entire stillness +rested upon the house that a similar thought rose in both minds. Could +it be that under this same roof, and only separated from them by a +partition, there brooded another human being helplessly awaiting a +message which would never come, and listening, but how vainly, for the +step and voice for which he hungered, though they were the prelude to +further shame and the signal for coming punishment. + +So strong was this thought in both their minds, that the shadow deepened +upon both faces, as though a presence had passed between them; and when +Mr. Black rose, as he very soon did, it was with an evident dread of +leaving her alone with this thought. + +They were lingering yet in the hall, the goodnight faltering on their +lips, when suddenly their eyes flashed together in mutual question, and +Deborah bent her ear towards the street. + +An automobile was slowing up--stopping--stopping before the gates! +Deborah turned and looked at Mr. Black. Was it the police? No, for the +automobile was starting up again--it was going. Whoever had come had +come to stay. With eyes still on those of Mr. Black, whose face showed a +sudden change, she threw her hand behind her and felt wildly about for +the door-knob. She had just grasped it--when the bell rang. Never had it +sounded so shrill and penetrating. Never had it rung quite such a +summons through this desolate house. Recoiling, she made a motion of +entreaty. + +"Go," she whispered. "Open! I cannot." + +Quickly he obeyed. She heard him pass out and down the walk, and through +the first gate. Then there came a silence, followed by the opening of +the second gate. Then, a sound like smothered greetings, followed by +quickly advancing steps and a voice she knew: + +"How is my father? Is he well? I cannot enter till I know." + +It was Oliver!--come from some distant station, or from some other line +which he had believed unwatched. Tumultuous as her thoughts were, she +dared not indulge in them for a moment, or give way to gratitude or any +other emotion. There were words to be said--words which must be uttered +on the instant and with as much imperiousness as his own. + +Throwing the door wide, she called down the steps: + +"Yes, he is well. Come in, Mr. Ostrander, and you, too, Mr. Black. +Instructions have been given me by the judge, which I must deliver at +once. He expects you, Oliver," she went on, as the two men stepped in. +"But not knowing when, he bade me say to you immediately upon your +entrance (and I am happy to be able to do this in Mr. Black's presence), +that much as he would like to be on hand to greet you, he cannot see you +to-night. You may wish to go to him--but you must restrain this wish. +Nor are you to talk, though he does not forbid you to listen. If you do +not know what has happened here, Mr. Black will tell you, but for +to-night at least, and up to a certain hour to-morrow, you are to keep +your own counsel. When certain persons whose names he has given me can +be gotten together in this house, he will join you, giving you your +first meeting in the presence of others. Afterwards he will see you +alone. If these plans distress you,--if you find the delay hard, I am to +say that it is even harder for him than it can be for you. But +circumstances compel him to act thus, and he expects you to understand +and be patient. Mr. Black, assure Mr. Ostrander that I am not likely to +overstate the judge's commands, or to add to or detract from them in the +least particular--that I am simply the judge's mouthpiece." + +"You may believe that, Mr. Ostrander." Young Ostrander bowed. + +"I have no doubt of the fact," he assured her, with an unsuccessful +effort to keep his trouble out of his voice. "But as my father allows me +some explanation, I shall be very glad to hear what has happened here to +occasion my imperative recall." + +"Do you not read the papers, Mr. Ostrander?" + +"I have not looked at one since I started upon my return." + +Mr. Black glanced at Deborah, who was slipping away. Then he made a move +towards the parlour. + +"If you will come in and sit down, Mr. Ostrander, I'll tell you what you +have every right to know." + +But when they found themselves alone together, Oliver's manner altered. + +"One moment," said he, before Mr. Black could speak. "I should like to +ask you first of all, if Miss Scoville is better. When I left you both +so suddenly at Tempest Lodge, she was not well. I--" + +"She is quite recovered, Mr. Ostrander." + +"And is here?" + +"Not yet. I came back quickly--like yourself." + +Involuntarily their glances met in a question which perhaps neither +desired to have answered. Then Oliver remarked quite simply: + +"My haste seemed warranted by my father's message. Five minutes,--one +minute even is of great importance when you have but fifteen in which to +catch a train." + +"And by such a route!" + +"You know my route." A short laugh escaped him. "I feared the +delay--possibly the interference--But why discuss these unimportant +matters! I succeeded in my efforts. I am here, at my father's command, +unattended and, as I believe, without the knowledge of any one but +yourself and Mrs. Scoville. But your reason for these hasty +summons--that is what I am ready now to hear." And he sat down, but in +such a way as to throw his face very much into the shadow. + +This was a welcome circumstance to the lawyer. His task promised to be +hard enough at the best. Black night had not offered too dark a screen +between him and the man thus suddenly called upon to face suspicions the +very shadow of which is enough to destroy a life. The hardy lawyer +shrunk from uttering the words which would make the gulf imaginatively +opening between them a real, if not impassable, one. Something about the +young man appealed to him--something apart from his relationship to the +judge--something inherent in himself. Perhaps it was the misery he +betrayed. Perhaps it was the memory of Reuther's faith in him and how +that faith must suffer when she saw him next. Instantaneous reflections; +but epoch-making in a mind like his. Alanson Black had never hesitated +before in the face of any duty, and it robbed him of confidence. But he +gave no proof of this in voice or manner, as pacing the floor in +alternate approach and retreat, he finally addressed the motionless +figure he could no longer ignore. + +"You want to know what has happened here? If you mean lately, I shall +have to explain that anything which has lately occurred to distress your +father or make your presence here desirable, has its birth in events +which date back to days when this was your home and the bond between +yourself and father the usual and natural one." + +Silence in that shadowy corner! But this the speaker had expected, and +must have exacted even if Oliver had shown the least intention of +speaking. + +"A man was killed here in those old days--pardon me if I am too +abrupt--and another man was executed for this crime. You were a boy--but +you must remember." + +Again he paused; but no more in expectation of or desire for an answer +than before. One must breathe between the blows he inflicts, even if one +is a lawyer. + +"That was twelve years ago. Not so long a time as has elapsed since you +met a waif of the streets and chastised him for some petty annoyance. +But both events, the great and the little, have been well remembered +here in Shelby; and when Mrs. Scoville came amongst us a month or so +ago, with her late but substantial proofs of her husband's innocence in +the matter of Etheridge's death, there came to her aid a man, who not +only remembered the beating he had received as a child, but certain +facts which led him to denounce by name, the party destined to bear at +this late day the onus of the crime heretofore ascribed to Scoville. +That name he wrote on bridges and walls; and one day, when your father +left the courthouse, a mob followed him, shouting loud words which I +will not repeat, but which you must understand were such as must be met +and answered when the man so assailed is Judge Ostrander. Have I said +enough? If so, raise your hand and I will desist for to-night." + +But