diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:25:27 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:25:27 -0700 |
| commit | d945edbe975155b1ce2e2faafb051a67405b094b (patch) | |
| tree | 41b1e66e58c6f7c6ebc1e3e4ca15713eaf1fac6a | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 5385.txt | 2142 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 5385.zip | bin | 0 -> 40717 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/wc48w10.txt | 2131 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/wc48w10.zip | bin | 0 -> 41082 bytes |
7 files changed, 4289 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5385.txt b/5385.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d914289 --- /dev/null +++ b/5385.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2142 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Celebrity, Volume 3, by Winston Churchill + +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 + + +Title: The Celebrity, Volume 3 + +Author: Winston Churchill + +Release Date: October 19, 2004 [EBook #5385] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CELEBRITY, VOLUME 3 *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE CELEBRITY + +By Winston Churchill + + +VOLUME 3. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +That evening I lighted a cigar and went down to sit on the outermost +pile of the Asquith dock to commune with myself. To say that I was +disappointed in Miss Thorn would be to set a mild value on my feelings. +I was angry, even aggressive, over her defence of the Celebrity. I had +gone over to Mohair that day with a hope that some good reason was at the +bottom of her tolerance for him, and had come back without any hope. She +not only tolerated him, but, wonderful to be said, plainly liked him. +Had she not praised him, and defended him, and become indignant when I +spoke my mind about him? And I would have taken my oath, two weeks +before, that nothing short of hypnotic influence could have changed her. +By her own confession she had come to Asquith with her eyes opened, and, +what was more, seen another girl wrecked on the same reef. + +Farrar followed me out presently, and I had an impulse to submit the +problem as it stood to him. But it was a long story, and I did not +believe that if he were in my boots he would have consulted me. Again, +I sometimes thought Farrar yearned for confidences, though it was +impossible for him to confide. And he wore an inviting air to-night. +Then, as everybody knows, there is that about twilight and an +after-dinner cigar which leads to communication. They are excellent +solvents. My friend seated himself on the pile next to mine, and said, + +"It strikes me you have been behaving rather queer lately, Crocker." + +This was clearly an invitation from Farrar, and I melted. + +"I admit," said I, "that I am a good deal perplexed over the +contradictions of the human mind." + +"Oh, is that all?" he replied dryly. "I supposed it was worse. +Narrower, I mean. Didn't know you ever bothered yourself with abstract +philosophy." + +"See here, Farrar," said I, "what is your opinion of Miss Thorn?" + +He stopped kicking his feet against the pile and looked up. + +"Miss Thorn?" + +"Yes, Miss Thorn," I repeated with emphasis. I knew he had in mind that +abominable twaddle about the canoe excursions. + +"Why, to tell the truth," said he, "I never had any opinion of Miss +Thorn." + +"You mean you never formed any, I suppose," I returned with some +tartness. + +"Yes, that is it. How darned precise you are getting, Crocker! One +would think you were going to write a rhetoric. What put Miss Thorn into +your head?" + +"I have been coaching beside her this afternoon." + +"Oh!" said Farrar. + +"Do you remember the night she came," I asked, "and we sat with her on +the Florentine porch, and Charles Wrexell recognized her and came up?" + +"Yes," he replied with awakened interest, "and I meant to ask you about +that." + +"Miss Thorn had met him in the East. And I gathered from what she told +me that he has followed her out here." + +"Shouldn't wonder," said Farrar. "Don't much blame him, do you? Is that +what troubles you?" he asked, in surprise. + +"Not precisely," I answered vaguely; "but from what she has said then and +since, she made it pretty clear that she hadn't any use for him; saw +through him, you know." + +"Pity her if she didn't. But what did she say?" + +I repeated the conversations I had had with Miss Thorn, without revealing +Mr. Allen's identity with the celebrated author. + +"That is rather severe," he assented. + +"He decamped for Mohair, as you know, and since that time she has gone +back on every word of it. She is with him morning and evening, and, to +crown all, stood up for him through thick and thin to-day, and praised +him. What do you think of that?" + +"What I should have expected in a woman," said he, nonchalantly. + +"They aren't all alike," I retorted. + +He shook out his pipe, and getting down from his high seat laid his hand +on my knee. + +"I thought so once, old fellow," he whispered, and went off down the +dock. + +This was the nearest Farrar ever came to a confidence. + +I have now to chronicle a curious friendship which had its beginning at +this time. The friendships of the other sex are quickly made, and +sometimes as quickly dissolved. This one interested me more than I care +to own. The next morning Judge Short, looking somewhat dejected after +the overnight conference he had had with his wife, was innocently and +somewhat ostentatiously engaged in tossing quoits with me in front of the +inn, when Miss Thorn drove up in a basket cart. She gave me a bow which +proved that she bore no ill-will for that which I had said about her +hero. Then Miss Trevor appeared, and away they went together. This was +the commencement. Soon the acquaintance became an intimacy, and their +lives a series of visits to each other. Although this new state of +affairs did not seem to decrease the number of Miss Thorn's +'tete-a-tetes' with the Celebrity, it put a stop to the canoe expeditions +I had been in the habit of taking with Miss Trevor, which I thought just +as well under the circumstances. More than once Miss Thorn partook of +the inn fare at our table, and when this happened I would make my escape +before the coffee. For such was the nature of my feelings regarding the +Celebrity that I could not bring myself into cordial relations with one +who professed to admire him. I realize how ridiculous such a sentiment +must appear, but it existed nevertheless, and most strongly. + +I tried hard to throw Miss Thorn out of my thoughts, and very nearly +succeeded. I took to spending more and more of my time at the +county-seat, where I remained for days at a stretch, inventing business +when there was none. And in the meanwhile I lost all respect for myself +as a sensible man, and cursed the day the Celebrity came into the state. +It seemed strange that this acquaintance of my early days should have +come back into my life, transformed, to make it more or less miserable. +The county-seat being several miles inland, and lying in the midst of +hills, could get intolerably hot in September. At last I was driven out +in spite of myself, and I arrived at Asquith cross and dusty. As Simpson +was brushing me off, Miss Trevor came up the path looking cool and pretty +in a summer gown, and her face expressed sympathy. I have never denied +that sympathy was a good thing. + +"Oh, Mr. Crocker," she cried, "I am so glad you are back again! We have +missed you dreadfully. And you look tired, poor man, quite worn out. It +is a shame you have to go over to that hot place to work." + +I agreed with her. + +"And I never have any one to take me canoeing any more." + +"Let's go now," I suggested, "before dinner." + +So we went. It was a keen pleasure to be on the lake again after the +sultry court-rooms and offices, and the wind and exercise quickly brought +back my appetite and spirits. I paddled hither and thither, stopping now +and then to lie under the pines at the mouth of some stream, while Miss +Trevor talked. She was almost a child in her eagerness to amuse me with +the happenings since my departure. This was always her manner with me, +in curious contrast to her habit of fencing and playing with words when +in company. Presently she burst out: + +"Mr. Crocker, why is it that you avoid Miss Thorn? I was talking of you +to her only to-day, and she says you go miles out of your way to get out +of speaking to her; that you seemed to like her quite well at first. She +couldn't understand the change." + +"Did she say that?" I exclaimed. + +"Indeed, she did; and I have noticed it, too. I saw you leave before +coffee more than once when she was here. I don't believe you know what a +fine girl she is." + +"Why, then, does she accept and return the attentions of the Celebrity?" +I inquired, with a touch of acidity. "She knows what he is as well, if +not better, than you or I. I own I can't understand it," I said, the +subject getting ahead of me. "I believe she is in love with him." + +Miss Trevor began to laugh; quietly at first, and, as her merriment +increased, heartily. + +"Shouldn't we be getting back?" I asked, looking at my watch. "It lacks +but half an hour of dinner." + +"Please don't be angry, Mr. Crocker," she pleaded. "I really couldn't +help laughing." + +"I was unaware I had said anything funny, Miss Trevor," I replied. + +"Of course you didn't," she said more soberly; "that is, you didn't +intend to. But the very notion of Miss Thorn in love with the Celebrity +is funny." + +"Evidence is stronger than argument," said I. "And now she has even +convicted herself." + +I started to paddle homeward, rather furiously, and my companion said +nothing until we came in sight of the inn. As the canoe glided into the +smooth surface behind the breakwater, she broke the silence. + +"I heard you went fishing the other day," said she. + +"Yes." + +"And the judge told me about a big bass you hooked, and how you played +him longer than was necessary for the mere fun of the thing." + +"Yes." + +"Perhaps you will find in the feeling that prompted you to do that a clue +to the character of our sex." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Mr. Cooke had had a sloop yacht built at Far Harbor, the completion of +which had been delayed, and which was but just delivered. She was, +painted white, with brass fittings, and under her stern, in big, black +letters, was the word Maria, intended as a surprise and delicate conjugal +compliment to Mrs. Cooke. The Maria had a cabin, which was finished in +hard wood and yellow plush, and accommodations for keeping things cold. +This last Mr. Cooke had insisted upon. + +The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with +a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been +prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht for the month after the offer +of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy. +His son and helper was to receive a sum proportionally exorbitant. This +worthy man sighted Mohair on a Sunday morning, and at nine o'clock +dropped his anchor with a salute which caused Mr. Cooke to say unpleasant +things in his sleep. After making things ship-shape and hoisting the +jack, both father and son rowed ashore to the little church at Asquith. + +Now the butler at Mohair was a servant who had learned, from long +experience, to anticipate every wish and whim of his master, and from +the moment he descried the white sails of the yacht out of the windows +of the butler's pantry his duty was clear as daylight. Such was the +comprehension and despatch with which he gave his commands that the +captain returned from divine worship to find the Maria in profane hands, +her immaculate deck littered with straw and sawdust, and covered to the +coamings with bottles and cases. This decided the captain, he packed his +kit in high dudgeon, and took the first train back to Far Harbor, leaving +the yacht to her fate. + +This sudden and inconsiderate departure was a severe blow to Mr. Cooke' +who was so constituted that he cared but little about anything until +there was danger of not getting it. My client had planned a trip to Bear +Island for the following Tuesday, which was to last a week, the party to +bring tents with them and rough it, with the Maria as headquarters. It +was out of the question to send to Far Harbor for another skipper, if, +indeed, one could be found at that late period. And as luck would have +it, six of Mr. Cooke's ten guests had left but a day or so since, and +among them had been the only yacht-owner. None of the four that remained +could do more than haul aft and belay a sheet. But the Celebrity, who +chanced along as Mr. Cooke was ruefully gazing at the graceful lines of +the Maria from the wharf and cursing the fate that kept him ashore with +a stiff wind blowing, proposed a way out of the difficulty. He, the +Celebrity, would gladly sail the Maria over to Bear Island provided +another man could be found to relieve him occasionally at the wheel, and +the like. He had noticed that Farrar was a capable hand in a boat, and +suggested that he be sent for. + +This suggestion Mr. Cooke thought so well of that he hurried over to +Asquith to consult Farrar at once, and incidentally to consult me. We +can hardly be blamed for receiving his overtures with a moderate +enthusiasm. In fact, we were of one mind not to go when the subject +was first broached. But my client had a persuasive way about him that +was irresistible, and the mere mention of the favors he had conferred +upon both of us at different periods of our lives was sufficient. We +consented. + +Thus it came to pass that Tuesday morning found the party assembled on +the wharf at Mohair, the Four and the Celebrity, as well as Mr. Cooke, +having produced yachting suits from their inexhaustible wardrobes. Mr. +Trevor and his daughter, Mrs. Cooke and Miss Thorn, and Farrar and myself +completed the party. We were to adhere strictly to primeval principles: +the ladies were not permitted a maid, while the Celebrity was forced to +leave his manservant, and Mr. Cooke his chef. I had, however, thrust +into my pocket the Minneapolis papers, which had been handed me by the +clerk on their arrival at the inn, which happened just as I was leaving. +'Quod bene notandum!' + +Thereby hangs a tale! + +For the northern lakes the day was rather dead: a little wind lay in the +southeast, scarcely enough to break the water, with the sky an intense +blue. But the Maria was hardly cast and under way before it became +painfully apparent that the Celebrity was much better fitted to lead a +cotillon than to sail a boat. He gave his orders, nevertheless, in a +firm, seamanlike fashion, though with no great pertinence, and thus +managed to establish the confidence of Mr. Cooke. Farrar, after setting +things to rights, joined Mrs. Cooke and me over the cabin. + +"How about hoisting the spinnaker, mate?" the Celebrity shouted after +him. + +Farrar did not deign to answer: his eye was on the wind. And the boom, +which had been acting uneasily, finally decided to gybe, and swept +majestically over, carrying two of the Four in front of it, and all but +dropped them into the water. + +"A common occurrence in a light breeze," we heard the Celebrity reassure +Mr. Cooke and Miss Thorn. + +"The Maria has vindicated her sex," remarked Farrar. + +We laughed. + +"Why don't you sail, Mr. Farrar?" asked Mrs. Cooke. + +"He can't do any harm in this breeze," Farrar replied; "it isn't strong +enough to get anywhere with." + +He was right. The boom gybed twenty times that morning, and the +Celebrity offered an equal number of apologies. Mr. Cooke and the Four +vanished, and from the uproarious laughter which arose from the cabin +transoms I judged they were telling stories. While Miss Thorn spent the +time profitably in learning how to conn a yacht. At one, when we had +luncheon, Mohair was still in the distance. At two it began to cloud +over, the wind fell flat, and an ominous black bank came up from the +south. Without more ado, Farrar, calling on me to give him a hand, eased +down the halliards and began to close reef the mainsail. + +"Hold on," said the Celebrity, "who told you to do that?" + +"I am very sure you didn't," Farrar returned, as he hauled out a reef +earing. + +Here a few drops of rain on the deck warned the ladies to retire to the +cabin. + +"Take the helm until I get my mackintosh, will you, Farrar?" said the +Celebrity, "and be careful what you do." + +Farrar took the helm and hauled in the sheet, while the Celebrity, Mr. +Cooke, and the guests donned their rain-clothes. The water ahead was +now like blue velvet, and the rain pelting. The Maria was heeling to the +squall by the time the Celebrity appeared at the cabin door, enveloped in +an ample waterproof, a rubber cover on his yachting cap. A fool despises +a danger he has never experienced, and our author, with a remark about a +spanking breeze, made a motion to take the wheel. But Farrar, the +flannel of his shirt clinging to the muscular outline of his shoulders, +gave him a push which sent him sprawling against the lee refrigerator. +Well Miss Thorn was not there to see. + +"You will have to answer for this," he cried, as he scrambled to his feet +and clutched the weather wash-board with one hand, while he shook the +other in Farrar's face. + +"Crocker," said Farrar to me, coolly, "keep that idiot out of the way for +a while, or we'll all be drowned. Tie him up, if necessary." + +I was relieved from this somewhat unpleasant task. Mr. Cooke, with his +back to the rain, sat an amused witness to the mutiny, as blissfully +ignorant as the Celebrity of the character of a lake squall. + +"I appeal to you, as the owner of this yacht, Mr. Cooke," the Celebrity +shouted, "whether, as the person delegated by you to take charge of it, +I am to suffer indignity and insult. I have sailed larger yachts than +this time and again on the coast, at--" here he swallowed a portion of a +wave and was mercifully prevented from being specific. + +But Mr. Cooke was looking a trifle bewildered. It was hardly possible +for him to cling to the refrigerator, much less quell a mutiny. One who +has sailed the lakes well knows how rapidly they can be lashed to fury by +a storm, and the wind was now spinning the tops of the waves into a +blinding spray. Although the Maria proved a stiff boat and a seaworthy, +she was not altogether without motion; and the set expression on Farrar's +face would have told me, had I not known it, that our situation at that +moment was no joke. Repeatedly, as she was held up to it, a precocious +roller would sweep from bow to stern, until we without coats were wet and +shivering. + +The close and crowded cabin of a small yacht is not an attractive place +in rough weather; and one by one the Four emerged and distributed +themselves about the deck, wherever they could obtain a hold. Some of +them began to act peculiarly. Upon Mr. Cooke's unwillingness or +inability to interfere in his behalf, the Celebrity had assumed an +aggrieved demeanor, but soon the motion of the Maria became more and +more pronounced, and the difficulty of maintaining his decorum likewise +increased. The ruddy color left his face, which grew pale with effort. +I will do him the justice to say that the effort was heroic: he whistled +popular airs, and snatches of the grand opera; he relieved Mr. Cooke of +his glasses (of which Mr. Cooke had neglected to relieve himself), and +scanned the sea line busily. But the inevitable deferred is frequently +more violent than the inevitable taken gracefully, and the confusion +which at length overtook the Celebrity was utter as his humiliation was +complete. We laid him beside Mr. Cooke in the cockpit. + +The rain presently ceased, and the wind hauled, as is often the case, +to the northwest, which began to clear, while Bear Island rose from the +northern horizon. Both Farrar and I were surprised to see Miss Trevor +come out; she hooked back the cabin doors and surveyed the prostrate +forms with amusement. + +We asked her about those inside. + +"Mrs. Cooke has really been very ill," she said, "and Miss Thorn is doing +all she can for her. My father and I were more fortunate. But you will +both catch your deaths," she exclaimed, noticing our condition. "Tell me +where I can find your coats." + +I suppose it is natural for a man to enjoy being looked after in this +way; it was certainly a new sensation to Farrar and myself. We assured +her we were drying out and did not need the coats, but nevertheless she +went back into the cabin and found them. + +"Miss Thorn says you should both be whipped," she remarked. + +When we had put on our coats Miss Trevor sat down and began to talk. + +"I once heard of a man," she began complacently, "a man that was buried +alive, and who contrived to dig himself up and then read his own epitaph. +It did not please him, but he was wise and amended his life. I have +often thought how much it might help some people if they could read their +own epitaphs." + +Farrar was very quick at this sort of thing; and now that the steering +had become easier was only too glad to join her in worrying the +Celebrity. But he, if he were conscious, gave no sign of it. + +"They ought to be buried so