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If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Cowardice Court - -Author: George Barr McCutcheon - -Illustrator: Harrison Fisher - -Release Date: February 3, 2017 [EBook #54101] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COWARDICE COURT *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by Google Books - - - - - - - -COWARDICE COURT - -By George Barr McCutcheon - -Illustrated by Harrison Fisher - -[Illustration: 0007] - -[Illustration: 0008] - -[Illustration: 0012] - -COWARDICE COURT - - - - -CHAPTER I--IN WHICH A YOUNG MAN TRESPASSES - -“He's just an infernal dude, your lordship, and I 'll throw him in the -river if he says a word too much.” - -“He has already said too much, Tompkins, confound him, don't you know.” - -“Then I 'm to throw him in whether he says anything or not, sir?” - -“Have you seen him?” - -“No, your lordship, but James has. James says he wears a red coat and--” - -“Never mind, Tompkins. He has no right to fish on this side of that -log. The insufferable ass may own the land on the opposite side, but, -confound his impertinence, I own it on this side.” - -This concluding assertion of the usually placid but now irate Lord -Bazelhurst was not quite as momentous as it sounded. As a matter of -fact, the title to the land was vested entirely in his young American -wife; his sole possession, according to report, being a title much -less substantial but a great deal more picturesque than the large, -much-handled piece of paper down in the safety deposit vault--lying -close and crumpled among a million sordid, homely little slips called -coupons. - -It requires no great stretch of imagination to understand that Lord -Bazelhurst had an undesirable neighbour. That neighbour was young Mr. -Shaw--Randolph Shaw, heir to the Randolph fortune. It may be fair to -state that Mr. Shaw also considered himself to be possessed of an odious -neighbour. In other words, although neither had seen the other, there -was a feud between the owners of the two estates that had all the -earmarks of an ancient romance. - -Lady Bazelhurst was the daughter of a New York millionaire; she was -young, beautiful, and arrogant. Nature gave her youth and beauty; -marriage gave her the remaining quality. Was she not Lady Bazelhurst? -What odds if Lord Bazelhurst happened to be a middle-aged, addle-pated -ass? So much the better. Bazelhurst castle and the Bazelhurst estates -(heavily encumbered before her father came to the rescue) were among the -oldest and most coveted in the English market. Her mother noted, with -unctuous joy, that the present Lady Bazelhurst in babyhood had extreme -difficulty in mastering the eighth letter of the alphabet, certainly a -most flattering sign of natal superiority, notwithstanding the fact that -her father was plain old John Banks (deceased), formerly of Jersey City, -more latterly of Wall street and St. Thomas's. - -Bazelhurst was a great catch, but Banks was a good name to conjure with, -so he capitulated with a willingness that savoured somewhat of suspended -animation (so fearful was he that he might do something to disturb -the dream before it came true). That was two years ago. With exquisite -irony, Lady Bazelhurst decided to have a country-place in America. Her -agents discovered a glorious section of woodland in the Adirondacks, -teeming with trout streams, game haunts, unparalleled scenery; her -ladyship instructed them to buy without delay. It was just here that -young Mr. Shaw came into prominence. - -His grandfather had left him a fortune and he was looking about for ways -in which to spend a portion of it. College, travel, and society -having palled on him, he hied himself into the big hills west of Lake -Champlain, searching for beauty, solitude, and life as he imagined it -should be lived. He found and bought five hundred acres of the most -beautiful bit of wilderness in the mountains. - -The same streams coursed through his hills and dales that ran through -those of Lady Bazelhurst, the only distinction being that his portion -was the more desirable. When her ladyship's agents came leisurely up -to close their deal, they discovered that Mr. Shaw had snatched up -this choice five hundred acres of the original tract intended for their -client. At least one thousand acres were left for the young lady, but -she was petulant enough to covet all of it. - -Overtures were made to Mr. Shaw, but he would not sell. He was preparing -to erect a handsome country-place, and he did not want to alter his -plans. Courteously at first, then somewhat scathingly he declined to -discuss the proposition with her agents. After two months of pressure of -the most tiresome persistency, he lost his temper and sent a message to -his inquisitors that suddenly terminated all negotiations. Afterwards, -when he learned that their client was a lady, he wrote a conditional -note of apology, but, if he expected a response, he was disappointed. A -year went by, and now, with the beginning of this narrative, two newly -completed country homes glowered at each other from separate hillsides, -one envious and spiteful, the other defiant and a bit satirical. - -Bazelhurst Villa looks across the valley and sees Shaw's Cottage -commanding the most beautiful view in the hills; the very eaves of -her ladyship's house seem to have wrinkled into a constant scowl of -annoyance. Shaw's long, low cottage seems to smile back with tantalizing -security, serene in its more lofty altitude, in its more gorgeous -raiment of nature. The brooks laugh with the glitter of trout, the -trees chuckle with the flight of birds, the hillsides frolic in their -abundance of game, but the acres are growling like dogs of war. “Love -thy neighbour as thyself” is not printed on the boards that line the -borders of the two estates. In bold black letters the sign-boards -laconically say: “No trespassing on these grounds. Keep off!” - -“Yes, I fancy you'd better put him off the place if he comes down here -again to fish, Tompkins,” said his lordship, in conclusion. Then he -touched whip to his horse and bobbed off through the shady lane in a -most painfully upright fashion, his thin legs sticking straight out, his -breath coming in agonized little jerks with each succeeding return of -his person to the saddle. - -“By Jove, Evelyn, it's most annoying about that confounded Shaw chap,” - he remarked to his wife as he mounted the broad steps leading to the -gallery half an hour later, walking with the primness which suggests -pain. Lady Bazelhurst looked up from her book, her fine aristocratic -young face clouding with ready belligerence. - -“What has he done, Cecil dear?” - -“Been fishing on our property again, that's all. Tompkins says he -laughed at him when he told him to get off. I say, do you know, I think -I 'll have to adopt rough methods with that chap. Hang it all, what -right has he to catch our fish?” - -“Oh, how I hate that man!” exclaimed her ladyship petulantly. - -“But I 've given Tompkins final instructions.” - -“And what are they?” - -“To throw him in the river next time.” - -“Oh, if he only _could!_” 'rapturously.' - -“_Could?_ My dear, Tompkins is an American. He can handle these chaps in -their own way. At any rate, I told Tompkins if his nerve failed him at -the last minute to come and notify me. _I 'll_ attend to this confounded -popinjay!” - -“Good for you, Cecil!” called out another young woman from the broad -hammock in which she had been dawdling with half-alert ears through -the foregoing conversation. “Spoken like a true Briton. What is this -popinjay like?” - -“Hullo, sister. Hang it all, what's he like? He's like an ass, that's -all. I've never seen him, but if I'm ever called upon to--but you don't -care to listen to details. You remember the big log that lies out in the -river up at the bend? Well, it marks the property line. One half of its -stump belongs to the Shaw man, the other half to m--to us, Evelyn. -He shan't fish below that log--no, sir!” His lordship glared fiercely -through his monocle in the direction of the far-away log, his watery -blue eyes blinking as malevolently as possible, his long, aristocratic -nose wrinkling at its base in fine disdain. His five feet four of -stature quivered with illy-subdued emotion, but whether it was rage or -the sudden recollection of the dog-trot through the woods, it is beyond -me to suggest. - -“But suppose our fish venture into his waters, Cecil; what then? Is n't -that trespass?” demanded the Honourable Penelope Drake, youngest and -most cherished sister of his lordship. - -“Now, don't be silly, Pen,” cried her sister-in-law. “Of course we can't -regulate the fish.” - -“But I daresay his fish will come below the log, so what's the odds?” - said his lord-ship quickly. “A trout 's a lawless brute at best.” - -“Is he big?” asked the Honourable Penelope lazily. - -“They vary, my dear girl.” - -“I mean Mr. Shaw.” - -“Oh, I thought you meant the--but I don't know. What difference does -that make? Big or little, he has to stay off my grounds.” Was it a look -of pride that his tall young wife bestowed upon him as he drew himself -proudly erect or was it akin to pity? At any rate, her gay young -American head was inches above his own when she arose and suggested that -they go inside and prepare for the housing of the guests who were to -come over from the evening train. - -“The drag has gone over to the station, Cecil, and it should be here by -seven o'clock.” - -“Confound his impudence, I 'll show him,” grumbled his lordship as he -followed her, stiff-legged, toward the door. - -“What's up, Cecil, with your legs?” called his sister. “Are you getting -old?” - -This suggestion always irritated him. - -“Old? Silly question. You know how old I am. No; it's that beastly -American horse. Evelyn, I told you they have no decent horses in this -beastly country. They jiggle the life out of one--” but he was obliged -to unbend himself perceptibly in order to keep pace with her as she -hurried through the door. - -The Honourable Penelope allowed her indolent gaze to follow them. A -perplexed pucker finally developed on her fair brow and her thought was -almost expressed aloud: “By Jove, I wonder if she really loves him.” - -Penelope was very pretty and very bright. She was visiting America for -the first time and she was learning rapidly. “Cecil 's a good sort, you -know, even--” but she was loyal enough to send her thoughts into other -channels. - -Nightfall brought half a dozen guests to Bazelhurst Villa. They were -fashionable to the point where ennui is the chief characteristic, and -they came only for bridge and sleep. There was a duke among them and -also a French count, besides the bored New Yorkers; they wanted brandy -and soda as soon as they got into the house, and they went to bed early -because it was so much easier to sleep lying down than sitting up. - -All were up by noon the next day, more bored than ever, fondly praying -that nothing might happen before bedtime. The duke was making desultory -love to Mrs. De Peyton and Mrs. De Peyton was leading him aimlessly -toward the shadier and more secluded nooks in the park surrounding the -Villa. Penelope, fresh and full of the purpose of life, was off alone -for a long stroll. By this means she avoided the attentions of the duke, -who wanted to marry her; those of the count who also said he wanted to -marry her but could n't because his wife would not consent; those of -one New Yorker, who liked her because she was English; and the pallid -chatter of the women who bored her with their conjugal cynicisms. - -“What the deuce is this coming down the road?” queried the duke, -returning from the secluded nook at luncheon time. - -“Some one has been hurt,” exclaimed his companion. Others were looking -down the leafy road from the gallery. - -“By Jove, it's Penelope, don't you know,” ejaculated the duke, dropping -his monocle and blinking his eye as if to rest it for the time being. - -“But she's not hurt. She's helping to support one of those men.” - -“Hey!” shouted his lordship from the gallery, as Penelope and two -dilapidated male companions abruptly started to cut across the park -in the direction of the stables. “What's up?” Penelope waved her hand -aimlessly, but did not change her course. Whereupon the entire house -party sallied forth in more or less trepidation to intercept the strange -party. - -“Who are these men?” demanded Lady Bazelhurst, as they came up to the -fast-breathing young Englishwoman. - -“Don't bother me, please. We must get him to bed at once. He'll have -pneumonia,” replied Penelope. - -Both men were dripping wet and the one in the middle limped painfully, -probably because both eyes were swollen tight and his nose was bleeding. -Penelope's face was beaming with excitement and interest. - -“Who are you?” demanded his lordship, planting himself in front of the -shivering twain. - -“Tompkins,” murmured the blind one feebly, tears starting from the blue -slits and rolling down his cheeks. - -“James, sir,” answered the other, touching his damp forelock. - -“Are they drunk?” asked Mrs. De Peyton, with fresh enthusiasm. - -“No, they are not, poor fellows,” cried Penelope. “They have taken -nothing but water.” - -“By Jove, deuced clever that,” drawled the duke. “Eh?” to the New -Yorker. - -“Deuced,” from the Knickerbocker. - -“Well, well, what's it all about?” demanded Bazelhurst. - -“Mr. Shaw, sir,” said James. - -“Good Lord, could n't you rescue him?” in horror. - -“He rescued us, sir,” mumbled Tompkins. - -“You mean--” - -“He throwed us in and then had to jump in and pull us out, sir. Beggin' -your pardon, sir, but _damn_ him!” - -“And you did n't throw him in, after all? By Jove, extraordinary!” - -“Do you mean to tell us that he threw you great hulking creatures into -the river? Single-handed?” cried Lady Bazelhurst, aghast. - -“He did, Evelyn,” inserted Penelope. “I met them coming home, and poor -Tompkins was out of his senses. I don't know how it happened, but--” - -“It was this way, your ladyship,” put in James, the groom. “Tompkins and -me could see him from the point there, sir, afishin' below the log. -So we says to each other 'Come on,' and up we went to where he was -afishin'. Tompkins, bein' the game warden, says he to him 'Hi there!' -He was plainly on our property, sir, afishin' from a boat for bass, sir. -'Hello, boys,' says he back to us. 'Get off our land,' says Tompkins. 'I -am,' says he; 'it's water out here where I am.' Then--” - -“You're wrong,” broke in Tompkins. - -“He said 'it 's wet out here where I am.'” - -“You 're right. It was wet. Then Tompkins called him a vile name, your -lordship--shall I repeat it, sir?” - -“No, no!” cried four feminine voices. - -“Yes, do,” muttered the duke. - -“He did n't wait after that, sir. He rowed to shore in a flash and -landed on our land. 'What do you mean by that?' he said, mad-like. 'My -orders is to put you off this property,' says Tompkins, 'or to throw -you in the river.' 'Who gave these orders?' asked Mr. Shaw. 'Lord -Bazelhurst, sir, damn you--' beg pardon, sir; it slipped out. 'And who -the devil is Lord Bazelthurst?' said he. 'Hurst,' said Tompkins. -'He owns this ground. Can't you see the mottoes on the trees--No -Tres-passin'?'--but Mr. Shaw said: 'Well, why don't you throw me in the -river?' He kinder smiled when he said it. 'I will,' says Tompkins, and -made a rush for him. I don't just remember why I started in to help -Tompkins, but I did. Somehow, sir, Mr. Shaw got--” - -“Don't call him _Mr_. Shaw. Just Shaw; he's no gentleman,” exploded Lord -Bazelhurst. - -“But he told us both to call him 'Mister,' sir, as long as we lived. I -kinder got in the habit of it, your lordship, up there. That is, that's -what he told us after he got through with us. Well, anyhow, he got the -start of us an'--there's Tompkins' eyes, sir, and look at my ear. Then -he pitched us both in the river.” - -“Good Lord!” gasped the duke. - -“Diable!” sputtered the count. - -“Splendid!” cried Penelope, her eyes sparkling. - -“Hang it all, Pen, don't interrupt the count,” snorted Bazelhurst, for -want of something better to say and perhaps hoping that Deveaux might -say in French what could not be uttered in English. - -“Don't say it in French, count,” said little Miss Folsom. “It deserves -English.” - -“Go on, James,” sternly, from Lady Bazelhurst. - -“Well, neither of us can swim, your ladyship, an' we'd 'a' drowned if -Mr.--if Shaw had n't jumped in himself an' pulled us out. As it was, -sir, Tompkins was unconscious. We rolled him on a log, sir, an' got a -keg of water out of him. Then Mr.