no movement took place in the shadow cast by Oliver's figure on the +wall before which Mr. Black had paused, and presently, a voice was heard +from where he sat, saying: + +"You are too merciful. I do not want generalities but the naked truth. +What did the men shout?" + +"You have asked for a fact, and that I feel free to give you. They +shouted, 'Where is Oliver, your guilty son, Oliver? You saved him at a +poor man's expense, but we'll have him yet.' You asked me for the words, +Mr. Ostrander." + +"Yes." The pause was long, but the "Yes" came at last. Then another +silence, and then this peremptory demand: "But we cannot stop here, Mr. +Black. If I am to meet my father's wishes to-morrow, I must know the +ground upon which I stand. What evidence lies back of these shouts? If +you are my friend,--and you have shown yourself to be such,--you will +tell me the whole story. I shall say nothing more." + +Mr. Black was not walking now; he was standing stock-still and in the +shadow also. And with this space and the double shadow between them, +Alanson Black told Oliver Ostrander why the people had shouted: "We will +have him yet." + +When he had quite finished, he came into the light. He did not look in +the direction he had avoided from the first, but his voice had a +different note as he remarked: + +"I am your father's friend, and I have promised to be yours. You may +expect me here in the morning, as I am one of the few persons your +father has asked to be present at your first interview. If after this +interview you wish anything more from me, you have only to signify it. I +am blunt, but not unfeeling, Mr. Ostrander." + +A slight lift of the hand, visible now in the shadow, answered him; and +with a silent bow he left the room. + +In the passageway he met Deborah. + +"Leave him to himself," said he. "Later, perhaps, you can do something +for him." + +But she found this quite impossible. Oliver would neither eat nor sleep. +When the early morning light came, he was sitting there still. Was his +father keeping vigil also? We shall never know. + + + + +XXXIII + +THE CURTAIN LIFTED + + +Ten o'clock! and one of the five listed to be present had arrived--the +rector of the church which the Ostranders had formerly attended. + +He was ushered into the parlour by Deborah, where he found himself +received not by the judge in whose name he had been invited, but by Mr. +Black, the lawyer, who tendered him a simple good morning and pointed +out a chair. + +There was another person in the room,--a young man who stood in one of +the windows, gazing abstractedly out at the line of gloomy fence rising +between him and the street. He had not turned at the rector's approach, +and the latter had failed to recognise him. + +And so with each new arrival. He neither turned nor moved at any one's +entrance, but left it to Mr. Black to do the honours and make the best +of a situation, difficult, if not inexplicable to all of them. Nor could +it be seen that any of these men--city officials, prominent citizens and +old friends, recognised his figure or suspected his identity. Beyond a +passing glance his way, they betrayed neither curiosity nor interest, +being probably sufficiently occupied in accounting for their own +presence in the home of their once revered and now greatly maligned +compeer. Judge Ostrander, attacked through his son, was about to say or +do something which each and every one of them secretly thought had +better be left unsaid or undone. Yet none showed any disposition to +leave the place; and when, after a short, uneasy pause during which all +attempts at conversation failed, they heard a slow and weighty step +approaching through the hall, the suspense was such that no one but Mr. +Black noticed the quick whirl with which Oliver turned himself about, +nor the look of mortal anguish with which he awaited the opening of the +door and his father's entrance among them. No one noticed, I say, until, +simultaneously with the appearance of Judge Ostrander on the threshold, +a loud cry swept through the room of "Don't! don't!" and the man they +had barely noticed, flashed by them all, and fell at the judge's feet +with a smothered repetition of his appeal: "Don't, father, don't!" + +Then, each man knew why he had been summoned there, and knowing, gazed +earnestly at these two faces. Twelve years of unappeased longing, of +smothered love, rising above doubts, persisting in spite of doubts, were +concentrated into that one instant of mutual recognition. The eye of the +father was upon that of the son and that of the son upon that of the +father and for them, at least in this first instant of reunion, the +years were forgotten and sin, sorrow and on-coming doom effaced from +their mutual consciousness. + +Then the tide of life flowed back into the present, and the judge, +motioning to his son to rise, observed very distinctly: + +"DON'T is an ambiguous word, my son, and on your lips, at this juncture, +may mislead those whom I have called here to hear the truth from us and +the truth only. You have heard what happened here a few days ago. How a +long-guarded, long-suppressed suspicion--so guarded and so suppressed +that I had no intimation of its existence even, found vent at a moment +of public indignation, and I heard you, you, Oliver Ostrander, accused +to my face of having in some boyish fit of rage struck down the man for +whose death another has long since paid the penalty. This you have +already been told." + +"Yes." The word cut sharply through the silence; but the fire with which +the young man rose and faced them all showed him at his best. "But +surely, no person present believes it. No one can who knows you and the +principles in which I have been raised. This fellow whom I beat as a boy +has waited long to start this damnable report. Surely he will get no +hearing from unprejudiced and intelligent men." + +"The police have listened to him. Mr. Andrews, who is one of the +gentlemen present, has heard his story and you see that he stands here +silent, my son. And that is not all. Mrs. Scoville, who has loved you +like a mother, longs to believe in your innocence, and cannot." + +A low cry from the hall. + +It died away unheeded. + +"And Mr. Black, her husband's counsel," continued the father, in the +firm, low tones of one who for many long days and nights had schooled +himself for the duty of this hour, "shares her feeling. He has tried not +to; but he does. They have found evidences--you know them; proofs which +might not have amounted to much had it not been for the one mischievous +fact which has undermined public confidence and given point to these +attacks. I refer to the life we have led and the barriers we have +ourselves raised against our mutual intercourse. These have undone us. +To the question, 'Why these barriers?' I can find no answer but the one +which ends this struggle. Succumbing myself, I ask you to do so also. +Out of the past comes a voice--the voice of Algernon Etheridge, +demanding vengeance for his untimely end. It will not be gainsaid. Not +satisfied with the toll we have both paid in these years of suffering +and repression,--unmindful of the hermit's life I have led and of the +heart disappointments you have borne, its cry for punishment remains +insistent. Gentlemen--Hush! Oliver, it is for me to cry DON'T now--John +Scoville was a guilty man--a murderer and a thief--but he did not wield +the stick which killed Algernon Etheridge. Another hand raised that. No, +do not look at the boy. He is innocent! Look here! look here!'" And with +one awful gesture, he stood still,--while horror rose like a wave and +engulfed the room--choking back breath and speech from every living soul +there, and making a silence more awful than any sound--or so they all +felt, till his voice rose again and they heard--"You have trusted to +appearances; you must trust now to my word. I am the guilty man, not +Scoville, and not Oliver, though Oliver may have been in the ravine that +night and even handled the bludgeon I found at my feet in the recesses +of Dark Hollow." + +Then consternation spoke, and muttered cries were heard of "Madness! It +is not we who are needed here but a physician!" and dominating all, the +ringing shout: + +"You cannot save me so, father. I hated Etheridge and I slew him. +Gentlemen," he prayed in his agony, coming close into their midst, "do +not be misled for a moment by a father's devotion." + +His lifted head, his flashing eye, drew every look. Honour confronted +them in a countenance from which all reserve had melted away. No guilt +showed there; he stood among them, a heroic figure. + +Slowly, and with a dread which no man might measure, the glances which +had just devoured his young but virile countenance passed to that of the +father. They did not leave it again. "Son?" With what tenderness he +spoke, but with what a ring of desolation. "I understand your effort and +appreciate it; but it is a useless one. You cannot deceive these friends +of ours--men who have known my life. If you were in the ravine that +night, so was I. If you handled John Scoville's stick, so did I, AND +AFTER YOU! Let us not struggle for the execration of mankind; let it +fall where it rightfully belongs. It can bring no sting keener than that +to which my breast has long been subject. Or--" and here his tones sank, +in a last recognition of all he was losing forever, "if there is +suffering in a once proud man flinging from him the last rag of respect +with which he sought to cover the hideous nakedness of an unsuspected +crime, it is lost in the joy of doing justice to the son who would take +advantage of circumstances to assume his father's guilt." + +But Oliver, with a fire which nothing could damp, spoke up again: + +"Gentlemen, will you see my father so degrade himself? He has dwelt so +continually upon the knowledge which separated us a dozen years ago that +he no longer can discriminate between the guilty and the innocent. Would +he have sat in court; would he have uttered sentences; would he have +kept his seat upon the bench for all these years, if he had borne within +his breast this secret of personal guilt? No. It is not in human nature +to play such a part. I was guilty--and I fled. Let the act speak for +itself. The respect due my father must not be taken from him." + +Confession and counter-confession! What were they to think! Alanson +Black, aghast at this dread dilemma, ran over in his mind all that had +led him to accept Oliver's guilt as proven, and then, in immediate +opposition to it, the details of that old trial and the judge's +consequent life; and, voicing the helpless confusion of the others, +observed with forced firmness: + +"We have heard much of Oliver's wanderings in the ravine on that fatal +night, but nothing of yours, Judge Ostrander. It is not enough for you +to say that you were there; you must prove it." + +"The proof is in my succumbing to the shock of hearing Oliver's name +associated with this crime. Had he been guilty--had our separation come +through his crime and not through my own, I should have been prepared +for such a contingency, and not overwhelmed by it." + +"And were you not prepared?" + +"No, before God!" + +The gesture accompanying this oath was a grand one, convincing in its +fervour, its majesty and power. + +But facts are stubborn things, and while most of those present were +still thrilling under the effect of this oath, the dry voice of District +Attorney Andrews was heard for the first time, in these words: + +"Why, then, did you, on the night of Bela's death, stop on your way +across the bridge to look back upon Dark Hollow and cry in the bitterest +tones which escape human lips, 'Oliver! Oliver! Oliver!' You were heard +to speak this name, Judge Ostrander," he hastily put in, as the +miserable father raised his hand in ineffectual protest. "A man was +lurking in the darkness behind you, who both saw and heard you. He may +not be the most prepossessing of witnesses, but we cannot discredit his +story." + +"Mr. Andrews, you have no children. To the man who has, I make my last +appeal. Mr. Renfrew, you know the human heart both as a father and a +pastor. Do you find anything unnatural in a guilty soul bemoaning its +loss rather than its sin, in the spot which recalled both to his +overburdened spirit?" + +"No." + +The word came sharply, and it sounded decisive; but the ones which +followed from Mr. Andrews were no less so. + +"That is not enough. We want evidence, actual evidence that you are not +playing the part your son ascribes to you." + +The judge's eyes glared, then suddenly and incomprehensively softened +till the quick fear that his mind as well as his memory had gone astray, +vanished in a feeling none of them could have characterised, but which +gave to them all an expression of awe. + +"I have such evidence," announced the judge. "Come." + +Turning, he stepped into the hall. Oliver, with bended head and a +discouraged mien, quickly followed. Alanson Black and the others, +casting startled and inquiring looks at each other, brought up the rear. +Deborah Scoville was nowhere to be seen. + +At the door of his own room, the judge paused, and with his hand on the +curtain, remarked with unexpected composure: "You have all wondered, and +others with you why for the last ten years I have kept the gates of my +house shut against every comer. I am going to show you." + +And with no further word or look, scarcely even giving attention to +Oliver's anguished presence, he led them into the study and from there +on to that inner door known and talked of through the town as the door +of mystery. This he slowly opened with the key he took from his pocket; +then, pausing with the knob in his hand, he said: + +"In the years which are past, but two persons beside myself have crossed +this threshold, and these only under my eye. Its secret was for my own +breast. Judge what my remorse has been; judge the power of my own secret +self-condemnation, by what you see here." + +And, entering, he reached up, and pulled aside the carpet he had strung +up over one end of the room, disclosing amid a number of loosened +boards, the barred cell of a condemned convict. + + * * * * * + +"This was my bed, gentlemen, till a stranger coming into my home, made +such an acknowledgment of my sin impossible!" + + + + +XXXIV + +DARK HOLLOW + + +Later, when the boards he had loosened in anticipation of this hour were +all removed, they came upon a packet of closely written words hidden in +the framework of the bed. + +It read as follows: + + * * * * * + +Whosoever lays hands on this MS. will already be acquainted with my +crime. If he would also know its cause and the full story of my +hypocrisy, let him read these lines written, as it were, with my heart's +blood. + +I loved Algernon Etheridge; I shall never have a dearer friend. His odd +ways, his lank, possibly ungainly figure crowned by a head of scholarly +refinement, his amiability when pleased, his irascibility when crossed, +formed a character attractive to me from its very contradictions; and +after my wife's death and before my son Oliver reached a companionable +age, it was in my intercourse with this man I found my most solid +satisfaction. + +Yet we often quarrelled. His dogmatism frequently ran counter to my +views, and, being myself a man of quick and violent temper, hard words +sometimes passed between us, to be forgotten the next minute in a +hand-shake, or some other token of mutual esteem. These dissensions--if +such they could be called--never took place except in the privacy of his +study or mine. We thought too much of each other to display our +differences of opinion abroad or even in the presence of Oliver; and +however heated our arguments or whatever our topic we invariably parted +friends, till one fateful night. + +O God! that years of repentance, self-hatred and secret immolation can +never undo the deed of an infuriated moment. Eternity may console, but +it can never make me innocent of the blood of my heart's brother. + +We had had our usual wordy disagreement over some petty subject in which +he was no nearer wrong nor I any nearer right than we had been many +times before; but for some reason I found it harder to pardon him. +Perhaps some purely physical cause lay back