that they could not dig themselves up," he +said. "The epitaphs would only strengthen their belief that they had +lived in an unappreciative age." + +"One I happen to have in mind, however, lives in an appreciative age. +Most appreciative." + +"And women are often epitaph-makers." + +"You are hard on the sex, Mr. Farrar," she answered, "but perhaps justly +so. And yet there are some women I know of who would not write an +epitaph to his taste." + +Farrar looked at her curiously. + +"I beg your pardon," he said. + +"Do not imagine I am touchy on the subject," she replied quickly; "some +of us are fortunate enough to have had our eyes opened." + +I thought the Celebrity stirred uneasily. + +"Have you read The Sybarites?" she asked. + +Farrar was puzzled. + +"No," said he sententiously, "and I don't want to." + +"I know the average man thinks it a disgrace to have read it. And you +may not believe me when I say that it is a strong story of its kind, with +a strong moral. There are men who might read that book and be a great +deal better for it. And, if they took the moral to heart, it would prove +every bit as effectual as their own epitaphs." + +He was not quite sure of her drift, but he perceived that she was still +making fun of Mr. Allen. + +"And the moral?" he inquired. + +"Well," she said, "the best I can do is to give you a synopsis of the +story, and then you can judge of its fitness. The hero is called Victor +Desmond. He is a young man of a sterling though undeveloped character, +who has been hampered by an indulgent parent with a large fortune. +Desmond is a butterfly, and sips life after the approved manner of his +kind,--now from Bohemian glass, now from vessels of gold and silver. He +chats with stage lights in their dressing-rooms, and attends a ball in +the Bowery or a supper at Sherry's with a ready versatility. The book, +apart from its intention, really gives the middle classes an excellent +idea of what is called 'high-life.' + +"It is some time before Desmond discovers that he possesses the gift of +Paris,--a deliberation proving his lack of conceit,--that wherever he +goes he unwittingly breaks a heart, and sometimes two or three. This +discovery is naturally so painful that he comes home to his chambers and +throws himself on a lounge before his fire in a fit of self-deprecation, +and reflects on a misspent and foolish life. This, mind you, is where +his character starts to develop. And he makes a heroic resolve, not to +cut off his nose or to grow a beard, nor get married, but henceforth to +live a life of usefulness and seclusion, which was certainly considerate. +And furthermore, if by any accident he ever again involved the affections +of another girl he would marry her, be she as ugly as sin or as poor as +poverty. Then the heroine comes in. Her name is Rosamond, which sounds +well and may be euphoniously coupled with Desmond; and, with the single +exception of a boarding-school girl, she is the only young woman he ever +thought of twice. In order to save her and himself he goes away, but the +temptation to write to her overpowers him, and of course she answers his +letter. This brings on a correspondence. His letters take the form of +confessions, and are the fruits of much philosophical reflection. +'Inconstancy in woman,' he says, because of the present social +conditions, is often pardonable. In a man, nothing is more despicable.' +This is his cardinal principle, and he sticks to it nobly. For, though +he tires of Rosamond, who is quite attractive, however, he marries her +and lives a life of self-denial. There are men who might take that story +to heart." + +I was amused that she should give the passage quoted by the Celebrity +himself. Her double meaning was, naturally, lost on Farrar, but he +enjoyed the thing hugely, nevertheless, as more or less applicable to Mr. +Allen. I made sure that gentleman was sensible of what was being said, +though he scarcely moved a muscle. And Miss Trevor, with a mirthful +glance at me that was not without a tinge of triumph, jumped lightly to +the deck and went in to see the invalids. + +We were now working up into the lee of the island, whose tall pines stood +clean and black against the red glow of the evening sky. Mr. Cooke began +to give evidences of life, and finally got up and overhauled one of the +ice-chests for a restorative. Farrar put into the little cove, where we +dropped anchor, and soon had the chief sufferers ashore; and a delicate +supper, in the preparation of which Miss Thorn showed her ability as a +cook, soon restored them. For my part, I much preferred Miss Thorn's +dishes to those of the Mohair chef, and so did Farrar. And the Four, +surprising as it may seem, made themselves generally useful about the +camp in pitching the tents under Farrar's supervision. But the Celebrity +remained apart and silent. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Our first, night in the Bear Island camp passed without incident, and we +all slept profoundly, tired out by the labors of the day before. After +breakfast, the Four set out to explore, with trout-rods and shot-guns. +Bear Island is, with the exception of the cove into which we had put, as +nearly round as an island can be, and perhaps three miles in diameter. +It has two clear brooks which, owing to the comparative inaccessibility +of the place, still contain trout and grayling, though there are few +spots where a fly can be cast on account of the dense underbrush. The +woods contain partridge, or ruffed grouse, and other game in smaller +quantities. I believe my client entertained some notion of establishing +a preserve here. + +The insults which had been heaped upon the Celebrity on the yacht seemed +to have raised rather than lowered him in Miss Thorn's esteem, for these +two ensconced themselves among the pines above the camp with an edition +de luxe of one of his works which she had brought along. They were soon +absorbed in one of those famous short stories of his with the ending left +open to discussion. Mr. Cooke was indisposed. He had not yet recovered +from the shaking up his system had sustained, and he took to a canvas +easy chair he had brought with him and placed a decanter of Scotch and a +tumbler of ice at his side. The efficacy of this remedy was assured. +And he demanded the bunch of newspapers he spied protruding from my +pocket. + +The rest of us were engaged in various occupations: Mr. Trevor relating +experiences of steamboat days on the Ohio to Mrs. Cooke; Miss Trevor +buried in a serial in the Century; and Farrar and I taking an inventory +of fishing-tackle, when we were startled by aloud and profane +ejaculation. Mr. Cooke had hastily put down his glass and was staring at +the newspaper before him with eyes as large as after-dinner coffee-cups. + +"Come here," he shouted over at us. "Come here, Crocker," he repeated, +seeing we were slow to move. "For God's sake, come here!" + +In obedience to this emphatic summons I crossed the stream and drew near +to Mr. Cooke, who was busily pouring out another glass of whiskey to tide +him over this strange excitement. But, as Mr. Cooke was easily excited +and on such occasions always drank whiskey to quiet his nerves, I thought +nothing of it. He was sitting bolt upright and held out the paper to me +with a shaking hand, while he pointed to some headlines on the first +page. And this is what I read: + + TREASURER TAKES A TRIP. + + CHARLES WREXELL ALLEN, OF THE MILES STANDISH + BICYCLE COMPANY, GETS OFF WITH 100,000 DOLLARS. + + DETECTIVES BAFFLED. + + THE ABSCONDER A BACK BAY SOCIAL LEADER. + +Half way down the column was a picture of Mr. Allen, a cut made from a +photograph, and, allowing for the crudities of newspaper reproduction, +it was a striking likeness of the Celebrity. Underneath was a short +description. Mr. Allen was five feet eleven (the Celebrity's height), +had a straight nose, square chin, dark hair and eyes, broad shoulders, +was dressed elaborately; in brief, tallied in every particular with the +Celebrity with the exception of the slight scar which Allen was thought +to have on his forehead. + +The situation and all its ludicrous possibilities came over me with a +jump. It was too good to be true. Had Mr. Charles Wrexell Allen arrived +at Asquith and created a sensation with the man who stole his name I +should have been amply satisfied. But that Mr. Allen had been obliging +enough to abscond with a large sum of money was beyond dreaming! + +I glanced at the rest of it: a history of the well-established company +followed, with all that Mr. Allen had done for it. The picture, by the +way, had been obtained from the St. Paul agent of the bicycle. After +doing due credit to the treasurer's abilities as a hustler there followed +a summary of his character, hitherto without reproach; but his tastes +were expensive ones. Mr. Allen's tendency to extravagance had been +noticed by the members of the Miles Standish Company, and some of the +older directors had on occasions remonstrated with him. But he had been +too valuable a man to let go, and it seems as treasurer he was trusted +implicitly. He was said to have more clothes than any man in Boston. + +I am used to thinking quickly, and by the time I had read this I had an +idea. + +"What in hell do you make of that, Crocker?" cried my client, eyeing me +closely and repeating the question again and again, as was his wont +when agitated. + +"It is certainly plain enough," I replied, "but I should like to talk to +you before you decide to hand him over to the authorities." + +I thought I knew Mr. Cooke, and I was not mistaken. + +"Authorities!" he roared. "Damn the authorities! There's my yacht, and +there's the Canadian border." And he pointed to the north. + +The others were pressing around us by this time, and had caught the +significant words which Mr. Cooke had uttered. I imagine that if my +client had stopped to think twice, which of course is a preposterous +condition, he would have confided his discovery only to Farrar and to me. +It was now out of the question to keep it from the rest of the party, and +Mr. Trevor got the headlines over my shoulder. I handed him the sheet. + +"Read it, Mr. Trevor," said Mrs. Cooke. + +Mr. Trevor, in a somewhat unsteady voice, read the headlines and began +the column, and they followed breathless with astonishment and agitation. +Once or twice the senator paused to frown upon the Celebrity with a +terrible sternness, thus directing all other eyes to him. His demeanor +was a study in itself. It may be surmised, from what I have said of him, +that there was a strain of the actor in his composition; and I am +prepared to make an affidavit that, secure in the knowledge that he had +witnesses present to attest his identity, he hugely enjoyed the sensation +he was creating. That he looked forward with a profound pleasure to the +stir which the disclosure that he was the author of The Sybarites would +make. His face wore a beatific smile. + +As Mr. Trevor continued, his voice became firmer and his manner more +majestic. It was a task distinctly to his taste, and one might have +thought he was reading the sentence of a Hastings. I was standing next +to his daughter. The look of astonishment, perhaps of horror, which I +had seen on her face when her father first began to read had now faded +into something akin to wickedness. Did she wink? I can't say, never +before having had a young woman wink at me. But the next moment her +vinaigrette was rolling down the bank towards the brook, and I was after +it. I heard her close behind me. She must have read my intentions by a +kind of mental telepathy. + +"Are you going to do it?" she whispered. + +"Of course," I answered. "To miss such a chance would be a downright +sin." + +There was a little awe in her laugh. + +"Miss Thorn is the only obstacle," I added, "and Mr. Cooke is our hope. +I think he will go by me." + +"Don't let Miss Thorn worry you," she said as we climbed back. + +"What do you mean?" I demanded. But she only shook her head. We were +at the top again, and Mr. Trevor was reading an appended despatch from +Buffalo, stating that Mr. Allen had been recognized there, in the latter +part of June, walking up and down the platform of the station, in a +smoking-jacket, and that he had climbed on the Chicago limited as it +pulled out. This may have caused the Celebrity to feel a trifle +uncomfortable. + +"Ha!" exclaimed Mr. Trevor, as he put down the paper. "Mr. Cooke, do you +happen to have any handcuffs on the Maria?" + +But my client was pouring out a stiff helping from the decanter, which he +still held in his hand. Then he approached the Celebrity. + +"Don't let it worry you, old man," said he, with intense earnestness. +"Don't let it worry you. You're my guest, and I'll see you safe out of +it, or bust." + +"Fenelon," said Mrs. Cooke, gravely, "do you realize what you are +saying?" + +"You're a clever one, Allen," my client continued, and he backed away the +better to look him over; "you had nerve to stay as long as you did." + +The Celebrity laughed confidently. + +"Cooke," he replied, "I appreciate your generosity,--I really do. I know +no offence is meant. The mistake is, in fact, most pardonable." + +In Mr. Cooke amazement and admiration were clamoring for utterance. + +"Damn me," he sputtered, "if you're not the coolest embezzler I ever +saw." + +The Celebrity laughed again. Then he surveyed the circle. + +"My friends," he said, "this is certainly a most amazing coincidence; one +which, I assure you, surprises me no less than it does you. You have no +doubt remarked that I have my peculiarities. We all have. + +"I flatter thyself I am not entirely unknown. And the annoyances imposed +upon me by a certain fame I have achieved had become such that some +months ago I began to crave the pleasures of the life of a private man. +I determined to go to some sequestered resort where my face was +unfamiliar. The possibility of being recognized at Asquith did not occur +to me. Fortunately I was. And a singular chance led me to take the name +of the man who has committed this crime, and who has the misfortune to +resemble me. I suppose that now," he added impressively, "I shall have +to tell you who I am." + +He paused until these words should have gained their full effect. Then +he held up the edition de luxe from which he and Miss Thorn had been +reading. + +"You may have heard, Mrs. Cooke," said he, addressing himself to our +hostess, "you may perhaps have heard of the author of this book." + +Mrs. Cooke was a calm woman, and she read the name on the cover. + +"Yes," she said, "I have. And you claim to be he?" + +"Ask my friend Crocker here," he answered carelessly, no doubt exulting +that the scene was going off so dramatically. "I should indeed be in a +tight box," he went on, "if there were not friends of mine here to help +me out." + +They turned to me. + +"I am afraid I cannot," I said with what soberness I could. + +"What!" says he with a start. "What! you deny me?" + +Miss Trevor had her tongue in her cheek. I bowed. + +"I am powerless to speak, Mr. Allen," I replied. + +During this colloquy my client stood between us, looking from one to the +other. I well knew that his way of thinking would be with my testimony, +and that the gilt name on the edition de luxe had done little towards +convincing him of Mr. Allen's innocence. To his mind there was nothing +horrible or incongruous in the idea that a well-known author should be a +defaulter. It was perfectly possible. He shoved the glass of Scotch +towards the Celebrity, with a smile. + +"Take this, old man," he kindly insisted, "and you'll feel better. +What's the use of bucking when you're saddled with a thing like that?" +And he pointed to the paper. "Besides, they haven't caught you yet, by a +damned sight." + +The Celebrity waved aside the proffered tumbler. + +"This is an infamous charge, and you know it, Crocker," he cried. +"If you don't, you ought to, as a lawyer. This isn't any time to have +fun with a fellow." + +"My dear sir," I said, "I have charged you with nothing whatever." + +He turned his back on me in complete disgust. And he came face to face +with Miss Trevor. + +"Miss Trevor, too, knows something of me," he said. + +"You forget, Mr. Allen," she answered sweetly, "you forget that I have +given you my promise not to reveal what I know." + +The Celebrity chafed, for this was as damaging a statement as could well +be uttered against him. But Miss Thorn was his trump card, and she now +came forward. + +"This is ridiculous, Mr. Crocker, simply ridiculous," said she. + +"I agree with you most heartily, Miss Thorn," I replied. + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Miss Thorn, and she drew her lips together, "pure +nonsense!" + +"Nonsense or not, Marian," Mr. Cooke interposed, "we are wasting valuable +time. The police are already on the scent, I'll bet my hat." + +"Fenelon!" Mrs. Cooke remonstrated. + +"And do you mean to say in soberness, Uncle Fenelon, that you believe the +author of The Sybarites to be a defaulter?" said Miss Thorn. + +"It is indeed hard to believe Mr. Allen a criminal," Mr. Trevor broke in +for the first time. "I think it only right that he should be allowed to +clear himself before he is put to further inconvenience, and perhaps +injustice, by any action we may take in the matter." + +Mr. Cooke sniffed suspiciously at the word "action." + +"What action do you mean?" he demanded. + +"Well," replied Mr. Trevor, with some hesitation, "before we take any +steps, that is, notify the police." + +"Notify the police!" cried my client, his face red with a generous anger. +"I have never yet turned a guest over to the police," he said proudly, +"and won't, not if I know it. I'm not that kind." + +Who shall criticise Mr. Cooke's code of morality? + +"Fenelon," said his wife, "you must remember you have never yet +entertained a guest of a larcenous character. No embezzlers up to the +present. Marian," she continued, turning to Miss Thorn, "you spoke as +if you might, be able to throw some light upon this matter. Do you know +whether this gentleman is Charles Wrexell Allen, or whether he is the +author? In short, do you know who he is?" + +The Celebrity lighted a cigarette. Miss Thorn said indignantly, +"Upon my word, Aunt Maria, I thought that you, at least, would know +better than to credit this silly accusation. He has been a guest at your +house, and I am astonished that you should doubt his word." + +Mrs. Cooke looked at her niece perplexedly. + +"You must remember, Marian," she said gently, "that I know nothing about +him, where he came from, or who he is. Nor does any one at Asquith, +except perhaps Miss Trevor, by her own confession. And you do not seem +inclined to tell what you know, if indeed you know anything." + +Upon this Miss Thorn became more indignant still, and Mrs. Cooke went on +"Gentlemen, as a rule, do not assume names, especially other people's. +They are usually proud of their own. Mr. Allen appears among us, from +the clouds, as it were, and in due time we learn from a newspaper that +he has committed a defalcation. And, furthermore, the paper contains a +portrait and an accurate description which put the thing beyond doubt. I +ask you, is it reasonable for him to state coolly after all this that he +is another man? That he is a well-known author? It's an absurdity. I +was not born yesterday, my dear." + +"It is most reasonable under the circumstances," replied Miss Thorn, +warmly. "Extraordinary? Of course it's extraordinary. And too long to +explain to a prejudiced audience, who can't be expected to comprehend the +character of a genius, to understand the yearning of a famous man for a +little quiet." + +Mrs. Cooke looked grave. + +"Marian, you forget yourself," she said. + +"Oh, I am tired of it, Aunt Maria," cried Miss Thorn; "if he takes my +advice, he will refuse to discuss it farther." + +She did not seem to be aware that she had put forth no argument whatever, +save a woman's argument. And I was intensely surprised that her +indignation should have got the better of her in this way, having always +supposed her clear-headed in the extreme. A few words from her, such as +I supposed she would have spoken, had set the Celebrity right with all +except Mr. Cooke. To me it was a clear proof that the Celebrity had +turned her head, and her mind with it. + +The silence was broken by an uncontrollable burst of laughter from Miss +Trevor. She was quickly frowned down by her father, who reminded her +that this was not a comedy. + +"And, Mr. Allen," he said, "if you have anything to say, or any evidence +to bring forward, now is the time to do it." + +He appeared to forget that I was the district attorney. + +The Celebrity had seated himself on the trunk of a tree, and was blowing +out the smoke in clouds. He was inclined to take Miss Thorn's advice, +for he made a gesture of weariness with his cigarette, in the use of +which he was singularly eloquent. + +"Tell me, Mr. Trevor," said he, "why I should sit before you as a +tribunal? Why I should take the trouble to clear myself of a senseless +charge? My respect for you inclines me to the belief that you are +laboring under a momentary excitement; for when you reflect that I am a +prominent, not to say famous, author, you will realize how absurd it is +that I should be an