--er--Shaw told us to go 'ome and get -in bed, sir.” - -“He sent a message to you, sir,” added Tompkins, shivering mightily. - -“Well, I 'll have one for him, never fear,” said his lordship, glancing -about bravely. “I won't permit any man to assault my servants and -brutally maltreat them. No, sir! He shall hear from me--or my attorney.” - -“He told us to tell you, sir, that if he ever caught anybody from this -place on his land he'd serve him worse than he did us,” said Tompkins. - -“He says, 'I don't want no Bazelhursts on my place,'” added James in -finality. - -“Go to bed, both of you!” roared his lordship. - -“Very good, sir,” in unison. - -“They can get to bed without your help, I daresay, Pen,” added his -lordship caustically, as she started away with them. Penelope with a -rare blush and--well, one party went to luncheon while the other went to -bed. - -“I should like to see this terrible Mr. Shaw,” observed Penelope at -table. “He 's a sort of Jack-the-Giant-Killer, I fancy.” - -“He is the sort one _has_ to meet in America,” lamented her ladyship. - -“Oh, I say now,” expostulated the New York young man, wryly. - -“I don't mean in good society,” she corrected, with unconscious irony. - -“Oh,” said he, very much relieved. - -“He's a demmed cad,” said his lordship conclusively. - -“Because he chucked your men into the river?” asked Penelope sweetly. - -“She's dooced pretty, eh?” whispered the duke to Mrs. De Peyton without -taking his eyes from his young countrywoman's face. - -“Who?” asked Mrs. De Peyton. Then he relinquished his gaze and turned -his monocle blankly upon the American beside him. - -“I shall send him a warning that he'll have to respect, cad or no cad,” - said Bazel-hurst, absently spreading butter upon his fingers instead of -the roll. - -“_Send_ him a warning?” asked his queenly wife. “Aren't you going to see -him personally? You can't trust the servants, it seems.” - -“My dear, I can't afford to lose my temper and engage in a row with that -bounder, and there's no end of trouble I might get into--” - -“I shall see him myself, if you won't,” said her ladyship firmly. There -was frigid silence at the table for a full minute, relieved only when -his lordship's monocle dropped into the glass of water he was trying to -convey to his lips. He thought best to treat the subject lightly, so he -laughed in his most jovial way. - -“You'd better take a mackintosh with you, my dear,” he said. “Remember -what he told Tompkins and James.” - -“He will not throw _me_ into the river. It might be different if you -went. Therefore I think--” - -“Throw me in, would he?” and Bazel-hurst laughed loudly. “I 'm no groom, -my dear. You forget that it possible for Mr. Shaw to be soused.” - -“He was good enough to souse himself this morning,” volunteered -Penelope. “I rather like him.” - -“By Jove, Cecil, you're not afraid to meet him, are you?” asked the duke -with tantalizing coolness. “You know, if you are, I'll go over and talk -to the fellow.” - -“Afraid? Now, hang it all, Barminster, that's rather a shabby thing to -suggest. You forget India.” - -“I 'm trying to. Demmed miserable time I had out there. But this fellow -fights. That's more than the beastly natives did when we were out there. -Marching is n't fighting, you know.” - -“Confound it, you forget the time--” - -“Mon Dieu, are we to compare ze Hindoo harem wiz ze American feest -slugger?” cried the count, with a wry face. - -“What's that?” demanded two noblemen in one voice. The count apologized -for his English. - -“No one but a coward would permit this disagreeable Shaw creature to run -affairs in such a high-handed way,” said her ladyship. - -“Of course Cecil is not a coward.” - -“Thank you, my dear. Never fear, ladies and gentlemen; I shall attend to -this person. He won't soon forget what I have to say to him,” promised -Lord Bazelhurst, mentally estimating the number of brandies and soda it -would require in preparation. - -“This afternoon?” asked his wife, with cruel insistence. - -“Yes, Evelyn--if I can find him.” - -And so it was that shortly after four o'clock, Lord Bazelhurst, -unattended at his own request, rode forth like a Lochinvar, his steed -headed bravely toward Shaw's domain, his back facing his own home with a -military indifference that won applause from the assembled house party. - -“I'll face him alone,” he had said, a trifle thickly, for some unknown -reason, when the duke offered to accompany him. It also might have been -noticed as he cantered down the drive that his legs did not stick out -so stiffly, nor did his person bob so exactingly as on previous but -peaceful expeditions. - -In fact, he seemed a bit limp. But his face was set determinedly for the -border line and Shaw. - - - - -CHAPTER II--IN WHICH A YOUNG WOMAN TRESPASSES - -Mr. SHAW was a tall young man of thirty or thereabouts, smooth-faced, -good-looking and athletic. It was quite true that he wore a red -coat when tramping through his woods and vales, not because it was -fashionable, but because he had a vague horror of being shot at by some -near-sighted nimrod from Manhattan. A crowd of old college friends had -just left him alone in the hills after spending several weeks at his -place, and his sole occupation these days, aside from directing the -affairs about the house and grounds, lay in the efforts to commune -with nature by means of a shotgun and a fishing-rod. His most constant -companion was a pipe, his most loyal follower a dog. - -As he sauntered slowly down the river road that afternoon, smiling -retrospectively from time to time as he looked into the swift, narrow -stream that had welcomed his adversaries of the morning, he little -thought of the encounter in store for him. The little mountain stream -was called a river by courtesy because it was yards wider than the -brooks that struggled impotently to surpass it during the rainy season. -But it was deep and turbulent in places and it had a roar at times that -commanded the respect of the foolhardy. - -“The poor devils might have drowned, eh, Bonaparte?” he mused, -addressing the dog at his side. “Confounded nuisance, getting wet after -all, though. Lord Bazelhurst wants war, does he? That log down there is -the dividing line in our river, eh? And I have to stay on this side of -it. By George, he's a mean-spirited person. And it's his wife's land, -too. I wonder what she's like. It's a pity a fellow can't have a quiet, -decent summer up here in the hills. Still”--lighting his pipe--“I -daresay I can give as well as I take. If I stay off his land, they'll -have to keep off of mine. Hullo, who's that? A man, by George, but he -looks like a partridge. As I live, Bonaparte is pointing. Ha, ha, that's -one on you, Bony.” Mr. Shaw stepped into the brush at the side of the -path and watched the movements of the man at the “log,” now less than -one hundred yards away. - -Lord Bazelhurst, attired in his brown corduroys and his tan waistcoat, -certainly suggested the partridge as he hopped nimbly about in the -distant foreground, cocking his ears from time to time with all the -aloofness of that wily bird. He was, strange to relate, some little -distance from Bazelhurst territory, an actual if not a confident -trespasser upon Shaw's domain. His horse, however, was tethered to a -sapling on the safe side of the log, comfortably browsing on Bazelhurst -grass. Randolph Shaw, an unseen observer, was considerably mystified by -the actions of his unusual visitor. - -His lordship paced back and forth with a stride that grew firmer as -time brought forth no hostile impediments. His monocle ever and anon was -directed both high and low in search of Shaw or his henchmen, while his -face was rapidly resolving itself into a bloom of rage. - -“Confound him,” his lordship was muttering, looking at his timepiece -with stern disapproval; “he can't expect me to wait here all day. I'm -on his land and I 'll stay here as long as I like.” (At this juncture -he involuntarily measured the distance between himself and the log.) “I -knew it was all a bluff, his threat to put me off. Hang it all, where is -the fellow? I won't go up to his beastly house. I won't gratify him by -going up there even to give him his orders. Demmed cad, blowhard! Five -o'clock, confound him! I daresay he's seen me and has crawled off into -the underbrush. He's afraid of me; he's a coward. It is as I feared. I -can't see the rascal. There's only one thing left for me to do. I'll -pin a note to this tree. Confound him, he shall hear from me; he 'll -have to read it.” - -Whereupon his lordship drew forth a large envelope from his pocket and -proceeded to fasten it to the trunk of a big tree which grew in the -middle of the road, an act of premeditation which showed strange powers -of prophecy. How could he, except by means of clairvoyance, have known -before leaving home that he was not to meet his enemy face to face? - -As Mr. Shaw afterwards read the note and tossed it into the river, it is -only fair that the world should know its contents while it hung unfolded -to the bark of the tall tree. It said, in a very scrawling hand: -“Mr. Shaw, I have looked all over this end of your land for you this -afternoon. You doubtless choose to avoid me. So be it. Let me state, -once and for all, that your conduct is despicable. I came here -personally to tell you to keep off my land, henceforth and for ever. -I will not repeat this warning, but will instead, if you persist, take -such summary measures as would befit a person of your instincts. I -trust you will feel the importance of keeping off.” To this his lordship -bravely signed himself. - -“There,” he muttered, again holding his watch and fob up for close -inspection. “He'll not soon overlook what I've said in that letter, -confound him.” - -He had not observed the approach of Randolph Shaw, who now stood, pipe -in hand, some twenty paces behind him in the road. - -“What the devil are you doing?” demanded a strong bass voice. It had the -effect of a cannon shot. - -His lordship leaped half out of his corduroys, turned with agonizing -abruptness toward the tall young man, and gasped “Oh!” so shrilly that -his horse looked up with a start. The next instant his watch dropped -forgotten from his fingers and his nimble little legs scurried for -territory beyond the log. Nor did he pause upon reaching that supposedly -safe ground. The swift glance he gave the nearby river was significant -as well as apprehensive. It moved him to increased but unpolished haste. - -He leaped frantically for the saddle, scorning the stirrups, landing -broadside but with sufficient nervous energy in reserve to scramble on -and upward into the seat. Once there, he kicked the animal in the flanks -with both heels, clutching with his knees and reaching for the bridle -rein in the same motion. The horse plunged obediently, but came to a -stop with a jerk that almost unseated the rider; the sapling swayed; the -good but forgotten rein held firm. - -“Ha!” gasped his lordship as the horrid truth became clear to him. - -“Charge, Bonaparte!” shouted the man in the road. - -“Soldiers?” cried the rider with a wild look among the trees. - -“My dog,” called back the other. “He charges at the word.” - -“Well, you know, I saw service in the army,” apologized his lordship, -with a pale smile. “Get ep!” to the horse. - -“What's your hurry?” asked Shaw, grinning broadly as he came up to the -log. - -“Don't--don't you dare to step over that log,” shouted Bazelhurst. - -“All right. I see. But, after all, what's the rush?” The other was -puzzled for the moment. - -“I'm practising, sir,” he said unsteadily. “How to mount on a run, -demmit. Can't you see?” - -“In case of fire, I imagine. Well, you made excellent time. By the way, -what has this envelope to do with it?” - -“Who are you, sir?” - -“Shaw. And you?” - -“You'll learn when you read that document. Take it home with you.” - -“Ah, yes, I see it's for me. Why don't you untie that hitch rein? And -what the dickens do you mean by having a hitch rein, anyway? No rider--” - -“Confound your impudence, sir, I did not come here to receive -instructions from you, dem you,” cried his lordship defiantly. He had -succeeded at that moment in surreptitiously slashing the hitch rein in -two with his pocketknife. There was nothing to prevent him from giving -the obtrusive young man a defiant farewell. “I am Lord Bazelhurst. Good -day, sir!” - -“Just a minute, your lordship,” called Shaw. “No doubt you were timing -yourself a bit ago, but that 's no reason why you should leave your -watch on my land. Of course, I 've nothing against the watch, and, while -I promise you faithfully that any human being from your side of the log -who ventures over on my side shall be ejected in one way or another, it -would seem senseless for me to kick this timepiece into the middle of -next week.” - -“Don't you dare kick that watch. It's a hundred years old.” - -“Far be it from me to take advantage of anything so old. Don't you want -it any longer?” - -“Certainly, sir. I would n't part from it.” - -“Then why don't you come over and get it? Do you expect me to break the -rule by coming over on to your land to hand it to you?” - -“I should n't call _that_ trespassing don't you know,” began his -lordship. - -“Ah? Nevertheless, if you want this watch you 'll have to come over and -get it.” - -“By Jove, now, that's a demmed mean trick. I'm mounted. Beastly -annoying. I say, would you mind _tossing_ it up to me?” - -“I wouldn't touch it for ten dollars. By the way, I'll just read this -note of yours.” Lord Bazelhurst nervously watched him as he read; his -heart lightened perceptibly as he saw a good-humoured smile struggle to -the tall young man's face. It was, however, with some misgiving that he -studied the broad shoulders and powerful frame of the erstwhile poacher. -“Very good of you, I'm sure, to warn me.” - -“Good of me? It was imperative, let me tell you, sir. No man can abuse -my servants and trample all over my land and disturb my fish--” - -“Excuse me, but I have n't time to listen to all that. The note's -sufficient. You've been practising the running mount until it looks -well nigh perfect to me, so I'll tell you what I 'll do. I'll step back -thirty paces and then you come over and get the watch if you 're not -afrain of me--and I promise--” - -“Afrain? Demmit, sir, didn't I say I was Lord Bazelhurst? Of the Guards, -sir, and the Seventy-first? Conf--” - -“You come over and get the watch and then see if you can get back to the -horse and mount before I get to the log. If I beat you there, you lose. -How's that?” - -“I decline to make a fool of myself. Either you will restore my watch -to me, or I shall instantly go before the authorities and take out a -warrant. I came to see you on business, sir, not folly. Lady Bazelhurst -herself would have come had I been otherwise occupied, and I want to -assure you of her contempt. You are a disgrace to her countrymen. If -you ever put foot on our land I shall have you thrown into the river. -Demmit, sir, it 's no laughing matter. My watch, sir.” - -“Come and get it.” - -“Scalawag!” - -“By George, do you know if you get too personal I _will_ come over -there.” Randolph Shaw advanced with a threatening scowl. - -“Ha, ha!” laughed his lordship shrilly; “I dare you!” He turned his -horse's head for home and moved off a yard or more. “Whoa! Curse you! -This is the demdest horse to manage I ever owned. Stand still, confound -you! Whoa!” - -“He 'll stand if you stop kicking him.” - -“Halloa! Hey, Bazelhurst!” came a far distant voice. The adversaries -glanced down the road and beheld two horsemen approaching from -Bazelhurst Villa--the duke and the count. - -“By Jove!” muttered his lordship, suddenly deciding that it would not -be convenient for them to appear on the scene at its present stage. -“My friends are calling me. Her ladyship doubtless is near at hand. -She rides, you know--I mean dem you! Would n't have her see you for -a fortune. Not another word, sir! You have my orders. Stay off or -I'll--throw you off!” This last threat was almost shrieked and was -plainly heard by the two horsemen. - -“By Jove, he's facing the fellow,” said the duke to the count. - -“Ees eet Shaw? Parbleu!” - -“I'll send some one for that watch. Don't you dare to touch it,” said -his lord-ship in tones barely audible. Then he loped off to meet his -friends and turn them back before they came too close for comfort. -Randolph Shaw laughed heartily as he watched the retreat. Seeing the -newcomers halt and then turn abruptly back into their tracks he picked -up the watch and strolled off into the woods, taking a short cut for -the dirt road which led up to his house. - -“I had him begging for mercy,” explained his lordship as he rode along. -“I was on his land for half an hour before he would come within speaking -distance. Come along. I need a drink.” - -Young Mr. Shaw came to the road in due time and paused, after his climb, -to rest on a stone at the wayside. He was still a mile from home and -in the loneliest part of his domain. The Bazelhurst line was scarcely -a quarter of a mile behind him. Trees and underbrush grew thick and -impenetrable alongside the narrow, winding road; the light of heaven -found it difficult to struggle through to the highway below. Picturesque -but lonely and sombre indeed were his surroundings. - -“Some one coming?” he said aloud, as Bonaparte pricked up his ears and -looked up the road. A moment later a horse and rider turned the bend a -hundred yards away and came slowly toward him. He started to his feet -with an exclamation. The rider was a woman and she was making her way -leisurely toward the Bazelhurst lands. - -“Lady Bazelhurst, I'll bet my hat,” thought he with a quiet whistle. “By -George, this is awkward. My first trespasser is in petticoats. I say, -she's a beauty--a ripping beauty. Lord, Lord, what do such women mean by -giving themselves to little rats like Bazelhurst? Oh, the shame of it! -Well, it's up to me! If I expect to make good, I've just got to fire her -off these grounds.” - -Naturally he expected to be very polite about it--instinctively so; -he could not have been otherwise. The horsewoman saw him step into the -middle of the road, smiling oddly but deferentially; her slim figure -straightened, her colour rose, and there was a--yes, there was a -relieved gleam in her eyes. As she drew near he advanced, hat in hand, -his face uplifted in his most winning smile--savouring more of welcome -than of repellence. - -“I beg your pardon,” he said; “doubtless you are not aware that this is -proscribed land.” - -“Then you _are_ Mr. Shaw?” she asked, checking her horse with -premeditated surprise and an emphasis that puzzled him. - -“Yes, madam,” he responded gravely, “the hated Shaw. Permit me,” and -he politely grasped the bridle rein. To her amazement he deliberately -turned and began to lead her horse, willy nilly, down the road, very -much as if she were a child taking her first riding lesson. - -“What are you doing, sir? she exclaimed sharply. There was a queer -flutter of helplessness in her voice. - -“Putting you off,” he answered laconically. She laughed in delight and -he looked up with a relieved smile. “I'm glad you don't mind. I have to -do it. These feuds are such beastly things, you know. One has to live up -to them whether he likes it or not.” - -“So you are putting me off your place? Oh, how lovely!” - -[Illustration: 0042] - -“It is n't far, you know--just down by those big rocks. Your line is -there. Of course,” he went on politely, “you know that there _is_ a -feud.” - -“Oh, yes; I've heard you discussed. Besides, I met Tompkins and James -this morning. Pardon me, Mr. Shaw, but I fancy I can get on without -being led. Would you mind--” - -“My dear madam, there is no alternative. I have taken a solemn vow -personally to eject all Bazelhurst trespassers from my place. You forget -that I am, by your orders, to be thrown into the river and all that. -Don't be alarmed! I don't mean to throw you into the river.” - -“By my orders? It seems to me that you have confused me with Lord -Bazelhurst.” - -“Heaven has given me