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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6044-h.zip b/6044-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..78be625 --- /dev/null +++ b/6044-h.zip diff --git a/6044-h/6044-h.htm b/6044-h/6044-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3a69162 --- /dev/null +++ b/6044-h/6044-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12806 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta content="pg2html (binary v0.17)" name="linkgenerator" /> + <title> + Quill's Window, by George Barr Mccutcheon + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .75em; margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; text-align: justify; font-size: 80%; font-style: italic;} + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + .xx-small {font-size: 60%;} + .x-small {font-size: 75%;} + .small {font-size: 85%;} + .large {font-size: 115%;} + .x-large {font-size: 130%;} + .indent5 { margin-left: 5%;} + .indent10 { margin-left: 10%;} + .indent15 { margin-left: 15%;} + .indent20 { margin-left: 20%;} + .indent25 { margin-left: 25%;} + .indent30 { margin-left: 30%;} + .indent35 { margin-left: 35%;} + .indent40 { margin-left: 40%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; right: 1%; font-size: 0.6em; + font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; + text-align: right; background-color: #FFFACD; + border: 1px solid; padding: 0.3em;text-indent: 0em;} + .side { float: left; font-size: 75%; width: 15%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + .head { float: left; font-size: 90%; width: 98%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + p.pfirst, p.noindent {text-indent: 0} + span.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 0.8 } + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Quill's Window, by George Barr McCutcheon + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Quill's Window + +Author: George Barr McCutcheon + + +Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6044] +First Posted: October 23, 2002 +Last Updated: May 11, 2019 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUILL'S WINDOW *** + + + + +Etext produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + QUILL'S WINDOW + </h1> + <h2> + By George Barr Mccutcheon + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <b>QUILL'S WINDOW</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I — THE FORBIDDEN ROCK </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II — THE STORY THE OLD MAN TOLD + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III — COURTNEY THANE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV — DOWD'S TAVERN </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V — TRESPASS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI — CHARLIE WEBSTER ENTERTAINS + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII — COURTNEY APPEARS IN PUBLIC + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII — ALIX THE THIRD </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX — A MID-OCTOBER DAY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X — THE CHIMNEY CORNER </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI — THANE VISITS TWO HOUSES </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII — WORDS AND LETTEBS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII — THE OLD INDIAN TRAIL </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV — SUSPICION </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV — THE FACE AT THE WINDOW </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI — ROSABEL </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII — SHADOWS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII — MR. GILFILLAN IS PUZZLED + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX — BRINGING UP THE PAST </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX — THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ROSABEL + VICK </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER XXI — OUT OF THE NIGHT </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER XXII — THE THROWER OF STONES </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER XXIII — A MESSAGE AND ITS ANSWER + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0024"> CHAPTER XXIV — AT QUILL'S WINDOW </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0026"> THE END </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + QUILL'S WINDOW + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I — THE FORBIDDEN ROCK + </h2> + <p> + A young man and an old one sat in the shade of the willows beside the + wide, still river. The glare of a hot August sun failed to penetrate the + shelter in which they idled; out upon the slow-gliding river it beat + relentlessly, creating a pale, thin vapour that clung close to the + shimmering surface and dazzled the eye with an ever-shifting glaze. The + air was lifeless, sultry, stifling; not a leaf, not a twig in the tall, + drooping willows moved unless stirred by the passage of some vagrant bird. + </p> + <p> + The older man sat on the ground, his back against the trunk of a tree that + grew so near to the edge that it seemed on the point of toppling over to + shatter the smooth, green mirror below. Some of its sturdy exposed roots + reached down from the bank into the water, where they caught and held the + drift from upstream,—reeds and twigs and matted grass,—a + dirty, sickly mass that swished lazily on the flank of the slow-moving + current. + </p> + <p> + The water here in the shade was deep and clear and limpid, contrasting + sharply with the steel-white surface out beyond. + </p> + <p> + The young man occupied a decrepit camp stool, placed conveniently against + the trunk of another tree hard by. A discarded bamboo rod lay beside him + on the bank, the hook and line hopelessly tangled in the drift below. He + smoked cigarettes. + </p> + <p> + His companion held a well-chewed black cigar in the vise-like corner of + his mouth. His hook and line were far out in the placid water, an ordinary + cork serving as a "bob" from which his dreary, unwavering gaze seldom + shifted. + </p> + <p> + "I guess they're through bitin' for today," he remarked, after a long + unbroken silence. + </p> + <p> + "How many have we got?" inquired the other languidly. + </p> + <p> + "Between us we've got twenty-four. That's a fair-sized mess. Sunfish don't + make much of a showing unless you get a barrel of 'em." + </p> + <p> + "Good eating though," mused the young man. + </p> + <p> + "Fried in butter," supplemented the other. "What time is it?" + </p> + <p> + "Half-past nine." + </p> + <p> + "Well, that's just about what I'd figured. I've been fishin' in this + 'hole' for something like forty years, off and on, and I've found out that + these here sunfish get through breakfast at exactly eighteen minutes past + nine. I always allow about ten minutes' leeway in case one or two of 'em + might have been out late the night before or something,—but as a + general thing they're pretty dog-goned prompt for breakfast. Specially in + August. Even a fish is lazy in August. Look at that fish-worm. By gosh, + it's BOILED! That shows you how hot the water is." + </p> + <p> + He removed the worm from the hook and slowly began to twist the pole in + the more or less perfunctory process of "winding up" the line. The young + man looked on disinterestedly. + </p> + <p> + "Ain't you going to untangle that line?" inquired the old man, jerking his + thumb. + </p> + <p> + "What's the use? The worm is dead by this time, and God knows I prefer to + let him rest in peace. The quickest way to untangle a line is to do it + like this." + </p> + <p> + He severed it with his pocket-knife. + </p> + <p> + "A line like that costs twenty-five cents," said the old man, a trace of + dismay in his voice. + </p> + <p> + "That's what it cost when it was new," drawled the other. "You forget it's + been a second-hand article since eight o'clock this morning,—and + what's a second-hand fish-line worth?—tell me that. How much would + you give, in the open market, or at an auction sale, for a second-hand + fish-line?" + </p> + <p> + "I guess we'd better be gittin' back to the house," said the other, + ignoring the question. "Got to clean these fish if we're expectin' to have + 'em for dinner,—or lunch, as you fellers call it. I'll bet your + grandfather never called it lunch. And as for him callin' supper DINNER,—why, + by crickey, he NEVER got drunk enough for that." + </p> + <p> + "More than that," said the young man calmly, "he never saw a cigarette, or + a telephone, or a Ford, or a safety-razor,—or a lot of other things + that have sprung up since he cashed in his checks. To be sure, he did see + a few things I've never seen,—such as clay-pipes, canal boats, + horse-hair sofas, top-boots and rag-carpets,—and he probably saw + Abraham Lincoln,—but, for all that, I'd rather be where I am today + than where he is,—and I'm not saying he isn't in heaven, either." + </p> + <p> + The older man's eyes twinkled. "I don't think he's any nearer heaven than + he was forty years ago,—and he's been dead just about that long. He + wasn't what you'd call a far-seeing man,—and you've got to look a + long ways ahead if you want to see heaven. Your grandma's in heaven all + right,—and I'll bet she was the most surprised mortal that ever got + inside the pearly gates if she found him there ahead of her. Like as not + she would have backed out, thinking she'd got into the wrong place by + mistake. And if he IS up there, I bet he's making the place an everlastin' + hell for her. Yep, your grandpa was about as mean as they make 'em. As you + say, he didn't know anything about cigarettes, but he made up for it by + runnin' after women and fast horses,—or maybe it was hosses and, + fast women,—and cheatin' the eye teeth out of everybody he had any + dealings with." + </p> + <p> + "I don't understand how he happened to die young, If all these things were + true about him," said the other, lighting a fresh cigarette and drawing in + a deep, full breath of the pungent smoke. The old man waited a few seconds + for the smoke to be expelled, and then, as it came out in a far-reaching + volume, carrying far on the still air, his face betrayed not only relief + but wonder. + </p> + <p> + "You don't actually swaller it, do you?" he inquired. + </p> + <p> + "Certainly not. I inhale, that's all. Any one can do it." + </p> + <p> + "I'd choke to death," said the old man, shifting his cigar hastily from + one side of his mouth to the other, and taking a fresh grip on it with his + teeth,—as if fearing the consequences of a momentary lapse of + control. + </p> + <p> + "You've been chewing that cigar for nearly two hours," observed the young + man. "I call that a filthy habit." + </p> + <p> + "I guess you're right," agreed the other, amiably. "The best you can say + for it is that it's a man's job, and not a woman's," he added, with all + the scorn that the cigar smoker has for the man who affects nothing but + cigarettes. + </p> + <p> + "You can't make me sore by talking like that," said his companion, + stretching himself lazily. "Approximately ten million men smoked + cigarettes over in France for four years and more, and I submit that they + had what you might call a man's job on their hands." + </p> + <p> + "How many of them things do you smoke in a day?" + </p> + <p> + "It depends entirely on how early I get up in the morning,—and how + late I stay up at night. Good Lord, it's getting hotter every minute. For + two cents, I'd strip and jump in there for a game of hide and seek with + the fish. By the way, I don't suppose there are any mermaids in these + parts, are there?" + </p> + <p> + "You stay out of that water," commanded the old man. "You ain't strong + enough yet to be takin' any such chances. You're here to get well, and you + got to be mighty all-fired careful. The bed of that river is full of cold + springs,—and it's pretty deep along this stretch. Weak as you are,—and + as hot as you are,—you'd get cramps in less'n a minute." + </p> + <p> + "I happen to be a good swimmer." + </p> + <p> + "So was Bart Edgecomb,—best swimmer I ever saw. He could swim back + an' forth across this river half a dozen times,—and do you know what + happened to him last September? He drowned in three foot of water up above + the bend, that's what he did. Come on. Let's be movin'. It'll be hotter'n + blazes by eleven o'clock, and you oughtn't to be walkin' in the sun." + </p> + <p> + The young man settled himself a little more comfortably against the tree. + </p> + <p> + "I think I'll stay here in the shade for a while longer. Don't be uneasy. + I shan't go popping into the water the minute your back's turned. What was + it you said early this morning about sniffing rain in the air?" + </p> + <p> + "Thunderstorms today, sure as my name's Brown. Been threatening rain for + nearly a week. Got to come some time, and I figure today's—" + </p> + <p> + "Threats are all we get," growled the young man peevishly. "Lord, I never + dreamed I could get so sick of white skies and what you call fresh air. + You farmers go to bed every night praying for rain, and you get up in the + morning still praying, and what's the result? Nothing except a whiter sky + than the day before, and a greater shortage of fresh air. Don't talk to me + about country air and country sunshine and country quiet. My God, it never + was so hot and stifling as this in New York, and as for peace and quiet,—why, + those rotten birds in the trees around the house make more noise than the + elevated trains at the rush hour, and the rotten roosters begin crowing + just about the time I'm going to sleep, and the dogs bark, and the cows,—the + cows do whatever cows do to make a noise,—and then the crows begin + to yawp. And all night long the katydids keep up their beastly racket, and + the frogs in the pond back of the barns,—my God, man, the city is as + silent as the grave compared to what you get in the country." + </p> + <p> + "I manage to sleep through it all," said the old man drily. "The frogs and + katydids don't keep me awake." + </p> + <p> + "Yes, and that reminds me of another noise that makes the night hideous. + It's the way you people sleep. At nine o'clock sharp, every night, the + whole house begins to snore, and—Say, I've seen service in France, + I've slept in barracks with scores of tired soldiers, I've walked through + camps where thousands of able-bodied men were snoring their heads off,—but + never have I heard anything so terrifying as the racket that lasts from + nine to five in the land of my forefathers. Gad, it sometimes seems to me + you're all trying to make my forefathers turn over in their graves up + there on the hill." + </p> + <p> + "You're kind of peevish today, ain't you?" inquired the other, grinning. + "You'll get used to the way we snore before long, and you'll kind of enjoy + it. I'd be scared to death if I got awake in the night and didn't hear + everybody in the house snoring. It's kind of restful to know that + everybody's asleep,—and not dead. If they wasn't snoring, I'd + certainly think they was dead." + </p> + <p> + The young man smiled. "I'll say this much for you farmers,—you're a + good-natured bunch. I ought to be ashamed of myself for grousing. I + suppose it's because I've been sick. You're all so kind and thoughtful,—and + so darned GENUINE,—even when you're asleep,—that I feel like a + dog for finding fault. By the way, you said something awhile ago about + that big black cliff over yonder having a history. I've been looking at + that cliff or hill or rock, or whatever it is, and it doesn't look real. + It doesn't look as though God had made it. It's more like the work of man. + So far as I can see, there isn't another hill on either bank of the river, + and yet that thing over there must be three or four hundred feet high, + sticking up like a gigantic wart on the face of the earth. What is it? + Solid rock?" + </p> + <p> + "Sort like slate rock, I guess. There's a stretch of about a mile on both + sides of the river along here that's solid rock. This bank we're standin' + on is rock, covered with six or eight foot of earth. You're right about + that big rock over there being a queer thing. There's been college + professors and all sorts of scientific men here, off and on, to examine it + and to try to account for its being there. But, thunderation, if it's been + there for a million years as they say, what's the sense of explaining it?" + </p> + <p> + "There's something positively forbidding about it. Gives you the willies. + How did it come by the name you called it a while ago?" + </p> + <p> + "Quill's Window? Goes back to the days of the Indians. Long before the + time of Tecumseh or The Prophet. They used to range up and down this river + more than a hundred years ago. The old trail is over there on the other + bank as plain as day, covered with grass but beaten down till it's like a + macadam road. I suppose the Indians followed that trail for hundreds of + years. There's still traces of their camps over there on that side, and a + little ways down the river is a place where they had a regular village. + Over here on this side, quite a little ways farther down, is the remains + of an old earthwork fort used by the French long before the Revolution, + and afterwards by American soldiers about the time of the War of 1812. + We'll go and look at it some day if you like. Most people are interested + in it, but for why, I can't see. + </p> + <p> + "There ain't nothing to see but some busted up breastworks and lunettes, + covered with weeds, with here and there a sort of opening where they must + have had a cannon sticking out to scare the squaws and papooses. You was + askin' about the name of that rock. Well, it originally had an Indian + name, which I always forget because it's the easiest way to keep from + pronouncing it. Then the French came along and sort of Frenchified the + name,—which made it worse, far as I'm concerned. I'm not much on + French. About three-quarters of the way up the rock, facing the river, is + a sort of cave. You can't see the opening from here, 'cause it faces + north, looking up the river from the bend. There are a lot of little caves + and cracks in the rock, but none of 'em amounts to anything except this + one. It runs back something like twenty foot in the rock and is about as + high as a man's head. + </p> + <p> + "Shortly after General Harrison licked The Prophet and his warriors up on + the Tippecanoe, a man named Quill,—an Irishman from down the river + some'eres towards Vincennes,—all this is hearsay so far as I'm + concerned, mind you,—but as I was saying, this man Quill begin to + make his home up in that cave. He was what you might call a hermit. There + were no white people in these parts except a few scattered trappers and + some people living in a settlement twenty-odd miles south of here. As the + story goes, this man Quill lived up there in that cave for about four or + five years, hunting and trapping all around the country. White people + begin to get purty thick in these parts soon after that, Indiana having + been made a state. There was a lot of coming and going up and down the + river. A feller named Digby started a kind of settlement or trading-post + further up, and clearings were made all around,—farms and all that, + you see. Your great grandfather was one of the first men to settle in this + section. Coming down the river by night you could see the light, up there + in Quill's Cave. You could see it for miles, they say. People begin to + speak of it as the light in Quill's window,—and that's how the name + happened. I'm over seventy, and I've never heard that hill called anything + but Quill's Window." + </p> + <p> + "What happened to Quill?" + </p> + <p> + "Well, that's something nobody seems to be quite certain about. Whether he + hung himself or somebody else done the job for him, nobody knows. + According to the story that was told when I was a boy, it seems he killed + somebody down the river and come up here to hide. The relations of the man + he killed never stopped hunting for him. A good many people were of the + opinion they finally tracked him to that cave. In any case, his body was + found hanging by the neck up there one day, on a sort of ridge-pole he had + put in. This was after people had missed seeing the light in Quill's + Window for quite a spell. There are some people who still say the cave is + ha'nted. When I was a young boy, shortly before the Civil War, a couple of + horse thieves were chased up to that cave and—ahem!—I reckon + your grandfather, if he was alive, could tell you all about what became of + 'em and who was in the party that stood 'em up against the back wall of + the cave and shot 'em. There's another story that goes back even farther + than the horse thieves. The skeleton of a woman was found up there, with + the skull split wide open. That was back in 1830 or 1840. So, you see, + when all of them ghosts get together and begin scrapping over property + rights, it's enough to scare the gizzard out of 'most anybody that happens + to be in the neighbourhood. But I guess old man Quill was the first white + man to shuffle off, so it's generally understood that his ghost rules the + roost. Come on now, let's be moving. It's gettin' hotter every minute, and + you oughtn't to be out in all this heat. For the Lord's sake, you ain't + going to light another one of them things, are you?" + </p> + <p> + "Sure. It's the only vice I'm capable of enjoying at present. Being gassed + and shell-shocked, and then having the flu and pneumonia and rheumatism,—and + God knows what else,—sort of purifies a chap, you see." + </p> + <p> + "Well, all I got to say is—I guess I'd better not say it, after + all." + </p> + <p> + "You can't hurt my feelings." + </p> + <p> + "I'm not so sure about that," said the old man gruffly. + </p> + <p> + "How do you get up to that cave?" + </p> + <p> + "You ain't thinking of trying it, are you?" apprehensively. + </p> + <p> + "When I'm a bit huskier, yes." + </p> + <p> + The old man removed his cigar in order to obtain the full effect of a + triumphant grin. + </p> + <p> + "Well, in the first place, you can't get up to it. You've got to come down + to it. The only way to get to the mouth of that cave is to lower yourself + from the top of the rock. And in the second place, you can't get DOWN to + it because it ain't allowed. The owner of all the land along that side of + the river has got 'no trespass' signs up, and NOBODY'S allowed to climb to + the top of that rock. She's all-fired particular about it, too. The top of + that rock is sacred to her. Nobody ever thinks of violatin' it. All around + the bottom of the slope back of the hill she's got a white picket fence, + and the gate to it is padlocked. You see it's her family buryin'-ground." + </p> + <p> + "Her what?" + </p> + <p> + "Buryin'-ground. Her father and mother are buried right smack on top of + that rock." + </p> + <p> + The young man lifted his eyebrows. "Does that mean there are a couple of + married ghosts fighting on top of the rock every night, besides the gang + down in the—" + </p> + <p> + "It ain't a joking matter," broke in the other sharply. + </p> + <p> + "Go on, tell me more. The monstrosity gets more and more interesting every + minute." + </p> + <p> + The old man chewed his cigar energetically for a few seconds before + responding. + </p> + <p> + "I'll tell you the story tonight after supper,—not now. The only + thing I want to make clear to you is this. Everybody in this section + respects her wishes about keeping off of that rock, and I want to ask you + to respect 'em, too. It would be a dirty trick for you to go up there, + knowin' it's dead against her wishes." + </p> + <p> + "A dirty trick, eh?" said the young man, fixing his gaze on the blue-black + summit of the forbidden rock. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II — THE STORY THE OLD MAN TOLD + </h2> + <p> + David Windom's daughter Alix ran away with and married Edward Crown in the + spring of 1894. + </p> + <p> + Windom was one of the most prosperous farmers in the county. His lands + were wide, his cattle were many, his fields were vast stretches of green + and gold; his granaries, his cribs and his mows, filled and emptied each + year, brought riches and dignity and power to this man of the soil. + </p> + <p> + Back when the state was young, his forefathers had fared westward from the + tide-water reaches of Virginia, coming at length to the rich, unbroken + region along the river with the harsh Indian name, and there they built + their cabins and huts on lands that had cost them little more than a song + and yet were of vast dimensions. They were of English stock. (Another + branch of the family, closely related, remains English to this day, its + men sitting sometime in Parliament and always in the councils of the + nation, far removed in every way from the Windoms in the fertile valley + once traversed by the war-like redskins.) But these Windoms of the valley + were no longer English. There had been six generations of them, and those + of the first two fought under General Washington against the red-coats and + the Hessians in the War of '76. + </p> + <p> + David Windom, of the fourth generation, went to England for a wife, + however,—a girl he had met on the locally celebrated trip to Europe + in the early seventies. For years he was known from one end of the county + to the other as "the man who has been across the Atlantic Ocean." The + dauntless English bride had come unafraid to a land she had been taught to + regard as wild, peopled by savages and overrun by ravenous beasts, and she + had found it populated instead by the gentlest sort of men and equally + gentle beasts. + </p> + <p> + She did a great deal for David Windom. He was a proud man and ambitious. + He saw the wisdom of her teachings and he followed them, not reluctantly + but with a fierce desire to refine what God had given him in the shape of + raw material: a good brain, a sturdy sense of honour, and above all an + imagination that lifted him safely,—if not always sanely,—above + the narrow world in which the farmer of that day spent his entire life. + Not that he was uncouth to begin with,—far from it. He had been + irritatingly fastidious from boyhood up. His thoughts had wandered afar on + frequent journeys, and when they came back to take up the dull occupation + they had abandoned temporarily, they were broader than when they went out + to gather wool. The strong, well-poised English wife found rich soil in + which to work; he grew apace and flourished, and manifold were the + innovations that stirred a complacent community into actual unrest. A + majority of the farmers and virtually all of the farmers' wives were + convinced that Dave Windom was losing his mind, the way he was letting + that woman boss him around. + </p> + <p> + The women did not like her. She was not one of them and never could be one + of them. Her "hired girls" became "servants" the day she entered the ugly + old farmhouse on the ridge. They were no longer considered members of the + family; they were made to feel something they had never felt before in + their lives: that they were not their mistress's equals. + </p> + <p> + The "hired girl" of those days was an institution. As a rule, she moved in + the same social circle as the lady of the house and it was customary for + her to intimately address her mistress by her Christian name. She enjoyed + the right to engage in all conversations; she was, in short, "as good as + anybody." The new Mrs. Windom was not long in transporting the general + housework "girl" into a totally unexampled state of astonishment. This + "girl,"—aged forty-five and a prominent member of the Methodist + Church,—announced to everybody in the community except to Mrs. + Windom herself that she was going to leave. She did not leave. The calm + serenity of the new mistress prevailed, even over the time-honoured + independence in which the "girl" and her kind unconsciously gloried. + Respect succeeded injury, and before the bride had been in the Windom + house a month, Maria Bliss was telling the other "hired girls" of the + neighbourhood that she wouldn't trade places with them for anything in the + world. + </p> + <p> + Greatly to the consternation and disgust of other householders, a "second + girl" was added to the Windom menage,—a parlour-maid she was called. + This was too much. It was rank injustice. General housework girls began to + complain of having too much work to do,—getting up at five in the + morning, cooking for half a dozen "hands," doing all the washing and + ironing, milking, sweeping and so on, and not getting to bed till nine or + ten o'clock at night,—to say nothing of family dinners on Sunday and + the preacher in every now and then, and all that. Moreover, Mrs. Windom + herself never looked bedraggled. She took care of her hair, wore good + clothes, went to the dentist regularly (whether she had a toothache or + not), had meals served in what Maria Bliss loftily described as "courses," + and saw to it that David Windom shaved once a day, dressed better than his + neighbours, kept his "surrey" and "side-bar buggy" washed, his harness + oiled and polished, and wore real riding-boots. + </p> + <p> + The barnyard took on an orderly appearance, the stables were repaired, the + picket fences gleamed white in the sun, the roof of the house was painted + red, the sides a shimmering white, and there were green window shutters + and green window boxes filled with geraniums. The front yard was kept + mowed, and there were great flower-beds encircled by snow-white boulders; + a hammock was swung in the shade of two great oaks, and—worst of + all! a tennis-court was laid out alongside the house. + </p> + <p> + Tennis! That was a game played only by "dudes"! Passers-by looked with + scorn upon young David Windom and his flaxen-haired wife as they played at + the silly game before supper every evening. And they went frequently to + the "opera house" at the county seat, ten miles up the river; they did not + wait for summer to come with its circus, as all the other farmers were + content to do; whenever there was a good "show" at the theatre in town + they sent up for reserved seats and drove in for supper at the principal + hotel. Altogether, young Mrs. Windom was simply "raising Cain" with the + conventions. + </p> + <p> + Strange to say, David did not "go to smash." To the intense chagrin of the + wiseacres he prospered despite an unprecedented disregard for the + teachings of his father and his grandfather before him. The wolf stayed a + long way off from his door, the prophetic mortgage failed to lay its + blight upon his lands, his crops were bountiful, his acreage spread as the + years went by,—and so his uncles, his cousins and his aunts were + never so happy as when wishing for the good old days when his father was + alive and running the farm as it should be run! If David had married some + good, sensible, thrifty, hard-working farmer's daughter,—Well, it + might not have meant an improvement in the crops but it certainly would + have spared him the expense of a tennis court, and theatre-going, and + absolutely unnecessary trips to Chicago or Indianapolis whenever SHE took + it into her head to go. Besides, it wasn't natural that they should + deliberately put off having children. It wasn't what God and the country + expected. After a year had passed and there were no symptoms of + approaching motherhood, certain narrow-minded relatives began to blame + Great Britain for the outrage and talked a great deal about a worn-out, + deteriorating race. + </p> + <p> + Then, after two years, when a girl baby was born to David and his wife, + they couldn't, for the life of them, understand how it came to pass that + it wasn't a boy. There had been nothing but boys in the Windom family for + years and years. It appeared to be a Windom custom. And here was this + fair-haired outsider from across the sea breaking in with a girl! They + could not believe it possible. David,—a great, strong, perfect + specimen of a Windom,—the father of a girl! Why, they emphasized, he + was over six feet tall, strong as an ox, broad-shouldered,—as fine a + figure as you would see in a lifetime. There was something wrong,—radically + wrong. + </p> + <p> + The district suffered another shock when a nurse maid was added to David's + household,—a girl from the city who had nothing whatever to do, + except to take care of the baby while the unnatural mother tinkered with + the flower-beds, took long walks about the farm, rode horseback, and + played tennis with David and a silly crowd of young people who had fallen + into evil ways. + </p> + <p> + She died when her daughter was ten years old. Those who had misunderstood + her and criticized her in the beginning, mourned her deeply, sincerely, + earnestly in the end, for she had triumphed over prejudice, + narrow-mindedness, and a certain form of malice. The whole district was + the better for her once hateful innovations, and there was no one left who + scoffed at David Windom for the choice he had made of a wife. + </p> + <p> + Her death wrought a remarkable, enduring change in Windom. He became a + silent, brooding man who rarely smiled and whose heart lay up in the + little graveyard on the ridge. The gay, larksome light fled from his eyes, + his face grew stern and sometimes forbidding. She had taken with her the + one great thing she had brought into his life: ineffable buoyancy. He no + longer played, for there was no one with whom he would play; he no longer + sang, for the music had gone out of his soul; he no longer whistled the + merry tunes, for his lips were stiff and unyielding. Only when he looked + upon his little daughter did the soft light of love well up into his eyes + and the rigid mouth grow tender. + </p> + <p> + She was like her mother. She was joyous, brave and fair to look upon. She + had the same heart of sunshine, the same heart of iron, and the blue in + her eyes was like the blue of the darkening skies. She adored the grim, + silent man who was her father, and she was the breath of life to him. + </p> + <p> + And then, when she was nineteen, she broke the heart of David Windom. For + two years she had been a student in the University situated but half a + score of miles from the place where she was born, a co-educational + institution of considerable size and importance. Windom did not believe in + women's colleges. He believed in the free school with its broadening + influence, its commingling of the sexes in the search for learning, and in + the divine right of woman to develop her mind through the channels that + lead ultimately and inevitably to superiority of man. He believed that the + girl trained and educated in schools devoted exclusively to the finer sex + fails to achieve understanding as well as education. The only way to give + a girl a practical education,—and he believed that every woman + should have one,—was to start her off even with the boy who was + training to become her master in all respects. + </p> + <p> + During her second year at the University she met Edward Crown, a senior. + He was the son of a blacksmith in the city, and he was working his way + through college with small assistance from his parent, who held to the + conviction that a man was far better off if he developed his muscles by + hard work and allowed the brain to take care of itself. Young Crown was a + good-looking fellow of twenty-three, clean-minded, ambitious, dogged in + work and dogged in play. He had "made" the football team in his sophomore + year. Customary snobbishness had kept him out of the fraternities and + college societies. He may have been a good fellow, a fine student, and a + cracking end on the eleven, and all that, but he was not acceptable + material for any one of the half dozen fraternities. + </p> + <p> + When he left college with his hard-earned degree it was to accept a + position with a big engineering company, a job which called him out to the + far Northwest. Alix Windom was his promised wife. They were deeply, madly + in love with each other. Separation seemed unendurable. She was willing to + go into the wilderness with him, willing to endure the hardships and the + discomforts of life in a construction camp up in the mountains of Montana. + She would share his poverty and his trials as she would later share his + triumphs. But when they went to David Windom with their beautiful dream, + the world fell about their ears. + </p> + <p> + David Windom, recovering from the shock of surprise, ordered Edward from + the house. He would sooner see his child dead than the wife of Nick + Crown's son,—Nick Crown, a drunken rascal who had been known to beat + his wife,—Nick Crown who was not even fit to lick the feet of the + horses he shod! + </p> + <p> + One dark, rainy night in late June, Alix stole out of the old farmhouse on + the ridge and met her lover at the abandoned tollgate half a mile up the + road. He waited there with a buggy and a fast team of horses. Out of a + ramshackle cupboard built in the wall of the toll-house, they withdrew the + bundles surreptitiously placed there by Alix in anticipation of this great + and daring event, and made off toward the city at a break-neck, reckless + speed. They were married before midnight, and the next day saw them on + their way to the Far West. But not before Alix had despatched a messenger + to her father, telling him of her act and asking his forgiveness for the + sake of the love she bore him. The same courier carried back to the city a + brief response from David Windom. In a shaken, sprawling hand he informed + her that if she ever decided to return to her home ALONE, he would receive + her and forgive her for the sake of the love he bore her, but if she came + with the coward who stole her away from him, he would kill him before her + eyes. + </p> + <p> + II — The summer and fall and part of the winter passed, and in early + March Alix came home. + </p> + <p> + David Windom, then a man of fifty, gaunt and grey and powerful, seldom had + left the farm in all these months. He rode about his far-spread estate, + grim and silent, his eyes clouded, his voice almost metallic, his manner + cold and repellent. His tenants, his labourers, his neighbours, fearing + him, rarely broke in upon his reserve. Only his animals loved him and were + glad to see him,—his dogs, his horses, even his cattle. He loved + them, for they were staunch and faithful. Never had he uttered his + daughter's name in all these months, nor was there a soul in the community + possessed of the hardihood to inquire about her or to sympathize with him. + </p> + <p> + It was a fierce, cruel night in March that saw the return of Alix. A fine, + biting snow blew across the wide, open farmlands; the beasts of the field + were snugly under cover; no man stirred abroad unless driven by necessity; + the cold, wind-swept roads were deserted. So no one witnessed the return + of Alix Crown and her husband. They came out of the bleak, unfriendly + night and knocked at David Windom's door. There were lights in his + sitting-room windows; through them they could see the logs blazing in the + big fireplace, beside which sat the lonely, brooding figure of Alix's + father. It was late,—nearly midnight,—and the house was still. + Old Maria Bliss and the one other servant had been in bed for hours. The + farmhands slept in a cottage Windom had erected years before, acting upon + his wife's suggestion. It stood some two or three hundred yards from the + main house. + </p> + <p> + A dog in the stables barked, first in anger and then with unmistakable + joy. David's favourite, a big collie, sprang up from his place on the rug + before the fire and looked uneasily toward the door opening onto the hall. + Then came a rapping at the front door. The collie growled softly as he + moved toward the door. He sniffed the air in the hall and suddenly began + to whine joyously, wagging his tail as he bounded back and forth between + his master and the door. + </p> + <p> + David Windom knew then that his daughter had come home. + </p> + <p> + He sprang to his feet and took two long strides toward the door. Abruptly, + as if suddenly turned to stone, he stopped. For a long time he stood + immovable in the middle of the room. The rapping was repeated, louder, + heavier than before. He turned slowly, retraced his steps to the fireplace + and took from its rack in the corner a great iron poker. His face was + ashen grey, his eyes were wide and staring and terrible. Then he strode + toward the door, absolutely unconscious of the glad, prancing dog at his + side. + </p> + <p> + In the poor shelter of the little porch stood Alix, bent and shivering, + and, behind her, Edward Crown, at whose feet rested two huge "telescope + satchels." The light from within fell dimly upon the white, upturned face + of the girl. She held out her hands to the man who towered above her on + the doorstep. + </p> + <p> + "Daddy! Daddy!" she cried brokenly. "Oh, my daddy! Let me come in—let + me,—I—I am freezing." + </p> + <p> + But David Windom was peering over her head at the indistinct face of the + man beyond. He wanted to be sure. Lifting his powerful arm, he struck. + </p> + <p> + Edward Crown, stiff and numb with cold and weak from an illness of some + duration, did not raise an arm to ward off the blow, nor was he even + prepared to dodge. The iron rod crashed down upon his head. His legs + crumpled up; he dropped in a heap at the top of the steps and rolled + heavily to the bottom, sprawling out on the snow-covered brick walk. + </p> + <p> + The long night wore on. Windom had carried his daughter into the + sitting-room, where he placed her on a lounge drawn up before the fire. + She had fainted. After an hour he left her and went out into the night. + The body of Edward Crown was lying where it had fallen. It was covered by + a thin blanket of snow. For a long time he stood gazing down upon the + lifeless shape. The snow cut his face, the wind threshed about his + coatless figure, but he heeded them not. He was muttering to himself. At + last he turned to re-enter the house. His daughter was standing in the + open doorway. + </p> + <p> + "Is—is that Edward down there?" she asked, in weak, lifeless tones. + She seemed dull, witless, utterly without realization. + </p> + <p> + "Go back in the house," he whispered, as he drew back from her in a sort + of horror,—horror that had not struck him in the presence of the + dead. + </p> + <p> + "Is that Edward?" she insisted, her voice rising to a queer, monotonous + wail. + </p> + <p> + "I told you to stay in the house," he said. "I told you I would look after + him, didn't I? Go back, Alix,—that's a good girl. Your—your + daddy will—Oh, my God! Don't look at me like that!" + </p> + <p> + "Is he dead?" she whispered, still standing very straight in the middle of + the doorway. She was not looking at the inert thing on the walk below, but + into her father's eyes. He did not, could not answer. He seemed frozen + stiff. She went on in the same dull, whispered monotone. "I begged him to + let me come alone. I begged him to let me see you first. But he would + come. He brought me all the way from the West and he—he was not + afraid of you. You have done what you said you would do. You did not give + him a chance. And always,—always I have loved you so. You will never + know how I longed to come back and have you kiss me, and pet me, and call + me those silly names you used—" + </p> + <p> + "What's done, is done," he broke in heavily. "He is dead. It had to be. I + was insane,—mad with all these months of hatred. It is done. Come,—there + is nothing you can do. Come back into the house. I will carry him in—and + wake somebody. Tomorrow they will come and take me away. They will hang + me. I am ready. Let them come. You must not stand there in the cold, my + child." + </p> + <p> + She toppled forward into his arms, and he lifted her as if she were a babe + and carried her into the house. The collie was whining in the corner. + Windom sat down in the big armchair before the fire, still holding the + girl in his arms. She was moaning weakly. Suddenly a great, overwhelming + fear seized him,—the fear of being hanged! + </p> + <p> + A long time afterward,—it was after two,—he arose from his + knees beside the lounge and prepared to go out into the night once more. + Alix had promised not to send her father to the gallows. She was almost in + a stupor after the complete physical and mental collapse, but she knew + what she was doing, she realized what she was promising in return for the + blow that had robbed her of the man she loved. + </p> + <p> + No one will ever know just what took place in that darkened sitting-room, + for the story as afterwards related was significantly lacking in details. + The light had been extinguished and the doors silently closed by the + slayer. The stiffening body of Edward Crown out in the snow was not more + silent than the interior of the old farmhouse, apart from the room in + which David Windom pleaded with his stricken daughter. + </p> + <p> + And all the while he was begging her to save him from the consequences of + his crime, his brain was searching for the means to dispose of the body of + Edward Crown and to provide an explanation for the return of Alix without + her husband. + </p> + <p> + Circumstances favoured him in a surprising manner. Young Crown and his + wife had travelled down from Chicago in a day coach, and they had left the + train at a small way station some five miles west of the Windom farm. + Crown was penniless. He did not possess the means to engage a vehicle to + transport them from the city to the farm, nor the money to secure lodging + for the night in the cheapest hotel. Alix's pride stood in the way of an + appeal to her husband's father or to any one of his friends for + assistance. It was she who insisted that they leave the train at Hawkins + station and walk to Windom's house. They had encountered no one who knew + them, either on the train or at the station; while on their cold, tortuous + journey along the dark highway they did not meet a solitary human being. + </p> + <p> + No one, therefore, was aware of their return. + </p> + <p> + Edward Crown's presence in the neighbourhood was unknown. If David + Windom's plan succeeded, the fact that Crown had returned with his wife + never would be known. To all inquirers both he and his daughter were to + return the flat but evasive answer: "It is something I cannot discuss at + present," leaving the world to arrive at the obvious conclusion that + Alix's husband had abandoned her. And presently people, from sheer + delicacy, would cease to inquire. No one would know that Crown had been + ill up in the mountains for weeks, had lost his position, and had spent + his last penny in getting his wife back to the house in which she was + born,—and where her own child was soon to be born. + </p> + <p> + Windom went about the task of secreting his son-in-law's body in a most + systematic, careful manner. He first carried the two "telescopes" into the + house and hid them in a closet. Then he put on an old overcoat and cap, + his riding boots and gloves. Stealing out to the rear of the house, he + found a lantern and secured it to his person by means of a strap. A few + minutes later he was ready to start off on his ghastly mission. Alix + nodded her head dumbly when he commanded her to remain in the sitting-room + and to make no sound that might arouse Maria Bliss. He promised to return + in less than an hour. + </p> + <p> + "Your father's life depends on your silence, my child, from this moment + on," he whispered in her ear. + </p> + <p> + She started up. "And how about my husband's life?" she moaned. "What of + him? Why do you put yourself—" + </p> + <p> + "Sh! Your husband is dead. You cannot bring him to life. It is your duty,—do + your hear?—your duty to spare the living. Remember what I said to + you awhile ago. Never forget it, my child." + </p> + <p> + "Yes," she muttered. "'Blood is thicker than water.' I remember." + </p> + <p> + III — He went out into the night, closing the door softly behind + him. The collie was at his heels. He was afraid to go alone. Grimly, + resolutely he lifted the body of Edward Crown from the ground and slung it + across his shoulder, the head and arms hanging down his back. Desperation + added strength to his powerful frame. As if his burden were a sack of + meal, he strode swiftly down the walk, through the gate and across the + gravel road. The night was as black as ink, yet he went unerringly to the + pasture gate a few rods down the road. Unlatching it, he passed through + and struck out across the open, wind-swept meadow. The dog slunk along + close behind him, growling softly. Snow was still falling, but the gale + from the north was sweeping it into drifts, obliterating his tracks almost + as soon as they were made. + </p> + <p> + Straight ahead lay the towering, invisible rock, a quarter of a mile away. + He descended the ridge slope, swung tirelessly across the swales and + mounds in the little valley, and then bent his back to the climb up the + steep incline to Quill's Window. Picking his way through a fringe of + trees, he came to the tortuous path that led to the crest of the great + rock. Panting, dogged, straining every ounce of his prodigious strength, + he struggled upward, afraid to stop for rest, afraid to lower his burden. + The sides and the flat summit of the rock were full of treacherous + fissures, but he knew them well. He had climbed the sides of Quill's + Window scores of times as a boy, to sit at the top and gaze off over the + small world below, there to dream of the great world outside, and of love, + adventure, travel. Many a night, after the death of his beloved Alix, he + had gone up there to mourn alone, to be nearer to the heaven which she had + entered, to be closer to her. He knew well of the narrow fissure at the + top,—six feet deep and the length of a grave! Filled only with the + leaves of long dead years! + </p> + <p> + He lowered his burden to the bare surface of the rock. The wind had swept + it clean. Under the protecting screen of his overcoat he struck a match + and lighted the lantern. Then for the first time he studied closely the + grey, still face of the youth he had slain. The skull was crushed. There + was frozen blood down the back of the head and neck—He started up in + sudden consternation. There would be blood-stains where the body had lain + so long,—tell-tale, convicting stains! He must be swift with the + work in hand. Those stains must be wiped out before the break of day. + </p> + <p> + Lowering himself into the opening, he began digging at one end with his + hands, scooping back quantities of wet leaves. There was snow down there + in the pit,—a foot or more of it. After a few minutes of vigorous + clawing, a hole in the side of the fissure was revealed,—an aperture + large enough for a man to crawl into. He knew where it led to: down into + Quill's cave twenty feet below. + </p> + <p> + Some one,—perhaps an Indian long before the time of Quill, or it may + have been Quill himself,—had chiselled hand and toe niches in the + sides of this well and had used the strange shaft as means of getting into + and out of the cave. Windom's father had closed this shaft when David was + a small boy, after the venturesome youngster had gone down into the cave + and, unable to climb out again, had been the cause of an all-day search by + his distracted parent and every neighbour for miles around. The elder + Windom had blocked the bottom of the hole with a huge boulder, shorn from + the side of the cave by some remote wrench of nature. Then he had half + filled the cavity from the top by casting in all of the loose stones to be + found on the crest of the rock, together with a quantity of earth. The + work had never been completed. There still remained a hole some ten feet + deep. + </p> + <p> + David Windom clambered out, leaving his lantern below. Letting the dead + man's body slide into the crevice, he followed, bent on at least partially + finishing the job. When he climbed out a second time, Edward Crown was at + the bottom of the hole and the wet, foul leaves again hid the opening. + Tomorrow night, and the night after, he would come again to close the hole + entirely with earth and stones, hiding forever the grewsome thing in + Quill's "chimney," as the flue-like passage was called. + </p> + <p> + Extinguishing the lantern, he started down the hill at a reckless, + break-neck speed. He had the uncanny feeling that he was being followed, + that Edward Crown was dogging his footsteps. Halfway down, he stumbled and + fell sprawling. As he started to rise, a sound smote his ears—the + sound of footsteps. For many seconds he held his breath, terror clutching + his throat. He WAS being followed! Some one was shuffling down the rock + behind him. The collie! He had forgotten the dog. But even as he drew in + the deep breath of relief, he felt his blood suddenly freeze in his veins. + It was not the dog. Something approached that moaned and whimpered and was + not mortal. It passed by him as he crouched to the earth,—a shadow + blacker than the night itself. Suddenly the truth burst upon him. + </p> + <p> + "My God! Alix!" + </p> + <p> + Half an hour later he staggered into his house, bearing the form of his + daughter,—tenderly, carefully, not as he had borne the despised + dead. + </p> + <p> + She had followed him to the top of Quill's Window, she had witnessed the + ghastly interment, and she had whispered a prayer for the boy who was + gone. + </p> + <p> + The next day her baby was born and that night she died. Coming out of a + stupor just before death claimed her, she said to David Windom: + </p> + <p> + "I am going to Edward. I do not forgive you, father. You must not ask that + of me. You say it is my duty to save you from the gallows,—a child's + duty to her parent. I have promised. I shall keep my promise. It is not in + my heart to send you to the gallows. You are my father. You have always + loved me. This is my baby,—mine and Edward's. She may live,—God + knows I wish I might have died yesterday and spared her the accursed + breath of life,—she may grow up to be a woman, just as I grew up. I + do not ask much of you in return for what I have done for you, father. You + have killed my Edward. I loved him with all my soul. I do not care to + live. But my child must go on living, I suppose. My child and his. She is + his daughter. I cannot expect you to love her, but I do expect you to take + care of her. You say that blood is thicker than water. You are right. I + cannot find it in my heart to betray you. You may tell the world whatever + story you like about Edward. He is dead, and I shall soon be dead. You can + hurt neither of us, no matter what you do. I ask two things of you. One is + that you will be good to my baby as long as you may live, and the other is + that you will bury me up there where you put Edward last night. I must lie + near him always. Say to people that I have asked you to bury me in that + pit at the top of Quill's Window,—that it was my whim, if you like. + Close it up after you have placed me there and cover it with great rocks, + so that Edward and I may never be disturbed. I want no headstone, no + epitaph. Just the stones as they were hewn by God." + </p> + <p> + David Windom promised. He was alone in the room with her when she died. + </p> + <p> + IV — Twenty years passed. Windom came at last to the end of his + days. He had fulfilled his promises to Alix. He had taken good care of her + daughter, he had given her everything in his power to give, and he had + worshipped her because she was like both of the Alixes he had loved. She + was Alix Crown,—Alix the Third, he called her. + </p> + <p> + On the day of his death, Windom confessed the crime of that far off night + in March. In the presence of his lawyer, his doctor, his granddaughter and + the prosecuting attorney of the county, he revealed the secret he had kept + for a score of years. The mystery of Edward Crown's disappearance was + cleared up, and for the first time in her young life Alix was shorn of the + romantic notion that one day her missing father would appear in the flesh, + out of the silences, to claim her as his own. From earliest childhood, her + imagination had dealt with all manner of dramatic situations; she had + existed in the glamour of uncertainty; she had looked upon herself as a + character worthy of a place in some gripping tale of romance. The mound of + rocks on the crest of Quill's Window, surrounded by a tall iron paling + fence with its padlocked gate, covered only the body of the mother she had + never seen. She did not know until this enlightening hour that her father + was also there and had been throughout all the years in which fancy played + so important a part. + </p> + <p> + Like all the rest of the world, she was given to understand that her + father had cruelly abandoned her mother. In her soul she had always + cherished the hope that this heartless monster might one day stand before + her, pleading and penitent, only to be turned away with the scorn he so + richly deserved. She even pictured him as rich and powerful, possessed of + everything except the one great boon which she alone could give him,—a + daughter's love. And she would point to the top of Quill's Window and tell + him that he must first look there for forgiveness,—under the rocks + where his broken-hearted victim slept. + </p> + <p> + The truth stunned her. She was a long time in realizing that her + grandfather, whom she both loved and feared,—this grim, adoring old + giant,—not only had murdered her father but undoubtedly had killed + her mother as well. The story that David Windom had written out and signed + at the certain approach of death, read aloud in his presence by the + shocked and incredulous lawyer, and afterwards printed word for word in + the newspapers at the old man's command, changed the whole course of life + for her. In fact, her nature underwent a sharp but subtle change. There + was nothing left to her of the old life, no thought, no purpose, no fancy; + all had been swept up in a heap and destroyed in the short space of half + an hour. Everything in her life had to be reconstructed, made-over to suit + the new order. She could no longer harbour vengeful thoughts concerning + her father, she could no longer charge him with the wanton destruction of + her mother's happiness. + </p> + <p> + The grandfather she had loved all her life assumed another shape entirely; + he was no longer the same, and never again could be the same. She did not + hate him. That was impossible. She had never seen her parents, so she had + not known the love of either. They did not belong in her life except + through the sheerest imagination. Her grandfather was the only real thing + she had had in life, and she had adored him. He had killed two people who + were as nothing to her, but he had taken the place of both. How could she + bring herself to hate this man who had destroyed what were no more than + names to her? Father,—Mother! Two words,—that was all. And for + twenty long years he had been paying,—Oh, how he must have paid! + </p> + <p> + She recalled his reason for taking her to England when she was less than + eight years old and leaving her there until she was twelve. She remembered + that he had said he wanted her to be like her grandmother, to grow up + among her people, to absorb from them all that had made the first Alix so + strong and fine and true. And then he had come to take her from them, back + to the land of her birth, because, he said, he wanted her to be like her + mother, the second Alix,—an American woman. She recalled his bitter + antipathy to co-educational institutions and his unyielding resolve that + she should complete her schooling in a Sacred Heart Convent. She + remembered the commotion this decision created among his neighbours. In + her presence they had assailed him with the charge that he was turning the + girl over, body and soul, to the Catholic Church, and he had uttered in + reply the never to be forgotten words: + </p> + <p> + "If I never do anything worse than that for her, I'll be damned well + satisfied with my chance of getting into heaven as soon as the rest of + you." + </p> + <p> + When David's will was read, it was found that except for a few small + bequests, his entire estate, real and personal, was left to his + granddaughter, Alix Crown, to have and to hold in perpetuity without + condition or restriction of any sort or character. + </p> + <p> + The first thing she did was to have a strong picket fence constructed + around the base of the hill leading up to Quill's Window, shutting off all + accessible avenues of approach to the summit. Following close upon the + publication of David Windom's confession, large numbers of people were + urged by morbid curiosity to visit the strange burial-place of Edward and + Alix Crown. The top of Quill's Window became the most interesting spot in + the county. Alix the Third was likewise an object of vast interest, and + the old, deserted farmhouse on the ridge came in for its share of + curiosity. + </p> + <p> + Almost immediately after the double tragedy and the birth of little Alix, + David Windom moved out of the house and took up his residence in the + riverside village of Windomville, a mile to the south. The old house was + closed, the window shutters nailed up, the doors barred, and all signs of + occupancy removed. It was said that he never put foot inside the yard + after his hasty, inexplicable departure. The place went to rack and ruin. + In course of time he built a new and modern house nearer the village, and + this was now one of the show places of the district. + </p> + <p> + The influence of Alix the First was expressed in the modelling of house + and grounds, the result being a picturesque place with a distinctly + English atmosphere, set well back from the highway in the heart of a grove + of oaks,—a substantial house of brick with a steep red tile roof, + white window casements, and a wide brick terrace guarded by a low + ivy-draped wall. English ivy swathed the two corners of the house facing + the road, mounting high upon the tall red chimneys at the ends. There were + flower-beds below the terrace, and off to the right there was an + old-fashioned garden. The stables were at the foot of the hill some + distance to the rear of the house. + </p> + <p> + The village of Windomville lay below, hugging the river, a relic of the + days when steamboats plied up and down the stream and railways were + remote, a sleepy, insignificant, intensely rural hamlet of less than six + hundred inhabitants. Its one claim to distinction was the venerable but + still active ferry that laboured back and forth across the river. Of + secondary importance was the ancient dock, once upon a time the stopping + place of steamboats, but now a rotten, rickety obstruction upon which the + downstream drift lodged in an unsightly mass. + </p> + <p> + In the solid red-brick house among the oaks Alix the Third had spent her + childhood days. She was taken to England when she was eight by her haunted + grandfather, not only to receive the bringing-up of an English child, but + because David Windom's courage was breaking down. As she grew older, the + resemblance to Edward Crown became more and more startling. She had his + dark, smiling eyes; his wavy brown hair; her very manner of speech was + like his. To David Windom, she was the re-incarnation of the youth he had + slain. Out of her eyes seemed to look the soul of Edward Crown. He could + not stand it. She became an obsession, a curious source of fascination. He + could not bear her out of his sight, and yet when she was with him, + smiling up into his eyes,—he was deathly afraid of her. There were + times when he was almost overcome by the impulse to drop to his knees and + plead for forgiveness as he looked into the clear, friendly, questioning + eyes of Edward Crown. + </p> + <p> + And her voice, her speech,—therein lay the true cause of his taking + her to England. When she came home to him, after four years, there was no + trace of Edward Crown in her voice or manner of speaking. She was almost + as English as Alix the First. But her eyes had not changed; he was still a + haunted man. + </p> + <p> + In the little graveyard on the outskirts of the village more than a score + of Windoms lie. With them lies all that was mortal of fair Alix the First, + and beside her is David Windom, the murderer. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III — COURTNEY THANE + </h2> + <p> + "And what has become of Alix the Third?" inquired the young man, squinting + at his wristwatch and making out in the semi-darkness that it was nearly + half-past nine. + </p> + <p> + He had listened somewhat indulgently to the story of the three Alixes. The + old man, prompted and sometimes disputed by other members of the family, + had narrated in his own simple way the foregoing tale, arriving at the end + in a far more expeditious and certainly in a less studied manner than the + present chronicler employs in putting the facts before his readers. The + night was hot. He was occasionally interrupted by various members of the + little group on the front porch of the big old farmhouse, the interruption + invariably taking the form of a conjecture concerning the significance of + certain signs ordinarily infallible in denoting the approach of rain. Heat + lightning had been playing for an hour or more in the gloomy west; a + tree-toad in a nearby elm was prophesying thunder in unmelodious song: + night-birds fluttered restlessly among the lofty branches; widely + separated whiffs of a freshening wind came around the corner of the house. + All of these had a barometric meaning to the wistful group. There was a + thunderstorm on the way. It was sure to come before morning. The prayers + inaugurated a month ago were at last to be answered. + </p> + <p> + As old man Brown drily remarked: "There's one satisfaction about prayin' + for rain. If you keep at it long enough, you're bound to get what you're + askin' for. Works the same way when you're prayin' for it to stop rainin'. + My grandfather once prayed for a solid two months before he got rain, and + then, by gosh, he had to pray for nearly three weeks to get it to quit." + </p> + <p> + Supper over, the young man had reminded his venerable angling companion of + his promise to relate the history of Quill's Window. Old Caleb Brown was + the father of Mrs. Vick,—Lucinda Vick, wife of the farmer in whose + house the young man was spending a month as a boarder. + </p> + <p> + The group on the porch included Amos Vick, anxious, preoccupied, and + interested only in the prospect of rain; his daughter Rosabel, aged + eighteen, a very pretty and vivacious girl, interested only in the young + man from the far-off, mysterious city in the East; his son Caleb, a rugged + youth of nineteen; Mrs. Vick, and a neighbour named White, who had come + over for the sole purpose of finding out just what Amos Vick thought about + the weather. Two dogs lay panting on the dry grass at the foot of the + steps. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, she's living over there in the Windom house," said Mrs. Vick. + </p> + <p> + "Sort of running the place," explained Mr. Brown, a trace of irony in his + voice. + </p> + <p> + "Well," put in Amos Vick, speaking for the first time in many minutes, + "she's got a lot of sense, that girl has. She may be letting on that she's + running the farm, but she ain't, you bet. That's where she's smart. She's + got sense enough to know she don't know anything about running a farm, and + while she puts on a lot of airs and acts kind of important like, the real + truth is she leaves everything to old Jim Bagley. I guess you don't know + who Jim Bagley is, do you, Courtney?" + </p> + <p> + "I can't say that I do," replied the young man. + </p> + <p> + "Well, he's about the slickest citizen you ever saw. From what father here + says about your granddad, he must have been a purty hard customer to deal + with, but, by ginger, if he was any worse than Jim Bagley in driving a + bargain, I'm glad he died as long ago as he did." + </p> + <p> + "You're just sore, Amos," said his wife, "because Mr. Bagley got the best + of you in that hog deal three years ago." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, Lord, ain't you ever going to get tired of throwin' that up to me?" + groaned Mr. Vick. "I never mention Jim Bagley's name but what you up and + say something about them hogs. Now, as a matter of fact, them hogs—" + </p> + <p> + "For goodness sake, Pa, you're not going to tell Mr. Thane about that hog + business, are you?" cried Rosabel. + </p> + <p> + "Well, when your Ma begins to insinuate that I got the worst of—" + </p> + <p> + "I don't say that you got the worst of it, Amos," interrupted Mrs. Vick + good-humouredly. "I only say that he got the best of it." + </p> + <p> + "Well, if that don't come to the same—" + </p> + <p> + "Looks to me, Amos, like we'd get her good and plenty before mornin'," + broke in Mr. White. He was referring to the weather. "That ain't all heat + lightnin' over there. Seems to me I heard a little thunder just now." + </p> + <p> + "Alix Crown is away a good part of the time, Courtney," said Mrs. Vick, + taking up the thread where it had been severed by recrimination. "All + through the war,—long before we went in,—she was up in town + working for the Belgiums, and then, when we did go in, she went East + some'eres to learn how to be a nurse or drive an ambulance or something,—New + York, I believe. And as for money, she contributed quite a bit—how + much do they say it was, Amos?" + </p> + <p> + "Well, all I know is that Mary Simmons says she gave ten thousand dollars + and Josie Fiddler says it was three hundred,—so you can choose + between 'em." + </p> + <p> + "She did her share, all right," said young Caleb defensively. "That's + more'n a lot of people around here did." + </p> + <p> + "Gale's in love with her, Mr. Thane," explained Rosabel. "She's five years + older than he is, and don't know he's on earth." + </p> + <p> + "Aw, cut that out," growled Caleb. + </p> + <p> + "Is she good-looking?" inquired Courtney Thane. + </p> + <p> + "I don't like 'em quite as tall as she is," said Mr. White. + </p> + <p> + "She's got a good pair of legs," said old Caleb Brown, shifting his cigar + with his tongue. + </p> + <p> + "We're not talking about horses, father," said Mrs. Vick sharply. + </p> + <p> + "Who said we was?" demanded old Caleb. + </p> + <p> + "Most people think she's good-looking," said Rosabel, somewhat grudgingly. + "And she isn't any taller than I am, Mr. White." + </p> + <p> + "Well, you ain't no dwarft, Rosie," exclaimed Farmer White, with a brave + laugh. "You must be five foot seven or eight, but you ain't skinny like + she is. She'd ought to weigh about a hunderd and sixty, for her height, + and I'll bet she don't weigh more'n a hunderd and thirty." + </p> + <p> + "I wouldn't call that skinny," remarked Courtney. + </p> + <p> + "She wears these here new-fangled britches when she's on horseback," said + old Caleb, justifying his observation. "Rides straddle, like a man. You + can't help seeing what kind of—" + </p> + <p> + "That will do, Pa," broke in his wife. "It's no crime for a woman to wear + pants when she's riding, although I must say I don't think it's very + modest. I never rode any way except side-saddle,—and neither has + Rosabel. I've brought her up—" + </p> + <p> + "Don't you be too sure of that, Ma," interrupted young Caleb maliciously. + </p> + <p> + "I never did it but once, and you know it, Cale Vick," cried Rosabel, + blushing violently. + </p> + <p> + The subject was abruptly changed by Mr. White. + </p> + <p> + "Well, I guess I'll be moseyin' along home, Amos. That certainly did sound + like thunder, didn't it? And that tree-toad has stopped signallin',—that's + a sure sign. Like as not I'll get caught in the rain if I don't,—what + say, Lucindy?" + </p> + <p> + "Do you want an umberell, Steve?" + </p> + <p> + "I should say not! What do you want me to do? Scare the rain off? No, sir! + Rain's the funniest thing in the world. If it sees you got an umberell it + won't come within a hunderd miles of you. That's why I got my Sunday + clothes on, and my new straw hat. Sometimes that'll bring rain out of a + clear sky,—that an' a Sunday-school picnic. It's a pity we couldn't + have got up a Sunday-school picnic,—but then, of course, that + wouldn't have done any good. You can't fool a rainstorm. So long, Amos. + Night, everybody. Night, Courtney. As I was sayin' awhile ago, I used to + go to school with your pa when him an' me was little shavers,—up + yonder at the old Kennedy schoolhouse. Fifty odd years ago. Seems like + yesterday. How old did you say you was?" + </p> + <p> + "Twenty-eight, Mr. White." + </p> + <p> + "And your pa's been dead—how long did you say?" + </p> + <p> + "He died when I was twenty-two." + </p> + <p> + "Funny your ma didn't bring him out here and bury him 'longside his father + and all the rest of 'em up in the family burying-ground," was Mr. White's + concluding observation as he ambled off down the gravel walk to the front + gate. + </p> + <p> + "I wish you'd brought your croix de guerre along with you, Mr. Thane," + said young Caleb, his eyes gleaming in the faint light from the open door. + "I guess I don't pronounce it as it ought to be. I'm not much of a hand at + French." + </p> + <p> + "You came pretty close to it," said Thane, with a smile. "You see, Cale, + it's the sort of thing one puts away in a safe place. That's why I left it + in New York. Mother likes to look at it occasionally. Mothers are queer + creatures, you know. They like to be reminded of the good things their + sons have done. It helps 'em to forget the bad things, I suppose." + </p> + <p> + "You're always joking," pouted Rosabel, leaning forward, ardour in her + wide, young eyes. "If I was a boy and had been in the war, I'd never stop + talking about it." + </p> + <p> + "And I'd have been in it, too, if pa hadn't up and told 'em I was only a + little more than fifteen," said Cale, glowering at his father in the + darkness. + </p> + <p> + "You mustn't blame your pa, Cale," rebuked his mother. "He knows what a + soldier's life is better than you do. He was down in that camp at + Chattanooga during the Spanish War, and almost died of typhoid, Courtney. + And when I think of the way our boys died by the millions of the flu, I—well, + I just know you would have died of it, sonny, and I wouldn't have had any + cross or medal to look at, and—and—" + </p> + <p> + "Don't begin cryin', Lucindy," broke in old Caleb hastily. "He didn't die + of the flu, so what's the sense of worryin' about it now? He didn't even + ketch it, and gosh knows, the whole blamed country was full of it that + winter." + </p> + <p> + "Well," began Mrs. Vick defensively, and then compressed her lips in + silence. + </p> + <p> + "I think it was perfectly wonderful of you, Mr. Thane, to go over to + France and fight in the American Ambulance so long before we went into the + war." This from the adoring Rosabel. "I wish you'd tell us more about your + experiences. They must have been terrible. You never talk about them, + though. I think the real heroes were the fellows who went over when you + did,—when you didn't really have to, because America wasn't in it." + </p> + <p> + "The American Ambulance wasn't over there to fight, you know," explained + Courtney. + </p> + <p> + "What did you get the cross for if you weren't fighting?" demanded young + Cale. + </p> + <p> + "For doing what a whole lot of other fellows did,—simply going out + and getting a wounded man or two in No-Man's Land. We didn't think much + about it at the time." + </p> + <p> + "Was it very dangerous?" asked Rosabel. + </p> + <p> + "I suppose it was,—more or less so," replied Thane indifferently. He + even yawned. "I'd rather talk about Alix the Third, if it's all the same + to you. Is she light or dark?" + </p> + <p> + "She's a brunette," said Rosabel shortly. "All except her eyes. They're + blue. How long were you up at the front, Mr. Thane?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, quite a while,—several months, in fact. At first we were in a + place where there wasn't much fighting. Just before the first big Verdun + drive we were transferred to that sector, and then we saw a lot of + action." + </p> + <p> + "Some battle, wasn't it?" exclaimed young Cale, a thrill in his voice. + </p> + <p> + "Certainly was," said Courtney. "We used to work forty-eight hours at a + stretch, taking 'em back by the thousands." + </p> + <p> + "How near did the shells ever come to you?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, sometimes as close as twenty or thirty feet. I remember one that + dropped in the road about fifty feet ahead of my car, and before I could + stop we ran plunk into the hole it made and upset. I suppose the Windom + estate must be a pretty big one, isn't it, Mr. Vick?" + </p> + <p> + "Taking everything into consideration, it amounts to nearly a million + dollars. David Windom had quite a bit of property up in the city, aside + from his farm, and he owned a big ranch out in Texas. The grain elevator + in Windomville belonged to him,—still belongs to Alix Crown,—and + there's a three mile railroad connecting with the main line over at + Smith's Siding. Every foot of it is on his land. He built the railroad + about twenty year ago, and the elevator, too,—out of spite, they + say, for the men that run the elevator at Hawkins a little further up the + road. Hawkins is the place where his daughter and Edward Crown got off the + train the night of the murder." + </p> + <p> + "And this young girl owns all of it,—farms, ranch, railroad and + everything?" + </p> + <p> + "Every cent's worth of it is her'n. There ain't a sign of a mortgage on + any of it, either. It's as clear as a blank sheet of writin' paper." + </p> + <p> + "When was it you were gassed, Mr. Thane?" inquired young Caleb. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, that was when I was in the air service,—only a few weeks before + the armistice." + </p> + <p> + "You left your wings at home, too, I suppose?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes. Mother likes to look at the only wings I'll probably ever have,—now + or hereafter." + </p> + <p> + "How does it come, Court, that you went into the British air corpse, + 'stead of in the U. S. A.?" inquired old Caleb. + </p> + <p> + "I joined the Royal Flying Corps, Mr. Brown, because the Americans + wouldn't have me," replied Thane tersely. "I tried to get in, but they + wouldn't pass me. Said I had a weak heart and a whole lot of rubbish like + that. It's no wonder the American Air Service was punk. I went over to + Toronto and they took me like a shot in the Royal British. They weren't so + blamed finicky and old womanish. All they asked for in an applicant was + any kind of a heart at all so long as it was with the cause. I don't + suppose I ought to say it, but the American Air Service was a joke." + </p> + <p> + "I hope you ain't turning British in your feelings, Court," remarked Amos + Vick. "It's purty difficult to be both, you know,—English and + Yankee." + </p> + <p> + "I'm American through and through, Mr. Vick, even though I did serve under + the British flag till I was gassed and invalided out." + </p> + <p> + "Affects the lungs, don't it?" inquired old Caleb. + </p> + <p> + "I don't like to talk about it, Mr. Brown. I'm trying to forget what hell + was like. I was in hospital for four months. It took a lot more nerve to + draw a breath then than it did to fly over the German lines with the + Boches popping away from all sides. I didn't mind the wounds I sustained,—but + the gas! Gee, it was horrible." + </p> + <p> + "Your ma said in her letter to me that you'd had pneumonia twice since you + got back," said Mrs. Vick. "Was that due to the gas?" + </p> + <p> + "I suppose so. They thought I had tuberculosis for awhile, you see. Then, + this spring, I had to go and have a bout with typhoid. I ought to be dead, + with all I've had,—but here I am, alive and happy, and if you keep + on feeding me as you have been for the past three days, I'll live + forever." + </p> + <p> + "You mustn't overdo, Courtney," warned the farmer's wife. "Your ma sent + you out here to get well, and I feel a kind of responsibility for you. I + guess it's about time you was off to bed. Come on, Amos. It isn't going to + bring rain any sooner for you to be setting out here watching for it." + </p> + <p> + Old Caleb had his say. "I suppose it was all right for you to serve with + the British, Court, but if you'd waited a little while longer you might + have carried a gun over there under the Stars and Stripes. But, as you + say, you couldn't bear to wait. I give you credit for it. I'm derned glad + to see one member of the Thane family that had the nerve to volunteer. At + the time of the Civil War your grandpa was what we call a slacker in these + days. He hired a feller to go in his place, and when that feller was + killed and a second call for volunteers come up, dogged if he didn't up + and hire another one. One of your grandpa's brothers skipped off to Canada + so's he wouldn't have to serve, and the other,—his name was George + Washington Thane, by the way,—accidentally shot two of his fingers + off while his company was in camp down at Crawfordsville, gettin' ready to + go down and meet Morgan's Riders,—and that let him out. I admit it + takes right smart of courage to accidentally shoot your fingers off, + specially when nobody is lookin', but at any rate he had a uniform on when + he done it. Course, there wasn't any wars during your pa's day, so I don't + know how he would have acted. He wasn't much of a feller for fightin', + though,—I remember that. I mean fist fightin'. I'm glad to know you + don't take after your granddad. I never had any use for a coward, and + that's why I'm proud to shake hands with you, my boy. There was a derned + bad streak in your family back in your granddad's day, and it certainly is + good to see that you have wiped it out. It don't always happen so. Yeller + streaks are purty hard to wipe out. Takes more than two generations to do + it as a rule. I'm happy to know you ain't gun shy." + </p> + <p> + The young man laughed. "I don't mind telling you, Mr. Brown, that I never + went into action without being scared half out of my boots. But I wasn't + alone in that, you see. I never knew a man over there who wasn't scared + when he went over the top. He went, just the same,—and that's what I + call courage." + </p> + <p> + "So do I," cried Rosabel. + </p> + <p> + "Did you ever know for sure whether you got a German?" asked the intense + young Caleb. "I mean,—did you ever KILL one?" + </p> + <p> + "That's pretty hard to say, Cale. We never knew, you see,—we fellows + up in the clouds. I was in a bombing machine. I'd hate to think that we + WASTED any bombs." + </p> + <p> + "Come now,—all of you,—off to bed," interposed Mrs. Vick. "I + don't want to hear any more, Courtney. I wouldn't sleep a wink." + </p> + <p> + "Strikin' ten," said Amos, arising from his rocking-chair and turning it + upside down at the back of the porch. + </p> + <p> + "Don't do that, Amos," protested old Caleb. "It'll NEVER rain if you—Why, + dog-gone it, ain't you learned that it's bad luck to turn a chair + bottom-side up when rain's needed? Turn it right-side up and put it right + out here in front again where the rain can get at it. Nothin' tickles the + weather more'n a chance to spoil something. That's right. Now we c'n go to + bed. Better leave them cushions on the steps too, Rosie." + </p> + <p> + Courtney Thane went to his room,—the spare-room on the second floor,—and + prepared to retire. The process was attended by the smoking of three + cigarettes. Presently he was stretched out on the bed without even so much + as a sheet over him. The heat was stifling. Not a breath of air came in + through the wide-open windows. He lay awake for a long time, staring out + into the night. + </p> + <p> + "So my precious granddad had a yellow streak in him, did he? And father + wasn't much of a fighter either. Takes more than two generations to wipe + out a yellow streak, does it? I wonder what the old boob meant by that + rotten slam at my people." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV — DOWD'S TAVERN + </h2> + <p> + The last week in August Courtney Thane left the Vick farm and, crossing + the river, took lodgings at the boarding house conducted by the Misses + Dowd in the town of Windomville. + </p> + <p> + In a letter to his mother, informing her of the change, he had said: + </p> + <p> + Of course, I appreciate the fact that you are paying the bills, old dear, + and out of consideration for you I dare say I ought to stick it out with + the Vicks till November as we arranged. But I simply cannot stand it any + longer. The old woman almost puts me to bed, the girl almost sits on my + lap, the boy drives me crazy with his infernal questions about the war, + and old man Brown,—the one who went to school with father out in + this gosh awful land of the grasshopper,—he is the limit. He never + lets a day go by without some slur about my grandfather or some other + member of the family who existed long before I was born. Thinks he's + witty. He is always nagging at me about cigarette smoking. I wish you + could see the way he mishandles a cigar. As you know, I seldom smoke more + than a half dozen cigarettes a day, but he swears to God I am + everlastingly ruining my health, and it has got on my nerves so that if I + stay on here another week I'll call the old jay so hard he'll drop dead + from the shock. And, my heavens, how lonesome it is here. I almost die of + homesickness. I just had to find a place where there is some one to talk + to besides the cows and sheep and people who never think of anything but + crops and the weather, last Sunday's sermon and Theodore Roosevelt. They + are honest, but, my God, how could they be anything else? It would not be + right for me to deny that I have improved a great deal in the last couple + of weeks. I am beginning to feel pretty fit, and I've put on four or five + pounds. Still, I'm getting sick of fresh eggs and fresh milk and their + everlasting bacon,—they call it side-meat,—and preserves. She + simply stuffs me with them. The air is wonderful, even during that awful + hot spell I wrote you about. I am sure that another month or two out here,—perhaps + three,—will put me back on my pins stronger than ever, and then I'll + be in condition to go back to work. I am eager to get at it as soon as + possible in order to pay back all you have put up for me during this + beastly year. If I did not know you can well afford to do what you have + been doing for me, mother dear, I wouldn't allow you to spend another + penny on me. But you will get it all back some day, not in cash, of + course,—for that means nothing to you,—but in the joy of + knowing that it was worth while to bring your only son into the world. + Now, as to this change I am going to make. I've been across the river + several times and I like it over there much better than here. I think the + air is better and certainly the surroundings are pleasanter. Windomville + is a funny little village of five or six hundred people, about the same + number of dogs (exaggeration!), and the sleepiest place you've ever + imagined. Old Caleb Brown says it was laid out back in 1830 or thereabouts + by the first Windom to come to these parts. It has a public school, a town + hall, a motion-picture house (with last year's reels), a drug store where + you can get soda water, a grain elevator, and a wonderful old log hut that + was built by the very first settler, making it nearly a hundred years old. + Miss Alix Crown, who owns nearly everything in sight,—including the + log hut,—has had the latter restored and turned into the quaintest + little town library you've ever seen. But you ought to see the librarian! + She is a dried-up, squinty old maid of some seventy summers, and so full + of Jane Austen and the Bronte women and Mrs. Southworth that she hasn't an + inch of room left in her for the modern writers. Her name caps the climax. + It is Alaska Spigg. Can you beat it? No one ever calls her Miss Spigg,—not + even the kids,—nor is she ever spoken of or to as Alaska. It is + always Alaska Spigg. I wish you could see her. Miss Crown is the girl I + wrote you about, the one with the dime novel history back of her. She has + a house on the edge of the town,—a very attractive place. I have not + seen her yet. She is up in Michigan,—Harbor Point, I believe,—but + I hear she is expected home within a week or two. I am rather curious to + see her. The place where I have taken a room is run by a couple of old + maids named Dowd. It is really a sort of hotel. At least, you would insult + them if you called it a boarding house. Their grandfather built the house + and ran it as a tavern back before the Civil War. When he died his son + carried on the business. And now his two daughters run the place. They + have built on a couple of wings and it is really an interesting old shack. + Clean as a pin, and they say the grub is good. It will be, as I said, a + little more expensive living here than with the Vicks but not enough to + amount to anything. The Dowds ask only fifteen dollars a week for room and + board, which is cheaper than the Ritz-Carlton or the Commodore, isn't + it?...Here is my new address in the Metropolis of + Windomville-by-the-Crick: Dowd's Tavern, Main Street. + </p> + <p> + Her reply was prompt. She wrote from Bar Harbor, where she was spending + the summer: + </p> + <p> + ...perfectly silly of you, dearest, to speak of repaying me. All I possess + will be yours some day, so why begrudge you a little of what should be + yours now? Your dear father perhaps thought he was doing the right thing + for both of us when he left everything to me during my lifetime, but I do + not believe it was fair....There will not be a great deal, of course. You + understand how heavy my expenses have been....In any case, you are in + wretched health, my dear boy. Nothing must stand in the way of your + complete recovery. When you are completely recovered, well and strong and + eager to take up life where this cruel war cut it off, I shall be the + happiest mother alive. I am sure you will have no difficulty in + establishing yourself. They tell me the returned soldiers are not having + an easy time finding satisfactory and lucrative positions. It is a shame + the way certain concerns have treated a good many of them, after actually + promising to hold their places open for them. But with you it will be + different. I spoke to Mr. Roberts yesterday about you. He wants to have a + talk with you. I have an idea he wants to put you in charge of one of + their offices in Spain. At any rate, he asked if you spoke Spanish + well....So I can easily afford to increase your allowance to one hundred + and fifty a month. More, if you should ask for it, but you are so proud + and self-reliant I can do absolutely nothing with you, dear boy. I quite + understand your unwillingness to accept more than you actually need from + me. It is splendid, and I am very proud of you....This girl you wrote me + about, is she so very rich?...Your father used to speak of a young man + named Windom and how he envied him because he was so tall and handsome. Of + course, your dear father was a small boy then, and that is always one of + the laments of small boys. That, and falling in love with women old enough + to be their mothers....Do write me often. But don't be angry with me if I + fail to answer all of your letters. I am so frightfully busy. I rarely + ever have more than a minute to myself. How I have managed to find the + time to write this long letter to you I cannot imagine. It is really quite + a nice long one, isn't it?...and don't be writing home to me in a few + weeks to say you are engaged to be married to her. It took me a great many + years to convert your dear father into what he was as you knew him. I + don't relish the thought at my time of life of transforming a crude + farmer's daughter into a Fifth Avenue lady, no matter how pretty she may + be in the rough. The days of Cinderella are long since past. One has so + much to overcome in the way of a voice with these country girls, to say + nothing of the letter r. Your poor father never quite got over being an + Indiana farmer's son, but he did manage to subdue the aforesaid + letter....And these country-girls take a harmless, amusing flirtation very + seriously, dear boy.... Your adoring mother. + </p> + <p> + Courtney Thane's fame had preceded him to Windomville. By this time, the + entire district had heard of the man who was gassed, and who had actually + won two or three medals for bravery in the Great War. The young men from + that section of the state who had seen fighting in France were still in + New York City, looking for jobs. Most of them had "joined up" at the first + call for volunteers. Some of them had been killed, many of them wounded, + but not one of them had received a medal for bravery. The men who had been + called by the draft into the great National Army were all home again, + having got no nearer to the battle front than an embarkation camp in New + Jersey,—and so this tall, slender young fellow from the East was an + object not only of curiosity but of envy. + </p> + <p> + The Misses Dowd laid themselves out to make him comfortable,—as well + as prominent. They gave him a corner room on the upper floor of Dowd's + Tavern, dispossessing a tenant of twelve years' standing,—a + photographer named Hatch, whose ability to keep from living too far in + arrears depended on his luck in inveigling certain sentimental customers + into taking "crayon portraits" of deceased loved ones, satisfaction + guaranteed, frames extra. Two windows, looking out over the roof of the + long front porch, gave him an unobstructed view of Main Street, including + such edifices as the postoffice, the log-hut library, the ancient watering + trough, the drug store, and the steeple of the Presbyterian Church rising + proudly above the roofs of the houses in between. + </p> + <p> + Main Street ran almost parallel with the river. With commendable + forethought, the first settlers had built their houses and stores some + little distance back from the stream along the summit of a wooded ridge + perhaps forty feet above the river at its midsummer low-water level. The + tremendous, devastating floods that came annually with the breaking up of + winter failed to reach the houses,—although in 1883,—according + to the records,—the water came up to within a foot of Joe Roush's + blacksmith shop, situated at that time halfway down the slope, compelling + the smith to think seriously of "moving up a couple of hops," a precaution + that was rendered unnecessary by a subsequent midsummer bolt of lightning + that destroyed not only the forge but shocked Joe so severely that he "saw + green" for a matter of six weeks and finally resulted in his falling off + the dock into deep water in the middle of what was intended to be a + protracted spree brought on by the discovery that his insurance policy did + not cover "loss by lightning." To this day, the older inhabitants of + Windomville will tell you about the way his widow "took on" until she + couldn't stand it any longer,—and then married George Hooper, the + butcher, four months after the shocking demise of Joseph. + </p> + <p> + Dowd's Tavern had few transient guests. "Drummers" from the city hard-by + dropped in occasionally for a midday meal, but they never stayed the + night. The guests were what the Misses Dowd called "regulars." They + included Hatch, the photographer; an old and indigent couple, parents of a + farmer whose wife objected so vehemently to their well-meant efforts to + "run" her house for her that he was obliged to "board 'em" with the Dowd + girls, an arrangement that seemed to satisfy every one concerned except + the farmer himself, who never missed an opportunity to praise the food and + the comforts to be enjoyed at the county "poorhouse" when he paid his + semi-annual visit to the venerable dependents; Mr. Charlie Webster, the + rotund manager of the grain elevator, who spent every Saturday night and + Sunday in the city and showed up for duty on Monday with pinkish eyes and + a rather tremulous whistle that was supposed to be reminiscent of + ecclesiastical associations; Miss Flora Grady, the dress-maker; Doctor + Simpson, the dentist, a pale young man with extremely bad teeth and a + habit of smiling, even at funerals; Miss Miller, the principal of the + school, who was content with a small room over the kitchen at ten dollars + a week, thereby permitting her to save something out of her salary, which + was fifty dollars a month; A. Lincoln Pollock, the editor, owner and + printer of the Weekly Sun, and his wife, Maude Baggs Pollock, who besides + contributing a poem to each and every issue of the paper, (over her own + signature), collected news and society items, ran the postoffice for her + husband, (he being the postmaster), and taught the Bible Class in the + Presbyterian Sunday-school, as well as officiating as president and + secretary of the Literary Society, secretary to the town board, secretary + of the W. C. T. U., secretary of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, + secretary of the American Soldiers' and Sailors' Relief Fund, secretary of + the Windomville Improvement Association, secretary of the Lady Maccabees, + and, last but far from least, secretary of the local branch of the Society + for the Preservation of the Redwood Forests of California. She was a born + secretary. + </p> + <p> + A. Lincoln Pollock, being a good democrat and holding office under a + democratic administration, had deemed it wise to abbreviate his first + name, thereby removing all taint of republicanism. He reduced Abraham to + an initial, but, despite his supreme struggle for dignity, was forced by + public indolence to submit to a sharp curtailment of his middle name. He + was known as Link. + </p> + <p> + The Weekly Sun duly reported the advent of Colonel Courtney Thane, of New + York and London, and gave him quite a "send-off," at the same time getting + in a good word for the "excellent hostelry conducted by the Misses Dowd," + as well as a paragraph congratulating the readers of the Sun on the + "scoop" that paper had obtained over the "alleged" newspapers up at the + county seat. "If you want the news, read the Sun," was the slogan at the + top of the editorial column on the second page, followed by a line in + parenthesis: ("If you want the Sun, don't put off till tomorrow what you + can do today. Price Three Dollars a Year in Advance.") + </p> + <p> + All of the boarders sat at the same table in the dining-room. Punctuality + at meals was obligatory. Miss Jennie Dowd was the cook. She was assisted + by Miss Margaret Slattery, daughter of Martin Slattery, the grocer. Miss + Mary Dowd had charge of the dining-room. She was likewise assisted by Miss + Slattery. Between meals Miss Slattery did the dish-washing, chamber-work, + light cleaning and "straightening," and still found room for her daily + exercise, which consisted of half a dozen turns up and down Main Street in + her best frock. Old Jim House did the outside chores about the place. He + had worked at Dowd's Tavern for thirty-seven years, and it was his proud + boast that he had never missed a day's work,—drunk or sober. + </p> + <p> + The new guest was given the seat of honour at table. He was placed between + Mrs. Pollock and Miss Flora Grady, supplanting Doctor Simpson, who had + held the honour ever since Charlie Webster's unfortunate miscalculation as + to the durability of an unfamiliar brand of bourbon to which he had been + introduced late one Sunday evening. It was a brand that wore extremely + well,—so well, in fact, that when he appeared for dinner at noon on + Monday he was still in a lachrymose condition over the death of his + mother, an event which took place when he was barely six years old. Doctor + Simpson relinquished the seat cheerfully. He had held it a year and he had + grown extremely tired of having to lean back as far as possible in his + chair so that Mrs. Pollock and Miss Grady could converse unobstructedly in + front of him, a position that called for the utmost skill and deliberation + on his part, especially when it came to conveying soup and "floating + island" to such an altitude. (He had once resorted to the expedient of + bending over until his nose was almost in the plate, so that they might + talk across his back, but gave it up when Miss Molly Dowd acridly inquired + if he smelt anything wrong with the soup.) + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hatch invited Courtney down to the studio to have his photograph + taken, free of charge; Mr. Pollock subjected him to a long interview about + the War; Mr. Webster notified him that he had laid in a small stock just + prior to July the first and that all he had to do was to "say the word,"—or + wink if it wasn't convenient to speak; Miss Grady told him, at great + length, of her trip to New York in 1895, and inquired about certain + landmarks in the Metropolis,—such as the aquarium, the Hoffman + House, Madison Square, Stewart's Drygoods Store, Tiffany's place,—revealing + a sort of lofty nonchalance in being able to speak of things she had seen + while the others had merely read about them; Mrs. Pollock had him write in + her autograph album, and wondered if he would not consent to give a talk + before the Literary Society at its next meeting; and Margaret Slattery + made a point of passing things to him first at meals, going so far as to + indicate the choicest bits of "white meat," or the "second joint," if he + preferred the dark, whenever they had chicken for dinner,—which was + quite often. + </p> + <p> + Old Mr. Nichols, (the indigent father), remembered Courtney's grandfather + very well, and, being apt to repeat himself, told and retold the story of + a horse-trade in which he got the better of Silas Thane. Mrs. Nichols, + living likewise in the remote past, remembered being in his grandmother's + Sunday-school class, and how people used to pity the poor thing because + Silas ran around considerable after other women,—'specially a + lively-stableman's wife up in the city,—and what a terrible time she + had when John Robinson's Circus came to town a little while before her + first child was born and the biggest boa-constrictor in captivity escaped + and eat up two lambs on Silas's farm before it went to sleep and was shot + out in the apple orchard by Jake Billings. She often wondered whether her + worrying about that snake had had any effect on the baby, who, it appears, + ultimately grew up and became Courtney's father. The young man smilingly + sought to reassure her, but after twice repeating his remark, looked so + embarrassed that Mr. Hatch gloomily announced from the foot of the table: + </p> + <p> + "She's deef." + </p> + <p> + Now, as to Mr. Courtney Thane. He was a tall, spare young man, very erect + and soldierly, with an almost unnoticeable limp. He explained this limp by + confessing that he had got into the habit of favouring his left leg, which + had been injured when his machine came down in flames a short distance + back of the lines during a vicious gas attack by the enemy—(it was + on this occasion that he was "gassed" while dragging a badly wounded + comrade to a place of safety)—but that the member was quite as sound + as ever and it was silly of him to go on being so confounded timid about + it, especially as it hadn't been anything to speak of in the beginning,—nothing + more, in fact, than a cracked knee joint and a trifling fracture of the + ankle. + </p> + <p> + His hair was light brown, almost straw-coloured, and was brushed straight + back from the forehead. A small, jaunty moustache, distinctly English in + character, adorned his upper lip. His eyes were brown, set well back under + a perfectly level, rather prominent brow. His mouth was wide and faintly + satirical; his chin aggressively square; his nose long and straight. His + voice was deep and pleasant, and he spoke with what Miss Miller described + as a "perfectly fascinating drawl." Mrs. Pollock, who was quite an + extensive reader of novels and governed her conversation accordingly went + so far as to say that he was "the sort of chap that women fall in love + with easily,"—and advised Miss Miller to keep a pretty sharp watch + on her heart,—a remark that drew from Miss Miller the confession + that she had rejected at least half a dozen offers of marriage and she + guessed if there was any watching to be done it would have to be done by + the opposite sex. (As Miss Miller had repeatedly alluded to these + fruitless masculine manifestations, Mrs. Pollock merely sniffed,—and + afterwards confided to Miss Molly Dowd her belief that if any one had ever + asked Angie Miller to marry him she'd be a grandmother by this time.) From + this, it may be correctly surmised that Miss Miller was no longer in the + first bloom of youth. + </p> + <p> + Whenever Courtney appeared on Main Street, he was the centre not only of + observation but of active attention. Nearly every one had some form of + greeting for him. Introductions were not necessary. Women as well as men + passed the time of day with him, and not a few of the former solicitously + paused to inquire how he was feeling. Young girls stared at him and + blushed, young boys followed his progress about town with wide, worshipful + eyes,—for was he not a hero out of their cherished romance? He had + to hear from the lips of ancient men the story of Antietam, of + Chancellorsville and of Shiloh; eulogies and criticisms of Grant, + McClellan and Meade; praise for the enemy chieftains, Lee, Stonewall + Jackson and Johnston; comparisons in the matter of fatalities, + marksmanship, generalship, hardships and all such, and with the inevitable + conclusion that the Civil War was the greatest war ever fought for the + simple reason that it was fought by men and not by machinery. + </p> + <p> + "And, what's more," declared old Captain House vigorously, "it was fit + entirely by Americans, and not by every dodgasted nation on the face of + the earth, no two of 'em able to understand a blamed word of what was + being said by friend er foe." "And," added ex-Corporal Grimes, stamping + the sidewalk with his peg leg, "what's more, there wasn't ary one of them + Johnny Rebs that couldn't pick off a squirrel five hundred yards away with + a rifle—a RIFLE, mind ye, not a battery of machine guns. Every time + they was a fight, big er little, we used to stand out in the open and + shoot at each other like soldiers—AND gentlemen—aimin' + straight at the feller we'd picked out to kill. They tell me they was more + men shot right smack between the eyes in the Civil War than all the other + wars put together. Yes-sir-EE! And as fer REE-connoiterin', why it was + nothin' for our men,—er the rebs, either, fer that matter,—to + crawl up so close to the other side's camps that they could smell the + vittels cookin',—and I remember a case when one of our scouts, bein' + so overcome by the smell of a fried chicken, snuck right up and grabbed it + offen the skillet when the cook's back was turned, and got away with it + safe, too, b'gosh!" + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V — TRESPASS + </h2> + <p> + Courtney never was without the heavy English walking-stick on which he + occasionally leaned for support. He took long strolls in the country, + frequently passing the Windom place, and twice he had gone as far as the + railed-in base of Quill's Window. From the footpath at the bottom he could + look through the trees up to the bare crest of the rock. The gate through + the high fence was padlocked, and contained a sign with the curt warning: + "No Trespass." On the opposite side of the wide strip of meadow-land, in + which cattle grazed placidly, he could see the abandoned house where Alix + Crown was born,—a colourless, weather-beaten, two-storey frame + building with faded green window shutters and a high-pitched roof + blackened by rain and rot. Every shutter was closed; an atmosphere of + utter desolation hung over the place. + </p> + <p> + Across that brown, sunburnt stretch of meadow-land when it was white and + cold, old David Windom had carried the stiff body of Edward Crown,—and + returning had borne the soft, limp figure of his stricken child. Courtney + permitted his fancy to indulge in calculation. He followed with his eye + what must have been the path of the slayer on that dreadful night. It led, + no doubt, to the spot on which he now was standing, for just behind him + was the suggestion of a narrow, weed-lined path that wormed its way + through the trees toward the top of the great rock. He decided that one + day soon he would disregard that sign on the gate, and climb up to the + strange burial place of Edward Crown and Alix the Second. + </p> + <p> + He had tested his increasing strength and endurance by rowing up the river + with Rosabel for a fair view of the hole in the face of the rock—Quill's + Window. It was plainly visible from the river, a wide black gash in the + almost perpendicular wall that reached well above the fringe of trees and + underbrush along the steep bank of the stream. + </p> + <p> + He tried to picture Quill as he sat in his strange abode, a hundred years + ago, cowering over the fire or reading perhaps by the light of a huge + old-fashioned lanthorn. He thought of him hanging by the neck back in the + dark recess, victim either of his own conscience or the implacable hatred + of the enemy "down the river." And then there were the others who had + found death in the heart of that mysterious cavern,—ugly death. + </p> + <p> + He wondered what the interior of the cave was like, and whether he could + devise some means of entering it. A rope ladder attached to a substantial + support at the top of the cliff would afford the easiest way of reaching + the mouth of the cave,—in fact, he recalled that Quill employed some + such means of descending to his eerie home. The entrance appeared to be no + more than twenty feet below the brow of the cliff. It would not even be a + hazardous undertaking. Besides, if Quill and his successors were able to + go up and down that wall safely and repeatedly, why not he? No doubt + scores of men,—perhaps even schoolboys of the Tom Sawyer type,—had + made frequent visits to the cave. He knew he would be disregarding the + command of Alix Crown,—a command that all people respected and + observed,—if he passed the barrier and climbed to the top of the + rock, but who, after all, was Alix Crown that she should say "no trespass" + to the world at large? + </p> + <p> + The thought of Edward Crown wedged in at the bottom of Quill's Chimney, + weighted down with stones and earth, alone served as an obstacle to the + enterprise. He shrank from certain gruesome possibilities,—such as + the dislodgment of stones at the bottom of the crevice and the consequent + exposure of a thing that would haunt him forever. And even though the + stones remained in place there would still remain the fact that almost + within arm's length was imprisoned the crushed, distorted remains of the + murdered man. + </p> + <p> + Toward the end of his second week at Dowd's Tavern, he set out to climb to + the top of the big rock. He had no intention of descending to the cavern's + mouth on this occasion. That feat was to be reserved for another day. + Arriving at the gate, he was surprised and gratified to discover that it + was unlocked. While it was latched, the padlock and chain hung loosely + from the post to which the latter was attached. Without hesitation, he + opened the gate and strode boldly into proscribed territory. + </p> + <p> + The ascent was gradual at first, then steep and abrupt for a matter of + fifty or sixty feet to the bald summit of the hill. Once at the top, he + sat down panting and exhausted upon the edge of the shallow fissure he had + followed as a path up the rock, and again his thoughts went back to the + night of the murder. This had been David Windom's route to the top of the + hill. He found himself discrediting one feature at least of the man's + confession. Only a fabled giant could have carried the body of a man up + that steep, tortuous incline. Why, he was exhausted, and he had borne no + heavier burden than his stout walking-stick. That part of Windom's story + certainly was "fishy." + </p> + <p> + Presently he arose and strode out upon the rough, uneven "roof" of the + height. He could look in all directions over the tops of the trees below. + The sun beat down fiercely upon the unsheltered rock. Off to the north lay + the pall of smoke indicating the presence of the invisible county seat. + Thin, anfractuous highways and dirt roads scarred the green and brown + landscape, and as far as the eye could reach were to be seen farmhouses + and barns and silos. + </p> + <p> + Avoiding the significant heap of rocks near the centre of the little + plateau, he made his way to the brink of the cliff overlooking the river. + There he had a wonderful view of the winding stream, the harvest fields, + the groves, and the herds in the far-reaching stretches of what was + considered the greatest corn raising "belt" in the United States. Some + yards back from the edge of the cliff he discovered the now thoroughly + rotted section of a tree trunk, eight or ten inches in diameter, driven + deeply into a narrow fissure and rendered absolutely immovable by a solid + mass of stones and gravel that completely closed the remainder of the + crevice. He was right in surmising that this was the support from which + Quill's rope or vine ladder was suspended a hundred years ago. Nearby were + two heavy iron rings attached to standards sunk firmly into the rock, a + modern improvement on the hermit's crude device. (He afterwards learned + that David Windom, when a lad of fifteen, had drilled the holes in the + rock and imbedded the stout iron shafts, so that he might safely descend + to the mouth of the cave.) + </p> + <p> + Turning back, he approached the heap of boulders that covered the grave of + Edward and Alix Crown. No visible sign of the cleft in the surface of the + rock remained. Six huge boulders, arranged in a row, rose above a + carefully made bed of stones held in place by a low, soundly mortared + wall. + </p> + <p> + Chiselled on one of the end boulders was the name of Alix Windom Crown, + with the date of her birth and her death, with the line: "Rock of Ages + Cleft for Me." Below this inscription was the recently carved name of + Edward Joseph Crown, Born July 7, 1871. Died March 22, 1895. Three words + followed this. They were "Abide With Me." + </p> + <p> + II — Thane stood for a long time looking at the pile. He was not + sentimental. His life had been spent in an irreverent city, among people + hardened by pleasure or coarsened by greed. His thoughts as he stood there + were not of the unhappy pair who reposed beneath those ugly rocks; they + were of the far-off tragedy that had brought them to this singular + resting-place. The fact that this was a grave, sacred in the same sense + that his father's grave in Woodlawn was supposed to be sacred to him and + to his mother, was overlooked in the silent contemplation of what an even + less sophisticated person might have been justified in describing as a + "freak." Nothing was farther from his mind, however, than the desire or + impulse to be disrespectful. And yet, as he was about to turn away from + this sombre pile, he leaned over and struck a match on one of the huge + boulders. As he was conveying the lighted sulphur match,—with which + Dowd's Tavern abounded,—to the cigarette that hung limply from his + lips, he was startled by a sharp, almost agonized cry. It seemed to come + from nowhere. He experienced the uncanny feeling that a ghost,—the + ghost that haunted Quill's Window,—standing guard over the mound, + had cried out under the pain inflicted by that profane match. + </p> + <p> + Even as he turned to search the blazing, sunlit rock with apprehensive + eyes, a voice, shrill with anger, flung these words at him: + </p> + <p> + "What are you doing up here?" + </p> + <p> + His gaze fell upon the speaker, standing stockstill in the cloven path + below him, not twenty feet away. In his relief, he laughed. He beheld a + slim figure in riding-togs. Nothing formidable or ghostlike in that! + Nevertheless, a pair of dark blue eyes transfixed him with indignation. + They looked out from under the rim of a black sailor hat, and they were + wide and inimical. + </p> + <p> + "Did you not see that sign on the gate?" demanded the girl. + </p> + <p> + "I did," he replied, still smiling as he removed his hat,—one of + Knox's panamas. "And I owe you an apology." + </p> + <p> + She advanced to the top. He noted the riding-crop gripped rather firmly in + her clenched hand. + </p> + <p> + "No one is permitted to come up here," she announced, stopping a few feet + away. She was quite tall and straight. She panted a little from the climb + up the steep. He saw her bosom rise and fall under the khaki jacket; her + nostrils were slightly distended. In that first glimpse of her, he took in + the graceful, perfect figure; the lovely, brilliant face; the glorious + though unsmiling eyes. "You must leave at once. This is private property. + Go, please." + </p> + <p> + "I cannot go before telling you how rotten I feel for striking that match. + I beg of you, Miss Crown,—you ARE Miss Crown?—I can only ask + you to believe that it was not a conscious act of desecration. It was + sheer thoughtlessness. I would not have done it for the world if I had—" + </p> + <p> + "It is not necessary for you to explain," she broke in curtly. "I saw what + you did,—and it is just because of such as you that this spot is + forbidden ground. Idle curiosity, utter disregard for the sacredness of + that lonely grave,—Oh, you need not attempt to deny it. You are a + stranger here, but that is no excuse for your passing through that gate. I + AM Miss Crown. This hill belongs to me. It was I who had that fence put up + and it was I who directed the sign to be put on the gate. They are meant + for strangers as well as for friends. It was not thoughtlessness that + brought you up here. You thought a long time before you came. Will you be + good enough to go?" + </p> + <p> + He flushed under the scornful dismissal. + </p> + <p> + "The gate was unlocked—" he began. + </p> + <p> + "That doesn't matter. It might have been wide open, sir,—but that + did not grant you any special privileges." + </p> + <p> + "I can only ask your pardon, Miss Crown, and depart in disgrace," said he, + quite humbly. As he started down the path, he paused to add: "I did not + know you had returned. I daresay I should have been less venturesome had I + known you were in the neighbourhood." + </p> + <p> + The thinly veiled sarcasm did not escape her. + </p> + <p> + "I suppose you are the young man from New York that every one is talking + about. That may account for your ignorance. In order that you may not feel + called upon to visit this place again to satisfy your curiosity, I will + point out to you the objects of interest. This pile of rocks marks the + grave of my father and mother. The dates speak for themselves. You may + have noticed them when you scratched your match just above my mother's + name. My father was murdered by my grandfather before I was born. My + mother died on the day I was born. I never saw them. I do not love them, + because I never knew them. But I DO respect and honour them. They were + good people. I have no reason to be ashamed of them. If you will look out + over those trees and across that pasture, you will see the house in which + my mother died and where I was born. Directly in front of the little porch + my father died as the result of a blow delivered by my grandfather. As to + the disposal of the body, you may obtain all the information necessary + from Alaska Spigg, our town librarian, who will be more than delighted to + supply you with all the ghastly details. To your right is the post to + which a man named Quill attached his ladder in order to reach the cave in + the face of this rock,—where he lived for many years. This is the + path leading down to the gate, which you will still find unlocked. It will + not be necessary for you to come up here again. You have seen all there is + to see." + </p> + <p> + With that, she deliberately turned her back on him and walked toward the + edge of the cliff. He stared after her for a few seconds, his lips parted + as if to speak, and then, as the flush of mortification deepened in his + cheeks, he began picking his way rather blindly down the steep path. + </p> + <p> + He was never to forget his first encounter with Alix the Third. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI — CHARLIE WEBSTER ENTERTAINS + </h2> + <p> + That evening at the supper table, Mr. Pollock politely informed him that + Alix Crown had returned from Michigan, looking as fit as a fiddle. + </p> + <p> + "You've been so sort of curious about her, Court?" (it had not taken the + male boarders long to dispense with formalities), "that I thought you'd be + interested in knowing that she's home. Got back last evening. Her Packard + automobile met her at the depot up in the city. You'll know her when you + see her. Tall girl and fairly good-looking. Puts on an awful lot of 'dog.' + What is it you fellows in the Army call it? Swunk?" + </p> + <p> + "Swank," said Courtney, rather shortly. He was still smarting under the + sting of his afternoon's experience. + </p> + <p> + "Lemme help you to some more squash, Mr. Thane," said Margaret Slattery in + his ear. "And another biscuit." + </p> + <p> + "Thank you, no," said he. + </p> + <p> + "What's the matter with your appetite?" she demanded. "You ain't hardly + touched anything this evenin'. Sick?" + </p> + <p> + "I'm not hungry, Margaret." + </p> + <p> + "Been out in the sun too much, that's what's the matter with you. First + thing you know you'll get a sunstroke, and THEN! My Uncle Mike was + sunstruck when I was—" + </p> + <p> + "Pass me the biscuits, Maggie, and don't be all night about it," put in + Mr. Webster. "I'm hungry, even if Court isn't. I can distinctly remember + when you used to pass everything to me first, and almost stuff it—" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, and she used to do the same for me before you shaved off your chin + whiskers, Charlie," said Mr. Hatch gloomily. "How times have changed." + </p> + <p> + "It ain't the times that's changed," said Margaret. "It's you men. You + ain't what you used to be, lemme tell you that." + </p> + <p> + "True,—oh so true," lamented Mr. Webster. "I used to be nice and + thin and graceful before you began showering me with attention. Now look + at me. You put something like fifty pounds on me, and then you desert me. + I was a handsome feller when I first came here, wasn't I, Flora? I leave + it to you if I wasn't." + </p> + <p> + "I don't remember how you looked when you first came here," replied Miss + Grady loftily. + </p> + <p> + "Can you beat that?" cried Charlie to Courtney across the table. "And she + used to say I was the handsomest young feller she'd ever laid eyes on. + Used to say I looked like,—who was it you used to say I looked like, + Flora?" + </p> + <p> + "The only thing I ever said you looked like was a mud fence, Charlie + Webster." + </p> + <p> + "What did she say, Pa? Hey?" This from old Mrs. Nichols, holding her hand + to her ear. "What are they laughing at?" + </p> + <p> + "She says Charlie looks like a mud fence," shouted old Mr. Nichols, his + lips close to her ear. + </p> + <p> + "His pants? What about his pants?" + </p> + <p> + This time Courtney joined in the laugh. + </p> + <p> + After supper he sat on the front porch with the Pollocks and Miss Grady. + It was a warm, starry night. Charlie Webster and Doc Simpson had strolled + off down the street. Mr. Hatch and Miss Miller sat in the parlour. + </p> + <p> + "She's going to land Furman Hatch, sure as you're a foot high," confided + Mr. Pollock, with a significant jerk of his head in the direction of the + parlour. + </p> + <p> + "Heaven knows she's been trying long enough," said Miss Grady. "I heard + him ask Doc and Charlie to wait for him, but she nabbed him before he + could get out. Now he's got to sit in there and listen to her tell about + how interested she is in art,—and him just dyin' for a smoke. Why, + there's Alix Crown now. She's comin' in here." + </p> + <p> + A big touring car drew up to the sidewalk in front of the Tavern. Miss + Crown sprang lightly out of the seat beside the chauffeur and came up the + steps. + </p> + <p> + "How do you do, Mrs. Pollock? Hello, Flora. Good evening, Mr. Editor," was + her cheery greeting as she passed by and entered the house. + </p> + <p> + "She comes around every once in a while and takes the Dowd girls out + riding in her car," explained Mrs. Pollock. + </p> + <p> + "Mighty nice of her," said Mr. Pollock, taking his feet down from the + porch-rail and carefully brushing the cigar ashes off of his coat sleeve. + "Takes old Alaska Spigg out too, and the Nicholses, and—" + </p> + <p> + "We've been out with her a great many times," broke in Mrs. Pollock. "I + think a Packard is a wonderful car, don't you, Mr. Thane? So smooth and—" + </p> + <p> + "I think I'll take a little stroll," said Courtney abruptly; and snatching + up his hat from the floor beside his chair he hurried down the steps. + </p> + <p> + She had not even glanced at him as she crossed the porch. He had the very + uneasy conviction that so far as she was concerned he might just as well + not have been there at all. In the early dusk, her face was clearly + revealed to him. There was nothing cold or unfriendly about it now. + Instead, her smile was radiant; her eyes,—even in the subdued light,—glowed + with pleasure. Her voice was clear and soft and singularly appealing. In + the afternoon's encounter he had been struck by its unexpected combination + of English and American qualities; the sharp querulousness of the English + and the melodious drawl of the American were strangely blended, and + although there had been castigation in her words and manner, he took away + with him the disturbing memory of a voice he was never to forget. And now + he had seen the smile that even the most envious of her kind described as + "heavenly." It was broad and wholesome and genuine. There was a flash of + white, even teeth between warm red lips, a gleam of merriment in the + half-closed eyes, a gay tilt to the bare, shapely head. Her dark hair was + coiled neatly, and the ears were exposed. He liked her ears. He remembered + them as he had seen them in the afternoon, fairly large, shapely and close + to the head. No need for her to follow the prevailing fashion of the day! + She had no reason to hide her ears beneath a mat of hair. + </p> + <p> + In the evening glow her face was gloriously beautiful,—clear-cut as + a cameo, warm as a rose. It was no longer clouded with anger. She seemed + taller. The smart riding costume had brought her trim figure into direct + contrast with his own height and breadth, and she had looked like a slim, + half-grown boy beside his six feet and over. Now, in her black and white + checked sport skirt and dark sweater jacket, she was revealed as a woman + quite well above the average height. + </p> + <p> + He was standing in front of the drug store when the big car went by a few + minutes later, filled with people. She was driving, the chauffeur sitting + in the seat beside her. In the tonneau he observed the two Dowd sisters, + Mr. and Mrs. Pollock and Flora Grady. + </p> + <p> + As the car whizzed by, A. Lincoln Pollock espied him. Waving his hand + triumphantly, the editor called out: + </p> + <p> + "Hello, Court!" + </p> + <p> + The object of this genial shout did not respond by word or action. He + looked to see if the girl at the wheel turned her head for a glance in his + direction. She did not, and he experienced a fresh twinge of annoyance. He + muttered something under his breath. The car disappeared around a bend as + he turned to enter the store. + </p> + <p> + "That was Alix Crown, Court," remarked Charlie Webster from the doorway. + "Little too dark to get a good look at her, but wait till she flashes + across you in broad daylight some time. She'll make you forget all those + Fifth Avenue skirts so quick your head'll swim." + </p> + <p> + "Is THAT so?" retorted Courtney, allowing rancour to get the better of + fairness. Down in his heart he had said that Alix Crown was the loveliest + girl he had ever seen. "What do you know about Fifth Avenue?" + </p> + <p> + Charlie Webster grinned amiably. He was not offended by the other's tone. + </p> + <p> + "Well, I've seen it in the movies," he explained. "What are you sore + about?" + </p> + <p> + "Sore? I'm not sore. What put that into your head?" + </p> + <p> + The rotund superintendent of the elevator fanned himself lazily with his + straw hat. + </p> + <p> + "If I was fifteen years younger and fifty pounds lighter," said he, "I'd + be sore too. But what's the use of a fat old slob like me getting peeved + because Miss Alix Crown don't happen to notice me? Oh, we're great friends + and all that, mind you, and she thinks a lot of me,—as manager of + her grain elevator. Same as she thinks a lot of Jim Bagley, her + superintendent,—and Ed Stevens, her chauffeur, and so on. Now, as + for you, it's different. You're from New York and it goes against the + grain to be overlooked, you might say, by a girl from Indiana. Oh, I know + what you New Yorkers think of Indiana,—and all that therein is, as + the Scriptures would say. You think that nothing but boobs and corn-fed + squaws come from Indiana, but if you hang around long enough you'll find + you're mistaken. This state is full of girls like Alix Crown,—bright, + smart, good-looking girls that have been a hell of a ways farther east + than New York. Of course, there are boobs like me and Doc Simpson and + Tintype Hatch who get up to Chicago once every three or four years and + have to sew our return trip tickets inside our belly-bands so's we can be + sure of getting back home after Chicago gets through admiring us, but now + since prohibition has come in I don't know but what we're as bright and + clever as anybody else. Most of the fellers I've run across in Chicago + seem to be brightest just after they change feet on the rail and ask the + bartender if he knows how to make a cucumber cocktail, or something else + as clever as that. But that ain't what we were talking about. We were + talking about—" + </p> + <p> + "I wasn't talking about anything," interrupted Courtney. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, yes, you were," said Charlie. "Not out loud, of course,—but + talking just the same. You were talking about Alix Crown and the way she + forgot to invite you to take a ride with the rest of—" + </p> + <p> + "See here, Webster,—are you trying to be offensive?" + </p> + <p> + "Offensive? Lord, no! I'm just TELLING you, that's all. On the level now, + am I right or wrong?" + </p> + <p> + "I do not know Miss Crown," replied Thane stiffly. "Why should I expect + her to ask me,—a total stranger,—to go out in her car?" + </p> + <p> + "Didn't Maude Pollock introduce you a while ago?" + </p> + <p> + "No," said the other succinctly. + </p> + <p> + "Well, by gosh, that ain't like Maude," exclaimed Charlie. "I'd 'a' bet + two dollars she said 'I want to present my friend from New York, Mr. + Courtney Thane, the distinguished aviator, Miss Crown,' or something like + that. I can't understand Maude missing a chance like that. She just LOVES + it." + </p> + <p> + Courtney smiled. "I daresay she wasn't quick enough," he said drily. "Miss + Crown was in a hurry. And I left before she came out of the house. Now is + your curiosity satisfied?" + </p> + <p> + "Absolutely," said Charlie. "Now I'll sleep soundly tonight. I was afraid + the darned thing would keep me awake all night. Remember me saying I had a + small stock hid away up in my room? What say to going up,—now that + the coast is clear,—and having a nip or two?" + </p> + <p> + "No, thanks, old man. I don't drink. Doctor's orders. Besides, I've got + some letters to write. I'll walk home with you if you're ready to go." + </p> + <p> + II — Mr. Webster shook his head sadly. "That's the one drawback to + livin' in Windomville," he said. "People either want to drink too much or + they don't want to drink at all. Nobody wants to drink in moderation. Now, + here's you, for instance. You look like a feller that could kiss a + highball or two without compromising yourself, and there's Hatch that has + to hold his nose so's he won't get drunk if he comes within ten feet of a + glass of whiskey." They were strolling slowly toward the Tavern. "Now you + up and claim you're on the water wagon. I'd been counting on you, Court,—I + certainly had. The last time I took Hatch and Doc Simpson up to my room,—that + was on the Fourth of last July,—I had to sleep on the floor. Course, + if I was skinny like Doc and Hatch that wouldn't have been necessary. But + I can't bear sleepin' three in a bed. Doctor's orders, eh? That comes of + livin' in New York. There ain't a doctor in Indiana that would stoop so + low as that,—not one. Look at old man Nichols. He's eighty-two years + old and up to about a year ago he never missed a day without taking a + couple o' swigs of rye. He swears he wouldn't have lived to be more than + seventy-five if he hadn't taken his daily nip. That shows how smart and + sensible our doctors are out here. They—" + </p> + <p> + "By the way, Mrs. Nichols appears to be a remarkably well-preserved old + lady,—aside from her hearing. How old is she?" + </p> + <p> + "Eighty-three. Wonderful old woman." + </p> + <p> + "I suppose she has always had her daily swig of rye." + </p> + <p> + Charlie Webster was silent for a moment. He had to think. This was a very + serious and unexpected complication. + </p> + <p> + "What did you say?" he inquired, fencing for time. + </p> + <p> + "Has she always been a steady drinker, like the old man?" + </p> + <p> + Charlie was a gentleman. He sighed. + </p> + <p> + "I guess it's time to change the subject," he said. "The only way you + could get a spoonful of whiskey down that old woman would be to chloroform + her. If I'm any good at guessin', she'll outlive the old man by ten years,—so + what's the sense of me preachin' to you about the life preserving virtues + of booze? Oh, Lordy! There's another of my best arguments knocked + galley-west. It's no use. I've been playing old man Nichols for nearly + fifteen years as a bright and shining light, and he turns out to be + nothing but a busted flush. She's had eleven children and he's never had + anything worse than a headache, and, by gosh, he's hangin' onto her with + both hands for support to keep his other foot from slippin' into the + grave. But,"—and here his face brightened suddenly,—"there's + one thing to be said, Court. She didn't consult any darned fool doctor + about it." + </p> + <p> + Courtney was ashamed of his churlishness toward this good-natured little + man. + </p> + <p> + "Say no more, Charlie. I'll break my rule this once if it will make you + feel any better. One little drink, that's all,—in spite of the + doctor. He's a long way off, and I daresay he'll never know the + difference. Lead the way, old chap. Anything to cheer up a disconsolate + comrade." + </p> + <p> + A few minutes later they were in Webster's room, second floor back. The + highly gratified host had lighted the kerosene lamp on the table in the + centre of the room, and pulled down the window shades. Then, putting his + fingers to his lips to enjoin silence, he tip-toed to the door and threw + it open suddenly. After peering into the hall and listening intently for a + moment, he cautiously closed it again. + </p> + <p> + "All's well, as the watchman says at midnight," he remarked, as he drew + his key ring from his hip pocket and selected a key with unerring + precision from the extensive assortment. "I always do that," he added. "I + don't suppose it was necessary tonight, because Angie Miller has got Hatch + where he can't possibly escape. Long as she knows where he is, she don't + do much snooping. She used to be the same way with me,—and Doc, too, + for that matter. Poor Hatch,—setting down there in the parlour,—listening + to her talk about birds and flowers and trying to help her guess what + she's going to give him for next Christmas. It's hell to be a bachelor, + Court." + </p> + <p> + He unlocked a trunk in the corner of the room, and after lifting out two + trays produced a half empty whiskey bottle. + </p> + <p> + "I had a dozen of these to begin with," said he, holding the bottle up to + the light. "Dollar sixty a quart. Quite a nifty little stock, eh?" + </p> + <p> + "Is that all you have left?" + </p> + <p> + Charlie scratched his ear reflectively. + </p> + <p> + "Well, you see, I've had a good deal of toothache lately," he announced. + "And as soon as Doc Simpson and Hatch found out about it, they begin to + complain about their teeth achin' too. Seemed to be a sort of epidemic of + toothache, Court. Nothing like whiskey for the toothache, you know." + </p> + <p> + "But Simpson is a dentist. Why don't you have him treat your teeth?" + </p> + <p> + "Seems as though he'd sooner have me treat his," said Charlie, with a + slight grimace. Rummaging about in the top tray of the trunk, he produced + a couple of bar glasses, which he carefully rinsed at the washstand. + "Tastes better when you drink it out of a regular glass," he explained. + "Always seems sort of cowardly to me to take it with water,—almost + as if you were trying to drown it so's it won't be able to bite back when + you tackle it. Needn't mind sayin' 'when' The glass holds just so much, + and I know enough to stop when it begins to run over. Well! Here's hoping + your toothache will be better in the morning, Court." + </p> + <p> + "I don't think I ought to rob you like this, Charlie,—" + </p> + <p> + "Lord, man, you're not robbing me. If you're robbing anybody, it's Doc + Simpson,—and he's been absolutely free from toothache ever since I + told him this room was dry. Excuse me a second, Court. I always propose a + toast before I take a drink up here. Here's to Miss Alix Crown, the finest + girl in the U. S. A., and the best boss a man ever had. Course I've never + said that in a saloon, but up here it's different,—and kind of + sacred." + </p> + <p> + "I usually make a wry face when I drink it neat like this," said Courtney. + </p> + <p> + "You'll like her just as well as I do when you get to know her, boy. I've + known her since she was a little kid,—long before she was sent + abroad,—and she's the salt of the earth. That's one thing on which + Doc and Hatch and me always agree. We differ on most everything else, but—well, + as I was saying, you wait till you get to know her." + </p> + <p> + He tossed off the whiskey in one prodigious gulp, smacked his lips, and + then stood watching his guest drink his. + </p> + <p> + Tears came into Courtney's eyes as he drained the last drop of the fiery + liquid. A shudder distorted his face. + </p> + <p> + "Pretty hot stuff, eh?" observed Charlie sympathetically. + </p> + <p> + Courtney's reply was a nod of the head, speech being denied him. + </p> + <p> + "Don't try to talk yet," said Charlie, as if admonishing a child who has + choked on a swallow of water. "Anyhow," he went on quaintly, after a + moment, "it makes you forget all about your toothache, don't it?" + </p> + <p> + The other cleared his throat raucously. "Now I know why the redskins call + it fire water," said he. + </p> + <p> + "Have another?" + </p> + <p> + "Not on your life," exclaimed the New Yorker. "Put it back in the trunk,—and + lock it up!" + </p> + <p> + "No sooner said than done," said Charlie amicably. "Now I'll pull up the + shades and let in a little of our well-known hoosier atmosphere,—and + some real moonshine. Hello! There go Hatch and Angie, out for a stroll. + Yep! She's got him headed toward Foster's soda water joint. I'll bet every + tooth in his head is achin'." + </p> + <p> + "How long have you been running the grain elevator, Charlie?" + </p> + <p> + "Ever since David Windom built it, back in 1897,—twenty-two years. I + took a few months off in '98, expecting to see something of Cuba, but the + darned Spaniards surrendered when they heard I was on the way, so I never + got any farther than Indianapolis. Twenty-two years. That's almost as long + as Alix Crown has lived altogether." + </p> + <p> + "Have you ever seen the grave at the top of Quill's Window?" + </p> + <p> + "When I first came here, yes. Nobody ever goes up there now. In the first + place, she don't like it, and in the second place, most people in these + parts are honourable. We wouldn't any more think of trespassin' up there + than we'd think of pickin' somebody's pocket. Besides which, there's + supposed to be rattlesnakes up there among the rocks. And besides that, + the place is haunted." + </p> + <p> + "Haunted? I understood it was the old Windom house that is haunted." + </p> + <p> + "Well, spooks travel about a bit, being restless sort of things. Thirty or + forty years back, people swore that old Quill and the other people who + croaked up there used to come back during the dark of the moon and hold + high revels, as the novel writers would say. Strange to say, they suddenly + stopped coming back when the sheriff snook up there one night with a + couple of deputies and arrested a gang of male and female mortals and + confiscated a couple of kegs of beer at the same time. Shortly after old + David Windom confessed that he killed Alix's father and buried him on the + rock, people begin to talk about seeing things again. Funny that Eddie + Crown's ghost neglected to come back till after he'd been dead eighteen + years or so. Ghosts ain't usually so considerate. Nobody ever claims to + have seen him floating around the old Windom front yard before Mr. Windom + confessed. But, by gosh, the story hadn't been printed in the newspapers + for more than two days before George Heffner saw Eddie in the front yard, + plain as day, and ran derned near a mile and a half past his own house + before he could stop, as he told some one that met him when he stopped for + breath. Course, that story sort of petered out when George's wife went + down and cowhided a widow who lived just a mile and a half south of their + place, and that night George kept on running so hard the other way that + he's never been heard of since. Since then there hasn't been much talk + about ghosts,—'specially among the married men." + </p> + <p> + "And the rattlesnakes?" said Courtney, grinning. + </p> + <p> + "Along about 1875 David Windom killed a couple of rattlers up there. It's + only natural that their ghosts should come back, same as anybody else's. + Far as I can make out, nobody has ever actually seen one, but the Lord + only knows how many people claim to have heard 'em." + </p> + <p> + He went on in this whimsical fashion for half an hour or more, and finally + came back to Alix Crown again. + </p> + <p> + "She did an awful lot of good during the war,—contributed to + everything, drove an ambulance in New York, took up nursing, and all that, + and if the war hadn't been ended by you fellers when it was, she'd have + been over in France, sure as you're a foot high." + </p> + <p> + "Strange she hasn't married, young and rich and beautiful as she is," + mused Courtney. + </p> + <p> + "Plenty of fellers been after her all right. She don't seem to be able to + see 'em though. Now that the war's over maybe she'll settle down and pay + some attention to sufferin' humanity. There's one thing sure. If she's got + a beau he don't belong around these parts. Nobody around here's got a + look-in." + </p> + <p> + "Does she live all alone in that house up there? I mean, has she no—er—chaperon?" + </p> + <p> + "Nancy Strong is keeping house for her,—her husband used to run the + blacksmith shop here and did all of David Windom's work for him. He's been + dead a good many years. Nancy is one of the finest women you ever saw. Her + father was an Episcopal minister up in the city up to the time he died. + Nancy had to earn her own living, so she got a job as school teacher down + here. Let's see, that was over thirty years ago. Been here ever since. Tom + Strong wasn't good enough for her. Too religious. He was the feller that + led the mob that wiped out Tony Zimmerman's saloon soon after I came here. + I'll never forget that night. I happened to be in the saloon,—just + out of curiosity, because it was new and everybody was dropping in to see + the bar and fixtures he'd got from Chicago,—but I got out of a back + window in plenty of time. But as I was saying, Nancy Strong keeps house + for Alix. She's got a cook and a second girl besides, and a chauffeur." + </p> + <p> + "An ideal arrangement," said Courtney, looking at his wrist-watch. + </p> + <p> + "I wonder if you ever came across Nancy Strong's son over in France. He + was in the Medical Corps in our Army. He's a doctor. Went to Rush Medical + College in Chicago and afterwards to some place in the East,—John + Hopkins or some such name as that. Feller about your age, I should say. + David Strong. Mr. Windom sent him through college. They say he's paying + the money back to Alix Crown as fast as he makes it. Alix hates him + worse'n poison, according to Jim Bagley, her foreman. Of course, she don't + let on to David's mother on account of her being housekeeper and all. + Seems that Alix is as sore as can be because he insists on paying the + money to her, when she claims her grandpa gave it to him and it's none of + her business. Davy says he promised to pay Mr. Windom back as soon as he + was able, and can't see any reason why the old man's death should cancel + the obligation. Jim was telling me some time ago about the letter Alix + showed him from Davy. She was so mad she actually cried. He said in so + many words he didn't choose to be beholden to her, and that he was in the + habit of paying his debts, and she needn't be so high and mighty about + refusin' to accept the money. He said he didn't accept anything from Mr. + Windom as charity,—claiming it was a loan,—and he'd be damned + if he'd accept charity from her. I don't believe he swore like that, but + then Jim can't say good morning to you without getting in a cuss word or + two. Alix is as stubborn as all get out. Jim says that every time she gets + a cheque from Davy she cashes it and hands the money over to Mrs. Strong + for a present, never letting on to Nancy that it came from Davy. Did I say + that Davy is practisin' in Philadelphia? He was back here for a week to + see his mother after he got out of the Army, but when Alix heard he was + coming she beat it up to Chicago. I thought maybe you might have run + across him over in France." + </p> + <p> + "I was not with the American Army,—and besides there were several + million men in France, Charlie," said Courtney, arising and stretching + himself. "Well, good night. Thanks for the uplift. I'll skip along now and + write a letter or two." + </p> + <p> + "Snappy dreams," said Charlie Webster. + </p> + <p> + Just as Courtney was closing a long letter to his mother, the automobile + drew up in front of the Tavern and Alix Crown's guests got out. There were + "good-nights" and "sleep-tights" and then the car went purring down the + dimly lighted road. He had no trouble in distinguishing Alix's clear, + young voice, and thereupon added the following words of comfort to his + faraway mother: "You will love her voice, mater dear. It's like music. So + put away your prejudice and wish me luck. I've made a good start. The fact + that she refused to look at me on the porch tonight is the best sign in + the world. Just because she deliberately failed to notice me is no sign + that she didn't expect me to notice her. It is an ancient and + time-honoured trick of your adorable sex." + </p> + <p> + III — The next morning his walk took him up the lane past the + charming, red-brick house of Alix the Third. His leg was troubling him. He + walked with quite a pronounced limp, and there were times when his face + winced with pain. + </p> + <p> + "It's that confounded poison you gave me last night," he announced to + Charlie Webster as they stood chatting in front of the warehouse office. + </p> + <p> + "First time I ever heard of booze going to the knee," was Charlie's + laconic rejoinder. "It's generally aimed at the head." + </p> + <p> + He made good use of the corner of his eye as he strolled leisurely past + the Windom house, set well back at the top of a small tree-surrounded + knoll and looking down upon the grassy slope that formed the most + beautiful "front yard" in the whole county, according to the proud and + boastful denizens of Windomville. Along the bottom of the lawn ran a + neatly trimmed privet hedge. There were lilac bushes in the lower corners + of the extensive grounds, and the wide gravel walk up to the house was + lined with flowers. Rose bushes guarded the base of the terrace that ran + the full length of the house and curved off to the back of it. + </p> + <p> + A red and yellow beach umbrella, tilted against the hot morning sun, lent + a gay note of colour to the terrace to the left of the steps. Some one,—a + woman,—sat beneath the big sunshade, reading a newspaper. A Belgian + police dog posed at the top of the steps, as rigid as if shaped of stone, + regarding the passer-by who limped. Halfway between the house and the road + stood two fine old oaks, one at either side of the lawn. Their cool, + alluring shadows were like clouds upon an emerald sea. Down near the hedge + a whirling garden spray cast its benevolent waters over the grateful turf, + and, reaching out in playful gusts, blew its mist into the face of the man + outside. Back of the house and farther up the timbered slope rose a + towering windmill and below it the red water tank, partially screened by + the tree-tops. The rhythmic beat of a hydraulic pump came to the + stroller's ears. + </p> + <p> + Courtney's saunterings had taken him past this charming place before,—half + a dozen times perhaps,—but never had it seemed so alluring. + Outwardly there was no change that he could detect, and yet there was a + subtle difference in its every aspect. The spray, the shadows, the lazy + windmill, the flowers,—he had seen them all before, just as they + were this morning. They had not changed. But now, by some strange + wizardry, the tranquil setting had been transformed into a vibrant, + exquisite fairyland, throbbing with life, charged with an appeal to every + one of the senses. It was as if some hand had shaken it out of a sound + sleep. + </p> + <p> + But, for that matter, the whole village of Windomville had undergone a + change. It was no longer the dull, sleepy place of yesterday. Over night + it had blossomed. Courtney Thane alone was aware of this amazing + transformation. It was he who felt the thrill that charged the air, who + breathed in the sense-quickening spice, who heard the pipes of Pan. All + these signs of enchantment were denied the matter-of-fact, unimaginative + inhabitants of Windomville. And you would ask the cause of this amazing + transformation? + </p> + <p> + Before he left the breakfast table Courtney had consented to give a talk + before the Literary Society on the coming Friday night. Mrs. Maude Baggs + Pollock had been at him for a week to tell of his experiences at the + front. She promised a full attendance. + </p> + <p> + "I've never made a speech in my life," he said, "and I know I'd be scared + stiff, Mrs. Pollock." + </p> + <p> + "Pooh! Don't you talk to me about being scared! Anybody who did the things + you did over in France—" + </p> + <p> + "Ah, but you forget I was armed to the teeth," he reminded her, with a + grin. + </p> + <p> + "Well," put in Charlie Webster, "we'll promise to leave our pistols at + home. The only danger you'll be in, Court, will come from a lot of + hysterical women trying to kiss you, but I think I can fix it to have the + best lookin' ones up in front so that—" + </p> + <p> + "I wish you wouldn't always try to be funny, Charlie Webster," snapped + Mrs. Pollock. "Mr. Thane and I were discussing a serious matter. If you + can postpone—" + </p> + <p> + "I defy anybody to prove that there's anything funny about being kissed by + practically half the grown-up population of Windomville with the other + half lookin' on and cussin' under their breath." + </p> + <p> + "Don't pay any attention to him, Mr. Thane," said the poetess of + Windomville. "Alix Crown said last night she was coming to the meeting + this week, and I'd so like to surprise her. Now please say you will do + it." + </p> + <p> + "I really wouldn't know what to talk about," pleaded the young man. "You + see, as a rule, we fellows who were over there don't feel half as well + qualified to talk about the war as those who stayed at home and read about + it in the papers." + </p> + <p> + "Nonsense! All you will have to do is just to tell some of your own + personal experiences. Nobody's going to think you are bragging about them. + We'll understand." + </p> + <p> + "Next Friday night, you say? Well, I'll try, Mrs. Pollock, if you'll + promise to chloroform Charlie Webster," said he, and Charlie promptly + declared he would do the chloroforming himself. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII — COURTNEY APPEARS IN PUBLIC + </h2> + <p> + The meetings of the Literary Society were held once a month in the + Windomville schoolhouse, a two story brick building situated some distance + back from the main street at the upper edge of the town. There were four + classrooms and three teachers, including the principal, Miss Angie Miller, + who taught the upper grade. Graduates from her "room" were given diplomas + admitting them to the first year of High School in the city hard-by in + case they desired to take advantage of the privilege. As a rule, however, + the parents of such children were satisfied to call it an honour rather + than a privilege, with the result that but few of them ever saw the inside + of the High School. They were looked upon as being quite sufficiently + educated for all that Windomville could possibly expect or exact of them. + When the old schoolhouse was destroyed by fire in the winter of 1916, Alix + Crown contributed fifteen thousand dollars toward the construction of this + new and more or less modern structure, with the provision that the town + board should appropriate the balance needed to complete the building. On + completion the schoolhouse was found to have cost exactly $14,989.75, and + so, at the next township election, the board was unanimously returned to + office by an appreciative constituency, and Miss Crown graciously notified + by the assessor that she had been credited with ten dollars and + twenty-five cents against her next year's road tax. + </p> + <p> + The Literary Society always met in Miss Miller's "room," not because it + was more imposing or commodious than any of the others but on account of + its somewhat rarified intellectual atmosphere. Miss Angie's literary + attainments, while confined to absorption rather than to production, were + well known. She was supposed to have read all of the major poets. At any + rate she was able to quote them. Besides, she had made a study of Dickens + and Thackeray and Trollope, being qualified to discuss the astonishing + shortcomings of those amiable mid-Victorians in a most dependable manner. + She made extensive use of the word "erudite," and confused a great many + people by employing "vicarious" and "didactic" and "raison d'etre" in the + course of ordinary conversation. For example, in complaining to Mr. + Hodges, the school trustee, about the lack of heat in mid-January, she + completely subdued him be remarking that there wasn't "the least raison + d'etre for such a condition." In view of these and other intellectual + associations, Miss Miller's "room" was obviously the place for the + Literary Society to meet. + </p> + <p> + Mr. George Ade, Mr. Booth Tarkington, Mr. James Whitcomb Riley, Mr. + Meredith Nicholson and other noted Indiana authors had been invited to + "read from their works" before the Society, and while none of them had + been able to accept, each and every one had written a polite note of + regret to the secretary, who not only read them aloud to the Society but + preserved them in her own private scrap book and spoke feelingly of her + remarkable "collection." + </p> + <p> + The room was crowded to hear the "celebrated air-man" relate his + experiences at the front. The exercises were delayed for nearly an hour + while Mr. Hatch, the photographer, prepared and foozled three attempts to + get a flashlight picture of the gathering. Everybody was coughing + violently when A. Lincoln Pollock arose to introduce the speaker of the + evening. In conclusion he said: + </p> + <p> + "Mr. Thane was not only wounded in the service of humanity but he was also + gassed. I wish to state here and now that it was not laughing gas the + Germans administered. Far from it, my friends. Mr. Thane will tell you + that it was no laughing matter. He has come to God's own country to + recuperate and to regain his once robust health. After looking the world + over, he chose the health-giving climate of his native state,—ahem! + I should say, his father's native state,—and here he is not only + thriving but enjoying himself. I take it upon myself to announce that he + left all of his medals at his home in New York. They are too precious to + be carried promiscuously about the country. It is my pleasure, ladies and + gentlemen, to introduce to you one of the real heroes of the Great War, + Mr. Courtney Thane, of New York City, who will now speak to you." + </p> + <p> + Alix Crown sat at the back of the room. There were no chairs, of course. + Each person present occupied a scholar's seat and desk. Courtney had seen + her come in. She was so late that he began to fear she was not coming at + all. The little thrill of exultation that came with her arrival was + shortly succeeded by an even greater fear that she would depart as soon as + the meeting was over, without stopping to meet him at the "reception" + which was to follow. + </p> + <p> + In his most agreeable drawl and with the barest reference to his own + exploits, he described, quite simply, a number of incidents that had come + under his personal observation while with the American Ambulance and + afterwards in the British Flying Corps. Most of his talk was devoted to + the feats of others and to the description of scenes and events somewhat + remote from the actual fighting zone. He confessed that he knew + practically nothing of the work of the American Expeditionary Force, + except by hearsay, as he did not come in contact with the American armies, + except an occasional unit brigaded with British troops in the Cambrai + section of the great line. His listeners, no doubt, knew a great deal more + about the activities and achievements of the Americans than he, so he was + quite sure there was nothing he could say that would interest or enlighten + them. In concluding he very briefly touched upon his own mishap. + </p> + <p> + "We were returning from a bombing flight over the German positions when + somebody put a bullet into our petrol and down we came in flames. There + was a gas attack going on at the time. We managed to land in a cloud of + it, and—somehow we got back to our own lines, a little the worse for + wear and all that sort of thing, you know. It wasn't as bad as you'd + think,—except for the gas, which isn't what you would call + palatable,—and I came out not much worse off than a chap who has + been through a hard football scrimmage. Knee and ankle bunged up a little,—and + a dusty uniform,—that's about all. I hope you will excuse me from + talking any longer. My silly throat goes back on me, you see. My mother + probably would tell you, 'too many cigarettes.' Perhaps she is right. + Thank you for listening to all this rot, ladies and gentlemen. You are + very kind to have given me this undeserved honour." + </p> + <p> + Not once during his remarks did he allow his gaze to rest upon Alix Crown. + It was his means of informing her that she had not made the slightest + impression upon him. + </p> + <p> + As he resumed his seat beside Mr. Pollock, and while the generous + hand-clapping was still going on, Pastor Mavity arose and benignly waited + for the applause to cease. Mr. Mavity invariably claimed the + ecclesiastical privilege of speech. No meeting was complete, no topic + exhausted, until he had exercised that right. It did not matter whether he + had anything pertinent to say, the fact still remained that he felt called + upon to say something: + </p> + <p> + "I should like to ask Mr. Thane if he thinks the Germans are preparing for + another war. We have heard rumours to that effect. Many of our keenest + observers have declared that it is only a matter of a few years before the + Germans will be in a position to make war again, and that they will make + it with even greater ferocity than before. We all know of the conflict now + raging in Russia, and the amazing rebellion of De Annunzio in Fiume, and + the—er—as I was saying, the possibility of the Kaiser seizing + his bloody throne and calling upon his minions to—ah—er—renew + the gigantic struggle. The history of the world records no such stupendous + sacrifice of life on the cruel altars of greed and avarice and—er—ambition. + We may turn back to the vast campaigns of Hannibal and Hamilcar and Julius + Caesar and find no—er—no war comparable to the one we have so + gloriously concluded. Our own Civil War, with all its,—but I must + not keep you standing, Mr. Thane. Do you, from your experience and + observation, regard another war as inevitable?" + </p> + <p> + "I do," was Courtney's succinct reply. + </p> + <p> + There was a distinctly audible flutter throughout the room. Here, at last, + was something definite to support the general contention that "we aren't + through with the Germans yet." A lady up in front leaned across the aisle + and whispered piercingly to her husband: + </p> + <p> + "There! What did I tell you?" + </p> + <p> + Another lady arose halfway from her seat and anxiously inquired: + </p> + <p> + "How soon do you think it will come, Mr. Thane?" + </p> + <p> + She had a son just turning seventeen. + </p> + <p> + "That is a question I am afraid you will have to put to God or the German + Emperor," said Courtney, with a smile. + </p> + <p> + "When David Strong was home this spring I asked him what he thought about + it," said Editor Pollock. "I published the interview in the Sun. He was of + the opinion that the Germans had had all they wanted of war. I tried to + convince him that he was all wrong, but all I could get him to say was + that if they ever did make war again it would be long after the most of us + were dead." + </p> + <p> + "David Strong didn't see anything of the war except what he saw in the + hospitals," said a woman contemptuously. + </p> + <p> + "Permit me to correct you, Mrs. Primmer," said Alix Crown, without + arising. "David Strong was under fire most of the time. He was not in a + base hospital. He was attached to a field hospital,—first with the + French, then with the British, and afterwards with the Americans." + </p> + <p> + "In that case," said Courtney, facing her, "he was in the thick of it. + Every man in the army, from general down to the humblest private, takes + his hat off to the men who served in the field hospitals. While we may + differ as to the next war, I do not hesitate to say that Dr. Strong saw + infinitely more of the last one than I did. It may sound incredible to + you, ladies and gentlemen, but my job was a picnic compared to his. As a + matter of fact, I have always claimed that I was in greater danger when I + was in the American Ambulance than when I was flying, quite safely, a + couple of miles up in the air. At any rate, I FELT safer." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, but think of falling that distance," cried Miss Angie Miller. + </p> + <p> + "It was against the rules to think of falling," said he, and every one + laughed. + </p> + <p> + The "reception" followed. Every one came up and shook hands with Courtney + and told him how much his address was enjoyed. As the group around him + grew thicker and at the same time more reluctant to move on, he began to + despair of meeting Alix Crown. He could see her over near the door + conversing with Alaska Spigg and Charlie Webster. Then he saw her wave her + hand in farewell to some one across the room and bow to Charlie. There was + a bright, gay smile on her lips as she said something to Charlie which + caused that gentleman to laugh prodigiously. All hope seemed lost as she + and little old Alaska turned toward the open door. + </p> + <p> + It was not fate that intervened. It was Pastor Mavity. Disengaging himself + from the group and leaving a profound sentence uncompleted, he dashed over + to her, calling out her name as he did so. + </p> + <p> + "Alix! Just a moment, please!" + </p> + <p> + She paused,—and Courtney discreetly turned his back. Presently a + benevolent hand was laid on his shoulder and the voice of the shepherd + fell upon his ear. + </p> + <p> + "I want you to meet Miss Crown, Mr. Thane. She has just been telling me + how interested she was in your remarks. Miss Crown, my very dear friend, + Mr. Courtney Thane. Mr. Thane, as you may already know, is sojourning in + our midst for—" + </p> + <p> + "I am delighted to meet you, Miss Crown," broke in Courtney, with an + abashed smile. "Formally, I mean. I have a very distinct recollection of + meeting you informally," he added wrily. + </p> + <p> + "Dear me!" exclaimed Mr. Mavity, elevating his eyebrows. + </p> + <p> + Courtney's humility disarmed her. She allowed her lips to curve slightly + in a faint smile. The merest trace of a dimple flickered for an instant in + her smooth cheek. + </p> + <p> + "I suppose it was the old story of forbidden fruit, Mr. Thane," said she. + Then, impulsively, she extended her hand. He clasped it firmly, and there + was peace between them. + </p> + <p> + "On the contrary, Miss Crown, it was an unpardonable piece of impudence, + for which I am so heartily ashamed that I wonder how I can look you in the + face." + </p> + <p> + "I was tremendously interested in your talk tonight," she said, coolly + dismissing the subject. "Thank you for giving us the pleasure. It is just + such adventures as you have had that makes me wish more than ever that I + had not been born a girl." + </p> + <p> + He bowed gallantly. "What would the world be like if God had neglected to + create the rose?" + </p> + <p> + "Bravo!" cried Mr. Mavity, slapping him on the back. "Spoken like a knight + of old." + </p> + <p> + "Good night, Mr. Thane,—and thank you again," she said. Nodding to + Mr. Mavity, she turned to leave the group. + </p> + <p> + Again the parson intervened. "My dear Alix, I can't let you go without + saying a word about your splendid defence of David Strong. It was fine. + And you, sir, were—ah—what shall I say?—you were most + generous in saying what you did. David is a fine fellow. He—" + </p> + <p> + "I should have said the same about any doctor who was up at the front," + said Courtney simply. "Is he an old friend, Miss Crown?" + </p> + <p> + "I have known him ever since I can remember," she replied, and he detected + a slight stiffness in her manner. + </p> + <p> + "Ahem! Er—ah—" began Mr. Mavity tactfully. "David was born + here, Mr. Thane. Well, good night, Alix,—good night." + </p> + <p> + When she was quite out of hearing, the flustered parson lowered his voice + and said to Courtney: + </p> + <p> + "They—er—don't get along very well, you see. I couldn't + explain while she was here. Something to do with money matters,—nothing + of consequence, I assure you,—but very distressing, most + distressing. It is too bad,—too bad." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Pollock overheard. "They're both terribly set in their ways," she + remarked. "Stubborn as mules. For my part, I think Alix is too silly for + words about it. Especially with his mother living in the same house with + her. Now, mind you, I'm not saying anything against Alix. I love her. But + just the same, she can be the most unreasonable—" + </p> + <p> + "They haven't spoken to each other for over three years," inserted Angie + Miller. "When they were children they were almost inseparable. David + Windom took a fancy to little David. The story is that he was trying to + ease his conscience by being nice to a blacksmith's son. You see, his own + daughter ran away with a blacksmith's son,—and you've heard what + happened, Mr. Thane. David was in my class for two years before he went up + to High School, and I remember he always used to get long letters from + Alix when she was in England. Then, when she came home,—she was + about twelve I think,—they were great friends. Always together, + playing, studying, reading, riding and—" + </p> + <p> + "Everybody used to say old David Windom was doing his best to make a match + of it," interrupted Mrs. Pollock, who had been out of the conversation + longer than she liked. "Up to the time the old man died, we used to take + it for granted that some day they would get married,—but, my + goodness, it's like waving a red flag at a bull to even mention his name + to Alix now. She hates him,—and I guess he hates her." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, my dear friend," cried Mr. Mavity, "I really don't think you ought to + say that. Hate is a very dreadful word. I am sure Alix is incapable of + actually hating any one. And as for David, he is kindness, gentleness + itself. It is just one of those unfortunate situations that cannot be + accounted for." + </p> + <p> + Charlie Webster came up at that juncture. + </p> + <p> + "Say, Court, why didn't you tell 'em about the time you called Colonel + What's-His-Name down,—the French guy that—" The scowl on + Courtney's brow silenced the genial Charlie. He coughed and sputtered for + a moment or two and then said something about "taking a joke." + </p> + <p> + As Charlie moved away, Miss Angie Miller sniffed and said, without + appreciably lowering her voice: + </p> + <p> + "I wonder where he gets it. There isn't supposed to be a drop in + Windomville." Suddenly her eyes flew wide open. "Furman! Oh, Furman + Hatch!" she called out to a man who was sidling toward the door in the + wake of the pernicious Mr. Webster. + </p> + <p> + While there was nothing to indicate that Mr. Hatch heard her, the most + disinterested spectator would have observed a perceptible acceleration of + speed on his part. + </p> + <p> + "You promised to tell me how to—" But Mr. Hatch was gone. Mr. + Webster turned a surprised and resentful look upon him as he felt himself + being pushed rather roughly through the door ahead of the hurrying + photographer. When Miss Angie reached the door,—she had lost some + little time because of the seats and the stupidity of Mrs. Primmer who + blocked the way by first turning to the right, then to the left, and + finally by not turning at all,—Mr. Hatch was nowhere in sight, even + though Mr. Webster was barely two-thirds of the way down the stairs. + </p> + <p> + A pleasant, courteous voice accosted her from behind as she stood glaring + after the chubby warehouseman. + </p> + <p> + "Do you mind if I walk home with you, Miss Miller?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, is—is that you, Mr. Thane?" she fairly gasped. Then she + simpered. "I'm really not a bit afraid. Still,"—hastily—"if + you really wish to, I should be delighted." + </p> + <p> + If Mr. Hatch was lurking anywhere in the shadows, he must have been + profoundly impressed by the transformation in Miss Angie Miller as she + strode homeward at the side of the tall young New Yorker, her hand on his + arm, her head held high,—he might also have noticed that she stepped + a little higher than usual. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII — ALIX THE THIRD + </h2> + <p> + October came, with its red and golden trees, its brown pastures, its crisp + nights and its hazy, smoky days. Fires were kindled in old-fashioned + fireplaces; out in the farmyards busy housewives were making soap and + apple butter in great iron kettles suspended over blazing logs; wagons + laden with wheat and corn rumbled through country roads and up to the + Windom elevator; stores were thriving under the spur of new-found money; + the school was open, Main Street childless for hours at a time,—and + Courtney Thane was still in Windomville. + </p> + <p> + He was a frequent, almost constant visitor at the red-brick house on the + knoll. The gossips were busy. Sage winks were exchanged when Alix and he + were seen together in her automobile; many a head was lowered so that its + owner might peer quizzically over the upper rims of spectacles as they + strolled past the postoffice and other public porches; convicting feminine + smiles pursued the young man up the lane leading to Alix's home. There + were some doubtful head-shakings, but in the main Windomville was rather + well pleased with the prospect. Opinion, though divided, was almost + unanimous: few there were who held that "nothin' would come of it." + </p> + <p> + Charlie Webster was one of the latter. His early intimacy with the + ex-aviator had suffered a decided slump. His jovial attempts to plague the + young man about his intentions met with the frostiest reception. Indeed, + on one memorable occasion, the object of these good-natured banterings + turned upon him coldly and said: + </p> + <p> + "See here, Webster, you're getting to be considerable of a nuisance. Cut + it out, will you? You are not half as funny as you think you are. I'm + pretty well fed up with your freshness—understand?" + </p> + <p> + It was a slap in the face that Charlie DID understand, and one he never + forgot. As the rebuke was uttered on the porch of Dowd's Tavern and in the + presence of Flora Grady, Maude Baggs Pollock and one or two others, the + sting was likely to endure. + </p> + <p> + While Courtney's manner had undergone a decided change so far as nearly + all of his fellow-lodgers were concerned, he still maintained a very + friendly and courteous attitude toward the Dowd sisters and Mr. and Mrs. + Pollock. For some reason known only to himself,—(but doubtless plain + to the reader of this narrative),—he devoted most of his attention + to the editor and his wife and to the two spinsters who were such close + friends of the young lady of his dreams. As for the others, he made no + attempt to conceal his disdain. + </p> + <p> + It was not long before the Irish in Miss Flora Grady was aroused. She + announced to Miss Angie Miller that he was a "stuck up smart-Aleck," and + sooner or later he'd get a piece of her mind that would "take him down a + couple of pegs." Miss Miller, while in complete accord with Flora's views, + was content to speak of him as "supercilious." + </p> + <p> + Charlie Webster grew more and more thoughtful under the weight of + indignity. + </p> + <p> + "I certainly missed my guess as to that feller," he remarked to Doc + Simpson and Hatch one day. "I had him sized up as a different sort of + feller altogether. Why, up to a couple of weeks ago, he was as nice as pie + to all of us,—'specially to me. He used to come over to my office + and sit around for hours, chatting and smoking cigarettes and joshing like + a good feller. But I've got it all figgered out, boys. He was simply + workin' me. He always led the conversation round to Alix Crown, and then, + like a dern' fool, I'd let him pump me dry. Why, there's nothing he don't + know about that girl,—and all through me. Now he's got in with her,—just + as he wanted to all along,—and what does he do but tie a can to me + and give me a swift kick. And there's another thing I might as well say to + you fellers while I'm about it. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately,—sort + of putting things together in my mind,—and it's my opinion that he + is one of the blamedest liars I've ever come across." + </p> + <p> + He paused to see the effect of this startling assertion. Hatch removed the + corn-cob pipe from between his lips and laconically observed: + </p> + <p> + "Well, I know of one lie he's told." + </p> + <p> + "You do?" + </p> + <p> + "Remember him telling us at the supper table one night that a German + submarine fired three torpedoes at the steamer he was coming home on with + a lot of other sick and wounded? Well, a couple of nights ago he forgot + himself and made the statement that he was in a hospital in England for + nearly two months after the armistice was signed." + </p> + <p> + "By gosh, that's right," cried Doc Simpson. + </p> + <p> + "And what's more," went on Hatch, "wasn't he serving in the British Army? + What I'd like to know is this: why would England be sending her wounded + soldiers over to America? You can bet your life England wasn't doing + anything like that." + </p> + <p> + "There's another thing that don't sound just right to me," said Charlie, + his brow furrowed. "He says one night he got lost driving his ambulance + and the first thing he knew he was away behind the German lines. I may be + wrong, but I've always thought both sides had trenches. What puzzles me is + how the dickens he managed to drive that Ford of his over the German + trenches without noticin' 'em,—and back again besides." + </p> + <p> + "Well," said Doc, desiring to be fair, "it seems to be the habit of + soldiers to lie a little. That's where we get the saying, 'he lied like a + trooper.' I know my Uncle George lied so much about what he did in the + Civil War that he ought to have had twenty pensions instead of one. Still, + there's a big change in Court, as you say, Charlie. I wonder if Alix is + really keen about him. He's up there all the time, seems to me. Or is she + just stringin' him?" + </p> + <p> + Charlie frowned darkly. "He's a slick one. I—I'd hate to see Alix + fall for him." + </p> + <p> + The sententious Mr. Hatch: "The smartest women in the world lose their + heads over a feller as soon as they find out he's in poor health." + </p> + <p> + "He's in perfect health," exploded Charlie. + </p> + <p> + "I know,—but that don't prevent him from coughing and holding his + side and walking with a cane, does it? That's what gets 'em, Charlie. The + quickest way to get a girl interested is to let her think you're in need + of sympathy." + </p> + <p> + "It don't work when you're as fat as I am," said Charlie gloomily. + </p> + <p> + Conscious or unconscious of the varying opinions that were being voiced + behind his back, Courtney went confidently ahead with his wooing. He + congratulated himself that he was in Alix's good graces. If at times she + was perplexingly cool,—or "upstage," as he called it,—he + flattered himself that he knew women too well to be discouraged by these + purely feminine manifestations. + </p> + <p> + This was a game he knew how to play. The time was not yet ripe for him to + abandon his well-calculated air of indifference. That he was desperately + in love with her goes without saying. If at the outset of his campaign he + was inspired by the unworthy motive of greed, he was now consumed by an + entirely different desire,—the desire to have her for his own, even + though she were penniless. + </p> + <p> + Those whirlwind tactics that had swept many another girl off her feet were + not to be thought of here. Alix was different. She was not an + impressionable, hair-brained flapper, such as he had come in contact with + in past experiences. Despite her sprightly, thoroughly up-to-the-moment + ease of manner, and an air of complete sophistication, she was singularly + old-fashioned in a great many respects. While she was bright, amusing, + gay, there was back of it all a certain reserve that forbade familiarity,—sufficient, + indeed, to inspire unexampled caution on his part. She invited friendship + but not familiarity; she demanded respect rather than admiration. + </p> + <p> + He was not slow in arriving at the conclusion that she knew men. She knew + how to fence with them. He was distinctly aware of this. Other men, of + course, had been in love with her; other men no doubt had dashed their + hopes upon the barrier in their haste to seize the treasure. It was + inconceivable that one so lovely, so desirable, so utterly feminine should + fail to inspire in all men that which she inspired in him. The obvious, + therefore, was gratifying. Granted that she had had proposals, here was + the proof that the poor fools who laid their hearts at her feet had gone + about it clumsily. Such would not be the case with him. Oh no! He would + bide his time, he would watch for the first break in her enchanted armour,—and + then the conquest! + </p> + <p> + There were times, of course, when he came near to catastrophe,—times + when he was almost powerless to resist the passion that possessed him. + These were the times when he realized how easy it would have been to join + that sad company of fools in the path behind her. + </p> + <p> + He had no real misgivings. He felt confident of winning. True, her moods + puzzled him at times, but were they not, after all, omens of good fortune? + Were they not indications of the mysterious changes that were taking place + in her? And the way was clear. So far as he knew, there was no other man. + Her heart was free. What more could he ask? + </p> + <p> + On her side, the situation was not so complex. He came from the great + outside world, he brought the outside world to the lonely little village + on the bank of the river. He was bright, amusing, cultivated,—at + least he represented cultivation as it exists in open places and on the + surface of a sea called civilization. He possessed that ineffable quality + known as "manner." The spice of the Metropolis clung to him. He could talk + of the things she loved,—not as she loved the farm and village and + the home of her fathers, but of the things she loved because they stood + for that which represented the beautiful in intellect, in genius, in + accomplishment. The breath of far lands and wide seas came with him to the + town of Windomville, grateful and soothing, and yet laden with the tang of + turmoil, the spice of iniquity. + </p> + <p> + Alix was no Puritan. She had been out in the world, she had come up + against the elemental in life, she had learned that God in His wisdom had + peopled the earth with saints and sinners,—and she was tolerant of + both! In a word, she was broad-minded. She had been an observer rather + than a participant in the passing show. She had absorbed knowledge rather + than experience. + </p> + <p> + The conventions remained unshaken so far as she was personally concerned. + In others she excused much that she could not have excused in herself,—for + the heritage of righteousness had come down to her through a long line of + staunch upholders. + </p> + <p> + She loved life. She craved companionship. She could afford to gratify her + desires. Week-ends found two or more guests at her home,—friends + from the city up the river. Sometimes there were visitors from Chicago, + Indianapolis and other places,—girls she had met at school, or in + her travels, or in the canteen. Early in the war her house was + headquarters for the local Red Cross workers, the knitters, the bandage + rollers, and so on, but after the entry of the United States into the + conflict, most of her time was spent away from Windomville in the more + intense activities delegated to women. + </p> + <p> + She attended the theatre when anything worth while came to the city, + frequently taking one or two of the village people with her. Once, as she + was leaving the theatre, she heard herself discussed by persons in the + aisle behind. + </p> + <p> + "That's Alix Crown. I'll tell you all about her when we get home. Her + father and mother were murdered years ago and buried in a well or + something. I wish she'd turn around so that you could get a good look at + her face. She's quite pretty and—" + </p> + <p> + And she had deliberately turned to face the speaker, who never forgot the + cold, unwavering stare that caused her to lower her own eyes and her voice + to trail off into a confused mumble. + </p> + <p> + Alix was a long time in recovering from the distress caused by the + incident. She avoided the city for weeks. It was her first intimation that + she was an object of unusual interest to people, that she was the subject + of whispered comment, that she was a "character" to be pointed out to + strangers. Even now, with the sting of injury and injustice eased by time + and her own good sense, there still remained the disturbing consciousness + that she was,—for want of a milder term,—a "marked woman." + </p> + <p> + She was thoroughly acquainted with every detail connected with the + extensive farms and industries that had been handed down to her. A great + deal of her time was devoted to an intelligent and comprehensive interest + in the management of the farms. She was never out of touch with + conditions. Her tenants respected and admired her; her foremen and + superintendents consulted with her as they would not have believed it + possible to consult with a woman; her bankers deferred to her. + </p> + <p> + She would have laughed at you if you had suggested to her that she had + more than a grain of business-sense, or ability, or capacity, and yet she + was singularly far-sighted and capable,—without being in the least + aware of it. Her pleasures were not allowed to interfere with her + obligations as a landlord, a citizen and a taxpayer. A certain part of + each day was set aside for the business of the farms. She repaired bright + and early to the little office at the back of the house where her + grandfather had worked before her, and there she struggled over accounts, + reports, claims,—and her cheque-book. And like her grim, silent + grandsire, she "rode" the lanes that twined through field and timber,—only + she rode gaily, blithely, with sunshine in her heart. The darkness was + always behind her, never ahead. + </p> + <p> + Courtney undoubtedly had overcome the prejudice his visit to Quill's + Window had inspired in her. They never spoke of that first encounter. It + was as a closed book between them. He had forgotten the incident. At any + rate, he had put it out of his mind. He sometimes wondered, however, if + she would ever invite him to accompany her to the top of that forbidden + hill. In their rambles they had passed the closed gate on more than one + occasion. The words, "No Trespass," still met the eye. Some day he would + suggest an adventure: the descent to the cave in quest of treasure! The + two of them! Rope ladder and all! It would be great fun! + </p> + <p> + He was assiduous in his efforts to amuse her house guests. He laid himself + out to be entertaining. If he resented the presence of young men from the + city, he managed to conceal his feelings remarkably well. On one point he + was firm: he would not accompany her on any of her trips to the city. Once + she had invited him to motor in with her to a tea, and another time she + offered to drive him about the city and out to the college on a + sight-seeing tour. It was then that he said he was determined to obey + "doctor's orders." No city streets for him! Even SHE couldn't entice him! + He loved every inch of this charming, restful spot,—every tree and + every stone,—and he would not leave it until the time came for him + to go away forever. + </p> + <p> + He was very well satisfied with the fruits of this apparently ungracious + refusal. She went to the city less frequently than before, and only when + it was necessary. This, he decided, was significant. It could have but one + meaning. + </p> + <p> + Her dog, Sergeant, did not like him. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX — A MID-OCTOBER DAY + </h2> + <p> + One chilly, rainy afternoon in mid-October Courtney appeared at the house + on the knoll half an hour earlier than was his custom. Alix was expecting + friends down from the city for tea. From the hall where he was removing + his raincoat he had a fair view through an open door of the north end of + the long living-room. Logs were blazing merrily in the fireplace. Alix was + standing before the fire, tearing a sheet of paper into small pieces. She + was angry. She threw rather than dropped the bits of paper into the + flames,—unmistakably she was furious. He waited a moment before + entering the room. Her back was toward him. She turned in response to his + discreet cough. Even in the dim light that filtered in from the grey, + leaden day outside, he could detect the heightened colour in her cheeks, + and as he advanced he saw that her eyes were wet with illy-suppressed + tears. She bit her lip and forced a smile. + </p> + <p> + He possessed the philanderer's tact. There was nothing in his manner to + indicate that he noticed anything unusual. He greeted her cheerfully and + then, affecting a shiver, passed on to spread his hands out over the fire. + </p> + <p> + "This is great," he exclaimed, his back to her. He was giving her a chance + to compose herself. "Nothing like a big log fire to warm the cockles of + your heart,—although it isn't my heart that needs warming. Moreover, + I don't know what cockles are. I must look 'em up in the dictionary. Come + here, Sergeant,—there's a good dog! Come over and get warm, old + fellow. Toast your cockles. By Jove, Miss Crown, isn't he ever going to + make friends with me?" + </p> + <p> + "They are 'one man' dogs, Mr. Thane," she replied. "Come, Sergeant,—if + you're going to be impolite you must leave the room. Excuse me a moment. + Sergeant! Do you hear me, sir? Come!" + </p> + <p> + The big grey dog followed her slowly, reluctantly, from the room. Courtney + heard her going up the stairs. + </p> + <p> + "That nasty brute is going to take a bite out of me some day," he muttered + under his breath. "Fat chance I'd have to kiss her with that beast + around." + </p> + <p> + He heard the closing of an upstairs door. His thoughts were still of the + police dog. + </p> + <p> + "There's one thing sure," he said to himself. "That dog and I can't live + in the same house." Then his thoughts rose swiftly to that upstairs room,—he + was sure it was a dainty, inviting room,—to picture her before the + mirror erasing all visible evidence of agitation. He found himself + wondering what it was that caused this exhibition of temper. A letter? Of + course,—a letter. A letter that contained something she resented, + something that infuriated her. A personal matter, not a business one. She + would not have treated a business matter in such a way. He knew her too + well for that. The leaping flames gave no hint of what they had destroyed. + Was it an anonymous letter? Had it anything to do with him? + </p> + <p> + His eye fell upon several envelopes on the library table. After a moment's + hesitation and a quick glance toward the door, he strode over to inspect + them. They were all unopened. Two were postmarked Chicago, one New York; + on the others the postmarks were indistinct. The handwriting was feminine + on most of them. A narrow, folded slip of paper lay a little detached from + the letters. He picked it up and quickly opened it. It proved to be a + check on a Philadelphia bank. A glance sufficed to show that it was for + two hundred and fifty dollars, payable to the order of Alix Crown, and + signed "D. W. Strong." + </p> + <p> + The door upstairs was opened and closed. Replacing the bit of paper on the + table, he resumed his position before the fire. Quite a different Alix + entered the room a few seconds later. She was smiling, her eyes were soft + and tranquil. All traces of the passing tempest were gone. + </p> + <p> + "Sit down,—draw this big chair up to the fire,—do. It IS raw + and nasty today, isn't it? I think the Mallons are coming out in an open + car. Isn't it too bad?" + </p> + <p> + "Bad for the curls," he drawled. "Mind if I smoke?" + </p> + <p> + "Certainly not. Don't you know that by this time?" + </p> + <p> + He had drawn a chair up beside hers. Her reply afforded him a very + definite sense of elation. + </p> + <p> + "It seems to me that the world is getting to be a rather heavenly place to + live in," he said, and there was a trace of real feeling in his voice. + "You don't mind my saying it's entirely due to you, do you?" + </p> + <p> + "Not in the least," she said calmly. "Charlie Webster once paraphrased a + time-honoured saying. He said 'In the fall an old man's fancy slightly + turns to thoughts of comfort.' I sha'n't deprive my fireplace and my big + armchair of their just due by believing a word of what you say." + </p> + <p> + He tossed the match into the fire, drew in a deep breath of smoke, settled + himself comfortably in the chair before exhaling, and then remarked: + </p> + <p> + "But I don't happen to be an old man. I happen to be a rather young one,—and + a very truthful one to boot." + </p> + <p> + "Do you always tell the truth?" + </p> + <p> + He grinned. "More or less always," was his reply. "I never lie in + October." + </p> + <p> + "And the other eleven months of the year?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, I merely change the wording. In July I say 'I never lie in July,'—and + so on throughout the twelve-month. I don't slight a single month. By the + by, I hope I didn't pop in too far ahead of time this afternoon. You asked + me to come at four. I'm half an hour early. Were you occupied with + anything—" + </p> + <p> + "I was not busy. A few letters,—but they can wait." He caught the + faint shadow of a cloud as it flitted across her eyes. "They are all + personal,—nothing important in any of them, I am sure." + </p> + <p> + She shot a quick glance at the folded check and, arising abruptly, went + over to the table where, with apparent unconcern, she ran through the + little pile of letters. He saw her pick up the check and thrust it into + the pocket of her sport skirt. Then she returned to the fireplace. The + cloud was on her brow again as she stared darkly into the crackling + flames. He knew now that it was Strong's letter she had destroyed in + anger. He would have given much to know what the man she despised so + heartily had written to her. If he could have seen that brief note he + would have read: + </p> + <h3> + DEAR ALIX: + </h3> + <p> + I enclose my checque for two-fifty. If all goes well I hope to clean up + the indebtedness by the first of the year. In any case, I am sure it can + be accomplished by early spring. You may thank the flu for my present + prosperity. It has been pretty bad here in the East again, although not so + virulent as before. Please credit me with the amount. This leaves me owing + you five hundred dollars. It should not take long to wipe it out entirely, + interest and all. + </p> + <p> + Sincerely yours, + </p> + <h3> + DAVID. + </h3> + <p> + Courtney eyed her narrowly as she stood for a moment looking into the fire + before resuming her seat. He realized that her thoughts were far away and + that they were not pleasant. + </p> + <p> + "It's queer," he said presently, "that you have never learned to smoke." + </p> + <p> + She started slightly at the sound of his voice. As she turned to sit down, + he went on: + </p> + <p> + "Almost every girl I know smokes. I will not say that I like to see it,—especially + in restaurants and all that sort of thing,—but it's rather jolly if + there's a nice, cosy fire like this,—see what I mean? Sort of + intimate, and friendly, and—soothing. Don't you want to try one + now?" + </p> + <p> + "Thank you, no. If it weren't so shocking, I think I should like to learn + how to smoke a pipe,—but I suppose that isn't to be thought of. + Somehow I feel that a pipe might be a pal, a good old stand-by, or even a + relative,—something to depend upon in all sorts of weather, fair and + foul. I've noticed that the men on the place who smoke pipes appear to be + contented and jolly and good humoured,—and efficient. Yes, I think I + should like to smoke a pipe." + </p> + <p> + "Would you like me better if I cut out the cigarettes, and took up the + pipe of peace—and contentment?" he inquired thoughtfully. + </p> + <p> + "I doubt it," she replied, smiling. "I can't imagine you smoking a pipe." + </p> + <p> + "Is that supposed to be flattering or scornful?" + </p> + <p> + "Neither. It is an impression, that's all." + </p> + <p> + He frowned slightly. "I used to smoke a pipe,—in college, you know. + Up to my sophomore year. It was supposed to indicate maturity. But I don't + believe I'd have the courage to tackle one now, Miss Crown. Not since that + little gas experience over there. You see, my throat isn't what it was in + those good old freshman days. Pipe smoke,—you may even say tobacco + smoke, for heaven only knows what these cigarettes are made of,—pipe + smoke is too strong. My throat is so confounded sensitive I—well, + I'd probably cough my head off. That beastly gas made a coward of me, I + fear. You've no idea what it does to a fellow's throat and lungs. If I + live to be a thousand years old, I'll never forget the tortures I went + through for weeks,—yes, ages. Every breath was like a knife cutting + the very—But what a stupid fool I am! Distressing you with all these + wretched details. Please forgive me." + </p> + <p> + She was looking at him wonderingly. "You are so different from the poor + fellows I saw in New York," she said slowly. "I mean the men who had been + gassed and shell-shocked. I saw loads of them in the hospitals, you know,—and + talked with them. I was always tremendously affected by their silence, + their moodiness, their unwillingness to speak of what they had been + through. The other men, the ones who had lost legs or arms or even their + eyes,—were as a rule cheerful and as chatty as could be,—oh, + how my heart used to ache for them,—but the shell-shock men and the + men who had been gassed, why, it was impossible to get them to talk about + themselves. I have seen some of them since then. They are apparently well + and strong, and yet not one word can you get out of them about their + sufferings. You are almost unique, Mr. Thane. I am glad you feel disposed + to talk about it all. It is a good sign. It—" + </p> + <p> + "I didn't say much about it at first," he interrupted hurriedly. + "Moreover, Miss Crown," he went on, "a lot of those chaps,—the + majority of them, in fact,—worked that dodge for all it was worth. + It was a deliberate pose with them. They had to act that way or people + wouldn't think they'd been hurt at all. Bunk, most of it." + </p> + <p> + "I don't believe that, Mr. Thane. I saw too many of them. The ones with + whom I came in contact certainly were not trying to deceive anybody. They + were in a pitiable condition, every last one of them,—pitiable." + </p> + <p> + "I do not say that all of them were shamming,—but I am convinced + that a great many of them were." + </p> + <p> + "The doctors report that the shell-shock cases—" + </p> + <p> + "Ah, the doctors!" he broke in, shrugging his shoulders. "They were all + jolly good fellows. All you had to do was to even hint that you'd been + knocked over by a shell that exploded two hundred yards away and—zip! + they'd send you back for repairs. As for myself, the only reason I didn't + like to talk about my condition at first was because it hurt my throat and + lungs. It wasn't because I was afflicted with this heroic melancholy they + talk so much about. I was mighty glad to be alive. I couldn't see anything + to mope about,—certainly not after I found out I wasn't going to + die." + </p> + <p> + "I daresay there were others who took it as you did. I wish there could + have been more." + </p> + <p> + He hesitated a moment before speaking again. Then he hazarded the + question: + </p> + <p> + "What does your friend, Dr. Strong, have to say about the general run of + such cases?" + </p> + <p> + "I don't know. I have not seen Dr. Strong since the war ended." + </p> + <p> + He looked mildly surprised. "Hasn't he been home since the war?" + </p> + <p> + "I believe so. I was away at the time." + </p> + <p> + "How long was he in France?" + </p> + <p> + "He went over first in 1916 and again in the fall of 1917, and remained + till the end of the war. His mother is here with me, you know." + </p> + <p> + "Yes, I know. By Jove, I envy him one thing,—lucky dog." She + remained silent. "You were playmates, weren't you?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes," she said, lifting her chin slightly. + </p> + <p> + "Well, that's why I envy him. To have been your playmate,—Why, I + envy him every minute of his boyhood. When I think of my own boyhood and + how little there was to it that a real boy should have, I—I—confound + it, I almost find myself hating chaps like Strong, chaps who lived in the + country and had regular pals, and girl sweethearts, and went fishing and + hunting, and played hookey as it ought to be played, and grew up with + something fine and sweet and wholesome to look back upon,—and to + have had you for a playmate,—maybe a sweetheart,—you in short + frocks, with your hair in pigtails, barefooted in summertime, running—" + </p> + <p> + She interrupted him. "Your imagination is at fault there, Mr. Thane," she + said, smiling once more. "I never went barefooted in my life." + </p> + <p> + "At any rate, HE did. And he played all sorts of games with you; he—" + </p> + <p> + "My impression of David Strong is that he was a boy's boy," she broke in + rather stiffly. "His games were with the boys of the town,—and they + were rough games. Football, baseball, shinney, circus,—things like + that." + </p> + <p> + "I don't mean sports, Miss Crown. I was thinking of those wonderful boy + and girl games,—such as 'playing house,' 'getting married,' + 'hide-and-go-seek,'—all that sort of thing." + </p> + <p> + "Yes, I know," she admitted. "We often played at getting married, and we + had very large but inanimate families, and we quarrelled like real married + people, and I used to cry and take my playthings home, and he used to + stand outside our fence and make faces at me till I hated him ferociously. + But all that was when we were very small, you see." + </p> + <p> + "And as all such things turn out, I suppose he grew up and went off and + got married to some one else." + </p> + <p> + "He is not married, Mr. Thane." + </p> + <p> + "Well, for that matter, neither are you," said he, leaning forward, his + eyes fixed intently on hers. She did not flinch. "I wonder just how you + feel toward him today, Miss Crown." + </p> + <p> + She was incapable of coquetry. "We are not the best of friends," she said + quietly. "Now, if you please, let us talk of something else. Did I tell + you that an old Ambulance man is coming down for a day or two nest week? A + Harvard man who lives in Chicago. His sister and I went to New York + together to take our chances there on getting over to France. I think I've + told you about her,—Mary Blythe?" + </p> + <p> + "Blythe?" repeated Courtney thoughtfully. "Blythe. Seems to me I heard of + a chap named Blythe over there in the Ambulance, but I don't remember + whether I ran across him anywhere or not. He may have been after my time, + however. I was with the Ambulance in '15 and the early part of '16, you + see." + </p> + <p> + "Addison Blythe. He was afterwards a Field Artillery captain. I've known + Mary Blythe for years, but I know him very slightly. He went direct from + Harvard to France, you see." + </p> + <p> + "What section was he with?" + </p> + <p> + "I don't know. I only know he was at Pont-a-Mousson for several months. + You were there too at one time, I remember. I've heard him speak of the + Bois le Pretre. You may have been there at the same time." + </p> + <p> + "Hardly possible. I should have known him in that case. My section was + sent up to Bar le Duc just before the first big Verdun battle." + </p> + <p> + "Why, he was all through the first battle of Verdun. His section was + transferred from Pont-a-Mousson at an hour's notice. Were there more than + one section at Pont-a-Mousson?" + </p> + <p> + "I don't know how they were fixed after I left. You see, I was trying to + get into the aviation end of the game along about that time. I was in an + aviation camp for a couple of months, but went back to the Ambulance just + before the Verdun scrap. They slapped me into another section, of course. + I used to see fellows from my own section occasionally, but I don't recall + any one named Blythe. He probably was sent up while I was at Toul,—or + it may have been during the time I was with a section in the Vosges. I was + up near Dunkirk too for a while,—only for a few weeks. When did you + say he was coming?" + </p> + <p> + "Next Tuesday. They are stopping off on their way to attend a wedding in + Louisville. You two will have a wonderful time reminiscing." + </p> + <p> + "Blythe. I'll rummage around in my memory and see if I can place him. + There was a fellow named Bright up there at one time,—at least I got + the name as Bright. It may have been Blythe. I'll be tickled to death to + meet him, Miss Crown." + </p> + <p> + "You will love Mary Blythe. She is a darling." + </p> + <p> + "I may be susceptible, Miss Crown, but I am not inconstant," said he, with + a gallant bow. + </p> + <p> + She was annoyed with herself for blushing. + </p> + <p> + "Will you throw another log or two on the fire, please?" she said, + arising. "I think I hear a car coming up the drive. The poor Mallons will + be chilled to the bone." + </p> + <p> + He smiled to himself as he took the long hickory logs from the wood box + and placed them carefully on the fire. He had seen the swift flood of + colour mount to her cheeks, and the odd little waver in her eyes before + she turned them away. She was at the window, looking out, when he + straightened himself and gingerly brushed the wood dust from his hands. + Instead of joining her, he remained with his back to the fire, his feet + spread apart, his hands in his coat pockets, comforting himself with the + thought that she was wondering why he had not followed her. It was, he + rejoiced, a very clever bit of strategy on his part. He waited for her to + turn away from the window and say, with well-assumed perplexity: "I was + sure I heard a car, Mr. Thane." + </p> + <p> + And that is exactly what she did say after a short interval, adding: + </p> + <p> + "It must have been the wind in the chimney." + </p> + <p> + "Very likely," he agreed. + </p> + <p> + She remained at the window. He held his position before the fire. + </p> + <p> + "If I were just a plain damned fool," he was saying to himself, "I'd rush + over there and spoil everything. It's too soon,—too soon. She's not + ready yet,—not ready." + </p> + <p> + Alix, looking out across the porch into the grey drizzle that drenched the + lawn, thrust her hand into her skirt pocket and, clutching the bit of + paper in her fingers, crumpled it into a small ball. Her eyes were serene, + however, as she turned away and walked back to the fireplace. + </p> + <p> + "I don't believe they are coming, after all. I think they might have + telephoned," she said, glancing up at the old French ormula clock on the + mantelpiece. "Half-past four. We will wait a few minutes longer and then + have tea." + </p> + <p> + His heart gave a sudden thump. Was it possible—but no! She would not + stoop to anything like that. The little thrill of exultation departed as + quickly as it came. + </p> + <p> + "Tire trouble, perhaps," he ventured. + </p> + <p> + Tea was being brought in when the belated guests arrived. Courtney, + spurred by the brief vision of success ahead, was never in better form, + never more entertaining, never so well provided with polite cynicisms. + Later on, when he and Alix were alone and he was putting on his raincoat + in the hall, she said to him impulsively: + </p> + <p> + "I don't know what I should have done without you, Mr. Thane. You were + splendid. I was in no mood to be nice or agreeable to anybody." + </p> + <p> + "Alas!" he sighed. "That shows how unobserving I am. I could have sworn + you were in a perfectly adorable mood." + </p> + <p> + "Well, I wasn't," she said stubbornly. "I was quite horrid." + </p> + <p> + "Has anything happened to—to distress you, Miss Crown?" he inquired + anxiously. His voice was husky and a trifle unsteady. "Can't you tell me? + Sometimes it helps to—" + </p> + <p> + "Nothing has happened," she interrupted nervously. "I was—just + stupid, that's all." + </p> + <p> + "When am I to see you again?" he asked, after a perceptible pause. "May I + come tonight?" + </p> + <p> + "Not tonight," she said, shaking her head. + </p> + <p> + She gave no reason,—nothing more than the two little words,—and + yet he went away exulting. He walked home through the light, gusty rain, + so elated that he forgot to use his cane,—and he had limped quite + painfully earlier in the afternoon, complaining of the dampness and chill. + He had the habit of talking to himself when walking alone in the darkness. + He thought aloud: + </p> + <p> + "She wants to be alone,—she wants to think. She has suddenly + realized. She is frightened. She doesn't understand. She is bewildered. + She doesn't want to see me tonight. Bless her heart! I'll bet my head she + doesn't sleep a wink. And tomorrow? Tomorrow I shall see her. But not a + word, not a sign out of me. Not tomorrow or next day or the day after + that. Keep her thinking, keep her guessing, keep her wondering whether I + really care. Pretty soon she'll realize how miserable she is,—and + then!" + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X — THE CHIMNEY CORNER + </h2> + <p> + A. Lincoln Pollock was full of news at supper that evening. Courtney, + coming in a little late,—in fact, Miss Margaret Slattery already had + removed the soup plates and was beginning to wonder audibly whether a + certain guy thought she was a truck-horse or something like that,—found + the editor of the Sun anticipating by at least twelve hours the + forthcoming issue of his paper. He was regaling his fellow-boarders with + news that would be off the press the first thing in the morning,—having + been confined to the composing-room for the better part of a week,—and + he was enjoying himself. Charlie Webster once made the remark that "every + time the Sun goes to press, Link Pollock acts for all the world like a hen + that's just laid an egg, he cackles so." + </p> + <p> + "I saw Nancy Strong this morning and she was telling me about a letter she + had from David yesterday. He wants her to pack up and come to + Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to live with him. He says he'll take a nice + little apartment, big enough for the two of 'em, if she'll only come. She + can't make up her mind what to do. She's so fond of Alix she don't see how + she can desert her,—at least, not till she gets married,—and + yet she feels she owes it to her son to go and make a home for him. Every + once in a while Alix makes her a present of a hundred dollars or so,—once + she gave her three hundred in cold, clean cash,—and actually loves + her as if she was her own mother. Nancy's terribly upset. She is devoted + to Alix, and at the same time she's devoted to her son. She seemed to want + my advice, but of course I couldn't give her any. It's a thing she's got + to work out for herself. I couldn't advise her to leave Alix in the lurch + and I couldn't advise her to turn her back on her only son,—could + I?" + </p> + <p> + "How soon does David want her to come?" inquired Miss Molly Dowd. + </p> + <p> + "Before Christmas, I believe. He wants her to be with him on Christmas + day." + </p> + <p> + "Well, it would work out very nicely," said Mrs. Pollock, "if Alix would + only get married before that time." + </p> + <p> + "I guess that's just what Nancy is kind of hoping herself," stated Mr. + Pollock. "It would simplify everything. Of course, when she told Alix + about David's letter and what he wanted her to do, Alix was mighty nice + about it. She told Nancy to go by all means, her place was with her son if + he needed her, and she wouldn't stand in the way for the world. Nancy says + she had about made up her mind to go, but changed it last night. She was + telling me about sneaking up to Alix's bedroom door and listening. Alix + was crying, sort of sobbing, you know. That settled it with Nancy,—temporarily + at any rate. Now she's up in the air again, and don't know what to do. + She's gone and told Alix she won't leave her, but all the time she keeps + wondering if Davy can get along without her in that great big city, + surrounded by all kinds of perils and traps and pitfalls,—night and + day. Evil women and—" + </p> + <p> + "Has Alix said anything to you about it, Mr. Thane?" inquired Maude Baggs + Pollock. + </p> + <p> + "Not a word," replied Courtney, secretly irritated by the discovery that + Alix had failed to take him into her confidence. "She doesn't discuss + servant troubles with me." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, good gracious!" cried Miss Dowd. "If Nancy Strong ever heard you + speak of her as a servant she'd—". + </p> + <p> + "She'd bite your head off," put in Miss Margaret Slattery. "Are you + through with your soup, Mr. Thane?" Without waiting for an answer, she + removed the plate with considerable abruptness. + </p> + <p> + "Are you angry with me, Margaret?" he asked, with a reproachful smile. His + smile was too much for Margaret. She blushed and mumbled something about + being sorry and having a headache. + </p> + <p> + "Say, Court, do you know this Ambulance feller that's coming to visit Alix + next week?" asked the editor, with interest. + </p> + <p> + "You mean Addison Blythe? He was up at Pont-a-Mousson for a while, I + believe, but it was after I had left for the Vosges section. I've heard of + him. Harvard man." + </p> + <p> + "You two ought to have a good time when you get together," said Doc + Simpson. + </p> + <p> + "I've got an item in the Sun about him this week, and next week we'll have + an interview with him." + </p> + <p> + The usually loquacious Mr. Webster had been silent since Courtney's + arrival. Now he lifted his voice to put a question to Miss Angie Miller, + across the table. + </p> + <p> + "Did you write that letter I spoke about the other day, Angie?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes,—but there hasn't been time for an answer yet." + </p> + <p> + "Speaking about David Strong," remarked Mr. Pollock, "I'll never forget + what he did when Mr. Windom gave him a silver watch for his twelfth + birthday. Shows what a bright, progressive, enterprising feller he was + even at that age. You remember, Miss Molly? I mean about his setting his + watch fifteen minutes ahead the very day he got it." + </p> + <p> + Miss Molly smiled. "It WAS cute of him, wasn't it?" + </p> + <p> + "What was the idea?" inquired Mr. Hatch. + </p> + <p> + "So's he would know what time it was fifteen minutes sooner than anybody + else in town," said Mr. Pollock. + </p> + <p> + "My, what a handsome boy he was," said Miss Angie Miller. + </p> + <p> + "Do you really think so?" cried Mrs. Pollock. "I never could see anything + good looking about him,—except his physique. He has a splendid + physique, but I never liked his face. It's so—so—well, so, + raw-boned and all. I like smooth, regular features in a man. I—" + </p> + <p> + "Like mine," interjected the pudgy Mr. Webster, with a very serious face. + </p> + <p> + "David Strong has what I call a very rugged face," said Miss Miller. "I + didn't say it was pretty, Maude." + </p> + <p> + "He takes a very good photograph," remarked Mr. Hatch. "Specially a + side-view. I've got one side-view of him over at the gallery that makes me + think of an Indian every time I look at it." + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps he has Indian blood in him," suggested Courtney, who was tired of + David Strong. + </p> + <p> + "Well, every drop of blood he's got in him is red," said Charlie Webster; + "so maybe you're right." + </p> + <p> + "The most interesting item in the Sun tomorrow," said Mr. Pollock, "is the + word that young Cale Vick, across the river, has enlisted in the navy. He + leaves on Monday for Chicago to join some sort of a training school, + preparatory to taking a job on one of Uncle Sam's newest battleships,—the + biggest in the world, according to his grandfather, who was in to see me a + day or two ago. I have promised to send young Cale the Sun for a year + without charging him a cent. Old man Brown says Amos Vick's daughter + Rosabel isn't at all well. Something like walking typhoid, he says,—mopes + a good deal and don't sleep well." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," exclaimed Courtney, real concern in his + voice. "She was such a lively, light-hearted girl when I was over there. I + can't imagine her moping. I hope Amos Vick isn't too close-fisted to + consult a doctor. He's an awful tight-wad—believe me." + </p> + <p> + "Doctor can't seem to find anything really the matter ter with her, so old + Cale Brown told me," said Mr. Pollock. "But don't you think it's fine of + young Cale to join the navy, Court? Maybe your tales about the war put it + into his head." + </p> + <p> + "It's more likely that he'd got fed up with life on a farm," said + Courtney. "He'll find himself longing for the farm and mother a good many + times before he's through with the navy." + </p> + <p> + Instead of going up to his room immediately after supper, as was his + custom of late, Courtney joined the company in the "lounging room," so + named by Mr. Webster who contended that no first-class hotel ever had such + a thing as a parlour any more. The Misses Dowd, of course, called it the + parlour, but as they continued to refer to the fireplace as the "chimney + corner," one may readily forgive their reluctance to progress. Smoking was + permitted in the "lounging room" during the fall and winter months only. + </p> + <p> + A steady rain was beating against the windows, and a rising wind made + itself heard in feeble wails as it turned the dark corners of the Tavern. + Presently it was to howl and shriek, and, as the rain ceased, to rattle + the window shutters and the ancient, creaking sign that hung out over the + porch,—for on the wind tonight came the first chill touch of winter. + </p> + <p> + "A fine night to be indoors," remarked Courtney in his most genial manner + as he moved a rocking chair up to the fireplace and gallantly indicated to + old Mrs. Nichols that it was intended for her. + </p> + <p> + "Ain't you going out tonight, Court?" inquired Mr. Hatch. + </p> + <p> + "Iron horses couldn't drag me out tonight," he replied. "Sit here, Mrs. + Pollock. Doc, pull up that sofa for Miss Grady and Miss Miller. Let's have + a chimney-corner symposium. Is symposium the right word, Miss Miller? Ah, + I see it isn't. Well, I did my best. I could have got away with it in New + York, but no chance here. And speaking of New York reminds me that at this + very instant the curtains are going up and the lights are going down in + half a hundred theatres,—and I don't mind confessing I'd like to be + in one of them." + </p> + <p> + "That's one thing I envy New York for," said Mrs. Pollock. "Hand me my + knitting off the table, Lincoln, please. I love the theatre. I could go + every night—" + </p> + <p> + "You get tired of them after a little while, Maude," said Flora Grady, a + trifle languidly. "Isn't that so, Mr. Thane?" + </p> + <p> + "Quite," agreed Courtney. "You get fed up with 'em." + </p> + <p> + "I remember once when I was in New York going six nights in succession, + seeing all the best things on the boards at that time, and I give you my + word," said Miss Grady, "they DID feed me up terribly." + </p> + <p> + "I know just what you mean, Miss Grady," said Courtney, without cracking a + smile. "One gets so bored with the best plays in town. What one really + ought to do, you know, is to go to the worst ones." + </p> + <p> + "I've always wanted to see 'The Blue Bird,'" said Miss Miller wistfully. + "It's by Maeterlinck, Mr. Nichols." + </p> + <p> + Old Mr. Nichols looked interested. "You don't say so," he ejaculated. + "Give me a good minstrel show,—that's what I like. Haverly's or + Barlow, Wilson, Primrose & West, or Billy Emerson's or—say, did + you ever see Luke Schoolcraft? Well, sir, there was the funniest end man I + ever see. There used to be another minstrel man named,—er—lemme + see,—now what was that feller's name? It begin with L, I think—or + maybe it was W. Now—lemme—think. Go on talkin', the rest of + you. I'll think of his name before bedtime." Whereupon the ancient Mr. + Nichols relapsed into a profound state of thought from which he did not + emerge until Mr. Webster shook his shoulder some fifteen or twenty minutes + later and informed him that if he got any worse Mrs. Nichols would be able + to hear him, and then she couldn't go 'round telling people that he slept + just like a baby. + </p> + <p> + Courtney was in his element. He liked talking about the stage, and stage + people. And on this night,—of all nights,—he wanted to talk, + he wanted company. The clock on the mantel-piece struck ten and half-past + and was close to striking eleven before any one made a move toward + retiring,—excepting Mr. and Mrs. Nichols who had gone off to bed at + eight-thirty. The Misses Dowd had joined the little company in the + "parlour." He discussed books with Mrs. Pollock and Miss Miller, fashions + with Miss Grady, politics with Mr. Pollock,—(agreeing with the + latter on President Wilson),—art with Mr. Hatch and the erudite Miss + Miller, the drama with every one. + </p> + <p> + Now, Courtney Thane knew almost nothing about books, and even less about + pictures. He possessed, however, a remarkable facility when it came to + discussing them. He belonged to that rather extensive class of people who + thrive on ignorance. If you wanted to talk about Keats or Shelley, he + managed to give you the impression that he was thoroughly familiar with + both,—though lamenting a certain rustiness of memory at times. He + could talk intelligently about Joseph Conrad, Arnold Bennet, Bernard Shaw, + Galsworthy, Walpole, Mackenzie, Wells and others of the modern English + school of novelists,—that is to say, he could differ or agree with + you on almost anything they had written, notwithstanding the fact that he + had never read a line by any one of them. He professed not to care for + Thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure," though nothing could have been more + obscure to him than the book itself or the author thereof, and agreed with + the delightful Mrs. Pollock that "The Mayor of Casterbridge" was an + infinitely better piece of work than "Tess of the D'Urbervilles." As for + the American writers, he admitted a shameful ignorance about them. + </p> + <p> + "Of course, I read Scott when I was a boy,—I was compelled to do so, + by the way,—but as for the others I am shockingly unfamiliar with + them. Ever since I grew up I've preferred the English novelists and poets, + so I fear I—" + </p> + <p> + "I thought Scott was an English writer," put in Charlie Webster quietly. + </p> + <p> + "What Scott are you referring to, Charlie?" he asked indulgently. + </p> + <p> + "Why, Sir Walter Scott,—he wrote 'Ivanhoe,' you know." + </p> + <p> + "Well, I happen to be speaking of William Scott, the American novelist,—no + doubt unknown to most of you. He was one of the old-timers, and I fancy + has dropped out of the running altogether." + </p> + <p> + "Never heard of him," said Mr. Pollock, scratching his ear reflectively. + </p> + <p> + "Indigenous to New England, I fancy,—like the estimable codfish," + drawled Courtney, and was rewarded by a wholesome Middle West laugh. + </p> + <p> + "What are those cabarets like?" inquired Mr. Hatch. He pronounced it as if + he were saying cigarettes. + </p> + <p> + "Pretty rotten," said Thane. + </p> + <p> + "Are you fond of dancing, Mr. Thane?" inquired Mrs. Pollock. "I used to + love to trip the light fantastic." + </p> + <p> + "I am very fond of dancing," said he, and then added with a smile: + "Especially since the girls have taken to parking their corsets." + </p> + <p> + There was a shocked silence, broken by Miss Grady, who, as a dressmaker, + was not quite so finicky about the word. + </p> + <p> + "What do you mean by parking?" she inquired. + </p> + <p> + "Same as you park an automobile," said he, enjoying the sensation he had + created. "It's the fashion now, among the best families as well as the + worst, for the girls when they go to dances to leave their corsets in the + dressing rooms. Check 'em, same as you do your hat." + </p> + <p> + "Bless my soul," gasped Mr. Pollock. "Haven't they got any mothers?" + </p> + <p> + "Sure,—but the mothers don't know anything about it. You see, it's + this way. We fellows won't dance with 'em if they've got corsets on,—so + off they come." + </p> + <p> + "What's the world coming to?" cried the editor. + </p> + <p> + "You'd better ask where it's going to," said Charlie Webster. + </p> + <p> + "Do you go to the opera very often?" asked Miss Miller nervously. + </p> + <p> + He spoke rather loftily of the Metropolitan Opera House, and very lightly + of the Metropolitan Museum,—and gave Charlie Webster a sharp look + when that amiable gentleman asked him what he thought of the Metropolitan + Tower. + </p> + <p> + But he was at home in the theatre. He told them just what Maude Adams and + Ethel Barrymore were like, and Julia Marlowe, and Elsie Ferguson, and + Chrystal Herne, and all the rest of them. He spoke familiarly of Mr. + Faversham as "Favvy," of Mr. Collier as "Willie," of Mr. Sothern as "Ned," + of Mr. Drew as "John," of Mr. Skinner as "Otis," of Mr. Frohman as "Dan." + </p> + <p> + And when he said good night and reluctantly wended his way to the room at + the end of the hall, round the corner of which the fierce October gale + shrieked derisively, he left behind him a group enthralled. + </p> + <p> + "Isn't he a perfect dear?" cried Mrs. Pollock, clasping her hands. + </p> + <p> + "The most erudite man I have ever met," agreed Miss Miller ecstatically. + "Don't you think so, Mr. Hatch?" + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hatch was startled. "Oh,—er—yes, indeed. Absolutely!" he + stammered, and then looked inquiringly at his finger nails. He hoped he + had made the proper response. + </p> + <p> + Charlie Webster ambled over to one of the windows and peered out into the + whistling night. + </p> + <p> + "It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good," said he sententiously. + </p> + <p> + "What do you mean by that, Charlie?" inquired Flora Grady, at his elbow. + </p> + <p> + "Well, if it had been a pleasant night he'd have been up at Alix Crown's + instead of here," said Charlie. + </p> + <p> + "I see," said Flora, after a moment. "You mean the ill wind favoured Alix, + eh?" + </p> + <p> + Charlie's round face was unsmiling as he stared hard at the fire. + </p> + <p> + "I wonder—" he began, and then checked the words. + </p> + <p> + "Don't you worry about Alix," said Flora. "She's nobody's fool." + </p> + <p> + "I wasn't thinking of Alix just then," said Charlie. + </p> + <p> + II — The following morning, Courtney went, as was his custom, to the + postoffice. He had arranged for a lock-box there. His letters were not + brought up to the Tavern by old Jim House, the handy-man. + </p> + <p> + The day was bright and clear and cold; the gale had died in the early + morning hours. Alix Crown's big automobile was standing in front of the + post-office, the engine running. Catching sight of it as he left the + Tavern porch, he hastened his steps. He was a good two hundred yards away + and feared she would be off before he could come up with her. As he drew + near, he saw the lanky chauffeur standing in front of the drug store, + chatting with one of the villagers. + </p> + <p> + Alix was in the post-office. As he passed the car, he slackened his pace + and glanced over his shoulder into the tonneau. The side curtains were + down. A low growl greeted him. He hastened on. + </p> + <p> + She was at the registry window. + </p> + <p> + "Hello!" he exclaimed, extending his hand and searching her face as he did + so for signs of a sleepless night. + </p> + <p> + "Good morning," she responded cheerily. There was nothing in her voice, + her eyes or her manner to indicate an even remotely disturbed state of + mind. Her gaze met his serenely; the colour did not rush to her cheeks as + he had fondly expected, nor did her eyes waver under the eager, intense + gleam in his. He suddenly felt cheated. + </p> + <p> + "Where are you off to this morning?" he inquired. + </p> + <p> + "To town for the day. I have some business to attend to and some shopping + to do. Would you like to come along?" + </p> + <p> + He was in a sulky mood. + </p> + <p> + "You know I hate the very thought of going to town," he said. Then, as she + raised her eyebrows slightly, he made haste to add: "I'd go from one end + of the desert of Sahara to the other with you, but—" shaking his + head so solemnly that she laughed outright,—"not to the city. Just + ask me to go to the Sahara with you and see how—" + </p> + <p> + "Haven't you had enough of No-Man's Land?" she cried merrily. + </p> + <p> + "It depends on what you'd call No-Man's Land," said he, and her gaze + faltered at last. There was no mistaking his meaning. "Sometimes it is + Paradise, you know," he went on softly. + </p> + <p> + Twice before she had seen the same look in his eyes, and both times she + had experienced a strange sensation, as of the weakness that comes with + ecstasy. There had been something in his eyes that seemed to caress her + from head to foot, something that filled her with the most disquieting + self-consciousness. Strange to say, it was not the ardent look of the + love-sick admirer,—and she had not escaped such tributes,—nor + the inquiring look of the adventurous married man. It was not soulful nor + was it offensive. She reluctantly confessed to herself that it was warm + and penetrating and filled her with a strange, delicious alarm. + </p> + <p> + She quickly withdrew her gaze and turned to the little window where Mrs. + Pollock was making out her receipt for a registered package. She felt that + she was cowardly, and the thought made her furious. + </p> + <p> + "Will it go out today, Mrs. Pollock?" she asked. + </p> + <p> + "This afternoon," replied the postmaster's wife and assistant. "Wasn't + that a dreadful wind last night, Alix? I thought of you. You must have + been frightened." + </p> + <p> + "I slept like a log through all of it," said Alix. "I love the wild night + wind. It makes me feel so nice and comfy in bed. I was awfully tired last + night. Thanks." Then turning to Courtney: "Sorry you will not go with me. + I'll bear you in mind if I ever take a trip to the Sahara. Good-bye." + </p> + <p> + "Will you be at home tonight?" he asked, holding the door open for her to + pass through. + </p> + <p> + "Yes," she replied composedly. + </p> + <p> + "I mean,—to me?" + </p> + <p> + "If you care to come," she said. + </p> + <p> + He did not accompany her to the car. The big grey-brown dog with his paws + on the back of the front seat, was eagerly watching her approach. + </p> + <p> + She wore a long mole-skin coat and a smart little red turban. She had + never looked so alluring to the young man who waited in the open door + until the car started away. + </p> + <p> + "Close the door, please," called out Mrs. Pollock. "This isn't July, you + know." + </p> + <p> + "So she slept like a log, did she?" muttered Courtney as he turned away + from his lockbox with a letter. "Well, that's more than I did." + </p> + <p> + He glanced hurriedly through the letter, crumpled it up in his hand, and + went jauntily up the street until he came to Hatch's Photograph Gallery. + Entering, he gave the proprietor a hearty "good morning," and then drew a + chair up before the low "sheet-iron stove" which heated the + reception-room. Hatch was "printing" behind a partition, and their + conversation was carried on at long range over the top. Presently the + visitor drew the crumpled letter from his pocket, tore it into tiny pieces + and cast it into the fire. + </p> + <p> + "Well, so long, Hatch. I'm off for a stroll in your crisp October air." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI — THANE VISITS TWO HOUSES + </h2> + <p> + All day long Alix was troubled. She could not free her thoughts of that + searing look or the spell it had cast over her during the brief instant of + contact. She was haunted by it. At times she gave herself up to a + reckless, unmaidenly rejoicing in the thrill it had given her; at such + times she flushed to the roots of her hair despite the chill of ecstasy + that swept over her. But far more often she found herself resenting the + liberty his eyes had taken,—a mental rather than a physical liberty. + She was resolved that it should not happen again. + </p> + <p> + She had posted a note to David Strong that morning. Before the car had + covered the first mile on its way to town, she was wishing she had not + dropped it into the slot at the post-office. Only the fear of appearing + ridiculous to Mrs. Pollock kept her from turning back to reclaim it. She + could not explain this sudden, almost frantic impulse,—she did not + attempt to account for it. Somehow she sensed that it had to do with the + look in Thane's eyes,—but it was all so vague and intangible that + even the suggestion did not take the form of thought. + </p> + <p> + In this curt little note she had said: + </p> + <h3> + DEAR DAVID: + </h3> + <p> + I hereby acknowledge receipt of your cheque No. 372 for two hundred and + fifty dollars, but as I have tried to make you understand before, it is + not only an unnecessary but a most unwelcome bit of paper. You are + perfectly well aware that my grandfather's estate has been settled and, as + I have informed you time and again, your obligation to him no longer + exists. You may have owed something to him, but you owe nothing to me. If + I were to follow my impulse I should tear up this cheque of yours. It + would be useless to return it to you, for you would only send it back to + me, as you did with the first two cheques that came last winter. I want + you to understand that I do not accept this money as my own. If it is any + satisfaction to you to know that I give it away,—no matter how,—you + are welcome to all the consolation you may get out of it. + </p> + <p> + Yours truly, + </p> + <h3> + ALIX CROWN. + </h3> + <p> + P.S.—I have advised your mother to go to Philadelphia whenever you + are ready for her to come. A. + </p> + <p> + P.S.S.—Under separate cover by registered post I am also returning + to you the bracelet you sent me from Paris. I think I wrote you a long + time ago how much I admired it. A. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, Thane was making the best of a rather empty morning. He put off + finishing a letter to his mother, who had returned to New York and was so + busy with dressmakers that twice she had employed the telegraph in + promising to "write soon,"—a letter in which he already had written, + among other rapturous passages: "She is positively ravishing, mater dear. + I am simply mad about her, and I know you will be too." He was determined + that the day should not be a total loss; he would turn at least a portion + of it to profit. + </p> + <p> + First of all, he visited Alaska Spigg at the log-hut village library. Miss + Spigg was very proud of her geraniums. No one else in Windomville,—or + in the world, for that matter, if one were to recall Mr. Pollock's article + in the Sun,—no one else cultivated such geraniums as those to be + seen in the pots that crowned the superinforced windowsills at the + library. + </p> + <p> + There was no such thing as a florist's shop in Windomville. Roses or + orchids or even carnations were unobtainable. A potted geranium plant, in + full bloom,—one of Alaska Spigg's tall, sturdy, jealously guarded + treasures was the best he could do in the way of a floral offering to his + goddess. So he set about the supposedly hopeless task of inducing Alaska + to part with one of her plants. Half an hour after entering the library he + departed with a balloon shaped object in his arms. He was not too proud to + be seen shuffling up the lane with his prize, a huge thing loosely done up + in newspapers,—leaving behind him a completely dazzled Alaska who + went about the place aimlessly folding and unfolding a brand new + two-dollar bill. + </p> + <p> + "I don't know what come over me," explained Alaska later on to a couple of + astonished ladies who had hurried in to see if the report was true that + she had parted with one of her geraniums. "For the life of me, I don't + know how I happened to do it. 'Specially the one I was proudest of, too. + I've always said I'd never sell one of my plants,—not even if the + President of the United States was to come in and offer me untold millions + for it,—and here I—I—why, Martha, I almost GAVE it to + him, honest I did. I just couldn't seem to help letting him have it. Of + course, I don't mind its loss half so much, knowing that it is going to + Alix. She loves flowers. She'll take the best of care of it. But how I + ever came to—" + </p> + <p> + "Don't cry, Alaska," broke in one of her callers cheerfully. "You'll be + getting it back before long." + </p> + <p> + "Never," lamented Alaska. "What makes you think I'll get it back?" she + went on, suddenly peeping over the edge of her handkerchief. + </p> + <p> + "Why, as soon as Alix knows how miserable you are about parting with that + geranium, she'll send it back to you,—and you'll be two dollars + ahead. Don't be silly." + </p> + <p> + Repairing at once to the house on the knoll, Courtney took counsel with + Mrs. Strong. The housekeeper could hardly believe her eyes when she saw + the geranium. + </p> + <p> + "Well, all I've got to say is that you must have stolen it," she + exclaimed. "There couldn't be any other way to get one of those plants + away from Alaska Spigg." + </p> + <p> + "Be that as it may," said he airily, "what we've got to decide now, Mrs. + Strong, is just where to put it. I want to surprise Miss Crown when she + returns from town." + </p> + <p> + "She'll be surprised all right when she finds out you got one of Alaska + Spigg's pet geraniums. I remember Alaska saying not so long ago that she + wouldn't sell one of those plants for a million dollars. Now let me see. + It ought to go where it will get as much sun as possible. That would be in + the dining-room. I guess we'd better—" + </p> + <p> + "I really think it would look better right here in this room, Mrs. + Strong," said he, indicating one of the windows looking out over the + terrace. There was little or no sunlight there, but he did not mind that. + As a matter of fact, he wasn't at all concerned about the future welfare + of the plant. It meant no more to him than the customary bunch of violets + that one sends, "sight unseen," to the lady of the hour. + </p> + <p> + "Well, you're the boss. It's your plant," said Mrs. Strong briskly. + "Alaska Spigg will go into hysterics when she hears where you've put it,—but + that's of no consequence." + </p> + <p> + And so the plant was placed on a small table in the window of the long + living-room. + </p> + <p> + "Link Pollock told us last night that you may go to Philadelphia to join + your son, Mrs. Strong," said he, as he watched her arranging the window + curtains. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Strong flushed. "It did not occur to me to ask Mr. Pollock not to + repeat what I said to him in confidence," she said, with dignity. + </p> + <p> + "I'm sorry I mentioned it. I am sure Pollock didn't understand it was—er—a + secret or anything like that, Mrs. Strong." + </p> + <p> + "It isn't a secret. I have talked it over with Miss Alix, and I have + practically decided to remain with her. You may tell that to Mr. Pollock + if you like." + </p> + <p> + "She would miss you terribly," said he, allowing the sarcasm to pass over + his head. "Your son and Miss Crown were boy and girl sweethearts, I hear,—oh, + please don't be offended. Those things happen, you know,—and pass + off like all of the children's diseases. Like the measles, or mumps or + chicken pox. Every boy and girl has to go through that stage, you know. I + remember being horribly in love with a girl in our block when I was + fifteen,—and she with me. But, for the life of me, I can't remember + her name now. I mean her married name," he explained, with his whimsical + grin. + </p> + <p> + "I don't believe Alix and David ever were in love with each other," said + she stiffly. "They were wonderful friends,—playmates and all that,—but,"—here + she flushed again, "you see, my boy was only the blacksmith's son. People + may have told you that, Mr. Thane." + </p> + <p> + "What has that to do with it?" he cried instantly. "Wasn't Miss Crown's + father the son of a blacksmith?" + </p> + <p> + He caught the passing flicker of appreciation in her eyes as she lifted + her head. + </p> + <p> + "True," she said quietly. "And a fine young man, they tell me,—those + who knew him. His father was not like my David's father, however. He was a + drunkard. He beat his wife, they say." + </p> + <p> + "Abraham Lincoln was a rail splitter. James A. Garfield drove a canal + boat. Does anybody think the worse of them for that? Your son, Mrs. + Strong,—I am told by all who know him,—will be a great + surgeon, a great man. You must not forget that people will speak of HIS + son as the son of Dr. David Strong, the famous surgeon." + </p> + <p> + Her face glowed with pleasure. Mother love and mother pride kindled in her + dark eyes. He caught himself wondering if young David Strong was like this + tall, grey-haired woman with the steady gaze and quiet smile. + </p> + <p> + "I am sure David will succeed," she said warmly. "He always was a + determined boy. Mr. Windom was very fond of him. He took a great interest + in him." A self-conscious, apologetic smile succeeded the proud one. "I + suppose you would call Alix and David boy and girl sweethearts. As you + say, boys and girls just simply can't help having such ailments. It's like + an epidemic. Even the strongest catch it and,—get over it without + calling in the doctor." + </p> + <p> + He grinned. "It is a most amiable disease. The only medicine necessary is + soda water and ice cream, with a few pills in the shape of chocolate + caramels or marshmallows, taken at all hours and in large doses." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Strong's eyes softened as she looked out of the window. A faraway, + wistful expression lurked in them. + </p> + <p> + "Those were wonderful days, Mr. Thane,—when those two children were + growing up." She sighed. "David is four years older than Alix, but ever + since she was a tiny child she seemed older than he was. I guess it was + because he was so big and strong that he just couldn't bear to lord it + over her like most boys do with girls. He was kind of like a big shepherd + dog. Always watching over her and—dear me, I'll never forget the + time they got lost in the woods up above here. That was when she was about + seven. They were not found till next morning. We had everybody for miles + around beating the woods for them all night long. Well, sir, that boy had + taken off his coat and put it on her, and his stockings too, and he had + even removed his shirt to make a sort of muffler to wrap around her + throat, because she always had sore throats and croup when she was a + child. And when the men found them, he was sitting up against a tree sound + asleep, almost frozen stiff, with her in his lap and his cold little arms + around her. It was late in September and the nights were cold. Then there + was the time when she fell off the side of the ferry boat and he jumped in + after her,—with his best suit on, the little rascal,—and held + her up till Josh Wilson stopped the ferry and old Mr. White, who was + crossing with his team, managed to throw a buggy rein out to him and pull + him in. The water out there in the middle of the river is ten feet deep, + Mr. Thane, and David was just learning how to swim. And they BOTH had + croup that night. My goodness, I thought that boy was going to die. But, + my land, that seems ages ago. Here they are, a grown, man and woman, and + probably don't even remember those happy days." + </p> + <p> + "That's the horrible penalty one pays for growing up, Mrs. Strong." + </p> + <p> + "I guess you're right. Of course, they write to each other every once in a + while,—but nothing is like it used to be. Alix had a letter from + Davy only a day or so ago. You'd think she might occasionally tell me some + of the things he writes about,—but she never does. She never opens + her mouth about them. And he never writes anything to me about what she + writes to him. I suppose that's the way of the world. When they were + little they used to come to me with everything. + </p> + <p> + "You see, I came here to keep house for Mr. Windom soon after old Maria + Bliss died. My husband died when David was six years old. Alix was only + four years old when I came here, Mr. Thane. This house was new,—just + finished. I'll never forget the rage Mr. Windom got into when he found out + that Alix and David were going up to the old farmhouse where her mother + died and were using one of the upstairs rooms as a 'den.' They got in + through a cellar window, it seems. They were each writing a novel, and + that was where they worked and read what they had written to each other. + That lasted only about six weeks or so before Mr. Windom found out about + it. He was terrible. You see, without knowing it, they had picked out the + room that was most sacred to him. It was his wife's own room,—where + she died and where Alix's mother was born and where she also died,—and + where our Alix was born. + </p> + <p> + "Of course, at that time nobody knew about Edward Crown. We all thought he + was alive somewhere. The children never went there again. No, sirree! They + both ought to have known better than to go at all. Alix was fifteen years + old when that happened, and Davy was going to college in the winter time." + </p> + <p> + "Did your son live here in the house with you all those years?" inquired + Courtney. + </p> + <p> + "We lived in the first cottage down the lane from here. Mr. Windom was a + very thoughtful man. He did not want me to live here in the house with him + because of what people might say. You see, I was a young woman then, and—well, + people are not always kind, you know." She spoke simply and without the + slightest embarrassment. + </p> + <p> + He looked hard at her half-averted face and was suddenly confronted by the + realization that this grey, motherly woman must have been young once, like + Alix, and pretty. As it is with the young, he could not think of her + except as old. He had always thought of his mother as old; it was + impossible to think of her as having once been young and gay like the + girls he knew. Yes, Mrs. Strong must have been young and pretty and + desirable,—somebody's sweetheart, somebody's "girl." The thought + astonished him. + </p> + <p> + II — Shortly afterward he took his departure. There was a frown of + annoyance on his brow as he strode briskly up the lane in the direction of + the crossroads, half a mile or more above the village. As usual, he + thought aloud. + </p> + <p> + "There's no way of finding out just how things stand between them. The old + lady doesn't know anything, that's a cinch. If she really knew she would + have let it out to me. I'll never get a better chance to pump her than I + had today. She doesn't know. You can see she hopes her son will get her. + That's as plain as the nose on your face. But she doesn't know anything. + Is that a good sign or a bad one? I wish I knew. Alix isn't the sort to + forget. Maybe Strong has gotten over it and not she. It's darned + aggravating, that's what it is. There must be some good reason why she's + never married. I wonder if she's still keen about him. This talk of + Charlie Webster's may be plain bunk. If she hates him,—why? That's + the question. WHY does she hate him? There must be some reason beside that + debt he owed to old Windom. Gad, I wish I could have seen that letter he + wrote her when he sent the cheque. Well, anyhow, it's up to me to get + busy. That's sure!" + </p> + <p> + His walk took him past the Windomville Cemetery and up the gravel turnpike + leading to the city. Alix had traversed this road an hour or so earlier. + Swinging around a bend in the highway, he came in view of the abandoned + farmhouse half a mile ahead. + </p> + <p> + It was a familiar object by this time, for he had passed it many times, + not only on his solitary walks but on several occasions with Alix. The + desolate house, with its weed-grown yard, its dilapidated paling fence, + its atmosphere of decay, had always possessed a certain fascination for + him. He secretly confessed to a queer little sensation as of awe whenever + he looked upon the empty, green-shuttered house. It suggested death. More + than once he had paused in the road below the rickety gate to gaze + intently at the closed windows, or to scrutinize the tangled mass of weeds + and rose bushes that almost hid the porch and its approach from view. He + was never without the strange feeling that the body of Edward Crown might + still be lying at the foot of the hidden steps. + </p> + <p> + Now he approached the place with a new and deeper interest. Strangely + enough, it had been shorn within the hour of much that was grim and + terrifying. It was no longer a house to inspire dread and uneasiness. Two + young and venturesome spirits had invaded its silent precincts, there to + dream in safety and seclusion, unhaunted by its spectres, undisturbed by + its secret. In one of its darkened rooms they had set up a "workshop," a + "playhouse." A glaze came over his eyes as he wondered what had transpired + in that room during the surreptitious six weeks' tenancy. Had David Strong + kissed her? Had she kissed David Strong? Were promises made and futures + planned? His throat was tight with the swell of jealousy. + </p> + <p> + He stopped at the gate. After a moment's hesitation he lifted the rusty + latch and jerked the gate open far enough to allow him to squeeze through. + Then he paused to sweep the landscape with an inquiring eye. Far up the + pike a load of fodder moved slowly. There were cattle in the pasture near + at hand, but no human being to observe his actions. In a distant upland + field men were moving among a multitude of corn-shocks, trailing the + horses and wagons that belonged to Alix Crown. Crows cawed in the trees on + the eastern edge of the strip of meadowland, and on high soared two or + three big birds,—hawks or buzzards, he knew not which,—circling + slowly in the arc of the steel blue sky. + </p> + <p> + Confident that he was unobserved, he made his way up the half-buried walk + to the porch, and, deliberately mounting the steps, tried the door-knob. + As he expected, the door was locked. After another searching look in all + directions, he started off through the tangle of weeds and burdocks to + circle the house. He passed through what once must have been the + tennis-court of Alix the First,—now a weedy patch,—and came to + the back door. Below him lay the deserted stables and outbuildings, facing + the barnyard in which a few worn-out farm implements were to be seen, + weather-beaten skeletons of a past generation. + </p> + <p> + There was no sign of human life. A lean and threadbare scarecrow flapped + his ragged coat-sleeves in the wind that swept across the barren garden + patch farther up the slope,—this was the nearest approach to human + life that came within the range of vision. And as if to invite jovial + companionship, this pathetic gentleman wore his ancient straw hat cocked + rakishly over what would have been his left ear if he had had any ears at + all. + </p> + <p> + While standing before the gate, Courtney had come to a sudden, amazing + decision. He resolved to enter and explore the house if it were possible + to do so. He remembered that Mrs. Strong, in pursuing the subject, had + declared that Alix and David were not even permitted to return to the + house for their literary products; moreover, she doubted very much whether + the former had taken the trouble to recover them after she became sole + possessor of the property. If they were still there, with other tangible + proofs of an adolescent intimacy, he saw no reason why he should not lay + eyes,—or even hands,—upon them. He saw no wrong in the + undertaking. It was a justifiable adventure, viewed from the standpoint of + a lover whose claim was in doubt. + </p> + <p> + The back door was locked and the window shutters securely nailed. Entrance + to the cellar was barred by heavy scantlings fastened across the sloping + hatch. In the barnyard he found a stout single-tree. With this he + succeeded in prying off the two scantlings. The staple holding the padlock + was easily withdrawn from one of the rotten boards. + </p> + <p> + Descending the steps, he found himself in the small, musty cellar. The + vault-like room was empty save for a couple of barrels standing in a + corner and a small pile of firewood under the stairs that led to regions + above. Selecting a faggot of kindling-wood from this pile, he fashioned a + torch by whittling the end into a confusion of partially detached slivers. + This he lighted with a match, and then mounted the stairs. + </p> + <p> + The door at the head opened at the lifting of an old-fashioned latch. A + thick screen of cobwebs almost closed the upper half of the aperture. He + burnt it away with the flaming torch, and passed on into the kitchen. He + was grateful for the snapping fire of the faggot, for otherwise the + silence of the grave would have fallen about him as he stood motionless + for a moment peering about the empty room. No light penetrated from the + outside. The air was dead. Spiders had clothed the corners and the ceiling + with their silk, over which the dust of years lay thick and ugly. He felt, + with a queer little shiver, that the eyes of a thousand spiders peered + gloatingly down upon him from the murky fastnesses. + </p> + <p> + He hurried on. The rooms on the lower floor had been stripped of all signs + of habitation. His footsteps resounded throughout the house. Boards + creaked under his tread. Without actually realizing what he was doing, he + began to tiptoe toward the stairway that led to the upper floor. He + laughed at himself for this precaution, and yet could not rid himself of + the feeling that some one was listening, that the stealth of the midnight + burglar was necessary. The stairs groaned under his weight, the + dust-covered banister cracked loudly when he laid his hand upon it. He had + the strange notion that they were sounding the alarm to some guardian + occupant of the premises,—to a slumbering ghost perhaps. + </p> + <p> + He came at last to the room where Alix and David had played at + book-writing. In the centre stood a kitchen table, on either side of which + was a rudely constructed bench,—evidently the handiwork of David + Strong. Two strips of rag carpet served as a rug. At each end of the table + was a candlestick containing a half-used tallow candle. There was a single + ink pot, but there were two penholders beside it, and a couple of blue + blotters. Nearby were two ancient but substantial rocking chairs,—singularly + out of place,—no doubt discarded survivors of long-distant days of + comfort, rescued from an attic storeroom by the young trespassers. A scrap + basket, half-full of torn and crumpled sheets of paper, stood conveniently + near the table. + </p> + <p> + He lighted both of the candles and extinguished the flickering faggot. The + steady glow of the candlelight filled the room. On the mantel above the + blackened fireplace he saw a small, white framed mirror. A forgotten pair + of gloves lay beside it, and two or three hairpins. He picked up the + gloves, slapped them against his leg to rid them of accumulated dust, and + then stuck them into his coat pocket. They were long and slim and soiled + by wear. + </p> + <p> + A closet door, standing partly open, drew him across the room. Hanging + from one of the hooks was a moth-eaten vicuna smoking jacket of blue. + Beside this garment hung a girl's bright red blazer, with black collar; + protecting, business-like paper cuffs were still attached. In the corner + of the closet reposed a broom, a mop and an empty pail. + </p> + <p> + He smiled at the thought of young Alix sweeping and scrubbing the floor of + this sequestered retreat. + </p> + <p> + Returning to the table, he pulled out the drawer, and there, side by side, + lay two neat but far from voluminous manuscripts, each weighted down by + the unused portion of the scratch pad from which the written sheets had + been torn. One was in the bold, superior scrawl of a boy, the other + ineffably feminine in its painstaking regard for legibility and tidiness. + </p> + <p> + III — These literary efforts had been cut off short in their + infancy. David's vigorously written pages, marred by frequent scratchings + and erasures, far outnumbered Alix's. He was in the midst of Chapter Three + of a novel entitled "The Phantom Singer" when the calamitous interruption + came. Alix's work had progressed to Chapter Five. Inspection revealed the + further fact that she was thrifty. She had written on both sides of the + sheets, while the prodigal David confined himself to the inexorable "one + side of the sheet only." There were unmistakable indications of editorial + arrogance on the part of Alix on every sheet of David's manuscript. Her + small, precise hand was to be seen here, there and everywhere,—sometimes + in the substitution of a single word, often in the rewriting of an entire + sentence. But nowhere on her own pages was to be found so much as a + scratch by the clumsy hand of her fellow novelist. + </p> + <p> + Her story bore the fetching title: "Lady Mordaunt's Lover." + </p> + <p> + Courtney read the first page of her script. A sudden wave of remorse, even + guilt, swept through him. Back in his mind he pictured her bending + studiously, earnestly to the task, her heart in every line she was + penning, her dear little brow wrinkled in thought. He could almost + visualize the dark, wavy hair, the soft white neck,—as if he were + standing behind looking down upon her as she struggled with an obstinate + muse,—and the quick, gentle rise and fall of her young breast. He + could see her lift her head now and then to stare dreamily at the ceiling, + searching there for inspiration. He could see the cramped, tense fingers + that gripped the pen as she wrote these precious lines,—with David + scratching away laboriously at the opposite end of the table. A strange + tenderness entered his soul. Something akin to reverence took possession + of him. He had invaded sanctuary. + </p> + <p> + Slowly, almost tenderly, he replaced the manuscript in the drawer beside + its bristling mate. Then he resolutely closed the drawer, blew out the + candles, and strode swiftly from the room and down the creaking stairs, + lighting the way with matches. Even as he convicted himself of wrong, he + justified himself as right. The virtuous renunciation balanced, aye, + overbalanced,—the account with cupidity. He was saying to himself as + he made his way down to the cellar: + </p> + <p> + "It would be downright rotten to take that story of hers, even as a joke,—and + I came mighty near to doing it. Thank the Lord, I didn't. Of course, it's + piffle,—both of 'em,—but I just COULDN'T take hers away for no + other reason than to get a good laugh out of it. Anyhow, my conscience is + clear. I put it back where she left it,—and that's the end of it so + far as I'm concerned. Damn these cobwebs! Good Lord, I wonder if any of + these spiders are poisonous!" + </p> + <p> + Brushing the cobwebs from his face as he ran, he hurried across the cellar + and bolted up the steps, out into the brilliant sunlight. He made frantic + efforts to remove the disgusting webs from his garments, his eyes darting + everywhere in search of the evil insects. + </p> + <p> + Presently he set to work replacing the staple and padlock, inserting the + nails in the holes they had left in the rotting board. He did his best to + fasten the scantlings down, making a sorry job of it, and then, as he + prepared to leave the premises, he was suddenly seized by the uncanny + feeling that some one was watching him. His gaze swept the fields, the + barn lot, even the high grass that surrounded the house. There was no one + in sight, and yet he could FEEL the eyes of an invisible watcher. + </p> + <p> + Up in the garden patch, the scarecrow flapped his empty sleeves. His hat + was still tilted jauntily over his absent ear. It was ridiculous to + suppose that that uncanny object could see,—yet somehow it seemed to + Courtney that it WAS looking at him, looking at him with malicious, + accusing eyes. + </p> + <p> + Not once, but half a dozen times, he turned in the road to glance over his + shoulder at the house he had left behind. Always his gaze went to the + scarecrow. He shivered slightly and cursed himself for a fool. The silly + thing COULDN'T be looking at him! What nonsense! Still he breathed a sigh + of relief when he turned the bend and was safely screened from view by the + grove of oaks that crowned the hill above the village. + </p> + <p> + Several automobiles passed him as he trudged along the pike; an old man + afoot driving a little herd of sheep gave him a cheery "good morning," but + received no response. + </p> + <p> + "I wish I hadn't gone into that beastly house," he was repeating to + himself, a scowl in his eyes. "It gave me the 'Willies.' Jolly lot of + satisfaction I got out of it,—I don't think. I daresay he kissed her + a good many times up there in that,—But, Lord, what's the sense of + worrying about something that happened ten years ago?" + </p> + <p> + At the dinner table that noon, Charlie Webster suddenly inquired: + </p> + <p> + "Well, what have YOU been up to this morning, Court?" + </p> + <p> + Courtney started guiltily and shot a quick, inquiring look at the speaker. + Satisfied that there was no veiled significance in Charlie's question, he + replied: + </p> + <p> + "Took a long ramble up the pike. The air is like wine today. I walked out + as far as the old Windom house." + </p> + <p> + Charlie was interested. "Is that so? Did you see Amos Vick's daughter + hanging around the place?" + </p> + <p> + "Amos Vick's—you mean Rosabel?" He swallowed hard. "No, I didn't see + her. Was she over there?" + </p> + <p> + "Jim Bagley was in the office half an hour or so ago. As he was coming + past the house in his Ford he saw her standing at the front gate, so he + stopped and asked her what she was doing over on this side of the river. + She'd been over here spending the night with Annie Jordan,—that's + Phil Jordan's girl, you know, the township assessor,—and went out + for a long walk this morning. She looked awful tired and sort of sickly, + so Jim told her to hop in and he'd give her a lift back to Phil's house. + She got in with him and he left her at Phil's." + </p> + <p> + "I saw her walking down to the ferry with Annie as I was coming over from + the office a little while ago," said Doc Simpson. + </p> + <p> + "Sorry I didn't meet her," said Courtney. "She's jolly good fun,—and + I certainly was in need of somebody to cheer me up this morning. For the + first time since I came out here I was homesick for New York,—and + mother. It must have been our talk last night about the theatres and all + that." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII — WORDS AND LETTEBS + </h2> + <p> + Mary Blythe and her brother arrived on Tuesday for a two days' visit. Alix + motored to town and brought them out in the automobile. She was surprised + and gratified when Courtney, revoking his own decree, volunteered to go up + with her to meet the visitors at the railway station in the city. But when + the day came, he was ill and unable to leave his room. The cold, steady + rains of the past few days had brought on an attack of pleurisy, and the + doctor ordered him to remain in bed. He grumbled a great deal over missing + the little dinner Alix was giving on the first night of their stay, and + sent more than one lamentation forth in the shape of notes carried up to + the house on the knoll by Jim House, the venerable handy-man at Dowd's + Tavern. + </p> + <p> + "I really don't recall him," said Addison Blythe, frowning thoughtfully. + "He probably came to the sector after I left, Miss Crown. I've got a + complete roster at home of all the fellows who served in the American + Ambulance up to the time it was taken over. I'd like to meet him. I may + have run across him any number of times. Names didn't mean much, you see, + except in cases where we hung out together in one place for some time. I + would remember his face, of course. Faces made impressions, and that's + more than names did. Courtney Thane? Seems to me I have a vague + recollection of that name. You say he was afterward flying with the + British?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes. He was wounded and gassed at—at—let me think. What was + the name of the place? Only a few weeks before the armistice." + </p> + <p> + "There was a great deal doing a few weeks before the armistice," said + Blythe, smiling. "You'll have to be a little more definite than that. The + air was full of British aeroplanes from London clear to Palestine. What is + he doing here?" + </p> + <p> + "Recovering his health. He has had two attacks of pneumonia, you see,—and + a touch of typhoid. His family originally lived in this country. The old + Thane farm is almost directly across the river from Windomville. + Courtney's father was born there, but went east to live during the first + Cleveland administration. He had some kind of a political appointment in + Washington, and married a Congressman's daughter from Georgia, I think—anyhow, + it was one of the Southern states. He is really quite fascinating, Mary. + You would lose your heart to him, I am sure." + </p> + <p> + "And, pray, have you offered any reward for yours?" inquired Mary Blythe, + smiling as she studied her friend's face rather narrowly. + </p> + <p> + Alix met her challenging gaze steadily. A sharper observer than Mary + Blythe might have detected the faintest shadow of a cloud in the dark, + honest eyes. + </p> + <p> + "When I lose it, dear, I shall say 'good riddance' and live happily ever + after without one," she replied airily. + </p> + <p> + The next morning she started off with her guests for a drive down the + river, to visit the old fort and the remains of the Indian village. + Stopping at the grain elevator, she beckoned to Charlie Webster. The fat + little manager came bustling out, beaming with pleasure. + </p> + <p> + "How is Mr. Thane today, Charlie?" she inquired, after introducing him to + the Blythes. + </p> + <p> + Charlie pursed his lips and looked wise. "Well, all I can say is, he's + doing as well as could be expected. Temperature normal, pulse fluctuating, + appetite good, respiration improved by a good many cusswords, mustard + plaster itching like all get out,—but otherwise he's at the point of + death. I was in to see him after breakfast. He was sitting up in bed and + getting ready to tell Doc Smith what he thinks of him for ordering him to + stay in the house till he says he can go out. He is terribly upset because + he can't get up to Alix's to see you, Mr. Blythe. I never saw a feller so + cut up about a thing as he is." + </p> + <p> + "He must not think of coming out in this kind of weather," cried Alix + firmly. "It would be—" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, he's not thinking of coming out," interrupted Charlie quietly. + </p> + <p> + "I am sorry not to have met him," said Blythe. "We probably have a lot of + mutual friends." + </p> + <p> + A queer little light flashed into Charlie Webster's eyes and lingered for + an instant. + </p> + <p> + "He's terribly anxious to meet you. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he + got up today sometime and in spite of Doc Smith hustled over to call on + you. I'll tell you what we might do, Alix. If Mr. Blythe isn't going to be + too busy, I might take him up to see Court,—that is, when you get + back from your drive. I know he'll appreciate it, and be tickled almost to + death." + </p> + <p> + "Fine!" cried Blythe. "If you're sure he will not mind, Mr. Webster." + </p> + <p> + "Why should he mind? He says he's crazy to meet you, and he's able to see + people—" + </p> + <p> + "But I've always understood that talking was very painful to any one + suffering from pleurisy," protested Alix. + </p> + <p> + "Doesn't seem to hurt Court very much," declared Charlie. "He nearly + talked an arm off of me and Furman Hatch this morning,—and it + certainly seemed to be a real pleasure for him to cuss. I really think + he'll get well quicker if you drop in for a chat with him, Mr. Blythe." + </p> + <p> + "It would be very nice," said Alix warmly, "if you could run in for a few + minutes—" + </p> + <p> + "Sure I will," cried the young man. "This afternoon, Mr. Webster,—about + half-past two?" + </p> + <p> + "Any time suits me," said the obliging Mr. Webster. As if struck by + something irresistibly funny, he suddenly put his hand to his mouth and + got very red in the face. After an illy-suppressed snort or two, he + coughed violently, and then stammered: "Excuse me. I was just thinking + about—er—about something funny. I'm always doing some fool + thing like that. This was about Ed Jones's dog,—wouldn't be the + least bit funny to anybody but me, so I won't tell you about it. + Two-thirty it is, then? I'll meet you up at Alix's. It's only a step." + </p> + <p> + "Will you tell Mr. Thane that you are bringing Mr. Blythe to see him this + afternoon, Charlie?" said Alix. "You said he was threatening to disobey + the doctor's—" + </p> + <p> + "You leave it to me, Alix," broke in Charlie reassuringly. "Trust me to + see that he don't escape." + </p> + <p> + A little before two-thirty, tall Mr. Blythe, one time Captain in the Field + Artillery, and short Mr. Webster wended their way through the once busy + stableyard in the rear of Dowd's Tavern. Charlie gave his companion a + brief history of the Tavern and indicated certain venerable and venerated + objects of interest,—such as the ancient log watering-trough (hewn + in 1832); the rain-barrels, ash-hoppers and fodder cribs (dating back to + Civil War days), the huge kettle suspended from a thick iron bar the ends + of which were supported by rusty standards, where apple-butter was made at + one season of the year, lye at another, and where lard was rendered at + butchering-time. He took him into the wagon-shed and showed him the + rickety high-wheeled, top-heavy carriage used by the first of the Dowds + back in the forties, now ready to fall to pieces at the slightest ungentle + shake; the once gaudy sleigh with its great curved "runners"; and over in + a dark corner two long barrelled rifles with rusty locks and rotten + stocks, that once upon a time cracked the doom of deer and wolf and fox, + of catamount and squirrel and coon, of wild turkeys and geese and ducks—to + say nothing of an occasional horsethief. + </p> + <p> + "They say old man Dowd could shoot the eye out of a squirrel three + hundreds yards away with one of these rifles," announced Charlie; "and it + was no trick at all for him to nip a wild turkey's head off at five + hundred yards. I'll bet you didn't run up against any such shooting as + that over in France." + </p> + <p> + Blythe shook his head. "No such rifle shooting, I grant you. But what + would you say to a German cannon twelve miles away landing ten shells in + succession on a battery half as big as this stable without even being able + to see the thing they were shooting at?" + </p> + <p> + "I give up," said Charlie gloomily. "Old man Dowd was SOME liar, but, my + gosh, he couldn't hold a—well, my respect for the American Army is + greater than it ever was, I'll say that, Captain. Dan Dowd was the rankest + kind of an amateur." + </p> + <p> + "Do you mean as a shot,—or as a liar?" inquired Blythe, grinning. + </p> + <p> + "Both," said Charlie. + </p> + <p> + He had a very definite purpose in leading his guest through the + stable-yard. By doing so he avoided the customary approach to the Tavern, + in full view from Courtney's windows. They circled the building and + arrived at the long, low porch from the north. Here they encountered + Furman Hatch. Charlie appeared greatly surprised to find the photographer + there. + </p> + <p> + "What are you doing here at this time o' day, Tintype?" he demanded. + "Takin' a vacation?" + </p> + <p> + "I come over for some prints I left in my room last night," explained Mr. + Hatch. + </p> + <p> + "We're going up to call on Court," said Charlie. "Won't you join us?" + </p> + <p> + Hatch looked at his watch, frowned dubiously, and then said he could spare + a few minutes,—and that was just what it was understood in advance + that he was to say! + </p> + <p> + "He goes by the name of Tintype," explained Mr. Webster, after the two men + had shaken hands. "Not because he looks like one, but because the village + idiot's name is Furman, and we have to have some way of tellin' them + apart." + </p> + <p> + A few minutes later, Charlie knocked resoundingly on Courtney's door. + </p> + <p> + "Who is it?" + </p> + <p> + "It's me,—Charlie Webster. Got a nice surprise for you." + </p> + <p> + "Come in." + </p> + <p> + And in strode Charlie, followed by the tall stranger and the lank Mr. + Hatch. + </p> + <p> + Courtney, full dressed,—except that he wore instead of his coat a + thick blue bath gown,—was sitting at a table in front of the small + wood-fire stove, playing solitaire. A saucer at one corner of the table + served as an ash tray. It was half full of cigarette stubs. + </p> + <p> + "Well, what the—" he began, and then, catching sight of the + stranger, scrambled up from his chair, his mouth still open. + </p> + <p> + "I thought you'd be surprised," said Charlie triumphantly. "This is Mr. + Blythe, Mr. Thane,—shake hands with each other, comrades. When I + told him you were so keen to see him and talk over old times, he said + slap-bang he'd come with me when I offered to bring him up." + </p> + <p> + "I hope we're not intruding, Mr. Thane," said Blythe, advancing with hand + extended. "Mr. Webster assured me you were quite well enough to receive—" + </p> + <p> + "I am glad you came," cried Courtney, recovering from his surprise. + "Awfully good of you. These beastly lungs of mine, you know. The least + little flare-up scares me stiff. Still, I had almost screwed up my nerve + to going out this afternoon—" + </p> + <p> + "It doesn't pay to take any risks," warned Blythe, as they shook hands. + </p> + <p> + The two men looked each other closely, steadily in the eye. Courtney was + the first to speak at the end of this mutual scrutiny. + </p> + <p> + "I wasn't quite sure whether I met you over there, Captain Blythe," he + said, "but now I know that I didn't. I've been puzzling my brain for days + trying to recall the name, or at least your face. I may be wrong, however. + I haven't much of a memory. I hope you will forgive me if we did meet and + I have forgotten it. I—" + </p> + <p> + "I have no recollection of ever having seen you, Mr. Thane," said Blythe. + "It isn't surprising, however. It—it was a pretty big war, you + know." + </p> + <p> + Charlie Webster was slightly dashed. If anything, Courtney Thane was more + at ease, more convincing than Addison Blythe. He felt rather foolish. + Something, it seemed, had fallen very flat. He evaded Mr. Hatch's eye. + </p> + <p> + "Sit down, Captain Blythe," said Courtney affably. "Hope you don't mind + this bath gown. Charlie, make yourself at home on the bed,—you too, + Hatch. We're as shy of chairs here as we were at the front, you see." + </p> + <p> + Blythe remained for half an hour and then went away with his two + companions. Courtney shook hands with him and said good-bye at the hall + door; then he strode over to the bureau to look at himself in the glass. + He saw reflected therein a very well satisfied face, with brightly + confident eyes and the suggestion of a triumphant smile. + </p> + <p> + Hatch accompanied the moody Mr. Webster to the warehouse office. + </p> + <p> + "Strikes me, Charlie," said he, thoughtfully, "that of the two our friend + Courtney seems a long sight more genuine than this feller Blythe. I guess + you're off your base, old boy. Why, darn it, he had Blythe up in the air + half the time. If I was a betting man, I'd put up a hundred or two that + Blythe never even saw the places they were talking about." + </p> + <p> + "Do you think Blythe is a fake?" cried Charlie in some heat. + </p> + <p> + "I wouldn't go so far as to say that," said Hatch diplomatically, "but + you'll have to admit that Court asked him a lot of questions he didn't + seem able to answer." + </p> + <p> + Charlie stared hard at the floor for a few seconds. Then: "Well, if I was + to ask you what my mother's maiden name was, Tintype, you'd have to say + you didn't know, wouldn't you?" + </p> + <p> + "Sure," said Hatch. "But I wouldn't go so far as to say I wasn't certain + whether she had a maiden name or not, would I?" + </p> + <p> + "There's no use arguing with you, Hatch," said Charlie irritably, and + turned to his desk by the window, there to frown fiercely over his scales + book. + </p> + <p> + II — Alix and Miss Blythe were sitting in front of the fireplace + when young Blythe entered the living-room on his return from Dowd's + Tavern. The former looked up at him brightly, eagerly as he planted + himself between them with his back to the cheerful blaze. + </p> + <p> + "Did you see him?" she inquired. He was struck by the deep, straining look + in her dark eyes,—as if she were searching for something far back in + his brain. + </p> + <p> + "Yes," he replied, as he took his pipe and tobacco pouch from his pocket. + "He was up and around the room and was as pleased as Punch to see me." He + began stuffing the bowl of the pipe. "He is a most attractive chap, Alix. + I don't know when I've met a more agreeable fellow." + </p> + <p> + "Then you had not met before,—over there?" + </p> + <p> + "No. We missed each other by days on two or three occasions. He left for + the Vosges just before I got to Pont-a-Mousson, and was transferred to + another section when we all went up to Bar le Duc at the time of the + Verdun drive. He joined the Ambulance several months before I did, and was + shifted about a good deal. Had some trouble with a French officer at + Pont-a-Mousson and asked to be transferred." Here he smiled feelingly. + "He's got a mustard plaster on his back now, he says, that would cover an + army mule. I know how that feels, by Jinks! I wore one for three weeks + over there because I didn't have the nerve to rip it off." + </p> + <p> + He was still aware of the unanswered question in her eyes. Changing his + position slightly, he busied himself with the lighting of his pipe. + </p> + <p> + "Was he expecting you?" inquired Alix. + </p> + <p> + "Not at all. It seems that your roly-poly friend forgot to notify him. I + say, Alix, what a wonderful lot of pre-historic junk there is in that old + stable-yard. Webster took me around there and showed me the stuff. Tell me + something about the place." + </p> + <p> + Late in the afternoon Blythe,—after submitting to an interview at + the hands of A. Lincoln Pollock,—sat alone before the fire, his long + legs stretched out, a magazine lying idly in his lap, his pipe dead but + gripped firmly in the hand that had remained stationary for a long, long + time halfway to his lips. He was staring abstractedly into the neglected + fire. + </p> + <p> + His sister came in. He was not aware of her entrance until she appeared + directly in front of him. + </p> + <p> + "Hello!" he exclaimed, blinking. + </p> + <p> + "What is on your mind, Addy?" + </p> + <p> + He glanced over his shoulder. + </p> + <p> + "Where is Alix?" + </p> + <p> + "Writing letters. There were two or three she has to get off before we + start for town." She sat down on the arm of his chair. "You may as well + tell me what you really think of him, Addison. Isn't he good enough for + her?" + </p> + <p> + He lowered his voice. The frown of perplexity deepened in his eyes. + </p> + <p> + "I can't make him out, Mary," he said, lowering his voice. + </p> + <p> + "What do you mean?" she asked quickly. + </p> + <p> + "Well, I may be doing him the rottenest injustice, but—somehow—he + doesn't ring quite true to me." + </p> + <p> + "For goodness sake, Addy,—" she began, and then: "In what way? Hurry + up! Tell me before she comes down. Isn't he a—a gentleman?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, yes,—I suppose he is. He's a most engaging chap; he certainly + seems well-bred, and he's darned good-looking. That isn't what I mean." He + hesitated a moment and then blurted out: "Does Alix know POSITIVELY that + he was in the American Ambulance? I mean, has she anybody else's word for + it except his?" + </p> + <p> + Mary Blythe stared at her brother, her lips parted. Then her eyes narrowed + suddenly. + </p> + <p> + "Don't—don't you think he's straight, Addy?" she half-whispered. + </p> + <p> + "I confess I'm puzzled. I never dreamed of doubting him when I went there. + But I've been doing a lot of thinking since I saw him, and,—by + George, Mary, I'm up a tree. Good Lord, if he should be—well, if he + should be putting something over on Alix, he ought to be shot, that's all. + Do you think she's in love with him?" + </p> + <p> + "I don't know. She's interested in him, I'm sure, but two or three times I + have caught the queerest little look in her eyes when she is speaking of + him,—almost as if she were afraid of something. I can't describe it. + It's just—well, the only thing I can think of is that it's kind of + pleading, if you know what I mean." + </p> + <p> + "Groping, I guess is the word you're after." + </p> + <p> + "Exactly. But go on,—tell me." + </p> + <p> + "It won't do to say anything about this to Alix, Mary," said he firmly. + "At least not at present. Not until I've satisfied myself. I'm going to + write to three or four fellows who were in Section Two for months,—before + I was there,—and see if they know anything about him. I'd write to + Mr. Hereford himself, but he's in Europe. He could give me the right dope + in a minute. Piatt Andrew's in France, I understand. The records will + show, of course, but it will take time to get at them. We must not breathe + a word of all this to Alix, Mary. Understand? I've got to make sure first. + It would be unpardonable if I were to make a break about him and he turned + out to be all right." + </p> + <p> + "You must find out as quickly as possible, Addison. We would never forgive + ourselves if we allowed Alix to—" + </p> + <p> + "Don't you worry! It won't take long to get a line on him. I'd telegraph + if I were sure of the addresses. I ought to hear in three or four days, a + week at the outside. Of course, he talks very convincingly. That's what + floors me. But, on the other hand, he's too darned convincing. First of + all, he called me Captain Blythe all the time. That isn't done by fellows + in the know. I'm just plain Mister these days. He was rather hazy about + the places I know all about, and tremendously clear about places I've + never even heard of,—the places around Pont-a-Mousson, I mean. He + actually looked suspicious of me when I said I didn't know where they + were. And he mentioned a lot of men that I am dead sure never were up at + Pont-a-Mousson,—either before or after I was there. Names I had + never heard before in my life. And, confound it, the way he lifted his + eyebrows made me feel for a minute or two that I hadn't been there myself. + He says that since his injury and his sicknesses his memory isn't the + best, but when I spoke of some of the fellows who were there with me, he + remembered them perfectly. Didn't know them well, because he wasn't with + the bunch very long, it seems. When I remarked that he must see a good bit + of the chaps who live in New York City, he told me he had been sick ever + since he came home from England and hadn't seen one of the crowd. He said + he knew Pottle, and Fay, and Tyler, Sudbery and several others,—so + I'm going to write to all of them tomorrow." + </p> + <p> + "It would be terrible, Addy, if she were to—" + </p> + <p> + "Mind you, old girl, I'm not saying this fellow isn't square," he + interrupted. "He may be all he says he is. He's got me guessing, that's + all." + </p> + <p> + "She says he has the croix de guerre and a D. S. medal." + </p> + <p> + He looked at her pityingly. "I've got a couple of Iron Crosses, old dear, + but that doesn't mean I had 'em pinned on me by a Boche general. I've also + got a German helmet, but I got it the same way I got the Crosses,—off + of a German whose eyes were closed. Anyhow, I'd like to see his medals. + Has Alix seen them?" + </p> + <p> + "His mother has them in New York," she replied. She stared into the fire + for a moment or two and then turned to him, a look of deep concern in her + eyes. "I think Alix is in love with him, Addy. She isn't herself at all. + She is distrait. Twice this afternoon she has asked me if I didn't want to + walk down into the village,—to the postoffice or the library. What + she really wanted to do was to walk past the place where he lives. Oh, I + know the symptoms. I've had them myself,—when I was younger than I + am now. We don't do the things at thirty-two that we did at twenty-four. + She is the dearest, finest girl I've ever known, Addy. We must not let + anything happen to her." + </p> + <p> + He shook his head slowly. "If she is really in love with him, there's + nothing we can do. The saying that 'there's no fool like an old fool' + isn't in it with 'there's no fool like a woman in love.' Look at Isabel + Harrington. Wasn't she supposed to be as sensible as they make 'em? And + didn't everybody she knew tell her what kind of a man he was? Did it do + any good?" + </p> + <p> + "She knew he gambled,—and drank—and he WAS a fascinating chap, + Addy. You'll admit that." + </p> + <p> + "You bet I admit it. It was certainly proved when those other women turned + up with marriage certificates, and old Mrs. Mason jumped into the + scrimmage and had him arrested for swindling her out of thirty-five + thousand dollars, and the New York police came along with a warrant for—" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, yes," she interrupted impatiently. "But Alix is quite different. She + is NOT a fool, and Isabel was,—and still is, I maintain. You have + seen this friend of Alix's. Is he attractive?" + </p> + <p> + "Well," he mused aloud, "unless I am mistaken, he is the sort of fellow + that women fall for without much of an effort. The sort that can fool + women but can't fool men, Mary, if that means anything to you. Now that I + think of it, I believe Webster and that friend of his are—Well, I'm + sure they don't like him. He—" + </p> + <p> + "Sh! She is coming!" + </p> + <p> + Alix's quick, light tread was heard in the hall. She came from her + "office" in the wing where the kitchen was situated. + </p> + <p> + There was a heightened colour in her cheeks and her lovely eyes were + shining. + </p> + <p> + "Well, that job is done," she cried, tossing two or three letters on the + table. "Don't let me forget them, Mary. I'll post them in the city. We + leave at six o'clock, Addison. I telephoned to town and asked George + Richards to meet us at the Raleigh at a quarter before seven. I am + dreadfully disappointed, Mary, that Mr. Thane cannot go, but you will like + George. Mr. Thane NEVER goes to town. He was going to break his rule + tonight, and now he CAN'T go. Isn't that always the way?" + </p> + <p> + "Mary's awfully partial to Georges," said Addison, "so don't you worry + about her. I know I shall have a better time if Thane isn't in the party. + To be perfectly frank with you, I'm jolly well fed up with Mary,—as + we say in London. And if Thane was along I'd HAVE to talk to her for three + solid—Why, 'pon my soul, Alix, you're blushing!" + </p> + <p> + "Don't be silly!" + </p> + <p> + "Skip along, Addy, and see how quickly you can dress," interposed his + sister briskly. "You've got forty-six minutes." + </p> + <p> + "I can dress and undress three times in forty-six minutes, and still have + time to read the evening paper and do a few odd chores about the place. I + say, Alix, red is awfully becoming to you." With that parting shot, he + disappeared. + </p> + <p> + III — One of the envelopes on the table was addressed to David + Strong. It was a reply to a special delivery letter received in the + afternoon post. He had been very prompt in responding to Alix's curt note, + and she was being equally prompt with her answer. There were stamps + sufficient on hers to insure "special delivery" to him. + </p> + <p> + He had written: + </p> + <h3> + DEAR ALIX: + </h3> + <p> + I have not received the bracelet yet. Registered mail moves slowly. If I + did not know you so well, I might even hope that you had changed your mind + at the last minute and did not send it. But I know it will come along in a + day or so. I shall not ask you to explain why you are returning my gift. + You have a good reason, no doubt. We have not been very friendly of late. + I admit that I have been stubborn about paying back the money your + grandfather lent to me, and I suppose I have not been very gentlemanly or + tactful in trying to make you understand. I still maintain that it is a + very silly thing for us to quarrel about, but I am not going to hector you + about it now. I trust you will forgive me if I add to your annoyance by + saying that I'd like to be where I could shake a little sense into that + stubborn head of yours. + </p> + <p> + You are returning my gift. As I told you when I sent it to you, it was + given me by a French lady whose son I had taken care of and for whose + ultimate recovery I was perhaps responsible. She appreciated the fact that + I could not and would not accept pay for my services. This much I have + told you before. Now, I shall tell you something more. When she pressed it + upon me she said that I was to give it to my sweetheart back in America. I + gave it to you. I daresay I am greatly to blame for never having told you + before that you were my sweetheart, Alix. + </p> + <p> + Very sincerely yours, + </p> + <h3> + DAVID. + </h3> + <p> + To this Alix replied: + </p> + <h3> + DEAR DAVID: + </h3> + <p> + By this time you will have received the bracelet. It is not beyond the + bounds of probability that you may yet be in a position to carry out the + terms imposed by the lady in France. All the more reason for my returning + it to you. You are now free to give it to any one to whom you may have + confided the astonishing secret you so successfully withheld from me. You + seem to have forgotten that I gave you a receipt in full for the amount + you are supposed to have owed my grandfather's estate. I did this with the + consent of my lawyer. He said it was perfectly legal and that it was in my + power to cancel the so-called obligation,—especially as we have no + documentary evidence that you ever had promised to reimburse my + grandfather. On the contrary, as I have told you over and over again, I + have in my possession a statement written by Grandfather Windom which + absolutely settles the matter. He states in so many words that in making + his will he failed to mention his "beloved young friend, David Strong" as + a beneficiary, in view of the fact that "I have made him a substantial + gift during the closing years of my life in the shape of such education as + he may require, and for which I trust him to repay me, not in money, but + in the simplest and truest form of compensation: gratitude." In spite of + this, you continue to offend me,—I might even say insult me,—by + choosing to consider his gift as an obligation which can only be met by + paying MONEY to me. All that you owed my grandfather was gratitude and + respect. As for myself, I relieve you of the former but I do think I am + entitled to the latter. + </p> + <p> + Yours sincerely, + </p> + <h3> + ALIX CROWN + </h3> + <p> + The same post that carried her letter east was to take one from Courtney + Thane to his mother. + </p> + <h3> + DEAREST MATER: + </h3> + <p> + I am going to ask Alix Crown to marry me. I have hesitated to do so for + obvious reasons, perfectly clear to you. Now, I have decided. She + understands my financial situation. She knows that I am almost entirely + dependent on you for support at present. If it had not been for the war + and my confounded ill-health, I should, of course, have been quite + independent by this time. I have explained my present unbearable situation + to her in a general sort of way, and I know that she is in complete + sympathy with me. Your resolve to not increase my allowance is, I suppose, + irrevocable. I shall soon be in a position, I hope, to dispense with what + you are already so gracious as to allow me. I have not deemed it wise to + tell her at this time of my unfortunate and, as you say, foolish + mismanagement of my affairs before and after father's death. When all is + said and done, he didn't leave me very much. It went before I quite knew + what was happening, and I submit that it was bad judgment due to my youth + rather than to recklessness, as old Mumford claims. I'll make him eat his + words some day. Thanks for your cheque. You are a darling. You're the best + mother a fellow ever had. I quite understand your position, so don't lose + a moment's sleep thinking that I may be resenting your decision. I shall + manage very nicely on what you give me. It is ample for my present needs. + I shall probably find it rather humiliating when it comes time for a + wedding journey, but, bless your dear old heart, I'll manage somehow. + </p> + <p> + I am quite well and very happy. Hope you are the same. By the way, have + you made that visit to Washington? + </p> + <p> + Your loving son, + </p> + <h3> + COURTNEY. + </h3> + <p> + P.S.—I am still looking for the little parcel I asked you to send + me. Have you forgotten to attend to it? + </p> + <h3> + C. + </h3> + <p> + As Alix and her friends went out to the automobile, the big police dog + trotted beside Addison Blythe, looking up into his face with pleased and + friendly eyes. He allowed the man to stroke his head and rumple the thick + fur on his back. + </p> + <p> + "He likes you, Addison," said Alix, a serious little frown in her eyes. "I + can't understand his not liking Courtney Thane. His hair fairly bristles + and he growls like a bear every time he sees him. Isn't it odd?" + </p> + <p> + Blythe looked up quickly. It was on the tip of his tongue to say something + tactless. What he did say was this: + </p> + <p> + "Can you blame the poor dog for being jealous?" + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII — THE OLD INDIAN TRAIL + </h2> + <p> + Courtney delayed. A certain aloofness on Alix's part caused him to + hesitate. Something in her manner following upon the visit of the Blythes + invited speculation. She was as pleasant as ever, yet he sensed a subtle + change that warned him of defeat if he attempted to storm the citadel. His + confidence was slightly shaken,—but not his resolve. + </p> + <p> + "She's been different ever since those infernal Blythes were here," he + reflected aloud, scowling as he watched her pass in the car several days + after the departure of her guests. + </p> + <p> + She went to the city nearly every day now, and seldom returned before + dark. Somehow he felt that his grip was slipping. He was standing in front + of the Tavern. She had waved her hand to him, and had smiled gaily, but it + was not the first time that week she had failed to stop and repeat her + usual invitation for him to accompany her, even though she knew he would + politely decline. He resented this oversight. How could she know that he + hadn't changed his mind about going to the city? As a matter of fact, he + had changed it. He would have gone like a shot. Indeed, he had dressed + with that very object in view,—and she had gone by with a casual + wave of her hand. His annoyance was increased by the remark of Mr. + Nichols, who was standing at the top of the steps at the time. + </p> + <p> + "Thought you said you was going up to town, Courtney," said the old man, + with a detestable grin on his wrinkled visage. + </p> + <p> + "I didn't say anything of the kind," snapped Courtney, and strode off + angrily. + </p> + <p> + His stroll,—and his reflections,—took him up the old Indian + trail along the bank of the river. He wanted solitude. He wanted to be + where he could talk without fear of being overheard. There was much that + he had to say to himself. + </p> + <p> + The rarely used path through the willows and underbrush ran along the + steep bank, sometimes within a few feet of water. Once before he had + walked a couple of hundred yards over this ancient, hard-packed trail of + Tecumseh's people, but had been turned back by the sight of a small snake + wriggling off into the long grass ahead of him. That was in the warm days + of early September. There was no likelihood of serpents being abroad on + this chill October morning. + </p> + <p> + Leaving the road at the cut above the ferry landing, he turned into the + trail. A half hour's walk brought him to the gradually rising, + rock-covered slope that led to the base of Quill's Window. On all sides + were great, flat slabs of stone, some of them almost buried in the earth, + others sticking their jagged points up above the brush and weeds. Back in + ages dim these drab, moss-covered rocks had been sliced from the side of + the towering mound by the forces that shaped the earth, to be hurled + hither and thither with the calm disdain of the mighty. No human agency + had blasted them from their insecure hold on the shoulders of the cliff. + Uncounted centuries ago they had come bounding, crashing down from the + heights, shaken loose by the convulsions of Mother Earth, tearing their + way through the feeble barrier of trees to a henceforth place of security. + </p> + <p> + The trail wound in and out among these boulders, dividing at a point + several hundred feet south of the steep ascent to the top of the great + black mound. The main-travelled path turned in from the river at this + point, to skirt the hill at its rear. A more tortuous way, traversed + presumably by the fishers and hunters of the tribes, or perhaps by war + parties in swift pursuit or retreat, held directly to the bank of the + stream and passed along the front of the cliff. + </p> + <p> + Courtney took the latter branch. Presently he was picking his way + carefully along the base of the cliff, scrambling over and between the + rocks that formed a narrow ledge between the river and the sheer face of + Quill's Window. He was now some fifty or sixty feet above the cold, grey + water. Below him grew a line of stunted, ragged underbrush, springing from + the earth-filled fissures among the boulders. Across the river stretched + far away the farms and fields of the far-famed grain-belt. + </p> + <p> + He sat down upon a rock and gazed out over these fertile lands, now + crowded with shocks of corn or rusty with the dead glories of summer. + There were great square fields of stubble, fenced-in patches of + pasture-land, small oases of woodland, houses and barns and silos as far + as the eye could reach,—and always the huge red barns dwarfed the + houses in which the farmers dwelt. Cattle and sheep and horses, wagons and + men, all made small and insignificant in the sweep of this great and + solemn panorama. + </p> + <p> + The home of Amos Vick was visible, standing half-a-mile back from the + river. He looked hard and long at the house in which he had spent the + first three weeks of his stay in the country. So young Cale had gone off + to join the Navy, eh? Good! And Rosabel,—what of her? What was she + doing over at the old Windom house that day? Could it have been she who + was watching him? Looking badly, too, they said. Such a strong, pretty, + wind-tanned young thing she was! How long ago was it? Not two months....He + lit a cigarette and resumed his way, the shadow of a fond smile lingering + in his eyes. + </p> + <p> + Rounding the curve, he came to that side of the stone hill which faced up + the river. He had passed many small, shallow niches along the base of the + eminence, miniature caves from which oozed what might well have been + described as sweat. There were, besides, deep upright slashes in the side + of the rock, higher than his head, suggesting to the imagination the vain + effort of some unhappy giant to burst through the walls of his rocky + prison,—some monster of a man who now lay dead in the heart of the + hill. The turn took him farther away from the river. + </p> + <p> + He was looking now into the tops of several tall sycamores that rose from + the low ground at the foot of the hill. Extending far to the north along + the river was a fringe of these much be-sung trees. The space between the + straight face of the cliff and the edge of the ledge on which he stood was + not more than seven or eight feet. It was possible, he perceived, for one + to continue along and down this natural path to the bottom of the hill, + coming out among the trees in the low ground. The descent, however, was a + great deal more precipitous than the ascent from the other direction. + </p> + <p> + Now that he was immediately below the cave known as Quill's Window, he was + surprised to find that the cliff was not absolutely perpendicular. There + was quite a pronounced slant; the top of the wall was, at a guess, ten + feet farther back than the foot. His gaze first sought the strange opening + three-fourths of the way to the top,—a matter of eighty or ninety + feet above the spot on which he stood. There it was,—a deep, black + gash in the solid rock, rendered narrow by fore-shortening and a slightly + protruding brow. He could think of nothing more analogous than an open + mouth with a thick upper lip and the nether lip drawn in. + </p> + <p> + Then he saw what surprised him even more,—something that none of the + chroniclers had mentioned: a series of hand-cut niches up the face of the + cliff, leading directly to the mouth of the cave. He had been given to + understand that there was no other means of reaching Quill's Window save + from the top of the rock. These niches or "hand-holds" were about two feet + apart. He examined the lower ones. They were deeply chiselled, affording a + substantial foothold as well as a grip for a strong, resolute climber. + Most of them were packed with dirty, wind blown leaves from the trees + nearby,—so tightly packed by the furious rains that beat against the + rock that he had difficulty in removing the substance. Higher up they + appeared to be quite clean and free from obstruction. + </p> + <p> + He scraped the leaves out of five or six of the slits, one after the + other, as he climbed a short distance up the wall. Further progress was + checked, not so much by lack of desire to go to the top, but by an + involuntary glance over his shoulder. He was not more than ten feet above + the trail, but the trail was shockingly narrow and uneven. So down he + came, quite thrilled by his discovery, to lean against the rock and laugh + scornfully over the silly tales about Quill's Window and its eerie + impregnability. Anybody could climb up there! All that one needed was a + stout heart and a good pair of arms. Closer inspection convinced him that + these niches were of comparatively recent origin,—certainly they + were not of Quill's time. David Windom? Had that adventurous lad hewn this + ladder to the cave long before the beautiful Alix the First came to + complete the romance of his dreams? + </p> + <p> + No matter who cut them, they were still there to prove that Quill's Window + was accessible. According to tradition, no one had put foot inside the + cave since David Windom, in his youth, had ventured to explore its grisly + interior. Courtney promised himself that one day he would enter that + unhallowed hole in the wall! + </p> + <p> + Retracing his steps over the trail, he soon found himself in the village. + He was more cheerful now. He had talked himself into a better frame of + mind....She was shy. She had reached the turning point,—the + inevitable point where women tremble with a strange mixture of alarm and + rapture, and are as timid as the questioning deer. What a fool he was not + to have thought of that! + </p> + <p> + There was a small package in his lockbox at the postoffice—and two + or three letters. The package was from New York, addressed in his mother's + hand. + </p> + <p> + He stopped at the general delivery window for a chat with Mrs. Pollock. + </p> + <p> + "I had forgotten all about my birthday," he said, "but here's mother + reminding me of it as usual. She never forgets,—and, hang it all, + she won't let ME forget." He fingered the unopened package lovingly. + </p> + <p> + "Goodness me, Mr. Thane,—is this your birthday?" she cried + excitedly. "We must have a celebration. We can't allow—" + </p> + <p> + "Alas, it is too late. Your super-efficient postal service has brought + this to me just forty-eight hours behind time. Day before yesterday was + the day, now that I think of it." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Pollock mentally resolved to indite a short poem to him, + notwithstanding. She could feel it coming, even as she stood there talking + to him. The first line was already written, so to speak. It went: + </p> + <p> + "The flight of Time has brought once more—" + </p> + <p> + He continued, oblivious to the workings of the Muse: "Twenty-nine! By + Jove, I begin to feel that I'm getting on in life." He ripped open one of + the envelopes. + </p> + <p> + Maude Baggs Pollock looked intently at the ceiling of the outer office, + and thought of line number two: + </p> + <p> + "The busy Reaper to his door," + </p> + <p> + She hastily snatched a pencil from her hair and began jotting down these + precious lines. Fumbling for a bit of paper her fingers encountered an + envelope addressed to Alaska Spigg. The Muse worked swiftly. Before she + had dashed off the first two lines, the second pair were crowding down + upon them, to wit: + </p> + <p> + "But while he whets his fatal scythe, Gaze ye upon his victim lithe." + </p> + <p> + At this juncture George Rice's son came in for a half dozen postal cards, + and while she was making change for a dime the Muse forsook her. Bent on + preserving the lines already shaped, she stuffed Alaska's letter into the + pocket of her apron, intending to copy them at the first leisure moment. + Unfortunately for Alaska, there was a rush of business at the window, + including an acrimonious dispute with Mrs. Ryan over the non-arrival of a + letter she was expecting from her son, and a lengthy conversation with + Miss Flora Grady who dropped in to say that her chilblains always began to + bother her in October. In the meantime, Courtney departed. + </p> + <p> + Two days later, Alaska Spigg received her letter, considerably crumpled + and smelling of licorice root,—(a favourite remedy of Mrs. + Pollock's)—but rendered precious by the presence of a mysterious + "quatrain" done in violet hues by some poetic wielder of an indelible + pencil. Guilt denied Maude Baggs Pollock the right to claim authorship of + these imperishable lines, and to this day they remain unidentified in the + archives of the Windomville Public Library, displayed upon request by + Alaska Spigg, their proud and unselfish donor. + </p> + <p> + Courtney read two of his letters. The third he consigned, unopened, to the + fireplace at Dowd's Tavern. The little package, minus the wrapping paper, + was locked away in his trunk. + </p> + <p> + Charlie Webster, emerging from his office at the dinner hour,—twelve + noon,—espied Miss Angie Miller hurrying toward the Tavern. He hailed + her,—not ceremoniously or even gallantly,—but in the manner of + Windomville. + </p> + <p> + "Hey!" he called, and Angie promptly responded, not with the dignity for + which she was famous but with an entirely human spontaneity: + </p> + <p> + "Hey yourself!" + </p> + <p> + She waited till he caught up with her. + </p> + <p> + "Have you had an answer to that letter, Angie?" he inquired, glancing at a + small bunch of letters she held in her hand. + </p> + <p> + "No, I haven't." she replied, somewhat guardedly. "I can't understand why + he hasn't answered, Charlie,—unless he's away or something." + </p> + <p> + "Must be that," said he, frowning slightly. "You wrote nearly two weeks + ago, didn't you?" + </p> + <p> + "Two weeks ago yesterday." + </p> + <p> + "Sure you had the right address?" + </p> + <p> + "Absolutely. Thirty-three Cedar Street. He's had an office there for ever + so long. I ought to know where my uncle's office is, oughtn't I?" + </p> + <p> + "I thought maybe you might have got the wrong tree," explained Charlie. + </p> + <p> + "It's Cedar," said Miss Angie flatly. + </p> + <p> + "Cedar and pine are a good deal alike, except in—" began Charlie, + doubtfully, + </p> + <p> + "Goodness!" cried Miss Angie, stopping short. "It IS Pine! How perfectly + stupid of me! How utterly reprehensible!" + </p> + <p> + Charlie stared at her a moment in sheer disdain. + </p> + <p> + "Well, by gosh, if that ain't like a woman," he exclaimed disgustedly. + "I'd hate to send you for a half dozen oranges if there were any lemons in + the market." + </p> + <p> + "He is such a well-known lawyer," began Angie humbly, "that you would + think the mail carrier would—" + </p> + <p> + "What did you say his name was?" + </p> + <p> + "Joseph Smith. He is my mother's brother." + </p> + <p> + "East or West?" + </p> + <p> + "East or west what?" + </p> + <p> + "Pine Street. Same as North Fourth Street and South Fourth Street up in + the city. It runs both ways, Angie,—you poor simp." + </p> + <p> + "I shall write to him again this evening," said Angie stiffly. "And I'll + thank you, Charlie Webster, to remember that I am a lady and not a—" + </p> + <p> + "I apologize, Angie," cried Charlie. + </p> + <p> + "You'd better!" + </p> + <p> + They walked along in silence for a few rods. Then Charlie spoke. + </p> + <p> + "You say your uncle was mixed up in a lawsuit of some kind concerning the + Thane family?" + </p> + <p> + "I remember it distinctly. It was five or six years ago, before my mother + died. He wrote her a letter about it when he found out that the Thanes + originally came from this neighbourhood. I don't remember what it was all + about, but I think it was some kind of a rumpus over money." + </p> + <p> + "Well, you write tonight, Angie," ordered Mr. Webster; "and remember it + ain't Cedar, or Oak, or Mahogany. It's Pine,—the stuff you make + boxes of." + </p> + <p> + Much to Courtney's dismay, Alix remained in town over night. He went up to + the house that evening, only to receive this disconcerting bit of + information. Halfway home, he stopped short in the road, confronted by a + most astonishing doubt. Had she really stayed in town? Could it be + possible that she was at home and did not care to see him? Was it an + excuse? He compressed his lips. With lightning rapidity certain bits of + circumstantial evidence raced through his mind. In the first place, there + was Sergeant, the police dog. He wished he could remember whether he had + seen the animal in the car with her that morning. It was her custom to + take the dog with her when she went up for the day. One thing was certain: + Sergeant was now at home. Did that mean she had returned from the city? + </p> + <p> + And then there was another extraordinary thing,—something to which + he had not given a thought till now. The dog was on the terrace when he + strode up the walk. Not only was he there, but he interposed his lean, + bristling body between him and the porch-steps, growling ominously and + showing his teeth. He did not bark. He merely stood there, daring him to + approach. Courtney remembered saying to himself: + </p> + <p> + "There's one thing sure, you and I can't live in the same house, you + filthy brute. You'd better learn how to say your prayers, my amiable + friend." + </p> + <p> + It was not so much the presence of the dog or his inimical attitude that + troubled him now as the fact that Mrs. Strong opened the front door + without having been summoned by the bell. What did that signify? But one + thing: either she or some one else had been waiting and watching for his + arrival,—waiting behind the window curtains of a darkened room! + </p> + <p> + "Well,—I'm damned!" he swore to himself, as the blood rushed + furiously to his head. For an instant he saw red. "Good Lord, what have I + done to deserve such a slap in the face as this? What can be—But, + what the devil's the matter with me? Of course, she's in town! I must be + going batty. Certainly she's in town. She—but, even so, why should + she have gone off like this without saying a word to me about it? She + didn't mention it last night. Not a word. And she must have known then she + was planning to spend the night,—why, by gad, I wonder if she calls + that being fair with me? Letting me trail up here tonight, expecting—Any + way you want to look at it, it's rotten,—just plain rotten!" + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV — SUSPICION + </h2> + <p> + Early the next morning she called him up from the city. She explained + everything. The little daughter of her best friend had fallen downstairs, + injuring herself badly,—perhaps fatally. She felt it her duty to + remain with the distracted mother,—she hoped he would understand. + And she was in such a hurry to reach the city after the child's father had + called her on the telephone that she really did not have the time to stop + and explain. He would understand that, too, wouldn't he? And she thought + perhaps she would stay over another night. She couldn't leave Marjorie,—at + least, not until something definite was known. + </p> + <p> + He was vastly relieved. All his worry for nothing! He wished now that he + had remained in his room instead of going out a second time last night to + tramp about the dark, lonely village, driven forth by an ugly fit of + temper. + </p> + <p> + "But Mrs. Strong didn't say anything about the accident," he said over the + wire. "She simply said you were in town for the night." + </p> + <p> + "I can't understand that," replied Alix. "She knew why I came up to town, + and I telephoned her during the afternoon that I would stay overnight. + </p> + <p> + "She might have told me," he complained. "It would have relieved my mind + enormously. I—I was horribly unhappy. Never closed my eyes. I + thought you,—that is, I wondered if I had done anything to offend + you. My Lord, you'll never know how happy I am this minute. My heart is + singing—And to think it was like a lump of lead all last night. Do + try to come out this evening." + </p> + <p> + She did not answer at once, but he could plainly hear her breathing. Then + she said softly: + </p> + <p> + "If—if the child is better. I can't leave Marjorie until—until—" + </p> + <p> + "I understand," he cried heartily. "What a selfish beast I am. Don't give + me another thought. Your place is there. Because you are an angel!" + </p> + <p> + Later on he sauntered over to the postoffice. A number of men and women + were congregated in front of the drug store, among them Charlie Webster + and A. Lincoln Pollock. The latter had his "pad" in hand and was writing + industriously. + </p> + <p> + "What's the excitement?" Courtney inquired, coming up to Charlie. + </p> + <p> + "Somebody poisoned Henry Brickler's collie last night," replied Charlie. + There was a dark scowl on his chubby face. + </p> + <p> + "You don't mean that corking dog up at the white house on the—" + </p> + <p> + "Yep. That's the one," replied Charlie harshly. "Anybody that would poison + a dog ought to be tarred and feathered." + </p> + <p> + "Who did it?" + </p> + <p> + "You don't suppose a man mean enough to give an unsuspectin' dog a dose of + poison would be kind enough to pin his card on the gatepost, do you? I + should say not!" + </p> + <p> + "But why on earth should any one want to poison that big beautiful dog?" + cried Courtney indignantly. "Had he bitten anybody?" + </p> + <p> + "Not as anybody knows of. Henry says he never harmed a living soul. That + dog—" + </p> + <p> + "By George!" exclaimed Courtney suddenly. "This reminds me of something. I + passed a couple of men last night down at the corner where you turn up to + Miss Crown's. They were leaning against the fence on the opposite side of + the road, and I had the queerest sort of feeling about them. I felt that + they were watching me. I remember turning my head to look back at them. + They were still standing there. It was too dark to see what they looked + like—" + </p> + <p> + "Wait a second," broke in Charlie. "Here's Bill Foss, the constable. Tell + it to him, Court." + </p> + <p> + The town constable, vastly excited, came up the street, accompanied by two + or three stern-visaged citizens. + </p> + <p> + "Well, by thunder!" growled the officer, wiping his forehead. "Somebody's + been making a wholesale job of it. Dick Hurdle's 'Jackie' and Bert + Little's 'Prince' are dead as doornails. That makes three. Now, who the + hell,—" + </p> + <p> + "Just a second,—just a second," cried A. Lincoln Pollock, elbowing + his way into the thick of the new group. "Let me get the facts. You first, + Dick. Where did you find your dog's remains? Now, take it calm, Dick. + Don't cuss like that. I can't print a word of it, you know,—not a + word. Remember there are ladies present, Dick. You've got to—" + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hurdle said he didn't give a cuss if all the women in town were + present, he was going to say what he thought of any blankety-blank,—and + so on at great length, despite the fact that the ladies crowded even a + little closer, evidently reluctant to miss a word of his just and + unbridled blasphemy. + </p> + <p> + The occasion demanded the sonorous efficiency of Mr. Richard Hurdle. In + all Windomville there was no one so well qualified to do justice to the + situation as he. (Later on, Charlie Webster was heard to remark that "as + long as these dogs had to be killed, it's a great relief that Dick's was + one of 'em, because he's got the best pair of lungs in town. He can expand + his chest nearly seven inches, and when he fills all that extra space up + with words nobody ever even heard of before, people clear over in Illinois + have to rush out and shoo their children into the house and keep 'em there + till it blows over.") + </p> + <p> + Doctor Smith came rattling up in his Ford, hopped out, and started to + enter the drug store. Catching sight of the druggist in the crowd, he + stopped to bawl out: + </p> + <p> + "Who's been buying prussic acid of you, Sam Foster? What do you mean by + selling—" + </p> + <p> + "I ain't sold a grain of prussic acid in ten years," roared Mr. Foster. + "Or any other kind of poison. Don't you accuse ME of—" + </p> + <p> + "Anything new, Doc? Anything new?" cried the editor of the Sun, rushing up + to the doctor. + </p> + <p> + "They got that dog of Alix Crown's. I tried to save him,—but he was + as good as dead when I got there. Of all the damnable outrages—" + </p> + <p> + "Miss Crown's dog?" cried Courtney, aghast, "Good God! Why,—why, it + will break her heart! She LOVED that dog! Men! We've got to find the + scoundrel. We've got to FIX him. He ought to be strung up. Has any one + called Miss Crown up, Doctor? She is in the city. She—" + </p> + <p> + "Mrs. Strong called her up. The automobile started for town fifteen or + twenty minutes ago to bring her home." + </p> + <p> + "Keep your shirt on, Court," warned Charlie Webster. "You'll bust a blood + vessel. Cool off! There's no use talkin' about GETTING him. Whoever it was + that planted these dog-buttons around town was slick enough to cover up + his tracks. We'll never find out who did it. It's happened before, and the + result is always the same. Dead dogs tell no tales." + </p> + <p> + "But those two fellows I saw down at the corner last night—" + </p> + <p> + "Would you be able to identify them?" + </p> + <p> + "No,—hang it all! It was too dark. It was about half-past nine. Why, + earlier in the evening I was at Miss Crown's. I saw the dog. He was on the + terrace. He growled at me,—he always growled at me. He didn't like + me. Mrs. Strong came to the door and called him into the house. I am sure + he was all right then. When is he supposed to have got the poison, + Doctor?" + </p> + <p> + "This morning. She let him out of the house about seven o'clock. Paid no + attention to him till he came crawling around to the kitchen door some + time afterward. He just laid down and kicked a few times,—that's + what makes me think it was prussic acid. It knocks 'em quick." + </p> + <p> + "Come on, Charlie," cried Courtney, clutching the other's arm. "We must go + up to the house. There may be some trace,—something that will give + us a clue." + </p> + <p> + He was at the house when the car returned without Alix. She had sent the + chauffeur back with instructions to bury the dog. She could not bear + looking at him. She wanted it to be all over with before she came home. + </p> + <p> + "I don't blame her," said Charlie soberly. "Shows how much she thought of + Sergeant when she's willing to pay five hundred dollars reward for the + capture of the man or men who poisoned him." + </p> + <p> + "Where did you hear that?" demanded Courtney, surprised. + </p> + <p> + "Ed Stevens says she told him to authorize Bill Foss to have reward + notices struck off over at the Sun office, offering five hundred cash. She + always said that dog was the best friend she had on earth." + </p> + <p> + "But five hundred dollars! Why, good Lord, you can buy a dozen police dogs + for that amount of—" + </p> + <p> + "You couldn't have bought Sergeant for ten times five hundred," + interrupted Charlie. "You see, as a matter of fact, he didn't actually + belong to Alix." + </p> + <p> + "You must be crazy. She has had him since he was a puppy three months + old." + </p> + <p> + "Sure, But, all the same, he didn't belong to her. He belonged to David + Strong. Davy got him in France in the spring of 1918 and sent him clear + over here for his mother to take care of for him." + </p> + <p> + Courtney was silent for a moment. "It's strange Miss Crown never told me + this," he said, biting his lip. + </p> + <p> + "Well," said Charlie quaintly, "far as that goes, I don't suppose it ever + occurred to her to tell Sergeant he belonged to somebody else, but even if + she had I don't reckon it would have made a darn' bit of difference to + him. He would have gone on loving her, just the same,—and workin' + twenty-four hours a day for her, Sundays and holidays included. A dog + don't care who he belongs to, Court, but he's mighty darned particular + about who belongs to him." + </p> + <p> + "I can't understand why he never seemed to like me," mused Courtney. + </p> + <p> + "Well, maybe," began Charlie soberly, "—maybe, after all, he DID + sort of know that he was Davy Strong's dog." + </p> + <p> + II — For three days Windomville talked of nothing but the "dog + murders." The Sun came out on Thursday with a long and graphic account of + the mysterious affairs of Monday night, including the views and theories + of well-known citizens. It also took occasion to "lambast" Constable Foss + with great severity. The Constable, being a Republican, (and not a + subscriber to the Sun), was described as about the most incompetent + official Windomville had ever known, and that it would have been quite + possible for the miscreant or miscreants to have poisoned every dog in + town, in broad daylight, accompanied by a brass band, without Bill ever + "getting onto it." + </p> + <p> + It goes without saying that everybody in town was stimulated to prodigious + activity by the reward offered by Miss Crown. Notices were stuck up in the + postoffice and on all the telephone poles. A great many embarrassing + incidents resulted, and three fist-fights of considerable violence + occurred,—for the gentlemen accused of the crimes took drastic and + specific means of establishing complete and satisfactory alibis. + </p> + <p> + Courtney Thane chafed under the prolonged absence of Alix Crown. Valuable + time was being wasted. He had assisted at the burial of Sergeant, and had + shed tears with Mrs. Strong while Ed Stevens, the chauffeur, was filling + in the grave up back of the orchard; and he had done further homage to the + dead by planting a small American flag at the head of the mound and,—as + an afterthought,—the flag of Belgium at the foot. + </p> + <p> + He felt that he had done very well by a dog that would have torn him to + pieces if encouraged by the merest whisper of the words "sic 'im!" + </p> + <p> + Alix returned late on Friday afternoon. He had a box of roses, ordered + from the city for him by Miss Flora Grady, awaiting her, and with them a + tender little note of sympathy. + </p> + <p> + She sat for a long time with Mrs. Strong. Her dark eyes softened and + filled with tears as David's mother gently stroked her hair and sought by + words to convince her that David would understand. + </p> + <p> + "It wasn't your fault, Alix darling," she protested. "David won't mind,—not + in the least. Sergeant didn't really mean anything to him. He was yours + more than he was David's. Don't you worry about David's feelings, dear. He—" + </p> + <p> + "You don't understand, Aunt Nancy,—you don't understand at all," + Alix repeated over and over again in her distress. + </p> + <p> + "You're just worrying yourself sick over it," said the older woman. "Why, + you look all tuckered out, child,—I was shocked when you first came + in. Now, don't be foolish, dear. I tell you it will be all right with + David. I wrote him all about it, and—what's that you are saying?" + </p> + <p> + "You don't suppose he will think I—think I did it, Aunt Nancy?" Alix + whispered bleakly. + </p> + <p> + "Think you—for the land's sake, Alix, what on earth are you saying? + Are you stark, staring crazy? You come right upstairs and get into bed + this minute. My land, I—I believe you're going to be sick. You've + got the queerest look in your eyes. Come on, now, deary, and—" + </p> + <p> + "I am sick,—just sick with unhappiness, Aunt Nancy," sobbed the + girl. "You don't know,—you don't understand. Oh, he couldn't believe + I would do such a thing as THAT! He couldn't think me so cruel, and wicked + and—and spiteful." + </p> + <p> + "Now, listen to me," said Mrs. Strong sternly. "What is the meaning of all + this? What has happened between you and David that makes you talk like + this? Tell me,—tell me this minute, Alix Crown." + </p> + <p> + "Hasn't he told you—written you about ANYTHING?" cried the girl. + </p> + <p> + "I don't know what you are driving at, Alix, but whatever it is I KNOW + David hasn't got anything against you that would make you say such things + as you've just been saying." She hesitated a moment and then laid her hand + on Alix's head. "I've been wondering a whole lot of late, Alix. Have you + and David had a—a misunderstanding?" + </p> + <p> + "We—we don't like each other as—as we used to, Aunt Nancy," + said the girl, lifting her head almost defiantly to look David's mother + full in the eyes. + </p> + <p> + "Is it David's fault?" asked Mrs. Strong after a moment. + </p> + <p> + "I—I wish you wouldn't ask me anything more about it. At least, not + now." + </p> + <p> + "Is it David's fault?" demanded the other once more, insistently. + </p> + <p> + "I will say this much; it isn't my fault," replied Alix stiffly. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Strong smiled,—a tender, loving smile. + </p> + <p> + "I think I could straighten everything out if David were only here," she + said. "I would take you both across my knee and give you a good sound + spanking. It used to work beautifully when you were children,—and I + think it would work now. I—I wonder if it would help matters any if + I were to spank—No, I'm sure it wouldn't. To do any good at all + David would have to be here to see me spanking you and to beg me to let + you off and give it to him just twice as hard." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, Aunt Nancy," cried Alix eagerly, "if you only WOULD! How I wish I + were a little girl again! And David a little boy!" + </p> + <p> + Then she fled from the room. Nancy Strong put her hand over her eyes and + sighed. + </p> + <p> + "I wish David were here," she said to herself. "If he were only here + today." + </p> + <p> + During dinner that evening Alix was strangely repressed. It was plain to + Mrs. Strong that she was inwardly agitated. After they left the table she + became visibly nervous. She was "fidgety," to speak the thought of her + perplexed companion. Time and again she started and appeared to be + listening intently, and always there was a queer little expression in her + eyes as of expectancy. Once or twice Mrs. Strong surprised a flash of + anxiety,—aye, even fear,—in them. + </p> + <p> + "You haven't read your letters yet, Alix," she said at last, seeking for + some means to divert the girl's thoughts. "There is quite a pile of them + there on the table." + </p> + <p> + "I don't feel like reading letters tonight," said Alix. "They can wait + till tomorrow." She arose, however, and hurriedly ran through the pile. "I + wrote to David before dinner, Aunt Nancy," she said suddenly. "A long + letter about Sergeant's death. I wanted him to know how miserably I feel + about it." + </p> + <p> + "Bless your heart, he'll know that without your telling him, child. I am + glad you wrote to him, however." + </p> + <p> + Alix came to a letter addressed in an unfamiliar hand,—a bold, + masculine scrawl. The postmark was Chicago. She tore it open. It began + with "Dear Alix." She quickly turned to the last page. It was signed + "Addison Blythe." A "thank you" letter, of course. + </p> + <p> + Her back was to Mrs. Strong as she stood beside the table, bending + slightly forward to get the full light from the library lamp. She read the + letter through to the end; then she walked over to the fireplace and threw + it into the flames. Her face had lost every vestige of colour: + </p> + <p> + DEAR ALIX: [it began] You will no doubt throw this letter into the fire + the instant you have finished reading it, and you will hate me for having + written it. Nevertheless, I am doing so because I think it is my duty. I + offer no apology. I only ask you to believe that my intentions are good. + It is best to come straight to the point. I have talked it all over with + Mary and she approves of this letter. What I am about to say still + requires official confirmation. I do not speak with authority, you must + understand. I am merely giving you certain bits of information I have + obtained from men who were in France in 1915 and 1916. It rests with you + to believe or disbelieve. In any case, if you are wise, you will at least + take the trouble to investigate. I am at your service. If I can help you + in any way, please call upon me. If you desire it, I will provide you with + the names of at least three men who were in Ambulance, all of whom have + answered my letters of inquiry. One of these men met Courtney Thane in + Paris in November, 1915. He was living at the Hotel Chatham with his + mother. She had a husband up at the front, fighting with the French. This + husband was a count or something of the sort and a good many years her + junior. My informant writes me that young Thane, who drank a great deal + and talked quite freely of family affairs, told him that his mother had + married this young Frenchman a few months before the war broke out and + went to Paris to live with him. He went so far as to say that the + Frenchman married her for her money and he hoped the Germans would make a + widow of her again before it was too late. According to this chap, Thane + had also been in Paris since the beginning of the war. He spent money like + a drunken sailor and touched nothing but the high spots. The second or + third time he met him, Thane said he would like to get into the Ambulance. + His mother, however, was bitterly opposed to his joining up. The last time + he saw him, he had on an Ambulance uniform and was as drunk as a lord in + one of the cafes. My friend had it straight from fellows out at Neuilly + that Thane hadn't worn the uniform a week before it was taken away from + him and he was kicked out of the service in disgrace. + </p> + <p> + One of the other chaps has written me, saying that he was at the base + hospital when Thane was stripped of his uniform. He was not a witness to + this, but he heard other fellows and the nurses talking about it. Not only + was his uniform taken away, but he was ordered to get out of Paris at + once. They heard afterward that he went to Madrid with his mother. He was + never at Pont-a-Mousson. It is obvious that he was not in the Vosges + sector, in view of the fact that he lasted less than a week in the + Ambulance, and did a vast amount of carousing in a uniform that I revere. + </p> + <p> + It is up to you, Alix. The records of the American Ambulance are + available. You can obtain all the information you desire, and I beg of you + to get into communication with Mr. Hereford or Mr. Andrew or some other + official at once. I append below the addresses of several persons to whom + you may write. They were high in authority. They will give you facts. + </p> + <p> + I was convinced that Thane was not on the level when I met him that day. + His stories did not jibe. I said nothing to you at the time, because I + could not be sure of my ground. I think I am reasonably sure now. + </p> + <p> + I may add that I have written to Col. Andrew and others on my own hook. If + you care to see their replies, when I get them, I shall send them to you. + All you have to do is to say the word. In any case, I ask you to believe + that my devotion and Mary's deep and honest love are the excuse for this + letter, which you may show to Mr. Thane if you see fit. I have no right to + question his statement that he served in the Royal Air Force. I know + nothing to the contrary. I speak only of the Ambulance. I am, dear Alix, + </p> + <p> + Yours devotedly, + </p> + <h3> + ADDISON BLYTHE. + </h3> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XV — THE FACE AT THE WINDOW + </h2> + <p> + Mrs. Strong, observing her pallor, arose quickly and went to Alix's side, + "What is it, dear?" she cried. "What was in that letter? You are as white + as a ghost." Receiving for answer a pitiful little smile that was not so + much a smile as a grimace of pain, she placed her hand on the girl's + shoulder. "Why did you destroy it?" + </p> + <p> + "I—I don't know," murmured Alix through set, rigid lips. + </p> + <p> + "Yes, you DO know," said the other firmly. + </p> + <p> + Alix looked dumbly into her old friend's eyes for a moment, and then her + honest heart spoke: "I destroyed it, Aunt Nancy, because I was afraid to + read it again. It was from Addison Blythe. He has been making inquiries + concerning Courtney Thane. In that letter he said things which, if true, + make Courtney out to be a most—a most unworthy person." + </p> + <p> + She turned to look into the fire, her eyes narrowing. The black, flaky + remnants of the letter were still fluttering on the hearth. As she + watched, the draft caught them and sent them swirling up the chimney. + </p> + <p> + A high wind was blowing outside. It whistled mournfully around the corners + of the house. Somewhere on the floor above a door, buffeted by the wind + from an open window, beat a slow and muffled measure against its frame. + </p> + <p> + David's mother saw the colour slowly return to her companion's face. She + waited. Something akin to joy possessed her. She was afraid to speak for + fear that her voice would betray her. At last she said: + </p> + <p> + "We know nothing about Mr. Thane except what he has told us, Alix." + </p> + <p> + The girl looked searchingly into her eyes. + </p> + <p> + "You do not like him, Aunt Nancy. I have felt it from the beginning. Is it + because you are David's mother?" + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Strong started. The direct question had struck home. She was + confused. + </p> + <p> + "Why,—Alix,—I—what a silly thing to ask. What has David + to do with it?" + </p> + <p> + Alix was still looking at her, broodingly. "Why don't you like him, Aunt + Nancy?" + </p> + <p> + "Have I ever said I didn't like him?" + </p> + <p> + "No. But I know. I know that Charlie Webster does not like him. I knew + that Addison did not like him." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Strong could not resist the impulse to add: "And Sergeant did not + like him." + </p> + <p> + "And you think THAT convicts him?" said the girl, half ironically. + </p> + <p> + "I have a good deal of faith in dogs," muttered Mrs. Strong, flushing. + </p> + <p> + Alix's gaze went to the huge vase of roses on the table. Then she turned + quickly to look once more into her companion's eyes. + </p> + <p> + "You believe that Courtney poisoned him, don't you?" + </p> + <p> + "I have no more reason for believing it than you have, Alix," returned + Mrs. Strong calmly. + </p> + <p> + "Why,—why do you say that?" cried the girl, startled. + </p> + <p> + "Because you would not have asked the question if you hadn't been—well, + wondering a little yourself, Alix." + </p> + <p> + "Oh,—I don't want to think it," cried Alix miserably. "I don't want + to think of it!" + </p> + <p> + "No more do I want to think it. Listen to me, Alix. I confess that I do + not like this man. I have no way of explaining my feeling toward him. He + has always been polite and agreeable to me. He has never done a thing that + I can call to mind that would set me against him. Maybe it's because he is + not of my world, because he comes from a big city, because deep in his + heart he probably looks down on us Hoosiers. I will go farther, Alix, and + say that I do not trust him. That is a nasty thing to say. It is none of + my business, but I—I wish you did not like him so well, Alix." + </p> + <p> + "It would appear that my friends are taking more than an ordinary interest + in my welfare," said Alix slowly, and with some bitterness. "Is it + possible that you all believe me incapable of taking care of myself?" + </p> + <p> + "Smarter women than you, Alix Crown, have been fooled by men," said the + other sententiously. "Oh, I don't mean the way you think, my child,—so + don't glare at me like that. I know you can take care of yourself THAT + way,—but how about falling in love? And getting married? And finding + out afterward that roses don't grow on cactus plants? That's how women are + fooled,—and you're no different from the rest of us." + </p> + <p> + "I think,—I am quite sure that he is in love with me, Aunt Nancy," + said Alix, somewhat irrelevantly. There was no sign of gladness, however, + nor of triumph, in her dark, brooding eyes. + </p> + <p> + "That's easy to understand. The point is, Alix,—are you in love with + him?" + </p> + <p> + Alix did not answer at once. The little frown in her eyes deepened. + </p> + <p> + "I don't think so, Aunt Nancy," she said at last. "I don't believe it is + love. That is what troubles me so. It is something I cannot understand. I + don't know what has come over me. I will be honest with you,—and + with myself. I do not really trust him. I don't believe he is all that he + claims to be. And yet,—and yet, Aunt Nancy, I,—I—" + </p> + <p> + "Don't try to tell me," broke in the older woman gently. "My only sister + thought she was in love with Terry Moore, a fellow who had been in the + penitentiary once for stealing, and was a drunkard, a gambler, and a bad + man with women, and all that. She was crazy about him. She ran off with + him and got married. She never was in love with him, Alix. She hated him + after a few weeks. He just cast some kind of a spell over her—not a + mental spell, you may be sure. It was something physical. He was slick and + smart and good looking, and he just made up his mind to get her. A man can + be awful nice when he has once set his heart on getting a girl,—and + that's what fools 'em, great and small. All the mistakes are not made by + ignorant, scatter-brained girls, my dear. My father used to say that the + more sense a woman has, the more likely she is to do something foolish. + Now, Alix dear, I know just how it is with you. Courtney Thane has cast a + spell over you. I believe in spells, same as the old New Englander used to + believe in witchcraft. You don't love him, you don't actually believe in + him. You—you are sort of like a bird that is being charmed by a + snake. It knows it ought to fly away and yet it can't, because it's so + interested in what the snake is going to do next. Thane is attractive. He + is, far as I know, a gentleman. At any rate, he would pass for one, and + that's about all you can expect in these days. The thought has entered + both our minds that he put Sergeant out of the way. Well, my dear, I don't + believe either of us would ever dream of connecting him with it if there + wasn't something back in our minds that has been asking questions of us + ever since he came here. You say you were afraid to read Mr. Blythe's + letter again. Does that mean you are afraid everything he says is true?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, I can't believe it,—I must not allow myself to even THINK it," + cried the girl. "Why, if what Addison says is true, Courtney Thane is not + fit to—There must be some mistake, Aunt Nancy. There were two men of + the same name. <i>I</i> WILL NOT BELIEVE IT!" + </p> + <p> + The two tall women stood tense and rigid, side by side, their backs to the + fire, gazing straight before them down the lamp-lit room. + </p> + <p> + "Has Addison Blythe any reason for lying to you, Alix?" asked the elder + quietly. + </p> + <p> + "Of course not," Alix answered impatiently. "There is some mistake, that's + all." + </p> + <p> + "Do you mind telling me what he says?" + </p> + <p> + "Mr. Thane is coming to see me tonight," said the girl, uneasily. "He may + come at any moment now. What time is it?" + </p> + <p> + "Ten minutes of eight. He never comes before half-past." She waited a + moment, and then went on deliberately: "I always had an idea it was + because he wanted to be sure Sergeant was in the house and not out in the + yard." + </p> + <p> + Alix closed her eyes for a second or two, as if by doing so it were + possible to shut out the same thought that had floated through Mrs. + Strong's mind. + </p> + <p> + "But he need not be afraid of Sergeant now," she said, with a little + tremor in her voice. "He will come earlier tonight." The unintentional + sarcasm did not escape Mrs. Strong. "Wait till tomorrow, Aunt Nancy. Then + I may tell you." + </p> + <p> + "You are trembling, dear. I wish you would let me make your excuses to him + when he comes. Don't see him tonight. Let me tell him—" + </p> + <p> + Alix turned squarely and faced her. There was a harassed, haunted + expression in her eyes,—and yet there was defiance. + </p> + <p> + "I stayed away five days," she said huskily. "For five days I kept away + from him. Then I—I gave up. I couldn't stand it any longer. I had to + come home. Now, you have the truth. I just simply HAD to see him, Aunt + Nancy,—I just HAD to." + </p> + <p> + "Then,—then it IS a spell," cried the other, dismay in her voice. + "You are not yourself, Alix. This is not you who say these things." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, yes, it is!" cried the girl recklessly. "I wanted to come home. I + wanted to see him. I don't love him, but I wanted to be with him. I don't + trust him, but here I am. Now you have it all! I want to see him!" + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Strong was looking past her. She stared hard at the window in the far + end of the room, her eyes narrowed, her chin thrust slightly forward. Then + suddenly she clutched the girl's arm, her eyes now widespread with alarm. + </p> + <p> + "Look!" she whispered shrilly, pointing. + </p> + <p> + The flush faded from Alix's face; the reckless, defiant light left her + eyes, and in its place came fear. + </p> + <p> + II — Plainly outlined in the window was the face of a masked man. A + narrow black mask, through which a pair of eyes gleamed brightly. + </p> + <p> + The exposed lower portion of the face, save for the heavily bearded upper + lip, was ghastly white. Brief as this glimpse was, they were able to see + that he wore a cap, pulled well down over his forehead. + </p> + <p> + For a few seconds the two women stood as if petrified, their eyes wide and + staring, their hearts cold, their tongues paralyzed. They were gazing + straight into his shining eyes. Suddenly he turned his head for a quick, + startled glance over his shoulder. The next instant he was gone, vanishing + in the blackness that hung behind him like the magician's curtain in a + theatre. They heard rapid footsteps on the veranda, the crash of a chair + overturned, then a loud shout, and again the sound of flying footsteps + across the brick-paved terrace. Another shout, and still another, farther + away. + </p> + <p> + "Quick!" screamed Alix, the first to recover her voice. "The telephone! + Call the drug store. Bill Foss is there." + </p> + <p> + She ran swiftly out into the hall. + </p> + <p> + "Come back!" cried Mrs. Strong. "What are you doing? Don't open that door! + He's got a pistol, Alix!" + </p> + <p> + Even as she spoke, the report of a pistol shot came to their ears. As Alix + stopped short, her hand outstretched to clutch the door knob, a second + report came. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, my God!" she cried. "He has killed Courtney! He has shot Courtney!" + </p> + <p> + By this time, her companion had reached her side. She dragged her back + from the door. + </p> + <p> + "Killed Courtney? What's the matter with you? Why do you say he has killed—" + </p> + <p> + "Don't you see—can't you understand? It was Courtney who surprised + him. That's why he ran. He shot,—oh, let go of me! Let go of me, I + say!" + </p> + <p> + "I'll do nothing of the sort," cried Mrs. Strong. "Do you want to get + shot? Come away from this door!" + </p> + <p> + A door slammed against the wall at the back of the house. Some one came + running through the dining-room. First the cook, then the little waitress, + dashed into the hall. + </p> + <p> + "Wha-what is it? What's the matter?" shouted the former. "What was that + shootin'—" + </p> + <p> + "Where is Stevens?" demanded Mrs. Strong, as she fairly pushed Alix into + the living-room. "Call him! Isn't he out there in—" + </p> + <p> + "He went out,—half hour ago,—out," stuttered the waitress. + "Who's been—what's happened to Miss Alix?" + </p> + <p> + "Nothing! Go and yell for Ed! Thieves! On the porch. Don't stand there, + Hilda. Go out back and scream!" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, my God! Ed's killed! He's been shot! My husband's been shot!" It was + the cook who sent this lamentation to the very roof of the house. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Strong whispered fiercely in Alix's ear: "That's it! Ed is the one + who surprised him. Courtney nothing! Now, you stay here! I'll telephone. + Don't you dare go outside, Alix Crown. A stray bullet—" + </p> + <p> + Far away sounded the third shot, muffled by distance and the shriek of the + wind.... + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Strong was off somewhere trying to telephone. Shrill voices, out + back, were screaming. Alix stood alone in the middle of the long room, + staring at the window in which the sinister face had appeared. She had not + moved in what seemed to be an age. A strange, incredible thing was + creeping through her mind,—a thought that was not a part of her, + something that seemed to shape itself outside of her brain and force its + way in to crowd out the fear and anxiety that had gripped her but a few + short moments before. + </p> + <p> + What would it mean to her if Courtney Thane were dead out there in the + night? + </p> + <p> + It was not the question but the answer that fixed itself in her mind. She + was unconscious of the one, but vividly aware of the other. His death + would mean—emancipation! For one brief instant she actually LONGED + for the word that he was dead! The reaction was swift, overwhelming. + </p> + <p> + "God!" she gasped, shutting her eyes and clenching her hands in an ecstasy + of revulsion. "What a beast,—what a horrible beast I am! What a + coward!" + </p> + <p> + Her knees trembled; an icy perspiration seemed to start out all over her + body. She had wished him dead! She had grasped at THAT as the solution! + Her heart had leaped joyously! It was as if some great weight suddenly had + been lifted from it. Now she was numb with horror. What devilish power had + taken possession of her in that brief, soul-destroying instant? She + shuddered. She was afraid to open her eyes. She reached out with her hand + for the support of the table. She had longed for some one to come and tell + her that he was dead! + </p> + <p> + Some one was pounding on the outer door. She had a dim, vague impression + that this pounding had been going on for some time. A sort of paralysis + benumbed her sensibilities. Her eyes were now wide open, staring. Had her + wish come true? Was some, one come to tell her that her horrible wish had + come true? Suddenly the fetters fell away. She rushed frantically to the + door and turned the knob. The driving wind flung it open with a force that + almost swept her off her feet. + </p> + <p> + Thane stood on the threshold, hatless, panting. The light from the hall, + falling upon his face, revealed a long red stain that ran from temple to + chin. As she drew back, alarmed, he staggered into the hall, limping + painfully, and pushed the door shut behind him. + </p> + <p> + "Oh!" she gasped. + </p> + <p> + He shot a swift, searching glance down the hall and into the living-room. + Then he held out his arms to her. She was gazing spell-bound into his + eager, shining eyes. He waited. She came to him as if drawn by some + overpowering magnet. His arms closed about her....She was crushed against + his body, she seemed a part of him. His arms were like smothering coils + that pressed the life out of her; his hungry lips were fastened upon hers, + hot and lustful. + </p> + <p> + Presently she began to struggle. Shame,—a vast, sickening shame,—possessed + her. She was conscious of the wild, increasing lust that mastered him. She + tried to tear herself from contact with his body, as from something base, + unclean, revolting. His kisses held her. She was powerless to resist the + passion that swept over her. Once more she surrendered,—and then + came the shame, the overwhelming shame. She was debased, defiled! She put + her hand to his face and pushed frantically to release herself from those + consuming, unholy lips. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly he freed her, and sprang back, panting but triumphant. She heard + him whisper, hoarsely, rapturously: + </p> + <p> + "God!" + </p> + <p> + Some one was coming. He had caught the sound of footsteps,—somewhere. + Alix sank breathless, rigid, almost fainting, upon the hall-seat. + </p> + <p> + "Darling!" he whispered passionately. She half arose, caught once more by + the irresistible spell that had first swept her into his embrace. He shook + his head. Then she heard him speak. He was looking past her. + </p> + <p> + "I'm all right, Mrs. Strong. Don't mind me. Telephone for help." + </p> + <p> + "I have telephoned," cried Mrs. Strong, coming toward them quickly. "Help + is coming. Good heavens! You are bleeding! Were you hit?" + </p> + <p> + III — The question aroused Alix. She was aware of something wet and + sticky on the palm of her hand. She looked. It was covered with blood. + Then she remembered putting her hand against his cheek. As if fascinated + she stared for a second or two before her wits returned. Mrs. Strong must + not see that bloody hand. She would know! Guiltily she clenched her + fingers again and thrust her hand behind her back. She shuddered at the + feel of the moist, sticky substance, and turned suddenly sick. Her one + thought was to get to her room where she could wash away the tell-tale + evidence. Again she heard him speaking, and hung on his words. + </p> + <p> + "Nothing but a scratch. I fell while chasing him. He got the start of me. + My overcoat bothered me. I got it off, but not in time. It's out there + somewhere. My rotten old leg is the worst. I twisted it when I jumped over + the fence. That's when I fell. Tripped over some bushes or something. I + was gaining on him. Up in the woods, you see. He was making for the road + above. Oh, if this leg of mine was any good, I would have—" He broke + off short to grip his knee with both hands, his face twitching with pain. + The sentences came jerkily, breathlessly. + </p> + <p> + "Send for Dr. Smith!" Alix cried out suddenly. "Be quick! He has been + shot,—I know he has been shot. Go—" + </p> + <p> + "It's a scratch, I tell you, Alix," he protested. "He didn't get me. He + fired at me, but it was dark. I'm all right. There is no time to lose. If + they get after him at once they'll catch him. I can show them which way he + went. Where the devil are they? We ought to have every man in town out + there in the woods. Did you tell 'em to bring guns? He's armed. He—" + </p> + <p> + "You ARE hurt," cried Alix. "You MUST have the doctor. Oh, for heaven's + sake, DO SOMETHING!" The last was directed impatiently to Mrs. Strong. + </p> + <p> + "I'll give him a basin of water,—and some court plaster," said the + older woman, who had looked closely at the scratch on the young man's + cheek. "It doesn't amount to anything,—if that's all, Mr. Thane?" + </p> + <p> + "That's all,—except my knee, and that will be all right in a few + minutes. Let me sit down here a minute. Not in there,—I'm covered + with dirt and burrs and,—I might get some of this filthy blood on,—that's + all right, Mrs. Strong, thank you. I'll be able to go out with the gang as + soon as they come. Gad! It's going to be great sport. Man-hunting!" + </p> + <p> + Alix was leaning against the end of the hall-seat, watching him as if + fascinated. He bent an ardent, significant look upon her, and her eyes + widened slightly under the contact. + </p> + <p> + "I'll get some water ready for you in the kitchen, and a—" began + Mrs. Strong, but Alix, suddenly alive, intercepted her with a cry. + </p> + <p> + "No! I will go, Aunt Nancy,—I insist!" And before Mrs. Strong could + offer a word of protest, she flashed past her and was running up the + stairs. + </p> + <p> + A look of chagrin leaped into Courtney's eyes. He had counted on another + minute or two alone with her. Under his breath he muttered an oath. + </p> + <p> + Alix's bedroom door opened and closed. Mrs. Strong was still looking in + astonishment up the staircase. + </p> + <p> + "I—she's pretty badly upset, Mr. Thane," she said at last. "That + face in the window,—and everything." + </p> + <p> + "Good Lord,—you don't mean to say you saw him?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes,—looking in that window over there. Only for a second. You must + have scared him away." + </p> + <p> + "Then, by George, you can identify him!" + </p> + <p> + "He had a mask on. Didn't you see his face?" + </p> + <p> + "No. It was dark. Masked, you say. That's bad. It will be hard to swear—Still, + I saw his figure. Short, heavy fellow. Wore a cap." + </p> + <p> + She continued to look anxiously up the stairs. + </p> + <p> + "Wait here," she said shortly. "I must go up to her. Go to the kitchen if + you like, and wash the blood off. I'll be back in a jiffy." + </p> + <p> + He waited till she was out of sight, and then limped into the living-room,—but + with a swiftness incredible in one with a twisted knee. Going direct to + the fireplace, he took something out of his coat pocket and, after a + glance at door and window, quickly consigned it to the flames. A small + black object it was, that crumpled softly in his palm and was consumed in + a flash by the flames. A moment later he entered the kitchen, bringing + consternation to the two excited domestics, both of whom sent up cries of + alarm at the sight of his bloody face. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile Mrs. Strong had surprised Alix in her bathroom, frantically + washing her hands. She looked up and saw the housekeeper standing in the + door behind her. The bowl was half full of reddish water. The expression + of disgust in her eyes remained for a moment and then gave way to + confusion. Neither spoke for some time. + </p> + <p> + "What are you doing?" asked Mrs. Strong. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, Aunt Nancy!" came in a choked voice from the girl's lips. + </p> + <p> + "Is that blood?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes," replied Alix, looking away. + </p> + <p> + "I—I understand. Oh, Alix,—Alix!" + </p> + <p> + "I don't know what made me do it,—I couldn't help myself. I—Oh, + it was terrible! I don't love him,—I don't love him! As long as I + live,—as long as I live, I shall never forget it. I shall never know + anything like it again. I could feel my soul being dragged out of my body,—Oh, + Aunt Nancy! What am I to do? What is to become of me?" + </p> + <p> + "There's only one thing for you to do now," said the other, slowly, + levelly. "Stay in this room. Lock the door. Don't see him again. Keep away + from him. He's—he's bad, Alix!" + </p> + <p> + "But he is not a coward!" cried the girl eagerly. "He followed that man, + he chased him, he was shot at,—that is not what a coward would do. + Addison Blythe is mistaken. Those men are mistaken. He—" + </p> + <p> + "I hear people downstairs,—and out in the yard. You must obey me, + Alix. You must not see him again tonight. God in heaven, what kind of a + spell has he cast upon you? The spell of the devil! Child, child,—don't + you understand? That's what it is. The spell that makes women helpless! + Stay here! I will send Hilda up to you." + </p> + <p> + "Why do you blame him for everything?" cried the girl hotly. "Doesn't a + woman ever cast this spell you speak of? What defence has a man against—" + </p> + <p> + "Do you call yourself an evil woman? Nonsense! Don't talk like that. I am + not blaming him. He can't help himself. He loves you. That's not his + fault. But you do not love him. You are afraid of him. You would run from + him if you could. He must go away. You must send him away. Tell him of + Blythe's letter. Face him with it. Tomorrow,—not tonight. You are + not yourself tonight. Trust me, dearest Alix. Do as I tell you. Promise." + </p> + <p> + "I will not come down," said Alix slowly, and Mrs. Strong went out. She + heard the key turn in the door. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVI — ROSABEL + </h2> + <p> + All night long bands of men scoured the woods and fields, with lanterns + and dogs and guns. Courtney Thane, thrilled by that one glorious, + overpowering moment of contact, sallied forth with the first of the + searchers. He showed them where the masked man vaulted over the porch + rail, and the course he took in crossing the terrace, below which + Courtney's coat was found where he had cast it aside at the beginning of + the chase. The first shot was fired as the man climbed over the fence + separating the old-fashioned garden from the wooded district to the west, + the second following almost immediately. Thane was over the fence and + picking himself up from the ground after tripping when the last shot was + fired. He ran forty or fifty yards farther on and then his knee gave out. + Realizing that pursuit was useless under the circumstances, he hurried + back to the house to give the alarm. + </p> + <p> + It appears that he first saw the man as he was nearing the top of the + steps leading to the terrace. The fellow's figure, in a crouching + position, was distinctly outlined against the lighted window. + </p> + <p> + "Kind of a funny time for a robber to be monkeyin' around a house," said + Charlie Webster, after Courtney had concluded his brief story. "Eight + o'clock is no time to figure on breaking into a house." + </p> + <p> + "He probably figured that the occupants would be at dinner," said + Courtney. "Or maybe he was getting the lay of the land while there were + lights to guide him. That is most likely the case. Lord, how I wish I had + had a gun!" + </p> + <p> + "Maybe it's lucky you didn't," said Charlie. "Guns are pretty treacherous + things to monkey with, Court. You might have shot yourself." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, I guess I know how to handle a gun, Charlie," retorted Thane, after a + perceptible pause. + </p> + <p> + "Anyhow," remarked Constable Foss, "we now know why that dog of Alix's was + killed. This robber had things purty well sized up. He knowed he had to + fix that dog first of all,—and that goes to show another thing. He + is purty well posted around these parts. He knowed all about that dog. He + ain't no tramp or common stranger. The chances are he ain't even a + perfessional burglar. Maybe some dago,—or, by gosh, somebody we all + know." + </p> + <p> + A chosen group waited at the roadside above the Windom place for + automobiles which were to be used in the attempt to head off the invader. + This was Courtney's idea. He suggested a wide cordon of machines and men + as the only means of cutting off the fellow's escape. + </p> + <p> + "You're not likely to get anywhere, Foss, by keeping up a stern chase," he + argued. "He has got too big a lead. Our only chance is to rush a lot of + men out ahead of him in cars, and then work back through the woods." + </p> + <p> + A boy came up with Courtney's fedora hat, which he had picked up in the + brush near the fence. + </p> + <p> + "There's a bullet hole through it, Mr. Thane," he cried in great + excitement. "Lookee here!" + </p> + <p> + Sure enough there was a hole in the crown of the hat. + </p> + <p> + "Whew!" whistled Courtney, staring at the hat blankly. "I never dreamed—Why, + good Lord, a couple of inches lower and he'd have got me. I remember my + hat blowing off as I got up, but I thought it was the wind. Where did you + find it, kid?" + </p> + <p> + "Back there by the fence." + </p> + <p> + "We must have that hat for evidence," said the constable. "Shows the + calibre of the bullet, and all that. Bring it down to the office in the + morning, Mr. Thane. Better put it on now. You'll ketch cold out here + bareheaded." + </p> + <p> + By this time the lane and grounds were alive with excited people,—men, + women and children. Several automobiles approached, sounding their horns. + Men were shouting directions, dogs were barking, small children were + squalling lustily. Shadowy, indistinct figures scuttled through the + darkness, here and there coming into bold relief as they passed before the + lamps of automobiles or entered the radius of light shed by an occasional + lantern. Half the town was already on the scene, and the belated remainder + was either on the way or grimly guarding cash drawers in empty, deserted + stores. + </p> + <p> + Courtney reluctantly announced that he did not feel up to accompanying the + searchers, his leg was bothering him so. No, he didn't need a doctor. The + confounded thing simply gave out on him whenever he got the least bit + reckless, but it seldom if ever amounted to anything. Only made him + realize that he couldn't "get gay" with it. He'd be all right in a day or + two. Hobble a little, that's all,—like a lame dog. More scared than + hurt, you know, etc., etc. + </p> + <p> + He picked his way through the ever-increasing crowd of agitated people, + avoiding rampant automobiles and inquisitive citizens with equal skill, + and approached Alix's gate. His blood was rioting. The memory of that + triumphant moment when her warm body lay in his arms,—when her lips + were his,—when his eager hand pressed the firm, round breast,—ah, + the memory of it all set fire to his blood. She had come to him, she had + clung to him, she had kissed him! He had won! She was his! He must see her + again tonight, hold her once more in his arms, drink of the rapture that + came through her lips, caress the throbbing heart she had surrendered to + him. Anticipation sent the blood rushing to his head. He grew strangely + dizzy. He narrowly escaped being struck by a car. + </p> + <p> + "The darned fools!" he muttered, as he leaped aside into the shallow + ditch. + </p> + <p> + A figure separated itself from a group near the gate and approached him. + There were no lights near and the lane was dark. He could not see the face + of the woman who halted directly in front of him, barring the path. + </p> + <p> + "It is I, Courtney,—Rosabel," came in low, tremulous tones. + </p> + <p> + He stood stockstill, peering intently. + </p> + <p> + "Rosabel!" he repeated vacantly. + </p> + <p> + "I—I saw you. The auto lamp shone on your face." + </p> + <p> + Her teeth were chattering. Her voice was little more than a whisper. + </p> + <p> + "You—you poor child!" he cried. "What are you doing here? How do you + happen to be—" + </p> + <p> + "I came over to spend the night with Annie Jordan. I—I do that quite + often, Courtney. Aren't—aren't you ever coming to see me again?" + </p> + <p> + "I was planning to come over tomorrow, Rosie,—tomorrow sure. I've + been meaning to run over to your house—" + </p> + <p> + "I—I thought you had forgotten all about us," she broke in, + pathetically. "You wouldn't do that, would you? Didn't you get my letters? + I wrote four or five times and you never answered. You—you haven't + forgotten, have you?" + </p> + <p> + "Bless your heart, no! I should say not. I've been so busy. Working like a + dog on my book. The one we talked about, Rosie. The story of my + experiences over in France, you know." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, Courtney, are you really, truly writing it?" she cried eagerly. + </p> + <p> + "Sure," he replied. "It's a tough job, believe me. I've been so busy I + haven't even had time to write letters. Mother complains that I never + write to her. Dear old mater,—I ought to be kicked for neglecting + her. Stacks of unanswered letters. Really, it's appalling. But I've just + got to finish this work. The publisher wants it before Christmas." + </p> + <p> + "You promised to read it to me as you wrote it, Courtney," she murmured + wistfully. "Don't you remember?" + </p> + <p> + "Just as soon as I've got it in little better shape, Rosie. You see, it's + an awful mess now. I'm trying so hard to concentrate. It would be + different if I were an experienced writer. But I'm a terrible duffer, you + know. The least little thing throws me off. I—" + </p> + <p> + "I wouldn't interfere for the world, Courtney. I will wait. I don't want + to bother you. Please don't think about reading it to me now. But,—oh, + Courtney, I have wanted to see you so much. You WILL come over, won't you. + Or would you rather have me come—" + </p> + <p> + "I'll be over, Rosie,—tomorrow," he said hastily. "Or the day after, + sure. I'm all done up. I can hardly stand on this leg. Did they tell you? + I chased the robber up through the woods. Had a bad fall. Bunged up this + rotten old knee again." + </p> + <p> + "You poor boy," she cried. "Yes, I heard them talking about how brave you + were. And he shot at you, too. I saw the plaster on your face when the + light shone on it a while ago. I was frightened. I forgot to ask you how + bad it is. I forgot everything but—but just speaking to you. Is it + dangerous? Is it a bad wound?" + </p> + <p> + "I don't know. The doctor is waiting for me up at Miss Crown's. They sent + me back, the other fellows did. I wanted to go with the gang,—but I + was weak and—Oh, I'll be all right. Don't you worry, little girl. + Dr. Smith may slap me into bed,—" + </p> + <p> + "You must not be foolish, Courtney. Do what the doctor says. You must get + well—oh, you MUST get well!" + </p> + <p> + She had come quite close to him and was peering at his face. Even in the + darkness he could see her big, dark eyes. Her teeth no longer chattered, + but there was a perilous quaver in her low, tense voice. She put out a + hand to touch him. He drew back. + </p> + <p> + "I'll be as fit as a fiddle in no time at all," he said hurriedly. "See + you tomorrow, Rosie,—or as soon as the blamed old doctor turns me + loose. I've got to be on my way now. He's waiting for me up there. May + have to put a stitch in my mug,—and yank my leg like the devil, but—" + </p> + <p> + She still blocked his path. + </p> + <p> + "Courtney, I'm—I'm terribly unhappy. I want to see you,—very + soon." + </p> + <p> + "I hear you have been ill, Rosie. Some one was telling me you were looking + thin and—and all that sort of thing. I hope you're feeling better." + </p> + <p> + She waited a moment. When she spoke it was with difficulty. + </p> + <p> + "I'm awfully worried, Courtney," she cried, her voice little more than a + whisper. He was silent, so after a little while she went on: "I wish I + could die,—I wish I could die!" + </p> + <p> + "Come, come!" he said reassuringly. "You must not talk like that, Rosie. + Cheer up! You're too young to talk about dying. Think what I've been + through,—and I'm still alive! I'll run over tomorrow,—or next + day,—and try to cheer you up a bit, little girl. So long. I've got + to see the doctor. I'm—I'm suffering like the dickens." + </p> + <p> + "I mustn't keep you, Courtney," she murmured, stepping aside to let him + pass. "Good night! You—you WILL come, won't you? Sure?" + </p> + <p> + "Sure!" he replied, and limped painfully away. + </p> + <p> + A little later Annie Jordan found her standing beside the road, where he + had left her. She was looking up at the brightly lighted house at the top + of the lane. + </p> + <p> + "Goodness!" cried Annie. "I thought you were lost, Rosie. Where on earth + have you been?" + </p> + <p> + "Maybe I AM lost," replied the girl, and Annie, failing to see anything + cryptic in the words, laughed gaily at the quaintness of them. + </p> + <p> + "Come on," she said, thrusting her arm through Rosabel's, "let's go back + home. There's nothing doing here. And that wind cuts through one like a + knife. Gee, it's fierce, isn't it?" + </p> + <p> + "I don't want to go in yet," protested Rosabel, hanging back. "Let's wait + awhile. Let's wait till Dr. Smith comes out. He's up there with—with + Alix Crown. Maybe he can tell us how—" + </p> + <p> + "Doc Smith isn't up there. He's gone up the road in his car with Dick + Hurdle and—why, Rosie, you're shivering like a leaf. Have you got a + chill? Come on home. We'll have Dr. Smith in as soon as he gets back to—" + </p> + <p> + "I don't want the doctor," cried Rosabel fiercely. "I won't have one, I + tell you. I won't have one!" + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVII — SHADOWS + </h2> + <p> + Greatly to Courtney's chagrin, his triumphal progress was summarily + checked when he presented himself at the door. He could hardly believe his + ears. Miss Crown was in her room and would not be able to see any one that + night. She was very nervous and "upset," explained the maid, and had given + orders to admit no one. Of course, Hilda went on to say, if Mr. Thane + wanted to come in and rest himself, or if there was anything she or the + cook could do for him,—but Courtney brusquely interrupted her to say + that he was sure Miss Crown did not mean to exclude him, and directed + Hilda to take word up to her that he was downstairs. + </p> + <p> + "It won't do any good," said Hilda, who was direct to say the least. + "She's gone to bed. My orders is not to disturb her." + </p> + <p> + "Are they her orders or Mrs. Strong's orders?" demanded Courtney, driven + to exasperation. + </p> + <p> + "All I can say, sir, is they're MY orders, sir," replied Hilda, quite + succinctly. + </p> + <p> + "All right," said he curtly. Then, as an afterthought: "Please say that I + stopped in to see if I could be of any further service to Miss Crown, will + you, Hilda?" + </p> + <p> + He was very much crestfallen as he made his way down the steps to the + lane. This wasn't at all what he had expected. + </p> + <p> + There were a number of people near the gate. Instead of going directly + down the walk, he turned to the right at the bottom of the terrace and cut + diagonally across the lawn. Coming to one of the big oaks he sat down for + a moment on the rustic seat that encircled its base. Sheltered from the + wind he managed to strike a match and light a cigarette. Assured that no + one was near, he leaned over and felt with his hand under the bench. His + fingers closed upon an object wedged between the seat and one of the + slanting supports. Quickly withdrawing it, he dropped it into his overcoat + pocket, and, after a moment, resumed his progress, making for the carriage + gate in the left lower corner of the grounds. + </p> + <p> + He had a sharp eye out for Rosabel Vick. He heard Annie Jordan's + high-pitched voice in the road ahead of him and slackened his pace. In due + time he limped up the steps of Dowd's Tavern. + </p> + <p> + Several women were in the "lounge," chattering like magpies in front of + the fire. There were no men about. He went in and for ten minutes listened + to the singing of his praises. Then, requesting a pitcher of hot water, he + hobbled upstairs, politely declining not only the Misses Dowd's offer to + bathe and bandage his heroic knee, but Miss Grady's bottle of witchhazel, + Miss Miller's tube of Baume Analgesique and old Mrs. Nichols' infallible + remedy for every ailment under the sun,—a flaxseed poultice. + </p> + <p> + The first thing he did on entering his room was to open his trunk and + deposit therein the shiny object he had recovered from its hiding-place + under the tree-seat. Before hanging his hat on the clothes-tree in the + corner of the room, he thoughtfully examined the bullet hole in the crown. + </p> + <p> + "Thirty-eight calibre, all right," he reflected. Poking his forefinger + through the hole, he enlarged it to some extent. "More like a forty-four + now," he said in a satisfied tone. + </p> + <p> + Margaret Slattery brought up the hot water and some fresh firewood for his + stove, in which the fire burned low. + </p> + <p> + "Would you be liking a drink of whiskey, Mr. Thane?" she inquired, with a + stealthy look over her shoulder. "You're all done up,—and + half-frozen, I guess." + </p> + <p> + "Whiskey?" he exclaimed. "There ain't no sitch animal," he lamented + dolefully. + </p> + <p> + "Miss Jennie's got some cooking brandy stuck away in the cellar," + whispered Margaret. "We use it at Christmas time,—for the plum + pudding, you know. I guess it's the same thing as whiskey, ain't it?" + </p> + <p> + "Well, hardly. Still, I think I could do with a nip of it, Maggie." + </p> + <p> + "I'll see what I can do," said Margaret, and departed. + </p> + <p> + She did not return, for the very good reason that Miss Jennie apprehended + her in the act of pouring something from a dark brown bottle into a brand + new fruit jar. + </p> + <p> + "What are you doing there, Maggie?" demanded Miss Dowd from the foot of + the cellar stairs. + </p> + <p> + Miss Slattery's back was toward her at the time. She was startled into + hunching it slightly, as if expecting the lash of a whip,—an + attitude of rigidity maintained during the brief period in which her heart + suspended action altogether. + </p> + <p> + "I'm—I'm getting some vinegar for Mr. Thane to gargle with, Miss + Jennie," she mumbled. "He's—he's got a sore throat." + </p> + <p> + "Let me smell that stuff, Maggie," said Miss Jennie sternly. One sniff was + sufficient. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Margaret Slattery, + leading a young man into temptation like this. You may be starting him on + the road to perdition. It is just such things as this that—" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, gosh!" exclaimed Margaret, recovering herself. "Don't you go thinking + he's as good as all that. From what he was telling me at breakfast the + other day, he used to make the round trip to purgatory every night or so,—only + he said it was paradise. Keep your old brandy. He wouldn't like it anyway. + Not him! He says he's swallered enough champagne to float the whole + American Navy." + </p> + <p> + "The very idea!" exclaimed Miss Jennie. "Go to your room, Maggie. It's bad + enough for you to be stealing but when you make it worse by lying, I—" + </p> + <p> + "I'm quitting you in the morning," said Margaret, her Irish up. + </p> + <p> + "It won't be the first time," said Miss Jennie, imperturbably. + </p> + <p> + Courtney sat for a long time before the booming little stove. He forgot + Margaret Slattery and her mission. + </p> + <p> + "I guess it took her off her feet," he reflected aloud. "That's the way + with some of them. They get panicky. Go all to pieces when they find out + what it really means to let go of themselves. God! She's wonderful!" He + leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes; a smile settled on his lips. + For a long time he sat there, fondling the memory of that blissful moment. + A slight frown made its appearance after a while. He opened his eyes. His + thoughts had veered. "What rotten luck! If it could only have been Alix + instead of that—" He arose abruptly and began pacing the floor. + After a long time he sighed resignedly. "I mustn't forget to telephone her + tomorrow." Then he began to undress for bed. + </p> + <p> + He looked at his knee. There was a deep, irregular scar on the outside of + the leg, while on the inside a knuckle-like protuberance of considerable + size provided ample evidence of a badly shattered joint, long since + healed. Along the thigh there was another wicked looking scar, with + several smaller streaks and blemishes of a less pronounced character. He + placed some hot compresses on the joint, gave it a vigorous massage, and, + before getting into bed, worked it up and down for several minutes. + </p> + <p> + "Clumsy ass!" he muttered. "Next time you'll watch your step. Don't go + jumping over fences in the dark. Gad, for a couple of minutes I thought + I'd put it on the blink for keeps." + </p> + <p> + The next morning, up in the woods above Alix's house, the crude black mask + was found, and some distance farther on an old grey cap, from which the + lining and sweatband had been ripped. The search for the man, however, was + fruitless. Constable Foss visited the camp of a gang of Italian railroad + labourers near Hawkins and was reported to be bringing several indignant + "dagoes" over to Windomville to see if Courtney or the two ladies could + identify them. He was very careful to choose men with thick black + moustaches. + </p> + <p> + Bright and early, Courtney repaired to the house on the hill. His progress + was slow. Aside from the effort it cost him to walk, he was delayed all + along the route by anxious, perturbed citizens who either complimented him + on his bravery or advised him to "look out for that cut" on his cheek, or + he'd have "a tough time if blood-poisoning set in." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Strong admitted him. + </p> + <p> + "Well, when will she be able to see me?" he demanded on being informed + that Alix was in no condition to see any one. + </p> + <p> + "I can't say," said Mrs. Strong shortly. + </p> + <p> + "Have you had the doctor in to see her?" + </p> + <p> + "No." + </p> + <p> + "Well, that's rather strange, isn't it?" + </p> + <p> + "Not at all, Mr. Thane. She isn't ill. She has had a shock,—same as + I have had,—and she'll get over it in good time." + </p> + <p> + "You seem to have survived the shock remarkably well, Mrs. Strong," he + said with unmistakable irony. + </p> + <p> + "How is the scratch on your face?" she asked, ignoring the remark. + </p> + <p> + "Amounts to nothing," he replied, almost gruffly. "I'll write a little + note to Alix, if you'll be so good as to take it up to her." + </p> + <p> + "Very well. I'll see that she gets it. Will you write it here?" + </p> + <p> + "If you don't mind. I'll wait in case she wants to send down an answer." + </p> + <p> + "I'll get you some paper and pen and ink," said she. + </p> + <p> + "Some paper, that's all. I have a fountain pen." + </p> + <p> + He dashed off a few lines, folded the sheet of note paper and handed it to + Mrs. Strong. He had written nothing he was unwilling for her to read. In + fact, he expected her to read it as soon as she was safely out of his + sight. + </p> + <p> + "She thinks she may feel up to seeing you tomorrow—or next day," + reported the housekeeper on her return from Alix's room. + </p> + <p> + His rankling brain seized upon the words—" tomorrow—next day." + He had used them himself only the night before. "Tomorrow,—or next + day!" He frowned. Hang it all, was she putting him off? He experienced a + slight chill. + </p> + <p> + "I will run in again in the morning," he said, managing to produce a + sympathetic smile. "And I'll telephone this evening to see how she is." + </p> + <p> + All the way down the walk to the gate, he kept repeating the words + "tomorrow,—or next day." In some inexplicable way they had fastened + themselves upon him. At the gate he turned and looked up at Alix's bedroom + windows. The lace curtains hung straight and immovable. It pleased him to + think that she was peering out at him from behind one of those screens of + lace, soft-eyed and longingly. Moved by a sudden impulse, he waved his + hand and smiled. + </p> + <p> + His guess was right. She WAS looking down through the narrow slit between + the curtains. Her eyes were dark and brooding and slightly contracted by + the perplexity that filled them. She started back in confusion, her hand + going swiftly to her breast. Was it possible that he could see through the + curtains? A warm flush mantled her face. She felt it steal down over her + body. Incontinently she fled from the window and hopped back into the warm + bed she had left on hearing the front door close. + </p> + <p> + "How silly!" she cried irritably. She sat bolt upright and looked at her + reflection in the mirror of her dressing-table across the room. Her + night-dress had slipped down from one shapely shoulder; her dark, glossy + hair hung in two long braids down her back; her warm, red lips were parted + in a shy, embarrassed smile. + </p> + <p> + "I wonder—But of course he couldn't. Unless,—" and here the + smile faded away,—"unless he possesses some strange power to see + through walls and—Sometimes I feel that he has that power. If he + could not see me, why did he wave his hand at me?" + </p> + <p> + There came a knock at her door. She was seized by a sudden panic. For a + moment she was unable to speak. + </p> + <p> + "Alix! Are you awake?" + </p> + <p> + It was Mrs. Strong's voice. A vast wave of relief swept through her. + </p> + <p> + "Goodness!" she gasped, and then: "Come in, Aunt Nancy?" + </p> + <p> + "Courtney Thane has just been here," said the housekeeper as she + approached the bed. + </p> + <p> + "Has he?" inquired Alix innocently. + </p> + <p> + "He left a note for you." + </p> + <p> + "Read it to me," said the girl. + </p> + <p> + "'Dearest: I am grieved beyond words to hear that you are so awfully done + up. I am not surprised. It was enough to bowl anybody over. I did not + sleep a wink last night, thinking about it. I have been living in a daze + ever since. I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I am in not being + able to see you this morning. Perhaps by tonight you will feel like + letting me come. Ever yours, Courtney.'" + </p> + <p> + "Well?" said Mrs. Strong, sitting down on the edge of the bed. + </p> + <p> + A fine line appeared between Alix's eyes. She was deep in thought. + </p> + <p> + "Have they caught the man?" she asked, after a moment. + </p> + <p> + "Not that I know of. What's more, they'll never catch him. Bill Foss sent + word up he was bringing several Italians here to see if we could identify + one of them as the man." + </p> + <p> + "How can we be expected to identify a man whose face was covered by a + mask?" + </p> + <p> + "Well, Bill is doing his best," replied Mrs. Strong patiently. "We've got + to say that much for him. Charlie Webster was here early this morning to + say that the police up in town have been notified, and they're sending a + detective out. But he won't be any better than Bill Foss, so it's a waste + of time. What we ought to have is a Pinkerton man from Chicago." + </p> + <p> + Despite the calm, deliberate manner in which she spoke, there was an odd, + eager light in Mrs. Strong's eyes. + </p> + <p> + "I wish you would go down to the warehouse, Aunt Nancy, and ask Charlie to + take the car and go up to the city. Tell him to call up the Pinkerton + offices in Chicago and ask them to send the best man they have. No one + must know about it, however. Impress that very firmly upon Charlie. Not + even the police—or Bill Foss. Have him arrange to meet the man in + town and give him directions and all the information possible. Please do + it at once,—and tell Ed to have the car ready." + </p> + <p> + "That's the way I like to hear you talk," cried Mrs. Strong. + </p> + <p> + Half an hour later, Charlie Webster was on his way to the city. He had an + additional commission to perform. Mrs. Strong was sending a telegram to + her son David. + </p> + <p> + II — The next day a well-dressed, breezy-looking young man walked + into Charlie's office and exclaimed: + </p> + <p> + "Hello, Uncle Charlie!" + </p> + <p> + "Good Lord!" gasped Charlie Webster. "It can't be—why, by gosh, if + it ain't Harry! Holy smoke!" He jumped up and grasped the stranger's hand. + Pumping it vigorously, he cried: "I'd know that Conkling nose if I saw it + in Ethiopia. God bless my soul, you're—you're a MAN! It beats all + how you kids grow up. How's your mother? And what in thunder are you doing + here?" + </p> + <p> + "I guess I've changed a lot, Uncle Charlie," said the young man, "but you + ain't? You look just the same as you did fifteen years ago." + </p> + <p> + "How old are you? My gosh, I can't believe my eyes." + </p> + <p> + "I was twenty-four last birthday. You—" + </p> + <p> + "If ever a feller grew up to look like his father, you have, Harry. You're + the living image of George Conkling,—and you don't look any more + like your mother than you look like me." + </p> + <p> + "Well, you and Mother look a lot alike, Uncle Charlie. She's thinner than + you are but—" + </p> + <p> + "Well, I should hope so," exploded Charlie. "Take a chair, Harry,—and + tell us all about yourself. Wait a minute. Sam, shake hands with my + nephew, Harry Conkling,—Mr. Slutterback, Mr. Conkling. Harry lives + up in Laporte. His mother—" + </p> + <p> + "Guess again, Uncle Charlie. No more Laporte for me. I've been living in + Chicago ever since I got married. Working for—" + </p> + <p> + "Married? You married? A kid like you? Well, I'll—be—darned!" + </p> + <p> + "Sure. And I'm not Harry, Uncle Charlie. I'm Wilbur. Harry's two years + older than I am. He's married and got a kid three years old. Lives in + Gary." + </p> + <p> + "You don't mean to say you're little Wilbur? Little freckle-faced Wilbur + with the pipe-stem legs?" + </p> + <p> + Mr. Webster's nephew took a chair near the stove, unbuttoned his overcoat, + and held his hands to the fire. He was a tall, rather awkward young man, + with large ears, a turned-up nose and a prominent "Adam's Apple." + </p> + <p> + "I'm working for one of the biggest oil companies in the world. We've got + six hundred thousand acres of the finest oil-producing territory in the + United States, and we control most of the big concessions in Honduras, + Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and—thirty million dollar concern, that's + all it is. Oh, you needn't look worried. I'm not going to try to sell you + any stock, Uncle Charlie. That is, not unless you've got fifty thousand to + invest. I'll tell you what I'm here for. My company wants to interest Miss + Crown in—" + </p> + <p> + "Hold on a minute, Wilbur," interrupted Charlie firmly. "You might just as + well hop on a train and go back to Chicago. If you're expecting me to help + you unload a lot of bum oil stock on Miss Alix Crown you're barking up the + wrong tree,—I don't give a cuss if you are my own sister's son. Miss + Crown is my—" + </p> + <p> + The young man held up his hand, and favoured his uncle with a tolerant + smile. + </p> + <p> + "I'm not asking your help, old chap. I've got a letter to her from Mr. + Addison Blythe, one of our biggest stockholders. All I'm asking you to do + is to put me up at your house for a day or two while I lay the whole + matter before Miss Crown." + </p> + <p> + "I haven't got any house," said Charlie, rather helplessly. "Wait a + second! Let me think. How long do you expect to be here, Wilbur?" + </p> + <p> + "I wouldn't be here more than half an hour if I could get Miss Crown to + say she'd take—" + </p> + <p> + "Well, she's sick and can't see anybody for a couple of days,—'specially + book agents or oil promoters. I was just thinking I might fix something up + for you over at the Tavern where I'm staying. It won't cost you a cent, my + boy. I'd be a darned cheap sort of an uncle if I couldn't entertain my + nephew when he comes to our town,—out of a clear sky, you might say. + I'll be mighty glad to have you, Wilbur, but you've got to understand I + won't have Miss Crown bothered while she's sick." + </p> + <p> + "Permit me to remind you, Uncle Charlie, that I am a gentleman. I don't go + butting in where I'm not wanted. My instructions from the General Manager + are very explicit. I am to see Miss Crown when convenient, and give her + all the dope on our gigantic enterprise,—that's all." + </p> + <p> + "By the way,—er,—is that your automobile out there?" + </p> + <p> + "It's one I hired in the city." + </p> + <p> + "You—er—didn't happen to bring your wife with you, did you? + Because it would be darned awkward if you did. She'd have to sleep with + Angie Miller or Flora—" + </p> + <p> + "She's not with me, Uncle Charlie,—so don't worry. Of course, if it + isn't convenient for you to have me for a day or two, I can motor in and + out from the city. Money's no object, you know. I've got a roll of expense + money here that would choke a hippopotamus." + </p> + <p> + "Come on over to the Tavern, Wilbur. We'll see Miss Molly Dowd and fix + things up. Sam, if anybody asks for me, just say I'll be back in fifteen + minutes." + </p> + <p> + And that is how "Mortie" Gilfillan, one of the ablest operatives in the + Pinkerton service, made his entry into the village of Windomville. + Inasmuch as he comes to act in a strictly confidential capacity, we will + leave him to his own devices, content with the simple statement that he + remained two full days at Dowd's Tavern as the guest of his "Uncle + Charlie"; that he succeeded in obtaining an interview with the rich Miss + Crown, that he "talked" oil to everybody with whom he came in contact, + including Courtney Thane; that he declined to consider the appeals of at + least a score of citizens to be "let in on the ground floor" owing to the + company's irrevocable decision to sell only in blocks of ten thousand + shares at five dollars per share; that he said good-bye to Mr. Webster at + the end of his second day and departed—not for Chicago but, very + cleverly disguised, to accept a job as an ordinary labourer with Jim + Bagley, manager of the Crown farms. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVIII — MR. GILFILLAN IS PUZZLED + </h2> + <p> + Three days passed. The village had recovered from its excitement. The + Weekly Sun appeared with a long and harrowing account of the "vile attempt + to rifle the home of our esteemed and patriotic citizeness," and sang the + praises of Courtney Thane, whose "well-known valour, acquired by heroic + services during the Great War," prevented what might have been "a most + lamentable tragedy." + </p> + <p> + Those three days were singularly unprofitable to the "hero." He was unable + to see Alix crown. He made daily visits to her home but always with the + same result. Miss Crown was in no condition to see any one. + </p> + <p> + "But she saw this fellow Conkling," he expostulated on the third day. "He + sold her a lot of phony oil stock. If she could see him, I—" + </p> + <p> + "He came all the way from Chicago to see her,—with a letter from Mr. + Blythe," explained Mrs. Strong. "She had to see him. I guess you can wait, + can't you, Mr. Thane?" + </p> + <p> + "Certainly. That isn't the point. If I had seen her in time I should have + warned her against buying that stock. She's been let in for a whale of a + loss, that's all I can say,—and it's too late to do anything about + it. Good Lord, if ever a woman needed a man around the house, she does. + She—" + </p> + <p> + "I will tell her what you say," said Mrs. Strong calmly. + </p> + <p> + "Don't you do anything of the kind," he exclaimed hastily. "I was speaking + to you as a friend, Mrs. Strong. She means a great deal to both of us. You + understand how it stands with Alix and me, don't you? I—I would + cheerfully lay down my life for her. More than that, I cannot say or do." + </p> + <p> + "She will be up by tomorrow," said Mrs. Strong, impressed in spite of + herself by this simple, direct appeal. (All that day she caught herself + wondering if he had cast his spell over her!) + </p> + <p> + "Please give her my love,—and say that I am thinking about her every + second of the day," said he gravely, and went away. + </p> + <p> + Alix had received another letter from Addison Blythe. Enclosed with it was + a communication from an official formerly connected with the American + Ambulance. It was brief and to the point: + </p> + <p> + Courtney Thane volunteered for service in the American Ambulance in Paris + in November, 1915. He was accepted and ordered to appear at the hospital + at Neuilly-sur-Seine for instructions. His conduct was such that he was + dismissed from the service before the expiration of a week, his uniform + taken away from him, and a request made to the French Military authorities + to see that he was ordered to leave the country at once. Our records show + that he left hurriedly for Spain. He was a bad influence to our boys in + Paris, and there was but one course left open to us. We have no account of + his subsequent movements. With his dismissal from the service, he ceased + to be an object of concern to us. + </p> + <p> + Alix did not destroy this letter. She locked it away in a drawer of her + desk. She had made up her mind to confront Thane with this official + communication. It was an ordeal she dreaded. Her true reason for refusing + to see him was clear to her if to no one else: she hated the thought of + hurting him! Moreover, she was strangely oppressed by the fear that she + would falter at the crucial moment and that her half-guarded defences + would go down before the assault. She knew his strength far better than + she knew his weakness. She had had an illuminating example of his power. + Was she any stronger now than on that never-to-be-forgotten night?...She + put off the evil hour. + </p> + <p> + And on the same third day of renunciation, she had a letter from David + Strong. She wept a little over it, and driven finally by a restlessness + such as she had never known before, feverishly dressed herself, and set + forth late in the afternoon for a long walk in the open air. She took to + the leaf-strewn woodland roads, and there was a definite goal in mind. + </p> + <p> + II — Courtney remembered Rosabel Vick. + </p> + <p> + "I guess I'd better call her up," he said to himself. "I ought to have + done it several days ago. Beastly rotten of me to have neglected it. She's + probably been sitting over there waiting ever since—Gad, she may; + have some good news. Maybe she is mistaken." + </p> + <p> + He went over to the telephone exchange and called up the Vick house. + Rosabel answered. + </p> + <p> + "That you, Rosie?...Well, I couldn't. I've been laid up, completely out of + commission ever since I saw you....What?...I—I didn't get that, + Rosie. Speak louder,—closer to the telephone." + </p> + <p> + Very distinctly now came the words, almost in a wail: + </p> + <p> + "Oh, Courtney, why—why do you lie to me?" + </p> + <p> + "Lie to you? My dear girl, do you know what you are—" + </p> + <p> + A low moan, and a harsh, choking sob smote his ear, and then the click of + the receiver on the hook. + </p> + <p> + "Well, I'll be hanged!" he muttered angrily. "That's the last time I'll + call you up, take it from me." + </p> + <p> + And it was the last time he ever called her up. + </p> + <p> + Then he, too, ravaged by uneasy thoughts, struck off into the country + lanes, the better to commune with himself. In due course, he came to the + gate leading up to the top of Quill's Window. Here he lagged. His gaze + went across the strip of pasture-land to the deserted house above the + main-travelled road. He started. His gaze grew more intense. A lone figure + traversed the highway. It turned in at the gate, and, as he watched, + strode swiftly up the path to the front door....He saw her bend over, + evidently to insert a key in the lock. Then the door opened and closed + behind her. + </p> + <p> + III — Every word of David's letter was impressed on Alix's brain. + Over and over again she repeated to herself certain passages as she strode + rapidly through the winding lanes. She spoke them tenderly, wonderingly, + and her eyes were shining. + </p> + <h3> + DEAREST ALIX: + </h3> + <p> + I have always loved you. I want you to know it. There has never been an + hour in all these years that I have not thought of you, that your dear + face has not been before me. In France, here, everywhere,—always I + am looking into your eyes, always I am hearing your voice, always I am + feeling the gentle touch of your hand. Now you know. I could not have told + you before. I am the blacksmith's son. God knows I am not ashamed of that. + But I cannot forget, nor can you, that a blacksmith's son lies buried at + the top of that grim old hill, and that he was not good enough for the + daughter of a Windom. I hear that you have given your heart to some one + else. You will marry him. But to the end of your days,—and I hope + they may be many,—I want you to know that there is one man who will + love you with all his heart and all his soul to the end of HIS days. I + hope you will be happy. It is my greatest, my only wish. Once upon a time, + we stole away, you and I, to write romances of love and adventure. Even + then, you were my heroine. I was putting you into my poor story, but you + were putting your dreams into yours, and I was not your dream hero. Then + we would read to each, other what we had written. Do you remember how + guardedly we read and how stealthy we were so as not to arouse suspicion + or attract attention to our lair? I shall never forget those happy hours. + Every line I wrote and read to you, Alix dear, was of you and FOR you. You + were my heroine. My hero, feeble creature, told you how much I loved you, + and you never suspected. + </p> + <p> + I am telling you all this now, when my hope is dead, so that you may know + that my love for you began when you were little more than a baby, and has + endured to this day and will endure forever. I pray God you may always be + happy. And now, in closing, I can only add the trite sentence,—which + I recall reading in more than one novel and which I was imitative enough + to put into my own unfinished masterpiece: If ever you are in trouble and + despair and need me, I will come to you from the ends of the earth. I mean + it, Alix. With all the best wishes in the world, I am and will remain + </p> + <p> + Yours devotedly, + </p> + <h3> + DAVID. + </h3> + <p> + P.S.—I have just looked up from this letter to catch sight of myself + in a mirror across the office. I have to smile. That beastly but + honourable glass reveals the true secret of my failure to captivate you. + How could any self-respecting heroine fall in love with a chap with a nose + like mine, and a mouth that was intended for old Goliath himself, and + cheek bones that were handed down by Tecumseh, and eyes that squint a + little—but I daresay that's because they are somewhat blurred at + this particular instant. I am reminded of the "Yank" who had his nose shot + off at Chateau Thierry. He said that now that the Germans didn't have + anything visible to train their artillery on, the war would soon be over. + He had lost his nose but not his sense of the ridiculous. I have managed + to retain both. + </p> + <p> + Up in that bare, dust-laden room, with the two candles burning at her + elbows, sat Alix. There were tears in her eyes, a wistful little smile on + her lips. She was reading again the clumsy lines David had written in + those long-ago days of adolescence. Now they meant something to her. They + were stilted, commonplace expressions; she would have laughed at them had + they been written by any one else, and she still would have been vastly + amused, even now, were it not for the revelations contained in his letter. + And the postscript,—how like him to have added that whimsical twist! + He wanted her to smile, even though his heart was hurt. + </p> + <p> + Ten years! Ten years ago they had sat opposite each other at this dusty + table, their heads bent to the task, their brows furrowed, their hands + reaching out to the same bottle of ink, their souls athrill with romance. + And she was writing of a handsome, incredibly valiant hero, whilst he—he + was writing of her! Time and again his hand, in seeking the ink, had + touched the hand of his heroine,—she remembered once jabbing her pen + into his less nimble finger as she went impatiently to the fount of + romance, and he had exclaimed with a grimace: "Gee, you must have struck a + snag, Alix!" She recalled the words as of yesterday, almost as of this + very moment, and her arrogant rejoinder, "Well, why can't you keep your + hand out of the way?" + </p> + <p> + She was always hurting him, and he was always patient. She was always + sorry, and he was always forgiving. She was superior in her weakness, he + was gentle in his strength. + </p> + <p> + And his heroine? She read through the mist that filled her eyes and saw + herself. The lofty heroine wooed by the poor and humble musician who crept + up from unutterable depths to worship unseen at her feet! "The Phantom + Singer!" The lover she could not see because her starry eyes were fixed + upon the peak! And yet he stood beneath her casement window and sang her + to sleep, lulled her into sweet dreams,—and went his lonely way in + the chill of the morning hours, only to return again at nightfall. + </p> + <p> + She looked up from the sheet she held. She stared, not into space, but at + the face of David Strong, sitting opposite,—the phantom singer. It + was as plain to her as if he were actually there. She looked into his deep + grey eyes, honest and true and smiling. + </p> + <p> + What was it he said in his letter? About his nose and mouth and eyes? They + were before her now. That keen, boyish face with its coat of tan,—its + broad, whimsical mouth and the white, even teeth that once on a dare had + cracked a walnut for her; its rugged jaw and the long, straight nose; its + wide forehead and the straight eyebrows; and the thick hair as black as + the raven's wing, rumpled by fingers that strove desperately to encourage + a recalcitrant brain; and those big, bony hands, so large that her little + brown paws were lost in them; and the broad shoulders hunched over the + table, supported by widespread elbows that encroached upon her allotted + space so often that she had to remind him: "I do wish you'd watch what + you're doing," and he would get up and meekly recover the scattered sheets + of paper from the floor. Ugly? David ugly? Why, he was BEAUTIFUL! + </p> + <p> + Suddenly her head dropped upon her arms, now resting on David's + manuscript; she sobbed. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, Davy,—Davy, I wish you were here! I wish you were here now!" + </p> + <p> + The creaking of the stairs startled her. She half arose and stared at the + open door, expecting to see—the ghost! Goose-flesh crept out all + over her. The ghost that people said came to— + </p> + <p> + The very corporeal presence of Courtney Thane appeared in the doorway. + </p> + <p> + For many seconds she was stupefied. She could see his lips moving, she + knew he was speaking, she could see his smile as he approached, and yet + only an unintelligible mumble came to her ears. + </p> + <p> + "—and so I cut across the field and ventured in where angels do not + fear to tread," were the first words that possessed any degree of + coherency for her. + </p> + <p> + She hastily thrust the precious manuscript into the drawer. He stopped + several feet away and looked about the room curiously, his gaze coming + back to her after a moment. The light of the candles was full on her face. + </p> + <p> + "Well, of all the queer places," he said. "What in the world brings you + here? I thought no one ever entered this house, Alix." + </p> + <p> + "I have not been inside this house in ten years," she said, struggling for + control of herself. "I came today to—to look for some papers that + were left here. I was on the point of leaving when you came up." She + picked up her gloves from the table. + </p> + <p> + "It's cold here. Do you think it was wise for you to sit here in this + chilly—Gad, it's like an ice-house or a tomb. Better let me give you + my coat." He started to remove his overcoat. There was an anxious, + solicitous expression in his eyes. + </p> + <p> + "No,—no, thank you. I am quite warm,—and I shall be as warm as + toast after I've walked a little way. I must be going now, Mr. Thane." She + took a few steps toward the door. + </p> + <p> + "Are you going away without blowing the candles out?" he inquired. + </p> + <p> + She halted. She felt herself trapped. She did not want to be alone in the + dark with him. + </p> + <p> + "If you will go ahead while there is light, I will follow—" The + solution came suddenly. "How stupid! There is nothing to prevent us + carrying the candles downstairs with us, is there? Will you take one, + please?" + </p> + <p> + She returned to the table and took up one of the candlesticks. + </p> + <p> + "I've been terribly worried about you, Alix," he said, without moving. + "How wonderful it is to see you again,—to see what is really you and + not the girl I've seen in dreams for the past few endless nights. You in + the flesh, you with your beautiful eyes, you whose lips—oh, God, I—I + have been nearly mad, Alix. A thousand times I have felt you in my arms,—you've + never been out of them in my thoughts. I—" + </p> + <p> + "Please—please!" she cried, shrinking back and putting her hands to + her temples. + </p> + <p> + Still he did not move. There was a gentleness in his voice, a softness + that disarmed her. It was not the voice of a conqueror, rather it was that + of a suppliant. + </p> + <p> + "I am not worthy to touch the hem of your garment," he went on, an + expression of pain leaping swiftly to his eyes. "I am most unworthy. My + life has not been perfect. I have done many things that I am ashamed of, + things I would give my soul to recall. But my love for you, Alix Crown, is + perfect. All the good that God ever put into me is in this feeling I have + for you. You are the very soul of me. If you tell me to go away, I will + go. That is how I love you. You DO believe I love you with all my heart + and soul, don't you, Alix? You DO believe that I would die for you?" + </p> + <p> + Now she was looking into his eyes across the candle flames. David's + features had vanished. She saw nothing save the white, drawn face of the + man whose voice, sweet with passion, fell upon her ears like the murmur of + far-off music. She felt the warm thrill of blood rushing back into her icy + veins, surging up to her throat, to her trembling lips, to her eyes. + </p> + <p> + "I—I don't know what to think—I don't know what to believe," + she heard herself saying. + </p> + <p> + He came a step or two nearer. Her eyes never left his. She tried to look + away. + </p> + <p> + "I want you to me mine forever, Alix. I want you to be my wife. I want you + to be with me to the end of my life. I cannot live without you. Do not + send me away now. It is too late." + </p> + <p> + Her knees gave way. She sank slowly to the bench,—and still she + looked into his gleaming eyes. + </p> + <p> + He came to her. She was in his arms. His face was close to hers, his + breath was on her cheek.... + </p> + <p> + "No! No!" she almost shrieked, and wrenched herself free. "Not now! Not + here! Give me time—give me time to think!" + </p> + <p> + She had sprung to her feet and was glaring at him with the eyes of an + animal at bay. He fell back in astonishment. + </p> + <p> + "You—you had no right to follow me here," she was crying. "You had + no right! This place is sacred. It is sanctuary." Her voice broke. "My + mother was born in this room. She died in this room. And I was born here. + Go! Please go!" + </p> + <p> + He controlled himself. He held back those words that were on his tongue, + ready to be flung out at her: "Yes, and in this room you behaved like hell + with David Strong!" But he checked them in time. He lowered his head. + </p> + <p> + "Forgive me, Alix," he said abjectly. "I—I did not know. I was wrong + to follow you here. I could not help myself. I was mad to see you. Nothing + could have stopped me." He looked up, struck by a sudden thought. "You + call this sanctuary. It is a sacred place to you. Will you make it sacred + to me? Promise here and now, in this sanctuary of yours, to be my wife, + and all my life it shall be the most sacred spot on earth." + </p> + <p> + She turned her head quickly to look at David Strong. A startled, + incredulous expression leaped into her eyes. He was not there. By what + magic had he vanished? She had felt his presence. He was sitting there a + moment ago, his tousled head bent down over the pad of paper,—she + was sure of it! Then she realized. A wave of relief surged over her. He + was not there to hear this man making love to her in the room where he had + poured out his soul to her. She experienced a curious thrill of + exultation. David could never take back those unspoken words of love. She + had them safely stored away in that blessed drawer! + </p> + <p> + A flush of shame leaped to her cheeks. She could not banish the notion + that he,—honest, devoted David,—had seen her in this man's + arms, clinging to him, giving back his passionate kisses with all the + horrid rapture of a—She stiffened. Her head went up. She faced the + man who had robbed David. + </p> + <p> + "I cannot marry you," she said quietly. The spell was gone. She was + herself again. "I do not love you." + </p> + <p> + He stared, speechless, uncomprehending. + </p> + <p> + "You—you do not love me?" he gasped. + </p> + <p> + "I do not love you," she repeated deliberately. + </p> + <p> + "But, good God, you—you couldn't have kissed me as you—" + </p> + <p> + "Please!" + </p> + <p> + "—as you did just now," he went on, honestly bewildered. "You put + your arms around my neck,—you kissed me—" + </p> + <p> + "Stop! Yes, I know I did,—I know I did. But it was not love,—it + was not love! I don't know what it was. You have some dreadful, appalling + power to—Oh, you need not look at me like that! I don't care THAT + for your scorn. Call me a fool, if you like,—call me ANYTHING you + like. It is all one to me now. What's done, is done. But it can never + happen again. I will not even say that I am ashamed, for in saying so I + would be confessing that I was responsible for my actions. I was not + responsible. That is all, Mr. Thane. No doubt you are sincere in asking me + to be your wife. No doubt your love for me is sincere. I should like to + think so—always. It would help me to forget my own weakness. I am + going. I want you to leave this house before I go, Mr. Thane." + </p> + <p> + She spoke calmly, evenly, with the utmost self-possession. + </p> + <p> + "I can't let you go like this, Alix! I can't take this as final. You—you + MUST care for me. How can I think otherwise? In God's name, what has + happened to turn you against me? You owe me more of an explanation than—" + </p> + <p> + "You are right," she interrupted. "I do owe you an explanation. This is + not the time or the place to give it. If you will come to see me tomorrow, + I will tell you everything. It is only fair that you should know. But not + now." + </p> + <p> + "Has some one been lying about me?" he demanded, his eyes narrowing. + </p> + <p> + She waited an instant before replying. + </p> + <p> + "No, Mr. Thane," she said; "no one has been lying about you." + </p> + <p> + He took up his hat from the table. + </p> + <p> + "I will come tomorrow," he said. At the door he paused to say: "But I am + not going to give you up, Alix. You mean too much to me. I think I + understand. You are frightened. I—I should not have come here." + </p> + <p> + "Yes, I WAS frightened," she cried out shrilly. "I was frightened,—but + I am not afraid now." + </p> + <p> + She had moved to Thane's side of the table, and there she stood until she + heard his footsteps on the little porch outside. + </p> + <p> + She was in an exalted frame of mind as she hurried from the house. The + short October day had turned to night. For a moment she paused, peering + ahead. A queer little thrill of alarm ran through her. She had never been + afraid of the dark before. But now she shivered. A great uneasiness + assailed her. She listened intently. Far up the hard gravel road she heard + the sound of footsteps, gradually diminishing. He was far ahead of her and + walking rapidly. + </p> + <p> + At the gate she stopped again. Then she struck out resolutely for home,—the + Phantom Singer was beside her. She was not afraid. + </p> + <p> + A farm-hand, leaning on the fence at the lower corner of the yard, + scratched his head in perplexity. + </p> + <p> + "Well, here's a new angle to the case," he mused sourly. "I'm up a tree + for sure. Why the devil should Miss Crown be meeting him out there in this + old deserted house. My word, it begins to look a trifle spicy. It also + begins to look like a case that ought to be dropped before it gets too + hot. I guess it's up to me to see my dear old Uncle Charlie + What's-His-Name." + </p> + <p> + Whereupon Mr. Gilfillan set off in the wake of the girl who had employed + him to catch the masked invader. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIX — BRINGING UP THE PAST + </h2> + <p> + Charlie Webster wore a troubled expression when he appeared for dinner + that same evening. He was late. If such a thing were believable, his + kindly blue eyes glittered malevolently as they rested upon the face of + Courtney Thane, who had taken his place at table a few minutes earlier. + The fat little man was strangely preoccupied. He was even gruff in his + response to Mr. Pollock's bland inquiry as to the state of his health. + </p> + <p> + "How's your liver, Charlie?" inquired the genial editor. This amiable + question was habitual with Mr. Pollock. He varied it a little when the + object of his polite concern happened to be of the opposite sex; then he + gallantly substituted the word "appetite." It was never necessary to reply + to Mr. Pollock's question. In fact, he always seemed a little surprised + when any one did reply, quite as if he had missed a portion of the + conversation and was trying in a bewildered sort of way to get the hang of + it again. + </p> + <p> + "Same as it was yesterday," said Charlie. "I don't want any soup, Maggie. + Yes, I know it's bean soup, but I don't want it, just the same." + </p> + <p> + "Going on a hunger strike, Charlie?" inquired Doc Simpson. + </p> + <p> + "Sh! He's reducing," scolded Flora Grady. + </p> + <p> + "What's on your mind, Charlie?" asked Courtney. + </p> + <p> + Charlie swallowed hard. He made a determined effort and succeeded in + recovering some of his old-time sprightliness. + </p> + <p> + "Nothing, now that I've got my hat off." + </p> + <p> + "Have you heard the latest news, Charlie?" inquired Mrs. Pollock, a thrill + of excitement in her voice. + </p> + <p> + He started, and looked up quickly. "There's been so blamed much news + lately," he muttered, "I can't keep track of it." + </p> + <p> + "Well, this is the greatest piece of news we've had in ages," said the + poetess. "Wedding bells are to ring in our midst. Somebody you know very + well is going to be married." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Webster's heart went to his boots. He stared open-mouthed at the + speaker. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, my Lord!" he almost groaned. "Don't tell me she has promised to marry—" + He broke off to glare venomously at Thane. + </p> + <p> + "Don't blame me for it, Charlie," exclaimed the latter. "I am as innocent + as an unborn babe. Charge it to woman's wiles." He laughed boisterously, + unnaturally. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pollock spoke. "The next issue of the Sun will contain the formal + announcement of the engagement of the most popular and beloved young lady + in Windomville. No doubt it will be old news by that time,—next + Thursday,—but publication in the press gives it the importance of + officialty." + </p> + <p> + "We may congratulate ourselves, however, that we are not to lose her," + said Mrs. Pollock. "She is to remain in—" + </p> + <p> + "Whe-when is it to take place?" groaned Charlie, moisture starting out on + his brow. + </p> + <p> + "That," began Mr. Pollock, "is a matter which cannot be definitely + announced at present, owing to certain family—er—ah—conditions. + In addition to this, I may say that there is also the children to + consider, as well as the township trustee and, to an extent, the taxpayer. + The—" + </p> + <p> + "All I've got to say," grated Charlie, "is that the police ought to be + consulted, first of all." + </p> + <p> + "The police!" exclaimed Angie Miller. + </p> + <p> + "The—the what?" gasped Furman Hatch, lifting his head suddenly. He + was very red in the face. "I'd like to know what the devil the police have + to do with it?" + </p> + <p> + Charlie took a look at Angie Miller's face, and then the truth dawned upon + him. He sank back in his chair so suddenly that the legs gave forth an + ominous crack. + </p> + <p> + "Don't do that!" cried Margaret Slattery sharply. "You know them chairs + are not made of iron. And I don't want you flopping all over me when I'm + passing the stew—" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, sir!" boomed Charlie, who had collected his wits by this time, and + was pointing his finger accusingly at Mr. Hatch. "The police have simply + got to be called. It's going to take half the force, including Bill Foss, + to keep me from drinking the heart's blood of my hated rival. Ladies and + gents, that infernal, low-down villain over there has come between me and—But + nobody shall say that Charles Darwin Webster is a poor loser! Say what you + please about him, but do not say he is a short sport. It breaks my heart + to do it, but I'm coming around there to shake hands with you, old + Tintype. I'm going to congratulate you, but I'm never going to get through + hating you." + </p> + <p> + He arose and bolted around the table. Mr. Hatch got to his feet and the + long and the short man clasped hands. + </p> + <p> + "Put her there, old boy! I've already made up my mind what my wedding + present is going to be. The day before the wedding I'm coming in and order + a dozen photographs of myself,—pay for 'em in advance. And I'm going + to give every darned one of 'em to the bride, so's she can stick 'em up + all over the house just to make you feel at home, you blamed old bachelor. + And as for you, Miss Angelina Miller, the very topmost height of my + ambition will be reached in less than two minutes after the ceremony. + Because, then and there, I'm going to kiss you. Bless you, my children. As + old Rip Van Winkle used to say, 'may you live long and brosper.'" + </p> + <p> + Having delivered himself of this felicitous speech, the somewhat relieved + Mr. Webster wiped his brow. + </p> + <p> + "What did he say?" quaked old Mrs. Nichols, putting her hand to her ear. + </p> + <p> + "Says he hoped they'd be happy," bawled old Mr. Nichols, close to her ear. + </p> + <p> + "Pass the bread, Doc," said Mr. Hatch, getting pinker and pinker. + </p> + <p> + "When's it to take place, Angle?" inquired Charlie, resuming his seat. He + cast a sharp look at Courtney. The young man shifted his gaze immediately. + </p> + <p> + "As I explained to Mr. Pollock, everything depends on my aunt," said Angie + composedly. "She is very old,—eighty-three, in fact." + </p> + <p> + "You don't mean to say your aunt objects to your marrying old Tintype," + exclaimed Charlie. + </p> + <p> + "Not at all," replied Angie, somewhat tartly. + </p> + <p> + "You see, it's this way," volunteered Mr. Pollock. "Miss Angie is the sole + support of a venerable and venerated aunt who lives in Frankfort. That is + a thing to be considered. Her duty to her father's sister—" + </p> + <p> + Courtney interrupted, chuckling. "It's too much to ask of any woman. I + suppose it must take nearly all you earn, Miss Miller, to support your + aged relative, so naturally you do not feel like taking on Mr. Hatch + immediately." + </p> + <p> + There was a moment's silence around the table. + </p> + <p> + "I see by the Chicago Tribune," said Mr. Pollock, after a hurried gulp of + coffee, "that there's likely to be a strike of the street-car men up + there." + </p> + <p> + "You don't say so," said Doc Simpson, looking so concerned that one might + have been led to suspect that he was dismayed over the prospect of getting + to his office the next day. + </p> + <p> + "What's the world coming to?" sighed Maude Baggs Pollock nervously. + "Strikes, strikes everywhere. Murder, bloodshed, robbery, revolution—" + </p> + <p> + "Next thing we know," put in Charlie Webster, without looking up from his + plate, "God will strike, and when He does there'll be hell to pay, begging + your pardon, ladies, for using a word that sounds worse than it tastes." + </p> + <p> + "I use it every day of my life," said Miss Flora Grady. "It's a grand + word, Charlie," she added, a little defiantly. + </p> + <p> + "Times have changed," remarked Mr. Pollock blandly. "It wasn't so very + long ago that women Said 'pshaw' when they wanted to let off steam. Then + they got to saying 'shucks,' and from that they progressed to 'darn,' and + now they say 'damn' without a quiver. Only yesterday I heard my wife say + something that sounded suspiciously like 'dammit to hell' when she upset a + bottle of ink on her desk. She hasn't stubbed her toe against a + rocking-chair lately, thank goodness." + </p> + <p> + Doc Simpson stopped Courtney as he was starting upstairs after dinner. The + dentist was unsmiling. + </p> + <p> + "Say, Court, I'm running a little close this week. Been so much excitement + a lot of patients have forgotten all about their teeth. Can you let me + have that ten you borrowed last week?" + </p> + <p> + "Sure," said Courtney, in his most affable manner. "I'll hand it to you + tomorrow. I'll give it to you now if you'll wait till I run upstairs and + get it out of my trunk. That's my bank, you know." + </p> + <p> + "Tomorrow'll do all right," said Doc, a trifle abashed. + </p> + <p> + "Can I see you a second, Mr. Thane?" called Miss Grady, when he was + halfway up the stairs. + </p> + <p> + He stopped and smiled down at her. "I hope you'll forgive me if I don't + come down, Miss Flora. My knee is still on the blink. It hurts worse to go + downstairs, than it does up." + </p> + <p> + "I'll come up," said Miss Grady promptly. "You remember those roses I + ordered for you last week? Well, I had to pay cash for them, including + parcel post. You owe me seven dollars and thirteen cents." + </p> + <p> + "I'm glad you spoke of it. I hadn't forgotten it, of course, but—I + simply neglected to square it up with you. Have you change for a twenty, + Miss Flora?" + </p> + <p> + "Not with me." + </p> + <p> + "I'll hand it to you tomorrow. Seven-thirteen, you say? Shall we make it + seven-fifteen?" He favoured her with his most engaging smile, and Miss + Grady, who thought she had steeled her heart against his blandishments, + suffered a momentary relapse and said, "No hurry. I just thought I'd + remind you." + </p> + <p> + He failed completely, however, to affect the susceptibilities of Miss Mary + Dowd, who presently rapped at his door, and rapped again when he called + out "Come in." He opened the door. + </p> + <p> + "Pardon me, Mr. Thane, for coming up to speak to you about your bill. Will + it be convenient for you to let me have the money this evening?" + </p> + <p> + She did not soften the dun by offering the usual excuse about "expenses + being a little heavier this month than we expected," or that she "hated to + ask him for the amount." + </p> + <p> + "Is it three or four weeks, Miss Molly?" he inquired, taking out an + envelope and a pencil. + </p> + <p> + "Four weeks today." + </p> + <p> + "Sixty dollars." He jotted it down. "I cannot let this opportunity pass to + tell you how thoroughly satisfied I have been with everything here, Miss + Molly. The table is really extraordinarily good. I don't see how you can + do it for fifteen dollars a week, including room." He replaced the + envelope in his pocket, and smiled politely, his hand going to the door + knob. + </p> + <p> + "We couldn't do it, Mr. Thane, unless we stuck pretty closely to our rule,—that + is, of asking our patrons to pay promptly at the end of every week." + </p> + <p> + "It's really the only way," he agreed. + </p> + <p> + "So if you will be kind enough to let me have the amount now, I will be + very much obliged to you." + </p> + <p> + He stepped to the head of the stairs, ostensibly to be nearer a light, and + took out his purse. While counting out the bills, he cast frequent glances + down into the lower hall. The buzz of conversation came up from the + "lounge." + </p> + <p> + "I think you will find the proper amount here, Miss Molly," he said, after + restoring the purse to his pocket. + </p> + <p> + She took the bank-notes and counted them. + </p> + <p> + "Quite correct, Mr. Thane. Thank you. By the way, I have been meaning to + ask how much longer you contemplate remaining with us. Pastor Mavity has + been inquiring for room and board for his sister, who is coming on from + Indianapolis to spend several months in Windomville. If by any chance you + are thinking of vacating your room within the next few days, I would be + obliged if you would let me know as soon as possible in order that I may + give Mr. Mavity an answer." + </p> + <p> + "I think I shall be leaving shortly, Miss Dowd. I can let you know in a + day or two," said he stiffly. "I am afraid your winters are too severe for + me. Good night,—and thank you for being so patient, Miss Dowd." + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, Miss Angie Miller had taken Charlie Webster off to a corner of + the "lounge" remote from the fireplace. She was visibly excited. + </p> + <p> + "I had a letter in this afternoon's mail from my uncle, Charlie," she + announced in subdued tones. "My goodness, you'll simply pass away when you + read it." + </p> + <p> + "Where is it?" demanded Charlie eagerly. + </p> + <p> + "I haven't even shown it to Furman," said she, looking over her shoulder. + "I've been wondering whether I ought to let him read it first." + </p> + <p> + "Not at all," said he promptly. "It's none of his business. This is + between you and me, Angie. Let's have a look at it." + </p> + <p> + "I don't think you'd better read it here," she whispered nervously. "It—it + is very private and confidential." + </p> + <p> + "That's all right," said Charlie. "I'll sneak upstairs with it, Angie." + </p> + <p> + "Well, act as if you are looking out of the window," she said, and when + his back was turned she produced the letter from its hiding place inside + her blouse. + </p> + <p> + II — Charlie retired to his room a few minutes later. There he + perused the following letter, written on the stationery of Beck, Blossom, + Fredericks & Smith, Attorneys-at-law, New York City: + </p> + <h3> + MY DEAR NIECE: + </h3> + <p> + Pardon my delay in replying to your letter of recent date. I have been + very busy in court and have not been in a position to devote even a little + of my time to your inquiry. Your second letter reached me yesterday, and I + now make amends for my previous delinquency by answering it with a + promptness most uncommon in lawyers. + </p> + <p> + The firm of which I am a member appeared in 1912 for the plaintiff in the + case of Ritter vs. Thane. Our client was a young woman residing in + Brooklyn. The defendant was Courtney Thane, the son of Howard Thane, and + no doubt the young man to whom you refer. In any case, he was the grandson + of Silas Thane, who lived in your part of the State of Indiana. We were + demanding one hundred thousand dollars for our client. Miss Ritter was a + trained nurse. Young Thane had been severely injured in an automobile + accident. If YOUR Courtney Thane is the same as MINE, he will be walking + with a slight limp. His left leg was badly crushed in the accident to + which I refer. For several months he was unable to walk. Upon his removal + from St. Luke's Hospital to his father's home in Park Avenue, a fortnight + after the accident, our client was employed as a nurse on the case. This + was early in the spring of 1912. In June the Thane family went to the + Berkshires, where they had rented a house for the summer. Our client + accompanied them. Prior to their departure, Thane, senior, had settled out + of court with the occupants of the automobile with which his son's car had + collided in upper Broadway. His son was alone in his car when the accident + occurred, but there were a number of witnesses ready to testify that he + was driving at a high rate of speed, regardless of traffic or crossings. + If my memory serves me correctly, his father paid something like + twenty-five thousand dollars to the three persons injured. That, however, + is neither here nor there, except to illustrate the young man's disregard + for the law. + </p> + <p> + Miss Ritter had been on the case a very short time before he began to make + ardent love to her. She was an extremely pretty girl, two years his + senior, and, I am convinced, a most worthy and exemplary young woman. She + became infatuated with the young man. He asked her to marry him. (Permit + me to digress for a moment in order to state that while Courtney Thane was + in his freshman year at college his father was obliged to pay out quite a + large sum of money to a chorus-girl with whom, it appears, he had become + involved.) To make a long story short, our client, trusting implicitly to + his honour and submitting to the ardour of their joint passion, + anticipated the marriage ceremony with serious results to herself. When + she discovered that he had no intention of marrying her, she attempted + suicide. Her mother, on learning the truth, went to Thane's parents and + pleaded for the righting of the wrong. Howard Thane had, by this time, + lost all patience with his son. He refused to have anything to do with the + matter. The young man's mother ordered Miss Ritter's mother out of the + apartment and threatened to have her arrested for blackmail. Shortly after + this episode, we were consulted by Mrs. Ritter, much against the wishes of + her daughter, who shrank from the notoriety and the disgrace of a lawsuit. + The elder Thane was adamant in his decision that his son should marry the + girl, who, he was fair enough to admit, was a young woman of very superior + character and who, he was convinced, had been basely deceived. The mother, + on the other hand, was relentlessly opposed to the sacrifice of her son. + We took the matter to court. On the morning of the first day of the trial, + before the opening of court, the defendant's counsel came to us with a + proposition. They offered to settle out of court for twenty-five thousand + dollars. In the end, we accepted fifty thousand, and the case was + dismissed. Afterwards counsel for the other side informed us that the + elder Thane turned his son out of his home and refused to have anything + more to do with him. I understand the young man went to Europe, where he + subsisted on an allowance provided by his mother. Thane, senior, died + shortly after this. Our client, I am pained to say, died with her babe in + childbirth. + </p> + <p> + You may be interested to know, my dear niece, that Mrs. Thane married soon + after her husband's death. Her second husband was a young French nobleman, + many years her junior. He was killed in the war, I think at Verdun. I + understand she is now living in this city. Her present name escapes me, + but I know that her widowhood has been made endurable by a legacy which + happens to be one in name only. In other words, he left her the title of + Countess. + </p> + <p> + If I can be of any further service to you, my dear niece, pray do not + hesitate to call upon me. Believe me to be...etc., etc. + </p> + <p> + Within ten minutes after the perusal of this very convincing indictment, + Charlie Webster was on his way to Alix's home. He was quite out of breath + when he presented himself at the front door, and his first words to Alix + were: + </p> + <p> + "While I'm getting my breath, Alix, you might prepare yourself for a + shock." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XX — THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ROSABEL VICK + </h2> + <p> + Early the next morning, the telephone in township assessor Jordan's house + rang. Annie Jordan was "setting" the breakfast table. She waited for the + call to be repeated; she was not sure whether the bell had rung thrice or + four times. Their call was "Party J, ring four." Four sharp rings came + promptly. She looked at the kitchen clock. It lacked five minutes of + seven. + </p> + <p> + "Gee," she grumbled, "I didn't know anybody had to get up as early as I + do." Taking down the receiver she uttered a sweet "hello," because, as she + said, "You never know who's at the other end, and it's just as likely to + be HIM as not." + </p> + <p> + "Is that you, Annie? This is Mrs. Vick. May I speak to Rosabel?" + </p> + <p> + "Why, Rosabel isn't here, Mrs. Vick." + </p> + <p> + "What?" + </p> + <p> + "Rosabel isn't here." + </p> + <p> + There was a short silence. Then: "Are you joking with me, Annie? If she + isn't up yet, please tell her to—" + </p> + <p> + "Honest to goodness, Mrs. Vick, she's not here. I haven't seen her since + day before yesterday." + </p> + <p> + "She said she was going over to spend the night with you. She left home + about four yesterday. Oh, my goodness, I—I—is there any one + else she might have,—I'm sure she said you, though, Annie. Can you + think of any one else? She took her nightdress—and things." + </p> + <p> + "She always comes here, Mrs. Vick," said Annie, and felt a little chill + creeping over her. "Still she may have gone to Mrs. Urline's. She and + Hattie are good friends. Shall I call up and ask? I'll ring you up in a + couple of minutes." + </p> + <p> + That was the beginning. Within the hour the whole of Windomville was + talking about the strange disappearance of the pretty daughter of Amos + Vick, across the river. Old Jim House, the handy-man at Dowd's Tavern, + inserted his shaggy head through the dining-room door and informed the + editor of the Sun in a far from ceremonious manner that he had an "item" + for the paper. + </p> + <p> + "I'll be out as soon as I've finished breakfast," said Mr. Pollock. + </p> + <p> + "Well, you can't say I didn't tell ye," said Jim, and withdrew his head. + "No wonder there ain't ever anything worth readin' in that pickerune paper + of his, Maggie," he growled to Margaret Slattery. "If ever I DO subscribe + for a paper, it's goin' to be one that's got some git up and go about it. + Some Injinapolis er Cincinnaty paper, b'gosh. There's Link Pollock settin' + in there eatin' pancakes while a girl is bein' missed from one end of the + township to the other. Bill Foss has—" + </p> + <p> + "What girl?" demanded Margaret. + </p> + <p> + "That girl of Amos Vick's. They ain't seen hide er hair of her sence + yesterday afternoon. Amos is over to the drug store, nearly crazy with + suspicion. I got it all figgered out. One of two things has happened. + She's either run off to get married er else she's been waylaid and—er—execrated + by some tramp. Like as not the very feller that peeped in at Alix Crown's + winder the other night. 'Twouldn't surprise me a particle if she was found + some'eres er other with her head beat in or somethin'! And Link Pollock + jest sits in there stuffin' pan—" + </p> + <p> + Margaret Slattery having disappeared abruptly into the dining-room, Jim + grunted and edged over to the kitchen range, where Miss Jennie Dowd was + busily engaged. + </p> + <p> + "I ain't got nothin' personal ag'in Link Pollock, Jennie," he said, + sniffing the browning batter with pleasurable longing, "but if you was to + ask me I'd say his wife is twice the man he is, and a little over. The + minute that woman is a widder I'm goin' to subscribe for the paper, 'cause + I know she'll—What say, Jennie?" + </p> + <p> + "Bring me another scuttle of coal,—and, for goodness' sake, don't + smoke that pipe in my kitchen." + </p> + <p> + "What's the matter with this here pipe?" demanded Mr. House in some + surprise. + </p> + <p> + "Never mind. I'm busy." + </p> + <p> + "Yes,—cookin' pancakes for that—all right, ALL RIGHT, I'll get + your coal fer ye. I ought to be out helpin' Amos Vick to investigate fer + his daughter, that's where I ought to be. First thing you know, he'll be + offerin' twenty-five er fifty dollars fer her and—say, it seems to + me you ought to be more interested in that pore lost girl than makin' + pancakes fer Link Pollock." He prepared to sit down. "There's a lot of + people in this here town payin' him two dollars a year fer to git the + news, and all he does is to—All right, I wasn't goin' to set down + anyways. I was jest movin' this cheer out o' the way a little, so's Maggie—Yes, + and with coal as high as it is now and a lot of pore people starvin' and + freezin' to death, it exaggerates me considerable to see you wastin'—Well, + is he still eatin', Maggie?" + </p> + <p> + "He's beat it upstairs to change his carpet slippers," announced Margaret + Slattery excitedly. "You needn't make any more, Miss Jennie. They're all + beatin' it,—all except Mr. Thane, and he says he don't want any + more. He says he ain't feelin' well and thinks he'll go up to his room and + lay down for a while." + </p> + <p> + "Well, seein's you don't need that coal, Jennie, I guess I'll mosey along + and see if I c'n be any help to Amos. This jest goes to show what an ijit + I'd ha' been to let my pipe go out." + </p> + <p> + Courtney Thane hung over the little stove in his room, shivering as with a + chill. About ten o'clock some one knocked at his door. He started up from + the chair, his gaze fixed on the door. With an effort he pulled himself + together and inquired who was there. + </p> + <p> + "Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. Thane?" asked Miss Molly Dowd, + outside. + </p> + <p> + "Nothing, thank you." After a moment's indecision, he crossed over and + opened the door. "It's awfully good of you, Miss Molly. There's nothing + really the matter with me. I was awake most of the night with a pain in my + back,—something like lumbago, I suppose. I was afraid at first it + was my old pleurisy coming back for another visit, but it seems to be + lower down. I feel much better, thank you. The fresh air will do me good. + I think I'll go out and see if I can be of any assistance to poor Vick. + Have they had any news of Rosabel?" + </p> + <p> + "I think not. They have telephoned to the city to ask the police to watch + out for her, especially at the trains. She's been terribly depressed, they + say, since her brother went to the Navy training school up near Chicago. + Amos thinks she may have taken it into her head to go up there somewhere + to be near him." + </p> + <p> + "It is possible. She was devoted to her brother. I hope nothing worse has + happened to her. She is a sweet, lovable girl, and they worshipped her." + </p> + <p> + Later on, as he was standing in front of the postoffice, smoking a + cigarette, Vick came up in Alix Crown's automobile. + </p> + <p> + The former had been to the city to consult with the police. He inquired + anxiously if any word had been received from the men who had volunteered + to search in the woods and along the river bank for the girl. Receiving a + reply in the negative from several of the hangers-on, he turned to give an + order to the chauffeur. As he did so, his gaze fell upon Courtney, who was + on the outer edge of the little group surrounding the car. + </p> + <p> + After a moment of indecision, the young man pushed his way forward, an + expression of deep concern in his eyes. + </p> + <p> + "Morning, Courtney," greeted the older man, extending his hand. "I'm glad + to see you. I suppose you've heard about Rosabel?" + </p> + <p> + Thane shook hands with Rosabel's father. + </p> + <p> + "I wouldn't be worried if I were you, Mr. Vick. She'll turn up all right. + I feel sure of it. If there is anything in the world I can do, I wish you + would say so, Mr. Vick. Anything, sir. There is nothing I wouldn't do for + you and Mrs. Vick and Rosabel. I adore that child. Why, I get positively + sick all over when I let myself think that—but, it's impossible! I + feel it in my bones she'll come home sometime today." + </p> + <p> + Vick pressed the young man's hand. + </p> + <p> + "I wish I could be sure of that,—God, I wish I could be sure," he + said, with a little catch in his gruff voice. "I don't see what got into + her to run away like this. She ain't been very chipper since Cale went + away, you know. Sort of sick and down in the mouth. Her mother's heard her + crying a good bit lately up in her room. I promised her only a couple of + days ago to take her up to Chicago for a spell, so's she could see Cale + every once in a while. So it can't be she's gone off on her own hook to + see him, knowin' that either me or her mother was planning to go up with + her next week. Thank you, Courtney, for offering to help us. If there's + anything, I'll let you know. We've been telegraphin' and telephonin' + everywhere to see if we can get track of her, and we've been to all her + friends' homes to ask if they've seen her. I wish, if you feel like it, + you'd go over and see Mrs. Vick. Maybe you can cheer her up, encourage her + or something. She's terribly worried. I—I think it would break her + heart if anything happened to—to—" His lips twisted as with + pain. He bent over and picked a burr from his trousers' leg. + </p> + <p> + "Buck up, old fellow," said Courtney, a ringing note of confidence in his + voice. He laid his hand on Vick's arm. "Tell me all about it. When did she + leave the house, and where did she say she was going?" + </p> + <p> + "Yesterday afternoon. She said she was going to spend the night at the + Jordans'. She kissed her mother good-bye,—just as she always does,—and + we ain't seen or heard anything of her since. Nobody in Windomville saw + her. Bill Foss is afraid she may have been waylaid by hoboes down along + the river road. If—if THAT happened there'll be something worse than + lynchin' if I ever lay hands on—" + </p> + <p> + Thane broke in with an oath. + </p> + <p> + "By God, I'll do the job for you if I get hold of him first, Vick. I could + set fire to a devil like that and see him burned alive without moving a + muscle." + </p> + <p> + "I can't let myself believe she's met with any such horrible fate as that, + Courtney. I simply can't bear to think of my pretty little Rosie in the + hands of—" + </p> + <p> + "Don't think about it, Vick. I believe she will turn up safe and sound and—By + the way, has it occurred to you that she may have eloped? Was she in love + with anybody? Was she interested in any young fellow that you didn't + approve of?" + </p> + <p> + "She never spoke of being in love with anybody. She never even gave us an + inklin' of such a thing. She would have told her mother. Why, good + heavens, Courtney, she wasn't much more'n a little girl! She was eighteen + her last birthday, and we never thought of her as anything but a child + just out of short dresses. Did she ever speak to you about being gone on + any of these young fellows that come to see her? She liked you tremendous, + Courtney,—and I didn't know but what maybe she might have mentioned + something to you about it when you were off on those long walks together. + Some of the times when you used to take a lunch basket and go off—" + </p> + <p> + "Not a word," broke in Courtney. "Why, she was just like a kid, laughing + and singing and begging me to tell her stories about the war, and life in + New York, and all that sort of thing. She used to read to me, bless her + heart,—read by the hour while I smoked,—or went to sleep. If + she was in love with anybody she certainly never took me into her + confidence." + </p> + <p> + "I—I guess there's nothing in that theory," said Amos Vick, shaking + his head. "She didn't run away with anybody. That's out of the question. + I'm working on the theory that she sort of went out of her head or + something and wandered away. You read about cases like that in the papers. + I forget what they call the disease, but there's—" + </p> + <p> + "Aphasia," supplied Courtney absently. His gaze was fixed on a graceful, + familiar figure down the street. + </p> + <p> + Alix Crown had just dismounted from her horse in front of the library. She + stood, straight and slim, on the sidewalk awaiting the approach of Editor + Pollock, who was hurrying up from Assessor Jordan's house where he had + been "interviewing" Annie. + </p> + <p> + A warm glow shot through Courtney's veins. He had held that adorable, + boyish figure tight in his arms! Nothing could rob him of that rapturous + thought,—nothing could deprive him of those victorious moments. Amos + Vick's voice recalled him. + </p> + <p> + "I'll have to be on the move, Courtney. Here comes Bill Foss. He's been + telephonin' to Litchtown, down the river. I do wish you'd go over and see + Lucinda. She'll be mighty grateful to you." + </p> + <p> + "Don't fail to call on me, Mr. Vick, if there's anything I can do," called + out Courtney after the moving machine. + </p> + <p> + He did not take his eyes from Alix until she disappeared through the + library door. The horse, a very fine animal, was wet with sweat. He could + see, even at that distance, the "lather" on her flanks. + </p> + <p> + "Any news?" he inquired of Pollock, as that worthy came up panting. + </p> + <p> + "Nope. Alix Crown is just back from Jim Bagley's. Some one said a hired + man of his had seen a woman walking across the pasture yesterday just + before dark—out near the old Windom place,—but it couldn't + have been Rosie Vick because she had no way to get across the river except + by the ferry, and she didn't come that way, Joe Burk swears. Alix saw this + hired man and he says it was almost dark and he couldn't be sure whether + it was a man or a woman." + </p> + <p> + A greyish pallor spread over Courtney's face. He turned away abruptly and + hurried down the street. He remembered the "skiff" that belonged to young + Cale, salvaged some years before on the abatement of a February flood. On + more than one occasion he had taken Rosabel out on the river in this + clumsy old boat, twice at least to the base of Quill's Window where she + had refused to land because of the dread she had for the gruesome place. + </p> + <p> + Cale kept his boat down among the willows, chained to a pole he had driven + deep in the bed of the river. It was one of his treasures. He had fished + from it up and down the stream; he had gone forth in it at daybreak for + wild ducks and geese. + </p> + <p> + Yes, Thane remembered the "skiff." Strange that no one else had thought of + it. Strange that even Amos Vick was satisfied she could not have crossed + the river except by the ferry. He wondered whether it was tied up in its + accustomed place over yonder, or was it now on this side of the river? He + felt a strange chill in his blood. + </p> + <p> + He was nearing the library when Alix came out. If she saw him she gave no + sign. She crossed the sidewalk threw the bridle rein over the horse's + neck, and swung herself gracefully into the saddle. Without so much as a + glance over her shoulder, she rode off at a brisk canter in the direction + of the ferry. He knew she was on her way to see Mrs. Vick. + </p> + <p> + The R. F. D. postman making his rounds, came to Amos Vick's shortly after + noon that day. He volunteered a bit of information. Rosabel had given him + a letter when he stopped the day before. It was addressed to Caleb Vick. + She asked him how long he thought it would take the letter to reach its + destination. When he told her that it might be delivered to Cale early the + next day, she thanked him and returned to the house. + </p> + <p> + He thought at the time that she looked "kind of white around the gills." + </p> + <p> + II — Jim Bagley and his new "hired man," pursuing a suggestion made + by the latter, went to the top of Quill's Window for a bird's-eye view of + the river and the surrounding country. The sharp eyes of the Pinkerton man + descried the rowboat under the willows along the opposite bank of the + stream. + </p> + <p> + Half an hour later, Bagley and several companions came upon the boat. On + one of the seats lay Rosabel Vick's heavy coat and the black fur collar + she was known to have worn when she left home. Under the seat in the stern + was a small paper bundle. It contained a nightgown, a pair of black + stockings, and several toilet articles. + </p> + <p> + Across the river, several hundred yards above Quill's Window, a small + gravelly "sand-bar" reached out into the stream. Here the practised eyes + of Gilfillan found unmistakable indications of a recent landing. The prow + of the boat, driven well out upon the bar, had left its mark. Also, there + were two deep cuts in the sand where an oar had been used in pushing off. + It was impossible to make out footprints in the loose, shifting gravel. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Gilfillan pondered deeply. + </p> + <p> + "That boat crossed over here yesterday," he reflected. "It's pretty clear + that it belongs over on that side. If the Vick girl came over in it, + there's no use looking for her on this side of the river. That boat + couldn't have got back to the other side unless somebody rowed it over. If + it was a woman I saw walking across the pasture in the direction of the + river, it must have been this girl. Now—one of two things happened—in + case it was the Vick girl. Either she was up near that old house before I + got there, or she saw me when she was approaching, and turned back. In + either case, she had an object in hanging around that house. Now we come + to the object. Was she going there to meet some one? If so, it would + naturally be a man. + </p> + <p> + "Now let's get this thing straight. Thane crossed the pasture from this + direction. That's positive,—because I followed him. It is a dead + certainty he did not meet the Vick girl. I would have witnessed any such + meeting. The fact that he lived at her father's house for several weeks + may have something to do with the case,—but that's guesswork. What + we want is facts. This much is certain. I did not see Miss Crown go into + that house,—but I did see her come out. I never was so paralysed in + my life. It is clear, therefore, that she was in there before either I or + Thane came upon the scene. Now the question is, was she there to meet + Thane? I doubt it. Things begin to look a little clearer to me. Suppose, + for instance, he went out to that big hill to meet some one else,—presumably + the Vick girl, and that they had planned to go to that old deserted house. + He was late. So, thinking she had gone on, he hustled across the field and + received the surprise of his life. Now, we'll say the Vick girl was over + there waiting for him when Miss Crown came to the house,—a thing + they couldn't have foreseen in view of the fact that she shunned the + place. Our hero comes up and enters the house as if he owned it. The other + girl hangs around outside till it gets dark enough for her to risk making + a getaway without attracting my attention,—in case she saw me. She + beats it back to the river, and then, being afraid that I saw and + recognized her, she concludes to beat it to somebody's house over in the + next county, so's she'll have an alibi if I go to Miss Crown with the + story. Now, that's one way to look at it. The other angle is that she was + jealous and trailed Thane to his rendezvous, as my old friend Nick Carter + would say. In that case,—By thunder!" He gave vent to a soft + whistle. + </p> + <p> + "In that case, she may have jumped into the river and—No, that + doesn't hang together. She wouldn't have gone to the trouble to row back + to the other side. Wait a second! Now, let me think. Here's an idea. We'll + suppose somebody waylaid her over there on the other side of the river, + put the quietus on her and chucked her into the water. Then he rowed + across here and started for the turnpike. Seeing me and also Thane, he + turns back. It's a man I see in the darkness instead of a woman. He goes + back to the boat, rows over to the other side again and—Holy + Mackerel! Here's a new one. That girl's body may be lying up there in the + underbrush at this instant. Dumped there by the murderer, who turned back + after seeing me—I'll take a look!" + </p> + <p> + For an hour Gilfillan searched through the underbrush along the bank. + Finally he gave it up and started toward the village. He found the town in + a state of great excitement. Everybody was hurrying down to the river. + Overtaking an old man, he inquired if there was any news of the missing + girl. + </p> + <p> + "They say she's been drownded," chattered the ancient. "My daughter says + they found her things in a boat, but no sign of her. Did you ever see the + beat? They's been more goin' on in this here town in the last week than—" + </p> + <p> + Gilfillan hurried on. He caught Charlie Webster as he was leaving the + warehouse. + </p> + <p> + "I want to see Miss Crown as soon as possible, Webster," he said. "Do you + suppose she will go up in the air if I mention the fact that I know she + was with Thane yesterday up in that old house? It's a rather ticklish + thing to spring on her if she—" + </p> + <p> + "It's all right," interrupted Charlie. "I talked with her about it last + night. She had no idea he was coming there. He told her he saw her from + across the pasture and hustled over. She was surprised almost out of her + skin when he popped in on her. She tells me she ordered him out of the + house." + </p> + <p> + The detective was thoughtful. "I wonder if it has occurred to Miss Crown + that Thane might have mistaken her for some one else at that distance." + </p> + <p> + "Not so's you'd notice it," declared Charlie. "He knew it was Alix all + right. She isn't in any doubt on that score." + </p> + <p> + "It begins to take shape," mused Gilfillan. "He didn't wait for her, + that's all." + </p> + <p> + "What say?" + </p> + <p> + "I was just thinking," replied the other. "Where is Thane at the present + moment, Webster?" + </p> + <p> + "He just went off in an automobile with Dick Hurdle and a couple of + fellows to stretch one of Joe Hart's big fish nets across the river down + at the Narrows, five or six miles below here." + </p> + <p> + "Would you mind inviting me up to your room at the Tavern for a little + while, Webster?" + </p> + <p> + "Well, I was going down to the ferry. There are half a dozen skiffs down—" + </p> + <p> + "See here, Webster, as I understand it, my real job is to find out all I + can about this chap Thane. I am really working for you, not for Miss + Crown, although she is putting up the money. I am just as thoroughly + convinced as you are that Thane staged that masked robber business + himself. It's an old gag, especially with lovers—and occasionally + with husbands." + </p> + <p> + Charlie grinned sheepishly, a guilty flush staining his rubicund face. + </p> + <p> + "I guess I might as well confess that I was guilty of something of the + sort when I was about seventeen," he said. "That's how I came to figger + out that maybe he was up to the same kind of heroism." + </p> + <p> + "Nearly every kid has done the same thing. It's boy nature." + </p> + <p> + "I reckon that's right. I fixed it for a boy friend of mine to jump out of + a dark place one night when I was walkin' home from a church sociable with + my girl. He had false whiskers on. I helped him glue them on,—and he + had an awful time getting 'em off. Course when he jumped out and growled + 'hands up,' I just sailed into him and the fur flew for a few seconds. + Then he run like a whitehead. It didn't work out very well, however. That + kid's sister got onto the trick and told my girl about it, and—well, + I almost had to leave town. But it ain't a game for a grown-up man to + play, and that's what I think this feller Thane has been pulling." + </p> + <p> + "What you want to find out, before it's too late, is whether Thane is all + that he professes to be," said the other. "Well, I'm simply sitting tight + on the job, stalling along until I hear from our people in New York. They + have cabled England to find out whether he was connected with the British + air forces. Now, what I want to do is to get into that fellow's room for + ten or fifteen minutes. Can you fix it?" + </p> + <p> + "It—it wouldn't be legal," protested Charlie. "You've got to get out + a search warrant." + </p> + <p> + "My dear fellow, I'm not planning to steal anything," exclaimed Gilfillan. + "I merely want to get into his room by mistake. That happens frequently,—you + know." + </p> + <p> + Charlie was finally persuaded. He cast an apprehensive glance down the + road leading to the ferry, searched the Main Street for observers, and + then led the way over to the practically deserted Tavern. + </p> + <p> + Half an hour later Mr. Gilfillan re-entered Charlie's room. + </p> + <p> + "Remember I don't know where you've been or what you were up to," warned + the fat man firmly. "I'm not a party to this nefarious—" + </p> + <p> + "Righto!" said the detective cheerily. "Your skirts are clear. They are + immaculate. Let's beat it." + </p> + <p> + "Well, what did you find out?" inquired Charlie, when they were in the + street once more. He was bursting with curiosity. + </p> + <p> + "In as much as you don't know where I was or what I've been doing, it will + not compromise you if I say that I found a thirty-eight calibre revolver + with three empty shells in the cylinder. I also found a theatrical make-up + box, with grease paints, gauze, and all that. Also currency amounting to + about three hundred dollars. Nothing incriminating, nothing actually + crooked. Simply circumstantial as relating to recent events in your midst, + Mr. Webster." + </p> + <p> + "Makes it look mighty certain that he was the feller with the mask, don't + it? Only three shots were fired, you know. I've been thinking a lot about + what you said awhile ago. You don't think that he had anything to do with—with + putting the Vick girl out of the way? You spoke about him being mistaken + in the woman." + </p> + <p> + "He had nothing to do with it, Webster. I told you I saw a figure in the + pasture after he had gone into the house. If it was the Vick girl, she was + certainly alive then. He went straight home after leaving that house. He + didn't go out of the Tavern again last night, that's positive. Now, what I + want to find out is this: was the girl in love with him? Was there + anything between them? If she's at the bottom of the river down there, + it's a plain case of suicide, my friend, and people do not take their own + lives unless there's a mighty good reason. With a young girl it's usually + a case of unrequited love,—or worse. According to that letter Miss + Miller had from New York, Thane is not above betraying a girl. Of course, + if the Vick girl is dead and left nothing behind to implicate Thane, it + will be out of the question to charge him with being even indirectly + responsible for her death." + </p> + <p> + "The main thing," said Charlie, who had turned a shade paler during this + matter-of-fact, cold-blooded analysis, "is to keep Alix Crown from falling + into his clutches. He's a bad egg, that feller is, and he's made up his + mind to win her by fair means or foul." + </p> + <p> + "Well, if she falls for him after reading that lawyer's letter and when + she hears what I believe to be the truth about that heroic episode the + other night,—why, she ought to get what's coming to her, that's all + I have to say," said Mr. Gilfillan flatly. "I've discovered one thing, Mr. + Webster. If a woman makes up her mind to marry a man, hell-fire and + brimstone can't stop her. The older I get and the more I see of women, the + more I am convinced that vice is its own reward. I guess we'd better + stroll down to the river and see what's doing." + </p> + <p> + "I've been thinking," said Charlie as they walked along, "that if Thane + wasn't in the British Army and wasn't in our army, then he must be a + slacker and wanted by the government for—" + </p> + <p> + "Nothing doing on that line. You forget he was crippled long before the + war. He couldn't get by a medical board. They'd turn him down in a second. + If he was in this country at the time of the draft, he would have had no + trouble getting an exemption. What I can't understand is why he, a New + Yorker, should be hiding out here in the jungles of Indiana. There's + something queer about that, my friend." + </p> + <p> + "Kind of fishy," said Charlie darkly. Then upon reflection, he added with + considerable vehemence: "Damn him!" + </p> + <p> + Already half a dozen rowboats were out in the stream, with men peering + over the sides into the deep, slow-moving water. Burk's Ferry did a + thriving business. It plied back and forth from one "road-cut" to the + other, crowded with foot passengers, all of whom studied the water + intently. Men, women and children tramped close to the edge of both banks. + People spoke in subdued voices; an atmosphere of the deepest solemnity + hung over the scene. + </p> + <p> + The sky itself was overcast; a raw wind moaned through the trees, sighing + a requiem. The drab, silent river went placidly, mockingly on its way down + to the sea, telling no tales: if Rosabel Vick was rolling, gliding along + the bottom, gently urged by the current, the grim waters covered well the + secret. + </p> + <p> + The word went from lip to lip that motor-boats were on the way down from + the city, with police officers and grappling-hooks and men experienced in + the gruesome business of "dragging." The boss of the railway construction + gang at Hawkins, where the new bridge was being built, had started for + Windomville with a quantity of dynamite to be exploded on the bottom of + the river in the hope and expectation of bringing the body to the surface. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXI — OUT OF THE NIGHT + </h2> + <p> + All afternoon the search continued. At intervals and at widely separated + points dull explosions took place on the bed of the river, creating + smooth, round hillocks that lasted for the fraction of a second and then + dissolved into swift-spreading wavelets, stained a dirty yellow by the + upheaval of sand and mud, and went racing in ruffles to the banks which + they tenderly licked before they died. White-bellied fish, killed by the + shock of the explosions, came to the surface and floated away,—scores + of them, large and small. Spider-like grappling hooks, with their curving + iron prongs, raked the bottom from side to side, moving constantly + downstream, feeling here, there and everywhere with insensate fingers for + the body of Rosabel Vick. + </p> + <p> + A pall settled over the river; it reached far beyond the environs of + Windomville, for Amos Vick was a man known and respected by every farmer + in the district. + </p> + <p> + Night came. Courtney Thane, considerably shaken by the tragedy, set out + immediately after dinner for the home of Alix Crown. He had been silent + and depressed at dinner, taking his little part in the conversation, which + dealt exclusively with the incomprehensible act of young Rosabel Vick. + </p> + <p> + "What possible reason could that pretty happy young girl have had for + killing herself?" That was the question every one asked and no one + answered. Mrs. Maude Baggs Pollock repeatedly asked it at dinner, and once + Thane had replied: + </p> + <p> + "I still don't believe she killed herself. It is beyond belief. If she is + out there in the river, as they suspect, it is because there was foul + play. Some fiend attacked her. I will never believe anything else, Mrs. + Pollock. I knew her too well. She would never dream of killing herself. + She loved life too well. I can't help feeling that she is alive and well + somewhere, that they will hear from her in a day or two, and that—" + </p> + <p> + "But how about the things they found in that boat?" demanded Doc Simpson. + "She wouldn't be so heartless as to play a trick like that on her folks." + </p> + <p> + Courtney's answer was a gloomy shake of the head. + </p> + <p> + His heart was pounding heavily as he trudged up the walk to Alix's door. + He knew that the crisis in his affairs was at hand. She had asked him to + come. He had not given up hope. He was still confident of his power to win + in spite of her amazing perversity. Inconsistency, he called it. Of one + thing he was resolved: he would brook no delay. She would have to marry + him at once. He wanted to get away from Windomville as soon as possible. + He loathed the place. + </p> + <p> + Hilda came to the door. + </p> + <p> + "Miss Crown is over at Mr. Vick's," she announced. "She's not at home." + </p> + <p> + He stiffened. "I had an appointment with her for this evening, Hilda. She + must be at home." + </p> + <p> + "She ain't," said the maid succinctly. + </p> + <p> + "Did she leave any word for me?" + </p> + <p> + "Not with me, sir. She telephoned to Mrs. Strong this evening to say she + was going to stay with Mrs. Vick." + </p> + <p> + "All night?" + </p> + <p> + "No, sir. The car's going down to meet her at the ferry about ten + o'clock." + </p> + <p> + He departed in a very unpleasant frame of mind. This was laying it on a + bit thick, he complained. If she thought she could treat him in this + cavalier fashion she'd soon find out where she "got off." What business + had she, anyhow, over at the Vicks? All the old women in the neighbourhood + would be there to—An idea struck him suddenly. + </p> + <p> + "I'll do it," he muttered. "I'll have to go over some time, so why not + now? It's the decent thing to do. I'll go tonight." + </p> + <p> + He hurried up to his room. Opening his trunk, he took out his revolver, + replaced the discharged shells and stuck it into his overcoat pocket. + Picking up the little package of bank-notes, he fingered them for a moment + and then, moved by an impulse for which he had no explanation, he not only + counted them but quickly stuffed them into his trousers' pocket. + Afterwards he was convinced that premonition was responsible for this + incomprehensible act. + </p> + <p> + He crossed the ferry with several other people. The moon had broken + through the clouds. Its light upon the cold, sluggish water produced the + effect of polished steel. It reminded him of the grey surface of an + ancient suit of armour. The crossing was slow. He could not repress a + shudder when he looked downstream and saw lights that seemed to be fixed + in the centre of the river. He closed his eyes. He could not bear to look + at the cold, silent water. The soft splashing against the broad, square + bow of the old-fashioned ferry served to increase his nervousness. The + horrid fancy struck him that Rosabel Vick was out there ahead clawing at + the slimy timbers in the vain effort to draw herself out of the + water....He wished to God he had not come. + </p> + <p> + He was the first person off the ferry when it came to a stop on the + farther side of the river. Ahead of him lay the road through the narrow + belt of trees that lined the bank. He knew that a scant hundred yards lay + between the river and the open road beyond and yet a vast dread possessed + him. He shrank from that black opening in the wall of trees where dead + leaves rustled and the wind whispered secrets to the barren branches. + </p> + <p> + He fell in behind a couple of men who strode fearlessly into the dark + avenue. After him came two men and a woman. They were all strangers to + him, so far as he could make out, but he felt a sense of security in their + nearness. He gathered that they were bound for Amos Vick's. Presently they + came to the open road beyond the trees. The half moon rode high and clear; + the figures of his companions took shape, dusky and ghost-like; the fences + alongside the road became visible, while straw-ricks, lone trees and other + shadowy objects emerged from the maw of the night. Here and there in the + distance points of light indicated the presence of invisible farmhouses, + while straight ahead, a mile or more away, a cluster of lights marked the + house of Amos Vick. + </p> + <p> + As he drew nearer, Thane was able to count the lights. He looked intently + for the sixth window, an upstairs corner room was where it would be,—but + there were lights in only five. The corner window was dark. He knew that + window well....He wished he had a stiff drink of whiskey. + </p> + <p> + Half a dozen automobiles stood at the roadside in front of the house. He + stopped beside one of them to look at his wrist-watch. It was half-past + eight. Alix would be starting home in less than an hour. No doubt it had + been arranged that one of these cars was to take her down to the ferry. He + had seen her saddle horse late that afternoon standing in front of the + blacksmith's shop, evidently waiting to be re-shod. + </p> + <p> + If he had his way,—and he was determined to have it,—Alix + would walk with him to the ferry. + </p> + <p> + As he turned in at the gate he observed that the woman and her two + companions, after pausing for a moment to look at the house, continued + their way up the road. The men who had preceded him all the way were + already on the front porch. He followed the disappearing trio with his + eyes. The woman, he noticed for the first time, was very tall,—quite + as tall as the men. She wore a shawl over her head, and some sort of a + long cloak. + </p> + <p> + Setting his jaw he strode up the walk, looking neither to right nor left, + mounted the steps where many a night he had sat with Rosabel beside him, + and after passing a group of low-voiced neighbours, knocked on the closed + door. He was admitted by an elderly woman who looked askance at this + well-dressed stranger. + </p> + <p> + "I am Mr. Thane, a friend," he said. "Will you tell Mrs. Vick, please?" + </p> + <p> + "She's upstairs, and I—I—" + </p> + <p> + "I think she is expecting me. But,—wait. I thought I might be able + to comfort her, but I can see by your expression that she isn't feeling up + to seeing people. I came over primarily to see if there is anything I can + do, Madam. You see, Rosabel and I were great pals." His voice broke a + little, and he bit his nether lip. + </p> + <p> + "We've finally got her to lie down," said the woman. "She's—she's + nearly crazy with the suspense and—everything. If you'll wait a + little bit, I'll find out if she feels like seeing you. Alix Crown is with + her. She coaxed her to stretch out on the bed. Miss Crown understands + these things. She did some hospital work during the war—" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, I know Miss Crown," he interrupted. + </p> + <p> + "—and saw a lot of suffering, 'specially among mothers who came to + see their crippled and sick sons in the hospitals." + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps if you were to tell Miss Crown that I am here she could—but + no, I sha'n't even bother Miss Crown. She's got her hands full. I will sit + down and wait awhile, however. If by any chance, you should be able to get + word to Mrs. Vick that I am here, I think she might feel like seeing me." + </p> + <p> + "I'll see," said the woman dubiously, and went away. + </p> + <p> + Courtney sat down on a sofa in the parlour. He looked around the lamp-lit + room....Over in the corner was the upright piano on which Rosabel used to + play for him. He could see her now—the shapely, girlish back; the + round, white neck and the firm young shoulders; the tilt of her head; the + strong, brown hands,—he could see her now. And she used to turn her + head and smile at him, and make dreadful grimaces when this diversion + resulted in a discord....He got up suddenly and walked out into the + dining-room. + </p> + <p> + Beyond, in the kitchen, he heard the rumble of men's voices. He hesitated + for a moment, and then opened the door. There were half a dozen men in the + kitchen, and one of them was Amos Vick. They were preparing to go out into + the night. Vick's face was haggard, his garments were muddy, his long + rubber boots were covered with sludge and sand. Catching sight of Thane in + the doorway, the farmer went toward him, his hand outstretched. + </p> + <p> + "I'm glad you came, Courtney," he said, his voice hoarse but steady. + "Lucinda will be pleased. Does she know you're here?" + </p> + <p> + "I sent word up, but if she doesn't feel like—" + </p> + <p> + "She'll want to see you. We're starting out again. Down the river." (His + voice shook a little.) "My soul,—boy,—you look as white as a + sheet. Here,—take a good swig of this. It's some rye that Steve + White brought over. We all needed it. Help yourself. You've been overdoing + a little today, Courtney. You're not fit for this sort of—That's + right! That will brace you up. You needed it, my boy." Courtney drained + half a tumbler of whiskey neat. He choked a little. + </p> + <p> + "I guess we'd better be starting, Amos," said Steve White. + </p> + <p> + "Take me along with you, Mr. Vick," cried Courtney, squaring his + shoulders. "I can't stand being idle while—" + </p> + <p> + "You'd catch your death of cold," interrupted Vick, laying his hand on the + young man's shoulder. "It's mighty fine of you and I—I sha'n't + forget it. But you're not fit for an all night job like this. I feel sort + of responsible for you, my boy. Your mother would never forgive me if + anything happened to you, and this is a time when we've got to think about + the mothers. Good night,—God bless you, Courtney." + </p> + <p> + "Good night, Amos." + </p> + <p> + The men trooped heavily out of the kitchen door. + </p> + <p> + Presently he heard the chugging of automobile engines and then the roar as + they sped off down the road. He returned to the parlour. The whiskey had + given him fresh confidence. + </p> + <p> + The elderly woman was talking to a couple of men in the hall. From the + scraps of conversation he was able to pick up, he gathered that they were + reporters from the city. She invited him into the room. + </p> + <p> + "We would prefer a very recent picture," one of the men was saying. + "Something taken within the last few weeks, if possible. A snap-shot will + do, Madam." + </p> + <p> + The speaker was a middle-aged man with horn-rimmed spectacles. His + companion was much the younger of the two. The latter bowed to Thane, who + had taken a position before the fireplace and was regarding the strangers + with interest. + </p> + <p> + "I'll have to speak to Mrs. Vick," murmured the woman. "I don't know as + she would want Rosabel's picture printed in the papers." + </p> + <p> + "It would be of incalculable assistance, Madam, in case she has run away + from home. We have an idea that she may have planted those garments in the + boat in order to throw people off the track." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, she—she wouldn't have done that," cried the woman. "She + couldn't be so heartless." + </p> + <p> + "You overlook the possibility that her mind may be affected. Dementia + frequently takes the form of—er—you might say unnatural + cunning." + </p> + <p> + "I'll speak to Mrs. Vick. There's a scrap-book of Kodak pictures there on + the table. I was looking through it today. She and her brother, Cale, made + heaps of pictures. You might be looking through it while I go upstairs." + </p> + <p> + Thane was lighting a cigarette. + </p> + <p> + "Have you told Miss Crown that I am here?" asked he, as she started toward + the stairs. + </p> + <p> + "She says she'll be down in a few minutes. Mrs. Vick wants to see you + before you go." + </p> + <p> + The two reporters were examining the contents of the scrap-book. The + younger of the two was standing at the end of the little marble-topped + table, his body screening the book from Courtney's view. + </p> + <p> + There were a number of loose prints lying between the leaves toward the + end of the book. Rosabel had neglected to paste them in. The man with the + horn-rimmed spectacles ran through them hastily. He stealthily slipped two + of these prints up his sleeve. + </p> + <p> + Thane would have been startled could he have seen those prints. They were + not pictures of Rosabel Vick, but fair-sized, quite excellent likenesses + of himself! + </p> + <p> + The woman returned to say that Mrs. Vick was very much upset by the + thought of her daughter's picture appearing in the paper, and could not + think of allowing them to use it. + </p> + <p> + The elder man bowed courteously. "I quite understand, Madam. We would not + dream of using the picture if it would give pain to the unhappy mother. + Please assure her that we respect her wishes. Thank you for your kindness. + We must be on our way back to town. Good night, Madam." + </p> + <p> + "These reporters are awful nuisances," remarked Courtney as the front door + closed behind the two men. "Always butting in where they're not wanted." + </p> + <p> + "They seemed very nice," observed the woman. + </p> + <p> + "I've never seen one that wasn't a sneak," said he, raising his voice a + little. The whiskey was having its effect. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Vick and Alix entered the room together. The former came straight + toward the young man. Her rather heavy face was white and drawn, but her + eyes were wide and bright with anxiety. There was no trace of tears. He + knew there would be no scene, no hysterics. Lucinda Vick was made of + stern, heroic stuff. As he advanced, holding out his hands, he noticed + that she was fully dressed. She could be ready at a moment's notice to go + to her daughter. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, Courtney!" she cried, and a little spasm of pain convulsed her face + for a fleeting second or two. Her voice was husky, tight with strain. + </p> + <p> + He took her cold, trembling hands in his. + </p> + <p> + "It's inconceivable," he cried. "I can't believe it, I won't believe it. + You poor, poor thing!" + </p> + <p> + "It's true. She's gone. My little girl is gone. I could curse God." She + spoke in a low, emotionless voice. "Why should He have taken her in this + way? What have we done to deserve this cruelty? Why couldn't He have let + her die in my arms, with her head upon my breast,—where it belongs?" + </p> + <p> + "Don't give up—yet," he stammered, confounded by this amazing + exhibition of self-control. "There is a chance,—yes, there is a + chance, Mrs. Vick. Don't give up. Be—be brave." + </p> + <p> + She shook her head. "She is dead," came from her stiff lips, and that was + all. + </p> + <p> + He laid his arm across her shoulder. "I wish to God it was me instead of + her," he cried fervently. "I would take her place—willingly, Mrs. + Vick." + </p> + <p> + "I—I know you would, Courtney," said she, looking into his eyes. + "You were her best friend. She adored you. I know you would,—God + bless you!" + </p> + <p> + He looked away. His gaze fell upon Alix, standing in the door. His eyes + brightened. The hunted expression left them. An eager, hungry light came + into them. She was staring at him. Gradually he came to the realization + that she was looking at him with unspeakable horror. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Vick was speaking. He hardly heard a word she uttered. + </p> + <p> + "It was kind of you to come, Courtney. Thank you. I must go now. I—I + can't stand it,—I can't stand it!" + </p> + <p> + She left him abruptly. Alix stood aside to allow her to pass through the + door. They heard her go up the stairs, heavily, hurriedly. + </p> + <p> + "Alix!" he whispered, holding out his hands. + </p> + <p> + She did not move. + </p> + <p> + "I went up to the house to see you," he hurried on. "They told me you were + here. I—" + </p> + <p> + Her gesture checked the eager words. + </p> + <p> + "You snake!" She fairly hissed the word. + </p> + <p> + He drew back, speechless. She came a few steps nearer. + </p> + <p> + "You snake!" she repeated, her eyes blazing. + </p> + <p> + "Wha—What do you mean?" he gasped, a fiery red rushing to his face. + </p> + <p> + "Would you have died for the Ritter girl?" + </p> + <p> + A bomb exploding at his feet could not have produced a greater shock. His + mouth fell open; the colour swiftly receded, leaving his face a sickly + white. + </p> + <p> + "Who the hell—" he began blankly. + </p> + <p> + "Be good enough to remember where you are," cried Alix, lowering her voice + as she glanced over her shoulder. "I can say all I have to say to you in a + very few words, Mr. Thane. Don't interrupt me. I have been a fool,—a + stupid fool. We need not go into that. Thank heaven, I happen to be made + of a little stronger stuff than others who have come under your influence. + You would have MARRIED me,—yes, I believe that,—because it + would have been the only way. I have the complete history of your betrayal + of the Ritter girl. I know how your leg was injured. I know that you were + kicked out of the American Ambulance and advised to leave France. I don't + believe you ever served in the British Army. I have every reason to + believe that you poisoned my dog, and that you,—were the man who + came to my window the other night. And I suspect that you are the cause of + poor Rosabel Vick's suicide. Now you know what I think of you. My God, how + could you have come here tonight? These people trusted you,—they + still trust you. Until now I did not believe such men as you existed. You—" + </p> + <p> + "I had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with Rosabel," he cried hoarsely. + He was trembling like a leaf. "Don't you go putting such ideas into their + heads. Don't you—" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, I am not likely to do that," she interrupted scornfully. "I shall not + add to their misery. If I could prove that you betrayed that poor, foolish + child,—then I would see to it that you paid the price. But I cannot + prove it. I only know that she would have been helpless in your hands. Oh, + I know your power! I have felt it. And I did not even pretend to myself + that I loved you. What chance would she have had if she loved and trusted + you? I shudder at the thought of—If Amos Vick should even suspect + you of wronging his child, he would not wait for proof. He would tear you + to pieces. You may be innocent. That is why I am giving you your chance. + Now, go!" + </p> + <p> + "You certainly will give me the opportunity to defend myself, Alix. Am I + to be condemned unheard? If you will allow me to walk to the ferry with + you—" + </p> + <p> + "And who is to act as my bodyguard?" she inquired with a significant + sneer. "Go! I never want to see your face again." + </p> + <p> + With that, she left him. He stood perfectly still, staring after the + slender, boyish figure until it was hidden from view by the bend of the + stairway. + </p> + <p> + His eyes were glassy. Fear possessed his soul. Suddenly he was aroused to + action. + </p> + <p> + "I'd better get out of this," he muttered. + </p> + <p> + His hand clutched the weapon in his coat pocket as he strode swiftly + toward the front door. Once outside he paused to look furtively about him + before descending the porch steps. Several men were standing near the + gate. The porch was deserted. He wondered if Amos Vick was down there + waiting for him. Then he remembered what Alix had said to him: "These + people trust you,—they still trust you." What had he to fear? He + laughed,—a short, jerky, almost inaudible laugh,—and went + confidently down the walk. As he passed the little group he uttered a + brief "good night" to the men, and was rewarded by a friendly response + from all of them. + </p> + <p> + Down the moonlit road he trudged, his brain working rapidly, feverishly. + In his heart was the rage of defeat, in his soul the clamour of fear,—not + fear now of the dark strip of woods but of the whole world about him. He + communed aloud. + </p> + <p> + "The first thing to do is to pack. I've got to do that tonight. I'm + through here. The jig's up. She means it. How the devil did she find out + all this stuff?...But if I leave immediately it will look suspicious. I've + got to stick around for a few days. If I beat it tomorrow morning some + one's bound to ask questions. It will look queer. Tomorrow I'll receive an + urgent letter calling me home. Mother needs me. Her health is bad....I + wonder if an autopsy would reveal anything....Tomorrow sure. I can't stand + it here another day....There's nothing to worry about,—not a thing,—but + what's the sense of my hanging around here any longer? She's on. Some + meddling whelp has been—Good Lord, I wonder if it could be that fat + fool, Webster?...If I skip out tonight, it would set Vick to + thinking....What a fool I was...." + </p> + <p> + And so on till he came to the woods. There, his face blanched and his + heart began to pound like a hammer. He drew the revolver from his pocket + and plunged desperately into the black tunnel; he was out of breath when + he ran down to the landing. + </p> + <p> + Through the gloom he distinguished the ferry boat three-quarters of the + way across the river, nearing the opposite bank. His "halloa" brought an + answer from the ferryman. Cursing his luck in missing the boat by so short + a margin of time, he sat down heavily on the stout wooden wall that + guarded the approach. It would be ten or fifteen minutes before the + tortoise-like craft could recross and pick him up. His gaze instantly went + downstream. The faint, rhythmic sound of oarlocks came to his ears. There + were no lights on the river, but after a time he made out the vague shape + of an object moving on the surface a long way off. From time to time it + was lost in the shadows of the tree-lined bank, only to steal into view + again as it moved slowly across a jagged opening in the far-reaching wall + of black. It was a boat coming upstream, hugging the bank to avoid the + current farther out. + </p> + <p> + Some one approached. He turned quickly and beheld the figure of a woman + coming down the road. His heart leaped. Could it be Alix? He dismissed the + thought immediately. This was a tall woman—in skirts. She came quite + close and stopped, her gaze evidently fixed upon him. Then she moved a + little farther down the slope and stood watching the ferry which, by this + time, was moving out from the farther side. He recognized the figure. It + was that of the gaunt woman who crossed with him earlier in the night. + </p> + <p> + The ferry was drawing out from the Windomville side when a faint shout + came from down the river. Burk answered the call, which was repeated. + </p> + <p> + "This is my busy night," growled the ferryman. "I ain't been up this late + in a coon's age. Not since the Old Settlers' Picnic three years ago down + at the old fort. I wonder if those fellers have got any news?" + </p> + <p> + Courtney stepped off the boat a few minutes later and hurried up the hill. + The woman followed. At the top of the slope he passed three or four men + standing in the shelter of the blacksmith shop, where they were protected + from the sharp, chill wind that had sprung up. A loud shout from below + caused him to halt. Burk, the ferryman, had called out through his cupped + hands: + </p> + <p> + "What say?" + </p> + <p> + The wind bore the answer from an unseen speaker in the night, clear and + distinct: "We've got her!" + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXII — THE THROWER OF STONES + </h2> + <p> + An icy chill, as of a great gust of wind, swept through and over Courtney + Thane. His mouth seemed suddenly to fill with water. He could not move. + The men by the forge ran swiftly down the hill. The tall woman turned and + after a moment followed the men, stopping in the middle of the road a few + rods above the landing. She was still standing there when Courtney + recovering his power of locomotion struck off rapidly in the direction of + Dowd's Tavern. Halfway home he came to an abrupt halt. An inexplicable + irresistible force was drawing his mind and body back to the river's edge. + He did not want to go back there and see—Rosabel. He tried not to + turn his steps in that direction, and yet something like a magnet was + dragging him. A sort of fascination,—the fascination that goes with + dread, and horror, and revulsion—took hold of him....He moved + slowly, hesitatingly at first, then swiftly, not directly back over the + ground he had just covered but by a circuitous route that took him through + the lot at the rear of the forge. He made his way stealthily down the + slope, creeping along behind a thick hedge of hazel brush to a point just + above the ferry landing and to the left of the old dilapidated wharf. Here + he could see without himself being seen.... He watched them lift a dark, + inanimate object from the boat and lay it on the wharf....He heard men's + voices in excited, subdued conversation....He saw the tall woman running + up the road toward the town. She paused within a dozen feet of his hiding + place.... Then something happened to him. He seemed to be losing the sense + of sight and the sense of hearing. His brain was blurred, the sound of + voices trailed off into utter silence. He felt the earth giving way + beneath his quaking knees....The next he knew, men's voices fell upon his + dull, uncomprehending ears. Gradually his senses returned. Out of the + confused jumble words took shape. He heard his own name mentioned. + Instantly his every faculty was alive. + </p> + <p> + Through the brush he could see the dark, indistinct forms of three or four + men. They were in the road just below him. + </p> + <p> + "You shouldn't have let him out of your sight," one of the men was saying. + "Hang it all, we can't let him give us the slip now." + </p> + <p> + The listener's eyes, sharpened by anxiety, made out the figure of the + woman. She spoke,—and he was startled to hear the deep voice of a + man. + </p> + <p> + "He was making for the boarding house. Webster says he is not in his room. + I took it for granted he was going home or I wouldn't have turned back." + </p> + <p> + Where had he heard that voice before? It was strangely familiar. + </p> + <p> + "Well, we've got to locate him. I'll stake my life he is George Ritchie. I + compared this snap-shot with the photograph I have with me. Shave off that + dinky little moustache and I'll bet a hundred to one you'll have Ritchie's + mug all right. Hustle back there, Gilfillan,—you and Simons. He'll be + turning up at the house unless he's got wind of us. Don't let him see you. + You stay here with me, Constable. The chances are he'll come back here to + wait for Miss Crown, if he's as badly stuck on her as you say, Gilfillan. + They're all fools about women." + </p> + <p> + The hidden listener was no longer quaking. His body was tense, his mind + was working like lightning. He was wide awake, alert; the fingers that + clutched the weapon in his pocket were firm and steady; he scarcely + breathed for fear of betraying his presence, but the courage of the hunted + was in his heart. + </p> + <p> + The little group broke up. Constable Foss and one of the strangers + remained on the spot, the others vanished up the road. He glanced over his + shoulder in the direction of the wharf. A long dark object was lying near + the edge, while some distance away a small knot of men stood talking. The + moon, riding high, cast a cold, sickly light upon the scene. + </p> + <p> + "I've always been kind of suspicious of him," Foss was saying, his voice + lowered. "What did you say his real name is?" + </p> + <p> + "His real name is Thane, I suppose. I guess there's no doubt about that. + Mind you, I'm not sure he's the man we've been looking for these last six + months, but I'm pretty sure of it. Last February two men and a woman tried + to smuggle a lot of diamonds through the customs at New York. I'll not go + into details now further than to say they landed from one of the big ocean + liners and came within an ace of getting away with the job. The woman was + the leader. She was nabbed with one of the men at a hotel. The other man + got away. He was on the passenger list as George Ritchie, of Cleveland, + Ohio. The woman had half a dozen photographs of him in her possession. + I've got a copy of one of 'em in my pocket now, and it's so much like this + fellow Thane that you'd swear it was of the same man. This morning + Gilfillan,—that's the Pinkerton man,—telephoned to his chief + in Chicago to notify the federal authorities that he was almost dead + certain that our man was here. He's a wonder at remembering faces, and he + had seen our photographs. Simons and I took the three o'clock train. + Gilfillan met us in the city and brought us out after we had instructed + the police to be ready to help us in case he got onto us and gave us the + slip." + </p> + <p> + "How much of a reward is offered?" inquired Foss. + </p> + <p> + "We are not supposed to be rewarded for doing our duty," replied the + Secret Service man curtly. "He got away from us and it's our business to + catch him again. You can bet he's our man. He wouldn't be hanging around a + burg like this for months unless he had a blamed good reason for keeping + out of sight." + </p> + <p> + "He's been in mighty bad health,—and, if anybody should ask you, + there ain't a healthier place in the world than right here in—" + </p> + <p> + "It's healthier than most jails," admitted the other with a chuckle. + </p> + <p> + "Umph!" grunted Mr. Foss, delivering without words a full and graphic + opinion on the subject of humour as it exists in the minds of people who + live in large cities. He chewed for a time in silence. "What became of the + woman and the other man?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, they were sent up,—I don't know for how long. They're old + hands. Husband and wife. Steamship gamblers before the war. Fleeced any + number of suckers. She must be a peach, judging from the pictures I've + seen of her. They probably would have got away with this last job if she + and Ritchie hadn't tried to put something over on friend husband. She had + the can all ready to tie to him when he got wise and laid for her lover + with a gun. The revenue people had been tipped off by agents in Paris and + traced the couple to the hotel. They sprung the trap too soon, however, + and the second man got away." + </p> + <p> + "Well, I guess there ain't any question but what this feller here is old + Silas Thane's grandson. They say he's the livin' image of old Silas. So he + must have sailed under a false name." + </p> + <p> + "They usually do," said the other patiently. + </p> + <p> + "And you want me to arrest him on suspicion, eh?" + </p> + <p> + "Certainly. You're a county official, aren't you?" + </p> + <p> + "I'm an officer of the law." + </p> + <p> + "Well, that's the answer. We are obliged to turn such matters over to the + local authorities. What do you suppose I'm telling you about the case for? + When I give the word, you land him and—well, Uncle Sam will do the + rest, never fear." + </p> + <p> + "That's all right, but supposin' he ain't the man you're after and he + turns around and sues me for false arrest?" + </p> + <p> + "You can detain anybody on information and belief, my friend. Don't you + know that?" + </p> + <p> + "Certainly," said Mr. Foss with commendable asperity. "Supposin' he's got + a revolver?" + </p> + <p> + "He probably has,—but so have we. Don't worry. He won't have a + chance to use it. Hello! Isn't that a man standing up there by that + telephone pole? We'll just stroll up that way. Don't hurry. Keep cool. + Talk about the drowning." + </p> + <p> + They were halfway up the hill before Courtney moved. Every nerve was + aquiver as he raised himself to his feet and looked cautiously about. The + thing he feared had come to pass, but even as he crouched there in the + shelter of the bushes the means of salvation flashed through his mind. He + realized that the next fifteen or twenty minutes would convince these + dogged, experienced man chasers that their quarry had "got wind of them" + and was in flight. The hunt would be on in grim earnest; the alarm would + go out in all directions. Men would be watching for him at every + cross-roads, every railway station, every village, and directing the hunt + would be—these men who never give up until they "land" their man. + </p> + <p> + His only chance lay in keeping under cover for a day or two,—or even + longer,—until the chase went farther afield and he could take the + risk of venturing forth from his hiding place. He had the place in mind. + They would never think of looking for him in that sinister hole in the + wall, Quill's Window! There he could lie in perfect safety until the coast + was clear, and then by night steal down the river in the wake of pursuit. + </p> + <p> + Their first thoughts would be of the railroad, the highways and the city. + They would not beat the woods for him. They would cut off all avenues of + escape and set their traps at the end of every trail, confident that he + would walk into them perforce before another day was done. + </p> + <p> + Like a ghost he stole across the little clearing that lay between the road + and the willows above the ferry. The snapping of a twig under his feet, + the scuffling of a pebble, the rustling of dead leaves and grass, the + scraping of his garments against weeds and shrubbery, were sounds that + took on the magnitude of ear-splitting crashes. It was all he could do to + keep from breaking into a mad, reckless dash for the trees at the farther + side of this moonlit stretch. With every cautious, fox-like step, he + expected the shout of alarm to go up from behind, and with that shout he + knew restraint would fail him; he would throw discretion to the winds and + bolt like a frightened rabbit, and the dogs would be at his heels. + </p> + <p> + He was nearing the trees when he heard some one running in the road, now a + hundred yards behind him. Stooping still lower, he increased his speed + almost to a run. The sound of footsteps ceased abruptly; the runner had + come to a sudden halt. Thane reached the thicket in another stride or two + and paused for a few seconds to listen. A quick little thrill of relief + shot through him. No one was coming along behind him. The runner, whoever + he was, had not seen him; no cry went up, no loud yell of "There he goes!" + </p> + <p> + Picking his way carefully down the slope he came to the trail of the + Indians, over which he had trudged recently on his trip to the great rock. + He could tell by the feel of the earth under his feet that he was on the + hard, beaten path by the river's edge. Now he went forward more rapidly, + more confidently. There were times when he had to cross little + moon-streaked openings among the trees, and at such times he stooped + almost to a creeping position. + </p> + <p> + Occasionally he paused in his flight to listen for sounds of pursuit. Once + his heart seemed to stop beating. He was sure that he heard footsteps back + on the trail behind him. Again, as he drew near the rock-strewn base of + the hill, a sound as of some one scrambling through the underbrush came to + his straining ears, but the noise ceased even as he stopped to listen. He + laughed at his fears. An echo, no doubt, of his own footsteps; the wind + thrashing a broken limb; the action of the water upon some obstruction + along the bank. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless he dropped to his hands and knees when he came to the + outlying boulders and jagged slabs close to the foot of the black, + towering mass. There was no protecting foliage here. Never in his life had + he known the moon to shine so brightly. He whispered curses to the + high-hanging lantern in the sky. + </p> + <p> + The murmur of the river below brought a consoling thought to him. He would + not suffer from thirst. He could go without food for a couple of days, + even longer. Had not certain English women survived days and days of a + voluntary hunger strike? But he could not do without water. In the black + hours before dawn he would climb down from his eerie den and drink his + fill at the river's brink. + </p> + <p> + Now a sickening fear gripped him. What if he were to find it impossible to + scale that almost perpendicular steep? What if those hand-hewn clefts in + the rock fell short of reaching to the cave's entrance? The processes of + time and the elements may have sealed or obliterated the shallow hand and + toe holds. His blood ran cold. He had dreaded the prospect of that + hazardous climb up the face of the rock. Now he was overcome by an even + greater dread: that he would be unable to reach the place of refuge. + </p> + <p> + He had no thought of Alix Crown now—no thought of her beauty, her + body, her riches. His cherished dream was over. She took her place among + other forgotten dreams. The sinister business of saving his own skin drove + her out of his mind. It drove out all thought of Rosabel Vick. The hounds + were at his heels. It was no time to think of women! + </p> + <p> + II — Anxiety that touched almost upon despair hastened his steps. + Abandoning caution, he ran recklessly up the path among the rocks, + stumbling and reeling but always keeping his feet, and came at last to the + gloomy, forbidding facade of Quill's Window. Here he groped along the + wall, clawing for the sunken cleats with eager, trembling hands. He knew + they were there—somewhere. Not only had he seen them, he had climbed + with ease, hand over hand, ten or a dozen feet up the cliff. He had + shuddered a little that day as he looked first over his shoulder and then + upward along the still unsealed stretch that lay between him and the mouth + of the cave, seventy or eighty feet away. But that was in broad daylight. + It would be different now, with darkness as his ally. + </p> + <p> + He remembered thinking that day how easy it would be to reach Quill's + Window by this rather simple route. All that was required was a stout + heart, a steady hand, and a good pair of arms. All of these were bestowed + upon him by magic of darkness. It was what the light revealed that made a + coward of him. Why, he could shut his eyes tight and go up that cliff by + night as easily as—but where were the slots? + </p> + <p> + At last his hand encountered one of the sharp edges. He reached up and + found the next one above,—and then for the first time realized that + his eyes had been closed all the time he was feeling along the cold + surface of the rock. He opened them in a start of actual bewilderment. The + blackish mass rose almost sheer above him, like a vast wall upon which the + moon cast a dull, murky light. He closed his eyes again and leaned heavily + against the rock. His heart began to beat horribly. He felt his courage + slipping; he wondered if he had the strength, the nerve to go on; he saw + himself halfway up that endless wall, clutching wildly to save himself + when a treacherous hand-hold broke loose and— + </p> + <p> + He opened his eyes and tried to pierce the shadows below the rocky path. + Was it best to hide in that hole up there, after all? Would it not be + wiser, now that he had a fair start, to keep on up the river, trusting to— + </p> + <p> + A chorus of automobile horns in the distance came to his ears suddenly,—a + confused jumble of raucous blasts produced by many cars. The alarm! The + search was on! The wild shriek of a siren broke the stillness near at + hand, followed a few seconds later by the gradually increasing roar of an + engine as it sped up the dirt road not three hundred yards to his left,—the + road that ran past the gate on the other side of the hill. God! They were + getting close! + </p> + <p> + Another and even more disturbing sound came to him as he stood with his + fingers gripping one of the little ledges, the toe of his shoe fumbling + for a foothold in another. Somewhere back on the trail he had just + traversed, a rock went clattering down to the river. He heard it bounding—and + the splash as it shot into the water. + </p> + <p> + He hesitated no longer. Shutting his eyes, he began the ascent.... + </p> + <p> + A dark object turned the corner of the cliff below and moved slowly, + cautiously along the wall. Suddenly it stopped. From somewhere in the + gloom ahead came a strange and puzzling sound, as of the dragging of a + tree limb across the face of the rock. The crouching object in the trail + straightened up and was transformed into the tall, shadowy figure of a + man. + </p> + <p> + For many seconds he stood motionless, listening, his eyes searching the + trail ahead. The queer sound of scraping went on, broken at intervals by + the faint rattle of sand or dirt upon the rocky path. At last he looked + up. Far up the face of the cliff a bulky, shapeless thing was crawling, + slowly but surely like a great beetle. + </p> + <p> + The watcher could not believe his eyes. And yet there could be no mistake. + Something WAS crawling up the sheer face of the cliff, a bulging shadow + dimly outlined against the starlit sky. + </p> + <p> + The man below went forward swiftly. Twice he stooped to search with eager + hands for something at his feet, but always with his gaze fixed on the + creeping shadow. He knew the creeper's goal: that black streak in the wall + above, rendered thin by foreshortening. He knew the creeper! + </p> + <p> + Twenty or thirty paces short of the ladder he stopped. From that spot he + hurled his first rock. His was a young, powerful arm and the missile sped + upward as if shot from a catapult. It struck the face of the cliff a short + distance above the head of the climber and glanced off to go hurtling down + among the trees beyond. + </p> + <p> + Thane stopped as if paralysed. For one brief, horrible moment he felt + every vestige of strength deserting him, oozing out through his tense, + straining finger-tips. The shock had stunned him. He moaned,—a + little whimpering moan. He was about to fall! He could hold on no longer + with those weak, trembling hands. His brain reeled. A great dizziness + seized him. He clung frantically to the face of the rock, making a + desperate effort to regain his failing senses. Suddenly his strength + returned; he was stronger than ever. A miracle had happened. + </p> + <p> + The mouth of the cave was not more than half a dozen feet above him. He + opened his eyes for one brief, daring glance upward. Not more than five or + six steps to go. Gritting his teeth he went on. Now only four more ledges + to grip, four more footholds to find. + </p> + <p> + A second stone whizzed past his head and struck with a crash beyond him. + He heard it whistle, he felt the rush of air. + </p> + <p> + "God! If that had got my head! What an inhuman devil he is! The dirty + beast!" + </p> + <p> + The fourth stone caught him in the side after glancing off the wall to his + left. He groaned aloud, but gripped more fiercely than ever at his slender + support. For a few seconds he could not move. Then he reached up and felt + for the next "cleat." He found it but, like many others he had + encountered, it was filled with sand and dirt. That meant delay. He would + have to dig it out with his fingers before risking his grip on the edge. + Fast and feverishly he worked. Another stone struck below his feet. + </p> + <p> + "Hey!" he yelled. "Let up on that! Do you want to kill me? Cut it out! I + can't get away, you damned fool! You've got me cornered." His voice was + high and shrill. + </p> + <p> + The answer was another stone which grazed his leg. + </p> + <p> + A moment later he reached over and felt along the floor of the cave for + the final hold. Finding it, he drew himself up over the edge and crawled, + weak and half fainting, out of range of the devilish marksman. + </p> + <p> + For a long time he lay still, gasping for breath. They had him cold! There + was no use in trying to think of a way out of his difficulty. All he + wanted now was to rest, a chance to pull himself together. After all was + said and done, what were a few years in the penitentiary? He was young. + Five years—even ten,—what were they at his time of life? He + would be thirty-five, at the most forty, when he came out, and as fit as + he was when he went in. + </p> + <p> + "It was all my fault anyway," he reflected bitterly. "If I had let Madge + alone I—Oh,—what's the use belly-aching now! That's all over,—and + here am I, paying pretty blamed dearly for a month's pleasure. They've got + me. There's no way out of it now. Jail! Well, worse things could happen + than that. What will mother think? I suppose it will hurt like the devil. + But she could have fixed this if she'd loosened up a bit. She could have + gone to Washington as I told her to do and—hell, it wouldn't have + cost her half as much as it will to defend me in court. She can't get a + decent lawyer under—well, God knows how many thousands." + </p> + <p> + He sat up and unbuttoned his overcoat in order to feel of the spot where + the stone had struck him. He winced a little. After a moment's reflection + he drew a box of matches from his pocket. + </p> + <p> + "No harm in striking a match now," he chattered aloud. "I may as well see + what sort of a place it is." + </p> + <p> + He crawled farther back in the cave, out of the wind, and struck a match. + His hand shook violently, his chin quivered. During the life of the brief + flare, the interior of Quill's Window was revealed to him. The cave was + perhaps twenty feet deep and almost as wide at the front, with an uneven, + receding roof and a flat floor that dropped at no inconsiderable slant + toward the rear. It appeared to be empty except for the remains of two or + three broken-up boxes over against one of the walls. He struck a second + match to light a cigarette, continuing his scrutiny while the tiny blaze + lasted. He saw no bones, no ghastly skulls, no signs of the ancient + tragedies that made the place abhorrent. + </p> + <p> + He crawled back to the entrance. Lying flat, he peered over the ledge. + </p> + <p> + "Hallo, down there!" he called out. No response. He shouted once more, his + voice cracking a little. + </p> + <p> + "Where are you?" + </p> + <p> + This time he got an answer. A hoarse voice replied: + </p> + <p> + "I'm here, all right." + </p> + <p> + Thane forced a laugh. + </p> + <p> + "Well, I'm up here, all right. You've got me treed. What's the idea? + Waiting for me to come down?" No answer, "Say, it's worth a lot of money + to you if you'll just walk on and forget that I'm up here. I'll give you + my word of honour to come across with enough to put you on easy street for + the rest of your life." He heard the man below walking up and down the + path. + </p> + <p> + "Did you hear what I said? You can't pick up twenty-five thousand every + day, you know." He waited for the response that never came. "Honesty isn't + always the best policy. Think it over." Another long silence. Then: "I + suppose you know the government does not pay any reward." Still that + heavy, steady tread. "If you think I'm going to come down you're jolly + well off your nut." He wriggled nearer the edge and peered over. The black + form shuttled restlessly back and forth past the foot of the ladder, for + all the world like a lion in its cage. Presently it moved off toward the + bend at the corner of the cliff, where it stopped, still in view of the + man above,—a vague, shapeless object in the faint light of the moon. + </p> + <p> + Many minutes passed. Ten, fifteen,—they seemed hours to the trapped + fugitive,—and then he heard a voice, suppressed but distinct. + </p> + <p> + "Who's there?" + </p> + <p> + There was a moment's silence, and then another voice replied, but he could + not make out the words. + </p> + <p> + The man stepped out of sight around the bend. A few seconds later, Thane + heard a jumble of voices. Drawing away from the ledge, he slunk deeper + into the cave. He heard some one running along the trail, and a muffled + voice giving directions. He drew a deep, long breath. + </p> + <p> + "The death watch, eh?" he muttered. "They're going to sit there till I + have to come out. Like vultures. They haven't the nerve to come up here + after me. The rotten cowards!" + </p> + <p> + Then he heard something that caused him to start up in a sort of panic. He + stood half erect, crouching back against the wall, his eyes glued on the + opening, his hand fumbling nervously for the revolver in his pocket. + </p> + <p> + Some one was climbing up the cliff! + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXIII — A MESSAGE AND ITS ANSWER + </h2> + <p> + Charlie Webster met Alix at the ferry. The body of the drowned girl had + been removed to Hart's Undertaking Parlours and Expert Carpenter's Shop in + obedience to the County Coroner's instructions by telephone. + </p> + <p> + The fat man was so overcome by excitement he could hardly speak. Sitting + beside Alix in the automobile, he rattled on at a great rate about the + extraordinary turn of affairs, and it was not until they were nearly home + that he discovered she was sobbing quietly in her corner of the car. + </p> + <p> + "Gosh, what are you crying for, Alix?" he demanded. "It's the greatest + piece of good fortune that ever—" + </p> + <p> + "I am thinking of poor Mrs. Vick," she murmured chokingly. + </p> + <p> + "Oh! Yes, that's right. It's terrible for that poor woman. Terrible. As I + was saying, the last anybody saw of him was when he started for the + Tavern. Gilfillan follered him part ways and then went back to the ferry, + never dreaming he—But didn't I tell you that before? I'm so upset I + don't seem to remember what I—Oh, yes, now I know where I was. The + detectives insisted on searching every room in the Tavern. Angie Miller + got as sore as a boiled lobster when they knocked on her door and asked if + he was in her room. You ought to have heard what she said to 'em from + behind the door when she finally opened it and let 'em in,—and she + nearly had a fit when she saw old Tintype was with 'em. She lit into him,—my + gosh, how she lit into him! Accused him of suspecting her of having an + erudite affair with Courtney,—erudite wasn't the word she used, but + it don't matter, it's as good as any for an old maid. We searched + everywhere, but no sign of him. You needn't be surprised to find one of + the detectives hanging around your place, Alix. They think maybe he'll + turn up there before long." + </p> + <p> + "He can't be very far away," said she suddenly aroused to anxiety. She had + ceased crying and was drying her eyes with her handkerchief. The car was + nearing the entrance to her grounds. "He wouldn't dare come to my house + after—after what I said to him tonight. He could not expect me to + help him in any—" + </p> + <p> + "Well, you see, it's barely possible he don't know they're after him, + Alix. I guess maybe I'd better stay here for a while. You won't be so + nervous with me in the house." + </p> + <p> + "I am not afraid, Charlie. Of course, I am terribly unstrung and unhappy + over poor little Rosabel,—but I am not afraid of HIM. He will not + come here. Tell me again just what he is accused of doing." + </p> + <p> + The car had drawn up under the porte-cochere. Webster repeated the story + he had had from Gilfillan. She sat perfectly still during the lengthy + recital. + </p> + <p> + "And to think—" she began, but checked the words in time. "Oh, what + fools we have been, Charlie!" + </p> + <p> + "Anyhow," said Charlie, divining her thoughts, "there's a good deal to be + said for that saying, 'All's well that ends well.' I've been thinking what + a difference there is in men. Now, take for instance David Strong. Just + stack him up alongside this slick, smooth-talking—" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, Charlie!" It was almost a wail. + </p> + <p> + He took her hand in one of his and gently patted it with the other. + </p> + <p> + "I guess you'd kind of like to see Davy for a change, wouldn't you, Alix?" + </p> + <p> + She caught her breath sharply, as if in pain. + </p> + <p> + "Now, there's a feller," went on Charlie after a moment, "that's all wool + and a yard wide. He—" + </p> + <p> + "Good night, Charlie," she broke in abruptly. "Thank you for coming to + meet me. You—you are the best, the dearest man in the world. I—" + </p> + <p> + "You needen't thank me for standin' up for Davy Strong. That's what you're + really thankin' me for, you know," said he. "I've always loved that boy, + Alix." She pressed his hand. "That's good!" he cried fervently. "I love + him so much I wish he was sitting right here where I'm sitting now. I'll + bet he'd be the happiest feller in all—Well, so long, Alix. You've + had a hard day. I won't make it any worse for you by talking about David + Strong. I know how much you hate him. Just the same, I wish he was sitting + here in my place." + </p> + <p> + "So do I, Charlie," she confessed, with a deep sigh. + </p> + <p> + "So's you could hate him to your heart's content, eh?" he chaffed. + </p> + <p> + "Yes," she murmured,—"to my heart's content." + </p> + <p> + "Well, I've got to get busy," he exclaimed briskly. "Can't sit here + talkin' nonsense to you when there's so much to do. Link Pollock and Doc + and Tintype are waiting for me down at the Tavern. I promised to hurry + back with the car. That reminds me, Alix. We're going to use your car to + go hunting in. I guess you don't mind, do you?" + </p> + <p> + She spoke to the chauffeur as she got out. "Take Mr. Webster wherever he + wants to go, Ed. I shall not need the car until eleven o'clock in the + morning." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Strong was waiting up for her. There was a big fire in the + living-room, and a tray with hot coffee and toast on a table beside the + comfortable chair that had been drawn up near the fender. + </p> + <p> + Alix dropped wearily into the chair and stretched her booted, pantalooned + legs out in complete relaxation. + </p> + <p> + "You poor child," cried Mrs. Strong. "You're all done up. My, but you're + white and tired-looking. It's been a terrible strain. Sit still now and + I'll take your hat off for you. Better have your coat and boots off, too, + dear. Hilda will have a hot bath ready for you whenever you're ready to—" + </p> + <p> + "I suppose you know they've found her, Auntie? In the river." + </p> + <p> + "Yes. Ed told me. Now, don't talk about it. Here's some hot coffee." + </p> + <p> + "Never mind my coat. I'm too tired. You know about Courtney Thane?" + </p> + <p> + "I only know they're hunting for him. There's a man out in the kitchen. Is—is + it in connection with Rosabel's death?" + </p> + <p> + "No. Thank you, Auntie. That feels better. I haven't had it off since + morning. Charlie told me about Thane, but I am not sure whether I can get + it straight. He was so excited,—and I was so distressed." + </p> + <p> + Her voice was low and husky with fatigue and emotion; it was apparent that + she controlled it with difficulty. In her dark eyes there was a brooding, + haunted look. She repeated as best she could Charlie's rambling, + disjointed story. + </p> + <p> + "And just to think," cried Mrs. Strong at the end, "you let that beast + kiss you and—" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, don't! Don't!" cried the girl, covering her eyes with her hands. "I + can't bear the thought of it. I wasn't myself. I don't know what came over—" + </p> + <p> + "There, there! Don't think about it any more. It's all right now. And + you're not the only woman that's lost her head since God made Adam, my + dear. It's pretty hard not to sometimes. You—" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, I couldn't,—I COULDN'T have done anything bad. I couldn't—" + </p> + <p> + "God bless you, of course you couldn't," cried the older woman, stroking + the girl's hair. "Do you think this coffee will keep you awake?" She + poured out a steaming cup and dropped two lumps of sugar into it. + </p> + <p> + "I sha'n't go to sleep anyway, Auntie, so—" + </p> + <p> + The ringing of the door bell startled them. Alix sprang to her feet in + alarm. + </p> + <p> + "Don't go to the door!" she cried. "It's—it's Courtney Thane!" + </p> + <p> + "Nonsense! He'll not be coming here. Sit down. I'll inquire who it is + before I open the door." + </p> + <p> + "Under no circumstances are you to let him in, Mrs. Strong," ordered Alix + peremptorily. + </p> + <p> + "I should say not! It would look pretty, wouldn't it, if the papers came + out and said the notorious bandit was captured in the home of Miss Alix + Crown, the beautiful and wealthy heiress? They always—" The bell + rang again. "Put the cream in yourself, Alix. I'll see who it is." + </p> + <p> + Alix followed her with anxious, apprehensive eyes as she passed into the + hall. She heard the following dialogue: + </p> + <p> + "Who is it?" + </p> + <p> + "Does Miss Crown live here?" came in a clear, boyish voice from the + outside. + </p> + <p> + "She does. Who are you and what do you want?" + </p> + <p> + "I'm a messenger boy. I got a letter for her." + </p> + <p> + "A letter? Who's it from?" + </p> + <p> + "Say, open up! I can't stand out here all night." + </p> + <p> + "Who is it from?" repeated Mrs. Strong firmly. + </p> + <p> + "How do I know? I ain't no mind-reader." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Strong looked in at Alix. "I guess it's all right, isn't it?" + </p> + <p> + "Open the door," said Alix quietly. + </p> + <p> + A small, shivering messenger boy in uniform entered. + </p> + <p> + "Are you Miss Crown?" + </p> + <p> + "No, I'm not. Where's the letter?" + </p> + <p> + "I got to deliver it to her. If she ain't here I'm to wait. I got to get + an answer." + </p> + <p> + Alix came forward. "I am Miss Crown. Come in, my boy, and warm yourself by + the fire." + </p> + <p> + "Sign here," said the boy, indicating a line in his receipt book. + </p> + <p> + While Alix was signing her name, Mrs. Strong looked the boy over. "Dear + me, you must be nearly frozen, child. No overcoat on a night like this. + Did you come all the way out here from the city on a bicycle?" + </p> + <p> + "Give him some coffee, Mrs. Strong," said Alix, handing back the book and + receiving the envelope in return. + </p> + <p> + "I got a taxi waiting for me out in front," said the boy. "Say, what's + goin' on in this burg? We been held up three times, and just now a man + stopped me out here in the yard and—" + </p> + <p> + "What's the matter, Alix?" cried Mrs. Strong. + </p> + <p> + The girl was staring at the address on the envelope. Doubt, wonder, + incredulity filled her eyes. + </p> + <p> + "Why,—why, Auntie,—it's David's writing! David's!" she cried. + "See! Isn't it? I would recognize it—" + </p> + <p> + "Bless my soul, so it is!" exclaimed David's mother. + </p> + <p> + "Oh,—what does it mean? Boy, where did you get this letter?" Her + voice trembled with excitement, her eyes were gleaming. + </p> + <p> + "Never mind," put in Mrs. Strong, turning her head to hide a smile. "You + run upstairs and read it, Alix, and I—" + </p> + <p> + "Auntie Strong, do you know anything about this?" demanded Alix + suspiciously. The colour was flowing back into her cheeks. "Have you been + keeping something—" + </p> + <p> + "—and I will entertain this young gentleman during your absence," + went on the other serenely,—but there was a flush in her cheeks and + her eyes were very bright and happy. "You go and read your letter and,—did + you say there was to be an answer, boy?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes'm." + </p> + <p> + "And write your answer," concluded Mrs. Strong. "Come along, my lad, and + have a nice hot cup of coffee and some toast. I hope you take sugar. There + are two lumps in it already." + </p> + <p> + Alix fairly ran from the room. They heard her racing up the stairs. + </p> + <p> + "Will you have cream, my boy?" asked Mrs. Strong, steadying her voice with + an effort. He had shuffled along behind her to the fireplace. + </p> + <p> + "Yes'm," and then as an afterthought: "if you please, ma'am." He looked up + and saw that his hostess's eyes were swimming in tears. "I—I hope it + ain't bad news," he stammered uncomfortably. + </p> + <p> + "Don't you know there are such things as tears of joy?" inquired the lady. + </p> + <p> + He looked very doubtful. "No ma'am," he solemnly confessed. The tears he + knew about were not joyous. + </p> + <p> + "Wasn't it just like David to hire an automobile to send you out here to + deliver the letter to her? I suppose it must have cost him a pretty penny. + Most men would have put a two cent stamp on it. But my son is not like + other men. He is always doing the most unexpected things,—and the + very nicest things. Now, who else in the world would have thought of + hiring an automobile to send a message by?" + </p> + <p> + "Is he your son, ma'am?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes. My son David. Did you see him?" + </p> + <p> + "Sure I did." + </p> + <p> + "How was he looking?" + </p> + <p> + "Fine," said the lad. "Gee, but he's tall." + </p> + <p> + "Six feet three, my boy," said David's mother. "That's very hot. Be + careful not to scald your mouth. Shall I put in another lump,—or + two?" + </p> + <p> + "Will it cool it off any?" + </p> + <p> + "I am sure it will." + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, Alix was greedily devouring the contents of the letter. She + stood beside the light over her dressing-table; her heart was pounding + furiously, her eyes were radiantly bright. + </p> + <h3> + DEAR ALIX: + </h3> + <p> + I have just this instant arrived in town, and I am scribbling this in the + hotel writing-room, with my overcoat still on my back. I shall not go to + sleep tonight until I have had your reply. Somehow I will find a way to + get this letter to you tonight, I don't know how at present, but where + there's a will there's a way. If mother and Charlie Webster are mistaken, + or if they have assumed something that is not true, I shall go away again + without bothering you. But if you want me, I will come straight out to + you. You are in trouble. I am not asking anything for myself, dear,—you + know me well enough to understand that,—I am only asking you to let + me do anything in the world I can for you. That is why I dropped + everything to come. I am happy, you don't know how happy, to be even this + close to you. I have always wanted to hang out my shingle in this dear old + town. I do not like the East. I am a Westerner and I can't seem to make + myself fit in with the East. I shall always be a Hoosier, I fear,—and + hope. Just the few minutes I have been here in this familiar old hotel, + and the ride through the quiet streets, and getting off the train at the + insignificant little depot, and having the hackman,—they are + taxi-drivers now,—yell out,—"Hello, Davy," and run up to shake + hands with me,—well, I am so homesick I could cry. But you know why + I cannot come here to live and practise. If I can't be very, very near to + you, Alix darling, I must keep myself as far away as possible. It is the + only way. But if I keep on at this rate, you will think I am writing a + love letter to you, when, as a matter of fact, I am only asking you if you + care to see me and tell me what I can do to help you now,—if you + need the help of your + </p> + <p> + Always devoted + </p> + <h3> + DAVID. + </h3> + <p> + P.S.—If you would rather not see me, don't hesitate to say so. I + will understand. And please do not blame mother and Charlie. They would + both die for you, dear. + </p> + <p> + P.S.S.—You will be pleased to know, I am sure, that I have the five + hundred I still owe you in my pocket, all in brand new bills, and I think + you might give me the happiness of quarrelling face to face with you about + the matter instead of under the protection of a two-cent stamp. + </p> + <h3> + D. + </h3> + <p> + She read the letter aloud. When she came to the end she kissed the sheet + of paper rapturously and then pressed it to her breast. For a few moments + she stood there with her eyes closed, a little smile on her lips, the + blush of roses deepening in her cheeks. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly she roused herself. Hurrying to the desk across the room, she + snatched a sheet of note paper from the rack, seated herself, and began to + write. + </p> + <h3> + DEAREST DAVID: + </h3> + <p> + THIS is a love letter. I love you. I have always loved you, ever since I + can remember, only I did not realize how much until you wouldn't let me + have my own way about the money. Then I tried to hate you. The best thing + I can say for the experiment was that it kept me thinking about you all + the time. You were never out of my thoughts, David dear. Oh, how many + nights have I laid awake inventing reasons for hating you, and how many, + many times have I ended up by hating myself. I am a very mean, despicable + creature. I am a loathsome, poisonous reptile, and you ought to put your + foot on my neck and keep it there forever and ever. Now I know why I have + been so mean to you. It is because I love you so much. You cannot grasp + that, can you? You could if you were a woman. + </p> + <p> + The boy is waiting for this. How wonderful of you to send him out here in + a taxi!!! I shall tell him to go back to town as fast as the car can + travel. I hope it is a fast one, because I want you to get in it and come + to me at once. I shall wait up for you, David. Please come tonight. You + don't know how badly I need you. You must stay here with your mother and + me, and I don't want you ever to go away again,—unless you take me + with you. + </p> + <p> + Your humble sweetheart, + </p> + <h3> + ALIX. + </h3> + <p> + P.S.—I wouldn't quarrel with you for five hundred million dollars. + </p> + <p> + P.S.S.—Oh, how I wish some kind genie could transport you to me + INSTANTLY! A. + </p> + <p> + Sealing the envelope, she sprang to her feet and started for the door. She + stopped halfway, dashed back and fished in a drawer of her desk, found her + purse and extracted a crumbling bank-note. Without so much as a glance to + ascertain its denomination, she turned and sped downstairs. + </p> + <p> + Her eyes were aglow with excitement, her lips were parted in a divine + smile. She was a little out of breath. The boy gazed upon her spellbound. + In that brief, transcendent moment he fell deeply, hopelessly in love,—and + that is why, a moment later, he manfully endeavoured to refuse the + prodigious tip she was offering him. Only when she stuffed it, with her + own fingers, into the depths of his breast pocket, directly over his + heart, was he able to persuade himself that he ought to accept it if for + no other reason than it would hurt her feelings if he didn't. + </p> + <p> + "You must go straight back just as fast as you can," she was saying,—and + what a sweet, wonderful voice she had, just like some kind of a song he + thought,—"and see that Mr. Strong has this letter at once. He is + waiting for it, you know. You WILL hurry, won't you,—that's a good + boy." + </p> + <p> + "Yes'm," gulped the lad, and then, realizing he had not quite come up to + expectations, amplified his promise with a stirring: "You bet your life I + will." + </p> + <p> + She went to the door with him, and said good night so sweetly, and with + such a thrill in her voice, that he experienced the amazing sensation of + having wings on his feet as he sped down to the gate. + </p> + <p> + Alix ran to Mrs. Strong and threw her arms around her neck. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, Auntie,—he's in town. He is coming out and—and I am going + to marry him. Yes, I am! Tomorrow, if he'll let me. I ought not to be so + happy, I know. It is terrible, with so much grief and sorrow over at—But + I can't help it! I never was so happy in my life—never!" + </p> + <p> + Rushing up to the waiting taxi, the boy thrust the letter in through the + open door. It was seized by a big, eager hand. An instant later the owner + of that hand was out on the ground, reading the missive by the light of a + forward lamp. + </p> + <p> + He was not long in getting to the end. Thrusting the precious letter into + his overcoat pocket, he sprang to the door of the cab, jerked out a heavy + suitcase and a small black satchel, which he deposited unceremoniously on + the sidewalk, and then dug down into his trousers' pocket for a handful of + bills, one of which he pressed into the small boy's hand. Then, turning to + the driver, the tall, impetuous fare clapped another into his extended + palm. + </p> + <p> + "There you are, genie!" he exclaimed exultantly, and, grabbing up his + bags, was off up the walk as fast as his long legs would carry him. + </p> + <p> + "What was that he called me, kid?" demanded the driver uneasily. + </p> + <p> + "Janie." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXIV — AT QUILL'S WINDOW + </h2> + <p> + The scraping, laboured sound grew nearer and louder, and presently there + was added the thick, stertorous breathing of the climber as he drew close + to the mouth of the cave. + </p> + <p> + Courtney crept farther away from the opening and watched with narrow, + frowning eyes for the head to appear above the ledge. He held the revolver + in his shaking hand, but he knew he was not going to shoot. He thrilled + with a strange sort of glee, however, at the thought of the ease with + which he could send the fool crashing to the ground far below, but what + would be the use? He was trapped. + </p> + <p> + He had a queer and strangely ungrudging respect for the courage of this + man of Uncle Sam's, this man who was not to be turned back or daunted by + the prospect of sudden death when engaged in the performance of his duty. + What use to slay this single, indomitable pursuer when nothing was to be + gained by the act? There were others down there to avenge him,—to + starve him out, or to burn him out if needs be. Murder, that's what it + would be, and they would hang him for murder. If he shot this fellow there + would be but one course left open to him. He would have to shoot himself. + And he loved life too well for that. Five, even ten years behind the bars,—and + then freedom once more. But the gallows,—God, no! + </p> + <p> + He stood up and leaned with his back against the wall, bracing his legs + which threatened to crumple up under him. With a sort of craven bravado, + he inhaled deeply. The end of the cigarette created a passing but none the + less comforting glow which died away almost instantly. A jolly brave + thing, a cigarette,—No wonder the soldiers smoked them! Nerve + steadying,—no question about it. + </p> + <p> + He waited. Once he thought he was going to scream. Why was the fellow so + slow? Surely it had not taken him so long to come up that ladder of stone,—and + he was the pioneer, he had cleared the slots of dirt and sand, he had made + the hand holds safe, he had torn his finger-tips digging them out,—what + made the fellow so slow? + </p> + <p> + At last he made out a vague, slender object moving like the tentacle of an + octopus above the ledge,—and then the bulky head and shoulders of + the climber. + </p> + <p> + "I surrender!" he called out. "I give up. If you had waited till I pulled + myself together, I would have come down. I'm all in. I surrender." + </p> + <p> + The man scrambled over the ledge and drew himself erect. His figure was + dimly outlined against the moon-lit sky. He came a few steps inside the + cave and stopped, evidently striving to pierce the darkness with his + questing eyes. + </p> + <p> + Courtney pushed himself away from the supporting wall and advanced slowly. + </p> + <p> + "Here's my gun," he faltered, and the weapon clattered on the rocky floor + at his feet. "Don't shoot! I am unarmed. My hands are up,—comrade." + </p> + <p> + "Stand still," warned the other hoarsely. He was breathing heavily. "Don't + move!" + </p> + <p> + Courtney took another pull at the cigarette that hung limply between his + sagging lips. He could be as brave, as cool as the other fellow! He would + give them something to talk about when they related the story of his + capture. He would— + </p> + <p> + Suddenly the man lunged forward...A pair of iron arms wrapped themselves + about his waist. He went down with a crash. Even as the cry of surprise + and indignation rose to his lips, his head struck and his mind became a + blank. + </p> + <p> + Slowly, as out of a fog, his senses came back. He was hazily aware of a + light shining in his eyes, and of a dull pain somewhere. Things began to + take shape before his whirling eyes. He strove to steady them, to + concentrate on the bright thing that flitted back and forth before them. + At last the blaze became stationary. + </p> + <p> + Quite close at hand was a fire,—a bright, crackling fire whose + flames danced merrily. Where was he? It was not like any other fire he had + ever seen before....Then he saw a face. It gradually fashioned itself out + of the gloom high above the flames. He blinked his eyes and stared. + Somehow it was vaguely familiar, that face.... He lifted his head and + peered intently. Then he raised himself on his elbow, all the while trying + to fix that floating face in his mind. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly his brain cleared. The full picture was revealed: A man standing + over the blazing pile of box-wood, gazing down at him with great, + unblinking eyes. The sloping roof of the cave, half lost in the thin cloud + of smoke, almost touched the crown of the watcher's head,—and this + watcher was in the garb of a sailor. + </p> + <p> + Caleb Vick! Young Caleb Vick! + </p> + <p> + For a long time the two looked into each other's eyes. Courtney's wavering + and uncertain, Caleb's fixed and triumphant. + </p> + <p> + "Is—is that you, Cale?" mumbled the former wonderingly. + </p> + <p> + Young Vick nodded his head slowly. + </p> + <p> + "How did you get here?" asked Thane, sensing peril in those boring, + unfaltering eyes. His hand went out to feel for the revolver he had + dropped. "Where—What has become of the man that jumped on me? The + detective." + </p> + <p> + "I am the man," said Cale levelly. + </p> + <p> + "You? What's the matter with you, Cale? This is a hell of a way to treat a + friend. What do you mean by helping these—" + </p> + <p> + "Cut that out," snarled Cale. "It don't go with me. Get up! You dirty cur,—get + up!" + </p> + <p> + "My God, Cale,—have you gone crazy?" gasped Thane, going cold to the + marrow. He shot a swift, terrified look toward the mouth of the cave. + </p> + <p> + "Get up! It won't do you any good to yell. No one will hear you." + </p> + <p> + Courtney drew himself to his knees. + </p> + <p> + "It won't, eh? There's a gang of Secret Service men down there. They'll + blow your brains out if you—" + </p> + <p> + "There is no one down there," said the boy, a crooked smile on his lips. + </p> + <p> + "I tell you there is," cried the other, desperately. "I heard them. They + trailed me here. They—" + </p> + <p> + "I guess I put one over on you, Courtney," interrupted Cale, his voice low + and deadly. "I am the fellow that chased you here. There's nobody else. + Oh, I know they're looking for you,—but they don't know where you + are. Nobody knows but me. I saw you sneaking across that lot back yonder. + I was down at the ferry—I saw—Rosabel—there." His voice + faltered. He steadied it with an effort before going on. "I was too late. + She wrote me. Then father telegraphed me—They let me off. I came as + soon as I could. I ran all the way from Hawkins. I knew what had happened. + She wrote me. But I thought maybe she'd lose her nerve,—or, maybe + you would do the right thing by her and save her. I saw her down there on + the dock. You did it. You got her into trouble. You—" + </p> + <p> + "I don't know what you are talking about," cried the other. "What's this + you are saying? Have you lost your mind, Cale? My God, boy,—I,—why, + what sort of a beast do you think I am? I—I adored her. Come, come, + Cale! Calm yourself! You know perfectly well how fond I was of her. I + couldn't have done anything so foul as—Why, Cale, she was nothing + but a kid, a little girl to me. I—" + </p> + <p> + "Yes,—that's what she was,—a kid, just a poor little kid. She + trusted you. I trusted you. We all trusted you. And now she's—she's + dead. My sister! My pretty little sister!" He straightened up and threw + his arm across his eyes, only to withdraw it instantly. "GOD DAMN YOU! Get + up! Come over here! Here's her letter. Read it! Read it, you dirty swine!" + </p> + <p> + He reached inside his blouse and drew forth a folded bit of paper. + </p> + <p> + "I—I don't want to read it," faltered Thane, shrinking back. "I know + nothing about all this nonsense you are—" + </p> + <p> + "I give you ten seconds to do what I tell you," grated Cale, harshly. "If + you don't I'll blow your head off." He levelled the revolver. "It's your + own gun,—so I guess you know it's loaded. Come on!" + </p> + <p> + Thane crawled to the fire. + </p> + <p> + "My God,—you wouldn't kill me, Cale?" he gasped, reaching out his + shaking hand for the letter. + </p> + <p> + "Read it!" ordered the inexorable voice. + </p> + <p> + It was a short letter. Courtney took it in as a whole; the dancing, + jumbled web of words that raced before his glazed eyes. Parts of + sentences, a word here and there, his own name, filtered through the veil,—and + were lost in the chaos of his own thoughts. + </p> + <p> + He was not thinking of Rosabel's letter. If he could only catch Cale off + his guard,—just for a second or two! A swift leap, a blow, and—but + a lightning glance out of the corner of his eye killed the thought even as + it was being created. Cale would not be off his guard. He was watching + like a hawk, his body bent slightly forward, the revolver held in a grip + of steel. + </p> + <p> + "Well?" cried Cale. "Have you read it?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes," whispered Courtney through his stiff lips. "It's not true, Cale,—it's + not true!" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, it is true. Rosie would not lie about herself like that. No girl + would. Every word of it is true." He snatched the paper from Courtney's + palsied hands and cast it into the waning fire. "No one shall ever see + that letter. I would not have mother know what I know for all the world. + She'll never know about Rosie." + </p> + <p> + Courtney took hope. "By gad, Cale, that's fine of you. I promise you, on + my word of honour, no one ever shall know. I'll keep the secret with you. + You—" + </p> + <p> + "There will be only one person left in all the world that knows about + Rosie," said Cale in a strangely quiet tone. + </p> + <p> + His left hand went out swiftly. The fingers clutched Courtney's hair, + pushing his head back. Even as the wretch opened his lips to squeal for + mercy, the cold muzzle of the weapon was jammed against the flesh under + his ear. There was a loud explosion.... + </p> + <p> + Young Cale Vick stood for a long time looking down at the inert thing at + his feet. Then he calmly stooped over and placed the pistol in one of the + outstretched hands, closing the stiff fingers over it. Scattering the fire + with his feet, he trampled out what was left of the feeble flames, and + then strode to the mouth of the cave. He stood rigid for a long time, + listening. A dog was howling mournfully away off in the night; an owl was + hooting somewhere in the trees nearby. He turned and began the descent, + and there was neither remorse nor terror in his soul. + </p> + <p> + A few days later the report reached Windomville that a farmer up the river + had seen a light in Quill's Window the night that Rosabel Vick was found, + and all the superstitious shook their heads and talked of ghosts. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0026" id="link2H_4_0026"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE END + </h2> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Quill's Window, by George Barr McCutcheon + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUILL'S WINDOW *** + +***** This file should be named 6044-h.htm or 6044-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/4/6044/ + +Etext produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +HTML file produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Quill's Window + +Author: George Barr McCutcheon + +Posting Date: June 5, 2012 [EBook #6044] +Release Date: July, 2004 +First Posted: October 23, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUILL'S WINDOW *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "What are you doing up here?"] + + + +QUILL'S WINDOW + +BY GEORGE BARR McCUTCHEON + + +FRONTISPIECE BY + +C. ALLAN GILBERT + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + + +CHAPTER + + I THE FORBIDDEN ROCK + II THE STORY THE OLD MAN TOLD + III COURTNEY THANE + IV DOWD'S TAVERN + V TRESPASS + VI CHARLIE WEBSTER ENTERTAINS + VII COURTNEY APPEARS IN PUBLIC + VIII ALIX THE THIRD + IX A MID-OCTOBER DAY + X THE CHIMNEY CORNER + XI THANE VISITS TWO HOUSES + XII WORDS AND LETTERS + XIII THE OLD INDIAN TRAIL + XIV SUSPICION + XV THE FACE AT THE WINDOW + XVI ROSABEL + XVII SHADOWS + XVIII MR. GILFILLAN IS PUZZLED + XIX BRINGING UP THE PAST + XX THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ROSABEL VICK + XXI OUT OF THE NIGHT + XXII THE THROWER OF STONES + XXIII A MESSAGE AND ITS ANSWER + XXIV AT QUILL'S WINDOW + + + + + +QUILL'S WINDOW + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE FORBIDDEN ROCK + + +A young man and an old one sat in the shade of the willows beside +the wide, still river. The glare of a hot August sun failed to +penetrate the shelter in which they idled; out upon the slow-gliding +river it beat relentlessly, creating a pale, thin vapour that +clung close to the shimmering surface and dazzled the eye with an +ever-shifting glaze. The air was lifeless, sultry, stifling; not a +leaf, not a twig in the tall, drooping willows moved unless stirred +by the passage of some vagrant bird. + +The older man sat on the ground, his back against the trunk of a +tree that grew so near to the edge that it seemed on the point of +toppling over to shatter the smooth, green mirror below. Some of its +sturdy exposed roots reached down from the bank into the water, +where they caught and held the drift from upstream,--reeds and +twigs and matted grass,--a dirty, sickly mass that swished lazily +on the flank of the slow-moving current. + +The water here in the shade was deep and clear and limpid, contrasting +sharply with the steel-white surface out beyond. + +The young man occupied a decrepit camp stool, placed conveniently +against the trunk of another tree hard by. A discarded bamboo rod +lay beside him on the bank, the hook and line hopelessly tangled +in the drift below. He smoked cigarettes. + +His companion held a well-chewed black cigar in the vise-like corner +of his mouth. His hook and line were far out in the placid water, +an ordinary cork serving as a "bob" from which his dreary, unwavering +gaze seldom shifted. + +"I guess they're through bitin' for today," he remarked, after a +long unbroken silence. + +"How many have we got?" inquired the other languidly. + +"Between us we've got twenty-four. That's a fair-sized mess. Sunfish +don't make much of a showing unless you get a barrel of 'em." + +"Good eating though," mused the young man. + +"Fried in butter," supplemented the other. "What time is it?" + +"Half-past nine." + +"Well, that's just about what I'd figured. I've been fishin' in +this 'hole' for something like forty years, off and on, and I've +found out that these here sunfish get through breakfast at exactly +eighteen minutes past nine. I always allow about ten minutes' leeway +in case one or two of 'em might have been out late the night before +or something,--but as a general thing they're pretty dog-goned +prompt for breakfast. Specially in August. Even a fish is lazy in +August. Look at that fish-worm. By gosh, it's BOILED! That shows +you how hot the water is." + +He removed the worm from the hook and slowly began to twist the +pole in the more or less perfunctory process of "winding up" the +line. The young man looked on disinterestedly. + +"Ain't you going to untangle that line?" inquired the old man, +jerking his thumb. + +"What's the use? The worm is dead by this time, and God knows +I prefer to let him rest in peace. The quickest way to untangle a +line is to do it like this." + +He severed it with his pocket-knife. + +"A line like that costs twenty-five cents," said the old man, a +trace of dismay in his voice. + +"That's what it cost when it was new," drawled the other. "You +forget it's been a second-hand article since eight o'clock this +morning,--and what's a second-hand fish-line worth?--tell me that. +How much would you give, in the open market, or at an auction sale, +for a second-hand fish-line?" + +"I guess we'd better be gittin' back to the house," said the other, +ignoring the question. "Got to clean these fish if we're expectin' +to have 'em for dinner,--or lunch, as you fellers call it. I'll +bet your grandfather never called it lunch. And as for him callin' +supper DINNER,--why, by crickey, he NEVER got drunk enough for +that." + +"More than that," said the young man calmly, "he never saw a cigarette, +or a telephone, or a Ford, or a safety-razor,--or a lot of other +things that have sprung up since he cashed in his checks. To be +sure, he did see a few things I've never seen,--such as clay-pipes, +canal boats, horse-hair sofas, top-boots and rag-carpets,--and he +probably saw Abraham Lincoln,--but, for all that, I'd rather be +where I am today than where he is,--and I'm not saying he isn't in +heaven, either." + +The older man's eyes twinkled. "I don't think he's any nearer heaven +than he was forty years ago,--and he's been dead just about that +long. He wasn't what you'd call a far-seeing man,--and you've got +to look a long ways ahead if you want to see heaven. Your grandma's +in heaven all right,--and I'll bet she was the most surprised mortal +that ever got inside the pearly gates if she found him there ahead +of her. Like as not she would have backed out, thinking she'd got +into the wrong place by mistake. And if he IS up there, I bet he's +making the place an everlastin' hell for her. Yep, your grandpa was +about as mean as they make 'em. As you say, he didn't know anything +about cigarettes, but he made up for it by runnin' after women and +fast horses,--or maybe it was hosses and, fast women,--and cheatin' +the eye teeth out of everybody he had any dealings with." + +"I don't understand how he happened to die young, If all these things +were true about him," said the other, lighting a fresh cigarette +and drawing in a deep, full breath of the pungent smoke. The old +man waited a few seconds for the smoke to be expelled, and then, +as it came out in a far-reaching volume, carrying far on the still +air, his face betrayed not only relief but wonder. + +"You don't actually swaller it, do you?" he inquired. + +"Certainly not. I inhale, that's all. Any one can do it." + +"I'd choke to death," said the old man, shifting his cigar hastily +from one side of his mouth to the other, and taking a fresh grip on +it with his teeth,--as if fearing the consequences of a momentary +lapse of control. + +"You've been chewing that cigar for nearly two hours," observed +the young man. "I call that a filthy habit." + +"I guess you're right," agreed the other, amiably. "The best you +can say for it is that it's a man's job, and not a woman's," he +added, with all the scorn that the cigar smoker has for the man +who affects nothing but cigarettes. + +"You can't make me sore by talking like that," said his companion, +stretching himself lazily. "Approximately ten million men smoked +cigarettes over in France for four years and more, and I submit +that they had what you might call a man's job on their hands." + +"How many of them things do you smoke in a day?" + +"It depends entirely on how early I get up in the morning,--and +how late I stay up at night. Good Lord, it's getting hotter every +minute. For two cents, I'd strip and jump in there for a game of +hide and seek with the fish. By the way, I don't suppose there are +any mermaids in these parts, are there?" + +"You stay out of that water," commanded the old man. "You ain't +strong enough yet to be takin' any such chances. You're here to get +well, and you got to be mighty all-fired careful. The bed of that +river is full of cold springs,--and it's pretty deep along this +stretch. Weak as you are,--and as hot as you are,--you'd get cramps +in less'n a minute." + +"I happen to be a good swimmer." + +"So was Bart Edgecomb,--best swimmer I ever saw. He could swim +back an' forth across this river half a dozen times,--and do you +know what happened to him last September? He drowned in three foot +of water up above the bend, that's what he did. Come on. Let's be +movin'. It'll be hotter'n blazes by eleven o'clock, and you oughtn't +to be walkin' in the sun." + +The young man settled himself a little more comfortably against +the tree. + +"I think I'll stay here in the shade for a while longer. Don't be +uneasy. I shan't go popping into the water the minute your back's +turned. What was it you said early this morning about sniffing rain +in the air?" + +"Thunderstorms today, sure as my name's Brown. Been threatening +rain for nearly a week. Got to come some time, and I figure today's--" + +"Threats are all we get," growled the young man peevishly. "Lord, +I never dreamed I could get so sick of white skies and what you call +fresh air. You farmers go to bed every night praying for rain, and +you get up in the morning still praying, and what's the result? +Nothing except a whiter sky than the day before, and a greater +shortage of fresh air. Don't talk to me about country air and +country sunshine and country quiet. My God, it never was so hot +and stifling as this in New York, and as for peace and quiet,--why, +those rotten birds in the trees around the house make more noise +than the elevated trains at the rush hour, and the rotten roosters +begin crowing just about the time I'm going to sleep, and the +dogs bark, and the cows,--the cows do whatever cows do to make a +noise,--and then the crows begin to yawp. And all night long the +katydids keep up their beastly racket, and the frogs in the pond +back of the barns,--my God, man, the city is as silent as the grave +compared to what you get in the country." + +"I manage to sleep through it all," said the old man drily. "The +frogs and katydids don't keep me awake." + +"Yes, and that reminds me of another noise that makes the night +hideous. It's the way you people sleep. At nine o'clock sharp, +every night, the whole house begins to snore, and--Say, I've seen +service in France, I've slept in barracks with scores of tired +soldiers, I've walked through camps where thousands of able-bodied +men were snoring their heads off,--but never have I heard anything +so terrifying as the racket that lasts from nine to five in the +land of my forefathers. Gad, it sometimes seems to me you're all +trying to make my forefathers turn over in their graves up there +on the hill." + +"You're kind of peevish today, ain't you?" inquired the other, +grinning. "You'll get used to the way we snore before long, and +you'll kind of enjoy it. I'd be scared to death if I got awake in +the night and didn't hear everybody in the house snoring. It's kind +of restful to know that everybody's asleep,--and not dead. If they +wasn't snoring, I'd certainly think they was dead." + +The young man smiled. "I'll say this much for you farmers,--you're +a good-natured bunch. I ought to be ashamed of myself for grousing. +I suppose it's because I've been sick. You're all so kind and +thoughtful,--and so darned GENUINE,--even when you're asleep,--that +I feel like a dog for finding fault. By the way, you said something +awhile ago about that big black cliff over yonder having a history. +I've been looking at that cliff or hill or rock, or whatever it is, +and it doesn't look real. It doesn't look as though God had made +it. It's more like the work of man. So far as I can see, there isn't +another hill on either bank of the river, and yet that thing over +there must be three or four hundred feet high, sticking up like a +gigantic wart on the face of the earth. What is it? Solid rock?" + +"Sort like slate rock, I guess. There's a stretch of about a mile +on both sides of the river along here that's solid rock. This bank +we're standin' on is rock, covered with six or eight foot of earth. +You're right about that big rock over there being a queer thing. +There's been college professors and all sorts of scientific men +here, off and on, to examine it and to try to account for its being +there. But, thunderation, if it's been there for a million years +as they say, what's the sense of explaining it?" + +"There's something positively forbidding about it. Gives you the +willies. How did it come by the name you called it a while ago?" + +"Quill's Window? Goes back to the days of the Indians. Long before +the time of Tecumseh or The Prophet. They used to range up and down +this river more than a hundred years ago. The old trail is over +there on the other bank as plain as day, covered with grass but +beaten down till it's like a macadam road. I suppose the Indians +followed that trail for hundreds of years. There's still traces +of their camps over there on that side, and a little ways down the +river is a place where they had a regular village. Over here on +this side, quite a little ways farther down, is the remains of an +old earthwork fort used by the French long before the Revolution, +and afterwards by American soldiers about the time of the War of +1812. We'll go and look at it some day if you like. Most people +are interested in it, but for why, I can't see. + +"There ain't nothing to see but some busted up breastworks and +lunettes, covered with weeds, with here and there a sort of opening +where they must have had a cannon sticking out to scare the squaws +and papooses. You was askin' about the name of that rock. Well, it +originally had an Indian name, which I always forget because it's +the easiest way to keep from pronouncing it. Then the French came +along and sort of Frenchified the name,--which made it worse, far +as I'm concerned. I'm not much on French. About three-quarters of +the way up the rock, facing the river, is a sort of cave. You can't +see the opening from here, 'cause it faces north, looking up the +river from the bend. There are a lot of little caves and cracks in +the rock, but none of 'em amounts to anything except this one. It +runs back something like twenty foot in the rock and is about as +high as a man's head. + +"Shortly after General Harrison licked The Prophet and his warriors +up on the Tippecanoe, a man named Quill,--an Irishman from down +the river some'eres towards Vincennes,--all this is hearsay so far +as I'm concerned, mind you,--but as I was saying, this man Quill +begin to make his home up in that cave. He was what you might call +a hermit. There were no white people in these parts except a few +scattered trappers and some people living in a settlement twenty-odd +miles south of here. As the story goes, this man Quill lived up there +in that cave for about four or five years, hunting and trapping all +around the country. White people begin to get purty thick in these +parts soon after that, Indiana having been made a state. There was +a lot of coming and going up and down the river. A feller named +Digby started a kind of settlement or trading-post further up, +and clearings were made all around,--farms and all that, you see. +Your great grandfather was one of the first men to settle in this +section. Coming down the river by night you could see the light, +up there in Quill's Cave. You could see it for miles, they say. +People begin to speak of it as the light in Quill's window,--and +that's how the name happened. I'm over seventy, and I've never +heard that hill called anything but Quill's Window." + +"What happened to Quill?" + +"Well, that's something nobody seems to be quite certain about. +Whether he hung himself or somebody else done the job for him, +nobody knows. According to the story that was told when I was a +boy, it seems he killed somebody down the river and come up here +to hide. The relations of the man he killed never stopped hunting +for him. A good many people were of the opinion they finally tracked +him to that cave. In any case, his body was found hanging by the +neck up there one day, on a sort of ridge-pole he had put in. This +was after people had missed seeing the light in Quill's Window for +quite a spell. There are some people who still say the cave is +ha'nted. When I was a young boy, shortly before the Civil War, a +couple of horse thieves were chased up to that cave and--ahem!--I +reckon your grandfather, if he was alive, could tell you all about +what became of 'em and who was in the party that stood 'em up against +the back wall of the cave and shot 'em. There's another story that +goes back even farther than the horse thieves. The skeleton of +a woman was found up there, with the skull split wide open. That +was back in 1830 or 1840. So, you see, when all of them ghosts get +together and begin scrapping over property rights, it's enough to +scare the gizzard out of 'most anybody that happens to be in the +neighbourhood. But I guess old man Quill was the first white man +to shuffle off, so it's generally understood that his ghost rules +the roost. Come on now, let's be moving. It's gettin' hotter +every minute, and you oughtn't to be out in all this heat. For the +Lord's sake, you ain't going to light another one of them things, +are you?" + +"Sure. It's the only vice I'm capable of enjoying at present. Being +gassed and shell-shocked, and then having the flu and pneumonia +and rheumatism,--and God knows what else,--sort of purifies a chap, +you see." + +"Well, all I got to say is--I guess I'd better not say it, after +all." + +"You can't hurt my feelings." + +"I'm not so sure about that," said the old man gruffly. + +"How do you get up to that cave?" + +"You ain't thinking of trying it, are you?" apprehensively. + +"When I'm a bit huskier, yes." + +The old man removed his cigar in order to obtain the full effect +of a triumphant grin. + +"Well, in the first place, you can't get up to it. You've got to +come down to it. The only way to get to the mouth of that cave is +to lower yourself from the top of the rock. And in the second place, +you can't get DOWN to it because it ain't allowed. The owner of all +the land along that side of the river has got 'no trespass' signs +up, and NOBODY'S allowed to climb to the top of that rock. She's +all-fired particular about it, too. The top of that rock is sacred +to her. Nobody ever thinks of violatin' it. All around the bottom +of the slope back of the hill she's got a white picket fence, and +the gate to it is padlocked. You see it's her family buryin'-ground." + +"Her what?" + +"Buryin'-ground. Her father and mother are buried right smack on +top of that rock." + +The young man lifted his eyebrows. "Does that mean there are a +couple of married ghosts fighting on top of the rock every night, +besides the gang down in the--" + +"It ain't a joking matter," broke in the other sharply. + +"Go on, tell me more. The monstrosity gets more and more interesting +every minute." + +The old man chewed his cigar energetically for a few seconds before +responding. + +"I'll tell you the story tonight after supper,--not now. The only +thing I want to make clear to you is this. Everybody in this section +respects her wishes about keeping off of that rock, and I want to +ask you to respect 'em, too. It would be a dirty trick for you to +go up there, knowin' it's dead against her wishes." + +"A dirty trick, eh?" said the young man, fixing his gaze on the +blue-black summit of the forbidden rock. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE STORY THE OLD MAN TOLD + + +David Windom's daughter Alix ran away with and married Edward Crown +in the spring of 1894. + +Windom was one of the most prosperous farmers in the county. His +lands were wide, his cattle were many, his fields were vast stretches +of green and gold; his granaries, his cribs and his mows, filled +and emptied each year, brought riches and dignity and power to this +man of the soil. + +Back when the state was young, his forefathers had fared westward +from the tide-water reaches of Virginia, coming at length to the +rich, unbroken region along the river with the harsh Indian name, +and there they built their cabins and huts on lands that had cost +them little more than a song and yet were of vast dimensions. +They were of English stock. (Another branch of the family, closely +related, remains English to this day, its men sitting sometime in +Parliament and always in the councils of the nation, far removed +in every way from the Windoms in the fertile valley once traversed +by the war-like redskins.) But these Windoms of the valley were no +longer English. There had been six generations of them, and those +of the first two fought under General Washington against the +red-coats and the Hessians in the War of '76. + +David Windom, of the fourth generation, went to England for a +wife, however,--a girl he had met on the locally celebrated trip +to Europe in the early seventies. For years he was known from one +end of the county to the other as "the man who has been across the +Atlantic Ocean." The dauntless English bride had come unafraid to +a land she had been taught to regard as wild, peopled by savages +and overrun by ravenous beasts, and she had found it populated +instead by the gentlest sort of men and equally gentle beasts. + +She did a great deal for David Windom. He was a proud man +and ambitious. He saw the wisdom of her teachings and he followed +them, not reluctantly but with a fierce desire to refine what God +had given him in the shape of raw material: a good brain, a sturdy +sense of honour, and above all an imagination that lifted him +safely,--if not always sanely,--above the narrow world in which the +farmer of that day spent his entire life. Not that he was uncouth +to begin with,--far from it. He had been irritatingly fastidious +from boyhood up. His thoughts had wandered afar on frequent journeys, +and when they came back to take up the dull occupation they had +abandoned temporarily, they were broader than when they went out to +gather wool. The strong, well-poised English wife found rich soil +in which to work; he grew apace and flourished, and manifold were +the innovations that stirred a complacent community into actual +unrest. A majority of the farmers and virtually all of the farmers' +wives were convinced that Dave Windom was losing his mind, the way +he was letting that woman boss him around. + +The women did not like her. She was not one of them and never +could be one of them. Her "hired girls" became "servants" the day +she entered the ugly old farmhouse on the ridge. They were no longer +considered members of the family; they were made to feel something +they had never felt before in their lives: that they were not their +mistress's equals. + +The "hired girl" of those days was an institution. As a rule, she +moved in the same social circle as the lady of the house and it +was customary for her to intimately address her mistress by her +Christian name. She enjoyed the right to engage in all conversations; +she was, in short, "as good as anybody." The new Mrs. Windom was +not long in transporting the general housework "girl" into a totally +unexampled state of astonishment. This "girl,"--aged forty-five and +a prominent member of the Methodist Church,--announced to everybody +in the community except to Mrs. Windom herself that she was going +to leave. She did not leave. The calm serenity of the new mistress +prevailed, even over the time-honoured independence in which +the "girl" and her kind unconsciously gloried. Respect succeeded +injury, and before the bride had been in the Windom house a month, +Maria Bliss was telling the other "hired girls" of the neighbourhood +that she wouldn't trade places with them for anything in the world. + +Greatly to the consternation and disgust of other householders, +a "second girl" was added to the Windom menage,--a parlour-maid +she was called. This was too much. It was rank injustice. General +housework girls began to complain of having too much work to +do,--getting up at five in the morning, cooking for half a dozen +"hands," doing all the washing and ironing, milking, sweeping and +so on, and not getting to bed till nine or ten o'clock at night,--to +say nothing of family dinners on Sunday and the preacher in every +now and then, and all that. Moreover, Mrs. Windom herself never +looked bedraggled. She took care of her hair, wore good clothes, +went to the dentist regularly (whether she had a toothache or not), +had meals served in what Maria Bliss loftily described as "courses," +and saw to it that David Windom shaved once a day, dressed better +than his neighbours, kept his "surrey" and "side-bar buggy" washed, +his harness oiled and polished, and wore real riding-boots. + +The barnyard took on an orderly appearance, the stables were +repaired, the picket fences gleamed white in the sun, the roof of +the house was painted red, the sides a shimmering white, and there +were green window shutters and green window boxes filled with +geraniums. The front yard was kept mowed, and there were great +flower-beds encircled by snow-white boulders; a hammock was swung +in the shade of two great oaks, and--worst of all! a tennis-court +was laid out alongside the house. + +Tennis! That was a game played only by "dudes"! Passers-by looked +with scorn upon young David Windom and his flaxen-haired wife +as they played at the silly game before supper every evening. And +they went frequently to the "opera house" at the county seat, ten +miles up the river; they did not wait for summer to come with its +circus, as all the other farmers were content to do; whenever there +was a good "show" at the theatre in town they sent up for reserved +seats and drove in for supper at the principal hotel. Altogether, +young Mrs. Windom was simply "raising Cain" with the conventions. + +Strange to say, David did not "go to smash." To the intense chagrin +of the wiseacres he prospered despite an unprecedented disregard +for the teachings of his father and his grandfather before him. The +wolf stayed a long way off from his door, the prophetic mortgage +failed to lay its blight upon his lands, his crops were bountiful, +his acreage spread as the years went by,--and so his uncles, his +cousins and his aunts were never so happy as when wishing for the +good old days when his father was alive and running the farm as it +should be run! If David had married some good, sensible, thrifty, +hard-working farmer's daughter,--Well, it might not have meant an +improvement in the crops but it certainly would have spared him +the expense of a tennis court, and theatre-going, and absolutely +unnecessary trips to Chicago or Indianapolis whenever SHE took it +into her head to go. Besides, it wasn't natural that they should +deliberately put off having children. It wasn't what God and the +country expected. After a year had passed and there were no symptoms +of approaching motherhood, certain narrow-minded relatives began to +blame Great Britain for the outrage and talked a great deal about +a worn-out, deteriorating race. + +Then, after two years, when a girl baby was born to David and his +wife, they couldn't, for the life of them, understand how it came +to pass that it wasn't a boy. There had been nothing but boys in +the Windom family for years and years. It appeared to be a Windom +custom. And here was this fair-haired outsider from across the +sea breaking in with a girl! They could not believe it possible. +David,--a great, strong, perfect specimen of a Windom,--the father +of a girl! Why, they emphasized, he was over six feet tall, strong +as an ox, broad-shouldered,--as fine a figure as you would see in +a lifetime. There was something wrong,--radically wrong. + +The district suffered another shock when a nurse maid was added to +David's household,--a girl from the city who had nothing whatever +to do, except to take care of the baby while the unnatural mother +tinkered with the flower-beds, took long walks about the farm, +rode horseback, and played tennis with David and a silly crowd of +young people who had fallen into evil ways. + +She died when her daughter was ten years old. Those who had +misunderstood her and criticized her in the beginning, mourned +her deeply, sincerely, earnestly in the end, for she had triumphed +over prejudice, narrow-mindedness, and a certain form of malice. +The whole district was the better for her once hateful innovations, +and there was no one left who scoffed at David Windom for the choice +he had made of a wife. + +Her death wrought a remarkable, enduring change in Windom. He became +a silent, brooding man who rarely smiled and whose heart lay up +in the little graveyard on the ridge. The gay, larksome light fled +from his eyes, his face grew stern and sometimes forbidding. She +had taken with her the one great thing she had brought into his +life: ineffable buoyancy. He no longer played, for there was no +one with whom he would play; he no longer sang, for the music had +gone out of his soul; he no longer whistled the merry tunes, for +his lips were stiff and unyielding. Only when he looked upon his +little daughter did the soft light of love well up into his eyes +and the rigid mouth grow tender. + +She was like her mother. She was joyous, brave and fair to look +upon. She had the same heart of sunshine, the same heart of iron, +and the blue in her eyes was like the blue of the darkening skies. +She adored the grim, silent man who was her father, and she was +the breath of life to him. + +And then, when she was nineteen, she broke the heart of David Windom. +For two years she had been a student in the University situated +but half a score of miles from the place where she was born, +a co-educational institution of considerable size and importance. +Windom did not believe in women's colleges. He believed in the +free school with its broadening influence, its commingling of the +sexes in the search for learning, and in the divine right of woman +to develop her mind through the channels that lead ultimately and +inevitably to superiority of man. He believed that the girl trained +and educated in schools devoted exclusively to the finer sex fails +to achieve understanding as well as education. The only way to give +a girl a practical education,--and he believed that every woman +should have one,--was to start her off even with the boy who was +training to become her master in all respects. + +During her second year at the University she met Edward Crown, +a senior. He was the son of a blacksmith in the city, and he was +working his way through college with small assistance from his +parent, who held to the conviction that a man was far better off +if he developed his muscles by hard work and allowed the brain +to take care of itself. Young Crown was a good-looking fellow of +twenty-three, clean-minded, ambitious, dogged in work and dogged +in play. He had "made" the football team in his sophomore year. +Customary snobbishness had kept him out of the fraternities and +college societies. He may have been a good fellow, a fine student, +and a cracking end on the eleven, and all that, but he was not +acceptable material for any one of the half dozen fraternities. + +When he left college with his hard-earned degree it was to accept +a position with a big engineering company, a job which called him +out to the far Northwest. Alix Windom was his promised wife. They +were deeply, madly in love with each other. Separation seemed +unendurable. She was willing to go into the wilderness with him, +willing to endure the hardships and the discomforts of life in a +construction camp up in the mountains of Montana. She would share +his poverty and his trials as she would later share his triumphs. +But when they went to David Windom with their beautiful dream, the +world fell about their ears. + +David Windom, recovering from the shock of surprise, ordered Edward +from the house. He would sooner see his child dead than the wife +of Nick Crown's son,--Nick Crown, a drunken rascal who had been +known to beat his wife,--Nick Crown who was not even fit to lick +the feet of the horses he shod! + +One dark, rainy night in late June, Alix stole out of the old +farmhouse on the ridge and met her lover at the abandoned tollgate +half a mile up the road. He waited there with a buggy and a fast +team of horses. Out of a ramshackle cupboard built in the wall of +the toll-house, they withdrew the bundles surreptitiously placed +there by Alix in anticipation of this great and daring event, and +made off toward the city at a break-neck, reckless speed. They +were married before midnight, and the next day saw them on their +way to the Far West. But not before Alix had despatched a messenger +to her father, telling him of her act and asking his forgiveness +for the sake of the love she bore him. The same courier carried +back to the city a brief response from David Windom. In a shaken, +sprawling hand he informed her that if she ever decided to return +to her home ALONE, he would receive her and forgive her for the +sake of the love he bore her, but if she came with the coward who +stole her away from him, he would kill him before her eyes. + +II + +The summer and fall and part of the winter passed, and in early +March Alix came home. + +David Windom, then a man of fifty, gaunt and grey and powerful, +seldom had left the farm in all these months. He rode about his +far-spread estate, grim and silent, his eyes clouded, his voice +almost metallic, his manner cold and repellent. His tenants, his +labourers, his neighbours, fearing him, rarely broke in upon his +reserve. Only his animals loved him and were glad to see him,--his +dogs, his horses, even his cattle. He loved them, for they were +staunch and faithful. Never had he uttered his daughter's name in +all these months, nor was there a soul in the community possessed +of the hardihood to inquire about her or to sympathize with him. + +It was a fierce, cruel night in March that saw the return of Alix. +A fine, biting snow blew across the wide, open farmlands; the beasts +of the field were snugly under cover; no man stirred abroad unless +driven by necessity; the cold, wind-swept roads were deserted. So +no one witnessed the return of Alix Crown and her husband. They came +out of the bleak, unfriendly night and knocked at David Windom's +door. There were lights in his sitting-room windows; through them +they could see the logs blazing in the big fireplace, beside which +sat the lonely, brooding figure of Alix's father. It was late,--nearly +midnight,--and the house was still. Old Maria Bliss and the one +other servant had been in bed for hours. The farmhands slept in +a cottage Windom had erected years before, acting upon his wife's +suggestion. It stood some two or three hundred yards from the main +house. + +A dog in the stables barked, first in anger and then with unmistakable +joy. David's favourite, a big collie, sprang up from his place on +the rug before the fire and looked uneasily toward the door opening +onto the hall. Then came a rapping at the front door. The collie +growled softly as he moved toward the door. He sniffed the air in +the hall and suddenly began to whine joyously, wagging his tail as +he bounded back and forth between his master and the door. + +David Windom knew then that his daughter had come home. + +He sprang to his feet and took two long strides toward the door. +Abruptly, as if suddenly turned to stone, he stopped. For a long +time he stood immovable in the middle of the room. The rapping was +repeated, louder, heavier than before. He turned slowly, retraced +his steps to the fireplace and took from its rack in the corner a +great iron poker. His face was ashen grey, his eyes were wide and +staring and terrible. Then he strode toward the door, absolutely +unconscious of the glad, prancing dog at his side. + +In the poor shelter of the little porch stood Alix, bent and +shivering, and, behind her, Edward Crown, at whose feet rested two +huge "telescope satchels." The light from within fell dimly upon +the white, upturned face of the girl. She held out her hands to +the man who towered above her on the doorstep. + +"Daddy! Daddy!" she cried brokenly. "Oh, my daddy! Let me come +in--let me,--I--I am freezing." + +But David Windom was peering over her head at the indistinct face +of the man beyond. He wanted to be sure. Lifting his powerful arm, +he struck. + +Edward Crown, stiff and numb with cold and weak from an illness of +some duration, did not raise an arm to ward off the blow, nor was +he even prepared to dodge. The iron rod crashed down upon his head. +His legs crumpled up; he dropped in a heap at the top of the steps +and rolled heavily to the bottom, sprawling out on the snow-covered +brick walk. + +The long night wore on. Windom had carried his daughter into the +sitting-room, where he placed her on a lounge drawn up before the +fire. She had fainted. After an hour he left her and went out into +the night. The body of Edward Crown was lying where it had fallen. +It was covered by a thin blanket of snow. For a long time he stood +gazing down upon the lifeless shape. The snow cut his face, the +wind threshed about his coatless figure, but he heeded them not. He +was muttering to himself. At last he turned to re-enter the house. +His daughter was standing in the open doorway. + +"Is--is that Edward down there?" she asked, in weak, lifeless tones. +She seemed dull, witless, utterly without realization. + +"Go back in the house," he whispered, as he drew back from her in +a sort of horror,--horror that had not struck him in the presence +of the dead. + +"Is that Edward?" she insisted, her voice rising to a queer, +monotonous wail. + +"I told you to stay in the house," he said. "I told you I would look +after him, didn't I? Go back, Alix,--that's a good girl. Your--your +daddy will--Oh, my God! Don't look at me like that!" + +"Is he dead?" she whispered, still standing very straight in +the middle of the doorway. She was not looking at the inert thing +on the walk below, but into her father's eyes. He did not, could +not answer. He seemed frozen stiff. She went on in the same dull, +whispered monotone. "I begged him to let me come alone. I begged +him to let me see you first. But he would come. He brought me all +the way from the West and he--he was not afraid of you. You have +done what you said you would do. You did not give him a chance. +And always,--always I have loved you so. You will never know how I +longed to come back and have you kiss me, and pet me, and call me +those silly names you used--" + +"What's done, is done," he broke in heavily. "He is dead. It had to +be. I was insane,--mad with all these months of hatred. It is done. +Come,--there is nothing you can do. Come back into the house. I +will carry him in--and wake somebody. Tomorrow they will come and +take me away. They will hang me. I am ready. Let them come. You +must not stand there in the cold, my child." + +She toppled forward into his arms, and he lifted her as if she were +a babe and carried her into the house. The collie was whining in +the corner. Windom sat down in the big armchair before the fire, +still holding the girl in his arms. She was moaning weakly. Suddenly +a great, overwhelming fear seized him,--the fear of being hanged! + +A long time afterward,--it was after two,--he arose from his knees +beside the lounge and prepared to go out into the night once more. +Alix had promised not to send her father to the gallows. She was +almost in a stupor after the complete physical and mental collapse, +but she knew what she was doing, she realized what she was promising +in return for the blow that had robbed her of the man she loved. + +No one will ever know just what took place in that darkened +sitting-room, for the story as afterwards related was significantly +lacking in details. The light had been extinguished and the doors +silently closed by the slayer. The stiffening body of Edward Crown +out in the snow was not more silent than the interior of the old +farmhouse, apart from the room in which David Windom pleaded with +his stricken daughter. + +And all the while he was begging her to save him from the consequences +of his crime, his brain was searching for the means to dispose +of the body of Edward Crown and to provide an explanation for the +return of Alix without her husband. + +Circumstances favoured him in a surprising manner. Young Crown and +his wife had travelled down from Chicago in a day coach, and they +had left the train at a small way station some five miles west of +the Windom farm. Crown was penniless. He did not possess the means +to engage a vehicle to transport them from the city to the farm, +nor the money to secure lodging for the night in the cheapest hotel. +Alix's pride stood in the way of an appeal to her husband's father +or to any one of his friends for assistance. It was she who insisted +that they leave the train at Hawkins station and walk to Windom's +house. They had encountered no one who knew them, either on the +train or at the station; while on their cold, tortuous journey +along the dark highway they did not meet a solitary human being. + +No one, therefore, was aware of their return. + +Edward Crown's presence in the neighbourhood was unknown. If David +Windom's plan succeeded, the fact that Crown had returned with his +wife never would be known. To all inquirers both he and his daughter +were to return the flat but evasive answer: "It is something I cannot +discuss at present," leaving the world to arrive at the obvious +conclusion that Alix's husband had abandoned her. And presently +people, from sheer delicacy, would cease to inquire. No one would +know that Crown had been ill up in the mountains for weeks, had +lost his position, and had spent his last penny in getting his wife +back to the house in which she was born,--and where her own child +was soon to be born. + +Windom went about the task of secreting his son-in-law's body in a most +systematic, careful manner. He first carried the two "telescopes" +into the house and hid them in a closet. Then he put on an old +overcoat and cap, his riding boots and gloves. Stealing out to the +rear of the house, he found a lantern and secured it to his person +by means of a strap. A few minutes later he was ready to start +off on his ghastly mission. Alix nodded her head dumbly when he +commanded her to remain in the sitting-room and to make no sound +that might arouse Maria Bliss. He promised to return in less than +an hour. + +"Your father's life depends on your silence, my child, from this +moment on," he whispered in her ear. + +She started up. "And how about my husband's life?" she moaned. +"What of him? Why do you put yourself--" + +"Sh! Your husband is dead. You cannot bring him to life. It is your +duty,--do your hear?--your duty to spare the living. Remember what +I said to you awhile ago. Never forget it, my child." + +"Yes," she muttered. "'Blood is thicker than water.' I remember." + +III + +He went out into the night, closing the door softly behind him. +The collie was at his heels. He was afraid to go alone. Grimly, +resolutely he lifted the body of Edward Crown from the ground and +slung it across his shoulder, the head and arms hanging down his +back. Desperation added strength to his powerful frame. As if his +burden were a sack of meal, he strode swiftly down the walk, through +the gate and across the gravel road. The night was as black as +ink, yet he went unerringly to the pasture gate a few rods down +the road. Unlatching it, he passed through and struck out across +the open, wind-swept meadow. The dog slunk along close behind him, +growling softly. Snow was still falling, but the gale from the +north was sweeping it into drifts, obliterating his tracks almost +as soon as they were made. + +Straight ahead lay the towering, invisible rock, a quarter of a +mile away. He descended the ridge slope, swung tirelessly across +the swales and mounds in the little valley, and then bent his back +to the climb up the steep incline to Quill's Window. Picking his +way through a fringe of trees, he came to the tortuous path that +led to the crest of the great rock. Panting, dogged, straining every +ounce of his prodigious strength, he struggled upward, afraid to +stop for rest, afraid to lower his burden. The sides and the flat +summit of the rock were full of treacherous fissures, but he knew +them well. He had climbed the sides of Quill's Window scores of +times as a boy, to sit at the top and gaze off over the small world +below, there to dream of the great world outside, and of love, +adventure, travel. Many a night, after the death of his beloved +Alix, he had gone up there to mourn alone, to be nearer to the +heaven which she had entered, to be closer to her. He knew well of +the narrow fissure at the top,--six feet deep and the length of a +grave! Filled only with the leaves of long dead years! + +He lowered his burden to the bare surface of the rock. The wind +had swept it clean. Under the protecting screen of his overcoat +he struck a match and lighted the lantern. Then for the first time +he studied closely the grey, still face of the youth he had slain. +The skull was crushed. There was frozen blood down the back of the +head and neck--He started up in sudden consternation. There would +be blood-stains where the body had lain so long,--tell-tale, +convicting stains! He must be swift with the work in hand. Those +stains must be wiped out before the break of day. + +Lowering himself into the opening, he began digging at one end with +his hands, scooping back quantities of wet leaves. There was snow +down there in the pit,--a foot or more of it. After a few minutes +of vigorous clawing, a hole in the side of the fissure was revealed,--an +aperture large enough for a man to crawl into. He knew where it +led to: down into Quill's cave twenty feet below. + +Some one,--perhaps an Indian long before the time of Quill, or it +may have been Quill himself,--had chiselled hand and toe niches in +the sides of this well and had used the strange shaft as means of +getting into and out of the cave. Windom's father had closed this +shaft when David was a small boy, after the venturesome youngster +had gone down into the cave and, unable to climb out again, had +been the cause of an all-day search by his distracted parent and +every neighbour for miles around. The elder Windom had blocked the +bottom of the hole with a huge boulder, shorn from the side of the +cave by some remote wrench of nature. Then he had half filled the +cavity from the top by casting in all of the loose stones to be +found on the crest of the rock, together with a quantity of earth. +The work had never been completed. There still remained a hole some +ten feet deep. + +David Windom clambered out, leaving his lantern below. Letting the +dead man's body slide into the crevice, he followed, bent on at +least partially finishing the job. When he climbed out a second +time, Edward Crown was at the bottom of the hole and the wet, foul +leaves again hid the opening. Tomorrow night, and the night after, +he would come again to close the hole entirely with earth and +stones, hiding forever the grewsome thing in Quill's "chimney," as +the flue-like passage was called. + +Extinguishing the lantern, he started down the hill at a reckless, +break-neck speed. He had the uncanny feeling that he was being +followed, that Edward Crown was dogging his footsteps. Halfway +down, he stumbled and fell sprawling. As he started to rise, a +sound smote his ears--the sound of footsteps. For many seconds he +held his breath, terror clutching his throat. He WAS being followed! +Some one was shuffling down the rock behind him. The collie! He +had forgotten the dog. But even as he drew in the deep breath of +relief, he felt his blood suddenly freeze in his veins. It was not +the dog. Something approached that moaned and whimpered and was +not mortal. It passed by him as he crouched to the earth,--a shadow +blacker than the night itself. Suddenly the truth burst upon him. + +"My God! Alix!" + +Half an hour later he staggered into his house, bearing the form +of his daughter,--tenderly, carefully, not as he had borne the +despised dead. + +She had followed him to the top of Quill's Window, she had witnessed +the ghastly interment, and she had whispered a prayer for the boy +who was gone. + +The next day her baby was born and that night she died. Coming out +of a stupor just before death claimed her, she said to David Windom: + +"I am going to Edward. I do not forgive you, father. You must not ask +that of me. You say it is my duty to save you from the gallows,--a +child's duty to her parent. I have promised. I shall keep my +promise. It is not in my heart to send you to the gallows. You +are my father. You have always loved me. This is my baby,--mine +and Edward's. She may live,--God knows I wish I might have died +yesterday and spared her the accursed breath of life,--she may grow +up to be a woman, just as I grew up. I do not ask much of you in +return for what I have done for you, father. You have killed my +Edward. I loved him with all my soul. I do not care to live. But +my child must go on living, I suppose. My child and his. She is his +daughter. I cannot expect you to love her, but I do expect you to +take care of her. You say that blood is thicker than water. You +are right. I cannot find it in my heart to betray you. You may tell +the world whatever story you like about Edward. He is dead, and I +shall soon be dead. You can hurt neither of us, no matter what you +do. I ask two things of you. One is that you will be good to my +baby as long as you may live, and the other is that you will bury +me up there where you put Edward last night. I must lie near him +always. Say to people that I have asked you to bury me in that pit +at the top of Quill's Window,--that it was my whim, if you like. +Close it up after you have placed me there and cover it with great +rocks, so that Edward and I may never be disturbed. I want no +headstone, no epitaph. Just the stones as they were hewn by God." + +David Windom promised. He was alone in the room with her when she +died. + +IV + +Twenty years passed. Windom came at last to the end of his days. +He had fulfilled his promises to Alix. He had taken good care of +her daughter, he had given her everything in his power to give, +and he had worshipped her because she was like both of the Alixes +he had loved. She was Alix Crown,--Alix the Third, he called her. + +On the day of his death, Windom confessed the crime of that far +off night in March. In the presence of his lawyer, his doctor, +his granddaughter and the prosecuting attorney of the county, he +revealed the secret he had kept for a score of years. The mystery +of Edward Crown's disappearance was cleared up, and for the first +time in her young life Alix was shorn of the romantic notion that +one day her missing father would appear in the flesh, out of the +silences, to claim her as his own. From earliest childhood, her +imagination had dealt with all manner of dramatic situations; she +had existed in the glamour of uncertainty; she had looked upon +herself as a character worthy of a place in some gripping tale of +romance. The mound of rocks on the crest of Quill's Window, surrounded +by a tall iron paling fence with its padlocked gate, covered only +the body of the mother she had never seen. She did not know until +this enlightening hour that her father was also there and had been +throughout all the years in which fancy played so important a part. + +Like all the rest of the world, she was given to understand that +her father had cruelly abandoned her mother. In her soul she had +always cherished the hope that this heartless monster might one +day stand before her, pleading and penitent, only to be turned away +with the scorn he so richly deserved. She even pictured him as rich +and powerful, possessed of everything except the one great boon +which she alone could give him,--a daughter's love. And she would +point to the top of Quill's Window and tell him that he must first +look there for forgiveness,--under the rocks where his broken-hearted +victim slept. + +The truth stunned her. She was a long time in realizing that her +grandfather, whom she both loved and feared,--this grim, adoring +old giant,--not only had murdered her father but undoubtedly had +killed her mother as well. The story that David Windom had written +out and signed at the certain approach of death, read aloud in +his presence by the shocked and incredulous lawyer, and afterwards +printed word for word in the newspapers at the old man's command, +changed the whole course of life for her. In fact, her nature +underwent a sharp but subtle change. There was nothing left to her +of the old life, no thought, no purpose, no fancy; all had been +swept up in a heap and destroyed in the short space of half an +hour. Everything in her life had to be reconstructed, made-over to +suit the new order. She could no longer harbour vengeful thoughts +concerning her father, she could no longer charge him with the +wanton destruction of her mother's happiness. + +The grandfather she had loved all her life assumed another shape +entirely; he was no longer the same, and never again could be the +same. She did not hate him. That was impossible. She had never seen +her parents, so she had not known the love of either. They did not +belong in her life except through the sheerest imagination. Her +grandfather was the only real thing she had had in life, and she +had adored him. He had killed two people who were as nothing to her, +but he had taken the place of both. How could she bring herself to +hate this man who had destroyed what were no more than names to +her? Father,--Mother! Two words,--that was all. And for twenty +long years he had been paying,--Oh, how he must have paid! + +She recalled his reason for taking her to England when she was less +than eight years old and leaving her there until she was twelve. +She remembered that he had said he wanted her to be like her +grandmother, to grow up among her people, to absorb from them all +that had made the first Alix so strong and fine and true. And then +he had come to take her from them, back to the land of her birth, +because, he said, he wanted her to be like her mother, the second +Alix,--an American woman. She recalled his bitter antipathy to +co-educational institutions and his unyielding resolve that she should +complete her schooling in a Sacred Heart Convent. She remembered +the commotion this decision created among his neighbours. In her +presence they had assailed him with the charge that he was turning +the girl over, body and soul, to the Catholic Church, and he had +uttered in reply the never to be forgotten words: + +"If I never do anything worse than that for her, I'll be damned +well satisfied with my chance of getting into heaven as soon as +the rest of you." + +When David's will was read, it was found that except for a few +small bequests, his entire estate, real and personal, was left to +his granddaughter, Alix Crown, to have and to hold in perpetuity +without condition or restriction of any sort or character. + +The first thing she did was to have a strong picket fence constructed +around the base of the hill leading up to Quill's Window, shutting +off all accessible avenues of approach to the summit. Following +close upon the publication of David Windom's confession, large +numbers of people were urged by morbid curiosity to visit the +strange burial-place of Edward and Alix Crown. The top of Quill's +Window became the most interesting spot in the county. Alix the +Third was likewise an object of vast interest, and the old, deserted +farmhouse on the ridge came in for its share of curiosity. + +Almost immediately after the double tragedy and the birth of little +Alix, David Windom moved out of the house and took up his residence +in the riverside village of Windomville, a mile to the south. +The old house was closed, the window shutters nailed up, the doors +barred, and all signs of occupancy removed. It was said that he never +put foot inside the yard after his hasty, inexplicable departure. +The place went to rack and ruin. In course of time he built a new +and modern house nearer the village, and this was now one of the +show places of the district. + +The influence of Alix the First was expressed in the modelling +of house and grounds, the result being a picturesque place with a +distinctly English atmosphere, set well back from the highway in +the heart of a grove of oaks,--a substantial house of brick with +a steep red tile roof, white window casements, and a wide brick +terrace guarded by a low ivy-draped wall. English ivy swathed the +two corners of the house facing the road, mounting high upon the +tall red chimneys at the ends. There were flower-beds below the +terrace, and off to the right there was an old-fashioned garden. +The stables were at the foot of the hill some distance to the rear +of the house. + +The village of Windomville lay below, hugging the river, a relic of +the days when steamboats plied up and down the stream and railways +were remote, a sleepy, insignificant, intensely rural hamlet of +less than six hundred inhabitants. Its one claim to distinction was +the venerable but still active ferry that laboured back and forth +across the river. Of secondary importance was the ancient dock, +once upon a time the stopping place of steamboats, but now a rotten, +rickety obstruction upon which the downstream drift lodged in an +unsightly mass. + +In the solid red-brick house among the oaks Alix the Third had spent +her childhood days. She was taken to England when she was eight +by her haunted grandfather, not only to receive the bringing-up of +an English child, but because David Windom's courage was breaking +down. As she grew older, the resemblance to Edward Crown became +more and more startling. She had his dark, smiling eyes; his wavy +brown hair; her very manner of speech was like his. To David Windom, +she was the re-incarnation of the youth he had slain. Out of her +eyes seemed to look the soul of Edward Crown. He could not stand it. +She became an obsession, a curious source of fascination. He could +not bear her out of his sight, and yet when she was with him, smiling +up into his eyes,--he was deathly afraid of her. There were times +when he was almost overcome by the impulse to drop to his knees +and plead for forgiveness as he looked into the clear, friendly, +questioning eyes of Edward Crown. + +And her voice, her speech,--therein lay the true cause of his taking +her to England. When she came home to him, after four years, there +was no trace of Edward Crown in her voice or manner of speaking. +She was almost as English as Alix the First. But her eyes had not +changed; he was still a haunted man. + +In the little graveyard on the outskirts of the village more than +a score of Windoms lie. With them lies all that was mortal of fair +Alix the First, and beside her is David Windom, the murderer. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +COURTNEY THANE + + +"And what has become of Alix the Third?" inquired the young man, +squinting at his wristwatch and making out in the semi-darkness +that it was nearly half-past nine. + +He had listened somewhat indulgently to the story of the three Alixes. +The old man, prompted and sometimes disputed by other members of +the family, had narrated in his own simple way the foregoing tale, +arriving at the end in a far more expeditious and certainly in a +less studied manner than the present chronicler employs in putting +the facts before his readers. The night was hot. He was occasionally +interrupted by various members of the little group on the front +porch of the big old farmhouse, the interruption invariably taking +the form of a conjecture concerning the significance of certain +signs ordinarily infallible in denoting the approach of rain. Heat +lightning had been playing for an hour or more in the gloomy west; +a tree-toad in a nearby elm was prophesying thunder in unmelodious +song: night-birds fluttered restlessly among the lofty branches; +widely separated whiffs of a freshening wind came around the corner +of the house. All of these had a barometric meaning to the wistful +group. There was a thunderstorm on the way. It was sure to come +before morning. The prayers inaugurated a month ago were at last +to be answered. + +As old man Brown drily remarked: "There's one satisfaction about +prayin' for rain. If you keep at it long enough, you're bound to +get what you're askin' for. Works the same way when you're prayin' +for it to stop rainin'. My grandfather once prayed for a solid two +months before he got rain, and then, by gosh, he had to pray for +nearly three weeks to get it to quit." + +Supper over, the young man had reminded his venerable angling +companion of his promise to relate the history of Quill's Window. +Old Caleb Brown was the father of Mrs. Vick,--Lucinda Vick, wife +of the farmer in whose house the young man was spending a month as +a boarder. + +The group on the porch included Amos Vick, anxious, preoccupied, +and interested only in the prospect of rain; his daughter Rosabel, +aged eighteen, a very pretty and vivacious girl, interested only +in the young man from the far-off, mysterious city in the East; his +son Caleb, a rugged youth of nineteen; Mrs. Vick, and a neighbour +named White, who had come over for the sole purpose of finding out +just what Amos Vick thought about the weather. Two dogs lay panting +on the dry grass at the foot of the steps. + +"Oh, she's living over there in the Windom house," said Mrs. Vick. + +"Sort of running the place," explained Mr. Brown, a trace of irony +in his voice. + +"Well," put in Amos Vick, speaking for the first time in many minutes, +"she's got a lot of sense, that girl has. She may be letting on +that she's running the farm, but she ain't, you bet. That's where +she's smart. She's got sense enough to know she don't know anything +about running a farm, and while she puts on a lot of airs and acts +kind of important like, the real truth is she leaves everything to +old Jim Bagley. I guess you don't know who Jim Bagley is, do you, +Courtney?" + +"I can't say that I do," replied the young man. + +"Well, he's about the slickest citizen you ever saw. From what +father here says about your granddad, he must have been a purty +hard customer to deal with, but, by ginger, if he was any worse +than Jim Bagley in driving a bargain, I'm glad he died as long ago +as he did." + +"You're just sore, Amos," said his wife, "because Mr. Bagley got +the best of you in that hog deal three years ago." + +"Oh, Lord, ain't you ever going to get tired of throwin' that up +to me?" groaned Mr. Vick. "I never mention Jim Bagley's name but +what you up and say something about them hogs. Now, as a matter of +fact, them hogs--" + +"For goodness sake, Pa, you're not going to tell Mr. Thane about +that hog business, are you?" cried Rosabel. + +"Well, when your Ma begins to insinuate that I got the worst of--" + +"I don't say that you got the worst of it, Amos," interrupted Mrs. +Vick good-humouredly. "I only say that he got the best of it." + +"Well, if that don't come to the same--" + +"Looks to me, Amos, like we'd get her good and plenty before mornin'," +broke in Mr. White. He was referring to the weather. "That ain't +all heat lightnin' over there. Seems to me I heard a little thunder +just now." + +"Alix Crown is away a good part of the time, Courtney," said Mrs. +Vick, taking up the thread where it had been severed by recrimination. +"All through the war,--long before we went in,--she was up in town +working for the Belgiums, and then, when we did go in, she went +East some'eres to learn how to be a nurse or drive an ambulance or +something,--New York, I believe. And as for money, she contributed +quite a bit--how much do they say it was, Amos?" + +"Well, all I know is that Mary Simmons says she gave ten thousand +dollars and Josie Fiddler says it was three hundred,--so you can +choose between 'em." + +"She did her share, all right," said young Caleb defensively. +"That's more'n a lot of people around here did." + +"Gale's in love with her, Mr. Thane," explained Rosabel. "She's +five years older than he is, and don't know he's on earth." + +"Aw, cut that out," growled Caleb. + +"Is she good-looking?" inquired Courtney Thane. + +"I don't like 'em quite as tall as she is," said Mr. White. + +"She's got a good pair of legs," said old Caleb Brown, shifting +his cigar with his tongue. + +"We're not talking about horses, father," said Mrs. Vick sharply. + +"Who said we was?" demanded old Caleb. + +"Most people think she's good-looking," said Rosabel, somewhat +grudgingly. "And she isn't any taller than I am, Mr. White." + +"Well, you ain't no dwarft, Rosie," exclaimed Farmer White, with a +brave laugh. "You must be five foot seven or eight, but you ain't +skinny like she is. She'd ought to weigh about a hunderd and sixty, +for her height, and I'll bet she don't weigh more'n a hunderd and +thirty." + +"I wouldn't call that skinny," remarked Courtney. + +"She wears these here new-fangled britches when she's on horseback," +said old Caleb, justifying his observation. "Rides straddle, like +a man. You can't help seeing what kind of--" + +"That will do, Pa," broke in his wife. "It's no crime for a woman +to wear pants when she's riding, although I must say I don't think +it's very modest. I never rode any way except side-saddle,--and +neither has Rosabel. I've brought her up--" + +"Don't you be too sure of that, Ma," interrupted young Caleb +maliciously. + +"I never did it but once, and you know it, Cale Vick," cried Rosabel, +blushing violently. + +The subject was abruptly changed by Mr. White. + +"Well, I guess I'll be moseyin' along home, Amos. That certainly +did sound like thunder, didn't it? And that tree-toad has stopped +signallin',--that's a sure sign. Like as not I'll get caught in +the rain if I don't,--what say, Lucindy?" + +"Do you want an umberell, Steve?" + +"I should say not! What do you want me to do? Scare the rain off? +No, sir! Rain's the funniest thing in the world. If it sees you +got an umberell it won't come within a hunderd miles of you. That's +why I got my Sunday clothes on, and my new straw hat. Sometimes +that'll bring rain out of a clear sky,--that an' a Sunday-school +picnic. It's a pity we couldn't have got up a Sunday-school +picnic,--but then, of course, that wouldn't have done any good. +You can't fool a rainstorm. So long, Amos. Night, everybody. Night, +Courtney. As I was sayin' awhile ago, I used to go to school with +your pa when him an' me was little shavers,--up yonder at the old +Kennedy schoolhouse. Fifty odd years ago. Seems like yesterday. +How old did you say you was?" + +"Twenty-eight, Mr. White." + +"And your pa's been dead--how long did you say?" + +"He died when I was twenty-two." + +"Funny your ma didn't bring him out here and bury him 'longside his +father and all the rest of 'em up in the family burying-ground," +was Mr. White's concluding observation as he ambled off down the +gravel walk to the front gate. + +"I wish you'd brought your croix de guerre along with you, Mr. +Thane," said young Caleb, his eyes gleaming in the faint light +from the open door. "I guess I don't pronounce it as it ought to +be. I'm not much of a hand at French." + +"You came pretty close to it," said Thane, with a smile. "You see, +Cale, it's the sort of thing one puts away in a safe place. That's +why I left it in New York. Mother likes to look at it occasionally. +Mothers are queer creatures, you know. They like to be reminded of +the good things their sons have done. It helps 'em to forget the +bad things, I suppose." + +"You're always joking," pouted Rosabel, leaning forward, ardour +in her wide, young eyes. "If I was a boy and had been in the war, +I'd never stop talking about it." + +"And I'd have been in it, too, if pa hadn't up and told 'em I was +only a little more than fifteen," said Cale, glowering at his father +in the darkness. + +"You mustn't blame your pa, Cale," rebuked his mother. "He knows +what a soldier's life is better than you do. He was down in that +camp at Chattanooga during the Spanish War, and almost died of +typhoid, Courtney. And when I think of the way our boys died by +the millions of the flu, I--well, I just know you would have died +of it, sonny, and I wouldn't have had any cross or medal to look +at, and--and--" + +"Don't begin cryin', Lucindy," broke in old Caleb hastily. "He didn't +die of the flu, so what's the sense of worryin' about it now? He +didn't even ketch it, and gosh knows, the whole blamed country was +full of it that winter." + +"Well," began Mrs. Vick defensively, and then compressed her lips +in silence. + +"I think it was perfectly wonderful of you, Mr. Thane, to go over +to France and fight in the American Ambulance so long before we +went into the war." This from the adoring Rosabel. "I wish you'd +tell us more about your experiences. They must have been terrible. +You never talk about them, though. I think the real heroes were the +fellows who went over when you did,--when you didn't really have +to, because America wasn't in it." + +"The American Ambulance wasn't over there to fight, you know," +explained Courtney. + +"What did you get the cross for if you weren't fighting?" demanded +young Cale. + +"For doing what a whole lot of other fellows did,--simply going +out and getting a wounded man or two in No-Man's Land. We didn't +think much about it at the time." + +"Was it very dangerous?" asked Rosabel. + +"I suppose it was,--more or less so," replied Thane indifferently. +He even yawned. "I'd rather talk about Alix the Third, if it's all +the same to you. Is she light or dark?" + +"She's a brunette," said Rosabel shortly. "All except her eyes. +They're blue. How long were you up at the front, Mr. Thane?" + +"Oh, quite a while,--several months, in fact. At first we were in +a place where there wasn't much fighting. Just before the first +big Verdun drive we were transferred to that sector, and then we +saw a lot of action." + +"Some battle, wasn't it?" exclaimed young Cale, a thrill in his +voice. + +"Certainly was," said Courtney. "We used to work forty-eight hours +at a stretch, taking 'em back by the thousands." + +"How near did the shells ever come to you?" + +"Oh, sometimes as close as twenty or thirty feet. I remember one +that dropped in the road about fifty feet ahead of my car, and +before I could stop we ran plunk into the hole it made and upset. +I suppose the Windom estate must be a pretty big one, isn't it, +Mr. Vick?" + +"Taking everything into consideration, it amounts to nearly a million +dollars. David Windom had quite a bit of property up in the city, +aside from his farm, and he owned a big ranch out in Texas. The +grain elevator in Windomville belonged to him,--still belongs to +Alix Crown,--and there's a three mile railroad connecting with the +main line over at Smith's Siding. Every foot of it is on his land. +He built the railroad about twenty year ago, and the elevator, +too,--out of spite, they say, for the men that run the elevator at +Hawkins a little further up the road. Hawkins is the place where +his daughter and Edward Crown got off the train the night of the +murder." + +"And this young girl owns all of it,--farms, ranch, railroad and +everything?" + +"Every cent's worth of it is her'n. There ain't a sign of a mortgage +on any of it, either. It's as clear as a blank sheet of writin' +paper." + +"When was it you were gassed, Mr. Thane?" inquired young Caleb. + +"Oh, that was when I was in the air service,--only a few weeks +before the armistice." + +"You left your wings at home, too, I suppose?" + +"Yes. Mother likes to look at the only wings I'll probably ever +have,--now or hereafter." + +"How does it come, Court, that you went into the British air corpse, +'stead of in the U. S. A.?" inquired old Caleb. + +"I joined the Royal Flying Corps, Mr. Brown, because the Americans +wouldn't have me," replied Thane tersely. "I tried to get in, but +they wouldn't pass me. Said I had a weak heart and a whole lot +of rubbish like that. It's no wonder the American Air Service was +punk. I went over to Toronto and they took me like a shot in the +Royal British. They weren't so blamed finicky and old womanish. +All they asked for in an applicant was any kind of a heart at all +so long as it was with the cause. I don't suppose I ought to say +it, but the American Air Service was a joke." + +"I hope you ain't turning British in your feelings, Court," remarked +Amos Vick. "It's purty difficult to be both, you know,--English +and Yankee." + +"I'm American through and through, Mr. Vick, even though I did +serve under the British flag till I was gassed and invalided out." + +"Affects the lungs, don't it?" inquired old Caleb. + +"I don't like to talk about it, Mr. Brown. I'm trying to forget +what hell was like. I was in hospital for four months. It took a +lot more nerve to draw a breath then than it did to fly over the +German lines with the Boches popping away from all sides. I didn't +mind the wounds I sustained,--but the gas! Gee, it was horrible." + +"Your ma said in her letter to me that you'd had pneumonia twice +since you got back," said Mrs. Vick. "Was that due to the gas?" + +"I suppose so. They thought I had tuberculosis for awhile, you +see. Then, this spring, I had to go and have a bout with typhoid. +I ought to be dead, with all I've had,--but here I am, alive and +happy, and if you keep on feeding me as you have been for the past +three days, I'll live forever." + +"You mustn't overdo, Courtney," warned the farmer's wife. "Your ma +sent you out here to get well, and I feel a kind of responsibility +for you. I guess it's about time you was off to bed. Come on, Amos. +It isn't going to bring rain any sooner for you to be setting out +here watching for it." + +Old Caleb had his say. "I suppose it was all right for you to serve +with the British, Court, but if you'd waited a little while longer +you might have carried a gun over there under the Stars and Stripes. +But, as you say, you couldn't bear to wait. I give you credit for +it. I'm derned glad to see one member of the Thane family that had +the nerve to volunteer. At the time of the Civil War your grandpa +was what we call a slacker in these days. He hired a feller to go +in his place, and when that feller was killed and a second call +for volunteers come up, dogged if he didn't up and hire another +one. One of your grandpa's brothers skipped off to Canada so's he +wouldn't have to serve, and the other,--his name was George Washington +Thane, by the way,--accidentally shot two of his fingers off while +his company was in camp down at Crawfordsville, gettin' ready to +go down and meet Morgan's Riders,--and that let him out. I admit +it takes right smart of courage to accidentally shoot your fingers +off, specially when nobody is lookin', but at any rate he had a +uniform on when he done it. Course, there wasn't any wars during +your pa's day, so I don't know how he would have acted. He wasn't +much of a feller for fightin', though,--I remember that. I mean fist +fightin'. I'm glad to know you don't take after your granddad. I +never had any use for a coward, and that's why I'm proud to shake +hands with you, my boy. There was a derned bad streak in your family +back in your granddad's day, and it certainly is good to see that +you have wiped it out. It don't always happen so. Yeller streaks +are purty hard to wipe out. Takes more than two generations to do +it as a rule. I'm happy to know you ain't gun shy." + +The young man laughed. "I don't mind telling you, Mr. Brown, that +I never went into action without being scared half out of my boots. +But I wasn't alone in that, you see. I never knew a man over there +who wasn't scared when he went over the top. He went, just the +same,--and that's what I call courage." + +"So do I," cried Rosabel. + +"Did you ever know for sure whether you got a German?" asked the +intense young Caleb. "I mean,--did you ever KILL one?" + +"That's pretty hard to say, Cale. We never knew, you see,--we +fellows up in the clouds. I was in a bombing machine. I'd hate to +think that we WASTED any bombs." + +"Come now,--all of you,--off to bed," interposed Mrs. Vick. "I +don't want to hear any more, Courtney. I wouldn't sleep a wink." + +"Strikin' ten," said Amos, arising from his rocking-chair and +turning it upside down at the back of the porch. + +"Don't do that, Amos," protested old Caleb. "It'll NEVER rain if +you--Why, dog-gone it, ain't you learned that it's bad luck to turn +a chair bottom-side up when rain's needed? Turn it right-side up +and put it right out here in front again where the rain can get at +it. Nothin' tickles the weather more'n a chance to spoil something. +That's right. Now we c'n go to bed. Better leave them cushions on +the steps too, Rosie." + +Courtney Thane went to his room,--the spare-room on the second +floor,--and prepared to retire. The process was attended by the +smoking of three cigarettes. Presently he was stretched out on the +bed without even so much as a sheet over him. The heat was stifling. +Not a breath of air came in through the wide-open windows. He lay +awake for a long time, staring out into the night. + +"So my precious granddad had a yellow streak in him, did he? +And father wasn't much of a fighter either. Takes more than two +generations to wipe out a yellow streak, does it? I wonder what +the old boob meant by that rotten slam at my people." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +DOWD'S TAVERN + + +The last week in August Courtney Thane left the Vick farm and, +crossing the river, took lodgings at the boarding house conducted +by the Misses Dowd in the town of Windomville. + +In a letter to his mother, informing her of the change, he had +said: + +Of course, I appreciate the fact that you are paying the bills, +old dear, and out of consideration for you I dare say I ought to +stick it out with the Vicks till November as we arranged. But I +simply cannot stand it any longer. The old woman almost puts me to +bed, the girl almost sits on my lap, the boy drives me crazy with +his infernal questions about the war, and old man Brown,--the one +who went to school with father out in this gosh awful land of the +grasshopper,--he is the limit. He never lets a day go by without +some slur about my grandfather or some other member of the family +who existed long before I was born. Thinks he's witty. He is always +nagging at me about cigarette smoking. I wish you could see the +way he mishandles a cigar. As you know, I seldom smoke more than a +half dozen cigarettes a day, but he swears to God I am everlastingly +ruining my health, and it has got on my nerves so that if I stay +on here another week I'll call the old jay so hard he'll drop dead +from the shock. And, my heavens, how lonesome it is here. I almost +die of homesickness. I just had to find a place where there is +some one to talk to besides the cows and sheep and people who never +think of anything but crops and the weather, last Sunday's sermon +and Theodore Roosevelt. They are honest, but, my God, how could +they be anything else? It would not be right for me to deny that +I have improved a great deal in the last couple of weeks. I am +beginning to feel pretty fit, and I've put on four or five pounds. +Still, I'm getting sick of fresh eggs and fresh milk and their +everlasting bacon,--they call it side-meat,--and preserves. She +simply stuffs me with them. The air is wonderful, even during that +awful hot spell I wrote you about. I am sure that another month or +two out here,--perhaps three,--will put me back on my pins stronger +than ever, and then I'll be in condition to go back to work. I am +eager to get at it as soon as possible in order to pay back all +you have put up for me during this beastly year. If I did not know +you can well afford to do what you have been doing for me, mother +dear, I wouldn't allow you to spend another penny on me. But you +will get it all back some day, not in cash, of course,--for that +means nothing to you,--but in the joy of knowing that it was worth +while to bring your only son into the world. Now, as to this change +I am going to make. I've been across the river several times and I +like it over there much better than here. I think the air is better +and certainly the surroundings are pleasanter. Windomville is a +funny little village of five or six hundred people, about the same +number of dogs (exaggeration!), and the sleepiest place you've +ever imagined. Old Caleb Brown says it was laid out back in 1830 +or thereabouts by the first Windom to come to these parts. It has +a public school, a town hall, a motion-picture house (with last +year's reels), a drug store where you can get soda water, a grain +elevator, and a wonderful old log hut that was built by the very +first settler, making it nearly a hundred years old. Miss Alix Crown, +who owns nearly everything in sight,--including the log hut,--has +had the latter restored and turned into the quaintest little town +library you've ever seen. But you ought to see the librarian! She +is a dried-up, squinty old maid of some seventy summers, and so +full of Jane Austen and the Bronte women and Mrs. Southworth that +she hasn't an inch of room left in her for the modern writers. Her +name caps the climax. It is Alaska Spigg. Can you beat it? No one +ever calls her Miss Spigg,--not even the kids,--nor is she ever +spoken of or to as Alaska. It is always Alaska Spigg. I wish you +could see her. Miss Crown is the girl I wrote you about, the one +with the dime novel history back of her. She has a house on the +edge of the town,--a very attractive place. I have not seen her +yet. She is up in Michigan,--Harbor Point, I believe,--but I hear +she is expected home within a week or two. I am rather curious to +see her. The place where I have taken a room is run by a couple of +old maids named Dowd. It is really a sort of hotel. At least, you +would insult them if you called it a boarding house. Their grandfather +built the house and ran it as a tavern back before the Civil War. +When he died his son carried on the business. And now his two +daughters run the place. They have built on a couple of wings and +it is really an interesting old shack. Clean as a pin, and they say +the grub is good. It will be, as I said, a little more expensive +living here than with the Vicks but not enough to amount to anything. +The Dowds ask only fifteen dollars a week for room and board, which +is cheaper than the Ritz-Carlton or the Commodore, isn't it?...Here +is my new address in the Metropolis of Windomville-by-the-Crick: +Dowd's Tavern, Main Street. + +Her reply was prompt. She wrote from Bar Harbor, where she was +spending the summer: + +...perfectly silly of you, dearest, to speak of repaying me. All +I possess will be yours some day, so why begrudge you a little of +what should be yours now? Your dear father perhaps thought he was +doing the right thing for both of us when he left everything to +me during my lifetime, but I do not believe it was fair....There +will not be a great deal, of course. You understand how heavy my +expenses have been....In any case, you are in wretched health, my +dear boy. Nothing must stand in the way of your complete recovery. +When you are completely recovered, well and strong and eager to take +up life where this cruel war cut it off, I shall be the happiest +mother alive. I am sure you will have no difficulty in establishing +yourself. They tell me the returned soldiers are not having an easy +time finding satisfactory and lucrative positions. It is a shame +the way certain concerns have treated a good many of them, after +actually promising to hold their places open for them. But with you +it will be different. I spoke to Mr. Roberts yesterday about you. +He wants to have a talk with you. I have an idea he wants to put you +in charge of one of their offices in Spain. At any rate, he asked +if you spoke Spanish well....So I can easily afford to increase +your allowance to one hundred and fifty a month. More, if you +should ask for it, but you are so proud and self-reliant I can +do absolutely nothing with you, dear boy. I quite understand your +unwillingness to accept more than you actually need from me. It is +splendid, and I am very proud of you....This girl you wrote me +about, is she so very rich?...Your father used to speak of a young +man named Windom and how he envied him because he was so tall and +handsome. Of course, your dear father was a small boy then, and +that is always one of the laments of small boys. That, and falling +in love with women old enough to be their mothers....Do write me +often. But don't be angry with me if I fail to answer all of your +letters. I am so frightfully busy. I rarely ever have more than a +minute to myself. How I have managed to find the time to write this +long letter to you I cannot imagine. It is really quite a nice long +one, isn't it?...and don't be writing home to me in a few weeks to +say you are engaged to be married to her. It took me a great many +years to convert your dear father into what he was as you knew +him. I don't relish the thought at my time of life of transforming +a crude farmer's daughter into a Fifth Avenue lady, no matter how +pretty she may be in the rough. The days of Cinderella are long +since past. One has so much to overcome in the way of a voice with +these country girls, to say nothing of the letter r. Your poor +father never quite got over being an Indiana farmer's son, but he +did manage to subdue the aforesaid letter....And these country-girls +take a harmless, amusing flirtation very seriously, dear boy.... +Your adoring mother. + +Courtney Thane's fame had preceded him to Windomville. By this +time, the entire district had heard of the man who was gassed, and +who had actually won two or three medals for bravery in the Great +War. The young men from that section of the state who had seen +fighting in France were still in New York City, looking for jobs. +Most of them had "joined up" at the first call for volunteers. Some +of them had been killed, many of them wounded, but not one of them +had received a medal for bravery. The men who had been called by +the draft into the great National Army were all home again, having +got no nearer to the battle front than an embarkation camp in New +Jersey,--and so this tall, slender young fellow from the East was +an object not only of curiosity but of envy. + +The Misses Dowd laid themselves out to make him comfortable,--as +well as prominent. They gave him a corner room on the upper floor +of Dowd's Tavern, dispossessing a tenant of twelve years' standing,--a +photographer named Hatch, whose ability to keep from living too far +in arrears depended on his luck in inveigling certain sentimental +customers into taking "crayon portraits" of deceased loved ones, +satisfaction guaranteed, frames extra. Two windows, looking out +over the roof of the long front porch, gave him an unobstructed +view of Main Street, including such edifices as the postoffice, +the log-hut library, the ancient watering trough, the drug store, +and the steeple of the Presbyterian Church rising proudly above +the roofs of the houses in between. + +Main Street ran almost parallel with the river. With commendable +forethought, the first settlers had built their houses and stores +some little distance back from the stream along the summit of a +wooded ridge perhaps forty feet above the river at its midsummer +low-water level. The tremendous, devastating floods that came annually +with the breaking up of winter failed to reach the houses,--although +in 1883,--according to the records,--the water came up to within a +foot of Joe Roush's blacksmith shop, situated at that time halfway +down the slope, compelling the smith to think seriously of "moving +up a couple of hops," a precaution that was rendered unnecessary +by a subsequent midsummer bolt of lightning that destroyed not +only the forge but shocked Joe so severely that he "saw green" +for a matter of six weeks and finally resulted in his falling off +the dock into deep water in the middle of what was intended to be +a protracted spree brought on by the discovery that his insurance +policy did not cover "loss by lightning." To this day, the older +inhabitants of Windomville will tell you about the way his widow +"took on" until she couldn't stand it any longer,--and then married +George Hooper, the butcher, four months after the shocking demise +of Joseph. + +Dowd's Tavern had few transient guests. "Drummers" from the city +hard-by dropped in occasionally for a midday meal, but they never +stayed the night. The guests were what the Misses Dowd called +"regulars." They included Hatch, the photographer; an old and indigent +couple, parents of a farmer whose wife objected so vehemently to +their well-meant efforts to "run" her house for her that he was +obliged to "board 'em" with the Dowd girls, an arrangement that +seemed to satisfy every one concerned except the farmer himself, +who never missed an opportunity to praise the food and the comforts +to be enjoyed at the county "poorhouse" when he paid his semi-annual +visit to the venerable dependents; Mr. Charlie Webster, the rotund +manager of the grain elevator, who spent every Saturday night and +Sunday in the city and showed up for duty on Monday with pinkish eyes +and a rather tremulous whistle that was supposed to be reminiscent +of ecclesiastical associations; Miss Flora Grady, the dress-maker; +Doctor Simpson, the dentist, a pale young man with extremely bad +teeth and a habit of smiling, even at funerals; Miss Miller, the +principal of the school, who was content with a small room over +the kitchen at ten dollars a week, thereby permitting her to save +something out of her salary, which was fifty dollars a month; A. +Lincoln Pollock, the editor, owner and printer of the Weekly Sun, +and his wife, Maude Baggs Pollock, who besides contributing a poem +to each and every issue of the paper, (over her own signature), +collected news and society items, ran the postoffice for her +husband, (he being the postmaster), and taught the Bible Class in +the Presbyterian Sunday-school, as well as officiating as president +and secretary of the Literary Society, secretary to the town board, +secretary of the W. C. T. U., secretary of the Woman's Foreign +Missionary Society, secretary of the American Soldiers' and Sailors' +Relief Fund, secretary of the Windomville Improvement Association, +secretary of the Lady Maccabees, and, last but far from least, +secretary of the local branch of the Society for the Preservation +of the Redwood Forests of California. She was a born secretary. + +A. Lincoln Pollock, being a good democrat and holding office under +a democratic administration, had deemed it wise to abbreviate his +first name, thereby removing all taint of republicanism. He reduced +Abraham to an initial, but, despite his supreme struggle for dignity, +was forced by public indolence to submit to a sharp curtailment of +his middle name. He was known as Link. + +The Weekly Sun duly reported the advent of Colonel Courtney Thane, +of New York and London, and gave him quite a "send-off," at the same +time getting in a good word for the "excellent hostelry conducted +by the Misses Dowd," as well as a paragraph congratulating the +readers of the Sun on the "scoop" that paper had obtained over the +"alleged" newspapers up at the county seat. "If you want the news, +read the Sun," was the slogan at the top of the editorial column on +the second page, followed by a line in parenthesis: ("If you want +the Sun, don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today. Price +Three Dollars a Year in Advance.") + +All of the boarders sat at the same table in the dining-room. +Punctuality at meals was obligatory. Miss Jennie Dowd was the cook. +She was assisted by Miss Margaret Slattery, daughter of Martin +Slattery, the grocer. Miss Mary Dowd had charge of the dining-room. +She was likewise assisted by Miss Slattery. Between meals Miss +Slattery did the dish-washing, chamber-work, light cleaning and +"straightening," and still found room for her daily exercise, which +consisted of half a dozen turns up and down Main Street in her +best frock. Old Jim House did the outside chores about the place. +He had worked at Dowd's Tavern for thirty-seven years, and it was +his proud boast that he had never missed a day's work,--drunk or +sober. + +The new guest was given the seat of honour at table. He was placed +between Mrs. Pollock and Miss Flora Grady, supplanting Doctor Simpson, +who had held the honour ever since Charlie Webster's unfortunate +miscalculation as to the durability of an unfamiliar brand of +bourbon to which he had been introduced late one Sunday evening. It +was a brand that wore extremely well,--so well, in fact, that when +he appeared for dinner at noon on Monday he was still in a lachrymose +condition over the death of his mother, an event which took place +when he was barely six years old. Doctor Simpson relinquished the +seat cheerfully. He had held it a year and he had grown extremely +tired of having to lean back as far as possible in his chair so that +Mrs. Pollock and Miss Grady could converse unobstructedly in front +of him, a position that called for the utmost skill and deliberation +on his part, especially when it came to conveying soup and "floating +island" to such an altitude. (He had once resorted to the expedient +of bending over until his nose was almost in the plate, so that +they might talk across his back, but gave it up when Miss Molly +Dowd acridly inquired if he smelt anything wrong with the soup.) + +Mr. Hatch invited Courtney down to the studio to have his photograph +taken, free of charge; Mr. Pollock subjected him to a long interview +about the War; Mr. Webster notified him that he had laid in a small +stock just prior to July the first and that all he had to do was +to "say the word,"--or wink if it wasn't convenient to speak; Miss +Grady told him, at great length, of her trip to New York in 1895, +and inquired about certain landmarks in the Metropolis,--such as +the aquarium, the Hoffman House, Madison Square, Stewart's Drygoods +Store, Tiffany's place,--revealing a sort of lofty nonchalance in +being able to speak of things she had seen while the others had +merely read about them; Mrs. Pollock had him write in her autograph +album, and wondered if he would not consent to give a talk before +the Literary Society at its next meeting; and Margaret Slattery +made a point of passing things to him first at meals, going so far +as to indicate the choicest bits of "white meat," or the "second +joint," if he preferred the dark, whenever they had chicken for +dinner,--which was quite often. + +Old Mr. Nichols, (the indigent father), remembered Courtney's +grandfather very well, and, being apt to repeat himself, told +and retold the story of a horse-trade in which he got the better +of Silas Thane. Mrs. Nichols, living likewise in the remote past, +remembered being in his grandmother's Sunday-school class, and +how people used to pity the poor thing because Silas ran around +considerable after other women,--'specially a lively-stableman's +wife up in the city,--and what a terrible time she had when John +Robinson's Circus came to town a little while before her first child +was born and the biggest boa-constrictor in captivity escaped and +eat up two lambs on Silas's farm before it went to sleep and was +shot out in the apple orchard by Jake Billings. She often wondered +whether her worrying about that snake had had any effect on the +baby, who, it appears, ultimately grew up and became Courtney's +father. The young man smilingly sought to reassure her, but after +twice repeating his remark, looked so embarrassed that Mr. Hatch +gloomily announced from the foot of the table: + +"She's deef." + +Now, as to Mr. Courtney Thane. He was a tall, spare young man, very +erect and soldierly, with an almost unnoticeable limp. He explained +this limp by confessing that he had got into the habit of favouring +his left leg, which had been injured when his machine came down +in flames a short distance back of the lines during a vicious gas +attack by the enemy--(it was on this occasion that he was "gassed" +while dragging a badly wounded comrade to a place of safety)--but +that the member was quite as sound as ever and it was silly of +him to go on being so confounded timid about it, especially as it +hadn't been anything to speak of in the beginning,--nothing more, +in fact, than a cracked knee joint and a trifling fracture of the +ankle. + +His hair was light brown, almost straw-coloured, and was brushed +straight back from the forehead. A small, jaunty moustache, distinctly +English in character, adorned his upper lip. His eyes were brown, +set well back under a perfectly level, rather prominent brow. His +mouth was wide and faintly satirical; his chin aggressively square; +his nose long and straight. His voice was deep and pleasant, and he +spoke with what Miss Miller described as a "perfectly fascinating +drawl." Mrs. Pollock, who was quite an extensive reader of novels +and governed her conversation accordingly went so far as to say that +he was "the sort of chap that women fall in love with easily,"--and +advised Miss Miller to keep a pretty sharp watch on her heart,--a +remark that drew from Miss Miller the confession that she had +rejected at least half a dozen offers of marriage and she guessed +if there was any watching to be done it would have to be done by +the opposite sex. (As Miss Miller had repeatedly alluded to these +fruitless masculine manifestations, Mrs. Pollock merely sniffed,--and +afterwards confided to Miss Molly Dowd her belief that if any one +had ever asked Angie Miller to marry him she'd be a grandmother +by this time.) From this, it may be correctly surmised that Miss +Miller was no longer in the first bloom of youth. + +Whenever Courtney appeared on Main Street, he was the centre not +only of observation but of active attention. Nearly every one had +some form of greeting for him. Introductions were not necessary. +Women as well as men passed the time of day with him, and not a few +of the former solicitously paused to inquire how he was feeling. +Young girls stared at him and blushed, young boys followed his +progress about town with wide, worshipful eyes,--for was he not a +hero out of their cherished romance? He had to hear from the lips +of ancient men the story of Antietam, of Chancellorsville and +of Shiloh; eulogies and criticisms of Grant, McClellan and Meade; +praise for the enemy chieftains, Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Johnston; +comparisons in the matter of fatalities, marksmanship, generalship, +hardships and all such, and with the inevitable conclusion that the +Civil War was the greatest war ever fought for the simple reason +that it was fought by men and not by machinery. + +"And, what's more," declared old Captain House vigorously, "it was +fit entirely by Americans, and not by every dodgasted nation on the +face of the earth, no two of 'em able to understand a blamed word +of what was being said by friend er foe." "And," added ex-Corporal +Grimes, stamping the sidewalk with his peg leg, "what's more, +there wasn't ary one of them Johnny Rebs that couldn't pick off a +squirrel five hundred yards away with a rifle--a RIFLE, mind ye, +not a battery of machine guns. Every time they was a fight, big er +little, we used to stand out in the open and shoot at each other +like soldiers--AND gentlemen--aimin' straight at the feller we'd +picked out to kill. They tell me they was more men shot right +smack between the eyes in the Civil War than all the other wars +put together. Yes-sir-EE! And as fer REE-connoiterin', why it was +nothin' for our men,--er the rebs, either, fer that matter,--to +crawl up so close to the other side's camps that they could smell +the vittels cookin',--and I remember a case when one of our scouts, +bein' so overcome by the smell of a fried chicken, snuck right up +and grabbed it offen the skillet when the cook's back was turned, +and got away with it safe, too, b'gosh!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +TRESPASS + + +Courtney never was without the heavy English walking-stick on which +he occasionally leaned for support. He took long strolls in the +country, frequently passing the Windom place, and twice he had gone +as far as the railed-in base of Quill's Window. From the footpath at +the bottom he could look through the trees up to the bare crest of +the rock. The gate through the high fence was padlocked, and contained +a sign with the curt warning: "No Trespass." On the opposite side +of the wide strip of meadow-land, in which cattle grazed placidly, +he could see the abandoned house where Alix Crown was born,--a +colourless, weather-beaten, two-storey frame building with faded +green window shutters and a high-pitched roof blackened by rain and +rot. Every shutter was closed; an atmosphere of utter desolation +hung over the place. + +Across that brown, sunburnt stretch of meadow-land when it was white +and cold, old David Windom had carried the stiff body of Edward +Crown,--and returning had borne the soft, limp figure of his stricken +child. Courtney permitted his fancy to indulge in calculation. He +followed with his eye what must have been the path of the slayer +on that dreadful night. It led, no doubt, to the spot on which he +now was standing, for just behind him was the suggestion of a narrow, +weed-lined path that wormed its way through the trees toward the top +of the great rock. He decided that one day soon he would disregard +that sign on the gate, and climb up to the strange burial place of +Edward Crown and Alix the Second. + +He had tested his increasing strength and endurance by rowing up +the river with Rosabel for a fair view of the hole in the face of +the rock--Quill's Window. It was plainly visible from the river, a +wide black gash in the almost perpendicular wall that reached well +above the fringe of trees and underbrush along the steep bank of +the stream. + +He tried to picture Quill as he sat in his strange abode, a hundred +years ago, cowering over the fire or reading perhaps by the light +of a huge old-fashioned lanthorn. He thought of him hanging by the +neck back in the dark recess, victim either of his own conscience +or the implacable hatred of the enemy "down the river." And then +there were the others who had found death in the heart of that +mysterious cavern,--ugly death. + +He wondered what the interior of the cave was like, and whether he +could devise some means of entering it. A rope ladder attached to +a substantial support at the top of the cliff would afford the easiest +way of reaching the mouth of the cave,--in fact, he recalled that +Quill employed some such means of descending to his eerie home. The +entrance appeared to be no more than twenty feet below the brow of +the cliff. It would not even be a hazardous undertaking. Besides, +if Quill and his successors were able to go up and down that wall +safely and repeatedly, why not he? No doubt scores of men,--perhaps +even schoolboys of the Tom Sawyer type,--had made frequent visits +to the cave. He knew he would be disregarding the command of Alix +Crown,--a command that all people respected and observed,--if he +passed the barrier and climbed to the top of the rock, but who, +after all, was Alix Crown that she should say "no trespass" to the +world at large? + +The thought of Edward Crown wedged in at the bottom of Quill's Chimney, +weighted down with stones and earth, alone served as an obstacle to +the enterprise. He shrank from certain gruesome possibilities,--such +as the dislodgment of stones at the bottom of the crevice and the +consequent exposure of a thing that would haunt him forever. And +even though the stones remained in place there would still remain +the fact that almost within arm's length was imprisoned the crushed, +distorted remains of the murdered man. + +Toward the end of his second week at Dowd's Tavern, he set out to +climb to the top of the big rock. He had no intention of descending +to the cavern's mouth on this occasion. That feat was to be reserved for +another day. Arriving at the gate, he was surprised and gratified +to discover that it was unlocked. While it was latched, the +padlock and chain hung loosely from the post to which the latter +was attached. Without hesitation, he opened the gate and strode +boldly into proscribed territory. + +The ascent was gradual at first, then steep and abrupt for a matter +of fifty or sixty feet to the bald summit of the hill. Once at the +top, he sat down panting and exhausted upon the edge of the shallow +fissure he had followed as a path up the rock, and again his thoughts +went back to the night of the murder. This had been David Windom's +route to the top of the hill. He found himself discrediting one +feature at least of the man's confession. Only a fabled giant could +have carried the body of a man up that steep, tortuous incline. +Why, he was exhausted, and he had borne no heavier burden than +his stout walking-stick. That part of Windom's story certainly was +"fishy." + +Presently he arose and strode out upon the rough, uneven "roof" of +the height. He could look in all directions over the tops of the +trees below. The sun beat down fiercely upon the unsheltered rock. +Off to the north lay the pall of smoke indicating the presence +of the invisible county seat. Thin, anfractuous highways and dirt +roads scarred the green and brown landscape, and as far as the eye +could reach were to be seen farmhouses and barns and silos. + +Avoiding the significant heap of rocks near the centre of the little +plateau, he made his way to the brink of the cliff overlooking +the river. There he had a wonderful view of the winding stream, +the harvest fields, the groves, and the herds in the far-reaching +stretches of what was considered the greatest corn raising "belt" +in the United States. Some yards back from the edge of the cliff +he discovered the now thoroughly rotted section of a tree trunk, +eight or ten inches in diameter, driven deeply into a narrow fissure +and rendered absolutely immovable by a solid mass of stones and +gravel that completely closed the remainder of the crevice. He was +right in surmising that this was the support from which Quill's rope +or vine ladder was suspended a hundred years ago. Nearby were two +heavy iron rings attached to standards sunk firmly into the rock, +a modern improvement on the hermit's crude device. (He afterwards +learned that David Windom, when a lad of fifteen, had drilled the +holes in the rock and imbedded the stout iron shafts, so that he +might safely descend to the mouth of the cave.) + +Turning back, he approached the heap of boulders that covered the +grave of Edward and Alix Crown. No visible sign of the cleft in +the surface of the rock remained. Six huge boulders, arranged in +a row, rose above a carefully made bed of stones held in place by +a low, soundly mortared wall. + +Chiselled on one of the end boulders was the name of Alix Windom +Crown, with the date of her birth and her death, with the line: +"Rock of Ages Cleft for Me." Below this inscription was the recently +carved name of Edward Joseph Crown, Born July 7, 1871. Died March +22, 1895. Three words followed this. They were "Abide With Me." + +II + +Thane stood for a long time looking at the pile. He was not +sentimental. His life had been spent in an irreverent city, among +people hardened by pleasure or coarsened by greed. His thoughts +as he stood there were not of the unhappy pair who reposed beneath +those ugly rocks; they were of the far-off tragedy that had brought +them to this singular resting-place. The fact that this was a grave, +sacred in the same sense that his father's grave in Woodlawn was +supposed to be sacred to him and to his mother, was overlooked in +the silent contemplation of what an even less sophisticated person +might have been justified in describing as a "freak." Nothing +was farther from his mind, however, than the desire or impulse to +be disrespectful. And yet, as he was about to turn away from this +sombre pile, he leaned over and struck a match on one of the huge +boulders. As he was conveying the lighted sulphur match,--with +which Dowd's Tavern abounded,--to the cigarette that hung limply +from his lips, he was startled by a sharp, almost agonized cry. +It seemed to come from nowhere. He experienced the uncanny feeling +that a ghost,--the ghost that haunted Quill's Window,--standing +guard over the mound, had cried out under the pain inflicted by +that profane match. + +Even as he turned to search the blazing, sunlit rock with apprehensive +eyes, a voice, shrill with anger, flung these words at him: + +"What are you doing up here?" + +His gaze fell upon the speaker, standing stockstill in the cloven +path below him, not twenty feet away. In his relief, he laughed. +He beheld a slim figure in riding-togs. Nothing formidable or +ghostlike in that! Nevertheless, a pair of dark blue eyes transfixed +him with indignation. They looked out from under the rim of a black +sailor hat, and they were wide and inimical. + +"Did you not see that sign on the gate?" demanded the girl. + +"I did," he replied, still smiling as he removed his hat,--one of +Knox's panamas. "And I owe you an apology." + +She advanced to the top. He noted the riding-crop gripped rather +firmly in her clenched hand. + +"No one is permitted to come up here," she announced, stopping a +few feet away. She was quite tall and straight. She panted a little +from the climb up the steep. He saw her bosom rise and fall under +the khaki jacket; her nostrils were slightly distended. In that +first glimpse of her, he took in the graceful, perfect figure; the +lovely, brilliant face; the glorious though unsmiling eyes. "You +must leave at once. This is private property. Go, please." + +"I cannot go before telling you how rotten I feel for striking that +match. I beg of you, Miss Crown,--you ARE Miss Crown?--I can only +ask you to believe that it was not a conscious act of desecration. +It was sheer thoughtlessness. I would not have done it for the +world if I had--" + +"It is not necessary for you to explain," she broke in curtly. "I +saw what you did,--and it is just because of such as you that this +spot is forbidden ground. Idle curiosity, utter disregard for the +sacredness of that lonely grave,--Oh, you need not attempt to deny +it. You are a stranger here, but that is no excuse for your passing +through that gate. I AM Miss Crown. This hill belongs to me. It was +I who had that fence put up and it was I who directed the sign to +be put on the gate. They are meant for strangers as well as for +friends. It was not thoughtlessness that brought you up here. You +thought a long time before you came. Will you be good enough to +go?" + +He flushed under the scornful dismissal. + +"The gate was unlocked--" he began. + +"That doesn't matter. It might have been wide open, sir,--but that +did not grant you any special privileges." + +"I can only ask your pardon, Miss Crown, and depart in disgrace," +said he, quite humbly. As he started down the path, he paused to +add: "I did not know you had returned. I daresay I should have been +less venturesome had I known you were in the neighbourhood." + +The thinly veiled sarcasm did not escape her. + +"I suppose you are the young man from New York that every one is +talking about. That may account for your ignorance. In order that +you may not feel called upon to visit this place again to satisfy +your curiosity, I will point out to you the objects of interest. +This pile of rocks marks the grave of my father and mother. The +dates speak for themselves. You may have noticed them when you +scratched your match just above my mother's name. My father was +murdered by my grandfather before I was born. My mother died on +the day I was born. I never saw them. I do not love them, because +I never knew them. But I DO respect and honour them. They were good +people. I have no reason to be ashamed of them. If you will look +out over those trees and across that pasture, you will see the house +in which my mother died and where I was born. Directly in front of +the little porch my father died as the result of a blow delivered +by my grandfather. As to the disposal of the body, you may obtain +all the information necessary from Alaska Spigg, our town librarian, +who will be more than delighted to supply you with all the ghastly +details. To your right is the post to which a man named Quill +attached his ladder in order to reach the cave in the face of this +rock,--where he lived for many years. This is the path leading +down to the gate, which you will still find unlocked. It will not +be necessary for you to come up here again. You have seen all there +is to see." + +With that, she deliberately turned her back on him and walked toward +the edge of the cliff. He stared after her for a few seconds, his +lips parted as if to speak, and then, as the flush of mortification +deepened in his cheeks, he began picking his way rather blindly +down the steep path. + +He was never to forget his first encounter with Alix the Third. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +CHARLIE WEBSTER ENTERTAINS + + +That evening at the supper table, Mr. Pollock politely informed +him that Alix Crown had returned from Michigan, looking as fit as +a fiddle. + +"You've been so sort of curious about her, Court?" (it had not +taken the male boarders long to dispense with formalities), "that +I thought you'd be interested in knowing that she's home. Got back +last evening. Her Packard automobile met her at the depot up in +the city. You'll know her when you see her. Tall girl and fairly +good-looking. Puts on an awful lot of 'dog.' What is it you fellows +in the Army call it? Swunk?" + +"Swank," said Courtney, rather shortly. He was still smarting under +the sting of his afternoon's experience. + +"Lemme help you to some more squash, Mr. Thane," said Margaret +Slattery in his ear. "And another biscuit." + +"Thank you, no," said he. + +"What's the matter with your appetite?" she demanded. "You ain't +hardly touched anything this evenin'. Sick?" + +"I'm not hungry, Margaret." + +"Been out in the sun too much, that's what's the matter with you. +First thing you know you'll get a sunstroke, and THEN! My Uncle +Mike was sunstruck when I was--" + +"Pass me the biscuits, Maggie, and don't be all night about it," put +in Mr. Webster. "I'm hungry, even if Court isn't. I can distinctly +remember when you used to pass everything to me first, and almost +stuff it--" + +"Yes, and she used to do the same for me before you shaved off your +chin whiskers, Charlie," said Mr. Hatch gloomily. "How times have +changed." + +"It ain't the times that's changed," said Margaret. "It's you men. +You ain't what you used to be, lemme tell you that." + +"True,--oh so true," lamented Mr. Webster. "I used to be nice and +thin and graceful before you began showering me with attention. Now +look at me. You put something like fifty pounds on me, and then you +desert me. I was a handsome feller when I first came here, wasn't +I, Flora? I leave it to you if I wasn't." + +"I don't remember how you looked when you first came here," replied +Miss Grady loftily. + +"Can you beat that?" cried Charlie to Courtney across the table. +"And she used to say I was the handsomest young feller she'd ever +laid eyes on. Used to say I looked like,--who was it you used to +say I looked like, Flora?" + +"The only thing I ever said you looked like was a mud fence, Charlie +Webster." + +"What did she say, Pa? Hey?" This from old Mrs. Nichols, holding +her hand to her ear. "What are they laughing at?" + +"She says Charlie looks like a mud fence," shouted old Mr. Nichols, +his lips close to her ear. + +"His pants? What about his pants?" + +This time Courtney joined in the laugh. + +After supper he sat on the front porch with the Pollocks and Miss +Grady. It was a warm, starry night. Charlie Webster and Doc Simpson +had strolled off down the street. Mr. Hatch and Miss Miller sat in +the parlour. + +"She's going to land Furman Hatch, sure as you're a foot high," +confided Mr. Pollock, with a significant jerk of his head in the +direction of the parlour. + +"Heaven knows she's been trying long enough," said Miss Grady. "I +heard him ask Doc and Charlie to wait for him, but she nabbed him +before he could get out. Now he's got to sit in there and listen +to her tell about how interested she is in art,--and him just dyin' +for a smoke. Why, there's Alix Crown now. She's comin' in here." + +A big touring car drew up to the sidewalk in front of the Tavern. +Miss Crown sprang lightly out of the seat beside the chauffeur and +came up the steps. + +"How do you do, Mrs. Pollock? Hello, Flora. Good evening, Mr. +Editor," was her cheery greeting as she passed by and entered the +house. + +"She comes around every once in a while and takes the Dowd girls +out riding in her car," explained Mrs. Pollock. + +"Mighty nice of her," said Mr. Pollock, taking his feet down from +the porch-rail and carefully brushing the cigar ashes off of his +coat sleeve. "Takes old Alaska Spigg out too, and the Nicholses, +and--" + +"We've been out with her a great many times," broke in Mrs. Pollock. +"I think a Packard is a wonderful car, don't you, Mr. Thane? So +smooth and--" + +"I think I'll take a little stroll," said Courtney abruptly; and +snatching up his hat from the floor beside his chair he hurried +down the steps. + +She had not even glanced at him as she crossed the porch. He had +the very uneasy conviction that so far as she was concerned he +might just as well not have been there at all. In the early dusk, +her face was clearly revealed to him. There was nothing cold +or unfriendly about it now. Instead, her smile was radiant; her +eyes,--even in the subdued light,--glowed with pleasure. Her voice +was clear and soft and singularly appealing. In the afternoon's +encounter he had been struck by its unexpected combination of English +and American qualities; the sharp querulousness of the English and +the melodious drawl of the American were strangely blended, and +although there had been castigation in her words and manner, he +took away with him the disturbing memory of a voice he was never +to forget. And now he had seen the smile that even the most envious +of her kind described as "heavenly." It was broad and wholesome +and genuine. There was a flash of white, even teeth between warm +red lips, a gleam of merriment in the half-closed eyes, a gay tilt +to the bare, shapely head. Her dark hair was coiled neatly, and +the ears were exposed. He liked her ears. He remembered them as he +had seen them in the afternoon, fairly large, shapely and close to +the head. No need for her to follow the prevailing fashion of the +day! She had no reason to hide her ears beneath a mat of hair. + +In the evening glow her face was gloriously beautiful,--clear-cut +as a cameo, warm as a rose. It was no longer clouded with anger. +She seemed taller. The smart riding costume had brought her trim +figure into direct contrast with his own height and breadth, and +she had looked like a slim, half-grown boy beside his six feet and +over. Now, in her black and white checked sport skirt and dark +sweater jacket, she was revealed as a woman quite well above the +average height. + +He was standing in front of the drug store when the big car went +by a few minutes later, filled with people. She was driving, the +chauffeur sitting in the seat beside her. In the tonneau he observed +the two Dowd sisters, Mr. and Mrs. Pollock and Flora Grady. + +As the car whizzed by, A. Lincoln Pollock espied him. Waving his +hand triumphantly, the editor called out: + +"Hello, Court!" + +The object of this genial shout did not respond by word or action. +He looked to see if the girl at the wheel turned her head for a +glance in his direction. She did not, and he experienced a fresh +twinge of annoyance. He muttered something under his breath. The +car disappeared around a bend as he turned to enter the store. + +"That was Alix Crown, Court," remarked Charlie Webster from the +doorway. "Little too dark to get a good look at her, but wait till +she flashes across you in broad daylight some time. She'll make you +forget all those Fifth Avenue skirts so quick your head'll swim." + +"Is THAT so?" retorted Courtney, allowing rancour to get the +better of fairness. Down in his heart he had said that Alix Crown +was the loveliest girl he had ever seen. "What do you know about +Fifth Avenue?" + +Charlie Webster grinned amiably. He was not offended by the other's +tone. + +"Well, I've seen it in the movies," he explained. "What are you +sore about?" + +"Sore? I'm not sore. What put that into your head?" + +The rotund superintendent of the elevator fanned himself lazily +with his straw hat. + +"If I was fifteen years younger and fifty pounds lighter," said +he, "I'd be sore too. But what's the use of a fat old slob like me +getting peeved because Miss Alix Crown don't happen to notice me? +Oh, we're great friends and all that, mind you, and she thinks a +lot of me,--as manager of her grain elevator. Same as she thinks +a lot of Jim Bagley, her superintendent,--and Ed Stevens, her +chauffeur, and so on. Now, as for you, it's different. You're from +New York and it goes against the grain to be overlooked, you might +say, by a girl from Indiana. Oh, I know what you New Yorkers think +of Indiana,--and all that therein is, as the Scriptures would say. +You think that nothing but boobs and corn-fed squaws come from +Indiana, but if you hang around long enough you'll find you're +mistaken. This state is full of girls like Alix Crown,--bright, +smart, good-looking girls that have been a hell of a ways farther +east than New York. Of course, there are boobs like me and Doc +Simpson and Tintype Hatch who get up to Chicago once every three +or four years and have to sew our return trip tickets inside our +belly-bands so's we can be sure of getting back home after Chicago +gets through admiring us, but now since prohibition has come in +I don't know but what we're as bright and clever as anybody else. +Most of the fellers I've run across in Chicago seem to be brightest +just after they change feet on the rail and ask the bartender if he +knows how to make a cucumber cocktail, or something else as clever +as that. But that ain't what we were talking about. We were talking +about--" + +"I wasn't talking about anything," interrupted Courtney. + +"Oh, yes, you were," said Charlie. "Not out loud, of course,--but +talking just the same. You were talking about Alix Crown and the +way she forgot to invite you to take a ride with the rest of--" + +"See here, Webster,--are you trying to be offensive?" + +"Offensive? Lord, no! I'm just TELLING you, that's all. On the +level now, am I right or wrong?" + +"I do not know Miss Crown," replied Thane stiffly. "Why should I +expect her to ask me,--a total stranger,--to go out in her car?" + +"Didn't Maude Pollock introduce you a while ago?" + +"No," said the other succinctly. + +"Well, by gosh, that ain't like Maude," exclaimed Charlie. "I'd +'a' bet two dollars she said 'I want to present my friend from New +York, Mr. Courtney Thane, the distinguished aviator, Miss Crown,' +or something like that. I can't understand Maude missing a chance +like that. She just LOVES it." + +Courtney smiled. "I daresay she wasn't quick enough," he said drily. +"Miss Crown was in a hurry. And I left before she came out of the +house. Now is your curiosity satisfied?" + +"Absolutely," said Charlie. "Now I'll sleep soundly tonight. I was +afraid the darned thing would keep me awake all night. Remember +me saying I had a small stock hid away up in my room? What say to +going up,--now that the coast is clear,--and having a nip or two?" + +"No, thanks, old man. I don't drink. Doctor's orders. Besides, +I've got some letters to write. I'll walk home with you if you're +ready to go." + +II + +Mr. Webster shook his head sadly. "That's the one drawback to +livin' in Windomville," he said. "People either want to drink too +much or they don't want to drink at all. Nobody wants to drink in +moderation. Now, here's you, for instance. You look like a feller +that could kiss a highball or two without compromising yourself, and +there's Hatch that has to hold his nose so's he won't get drunk if +he comes within ten feet of a glass of whiskey." They were strolling +slowly toward the Tavern. "Now you up and claim you're on the water +wagon. I'd been counting on you, Court,--I certainly had. The last +time I took Hatch and Doc Simpson up to my room,--that was on the +Fourth of last July,--I had to sleep on the floor. Course, if I +was skinny like Doc and Hatch that wouldn't have been necessary. +But I can't bear sleepin' three in a bed. Doctor's orders, eh? That +comes of livin' in New York. There ain't a doctor in Indiana that +would stoop so low as that,--not one. Look at old man Nichols. He's +eighty-two years old and up to about a year ago he never missed a +day without taking a couple o' swigs of rye. He swears he wouldn't +have lived to be more than seventy-five if he hadn't taken his +daily nip. That shows how smart and sensible our doctors are out +here. They--" + +"By the way, Mrs. Nichols appears to be a remarkably well-preserved +old lady,--aside from her hearing. How old is she?" + +"Eighty-three. Wonderful old woman." + +"I suppose she has always had her daily swig of rye." + +Charlie Webster was silent for a moment. He had to think. This was +a very serious and unexpected complication. + +"What did you say?" he inquired, fencing for time. + +"Has she always been a steady drinker, like the old man?" + +Charlie was a gentleman. He sighed. + +"I guess it's time to change the subject," he said. "The only way +you could get a spoonful of whiskey down that old woman would be +to chloroform her. If I'm any good at guessin', she'll outlive the +old man by ten years,--so what's the sense of me preachin' to you +about the life preserving virtues of booze? Oh, Lordy! There's +another of my best arguments knocked galley-west. It's no use. I've +been playing old man Nichols for nearly fifteen years as a bright +and shining light, and he turns out to be nothing but a busted +flush. She's had eleven children and he's never had anything worse +than a headache, and, by gosh, he's hangin' onto her with both hands +for support to keep his other foot from slippin' into the grave. +But,"--and here his face brightened suddenly,--"there's one thing +to be said, Court. She didn't consult any darned fool doctor about +it." + +Courtney was ashamed of his churlishness toward this good-natured +little man. + +"Say no more, Charlie. I'll break my rule this once if it will +make you feel any better. One little drink, that's all,--in spite +of the doctor. He's a long way off, and I daresay he'll never +know the difference. Lead the way, old chap. Anything to cheer up +a disconsolate comrade." + +A few minutes later they were in Webster's room, second floor +back. The highly gratified host had lighted the kerosene lamp on +the table in the centre of the room, and pulled down the window +shades. Then, putting his fingers to his lips to enjoin silence, +he tip-toed to the door and threw it open suddenly. After peering +into the hall and listening intently for a moment, he cautiously +closed it again. + +"All's well, as the watchman says at midnight," he remarked, as +he drew his key ring from his hip pocket and selected a key with +unerring precision from the extensive assortment. "I always do +that," he added. "I don't suppose it was necessary tonight, because +Angie Miller has got Hatch where he can't possibly escape. Long +as she knows where he is, she don't do much snooping. She used +to be the same way with me,--and Doc, too, for that matter. Poor +Hatch,--setting down there in the parlour,--listening to her talk +about birds and flowers and trying to help her guess what she's +going to give him for next Christmas. It's hell to be a bachelor, +Court." + +He unlocked a trunk in the corner of the room, and after lifting +out two trays produced a half empty whiskey bottle. + +"I had a dozen of these to begin with," said he, holding the bottle +up to the light. "Dollar sixty a quart. Quite a nifty little stock, +eh?" + +"Is that all you have left?" + +Charlie scratched his ear reflectively. + +"Well, you see, I've had a good deal of toothache lately," he +announced. "And as soon as Doc Simpson and Hatch found out about +it, they begin to complain about their teeth achin' too. Seemed +to be a sort of epidemic of toothache, Court. Nothing like whiskey +for the toothache, you know." + +"But Simpson is a dentist. Why don't you have him treat your teeth?" + +"Seems as though he'd sooner have me treat his," said Charlie, with +a slight grimace. Rummaging about in the top tray of the trunk, +he produced a couple of bar glasses, which he carefully rinsed at +the washstand. "Tastes better when you drink it out of a regular +glass," he explained. "Always seems sort of cowardly to me to take +it with water,--almost as if you were trying to drown it so's it +won't be able to bite back when you tackle it. Needn't mind sayin' +'when' The glass holds just so much, and I know enough to stop when +it begins to run over. Well! Here's hoping your toothache will be +better in the morning, Court." + +"I don't think I ought to rob you like this, Charlie,--" + +"Lord, man, you're not robbing me. If you're robbing anybody, it's +Doc Simpson,--and he's been absolutely free from toothache ever +since I told him this room was dry. Excuse me a second, Court. I +always propose a toast before I take a drink up here. Here's to Miss +Alix Crown, the finest girl in the U. S. A., and the best boss a +man ever had. Course I've never said that in a saloon, but up here +it's different,--and kind of sacred." + +"I usually make a wry face when I drink it neat like this," said +Courtney. + +"You'll like her just as well as I do when you get to know her, boy. +I've known her since she was a little kid,--long before she was +sent abroad,--and she's the salt of the earth. That's one thing on +which Doc and Hatch and me always agree. We differ on most everything +else, but--well, as I was saying, you wait till you get to know +her." + +He tossed off the whiskey in one prodigious gulp, smacked his lips, +and then stood watching his guest drink his. + +Tears came into Courtney's eyes as he drained the last drop of the +fiery liquid. A shudder distorted his face. + +"Pretty hot stuff, eh?" observed Charlie sympathetically. + +Courtney's reply was a nod of the head, speech being denied him. + +"Don't try to talk yet," said Charlie, as if admonishing a child +who has choked on a swallow of water. "Anyhow," he went on quaintly, +after a moment, "it makes you forget all about your toothache, +don't it?" + +The other cleared his throat raucously. "Now I know why the redskins +call it fire water," said he. + +"Have another?" + +"Not on your life," exclaimed the New Yorker. "Put it back in the +trunk,--and lock it up!" + +"No sooner said than done," said Charlie amicably. "Now I'll +pull up the shades and let in a little of our well-known hoosier +atmosphere,--and some real moonshine. Hello! There go Hatch and +Angie, out for a stroll. Yep! She's got him headed toward Foster's +soda water joint. I'll bet every tooth in his head is achin'." + +"How long have you been running the grain elevator, Charlie?" + +"Ever since David Windom built it, back in 1897,--twenty-two years. +I took a few months off in '98, expecting to see something of Cuba, +but the darned Spaniards surrendered when they heard I was on the +way, so I never got any farther than Indianapolis. Twenty-two years. +That's almost as long as Alix Crown has lived altogether." + +"Have you ever seen the grave at the top of Quill's Window?" + +"When I first came here, yes. Nobody ever goes up there now. In +the first place, she don't like it, and in the second place, most +people in these parts are honourable. We wouldn't any more think of +trespassin' up there than we'd think of pickin' somebody's pocket. +Besides which, there's supposed to be rattlesnakes up there among +the rocks. And besides that, the place is haunted." + +"Haunted? I understood it was the old Windom house that is haunted." + +"Well, spooks travel about a bit, being restless sort of things. +Thirty or forty years back, people swore that old Quill and the +other people who croaked up there used to come back during the dark +of the moon and hold high revels, as the novel writers would say. +Strange to say, they suddenly stopped coming back when the sheriff +snook up there one night with a couple of deputies and arrested a +gang of male and female mortals and confiscated a couple of kegs +of beer at the same time. Shortly after old David Windom confessed +that he killed Alix's father and buried him on the rock, people +begin to talk about seeing things again. Funny that Eddie Crown's +ghost neglected to come back till after he'd been dead eighteen years +or so. Ghosts ain't usually so considerate. Nobody ever claims to +have seen him floating around the old Windom front yard before Mr. +Windom confessed. But, by gosh, the story hadn't been printed in +the newspapers for more than two days before George Heffner saw +Eddie in the front yard, plain as day, and ran derned near a mile +and a half past his own house before he could stop, as he told some +one that met him when he stopped for breath. Course, that story +sort of petered out when George's wife went down and cowhided a +widow who lived just a mile and a half south of their place, and +that night George kept on running so hard the other way that he's +never been heard of since. Since then there hasn't been much talk +about ghosts,--'specially among the married men." + +"And the rattlesnakes?" said Courtney, grinning. + +"Along about 1875 David Windom killed a couple of rattlers up +there. It's only natural that their ghosts should come back, same +as anybody else's. Far as I can make out, nobody has ever actually +seen one, but the Lord only knows how many people claim to have +heard 'em." + +He went on in this whimsical fashion for half an hour or more, and +finally came back to Alix Crown again. + +"She did an awful lot of good during the war,--contributed to +everything, drove an ambulance in New York, took up nursing, and +all that, and if the war hadn't been ended by you fellers when it +was, she'd have been over in France, sure as you're a foot high." + +"Strange she hasn't married, young and rich and beautiful as she +is," mused Courtney. + +"Plenty of fellers been after her all right. She don't seem to +be able to see 'em though. Now that the war's over maybe she'll +settle down and pay some attention to sufferin' humanity. There's +one thing sure. If she's got a beau he don't belong around these +parts. Nobody around here's got a look-in." + +"Does she live all alone in that house up there? I mean, has she +no--er--chaperon?" + +"Nancy Strong is keeping house for her,--her husband used to run +the blacksmith shop here and did all of David Windom's work for +him. He's been dead a good many years. Nancy is one of the finest +women you ever saw. Her father was an Episcopal minister up in +the city up to the time he died. Nancy had to earn her own living, +so she got a job as school teacher down here. Let's see, that was +over thirty years ago. Been here ever since. Tom Strong wasn't good +enough for her. Too religious. He was the feller that led the mob +that wiped out Tony Zimmerman's saloon soon after I came here. I'll +never forget that night. I happened to be in the saloon,--just out +of curiosity, because it was new and everybody was dropping in to +see the bar and fixtures he'd got from Chicago,--but I got out of +a back window in plenty of time. But as I was saying, Nancy Strong +keeps house for Alix. She's got a cook and a second girl besides, +and a chauffeur." + +"An ideal arrangement," said Courtney, looking at his wrist-watch. + +"I wonder if you ever came across Nancy Strong's son over in France. +He was in the Medical Corps in our Army. He's a doctor. Went to +Rush Medical College in Chicago and afterwards to some place in +the East,--John Hopkins or some such name as that. Feller about +your age, I should say. David Strong. Mr. Windom sent him through +college. They say he's paying the money back to Alix Crown as fast +as he makes it. Alix hates him worse'n poison, according to Jim +Bagley, her foreman. Of course, she don't let on to David's mother +on account of her being housekeeper and all. Seems that Alix is as +sore as can be because he insists on paying the money to her, when +she claims her grandpa gave it to him and it's none of her business. +Davy says he promised to pay Mr. Windom back as soon as he was able, +and can't see any reason why the old man's death should cancel the +obligation. Jim was telling me some time ago about the letter Alix +showed him from Davy. She was so mad she actually cried. He said +in so many words he didn't choose to be beholden to her, and that +he was in the habit of paying his debts, and she needn't be so high +and mighty about refusin' to accept the money. He said he didn't +accept anything from Mr. Windom as charity,--claiming it was a +loan,--and he'd be damned if he'd accept charity from her. I don't +believe he swore like that, but then Jim can't say good morning to +you without getting in a cuss word or two. Alix is as stubborn as +all get out. Jim says that every time she gets a cheque from Davy +she cashes it and hands the money over to Mrs. Strong for a present, +never letting on to Nancy that it came from Davy. Did I say that +Davy is practisin' in Philadelphia? He was back here for a week to +see his mother after he got out of the Army, but when Alix heard +he was coming she beat it up to Chicago. I thought maybe you might +have run across him over in France." + +"I was not with the American Army,--and besides there were several +million men in France, Charlie," said Courtney, arising and stretching +himself. "Well, good night. Thanks for the uplift. I'll skip along +now and write a letter or two." + +"Snappy dreams," said Charlie Webster. + +Just as Courtney was closing a long letter to his mother, the +automobile drew up in front of the Tavern and Alix Crown's guests +got out. There were "good-nights" and "sleep-tights" and then the +car went purring down the dimly lighted road. He had no trouble in +distinguishing Alix's clear, young voice, and thereupon added the +following words of comfort to his faraway mother: "You will love +her voice, mater dear. It's like music. So put away your prejudice +and wish me luck. I've made a good start. The fact that she refused +to look at me on the porch tonight is the best sign in the world. +Just because she deliberately failed to notice me is no sign that +she didn't expect me to notice her. It is an ancient and time-honoured +trick of your adorable sex." + +III + +The next morning his walk took him up the lane past the charming, +red-brick house of Alix the Third. His leg was troubling him. He +walked with quite a pronounced limp, and there were times when his +face winced with pain. + +"It's that confounded poison you gave me last night," he announced +to Charlie Webster as they stood chatting in front of the warehouse +office. + +"First time I ever heard of booze going to the knee," was Charlie's +laconic rejoinder. "It's generally aimed at the head." + +He made good use of the corner of his eye as he strolled leisurely +past the Windom house, set well back at the top of a small +tree-surrounded knoll and looking down upon the grassy slope that +formed the most beautiful "front yard" in the whole county, according +to the proud and boastful denizens of Windomville. Along the bottom +of the lawn ran a neatly trimmed privet hedge. There were lilac +bushes in the lower corners of the extensive grounds, and the wide +gravel walk up to the house was lined with flowers. Rose bushes +guarded the base of the terrace that ran the full length of the +house and curved off to the back of it. + +A red and yellow beach umbrella, tilted against the hot morning +sun, lent a gay note of colour to the terrace to the left of the +steps. Some one,--a woman,--sat beneath the big sunshade, reading +a newspaper. A Belgian police dog posed at the top of the steps, +as rigid as if shaped of stone, regarding the passer-by who limped. +Halfway between the house and the road stood two fine old oaks, +one at either side of the lawn. Their cool, alluring shadows were +like clouds upon an emerald sea. Down near the hedge a whirling +garden spray cast its benevolent waters over the grateful turf, and, +reaching out in playful gusts, blew its mist into the face of the +man outside. Back of the house and farther up the timbered slope +rose a towering windmill and below it the red water tank, partially +screened by the tree-tops. The rhythmic beat of a hydraulic pump +came to the stroller's ears. + +Courtney's saunterings had taken him past this charming place +before,--half a dozen times perhaps,--but never had it seemed so +alluring. Outwardly there was no change that he could detect, and +yet there was a subtle difference in its every aspect. The spray, +the shadows, the lazy windmill, the flowers,--he had seen them +all before, just as they were this morning. They had not changed. +But now, by some strange wizardry, the tranquil setting had been +transformed into a vibrant, exquisite fairyland, throbbing with +life, charged with an appeal to every one of the senses. It was as +if some hand had shaken it out of a sound sleep. + +But, for that matter, the whole village of Windomville had undergone +a change. It was no longer the dull, sleepy place of yesterday. +Over night it had blossomed. Courtney Thane alone was aware of this +amazing transformation. It was he who felt the thrill that charged +the air, who breathed in the sense-quickening spice, who heard +the pipes of Pan. All these signs of enchantment were denied the +matter-of-fact, unimaginative inhabitants of Windomville. And you +would ask the cause of this amazing transformation? + +Before he left the breakfast table Courtney had consented to give a +talk before the Literary Society on the coming Friday night. Mrs. +Maude Baggs Pollock had been at him for a week to tell of his +experiences at the front. She promised a full attendance. + +"I've never made a speech in my life," he said, "and I know I'd be +scared stiff, Mrs. Pollock." + +"Pooh! Don't you talk to me about being scared! Anybody who did +the things you did over in France--" + +"Ah, but you forget I was armed to the teeth," he reminded her, +with a grin. + +"Well," put in Charlie Webster, "we'll promise to leave our pistols +at home. The only danger you'll be in, Court, will come from a lot +of hysterical women trying to kiss you, but I think I can fix it +to have the best lookin' ones up in front so that--" + +"I wish you wouldn't always try to be funny, Charlie Webster," +snapped Mrs. Pollock. "Mr. Thane and I were discussing a serious +matter. If you can postpone--" + +"I defy anybody to prove that there's anything funny about being +kissed by practically half the grown-up population of Windomville +with the other half lookin' on and cussin' under their breath." + +"Don't pay any attention to him, Mr. Thane," said the poetess +of Windomville. "Alix Crown said last night she was coming to the +meeting this week, and I'd so like to surprise her. Now please say +you will do it." + +"I really wouldn't know what to talk about," pleaded the young man. +"You see, as a rule, we fellows who were over there don't feel +half as well qualified to talk about the war as those who stayed +at home and read about it in the papers." + +"Nonsense! All you will have to do is just to tell some of your +own personal experiences. Nobody's going to think you are bragging +about them. We'll understand." + +"Next Friday night, you say? Well, I'll try, Mrs. Pollock, if +you'll promise to chloroform Charlie Webster," said he, and Charlie +promptly declared he would do the chloroforming himself. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +COURTNEY APPEARS IN PUBLIC + + +The meetings of the Literary Society were held once a month in the +Windomville schoolhouse, a two story brick building situated some +distance back from the main street at the upper edge of the town. +There were four classrooms and three teachers, including the principal, +Miss Angie Miller, who taught the upper grade. Graduates from her +"room" were given diplomas admitting them to the first year of High +School in the city hard-by in case they desired to take advantage +of the privilege. As a rule, however, the parents of such children +were satisfied to call it an honour rather than a privilege, with +the result that but few of them ever saw the inside of the High +School. They were looked upon as being quite sufficiently educated +for all that Windomville could possibly expect or exact of them. +When the old schoolhouse was destroyed by fire in the winter of +1916, Alix Crown contributed fifteen thousand dollars toward the +construction of this new and more or less modern structure, with +the provision that the town board should appropriate the balance +needed to complete the building. On completion the schoolhouse +was found to have cost exactly $14,989.75, and so, at the next +township election, the board was unanimously returned to office by +an appreciative constituency, and Miss Crown graciously notified +by the assessor that she had been credited with ten dollars and +twenty-five cents against her next year's road tax. + +The Literary Society always met in Miss Miller's "room," not +because it was more imposing or commodious than any of the others +but on account of its somewhat rarified intellectual atmosphere. +Miss Angie's literary attainments, while confined to absorption +rather than to production, were well known. She was supposed to +have read all of the major poets. At any rate she was able to quote +them. Besides, she had made a study of Dickens and Thackeray and +Trollope, being qualified to discuss the astonishing shortcomings +of those amiable mid-Victorians in a most dependable manner. She +made extensive use of the word "erudite," and confused a great many +people by employing "vicarious" and "didactic" and "raison d'etre" +in the course of ordinary conversation. For example, in complaining +to Mr. Hodges, the school trustee, about the lack of heat in +mid-January, she completely subdued him be remarking that there +wasn't "the least raison d'etre for such a condition." In view of +these and other intellectual associations, Miss Miller's "room" +was obviously the place for the Literary Society to meet. + +Mr. George Ade, Mr. Booth Tarkington, Mr. James Whitcomb Riley, +Mr. Meredith Nicholson and other noted Indiana authors had been +invited to "read from their works" before the Society, and while +none of them had been able to accept, each and every one had written +a polite note of regret to the secretary, who not only read them +aloud to the Society but preserved them in her own private scrap +book and spoke feelingly of her remarkable "collection." + +The room was crowded to hear the "celebrated air-man" relate his +experiences at the front. The exercises were delayed for nearly an +hour while Mr. Hatch, the photographer, prepared and foozled three +attempts to get a flashlight picture of the gathering. Everybody +was coughing violently when A. Lincoln Pollock arose to introduce +the speaker of the evening. In conclusion he said: + +"Mr. Thane was not only wounded in the service of humanity but +he was also gassed. I wish to state here and now that it was not +laughing gas the Germans administered. Far from it, my friends. Mr. +Thane will tell you that it was no laughing matter. He has come +to God's own country to recuperate and to regain his once robust +health. After looking the world over, he chose the health-giving +climate of his native state,--ahem! I should say, his father's +native state,--and here he is not only thriving but enjoying himself. +I take it upon myself to announce that he left all of his medals +at his home in New York. They are too precious to be carried +promiscuously about the country. It is my pleasure, ladies and +gentlemen, to introduce to you one of the real heroes of the Great +War, Mr. Courtney Thane, of New York City, who will now speak to +you." + +Alix Crown sat at the back of the room. There were no chairs, of +course. Each person present occupied a scholar's seat and desk. +Courtney had seen her come in. She was so late that he began to +fear she was not coming at all. The little thrill of exultation +that came with her arrival was shortly succeeded by an even greater +fear that she would depart as soon as the meeting was over, without +stopping to meet him at the "reception" which was to follow. + +In his most agreeable drawl and with the barest reference to his +own exploits, he described, quite simply, a number of incidents +that had come under his personal observation while with the American +Ambulance and afterwards in the British Flying Corps. Most of his +talk was devoted to the feats of others and to the description of +scenes and events somewhat remote from the actual fighting zone. +He confessed that he knew practically nothing of the work of the +American Expeditionary Force, except by hearsay, as he did not +come in contact with the American armies, except an occasional unit +brigaded with British troops in the Cambrai section of the great +line. His listeners, no doubt, knew a great deal more about the +activities and achievements of the Americans than he, so he was +quite sure there was nothing he could say that would interest or +enlighten them. In concluding he very briefly touched upon his own +mishap. + +"We were returning from a bombing flight over the German positions +when somebody put a bullet into our petrol and down we came in +flames. There was a gas attack going on at the time. We managed to +land in a cloud of it, and--somehow we got back to our own lines, +a little the worse for wear and all that sort of thing, you know. +It wasn't as bad as you'd think,--except for the gas, which isn't +what you would call palatable,--and I came out not much worse off +than a chap who has been through a hard football scrimmage. Knee +and ankle bunged up a little,--and a dusty uniform,--that's about +all. I hope you will excuse me from talking any longer. My silly +throat goes back on me, you see. My mother probably would tell +you, 'too many cigarettes.' Perhaps she is right. Thank you for +listening to all this rot, ladies and gentlemen. You are very kind +to have given me this undeserved honour." + +Not once during his remarks did he allow his gaze to rest upon Alix +Crown. It was his means of informing her that she had not made the +slightest impression upon him. + +As he resumed his seat beside Mr. Pollock, and while the generous +hand-clapping was still going on, Pastor Mavity arose and benignly +waited for the applause to cease. Mr. Mavity invariably claimed +the ecclesiastical privilege of speech. No meeting was complete, +no topic exhausted, until he had exercised that right. It did not +matter whether he had anything pertinent to say, the fact still +remained that he felt called upon to say something: + +"I should like to ask Mr. Thane if he thinks the Germans are +preparing for another war. We have heard rumours to that effect. +Many of our keenest observers have declared that it is only a +matter of a few years before the Germans will be in a position to +make war again, and that they will make it with even greater ferocity +than before. We all know of the conflict now raging in Russia, +and the amazing rebellion of De Annunzio in Fiume, and the--er--as +I was saying, the possibility of the Kaiser seizing his bloody +throne and calling upon his minions to--ah--er--renew the gigantic +struggle. The history of the world records no such stupendous sacrifice +of life on the cruel altars of greed and avarice and--er--ambition. +We may turn back to the vast campaigns of Hannibal and Hamilcar +and Julius Caesar and find no--er--no war comparable to the one we +have so gloriously concluded. Our own Civil War, with all its,--but +I must not keep you standing, Mr. Thane. Do you, from your experience +and observation, regard another war as inevitable?" + +"I do," was Courtney's succinct reply. + +There was a distinctly audible flutter throughout the room. Here, +at last, was something definite to support the general contention +that "we aren't through with the Germans yet." A lady up in front +leaned across the aisle and whispered piercingly to her husband: + +"There! What did I tell you?" + +Another lady arose halfway from her seat and anxiously inquired: + +"How soon do you think it will come, Mr. Thane?" + +She had a son just turning seventeen. + +"That is a question I am afraid you will have to put to God or the +German Emperor," said Courtney, with a smile. + +"When David Strong was home this spring I asked him what he thought +about it," said Editor Pollock. "I published the interview in the +Sun. He was of the opinion that the Germans had had all they wanted +of war. I tried to convince him that he was all wrong, but all I +could get him to say was that if they ever did make war again it +would be long after the most of us were dead." + +"David Strong didn't see anything of the war except what he saw in +the hospitals," said a woman contemptuously. + +"Permit me to correct you, Mrs. Primmer," said Alix Crown, without +arising. "David Strong was under fire most of the time. He was not +in a base hospital. He was attached to a field hospital,--first with +the French, then with the British, and afterwards with the Americans." + +"In that case," said Courtney, facing her, "he was in the thick +of it. Every man in the army, from general down to the humblest +private, takes his hat off to the men who served in the field +hospitals. While we may differ as to the next war, I do not hesitate +to say that Dr. Strong saw infinitely more of the last one than I +did. It may sound incredible to you, ladies and gentlemen, but my +job was a picnic compared to his. As a matter of fact, I have always +claimed that I was in greater danger when I was in the American +Ambulance than when I was flying, quite safely, a couple of miles +up in the air. At any rate, I FELT safer." + +"Oh, but think of falling that distance," cried Miss Angie Miller. + +"It was against the rules to think of falling," said he, and every +one laughed. + +The "reception" followed. Every one came up and shook hands with +Courtney and told him how much his address was enjoyed. As the +group around him grew thicker and at the same time more reluctant +to move on, he began to despair of meeting Alix Crown. He could +see her over near the door conversing with Alaska Spigg and Charlie +Webster. Then he saw her wave her hand in farewell to some one +across the room and bow to Charlie. There was a bright, gay smile +on her lips as she said something to Charlie which caused that +gentleman to laugh prodigiously. All hope seemed lost as she and +little old Alaska turned toward the open door. + +It was not fate that intervened. It was Pastor Mavity. Disengaging +himself from the group and leaving a profound sentence uncompleted, +he dashed over to her, calling out her name as he did so. + +"Alix! Just a moment, please!" + +She paused,--and Courtney discreetly turned his back. Presently +a benevolent hand was laid on his shoulder and the voice of the +shepherd fell upon his ear. + +"I want you to meet Miss Crown, Mr. Thane. She has just been +telling me how interested she was in your remarks. Miss Crown, my +very dear friend, Mr. Courtney Thane. Mr. Thane, as you may already +know, is sojourning in our midst for--" + +"I am delighted to meet you, Miss Crown," broke in Courtney, +with an abashed smile. "Formally, I mean. I have a very distinct +recollection of meeting you informally," he added wrily. + +"Dear me!" exclaimed Mr. Mavity, elevating his eyebrows. + +Courtney's humility disarmed her. She allowed her lips to curve +slightly in a faint smile. The merest trace of a dimple flickered +for an instant in her smooth cheek. + +"I suppose it was the old story of forbidden fruit, Mr. Thane," +said she. Then, impulsively, she extended her hand. He clasped it +firmly, and there was peace between them. + +"On the contrary, Miss Crown, it was an unpardonable piece of +impudence, for which I am so heartily ashamed that I wonder how I +can look you in the face." + +"I was tremendously interested in your talk tonight," she said, coolly +dismissing the subject. "Thank you for giving us the pleasure. It +is just such adventures as you have had that makes me wish more +than ever that I had not been born a girl." + +He bowed gallantly. "What would the world be like if God had +neglected to create the rose?" + +"Bravo!" cried Mr. Mavity, slapping him on the back. "Spoken like +a knight of old." + +"Good night, Mr. Thane,--and thank you again," she said. Nodding +to Mr. Mavity, she turned to leave the group. + +Again the parson intervened. "My dear Alix, I can't let you go +without saying a word about your splendid defence of David Strong. +It was fine. And you, sir, were--ah--what shall I say?--you were +most generous in saying what you did. David is a fine fellow. He--" + +"I should have said the same about any doctor who was up at the +front," said Courtney simply. "Is he an old friend, Miss Crown?" + +"I have known him ever since I can remember," she replied, and he +detected a slight stiffness in her manner. + +"Ahem! Er--ah--" began Mr. Mavity tactfully. "David was born here, +Mr. Thane. Well, good night, Alix,--good night." + +When she was quite out of hearing, the flustered parson lowered +his voice and said to Courtney: + +"They--er--don't get along very well, you see. I couldn't explain +while she was here. Something to do with money matters,--nothing of +consequence, I assure you,--but very distressing, most distressing. +It is too bad,--too bad." + +Mrs. Pollock overheard. "They're both terribly set in their ways," +she remarked. "Stubborn as mules. For my part, I think Alix is too +silly for words about it. Especially with his mother living in the +same house with her. Now, mind you, I'm not saying anything against +Alix. I love her. But just the same, she can be the most unreasonable--" + +"They haven't spoken to each other for over three years," inserted +Angie Miller. "When they were children they were almost inseparable. +David Windom took a fancy to little David. The story is that he +was trying to ease his conscience by being nice to a blacksmith's +son. You see, his own daughter ran away with a blacksmith's +son,--and you've heard what happened, Mr. Thane. David was in my +class for two years before he went up to High School, and I remember +he always used to get long letters from Alix when she was in England. +Then, when she came home,--she was about twelve I think,--they were +great friends. Always together, playing, studying, reading, riding +and--" + +"Everybody used to say old David Windom was doing his best to make +a match of it," interrupted Mrs. Pollock, who had been out of the +conversation longer than she liked. "Up to the time the old man +died, we used to take it for granted that some day they would get +married,--but, my goodness, it's like waving a red flag at a bull +to even mention his name to Alix now. She hates him,--and I guess +he hates her." + +"Oh, my dear friend," cried Mr. Mavity, "I really don't think you +ought to say that. Hate is a very dreadful word. I am sure Alix +is incapable of actually hating any one. And as for David, he is +kindness, gentleness itself. It is just one of those unfortunate +situations that cannot be accounted for." + +Charlie Webster came up at that juncture. + +"Say, Court, why didn't you tell 'em about the time you called +Colonel What's-His-Name down,--the French guy that--" The scowl +on Courtney's brow silenced the genial Charlie. He coughed and +sputtered for a moment or two and then said something about "taking +a joke." + +As Charlie moved away, Miss Angie Miller sniffed and said, without +appreciably lowering her voice: + +"I wonder where he gets it. There isn't supposed to be a drop in +Windomville." Suddenly her eyes flew wide open. "Furman! Oh, Furman +Hatch!" she called out to a man who was sidling toward the door in +the wake of the pernicious Mr. Webster. + +While there was nothing to indicate that Mr. Hatch heard her, the +most disinterested spectator would have observed a perceptible +acceleration of speed on his part. + +"You promised to tell me how to--" But Mr. Hatch was gone. Mr. +Webster turned a surprised and resentful look upon him as he felt +himself being pushed rather roughly through the door ahead of the +hurrying photographer. When Miss Angie reached the door,--she had +lost some little time because of the seats and the stupidity of +Mrs. Primmer who blocked the way by first turning to the right, +then to the left, and finally by not turning at all,--Mr. Hatch was +nowhere in sight, even though Mr. Webster was barely two-thirds of +the way down the stairs. + +A pleasant, courteous voice accosted her from behind as she stood +glaring after the chubby warehouseman. + +"Do you mind if I walk home with you, Miss Miller?" + +"Oh, is--is that you, Mr. Thane?" she fairly gasped. Then she +simpered. "I'm really not a bit afraid. Still,"--hastily--"if you +really wish to, I should be delighted." + +If Mr. Hatch was lurking anywhere in the shadows, he must have been +profoundly impressed by the transformation in Miss Angie Miller as +she strode homeward at the side of the tall young New Yorker, her +hand on his arm, her head held high,--he might also have noticed +that she stepped a little higher than usual. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +ALIX THE THIRD + + +October came, with its red and golden trees, its brown pastures, +its crisp nights and its hazy, smoky days. Fires were kindled in +old-fashioned fireplaces; out in the farmyards busy housewives were +making soap and apple butter in great iron kettles suspended over +blazing logs; wagons laden with wheat and corn rumbled through +country roads and up to the Windom elevator; stores were thriving +under the spur of new-found money; the school was open, Main Street +childless for hours at a time,--and Courtney Thane was still in +Windomville. + +He was a frequent, almost constant visitor at the red-brick house +on the knoll. The gossips were busy. Sage winks were exchanged when +Alix and he were seen together in her automobile; many a head was +lowered so that its owner might peer quizzically over the upper +rims of spectacles as they strolled past the postoffice and other +public porches; convicting feminine smiles pursued the young +man up the lane leading to Alix's home. There were some doubtful +head-shakings, but in the main Windomville was rather well pleased +with the prospect. Opinion, though divided, was almost unanimous: +few there were who held that "nothin' would come of it." + +Charlie Webster was one of the latter. His early intimacy with the +ex-aviator had suffered a decided slump. His jovial attempts to +plague the young man about his intentions met with the frostiest +reception. Indeed, on one memorable occasion, the object of these +good-natured banterings turned upon him coldly and said: + +"See here, Webster, you're getting to be considerable of a nuisance. +Cut it out, will you? You are not half as funny as you think you +are. I'm pretty well fed up with your freshness--understand?" + +It was a slap in the face that Charlie DID understand, and one +he never forgot. As the rebuke was uttered on the porch of Dowd's +Tavern and in the presence of Flora Grady, Maude Baggs Pollock and +one or two others, the sting was likely to endure. + +While Courtney's manner had undergone a decided change so far as +nearly all of his fellow-lodgers were concerned, he still maintained +a very friendly and courteous attitude toward the Dowd sisters and +Mr. and Mrs. Pollock. For some reason known only to himself,--(but +doubtless plain to the reader of this narrative),--he devoted most +of his attention to the editor and his wife and to the two spinsters +who were such close friends of the young lady of his dreams. As +for the others, he made no attempt to conceal his disdain. + +It was not long before the Irish in Miss Flora Grady was aroused. +She announced to Miss Angie Miller that he was a "stuck up smart-Aleck," +and sooner or later he'd get a piece of her mind that would "take +him down a couple of pegs." Miss Miller, while in complete accord +with Flora's views, was content to speak of him as "supercilious." + +Charlie Webster grew more and more thoughtful under the weight of +indignity. + +"I certainly missed my guess as to that feller," he remarked to +Doc Simpson and Hatch one day. "I had him sized up as a different +sort of feller altogether. Why, up to a couple of weeks ago, he +was as nice as pie to all of us,--'specially to me. He used to come +over to my office and sit around for hours, chatting and smoking +cigarettes and joshing like a good feller. But I've got it all +figgered out, boys. He was simply workin' me. He always led the +conversation round to Alix Crown, and then, like a dern' fool, I'd +let him pump me dry. Why, there's nothing he don't know about that +girl,--and all through me. Now he's got in with her,--just as he +wanted to all along,--and what does he do but tie a can to me and +give me a swift kick. And there's another thing I might as well +say to you fellers while I'm about it. I've been doing a lot of +thinking lately,--sort of putting things together in my mind,--and +it's my opinion that he is one of the blamedest liars I've ever +come across." + +He paused to see the effect of this startling assertion. Hatch +removed the corn-cob pipe from between his lips and laconically +observed: + +"Well, I know of one lie he's told." + +"You do?" + +"Remember him telling us at the supper table one night that a German +submarine fired three torpedoes at the steamer he was coming home +on with a lot of other sick and wounded? Well, a couple of nights +ago he forgot himself and made the statement that he was in a +hospital in England for nearly two months after the armistice was +signed." + +"By gosh, that's right," cried Doc Simpson. + +"And what's more," went on Hatch, "wasn't he serving in the British +Army? What I'd like to know is this: why would England be sending +her wounded soldiers over to America? You can bet your life England +wasn't doing anything like that." + +"There's another thing that don't sound just right to me," said +Charlie, his brow furrowed. "He says one night he got lost driving +his ambulance and the first thing he knew he was away behind the +German lines. I may be wrong, but I've always thought both sides +had trenches. What puzzles me is how the dickens he managed to +drive that Ford of his over the German trenches without noticin' +'em,--and back again besides." + +"Well," said Doc, desiring to be fair, "it seems to be the habit +of soldiers to lie a little. That's where we get the saying, 'he +lied like a trooper.' I know my Uncle George lied so much about what +he did in the Civil War that he ought to have had twenty pensions +instead of one. Still, there's a big change in Court, as you say, +Charlie. I wonder if Alix is really keen about him. He's up there +all the time, seems to me. Or is she just stringin' him?" + +Charlie frowned darkly. "He's a slick one. I--I'd hate to see Alix +fall for him." + +The sententious Mr. Hatch: "The smartest women in the world lose +their heads over a feller as soon as they find out he's in poor +health." + +"He's in perfect health," exploded Charlie. + +"I know,--but that don't prevent him from coughing and holding +his side and walking with a cane, does it? That's what gets 'em, +Charlie. The quickest way to get a girl interested is to let her +think you're in need of sympathy." + +"It don't work when you're as fat as I am," said Charlie gloomily. + +Conscious or unconscious of the varying opinions that were being +voiced behind his back, Courtney went confidently ahead with +his wooing. He congratulated himself that he was in Alix's good +graces. If at times she was perplexingly cool,--or "upstage," as +he called it,--he flattered himself that he knew women too well to +be discouraged by these purely feminine manifestations. + +This was a game he knew how to play. The time was not yet ripe for +him to abandon his well-calculated air of indifference. That he was +desperately in love with her goes without saying. If at the outset +of his campaign he was inspired by the unworthy motive of greed, +he was now consumed by an entirely different desire,--the desire +to have her for his own, even though she were penniless. + +Those whirlwind tactics that had swept many another girl off her +feet were not to be thought of here. Alix was different. She was +not an impressionable, hair-brained flapper, such as he had come in +contact with in past experiences. Despite her sprightly, thoroughly +up-to-the-moment ease of manner, and an air of complete sophistication, +she was singularly old-fashioned in a great many respects. While +she was bright, amusing, gay, there was back of it all a certain +reserve that forbade familiarity,--sufficient, indeed, to inspire +unexampled caution on his part. She invited friendship but not +familiarity; she demanded respect rather than admiration. + +He was not slow in arriving at the conclusion that she knew men. +She knew how to fence with them. He was distinctly aware of this. +Other men, of course, had been in love with her; other men no doubt +had dashed their hopes upon the barrier in their haste to seize the +treasure. It was inconceivable that one so lovely, so desirable, +so utterly feminine should fail to inspire in all men that which +she inspired in him. The obvious, therefore, was gratifying. Granted +that she had had proposals, here was the proof that the poor fools +who laid their hearts at her feet had gone about it clumsily. Such +would not be the case with him. Oh no! He would bide his time, he +would watch for the first break in her enchanted armour,--and then +the conquest! + +There were times, of course, when he came near to catastrophe,--times +when he was almost powerless to resist the passion that possessed +him. These were the times when he realized how easy it would have +been to join that sad company of fools in the path behind her. + +He had no real misgivings. He felt confident of winning. True, her +moods puzzled him at times, but were they not, after all, omens of +good fortune? Were they not indications of the mysterious changes +that were taking place in her? And the way was clear. So far as he +knew, there was no other man. Her heart was free. What more could +he ask? + +On her side, the situation was not so complex. He came from the +great outside world, he brought the outside world to the lonely +little village on the bank of the river. He was bright, amusing, +cultivated,--at least he represented cultivation as it exists in +open places and on the surface of a sea called civilization. He +possessed that ineffable quality known as "manner." The spice of the +Metropolis clung to him. He could talk of the things she loved,--not +as she loved the farm and village and the home of her fathers, but +of the things she loved because they stood for that which represented +the beautiful in intellect, in genius, in accomplishment. The breath +of far lands and wide seas came with him to the town of Windomville, +grateful and soothing, and yet laden with the tang of turmoil, the +spice of iniquity. + +Alix was no Puritan. She had been out in the world, she had come +up against the elemental in life, she had learned that God in His +wisdom had peopled the earth with saints and sinners,--and she was +tolerant of both! In a word, she was broad-minded. She had been +an observer rather than a participant in the passing show. She had +absorbed knowledge rather than experience. + +The conventions remained unshaken so far as she was personally +concerned. In others she excused much that she could not have +excused in herself,--for the heritage of righteousness had come +down to her through a long line of staunch upholders. + +She loved life. She craved companionship. She could afford +to gratify her desires. Week-ends found two or more guests at her +home,--friends from the city up the river. Sometimes there were +visitors from Chicago, Indianapolis and other places,--girls she +had met at school, or in her travels, or in the canteen. Early in +the war her house was headquarters for the local Red Cross workers, +the knitters, the bandage rollers, and so on, but after the entry +of the United States into the conflict, most of her time was spent +away from Windomville in the more intense activities delegated to +women. + +She attended the theatre when anything worth while came to the +city, frequently taking one or two of the village people with her. +Once, as she was leaving the theatre, she heard herself discussed +by persons in the aisle behind. + +"That's Alix Crown. I'll tell you all about her when we get home. +Her father and mother were murdered years ago and buried in a well +or something. I wish she'd turn around so that you could get a good +look at her face. She's quite pretty and--" + +And she had deliberately turned to face the speaker, who never +forgot the cold, unwavering stare that caused her to lower her own +eyes and her voice to trail off into a confused mumble. + +Alix was a long time in recovering from the distress caused by the +incident. She avoided the city for weeks. It was her first intimation +that she was an object of unusual interest to people, that she was +the subject of whispered comment, that she was a "character" to be +pointed out to strangers. Even now, with the sting of injury and +injustice eased by time and her own good sense, there still remained +the disturbing consciousness that she was,--for want of a milder +term,--a "marked woman." + +She was thoroughly acquainted with every detail connected with the +extensive farms and industries that had been handed down to her. A +great deal of her time was devoted to an intelligent and comprehensive +interest in the management of the farms. She was never out of +touch with conditions. Her tenants respected and admired her; her +foremen and superintendents consulted with her as they would not +have believed it possible to consult with a woman; her bankers +deferred to her. + +She would have laughed at you if you had suggested to her that she +had more than a grain of business-sense, or ability, or capacity, +and yet she was singularly far-sighted and capable,--without being +in the least aware of it. Her pleasures were not allowed to interfere +with her obligations as a landlord, a citizen and a taxpayer. +A certain part of each day was set aside for the business of the +farms. She repaired bright and early to the little office at the +back of the house where her grandfather had worked before her, +and there she struggled over accounts, reports, claims,--and her +cheque-book. And like her grim, silent grandsire, she "rode" the +lanes that twined through field and timber,--only she rode gaily, +blithely, with sunshine in her heart. The darkness was always behind +her, never ahead. + +Courtney undoubtedly had overcome the prejudice his visit to +Quill's Window had inspired in her. They never spoke of that first +encounter. It was as a closed book between them. He had forgotten +the incident. At any rate, he had put it out of his mind. He sometimes +wondered, however, if she would ever invite him to accompany her +to the top of that forbidden hill. In their rambles they had passed +the closed gate on more than one occasion. The words, "No Trespass," +still met the eye. Some day he would suggest an adventure: the +descent to the cave in quest of treasure! The two of them! Rope +ladder and all! It would be great fun! + +He was assiduous in his efforts to amuse her house guests. He laid +himself out to be entertaining. If he resented the presence of young +men from the city, he managed to conceal his feelings remarkably +well. On one point he was firm: he would not accompany her on any +of her trips to the city. Once she had invited him to motor in with +her to a tea, and another time she offered to drive him about the +city and out to the college on a sight-seeing tour. It was then +that he said he was determined to obey "doctor's orders." No city +streets for him! Even SHE couldn't entice him! He loved every inch +of this charming, restful spot,--every tree and every stone,--and +he would not leave it until the time came for him to go away forever. + +He was very well satisfied with the fruits of this apparently +ungracious refusal. She went to the city less frequently than before, +and only when it was necessary. This, he decided, was significant. +It could have but one meaning. + +Her dog, Sergeant, did not like him. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A MID-OCTOBER DAY + + +One chilly, rainy afternoon in mid-October Courtney appeared at the +house on the knoll half an hour earlier than was his custom. Alix +was expecting friends down from the city for tea. From the hall +where he was removing his raincoat he had a fair view through +an open door of the north end of the long living-room. Logs were +blazing merrily in the fireplace. Alix was standing before the fire, +tearing a sheet of paper into small pieces. She was angry. She threw +rather than dropped the bits of paper into the flames,--unmistakably +she was furious. He waited a moment before entering the room. Her +back was toward him. She turned in response to his discreet cough. +Even in the dim light that filtered in from the grey, leaden day +outside, he could detect the heightened colour in her cheeks, and +as he advanced he saw that her eyes were wet with illy-suppressed +tears. She bit her lip and forced a smile. + +He possessed the philanderer's tact. There was nothing in his +manner to indicate that he noticed anything unusual. He greeted +her cheerfully and then, affecting a shiver, passed on to spread +his hands out over the fire. + +"This is great," he exclaimed, his back to her. He was giving her +a chance to compose herself. "Nothing like a big log fire to warm +the cockles of your heart,--although it isn't my heart that needs +warming. Moreover, I don't know what cockles are. I must look 'em +up in the dictionary. Come here, Sergeant,--there's a good dog! +Come over and get warm, old fellow. Toast your cockles. By Jove, +Miss Crown, isn't he ever going to make friends with me?" + +"They are 'one man' dogs, Mr. Thane," she replied. "Come, Sergeant,--if +you're going to be impolite you must leave the room. Excuse me a +moment. Sergeant! Do you hear me, sir? Come!" + +The big grey dog followed her slowly, reluctantly, from the room. +Courtney heard her going up the stairs. + +"That nasty brute is going to take a bite out of me some day," he +muttered under his breath. "Fat chance I'd have to kiss her with +that beast around." + +He heard the closing of an upstairs door. His thoughts were still +of the police dog. + +"There's one thing sure," he said to himself. "That dog and I can't +live in the same house." Then his thoughts rose swiftly to that +upstairs room,--he was sure it was a dainty, inviting room,--to +picture her before the mirror erasing all visible evidence of +agitation. He found himself wondering what it was that caused this +exhibition of temper. A letter? Of course,--a letter. A letter that +contained something she resented, something that infuriated her. +A personal matter, not a business one. She would not have treated +a business matter in such a way. He knew her too well for that. The +leaping flames gave no hint of what they had destroyed. Was it an +anonymous letter? Had it anything to do with him? + +His eye fell upon several envelopes on the library table. After a +moment's hesitation and a quick glance toward the door, he strode +over to inspect them. They were all unopened. Two were postmarked +Chicago, one New York; on the others the postmarks were indistinct. +The handwriting was feminine on most of them. A narrow, folded slip +of paper lay a little detached from the letters. He picked it up +and quickly opened it. It proved to be a check on a Philadelphia +bank. A glance sufficed to show that it was for two hundred and +fifty dollars, payable to the order of Alix Crown, and signed "D. +W. Strong." + +The door upstairs was opened and closed. Replacing the bit of +paper on the table, he resumed his position before the fire. Quite +a different Alix entered the room a few seconds later. She was +smiling, her eyes were soft and tranquil. All traces of the passing +tempest were gone. + +"Sit down,--draw this big chair up to the fire,--do. It IS raw and +nasty today, isn't it? I think the Mallons are coming out in an +open car. Isn't it too bad?" + +"Bad for the curls," he drawled. "Mind if I smoke?" + +"Certainly not. Don't you know that by this time?" + +He had drawn a chair up beside hers. Her reply afforded him a very +definite sense of elation. + +"It seems to me that the world is getting to be a rather heavenly +place to live in," he said, and there was a trace of real feeling +in his voice. "You don't mind my saying it's entirely due to you, +do you?" + +"Not in the least," she said calmly. "Charlie Webster once paraphrased +a time-honoured saying. He said 'In the fall an old man's fancy +slightly turns to thoughts of comfort.' I sha'n't deprive my fireplace +and my big armchair of their just due by believing a word of what +you say." + +He tossed the match into the fire, drew in a deep breath of smoke, +settled himself comfortably in the chair before exhaling, and then +remarked: + +"But I don't happen to be an old man. I happen to be a rather young +one,--and a very truthful one to boot." + +"Do you always tell the truth?" + +He grinned. "More or less always," was his reply. "I never lie in +October." + +"And the other eleven months of the year?" + +"Oh, I merely change the wording. In July I say 'I never lie in +July,'--and so on throughout the twelve-month. I don't slight a +single month. By the by, I hope I didn't pop in too far ahead of +time this afternoon. You asked me to come at four. I'm half an hour +early. Were you occupied with anything--" + +"I was not busy. A few letters,--but they can wait." He caught the +faint shadow of a cloud as it flitted across her eyes. "They are +all personal,--nothing important in any of them, I am sure." + +She shot a quick glance at the folded check and, arising abruptly, +went over to the table where, with apparent unconcern, she ran +through the little pile of letters. He saw her pick up the check +and thrust it into the pocket of her sport skirt. Then she returned +to the fireplace. The cloud was on her brow again as she stared +darkly into the crackling flames. He knew now that it was Strong's +letter she had destroyed in anger. He would have given much to +know what the man she despised so heartily had written to her. If +he could have seen that brief note he would have read: + +DEAR ALIX: + +I enclose my checque for two-fifty. If all goes well I hope to +clean up the indebtedness by the first of the year. In any case, I +am sure it can be accomplished by early spring. You may thank the +flu for my present prosperity. It has been pretty bad here in the +East again, although not so virulent as before. Please credit me +with the amount. This leaves me owing you five hundred dollars. It +should not take long to wipe it out entirely, interest and all. + +Sincerely yours, + +DAVID. + +Courtney eyed her narrowly as she stood for a moment looking into +the fire before resuming her seat. He realized that her thoughts +were far away and that they were not pleasant. + +"It's queer," he said presently, "that you have never learned to +smoke." + +She started slightly at the sound of his voice. As she turned to +sit down, he went on: + +"Almost every girl I know smokes. I will not say that I like to +see it,--especially in restaurants and all that sort of thing,--but +it's rather jolly if there's a nice, cosy fire like this,--see +what I mean? Sort of intimate, and friendly, and--soothing. Don't +you want to try one now?" + +"Thank you, no. If it weren't so shocking, I think I should like to +learn how to smoke a pipe,--but I suppose that isn't to be thought +of. Somehow I feel that a pipe might be a pal, a good old stand-by, +or even a relative,--something to depend upon in all sorts of +weather, fair and foul. I've noticed that the men on the place who +smoke pipes appear to be contented and jolly and good humoured,--and +efficient. Yes, I think I should like to smoke a pipe." + +"Would you like me better if I cut out the cigarettes, and took up +the pipe of peace--and contentment?" he inquired thoughtfully. + +"I doubt it," she replied, smiling. "I can't imagine you smoking +a pipe." + +"Is that supposed to be flattering or scornful?" + +"Neither. It is an impression, that's all." + +He frowned slightly. "I used to smoke a pipe,--in college, you know. +Up to my sophomore year. It was supposed to indicate maturity. But +I don't believe I'd have the courage to tackle one now, Miss Crown. +Not since that little gas experience over there. You see, my throat +isn't what it was in those good old freshman days. Pipe smoke,--you +may even say tobacco smoke, for heaven only knows what these +cigarettes are made of,--pipe smoke is too strong. My throat is so +confounded sensitive I--well, I'd probably cough my head off. That +beastly gas made a coward of me, I fear. You've no idea what it does +to a fellow's throat and lungs. If I live to be a thousand years +old, I'll never forget the tortures I went through for weeks,--yes, +ages. Every breath was like a knife cutting the very--But what a +stupid fool I am! Distressing you with all these wretched details. +Please forgive me." + +She was looking at him wonderingly. "You are so different from the +poor fellows I saw in New York," she said slowly. "I mean the men +who had been gassed and shell-shocked. I saw loads of them in the +hospitals, you know,--and talked with them. I was always tremendously +affected by their silence, their moodiness, their unwillingness to +speak of what they had been through. The other men, the ones who +had lost legs or arms or even their eyes,--were as a rule cheerful +and as chatty as could be,--oh, how my heart used to ache for +them,--but the shell-shock men and the men who had been gassed, +why, it was impossible to get them to talk about themselves. I +have seen some of them since then. They are apparently well and +strong, and yet not one word can you get out of them about their +sufferings. You are almost unique, Mr. Thane. I am glad you feel +disposed to talk about it all. It is a good sign. It--" + +"I didn't say much about it at first," he interrupted hurriedly. +"Moreover, Miss Crown," he went on, "a lot of those chaps,--the +majority of them, in fact,--worked that dodge for all it was worth. +It was a deliberate pose with them. They had to act that way or +people wouldn't think they'd been hurt at all. Bunk, most of it." + +"I don't believe that, Mr. Thane. I saw too many of them. The ones +with whom I came in contact certainly were not trying to deceive +anybody. They were in a pitiable condition, every last one of +them,--pitiable." + +"I do not say that all of them were shamming,--but I am convinced +that a great many of them were." + +"The doctors report that the shell-shock cases--" + +"Ah, the doctors!" he broke in, shrugging his shoulders. "They were +all jolly good fellows. All you had to do was to even hint that +you'd been knocked over by a shell that exploded two hundred yards +away and--zip! they'd send you back for repairs. As for myself, +the only reason I didn't like to talk about my condition at first +was because it hurt my throat and lungs. It wasn't because I was +afflicted with this heroic melancholy they talk so much about. +I was mighty glad to be alive. I couldn't see anything to mope +about,--certainly not after I found out I wasn't going to die." + +"I daresay there were others who took it as you did. I wish there +could have been more." + +He hesitated a moment before speaking again. Then he hazarded the +question: + +"What does your friend, Dr. Strong, have to say about the general +run of such cases?" + +"I don't know. I have not seen Dr. Strong since the war ended." + +He looked mildly surprised. "Hasn't he been home since the war?" + +"I believe so. I was away at the time." + +"How long was he in France?" + +"He went over first in 1916 and again in the fall of 1917, and +remained till the end of the war. His mother is here with me, you +know." + +"Yes, I know. By Jove, I envy him one thing,--lucky dog." She +remained silent. "You were playmates, weren't you?" + +"Yes," she said, lifting her chin slightly. + +"Well, that's why I envy him. To have been your playmate,--Why, +I envy him every minute of his boyhood. When I think of my own +boyhood and how little there was to it that a real boy should have, +I--I--confound it, I almost find myself hating chaps like Strong, +chaps who lived in the country and had regular pals, and girl +sweethearts, and went fishing and hunting, and played hookey as it +ought to be played, and grew up with something fine and sweet and +wholesome to look back upon,--and to have had you for a playmate,--maybe +a sweetheart,--you in short frocks, with your hair in pigtails, +barefooted in summertime, running--" + +She interrupted him. "Your imagination is at fault there, Mr. +Thane," she said, smiling once more. "I never went barefooted in +my life." + +"At any rate, HE did. And he played all sorts of games with you; +he--" + +"My impression of David Strong is that he was a boy's boy," she broke +in rather stiffly. "His games were with the boys of the town,--and +they were rough games. Football, baseball, shinney, circus,--things +like that." + +"I don't mean sports, Miss Crown. I was thinking of those wonderful +boy and girl games,--such as 'playing house,' 'getting married,' +'hide-and-go-seek,'--all that sort of thing." + +"Yes, I know," she admitted. "We often played at getting married, +and we had very large but inanimate families, and we quarrelled +like real married people, and I used to cry and take my playthings +home, and he used to stand outside our fence and make faces at me +till I hated him ferociously. But all that was when we were very +small, you see." + +"And as all such things turn out, I suppose he grew up and went +off and got married to some one else." + +"He is not married, Mr. Thane." + +"Well, for that matter, neither are you," said he, leaning forward, +his eyes fixed intently on hers. She did not flinch. "I wonder just +how you feel toward him today, Miss Crown." + +She was incapable of coquetry. "We are not the best of friends," +she said quietly. "Now, if you please, let us talk of something +else. Did I tell you that an old Ambulance man is coming down for +a day or two nest week? A Harvard man who lives in Chicago. His +sister and I went to New York together to take our chances there +on getting over to France. I think I've told you about her,--Mary +Blythe?" + +"Blythe?" repeated Courtney thoughtfully. "Blythe. Seems to me +I heard of a chap named Blythe over there in the Ambulance, but +I don't remember whether I ran across him anywhere or not. He may +have been after my time, however. I was with the Ambulance in '15 +and the early part of '16, you see." + +"Addison Blythe. He was afterwards a Field Artillery captain. I've +known Mary Blythe for years, but I know him very slightly. He went +direct from Harvard to France, you see." + +"What section was he with?" + +"I don't know. I only know he was at Pont-a-Mousson for several +months. You were there too at one time, I remember. I've heard him +speak of the Bois le Pretre. You may have been there at the same +time." + +"Hardly possible. I should have known him in that case. My section +was sent up to Bar le Duc just before the first big Verdun battle." + +"Why, he was all through the first battle of Verdun. His section +was transferred from Pont-a-Mousson at an hour's notice. Were there +more than one section at Pont-a-Mousson?" + +"I don't know how they were fixed after I left. You see, I was +trying to get into the aviation end of the game along about that +time. I was in an aviation camp for a couple of months, but went +back to the Ambulance just before the Verdun scrap. They slapped +me into another section, of course. I used to see fellows from my +own section occasionally, but I don't recall any one named Blythe. +He probably was sent up while I was at Toul,--or it may have been +during the time I was with a section in the Vosges. I was up near +Dunkirk too for a while,--only for a few weeks. When did you say +he was coming?" + +"Next Tuesday. They are stopping off on their way to attend a +wedding in Louisville. You two will have a wonderful time reminiscing." + +"Blythe. I'll rummage around in my memory and see if I can place +him. There was a fellow named Bright up there at one time,--at +least I got the name as Bright. It may have been Blythe. I'll be +tickled to death to meet him, Miss Crown." + +"You will love Mary Blythe. She is a darling." + +"I may be susceptible, Miss Crown, but I am not inconstant," said +he, with a gallant bow. + +She was annoyed with herself for blushing. + +"Will you throw another log or two on the fire, please?" she said, +arising. "I think I hear a car coming up the drive. The poor Mallons +will be chilled to the bone." + +He smiled to himself as he took the long hickory logs from the wood +box and placed them carefully on the fire. He had seen the swift +flood of colour mount to her cheeks, and the odd little waver in +her eyes before she turned them away. She was at the window, looking +out, when he straightened himself and gingerly brushed the wood +dust from his hands. Instead of joining her, he remained with his +back to the fire, his feet spread apart, his hands in his coat +pockets, comforting himself with the thought that she was wondering +why he had not followed her. It was, he rejoiced, a very clever +bit of strategy on his part. He waited for her to turn away from +the window and say, with well-assumed perplexity: "I was sure I +heard a car, Mr. Thane." + +And that is exactly what she did say after a short interval, adding: + +"It must have been the wind in the chimney." + +"Very likely," he agreed. + +She remained at the window. He held his position before the fire. + +"If I were just a plain damned fool," he was saying to himself, +"I'd rush over there and spoil everything. It's too soon,--too +soon. She's not ready yet,--not ready." + +Alix, looking out across the porch into the grey drizzle that drenched +the lawn, thrust her hand into her skirt pocket and, clutching the +bit of paper in her fingers, crumpled it into a small ball. Her +eyes were serene, however, as she turned away and walked back to +the fireplace. + +"I don't believe they are coming, after all. I think they might +have telephoned," she said, glancing up at the old French ormula +clock on the mantelpiece. "Half-past four. We will wait a few +minutes longer and then have tea." + +His heart gave a sudden thump. Was it possible--but no! She would +not stoop to anything like that. The little thrill of exultation +departed as quickly as it came. + +"Tire trouble, perhaps," he ventured. + +Tea was being brought in when the belated guests arrived. Courtney, +spurred by the brief vision of success ahead, was never in better +form, never more entertaining, never so well provided with polite +cynicisms. Later on, when he and Alix were alone and he was putting +on his raincoat in the hall, she said to him impulsively: + +"I don't know what I should have done without you, Mr. Thane. You +were splendid. I was in no mood to be nice or agreeable to anybody." + +"Alas!" he sighed. "That shows how unobserving I am. I could have +sworn you were in a perfectly adorable mood." + +"Well, I wasn't," she said stubbornly. "I was quite horrid." + +"Has anything happened to--to distress you, Miss Crown?" he inquired +anxiously. His voice was husky and a trifle unsteady. "Can't you +tell me? Sometimes it helps to--" + +"Nothing has happened," she interrupted nervously. "I was--just +stupid, that's all." + +"When am I to see you again?" he asked, after a perceptible pause. +"May I come tonight?" + +"Not tonight," she said, shaking her head. + +She gave no reason,--nothing more than the two little words,--and +yet he went away exulting. He walked home through the light, gusty +rain, so elated that he forgot to use his cane,--and he had limped +quite painfully earlier in the afternoon, complaining of the +dampness and chill. He had the habit of talking to himself when +walking alone in the darkness. He thought aloud: + +"She wants to be alone,--she wants to think. She has suddenly realized. +She is frightened. She doesn't understand. She is bewildered. She +doesn't want to see me tonight. Bless her heart! I'll bet my head +she doesn't sleep a wink. And tomorrow? Tomorrow I shall see her. +But not a word, not a sign out of me. Not tomorrow or next day or +the day after that. Keep her thinking, keep her guessing, keep her +wondering whether I really care. Pretty soon she'll realize how +miserable she is,--and then!