embezzler, and why I decline to lower myself by an +explanation." + +Mr. Trevor picked up the paper and struck it. + +"Do you refuse to say anything in the face of such evidence as that?" he +cried. + +"It is not a matter for refusal, Mr. Trevor. It is simply that I cannot +admit the possibility of having committed the crime." + +"Well, sir," said the senator, his black necktie working out of place as +his anger got the better of him, "I am to believe, then, because you +claim to be the author of a few society novels, that you are infallible? +Let me tell you that the President of the United States himself is liable +to impeachment, and bound to disprove any charge he may be accused of. +What in Halifax do I care for your divine-right-of-authors theory? I'll +continue to think you guilty until you are shown to be innocent." + +Suddenly the full significance of the Celebrity's tactics struck Mr. +Cooke, and he reached out and caught hold of Mr. Trevor's coattails. +"Hold on, old man," said he; "Allen isn't going to be ass enough to own +up to it. Don't you see we'd all be jugged and fined for assisting a +criminal over the border? It's out of consideration for us." + +Mr. Trevor looked sternly over his shoulder at Mr. Cooke. + +"Do you mean to say, sir, seriously," he asked, "that, for the sake of a +misplaced friendship for this man, and a misplaced sense of honor, you +are bound to shield a guest, though a criminal? That you intend to +assist him to escape from justice? I insist, for my own protection and +that of my daughter, as well as for that of the others present that, +since he refuses to speak, we must presume him guilty and turn him over." + +Mr. Trevor turned to Mrs. Cooke, as if relying on her support. + +"Fenelon," said she, "I have never sought to influence your actions when +your friends were concerned, and I shall not begin now. All I ask of you +is to consider the consequences of your intention." + +These words from Mrs. Cooke had much more weight with my client than Mr. +Trevor's blustering demands. + +"Maria, my dear," he said, with a deferential urbanity, "Mr. Allen is my +guest, and a gentleman. When a gentleman gives his word that he is not a +criminal, it is sufficient." + +The force of this, for some reason, did not overwhelm his wife; and her +lip curled a little, half in contempt, half in risibility. + +"Pshaw, Fenelon," said she, "what a fraud you are. Why is it you wish to +get Mr. Allen over the border, then?" A question which might well have +staggered a worthier intellect. + +"Why, my dear," answered my client, "I wish to save Mr. Allen the +inconvenience, not to say the humiliation, of being brought East in +custody and strapped with a pair of handcuffs. Let him take a shooting +trip to the great Northwest until the real criminal is caught." + +"Well, Fenelon," replied Mrs. Cooke, unable to repress a smile, "one +might as well try to argue with a turn-stile or a weather-vane. I wash +my hands of it." + +But Mr. Trevor, who was both a self-made man and a Western politician, +was far from being satisfied. He turned to me with a sweep of the arm +he had doubtless learned in the Ohio State Senate. + +"Mr. Crocker," he cried, "are you, as attorney of this district, going +to aid and abet in the escape of a fugitive from justice?" + +"Mr. Trevor," said I, "I will take the course in this matter which seems +fit to me, and without advice from any one." + +He wheeled on Farrar, repeated the question, and got a like answer. + +Brought to bay for a time, he glared savagely around him while groping +for further arguments. + +But at this point the Four appeared on the scene, much the worse for +thickets, and clamoring for luncheon. They had five small fish between +them which they wanted Miss Thorn to cook. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +The Four received Mr. Cooke's plan for the Celebrity's escape to Canada +with enthusiastic acclamation, and as the one thing lacking to make the +Bear Island trip a complete success. The Celebrity was hailed with the +reverence due to the man who puts up the ring-money in a prize-fight. He +was accorded, too, a certain amount of respect as a defaulter, which the +Four would have denied him as an author, for I am inclined to the belief +that the discovery of his literary profession would have lowered him +rather than otherwise in their eyes. My client was naturally anxious to +get under way at once for the Canadian border, but was overruled in this +by his henchmen, who demanded something to eat. We sat down to an +impromptu meal, which was an odd affair indeed. Mrs. Cooke maintained +her usual serenity, but said little, while Miss Trevor and I had many a +mirthful encounter at the thought of the turn matters had taken. + +At the other end of the cloth were Mr. Cooke and the Four, in wonderful +spirits and unimpaired appetite, and in their midst sat the Celebrity, +likewise in wonderful spirits. His behavior now and again elicited a +loud grunt of disapproval from Mr. Trevor, who was plying his knife and +fork in a manner emblematic of his state of mind. Mr. Allen was laughing +and joking airily with Mr. Cooke and the guests, denying, but not +resenting, their accusations with all the sang froid of a hardened +criminal. He did not care particularly to go to Canada, he said. Why +should he, when he was innocent? But, if Mr. Cooke insisted, he would +enjoy seeing that part of the lake and the Canadian side. + +Afterwards I perceived Miss Thorn down by the brookside, washing dishes. +Her sleeves were drawn back to the elbow, and a dainty white apron +covered her blue skirt, while the wind from the lake had disentangled +errant wisps of her hair. I stood on the brink above, secure, as I +thought, from observation, when she chanced to look up and spied me. + +"Mr. Crocker," she called, "would you like to make yourself useful?" + +I was decidedly embarrassed. Her manner was as frank and unconstrained +as though I had not been shunning her for weeks past. + +"If such a thing is possible," I replied. + +"Do you know a dish-cloth when you see one?" + +I was doubtful. But I procured the cloth from Miss Trevor and returned. +There was an air about Miss Thorn that was new to me. + +"What an uncompromising man you are, Mr. Crocker," she said to me. "Once +a person is unfortunate enough to come under the ban of your disapproval +you have nothing whatever to do with them. Now it seems that I have +given you offence in some way. Is it not so?" + +"You magnify my importance," I said. + +"No temporizing, Mr. Crocker," she went on, as though she meant to be +obeyed; "sit down there, and let's have it out. I like you too well to +quarrel with you." + +There was no resisting such a command, and I threw myself on the pebbles +at her feet. + +"I thought we were going to be great friends," she said. "You and Mr. +Farrar were so kind to me on the night of my arrival, and we had such fun +watching the dance together." + +"I confess I thought so, too. But you expressed opinions then that I +shared. You have since changed your mind, for some unaccountable +reason." + +She paused in her polishing, a shining dish in her hand, and looked down +at me with something between a laugh and a frown. + +"I suppose you have never regretted speaking hastily," she said. + +"Many a time," I returned, warming; "but if I ever thought a judgment +measured and distilled, it was your judgment of the Celebrity." + +"Does the study of law eliminate humanity?" she asked, with a mock +curtsey. "The deliberate sentences are sometimes the unjust ones, and +men who are hung by weighed wisdom are often the innocent." + +"That is all very well in cases of doubt. But here you have the +evidences of wrong-doing directly before you." + +Three dishes were taken up, dried, and put down before she answered me. +I threw pebbles into the brook, and wished I had held my tongue. + +"What evidence?" inquired she. +"Well," said I, "I must finish, I suppose. I had a notion you knew of +what I inferred. First, let me say that I have no desire to prejudice +you against a person whom you admire." + +"Impossible." + +Something in her tone made me look up. + +"Very good, then," I answered. "I, for one, can have no use for a man +who devotes himself to a girl long enough to win her affections, and then +deserts her with as little compunction as a dog does a rat it has shaken. +And that is how your Celebrity treated Miss Trevor." + +"But Miss Trevor has recovered, I believe," said Miss Thorn. + +I began to feel a deep, but helpless, insecurity. + +"Happily, yes," I assented. + +"Thanks to an excellent physician." + +A smile twitched the corners of her mouth, as though she enjoyed my +discomfiture. I remarked for the fiftieth time how strong her face was, +with its generous lines and clearly moulded features. And a suspicion +entered my soul. + +"At any rate," I said, with a laugh, "the Celebrity has got himself into +no end of a predicament now. He may go back to New York in custody." + +"I thought you incapable of resentment, Mr. Crocker. How mean of you to +deny him!" + +"It can do no harm," I answered; "a little lesson in the dangers of +incognito may be salutary. I wish it were a little lesson in the dangers +of something else." + +The color mounted to her face as she resumed her occupation. + +"I am afraid you are a very wicked man," she said. + +Before I could reply there came a scuffling sound from the bank above us, +and the snapping of branches and twigs. It was Mr. Cooke. His descent, +the personal conduction of which he lost half-way down, was irregular and +spasmodic, and a rude concussion at the bottom knocked off a choice bit +of profanity which was balanced on the tip of his tongue. + +"Tobogganing is a little out of season," said his niece, laughing +heartily. + +Mr. Cooke brushed himself off, picked up the glasses which he had dropped +in his flight and pushed them into my hands. Then he pointed lakeward +with bulging eyes. + +"Crocker, old man," he said in a loud whisper, "they tell me that is an +Asquith cat-boat." + +I followed his finger and saw for the first time a sail-boat headed for +the island, then about two miles off shore. I raised the glasses. + +"Yes," I said, "the Scimitar." + +"That's what Farrar said," cried he. + +"And what about it?" I asked. + +"What about it?" he ejaculated. "Why, it's a detective come for Allen. +I knew sure as hell if they got as far as Asquith they wouldn't stop +there. And that's the fastest sail-boat he could hire there, isn't it?" + +I replied that it was. He seized me by the shoulder and began dragging +me up the bank. + +"What are you going to do?" I cried, shaking myself loose. + +"We've got to get on the Maria and run for it," he panted. "There is no +time to be lost." + +He had reached the top of the bank and was running towards the group at +the tents. And he actually infused me with some of his red-hot +enthusiasm, for I hastened after him. + +"But you can't begin to get the Maria out before they will be in here," +I shouted. + +He stopped short, gazed at the approaching boat, and then at me. + +"Is that so?" + +"Yes, of course," said I, "they will be here in ten minutes." + +The Celebrity stood in the midst of the excited Four. His hair was +parted precisely, and he had induced a monocle to remain in his eye long +enough to examine the Scimitar, his nose at the critical elevation. This +unruffled exterior made a deep impression on the Four. Was the Celebrity +not undergoing the crucial test of a true sport? He was an example alike +to criminals and philosophers. + +Mr. Cooke hurried into the group, which divided respectfully for him, and +grasped the Celebrity by the hand. + +"Something else has got to be done, old man," he said, in a voice which +shook with emotion; "they'll be on us before we can get the Maria out." + +Farrar, who was nailing a rustic bench near by, straightened up at this, +his lip curling with a desire to laugh. + +The Celebrity laid his hand on my client's shoulder. + +"Cooke," said he, "I'm deeply grateful for all the trouble you wish to +take, and for the solicitude you have shown. But let things be. I'll +come out of it all right." + +"Never," cried Cooke, looking proudly around the Four as some Highland +chief might have surveyed a faithful clan. "I'd a damned sight rather go +to jail myself." + +"A damned sight," echoed the Four in unison. + +"I insist, Cooke," said the Celebrity, taking out his eyeglass and +tapping Mr. Cooke's purple necktie, "I insist that you drop this +business. I repeat my thanks to you and these gentlemen for the +friendship they have shown, but say again that I am as innocent of this +crime as a baby." + +Mr. Cooke paid no attention to this speech. His face became radiant. + +"Didn't any of you fellows strike a cave, or a hollow tree, or something +of that sort, knocking around this morning?" + +One man slapped his knee. + +"The very place," he cried. "I fell into it," and he showed a rent in +his trousers corroboratively. "It's big enough to hold twenty of Allen, +and the detective doesn't live that could find it." + +"Hustle him off, quick," said Mr. Cooke. + +The mandate was obeyed as literally as though Robin Hood himself had +given it. The Celebrity disappeared into the forest, carried rather than +urged towards his destined place of confinement. + +The commotion had brought Mr. Trevor to the spot. He caught sight of the +Celebrity's back between the trees, then he looked at the cat-boat +entering the cove, a man in the stern preparing to pull in the tender. + +He intercepted Mr. Cooke on his way to the beach. + +"What have you done with Mr. Allen?" he asked, in a menacing voice. + +"Good God," said Mr. Cooke, whose contempt for Mr. Trevor was now +infinite, "you talk as if I were the governor of the state. What the +devil could I do with him?" + +"I will have no evasion," replied Mr. Trevor, taking an imposing posture +in front of him. "You are trying to defeat the ends of justice by +assisting a dangerous criminal to escape. I have warned you, sir, and +warn you again of the consequences of your meditated crime, and I give +you my word I will do all in my power to frustrate it." + +Mr. Cooke dug his thumbs into his waistcoat pockets. Here was a +complication he had not looked for. The Scimitar lay at anchor with her +sail down, and two men were coming ashore in the tender. Mr. Cooke's +attitude being that of a man who reconsiders a rash resolve, Mr. Trevor +was emboldened to say in a moderated tone: + +"You were carried away by your generosity, Mr. Cooke. I was sure when +you took time to think you would see it in another light." + +Mr. Cooke started off for the place where the boat had grounded. I did +not catch his reply, and probably should not have written it here if I +had. The senator looked as if he had been sand-bagged. + +The two men jumped out of the boat and hauled it up. Mr. Cooke waved an +easy salute to one, whom I recognized as the big boatman from Asquith, +familiarly known as Captain Jay. He owned the Scimitar and several +smaller boats. The captain went through the pantomime of an introduction +between Mr. Cooke and the other, whom my client shook warmly by the hand, +and presently all three came towards us. + +Mr. Cooke led them to a bar he had improvised by the brook. A pool +served the office of refrigerator, and Mr. Cooke had devised an ingenious +but complicated arrangement of strings and labels which enabled him to +extract any bottle or set of bottles without having to bare his arm and +pull out the lot. Farrar and I responded to the call he had given, and +went down to assist in the entertainment. My client, with his back to +us, was busy manipulating the strings. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "let me make you acquainted with Mr. Drew. You all +know the captain." + +Had I not suspected Mr. Drew's profession, I think I should not have +remarked that he gave each of us a keen look as he raised his head. He +had reddish-brown hair, and a pair of bushy red whiskers, each of which +tapered to a long point. He was broad in the shoulders, and the clothes +he wore rather enhanced this breadth. His suit was gray and almost new, +the trousers perceptibly bagging at the knee, and he had a felt hat, a +necktie of the white and flowery pattern, and square-toed "Congress" +boots. In short, he was a decidedly ordinary looking person; you would +meet a hundred like him in the streets of Far Harbor and Beaverton. He +might have been a prosperous business man in either of those towns,--a +comfortable lumber merchant or mine owner. And he had chosen just the +get-up I should have picked for detective work in that region. He had a +pleasant eye and a very fetching and hearty manner. But his long +whiskers troubled me especially. I kept wondering if they were real. + +"The captain is sailing Mr. Drew over to Far Harbor," explained Mr. +Cooke, "and they have put in here for the night." + +Mr. Drew was plainly not an amateur, for he volunteered nothing further +than this. The necessary bottles having been produced, Mr. Cooke held up +his glass and turned to the stranger. + +"Welcome to our party, old man," said he. + +Mr. Drew drained his glass and complimented Mr. Cooke on the brand,--a +sure key to my client's heart. Whereupon he seated himself between Mr. +Drew and the captain and began a discourse on the subject of his own +cellar, on which he talked for nearly an hour. His only pauses were for +the worthy purpose of filling the detective's or the captain's glass, and +these he watched with a hospitable solicitude. The captain had the +advantage, three to one, and I made no doubt his employer bitterly +regretted not having a boatman whose principles were more strict. At the +end of the hour Captain Jay, who by nature was inclined to be taciturn +and crabbed, waxed loquacious and even jovial. He sang us the songs he +had learned in the winter lumber-camps, which Mr. Cooke never failed to +encore to the echo. My client vowed he had not spent a pleasanter +afternoon for years. He plied the captain with cigars, and explained to +him the mystery of the strings and labels; and the captain experimented +until he had broken some of the bottles. + +Mr. Cooke was not a person who made any great distinction between the +three degrees, acquaintance, friendship, and intimacy. When a stranger +pleased him, he went from one to the other with such comparative ease +that a hardhearted man, and no other, could have resented his advances. +Mr. Drew was anything but a hard-hearted man, and he did not object to my +client's familiarity. Mr. Cooke made no secret of his admiration for Mr. +Drew, and there were just two things about him that Mr. Cooke admired and +wondered at, above all else,--the bushy red whiskers. But it appeared +that these were the only things that Mr. Drew was really touchy about. +I noticed that the detective, without being impolite, did his best to +discourage these remarks; but my client knew no such word as +discouragement. He was continually saying: "I think I'll grow some like +that, old man," or "Have those cut," and the like,--a kind of humor in +which the captain took an incredible delight. And finally, when a +certain pitch of good feeling had been arrived at, Mr. Cooke reached out +and playfully grabbed hold of the one near him. The detective drew back. +"Mr. Cooke," said he, with dignity, "I'll have to ask you to let my +whiskers alone." + +"Certainly, old man," replied my client, anything but abashed. "You'll +pardon me, but they seemed too good to be true. I congratulate you on +them." + +I was amused as well as alarmed at this piece of boldness, but the +incident passed off without any disagreeable results, except, perhaps, +a slight nervousness noticeable in the detective; and this soon +disappeared. As the sun grew low, the Celebrity's conductors straggled +in with fishing-rods and told of an afternoon's sport, and we left the +captain peacefully but sonorously slumbering on the bank. + +"Crocker," said my client to me, afterwards, "they didn't feel like the +real, home-grown article. But aren't they damned handsome?