keener perception, your ladyship. I have seen his -lordship.” - -“Ah, may I inquire whether he was particularly rough with you this -afternoon?” - -“I trust I am too chivalrous to answer that question.” - -“You are quite dry.” - -“Thank you. I deserve the rebuke, all right.” - -“Oh, I mean you haven't been in the river. - -“Not since morning. Am I walking too fast for you?” - -“Not at all. One could n't ask to be put off more considerately.” - -“By Jove,” he said involuntarily, his admiration getting the better of -him. - -“I beg your pardon,” with slightly elevated eyebrows. - -“Do you know, you 're not at all what I imagined you'd be.” - -“Oh? And I fancy I'm not at all _whom_ you imagined me to be.” - -“Heavens! Am I ejecting an innocent bystander? You _are_ Lady -Bazelhurst?” - -“I am Penelope Drake. But”--she added quickly--“I _am_ an enemy. I am -Lord Bazelhurst's sister.” - -“You--you don't mean it?” - -“Are you disappointed? I'm sorry.” - -“I am staggered and--a bit skeptical. There is no resemblance.” - -“I _am_ a bit taller,” she admitted carefully. “It is n't dreadfully -immodest, is it, for one to hold converse with her captor? I am in your -power, you see.” - -“On the contrary, it is quite the thing. The heroine always converses -with the villain in books. She tells him what she thinks of him.” - -“But this is n't a book and I'm not a heroine. I am the adventuress. -Will you permit me to explain my presence on your land?” - -“No excuse is necessary. You were caught red-handed and you don't have -to say anything to incriminate yourself further.” - -“But it is scarcely a hundred feet to our line. In a very few minutes I -shall be hurled relentlessly from your land and may never have another -chance to tell why I dared to venture over here. You see, you have a -haunted house on your land and I--” She hesitated. - -“I see. The old Renwood Cottage on the hill. Been deserted for years. -Renwood brought his wife up here in the mountains long ago and murdered -her. She comes back occasionally, they say; mysterious noises and lights -and all that. Well?” - -“Well, I'm very much interested in spooks. In spite of the feud I rode -over here for a peep at the house. Dear me, it's a desolate looking -place. I did n't go inside, of course. Why don't you tear it down?” - -“And deprive the ghost of house and home? That would be heartless. -Besides, it serves as an attraction to bring visitors to my otherwise -unalluring place. I'm terribly sorry the fortunes of war prevent me -from offering to take you through the house. But as long as you remain -a Bazelhurst I can't neglect my vow. Of course, I don't mean to say -that you _cant_ come and do what you please over here, but you shall be -recognized and treated as a trespasser.” - -“Oh, that 's just splendid! Perhaps I 'll come to-morrow.” - -“I shall be obliged to escort you from the grounds, you know.” - -“Yes, I know,” she said agreeably. He looked dazed and delighted. “Of -course, I shall come with stealth and darkly. Not even my brother shall -know of my plans.” - -“Certainly not,” he said with alacrity. (They were nearing the line.) -“Depend on me.” - -“Depend on you? Your only duty is to scare me off the place.” - -“That 's what I mean. I 'll keep sharp watch for you up at the haunted -house.” - -“It 's more than a mile from the line,” she advised him. - -“Yes, I know,” said he, with his friendliest smile. “Oh, by the way, -would you mind doing your brother a favour, Miss Drake? Give him this -watch. He--er--he must have dropped it while pursuing me.” - -“You _ran?_” she accepted the watch with in surprise and unbelief. - -“Here is the line, Miss Drake,” he evaded. “Consider yourself -ignominiously ejected. Have I been unnecessarily rough and expeditious?” - -“You have had a long and tiresome walk,” she said, settling herself for -a merry clip. “Please don't step on our side.” He released the bridle -rein and doffed his hat. - -“I shall bring my horse to-morrow,” he remarked significantly. - -“I may bring the duke,” she said sweetly. - -“In that case I shall have to bring an extra man to lead his horse. It -won't matter.” - -“So this rock is the dividing line?” - -“Yes; you are on the safe side now--and so am I, for that matter. The -line is here,” and he drew a broad line in the dust from one side of the -road to the other. “My orders are that you are not to ride across that -line, at your peril.” - -“And you are not to cross it either, at _your_ peril.” - -“Do you dare me?” with an eager step forward. - -“Good-bye.” - -“Good-bye! I say, are you sure you can find the Renwood cottage?” he -called after her. The answer came back through the clatter of hoofs, -accompanied by a smile that seduced his self-possession. - -“I shall find it in time.” - -For a long time he stood watching her as she raced down the road. - -“At my peril,” he mused, shaking his head with a queer smile. “By -George, that's fair warning enough. She's beautiful.” - -At dinner that night the Honourable Penelope restored the watch to her -brother, much to his embarrassment, for he had told the duke it was -being repaired in town. - -“It was n't this watch that I meant, old chap,” he announced, -irrelevantly, to the duke, quite red in the face. “Where did you find -it, Pen?” She caught the plea in his eye and responded loyally. - -“You dropped it, I daresay, in pursuing Mr. Shaw.” - -The positive radiance which followed dismay in his watery eyes convinced -her beyond all doubt that her brother's encounter with the tall Mr. Shaw -was not quite creditable to Bazelhurst arms. She listened with pensive -indifference to the oft-repeated story of how he had routed the -“insufferable cad,” encouraged by the support of champagne and the -solicited approval of two eye-witnesses. She could not repress the mixed -feelings of scorn, shame, and pity, as she surveyed the array of men who -so mercilessly flayed the healthy, fair-faced young man with the gentle -strength. - -The house party had been augmented during the day by the arrival of half -a dozen men and women from the city, brain-fagged, listless, and smart. -The big cottage now was full, the company complete for three weeks at -least. She looked ahead, this fresh, vigorous young Englishwoman, and -wondered how she was to endure the staleness of life. - -There was some relief in the thought that the men would make love to the -good-looking young married women--at least part of the time--and--but it -depressed her in turn to think of the left-over husbands who would make -love to her. - -“Why is it that Evelyn does n't have real men here--like this Mr. Shaw?” - she found herself wondering vaguely as the night wore on. - - - - -CHAPTER III--IN WHICH A DOG TRESPASSES - -Penelope was a perverse and calculating young person. She was her own -mistress and privileged to ride as often as she pleased, but it seemed -rather odd--although splendidly decorous--that she did not venture upon -Mr. Shaw's estate for more than a week after her first encounter with -the feudal baron. If she found a peculiarly feminine satisfaction in -speculating on his disappointment, it is not to be wondered at. Womanly -insight told her that Randolph Shaw rode forth each day and watched with -hawk-like vigilance for the promised trespasser. In her imagination, she -could almost hear him curse the luck that was helping her to evade the -patrol. - -One morning, after a rain, she rode with the duke to the spot where Shaw -had drawn his line in the road. She felt a thrill of something she could -not define on discovering that the wet soil on the opposite side of the -line was disfigured by a mass of fresh hoof-prints. She rejoiced to find -that his vigil was incessant and worthy of the respect it imposed. -The desire to visit the haunted house was growing more and more -irresistible, but she turned it aside with all the relentless -perverseness of a woman who feels it worth while to procrastinate. - -Truth to tell, Randolph Shaw was going hollow-eyed and faint in his -ceaseless, racking watch for trespassers. - -Penelope laughed aloud as she gazed upon the tangle of hoof-prints. The -duke looked as surprised as it was possible for him to look after the -wear of the past night. - -“Hang it all, Penelope,” he said. “I did n't say anything, don't you -know.” - -“I was just thinking,” she said hastily, “what fun it would be for us to -explore the haunted house.” - -“Oh, I say, Pen, that's going out of the way for a little fun, is -n't it? My word, it 's a filthy old house with rats and mice and all -that--no place for a ghost, much less a nice little human being like -you. They're like that.” - -“I think you are afraid to go,” said she. - -“Afraid of ghosts? Pshaw!” sniffed the duke, sticking out his chest. - -“Yes, Shaw! That's whom you're afraid of.” - -“Now, see here, Pen, you should n't say that. Shaw's a d--, a cad. See -what Cecil did to him. Remember that? Well, pooh! What would _I_ do to -him?” Penelope looked him over critically. - -“I'll admit that you're larger and younger than Cecil,” she confessed -grudgingly. “But they say Mr. Shaw is a giant-killer.” The duke -dropped his monocle and guffawed loudly. - -“Good!” he cried in the ecstasy of pride. His worn, dissipated face -lighted up with unwonted interest. “I say, Pen, that's the nicest thing -you've said to me in a week. You've been so deuced cold of late. I don't -understand. I'm not such a bad lot, you know.” - -“Tell that to Mrs. De Peyton and Mrs. Corwith. They're looking for the -good in everything.” - -“By Jove, I believe you're jealous! This is the proudest moment of my -life.” - -“Don't be silly! And don't try to make love to me any more. Wait until -I'm married,” she added with a laugh, the irony of which escaped him. - -“But, hang it all, suppose you should marry some one else and not me.” - -“That's what I mean.” - -“Oh!” he said, perplexed. Then, as if his stupidity called for an -explanation: “I had a beastly night. Did n't go to bed till four. But, -I say, why can't I have the same privilege as these other chaps? -Corwith makes love to you and so does Odwell, and, hang it, they're both -married. It's rotten mean of--” - -“Their wives are accountable for their manners, not I. But, come; will -you go to Renwood's with me?” - -“I'd rather talk to you in that nice little corner of the billiard-room -at home, if you--” - -“But I don't need a brandy and soda. Oh!” This exclamation came with the -discovery of an approaching horseman. “It's Mr. Shaw--I'm sure.” - -Randolph Shaw, loyal to his feudal promise, appeared in the road -a couple of hundred yards away. He drew rein and from that distance -surveyed the two who were so near to encroaching upon his preserves. -He sat straight and forbidding in the saddle. For a full minute the two -factions stared at each other. Then, without a sign of recognition, Shaw -turned and rode rapidly away. - -“He rides like a gentleman,” commented Miss Drake, after reflection. - -“Indian blood in him,” remarked her companion. - -“Let us go home,” said she, whirling her horse like a flash. The duke -had some difficulty in keeping abreast of her during the ride and he -lost sight of her altogether after they dismounted at Bazelhurst Villa. - -The momentary glimpse of a real man set Penelope's opinions on edge for -the remainder of the day and night. Shaw, whatever else he might be, -was a man. Even while others addressed her in conversation she was -absent-mindedly recalling to memory certain English gentlemen at home -who could stand comparison with this handsome fellow across the danger -line. But to compare any one of the men in Lady Bazelhurst's house party -oh, it was absurd! She looked them over. Dull-eyed, blasé, frayed by the -social whirl, worn out, pulseless, all of them. They talked automobile, -bridge, women, and self in particular; in the seclusion of a tête-à-tête -they talked love with an ardour that lost most of its danger because it -was from force of habit. One of the men was even now admitting in her -ear that he had not spent an evening alone with his wife in four years. - -“There's always something doing,” he said. “A week or two ago, by Jove, -you would n't believe it, but we had an evening turn up without a thing -on hand. Strangest thing I ever knew. Neither of us had a thing on. We -said we'd stay at home and go to bed early, just to see how it felt. -Well, what do you think? We sat up and read till half past ten o'clock -and then both of us thought of it at the same time. We dressed and went -down to Rector's and waited for the theatres to let out. Three o'clock -when we got home. You can't imagine what a queer experience it is, being -all alone with one's wife.” - -“Don't you love your wife, Mr. Odwell?” - -“Certainly; but there's always a crowd.” - -Both of them glanced over at pretty Mrs. Odwell. She was looking down at -her plate demurely while Reggie Van Voort talked straight into her pink -ear, his eyes gleaming with the zest of invasion. “I say, Miss Drake, -you won't mind talking to me awhile after dinner, will you?” went on -Odwell, something like relief in his voice. - -After dinner she was obliged to set him straight in a little matter. -They were sitting on the terrace and he had thrown away his half-smoked -cigarette, an act in itself significant. She had been listening -patiently, from sheer habit and indifference, to what he was saying, but -at last she revolted. - -“Don't! You shall not sav such things to me. I am not your kind, I -fancy, Mr. Odwell,” she said. “I don't know why you should tell me of -your chorus-girl friends--of your suppers and all that. I don't care to -hear of them and I don't intend that you shall use me as a subject of -illustration. I am going upstairs.” - -“Oh, come now, that's rather rough, just as we were getting on so well. -All the fellows do the same--” - -“I know. You need not tell me. And you all have wives at home, too,” - with intense scorn. - -“Now, that's where you wrong us. They're _not_ at home, you know. That's -just it.” - -“Never mind, Mr. Odwell; I'm going in.” She left him and entered the -house. For a minute or two he looked after her in wonder, and then, -softly whistling, made his way over to where De Peyton, through some -oversight, was talking to his own wife. De Peyton unceremoniously -announced that he was going upstairs to write a letter. - -Penelope, flushed with disgust and humiliation, drew near a crowd of -men and women in the long living-room. Her brother was haranguing the -assemblage, standing forth among them like an unconquered bantam. In -spite of herself, she felt a wave of shame and pity creep over her as -she looked at him. - -“Barminster says the fellow ran when he saw him to-day,” his lordship -was saying. - -“Can't Tompkins and his men keep that man off my land?” demanded Lady -Bazel-hurst Every one took note of the pronoun. Her ladyship's temples -seemed to narrow with hatred. Bazelhurst had told the men privately that -she was passing sleepless nights in order to “hate that fellow Shaw” to -her full capacity. - -“My dear, I have given positive orders to Tompkins and he swears he'll -carry them out,” said he hastily. - -“I suppose Tompkins is to throw him into the river again.” - -“He is to shoot that fellow Shaw if he does n't keep off our land. I've -had enough of it. They say he rode his confounded plough horse all over -the west end the other day.” Penelope smiled reflectively. “Trampled the -new fern beds out of existence and all that. Hang him, Tompkins will get -him if he persists. He has told the men to take a shot at the rascal on -sight. Tompkins doesn't love him, you know.” - -Penelope went her way laughing and--forgot the danger that threatened -Randolph Shaw. - -The next morning, quite early, she was off for a canter. Some magnetic -force drew her toward that obliterated line in the roadway. Almost as -she came up to it and stopped, Randolph Shaw rode down the hillside -through the trees and drew rein directly opposite, the noses of their -horses almost touching. With a smile he gave the military salute even as -she gasped in self-conscious dismay. - -“On duty, Miss Drake. No trespassing,” he said. There was a glad ring in -his voice. “Please don't run away. You 're on the safe side.” - -“I'm not going to run,” she said, her cheek flushing. “How do you know -where the line is? It has been destroyed by the ravages of time.” - -“Yes. It has seemed a year. This thing of acting sentinel so religiously -is a bit wearing.” His great, friendly dog came across the line, -however, and looked bravely up into the enemy's face, wagging his tail. - -“Traitor! Come back, Bonaparte,” cried his master. - -“What a beautiful dog,” she cried, sincere admiration in big dog. - -“'Love me, love my dog,' is my motto.” - -The conversation was not prolonged. Penelope began to find herself on -rather friendly terms with the enemy. Confusion came over her when she -remembered that she was behaving in a most unmaidenly manner. Doubtless -that was why she brought the meeting to a close by galloping away. - -The ways of fortune are strange, look at them from any point of view. -Surprising as it may seem, a like encounter happened on the following -day and--aye, on the day after and every day for a week or more. -Occasions there were when Penelope was compelled to equivocate -shamefully in order to escape the companionship of the duke, the count, -or others of their ilk. Once, when the guardian of the road was late at -his post, she rode far into the enemy's country, actually thrilled by -the joy of adventure. When he appeared far down the road, she turned and -fled with all the sensations of a culprit. And he thundered after her -with vindictiveness that deserved better results. Across the line she -drew rein and faced him defiantly, her hair blown awry, her cheeks red, -her eyes sparkling. - -“No trespass!” she cried, holding up her gloved hand. He stopped short, -for that was one of the terms of truce. - -The next day he again was missing, but she was not to be caught by his -stratagem. Instead of venturing into the trap he had prepared for her, -she remained on her side of the line, smiling at the thought of him in -hiding far up the road. If any one had suggested to her that she was -developing too great an interest in this stalwart gentleman, she would -have laughed him to scorn. It had not entered her mind to question -herself as to the pleasure she found in being near him. She was founding -her actions on the basis that he was a real man and that the little -comedy of adventure was quite worth while. - -At length an impatient line appeared on her fair brow, a resentful gleam -in her eyes. His remissness was an impertinence! It was the last time -she would come--but a sudden thought struck her like a blow. She turned -white and red by turns. Had he tired of the sport? Had the novelty worn -off? Was he laughing at her for a silly coquette? The riding crop came -down sharply upon her horse's flank and a very deeply agitated young -woman galloped off toward Bazelhurst Villa, hurrying as though afraid he -might catch sight of her in flight. - -A quarter of a mile brought a change in her emotions. British -stubbornness arose to combat an utter rout. After all, why should she -run away from him? With whimsical bravado, she turned off suddenly -into the trail that led to the river, her colour deepening with the -consciousness that, after all, she was vaguely hoping she might see him -somewhere before the morning passed. Through the leafy pathway she rode -at a snail's pace, brushing the low-hanging leaves and twigs from about -her head with something akin to petulance. As she neared the river the -neighing of a horse hard by caused her to sit erect with burning ears. -Then she relapsed into a smile, remembering that it might have come from -the game warden's horse. A moment later her searching eyes caught sight -of Shaw's horse tied to a sapling and on Bazelhurst ground, many hundred -feet from his own domain. She drew rein sharply and looked about in -considerable trepidation. Off to the right lay the log that divided -the lands, but nowhere along the bank of the river could she see the -trespasser. Carefully she resumed her way, ever on the lookout, puzzled -not a little by the unusual state of affairs. - -Near the river trail she came upon the man, but he paid no heed to her -approach. He sat with his face in his hands and--she could not believe -her eyes and ears--he was sobbing bitterly. For an instant her lips -curled in the smile of scornful triumph and then something like disgust -came over her. There was mockery in her voice as she called out to him. - -“Have you stubbed your toe, little boy?” He looked up, dazed. Then he -arose, turning his back while he dashed his hand across his eyes. When -he glanced back at her he saw that she was smiling. But she also saw -something in his face that drove the smile away. Absolute rage gleamed -in his eyes. - -“So it is real war,” he said hoarsely, his face quivering. “Your pitiful -cowards want it to be real, do they? Well, that's what it shall be, hang -them! They shall have all they want of it! Look! This is their way of -fighting, is it? Look!” - -He pointed to his feet. Her bewildered eyes saw that his hand was -bloody and a deathly sickness came over her. He was pointing to the -outstretched, inanimate form of the dog that had been his friend -and comrade. She knew that the beast was dead and she knew that her -brother's threat had not been an idle one. A great wave of pity and -horror swept over her. Moisture sprang to her eyes on the moment. - -“He--he is dead?” she exclaimed. - -“Yes--and killed by some cowardly brute whose neck I'd like to wring. -That dog--my Bonaparte--who knew no feud, who did no wrong! Your brother -wants war, does he? Well, I'll give him all--” - -“But my brother could not have done a thing like this,” she cried, -slipping from her saddle and advancing toward him quickly. “Oh, no, no! -Not this! He is not that sort, I know. It must have been an accident -and--” - -“Accident! Don't come near me! I mean it. God, my heart is too full of -vengeance. Accident? Is this blood on my arm accidental? Bah! It was a -deliberate attempt to murder me!” - -“You? You too?” she gasped, reeling. - -“Yes, they winged me too.” - -“Let me see--let me help you!” she cried, coming up to his side, -white-faced and terrified. “I won't stay away! You are hurt. Please! -Please! I am not your enemy.” - -For a long minute he held back, savagely resentful, glowering upon her, -then his face softened and his hand went out to clasp hers. “I knew you -had nothing to do with it. Forgive me--forgive my rudeness. Don't be -alarmed about me. Two or three scattered shot struck me in the arm. The -fellow's aim was bad when it came to me. But he--he got the dog! Poor -old Bonaparte! It's as if he were a--a brother; Miss Drake. I loved him -and he loved me. - -“You must let me see your arm. I will not take no for an answer. It must -need attention--” - -“Believe me, it is nothing. I have tied my handkerchief about it--two -little shot, that's all. The first charge riddled the dog. But I forget. -I am still on your sister's land. At any minute I may be shot from -behind some tree. I--I could n't help crying, Miss Drake. It was -cruel--fiendish! Now, if you 'll permit me, I'll take my dead off of -your land.” - -“Stop! I must know about it. Tell me; how did it happen?” - -“I can't talk about it to you.” - -“Why not? Do you think I condone this outrage? Do you think I can -support such means of warfare? You do not know me, Mr. Shaw; you do not -know an Englishwoman's love of fairness.” - -“By Jove, do you mean it?” his eyes lighted up. “But, after all, you -belong to the other camp,” he added dejectedly. “I--I wish to heaven, -Miss Drake, you were not one of them!” - -“My brother--Cecil would not have permitted this,” she tried to -apologize, remembering with a cold heart that Lord Bazelhurst had given -the very instructions of which this was the result. - -“We can't discuss it, Miss Drake. Some one from your side of the line -killed my dog and then fired at me. I'll admit I was trespassing, but -not until the dog was shot. He was on Lady Bazelhurst's land when he was -shot. It was not until after that that I trespassed, if you are pleased -to call it such. But I was unarmed; hang the luck!” - -The way he said it conveyed much to her understanding. - -“Tell me, please.” - -“I 've had murder in my heart for half an hour, Miss Drake. Somehow you -soothe me.” He sat down on the log again and leaned his head upon his -hand. With his eyes upon the dead dog he went on, controlling his anger -with an effort: “I rode down the river road this morning for a change, -intending to go up later on to our trysting place through the wood.” She -heard him call it a trysting place without a thought of resentment or -shame. “When I came to the log there I stopped, but Bonaparte, lawless -old chap, kept on. I paid no attention to him, for I was thinking of--of -something else. He had raced around in the forbidden underbrush for some -time before I heard the report of a gun near at hand. The dog actually -screamed like a human being. I saw him leap up from the ground and then -roll over. Of course, I--well, I trespassed. Without thinking of my own -safety I flew to where the dog was lying. He looked up into my face and -whined just as he died. I don't remember how I got off the horse. The -next I knew I was rushing blindly into the brush toward a place where -I saw smoke, cursing like a fiend. Then came the second shot and the -stinging in my arm. It brought me to my senses. I stopped and a moment -later I saw a man running down along the bank of the stream. I--oh, -well, there is n't any more to tell. I don't know who fired the shots. I -could n't see his face.” - -“It was Tompkins,” she cried. “I know it was. He had his orders--” but -she checked herself in confusion. - -“His orders? Do you mean to say--Miss Drake, did your brother instruct -him to kill me?” She quailed beneath his look. - -“I--I can't say anything more about it, Mr. Shaw,” she murmured, so -piteously that he was touched. For a seemingly interminable length of -time his hard eyes looked into hers and then they softened. - -“I understand,” he said simply. “You cannot talk about it. I'll not ask -any questions.” - -“My brother is weak in her hands,” she managed to say in extenuation. - -“After all, it is n't a pleasant subject. If you don't mind, we'll let -it drop--that is, between you and me, Miss Drake. I hope the war won't -break off our--” - -“Don't suggest it, please! I 'd rather you would n't. We are friends, -after all. I thought it was playing at war--and I can't tell you how -shocked I am.” - -[Illustration: 0112] - -“Poor old Bonaparte!” was all he said in reply. She stooped and laid her -hand on the fast-chilling coat of the dog. There were tears in her eyes -as she arose and turned away, moving toward her horse. Shaw deliberately -lifted the dead animal into his arms and strode off toward his own land. -She followed after a moment of indecision, leading the horse. Across the -line he went and up the side of the knoll to his right. At the foot of a -great tree he tenderly deposited his burden. Then he turned to find her -almost beside him. - -“You won't mind my coming over here, will you?” she asked softly. He -reached out and clasped her hand, thoughtlessly, with his blood-covered -fingers. It was not until long afterward that she discovered his blood -upon the hand from which she had drawn her riding glove. - -“You are always welcome,” he said. “I am going to bury him here this -afternoon. No, please don't come. I'll bring the men down to help me. I -suppose they think I'm a coward and a bounder over at your place. Do you -remember the challenge you gave me yesterday? You dared me to come over -the line as far into Bazelhurst land as you had come into mine. Well, I -dared last night.” - -“You dared? You came?” - -“Yes, and I went farther than you have gone, because I thought it -was play, comedy, fun. I even sat upon your gallery, just outside the -billiard-room--and smoked two cigarettes. You'll find the stubs on the -porch railing if her ladyship's servants are not too exemplary.” She was -looking at him in wide-eyed unbelief. “I was there when you came out on -the lawn with the Frenchman.” - -“Did you hear what he was--what we were saying?” she asked, nervously -and going pale. - -“No. I was not eavesdropping. Besides, you returned to the house very -abruptly, if you remember.” - -“Yes, I remember,” she said, a sigh of relief accompanying the warm glow -that came to her cheek. “But were you not afraid of being discovered? -'How imprudent of you!” - -“It was a bit risky, but I rather enjoyed it. The count spoke to me as -I left the place. It was dark and he mistook me for one of your party. I -could n't wait to see if you returned to renew the tête-à-tête--” - -“I did not return,” she said. It was his turn to be relieved. - - - - -CHAPTER IV--IN WHICH THE TRUTH TRESPASSES - -Lord and Lady Bazelhurst, with the more energetic members of their -party, spent the day in a so-called hunting excursion to the hills south -of the Villa. Toward nightfall they returned successfully empty-handed -and rapacious for bridge. Penelope, full of smouldering anger, had spent -the afternoon in her room, disdaining every call of sociability. She had -awakened to the truth of the situation in so far as she was concerned. -She was at least seeing things from Shaw's point of view. Her resentment -was not against the policy of her brother but the overbearing, petulant -tyranny of her American sister-in-law. From the beginning she had -disliked Evelyn; now she despised her. With the loyal simplicity of -a sister she absolved Cecil of all real blame in the outrage of the -morning, attributing everything to the cruelty and envy of the despot -who held the purse-strings from which dangled the pliable fortunes of -Bazelhurst. The Bazelhursts, one and all--ancestors thrown in--swung -back and forth on the pendulum of her capriciousness. Penelope, poor -as a church mouse, was almost wholly dependent upon her brother, who in -turn owed his present affluence to the more or less luckless movement -of the matrimonial market. The girl had a small, inadequate income--so -small it was almost worth jesting about. - -Here was Penelope, twenty-two, beautiful, proud, fair-minded, and -healthy, surveying herself for the first time from a new and an entirely -different point of view. She was not pleased with the picture. She began -to loathe herself more than she pitied her brother. Something like a -smile came into her clouded face as she speculated on Randolph Shaw's -method of handling Evelyn Banks had she fallen to him as a wife. The -quiet power in that man's face signified the presence of a manhood -that--ah, and just here it occurred to her that Lady Bazelhurst felt the -force of that power even though she never had seen the man. She hated -him because he was strong enough to oppose her, to ignore her, to laugh -at her impotence. - -The smouldering anger and a growing sense of fairness combined at length -in the determination to take her brother and his wife to task for the -morning's outrage, let the consequences be what they might. When she -joined the people downstairs before dinner, there was a red spot in -each cheek and a steady look in her eyes that caused the duke to neglect -woefully the conversation he was carrying on with Mrs. Odwell. - -Dinner was delayed for nearly half an hour while four of the guests -finished their “rubber.” Penelope observed that the party displayed -varying emotions. It afterwards transpired that the hunters had spent -most of the afternoon in her ladyship's distant lodge playing bridge for -rather high stakes. Little Miss Folsom was pitifully unresponsive to the -mirth of Mr. Odwell. She could ill afford to lose six hundred dollars. -Lady Bazelhurst was in a frightful mood. Her guests had so far forgotten -themselves as to win more than a thousand dollars of the Banks legacy -and she was not a cheerful loser,--especially as his lordship had -dropped an additional five hundred. The winners were riotously happy. -They had found the sport glorious. An observer, given to deductions, -might have noticed that half of the diners were immoderately hilarious, -the other half studiously polite. - -Lord Bazelhurst wore a hunted look and drank more than one or two -highballs. From time to time he cast furtive glances at his wife. He -laughed frequently at the wrong time and mirthlessly. - -“He's got something on his mind,” whispered Odwell in comment. - -“Yes; he always laughs when there is anything on his mind,” replied Mrs. -De Peyton. “That 's the way he gets it off.” - -After dinner no one proposed cards. The party edged off into twos and -threes and explained how luck had been with or against them. Penelope, -who could not afford to play for stakes, and had the courage to say so, -sat back and listened to the conversation of her brother and the group -around him. The duke was holding forth on the superiority of the Chinese -over the Japanese as servants and Bazelhurst was loudly defending the -Japanese navy. - -“Hang it all, Barminster, the Japs could eat 'em up,” he proclaimed. -“Could n't they?” to the crowd. - -“I'm talking about servants, Cecil,” observed the duke. - -“And shoot? Why, they're the greatest gunners in the world. By Jove, I -read somewhere the other day that they had hit what they shot at three -million times out of--or, let me see, was it the Prussians who fired -three million rounds and--” - -“Oh, let's change the subject,” said the duke in disgust. “What's become -of that Shaw fellow?” Penelope started and flushed, much to her chagrin. -At the sound of Shaw's name Lady Bazelhurst, who was passing with the -count, stopped so abruptly that her companion took half a dozen paces -without her. - -“Shaw? By Jove, do you know, I'd completely forgotten that fellow,” - exclaimed Cecil. - -“I thought you were going to shoot him, or shoot at him, or something -like that. Can't you get him in range?” - -“Oh, I was n't really in earnest about that, Barminster. You know we -couldn't shoot at a fellow for such a thing--” - -“Nonsense, Cecil,” said his wife. “You shoot poachers in England.” - -“But this fellow is n't a poacher. He's a--a gentleman, I daresay--in -some respects--not all, of course, my dear, but--” - -“Gentleman? Ridiculous!” scoffed his wife. - -“I--yes, quite right--a ridiculous gentleman, of course. Ha, ha! Isn't -he, Barminster? But with all that, you know, I couldn't have Tompkins -shoot him. He asked me the other day if he should take a shot at Shaw's -legs, and I told him not to do anything so absurd.” Penelope's heart -swelled with relief, and for the first time that evening she looked upon -her brother with something like sisterly regard. - -“It did n't matter, however,” said Lady Evelyn sharply. “I gave him -instructions yesterday to shoot any trespasser from that side of the -line. I can't see that we owe Mr. Shaw any especial consideration. -He has insulted and ignored me at every opportunity. Why should he -be permitted to trespass more than any other common lawbreaker? If he -courts a charge of birdshot he should not expect to escape scot free. - -“Birdshot wouldn't kill a man, you know, but it would--” - -But Penelope could restrain herself no longer. The heartlessness of her -sister-in-law overcame her prudence, and she interrupted the scornful -mistress of the house, her eyes blazing, but her voice under perfect -control. Her tall young figure was tense, and her fingers clasped the -back of Miss Folsom's chair rather rigidly. - -“I suppose you know what happened this morning,” she said, with such -apparent restraint that every one looked at her expectantly. - -“Do you mean in connection with Mr.