of this; perhaps the nervous +irritation incident upon a decision then pending in regard to Oliver's +future, heightened my feelings and made me less reasonable than usual. +The cause does not matter, the result does. For the first time in our +long acquaintance, I let Algernon Etheridge leave me, without any +attempt at conciliation. + +If only I had halted there! If, at sight of my empty study, I had not +conceived the mad notion of waylaying him at the bridge for the +hand-shake I missed, I might have been a happy man now, and Oliver--But +why dwell upon these might-have-beens! What happened was this: + +Disturbed in mind, and finding myself alone in the house, Oliver having +evidently gone out while we two were disputing, I decided to follow out +the impulse I have mentioned. Leaving by the rear, I went down the lane +to the path which serves as a short cut to the bridge. That I did this +unseen by anybody is not so strange when you consider the hour, and how +the only person then living in the lane was, in all probability, in her +kitchen. It would have been better for me, little as I might have +recognised it at the time, had she been where she could have witnessed +both my going and coming and faced me with the fact. + +John Scoville, in his statement, says that after giving up his search +for his little girl, he wandered up the ravine before taking the path +back which led him through Dark Hollow. This was false, as well as the +story he told of leaving his stick by the chestnut tree in the gully at +foot of Ostrander Lane. For I was on the spot, and I know the route by +which he reached Dark Hollow and also through whose agency the stick +came to be there. + +Read, and learn with what tricks the devil beguiles us men. + +I was descending this path, heavily shadowed, as you know, by a skirting +of closely growing trees and bushes, when just where it dips into the +Hollow, I heard the sound of a hasty foot come crashing up through the +underbrush from the ravine and cross the path ahead of me. A turn in the +path prevented me from seeing the man himself, but as you will perceive +and as I perceived later when circumstances recalled it to my mind, I +had no need to see him to know who it was or with what intent he took +this method of escape from the ravine into the fields leading to the +highway. Scoville's stick spoke for him, the stick which I presently +tripped over and mechanically picked up, without a thought of the +desperate use to which I was destined to put it. + +Etheridge was coming. I could hear his whistle on Factory Road. There +was no mistaking it. It was an unusually shrill one and had always been +a cause of irritation to me, but at this moment it was more; it roused +every antagonistic impulse within me. He whistling like a galliard, +after a parting which had dissatisfied me to such an extent that I had +come all this distance to ask his pardon and see his old smile again! +Afterwards, long afterwards, I was able to give another interpretation +to his show of apparent self-satisfaction, but then I saw nothing but +the contrast it offered to my own tender regrets, and my blood began to +boil and my temper rise to such a point that recrimination took the +place of apology when in another moment we came together in the open +space between the end of the bridge and Dark Hollow. + +He was in no better mood than myself to encounter insult, and what had +been a simple difference between us flamed into a quarrel which reached +its culmination when he mentioned Oliver's name with a taunt, which the +boy, for all his obstinate clinging to his journalistic idea, did not +deserve. + +Knowing my own temper, I drew back into the Hollow. + +He followed me. + +I tried to speak. + +He took the word out of my mouth. This may have been with the intent of +quelling my anger, but the tone was rasping, and noting this and not his +words, my hand tightened insensibly about the stick which the devil (or +John Scoville) had put in my hand. Did he see this, or was he prompted +by some old memory of boyish quarrels that he should give utterance to +that quick, sharp laugh of scorn! I shall never know, but ere the sound +had ceased, the stick was whirling over my head--there came a crash and +he fell. My friend! My friend! + +Next moment the earth seemed too narrow, the heavens too contracted for +my misery. That he was dead--that my blow had killed him, I never +doubted for an instant. I knew it, as we know the face of Doom when once +it has risen upon us. Never, never again would this lump of clay, which +a few minutes before had filled the Hollow with shrillest whistling, +breathe or think or speak. He was dead, DEAD, DEAD!--And I? What was I? + +The name which no man hears unmoved, no amount of repetition makes easy +to the tongue or welcome to the ear!... the name which I had heard +launched in full forensic eloquence so many times in accusation against +the wretches I had hardly regarded as being in the same human class as +myself, rang in my ear as though intoned from the very mouth of hell. I +could not escape it. I should never be able to escape it again. Though I +was standing in a familiar scene--a scene I had known and frequented +from childhood, I felt myself as isolated from my past and as completely +set apart from my fellows as the shipwrecked mariner tossed to +precarious foot-hold on his wave-dashed rock. I forgot that other +criminals existed. In that one awful moment I was in my own eyes the +only blot upon the universe--the sole inhabitant of the new world into +which I had plunged--the world of crime--the world upon which I had sat +in judgment before I knew-- + +What broke the spell? A noise? No, I heard no noise. The sense of some +presence near, if not intrusive? God knows; all I can say is that, +drawn, by some other will than my own, I found my glance travelling up +the opposing bluff till at its top, framed between the ragged wall and +towering chimney of Spencer's Folly, I saw the presence I had dreaded, +the witness who was to undo me. + +It was a woman--a woman with a little child in hand. I did not see her +face, for she was just on the point of turning away from the dizzy +verge, but nothing could have been plainer than the silhouette which +these two made against the flush of that early evening sky. I see it yet +in troubled dreams and desperate musings. I shall see it always; for +hard upon its view, fear entered my soul, horrible, belittling fear, +torturing me not with a sense of guilt but of its consequences. I had +slain a man to my hurt, I a judge, just off the Bench; and soon ... +possibly before I should see Oliver again ... I should be branded from +end to end of the town with that name which had made such havoc in my +mind when I first saw Algernon Etheridge lying stark before me. + +I longed to cry out--to voice my despair in the spot where my sin had +found me out; but my throat had closed, and the blood in my veins ceased +flowing. As long as I could catch a glimpse of this woman's fluttering +skirt as she retreated through the ruins, I stood there, self-convicted, +above the man I had slain, staring up at that blotch of shining sky +which was as the gate of hell to me. Not till their two figures had +disappeared and it was quite clear again did the instinct of +self-preservation return, and with it the thought of flight. + +But where could I fly? No spot in the wide world was secret enough to +conceal me now. I was a marked man. Better to stand my ground, and take +the consequences, than to act the coward's part and slink away like +those other men of blood I had so often sat in judgment upon. + +Had I but followed this impulse! Had I but gone among my fellows, shown +them the mark of Cain upon my forehead, and prayed, not for indulgence, +but punishment, what days of gnawing misery I should have been spared! + +But the horror of what lay at my feet drove me from the Hollow and drove +me the wrong way. As my steps fell mechanically into the trail down +which I had come in innocence and kindly purpose only a few minutes +before, a startling thought shot through my benumbed mind. The woman had +shown no