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +After supper, Captain Jay was rowed out and put to bed in his own bunk on +the Scimitar. Then we heaped together a huge pile of the driftwood on +the beach and raised a blazing beacon, the red light of which I doubt not +could be seen from the mainland. The men made prongs from the soft wood, +while Miss Thorn produced from the stores some large tins of +marshmallows. + +The memory of that evening lingers with me yet. The fire colored +everything. The waves dashed in ruby foam at our feet, and even the +tall, frowning pines at our backs were softened; the sting was gone out +of the keen night wind from the north. I found a place beside the gray +cape I had seen for the first time the night of the cotillon. I no +longer felt any great dislike for Miss Thorn, let it be known. +Resentment was easier when the distance between Mohair and Asquith +separated us,--impossible on a yachting excursion. But why should I be +justifying myself? + +Mr. Cooke and the Four, in addition to other accomplishments, possessed +excellent voices, and Mr. Drew sang a bass which added much to the +melody. One of the Four played a banjo. It is only justice to Mr. Drew +to say that he seemed less like a detective than any man I have ever met. +He told a good story and was quick at repartee, and after a while the +music, by tacit consent, was abandoned for the sake of hearing him talk. +He related how he had worked up the lake, point by point, from Beaverton +to Asquith, and lightened his narrative with snappy accounts of the +different boatmen he had run across and of the different predicaments +into which he had fallen. His sketches were so vivid that Mr. Cooke +forgot to wink at me after a while and sat spellbound, while I marvelled +at the imaginative faculty he displayed. He had us in roars of laughter. +His stories were far from incredible, and he looked less like a liar than +a detective. He showed, too, an accurate and astonishing knowledge of +the lake which could hardly have been acquired in any other way than the +long-shore trip he had described. Not once did he hint of a special +purpose which had brought him to the island, and it was growing late. +The fire died down upon the stones, and the thought of the Celebrity, +alone in a dark cave in the middle of the island, began to prey upon me. +I was not designed for a practical joker, and I take it that pity is a +part of every self-respecting man's composition. In the cool of the +night season the ludicrous side of the matter did not appeal to me quite +as strongly as in the glare of day. A joke should never be pushed to +cruelty. It was in vain that I argued I had no direct hand in the +concealing of him; I felt my responsibility quite as heavy upon me. +Perhaps bears still remained in these woods. And if a bear should devour +the author of The Sybarites, would the world ever forgive me? Could I +ever repay the debt to the young women of these United States? +To speak truth, I expected every moment to see him appear. Why, in the +name of all his works, did he stay there? Nothing worse could befall him +than to go to Far Harbor with Drew, where our words concerning his +identity would be taken. And what an advertisement this would be for the +great author. The Sybarites, now selling by thousands, would increase +its sales to ten thousands. Ah, there was the rub. The clue to his +remaining in the cave was this very kink in the Celebrity's character. +There was nothing Bohemian in that character; it yearned after the +eminently respectable. Its very eccentricities were within the limits of +good form. The Celebrity shunned the biscuits and beer of the literary +clubs, and his books were bound for the boudoir. To have it proclaimed +in the sensational journals that the hands of this choice being had been +locked for grand larceny was a thought too horrible to entertain. His +very manservant would have cried aloud against it. Better a hundred +nights in a cave than one such experience! + +Miss Trevor's behavior that evening was so unrestful as to lead me to +believe that she, too, was going through qualms of sympathy for the +victim. As we were breaking up for the evening she pulled my sleeve. + +"Don't you think we have carried our joke a little too far, Mr. Crocker?" +she whispered uneasily. "I can't bear to think of him in that +terrible place." + +"It will do him a world of good," I replied, assuming a gayety I did not +feel. It is not pleasant to reflect that some day one's own folly might +place one in alike situation. And the night was dismally cool and windy, +now that the fire had gone out. Miss Trevor began to philosophize. + +"Such practical pleasantries as this," she said, "are like infernal +machines: they often blow up the people that start them. And they are +next to impossible to steer." + +"Perhaps it is just as well not to assume we are the instruments of +Providence," I said. + +Here we ran into Miss Thorn, who was carrying a lantern. + +"I have been searching everywhere for you two mischief-makers," said she. +"You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Heaven only knows how this +little experiment will end. Here is Aunt Maria, usually serene, on the +verge of hysterics: she says he shouldn't stay in that damp cave another +minute. Here is your father, Irene, organizing relief parties and +walking the floor of his tent like a madman. And here is Uncle Fenelon +insane over the idea of getting the poor, innocent man into Canada. And +here is a detective saddled upon us, perhaps for days, and Uncle Fenelon +has gotten his boatman drunk. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves," +she repeated. + +Miss Trevor laughed, in spite of the gravity of these things, and so did +I. + +"Oh, come, Marian," said she, "it isn't as bad as all that. And you talk +as if you hadn't anything to be reproached for. Your own defence of the +Celebrity wasn't as strong as it might have been." + +By the light of the lantern I saw Miss Thorn cast one meaning look at +Miss Trevor. + +"What are you going to do about it?" asked Miss Thorn, addressing me. +"Think of that unhappy man, without a bed, without blankets, without even +a tooth-brush." + +"He hasn't been wholly off my mind," I answered truthfully. "But there +isn't anything we can do to-night, with that beastly detective to notice +it." + +"Then you must go very early to-morrow morning, before the detective gets +up." + +I couldn't help smiling at the notion of getting up before a detective. + +"I am only too willing," I said. + +"It must be by four o'clock," Miss Thorn went on energetically, "and we +must have a guide we can trust. Arrange it with one of Uncle Fenelon's +friends." + +"We?" I repeated. + +"You certainly don't imagine that I am going to be left behind?" said +Miss Thorn. + +I made haste to invite for the expedition one of the Four, who was quite +willing to go; and we got together all the bodily comforts we could think +of and put them in a hamper, the Fraction not forgetting to add a few +bottles from Mr. Cooke's immersed bar. + +Long after the camp had gone to bed, I lay on the pine-needles above the +brook, shielded from the wind by a break in the slope, and thought of the +strange happenings of that day. Presently the waning moon climbed +reluctantly from the waters, and the stream became mottled, black and +white, the trees tall blurs. The lake rose and fell with a mighty +rhythm, and the little brook hurried madly over the stones to join it. +One thought chased another from my brain. + +At such times, when one's consciousness of outer things is dormant, an +earthquake might continue for some minutes without one realizing it. I +did not observe, though I might have seen from where I lay, the flap of +one of the tents drawn back and two figures emerge. They came and stood +on the bank above, under the tree which sheltered me. And I experienced +a curious phenomenon. I heard, and understood, and remembered the first +part of the conversation which passed between them, and did not know it. + +"I am sorry to disturb you," said one. + +"Not at all," said the other, whose tone, I thought afterwards, betokened +surprise, and no great cheerfulness. + +"But I have had no other opportunity to speak with you." + +"No," said the other, rather uneasily. + +Suddenly my senses were alert, and I knew that Mr. Trevor had pulled the +detective out of bed. The senator had no doubt anticipated an easier +time, and he now began feeling for an opening. More than once he cleared +his throat to commence, while Mr. Drew pulled his scant clothing closer +about him, his whiskers playing in the breeze. + +"In Cincinnati, Mr. Drew," said Mr. Trevor, at length, "I am a known, if +not an influential, citizen; and I have served my state for three terms +in its Senate." + +"I have visited your city, Mr. Trevor," answered Mr. Drew, his teeth +chattering audibly, "and I know you by reputation." + +"Then, sir," Mr. Trevor continued, with a flourish which appeared +absolutely grotesque in his attenuated costume, "it must be clear to you +that I cannot give my consent to a flagrant attempt by an unscrupulous +person to violate the laws of this country." + +"Your feelings are to be respected, sir." + +Mr. Trevor cleared his throat again. +"Discretion is always to be observed, Mr. Drew. And I, who have been in +the public service, know the full value of it." + +Mr. Trevor leaned forward, at the same time glancing anxiously up at the +tree, for fear, perhaps, that Mr. Cooke might be concealed therein. He +said in a stage whisper: + +"A criminal is concealed on this island." + +Drew started perceptibly. + +"Yes," said Mr. Trevor, with a glance of triumph at having produced an +impression on a detective, "I thought it my duty to inform you. He has +been hidden by the followers of the unscrupulous person I referred to, in +a cave, I believe. I repeat, sir, as a man of unimpeachable standing, I +considered it my duty to tell you." + +"You have my sincere thanks, Mr. Trevor," said Drew, holding out his +hand, "and I shall act on the suggestion." + +Mr. Trevor clasped the hand of the detective, and they returned quietly +to their respective tents. And in course of time I followed them, +wondering how this incident might affect our morning's expedition. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +My first thought on rising was to look for the detective. The touch of +the coming day was on the lake, and I made out the two boats dimly, +riding on the dead swell and tugging idly at their chains. The detective +had been assigned to a tent which was occupied by Mr. Cooke and the Four, +and they were sleeping soundly at my entrance. But Drew's blankets were +empty. I hurried to the beach, but the Scimitar's boat was still drawn +up there near the Maria's tender, proving that he was still on the +island. + +Outside of the ladies' tent I came upon Miss Thorn, stowing a large +basket. I told her that we had taken that precaution the night before. + +"What did you put in?" she demanded. + +I enumerated the articles as best I could. And when I had finished, she +said, + +"And I am filling this with the things you have forgotten." + +I lost no time in telling her what I had overheard the night before, and +that the detective was gone from his tent. She stopped her packing and +looked at me in concern. + +"He is probably watching us," she said. "Do you think we had better go?" + +I thought it could do no harm. "If we are followed," said I, "all we +have to do is to turn back." + +Miss Trevor came out as I spoke, and our conductor appeared, bending +under the hamper. I shouldered some blankets and the basket, and we +started. We followed a rough path, evidently cut by a camping party in +some past season, but now overgrown. The Fraction marched ahead, and I +formed the rear guard. Several times it seemed to me as though someone +were pushing after us, and more than once we halted. I put down the +basket and went back to reconnoitre. Once I believed I saw a figure +flitting in the gray light, but I set it down to my imagination. + +Finally we reached a brook, sneaking along beneath the underbrush as +though fearing to show itself, and we followed its course. Branches +lashed our faces and brambles tore our clothes. And then, as the +sunlight was filtering through and turning the brook from blue to +crystal, we came upon the Celebrity. He was seated in a little open +space on the bank, apparently careless of capture. He did not even rise +at our approach. His face showed the effect of a sleepless night, and +wore an expression inimical to all mankind. The conductor threw his +bundle on the bank and laid his hand on the Celebrity's shoulder. + +"Halloa, old man!" said he, cheerily. "You must have had a hard night +of it. But we couldn't make you any sooner, because that hawk of an +officer had his eye on us." + +The Celebrity shook himself free. And in place of the gratitude for +which the Fraction had looked, and which he had every reason to expect, +he got something different. + +"This outrage has gone far enough," said the Celebrity, with a terrible +calmness. The Fraction was a man of the world. + +"Come, come, old chap!" he said soothingly, "don't cut up. We'll make +things a little more homelike here." And he pulled a bottle from the +depths of the hamper. "This will brace you up." + +He picked up the hamper and disappeared into the place of retention, +while the Celebrity threw the bottle into the brush. And just then (may +I be forgiven if I am imaginative!) I heard a human laugh come from that +direction. In the casting of that bottle the Celebrity had given vent to +some of the feelings he had been collecting overnight, and it must have +carried about thirty yards. I dived after it like a retriever puppy for +a stone; but the bottle was gone! Perhaps I could say more, but it +doesn't do to believe in yourself too thoroughly when you get up early. +I had nothing to say when I returned. + +"You here, Crocker?" said the author, fixing his eye on me. "Deuced +kind of you to get up so early and carry a basket so far for me." + +"It has been a real pleasure, I assure you," I protested. And it had. +There was a silent space while the two young ladies regarded him, +softened by his haggard and dishevelled aspect, and perplexed by his +attitude. Nothing, I believe, appeals to a woman so much as this very +lack of bodily care. And the rogue knew it! + +"How long is this little game of yours to continue,--this bull-baiting?" +he inquired. "How long am I to be made a butt of for the amusement of a +lot of imbeciles?" + +Miss Thorn crossed over and seated herself on the ground beside him. +"You must be sensible," she said, in a tone that she might have used to a +spoiled child. "I know it is difficult after the night you have had. +But you have always been willing to listen to reason." + +A pang of something went through me when I saw them together. +"Reason," said the Celebrity, raising his head. "Reason, yes. But where +is the reason in all this? Because a man who happens to be my double +commits a crime, is it right that I, whose reputation is without a mark, +should be made to suffer? And why have I been made a fool of by two +people whom I had every cause to suppose my friends?" + +"You will have to ask them," replied Miss Thorn, with a glance at us. +"They are mischief-makers, I'll admit; but they are not malicious. See +what they have done this morning! And how could they have foreseen that +a detective was on his way to the island?" + +"Crocker might have known it," said he, melting. "He's so cursed smart!" + +"And think," Miss Thorn continued, quick to follow up an advantage, +"think what would have happened if they hadn't denied you. This horrid +man would have gone off with you to Asquith or somewhere else, with +handcuffs on your wrists; for it isn't a detective's place to take +evidence, Mr. Crocker says. Perhaps we should all have had to go to +Epsom! And I couldn't bear to see you in handcuffs, you know." + +"Don't you think we had better leave them alone?" I said to Miss Trevor. + +She smiled and shook her head. + +"You are blind as a bat, Mr. Crocker," she said. + +The Celebrity had weighed Miss Thorn's words and was listening passively +now while she talked. There may be talents which she did not possess; I +will not pretend to say. But I know there are many professions she might +have chosen had she not been a woman. She would have made a name for +herself at the bar; as a public speaker she would have excelled. And had +I not been so long accustomed to picking holes in arguments I am sure I +should not have perceived the fallacies of this she was making for the +benefit of the Celebrity. He surely did not. It is strange how a man +can turn under such influence from one feeling to another. The Celebrity +lost his resentment; apprehension took its place. He became more and +more nervous; questioned me from time to time on the law; wished to know +whether he would be called upon for testimony at Allen's trial; whether +there was any penalty attached to the taking of another man's name; +precisely what Drew would do with him if captured; and the tail of his +eye was on the thicket as he made this inquiry. It may be surmised that +I took an exquisite delight in quenching this new-born thirst for +knowledge. And finally we all went into the cave. + +Miss Thorn unpacked the things we had brought, while I surveyed the +cavern. It was in the solid rock, some ten feet high and irregular in +shape, and perfectly dry. It was a marvel to me how cosy she made it. +One of the Maria's lanterns was placed in a niche, and the Celebrity's +silver toilet-set laid out on a ledge of the rock, which answered +perfectly for a dressing-table. Miss Thorn had not forgotten a small +mirror. And as a last office, set a dainty breakfast on a linen napkin +on the rock, heating the coffee in a chafing-dish. + +"There!" she exclaimed, surveying her labors, "I hope you will be more +comfortable." + +He had already taken the precaution to brush his hair and pull himself +together. His thanks, such as they were, he gave to Miss Thorn. It is +true that she had done more than any one else. + +"Good-bye, old boy!" said the Fraction. "We'll come back when we get the +chance, and don't let that hundred thousand keep you awake." + +The Fraction and I covered up the mouth of the cave with brush. He +became confidential. + +"Lucky dog, Allen!" he said. "They'll never get him away from Cooke. +And he can have any girl he wants for the asking. By George! I believe +Miss Thorn will elope with him if he ever reaches Canada." + +I only mention this as a sample of the Fraction's point of view. +I confess the remark annoyed me at the time. + +Miss Thorn lingered in the cave for a minute after Miss Trevor came out. +Then we retraced our way down the brook, which was dancing now in the +sunlight. Miss Trevor stopped now and then to rest, in reality to laugh. +I do not know what the Fraction thought of such heartless conduct. He +and I were constantly on the alert for Mr. Drew, but we sighted the camp +without having encountered him. It was half-past six, and we had trusted +to slip in unnoticed by any one. But, as we emerged from the trees, the +bustling scene which greeted our eyes filled us with astonishment. Two +of the tents were down, and the third in a collapsed condition, while +confusion reigned supreme. And in the midst of it all stood Mr. Cooke, +an animated central figure pedestalled on a stump, giving emphatic +directions in a voice of authority. He spied us from his elevated +position before we had crossed the brook. + +"Here they come, Maria," he shouted. + +We climbed to the top of the slope, and were there confronted by Mrs. +Cooke and Mr. Trevor, with Mr. Cooke close behind them. + +"Where the devil is Allen?" my client demanded excitedly of the +Fraction. + +"Allen?" repeated that gentleman, "why, we made him comfortable and left +him, of course. We had sense enough not to bring him here to be pulled." + +"But, you damfool," cried Mr. Cooke, slightly forgetting himself, "Drew +has escaped." + +"Escaped?" + +"Yes, escaped," said Mr. Cooke, as though our conductor were personally +responsible; "he got away this morning. Before we know it, we'll have +the whole police force of Far Harbor out here to jug the lot of us." + +The Fraction, being deficient for the moment in language proper to +express his appreciation of this new development, simply volunteered to +return for the Celebrity, and left in a great hurry. + +"Irene," said Mr. Trevor, "can it be possible that you have stolen away +for the express purpose of visiting this criminal?" + +"If he is a criminal, father, it is no reason that he should starve." + +"It is no reason," cried her father, hotly, "why a young girl who has +been brought up as you have, should throw every lady-like instinct to +the winds. There are men enough in this camp to keep him from starving. +I will not have my daughter's name connected with that of a defaulter. +Irene, you have set the seal of disgrace upon a name which I have labored +for a lifetime to make one of the proudest in the land. And it was my +fond hope that I possessed a daughter who--" + +During this speech my anger had been steadily rising.. But it was Mrs. +Cooke who interrupted him. + +"Mr. Trevor," said she, "perhaps you are not aware that while you are +insulting your daughter, you are also insulting my niece. It may be well +for you to know that Miss Trevor still has my respect as a woman and my +admiration as a lady. And, since she has been so misjudged by her +father, she has my deepest sympathy. But I wish to beg of you, if you +have anything of this nature to say to her, you will take her feelings +into consideration as well as ours." + +Miss Trevor gave her one expressive look of gratitude. The senator was +effectually silenced. He had come, by some inexplicable inference, to +believe that Mrs. Cooke, while subservient to the despotic will of her +husband, had been miraculously saved from depravity, and had set her face +against this last monumental act of outlawry. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Celebrity, Volume 3, by Winston Churchill + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CELEBRITY, VOLUME 3 *** + +***** This file should be named 5385.txt or 5385.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/8/5385/ + +Produced by David Widger + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/5385.zip b/5385.