--with Jack-the-Giant-Killer?” asked -her ladyship, her eyes brightening. - -“Some one of your servants shot him this morning,” said Penelope with -great distinctness. There was breathless silence in the room. - -“Shot him?” gasped Lord Bazelhurst, his thin red face going very white. - -“Not--not fatally?” exclaimed Evelyn, aghast in spite of herself. - -“No. The instructions were carried out. His wound in the arm is -trifling. But the coward was not so generous when it came to the life of -his innocent, harmless dog. He killed the poor thing. Evelyn, it's--it's -like murder.” - -“Oh,” cried her ladyship, relieved. “He killed the dog. I daresay Mr. -Shaw has come to realize at last that we are earnest in this. Of course -I am glad that the man is not badly hurt. Still, a few shot in the arm -will hardly keep him in bounds. His legs were intended,” she laughed -lightly. “What miserable aim Tompkins must take.” - -“He's a bit off in his physiology, my dear,” said Cecil, with a nervous -attempt at humour. He did not like the expression in his sister's face. -Somehow, he was ashamed. - -“Oh, it's bad enough,” said Penelope. “It was his left arm--the upper -arm, too. I think the aim was rather good.” - -“Pray, how do you know all of this, Penelope?” asked her ladyship, -lifting her eyebrows. “I 've heard that you see Mr. Shaw occasionally, -but you can't be his physician, I'm sure.” - -Penelope flushed to the roots of her hair, but suppressed the retort -which would have been in keeping with the provocation. - -“Oh, dear, no!” she replied. “I'm too soft-hearted to be a physician. I -saw Mr. Shaw just after the--ah--the incident.” - -“You shaw Saw--I mean you saw Shaw?” gasped Bazelhurst. - -“She sees him frequently, Cecil. It was not at all unusual that she -should have seen him to-day. I daresay he waited to show you his wound -before going to a surgeon.” - -Penelope could not resist the temptation to invent a story befitting the -moment. Assuming a look of concern, she turned to her brother and said: -“He is coming to see you about it to-morrow, and he is coming armed to -the teeth, attended by a large party of friends. Mr. Shaw says he will -have satisfaction for the death of that dog if he has to shoot everybody -on the place.” - -“Good Lord!” cried the duke. There was instant excitement. “I believe -the wretch will do it, too.” - -“Oh, I say, Bazelhurst, settle with him for the dog,” said De Peyton -nervously. He looked at his watch and then at his wife. The entire party -now was listening to the principal speakers. - -“Nonsense!” exclaimed Lady Evelyn. “He won't come. It's all bluster. -Don't let it frighten you, Cecil. I know the manner of man.” - -“I wish you could have seen him this morning,” murmured Penelope, -thoroughly enjoying the unexpected situation. Her conscience was not -troubled by the prevarication. - -“By Jove, I think it would be wise to send over and find out what he -valued the brute at,” said Cecil, mopping his brow. - -“Good. We'll send Penelope to act as ambassador,” said her ladyship. -“She seems to be on friendly terms with the enemy.” - -“To act as ambassador from Cowardice Court?” questioned Penelope, -loftily, yet with cutting significance. “No, I thank you. I decline -the honour. Besides,” with a reflective frown, “I don't believe it is -diplomacy he's after.” - -“I say what the deuce do you suppose the confounded savage has in mind?” - exclaimed the duke. “I 'Ve heard of the way these cowboys settle their -affairs. You don't imagine--” and he paused significantly. - -“It looks like it's going to be a da--rather disagreeable affair,” said -De Peyton sourly. - -“Good heavens, what are we to do if he comes here with a lot of -desperadoes and begins to shoot?” cried Mrs. Odwell, genuinely alarmed. -“I've read so much of these awful mountain feuds.” - -“Don't be alarmed. Lord Bazelhurst will attend to the gentleman,” said -Lady Evelyn blandly. His lordship's monocle clattered down and the ice -rattled sharply in his glass. “To--to be sure,” he agreed. “Don't be in -the least worried. I 'll attend to the upstart. What time's he coming, -Pen?” A door banged noisily near by, and every one jumped as though a -gun had been fired. While the “ohs” were still struggling from their -lips, Hodder, the butler, came into the room, doing his best to retain -his composure under what seemed to be trying circumstances. “What is it, -Hodder?” demanded her ladyship. - -“The cook, your ladyship. She's fallen downstairs and broken her -leg,” announced Hodder. He did not betray it, but he must have been -tremendously surprised by the sigh of relief that went up on all sides. -Lord Bazelhurst went so far as to laugh. - -“Ha, ha! is that all?” - -“Oh, dear, I'm so glad!” cried Miss Folsom, impulsively. “I was -frightened half to death. It might have been Mr.--” - -“Don't be silly, Rose,” said Lady Bazelhurst. “Where is she, Hodder?” - -“In the laundry, your ladyship. There are two fractures.” - -“By Jove, two legs instead of one, then--worse than I thought,” cried -Bazelhurst, draining his glass. - -“Send at once for a doctor, Hodder, and take her to her room. Is n't it -annoying,” said her ladyship. “It's so difficult to keep a cook in the -mountains.” - -“Don't see how she can get away without legs,” observed De Peyton. - -“I'll come with you, Hodder. Perhaps I can do something for her,” said -Penelope, following the butler from the room. - -“Don't take too many patients on your hands, my dear,” called the -mistress, with a shrill laugh. - -“Yes; remember to-morrow,” added the duke. Then, suddenly: “I believe -I'll lend a hand.” He hurried after Penelope, rather actively for him. - -Lord Bazelhurst visited his wife's room later in the night, called there -by a more or les: peremptory summons. Cecil had been taking time by -the forelock in anticipation of Shaw's descent in the morning and was -inclined to jocundity. - -“Cecil, what do you think of Penelope's attitude toward Mr. Shaw?” she -asked, turning away from the window which looked out over the night in -the direction of Shaw's place. - -“I didn't know she had an attitude,” replied he, trying to focus his -wavering gaze upon her. - -“She meets him clandestinely and she supports him openly. Is n't that an -attitude, or are you too drunk to see it?” - -“My dear, remember you are speaking of my sister,” he said with fine -dignity but little discrimination. “Besides, I am not too drunk. I _do_ -see it. It's a demmed annoying attitude. She 's a traitor, un'stand me? -A traito-tor. I intend to speak to her about it.” - -“It is better that you should do it,” said his wife. “I am afraid I -could not control my temper.” - -“Penelope's a disgrace--a nabsolute disgrace; now many legs did Hodder -say--” - -“Oh, you're disgusting!” cried Lady Evelyn. “Go to bed! I thought I -could talk to you to-night, but I can't. You scarcely can stand up.” - -“Now, Evelyn, you do me injustice. I'm only holding to this chair to -keep it from moving 'round the room. See that? Course I c'n stan' up,” - he cried, triumphantly. - -“I am utterly disgusted with you. Oh, for a man! A man with real blood -in his veins, a man who could do something besides eat and drink at -my cost. I pay your debts, clothe you, feed you--house your ungrateful -sister--and what do I get in return? _This!_” - -Lord Bazelhurst's eyes steadied beneath this unexpected assault, his -legs stiffened, his shoulders squared themselves in a pitiful attempt at -dignity. - -“Lady Bazelhurst, you--you--” and then he collapsed into the chair, -bursting into maudlin tears. She stood over by the dressing-table and -looked pitilessly upon the weak creature whose hiccoughing sobs filled -the room. Her colour was high, her breathing heavy. In some way it -seemed as though there was so much more she could have said had the -circumstances been different. - -There came a knock at the door, but she did not respond. Then the door -opened quietly and Penelope entered the room, resolutely, fearlessly. -Evelyn turned her eyes upon the intruder and stared for a moment. - -“Did you knock?” she asked at last. - -“Yes. You did not answer.” - -“Was n't that sufficient?” - -“Not to-night, Evelyn. I came to have it out with you and Cecil. Where -is he?” - -“There!” - -“Asleep?” with a look of amazement. - -“I hope not. I should dislike having to call the servants to carry him -to his see. Poor old chap!” She went over and shook him by the shoulder. -He sat up and stared at her blankly through his drenched eyes. Then, as -if the occasion called for a supreme effort, he tried to rise, ashamed -that his sister should have found him in his present condition. “Don't -get up, Cecil. Wait a bit and I'll go to your--” - -“What have you to say to me, Penelope,” demanded Evelyn, a green light -in her eyes. - -“It can wait. I prefer to have Cecil--understand,” she said, bitterly. - -“If it 's about our affair with Shaw, it won't make any difference -whether Cecil understands or not. Has your friend asked you to plead -for him? Does he expect me to take him up on your account and have him -here?” - -“I was jesting when I said he would come to-morrow,” said Penelope, -ignoring the thrust and hurrying to her subject. “I could n't go to -sleep to-night if I neglected to tell you what I think of the outrage -this morning. You and Cecil had no right to order Tompkins to shoot at -Mr. Shaw. He is not a trespasser. Some one killed his dog to-day. When -he pursued the coward, a second shot was fired at him. He was wounded. -Do you call that fair fighting? Ambushed, shot from behind a tree. I -don't care what you and Cecil think about it, I consider it despicable. -Thank God, Cecil was not really to blame. It is about the only thing I -can say to my brother's credit.” - -Lady Bazelhurst was staring at her young sister-in-law with wide eyes. -It was the first time in all her petted, vain life that any one had -called her to account. She was, at first, too deeply amazed to resent -the sharp attack. - -“Penelope Drake!” was all she could say. Then the fury in her soul began -to search for an outlet. “How dare you? How dare you?” - -“I don't mean to hurt you, I am only telling you that your way of -treating this affair is a mistake. It can be rectified. You don't want -to be lawless; you don't understand what a narrow escape from murder you -have had. Evelyn, you owe reparation to Mr. Shaw. He is--” - -“I understand why you take his side. You cheapen and degrade yourself -and you bring shame upon your brother and me by your disgraceful -affair with this ruffian. Don't look shocked! You meet him secretly, I -know--how much farther you have gone with him I don't know. It is enough -that you--” - -“Stop! You shall not say such things to me!” - -“You came in here to have it out with me. Weil, we'll have it out. You -think because you're English, and all that, that you are better than I. -You show it in your every action; you turn up your nose at me because -I am an American. Well, what if I am? Where would you be if it were not -for me? And where would _he_ be? You'd starve if it were not for me. You -hang to me like a leech--you sponge on me, you gorge yourself--” - -“That is enough, Evelyn. You have said all that is necessary. I deserve -it, too, for meddling in your affairs. It may satisfy you to know that -I have always despised you. Having confessed, I can only add that we -cannot live another hour under the same roof. You need not order me -to go. I shall do so of my own accord--gladly.” Penelope turned to the -door. She was as cold as ice. - -“It is the first time you have ever done anything to please me. You may -go in the morning.” - -“I shall go to-night!” - -“As you like. It is near morning. Where do you expect to go at this hour -of night?” - -“I am not afraid of the night. Tomorrow I shall send over from the -village for my trunks.” She paused near the door and then came back to -Cecil's side. “Goodbye, Cecil. I'll write. Good-bye.” He looked up with -a hazy smile. - -“G'night,” he muttered thickly. - -Without another word or so much as a glance at Lady Bazelhurst, -Penelope Drake went swiftly from the room. The big hall clock struck -the half-hour after eleven. Some one--a woman--was laughing in the -billiard-room below; the click of the balls came to her ears like the -snapping of angry teeth. She did not hesitate; it was not in her nature. -The room in which she had found so much delight was now loathsome to -her. With nervous fingers she threw the small things she most cherished -into a bag,--her purse, her jewels, her little treasures. Somehow it -seemed to her as if she were hurrying to catch a night train, that was -all. With her own strong young arms she dragged the two huge trunks -from the closet. Half an hour later they were full and locked. Then she -looked about with a dry, mirthless smile. - -“I wonder where I _am_ to go?” she murmured, half aloud. A momentary -feeling of indecision attacked her. The click of the balls had ceased, -the clock had struck twelve. It was dark and still, and the wind was -crying in the trees. - -“She won't go,” Lady Bazelhurst was saying to herself, as she sat, -narrow-eyed and hateful, in her window looking out into the night. “Life -is too easy here.” The light from the porch lanterns cast a feeble glow -out beyond the porte-cochère and down the drive. As she stared across -the circle, the figure of a woman suddenly cut a diametric line -through it, and lost itself in the wall of blackness that formed the -circumference. Lady Evelyn started and stared unbelievingly into -the darkness, striving to penetrate it with her gaze. “It was -she--Penelope,” she cried, coming to her feet. “She's really gone--she -meant it.” For many minutes she peered out into the night, expecting to -see the shadow returning. A touch of anxious hope possessing her, she -left the window and hurried down the corridor to Penelope's room. What -she found there was most convincing. It was not a trick of the lanterns. -The shadow had been real. It must be confessed that the peevish heart of -Lady Bazelhurst beat rather rapidly as she hastened back to the window -to peer anxiously out into the sombre park with its hooting owls and -chattering night-bugs. The mournful yelp of a distant dog floated across -the black valley. The watcher shuddered as she recalled stories of -panthers that had infested the great hills. A small feeling of shame and -regret began to develop with annoying insistence. - -An hour dragged itself by before she arose petulantly, half terrified, -half annoyed in spite of herself. Her husband still was sitting in the -big chair, his face in his hands. His small, dejected figure appealed to -her pity for the first time in the two years of their association. She -realized what her temper had compelled her to say to him and to his -sister; she saw the insults that at least one of them had come to -resent. - -“I hope that foolish girl will come back,” she found herself saying, -with a troubled look from the window. “Where can the poor thing go? What -will become of her? What will everyone say when this becomes known?” - she cried, with fresh selfishness. “I--I should not have let her go like -this.” - -Even as she reproached herself, a light broke in upon her understanding; -a thought whirled into her brain and a moment later she knew where she -could go! “How simple I am. Shaw will welcome her gladly. She's with him -by this time--his doors have opened to her. The little wretch! And I've -been trying so hard to pity her!” She laughed again so shrilly that his -lordship stirred and then looked up at her stupefied, uncertain. - -“Hullo,” he grunted. “What time is it?” - -“Oh, you're awake, are you?” scornfully. - -“Certainly. Have I been dozing? What's there to laugh at, my dear?” he -mumbled, arising very unsteadily. “Where's Pen?” - -“She's gone. She's left the house,” she said, recurring dread and -anxiety in her voice. A glance at the darkness outside brought back the -growing shudders. - -“What--what d' ye mean?” demanded he, bracing up with a splendid effort. - -“She's left the house, that's all. We quarrelled. I don't know where -she's gone. Yes, I do know. She's gone to Shaw's for the night. She's -with him. I saw her going,” she cried, striving between fear and anger. - -“You 've--you've turned her out? Good Lord, why--why did you let her -go?” He turned and rushed toward the door, tears springing to his eyes. -He was sobering now and the tears were wrenched from his hurt pride. -“How long ago?” - -“An hour or more. She went of her own accord. You'll find her at -Shaw's,” said her ladyship harshly. She hated to admit that she was to -blame. But as her husband left the room, banging the door after him, she -caught her breath several times in a futile effort to stay the sobs, -and then broke down and cried, a very much abused young woman. She hated -everybody and everything. - - - - -CHAPTER V--IN WHICH DAN CUPID TRESPASSES - -LADY BAZELHURST was right. Penelope was making her way through the -blackest of nights toward the home of Randolph Shaw. In deciding upon -this step, after long deliberation, she had said to herself: “Randolph -Shaw is the only real man I 've seen since coming to the mountains. I -can trust him to help me to-night.” - -It was fully three miles to Shaw's place, most of the way over the -narrow valley road. She knew she would encounter but few tortuous -places. The last half-mile, however, was steep, rugged, and unfamiliar -to her. She had ventured no nearer to his home than Renwood's deserted -cottage, lying above and to the south of the road, almost at the base of -the long hill on whose side Shaw had built his big home. To climb that -hill was no easy task in daylight; at midnight, with the stars obscured -by clouds and tree-tops, there was something perilously uncertain in the -prospect. - -Only the knowledge that patience and courage eventually would bring her -to the end made the journey possible. Time would lead her to the haven; -care would make the road a friend; a stout heart was her best ally. -Strength of limb and strength of purpose she had, in use and in reserve. -No power could have made her turn back willingly. Her anxious eyes were -set ahead in the blackness; her runaway feet were eager in obedience to -her will. - -“Why couldn't I have put it off until morning?” she was saying to -herself as she passed down the gravelled drive and advanced to meet the -wall of trees that frowned blackly in her face. “What will he think? -What will he say? Oh, he'll think I'm such a silly, romantic fool. No, -he won't. He'll understand. He'll help me on to Platts-burg to-morrow. -But will he think I've done this for effect? Won't he think I'm actually -throwing myself at his head? No, I can't turn back. I'd rather die than -go back to that house. It won't matter what he thinks; I'll be away from -all of it tomorrow. I'll be out of his life and I won't care what he -thinks. England! Goodness, what's that?” She had turned a bend in the -drive and just ahead there was a light. A sigh of relief followed the -question. It came from the lantern which hung to a stake in the road -where the new stone gate-posts were being built by workmen from town. -Bazelhurst Villa was