haste in her turning! There had been a naturalness in her +movement, a dignity and a grace which spoke of ease, not shock. What if +she had not seen! What if my deed was as yet unknown! Might I not have +time for--for what? I did not stop to think; I just pressed on, saying +to myself, "Let Providence decide. If I meet any one before I reach my +own door, my doom is settled. If I do not--" + +And I did not. As I turned into the lane from the ravine I heard a sound +far down the slope, but it was too distant to create apprehension, and I +went calmly on, forcing myself into my usual leisurely gait, if only to +gain some control over my own emotions before coming under Oliver's eye. + +That sound I have never understood. It could not have been Scoville +since in the short time which had passed, he could not have fled from +the point where I heard him last into the ravine below Ostrander Lane. +But if not he, who was it? Or if it was he, and some other hand threw +his stick across my path, whose was this hand and why have we never +heard anything about it? It is a question which sometimes floats through +my mind, but I did not give it a thought then. I was within sight of +home and Oliver's possible presence; and all other dread was as nothing +in comparison to what I felt at the prospect of meeting my boy's eye. My +boy's eye! my greatest dread then, and my greatest dread still! In my +terror of it I walked as to my doom. + +The house which I had left empty, I found empty; Oliver had not yet +returned. The absolute stillness of the rooms seemed appalling. +Instinctively, I looked up at the clock. It had stopped. Not at the +minute--I do not say it was at the minute--but near, very near the time +when from an innocent man I became a guilty one. Appalled at the +discovery, I fled to the front. Opening the door, I looked out. Not a +creature in sight, and not a sound to be heard. The road was as lonely +and seemingly as forsaken as the house. Had time stopped here too? Were +the world and its interests at a pause in horror of my deed? For a +moment I believed it; then more natural sensations intervened and, +rejoicing at this lack of disturbance where disturbance meant discovery, +I stepped inside again and went and sat down in my own room. + +My own room! Was it mine any longer? Its walls looked strange; the petty +objects of my daily handling, unfamiliar. The change in myself infected +everything I saw. I might have been in another man's house for all +connection these things seemed to have with me or my life. Like one set +apart on an unapproachable shore, I stretched hands in vain towards all +that I had known and all that had been of value to me. + +But as the minutes passed, as the hands of the clock I had hastily +rewound moved slowly round the dial, I began to lose this feeling. Hope +which I thought quite dead slowly revived. Nothing had happened, and +perhaps nothing would. Men had been killed before, and the slayer passed +unrecognised. Why might it not be so in my case? If the woman continued +to remain silent; if for any reason she had not witnessed the blow or +the striker, who else was there to connect me with an assault committed +a quarter of a mile away? No one knew of the quarrel; and if they did, +who could be so daring as to associate one of my name with an action so +brutal? A judge slay his friend! It would take evidence of a very marked +character to make even my political enemies believe that. + +As the twilight deepened I rose from my seat and lit the gas. I must not +be found skulking in the dark. Then I began to count the ticks measuring +off the hour. If thirty minutes more passed without a rush from without, +I might hope. If twenty?--if ten?--then it was five! then it was--Ah, at +last! The gate had clanged to. They were coming. I could hear +steps--voices--a loud ring at the bell. Laying down the pen I had taken, +up mechanically, I moved slowly towards the front. Should I light the +hall gas as I went by? It was a natural action, and, being natural, +would show unconcern. But I feared the betrayal which my ashy face and +trembling hands might make. Agitation after the news was to be expected, +but not before! So I left the hall dark when I opened the door. + +And thus decided my future. + +For in the faces of the small crowd which blocked the doorway, I +detected nothing but commiseration; and when a voice spoke and I heard +Oliver's accents surcharged with nothing more grievous than pity, I +realised that my secret was as yet unshared, and seeing that no man +suspected me, I forebore to declare my guilt to any one. + +This sudden restoration from soundless depths into the pure air of +respect and sympathy confused me; and beyond the words KILLED! STRUCK +DOWN BY THE BRIDGE! I heard little, till slowly, dully like the call of +a bell issuing from a smothering mist, I caught the sound of a name and +then the words, "He did it just for the watch;" which hardly conveyed +meaning to me, so full was I of Oliver's look and Oliver's tone and the +way his arm supported me as he chided them for their abruptness and +endeavoured to lead me away. + +But the name! It stuck in my ear and gradually it dawned upon my +consciousness that another man had been arrested for my crime and that +the safety, the reverence and the commiseration that were so dear to me +had been bought at a price no man of honour might pay. + +But I was no longer a man of honour. I was a wretched criminal swaying +above a gulf of infamy in which I had seen others swallowed but had +never dreamed of being engulfed myself. I never thought of letting +myself go--not at this crisis--not while my heart was warm with its +resurgence into the old life. + +And so I let pass this second opportunity for confession. Afterwards, it +was too late--or seemed too late to my demoralised judgment. + +My first real awakening to the extraordinary horrors of my position was +when I realised that circumstances were likely to force me into +presiding over the trial of the man Scoville. This I felt to be beyond +even my rapidly hardening conscience. I made great efforts to evade it, +but they all failed. Then I feigned sickness, only to realise that my +place would be taken by Judge Grosvenor, a notoriously prejudiced man. +If he sat, it would go hard with the prisoner, and I wanted the prisoner +acquitted. I had no grudge against John Scoville. I was grateful to him. +By his own confession he was a thief, but he was no murderer, and his +bad repute had stood me in good stead. Attention had been so drawn to +him by the circumstances in which the devil had entangled him, that it +had never even glanced my way and now never would. Of course, I wanted +to save him, and if the only help I could now give him was to sit as +judge upon his case, then would I sit as judge whatever mental torture +it involved. + +Sending for Mr. Black, I asked him point-blank whether in face of the +circumstance that the victim of this murder was my best friend, he would +not prefer to plead his case before Judge Grosvenor. He answered no: +that he had more confidence in my equity even under these circumstances +than in that of my able, but headstrong, colleague; and prayed me to get +well. He did not say that he expected me on this very account to show +even more favour towards his client than I might otherwise have done, +but I am sure that he meant it; and, taking his attitude as an omen, I +obeyed his injunction and was soon well enough to take my seat upon the +Bench. + +No one will expect me to enlarge upon the sufferings of that time. By +some I was thought stoical; by others, a prey to such grief that only my +duty as judge kept me to my task. Neither opinion was true. What men saw +facing them from the Bench was an automaton wound up to do so much work +each day. The real Ostrander was not there, but stood, an unseen +presence at the bar, undergoing trial side by side with John Scoville, +for a crime to make angels weep and humanity hide its head: hypocrisy! + +But the days went by and the inexorable hour drew nigh for the accused +man's release or condemnation. Circumstances were against him--so was +his bearing which I alone understood. If, as all felt, it was that of a +guilty man, it was so because he had been guilty in intent if not in +fact. He had meant to attack Etheridge. He had run down the ravine for +that purpose, knowing my old friend's whistle and envying him his watch. +Or why his foolish story of having left his stick behind him at the +chestnut? But the sound of my approaching steps higher up on the path +had stopped him in mid-career and sent him rushing up the slope ahead of +me. When he came back after a short circuit of the fields beyond, it was +to find his crime forestalled and by the very weapon he had thrown into +the Hollow as he went skurrying by. It was the shock of this discovery, +heightened by the use he made of it to secure the booty thus thrown in +his way without crime, which gave him the hang-dog look we all noted. +That there were other reasons--that the place recalled another scene of +brutality in which intention had been followed by act, I did not then +know. It was sufficient to me then that my safety was secured by his own +guilty consciousness and the prevarications into which it led him. +Instead of owning up to the encounter he had so barely escaped, he +confined himself to the simple declaration of having heard voices +somewhere near the bridge, which to all who know the ravine appeared +impossible under the conditions named. + +Yet, for all these incongruities and the failure of his counsel to +produce any definite impression by the prisoner's persistent denial of +having whittled the stick or even of having carried it into Dark Hollow, +I expected a verdict in his favour. Indeed, I was so confident of it +that I suffered less during the absence of the jury than at any other +time, and when they returned, with that air of solemn decision which +proclaims unanimity of mind and a ready verdict, I was so prepared for +his acquittal that for the first time since the opening of the trial, I +felt myself a being of flesh and blood, with human sentiments and hopes. +And it was: + +"Guilty!" + +When I woke to a full realisation of what this entailed (for I must have +lost consciousness for a minute, though no one seemed to notice), the +one fact staring me in the face--staring as a live thing stares--was +that it would devolve upon me to pronounce his sentence; upon me, +Archibald Ostrander, an automaton no longer, but a man realising to the +full his part in this miscarriage of justice. + +Somehow, strange as it may appear, I had thought little of this +possibility previous to this moment. I found myself upon the brink of +this new gulf before the dizziness of my escape from the other had fully +passed. Do you wonder that I recoiled, sought to gain time, put off +delivering the sentence from day to day? I had sinned,--sinned +irredeemably--but there are depths of infamy beyond which a man cannot +go. I had reached that point. Chaos confronted me, and in contemplation +of it, I fell ill. + +What saved me? A new discovery, and the loving sympathy of my son +Oliver. One night--a momentous one to me--he came to my room and, +closing the door behind him, stood with his back to it, contemplating me +in a way that startled me. + +What had happened? What lay behind this new and penetrating look, this +anxious and yet persistent manner? I dared not think. I dared not yield +to the terror which must follow thought. Terror blanches the cheek and +my cheek must never blanch under anybody's scrutiny. Never, never, so +long as I lived. + +"Father,"--the tone quieted me, for I knew from its gentleness that he +was hesitating to speak more on his own account than on mine--"you are +not looking well; this thing worries you. I hate to see you like this. +Is it just the loss of your old friend, or--or--" + +He faltered, not knowing how to proceed. There was nothing strange in +this. There could not have been much encouragement in my expression. I +was holding on to myself with much too convulsive a grasp. + +"Sometimes I think," he recommenced, "that you don't feel quite sure of +this man Scoville's guilt. Is that so? Tell me, father." + +I did not know what to make of him. There was no shrinking from me; no +conscious or unconscious accusation in voice or look, but there was a +desire to know, and a certain latent resolve behind it all that marked +the line between obedient boyhood and thinking, determining man. With +all my dread--a dread so great I felt the first grasp of age upon my +heart-strings at that moment--I recognised no other course than to meet +this inquiry of his with the truth--that is, with just so much of the +truth as was needed. No more, not one jot more. I, therefore, answered, +and with a show of self-possession at which I now wonder: + +"You are not far from right, Oliver. I have had moments of doubt. The +evidence, as you must have noticed, is purely circumstantial." + +"But a jury has convicted him." + +"Yes." + +"On the evidence you mention?" + +"Yes." + +"What evidence would satisfy YOU? What would YOU consider a conclusive +proof of guilt?" + +I told him in the set phrases of my profession. + +"Then," he declared as I finished, "you may rest easy as to this man's +right to receive a sentence of death." + +I could not trust my ears. + +"I know from personal observation," he proceeded, approaching me with a +firm step, "that he is not only capable of the crime for which he has +been convicted, but that he has actually committed one under similar +circumstances, and possibly for the same end." + +And he told me the story of that night of storm and bloodshed,--a story +which will be found lying near this, in my alcove of shame and +contrition. + +It had an overwhelming effect upon me. I had been very near death. +Suicide must have ended the struggle in which I was engaged, had not +this knowledge of actual and unpunished crime come to ease my +conscience. John Scoville was worthy of death, and, being so, should +receive the full reward of his deed. I need hesitate no longer. + +That night I slept. + +But there came a night when I did not. After the penalty had been paid +and to most men's eyes that episode was over, I turned the first page of +that volume of slow retribution which is the doom of the man who sins +from impulse, and has the recoil of his own nature to face relentlessly +to the end of his days. + +Scoville was in his grave. + +I was alive. + +Scoville had shot a man for his money. + +I had struck a man down in my wrath. + +Scoville's widow and little child must face a cold and unsympathetic +world, with small means and disgrace rising, like a wall, between them +and social sympathy, if not between them and the actual means of living. + +Oliver's future faced him untouched. No shadow lay across his path to +hinder his happiness or to mar his chances. + +The results were unequal. I began to see them so, and feel the gnawing +of that deathless worm whose ravages lay waste the breast, while hand +and brain fulfil their routine of work, as though all were well and the +foundations of life unshaken. + +I suffered as only cowards suffer. I held on to honour; I held on to +home; I held on to Oliver, but with misery for my companion and a +self-contempt which nothing could abate. Each time I mounted the Bench, +I felt a tug at my arm as of a visible, restraining presence. Each time +I returned to my home and met the clear eye of Oliver beaming upon me +with its ever growing promise of future comradeship, I experienced a +rebellion against my own happiness which opened my eyes to my own nature +and its inevitable demand. I must give up Oliver; or yield my honours, +make a full confession and accept whatever consequences it might bring. +I am a proud man, and the latter alternative was beyond me. With each +passing day, the certainty of this became more absolute and more fixed. +In every man's nature there lurk possibilities of action which he only +recognises under stress, also impossibilities which stretch like an iron +barrier between him and the excellence he craves. I had come up against +such an impossibility. I could forego pleasure, travel, social +intercourse, and even the companionship of