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4cecce --- /dev/null +++ b/5385.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e2a23d --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #5385 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5385) diff --git a/old/wc48w10.txt b/old/wc48w10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e15bdac --- /dev/null +++ b/old/wc48w10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2131 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Ebook The Celebrity, v3, by Winston Churchill +WC#48 in our series by Winston Churchill (USA author, not Sir Winston) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: The Celebrity, Volume 3. + +Author: Winston Churchill (USA author, not Sir Winston Churchill) + +Release Date: March, 2004 [EBook #5385] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 28, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CELEBRITY, V3, BY CHURCHILL *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +THE CELEBRITY + +By Winston Churchill + + +VOLUME 3. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +That evening I lighted a cigar and went down to sit on the outermost +pile of the Asquith dock to commune with myself. To say that I was +disappointed in Miss Thorn would be to set a mild value on my feelings. +I was angry, even aggressive, over her defence of the Celebrity. I had +gone over to Mohair that day with a hope that some good reason was at the +bottom of her tolerance for him, and had come back without any hope. She +not only tolerated him, but, wonderful to be said, plainly liked him. +Had she not praised him, and defended him, and become indignant when I +spoke my mind about him? And I would have taken my oath, two weeks +before, that nothing short of hypnotic influence could have changed her. +By her own confession she had come to Asquith with her eyes opened, and, +what was more, seen another girl wrecked on the same reef. + +Farrar followed me out presently, and I had an impulse to submit the +problem as it stood to him. But it was a long story, and I did not +believe that if he were in my boots he would have consulted me. Again, +I sometimes thought Farrar yearned for confidences, though it was +impossible for him to confide. And he wore an inviting air to-night. +Then, as everybody knows, there is that about twilight and an after- +dinner cigar which leads to communication. They are excellent solvents. +My friend seated himself on the pile next to mine, and said, + +"It strikes me you have been behaving rather queer lately, Crocker." + +This was clearly an invitation from Farrar, and I melted. + +"I admit," said I, "that I am a good deal perplexed over the +contradictions of the human mind." + +"Oh, is that all?" he replied dryly. "I supposed it was worse. +Narrower, I mean. Didn't know you ever bothered yourself with abstract +philosophy." + +"See here, Farrar," said I, "what is your opinion of Miss Thorn?" + +He stopped kicking his feet against the pile and looked up. + +"Miss Thorn?" + +"Yes, Miss Thorn," I repeated with emphasis. I knew he had in mind that +abominable twaddle about the canoe excursions. + +"Why, to tell the truth," said he, "I never had any opinion of Miss +Thorn." + +"You mean you never formed any, I suppose," I returned with some +tartness. + +"Yes, that is it. How darned precise you are getting, Crocker! One +would think you were going to write a rhetoric. What put Miss Thorn into +your head?" + +"I have been coaching beside her this afternoon." + +"Oh!" said Farrar. + +"Do you remember the night she came," I asked, "and we sat with her on +the Florentine porch, and Charles Wrexell recognized her and came up?" + +"Yes," he replied with awakened interest, "and I meant to ask you about +that." + +"Miss Thorn had met him in the East. And I gathered from what she told +me that he has followed her out here." + +"Shouldn't wonder," said Farrar. "Don't much blame him, do you? Is that +what troubles you?" he asked, in surprise. + +"Not precisely," I answered vaguely; "but from what she has said then and +since, she made it pretty clear that she hadn't any use for him; saw +through him, you know." + +"Pity her if she didn't. But what did she say?" + +I repeated the conversations I had had with Miss Thorn, without revealing +Mr. Allen's identity with the celebrated author. + +"That is rather severe," he assented. + +"He decamped for Mohair, as you know, and since that time she has gone +back on every word of it. She is with him morning and evening, and, to +crown all, stood up for him through thick and thin to-day, and praised +him. What do you think of that?" + +"What I should have expected in a woman," said he, nonchalantly. + +"They aren't all alike," I retorted. + +He shook out his pipe, and getting down from his high seat laid his hand +on my knee. + +"I thought so once, old fellow," he whispered, and went off down the +dock. + +This was the nearest Farrar ever came to a confidence. + +I have now to chronicle a curious friendship which had its beginning at +this time. The friendships of the other sex are quickly made, and +sometimes as quickly dissolved. This one interested me more than I care +to own. The next morning Judge Short, looking somewhat dejected after +the overnight conference he had had with his wife, was innocently and +somewhat ostentatiously engaged in tossing quoits with me in front of the +inn, when Miss Thorn drove up in a basket cart. She gave me a bow which +proved that she bore no ill-will for that which I had said about her +hero. Then Miss Trevor appeared, and away they went together. This was +the commencement. Soon the acquaintance became an intimacy, and their +lives a series of visits to each other. Although this new state of +affairs did not seem to decrease the number of Miss Thorn's 'tete-a- +tetes' with the Celebrity, it put a stop to the canoe expeditions I had +been in the habit of taking with Miss Trevor, which I thought just as +well under the circumstances. More than once Miss Thorn partook of the +inn fare at our table, and when this happened I would make my escape +before the coffee. For such was the nature of my feelings regarding the +Celebrity that I could not bring myself into cordial relations with one +who professed to admire him. I realize how ridiculous such a sentiment +must appear, but it existed nevertheless, and most strongly. + +I tried hard to throw Miss Thorn out of my thoughts, and very nearly +succeeded. I took to spending more and more of my time at the county- +seat, where I remained for days at a stretch, inventing business when +there was none. And in the meanwhile I lost all respect for myself as a +sensible man, and cursed the day the Celebrity came into the state. It +seemed strange that this acquaintance of my early days should have come +back into my life, transformed, to make it more or less miserable. +The county-seat being several miles inland, and lying in the midst of +hills, could get intolerably hot in September. At last I was driven out +in spite of myself, and I arrived at Asquith cross and dusty. As Simpson +was brushing me off, Miss Trevor came up the path looking cool and pretty +in a summer gown, and her face expressed sympathy. I have never denied +that sympathy was a good thing. + +"Oh, Mr. Crocker," she cried, "I am so glad you are back again! We have +missed you dreadfully. And you look tired, poor man, quite worn out. It +is a shame you have to go over to that hot place to work." + +I agreed with her. + +"And I never have any one to take me canoeing any more." + +"Let's go now," I suggested, "before dinner." + +So we went. It was a keen pleasure to be on the lake again after the +sultry court-rooms and offices, and the wind and exercise quickly brought +back my appetite and spirits. I paddled hither and thither, stopping now +and then to lie under the pines at the mouth of some stream, while Miss +Trevor talked. She was almost a child in her eagerness to amuse me with +the happenings since my departure. This was always her manner with me, +in curious contrast to her habit of fencing and playing with words when +in company. Presently she burst out: + +"Mr. Crocker, why is it that you avoid Miss Thorn? I was talking of you +to her only to-day, and she says you go miles out of your way to get out +of speaking to her; that you seemed to like her quite well at first. She +couldn't understand the change." + +"Did she say that?" I exclaimed. + +"Indeed, she did; and I have noticed it, too. I saw you leave before +coffee more than once when she was here. I don't believe you know what a +fine girl she is." + +"Why, then, does she accept and return the attentions of the Celebrity?" +I inquired, with a touch of acidity. "She knows what he is as well, if +not better, than you or I. I own I can't understand it," I said, the +subject getting ahead of me. "I believe she is in love with him." + +Miss Trevor began to laugh; quietly at first, and, as her merriment +increased, heartily. + +"Shouldn't we be getting back?" I asked, looking at my watch. "It lacks +but half an hour of dinner." + +"Please don't be angry, Mr. Crocker," she pleaded. "I really couldn't +help laughing." + +"I was unaware I had said anything funny, Miss Trevor," I replied. + +"Of course you didn't," she said more soberly; "that is, you didn't +intend to. But the very notion of Miss Thorn in love with the Celebrity +is funny." + +"Evidence is stronger than argument," said I. "And now she has even +convicted herself." + +I started to paddle homeward, rather furiously, and my companion said +nothing until we came in sight of the inn. As the canoe glided into the +smooth surface behind the breakwater, she broke the silence. + +"I heard you went fishing the other day," said she. + +"Yes." + +"And the judge told me about a big bass you hooked, and how you played +him longer than was necessary for the mere fun of the thing." + +"Yes." + +"Perhaps you will find in the feeling that prompted you to do that a clue +to the character of our sex." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Mr. Cooke had had a sloop yacht built at Far Harbor, the completion of +which had been delayed, and which was but just delivered. She was, +painted white, with brass fittings, and under her stern, in big, black +letters, was the word Maria, intended as a surprise and delicate conjugal +compliment to Mrs. Cooke. The Maria had a cabin, which was finished in +hard wood and yellow plush, and accommodations for keeping things cold. +This last Mr. Cooke had insisted upon. + +The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with +a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been +prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht for the month after the offer +of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy. +His son and helper was to receive a sum proportionally exorbitant. This +worthy man sighted Mohair on a Sunday morning, and at nine o'clock +dropped his anchor with a salute which caused Mr. Cooke to say unpleasant +things in his sleep. After making things ship-shape and hoisting the +jack, both father and son rowed ashore to the little church at Asquith. + +Now the butler at Mohair was a servant who had learned, from long +experience, to anticipate every wish and whim of his master, and from +the moment he descried the white sails of the yacht out of the windows +of the butler's pantry his duty was clear as daylight. Such was the +comprehension and despatch with which he gave his commands that the +captain returned from divine worship to find the Maria in profane hands, +her immaculate deck littered with straw and sawdust, and covered to the +coamings with bottles and cases. This decided the captain, he packed his +kit in high dudgeon, and took the first train back to Far Harbor, leaving +the yacht to her fate. + +This sudden and inconsiderate departure was a severe blow to Mr. Cooke' +who was so constituted that he cared but little about anything until +there was danger of not getting it. My client had planned a trip to Bear +Island for the following Tuesday, which was to last a week, the party to +bring tents with them and rough it, with the Maria as headquarters. It +was out of the question to send to Far Harbor for another skipper, if, +indeed, one could be found at that late period. And as luck would have +it, six of Mr. Cooke's ten guests had left but a day or so since, and +among them had been the only yacht-owner. None of the four that remained +could do more than haul aft and belay a sheet. But the Celebrity, who +chanced along as Mr. Cooke was ruefully gazing at the graceful lines of +the Maria from the wharf and cursing the fate that kept him ashore with +a stiff wind blowing, proposed a way out of the difficulty. He, the +Celebrity, would gladly sail the Maria over to Bear Island provided +another man could be found to relieve him occasionally at the wheel, and +the like. He had noticed that Farrar was a capable hand in a boat, and +suggested that he be sent for. + +This suggestion Mr. Cooke thought so well of that he hurried over to +Asquith to consult Farrar at once, and incidentally to consult me. We +can hardly be blamed for receiving his overtures with a moderate +enthusiasm. In fact, we were of one mind not to go when the subject +was first broached. But my client had a persuasive way about him that +was irresistible, and the mere mention of the favors he had conferred +upon both of us at different periods of our lives was sufficient. We +consented. + +Thus it came to pass that Tuesday morning found the party assembled on +the wharf at Mohair, the Four and the Celebrity, as well as Mr. Cooke, +having produced yachting suits from their inexhaustible wardrobes. Mr. +Trevor and his daughter, Mrs. Cooke and Miss Thorn, and Farrar and myself +completed the party. We were to adhere strictly to primeval principles: +the ladies were not permitted a maid, while the Celebrity was forced to +leave his manservant, and Mr. Cooke his chef. I had, however, thrust +into my pocket the Minneapolis papers, which had been handed me by the +clerk on their arrival at the inn, which happened just as I was leaving. +'Quod bene notandum!' + +Thereby hangs a tale! + +For the northern lakes the day was rather dead: a little wind lay in the +southeast, scarcely enough to break the water, with the sky an intense +blue. But the Maria was hardly cast and under way before it became +painfully apparent that the Celebrity was much better fitted to lead a +cotillon than to sail a boat. He gave his orders, nevertheless, in a +firm, seamanlike fashion, though with no great pertinence, and thus +managed to establish the confidence of Mr. Cooke. Farrar, after setting +things to rights, joined Mrs. Cooke and me over the cabin. + +"How about hoisting the spinnaker, mate?" the Celebrity shouted after +him. + +Farrar did not deign to answer: his eye was on the wind. And the boom, +which had been acting uneasily, finally decided to gybe, and swept +majestically over, carrying two of the Four in front of it, and all but +dropped them into the water. + +"A common occurrence in a light breeze," we heard the Celebrity reassure +Mr. Cooke and Miss Thorn. + +"The Maria has vindicated her sex," remarked Farrar. + +We laughed. + +"Why don't you sail, Mr. Farrar?" asked Mrs. Cooke. + +"He can't do any harm in this breeze," Farrar replied; "it isn't strong +enough to get anywhere with." + +He was right. The boom gybed twenty times that morning, and the +Celebrity offered an equal number of apologies. Mr. Cooke and the Four +vanished, and from the uproarious laughter which arose from the cabin +transoms I judged they were telling stories. While Miss Thorn spent the +time profitably in learning how to conn a yacht. At one, when we had +luncheon, Mohair was still in the distance. At two it began to cloud +over, the wind fell flat, and an ominous black bank came up from the +south. Without more ado, Farrar, calling on me to give him a hand, eased +down the halliards and began to close reef the mainsail. + +"Hold on," said the Celebrity, "who told you to do that?" + +"I am very sure you didn't," Farrar returned, as he hauled out a reef +earing. + +Here a few drops of rain on the deck warned the ladies to retire to the +cabin. + +"Take the helm until I get my mackintosh, will you, Farrar?" said the +Celebrity, "and be careful what you do." + +Farrar took the helm and hauled in the sheet, while the Celebrity, Mr. +Cooke, and the guests donned their rain-clothes. The water ahead was +now like blue velvet, and the rain pelting. The Maria was heeling to the +squall by the time the Celebrity appeared at the cabin door, enveloped in +an ample waterproof, a rubber cover on his yachting cap. A fool despises +a danger he has never experienced, and our author, with a remark about a +spanking breeze, made a motion to take the wheel. But Farrar, the +flannel of his shirt clinging to the muscular outline of his shoulders, +gave him a push which sent him sprawling against the lee refrigerator. +Well Miss Thorn was not there to see. + +"You will have to answer for this," he cried, as he scrambled to his feet +and clutched the weather wash-board with one hand, while he shook the +other in Farrar's face. + +"Crocker," said Farrar to me, coolly, "keep that idiot out of the way for +a while, or we'll all be drowned. Tie him up, if necessary." + +I was relieved from this somewhat unpleasant task. Mr. Cooke, with his +back to the rain, sat an amused witness to the mutiny, as blissfully +ignorant as the Celebrity of the character of a lake squall. + +"I appeal to you, as the owner of this yacht, Mr. Cooke," the Celebrity +shouted, "whether, as the person delegated by you to take charge of it, +I am to suffer indignity and insult. I have sailed larger yachts than +this time and again on the coast, at--" here he swallowed a portion of a +wave and was mercifully prevented from being specific. + +But Mr. Cooke was looking a trifle bewildered. It was hardly possible +for him to cling to the refrigerator, much less quell a mutiny. One who +has sailed the lakes well knows how rapidly they can be lashed to fury by +a storm, and the wind was now spinning the tops of the waves into a +blinding spray. Although the Maria proved a stiff boat and a seaworthy, +she was not altogether without motion; and the set expression on Farrar's +face would have told me, had I not known it, that our situation at that +moment was no joke. Repeatedly, as she was held up to it, a precocious +roller would sweep from bow to stern, until we without coats were wet and +shivering. + +The close and crowded cabin of a small yacht is not an attractive place +in rough weather; and one by one the Four emerged and distributed +themselves about the deck, wherever they could obtain a hold. Some of +them began to act peculiarly. Upon Mr. Cooke's unwillingness or +inability to interfere in his behalf, the Celebrity had assumed an +aggrieved demeanor, but soon the motion of the Maria became more and +more pronounced, and the difficulty of maintaining his decorum likewise +increased. The ruddy color left his face, which grew pale with effort. +I will do him the justice to say that the effort was heroic: he whistled +popular airs, and snatches of the grand opera; he relieved Mr. Cooke of +his glasses (of which Mr. Cooke had neglected to relieve himself), and +scanned the sea line busily. But the inevitable deferred is frequently +more violent than the inevitable taken gracefully, and the confusion +which at length overtook the Celebrity was utter as his humiliation was +complete. We laid him beside Mr. Cooke in the cockpit. + +The rain presently ceased, and the wind hauled, as is often the case, +to the northwest, which began to clear, while Bear Island rose from the +northern horizon. Both Farrar and I were surprised to see Miss Trevor +come out; she hooked back the cabin doors and surveyed the prostrate +forms with amusement. + +We asked her about those inside. + +"Mrs. Cooke has really been very ill," she said, "and Miss Thorn is doing +all she can for her. My father and I were more fortunate. But you will +both catch your deaths," she exclaimed, noticing our condition. "Tell me +where I can find your coats." + +I suppose it is natural for a man to enjoy being looked after in this +way; it was certainly a new sensation to Farrar and myself. We assured +her we were drying out and did not need the coats, but nevertheless she +went back into the cabin and found them. + +"Miss Thorn says you should both be whipped," she remarked. + +When we had put on our coats Miss Trevor sat down and began to talk. + +"I once heard of a man," she began complacently, "a man that was buried +alive, and who contrived to dig himself up and then read his own epitaph. +It did not please him, but he was wise and amended his life. I have +often thought how much it might help some people if they could read their +own epitaphs." + +Farrar was very quick at this sort of thing; and now that the steering +had become easier was only too glad to join her in worrying the +Celebrity. But he, if he were conscious, gave no sign of it. + +"They ought to be buried so that they could not dig themselves up," he +said. "The epitaphs would only strengthen their belief that they had +lived in an unappreciative age." + +"One I happen to have in mind, however, lives