a quarter of a mile, through the park, behind her; -the forest was ahead. - -At the gate she stopped between the half-finished stone posts and -looked ahead with the first shiver of dismay. Her limbs seemed ready -to collapse. The flush of anger and excitement left her face; a white, -desolate look came in its stead. Her eyes grew wide and she blinked her -lashes with an awed uncertainty that boded ill for the stability of her -adventure. An owl hooted in mournful cadence close by and she felt -that her hair was going straight on end. The tense fingers of one -hand gripped the handle of the travelling-bag while the other went -spasmodically to her heart. - -“Oh!” she gasped, moving over quickly to the stake on which the lantern -hung. The wind was rushing through the tree-tops with increased fervour; -the air was cool and wet with the signs of rain; a swirl of dust flew up -into her face; the swish of leaves sounded like the splashing of water -in the air. Holding her heart for minutes, she at last regained some -of the lost composure. A hysterical laugh fell from her lips. “What a -goose! It was an owl and I've heard hundreds of them up here. Still, -they _do_ sound different outside of one's own room. It's going to rain. -What wretched luck! Dear me, I can't stand here all night. How black it -is ahead there. Oooh! Really, now, it does seem a bit terrifying. If -I only had a lantern it would n't be so--” her gaze fell upon the -labourers' lantern that clattered aimlessly, uselessly against the -stake. An instant later she had jerked it from its fastenings with a cry -of joy. “I'll send it back when they go for my trunks. What luck!” - -Without a second's hesitation she started off briskly into the woodland -road, striding along with the splendid swing of the healthy Englishwoman -who has not been trained to dawdle. Her walking-skirt gave free play to -her limbs; she was far past the well-known “line in the road” before she -paused to take a full breath and to recapitulate. - -Her heart beat faster and the sudden glow in her cheek was not from -the exercise. Somehow, out there alone in the world, the most amazing -feeling of tenderness sped on ahead to Randolph Shaw. She tried to put -it from her, but it grew and grew. Then she blushed deep within herself -and her eyes grew sweet with the memory of those stolen, reprehensible -hours along the frontier. Something within her breast cried out for -those shining, gone-by moments, something seemed to close down on her -throat, something flooded her eyes with a softness that rolled up from -her entire being. Their line! Their insurmountable barrier! An absurd -yet ineffable longing to fall down and kiss that line came over her with -compelling force. - -Her head grew light with the thought of those moments when their horses -stood with muzzles together as if kissing by proxy--the flush grew -deeper, though her blood went cold and she trembled. - -A pitiful confusion seized her, an inexplicable timidity crept into her -heart, replacing the bold assurance that had been recklessly carrying -her on to him. It was as though some one had whispered the truth into -her ear and she was beginning to believe. - -From that moment her courage began to fail. The glow from her lantern -was a menace instead of a help. A sweet timorousness enveloped her and -something tingled--she knew not what. - -Spattering raindrops whizzed in her face, ominous forerunners from the -inky sky. The wind was whistling with shrill glee in the tree-tops and -the tree-tops tried to flee before it. A mile and a half lay between -her and the big cottage on the hillside--the most arduous part of the -journey by far. She walked and ran as though pursued, scudding over the -road with a swiftness that would have amazed another, but which seemed -the essence of slowness to her. Thoughts of robbers, tramps, wild -beasts, assailed her with intermittent terrors, but all served to -diminish the feeling of shyness that had been interfering with her -determination. - -Past Renwood's cottage she sped, shuddering as she recognized the stone -steps and path that ran up the hillside to the haunted house. Ghosts, -witches, hobgoblins fell into the procession of pursuers, cheered on by -the shrieking wind that grew more noisome as her feet carried her -higher up the mountain. Now she was on new ground. She had never before -explored so far as this. The hill was steep and the road had black -abysses out beyond its edges.... - -She was breathless, half dead from fatigue and terror when at last her -feet stumbled up the broad steps leading to his porch. Trembling, she -sank into the rustic bench that stood against the wall. The lantern -clattered to her feet, and the bag with her jewels, her letter of -credit, and her curling irons slid to the floor behind the bench. Here -was his home! What cared she for the storm? - -Even as she lay there gasping for breath, her eyes on the shadowy moon -that was breaking its way through the clouds, three men raced from the -stables at Bazelhurst Villa bent on finding the mad young person who had -fled the place. Scarcely knowing what direction he took, Lord Bazelhurst -led the way, followed by the duke and the count, all of them supplied -with carriage lamps, which, at any other time, would have been sickening -in their obtrusiveness. Except for Lady Evelyn, the rest of the house -slept the sleep of ease. - -Gradually Penelope recovered from the effects of the mad race up the -hill. The sputtering flame in the lantern called her into action. -Clutching it from the floor of the porch, she softly began a tour of -inspection, first looking at her watch to find that it was the unholy -hour of two! Had some one yelled boo! she would have swooned, so tense -was every nerve. Now that she was here, what was she to do? Her heart -came to her mouth, her hand shook, but not with fear; a nervous smile -tried to wreak disaster to the concern in her eyes. - -The house was dark and still. No one was stirring. The porch was -littered with rugs and cushions, while on a small table near the end -stood a decanter, a siphon, and two glasses. Two? He had said he was -alone except for the housekeeper and the servants. A visitor, then. This -was not what she had expected. Her heart sank. It would be hard to -face the master of the house, but--a stranger? Cigarette stubs met her -bewildered, troubled gaze--many of them. Deduction was easy out there in -the lonely night. It was easy to see that Shaw and his companion sat up -so late that the servants had gone to bed. - -Distractedly she looked about for means of shelter on the porch until -daylight could abet her in the flight to the village beyond. - -The storm was sure to come at no far distant time. She knew and feared -the violence of the mountain rains. - -“By all that's holy,” came in a man's voice, low-toned and uncertain; -“it _is_ a dream, after all!” - -She turned like a flash, with a startled exclamation and an instinctive -movement as if to shield herself from unbidden gaze. Her lips parted and -her heart pounded like a hammer. Standing in the doorway was Randolph -Shaw, his figure looming up like monstrous, wavering genie in the -uncertain light from the shaking lantern. His right hand was to his brow -and his eyes were wide with incredulous joy. She noticed that the left -sleeve of his dinner jacket hung limp, and that the arm was in a white -sling beneath. - -“Is it really you?” he cried, his hand going instinctively to his -watch-pocket as if doubting that it was night instead of morning. - -“I've--I 've run away from them,” she stammered. “It's two -o'clock--don't look! Oh, I'm so sorry now--why did I--” - -“You ran away?” he exclaimed, coming toward her. “Oh, it can't be a -dream. You are there, aren't you?” She was a pitiable object as she -stood there, powerless to retreat, shaking like a leaf. He took her by -the shoulder. “Yes--it is. Good Lord, what does it mean? What has -happened? How did you come here? Are you alone?” - -“Utterly, miserably alone. Oh, Mr. Shaw!” she cried despairingly. “You -_will_ understand, won't you?” - -“Never! Never as long as I live. It is beyond comprehension. The -wonderful part of it all is that I was sitting in there dreaming of -you--yes, I was. I heard some one out here, investigated and found -you--_you_, of all people in the world. And I was dreaming that I held -you in my arms. Yes, I was! I was dreaming it--” - -“Mr. Shaw! You should n't--” - -“And I awoke to find you--not in my arms, not in Bazelhurst Villa, but -here--here on my porch.” - -“Like a thief in the night,” she murmured. “What _do_ you think of me?” - -“Shall I tell you--really?” he cried. The light in his eyes drove her -back a step or two, panic in her heart. - -“N--no, no--not now!” she gasped, but a great wave of exaltation swept -through her being. He turned and walked away, too dazed to speak. -Without knowing it, she followed with hesitating steps. At the edge of -the porch he paused and looked into the darkness. - -“By Jove, I _must_ be dreaming,” she heard him mutter. - -“No, you are not,” she declared desperately. “I _am_ here. I ask your -protection for the night. I am going away--to England--to-morrow. I -could n't stay there--I just could n't. I'm sorry I came here--I'm--” - -“Thank heaven, you _did_ come,” he exclaimed, turning to her joyously. -“You are like a fairy--the fairy princess come true. It's unbelievable! -But--but what was it you said about England?” he concluded, suddenly -sober. - -“I am go--going home. There's no place else. I can't live with her,” she -said, a bit tremulously. - -“To England? At once? Your father--will he--?” - -“My father? I have no father. Oh!” with a sudden start Her eyes met -his in a helpless stare. “I never thought. My home was at Bazelhurst -Castle--their home. I can't go there. Good heavens, what am I to do?” - -A long time afterward she recalled his exultant exclamation, checked -at its outset,--recalled it with a perfect sense of understanding. With -rare good taste he subdued whatever it was that might have struggled -for expression and simply extended his right hand to relieve her of the -lantern. - -“We never have been enemies, Miss Drake,” he said, controlling his voice -admirably. “But had we been so up to this very instant, I am sure I 'd -surrender now. I don't know what has happened at the Villa. It does -n't matter. You are here to ask my protection and my help. I am at your -service, my home is yours, my right hand also. You are tired and wet -and--nervous. Won't you come inside? I 'll get a light in a jiffy and -Mrs. Ulrich, my housekeeper, shall be with you as soon as I can rout her -out. Come in, please.” She held back doubtfully, a troubled, uncertain -look in her eyes. - -“You _will_ understand, won't you?” she asked simply. - -“And no questions asked,” he said from the doorway. Still she held back, -her gaze going involuntarily to the glasses on the table. He interpreted -the look of inquiry. “There were two of us. The doctor was here picking -out the shot, that 's all. He 's gone. It's all right. Wait here and -I'll get a light.” The flame in her lantern suddenly ended its feeble -life. - -She stood inside his doorway and heard him shuffle across the floor in -search of the lamps. - -“Dark as Egypt, eh?” he called out from the opposite side of the room. - -“Not as dark as the forest, Mr. Shaw.” - -“Good heavens, what a time you must have had. All alone, were you?” - -“Of course. I was not eloping.” - -“I beg your pardon.” - -“Where were you sitting when I came up?” - -“Here--in the dark. I was waiting for the storm to come and dozed away, -I daresay. I love a storm, don't you?” - -“Yes, if I 'm indoors. Ah!” He had struck a match and was lighting the -wick of a lamp beside the huge fireplace. “I suppose you think I 'm -perfectly crazy. I 'm horrid.” - -“Not at all. Sit down here on the couch, please. More cheerful, eh? -Good Lord, listen to the wind. You got here just in time. Now, if you'll -excuse me, I'll have Mrs. Ulrich down in a minute. She'll take good care -of you. And I 'll make you a nice hot drink, too. You need it.” In the -door of the big living-room he turned to her, a look of extreme doubt in -his eyes. “By Jove, I bet I _do_ wake up. It can't be true.” She laughed -plaintively and shook her head in humble self-abasement. “Don't be -lonesome. I'll be back in a minute.” - -“Don't hurry,” she murmured apologetically. Then she settled back -limply in the wide couch and inspected the room, his footsteps noisily -clattering down the long hallway to the left. She saw, with some -misgiving, that it was purely a man's habitation. Shaw doubtless had -built and furnished the big cottage without woman as a consideration. -The room was large, comfortable, solid; there was not a suggestion of -femininity in, it--high or low--except the general air of cleanliness. -The furniture was rough-hewn and built for use, not ornamentation; the -walls were hung with English prints, antlers, mementoes of the hunt and -the field of sport; the floor was covered with skins and great “carpet -rag” rugs. The whole aspect was so distinctly mannish that her heart -fluttered ridiculously in its loneliness. Her cogitations were running -seriously toward riot when he came hurriedly down the hall and into her -presence. - -“She'll be down presently. In fact, so will the cook and the housemaid. -Gad, Miss Drake, they were so afraid of the storm that all of them piled -into Mrs. Ulrich's room. I wonder at your courage in facing the symptoms -outdoors. Now, I'll fix you a drink. Take off your hat--be comfortable. -Cigarette? Good! Here's my sideboard. See? It's a nuisance, this having -only one arm in commission; affects my style as a barkeep. Don't stir; -I'll be able--” - -“Let me help you. I mean, please don't go to so much trouble. Really -I want nothing but a place to sleep to-night. This couch will -do--honestly. And some one to call me at daybreak, so that I may be on -my way.” He looked at her and laughed quizzically. “Oh, I'm in earnest, -Mr. Shaw, I would not have stopped here if it had n't been tor the -storm.” - -“Come, now, Miss Drake, you spoil the fairy tale. You _did_ intend to -come here. It was the only place for you to go--and I'm glad of it. My -only regret is that the house is n't filled with chaperons.” - -“Why?” she demanded with a guilty start. - -“Because I could then say to you all the things that are in my -heart--aye, that are almost bursting from my lips. I--I can't say them -now, you know,” he said, and she understood his delicacy. For some -minutes she sat in silence watching him as he clumsily mixed the drinks -and put the water over the alcohol blaze. Suddenly he turned to her with -something like alarm in his voice. “By George, you don't suppose they -'ll pursue you?” - -“Oh, would n't that be jolly? It would be like the real story-book--the -fairy and the ogres and all that. But,” dubiously, “I'm sorely afraid -they consider me rubbish. Still--” looking up encouragingly--“my brother -would try to find me if he--if he knew that I was gone.” - -To her surprise, he whistled softly and permitted a frown of anxiety -to creep over his face. “I had n't thought of that,” he observed -reflectively. Then he seemed to throw off the momentary symptoms of -uneasiness, adding, with a laugh: “I daresay nothing will happen. The -storm would put a stop to all idea of pursuit.” - -“Let them pursue,” she said, a stubborn light in her eyes. “I am my -own mistress, Mr. Shaw. They can't take me, willy nilly, as if I were a -child, you know.” - -[Illustration: 0082] - -“That's quite true. You don't understand,” he said slowly, his back to -her. - -“You mean the law? Is it different from ours?” - -“Not that. The--er--situation. You see, they might think it a trifle odd -if they found you here--with me. Don't you understand?” He turned to -her with a very serious expression. She started and sat bolt upright to -stare at him comprehensively. - -“You mean--it--it isn't quite--er--” - -“Regular, perhaps,” he supplied. “Please keep your seat! I'm not the -censor; I'm not even an opinion. Believe me, Miss Drake, my only thought -was and is for your good.” - -“I see. They would believe evil of me if they knew I had come to you,” - she mused, turning quite cold. - -“I know the kind of people your sister-in-law has at her place, Miss -Drake. Their sort can see but one motive in anything. You know them, -too, I daresay.” - -“Yes, I know them,” she said uneasily. “Good heavens, what a fool I've -been,” she added, starting to her feet. “I might have known they 'll -say all sorts of terrible things. They must not find me here. Mr. Shaw, -I'm--I am so ashamed--I wonder what you are thinking of me.” Her lip -trembled and there was such a pleading look in her dark eyes that he -controlled himself with difficulty. It was only by imposing the severest -restraint upon his susceptibilities that he was able to approach her -calmly. - -“I can't tell you now--not here--what I am thinking. It is n't the -place. Maybe--maybe you can read my thought. Please--Miss Drake. Look up, -please. Can't you read--oh, there now--I beg your pardon! You come to me -for protection and I--well, don't be too hard on me just yet. I'll find -the time and place to tell you.” He drew away almost as his hand -was ready to clasp hers--all because her sweet eyes met his -trustingly--lovingly. - -“Just now I am a poor little reprobate,” she sighed ever so miserably. -“You are very good. I'll not forget.” - -“I 'll not permit you to forget,” he said eagerly. - -“Is n't the housekeeper a long time in coming?” she asked quickly. He -laughed contentedly. - -“We've no reason to worry about her. It 's the pursuers from Bazelhurst -that should trouble us. Won't you tell me the whole story?” And she told -him everything, sitting there beside him with a hot drink in her hand -and a growing shame in her heart. It was dawning upon her with alarming -force that she was exposing a hitherto unknown incentive. It was not a -comfortable awakening. “And you champion me to that extent?” he cried -joyously. She nodded bravely and went on. - -“So here I am,” she said in conclusion. “I really could not have walked -to Ridgely to-night, could I?” - -“I should say not.” - -“And there was really nowhere else to come but here?” dubiously. - -“See that light over there--up the