the one being in whom all my +hopes centred, but I could not, of my own volition, pass from the +judge's bench to the felon's cell. There I struck the immovable,--the +impassable. + +I decided in one awful night of renunciation that I would send Oliver +out of my life. + +The next day I told him abruptly ... hurting him to spare myself ... +that I had decided after long and mature thought to yield to his desire +for journalism, and that I would start him in his career and maintain +him in it for three years if he would subscribe to the following +conditions: + +They were the hardest a loving father ever imposed upon a dutiful and +loving son. + +First: he was to leave home immediately ... within a few hours, in fact. + +Secondly: he was to regard all relations between us as finished; we were +to be strangers henceforth in every particular save that of the money +obligation already mentioned. + +Thirdly: he was never to acknowledge this compact, or to cast any slur +upon the father whose reasons for this apparently unnatural conduct were +quite disconnected with any fault of his or any desire to punish or +reprove. + +Fourthly: he was to pray for his father every night of his life before +he slept. + +Was this last a confession? Had I meant it to be such? If so, it missed +its point. It awed but did not enlighten him. I had to contend with his +compunctions, as well as with his grief and dismay. It was an hour of +struggle on his part and of implacable resolution on mine. Nothing but +such hardness on my part would have served me. Had I faltered once he +would have won me over, and the tale of my sleepless nights been +repeated. I did not falter; and when the midnight stroke rang through +the house that night, it separated by its peal, a sin-beclouded but +human past from a future arid with solitude and bereft of the one +possession to retain which my sin had been hidden. + +I was a father without a son--as lonely and as desolate as though the +separation between us were that of the grave I had merited and so weakly +shunned. + +And thus I lived for a year. + +But I was not yet satisfied. + +The toll I had paid to Grief did not seem to me a sufficient punishment +for a crime which entailed imprisonment if not death. How could I insure +for myself the extreme punishment which my peace demanded, without +bringing down upon me the full consequences I refused to accept. + +You have seen to-day how I ultimately answered this question. A +convict's bed! a convict's isolation. + +Bela served me in this; Bela who knew my secret and knowing continued to +love me. He gathered up these rods singly and in distant places and set +them up across the alcove in my room. He had been a convict once +himself. + +Being now in my rightful place, I could sleep again. + +But after some weeks of this, fresh fears arose. An accident was +possible. For all Bela's precautions, some one might gain access to this +room. This would mean the discovery of my secret. Some new method must +be devised for securing me absolutely against intrusion. Entrance into +my simple, almost unguarded cottage must be made impossible. A close +fence should replace the pickets now surrounding it--a fence with a gate +having its own lock. + +And this fence was built. + +This should have been enough. But guilt has terrors unknown to +innocence. One day I caught a small boy peering through an infinitesimal +crack in the fence, and, remembering the window grilled with iron with +which Bela had replaced the cheerful casement in my den of punishment, I +realised how easily an opening might be made between the boards for the +convenience of a curious eye anxious to penetrate the mystery of my +seclusion. + +And so it came about that the inner fence was put up. + +This settled my position in the town. No more visits. All social life +was over. + +It was meet. I was satisfied at last. I could now give my whole mind to +my one remaining duty. I lived only while on the Bench. + + March Fifth, 1898. + + There is a dream which comes to me often: a vision which I often + see. + + It is that of two broken and irregular walls standing apart against + a background of roseate sky. Between these walls the figures of a + woman and child, turning about to go. + + The bridge I never see, nor the face of the man who died for my + sin; but this I see always: the gaunt ruins of Spencer's Folly and + the figure of a woman leading away a little child. + + That woman lives. I know now who she is. Her testimony was uttered + before me in court, and was not one to rouse my apprehensions. My + crime was unwitnessed by her, and for years she has been a stranger + to this town. But I have a superstitious horror of seeing her + again, while believing that the day will come when I shall do so. + When this occurs,--when I look up and find her in my path, I shall + know that my sin has found me out and that the end is near. + + 1909 + + O shade of Algernon Etheridge, unforgetting and unforgiving! The + woman has appeared! She stood in this room to-day. Verily, years + are nothing with God. + + Added later. + + I thought I knew what awaited me if my hour ever came. But who can + understand the ways of Providence or where the finger of + retributive Justice will point. It is Oliver's name and not mine + which has become the sport of calumny. Oliver's! Could the irony of + life go further! OLIVER'S! + + There is nothing against him, and such folly must soon die out; but + to see doubt in Mrs. Scoville's eyes is horrible in itself and to + eliminate it I may have to show her Oliver's account of that + long-forgotten night of crime in Spencer's Folly. It is naively + written and reveals a clean, if reticent, nature; but that its + effect may be unquestionable I will insert a few lines to cover any + possible misinterpretation of his manner or conduct. There is an + open space, and our handwritings were always strangely alike. Only + our e's differed, and I will be careful with the e's. + + HER confidence must be restored at all hazards. + +My last foolish attempt has undone me. Nothing remains now but that +sacrifice of self which should have been made twelve years ago. + + + + +XXXV + +SUNSET + + +"I do not wish to seem selfish, Oliver, but sit a little nearer the +window where I can see you whenever I open my eyes. Twelve years is a +long time to make up, and I have such a little while in which to do it." + +Oliver moved. The moisture sprang to his eyes as he did so. He had +caught a glimpse of the face on the pillow and the changes made in a +week were very apparent. Always erect, his father had towered above them +then even in his self-abasement, but he looked now as though twenty +years, instead of a few days, had passed over his stately head and bowed +his incomparable figure. And not that alone. His expression was +different. Had Oliver not seen him in his old likeness for that one +terrible half-hour, he would not know these features, so sunken, yet so +eloquent with the peace of one for whom all struggle is over, and the +haven of his long rest near. + +The heart, which had held unflinchingly to its task through every stress +of self-torture, succumbed under the relief of confession, and as he +himself had said, there was but little time left him to fill his eyes +and heart with the sight of this strong man who had replaced his boy +Oliver. + +He had hungered so for his presence even in those days of final +shrinking and dismay. And now, the doubts, the dread, the inexpressible +humiliation are all in the past and there remains only this,--to feast +his eyes where his heart has so long feasted, and to thank God for the +blessedness of a speedy going, which has taken the sword from the hand +of Justice and saved Oliver the anguished sight of a father's public +humiliation. + +Had he been able at this moment to look beyond the fences which his fear +had reared, he would have seen at either gate a silent figure guarding +the walk, and recalled, perhaps, the horror of other days when at the +contemplation of such a prospect, his spirit recoiled upon itself in +unimaginable horror and revolt. And yet, who knows! Life's passions fade +when the heart is at peace. And Archibald Ostrander's heart was at +peace. Why, his next words will show. + +"Oliver"--his voice was low but very distinct, "never have a secret; +never hide within your bosom a thought you fear the world to know. If +you've done wrong--if you have disobeyed the law either of God or +man--seek not to hide what can never be hidden so long as God reigns or +men make laws. I have suffered, as few men have suffered and kept their +reason intact. Now that my wickedness is known, the whole page of my +life defaced, content has come again. I am no longer a deceiver, my very +worst is known." + +"Oliver?"