in an appreciative age. +Most appreciative." + +"And women are often epitaph-makers." + +"You are hard on the sex, Mr. Farrar," she answered, "but perhaps justly +so. And yet there are some women I know of who would not write an +epitaph to his taste." + +Farrar looked at her curiously. + +"I beg your pardon," he said. + +"Do not imagine I am touchy on the subject," she replied quickly; "some +of us are fortunate enough to have had our eyes opened." + +I thought the Celebrity stirred uneasily. + +"Have you read The Sybarites?" she asked. + +Farrar was puzzled. + +"No," said he sententiously, "and I don't want to." + +"I know the average man thinks it a disgrace to have read it. And you +may not believe me when I say that it is a strong story of its kind, with +a strong moral. There are men who might read that book and be a great +deal better for it. And, if they took the moral to heart, it would prove +every bit as effectual as their own epitaphs." + +He was not quite sure of her drift, but he perceived that she was still +making fun of Mr. Allen. + +"And the moral?" he inquired. + +"Well," she said, "the best I can do is to give you a synopsis of the +story, and then you can judge of its fitness. The hero is called Victor +Desmond. He is a young man of a sterling though undeveloped character, +who has been hampered by an indulgent parent with a large fortune. +Desmond is a butterfly, and sips life after the approved manner of his +kind,--now from Bohemian glass, now from vessels of gold and silver. He +chats with stage lights in their dressing-rooms, and attends a ball in +the Bowery or a supper at Sherry's with a ready versatility. The book, +apart from its intention, really gives the middle classes an excellent +idea of what is called 'high-life.' + +"It is some time before Desmond discovers that he possesses the gift of +Paris,--a deliberation proving his lack of conceit,--that wherever he +goes he unwittingly breaks a heart, and sometimes two or three. This +discovery is naturally so painful that he comes home to his chambers and +throws himself on a lounge before his fire in a fit of self-deprecation, +and reflects on a misspent and foolish life. This, mind you, is where +his character starts to develop. And he makes a heroic resolve, not to +cut off his nose or to grow a beard, nor get married, but henceforth to +live a life of usefulness and seclusion, which was certainly considerate. +And furthermore, if by any accident he ever again involved the affections +of another girl he would marry her, be she as ugly as sin or as poor as +poverty. Then the heroine comes in. Her name is Rosamond, which sounds +well and may be euphoniously coupled with Desmond; and, with the single +exception of a boarding-school girl, she is the only young woman he ever +thought of twice. In order to save her and himself he goes away, but the +temptation to write to her overpowers him, and of course she answers his +letter. This brings on a correspondence. His letters take the form of +confessions, and are the fruits of much philosophical reflection. +'Inconstancy in woman,' he says, because of the present social +conditions, is often pardonable. In a man, nothing is more despicable.' +This is his cardinal principle, and he sticks to it nobly. For, though +he tires of Rosamond, who is quite attractive, however, he marries her +and lives a life of self-denial. There are men who might take that story +to heart." + +I was amused that she should give the passage quoted by the Celebrity +himself. Her double meaning was, naturally, lost on Farrar, but he +enjoyed the thing hugely, nevertheless, as more or less applicable to Mr. +Allen. I made sure that gentleman was sensible of what was being said, +though he scarcely moved a muscle. And Miss Trevor, with a mirthful +glance at me that was not without a tinge of triumph, jumped lightly to +the deck and went in to see the invalids. + +We were now working up into the lee of the island, whose tall pines stood +clean and black against the red glow of the evening sky. Mr. Cooke began +to give evidences of life, and finally got up and overhauled one of the +ice-chests for a restorative. Farrar put into the little cove, where we +dropped anchor, and soon had the chief sufferers ashore; and a delicate +supper, in the preparation of which Miss Thorn showed her ability as a +cook, soon restored them. For my part, I much preferred Miss Thorn's +dishes to those of the Mohair chef, and so did Farrar. And the Four, +surprising as it may seem, made themselves generally useful about the +camp in pitching the tents under Farrar's supervision. But the Celebrity +remained apart and silent. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Our first, night in the Bear Island camp passed without incident, and we +all slept profoundly, tired out by the labors of the day before. After +breakfast, the Four set out to explore, with trout-rods and shot-guns. +Bear Island is, with the exception of the cove into which we had put, as +nearly round as an island can be, and perhaps three miles in diameter. +It has two clear brooks which, owing to the comparative inaccessibility +of the place, still contain trout and grayling, though there are few +spots where a fly can be cast on account of the dense underbrush. The +woods contain partridge, or ruffed grouse, and other game in smaller +quantities. I believe my client entertained some notion of establishing +a preserve here. + +The insults which had been heaped upon the Celebrity on the yacht seemed +to have raised rather than lowered him in Miss Thorn's esteem, for these +two ensconced themselves among the pines above the camp with an edition +de luxe of one of his works which she had brought along. They were soon +absorbed in one of those famous short stories of his with the ending left +open to discussion. Mr. Cooke was indisposed. He had not yet recovered +from the shaking up his system had sustained, and he took to a canvas +easy chair he had brought with him and placed a decanter of Scotch and a +tumbler of ice at his side. The efficacy of this remedy was assured. +And he demanded the bunch of newspapers he spied protruding from my +pocket. + +The rest of us were engaged in various occupations: Mr. Trevor relating +experiences of steamboat days on the Ohio to Mrs. Cooke; Miss Trevor +buried in a serial in the Century; and Farrar and I taking an inventory +of fishing-tackle, when we were startled by aloud and profane +ejaculation. Mr. Cooke had hastily put down his glass and was staring at +the newspaper before him with eyes as large as after-dinner coffee-cups. + +"Come here," he shouted over at us. "Come here, Crocker," he repeated, +seeing we were slow to move. "For God's sake, come here!" + +In obedience to this emphatic summons I crossed the stream and drew near +to Mr. Cooke, who was busily pouring out another glass of whiskey to tide +him over this strange excitement. But, as Mr. Cooke was easily excited +and on such occasions always drank whiskey to quiet his nerves, I thought +nothing of it. He was sitting bolt upright and held out the paper to me +with a shaking hand, while he pointed to some headlines on the first +page. And this is what I read: + + TREASURER TAKES A TRIP. + + CHARLES WREXELL ALLEN, OF THE MILES STANDISH + BICYCLE COMPANY, GETS OFF WITH 100,000 DOLLARS. + + DETECTIVES BAFFLED. + + THE ABSCONDER A BACK BAY SOCIAL LEADER. + +Half way down the column was a picture of Mr. Allen, a cut made from a +photograph, and, allowing for the crudities of newspaper reproduction, +it was a striking likeness of the Celebrity. Underneath was a short +description. Mr. Allen was five feet eleven (the Celebrity's height), +had a straight nose, square chin, dark hair and eyes, broad shoulders, +was dressed elaborately; in brief, tallied in every particular with the +Celebrity with the exception of the slight scar which Allen was thought +to have on his forehead. + +The situation and all its ludicrous possibilities came over me with a +jump. It was too good to be true. Had Mr. Charles Wrexell Allen arrived +at Asquith and created a sensation with the man who stole his name I +should have been amply satisfied. But that Mr. Allen had been obliging +enough to abscond with a large sum of money was beyond dreaming! + +I glanced at the rest of it: a history of the well-established company +followed, with all that Mr. Allen had done for it. The picture, by the +way, had been obtained from the St. Paul agent of the bicycle. After +doing due credit to the treasurer's abilities as a hustler there followed +a summary of his character, hitherto without reproach; but his tastes +were expensive ones. Mr. Allen's tendency to extravagance had been +noticed by the members of the Miles Standish Company, and some of the +older directors had on occasions remonstrated with him. But he had been +too valuable a man to let go, and it seems as treasurer he was trusted +implicitly. He was said to have more clothes than any man in Boston. + +I am used to thinking quickly, and by the time I had read this I had an +idea. + +"What in hell do you make of that, Crocker?" cried my client, eyeing me +closely and repeating the question again and again, as was his wont +when agitated. + +"It is certainly plain enough," I replied, "but I should like to talk to +you before you decide to hand him over to the authorities." + +I thought I knew Mr. Cooke, and I was not mistaken. + +"Authorities!" he roared. "Damn the authorities! There's my yacht, and +there's the Canadian border." And he pointed to the north. + +The others were pressing around us by this time, and had caught the +significant words which Mr. Cooke had uttered. I imagine that if my +client had stopped to think twice, which of course is a preposterous +condition, he would have confided his discovery only to Farrar and to me. +It was now out of the question to keep it from the rest of the party, and +Mr. Trevor got the headlines over my shoulder. I handed him the sheet. + +"Read it, Mr. Trevor," said Mrs. Cooke. + +Mr. Trevor, in a somewhat unsteady voice, read the headlines and began +the column, and they followed breathless with astonishment and agitation. +Once or twice the senator paused to frown upon the Celebrity with a +terrible sternness, thus directing all other eyes to him. His demeanor +was a study in itself. It may be surmised, from what I have said of him, +that there was a strain of the actor in his composition; and I am +prepared to make an affidavit that, secure in the knowledge that he had +witnesses present to attest his identity, he hugely enjoyed the sensation +he was creating. That he looked forward with a profound pleasure to the +stir which the disclosure that he was the author of The Sybarites would +make. His face wore a beatific smile. + +As Mr. Trevor continued, his voice became firmer and his manner more +majestic. It was a task distinctly to his taste, and one might have +thought he was reading the sentence of a Hastings. I was standing next +to his daughter. The look of astonishment, perhaps of horror, which I +had seen on her face when her father first began to read had now faded +into something akin to wickedness. Did she wink? I can't say, never +before having had a young woman wink at me. But the next moment her +vinaigrette was rolling down the bank towards the brook, and I was after +it. I heard her close behind me. She must have read my intentions by a +kind of mental telepathy. + +"Are you going to do it?" she whispered. + +"Of course," I answered. "To miss such a chance would be a downright +sin." + +There was a little awe in her laugh. + +"Miss Thorn is the only obstacle," I added, "and Mr. Cooke is our hope. +I think he will go by me." + +"Don't let Miss Thorn worry you," she said as we climbed back. + +"What do you mean?" I demanded. But she only shook her head. We were +at the top again, and Mr. Trevor was reading an appended despatch from +Buffalo, stating that Mr. Allen had been recognized there, in the latter +part of June, walking up and down the platform of the station, in a +smoking-jacket, and that he had climbed on the Chicago limited as it +pulled out. This may have caused the Celebrity to feel a trifle +uncomfortable. + +"Ha!" exclaimed Mr. Trevor, as he put down the paper. "Mr. Cooke, do you +happen to have any handcuffs on the Maria?" + +But my client was pouring out a stiff helping from the decanter, which he +still held in his hand. Then he approached the Celebrity. + +"Don't let it worry you, old man," said he, with intense earnestness. +"Don't let it worry you. You're my guest, and I'll see you safe out of +it, or bust." + +"Fenelon," said Mrs. Cooke, gravely, "do you realize what you are +saying?" + +"You're a clever one, Allen," my client continued, and he backed away the +better to look him over; "you had nerve to stay as long as you did." + +The Celebrity laughed confidently. + +"Cooke," he replied, "I appreciate your generosity,--I really do. I know +no offence is meant. The mistake is, in fact, most pardonable." + +In Mr. Cooke amazement and admiration were clamoring for utterance. + +"Damn me," he sputtered, "if you're not the coolest embezzler I ever +saw." + +The Celebrity laughed again. Then he surveyed the circle. + +"My friends," he said, "this is certainly a most amazing coincidence; one +which, I assure you, surprises me no less than it does you. You have no +doubt remarked that I have my peculiarities. We all have. + +"I flatter thyself I am not entirely unknown. And the annoyances imposed +upon me by a certain fame I have achieved had become such that some +months ago I began to crave the pleasures of the life of a private man. +I determined to go to some sequestered resort where my face was +unfamiliar. The possibility of being recognized at Asquith did not occur +to me. Fortunately I was. And a singular chance led me to take the name +of the man who has committed this crime, and who has the misfortune to +resemble me. I suppose that now," he added impressively, "I shall have +to tell you who I am." + +He paused until these words should have gained their full effect. Then +he held up the edition de luxe from which he and Miss Thorn had been +reading. + +"You may have heard, Mrs. Cooke," said he, addressing himself to our +hostess, "you may perhaps have heard of the author of this book." + +Mrs. Cooke was a calm woman, and she read the name on the cover. + +"Yes," she said, "I have. And you claim to be he?" + +"Ask my friend Crocker here," he answered carelessly, no doubt exulting +that the scene was going off so dramatically. "I should indeed be in a +tight box," he went on, "if there were not friends of mine here to help +me out." + +They turned to me. + +"I am afraid I cannot," I said with what soberness I could. + +"What!" says he with a start. "What! you deny me?" + +Miss Trevor had her tongue in her cheek. I bowed. + +"I am powerless to speak, Mr. Allen," I replied. + +During this colloquy my client stood between us, looking from one to the +other. I well knew that his way of thinking would be with my testimony, +and that the gilt name on the edition de luxe had done little towards +convincing him of Mr. Allen's innocence. To his mind there was nothing +horrible or incongruous in the idea that a well-known author should be a +defaulter. It was perfectly possible. He shoved the glass of Scotch +towards the Celebrity, with a smile. + +"Take this, old man," he kindly insisted, "and you'll feel better. +What's the use of bucking when you're saddled with a thing like that?" +And he pointed to the paper. "Besides, they haven't caught you yet, by a +damned sight." + +The Celebrity waved aside the proffered tumbler. + +"This is an infamous charge, and you know it, Crocker," he cried. +"If you don't, you ought to, as a lawyer. This isn't any time to have +fun with a fellow." + +"My dear sir," I said, "I have charged you with nothing whatever." + +He turned his back on me in complete disgust. And he came face to face +with Miss Trevor. + +"Miss Trevor, too, knows something of me," he said. + +"You forget, Mr. Allen," she answered sweetly, "you forget that I have +given you my promise not to reveal what I know." + +The Celebrity chafed, for this was as damaging a statement as could well +be uttered against him. But Miss Thorn was his trump card, and she now +came forward. + +"This is ridiculous, Mr. Crocker, simply ridiculous," said she. + +"I agree with you most heartily, Miss Thorn," I replied. + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Miss Thorn, and she drew her lips together, "pure +nonsense!" + +"Nonsense or not, Marian," Mr. Cooke interposed, "we are wasting valuable +time. The police are already on the scent, I'll bet my hat." + +"Fenelon!" Mrs. Cooke remonstrated. + +"And do you mean to say in soberness, Uncle Fenelon, that you believe the +author of The Sybarites to be a defaulter?" said Miss Thorn. + +"It is indeed hard to believe Mr. Allen a criminal," Mr. Trevor broke in +for the first time. "I think it only right that he should be allowed to +clear himself before he is put to further inconvenience, and perhaps +injustice, by any action we may take in the matter." + +Mr. Cooke sniffed suspiciously at the word "action." + +"What action do you mean?" he demanded. + +"Well," replied Mr. Trevor, with some hesitation, "before we take any +steps, that is, notify the police." + +"Notify the police!" cried my client, his face red with a generous anger. +"I have never yet turned a guest over to the police," he said proudly, +"and won't, not if I know it. I'm not that kind." + +Who shall criticise Mr. Cooke's code of morality? + +"Fenelon," said his wife, "you must remember you have never yet +entertained a guest of a larcenous character. No embezzlers up to the +present. Marian," she continued, turning to Miss Thorn, "you spoke as +if you might, be able to throw some light upon this matter. Do you know +whether this gentleman is Charles Wrexell Allen, or whether he is the +author? In short, do you know who he is?" + +The Celebrity lighted a cigarette. Miss Thorn said indignantly, +"Upon my word, Aunt Maria, I thought that you, at least, would know +better than to credit this silly accusation. He has been a guest at your +house, and I am astonished that you should doubt his word." + +Mrs. Cooke looked at her niece perplexedly. + +"You must remember, Marian," she said gently, "that I know nothing about +him, where he came from, or who he is. Nor does any one at Asquith, +except perhaps Miss Trevor, by her own confession. And you do not seem +inclined to tell what you know, if indeed you know anything." + +Upon this Miss Thorn became more indignant still, and Mrs. Cooke went on +"Gentlemen, as a rule, do not assume names, especially other people's. +They are usually proud of their own. Mr. Allen appears among us, from +the clouds, as it were, and in due time we learn from a newspaper that +he has committed a defalcation. And, furthermore, the paper contains a +portrait and an accurate description which put the thing beyond doubt. I +ask you, is it reasonable for him to state coolly after all this that he +is another man? That he is a well-known author? It's an absurdity. I +was not born yesterday, my dear." + +"It is most reasonable under the circumstances," replied Miss Thorn, +warmly. "Extraordinary? Of course it's extraordinary. And too long to +explain to a prejudiced audience, who can't be expected to comprehend the +character of a genius, to understand the yearning of a famous man for a +little quiet." + +Mrs. Cooke looked grave. + +"Marian, you forget yourself," she said. + +"Oh, I am tired of it, Aunt Maria," cried Miss Thorn; "if he takes my +advice, he will refuse to discuss it farther." + +She did not seem to be aware that she had put forth no argument whatever, +save a woman's argument. And I was intensely surprised that her +indignation should have got the better of her in this way, having always +supposed her clear-headed in the extreme. A few words from her, such as +I supposed she would have spoken, had set the Celebrity right with all +except Mr. Cooke. To me it was a clear proof that the Celebrity had +turned her head, and her mind with it. + +The silence was broken by an uncontrollable burst of laughter from Miss +Trevor. She was quickly frowned down by her father, who reminded her +that this was not a comedy. + +"And, Mr. Allen," he said, "if you have anything to say, or any evidence +to bring forward, now is the time to do it." + +He appeared to forget that I was the district attorney. + +The Celebrity had seated himself on the trunk of a tree, and was blowing +out the smoke in clouds. He was inclined to take Miss Thorn's advice, +for he made a gesture of weariness with his cigarette, in the use of +which he was singularly eloquent. + +"Tell me, Mr. Trevor," said he, "why I should sit before you as a +tribunal? Why I should take the trouble to clear myself of a senseless +charge? My respect for you inclines me to the belief that you are +laboring under a momentary excitement; for when you reflect that I am a +prominent, not to say famous, author, you will realize how absurd it is +that I should be an embezzler, and why I decline to lower myself by an +explanation." + +Mr. Trevor picked up the paper and struck it. + +"Do you refuse to say anything in the face of such evidence as