mountain?” he asked, leading her to -a window. “Old man Grimes and his wife live up there. They keep a light -burning all night to scare Renwood's ghost away. By Jove, the storm will -be upon us in a minute. I thought it had blown around us.” The roll of -thunder came up the valley. “Thank heaven, you 're safe indoors. Let -them pursue if they like. I 'll hide you if they come, and the servants -are close-mouthed.” - -“I don't like the way you put it, Mr. Shaw.” - -“Hullo, hullo--the house,” came a shout from the wind-ridden night -outside. Two hearts inside stopped beating for a second or two. She -caught her breath sharply as she clasped his arm. - -“They are after me!” she gasped. - -“They must not find you here. Really, Miss Drake, I mean it. They would -n't understand. Come with me. Go down this hall quickly. It leads to the -garden back of the house. There's a gun-room at the end of the hall. -Go in there, to your right. Here, take this! It's an electric -saddle-lantern. I 'll head these fellows off. They shan't find you. -Don't be alarmed.” - -She sped down the narrow hall and he, taking time to slip into a -long dressing-coat, stepped out upon the porch in response to the now -prolonged and impatient shouts. - -“Who 's there?” he shouted. The light from the windows revealed several -horsemen in the roadway. - -“Friends,” came back through the wind. “Let us in out of the storm. It's -a terror.” - -“I don't know you.” There was a shout of laughter and some profanity. - -“Oh, yes you do, Mr. Shaw. Open up and let us in. It's Dave Rank and Ed -Hunter. We can't make the cabin before the rain.” Shaw could see their -faces now and then by the flashes of lightning and he recognized the two -woodsmen, who doubtless had been visiting sweethearts up toward Ridgely. - -“Take your horses to the stable, boys, and come in,” he called, laughing -heartily. Then he hurried off to the gun-room. He passed Mrs. Ulrich -coming downstairs yawning prodigiously; he called to her to wait for him -in the library. - -There was no one in the gun-room; the door leading to the back porch was -open. - -With an exclamation he leaped outside and looked about him. - -“Good heavens!” he cried, staggering back. - -Far _off_ in the night, a hundred yards or more up the road, leading to -Grimes' cabin he saw the wobbling, uncertain flicker of a light wending -its way like a will-o'-the-wisp through the night. Without a moment's -hesitation and with something strangely like an oath, he rushed into the -house, almost upsetting the housekeeper in his haste. - -“Visitors outside. Make 'em comfortable. Back soon,” he jerked out as -he changed his coat with small respect for his injured arm. Then he -clutched a couple of raincoats from the rack and flew out of the back -door like a man suddenly gone mad. - - - - -CHAPTER VI--IN WHICH A GHOST TRESPASSES - -The impulse which drove Penelope out for the second time that night -may be readily appreciated. Its foundation was fear; its subordinate -emotions were shame, self-pity and consciousness of her real feeling -toward the man of the house. The true spirit of womanhood revolted with -its usual waywardness. - -She was flying down the stony road, some distance from the cottage, -in the very face of the coming tornado, her heart beating like a -trip-hammer, her eyes bent on the little light up the mountain-side, -before it occurred to her that this last flight was not only senseless -but perilous. She even laughed at herself for a fool as she recalled the -tell-tale handbag on the porch and the damning presence of a Bazelhurst -lantern in the hallway. - -The storm which had been raging farther down the valley was at last -whirling up to the hill-tops, long delayed as if in gleeful anticipation -of catching her alone and unprotected. The little electric saddle-lamp -that she carried gave out a feeble glow, scarce opening the way in the -darkness more than ten feet ahead. Rough and irksome was the road, -most stubborn the wall of wind. The second threat of the storm was more -terrifying than the first; at any instant it was likely to break forth -in all its slashing fury--and she knew not whither she went. - -Even as she lost heart and was ready to turn wildly back in an effort to -reach Shaw's home before the deluge, the lightning flashes revealed to -her the presence of a dwelling just off the road not two hundred feet -ahead. She stumbled forward, crying like a frightened child. There were -no lights. The house looked dark, bleak, unfriendly. Farther up -the hillside still gleamed the little light that was meant to keep -Renwood's ghost from disturbing the slumbers of old man Grimes and his -wife. She could not reach that light, that much she knew. Her feet -were like hundredweights, her limbs almost devoid of power; Grimes' hut -appeared to be a couple of miles away. - -With a last, breathless effort, she turned off the road and floundered -through weeds and brush until she came to what proved to be the rear of -the darkened house. Long, low, rangy it reached off into the shadows, -chilling in its loneliness. There was no time left for her to climb the -flight of steps and pound on the back door. The rain was swishing in the -trees with a hiss that forbade delay. - -She threw herself, panting and terror-stricken, into the cave-like -opening under the porch, her knees giving way after the supreme effort. -The great storm broke as she crouched far back against the wall; her -hands over her ears, her eyes tightly closed. She was safe from wind and -rain, but not from the sounds of that awful conflict. The lantern lay at -her feet, sending its ray out into the storm with the senseless fidelity -of a beacon light. - -“Penelope!” came a voice through the storm, and a second later a man -plunged into the recess, crashing against the wall beside her. Something -told her who it was, even before he dropped beside her and threw his -strong arm about her shoulders. The sound of the storm died away as she -buried her face on his shoulder and shivered so mightily that he was -alarmed. With her face burning, her blood tingling, she lay there and -wondered if the throbbing of her heart were not about to kill her. - -He was crying something into her ear--wild, incoherent words that seemed -to have the power to quiet the storm. And she was responding--she knew -that eager words were falling from her lips, but she never knew what -they were--responding with a fervour that was overwhelming her with joy. -Lips met again and again and there was no thought of the night, of the -feud, the escapade, the Renwood ghost--or of aught save the two warm -living human bodies that had found each other. - -The storm, swerving with the capricious mountain winds, suddenly swept -their refuge with sheets of water. Randolph Shaw threw the raincoats -over his companion and both laughed hysterically at their plight, -suddenly remembered. - -“We can't stay here,” he shouted. - -“We can't go out into it,” she cried. - -“Where are we?” - -“Renwood's,” he called back. Their position was untenable. He was -drenched; the raincoats protected her as she crouched back into the most -remote corner. Looking about, he discovered a small door leading to the -cellar. It opened the instant he touched the latch. “Come, quick,” he -cried, lifting her to her feet. “In here--stoop! I have the light. This -is the cellar. I'll have to break down a door leading to the upper part -of the house, but that will not be difficult. Here's an axe or two. -Good Lord, I'm soaked!” - -“Whe--where are we going?” she gasped, as he drew her across the -earthern floor. - -“Upstairs. It's comfortable up there.” They were at the foot of the -narrow stairway. She held back. - -“Never! It's the--the haunted house! I can't--Randolph.” - -“Pooh! Don't be afraid. I'm with you, dearest.” - -“I know,” she gulped, “only one arm. Oh, I can't!” - -“It's all nonsense about ghosts. I've slept here twenty times, Penelope. -People have seen my light and my shadow, that 's all. I'm a pretty -substantial ghost.” - -“Oh, dear! What a disappointment. And there are no spooks? Not even Mrs. -Renwood?” - -“Of course she may come back, dear, but you'd hardly expect a -respectable lady spook to visit the place with me stopping here. Even -ghosts have regard for conventionalities. She _could n't_--” - -“How much more respectable than I,” Penelope murmured plaintively. - -“Forgive me,” he implored. “I would--only you are _so_ wet.” - -The door above was locked, but Shaw swung the axe so vigorously that any -but a very strong-nerved ghost must have been frightened to death once -more. - -“It's my house, you know,” he explained from the top step. “There we -are! Come up, Penelope. The fort is yours.” - -She followed him into the hall above. In silence they walked along the -bare floors through empty rooms until at last he opened a door in what -proved to be the left wing. To her surprise, this room was comfortably -furnished. There were ashes in the big fireplace and there were lamps -which had been used recently--for they were filled with oil. - -“Here's where I read sometimes,” he explained. “I have slept on that -couch. Last winter I came up here to hunt. My cottage wasn't finished, -so I stayed here. - -“I'll confess I've heard strange sounds--now, don't shiver! Once or twice -I've been a bit nervous, but I'm still alive, you see.” He lighted the -wicks in the two big lamps while she looked on with the chills creeping -up and down her back. “I'll have a bully fire in the fireplace in just a -minute.” - -“Let me help you,” she suggested, coming quite close to him with uneasy -glances over her shoulders. - -Ten minutes later they were sitting before a roaring fire, quite content -even though there was a suggestion of amazed ghosts lurking in the -hallway behind them. No doubt old man Grimes and his wife, if they awoke -in the course of the night, groaned deep prayers in response to the -bright light from the windows of the haunted house. Shaw and Penelope -smiled securely as they listened to the howling storm outside. - -“Well, this _is_ trespassing,” she said, beaming a happy smile upon him. - -“I shall be obliged to drive you out, alas,” he said reflectively. “Do -you recall my vow? As long as you are a Bazelhurst, I must perforce -eject you.” - -“Not to-night!” she cried in mock dismay. - -“But, as an alternative, you'll not be a Bazelhurst long,” he went on -eagerly, suddenly taking her hands into his, forgetful of the wounded -left. “I'm going to try trespassing myself. To-morrow I 'm going to see -your brother. It 's regular, you know. I'm going to tell the head of -your clan that you are coming over to Shaw, heart and hand.” - -“Oh!” she exclaimed. “You--you--no, no! You must not do that!” - -“But, my dear, you _are_ going to marry me.” - -“Yes--I--suppose so,” she murmured helplessly. “That is n't what I -meant. I mean, it is n't necessary to ask Cecil. Ask me; I'll consent -for him.” - -Half an hour passed. Then he went to the window and looked out into the -storm. - -“You _must_ lie down and get some sleep,” he insisted, coming back to -her. “The storm's letting up, but we can't leave here for quite a while. -I'll sit up and watch. I'm too happy to sleep.” She protested, but her -heavy eyes were his allies. Soon he sat alone before the fire; she slept -sound on the broad couch in the corner, a steamer rug across her knees. -A contented smile curved his lips as he gazed reflectively into the -flames. He was not thinking of Mrs. Renwood's amiable ghost. - -How long she had been asleep, Penelope did not know. She awoke with a -start, her flesh creeping. A nameless dread came over her; she felt that -she was utterly alone and surrounded by horrors. It was a full minute--a -sickening hour, it seemed--before she realized that she was in the room -with the man she loved. Her frightened eyes caught sight of him lying -back in the chair before the dying fire in the chimney place. The lights -were low, the shadows gaunt and chill. - -A terrified exclamation started to her lips. Her ears again caught the -sound of some one moving in the house--some alien visitor. There was no -mistaking the sound--the distant, sepulchral laugh and the shuffling of -feet, almost at the edge of the couch it seemed. - -“Randolph!” she whispered hoarsely. The man in the chair did not move. -She threw off the blanket and came to a sitting posture on the side of -the couch, her fingers clutching the covering with tense horror. Again -the soft, rumbling laugh and the sound of footsteps on the stairway. -Like a flash she sped across the room and clutched frantically at -Randolph's shoulders. He awoke with an exclamation, staring bewildered -into the horrified face above. - -“The--the ghost!” she gasped, her eyes glued upon the hall door. He -leaped to his feet and threw his arms about her. - -“You've had a bad dream,” he said. “What a beast I was to fall asleep. -Lord, you're frightened half out of your wits. Don't tremble so, -dearest. There's no ghost. Every one knows--” - -“Listen--listen!” she whispered. Together they stood motionless, almost -breathless before the fire, the glow from which threw their shadows -across the room to meet the mysterious invader. - -“Good Lord,” he muttered, unwilling to believe his ears. “There _is_ -some one in the house. I 've--I've heard sounds here before, but not -like these.” Distinctly to their startled ears came the low, subdued -murmur of a human voice and then unmistakable moans from the very depth -of the earth--from the grave, it seemed. - -“Do you hear?” she whispered. “Oh, this dreadful place! Take me away, -Randolph, dear,--” - -“Don't be afraid,” he said, drawing her close. “There's nothing -supernatural about those sounds. They come from lips as much alive as -ours. I 'll investigate.” He grabbed the heavy poker from the chimney -corner, and started toward the door. She followed close behind, his -assurance restoring in a measure the courage that had temporarily -deserted her. - -In the hallway they paused to look out over the broad porch. The storm -had died away, sighing its own requiem in the misty tree-tops. Dawn was -not far away. A thick fog was rising to meet the first glance of day. -In surprise Shaw looked at his watch, her face at his shoulder. It was -after five o'clock. - -“Ghosts turn in at midnight, dear,” he said with a cheerful smile. “They -don't keep such hours as these.” - -“But who can it be? There are no tramps in the mountains,” she -protested, glancing over her shoulder apprehensively. - -“Listen! By Jove, that voice came from the cellar.” - -“And the lock is broken,” she exclaimed. “But how silly of me! Ghosts -don't stop for locks.” - -“I 'll drop the bolts just the same,” he said, as they hurried down the -hallway. At the back stairs they stopped and listened for many minutes. -Not a sound came up to them from below. Softly he closed the door and -lowered two heavy bars into place. “If there's any one down there they -probably think they've heard spooks trotting around up here.” - -“Really, it's quite thrilling, isn't it?” she whispered, in her -excitement. - -“In any event, we're obliged to remain under cover until they depart,” - he said thoughtfully. “We can't be seen here, dearest.” - -“No,” she murmured, “not even though it is _our_ house.” - -They returned to the big room as softly as mice and he left her a moment -later to close the heavy window shutters on the porch. When he returned -there was a grim smile on his face and his voice shook a little as he -spoke. - -“I've heard the voices again. They came from the laundry, I think. -The Renwoods were downright Yankees, Penelope; I will swear that these -voices are amazingly English.” - - - - -CHAPTER VII--IN WHICH THE AUTHOR TRESPASSES - -THIS narrative has quite as much to do with the Bazelhurst side of the -controversy as it has with Shaw's. It is therefore but fair that the -heroic invasion by Lord Cecil should receive equal consideration from -the historian. Shaw's conquest of one member of the force opposing him -was scarcely the result of bravery; on the other hand Lord Cecil's dash -into the enemy's country was the very acme of intrepidity. Shaw had -victory fairly thrust upon him; Lord Bazelhurst had a thousand obstacles -to overcome before he could even so much as stand face to face with the -enemy. Hence the expedition that started off in the wake of the deserter -deserves more than passing mention. - -Down the drive and out into the mountain road clattered the three -horsemen. Lady Bazelhurst, watching at the window casement, almost -swooned with amazement at the sight of them. The capes of their -mackintoshes seemed to flaunt a satirical farewell in her face; their -owners, following the light of the carriage lamps, swept from view -around a bend in the road. - -His lordship had met the duke in the hall, some distance from that -nobleman's room, and, without observing Barminster's apparent confusion, -commanded him to join in the pursuit. Barminster explained that he was -going to see how the cook was resting; however, he would go much farther -to be of service to the runaway sister of his host. - -“She's broken-hearted,” half sobbed the brother. - -“Yes,” agreed the duke; “and what's a broken leg to a broken heart? -Penelope's heart, at that. Demme, I can't find the cook's room, anyway.” - -“It's in the servants' wing,” said Cecil, anxious to be off. - -“To be sure. Stupid ass I am. I say, old chap, here's Deveaux's door. -Let's rout him out. We'll need some one to hold the horses if we have to -force our way into Shaw's house.” - -“Good heaven, Randolph, go to him! He is hurt.” - -[Illustration: 0140 - -The count was not thoroughly awake until he found himself in the saddle -some time later; it is certain that he did not know until long afterward -why they were riding off into the storm. He fell so far behind his -companions in the run down the road that he could ask no questions. -Right bravely the trio plunged into the dark territory over which the -enemy ruled. It was the duke who finally brought the cavalcade to a halt -by propounding a most sensible question. - -“Are you sure she came this way, Cecil?” - -“Certainly. This is Shaw's way, is n't it?” - -“Did she say she was going to Shaw's?” - -“Don't know. Evelyn told me. Hang it all, Barminster, come along. We'll -never catch up to her.” - -“Is she