--This some minutes later. "Are we alone?" + +"Quite alone, father. Mrs. Scoville is busy and Reuther--Reuther is in +the room above. I can hear her light step overhead." + +The judge was silent. He was gazing wistfully at the wall where hung the +portrait of his young wife. He was no longer in his own room, but in the +cheery front parlour. This Deborah had insisted upon. There was, +therefore, nothing to distract him from the contemplation I have +mentioned. + +"There are things I want to say to you. Not many; you already know my +story. But I do not know yours, and I cannot die till I do. What took +you into the ravine that evening, Oliver, and why, having picked up the +stick, did you fling it from you and fly back to the highway? For the +reason I ascribed to Scoville? Tell me, that no cloud may remain between +us. Let me know your heart as well as you now know mine." + +The reply brought the blood back into his fading cheek. + +"Father, I have already explained all this to Mr. Andrews, and now I +will explain it to you. I never liked Mr. Etheridge as well as you did, +and I brooded incessantly in those days over the influence which he +seemed to exert over you in regard to my future career. But I never +dreamed of doing him a harm, and never supposed that I could so much as +attempt any argument with him on my own behalf till that very night of +infernal complications and coincidences. The cause of this change was as +follows: I had gone up stairs, you remember, leaving you alone with him +as I knew you desired. How I came to be in the room above I don't +remember, but I was there and leaning out of the window directly over +the porch when you and Mr. Etheridge came out and stood in some final +debate on the steps below. He was talking and you were listening, and +never shall I forget the effect his words and tones had upon me. I had +supposed him devoted to you, and here he was addressing you tartly and +in an ungracious manner which bespoke a man very different from the one +I had been taught to look upon as superior. The awe of years yielded +before this display, and finding him just human like the rest of us, the +courage which I had always lacked in approaching him took instant +possession of me, and I determined with a boy's unreasoning impulse to +subject him to a personal appeal not to add his influence to the +distaste you at present felt for the career upon which I had set my +heart. Nothing could have been more foolish and nothing more natural, +perhaps, than the act which followed. I ran down into the ravine with +the wild intention, so strangely duplicated in yourself a few minutes +later, of meeting and pleading my cause with him at the bridge, but +unlike you, I took the middle of the ravine for my road and not the +secluded path at the side. It was this which determined our fate, +father, for here I ran up against the chestnut tree, saw the stick and, +catching it up without further thought than of the facility it offered +for whittling, started with it down the ravine. Scoville was not in +sight. The moment was the one when he had quit looking for Reuther and +wandered away up the ravine. I have thought since that perhaps the +glimpse he had got of his little one peering from the scene of his crime +may have stirred even his guilty conscience and sent him off on this +purposeless ramble; but, however this was, I did not see him or anybody +else as I took my way leisurely down towards the bridge, whittling at +the stick and thinking of what I should say to Mr. Etheridge when I met +him. And now for Fate's final and most fatal touch! Nothing which came +into my mind struck me quite favourably. The encounter which seemed such +a very simple matter when I first contemplated it, began to assume quite +a different aspect as the moment for it approached. By the time I had +come abreast of the Hollow, I was tired of the whole business, and +hearing his whistle and knowing by it that he was very near, I plunged +up the slope to avoid him, and hurried straight away into town. That is +my story, father. If I heard your steps approaching as I plunged across +the path into which I had thrown the stick in my anger at having broken +the point of my knife-blade upon it, I thought nothing of them then. +Afterwards I believed them to be Scoville's, which may account to you +for my silence about this whole matter both before and during the trial. +I was afraid of the witness-stand and of what might be elicited from me +if I once got into the hands of the lawyers. My abominable reticence in +regard to his former crime would be brought up against me, and I was yet +too young, too shy and uninformed to face such an ordeal of my own +volition. Unhappily, I was not forced into it, and--But we will not talk +of that, father." + +"Son,"--a long silence had intervened,--"there is one thing more. +When--how--did you first learn my real reason for sending you from home? +I saw that my position was understood by you when our eyes first met in +this room. But twelve years had passed since you left this house in +ignorance of all but my unnatural attitude towards you. When, Oliver, +when?" + +"That I cannot answer, father; it was just a conviction which dawned +gradually upon me. Now, it seems as if I had known it always; but that +isn't so. A boy doesn't reason; and it took reasoning for me to--to +accept--" + +"Yes, I understand. And that was your secret! Oh, Oliver, I shall never +ask for your forgiveness. I am not worthy it. I only ask that you will +not let pride or any other evil passion stand in the way of the +happiness I see in the future for you. I cannot take from you the shame +of my crime and long deception, but spare me this final sorrow! There is +nothing to part you from Reuther now. Alike unhappy in your parentage, +you can start on equal terms, and love will do the rest. Say that you +will marry her, Oliver, and let me see her smile before I die." + +"Marry her? Oh, father, will such an angel marry me?" + +"No, but such a woman might." + +Oliver came near, and stooped over his father's bed. + +"Father, if love and attention to my profession can make a success of +the life you prize, they shall have their opportunity." + +The father smiled. If it fell to others to remember him as he appeared +in his mysterious prime, to Oliver it was given to recall him as he +looked then with the light on his face and the last tear he was ever to +shed glittering in his fading eye. + +"God is good," came from the bed; then the solemnity of death settled +over the room. + +The soft footfalls overhead ceased. The long hush had brought the two +women to the door where they stood sobbing. Oliver was on his knees +beside the bed, his head buried in his arms. On the face so near him +there rested a ray from the westering sun; but the glitter was gone from +the eye and the unrest from the heart. No more weary vigils in a room +dedicated to remorse and self-punishment. No more weary circling of the +house in the dark lane whose fences barred out the hurrying figure +within from every eye but that of Heaven. Peace for him; and for Reuther +and Oliver, hope! + +THE END + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dark Hollow, by Anna Katherine Green + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DARK HOLLOW *** + +***** This file should be named 5121.txt or 5121.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/2/5121/ + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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