that?" he +cried. + +"It is not a matter for refusal, Mr. Trevor. It is simply that I cannot +admit the possibility of having committed the crime." + +"Well, sir," said the senator, his black necktie working out of place as +his anger got the better of him, "I am to believe, then, because you +claim to be the author of a few society novels, that you are infallible? +Let me tell you that the President of the United States himself is liable +to impeachment, and bound to disprove any charge he may be accused of. +What in Halifax do I care for your divine-right-of-authors theory? I'll +continue to think you guilty until you are shown to be innocent." + +Suddenly the full significance of the Celebrity's tactics struck Mr. +Cooke, and he reached out and caught hold of Mr. Trevor's coattails. +"Hold on, old man," said he; "Allen isn't going to be ass enough to own +up to it. Don't you see we'd all be jugged and fined for assisting a +criminal over the border? It's out of consideration for us." + +Mr. Trevor looked sternly over his shoulder at Mr. Cooke. + +"Do you mean to say, sir, seriously," he asked, "that, for the sake of a +misplaced friendship for this man, and a misplaced sense of honor, you +are bound to shield a guest, though a criminal? That you intend to +assist him to escape from justice? I insist, for my own protection and +that of my daughter, as well as for that of the others present that, +since he refuses to speak, we must presume him guilty and turn him over." + +Mr. Trevor turned to Mrs. Cooke, as if relying on her support. + +"Fenelon," said she, "I have never sought to influence your actions when +your friends were concerned, and I shall not begin now. All I ask of you +is to consider the consequences of your intention." + +These words from Mrs. Cooke had much more weight with my client than Mr. +Trevor's blustering demands. + +"Maria, my dear," he said, with a deferential urbanity, "Mr. Allen is my +guest, and a gentleman. When a gentleman gives his word that he is not a +criminal, it is sufficient." + +The force of this, for some reason, did not overwhelm his wife; and her +lip curled a little, half in contempt, half in risibility. + +"Pshaw, Fenelon," said she, "what a fraud you are. Why is it you wish to +get Mr. Allen over the border, then? "A question which might well have +staggered a worthier intellect. + +"Why, my dear," answered my client, "I wish to save Mr. Allen the +inconvenience, not to say the humiliation, of being brought East in +custody and strapped with a pair of handcuffs. Let him take a shooting +trip to the great Northwest until the real criminal is caught." + +"Well, Fenelon," replied Mrs. Cooke, unable to repress a smile, "one +might as well try to argue with a turn-stile or a weather-vane. I wash +my hands of it." + +But Mr. Trevor, who was both a self-made man and a Western politician, +was far from being satisfied. He turned to me with a sweep of the arm +he had doubtless learned in the Ohio State Senate. + +"Mr. Crocker," he cried, "are you, as attorney of this district, going +to aid and abet in the escape of a fugitive from justice?" + +"Mr. Trevor," said I, "I will take the course in this matter which seems +fit to me, and without advice from any one." + +He wheeled on Farrar, repeated the question, and got a like answer. + +Brought to bay for a time, he glared savagely around him while groping +for further arguments. + +But at this point the Four appeared on the scene, much the worse for +thickets, and clamoring for luncheon. They had five small fish between +them which they wanted Miss Thorn to cook. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +The Four received Mr. Cooke's plan for the Celebrity's escape to Canada +with enthusiastic acclamation, and as the one thing lacking to make the +Bear Island trip a complete success. The Celebrity was hailed with the +reverence due to the man who puts up the ring-money in a prize-fight. He +was accorded, too, a certain amount of respect as a defaulter, which the +Four would have denied him as an author, for I am inclined to the belief +that the discovery of his literary profession would have lowered him +rather than otherwise in their eyes. My client was naturally anxious to +get under way at once for the Canadian border, but was overruled in this +by his henchmen, who demanded something to eat. We sat down to an +impromptu meal, which was an odd affair indeed. Mrs. Cooke maintained +her usual serenity, but said little, while Miss Trevor and I had many a +mirthful encounter at the thought of the turn matters had taken. + +At the other end of the cloth were Mr. Cooke and the Four, in wonderful +spirits and unimpaired appetite, and in their midst sat the Celebrity, +likewise in wonderful spirits. His behavior now and again elicited a +loud grunt of disapproval from Mr. Trevor, who was plying his knife and +fork in a manner emblematic of his state of mind. Mr. Allen was laughing +and joking airily with Mr. Cooke and the guests, denying, but not +resenting, their accusations with all the sang froid of a hardened +criminal. He did not care particularly to go to Canada, he said. Why +should he, when he was innocent? But, if Mr. Cooke insisted, he would +enjoy seeing that part of the lake and the Canadian side. + +Afterwards I perceived Miss Thorn down by the brookside, washing dishes. +Her sleeves were drawn back to the elbow, and a dainty white apron +covered her blue skirt, while the wind from the lake had disentangled +errant wisps of her hair. I stood on the brink above, secure, as I +thought, from observation, when she chanced to look up and spied me. + +"Mr. Crocker," she called, "would you like to make yourself useful?" + +I was decidedly embarrassed. Her manner was as frank and unconstrained +as though I had not been shunning her for weeks past. + +"If such a thing is possible," I replied. + +"Do you know a dish-cloth when you see one?" + +I was doubtful. But I procured the cloth from Miss Trevor and returned. +There was an air about Miss Thorn that was new to me. + +"What an uncompromising man you are, Mr. Crocker," she said to me. "Once +a person is unfortunate enough to come under the ban of your disapproval +you have nothing whatever to do with them. Now it seems that I have +given you offence in some way. Is it not so?" + +"You magnify my importance," I said. + +"No temporizing, Mr. Crocker," she went on, as though she meant to be +obeyed; "sit down there, and let's have it out. I like you too well to +quarrel with you." + +There was no resisting such a command, and I threw myself on the pebbles +at her feet. + +"I thought we were going to be great friends," she said. "You and Mr. +Farrar were so kind to me on the night of my arrival, and we had such fun +watching the dance together." + +"I confess I thought so, too. But you expressed opinions then that I +shared. You have since changed your mind, for some unaccountable +reason." + +She paused in her polishing, a shining dish in her hand, and looked down +at me with something between a laugh and a frown. + +"I suppose you have never regretted speaking hastily," she said. + +"Many a time," I returned, warming; "but if I ever thought a judgment +measured and distilled, it was your judgment of the Celebrity." + +"Does the study of law eliminate humanity?" she asked, with a mock +curtsey. "The deliberate sentences are sometimes the unjust ones, and +men who are hung by weighed wisdom are often the innocent." + +"That is all very well in cases of doubt. But here you have the +evidences of wrong-doing directly before you." + +Three dishes were taken up, dried, and put down before she answered me. +I threw pebbles into the brook, and wished I had held my tongue. + +"What evidence?" inquired she. +"Well," said I, "I must finish, I suppose. I had a notion you knew of +what I inferred. First, let me say that I have no desire to prejudice +you against a person whom you admire." + +"Impossible." + +Something in her tone made me look up. + +"Very good, then," I answered. "I, for one, can have no use for a man +who devotes himself to a girl long enough to win her affections, and then +deserts her with as little compunction as a dog does a rat it has shaken. +And that is how your Celebrity treated Miss Trevor." + +"But Miss Trevor has recovered, I believe," said Miss Thorn. + +I began to feel a deep, but helpless, insecurity. + +"Happily, yes," I assented. + +"Thanks to an excellent physician." + +A smile twitched the corners of her mouth, as though she enjoyed my +discomfiture. I remarked for the fiftieth time how strong her face was, +with its generous lines and clearly moulded features. And a suspicion +entered my soul. + +"At any rate," I said, with a laugh, "the Celebrity has got himself into +no end of a predicament now. He may go back to New York in custody." + +"I thought you incapable of resentment, Mr. Crocker. How mean of you to +deny him!" + +"It can do no harm," I answered; "a little lesson in the dangers of +incognito may be salutary. I wish it were a little lesson in the dangers +of something else." + +The color mounted to her face as she resumed her occupation. + +"I am afraid you are a very wicked man," she said. + +Before I could reply there came a scuffling sound from the bank above us, +and the snapping of branches and twigs. It was Mr. Cooke. His descent, +the personal conduction of which he lost half-way down, was irregular and +spasmodic, and a rude concussion at the bottom knocked off a choice bit +of profanity which was balanced on the tip of his tongue. + +"Tobogganing is a little out of season," said his niece, laughing +heartily. + +Mr. Cooke brushed himself off, picked up the glasses which he had dropped +in his flight and pushed them into my hands. Then he pointed lakeward +with bulging eyes. + +"Crocker, old man," he said in a loud whisper, "they tell me that is an +Asquith cat-boat." + +I followed his finger and saw for the first time a sail-boat headed for +the island, then about two miles off shore. I raised the glasses. + +"Yes," I said, "the Scimitar." + +"That's what Farrar said," cried he. + +"And what about it?" I asked. + +"What about it?" he ejaculated. "Why, it's a detective come for Allen. +I knew sure as hell if they got as far as Asquith they wouldn't stop +there. And that's the fastest sail-boat he could hire there, isn't it?" + +I replied that it was. He seized me by the shoulder and began dragging +me up the bank. + +"What are you going to do?" I cried, shaking myself loose. + +"We've got to get on the Maria and run for it," he panted. "There is no +time to be lost." + +He had reached the top of the bank and was running towards the group at +the tents. And he actually infused me with some of his red-hot +enthusiasm, for I hastened after him. + +"But you can't begin to get the Maria out before they will be in here," +I shouted. + +He stopped short, gazed at the approaching boat, and then at me. + +"Is that so?" + +"Yes, of course," said I, "they will be here in ten minutes." + +The Celebrity stood in the midst of the excited Four. His hair was +parted precisely, and he had induced a monocle to remain in his eye long +enough to examine the Scimitar, his nose at the critical elevation. This +unruffled exterior made a deep impression on the Four. Was the Celebrity +not undergoing the crucial test of a true sport? He was an example alike +to criminals and philosophers. + +Mr. Cooke hurried into the group, which divided respectfully for him, and +grasped the Celebrity by the hand. + +"Something else has got to be done, old man," he said, in a voice which +shook with emotion; "they'll be on us before we can get the Maria out." + +Farrar, who was nailing a rustic bench near by, straightened up at this, +his lip curling with a desire to laugh. + +The Celebrity laid his hand on my client's shoulder. + +"Cooke," said he, "I'm deeply grateful for all the trouble you wish to +take, and for the solicitude you have shown. But let things be. I'll +come out of it all right." + +"Never," cried Cooke, looking proudly around the Four as some Highland +chief might have surveyed a faithful clan. "I'd a damned sight rather go +to jail myself." + +"A damned sight," echoed the Four in unison. + +"I insist, Cooke," said the Celebrity, taking out his eyeglass and +tapping Mr. Cooke's purple necktie, "I insist that you drop this +business. I repeat my thanks to you and these gentlemen for the +friendship they have shown, but say again that I am as innocent of this +crime as a baby." + +Mr. Cooke paid no attention to this speech. His face became radiant. + +"Didn't any of you fellows strike a cave, or a hollow tree, or something +of that sort, knocking around this morning?" + +One man slapped his knee. + +"The very place," he cried. "I fell into it," and he showed a rent in +his trousers corroboratively. "It's big enough to hold twenty of Allen, +and the detective doesn't live that could find it." + +"Hustle him off, quick," said Mr. Cooke. + +The mandate was obeyed as literally as though Robin Hood himself had +given it. The Celebrity disappeared into the forest, carried rather than +urged towards his destined place of confinement. + +The commotion had brought Mr. Trevor to the spot. He caught sight of the +Celebrity's back between the trees, then he looked at the cat-boat +entering the cove, a man in the stern preparing to pull in the tender. + +He intercepted Mr. Cooke on his way to the beach. + +"What have you done with Mr. Allen?" he asked, in a menacing voice. + +"Good God," said Mr. Cooke, whose contempt for Mr. Trevor was now +infinite, "you talk as if I were the governor of the state. What the +devil could I do with him?" + +"I will have no evasion," replied Mr. Trevor, taking an imposing posture +in front of him. "You are trying to defeat the ends of justice by +assisting a dangerous criminal to escape. I have warned you, sir, and +warn you again of the consequences of your meditated crime, and I give +you my word I will do all in my power to frustrate it." + +Mr. Cooke dug his thumbs into his waistcoat pockets. Here was a +complication he had not looked for. The Scimitar lay at anchor with her +sail down, and two men were coming ashore in the tender. Mr. Cooke's +attitude being that of a man who reconsiders a rash resolve, Mr. Trevor +was emboldened to say in a moderated tone: + +"You were carried away by your generosity, Mr. Cooke. I was sure when +you took time to think you would see it in another light." + +Mr. Cooke started off for the place where the boat had grounded. I did +not catch his reply, and probably should not have written it here if I +had. The senator looked as if he had been sand-bagged. + +The two men jumped out of the boat and hauled it up. Mr. Cooke waved an +easy salute to one, whom I recognized as the big boatman from Asquith, +familiarly known as Captain Jay. He owned the Scimitar and several +smaller boats. The captain went through the pantomime of an introduction +between Mr. Cooke and the other, whom my client shook warmly by the hand, +and presently all three came towards us. + +Mr. Cooke led them to a bar he had improvised by the brook. A pool +served the office of refrigerator, and Mr. Cooke had devised an ingenious +but complicated arrangement of strings and labels which enabled him to +extract any bottle or set of bottles without having to bare his arm and +pull out the lot. Farrar and I responded to the call he had given, and +went down to assist in the entertainment. My client, with his back to +us, was busy manipulating the strings. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "let me make you acquainted with Mr. Drew. You all +know the captain." + +Had I not suspected Mr. Drew's profession, I think I should not have +remarked that he gave each of us a keen look as he raised his head. He +had reddish-brown hair, and a pair of bushy red whiskers, each of which +tapered to a long point. He was broad in the shoulders, and the clothes +he wore rather enhanced this breadth. His suit was gray and almost new, +the trousers perceptibly bagging at the knee, and he had a felt hat, a +necktie of the white and flowery pattern, and square-toed "Congress" +boots. In short, he was a decidedly ordinary looking person; you would +meet a hundred like him in the streets of Far Harbor and Beaverton. He +might have been a prosperous business man in either of those towns,--a +comfortable lumber merchant or mine owner. And he had chosen just the +get-up I should have picked for detective work in that region. He had a +pleasant eye and a very fetching and hearty manner. But his long +whiskers troubled me especially. I kept wondering if they were real. + +"The captain is sailing Mr. Drew over to Far Harbor," explained Mr. +Cooke, "and they have put in here for the night." + +Mr. Drew was plainly not an amateur, for he volunteered nothing further +than this. The necessary bottles having been produced, Mr. Cooke held up +his glass and turned to the stranger. + +"Welcome to our party, old man," said he. + +Mr. Drew drained his glass and complimented Mr. Cooke on the brand,--a +sure key to my client's heart. Whereupon he seated himself between Mr. +Drew and the captain and began a discourse on the subject of his own +cellar, on which he talked for nearly an hour. His only pauses were for +the worthy purpose of filling the detective's or the captain's glass, and +these he watched with a hospitable solicitude. The captain had the +advantage, three to one, and I made no doubt his employer bitterly +regretted not having a boatman whose principles were more strict. At the +end of the hour Captain Jay, who by nature was inclined to be taciturn +and crabbed, waxed loquacious and even jovial. He sang us the songs he +had learned in the winter lumber-camps, which Mr. Cooke never failed to +encore to the echo. My client vowed he had not spent a pleasanter +afternoon for years. He plied the captain with cigars, and explained to +him the mystery of the strings and labels; and the captain experimented +until he had broken some of the bottles. + +Mr. Cooke was not a person who made any great distinction between the +three degrees, acquaintance, friendship, and intimacy. When a stranger +pleased him, he went from one to the other with such comparative ease +that a hardhearted man, and no other, could have resented his advances. +Mr. Drew was anything but a hard-hearted man, and he did not object to my +client's familiarity. Mr. Cooke made no secret of his admiration for Mr. +Drew, and there were just two things about him that Mr. Cooke admired and +wondered at, above all else,--the bushy red whiskers. But it appeared +that these were the only things that Mr. Drew was really touchy about. +I noticed that the detective, without being impolite, did his best to +discourage these remarks; but my client knew no such word as +discouragement. He was continually saying: "I think I'll grow some like +that, old man," or "Have those cut," and the like,--a kind of humor in +which the captain took an incredible delight. And finally, when a +certain pitch of good feeling had been arrived at, Mr. Cooke reached out +and playfully grabbed hold of the one near him. The detective drew back. +"Mr. Cooke," said he, with dignity, "I'll have to ask you to let my +whiskers alone." + +"Certainly, old man," replied my client, anything but abashed. "You'll +pardon me, but they seemed too good to be true. I congratulate you on +them." + +I was amused as well as alarmed at this piece of boldness, but the +incident passed off without any disagreeable results, except, perhaps, +a slight nervousness noticeable in the detective; and this soon +disappeared. As the sun grew low, the Celebrity's conductors straggled +in with fishing-rods and told of an afternoon's sport, and we left the +captain peacefully but sonorously slumbering on the bank. + +"Crocker," said my client to me, afterwards, "they didn't feel like the +real, home-grown article. But aren't they damned handsome?