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diff --git a/old/grnfn10.txt b/old/grnfn10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fab056b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/grnfn10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10464 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Green Fancy, by George Barr McCutcheon +#7 in our series by George Barr McCutcheon + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Green Fancy + +Author: George Barr McCutcheon + +Release Date: June, 2004 [EBook #5871] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on September 15, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREEN FANCY *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + +[Illustration: THE RED GLEAM FROM THE BLAZING LOGS FELL UPON HER +SHINING HAIR; IT GLISTENED LIKE GOLD. SHE WORE A SIMPLE EVENING GOWN +OF WHITE.] + +GREEN FANCY + +BY + +GEORGE BARR McCUTCHEON + +AUTHOR OF "GRAUSTARK," "THE HOLLOW OF HER HAND," +"THE PRINCE OF GRAUSTARK," ETC. + +WITH FRONTISPIECE BY +C. ALLAN GILBERT + +NEW YORK + +1917 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I. THE FIRST WAYFARER AND THE SECOND WAYFARER MEET AND PART ON THE + HIGHWAY + +II. THE FIRST WAYFARER LAYS HIS PACK ASIDE AND FALLS IN WITH + FRIENDS + +III. MR. RUSHCROFT DISSOLVES, MR. JONES INTERVENES, AND TWO MEN RIDE + AWAY + +IV. AN EXTRAORDINARY CHAMBERMAID, A MIDNIGHT TRAGEDY, AND A MAN WHO + SAID "THANK YOU" + +V. THE FARM-BOY TELLS A GHASTLY STORY, AND AN IRISHMAN ENTERS + +VI. CHARITY BEGINS FAR FROM HOME, AND A STROLL IN THE WILDWOOD + FOLLOWS + +VII. SPUN-GOLD HAIR, BLUE EYES, AND VARIOUS ENCOUNTERS + +VIII. A NOTE, SOME FANCIES, AND AN EXPEDITION IN QUEST OF FACTS + +IX. THE FIRST WAYFARER, THE SECOND WAYFARER, AND THE SPIRIT OF + CHIVALRY ASCENDANT + +X. THE PRISONER OF GREEN FANCY, AND THE LAMENT OF PETER THE + CHAUFFEUR + +XI. MR. SPROUSE ABANDONS LITERATURE AT AN EARLY HOUR IN THE MORNING + +XII. THE FIRST WAYFARER ACCEPTS AN INVITATION, AND MR. DILLINGFORD + BELABORS A PROXY + +XIII. THE SECOND WAYFARER RECEIVES TWO VISITORS AT MIDNIGHT + +XIV. A FLIGHT, A STONE-CUTTER'S SHED, AND A VOICE OUTSIDE + +XV. LARGE BODIES MOVE SLOWLY,--BUT MR. SPROUSE WAS SMALLER THAN THE + AVERAGE + +XVI. THE FIRST WAYFARER VISITS A SHRINE, CONFESSES, AND TAKES AN + OATH + +XVII. THE SECOND WAYFARER IS TRANSFORMED, AND MARRIAGE IS FLOUTED + +XVIII. MR. SPROUSE CONTINUES TO BE PERPLEXING, BUT PUTS HIS NOSE TO + THE GROUND + +XIX. A TRIP BY NIGHT, A SUPPER, AND A LATE ARRIVAL + +XX. THE FIRST WAYFARER HAS ONE TREASURE THRUST UPON HIM,--AND + FORTHWITH CLAIMS ANOTHER + +XXI. THE END IN SIGHT + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE FIRST WAYFARER AND THE SECOND WAYFARER MEET AND PART ON THE +HIGHWAY + + +A solitary figure trudged along the narrow road that wound its +serpentinous way through the dismal, forbidding depths of the forest: +a man who, though weary and footsore, lagged not in his swift, +resolute advance. Night was coming on, and with it the no uncertain +prospects of storm. Through the foliage that overhung the wretched +road, his ever-lifting and apprehensive eye caught sight of the +thunder-black, low-lying clouds that swept over the mountain and bore +down upon the green, whistling tops of the trees. At a cross-road +below he had encountered a small girl driving homeward the cows. She +was afraid of the big, strange man with the bundle on his back and the +stout walking stick in his hand: to her a remarkable creature who wore +"knee pants" and stockings like a boy on Sunday, and hob-nail shoes, +and a funny coat with "pleats" and a belt, and a green hat with a +feather sticking up from the band. His agreeable voice and his amiable +smile had no charm for her. He merely wanted to know how far it was to +the nearest village, but she stared in alarm and edged away as if +preparing to break into mad flight the instant she was safely past him +with a clear way ahead. + +"Don't be afraid," he said gently. "And here! Catch it if you can." He +tossed a coin across the road. It struck at her feet and rolled into +the high grass. She did not divert her gaze for the fraction of a +second. "I'm a stranger up here and I want to find some place to sleep +for the night. Surely you have a tongue, haven't you?" By dint of +persuasive smiles and smirks that would have sickened him at any other +time he finally induced her to say that if he kept right on until he +came to the turnpike he would find a sign-post telling him where to +get gasolene. + +"But I don't want gasolene. I want bread and butter," he said. + +"Well, you can git bread an' butter there too," she said. "Food fer +man an' beast, it says." + +"A hotel?" + +"Whut?" + +"A boarding-house?" he substituted. + +"It's a shindy," she said, painfully. "Men get drunk there. Pap calls +it a tavern, but Ma says it's a shindy." + +"A road-house, eh?" She was puzzled--and silent. "Thank you. You'll +find the quarter in the grass. Good-bye." + +He lifted his queer green hat and strode away, too much of a gentleman +to embarrass her by looking back. If he had done so he would have seen +her grubbing stealthily in the grass, not with her brown little hands, +but with the wriggling toes of a bare foot on which the mud, perhaps +of yesterday, had caked. She was too proud to stoop. + +At last he came to the "pike" and there, sure enough, was the sign- +post. A huge, crudely painted hand pointed to the left, and on what +was intended to be the sleeve of a very stiff and unflinching arm +these words were printed in scaly white: "Hart's Tavern. Food for Man +and Beast. Also Gasolene. Established 1798. 1 mile." "Also Gasolene" +was freshly painted and crowded its elders in a most disrespectful +manner. + +The chill spring wind of the gale was sweeping in the direction +indicated by the giant forefinger. There was little consolation in the +thought that a mile lay between him and shelter, but it was a relief +to know that he would have the wind at his back. Darkness was settling +over the land. The lofty hills seemed to be closing in as if to +smother the breath out of this insolent adventurer who walked alone +among them. He was an outsider. He did not belong there. He came from +the lowlands and he was an object of scorn. + +On the opposite side of the "pike," in the angle formed by a junction +with the narrow mountain road, stood a humbler sign-post, lettered so +indistinctly that it deserved the compassion of all observers because +of its humility. Swerving in his hurried passage, the tall stranger +drew near this shrinking friend to the uncertain traveller, and was +suddenly aware of another presence in the roadway. + +A woman appeared, as if from nowhere, almost at his side. He drew back +to let her pass. She stopped before the little sign-post, and together +they made out the faint directions. + +To the right and up the mountain road Frogg's Corner lay four miles +and a half away; Pitcairn was six miles back over the road which the +man had travelled. Two miles and a half down the turnpike was Spanish +Falls, a railway station, and four miles above the cross-roads where +the man and woman stood peering through the darkness at the laconic +sign-post reposed the village of Saint Elizabeth. Hart's Tavern was on +the road to Saint Elizabeth, and the man, with barely a glance at his +fellow-traveller, started briskly off in that direction. + +Lightning was flashing fitfully beyond the barrier heights and faraway +thunder came to his ears. He knew that these wild mountain storms +moved swiftly; his chance of reaching the tavern ahead of the deluge +was exceedingly slim. His long, powerful legs had carried him twenty +or thirty paces before he came to a sudden halt. + +What of this lone woman who traversed the highway? Obviously she too +was a stranger on the road, and a glance over his shoulder supported a +first impression: she was carrying a stout travelling bag. His first +glimpse of her had been extremely casual,--indeed he had paid no +attention to her at all, so eager was he to read the directions and be +on his way. + +She was standing quite still in front of the sign-post, peering up the +road toward Frogg's Corner,--confronted by a steep climb that led into +black and sinister timberlands above the narrow strip of pasture +bordering the pike. + +The fierce wind pinned her skirts to her slender body as she leaned +against the gale, gripping her hat tightly with one hand and straining +under the weight of the bag in the other. The ends of a veil whipped +furiously about her head, and, even in the gathering darkness, he +could see a strand or two of hair keeping them company. + +He hesitated. Evidently her way was up the steep, winding road and +into the dark forest, a far from appealing prospect. Not a sign of +habitation was visible along the black ridge of the wood; no lighted +window peeped down from the shadows, no smoke curled up from unseen +kitchen stoves. Gallantry ordered him to proffer his aid or, at the +least, advice to the woman, be she young or old, native or stranger. + +Retracing his steps, he called out to her above the gale: + +"Can I be of any assistance to you?" + +She turned quickly. He saw that the veil was drawn tightly over her +face. + +"No, thank you," she replied. Her voice, despite a certain nervous +note, was soft and clear and gentle,--the voice and speech of a well- +bred person who was young and resolute. + +"Pardon me, but have you much farther to go? The storm will soon be +upon us, and--surely you will not consider me presumptuous--I don't +like the idea of your being caught out in--" + +"What is to be done about it?" she inquired, resignedly. "I must go +on. I can't wait here, you know, to be washed back to the place I +started from." + +He smiled. She had wit as well as determination. There was the +suggestion of mirth in her voice--and certainly it was a most +pleasing, agreeable voice. + +"If I can be of the least assistance to you, pray don't hesitate to +command me. I am a sort of tramp, you might say, and I travel as well +by night as I do by day,--so don't feel that you are putting me to any +inconvenience. Are you by any chance bound for Hart's Tavern? If so, I +will be glad to lag behind and carry your bag." + +"You are very good, but I am not bound for Hart's Tavern, wherever +that may be. Thank you, just the same. You appear to be an uncommonly +genteel tramp, and it isn't because I am afraid you might make off +with my belongings." She added the last by way of apology. + +He smiled--and then frowned as he cast an uneasy look at the black +clouds now rolling ominously up over the mountain ridge. + +"By Jove, we're going to catch it good and hard," he exclaimed. +"Better take my advice. These storms are terrible. I know, for I've +encountered half a dozen of them in the past week. They fairly tear +one to pieces." + +"Are you trying to frighten me?" + +"Yes," he confessed. "Better to frighten you in advance than to let it +come later on when you haven't any one to turn to in your terror. You +are a stranger in these parts?" + +"Yes. The railway station is a few miles below here. I have walked all +the way. There was no one to meet me. You are a stranger also, so it +is useless to inquire if you know whether this road leads to Green +Fancy." + +"Green Fancy? Sounds attractive. I'm sorry I can't enlighten you." He +drew a small electric torch from his pocket and directed its slender +ray upon the sign-post. So fierce was the gale by this time that he +was compelled to brace his strong body against the wind. + +"It is on the road to Frogg's Corner," she explained nervously. "A +mile and a half, so I am told. It isn't on the sign-post. It is a +house, not a village. Thank you for your kindness. And I am not at all +frightened," she added, raising her voice slightly. + +"But you ARE" he cried. "You're scared half out of your wits. You +can't fool me. I'd be scared myself at the thought of venturing into +those woods up yonder." + +"Well, then, I AM frightened," she confessed plaintively. "Almost out +of my boots." + +"That settles it," he said flatly. "You shall not undertake it." + +"Oh, but I must. I am expected. It is import--" + +"If you are expected, why didn't some one meet you at the station? +Seems to me--" + +"Hark! Do you hear--doesn't that sound like an automobile--Ah!" The +hoarse honk of an automobile horn rose above the howling wind, and an +instant later two faint lights came rushing toward them around a bend +in the mountain road. "Better late than never," she cried, her voice +vibrant once more. + +He grasped her arm and jerked her out of the path of the on-coming +machine, whose driver was sending it along at a mad rate, regardless +of ruts and stones and curves. The car careened as it swung into the +pike, skidded alarmingly, and then the brakes were jammed down. +Attended by a vast grinding of gears and wheels, the rattling old car +came to a stop fifty feet or more beyond them. + +"I'd sooner walk than take my chances in an antediluvian rattle-trap +like that," said the tall wayfarer, bending quite close to her ear. +"It will fall to pieces before you--" + +But she was running down the road towards the car, calling out sharply +to the driver. He stooped over and took up the travelling bag she had +dropped in her haste and excitement. It was heavy, amazingly heavy. + +"I shouldn't like to carry that a mile and a half," he said to +himself. + +The voice of the belated driver came to his ears on the swift wind. It +was high pitched and unmistakably apologetic. He could not hear what +she was saying to him, but there wasn't much doubt as to the nature of +her remarks. She was roundly upbraiding him. + +Urged to action by thoughts of his own plight, he hurried to her side +and said: + +"Excuse me, please. You dropped something. Shall I put it up in front +or in the tonneau?" + +The whimsical note in his voice brought a quick, responsive laugh from +her lips. + +"Thank you so much. I am frightfully careless with my valuables. Would +you mind putting it in behind? Thanks!" Her tone altered completely as +she ordered the man to turn the car around--"And be quick about it," +she added. + +The first drops of rain pelted down from the now thoroughly black dome +above them, striking in the road with the sharpness of pebbles. + +"Lucky it's a limousine," said the tall traveller. "Better hop in. +We'll be getting it hard in a second or two." + +"I can't very well hop in while he's backing and twisting like that, +can I?" she laughed. He was acutely aware of a strained, nervous note +in her voice, as of one who is confronted by an undertaking calling +for considerable fortitude. + +"Are you quite sure of this man?" he asked. + +"Absolutely," she replied, after a pause. + +"You know him, eh?" + +"By reputation," she said briefly, and without a trace of laughter. + +"Well, that comforts me to some extent," he said, but dubiously. + +She was silent for a moment and then turned to him impulsively. + +"You must let me take you on to the Tavern in the car," she said. +"Turn about is fair play. I cannot allow you to--" + +"Never mind about me," he broke in cheerily. He had been wondering if +she would make the offer, and he felt better now that she had done so. +"I'm accustomed to roughing it. I don't mind a soaking. I've had +hundreds of 'em." + +"Just the same, you shall not have one to-night," she announced +firmly. The car stopped beside them. "Get in behind. I shall sit with +the driver." + +If any one had told him that this rattling, dilapidated automobile,-- +ten years old, at the very least, he would have sworn,--was capable of +covering the mile in less than two minutes, he would have laughed in +his face. Almost before he realised that they were on the way up the +straight, dark road, the lights in the windows of Hart's Tavern came +into view. Once more the bounding, swaying car came to a stop under +brakes, and he was relaxing after the strain of the most hair-raising +ride he had ever experienced. + +Not a word had been spoken during the trip. The front windows were +lowered. The driver,--an old, hatchet-faced man,--had uttered a single +word just before throwing in the clutch at the cross-roads in response +to the young woman's crisp command to drive to Hart's Tavern. That +word was uttered under his breath and it is not necessary to repeat it +here. + +He lost no time in climbing out of the car. As he leaped to the ground +and raised his green hat, he took a second look at the automobile,--a +look of mingled wonder and respect. It was an old-fashioned, high- +powered Panhard, capable, despite its antiquity, of astonishing speed +in any sort of going. + +"For heaven's sake," he began, shouting to her above the roar of the +wind and rain, "don't let him drive like that over those--" + +"You're getting wet," she cried out, a thrill in her voice. "Good +night,--and thank you!" + +"Look out!" rasped the unpleasant driver, and in went the clutch. The +man in the road jumped hastily to one side as the car shot backward +with a jerk, curved sharply, stopped for the fraction of a second, and +then bounded forward again, headed for the cross-roads. + +"Thanks!" shouted the late passenger after the receding tail light, +and dashed up the steps to the porch that ran the full length of +Hart's Tavern. In the shelter of its low-lying roof, he stopped short +and once more peered down the dark, rain-swept road. A flash of +lightning revealed the flying automobile. He waited for a second +flash. It came an instant later, but the car was no longer visible. He +shook his head. "I hope the blamed old fool knows what he's doing, +hitting it up like that over a wet road. There'll be a double funeral +in this neck of the woods if anything goes wrong," he reflected. Still +shaking his head, he faced the closed door of the Tavern. + +A huge, old-fashioned lantern hung above the portal, creaking and +straining in the wind, dragging at its stout supports and threatening +every instant to break loose and go frolicking away with the storm. + +The sound of the rain on the clap-board roof was deafening. At the +lower end of the porch the water swished in with all the velocity of a +gigantic wave breaking over a ship at sea. The wind howled, the +thunder roared and almost like cannon-fire were the successive crashes +of lightning among the trees out there in the path of fury. + +There were lights in several of the windows opening upon the porch; +the wooden shutters not only were ajar but were banging savagely +against the walls. Even in the dim, grim light shed by the lantern he +could see that the building was of an age far beyond the ken of any +living man. He recalled the words of the informing sign-post: +"Established in 1798." One hundred and eighteen years old, and still +baffling the assaults of all the elements in a region where they were +never timid! + +It may, in all truth, be a "shindy," thought he, but it had led a +gallant life. + +The broad, thick weather-boarding, overlapping in layers, was brown +with age and smooth with the polishing of time and the backs, no +doubt, of countless loiterers who had come and gone in the making of +the narrative that Hart's Tavern could relate. The porch itself, while +old, was comparatively modern; it did not belong to the century in +which the inn itself was built, for in those far-off days men did not +waste time, timber or thought on the unnecessary. While the planks in +the floor were worn and the uprights battered and whittled out of +their pristine shapeliness, they were but grandchildren to the parent +building to which they clung. Stout and, beyond question, venerable +benches stood close to the wall on both sides of the entrance. +Directly over the broad, low door with its big wooden latch and bar, +was the word "Welcome," rudely carved in the oak beam. It required no +cultured eye to see that the letters had been cut, deep and strong, +into the timber, not with the tool of the skilled wood carver but with +the hunting knife of an ambitious pioneer. + +A shocking incongruity marred the whole effect. Suspended at the side +of this hundred-year-old doorway was a black and gold, shield-shaped +ornament of no inconsiderable dimensions informing the observer that a +certain brand of lager beer was to be had inside. + +He lifted the latch and, being a tall man, involuntarily stooped as he +passed through the door, a needless precaution, for gaunt, gigantic +mountaineers had entered there before him and without bending their +arrogant heads. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE FIRST WAYFARER LAYS HIS PACK ASIDE AND FALLS IN WITH FRIENDS + + +The little hall in which he found himself was the "office" through +which all men must pass who come as guests to Hart's Tavern. A steep, +angular staircase took up one end of the room. Set in beneath its +upper turn was the counter over which the business of the house was +transacted, and behind this a man was engaged in the peaceful +occupation of smoking a corn-cob pipe. He removed the pipe, brushed +his long moustache with the back of a bony hand, and bowed slowly and +with grave ceremony to the arrival. + +An open door to the right of the stairway gave entrance to a room from +which came the sound of a deep, sonorous voice, employed in what +turned out to be a conversational solo. To the left another door led +to what was evidently the dining-room. The glance that the stranger +sent in that direction revealed two or three tables, covered with +white cloths. + +"Can you put me up for the night?" he inquired, advancing to the +counter. + +"You look like a feller who'd want a room with bath," drawled the man +behind the counter, surveying the applicant from head to foot. "Which +we ain't got," he added. + +"I'll be satisfied to have a room with a bed," said the other. + +"Sign here," was the laconic response. He went to the trouble of +actually putting his finger on the line where the guest was expected +to write his name. + +"Can I have supper?" + +"Food for man and beast," said the other patiently. He slapped his +palm upon a cracked call-bell, and then looked at the fresh name on +the page. "Thomas K. Barnes, New York," he read aloud. He eyed the +newcomer once more. "And automobile?" + +"No. I'm walking." + +"Didn't I hear you just come up in a car?" + +"A fellow gave me a lift from the cross-roads." + +"I see. My name is Jones, Putnam Jones. I run this place. My father +an' grandfather run it before me. Glad to meet you, Mr. Barnes. We +used to have a hostler here named Barnes. What's your idea fer footin' +it this time o' the year?" + +"I do something like this every spring. A month or six weeks of it +puts me in fine shape for a vacation later on," supplied Mr. Barnes +whimsically. + +Mr. Jones allowed a grin to steal over his seamed face. He re-inserted +the corn-cob pipe and took a couple of pulls at it. + +"I never been to New York, but it must be a heavenly place for a +vacation, if a feller c'n judge by what some of my present boarders +have to say about it. It's a sort of play-actor's paradise, ain't it?" + +"It is paradise to every actor who happens to be on the road, Mr. +Jones," said Barnes, slipping his big pack from his shoulders and +letting it slide to the floor. + +"Hear that feller in the tap-room talkin'? Well, he is one of the +leading actors in New York,--in the world, for that matter. He's been +talkin' about Broadway for nearly a week now, steady." + +"May I enquire what he is doing up here in the wilds?" + +"At present he ain't doing anything except talk. Last week he was +treadin' the boards, as he puts it himself. Busted. Up the flue. +Showed last Saturday night in Hornville, eighteen mile north of here, +and immediately after the performance him and his whole troupe started +to walk back to New York, a good four hunderd mile. They started out +the back way of the opery house and nobody missed 'em till next +mornin' except the sheriff, and he didn't miss 'em till they'd got +over the county line into our bailiwick. Four of 'em are still +stoppin' here just because I ain't got the heart to turn 'em out ner +the spare money to buy 'em tickets to New York. Here comes one of 'em +now. Mr. Dillingford, will you show this gentleman to room eleven, and +carry his baggage up fer him? And maybe he'll want a pitcher of warm +water to wash and shave in." He turned to the new guest and smiled +apologetically. + +"We're a little short o' help just now, Mr. Barnes, and Mr. +Dillingford has kindly consented to--" + +"My God!" gasped Mr. Dillingford, staring at the register. "Some one +from little old New York? My word, sir, you--Won't you have a--er-- +little something to drink with me before you--" + +"He wants something to eat," interrupted Mr. Jones sharply. "Tell Mr. +Bacon to step up to his room and take the order." + +"All right, old chap,--nothing easier," said Mr. Dillingford genially. +"Just climb up the elevator, Mr. Barnes. We do this to get up an +appetite. When did you leave New York?" + +Taking up a lighted kerosene lamp and the heavy pack, Mr. Clarence +Dillingford led the way up the stairs. He was a chubby individual of +indefinite age. At a glance you would have said he was under twenty- +one; a second look would have convinced you that he was nearer forty- +one. He was quite shabby, but chin and cheek were as clean as that of +a freshly scrubbed boy. He may not have changed his collar for days +but he lived up to the traditions of his profession by shaving twice +every twenty-four hours. + +Depositing Barnes' pack on a chair in the little bedroom at the end of +the hall upstairs, he favoured the guest with a perfectly unabashed +grin. + +"I'm not doing this to oblige old man Jones, you know. I won't attempt +to deceive you. I'm working out a daily bread-bill. Chuck three times +a day and a bed to sleep in, that's what I'm doing it for, so don't +get it into your head that I applied for the job. Let me take a look +at you. I want to get a good square peep at a man who has the means to +go somewhere else and yet is boob enough to come to this gosh-awful +place of his own free will and accord. Darn it, you LOOK intelligent. +I don't get you at all. What's the matter? Are you a fugitive from +justice?" + +Barnes laughed aloud. There was no withstanding the fellow's sprightly +impudence. + +"I happen to enjoy walking," said he. + +"If I enjoyed it as much as you do, I'd be limping into Harlem by this +time," said Mr. Dillingford sadly. "But, you see, I'm an actor. I'm +too proud to walk." + +"Up against poor business, I presume?" + +"Up against no business at all," said Mr. Dillingford. "We couldn't +even get 'em to come in on passes. Last Saturday night we had out +enough paper to fill the house and, by gosh, only eleven people showed +up. You can't beat that, can you? Three of 'em paid to get in. That +made a dollar and a half, box office. We nearly had to give it back." + +"Bad weather?" suggested Barnes feelingly. He had removed his wet +coat, and stood waiting. + +"Nope. Moving pictures. They'd sooner pay ten cents to see a movie +than to come in and see us free. The old man was so desperate he tried +to kill himself the morning we arrived at this joint." + +"You mean the star? Poison, rope or pistol?" + +"Whiskey. He tried to drink himself to death. Before old Jones got +onto him he had put down seven dollars' worth of booze, and now we've +got to help wipe out the account. But why complain? It's all in a +day's--" + +The cracked bell on the office desk interrupted him, somewhat +peremptorially. Mr. Dillingford's face assumed an expression of +profound dignity. He lowered his voice as he gave vent to the +following: + +"That man Jones is the meanest human being God ever let--Yes, sir, +coming, sir!" He started for the open door with surprising alacrity. + +"Never mind the hot water," said Barnes, sorry for the little man. + +"No use," said Mr. Dillingford dejectedly. "He charges ten cents for +hot water. You've got to have it whether you want it or not. Remember +that you are in the very last stages of New England. The worst +affliction known to the human race. So long. I'll be back in two +shakes of a lamb's--" The remainder of his promise was lost in the +rush of exit. + +Barnes surveyed the little bed-chamber. It was just what he had +expected it would be. The walls were covered with a garish paper +selected by one who had an eye but not a taste for colour: bright pink +flowers that looked more or less like chunks of a shattered water +melon spilt promiscuously over a background of pearl grey. There was +every indication that it had been hung recently. Indeed there was a +distinct aroma of fresh flour paste. The bedstead, bureau and +washstand were likewise offensively modern. Everything was as clean as +a pin, however, and the bed looked comfortable. He stepped to the +small, many-paned window and looked out into the night. The storm was +at its height. In all his life he never had heard such a clatter of +rain, nor a wind that shrieked so appallingly. + +His thoughts went quite naturally to the woman who was out there in +the thick of it. He wondered how she was faring, and lamented that she +was not in his place now and he in hers. A smile lighted his eyes. She +had such a nice voice and such a quaint way of putting things into +words. What was she doing up in this God-forsaken country? And how +could she be so certain of that grumpy old man whom she had never laid +eyes on before? What was the name of the place she was bound for? +Green Fancy! What an odd name for a house! And what sort of house-- + +His reflections were interrupted by the return of Mr. Dillingford, who +carried a huge pewter pitcher from which steam arose in volume. At his +heels strode a tall, cadaverous person in a checked suit. + +Never had Barnes seen anything quite so overpowering in the way of a +suit. Joseph's coat of many colours was no longer a vision of +childhood. It was a reality. The checks were an inch square, and each +cube had a narrow border of azure blue. The general tone was a dirty +grey, due no doubt to age and a constitution that would not allow it +to outlive its usefulness. + +"Meet Mr. Bacon, Mr. Barnes," introduced Mr. Dillingford, going to the +needless exertion of indicating Mr. Bacon with a generous sweep of his +free hand. "Our heavy leads. Mr. Montague Bacon, also of New York." + +"Ham and eggs, pork tenderloin, country sausage, rump steak and spring +chicken," said Mr. Bacon, in a cavernous voice, getting it over with +while the list was fresh in his memory. "Fried and boiled potatoes, +beans, succotash, onions, stewed tomatoes and--er--just a moment, +please. Fried and boiled potatoes, beans--" + +"Learn your lines, Ague," said Mr. Dillingford, from the washstand. +"We call him Ague for short, Mr. Barnes, because he's always shaky +with his lines." + +"Ham and eggs, potatoes and a cup or two of coffee," said Barnes, +suppressing a desire to laugh. + +"And apple pie," concluded the waiter, triumphantly. "I knew I'd get +it if you gave me time. As you may have observed, my dear sir, I am +not what you would call an experienced waiter. As a matter of fact, I--" + +"I told him you were an actor," interrupted his friend. "Run along now +and give the order to Mother Jones. Mr. Barnes is hungry." + +"I am delighted to meet you, Mr. Barnes," said Mr. Bacon, extending +his hand. As he did so, his coat sleeve receded half way to the elbow, +revealing the full expanse of a frayed cuff. "So delighted, in fact, +that it gives me great pleasure to inform you that you have at last +encountered a waiter who does not expect a tip. God forbid that I +should ever sink so low as that. I have been a villain of the deepest +dye in a score or more of productions--many of them depending to a +large extent upon the character of the work I did in--" + +"Actor stuff," inserted Mr. Dillingford, unfeelingly. + +"--And I have been hissed a thousand times by gallery gods and kitchen +angels from one end of this broad land to the other, but never, sir, +never in all my career have I been obliged to play such a diabolical +part as I am playing here, and, dammit, sir, I am denied even the +tribute of a healthy hiss. This is--" + +The bell downstairs rang violently. Mr. Bacon departed in great haste. + +While the traveller performed his ablutions, Mr. Dillingford, for the +moment disengaged, sat upon the edge of the bed and enjoyed himself. +He talked. + +"We were nine at the start," said he, pensively. "Gradually we were +reduced to seven, not including the manager. I doubled and so did Miss +Hughes,--a very charming actress, by the way, who will soon be heard +of on Broadway unless I miss my guess. The last week I was playing +Dick Cranford, light juvenile, and General Parsons, comedy old man. In +the second act Dick has to meet the general face to face and ask him +for his daughter's hand. Miss Hughes was Amy Parsons, and, as I say, +doubled along toward the end. She played her own mother. The best you +could say for the arrangement was that the family resemblance was +remarkable. I never saw a mother and daughter look so much alike. You +see, she didn't have time to change her make-up or costume, so all she +could do was to put on a long shawl and a grey wig, and that made a +mother of her. Well, we had a terrible time getting around that scene +between Dick and the general. Amy and her mother were in on it too, +and Mrs. Parsons was supposed to faint. It looked absolutely +impossible for Miss Hughes. But we got around it, all right." + +"How, may I ask?" enquired Barnes, over the edge of a towel. + +"Just as I was about to enter to tackle the old man, who was seated in +his library with Mrs. Parsons, the lights went out. I jumped up and +addressed the audience, telling 'em (almost in a confidential whisper, +there were so darned few of 'em) that there was nothing to be alarmed +about and the act would go right on. Then Amy and Dick came on in +total darkness, and the audience never got wise to the game. When the +lights went up, there was Amy and Dick embracing each other in plain +view, the old folks nowhere in sight. General Parsons had dragged the +old lady into the next room. We made our changes right there on the +stage, speaking all four parts at the same time." + +"Pretty clever," said Barnes. + +"My idea," announced Mr. Dillingford calmly. + +"What has become of the rest of the company?" + +"Well, as I said before, two of 'em escaped before the smash. The low +comedian and character old woman. Joe Beckley and his wife. That left +the old man,--I mean Mr. Rushcroft, the star--Lyndon Rushcroft, you +know,--myself and Bacon, Tommy Gray, Miss Rushcroft, Miss Hughes and a +woman named Bradley, seven of us. Miss Hughes happened to know a chap +who was travelling around the country for his health, always meeting +up with us,--accidentally, of course,--and he staked her to a ticket +to New York. The woman named Bradley said her mother was dying in +Buffalo, so the rest of us scraped together all the money we had,-- +nine dollars and sixty cents,--and did the right thing by her. Actors +are always doing darn-fool things like that, Mr. Barnes. And what do +you suppose she did? She took that money and bought two tickets to +Albany, one for herself and another for the manager of the company,-- +the lowest, meanest, orneriest white man that ever,--But I am crabbing +the old man's part. You ought to hear what HE has to say about Mr. +Manager. He can use words I never even heard of before. So, that +leaves just the four of us here, working off the two days' board bill +of Bradley and the manager, Rushcroft's ungodly spree, and at the same +time keeping our own slate clean. Miss Thackeray will no doubt make up +your bed in the morning. She is temporarily a chambermaid. Cracking +fine girl, too, if I do say--" + +"Miss Thackeray? I don't recall your mentioning--" + +"Mercedes Thackeray on the programme, but in real life, as they say, +Emma Smith. She is Rushcroft's daughter." + +"Somewhat involved, isn't it?" + +"Not in the least. Rushcroft's real name is Otterbein Smith. Horrible, +isn't it? He sprung from some place in Indiana, where the authors come +from. Miss Thackeray was our ingenue. A trifle large for that sort of +thing, perhaps, but--very sprightly, just the same. She's had her full +growth upwards, but not outwards. Tommy Gray, the other member of the +company, is driving a taxi in Hornville. He used to own his own car in +Springfield, Mass., by the way. Comes of a very good family. At least, +so he says. Are you all ready? I'll lead you to the dining-room. Or +would you prefer a little appetiser beforehand? The tap-room is right +on the way. You mustn't call it the bar. Everybody in that little +graveyard down the road would turn over completely if you did. +Hallowed tradition, you know." + +"I don't mind having a cocktail. Will you join me?" + +"As a matter of fact, I'm expected to," confessed Mr. Dillingford. +"We've been drawing quite a bit of custom to the tap-room. The rubes +like to sit around and listen to conversation about Broadway and +Bunker Hill and Old Point Comfort and other places, and then go home +and tell the neighbours that they know quite a number of stage people. +Human nature, I guess. I used to think that if I could ever meet an +actress I'd be the happiest thing in the world. Well, I've met a lot +of 'em, and God knows I'm not as happy as I was when I was WISHING I +could meet one of them. Listen! Hear that? Rushcroft is reciting Gunga +Din. You can't hear the thunder for the noise he's making." + +They descended the stairs and entered the tap-room, where a dozen men +were seated around the tables, all of them with pewter mugs in front +of them. Standing at the top table,--that is to say, the one farthest +removed from the door and commanding the attention of every creature +in the room--was the imposing figure of Lyndon Rushcroft. He was +reciting, in a sonorous voice and with tremendous fervour, the famous +Kipling poem. Barnes had heard it given a score of times at The +Players in New York, and knew it by heart. He was therefore able to +catch Mr. Rushcroft in the very reprehensible act of taking liberties +with the designs of the author. The "star," after a sharp and rather +startled look at the newcomer, deliberately "cut" four stanzas and +rushed somewhat hastily through the concluding verse, marring a +tremendous climax. + +A genial smile wiped the tragic expression from his face. He advanced +upon Barnes and the beaming Mr. Dillingford, his hand extended. + +"My dear fellow," he exclaimed resoundingly, "how are you?" Cordiality +boomed in his voice. "I heard you had arrived. Welcome,--thricefold +welcome!" He neglected to say that Mr. Montague Bacon, in passing a +few minutes before, had leaned over and whispered behind his hand: + +"Fellow upstairs from New York, Mr. Rushcroft,--fellow named Barnes. +Quite a swell, believe me." + +It was a well-placed tip, for Mr. Rushcroft had been telling the +natives for days that he knew everybody worth knowing in New York. + +Barnes was momentarily taken aback. Then he rose to the spirit of the +occasion. + +"Hello, Rushcroft," he greeted, as if meeting an old time and greatly +beloved friend. "This IS good. 'Pon my soul, you are like a thriving +date palm in the middle of an endless desert. How are you?" + +They shook hands warmly. Mr. Dillingford slapped the newcomer on the +shoulder, affectionately, familiarly, and shouted: + +"Who would have dreamed we'd run across good old Barnesy up here? By +Jove, it's marvellous!" + +"Friends, countrymen," boomed Mr. Rushcroft, "this is Mr. Barnes of +New York. Not the man the book was written about, but one of the best +fellows God ever put into this little world of ours. I do not recall +your names, gentlemen, or I would introduce each of you separately and +divisibly. And when did you leave New York, my dear fellow?" + +"A fortnight ago," replied Barnes. "I have been walking for the past +two weeks." + +Mr. Rushcroft's expression changed. His face fell. + +"Walking?" he repeated, a trifle stiffly. Was the fellow a tramp? Was +he in no better condition of life than himself and his stranded +companions, against whom the mockery of the assemblage was slyly but +indubitably directed? If so, what was to be gained by claiming +friendship with him? It behooved him to go slow. He drew himself up to +his full height. "Well, well! Really?" he said. + +The others looked on with interest. The majority were farmers, hardy, +rawboned men with misty eyes. Two of them looked like mechanics,-- +blacksmiths, was Barnes' swift estimate,--and as there was an odor of +gasolene in the low, heavy-timbered room, others were no doubt +connected with the tavern garage. For that matter, there was also an +atmosphere of the stables. + +Lyndon Rushcroft was a tall, saggy man of fifty. Despite his +determined erectness, he was inclined to sag from the shoulders down. +His head, huge and grey, appeared to be much too ponderous for his +yielding body, and yet he carried it manfully, even theatrically. The +lines in his dark, seasoned face were like furrows; his nose was large +and somewhat bulbous, his mouth wide and grim. Thick, black eyebrows +shaded a pair of eyes in which white was no longer apparent; it had +given way to a permanent red. A two days' stubble covered his chin and +cheeks. Altogether he was a singular exemplification of one's idea of +the old-time actor. He was far better dressed than the two male +members of his company who had come under Barnes' observation. A +fashionably made cutaway coat of black, a fancy waistcoat, and +trousers with a delicate stripe (sadly in need of creasing) gave him +an air of distinction totally missing in his subordinates. (Afterwards +Barnes was to learn that he was making daily use of his last act +drawing-room costume, which included a silk hat and a pair of pearl +grey gloves.) Evidently he had possessed the foresight to "skip out" +in the best that the wardrobe afforded, leaving his ordinary garments +for the sheriff to lay hands upon. + +"A customary adventure with me," said Barnes. "I take a month's +walking tour every spring, usually timing my pilgrimage so as to miss +the hoi-polloi that blunders into the choice spots of the world later +on and spoils them completely for me. This is my first jaunt into this +part of New England. Most attractive walking, my dear fellow. +Wonderful scenery, splendid air--" "Deliver me from the hoi-polloi," +said Mr. Rushcroft, at his ease once more. "I may also add, deliver me +from walking. I'm damned if I can see anything in it. What will you +have to drink, old chap?" + +He turned toward the broad aperture which served as a passageway in +the wall for drinks leaving the hands of a fat bartender beyond to +fall into the clutches of thirsty customers in the tap-room. There was +no outstanding bar. A time-polished shelf, as old as the house itself, +provided the afore-said bartender with a place on which to spread his +elbows while not actively engaged in advancing mugs and bottles from +more remote resting-places at his back. + +"Everything comes through 'the hole in the wall,'" explained +Rushcroft, wrinkling his face into a smile. + +He unceremoniously turned his back on the audience of a moment before, +and pounded smartly on the shelf, notwithstanding the fact that the +bartender was less than a yard away and facing him expectantly. "What +ho! Give ear, professor. Ye gods, what a night! Devil-brewed +pandemonium--I beg pardon?" + +"I was just about to ask what you will have," said Barnes, lining up +beside him with Mr. Dillingford. + +Mr. Rushcroft drew himself up once more. "My dear fellow, I asked you +to have a--" + +"But I had already invited Dillingford. You must allow me to extend +the invitation--" + +"Say no more, sir. I understand perfectly. A flagon of ale, Bob, for +me." He leaned closer to Barnes and said, in what was supposed to be a +confidential aside: "Don't tackle the whiskey. It would kill a +rattlesnake." + +A few minutes later he laid one hand fondly upon Barnes' shoulder and, +with a graceful sweep of the other in the direction of the hall, +addressed himself to Dillingford. + +"Lead the way to the banquet-hall, good fellow. We follow." To the +patrons he was abandoning: + +"We return anon." Passing through the office, his arm linked in one of +Barnes', Mr. Rushcroft hesitated long enough to impress upon Landlord +Jones the importance of providing his "distinguished friend, Robert W. +Barnes," with the very best that the establishment afforded. Putnam +Jones blinked slightly and his eyes sought the register as if to +accuse or justify his memory. Then he spat copiously into the corner, +a necessary preliminary to a grin. He hadn't much use for the great +Lyndon Rushcroft. His grin was sardonic. Something told him that Mr. +Rushcroft was about to be liberally fed. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +MR. RUSHCROFT DISSOLVES, MR. JONES INTERVENES, AND TWO MEN RIDE AWAY + + +Mr. Rushcroft explained that he had had his supper. In fact, he went +on to confess, he had been compelled, like the dog, to "speak" for it. +What could be more disgusting, more degrading, he mourned, than the +spectacle of a man who had appeared in all of the principal theatres +of the land as star and leading support to stars, settling for his +supper by telling stories and reciting poetry in the tap-room of a +tavern? + +"Still," he consented, when Barnes insisted that it would be a +kindness to him, "since you put it that way, I dare say I could do +with a little snack, as you so aptly put it. Just a bite or two. Like +you, my dear fellow, I loathe and detest eating alone. I covet +companionship, convivial com--what have you ready, Miss Tilly?" + +Miss Tilly was a buxom female of forty or thereabouts, with +spectacles. She was one of a pair of sedentary waitresses who had been +so long in the employ of Mr. Jones that he hated the sight of them. +Close proximity to a real star affected her intensely. In fact, she +was dazzled. For something like twenty years she had nursed an +ambition that wavered between the desire to become an actress or an +authoress. At present she despised literature. More than once she had +confessed to Mr. Rushcroft that she hated like poison to write out the +bill-o'-fare, a duty devolving solely upon her, it appears, because of +a local tradition that she possessed literary talent. Every one said +that she wrote the best hand in the county. + +Mr. Rushcroft's conception of a bite or two may have staggered Barnes +but it did not bewilder Miss Tilly. He had four eggs with his ham, and +other things in proportion. He talked a great deal, proving in that +way that it was a supper well worth speaking for. Among other things, +he dilated at great length upon his reasons for not being a member of +The Players or The Lambs in New York City. It seems that he had +promised his dear, devoted wife that he would never join a club of any +description. Dear old girl, he would as soon have cut off his right +hand as to break any promise made to her. He brushed something away +from his eyes, and his chin, contracting, trembled slightly. + +"Quite right," said Barnes, sympathetically. "And how long has Mrs. +Rushcroft been dead?" + +A hurt, incredulous look came into Mr. Rushcroft's eyes. "Is it +possible that you have forgotten the celebrated case of Rushcroft vs. +Rushcroft, not more than six years back? Good Lord, man, it was one of +the most sensational cases that ever--But I see that you do not recall +it. You must have been abroad at the time. I don't believe I ever knew +of a case being quite so admirably handled by the press as that one +was. She got it after a bitter and protracted fight. Infidelity. +Nothing so rotten as cruelty or desertion,--no sir!" + +"Ahem!" coughed Miss Tilly. + +"The dear old girl married again," sighed Mr. Rushcroft, helping +himself to Barnes' butter. "Did very well, too. Man in the wine trade. +He saves a great deal, you see, by getting it at cost, and I can +assure you, on my word of honour, sir, that he'll find it quite an +item. What is it, Mr. Bacon? Any word from New York?" + +Mr. Bacon hovered near, perhaps hungrily. + +"Our genial host has instructed me to say to his latest guest that the +rates are two dollars a day, in advance, all dining-room checks +payable on presentation," said Mr. Bacon, apologetically. + +Rushcroft exploded. "A scurvy insult," he boomed. "Confound his--" + +The new guest was amiable. He interrupted the outraged star. "Tell Mr. +Jones that I shall settle promptly," he said, with a smile. + +The "heavy leads" lowered his voice. "He told me that he had had a +horrible thought." + +"He never has anything else," said Mr. Rushcroft. + +"It has just entered his bean that you may be an actor, Mr. Barnes," +said Bacon. + +Miss Tilly, overhearing, drew a step or two nearer. A sudden interest +in Mr. Barnes developed. She had not noticed before that he was an +uncommonly good-looking fellow. She always had said that she adored +strong, "athletic" faces. + +"Hence the insult," said Mr. Rushcroft bitterly. He raised both arms +in a gesture of complete dejection. "My God!" + +"Says it looks suspicious," went on Mr. Bacon, "flocking with us as +you do. He mentioned something about birds of a feather." + +Mr. Rushcroft arose majestically. "I shall see the man myself, Mr. +Barnes. His infernal insolence--" + +"Pray do not distress yourself, my dear Rushcroft," interrupted +Barnes. "He is quite within his rights. I may be even worse than an +actor. I may turn out to be an ordinary tramp." He took a wallet from +his pocket, and smiled engagingly upon Miss Tilly. "The check, +please." + +"For both?" inquired she, blinking. + +"Certainly. Mr. Rushcroft was my guest." + +"Four twenty five," she announced, after computation on the back of +the menu. + +He selected a five dollar bill from the rather plethoric purse and +handed it to her. + +"Be so good as to keep the change," he said, and Miss Tilly went away +in a daze from which she did not emerge for a long, long time. + +Later on she felt inspired to jot down, for use no doubt in some +future literary production, a concise, though general, description of +the magnificent Mr. Barnes. She utilised the back of the bill-of-fare +and she wrote with the feverish ardour of one who dreads the loss of a +first impression. I herewith append her visual estimate of the hero of +this story. + +"He was a tall, shapely speciman of mankind," wrote Miss Tilly. +"Broad-shouldered. Smooth shaved face. Penetrating grey eyes. Short +curly hair about the colour of mine. Strong hands of good shape. Face +tanned considerable. Heavy dark eyebrows. Good teeth, very white. +Square chin. Lovely smile that seemed to light up the room for +everybody within hearing. Nose ideal. Mouth same. Voice aristocratic +and reverberating with education. Age about thirty or thirty one. Rich +as Croesus. Costume resembling the picture in the English novel the +woman forgot and left here last summer. Well turned legs. Would make a +good nobleman." + +All this would appear to be reasonably definite were it not for the +note regarding the colour of his hair. It leaves to me the simple task +of completing the very admirable description of Mr. Barnes by +announcing that Miss Tilly's hair was an extremely dark brown. + +Also it is advisable to append the following biographical information: +Thomas Kingsbury Barnes, engineer, born in Montclair, New Jersey, +Sept. 26, 1885. Cornell and Beaux Arts, Paris. Son of the late Stephen +S. Barnes, engineer, and Edith (Valentine) Barnes. Office, +Metropolitan Building, New York City. Residence, Amsterdam Mansions. +Clubs: (Lack of space prevents listing them here). Recreations: golf, +tennis, and horseback riding. Author of numerous articles resulting +from expeditions and discoveries in Peru and Ecuador. Fellow of the +Royal Geographic Society. Member of the Loyal Legion and the Sons of +the American Revolution. + +Added to this, the mere announcement that he was in a position to +indulge a fancy for long and perhaps aimless walking tours through +more or less out of the way sections of his own country, to say +nothing of excursions in Europe. + +Needless to say, he obtained a great deal of pleasure from these +lonely jaunts, and at the same time laid up for future use an ample +supply of mind's ease. His was undoubtedly a romantic nature. He loved +the fancies that his susceptibilities garnered from the hills and +dales and fields and forests. He never tired of the changing prospect; +the simple meadow and the inspiring mountain peak were as one to his +generous imagination. He found something worth while in every mile he +traversed in these long and solitary tramps, and he covered no fewer +than twenty of them between breakfast and dinner unless ordered by +circumstance to loiter along the way. + +Each succeeding spring he set out from his "diggings" in New York +without having the remotest idea where his peregrinations would carry +him. It was his habit to select a starting point in advance, approach +that spot by train or ship or motor, and then divest himself of all +purpose except to fare forward until he came upon some haven for the +night. He went east or west, north or south, even as the winds of +heaven blow; indeed, he not infrequently followed them. + +For five or six weeks in the early spring it was his custom to forge +his daily chain of miles and, when the end was reached, climb +contentedly aboard a train and be transported, often by arduous means, +to the city where millions of men walk with a definite aim in view. He +liked the spring of the year. He liked the rains and the winds of +early spring. They meant the beginning of things to him. + +He was rich. Perhaps not as riches are measured in these Midas-like +days, but rich beyond the demands of avarice. His legacy had been an +ample one. The fact that he worked hard at his profession from one +year's end to the other,--not excluding the six weeks devoted to these +mentally productive jaunts,--is proof sufficient that he was not +content to subsist on the fruits of another man's enterprise. He was a +worker. He was a creator, a builder and a destroyer. It was part of +his ambition to destroy in order that he might build the better. + +The first fortnight of a proposed six weeks' jaunt through Upper New +England terminated when he laid aside his heavy pack in the little +bed-room at Hart's Tavern. Cock-crow would find him ready and eager to +begin his third week. At least, so he thought. But, truth is, he had +come to his journey's end; he was not to sling his pack for many a day +to come. + +After setting the mind of the landlord at rest, Barnes declined Mr. +Rushcroft's invitation to "quaff" a cordial with him in the tap-room, +explaining that he was exceedingly tired and intended to retire early +(an announcement that caused unmistakable distress to the actor, who +held forth for some time on the folly of "letting a thing like that go +without taking it in time," although it was not made quite clear just +what he meant by "thing"). Barnes was left to infer that he considered +fatigue a malady that ought to be treated. + +Instead of going up to his room immediately, however, he decided to +have a look at the weather. He stepped out upon the wet porch and +closed the door behind him. The wind was still high; the lantern +creaked and the dingy sign that hung above the steps gave forth +raucous, spasmodic wails as it swung back and forth in the stiff, raw +wind. Far away to the north lightning flashed dimly; the roar of +thunder had diminished to a low, half-hearted growl. + +His uneasiness concerning the young woman of the cross-roads increased +as he peered at the wall of blackness looming up beyond the circle of +light. He could not see the towering hills, but memory pictured them +as they were revealed to him in the gathering darkness before the +storm. She was somewhere outside that sinister black wall and in the +smothering grasp of those invisible hills, but was she living or dead? +Had she reached her journey's end safely? He tried to extract comfort +from the confidence she had expressed in the ability and integrity of +the old man who drove with far greater recklessness than one would +have looked for in a wild and irresponsible youngster. + +He recalled, with a thrill, the imperious manner in which she gave +directions to the man, and his surprising servility. It suddenly +occurred to him that she was no ordinary person; he was rather amazed +that he had not thought of it before. + +She had confessed to total ignorance regarding the driver of that +ramshackle conveyance; to being utterly at sea in the neighbourhood; +to having walked like any country bumpkin from the railroad station, +lugging an unconscionably heavy bag; and yet, despite all this, she +seemed amazingly sure of herself. He recalled her frivolous remark +about her jewels, and now wondered if there had not been more truth +than jest in her words. Then there was the rather significant +alteration in tone and manner when she spoke to the driver. The soft, +somewhat deliberate drawl gave way to sharp, crisp sentences; the +quaint good humour vanished and in its place he had no difficulty in +remembering a very decided note of command. + +Moreover, now that he thought of it, there was, even in the agreeable +rejoinders she had made to his offerings, the faint suggestion of an +accent that should have struck him at the time but did not for the +obvious reason that he was then not at all interested in her. Her +English was so perfect that he had failed to detect the almost +imperceptible foreign flavour that now took definite form in his +reflections. He tried to place this accent. Was it French, or Italian, +or Spanish? Certainly it was not German. The lightness of the Latin +was evident, he decided, but it was all so faint and remote that +classification was impossible, notwithstanding his years of +association with the peoples of many countries where English is spoken +more perfectly by the upper classes, who have a language of their own, +than it is in England itself. + +He took a few turns up and down the long porch, stopping finally at +the upper end. The clear, inspiring clang of a hammer on an anvil fell +suddenly upon his ears. He looked at his watch. The hour was nine, +certainly an unusual time for men to be at work in a forge. He +remembered the two men in the tap-room who were bare-armed and wore +the shapeless leather aprons of the smithy. + +He had been standing there not more than half a minute peering in the +direction from whence came the rhythmic bang of the anvil,--at no +great distance, he was convinced,--when some one spoke suddenly at his +elbow. He whirled and found himself facing the gaunt landlord. + +"Good Lord! You startled me," he exclaimed. He had not heard the +approach of the man, nor the opening and closing of the tavern door. +His gaze travelled past the tall figure of Putnam Jones and rested on +that of a second man, who leaned, with legs crossed and arms folded, +against the porch post directly in front of the entrance to the house, +his features almost wholly concealed by the broad-brimmed slouch hat +that came far down over his eyes. He too, it seemed to Barnes, had +sprung from nowhere. + +"Fierce night," said Putnam Jones, removing the corn-cob pipe from his +lips. Then, as an after thought: "Sorry I skeert you. I thought you +heerd me." + +"I was listening to the song of the anvil," said Barnes, as the +landlord moved forward and took his place beside him. "It has always +possessed a singular charm for me." + +"Special hurry-up job," said Jones, and no more. + +"Shoeing?" + +"Yep. You'd think these hayseeds could git their horses in here durin' +regular hours, wouldn't you?" + +"I dare say they consider their own regular hours instead of yours, +Mr. Jones." + +"I didn't quite ketch that." + +"I mean that they bring their horses in after their regular day's work +is done." + +"I see. Yes, I reckon that's the idee." After a few pulls at his pipe, +the landlord inquired: "Where'd you walk from to-day?" "I slept in a +farm-house last night, about fifteen miles south of this place I +should say." + +"That'd be a little ways out of East Cobb," speculated Mr. Jones. + +"Five or six miles." + +"Goin' over into Canada?" + +"No. I shall turn west, I think, and strike for the Lake Champlain +country." + +"Canadian line is only a few miles from here," said Jones. "Last +summer we had a couple of crooks from Boston here, makin' a dash for +the border. Didn't know it till they'd been gone a day, however. The +officers were just a day behind 'em. Likely lookin' fellers, too. Last +men in the world you'd take for bank robbers." + +"Bank robbers, as a rule, are very classy looking customers," said +Barnes. + +Mr. Jones grunted. After a short silence, he branched off on a new +line. "What you think about the war? Think it'll be over soon?" + +"It has been going on for nearly two years, and I can't see any signs +of abatement. Looks to me like a draw. They're all tired of it." + +"Think the Germans are going to win?" + +"No. They can't win. On the other hand, I don't see how the Allies can +win. I may be wrong, of course. The Allies are getting stronger every +day and the Germans must surely be getting weaker. As a matter of +fact, Mr. Jones, I've long since stopped speculating on the outcome of +the war. It is too big for me. I am not one of your know-it-alls who +figure the whole thing out from day to day, and then wonder why the +fool generals didn't have sense enough to perform as expected." + +"I wish them countries over there would let me fix 'em out with +generals," drawled Mr. Jones. "I could pick out fifteen or twenty men +right here in this district that could show 'em in ten minutes just +how to win the war. You'd be surprised to know how many great generals +we have running two by four farms and choppin' wood for a livin' up +here. And there are fellers settin' right in there now that never saw +a body of water bigger'n Plum Pond, an' every blamed one of 'em knows +more'n the whole British navy about ketchin' submarines. The quickest +way to end the war, says Jim Roudebush,--one of our leadin' ice- +cutters,--is for the British navy to bombard Berlin from both sides, +an' he don't see why in thunder they've never thought of it. I suppose +you've travelled right smart in Europe?" + +"Quite a bit, Mr. Jones." + +"Any partic'lar part?" + +"No," said Barnes, suddenly divining that he was being "pumped." "One +end to the other, you might say." + +"What about them countries down around Bulgaria and Roumania? I've +been considerable interested in what's going to become of them if +Germany gets licked. What do they get out of it, either way?" + +Barnes spent the next ten minutes expatiating upon the future of the +Balkan states. Jones had little to say. He was interested, and drank +in all the information that Barnes had to impart. He puffed at his +pipe, nodded his head from time to time, and occasionally put a +leading question. And quite as abruptly as he introduced the topic he +changed it. + +"Not many automobiles up here at this time 'o the year," he said. "I +was a little surprised when you said a feller had given you a lift. +Where from?" + +"The cross-roads, a mile down. He came from the direction of Frogg's +Corner and was on his way to meet some one at Spanish Falls." Barnes +shrewdly leaped to the conclusion that the landlord's interest in the +European War was more or less assumed. The man's purpose was beginning +to reveal itself. He was evidently curious, if not actually concerned, +about his guest's arrival by motor. + +"That's queer," he said, after a moment. "There's no train arrivin' at +Spanish Falls as late as six o'clock. Gets in at four-ten, if she's on +time. And she was reported on time to-day." + +"It appears that there was a misunderstanding. The driver didn't meet +the train, so the person he was going after walked all the way to the +forks. We happened upon each other there, Mr. Jones, and we studied +the sign-post together. She was bound for a place called Green Fancy." + +"Did you say SHE?" + +"Yes. I was proposing to help her out of her predicament when the +belated motor came racing down the slope. As a matter of fact, I was +wrong when I said that a man brought me here in an automobile. It was +she who did it. She gave the order. He merely obeyed,--and not very +willingly, I suspect." + +"What for sort of looking lady was she?" + +"She wore a veil," said Barnes, succinctly. + +"Young?" + +"I had that impression. By the way, Mr. Jones, what and where is Green +Fancy?" + +Jones looked over his shoulder, and his guest's glance followed. The +man near the entrance had been joined by another. + +"Well," began the landlord, lowering his voice, "it's about two mile +and a half from here, up the mountain. It's a house and people live in +it, same as any other house. That's about all there is to say about +it." + +"Why is it called Green Fancy?" + +"Because it's a green house," replied Jones succinctly. + +"You mean that it is painted green?" + +"Exactly. Green as a gourd. A man named Curtis built it a couple o' +year ago and he had a fool idee about paintin' it green. Might ha' +been a little crazy, for all I know. Anyhow, after he got it finished +he settled down to live in it, and from that day to this he's never +been off'n the place. He didn't seem sick or anything, so we can't +make out his object in shuttin' himself up in the house an' seldom +ever stickin' his nose outside the door." + +"Isn't it possible that he isn't there at all?" + +"He's there all right. Every now an' then he has visitors,--just like +this woman to-day,--and sometimes they come down here for supper. They +don't hesitate to speak of him, so he must be there. Miss Tilly has +got the idee that he is a reecluse, if you know what that is." + +"It's all very interesting. I should say, judging by the visitor who +came this evening, that he entertains extremely nice people." + +"Well," said Jones drily, "they claim to be from New York. But," he +added, "so do them cheapskate actors in there." Which was as much as +to say that he had his doubts. + +Further conversation was interrupted by the irregular clatter of +horses' hoofs on the macadam. Off to the left a dull red glow of light +spread across the roadway, and a man's voice called out: "Whoa, dang +ye!" + +The door of the smithy had been thrown open and some one was leading +forth freshly shod horses. + +A moment later the horses,--prancing, high-spirited animals,--their +bridle-bits held by a strapping blacksmith, came into view. Barnes +looked in the direction of the steps. The two men had disappeared. +Instead of stopping directly in front of the steps, the smith led his +charges quite a distance beyond and into the darkness. + +Putnam Jones abruptly changed his position. He insinuated his long +body between Barnes and the doorway, at the same time rather loudly +proclaiming that the rain appeared to be over. + +"Yes, sir," he repeated, "she seems to have let up altogether. Ought +to have a nice day to-morrow, Mr. Barnes,--nice, cool day for +walkin'." + +Voices came up from the darkness. Jones had not been able to cover +them with his own. Barnes caught two or three sharp commands, rising +above the pawing of horses' hoofs, and then a great clatter as the +mounted horsemen rode off in the direction of the cross-roads. The +beat of the hoofs became rhythmical as the animals steadied into a +swinging lope. + +Barnes waited until they were muffled by distance, and then turned to +Jones with the laconic remark: + +"They seem to be foreigners, Mr. Jones." Jones's manner became natural +once more. He leaned against one of the posts and, striking a match on +his leg, relighted his pipe. + +"Kind o' curious about 'em, eh?" he drawled. + +"It never entered my mind until this instant to be curious," said +Barnes. + +"Well, it entered their minds about an hour ago to be curious about +you," said the other. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AN EXTRAORDINARY CHAMBERMAID, A MIDNIGHT TRAGEDY, AND A MAN WHO SAID +"THANK YOU" + + +Miss Thackeray was "turning down" his bed when he entered his room +after bidding his new actor friends good night. All three promised to +be up bright and early in the morning to speed him on his way with +good wishes. Mr. Rushcroft declared that he would break the habit of +years and get up in time to partake of a seven o'clock breakfast with +him. Mr. Dillingford and Mr. Bacon, though under sentence to eat at +six with the rest of the "help," were quite sanguine that old man +Jones wouldn't mind if they ate again at seven. So it was left that +Barnes was to have company for breakfast. + +He was staggered and somewhat abashed by the appearance of Miss +Thackeray. She was by no means dressed as a chambermaid should be, nor +was she as dumb. On the contrary, she confronted him in the choicest +raiment that her wardrobe contained, and she was bright and cheery and +exceedingly incompetent. It was her costume that shocked him. Not only +was she attired in a low-necked, rose-coloured evening gown, liberally +bespangled with tinsel, but she wore a vast top-heavy picture-hat +whose crown of black was almost wholly obscured by a gorgeous white +feather that once must have adorned the king of all ostriches. She was +not at all his idea of a chambermaid. He started to back out of the +door with an apology for having blundered into the wrong room by +mistake. + +"Come right in," she said cheerily. "I'll soon be through. I suppose I +should have done all this an hour ago, but I just had to write a few +letters." She went on with her clumsy operations. "I don't know who +made up this bed but whoever did was determined that it should stay +put. I never knew that bed clothes could be tucked in as far and as +tight as these. Tight enough for old Mother Jones to have done it +herself, and heaven knows she's a tight one. I am Miss Thackeray. This +is Mr. Barnes, I believe." + +He bowed, still quite overcome. + +"You needn't be scared," she cried, observing his confusion. "This is +my regular uniform. I'm starting a new style for chambermaids. Did it +paralyse you to find me here?" + +"I must confess to a moment of indecision," he said, smiling. + +"Followed by a moment of uneasiness," she added, slapping the bolster. +"You didn't know what to think, now did you?" + +"I couldn't believe my eyes." + +She abandoned her easy, careless manner. A look of mortification came +into her eyes as she straightened up and faced him. Her voice was a +trifle husky when she spoke again, after a moment's pause. + +"You see, Mr. Barnes, these are the only duds I have with me. It +wasn't necessary to put on this hat, of course, but I did it simply to +make the character complete. I might just as well make beds and clean +washstands in a picture hat as in a low-necked gown, so here I am." + +She was a tall, pleasant-faced girl of twenty-three or four, not +unlike her father in many respects. Her features were rather heavy, +her mouth large but comely, her eyes dark and lustrous behind heavy +lashes. As she now appeared before Barnes, she was the typical stage +society woman: in other words, utterly commonplace. In a drawing-room +she would have been as conspicuously out of place as she was in her +present occupation. + +"I am very sorry," he said lamely. "I have heard something of your +misfortunes from your father and--the others. It's--it's really hard +luck." + +"I call it rather good luck to have got away with the only dress in +the lot that cost more than tuppence," she said, smiling again. "Lord +knows what would have happened to me if they had dropped down on us at +the end of the first act. I was the beggar's daughter, you see,-- +absolutely in rags." + +"You might have got away in your ordinary street clothes, however," he +said; "which would have been pleasanter, I dare say." + +"I dare say," she agreed brightly. "Glad to have met you. I think +you'll find everything NEARLY all right. Good night, sir." + +She smiled brightly, unaffectedly, as she turned toward the open door. +There was something forelorn about her, after all, and his heart was +touched. + +"Better luck, Miss Thackeray. Every cloud has its silver lining." + +She stopped and faced him once more. "That's the worst bromide in the +language," she said. "If I were to tell you how many clouds I've seen +and how little silver, you'd think I was lying. This experience? Why, +it's a joy compared to some of the jolts we've had,--dad and me. And +the others, too, for that matter. We've had to get used to it. Five +years ago I would have jumped out of a ten story window before I'd +have let you see me in this get-up. I know you'll laugh yourself sick +over the way I look, and so will your friends when you tell them about +me, but, thank the Lord, I shan't be in a position to hear you. So why +should I mind? What a fellow doesn't know, isn't going to hurt him. +You haven't laughed in my face, and I'm grateful for that. What you do +afterward can't make the least bit of difference to me." + +"I assure you, Miss Thackeray, that I shall not laugh, nor shall I +ever relate the story of your--" + +"There is one more bromide that I've never found much virtue in," she +interrupted, not disagreeably, "and that is: 'it's too good to be +true.' Good night. Sleep tight." + +She closed the door behind her, leaving him standing in the middle of +the room, perplexed but amused. + +"By George," he said to himself, still staring at the closed door, +"they're wonders, all of them. We could all take lessons in philosophy +from such as they. I wish I could do something to help them out of--" +He sat down abruptly on the edge of the bed and pulled his wallet from +his pocket. He set about counting the bills, a calculating frown in +his eyes. Then he stared at the ceiling, summing up. "I'll do it," he +said, after a moment of mental figuring. He told off a half dozen +bills and slipped them into his pocket. The wallet sought its usual +resting place for the night: under a pillow. + +He was healthy and he was tired. Two minutes after his head touched +the pillow he was sound asleep, losing consciousness even as he fought +to stay awake in order that he might continue to vex himself with the +extraordinary behavior and statement of Putnam Jones. + +He was aroused shortly after midnight by shouts, apparently just +outside his window. A man was calling in a loud voice from the road +below; an instant later he heard a tremendous pounding on the tavern +door. + +Springing out of bed, he rushed to the window. There were horses in +front of the house,--several of them,--and men on foot moving like +shadows among them. A shuffling of feet came up to his open window; +the intervening roof shut off his view of the porch and all that was +transpiring. His eyes, accustomed to darkness, made out at least five +horses in the now unlighted area before the tavern. + +Turning from the window, he unlocked and opened the door into the +hall. Some one was clattering down the narrow staircase. The bolts on +the front door shot back with resounding force, and there came the +hoarse jumble of excited voices as men crowded through the entrance. +Putnam Jones's voice rose above the clamour. + +"Keep quiet! Do you want to wake everybody on the place?" he was +saying angrily. "What's up? This is a fine time o' night to be--Good +Lord! What's the matter with him?" + +"Telephone for a doctor, Put,--damn' quick! This one's still alive. +The other one is dead as a door nail up at Jim Conley's house. Git ole +Doc James down from Saint Liz. Bring him in here, boys. Where's your +lights? Easy now! Eas-EE!" + +Barnes waited to hear no more. His blood seemed to be running ice-cold +as he retreated into the room and began scrambling for his clothes. +The thing he feared had come to pass. Disaster had overtaken her in +that wild, senseless dash up the mountain road. He was cursing half +aloud as he dressed, cursing the fool who drove that machine and who +now was perhaps dying down there in the tap-room. "The other one is +dead as a door nail," kept running through his head,--"the other one." + +The rumble of voices and the shuffling of feet continued, indistinct +but laden with tragedy. The curious hush of catastrophe seemed to top +the confusion that infected the place, inside and out. Barnes found +his electric pocket torch and dressed hurriedly, though not fully, by +its constricted light. As he was pulling on his heavy walking shoes, a +head was inserted through the half open door, and an excited voice +called out: + +"You awake? Good work! Hustle along, will you? No more sleep to-night, +old chap. Man dying downstairs. Shot smack through the lungs. Get a +move--" + +"Shot?" exclaimed Barnes. + +"So they say," replied the agitated Mr. Dillingford, entering the +room. He had slipped on his trousers and was then in the act of +pulling his suspenders over his shoulders. His unlaced shoes gaped +broadly; the upper part of his body was closely encased in a once blue +undershirt; his abundant black hair was tousled,--some of it, indeed, +having the appearance of standing on end. And in his wide eyes there +was a look of horror. "I didn't hear much of the story. Old man Jones +is telephoning for a doctor and--" + +"Did you say that the man was shot?" repeated Barnes, bewildered. +"Wasn't it an automobile accident?" + +"Search ME. Gosh, I had one look at that fellow's face down there and +--I didn't hear another word that was said. I never saw a man's face +look like that. It was the colour of grey wall paper. Hurry up! Old +man Jones told me to call you. He says you understand some of the +foreign languages, and maybe you can make out what the poor devil is +trying to say." "Do they know who he is?" + +"Sure. He's been staying in the house for three days. The other one +spoke English all right but this one not a word." + +"Did they ride away from here about nine o'clock?" + +"Yes. They had their own horses and said they were going to spend the +night at Spanish Falls so's they could meet the down train that goes +through at five o'clock in the morning. But hustle along, please. He's +trying to talk and he's nearly gone." + +Barnes, buoyed by a sharp feeling of relief, followed the actor +downstairs and into the tap-room. A dozen men were there, gathered +around two tables that had been drawn together. Transient lodgers, in +various stages of dishabille, popped out of all sorts of passageways +and joined the throng. The men about the table, on which was stretched +the figure of the wounded man, were undoubtedly natives: farmers, +woodsmen or employees of the tavern. At a word from Putnam Jones, they +opened up and allowed Barnes to advance to the side of the man. + +"See if you c'n understand him, Mr. Barnes," said the landlord. +Perspiration was dripping from his long, raw-boned face. "And you, +Bacon,--you and Dillingford hustle upstairs and get a mattress off'n +one of the beds. Stand at the door there, Pike, and don't let any +women in here. Go away, Miss Thackeray! This is no place for you." + +Miss Thackeray pushed her way past the man who tried to stop her and +joined Barnes. Her long black hair hung in braids down her back; above +her forehead clustered a mass of ringlets, vastly disordered but not +untidy. A glance would have revealed the gaudy rose-coloured skirt +hanging below the bottom of the long rain-coat she had snatched from a +peg in the hall-way. + +"It is the place for me," she said sharply. "Haven't you men got sense +enough to put something under his head? Where is he hurt? Get that +cushion, you. Stick, it under here when I lift his head. Oh, you poor +thing! We'll be as quick as possible. There!" + +"You'd better go away," said Barnes, himself ghastly pale. "He's been +shot. There is a lot of blood--don't you know. It's splendid of you--" + +"Dangerously?" she cried, shrinking back, her eyes fixed in dread upon +the white face. + +The man's eyes were closed, but at the sound of a woman's voice he +opened them. The hand with which he clutched at his breast slid off +and seemed to be groping for hers. His breathing was terrible. There +was blood at the corners of his mouth, and more oozed forth when his +lips parted in an effort to speak. + +With a courage that surprised even herself, the girl took his hand in +hers. It was wet and warm. She did not dare look at it. + +"Merci, madame," struggled from the man's lips, and he smiled. + +Barnes had heard of the French soldiers who, as they died, said "thank +you" to those who ministered to them, and smiled as they said it. He +had always marvelled at the fortitude that could put gratefulness +above physical suffering, and his blood never failed to respond to an +exquisite thrill of exaltation under such recitals. He at once deduced +that the injured man, while probably not a Frenchman, at least was +familiar with the language. + +He was young, dark-haired and swarthy. His riding-clothes were well- +made and modish. + +Barnes leaned over and spoke to him in French. The dark, pain-stricken +eyes closed, and an almost imperceptible shake of the head signified +that he did not understand. Evidently he had acquired only a few of +the simple French expressions. Barnes had a slight knowledge of +Spanish and Italian, and tried again with no better results. German +was his last resort, and he knew he would fail once more, for the man +obviously was not Teutonic. + +The bloody lips parted, however, and the eyes opened with a piteous, +appealing expression in their depths. It was apparent that there was +something he wanted to say, something he had to say before he died. He +gasped a dozen words or more in a tongue utterly unknown to Barnes, +who bent closer to catch the feeble effort. It was he who now shook +his head; with a groan the sufferer closed his eyes in despair. He +choked and coughed violently an instant later. + +"Get some water and a towel," cried Miss Thackeray, tremulously. She +was very white, but still clung to the man's hand. "Be quick! Behind +the bar." Then she turned to Jones. "Don't call my father. He can't +stand the sight of blood," she said. + +Barnes unbuttoned the coat and revealed the blood-soaked white shirt. + +"Better leave this to me," he said in her ear. "There's nothing you +can do. He's done for. Please go away." + +"Oh, I sha'n't faint--at least, not yet. Poor fellow! I've seen him +upstairs and wondered who he was. Is he really going to die?" + +"Looks bad," said Barnes, gently opening the shirt front. Several of +the craning men turned away suddenly. + +"Can't you understand him?" demanded Putnam Jones, from the opposite +side. + +"No. Did you get the doctor?" + +"He's on the way by this time. He's got a little automobile. Ought to +be here in ten or fifteen minutes." + +"Who is he, Mr. Jones?" + +"He is registered as Andrew Paul, from New York. That's all I know. +The other man put his name down as Albert Roon. He seemed to be the +boss and this man a sort of servant, far as I could make out. They +never talked much and seldom came downstairs. They had their meals in +their room. Bacon served them. Where is Bacon? Where the hell--oh, the +mattress. Now, we'll lift him up gentle-like while you fellers slip it +under him. Easy now. Brace up, my lad, we--we won't hurt you. Lordy! +Lordy! I'm sorry--Gosh! I thought he was gone!" He wiped his brow with +a shaking hand. + +"There is nothing we can do," said Barnes, "except try to stanch the +flow of blood. He is bleeding inwardly, I'm afraid. It's a clean +wound, Mr. Jones. Like a rifle shot, I should say." + +"That's just what it is," said one of the men, a tall woodsman. "The +feller who did it was a dead shot, you c'n bet on that. He got t' +other man square through the heart." + +"Lordy, but this will raise a rumpus," groaned the landlord. "We'll +have detectives an'--" + +"I guess they got what was comin' to 'em," said another of the men. + +"What's that? Why, they was ridin' peaceful as could be to Spanish +Falls. What do you mean by sayin' that, Jim Conley? But wait a minute! +How does it happen that they were up near your dad's house? That +certainly ain't on the road to Span--" + +"Spanish Falls nothin'! They wasn't goin' to Spanish Falls any more'n +I am at this minute. They tied their hosses up the road just above our +house," said young Conley, lowering his voice out of consideration for +the feelings of the helpless man. "It was about 'leven o'clock, I +reckon. I was comin' home from singin' school up at Number Ten, an' I +passed the hosses hitched to the fence. Naturally I stopped, curious +like. There wasn't no one around, fer as I could see, so I thought I'd +take a look to see whose hosses they were. I thought it was derned +funny, them hosses bein' there at that time o' night an' no one +around. So as I said before, I thought I'd take a look. I know every +hoss fer ten mile around. So I thought I'd take--" + +"You said that three times," broke in Jones impatiently. + +"Well, to make a long story short, I thought I'd take a look. I never +seen either of them animals before. They didn't belong around here. So +I thought I'd better hustle down to the house an' speak to pa about +it. Looked mighty queer to me. Course, thinks I, they might belong to +somebody visitin' in there at Green Fancy, so I thought I'd--" + +"Green Fancy?" said Barnes, starting. + +"Was it up that far?" demanded Jones. + +"They was hitched jest about a hundred yards below Mr. Curtis's +propity, on the off side o' the road. Course it's quite a ways in from +the road to the house, an' I couldn't see why if it was anybody +callin' up there they didn't ride all the ways up, 'stead o' walkin' +through the woods. So I thought I'd speak to pa about it. Say," and he +paused abruptly, a queer expression in his eyes, "you don't suppose he +knows what I'm sayin', do you? I wouldn't say anything to hurt the +poor feller's feelin's fer--" + +"He doesn't know what you are saying," said Barnes. + +"But, dern it, he jest now looked at me in the funniest way. It's +given me the creeps." + +"Go on," said one of the men. + +"Well, I hadn't any more'n got to our front gate when I heard some one +running in the road up there behind me. 'Fore I knowed what was +happenin', bang went a gun. I almost jumped out'n my boots. I lept +behind that big locus' tree in front of our house and listened. The +runnin' had stopped. The hosses was rarin' an' tearin' so I thought +I'd--" + +"Where'd the shot come from?" demanded Jones. + +"Up the road some'eres, I couldn't swear just where. Must 'a' been up +by the road that cuts in to Green Fancy. So I thought I'd hustle in +an' see if pa was awake, an' git my gun. Looked mighty suspicious, +thinks I, that gun shot. Jest then pa stuck his head out'n the winder +an' yelled what the hell's the matter. You betcher life I sung out who +I was mighty quick, 'cause pa's purty spry with a gun an' I didn't +want him takin' me fer burglars sneakin' around the house. While we +wuz talkin' there, one of the hosses started our way lickety-split, +an' in about two seconds it went by us. It was purty dark but we see +plain as day that there was a man in the saddle, bendin' low over the +hoss's neck and shoutin' to it. Well, we shore was guessin'. We waited +a couple o' minutes, wonderin' what to do, an' listenin' to the hoss +gittin' furder and furder away in the direction of the cross-roads. +Then, 'way down there by the pike we heerd another shot. Right there +an' then pa said he'd put on his clothes an' we'd set out to see what +it was all about. I had it figgered out that the feller on the hoss +had shot the other one and was streakin' it fer town or some'eres. +That second shot had me guessin' though. Who wuz he shootin' at now, +thinks I. + +"Well, pa come out with my gun an' his'n an' we walks up to where I +seen the hosses. Shore 'nough, one of 'em was still hitched to the +fence, an' t'other was gone. We stood around a minute or two examinin' +the hoss an' then pa says let's go up the road aways an' see if we c'n +see anything. An' by gosh, we hadn't gone more'n fifty feet afore we +come plumb on a man layin' in the middle of the road. Pa shook him an' +he didn't let out a sound. He was warm but deader'n a tombstone. I wuz +fer leavin' him there till we c'd git the coroner, but pa says no. +We'd carry him down to our porch, an' lay him there, so's he'd be out +o' danger. Ma an' the kids wuz all up when we got him there, an' pa +sent Bill and Charley over to Mr. Pike's and Uncle John's to fetch 'em +quick. I jumps on Polly an' lights out fer here, Mr. Jones, to +telephone up to Saint Liz fer the sheriff an' the coroner, not givin' +a dang what I run into on the way. Polly shied somethin' terrible jest +afore we got to the pike an' I come derned near bein' throwed. An' +right there 'side the road was this feller, all in a heap. I went back +an' jumped off. He was groanin' somethin' awful. Thinks I, you poor +cuss, you must 'a' tried to stop that feller on hossback an' he +plunked you. That accounted fer the second shot. But while I wuz +tryin' to lift him up an' git somethin' out'n him about the matter, I +sees his boss standin' in the road a couple o' rods away. I couldn't +understand a word he said, so I thought I better go back home an' git +some help, seein's I couldn't manage him by myself. So I dragged him +up on the bank an' made him comfortable as I could, and lit out fer +home. We thought we'd better bring him up here, Mr. Jones, it bein' +just as near an' you could git the doctor sooner. I hitched up the +buck-board and went back. Pa an' some of the other fellers took their +guns an' went up in the woods lookin' fer the man that done the +shootin'. The thing that worries all of us is did the same man do the +shootin', or was there two of 'em, one waitin' down at the cross- +roads?" + +"Must have been two," said Jones, thoughtfully. "The same man couldn't +have got down there ahead of him, that's sure. Did anybody go up to +Green Fancy to make inquiries?" + +"'Twasn't necessary. Mr. Curtis heard the shootin' an' jest before we +left he sent a man out to see what it was all about. The old skeezicks +that's been drivin' his car lately come down half-dressed. He said +nothin' out of the way had happened up at Green Fancy. Nobody had been +nosin' around their place, an' if they had, he said, there wasn't +anybody there who could hit the side of a barn with a rifle." + +"It's most mysterious," said Barnes, glancing around the circle of +awed faces. "There must have been some one lying in wait for these +men, and with a very definite purpose in mind." + +"Strikes me," said Jones, "that these two men were up to some kind of +dirty work themselves, else why did they say they were goin' to +Spanish Falls? It's my idee that they went up that road to lay fer +somebody comin' down from the border, and they got theirs good an' +plenty instead of the other way round. They were queer actin' men, +I'll have to say that." + +His eyes met Barnes' and there was a queer light in them. + +"You don't happen to know anything about this, do you, Mr. Barnes?" he +demanded, suddenly. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE FARM-BOY TELLS A GHASTLY STORY AND AN IRISHMAN ENTERS + + +Barnes stared. "What do you mean?" he demanded sharply. + +"I mean just what I said. What do you know about this business?" + +"How should I know ANYTHING about it?" + +"Well, we don't know who you are, nor what you're doing up here, nor +what your real profession is. That's why I ask the question." + +"I see," said Barnes, after a moment. He grasped the situation and he +admitted to himself that Jones had cause for his suspicions. "It has +occurred to you that I may be a detective or a secret service man, +isn't that the case? Well, I am neither. Moreover, this man and his +companion evidently had their doubts about me, if I am to judge by +your remark and your actions on the porch earlier in the evening." + +"I only said that they were curious about you. The man named Roon +asked me a good many questions about you while you were in at supper. +Who knows but what he was justified in thinkin' you didn't mean any +good to him and his friend?" + +"Did you know any more about these two men, Mr. Jones, than you know +about me?" + +"I don't know anything about 'em. They came here like any one else, +paid their bills regular, 'tended to their own business, and that's +all." + +"What was their business?" + +"Mr. Roon was lookin' for a place to bring his daughter who has +consumption. He didn't want to take her to a reg'lar consumptive +community, he said, an' so he was lookin' for a quiet place where she +wouldn't be associatin' with lungers all the time. Some big doctor in +New York told him to come up here an' look around. That was his +business, Mr. Barnes, an' I guess you'd call it respectable, wouldn't +you?" + +"Perfectly. But why should he be troubled by my presence here if--" +Miss Thackeray put an end to the discussion in a most effectual +manner. + +"Oh, for the Lord's sake, cut it out! Wait till he's dead, can't you?" +she whispered fiercely. "You've got all the time in the world to talk, +and he hasn't more than ten minutes left to breathe unless that rube +doctor gets here pretty soon. If you've GOT to settle the question +right away, at least have the decency to go out of this room." + +Barnes flushed to the roots of his hair. Jones was aghast, dumb with +surprise and anger. + +"You are right, Miss Thackeray," said the former, deeply mortified. +"This is not the time nor the place to----" + +"He can't understand a word we say," said Putnam Jones loudly. "You +better get out of here yourself, young woman. This is a job for men, +not--" + +"I think he's going now," she whispered in an awe-struck voice. "Keep +still, all of you. Is he breathing, Mr. Barnes? That awful cough just +now seemed to--" + +"Come away, please," said Barnes, taking her gently by the arm. "I--I +believe that was the end. Don't stay here, Miss Thackeray. +Dillingford, will you be good enough to escort Miss--" + +"I've never seen any one die before," she said in a low, tense voice. +Her eyes were fixed on the still face. "Why--why, how tightly he holds +my hand! I can't get it away--he must be alive, Mr. Barnes. Where is +that silly doctor?" + +Barnes unclasped the rigid fingers of the man called Andrew Paul, and, +shaking his head sadly, drew her away from the improvised bier. He and +the shivering Mr. Dillingford conducted her to the dining-room, where +a single kerosene lamp gave out a feeble, rather ghastly light. The +tall Bacon followed, the upper part of his person enveloped in the +blanket Putnam Jones had hastily snatched from the mattress before it +was slipped under the dying man. Several of the women of the house, +including the wife of the landlord, clogged the little entrance hall, +chattering in hushed undertones. + +"Would you like a little brandy?" inquired Barnes, as she sat down +limply in the chair he pulled out for her. "I have a flask upstairs in +my--" + +"I never touch it," she said. "I'm all right. My legs wabble a little +but--Sit down, Mr. Barnes. I've got something to say to you and I'd +better say it now, because it may come in pretty handy for you later +on. Don't let those women come in here, Dilly." + +Barnes drew a chair close beside her. Bacon, with scant regard for +elegance, seated himself on the edge of the table and bent an ear. + +"It's all rot about that man Roon being here to look for a place for +his daughter." She spoke rapidly and cautiously. "I don't know whether +Jones knows, but that certainly wasn't what he was here for. The young +fellow in there was a sort of secretary. Roon had a room at the other +end of the hall from yours, on the corner, facing the road and also +looking toward the cross-roads. Young Paul had the next room, with a +door between. I was supposed to make up their rooms after they'd gone +out in the forenoon for a horseback ride. I kept out of their sight, +because I knew they were the kind of men who would laugh at me. They +couldn't understand, and, of course, I couldn't explain. Yesterday +morning I found a sort of map on the floor under young Paul's +washstand. The wind had blown it off the table by the window and he +hadn't missed it. It was in lead pencil and looked like a map of the +roads around here. I couldn't read the notations, but it required only +a glance to convince me that this place was the central point. All of +the little mountain roads were there, and the cross-roads. There +wasn't anything queer about it, so I laid it on his table and put a +book on it. + +"This afternoon I walked up in the woods back of the Tavern to go over +some lines in a new piece we are to do later on,--God knows when! I +could see the house from where I was sitting. Roon's windows were +plainly visible. I wasn't very far away, you see, the climb being too +steep for me. I saw Roon standing at a window looking toward the +cross-roads with a pair of field-glasses. Every once in awhile he +would turn to Paul, who stood beside him with a notebook, and say +something to him. Paul wrote it down. Then he would look again, +turning the glasses this way and that. I wouldn't have thought much +about it if they hadn't spent so much time there. I believe I watched +them for an hour. Suddenly my eyes almost popped out of my head. Paul +had gone away from the window. He came back and he had a couple of +revolvers in his hands. They stood there for a few minutes carefully +examining the weapons and reloading them with fresh cartridges. The +storm was coming up, but I love it so that I waited almost until dark, +watching the clouds and listening to the roar of the wind in the +trees. I'm a queer girl in that way. I like turmoil. I could sit out +in the most dreadful thunder storm and just revel in the crashes. Just +as I was about to start down to the house--it was a little after six +o'clock, and getting awfully dark and overcast,--Roon took up the +glasses again. He seemed to be excited and called his companion. Paul +grabbed the glasses and looked down the road. They both became very +much excited, pointing and gesticulating, and taking turn about with +the glasses." + +"About six o'clock, you say?" said Barnes, greatly interested. + +"It was a quarter after six when I got back to the house. I spoke to +Mr. Bacon about what I'd seen and he said he believed they were German +spies, up to some kind of mischief along the Canadian border. +Everybody is a German spy nowadays, Mr. Barnes, if he looks cross- +wise. Then about half an hour later you came to the Tavern. I saw Roon +sneak out to the head of the stairs and listen to your conversation +with Jones when you registered. That gave me an idea. It was you they +were watching the road for. They saw you long before you got here, and +it was--" + +Barnes held up his hand for silence. "Listen," he said in a low voice, +"I will tell you who they were looking for." As briefly as possible he +recounted his experience with the strange young woman at the cross- +roads. "From the beginning I have connected this tragedy with the +place called Green Fancy. I'll stake my last penny that they have been +hanging around here waiting for the arrival of that young woman. They +knew she was coming and they doubtless knew what she was bringing with +her. They went to Green Fancy to-night with a very sinister purpose in +mind, and things didn't turn out as they expected. What do you know +about the place called Green Fancy?" + +He was vastly excited. His active imagination was creating all sorts +of possibilities and complications, depredations and intrigues. + +Bacon was the one who answered. He drew the blanket closer about his +lean form and shivered as with a chill. + +"I know this much about the place from hearsay," he said in a guttural +whisper. "It's supposed to be haunted. I've heard more than one of +these jays,--big huskies too,--say they wouldn't go near the place +after dark for all the money in the state." + +"That's just talk to scare you, Ague," said Dillingford. "People live +up there and since we've been here two or three men visitors have come +down from the place to sample our stock of wet goods. Nothing +suspicious looking or ghostly about them either. I talked with a +couple of 'em day before yesterday. They were out for a horseback ride +and stopped here for a mug of ale." + +"Were they foreigners?" inquired Barnes. + +"If you want to call an Irishman a foreigner, I'll have to say one of +them was. He had a beautiful brogue. I'd never seen an Irishman in +slick riding clothes, however, so I doubted my ears at first. You +don't associate a plain Mick with anything so swell as that, you know. +The other was an American, I'm sure. Yesterday they rode past here +with a couple of swell looking women. I saw them turn up the road to +Green Fancy, so that knocks your ghost story all to smash, Bacon." + +"It isn't MY ghost story," began Mr. Bacon indignantly. The arrival of +four or five men, who stamped into the already crowded hallway from +the porch outside, claimed the attention of the quartette. Among them +was the doctor who, they were soon to discover, was also the coroner +of the county. A very officious deputy sheriff was also in the group. + +Before rejoining the crowd in the tap-room, Barnes advised his +companions, especially the girl, to say as little as possible about +what they had heard and seen. + +"This thing is going to turn out to be a whacking sensation, and it +may be a great deal more important than we think. You don't want to +become involved in the investigation, which may become a national +affair. I'd like to have a hand in clearing it up. My head is chock- +full of theories that might--" + +"Maybe Roon was right," said Dillingford, slowly, as he edged a step +or two away from Barnes. + +"In what respect?" + +"He certainly thought you were a detective or something like that. +Maybe he thought you came with that young woman, or maybe he thought +you were shadowing her, or--" + +"There are a lot of things he may have thought," interrupted Barnes, +smiling. "It is barely possible that my arrival may have caused him to +act more hastily than he intended. That may be the reason why the job +ended so disastrously for him." + +Mrs. Jones called out from the doorway. "Mr. Barnes, you're wanted in +there." + +"All right," he responded. + +"Better let me get you a wet towel to wash your hand," said Bacon to +Miss Thackeray. "My God, I wouldn't have THAT on my hand for a million +dollars." + +The doctor had been working over the prostrate form on the tables. As +Barnes entered the room, he looked up and declared that the man was +dead. + +"This is Mr. Barnes," said Putnam Jones, indicating the tall traveller +with a short jerk of his thumb. + +"I am from the sheriff's office," said the man who stood beside the +doctor. The rest of the crowd evidently had been ordered to stand back +from the tables. The sheriff was a burly fellow, whose voice shook in +a most incongruous manner, despite his efforts to appear composed and +otherwise efficient. "Did you ever see this man before?" + +"Not until he was carried in here half an hour ago. I arrived here +this evening." + +"What's your business up here, Mr. Barnes?" + +"I have no business up here. I just happened to stroll in this +evening." + +"Well," said the sheriff darkly, "I guess I'll have to ask you to +stick around here till we clear this business up. We don't know you +an'--Well, we can't take any chances. You understand, I reckon." + +"I certainly fail to understand, Mr. Sheriff. I know nothing whatever +of this affair and I intend to continue on my way to-morrow morning." + +"Well, I guess not." + +"Do you mean to say that I am to be detained here against my--" + +"You got to stay here till we are satisfied that you don't know +anything about this business. That's all." + +"Am I to consider myself under arrest, sir?" + +"I wouldn't go as far as to say that. You just stick around here, +that's all I got to say. If you're all right, we'll soon find it out. +What's more, if you are all right you'll be willin' to stay. Do you +get me?" + +"I certainly do. And I can now assure you, Mr. Sheriff, that I'd like +nothing better than to stick around here, as you put it. I'd like to +help clear this matter up. In the meantime, you may readily find out +who I am and why I am here by telegraphing to the Mayor of New York +City. This document, which experience has taught me to carry for just +such an emergency as this, may have some weight with you." He opened +his bill-folder and drew forth a neatly creased sheet of paper. This +he handed to the sheriff. "Read it, please, and note the date, the +signature, the official seal of the New York Police department, and +also the rather interesting silver print pasted in the lower left hand +corner. I think you will agree that it is a good likeness of me. Each +year I take the precaution of having myself properly certified by the +police department at home before venturing into unknown and perhaps +unfriendly communities. This, in a word, is a guarantee of good +citizenship, good intentions and-good health. I was once taken up by a +rural Sherlock on suspicion of being connected with the theft of a +horse and buggy, although all the evidence seemed to indicate that I +was absolutely afoot and weary at the time, and didn't have the outfit +concealed about my person. I languished in the calaboose for twenty- +four hours, and might have remained there indefinitely if the real +desperado hadn't been captured in the nick o' time. Have you read it?" + +"Yes," said the sheriff dubiously; "but how do I know it ain't a +forgery?" + +"You don't know, of course. But in case it shouldn't be a forgery and +I am subjected to the indignity of arrest or even detention, you would +have a nasty time defending yourself in a civil suit for damages. +Don't misunderstand me. I appreciate your position. I shall remain +here, as you suggest, but only for the purpose of aiding you in +getting to the bottom of this affair." + +"What do you think about it, Doc?" + +"He says he's willing to stay, don't he? Well, what more can you ask?" +snapped the old doctor. "I should say the best thing for you to do, +Abner, is to get a posse of men together and begin raking the woods up +yonder for the men that did the shooting. You say there is another one +dead up at Jim Conley's? Well, I'll go over and view him at once. The +first thing to do is to establish the corpus delicti. We've got to be +able to say the men are dead before we can charge anybody with murder. +This man was shot in the chest, from in front. Now we'll examine his +clothes and so forth and see if they throw any additional light on the +matter." + +The most careful search of Andrew Paul's person established one thing +beyond all question: the man had deliberately removed everything that +might in any way serve to aid the authorities in determining who he +really was and whence he came. The tailor's tags had been cut from the +smart, well-fitting garments; the buttons on the same had been +replaced by others of an ordinary character; the names of the +haberdasher, the hat dealer and the boot maker had been as effectually +destroyed. There were no papers of any description in his pockets. His +wrist watch bore neither name, date nor initials. Indeed, nothing had +been overlooked in his very palpable effort to prevent actual +identification, either in life or death. + +Subsequent search of the two rooms disclosed the same extreme +precautions. Not a single object, not even a scrap of paper had been +left there on the departure of the men at nine o'clock. Ashes in an +old-fashioned fireplace in Roon's room suggested the destruction of +tell-tale papers. Everything had vanished. A large calibre automatic +revolver, all cartridges unexploded, was found in Paul's coat pocket. +In another pocket, lying loose, were a few bank notes and some silver, +amounting all told to about thirty dollars. + +The same thorough search of the dead body of Roon later on by the +coroner and sheriff, revealed a similar condition. The field-glasses, +of English make, were found slung across his shoulder, and a fully +loaded revolver, evidently his, was discovered the next morning in the +grass beside the road near the point where he fell. There were several +hundred dollars in the roll of bills they found in his inside coat +pocket. + +Roon was a man of fifty or thereabouts. Although both men were smooth- +faced, there was reason to suspect that Roon at least had but recently +worn a mustache. His upper lip had the thick, stiff look of one from +which a beard of long-standing recently had been shaved. + +Later on it was learned that they purchased the two horses in +Hornville, paying cash for the beasts and the trappings. The +transaction took place a day or two before they came to Hart's Tavern +for what had been announced as a short stay. + +Standing on Jim Conley's front porch a little after sunrise, Barnes +made the following declaration: + +"Everything goes to show that these men were up here for one of two +reasons. They were either trying to prevent or to enact a crime. The +latter is my belief. They were afraid of me. Why? Because they +believed I was trailing them and likely to spoil their game. +Gentlemen, those fellows were here for the purpose of robbing the +place you call Green Fancy." + +"What's that?" came a rich, mellow voice from the outskirts of the +crowd. A man pushed his way through and confronted Barnes. He was a +tall, good-looking fellow of thirty-five, and it was apparent that he +had dressed in haste. "My name is O'Dowd, and I am a guest of Mr. +Curtis at Green Fancy. Why do you think they meant to rob his place?" + +"Well," began Barnes drily, "it would seem that his place is the only +one in the neighbourhood that would BEAR robbing. My name is Barnes. +Of course, Mr. O'Dowd, it is mere speculation on my part." + +"But who shot the man?" demanded the Irishman. "He certainly wasn't +winged by any one from our place. Wouldn't we have known something +about it if he had attempted to get into the house and was nailed by-- +Why, Lord love you, sir, there isn't a soul at Green Fancy who could +shoot a thief if he saw one. This is Mr. De Soto, also a guest at +Green Fancy. He will, I think, bear me out in upsetting your theory." + +A second man approached, shaking his head vigorously. He was a thin, +pale man with a singularly scholastic face. Quite an unprepossessing, +unsanguinary person, thought Barnes. + +"Mr. Curtis's chauffeur, I think it was, said the killing occurred +just above this house," said he, visibly excited. "Green Fancy is at +least a mile from here, isn't it? You don't shoot burglars a mile from +the place they are planning to rob, do you? Is the man a native of +this community?" + +"No," said Barnes, on whom devolved the duties of spokesman. "By the +way, his companion lies dead at Hart's Tavern. He was shot from his +horse at the cross-roads." + +"God bless me soul," gasped O'Dowd. "The chauffeur didn't mention a +second one. And were there two of them?" + +"And both of them dead?" cried De Soto. "At the cross-roads? My dear +sir, how can you reconcile--" He broke off with a gesture of +impatience. + +"I'll admit it's a bit out of reason," said Barnes. "The second man +could only have been shot by some one who was lying in wait for him." + +"Why, the thing's as clear as day," cried O'Dowd, facing the crowd. +His cheerful, sprightly face was alive with excitement. "They were not +trying to rob any one. They were either trying to get across the +border into Canada themselves or else trying to head some one off who +was coming from that side of the line." + +"Gad, you may be right," agreed Barnes instantly. "If you'd like to +hear more of the story I'll be happy to relate all that we know at +present." + +While the coroner and the others were loading the body of Albert Roon +into a farm wagon for conveyance to the county-seat, Barnes, who had +taken a sudden fancy to the two men from Green Fancy, gave them a +brief but full account of the tragedy and the result of investigations +as far as they had gone. + +"Bedad," said O'Dowd, "it beats the devil. There's something big in +this thing, Mr. Barnes,--something a long shot bigger than any of us +suspects. The extraordinary secrecy of these fellows, their evident +gentility, their doubtful nationality--why, bedad, it sounds like a +penny-dreadful thriller." + +"You'll find that it resolves itself into a problem for Washington to +solve," said De Soto darkly. "Nothing local about it, take my word for +it. These men were up to some international devilment. I'm not saying +that Germany is at the back of it, but, by Jove, I don't put anything +beyond the beggars. They are the cleverest, most resourceful people in +the world, damn 'em. You wait and see if I'm not right. There'll be a +stir in Washington over this, sure as anything." + +"What time was it that you heard the shots up at Green Fancy?" +ventured Barnes. + +"Lord love you," cried O'Dowd, "we didn't hear a sound. Mr. Curtis, +who has insomnia the worst way, poor devil, heard them and sent some +one out to see what all the racket was about. It wasn't till half an +hour or so ago that De Soto and I were routed out of our peaceful +nests and ordered,--virtually ordered, mind you,--to get up and guard +the house. Mr. Curtis was in a pitiful state of nerves over the +killing, and so were the ladies. 'Gad, everybody seemed to know all +about the business except De Soto and me. The man, it seems, made such +a devil of a racket when he came home with the news that the whole +house was up in pajamas and peignoirs. He didn't say anything about a +second Johnnie being shot, however. I'm glad he didn't know about it, +for that matter. He'll be seeing one ghost for the rest of his days +and that's enough, without having another foisted upon him." + +"I think I have a slight acquaintance with the chauffeur," said +Barnes. "He gave me the most thrilling motor ride I've ever +experienced. 'Gad, I'll never forget it." + +The two men looked at him, plainly perplexed. + +"When was all this?" inquired De Soto. + +"Early last evening. He took me from the cross-roads to Hart's Tavern +in a minute and a half, I'll bet my soul." + +"Last evening?" said O'Dowd, something like skepticism in his tone. + +"Yes. He picked up your latest guest at the corners, and she insisted +on his driving me to the Tavern before the storm broke. I've been +terribly anxious about her. She must have been caught out in all that +frightful--" + +"What's this you are saying, Mr. Barnes?" cut in De Soto, frowning. +"No guest arrived at Green Fancy last evening, nor was one expected." + +Barnes stared. "Do you mean to say that she didn't get there, after +all?" + +"She? A woman, was it?" demanded O'Dowd. "Bedad, if she said she was +coming to Green Fancy she was spoofing you. Are you sure it was old +Peter who gave you that jolly ride?" + +"No, I am not sure," said Barnes, uneasily. "She was afoot, having +walked from the station below. I met her at the corners and she asked +me if I knew how far it was to Green Fancy, or something like that. +Said she was going there. Then along came the automobile, rattling +down this very road,--an ancient Panhard driven by an old codger. She +seemed to think it was all right to hop in and trust herself to him, +although she'd never seen him before." + +"The antique Panhard fits in all right," said O'Dowd, "but I'm hanged +if the woman fits at all. No such person arrived at Green Fancy last +night." + +"Did you get a square look at the driver's face?" demanded De Soto. + +"It was almost too dark to see, but he was old, hatchet-faced, and +spoke with an accent." + +"Then it couldn't have been Peter," said De Soto positively. "He's +old, right enough, but he is as big as the side of a house, with a +face like a full moon, and he is Yankee to his toes. By gad, Barnes, +the plot thickens! A woman has been added to the mystery. Now, who the +devil is she and what has become of her?" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +CHARITY BEGINS FAR FROM HOME, AND A STROLL IN THE WILDWOOD FOLLOWS + + +Mr. Rushcroft as furious when he arose at eleven o'clock on the +morning after the double murder, having slept like a top through all +of the commotion. He boomed all over the place, vocal castigations +falling right and left on the guilty and the innocent without +distinction. He wouldn't have missed the excitement for anything in +the world. He didn't mind missing the breakfast he was to have had +with Barnes, but he did feel outraged over the pusillanimous trick +played upon him by the remaining members of his troupe. Nothing was to +have been expected of Putnam Jones and his damnation crew; they +wouldn't have called him if the house was afire; they would let him +roast to death; but certainly something was due him from the members +of his company, something better than utter abandonment! + +He was still deep in the sulks when he came upon Barnes, who was +pacing the sunlit porch, deep in thought. + +"There will never be another opportunity like that," he groaned, at +the close of a ten minute dissertation on the treachery of friends; +"never in all the years to come. The driveling fools! What do I pay +them for? To let me lie there snoring so loud that I couldn't hear +opportunity for the noise I was making? As in everything else I +undertake, my dear Barnes, I excel at snoring. My lung capacity is +something amazing. It has to have an outlet. They let me lie there +like a log while the richest publicity material that ever fell to the +lot of an actor went to waste,--utter waste. Why, damme, sir, I could +have made that scene in the tap-room historic; I could have made it so +dramatic that it would have thrilled to the marrow every man, woman +and child in the United States of America. That's what I mean. They +allowed a chance like that to get away. Can you beat it? Tragedy at my +very elbow,--by gad, almost nudging me, you might say,--and no one to +tell me to get up. Think of the awful requiem I could have--But what's +the use thinking about it now? I am so exasperated I can't think of +anything but anathemas, so--" + +"I don't see how you managed to sleep through it," Barnes broke in. +"You must have an unusually clear conscience, Mr. Rushcroft." + +"I haven't any conscience at all, sir," roared the star. "I had an +unusually full stomach, that's what was the matter with me. Damme, I +ought to have known better. I take oath now, sir, never to eat again +as long as I live. A man who cannot govern his beastly appetite ought +to defy it, if nothing else." + +"I gather from that remark that you omitted breakfast this morning." + +"Breakfast, sir? In God's name, I implore you not to refer to anything +so disgusting as stewed prunes and bacon at a time like this. My mind +is--" + +"How about luncheon? Will you join me at twelve-thirty?" + +"That's quite another matter," said Mr. Rushcroft readily. "Luncheon +is an aesthetic tribute to the physical intelligence of man, if you +know what I mean. I shall be delighted to join you. Twelve-thirty, did +you say?" + +"It would give me great pleasure if your daughter would also grace the +festal board." + +"Ahem! My daughter and I are--er--what you might say 'on the outs' at +present. I dare say I was a trifle crusty with her this morning. She +was a bit inconsiderate, too, I may add. As a matter of fact she told +me to go and soak my head." Mr. Rushcroft actually blushed as he said +it. "I don't know where the devil she learned such language, unless +she's been overhearing the disrespectful remarks that some of these +confounded opera house managers make when I try to argue with them +about--But never mind! She's a splendid creature, isn't she? She has +it born in her to be one of the greatest actresses in--" + +"I think it is too bad that she has to go about in the gown she wears, +Mr. Rushcroft," said Barnes. "She's much too splendid for that. I have +a proposition I'd like to make to you later on. I cannot make it, +however, without consulting Miss Thackeray's feelings." + +"My dear fellow!" beamed Rushcroft, seizing the other's hand. "One +frequently reads in books about it coming like this, at first sight, +but, damme, I never dreamed that it ever really happened. Count on me! +She ought to leave the stage, the dear child. No more fitted to it +than an Easter lily. Her place is in the home, the--" + +"Good Lord, I'm not thinking of--" And Barnes, aghast, stopped before +blurting out the words that leaped to his lips. "I mean to say, this +is a proposition that may also affect your excellent companions, Bacon +and Dillingford, as well as yourselves." + +"Abominations!" snorted Rushcroft. "I fired both of them this morning. +They are no longer connected with my company. I won't have 'em around. +What's more, they can't act and never will. The best bit of acting +that Bacon ever did in his life was when he told me to go to hell a +little while ago. I say 'acting,' mind you, because the wretch +COULDN'T have been in earnest, and yet he gave the most convincing +performance of his life. If I'd ever dreamed that he had it in him to +do it so well, I'd have had the line in every play we've done since he +joined us, author or no author." + +At twelve-thirty sharp, Barnes came down from his room freshly shaved +and brushed, to find not only Mr. Rushcroft and Miss Thackeray +awaiting him in the office, but the Messrs. Dillingford and Bacon as +well. Putnam Jones, gloomy and preoccupied behind the counter, allowed +his eyes to brighten a little as the latest guest of the house +approached the group. + +"I've given all of 'em an hour or two off," he said genially. "Do what +you like to 'em." + +Rushcroft expanded. "My good man, what the devil do you mean by a +remark like that? Remember--" + +"Never mind, dad," said Miss Thackeray, lifting her chin haughtily. +"Forgive us our trespassers as we forgive our trespasses. And +remember, also, that poor, dear Mr. Jones is all out of sorts to-day. +He is all keyed up over the notoriety his house is going to achieve +before the government gets through annoying him." + +"See here, Miss," began Mr. Jones, threateningly, and then, overcome +by his Yankee shrewdness, stopped as suddenly as he started. "Go on in +and have your dinner. Don't mind me. I am out of sorts." He was smart +enough to realise that it was wiser to have the good rather than the +ill-will of these people. He dreaded the inquiry that was imminent. + +"That's better," mumbled Mr. Rushcroft, partially mollified. "I took +the liberty, old fellow," he went on, addressing Barnes, "of asking my +excellent co-workers to join us in our repast. In all my career I have +not known more capable, intelligent players than these--" + +"Delighted to have you with us, gentlemen," said Barnes affably. "In +fact, I was going to ask Mr. Rushcroft if he had the slightest +objection to including you--" + +"Oh, the row's all over," broke in Mr. Dillingford magnanimously. "It +didn't amount to anything. I'm sure if Mr. Rushcroft doesn't object to +us, we don't object to him." + +"Peace reigns throughout the land," said Mr. Bacon, in his deepest +bass. "Precede us, my dear Miss Thackeray." + +The sole topic of conversation for the first half hour was the +mysterious slaying of their fellow lodgers. Mr. Rushcroft complained +bitterly of the outrageous, high-handed action of the coroner and +sheriff in imposing upon him and his company the same restrictions +that had been applied to Barnes. They were not to leave the county +until the authorities gave the word. One would have thought, to hear +the star's indignant lamentations, that he and his party were in a +position to depart when they pleased. It would have been difficult to +imagine that he was not actually rolling in money instead of being +absolutely penniless. + +"What were these confounded rascals to me?" he demanded, scowling at +Miss Tilly as if she were solely to blame for his misfortune. "Why +should I be held up in this God-forsaken place because a couple of +scoundrels got their just deserts? Why, I repeat? I'd--" + +"I--I'm sure I--I don't know," stammered Miss Tilly, wetting her dry +lips with her tongue in an attempt to be lucid. + +"What?" exploded Mr. Rushcroft, somewhat taken aback by the retort +from an unexpected quarter. "Upon my soul, I--I--What?" + +"He won't bite, Miss Tilly," said Miss Thackeray soothingly. + +"Oh, dear!" said Miss Tilly, putting her hand over her mouth. + +Barnes had been immersed in his own thoughts for some time. A slight +frown, as of reflection, darkened his eyes. Suddenly,--perhaps +impolitely,--he interrupted Mr. Rushcroft's flow of eloquence. + +"Have you any objection, Mr. Rushcroft, to a more or less personal +question concerning your own private--er--misfortunes?" he asked, +leaning forward. + +For a moment one could have heard a pin drop. Mr. Rushcroft evidently +held his breath. There could be no mistake about that. + +"I don't mean to be offensive," Barnes made haste to add. + +"My misfortunes are not private," said Mr. Rushcroft, with dignity. +"They are decidedly public. Ask all the questions you please, my dear +fellow." + +"Well, it's rather delicate, but would you mind telling me just how +much you were stuck up for by the--er--was it a writ of attachment?" + +"It was," said the star. "A writ of inquisition, you might as well +substitute. The act of a polluted, impecunious, parsimonious,--what +shall I say? Well, I will be as simple as possible: hotel keeper. In +other words, a damnation blighter, sir. Ninety-seven dollars and forty +cents. For that pitiful amount he subjected me to--" + +"Well, that isn't so bad," said Barnes, vastly relieved. "It would +require that amount to square everything and release your personal +effects?" + +"It would release the whole blooming production," put in Mr. +Dillingford, with unction. "Including my dress suit and a top hat, to +say nothing of a change of linen and--" + +"Two wood exteriors and a parlor set, make-up boxes, wardrobe trunks, +a slide trombone and--" mused Mr. Bacon, and would have gone on but +for Barnes' interruption. + +He was covertly watching Miss Thackeray's half-averted face as he +ventured upon the proposition he had decided to put before them. She +was staring out of the window, and there was a strained, almost +harassed expression about the corners of her mouth. The glimpse he had +of her dark eyes revealed something sullen, rebellious in them. She +had taken no part in the conversation for some time. + +"I am prepared and willing to advance this amount, Mr. Rushcroft, and +to take your personal note as security." + +Rushcroft leaned back in his chair and stuck his thumbs in the arm +holes of his vest. He displayed no undue elation. Instead he affected +profound calculation. His daughter shot a swift, searching look at the +would-be Samaritan. There was a heightened colour in her cheeks. + +"Ahem," said Rushcroft, squinting at the ceiling beams. + +"Moreover, I shall be happy to increase the amount of the loan +sufficiently to cover your return at once to New York, if you so +desire,--by train." Barnes smiled as he added the last two words. + +"Extremely kind of you, my dear Barnes," said the actor, running his +fingers through his hair. "Your faith in me is most gratifying. I--I +really don't know what to say to you, sir." + +"Of course, Mr. Barnes, you ought to know that you may be a long time +in getting your money back," said his daughter levelly. "We are poor +pay." + +"My dear child," began Mr. Rushcroft, amazed. + +"I shall permit your father himself to specify the number of months or +years to be written in the body of the note," said Barnes. + +"And if he never pays, what then?" said she. + +"I shall not trouble him with demands for the money," said Barnes. + +"May I inquire just how you expect to profit by this transaction, Mr. +Barnes?" she asked steadily. + +He started, suddenly catching her meaning. + +"My dear Miss Thackeray," he exclaimed, "this transaction is solely +between your father and me. I shall have no other claim to press." + +"I wish I could believe that," she said. + +"You may believe it," he assured her. + +"It isn't the usual course," she said quietly, and her face +brightened. "You are not like most men, Mr. Barnes." + +"My dear child," said Rushcroft, "you must leave this matter to our +friend and me. I fancy I know an honest man when I see him. My dear +fellow, fortune is but temporarily frowning upon me. In a few weeks I +shall be on my feet again, zipping along on the crest of the wave. I +dare say I can return the money to you in a month or six weeks. If--" + +"Oh, father!" cried Miss Thackeray. + +"We'll make it six months, and I'll pay any rate of interest you +desire. Six per cent, eight per cent, ten per--" + +"Six per cent, sir, and we will make it a year from date." + +"Agreed. And now, Miss Tilly, will you ask the barmaid,--who happens +to be masculine,--to step in here and take the orders? We would drink +to Dame Fortune, who has a smile that defies all forms of adversity. +Out of the clouds falls a slice of silver lining. It alights in my +trembling palm. I--I--Damme, sir, you are a nobleman! In behalf of my +daughter, my company and the--Heaven forfend! I was about to add the +accursed management!--I thank you. Get up and dance for us, Dilly! We +shall be in New York to-morrow!" + +"You forget the dictatorial sheriff, Mr. Rushcroft," said Barnes. + +"The varlet!" barked Mr. Rushcroft. + +It was arranged that Dillingford and Bacon were to go to Hornville in +a hired motor that afternoon, secure the judgment, pay the costs, and +attend to the removal of the personal belongings of the stranded +quartette from the hotel to Hart's Tavern. The younger actors stoutly +refused to accept Barnes' offer to pay their board while at the +Tavern. That, they declared, would be charity, and they preferred his +friendship and his respect to anything of that sort. Miss Thackeray, +however, was to be immediately relieved of her position as +chambermaid. She was to become a paying guest. + +"I'll be glad to have my street togs, such as they are," said she, +rosily. "I dare say you are sick of seeing me in this rig, Mr. Barnes. +That's probably why you opened your heart and purse." + +"Not at all," said he gaily. "As I presume I shall have to remain here +for some time, I deem it my right to improve the service as much as +possible. You are a very incompetent chambermaid, Miss Thackeray." + +Rushcroft took the whole affair with the most noteworthy complacency. +He seemed to regard it as his due, or more properly speaking as if he +were doing Barnes a great favour in allowing him to lend money to a +person of his importance. + +"A thought has just come to me, my dear fellow," he remarked, as they +arose from table. "With the proper kind of backing I could put over +one of the most stupendous things the theatre has known in fifty +years. I don't mind saying to you,--although it's rather sub rosa-- +that I have written a play. A four act drama that will pack the +biggest house on Broadway to the roof for as many months as we'd care +to stay. Perhaps you will allow me to talk it over with you a little +later on. You will be interested, I'm sure. I actually shudder +sometimes when I think of the filthy greenbacks I'll have to carry +around on my person if the piece ever gets into New York. Yes, yes, +I'll be glad to talk it over with you. Egad, sir, I'll read the play +to you. I'll--What ho, landlord! When my luggage arrives this evening +will you be good enough to have it placed in the room just vacated by +the late Mr. Roon? My daughter will have the room adjoining, sir. By +the way, will you have your best automobile sent around to the door as +quickly as possible? A couple of my men are going to Hornville--damned +spot!--to fetch hither my--" + +"Just a minute," interrupted Putnam Jones, wholly unimpressed. "A man +just called you up on the 'phone, Mr. Barnes. I told him you was +entertaining royalty at lunch and couldn't be disturbed. So he asked +me to have you call him up as soon as you revived. His words, not +mine. Call up Mr. O'Dowd at Green Fancy. Here's the number." + +The mellow voice of the Irishman soon responded. + +"I called you up to relieve your mind regarding the young woman who +came last night," he said. "You observe that I say 'came.' She's quite +all right, safe and sound, and no cause for uneasiness. I thought you +meant that she was coming here as a guest, and so I made the very +natural mistake of saying she hadn't come at all, at all. The young +woman in question is Mrs. Van Dyke's maid. But bless me soul, how was +I to know she was even in existence, much less expected by train or +motor or Shanks' mare? Well, she's here, so there's the end of our +mystery. We sha'n't have to follow your gay plan of searching the +wilderness for beauty in distress. Our romance is spoiled, and I am +sorry to say it to you. You were so full of it this morning that you +had me all stirred up meself." + +Barnes was slow in replying. He was doubting his own ears. It was not +conceivable that an ordinary--or even an extraordinary--lady's maid +could have possessed the exquisite voice and manner of his chance +acquaintance of the day before, or the temerity to order that sour- +faced chauffeur about as if--The chauffeur! + +"But I thought you said that Mr. Curtis's chauffeur was moon-faced +and--" + +"He is, bedad," broke in Mr. O'Dowd, chuckling. "That's what deceived +me entirely, and no wonder. It wasn't Peter at all, but the +rapscallion washer who went after her. He was instructed to tell Peter +to meet the four o'clock train, and the blockhead forgot to give the +order. Bedad, what does he do but sneak out after her himself, scared +out of his boots for fear of what he was to get from Peter. I had the +whole story from Mrs. Van Dyke." + +"Well, I'm tremendously relieved," said Barnes slowly. + +"And so am I," said O'Dowd, with conviction. "I have seen the heroine +of our busted romance. She's a good-looking girl. I'm not surprised +that she kept her veil down. If you were to leave it to me, though, +I'd say that it's a sin to carry discretion so far as all that. I +thought I'd take the liberty of calling you up as soon as I had the +facts, so that you wouldn't go forth in knightly ardour--You see what +I mean, don't you?" His rich laugh came over the wire. + +"Perfectly. Thank you for letting me know. My mind is at rest." + +"Will you be staying on for some days at the Tavern?" + +"I think so." + +"Well, I shall give myself the pleasure of running over to see you in +a day or so." + +"Do," said Barnes. "Good by." As he hung up the receiver he said to +himself, "You are a most affable, convincing chap, Mr. O'Dowd, but I +don't believe a word you say. That woman is no lady's maid, and you've +known all the time that she was there." + +At four o'clock he set out alone for a tramp up the mountain road in +which the two men had been shot down. A number of men under the +direction of the sheriff were scouring the lofty timberland for the +deadly marksmen. He knew it would turn out to be as futile as the +proverbial effort to find the needle in the haystack. + +His mind was quite clear on the subject. Roon and Paul were not +ordinary robbers. They were, no doubt, honest men. He would have said +that they were thieves bent on burglarising Green Fancy were it not +for the disclosures of Miss Thackeray and the very convincing proof +that they were not shot by the same man. Detected on the grounds about +Green Fancy by a watchman, they would have had an encounter with him +there and then. Moreover, they would have taken an active part in the +play of firearms. Desperadoes would not have succumbed so tamely. + +It was not beyond reason,--indeed, it was quite probable,--that they +were trying to cross the border; in that event, their real operations +would be confined to the Canadian side of the line. They were +unmistakably foreigners. That fact, in itself, went far toward +establishing in his mind the conviction that they were not attempting +to intercept any one coming from the other side. Equally as strong was +the belief that the Canadian authorities would not have entered upon +United States territory for the purpose of apprehending these +suspects, no matter how thoroughly the movements and motives of the +two men might have been known to them. + +He could not free himself of the suspicion that Green Fancy possessed +the key to the situation. Roon and his companion could not have had +the slightest interest in his movements up to the instant he +encountered the young woman at the cross-roads. It was ridiculous to +even consider himself an object of concern to these men who had been +haunting the border for days prior to his appearance on the scene. +They were interested only in the advent of the woman, and as her +destination confessedly was Green Fancy, what could be more natural +than the conclusion that their plans, evil or otherwise, depended +entirely upon her arrival at the strange house on the mountainside? +They had been awaiting her appearance for days. The instant it became +known to them that she was installed at Green Fancy, their plans went +forward with a swiftness that bespoke complete understanding. + +His busy brain suddenly suffered the shock of a distinct conclusion. +So startling was the thought that he stopped abruptly in his walk and +uttered an exclamation of dismay. Was she a fellow-conspirator? Was +she the inside worker at Green Fancy in a well-laid plan to rifle the +place? She too was unmistakably a foreigner. + +Could it be possible that she was the confederate of these painstaking +agents who lurked with sinister patience outside the very gates of the +place called Green Fancy? + +In support of this theory was the supposition that O'Dowd may have +been perfectly sincere in his declarations over the telephone. Opposed +to it, however, was the absolute certainty that Roon and Paul were +waylaid and killed at widely separated points, and not while actively +employed in raiding the house. That was the rock over which all of his +theories stumbled. + +His ramble carried him far beyond the spot where Roon's body was found +and where young Conley had come upon the tethered horses. His eager, +curious gaze swept the forest to the left of the road in search of +Green Fancy. Overcome by a rash, daring impulse, he climbed over the +stake and rider fence and sauntered among the big trees which so far +had obscured the house from view. He had looked in vain for the lane +or avenue leading from the road up to Mr. Curtis's house. He could not +have passed it in his stroll, of that he was sure, and yet he +remembered distinctly seeing O'Dowd and De Soto turn their horses into +the forest at a point far back of the place where he now entered the +grounds. + +The trees grew very thickly on the slope, and they were unusually +large. Virgin timber, he decided, on which the woodman's axe had made +no inroads. The foliage was dense. Tree tops seemed to intermingle in +one vast canopy through which the sun but rarely penetrated. The +bright green of the grass, the sponginess of the soil, the presence of +great stretches of ferns and beds of moss told of almost perpetual +moisture. Strangely enough there was no suggestion of dankness in +these shadowy glades, rich with the fulness of early Spring. + +He progressed deeper into the wood. At the end of what must have been +a mile, he halted. There was no sign of habitation, no indication that +man had ever penetrated so far into the forest. As he was on the point +of retracing his steps toward the road, his gaze fell upon a huge +moss-covered rock less than a hundred yards away. He stared, and +gradually it began to take on angles and planes and recesses of the +most astounding symmetry. Under his widening gaze it was transformed +into a substantial object of cubes and gables and--yes, windows. + +He was looking upon the strange home of the even stranger Mr. Curtis: +Green Fancy. + +Now he understood why it was called Green Fancy. Its surroundings were +no greener than itself; it seemed to melt into the foliage, to become +a part of the natural landscape. For a long time he stood stock-still, +studying the curious structure. Mountain ivy literally enveloped it. +Exposed sections of the house were painted green,--a mottled green +that seemed to indicate flickering sunbeams against an emerald wall. +The doors were green; the leafy porches and their columns, the chimney +pots, the window hangings,--all were the colour of the unchanging +forest. And it was a place of huge dimensions, low and long and +rambling. It seemed to have been forcibly jammed into the steep slope +that shot high above its chimneys; the mountain hung over its vine +clad roof, an ominous threat of oblivion. + +There was no lawn, no indication of landscape gardening, and yet +Barnes was singularly impressed by the arrangement of the shrubbery +that surrounded the place. There was no visible approach to the house +through the thick, unbroken sea of green; everywhere was dense +underbrush, standing higher than the head of the tallest of men,-- +clean, bright bushes, revealing the most astonishing uniformity in +size and character. + +"'Gad," he said to himself, "what manner of crank is he who would bury +himself like this? Of all the crazy ideas I ever--" + +His reflections ended there. A woman crossed his vision; a woman +strolling slowly toward him through the intricate avenues of the +wildwood. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SPUN-GOLD HAIR, BLUE EYES, AND VARIOUS ENCOUNTERS + + +She was quite unaware of his presence, and yet he was directly in her +path, though some distance away. Her head was bent; her mien was +thoughtful, her stride slow and aimless. + +The azure blue of the sweater she wore presented an inharmonious note +on the field of velvety green;--it was strangely out of place, he +thought,--almost an offence to the eye. He was conscious of an instant +protest against this profanation. + +She was slender, graceful and evidently quite tall, although she +seemed a pigmy among the towering giants that attended her stroll. Her +hands were thrust deep into the pockets of a white duck skirt. A +glance revealed white shoes and trim ankles in blue. She wore no hat. +Her hair was like spun gold, thick, wavy and shimmering in the subdued +light. + +Suddenly she stopped, and looked up. He had a full view of her face as +she gazed about as if startled by some unexpected, even alarming, +sound. For a second or two he held his breath, stunned by the amazing +loveliness that was revealed to him. Then she discovered him standing +there. + +He was never to forget the expression that came into her eyes; nor had +he ever seen eyes so blue. Alarm gave way to bewilderment as she +stared at the motionless intruder not thirty feet away. Then, to his +utter astonishment, her lips parted and a faint, wondering smile came +into her eyes. His heart leaped. She recognised him! + +In a flash he realised that he was face to face with the stranger of +the day before,--she of the veil, the alluring voice, the unfaltering +spirits, and the weighty handbag! + +He took two or three impulsive steps forward, his hand going to his +hat,--and then halted. Evidently his senses had deceived him. There +was no smile in her eyes,--and yet he could have sworn that it was +there an instant before. Instead, there was a level stare. + +"I am sorry if I startled--" he began. + +The figure of a man appeared, as if discharged bodily from some magic +tree-trunk, and stood directly in his path: A tall, rugged man in +overalls was he, who held a spade in his hand and eyed him inimically. +Without another glance in his direction, the first and more pleasing +vision turned on her heel and continued her stroll, sauntering off to +the right, her fair head once more bent in study, her back eloquently +indifferent to the gaze that followed her. + +"Who do you want to see?" inquired the man with the spade. + +Before Barnes could reply, a hearty voice accosted him from behind. He +whirled and saw O'Dowd approaching, not twenty yards away. The +Irishman's face was aglow with pleasure. + +"I knew I couldn't be mistaken in the shape of you," he cried, +advancing with outstretched hand. "You've got the breadth of a dock- +hand in your shoulders, and the trimness of a prize-fighter in your +waist." + +They shook hands. "I fear I am trespassing," said Barnes. His glance +went over his shoulder as he spoke. The man with the spade had been +swallowed up by the earth! He could not have vanished more quickly in +any other way. Off among the trees there were intermittent flashes of +blue and white. + +"I am quite sure you are," said O'Dowd promptly, but without a trace +of unfriendliness in his manner. "Bedad, loving him as I do, I can't +help saying that Curtis is a bally old crank. Mind ye, I'd say it to +his face,--I often do, for the matter of that. Of course," he went on +seriously, "he is a sick man, poor devil. I have the unholy courage to +call him a chronic crank every once in awhile, and the best thing I +can say for his health is that he grins when I say it to him. You see, +I've known him for a dozen years and more, and he likes me, though God +knows why, unless it may be that I once did his son a good turn in +London." + +"Sufficient excuse for reparation, I should say," smiled Barnes. + +"I introduced the lad to me only sister," said O'Dowd, "and she kept +him happy for the next ten years. No doubt, I also provided Mr. Curtis +with three grandchildren he might never have had but for my +graciousness. As for that, I let meself in for three of the most +prodigious nephews a man ever had, God bless them. I'll show you a +photograph of them if ye'd care to look." He opened the back of his +watch and held it out to Barnes. "Nine, seven and five, and all of +them as bright as Gladstone." + +"They must be stunning," said Barnes warmly. + +"They'll make a beggar of me, if I live long enough," groaned O'Dowd. +"It beats the deuce how childer as young as they are can have +discovered what a doddering fool their uncle is. Bedad, the smallest +of them knows it. The very instant I pretend to be a sensible, +provident, middle-aged gentleman he shows me up most shamelessly. +'Twas only a couple of months ago that his confounded blandishments +wiggled a sixty-five dollar fire engine out of me. He squirted water +all over the drawing-room furniture, and I haven't been allowed to put +foot into the house since. My own darlin' sister refused to look at me +for a week, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if she changed me +namesake's title to something less enfuriating than William." A look +of distress came into his merry eyes. "By Jove, I'd like nothing +better than to ask you in to have a dish of tea,--it's tea-time, I'm +sure,--but I'd no more think of doing it than I'd consider cutting off +me head. He doesn't like strangers. He--" + +"My dear fellow, don't distress yourself," cried Barnes heartily. +"There isn't the least reason in the world why--" + +"You see, the poor old chap asks us up here once or twice a year,-- +that is to say, De Soto and me,--to keep his sister from filling the +house up with men he can't endure. So long as we occupy the only +available rooms, he argues, she can't stuff them full of +objectionables. Twice a year she comes for a month, in the late fall +and early spring. He's very fond of her, and she stands by him like a +major." + +"Why does he continue to live in this out-of-the-world spot, Mr. +O'Dowd? He is an old man, I take it, and ill." + +"You wouldn't be wondering if you knew the man," said O'Dowd. "He is a +scholar, a dreamer, a sufferer. He doesn't believe in doctors. He says +they're all rascals. They'd keep him alive just for the sake of what +they could get out of him. So he's up here to die in peace, when his +time comes, and he hopes it will come soon. He doesn't want it +prolonged by a grasping, greedy doctor man. It's his kidneys, you +know. He's not a very old man at that. Not more than sixty-five." + +"He certainly has a fanciful streak in him, building a place like +that," said Barnes, looking not at the house but into the thicket +above. There was no sign of the blue and white and the spun gold that +still defied exclusion from his mind's eye. He had not recovered from +the thrall into which the vision of loveliness plunged him. He was +still a trifle dazed and distraught. + +"Right you are," agreed O'Dowd; "the queerest streak in the world. +It's his notion of simplicity. I wish you could see the inside of the +place. You'd wonder to what exalted heights his ideas of magnificence +would carry him if he calls this simplicity. He loves it all, he dotes +on it. It's the only joy he knows, this bewildering creation of his. +For nearly three years he has not been more than a stone's throw from +the walls of that house. I doubt if he's been as far as the spot where +we're standing now." + +"Green Fancy. Is that the name he gave the place or does it spring +from--" + +"'Twas christened by me own sister, Mr. Barnes, the first time she was +here, two years ago. I'll walk with you to the fence beyond if you've +no objections," said O'Dowd, genially, and linked his arm through that +of Barnes. + +The latter was at once subtly aware of the fact that he was being +deliberately conducted from the grounds. Moreover, he was now +convinced that O'Dowd had been close upon his heels from the instant +he entered them. There was something uncanny in the feeling that +possessed him. Such espionage as this signified something deep and +imperative in the presence not only of O'Dowd but the Jack-in-the-box +gardener a few minutes earlier. He had the grim suspicion that he +would later on encounter the spectacled De Soto. + +His mind was still full of the lovely stranger about whom O'Dowd had +so manifestly lied over the telephone. + +"I must ask you to apologise to the young lady on whom I blundered a +few moments ago, Mr. O'Dowd. She must have been startled. Pray convey +to her my solicitude and excuses." + +"Consider it done, my dear sir," said the Irishman. "Our most charming +and seductive guest," he went on. "Bedad, of the two of you, I'll +stake me head you were startled the most. Coming suddenly upon such +rare loveliness is almost equivalent to being struck by a bolt of +lightning. It did something like that to me when I saw her for the +first time a couple of weeks ago. I didn't get over it for the better +part of a day,--I can't say that I really got over it at all. More +than one painter of portraits has said that she is the most beautiful +woman in the world. I don't take much stock in portrait painters, but +I'm always fair to the lords of creation when their opinions coincide +with mine. Mayhap you have heard of her. She is Miss Cameron of New +Orleans, a friend of Mrs. Van Dyke. We have quite an enchanting house- +party, Mr. Barnes, if you consider no more than the feminine side of +it. Unfortunate creatures! To be saddled with such ungainly lummixes +as De Soto and me! By the way, have you heard when the coroner is to +hold his inquests?" + +"Nothing definite. He may wait a week," said Barnes. + +"I suppose you'll stick around until it's all over," ventured O'Dowd. +Barnes thought he detected a slight harshness in his voice. + +"I have quite made up my mind to stay until the mystery is entirely +cleared up," he said. "The case is so interesting that I don't want to +miss a shred of it." + +"I don't blame ye," said O'Dowd heartily. "I'd like nothing better +meself than to mix up in it, but, Lord love ye, if I turned detective +I'd also be turned out of the spare bed-room beyond, and sped on me +way with curses. Well, here we are. The next time you plan to pay us a +visit, telephone in advance. I may be able to persuade my host that +you're a decent, law-abiding, educated gentleman, and he'll consent to +receive you at Green Fancy. Good day to ye," and he shook hands with +the departing trespasser. + +A quarter of a mile below the spot where he parted from O'Dowd, Barnes +caught a glimpse of De Soto sauntering among the trees. He smiled to +himself. It was just what he had expected. + +"Takin' a walk?" was the landlord's greeting as he mounted the tavern +steps at dusk. Putnam Jones's gaunt figure had been discernible for +some time, standing motionless at the top of the steps. + +"Going over the ground of last night's affair," responded Barnes, +pausing. "Any word from the sheriff and his party?" + +"Nope. The blamed fools are still up there turnin' over all the loose +stones they c'n find," said Jones sarcastically. "Did you get a +glimpse of Green Fancy?" + +Barnes nodded. "I strolled a little distance into the woods," he said +briefly. + +"I wouldn't do it again," said Jones. "Strangers ain't welcome. I +might have told you as much if I'd thought you were going up that way. +Mr. Curtis notified me a long while ago to warn my guests not to set +foot on his grounds, under penalty of the law." + +"Well, I escaped without injury," laughed Barnes. "No one took a shot +at me." + +As he entered the door he was acutely aware of an intense stare +levelled at him from behind by the landlord of Hart's Tavern. Half way +up the stairway he stopped short, and with difficulty repressed the +exclamation that rose to his lips. + +He had recalled a significant incident of the night before. Almost +immediately after the departure of Roon and Paul from the Tavern, +Putnam Jones had made his way to the telephone behind the desk, and +had called for a number in a loud, brisk voice, but the subsequent +conversation was carried on in subdued tones, attended by haste and +occasional furtive glances in the direction of the tap-room. + +Upon reaching his room, Barnes permitted the suppressed emotion to +escape his lips in the shape of a soft whistle, which if it could have +been translated into words would have said: "By Gad, why haven't I +thought of it before? He sent out the warning that Roon and Paul were +on the way! And I'd like to bet my last dollar that some one at Green +Fancy had the other end of the wire." + +Mr. Rushcroft stalked majestically into his room while he was shaving, +without taking the trouble to knock at the door, and in his most +impressive manner announced that if there was another hostelry within +reasonable distance he would move himself, his luggage and his entire +company out of Putnam Jones's incomprehensible house. + +"Why, sir," he declared, "the man is not only a knave but a fool. He +flatly declines the prodigious offer I have made for the corner rooms +at the end of the corridor. In fact, he refuses to transfer my +daughter and me from our present quarters into what might be called +the royal suite if one were disposed to be facetious. The confounded +blockhead insists on seeing the colour of my money in advance." He sat +down on the edge of the bed, dejectedly. "My daughter, perversity +personified, takes the extraordinary stand that the wretch is right. +She agrees with him. She has even gone so far as to say, to my face, +that beggars cannot be choosers, although I must give her credit for +not using the expression in the scoundrel's presence. 'Pon my soul, +Barnes, I have never been so sorely tried in all my life. Emma,--I +should say, Mercedes,--denounces me to my face. She says I am a +wastrel, a profligate,--(there I have her, however, for she failed to +consult the dictionary before applying the word to me),--an ingrate, +and a lot of other things I fail to recall in my dismay. She contends +that I have no right to do what I please with my own money. Indeed, +she goes so far as to say that I haven't any money at all. I have +tried to explain to her the very simple principles upon which all +financial transactions are based, but she remains as obtuse as +Cleopatra's Needle. Her ignorance would be pitiful if she wasn't so +damned obstinate about it. And to cap the climax, she had the +insolence to ask me to show her a dollar in real money. By gad, sir, +she's as unreasonable as Putnam Jones himself." + +Barnes gallantly came to the daughter's defense. He was more than +pleased by the father's revelations. They proved her to be possessed +of fine feelings and a genuine sense of appreciation. + +"As a matter of fact, Mr. Rushcroft, I think she is quite right," he +said flatly. "It isn't a bad idea to practice economy." + +"My dear sir," said Rushcroft peevishly, "where would I be now in my +profession if I had practiced economy at the expense of progress?" + +"I don't know," confessed Barnes, much too promptly. + +"I can tell you, sir. I would be nowhere at all. I would not be the +possessor of a name that is known from one end of this land to the +other, a name that guarantees to the public the most elaborate +productions known to--" + +"Pardon me," interrupted the other; "it doesn't get you anywhere with +Putnam Jones, and that is the issue at present. The government puts +the portrait of George Washington on one of its greenbacks but his +face and name wouldn't be worth the tenth of a penny if the United +States went bankrupt. As it is, however, if you were to go downstairs +and proffer one of those bills to Putnam Jones he would make his most +elaborate bow and put you into the best room in the house. George +Washington has backing that even Mr. Jones cannot despise. So, you +see, your daughter is right. Your name and face is yet to be stamped +on a government bank note, Mr. Rushcroft, and until that time comes +you are no better off than I or any of the rest of the unfortunates +who, being still alive, have to eat for a living." + +"You speak in parables," said Mr. Rushcroft, arising. "Am I to assume +that you wish to withdraw your offer to lend me--" + +"Not at all," said Barnes. "My desire to stake you to the comforts and +dignity your station deserves remains unchanged. If you will bear with +me until I have finished shaving I will go with you to Mr. Jones and +show him the colour of your money." + +Mr. Rushcroft grinned shamelessly. "My daughter was right when she +said another thing to me," he observed, sitting down once more. + +"She appears to be more or less infallible." + +"A woman in a million," said the star. "She said that I wouldn't make +a hit with you if I attempted to put on too much side. I perceive that +she was right,--as usual." + +"Absolutely," said Barnes, with decision. + +"So I'll cut it out," remarked Rushcroft quaintly. "I will be +everlastingly grateful to you, Mr. Barnes, if you'll fix things up +with Jones. God knows when or whether I can ever reimburse you, but as +I am not really a dead-beat the time will certainly come when I may +begin paying in installments. Do we understand each other?" + +"We do," said Barnes, and started downstairs with him. + +Half an hour later Barnes succeeded in striking a bargain with Putnam +Jones. He got the two rooms at the end of the hall at half price, +insisting that it was customary for every hotel to give actors a +substantial reduction in rates. + +"You shall be treasurer and business-manager in my reorganized +company," said Rushcroft. "With your acumen and my eccentricity united +in a common cause we will stagger the universe." + +Despite his rehabilitation as a gentleman of means and independence, +Mr. Rushcroft could not forego the pleasure of staggering a small +section of the world that very night. He was giving Hamlet's address +to the players in the tap-room when Barnes came downstairs at nine +o'clock. Bacon and Dillingford having returned earlier in the evening +with the trunks, bags and other portable chattels of the defunct +"troupe," Mr. Rushcroft was performing in a sadly wrinkled Norfolk +suit of grey which Dillingford was under solemn injunction to press +before breakfast the next morning. + +"I know I don't have to do it," said the star, catching the surprised +look in Barnes's eye and pausing to explain, sotto voce, "but I hadn't +the heart to refuse. They're eating it up, my dear fellow. Up to this +instant they've been sitting with their mouths wide open while I +hurled it, word after word, into their very vitals. "Whereupon he +resumed the sonorous monologue, glowering balefully upon his +transfixed hearers. + +Barnes, leaning against the door-jamb, listened with an amused smile +on his lips. His gaze swept the rapt faces of the dozen or more +customers seated at the tables, and he found himself wondering if one +of these men was the father of the little girl whose mother had +described Hart's Tavern as a "shindy." Was it only yesterday that he +had spoken with the barefoot child? An age seemed to have passed since +that brief encounter. + +Rushcroft ended Hamlet's speech in fine style, and almost instantly a +mild voice from the crowd asked if he knew "Casey at the Bat." Not in +the least distressed by this woeful commentary, Mr. Rushcroft +cheerfully, obligingly tackled the tragic fizzle of the immortal +Casey. + +A small, dark man who sat alone at a table in the corner, caught +Barnes's eye and smiled almost mournfully. He was undoubtedly a +stranger; his action was meant to convey to Barnes the information +that he too was from a distant and sophisticated community, and that a +bond of sympathy existed between them. + +Putnam Jones spoke suddenly at Barnes's shoulder. He started +involuntarily. The man was beginning to get on his nerves. He seemed +to be dogging his footsteps with ceaseless persistency. + +"That feller over there in the corner," said Jones, softly, "is a +book-agent from your town. He sold me a set of Dickens when he was +here last time, about six weeks ago. A year's subscription to two +magazines throwed in. By gosh, these book-agents are slick ones. I +didn't want that set of Dickens any more'n I wanted a last year's +bird's nest. The thing I'm afraid of is that he'll talk me into taking +a set of Scott before he moves on. He's got me sweatin' already." + +"He's a shrewd looking chap," commented Barnes. + +"Says he won't be satisfied till he's made this section of the country +the most cultured, refined spot in the United States," said Jones +dolefully. "He brags about how much he did toward makin' Boston the +literary centre of the United States, him and his father before him. +Together, he says, they actually elevated Boston from the bottomless +pit of ignorance and----Excuse me. There goes the telephone. Maybe +it's news from the sheriff." + +With the spasmodic tinkling of the telephone bell, the book-agent +arose and made his way to the little office. As he passed Barnes, he +winked broadly, and said, out of the corner of his mouth: + +"He'd make DeWolf Hopper look sick, wouldn't he?" + +Barnes glanced over his shoulder a moment later and saw the book-agent +studying the register. The poise of his sleek head, however, suggested +a listening attitude. Putnam Jones, not four feet away, was speaking +into the telephone receiver. As the receiver was restored to its hook, +Barnes turned again. Jones and the book-agent were examining the +register, their heads almost meeting from opposite sides of the desk. + +The latter straightened up, stretched his arms, yawned, and announced +in a loud tone that he guessed he'd step out and get a bit of fresh +air before turning in. + +"Any news?" inquired Barnes, approaching the desk after the door had +closed behind the book-agent. + +"It wasn't the sheriff," replied Jones shortly, and immediately +resumed his interrupted discourse on books, book-agents and the +reclamation of Boston. Ten minutes elapsed before the landlord's +garrulity was checked by the sound of an automobile coming to a stop +in front of the house. Barnes turned expectantly toward the door. +Almost immediately the car started up again, with a loud shifting of +gears, and a moment later the door opened to admit, not a fresh +arrival, but the little book-agent. + +"Party trying to make Hornville to-night," he announced casually. +"Well, good night. See you in the morning." + +Barnes was not in a position to doubt the fellow's word, for the car +unmistakably had gone on toward Hornville. He waited a few minutes +after the man disappeared up the narrow stairway, and then proceeded +to test his powers of divination. He was as sure as he could be sure +of anything that had not actually come to pass, that in a short time +the automobile would again pass the tavern but this time from the +direction of Hornville. + +Lighting a cigarette, he strolled outside. He had barely time to take +a position at the darkened end of the porch before the sounds of an +approaching machine came to his ears. A second or two later the lights +swung around the bend in the road a quarter of a mile above Hart's +Tavern, and down came the car at a high rate of speed. It dashed past +the tavern with a great roar and rattle and shot off into the darkness +beyond. As it rushed through the dim circle of light in front of the +tavern, Barnes succeeded in obtaining a brief but convincing view of +the car. That glance was enough, however. He would have been willing +to go before a jury and swear that it was the same car that had +deposited him at Hart's Tavern the day before. + +Having guessed correctly in the one instance, he allowed himself +another and even bolder guess: the little book-agent had either +received a message from or delivered one to the occupant or driver of +the car from Green Fancy. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A NOTE, SOME FANCIES, AND AN EXPEDITION IN QUEST OF FACTS + + +Dillingford gave him a lighted candle at the desk and he started +upstairs, his mind full of the events and conjectures of the day. +Uppermost in his thoughts was the dazzling vision of the afternoon, +and the fleeting smile that had come to him through the leafy +interstices. As he entered the room, his eyes fell upon a white +envelope at his feet. It had been slipped under the door since he left +the room an hour before. + +Terse reminder from the prudent Mr. Jones! His bill for the day! He +picked it up, glanced at the inscription, and at once altered his +opinion. His full name was there in the handwriting of a woman. For a +moment he was puzzled; then he thought of Miss Thackeray. A note of +thanks, no doubt, unpleasantly fulsome! Vaguely annoyed, he ripped +open the envelope and read: + +"In case I do not have the opportunity to speak with you to-night, +this is to let you know that the little man who says he is a book- +agent was in your room for three-quarters of an hour while you were +away this afternoon. You'd better see if anything is missing. + M.T." + +He read the note again, and then held it over the candle flame. +Surprise and a temporary indignation gave way before the thrill of +exultation as the blazing paper fell upon the hearth. + +"'Gad, it grows more and more interesting," he mused, and chuckled +aloud. "They're not losing a minute's time in finding out all they can +about me, that's certain. Thanks, my dear Miss Thackeray. You are +undoubtedly deceived but I am not. This chap may be a detective but he +isn't looking for evidence to connect me with last night's murders. +Not a bit of it. He is trying to find out whether I ought to be shot +the next time I go snooping around Green Fancy. I'd give a good deal +to know what he put into the report he sent off a little while ago. +And I'd give a good deal more to know just where Mr. Jones stands in +this business. Selling sets of Dickens, eh? Book-agent by day, secret +agent by night,--'gad, he may even be a road-agent!" + +He made a hasty but careful examination of his effects. There was not +the slightest evidence that his pack had been opened or even +disturbed. Naturally he travelled without surplus impedimenta; he +carried the lightest outfit possible. There were a few papers +containing notes and memoranda; a small camera and films; a blank book +to which he transferred his daily experiences, observations and +impressions; a small medicine case; tobacco and cigarettes; a flask of +brandy; copies of Galworthy's "Man of Property" and Hutchinson's +"Happy Warrior"; wearing apparel, and a revolver. His purse and +private papers rarely were off his person. If the little book-agent +spent three-quarters of an hour in the room he managed most +effectually to cover up all traces of his visit. + +Barnes did not go to sleep until long after midnight. He now regarded +himself as definitely committed to a combination of sinister and +piquant enterprises, not the least of which was the determination to +find out all there was to know about the mysterious young woman at +Green Fancy. + +His operations along any line of endeavour were bound to be difficult, +perhaps hazardous. Every movement that he made would be observed and +reported; his every step followed. He could hope to disarm suspicion +only by moving with the utmost boldness and unconcern. Success rested +in his ability to convince O'Dowd, Jones and the rest of them that +they had nothing to fear from his innocuous wanderings. + +His interest in the sensational affair that had disturbed his first +night's rest at Hart's Tavern must remain paramount. His theories, +deductions and suggestions as to the designs and identity of Roon and +Paul; the stated results of personal and no doubt ludicrous +experiments; sly and confidential jabs at the incompetent +investigators, uttered behind the hand to Putnam Jones and, if +possible, to the book-agent;--a quixotic philanthropy in connection +with the fortunes of Rushcroft and his players; all these would have +to be put forward in the scheme to dispel suspicion at Green Fancy. + +It did not occur to him that he ought to be furthering the ends of +justice by disclosing to the authorities his secret opinion of Putman +Jones, the strange behaviour of Roon as observed by Miss Thackeray, +and his own adventure with the lady of the cross-roads. The chance +that Jones, subjected to third degree pressure, might break down and +reveal all that he knew was not even considered. + +Back of all his motives was the spur of Romance: his real interest was +centred in the lovely lady of Green Fancy. + +He was confident that O'Dowd's system of espionage would quickly +absolve him of all interest in or connection with the plans of Albert +Roon; it remained therefore for him to convince the Irishman that he +had no notions or vagaries inimical to the well-being of Green Fancy +or its occupants. With that result achieved, he need have no fear of +meeting the fate that had befallen Roon and his lieutenant; nothing +worse could happen than an arrest and fine for trespass. + +The next day he, with other lodgers in the Tavern, was put through an +examination by police and county officials from Saint Elizabeth, and +notified that, while he was not under suspicion or surveillance, it +would be necessary for him to remain in the "bailiwick" until +detectives, already on the way, were satisfied that he possessed no +knowledge that would be useful to them in clearing up what had now +assumed the dignity of a "national problem." + +O'Dowd rode down from Green Fancy and created quite a sensation among +the officials by announcing that Mr. Curtis desired them to feel that +they had a perfect right to extend their search for clues to all parts +of his estate, and that he was deeply interested in the outcome of +their investigations. + +"The devils may have laid their ambush on his property," said O'Dowd, +"and they may have made their escape into the hills back of his place +without running the risk of tackling the highways. Nothing, Mr. Curtis +says, should stand in the way of justice. While he knows that you have +a legal right to enter his grounds, and even his house, in the pursuit +of duty, he urges me to make it clear to you gentlemen, that you are +welcome to come without even so much as a demand upon him. If I may be +so bold as to offer my services, you may count on me to act as guide +at any time you may elect. I know the lay of the land pretty well, and +what I don't know the gardeners and other men up there do. You are to +call upon all of us if necessary. Mr. Curtis, as you know, is an +invalid. May I suggest, therefore, that you conduct your examination +of the grounds near his home with as little commotion as possible? +Incidentally, I may inform you, but one person at Green Fancy heard +the shots. That person was Mr. Curtis himself. He rang for his +attendant and instructed him to send some one out to find out what it +was all about. The chauffeur went down to Conley's, as you know. If +you consider it absolutely necessary to question Mr. Curtis as to the +time the shots were fired, he will receive you; but I think you may +properly establish that fact by young Conley without submitting a sick +man to the excitement and distress of a--" + +The sheriff hastily broke in with the assurance that it was not at all +necessary to disturb Mr. Curtis. It wasn't to be thought of for a +moment. He would, however, like to "run over the ground a bit" that +very afternoon, if it was agreeable to Mr. O'Dowd. + +It being quite agreeable, the genial Irishman proposed that his +friend, Mr. Barnes,--(here he bestowed an almost imperceptible wink +upon the New Yorker),--should join the party. He could vouch for the +intelligence and discretion of the gentleman. + +Barnes, concealing his surprise, expressed himself as happy to be of +any service. He glanced at Putnam Jones as he made the statement. It +was at once borne in upon him that the landlord's attitude toward him +had undergone a marked change in the last few minutes. The furtive, +distrustful look was missing from his eyes and in its place was a +friendly, approving twinkle. + +O'Dowd stayed to dinner. (Dinner was served in the middle of the day +at Hart's Tavern.) He made a great impression upon Lyndon Rushcroft, +who, with his daughter, joined the two men. Indeed, the palavering +Irishman extended himself in the effort to make himself agreeable. He +was vastly interested in the stage, he declared. As a matter of fact, +he had been told a thousand times that he ought to go on the stage. He +had decided talent.... + +"If you change your mind," said Mr. Rushcroft, "and conclude to try a +whirl at it, just let me know. I can find a place for you in my +company at any time. If there isn't a vacancy, we can always write in +an Irish comedy part." + +"But I never wanted to be a comedian," said O'Dowd. "I've always +wanted to play the young hero,--the fellow who gets the girl, you +know." He bestowed a gallant smile upon Miss Thackeray. + +"You may take my word for it, sir," said Mr. Rushcroft with feeling, +"heroism, and nothing less, is necessary to the man who has to play +opposite most of the harridans you, in your ignorance, speak of as +girls." And he launched forth upon a round of soul-trying experiences +with "leading-ladies." + +The little book-agent came in while they were at table. He sat down in +a corner of the dining-room and busied himself with his subscription +lists while waiting for the meal to be served. He was still poring +over them, frowning intently, when Barnes and the others left the +room. + +Barnes walked out beside Miss Thackeray. + +"The tailor-made gown is an improvement," he said to her. + +"Does that mean that I look more like a good chambermaid than I did +before?" + +"If you would consider it a compliment, yes," he replied, smiling. He +was thinking that she was a very pretty girl, after all. + +"The frock usually makes the woman," she said slowly, "but not always +the lady." + +He thought of that remark more than once during the course of an +afternoon spent in the woods about Green Fancy. + +O'Dowd virtually commanded the expedition. It was he who thought of +everything. First of all, he led the party to the corner of the estate +nearest the point where Paul was shot from his horse. Sitting in his +own saddle, he called the attention of the other riders to what +appeared to be a most significant fact in connection with the killing +of this man. + +"From what I hear, the man Paul was shot through the lungs, directly +from in front. The bullet went straight through his body. He was +riding very rapidly down this road. When he came to a point not far +above cross-roads, he was fired upon. It is safe to assume that he was +looking intently ahead, trying to make out the crossing. He was not +shot from the side of the road, gentlemen, but from the middle of it. +The bullet came from a point almost directly in front of him, and not +from Mr. Curtis's property here to the left, or Mr. Conley's on the +right. Understand, this is my whimsey only. I may be entirely wrong. +My idea is that the man who shot him waited here at the cross-roads to +head off either or both of them in case they were not winged by men +stationed farther up. Of course, that must be quite obvious to all of +you. My friend De Soto is inclined to the belief that they were trying +to get across the border. I don't believe so. If that were the case, +why did they dismount above Conley's house, hitch their horses to the +fence, and set forth on foot? I am convinced in my own mind that they +came here to meet some one to whom they were to deliver a verbal +report of vital importance,--some one from across the border in +Canada. This message was delivered. So far as Roon and Paul were +concerned their usefulness was ended. They had done all that was +required of them. The cause they served was better off with them dead +than alive. Without the slightest compunction, without the least +regard for faithful service, they were set upon and slain by their +supposed friends. Now, you may laugh at my fancy if you like, but you +must remember that frightful things are happening in these days. The +killing of these men adds but a drop to the ocean of blood that is +being shed. Roon and Paul, suddenly confronted by treachery, fled for +their lives. The trap had been set with care, however; they rushed +into it." + +"I am inclined to your hypothesis, O'Dowd," said Barnes. "It seems +sound and reasonable. The extraordinary precautions taken by Roon and +Paul to prevent identification, dead or alive, supports your whimsey, +as you call it. The thing that puzzles me, however, is the singular +failure of the two men to defend themselves. They were armed, yet +neither fired a shot. You would think that when they found themselves +in a tight place, such as you suggest, their first impulse would be to +shoot." + +"Well," mused O'Dowd, squinting his eyes in thought, "there's +something in that. It doesn't seem reasonable that they'd run like +whiteheads with guns in--By Jove, here's a new thought!" His eyes +glistened with boyish elation. "They had delivered their message,-- +we'll assume that much, of course,--and were walking back to their +horses when they were ordered to halt by some one hidden in the brush +at the roadside. You can't very well succeed in hitting a man if you +can't see him at all, so they made a dash for it instead of wasting +time in shooting at the air. What's more, they may have anticipated +the very thing that happened: they were prepared for treachery. Their +only chance lay in getting safely into their saddles. Oh, I am a good +romancer! I should be writing dime novels instead of living the +respectable life I do. Conley heard them running for their lives. +Assassins had been stationed along the road to head them off, however. +The man who had his place near the horses, got Roon. The chances are +that Paul did not accompany Roon to the meeting place up the road. He +remained near the horses. That's how he managed to get away so +quickly. It remained for the man at the cross-roads to settle with +him. But, we're wasting time with all this twaddle of mine. Let us be +moving. There is one point on which we must all agree. The deadliest +marksmen in the world fired those shots. No bungling on that score, +bedad." + +In course of time, the party, traversing the ground contiguous to the +public road, came within sight of the green dwelling among the trees. +Barnes's interest revived. He had, from the outset, appreciated the +futility of the search for clues in the territory they had covered. +The searchers were incapable of conducting a scientific examination. +It was work for the most skilful, the most practised, the most +untiring of tracers. His second view of the house increased his wonder +and admiration. If O'Dowd had not actually located it among the trees +for him, he would have been at a loss to discover it, although it was +immediately in front of him and in direct line of vision. + +"Astonishing, isn't it?" said the Irishman, as they stood side by +side, peering ahead. + +"Marvellous is the better word," said Barnes. + +"The fairies might have built it," said the other, with something like +awe in his voice. He shook his head solemnly. + +"One could almost fancy that a fairy queen dwelt there, surrounded by +Peter Pans and Aladdins," mused Barnes. + +"Instead of an ogre attended by owls and nightbirds and the devil +knows what,--for I don't." + +Barnes looked at him in amazement, struck by the curious note in his +voice. + +"If you were a small boy in knickers, O'Dowd, I should say that you +were mortally afraid of the place." + +"If I were a small boy," said O'Dowd, "I'd be scairt entirely out of +me knickers. I'd keep me boots on, mind ye, so that I could run the +better. It's me Irish imagination that does the trick. You never saw +an Irishman in your life that wasn't conscious of the 'little people' +that inhabit the places that are always dark and green." + +De Soto was seen approaching through the green sea, his head appearing +and disappearing intermittently in the billows formed by the +undulating underbrush. He shook hands with Barnes a moment later. + +"I'm glad you had the sense to bring Mr. Barnes with you, O'Dowd," +said he. "You didn't mention him when you telephoned that you were +personally conducting a sight-seeing party. I tried to catch you +afterwards on the telephone, but you had left the tavern. Mrs. Collier +wanted me to ask you to capture Mr. Barnes for dinner to-night." + +"Mrs. Collier is the sister of Mr. Curtis," explained O'Dowd. Then he +turned upon De Soto incredulously. "For the love of Pat," he cried +"what's come over them? When I made so bold as to suggest last night +that you were a chap worth cultivating, Barnes,--and that you wouldn't +be long in the neighbourhood,--But, to save your feelings I'll not +repeat what they said, the two of them. What changed them over, De +Soto?" + +"A chance remark of Miss Cameron's at lunch to-day. She wondered if +Barnes could be the chap who wrote the articles about Peru and the +Incas, or something of the sort, and that set them to looking up the +back numbers of the geographic magazine in Mr. Curtis's library. Not +only did they find the articles but they found your picture. I had no +difficulty in deciding that you were one and the same. The atmosphere +cleared in a jiffy. It became even clearer when it was discovered that +you have had a few ancestors and are received in good society--both +here and abroad, as the late Frederic Townsend Martin would have said. +I hereby officially present the result of subsequent deliberation. Mr. +Barnes is invited to dine with us to-night." + +Barnes's heart was still pounding rapidly as he made the rueful +admission that he "didn't have a thing to wear." He couldn't think of +accepting the gracious invitation-- + +"Don't you think the clothes you have on your back will last through +the evening?" inquired O'Dowd quaintly. + +"But look at them!" cried Barnes. "I've tramped in 'em for two weeks +and--" + +"All the more reason why you should be thankful they're good and +stout," said O'Dowd. + +"We live rather simply up here, Mr. Barnes," said De Soto. "There +isn't a dinner jacket or a spike tail coat on the place. It's strictly +against the law up here to have such things about one's person. Come +as you are, sir. I assure you I speak the truth when I say we don't +dress for dinner." + +"Bedad," said O'Dowd enthusiastically, "if it will make ye feel any +more comfortable I'll put on the corduroy outfit I go trout fishing +in, bespattered and patched as it is. And De Soto will appear in the +white duck trousers and blazer he tries to play tennis in,--though, +God bless him, poor wretch, he hates to put them on after all he's +heard said about his game." + +"If they'll take me as I am," began Barnes, doubtfully. + +"I say," called out O'Dowd to the sheriff, who was gazing longingly at +the horses tethered at the bottom of the slope; "would ye mind leading +Mr. Barnes's nag back to the Tavern? He is stopping to dinner. And, +while I think of it, are you satisfied, Mr. Sheriff, with the day's +work? If not, you will be welcome again at any time, if ye'll only +telephone a half minute in advance." To Barnes he said: "We'll send +you down in the automobile to-night, provided it has survived the day. +We're expecting the poor thing to die in its tracks at almost any +instant." + +Ten minutes later Barnes passed through the portals of Green Fancy. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE FIRST WAYFARER, THE SECOND WAYFARER, AND THE SPIRIT OF CHIVALRY +ASCENDANT + + +The wide green door, set far back in a recess not unlike a kiosk, was +opened by a man-servant who might easily have been mistaken for a +waiter from Delmonico's or Sherry's. He did not have the air or aplomb +of a butler, nor the smartness of a footman. On the contrary, he was a +thick-set, rather scrubby sort of person with all the symptoms of cafe +servitude about him, including the never-failing doubt as to +nationality. He might have been a Greek, a Pole, an Italian or a Turk. + +"Say to Mrs. Collier, Nicholas, that Mr. Barnes is here for dinner," +said De Soto. "I will make the cocktails this evening." + +Much to Barnes's surprise,--and disappointment,--the interior of the +house failed to sustain the bewildering effect produced by the +exterior. The entrance hall and the living-room into which he was +conducted by the two men were singularly like others that he had seen. +The latter, for example, was of ordinary dimensions, furnished with a +thought for comfort rather than elegance or even good taste. The rugs +were thick and in tone held almost exclusively to Turkish reds; the +couches and chairs were low and deep and comfortable, as if intended +for men only, and they were covered with rich, gay materials; the +hangings at the windows were of deep blue and gold; the walls an +unobtrusive cream colour, almost literally thatched with etchings. + +Barnes, somewhat of a connoisseur, was not slow to recognise the value +and extreme rarity of the prints. Rembrandt, Whistler, Hayden, +Merryon, Cameron, Muirhead Bone and Zorn were represented by their +most notable creations; two startling subjects by Brangwyn hung alone +in one corner of the room, isolated, it would seem, out of +consideration for the gleaming, jewel-like surfaces of other and +smaller treasures. There were at least a dozen Zorns, as many +Whistlers and Camerons. + +O'Dowd, observing the glance of appreciation that Barnes sent about +the room, said: "All of thim are in the very rarest state. He has one +of the finest collections in America. Ye'll want your boots cleaned +and polished, and your face needs scrubbing, if ye don't mind my +saying so," he went on, critically surveying the visitor's person. +"Come up to my room and make yourself tidy. My own man will dust you +off and furbish you up in no time at all." + +They passed into another room at the left and approached a wide +stairway, the lower step of which was flush with the baseboard on the +wall. Not so much as an inch of the stairway protruded into the room, +and yet Barnes, whose artistic sense should have been offended, was +curiously pleased with the arrangement and effect. He made a mental +note of this deliberate violation of the holy rules of construction, +and decided that one day he would try it out for himself. + +The room itself was obviously a continuation of the larger one beyond, +a sort of annex, as it were. The same scheme in decoration and +furnishings was observed, except here the walls were adorned with +small paintings in oil, heavily framed. Hanging in the panel at the +right of the stairway was an exquisite little Corot, silvery and +feathery even in the dim light of early dusk. On the opposite side was +a brilliant little Cazin. + +The stairs were thickly carpeted. At the top, his guide turned to the +left and led the way down a long corridor. They passed at least four +doors before O'Dowd stopped and threw open the fifth on that side of +the hall. There were still two more doors beyond. + +"Suggests a hotel, doesn't it?" said the Irishman, standing aside for +Barnes to enter. "All of the sleeping apartments are on this floor, +and the baths, and boudoirs, and what-not. The garret is above, and +that's where we deposit our family skeletons, intern our grievances, +store our stock of spitefulness, and hide all the little devils that +must come sneaking up from the city with us whether we will or no. +Nothing but good-humour, contentment, happiness and mirth are +permitted to occupy this floor and the one below. I might also add +beauty, for you can't conceive any of the others without it, me +friend. God knows I couldn't be good-natured for a minute if I wasn't +encouraged by beauty appreciative, and as for being contented, happy +or mirthful,--bedad, words fail me! Dabson," he said, addressing the +man who had quietly entered the room through the door behind them, "do +Mr. Barnes, will ye, and fetch me from Mr. De Soto's room when you've +finished. I leave you to Dabson's tender mercies. The saints preserve +us! Look at the man's boots! Dabson, get out your brush and dauber +first of all. He's been floundering in a bog." + +The jovial Irishman retired, leaving Barnes to be "done" by the +silent, swift-moving valet. Dabson was young and vigorous and +exceedingly well-trained. He made short work of "doing" the visitor; +barely fifteen minutes elapsed before O'Dowd's return. + +Presently they went downstairs together. Lamps had been lighted, many +of them, throughout the house. A warm, pleasing glow filled the rooms, +softening,--one might even say tempering,--the insistent reds in the +rugs, which now seemed to reflect rather than to project their hues; a +fire crackled in the cavernous fireplace at the end of the living- +room, and grouped about its cheerful, grateful blaze were the ladies +of Green Fancy. + +Barnes was aware of a quickening of his pulses as he advanced with +O'Dowd. De Soto was there ahead of them, posed ungracefully in front +of the fire, his feet widespread, his hands in his pockets. Another +man, sallow-faced and tall, with a tired looking blond moustache and +sleepy eyes, was managing, with amazing skill, the retention of a +cigarette which seemed to be constantly in peril of detaching itself +from his parted though inactive lips. + +SHE was there, standing slightly aloof from the others, but evidently +amused by the tale with which De Soto was regaling them. She was +smiling; Barnes saw the sapphire lights sparkling in her eyes, and +experienced a sensation that was woefully akin to confusion. + +He had the feeling that he would be absolutely speechless when +presented to her; in the full, luminous glow of those lovely eyes he +would lose consciousness, momentarily, no doubt, but long enough to +give her,--and all the rest of them,--no end of a fright. + +But nothing of the kind happened. Everything went off quite naturally. +He favoured Miss Cameron with an uncommonly self-possessed smile as +she gave her hand to him, and she, in turn, responded with one faintly +suggestive of tolerance, although it certainly would have been +recorded by a less sensitive person than Barnes as "ripping." + +In reply to his perfunctory "delighted, I'm sure, etc.," she said, +quite clearly: "Oh, now I remember. I was sure I had seen you before, +Mr. Barnes. You are the magic gentleman who sprung like a mushroom out +of the earth yesterday afternoon." + +"And frightened you," he said; "whereupon you vanished like the +mushroom that is gobbled up by the predatory glutton." + +He had thrilled at the sound of her voice. It was the low, deliberate +voice of the woman of the crossroads, and, as before, he caught the +almost imperceptible accent. The red gleam from the blazing logs fell +upon her shining hair; it glistened like gold. She wore a simple +evening gown of white, softened over the shoulders and neck with a +fall of rare vallenciennes lace. There was no jewelry,--not even a +ring on her slender, tapering fingers. Oddly enough, now that he stood +beside her, she was not so tall as he had believed her to be the day +before. The crown of her silken head came but little above his +shoulder. As she had appeared to him among the trees he would have +sworn that she was but little below his own height, which was a +liberal six feet. He recalled a flash of wonder on that occasion; she +had seemed so much taller than the woman at the cross-roads that he +was almost convinced that she could not, after all, be the same +person. Now she was back to the height that he remembered, and he +marvelled once more. + +Mrs. Collier, the hostess, was an elderly, heavy-featured woman, +decidedly over-dressed. Barnes knew her kind. One encounters her +everywhere: the otherwise intelligent woman who has no sense about her +clothes. Mrs. Van Dyke, her daughter, was a woman of thirty, tall, +dark and handsome in a bold, dashing sort of way. She too was rather +resplendent in a black jet gown, and she was liberally bestrewn with +jewels. Much to Barnes's surprise, she possessed a soft, gentle +speaking-voice and a quiet, musical laugh instead of the boisterous +tones and cackle that he always associated with her type. The +lackadaisical gentleman with the moustache turned out to be her +husband. + +"My brother is unable to be with us to-night, Mr. Barnes," explained +Mrs. Collier. "Mr. O'Dowd may have told you that he is an invalid. +Quite rarely is he well enough to leave his room. He has been feeling +much better of late, but now his nerves are all torn to pieces by this +shooting affair. The mere knowledge that our grounds were being +inspected to-day by the authorities upset him terribly. He has begged +me to present his apologies and regrets to you. Another time, perhaps, +you will give him the pleasure he is missing to-night. He wanted so +much to talk with you about the quaint places you have described so +charmingly in your articles. They must be wonderfully appealing. One +cannot read your descriptions without really envying the people who +live in those enchanted--" + +"Ahem!" coughed O'Dowd, who actually had read the articles and could +see nothing alluring in a prospect that contemplated barren, snow- +swept wildernesses in the Andes. "The only advantage I can see in +living up there," he said, with a sly wink at Barnes, "is that one has +all the privileges of death without being put to the expense of +burial." + +"How very extraordinary, Mr. O'Dowd," said Mrs. Collier, lifting her +lorgnon. + +"Mrs. Collier has been reading my paper on the chateau country in +France," said Barnes mendaciously. (It had not yet been published, but +what of that?) + +"Perfectly delightful," said Mrs. Collier, and at once changed the +subject. + +De Soto's cocktails came in. Miss Cameron did not take one. O'Dowd +proposed a toast. + +"To the rascals who went gunning for the other rascals. But for them +we should be short at least one member of this agreeable company." + +It was rather startling. Barnes's glass stopped half-way to his lips. +An instant later he drained it. He accepted the toast as a compliment +from the whilom Irishman, and not as a tribute to the prowess of those +mysterious marksmen. + +"Rather grewsome, O'Dowd," drawled Van Dyke, "but offset by the +foresightedness of the maker of this cocktail. Uncommonly good one, De +Soto." + +The table in the spacious dining-room was one of those long, narrow +Italian boards, unmistakably antique and equally rare. Sixteen or +eighteen people could have been seated without crowding, and when the +seven took their places wide intervals separated them. No effort had +been made by the hostess to bring her guests close together, as might +have been done by using one end or the centre of the table. Except for +scattered doylies, the smooth, nut-brown top was bare of cloth; there +was a glorious patina to this huge old board, with tiny cracks running +like veins across its surface. + +Decorations were scant. A half dozen big candlesticks, ecclesiastical +in character, were placed at proper intervals, and at each end of the +table there was a shallow, alabaster dish containing pansies. The +serving plates were of silver. Especially beautiful were the long- +stemmed water goblets and the graceful champagne glasses. They were +blue and white and of a design and quality no longer obtainable except +at great cost. The aesthetic Barnes was not slow to appreciate the +rarity of the glassware and the chaste beauty of the serving plates. + +The man Nicholas was evidently the butler, despite his Seventh Avenue +manner. He was assisted in serving by two stalwart and amazingly +clumsy footmen, of similar ilk and nationality. On seeing these +additional men-servants, Barnes began figuratively to count on his +fingers the retainers he had so far encountered on the place. Already +he has seen six, all of them powerful, rugged fellows. It struck him. +as extraordinary, and in a way significant, that there should be so +many men at Green Fancy. + +Somewhere back in his mind was the impression that O'Dowd had spoken +of Pierre the cook, a private secretary and male attendant who looked +after Mr. Curtis. Then there was Peter, the regular chauffeur, whom he +had not seen, and doubtless there were able-bodied woodchoppers and +foresters besides. Not forgetting the little book-agent! It suddenly +occurred to him that he was surrounded by a company of the most +formidable character: no less than twenty men would be a reasonable +guess if he were to include O'Dowd, De Soto and Van Dyke. + +Much to his disappointment, he was not placed near Miss Cameron at +table. Indeed, she was seated as far away from him as possible. He sat +at Mrs. Collier's right. On his left was Mrs. Van Dyke, with Miss +Cameron at the foot of the table flanked by O'Dowd and De Soto. Van +Dyke had nearly the whole of the opposite side of the table to +himself. There was, to be sure, a place set between him and De Soto, +for symmetry's sake, Barnes concluded. In this he was mistaken; they +had barely seated themselves when Mrs. Collier remarked: + +"Mr. Curtis's secretary usually joins us here for coffee. He has his +dinner with my brother and then, poor man, comes in for a brief period +of relaxation. When my brother is in one of his bad spells poor Mr. +Loeb doesn't have much time to himself. It seems to me that my brother +is at his best when his health is at its worst. You may be interested +to know, Mr. Barnes, that he is writing a history of the Five +Nations." + +"Indians, you know," explained Van Dyke. + +"A history of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Cayugas, Onondagas and Senecas, +and their 'Long House' should be of great value, Mrs. Collier," said +Barnes, a trifle didactically. "When does he expect to have it +completed?" + +"'Gad, you know a little of everything, don't you?" said Van Dyke, +sitting up a little straighter in his chair and eyeing Barnes fishily. +("Awfully smart chap," he afterwards confided to O'Dowd.) "If he lives +long enough, he'll finish it in 1999," he added, lifting his voice +above Mrs. Collier's passive reply out of which Barnes gathered the +words "couple" and "years." + +It is not necessary to dilate upon the excellence of the dinner, to +repeat the dialogue, or to comment on the service, other than to say, +for the sake of record, that the first WAS excellent; the second +sprightly, and the third atrocious. + +Loeb, the private secretary, came in for coffee. He was a tall, spare +man of thirty, pallidly handsome, with dark, studious eyes and +features of an unmistakably Hebraic cast, as his name might have +foretold. His teeth were marvellously white, and his slow smile +attractive. When he spoke, which was seldom unless a remark was +directed specifically to him, his voice was singularly deep and +resonant. More than once during the hour that Loeb spent with them +Barnes formed and dismissed a stubborn, ever-recurring opinion that +the man was not a Jew. Certainly he was not an American Jew. His +voice, his manner of speech, his every action stamped him as one born +and bred in a land far removed from Broadway and its counterparts. If +a Jew, he was of the East as it is measured from Rome: the Jew of the +carnal Orient. + +And as the evening wore on, there came to Barnes the singular fancy +that this man was the master and not the servant of the house! He +could not put the ridiculous idea out of his mind. + +He was to depart at ten. The hour drew near and he had had no +opportunity for detached conversation with Miss Cameron. He had +listened to her bright retorts to O'Dowd's sallies, and marvelled at +the ease and composure with which she met the witty Irishman on even +terms. Her voice, always low and distinct, was never without the +suggestion of good-natured raillery; he was enchanted by the faint, +delicious chuckle that rode in every sentence she uttered during these +sprightly tilts. + +When the conversation turned to serious topics, her voice steadied +perceptibly, the blue in her eyes took on a deeper and darker hue, the +half-satirical smile vanished from her adorable lips, and she spoke +with the gravity of a profound thinker. Barnes watched her, +fascinated, bereft of the power to concentrate his thoughts on +anything else. He hung on her every movement, hoping and longing for +the impersonal glance or remark with which she occasionally favoured +him. + +Not until the very close of the evening, and when he had resigned +himself to hopelessness, did the opportunity come for him to speak +with her alone. She caught his eye, and, to his amazement, made a +slight movement of her head, unobserved by the others but curiously +imperative to him. There was no mistaking the meaning of the direct, +intense look that she gave him. + +She was appealing to him as a friend,--as one on whom she could +depend! + +The spirit of chivalry took possession of him. His blood leaped to the +call. She needed him and he would not fail her. And it was with +difficulty that he contrived to hide the exaltation that might have +ruined everything! + +Loeb had returned to his labours in Mr. Curtis's study, after bidding +Barnes a courteous good-night. It seemed to the latter that with the +secretary's departure an indefinable restraint fell away from the +small company. + +While he was trying to invent a pretext for drawing her apart from the +others, she calmly ordered Van Dyke to relinquish his place on the +couch beside her to Barnes. + +"Come and sit beside me, Mr. Barnes," she called out, gaily. "I will +not bite you, or scratch you, or harm you in any way. Ask Mr. O'Dowd +and he will tell you that I am quite docile. What is there about me, +sir, that causes you to think that I am dangerous? You have barely +spoken a word to me, and you've been disagreeably nice to Mrs. Collier +and Mrs. Van Dyke. I don't bite, do I, Mr. O'Dowd?" + +"You do," said O'Dowd promptly. "You do more than that. You devour. +Bedad, I have to look in a mirror to convince meself that you haven't +swallowed me whole. That's another way of telling you, Barnes, that +she'll absorb you entirely." + +It was a long, deep and comfortable couch of the davenport class, and +she sat in the middle of it instead of at the end, a circumstance that +he was soon to regard as premeditated. She had planned to bring him to +this place beside her and had cunningly prepared against the +possibility that he might put the full length of the couch between +them if she settled herself in a corner. As it was, their elbows +almost touched as he sat down beside her. + +For a few minutes she chided him for his unseemly aversion. He was +beginning to think that he had been mistaken in her motive, and that +after all she was merely satisfying her vanity. Suddenly, and as she +smiled into his eyes, she said, lowering her voice slightly: + +"Do not appear surprised at anything I may say to you. Smile as if we +were uttering the silliest nonsense. So much depends upon it, Mr. +Barnes." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE PRISONER OF GEEEN FANCY, AND THE LAMENT OF PETER THE CHAUFFEUR + + +He envied Mr. Rushcroft. The barn-stormer would have risen to the +occasion without so much as the blinking of an eye. He would have been +able to smile and gesticulate in a manner that would have deceived the +most acute observer, while he--ah, he was almost certain to flounder +and make a mess of the situation. He did his best, however, and, +despite his eagerness, managed to come off fairly well. Any one out of +ear-shot would have thought that he was uttering some trifling inanity +instead of these words: + +"You may trust me. I have suspected that something was wrong here." + +"It is impossible to explain now," she said. "These people are not my +friends. I have no one to turn to in my predicament." + +"Yes, you have," he broke in, and laughed rather boisterously for him. +He felt that they were being watched in turn by every person in the +room. + +"To-night,--not an hour ago,--I began to feel that I could call upon +you for help. I began to relax. Something whispered to me that I was +no longer utterly alone. Oh, you will never know what it is to have +your heart lighten as mine--But I must control myself. We are not to +waste words." + +"You have only to command me, Miss Cameron. No more than a dozen words +are necessary." + +"I knew it,--I felt it," she cried eagerly. "Nothing can be done to- +night. The slightest untoward action on your part would send you +after--the other two. There is one man here who, I think, will stand +between me and actual peril. Mr. O'Dowd. He is--" + +"He is the liveliest liar I've ever known," broke in Barnes quickly. +"Don't trust him." + +"But he is also an Irishman," she said, as if that fact overcame all +other shortcomings. "I like him; he must be an honest man, for he has +already lied nobly in MY behalf." She smiled as she uttered this +quaint anomaly. + +"Tell me how I can be of service to you," said he, disposing of O'Dowd +with a shrug. + +"I shall try to communicate with you in some way--to-morrow. I beg of +you, I implore you, do not desert me. If I can only be sure that you +will--" + +"You may depend on me, no matter what happens," said he, and, looking +into her eyes was bound forever. + +"I have been thinking," she said. "Yesterday I made the discovery that +I--that I am actually a prisoner here, Mr. Barnes. I--Smile! Say +something silly!" + +Together they laughed over the meaningless remark he made in response +to her command. + +"I am constantly watched. If I venture outside the house, I am almost +immediately joined by one of these men. You saw what happened +yesterday. I am distracted. I do not know how to arrange a meeting so +that I may explain my unhappy position to you." + +"I will ask the authorities to step in and--" + +"No! You are to do nothing of the kind. The authorities would never +find me if they came here to search." (It was hard for him to smile at +that!) "It must be some other way. If I could steal out of the house, +--but that is impossible," she broke off with a catch in her voice. + +"Suppose that I were to steal INTO the house," he said, a reckless +light in his eyes. + +"Oh, you could never succeed!" + +"Well, I could try, couldn't I?" There was nothing funny in the remark +but they both leaned back and laughed heartily. "Leave it to me. I +once got into and out of a Morrocan harem,--but that story may wait. +Tell me, where--" + +"The place is guarded day and night. The stealthiest burglar in the +world could not come within a stone's throw of the house." + +"By Jove! Those two men night before last were trying to--" He said no +more, but turned his head so that the others could not see the hard +look that settled in his eyes. "If it's as bad as all that, we cannot +afford to make any slips. You think you are in no immediate peril?" + +"I am in no peril at all unless I bring it upon myself," she said, +significantly. + +"Then a delay of a day or so will not matter," he said, frowning. +"Leave it to me. I will find a way." + +"Be careful!" De Soto came lounging up behind them. She went on +speaking, changing the subject so abruptly and so adroitly that for a +moment Barnes was at a loss. "But if she could obtain all those +luxuries without using a penny of his money, what right had he to +object? Surely a wife may do as she pleases with her own money." + +"He was trying to break her of selfishness," said Barnes, suddenly +inspired. "The difference between men and women in the matter of +luxuries lies in the fact that one is selfish and the other is not. A +man slaves all the year round to provide luxuries for his wife. The +wife comes into a nice little fortune of her own, and what does she +proceed to do with it? Squander it on her husband? Not much! She sets +out immediately to prove to the world that he is a miser, a skinflint +who never gave her more than the bare necessities of life. The chap I +was speaking of--I beg pardon, Mr. De Soto." + +"Forgive me for interrupting, but I am under command from royal +headquarters. Peter, the king of chauffeurs, sends in word that the +car is in an amiable mood and champing to be off. So seldom is it in a +good-humour that he--" + +"I'll be off at once," exclaimed Barnes, arising. + +"By Jove, it is half-past ten. I had no idea--Good night, Miss +Cameron. Sorry my time is up. I am sure I could have made you hate +your own sex in another half hour." + +She held out her hand. "One of our virtues is that we never pretend to +be in love with our own sex, Mr. Barnes. That, at least, is a luxury +reserved solely for your sex." + +He bowed low over her hand. "A necessity, if I may be pardoned for +correcting you." He pressed her hand re-assuringly and left her. + +She had arisen and was standing, straight and slim by the corner of +the fireplace, a confident smile on her lips. + +"If you are to be long in the neighbourhood, Mr. Barnes," said his +hostess, "you must let us have you again." + +"My stay is short, I fear. You have only to reveal the faintest sign +that I may come, however, and I'll hop into my seven league boots +before you can utter Jack Robinson's Christian name. Good night, Mrs. +Van Dyke. I have you all to thank for a most delightful evening. May I +expect to see you down our way, Mr. Van Dyke? We have food for man and +beast at all times and in all forms." + +"I've tackled your liquids," said Van Dyke. "You are likely to see me +'most any day. I'm always rattling 'round somewhere, don't you know." +(He said "rettling," by the way.) The car was waiting at the back of +the house. O'Dowd walked out with Barnes, their arms linked,--as on a +former occasion, Barnes recalled. + +"I'll ride out to the gate with you," said the Irishman. "It's a +winding, devious route the road takes through the trees. As the crow +flies it's no more than five hundred yards, but this way it can't be +less than a mile and a half. Eh, Peter?" + +Peter opined that it was at least a mile and a quarter. He was a +Yankee, as O'Dowd had said, and he was not extravagant in estimates. + +The passengers sat in the rear seat. Two small lamps served to light +the way through the Stygian labyrinth of trees and rocks. O'Dowd had +an electric pocket torch with which to pick his way back to Green +Fancy. + +"I can't, for the life of me, see why he doesn't put in a driveway +straight to the road beyond, instead of roaming all over creation as +we have to do," said O'Dowd. + +"We foller the bed of the crick that used to run through here 'fore it +was dammed a little ways up to make the ice-pond 'tween here an' +Spanish Falls," supplied Peter. "Makes a durned good road, 'cept when +there's a freshet. It would cost a hull lot o' money to build a road +as good as this-un." + +"I was only thinking 'twould save a mile and more," said O'Dowd. + +"What's the use o' him savin' a mile, er ten miles, fer that matter, +when he never puts foot out'n the house?" said Peter, the logician. + +"Well, then," persisted O'Dowd testily, "he ought to consider the +saving in gasolene." + +Peter's reply was a grunt. + +They came in time, after many "hair-pins" and right angles, to the +gate opening upon the highway. Peter got down from the seat to release +the pad-locked chain and throw open the gate. + +O'Dowd leaned closer to Barnes and lowered his voice. + +"See here, Barnes, I'm no fool, and for that reason I've got sense +enough to know that you're not either. I don't know what's in your +mind, nor what you're trying to get into it if it isn't already there. +But I'll say this to you, man to man: don't let your imagination get +the better of your common-sense. That's all. Take the tip from me." + +"I am not imagining anything, O'Dowd," said Barnes quietly. "What do +you mean?" + +"I mean just what I say. I'm giving you the tip for selfish reasons. +If you make a bally fool of yourself, I'll have to see you through the +worst of it,--and it's a job I don't relish. Ponder that, will ye, on +the way home?" + +Barnes did ponder it on the way home. There was but one construction +to put upon the remark: it was O'Dowd's way of letting him know that +he could be depended upon for support if the worst came to pass. + +His heart warmed to the lively Irishman. He jumped to the conclusion +that O'Dowd, while aligned with the others in the flesh, was not with +them in spirit. His blithe heart was a gallant one as well. The lovely +prisoner at Green Fancy had a chivalrous defender among the +conspirators, and that fact, suddenly revealed to the harassed Barnes, +sent a thrill of exultation through his veins. + +He realised that he could not expect O'Dowd to be of any assistance in +preparing the way for her liberation. Indeed, the Irishman probably +would oppose him out of loyalty to the cause he espoused. His hand +would be against him until the end; then it would strike for him and +the girl who was in jeopardy. + +O'Dowd evidently had not been deceived by the acting that masked the +conversation on the couch. He knew that Miss Cameron had appealed to +Barnes, and that the latter had promised to do everything in his power +to help her. + +Suspecting that this was the situation, and doubtless sacrificing his +own private interests, he had uttered the vague but timely warning to +Barnes. The significance of this warning grew under reflection. The +mere fact that he could bring himself to the point of speaking to +Barnes as he did, established beyond all question that his position +was not inimical. He was, to a certain extent, delivering himself into +the hands of one who, in his rashness, might not hesitate to cast him +to the lions: the beasts in this instance being his own companions. + +Barnes was not slow to appreciate the position in which O'Dowd +voluntarily placed himself. A word or a sign from him would be +sufficient to bring disaster upon the Irishman who had risked his own +safety in a few irretrievable words. The more he thought of it, the +more fully convinced was he that there was nothing to fear from +O'Dowd. The cause for apprehension in that direction was wiped out by +a simple process of reasoning: O'Dowd would have delivered his warning +elsewhere if he intended evil. While it was impossible to decide how +far O'Dowd's friendly interest would carry him, Barnes was still +content to believe that he would withhold his suspicions, for the +present at least, from the others at Green Fancy. + +He was at a loss to account for his invitation to Green Fancy under +the circumstances. The confident attitude of those responsible for +Miss Cameron's detention evidently was based upon conditions which +rendered their position tenable. Their disregard for the consequences +that might reasonably be expected to result from this visit was +puzzling in the extreme. He could arrive at no other conclusion than +that their hospitality was inspired by a desire to disarm him of +suspicion. An open welcome to the house, while a bold piece of +strategy, was far better than an effort to cloak the place in mystery. + +As he left the place behind him, he found himself saying that he had +received his first and last invitation to visit Green Fancy. + +Peter drove slowly, carefully over the road down the mountain, in +direct contrast to the heedless rush of the belated "washer." + +Responding to a sudden impulse, Barnes lowered one of the side-seats +in the tonneau and moved closer to the driver. By leaning forward he +was in a position to speak through the window at Peter's back. + +"Pretty bad going, isn't it?" he ventured. + +"Bad enough in the daytime," said Peter, without taking his eyes from +the road, "but something fierce at night." + +"I suppose you've been over it so often, however, that you know every +crook and turn." + +"I know 'em well enough not to get gay with 'em," said Peter. + +"How long have you been driving for Mr. Curtis?" + +"Ever since he come up here, more'n two years ago. I used to drive the +station bus fer the hotel down below Spanish Falls. He stayed there +while he was buildin'. Guess I'm going to get the G. B. 'fore long, +though." + +His listener started. "You don't say so! Cutting down expenses?" + +"Not so's you could notice it," growled Peter. "Seems that he's +gettin' a new car an' wants an expert machinist to take hold of it +from the start. I was good enough to fiddle around with this second- +hand pile o' junk an' the Buick he had last year, but I ain't +qualified to handle this here twin-six Packard he's expectin', so he +says. I guess they's been some influence used against me, if the truth +was known. This new sec'etary he's got cain't stummick me." + +"Why don't you see Mr. Curtis and demand--" "SEE him?" snorted Peter. +"Might as well try to see Napoleon Bonyparte. Didn't you know he was a +sick man?" + +"Certainly. But he isn't so ill that he can't attend to business, is +he?" + +"He sure is. Parylised, they say. He's a mighty fine man. It's awful +to think of him bein' so helpless he cain't ever git out'n his cheer +ag'in. Course, if he was hisself he wouldn't think o' lettin' me out. +But bein' sick-like, he jest don't give a durn about anything. So +that's how this new sec'etary gets in his fine work on me." + +"What has Mr. Loeb against you, if I may ask?" + +"Well, it's like this. I ain't in the habit o' bein' ordered aroun' as +if I was jest nobody at all, so when he starts in to cuss me about +somethin' a week or so ago, I ups and tells him I'll smash his head if +he don't take it back. He takes it back all right, but the first thing +I know I get a call-down from Mrs. Collier. She's Mr. Curtis's sister, +you know. Course I couldn't tell her what I told the sheeny, seein' as +she's a female, so I took it like a lamb. Then they gits a feller up +here to wash the car. My gosh, mister, the durned ole rattle-trap +ain't wuth a bucket o' water all told. You could wash from now till +next Christmas an' she wouldn't look any cleaner'n she does right now. +So I sends word in to Mr. Curtis that if she has to be washed, I'll +wash her. I don't want no dago splashin' water all over the barn floor +an' drawin' pay fer doin' it. Then's when I hears about the new car. +Mr. Loeb comes out an' asts me if I ever drove a Packard twin-six. I +says no I ain't, an' he says it's too bad. He asts the dago if he's +ever drove one and the dago lies like thunder. He says he's handled +every kind of a Packard known to science, er somethin' like that. I +cain't understand half the durn fool says. Next day Mrs. Collier sends +fer me an' I go in. She says she guesses she'll try the new washer on +the Packard when it comes, an' if I keer to stay on as washer in his +place she'll be glad to have me. I says I'd like to have a word with +Mr. Curtis, if she don't mind, an' she says Mr. Curtis ain't able to +see no one. So I guess I'm goin' to be let out. Not as I keer very +much, 'cept I hate to leave Mr. Curtis in the lurch. He was mighty +good to me up to the time he got bed-ridden." + +"I dare say you will have no difficulty in finding another place," +said Barnes, feeling his way. + +"'Tain't easy to git a job up here. I guess I'll have to try New York +er some of the big cities," said Peter, confidently. + +An idea was taking root in Barnes's brain, but it was too soon to +consider it fixed. + +"You say Mr. Loeb is new at his job?" + +"Well, he's new up here. Mr. Curtis was down to New York all last +winter bein' treated, you see. He didn't come up here till about five +weeks ago. Loeb was workin' fer him most of the winter, gittin' up a +book er somethin', I hear. Mr. Curtis's mind is all right, I guess, +even if his body ain't. Always was a great feller fer books an' +writin' 'fore he got so sick." + +"I see. Mr. Loeb came up with him from New York." + +"Kerect. Him and Mr. O'Dowd and Mr. De Soto brought him up 'bout the +last o' March." + +"I understand that they are old friends." + +"They was up here visitin' last spring an' the fall before. Mr. Curtis +is very fond of both of 'em." + +"It seems to me that I have heard that his son married O'Dowd's +sister." + +"That's right. She's a widder now. Her husband was killed in the war +between Turkey an' them other countries four er five years ago." + +"Really?" + +"Yep. Him and Mr. O'Dowd--his own brother-in-law, y' know--was +fightin' on the side of the Boolgarians and young Ashley Curtis was +killed. Mr. O'Dowd's always fightin' whenever they's a war goin' on +anywheres. I cain't understand why he ain't over in Europe now helpin' +out one side or t'other." + +"Was this son Mr. Curtis's only child?" + +"So fer as I know. He left three little kids. They was all here with +their mother jest after the house was finished. Finest children I +ever--" + +"They will probably come into this property when Mr. Curtis dies," +said Barnes, keeping the excitement out of his voice. + +"More'n likely." + +"Was he very feeble when you saw him last?" + +"I ain't seen him in more'n six months. He was failin' then. That's +why he went to the city." + +"Oh, I see. You did not see him when he arrived the last of March?" + +"I was visitin' my sister up in Hornville when he come back +unexpected-like. This ijiot Loeb says he wrote me to meet 'em at +Spanish Falls but I never got the letter. Like as not the durn fool +got the address wrong. I didn't know Mr. Curtis was home till I come +back from my sister's three days later. The wust of it was that I had +tooken the automobile with me,--to have a little work done on her, +mind ye,--an' so they had to hire a Ford to bring him up from the +Falls. I wouldn't 'a' had it happen fer fifty dollars." Peter's tone +was convincingly doleful. + +"And he has been confined to his room ever since? Poor old fellow! +It's hard, isn't it?" + +"It sure is. Seems like he'll never be able to walk ag'in. I was +talkin' to his nurse only the other day. He says it's a hopeless +case." + +"Fortunately his sister can be here with him." + +"By gosh, she ain't nothin' like him," confided Peter. "She's all fuss +an' feathers an' he is jest as simple as you er me. Nothin' fluffy +about him, I c'n tell ye. Course, he must 'a' had a screw loose +some'eres when he made sich a botch of that house up there, but it's +his'n an' there ain't no law ag'in a man doin' what he pleases with +his own property." He sighed deeply. "I'm jest as well pleased to go +as not," he went on. "Mrs. Collier's got a lot o' money of her own, +an' she's got highfalutin' New York ideas that don't seem to jibe with +mine. Used to be a time when everything was nice an' peaceful up here, +with Sally Perkins doin' the cookin' and her daughter waitin' table, +but 'tain't that way no more. Got to have a man cook an' men +waitresses, an' a butteler. An' it goes ag'in the grain to set down to +a meal with them hayseeds from Italy. You never saw sich table +manners." + +He rambled on for some minutes, expanding under the soulful influence +of his own woes and the pleasure of having a visible auditor instead +of the make-believe ones he conjured out of the air at times when +privacy afforded him the opportunity to lament aloud. + +At any other time Barnes would have been bored by such confidences as +these. Now he was eagerly drinking in every word that Peter uttered. +His lively brain was putting the whole situation into a nutshell. +Assuming that Peter was not the most guileful person on earth, it was +quite obvious that he not only was in ignorance of the true state of +affairs at Green Fancy but that he was to be banished from the place +while still in that condition. + +Long before they came to the turnpike, Barnes had reduced his hundred +and one suppositions to the following concrete conclusion: Green Fancy +was no longer in the hands of its original owner for the good and +sufficient reason that Mr. Curtis was dead. The real master of the +house was the man known as Loeb. Through O'Dowd he had leased the +property from the widowed daughter-in-law, and had established himself +there, surrounded by trustworthy henchmen, for the purpose of carrying +out some dark and sinister project. + +Putting two and two together, it was easy to determine how and when +O'Dowd decided to cast his fortunes with those of the leader in this +mysterious enterprise. Their intimacy undoubtedly grew out of +association at the time of the Balkan Wars. O'Dowd was a soldier of +fortune. He saw vast opportunities in the scheme proposed by Loeb, and +fell in with it, whether through a mistaken idea as to its real +character or an active desire to profit nefariously time only would +tell. Green Fancy afforded an excellent base for operations. O'Dowd +induced his sister to lease the property to Loeb,--or he may even have +taken it himself. He had visited Mr. Curtis on at least two occasions. +He knew the place and its advantages. The woman known as Mrs. Collier +was not the sister of Curtis. She--but here Barnes put a check upon +his speculations. He appealed to Peter once more. + +"I suppose Mrs. Collier has spent a great deal of time up here with +her brother." + +"First time she was ever here, so far as I know," said Peter, and +Barnes promptly took up his weaving once more. + +With one exception, he decided, the entire company at Green Fancy was +involved in the conspiracy. The exception was Miss Cameron. It was +quite clear to him that she had been misled or betrayed into her +present position; that a trap had been set for her and she had walked +into it blindly, trustingly. This would seem to establish, beyond +question, that her capture and detention was vital to the interests of +the plotters; otherwise she would not have been lured to Green Fancy +under the impression that she was to find herself among friends and +supporters. Supporters! That word started a new train of thought. He +could hardly wait for the story that was to fall from her lips. + +Peter swerved into the main-road. "Guess I c'n hit her up a little +now," he said. + +"Take it slowly, if you please," said Barnes. "I've had one experience +in this car, going a mile a minute, and I didn't enjoy it." + +"You never been in this car before," corrected Peter. + +"Is it news to you? Day before yesterday I was picked up at this very +corner and taken to Hart's Tavern in this car. The day Miss Cameron +arrived and the car failed to meet her at Spanish Falls." + +"You must be dreamin'," said Peter slowly. + +"If you should have the opportunity, Peter, just ask Miss Cameron," +said the other. "She will tell you that I'm right." + +"Is she the strange young lady that come a day er so ago?" + +"The extremely pretty one," explained Barnes. + +Peter lapsed into silence. It was evident that he considered it +impossible to continue the discussion without offending his passenger. + +"By the way, Peter, it has just occurred to me that I may be able to +give you a job in case you are let out by Mr. Curtis. I can't say +definitely until I have communicated with my sister, who has a summer +home in the Berkshires. Don't mention it to Mr. Curtis. I wouldn't, +for anything in the world, have him think that I was trying to take +you away from him. That is regarded as one of the lowest tricks a man +can be guilty of." + +"We call it ornery up here," said Peter. "I'll be much obliged, sir. +Course I won't say a word. Will I find you at the Tavern if I get my +walkin' papers soon?" + +"Yes. Stop in to see me to-morrow if you happen to be passing." + +There was additional food for reflection in the fact that Peter was +allowed to conduct him to the Tavern alone. It was evident that not +only was the garrulous native ignorant of the real conditions at Green +Fancy, but that the opportunity was deliberately afforded him to +proclaim his private grievances to the world. After all, mused Barnes, +it wasn't a bad bit of diplomacy at that! + +Barnes said good night to the man and entered the Tavern a few minutes +later. Putnam Jones was behind the desk and facing him was the little +book-agent. + +"Hello, stranger," greeted the landlord. "Been sashaying in society, +hey? Meet my friend Mr. Sprouse, Mr. Barnes. Sic-em, Sprouse! Give him +the Dickens!" Mr. Jones laughed loudly at his own jest. + +Sprouse shook hands with his victim. + +"I was just saying to our friend Jones here, Mr. Barnes, that you look +like a more than ordinarily intelligent man and that if I had a chance +to buzz with you for a quarter of an hour I could present a +proposition---" + +"Sorry, Mr. Sprouse, but it is half-past eleven o'clock, and I am dog- +tired. You will have to excuse me." + +"To-morrow morning will suit me," said Sprouse cheerfully, "if it +suits you." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +MR. SPROUSE ABANDONS LITERATURE AT AN EARLY HOUR IN THE MORNING + + +After thrashing about in his bed for seven sleepless hours, Barnes +arose and gloomily breakfasted alone. He was not discouraged over his +failure to arrive at anything tangible in the shape of a plan of +action. It was inconceivable that he should not be able in very short +order to bring about the release of the fair guest of Green Fancy. He +realised that the conspiracy in which she appeared to be a vital link +was far-reaching and undoubtedly pernicious in character. There was +not the slightest doubt in his mind that international affairs of +considerable importance were involved and that the agents operating at +Green Fancy were under definite orders. + +Mr. Sprouse came into the dining-room as he was taking his last +swallow of coffee. + +"Ah, good morning," was the bland little man's greeting. "Up with the +lark, I see. It is almost a nocturnal habit with me. I get up so early +that you might say it's a nightly proceeding. I'm surprised to see you +circulating at seven o'clock, however. Mind if I sit down here and +have my eggs?" He pulled out a chair opposite Barnes and coolly sat +down at the table. + +"You can't sell me a set of Dickens at this hour of the day," said +Barnes sourly. "Besides, I've finished my breakfast. Keep your seat." +He started to rise. + +"Sit down," said Sprouse quietly. Something in the man's voice and +manner struck Barnes as oddly compelling. He hesitated a second and +then resumed his seat. "I've been investigating you, Mr. Barnes," said +the little man, unsmilingly. "Don't get sore. It may gratify you to +know that I am satisfied you are all right." + +"What do you mean, Mr.--Mr.--?" began Barnes, angrily. + +"Sprouse. There are a lot of things that you don't know, and one of +them is that I don't sell books for a living. It's something of a side +line with me." He leaned forward. "I shall be quite frank with you, +sir. I am a secret service man. Yesterday I went through your effects +upstairs, and last night I took the liberty of spying upon you, so to +speak, while you were a guest at Green Fancy." + +"The deuce you say!" cried Barnes, staring. + +"We will get right down to tacks," said Sprouse. "My government,-- +which isn't yours, by the way,--sent me up here five weeks ago on a +certain undertaking. I am supposed to find out what is hatching up at +Green Fancy. Having satisfied myself that you are not connected with +the gang up there, I cheerfully place myself in your hands, Mr. +Barnes. Just a moment, please. Bring me my usual breakfast, Miss +Tilly." The waitress having vanished in the direction of the kitchen, +he resumed. "You were at Green Fancy last night. So was I. You had an +advantage over me, however, for you were on the inside and I was not." + +"Confound your impudence! I--" + +"One of my purposes in revealing myself to you, Mr. Barnes, is to warn +you to steer clear of that crowd. You may find yourself in exceedingly +hot water later on if you don't. Another purpose, and the real one, is +to secure, if possible, your co-operation in beating the game up +there. You can help me, and in helping me you may be instrumental in +righting one of the gravest wrongs the world has ever known. Of +course, I am advising you in one breath to avoid the crowd up there +and in the next I ask you to do nothing of the kind. If you can get +into the good graces of--But there is no use counting on that. They +are too clever. There is too much at stake. You might go there for +weeks and--" + +"See here, Mr. Sprouse or whatever your name is, what do you take me +for?" demanded Barnes, assuming an injured air. "You have the most +monumental nerve in--" + +"Save your breath, Mr. Barnes. We may just as well get together on +this thing first as last. I've told you what I am,--and almost who,-- +and I know who and what you are. You don't suppose for an instant that +I, with a record for having made fewer blunders than any man in the +service, could afford to take a chance with you unless I was +absolutely sure of my ground, do you? You ask me what I take you for. +Well, I take you for a meddler who, if given a free rein, may upset +the whole pot of beans and work an irreparable injury to an honest +cause." + +"A meddler, am I? Good morning, Mr. Sprouts. I fancy--" + +"Sprouse. But the name doesn't matter. Keep your seat. You may learn +something that will be of untold value to you. I used the word meddler +in a professional sense. You are inexperienced. You would behave like +a bull in a china shop. I've been working for nearly six months on a +job that you think you can clear up in a couple of days. Fools walk in +where angels fear to tread. You--" + +"Will you be good enough, Mr. Sprouse, to tell me just what you are +trying to get at? Come to the point. I know nothing whatever against +Mr. Curtis and his friends. You assume a great deal--" + +"Excuse me, Mr. Barnes. I'll admit that you don't know anything +against them, but you suspect a whole lot. To begin with, you suspect +that two men were shot to death because they were in wrong with some +one at Green Fancy. Now, I could tell you who those two men really +were and why they were shot. But I sha'n't do anything of the sort,-- +at least not at present. I--" + +"You may have to tell all this to the State if I choose to go to the +authorities with the statement you have just made." + +"I expect, at the proper time, to tell it all to the State. Are you +willing to listen to what I have to say, or are you going to stay on +your high-horse and tell me to go to the devil? You interest yourself +in this affair for the sake of a little pleasurable excitement. I am +in it, not for fun, but because I am employed by a great Power to risk +my life whenever it is necessary. This happens to be one of the times +when it is vitally necessary. This is not child's play or school-boy +romance with me. It is business." + +Barnes was impressed. "Perhaps you will condescend to tell me who you +are, Mr. Sprouse. I am very much in the dark." + +"I am a special agent,--but not a spy, sir,--of a government that is +friendly to yours. I am known in Washington. My credentials are not to +be questioned. At present it would be unwise for me to reveal the name +of my government. I dare say if I can afford to trust you, Mr. Barnes, +you can afford to trust me. There is too much at stake for me to take +the slightest chance with any man. I am ready to chance you, sir, if +you will do the same by me." + +"Well," began Barnes deliberately, "I guess you will have to take a +chance with me, Mr. Sprouse, for I refuse to commit myself until I +know exactly what you are up to." + +Sprouse had a pleasant word or two for Miss Tilly as she placed the +bacon and eggs before him and poured his coffee. + +"Skip along now, Miss Tilly," he said. "I'm going to sell Mr. Barnes a +whole library if I can keep him awake long enough." + +"I can heartily recommend the Dickens and Scott--" began Miss Tilly, +but Sprouse waved her away. + +"In the first place, Mr. Barnes," said he, salting his eggs, "you have +been thinking that I was sent down from Green Fancy to spy on you. +Isn't that so?" + +"I am answering no questions, Mr. Sprouse." + +"You were wrong," said Sprouse, as if Barnes had answered in the +affirmative. "I am working on my own. You may have observed that I did +not accompany the sheriff's posse to-day. I was up in Hornville +getting the final word from New York that you were on the level. You +have a document from the police, I hear, but I hadn't seen it. Time is +precious. I telephoned to New York. Eleven dollars and sixty cents. +You were under suspicion until I hung up the receiver, I may say." + +"Jones has been talking to you," said Barnes. "But you said a moment +ago that you were up at Green Fancy last night. Not by invitation, I +take it." + +"I invited myself," said Sprouse succinctly. "Are you inclined to +favour my proposition?" + +"You haven't made one." + +"By suggestion, Mr. Barnes. It is quite impossible for me to get +inside that house. You appear to have the entree. You are working in +the dark, guessing at everything. I am guessing at nothing. By +combining forces we should bring this thing to a head, and--" + +"Just a moment. You expect me to abuse the hospitality of--" + +"I shall have to speak plainly, I see." He leaned forward, fixing +Barnes with a pair of steady, earnest eyes. "Six months ago a certain +royal house in Europe was despoiled of its jewels, its privy seal, its +most precious state documents and its charter. They have been traced +to the United States. I am here to recover them. That is the +foundation of my story, Mr. Barnes. Shall I go on?" + +"Can you not start at the beginning, Mr. Sprouse? What was it that led +up to this amazing theft?" + +"Without divulging the name of the house, I will say that its +sympathies have been from the outset friendly to the Entente Allies,-- +especially with France. There are two branches of the ruling family, +one in power, the other practically in exile. The state is a small +one, but its integrity is of the highest. Its sons and daughters have +married into the royal families of nearly all of the great nations of +the continent. The present--or I should say--the late ruler, for he +died on a field of battle not many months ago, had no direct heir. He +was young and unmarried. I am not permitted to state with what army he +was fighting, nor on which front he was killed. It is only necessary +to say that his little state was gobbled up by the Teutonic Allies. +The branch of the family mentioned as being in exile lent its support +to the cause of Germany, not for moral reasons but in the hope and +with the understanding, I am to believe, that the crown-lands would be +the reward. The direct heir to the crown is a cousin of the late +prince. He is now a prisoner of war in Austria. Other members of the +family are held by the Bulgarians as prisoners of war. It is not +stretching the imagination very far to picture them as already dead +and out of the way. At the close of the war, if Germany is victorious, +the crown will be placed upon the head of the pretender branch. Are +you following me?" + +"Yes," said Barnes, his nerves tingling. He was beginning to see a +great light. + +"Almost under the noses of the forces left by the Teutonic Allies to +hold the invaded territory, the crown-jewels, charter and so forth, +heretofore mentioned as they say in legal parlance, were +surreptitiously removed from the palace and spirited away by persons +loyal to the ruling branch of the family. As I have stated, I am +engaged in the effort to recover them." + +"It requires but little intelligence on my part to reach the +conclusion that you are employed by either the German or Austrian +government, Mr. Sprouse. You are working in the interests of the +usurping branch of the family." + +"Wrong again, Mr. Barnes,--but naturally. I am in the service of a +country violently opposed to the German cause. My country's interest +in the case is--well, you might say benevolent. The missing property +belongs to the State from which it was taken. It represents a great +deal in the shape of treasure, to say nothing of its importance along +other lines. To restore the legitimate branch of the family to power +after the war, the Entente Allies must be in possession of the papers +and crown-rights that these misguided enthusiasts made away with. Of +course, it would be possible to do it without considering the demands +of the opposing claimants, arbitrarily kicking them out, but that +isn't the way my government does business. The persons who removed +this treasure from the state vaults believed that they were acting for +the best interests of their superiors. In a sense, they were. The only +fault we have to find with them is that they failed to do the sensible +thing by delivering their booty into the hands of one of the +governments friendly to their cause. Instead of doing so, they +succeeded in crossing the ocean, conscientiously believing that +America was the safest place to keep the treasure pending developments +on the other side. + +"Now we come to the present situation. Some months ago a member of the +aforesaid royal house arrived in this country by way of Japan. He is a +distant cousin of the crown and, in a way, remotely looked upon as the +heir-apparent. Later on he sequestered himself in Canada. Our agents +in Europe learned but recently that while he pretends to be loyal to +the ruling house, he is actually scheming against it. I have been +ordered to run him to earth, for there is every reason to believe that +the men who secured the treasure have been duped into regarding him as +an avowed champion of the crown. We believe that if we find this man +we will, sooner or later, be able to put our hands on the missing +treasure. I have never seen the man, nor a portrait of him. A fairly +adequate description has been sent to me, however. Now, Mr. Barnes, +without telling you how I have arrived at the conclusion, I am +prepared to state that I believe this man to be at Green Fancy, and +that in time the loot,--to use a harsh word,--will be delivered to him +there. I am here to get it, one way or another, when that comes to +pass." + +Barnes had not taken his eyes from the face of the little man during +this recital. He was rapidly changing his opinion of Sprouse. There +was sincerity in the voice and eyes of the secret agent. + +"What led you to suspect that he is at Green Fancy, Mr. Sprouse?" + +"History. It is known that this Mr. Curtis has spent a great deal of +time in the country alluded to. As a matter of fact, his son, who +lived in London, had rather extensive business interests there. This +son was killed in the Balkan War several years ago. It is said that +the man I am looking for was a friend of young Curtis, who married a +Miss O'Dowd in London,--the Honourable Miss O'Dowd, daughter of an +Irish peer, and sister of the chap you have met at Green Fancy. The +elder Curtis was a close and intimate friend of more than one member +of the royal family. Indeed, he is known to have been a welcome +visitor in the home of a prominent nobleman, once high in the counsels +of State. This man O'Dowd is also a friend of the man I am looking +for. He went through the Balkan War with him. After that war, O'Dowd +drifted to China, hoping no doubt to take a hand in the revolution. He +is that sort. Some months ago he came to the United States. I forgot +to mention that he has long considered this country his home, although +born in Ireland. About six weeks ago a former equerry in the royal +household arrived in New York. Through him I learned that the daughter +of the gentleman in whose house the senior Mr. Curtis was a frequent +guest had been in the United States since some time prior to the +beginning of the war. She was visiting friends in the States and has +been unable to return to her own land, for reasons that must be +obvious. I may as well confess that her father was, by marriage, an +uncle of the late ruler. + +"Since the invasion and overthrow of her country by the Teutonic +Allies, she has been endeavouring to raise money here for the purpose +of equipping and supporting the remnants of the small army that fought +so valiantly in defence of the crown. These men, a few thousand only, +are at present interned in a neutral country. I leave you to guess +what will happen if she succeeds in supplying them with arms and +ammunition. Her work is being carried on with the greatest secrecy. +Word of it came to the ears of her country's minister in Paris, +however, and he at once jumped to a quick but very natural conclusion. +She has been looked upon in court circles as the prospective bride of +the adventurous cousin I am hunting for. The embassy has conceived the +notion that she may know a great deal about the present whereabouts of +the missing treasure. No one accuses her of duplicity, however. On the +other hand, the man in the case is known to have pro-German +sympathies. She may be loyal to the crown, but there is a decided +doubt as to his loyalty. Of course, we have no means of knowing to +what extent she has confided her plans to him. We do not even know +that she is aware of his presence in this country. To bring the story +to a close, I was instructed to keep close watch on the man O'Dowd. +The ex-attache of the court to whom I referred a moment ago set out to +find the young lady in question. I traced O'Dowd to this place. I was +on the point of reporting to my superiors that he was in no way +associated with the much-sought-after crown-cousin, and that Green +Fancy was as free from taint as the village chapel, when out of a +clear sky and almost under my very nose two men were mysteriously done +away with at the very gates of the place. In fact, so positive was I +that O'Dowd was all right, that I had started for Washington to send +my report back home and wait for instructions. The killing of those +two men changed the aspect completely. You will certainly agree with +me after I have explained to you that the one known as Andrew Roon was +no other than the equerry who had undertaken to find the--young +woman." + +"By Jove!" exclaimed Barnes. + +"He came up here because he had reason to believe that the--er--girl +was either at Green Fancy or was headed this way. I was back here in +thirty-six hours, selling Dickens. I saw the bodies of the two men at +the county-seat, and recognised both of them, despite the fact that +they had cut off their beards. Now, they could not have been +recognised, Mr. Barnes, except by some one who had known them all his +life. And that is why I am positive that the man I am looking for is +up at Green Fancy." + +Barnes drew a long breath. His mind was made up. He had decided to +pool issues with the secret agent, but not until he was convinced that +the result of their co-operation would in no way inflict a hardship +upon the young woman who had appealed to him for help. He was certain +that she was the fair propagandist described by Sprouse. + +"Is it your intention to lodge him in jail if you succeed in capturing +your man, Mr. Sprouse, and to apply for extradition papers?" he asked. + +"I can't land him in jail unless I can prove that he has the stolen +goods, can I?" + +"You could implicate him in the general conspiracy." + +"That is for others to say, sir. I am only instructed to recover the +treasure." + +"And the young woman, what of her? She would, in any case, be held for +examination and--" + +"My dear sir, I may as well tell you now that she is a loyal subject +and, far from being in bad grace at court, is an object of extreme +solicitude to the ambassador. Up to two months ago she was in touch +with him. From what I can gather, she has disappeared completely. Roon +was sent over here for the sole purpose of finding her and inducing +her to return with him to Paris." + +"And to take the treasure with her, I suppose," said Barnes drily. + +"Naturally." + +"Well," began Barnes, introducing a harsh note into his voice, "I +should say that if she is guilty of receiving this stolen property she +ought to be punished. Jail is the place for her, Mr. Sprouse." + +Sprouse put down his coffee cup rather suddenly. A queer pallor came +into his face. His voice was low and a trifle husky when he made +reply. + +"I am sorry to hear you say that, sir." + +"Why, may I ask?" + +"Because it puts an obstacle in the way of our working together in +this matter." + +"You mean that my attitude toward her is--er--not in keeping with your +ideas?" + +"You do not understand the situation. Haven't I made it plain to you +that she is innocent of any intent to do wrong?" + +"You have said so, Mr. Sprouse, but your idea of wrong and mine may +not jibe." + +"There cannot be two ways of looking at it, sir," said Sprouse, after +a moment. "She could do no wrong." + +Whereupon Barnes reached his hand across the table and laid it on +Sprouse's. His eyes were dancing. + +"That's just what I want to be sure about," he said. "It was my way of +finding out your intentions concerning her." + +"What do you mean?" demanded Sprouse, staring. + +"Come with me to my room," said Barnes, suppressing his excitement. "I +think I can tell you where she is,--and a great deal more that you +ought to know." + +In the little room upstairs, he told the whole story to Sprouse. The +little man listened without so much as a single word of interruption +or interrogation. His sharp eyes began to glisten as the story +progressed, but in no other way did he reveal the slightest sign of +emotion. Somewhat breathlessly Barnes came to the end. + +"And now, Mr. Sprouse, what do you make of it all?" he inquired. + +Sprouse leaned back in his chair, suddenly relaxing. "I am completely +at sea," he said, and Barnes looked at him in surprise. + +"By Jove, I thought it would all be as clear as day to you. Here is +your man and also your woman, and the travelling bag full of--" + +"Right you are," interrupted Sprouse. "That is all simple enough. But, +my dear Barnes, can you tell me what Mr. Secretary Loeb's real game +is? Why has he established himself so close to the Canadian line, and +why the mobilisation? I refer to his army of huskies." + +"Heirs-apparent usually have some sort of a bodyguard, don't they?" + +Sprouse was staring thoughtfully at the ceiling. He either did not +hear the remark or considered it unworthy of notice. When he finally +lowered his eyes, it was to favour Barnes with a deep, inscrutable +smile. + +"I dare say the first thing for me to do is to advise the Canadian +authorities to keep a sharp lookout along the border." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE FIRST WAYFARER ACCEPTS AN INVITATION, AND MR. DILLINGFORD +BELABOURS A PROXY + + +Barnes insisted that the first thing to be considered was the release +of Miss Cameron. He held forth at some length on the urgency of +immediate action. + +"If we can't think of any other way to get her out of this devilish +predicament, Sprouse, I shall apply to Washington for help." + +"And be laughed at, my friend," said the secret agent. "In the first +place, you couldn't give a substantial reason for government +investigation; in the second place the government wouldn't act until +it had looked very thoroughly into the case; in the third place, it +would be too late by the time the government felt satisfied to act, +and in the fourth place, it is not a matter for the government to +meddle in at all." + +"Well, something has to be done at once," said Barnes doggedly. "I +gave her my promise. She is depending on me. If you could have seen +the light that leaped into her glorious eyes when I--" + +"Yes, I know. I've heard she is quite a pretty girl. You needn't--" + +"Quite a pretty girl!" exclaimed Barnes. "Why, she is the loveliest +thing that God ever created. She has the face of--" + +"I am beginning to understand O'Dowd's interest in her, Mr. Barnes. +Your enthusiasm conveys a great deal to me. Apparently you are not +alone in your ecstasies." + +"You mean that he is--er--What the dickens do you mean?" + +"He has probably fallen in love with her with as little difficulty as +you have experienced, Mr. Barnes, and almost as expeditiously. He has +seen a little more of her than you, but--" + +"Don't talk nonsense. I'm not in love with her." + +"Can you speak with equal authority for Mr. O'Dowd? He is a very +susceptible Irishman, I am told. Sweethearts in a great many ports,-- +and still going strong, as we say of the illustrious Johnny Walker. +From all that I have heard of her amazing beauty, I can't blame him +for losing his heart to her. I only hope he loses his head as well." + +"I don't believe he will get much encouragement from her, Mr. +Sprouse," said Barnes stiffly. + +"If she is as clever as I think she is, she will encourage him +tremendously. I would if I were in her place." + +"Umph!" was Barnes's only retort to that. + +"Is it possible that you have never had the pleasure of being +transformed into a perfect ass by the magic of a perfect woman, Mr. +Barnes? You've missed a great deal. It happened to me once, and came +near to upsetting the destinies of two great nations. Mr. O'Dowd is +only human. He isn't immune." + +"I catch the point, Mr. Sprouse," said Barnes, rather gloomily. He did +not like to think of the methods that might have to be employed in the +subjugation of Mr. O'Dowd. "There is a rather important question I'd +like to ask. Is she even remotely eligible to her country's throne?" + +"Remotely, yes," said Sprouse without hesitation. + +Barnes waited, but nothing further was volunteered. + +"So remotely that she could marry a chap like O'Dowd without giving +much thought to future complications?" he ventured. + +"She'd be just as safe in marrying O'Dowd as she would be in marrying +you," was Sprouse's unsatisfactory response. The man's brow was +wrinkled in thought. "See here, Mr. Barnes, I am planning a visit to +Green Fancy to-night. How would you like to accompany me?" + +"I'd like nothing better," said Barnes, with enthusiasm. + +"Ever been shot at?" + +"No." + +"Well, you are likely to experience the novelty if you go with me. +Better think it over." + +"Don't worry about me. I'll go." + +"Will you agree to obey instructions? I can't have you muddling things +up, you know." + +Barnes thought for a moment. "Of course, if the opportunity offers for +me to communicate with Miss Cameron, I don't see how I--" + +Sprouse cut him off sharply. He made it quite plain to the would-be +cavalier that it was not a sentimental enterprise they were to +undertake, and that he would have to govern himself accordingly. + +"The grounds are carefully guarded," said Barnes, after they had +discussed the project for some time. "Miss Cameron is constantly under +the watchful eye of one or more of the crowd." + +"I know. I passed a couple of them last night," said Sprouse calmly. +"By the way, don't you think it would be very polite of you to invite +the Green Fancy party over here to have an old-fashioned country +dinner with you to-night?" + +"Good Lord! What are you talking about? They wouldn't dream of +accepting. Besides, I thought you wanted me to go with you." + +"You could offer them diversion in the shape of a theatrical +entertainment. Your friends, the Thespians, would be only too happy to +disport themselves in return for all your--" + +"It would be useless, Mr. Sprouse. They will not come." + +"I am perfectly aware of that, but it won't do any harm to ask them, +will it?" + +Barnes chuckled. "I see. Establishing myself as an innocent bystander, +eh?" + +"Get O'Dowd on the telephone and ask him if they can come," said +Sprouse. "Incidentally, you might test his love for Miss Cameron while +you are about it." + +"How?" demanded Barnes. + +"By asking him to call her to the telephone. Would you be sure to +recognise her voice?" + +"I'd know it in Babel," said the other with some fervour. + +"Well, if she comes to the 'phone and speaks to you without restraint, +we may be reasonably certain of two things: that O'Dowd is friendly +and that he is able to fix it so that she can talk to you without +being overheard or suspected by the others. It's worth trying, in any +event." + +"But there is Jones to consider. The telephone is in his office. What +will he think--" + +"Jones is all right," said Sprouse briefly. "Come along. You can call +up from my room." He grinned slyly. "Such a thing as tapping the wire, +you know." + +Sprouse had installed a telephone in his room, carrying a wire +upstairs from an attachment made in the cellar of the Tavern. He +closed the door to his little room on the top floor. + +"With the landlord's approval," he explained, pointing to the +instrument, "but unknown to the telephone company, you may be sure. +Call him up about half-past ten. O'Dowd may be up at this unholy hour, +but not she. Now, I must be off to discuss literature with Mrs. Jim +Conley. I've been working on her for two weeks. The hardest part of my +job is to keep her from subscribing for a set of Dickens. She has been +on the point of signing the contract at least a half dozen times, and +I've been fearfully hard put to head her off. Conley's house is not +far from Green Fancy. Savvy?" + +Barnes, left to his own devices, wandered from tap-room to porch, from +porch to forge, from forge to tap-room, his brain far more active than +his legs, his heart as heavy as lead and as light as air by turns. +More than once he felt like resorting to a well-known expedient to +determine whether he was awake or dreaming. Could all this be real? + +The sky was overcast. A cold, damp wind blew out of the north. There +was a feel of rain in the air, an ugly greyness in the road that +stretched its sharply defined course through the green fields that +stole timorously up to the barren forest and stopped short, as if +afraid to venture farther. + +The ring of the hammer on the anvil lent cheer to the otherwise harsh +and unlovely mood that had fallen upon Nature over night. It sang a +song of defiance that even the mournful chant of sheep on the distant +slopes failed to subdue. The crowing of a belated and no doubt +mortified rooster, the barking of faraway dogs, the sighing of +journeying winds, the lugubrious whistle of Mr. Clarence Dillingford, +--all of these added something to the dreariness of the morning. + +Mr. Dillingford was engaged in lustily beating a rug suspended on a +clothes line in the area back of the stables. His tune was punctuated +by stifled lapses followed almost immediately by dull, flat whacks +upon the carpet. From the end of the porch he was visible to the +abstracted Barnes. + +"Hi!" he shouted, brandishing his flail at the New Yorker. "Want a +job?" + +Barnes looked at his watch. He still had an hour and a half to wait +before he could call up O'Dowd. He strolled across the lot and joined +the perspiring comedian. + +"You seem to have a personal grudge against that carpet," he said, +moving back a few yards as Dillingford laid on so manfully that the +dust arose in clouds. + +"Every time I land I say: 'Take that, darn you!' And it pleases me to +imagine that with every crack Mr. Putnam Jones lets out a mighty +'Ouch!' Now listen! Didn't that sound a little like an ouch?" Mr. +Dillingford rubbed a spot clean on the handle of the flail and pressed +his lips to it. "Good dog!" he murmured tenderly. "Bite him! (Whack!) +Now, bite him again! (Whack!) Once more! (Whack!) Good dog! Now, go +lie down awhile and rest." He tossed the flail to the ground and, +mopping his brow, turned to Barnes. "If you want a real treat, go into +the cellar and take a look at Bacon. He is churning for butter. Got a +gingham apron on and thinks he's disguised. He can't cuss because old +Miss Tilly is reading the first act of a play she wrote for Julia +Marlowe seven or eight years ago. Oh, it's a great life!" + +Barnes sat down on the edge of a watering-trough and began filling his +pipe. + +"You are not obliged to do this sort of work, Dillingford," he said. +"It would give me pleasure to stake--" + +"Nix," said Mr. Dillingford cheerily. "Some other time I may need help +more than I do now. I'm getting three square meals and plenty of fresh +air to sleep in at present, and work doesn't hurt me physically. It +DOES hurt my pride, but that's soon mended. Have you seen the old man +this morning?" + +"Rushcroft? No." + +"Well, we're to be on our way next week, completely reorganised, +rejuvenated and resplendent. Fixed it all up last night. Tommy Gray +was down here with two weeks' salary as chauffeur and a little extra +he picked up playing poker in the garage with the rubes. Thirty-seven +dollars in real money. He has decided to buy a quarter interest in the +company and act as manager. Everything looks rosy. You are to have a +half interest and the old man the remaining quarter. He telegraphed +last night for four top-notch people to join us at Crowndale on +Tuesday the twenty-third. We open that night in 'The Duke's Revenge,' +our best piece. It's the only play we've got that provides me with a +part in which I have a chance to show what I can really do. As soon as +I get through spanking this carpet I'll run upstairs and get a lot of +clippings to show you how big a hit I've made in the part. In one town +I got better notices than the star himself, and seldom did I--" + +"Where is Crowndale?" interrupted Barnes, a slight frown appearing on +his brow. He had a distinct feeling that there was handwriting on the +wall and that it was put there purposely for him to read. + +"About five hours' walk from Hornville," said Dillingford, grinning. +"Twenty-five cents by train. We merely resume a tour interrupted by +the serious illness of Mr. Rushcroft. Rather than impose upon our +audiences by inflicting them with an understudy, the popular star +temporarily abandons his tour. We ought to sell out in Crowndale, top +to bottom." + +The amazing optimism of Mr. Dillingford had its effect on Barnes. +Somehow the day grew brighter, the skies less drear, a subtle warmth +crept into the air. + +"You may count on me, Dillingford, to put up my half interest in the +show. I will have a fling at it a couple of weeks anyhow. If it +doesn't pan out in that time,--well, we can always close, can't we?" + +"We certainly can," said the other, with conviction. "It wouldn't +surprise me in the least, however, to see you clean up a very tidy bit +of money, Mr. Barnes. Our season ordinarily closes toward the end of +June, but the chances are we'll stay out all summer if things go +right. Congratulations! Glad to see you in the profession." He shook +hands with the new partner. "Keep your seat! Don't move. I'll shift a +little so's the wind won't blow the dust in your eyes." He obligingly +did so and fell upon the carpet with renewed vigour. + +Barnes was restless. He chatted with the rug-beater for a few minutes +and then sauntered away. Miss Thackeray was starting off for a walk as +he came around to the front of the Tavern. She wore a rather shabby +tailor-suit of blue serge, several seasons out of fashion, and a black +sailor hat. Her smile was bright and friendly as she turned in +response to his call. As he drew near he discovered that her lips were +a vivid, startling red, her eyes elaborately made up, and her cheeks +the colour of bismuth. She was returning to form, thought he, in some +dismay. + +"Where away?" he inquired. + +"Seeking solitude," she replied. "I've got to learn a new part in an +old play." She flourished the script airily. "I have just accepted an +engagement as leading lady." + +"Splendid! I am delighted. With John Drew, I hope." + +"Nothing like that," she said loftily. Then her wide mouth spread into +a good-natured grin, revealing the even rows of teeth that were her +particular charm. "I am going out with the great Lyndon Rushcroft." + +"Good! As one of the proprietors, I am glad to see you on our--er-- +programme, Miss Thackeray." + +"Programme is good," she mused. "I've been on a whole lot of +programmes during my brief career. What I want to get on some time, if +possible, is a pay-roll. Wait! Don't say it! I was only trying to be +funny; I didn't know how it would sound or I wouldn't have said +anything so stupid. You've done more than enough for us, Mr. Barnes. +Don't let yourself in for anything more. This thing will turn out like +all the rest of our efforts. We'll collapse again with a loud report, +but we're used to it and you're not." + +"But I'm only letting myself in for a couple of hundred," he +protested. "I can stand that much of a loss without squirming." + +"You know your own business," she said shortly, almost ungraciously. +"I'm only giving you a little advice." + +"Advice is something I always ignore," he said, smiling. "Experience +is my teacher." + +"Advice is cheaper than experience, and a whole lot easier to forget," +she said. "My grandfather advised my father to stay in the hardware +business out in Indiana. That was thirty years ago. And here we are +to-day," she concluded, with a wide sweep of her hand that took in the +forlorn landscape. She said more in that expressive gesture than the +most accomplished orator could have put into words in a week. + +"But there is always a to-morrow, you know." + +"There may be a to-morrow for me, but there are nothing but yesterdays +left for dad. All of his to-morrows will be just like his yesterdays. +They will be just as empty of success, just as full of failure. +There's no use mincing matters. We never have had a chance to go broke +for the simple reason that we've never been anything else. He has been +starring for fifteen years, hitting the tanks from one end of the +country to the other. And for just that length of time he has been +mooning. There's a lot of difference between starring and mooning." + +"He may go down somewhat regularly, Miss Thackeray, but he always +comes up again. That's what I admire in him. He will not stay down." + +Her eyes brightened. "He is rather a brick, isn't he?" + +"Rather! And so are you, if I may say so. You have stuck to him +through all--" + +"Nothing bricky about me," she scoffed. "I am doing it because I +can't, for the life of me, get rid of the notion that I can act. God +knows I can't, and so does father, and the critics, and every one in +the profession, but I think I can,--so what does it all amount to? +Now, that will be enough about me. As for you, Mr. Barnes, if you have +made up your mind to be foolish, far be it from me to head you off. +You will drop considerably more than a couple of hundred, let me tell +you, and--but, as I said before, that is your business. I must be off +now. It's a long part and I'm slow study. So long,--and thanks!" + +He sat down on the Tavern steps and watched her as she swung off down +the road. To his utter amazement, when she reached a point several +hundred yards below the Tavern, she left the highway and, gathering up +her skirts, climbed over the fence into the narrow meadow-land that +formed a frontage at the bottom of the Curtis estate. A few minutes +later she disappeared among the trees at the base of the mountain, +going in the direction of Green Fancy. He had followed her with his +gaze all the way across that narrow strip of pasture. When she came to +the edge of the forest, she stopped and looked back at the Tavern. +Seeing him still on the steps, she waved her hand at him. Then she was +gone. + +"Where ignorance is bliss," he muttered to himself, and then looked at +his watch. Ten minutes later he was in Sprouse's room, calling for +Green Fancy over an extension wire that had cost the company nothing +and yielded nothing in return. After some delay, O'Dowd's mellow voice +sang out: + +"Hello! How are you this morning?" + +"Grievously lonesome," replied Barnes, and wound up a doleful account +of himself by imploring O'Dowd to save his life by bringing the entire +Green Fancy party over to dinner that night. + +O'Dowd was heart-broken. Personally he would go to any extreme to save +so valuable a life, but as for the rest of the party, they begged him +to say they were sorry to hear of the expected death of so promising a +chap and that, while they couldn't come to his party, they would be +delighted to come to his funeral. In short, it would be impossible for +them to accept his kind invitation. The Irishman was so gay and good- +humoured that Barnes took hope. + +"By the way, O'Dowd, I'd like to speak with Miss Cameron if she can +come to the telephone." + +There was a moment of silence. Then: "Call up at twelve o'clock and +ask for me. Good-bye." + +Promptly on the stroke of twelve Barnes took down the receiver and +called for Green Fancy. O'Dowd answered almost immediately. + +"I warned you last night, Barnes," he said without preamble. "I told +you to keep out of this. You may not understand the situation and I +cannot enlighten you, but I will say this much: no harm can come to +her while I'm here and alive." + +"Can't she come to the telephone?" + +"Won't ye take my word for it? I swear by all that's holy that she'll +be safe while I've--" + +Barnes was cautious. This might be the clever O'Dowd's way of trapping +him into serious admissions. + +"I don't know what the deuce you are talking about, O'Dowd," he +interrupted. + +"You lie, Barnes," said the other promptly. "Miss Cameron is here at +my elbow. Will you have her tell you that you lie?" + +"Let her say anything she likes," said Barnes quickly. + +"Don't be surprised if you are cut off suddenly. The coast is clear +for the moment, but--Here, Miss Cameron. Careful, now." + +Her voice, soft and clear and trembling with eagerness caressed +Barnes's eager ear. + +"Mr. O'Dowd will see that no evil befalls me here, but he refuses to +help me to get away. I quite understand and appreciate his position. I +cannot ask him to go so far as that. Help will have to come from the +outside. It will be dangerous--terribly dangerous, I fear. I have no +right to ask you to take the risk--" + +"Wait! Is O'Dowd there?" + +"He has left the room. He does not want to hear what I say to you. +Don't you understand?" + +"Keeping his conscience clear, bless his soul," said Barnes. "It is +safe for you to speak freely?" + +"I think so. O'Dowd suspected us last night. He came to me this +morning and spoke very frankly about it. I feel quite safe with him. +You see, I've known him for a long, long time. He did not know that I +was to be led into a trap like this. It was not until I had been here +for several hours that he realised the true state of affairs. I cannot +tell you any more at present, Mr. Barnes. So great are the other +issues at stake that my own misfortunes are as nothing." + +"You say O'Dowd will not assist you to escape?" + +"He urges me to stay here and take my chances. He believes that +everything will turn out well for me in the end, but I am frightened. +I must get away from this place." + +"I'll manage it, never fear. Keep a stiff upper lip." + +"Wha--keep a what?" + +He laughed. "I forgot that you don't understand our language, Miss +Cameron. Have courage, is what I should have said. Are you prepared to +fly at a moment's notice?" + +"Yes." + +"Then, keep your eyes and ears open for the next night or two. Can you +tell me where your room is located?" + +"It is one flight up; the first of the two windows in my room is the +third to the right of the entrance. I am confident that some one is +stationed below my windows all night long." + +"Are you alone in that room?" + +"Yes. Mr. and Mrs. Van Dyke occupy the rooms on my left, Mr. De Soto +is on my right." + +"Where does Loeb sleep?" + +"I do not know." He detected a new note in her voice, and at once put +it down to fear. + +"You still insist that I am not to call on the authorities for help?" + +"Yes, yes! That must not even be considered. I have not only myself to +consider, Mr. Barnes. I am a very small atom in--" + +"All right! We'll get along without them," he said cheerily. +"Afterwards we will discuss the importance of atoms." + +"And your reward as well, Mr. Barnes," she said. Her voice trailed off +into an indistinct murmur. He heard the receiver click on the hook, +and, after calling "hello" twice, hung up his own with a sigh. +Evidently O'Dowd had warned her of the approach of a less considerate +person than himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE SECOND WAYFARER RECEIVES TWO VISITORS AT MIDNIGHT + + +The hour for the midday dinner approached and there was no sign of +Miss Thackeray's return from the woods. Barnes sat for two +exasperating hours on the porch and listened to the confident, +flamboyant oratory of Mr. Lyndon Rushcroft. His gaze constantly swept +the line of trees, and there were times when he failed to hear a word +in whole sentences that rolled from the lips of the actor. He was +beginning to feel acutely uneasy, when suddenly her figure issued from +the woods at a point just above the Tavern. Instead of striking out at +once across the meadow, she stopped and for as long as three or four +minutes appeared to be carrying on a conversation with some invisible +person among the trees she had just left behind. Then she waved her +hand and turned her steps homeward. A bent old man came out of the +woods and stood watching her progress across the open stretch. She had +less than two hundred yards to traverse between the woods and the +fence opposite the Tavern. The old man remained where he was until she +reached the fence and prepared to mount it. Then, as Barnes ran down +from the porch and across the road to assist her over the fence, he +whirled about and disappeared. + +"Aha," said Barnes chidingly: "politely escorted from the grounds, I +see. If you had asked me I could have told you that trespassers are +not welcome." + +"He is a nice old man. I chatted with him for nearly an hour. His +business is to shoo gipsy moths away from the trees, or something like +that, and not to shoo nice, tender young ladies off the place." + +"Does he speak English?" + +"Not a word. He speaks nothing but the most awful American I've ever +heard. He has lived up there on the mountain for sixty-nine years, and +he has eleven grown children, nineteen grandchildren and one wife. I'm +hungry." + +The coroner's inquest over the bodies of Roon and Paul was held that +afternoon at St. Elizabeth. Witnesses from Hart's Tavern were among +those to testify. The verdict was "Murder at the hands of parties +unknown." + +Sprouse did not appear at the Tavern until long after nightfall. His +protracted absence was the source of grave uneasiness to Barnes, who, +having been summoned to St. Elizabeth, returned at six o'clock primed +and eager for the night's adventure. + +The secret agent listened somewhat indifferently to the latter's +account of his telephonic experiences. At nine o'clock he yawned +prodigiously and announced that he was going to bed, much to the +disgust of Mr. Rushcroft and greatly to the surprise of Mr. Barnes, +who followed him from the tap-room and demanded an explanation. + +"People usually go to bed at night, don't they?" said Sprouse +patiently. "It is expected, I believe." + +"But, my dear man, we are to undertake--" + +"There is no reason why we shouldn't go to bed like sensible beings, +Mr. Barnes, and get up again when we feel like it, is there? I have +some cause for believing that one of those chaps in there is from +Green Fancy. Go to bed at ten o'clock, my friend, and put out your +light. I don't insist on your taking off your clothes, however. I will +rap on your door at eleven o'clock. By the way, don't forget to stick +your revolver in your pocket." + +A few minutes before eleven there came a gentle tapping on Barnes's +door. He sprang to his feet and opened it, presenting himself before +Sprouse fully dressed and, as the secret agent said later on, "fit to +kill." + +They went quietly down a back stairway and let themselves out into the +stable-yard. A light, cold drizzle greeted them as they left the lee +of the building. + +"A fine night for treason, stratagems and spoils," said Sprouse, +speaking barely above a whisper. "Follow me and don't ask questions. +You will have to talk if you do, and talking is barred for the +present." + +He stopped at the corner of the inn and listened for a moment. Then he +darted across the road and turned to the left in the ditch that +bordered it. The night was as black as pitch. Barnes, trusting to the +little man's eyes, and hanging close upon his coat-tails, followed +blindly but gallantly in the tracks of the leader. It seemed to him +that they stumbled along parallel to the road for miles before Sprouse +came to a halt. + +"Climb over the fence here, and stick close to me. Are you getting +your cats'-eyes?" + +"Yes, I can see pretty well now. But, great scot, why should we walk +half way to the North Pole, Sprouse, before--" + +"We haven't come more than half a mile. The Curtis land ends here. We +stay close to this fence till we reach the woods. I was in here to-day +taking observations." + +"You were?" + +"Yes. Didn't that actress friend of yours mention meeting me?" + +"No." + +"I told her distinctly that I had eleven children, nineteen--" + +"By Jove, was that you?" gasped Barnes, falling in beside him. + +"If it were light enough you could see a sign on my back which says in +large type, 'Silence,'" said the other, and after that not a word +passed between them for half an hour or more. Then it was Sprouse who +spoke. "This is the short cut to Green Fancy," he whispered, laying +his hand on Barnes's arm. "We save four or five miles, coming this +way. Do you know where we are?" + +"I haven't the remotest idea." + +"About a quarter of a mile below Curtis's house. Are you all right?" + +"Fine as a fiddle, except for a barked knee, a skinned elbow, a couple +of more or less busted ribs, something on my cheek that runs hot,-- +yes, I'm all right." + +"Pretty tough going," said Sprouse, sympathetically. + +"I've banged into more trees than--" + +"Sh!" After a moment of silence, intensified by the mournful squawk of +night-birds and the chorus of katydids, Sprouse whispered: "Did you +hear that?" + +Barnes thrilled. This was real melodrama. "Hear what?" he whispered +shrilly. + +"Listen!" After a second or two: "There!" + +"It's a woodpecker hammering on the limb of a--" + +"Woodpeckers don't hammer at midnight, my lad. Don't stir! Keep your +ears open." + +"You bet they're open all right," whispered Barnes, his nerves +aquiver. + +Suddenly the sharp tattoo sounded so close to the spot where they were +standing that Barnes caught his breath and with difficulty suppressed +an exclamation. It was like the irregular rattle of sticks on the rim +of a snare-drum. The tapping ceased and a moment later a similar +sound, barely audible, came out of the distance. + +Sprouse clutched his companion's arm and, dropping to his knees in the +thick underbrush, pulled the other down after him. + +Presently heavy footsteps approached. An unseen pedestrian passed +within ten yards of them. They scarcely breathed until the sounds +passed entirely out of hearing. Sprouse put his lips close to Barnes's +ear. + +"Telegraph," he whispered. "It's a system they have of reporting to +each other. There are two men patrolling the grounds near the house. +You see what we're up against, Barnes. Do you still want to go on with +it? If you are going to funk it, say so, and I'll go alone." + +"I'll stay by you," replied Barnes sturdily. + +"In about ten minutes that fellow will come back this way. He follows +the little path that winds down--but never mind. Stay where you are, +and don't make a sound, no matter what happens. Understand? No matter +what happens!" He arose and swiftly, noiselessly, stole away from his +companion's side. Barnes, his eyes accustomed to the night, either saw +or imagined that he saw, the shadowy hulk press forward for a dozen +paces and then apparently dissolve in black air. + +Several minutes went by. There was not a sound save the restless +patter of rain in the tree tops. At last the faraway thud of footsteps +came to the ears of the tense listener. They drew nearer, louder, and +once more seemed to be approaching the very spot where he crouched. He +had the uncanny feeling that in a moment or two more the foot of the +sentinel would come in contact with his rigid body, and that he would +not have the power to suppress the yell of dismay that-- + +Then came the sound of a dull, heavy blow, a hoarse gasp, a momentary +commotion in the shrubbery, and--again silence. Barnes's blood ran +cold. He waited for the next footfall of the passing man. It never +came. + +A sharp whisper reached his ears. "Come here--quick!" + +He floundered through the brush and almost fell prostrate over the +kneeling figure of a man. + +"Take care! Lend a hand," whispered Sprouse. + +Dropping to his knees, Barnes felt for and touched wet, coarse +garments, and gasped: + +"My God! Have you--killed him?" + +"Temporarily," said Sprouse, between his teeth. "Here, unwind the rope +I've got around my waist. Take the end--here. Got a knife? Cut off a +section about three feet long. I'll get the gag in his mouth while +you're doing it. Hangmen always carry their own ropes," he concluded, +with grewsome humour. "Got it cut? Well, cut two more sections, same +length." + +With incredible swiftness the two of them bound the feet, knees and +arms of the inert victim. + +"I came prepared," said Sprouse, so calmly that Barnes marvelled at +the iron nerve of the man. + +"Thirty feet of hemp clothes-line for a belt, properly prepared gags, +--and a sound silencer." + +"By heaven, Sprouse, I--I believe he's dead," groaned Barnes. "We--we +haven't any right to kill a--" + +"He'll be as much alive but not as lively as a cricket in ten +minutes," said the other. "Grab his heels. We'll chuck him over into +the bushes where he'll be out of harm's way. We may have to run like +hell down this path, partner, and I'd--I'd hate to step on his face." + +"'Gad, you're a cold-blooded--" + +"Don't be finicky," snapped Sprouse. "It wasn't much of a crack, and +it was necessary. There! You're safe for the time being," he grunted +as they laid the limp body down in the brush at the side of the narrow +trail. Straightening up, with a sigh of satisfaction, he laid his hand +on Barnes's shoulder. "We've just got to go through with it now, +Barnes. We'll never get another chance. Putting that fellow out of +business queers us forever afterward." He dropped to his knees and +began searching over the ground with his hands. "Here it is. You can't +see it, of course, so I'll tell you what it is. A nice little block of +sandal-wood. I've already got his nice little hammer, so we'll see +what we can raise in the way of wireless chit-chat." + +Without the slightest hesitation, he struck a succession of quick, +confident blows upon the block of wood. + +"He always signals at this spot going out and again coming in," he +said softly. + +"How the deuce did you find out--" + +"There! Hear that? He says, 'All's well,'--same as I said, or +something equivalent to it. I've been up here quite a bit, Barnes, +making a study of night-hawks, their habits and their language." + +"By gad, you are a wonder!" + +"Wait till to-morrow before you say that," replied Sprouse, +sententiously. "Come along now. Stick to the trail. We've got to land +the other one." For five or six minutes they moved forward. Barnes, +following instructions, trod heavily and without any attempt at +caution. His companion, on the other hand, moved with incredible +stealthiness. A listener would have said that but one man walked on +that lonely trail. + +Turning sharply to the right, Sprouse guided his companion through the +brush for some distance, and once more came to a halt. Again he stole +on ahead, and, as before, the slow, confident, even careless progress +of a man ceased as abruptly as that of the comrade who lay helpless in +the thicket below. + +"There are others, no doubt, but they patrol the outposts, so to +speak," panted Sprouse as they bound and trussed the second victim. +"We haven't much to fear from them. Come on. We are within a hundred +feet of the house. Softly now, or--" + +Barnes laid a firm, detaining hand on the man's shoulder. + +"See here, Sprouse," he whispered, "it's all very well for you, +knocking men over like this, but just what is your object? What does +all this lead up to? We can't go on forever slugging and binding these +fellows. There is a house full of them up there. What do we gain by +putting a few men out of business?" + +Sprouse broke in, and there was not the slightest trace of emotion in +his whisper. + +"Quite right. You ought to know. I suppose you thought I was bringing +you up here for a Romeo and Juliet tete-a-tete with the beautiful Miss +Cameron,--and for nothing else. Well, in a way, you are right. But, +first of all, my business is to recover the crown jewels and +parchments. I am going into that house and take them away from the man +you know as Loeb,--if he has them. If he hasn't them, my work here is +a failure." + +"Going into the house?" gasped Barnes. "Why, my God, man, that is +impossible. You cannot get into the house, and if you did, you'd never +come out alive. You would be shot down as an ordinary burglar and--the +law would justify them for killing you. I must insist--" + +"I am not asking you to go into the house, my friend. I shall go +alone," said Sprouse coolly. + +"On the other hand, I came up here to rescue a helpless,--" + +"Oh, we will attend to that also," said Sprouse. "The treasure comes +first, however. Has it not occurred to you that she will refuse to be +rescued unless the jewels can be brought away with her? She would die +before she would leave them behind. No, Barnes, I must get the booty +first, then the beauty." + +"But you can do nothing without her advice and assistance," protested +Barnes. + +"That is just why I brought you along with me. She does not know me. +She would not trust me. You are to introduce me." + +"Well, by gad, you've got a nerve!" + +"Keep cool! It's the only way. Now, listen. She has designated her +room and the windows that are hers. She is lying awake up there now, +take it from me, hoping that you will come to-night. Do you +understand? If not to-night, to-morrow night. I shall lead you +directly to her window. And then comes the only chance we take,--the +only instance where we gamble. There will not be a light in her +window, but that won't make any difference. This nobby cane I'm +carrying is in reality a collapsible fishing-rod. Bought it to-day in +anticipation of some good fishing. First, we use it to tap gently on +her window ledge, or shade, or whatever we find. Then, you pass up a +little note to her. Here is paper and pencil. Say that you are below +her window and--all ready to take her away. Say that the guards have +been disposed of, and that the coast is clear. Tell her to lower her +valuables, some clothes, et cetera, from the window by means of the +rope we'll pass up on the pole. There is a remote possibility that she +may have the jewels in her room. For certain reasons they may have +permitted her to retain them. If such is the case, our work is easy. +If they have taken them away from her, she'll say so, some way or +another,--and she will not leave! Now, I've had a good look at the +front of that house. It is covered with a lattice work and huge vines. +I can shin up like a squirrel and go through her room to the--" + +"Are you crazy, Sprouse?" + +"I am the sanest person you've ever met, Mr. Barnes. The chance we +take is that she may not be alone in the room. But, nothing risked, +nothing gained." + +"You take your life in your hands and--" + +"Don't worry about that, my lad." + +"--and you also place Miss Cameron in even graver peril than--" + +"See here," said Sprouse shortly, "I am not risking my life for the +fun of the thing. I am risking it for her, bear that in mind,--for her +and her people. And if I am killed, they won't even say 'Well-done, +good and faithful servant.' So, let's not argue the point. Are you +going to stand by me or--back out?" + +Barnes was shamed. "I'll stand by you," he said, and they stole +forward. + +The utmost caution was observed in the approach to the house through +the thin, winding paths that Barnes remembered from an earlier visit. +They crept on all fours over the last fifty feet that intervened, and +each held a revolver in readiness for a surprise attack. + +There were no lights visible. The house was even darker than the night +itself; it was vaguely outlined by a deeper shade of black. The ground +being wet, the carpet of dead leaves gave out no rustling sound as the +two men crept nearer and nearer to the top-heavy shadow that seemed +ready to lurch forward and swallow them whole. + +At last they were within a few yards of the entrance and at the edge +of a small space that had been cleared of shrubbery. Here Sprouse +stopped and began to adjust the sections of his fishing-rod. + +"Write," he whispered. "There is a faint glow of light up there to the +right. The third window, did you say? Well, that's about where I +should locate it. She has opened the window shutters. The light comes +into the room through the transom over the door, I would say. There is +probably a light in the hall outside." + +A few minutes later, they crept across the open space and huddled +against the vine-covered facade of Green Fancy. Barnes was singularly +composed and free from nervousness, despite the fact that his whole +being tingled with excitement. What was to transpire within the next +few minutes? What was to be the end of this daring exploit? Was he to +see her, to touch her hand, to carry her off into that dungeon-like +forest,--and what was this new, exquisite thrill that ran through his +veins? + +The tiny, metallic tip of the rod, held in the upstretched hand of +Barnes, much the taller of the two men, barely reached the window +ledge. He tapped gently, persistently on the hard surface. Obeying the +hand-pressure of his companion he desisted at intervals, resuming the +operation after a moment of waiting. Just as they were beginning to +think that she was asleep and that their efforts were in vain, their +straining eyes made out a shadowy object projecting slightly beyond +the sill. Barnes felt Sprouse's grip on his shoulder tighten, and the +quick intake of his breath was evidence of the little secret agent's +relief. + +After a moment or two of suspense, Barnes experienced a peculiar, +almost electric shock. Some one had seized the tip of the rod; it +stiffened suddenly, the vibrations due to its flexibility ceasing. He +felt a gentle tugging and wrenching; down the slender rod ran a +delicate shiver that seemed almost magnetic as it was communicated to +his hand. He knew what was happening. Some one was untying the bit of +paper he had fastened to the rod, and with fingers that shook and were +clumsy with eagerness. + +The tension relaxed a moment later; the rod was free, and the shadowy +object was gone from the window above. She had withdrawn to the far +side of the room for the purpose of reading the message so +marvellously delivered out of the night. He fancied her mounting a +chair so that she could read by the dim light from the transom. + +He had written: "I am outside with a trusted friend, ready to do your +bidding. Two of the guards are safely bound and out of the way. Now is +our chance. We will never have another. If you are prepared to come +with me now, write me a word or two and drop it to the ground. I will +pass up a rope to you and you may lower anything you wish to carry +away with you. But be exceedingly careful. Take time. Don't hurry a +single one of your movements." He signed it with a large B. + +It seemed an hour before their eyes distinguished the shadowy head +above. As a matter of fact, but a few minutes had passed. During the +wait, Sprouse had noiselessly removed his coat, a proceeding that +puzzled Barnes. Something light fell to the ground. It was Sprouse who +stooped and searched for it in the grass. When he resumed an upright +posture, he put his lips close to Barnes's ear and whispered: + +"I will put my coat over your head. Here is a little electric torch. +Don't flash it until I am sure the coat is arranged so that you can do +so without a gleam of light getting out from under." He pressed the +torch and a bit of closely folded paper in the other's hand, and +carefully draped the coat over his head. Barnes was once more filled +with admiration for the little man's amazing resourcefulness. + +He read: "Thank God! I was afraid you would wait until to-morrow +night. Then it would have been too late. I must get away to-night but +I cannot leave--I dare not leave without something that is concealed +in another part of the house. I do not know how to secure it. My door +is locked from the outside. What am I to do? I would rather die than +to go away without it." + +Barnes whispered in Sprouse's ear. The latter replied at once: "Write +her that I will climb up to her window, and, with God's help and her +directions, manage to find the thing she wants." + +Barnes wrote as directed and passed the missive aloft. In a little +while a reply came down. Resorting to the previous expedient, he read: + +"It is impossible. The study is under bolt and key and no one can +enter. I do not know what I am to do. I dare not stay here and I dare +not go. Leave me to my fate. Do not run any further risk. I cannot +allow you to endanger your life for me. I shall never forget you, and +I shall always be grateful. You are a noble gentleman and I a foolish, +stupid--oh, such a stupid!--girl." + +That was enough for Barnes. It needed but that discouraging cry to +rouse his fighting spirit to a pitch that bordered on recklessness. +His courage took fire, and blazed up in one mighty flame. Nothing,-- +nothing could stop him now. + +Hastily he wrote: "If you do not come at once, we will force our way +into the house and fight it out with them all. My friend is coming up +the vines. Let him enter the window. Tell him where to go and he will +do the rest. He is a miracle man. Nothing is impossible to him. If he +does not return in ten minutes, I shall follow." + +There was no response to this. The head reappeared in the window, but +no word came down. + +Sprouse whispered: "I am going up. She will not commit you to +anything. We have to take the matter into our own hands. Stay here. If +you hear a commotion in the house, run for it. Don't wait for me. I'll +probably be done for." + +"I'll do just as I damn please about running," said Barnes, and there +was a deep thrill in his whisper. "Good luck. God help you if they +catch you." + +"Not even He could help me then. Good-bye. I'll do what I can to +induce her to drop out of the window if anything goes wrong with me +down stairs." + +He searched among the leaves and found the thick vine. A moment later +he was silently scaling the wall of the house, feeling his way +carefully, testing every precarious foothold, dragging himself +painfully upwards by means of the most uncanny, animal-like strength +and stealth. + +Barnes could not recall drawing a single breath from the instant the +man left his side until the faintly luminous square above his head was +obliterated by the black of his body as it wriggled over the ledge. + +He was never to forget the almost interminable age that he spent, +flattened against the vines, waiting for a signal from aloft. He +recalled, with dire uneasiness, Miss Cameron's statement that a guard +was stationed beneath her window throughout the night. Evidently she +was mistaken. Sprouse would not have overlooked a peril like that, and +yet as he crouched there, scarcely breathing, he wondered how long it +would be before the missing guard returned to his post and he would be +compelled to fight for his life. The fine, cold rain fell gently about +him; moist tendrils and leaves caressed his face; owls hooted with +ghastly vehemence, as if determined to awaken all the sleepers for +miles around; and frogs chattered loudly in gleeful anticipation of +the frenzied dash he would have to make through the black maze. + +We will follow Sprouse. When he crawled through the window and stood +erect inside the room, he found himself confronted by a tall, shadowy +figure, standing half way between him and the door. + +He advanced a step or two and uttered a soft hiss of warning. + +"Not a sound," he whispered, drawing still nearer. "I have come four +thousand miles to help you, Countess. This is not the time or place to +explain. We haven't a moment to waste. I need only say that I have +been sent from Paris by persons you know to aid you in delivering the +crown jewels into the custody of your country's minister in Paris. +Nothing more need be said now. We must act swiftly. Tell me where they +are. I will get them." + +"Who are you?" she whispered tensely. + +"My name is Theodore Sprouse. I have been loaned to your embassy by my +own government." + +"How did you learn that I was here?" + +"I beg of you do not ask questions now. Tell me where the Prince +sleeps, how I may get to his room--" + +"You know that he is the Prince?" + +"For a certainty. And that you are his cousin." + +She laid her hand upon his arm. "And you know that he plans evil to-- +to his people? That he is in sympathy with the--with the country that +has despoiled us?" + +"Yes." + +She was silent for a moment. "Not only is it impossible for you to +enter his room but it is equally impossible for you to get out of this +one except by the way you entered. If I thought there was the +slightest chance for you to--" + +"Let me be the judge of that, Countess. Where is his room?" + +"The last to the right as you leave this door,--at the extreme end of +the corridor. There are four doors between mine and his. Across the +hall from his room you will see an open door. A man sits in there all +night long, keeping watch. You could not approach Prince Ugo's door +without being seen by that watcher." + +"You said in your note to Barnes that the--er--something was in +Curtis's study." + +"The Prince sleeps in Mr. Curtis's room. The study adjoins it, and can +only be entered from the bed-room. There is no other door. What are +you doing?" + +"I am going to take a peep over the transom, first of all. If the +coast is clear, I shall take a little stroll down the hall. Do not be +alarmed. I will come back,--with the things we both want. Pardon me." +He sat down on the edge of the bed and removed his shoes. She watched +him as if fascinated while he opened the bosom of his soft shirt and +stuffed the wet shoes inside. + +"How did you dispose of the man who watches below my window?" she +inquired, drawing near. "He has been there for the past three nights. +I missed him to-night." + +"Wasn't he there earlier in the evening?" demanded Sprouse quickly. + +"I have been in my room since eleven. He seldom comes on duty before +that hour." + +"I had it figured out that he was one of the men we got down in the +woods. If I have miscalculated--well, poor Barnes may be in for a bad +time. We are quite safe up here for the time being. The fellow will +assume that Barnes is alone and that he comes to pay his respects to +you in a rather romantic manner." + +"You must warn Mr. Barnes. He--" + +"May I not leave that to you, Countess? I shall be very busy for the +next few minutes, and if you will--Be careful! A slip now would be +fatal. Don't be hasty." His whispering was sharp and imperative. It +was a command that he uttered, and she shrank back in surprise. + +"Pray do not presume to address me in--" + +"I crave your pardon, my lady," he murmured abjectly. "You are not +dressed for flight. May I suggest that while I am outside you slip on +a dark skirt and coat? You cannot go far in that dressing-gown. It +would be in shreds before you had gone a hundred feet through the +brush. If I do not return to this room inside of fifteen minutes, or +if you hear sounds of a struggle, crawl through the window and go down +the vines. Barnes will look out for you." + +"You must not fail, Theodore Sprouse," she whispered. "I must regain +the jewels and the state papers. I cannot go without--" + +"I shall do my best," he said simply. Silently he drew a chair to the +door, mounted it and, drawing himself up by his hands, poked his head +through the open transom. An instant later he was on the floor again. +She heard him inserting a key in the lock. Almost before she could +realise that it had actually happened, the door opened slowly, +cautiously, and his thin wiry figure slid through what seemed to her +no more than a crack. As softly the door was closed. + +For a long time she stood, dazed and unbelieving, in the centre of the +room, staring at the door. She held her breath, listening for the +shout that was so sure to come--and the shot, perhaps! A prayer formed +on her lips and went voicelessly up to God. + +Suddenly she roused herself from the stupefaction that held her, and +threw off the slinky peignoir. With feverish haste she snatched up +garments from the chair on which she had carefully placed them in +anticipation of the emergency that now presented itself. A blouse +(which she neglected to button), a short skirt of some dark material, +a jacket, and a pair of stout walking shoes (which she failed to +lace), completed the swift transformation. She felt the pockets of +skirt and jacket, assuring herself that her purse and her own personal +jewelry were where she had forehandedly placed them. As she glided to +the window, she jammed the pins into a small black hat of felt. Then +she peered over the ledge. She started back, stifling a cry with her +hand. A man's head had almost come in contact with her own as she +leaned out. A man's hand reached over and grasped the inner ledge of +the casement, and then a man's face was dimly revealed to her startled +gaze. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A FLIGHT, A STONE-CUTTER'S SHED, AND A VOICE OUTSIDE + + +He saw her standing in the middle of the room, her clenched hands +pressed to her lips. At the angle from which he peered into the room, +her head was in line with the lighted transom. + +His grip on the ledge was firm but his foothold on the lattice +precarious. He felt himself slipping. Exerting all of his strength he +drew himself upward, free of the vines that had begun to yield to his +weight. + +An almost inaudible "Whew!" escaped his lips as he straddled the sill. +An instant later he was in the room. + +"Why have you come up here?" She came swiftly to his side. + +"Thank the Lord, I made it," he whispered, breathlessly. "I came up +because there was nowhere else to go. I thought I heard voices--a man +and a woman speaking. They seemed to be quite close to me. Don't be +alarmed, Miss Cameron. I am confident that I can--" + +"And now that you are here, trapped as I am, what do you purpose to +do? You cannot escape. Go back before it is too late. Go--" + +"Is Sprouse--where is he?" + +"He is somewhere in the house. I have heard no sound. I was to wait +until he--Oh, Mr. Barnes, I--I am terrified. You will never know the--" + +"Trust him," he said. "He is a marvel. We'll be safely out of here in +a little while, and then it will all look simple to you. You are ready +to go? Good! We will wait a few minutes and if he doesn't show up +we'll--Why, you are trembling like a leaf! Sit down, do! If he doesn't +return in a minute or two, I'll take a look about the house myself. I +don't intend to desert him. I know this floor pretty well, and the +lower one. The stairs are--" + +"But the stairway is closed at the bottom by a solid steel curtain. It +is made to look like a panel in the wall. Mr. Curtis had it put in to +protect himself from burglars. You are not to venture outside this +room, Mr. Barnes. I forbid it. You--" + +"How did Sprouse get out? You said your door was locked." + +He sat down on the edge of the bed beside her. She was still trembling +violently. He took her hand in his and held it tightly. + +"He had a key. I do not know where he obtained--" + +"Skeleton key, such as burglars use. By Jove, what a wonderful burglar +he would make! Courage, Miss Cameron! He will be here soon. Then comes +the real adventure,--my part of it. I didn't come here to-night to get +any flashy old crown jewels. I came to take you out of--" + +"You--you know about the crown jewels?" she murmured. Her body seemed +to stiffen. + +"Very little. They are nothing to me." + +"Then you know who I am?" + +"No. You will tell me to-morrow." + +"Yes, yes,--to-morrow," she whispered, and fell to shivering again. + +For some time there was silence. Both were listening intently for +sounds in the hall; both were watching the door with unblinking eyes. +She leaned closer to whisper in his ear. Their shoulders touched. He +wondered if she experienced the same delightful thrill that ran +through his body. She told him of the man who watched across the hall +from the room supposed to be occupied by Loeb the secretary, and of +Sprouse's incomprehensible daring. + +"Where is Mr. Curtis?" he asked. + +Her breath fanned his cheek, her lips were close to his ear. "There is +no Mr. Curtis here. He died four months ago in Florida." + +"I suspected as much." He did not press her for further revelations. +"Sprouse should be here by this time. It isn't likely that he has met +with a mishap. You would have heard the commotion. I must go out there +and see if he requires any--" + +She clutched his arm frantically. "You shall do nothing of the kind. +You shall not--" + +"Sh! What do you take me for, Miss Cameron? He may be sorely in need +of help. Do you think that I would leave him to God knows what sort of +fate? Not much! We undertook this job together and--" + +"But he said positively that I was to go in case he did not return in +--in fifteen minutes," she begged. "He may have been cut off and was +compelled to escape from another--" + +"Just the same, I've got to see what has become of--" + +"No! No!" She arose with him, dragging at his arm. "Do not be +foolhardy. You are not skilled at--" + +"There is only one way to stop me, Miss Cameron. If you will come with +me now--" + +"But I must know whether he secured the--" + +"Then let me go. I will find out whether he has succeeded. Stand over +there by the window, ready to go if I have to make a run for it." + +He was rougher than he realised in wrenching his arm free. She uttered +a low moan and covered her face with her hands. Undeterred, he crossed +to the door. His hand was on the knob when a door slammed violently +somewhere in a distant part of the house. + +A hoarse shout of alarm rang out, and then the rush of heavy feet over +thickly carpeted floors. + +Barnes acted with lightning swiftness. He sprang to the open window, +half-carrying, half-dragging the girl with him. + +"Now for it!" he whispered. "Not a second to lose. Climb upon my back, +quick, and hang on for dear life." He had scrambled through the window +and was lying flat across the sill. "Hurry! Don't be afraid. I am +strong enough to carry you if the vines do their part." + +With surprising alacrity and sureness she crawled out beside him and +then over upon his broad back, clasping her arms around his neck. +Holding to the ledge with one hand he felt for and clutched the thick +vine with the other. Slowly he slid his body off of the sill and swung +free by one arm. An instant later he found the lattice with the other +hand and the hurried descent began. His only fear was that the vine +would not hold. If it broke loose they would drop fifteen feet or more +to the ground. A broken leg, an arm, or even worse,--But her hair was +brushing his ear and neck, her arms were about him, her heart beat +against his straining back, and--Why be a pessimist? + +His feet touched the ground. In the twinkling of an eye he picked her +up in his arms and bolted across the little grass plot into the +shrubbery. She did not utter a sound. Her arms tightened, and now her +cheek was against his. + +Presently he set her down. His breath was gone, his strength +exhausted. + +"Can you--manage to--walk a little way?" he gasped. "Give me your +hand, and follow as close to my heels as you can. Better that I should +bump into things than you." + +Shouts were now heard, and shrill blasts on a police whistle split the +air. + +Her breathing was like sobs,--short and choking,--but he knew she was +not crying. Apprehension, alarm, excitement,--anything but hysteria. +The fortitude of generations was hers; a hundred forebears had passed +courage down to her. + +On they stumbled, blindly, recklessly. He spared her many an injury by +taking it himself. More than once she murmured sympathy when he +crashed into a tree or floundered over a log. The soft, long-drawn "o- +ohs!" that came to his ears were full of a music that made him +impervious to pain. They had the effect of martial music on him, as +the drum and fife exalts the faltering soldier in his march to death. + +Utterly at sea, he was now guessing at the course they were taking. +Whether their frantic dash was leading them toward the Tavern, or +whether they were circling back to Green Fancy, he knew not. Panting, +he forged onward, his ears alert not only for the sound of pursuit but +for the shot that would end the career of the spectacular Sprouse. + +At last she cried out, quaveringly: + +"Oh, I--I can go no farther! Can't we--is it not safe to stop for a +moment? My breath is--" + +"God bless you, yes," he exclaimed, and came to an abrupt stop. She +leaned heavily against him, gasping for breath. "I haven't the +faintest idea where we are, but we must be some distance from the +house. We will rest a few minutes and then take it easier, more +cautiously. I am sorry, but it was the only thing to do, rough as it +was." + +"I know, I understand. I am not complaining, Mr. Barnes. You will find +me ready and strong and--" + +"Let me think. I must try to get my bearings. Good Lord, I wish +Sprouse were here. He has eyes like a cat. He can see in the dark. We +are off the path, that's sure." + +"I hope he is safe. Do you think he escaped?" + +"I am sure of it. Those whistles were sounding the alarm. There would +have been no object in blowing them unless he had succeeded in getting +out of the house. He may come this way. The chances are that your +flight has not been discovered. They are too busy with him to think of +you,--at least for the time being. Do you feel like going on? We must +beat them to the Tavern. They--" + +"I am all right now," she said, and they were off again. Barnes now +picked his way carefully and with the greatest caution. If at times he +was urged to increased speed through comparatively open spaces it was +because he realised the peril that lay at the very end of their +journey: the likelihood of being cut off by the pursuers before he +could lodge her safely inside of the walls. He could only pray that he +was going in the right direction. + +An hour,--but what seemed thrice as long,--passed and they had not +come to the edge of the forest. Her feet were beginning to drag; he +could tell that by the effort she made to keep up with him. From time +to time he paused to allow her to rest. Always she leaned heavily +against him, seldom speaking; when she did it was to assure him that +she would be all right in a moment or two. There was no sentimental +motive behind his action when he finally found it necessary to support +her with an encircling arm, nor was she loath to accept this tribute +of strength. + +"You are plucky," he once said to her. + +"I am afraid I could not be so plucky if you were not so strong," she +sighed, and he loved the tired, whimsical little twist she put into +her reply. It revived the delightful memory of another day. + +To his dismay they came abruptly upon a region abounding in huge +rocks. This was new territory to him. His heart sank. + +"By Jove, I--I believe we are farther away from the road than when we +started. We must have been going up the slope instead of down." + +"In any case, Mr. Barnes," she murmured, "we have found something to +sit down upon." + +He chuckled. "If you can be as cheerful as all that, we sha'n't miss +the cushions," he said, and, for the first time, risked a flash of the +electric torch. The survey was brief. He led her forward a few paces +to a flat boulder, and there they seated themselves. + +"I wonder where we are," she said. + +"I give it up," he replied dismally. "There isn't much sense in +wandering over the whole confounded mountain, Miss Cameron, and not +getting anywhere. I am inclined to suspect that we are above Green +Fancy, but a long way off to the right of it. My bump of direction +tells me that we have been going to the right all of the time. +Admitting that to be the case, I am afraid to retrace our steps. The +Lord only knows what we might blunder into." + +"I think the only sensible thing to do, Mr. Barnes, is to make +ourselves as snug and comfortable as we can and wait for the first +signs of daybreak." + +He scowled,--and was glad that it was too dark for her to see his +face. He wondered if she fully appreciated what would happen to him if +the pursuers came upon him in this forbidding spot. He could almost +picture his own body lying there among the rocks and rotting, while +she--well, she would merely go back to Green Fancy. + +"I fear you do not realise the extreme gravity of the situation." + +"I do, but I also realise the folly of thrashing about in this brush +without in the least knowing where our steps are leading us. Besides, +I am so exhausted that I must be a burden to you. You cannot go on +supporting me--" + +"We must get out of these woods," he broke in doggedly, "if I have to +carry you in my arms." + +"I shall try to keep going," she said quickly. "Forgive me if I seemed +to falter a little. I--I--am ready to go on when you say the word." + +"You poor girl! Hang it all, perhaps you are right and not I. Sit +still and I will reconnoitre a bit. If I can find a place where we can +hide among these rocks, we'll stay here till the sky begins to +lighten. Sit--" + +"No! I shall not let you leave me for a second. Where you go, I go." +She struggled to her feet, suppressing a groan, and thrust a +determined arm through his. + +"That's worth remembering," said he, and whether it was a muscular +necessity or an emotional exaction that caused his arm to tighten on +hers, none save he would ever know. + +After a few minutes prowling among the rocks they came to the face of +what subsequently proved to be a sheer wall of stone. He flashed the +light, and, with an exclamation, started back. Not six feet ahead of +them the earth seemed to end; a yawning black gulf lay beyond. +Apparently they were on the very edge of a cliff. + +"Good Lord, that was a close call," he gasped. He explained in a few +words and then, commanding her to stand perfectly still, dropped to +the ground and carefully felt his way forward. Again he flashed the +light. In an instant he understood. They were on the brink of a +shallow quarry, from which, no doubt, the stone used in building the +foundations at Green Fancy had been taken. + +Lying there, he made swift calculations. There would be a road leading +from this pit up to the house itself. The quarry, no longer of use to +the builder, was reasonably sure to be abandoned. In all probability +some sort of a stone-cutter's shed would be found nearby. It would +provide shelter from the fine rain that was falling and from the chill +night air. He remembered that O'Dowd, in discussing the erection of +Green Fancy the night before, had said that the stone came from a pit +two miles away, where a fine quality of granite had been found. The +quarry belonged to Mr. Curtis, who had refused to consider any offer +from would-be purchasers. Two miles, according to Barnes's quick +calculations, would bring the pit close to the northern boundary of +the Curtis property and almost directly on a line with the point where +he and Sprouse entered the meadow at the beginning of their advance +upon Green Fancy. That being the case, they were now quite close to +the stake and rider fence separating the Curtis land from that of the +farmer on the north. Sprouse and Barnes had hugged this fence during +their progress across the meadow. + +"Good," he said, more to himself than to her. "I begin to see light." + +"Oh, dear! Is there some one down in that hole, Mr.--" + +"Are you afraid to remain here while I go down there for a look +around? I sha'n't be gone more than a couple of minutes." + +"The way I feel at present," she said, jerkily, "I shall never, never +from this instant till the hour in which I die, let go of your coat- +tails, Mr. Barnes." Suiting the action to the word, her fingers +resolutely fastened, not upon the tail of his coat but upon his sturdy +arm. "I wouldn't stay here alone for anything in the world." + +"Heaven bless you," he exclaimed, suddenly exalted. "And, since you +put it that way, I shall always contrive to be within arm's length." + +And so, together, they ventured along the edge of the pit until they +reached the wagon road at the bottom. As he had expected, there was a +ramshackle shed hard by. It was not much of a place, but it was +deserted and a safe shelter for the moment. + +A workman's bench lay on its side in the middle of the earthen floor. +He righted it and drew it over to the boarding.... She laid her head +against his shoulder and sighed deeply.... He kept his eyes glued on +the door and listened for the first ominous sound outside. A long time +afterward she stirred. + +"Don't move," he said softly. "Go to sleep again if you can. I will--" + +"Sleep? I haven't been asleep. I've been thinking all the time, Mr. +Barnes. I've been wondering how I can ever repay you for all the pain, +and trouble, and--" + +"I am paid in full up to date," he said. "I take my pay as I go and am +satisfied." He did not give her time to puzzle it out, but went on +hurriedly: "You were so still I thought you were asleep." + +"As if I could go to sleep with so many things to keep me awake!" She +shivered. + +"Are you cold? You are wet--" + +"It was the excitement, the nervousness, Mr. Barnes," she said, +drawing slightly away from him. He reconsidered the disposition of his +arm. "Isn't it nearly daybreak?" + +He looked at his watch. "Three o'clock," he said, and turned the light +upon her face. "God, you are--" He checked the riotous words that were +driven to his lips by the glimpse of her lovely face. "I-I beg your +pardon!" + +"For what?" she asked, after a moment. + +"For--for blinding you with the light," he floundered. + +"Oh, I can forgive you for that," she said composedly. + +There ensued another period of silence. She remained slightly aloof. + +"You'd better lean against me," he said at last. "I am softer than the +beastly boards, you know, and quite as harmless." + +"Thank you," she said, and promptly settled herself against his +shoulder. "It IS better," she sighed. + +"Would you mind telling me something about yourself, Miss Cameron? +What is the true story of the crown jewels?" + +She did not reply at once. When she spoke it was to ask a question of +him. + +"Do you know who he really is,--I mean the man known to you as Mr. +Loeb?" + +"Not positively. I am led to believe that he is indirectly in line to +succeed to the throne of your country." + +"Tell me something about Sprouse. How did you meet him and what +induced him to take you into his confidence? It is not the usual way +with government agents." + +He told her the story of his encounter and connection with the secret +agent, and part but not all of the man's revelations concerning +herself and the crown jewels. + +"I knew that you were not a native American," he said. "I arrived at +that conclusion after our meeting at the cross-roads. When O'Dowd said +you were from New Orleans, I decided that you belonged to one of the +French or Spanish families there. Either that or you were a fairy +princess such as one reads about in books." + +"And you now believe that I am a royal--or at the very worst--a noble +lady with designs on the crown?" There was a faint ripple in her low +voice. + +"I should like to know whether I am to address you as Princess, +Duchess, or--just plain Miss." + +"I am more accustomed to plain Miss, Mr. Barnes, than to either of the +titles you would give me." + +"Don't you feel that I am deserving of a little enlightenment?" he +asked. "I am working literally as well as figuratively in the dark. +Who are you? Why were you a prisoner at Green Fancy? Where and what is +your native land?" + +"Sprouse did not tell you any of these things?" + +"No. I think he was in some doubt himself. I don't blame him for +holding back until he was certain." + +"Mr. Barnes, I cannot answer any one of your questions without +jeopardising a cause that is dearer to me than anything else in all +the world. I am sorry. I pray God a day may soon come when I can +reveal everything to you--and to the world. I am of a stricken +country; I am trying to serve the unhappy house that has ruled it for +centuries and is now in the direst peril. The man you know as Loeb is +a prince of that house. I may say this to you, and it will serve to +explain my position at Green Fancy: he is not the Prince I was led to +believe awaited me there. He is the cousin of the man I expected to +meet, and he is the enemy of the branch of the house that I would +serve. Do not ask me to say more. Trust me as I am trusting you,--as +Sprouse trusted you." + +"May I ask the cause of O'Dowd's apparent defection?" + +"He is not in sympathy with all of the plans advanced by his leader," +she said, after a moment's reflection. + +"Your sympathies are with the Entente Allies, the prince's are +opposed? Is that part of Sprouse's story true?" + +"Yes." + +"And O'Dowd?" + +"O'Dowd is anti-English, Mr. Barnes, if that conveys anything to you. +He is not pro-German. Perhaps you will understand." + +"Wasn't it pretty risky for you to carry the crown jewels around in a +travelling bag, Miss Cameron?" + +"I suppose so. It turned out, however, that it was the safest, surest +way. I had them in my possession for three days before coming to Green +Fancy. No one suspected. They were given into my custody by the +committee to whom they were delivered in New York by the men who +brought them to this country." + +"And why did you bring them to Green Fancy?" + +"I was to deliver them to one of their rightful owners, Mr. Barnes,--a +loyal prince of the blood." + +"But why HERE?" he insisted. + +"He was to take them into Canada, and thence, in good time, to the +palace of his ancestors." + +"I am to understand, then, that not only you but the committee you +speak of, fell into a carefully prepared trap." + +"Yes." + +"You did not know the man who picked you up in the automobile, Miss +Cameron. Why did you take the chance with--" + +"He gave the password, or whatever you may call it, and it could have +been known only to persons devoted to our--our cause." + +"I see. The treachery, therefore, had its inception in the loyal nest. +You were betrayed by a friend." + +"I am sure of it," she said bitterly. "If this man Sprouse does not +succeed in restoring the--oh, I believe I shall kill myself, Mr. +Barnes." + +The wail of anguish in her voice went straight to his heart. + +"He has succeeded, take my word for it. They will be in your hands +before many hours have passed." + +"Is he to come to the Tavern with them? Or am I to meet him--" + +"Good Lord!" he gulped. Here was a contingency he had not considered. +Where and when would Sprouse appear with his booty? "I--I fancy we'll +find him waiting for us at the Tavern." + +"But had you no understanding?" + +"Er--tentatively." The perspiration started on his brow. + +"They will guard the Tavern so closely that we will never be able to +get away from the place," she said, and he detected a querulous note +in her voice. + +"Now don't you worry about that," he said stoutly. + +"I love the comforting way you have of saying things," she murmured, +and he felt her body relax. + +For reasons best known to himself, he failed to respond to this +interesting confession. He was thinking of something else: his amazing +stupidity in not foreseeing the very situation that now presented +itself. Why had he neglected to settle upon a meeting place with +Sprouse in the event that circumstances forced them to part company in +flight? Fearing that she would pursue the subject, he made haste to +branch off onto another line. + +"What is the real object of the conspiracy up there, Miss Cameron?" + +"You must bear with me a little longer, Mr. Barnes," she said, +appealingly. "I cannot say anything now. I am in a very perplexing +position. You see, I am not quite sure that I am right in my +conclusions, and it would be dreadful if I were to make a mistake." + +"If they are up to any game that may work harm to the Allies, they +must not be allowed to go on with it," he said sternly. "Don't wait +too long before exposing them, Miss Cameron." + +"I--I cannot speak now," she said, painfully. + +"You said that to-morrow night would be too late. What did you mean by +that?" + +"Do you insist on pinning me down to--" + +"No. You may tell me to mind my own business, if you like." + +"That is not a nice way to put it, Mr. Barnes. I could never say such +a thing to you." + +He was silent. She waited a few seconds and then removed her head from +his shoulder. He heard the sharp intake of her breath and felt the +convulsive movement of the arm that rested against his. There was no +mistaking her sudden agitation. + +"I will tell you," she said, and he was surprised by the harshness +that came into her voice. "To-morrow morning was the time set for my +marriage to that wretch up there. I could have avoided it only by +destroying myself. If you had come to-morrow night instead of to-night +you would have found me dead, that is all. Now you understand." + +"Good God! You--you were to be forced into a marriage with--why, it is +the most damnable--" + +"O'Dowd,--God bless him!--was my only champion. He knew my father. He--" + +"Listen!" he hissed, starting to his feet. + +"Don't move!" came from the darkness outside. "I have me gun leveled. +I heard me name taken in vain. Thanks for the blessing. I was +wondering whether you would say something pleasant about me,--and, +thank the good Lord, I was patient. But I'd advise you both to sit +still, just the same." + +A chuckle rounded out the gentle admonition of the invisible Irishman. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +LARGE BODIES MOVE SLOWLY,--BUT MR. SPROUSE WAS SMALLER THAN THE +AVERAGE + + +There was not a sound for many seconds. The trapped couple in the +stone-cutter's shed scarcely breathed. She was the first to speak. + +"I am ready to return with you, Mr. O'Dowd," she said, distinctly. +"There must be no struggle, no blood-shed. Anything but that." + +She felt Barnes's body stiffen and caught the muttered execration that +fell from his lips. + +O'Dowd spoke out of the darkness: "You forget that I have your own +word for it that ye'll be a dead woman before the day is over. +Wouldn't it be better for me to begin shooting at once and spare your +soul the everlasting torture that would begin immediately after your +self-produced decease?" + +A little cry of relief greeted this quaint sally. "You have my word +that I will return with you quietly if--" + +"Thunderation!" exclaimed Barnes wrathfully. "What do you think I am? +A worm that--" + +"Easy, easy, me dear man," cautioned O'Dowd. "Keep your seat. Don't be +deceived by my infernal Irish humour. It is my way to be always +polite, agreeable and--prompt. I'll shoot in a second if ye move one +step outside that cabin." + +"O'Dowd, you haven't the heart to drag her back to that beast of a--" + +"Hold hard! We'll come to the point without further palavering. Where +are ye dragging her yourself, ye rascal?" + +"To a place where she will be safe from insult, injury, degradation--" + +"Well, I have no fault to find with ye for that," said O'Dowd. "Bedad, +I didn't believe you had the nerve to tackle the job. To be honest +with you, I hadn't the remotest idea who the divvil you were, either +of you, until I heard your voices. You may be interested to know that +up to the moment I left the house your absence had not been noticed, +my dear Miss Cameron. And as for you, my dear Barnes, your visit is +not even suspected. By this time, of course, the list of the missing +at Green Fancy is headed by an honourable and imperishable name,-- +which isn't Cameron,--and there is an increased wailing and gnashing +of teeth. How the divvil did ye do it, Barnes?" + +"Are you disposed to be friendly, O'Dowd?" demanded Barnes. "If you +are not, we may just as well fight it out now as later on. I do not +mean to submit without a--" + +"You are not to fight!" she cried in great agitation. "What are you +doing? Put it away! Don't shoot!" + +"Is it a gun he is pulling" inquired O'Dowd calmly. "And what the +deuce are you going to aim at, me hearty?" + +"It may sound cowardly to you, O'Dowd, but I have an advantage over +you in the presence of Miss Cameron. You don't dare shoot into this +shed. You--" + +"Lord love ye, Barnes, haven't you my word that I will not shoot +unless ye try to come out? And I know you wouldn't use her for a +shield. Besides, I have a bull's-eye lantern with me. From the +luxurious seat behind this rock I could spot ye in a second. Confound +you, man, you ought to thank me for being so considerate as not to +flash it on you before. I ask ye now, isn't that proof that I'm a +gentleman and not a bounder? Having said as much, I now propose +arbitration. What have ye to offer in the shape of concessions?" + +"I don't know what you mean." + +"I'll be explicit. Would you mind handing over that tin box in +exchange for my polite thanks and a courteous good-by to both of ye?" + +"Tin box?" cried Barnes. + +"We have no box of any description, Mr. O'Dowd," cried she, +triumphantly. "Thank heaven, he got safely away!" + +"Do you mean to tell me you came away without the--your belongings, +Miss Cameron?" exclaimed O'Dowd. + +"They are not with me," she replied. Her grasp on Barnes's arm +tightened. "Oh, isn't it splendid? They did not catch him. He--" + +"Catch him? Catch who?" cried O'Dowd. + +"Ah, that is for you to find out, my dear O'Dowd," said Barnes, +assuming a satisfaction he did not feel. + +"Well, I'll be--jiggered," came in low, puzzled tones from the rocks +outside. "Did you have a--a confederate, Barnes? Didn't you do the +whole job yourself?" + +"I did my part of the job, as you call it, O'Dowd, and nothing more." + +"Will you both swear on your sacred honour that ye haven't the jewels +in your possession?" + +"Unhesitatingly," said Barnes. + +"I swear, Mr. O'Dowd." + +"Then," said he, "I have no time to waste here. I am looking for a tin +box. I beg your pardon for disturbing you." + +"Oh, Mr. O'Dowd, I shall never forget all that you have--" + +"Whist, now! There is one thing I must insist on your forgetting +completely: all that has happened in the last five minutes. I shall +put no obstacles in your way. You may go with my blessings. The only +favour I ask in return is that you never mention having seen me to- +night." + +"We can do that with a perfectly clear conscience," said Barnes. "You +are absolutely invisible." + +"What I am doing now, Mr. Barnes," said O'Dowd seriously, "would be my +death sentence if it ever became known." + +"It shall never be known through me, O'Dowd. I'd like to shake your +hand, old man." + +"God bless you, Mr. O'Dowd," said the girl in a low, small voice, +singularly suggestive of tears. "Some day I may be in a position to--" + +"Don't say it! You'll spoil everything if you let me think you are in +my debt. Bedad, don't be so sure I sha'n't see you again, and soon. +You are not out of the woods yet." + +"Tell me how to find Hart's Tavern, old man. I'll--" + +"No, I'm dashed if I do. I leave you to your own devices. You ought to +be grateful to me for not stopping you entirely, without asking me to +give you a helping hand. Good-bye, and God bless you. I'm praying that +ye get away safely, Miss Cameron. So long, Barnes. If you were a crow +and wanted to roost on that big tree in front of Hart's Tavern, I dare +say you'd take the shortest way there by flying as straight as a +bullet from the mouth of this pit, following your extremely good- +looking nose." + +They heard him rattle off among the loose stones and into the brush. A +long time afterward, when the sounds had ceased, Barnes said, from the +bottom of a full heart: + +"I shall always feel something warm stirring within me when I think of +that man." + +"He is a gallant gentleman," said she simply. + +They did not wait for the break of day. Taking O'Dowd's hint, Barnes +directed his steps straight out from the mouth of the quarry and +pressed confidently onward. Their progress was swifter than before and +less cautious. The thought had come to him that the men from Green +Fancy would rush to the outer edges of the Curtis land and seek to +intercept, rather than to overtake, the fugitive. In answer to a +question she informed him that there were no fewer than twenty-five +men on the place, all of them shrewd, resolute and formidable. + +"The women, who are they, and what part do they play in this +enterprise?" he inquired, during a short pause for rest. + +"Mrs. Collier is the widow of a spy executed in France at the +beginning of the war. She is an American and was married to a--to a +foreigner. The Van Dykes are very rich Americans,--at least she has a +great deal of money. Her husband was in the diplomatic service some +years ago but was dismissed. There was a huge gambling scandal and he +was involved. His wife is determined to force her way into court +circles in Europe. She has money, she is clever and unprincipled, and +--I am convinced that she is paying in advance for future favours and +position at a certain court. She--" + +"In other words, she is financing the game up at Green Fancy." + +"I suppose so. She has millions, I am told. Mr. De Soto is a Spaniard, +born and reared in England. All of them are known in my country." + +"I can't understand a decent chap like O'Dowd being mixed up in a +rotten--" + +"Ah, but you do not understand. He is a soldier of fortune, an +adventurer. His heart is better than his reputation. It is the love of +intrigue, the joy of turmoil that commands him. He has been mixed up, +as you say, in any number of secret enterprises, both good and bad. +His sister's children are the owners of Green Fancy. I know her well. +It was through Mr. O'Dowd that I came to Green Fancy. Too late he +realised that it was a mistake. He was deceived. He has known me for +years and he would not have exposed me to----But come! As he has said, +we are not yet out of the woods." + +"I cannot, for the life of me, see why they took chances on inviting +me to the house, Miss Cameron. They must have known that--" + +"It was a desperate chance but it was carefully considered, you may be +sure. They are clever, all of them. They were afraid of you. It was +necessary to deal openly, boldly, with you if your suspicions were to +be removed." + +"But they must have known that you would appeal to me." + +She was silent for a moment, and when she spoke it was with great +intensity. "Mr. Barnes, I had your life in my hands all the time you +were at Green Fancy. It was I who took the desperate chance. I shudder +now when I think of what might have happened. Before you were asked to +the house, I was coolly informed that you would not leave it alive if +I so much as breathed a word to you concerning my unhappy plight. The +first word of an appeal to you would have been the signal for--for +your death. That is what they held over me. They made it very clear to +me that nothing was to be gained by an appeal to you. You would die, +and I would be no better off than before. It was I who took the +chance. When I spoke to you on the couch that night, I--oh, don't you +see? Don't you see that I wantonly, cruelly, selfishly risked YOUR +life,--not my own,--when I--" + +"There, there, now!" he cried, consolingly, as she put her hands to +her face and gave way to sobs. "Don't let THAT worry you. I am here +and alive, and so are you, and--for Heaven's sake don't do that! I--I +simply go all to pieces when I hear a woman crying. I--" + +"Forgive me," she murmured. "I didn't mean to be so silly." + +"It helps, to cry sometimes," he said lamely. + +The first faint signs of day were struggling out of the night when +they stole across the road above Hart's Tavern and made their way +through the stable-yard to the rear of the house. His one thought was +to get her safely inside the Tavern. There he could defy the legions +of Green Fancy, and from there he could notify her real friends, +deliver her into their keeping,--and then regret the loss of her! + +The door was locked. He delivered a series of resounding kicks upon +its stout face. Revolver in hand, he faced about and waited for the +assault of the men who, he was sure, would come plunging around the +corner of the building in response to the racket. He was confident +that the approach to the Tavern was watched by desperate men from +Green Fancy, and that an encounter with them was inevitable. But there +was no attack. Save for his repeated pounding on the door, there was +no sign of life about the place. + +At last there were sounds from within. A key grated in the lock and a +bolt was shot. The door flew open. Mr. Clarence Dillingford appeared +in the opening, partially dressed, his hair sadly tumbled, his eyes +blinking in the light of the lantern he held aloft. + +"Well, what the--" Then his gaze alighted on the lady. "My God," he +gulped, and instantly put all of his body except the head and one arm +behind the door. + +Barnes crowded past him with his faltering charge, and slammed the +door. Moreover, he quickly shot the bolt. + +"For the love of--" began the embarrassed Dillingford. "What the dev-- +I say, can't you see that I'm not dressed? What the--" + +"Give me that lantern," said Barnes, and snatched the article out of +the unresisting hand. "Show me the way to Miss Thackeray's room, +Dillingford. No time for explanations. This lady is a friend of mine." + +"Well, for the love of--" + +"I will take you to Miss Thackeray's room," said Barnes, leading her +swiftly through the narrow passage. "She will make you comfortable for +the--that is until I am able to secure a room for you. Come on, +Dillingford." + +"My God, Barnes, have you been in an automobile smash-up? You--" + +"Don't wake the house! Where is her room?" + +"You know just as well as I do. All right,--all right! Don't bite me! +I'm coming." + +Miss Thackeray was awake. She had heard the pounding. Through the +closed door she asked what on earth was the matter. + +"I have a friend here,--a lady. Will you dress as quickly as possible +and take her in with you for a little while?" He spoke as softly as +possible. + +There was no immediate response from the inside. Then Miss Thackeray +observed, quite coldly: "I think I'd like to hear the lady's voice, if +you don't mind. I recognise yours perfectly, Mr. Barnes, but I am not +in the habit of opening my--" + +"Mr. Barnes speaks the truth," said Miss Cameron. "But pray do not +disturb--" + +"I guess I don't need to dress," said Miss Thackeray, and opened her +door. "Come in, please. I don't know who you are or what you've been +up to, but there are times when women ought to stand together. And +what's more, I sha'n't ask any questions." + +She closed the door behind the unexpected guest, and Barnes gave a +great sigh of relief. + +"Say, Mr. Barnes," said Miss Thackeray, several hours later, coming +upon him in the hall; "I guess I'll have to ask you to explain a +little. She's a nice, pretty girl, and all that, but she won't open +her lips about anything. She says you will do the talking. I'm a good +sport, you know, and not especially finicky, but I'd like to--" + +"How is she? Is she resting? Does she seem--" + +"Well, she's stretched out in my bed, with my best nightie on, and she +seems to be doing as well as could be expected," said Miss Thackeray +dryly. + +"Has she had coffee and--" + +"I am going after it now. It seems that she is in the habit of having +it in bed. I wish I had her imagination. It would be great to imagine +that all you have to do is to say 'I think I'll have coffee and rolls +and one egg' sent up, and then go on believing your wish would come +true. Still, I don't mind. She seems so nice and pathetic, and in +trouble, and I--" + +"Thank you, Miss Thackeray. If you will see that she has her coffee, +I'll--I'll wait for you here in the hall and try to explain. I can't +tell you everything at present,--not without her consent,--but what I +do tell will be sufficient to make you think you are listening to a +chapter out of a dime novel." + +He had already taken Putnam Jones into his confidence. He saw no other +way out of the new and somewhat extraordinary situation. + +His uneasiness increased to consternation when he discovered that +Sprouse had not yet put in an appearance. What had become of the man? +He could not help feeling, however, that somehow the little agent +would suddenly pop out of the chimney in his room, or sneak in through +a crack under the door,--and laugh at his fears. + +His lovely companion, falling asleep, blocked all hope of a council of +war, so to speak. Miss Thackeray refused to allow her to be disturbed. +She listened with sparkling eyes to Barnes's curtailed account of the +exploit of the night before. He failed to mention Mr. Sprouse. It was +not an oversight. + +"Sort of white slavery game, eh?" she said, with bated breath. "Good +gracious, Mr. Barnes, if this story ever gets into the newspapers +you'll be the grandest little hero in--" + +"But it must never get into the newspapers," he cried. + +"It ought to," she proclaimed stoutly. "When a gang of white slavers +kidnap a girl like that and--" + +"I'm not saying it was that," he protested, uncomfortably. + +"Well, I guess I'll talk to her about that part of the story," said +Miss Thackeray sagely. "And as you say, mum's the word. We don't want +them to get onto the fact that she's here. That's the idea, isn't it?" + +"Absolutely." + +"Then," she said, wrinkling her brow, "I wouldn't repeat this story to +Mr. Lyndon Rushcroft, father of yours truly. He would blab it all over +the county. The greatest press stuff in the world. Listen to it: +'Lyndon Rushcroft, the celebrated actor, takes part in the rescue of a +beautiful heiress who falls into the hands of So and So, the king of +kidnappers.' That's only a starter. So we'd better let him think she +just happened in. You fix it with old Jones, and I'll see that Dilly +keeps his mouth shut. I fear I shall have to tell Mr. Bacon." She +blushed. "I have always sworn I'd never marry any one in the +profession, but--Mr. Bacon is not like other actors, Mr. Barnes. You +will say so yourself when you know him better. He is more like a--a-- +well, you might say a poet. His soul is--but, you'll think I'm nutty +if I go on about him. As soon as she awakes, I'll take her up to the +room you've engaged for her, and I'll lend her some of my duds, bless +her heart. What an escape she's had! Oh, my God!" + +She uttered the exclamation in a voice so full of horror that Barnes +was startled. + +"What is it, Miss Thack--" + +"Why, they might have nabbed me yesterday when I was up there in the +woods! And I don't know what kind of heroism goes with a poetic +nature. I'm afraid Mr. Bacon--" + +He laughed. "I am sure he would have acted like a man." + +"If you were to ask father, he'd say that Mr. Bacon can't act like a +man to save his soul. He says he acts like a fence-post." + +Shortly before the noon hour, Peter Ames halted the old automobile +from Green Fancy in front of the Tavern and out stepped O'Dowd, +followed by no less a personage than the pseudo Mr. Loeb. There were a +number of travelling bags in the tonneau of the car. + +Catching sight of Barnes, the Irishman shouted a genial greeting. + +"The top of the morning to ye. You remember Mr. Loeb, don't you? Mr. +Curtis's secretary." + +He shook hands with Barnes. Loeb bowed stiffly and did not extend his +hand. + +"Mr. Loeb is leaving us for a few days on business. Will you be moving +on yourself soon, Mr. Barnes?" + +"I shall hang around here a few days longer," said Barnes, +considerably puzzled but equal to the occasion. "Still interested in +our murder mystery, you know." + +"Any new developments?" + +"Not to my knowledge." He ventured a crafty "feeler." "I hear, +however, that the state authorities have asked assistance of the +secret service people in Washington. That would seem to indicate that +there is more behind the affair than--" + +"Have I not maintained from the first, Mr. O'Dowd, that it is a case +for the government to handle?" interrupted Loeb. He spoke rapidly and +with unmistakable nervousness. Barnes remarked the extraordinary +pallor in the man's face and the shifty, uneasy look in his dark eyes. +"It has been my contention, Mr. Barnes, that those men were trying to +carry out their part of a plan to inflict--" + +"Lord love ye, Loeb, you are not alone in that theory," broke in +O'Dowd hastily. "I think we're all agreed on that. Good morning, Mr. +Boneface," he called out to Putnam Jones who approached at that +juncture. "We are sadly in want of gasoline." + +Peter had backed the car up to the gasoline hydrant at the corner of +the building and was waiting for some one to replenish his tank. +Barnes caught the queer, perplexed look that the Irishman shot at him +out of the corner of his eye. + +"Perhaps you'd better see that the scoundrels don't give us short +measure, Mr. Loeb," said O'Dowd. Loeb hesitated for a second, and +then, evidently in obedience to a command from the speaker's eye, +moved off to where Peter was opening the intake. Jones followed, +bawling to some one in the stable-yard. + +O'Dowd lowered his voice. "Bedad, your friend made a smart job of it +last night. He opened the tank back of the house and let every damn' +bit of our gas run out. Is she safe inside?" + +"Yes, thanks to you, old man. You didn't catch him?" + +"Not even a whiff of him," said the other lugubriously. "The devil's +to pay. In the name of God, how many were in your gang last night?" + +"That is for Mr. Loeb to find out," said Barnes shrewdly. + +"Barnes, I let you off last night, and I let her off as well. In +return, I ask you to hold your tongue until the man down there gets a +fair start. "O'Dowd was serious, even imploring. + +"What would she say to that, O'Dowd? I have to consider her interests, +you know." + +"She'd give him a chance for his white alley, I'm sure, in spite of +the way he treated her. There is a great deal at stake, Barnes. A +day's start and--" + +"Are you in danger too, O'Dowd?" + +"To be sure,--but I love it. I can always squirm out of tight places. +You see, I am putting myself in your hands, old man." + +"I would not deliberately put you in jeopardy, O'Dowd." + +"See here, I am going back to that house up yonder. There is still +work for me there. What I'm after now is to get him on the train at +Hornville. I'll be here again at four o'clock, on me word of honour. +Trust me, Barnes. When I explain to her, she'll agree that I'm doing +the right thing. Bedad, the whole bally game is busted. Another week +and we'd have--but, there ye are! It's all up in the air, thanks to +you and your will-o'-the-wisp rascals. You played the deuce with +everything." + +"Do you mean to say that you are coming back here to run the risk of +being--" + +"We've had word that the government has men on the way. They'll be +here to-night or to-morrow, working in cahoots with the fellows across +the border. Why, damn it all, Barnes, don't you know who it was that +engineered that whole business last night?" He blurted it out angrily, +casting off all reserve. + +Barnes smiled. "I do. He is a secret agent from the embassy--" + +"Secret granny!" almost shouted O'Dowd. "He is the slickest, cleverest +crook that ever drew the breath of life. And he's got away with the +jewels, for which you can whistle in vain, I'm thinking." + +"For Heaven's sake, O'Dowd--" began Barnes, his blood like ice in his +veins. + +"But don't take my word for it. Ask her,--upstairs there, God bless +her!--ask her if she knows Chester Naismith. She'll tell ye, my bucko. +He's been standing guard outside her window for the past three nights. +He's--" + +"Now, I know you are mistaken," cried Barnes, a wave of relief surging +over him. "He has been in this Tavern every night--" + +"Sure he has. But he never was here after eleven o'clock, was he? +Answer me, did ye ever see him here after eleven in the evening? You +did not,--not until last night, anyhow. In the struggle he had with +Nicholas last night his whiskers came off and he was recognised. +That's why poor old Nicholas is lying dead up there at the house now, +--and will have a decent burial unbeknownst to anybody but his +friends." + +"Whiskers? Dead?" jerked from Barnes's lips. + +"Didn't you know he had false ones on?" + +"He did not have them on when he left me," declared Barnes. "Good God, +O'Dowd, you can't mean that he--he killed--" + +"He stuck a knife in his neck. The poor devil died while I was out +skirmishing, but not before he whispered in the chief's ear the name +of the man who did for him. The dirty snake! And the chief trusted him +as no crook ever was trusted before. He knew him for what he was, but +he thought he was loyal. And this is what he gets in return for saving +the dog's life in Buda Pesth three years ago. In the name of God, +Barnes, how did you happen to fall in with the villain?" + +Barnes passed his hand over his brow, dazed beyond the power of +speech. His gaze rested on Putnam Jones. Suddenly something seemed to +have struck him between the eyes. He almost staggered under the +imaginary impact. Jones! Was Jones a party to this--He started +forward, an oath on his lips, prepared to leap upon the man and +throttle the truth out of him. As abruptly he checked himself. The +cunning that inspired the actions of every one of these people had +communicated itself to him. A false move now would ruin everything. +Putnam Jones would have to be handled with gloves, and gently at that. + +"He--he represented himself as a book-agent," he mumbled, striving to +collect himself. "Jones knew him. Said he had been around here for +weeks. I--I-- + +"That's the man," said O'Dowd, scowling. "He trotted all over the +county, selling books. For the love of it, do ye think? Not much. He +had other fish to fry, you may be sure. I talked with him the night +you dined at Green Fancy. He beat you to the Tavern, I dare say. It +was his second night on guard below the--below her window. He told me +how he shinned up and down one of these porch posts, so as not to let +old Jones get onto the fact he was out of his room. He had old Jones +fooled as badly--What are you glaring at HIM for? I was about to say +he had old Jones as badly fooled as you--or worse, damn him. Barnes, +if we ever lay hands on that friend of yours,--well, he won't have to +fry in hell. He'll be burnt alive. Thank God, my mind's at rest on one +score. SHE didn't skip out with him. They all think she did. Not one +of them suspects that she came away with you. There is plenty of +evidence that she let him in through her window--" + +"All ready, O'Dowd," called Loeb. "Come along, please." + +"Coming," said the Irishman. To Barnes: "Don't blame yourself, old +man. You are not the only one who has been hoodwinked. He fooled men a +long shot keener than you are, so--All right! Coming. See you later, +Barnes. So long!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE FIRST WAYFARER VISITS A SHRINE, CONFESSES, AND TAKES AN OATH + + +How was he to find the courage to impart the appalling news to her? He +was now convinced beyond all doubt that the so-called Sprouse had made +off with the priceless treasure and that only a miracle could bring +about its recovery. O'Dowd's estimate of the man's cleverness was +amply supported by what Barnes knew of him. He knew him to be the +personification of craftiness, and of daring. It was not surprising +that he had been tricked by this devil's own genius. He recalled his +admiration, his wonder over the man's artfulness; he groaned as he +thought of the pride he had felt in being accorded the privilege of +helping him! + +Sitting glumly in a corner of the tap-room, watching but not listening +to the spouting Mr. Rushcroft, (who was regaling the cellarer and two +vastly impressed countrymen with the story of his appearance before +Queen Victoria and the Royal Family), Barnes went over the events of +the past twenty-four hours, deriving from his reflections a few fairly +reasonable deductions as to his place in the plans of the dauntless +Mr. Sprouse. + +In the first place, Sprouse, being aware of his somewhat ardent +interest in the fair captive, took a long and desperate chance on his +susceptibility. With incomprehensible boldness he decided to make an +accomplice of the eager and unsuspecting knight-errant! His cunningly +devised tale,--in which there was more than a little of the truth,-- +served to excite the interest and ultimately to win the co-operation +of the New Yorker. His object in enlisting this support was now +perfectly clear to the victim of his duplicity. Barnes had admitted +that he was bound by a promise to aid the prisoner in an effort to +escape from the house; even a slow-witted person would have reached +the conclusion that a partial understanding at least existed between +captive and champion. Sprouse staked everything on that conviction. +Through Barnes he counted on effecting an entrance to the almost +hermetically sealed house. + +Evidently the simplest, and perhaps the only, means of gaining +admission was through the very window he was supposed to guard. Once +inside her room, with the aid and connivance of one in whom the +occupant placed the utmost confidence, he would be in a position to +employ his marvellous talents in accomplishing his own peculiar ends. + +Barnes recalled all of the elaborate details preliminary to the actual +performance of that amazing feat, and realised to what extent he had +been shaped into a tool to be used by the master craftsman. He saw +through the whole Machiavellian scheme, and he was now morally certain +that Sprouse would have sacrificed him without the slightest +hesitation. + +In the event that anything went wrong with their enterprise, the man +would have shot him dead and earned the gratitude and commendation of +his associates! There would be no one to question him, no one to say +that he had failed in the duty set upon him by the master of the +house. He would have been glorified and not crucified by his friends. + +Up to the point when he actually passed through the window Sprouse +could have justified himself by shooting the would-be rescuer. Up to +that point, Barnes was of inestimable value to him; after that,--well, +he had proved that he was capable of taking care of himself. + +Mr. Dillingford came and pronounced sentence. He informed the rueful +thinker that the young lady wanted to see him at once in Miss +Thackeray's room. + +With a heavy heart he mounted the stairs. At the top he paused to +deliberate. Would it not be better to keep her in ignorance? What was +to be gained by revealing to her the--But Miss Thackeray was luring +him on to destruction. She stood outside the door and beckoned. That +in itself was ominous. Why should she wriggle a forefinger at him +instead of calling out in her usual free-and-easy manner? There was +foreboding-- + +"Is Mr. Barnes coming?" His heart bounded perceptibly at the sound of +that soft, eager voice from the interior of the room. + +"By fits and starts," said Miss Thackeray critically. "Yes, he has +started again." + +She closed the door from the outside, and Barnes was alone with the +cousin of kings and queens and princes. + +"I feared you had deserted me," she said, holding out her hand to him +as he strode across the room. S he did not rise from the chair in +which she was seated by the window. The lower wings of the old- +fashioned shutters were closed except for a narrow strip; light +streamed down upon her wavy golden hair from the upper half of the +casement. She was attired in a gorgeously flowered dressing-gown; he +had seen it once before, draping the matutinal figure of Miss +Thackeray as she glided through the hall with a breakfast tray which +Miss Tilly had flatly refused to carry to her room: being no servant, +she declared with heat. + +"I saw no occasion to disturb your rest," he mumbled. "Nothing-- +nothing new has turned up." + +"I have been peeping," she said, looking at him searchingly. A little +line of anxiety lay between her eyes. "Where is Mr. Loeb going, Mr. +Barnes?" + +He noted the omission of Mr. O'Dowd. "To Hornville, I believe. They +stopped for gasoline." + +"Is he running away?" was her disconcerting question. + +"O'Dowd says he is to be gone for a few days on business," he +equivocated. + +"He will not return," she said quietly. "He is a coward at heart. Oh, +I know him well," she went on, scorn in her voice. + +"Was I wrong in not trying to stop him?" he asked. + +She pondered this for a moment. "No," she said, but he caught the +dubious note in her voice. "It is just as well, perhaps, that he +should disappear. Nothing is to be gained now by his seizure. Next +week, yes; but to-day, no. His flight to-day spares--but we are more +interested in the man Sprouse. Has he returned?" + +"No, Miss Cameron," said he ruefully. And then, without a single +reservation, he laid bare the story of Sprouse's defection. When he +inquired if she had heard of the man known as Chester Naismith, she +confirmed his worst fears by describing him as the guard who watched +beneath her window. He was known to her as a thief of international +fame. The light died out of her lovely eyes as the truth dawned upon +her; her lips trembled, her shoulders drooped. + +"What a fool I've been," she mourned. "What a fool I was to accept the +responsibility of--" + +"Don't blame yourself," he implored. "Blame me. I am the fool, the +stupidest fool that ever lived. He played with me as if I were the +simplest child." + +"Ah, my friend, why do you say that? Played with you? He has tricked +some of the shrewdest men in the world. There are no simple children +at Green Fancy. They are men with the brains of foxes and the hearts +of wolves. To deceive you was child's play. You are an honest man. It +is always the honest man who is the victim; he is never the culprit. +If honest men were as smart as the corrupt ones, Mr. Barnes, there +would be no such thing as crime. If the honest man kept one hand on +his purse and the other on his revolver, he would be more than a match +for the thief. You were no match for Chester Naismith. Do not look so +glum. The shrewdest police officers in Europe have never been able to +cope with him. Why should you despair?" + +He sprang to his feet. "By gad, he hasn't got away with it yet," he +grated. "He is only one man against a million. I will set every cog in +the entire police and detective machinery of the United States going. +He cannot escape. They will run him to earth before--" + +"Mr. Barnes, I have no words to express my gratitude to you for all +that you have done and all that you still would do," she interrupted. +"I may prove it to you, however, by advising you to abandon all +efforts to help me from now on. You did all that you set out to do, +and I must ask no more of you. You risked your life to save a woman +who, for all you know, may be deceiving you with--" + +"I have not lost all of my senses, Miss Cameron," he said bluntly. +"The few that I retain make me your slave. I shall abandon neither you +nor the effort to recover what my stupidity has cost you. I will run +this scoundrel down if I have to devote the remainder of my life to +the task." + +She sighed. "Alas, I fear that I shall have to tell you a little more +about this wonderful man you know as Sprouse. Six months ago the +friends and supporters of the legitimate successor to my country's +throne, consummated a plan whereby the crown jewels and certain +documents of state were surreptitiously removed from the palace +vaults. The act, though meant to be a loyal and worthy one, was +nevertheless nullified by the most stupendous folly. Instead of +depositing the treasure in Paris, it was sent to this country in +charge of a group of men whose fealty could not be questioned. I am +not at liberty to tell you how this treasure was brought into the +United States without detection by the Customs authorities. Suffice it +to say, it was delivered safely to a committee of my countrymen in New +York. There are two contenders for the throne in my land. One is a +prisoner in Austria, the other is at liberty somewhere in--in the +world. The Teutonic Allies are now in possession of my country. It has +been ravished and despoiled." + +"So far Sprouse's story jibes," said he, as she paused. + +"My countrymen conceived the notion that Germany would one day conquer +France and over-run England. It was this notion that urged them to put +the treasure beyond all possible chance of its being seized by the +conquerors and turned over to the usurping prince who would be placed +on our throne. + +"As for my part in this unhappy project, it is quite simple. I was not +the only one to be deceived by plotters who far outstripped the +original conspirators in cleverness and guile. The man you know as +Loeb is in reality my cousin. I have known him all my life. He is the +youngest brother of the pretender to the throne, and a cousin of the +prince who is held prisoner by the Austrians. This prince has a +brother also, and it was to him that I was supposed to deliver the +jewels. He came to Canada a month ago, sent by the embassy in Paris. I +travelled from New York, but not alone as you may suspect. I was +carefully protected from the time I left my hotel there until--well, +until I arrived in Boston. + +"While there I received a secret message from friends in Canada +directing me to go to Spanish Falls, where I would be met and +conducted to Green Fancy by Prince Sebastian himself. I was on my way +to Halifax when this message changed my plans. Moreover, the reason +given for this change was an excellent one. It had been discovered +that the two men who acted secretly as my escort were traitors. They +were to lead me into a trap prepared at Portland, where I was to be +robbed and detained long enough for the wretches to make off in safety +with their booty. I need not describe my feelings. I obeyed the +directions and stole away at night, eluding my protectors, and came by +devious ways to the place mentioned in the message. + +"As you may have guessed by this time, the whole thing was a carefully +planned ruse. The company at Green Fancy,--you may some day know why +they were there,--learned through the man Naismith that the treasure +had been entrusted to me for delivery to Prince Sebastian and his +friends in Halifax. Let me interrupt myself to explain why the Prince +did not come to New York in person, instead of arranging to have the +jewels taken to him at Halifax. He is an officer of high rank in the +army. His trip across the ocean was known to the German secret +service. The instant he landed on American soil, a demand would have +been made by the German Embassy for his detention here for the +duration of the war. + +"I was informed in the message that Prince Sebastian would take me to +the place called Green Fancy, which was near the Canadian border. A +safe escort would be provided for us, and we would be on British soil +within a few hours after our meeting. It is only necessary to add that +when I arrived at Green Fancy I met Prince Ugo,--and understood! I had +carefully covered my tracks after leaving Boston. My real friends +were, and still are, completely in the dark as to my movements, so +skilfully was the trick managed. I shall ask you directly, Mr. Barnes, +to wire my friends in New York and in Halifax, acquainting them with +my present whereabouts and safety. Now, that we know the jewels have +been stolen again, that message need not be delayed. + +"And now for Chester Naismith. It was he who, acting for the misguided +loyalists and recommended by certain young aristocrats who by virtue +of their own dissipations had come to know him as a man of infinite +resourcefulness and daring, planned and carried out the pillaging of +the palace vaults. Almost under the noses of the foreign guards he +succeeded in obtaining the jewels. No doubt he could have made off +with them at that time, but he shrewdly preferred to have them brought +to America by some one else. It would have been impossible for him to +dispose of them in Europe. The United States was the only place in the +world where he could have sold them. You see how cunning he is? + +"This much I know: he came to New York with the men who carried the +jewels. He tried to rob them in New York but failed. Then he +disappeared. So carefully guarded were the jewels that he knew there +was no chance of securing them without assistance. For nearly six +months they remained in a safety vault on Fifth Avenue. Evidently he +gave up hope and, falling in with Prince Ugo, joined his party. I do +not know this to be the case, but I am now convinced that he learned +of the plan to send the jewels to Halifax. It was he, I am sure, who +conveyed this news to Prince Ugo, who at once invented the scheme to +divert me to this place. + +"And now comes the remarkable part of the story. When I arrived at +Spanish Falls, there was no one to meet me. The agent, seeing me on +the platform and evidently at a loss which way to turn, accosted me. +He offered to secure a conveyance for me, and was very considerate, +but I decided to call up Green Fancy on the telephone. I wanted to be +sure that there was no trick. To my surprise, O'Dowd came to the +telephone. I was greatly relieved when I actually heard his voice. I +have known him for years, and the belief that he had at last allied +himself with Prince Sebastian,--after being on the opposite side, you +see,--was cause for rejoicing. + +"He was amazed. It seems that I was not expected until the next +afternoon. The car was out on an errand to some little village in the +mountains, he said, but he would telephone at once to see if it could +be located. Afterwards it turned out that the message announcing my +arrival a day ahead of the time agreed upon was never delivered." + +"Sprouse's fine work, I suppose," put in Barnes. + +"I haven't the remotest doubt. Nor do I doubt that he intended to +waylay me at some point along the road. O'Dowd failed to catch the car +at the village and was on the point of starting off on horseback to +meet me, when it returned. He sent it ahead and followed on horseback. +You know how I was picked up at the cross-roads. It is all so like one +of those picture puzzles. By putting the meaningless pieces together +one obtains a complete design. The last piece to go into this puzzle +is the mishap that befell Naismith on that very afternoon. He was no +doubt thwarted in his design to waylay me on the road from Spanish +Falls by a singular occurrence in this tavern. He was attacked in his +room here shortly after the noon hour, overpowered, bound and gagged +by two men. They carried him to another room, where he remained until +late in the night when he managed to extricate himself. I have reason +to believe that this part of his story is true. He knew the men. They +were thieves as clever and as merciless as himself. They too were +watching for me. I may say to you now, Mr. Barnes, that he has never +posed as an honest man among his associates at Green Fancy. He glories +in his fame as a thief, but until now no one would have questioned his +loyalty to his friends. I do not know how these men learned of my +intention to come to Green Fancy. They--" + +"They came to this tavern four or five days in advance of your arrival +at Green Fancy," he interrupted. + +"Are you sure?" she asked in surprise. + +"Absolutely." + +"In that case, they could not have known," she said, deeply perplexed. + +"Sprouse told me that they were secret service men from abroad and +that he was working with them. Putnam Jones, I am sure, believes that +they were detectives. He also believes the same to be true of Sprouse. +My theory is this, and I think it is justified by events. The men were +really secret agents, sent here to watch the movements of the gang up +there. They came upon Sprouse and recognised him. On the day mentioned +they overpowered him and forced him to reveal certain facts connected +with affairs at Green Fancy. Possibly he led them to believe that you +were one of the conspirators. They waited for your arrival and then +risked the hazardous trip to Green Fancy. They were discovered and +shot." + +She could hardly wait for him to finish. "I believe you are right," +she cried. "A little while before the shooting occurred, the house was +roused by a telephone call. I was in my room, but not asleep. I had +just realised my own dreadful predicament. There was a great commotion +downstairs, and I distinctly heard some one say, in my own language, +that they were not to get away alive. It must have been Naismith who +telephoned. One of the men, I have been told, was killed not far from +our gates. He was shot, I am sure, by the man called Nicholas, noted +as one of the most marvellous marksmen in our little army. The other +was accounted for by Naismith himself, who had managed to reach the +cross-roads in time to head him off. Naismith openly boasted of the +feat. The greatest consternation prevailed at Green Fancy because the +men succeeded in reaching the highway before they were shot. Prince +Ugo was distracted. He said that the attention of the public would be +directed to Green Fancy and curious investigators were certain to +interfere with the great project he was carrying on." + +"I believe we have accounted for Mr. Sprouse, and I am no longer +interested in the unravelling of the mystery surrounding the deaths of +Roon and Paul," said he. "There is nothing to keep me here any longer, +Miss Cameron. I suggest that you allow me to escort you at once to +your friends, wherever they--" + +She was opposed to this plan. While there was still a chance that +Sprouse might be apprehended in the neighbourhood, or the possibility +of his being caught by the relentless pursuers, she declined to leave. + +"Then, I shall also stay," said he promptly, and was repaid by the +tremulous smile she gave him. His heart was beating like mad, and he +knew, in that instant, just what had happened to him. He was +helplessly in love with this beautiful cousin of kings and queens. And +when he thought of kings and queens he realised that beyond all +question his love was hopeless. + +"You are very good to me," she said softly. + +He got up suddenly and walked away. After a moment, in which he +regained control of himself, he returned to her side. + +"What effect will Mr. Loeb's flight have on the scheme up there, Miss +Cameron?" he inquired, quite steadily. + +"They will scatter to the four winds, those people," she said. "He +would not have fled unless disaster was staring him in the face. +Something has transpired to defeat his ugly plan. They will all run to +cover like so many rats." + +"The government of the United States is a good rat-catcher," he said. + +"The United States would do well to keep the rats out, Mr. Barnes, +instead of allowing them to come here and thrive and multiply and gnaw +into its very vitals." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE SECOND WAYFARER IS TRANSFORMED, AND MARRIAGE IS FLOUTED + + +Mr. Rushcroft sent for Barnes at three o'clock. "Come to my room as +soon as possible," was the message delivered by Mr. Bacon. Barnes was +taking a nap. More than that, he was pleasantly dreaming when the +pounding fell upon his door. Awakened suddenly from this elysian dream +he leaped from his bed and rushed to the door, his heart in his mouth. +Something sinister was back of this imperative summons! She was in +fresh peril. The gang from Green Fancy had descended upon the Tavern +in force and-- + +"Sorry to disturb you," said Mr. Bacon, as the door flew open, "but he +says it's important. He says--" + +"I wish you would tell him to go to the devil," said Barnes +wrathfully. + +"Superfluous, I assure you, sir. He says that everything and everybody +is going to the devil, so--" + +"If he wants to see me why doesn't he come to my room? Why should I go +to his?" + +"Lord bless you, don't you know that it's one of the prerogatives of a +star to insist on people coming to him instead of the other way about? +What's the use of being a star if you can't--" + +"Tell him I will come when I get good and ready." + +"Quite so," said Mr. Bacon absently. He did not retire, but stood in +the door, evidently weighing something that was on his mind and +considering the best means of relieving himself of the mental burden. +"Ahem!" he coughed. "Miss Thackeray advises me that you have expressed +a generous interest in our personal"--(He stepped inside the room and +closed the door)--"er--in our private future, so to speak, and I take +this opportunity to thank you, Mr. Barnes. If it isn't asking too much +of you, I'd like you to say a word or two in my behalf to the old man. +You might tell him that you believe I have a splendid future before +me,--and you wouldn't be lying, let me assure you,--and that there is +no doubt in your mind that a Broadway engagement is quite imminent. A +word from you to one of the Broadway managers, by the way, would--" + +"You want me to intercede for you in the matter of two engagements +instead of one, is that it?" + +"I am already engaged to Miss Thackeray,--in a way. The better way to +put it would be for you to intercede in the matter of one marriage and +one engagement. I think he would understand the situation much better +if you put it in that way." + +"Have you spoken to Mr. Rushcroft about it?" + +"Only in a roundabout way. I told him I'd beat his head off if he ever +spoke to Miss Thackeray again as he did last night." + +"Well, that's a fair sort of start," said Barnes, who was brushing his +hair. "What did he say to that?" + +"I don't know. I had to close the door rather hastily. If he said +anything at all it was after the chair hit the door. Ahem! That was +last night. He is as nice as pie this afternoon, so I have an idea +that he busted the chair and doesn't want old Jones to find out about +it." + +"I will say a good word for you," said Barnes, grinning. + +He found Mr. Rushcroft in a greatly perturbed state of mind. + +"I've had telegrams from the three people I mentioned to you, Barnes, +and the damned ingrates refuse to join us unless they get their +railroad fares to Crowndale. Moreover, they had the insolence to send +the telegrams collect. The more you do for the confounded bums, the +more they ask. I once had a leading woman who--" + +Barnes was in no humour to listen to the long-winded reminiscences of +the "star," so he cut him short at once. He ascertained that the +"ingrates" were in New York, on their "uppers," and that they could +not accomplish the trip to Crowndale unless railroad tickets were +provided. The difficulty was bridged in short order by telegrams +requesting the distant players to apply the next day at his office in +New York where tickets to Crowndale would be given them. He +telegraphed his office to buy the tickets and hold them for Miss +Milkens, Mr. Hatcher and Mr. Fling. + +"That completes one of the finest companies, Mr. Barnes, that ever +took the road," said Mr. Rushcroft warmly, forgetting his animosity. +"You will never be associated with a more evenly balanced company of +players, sir. I congratulate you upon your wonderful good fortune in +having such a cast for 'The Duke's Revenge.' If you can maintain a +similar standard of excellence in all of your future productions, you +will go down in history as the most astute theatrical manager of the +day." + +Barnes winced, but was game. "When do you start rehearsals, +Rushcroft?" + +"It is my plan to go to Crowndale to-morrow or the next day, where I +shall meet my company. Rehearsals will undoubtedly start at once. That +would give us--let me see--Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday--four +days. We open on Tuesday night. Oh, by the way, I have engaged a young +woman of most unusual talent to take the minor part of Hortense. You +may have noticed her in the dining-room. Miss Rosamond--er--where did +I put that card?--ah, yes, Miss Floribel Blivens. The poor idiot +insists on Blivens, desiring to perpetuate the family monicker. I have +gotten rid of her spectacles, however, and the name that the +prehistoric Blivenses gave her at the christening." + +"You--you don't mean Miss Tilly?" + +"I do. She is to give notice to Jones to-day. There are more ways than +one of getting even with a scurvy caitiff. In this case, I take old +Jones's best waitress away from him, and, praise God, he'll never find +another that will stick to him for eighteen years as she has done." + +O'Dowd returned late in the afternoon. He was in a hurry to get back +to Green Fancy; there was no mistaking his uneasiness. He drew Barnes +aside. + +"For the love of Heaven, Barnes, get her away from here as soon as +possible, and do it as secretly as you can," he said. "I may as well +tell you that she is in more danger from the government secret service +than from any one up yonder. Understand, I'm not pleading guilty to +anything, but I shall be far, far away from here meself before another +sunrise. That ought to mean something to you." + +"But she has done no wrong. She has not laid herself liable to--" + +"That isn't the point. She has been up there with us, and you don't +want to put her in the position of having to answer a lot of nasty +questions they'll be after asking her if they get their hands on her. +She might be weeks or months clearing herself, innocent though she be. +Mind you, she is as square as anything; she is in no way mixed up with +our affairs up there. But I'm giving you the tip. Sneak her out as +soon as you can, and don't leave any trail." + +"She may prefer to face the music, O'Dowd. If I know her at all, she +will refuse to run away." + +"Then ye'll have to kidnap her," said the Irishman earnestly. "There +will be men swarming here from both sides of the border by to-morrow +night or next day. I've had direct information. The matter is in the +hands of the people at Washington and they are in communication with +Ottawa this afternoon. Never mind how I found it out. It's the gospel +truth, and--it's going to be bad for all of us if we're here when they +come." + +"Who is she, O'Dowd? Man to man, tell me the truth. I want to know +just where I stand." + +O'Dowd hesitated, looked around the tap-room, and then leaned across +the table. + +"She is the daughter of Andreas Mara-Dafanda, former minister of war +in the cabinet of Prince Bolaroz the Sixth. Her mother was first +cousin to the Prince. Both father and mother are dead. And for that +matter, so is Bolaroz the Sixth. He was killed early in this war. His +brother, a prisoner in Austria, as you may already know, is the next +in line for the throne,--if the poor devil lives to get it back from +the Huns. Miss Cameron is in reality the Countess Therese Mara- +Dafanda--familiarly and lovingly known in her own land as the Countess +Ted. She was visiting in this country when the war broke out. If it is +of any use to you, I'll add that she would be rich if Aladdin could +only come to life and restore the splendours of the demolished castle, +refill the chests of gold that have been emptied by the conquerors, +and restock the farms that have been pillaged and devastated. In the +absence of Aladdin, however, she is almost as poor as the ancient +church-mouse. But she has a fortune of her own. Two of the most +glorious rubies in the world represent her lips; her eyes are +sapphires that put to shame the rocks of all the Sultans; when she +smiles, you may look upon pearls that would make the Queen of Sheba's +trinkets look like chinaware; her skin is of the rarest and richest +velvet; her hair is all silk and a yard wide; and, best of all, she +has a heart of pure gold. So there you are, me man. Half the royal +progeny of Europe have been suitors for her hand, and the other half +would be if they didn't happen to be of the same sex." + +"Is she likely to--er--marry any one of them, O'Dowd?" + +"Do you mean, is she betrothed to one of the royal nuts? If I were her +worst enemy I couldn't wish her anything as bad as that. The world is +full of regular men,--like meself, for example,--and 'twould be a pity +to see her wasted upon anything so cheap as a king." + +"Then, she isn't?" + +"Isn't what?" + +"Betrothed." + +"Oh!" He squinted his eyes drolly. "Bedad, if she is, she's kept it a +secret from me. Have you aspirations, me friend?" + +"Certainly not," said Barnes sharply. "By the way, you have mentioned +Prince Bolaroz the Sixth, but you haven't given a name to the country +he ruled." + +O'Dowd stared. "The Saints preserve us! Is the man a numbskull? Are +you saying that you don't know who and what--My God, such ignorance +bewilders me!" + +"Painful as it may be to you, O'Dowd, I don't seem able to place +Bolaroz in his proper realm." + +"Whist, then!" He put his hand to his mouth and whispered a name. + +An incredulous expression came into Barnes's eyes. "Are you jesting +with me, O'Dowd?" + +"I am not." + +"But I thought it was nothing more than a make-believe, imaginary +land, cooked up by some hair-brained novelist for the purpose of--" + +"Well, ye know better now," said O'Dowd crisply. "Good-bye. I must be +on my way. Deliver my best wishes to her, Barnes, and say that if she +ever needs a friend Billy O'Dowd is the boy to respond to any call she +sends out. God willing, I may see her again some day,--and I'll say +the same to you, old man." He arose and held out his hand. "I'm +trusting to you to get her away from these parts before the rat- +catchers come. Don't let 'em bother her. Good-bye and good luck +forever." + +"You are a brick, O'Dowd. I want to see you again. You will always +find me--" + +"Thanks. Don't issue any rash invitations. I might take you up." He +strode to the door, followed by Barnes. + +"Is there anything to be feared from this Prince Ugo or the crowd up +there?" + +"There would be if they knew where they could lay their hands on her +inside of the next ten hours. She could a tale unfold, and they +wouldn't like that. Keep her under cover here till--well, till THAT +danger is past and then keep her out of the danger that is to come." + +Barnes started upstairs as soon as O'Dowd was off, urged by an +eagerness that put wings on his feet and a thrill of excitement in his +blood. Half way up he stopped short. A new condition confronted him. +What was the proper way to approach a person of royal blood? Certainly +it wasn't right to go galumping upstairs and bang on her door, and +saunter in as if she were just like any one else. He would have to +think. + +When he resumed his upward progress it was with a chastened and +deferential mien. Pausing at her door, he was at once aware of voices +inside the room. He stood there for some time before he realised that +Miss Thackeray was repeating, with theatric fervour, though haltingly, +as much of her "part" as she could remember, evidently to the +satisfaction of the cousin of princes, for there were frequent +interruptions which had all the symptoms of applause. + +He rapped on the door, but so timorously that nothing came of it. His +second effort was productive. He heard Miss Thackeray say "good +gracious," and, after a moment, Miss Cameron's subdued: "What is it?" + +"May I come in?" he inquired, rather ashamed of his vigour. "It's only +Barnes." + +"Come in," was her lively response. "It was awfully good of you, Miss +Thackeray, to let me hear your lines. I think you will be a great +success in the part." + +"Thanks," said Miss Thackeray drily. "I'll come in again and let you +hear me in the third act." She went out, mumbling her lines as she +passed Barnes without seeing him. + +"Forgive me for not arising, Mr. Barnes," said Royalty, a wry little +smile on her lips. "I fear I twisted it more severely than I thought +at first. It is really quite painful." + +"Your ankle?" he cried in surprise. "When and how did it happen? I'm +sorry, awfully sorry." + +"It happened last night, just as we were crossing the ditch in front-- +" + +"Last night? Why didn't you tell me? Don't you know that it's wrong to +walk with a sprained ankle? Don't--" + +"Don't be angry with me," she pleaded. "You could not have done +anything." + +"Couldn't I, though? I certainly could have carried you the rest of +the way,--and upstairs." He was conscious of a strange exasperation. +He felt as though he had been deliberately cheated out of something. + +"You poor man! I am quite heavy." + +"Pooh! A hundred and twenty-five at the outside. Do you think I'm a +weakling?" + +"Please, please!" she cried. "You look so--so furious. I know you are +very, very strong,--but so am I. Why should I expect you to carry me +all that distance when--" + +"But, good Lord," he blurted out, "I would have loved to do it. I +can't imagine anything more--I--I--" He broke off in confusion. + +She smiled divinely. "Alas, it is too late now. But--" she went on +gaily, "you may yet have the pleasure of carrying me downstairs, Mr. +Barnes. Will that appease your wrath?" + +He flushed. "I'm sorry I--" + +"See," she said, "it is nicely bandaged,--and if you could see through +the bandages you would find it dreadfully swollen. That nice Miss +Thackeray doctored me. What a quaint person she is." + +His brow clouded once more. "I hope you will feel able to leave this +place to-morrow, Countess. We must get away almost immediately." + +"Ah, you have been listening to O'Dowd, I see." + +"Yes. He tells me it will be dangerous to--" + +"I was thinking of something else that he must have told you. You +forgot to address me as Miss Cameron." + +"I might have gone even farther and called you the Countess Ted," he +said. + +She sighed. "It was rather nice being Miss Cameron to you, Mr. Barnes. +You will not let it make any difference, will you? I mean to say, you +will be just the same as if I were still Miss Cameron and not--some +one else?" + +"I will be just the same," he said, leaning a little closer. "I am not +so easily frightened as all that, you know." + +She looked into his eyes for a moment, and then turned her own swiftly +away. Entranced, he watched the delicate colour steal into her cheek. + +"You are just like other women," he said thickly, "and I am like other +men. We can't help being what we are, Countess. Flesh and blood +mortals, that's all. If a cat may look at a king, why may not I look +at a countess?" + +She met his gaze, but not steadily. Her deep blue eyes were filled +with a vague wonder; she seemed to be searching for something in his +to explain the sudden embarrassment that had come over her. + +"Ah, I do not understand you American men," she murmured, shaking her +head. "A king would have found as much pleasure in looking at Miss +Cameron as at a countess. Why shouldn't YOU?" A radiant smile lighted +her face. "The king would not think of reproving the cat. I see no +reason why you should not look at a poor little countess with +impunity." + +"Do you think it would be possible for you to understand me any better +as Miss Cameron?" he asked bluntly. + +"I think perhaps it would," she said, the smile fading. + +"Then, I shall continue to look upon you as Miss Cameron, Countess. It +will make it easier for both of us." + +"Yes," she said, a little sadly, "I am sure Miss Cameron would not be +half so dense as the Countess. She would understand perfectly. She has +grown to be a very discerning person, Mr. Barnes, notwithstanding her +extreme youth. Miss Cameron is only four days old, you see." + +He bowed very low and said: "My proudest boast is that I have known +her since the day she was born. If I had the tongue and the courage of +O'Dowd I might add a great deal to that statement." + +"A great deal that you would not say to a countess?" she asked, +playing with fire. + +"A great deal that a child four days old could hardly be expected to +grasp, Miss Cameron," he replied, pointedly. "Having lived to a great +age myself, and acquired wisdom, I appreciate the futility of uttering +profound truths to an infant in arms." + +She beamed. "O'Dowd could not have done any better than that," she +cried. Then quickly, even nervously, as he was about to speak again: +"Now, tell me all that Mr. O'Dowd had to say." + +He seated himself and repeated the Irishman's warning. Her eyes +clouded as he went on; utter dejection came into them. + +"He is right. It would be difficult for me to clear myself. My own +people would be against me. No one would believe that I did not +deliberately make off with the jewels. They would say that I--oh, it +is too dreadful!" + +"Don't worry about that," he exclaimed. "You have me to testify that--" + +"How little you know of intrigue," she cried. "They would laugh at you +and say that you were merely another fool who had lost his head over a +woman. They would say that I duped you--" + +"No!" he cried vehemently. "Your people know better than you think. +You are disheartened, discouraged. Things will look brighter to- +morrow. Good heavens, think how much worse it might have been. That-- +that infernal brute was going to force you into a vile, unholy +marriage. He--By the way," he broke off abruptly, "I have been +thinking a lot about what you told me. He couldn't have married you +without your consent. Such a marriage would never hold in a court of-- +" + +"You are wrong," she said quietly. "He could have married me without +my consent, and it would have held,--not in one of your law courts, I +dare say, but in the court to which he and I belong by laws that were +made centuries before America was discovered. A prince of the royal +house may wed whom and when he chooses, provided he does not look too +far beneath his station. He may not wed a commoner. The state would +not recognise such a union. My consent was not necessary." + +"But you are in my country now, not in yours," he argued. "Our laws +would have protected you." + +"You do not understand. Marriages such as he contemplated are made +every year in Europe. Do you suppose that the royal marriages you read +about in the newspapers are made with the consent of the poor little +princes and princesses? Your laws are one thing, Mr. Barnes; our +courts are another. Need I be more explicit?" + +"I think I understand," he said slowly. "Poor wretches!" + +"Prince Ugo is of royal blood. I am not too far beneath him. In my +country his word is the law. The marriage that was to have been +celebrated to-day at Green Fancy would have bound me to him forever. +It would have been recognised in my country as legal. I have not the +right of appeal. I would not even be permitted to question his right +to make me his wife against my will. He is a prince. His will is law." + +"Isn't love allowed to enter into a--" + +"Love?" she scorned. "What has love to do with it? There isn't a queen +in all the world who loves--or loved, I would better say,--the man she +married. Some of them may have grown afterwards to love their kings, +because all kings are not alike. You may be quite sure, however, that +the wives of kings and princes did not marry their ideals; they did +not marry the men they loved. So, you see, it wouldn't have mattered +in the least to Prince Ugo whether I loved him or hated him. It was +all the same to him. It was enough that he loved me and wanted me. And +besides, laying sentiment aside, it wouldn't have been a bad stroke of +business on his part. He has a fair chance to sit on the throne of our +country. By placing me beside him on the throne he would be taking a +long step toward uniting the factions that are now bitterly opposing +each other. I am able to discuss all this very calmly with you now, +Mr. Barnes, for the nightmare is ended. I am here with you, alive and +well. If you had not come for me last night, I would now be sleeping +the long sleep at Green Fancy." + +"You--you would have taken your own life?" he said, in a shocked +voice. + +"I would have spared myself the horror of letting him destroy it in a +slower, more painful fashion," she said, compressing her lips. + +He did not speak at once. Looking into her troubled eyes, he said, +after a soulful moment: "I am glad that I came in time. You were made +to love and be loved. The man you love,--if there ever be one so +fortunate,--will be my debtor to the end of his days. I glorify myself +for having been instrumental in saving you for him." + +"If there ever be one so fortunate," she mused. Suddenly her mood +changed. A new kind of despair came into her lovely eyes, a plaintive +note into her voice. (I may be pardoned for declaring that she became, +in the twinkling of an eye, a real flesh and blood woman.) "I don't +know what I shall do unless I can get something to wear, Mr. Barnes. I +haven't a thing, you see. This suit is--well, you can see what it is. +I--" + +"I've never seen a more attractive suit," he pronounced. "I said as +much to myself the first time I saw it, the other evening at the +cross-roads. It fits--" + +"But I cannot LIVE in it, you know. My boxes are up at Green Fancy,-- +two small ones for steamer use. Everything I have in the world is in +them. Pray do not look so forlorn. You really couldn't have carried +them, Mr. Barnes, and I shudder when I think of what would have +happened to you if I had tumbled them out of the window upon your +head. You would have been squashed, and it isn't unlikely that you +would have aroused every one in the house with your groans and +curses." + +"I dropped a trunk on my toes one time," he said, grinning with a +delight that had nothing to do with the reminiscence. She was quaintly +humorous once more, and he was happy. "I think one swears more +prodigiously when a trunk falls on his toes than he does when it drops +on his head. There is something wonderfully quieting and soothing +about a trunk lighting on one's head from a great height. Don't worry +about your boxes. I have a feeling it will be perfectly safe to call +for them with a wagon to-morrow." + +"I don't know what I should do without you," she said. + +That evening at supper, Barnes and Mr. Rushcroft, to say nothing of +three or four "transients," had great cause for complaint about the +service. Miss Tilly was wholly pre-occupied. She was memorising her +"part." Instead of asking Mr. Rushcroft whether he would have bean +soup or noodles, she wanted to know whether she should speak the line +this way or that. She had a faraway, strained look in her eyes, and +she mumbled so incessantly that one of the guests got up and went out +to see Mr. Jones about it. Being assured that she was just a plain +damn' fool and not crazy, he returned and said a great many unpleasant +things in the presence of Miss Tilly, who fortunately did not hear +them. + +"You've spoiled a very good waitress, Rushcroft," said Barnes. + +"And a very good appetite as well," growled the Star. + +Late in the night, Barnes, sitting at his window dreaming dreams, saw +two big touring cars whiz past the tavern. The next morning Peter +Ames, the chauffeur, called him up on the telephone to inquire whether +he had heard anything more about the job on his sister's place. He was +anxious to know, he said, because everybody had cleared out of Green +Fancy during the night and he had received instructions to lock up the +house and look for another situation. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +MR. SPROUSE CONTINUES TO BE PERPLEXING, BUT PUTS HIS NOSE TO THE +GROUND + + +The morning air was soft with the first real touch of spring. A quiet +haze lay over the valley; the lofty hills were enjoying a peaceful +smoke, and the sky was as blue as the turquoise. Birds shrilled a +fresh, gay carol; the song of the anvil had a new thrill of joy in +every inspiring note; the cawing of crows travelled melodiously across +the fields, roosters split their throats in vociferous acclaim to the +distant sun, and hens clucked a complacent chorus. The rattle of +kitchen pans was melody to the ear instead of torture; the squeaking +of pigs in the sty beyond the stable yard took on the dignity of +music; and the blue smoke that rose from chimneys near and far went +dancing up to wed the smiling sky. + +Barnes was abroad early. Very greatly to his annoyance, he had slept +long and soundly throughout the night. He was annoyed because he had +made up his mind that as her protector he would be most negligent if +he went to sleep at all, with all those frightened varlets hovering +around ready to go to any extreme in order to save their skins. + +Indeed, he left his door slightly ajar and laid his revolver on a +chair beside the bed, in which, with the aid of a lantern, he promised +himself to keep the vigil, stretched out in his daytime garb, prepared +for instant action, the while he enriched his mind by reading "The Man +of Property." But he fell to dreaming with his eyes wide open, and few +were the pages he turned. + +Suddenly it was broad daylight and the wick in the lantern smelled +horribly. He popped from the bed, rubbed his eyes, and then dashed out +in the hall, expecting to come upon sanguinary evidence of a raid +during the night. To his amazement, there were no visible signs of an +attack upon the house. It seemed incredible that his defection had not +been attended by results too horrible to contemplate. By all the laws +of fate, she should now be either dead or at the very least, +frightfully mutilated. Something like that invariably happens when a +sentinel sleeps at his post, or an engineer drowses in his cab. But +nothing of the sort had happened. + +Mr. Bacon, sweeping the front stairs, assured him between yawns that +he hadn't heard a sound in the Tavern after half-past ten,--at which +hour he went to bed and to sleep. + +Barnes was at breakfast when Peter Ames called up. An inspiration +seized him when the chauffeur mentioned the wholesale exodus: he hired +Peter forthwith and ordered him to report immediately,--with the car. +He was going up to Green Fancy for Miss Cameron's "boxes." + +Whether it was the fresh, sweet smell of the earth that caused him to +saunter forth from the Tavern, and to adventure across the road to the +foot of the great old oak, or the ripening of spring in his blood, is +of no immediate consequence here. He had no reason for going over +there to lean against the tree and light his after-breakfast pipe,-- +unless, of course, it be argued that the position afforded a fair and +excellent view of the window in Miss Cameron's room. The shutters were +open and the low sash was raised. + +Presently she appeared at the window, and smiled down upon him. The +spell was at its height; the charm that had clothed the morning with +enchantment was now complete. + +He waved his hand. "The top o' the morning," he cried. + +"I detect coffee," she returned, "and, oh, how good it smells. Have +you had yours?" + +"Ages ago," he replied, ecstatically. + +She placed her elbows on the sill and her chin in the palms of her +hands. The loose sleeves of Miss Thackeray's bizarre dressing gown +fell away, revealing two round, smooth, white arms. The sun shot its +mellow light into the ripples of her tousled hair, and it shone like +burnished gold. Her white teeth gleamed against the red of her smiling +lips. He was fascinated. + +The automobile driven by Peter Ames too soon came roaring and rattling +up the pike. She withdrew her head, after twice being warned by Barnes +not to reveal herself to the view of skulkers who might infest the +wood beyond,--and each time his reward was a delightfully stubborn +shake of the head and the ruthless assertion that on such a heavenly +morning as this she didn't mind in the least if all the spies in the +world were gazing at her. + +Two minutes after Peter drove up to the Tavern he was on the way back +to Green Fancy again, and seated beside him was Thomas Kingsbury +Barnes, his new master. + +"Needn't be afraid of trespassin'," said Peter when Barnes advised him +to go slow as they turned off the road into the forest. "Nobody's +going to object. You c'n yell, and shoot, and raise all the thunder +you want, an' there won't be nobody runnin' out to tell you to shut +up. Might as well try to disturb a graveyard." + +There was not a sign of human life about the place. Peter, without +compunction, admitted his employer through the back door of the house, +and accompanied him upstairs to the room recently occupied by Miss +Cameron. + +"Course," he said, but not uneasily, "I'm not supposed to let anybody +remove anything from the house as long as I'm employed as caretaker." + +"But you are no longer employed as caretaker. You were discharged and +you are now working for me, Peter." + +"That's so," said Peter, scratching his head. "Makes all the +difference in the world. I never thought of that. Come to think of it, +I guess Miss Cameron needs clothes as much as anybody. The rest of 'em +took all their duds away with 'em, you c'n bet. Would you know Miss +Cameron's clothes if you was to see 'em?" + +"Perfectly," said Barnes. + +"That's good," said Peter, relieved. "Clothes seem to look purty much +alike to me, specially women's." + +They found the two small leather trunks, thickly belabelled, in the +room upstairs. Both were locked. + +"I don't see how you're going to identify 'em without seein' 'em," +said Peter dubiously. + +Barnes looked at him sternly. "Peter, be good enough to remember that +you are working for a man of the most highly developed powers of +divination. Do you get that?" + +"No, sir," said Peter honestly; "I don't." + +"Well, if I were to say to you that I possess the singular ability to +see a thing without actually seeing it, what would you say?" + +"I wouldn't say anything, because I don't think it helps a man any to +call his boss a liar." + +"You take this one," said Barnes, without further parley, "and I will +manage the other." He was in a hurry to get away from the house. There +was no telling when the government agents would descend upon the +place. He was at a loss to understand O'Dowd's failure to remove the +trunks which would so surely draw the attention of the authorities to +the girl he seemed so eager to shield. "And, by the way," he added, as +they descended the stairs with the trunks on their backs, "you may as +well get your own things together, Peter. We start on a long motor +trip to-night. I am afraid we shall have to steal the automobile, if +you don't mind." + +"It belongs to me, sir," said Peter. "Mr. O'Dowd gave it to me +yesterday, with his compliments. It seems that he had word from his +sister to reward me for long and faithful service. Special cablegram +from London or England, I forget which." + +"Did Mr. Curtis leave with the others last night?" inquired Barnes, +setting the trunk down on the brick pavement outside the door. + +"'Pears that he left a couple of days ago," said Peter, vastly +perplexed. "By gosh, I don't see how he done it, 'thout me knowin' +anything about it. Derned queer, that's all I got to say, man as sick +as he is." + +Barnes did not enlighten him. He helped Peter to lift the trunks into +the car and then ordered him to start at once for Hart's Tavern. + +"You can return later on for your things," he said. + +"I got 'em tied up in a bundle in the garage, Mr. Burns," he said. +"Won't take a second to get 'em out." He hurried around the corner of +the house, leaving Barnes alone with the car. + +A dry, quiet chuckle fell upon Barnes's ears. He glanced about in +surprise and alarm. No one was in sight. + +"Look up, young man," and the startled young man obeyed. His gaze +halted at a window on the second story, almost directly over his head. + +Mr. Sprouse was looking down upon him, his sharp features fixed in a +sardonic grin. + +"Well, I'll be damned!" burst from Barnes's lips. He could not believe +his eyes. + +"Surprised to see me, eh? If you're not in a hurry, I'd certainly +appreciate a lift as far as the Tavern, old man. I'll be down in a +jiffy." + +"Hold on! What the deuce does all this mean? How do you happen to be +here, and where are the--" + +"Sh! Not so loud! Don't get excited. I dare say you know all there is +to know about me by this time, so we needn't waste time over trifles. +Stand aside! I'm going to drop." A moment later he swung over the +sill, and dropped lightly to the ground eight feet below. Dusting his +hands, he advanced and extended one of them to the bewildered Barnes. +"Oh, you won't shake, eh? Well, it doesn't matter. I don't blame you." + +"See here, Sprouse or whatever your name is,--" + +"Cool off! I'll explain in ten words. I didn't get the stuff. I came +back this morning to have a quiet, undisturbed look around. My only +reason for revealing myself to you now, Barnes, is to ask your +assistance in--" + +"Ask my assistance, you infernal rogue!" roared Barnes. "Why, I'll-- +I'll--" + +"Better hear me out," broke in Sprouse calmly. + +"I could drill a hole through you so quickly you'd never know what did +it," he went on. His hand was in his coat pocket, and a quick glance +revealed to Barnes a singularly impressive angle in the cloth, the +point of which seemed to be directed squarely at his chest. "But I'm +not going to do it. I just want to set myself straight with you. In a +word, I never got anywhere near the room in which the jewels were +hidden. This is God's truth, Barnes. I didn't stick a knife into that +poor devil up there the other night. Here's what actually happened. I--" + +"Wait a moment. You intended to steal the jewels, didn't you? You were +not playing fair with me then, so why should I put any faith in you +now?" + +"Honest confession is good for the soul," said Sprouse easily. "I +wasn't the only one who was trying to get the baubles, my friend. It +was a game in which only the best man could win." + +"I know the truth now about Roon and Paul," said Barnes significantly. + +"You do?" sneered Sprouse. "I'll bet you a thousand to one you do not. +If the girl told you what she believes to be true, she didn't have it +straight at all. She was led to believe that they were a couple of +crooks and that they fixed me in that Tavern down there. Isn't that +what she told you? Well, that story was cooked up for her special +benefit. I don't mind telling you the truth about them, and you can +tell it to her. Roon was the Baron Hedlund--But all this can wait. +Now--" + +"Did you shoot either of those men?" + +"I did not. Baron Hedlund was shot, I firmly believe, by Prince Ugo. I +might as well go on with the story now and have it over with. Tell +that chauffeur to take a little stroll. He doesn't have to hear the +story, you know. Hedlund came up here a week or so ago to keep a look- +out for his wife. The Baroness is supposed to be deeply enamoured of +Prince Ugo. He found letters which seemed to indicate that she was +planning to join the Prince up here. In any event, he came to watch. +Well, she didn't come. She had been headed off, but he didn't know +that. When he heard of the arrival of a lady at Green Fancy the other +afternoon, he got busy. He went right up there with blood in his eye. +I admit that I am the gentleman who telephoned the warning up to the +Prince. They tried to head the Baron and his man off at the cross- +roads, but he beat them to it. If there was to be a fight, they didn't +want it to happen anywhere near the house. Part of them, led by Ugo +himself, took a short cut up through the woods and met the two men in +the road. + +"There is only one man in the world to-day who is a better shot at +night than Prince Ugo, and modesty keeps me from mentioning his +illustrious name. That's why I believe Ugo is the one who got the +Baron,--or Roon, as you know him. The other fellow was halted at the +cross-roads when he made a run for it. A couple of men had been sent +there for just such an emergency. Hedlund was a curiously chivalrous +chap. He went to extreme measures to protect his wife's good name by +wiping out all means of identification. His wife's good name! It is to +laugh! Now, that is the true story of the little affair, and if you +are as much of a gentleman as I take you to be, Barnes, you will +respect Hedlund's desire to shield the woman he loved, and let him lie +up yonder in an unmarked grave. That is what he figured on, you know, +in case things went against him, and I'll stake my head that if you +put it up to the Countess Therese, she will feel as I do about it. She +will beg you to keep the secret. Hedlund was a lifelong friend of her +family. He was beloved by all of them. He married an actress in Vienna +three or four years ago. On second thoughts, if I were you I'd spare +the Countess. I'd let her go on thinking that the story she has heard +is true,--at least for the time being. She's a nice girl and there's +no sense in giving her any unnecessary pain. But that's up to you. You +can do as you please about it. + +"Now to go back to my own troubles. When I got out into the hall night +before last, after leaving her room, I heard voices whispering in +Prince Ugo's room. Naturally I thought that some one had lamped us on +the outside, and that I was likely to be in a devil of a mess if I +wasn't careful. The last place for me to go was back into her room. +They would cut me off from the outside. So I beat it up the stairway +into the attic. Nothing happened, so I sneaked down to have a peep +around. The door to Ugo's room was open, but there was no light on the +inside. He came to the door and looked up and down the hall. Then some +one else came out and started to sneak away. I leave you to guess the +sex. + +"Nicholas butted in at this unfortunate juncture. He made the mistake +of his life. I could see him as plain as day, standing in the hall +grinning like an ape. Ugo jumped back into his room. In less than a +second he was out again. He landed squarely on Nicholas's back as the +fellow turned to escape. I saw the steel flash. Poor old Nick went +down in a heap, letting out a horrible yell. Ugo dragged him into the +room and dashed back into his own. A moment later he came out again, +yelling for help. I heard him shouting that the house had been +robbed,--and in two seconds there was an uproar all over the place. I +thought I was done for. But he had them all rushing downstairs, +yelling that the thief had gone that way. There was only one thing +left for me to do and that was to get out on the roof if possible, and +wait for things to quiet down. I got out through a trap door and +stayed there for an hour or so. They were beating the forest for the +thief, and I give you my word, believe it or not, I actually sent up a +prayer, Barnes, that you had got off safely with the girl. I prayed +harder than I ever dreamed a man could pray. + +"Well, to shorten the story, I finally took a chance and slid down to +the eaves where I managed to find the limb of a tree big enough to +support me,--just as if the Lord had ordered it put there for my +special benefit. I was soon on the ground, and that meant safety for +me. I had heard Ugo tell the others that Nicholas said the man who +stabbed him was yours truly. Can you beat it? And then every mother's +son of them declared it was a feat that no one else in the world could +have pulled off but me, and as I was nowhere to be found, it was only +natural that all of them should believe the lie that Ugo told. + +"And now comes the maddening part of the whole business. He said that +the crown jewels were gone! I heard him telling how he was awakened +out of a sound sleep by a man with a gun, who forced him to open the +safe and hand over the treasure. Then he said he was put to sleep +again by a crack over the head with a slung-shot. He was only +partially stunned,--Lord, what a liar!--and came to in time to hear +the struggle across the hall. The thief was running downstairs when he +staggered to the door. It seems that the door at the bottom of the +steps had not been closed that night. + +"Now, my dear Mr. Barnes, when I asked you to lend your assistance +awhile ago, it was only to have you tell me when it was that Mr. Loeb +left this place, which way he went, and who accompanied him. If we are +to find the crown jewels, my friend, we will first have to find Prince +Ugo. He has them." + +Barnes had not taken his eyes from the face of this amazing rascal +during the whole of the recital. He had been deceived in him before; +he was determined not to be fooled again. + +"I don't believe a word of this yarn," he said flatly. "You have the +jewels and--" + +"Don't be an ass," snapped Sprouse. "If I had them do you suppose I'd +be fiddling around here to-day? Not much. I saw the gang making their +getaway last night, and I saw Peter depart this morning. I concluded +to have a look about the place. Hope springs eternal, you know. There +was a bare possibility that he might have forgotten them!" He scowled +as he grinned, and never had Barnes looked upon a countenance so evil. + +"Why should I tell YOU anything about Prince Ugo? It would only be +helping you to carry out the game--" + +"Look here, Mr. Barnes, I'm not going to double-cross you again. +That's all over. I want to get that scurvy dog who knifed poor old +Nick. Nick was a decent, square man. He wasn't a crook. He was a +patriot, if such a thing exists in this world to-day. If you can give +me a lead, I'll try to run Prince Ugo down. And if I do, we'll get the +jewels." + +"We? You amuse me, Sprouse." + +"Well, I can't do any more than give my promise, my solemn oath, or +something like that. I can't give a bond, you know. I swear to you +that if I lay hands on that stuff, I will deliver it to you. Might +just as well trust me as Ugo. You won't get them from him, that's +sure; and you may get them from me." + +"Is it revenge you're after?" + +"My God," almost shouted Sprouse in his exasperation, "didn't he give +me a black eye among my friends up here? Didn't he put me in wrong +with all of them? Do you think I'm going to stand for that? Think I'm +going to let him get away with it? You don't know me, my friend. I've +got a reputation at stake. No one has ever double-crossed me and got +away with it. I want to prove to the world that I didn't take those +jewels. I--" + +"Just what do you mean by 'the world,' Sprouse?" + +"My world," he replied succinctly. "I'm not a piker, you know," he +went on, cocking one eye in a somewhat supercilious manner. "The +stakes are always high in my game. I don't play for pennies." + +"Get in the car," said Barnes suddenly. He had decided to take a +chance with the resourceful, indefatigable rascal. There was nothing +to be lost by setting him on the track of Prince Ugo, who, if the +man's story was true, had betrayed his best friends. There was +something convincing about Sprouse's version of the affair at Green +Fancy. He called out to Peter. + +"I suppose you know that the whole game is up, Naismith," he said, +lowering his voice. Peter was wrathfully cranking the car. "The +government is going to take a hand in this business up here." + +"If you mean that as a hint to me, it's unnecessary. I'll be on my way +inside of an hour. This is no place for me. And that Tavern is no +place for--er--for her, Barnes. Just mention that you saw me and that +I'm going after Mr. Loeb. If I get the stuff, I'll do the square thing +by her. Not for sentimental reasons, bless you, but just because I +like to do things that make people wonder what the hell I'll do next. +Tell her the whole story if you feel like it, but if I were you I'd +wait till she is safe among her friends, where she won't be nervous. +Hit it up a bit, Peter, old boy. I'm in a hurry." + +Peter eyed him in an unfriendly manner. "Where did you come from, Mr. +Perkins? Mighty queer you--" + +Sprouse spoke softly out of the corner of his mouth. "Nice old New +England name, isn't it, Barnes?" To Peter: "It's a long story. I'll +write it to you. Speed up." + +Barnes told all that he knew of Prince Ugo's flight. Sprouse looked +thoughtful for a long time. + +"So O'Dowd knows that I really was after the swag, eh? He believes I +got it?" + +"I suppose so." + +"The only one who thinks I'm absolutely innocent is Ugo, of course,-- +and Mrs. Van Dyke. That's good." Sprouse smacked his lips. "Just send +me on to Hornville in the car, and don't give me another thought till +you hear from me. I've got a pretty fair idea where I can find Mr. +Loeb. It will take a little time,--a couple of days, perhaps,--but +sooner or later he'll turn up in close proximity to the beautiful +baroness." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A TRIP BY NIGHT, A SUPPER, AND A LATE ARRIVAL + + +Shortly after sundown that evening, the Rushcroft Company evacuated +Hart's Tavern. They were delayed by the irritating and, to Mr. +Rushcroft, unpardonable behaviour of two officious gentlemen, lately +arrived, who insisted politely but firmly on prying into the past, +present and future history of the several members of the organisation, +including the new "backer" or "angel," as one of the operatives slyly +observed to the other on beholding Miss Thackeray. + +Barnes easily established his own identity and position, and was not +long in convincing the investigators that his connection with the +stranded company was of a purely philanthropic nature,--yes, even +platonic, he asseverated with some heat when the question was put to +him. + +They examined him closely concerning his solitary visit to Green +Fancy, and he described to the best of his ability all but one of the +inmates. He neglected to mention Miss Cameron. Realising that he would +be storing up trouble for himself if he failed to mention his trip to +the house that morning,--they were sure to hear of it in time,--he set +his mind to the task of constructing a satisfactory explanation. He +concluded to sacrifice Peter Ames, temporarily at least. Taking Peter +aside, he explained the situation to him, impressing upon him the +importance of leaving Miss Cameron and her luggage out of the +interview, and to say nothing about the return of "Mr. Perkins." + +Fortified by Barnes's promise to protect him if he followed these +instructions, Peter consented to tell all that he knew about the +people at Green Fancy. Whereupon his new employer informed the secret +service men that he had gone up to Green Fancy that morning in +response to an appeal from Peter Ames, who had applied to him for a +position a day or two before. On his arrival there he confirmed the +bewildered chauffeur's story that the whole crowd had stolen away +during the night. He guaranteed to produce Peter at any time he was +needed, and was perfectly willing to discommode himself to the extent +of leaving the man behind if they insisted on holding him. + +The officers, after putting him through a rather rigid examination, +held private consultation over Peter. To Barnes's surprise and +subsequent dismay, they announced that there was nothing to be gained +by holding the man; he was at liberty to depart with his employer, +provided he would report when necessary. + +Barnes was some time in fathoming the motive behind this seeming +indifference on the part of the secret service men. It came to him +like a flash, and its significance stunned him. They had decided that +there was more to be gained by letting Peter Ames think he was above +suspicion than by keeping him on the anxious seat. Peter unrestrained +was of more value to them than Peter in durance vile. And from that +moment forward there would not be an hour of the day or night when he +was far ahead of the shadower who followed his trail. There would be a +sly, invisible pursuer at his heels, and an eye ever ready to detect +the first false move that he made. They were counting on Peter to lead +them, in his own good time, to the haunts of his comrades. He could +not escape. And he could make the fatal mistake of considering them a +pack of fools! + +Barnes, perceiving all this, was in a state of perturbation. He had +devised a very clever plan for getting Miss Cameron away from the +Tavern without attracting undue attention. She was to leave in one of +the automobiles that he had engaged to convey the players to +Crowndale. It should go without saying that she was to travel with him +in Peter's ramshackle car. In case of detention or inquiry, she was to +pose as a stage-struck young woman who had obtained a place with the +company at the last moment through his influence. + +Mr. Rushcroft was not in the secret. Barnes merely announced that he +wanted to give a charming young friend of the family a chance to see +what she could do on the stage, and that he had taken the liberty of +sending for her. The star was magnanimous. He slapped Barnes on the +back and declared that nothing could give him greater joy than to +transform any friend of his into an actress, and he didn't give a hang +whether she had talent or not. + +"We'll write in a part for her to-night," he said, "and we'll make it +a small one at first, so that she won't have any difficulty in +learning it. From night to night we'll build it up, Barnes, so that by +the end of our first month your protegee practically will be a co-star +with me. There's nothing mean about me, old chap. Any friend of yours +can have--" + +Barnes made haste to explain that he did not want any one to know that +this friend of the family was going on the stage, and that he would be +greatly indebted to Rushcroft if he would keep "mum" about it for the +time being. + +"Certainly. Not a word. I understand," said Mr. Rushcroft amiably. +"I've had it happen before," he went on, a perfectly meaningless +remark that brought a flush to Barnes's cheek. + +It had been Barnes's intention to spirit his charge away from Hart's +Tavern under cover of darkness, in company with his other +"responsibilities," but the fresh turn of affairs now presented +difficulties that were likely to upset his hastily conceived strategy. +He had but one purpose in view, and that was to spare her an +unpleasant encounter with the government officials,--an encounter that +conceivably might result in very distressing complications. He had +revealed his plan to her and she apparently was very much taken with +it,--indeed, she was quite enthusiastic over the prospect of being +whisked unceremoniously to Crowndale, and thence to the home of his +sister in New York City, where she could at once put herself in +communication with friends and supporters. + +He was looking forward with dubious hopes to a possible extension of +his guardianship, involving a voyage across the Atlantic and the +triumphant delivery of the Countess, so to speak, into the eager arms +of her country's ambassador at Paris. He was now in a state of mind +that inspired him with the belief that it would be a joy to die for +her. If he died for her, she would always remember him as a brave, +devoted champion; she would exalt him; in her tender, grateful heart +there would always be a corner for him, even to the end of her days,-- +even to the end of her days on the throne of her country's ruler. Far +better that he should die for her,--and have it all over with,--than +that he should live to see her the wife of--But invariably he ceased +dreaming at this point and admitted that it would be infinitely more +satisfying to live. It was his matter-of-fact contention that while +there is life there is hope. + +When the hour came for the departure from Hart's Tavern he +deliberately engaged the two secret service men in conversation in the +tap-room. Miss Cameron left the house by the rear door and was safely +ensconced in Peter's automobile long before he shook hands with the +"rat-catchers" and dashed out to join her. Tommy Gray's car, occupied +by the four players, was moving away from the door as he sprang in +beside her and slammed the door. The interior of the car was as black +as pitch. + +"Are you there?" he whispered. + +"Yes. Isn't it jolly, running away like this? It must be wonderfully +exciting to be a criminal, always dodging and--" + +"Sh! Even a limousine may have ears!" + +But if the limousine had possessed a thousand ears they would have +been rendered useless in the stormy racket made by Peter's muffler and +the thunderous roar of the exhaust as the car got under way. + +Sixty miles lay between them and Crowndale. Tommy Gray guaranteed that +the distance could be covered in three hours, even over the vile +mountain roads. Ten o'clock would find them at the Grand Palace Hotel, +none the worse for wear, provided (he always put it parenthetically) +they lived to tell the tale! The luggage had gone on ahead of them +earlier in the day. + +Peter's efforts to stay behind Tommy's venerable but surprisingly +energetic Buick were the cause of many a gasp and shudder from the +couple who sat behind him in the bounding car. He had orders to keep +back of Tommy but never to lose sight of his tail light. + +Peter was like the celebrated Tam O' Shanter. He was pursued by +spectres. The instant that he discovered that he was lagging a trifle, +he shot the car up to top speed, with the result that he had to jam on +the brakes violently in order to avoid crashing into Tommy's tail +light, and at such times Miss Cameron and Barnes sustained unpleasant +jars. Something seemed to be telling Peter that the law was stretching +out its cruel hand to clutch him from behind; he was determined to +keep out of its reach. + +There was small opportunity for conversation. The trip was not at all +as Barnes had imagined it would be. After the car had raced through +Hornville he decided that it was not necessary to keep Tommy's tail +light in view, and so directed Peter. After that conversation was +possible, but the gain was counterbalanced by a distinct sense of +loss. She relinquished her rather frenzied grasp upon his arm, and +sank back into the corner of the seat. + +"Oh, dear, what a relief!" she gasped. + +"What arrant stupidity," he growled, and she never knew that the +remark bore no relation whatsoever to Peter. + +He confessed his fears to her, and was immeasurably consoled by her +enthusiastic scorn for the consequences of his mistake. + +"Let them follow poor old Peter," she said. "We will outwit them, +never fear. If necessary, Mr. Barnes, we can travel with the company +for days and days. I think I should rather enjoy it. If you can manage +to get word to my friends in New York, to relieve their anxiety, I +shall be more than grateful. I am sure they will decide that you are +acting for the best in every particular. It would grieve them,--yes, +it would distress them greatly,--if I were to be subjected to an +inquiry at the hands of the authorities. The notoriety would be-- +harrowing, to say the least. Moreover, the disclosures would certainly +bring disaster upon those who are working so loyally to right a grave +wrong. They will understand, and they will thank you not only for all +that you have done for me but for the cause I support." + +"The first time I ever saw you, I said to myself that you were a +brave, indomitable little soldier," he said warmly. "I am more than +ever convinced of it now." + +"The men of my family have been soldiers for ten generations," she +said simply, as if that covered everything. "They haven't all been +heroes but none of them has been a coward." + +"I can believe that," he said. "Blood will tell." + +"If God gives back my country to my people, Mr. Barnes," she said, +after a long silence, "will you not one day make your way out there to +us, so that we may present some fitting expression of the gratitude--" + +"Don't speak of gratitude," he exclaimed. "I don't want to be thanked. +Good Lord, do you suppose I--" + +"There, there! Don't be angry," she cried. "But you must come to my +country. You must see it. You will love it." + +"But suppose that God does not see fit to restore it to you. Suppose +that he leaves it in the hands of the vandals. What then? Will you go +back to--that?" + +She was still for a long time. "I shall not return to my country until +it is free again, Mr. Barnes," she said, and there was a break in her +voice. + +"You--you will remain in MY country?" he asked, leaning closer to her +ear. + +"The world is large," she replied. "I shall have to live somewhere. It +may be here, it may be France, or England or Switzerland." + +"Why not here? You could go far and do worse." + +"Beggars may not be choosers. The homeless cannot be very particular, +you know. If the Germans remain in my country, I shall be without a +home." + +His voice was tense and vibrant when he spoke again, after a moment's +reflection. "I know what O'Dowd would say if he were in my place." + +"O'Dowd has known me a great many years," she said. "When you have +known me as many months as he has years, you will thank your lucky +star that you do not possess the affability that the gods have +bestowed upon O'Dowd." + +"Don't be too sure of that," he said, and heard the little catch in +her breath. He found her hand and clasped it firmly. His lips were +close to her ear. "I have known you long enough to--" + +"Don't!" she cried out sharply. "Don't say it now,--please. I could +listen to O'Dowd, but--but you are different. He would forget by to- +morrow, and I would forget even sooner than he. But it would not be so +easy to forget if you were to say it,--it would not be easy for either +of us." + +"You are not offended?" he whispered hoarsely. + +"Why should I be offended? Are you not my protector?" + +The subtle implication in those words brought him to his senses. Was +he not her protector? And was he not abusing the confidence she placed +in him? + +"I shall try to remember that,--always," he said abjectly. + +"Some day I shall tell you why I am glad you did not say it to me to- +night," she said, a trifle unsteadily. She squeezed his hand. "You are +very good to me. I shall not forget that either." + +And she meant that some day she would confess to him that she was so +tired, and lonely, and disconsolate on this journey to Crowndale, and +so in need of the strength he could give, that she would have +surrendered herself gladly to the comfort of his arms, to the passion +that his touch aroused in her quickening blood! + +Soon after ten o'clock they entered the town of Crowndale and drew up +before the unattractive portals of the Grand Palace Hotel. An arc lamp +swinging above the entrance shed a pitiless light upon the dreary, +God-forsaken hostelry with the ironic name. + +Mr. Rushcroft was already at the desk, complaining bitterly of +everything seen and unseen. As a matter of habit he was roaring about +his room and, while he hadn't put so much as his nose inside of it, he +insisted on knowing what they meant by giving it to him. Mr. Bacon and +Mr. Dillingford were growling because there was no elevator to hoist +them two flights up, and Miss Thackeray was wanting to know WHY she +couldn't have a bit of supper served in her room. + +"They're all alike," announced Mr. Rushcroft despairingly, addressing +the rafters. He meant hotels in general. + +"They're all alike," vouchsafed the clerk in an aside to the "drummer" +who leaned against the counter, meaning stage-folk in general. + +"You're both right," said the travelling salesman, who knew. + +"Is there a cafe in the neighbourhood?" inquired Barnes, with +authority. + +"There's a rest'rant in the next block," replied the clerk, instantly +impressed. Here was one who obviously was not "alike." "A two-minutes' +walk, Mr.