riding?” - -“No--horses all in.” - -“Do you know, we may have passed her. Deuce take it, Bazelhurst, if -she's running away from us, you don't imagine she'd be such a silly -fool as to stand in the road and wait for us. If she heard us she'd hide -among the trees.” - -“But she's had an hour's start of us.” - -“Where ees she coming to?” asked the count, with an anxious glance -upward just in time to catch a skirmishing raindrop with his eye. - -“That's just it. We don't know,” said the duke. - -“But I must find her,” cried Lord Cecil. “Think of that poor girl alone -in this terrible place, storm coming up and all that. Hi, Penelope!” he -shouted in his most vociferous treble. The shrieking wind replied. -Then the three of them shouted her name. “Gad, she may be lost or dead -or--Come on, Barminster. We must scour the whole demmed valley.” - -They were off again, moving more cautiously while the duke threw the -light from his lamp into the leafy shadows beside the roadway. The wind -was blowing savagely down the slope and the raindrops were beginning to -beat in their faces with ominous persistency. Some delay was caused by -an accident to the rear-guard. A mighty gust of wind blew the count's -hat far back over the travelled road. He was so much nearer Bazelhurst -Villa when they found it that he would have kept on in that direction -for the sake of his warm bed had not his companions talked so scornfully -about cowardice. - -“He's like a wildcat to-night,” said the duke in an aside to the little -Frenchman, referring to his lordship. “Demme, I 'd rather not cross him. -You seem to forget that his sister is out in all this fury.” - -“Mon Dieu, but I do not forget. I would gif half my life to hold her in -my arms thees eenstan'.” - -Dem you, sir, I'd give her the other half if you dared try such a thing. -We did n't fetch you along to hold her. You've got to hold the horses, -that's all. - -“Diable! How dare you to speak to--” - -“What are you two rowing about?” demanded his lordship. “Come along! -We're losing time. Sit on your hat, Deveaux.” Away they swept, -Penelope's two admirers wrathfully barking at one another about -satisfaction at some future hour. - -The storm burst upon them in all its fury--the maddest, wildest storm -they had known in all their lives. Terrified, half drowned, blown -almost from the saddles, the trio finally found shelter in the lee of -a shelving cliff just off the road. While they stood there shivering, -clutching the bits of their well-nigh frantic horses, the glimmer by of -lights came down to them from windows farther up the steep. There was no -mistaking the three upright oblongs of light; they were tall windows -in a house, the occupants of which doubtless had been aroused at this -unearthly hour by the fierceness of the storm. - -“By Jove,” lamented the duke, water running down his neck in floods. -“What a luxury a home is, be it ever so humble, on a night like this.” - -“Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!” groaned the count. “How comfortab' zey look. And -here? _Eh bien! Qui fait trembler la terre!_ I am seeck! I die!” - -“Penelope is out in all this,” moaned his lordship. - -“I am not so sure of that. Trust a woman to find a place where she can't -ruin her hat. My word for it, Cecil, she's found a safe roost. I say, by -Jove!” The duke was staring more intently than ever at the windows far -above. “I have it! Is n't it rather odd that a house should be lighted -so brilliantly at this hour of night?” - -“Demmed servants forgot to put out the lamps,” groaned Bazelhurst -without interest. “Nonsense! I tell you what: some one has roused -the house and asked shelter from the storm. Now, who could that be but -Penelope?” - -“By Jove, you're a ripping clever ass, after all, Barminster--a regular -Sherlock Holmes. That's just it! She's up there where the windows -are. Come on! It's easy sailing now,” cried his lordship, but the duke -restrained him. - -“Don't rush off like a fool. Whose house is it?” - -“How the devil do I know? This is Shaw's land, and he has n't been -especially cordial about--” - -“Aha! See what I mean? Shaw's land, to be sure. Well, hang your -stupidity, don't you know we're looking at Shaw's house this very -instant? He lives there and she's arrived, dem it all. She's up there -with him--dry clothes, hot drinks and all that, and we're out here -catching pneumonia. Fine, is n't it?” - -“Gad! You're right! She's with that confounded villain. My God, what's -to become of her?” groaned Lord Cecil ting down suddenly and covering -his with his hands. - -“We must rescue her!” shouted the duke - -“Brace up, Cecil! Don't be a baby. We'll storm the place.” - -“Not in zis rain!” cried the count. - -“You stay here in the shade and hold the horses, that 's what you do,” - said the duke scornfully. - -A council of war was held. From their partially sheltered position the -invaders could see, by the flashes of lightning, that a path and some -steps ascended the hill. The duke was for storming the house at once, -but Lord Cecil argued that it would be foolish to start before the -storm abated. Moreover, he explained, it would be the height of folly to -attack the house until they were sure that Penelope was on the inside. - -After many minutes there came a break in the violence of the storm and -preparations were at once made for the climb up the hill. Deveaux was -to remain behind in charge of the horses. With their bridle reins in -his hands he cheerfully maintained this position of trust, securely -sheltered from the full force of the elements. Right bravely did the -duke and his lordship venture forth into the spattering rain. They had -gone no more than three rods up the path when they were brought to a -halt by the sounds of a prodigious struggle behind them. There was a -great trampling of horses' hoofs, accompanied by the frantic shouts of -the count. - -“I cannot hold zem! Mon Dieu! Zey are mad! Ho! Ho! Help!” - -He was in truth having a monstrous unpleasant time. His two friends -stumbled to his assistance, but not in time to prevent the catastrophe. -The three horses had taken it into their heads to bolt for home; they -were plunging and pulling in three directions at the same time, the -count manfully clinging to the bridle reins, in great danger of being -suddenly and shockingly dismembered. - -“Hold to 'em!” shouted Lord Cecil. - -“Help!” shouted the count, at the same moment releasing his grip on the -reins. Away tore the horses, kicking great chunks of mud over him as -he tumbled aimlessly into the underbrush. Down the road clattered the -animals, leaving the trio marooned in the wilderness. Groaning and half -dead, the unfortunate count was dragged from the brush by his furious -companions. What the duke said to him was sufficient without being -repeated, here or elsewhere. The count challenged him as they all -resumed the march up the hill to visit the house with the lighted -windows. - -“Here is my card, m'sieur,” he grated furiously. - -“Demme, I know you!” roared the duke. “Keep your card and we'll send it -in to announce our arrival to Shaw.” - -In due course of time, after many slips and falls, they reached the -front yard of the house on the hillside. It was still raining lightly; -the thunder and lightning were crashing away noisily farther up the -valley. Cautiously they approached through the weeds and brush. - -“By Jove!” exclaimed his lordship, coming to a standstill. He turned -the light of his lantern toward the front elevation of the house. “Every -door and window, except these three, are boarded up. It can't be Shaw's -home.” - -“That's right, old chap. Deuced queer, eh? I say, Deveaux, step up and -pound on the door. You've got a card, you know.” - -“Que diable!” exclaimed the count, sinking into the background. - -“We might reconnoitre a bit,” said Bazelhurst. - -“Have a look at the rear, you know.” - -Around the corner of the house they trailed, finally bringing up at the -back steps. The windows were not only dark but boarded up. While they -stood there amazed and uncertain, the rain came down again in torrents, -worse than before if possible. They scampered for cover, plunging three -abreast beneath the same steps that had sheltered Penelope and Shaw such -a short time before. - -“Ouch! Get off my foot!” roared the duke. “Zounds! Who are you punching, -demme! Hullo! What's this? A door and open, as I live.” The trio entered -the cellar door without ceremony. “Thank God, we're out of the rain, at -least.” - -It was not until they had explored the basement and found it utterly -without signs of human occupancy that the truth of the situation began -to dawn upon them. Barminster's face was white and his voice shook as he -ventured the horrid speculation: - -“The good Lord save us--it's that demmed haunted house Pen was talking -about!” - -“But ze lights?” queried the count. - -“Ghosts!” - -“Let's get out of this place,” said Lord Bazelhurst, moving toward -the door. “It's that beastly Renwood house. They say he comes back and -murders her every night or so.” - -“Mon Dieu!” - -“Penelope is n't here. Let's move on,” agreed the duke readily. But even -fear of the supernatural was not strong, enough to drive them out into -the blinding storm. “I say! Look ahead there. By Harry, _there's_ Shaw's -place.” - -Peering through the door they saw for the first time the many lights in -Shaw's windows, scarce a quarter of a mile away. For a long time they -stood and gazed at the distant windows. Dejectedly they sat down, backs -to the wall, and waited for the storm to spend its fury. Wet, cold, and -tired, they finally dozed. It was Lord Cecil who first saw the signs of -dawn. The rain storm had come to a mysterious end, but a heavy fog in -its stead loomed up. He aroused his companions and with many groans of -anguish they prepared to venture forth into the white wall beyond. - -Just as they were taking a last look about the wretched cellar something -happened that would have brought terror to the stoutest heart. A wild, -appalling shriek came from somewhere above, the cry of a mortal soul in -agony. - -The next instant three human forms shot through the narrow door and out -into the fog, hair on end, eyes bulging but sightless, legs travelling -like the wind and as purposeless. It mattered not that the way was -hidden; it mattered less that weeds, brush, and stumps lurked in ambush -for unwary feet. They fled into the foggy dangers without a thought of -what lay before them--only of what stalked behind them. - -Upstairs Randolph Shaw lay back against the wall and shook with -laughter. Penelope's convulsed face was glued to the kitchen window, her -eyes peering into the fog beyond. Shadowy figures leaped into the white -mantle; the crash of brush came back to her ears, and then, like the -barking of a dog, there arose from the mystic gray the fast diminishing -cry: - -“Help! Help! Help!” Growing fainter and sharper the cry at last was lost -in the phantom desert. - -They stood at the window and watched the fog lift, gray and forbidding, -until the trees and road were discernible. Then, arm in arm, they set -forth across the wet way toward Shaw's cottage. The mists cleared as -they walked along, the sun peeped through the hills as if afraid to look -upon the devastation of the night; all the world seemed at peace once -more. - -“Poor Cecil!” she sighed. “It was cruel of you.” In the roadway they -found a hat which she at once identified as the count's. Farther on -there was a carriage lamp, and later a mackintosh which had been cast -aside as an impediment. “Oh, it _was_ cruel!” She smiled, however, in -retrospection. - -An hour later they stood together on the broad porch, looking out over -the green, glistening hills. The warm fresh air filled their lungs and -happiness was overcrowding their hearts. In every direction were signs -of the storm's fury. Great trees lay blasted, limbs and branches were -scattered over the ground, wide fissures split the roadway across which -the deluge had rushed on its way down the slope. - -But Penelope was warm and dry and safe after her thrilling night. A hot -breakfast wat being prepared for them; trouble seemed to have gone its -way with the elements. - -“If I were only sure that nothing serious had happened to Cecil,” she -murmured anxiously. - -“I'm sorry, dear, for that screech of mine,” he apologized. - -Suddenly he started and gazed intently in the direction of the haunted -house. A man--a sorry figure--was slowly, painfully approaching from the -edge of the wood scarce a hundred yards away. In his hand he carried a -stick to which was attached a white cloth--doubtless a handkerchief. -He was hatless and limped perceptibly. The two on the porch watched his -approach in amazed silence. - -“It's Cecil!” whispered Penelope in horror-struck tones. “Good heaven, -Randolph, go to him! He is hurt.” - -It was Lord Bazelhurst. As Shaw hurried down the drive to meet him, no -thought of the feud in mind, two beings even more hopelessly dilapidated -ventured from the wood and hobbled up behind the truce-bearer, who -had now paused to lift his shoulders into a position of dignity and -defiance. Shaw's heart was touched. The spectacle was enough to melt the -prejudice of any adversary. Lord Cecil's knees trembled; his hand shook -as if in a chill. Mud-covered, water-soaked, and bruised, their clothes -rent in many places, their hats gone and their hair matted, their legs -wobbly, the trio certainly inspired pity, not mirth nor scorn. - -“One moment, sir,” called his lordship, with a feeble attempt at -severity. His voice was hoarse and shaky. “We do not come as friends, -dem you. Is my sister here?” - -“She is, Lord Bazelhurst. We 'll talk this over later on,” said Shaw in -his friendliest way. “You are worn out and done up, I'm sure--you and -your friends. Come! I'm not as bad as you think. I've changed my -mind since I saw you last. Let's see if we can't come to an amicable -understanding. Miss Drake is waiting up there. Breakfast soon will be -ready--hot coffee and all that. Permit me, gentlemen, to invite you to -partake of what we have. What say you?” - -“Confound you, sir, I--I--” but his brave effort failed him. He -staggered and would have fallen had not the duke caught him from behind. - -“Thanks, old chap,” said Barminster to Shaw. “We will come in for a -moment. I say, perhaps you could give us a dry dud or two. Bazelhurst is -in a bad way and so is the count. It was a devil of a storm.” - -“_Mon Dieu! c était épouvantable!_” groaned the count - -Penelope came down from the porch to meet them. Without a word she took -her brother's arm. He stared at her with growing resentment. - -“Dem it all, Pen,” he chattered, “you're not at all wet, are you? Look -at me! All on your account, too.” - -“Dear old Cecil! All on Evelyn's account, you mean,” she said softly, -wistfully. - -“I shall have an understanding with her when we get home,” he said -earnestly. - -“No,” said Shaw from the other side; “she shan't.” - -“By Jove, Shaw, are you _with_ me?” demanded his lordship in surprise. - -“Depends on whether you are with me,” said the other. Penelope flushed -warmly. - -Later on, three chastened but ludicrous objects shuffled into the -breakfast-room, where Shaw and Penelope awaited them. In passing, it is -only necessary to say that Randolph Shaw's clothes did not fit. - -“She shan't treat my sister like this again.” - -Bazelhurst was utterly lost in the folds of a gray tweed, while the -count was obliged to roll up the sleeves and legs of a frock suit which -fitted Shaw rather too snugly. The duke, larger than the others, was -passably fair in an old swallow-tail coat and brown trousers. They were -clean, but there was a strong odour of arnica about them. Each wore, -besides, an uncertain, sheepish smile. - -Hot coffee, chops, griddle cakes, and maple syrup soon put the -contending forces at their ease. Bazelhurst so far forgot himself as -to laugh amiably at his host's jokes. The count responded in his most -piquant dialect, and the duke swore by an ever-useful Lord Harry that he -had never tasted such a breakfast. - -“By Jove, Pen,” exclaimed her brother, in rare good humour, “it's almost -a sin to take you away from such good cooking as this.” - -“You're not going to take her away, however,” said Shaw. “She has come -to stay.” - -There was a stony silence. Coffee-cups hung suspended in the journey to -mouths, and three pairs of eyes stared blankly at the smiling speaker. - -“What--what the devil do you mean, sir?” demanded Lord Cecil, his -coffee-cup shaking so violently that the contents overflowed. - -“She's going over to Plattsburg with me to-day, and when she comes back -she will be Mrs. Randolph Shaw. That's what I mean, your lordship.” - -Three of his listeners choked with amazement and then coughed painfully. -Feebly they set their cups down and gulped as if they had something to -swallow. The duke was the first to find his tongue, and he was quite at -a loss for words. - -“B--by Jove,” he said blankly, “that's demmed hot coffee!” - -“Is this true, Penelope?” gasped his lordship. - -“Yes, Cecil. I've promised to marry him.” - -“Good God! It is n't because you feel that you have no home with me?” - -“I love him. It's a much older story than you think,” she said simply. - -“I say, that hits me hard,” said the duke, with a wry face. “Still, I -join in saying God bless you.” - -“We're trying to end the feud, you see,” said Penelope. - -Tears came into his lordship's pale eyes. He looked first at one and -then at the other, and then silently extended his hand to Randolph Shaw. -He wrung it vigorously for a long time before speaking. Then, as if -throwing a weight off his mind, he remarked: “I say, Shaw, I 'm sorry -about that dog. I 've got an English bull-terrier down there that's -taken a ribbon or so. If you don't mind, I'll send him up to you. He--he -knows Penelope.” - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Cowardice Court, by George Barr McCutcheon - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COWARDICE COURT *** - -***** This file should be named 54101-0.txt or 54101-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/1/0/54101/ - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by Google Books - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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