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +After supper, Captain Jay was rowed out and put to bed in his own bunk on +the Scimitar. Then we heaped together a huge pile of the driftwood on +the beach and raised a blazing beacon, the red light of which I doubt not +could be seen from the mainland. The men made prongs from the soft wood, +while Miss Thorn produced from the stores some large tins of +marshmallows. + +The memory of that evening lingers with me yet. The fire colored +everything. The waves dashed in ruby foam at our feet, and even the +tall, frowning pines at our backs were softened; the sting was gone out +of the keen night wind from the north. I found a place beside the gray +cape I had seen for the first time the night of the cotillon. I no +longer felt any great dislike for Miss Thorn, let it be known. +Resentment was easier when the distance between Mohair and Asquith +separated us,--impossible on a yachting excursion. But why should I be +justifying myself? + +Mr. Cooke and the Four, in addition to other accomplishments, possessed +excellent voices, and Mr. Drew sang a bass which added much to the +melody. One of the Four played a banjo. It is only justice to Mr. Drew +to say that he seemed less like a detective than any man I have ever met. +He told a good story and was quick at repartee, and after a while the +music, by tacit consent, was abandoned for the sake of hearing him talk. +He related how he had worked up the lake, point by point, from Beaverton +to Asquith, and lightened his narrative with snappy accounts of the +different boatmen he had run across and of the different predicaments +into which he had fallen. His sketches were so vivid that Mr. Cooke +forgot to wink at me after a while and sat spellbound, while I marvelled +at the imaginative faculty he displayed. He had us in roars of laughter. +His stories were far from incredible, and he looked less like a liar than +a detective. He showed, too, an accurate and astonishing knowledge of +the lake which could hardly have been acquired in any other way than the +long-shore trip he had described. Not once did he hint of a special +purpose which had brought him to the island, and it was growing late. +The fire died down upon the stones, and the thought of the Celebrity, +alone in a dark cave in the middle of the island, began to prey upon me. +I was not designed for a practical joker, and I take it that pity is a +part of every self-respecting man's composition. In the cool of the +night season the ludicrous side of the matter did not appeal to me quite +as strongly as in the glare of day. A joke should never be pushed to +cruelty. It was in vain that I argued I had no direct hand in the +concealing of him; I felt my responsibility quite as heavy upon me. +Perhaps bears still remained in these woods. And if a bear should devour +the author of The Sybarites, would the world ever forgive me? Could I +ever repay the debt to the young women of these United States? +To speak truth, I expected every moment to see him appear. Why, in the +name of all his works, did he stay there? Nothing worse could befall him +than to go to Far Harbor with Drew, where our words concerning his +identity would be taken. And what an advertisement this would be for the +great author. The Sybarites, now selling by thousands, would increase +its sales to ten thousands. Ah, there was the rub. The clue to his +remaining in the cave was this very kink in the Celebrity's character. +There was nothing Bohemian in that character; it yearned after the +eminently respectable. Its very eccentricities were within the limits of +good form. The Celebrity shunned the biscuits and beer of the literary +clubs, and his books were bound for the boudoir. To have it proclaimed +in the sensational journals that the hands of this choice being had been +locked for grand larceny was a thought too horrible to entertain. His +very manservant would have cried aloud against it. Better a hundred +nights in a cave than one such experience! + +Miss Trevor's behavior that evening was so unrestful as to lead me to +believe that she, too, was going through qualms of sympathy for the +victim. As we were breaking up for the evening she pulled my sleeve. + +"Don't you think we have carried our joke a little too far, Mr. Crocker?" +she whispered uneasily. "I can't bear to think of him in that +terrible place." + +"It will do him a world of good," I replied, assuming a gayety I did not +feel. It is not pleasant to reflect that some day one's own folly might +place one in alike situation. And the night was dismally cool and windy, +now that the fire had gone out. Miss Trevor began to philosophize. + +"Such practical pleasantries as this," she said, "are like infernal +machines: they often blow up the people that start them. And they are +next to impossible to steer." + +"Perhaps it is just as well not to assume we are the instruments of +Providence," I said. + +Here we ran into Miss Thorn, who was carrying a lantern. + +"I have been searching everywhere for you two mischief-makers," said she. +"You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Heaven only knows how this +little experiment will end. Here is Aunt Maria, usually serene, on the +verge of hysterics: she says he shouldn't stay in that damp cave another +minute. Here is your father, Irene, organizing relief parties and +walking the floor of his tent like a madman. And here is Uncle Fenelon +insane over the idea of getting the poor, innocent man into Canada. And +here is a detective saddled upon us, perhaps for days, and Uncle Fenelon +has gotten his boatman drunk. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves," +she repeated. + +Miss Trevor laughed, in spite of the gravity of these things, and so did +I. + +"Oh, come, Marian," said she, "it isn't as bad as all that. And you talk +as if you hadn't anything to be reproached for. Your own defence of the +Celebrity wasn't as strong as it might have been." + +By the light of the lantern I saw Miss Thorn cast one meaning look at +Miss Trevor. + +"What are you going to do about it?" asked Miss Thorn, addressing me. +"Think of that unhappy man, without a bed, without blankets, without even +a tooth-brush." + +"He hasn't been wholly off my mind," I answered truthfully. "But there +isn't anything we can do to-night, with that beastly detective to notice +it." + +"Then you must go very early to-morrow morning, before the detective gets +up." + +I couldn't help smiling at the notion of getting up before a detective. + +"I am only too willing," I said. + +"It must be by four o'clock," Miss Thorn went on energetically, "and we +must have a guide we can trust. Arrange it with one of Uncle Fenelon's +friends." + +"We?" I repeated. + +"You certainly don't imagine that I am going to be left behind?" said +Miss Thorn. + +I made haste to invite for the expedition one of the Four, who was quite +willing to go; and we got together all the bodily comforts we could think +of and put them in a hamper, the Fraction not forgetting to add a few +bottles from Mr. Cooke's immersed bar. + +Long after the camp had gone to bed, I lay on the pine-needles above the +brook, shielded from the wind by a break in the slope, and thought of the +strange happenings of that day. Presently the waning moon climbed +reluctantly from the waters, and the stream became mottled, black and +white, the trees tall blurs. The lake rose and fell with a mighty +rhythm, and the little brook hurried madly over the stones to join it. +One thought chased another from my brain. + +At such times, when one's consciousness of outer things is dormant, an +earthquake might continue for some minutes without one realizing it. I +did not observe, though I might have seen from where I lay, the flap of +one of the tents drawn back and two figures emerge. They came and stood +on the bank above, under the tree which sheltered me. And I experienced +a curious phenomenon. I heard, and understood, and remembered the first +part of the conversation which passed between them, and did not know it. + +"I am sorry to disturb you," said one. + +"Not at all," said the other, whose tone, I thought afterwards, betokened +surprise, and no great cheerfulness. + +"But I have had no other opportunity to speak with you." + +"No," said the other, rather uneasily. + +Suddenly my senses were alert, and I knew that Mr. Trevor had pulled the +detective out of bed. The senator had no doubt anticipated an easier +time, and he now began feeling for an opening. More than once he cleared +his throat to commence, while Mr. Drew pulled his scant clothing closer +about him, his whiskers playing in the breeze. + +"In Cincinnati, Mr. Drew," said Mr. Trevor, at length, "I am a known, if +not an influential, citizen; and I have served my state for three terms +in its Senate." + +"I have visited your city, Mr. Trevor," answered Mr. Drew, his teeth +chattering audibly, "and I know you by reputation." + +"Then, sir," Mr. Trevor continued, with a flourish which appeared +absolutely grotesque in his attenuated costume, "it must be clear to you +that I cannot give my consent to a flagrant attempt by an unscrupulous +person to violate the laws of this country." + +"Your feelings are to be respected, sir." + +Mr. Trevor cleared his throat again. +"Discretion is always to be observed, Mr. Drew. And I, who have been in +the public service, know the full value of it." + +Mr. Trevor leaned forward, at the same time glancing anxiously up at the +tree, for fear, perhaps, that Mr. Cooke might be concealed therein. He +said in a stage whisper: + +"A criminal is concealed on this island." + +Drew started perceptibly. + +"Yes," said Mr. Trevor, with a glance of triumph at having produced an +impression on a detective, "I thought it my duty to inform you. He has +been hidden by the followers of the unscrupulous person I referred to, in +a cave, I believe. I repeat, sir, as a man of unimpeachable standing, I +considered it my duty to tell you." + +"You have my sincere thanks, Mr. Trevor," said Drew, holding out his +hand, "and I shall act on the suggestion." + +Mr. Trevor clasped the hand of the detective, and they returned quietly +to their respective tents. And in course of time I followed them, +wondering how this incident might affect our morning's expedition. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +My first thought on rising was to look for the detective. The touch of +the coming day was on the lake, and I made out the two boats dimly, +riding on the dead swell and tugging idly at their chains. The detective +had been assigned to a tent which was occupied by Mr. Cooke and the Four, +and they were sleeping soundly at my entrance. But Drew's blankets were +empty. I hurried to the beach, but the Scimitar's boat was still drawn +up there near the Maria's tender, proving that he was still on the +island. + +Outside of the ladies' tent I came upon Miss Thorn, stowing a large +basket. I told her that we had taken that precaution the night before. + +"What did you put in?" she demanded. + +I enumerated the articles as best I could. And when I had finished, she +said, + +"And I am filling this with the things you have forgotten." + +I lost no time in telling her what I had overheard the night before, and +that the detective was gone from his tent. She stopped her packing and +looked at me in concern. + +"He is probably watching us," she said. "Do you think we had better go?" + +I thought it could do no harm. "If we are followed," said I, "all we +have to do is to turn back." + +Miss Trevor came out as I spoke, and our conductor appeared, bending +under the hamper. I shouldered some blankets and the basket, and we +started. We followed a rough path, evidently cut by a camping party in +some past season, but now overgrown. The Fraction marched ahead, and I +formed the rear guard. Several times it seemed to me as though someone +were pushing after us, and more than once we halted. I put down the +basket and went back to reconnoitre. Once I believed I saw a figure +flitting in the gray light, but I set it down to my imagination. + +Finally we reached a brook, sneaking along beneath the underbrush as +though fearing to show itself, and we followed its course. Branches +lashed our faces and brambles tore our clothes. And then, as the +sunlight was filtering through and turning the brook from blue to +crystal, we came upon the Celebrity. He was seated in a little open +space on the bank, apparently careless of capture. He did not even rise +at our approach. His face showed the effect of a sleepless night, and +wore an expression inimical to all mankind. The conductor threw his +bundle on the bank and laid his hand on the Celebrity's shoulder. + +"Halloa, old man!" said he, cheerily. "You must have had a hard night +of it. But we couldn't make you any sooner, because that hawk of an +officer had his eye on us." + +The Celebrity shook himself free. And in place of the gratitude for +which the Fraction had looked, and which he had every reason to expect, +he got something different. + +"This outrage has gone far enough," said the Celebrity, with a terrible +calmness. The Fraction was a man of the world. + +"Come, come, old chap!" he said soothingly, "don't cut up. We'll make +things a little more homelike here." And he pulled a bottle from the +depths of the hamper. "This will brace you up." + +He picked up the hamper and disappeared into the place of retention, +while the Celebrity threw the bottle into the brush. And just then (may +I be forgiven if I am imaginative!) I heard a human laugh come from that +direction. In the casting of that bottle the Celebrity had given vent to +some of the feelings he had been collecting overnight, and it must have +carried about thirty yards. I dived after it like a retriever puppy for +a stone; but the bottle was gone! Perhaps I could say more, but it +doesn't do to believe in yourself too thoroughly when you get up early. +I had nothing to say when I returned. + +"You here, Crocker?" said the author, fixing his eye on me. "Deuced +kind of you to get up so early and carry a basket so far for me." + +"It has been a real pleasure, I assure you," I protested. And it had. +There was a silent space while the two young ladies regarded him, +softened by his haggard and dishevelled aspect, and perplexed by his +attitude. Nothing, I believe, appeals to a woman so much as this very +lack of bodily care. And the rogue knew it! + +"How long is this little game of yours to continue,--this bull-baiting?" +he inquired. "How long am I to be made a butt of for the amusement of a +lot of imbeciles?" + +Miss Thorn crossed over and seated herself on the ground beside him. +"You must be sensible," she said, in a tone that she might have used to a +spoiled child. "I know it is difficult after the night you have had. +But you have always been willing to listen to reason." + +A pang of something went through me when I saw them together. +"Reason," said the Celebrity, raising his head. "Reason, yes. But where +is the reason in all this? Because a man who happens to be my double +commits a crime, is it right that I, whose reputation is without a mark, +should be made to suffer? And why have I been made a fool of by two +people whom I had every cause to suppose my friends?" + +"You will have to ask them," replied Miss Thorn, with a glance at us. +"They are mischief-makers, I'll admit; but they are not malicious. See +what they have done this morning! And how could they have foreseen that +a detective was on his way to the island?" + +"Crocker might have known it," said he, melting. "He's so cursed smart!" + +"And think," Miss Thorn continued, quick to follow up an advantage, +"think what would have happened if they hadn't denied you. This horrid +man would have gone off with you to Asquith or somewhere else, with +handcuffs on your wrists; for it isn't a detective's place to take +evidence, Mr. Crocker says. Perhaps we should all have had to go to +Epsom! And I couldn't bear to see you in handcuffs, you know." + +"Don't you think we had better leave them alone?" I said to Miss Trevor. + +She smiled and shook her head. + +"You are blind as a bat, Mr. Crocker," she said. + +The Celebrity had weighed Miss Thorn's words and was listening passively +now while she talked. There may be talents which she did not possess; I +will not pretend to say. But I know there are many professions she might +have chosen had she not been a woman. She would have made a name for +herself at the bar; as a public speaker she would have excelled. And had +I not been so long accustomed to picking holes in arguments I am sure I +should not have perceived the fallacies of this she was making for the +benefit of the Celebrity. He surely did not. It is strange how a man +can turn under such influence from one feeling to another. The Celebrity +lost his resentment; apprehension took its place. He became more and +more nervous; questioned me from time to time on the law; wished to know +whether he would be called upon for testimony at Allen's trial; whether +there was any penalty attached to the taking of another man's name; +precisely what Drew would do with him if captured; and the tail of his +eye was on the thicket as he made this inquiry. It may be surmised that +I took an exquisite delight in quenching this new-born thirst for +knowledge. And finally we all went into the cave. + +Miss Thorn unpacked the things we had brought, while I surveyed the +cavern. It was in the solid rock, some ten feet high and irregular in +shape, and perfectly dry. It was a marvel to me how cosy she made it. +One of the Maria's lanterns was placed in a niche, and the Celebrity's +silver toilet-set laid out on a ledge of the rock, which answered +perfectly for a dressing-table. Miss Thorn had not forgotten a small +mirror. And as a last office, set a dainty breakfast on a linen napkin +on the rock, heating the coffee in a chafing-dish. + +"There!" she exclaimed, surveying her labors, "I hope you will be more +comfortable." + +He had already taken the precaution to brush his hair and pull himself +together. His thanks, such as they were, he gave to Miss Thorn. It is +true that she had done more than any one else. + +"Good-bye, old boy!" said the Fraction. "We'll come back when we get the +chance, and don't let that hundred thousand keep you awake." + +The Fraction and I covered up the mouth of the cave with brush. He +became confidential. + +"Lucky dog, Allen!" he said. "They'll never get him away from Cooke. +And he can have any girl he wants for the asking. By George! I believe +Miss Thorn will elope with him if he ever reaches Canada." + +I only mention this as a sample of the Fraction's point of view. +I confess the remark annoyed me at the time. + +Miss Thorn lingered in the cave for a minute after Miss Trevor came out. +Then we retraced our way down the brook, which was dancing now in the +sunlight. Miss Trevor stopped now and then to rest, in reality to laugh. +I do not know what the Fraction thought of such heartless conduct. He +and I were constantly on the alert for Mr. Drew, but we sighted the camp +without having encountered him. It was half-past six, and we had trusted +to slip in unnoticed by any one. But, as we emerged from the trees, the +bustling scene which greeted our eyes filled us with astonishment. Two +of the tents were down, and the third in a collapsed condition, while +confusion reigned supreme. And in the midst of it all stood Mr. Cooke, +an animated central figure pedestalled on a stump, giving emphatic +directions in a voice of authority. He spied us from his elevated +position before we had crossed the brook. + +"Here they come, Maria," he shouted. + +We climbed to the top of the slope, and were there confronted by Mrs. +Cooke and Mr. Trevor, with Mr. Cooke close behind them. + +"Where the devil is Allen?" my client demanded excitedly of the +Fraction. + +"Allen?" repeated that gentleman, "why, we made him comfortable and left +him, of course. We had sense enough not to bring him here to be pulled." + +"But, you damfool," cried Mr. Cooke, slightly forgetting himself, "Drew +has escaped." + +"Escaped?" + +"Yes, escaped," said Mr. Cooke, as though our conductor were personally +responsible; "he got away this morning. Before we know it, we'll have +the whole police force of Far Harbor out here to jug the lot of us." + +The Fraction, being deficient for the moment in language proper to +express his appreciation of this new development, simply volunteered to +return for the Celebrity, and left in a great hurry. + +"Irene," said Mr. Trevor, "can it be possible that you have stolen away +for the express purpose of visiting this criminal?" + +"If he is a criminal, father, it is no reason that he should starve." + +"It is no reason," cried her father, hotly, "why a young girl who has +been brought up as you have, should throw every lady-like instinct to +the winds. There are men enough in this camp to keep him from starving. +I will not have my daughter's name connected with that of a defaulter. +Irene, you have set the seal of disgrace upon a name which I have labored +for a lifetime to make one of the proudest in the land. And it was my +fond hope that I possessed a daughter who--" + +During this speech my anger had been steadily rising.. But it was Mrs. +Cooke who interrupted him. + +"Mr. Trevor," said she, "perhaps you are not aware that while you are +insulting your daughter, you are also insulting my niece. It may be well +for you to know that Miss Trevor still has my respect as a woman and my +admiration as a lady. And, since she has been so misjudged by her +father, she has my deepest sympathy. But I wish to beg of you, if you +have anything of this nature to say to her, you will take her feelings +into consideration as well as ours." + +Miss Trevor gave her one expressive look of gratitude. The senator was +effectually silenced. He had come, by some inexplicable inference, to +believe that Mrs. Cooke, while subservient to the despotic will of her +husband, had been miraculously saved from depravity, and had set her face +against this last monumental act of outlawry. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CELEBRITY, V3, BY CHURCHILL *** + +********** This file should be named wc48w10.txt or wc48w10.zip ********** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, wc48w11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, wc48w10a.txt + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +http://gutenberg.net or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/old/wc48w10.zip b/old/wc48w10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0741118 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/wc48w10.zip |