--" (looking at the register)--"Mr. Barnes." + +"That's good. We will have supper in Miss Thackeray's room. Let me +have your pencil, please. Send over and have them fill this order +inside of twenty minutes." He handed what he had written to the +blinking clerk. "For eight persons. Tell 'em to hurry it along." + +"Maybe they're closed for the night," said the clerk. "And besides--" + +"My God! He even hesitates to get food for us when--" began Mr. +Rushcroft. + +"Besides there's only one waiter on at night and he couldn't get off, +I guess. And besides it's against the rules of this house to serve +drinks in a lady's--" + +"You tell that waiter to close up when he comes over here with what +I've ordered, and tell him that I will pay double for everything, and +to-morrow morning you can tell the proprietor of this house that we +broke the rules to-night." + +For the first time in her life Miss Tilly sat down to a meal served by +a member of her late profession. She sat on the edge of Miss +Thackeray's bed and held a chicken sandwich in one hand and a full +glass of beer in the other. Be it said to the credit of her forebears, +she did not take even so much as a sip from the glass, but seven +sandwiches, two slices of cold ham, half a box of sardines, a plate of +potato salad, a saucer of Boston baked beans, two hardboiled eggs, a +piece of apple pie and two cups of coffee passed her freshly carmined +lips. She was in her seventh heaven. She was no longer dreaming of +fame: it was a gay reality. Emulating the example of Miss Thackeray, +she addressed Mr. Dillingford as "dear," and came near to being the +cause of his death by strangulation. + +Miss Cameron submitted to the contagion. She had had no such dreams as +Miss Tilly's, but she was quite as thrilled by the novelty of her +surroundings, the informality of the feast, and the sprightliness of +these undaunted spirits. She sat on Miss Thackeray's trunk, her back +against the wall, her bandaged foot resting on a decrepit suit-case. +Her eyes were sparkling, her lips ever ready to part in the joy of +laughter, the colour leaping into her cheeks in response to the +amazing quips of these unconventional vagabonds. + +She too was hungry. Food had never tasted so good to her. From time to +time her soft, smiling eyes sought Barnes with a look of mingled +wonder and confusion. She always laughed when she caught the +expression of concern in his eyes, and once she slyly winked at him. +He was entranced. + +He crossed over and sat beside her. "They are a perfectly +irresponsible lot," he said in a low voice. "I hope you don't mind +their--er--levity." + +"I love it," she whispered. "They are an inspiration. One would think +that they had never known such a thing as trouble. I am taking +lessons, Mr. Barnes." + +She was still warmly conscious of the thrill that had come into her +blood when he carried her up the stairs in his powerful arms, +disdaining the offer of assistance from the suddenly infatuated Tommy +Gray. + +"Rehearsal at eleven sharp," announced Mr. Rushcroft, arising from the +window-sill on which he was seated. "Letter perfect, every one of you. +No guessing. By the way, Miss--er--'pon my soul, I don't believe I got +your name?" + +"Jones," said the new member, shamelessly. + +"Ah," said he, smiling broadly, "a word oft spoken in jest--ahem!--how +does it go? No matter. You know what I mean. I have not had time to +write in the part for you, Miss Jones, but I shall do so the first +thing in the morning. Now that I see how difficult it is for you to +get around, I have hit upon a wonderful idea. I shall make it a +sitting part. You won't have to do anything with your legs at all. +Most beginners declare that they don't know what to do with their +hands, but I maintain that they know less about what to do with their +legs. Fortunately you are incapacitated--" + +"Perhaps it would be just as well to excuse Miss Jones from rehearsal +in the morning," broke in Barnes hastily. "She is hardly fit to--" + +"Just as you say, old chap. Doesn't matter in the least. Good night, +everybody. Sleep tight." + +"I sha'n't sleep a wink," said Miss Tilly. + +"Homesick already?" demanded Mr. Bacon, fixing her with a pitying +stare. + +"Worrying over my part," she explained. + +"Haven't you committed it yet? Say it now. 'It is half past seven, my +lord.' All you have to do is to remember that it comes in the second +act and not in the first or third." + +"Good night," said Miss Cameron, giving her hand to Barnes at the +door. She was leaning on Miss Thackeray's arm. He never was to forget +the deep, searching look she sent into his eyes. She seemed to be +asking a thousand questions. + +He went down to the dingy lobby. A single, half-hearted electric bulb +shed its feeble light on the desk, in front of which stood a man +registering under the sleepy eye of the night clerk. + +After the late arrival had started upstairs in the wake of the clerk, +Barnes stepped up to inspect the book. The midnight express from the +north did not stop at Crowndale, he had learned upon inquiry, and it +was the only train touching the town between nightfall and dawn. + +The register bore the name of Thomas Moore, Hornville. There was not +the slightest doubt in Barnes's mind that this was the man who had +been detailed to shadow the luckless Peter. Only an imperative demand +by government authorities could have brought about the stopping of the +express at Hornville and later on at Crowndale. + +Barnes smiled grimly. "I've just thought of a way to fool you, my +friend," he said to himself, and was turning away when a familiar +voice assailed him. + +Whirling, he looked into the face of a man who stood almost at his +elbow,--the sharp, impassive face of Mr. Sprouse. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE FIRST WAYFARER HAS ONE TREASURE THRUST UPON HIM--AND FORTHWITH +CLAIMS ANOTHER + + +That fellow is a rat-catcher," said Sprouse. "What are you doing +here?" demanded Barnes, staring. He seized the man's arm and inquired +eagerly: "Have you got the jewels?" + +"No; but I will have them before morning," replied Sprouse coolly. He +shot a furtive glance around the deserted lobby. "Better not act as +though you knew me. That bull is no fool. He doesn't know me, but by +this time he knows who you are." + +"He is trailing Peter Ames." + +"Ship Peter to-morrow," advised Sprouse promptly. + +"I had already thought of doing so," said Barnes, surprised by the +uncanny promptness of the man in hitting upon the strategy he had +worked out for himself after many harassing hours. "He goes to my +sister's place to-morrow morning." + +"Send him by train. He will be easier to follow. There is a train +leaving for the south at 9:15." + +"You were saying that before morning you would--" + +"Be careful! Don't whisper. People don't whisper to utter strangers. +Step over here by the front door. Would you be surprised if I were to +tell you that his royal nibs is hiding in this town? Well, he +certainly is. He bought a railway ticket for Albany at Hornville the +day he beat it, but he got off at the second station,--which happens +to be this one." + +"How can you be sure of all this?" + +"Simple as falling off a log," said Sprouse, squinting over his +shoulder. "The Baroness Hedlund has been here for a week or ten days. +The Baron wasn't so far wrong in his suspicions, you see. He lost +track of her, that's all. I happened to overhear a conversation at +Hart's Tavern between him and his secretary. I have a way of hearing +things I'm not supposed to hear, you know. By a curious coincidence I +happened to be taking the air late one night just outside his window +at the Tavern,--on the roof of the porch, to be accurate. I told Ugo +what I'd heard and he nearly broke his neck trying to head her off. +O'Dowd and De Soto rushed over to Hornville and telegraphed for her to +leave the train at the first convenient place and return to New York. +She was on her way up here, you see. She got off at Crowndale and +everybody supposed that she had taken the next train home. But she +didn't do anything of the kind. She is a silly, obstinate fool and +she's crazy about Ugo,--and jealous as fury. She hated to think of him +being up here with other women. A day or so later she sent him a +letter. No one saw that letter but Ugo, and--your humble servant. + +"I happened to be the one to go to Spanish Falls for the mail that +day. The postmark excited my curiosity. If I told you what I did to +that letter before delivering it to Mr. Loeb, you could send me to a +federal prison. But that's how I came to know that she had decided to +wait in Crowndale until he sent word that the coast was clear. She +went to the big sanatorium outside the town and has been there ever +since, incognito, taking a cure for something or other. She goes by +the name of Mrs. Hasselwein. I popped down here this afternoon and +found out that she is still at the sanatorium but expects to leave +early to-morrow morning. Her trunks are over at the station now, to be +expressed to Buffalo. I made another trip out there this evening and +waited. About eight o'clock Mr. Hasselwein strolled up. He sat on the +verandah with her for half an hour or so and then left. I followed +him. He went to one of the little cottages that belong to the +sanatorium. I couldn't get close enough to hear what they said, but I +believe he expects to take her away in an automobile early in the +morning. It is a seventy mile ride from here to the junction where +they catch the train for the west. I'm going up now to make a call on +Mr. Hasselwein. Would you like to join me?" + +Barnes eyed him narrowly. "There is only one reason why I feel that I +ought to accompany you," he said. "If you have it in your mind to kill +him, I certainly shall do everything in my power to prevent--" + +"Possess your soul in peace. I'm not going to do anything foolish. +Time enough left for that sort of thing. I will get him some day, but +not now. By the way, what is the number of your room?" + +"Twenty-two,--on the next floor." + +"Good. Go upstairs now and I'll join you in about ten minutes. I will +tap three times on your door." + +"Why should you come to my room, Sprouse? We can say all that is to be +said--" + +"If you will look on the register you will discover that Mr. J. H. +Prosser registered here about half an hour ago. He is in room 30. He +left a call for five o'clock. Well, Prosser is another name for Ugo." + +"Here in this hotel? In room 30?" cried Barnes, incredulously. + +"Sure as you're alive. Left the cottage an hour ago. Came in a jitney +or I could have got to him on the way over." + +Barnes, regardless of consequences, dashed over to inspect the +register. Sprouse followed leisurely, shooting anxious glances up the +stairs at the end of the lobby. + +"See!" cried Barnes, excitedly, putting his finger on the name "Miss +Jones." "She's in room 32,--next to his. By gad, Sprouse, do you +suppose he knows that she is here? Would the dog undertake anything--" + +"You may be sure he doesn't know she's here, or you either, for that +matter. The country's full of Joneses and Barneses. Go on upstairs. +Leave everything to me." + +He strolled away as the clerk came shuffling down the steps. As Barnes +mounted them, he glanced over his shoulder and saw Sprouse take up a +suitcase near the door and return to the desk, evidently for the +purpose of engaging a room for the night. + +Before going to his room, he strode lightly down the hall in the +direction of room 30. There was no light in the transom. Stepping +close to the door, he listened intently for sounds from within. He +started back almost instantly. The occupant was snoring with extreme +heartiness. + +A glance revealed a light in the transom of room 32. As he looked, +however, it disappeared. Abashed, he turned and went swiftly away. She +was going to bed. He felt like a snooping, despicable "peeping Tom" +caught in the act. + +He had been in his room for twenty minutes before he heard the tapping +on his door. He opened it and Sprouse slid into the room. The instant +the door closed behind him, he threw open his coat and coolly produced +a long, shallow metal box, such as one finds in safety vaults. + +"With my compliments," he said drily, thrusting the box into Barnes's +hands. "You'd better have the Countess check them up and see if +they're all there. I am not well enough acquainted with the collection +to be positive." + +Barnes was speechless. He could only stare, open-mouthed, at this +amazing man. + +"Grip 'em tight," went on Sprouse, grinning. "I may relieve you of +them if you get too careless. My advice to you is to hide them and +keep your lips closed--" + +"My God, Sprouse, have you been in that man's room since I saw you +down--" + +"I forgot to say that no questions were to be asked," broke in the +other. + +"But I insist upon having everything cleared up. Here am I with a box +of jewels stolen from a lodger's room, God knows how, and in danger of +being slapped into jail if they catch me with the--" + +"All you have to do is to keep quiet and look innocent. Stay out of +the hall to-night. Don't go near the door of No. 30. Act like a man +with brains. I said I would square myself with you and with him, too. +Well, I've done both. Maybe you think it is easy to give up this +stuff. There is a half million dollars' worth of nice little things in +that box, small as it is. I went to a lot of trouble to get 'em, and +all I'll receive for my pains is a thank you from Mr. Thomas K. +Barnes, New York." + +"I cannot begin to thank you enough," said Barnes. "See here, you must +allow me to reward you in some way commensurate with your--" + +"Cut that out," said Sprouse darkly. "I'm not so damned virtuous that +I have to be rewarded. I like the game. It's the breath of life to +me." + +"The time will surely come when I can do you a good turn, Sprouse, and +you will not find me reluctant," said Barnes, lamely. He was +completely at a loss in the presence of the master-crook. He felt very +small, and stupid, and inadequate,--as one always feels when +confronted by genius. Moreover, he was utterly stupefied. + +"That's different. If I ever need a friendly hand I'll call on you. +It's only fair that I should give you a tip, Barnes, just to put you +on your guard. I've lived up to my word in this business, and I've +done all that I said I would. From now on, I'm a free agent. I want to +advise you to put that stuff in a safe place. I'll give you two days' +start. After that, if I can get 'em away from you, or whoever may have +them, I'm going to do it. They will be fair plunder from then on. +Notwithstanding the fact that I put them in your hands to-night,--and +so wash my own of them temporarily,--I haven't a single scruple about +relieving you of them on some later occasion. I may have to crack you +over the head to do it,--so a word to the wise ought to be sufficient. +If you don't guard them pretty closely, my friend, you will regain +consciousness some day and find you haven't got them any longer. Good +night--and good-bye for the present. Stick close to your room till +morning and--then beat it with her for New York. I give you two days' +start, remember." + +He switched off the light suddenly. Barnes gasped and prepared to +defend himself. Sprouse chuckled. + +"Don't be nervous. I'm merely getting ready to leave you with your +ill-gotten gains. It isn't wise, you see, to peep out of a door with a +light in the room behind you. Keep cool. I sha'n't be more than a +minute." + +There was no sound for many seconds, save the deep breathing of the +two men. Then, with infinite caution, Sprouse turned the knob and +opened the door a half inch or so. He left the room so abruptly that +Barnes never quite got over the weird impression that he squeezed +through that slender crack, and pulled it after him! + +Many minutes passed before he turned on the light. The key of the box +was tied to the wire grip. With trembling fingers he inserted it in +the lock and opened the lid.... "A half-million dollars' worth of nice +little things," Sprouse had said! + +He did not close his eyes that night. Daybreak found him lying in bed, +with the box under his pillow, a pistol at hand, and his eyes wide- +open. He was in a graver quandary than ever. Now that he had the +treasure in his possession, what was he to do with it? He did not dare +to leave it in the room, nor was it advisable to carry it about with +him. The discovery of the burglary in room 30 would result in a search +of the house, from top to bottom. + +Cold perspiration started out on his brow. The situation was far from +being the happy one that he had anticipated. + +He solved the breakfast problem by calling downstairs for a waiter and +ordering coffee and rolls and eggs sent up to his room. Singularly +enough the waiter solved the other and more disturbing problem for +him. + +"SOME robbery last night," said that worthy, as he re-appeared with +the tray. Barnes was thankful that the waiter was not looking at him +when he hurled the bomb, figuratively speaking. He had a moment's time +to recover. + +"What robbery?" he enquired, feigning indifference. + +"Feller up in one of the cottages at the sanatorium. All beat up, +something fierce they say." + +"Up in--Where?" almost shouted Barnes, starting up. + +The man explained where the cottages were situated, Barnes listening +as one completely bereft of intelligence. + +"Seems he was to leave by auto early this mornin', and they didn't +know anything was wrong till Joe Keep--he's driving a Fierce-Arrow +that Mr. Norton has for rent--till Joe'd been settin' out in front for +nearly half an hour. The man's wife was waitin' fer him up at the main +buildin' and she got so tired waitin' that she sent one of the clerks +down to see what was keeping her husband. Well, sir, him and Joe +couldn't wake the feller, so they climb in an open winder, an' by +gosh, Joe says it was terrible. The feller was layin' on the bed, feet +an' hands tied and gagged, and blood from head to foot. He was +inconscious, Joe says, an'--my God, how his wife took on! Joe says he +couldn't stand it, so he snook out, shakin' like a leaf. He says she's +a pippin, too. Never seen a purtier--" + +"Is--is the man dead?" cried Barnes, aghast. He felt that his face was +as white as chalk. + +"Nope! Seems like it's nothing serious: just beat up, that's all. +Terrible cuts on his head and--" + +"What is his name?" demanded Barnes. + +"Something like Hackensack." + +"Have they caught the thief?" + +"I should say not. The police never ketch anything but drunks in this +burg, and they wouldn't ketch them if they could keep from stumblin'." + +"What time did all this happen?" Barnes was having great difficulty in +keeping his coffee from splashing over. + +"Doc Smith figgers it was long about midnight, judgin' by the way the +blood co'gulated." + +"Did they get away with much?" + +"Haven't heard. Joe says the stove pipe in the feller's room was +knocked down and they's soot all over everything. Looks like they must +have been a struggle. Seems as though the burglar,--must ha' been +more'n one of 'em, I say,--wasn't satisfied with cracking him over the +head. He stuck the point of a knife or something into him,--just a +little way, Joe says--in more'n a dozen places. What say?" + +"I--I didn't say anything." + +"I thought you did. Well, if I hear anything more I'll let you know." + +"Anything for a little excitement," said Barnes casually. + +He listened at the door until he heard the waiter clattering down the +stairway, and then went swiftly down the hall to No. 30. Mr. Prosser +was sleeping just as soundly and as resoundingly as at midnight! + +"By gad!" he muttered, half aloud. Everything was as clear as day to +him now. Bolting into his own room, he closed the door and stood +stock-still for many minutes, trying to picture the scene in the +cottage. + +No stretch of the imagination was required to establish the facts. +Sprouse had come to him during the night with Prince Ugo's blood on +the hands that bore the treasure. He had surprised and overpowered the +pseudo Mr. Hasselwein, and had actually tortured him into revealing +the hiding place of the jewels. The significance of the scattered +stove pipe was not lost on Barnes; it had not been knocked down in a +struggle between the two men. Prince Ugo was not, and never had been, +in a position to defend himself against his wily assailant. Barnes's +blood ran cold as he went over in his mind the pitiless method +employed by Sprouse in subduing his royal victim. And the coolness, +the unspeakable bravado of the man in coming direct to him with the +booty! His amazingly clever subterfuge in allowing Barnes to think +that room No. 30 was the scene of his operations, thereby forcing him +to remain inactive through fear of consequences to himself and the +Countess if he undertook to investigate! + +He found a letter in his box when he went downstairs, after stuffing +the tin box deep into his pack,--a risky thing to do he realised, but +no longer perilous in the light of developments. It was no longer +probable that his effects would be subjected to inspection by the +police. He walked over to a window to read the letter. Before he slit +the envelope he knew that Sprouse was the writer. The message was +brief. + +"After due consideration, I feel that it would be a mistake for you to +abandon your present duties at this time. It might be misunderstood. +Stick to the company until something better turns up. With this +thought in view I withdraw the two days' limit mentioned recently to +you, and extend the time to one week. Yours very truly, J. H. Wilson." + +"Gad, the fellow thinks of everything," said Barnes to himself. "He is +positively uncanny." + +He read between the lines, and saw there a distinct warning. It had +not occurred to him that his plan to leave for New York that day with +Miss Cameron might be attended by disastrous results. + +On reflection, he found the prospect far from disagreeable. A week or +so with the Rushcroft company was rather attractive under the +circumstances. The idea appealed to him. + +But the jewels? What of them? He could not go gallivanting about the +country with a half million dollars' worth of precious stones in his +possession. A king's ransom strapped on his back! He would not be able +to sleep a wink. Indeed, he could see himself wasting away to a mere +shadow through worry and dread. Precious stones? They would develop +into millstones, he thought, with an inward groan. + +He questioned the advisability of informing Miss Cameron that the +crown jewels were in his possession. Her anxiety would be far greater +than his own. There was nothing to be gained by telling her in any +case; so he decided to bear the burden alone. + +The play was not to open in Crowndale until Tuesday night, three full +days off. He revelled in the thought of sitting "out front" in the +empty little theatre, watching the rehearsals. At such times he was +confident that his thoughts would not be solely of the jewels. He +would at least have surcease during these periods of forgetfulness. + +He spent the early part of the forenoon in wandering nervously about +the hotel,--upstairs and down. The jewels were locked in his pack +upstairs. He went up to his room half a dozen times and almost +instantly walked down again, after satisfying himself that the pack +had not been rifled. + +Exasperation filled his soul. Ten o'clock came and still no sign of +the lazy actors. Rehearsal at eleven, and not one of them out of bed. + +Peter came to the hotel soon after ten. He had forgotten Peter and his +decision to send him down to the Berkshires that day, and was sharply +reminded of the necessity for doing so by the appearance of the man +who had registered just before midnight. This individual strolled +casually into the lobby a few seconds behind Peter. + +He acted at once and with decision. The stranger took a seat in the +window not far away. Barnes, in a brisk and business-like tone, +informed Peter that he was to leave on the one o'clock train for the +south, and to go direct to his sister's place near Stockbridge. He was +to leave the automobile in Crowndale for the present. + +"Here is the money for your railroad fare," he announced in +conclusion. "I have telegraphed Mrs. Courtney's man that you will +arrive this evening. He will start you in on your duties to-morrow. I +understand they are short-handed on the place. And now let me impress +upon you, Peter, the importance of holding yourself ready to report +when needed. You know what I mean. Remember, I have guaranteed that +you will appear." + +The stranger drank in every word that passed between the two men. When +the one o'clock train pulled out of Crowndale, it carried Peter Ames +in one of the forward coaches, and a late guest of the Grand Palace +Hotel in the next car behind. Barnes took the time to assure himself +of these facts, and smiled faintly as he drove away from the railway +station after the departure of the train. Miss Cameron, her veil +lowered, sat beside him in the "hack." + +For the next three days and nights rehearsals were in full swing, with +scarcely a moment's let-up. The Rushcroft company was increased by the +arrival of three new members and several pieces of baggage. The dingy +barn of a theatre was the scene of ceaseless industry, both peaceful +and otherwise. The actors quarrelled and fumed and all but fought over +their grievances. Only the presence of the "backer" and the extremely +pretty and cultured "friend of the family" in "front" prevented +sanguinary encounters among the male contenders for the centre of the +stage. The usually placid Mr. Dillingford was transformed into a +snarling beast every time one of his "lines" was cut out by the +relentless Rushcroft, and there were times when Mr. Bacon loudly +accused his fiancee of "crabbing" his part. Everybody called everybody +else a "hog," and God was asked a hundred times a day to bear witness +to as many atrocities. + +Each day the bewildered, distressed young woman who sat with Barnes in +the dim "parquet," whispered in his ear: + +"Can they ever be friendly again?" + +And every night at supper she rejoiced to find them all on the best of +terms, calling each other "dearie," and "old chap," and "honey," and +declaring that no such company had ever been gotten together in the +history of the stage! Such words as "slob," "fat-head," "boob" or "you +poor nut" never found their way outside the sacred precincts of the +theatre. + +Mr. Rushcroft magnanimously offered to coach "Miss Jones" in the part +he was going to write in for her just as soon as he could get around +to it. + +"No use writing a part for her, Mr. Barnes, until I get through +beating the parts we already have into the heads of these poor fools +up here. I've got trouble enough on my hands." + +And so the time crept by, up to the night of the performance. Miss +Cameron remained in ignorance of the close proximity of the jewels, +and the police of Crowndale remained in even denser ignorance as to +the whereabouts of the man who robbed Mr. Hasselwein of all his spare +cash and an excellent gold watch. + +Hasselwein's story was brief but dramatic. He was recovering rapidly +from his experience and the local newspaper, on Tuesday, announced +that he would be strong enough to accompany his wife when she left the +"city" toward the end of the week. (Considerable space was employed by +the reporter in "writing up" the wonderful devotion of Mrs. +Hasselwein, who, despite the fact that she was quite an invalid, +conducted herself with rare fortitude, seldom leaving her husband's +room in the hospital.) + +According to the injured man, his assailant was a huge, powerful +individual, wearing a mask and armed to the teeth. He came in through +an open window and attacked him while he was asleep in bed. +Notwithstanding the stunning blow he received while prostrate, Mr. +Hasselwein struggled to his feet and engaged the miscreant--(while the +word was used at least twenty times in the newspaper account, I +promise to use it but once)--in a desperate conflict. Loss of blood +weakened him and he soon fell exhausted upon the bed. To make the +story even shorter than Prince Ugo made it, not a word was said about +the jewels, and that, after all, is the only feature of the case in +which we are interested. + +Barnes smiled grimly over Ugo's failure to mention the jewels, and the +misleading description of the thief. He was thankful, however, and +relieved to learn that the one man who might recognise Miss Cameron +was not likely to leave the hospital short of a week's time. + +No time was lost by the Countess in getting word to her compatriots in +New York. Barnes posted a dozen letters for her; each contained the +tidings of her safety and the assurance that she would soon follow in +person. + +Those three days and nights were full of joy and enchantment for +Barnes. True, he did not sleep very well,--indeed, scarcely at all,-- +but it certainly was not a hardship to lie awake and think of her +throughout the whole of each blessed night. He recalled and secretly +dilated upon every sign of decreasing reserve on her part. He shamed +himself more than once for deploring the fact that her ankle was +mending with uncommon rapidity, and that in a few days she would be +quite able to walk without support. And he actually debased himself by +wishing that the Rushcroft company might find it imperative to go on +rehearsing for weeks in that dim, enchanted temple. + +It was not a "barn of a place" to him. It was paradise. He sat for +hours in one of the most uncomfortable seats he had ever known, +devouring with hungry eyes the shadowy, interested face so close to +his own,--and never tired. + +And then came a time at last when conversation became difficult +between them; when there were long silences fraught with sweet peril, +exceeding shyness, and a singular form of deafness that defied even +the roars of the players and yet permitted them to hear, with amazing +clearness, the faintest of heart-beats. + +On the afternoon of the dress rehearsal, he led her, after an hour of +almost insupportable repression, to the rear of the auditorium, in the +region made gloomy by the shelving gallery overhead. Dropping into the +seat beside her, he blurted out, almost in anguish: + +"I can't stand it any longer. I cannot be near you without--why, I--I +--well, it is more than I can struggle against, that's all. You've +either got to send me away altogether or--or--let me love you without +restraint. I tell you, I can't go on as I am now. I must speak, I must +tell you all that has been in my heart for days. I love you--I love +you! You know I love you, don't you? You know I worship you. Don't be +frightened. I just had to tell you to-day. I could not have held it +back another hour. I should have gone mad if I had tried to keep it up +any longer." He waited breathlessly for her to speak. She sat silent +and rigid, looking straight before her. "Is it hopeless?" he went on +at last, huskily. "Must I ask your forgiveness for my presumption and +--and go away from you?" + +She turned to him and laid her hand upon his arm. + +"Am I not like other women? Have you forgotten that you once said that +I was not different? Why should I forgive you for loving me? Doesn't +every woman want to be loved? No, no, my friend! Wait! A moment ago I +was so weak and trembly that I thought I--Oh, I was afraid for myself. +Now I am quite calm and sensible. See how well I have myself in hand? +I do not tremble, I am strong. We may now discuss ourselves calmly, +sensibly. A moment ago--Ah, then it was different! I was being drawn +into--Oh! What are you doing?" + +"I too am strong," he whispered. "I am sure of my ground now, and I am +not afraid." + +He had clasped the hand that rested on his sleeve and, as he pressed +it to his heart, his other arm stole over her shoulders and drew her +close to his triumphant body. For an instant she resisted, and then +relaxed into complete submission. Her head sank upon his shoulder. + +"Oh!" she sighed, and there was wonder, joy--even perplexity, in the +tremulous sign of capitulation. "Oh," came softly from her parted lips +again at the end of the first long, passionate kiss. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE END IN SIGHT + + +Barnes, soaring beyond all previous heights of exaltation, ranged +dizzily between "front" and "back" at the Grand Opera House that +evening. He was supposed to remain "out front" until the curtain went +up on the second act. But the presence of the Countess in Miss +Thackeray's barren, sordid little dressing-room rendered it +exceedingly difficult for him to remain in any fixed spot for more +than five minutes at a stretch. He was in the "wings" with her, +whispering in her delighted ear; in the dressing-room, listening to +her soft words of encouragement to the excited leading-lady; on the +narrow stairs leading up to the stage, assisting her to mount them,-- +and not in the least minding the narrowness; out in front for a jiffy, +and then back again; and all the time he was dreading the moment when +he would awake and find it all a dream. + +There was an annoying fly in the ointment, however. Her languorous +surrender to love, her physical confession of defeat at the hands of +that inexorable power, her sweet submission to the conquering arms of +the besieger, left nothing to be desired; and yet there was something +that stood between him and utter happiness: her resolute refusal to +bind herself to any promise for the future. + +"I love you," she had said simply. "I want more than anything else in +all the world to be your wife. But I cannot promise now. I must have +time to think, time to--" + +"Why should you require more time than I?" he persisted. "Have we not +shown that there is nothing left for either of us but to make the +other happy? What is time to us? Why make wanton waste of it?" + +"I know that I cannot find happiness except with you," she replied. +"No matter what happens to me, I shall always love you, I shall never +forget the joy of THIS. But--" She shook her head sadly. + +"Would you go back to your people and marry--" he swallowed hard and +went on--"marry some one you could never love, not even respect, with +the memory of--" + +"Stop! I shall never marry a man I do not love. Oh, please be patient, +be good to me. Give me a little time. Can you not see that you are +asking me to alter destiny, to upset the teachings and traditions of +ages, and all in one little minute of weakness?" + +"We cannot alter destiny," he said stubbornly. "We may upset +tradition, but what does that amount to? We have but one life to live. +I think our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren will be quite as +well pleased with their ancestors as their royal contemporaries will +be with theirs a hundred years from now." + +"I cannot promise now," she said gently, and kissed him. + +The first performance of "The Duke's Revenge" was incredibly bad. The +little that Barnes saw of it, filled him with dismay. Never had he +witnessed anything so hopeless as the play, unless it was the actors +themselves. But more incredible than anything else in connection with +the performance was the very palpable enjoyment of the audience. He +could hardly believe his ears. The ranting, the shouting, the howling +of the actors sent shivers to the innermost recesses of his being. +Then suddenly he remembered that he was in the heart of the "barn- +stormer's" domain. The audience revelled in "The Duke's Revenge" +because they had never seen anything better! + +Between the second and third acts Tommy Gray rushed back with the box- +office statement. The gross was $359. The instant that fact became +known to Mr. Rushcroft he informed Barnes that they had a "knockout," +a gold mine, and that never in all his career had he known a season to +start off so auspiciously as this one. + +"It's good for forty weeks solid," he exclaimed. Both Barnes and the +wide-eyed Countess became infused with the spirit of jubilation that +filled the souls of these time-worn, hand-to-mouth stragglers. They +rejoiced with them in their sudden elevation to happiness, and +overlooked the vain-glorious claims of each individual in the matter +of personal achievement. Even the bewildered Tilly bleated out her +little cry for distinction. + +"Did you hear them laugh at the way I got off my speech?" she cried +excitedly. + +"I certainly did," said Mr. Bacon amiably. "By gad, I laughed at it +myself." + +"Parquet $217.50, dress circle $105, gallery $36.50," announced Tommy +Gray, as he donned his wig and false beard for the third act. "Sixty- +forty gives us $215.40 on the night. Thank God, we won't have to worry +about the sheriff this week." + +In Miss Thackeray's dressing-room that level-headed young woman broke +down and wept like a child. + +"Oh, Lord," she stuttered, "is it possible that we're going to stay +above water at last? I thought we had gone down for the last time, and +here we are bobbing up again as full of ginger as if we'd never hit +the bottom." + +The Countess kissed her and told her that she was the rarest girl she +had ever known, the pluckiest and the best. + +"If I had your good looks, Miss Cameron," said Mercedes, "added to my +natural ability, I'd make Julia Marlowe look like an old-fashioned +one-ring circus. Send Mr. Bacon to me, Mr. Barnes. I want to +congratulate him." + +"He gave a fine performance," said Barnes promptly. + +"I don't want to congratulate him on his acting," said she, smiling +through her tears. "He's going to be married to-morrow. And I am going +to have Miss Cameron for my bridesmaid," she added, throwing an arm +about the astonished Countess. "Mr. Bacon will want Dilly for his best +man, but he ought to think more of the general effect than that. Dilly +only comes to his shoulder." She measured the stalwart figure of +Thomas Barnes with an appraising eye. "What do you say, Mr. Barnes?" + +"I'll do it with the greatest pleasure," he declared. + +The next afternoon in the town of Bittler the Countess Mara-Dafanda, +daughter of royalty, and Thomas Kingsbury Barnes "stood up" with the +happy couple during a lull in the hastily called rehearsal on the +stage of Fisher's Imperial Theatre, and Lyndon Rushcroft gave the +bride away. There was $107 in the house that night, but no one was +down-hearted. + +"You could do worse, dear heart, than to marry one of us care-free +Americans," whispered Barnes to the girl who clung to his arm so +tightly as they entered the wings in the wake of the bride and groom. + +And she said something in reply that brought a flush of mortification +to his cheek. + +"Oh, it would be wonderful to marry a man who will never have to go to +war. A brave man who will not have to be a soldier." + +The unintentional reflection on the fighting integrity of his country +struck a raw spot in Barnes's pride. He knew what all Europe was +saying about the pussy-willow attitude of the United States, and he +squirmed inwardly despite the tribute she tendered him as an +individual. He was not a "peace at any price" citizen. + +He gave the wedding breakfast at one o'clock that night. + +Three days later he and "Miss Jones" said farewell to the strollers +and boarded a day train for New York City. They left the company in a +condition of prosperity. The show was averaging two hundred dollars +nightly, and Mr. Rushcroft was already booking return engagements for +the early fall. He was looking forward to a tour of Europe at the +close of the war. + +"My boy," he said to Barnes on the platform of the railway station, "I +trust you will forgive me for not finding a place in our remarkably +well-balanced cast for your friend. I have been thinking a great deal +about her in the past few days, and it has occurred to me that she +might find it greatly to her advantage to accept a brief New York +engagement before tackling the real proposition. It won't take her +long to find out whether she really likes it, and whether she thinks +it worth while to go on with it. Let me give you one bit of advice, my +dear Miss Jones. This is very important. The name of Jones will not +get you anywhere. It is a nice old family, fireside name, but it lacks +romance. Chuck it. Start your new life with another name, my dear. God +bless you! Good luck and--good-bye till we meet on the Rialto." + +"I wonder how he could possibly have known," she mused aloud, the pink +still in her cheeks as the train pulled out. + +"You darling," cried Barnes, "he doesn't know. But taking it by and +large, it was excellent advice. The brief New York engagement meets +with my approval, and so does the change of name. I am in a position +to supply you with both." + +"Do you regard Barnes as an especially attractive name?" she inquired, +dimpling. + +"It has the virtue of beginning with B, entitling it to a place well +toward the top of alphabetical lists. A very handy name for +patronesses at charity bazaars, and so forth. People never look below +B unless to make sure that their own names haven't been omitted. You +ought to take that into consideration. If you can't be an A, take the +next best thing offered. Be a B." + +"You almost persuade me," she smiled. + +His sister met them at the Grand Central Terminal. + +"It's now a quarter to five," said Barnes, after the greeting and +presentation. "Drop me at the Fifth Avenue Bank, Edith. I want to +leave something in my safety box downstairs. Sha'n't be more than five +minutes." + +He got down from the automobile at 44th Street and shot across the +sidewalk into the bank, casting quick, apprehensive glances through +the five o'clock crowd on the avenue as he sprinted. In his hand he +lugged the heavy, weatherbeaten pack. His sister and the Countess +stared after him in amazement. + +Presently he emerged from the bank, still carrying the bag. He was +beaming. A certain worried, haggard expression had vanished from his +face and for the first time in eight hours he treated his travelling +wardrobe with scorn and indifference. He tossed it carelessly into the +seat beside the chauffeur, and, springing nimbly into the car, sank +back with a prodigious sigh of relief. + +"Thank God, they're off my mind at last," he cried. "That is the first +good, long breath I've had in a week. No, not now. It's a long story +and I can't tell it in Fifth Avenue. It would be extremely annoying to +have both of you die of heart failure with all these people looking +on." + +He felt her hand on his arm, and knew that she was looking at him with +wide, incredulous eyes, but he faced straight ahead. After a moment or +two, she snuggled back in the seat and cried out tremulously: + +"Oh, how wonderful--how wonderful!" + +Mrs. Courtney, in utter ignorance, inquired politely: + +"Isn't it? Have you never been in New York before, Miss Cameron? +Strangers always find it quite wonderful at the--" + +"How are all the kiddies, Edith, and old Bill?" broke in her brother +hastily. + +He was terribly afraid that the girl beside him was preparing to shed +tears of joy and relief. He could feel her searching in her jacket +pocket for a handkerchief. + +Mrs. Courtney was not only curious but apprehensive. She hadn't the +faintest idea who Miss Cameron was, nor where her brother had picked +her up. But she saw at a glance that she was lovely, and her soul was +filled with strange misgivings. She was like all sisters who have pet +bachelor brothers. She hoped that poor Tom hadn't gone and made a fool +of himself. The few minutes' conversation she had had with the +stranger only served to increase her alarm. Miss Cameron's voice and +smile--and her eyes!--were positively alluring. + +She had had a night letter from Tom that morning in which he said that +he was bringing a young lady friend down from the north,--and would +she meet them at the station and put her up for a couple of days? That +was all she knew of the dazzling stranger up to the moment she saw +her. Immediately after that, she knew, by intuition, a great deal more +about her than Tom could have told in volumes of correspondence. She +knew, also, that Tom was lost forever! + +"Now, tell me," said the Countess, the instant they entered the +Courtney apartment. She gripped both of his arms with her firm little +hands, and looked straight into his eyes, eagerly, hopefully. She had +forgotten Mrs. Courtney's presence, she had not taken the time to +remove her hat or jacket. + +"Let's all sit down," said he. "My knees are unaccountably weak. Come +along, Ede. Listen to the romance of my life." + +And when the story was finished, the Countess took his hand in hers +and held it to her cool cheek. The tears were still drowning her eyes. + +"Oh, you poor dear! Was that why you grew so haggard, and pale, and +hollow-eyed?" + +"Partly," said he, with great significance. + +"And you had them in your pack all the time? You--!" + +"I had Sprouse's most solemn word not to touch them for a week. He is +the only man I feared. He is the only one who could have--" + +"May I use your telephone, Mrs. Courtney?" cried she, suddenly. She +sprang to her feet, quivering with excitement. "Pray forgive me for +being so ill-mannered, but I--I must call up one or two people at +once. They are my friends. I have written them, but--but I know they +are waiting to see me in the flesh or to hear my voice. You will +understand, I am sure." + +Barnes was pacing the floor nervously when his sister returned after +conducting her new guest to the room prepared for her. The Countess +was at the telephone before the door closed behind her hostess. + +"I wish you had been a little more explicit in your telegram, Tom," +she said peevishly. "If I had known who she is I wouldn't have put her +in that room. Now, I shall have to move Aunt Kate back into it to- +morrow, and give Miss Cameron the big one at the end of the hall." +Which goes to prove that Tom's sister was a bit of a snob in her way. +"Stop walking like that, and come here." She faced him accusingly. +"Have you told me ALL there is to tell, sir?" + +"Can't you see for yourself, Ede, that I'm in love with her? +Desperately, horribly, madly in love with her. Don't giggle like that! +I couldn't have told you while she was present, could I?" + +"That isn't what I want to know. Is she in love with YOU? That's what +I'm after." + +"Yes," said he, but frowned anxiously. + +"She is perfectly adorable," said she, and was at once aware of a +guilty, nagging impression that she would not have said it to him half +an hour earlier for anything in the world. + +The Countess was strangely white and subdued when she rejoined them +later on. She had removed her hat. The other woman saw nothing but the +wealth of sun-kissed hair that rippled. Barnes went forward to meet +her, filled with a sudden apprehension. + +"What is it? You are pale and--what have you heard?" + +She stopped and looked searchingly into his eyes. A warm flush rose to +her cheeks; her own eyes grew soft and tender and wistful. + +"They all believe that the war will last two or three years longer," +she said huskily. "I cannot go back to my own country till it is all +over. They implore me to remain here with them until--until my +fortunes are mended." She turned to Mrs. Courtney and went on without +the slightest trace of indecision or embarrassment in her manner. "You +see, Mrs. Courtney, I am very, very poor. They have taken everything. +I--I fear I shall have to accept the kind, the generous proffer of a--" +her voice shook slightly--"of a home with my friends until the Huns +are driven out." + +Barnes's silence was more eloquent than words. Her eyes fell. Mrs. +Courtney's words of sympathy passed unheard; her bitter excoriation of +the Teutons and Turks was but dimly registered on the inattentive mind +of the victim of their ruthless greed; not until she expressed the +hope that Miss Cameron would condescend to accept the hospitality of +her home until plans for the future were definitely fixed was there a +sign that the object of her concern had given a thought to what she +was saying. + +"You are so very kind," stammered the Countess. "But I cannot think of +imposing upon--" + +"Leave it to me, Ede," said Barnes gently, and, laying his hand upon +his sister's arm, he led her from the room. Then he came swiftly back +to the outstretched arms of the exile. + +"A very brief New York engagement," he whispered in her ear, he knew +not how long afterward. Her head was pressed against his shoulder, her +eyes were closed, her lips parted in the ecstasy of passion. + +"Yes," she breathed, so faintly that he barely heard the strongest +word ever put into the language of man. + +Half-an-hour later he was speeding down the avenue in a taxi. His +blood was singing, his heart was bursting with joy,--his head was +light, for the feel of her was still in his arms, the voice of her in +his enraptured ears. + +He was hurrying homeward to the "diggings" he was soon to desert +forever. Poor, wretched, little old "diggings"! As he passed the +Plaza, the St. Regis and the Gotham, he favoured the great hostelries +with contemplative, calculating eyes; he even looked with speculative +envy upon the mansions of the Astors, the Vanderbilts and the +Huntingtons. She was born and reared in a house of vast dimensions. +Even the Vanderbilt places were puny in comparison. His reflections +carried him back to the Plaza. There, at least, was something +comparable in size. At any rate, it would do until he could look +around for something larger! He laughed at his conceit,--and pinched +himself again. + +He was to spend the night at his sister's apartment. When he issued +forth from his "diggings" at half-past seven, he was attired in +evening clothes, and there was not a woman in all New York, young or +old, who would have denied him a second glance. + +Later on in the evening three of the Countess's friends arrived at the +Courtney home to pay their respects to their fair compatriot, and to +discuss the crown jewels. They came and brought with them the +consoling information that arrangements were practically completed for +the delivery of the jewels into the custody of the French Embassy at +Washington, through whose intervention they were to be allowed to +leave the United States without the formalities usually observed in +cases of suspected smuggling. Upon the arrival in America of trusted +messengers from Paris, headed by no less a personage than the +ambassador himself, the imperial treasure was to pass into hands that +would carry it safely to France. Prince Sebastian, still in Halifax, +had been apprised by telegraph of the recovery of the jewels, and was +expected to sail for England by the earliest steamer. + +And while the visitors at the Courtney house were lifting their +glasses to toast the prince they loved, and, in turn, the beautiful +cousin who had braved so much and fared so luckily, and the tall +wayfarer who had come into her life, a small man was stooping over a +rifled knapsack in a room far down-town, glumly regarding the result +of an unusually hazardous undertaking, even for one who could perform, +such miracles as he. Scratching his chin, he grinned,--for he was the +kind who bears disappointment with a grin,--and sat himself down at +the big library table in the centre of the room. Carefully selecting a +pen-point, he wrote: + +"It will be quite obvious to you that I called unexpectedly to-night. +The week was up, you see. I take the liberty of leaving under the +paperweight at my elbow a two dollar bill. It ought to be ample +payment for the damage done to your faithful traveling companion. Have +the necessary stitches taken in the gash, and you will find the kit as +good as new. I was more or less certain not to find what I was after, +but as I have done no irreparable injury, I am sure you will forgive +my love of adventure and excitement. It was really quite difficult to +get from the fire escape to your window, but it was a delightful +experience. Try crawling along that ten inch ledge yourself some day, +and see if it isn't productive of a pleasant thrill. I shall not +forget your promise to return good for evil some day. God knows I hope +I may never be in a position to test your sincerity. We may meet +again, and I hope under agreeable circumstances. Kindly pay my deepest +respects to the Countess Ted, and believe me to be, "Yours VERY +respectfully, + +"Sprouse. + +"P.S.--I saw O'Dowd to-day. He left a message for you and the +Countess. Tell them, said he, that I ask God's blessing for them +forever. He is off to-morrow for Brazil. He was very much relieved +when he heard that I did not get the jewels the first time I went +after them, and immensely entertained by my jolly description of how I +went after them the second. By the way, you will be interested to +learn that he has cut loose from the crowd he was trailing with. +Mostly nuts, he says. Dynamiting munition plants in Canada was a grand +project, says he, and it would have come to something if the damned +women had only left the damned men alone. The expletives are +O'Dowd's." + +Ten hours before Barnes found this illuminating message on his library +table, he stood at the window of a lofty Park Avenue apartment +building, his arm about the slender, yielding figure of the only other +occupant of the room. Pointing out over the black house-tops, he +directed her attention to the myriad lights in the upper floors of a +great hostelry to the south and west, and said, + +"THAT is where you are going to live, darling." + +THE END + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Green Fancy, by George Barr McCutcheon + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREEN FANCY *** + +This file should be named grnfn10.txt or grnfn10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, grnfn11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, grnfn10a.txt + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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