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE CHIMNEY CORNER + + +A. Lincoln Pollock was full of news at supper that evening. Courtney, +coming in a little late,--in fact, Miss Margaret Slattery already +had removed the soup plates and was beginning to wonder audibly +whether a certain guy thought she was a truck-horse or something +like that,--found the editor of the Sun anticipating by at least +twelve hours the forthcoming issue of his paper. He was regaling +his fellow-boarders with news that would be off the press the first +thing in the morning,--having been confined to the composing-room +for the better part of a week,--and he was enjoying himself. +Charlie Webster once made the remark that "every time the Sun goes +to press, Link Pollock acts for all the world like a hen that's +just laid an egg, he cackles so." + +"I saw Nancy Strong this morning and she was telling me about a +letter she had from David yesterday. He wants her to pack up and +come to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to live with him. He says he'll +take a nice little apartment, big enough for the two of 'em, if +she'll only come. She can't make up her mind what to do. She's so +fond of Alix she don't see how she can desert her,--at least, not +till she gets married,--and yet she feels she owes it to her son +to go and make a home for him. Every once in a while Alix makes +her a present of a hundred dollars or so,--once she gave her three +hundred in cold, clean cash,--and actually loves her as if she was +her own mother. Nancy's terribly upset. She is devoted to Alix, +and at the same time she's devoted to her son. She seemed to want +my advice, but of course I couldn't give her any. It's a thing +she's got to work out for herself. I couldn't advise her to leave +Alix in the lurch and I couldn't advise her to turn her back on +her only son,--could I?" + +"How soon does David want her to come?" inquired Miss Molly Dowd. + +"Before Christmas, I believe. He wants her to be with him on +Christmas day." + +"Well, it would work out very nicely," said Mrs. Pollock, "if Alix +would only get married before that time." + +"I guess that's just what Nancy is kind of hoping herself," stated +Mr. Pollock. "It would simplify everything. Of course, when she +told Alix about David's letter and what he wanted her to do, Alix +was mighty nice about it. She told Nancy to go by all means, her +place was with her son if he needed her, and she wouldn't stand in +the way for the world. Nancy says she had about made up her mind +to go, but changed it last night. She was telling me about sneaking +up to Alix's bedroom door and listening. Alix was crying, sort of +sobbing, you know. That settled it with Nancy,--temporarily at any +rate. Now she's up in the air again, and don't know what to do. +She's gone and told Alix she won't leave her, but all the time she +keeps wondering if Davy can get along without her in that great big +city, surrounded by all kinds of perils and traps and pitfalls,--night +and day. Evil women and--" + +"Has Alix said anything to you about it, Mr. Thane?" inquired Maude +Baggs Pollock. + +"Not a word," replied Courtney, secretly irritated by the discovery +that Alix had failed to take him into her confidence. "She doesn't +discuss servant troubles with me." + +"Oh, good gracious!" cried Miss Dowd. "If Nancy Strong ever heard +you speak of her as a servant she'd--". + +"She'd bite your head off," put in Miss Margaret Slattery. "Are you +through with your soup, Mr. Thane?" Without waiting for an answer, +she removed the plate with considerable abruptness. + +"Are you angry with me, Margaret?" he asked, with a reproachful +smile. His smile was too much for Margaret. She blushed and mumbled +something about being sorry and having a headache. + +"Say, Court, do you know this Ambulance feller that's coming to +visit Alix next week?" asked the editor, with interest. + +"You mean Addison Blythe? He was up at Pont-a-Mousson for a while, +I believe, but it was after I had left for the Vosges section. I've +heard of him. Harvard man." + +"You two ought to have a good time when you get together," said +Doc Simpson. + +"I've got an item in the Sun about him this week, and next week +we'll have an interview with him." + +The usually loquacious Mr. Webster had been silent since Courtney's +arrival. Now he lifted his voice to put a question to Miss Angie +Miller, across the table. + +"Did you write that letter I spoke about the other day, Angie?" + +"Yes,--but there hasn't been time for an answer yet." + +"Speaking about David Strong," remarked Mr. Pollock, "I'll never +forget what he did when Mr. Windom gave him a silver watch for his +twelfth birthday. Shows what a bright, progressive, enterprising +feller he was even at that age. You remember, Miss Molly? I mean +about his setting his watch fifteen minutes ahead the very day he +got it." + +Miss Molly smiled. "It WAS cute of him, wasn't it?" + +"What was the idea?" inquired Mr. Hatch. + +"So's he would know what time it was fifteen minutes sooner than +anybody else in town," said Mr. Pollock. + +"My, what a handsome boy he was," said Miss Angie Miller. + +"Do you really think so?" cried Mrs. Pollock. "I never could see +anything good looking about him,--except his physique. He has a +splendid physique, but I never liked his face. It's so--so--well, +so, raw-boned and all. I like smooth, regular features in a man. +I--" + +"Like mine," interjected the pudgy Mr. Webster, with a very serious +face. + +"David Strong has what I call a very rugged face," said Miss Miller. +"I didn't say it was pretty, Maude." + +"He takes a very good photograph," remarked Mr. Hatch. "Specially +a side-view. I've got one side-view of him over at the gallery that +makes me think of an Indian every time I look at it." + +"Perhaps he has Indian blood in him," suggested Courtney, who was +tired of David Strong. + +"Well, every drop of blood he's got in him is red," said Charlie +Webster; "so maybe you're right." + +"The most interesting item in the Sun tomorrow," said Mr. Pollock, +"is the word that young Cale Vick, across the river, has enlisted +in the navy. He leaves on Monday for Chicago to join some sort +of a training school, preparatory to taking a job on one of Uncle +Sam's newest battleships,--the biggest in the world, according +to his grandfather, who was in to see me a day or two ago. I have +promised to send young Cale the Sun for a year without charging him +a cent. Old man Brown says Amos Vick's daughter Rosabel isn't at +all well. Something like walking typhoid, he says,--mopes a good +deal and don't sleep well." + +"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," exclaimed Courtney, real concern in +his voice. "She was such a lively, light-hearted girl when I was +over there. I can't imagine her moping. I hope Amos Vick isn't too +close-fisted to consult a doctor. He's an awful tight-wad--believe +me." + +"Doctor can't seem to find anything really the matter ter with +her, so old Cale Brown told me," said Mr. Pollock. "But don't you +think it's fine of young Cale to join the navy, Court? Maybe your +tales about the war put it into his head." + +"It's more likely that he'd got fed up with life on a farm," said +Courtney. "He'll find himself longing for the farm and mother a +good many times before he's through with the navy." + +Instead of going up to his room immediately after supper, as was +his custom of late, Courtney joined the company in the "lounging +room," so named by Mr. Webster who contended that no first-class +hotel ever had such a thing as a parlour any more. The Misses Dowd, +of course, called it the parlour, but as they continued to refer +to the fireplace as the "chimney corner," one may readily forgive +their reluctance to progress. Smoking was permitted in the "lounging +room" during the fall and winter months only. + +A steady rain was beating against the windows, and a rising wind +made itself heard in feeble wails as it turned the dark corners of +the Tavern. Presently it was to howl and shriek, and, as the rain +ceased, to rattle the window shutters and the ancient, creaking +sign that hung out over the porch,--for on the wind tonight came +the first chill touch of winter. + +"A fine night to be indoors," remarked Courtney in his most genial +manner as he moved a rocking chair up to the fireplace and gallantly +indicated to old Mrs. Nichols that it was intended for her. + +"Ain't you going out tonight, Court?" inquired Mr. Hatch. + +"Iron horses couldn't drag me out tonight," he replied. "Sit here, +Mrs. Pollock. Doc, pull up that sofa for Miss Grady and Miss Miller. +Let's have a chimney-corner symposium. Is symposium the right word, +Miss Miller? Ah, I see it isn't. Well, I did my best. I could have +got away with it in New York, but no chance here. And speaking +of New York reminds me that at this very instant the curtains are +going up and the lights are going down in half a hundred theatres,--and +I don't mind confessing I'd like to be in one of them." + +"That's one thing I envy New York for," said Mrs. Pollock. "Hand +me my knitting off the table, Lincoln, please. I love the theatre. +I could go every night--" + +"You get tired of them after a little while, Maude," said Flora +Grady, a trifle languidly. "Isn't that so, Mr. Thane?" + +"Quite," agreed Courtney. "You get fed up with 'em." + +"I remember once when I was in New York going six nights in succession, +seeing all the best things on the boards at that time, and I give +you my word," said Miss Grady, "they DID feed me up terribly." + +"I know just what you mean, Miss Grady," said Courtney, without +cracking a smile. "One gets so bored with the best plays in town. +What one really ought to do, you know, is to go to the worst ones." + +"I've always wanted to see 'The Blue Bird,'" said Miss Miller +wistfully. "It's by Maeterlinck, Mr. Nichols." + +Old Mr. Nichols looked interested. "You don't say so," he ejaculated. +"Give me a good minstrel show,--that's what I like. Haverly's or +Barlow, Wilson, Primrose & West, or Billy Emerson's or--say, did +you ever see Luke Schoolcraft? Well, sir, there was the funniest +end man I ever see. There used to be another minstrel man +named,--er--lemme see,--now what was that feller's name? It begin +with L, I think--or maybe it was W. Now--lemme--think. Go on +talkin', the rest of you. I'll think of his name before bedtime." +Whereupon the ancient Mr. Nichols relapsed into a profound state +of thought from which he did not emerge until Mr. Webster shook +his shoulder some fifteen or twenty minutes later and informed him +that if he got any worse Mrs. Nichols would be able to hear him, +and then she couldn't go 'round telling people that he slept just +like a baby. + +Courtney was in his element. He liked talking about the stage, +and stage people. And on this night,--of all nights,--he wanted to +talk, he wanted company. The clock on the mantel-piece struck ten +and half-past and was close to striking eleven before any one made +a move toward retiring,--excepting Mr. and Mrs. Nichols who had gone +off to bed at eight-thirty. The Misses Dowd had joined the little +company in the "parlour." He discussed books with Mrs. Pollock +and Miss Miller, fashions with Miss Grady, politics with Mr. +Pollock,--(agreeing with the latter on President Wilson),--art with +Mr. Hatch and the erudite Miss Miller, the drama with every one. + +Now, Courtney Thane knew almost nothing about books, and even less +about pictures. He possessed, however, a remarkable facility when +it came to discussing them. He belonged to that rather extensive +class of people who thrive on ignorance. If you wanted to talk +about Keats or Shelley, he managed to give you the impression that +he was thoroughly familiar with both,--though lamenting a certain +rustiness of memory at times. He could talk intelligently about +Joseph Conrad, Arnold Bennet, Bernard Shaw, Galsworthy, Walpole, +Mackenzie, Wells and others of the modern English school of +novelists,--that is to say, he could differ or agree with you on +almost anything they had written, notwithstanding the fact that he +had never read a line by any one of them. He professed not to care +for Thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure," though nothing could have +been more obscure to him than the book itself or the author thereof, +and agreed with the delightful Mrs. Pollock that "The Mayor of +Casterbridge" was an infinitely better piece of work than "Tess +of the D'Urbervilles." As for the American writers, he admitted a +shameful ignorance about them. + +"Of course, I read Scott when I was a boy,--I was compelled to do +so, by the way,--but as for the others I am shockingly unfamiliar +with them. Ever since I grew up I've preferred the English novelists +and poets, so I fear I--" + +"I thought Scott was an English writer," put in Charlie Webster +quietly. + +"What Scott are you referring to, Charlie?" he asked indulgently. + +"Why, Sir Walter Scott,--he wrote 'Ivanhoe,' you know." + +"Well, I happen to be speaking of William Scott, the American +novelist,--no doubt unknown to most of you. He was one of the +old-timers, and I fancy has dropped out of the running altogether." + +"Never heard of him," said Mr. Pollock, scratching his ear +reflectively. + +"Indigenous to New England, I fancy,--like the estimable codfish," +drawled Courtney, and was rewarded by a wholesome Middle West laugh. + +"What are those cabarets like?" inquired Mr. Hatch. He pronounced +it as if he were saying cigarettes. + +"Pretty rotten," said Thane. + +"Are you fond of dancing, Mr. Thane?" inquired Mrs. Pollock. "I +used to love to trip the light fantastic." + +"I am very fond of dancing," said he, and then added with a smile: +"Especially since the girls have taken to parking their corsets." + +There was a shocked silence, broken by Miss Grady, who, as a +dressmaker, was not quite so finicky about the word. + +"What do you mean by parking?" she inquired. + +"Same as you park an automobile," said he, enjoying the sensation +he had created. "It's the fashion now, among the best families as +well as the worst, for the girls when they go to dances to leave +their corsets in the dressing rooms. Check 'em, same as you do your +hat." + +"Bless my soul," gasped Mr. Pollock. "Haven't they got any mothers?" + +"Sure,--but the mothers don't know anything about it. You see, it's +this way. We fellows won't dance with 'em if they've got corsets +on,--so off they come." + +"What's the world coming to?" cried the editor. + +"You'd better ask where it's going to," said Charlie Webster. + +"Do you go to the opera very often?" asked Miss Miller nervously. + +He spoke rather loftily of the Metropolitan Opera House, and very +lightly of the Metropolitan Museum,--and gave Charlie Webster a +sharp look when that amiable gentleman asked him what he thought +of the Metropolitan Tower. + +But he was at home in the theatre. He told them just what Maude +Adams and Ethel Barrymore were like, and Julia Marlowe, and Elsie +Ferguson, and Chrystal Herne, and all the rest of them. He spoke +familiarly of Mr. Faversham as "Favvy," of Mr. Collier as "Willie," +of Mr. Sothern as "Ned," of Mr. Drew as "John," of Mr. Skinner as +"Otis," of Mr. Frohman as "Dan." + +And when he said good night and reluctantly wended his way to the +room at the end of the hall, round the corner of which the fierce +October gale shrieked derisively, he left behind him a group +enthralled. + +"Isn't he a perfect dear?" cried Mrs. Pollock, clasping her hands. + +"The most erudite man I have ever met," agreed Miss Miller +ecstatically. "Don't you think so, Mr. Hatch?" + +Mr. Hatch was startled. "Oh,--er--yes, indeed. Absolutely!" +he stammered, and then looked inquiringly at his finger nails. He +hoped he had made the proper response. + +Charlie Webster ambled over to one of the windows and peered out +into the whistling night. + +"It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good," said he sententiously. + +"What do you mean by that, Charlie?" inquired Flora Grady, at his +elbow. + +"Well, if it had been a pleasant night he'd have been up at Alix +Crown's instead of here," said Charlie. + +"I see," said Flora, after a moment. "You mean the ill wind favoured +Alix, eh?" + +Charlie's round face was unsmiling as he stared hard at the fire. + +"I wonder--" he began, and then checked the words. + +"Don't you worry about Alix," said Flora. "She's nobody's fool." + +"I wasn't thinking of Alix just then," said Charlie. + +II + +The following morning, Courtney went, as was his custom, to the +postoffice. He had arranged for a lock-box there. His letters were +not brought up to the Tavern by old Jim House, the handy-man. + +The day was bright and clear and cold; the gale had died in the +early morning hours. Alix Crown's big automobile was standing in +front of the post-office, the engine running. Catching sight of it +as he left the Tavern porch, he hastened his steps. He was a good +two hundred yards away and feared she would be off before he could +come up with her. As he drew near, he saw the lanky chauffeur standing +in front of the drug store, chatting with one of the villagers. + +Alix was in the post-office. As he passed the car, he slackened +his pace and glanced over his shoulder into the tonneau. The side +curtains were down. A low growl greeted him. He hastened on. + +She was at the registry window. + +"Hello!" he exclaimed, extending his hand and searching her face +as he did so for signs of a sleepless night. + +"Good morning," she responded cheerily. There was nothing in her +voice, her eyes or her manner to indicate an even remotely disturbed +state of mind. Her gaze met his serenely; the colour did not rush +to her cheeks as he had fondly expected, nor did her eyes waver +under the eager, intense gleam in his. He suddenly felt cheated. + +"Where are you off to this morning?" he inquired. + +"To town for the day. I have some business to attend to and some +shopping to do. Would you like to come along?" + +He was in a sulky mood. + +"You know I hate the very thought of going to town," he said. Then, +as she raised her eyebrows slightly, he made haste to add: "I'd go +from one end of the desert of Sahara to the other with you, but--" +shaking his head so solemnly that she laughed outright,--"not to +the city. Just ask me to go to the Sahara with you and see how--" + +"Haven't you had enough of No-Man's Land?" she cried merrily. + +"It depends on what you'd call No-Man's Land," said he, and her gaze +faltered at last. There was no mistaking his meaning. "Sometimes +it is Paradise, you know," he went on softly. + +Twice before she had seen the same look in his eyes, and both times +she had experienced a strange sensation, as of the weakness that +comes with ecstasy. There had been something in his eyes that +seemed to caress her from head to foot, something that filled her +with the most disquieting self-consciousness. Strange to say, it +was not the ardent look of the love-sick admirer,--and she had not +escaped such tributes,--nor the inquiring look of the adventurous +married man. It was not soulful nor was it offensive. She reluctantly +confessed to herself that it was warm and penetrating and filled +her with a strange, delicious alarm. + +She quickly withdrew her gaze and turned to the little window where +Mrs. Pollock was making out her receipt for a registered package. +She felt that she was cowardly, and the thought made her furious. + +"Will it go out today, Mrs. Pollock?" she asked. + +"This afternoon," replied the postmaster's wife and assistant. +"Wasn't that a dreadful wind last night, Alix? I thought of you. +You must have been frightened." + +"I slept like a log through all of it," said Alix. "I love the +wild night wind. It makes me feel so nice and comfy in bed. I was +awfully tired last night. Thanks." Then turning to Courtney: "Sorry +you will not go with me. I'll bear you in mind if I ever take a +trip to the Sahara. Good-bye." + +"Will you be at home tonight?" he asked, holding the door open for +her to pass through. + +"Yes," she replied composedly. + +"I mean,--to me?" + +"If you care to come," she said. + +He did not accompany her to the car. The big grey-brown dog with +his paws on the back of the front seat, was eagerly watching her +approach. + +She wore a long mole-skin coat and a smart little red turban. She +had never looked so alluring to the young man who waited in the +open door until the car started away. + +"Close the door, please," called out Mrs. Pollock. "This isn't +July, you know." + +"So she slept like a log, did she?" muttered Courtney as he turned +away from his lockbox with a letter. "Well, that's more than I +did." + +He glanced hurriedly through the letter, crumpled it up in his hand, +and went jauntily up the street until he came to Hatch's Photograph +Gallery. Entering, he gave the proprietor a hearty "good morning," +and then drew a chair up before the low "sheet-iron stove" which +heated the reception-room. Hatch was "printing" behind a partition, +and their conversation was carried on at long range over the top. +Presently the visitor drew the crumpled letter from his pocket, +tore it into tiny pieces and cast it into the fire. + +"Well, so long, Hatch. I'm off for a stroll in your crisp October +air." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THANE VISITS TWO HOUSES + + +All day long Alix was troubled. She could not free her thoughts +of that searing look or the spell it had cast over her during the +brief instant of contact. She was haunted by it. At times she gave +herself up to a reckless, unmaidenly rejoicing in the thrill it +had given her; at such times she flushed to the roots of her hair +despite the chill of ecstasy that swept over her. But far more +often she found herself resenting the liberty his eyes had taken,--a +mental rather than a physical liberty. She was resolved that it +should not happen again. + +She had posted a note to David Strong that morning. Before the car +had covered the first mile on its way to town, she was wishing she +had not dropped it into the slot at the post-office. Only the fear +of appearing ridiculous to Mrs. Pollock kept her from turning back +to reclaim it. She could not explain this sudden, almost frantic +impulse,--she did not attempt to account for it. Somehow she sensed +that it had to do with the look in Thane's eyes,--but it was all +so vague and intangible that even the suggestion did not take the +form of thought. + +In this curt little note she had said: + +DEAR DAVID: + +I hereby acknowledge receipt of your cheque No. 372 for two hundred +and fifty dollars, but as I have tried to make you understand +before, it is not only an unnecessary but a most unwelcome bit of +paper. You are perfectly well aware that my grandfather's estate +has been settled and, as I have informed you time and again, your +obligation to him no longer exists. You may have owed something +to him, but you owe nothing to me. If I were to follow my impulse +I should tear up this cheque of yours. It would be useless to return +it to you, for you would only send it back to me, as you did with +the first two cheques that came last winter. I want you to understand +that I do not accept this money as my own. If it is any satisfaction +to you to know that I give it away,--no matter how,--you are welcome +to all the consolation you may get out of it. + +Yours truly, + +ALIX CROWN. + +P.S.--I have advised your mother to go to Philadelphia whenever +you are ready for her to come. A. + +P.S.S.--Under separate cover by registered post I am also returning +to you the bracelet you sent me from Paris. I think I wrote you a +long time ago how much I admired it. A. + +Meanwhile, Thane was making the best of a rather empty morning. He +put off finishing a letter to his mother, who had returned to New +York and was so busy with dressmakers that twice she had employed +the telegraph in promising to "write soon,"--a letter in which +he already had written, among other rapturous passages: "She is +positively ravishing, mater dear. I am simply mad about her, and +I know you will be too." He was determined that the day should not +be a total loss; he would turn at least a portion of it to profit. + +First of all, he visited Alaska Spigg at the log-hut village +library. Miss Spigg was very proud of her geraniums. No one else +in Windomville,--or in the world, for that matter, if one were to +recall Mr. Pollock's article in the Sun,--no one else cultivated +such geraniums as those to be seen in the pots that crowned the +superinforced windowsills at the library. + +There was no such thing as a florist's shop in Windomville. Roses +or orchids or even carnations were unobtainable. A potted geranium +plant, in full bloom,--one of Alaska Spigg's tall, sturdy, jealously +guarded treasures was the best he could do in the way of a floral +offering to his goddess. So he set about the supposedly hopeless +task of inducing Alaska to part with one of her plants. Half an +hour after entering the library he departed with a balloon shaped +object in his arms. He was not too proud to be seen shuffling +up the lane with his prize, a huge thing loosely done up in +newspapers,--leaving behind him a completely dazzled Alaska who +went about the place aimlessly folding and unfolding a brand new +two-dollar bill. + +"I don't know what come over me," explained Alaska later on to a +couple of astonished ladies who had hurried in to see if the report +was true that she had parted with one of her geraniums. "For the +life of me, I don't know how I happened to do it. 'Specially the +one I was proudest of, too. I've always said I'd never sell one of +my plants,--not even if the President of the United States was to +come in and offer me untold millions for it,--and here I--I--why, +Martha, I almost GAVE it to him, honest I did. I just couldn't seem +to help letting him have it. Of course, I don't mind its loss half +so much, knowing that it is going to Alix. She loves flowers. She'll +take the best of care of it. But how I ever came to--" + +"Don't cry, Alaska," broke in one of her callers cheerfully. "You'll +be getting it back before long." + +"Never," lamented Alaska. "What makes you think I'll get it back?" +she went on, suddenly peeping over the edge of her handkerchief. + +"Why, as soon as Alix knows how miserable you are about parting +with that geranium, she'll send it back to you,--and you'll be two +dollars ahead. Don't be silly." + +Repairing at once to the house on the knoll, Courtney took counsel +with Mrs. Strong. The housekeeper could hardly believe her eyes +when she saw the geranium. + +"Well, all I've got to say is that you must have stolen it," she +exclaimed. "There couldn't be any other way to get one of those +plants away from Alaska Spigg." + +"Be that as it may," said he airily, "what we've got to decide +now, Mrs. Strong, is just where to put it. I want to surprise Miss +Crown when she returns from town." + +"She'll be surprised all right when she finds out you got one +of Alaska Spigg's pet geraniums. I remember Alaska saying not so +long ago that she wouldn't sell one of those plants for a million +dollars. Now let me see. It ought to go where it will get as much +sun as possible. That would be in the dining-room. I guess we'd +better--" + +"I really think it would look better right here in this room, Mrs. +Strong," said he, indicating one of the windows looking out over +the terrace. There was little or no sunlight there, but he did not +mind that. As a matter of fact, he wasn't at all concerned about +the future welfare of the plant. It meant no more to him than the +customary bunch of violets that one sends, "sight unseen," to the +lady of the hour. + +"Well, you're the boss. It's your plant," said Mrs. Strong briskly. +"Alaska Spigg will go into hysterics when she hears where you've +put it,--but that's of no consequence." + +And so the plant was placed on a small table in the window of the +long living-room. + +"Link Pollock told us last night that you may go to Philadelphia to +join your son, Mrs. Strong," said he, as he watched her arranging +the window curtains. + +Mrs. Strong flushed. "It did not occur to me to ask Mr. Pollock not +to repeat what I said to him in confidence," she said, with dignity. + +"I'm sorry I mentioned it. I am sure Pollock didn't understand it +was--er--a secret or anything like that, Mrs. Strong." + +"It isn't a secret. I have talked it over with Miss Alix, and I +have practically decided to remain with her. You may tell that to +Mr. Pollock if you like." + +"She would miss you terribly," said he, allowing the sarcasm +to pass over his head. "Your son and Miss Crown were boy and girl +sweethearts, I hear,--oh, please don't be offended. Those things +happen, you know,--and pass off like all of the children's diseases. +Like the measles, or mumps or chicken pox. Every boy and girl has +to go through that stage, you know. I remember being horribly in +love with a girl in our block when I was fifteen,--and she with +me. But, for the life of me, I can't remember her name now. I mean +her married name," he explained, with his whimsical grin. + +"I don't believe Alix and David ever were in love with each other," +said she stiffly. "They were wonderful friends,--playmates and all +that,--but,"--here she flushed again, "you see, my boy was only +the blacksmith's son. People may have told you that, Mr. Thane." + +"What has that to do with it?" he cried instantly. "Wasn't Miss +Crown's father the son of a blacksmith?" + +He caught the passing flicker of appreciation in her eyes as she +lifted her head. + +"True," she said quietly. "And a fine young man, they tell me,--those +who knew him. His father was not like my David's father, however. +He was a drunkard. He beat his wife, they say." + +"Abraham Lincoln was a rail splitter. James A. Garfield drove +a canal boat. Does anybody think the worse of them for that? Your +son, Mrs. Strong,--I am told by all who know him,--will be a great +surgeon, a great man. You must not forget that people will speak +of HIS son as the son of Dr. David Strong, the famous surgeon." + +Her face glowed with pleasure. Mother love and mother pride kindled in +her dark eyes. He caught himself wondering if young David Strong +was like this tall, grey-haired woman with the steady gaze and +quiet smile. + +"I am sure David will succeed," she said warmly. "He always was a +determined boy. Mr. Windom was very fond of him. He took a great +interest in him." A self-conscious, apologetic smile succeeded the +proud one. "I suppose you would call Alix and David boy and girl +sweethearts. As you say, boys and girls just simply can't help having +such ailments. It's like an epidemic. Even the strongest catch it +and,--get over it without calling in the doctor." + +He grinned. "It is a most amiable disease. The only medicine +necessary is soda water and ice cream, with a few pills in the shape +of chocolate caramels or marshmallows, taken at all hours and in +large doses." + +Mrs. Strong's eyes softened as she looked out of the window. A +faraway, wistful expression lurked in them. + +"Those were wonderful days, Mr. Thane,--when those two children +were growing up." She sighed. "David is four years older than Alix, +but ever since she was a tiny child she seemed older than he was. +I guess it was because he was so big and strong that he just couldn't +bear to lord it over her like most boys do with girls. He was kind +of like a big shepherd dog. Always watching over her and--dear +me, I'll never forget the time they got lost in the woods up above +here. That was when she was about seven. They were not found till +next morning. We had everybody for miles around beating the woods +for them all night long. Well, sir, that boy had taken off his coat +and put it on her, and his stockings too, and he had even removed +his shirt to make a sort of muffler to wrap around her throat, +because she always had sore throats and croup when she was a child. +And when the men found them, he was sitting up against a tree sound +asleep, almost frozen stiff, with her in his lap and his cold little +arms around her. It was late in September and the nights were cold. +Then there was the time when she fell off the side of the ferry +boat and he jumped in after her,--with his best suit on, the little +rascal,--and held her up till Josh Wilson stopped the ferry and +old Mr. White, who was crossing with his team, managed to throw a +buggy rein out to him and pull him in. The water out there in the +middle of the river is ten feet deep, Mr. Thane, and David was +just learning how to swim. And they BOTH had croup that night. My +goodness, I thought that boy was going to die. But, my land, that +seems ages ago. Here they are, a grown, man and woman, and probably +don't even remember those happy days." + +"That's the horrible penalty one pays for growing up, Mrs. Strong." + +"I guess you're right. Of course, they write to each other every once +in a while,--but nothing is like it used to be. Alix had a letter +from Davy only a day or so ago. You'd think she might occasionally +tell me some of the things he writes about,--but she never does. +She never opens her mouth about them. And he never writes anything +to me about what she writes to him. I suppose that's the way of the +world. When they were little they used to come to me with everything. + +"You see, I came here to keep house for Mr. Windom soon after old +Maria Bliss died. My husband died when David was six years old. +Alix was only four years old when I came here, Mr. Thane. This house +was new,--just finished. I'll never forget the rage Mr. Windom got +into when he found out that Alix and David were going up to the old +farmhouse where her mother died and were using one of the upstairs +rooms as a 'den.' They got in through a cellar window, it seems. +They were each writing a novel, and that was where they worked and +read what they had written to each other. That lasted only about six +weeks or so before Mr. Windom found out about it. He was terrible. +You see, without knowing it, they had picked out the room that was +most sacred to him. It was his wife's own room,--where she died and +where Alix's mother was born and where she also died,--and where +our Alix was born. + +"Of course, at that time nobody knew about Edward Crown. We +all thought he was alive somewhere. The children never went there +again. No, sirree! They both ought to have known better than to +go at all. Alix was fifteen years old when that happened, and Davy +was going to college in the winter time." + +"Did your son live here in the house with you all those years?" +inquired Courtney. + +"We lived in the first cottage down the lane from here. Mr. Windom +was a very thoughtful man. He did not want me to live here in the +house with him because of what people might say. You see, I was a +young woman then, and--well, people are not always kind, you know." +She spoke simply and without the slightest embarrassment. + +He looked hard at her half-averted face and was suddenly confronted +by the realization that this grey, motherly woman must have been +young once, like Alix, and pretty. As it is with the young, he +could not think of her except as old. He had always thought of his +mother as old; it was impossible to think of her as having once +been young and gay like the girls he knew. Yes, Mrs. Strong must +have been young and pretty and desirable,--somebody's sweetheart, +somebody's "girl." The thought astonished him. + +II + +Shortly afterward he took his departure. There was a frown of annoyance +on his brow as he strode briskly up the lane in the direction of +the crossroads, half a mile or more above the village. As usual, +he thought aloud. + +"There's no way of finding out just how things stand between them. +The old lady doesn't know anything, that's a cinch. If she really +knew she would have let it out to me. I'll never get a better +chance to pump her than I had today. She doesn't know. You can see +she hopes her son will get her. That's as plain as the nose on your +face. But she doesn't know anything. Is that a good sign or a bad +one? I wish I knew. Alix isn't the sort to forget. Maybe Strong has +gotten over it and not she. It's darned aggravating, that's what +it is. There must be some good reason why she's never married. I +wonder if she's still keen about him. This talk of Charlie Webster's +may be plain bunk. If she hates him,--why? That's the question. +WHY does she hate him? There must be some reason beside that debt +he owed to old Windom. Gad, I wish I could have seen that letter +he wrote her when he sent the cheque. Well, anyhow, it's up to me +to get busy. That's sure!" + +His walk took him past the Windomville Cemetery and up the gravel +turnpike leading to the city. Alix had traversed this road an hour +or so earlier. Swinging around a bend in the highway, he came in +view of the abandoned farmhouse half a mile ahead. + +It was a familiar object by this time, for he had passed it many +times, not only on his solitary walks but on several occasions with +Alix. The desolate house, with its weed-grown yard, its dilapidated +paling fence, its atmosphere of decay, had always possessed +a certain fascination for him. He secretly confessed to a queer +little sensation as of awe whenever he looked upon the empty, +green-shuttered house. It suggested death. More than once he had +paused in the road below the rickety gate to gaze intently at the +closed windows, or to scrutinize the tangled mass of weeds and +rose bushes that almost hid the porch and its approach from view. +He was never without the strange feeling that the body of Edward +Crown might still be lying at the foot of the hidden steps. + +Now he approached the place with a new and deeper interest. +Strangely enough, it had been shorn within the hour of much that +was grim and terrifying. It was no longer a house to inspire dread +and uneasiness. Two young and venturesome spirits had invaded its +silent precincts, there to dream in safety and seclusion, unhaunted +by its spectres, undisturbed by its secret. In one of its darkened +rooms they had set up a "workshop," a "playhouse." A glaze came +over his eyes as he wondered what had transpired in that room during +the surreptitious six weeks' tenancy. Had David Strong kissed her? +Had she kissed David Strong? Were promises made and futures planned? +His throat was tight with the swell of jealousy. + +He stopped at the gate. After a moment's hesitation he lifted +the rusty latch and jerked the gate open far enough to allow him +to squeeze through. Then he paused to sweep the landscape with +an inquiring eye. Far up the pike a load of fodder moved slowly. +There were cattle in the pasture near at hand, but no human being +to observe his actions. In a distant upland field men were moving +among a multitude of corn-shocks, trailing the horses and wagons +that belonged to Alix Crown. Crows cawed in the trees on the eastern +edge of the strip of meadowland, and on high soared two or three +big birds,--hawks or buzzards, he knew not which,--circling slowly +in the arc of the steel blue sky. + +Confident that he was unobserved, he made his way up the half-buried +walk to the porch, and, deliberately mounting the steps, tried +the door-knob. As he expected, the door was locked. After another +searching look in all directions, he started off through the tangle +of weeds and burdocks to circle the house. He passed through what +once must have been the tennis-court of Alix the First,--now a +weedy patch,--and came to the back door. Below him lay the deserted +stables and outbuildings, facing the barnyard in which a few worn-out +farm implements were to be seen, weather-beaten skeletons of a past +generation. + +There was no sign of human life. A lean and threadbare scarecrow +flapped his ragged coat-sleeves in the wind that swept across the +barren garden patch farther up the slope,--this was the nearest +approach to human life that came within the range of vision. And +as if to invite jovial companionship, this pathetic gentleman wore +his ancient straw hat cocked rakishly over what would have been +his left ear if he had had any ears at all. + +While standing before the gate, Courtney had come to a sudden, +amazing decision. He resolved to enter and explore the house if it +were possible to do so. He remembered that Mrs. Strong, in pursuing +the subject, had declared that Alix and David were not even permitted +to return to the house for their literary products; moreover, +she doubted very much whether the former had taken the trouble to +recover them after she became sole possessor of the property. If +they were still there, with other tangible proofs of an adolescent +intimacy, he saw no reason why he should not lay eyes,--or even +hands,--upon them. He saw no wrong in the undertaking. It was a +justifiable adventure, viewed from the standpoint of a lover whose +claim was in doubt. + +The back door was locked and the window shutters securely nailed. +Entrance to the cellar was barred by heavy scantlings fastened across +the sloping hatch. In the barnyard he found a stout single-tree. +With this he succeeded in prying off the two scantlings. The staple +holding the padlock was easily withdrawn from one of the rotten +boards. + +Descending the steps, he found himself in the small, musty cellar. +The vault-like room was empty save for a couple of barrels standing +in a corner and a small pile of firewood under the stairs that led +to regions above. Selecting a faggot of kindling-wood from this +pile, he fashioned a torch by whittling the end into a confusion +of partially detached slivers. This he lighted with a match, and +then mounted the stairs. + +The door at the head opened at the lifting of an old-fashioned +latch. A thick screen of cobwebs almost closed the upper half of +the aperture. He burnt it away with the flaming torch, and passed +on into the kitchen. He was grateful for the snapping fire of the +faggot, for otherwise the silence of the grave would have fallen +about him as he stood motionless for a moment peering about the +empty room. No light penetrated from the outside. The air was dead. +Spiders had clothed the corners and the ceiling with their silk, +over which the dust of years lay thick and ugly. He felt, with +a queer little shiver, that the eyes of a thousand spiders peered +gloatingly down upon him from the murky fastnesses. + +He hurried on. The rooms on the lower floor had been stripped of +all signs of habitation. His footsteps resounded throughout the +house. Boards creaked under his tread. Without actually realizing +what he was doing, he began to tiptoe toward the stairway that led +to the upper floor. He laughed at himself for this precaution, and +yet could not rid himself of the feeling that some one was listening, +that the stealth of the midnight burglar was necessary. The stairs +groaned under his weight, the dust-covered banister cracked loudly +when he laid his hand upon it. He had the strange notion that they +were sounding the alarm to some guardian occupant of the premises,--to +a slumbering ghost perhaps. + +He came at last to the room where Alix and David had played at +book-writing. In the centre stood a kitchen table, on either side +of which was a rudely constructed bench,--evidently the handiwork +of David Strong. Two strips of rag carpet served as a rug. At each +end of the table was a candlestick containing a half-used tallow +candle. There was a single ink pot, but there were two penholders +beside it, and a couple of blue blotters. Nearby were two ancient +but substantial rocking chairs,--singularly out of place,--no +doubt discarded survivors of long-distant days of comfort, rescued +from an attic storeroom by the young trespassers. A scrap basket, +half-full of torn and crumpled sheets of paper, stood conveniently +near the table. + +He lighted both of the candles and extinguished the flickering +faggot. The steady glow of the candlelight filled the room. On the +mantel above the blackened fireplace he saw a small, white framed +mirror. A forgotten pair of gloves lay beside it, and two or three +hairpins. He picked up the gloves, slapped them against his leg +to rid them of accumulated dust, and then stuck them into his coat +pocket. They were long and slim and soiled by wear. + +A closet door, standing partly open, drew him across the room. +Hanging from one of the hooks was a moth-eaten vicuna smoking jacket +of blue. Beside this garment hung a girl's bright red blazer, with +black collar; protecting, business-like paper cuffs were still +attached. In the corner of the closet reposed a broom, a mop and +an empty pail. + +He smiled at the thought of young Alix sweeping and scrubbing the +floor of this sequestered retreat. + +Returning to the table, he pulled out the drawer, and there, side +by side, lay two neat but far from voluminous manuscripts, each +weighted down by the unused portion of the scratch pad from which +the written sheets had been torn. One was in the bold, superior +scrawl of a boy, the other ineffably feminine in its painstaking +regard for legibility and tidiness. + +III + +These literary efforts had been cut off short in their infancy. +David's vigorously written pages, marred by frequent scratchings +and erasures, far outnumbered Alix's. He was in the midst of Chapter +Three of a novel entitled "The Phantom Singer" when the calamitous +interruption came. Alix's work had progressed to Chapter Five. +Inspection revealed the further fact that she was thrifty. She +had written on both sides of the sheets, while the prodigal David +confined himself to the inexorable "one side of the sheet only." +There were unmistakable indications of editorial arrogance on +the part of Alix on every sheet of David's manuscript. Her small, +precise hand was to be seen here, there and everywhere,--sometimes +in the substitution of a single word, often in the rewriting of an +entire sentence. But nowhere on her own pages was to be found so +much as a scratch by the clumsy hand of her fellow novelist. + +Her story bore the fetching title: "Lady Mordaunt's Lover." + +Courtney read the first page of her script. A sudden wave of remorse, +even guilt, swept through him. Back in his mind he pictured her +bending studiously, earnestly to the task, her heart in every line +she was penning, her dear little brow wrinkled in thought. He could +almost visualize the dark, wavy hair, the soft white neck,--as +if he were standing behind looking down upon her as she struggled +with an obstinate muse,--and the quick, gentle rise and fall of +her young breast. He could see her lift her head now and then to +stare dreamily at the ceiling, searching there for inspiration. He +could see the cramped, tense fingers that gripped the pen as she +wrote these precious lines,--with David scratching away laboriously +at the opposite end of the table. A strange tenderness entered his +soul. Something akin to reverence took possession of him. He had +invaded sanctuary. + +Slowly, almost tenderly, he replaced the manuscript in the drawer +beside its bristling mate. Then he resolutely closed the drawer, +blew out the candles, and strode swiftly from the room and down the +creaking stairs, lighting the way with matches. Even as he convicted +himself of wrong, he justified himself as right. The virtuous +renunciation balanced, aye, overbalanced,--the account with cupidity. +He was saying to himself as he made his way down to the cellar: + +"It would be downright rotten to take that story of hers, even +as a joke,--and I came mighty near to doing it. Thank the Lord, I +didn't. Of course, it's piffle,--both of 'em,--but I just COULDN'T +take hers away for no other reason than to get a good laugh out of +it. Anyhow, my conscience is clear. I put it back where she left +it,--and that's the end of it so far as I'm concerned. Damn these +cobwebs! Good Lord, I wonder if any of these spiders are poisonous!" + +Brushing the cobwebs from his face as he ran, he hurried across the +cellar and bolted up the steps, out into the brilliant sunlight. +He made frantic efforts to remove the disgusting webs from his +garments, his eyes darting everywhere in search of the evil insects. + +Presently he set to work replacing the staple and padlock, inserting +the nails in the holes they had left in the rotting board. He did +his best to fasten the scantlings down, making a sorry job of it, +and then, as he prepared to leave the premises, he was suddenly +seized by the uncanny feeling that some one was watching him. +His gaze swept the fields, the barn lot, even the high grass that +surrounded the house. There was no one in sight, and yet he could +FEEL the eyes of an invisible watcher. + +Up in the garden patch, the scarecrow flapped his empty sleeves. +His hat was still tilted jauntily over his absent ear. It was +ridiculous to suppose that that uncanny object could see,--yet +somehow it seemed to Courtney that it WAS looking at him, looking +at him with malicious, accusing eyes. + +Not once, but half a dozen times, he turned in the road to glance +over his shoulder at the house he had left behind. Always his gaze +went to the scarecrow. He shivered slightly and cursed himself for +a fool. The silly thing COULDN'T be looking at him! What nonsense! +Still he breathed a sigh of relief when he turned the bend and was +safely screened from view by the grove of oaks that crowned the +hill above the village. + +Several automobiles passed him as he trudged along the pike; an old +man afoot driving a little herd of sheep gave him a cheery "good +morning," but received no response. + +"I wish I hadn't gone into that beastly house," he was repeating +to himself, a scowl in his eyes. "It gave me the 'Willies.' Jolly +lot of satisfaction I got out of it,--I don't think. I daresay he +kissed her a good many times up there in that,--But, Lord, what's +the sense of worrying about something that happened ten years ago?" + +At the dinner table that noon, Charlie Webster suddenly inquired: + +"Well, what have YOU been up to this morning, Court?" + +Courtney started guiltily and shot a quick, inquiring look at the +speaker. Satisfied that there was no veiled significance in Charlie's +question, he replied: + +"Took a long ramble up the pike. The air is like wine today. I +walked out as far as the old Windom house." + +Charlie was interested. "Is that so? Did you see Amos Vick's daughter +hanging around the place?" + +"Amos Vick's--you mean Rosabel?" He swallowed hard. "No, I didn't +see her. Was she over there?" + +"Jim Bagley was in the office half an hour or so ago. As he was +coming past the house in his Ford he saw her standing at the front +gate, so he stopped and asked her what she was doing over on this +side of the river. She'd been over here spending the night with +Annie Jordan,--that's Phil Jordan's girl, you know, the township +assessor,--and went out for a long walk this morning. She looked +awful tired and sort of sickly, so Jim told her to hop in and he'd +give her a lift back to Phil's house. She got in with him and he +left her at Phil's." + +"I saw her walking down to the ferry with Annie as I was coming +over from the office a little while ago," said Doc Simpson. + +"Sorry I didn't meet her," said Courtney. "She's jolly good fun,--and +I certainly was in need of somebody to cheer me up this morning. +For the first time since I came out here I was homesick for New +York,--and mother. It must have been our talk last night about the +theatres and all that." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +WORDS AND LETTEBS + + +Mary Blythe and her brother arrived on Tuesday for a two days' visit. +Alix motored to town and brought them out in the automobile. She +was surprised and gratified when Courtney, revoking his own decree, +volunteered to go up with her to meet the visitors at the railway +station in the city. But when the day came, he was ill and unable +to leave his room. The cold, steady rains of the past few days had +brought on an attack of pleurisy, and the doctor ordered him to +remain in bed. He grumbled a great deal over missing the little +dinner Alix was giving on the first night of their stay, and sent +more than one lamentation forth in the shape of notes carried up +to the house on the knoll by Jim House, the venerable handy-man at +Dowd's Tavern. + +"I really don't recall him," said Addison Blythe, frowning +thoughtfully. "He probably came to the sector after I left, Miss +Crown. I've got a complete roster at home of all the fellows who +served in the American Ambulance up to the time it was taken over. +I'd like to meet him. I may have run across him any number of times. +Names didn't mean much, you see, except in cases where we hung out +together in one place for some time. I would remember his face, +of course. Faces made impressions, and that's more than names did. +Courtney Thane? Seems to me I have a vague recollection of that +name. You say he was afterward flying with the British?" + +"Yes. He was wounded and gassed at--at--let me think. What was the +name of the place? Only a few weeks before the armistice." + +"There was a great deal doing a few weeks before the armistice," +said Blythe, smiling. "You'll have to be a little more definite than +that. The air was full of British aeroplanes from London clear to +Palestine. What is he doing here?" + +"Recovering his health. He has had two attacks of pneumonia, you +see,--and a touch of typhoid. His family originally lived in this +country. The old Thane farm is almost directly across the river +from Windomville. Courtney's father was born there, but went east +to live during the first Cleveland administration. He had some kind +of a political appointment in Washington, and married a Congressman's +daughter from Georgia, I think--anyhow, it was one of the Southern +states. He is really quite fascinating, Mary. You would lose your +heart to him, I am sure." + +"And, pray, have you offered any reward for yours?" inquired Mary +Blythe, smiling as she studied her friend's face rather narrowly. + +Alix met her challenging gaze steadily. A sharper observer than +Mary Blythe might have detected the faintest shadow of a cloud in +the dark, honest eyes. + +"When I lose it, dear, I shall say 'good riddance' and live happily +ever after without one," she replied airily. + +The next morning she started off with her guests for a drive down +the river, to visit the old fort and the remains of the Indian +village. Stopping at the grain elevator, she beckoned to Charlie +Webster. The fat little manager came bustling out, beaming with +pleasure. + +"How is Mr. Thane today, Charlie?" she inquired, after introducing +him to the Blythes. + +Charlie pursed his lips and looked wise. "Well, all I can say is, +he's doing as well as could be expected. Temperature normal, pulse +fluctuating, appetite good, respiration improved by a good many +cusswords, mustard plaster itching like all get out,--but otherwise +he's at the point of death. I was in to see him after breakfast. +He was sitting up in bed and getting ready to tell Doc Smith what +he thinks of him for ordering him to stay in the house till he +says he can go out. He is terribly upset because he can't get up +to Alix's to see you, Mr. Blythe. I never saw a feller so cut up +about a thing as he is." + +"He must not think of coming out in this kind of weather," cried +Alix firmly. "It would be--" + +"Oh, he's not thinking of coming out," interrupted Charlie quietly. + +"I am sorry not to have met him," said Blythe. "We probably have +a lot of mutual friends." + +A queer little light flashed into Charlie Webster's eyes and lingered +for an instant. + +"He's terribly anxious to meet you. It wouldn't surprise me at all +if he got up today sometime and in spite of Doc Smith hustled over +to call on you. I'll tell you what we might do, Alix. If Mr. Blythe +isn't going to be too busy, I might take him up to see Court,--that +is, when you get back from your drive. I know he'll appreciate it, +and be tickled almost to death." + +"Fine!" cried Blythe. "If you're sure he will not mind, Mr. Webster." + +"Why should he mind? He says he's crazy to meet you, and he's able +to see people--" + +"But I've always understood that talking was very painful to any +one suffering from pleurisy," protested Alix. + +"Doesn't seem to hurt Court very much," declared Charlie. "He +nearly talked an arm off of me and Furman Hatch this morning,--and +it certainly seemed to be a real pleasure for him to cuss. I really +think he'll get well quicker if you drop in for a chat with him, +Mr. Blythe." + +"It would be very nice," said Alix warmly, "if you could run in +for a few minutes--" + +"Sure I will," cried the young man. "This afternoon, Mr. Webster,--about +half-past two?" + +"Any time suits me," said the obliging Mr. Webster. As if struck +by something irresistibly funny, he suddenly put his hand to his +mouth and got very red in the face. After an illy-suppressed snort +or two, he coughed violently, and then stammered: "Excuse me. I was +just thinking about--er--about something funny. I'm always doing +some fool thing like that. This was about Ed Jones's dog,--wouldn't +be the least bit funny to anybody but me, so I won't tell you about +it. Two-thirty it is, then? I'll meet you up at Alix's. It's only +a step." + +"Will you tell Mr. Thane that you are bringing Mr. Blythe to see him +this afternoon, Charlie?" said Alix. "You said he was threatening +to disobey the doctor's--" + +"You leave it to me, Alix," broke in Charlie reassuringly. "Trust +me to see that he don't escape." + +A little before two-thirty, tall Mr. Blythe, one time Captain in +the Field Artillery, and short Mr. Webster wended their way through +the once busy stableyard in the rear of Dowd's Tavern. Charlie gave +his companion a brief history of the Tavern and indicated certain +venerable and venerated objects of interest,--such as the ancient +log watering-trough (hewn in 1832); the rain-barrels, ash-hoppers +and fodder cribs (dating back to Civil War days), the huge kettle +suspended from a thick iron bar the ends of which were supported by +rusty standards, where apple-butter was made at one season of the +year, lye at another, and where lard was rendered at butchering-time. +He took him into the wagon-shed and showed him the rickety +high-wheeled, top-heavy carriage used by the first of the Dowds +back in the forties, now ready to fall to pieces at the slightest +ungentle shake; the once gaudy sleigh with its great curved "runners"; +and over in a dark corner two long barrelled rifles with rusty locks +and rotten stocks, that once upon a time cracked the doom of deer +and wolf and fox, of catamount and squirrel and coon, of wild turkeys +and geese and ducks--to say nothing of an occasional horsethief. + +"They say old man Dowd could shoot the eye out of a squirrel three +hundreds yards away with one of these rifles," announced Charlie; +"and it was no trick at all for him to nip a wild turkey's head +off at five hundred yards. I'll bet you didn't run up against any +such shooting as that over in France." + +Blythe shook his head. "No such rifle shooting, I grant you. But +what would you say to a German cannon twelve miles away landing +ten shells in succession on a battery half as big as this stable +without even being able to see the thing they were shooting at?" + +"I give up," said Charlie gloomily. "Old man Dowd was SOME liar, +but, my gosh, he couldn't hold a--well, my respect for the American +Army is greater than it ever was, I'll say that, Captain. Dan Dowd +was the rankest kind of an amateur." + +"Do you mean as a shot,--or as a liar?" inquired Blythe, grinning. + +"Both," said Charlie. + +He had a very definite purpose in leading his guest through the +stable-yard. By doing so he avoided the customary approach to the +Tavern, in full view from Courtney's windows. They circled the +building and arrived at the long, low porch from the north. Here +they encountered Furman Hatch. Charlie appeared greatly surprised +to find the photographer there. + +"What are you doing here at this time o' day, Tintype?" he demanded. +"Takin' a vacation?" + +"I come over for some prints I left in my room last night," explained +Mr. Hatch. + +"We're going up to call on Court," said Charlie. "Won't you join +us?" + +Hatch looked at his watch, frowned dubiously, and then said he could +spare a few minutes,--and that was just what it was understood in +advance that he was to say! + +"He goes by the name of Tintype," explained Mr. Webster, after +the two men had shaken hands. "Not because he looks like one, but +because the village idiot's name is Furman, and we have to have +some way of tellin' them apart." + +A few minutes later, Charlie knocked resoundingly on Courtney's +door. + +"Who is it?" + +"It's me,--Charlie Webster. Got a nice surprise for you." + +"Come in." + +And in strode Charlie, followed by the tall stranger and the lank +Mr. Hatch. + +Courtney, full dressed,--except that he wore instead of his coat +a thick blue bath gown,--was sitting at a table in front of the +small wood-fire stove, playing solitaire. A saucer at one corner +of the table served as an ash tray. It was half full of cigarette +stubs. + +"Well, what the--" he began, and then, catching sight of the +stranger, scrambled up from his chair, his mouth still open. + +"I thought you'd be surprised," said Charlie triumphantly. "This +is Mr. Blythe, Mr. Thane,--shake hands with each other, comrades. +When I told him you were so keen to see him and talk over old +times, he said slap-bang he'd come with me when I offered to bring +him up." + +"I hope we're not intruding, Mr. Thane," said Blythe, advancing with +hand extended. "Mr. Webster assured me you were quite well enough +to receive--" + +"I am glad you came," cried Courtney, recovering from his surprise. +"Awfully good of you. These beastly lungs of mine, you know. The +least little flare-up scares me stiff. Still, I had almost screwed +up my nerve to going out this afternoon--" + +"It doesn't pay to take any risks," warned Blythe, as they shook +hands. + +The two men looked each other closely, steadily in the eye. Courtney +was the first to speak at the end of this mutual scrutiny. + +"I wasn't quite sure whether I met you over there, Captain Blythe," +he said, "but now I know that I didn't. I've been puzzling my brain +for days trying to recall the name, or at least your face. I may +be wrong, however. I haven't much of a memory. I hope you will +forgive me if we did meet and I have forgotten it. I--" + +"I have no recollection of ever having seen you, Mr. Thane," said +Blythe. "It isn't surprising, however. It--it was a pretty big war, +you know." + +Charlie Webster was slightly dashed. If anything, Courtney Thane was +more at ease, more convincing than Addison Blythe. He felt rather +foolish. Something, it seemed, had fallen very flat. He evaded Mr. +Hatch's eye. + +"Sit down, Captain Blythe," said Courtney affably. "Hope you don't +mind this bath gown. Charlie, make yourself at home on the bed,--you +too, Hatch. We're as shy of chairs here as we were at the front, +you see." + +Blythe remained for half an hour and then went away with his two +companions. Courtney shook hands with him and said good-bye at the +hall door; then he strode over to the bureau to look at himself +in the glass. He saw reflected therein a very well satisfied face, +with brightly confident eyes and the suggestion of a triumphant +smile. + +Hatch accompanied the moody Mr. Webster to the warehouse office. + +"Strikes me, Charlie," said he, thoughtfully, "that of the two our +friend Courtney seems a long sight more genuine than this feller +Blythe. I guess you're off your base, old boy. Why, darn it, he +had Blythe up in the air half the time. If I was a betting man, +I'd put up a hundred or two that Blythe never even saw the places +they were talking about." + +"Do you think Blythe is a fake?" cried Charlie in some heat. + +"I wouldn't go so far as to say that," said Hatch diplomatically, +"but you'll have to admit that Court asked him a lot of questions +he didn't seem able to answer." + +Charlie stared hard at the floor for a few seconds. Then: "Well, if +I was to ask you what my mother's maiden name was, Tintype, you'd +have to say you didn't know, wouldn't you?" + +"Sure," said Hatch. "But I wouldn't go so far as to say I wasn't +certain whether she had a maiden name or not, would I?" + +"There's no use arguing with you, Hatch," said Charlie irritably, +and turned to his desk by the window, there to frown fiercely over +his scales book. + +II + +Alix and Miss Blythe were sitting in front of the fireplace when +young Blythe entered the living-room on his return from Dowd's +Tavern. The former looked up at him brightly, eagerly as he planted +himself between them with his back to the cheerful blaze. + +"Did you see him?" she inquired. He was struck by the deep, straining +look in her dark eyes,--as if she were searching for something far +back in his brain. + +"Yes," he replied, as he took his pipe and tobacco pouch from his +pocket. "He was up and around the room and was as pleased as Punch +to see me." He began stuffing the bowl of the pipe. "He is a most +attractive chap, Alix. I don't know when I've met a more agreeable +fellow." + +"Then you had not met before,--over there?" + +"No. We missed each other by days on two or three occasions. He +left for the Vosges just before I got to Pont-a-Mousson, and was +transferred to another section when we all went up to Bar le Duc +at the time of the Verdun drive. He joined the Ambulance several +months before I did, and was shifted about a good deal. Had some +trouble with a French officer at Pont-a-Mousson and asked to be +transferred." Here he smiled feelingly. "He's got a mustard plaster +on his back now, he says, that would cover an army mule. I know +how that feels, by Jinks! I wore one for three weeks over there +because I didn't have the nerve to rip it off." + +He was still aware of the unanswered question in her eyes. Changing +his position slightly, he busied himself with the lighting of his +pipe. + +"Was he expecting you?" inquired Alix. + +"Not at all. It seems that your roly-poly friend forgot to notify +him. I say, Alix, what a wonderful lot of pre-historic junk there +is in that old stable-yard. Webster took me around there and showed +me the stuff. Tell me something about the place." + +Late in the afternoon Blythe,--after submitting to an interview at +the hands of A. Lincoln Pollock,--sat alone before the fire, his +long legs stretched out, a magazine lying idly in his lap, his pipe +dead but gripped firmly in the hand that had remained stationary for +a long, long time halfway to his lips. He was staring abstractedly +into the neglected fire. + +His sister came in. He was not aware of her entrance until she +appeared directly in front of him. + +"Hello!" he exclaimed, blinking. + +"What is on your mind, Addy?" + +He glanced over his shoulder. + +"Where is Alix?" + +"Writing letters. There were two or three she has to get off before +we start for town." She sat down on the arm of his chair. "You may +as well tell me what you really think of him, Addison. Isn't he +good enough for her?" + +He lowered his voice. The frown of perplexity deepened in his eyes. + +"I can't make him out, Mary," he said, lowering his voice. + +"What do you mean?" she asked quickly. + +"Well, I may be doing him the rottenest injustice, but--somehow--he +doesn't ring quite true to me." + +"For goodness sake, Addy,--" she began, and then: "In what way? +Hurry up! Tell me before she comes down. Isn't he a--a gentleman?" + +"Oh, yes,--I suppose he is. He's a most engaging chap; he certainly +seems well-bred, and he's darned good-looking. That isn't what I +mean." He hesitated a moment and then blurted out: "Does Alix know +POSITIVELY that he was in the American Ambulance? I mean, has she +anybody else's word for it except his?" + +Mary Blythe stared at her brother, her lips parted. Then her eyes +narrowed suddenly. + +"Don't--don't you think he's straight, Addy?" she half-whispered. + +"I confess I'm puzzled. I never dreamed of doubting him when +I went there. But I've been doing a lot of thinking since I saw +him, and,--by George, Mary, I'm up a tree. Good Lord, if he should +be--well, if he should be putting something over on Alix, he ought +to be shot, that's all. Do you think she's in love with him?" + +"I don't know. She's interested in him, I'm sure, but two or three +times I have caught the queerest little look in her eyes when she +is speaking of him,--almost as if she were afraid of something. I +can't describe it. It's just--well, the only thing I can think of +is that it's kind of pleading, if you know what I mean." + +"Groping, I guess is the word you're after." + +"Exactly. But go on,--tell me." + +"It won't do to say anything about this to Alix, Mary," said he +firmly. "At least not at present. Not until I've satisfied myself. +I'm going to write to three or four fellows who were in Section +Two for months,--before I was there,--and see if they know anything +about him. I'd write to Mr. Hereford himself, but he's in Europe. +He could give me the right dope in a minute. Piatt Andrew's in +France, I understand. The records will show, of course, but it will +take time to get at them. We must not breathe a word of all this +to Alix, Mary. Understand? I've got to make sure first. It would +be unpardonable if I were to make a break about him and he turned +out to be all right." + +"You must find out as quickly as possible, Addison. We would never +forgive ourselves if we allowed Alix to--" + +"Don't you worry! It won't take long to get a line on him. +I'd telegraph if I were sure of the addresses. I ought to hear in +three or four days, a week at the outside. Of course, he talks very +convincingly. That's what floors me. But, on the other hand, he's +too darned convincing. First of all, he called me Captain Blythe +all the time. That isn't done by fellows in the know. I'm just plain +Mister these days. He was rather hazy about the places I know all +about, and tremendously clear about places I've never even heard +of,--the places around Pont-a-Mousson, I mean. He actually looked +suspicious of me when I said I didn't know where they were. And +he mentioned a lot of men that I am dead sure never were up at +Pont-a-Mousson,--either before or after I was there. Names I had +never heard before in my life. And, confound it, the way he lifted +his eyebrows made me feel for a minute or two that I hadn't been +there myself. He says that since his injury and his sicknesses his +memory isn't the best, but when I spoke of some of the fellows who +were there with me, he remembered them perfectly. Didn't know them +well, because he wasn't with the bunch very long, it seems. When I +remarked that he must see a good bit of the chaps who live in New +York City, he told me he had been sick ever since he came home from +England and hadn't seen one of the crowd. He said he knew Pottle, +and Fay, and Tyler, Sudbery and several others,--so I'm going to +write to all of them tomorrow." + +"It would be terrible, Addy, if she were to--" + +"Mind you, old girl, I'm not saying this fellow isn't square," he +interrupted. "He may be all he says he is. He's got me guessing, +that's all." + +"She says he has the croix de guerre and a D. S. medal." + +He looked at her pityingly. "I've got a couple of Iron Crosses, +old dear, but that doesn't mean I had 'em pinned on me by a Boche +general. I've also got a German helmet, but I got it the same way +I got the Crosses,--off of a German whose eyes were closed. Anyhow, +I'd like to see his medals. Has Alix seen them?" + +"His mother has them in New York," she replied. She stared into +the fire for a moment or two and then turned to him, a look of deep +concern in her eyes. "I think Alix is in love with him, Addy. She +isn't herself at all. She is distrait. Twice this afternoon she +has asked me if I didn't want to walk down into the village,--to +the postoffice or the library. What she really wanted to do was to +walk past the place where he lives. Oh, I know the symptoms. I've +had them myself,--when I was younger than I am now. We don't do +the things at thirty-two that we did at twenty-four. She is the +dearest, finest girl I've ever known, Addy. We must not let anything +happen to her." + +He shook his head slowly. "If she is really in love with him, +there's nothing we can do. The saying that 'there's no fool like an +old fool' isn't in it with 'there's no fool like a woman in love.' +Look at Isabel Harrington. Wasn't she supposed to be as sensible +as they make 'em? And didn't everybody she knew tell her what kind +of a man he was? Did it do any good?" + +"She knew he gambled,--and drank--and he WAS a fascinating chap, +Addy. You'll admit that." + +"You bet I admit it. It was certainly proved when those other women +turned up with marriage certificates, and old Mrs. Mason jumped +into the scrimmage and had him arrested for swindling her out of +thirty-five thousand dollars, and the New York police came along +with a warrant for--" + +"Yes, yes," she interrupted impatiently. "But Alix is quite different. +She is NOT a fool, and Isabel was,--and still is, I maintain. You +have seen this friend of Alix's. Is he attractive?" + +"Well," he mused aloud, "unless I am mistaken, he is the sort of +fellow that women fall for without much of an effort. The sort that +can fool women but can't fool men, Mary, if that means anything to +you. Now that I think of it, I believe Webster and that friend of +his are--Well, I'm sure they don't like him. He--" + +"Sh! She is coming!" + +Alix's quick, light tread was heard in the hall. She came from her +"office" in the wing where the kitchen was situated. + +There was a heightened colour in her cheeks and her lovely eyes +were shining. + +"Well, that job is done," she cried, tossing two or three letters +on the table. "Don't let me forget them, Mary. I'll post them in +the city. We leave at six o'clock, Addison. I telephoned to town +and asked George Richards to meet us at the Raleigh at a quarter +before seven. I am dreadfully disappointed, Mary, that Mr. Thane +cannot go, but you will like George. Mr. Thane NEVER goes to town. +He was going to break his rule tonight, and now he CAN'T go. Isn't +that always the way?" + +"Mary's awfully partial to Georges," said Addison, "so don't you +worry about her. I know I shall have a better time if Thane isn't +in the party. To be perfectly frank with you, I'm jolly well fed +up with Mary,--as we say in London. And if Thane was along I'd HAVE +to talk to her for three solid--Why, 'pon my soul, Alix, you're +blushing!" + +"Don't be silly!" + +"Skip along, Addy, and see how quickly you can dress," interposed +his sister briskly. "You've got forty-six minutes." + +"I can dress and undress three times in forty-six minutes, and +still have time to read the evening paper and do a few odd chores +about the place. I say, Alix, red is awfully becoming to you." With +that parting shot, he disappeared. + +III + +One of the envelopes on the table was addressed to David Strong. It +was a reply to a special delivery letter received in the afternoon +post. He had been very prompt in responding to Alix's curt note, +and she was being equally prompt with her answer. There were stamps +sufficient on hers to insure "special delivery" to him. + +He had written: + +DEAR ALIX: + +I have not received the bracelet yet. Registered mail moves slowly. +If I did not know you so well, I might even hope that you had +changed your mind at the last minute and did not send it. But I know +it will come along in a day or so. I shall not ask you to explain +why you are returning my gift. You have a good reason, no doubt. +We have not been very friendly of late. I admit that I have been +stubborn about paying back the money your grandfather lent to me, +and I suppose I have not been very gentlemanly or tactful in trying +to make you understand. I still maintain that it is a very silly +thing for us to quarrel about, but I am not going to hector you about +it now. I trust you will forgive me if I add to your annoyance by +saying that I'd like to be where I could shake a little sense into +that stubborn head of yours. + +You are returning my gift. As I told you when I sent it to you, it +was given me by a French lady whose son I had taken care of and for +whose ultimate recovery I was perhaps responsible. She appreciated +the fact that I could not and would not accept pay for my services. +This much I have told you before. Now, I shall tell you something +more. When she pressed it upon me she said that I was to give it +to my sweetheart back in America. I gave it to you. I daresay I am +greatly to blame for never having told you before that you were my +sweetheart, Alix. + +Very sincerely yours, + +DAVID. + +To this Alix replied: + +DEAR DAVID: + +By this time you will have received the bracelet. It is not beyond +the bounds of probability that you may yet be in a position to +carry out the terms imposed by the lady in France. All the more +reason for my returning it to you. You are now free to give it to +any one to whom you may have confided the astonishing secret you +so successfully withheld from me. You seem to have forgotten that +I gave you a receipt in full for the amount you are supposed to +have owed my grandfather's estate. I did this with the consent of +my lawyer. He said it was perfectly legal and that it was in my +power to cancel the so-called obligation,--especially as we have +no documentary evidence that you ever had promised to reimburse +my grandfather. On the contrary, as I have told you over and over +again, I have in my possession a statement written by Grandfather +Windom which absolutely settles the matter. He states in so many +words that in making his will he failed to mention his "beloved +young friend, David Strong" as a beneficiary, in view of the fact +that "I have made him a substantial gift during the closing years +of my life in the shape of such education as he may require, and +for which I trust him to repay me, not in money, but in the simplest +and truest form of compensation: gratitude." In spite of this, you +continue to offend me,--I might even say insult me,--by choosing to +consider his gift as an obligation which can only be met by paying +MONEY to me. All that you owed my grandfather was gratitude and +respect. As for myself, I relieve you of the former but I do think +I am entitled to the latter. + +Yours sincerely, + +ALIX CROWN + +The same post that carried her letter east was to take one from +Courtney Thane to his mother. + +DEAREST MATER: + +I am going to ask Alix Crown to marry me. I have hesitated to do so +for obvious reasons, perfectly clear to you. Now, I have decided. +She understands my financial situation. She knows that I am almost +entirely dependent on you for support at present. If it had not +been for the war and my confounded ill-health, I should, of course, +have been quite independent by this time. I have explained my +present unbearable situation to her in a general sort of way, and +I know that she is in complete sympathy with me. Your resolve to +not increase my allowance is, I suppose, irrevocable. I shall soon +be in a position, I hope, to dispense with what you are already so +gracious as to allow me. I have not deemed it wise to tell her at +this time of my unfortunate and, as you say, foolish mismanagement +of my affairs before and after father's death. When all is said and +done, he didn't leave me very much. It went before I quite knew +what was happening, and I submit that it was bad judgment due to my +youth rather than to recklessness, as old Mumford claims. I'll make +him eat his words some day. Thanks for your cheque. You are a darling. +You're the best mother a fellow ever had. I quite understand your +position, so don't lose a moment's sleep thinking that I may be +resenting your decision. I shall manage very nicely on what you +give me. It is ample for my present needs. I shall probably find it +rather humiliating when it comes time for a wedding journey, but, +bless your dear old heart, I'll manage somehow. + +I am quite well and very happy. Hope you are the same. By the way, +have you made that visit to Washington? + +Your loving son, + +COURTNEY. + +P.S.--I am still looking for the little parcel I asked you to send +me. Have you forgotten to attend to it? + +C. + +As Alix and her friends went out to the automobile, the big police +dog trotted beside Addison Blythe, looking up into his face with +pleased and friendly eyes. He allowed the man to stroke his head +and rumple the thick fur on his back. + +"He likes you, Addison," said Alix, a serious little frown in her +eyes. "I can't understand his not liking Courtney Thane. His hair +fairly bristles and he growls like a bear every time he sees him. +Isn't it odd?" + +Blythe looked up quickly. It was on the tip of his tongue to say +something tactless. What he did say was this: + +"Can you blame the poor dog for being jealous?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE OLD INDIAN TRAIL + + +Courtney delayed. A certain aloofness on Alix's part caused him to +hesitate. Something in her manner following upon the visit of the +Blythes invited speculation. She was as pleasant as ever, yet he +sensed a subtle change that warned him of defeat if he attempted +to storm the citadel. His confidence was slightly shaken,--but not +his resolve. + +"She's been different ever since those infernal Blythes were +here," he reflected aloud, scowling as he watched her pass in the +car several days after the departure of her guests. + +She went to the city nearly every day now, and seldom returned before +dark. Somehow he felt that his grip was slipping. He was standing +in front of the Tavern. She had waved her hand to him, and had +smiled gaily, but it was not the first time that week she had failed +to stop and repeat her usual invitation for him to accompany her, +even though she knew he would politely decline. He resented this +oversight. How could she know that he hadn't changed his mind about +going to the city? As a matter of fact, he had changed it. He would +have gone like a shot. Indeed, he had dressed with that very object +in view,--and she had gone by with a casual wave of her hand. +His annoyance was increased by the remark of Mr. Nichols, who was +standing at the top of the steps at the time. + +"Thought you said you was going up to town, Courtney," said the +old man, with a detestable grin on his wrinkled visage. + +"I didn't say anything of the kind," snapped Courtney, and strode +off angrily. + +His stroll,--and his reflections,--took him up the old Indian trail +along the bank of the river. He wanted solitude. He wanted to be +where he could talk without fear of being overheard. There was much +that he had to say to himself. + +The rarely used path through the willows and underbrush ran along +the steep bank, sometimes within a few feet of water. Once before +he had walked a couple of hundred yards over this ancient, hard-packed +trail of Tecumseh's people, but had been turned back by the sight +of a small snake wriggling off into the long grass ahead of him. +That was in the warm days of early September. There was no likelihood +of serpents being abroad on this chill October morning. + +Leaving the road at the cut above the ferry landing, he turned into +the trail. A half hour's walk brought him to the gradually rising, +rock-covered slope that led to the base of Quill's Window. On all +sides were great, flat slabs of stone, some of them almost buried +in the earth, others sticking their jagged points up above the +brush and weeds. Back in ages dim these drab, moss-covered rocks +had been sliced from the side of the towering mound by the forces +that shaped the earth, to be hurled hither and thither with the calm +disdain of the mighty. No human agency had blasted them from their +insecure hold on the shoulders of the cliff. Uncounted centuries +ago they had come bounding, crashing down from the heights, shaken +loose by the convulsions of Mother Earth, tearing their way through +the feeble barrier of trees to a henceforth place of security. + +The trail wound in and out among these boulders, dividing at a +point several hundred feet south of the steep ascent to the top of +the great black mound. The main-travelled path turned in from the +river at this point, to skirt the hill at its rear. A more tortuous +way, traversed presumably by the fishers and hunters of the tribes, +or perhaps by war parties in swift pursuit or retreat, held directly +to the bank of the stream and passed along the front of the cliff. + +Courtney took the latter branch. Presently he was picking his way +carefully along the base of the cliff, scrambling over and between +the rocks that formed a narrow ledge between the river and the +sheer face of Quill's Window. He was now some fifty or sixty feet +above the cold, grey water. Below him grew a line of stunted, +ragged underbrush, springing from the earth-filled fissures among +the boulders. Across the river stretched far away the farms and +fields of the far-famed grain-belt. + +He sat down upon a rock and gazed out over these fertile lands, +now crowded with shocks of corn or rusty with the dead glories +of summer. There were great square fields of stubble, fenced-in +patches of pasture-land, small oases of woodland, houses and barns +and silos as far as the eye could reach,--and always the huge red +barns dwarfed the houses in which the farmers dwelt. Cattle and +sheep and horses, wagons and men, all made small and insignificant +in the sweep of this great and solemn panorama. + +The home of Amos Vick was visible, standing half-a-mile back from +the river. He looked hard and long at the house in which he had +spent the first three weeks of his stay in the country. So young +Cale had gone off to join the Navy, eh? Good! And Rosabel,--what +of her? What was she doing over at the old Windom house that day? +Could it have been she who was watching him? Looking badly, too, +they said. Such a strong, pretty, wind-tanned young thing she was! +How long ago was it? Not two months....He lit a cigarette and +resumed his way, the shadow of a fond smile lingering in his eyes. + +Rounding the curve, he came to that side of the stone hill which +faced up the river. He had passed many small, shallow niches along +the base of the eminence, miniature caves from which oozed what +might well have been described as sweat. There were, besides, deep +upright slashes in the side of the rock, higher than his head, +suggesting to the imagination the vain effort of some unhappy giant +to burst through the walls of his rocky prison,--some monster of +a man who now lay dead in the heart of the hill. The turn took him +farther away from the river. + +He was looking now into the tops of several tall sycamores that +rose from the low ground at the foot of the hill. Extending far to +the north along the river was a fringe of these much be-sung trees. +The space between the straight face of the cliff and the edge of +the ledge on which he stood was not more than seven or eight feet. +It was possible, he perceived, for one to continue along and down +this natural path to the bottom of the hill, coming out among the +trees in the low ground. The descent, however, was a great deal +more precipitous than the ascent from the other direction. + +Now that he was immediately below the cave known as Quill's +Window, he was surprised to find that the cliff was not absolutely +perpendicular. There was quite a pronounced slant; the top of the +wall was, at a guess, ten feet farther back than the foot. His +gaze first sought the strange opening three-fourths of the way to +the top,--a matter of eighty or ninety feet above the spot on which +he stood. There it was,--a deep, black gash in the solid rock, +rendered narrow by fore-shortening and a slightly protruding brow. +He could think of nothing more analogous than an open mouth with +a thick upper lip and the nether lip drawn in. + +Then he saw what surprised him even more,--something that none of +the chroniclers had mentioned: a series of hand-cut niches up the +face of the cliff, leading directly to the mouth of the cave. He had +been given to understand that there was no other means of reaching +Quill's Window save from the top of the rock. These niches or +"hand-holds" were about two feet apart. He examined the lower ones. +They were deeply chiselled, affording a substantial foothold as +well as a grip for a strong, resolute climber. Most of them were +packed with dirty, wind blown leaves from the trees nearby,--so +tightly packed by the furious rains that beat against the rock +that he had difficulty in removing the substance. Higher up they +appeared to be quite clean and free from obstruction. + +He scraped the leaves out of five or six of the slits, one after +the other, as he climbed a short distance up the wall. Further +progress was checked, not so much by lack of desire to go to the +top, but by an involuntary glance over his shoulder. He was not +more than ten feet above the trail, but the trail was shockingly +narrow and uneven. So down he came, quite thrilled by his discovery, +to lean against the rock and laugh scornfully over the silly tales +about Quill's Window and its eerie impregnability. Anybody could +climb up there! All that one needed was a stout heart and a good +pair of arms. Closer inspection convinced him that these niches were +of comparatively recent origin,--certainly they were not of Quill's +time. David Windom? Had that adventurous lad hewn this ladder to +the cave long before the beautiful Alix the First came to complete +the romance of his dreams? + +No matter who cut them, they were still there to prove that Quill's +Window was accessible. According to tradition, no one had put foot +inside the cave since David Windom, in his youth, had ventured to +explore its grisly interior. Courtney promised himself that one +day he would enter that unhallowed hole in the wall! + +Retracing his steps over the trail, he soon found himself in the +village. He was more cheerful now. He had talked himself into a +better frame of mind....She was shy. She had reached the turning +point,--the inevitable point where women tremble with a strange +mixture of alarm and rapture, and are as timid as the questioning +deer. What a fool he was not to have thought of that! + +There was a small package in his lockbox at the postoffice--and +two or three letters. The package was from New York, addressed in +his mother's hand. + +He stopped at the general delivery window for a chat with Mrs. +Pollock. + +"I had forgotten all about my birthday," he said, "but here's +mother reminding me of it as usual. She never forgets,--and, hang +it all, she won't let ME forget." He fingered the unopened package +lovingly. + +"Goodness me, Mr. Thane,--is this your birthday?" she cried excitedly. +"We must have a celebration. We can't allow--" + +"Alas, it is too late. Your super-efficient postal service has +brought this to me just forty-eight hours behind time. Day before +yesterday was the day, now that I think of it." + +Mrs. Pollock mentally resolved to indite a short poem to him, +notwithstanding. She could feel it coming, even as she stood there +talking to him. The first line was already written, so to speak. +It went: + +"The flight of Time has brought once more--" + +He continued, oblivious to the workings of the Muse: "Twenty-nine! +By Jove, I begin to feel that I'm getting on in life." He ripped +open one of the envelopes. + +Maude Baggs Pollock looked intently at the ceiling of the outer +office, and thought of line number two: + +"The busy Reaper to his door," + +She hastily snatched a pencil from her hair and began jotting +down these precious lines. Fumbling for a bit of paper her fingers +encountered an envelope addressed to Alaska Spigg. The Muse worked +swiftly. Before she had dashed off the first two lines, the second +pair were crowding down upon them, to wit: + +"But while he whets his fatal scythe, Gaze ye upon his victim +lithe." + +At this juncture George Rice's son came in for a half dozen postal +cards, and while she was making change for a dime the Muse forsook +her. Bent on preserving the lines already shaped, she stuffed +Alaska's letter into the pocket of her apron, intending to copy +them at the first leisure moment. Unfortunately for Alaska, there +was a rush of business at the window, including an acrimonious +dispute with Mrs. Ryan over the non-arrival of a letter she was +expecting from her son, and a lengthy conversation with Miss Flora +Grady who dropped in to say that her chilblains always began to +bother her in October. In the meantime, Courtney departed. + +Two days later, Alaska Spigg received her letter, considerably +crumpled and smelling of licorice root,--(a favourite remedy of Mrs. +Pollock's)--but rendered precious by the presence of a mysterious +"quatrain" done in violet hues by some poetic wielder of an indelible +pencil. Guilt denied Maude Baggs Pollock the right to claim +authorship of these imperishable lines, and to this day they remain +unidentified in the archives of the Windomville Public Library, +displayed upon request by Alaska Spigg, their proud and unselfish +donor. + +Courtney read two of his letters. The third he consigned, unopened, +to the fireplace at Dowd's Tavern. The little package, minus the +wrapping paper, was locked away in his trunk. + +Charlie Webster, emerging from his office at the dinner hour,--twelve +noon,--espied Miss Angie Miller hurrying toward the Tavern. He hailed +her,--not ceremoniously or even gallantly,--but in the manner of +Windomville. + +"Hey!" he called, and Angie promptly responded, not with the dignity +for which she was famous but with an entirely human spontaneity: + +"Hey yourself!" + +She waited till he caught up with her. + +"Have you had an answer to that letter, Angie?" he inquired, glancing +at a small bunch of letters she held in her hand. + +"No, I haven't." she replied, somewhat guardedly. "I can't understand +why he hasn't answered, Charlie,--unless he's away or something." + +"Must be that," said he, frowning slightly. "You wrote nearly two +weeks ago, didn't you?" + +"Two weeks ago yesterday." + +"Sure you had the right address?" + +"Absolutely. Thirty-three Cedar Street. He's had an office there for +ever so long. I ought to know where my uncle's office is, oughtn't +I?" + +"I thought maybe you might have got the wrong tree," explained +Charlie. + +"It's Cedar," said Miss Angie flatly. + +"Cedar and pine are a good deal alike, except in--" began Charlie, +doubtfully, + +"Goodness!" cried Miss Angie, stopping short. "It IS Pine! How +perfectly stupid of me! How utterly reprehensible!" + +Charlie stared at her a moment in sheer disdain. + +"Well, by gosh, if that ain't like a woman," he exclaimed disgustedly. +"I'd hate to send you for a half dozen oranges if there were any +lemons in the market." + +"He is such a well-known lawyer," began Angie humbly, "that you +would think the mail carrier would--" + +"What did you say his name was?" + +"Joseph Smith. He is my mother's brother." + +"East or West?" + +"East or west what?" + +"Pine Street. Same as North Fourth Street and South Fourth Street +up in the city. It runs both ways, Angie,--you poor simp." + +"I shall write to him again this evening," said Angie stiffly. "And +I'll thank you, Charlie Webster, to remember that I am a lady and +not a--" + +"I apologize, Angie," cried Charlie. + +"You'd better!" + +They walked along in silence for a few rods. Then Charlie spoke. + +"You say your uncle was mixed up in a lawsuit of some kind concerning +the Thane family?" + +"I remember it distinctly. It was five or six years ago, before my +mother died. He wrote her a letter about it when he found out that +the Thanes originally came from this neighbourhood. I don't remember +what it was all about, but I think it was some kind of a rumpus +over money." + +"Well, you write tonight, Angie," ordered Mr. Webster; "and remember +it ain't Cedar, or Oak, or Mahogany. It's Pine,--the stuff you make +boxes of." + +Much to Courtney's dismay, Alix remained in town over night. He went +up to the house that evening, only to receive this disconcerting +bit of information. Halfway home, he stopped short in the road, +confronted by a most astonishing doubt. Had she really stayed in +town? Could it be possible that she was at home and did not care to +see him? Was it an excuse? He compressed his lips. With lightning +rapidity certain bits of circumstantial evidence raced through his +mind. In the first place, there was Sergeant, the police dog. He +wished he could remember whether he had seen the animal in the car +with her that morning. It was her custom to take the dog with her +when she went up for the day. One thing was certain: Sergeant was +now at home. Did that mean she had returned from the city? + +And then there was another extraordinary thing,--something to which +he had not given a thought till now. The dog was on the terrace +when he strode up the walk. Not only was he there, but he interposed +his lean, bristling body between him and the porch-steps, growling +ominously and showing his teeth. He did not bark. He merely stood +there, daring him to approach. Courtney remembered saying to himself: + +"There's one thing sure, you and I can't live in the same house, +you filthy brute. You'd better learn how to say your prayers, my +amiable friend." + +It was not so much the presence of the dog or his inimical attitude +that troubled him now as the fact that Mrs. Strong opened the front +door without having been summoned by the bell. What did that signify? +But one thing: either she or some one else had been waiting and +watching for his arrival,--waiting behind the window curtains of +a darkened room! + +"Well,--I'm damned!" he swore to himself, as the blood rushed +furiously to his head. For an instant he saw red. "Good Lord, what +have I done to deserve such a slap in the face as this? What can +be--But, what the devil's the matter with me? Of course, she's in +town! I must be going batty. Certainly she's in town. She--but, even +so, why should she have gone off like this without saying a word +to me about it? She didn't mention it last night. Not a word. And +she must have known then she was planning to spend the night,--why, +by gad, I wonder if she calls that being fair with me? Letting me +trail up here tonight, expecting--Any way you want to look at it, +it's rotten,--just plain rotten!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +SUSPICION + + +Early the next morning she called him up from the city. She +explained everything. The little daughter of her best friend had +fallen downstairs, injuring herself badly,--perhaps fatally. She +felt it her duty to remain with the distracted mother,--she hoped +he would understand. And she was in such a hurry to reach the city +after the child's father had called her on the telephone that she +really did not have the time to stop and explain. He would understand +that, too, wouldn't he? And she thought perhaps she would stay over +another night. She couldn't leave Marjorie,--at least, not until +something definite was known. + +He was vastly relieved. All his worry for nothing! He wished now +that he had remained in his room instead of going out a second time +last night to tramp about the dark, lonely village, driven forth +by an ugly fit of temper. + +"But Mrs. Strong didn't say anything about the accident," he said +over the wire. "She simply said you were in town for the night." + +"I can't understand that," replied Alix. "She knew why I came up to +town, and I telephoned her during the afternoon that I would stay +overnight. + +"She might have told me," he complained. "It would have relieved +my mind enormously. I--I was horribly unhappy. Never closed my +eyes. I thought you,--that is, I wondered if I had done anything to +offend you. My Lord, you'll never know how happy I am this minute. +My heart is singing--And to think it was like a lump of lead all +last night. Do try to come out this evening." + +She did not answer at once, but he could plainly hear her breathing. +Then she said softly: + +"If--if the child is better. I can't leave Marjorie until--until--" + +"I understand," he cried heartily. "What a selfish beast I am. Don't +give me another thought. Your place is there. Because you are an +angel!" + +Later on he sauntered over to the postoffice. A number of men +and women were congregated in front of the drug store, among them +Charlie Webster and A. Lincoln Pollock. The latter had his "pad" +in hand and was writing industriously. + +"What's the excitement?" Courtney inquired, coming up to Charlie. + +"Somebody poisoned Henry Brickler's collie last night," replied +Charlie. There was a dark scowl on his chubby face. + +"You don't mean that corking dog up at the white house on the--" + +"Yep. That's the one," replied Charlie harshly. "Anybody that would +poison a dog ought to be tarred and feathered." + +"Who did it?" + +"You don't suppose a man mean enough to give an unsuspectin' dog a +dose of poison would be kind enough to pin his card on the gatepost, +do you? I should say not!" + +"But why on earth should any one want to poison that big beautiful +dog?" cried Courtney indignantly. "Had he bitten anybody?" + +"Not as anybody knows of. Henry says he never harmed a living soul. +That dog--" + +"By George!" exclaimed Courtney suddenly. "This reminds me of +something. I passed a couple of men last night down at the corner +where you turn up to Miss Crown's. They were leaning against the +fence on the opposite side of the road, and I had the queerest sort +of feeling about them. I felt that they were watching me. I remember +turning my head to look back at them. They were still standing +there. It was too dark to see what they looked like--" + +"Wait a second," broke in Charlie. "Here's Bill Foss, the constable. +Tell it to him, Court." + +The town constable, vastly excited, came up the street, accompanied +by two or three stern-visaged citizens. + +"Well, by thunder!" growled the officer, wiping his forehead. +"Somebody's been making a wholesale job of it. Dick Hurdle's 'Jackie' +and Bert Little's 'Prince' are dead as doornails. That makes three. +Now, who the hell,--" + +"Just a second,--just a second," cried A. Lincoln Pollock, elbowing +his way into the thick of the new group. "Let me get the facts. +You first, Dick. Where did you find your dog's remains? Now, take +it calm, Dick. Don't cuss like that. I can't print a word of it, +you know,--not a word. Remember there are ladies present, Dick. +You've got to--" + +Mr. Hurdle said he didn't give a cuss if all the women in town were +present, he was going to say what he thought of any blankety-blank,--and +so on at great length, despite the fact that the ladies crowded +even a little closer, evidently reluctant to miss a word of his +just and unbridled blasphemy. + +The occasion demanded the sonorous efficiency of Mr. Richard +Hurdle. In all Windomville there was no one so well qualified to +do justice to the situation as he. (Later on, Charlie Webster was +heard to remark that "as long as these dogs had to be killed, it's +a great relief that Dick's was one of 'em, because he's got the +best pair of lungs in town. He can expand his chest nearly seven +inches, and when he fills all that extra space up with words nobody +ever even heard of before, people clear over in Illinois have to +rush out and shoo their children into the house and keep 'em there +till it blows over.") + +Doctor Smith came rattling up in his Ford, hopped out, and started +to enter the drug store. Catching sight of the druggist in the +crowd, he stopped to bawl out: + +"Who's been buying prussic acid of you, Sam Foster? What do you +mean by selling--" + +"I ain't sold a grain of prussic acid in ten years," roared Mr. +Foster. "Or any other kind of poison. Don't you accuse ME of--" + +"Anything new, Doc? Anything new?" cried the editor of the Sun, +rushing up to the doctor. + +"They got that dog of Alix Crown's. I tried to save him,--but he +was as good as dead when I got there. Of all the damnable outrages--" + +"Miss Crown's dog?" cried Courtney, aghast, "Good God! Why,--why, +it will break her heart! She LOVED that dog! Men! We've got to find +the scoundrel. We've got to FIX him. He ought to be strung up. Has +any one called Miss Crown up, Doctor? She is in the city. She--" + +"Mrs. Strong called her up. The automobile started for town fifteen +or twenty minutes ago to bring her home." + +"Keep your shirt on, Court," warned Charlie Webster. "You'll bust a +blood vessel. Cool off! There's no use talkin' about GETTING him. +Whoever it was that planted these dog-buttons around town was +slick enough to cover up his tracks. We'll never find out who did +it. It's happened before, and the result is always the same. Dead +dogs tell no tales." + +"But those two fellows I saw down at the corner last night--" + +"Would you be able to identify them?" + +"No,--hang it all! It was too dark. It was about half-past nine. +Why, earlier in the evening I was at Miss Crown's. I saw the dog. +He was on the terrace. He growled at me,--he always growled at me. +He didn't like me. Mrs. Strong came to the door and called him into +the house. I am sure he was all right then. When is he supposed to +have got the poison, Doctor?" + +"This morning. She let him out of the house about seven o'clock. +Paid no attention to him till he came crawling around to the +kitchen door some time afterward. He just laid down and kicked a few +times,--that's what makes me think it was prussic acid. It knocks +'em quick." + +"Come on, Charlie," cried Courtney, clutching the other's arm. "We +must go up to the house. There may be some trace,--something that +will give us a clue." + +He was at the house when the car returned without Alix. She had +sent the chauffeur back with instructions to bury the dog. She could +not bear looking at him. She wanted it to be all over with before +she came home. + +"I don't blame her," said Charlie soberly. "Shows how much she +thought of Sergeant when she's willing to pay five hundred dollars +reward for the capture of the man or men who poisoned him." + +"Where did you hear that?" demanded Courtney, surprised. + +"Ed Stevens says she told him to authorize Bill Foss to have reward +notices struck off over at the Sun office, offering five hundred +cash. She always said that dog was the best friend she had on +earth." + +"But five hundred dollars! Why, good Lord, you can buy a dozen +police dogs for that amount of--" + +"You couldn't have bought Sergeant for ten times five hundred," +interrupted Charlie. "You see, as a matter of fact, he didn't +actually belong to Alix." + +"You must be crazy. She has had him since he was a puppy three +months old." + +"Sure, But, all the same, he didn't belong to her. He belonged to +David Strong. Davy got him in France in the spring of 1918 and sent +him clear over here for his mother to take care of for him." + +Courtney was silent for a moment. "It's strange Miss Crown never +told me this," he said, biting his lip. + +"Well," said Charlie quaintly, "far as that goes, I don't suppose +it ever occurred to her to tell Sergeant he belonged to somebody +else, but even if she had I don't reckon it would have made a darn' +bit of difference to him. He would have gone on loving her, just +the same,--and workin' twenty-four hours a day for her, Sundays +and holidays included. A dog don't care who he belongs to, Court, +but he's mighty darned particular about who belongs to him." + +"I can't understand why he never seemed to like me," mused Courtney. + +"Well, maybe," began Charlie soberly, "--maybe, after all, he DID +sort of know that he was Davy Strong's dog." + +II + +For three days Windomville talked of nothing but the "dog murders." +The Sun came out on Thursday with a long and graphic account of +the mysterious affairs of Monday night, including the views and +theories of well-known citizens. It also took occasion to "lambast" +Constable Foss with great severity. The Constable, being a Republican, +(and not a subscriber to the Sun), was described as about the most +incompetent official Windomville had ever known, and that it would +have been quite possible for the miscreant or miscreants to have +poisoned every dog in town, in broad daylight, accompanied by a +brass band, without Bill ever "getting onto it." + +It goes without saying that everybody in town was stimulated to +prodigious activity by the reward offered by Miss Crown. Notices +were stuck up in the postoffice and on all the telephone poles. A +great many embarrassing incidents resulted, and three fist-fights +of considerable violence occurred,--for the gentlemen accused of +the crimes took drastic and specific means of establishing complete +and satisfactory alibis. + +Courtney Thane chafed under the prolonged absence of Alix Crown. +Valuable time was being wasted. He had assisted at the burial of +Sergeant, and had shed tears with Mrs. Strong while Ed Stevens, the +chauffeur, was filling in the grave up back of the orchard; and he +had done further homage to the dead by planting a small American +flag at the head of the mound and,--as an afterthought,--the flag +of Belgium at the foot. + +He felt that he had done very well by a dog that would have torn +him to pieces if encouraged by the merest whisper of the words "sic +'im!" + +Alix returned late on Friday afternoon. He had a box of roses, +ordered from the city for him by Miss Flora Grady, awaiting her, +and with them a tender little note of sympathy. + +She sat for a long time with Mrs. Strong. Her dark eyes softened +and filled with tears as David's mother gently stroked her hair +and sought by words to convince her that David would understand. + +"It wasn't your fault, Alix darling," she protested. "David won't +mind,--not in the least. Sergeant didn't really mean anything to +him. He was yours more than he was David's. Don't you worry about +David's feelings, dear. He--" + +"You don't understand, Aunt Nancy,--you don't understand at all," +Alix repeated over and over again in her distress. + +"You're just worrying yourself sick over it," said the older woman. +"Why, you look all tuckered out, child,--I was shocked when you +first came in. Now, don't be foolish, dear. I tell you it will be +all right with David. I wrote him all about it, and--what's that +you are saying?" + +"You don't suppose he will think I--think I did it, Aunt Nancy?" +Alix whispered bleakly. + +"Think you--for the land's sake, Alix, what on earth are you saying? +Are you stark, staring crazy? You come right upstairs and get into +bed this minute. My land, I--I believe you're going to be sick. +You've got the queerest look in your eyes. Come on, now, deary, +and--" + +"I am sick,--just sick with unhappiness, Aunt Nancy," sobbed +the girl. "You don't know,--you don't understand. Oh, he couldn't +believe I would do such a thing as THAT! He couldn't think me so +cruel, and wicked and--and spiteful." + +"Now, listen to me," said Mrs. Strong sternly. "What is the meaning +of all this? What has happened between you and David that makes +you talk like this? Tell me,--tell me this minute, Alix Crown." + +"Hasn't he told you--written you about ANYTHING?" cried the girl. + +"I don't know what you are driving at, Alix, but whatever it is I +KNOW David hasn't got anything against you that would make you say +such things as you've just been saying." She hesitated a moment +and then laid her hand on Alix's head. "I've been wondering a whole +lot of late, Alix. Have you and David had a--a misunderstanding?" + +"We--we don't like each other as--as we used to, Aunt Nancy," said +the girl, lifting her head almost defiantly to look David's mother +full in the eyes. + +"Is it David's fault?" asked Mrs. Strong after a moment. + +"I--I wish you wouldn't ask me anything more about it. At least, +not now." + +"Is it David's fault?" demanded the other once more, insistently. + +"I will say this much; it isn't my fault," replied Alix stiffly. + +Mrs. Strong smiled,--a tender, loving smile. + +"I think I could straighten everything out if David were only +here," she said. "I would take you both across my knee and give you +a good sound spanking. It used to work beautifully when you were +children,--and I think it would work now. I--I wonder if it would +help matters any if I were to spank--No, I'm sure it wouldn't. To +do any good at all David would have to be here to see me spanking +you and to beg me to let you off and give it to him just twice as +hard." + +"Oh, Aunt Nancy," cried Alix eagerly, "if you only WOULD! How I +wish I were a little girl again! And David a little boy!" + +Then she fled from the room. Nancy Strong put her hand over her +eyes and sighed. + +"I wish David were here," she said to herself. "If he were only +here today." + +During dinner that evening Alix was strangely repressed. It was +plain to Mrs. Strong that she was inwardly agitated. After they +left the table she became visibly nervous. She was "fidgety," to +speak the thought of her perplexed companion. Time and again she +started and appeared to be listening intently, and always there +was a queer little expression in her eyes as of expectancy. Once +or twice Mrs. Strong surprised a flash of anxiety,--aye, even +fear,--in them. + +"You haven't read your letters yet, Alix," she said at last, seeking +for some means to divert the girl's thoughts. "There is quite a +pile of them there on the table." + +"I don't feel like reading letters tonight," said Alix. "They can +wait till tomorrow." She arose, however, and hurriedly ran through +the pile. "I wrote to David before dinner, Aunt Nancy," she said +suddenly. "A long letter about Sergeant's death. I wanted him to +know how miserably I feel about it." + +"Bless your heart, he'll know that without your telling him, child. +I am glad you wrote to him, however." + +Alix came to a letter addressed in an unfamiliar hand,--a bold, +masculine scrawl. The postmark was Chicago. She tore it open. It +began with "Dear Alix." She quickly turned to the last page. It +was signed "Addison Blythe." A "thank you" letter, of course. + +Her back was to Mrs. Strong as she stood beside the table, bending +slightly forward to get the full light from the library lamp. She +read the letter through to the end; then she walked over to the +fireplace and threw it into the flames. Her face had lost every +vestige of colour: + +DEAR ALIX: [it began] You will no doubt throw this letter into the +fire the instant you have finished reading it, and you will hate +me for having written it. Nevertheless, I am doing so because I +think it is my duty. I offer no apology. I only ask you to believe +that my intentions are good. It is best to come straight to the +point. I have talked it all over with Mary and she approves of this +letter. What I am about to say still requires official confirmation. +I do not speak with authority, you must understand. I am merely +giving you certain bits of information I have obtained from men +who were in France in 1915 and 1916. It rests with you to believe +or disbelieve. In any case, if you are wise, you will at least take +the trouble to investigate. I am at your service. If I can help you +in any way, please call upon me. If you desire it, I will provide +you with the names of at least three men who were in Ambulance, +all of whom have answered my letters of inquiry. One of these men +met Courtney Thane in Paris in November, 1915. He was living at the +Hotel Chatham with his mother. She had a husband up at the front, +fighting with the French. This husband was a count or something of +the sort and a good many years her junior. My informant writes me +that young Thane, who drank a great deal and talked quite freely +of family affairs, told him that his mother had married this young +Frenchman a few months before the war broke out and went to Paris +to live with him. He went so far as to say that the Frenchman married +her for her money and he hoped the Germans would make a widow of +her again before it was too late. According to this chap, Thane had +also been in Paris since the beginning of the war. He spent money +like a drunken sailor and touched nothing but the high spots. The +second or third time he met him, Thane said he would like to get +into the Ambulance. His mother, however, was bitterly opposed to +his joining up. The last time he saw him, he had on an Ambulance +uniform and was as drunk as a lord in one of the cafes. My friend +had it straight from fellows out at Neuilly that Thane hadn't worn +the uniform a week before it was taken away from him and he was +kicked out of the service in disgrace. + +One of the other chaps has written me, saying that he was at the +base hospital when Thane was stripped of his uniform. He was not a +witness to this, but he heard other fellows and the nurses talking +about it. Not only was his uniform taken away, but he was ordered +to get out of Paris at once. They heard afterward that he went +to Madrid with his mother. He was never at Pont-a-Mousson. It is +obvious that he was not in the Vosges sector, in view of the fact +that he lasted less than a week in the Ambulance, and did a vast +amount of carousing in a uniform that I revere. + +It is up to you, Alix. The records of the American Ambulance are +available. You can obtain all the information you desire, and I beg +of you to get into communication with Mr. Hereford or Mr. Andrew +or some other official at once. I append below the addresses of +several persons to whom you may write. They were high in authority. +They will give you facts. + +I was convinced that Thane was not on the level when I met him that +day. His stories did not jibe. I said nothing to you at the time, +because I could not be sure of my ground. I think I am reasonably +sure now. + +I may add that I have written to Col. Andrew and others on my own +hook. If you care to see their replies, when I get them, I shall +send them to you. All you have to do is to say the word. In any +case, I ask you to believe that my devotion and Mary's deep and +honest love are the excuse for this letter, which you may show to +Mr. Thane if you see fit. I have no right to question his statement +that he served in the Royal Air Force. I know nothing to the +contrary. I speak only of the Ambulance. I am, dear Alix, + +Yours devotedly, + +ADDISON BLYTHE. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE FACE AT THE WINDOW + + +Mrs. Strong, observing her pallor, arose quickly and went to Alix's +side, "What is it, dear?" she cried. "What was in that letter? You +are as white as a ghost." Receiving for answer a pitiful little +smile that was not so much a smile as a grimace of pain, she placed +her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Why did you destroy it?" + +"I--I don't know," murmured Alix through set, rigid lips. + +"Yes, you DO know," said the other firmly. + +Alix looked dumbly into her old friend's eyes for a moment, and +then her honest heart spoke: "I destroyed it, Aunt Nancy, because +I was afraid to read it again. It was from Addison Blythe. He has +been making inquiries concerning Courtney Thane. In that letter he +said things which, if true, make Courtney out to be a most--a most +unworthy person." + +She turned to look into the fire, her eyes narrowing. The black, +flaky remnants of the letter were still fluttering on the hearth. +As she watched, the draft caught them and sent them swirling up +the chimney. + +A high wind was blowing outside. It whistled mournfully around the +corners of the house. Somewhere on the floor above a door, buffeted +by the wind from an open window, beat a slow and muffled measure +against its frame. + +David's mother saw the colour slowly return to her companion's face. +She waited. Something akin to joy possessed her. She was afraid to +speak for fear that her voice would betray her. At last she said: + +"We know nothing about Mr. Thane except what he has told us, Alix." + +The girl looked searchingly into her eyes. + +"You do not like him, Aunt Nancy. I have felt it from the beginning. +Is it because you are David's mother?" + +Mrs. Strong started. The direct question had struck home. She was +confused. + +"Why,--Alix,--I--what a silly thing to ask. What has David to do +with it?" + +Alix was still looking at her, broodingly. "Why don't you like him, +Aunt Nancy?" + +"Have I ever said I didn't like him?" + +"No. But I know. I know that Charlie Webster does not like him. I +knew that Addison did not like him." + +Mrs. Strong could not resist the impulse to add: "And Sergeant did +not like him." + +"And you think THAT convicts him?" said the girl, half ironically. + +"I have a good deal of faith in dogs," muttered Mrs. Strong, +flushing. + +Alix's gaze went to the huge vase of roses on the table. Then she +turned quickly to look once more into her companion's eyes. + +"You believe that Courtney poisoned him, don't you?" + +"I have no more reason for believing it than you have, Alix," +returned Mrs. Strong calmly. + +"Why,--why do you say that?" cried the girl, startled. + +"Because you would not have asked the question if you hadn't +been--well, wondering a little yourself, Alix." + +"Oh,--I don't want to think it," cried Alix miserably. "I don't +want to think of it!" + +"No more do I want to think it. Listen to me, Alix. I confess that +I do not like this man. I have no way of explaining my feeling +toward him. He has always been polite and agreeable to me. He has +never done a thing that I can call to mind that would set me against +him. Maybe it's because he is not of my world, because he comes +from a big city, because deep in his heart he probably looks down +on us Hoosiers. I will go farther, Alix, and say that I do not trust +him. That is a nasty thing to say. It is none of my business, but +I--I wish you did not like him so well, Alix." + +"It would appear that my friends are taking more than an ordinary +interest in my welfare," said Alix slowly, and with some bitterness. +"Is it possible that you all believe me incapable of taking care +of myself?" + +"Smarter women than you, Alix Crown, have been fooled by men," said +the other sententiously. "Oh, I don't mean the way you think, my +child,--so don't glare at me like that. I know you can take care +of yourself THAT way,--but how about falling in love? And getting +married? And finding out afterward that roses don't grow on cactus +plants? That's how women are fooled,--and you're no different from +the rest of us." + +"I think,--I am quite sure that he is in love with me, Aunt Nancy," +said Alix, somewhat irrelevantly. There was no sign of gladness, +however, nor of triumph, in her dark, brooding eyes. + +"That's easy to understand. The point is, Alix,--are you in love +with him?" + +Alix did not answer at once. The little frown in her eyes deepened. + +"I don't think so, Aunt Nancy," she said at last. "I don't believe +it is love. That is what troubles me so. It is something I cannot +understand. I don't know what has come over me. I will be honest +with you,--and with myself. I do not really trust him. I don't +believe he is all that he claims to be. And yet,--and yet, Aunt +Nancy, I,--I--" + +"Don't try to tell me," broke in the older woman gently. "My only +sister thought she was in love with Terry Moore, a fellow who had +been in the penitentiary once for stealing, and was a drunkard, +a gambler, and a bad man with women, and all that. She was crazy +about him. She ran off with him and got married. She never was in +love with him, Alix. She hated him after a few weeks. He just cast +some kind of a spell over her--not a mental spell, you may be sure. +It was something physical. He was slick and smart and good looking, +and he just made up his mind to get her. A man can be awful nice +when he has once set his heart on getting a girl,--and that's +what fools 'em, great and small. All the mistakes are not made by +ignorant, scatter-brained girls, my dear. My father used to say that +the more sense a woman has, the more likely she is to do something +foolish. Now, Alix dear, I know just how it is with you. Courtney +Thane has cast a spell over you. I believe in spells, same as the +old New Englander used to believe in witchcraft. You don't love +him, you don't actually believe in him. You--you are sort of like +a bird that is being charmed by a snake. It knows it ought to fly +away and yet it can't, because it's so interested in what the snake +is going to do next. Thane is attractive. He is, far as I know, a +gentleman. At any rate, he would pass for one, and that's about +all you can expect in these days. The thought has entered both our +minds that he put Sergeant out of the way. Well, my dear, I don't +believe either of us would ever dream of connecting him with it +if there wasn't something back in our minds that has been asking +questions of us ever since he came here. You say you were afraid +to read Mr. Blythe's letter again. Does that mean you are afraid +everything he says is true?" + +"Oh, I can't believe it,--I must not allow myself to even THINK +it," cried the girl. "Why, if what Addison says is true, Courtney +Thane is not fit to--There must be some mistake, Aunt Nancy. There +were two men of the same name. _I_ WILL NOT BELIEVE IT!" + +The two tall women stood tense and rigid, side by side, their backs +to the fire, gazing straight before them down the lamp-lit room. + +"Has Addison Blythe any reason for lying to you, Alix?" asked the +elder quietly. + +"Of course not," Alix answered impatiently. "There is some mistake, +that's all." + +"Do you mind telling me what he says?" + +"Mr. Thane is coming to see me tonight," said the girl, uneasily. +"He may come at any moment now. What time is it?" + +"Ten minutes of eight. He never comes before half-past." She waited +a moment, and then went on deliberately: "I always had an idea it +was because he wanted to be sure Sergeant was in the house and not +out in the yard." + +Alix closed her eyes for a second or two, as if by doing so it were +possible to shut out the same thought that had floated through Mrs. +Strong's mind. + +"But he need not be afraid of Sergeant now," she said, with a little +tremor in her voice. "He will come earlier tonight." The unintentional +sarcasm did not escape Mrs. Strong. "Wait till tomorrow, Aunt Nancy. +Then I may tell you." + +"You are trembling, dear. I wish you would let me make your excuses +to him when he comes. Don't see him tonight. Let me tell him--" + +Alix turned squarely and faced her. There was a harassed, haunted +expression in her eyes,--and yet there was defiance. + +"I stayed away five days," she said huskily. "For five days I kept +away from him. Then I--I gave up. I couldn't stand it any longer. +I had to come home. Now, you have the truth. I just simply HAD to +see him, Aunt Nancy,--I just HAD to." + +"Then,--then it IS a spell," cried the other, dismay in her voice. +"You are not yourself, Alix. This is not you who say these things." + +"Oh, yes, it is!" cried the girl recklessly. "I wanted to come +home. I wanted to see him. I don't love him, but I wanted to be +with him. I don't trust him, but here I am. Now you have it all! +I want to see him!" + +Mrs. Strong was looking past her. She stared hard at the window in +the far end of the room, her eyes narrowed, her chin thrust slightly +forward. Then suddenly she clutched the girl's arm, her eyes now +widespread with alarm. + +"Look!" she whispered shrilly, pointing. + +The flush faded from Alix's face; the reckless, defiant light left +her eyes, and in its place came fear. + +II + +Plainly outlined in the window was the face of a masked man. A +narrow black mask, through which a pair of eyes gleamed brightly. + +The exposed lower portion of the face, save for the heavily bearded +upper lip, was ghastly white. Brief as this glimpse was, they were +able to see that he wore a cap, pulled well down over his forehead. + +For a few seconds the two women stood as if petrified, their eyes +wide and staring, their hearts cold, their tongues paralyzed. They +were gazing straight into his shining eyes. Suddenly he turned +his head for a quick, startled glance over his shoulder. The next +instant he was gone, vanishing in the blackness that hung behind +him like the magician's curtain in a theatre. They heard rapid +footsteps on the veranda, the crash of a chair overturned, then +a loud shout, and again the sound of flying footsteps across the +brick-paved terrace. Another shout, and still another, farther +away. + +"Quick!" screamed Alix, the first to recover her voice. "The +telephone! Call the drug store. Bill Foss is there." + +She ran swiftly out into the hall. + +"Come back!" cried Mrs. Strong. "What are you doing? Don't open +that door! He's got a pistol, Alix!" + +Even as she spoke, the report of a pistol shot came to their ears. +As Alix stopped short, her hand outstretched to clutch the door +knob, a second report came. + +"Oh, my God!" she cried. "He has killed Courtney! He has shot +Courtney!" + +By this time, her companion had reached her side. She dragged her +back from the door. + +"Killed Courtney? What's the matter with you? Why do you say he +has killed--" + +"Don't you see--can't you understand? It was Courtney who surprised +him. That's why he ran. He shot,--oh, let go of me! Let go of me, +I say!" + +"I'll do nothing of the sort," cried Mrs. Strong. "Do you want to +get shot? Come away from this door!" + +A door slammed against the wall at the back of the house. Some +one came running through the dining-room. First the cook, then the +little waitress, dashed into the hall. + +"Wha-what is it? What's the matter?" shouted the former. "What was +that shootin'--" + +"Where is Stevens?" demanded Mrs. Strong, as she fairly pushed Alix +into the living-room. "Call him! Isn't he out there in--" + +"He went out,--half hour ago,--out," stuttered the waitress. "Who's +been--what's happened to Miss Alix?" + +"Nothing! Go and yell for Ed! Thieves! On the porch. Don't stand +there, Hilda. Go out back and scream!" + +"Oh, my God! Ed's killed! He's been shot! My husband's been shot!" +It was the cook who sent this lamentation to the very roof of the +house. + +Mrs. Strong whispered fiercely in Alix's ear: "That's it! Ed is the +one who surprised him. Courtney nothing! Now, you stay here! I'll +telephone. Don't you dare go outside, Alix Crown. A stray bullet--" + +Far away sounded the third shot, muffled by distance and the shriek +of the wind.... + +Mrs. Strong was off somewhere trying to telephone. Shrill voices, +out back, were screaming. Alix stood alone in the middle of the +long room, staring at the window in which the sinister face had +appeared. She had not moved in what seemed to be an age. A strange, +incredible thing was creeping through her mind,--a thought that was +not a part of her, something that seemed to shape itself outside +of her brain and force its way in to crowd out the fear and anxiety +that had gripped her but a few short moments before. + +What would it mean to her if Courtney Thane were dead out there in +the night? + +It was not the question but the answer that fixed itself in her +mind. She was unconscious of the one, but vividly aware of the +other. His death would mean--emancipation! For one brief instant +she actually LONGED for the word that he was dead! The reaction +was swift, overwhelming. + +"God!" she gasped, shutting her eyes and clenching her hands in an +ecstasy of revulsion. "What a beast,--what a horrible beast I am! +What a coward!" + +Her knees trembled; an icy perspiration seemed to start out all over +her body. She had wished him dead! She had grasped at THAT as the +solution! Her heart had leaped joyously! It was as if some great +weight suddenly had been lifted from it. Now she was numb with +horror. What devilish power had taken possession of her in that +brief, soul-destroying instant? She shuddered. She was afraid to +open her eyes. She reached out with her hand for the support of +the table. She had longed for some one to come and tell her that +he was dead! + +Some one was pounding on the outer door. She had a dim, vague +impression that this pounding had been going on for some time. +A sort of paralysis benumbed her sensibilities. Her eyes were now +wide open, staring. Had her wish come true? Was some, one come to +tell her that her horrible wish had come true? Suddenly the fetters +fell away. She rushed frantically to the door and turned the knob. +The driving wind flung it open with a force that almost swept her +off her feet. + +Thane stood on the threshold, hatless, panting. The light from the +hall, falling upon his face, revealed a long red stain that ran +from temple to chin. As she drew back, alarmed, he staggered into +the hall, limping painfully, and pushed the door shut behind him. + +"Oh!" she gasped. + +He shot a swift, searching glance down the hall and into the living-room. +Then he held out his arms to her. She was gazing spell-bound into +his eager, shining eyes. He waited. She came to him as if drawn +by some overpowering magnet. His arms closed about her....She was +crushed against his body, she seemed a part of him. His arms were +like smothering coils that pressed the life out of her; his hungry +lips were fastened upon hers, hot and lustful. + +Presently she began to struggle. Shame,--a vast, sickening +shame,--possessed her. She was conscious of the wild, increasing +lust that mastered him. She tried to tear herself from contact with +his body, as from something base, unclean, revolting. His kisses +held her. She was powerless to resist the passion that swept over +her. Once more she surrendered,--and then came the shame, the +overwhelming shame. She was debased, defiled! She put her hand +to his face and pushed frantically to release herself from those +consuming, unholy lips. + +Suddenly he freed her, and sprang back, panting but triumphant. +She heard him whisper, hoarsely, rapturously: + +"God!" + +Some one was coming. He had caught the sound of footsteps,--somewhere. +Alix sank breathless, rigid, almost fainting, upon the hall-seat. + +"Darling!" he whispered passionately. She half arose, caught once +more by the irresistible spell that had first swept her into his +embrace. He shook his head. Then she heard him speak. He was looking +past her. + +"I'm all right, Mrs. Strong. Don't mind me. Telephone for help." + +"I have telephoned," cried Mrs. Strong, coming toward them quickly. +"Help is coming. Good heavens! You are bleeding! Were you hit?" + +III + +The question aroused Alix. She was aware of something wet and +sticky on the palm of her hand. She looked. It was covered with +blood. Then she remembered putting her hand against his cheek. +As if fascinated she stared for a second or two before her wits +returned. Mrs. Strong must not see that bloody hand. She would +know! Guiltily she clenched her fingers again and thrust her hand +behind her back. She shuddered at the feel of the moist, sticky +substance, and turned suddenly sick. Her one thought was to get to +her room where she could wash away the tell-tale evidence. Again +she heard him speaking, and hung on his words. + +"Nothing but a scratch. I fell while chasing him. He got the start +of me. My overcoat bothered me. I got it off, but not in time. +It's out there somewhere. My rotten old leg is the worst. I twisted +it when I jumped over the fence. That's when I fell. Tripped over +some bushes or something. I was gaining on him. Up in the woods, +you see. He was making for the road above. Oh, if this leg of mine +was any good, I would have--" He broke off short to grip his knee +with both hands, his face twitching with pain. The sentences came +jerkily, breathlessly. + +"Send for Dr. Smith!" Alix cried out suddenly. "Be quick! He has +been shot,--I know he has been shot. Go--" + +"It's a scratch, I tell you, Alix," he protested. "He didn't get +me. He fired at me, but it was dark. I'm all right. There is no +time to lose. If they get after him at once they'll catch him. I +can show them which way he went. Where the devil are they? We ought +to have every man in town out there in the woods. Did you tell 'em +to bring guns? He's armed. He--" + +"You ARE hurt," cried Alix. "You MUST have the doctor. Oh, for +heaven's sake, DO SOMETHING!" The last was directed impatiently to +Mrs. Strong. + +"I'll give him a basin of water,--and some court plaster," said +the older woman, who had looked closely at the scratch on the young +man's cheek. "It doesn't amount to anything,--if that's all, Mr. +Thane?" + +"That's all,--except my knee, and that will be all right in a few +minutes. Let me sit down here a minute. Not in there,--I'm covered +with dirt and burrs and,--I might get some of this filthy blood +on,--that's all right, Mrs. Strong, thank you. I'll be able to go +out with the gang as soon as they come. Gad! It's going to be great +sport. Man-hunting!" + +Alix was leaning against the end of the hall-seat, watching him as +if fascinated. He bent an ardent, significant look upon her, and +her eyes widened slightly under the contact. + +"I'll get some water ready for you in the kitchen, and a--" began +Mrs. Strong, but Alix, suddenly alive, intercepted her with a cry. + +"No! I will go, Aunt Nancy,--I insist!" And before Mrs. Strong could +offer a word of protest, she flashed past her and was running up +the stairs. + +A look of chagrin leaped into Courtney's eyes. He had counted on +another minute or two alone with her. Under his breath he muttered +an oath. + +Alix's bedroom door opened and closed. Mrs. Strong was still looking +in astonishment up the staircase. + +"I--she's pretty badly upset, Mr. Thane," she said at last. "That +face in the window,--and everything." + +"Good Lord,--you don't mean to say you saw him?" + +"Yes,--looking in that window over there. Only for a second. You +must have scared him away." + +"Then, by George, you can identify him!" + +"He had a mask on. Didn't you see his face?" + +"No. It was dark. Masked, you say. That's bad. It will be hard to +swear--Still, I saw his figure. Short, heavy fellow. Wore a cap." + +She continued to look anxiously up the stairs. + +"Wait here," she said shortly. "I must go up to her. Go to the kitchen +if you like, and wash the blood off. I'll be back in a jiffy." + +He waited till she was out of sight, and then limped into the +living-room,--but with a swiftness incredible in one with a twisted +knee. Going direct to the fireplace, he took something out of his +coat pocket and, after a glance at door and window, quickly consigned +it to the flames. A small black object it was, that crumpled softly +in his palm and was consumed in a flash by the flames. A moment +later he entered the kitchen, bringing consternation to the two +excited domestics, both of whom sent up cries of alarm at the sight +of his bloody face. + +Meanwhile Mrs. Strong had surprised Alix in her bathroom, frantically +washing her hands. She looked up and saw the housekeeper standing +in the door behind her. The bowl was half full of reddish water. +The expression of disgust in her eyes remained for a moment and +then gave way to confusion. Neither spoke for some time. + +"What are you doing?" asked Mrs. Strong. + +"Oh, Aunt Nancy!" came in a choked voice from the girl's lips. + +"Is that blood?" + +"Yes," replied Alix, looking away. + +"I--I understand. Oh, Alix,--Alix!" + +"I don't know what made me do it,--I couldn't help myself. I--Oh, +it was terrible! I don't love him,--I don't love him! As long as +I live,--as long as I live, I shall never forget it. I shall never +know anything like it again. I could feel my soul being dragged out +of my body,--Oh, Aunt Nancy! What am I to do? What is to become of +me?" + +"There's only one thing for you to do now," said the other, slowly, +levelly. "Stay in this room. Lock the door. Don't see him again. +Keep away from him. He's--he's bad, Alix!" + +"But he is not a coward!" cried the girl eagerly. "He followed +that man, he chased him, he was shot at,--that is not what a coward +would do. Addison Blythe is mistaken. Those men are mistaken. He--" + +"I hear people downstairs,--and out in the yard. You must obey me, +Alix. You must not see him again tonight. God in heaven, what kind +of a spell has he cast upon you? The spell of the devil! Child, +child,--don't you understand? That's what it is. The spell that +makes women helpless! Stay here! I will send Hilda up to you." + +"Why do you blame him for everything?" cried the girl hotly. "Doesn't +a woman ever cast this spell you speak of? What defence has a man +against--" + +"Do you call yourself an evil woman? Nonsense! Don't talk like +that. I am not blaming him. He can't help himself. He loves you. +That's not his fault. But you do not love him. You are afraid +of him. You would run from him if you could. He must go away. You +must send him away. Tell him of Blythe's letter. Face him with it. +Tomorrow,--not tonight. You are not yourself tonight. Trust me, +dearest Alix. Do as I tell you. Promise." + +"I will not come down," said Alix slowly, and Mrs. Strong went out. +She heard the key turn in the door. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ROSABEL + + +All night long bands of men scoured the woods and fields, with +lanterns and dogs and guns. Courtney Thane, thrilled by that one +glorious, overpowering moment of contact, sallied forth with the +first of the searchers. He showed them where the masked man vaulted +over the porch rail, and the course he took in crossing the terrace, +below which Courtney's coat was found where he had cast it aside +at the beginning of the chase. The first shot was fired as the man +climbed over the fence separating the old-fashioned garden from the +wooded district to the west, the second following almost immediately. +Thane was over the fence and picking himself up from the ground +after tripping when the last shot was fired. He ran forty or fifty +yards farther on and then his knee gave out. Realizing that pursuit +was useless under the circumstances, he hurried back to the house +to give the alarm. + +It appears that he first saw the man as he was nearing the top of +the steps leading to the terrace. The fellow's figure, in a crouching +position, was distinctly outlined against the lighted window. + +"Kind of a funny time for a robber to be monkeyin' around a house," +said Charlie Webster, after Courtney had concluded his brief story. +"Eight o'clock is no time to figure on breaking into a house." + +"He probably figured that the occupants would be at dinner," said +Courtney. "Or maybe he was getting the lay of the land while there +were lights to guide him. That is most likely the case. Lord, how +I wish I had had a gun!" + +"Maybe it's lucky you didn't," said Charlie. "Guns are pretty +treacherous things to monkey with, Court. You might have shot +yourself." + +"Oh, I guess I know how to handle a gun, Charlie," retorted Thane, +after a perceptible pause. + +"Anyhow," remarked Constable Foss, "we now know why that dog +of Alix's was killed. This robber had things purty well sized up. +He knowed he had to fix that dog first of all,--and that goes to +show another thing. He is purty well posted around these parts. He +knowed all about that dog. He ain't no tramp or common stranger. +The chances are he ain't even a perfessional burglar. Maybe some +dago,--or, by gosh, somebody we all know." + +A chosen group waited at the roadside above the Windom place +for automobiles which were to be used in the attempt to head off +the invader. This was Courtney's idea. He suggested a wide cordon +of machines and men as the only means of cutting off the fellow's +escape. + +"You're not likely to get anywhere, Foss, by keeping up a stern +chase," he argued. "He has got too big a lead. Our only chance is +to rush a lot of men out ahead of him in cars, and then work back +through the woods." + +A boy came up with Courtney's fedora hat, which he had picked up +in the brush near the fence. + +"There's a bullet hole through it, Mr. Thane," he cried in great +excitement. "Lookee here!" + +Sure enough there was a hole in the crown of the hat. + +"Whew!" whistled Courtney, staring at the hat blankly. "I never +dreamed--Why, good Lord, a couple of inches lower and he'd have +got me. I remember my hat blowing off as I got up, but I thought +it was the wind. Where did you find it, kid?" + +"Back there by the fence." + +"We must have that hat for evidence," said the constable. "Shows +the calibre of the bullet, and all that. Bring it down to the office +in the morning, Mr. Thane. Better put it on now. You'll ketch cold +out here bareheaded." + +By this time the lane and grounds were alive with excited people,--men, +women and children. Several automobiles approached, sounding their +horns. Men were shouting directions, dogs were barking, small +children were squalling lustily. Shadowy, indistinct figures scuttled +through the darkness, here and there coming into bold relief as +they passed before the lamps of automobiles or entered the radius +of light shed by an occasional lantern. Half the town was already +on the scene, and the belated remainder was either on the way or +grimly guarding cash drawers in empty, deserted stores. + +Courtney reluctantly announced that he did not feel up to accompanying +the searchers, his leg was bothering him so. No, he didn't need a +doctor. The confounded thing simply gave out on him whenever he got +the least bit reckless, but it seldom if ever amounted to anything. +Only made him realize that he couldn't "get gay" with it. He'd be +all right in a day or two. Hobble a little, that's all,--like a +lame dog. More scared than hurt, you know, etc., etc. + +He picked his way through the ever-increasing crowd of agitated +people, avoiding rampant automobiles and inquisitive citizens with +equal skill, and approached Alix's gate. His blood was rioting. +The memory of that triumphant moment when her warm body lay in his +arms,--when her lips were his,--when his eager hand pressed the +firm, round breast,--ah, the memory of it all set fire to his blood. +She had come to him, she had clung to him, she had kissed him! He +had won! She was his! He must see her again tonight, hold her once +more in his arms, drink of the rapture that came through her lips, +caress the throbbing heart she had surrendered to him. Anticipation +sent the blood rushing to his head. He grew strangely dizzy. He +narrowly escaped being struck by a car. + +"The darned fools!" he muttered, as he leaped aside into the shallow +ditch. + +A figure separated itself from a group near the gate and approached +him. There were no lights near and the lane was dark. He could +not see the face of the woman who halted directly in front of him, +barring the path. + +"It is I, Courtney,--Rosabel," came in low, tremulous tones. + +He stood stockstill, peering intently. + +"Rosabel!" he repeated vacantly. + +"I--I saw you. The auto lamp shone on your face." + +Her teeth were chattering. Her voice was little more than a whisper. + +"You--you poor child!" he cried. "What are you doing here? How do +you happen to be--" + +"I came over to spend the night with Annie Jordan. I--I do that +quite often, Courtney. Aren't--aren't you ever coming to see me +again?" + +"I was planning to come over tomorrow, Rosie,--tomorrow sure. I've +been meaning to run over to your house--" + +"I--I thought you had forgotten all about us," she broke in, +pathetically. "You wouldn't do that, would you? Didn't you get my +letters? I wrote four or five times and you never answered. You--you +haven't forgotten, have you?" + +"Bless your heart, no! I should say not. I've been so busy. Working +like a dog on my book. The one we talked about, Rosie. The story +of my experiences over in France, you know." + +"Oh, Courtney, are you really, truly writing it?" she cried eagerly. + +"Sure," he replied. "It's a tough job, believe me. I've been so +busy I haven't even had time to write letters. Mother complains +that I never write to her. Dear old mater,--I ought to be kicked +for neglecting her. Stacks of unanswered letters. Really, it's +appalling. But I've just got to finish this work. The publisher +wants it before Christmas." + +"You promised to read it to me as you wrote it, Courtney," she +murmured wistfully. "Don't you remember?" + +"Just as soon as I've got it in little better shape, Rosie. You +see, it's an awful mess now. I'm trying so hard to concentrate. +It would be different if I were an experienced writer. But I'm a +terrible duffer, you know. The least little thing throws me off. +I--" + +"I wouldn't interfere for the world, Courtney. I will wait. I don't +want to bother you. Please don't think about reading it to me now. +But,--oh, Courtney, I have wanted to see you so much. You WILL come +over, won't you. Or would you rather have me come--" + +"I'll be over, Rosie,--tomorrow," he said hastily. "Or the day +after, sure. I'm all done up. I can hardly stand on this leg. Did +they tell you? I chased the robber up through the woods. Had a bad +fall. Bunged up this rotten old knee again." + +"You poor boy," she cried. "Yes, I heard them talking about how +brave you were. And he shot at you, too. I saw the plaster on your +face when the light shone on it a while ago. I was frightened. I +forgot to ask you how bad it is. I forgot everything but--but just +speaking to you. Is it dangerous? Is it a bad wound?" + +"I don't know. The doctor is waiting for me up at Miss Crown's. +They sent me back, the other fellows did. I wanted to go with the +gang,--but I was weak and--Oh, I'll be all right. Don't you worry, +little girl. Dr. Smith may slap me into bed,--" + +"You must not be foolish, Courtney. Do what the doctor says. You +must get well--oh, you MUST get well!" + +She had come quite close to him and was peering at his face. Even +in the darkness he could see her big, dark eyes. Her teeth no longer +chattered, but there was a perilous quaver in her low, tense voice. +She put out a hand to touch him. He drew back. + +"I'll be as fit as a fiddle in no time at all," he said hurriedly. +"See you tomorrow, Rosie,--or as soon as the blamed old doctor +turns me loose. I've got to be on my way now. He's waiting for me +up there. May have to put a stitch in my mug,--and yank my leg like +the devil, but--" + +She still blocked his path. + +"Courtney, I'm--I'm terribly unhappy. I want to see you,--very +soon." + +"I hear you have been ill, Rosie. Some one was telling me you were +looking thin and--and all that sort of thing. I hope you're feeling +better." + +She waited a moment. When she spoke it was with difficulty. + +"I'm awfully worried, Courtney," she cried, her voice little more +than a whisper. He was silent, so after a little while she went +on: "I wish I could die,--I wish I could die!" + +"Come, come!" he said reassuringly. "You must not talk like that, +Rosie. Cheer up! You're too young to talk about dying. Think what +I've been through,--and I'm still alive! I'll run over tomorrow,--or +next day,--and try to cheer you up a bit, little girl. So long. +I've got to see the doctor. I'm--I'm suffering like the dickens." + +"I mustn't keep you, Courtney," she murmured, stepping aside to +let him pass. "Good night! You--you WILL come, won't you? Sure?" + +"Sure!" he replied, and limped painfully away. + +A little later Annie Jordan found her standing beside the road, +where he had left her. She was looking up at the brightly lighted +house at the top of the lane. + +"Goodness!" cried Annie. "I thought you were lost, Rosie. Where on +earth have you been?" + +"Maybe I AM lost," replied the girl, and Annie, failing to see +anything cryptic in the words, laughed gaily at the quaintness of +them. + +"Come on," she said, thrusting her arm through Rosabel's, "let's go +back home. There's nothing doing here. And that wind cuts through +one like a knife. Gee, it's fierce, isn't it?" + +"I don't want to go in yet," protested Rosabel, hanging back. +"Let's wait awhile. Let's wait till Dr. Smith comes out. He's up +there with--with Alix Crown. Maybe he can tell us how--" + +"Doc Smith isn't up there. He's gone up the road in his car with +Dick Hurdle and--why, Rosie, you're shivering like a leaf. Have +you got a chill? Come on home. We'll have Dr. Smith in as soon as +he gets back to--" + +"I don't want the doctor," cried Rosabel fiercely. "I won't have +one, I tell you. I won't have one!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +SHADOWS + + +Greatly to Courtney's chagrin, his triumphal progress was summarily +checked when he presented himself at the door. He could hardly believe +his ears. Miss Crown was in her room and would not be able to see +any one that night. She was very nervous and "upset," explained the +maid, and had given orders to admit no one. Of course, Hilda went +on to say, if Mr. Thane wanted to come in and rest himself, or if +there was anything she or the cook could do for him,--but Courtney +brusquely interrupted her to say that he was sure Miss Crown did +not mean to exclude him, and directed Hilda to take word up to her +that he was downstairs. + +"It won't do any good," said Hilda, who was direct to say the least. +"She's gone to bed. My orders is not to disturb her." + +"Are they her orders or Mrs. Strong's orders?" demanded Courtney, +driven to exasperation. + +"All I can say, sir, is they're MY orders, sir," replied Hilda, +quite succinctly. + +"All right," said he curtly. Then, as an afterthought: "Please say +that I stopped in to see if I could be of any further service to +Miss Crown, will you, Hilda?" + +He was very much crestfallen as he made his way down the steps to +the lane. This wasn't at all what he had expected. + +There were a number of people near the gate. Instead of going +directly down the walk, he turned to the right at the bottom of the +terrace and cut diagonally across the lawn. Coming to one of the +big oaks he sat down for a moment on the rustic seat that encircled +its base. Sheltered from the wind he managed to strike a match and +light a cigarette. Assured that no one was near, he leaned over +and felt with his hand under the bench. His fingers closed upon an +object wedged between the seat and one of the slanting supports. +Quickly withdrawing it, he dropped it into his overcoat pocket, +and, after a moment, resumed his progress, making for the carriage +gate in the left lower corner of the grounds. + +He had a sharp eye out for Rosabel Vick. He heard Annie Jordan's +high-pitched voice in the road ahead of him and slackened his pace. +In due time he limped up the steps of Dowd's Tavern. + +Several women were in the "lounge," chattering like magpies in +front of the fire. There were no men about. He went in and for ten +minutes listened to the singing of his praises. Then, requesting a +pitcher of hot water, he hobbled upstairs, politely declining not +only the Misses Dowd's offer to bathe and bandage his heroic knee, +but Miss Grady's bottle of witchhazel, Miss Miller's tube of Baume +Analgesique and old Mrs. Nichols' infallible remedy for every +ailment under the sun,--a flaxseed poultice. + +The first thing he did on entering his room was to open his trunk +and deposit therein the shiny object he had recovered from its +hiding-place under the tree-seat. Before hanging his hat on the +clothes-tree in the corner of the room, he thoughtfully examined +the bullet hole in the crown. + +"Thirty-eight calibre, all right," he reflected. Poking his +forefinger through the hole, he enlarged it to some extent. "More +like a forty-four now," he said in a satisfied tone. + +Margaret Slattery brought up the hot water and some fresh firewood +for his stove, in which the fire burned low. + +"Would you be liking a drink of whiskey, Mr. Thane?" she inquired, +with a stealthy look over her shoulder. "You're all done up,--and +half-frozen, I guess." + +"Whiskey?" he exclaimed. "There ain't no sitch animal," he lamented +dolefully. + +"Miss Jennie's got some cooking brandy stuck away in the cellar," +whispered Margaret. "We use it at Christmas time,--for the plum +pudding, you know. I guess it's the same thing as whiskey, ain't +it?" + +"Well, hardly. Still, I think I could do with a nip of it, Maggie." + +"I'll see what I can do," said Margaret, and departed. + +She did not return, for the very good reason that Miss Jennie +apprehended her in the act of pouring something from a dark brown +bottle into a brand new fruit jar. + +"What are you doing there, Maggie?" demanded Miss Dowd from the +foot of the cellar stairs. + +Miss Slattery's back was toward her at the time. She was startled +into hunching it slightly, as if expecting the lash of a whip,--an +attitude of rigidity maintained during the brief period in which +her heart suspended action altogether. + +"I'm--I'm getting some vinegar for Mr. Thane to gargle with, Miss +Jennie," she mumbled. "He's--he's got a sore throat." + +"Let me smell that stuff, Maggie," said Miss Jennie sternly. One +sniff was sufficient. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Margaret +Slattery, leading a young man into temptation like this. You may +be starting him on the road to perdition. It is just such things +as this that--" + +"Oh, gosh!" exclaimed Margaret, recovering herself. "Don't you go +thinking he's as good as all that. From what he was telling me at +breakfast the other day, he used to make the round trip to purgatory +every night or so,--only he said it was paradise. Keep your old +brandy. He wouldn't like it anyway. Not him! He says he's swallered +enough champagne to float the whole American Navy." + +"The very idea!" exclaimed Miss Jennie. "Go to your room, Maggie. +It's bad enough for you to be stealing but when you make it worse +by lying, I--" + +"I'm quitting you in the morning," said Margaret, her Irish up. + +"It won't be the first time," said Miss Jennie, imperturbably. + +Courtney sat for a long time before the booming little stove. He +forgot Margaret Slattery and her mission. + +"I guess it took her off her feet," he reflected aloud. "That's +the way with some of them. They get panicky. Go all to pieces when +they find out what it really means to let go of themselves. God! +She's wonderful!" He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes; +a smile settled on his lips. For a long time he sat there, fondling +the memory of that blissful moment. A slight frown made its appearance +after a while. He opened his eyes. His thoughts had veered. "What +rotten luck! If it could only have been Alix instead of that--" +He arose abruptly and began pacing the floor. After a long time he +sighed resignedly. "I mustn't forget to telephone her tomorrow." +Then he began to undress for bed. + +He looked at his knee. There was a deep, irregular scar on the +outside of the leg, while on the inside a knuckle-like protuberance +of considerable size provided ample evidence of a badly shattered +joint, long since healed. Along the thigh there was another wicked +looking scar, with several smaller streaks and blemishes of a less +pronounced character. He placed some hot compresses on the joint, +gave it a vigorous massage, and, before getting into bed, worked +it up and down for several minutes. + +"Clumsy ass!" he muttered. "Next time you'll watch your step. Don't +go jumping over fences in the dark. Gad, for a couple of minutes +I thought I'd put it on the blink for keeps." + +The next morning, up in the woods above Alix's house, the crude +black mask was found, and some distance farther on an old grey cap, +from which the lining and sweatband had been ripped. The search +for the man, however, was fruitless. Constable Foss visited the +camp of a gang of Italian railroad labourers near Hawkins and was +reported to be bringing several indignant "dagoes" over to Windomville +to see if Courtney or the two ladies could identify them. He was +very careful to choose men with thick black moustaches. + +Bright and early, Courtney repaired to the house on the hill. +His progress was slow. Aside from the effort it cost him to walk, +he was delayed all along the route by anxious, perturbed citizens +who either complimented him on his bravery or advised him to "look +out for that cut" on his cheek, or he'd have "a tough time if +blood-poisoning set in." + +Mrs. Strong admitted him. + +"Well, when will she be able to see me?" he demanded on being +informed that Alix was in no condition to see any one. + +"I can't say," said Mrs. Strong shortly. + +"Have you had the doctor in to see her?" + +"No." + +"Well, that's rather strange, isn't it?" + +"Not at all, Mr. Thane. She isn't ill. She has had a shock,--same +as I have had,--and she'll get over it in good time." + +"You seem to have survived the shock remarkably well, Mrs. Strong," +he said with unmistakable irony. + +"How is the scratch on your face?" she asked, ignoring the remark. + +"Amounts to nothing," he replied, almost gruffly. "I'll write a +little note to Alix, if you'll be so good as to take it up to her." + +"Very well. I'll see that she gets it. Will you write it here?" + +"If you don't mind. I'll wait in case she wants to send down an +answer." + +"I'll get you some paper and pen and ink," said she. + +"Some paper, that's all. I have a fountain pen." + +He dashed off a few lines, folded the sheet of note paper and +handed it to Mrs. Strong. He had written nothing he was unwilling +for her to read. In fact, he expected her to read it as soon as +she was safely out of his sight. + +"She thinks she may feel up to seeing you tomorrow--or next day," +reported the housekeeper on her return from Alix's room. + +His rankling brain seized upon the words--" tomorrow--next day." He +had used them himself only the night before. "Tomorrow,--or next +day!" He frowned. Hang it all, was she putting him off? He experienced +a slight chill. + +"I will run in again in the morning," he said, managing to produce +a sympathetic smile. "And I'll telephone this evening to see how +she is." + +All the way down the walk to the gate, he kept repeating the words +"tomorrow,--or next day." In some inexplicable way they had fastened +themselves upon him. At the gate he turned and looked up at Alix's +bedroom windows. The lace curtains hung straight and immovable. It +pleased him to think that she was peering out at him from behind +one of those screens of lace, soft-eyed and longingly. Moved by a +sudden impulse, he waved his hand and smiled. + +His guess was right. She WAS looking down through the narrow slit +between the curtains. Her eyes were dark and brooding and slightly +contracted by the perplexity that filled them. She started back in +confusion, her hand going swiftly to her breast. Was it possible +that he could see through the curtains? A warm flush mantled her +face. She felt it steal down over her body. Incontinently she fled +from the window and hopped back into the warm bed she had left on +hearing the front door close. + +"How silly!" she cried irritably. She sat bolt upright and looked +at her reflection in the mirror of her dressing-table across the +room. Her night-dress had slipped down from one shapely shoulder; +her dark, glossy hair hung in two long braids down her back; her +warm, red lips were parted in a shy, embarrassed smile. + +"I wonder--But of course he couldn't. Unless,--" and here the +smile faded away,--"unless he possesses some strange power to see +through walls and--Sometimes I feel that he has that power. If he +could not see me, why did he wave his hand at me?" + +There came a knock at her door. She was seized by a sudden panic. +For a moment she was unable to speak. + +"Alix! Are you awake?" + +It was Mrs. Strong's voice. A vast wave of relief swept through +her. + +"Goodness!" she gasped, and then: "Come in, Aunt Nancy?" + +"Courtney Thane has just been here," said the housekeeper as she +approached the bed. + +"Has he?" inquired Alix innocently. + +"He left a note for you." + +"Read it to me," said the girl. + +"'Dearest: I am grieved beyond words to hear that you are so awfully +done up. I am not surprised. It was enough to bowl anybody over. +I did not sleep a wink last night, thinking about it. I have +been living in a daze ever since. I cannot begin to tell you how +disappointed I am in not being able to see you this morning. Perhaps +by tonight you will feel like letting me come. Ever yours, Courtney.'" + +"Well?" said Mrs. Strong, sitting down on the edge of the bed. + +A fine line appeared between Alix's eyes. She was deep in thought. + +"Have they caught the man?" she asked, after a moment. + +"Not that I know of. What's more, they'll never catch him. Bill +Foss sent word up he was bringing several Italians here to see if +we could identify one of them as the man." + +"How can we be expected to identify a man whose face was covered +by a mask?" + +"Well, Bill is doing his best," replied Mrs. Strong patiently. +"We've got to say that much for him. Charlie Webster was here early +this morning to say that the police up in town have been notified, +and they're sending a detective out. But he won't be any better +than Bill Foss, so it's a waste of time. What we ought to have is +a Pinkerton man from Chicago." + +Despite the calm, deliberate manner in which she spoke, there was +an odd, eager light in Mrs. Strong's eyes. + +"I wish you would go down to the warehouse, Aunt Nancy, and ask +Charlie to take the car and go up to the city. Tell him to call +up the Pinkerton offices in Chicago and ask them to send the best +man they have. No one must know about it, however. Impress that +very firmly upon Charlie. Not even the police--or Bill Foss. Have +him arrange to meet the man in town and give him directions and +all the information possible. Please do it at once,--and tell Ed +to have the car ready." + +"That's the way I like to hear you talk," cried Mrs. Strong. + +Half an hour later, Charlie Webster was on his way to the city. He +had an additional commission to perform. Mrs. Strong was sending +a telegram to her son David. + +II + +The next day a well-dressed, breezy-looking young man walked into +Charlie's office and exclaimed: + +"Hello, Uncle Charlie!" + +"Good Lord!" gasped Charlie Webster. "It can't be--why, by gosh, if +it ain't Harry! Holy smoke!" He jumped up and grasped the stranger's +hand. Pumping it vigorously, he cried: "I'd know that Conkling nose +if I saw it in Ethiopia. God bless my soul, you're--you're a MAN! +It beats all how you kids grow up. How's your mother? And what in +thunder are you doing here?" + +"I guess I've changed a lot, Uncle Charlie," said the young man, +"but you ain't? You look just the same as you did fifteen years +ago." + +"How old are you? My gosh, I can't believe my eyes." + +"I was twenty-four last birthday. You--" + +"If ever a feller grew up to look like his father, you have, Harry. +You're the living image of George Conkling,--and you don't look +any more like your mother than you look like me." + +"Well, you and Mother look a lot alike, Uncle Charlie. She's thinner +than you are but--" + +"Well, I should hope so," exploded Charlie. "Take a chair, Harry,--and +tell us all about yourself. Wait a minute. Sam, shake hands with +my nephew, Harry Conkling,--Mr. Slutterback, Mr. Conkling. Harry +lives up in Laporte. His mother--" + +"Guess again, Uncle Charlie. No more Laporte for me. I've been +living in Chicago ever since I got married. Working for--" + +"Married? You married? A kid like you? Well, I'll--be--darned!" + +"Sure. And I'm not Harry, Uncle Charlie. I'm Wilbur. Harry's two +years older than I am. He's married and got a kid three years old. +Lives in Gary." + +"You don't mean to say you're little Wilbur? Little freckle-faced +Wilbur with the pipe-stem legs?" + +Mr. Webster's nephew took a chair near the stove, unbuttoned his +overcoat, and held his hands to the fire. He was a tall, rather +awkward young man, with large ears, a turned-up nose and a prominent +"Adam's Apple." + +"I'm working for one of the biggest oil companies in the world. +We've got six hundred thousand acres of the finest oil-producing +territory in the United States, and we control most of the big +concessions in Honduras, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and--thirty million +dollar concern, that's all it is. Oh, you needn't look worried. +I'm not going to try to sell you any stock, Uncle Charlie. That +is, not unless you've got fifty thousand to invest. I'll tell you +what I'm here for. My company wants to interest Miss Crown in--" + +"Hold on a minute, Wilbur," interrupted Charlie firmly. "You might +just as well hop on a train and go back to Chicago. If you're +expecting me to help you unload a lot of bum oil stock on Miss +Alix Crown you're barking up the wrong tree,--I don't give a cuss +if you are my own sister's son. Miss Crown is my--" + +The young man held up his hand, and favoured his uncle with a +tolerant smile. + +"I'm not asking your help, old chap. I've got a letter to her from +Mr. Addison Blythe, one of our biggest stockholders. All I'm asking +you to do is to put me up at your house for a day or two while I +lay the whole matter before Miss Crown." + +"I haven't got any house," said Charlie, rather helplessly. "Wait +a second! Let me think. How long do you expect to be here, Wilbur?" + +"I wouldn't be here more than half an hour if I could get Miss +Crown to say she'd take--" + +"Well, she's sick and can't see anybody for a couple of +days,--'specially book agents or oil promoters. I was just thinking +I might fix something up for you over at the Tavern where I'm +staying. It won't cost you a cent, my boy. I'd be a darned cheap +sort of an uncle if I couldn't entertain my nephew when he comes to +our town,--out of a clear sky, you might say. I'll be mighty glad +to have you, Wilbur, but you've got to understand I won't have Miss +Crown bothered while she's sick." + +"Permit me to remind you, Uncle Charlie, that I am a gentleman. +I don't go butting in where I'm not wanted. My instructions from +the General Manager are very explicit. I am to see Miss Crown when +convenient, and give her all the dope on our gigantic enterprise,--that's +all." + +"By the way,--er,--is that your automobile out there?" + +"It's one I hired in the city." + +"You--er--didn't happen to bring your wife with you, did you? +Because it would be darned awkward if you did. She'd have to sleep +with Angie Miller or Flora--" + +"She's not with me, Uncle Charlie,--so don't worry. Of course, +if it isn't convenient for you to have me for a day or two, I can +motor in and out from the city. Money's no object, you know. I've +got a roll of expense money here that would choke a hippopotamus." + +"Come on over to the Tavern, Wilbur. We'll see Miss Molly Dowd and +fix things up. Sam, if anybody asks for me, just say I'll be back +in fifteen minutes." + +And that is how "Mortie" Gilfillan, one of the ablest operatives +in the Pinkerton service, made his entry into the village of +Windomville. Inasmuch as he comes to act in a strictly confidential +capacity, we will leave him to his own devices, content with the +simple statement that he remained two full days at Dowd's Tavern +as the guest of his "Uncle Charlie"; that he succeeded in obtaining +an interview with the rich Miss Crown, that he "talked" oil to +everybody with whom he came in contact, including Courtney Thane; +that he declined to consider the appeals of at least a score of +citizens to be "let in on the ground floor" owing to the company's +irrevocable decision to sell only in blocks of ten thousand shares +at five dollars per share; that he said good-bye to Mr. Webster at +the end of his second day and departed--not for Chicago but, very +cleverly disguised, to accept a job as an ordinary labourer with +Jim Bagley, manager of the Crown farms. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +MR. GILFILLAN IS PUZZLED + + +Three days passed. The village had recovered from its excitement. +The Weekly Sun appeared with a long and harrowing account of +the "vile attempt to rifle the home of our esteemed and patriotic +citizeness," and sang the praises of Courtney Thane, whose +"well-known valour, acquired by heroic services during the Great +War," prevented what might have been "a most lamentable tragedy." + +Those three days were singularly unprofitable to the "hero." He +was unable to see Alix crown. He made daily visits to her home but +always with the same result. Miss Crown was in no condition to see +any one. + +"But she saw this fellow Conkling," he expostulated on the third +day. "He sold her a lot of phony oil stock. If she could see him, +I--" + +"He came all the way from Chicago to see her,--with a letter from +Mr. Blythe," explained Mrs. Strong. "She had to see him. I guess +you can wait, can't you, Mr. Thane?" + +"Certainly. That isn't the point. If I had seen her in time I should +have warned her against buying that stock. She's been let in for +a whale of a loss, that's all I can say,--and it's too late to do +anything about it. Good Lord, if ever a woman needed a man around +the house, she does. She--" + +"I will tell her what you say," said Mrs. Strong calmly. + +"Don't you do anything of the kind," he exclaimed hastily. "I was +speaking to you as a friend, Mrs. Strong. She means a great deal +to both of us. You understand how it stands with Alix and me, don't +you? I--I would cheerfully lay down my life for her. More than +that, I cannot say or do." + +"She will be up by tomorrow," said Mrs. Strong, impressed in spite +of herself by this simple, direct appeal. (All that day she caught +herself wondering if he had cast his spell over her!) + +"Please give her my love,--and say that I am thinking about her +every second of the day," said he gravely, and went away. + +Alix had received another letter from Addison Blythe. Enclosed with +it was a communication from an official formerly connected with +the American Ambulance. It was brief and to the point: + +Courtney Thane volunteered for service in the American Ambulance +in Paris in November, 1915. He was accepted and ordered to appear +at the hospital at Neuilly-sur-Seine for instructions. His conduct +was such that he was dismissed from the service before the expiration +of a week, his uniform taken away from him, and a request made to +the French Military authorities to see that he was ordered to leave +the country at once. Our records show that he left hurriedly for +Spain. He was a bad influence to our boys in Paris, and there was +but one course left open to us. We have no account of his subsequent +movements. With his dismissal from the service, he ceased to be an +object of concern to us. + +Alix did not destroy this letter. She locked it away in a drawer +of her desk. She had made up her mind to confront Thane with this +official communication. It was an ordeal she dreaded. Her true +reason for refusing to see him was clear to her if to no one else: +she hated the thought of hurting him! Moreover, she was strangely +oppressed by the fear that she would falter at the crucial moment +and that her half-guarded defences would go down before the assault. +She knew his strength far better than she knew his weakness. She +had had an illuminating example of his power. Was she any stronger +now than on that never-to-be-forgotten night?...She put off the +evil hour. + +And on the same third day of renunciation, she had a letter from +David Strong. She wept a little over it, and driven finally by a +restlessness such as she had never known before, feverishly dressed +herself, and set forth late in the afternoon for a long walk in +the open air. She took to the leaf-strewn woodland roads, and there +was a definite goal in mind. + +II + +Courtney remembered Rosabel Vick. + +"I guess I'd better call her up," he said to himself. "I ought +to have done it several days ago. Beastly rotten of me to have +neglected it. She's probably been sitting over there waiting ever +since--Gad, she may; have some good news. Maybe she is mistaken." + +He went over to the telephone exchange and called up the Vick house. +Rosabel answered. + +"That you, Rosie?...Well, I couldn't. I've been laid up, completely +out of commission ever since I saw you....What?...I--I didn't +get that, Rosie. Speak louder,--closer to the telephone." + +Very distinctly now came the words, almost in a wail: + +"Oh, Courtney, why--why do you lie to me?" + +"Lie to you? My dear girl, do you know what you are--" + +A low moan, and a harsh, choking sob smote his ear, and then the +click of the receiver on the hook. + +"Well, I'll be hanged!" he muttered angrily. "That's the last time +I'll call you up, take it from me." + +And it was the last time he ever called her up. + +Then he, too, ravaged by uneasy thoughts, struck off into the +country lanes, the better to commune with himself. In due course, +he came to the gate leading up to the top of Quill's Window. Here +he lagged. His gaze went across the strip of pasture-land to the +deserted house above the main-travelled road. He started. His gaze +grew more intense. A lone figure traversed the highway. It turned +in at the gate, and, as he watched, strode swiftly up the path to +the front door....He saw her bend over, evidently to insert a +key in the lock. Then the door opened and closed behind her. + +III + +Every word of David's letter was impressed on Alix's brain. Over and +over again she repeated to herself certain passages as she strode +rapidly through the winding lanes. She spoke them tenderly, +wonderingly, and her eyes were shining. + +DEAREST ALIX: + +I have always loved you. I want you to know it. There has never been +an hour in all these years that I have not thought of you, that your +dear face has not been before me. In France, here, everywhere,--always +I am looking into your eyes, always I am hearing your voice, always +I am feeling the gentle touch of your hand. Now you know. I could +not have told you before. I am the blacksmith's son. God knows I +am not ashamed of that. But I cannot forget, nor can you, that a +blacksmith's son lies buried at the top of that grim old hill, and +that he was not good enough for the daughter of a Windom. I hear +that you have given your heart to some one else. You will marry +him. But to the end of your days,--and I hope they may be many,--I +want you to know that there is one man who will love you with all +his heart and all his soul to the end of HIS days. I hope you will +be happy. It is my greatest, my only wish. Once upon a time, we +stole away, you and I, to write romances of love and adventure. Even +then, you were my heroine. I was putting you into my poor story, +but you were putting your dreams into yours, and I was not your +dream hero. Then we would read to each, other what we had written. +Do you remember how guardedly we read and how stealthy we were so +as not to arouse suspicion or attract attention to our lair? I +shall never forget those happy hours. Every line I wrote and read +to you, Alix dear, was of you and FOR you. You were my heroine. +My hero, feeble creature, told you how much I loved you, and you +never suspected. + +I am telling you all this now, when my hope is dead, so that you +may know that my love for you began when you were little more than a +baby, and has endured to this day and will endure forever. I pray +God you may always be happy. And now, in closing, I can only add +the trite sentence,--which I recall reading in more than one novel +and which I was imitative enough to put into my own unfinished +masterpiece: If ever you are in trouble and despair and need me, I +will come to you from the ends of the earth. I mean it, Alix. With +all the best wishes in the world, I am and will remain + +Yours devotedly, + +DAVID. + +P.S.--I have just looked up from this letter to catch sight of +myself in a mirror across the office. I have to smile. That beastly +but honourable glass reveals the true secret of my failure to +captivate you. How could any self-respecting heroine fall in love +with a chap with a nose like mine, and a mouth that was intended +for old Goliath himself, and cheek bones that were handed down +by Tecumseh, and eyes that squint a little--but I daresay that's +because they are somewhat blurred at this particular instant. I am +reminded of the "Yank" who had his nose shot off at Chateau Thierry. +He said that now that the Germans didn't have anything visible to +train their artillery on, the war would soon be over. He had lost +his nose but not his sense of the ridiculous. I have managed to +retain both. + +Up in that bare, dust-laden room, with the two candles burning +at her elbows, sat Alix. There were tears in her eyes, a wistful +little smile on her lips. She was reading again the clumsy lines +David had written in those long-ago days of adolescence. Now they +meant something to her. They were stilted, commonplace expressions; +she would have laughed at them had they been written by any one else, +and she still would have been vastly amused, even now, were it not +for the revelations contained in his letter. And the postscript,--how +like him to have added that whimsical twist! He wanted her to smile, +even though his heart was hurt. + +Ten years! Ten years ago they had sat opposite each other at this +dusty table, their heads bent to the task, their brows furrowed, +their hands reaching out to the same bottle of ink, their souls +athrill with romance. And she was writing of a handsome, incredibly +valiant hero, whilst he--he was writing of her! Time and again his +hand, in seeking the ink, had touched the hand of his heroine,--she +remembered once jabbing her pen into his less nimble finger as she +went impatiently to the fount of romance, and he had exclaimed with +a grimace: "Gee, you must have struck a snag, Alix!" She recalled +the words as of yesterday, almost as of this very moment, and her +arrogant rejoinder, "Well, why can't you keep your hand out of the +way?" + +She was always hurting him, and he was always patient. She was +always sorry, and he was always forgiving. She was superior in her +weakness, he was gentle in his strength. + +And his heroine? She read through the mist that filled her eyes +and saw herself. The lofty heroine wooed by the poor and humble +musician who crept up from unutterable depths to worship unseen +at her feet! "The Phantom Singer!" The lover she could not see +because her starry eyes were fixed upon the peak! And yet he stood +beneath her casement window and sang her to sleep, lulled her into +sweet dreams,--and went his lonely way in the chill of the morning +hours, only to return again at nightfall. + +She looked up from the sheet she held. She stared, not into space, +but at the face of David Strong, sitting opposite,--the phantom +singer. It was as plain to her as if he were actually there. She +looked into his deep grey eyes, honest and true and smiling. + +What was it he said in his letter? About his nose and mouth and +eyes? They were before her now. That keen, boyish face with its +coat of tan,--its broad, whimsical mouth and the white, even teeth +that once on a dare had cracked a walnut for her; its rugged jaw +and the long, straight nose; its wide forehead and the straight +eyebrows; and the thick hair as black as the raven's wing, rumpled +by fingers that strove desperately to encourage a recalcitrant +brain; and those big, bony hands, so large that her little brown +paws were lost in them; and the broad shoulders hunched over the +table, supported by widespread elbows that encroached upon her +allotted space so often that she had to remind him: "I do wish you'd +watch what you're doing," and he would get up and meekly recover +the scattered sheets of paper from the floor. Ugly? David ugly? +Why, he was BEAUTIFUL! + +Suddenly her head dropped upon her arms, now resting on David's +manuscript; she sobbed. + +"Oh, Davy,--Davy, I wish you were here! I wish you were here now!" + +The creaking of the stairs startled her. She half arose and stared +at the open door, expecting to see--the ghost! Goose-flesh crept +out all over her. The ghost that people said came to-- + +The very corporeal presence of Courtney Thane appeared in the +doorway. + +For many seconds she was stupefied. She could see his lips moving, +she knew he was speaking, she could see his smile as he approached, +and yet only an unintelligible mumble came to her ears. + +"--and so I cut across the field and ventured in where angels do +not fear to tread," were the first words that possessed any degree +of coherency for her. + +She hastily thrust the precious manuscript into the drawer. He +stopped several feet away and looked about the room curiously, his +gaze coming back to her after a moment. The light of the candles +was full on her face. + +"Well, of all the queer places," he said. "What in the world brings +you here? I thought no one ever entered this house, Alix." + +"I have not been inside this house in ten years," she said, struggling +for control of herself. "I came today to--to look for some papers +that were left here. I was on the point of leaving when you came +up." She picked up her gloves from the table. + +"It's cold here. Do you think it was wise for you to sit here in +this chilly--Gad, it's like an ice-house or a tomb. Better let me +give you my coat." He started to remove his overcoat. There was an +anxious, solicitous expression in his eyes. + +"No,--no, thank you. I am quite warm,--and I shall be as warm +as toast after I've walked a little way. I must be going now, Mr. +Thane." She took a few steps toward the door. + +"Are you going away without blowing the candles out?" he inquired. + +She halted. She felt herself trapped. She did not want to be alone +in the dark with him. + +"If you will go ahead while there is light, I will follow--" The +solution came suddenly. "How stupid! There is nothing to prevent +us carrying the candles downstairs with us, is there? Will you take +one, please?" + +She returned to the table and took up one of the candlesticks. + +"I've been terribly worried about you, Alix," he said, without +moving. "How wonderful it is to see you again,--to see what is +really you and not the girl I've seen in dreams for the past few +endless nights. You in the flesh, you with your beautiful eyes, you +whose lips--oh, God, I--I have been nearly mad, Alix. A thousand +times I have felt you in my arms,--you've never been out of them +in my thoughts. I--" + +"Please--please!" she cried, shrinking back and putting her hands +to her temples. + +Still he did not move. There was a gentleness in his voice, a +softness that disarmed her. It was not the voice of a conqueror, +rather it was that of a suppliant. + +"I am not worthy to touch the hem of your garment," he went on, an +expression of pain leaping swiftly to his eyes. "I am most unworthy. +My life has not been perfect. I have done many things that I am +ashamed of, things I would give my soul to recall. But my love for +you, Alix Crown, is perfect. All the good that God ever put into +me is in this feeling I have for you. You are the very soul of me. +If you tell me to go away, I will go. That is how I love you. You +DO believe I love you with all my heart and soul, don't you, Alix? +You DO believe that I would die for you?" + +Now she was looking into his eyes across the candle flames. David's +features had vanished. She saw nothing save the white, drawn face +of the man whose voice, sweet with passion, fell upon her ears +like the murmur of far-off music. She felt the warm thrill of blood +rushing back into her icy veins, surging up to her throat, to her +trembling lips, to her eyes. + +"I--I don't know what to think--I don't know what to believe," she +heard herself saying. + +He came a step or two nearer. Her eyes never left his. She tried +to look away. + +"I want you to me mine forever, Alix. I want you to be my wife. I +want you to be with me to the end of my life. I cannot live without +you. Do not send me away now. It is too late." + +Her knees gave way. She sank slowly to the bench,--and still she +looked into his gleaming eyes. + +He came to her. She was in his arms. His face was close to hers, +his breath was on her cheek.... + +"No! No!" she almost shrieked, and wrenched herself free. "Not now! +Not here! Give me time--give me time to think!" + +She had sprung to her feet and was glaring at him with the eyes of +an animal at bay. He fell back in astonishment. + +"You--you had no right to follow me here," she was crying. "You had +no right! This place is sacred. It is sanctuary." Her voice broke. +"My mother was born in this room. She died in this room. And I was +born here. Go! Please go!" + +He controlled himself. He held back those words that were on his +tongue, ready to be flung out at her: "Yes, and in this room you +behaved like hell with David Strong!" But he checked them in time. +He lowered his head. + +"Forgive me, Alix," he said abjectly. "I--I did not know. I was +wrong to follow you here. I could not help myself. I was mad to +see you. Nothing could have stopped me." He looked up, struck by a +sudden thought. "You call this sanctuary. It is a sacred place to +you. Will you make it sacred to me? Promise here and now, in this +sanctuary of yours, to be my wife, and all my life it shall be the +most sacred spot on earth." + +She turned her head quickly to look at David Strong. A startled, +incredulous expression leaped into her eyes. He was not there. +By what magic had he vanished? She had felt his presence. He was +sitting there a moment ago, his tousled head bent down over the pad +of paper,--she was sure of it! Then she realized. A wave of relief +surged over her. He was not there to hear this man making love +to her in the room where he had poured out his soul to her. She +experienced a curious thrill of exultation. David could never take +back those unspoken words of love. She had them safely stored away +in that blessed drawer! + +A flush of shame leaped to her cheeks. She could not banish the +notion that he,--honest, devoted David,--had seen her in this man's +arms, clinging to him, giving back his passionate kisses with all +the horrid rapture of a--She stiffened. Her head went up. She faced +the man who had robbed David. + +"I cannot marry you," she said quietly. The spell was gone. She +was herself again. "I do not love you." + +He stared, speechless, uncomprehending. + +"You--you do not love me?" he gasped. + +"I do not love you," she repeated deliberately. + +"But, good God, you--you couldn't have kissed me as you--" + +"Please!" + +"--as you did just now," he went on, honestly bewildered. "You put +your arms around my neck,--you kissed me--" + +"Stop! Yes, I know I did,--I know I did. But it was not love,--it +was not love! I don't know what it was. You have some dreadful, +appalling power to--Oh, you need not look at me like that! I don't +care THAT for your scorn. Call me a fool, if you like,--call me +ANYTHING you like. It is all one to me now. What's done, is done. +But it can never happen again. I will not even say that I am ashamed, +for in saying so I would be confessing that I was responsible for +my actions. I was not responsible. That is all, Mr. Thane. No +doubt you are sincere in asking me to be your wife. No doubt your +love for me is sincere. I should like to think so--always. It would +help me to forget my own weakness. I am going. I want you to leave +this house before I go, Mr. Thane." + +She spoke calmly, evenly, with the utmost self-possession. + +"I can't let you go like this, Alix! I can't take this as final. +You--you MUST care for me. How can I think otherwise? In God's +name, what has happened to turn you against me? You owe me more of +an explanation than--" + +"You are right," she interrupted. "I do owe you an explanation. +This is not the time or the place to give it. If you will come to +see me tomorrow, I will tell you everything. It is only fair that +you should know. But not now." + +"Has some one been lying about me?" he demanded, his eyes narrowing. + +She waited an instant before replying. + +"No, Mr. Thane," she said; "no one has been lying about you." + +He took up his hat from the table. + +"I will come tomorrow," he said. At the door he paused to say: +"But I am not going to give you up, Alix. You mean too much to me. +I think I understand. You are frightened. I--I should not have come +here." + +"Yes, I WAS frightened," she cried out shrilly. "I was frightened,--but +I am not afraid now." + +She had moved to Thane's side of the table, and there she stood +until she heard his footsteps on the little porch outside. + +She was in an exalted frame of mind as she hurried from the house. +The short October day had turned to night. For a moment she paused, +peering ahead. A queer little thrill of alarm ran through her. She +had never been afraid of the dark before. But now she shivered. +A great uneasiness assailed her. She listened intently. Far up +the hard gravel road she heard the sound of footsteps, gradually +diminishing. He was far ahead of her and walking rapidly. + +At the gate she stopped again. Then she struck out resolutely for +home,--the Phantom Singer was beside her. She was not afraid. + +A farm-hand, leaning on the fence at the lower corner of the yard, +scratched his head in perplexity. + +"Well, here's a new angle to the case," he mused sourly. "I'm up a +tree for sure. Why the devil should Miss Crown be meeting him out +there in this old deserted house. My word, it begins to look a +trifle spicy. It also begins to look like a case that ought to be +dropped before it gets too hot. I guess it's up to me to see my +dear old Uncle Charlie What's-His-Name." + +Whereupon Mr. Gilfillan set off in the wake of the girl who had +employed him to catch the masked invader. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +BRINGING UP THE PAST + + +Charlie Webster wore a troubled expression when he appeared for dinner +that same evening. He was late. If such a thing were believable, +his kindly blue eyes glittered malevolently as they rested upon +the face of Courtney Thane, who had taken his place at table a few +minutes earlier. The fat little man was strangely preoccupied. He +was even gruff in his response to Mr. Pollock's bland inquiry as +to the state of his health. + +"How's your liver, Charlie?" inquired the genial editor. This amiable +question was habitual with Mr. Pollock. He varied it a little when +the object of his polite concern happened to be of the opposite +sex; then he gallantly substituted the word "appetite." It was never +necessary to reply to Mr. Pollock's question. In fact, he always +seemed a little surprised when any one did reply, quite as if he had +missed a portion of the conversation and was trying in a bewildered +sort of way to get the hang of it again. + +"Same as it was yesterday," said Charlie. "I don't want any soup, +Maggie. Yes, I know it's bean soup, but I don't want it, just the +same." + +"Going on a hunger strike, Charlie?" inquired Doc Simpson. + +"Sh! He's reducing," scolded Flora Grady. + +"What's on your mind, Charlie?" asked Courtney. + +Charlie swallowed hard. He made a determined effort and succeeded +in recovering some of his old-time sprightliness. + +"Nothing, now that I've got my hat off." + +"Have you heard the latest news, Charlie?" inquired Mrs. Pollock, +a thrill of excitement in her voice. + +He started, and looked up quickly. "There's been so blamed much +news lately," he muttered, "I can't keep track of it." + +"Well, this is the greatest piece of news we've had in ages," said +the poetess. "Wedding bells are to ring in our midst. Somebody you +know very well is going to be married." + +Mr. Webster's heart went to his boots. He stared open-mouthed at +the speaker. + +"Oh, my Lord!" he almost groaned. "Don't tell me she has promised +to marry--" He broke off to glare venomously at Thane. + +"Don't blame me for it, Charlie," exclaimed the latter. "I am as +innocent as an unborn babe. Charge it to woman's wiles." He laughed +boisterously, unnaturally. + +Mr. Pollock spoke. "The next issue of the Sun will contain +the formal announcement of the engagement of the most popular and +beloved young lady in Windomville. No doubt it will be old news by +that time,--next Thursday,--but publication in the press gives it +the importance of officialty." + +"We may congratulate ourselves, however, that we are not to lose +her," said Mrs. Pollock. "She is to remain in--" + +"Whe-when is it to take place?" groaned Charlie, moisture starting +out on his brow. + +"That," began Mr. Pollock, "is a matter which cannot be definitely +announced at present, owing to certain family--er--ah--conditions. +In addition to this, I may say that there is also the children to +consider, as well as the township trustee and, to an extent, the +taxpayer. The--" + +"All I've got to say," grated Charlie, "is that the police ought +to be consulted, first of all." + +"The police!" exclaimed Angie Miller. + +"The--the what?" gasped Furman Hatch, lifting his head suddenly. +He was very red in the face. "I'd like to know what the devil the +police have to do with it?" + +Charlie took a look at Angie Miller's face, and then the truth +dawned upon him. He sank back in his chair so suddenly that the +legs gave forth an ominous crack. + +"Don't do that!" cried Margaret Slattery sharply. "You know them +chairs are not made of iron. And I don't want you flopping all over +me when I'm passing the stew--" + +"Yes, sir!" boomed Charlie, who had collected his wits by this time, +and was pointing his finger accusingly at Mr. Hatch. "The police +have simply got to be called. It's going to take half the force, +including Bill Foss, to keep me from drinking the heart's blood of +my hated rival. Ladies and gents, that infernal, low-down villain +over there has come between me and--But nobody shall say that +Charles Darwin Webster is a poor loser! Say what you please about +him, but do not say he is a short sport. It breaks my heart to do +it, but I'm coming around there to shake hands with you, old Tintype. +I'm going to congratulate you, but I'm never going to get through +hating you." + +He arose and bolted around the table. Mr. Hatch got to his feet +and the long and the short man clasped hands. + +"Put her there, old boy! I've already made up my mind what my wedding +present is going to be. The day before the wedding I'm coming in +and order a dozen photographs of myself,--pay for 'em in advance. +And I'm going to give every darned one of 'em to the bride, so's she +can stick 'em up all over the house just to make you feel at home, +you blamed old bachelor. And as for you, Miss Angelina Miller, the +very topmost height of my ambition will be reached in less than two +minutes after the ceremony. Because, then and there, I'm going to +kiss you. Bless you, my children. As old Rip Van Winkle used to +say, 'may you live long and brosper.'" + +Having delivered himself of this felicitous speech, the somewhat +relieved Mr. Webster wiped his brow. + +"What did he say?" quaked old Mrs. Nichols, putting her hand to +her ear. + +"Says he hoped they'd be happy," bawled old Mr. Nichols, close to +her ear. + +"Pass the bread, Doc," said Mr. Hatch, getting pinker and pinker. + +"When's it to take place, Angle?" inquired Charlie, resuming his +seat. He cast a sharp look at Courtney. The young man shifted his +gaze immediately. + +"As I explained to Mr. Pollock, everything depends on my aunt," +said Angie composedly. "She is very old,--eighty-three, in fact." + +"You don't mean to say your aunt objects to your marrying old +Tintype," exclaimed Charlie. + +"Not at all," replied Angie, somewhat tartly. + +"You see, it's this way," volunteered Mr. Pollock. "Miss Angie is +the sole support of a venerable and venerated aunt who lives in +Frankfort. That is a thing to be considered. Her duty to her father's +sister--" + +Courtney interrupted, chuckling. "It's too much to ask of any +woman. I suppose it must take nearly all you earn, Miss Miller, +to support your aged relative, so naturally you do not feel like +taking on Mr. Hatch immediately." + +There was a moment's silence around the table. + +"I see by the Chicago Tribune," said Mr. Pollock, after a hurried +gulp of coffee, "that there's likely to be a strike of the street-car +men up there." + +"You don't say so," said Doc Simpson, looking so concerned that +one might have been led to suspect that he was dismayed over the +prospect of getting to his office the next day. + +"What's the world coming to?" sighed Maude Baggs Pollock nervously. +"Strikes, strikes everywhere. Murder, bloodshed, robbery, revolution--" + +"Next thing we know," put in Charlie Webster, without looking up +from his plate, "God will strike, and when He does there'll be hell +to pay, begging your pardon, ladies, for using a word that sounds +worse than it tastes." + +"I use it every day of my life," said Miss Flora Grady. "It's a +grand word, Charlie," she added, a little defiantly. + +"Times have changed," remarked Mr. Pollock blandly. "It wasn't so +very long ago that women Said 'pshaw' when they wanted to let off +steam. Then they got to saying 'shucks,' and from that they progressed +to 'darn,' and now they say 'damn' without a quiver. Only yesterday +I heard my wife say something that sounded suspiciously like 'dammit +to hell' when she upset a bottle of ink on her desk. She hasn't +stubbed her toe against a rocking-chair lately, thank goodness." + +Doc Simpson stopped Courtney as he was starting upstairs after +dinner. The dentist was unsmiling. + +"Say, Court, I'm running a little close this week. Been so much +excitement a lot of patients have forgotten all about their teeth. +Can you let me have that ten you borrowed last week?" + +"Sure," said Courtney, in his most affable manner. "I'll hand it +to you tomorrow. I'll give it to you now if you'll wait till I run +upstairs and get it out of my trunk. That's my bank, you know." + +"Tomorrow'll do all right," said Doc, a trifle abashed. + +"Can I see you a second, Mr. Thane?" called Miss Grady, when he +was halfway up the stairs. + +He stopped and smiled down at her. "I hope you'll forgive me if +I don't come down, Miss Flora. My knee is still on the blink. It +hurts worse to go downstairs, than it does up." + +"I'll come up," said Miss Grady promptly. "You remember those roses +I ordered for you last week? Well, I had to pay cash for them, +including parcel post. You owe me seven dollars and thirteen cents." + +"I'm glad you spoke of it. I hadn't forgotten it, of course, but--I +simply neglected to square it up with you. Have you change for a +twenty, Miss Flora?" + +"Not with me." + +"I'll hand it to you tomorrow. Seven-thirteen, you say? Shall +we make it seven-fifteen?" He favoured her with his most engaging +smile, and Miss Grady, who thought she had steeled her heart +against his blandishments, suffered a momentary relapse and said, +"No hurry. I just thought I'd remind you." + +He failed completely, however, to affect the susceptibilities of +Miss Mary Dowd, who presently rapped at his door, and rapped again +when he called out "Come in." He opened the door. + +"Pardon me, Mr. Thane, for coming up to speak to you about your +bill. Will it be convenient for you to let me have the money this +evening?" + +She did not soften the dun by offering the usual excuse about +"expenses being a little heavier this month than we expected," or +that she "hated to ask him for the amount." + +"Is it three or four weeks, Miss Molly?" he inquired, taking out +an envelope and a pencil. + +"Four weeks today." + +"Sixty dollars." He jotted it down. "I cannot let this opportunity +pass to tell you how thoroughly satisfied I have been with everything +here, Miss Molly. The table is really extraordinarily good. I don't +see how you can do it for fifteen dollars a week, including room." +He replaced the envelope in his pocket, and smiled politely, his +hand going to the door knob. + +"We couldn't do it, Mr. Thane, unless we stuck pretty closely to +our rule,--that is, of asking our patrons to pay promptly at the +end of every week." + +"It's really the only way," he agreed. + +"So if you will be kind enough to let me have the amount now, I +will be very much obliged to you." + +He stepped to the head of the stairs, ostensibly to be nearer a +light, and took out his purse. While counting out the bills, he cast +frequent glances down into the lower hall. The buzz of conversation +came up from the "lounge." + +"I think you will find the proper amount here, Miss Molly," he +said, after restoring the purse to his pocket. + +She took the bank-notes and counted them. + +"Quite correct, Mr. Thane. Thank you. By the way, I have been +meaning to ask how much longer you contemplate remaining with us. +Pastor Mavity has been inquiring for room and board for his sister, +who is coming on from Indianapolis to spend several months in +Windomville. If by any chance you are thinking of vacating your +room within the next few days, I would be obliged if you would let +me know as soon as possible in order that I may give Mr. Mavity an +answer." + +"I think I shall be leaving shortly, Miss Dowd. I can let you know +in a day or two," said he stiffly. "I am afraid your winters are +too severe for me. Good night,--and thank you for being so patient, +Miss Dowd." + +Meanwhile, Miss Angie Miller had taken Charlie Webster off to a +corner of the "lounge" remote from the fireplace. She was visibly +excited. + +"I had a letter in this afternoon's mail from my uncle, Charlie," +she announced in subdued tones. "My goodness, you'll simply pass +away when you read it." + +"Where is it?" demanded Charlie eagerly. + +"I haven't even shown it to Furman," said she, looking over her +shoulder. "I've been wondering whether I ought to let him read it +first." + +"Not at all," said he promptly. "It's none of his business. This +is between you and me, Angie. Let's have a look at it." + +"I don't think you'd better read it here," she whispered nervously. +"It--it is very private and confidential." + +"That's all right," said Charlie. "I'll sneak upstairs with it, +Angie." + +"Well, act as if you are looking out of the window," she said, and +when his back was turned she produced the letter from its hiding +place inside her blouse. + +II + +Charlie retired to his room a few minutes later. There he perused +the following letter, written on the stationery of Beck, Blossom, +Fredericks & Smith, Attorneys-at-law, New York City: + +MY DEAR NIECE: + +Pardon my delay in replying to your letter of recent date. I have +been very busy in court and have not been in a position to devote +even a little of my time to your inquiry. Your second letter reached +me yesterday, and I now make amends for my previous delinquency by +answering it with a promptness most uncommon in lawyers. + +The firm of which I am a member appeared in 1912 for the plaintiff +in the case of Ritter vs. Thane. Our client was a young woman +residing in Brooklyn. The defendant was Courtney Thane, the son +of Howard Thane, and no doubt the young man to whom you refer. In +any case, he was the grandson of Silas Thane, who lived in your part +of the State of Indiana. We were demanding one hundred thousand +dollars for our client. Miss Ritter was a trained nurse. Young +Thane had been severely injured in an automobile accident. If YOUR +Courtney Thane is the same as MINE, he will be walking with a slight +limp. His left leg was badly crushed in the accident to which I +refer. For several months he was unable to walk. Upon his removal +from St. Luke's Hospital to his father's home in Park Avenue, a +fortnight after the accident, our client was employed as a nurse on +the case. This was early in the spring of 1912. In June the Thane +family went to the Berkshires, where they had rented a house for +the summer. Our client accompanied them. Prior to their departure, +Thane, senior, had settled out of court with the occupants of the +automobile with which his son's car had collided in upper Broadway. +His son was alone in his car when the accident occurred, but there +were a number of witnesses ready to testify that he was driving at +a high rate of speed, regardless of traffic or crossings. If my memory +serves me correctly, his father paid something like twenty-five +thousand dollars to the three persons injured. That, however, +is neither here nor there, except to illustrate the young man's +disregard for the law. + +Miss Ritter had been on the case a very short time before he began +to make ardent love to her. She was an extremely pretty girl, two +years his senior, and, I am convinced, a most worthy and exemplary +young woman. She became infatuated with the young man. He asked +her to marry him. (Permit me to digress for a moment in order to +state that while Courtney Thane was in his freshman year at college +his father was obliged to pay out quite a large sum of money to a +chorus-girl with whom, it appears, he had become involved.) To make +a long story short, our client, trusting implicitly to his honour +and submitting to the ardour of their joint passion, anticipated +the marriage ceremony with serious results to herself. When she +discovered that he had no intention of marrying her, she attempted +suicide. Her mother, on learning the truth, went to Thane's parents +and pleaded for the righting of the wrong. Howard Thane had, by this +time, lost all patience with his son. He refused to have anything +to do with the matter. The young man's mother ordered Miss Ritter's +mother out of the apartment and threatened to have her arrested for +blackmail. Shortly after this episode, we were consulted by Mrs. +Ritter, much against the wishes of her daughter, who shrank from +the notoriety and the disgrace of a lawsuit. The elder Thane was +adamant in his decision that his son should marry the girl, who, +he was fair enough to admit, was a young woman of very superior +character and who, he was convinced, had been basely deceived. The +mother, on the other hand, was relentlessly opposed to the sacrifice +of her son. We took the matter to court. On the morning of the +first day of the trial, before the opening of court, the defendant's +counsel came to us with a proposition. They offered to settle out +of court for twenty-five thousand dollars. In the end, we accepted +fifty thousand, and the case was dismissed. Afterwards counsel +for the other side informed us that the elder Thane turned his son +out of his home and refused to have anything more to do with him. +I understand the young man went to Europe, where he subsisted on +an allowance provided by his mother. Thane, senior, died shortly +after this. Our client, I am pained to say, died with her babe in +childbirth. + +You may be interested to know, my dear niece, that Mrs. Thane +married soon after her husband's death. Her second husband was +a young French nobleman, many years her junior. He was killed in +the war, I think at Verdun. I understand she is now living in this +city. Her present name escapes me, but I know that her widowhood +has been made endurable by a legacy which happens to be one in name +only. In other words, he left her the title of Countess. + +If I can be of any further service to you, my dear niece, pray do +not hesitate to call upon me. Believe me to be...etc., etc. + +Within ten minutes after the perusal of this very convincing +indictment, Charlie Webster was on his way to Alix's home. He was +quite out of breath when he presented himself at the front door, +and his first words to Alix were: + +"While I'm getting my breath, Alix, you might prepare yourself for +a shock." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ROSABEL VICK + + +Early the next morning, the telephone in township assessor Jordan's +house rang. Annie Jordan was "setting" the breakfast table. She +waited for the call to be repeated; she was not sure whether the +bell had rung thrice or four times. Their call was "Party J, ring +four." Four sharp rings came promptly. She looked at the kitchen +clock. It lacked five minutes of seven. + +"Gee," she grumbled, "I didn't know anybody had to get up as early +as I do." Taking down the receiver she uttered a sweet "hello," +because, as she said, "You never know who's at the other end, and +it's just as likely to be HIM as not." + +"Is that you, Annie? This is Mrs. Vick. May I speak to Rosabel?" + +"Why, Rosabel isn't here, Mrs. Vick." + +"What?" + +"Rosabel isn't here." + +There was a short silence. Then: "Are you joking with me, Annie? +If she isn't up yet, please tell her to--" + +"Honest to goodness, Mrs. Vick, she's not here. I haven't seen her +since day before yesterday." + +"She said she was going over to spend the night with you. She left +home about four yesterday. Oh, my goodness, I--I--is there any one +else she might have,--I'm sure she said you, though, Annie. Can +you think of any one else? She took her nightdress--and things." + +"She always comes here, Mrs. Vick," said Annie, and felt a little +chill creeping over her. "Still she may have gone to Mrs. Urline's. +She and Hattie are good friends. Shall I call up and ask? I'll ring +you up in a couple of minutes." + +That was the beginning. Within the hour the whole of Windomville +was talking about the strange disappearance of the pretty daughter +of Amos Vick, across the river. Old Jim House, the handy-man at +Dowd's Tavern, inserted his shaggy head through the dining-room +door and informed the editor of the Sun in a far from ceremonious +manner that he had an "item" for the paper. + +"I'll be out as soon as I've finished breakfast," said Mr. Pollock. + +"Well, you can't say I didn't tell ye," said Jim, and withdrew his +head. "No wonder there ain't ever anything worth readin' in that +pickerune paper of his, Maggie," he growled to Margaret Slattery. +"If ever I DO subscribe for a paper, it's goin' to be one that's +got some git up and go about it. Some Injinapolis er Cincinnaty +paper, b'gosh. There's Link Pollock settin' in there eatin' pancakes +while a girl is bein' missed from one end of the township to the +other. Bill Foss has--" + +"What girl?" demanded Margaret. + +"That girl of Amos Vick's. They ain't seen hide er hair of her +sence yesterday afternoon. Amos is over to the drug store, nearly +crazy with suspicion. I got it all figgered out. One of two things +has happened. She's either run off to get married er else she's +been waylaid and--er--execrated by some tramp. Like as not the +very feller that peeped in at Alix Crown's winder the other night. +'Twouldn't surprise me a particle if she was found some'eres er +other with her head beat in or somethin'! And Link Pollock jest +sits in there stuffin' pan--" + +Margaret Slattery having disappeared abruptly into the dining-room, +Jim grunted and edged over to the kitchen range, where Miss Jennie +Dowd was busily engaged. + +"I ain't got nothin' personal ag'in Link Pollock, Jennie," he said, +sniffing the browning batter with pleasurable longing, "but if you +was to ask me I'd say his wife is twice the man he is, and a little +over. The minute that woman is a widder I'm goin' to subscribe for +the paper, 'cause I know she'll--What say, Jennie?" + +"Bring me another scuttle of coal,--and, for goodness' sake, don't +smoke that pipe in my kitchen." + +"What's the matter with this here pipe?" demanded Mr. House in some +surprise. + +"Never mind. I'm busy." + +"Yes,--cookin' pancakes for that--all right, ALL RIGHT, I'll get +your coal fer ye. I ought to be out helpin' Amos Vick to investigate +fer his daughter, that's where I ought to be. First thing you know, +he'll be offerin' twenty-five er fifty dollars fer her and--say, +it seems to me you ought to be more interested in that pore lost +girl than makin' pancakes fer Link Pollock." He prepared to sit +down. "There's a lot of people in this here town payin' him two +dollars a year fer to git the news, and all he does is to--All +right, I wasn't goin' to set down anyways. I was jest movin' this +cheer out o' the way a little, so's Maggie--Yes, and with coal as +high as it is now and a lot of pore people starvin' and freezin' +to death, it exaggerates me considerable to see you wastin'--Well, +is he still eatin', Maggie?" + +"He's beat it upstairs to change his carpet slippers," announced +Margaret Slattery excitedly. "You needn't make any more, Miss +Jennie. They're all beatin' it,--all except Mr. Thane, and he says +he don't want any more. He says he ain't feelin' well and thinks +he'll go up to his room and lay down for a while." + +"Well, seein's you don't need that coal, Jennie, I guess I'll mosey +along and see if I c'n be any help to Amos. This jest goes to show +what an ijit I'd ha' been to let my pipe go out." + +Courtney Thane hung over the little stove in his room, shivering +as with a chill. About ten o'clock some one knocked at his door. +He started up from the chair, his gaze fixed on the door. With an +effort he pulled himself together and inquired who was there. + +"Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. Thane?" asked Miss Molly +Dowd, outside. + +"Nothing, thank you." After a moment's indecision, he crossed over +and opened the door. "It's awfully good of you, Miss Molly. There's +nothing really the matter with me. I was awake most of the night +with a pain in my back,--something like lumbago, I suppose. I was +afraid at first it was my old pleurisy coming back for another +visit, but it seems to be lower down. I feel much better, thank +you. The fresh air will do me good. I think I'll go out and see +if I can be of any assistance to poor Vick. Have they had any news +of Rosabel?" + +"I think not. They have telephoned to the city to ask the police +to watch out for her, especially at the trains. She's been terribly +depressed, they say, since her brother went to the Navy training +school up near Chicago. Amos thinks she may have taken it into her +head to go up there somewhere to be near him." + +"It is possible. She was devoted to her brother. I hope nothing +worse has happened to her. She is a sweet, lovable girl, and they +worshipped her." + +Later on, as he was standing in front of the postoffice, smoking +a cigarette, Vick came up in Alix Crown's automobile. + +The former had been to the city to consult with the police. He +inquired anxiously if any word had been received from the men who +had volunteered to search in the woods and along the river bank +for the girl. Receiving a reply in the negative from several of +the hangers-on, he turned to give an order to the chauffeur. As he +did so, his gaze fell upon Courtney, who was on the outer edge of +the little group surrounding the car. + +After a moment of indecision, the young man pushed his way forward, +an expression of deep concern in his eyes. + +"Morning, Courtney," greeted the older man, extending his hand. +"I'm glad to see you. I suppose you've heard about Rosabel?" + +Thane shook hands with Rosabel's father. + +"I wouldn't be worried if I were you, Mr. Vick. She'll turn up all +right. I feel sure of it. If there is anything in the world I can +do, I wish you would say so, Mr. Vick. Anything, sir. There is +nothing I wouldn't do for you and Mrs. Vick and Rosabel. I adore +that child. Why, I get positively sick all over when I let myself +think that--but, it's impossible! I feel it in my bones she'll come +home sometime today." + +Vick pressed the young man's hand. + +"I wish I could be sure of that,--God, I wish I could be sure," +he said, with a little catch in his gruff voice. "I don't see what +got into her to run away like this. She ain't been very chipper +since Cale went away, you know. Sort of sick and down in the mouth. +Her mother's heard her crying a good bit lately up in her room. I +promised her only a couple of days ago to take her up to Chicago +for a spell, so's she could see Cale every once in a while. So it +can't be she's gone off on her own hook to see him, knowin' that +either me or her mother was planning to go up with her next week. +Thank you, Courtney, for offering to help us. If there's anything, +I'll let you know. We've been telegraphin' and telephonin' everywhere +to see if we can get track of her, and we've been to all her friends' +homes to ask if they've seen her. I wish, if you feel like it, you'd +go over and see Mrs. Vick. Maybe you can cheer her up, encourage +her or something. She's terribly worried. I--I think it would break +her heart if anything happened to--to--" His lips twisted as with +pain. He bent over and picked a burr from his trousers' leg. + +"Buck up, old fellow," said Courtney, a ringing note of confidence +in his voice. He laid his hand on Vick's arm. "Tell me all about +it. When did she leave the house, and where did she say she was +going?" + +"Yesterday afternoon. She said she was going to spend the night at +the Jordans'. She kissed her mother good-bye,--just as she always +does,--and we ain't seen or heard anything of her since. Nobody in +Windomville saw her. Bill Foss is afraid she may have been waylaid +by hoboes down along the river road. If--if THAT happened there'll +be something worse than lynchin' if I ever lay hands on--" + +Thane broke in with an oath. + +"By God, I'll do the job for you if I get hold of him first, Vick. +I could set fire to a devil like that and see him burned alive +without moving a muscle." + +"I can't let myself believe she's met with any such horrible fate +as that, Courtney. I simply can't bear to think of my pretty little +Rosie in the hands of--" + +"Don't think about it, Vick. I believe she will turn up safe and +sound and--By the way, has it occurred to you that she may have +eloped? Was she in love with anybody? Was she interested in any +young fellow that you didn't approve of?" + +"She never spoke of being in love with anybody. She never even gave +us an inklin' of such a thing. She would have told her mother. Why, +good heavens, Courtney, she wasn't much more'n a little girl! She +was eighteen her last birthday, and we never thought of her as +anything but a child just out of short dresses. Did she ever speak +to you about being gone on any of these young fellows that come +to see her? She liked you tremendous, Courtney,--and I didn't know +but what maybe she might have mentioned something to you about it +when you were off on those long walks together. Some of the times +when you used to take a lunch basket and go off--" + +"Not a word," broke in Courtney. "Why, she was just like a kid, +laughing and singing and begging me to tell her stories about the +war, and life in New York, and all that sort of thing. She used to +read to me, bless her heart,--read by the hour while I smoked,--or +went to sleep. If she was in love with anybody she certainly never +took me into her confidence." + +"I--I guess there's nothing in that theory," said Amos Vick, +shaking his head. "She didn't run away with anybody. That's out of +the question. I'm working on the theory that she sort of went out +of her head or something and wandered away. You read about cases +like that in the papers. I forget what they call the disease, but +there's--" + +"Aphasia," supplied Courtney absently. His gaze was fixed on a +graceful, familiar figure down the street. + +Alix Crown had just dismounted from her horse in front of the +library. She stood, straight and slim, on the sidewalk awaiting +the approach of Editor Pollock, who was hurrying up from Assessor +Jordan's house where he had been "interviewing" Annie. + +A warm glow shot through Courtney's veins. He had held that +adorable, boyish figure tight in his arms! Nothing could rob him +of that rapturous thought,--nothing could deprive him of those +victorious moments. Amos Vick's voice recalled him. + +"I'll have to be on the move, Courtney. Here comes Bill Foss. He's +been telephonin' to Litchtown, down the river. I do wish you'd go +over and see Lucinda. She'll be mighty grateful to you." + +"Don't fail to call on me, Mr. Vick, if there's anything I can do," +called out Courtney after the moving machine. + +He did not take his eyes from Alix until she disappeared through +the library door. The horse, a very fine animal, was wet with sweat. +He could see, even at that distance, the "lather" on her flanks. + +"Any news?" he inquired of Pollock, as that worthy came up panting. + +"Nope. Alix Crown is just back from Jim Bagley's. Some one said +a hired man of his had seen a woman walking across the pasture +yesterday just before dark--out near the old Windom place,--but it +couldn't have been Rosie Vick because she had no way to get across +the river except by the ferry, and she didn't come that way, Joe +Burk swears. Alix saw this hired man and he says it was almost dark +and he couldn't be sure whether it was a man or a woman." + +A greyish pallor spread over Courtney's face. He turned away +abruptly and hurried down the street. He remembered the "skiff" +that belonged to young Cale, salvaged some years before on the +abatement of a February flood. On more than one occasion he had +taken Rosabel out on the river in this clumsy old boat, twice at +least to the base of Quill's Window where she had refused to land +because of the dread she had for the gruesome place. + +Cale kept his boat down among the willows, chained to a pole he had +driven deep in the bed of the river. It was one of his treasures. +He had fished from it up and down the stream; he had gone forth in +it at daybreak for wild ducks and geese. + +Yes, Thane remembered the "skiff." Strange that no one else had +thought of it. Strange that even Amos Vick was satisfied she could +not have crossed the river except by the ferry. He wondered whether +it was tied up in its accustomed place over yonder, or was it now +on this side of the river? He felt a strange chill in his blood. + +He was nearing the library when Alix came out. If she saw him she +gave no sign. She crossed the sidewalk threw the bridle rein over +the horse's neck, and swung herself gracefully into the saddle. +Without so much as a glance over her shoulder, she rode off at a +brisk canter in the direction of the ferry. He knew she was on her +way to see Mrs. Vick. + +The R. F. D. postman making his rounds, came to Amos Vick's shortly +after noon that day. He volunteered a bit of information. Rosabel +had given him a letter when he stopped the day before. It was +addressed to Caleb Vick. She asked him how long he thought it would +take the letter to reach its destination. When he told her that +it might be delivered to Cale early the next day, she thanked him +and returned to the house. + +He thought at the time that she looked "kind of white around the +gills." + +II + +Jim Bagley and his new "hired man," pursuing a suggestion made +by the latter, went to the top of Quill's Window for a bird's-eye +view of the river and the surrounding country. The sharp eyes of +the Pinkerton man descried the rowboat under the willows along the +opposite bank of the stream. + +Half an hour later, Bagley and several companions came upon the +boat. On one of the seats lay Rosabel Vick's heavy coat and the +black fur collar she was known to have worn when she left home. +Under the seat in the stern was a small paper bundle. It contained +a nightgown, a pair of black stockings, and several toilet articles. + +Across the river, several hundred yards above Quill's Window, a small +gravelly "sand-bar" reached out into the stream. Here the practised +eyes of Gilfillan found unmistakable indications of a recent landing. +The prow of the boat, driven well out upon the bar, had left its +mark. Also, there were two deep cuts in the sand where an oar had +been used in pushing off. It was impossible to make out footprints +in the loose, shifting gravel. + +Mr. Gilfillan pondered deeply. + +"That boat crossed over here yesterday," he reflected. "It's pretty +clear that it belongs over on that side. If the Vick girl came over +in it, there's no use looking for her on this side of the river. +That boat couldn't have got back to the other side unless somebody +rowed it over. If it was a woman I saw walking across the pasture +in the direction of the river, it must have been this girl. Now--one +of two things happened--in case it was the Vick girl. Either she +was up near that old house before I got there, or she saw me when +she was approaching, and turned back. In either case, she had an +object in hanging around that house. Now we come to the object. +Was she going there to meet some one? If so, it would naturally be +a man. + +"Now let's get this thing straight. Thane crossed the pasture from +this direction. That's positive,--because I followed him. It is a +dead certainty he did not meet the Vick girl. I would have witnessed +any such meeting. The fact that he lived at her father's house for +several weeks may have something to do with the case,--but that's +guesswork. What we want is facts. This much is certain. I did not +see Miss Crown go into that house,--but I did see her come out. +I never was so paralysed in my life. It is clear, therefore, that +she was in there before either I or Thane came upon the scene. Now +the question is, was she there to meet Thane? I doubt it. Things +begin to look a little clearer to me. Suppose, for instance, he +went out to that big hill to meet some one else,--presumably the +Vick girl, and that they had planned to go to that old deserted +house. He was late. So, thinking she had gone on, he hustled across +the field and received the surprise of his life. Now, we'll say +the Vick girl was over there waiting for him when Miss Crown came +to the house,--a thing they couldn't have foreseen in view of +the fact that she shunned the place. Our hero comes up and enters +the house as if he owned it. The other girl hangs around outside +till it gets dark enough for her to risk making a getaway without +attracting my attention,--in case she saw me. She beats it back to +the river, and then, being afraid that I saw and recognized her, she +concludes to beat it to somebody's house over in the next county, +so's she'll have an alibi if I go to Miss Crown with the story. +Now, that's one way to look at it. The other angle is that she was +jealous and trailed Thane to his rendezvous, as my old friend Nick +Carter would say. In that case,--By thunder!" He gave vent to a +soft whistle. + +"In that case, she may have jumped into the river and--No, that +doesn't hang together. She wouldn't have gone to the trouble to row +back to the other side. Wait a second! Now, let me think. Here's +an idea. We'll suppose somebody waylaid her over there on the other +side of the river, put the quietus on her and chucked her into +the water. Then he rowed across here and started for the turnpike. +Seeing me and also Thane, he turns back. It's a man I see in the +darkness instead of a woman. He goes back to the boat, rows over +to the other side again and--Holy Mackerel! Here's a new one. That +girl's body may be lying up there in the underbrush at this instant. +Dumped there by the murderer, who turned back after seeing me--I'll +take a look!" + +For an hour Gilfillan searched through the underbrush along the +bank. Finally he gave it up and started toward the village. He found +the town in a state of great excitement. Everybody was hurrying +down to the river. Overtaking an old man, he inquired if there was +any news of the missing girl. + +"They say she's been drownded," chattered the ancient. "My daughter +says they found her things in a boat, but no sign of her. Did you +ever see the beat? They's been more goin' on in this here town in +the last week than--" + +Gilfillan hurried on. He caught Charlie Webster as he was leaving +the warehouse. + +"I want to see Miss Crown as soon as possible, Webster," he said. +"Do you suppose she will go up in the air if I mention the fact +that I know she was with Thane yesterday up in that old house? It's +a rather ticklish thing to spring on her if she--" + +"It's all right," interrupted Charlie. "I talked with her about +it last night. She had no idea he was coming there. He told her he +saw her from across the pasture and hustled over. She was surprised +almost out of her skin when he popped in on her. She tells me she +ordered him out of the house." + +The detective was thoughtful. "I wonder if it has occurred to Miss +Crown that Thane might have mistaken her for some one else at that +distance." + +"Not so's you'd notice it," declared Charlie. "He knew it was Alix +all right. She isn't in any doubt on that score." + +"It begins to take shape," mused Gilfillan. "He didn't wait for +her, that's all." + +"What say?" + +"I was just thinking," replied the other. "Where is Thane at the +present moment, Webster?" + +"He just went off in an automobile with Dick Hurdle and a couple +of fellows to stretch one of Joe Hart's big fish nets across the +river down at the Narrows, five or six miles below here." + +"Would you mind inviting me up to your room at the Tavern for a +little while, Webster?" + +"Well, I was going down to the ferry. There are half a dozen skiffs +down--" + +"See here, Webster, as I understand it, my real job is to find out +all I can about this chap Thane. I am really working for you, not +for Miss Crown, although she is putting up the money. I am just +as thoroughly convinced as you are that Thane staged that masked +robber business himself. It's an old gag, especially with lovers--and +occasionally with husbands." + +Charlie grinned sheepishly, a guilty flush staining his rubicund +face. + +"I guess I might as well confess that I was guilty of something of +the sort when I was about seventeen," he said. "That's how I came +to figger out that maybe he was up to the same kind of heroism." + +"Nearly every kid has done the same thing. It's boy nature." + +"I reckon that's right. I fixed it for a boy friend of mine to +jump out of a dark place one night when I was walkin' home from a +church sociable with my girl. He had false whiskers on. I helped +him glue them on,--and he had an awful time getting 'em off. Course +when he jumped out and growled 'hands up,' I just sailed into him +and the fur flew for a few seconds. Then he run like a whitehead. +It didn't work out very well, however. That kid's sister got onto +the trick and told my girl about it, and--well, I almost had to +leave town. But it ain't a game for a grown-up man to play, and +that's what I think this feller Thane has been pulling." + +"What you want to find out, before it's too late, is whether Thane +is all that he professes to be," said the other. "Well, I'm simply +sitting tight on the job, stalling along until I hear from our +people in New York. They have cabled England to find out whether +he was connected with the British air forces. Now, what I want to +do is to get into that fellow's room for ten or fifteen minutes. +Can you fix it?" + +"It--it wouldn't be legal," protested Charlie. "You've got to get +out a search warrant." + +"My dear fellow, I'm not planning to steal anything," exclaimed +Gilfillan. "I merely want to get into his room by mistake. That +happens frequently,--you know." + +Charlie was finally persuaded. He cast an apprehensive glance +down the road leading to the ferry, searched the Main Street for +observers, and then led the way over to the practically deserted +Tavern. + +Half an hour later Mr. Gilfillan re-entered Charlie's room. + +"Remember I don't know where you've been or what you were up to," +warned the fat man firmly. "I'm not a party to this nefarious--" + +"Righto!" said the detective cheerily. "Your skirts are clear. They +are immaculate. Let's beat it." + +"Well, what did you find out?" inquired Charlie, when they were in +the street once more. He was bursting with curiosity. + +"In as much as you don't know where I was or what I've been doing, +it will not compromise you if I say that I found a thirty-eight +calibre revolver with three empty shells in the cylinder. I also +found a theatrical make-up box, with grease paints, gauze, and +all that. Also currency amounting to about three hundred dollars. +Nothing incriminating, nothing actually crooked. Simply circumstantial +as relating to recent events in your midst, Mr. Webster." + +"Makes it look mighty certain that he was the feller with the mask, +don't it? Only three shots were fired, you know. I've been thinking +a lot about what you said awhile ago. You don't think that he had +anything to do with--with putting the Vick girl out of the way? +You spoke about him being mistaken in the woman." + +"He had nothing to do with it, Webster. I told you I saw a figure +in the pasture after he had gone into the house. If it was the Vick +girl, she was certainly alive then. He went straight home after +leaving that house. He didn't go out of the Tavern again last +night, that's positive. Now, what I want to find out is this: was +the girl in love with him? Was there anything between them? If +she's at the bottom of the river down there, it's a plain case of +suicide, my friend, and people do not take their own lives unless +there's a mighty good reason. With a young girl it's usually a +case of unrequited love,--or worse. According to that letter Miss +Miller had from New York, Thane is not above betraying a girl. Of +course, if the Vick girl is dead and left nothing behind to implicate +Thane, it will be out of the question to charge him with being even +indirectly responsible for her death." + +"The main thing," said Charlie, who had turned a shade paler during +this matter-of-fact, cold-blooded analysis, "is to keep Alix Crown +from falling into his clutches. He's a bad egg, that feller is, +and he's made up his mind to win her by fair means or foul." + +"Well, if she falls for him after reading that lawyer's letter and +when she hears what I believe to be the truth about that heroic +episode the other night,--why, she ought to get what's coming to +her, that's all I have to say," said Mr. Gilfillan flatly. "I've +discovered one thing, Mr. Webster. If a woman makes up her mind +to marry a man, hell-fire and brimstone can't stop her. The older +I get and the more I see of women, the more I am convinced that +vice is its own reward. I guess we'd better stroll down to the +river and see what's doing." + +"I've been thinking," said Charlie as they walked along, "that if +Thane wasn't in the British Army and wasn't in our army, then he +must be a slacker and wanted by the government for--" + +"Nothing doing on that line. You forget he was crippled long before +the war. He couldn't get by a medical board. They'd turn him down +in a second. If he was in this country at the time of the draft, +he would have had no trouble getting an exemption. What I can't +understand is why he, a New Yorker, should be hiding out here in the +jungles of Indiana. There's something queer about that, my friend." + +"Kind of fishy," said Charlie darkly. Then upon reflection, he +added with considerable vehemence: "Damn him!" + +Already half a dozen rowboats were out in the stream, with men +peering over the sides into the deep, slow-moving water. Burk's +Ferry did a thriving business. It plied back and forth from one +"road-cut" to the other, crowded with foot passengers, all of whom +studied the water intently. Men, women and children tramped close +to the edge of both banks. People spoke in subdued voices; an +atmosphere of the deepest solemnity hung over the scene. + +The sky itself was overcast; a raw wind moaned through the trees, +sighing a requiem. The drab, silent river went placidly, mockingly +on its way down to the sea, telling no tales: if Rosabel Vick was +rolling, gliding along the bottom, gently urged by the current, +the grim waters covered well the secret. + +The word went from lip to lip that motor-boats were on the way +down from the city, with police officers and grappling-hooks and +men experienced in the gruesome business of "dragging." The boss +of the railway construction gang at Hawkins, where the new bridge +was being built, had started for Windomville with a quantity of +dynamite to be exploded on the bottom of the river in the hope and +expectation of bringing the body to the surface. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +OUT OF THE NIGHT + + +All afternoon the search continued. At intervals and at widely +separated points dull explosions took place on the bed of the river, +creating smooth, round hillocks that lasted for the fraction of a +second and then dissolved into swift-spreading wavelets, stained +a dirty yellow by the upheaval of sand and mud, and went racing in +ruffles to the banks which they tenderly licked before they died. +White-bellied fish, killed by the shock of the explosions, came +to the surface and floated away,--scores of them, large and small. +Spider-like grappling hooks, with their curving iron prongs, raked +the bottom from side to side, moving constantly downstream, feeling +here, there and everywhere with insensate fingers for the body of +Rosabel Vick. + +A pall settled over the river; it reached far beyond the environs +of Windomville, for Amos Vick was a man known and respected by +every farmer in the district. + +Night came. Courtney Thane, considerably shaken by the tragedy, +set out immediately after dinner for the home of Alix Crown. He +had been silent and depressed at dinner, taking his little part in +the conversation, which dealt exclusively with the incomprehensible +act of young Rosabel Vick. + +"What possible reason could that pretty happy young girl have had +for killing herself?" That was the question every one asked and +no one answered. Mrs. Maude Baggs Pollock repeatedly asked it at +dinner, and once Thane had replied: + +"I still don't believe she killed herself. It is beyond belief. +If she is out there in the river, as they suspect, it is because +there was foul play. Some fiend attacked her. I will never believe +anything else, Mrs. Pollock. I knew her too well. She would never +dream of killing herself. She loved life too well. I can't help +feeling that she is alive and well somewhere, that they will hear +from her in a day or two, and that--" + +"But how about the things they found in that boat?" demanded Doc +Simpson. "She wouldn't be so heartless as to play a trick like that +on her folks." + +Courtney's answer was a gloomy shake of the head. + +His heart was pounding heavily as he trudged up the walk to +Alix's door. He knew that the crisis in his affairs was at hand. +She had asked him to come. He had not given up hope. He was still +confident of his power to win in spite of her amazing perversity. +Inconsistency, he called it. Of one thing he was resolved: he would +brook no delay. She would have to marry him at once. He wanted to +get away from Windomville as soon as possible. He loathed the place. + +Hilda came to the door. + +"Miss Crown is over at Mr. Vick's," she announced. "She's not at +home." + +He stiffened. "I had an appointment with her for this evening, +Hilda. She must be at home." + +"She ain't," said the maid succinctly. + +"Did she leave any word for me?" + +"Not with me, sir. She telephoned to Mrs. Strong this evening to +say she was going to stay with Mrs. Vick." + +"All night?" + +"No, sir. The car's going down to meet her at the ferry about ten +o'clock." + +He departed in a very unpleasant frame of mind. This was laying it +on a bit thick, he complained. If she thought she could treat him +in this cavalier fashion she'd soon find out where she "got off." +What business had she, anyhow, over at the Vicks? All the old women +in the neighbourhood would be there to--An idea struck him suddenly. + +"I'll do it," he muttered. "I'll have to go over some time, so why +not now? It's the decent thing to do. I'll go tonight." + +He hurried up to his room. Opening his trunk, he took out his +revolver, replaced the discharged shells and stuck it into his +overcoat pocket. Picking up the little package of bank-notes, he +fingered them for a moment and then, moved by an impulse for which +he had no explanation, he not only counted them but quickly stuffed +them into his trousers' pocket. Afterwards he was convinced that +premonition was responsible for this incomprehensible act. + +He crossed the ferry with several other people. The moon had broken +through the clouds. Its light upon the cold, sluggish water produced +the effect of polished steel. It reminded him of the grey surface +of an ancient suit of armour. The crossing was slow. He could not +repress a shudder when he looked downstream and saw lights that +seemed to be fixed in the centre of the river. He closed his eyes. +He could not bear to look at the cold, silent water. The soft +splashing against the broad, square bow of the old-fashioned ferry +served to increase his nervousness. The horrid fancy struck him +that Rosabel Vick was out there ahead clawing at the slimy timbers +in the vain effort to draw herself out of the water....He wished +to God he had not come. + +He was the first person off the ferry when it came to a stop on +the farther side of the river. Ahead of him lay the road through +the narrow belt of trees that lined the bank. He knew that a scant +hundred yards lay between the river and the open road beyond and +yet a vast dread possessed him. He shrank from that black opening +in the wall of trees where dead leaves rustled and the wind whispered +secrets to the barren branches. + +He fell in behind a couple of men who strode fearlessly into the +dark avenue. After him came two men and a woman. They were all +strangers to him, so far as he could make out, but he felt a sense +of security in their nearness. He gathered that they were bound for +Amos Vick's. Presently they came to the open road beyond the trees. +The half moon rode high and clear; the figures of his companions took +shape, dusky and ghost-like; the fences alongside the road became +visible, while straw-ricks, lone trees and other shadowy objects +emerged from the maw of the night. Here and there in the distance +points of light indicated the presence of invisible farmhouses, +while straight ahead, a mile or more away, a cluster of lights +marked the house of Amos Vick. + +As he drew nearer, Thane was able to count the lights. He looked +intently for the sixth window, an upstairs corner room was where +it would be,--but there were lights in only five. The corner window +was dark. He knew that window well....He wished he had a stiff +drink of whiskey. + +Half a dozen automobiles stood at the roadside in front of the +house. He stopped beside one of them to look at his wrist-watch. +It was half-past eight. Alix would be starting home in less than +an hour. No doubt it had been arranged that one of these cars was +to take her down to the ferry. He had seen her saddle horse late +that afternoon standing in front of the blacksmith's shop, evidently +waiting to be re-shod. + +If he had his way,--and he was determined to have it,--Alix would +walk with him to the ferry. + +As he turned in at the gate he observed that the woman and her +two companions, after pausing for a moment to look at the house, +continued their way up the road. The men who had preceded him all +the way were already on the front porch. He followed the disappearing +trio with his eyes. The woman, he noticed for the first time, was +very tall,--quite as tall as the men. She wore a shawl over her +head, and some sort of a long cloak. + +Setting his jaw he strode up the walk, looking neither to right nor +left, mounted the steps where many a night he had sat with Rosabel +beside him, and after passing a group of low-voiced neighbours, +knocked on the closed door. He was admitted by an elderly woman +who looked askance at this well-dressed stranger. + +"I am Mr. Thane, a friend," he said. "Will you tell Mrs. Vick, +please?" + +"She's upstairs, and I--I--" + +"I think she is expecting me. But,--wait. I thought I might be able +to comfort her, but I can see by your expression that she isn't +feeling up to seeing people. I came over primarily to see if there +is anything I can do, Madam. You see, Rosabel and I were great +pals." His voice broke a little, and he bit his nether lip. + +"We've finally got her to lie down," said the woman. "She's--she's +nearly crazy with the suspense and--everything. If you'll wait a +little bit, I'll find out if she feels like seeing you. Alix Crown +is with her. She coaxed her to stretch out on the bed. Miss Crown +understands these things. She did some hospital work during the +war--" + +"Yes, I know Miss Crown," he interrupted. + +"--and saw a lot of suffering, 'specially among mothers who came +to see their crippled and sick sons in the hospitals." + +"Perhaps if you were to tell Miss Crown that I am here she could--but +no, I sha'n't even bother Miss Crown. She's got her hands full. I +will sit down and wait awhile, however. If by any chance, you should +be able to get word to Mrs. Vick that I am here, I think she might +feel like seeing me." + +"I'll see," said the woman dubiously, and went away. + +Courtney sat down on a sofa in the parlour. He looked around the +lamp-lit room....Over in the corner was the upright piano on which +Rosabel used to play for him. He could see her now--the shapely, +girlish back; the round, white neck and the firm young shoulders; +the tilt of her head; the strong, brown hands,--he could see her now. +And she used to turn her head and smile at him, and make dreadful +grimaces when this diversion resulted in a discord....He got up +suddenly and walked out into the dining-room. + +Beyond, in the kitchen, he heard the rumble of men's voices. He +hesitated for a moment, and then opened the door. There were half +a dozen men in the kitchen, and one of them was Amos Vick. They +were preparing to go out into the night. Vick's face was haggard, +his garments were muddy, his long rubber boots were covered with +sludge and sand. Catching sight of Thane in the doorway, the farmer +went toward him, his hand outstretched. + +"I'm glad you came, Courtney," he said, his voice hoarse but steady. +"Lucinda will be pleased. Does she know you're here?" + +"I sent word up, but if she doesn't feel like--" + +"She'll want to see you. We're starting out again. Down the river." +(His voice shook a little.) "My soul,--boy,--you look as white as +a sheet. Here,--take a good swig of this. It's some rye that Steve +White brought over. We all needed it. Help yourself. You've been +overdoing a little today, Courtney. You're not fit for this sort +of--That's right! That will brace you up. You needed it, my boy." +Courtney drained half a tumbler of whiskey neat. He choked a little. + +"I guess we'd better be starting, Amos," said Steve White. + +"Take me along with you, Mr. Vick," cried Courtney, squaring his +shoulders. "I can't stand being idle while--" + +"You'd catch your death of cold," interrupted Vick, laying his +hand on the young man's shoulder. "It's mighty fine of you and I--I +sha'n't forget it. But you're not fit for an all night job like +this. I feel sort of responsible for you, my boy. Your mother would +never forgive me if anything happened to you, and this is a time +when we've got to think about the mothers. Good night,--God bless +you, Courtney." + +"Good night, Amos." + +The men trooped heavily out of the kitchen door. + +Presently he heard the chugging of automobile engines and then the +roar as they sped off down the road. He returned to the parlour. +The whiskey had given him fresh confidence. + +The elderly woman was talking to a couple of men in the hall. From +the scraps of conversation he was able to pick up, he gathered that +they were reporters from the city. She invited him into the room. + +"We would prefer a very recent picture," one of the men was saying. +"Something taken within the last few weeks, if possible. A snap-shot +will do, Madam." + +The speaker was a middle-aged man with horn-rimmed spectacles. +His companion was much the younger of the two. The latter bowed +to Thane, who had taken a position before the fireplace and was +regarding the strangers with interest. + +"I'll have to speak to Mrs. Vick," murmured the woman. "I don't +know as she would want Rosabel's picture printed in the papers." + +"It would be of incalculable assistance, Madam, in case she has +run away from home. We have an idea that she may have planted those +garments in the boat in order to throw people off the track." + +"Oh, she--she wouldn't have done that," cried the woman. "She +couldn't be so heartless." + +"You overlook the possibility that her mind may be affected. Dementia +frequently takes the form of--er--you might say unnatural cunning." + +"I'll speak to Mrs. Vick. There's a scrap-book of Kodak pictures +there on the table. I was looking through it today. She and her +brother, Cale, made heaps of pictures. You might be looking through +it while I go upstairs." + +Thane was lighting a cigarette. + +"Have you told Miss Crown that I am here?" asked he, as she started +toward the stairs. + +"She says she'll be down in a few minutes. Mrs. Vick wants to see +you before you go." + +The two reporters were examining the contents of the scrap-book. +The younger of the two was standing at the end of the little +marble-topped table, his body screening the book from Courtney's +view. + +There were a number of loose prints lying between the leaves toward +the end of the book. Rosabel had neglected to paste them in. The +man with the horn-rimmed spectacles ran through them hastily. He +stealthily slipped two of these prints up his sleeve. + +Thane would have been startled could he have seen those prints. They +were not pictures of Rosabel Vick, but fair-sized, quite excellent +likenesses of himself! + +The woman returned to say that Mrs. Vick was very much upset by +the thought of her daughter's picture appearing in the paper, and +could not think of allowing them to use it. + +The elder man bowed courteously. "I quite understand, Madam. We +would not dream of using the picture if it would give pain to the +unhappy mother. Please assure her that we respect her wishes. Thank +you for your kindness. We must be on our way back to town. Good +night, Madam." + +"These reporters are awful nuisances," remarked Courtney as the +front door closed behind the two men. "Always butting in where +they're not wanted." + +"They seemed very nice," observed the woman. + +"I've never seen one that wasn't a sneak," said he, raising his +voice a little. The whiskey was having its effect. + +Mrs. Vick and Alix entered the room together. The former came +straight toward the young man. Her rather heavy face was white and +drawn, but her eyes were wide and bright with anxiety. There was +no trace of tears. He knew there would be no scene, no hysterics. +Lucinda Vick was made of stern, heroic stuff. As he advanced, +holding out his hands, he noticed that she was fully dressed. She +could be ready at a moment's notice to go to her daughter. + +"Oh, Courtney!" she cried, and a little spasm of pain convulsed +her face for a fleeting second or two. Her voice was husky, tight +with strain. + +He took her cold, trembling hands in his. + +"It's inconceivable," he cried. "I can't believe it, I won't believe +it. You poor, poor thing!" + +"It's true. She's gone. My little girl is gone. I could curse God." +She spoke in a low, emotionless voice. "Why should He have taken +her in this way? What have we done to deserve this cruelty? Why +couldn't He have let her die in my arms, with her head upon my +breast,--where it belongs?" + +"Don't give up--yet," he stammered, confounded by this amazing +exhibition of self-control. "There is a chance,--yes, there is a +chance, Mrs. Vick. Don't give up. Be--be brave." + +She shook her head. "She is dead," came from her stiff lips, and +that was all. + +He laid his arm across her shoulder. "I wish to God it was me instead +of her," he cried fervently. "I would take her place--willingly, +Mrs. Vick." + +"I--I know you would, Courtney," said she, looking into his eyes. +"You were her best friend. She adored you. I know you would,--God +bless you!" + +He looked away. His gaze fell upon Alix, standing in the door. His +eyes brightened. The hunted expression left them. An eager, hungry +light came into them. She was staring at him. Gradually he came to +the realization that she was looking at him with unspeakable horror. + +Mrs. Vick was speaking. He hardly heard a word she uttered. + +"It was kind of you to come, Courtney. Thank you. I must go now. +I--I can't stand it,--I can't stand it!" + +She left him abruptly. Alix stood aside to allow her to pass through +the door. They heard her go up the stairs, heavily, hurriedly. + +"Alix!" he whispered, holding out his hands. + +She did not move. + +"I went up to the house to see you," he hurried on. "They told me +you were here. I--" + +Her gesture checked the eager words. + +"You snake!" She fairly hissed the word. + +He drew back, speechless. She came a few steps nearer. + +"You snake!" she repeated, her eyes blazing. + +"Wha--What do you mean?" he gasped, a fiery red rushing to his +face. + +"Would you have died for the Ritter girl?" + +A bomb exploding at his feet could not have produced a greater shock. +His mouth fell open; the colour swiftly receded, leaving his face +a sickly white. + +"Who the hell--" he began blankly. + +"Be good enough to remember where you are," cried Alix, lowering +her voice as she glanced over her shoulder. "I can say all I have +to say to you in a very few words, Mr. Thane. Don't interrupt me. +I have been a fool,--a stupid fool. We need not go into that. Thank +heaven, I happen to be made of a little stronger stuff than others +who have come under your influence. You would have MARRIED me,--yes, +I believe that,--because it would have been the only way. I have +the complete history of your betrayal of the Ritter girl. I know +how your leg was injured. I know that you were kicked out of the +American Ambulance and advised to leave France. I don't believe +you ever served in the British Army. I have every reason to believe +that you poisoned my dog, and that you,--were the man who came to +my window the other night. And I suspect that you are the cause of +poor Rosabel Vick's suicide. Now you know what I think of you. My +God, how could you have come here tonight? These people trusted +you,--they still trust you. Until now I did not believe such men +as you existed. You--" + +"I had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with Rosabel," he cried +hoarsely. He was trembling like a leaf. "Don't you go putting such +ideas into their heads. Don't you--" + +"Oh, I am not likely to do that," she interrupted scornfully. "I +shall not add to their misery. If I could prove that you betrayed +that poor, foolish child,--then I would see to it that you paid +the price. But I cannot prove it. I only know that she would have +been helpless in your hands. Oh, I know your power! I have felt it. +And I did not even pretend to myself that I loved you. What chance +would she have had if she loved and trusted you? I shudder at the +thought of--If Amos Vick should even suspect you of wronging his +child, he would not wait for proof. He would tear you to pieces. +You may be innocent. That is why I am giving you your chance. Now, +go!" + +"You certainly will give me the opportunity to defend myself, Alix. +Am I to be condemned unheard? If you will allow me to walk to the +ferry with you--" + +"And who is to act as my bodyguard?" she inquired with a significant +sneer. "Go! I never want to see your face again." + +With that, she left him. He stood perfectly still, staring after +the slender, boyish figure until it was hidden from view by the +bend of the stairway. + +His eyes were glassy. Fear possessed his soul. Suddenly he was +aroused to action. + +"I'd better get out of this," he muttered. + +His hand clutched the weapon in his coat pocket as he strode swiftly +toward the front door. Once outside he paused to look furtively about +him before descending the porch steps. Several men were standing +near the gate. The porch was deserted. He wondered if Amos Vick was +down there waiting for him. Then he remembered what Alix had said +to him: "These people trust you,--they still trust you." What had +he to fear? He laughed,--a short, jerky, almost inaudible laugh,--and +went confidently down the walk. As he passed the little group +he uttered a brief "good night" to the men, and was rewarded by a +friendly response from all of them. + +Down the moonlit road he trudged, his brain working rapidly, +feverishly. In his heart was the rage of defeat, in his soul the +clamour of fear,--not fear now of the dark strip of woods but of +the whole world about him. He communed aloud. + +"The first thing to do is to pack. I've got to do that tonight. +I'm through here. The jig's up. She means it. How the devil did +she find out all this stuff?...But if I leave immediately it +will look suspicious. I've got to stick around for a few days. If +I beat it tomorrow morning some one's bound to ask questions. It +will look queer. Tomorrow I'll receive an urgent letter calling me +home. Mother needs me. Her health is bad....I wonder if an autopsy +would reveal anything....Tomorrow sure. I can't stand it here +another day....There's nothing to worry about,--not a thing,--but +what's the sense of my hanging around here any longer? She's on. +Some meddling whelp has been--Good Lord, I wonder if it could be +that fat fool, Webster?...If I skip out tonight, it would set Vick +to thinking....What a fool I was...." + +And so on till he came to the woods. There, his face blanched and +his heart began to pound like a hammer. He drew the revolver from +his pocket and plunged desperately into the black tunnel; he was +out of breath when he ran down to the landing. + +Through the gloom he distinguished the ferry boat three-quarters of +the way across the river, nearing the opposite bank. His "halloa" +brought an answer from the ferryman. Cursing his luck in missing +the boat by so short a margin of time, he sat down heavily on the +stout wooden wall that guarded the approach. It would be ten or +fifteen minutes before the tortoise-like craft could recross and +pick him up. His gaze instantly went downstream. The faint, rhythmic +sound of oarlocks came to his ears. There were no lights on the +river, but after a time he made out the vague shape of an object +moving on the surface a long way off. From time to time it was +lost in the shadows of the tree-lined bank, only to steal into view +again as it moved slowly across a jagged opening in the far-reaching +wall of black. It was a boat coming upstream, hugging the bank to +avoid the current farther out. + +Some one approached. He turned quickly and beheld the figure of +a woman coming down the road. His heart leaped. Could it be Alix? +He dismissed the thought immediately. This was a tall woman--in +skirts. She came quite close and stopped, her gaze evidently +fixed upon him. Then she moved a little farther down the slope and +stood watching the ferry which, by this time, was moving out from +the farther side. He recognized the figure. It was that of the +gaunt woman who crossed with him earlier in the night. + +The ferry was drawing out from the Windomville side when a faint +shout came from down the river. Burk answered the call, which was +repeated. + +"This is my busy night," growled the ferryman. "I ain't been up +this late in a coon's age. Not since the Old Settlers' Picnic three +years ago down at the old fort. I wonder if those fellers have got +any news?" + +Courtney stepped off the boat a few minutes later and hurried up +the hill. The woman followed. At the top of the slope he passed +three or four men standing in the shelter of the blacksmith shop, +where they were protected from the sharp, chill wind that had +sprung up. A loud shout from below caused him to halt. Burk, the +ferryman, had called out through his cupped hands: + +"What say?" + +The wind bore the answer from an unseen speaker in the night, clear +and distinct: "We've got her!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE THROWER OF STONES + + +An icy chill, as of a great gust of wind, swept through and over +Courtney Thane. His mouth seemed suddenly to fill with water. He +could not move. The men by the forge ran swiftly down the hill. The +tall woman turned and after a moment followed the men, stopping in +the middle of the road a few rods above the landing. She was still +standing there when Courtney recovering his power of locomotion +struck off rapidly in the direction of Dowd's Tavern. Halfway home +he came to an abrupt halt. An inexplicable irresistible force was +drawing his mind and body back to the river's edge. He did not want +to go back there and see--Rosabel. He tried not to turn his steps +in that direction, and yet something like a magnet was dragging +him. A sort of fascination,--the fascination that goes with dread, +and horror, and revulsion--took hold of him....He moved slowly, +hesitatingly at first, then swiftly, not directly back over the +ground he had just covered but by a circuitous route that took him +through the lot at the rear of the forge. He made his way stealthily +down the slope, creeping along behind a thick hedge of hazel brush +to a point just above the ferry landing and to the left of the old +dilapidated wharf. Here he could see without himself being seen.... +He watched them lift a dark, inanimate object from the boat and +lay it on the wharf....He heard men's voices in excited, subdued +conversation....He saw the tall woman running up the road toward +the town. She paused within a dozen feet of his hiding place.... +Then something happened to him. He seemed to be losing the sense +of sight and the sense of hearing. His brain was blurred, the sound +of voices trailed off into utter silence. He felt the earth giving +way beneath his quaking knees....The next he knew, men's voices +fell upon his dull, uncomprehending ears. Gradually his senses +returned. Out of the confused jumble words took shape. He heard +his own name mentioned. Instantly his every faculty was alive. + +Through the brush he could see the dark, indistinct forms of three +or four men. They were in the road just below him. + +"You shouldn't have let him out of your sight," one of the men was +saying. "Hang it all, we can't let him give us the slip now." + +The listener's eyes, sharpened by anxiety, made out the figure of +the woman. She spoke,--and he was startled to hear the deep voice +of a man. + +"He was making for the boarding house. Webster says he is not in +his room. I took it for granted he was going home or I wouldn't +have turned back." + +Where had he heard that voice before? It was strangely familiar. + +"Well, we've got to locate him. I'll stake my life he is George +Ritchie. I compared this snap-shot with the photograph I have with +me. Shave off that dinky little moustache and I'll bet a hundred +to one you'll have Ritchie's mug all right. Hustle back there, +Gilfillan,--you and Simons. He'll be turning up at the house unless +he's got wind of us. Don't let him see you. You stay here with me, +Constable. The chances are he'll come back here to wait for Miss +Crown, if he's as badly stuck on her as you say, Gilfillan. They're +all fools about women." + +The hidden listener was no longer quaking. His body was tense, his +mind was working like lightning. He was wide awake, alert; the +fingers that clutched the weapon in his pocket were firm and steady; +he scarcely breathed for fear of betraying his presence, but the +courage of the hunted was in his heart. + +The little group broke up. Constable Foss and one of the strangers +remained on the spot, the others vanished up the road. He glanced +over his shoulder in the direction of the wharf. A long dark object +was lying near the edge, while some distance away a small knot of +men stood talking. The moon, riding high, cast a cold, sickly light +upon the scene. + +"I've always been kind of suspicious of him," Foss was saying, his +voice lowered. "What did you say his real name is?" + +"His real name is Thane, I suppose. I guess there's no doubt about +that. Mind you, I'm not sure he's the man we've been looking for +these last six months, but I'm pretty sure of it. Last February +two men and a woman tried to smuggle a lot of diamonds through the +customs at New York. I'll not go into details now further than to +say they landed from one of the big ocean liners and came within +an ace of getting away with the job. The woman was the leader. She +was nabbed with one of the men at a hotel. The other man got away. +He was on the passenger list as George Ritchie, of Cleveland, Ohio. +The woman had half a dozen photographs of him in her possession. +I've got a copy of one of 'em in my pocket now, and it's so much +like this fellow Thane that you'd swear it was of the same man. This +morning Gilfillan,--that's the Pinkerton man,--telephoned to his +chief in Chicago to notify the federal authorities that he was almost +dead certain that our man was here. He's a wonder at remembering +faces, and he had seen our photographs. Simons and I took the +three o'clock train. Gilfillan met us in the city and brought us +out after we had instructed the police to be ready to help us in +case he got onto us and gave us the slip." + +"How much of a reward is offered?" inquired Foss. + +"We are not supposed to be rewarded for doing our duty," replied +the Secret Service man curtly. "He got away from us and it's our +business to catch him again. You can bet he's our man. He wouldn't +be hanging around a burg like this for months unless he had a blamed +good reason for keeping out of sight." + +"He's been in mighty bad health,--and, if anybody should ask you, +there ain't a healthier place in the world than right here in--" + +"It's healthier than most jails," admitted the other with a chuckle. + +"Umph!" grunted Mr. Foss, delivering without words a full and +graphic opinion on the subject of humour as it exists in the minds +of people who live in large cities. He chewed for a time in silence. +"What became of the woman and the other man?" + +"Oh, they were sent up,--I don't know for how long. They're old hands. +Husband and wife. Steamship gamblers before the war. Fleeced any +number of suckers. She must be a peach, judging from the pictures +I've seen of her. They probably would have got away with this last +job if she and Ritchie hadn't tried to put something over on friend +husband. She had the can all ready to tie to him when he got wise +and laid for her lover with a gun. The revenue people had been +tipped off by agents in Paris and traced the couple to the hotel. +They sprung the trap too soon, however, and the second man got +away." + +"Well, I guess there ain't any question but what this feller here +is old Silas Thane's grandson. They say he's the livin' image of +old Silas. So he must have sailed under a false name." + +"They usually do," said the other patiently. + +"And you want me to arrest him on suspicion, eh?" + +"Certainly. You're a county official, aren't you?" + +"I'm an officer of the law." + +"Well, that's the answer. We are obliged to turn such matters over +to the local authorities. What do you suppose I'm telling you about +the case for? When I give the word, you land him and--well, Uncle +Sam will do the rest, never fear." + +"That's all right, but supposin' he ain't the man you're after and +he turns around and sues me for false arrest?" + +"You can detain anybody on information and belief, my friend. Don't +you know that?" + +"Certainly," said Mr. Foss with commendable asperity. "Supposin' +he's got a revolver?" + +"He probably has,--but so have we. Don't worry. He won't have a +chance to use it. Hello! Isn't that a man standing up there by that +telephone pole? We'll just stroll up that way. Don't hurry. Keep +cool. Talk about the drowning." + +They were halfway up the hill before Courtney moved. Every nerve +was aquiver as he raised himself to his feet and looked cautiously +about. The thing he feared had come to pass, but even as he crouched +there in the shelter of the bushes the means of salvation flashed +through his mind. He realized that the next fifteen or twenty +minutes would convince these dogged, experienced man chasers that +their quarry had "got wind of them" and was in flight. The hunt would +be on in grim earnest; the alarm would go out in all directions. +Men would be watching for him at every cross-roads, every railway +station, every village, and directing the hunt would be--these men +who never give up until they "land" their man. + +His only chance lay in keeping under cover for a day or two,--or +even longer,--until the chase went farther afield and he could +take the risk of venturing forth from his hiding place. He had the +place in mind. They would never think of looking for him in that +sinister hole in the wall, Quill's Window! There he could lie in +perfect safety until the coast was clear, and then by night steal +down the river in the wake of pursuit. + +Their first thoughts would be of the railroad, the highways and +the city. They would not beat the woods for him. They would cut +off all avenues of escape and set their traps at the end of every +trail, confident that he would walk into them perforce before +another day was done. + +Like a ghost he stole across the little clearing that lay between +the road and the willows above the ferry. The snapping of a twig +under his feet, the scuffling of a pebble, the rustling of dead +leaves and grass, the scraping of his garments against weeds and +shrubbery, were sounds that took on the magnitude of ear-splitting +crashes. It was all he could do to keep from breaking into a mad, +reckless dash for the trees at the farther side of this moonlit +stretch. With every cautious, fox-like step, he expected the shout +of alarm to go up from behind, and with that shout he knew restraint +would fail him; he would throw discretion to the winds and bolt +like a frightened rabbit, and the dogs would be at his heels. + +He was nearing the trees when he heard some one running in the road, +now a hundred yards behind him. Stooping still lower, he increased +his speed almost to a run. The sound of footsteps ceased abruptly; +the runner had come to a sudden halt. Thane reached the thicket +in another stride or two and paused for a few seconds to listen. A +quick little thrill of relief shot through him. No one was coming +along behind him. The runner, whoever he was, had not seen him; no +cry went up, no loud yell of "There he goes!" + +Picking his way carefully down the slope he came to the trail of +the Indians, over which he had trudged recently on his trip to the +great rock. He could tell by the feel of the earth under his feet +that he was on the hard, beaten path by the river's edge. Now he +went forward more rapidly, more confidently. There were times when +he had to cross little moon-streaked openings among the trees, and +at such times he stooped almost to a creeping position. + +Occasionally he paused in his flight to listen for sounds of pursuit. +Once his heart seemed to stop beating. He was sure that he heard +footsteps back on the trail behind him. Again, as he drew near the +rock-strewn base of the hill, a sound as of some one scrambling +through the underbrush came to his straining ears, but the noise +ceased even as he stopped to listen. He laughed at his fears. An +echo, no doubt, of his own footsteps; the wind thrashing a broken +limb; the action of the water upon some obstruction along the bank. + +Nevertheless he dropped to his hands and knees when he came to the +outlying boulders and jagged slabs close to the foot of the black, +towering mass. There was no protecting foliage here. Never in his +life had he known the moon to shine so brightly. He whispered curses +to the high-hanging lantern in the sky. + +The murmur of the river below brought a consoling thought to him. +He would not suffer from thirst. He could go without food for a +couple of days, even longer. Had not certain English women survived +days and days of a voluntary hunger strike? But he could not do +without water. In the black hours before dawn he would climb down +from his eerie den and drink his fill at the river's brink. + +Now a sickening fear gripped him. What if he were to find it +impossible to scale that almost perpendicular steep? What if those +hand-hewn clefts in the rock fell short of reaching to the cave's +entrance? The processes of time and the elements may have sealed +or obliterated the shallow hand and toe holds. His blood ran cold. +He had dreaded the prospect of that hazardous climb up the face +of the rock. Now he was overcome by an even greater dread: that he +would be unable to reach the place of refuge. + +He had no thought of Alix Crown now--no thought of her beauty, her +body, her riches. His cherished dream was over. She took her place +among other forgotten dreams. The sinister business of saving his +own skin drove her out of his mind. It drove out all thought of +Rosabel Vick. The hounds were at his heels. It was no time to think +of women! + +II + +Anxiety that touched almost upon despair hastened his steps. +Abandoning caution, he ran recklessly up the path among the rocks, +stumbling and reeling but always keeping his feet, and came at last +to the gloomy, forbidding facade of Quill's Window. Here he groped +along the wall, clawing for the sunken cleats with eager, trembling +hands. He knew they were there--somewhere. Not only had he seen +them, he had climbed with ease, hand over hand, ten or a dozen +feet up the cliff. He had shuddered a little that day as he looked +first over his shoulder and then upward along the still unsealed +stretch that lay between him and the mouth of the cave, seventy +or eighty feet away. But that was in broad daylight. It would be +different now, with darkness as his ally. + +He remembered thinking that day how easy it would be to reach +Quill's Window by this rather simple route. All that was required +was a stout heart, a steady hand, and a good pair of arms. All of +these were bestowed upon him by magic of darkness. It was what the +light revealed that made a coward of him. Why, he could shut his +eyes tight and go up that cliff by night as easily as--but where +were the slots? + +At last his hand encountered one of the sharp edges. He reached up +and found the next one above,--and then for the first time realized +that his eyes had been closed all the time he was feeling along +the cold surface of the rock. He opened them in a start of actual +bewilderment. The blackish mass rose almost sheer above him, like +a vast wall upon which the moon cast a dull, murky light. He closed +his eyes again and leaned heavily against the rock. His heart began +to beat horribly. He felt his courage slipping; he wondered if he +had the strength, the nerve to go on; he saw himself halfway up that +endless wall, clutching wildly to save himself when a treacherous +hand-hold broke loose and-- + +He opened his eyes and tried to pierce the shadows below the rocky +path. Was it best to hide in that hole up there, after all? Would +it not be wiser, now that he had a fair start, to keep on up the +river, trusting to-- + +A chorus of automobile horns in the distance came to his ears +suddenly,--a confused jumble of raucous blasts produced by many +cars. The alarm! The search was on! The wild shriek of a siren +broke the stillness near at hand, followed a few seconds later by +the gradually increasing roar of an engine as it sped up the dirt +road not three hundred yards to his left,--the road that ran past +the gate on the other side of the hill. God! They were getting +close! + +Another and even more disturbing sound came to him as he stood with +his fingers gripping one of the little ledges, the toe of his shoe +fumbling for a foothold in another. Somewhere back on the trail he +had just traversed, a rock went clattering down to the river. He +heard it bounding--and the splash as it shot into the water. + +He hesitated no longer. Shutting his eyes, he began the ascent.... + +A dark object turned the corner of the cliff below and moved slowly, +cautiously along the wall. Suddenly it stopped. From somewhere in +the gloom ahead came a strange and puzzling sound, as of the dragging +of a tree limb across the face of the rock. The crouching object +in the trail straightened up and was transformed into the tall, +shadowy figure of a man. + +For many seconds he stood motionless, listening, his eyes searching +the trail ahead. The queer sound of scraping went on, broken at +intervals by the faint rattle of sand or dirt upon the rocky path. +At last he looked up. Far up the face of the cliff a bulky, shapeless +thing was crawling, slowly but surely like a great beetle. + +The watcher could not believe his eyes. And yet there could be no +mistake. Something WAS crawling up the sheer face of the cliff, a +bulging shadow dimly outlined against the starlit sky. + +The man below went forward swiftly. Twice he stooped to search with +eager hands for something at his feet, but always with his gaze +fixed on the creeping shadow. He knew the creeper's goal: that +black streak in the wall above, rendered thin by foreshortening. +He knew the creeper! + +Twenty or thirty paces short of the ladder he stopped. From that +spot he hurled his first rock. His was a young, powerful arm and +the missile sped upward as if shot from a catapult. It struck the +face of the cliff a short distance above the head of the climber +and glanced off to go hurtling down among the trees beyond. + +Thane stopped as if paralysed. For one brief, horrible moment he +felt every vestige of strength deserting him, oozing out through +his tense, straining finger-tips. The shock had stunned him. He +moaned,--a little whimpering moan. He was about to fall! He could +hold on no longer with those weak, trembling hands. His brain +reeled. A great dizziness seized him. He clung frantically to the +face of the rock, making a desperate effort to regain his failing +senses. Suddenly his strength returned; he was stronger than ever. +A miracle had happened. + +The mouth of the cave was not more than half a dozen feet above +him. He opened his eyes for one brief, daring glance upward. Not +more than five or six steps to go. Gritting his teeth he went on. +Now only four more ledges to grip, four more footholds to find. + +A second stone whizzed past his head and struck with a crash beyond +him. He heard it whistle, he felt the rush of air. + +"God! If that had got my head! What an inhuman devil he is! The +dirty beast!" + +The fourth stone caught him in the side after glancing off the wall +to his left. He groaned aloud, but gripped more fiercely than ever +at his slender support. For a few seconds he could not move. Then +he reached up and felt for the next "cleat." He found it but, like +many others he had encountered, it was filled with sand and dirt. +That meant delay. He would have to dig it out with his fingers +before risking his grip on the edge. Fast and feverishly he worked. +Another stone struck below his feet. + +"Hey!" he yelled. "Let up on that! Do you want to kill me? Cut it +out! I can't get away, you damned fool! You've got me cornered." +His voice was high and shrill. + +The answer was another stone which grazed his leg. + +A moment later he reached over and felt along the floor of the cave +for the final hold. Finding it, he drew himself up over the edge +and crawled, weak and half fainting, out of range of the devilish +marksman. + +For a long time he lay still, gasping for breath. They had him cold! +There was no use in trying to think of a way out of his difficulty. +All he wanted now was to rest, a chance to pull himself together. After +all was said and done, what were a few years in the penitentiary? +He was young. Five years--even ten,--what were they at his time +of life? He would be thirty-five, at the most forty, when he came +out, and as fit as he was when he went in. + +"It was all my fault anyway," he reflected bitterly. "If I had let +Madge alone I--Oh,--what's the use belly-aching now! That's all +over,--and here am I, paying pretty blamed dearly for a month's +pleasure. They've got me. There's no way out of it now. Jail! +Well, worse things could happen than that. What will mother think? +I suppose it will hurt like the devil. But she could have fixed +this if she'd loosened up a bit. She could have gone to Washington +as I told her to do and--hell, it wouldn't have cost her half as +much as it will to defend me in court. She can't get a decent lawyer +under--well, God knows how many thousands." + +He sat up and unbuttoned his overcoat in order to feel of the spot +where the stone had struck him. He winced a little. After a moment's +reflection he drew a box of matches from his pocket. + +"No harm in striking a match now," he chattered aloud. "I may as +well see what sort of a place it is." + +He crawled farther back in the cave, out of the wind, and struck +a match. His hand shook violently, his chin quivered. During the +life of the brief flare, the interior of Quill's Window was revealed +to him. The cave was perhaps twenty feet deep and almost as wide +at the front, with an uneven, receding roof and a flat floor that +dropped at no inconsiderable slant toward the rear. It appeared +to be empty except for the remains of two or three broken-up boxes +over against one of the walls. He struck a second match to light +a cigarette, continuing his scrutiny while the tiny blaze lasted. +He saw no bones, no ghastly skulls, no signs of the ancient tragedies +that made the place abhorrent. + +He crawled back to the entrance. Lying flat, he peered over the +ledge. + +"Hallo, down there!" he called out. No response. He shouted once +more, his voice cracking a little. + +"Where are you?" + +This time he got an answer. A hoarse voice replied: + +"I'm here, all right." + +Thane forced a laugh. + +"Well, I'm up here, all right. You've got me treed. What's the +idea? Waiting for me to come down?" No answer, "Say, it's worth a +lot of money to you if you'll just walk on and forget that I'm up +here. I'll give you my word of honour to come across with enough +to put you on easy street for the rest of your life." He heard the +man below walking up and down the path. + +"Did you hear what I said? You can't pick up twenty-five thousand +every day, you know." He waited for the response that never came. +"Honesty isn't always the best policy. Think it over." Another long +silence. Then: "I suppose you know the government does not pay any +reward." Still that heavy, steady tread. "If you think I'm going +to come down you're jolly well off your nut." He wriggled nearer +the edge and peered over. The black form shuttled restlessly back +and forth past the foot of the ladder, for all the world like a lion +in its cage. Presently it moved off toward the bend at the corner +of the cliff, where it stopped, still in view of the man above,--a +vague, shapeless object in the faint light of the moon. + +Many minutes passed. Ten, fifteen,--they seemed hours to the trapped +fugitive,--and then he heard a voice, suppressed but distinct. + +"Who's there?" + +There was a moment's silence, and then another voice replied, but +he could not make out the words. + +The man stepped out of sight around the bend. A few seconds later, +Thane heard a jumble of voices. Drawing away from the ledge, he +slunk deeper into the cave. He heard some one running along the +trail, and a muffled voice giving directions. He drew a deep, long +breath. + +"The death watch, eh?" he muttered. "They're going to sit there +till I have to come out. Like vultures. They haven't the nerve to +come up here after me. The rotten cowards!" + +Then he heard something that caused him to start up in a sort of +panic. He stood half erect, crouching back against the wall, his +eyes glued on the opening, his hand fumbling nervously for the +revolver in his pocket. + +Some one was climbing up the cliff! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +A MESSAGE AND ITS ANSWER + + +Charlie Webster met Alix at the ferry. The body of the drowned +girl had been removed to Hart's Undertaking Parlours and Expert +Carpenter's Shop in obedience to the County Coroner's instructions +by telephone. + +The fat man was so overcome by excitement he could hardly speak. +Sitting beside Alix in the automobile, he rattled on at a great +rate about the extraordinary turn of affairs, and it was not until +they were nearly home that he discovered she was sobbing quietly +in her corner of the car. + +"Gosh, what are you crying for, Alix?" he demanded. "It's the +greatest piece of good fortune that ever--" + +"I am thinking of poor Mrs. Vick," she murmured chokingly. + +"Oh! Yes, that's right. It's terrible for that poor woman. Terrible. +As I was saying, the last anybody saw of him was when he started +for the Tavern. Gilfillan follered him part ways and then went +back to the ferry, never dreaming he--But didn't I tell you that +before? I'm so upset I don't seem to remember what I--Oh, yes, +now I know where I was. The detectives insisted on searching every +room in the Tavern. Angie Miller got as sore as a boiled lobster +when they knocked on her door and asked if he was in her room. You +ought to have heard what she said to 'em from behind the door when +she finally opened it and let 'em in,--and she nearly had a fit +when she saw old Tintype was with 'em. She lit into him,--my gosh, +how she lit into him! Accused him of suspecting her of having an +erudite affair with Courtney,--erudite wasn't the word she used, but +it don't matter, it's as good as any for an old maid. We searched +everywhere, but no sign of him. You needn't be surprised to find +one of the detectives hanging around your place, Alix. They think +maybe he'll turn up there before long." + +"He can't be very far away," said she suddenly aroused to anxiety. +She had ceased crying and was drying her eyes with her handkerchief. +The car was nearing the entrance to her grounds. "He wouldn't dare +come to my house after--after what I said to him tonight. He could +not expect me to help him in any--" + +"Well, you see, it's barely possible he don't know they're after +him, Alix. I guess maybe I'd better stay here for a while. You +won't be so nervous with me in the house." + +"I am not afraid, Charlie. Of course, I am terribly unstrung and +unhappy over poor little Rosabel,--but I am not afraid of HIM. He +will not come here. Tell me again just what he is accused of doing." + +The car had drawn up under the porte-cochere. Webster repeated the +story he had had from Gilfillan. She sat perfectly still during +the lengthy recital. + +"And to think--" she began, but checked the words in time. "Oh, +what fools we have been, Charlie!" + +"Anyhow," said Charlie, divining her thoughts, "there's a good deal +to be said for that saying, 'All's well that ends well.' I've been +thinking what a difference there is in men. Now, take for instance +David Strong. Just stack him up alongside this slick, smooth-talking--" + +"Oh, Charlie!" It was almost a wail. + +He took her hand in one of his and gently patted it with the other. + +"I guess you'd kind of like to see Davy for a change, wouldn't you, +Alix?" + +She caught her breath sharply, as if in pain. + +"Now, there's a feller," went on Charlie after a moment, "that's +all wool and a yard wide. He--" + +"Good night, Charlie," she broke in abruptly. "Thank you for coming +to meet me. You--you are the best, the dearest man in the world. +I--" + +"You needen't thank me for standin' up for Davy Strong. That's what +you're really thankin' me for, you know," said he. "I've always +loved that boy, Alix." She pressed his hand. "That's good!" he +cried fervently. "I love him so much I wish he was sitting right +here where I'm sitting now. I'll bet he'd be the happiest feller +in all--Well, so long, Alix. You've had a hard day. I won't make +it any worse for you by talking about David Strong. I know how +much you hate him. Just the same, I wish he was sitting here in my +place." + +"So do I, Charlie," she confessed, with a deep sigh. + +"So's you could hate him to your heart's content, eh?" he chaffed. + +"Yes," she murmured,--"to my heart's content." + +"Well, I've got to get busy," he exclaimed briskly. "Can't sit here +talkin' nonsense to you when there's so much to do. Link Pollock and +Doc and Tintype are waiting for me down at the Tavern. I promised +to hurry back with the car. That reminds me, Alix. We're going to +use your car to go hunting in. I guess you don't mind, do you?" + +She spoke to the chauffeur as she got out. "Take Mr. Webster wherever +he wants to go, Ed. I shall not need the car until eleven o'clock +in the morning." + +Mrs. Strong was waiting up for her. There was a big fire in the +living-room, and a tray with hot coffee and toast on a table beside +the comfortable chair that had been drawn up near the fender. + +Alix dropped wearily into the chair and stretched her booted, +pantalooned legs out in complete relaxation. + +"You poor child," cried Mrs. Strong. "You're all done up. My, but +you're white and tired-looking. It's been a terrible strain. Sit +still now and I'll take your hat off for you. Better have your coat +and boots off, too, dear. Hilda will have a hot bath ready for you +whenever you're ready to--" + +"I suppose you know they've found her, Auntie? In the river." + +"Yes. Ed told me. Now, don't talk about it. Here's some hot coffee." + +"Never mind my coat. I'm too tired. You know about Courtney Thane?" + +"I only know they're hunting for him. There's a man out in the +kitchen. Is--is it in connection with Rosabel's death?" + +"No. Thank you, Auntie. That feels better. I haven't had it off since +morning. Charlie told me about Thane, but I am not sure whether I +can get it straight. He was so excited,--and I was so distressed." + +Her voice was low and husky with fatigue and emotion; it was +apparent that she controlled it with difficulty. In her dark eyes +there was a brooding, haunted look. She repeated as best she could +Charlie's rambling, disjointed story. + +"And just to think," cried Mrs. Strong at the end, "you let that +beast kiss you and--" + +"Oh, don't! Don't!" cried the girl, covering her eyes with her +hands. "I can't bear the thought of it. I wasn't myself. I don't +know what came over--" + +"There, there! Don't think about it any more. It's all right now. +And you're not the only woman that's lost her head since God made +Adam, my dear. It's pretty hard not to sometimes. You--" + +"Oh, I couldn't,--I COULDN'T have done anything bad. I couldn't--" + +"God bless you, of course you couldn't," cried the older woman, +stroking the girl's hair. "Do you think this coffee will keep you +awake?" She poured out a steaming cup and dropped two lumps of +sugar into it. + +"I sha'n't go to sleep anyway, Auntie, so--" + +The ringing of the door bell startled them. Alix sprang to her feet +in alarm. + +"Don't go to the door!" she cried. "It's--it's Courtney Thane!" + +"Nonsense! He'll not be coming here. Sit down. I'll inquire who it +is before I open the door." + +"Under no circumstances are you to let him in, Mrs. Strong," ordered +Alix peremptorily. + +"I should say not! It would look pretty, wouldn't it, if the papers +came out and said the notorious bandit was captured in the home of +Miss Alix Crown, the beautiful and wealthy heiress? They always--" +The bell rang again. "Put the cream in yourself, Alix. I'll see +who it is." + +Alix followed her with anxious, apprehensive eyes as she passed +into the hall. She heard the following dialogue: + +"Who is it?" + +"Does Miss Crown live here?" came in a clear, boyish voice from +the outside. + +"She does. Who are you and what do you want?" + +"I'm a messenger boy. I got a letter for her." + +"A letter? Who's it from?" + +"Say, open up! I can't stand out here all night." + +"Who is it from?" repeated Mrs. Strong firmly. + +"How do I know? I ain't no mind-reader." + +Mrs. Strong looked in at Alix. "I guess it's all right, isn't it?" + +"Open the door," said Alix quietly. + +A small, shivering messenger boy in uniform entered. + +"Are you Miss Crown?" + +"No, I'm not. Where's the letter?" + +"I got to deliver it to her. If she ain't here I'm to wait. I got +to get an answer." + +Alix came forward. "I am Miss Crown. Come in, my boy, and warm +yourself by the fire." + +"Sign here," said the boy, indicating a line in his receipt book. + +While Alix was signing her name, Mrs. Strong looked the boy over. +"Dear me, you must be nearly frozen, child. No overcoat on a night +like this. Did you come all the way out here from the city on a +bicycle?" + +"Give him some coffee, Mrs. Strong," said Alix, handing back the +book and receiving the envelope in return. + +"I got a taxi waiting for me out in front," said the boy. "Say, +what's goin' on in this burg? We been held up three times, and just +now a man stopped me out here in the yard and--" + +"What's the matter, Alix?" cried Mrs. Strong. + +The girl was staring at the address on the envelope. Doubt, wonder, +incredulity filled her eyes. + +"Why,--why, Auntie,--it's David's writing! David's!" she cried. +"See! Isn't it? I would recognize it--" + +"Bless my soul, so it is!" exclaimed David's mother. + +"Oh,--what does it mean? Boy, where did you get this letter?" Her +voice trembled with excitement, her eyes were gleaming. + +"Never mind," put in Mrs. Strong, turning her head to hide a smile. +"You run upstairs and read it, Alix, and I--" + +"Auntie Strong, do you know anything about this?" demanded Alix +suspiciously. The colour was flowing back into her cheeks. "Have +you been keeping something--" + +"--and I will entertain this young gentleman during your absence," +went on the other serenely,--but there was a flush in her cheeks and +her eyes were very bright and happy. "You go and read your letter +and,--did you say there was to be an answer, boy?" + +"Yes'm." + +"And write your answer," concluded Mrs. Strong. "Come along, my +lad, and have a nice hot cup of coffee and some toast. I hope you +take sugar. There are two lumps in it already." + +Alix fairly ran from the room. They heard her racing up the stairs. + +"Will you have cream, my boy?" asked Mrs. Strong, steadying her voice +with an effort. He had shuffled along behind her to the fireplace. + +"Yes'm," and then as an afterthought: "if you please, ma'am." He +looked up and saw that his hostess's eyes were swimming in tears. +"I--I hope it ain't bad news," he stammered uncomfortably. + +"Don't you know there are such things as tears of joy?" inquired +the lady. + +He looked very doubtful. "No ma'am," he solemnly confessed. The +tears he knew about were not joyous. + +"Wasn't it just like David to hire an automobile to send you out +here to deliver the letter to her? I suppose it must have cost him +a pretty penny. Most men would have put a two cent stamp on it. But +my son is not like other men. He is always doing the most unexpected +things,--and the very nicest things. Now, who else in the world +would have thought of hiring an automobile to send a message by?" + +"Is he your son, ma'am?" + +"Yes. My son David. Did you see him?" + +"Sure I did." + +"How was he looking?" + +"Fine," said the lad. "Gee, but he's tall." + +"Six feet three, my boy," said David's mother. "That's very hot. Be +careful not to scald your mouth. Shall I put in another lump,--or +two?" + +"Will it cool it off any?" + +"I am sure it will." + +Meanwhile, Alix was greedily devouring the contents of the letter. +She stood beside the light over her dressing-table; her heart was +pounding furiously, her eyes were radiantly bright. + +DEAR ALIX: + +I have just this instant arrived in town, and I am scribbling this +in the hotel writing-room, with my overcoat still on my back. I +shall not go to sleep tonight until I have had your reply. Somehow +I will find a way to get this letter to you tonight, I don't know +how at present, but where there's a will there's a way. If mother +and Charlie Webster are mistaken, or if they have assumed something +that is not true, I shall go away again without bothering you. But +if you want me, I will come straight out to you. You are in trouble. +I am not asking anything for myself, dear,--you know me well enough +to understand that,--I am only asking you to let me do anything +in the world I can for you. That is why I dropped everything to +come. I am happy, you don't know how happy, to be even this close +to you. I have always wanted to hang out my shingle in this dear +old town. I do not like the East. I am a Westerner and I can't seem +to make myself fit in with the East. I shall always be a Hoosier, +I fear,--and hope. Just the few minutes I have been here in this +familiar old hotel, and the ride through the quiet streets, and +getting off the train at the insignificant little depot, and having +the hackman,--they are taxi-drivers now,--yell out,--"Hello, Davy," +and run up to shake hands with me,--well, I am so homesick I could +cry. But you know why I cannot come here to live and practise. If +I can't be very, very near to you, Alix darling, I must keep myself +as far away as possible. It is the only way. But if I keep on at +this rate, you will think I am writing a love letter to you, when, +as a matter of fact, I am only asking you if you care to see me +and tell me what I can do to help you now,--if you need the help +of your + +Always devoted + +DAVID. + +P.S.--If you would rather not see me, don't hesitate to say so. I +will understand. And please do not blame mother and Charlie. They +would both die for you, dear. + +P.S.S.--You will be pleased to know, I am sure, that I have the +five hundred I still owe you in my pocket, all in brand new bills, +and I think you might give me the happiness of quarrelling face to +face with you about the matter instead of under the protection of +a two-cent stamp. + +D. + +She read the letter aloud. When she came to the end she kissed the +sheet of paper rapturously and then pressed it to her breast. For +a few moments she stood there with her eyes closed, a little smile +on her lips, the blush of roses deepening in her cheeks. + +Suddenly she roused herself. Hurrying to the desk across the room, +she snatched a sheet of note paper from the rack, seated herself, +and began to write. + +DEAREST DAVID: + +THIS is a love letter. I love you. I have always loved you, ever since +I can remember, only I did not realize how much until you wouldn't +let me have my own way about the money. Then I tried to hate you. +The best thing I can say for the experiment was that it kept me +thinking about you all the time. You were never out of my thoughts, +David dear. Oh, how many nights have I laid awake inventing reasons +for hating you, and how many, many times have I ended up by hating +myself. I am a very mean, despicable creature. I am a loathsome, +poisonous reptile, and you ought to put your foot on my neck and +keep it there forever and ever. Now I know why I have been so mean +to you. It is because I love you so much. You cannot grasp that, +can you? You could if you were a woman. + +The boy is waiting for this. How wonderful of you to send him out +here in a taxi!!! I shall tell him to go back to town as fast as +the car can travel. I hope it is a fast one, because I want you to +get in it and come to me at once. I shall wait up for you, David. +Please come tonight. You don't know how badly I need you. You must +stay here with your mother and me, and I don't want you ever to go +away again,--unless you take me with you. + +Your humble sweetheart, + +ALIX. + +P.S.--I wouldn't quarrel with you for five hundred million dollars. + +P.S.S.--Oh, how I wish some kind genie could transport you to me +INSTANTLY! A. + +Sealing the envelope, she sprang to her feet and started for +the door. She stopped halfway, dashed back and fished in a drawer +of her desk, found her purse and extracted a crumbling bank-note. +Without so much as a glance to ascertain its denomination, she +turned and sped downstairs. + +Her eyes were aglow with excitement, her lips were parted in a +divine smile. She was a little out of breath. The boy gazed upon +her spellbound. In that brief, transcendent moment he fell deeply, +hopelessly in love,--and that is why, a moment later, he manfully +endeavoured to refuse the prodigious tip she was offering him. Only +when she stuffed it, with her own fingers, into the depths of his +breast pocket, directly over his heart, was he able to persuade +himself that he ought to accept it if for no other reason than it +would hurt her feelings if he didn't. + +"You must go straight back just as fast as you can," she +was saying,--and what a sweet, wonderful voice she had, just like +some kind of a song he thought,--"and see that Mr. Strong has this +letter at once. He is waiting for it, you know. You WILL hurry, +won't you,--that's a good boy." + +"Yes'm," gulped the lad, and then, realizing he had not quite come +up to expectations, amplified his promise with a stirring: "You +bet your life I will." + +She went to the door with him, and said good night so sweetly, and +with such a thrill in her voice, that he experienced the amazing +sensation of having wings on his feet as he sped down to the gate. + +Alix ran to Mrs. Strong and threw her arms around her neck. + +"Oh, Auntie,--he's in town. He is coming out and--and I am going +to marry him. Yes, I am! Tomorrow, if he'll let me. I ought not to +be so happy, I know. It is terrible, with so much grief and sorrow +over at--But I can't help it! I never was so happy in my life--never!" + +Rushing up to the waiting taxi, the boy thrust the letter in through +the open door. It was seized by a big, eager hand. An instant later +the owner of that hand was out on the ground, reading the missive +by the light of a forward lamp. + +He was not long in getting to the end. Thrusting the precious letter +into his overcoat pocket, he sprang to the door of the cab, jerked +out a heavy suitcase and a small black satchel, which he deposited +unceremoniously on the sidewalk, and then dug down into his trousers' +pocket for a handful of bills, one of which he pressed into the +small boy's hand. Then, turning to the driver, the tall, impetuous +fare clapped another into his extended palm. + +"There you are, genie!" he exclaimed exultantly, and, grabbing up +his bags, was off up the walk as fast as his long legs would carry +him. + +"What was that he called me, kid?" demanded the driver uneasily. + +"Janie." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +AT QUILL'S WINDOW + + +The scraping, laboured sound grew nearer and louder, and presently +there was added the thick, stertorous breathing of the climber as +he drew close to the mouth of the cave. + +Courtney crept farther away from the opening and watched with narrow, +frowning eyes for the head to appear above the ledge. He held the +revolver in his shaking hand, but he knew he was not going to shoot. +He thrilled with a strange sort of glee, however, at the thought of +the ease with which he could send the fool crashing to the ground +far below, but what would be the use? He was trapped. + +He had a queer and strangely ungrudging respect for the courage +of this man of Uncle Sam's, this man who was not to be turned back +or daunted by the prospect of sudden death when engaged in the +performance of his duty. What use to slay this single, indomitable +pursuer when nothing was to be gained by the act? There were others +down there to avenge him,--to starve him out, or to burn him out +if needs be. Murder, that's what it would be, and they would hang +him for murder. If he shot this fellow there would be but one course +left open to him. He would have to shoot himself. And he loved life +too well for that. Five, even ten years behind the bars,--and then +freedom once more. But the gallows,--God, no! + +He stood up and leaned with his back against the wall, bracing +his legs which threatened to crumple up under him. With a sort of +craven bravado, he inhaled deeply. The end of the cigarette created +a passing but none the less comforting glow which died away almost +instantly. A jolly brave thing, a cigarette,--No wonder the soldiers +smoked them! Nerve steadying,--no question about it. + +He waited. Once he thought he was going to scream. Why was the +fellow so slow? Surely it had not taken him so long to come up +that ladder of stone,--and he was the pioneer, he had cleared the +slots of dirt and sand, he had made the hand holds safe, he had torn +his finger-tips digging them out,--what made the fellow so slow? + +At last he made out a vague, slender object moving like the +tentacle of an octopus above the ledge,--and then the bulky head +and shoulders of the climber. + +"I surrender!" he called out. "I give up. If you had waited till +I pulled myself together, I would have come down. I'm all in. I +surrender." + +The man scrambled over the ledge and drew himself erect. His figure +was dimly outlined against the moon-lit sky. He came a few steps +inside the cave and stopped, evidently striving to pierce the +darkness with his questing eyes. + +Courtney pushed himself away from the supporting wall and advanced +slowly. + +"Here's my gun," he faltered, and the weapon clattered on the +rocky floor at his feet. "Don't shoot! I am unarmed. My hands are +up,--comrade." + +"Stand still," warned the other hoarsely. He was breathing heavily. +"Don't move!" + +Courtney took another pull at the cigarette that hung limply between +his sagging lips. He could be as brave, as cool as the other fellow! +He would give them something to talk about when they related the +story of his capture. He would-- + +Suddenly the man lunged forward...A pair of iron arms wrapped +themselves about his waist. He went down with a crash. Even as the +cry of surprise and indignation rose to his lips, his head struck +and his mind became a blank. + +Slowly, as out of a fog, his senses came back. He was hazily aware +of a light shining in his eyes, and of a dull pain somewhere. Things +began to take shape before his whirling eyes. He strove to steady +them, to concentrate on the bright thing that flitted back and +forth before them. At last the blaze became stationary. + +Quite close at hand was a fire,--a bright, crackling fire whose +flames danced merrily. Where was he? It was not like any other +fire he had ever seen before....Then he saw a face. It gradually +fashioned itself out of the gloom high above the flames. He blinked +his eyes and stared. Somehow it was vaguely familiar, that face.... +He lifted his head and peered intently. Then he raised himself on +his elbow, all the while trying to fix that floating face in his +mind. + +Suddenly his brain cleared. The full picture was revealed: A man +standing over the blazing pile of box-wood, gazing down at him with +great, unblinking eyes. The sloping roof of the cave, half lost in +the thin cloud of smoke, almost touched the crown of the watcher's +head,--and this watcher was in the garb of a sailor. + +Caleb Vick! Young Caleb Vick! + +For a long time the two looked into each other's eyes. Courtney's +wavering and uncertain, Caleb's fixed and triumphant. + +"Is--is that you, Cale?" mumbled the former wonderingly. + +Young Vick nodded his head slowly. + +"How did you get here?" asked Thane, sensing peril in those boring, +unfaltering eyes. His hand went out to feel for the revolver he +had dropped. "Where--What has become of the man that jumped on me? +The detective." + +"I am the man," said Cale levelly. + +"You? What's the matter with you, Cale? This is a hell of a way to +treat a friend. What do you mean by helping these--" + +"Cut that out," snarled Cale. "It don't go with me. Get up! You +dirty cur,--get up!" + +"My God, Cale,--have you gone crazy?" gasped Thane, going cold to +the marrow. He shot a swift, terrified look toward the mouth of +the cave. + +"Get up! It won't do you any good to yell. No one will hear you." + +Courtney drew himself to his knees. + +"It won't, eh? There's a gang of Secret Service men down there. +They'll blow your brains out if you--" + +"There is no one down there," said the boy, a crooked smile on his +lips. + +"I tell you there is," cried the other, desperately. "I heard them. +They trailed me here. They--" + +"I guess I put one over on you, Courtney," interrupted Cale, his +voice low and deadly. "I am the fellow that chased you here. There's +nobody else. Oh, I know they're looking for you,--but they don't +know where you are. Nobody knows but me. I saw you sneaking across +that lot back yonder. I was down at the ferry--I saw--Rosabel--there." +His voice faltered. He steadied it with an effort before going on. +"I was too late. She wrote me. Then father telegraphed me--They let +me off. I came as soon as I could. I ran all the way from Hawkins. +I knew what had happened. She wrote me. But I thought maybe she'd +lose her nerve,--or, maybe you would do the right thing by her and +save her. I saw her down there on the dock. You did it. You got +her into trouble. You--" + +"I don't know what you are talking about," cried the other. +"What's this you are saying? Have you lost your mind, Cale? My God, +boy,--I,--why, what sort of a beast do you think I am? I--I adored +her. Come, come, Cale! Calm yourself! You know perfectly well how +fond I was of her. I couldn't have done anything so foul as--Why, +Cale, she was nothing but a kid, a little girl to me. I--" + +"Yes,--that's what she was,--a kid, just a poor little kid. She +trusted you. I trusted you. We all trusted you. And now she's--she's +dead. My sister! My pretty little sister!" He straightened up and +threw his arm across his eyes, only to withdraw it instantly. "GOD +DAMN YOU! Get up! Come over here! Here's her letter. Read it! Read +it, you dirty swine!" + +He reached inside his blouse and drew forth a folded bit of paper. + +"I--I don't want to read it," faltered Thane, shrinking back. "I +know nothing about all this nonsense you are--" + +"I give you ten seconds to do what I tell you," grated Cale, harshly. +"If you don't I'll blow your head off." He levelled the revolver. +"It's your own gun,--so I guess you know it's loaded. Come on!" + +Thane crawled to the fire. + +"My God,--you wouldn't kill me, Cale?" he gasped, reaching out his +shaking hand for the letter. + +"Read it!" ordered the inexorable voice. + +It was a short letter. Courtney took it in as a whole; the dancing, +jumbled web of words that raced before his glazed eyes. Parts of +sentences, a word here and there, his own name, filtered through +the veil,--and were lost in the chaos of his own thoughts. + +He was not thinking of Rosabel's letter. If he could only catch +Cale off his guard,--just for a second or two! A swift leap, a blow, +and--but a lightning glance out of the corner of his eye killed +the thought even as it was being created. Cale would not be off his +guard. He was watching like a hawk, his body bent slightly forward, +the revolver held in a grip of steel. + +"Well?" cried Cale. "Have you read it?" + +"Yes," whispered Courtney through his stiff lips. "It's not true, +Cale,--it's not true!" + +"Yes, it is true. Rosie would not lie about herself like that. No +girl would. Every word of it is true." He snatched the paper from +Courtney's palsied hands and cast it into the waning fire. "No +one shall ever see that letter. I would not have mother know what +I know for all the world. She'll never know about Rosie." + +Courtney took hope. "By gad, Cale, that's fine of you. I promise +you, on my word of honour, no one ever shall know. I'll keep the +secret with you. You--" + +"There will be only one person left in all the world that knows +about Rosie," said Cale in a strangely quiet tone. + +His left hand went out swiftly. The fingers clutched Courtney's +hair, pushing his head back. Even as the wretch opened his lips to +squeal for mercy, the cold muzzle of the weapon was jammed against +the flesh under his ear. There was a loud explosion.... + +Young Cale Vick stood for a long time looking down at the inert thing +at his feet. Then he calmly stooped over and placed the pistol in +one of the outstretched hands, closing the stiff fingers over it. +Scattering the fire with his feet, he trampled out what was left +of the feeble flames, and then strode to the mouth of the cave. He +stood rigid for a long time, listening. A dog was howling mournfully +away off in the night; an owl was hooting somewhere in the trees +nearby. He turned and began the descent, and there was neither +remorse nor terror in his soul. + +A few days later the report reached Windomville that a farmer up +the river had seen a light in Quill's Window the night that Rosabel +Vick was found, and all the superstitious shook their heads and +talked of ghosts. + + + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Quill's Window, by George Barr McCutcheon + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUILL'S WINDOW *** + +***** This file should be named 6044.txt or 6044.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/4/6044/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Quill's Window + +Author: George Barr McCutcheon + +Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6044] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 23, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, QUILL'S WINDOW *** + + + + +Charles Aldarondo, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team. + + + +[Illustration: "What are you doing up here?"] + +QUILL'S WINDOW + +BY GEORGE BARR McCUTCHEON + +FRONTISPIECE BY + +C. ALLAN GILBERT + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + + +CHAPTER + + I THE FORBIDDEN ROCK + II THE STORY THE OLD MAN TOLD + III COURTNEY THANE + IV DOWD'S TAVERN + V TRESPASS + VI CHARLIE WEBSTER ENTERTAINS + VII COURTNEY APPEARS IN PUBLIC + VIII ALIX THE THIRD + IX A MID-OCTOBER DAY + X THE CHIMNEY CORNER + XI THANE VISITS TWO HOUSES + XII WORDS AND LETTERS + XIII THE OLD INDIAN TRAIL + XIV SUSPICION + XV THE FACE AT THE WINDOW + XVI ROSABEL + XVII SHADOWS +XVIII MR. GILFILLAN IS PUZZLED + XIX BRINGING UP THE PAST + XX THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ROSABEL VICK + XXI OUT OF THE NIGHT + XXII THE THROWER OF STONES +XXIII A MESSAGE AND ITS ANSWER + XXIV AT QUILL'S WINDOW + + + + + +QUILL'S WINDOW + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE FORBIDDEN ROCK + + + + +A young man and an old one sat in the shade of the willows beside +the wide, still river. The glare of a hot August sun failed to +penetrate the shelter in which they idled; out upon the slow-gliding +river it beat relentlessly, creating a pale, thin vapour that +clung close to the shimmering surface and dazzled the eye with an +ever-shifting glaze. The air was lifeless, sultry, stifling; not a +leaf, not a twig in the tall, drooping willows moved unless stirred +by the passage of some vagrant bird. + +The older man sat on the ground, his back against the trunk of a +tree that grew so near to the edge that it seemed on the point of +toppling over to shatter the smooth, green mirror below. Some of its +sturdy exposed roots reached down from the bank into the water, +where they caught and held the drift from upstream,--reeds and +twigs and matted grass,--a dirty, sickly mass that swished lazily +on the flank of the slow-moving current. + +The water here in the shade was deep and clear and limpid, contrasting +sharply with the steel-white surface out beyond. + +The young man occupied a decrepit camp stool, placed conveniently +against the trunk of another tree hard by. A discarded bamboo rod +lay beside him on the bank, the hook and line hopelessly tangled +in the drift below. He smoked cigarettes. + +His companion held a well-chewed black cigar in the vise-like corner +of his mouth. His hook and line were far out in the placid water, +an ordinary cork serving as a "bob" from which his dreary, unwavering +gaze seldom shifted. + +"I guess they're through bitin' for today," he remarked, after a +long unbroken silence. + +"How many have we got?" inquired the other languidly. + +"Between us we've got twenty-four. That's a fair-sized mess. Sunfish +don't make much of a showing unless you get a barrel of 'em." + +"Good eating though," mused the young man. + +"Fried in butter," supplemented the other. "What time is it?" + +"Half-past nine." + +"Well, that's just about what I'd figured. I've been fishin' in +this 'hole' for something like forty years, off and on, and I've +found out that these here sunfish get through breakfast at exactly +eighteen minutes past nine. I always allow about ten minutes' leeway +in case one or two of 'em might have been out late the night before +or something,--but as a general thing they're pretty dog-goned +prompt for breakfast. Specially in August. Even a fish is lazy in +August. Look at that fish-worm. By gosh, it's BOILED! That shows +you how hot the water is." + +He removed the worm from the hook and slowly began to twist the +pole in the more or less perfunctory process of "winding up" the +line. The young man looked on disinterestedly. + +"Ain't you going to untangle that line?" inquired the old man, +jerking his thumb. + +"What's the use? The worm is dead by this time, and God knows +I prefer to let him rest in peace. The quickest way to untangle a +line is to do it like this." + +He severed it with his pocket-knife. + +"A line like that costs twenty-five cents," said the old man, a +trace of dismay in his voice. + +"That's what it cost when it was new," drawled the other. "You +forget it's been a second-hand article since eight o'clock this +morning,--and what's a second-hand fish-line worth?--tell me that. +How much would you give, in the open market, or at an auction sale, +for a second-hand fish-line?" + +"I guess we'd better be gittin' back to the house," said the other, +ignoring the question. "Got to clean these fish if we're expectin' +to have 'em for dinner,--or lunch, as you fellers call it. I'll +bet your grandfather never called it lunch. And as for him callin' +supper DINNER,--why, by crickey, he NEVER got drunk enough for +that." + +"More than that," said the young man calmly, "he never saw a cigarette, +or a telephone, or a Ford, or a safety-razor,--or a lot of other +things that have sprung up since he cashed in his checks. To be +sure, he did see a few things I've never seen,--such as clay-pipes, +canal boats, horse-hair sofas, top-boots and rag-carpets,--and he +probably saw Abraham Lincoln,--but, for all that, I'd rather be +where I am today than where he is,--and I'm not saying he isn't in +heaven, either." + +The older man's eyes twinkled. "I don't think he's any nearer heaven +than he was forty years ago,--and he's been dead just about that +long. He wasn't what you'd call a far-seeing man,--and you've got +to look a long ways ahead if you want to see heaven. Your grandma's +in heaven all right,--and I'll bet she was the most surprised mortal +that ever got inside the pearly gates if she found him there ahead +of her. Like as not she would have backed out, thinking she'd got +into the wrong place by mistake. And if he IS up there, I bet he's +making the place an everlastin' hell for her. Yep, your grandpa was +about as mean as they make 'em. As you say, he didn't know anything +about cigarettes, but he made up for it by runnin' after women and +fast horses,--or maybe it was hosses and, fast women,--and cheatin' +the eye teeth out of everybody he had any dealings with." + +"I don't understand how he happened to die young, If all these things +were true about him," said the other, lighting a fresh cigarette +and drawing in a deep, full breath of the pungent smoke. The old +man waited a few seconds for the smoke to be expelled, and then, +as it came out in a far-reaching volume, carrying far on the still +air, his face betrayed not only relief but wonder. + +"You don't actually swaller it, do you?" he inquired. + +"Certainly not. I inhale, that's all. Any one can do it." + +"I'd choke to death," said the old man, shifting his cigar hastily +from one side of his mouth to the other, and taking a fresh grip on +it with his teeth,--as if fearing the consequences of a momentary +lapse of control. + +"You've been chewing that cigar for nearly two hours," observed +the young man. "I call that a filthy habit." + +"I guess you're right," agreed the other, amiably. "The best you +can say for it is that it's a man's job, and not a woman's," he +added, with all the scorn that the cigar smoker has for the man +who affects nothing but cigarettes. + +"You can't make me sore by talking like that," said his companion, +stretching himself lazily. "Approximately ten million men smoked +cigarettes over in France for four years and more, and I submit +that they had what you might call a man's job on their hands." + +"How many of them things do you smoke in a day?" + +"It depends entirely on how early I get up in the morning,--and +how late I stay up at night. Good Lord, it's getting hotter every +minute. For two cents, I'd strip and jump in there for a game of +hide and seek with the fish. By the way, I don't suppose there are +any mermaids in these parts, are there?" + +"You stay out of that water," commanded the old man. "You ain't +strong enough yet to be takin' any such chances. You're here to get +well, and you got to be mighty all-fired careful. The bed of that +river is full of cold springs,--and it's pretty deep along this +stretch. Weak as you are,--and as hot as you are,--you'd get cramps +in less'n a minute." + +"I happen to be a good swimmer." + +"So was Bart Edgecomb,--best swimmer I ever saw. He could swim +back an' forth across this river half a dozen times,--and do you +know what happened to him last September? He drowned in three foot +of water up above the bend, that's what he did. Come on. Let's be +movin'. It'll be hotter'n blazes by eleven o'clock, and you oughtn't +to be walkin' in the sun." + +The young man settled himself a little more comfortably against +the tree. + +"I think I'll stay here in the shade for a while longer. Don't be +uneasy. I shan't go popping into the water the minute your back's +turned. What was it you said early this morning about sniffing rain +in the air?" + +"Thunderstorms today, sure as my name's Brown. Been threatening +rain for nearly a week. Got to come some time, and I figure today's--" + +"Threats are all we get," growled the young man peevishly. "Lord, +I never dreamed I could get so sick of white skies and what you call +fresh air. You farmers go to bed every night praying for rain, and +you get up in the morning still praying, and what's the result? +Nothing except a whiter sky than the day before, and a greater +shortage of fresh air. Don't talk to me about country air and +country sunshine and country quiet. My God, it never was so hot +and stifling as this in New York, and as for peace and quiet,--why, +those rotten birds in the trees around the house make more noise +than the elevated trains at the rush hour, and the rotten roosters +begin crowing just about the time I'm going to sleep, and the +dogs bark, and the cows,--the cows do whatever cows do to make a +noise,--and then the crows begin to yawp. And all night long the +katydids keep up their beastly racket, and the frogs in the pond +back of the barns,--my God, man, the city is as silent as the grave +compared to what you get in the country." + +"I manage to sleep through it all," said the old man drily. "The +frogs and katydids don't keep me awake." + +"Yes, and that reminds me of another noise that makes the night +hideous. It's the way you people sleep. At nine o'clock sharp, +every night, the whole house begins to snore, and--Say, I've seen +service in France, I've slept in barracks with scores of tired +soldiers, I've walked through camps where thousands of able-bodied +men were snoring their heads off,--but never have I heard anything +so terrifying as the racket that lasts from nine to five in the +land of my forefathers. Gad, it sometimes seems to me you're all +trying to make my forefathers turn over in their graves up there +on the hill." + +"You're kind of peevish today, ain't you?" inquired the other, +grinning. "You'll get used to the way we snore before long, and +you'll kind of enjoy it. I'd be scared to death if I got awake in +the night and didn't hear everybody in the house snoring. It's kind +of restful to know that everybody's asleep,--and not dead. If they +wasn't snoring, I'd certainly think they was dead." + +The young man smiled. "I'll say this much for you farmers,--you're +a good-natured bunch. I ought to be ashamed of myself for grousing. +I suppose it's because I've been sick. You're all so kind and +thoughtful,--and so darned GENUINE,--even when you're asleep,--that +I feel like a dog for finding fault. By the way, you said something +awhile ago about that big black cliff over yonder having a history. +I've been looking at that cliff or hill or rock, or whatever it is, +and it doesn't look real. It doesn't look as though God had made +it. It's more like the work of man. So far as I can see, there isn't +another hill on either bank of the river, and yet that thing over +there must be three or four hundred feet high, sticking up like a +gigantic wart on the face of the earth. What is it? Solid rock?" + +"Sort like slate rock, I guess. There's a stretch of about a mile +on both sides of the river along here that's solid rock. This bank +we're standin' on is rock, covered with six or eight foot of earth. +You're right about that big rock over there being a queer thing. +There's been college professors and all sorts of scientific men +here, off and on, to examine it and to try to account for its being +there. But, thunderation, if it's been there for a million years +as they say, what's the sense of explaining it?" + +"There's something positively forbidding about it. Gives you the +willies. How did it come by the name you called it a while ago?" + +"Quill's Window? Goes back to the days of the Indians. Long before +the time of Tecumseh or The Prophet. They used to range up and down +this river more than a hundred years ago. The old trail is over +there on the other bank as plain as day, covered with grass but +beaten down till it's like a macadam road. I suppose the Indians +followed that trail for hundreds of years. There's still traces +of their camps over there on that side, and a little ways down the +river is a place where they had a regular village. Over here on +this side, quite a little ways farther down, is the remains of an +old earthwork fort used by the French long before the Revolution, +and afterwards by American soldiers about the time of the War of +1812. We'll go and look at it some day if you like. Most people +are interested in it, but for why, I can't see. + +"There ain't nothing to see but some busted up breastworks and +lunettes, covered with weeds, with here and there a sort of opening +where they must have had a cannon sticking out to scare the squaws +and papooses. You was askin' about the name of that rock. Well, it +originally had an Indian name, which I always forget because it's +the easiest way to keep from pronouncing it. Then the French came +along and sort of Frenchified the name,--which made it worse, far +as I'm concerned. I'm not much on French. About three-quarters of +the way up the rock, facing the river, is a sort of cave. You can't +see the opening from here, 'cause it faces north, looking up the +river from the bend. There are a lot of little caves and cracks in +the rock, but none of 'em amounts to anything except this one. It +runs back something like twenty foot in the rock and is about as +high as a man's head. + +"Shortly after General Harrison licked The Prophet and his warriors +up on the Tippecanoe, a man named Quill,--an Irishman from down +the river some'eres towards Vincennes,--all this is hearsay so far +as I'm concerned, mind you,--but as I was saying, this man Quill +begin to make his home up in that cave. He was what you might call +a hermit. There were no white people in these parts except a few +scattered trappers and some people living in a settlement twenty-odd +miles south of here. As the story goes, this man Quill lived up there +in that cave for about four or five years, hunting and trapping all +around the country. White people begin to get purty thick in these +parts soon after that, Indiana having been made a state. There was +a lot of coming and going up and down the river. A feller named +Digby started a kind of settlement or trading-post further up, +and clearings were made all around,--farms and all that, you see. +Your great grandfather was one of the first men to settle in this +section. Coming down the river by night you could see the light, +up there in Quill's Cave. You could see it for miles, they say. +People begin to speak of it as the light in Quill's window,--and +that's how the name happened. I'm over seventy, and I've never +heard that hill called anything but Quill's Window." + +"What happened to Quill?" + +"Well, that's something nobody seems to be quite certain about. +Whether he hung himself or somebody else done the job for him, +nobody knows. According to the story that was told when I was a +boy, it seems he killed somebody down the river and come up here +to hide. The relations of the man he killed never stopped hunting +for him. A good many people were of the opinion they finally tracked +him to that cave. In any case, his body was found hanging by the +neck up there one day, on a sort of ridge-pole he had put in. This +was after people had missed seeing the light in Quill's Window for +quite a spell. There are some people who still say the cave is +ha'nted. When I was a young boy, shortly before the Civil War, a +couple of horse thieves were chased up to that cave and--ahem!--I +reckon your grandfather, if he was alive, could tell you all about +what became of 'em and who was in the party that stood 'em up against +the back wall of the cave and shot 'em. There's another story that +goes back even farther than the horse thieves. The skeleton of +a woman was found up there, with the skull split wide open. That +was back in 1830 or 1840. So, you see, when all of them ghosts get +together and begin scrapping over property rights, it's enough to +scare the gizzard out of 'most anybody that happens to be in the +neighbourhood. But I guess old man Quill was the first white man +to shuffle off, so it's generally understood that his ghost rules +the roost. Come on now, let's be moving. It's gettin' hotter +every minute, and you oughtn't to be out in all this heat. For the +Lord's sake, you ain't going to light another one of them things, +are you?" + +"Sure. It's the only vice I'm capable of enjoying at present. Being +gassed and shell-shocked, and then having the flu and pneumonia +and rheumatism,--and God knows what else,--sort of purifies a chap, +you see." + +"Well, all I got to say is--I guess I'd better not say it, after +all." + +"You can't hurt my feelings." + +"I'm not so sure about that," said the old man gruffly. + +"How do you get up to that cave?" + +"You ain't thinking of trying it, are you?" apprehensively. + +"When I'm a bit huskier, yes." + +The old man removed his cigar in order to obtain the full effect +of a triumphant grin. + +"Well, in the first place, you can't get up to it. You've got to +come down to it. The only way to get to the mouth of that cave is +to lower yourself from the top of the rock. And in the second place, +you can't get DOWN to it because it ain't allowed. The owner of all +the land along that side of the river has got 'no trespass' signs +up, and NOBODY'S allowed to climb to the top of that rock. She's +all-fired particular about it, too. The top of that rock is sacred +to her. Nobody ever thinks of violatin' it. All around the bottom +of the slope back of the hill she's got a white picket fence, and +the gate to it is padlocked. You see it's her family buryin'-ground." + +"Her what?" + +"Buryin'-ground. Her father and mother are buried right smack on +top of that rock." + +The young man lifted his eyebrows. "Does that mean there are a +couple of married ghosts fighting on top of the rock every night, +besides the gang down in the--" + +"It ain't a joking matter," broke in the other sharply. + +"Go on, tell me more. The monstrosity gets more and more interesting +every minute." + +The old man chewed his cigar energetically for a few seconds before +responding. + +"I'll tell you the story tonight after supper,--not now. The only +thing I want to make clear to you is this. Everybody in this section +respects her wishes about keeping off of that rock, and I want to +ask you to respect 'em, too. It would be a dirty trick for you to +go up there, knowin' it's dead against her wishes." + +"A dirty trick, eh?" said the young man, fixing his gaze on the +blue-black summit of the forbidden rock. + + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE STORY THE OLD MAN TOLD + + + + +David Windom's daughter Alix ran away with and married Edward Crown +in the spring of 1894. + +Windom was one of the most prosperous farmers in the county. His +lands were wide, his cattle were many, his fields were vast stretches +of green and gold; his granaries, his cribs and his mows, filled +and emptied each year, brought riches and dignity and power to this +man of the soil. + +Back when the state was young, his forefathers had fared westward +from the tide-water reaches of Virginia, coming at length to the +rich, unbroken region along the river with the harsh Indian name, +and there they built their cabins and huts on lands that had cost +them little more than a song and yet were of vast dimensions. +They were of English stock. (Another branch of the family, closely +related, remains English to this day, its men sitting sometime in +Parliament and always in the councils of the nation, far removed +in every way from the Windoms in the fertile valley once traversed +by the war-like redskins.) But these Windoms of the valley were no +longer English. There had been six generations of them, and those +of the first two fought under General Washington against the +red-coats and the Hessians in the War of '76. + +David Windom, of the fourth generation, went to England for a +wife, however,--a girl he had met on the locally celebrated trip +to Europe in the early seventies. For years he was known from one +end of the county to the other as "the man who has been across the +Atlantic Ocean." The dauntless English bride had come unafraid to +a land she had been taught to regard as wild, peopled by savages +and overrun by ravenous beasts, and she had found it populated +instead by the gentlest sort of men and equally gentle beasts. + +She did a great deal for David Windom. He was a proud man +and ambitious. He saw the wisdom of her teachings and he followed +them, not reluctantly but with a fierce desire to refine what God +had given him in the shape of raw material: a good brain, a sturdy +sense of honour, and above all an imagination that lifted him +safely,--if not always sanely,--above the narrow world in which the +farmer of that day spent his entire life. Not that he was uncouth +to begin with,--far from it. He had been irritatingly fastidious +from boyhood up. His thoughts had wandered afar on frequent journeys, +and when they came back to take up the dull occupation they had +abandoned temporarily, they were broader than when they went out to +gather wool. The strong, well-poised English wife found rich soil +in which to work; he grew apace and flourished, and manifold were +the innovations that stirred a complacent community into actual +unrest. A majority of the farmers and virtually all of the farmers' +wives were convinced that Dave Windom was losing his mind, the way +he was letting that woman boss him around. + +The women did not like her. She was not one of them and never +could be one of them. Her "hired girls" became "servants" the day +she entered the ugly old farmhouse on the ridge. They were no longer +considered members of the family; they were made to feel something +they had never felt before in their lives: that they were not their +mistress's equals. + +The "hired girl" of those days was an institution. As a rule, she +moved in the same social circle as the lady of the house and it +was customary for her to intimately address her mistress by her +Christian name. She enjoyed the right to engage in all conversations; +she was, in short, "as good as anybody." The new Mrs. Windom was +not long in transporting the general housework "girl" into a totally +unexampled state of astonishment. This "girl,"--aged forty-five and +a prominent member of the Methodist Church,--announced to everybody +in the community except to Mrs. Windom herself that she was going +to leave. She did not leave. The calm serenity of the new mistress +prevailed, even over the time-honoured independence in which +the "girl" and her kind unconsciously gloried. Respect succeeded +injury, and before the bride had been in the Windom house a month, +Maria Bliss was telling the other "hired girls" of the neighbourhood +that she wouldn't trade places with them for anything in the world. + +Greatly to the consternation and disgust of other householders, +a "second girl" was added to the Windom menage,--a parlour-maid +she was called. This was too much. It was rank injustice. General +housework girls began to complain of having too much work to +do,--getting up at five in the morning, cooking for half a dozen +"hands," doing all the washing and ironing, milking, sweeping and +so on, and not getting to bed till nine or ten o'clock at night,--to +say nothing of family dinners on Sunday and the preacher in every +now and then, and all that. Moreover, Mrs. Windom herself never +looked bedraggled. She took care of her hair, wore good clothes, +went to the dentist regularly (whether she had a toothache or not), +had meals served in what Maria Bliss loftily described as "courses," +and saw to it that David Windom shaved once a day, dressed better +than his neighbours, kept his "surrey" and "side-bar buggy" washed, +his harness oiled and polished, and wore real riding-boots. + +The barnyard took on an orderly appearance, the stables were +repaired, the picket fences gleamed white in the sun, the roof of +the house was painted red, the sides a shimmering white, and there +were green window shutters and green window boxes filled with +geraniums. The front yard was kept mowed, and there were great +flower-beds encircled by snow-white boulders; a hammock was swung +in the shade of two great oaks, and--worst of all! a tennis-court +was laid out alongside the house. + +Tennis! That was a game played only by "dudes"! Passers-by looked +with scorn upon young David Windom and his flaxen-haired wife +as they played at the silly game before supper every evening. And +they went frequently to the "opera house" at the county seat, ten +miles up the river; they did not wait for summer to come with its +circus, as all the other farmers were content to do; whenever there +was a good "show" at the theatre in town they sent up for reserved +seats and drove in for supper at the principal hotel. Altogether, +young Mrs. Windom was simply "raising Cain" with the conventions. + +Strange to say, David did not "go to smash." To the intense chagrin +of the wiseacres he prospered despite an unprecedented disregard +for the teachings of his father and his grandfather before him. The +wolf stayed a long way off from his door, the prophetic mortgage +failed to lay its blight upon his lands, his crops were bountiful, +his acreage spread as the years went by,--and so his uncles, his +cousins and his aunts were never so happy as when wishing for the +good old days when his father was alive and running the farm as it +should be run! If David had married some good, sensible, thrifty, +hard-working farmer's daughter,--Well, it might not have meant an +improvement in the crops but it certainly would have spared him +the expense of a tennis court, and theatre-going, and absolutely +unnecessary trips to Chicago or Indianapolis whenever SHE took it +into her head to go. Besides, it wasn't natural that they should +deliberately put off having children. It wasn't what God and the +country expected. After a year had passed and there were no symptoms +of approaching motherhood, certain narrow-minded relatives began to +blame Great Britain for the outrage and talked a great deal about +a worn-out, deteriorating race. + +Then, after two years, when a girl baby was born to David and his +wife, they couldn't, for the life of them, understand how it came +to pass that it wasn't a boy. There had been nothing but boys in +the Windom family for years and years. It appeared to be a Windom +custom. And here was this fair-haired outsider from across the +sea breaking in with a girl! They could not believe it possible. +David,--a great, strong, perfect specimen of a Windom,--the father +of a girl! Why, they emphasized, he was over six feet tall, strong +as an ox, broad-shouldered,--as fine a figure as you would see in +a lifetime. There was something wrong,--radically wrong. + +The district suffered another shock when a nurse maid was added to +David's household,--a girl from the city who had nothing whatever +to do, except to take care of the baby while the unnatural mother +tinkered with the flower-beds, took long walks about the farm, +rode horseback, and played tennis with David and a silly crowd of +young people who had fallen into evil ways. + +She died when her daughter was ten years old. Those who had +misunderstood her and criticized her in the beginning, mourned +her deeply, sincerely, earnestly in the end, for she had triumphed +over prejudice, narrow-mindedness, and a certain form of malice. +The whole district was the better for her once hateful innovations, +and there was no one left who scoffed at David Windom for the choice +he had made of a wife. + +Her death wrought a remarkable, enduring change in Windom. He became +a silent, brooding man who rarely smiled and whose heart lay up +in the little graveyard on the ridge. The gay, larksome light fled +from his eyes, his face grew stern and sometimes forbidding. She +had taken with her the one great thing she had brought into his +life: ineffable buoyancy. He no longer played, for there was no +one with whom he would play; he no longer sang, for the music had +gone out of his soul; he no longer whistled the merry tunes, for +his lips were stiff and unyielding. Only when he looked upon his +little daughter did the soft light of love well up into his eyes +and the rigid mouth grow tender. + +She was like her mother. She was joyous, brave and fair to look +upon. She had the same heart of sunshine, the same heart of iron, +and the blue in her eyes was like the blue of the darkening skies. +She adored the grim, silent man who was her father, and she was +the breath of life to him. + +And then, when she was nineteen, she broke the heart of David Windom. +For two years she had been a student in the University situated +but half a score of miles from the place where she was born, +a co-educational institution of considerable size and importance. +Windom did not believe in women's colleges. He believed in the +free school with its broadening influence, its commingling of the +sexes in the search for learning, and in the divine right of woman +to develop her mind through the channels that lead ultimately and +inevitably to superiority of man. He believed that the girl trained +and educated in schools devoted exclusively to the finer sex fails +to achieve understanding as well as education. The only way to give +a girl a practical education,--and he believed that every woman +should have one,--was to start her off even with the boy who was +training to become her master in all respects. + +During her second year at the University she met Edward Crown, +a senior. He was the son of a blacksmith in the city, and he was +working his way through college with small assistance from his +parent, who held to the conviction that a man was far better off +if he developed his muscles by hard work and allowed the brain +to take care of itself. Young Crown was a good-looking fellow of +twenty-three, clean-minded, ambitious, dogged in work and dogged +in play. He had "made" the football team in his sophomore year. +Customary snobbishness had kept him out of the fraternities and +college societies. He may have been a good fellow, a fine student, +and a cracking end on the eleven, and all that, but he was not +acceptable material for any one of the half dozen fraternities. + +When he left college with his hard-earned degree it was to accept +a position with a big engineering company, a job which called him +out to the far Northwest. Alix Windom was his promised wife. They +were deeply, madly in love with each other. Separation seemed +unendurable. She was willing to go into the wilderness with him, +willing to endure the hardships and the discomforts of life in a +construction camp up in the mountains of Montana. She would share +his poverty and his trials as she would later share his triumphs. +But when they went to David Windom with their beautiful dream, the +world fell about their ears. + +David Windom, recovering from the shock of surprise, ordered Edward +from the house. He would sooner see his child dead than the wife +of Nick Crown's son,--Nick Crown, a drunken rascal who had been +known to beat his wife,--Nick Crown who was not even fit to lick +the feet of the horses he shod! + +One dark, rainy night in late June, Alix stole out of the old +farmhouse on the ridge and met her lover at the abandoned tollgate +half a mile up the road. He waited there with a buggy and a fast +team of horses. Out of a ramshackle cupboard built in the wall of +the toll-house, they withdrew the bundles surreptitiously placed +there by Alix in anticipation of this great and daring event, and +made off toward the city at a break-neck, reckless speed. They +were married before midnight, and the next day saw them on their +way to the Far West. But not before Alix had despatched a messenger +to her father, telling him of her act and asking his forgiveness +for the sake of the love she bore him. The same courier carried +back to the city a brief response from David Windom. In a shaken, +sprawling hand he informed her that if she ever decided to return +to her home ALONE, he would receive her and forgive her for the +sake of the love he bore her, but if she came with the coward who +stole her away from him, he would kill him before her eyes. + +II + +The summer and fall and part of the winter passed, and in early +March Alix came home. + +David Windom, then a man of fifty, gaunt and grey and powerful, +seldom had left the farm in all these months. He rode about his +far-spread estate, grim and silent, his eyes clouded, his voice +almost metallic, his manner cold and repellent. His tenants, his +labourers, his neighbours, fearing him, rarely broke in upon his +reserve. Only his animals loved him and were glad to see him,--his +dogs, his horses, even his cattle. He loved them, for they were +staunch and faithful. Never had he uttered his daughter's name in +all these months, nor was there a soul in the community possessed +of the hardihood to inquire about her or to sympathize with him. + +It was a fierce, cruel night in March that saw the return of Alix. +A fine, biting snow blew across the wide, open farmlands; the beasts +of the field were snugly under cover; no man stirred abroad unless +driven by necessity; the cold, wind-swept roads were deserted. So +no one witnessed the return of Alix Crown and her husband. They came +out of the bleak, unfriendly night and knocked at David Windom's +door. There were lights in his sitting-room windows; through them +they could see the logs blazing in the big fireplace, beside which +sat the lonely, brooding figure of Alix's father. It was late,--nearly +midnight,--and the house was still. Old Maria Bliss and the one +other servant had been in bed for hours. The farmhands slept in +a cottage Windom had erected years before, acting upon his wife's +suggestion. It stood some two or three hundred yards from the main +house. + +A dog in the stables barked, first in anger and then with unmistakable +joy. David's favourite, a big collie, sprang up from his place on +the rug before the fire and looked uneasily toward the door opening +onto the hall. Then came a rapping at the front door. The collie +growled softly as he moved toward the door. He sniffed the air in +the hall and suddenly began to whine joyously, wagging his tail as +he bounded back and forth between his master and the door. + +David Windom knew then that his daughter had come home. + +He sprang to his feet and took two long strides toward the door. +Abruptly, as if suddenly turned to stone, he stopped. For a long +time he stood immovable in the middle of the room. The rapping was +repeated, louder, heavier than before. He turned slowly, retraced +his steps to the fireplace and took from its rack in the corner a +great iron poker. His face was ashen grey, his eyes were wide and +staring and terrible. Then he strode toward the door, absolutely +unconscious of the glad, prancing dog at his side. + +In the poor shelter of the little porch stood Alix, bent and +shivering, and, behind her, Edward Crown, at whose feet rested two +huge "telescope satchels." The light from within fell dimly upon +the white, upturned face of the girl. She held out her hands to +the man who towered above her on the doorstep. + +"Daddy! Daddy!" she cried brokenly. "Oh, my daddy! Let me come +in--let me,--I--I am freezing." + +But David Windom was peering over her head at the indistinct face +of the man beyond. He wanted to be sure. Lifting his powerful arm, +he struck. + +Edward Crown, stiff and numb with cold and weak from an illness of +some duration, did not raise an arm to ward off the blow, nor was +he even prepared to dodge. The iron rod crashed down upon his head. +His legs crumpled up; he dropped in a heap at the top of the steps +and rolled heavily to the bottom, sprawling out on the snow-covered +brick walk. + +The long night wore on. Windom had carried his daughter into the +sitting-room, where he placed her on a lounge drawn up before the +fire. She had fainted. After an hour he left her and went out into +the night. The body of Edward Crown was lying where it had fallen. +It was covered by a thin blanket of snow. For a long time he stood +gazing down upon the lifeless shape. The snow cut his face, the +wind threshed about his coatless figure, but he heeded them not. He +was muttering to himself. At last he turned to re-enter the house. +His daughter was standing in the open doorway. + +"Is--is that Edward down there?" she asked, in weak, lifeless tones. +She seemed dull, witless, utterly without realization. + +"Go back in the house," he whispered, as he drew back from her in +a sort of horror,--horror that had not struck him in the presence +of the dead. + +"Is that Edward?" she insisted, her voice rising to a queer, +monotonous wail. + +"I told you to stay in the house," he said. "I told you I would look +after him, didn't I? Go back, Alix,--that's a good girl. Your--your +daddy will--Oh, my God! Don't look at me like that!" + +"Is he dead?" she whispered, still standing very straight in +the middle of the doorway. She was not looking at the inert thing +on the walk below, but into her father's eyes. He did not, could +not answer. He seemed frozen stiff. She went on in the same dull, +whispered monotone. "I begged him to let me come alone. I begged +him to let me see you first. But he would come. He brought me all +the way from the West and he--he was not afraid of you. You have +done what you said you would do. You did not give him a chance. +And always,--always I have loved you so. You will never know how I +longed to come back and have you kiss me, and pet me, and call me +those silly names you used--" + +"What's done, is done," he broke in heavily. "He is dead. It had to +be. I was insane,--mad with all these months of hatred. It is done. +Come,--there is nothing you can do. Come back into the house. I +will carry him in--and wake somebody. Tomorrow they will come and +take me away. They will hang me. I am ready. Let them come. You +must not stand there in the cold, my child." + +She toppled forward into his arms, and he lifted her as if she were +a babe and carried her into the house. The collie was whining in +the corner. Windom sat down in the big armchair before the fire, +still holding the girl in his arms. She was moaning weakly. Suddenly +a great, overwhelming fear seized him,--the fear of being hanged! + +A long time afterward,--it was after two,--he arose from his knees +beside the lounge and prepared to go out into the night once more. +Alix had promised not to send her father to the gallows. She was +almost in a stupor after the complete physical and mental collapse, +but she knew what she was doing, she realized what she was promising +in return for the blow that had robbed her of the man she loved. + +No one will ever know just what took place in that darkened +sitting-room, for the story as afterwards related was significantly +lacking in details. The light had been extinguished and the doors +silently closed by the slayer. The stiffening body of Edward Crown +out in the snow was not more silent than the interior of the old +farmhouse, apart from the room in which David Windom pleaded with +his stricken daughter. + +And all the while he was begging her to save him from the consequences +of his crime, his brain was searching for the means to dispose +of the body of Edward Crown and to provide an explanation for the +return of Alix without her husband. + +Circumstances favoured him in a surprising manner. Young Crown and +his wife had travelled down from Chicago in a day coach, and they +had left the train at a small way station some five miles west of +the Windom farm. Crown was penniless. He did not possess the means +to engage a vehicle to transport them from the city to the farm, +nor the money to secure lodging for the night in the cheapest hotel. +Alix's pride stood in the way of an appeal to her husband's father +or to any one of his friends for assistance. It was she who insisted +that they leave the train at Hawkins station and walk to Windom's +house. They had encountered no one who knew them, either on the +train or at the station; while on their cold, tortuous journey +along the dark highway they did not meet a solitary human being. + +No one, therefore, was aware of their return. + +Edward Crown's presence in the neighbourhood was unknown. If David +Windom's plan succeeded, the fact that Crown had returned with his +wife never would be known. To all inquirers both he and his daughter +were to return the flat but evasive answer: "It is something I cannot +discuss at present," leaving the world to arrive at the obvious +conclusion that Alix's husband had abandoned her. And presently +people, from sheer delicacy, would cease to inquire. No one would +know that Crown had been ill up in the mountains for weeks, had +lost his position, and had spent his last penny in getting his wife +back to the house in which she was born,--and where her own child +was soon to be born. + +Windom went about the task of secreting his son-in-law's body in a most +systematic, careful manner. He first carried the two "telescopes" +into the house and hid them in a closet. Then he put on an old +overcoat and cap, his riding boots and gloves. Stealing out to the +rear of the house, he found a lantern and secured it to his person +by means of a strap. A few minutes later he was ready to start +off on his ghastly mission. Alix nodded her head dumbly when he +commanded her to remain in the sitting-room and to make no sound +that might arouse Maria Bliss. He promised to return in less than +an hour. + +"Your father's life depends on your silence, my child, from this +moment on," he whispered in her ear. + +She started up. "And how about my husband's life?" she moaned. +"What of him? Why do you put yourself--" + +"Sh! Your husband is dead. You cannot bring him to life. It is your +duty,--do your hear?--your duty to spare the living. Remember what +I said to you awhile ago. Never forget it, my child." + +"Yes," she muttered. "'Blood is thicker than water.' I remember." + +III + +He went out into the night, closing the door softly behind him. +The collie was at his heels. He was afraid to go alone. Grimly, +resolutely he lifted the body of Edward Crown from the ground and +slung it across his shoulder, the head and arms hanging down his +back. Desperation added strength to his powerful frame. As if his +burden were a sack of meal, he strode swiftly down the walk, through +the gate and across the gravel road. The night was as black as +ink, yet he went unerringly to the pasture gate a few rods down +the road. Unlatching it, he passed through and struck out across +the open, wind-swept meadow. The dog slunk along close behind him, +growling softly. Snow was still falling, but the gale from the +north was sweeping it into drifts, obliterating his tracks almost +as soon as they were made. + +Straight ahead lay the towering, invisible rock, a quarter of a +mile away. He descended the ridge slope, swung tirelessly across +the swales and mounds in the little valley, and then bent his back +to the climb up the steep incline to Quill's Window. Picking his +way through a fringe of trees, he came to the tortuous path that +led to the crest of the great rock. Panting, dogged, straining every +ounce of his prodigious strength, he struggled upward, afraid to +stop for rest, afraid to lower his burden. The sides and the flat +summit of the rock were full of treacherous fissures, but he knew +them well. He had climbed the sides of Quill's Window scores of +times as a boy, to sit at the top and gaze off over the small world +below, there to dream of the great world outside, and of love, +adventure, travel. Many a night, after the death of his beloved +Alix, he had gone up there to mourn alone, to be nearer to the +heaven which she had entered, to be closer to her. He knew well of +the narrow fissure at the top,--six feet deep and the length of a +grave! Filled only with the leaves of long dead years! + +He lowered his burden to the bare surface of the rock. The wind +had swept it clean. Under the protecting screen of his overcoat +he struck a match and lighted the lantern. Then for the first time +he studied closely the grey, still face of the youth he had slain. +The skull was crushed. There was frozen blood down the back of the +head and neck--He started up in sudden consternation. There would +be blood-stains where the body had lain so long,--tell-tale, +convicting stains! He must be swift with the work in hand. Those +stains must be wiped out before the break of day. + +Lowering himself into the opening, he began digging at one end with +his hands, scooping back quantities of wet leaves. There was snow +down there in the pit,--a foot or more of it. After a few minutes +of vigorous clawing, a hole in the side of the fissure was revealed,--an +aperture large enough for a man to crawl into. He knew where it +led to: down into Quill's cave twenty feet below. + +Some one,--perhaps an Indian long before the time of Quill, or it +may have been Quill himself,--had chiselled hand and toe niches in +the sides of this well and had used the strange shaft as means of +getting into and out of the cave. Windom's father had closed this +shaft when David was a small boy, after the venturesome youngster +had gone down into the cave and, unable to climb out again, had +been the cause of an all-day search by his distracted parent and +every neighbour for miles around. The elder Windom had blocked the +bottom of the hole with a huge boulder, shorn from the side of the +cave by some remote wrench of nature. Then he had half filled the +cavity from the top by casting in all of the loose stones to be +found on the crest of the rock, together with a quantity of earth. +The work had never been completed. There still remained a hole some +ten feet deep. + +David Windom clambered out, leaving his lantern below. Letting the +dead man's body slide into the crevice, he followed, bent on at +least partially finishing the job. When he climbed out a second +time, Edward Crown was at the bottom of the hole and the wet, foul +leaves again hid the opening. Tomorrow night, and the night after, +he would come again to close the hole entirely with earth and +stones, hiding forever the grewsome thing in Quill's "chimney," as +the flue-like passage was called. + +Extinguishing the lantern, he started down the hill at a reckless, +break-neck speed. He had the uncanny feeling that he was being +followed, that Edward Crown was dogging his footsteps. Halfway +down, he stumbled and fell sprawling. As he started to rise, a +sound smote his ears--the sound of footsteps. For many seconds he +held his breath, terror clutching his throat. He WAS being followed! +Some one was shuffling down the rock behind him. The collie! He +had forgotten the dog. But even as he drew in the deep breath of +relief, he felt his blood suddenly freeze in his veins. It was not +the dog. Something approached that moaned and whimpered and was +not mortal. It passed by him as he crouched to the earth,--a shadow +blacker than the night itself. Suddenly the truth burst upon him. + +"My God! Alix!" + +Half an hour later he staggered into his house, bearing the form +of his daughter,--tenderly, carefully, not as he had borne the +despised dead. + +She had followed him to the top of Quill's Window, she had witnessed +the ghastly interment, and she had whispered a prayer for the boy +who was gone. + +The next day her baby was born and that night she died. Coming out +of a stupor just before death claimed her, she said to David Windom: + +"I am going to Edward. I do not forgive you, father. You must not ask +that of me. You say it is my duty to save you from the gallows,--a +child's duty to her parent. I have promised. I shall keep my +promise. It is not in my heart to send you to the gallows. You +are my father. You have always loved me. This is my baby,--mine +and Edward's. She may live,--God knows I wish I might have died +yesterday and spared her the accursed breath of life,--she may grow +up to be a woman, just as I grew up. I do not ask much of you in +return for what I have done for you, father. You have killed my +Edward. I loved him with all my soul. I do not care to live. But +my child must go on living, I suppose. My child and his. She is his +daughter. I cannot expect you to love her, but I do expect you to +take care of her. You say that blood is thicker than water. You +are right. I cannot find it in my heart to betray you. You may tell +the world whatever story you like about Edward. He is dead, and I +shall soon be dead. You can hurt neither of us, no matter what you +do. I ask two things of you. One is that you will be good to my +baby as long as you may live, and the other is that you will bury +me up there where you put Edward last night. I must lie near him +always. Say to people that I have asked you to bury me in that pit +at the top of Quill's Window,--that it was my whim, if you like. +Close it up after you have placed me there and cover it with great +rocks, so that Edward and I may never be disturbed. I want no +headstone, no epitaph. Just the stones as they were hewn by God." + +David Windom promised. He was alone in the room with her when she +died. + +IV + +Twenty years passed. Windom came at last to the end of his days. +He had fulfilled his promises to Alix. He had taken good care of +her daughter, he had given her everything in his power to give, +and he had worshipped her because she was like both of the Alixes +he had loved. She was Alix Crown,--Alix the Third, he called her. + +On the day of his death, Windom confessed the crime of that far +off night in March. In the presence of his lawyer, his doctor, +his granddaughter and the prosecuting attorney of the county, he +revealed the secret he had kept for a score of years. The mystery +of Edward Crown's disappearance was cleared up, and for the first +time in her young life Alix was shorn of the romantic notion that +one day her missing father would appear in the flesh, out of the +silences, to claim her as his own. From earliest childhood, her +imagination had dealt with all manner of dramatic situations; she +had existed in the glamour of uncertainty; she had looked upon +herself as a character worthy of a place in some gripping tale of +romance. The mound of rocks on the crest of Quill's Window, surrounded +by a tall iron paling fence with its padlocked gate, covered only +the body of the mother she had never seen. She did not know until +this enlightening hour that her father was also there and had been +throughout all the years in which fancy played so important a part. + +Like all the rest of the world, she was given to understand that +her father had cruelly abandoned her mother. In her soul she had +always cherished the hope that this heartless monster might one +day stand before her, pleading and penitent, only to be turned away +with the scorn he so richly deserved. She even pictured him as rich +and powerful, possessed of everything except the one great boon +which she alone could give him,--a daughter's love. And she would +point to the top of Quill's Window and tell him that he must first +look there for forgiveness,--under the rocks where his broken-hearted +victim slept. + +The truth stunned her. She was a long time in realizing that her +grandfather, whom she both loved and feared,--this grim, adoring +old giant,--not only had murdered her father but undoubtedly had +killed her mother as well. The story that David Windom had written +out and signed at the certain approach of death, read aloud in +his presence by the shocked and incredulous lawyer, and afterwards +printed word for word in the newspapers at the old man's command, +changed the whole course of life for her. In fact, her nature +underwent a sharp but subtle change. There was nothing left to her +of the old life, no thought, no purpose, no fancy; all had been +swept up in a heap and destroyed in the short space of half an +hour. Everything in her life had to be reconstructed, made-over to +suit the new order. She could no longer harbour vengeful thoughts +concerning her father, she could no longer charge him with the +wanton destruction of her mother's happiness. + +The grandfather she had loved all her life assumed another shape +entirely; he was no longer the same, and never again could be the +same. She did not hate him. That was impossible. She had never seen +her parents, so she had not known the love of either. They did not +belong in her life except through the sheerest imagination. Her +grandfather was the only real thing she had had in life, and she +had adored him. He had killed two people who were as nothing to her, +but he had taken the place of both. How could she bring herself to +hate this man who had destroyed what were no more than names to +her? Father,--Mother! Two words,--that was all. And for twenty +long years he had been paying,--Oh, how he must have paid! + +She recalled his reason for taking her to England when she was less +than eight years old and leaving her there until she was twelve. +She remembered that he had said he wanted her to be like her +grandmother, to grow up among her people, to absorb from them all +that had made the first Alix so strong and fine and true. And then +he had come to take her from them, back to the land of her birth, +because, he said, he wanted her to be like her mother, the second +Alix,--an American woman. She recalled his bitter antipathy to +co-educational institutions and his unyielding resolve that she should +complete her schooling in a Sacred Heart Convent. She remembered +the commotion this decision created among his neighbours. In her +presence they had assailed him with the charge that he was turning +the girl over, body and soul, to the Catholic Church, and he had +uttered in reply the never to be forgotten words: + +"If I never do anything worse than that for her, I'll be damned +well satisfied with my chance of getting into heaven as soon as +the rest of you." + +When David's will was read, it was found that except for a few +small bequests, his entire estate, real and personal, was left to +his granddaughter, Alix Crown, to have and to hold in perpetuity +without condition or restriction of any sort or character. + +The first thing she did was to have a strong picket fence constructed +around the base of the hill leading up to Quill's Window, shutting +off all accessible avenues of approach to the summit. Following +close upon the publication of David Windom's confession, large +numbers of people were urged by morbid curiosity to visit the +strange burial-place of Edward and Alix Crown. The top of Quill's +Window became the most interesting spot in the county. Alix the +Third was likewise an object of vast interest, and the old, deserted +farmhouse on the ridge came in for its share of curiosity. + +Almost immediately after the double tragedy and the birth of little +Alix, David Windom moved out of the house and took up his residence +in the riverside village of Windomville, a mile to the south. +The old house was closed, the window shutters nailed up, the doors +barred, and all signs of occupancy removed. It was said that he never +put foot inside the yard after his hasty, inexplicable departure. +The place went to rack and ruin. In course of time he built a new +and modern house nearer the village, and this was now one of the +show places of the district. + +The influence of Alix the First was expressed in the modelling +of house and grounds, the result being a picturesque place with a +distinctly English atmosphere, set well back from the highway in +the heart of a grove of oaks,--a substantial house of brick with +a steep red tile roof, white window casements, and a wide brick +terrace guarded by a low ivy-draped wall. English ivy swathed the +two corners of the house facing the road, mounting high upon the +tall red chimneys at the ends. There were flower-beds below the +terrace, and off to the right there was an old-fashioned garden. +The stables were at the foot of the hill some distance to the rear +of the house. + +The village of Windomville lay below, hugging the river, a relic of +the days when steamboats plied up and down the stream and railways +were remote, a sleepy, insignificant, intensely rural hamlet of +less than six hundred inhabitants. Its one claim to distinction was +the venerable but still active ferry that laboured back and forth +across the river. Of secondary importance was the ancient dock, +once upon a time the stopping place of steamboats, but now a rotten, +rickety obstruction upon which the downstream drift lodged in an +unsightly mass. + +In the solid red-brick house among the oaks Alix the Third had spent +her childhood days. She was taken to England when she was eight +by her haunted grandfather, not only to receive the bringing-up of +an English child, but because David Windom's courage was breaking +down. As she grew older, the resemblance to Edward Crown became +more and more startling. She had his dark, smiling eyes; his wavy +brown hair; her very manner of speech was like his. To David Windom, +she was the re-incarnation of the youth he had slain. Out of her +eyes seemed to look the soul of Edward Crown. He could not stand it. +She became an obsession, a curious source of fascination. He could +not bear her out of his sight, and yet when she was with him, smiling +up into his eyes,--he was deathly afraid of her. There were times +when he was almost overcome by the impulse to drop to his knees +and plead for forgiveness as he looked into the clear, friendly, +questioning eyes of Edward Crown. + +And her voice, her speech,--therein lay the true cause of his taking +her to England. When she came home to him, after four years, there +was no trace of Edward Crown in her voice or manner of speaking. +She was almost as English as Alix the First. But her eyes had not +changed; he was still a haunted man. + +In the little graveyard on the outskirts of the village more than +a score of Windoms lie. With them lies all that was mortal of fair +Alix the First, and beside her is David Windom, the murderer. + + + + + +CHAPTER III + +COURTNEY THANE + + + + +"And what has become of Alix the Third?" inquired the young man, +squinting at his wristwatch and making out in the semi-darkness +that it was nearly half-past nine. + +He had listened somewhat indulgently to the story of the three Alixes. +The old man, prompted and sometimes disputed by other members of +the family, had narrated in his own simple way the foregoing tale, +arriving at the end in a far more expeditious and certainly in a +less studied manner than the present chronicler employs in putting +the facts before his readers. The night was hot. He was occasionally +interrupted by various members of the little group on the front +porch of the big old farmhouse, the interruption invariably taking +the form of a conjecture concerning the significance of certain +signs ordinarily infallible in denoting the approach of rain. Heat +lightning had been playing for an hour or more in the gloomy west; +a tree-toad in a nearby elm was prophesying thunder in unmelodious +song: night-birds fluttered restlessly among the lofty branches; +widely separated whiffs of a freshening wind came around the corner +of the house. All of these had a barometric meaning to the wistful +group. There was a thunderstorm on the way. It was sure to come +before morning. The prayers inaugurated a month ago were at last +to be answered. + +As old man Brown drily remarked: "There's one satisfaction about +prayin' for rain. If you keep at it long enough, you're bound to +get what you're askin' for. Works the same way when you're prayin' +for it to stop rainin'. My grandfather once prayed for a solid two +months before he got rain, and then, by gosh, he had to pray for +nearly three weeks to get it to quit." + +Supper over, the young man had reminded his venerable angling +companion of his promise to relate the history of Quill's Window. +Old Caleb Brown was the father of Mrs. Vick,--Lucinda Vick, wife +of the farmer in whose house the young man was spending a month as +a boarder. + +The group on the porch included Amos Vick, anxious, preoccupied, +and interested only in the prospect of rain; his daughter Rosabel, +aged eighteen, a very pretty and vivacious girl, interested only +in the young man from the far-off, mysterious city in the East; his +son Caleb, a rugged youth of nineteen; Mrs. Vick, and a neighbour +named White, who had come over for the sole purpose of finding out +just what Amos Vick thought about the weather. Two dogs lay panting +on the dry grass at the foot of the steps. + +"Oh, she's living over there in the Windom house," said Mrs. Vick. + +"Sort of running the place," explained Mr. Brown, a trace of irony +in his voice. + +"Well," put in Amos Vick, speaking for the first time in many minutes, +"she's got a lot of sense, that girl has. She may be letting on +that she's running the farm, but she ain't, you bet. That's where +she's smart. She's got sense enough to know she don't know anything +about running a farm, and while she puts on a lot of airs and acts +kind of important like, the real truth is she leaves everything to +old Jim Bagley. I guess you don't know who Jim Bagley is, do you, +Courtney?" + +"I can't say that I do," replied the young man. + +"Well, he's about the slickest citizen you ever saw. From what +father here says about your granddad, he must have been a purty +hard customer to deal with, but, by ginger, if he was any worse +than Jim Bagley in driving a bargain, I'm glad he died as long ago +as he did." + +"You're just sore, Amos," said his wife, "because Mr. Bagley got +the best of you in that hog deal three years ago." + +"Oh, Lord, ain't you ever going to get tired of throwin' that up +to me?" groaned Mr. Vick. "I never mention Jim Bagley's name but +what you up and say something about them hogs. Now, as a matter of +fact, them hogs--" + +"For goodness sake, Pa, you're not going to tell Mr. Thane about +that hog business, are you?" cried Rosabel. + +"Well, when your Ma begins to insinuate that I got the worst of--" + +"I don't say that you got the worst of it, Amos," interrupted Mrs. +Vick good-humouredly. "I only say that he got the best of it." + +"Well, if that don't come to the same--" + +"Looks to me, Amos, like we'd get her good and plenty before mornin'," +broke in Mr. White. He was referring to the weather. "That ain't +all heat lightnin' over there. Seems to me I heard a little thunder +just now." + +"Alix Crown is away a good part of the time, Courtney," said Mrs. +Vick, taking up the thread where it had been severed by recrimination. +"All through the war,--long before we went in,--she was up in town +working for the Belgiums, and then, when we did go in, she went +East some'eres to learn how to be a nurse or drive an ambulance or +something,--New York, I believe. And as for money, she contributed +quite a bit--how much do they say it was, Amos?" + +"Well, all I know is that Mary Simmons says she gave ten thousand +dollars and Josie Fiddler says it was three hundred,--so you can +choose between 'em." + +"She did her share, all right," said young Caleb defensively. +"That's more'n a lot of people around here did." + +"Gale's in love with her, Mr. Thane," explained Rosabel. "She's +five years older than he is, and don't know he's on earth." + +"Aw, cut that out," growled Caleb. + +"Is she good-looking?" inquired Courtney Thane. + +"I don't like 'em quite as tall as she is," said Mr. White. + +"She's got a good pair of legs," said old Caleb Brown, shifting +his cigar with his tongue. + +"We're not talking about horses, father," said Mrs. Vick sharply. + +"Who said we was?" demanded old Caleb. + +"Most people think she's good-looking," said Rosabel, somewhat +grudgingly. "And she isn't any taller than I am, Mr. White." + +"Well, you ain't no dwarft, Rosie," exclaimed Farmer White, with a +brave laugh. "You must be five foot seven or eight, but you ain't +skinny like she is. She'd ought to weigh about a hunderd and sixty, +for her height, and I'll bet she don't weigh more'n a hunderd and +thirty." + +"I wouldn't call that skinny," remarked Courtney. + +"She wears these here new-fangled britches when she's on horseback," +said old Caleb, justifying his observation. "Rides straddle, like +a man. You can't help seeing what kind of--" + +"That will do, Pa," broke in his wife. "It's no crime for a woman +to wear pants when she's riding, although I must say I don't think +it's very modest. I never rode any way except side-saddle,--and +neither has Rosabel. I've brought her up--" + +"Don't you be too sure of that, Ma," interrupted young Caleb +maliciously. + +"I never did it but once, and you know it, Cale Vick," cried Rosabel, +blushing violently. + +The subject was abruptly changed by Mr. White. + +"Well, I guess I'll be moseyin' along home, Amos. That certainly +did sound like thunder, didn't it? And that tree-toad has stopped +signallin',--that's a sure sign. Like as not I'll get caught in +the rain if I don't,--what say, Lucindy?" + +"Do you want an umberell, Steve?" + +"I should say not! What do you want me to do? Scare the rain off? +No, sir! Rain's the funniest thing in the world. If it sees you +got an umberell it won't come within a hunderd miles of you. That's +why I got my Sunday clothes on, and my new straw hat. Sometimes +that'll bring rain out of a clear sky,--that an' a Sunday-school +picnic. It's a pity we couldn't have got up a Sunday-school +picnic,--but then, of course, that wouldn't have done any good. +You can't fool a rainstorm. So long, Amos. Night, everybody. Night, +Courtney. As I was sayin' awhile ago, I used to go to school with +your pa when him an' me was little shavers,--up yonder at the old +Kennedy schoolhouse. Fifty odd years ago. Seems like yesterday. +How old did you say you was?" + +"Twenty-eight, Mr. White." + +"And your pa's been dead--how long did you say?" + +"He died when I was twenty-two." + +"Funny your ma didn't bring him out here and bury him 'longside his +father and all the rest of 'em up in the family burying-ground," +was Mr. White's concluding observation as he ambled off down the +gravel walk to the front gate. + +"I wish you'd brought your croix de guerre along with you, Mr. +Thane," said young Caleb, his eyes gleaming in the faint light +from the open door. "I guess I don't pronounce it as it ought to +be. I'm not much of a hand at French." + +"You came pretty close to it," said Thane, with a smile. "You see, +Cale, it's the sort of thing one puts away in a safe place. That's +why I left it in New York. Mother likes to look at it occasionally. +Mothers are queer creatures, you know. They like to be reminded of +the good things their sons have done. It helps 'em to forget the +bad things, I suppose." + +"You're always joking," pouted Rosabel, leaning forward, ardour +in her wide, young eyes. "If I was a boy and had been in the war, +I'd never stop talking about it." + +"And I'd have been in it, too, if pa hadn't up and told 'em I was +only a little more than fifteen," said Cale, glowering at his father +in the darkness. + +"You mustn't blame your pa, Cale," rebuked his mother. "He knows +what a soldier's life is better than you do. He was down in that +camp at Chattanooga during the Spanish War, and almost died of +typhoid, Courtney. And when I think of the way our boys died by +the millions of the flu, I--well, I just know you would have died +of it, sonny, and I wouldn't have had any cross or medal to look +at, and--and--" + +"Don't begin cryin', Lucindy," broke in old Caleb hastily. "He didn't +die of the flu, so what's the sense of worryin' about it now? He +didn't even ketch it, and gosh knows, the whole blamed country was +full of it that winter." + +"Well," began Mrs. Vick defensively, and then compressed her lips +in silence. + +"I think it was perfectly wonderful of you, Mr. Thane, to go over +to France and fight in the American Ambulance so long before we +went into the war." This from the adoring Rosabel. "I wish you'd +tell us more about your experiences. They must have been terrible. +You never talk about them, though. I think the real heroes were the +fellows who went over when you did,--when you didn't really have +to, because America wasn't in it." + +"The American Ambulance wasn't over there to fight, you know," +explained Courtney. + +"What did you get the cross for if you weren't fighting?" demanded +young Cale. + +"For doing what a whole lot of other fellows did,--simply going +out and getting a wounded man or two in No-Man's Land. We didn't +think much about it at the time." + +"Was it very dangerous?" asked Rosabel. + +"I suppose it was,--more or less so," replied Thane indifferently. +He even yawned. "I'd rather talk about Alix the Third, if it's all +the same to you. Is she light or dark?" + +"She's a brunette," said Rosabel shortly. "All except her eyes. +They're blue. How long were you up at the front, Mr. Thane?" + +"Oh, quite a while,--several months, in fact. At first we were in +a place where there wasn't much fighting. Just before the first +big Verdun drive we were transferred to that sector, and then we +saw a lot of action." + +"Some battle, wasn't it?" exclaimed young Cale, a thrill in his +voice. + +"Certainly was," said Courtney. "We used to work forty-eight hours +at a stretch, taking 'em back by the thousands." + +"How near did the shells ever come to you?" + +"Oh, sometimes as close as twenty or thirty feet. I remember one +that dropped in the road about fifty feet ahead of my car, and +before I could stop we ran plunk into the hole it made and upset. +I suppose the Windom estate must be a pretty big one, isn't it, +Mr. Vick?" + +"Taking everything into consideration, it amounts to nearly a million +dollars. David Windom had quite a bit of property up in the city, +aside from his farm, and he owned a big ranch out in Texas. The +grain elevator in Windomville belonged to him,--still belongs to +Alix Crown,--and there's a three mile railroad connecting with the +main line over at Smith's Siding. Every foot of it is on his land. +He built the railroad about twenty year ago, and the elevator, +too,--out of spite, they say, for the men that run the elevator at +Hawkins a little further up the road. Hawkins is the place where +his daughter and Edward Crown got off the train the night of the +murder." + +"And this young girl owns all of it,--farms, ranch, railroad and +everything?" + +"Every cent's worth of it is her'n. There ain't a sign of a mortgage +on any of it, either. It's as clear as a blank sheet of writin' +paper." + +"When was it you were gassed, Mr. Thane?" inquired young Caleb. + +"Oh, that was when I was in the air service,--only a few weeks +before the armistice." + +"You left your wings at home, too, I suppose?" + +"Yes. Mother likes to look at the only wings I'll probably ever +have,--now or hereafter." + +"How does it come, Court, that you went into the British air corpse, +'stead of in the U. S. A.?" inquired old Caleb. + +"I joined the Royal Flying Corps, Mr. Brown, because the Americans +wouldn't have me," replied Thane tersely. "I tried to get in, but +they wouldn't pass me. Said I had a weak heart and a whole lot +of rubbish like that. It's no wonder the American Air Service was +punk. I went over to Toronto and they took me like a shot in the +Royal British. They weren't so blamed finicky and old womanish. +All they asked for in an applicant was any kind of a heart at all +so long as it was with the cause. I don't suppose I ought to say +it, but the American Air Service was a joke." + +"I hope you ain't turning British in your feelings, Court," remarked +Amos Vick. "It's purty difficult to be both, you know,--English +and Yankee." + +"I'm American through and through, Mr. Vick, even though I did +serve under the British flag till I was gassed and invalided out." + +"Affects the lungs, don't it?" inquired old Caleb. + +"I don't like to talk about it, Mr. Brown. I'm trying to forget +what hell was like. I was in hospital for four months. It took a +lot more nerve to draw a breath then than it did to fly over the +German lines with the Boches popping away from all sides. I didn't +mind the wounds I sustained,--but the gas! Gee, it was horrible." + +"Your ma said in her letter to me that you'd had pneumonia twice +since you got back," said Mrs. Vick. "Was that due to the gas?" + +"I suppose so. They thought I had tuberculosis for awhile, you +see. Then, this spring, I had to go and have a bout with typhoid. +I ought to be dead, with all I've had,--but here I am, alive and +happy, and if you keep on feeding me as you have been for the past +three days, I'll live forever." + +"You mustn't overdo, Courtney," warned the farmer's wife. "Your ma +sent you out here to get well, and I feel a kind of responsibility +for you. I guess it's about time you was off to bed. Come on, Amos. +It isn't going to bring rain any sooner for you to be setting out +here watching for it." + +Old Caleb had his say. "I suppose it was all right for you to serve +with the British, Court, but if you'd waited a little while longer +you might have carried a gun over there under the Stars and Stripes. +But, as you say, you couldn't bear to wait. I give you credit for +it. I'm derned glad to see one member of the Thane family that had +the nerve to volunteer. At the time of the Civil War your grandpa +was what we call a slacker in these days. He hired a feller to go +in his place, and when that feller was killed and a second call +for volunteers come up, dogged if he didn't up and hire another +one. One of your grandpa's brothers skipped off to Canada so's he +wouldn't have to serve, and the other,--his name was George Washington +Thane, by the way,--accidentally shot two of his fingers off while +his company was in camp down at Crawfordsville, gettin' ready to +go down and meet Morgan's Riders,--and that let him out. I admit +it takes right smart of courage to accidentally shoot your fingers +off, specially when nobody is lookin', but at any rate he had a +uniform on when he done it. Course, there wasn't any wars during +your pa's day, so I don't know how he would have acted. He wasn't +much of a feller for fightin', though,--I remember that. I mean fist +fightin'. I'm glad to know you don't take after your granddad. I +never had any use for a coward, and that's why I'm proud to shake +hands with you, my boy. There was a derned bad streak in your family +back in your granddad's day, and it certainly is good to see that +you have wiped it out. It don't always happen so. Yeller streaks +are purty hard to wipe out. Takes more than two generations to do +it as a rule. I'm happy to know you ain't gun shy." + +The young man laughed. "I don't mind telling you, Mr. Brown, that +I never went into action without being scared half out of my boots. +But I wasn't alone in that, you see. I never knew a man over there +who wasn't scared when he went over the top. He went, just the +same,--and that's what I call courage." + +"So do I," cried Rosabel. + +"Did you ever know for sure whether you got a German?" asked the +intense young Caleb. "I mean,--did you ever KILL one?" + +"That's pretty hard to say, Cale. We never knew, you see,--we +fellows up in the clouds. I was in a bombing machine. I'd hate to +think that we WASTED any bombs." + +"Come now,--all of you,--off to bed," interposed Mrs. Vick. "I +don't want to hear any more, Courtney. I wouldn't sleep a wink." + +"Strikin' ten," said Amos, arising from his rocking-chair and +turning it upside down at the back of the porch. + +"Don't do that, Amos," protested old Caleb. "It'll NEVER rain if +you--Why, dog-gone it, ain't you learned that it's bad luck to turn +a chair bottom-side up when rain's needed? Turn it right-side up +and put it right out here in front again where the rain can get at +it. Nothin' tickles the weather more'n a chance to spoil something. +That's right. Now we c'n go to bed. Better leave them cushions on +the steps too, Rosie." + +Courtney Thane went to his room,--the spare-room on the second +floor,--and prepared to retire. The process was attended by the +smoking of three cigarettes. Presently he was stretched out on the +bed without even so much as a sheet over him. The heat was stifling. +Not a breath of air came in through the wide-open windows. He lay +awake for a long time, staring out into the night. + +"So my precious granddad had a yellow streak in him, did he? +And father wasn't much of a fighter either. Takes more than two +generations to wipe out a yellow streak, does it? I wonder what +the old boob meant by that rotten slam at my people." + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +DOWD'S TAVERN + + + + +The last week in August Courtney Thane left the Vick farm and, +crossing the river, took lodgings at the boarding house conducted +by the Misses Dowd in the town of Windomville. + +In a letter to his mother, informing her of the change, he had +said: + +Of course, I appreciate the fact that you are paying the bills, +old dear, and out of consideration for you I dare say I ought to +stick it out with the Vicks till November as we arranged. But I +simply cannot stand it any longer. The old woman almost puts me to +bed, the girl almost sits on my lap, the boy drives me crazy with +his infernal questions about the war, and old man Brown,--the one +who went to school with father out in this gosh awful land of the +grasshopper,--he is the limit. He never lets a day go by without +some slur about my grandfather or some other member of the family +who existed long before I was born. Thinks he's witty. He is always +nagging at me about cigarette smoking. I wish you could see the +way he mishandles a cigar. As you know, I seldom smoke more than a +half dozen cigarettes a day, but he swears to God I am everlastingly +ruining my health, and it has got on my nerves so that if I stay +on here another week I'll call the old jay so hard he'll drop dead +from the shock. And, my heavens, how lonesome it is here. I almost +die of homesickness. I just had to find a place where there is +some one to talk to besides the cows and sheep and people who never +think of anything but crops and the weather, last Sunday's sermon +and Theodore Roosevelt. They are honest, but, my God, how could +they be anything else? It would not be right for me to deny that +I have improved a great deal in the last couple of weeks. I am +beginning to feel pretty fit, and I've put on four or five pounds. +Still, I'm getting sick of fresh eggs and fresh milk and their +everlasting bacon,--they call it side-meat,--and preserves. She +simply stuffs me with them. The air is wonderful, even during that +awful hot spell I wrote you about. I am sure that another month or +two out here,--perhaps three,--will put me back on my pins stronger +than ever, and then I'll be in condition to go back to work. I am +eager to get at it as soon as possible in order to pay back all +you have put up for me during this beastly year. If I did not know +you can well afford to do what you have been doing for me, mother +dear, I wouldn't allow you to spend another penny on me. But you +will get it all back some day, not in cash, of course,--for that +means nothing to you,--but in the joy of knowing that it was worth +while to bring your only son into the world. Now, as to this change +I am going to make. I've been across the river several times and I +like it over there much better than here. I think the air is better +and certainly the surroundings are pleasanter. Windomville is a +funny little village of five or six hundred people, about the same +number of dogs (exaggeration!), and the sleepiest place you've +ever imagined. Old Caleb Brown says it was laid out back in 1830 +or thereabouts by the first Windom to come to these parts. It has +a public school, a town hall, a motion-picture house (with last +year's reels), a drug store where you can get soda water, a grain +elevator, and a wonderful old log hut that was built by the very +first settler, making it nearly a hundred years old. Miss Alix Crown, +who owns nearly everything in sight,--including the log hut,--has +had the latter restored and turned into the quaintest little town +library you've ever seen. But you ought to see the librarian! She +is a dried-up, squinty old maid of some seventy summers, and so +full of Jane Austen and the Bronte women and Mrs. Southworth that +she hasn't an inch of room left in her for the modern writers. Her +name caps the climax. It is Alaska Spigg. Can you beat it? No one +ever calls her Miss Spigg,--not even the kids,--nor is she ever +spoken of or to as Alaska. It is always Alaska Spigg. I wish you +could see her. Miss Crown is the girl I wrote you about, the one +with the dime novel history back of her. She has a house on the +edge of the town,--a very attractive place. I have not seen her +yet. She is up in Michigan,--Harbor Point, I believe,--but I hear +she is expected home within a week or two. I am rather curious to +see her. The place where I have taken a room is run by a couple of +old maids named Dowd. It is really a sort of hotel. At least, you +would insult them if you called it a boarding house. Their grandfather +built the house and ran it as a tavern back before the Civil War. +When he died his son carried on the business. And now his two +daughters run the place. They have built on a couple of wings and +it is really an interesting old shack. Clean as a pin, and they say +the grub is good. It will be, as I said, a little more expensive +living here than with the Vicks but not enough to amount to anything. +The Dowds ask only fifteen dollars a week for room and board, which +is cheaper than the Ritz-Carlton or the Commodore, isn't it?...Here +is my new address in the Metropolis of Windomville-by-the-Crick: +Dowd's Tavern, Main Street. + +Her reply was prompt. She wrote from Bar Harbor, where she was +spending the summer: + +...perfectly silly of you, dearest, to speak of repaying me. All +I possess will be yours some day, so why begrudge you a little of +what should be yours now? Your dear father perhaps thought he was +doing the right thing for both of us when he left everything to +me during my lifetime, but I do not believe it was fair....There +will not be a great deal, of course. You understand how heavy my +expenses have been....In any case, you are in wretched health, my +dear boy. Nothing must stand in the way of your complete recovery. +When you are completely recovered, well and strong and eager to take +up life where this cruel war cut it off, I shall be the happiest +mother alive. I am sure you will have no difficulty in establishing +yourself. They tell me the returned soldiers are not having an easy +time finding satisfactory and lucrative positions. It is a shame +the way certain concerns have treated a good many of them, after +actually promising to hold their places open for them. But with you +it will be different. I spoke to Mr. Roberts yesterday about you. +He wants to have a talk with you. I have an idea he wants to put you +in charge of one of their offices in Spain. At any rate, he asked +if you spoke Spanish well....So I can easily afford to increase +your allowance to one hundred and fifty a month. More, if you +should ask for it, but you are so proud and self-reliant I can +do absolutely nothing with you, dear boy. I quite understand your +unwillingness to accept more than you actually need from me. It is +splendid, and I am very proud of you....This girl you wrote me +about, is she so very rich?...Your father used to speak of a young +man named Windom and how he envied him because he was so tall and +handsome. Of course, your dear father was a small boy then, and +that is always one of the laments of small boys. That, and falling +in love with women old enough to be their mothers....Do write me +often. But don't be angry with me if I fail to answer all of your +letters. I am so frightfully busy. I rarely ever have more than a +minute to myself. How I have managed to find the time to write this +long letter to you I cannot imagine. It is really quite a nice long +one, isn't it?...and don't be writing home to me in a few weeks to +say you are engaged to be married to her. It took me a great many +years to convert your dear father into what he was as you knew +him. I don't relish the thought at my time of life of transforming +a crude farmer's daughter into a Fifth Avenue lady, no matter how +pretty she may be in the rough. The days of Cinderella are long +since past. One has so much to overcome in the way of a voice with +these country girls, to say nothing of the letter r. Your poor +father never quite got over being an Indiana farmer's son, but he +did manage to subdue the aforesaid letter....And these country-girls +take a harmless, amusing flirtation very seriously, dear boy.... +Your adoring mother. + +Courtney Thane's fame had preceded him to Windomville. By this +time, the entire district had heard of the man who was gassed, and +who had actually won two or three medals for bravery in the Great +War. The young men from that section of the state who had seen +fighting in France were still in New York City, looking for jobs. +Most of them had "joined up" at the first call for volunteers. Some +of them had been killed, many of them wounded, but not one of them +had received a medal for bravery. The men who had been called by +the draft into the great National Army were all home again, having +got no nearer to the battle front than an embarkation camp in New +Jersey,--and so this tall, slender young fellow from the East was +an object not only of curiosity but of envy. + +The Misses Dowd laid themselves out to make him comfortable,--as +well as prominent. They gave him a corner room on the upper floor +of Dowd's Tavern, dispossessing a tenant of twelve years' standing,--a +photographer named Hatch, whose ability to keep from living too far +in arrears depended on his luck in inveigling certain sentimental +customers into taking "crayon portraits" of deceased loved ones, +satisfaction guaranteed, frames extra. Two windows, looking out +over the roof of the long front porch, gave him an unobstructed +view of Main Street, including such edifices as the postoffice, +the log-hut library, the ancient watering trough, the drug store, +and the steeple of the Presbyterian Church rising proudly above +the roofs of the houses in between. + +Main Street ran almost parallel with the river. With commendable +forethought, the first settlers had built their houses and stores +some little distance back from the stream along the summit of a +wooded ridge perhaps forty feet above the river at its midsummer +low-water level. The tremendous, devastating floods that came annually +with the breaking up of winter failed to reach the houses,--although +in 1883,--according to the records,--the water came up to within a +foot of Joe Roush's blacksmith shop, situated at that time halfway +down the slope, compelling the smith to think seriously of "moving +up a couple of hops," a precaution that was rendered unnecessary +by a subsequent midsummer bolt of lightning that destroyed not +only the forge but shocked Joe so severely that he "saw green" +for a matter of six weeks and finally resulted in his falling off +the dock into deep water in the middle of what was intended to be +a protracted spree brought on by the discovery that his insurance +policy did not cover "loss by lightning." To this day, the older +inhabitants of Windomville will tell you about the way his widow +"took on" until she couldn't stand it any longer,--and then married +George Hooper, the butcher, four months after the shocking demise +of Joseph. + +Dowd's Tavern had few transient guests. "Drummers" from the city +hard-by dropped in occasionally for a midday meal, but they never +stayed the night. The guests were what the Misses Dowd called +"regulars." They included Hatch, the photographer; an old and indigent +couple, parents of a farmer whose wife objected so vehemently to +their well-meant efforts to "run" her house for her that he was +obliged to "board 'em" with the Dowd girls, an arrangement that +seemed to satisfy every one concerned except the farmer himself, +who never missed an opportunity to praise the food and the comforts +to be enjoyed at the county "poorhouse" when he paid his semi-annual +visit to the venerable dependents; Mr. Charlie Webster, the rotund +manager of the grain elevator, who spent every Saturday night and +Sunday in the city and showed up for duty on Monday with pinkish eyes +and a rather tremulous whistle that was supposed to be reminiscent +of ecclesiastical associations; Miss Flora Grady, the dress-maker; +Doctor Simpson, the dentist, a pale young man with extremely bad +teeth and a habit of smiling, even at funerals; Miss Miller, the +principal of the school, who was content with a small room over +the kitchen at ten dollars a week, thereby permitting her to save +something out of her salary, which was fifty dollars a month; A. +Lincoln Pollock, the editor, owner and printer of the Weekly Sun, +and his wife, Maude Baggs Pollock, who besides contributing a poem +to each and every issue of the paper, (over her own signature), +collected news and society items, ran the postoffice for her +husband, (he being the postmaster), and taught the Bible Class in +the Presbyterian Sunday-school, as well as officiating as president +and secretary of the Literary Society, secretary to the town board, +secretary of the W. C. T. U., secretary of the Woman's Foreign +Missionary Society, secretary of the American Soldiers' and Sailors' +Relief Fund, secretary of the Windomville Improvement Association, +secretary of the Lady Maccabees, and, last but far from least, +secretary of the local branch of the Society for the Preservation +of the Redwood Forests of California. She was a born secretary. + +A. Lincoln Pollock, being a good democrat and holding office under +a democratic administration, had deemed it wise to abbreviate his +first name, thereby removing all taint of republicanism. He reduced +Abraham to an initial, but, despite his supreme struggle for dignity, +was forced by public indolence to submit to a sharp curtailment of +his middle name. He was known as Link. + +The Weekly Sun duly reported the advent of Colonel Courtney Thane, +of New York and London, and gave him quite a "send-off," at the same +time getting in a good word for the "excellent hostelry conducted +by the Misses Dowd," as well as a paragraph congratulating the +readers of the Sun on the "scoop" that paper had obtained over the +"alleged" newspapers up at the county seat. "If you want the news, +read the Sun," was the slogan at the top of the editorial column on +the second page, followed by a line in parenthesis: ("If you want +the Sun, don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today. Price +Three Dollars a Year in Advance.") + +All of the boarders sat at the same table in the dining-room. +Punctuality at meals was obligatory. Miss Jennie Dowd was the cook. +She was assisted by Miss Margaret Slattery, daughter of Martin +Slattery, the grocer. Miss Mary Dowd had charge of the dining-room. +She was likewise assisted by Miss Slattery. Between meals Miss +Slattery did the dish-washing, chamber-work, light cleaning and +"straightening," and still found room for her daily exercise, which +consisted of half a dozen turns up and down Main Street in her +best frock. Old Jim House did the outside chores about the place. +He had worked at Dowd's Tavern for thirty-seven years, and it was +his proud boast that he had never missed a day's work,--drunk or +sober. + +The new guest was given the seat of honour at table. He was placed +between Mrs. Pollock and Miss Flora Grady, supplanting Doctor Simpson, +who had held the honour ever since Charlie Webster's unfortunate +miscalculation as to the durability of an unfamiliar brand of +bourbon to which he had been introduced late one Sunday evening. It +was a brand that wore extremely well,--so well, in fact, that when +he appeared for dinner at noon on Monday he was still in a lachrymose +condition over the death of his mother, an event which took place +when he was barely six years old. Doctor Simpson relinquished the +seat cheerfully. He had held it a year and he had grown extremely +tired of having to lean back as far as possible in his chair so that +Mrs. Pollock and Miss Grady could converse unobstructedly in front +of him, a position that called for the utmost skill and deliberation +on his part, especially when it came to conveying soup and "floating +island" to such an altitude. (He had once resorted to the expedient +of bending over until his nose was almost in the plate, so that +they might talk across his back, but gave it up when Miss Molly +Dowd acridly inquired if he smelt anything wrong with the soup.) + +Mr. Hatch invited Courtney down to the studio to have his photograph +taken, free of charge; Mr. Pollock subjected him to a long interview +about the War; Mr. Webster notified him that he had laid in a small +stock just prior to July the first and that all he had to do was +to "say the word,"--or wink if it wasn't convenient to speak; Miss +Grady told him, at great length, of her trip to New York in 1895, +and inquired about certain landmarks in the Metropolis,--such as +the aquarium, the Hoffman House, Madison Square, Stewart's Drygoods +Store, Tiffany's place,--revealing a sort of lofty nonchalance in +being able to speak of things she had seen while the others had +merely read about them; Mrs. Pollock had him write in her autograph +album, and wondered if he would not consent to give a talk before +the Literary Society at its next meeting; and Margaret Slattery +made a point of passing things to him first at meals, going so far +as to indicate the choicest bits of "white meat," or the "second +joint," if he preferred the dark, whenever they had chicken for +dinner,--which was quite often. + +Old Mr. Nichols, (the indigent father), remembered Courtney's +grandfather very well, and, being apt to repeat himself, told +and retold the story of a horse-trade in which he got the better +of Silas Thane. Mrs. Nichols, living likewise in the remote past, +remembered being in his grandmother's Sunday-school class, and +how people used to pity the poor thing because Silas ran around +considerable after other women,--'specially a lively-stableman's +wife up in the city,--and what a terrible time she had when John +Robinson's Circus came to town a little while before her first child +was born and the biggest boa-constrictor in captivity escaped and +eat up two lambs on Silas's farm before it went to sleep and was +shot out in the apple orchard by Jake Billings. She often wondered +whether her worrying about that snake had had any effect on the +baby, who, it appears, ultimately grew up and became Courtney's +father. The young man smilingly sought to reassure her, but after +twice repeating his remark, looked so embarrassed that Mr. Hatch +gloomily announced from the foot of the table: + +"She's deef." + +Now, as to Mr. Courtney Thane. He was a tall, spare young man, very +erect and soldierly, with an almost unnoticeable limp. He explained +this limp by confessing that he had got into the habit of favouring +his left leg, which had been injured when his machine came down +in flames a short distance back of the lines during a vicious gas +attack by the enemy--(it was on this occasion that he was "gassed" +while dragging a badly wounded comrade to a place of safety)--but +that the member was quite as sound as ever and it was silly of +him to go on being so confounded timid about it, especially as it +hadn't been anything to speak of in the beginning,--nothing more, +in fact, than a cracked knee joint and a trifling fracture of the +ankle. + +His hair was light brown, almost straw-coloured, and was brushed +straight back from the forehead. A small, jaunty moustache, distinctly +English in character, adorned his upper lip. His eyes were brown, +set well back under a perfectly level, rather prominent brow. His +mouth was wide and faintly satirical; his chin aggressively square; +his nose long and straight. His voice was deep and pleasant, and he +spoke with what Miss Miller described as a "perfectly fascinating +drawl." Mrs. Pollock, who was quite an extensive reader of novels +and governed her conversation accordingly went so far as to say that +he was "the sort of chap that women fall in love with easily,"--and +advised Miss Miller to keep a pretty sharp watch on her heart,--a +remark that drew from Miss Miller the confession that she had +rejected at least half a dozen offers of marriage and she guessed +if there was any watching to be done it would have to be done by +the opposite sex. (As Miss Miller had repeatedly alluded to these +fruitless masculine manifestations, Mrs. Pollock merely sniffed,--and +afterwards confided to Miss Molly Dowd her belief that if any one +had ever asked Angie Miller to marry him she'd be a grandmother +by this time.) From this, it may be correctly surmised that Miss +Miller was no longer in the first bloom of youth. + +Whenever Courtney appeared on Main Street, he was the centre not +only of observation but of active attention. Nearly every one had +some form of greeting for him. Introductions were not necessary. +Women as well as men passed the time of day with him, and not a few +of the former solicitously paused to inquire how he was feeling. +Young girls stared at him and blushed, young boys followed his +progress about town with wide, worshipful eyes,--for was he not a +hero out of their cherished romance? He had to hear from the lips +of ancient men the story of Antietam, of Chancellorsville and +of Shiloh; eulogies and criticisms of Grant, McClellan and Meade; +praise for the enemy chieftains, Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Johnston; +comparisons in the matter of fatalities, marksmanship, generalship, +hardships and all such, and with the inevitable conclusion that the +Civil War was the greatest war ever fought for the simple reason +that it was fought by men and not by machinery. + +"And, what's more," declared old Captain House vigorously, "it was +fit entirely by Americans, and not by every dodgasted nation on the +face of the earth, no two of 'em able to understand a blamed word +of what was being said by friend er foe." "And," added ex-Corporal +Grimes, stamping the sidewalk with his peg leg, "what's more, +there wasn't ary one of them Johnny Rebs that couldn't pick off a +squirrel five hundred yards away with a rifle--a RIFLE, mind ye, +not a battery of machine guns. Every time they was a fight, big er +little, we used to stand out in the open and shoot at each other +like soldiers--AND gentlemen--aimin' straight at the feller we'd +picked out to kill. They tell me they was more men shot right +smack between the eyes in the Civil War than all the other wars +put together. Yes-sir-EE! And as fer REE-connoiterin', why it was +nothin' for our men,--er the rebs, either, fer that matter,--to +crawl up so close to the other side's camps that they could smell +the vittels cookin',--and I remember a case when one of our scouts, +bein' so overcome by the smell of a fried chicken, snuck right up +and grabbed it offen the skillet when the cook's back was turned, +and got away with it safe, too, b'gosh!" + + + + + +CHAPTER V + +TRESPASS + + + + +Courtney never was without the heavy English walking-stick on which +he occasionally leaned for support. He took long strolls in the +country, frequently passing the Windom place, and twice he had gone +as far as the railed-in base of Quill's Window. From the footpath at +the bottom he could look through the trees up to the bare crest of +the rock. The gate through the high fence was padlocked, and contained +a sign with the curt warning: "No Trespass." On the opposite side +of the wide strip of meadow-land, in which cattle grazed placidly, +he could see the abandoned house where Alix Crown was born,--a +colourless, weather-beaten, two-storey frame building with faded +green window shutters and a high-pitched roof blackened by rain and +rot. Every shutter was closed; an atmosphere of utter desolation +hung over the place. + +Across that brown, sunburnt stretch of meadow-land when it was white +and cold, old David Windom had carried the stiff body of Edward +Crown,--and returning had borne the soft, limp figure of his stricken +child. Courtney permitted his fancy to indulge in calculation. He +followed with his eye what must have been the path of the slayer +on that dreadful night. It led, no doubt, to the spot on which he +now was standing, for just behind him was the suggestion of a narrow, +weed-lined path that wormed its way through the trees toward the top +of the great rock. He decided that one day soon he would disregard +that sign on the gate, and climb up to the strange burial place of +Edward Crown and Alix the Second. + +He had tested his increasing strength and endurance by rowing up +the river with Rosabel for a fair view of the hole in the face of +the rock--Quill's Window. It was plainly visible from the river, a +wide black gash in the almost perpendicular wall that reached well +above the fringe of trees and underbrush along the steep bank of +the stream. + +He tried to picture Quill as he sat in his strange abode, a hundred +years ago, cowering over the fire or reading perhaps by the light +of a huge old-fashioned lanthorn. He thought of him hanging by the +neck back in the dark recess, victim either of his own conscience +or the implacable hatred of the enemy "down the river." And then +there were the others who had found death in the heart of that +mysterious cavern,--ugly death. + +He wondered what the interior of the cave was like, and whether he +could devise some means of entering it. A rope ladder attached to +a substantial support at the top of the cliff would afford the easiest +way of reaching the mouth of the cave,--in fact, he recalled that +Quill employed some such means of descending to his eerie home. The +entrance appeared to be no more than twenty feet below the brow of +the cliff. It would not even be a hazardous undertaking. Besides, +if Quill and his successors were able to go up and down that wall +safely and repeatedly, why not he? No doubt scores of men,--perhaps +even schoolboys of the Tom Sawyer type,--had made frequent visits +to the cave. He knew he would be disregarding the command of Alix +Crown,--a command that all people respected and observed,--if he +passed the barrier and climbed to the top of the rock, but who, +after all, was Alix Crown that she should say "no trespass" to the +world at large? + +The thought of Edward Crown wedged in at the bottom of Quill's Chimney, +weighted down with stones and earth, alone served as an obstacle to +the enterprise. He shrank from certain gruesome possibilities,--such +as the dislodgment of stones at the bottom of the crevice and the +consequent exposure of a thing that would haunt him forever. And +even though the stones remained in place there would still remain +the fact that almost within arm's length was imprisoned the crushed, +distorted remains of the murdered man. + +Toward the end of his second week at Dowd's Tavern, he set out to +climb to the top of the big rock. He had no intention of descending +to the cavern's mouth on this occasion. That feat was to be reserved for +another day. Arriving at the gate, he was surprised and gratified +to discover that it was unlocked. While it was latched, the +padlock and chain hung loosely from the post to which the latter +was attached. Without hesitation, he opened the gate and strode +boldly into proscribed territory. + +The ascent was gradual at first, then steep and abrupt for a matter +of fifty or sixty feet to the bald summit of the hill. Once at the +top, he sat down panting and exhausted upon the edge of the shallow +fissure he had followed as a path up the rock, and again his thoughts +went back to the night of the murder. This had been David Windom's +route to the top of the hill. He found himself discrediting one +feature at least of the man's confession. Only a fabled giant could +have carried the body of a man up that steep, tortuous incline. +Why, he was exhausted, and he had borne no heavier burden than +his stout walking-stick. That part of Windom's story certainly was +"fishy." + +Presently he arose and strode out upon the rough, uneven "roof" of +the height. He could look in all directions over the tops of the +trees below. The sun beat down fiercely upon the unsheltered rock. +Off to the north lay the pall of smoke indicating the presence +of the invisible county seat. Thin, anfractuous highways and dirt +roads scarred the green and brown landscape, and as far as the eye +could reach were to be seen farmhouses and barns and silos. + +Avoiding the significant heap of rocks near the centre of the little +plateau, he made his way to the brink of the cliff overlooking +the river. There he had a wonderful view of the winding stream, +the harvest fields, the groves, and the herds in the far-reaching +stretches of what was considered the greatest corn raising "belt" +in the United States. Some yards back from the edge of the cliff +he discovered the now thoroughly rotted section of a tree trunk, +eight or ten inches in diameter, driven deeply into a narrow fissure +and rendered absolutely immovable by a solid mass of stones and +gravel that completely closed the remainder of the crevice. He was +right in surmising that this was the support from which Quill's rope +or vine ladder was suspended a hundred years ago. Nearby were two +heavy iron rings attached to standards sunk firmly into the rock, +a modern improvement on the hermit's crude device. (He afterwards +learned that David Windom, when a lad of fifteen, had drilled the +holes in the rock and imbedded the stout iron shafts, so that he +might safely descend to the mouth of the cave.) + +Turning back, he approached the heap of boulders that covered the +grave of Edward and Alix Crown. No visible sign of the cleft in +the surface of the rock remained. Six huge boulders, arranged in +a row, rose above a carefully made bed of stones held in place by +a low, soundly mortared wall. + +Chiselled on one of the end boulders was the name of Alix Windom +Crown, with the date of her birth and her death, with the line: +"Rock of Ages Cleft for Me." Below this inscription was the recently +carved name of Edward Joseph Crown, Born July 7, 1871. Died March +22, 1895. Three words followed this. They were "Abide With Me." + +II + +Thane stood for a long time looking at the pile. He was not +sentimental. His life had been spent in an irreverent city, among +people hardened by pleasure or coarsened by greed. His thoughts +as he stood there were not of the unhappy pair who reposed beneath +those ugly rocks; they were of the far-off tragedy that had brought +them to this singular resting-place. The fact that this was a grave, +sacred in the same sense that his father's grave in Woodlawn was +supposed to be sacred to him and to his mother, was overlooked in +the silent contemplation of what an even less sophisticated person +might have been justified in describing as a "freak." Nothing +was farther from his mind, however, than the desire or impulse to +be disrespectful. And yet, as he was about to turn away from this +sombre pile, he leaned over and struck a match on one of the huge +boulders. As he was conveying the lighted sulphur match,--with +which Dowd's Tavern abounded,--to the cigarette that hung limply +from his lips, he was startled by a sharp, almost agonized cry. +It seemed to come from nowhere. He experienced the uncanny feeling +that a ghost,--the ghost that haunted Quill's Window,--standing +guard over the mound, had cried out under the pain inflicted by +that profane match. + +Even as he turned to search the blazing, sunlit rock with apprehensive +eyes, a voice, shrill with anger, flung these words at him: + +"What are you doing up here?" + +His gaze fell upon the speaker, standing stockstill in the cloven +path below him, not twenty feet away. In his relief, he laughed. +He beheld a slim figure in riding-togs. Nothing formidable or +ghostlike in that! Nevertheless, a pair of dark blue eyes transfixed +him with indignation. They looked out from under the rim of a black +sailor hat, and they were wide and inimical. + +"Did you not see that sign on the gate?" demanded the girl. + +"I did," he replied, still smiling as he removed his hat,--one of +Knox's panamas. "And I owe you an apology." + +She advanced to the top. He noted the riding-crop gripped rather +firmly in her clenched hand. + +"No one is permitted to come up here," she announced, stopping a +few feet away. She was quite tall and straight. She panted a little +from the climb up the steep. He saw her bosom rise and fall under +the khaki jacket; her nostrils were slightly distended. In that +first glimpse of her, he took in the graceful, perfect figure; the +lovely, brilliant face; the glorious though unsmiling eyes. "You +must leave at once. This is private property. Go, please." + +"I cannot go before telling you how rotten I feel for striking that +match. I beg of you, Miss Crown,--you ARE Miss Crown?--I can only +ask you to believe that it was not a conscious act of desecration. +It was sheer thoughtlessness. I would not have done it for the +world if I had--" + +"It is not necessary for you to explain," she broke in curtly. "I +saw what you did,--and it is just because of such as you that this +spot is forbidden ground. Idle curiosity, utter disregard for the +sacredness of that lonely grave,--Oh, you need not attempt to deny +it. You are a stranger here, but that is no excuse for your passing +through that gate. I AM Miss Crown. This hill belongs to me. It was +I who had that fence put up and it was I who directed the sign to +be put on the gate. They are meant for strangers as well as for +friends. It was not thoughtlessness that brought you up here. You +thought a long time before you came. Will you be good enough to +go?" + +He flushed under the scornful dismissal. + +"The gate was unlocked--" he began. + +"That doesn't matter. It might have been wide open, sir,--but that +did not grant you any special privileges." + +"I can only ask your pardon, Miss Crown, and depart in disgrace," +said he, quite humbly. As he started down the path, he paused to +add: "I did not know you had returned. I daresay I should have been +less venturesome had I known you were in the neighbourhood." + +The thinly veiled sarcasm did not escape her. + +"I suppose you are the young man from New York that every one is +talking about. That may account for your ignorance. In order that +you may not feel called upon to visit this place again to satisfy +your curiosity, I will point out to you the objects of interest. +This pile of rocks marks the grave of my father and mother. The +dates speak for themselves. You may have noticed them when you +scratched your match just above my mother's name. My father was +murdered by my grandfather before I was born. My mother died on +the day I was born. I never saw them. I do not love them, because +I never knew them. But I DO respect and honour them. They were good +people. I have no reason to be ashamed of them. If you will look +out over those trees and across that pasture, you will see the house +in which my mother died and where I was born. Directly in front of +the little porch my father died as the result of a blow delivered +by my grandfather. As to the disposal of the body, you may obtain +all the information necessary from Alaska Spigg, our town librarian, +who will be more than delighted to supply you with all the ghastly +details. To your right is the post to which a man named Quill +attached his ladder in order to reach the cave in the face of this +rock,--where he lived for many years. This is the path leading +down to the gate, which you will still find unlocked. It will not +be necessary for you to come up here again. You have seen all there +is to see." + +With that, she deliberately turned her back on him and walked toward +the edge of the cliff. He stared after her for a few seconds, his +lips parted as if to speak, and then, as the flush of mortification +deepened in his cheeks, he began picking his way rather blindly +down the steep path. + +He was never to forget his first encounter with Alix the Third. + + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +CHARLIE WEBSTER ENTERTAINS + + + + +That evening at the supper table, Mr. Pollock politely informed +him that Alix Crown had returned from Michigan, looking as fit as +a fiddle. + +"You've been so sort of curious about her, Court?" (it had not +taken the male boarders long to dispense with formalities), "that +I thought you'd be interested in knowing that she's home. Got back +last evening. Her Packard automobile met her at the depot up in +the city. You'll know her when you see her. Tall girl and fairly +good-looking. Puts on an awful lot of 'dog.' What is it you fellows +in the Army call it? Swunk?" + +"Swank," said Courtney, rather shortly. He was still smarting under +the sting of his afternoon's experience. + +"Lemme help you to some more squash, Mr. Thane," said Margaret +Slattery in his ear. "And another biscuit." + +"Thank you, no," said he. + +"What's the matter with your appetite?" she demanded. "You ain't +hardly touched anything this evenin'. Sick?" + +"I'm not hungry, Margaret." + +"Been out in the sun too much, that's what's the matter with you. +First thing you know you'll get a sunstroke, and THEN! My Uncle +Mike was sunstruck when I was--" + +"Pass me the biscuits, Maggie, and don't be all night about it," put +in Mr. Webster. "I'm hungry, even if Court isn't. I can distinctly +remember when you used to pass everything to me first, and almost +stuff it--" + +"Yes, and she used to do the same for me before you shaved off your +chin whiskers, Charlie," said Mr. Hatch gloomily. "How times have +changed." + +"It ain't the times that's changed," said Margaret. "It's you men. +You ain't what you used to be, lemme tell you that." + +"True,--oh so true," lamented Mr. Webster. "I used to be nice and +thin and graceful before you began showering me with attention. Now +look at me. You put something like fifty pounds on me, and then you +desert me. I was a handsome feller when I first came here, wasn't +I, Flora? I leave it to you if I wasn't." + +"I don't remember how you looked when you first came here," replied +Miss Grady loftily. + +"Can you beat that?" cried Charlie to Courtney across the table. +"And she used to say I was the handsomest young feller she'd ever +laid eyes on. Used to say I looked like,--who was it you used to +say I looked like, Flora?" + +"The only thing I ever said you looked like was a mud fence, Charlie +Webster." + +"What did she say, Pa? Hey?" This from old Mrs. Nichols, holding +her hand to her ear. "What are they laughing at?" + +"She says Charlie looks like a mud fence," shouted old Mr. Nichols, +his lips close to her ear. + +"His pants? What about his pants?" + +This time Courtney joined in the laugh. + +After supper he sat on the front porch with the Pollocks and Miss +Grady. It was a warm, starry night. Charlie Webster and Doc Simpson +had strolled off down the street. Mr. Hatch and Miss Miller sat in +the parlour. + +"She's going to land Furman Hatch, sure as you're a foot high," +confided Mr. Pollock, with a significant jerk of his head in the +direction of the parlour. + +"Heaven knows she's been trying long enough," said Miss Grady. "I +heard him ask Doc and Charlie to wait for him, but she nabbed him +before he could get out. Now he's got to sit in there and listen +to her tell about how interested she is in art,--and him just dyin' +for a smoke. Why, there's Alix Crown now. She's comin' in here." + +A big touring car drew up to the sidewalk in front of the Tavern. +Miss Crown sprang lightly out of the seat beside the chauffeur and +came up the steps. + +"How do you do, Mrs. Pollock? Hello, Flora. Good evening, Mr. +Editor," was her cheery greeting as she passed by and entered the +house. + +"She comes around every once in a while and takes the Dowd girls +out riding in her car," explained Mrs. Pollock. + +"Mighty nice of her," said Mr. Pollock, taking his feet down from +the porch-rail and carefully brushing the cigar ashes off of his +coat sleeve. "Takes old Alaska Spigg out too, and the Nicholses, +and--" + +"We've been out with her a great many times," broke in Mrs. Pollock. +"I think a Packard is a wonderful car, don't you, Mr. Thane? So +smooth and--" + +"I think I'll take a little stroll," said Courtney abruptly; and +snatching up his hat from the floor beside his chair he hurried +down the steps. + +She had not even glanced at him as she crossed the porch. He had +the very uneasy conviction that so far as she was concerned he +might just as well not have been there at all. In the early dusk, +her face was clearly revealed to him. There was nothing cold +or unfriendly about it now. Instead, her smile was radiant; her +eyes,--even in the subdued light,--glowed with pleasure. Her voice +was clear and soft and singularly appealing. In the afternoon's +encounter he had been struck by its unexpected combination of English +and American qualities; the sharp querulousness of the English and +the melodious drawl of the American were strangely blended, and +although there had been castigation in her words and manner, he +took away with him the disturbing memory of a voice he was never +to forget. And now he had seen the smile that even the most envious +of her kind described as "heavenly." It was broad and wholesome +and genuine. There was a flash of white, even teeth between warm +red lips, a gleam of merriment in the half-closed eyes, a gay tilt +to the bare, shapely head. Her dark hair was coiled neatly, and +the ears were exposed. He liked her ears. He remembered them as he +had seen them in the afternoon, fairly large, shapely and close to +the head. No need for her to follow the prevailing fashion of the +day! She had no reason to hide her ears beneath a mat of hair. + +In the evening glow her face was gloriously beautiful,--clear-cut +as a cameo, warm as a rose. It was no longer clouded with anger. +She seemed taller. The smart riding costume had brought her trim +figure into direct contrast with his own height and breadth, and +she had looked like a slim, half-grown boy beside his six feet and +over. Now, in her black and white checked sport skirt and dark +sweater jacket, she was revealed as a woman quite well above the +average height. + +He was standing in front of the drug store when the big car went +by a few minutes later, filled with people. She was driving, the +chauffeur sitting in the seat beside her. In the tonneau he observed +the two Dowd sisters, Mr. and Mrs. Pollock and Flora Grady. + +As the car whizzed by, A. Lincoln Pollock espied him. Waving his +hand triumphantly, the editor called out: + +"Hello, Court!" + +The object of this genial shout did not respond by word or action. +He looked to see if the girl at the wheel turned her head for a +glance in his direction. She did not, and he experienced a fresh +twinge of annoyance. He muttered something under his breath. The +car disappeared around a bend as he turned to enter the store. + +"That was Alix Crown, Court," remarked Charlie Webster from the +doorway. "Little too dark to get a good look at her, but wait till +she flashes across you in broad daylight some time. She'll make you +forget all those Fifth Avenue skirts so quick your head'll swim." + +"Is THAT so?" retorted Courtney, allowing rancour to get the +better of fairness. Down in his heart he had said that Alix Crown +was the loveliest girl he had ever seen. "What do you know about +Fifth Avenue?" + +Charlie Webster grinned amiably. He was not offended by the other's +tone. + +"Well, I've seen it in the movies," he explained. "What are you +sore about?" + +"Sore? I'm not sore. What put that into your head?" + +The rotund superintendent of the elevator fanned himself lazily +with his straw hat. + +"If I was fifteen years younger and fifty pounds lighter," said +he, "I'd be sore too. But what's the use of a fat old slob like me +getting peeved because Miss Alix Crown don't happen to notice me? +Oh, we're great friends and all that, mind you, and she thinks a +lot of me,--as manager of her grain elevator. Same as she thinks +a lot of Jim Bagley, her superintendent,--and Ed Stevens, her +chauffeur, and so on. Now, as for you, it's different. You're from +New York and it goes against the grain to be overlooked, you might +say, by a girl from Indiana. Oh, I know what you New Yorkers think +of Indiana,--and all that therein is, as the Scriptures would say. +You think that nothing but boobs and corn-fed squaws come from +Indiana, but if you hang around long enough you'll find you're +mistaken. This state is full of girls like Alix Crown,--bright, +smart, good-looking girls that have been a hell of a ways farther +east than New York. Of course, there are boobs like me and Doc +Simpson and Tintype Hatch who get up to Chicago once every three +or four years and have to sew our return trip tickets inside our +belly-bands so's we can be sure of getting back home after Chicago +gets through admiring us, but now since prohibition has come in +I don't know but what we're as bright and clever as anybody else. +Most of the fellers I've run across in Chicago seem to be brightest +just after they change feet on the rail and ask the bartender if he +knows how to make a cucumber cocktail, or something else as clever +as that. But that ain't what we were talking about. We were talking +about--" + +"I wasn't talking about anything," interrupted Courtney. + +"Oh, yes, you were," said Charlie. "Not out loud, of course,--but +talking just the same. You were talking about Alix Crown and the +way she forgot to invite you to take a ride with the rest of--" + +"See here, Webster,--are you trying to be offensive?" + +"Offensive? Lord, no! I'm just TELLING you, that's all. On the +level now, am I right or wrong?" + +"I do not know Miss Crown," replied Thane stiffly. "Why should I +expect her to ask me,--a total stranger,--to go out in her car?" + +"Didn't Maude Pollock introduce you a while ago?" + +"No," said the other succinctly. + +"Well, by gosh, that ain't like Maude," exclaimed Charlie. "I'd +'a' bet two dollars she said 'I want to present my friend from New +York, Mr. Courtney Thane, the distinguished aviator, Miss Crown,' +or something like that. I can't understand Maude missing a chance +like that. She just LOVES it." + +Courtney smiled. "I daresay she wasn't quick enough," he said drily. +"Miss Crown was in a hurry. And I left before she came out of the +house. Now is your curiosity satisfied?" + +"Absolutely," said Charlie. "Now I'll sleep soundly tonight. I was +afraid the darned thing would keep me awake all night. Remember +me saying I had a small stock hid away up in my room? What say to +going up,--now that the coast is clear,--and having a nip or two?" + +"No, thanks, old man. I don't drink. Doctor's orders. Besides, +I've got some letters to write. I'll walk home with you if you're +ready to go." + +II + +Mr. Webster shook his head sadly. "That's the one drawback to +livin' in Windomville," he said. "People either want to drink too +much or they don't want to drink at all. Nobody wants to drink in +moderation. Now, here's you, for instance. You look like a feller +that could kiss a highball or two without compromising yourself, and +there's Hatch that has to hold his nose so's he won't get drunk if +he comes within ten feet of a glass of whiskey." They were strolling +slowly toward the Tavern. "Now you up and claim you're on the water +wagon. I'd been counting on you, Court,--I certainly had. The last +time I took Hatch and Doc Simpson up to my room,--that was on the +Fourth of last July,--I had to sleep on the floor. Course, if I +was skinny like Doc and Hatch that wouldn't have been necessary. +But I can't bear sleepin' three in a bed. Doctor's orders, eh? That +comes of livin' in New York. There ain't a doctor in Indiana that +would stoop so low as that,--not one. Look at old man Nichols. He's +eighty-two years old and up to about a year ago he never missed a +day without taking a couple o' swigs of rye. He swears he wouldn't +have lived to be more than seventy-five if he hadn't taken his +daily nip. That shows how smart and sensible our doctors are out +here. They--" + +"By the way, Mrs. Nichols appears to be a remarkably well-preserved +old lady,--aside from her hearing. How old is she?" + +"Eighty-three. Wonderful old woman." + +"I suppose she has always had her daily swig of rye." + +Charlie Webster was silent for a moment. He had to think. This was +a very serious and unexpected complication. + +"What did you say?" he inquired, fencing for time. + +"Has she always been a steady drinker, like the old man?" + +Charlie was a gentleman. He sighed. + +"I guess it's time to change the subject," he said. "The only way +you could get a spoonful of whiskey down that old woman would be +to chloroform her. If I'm any good at guessin', she'll outlive the +old man by ten years,--so what's the sense of me preachin' to you +about the life preserving virtues of booze? Oh, Lordy! There's +another of my best arguments knocked galley-west. It's no use. I've +been playing old man Nichols for nearly fifteen years as a bright +and shining light, and he turns out to be nothing but a busted +flush. She's had eleven children and he's never had anything worse +than a headache, and, by gosh, he's hangin' onto her with both hands +for support to keep his other foot from slippin' into the grave. +But,"--and here his face brightened suddenly,--"there's one thing +to be said, Court. She didn't consult any darned fool doctor about +it." + +Courtney was ashamed of his churlishness toward this good-natured +little man. + +"Say no more, Charlie. I'll break my rule this once if it will +make you feel any better. One little drink, that's all,--in spite +of the doctor. He's a long way off, and I daresay he'll never +know the difference. Lead the way, old chap. Anything to cheer up +a disconsolate comrade." + +A few minutes later they were in Webster's room, second floor +back. The highly gratified host had lighted the kerosene lamp on +the table in the centre of the room, and pulled down the window +shades. Then, putting his fingers to his lips to enjoin silence, +he tip-toed to the door and threw it open suddenly. After peering +into the hall and listening intently for a moment, he cautiously +closed it again. + +"All's well, as the watchman says at midnight," he remarked, as +he drew his key ring from his hip pocket and selected a key with +unerring precision from the extensive assortment. "I always do +that," he added. "I don't suppose it was necessary tonight, because +Angie Miller has got Hatch where he can't possibly escape. Long +as she knows where he is, she don't do much snooping. She used +to be the same way with me,--and Doc, too, for that matter. Poor +Hatch,--setting down there in the parlour,--listening to her talk +about birds and flowers and trying to help her guess what she's +going to give him for next Christmas. It's hell to be a bachelor, +Court." + +He unlocked a trunk in the corner of the room, and after lifting +out two trays produced a half empty whiskey bottle. + +"I had a dozen of these to begin with," said he, holding the bottle +up to the light. "Dollar sixty a quart. Quite a nifty little stock, +eh?" + +"Is that all you have left?" + +Charlie scratched his ear reflectively. + +"Well, you see, I've had a good deal of toothache lately," he +announced. "And as soon as Doc Simpson and Hatch found out about +it, they begin to complain about their teeth achin' too. Seemed +to be a sort of epidemic of toothache, Court. Nothing like whiskey +for the toothache, you know." + +"But Simpson is a dentist. Why don't you have him treat your teeth?" + +"Seems as though he'd sooner have me treat his," said Charlie, with +a slight grimace. Rummaging about in the top tray of the trunk, +he produced a couple of bar glasses, which he carefully rinsed at +the washstand. "Tastes better when you drink it out of a regular +glass," he explained. "Always seems sort of cowardly to me to take +it with water,--almost as if you were trying to drown it so's it +won't be able to bite back when you tackle it. Needn't mind sayin' +'when' The glass holds just so much, and I know enough to stop when +it begins to run over. Well! Here's hoping your toothache will be +better in the morning, Court." + +"I don't think I ought to rob you like this, Charlie,--" + +"Lord, man, you're not robbing me. If you're robbing anybody, it's +Doc Simpson,--and he's been absolutely free from toothache ever +since I told him this room was dry. Excuse me a second, Court. I +always propose a toast before I take a drink up here. Here's to Miss +Alix Crown, the finest girl in the U. S. A., and the best boss a +man ever had. Course I've never said that in a saloon, but up here +it's different,--and kind of sacred." + +"I usually make a wry face when I drink it neat like this," said +Courtney. + +"You'll like her just as well as I do when you get to know her, boy. +I've known her since she was a little kid,--long before she was +sent abroad,--and she's the salt of the earth. That's one thing on +which Doc and Hatch and me always agree. We differ on most everything +else, but--well, as I was saying, you wait till you get to know +her." + +He tossed off the whiskey in one prodigious gulp, smacked his lips, +and then stood watching his guest drink his. + +Tears came into Courtney's eyes as he drained the last drop of the +fiery liquid. A shudder distorted his face. + +"Pretty hot stuff, eh?" observed Charlie sympathetically. + +Courtney's reply was a nod of the head, speech being denied him. + +"Don't try to talk yet," said Charlie, as if admonishing a child +who has choked on a swallow of water. "Anyhow," he went on quaintly, +after a moment, "it makes you forget all about your toothache, +don't it?" + +The other cleared his throat raucously. "Now I know why the redskins +call it fire water," said he. + +"Have another?" + +"Not on your life," exclaimed the New Yorker. "Put it back in the +trunk,--and lock it up!" + +"No sooner said than done," said Charlie amicably. "Now I'll +pull up the shades and let in a little of our well-known hoosier +atmosphere,--and some real moonshine. Hello! There go Hatch and +Angie, out for a stroll. Yep! She's got him headed toward Foster's +soda water joint. I'll bet every tooth in his head is achin'." + +"How long have you been running the grain elevator, Charlie?" + +"Ever since David Windom built it, back in 1897,--twenty-two years. +I took a few months off in '98, expecting to see something of Cuba, +but the darned Spaniards surrendered when they heard I was on the +way, so I never got any farther than Indianapolis. Twenty-two years. +That's almost as long as Alix Crown has lived altogether." + +"Have you ever seen the grave at the top of Quill's Window?" + +"When I first came here, yes. Nobody ever goes up there now. In +the first place, she don't like it, and in the second place, most +people in these parts are honourable. We wouldn't any more think of +trespassin' up there than we'd think of pickin' somebody's pocket. +Besides which, there's supposed to be rattlesnakes up there among +the rocks. And besides that, the place is haunted." + +"Haunted? I understood it was the old Windom house that is haunted." + +"Well, spooks travel about a bit, being restless sort of things. +Thirty or forty years back, people swore that old Quill and the +other people who croaked up there used to come back during the dark +of the moon and hold high revels, as the novel writers would say. +Strange to say, they suddenly stopped coming back when the sheriff +snook up there one night with a couple of deputies and arrested a +gang of male and female mortals and confiscated a couple of kegs +of beer at the same time. Shortly after old David Windom confessed +that he killed Alix's father and buried him on the rock, people +begin to talk about seeing things again. Funny that Eddie Crown's +ghost neglected to come back till after he'd been dead eighteen years +or so. Ghosts ain't usually so considerate. Nobody ever claims to +have seen him floating around the old Windom front yard before Mr. +Windom confessed. But, by gosh, the story hadn't been printed in +the newspapers for more than two days before George Heffner saw +Eddie in the front yard, plain as day, and ran derned near a mile +and a half past his own house before he could stop, as he told some +one that met him when he stopped for breath. Course, that story +sort of petered out when George's wife went down and cowhided a +widow who lived just a mile and a half south of their place, and +that night George kept on running so hard the other way that he's +never been heard of since. Since then there hasn't been much talk +about ghosts,--'specially among the married men." + +"And the rattlesnakes?" said Courtney, grinning. + +"Along about 1875 David Windom killed a couple of rattlers up +there. It's only natural that their ghosts should come back, same +as anybody else's. Far as I can make out, nobody has ever actually +seen one, but the Lord only knows how many people claim to have +heard 'em." + +He went on in this whimsical fashion for half an hour or more, and +finally came back to Alix Crown again. + +"She did an awful lot of good during the war,--contributed to +everything, drove an ambulance in New York, took up nursing, and +all that, and if the war hadn't been ended by you fellers when it +was, she'd have been over in France, sure as you're a foot high." + +"Strange she hasn't married, young and rich and beautiful as she +is," mused Courtney. + +"Plenty of fellers been after her all right. She don't seem to +be able to see 'em though. Now that the war's over maybe she'll +settle down and pay some attention to sufferin' humanity. There's +one thing sure. If she's got a beau he don't belong around these +parts. Nobody around here's got a look-in." + +"Does she live all alone in that house up there? I mean, has she +no--er--chaperon?" + +"Nancy Strong is keeping house for her,--her husband used to run +the blacksmith shop here and did all of David Windom's work for +him. He's been dead a good many years. Nancy is one of the finest +women you ever saw. Her father was an Episcopal minister up in +the city up to the time he died. Nancy had to earn her own living, +so she got a job as school teacher down here. Let's see, that was +over thirty years ago. Been here ever since. Tom Strong wasn't good +enough for her. Too religious. He was the feller that led the mob +that wiped out Tony Zimmerman's saloon soon after I came here. I'll +never forget that night. I happened to be in the saloon,--just out +of curiosity, because it was new and everybody was dropping in to +see the bar and fixtures he'd got from Chicago,--but I got out of +a back window in plenty of time. But as I was saying, Nancy Strong +keeps house for Alix. She's got a cook and a second girl besides, +and a chauffeur." + +"An ideal arrangement," said Courtney, looking at his wrist-watch. + +"I wonder if you ever came across Nancy Strong's son over in France. +He was in the Medical Corps in our Army. He's a doctor. Went to +Rush Medical College in Chicago and afterwards to some place in +the East,--John Hopkins or some such name as that. Feller about +your age, I should say. David Strong. Mr. Windom sent him through +college. They say he's paying the money back to Alix Crown as fast +as he makes it. Alix hates him worse'n poison, according to Jim +Bagley, her foreman. Of course, she don't let on to David's mother +on account of her being housekeeper and all. Seems that Alix is as +sore as can be because he insists on paying the money to her, when +she claims her grandpa gave it to him and it's none of her business. +Davy says he promised to pay Mr. Windom back as soon as he was able, +and can't see any reason why the old man's death should cancel the +obligation. Jim was telling me some time ago about the letter Alix +showed him from Davy. She was so mad she actually cried. He said +in so many words he didn't choose to be beholden to her, and that +he was in the habit of paying his debts, and she needn't be so high +and mighty about refusin' to accept the money. He said he didn't +accept anything from Mr. Windom as charity,--claiming it was a +loan,--and he'd be damned if he'd accept charity from her. I don't +believe he swore like that, but then Jim can't say good morning to +you without getting in a cuss word or two. Alix is as stubborn as +all get out. Jim says that every time she gets a cheque from Davy +she cashes it and hands the money over to Mrs. Strong for a present, +never letting on to Nancy that it came from Davy. Did I say that +Davy is practisin' in Philadelphia? He was back here for a week to +see his mother after he got out of the Army, but when Alix heard +he was coming she beat it up to Chicago. I thought maybe you might +have run across him over in France." + +"I was not with the American Army,--and besides there were several +million men in France, Charlie," said Courtney, arising and stretching +himself. "Well, good night. Thanks for the uplift. I'll skip along +now and write a letter or two." + +"Snappy dreams," said Charlie Webster. + +Just as Courtney was closing a long letter to his mother, the +automobile drew up in front of the Tavern and Alix Crown's guests +got out. There were "good-nights" and "sleep-tights" and then the +car went purring down the dimly lighted road. He had no trouble in +distinguishing Alix's clear, young voice, and thereupon added the +following words of comfort to his faraway mother: "You will love +her voice, mater dear. It's like music. So put away your prejudice +and wish me luck. I've made a good start. The fact that she refused +to look at me on the porch tonight is the best sign in the world. +Just because she deliberately failed to notice me is no sign that +she didn't expect me to notice her. It is an ancient and time-honoured +trick of your adorable sex." + +III + +The next morning his walk took him up the lane past the charming, +red-brick house of Alix the Third. His leg was troubling him. He +walked with quite a pronounced limp, and there were times when his +face winced with pain. + +"It's that confounded poison you gave me last night," he announced +to Charlie Webster as they stood chatting in front of the warehouse +office. + +"First time I ever heard of booze going to the knee," was Charlie's +laconic rejoinder. "It's generally aimed at the head." + +He made good use of the corner of his eye as he strolled leisurely +past the Windom house, set well back at the top of a small +tree-surrounded knoll and looking down upon the grassy slope that +formed the most beautiful "front yard" in the whole county, according +to the proud and boastful denizens of Windomville. Along the bottom +of the lawn ran a neatly trimmed privet hedge. There were lilac +bushes in the lower corners of the extensive grounds, and the wide +gravel walk up to the house was lined with flowers. Rose bushes +guarded the base of the terrace that ran the full length of the +house and curved off to the back of it. + +A red and yellow beach umbrella, tilted against the hot morning +sun, lent a gay note of colour to the terrace to the left of the +steps. Some one,--a woman,--sat beneath the big sunshade, reading +a newspaper. A Belgian police dog posed at the top of the steps, +as rigid as if shaped of stone, regarding the passer-by who limped. +Halfway between the house and the road stood two fine old oaks, +one at either side of the lawn. Their cool, alluring shadows were +like clouds upon an emerald sea. Down near the hedge a whirling +garden spray cast its benevolent waters over the grateful turf, and, +reaching out in playful gusts, blew its mist into the face of the +man outside. Back of the house and farther up the timbered slope +rose a towering windmill and below it the red water tank, partially +screened by the tree-tops. The rhythmic beat of a hydraulic pump +came to the stroller's ears. + +Courtney's saunterings had taken him past this charming place +before,--half a dozen times perhaps,--but never had it seemed so +alluring. Outwardly there was no change that he could detect, and +yet there was a subtle difference in its every aspect. The spray, +the shadows, the lazy windmill, the flowers,--he had seen them +all before, just as they were this morning. They had not changed. +But now, by some strange wizardry, the tranquil setting had been +transformed into a vibrant, exquisite fairyland, throbbing with +life, charged with an appeal to every one of the senses. It was as +if some hand had shaken it out of a sound sleep. + +But, for that matter, the whole village of Windomville had undergone +a change. It was no longer the dull, sleepy place of yesterday. +Over night it had blossomed. Courtney Thane alone was aware of this +amazing transformation. It was he who felt the thrill that charged +the air, who breathed in the sense-quickening spice, who heard +the pipes of Pan. All these signs of enchantment were denied the +matter-of-fact, unimaginative inhabitants of Windomville. And you +would ask the cause of this amazing transformation? + +Before he left the breakfast table Courtney had consented to give a +talk before the Literary Society on the coming Friday night. Mrs. +Maude Baggs Pollock had been at him for a week to tell of his +experiences at the front. She promised a full attendance. + +"I've never made a speech in my life," he said, "and I know I'd be +scared stiff, Mrs. Pollock." + +"Pooh! Don't you talk to me about being scared! Anybody who did +the things you did over in France--" + +"Ah, but you forget I was armed to the teeth," he reminded her, +with a grin. + +"Well," put in Charlie Webster, "we'll promise to leave our pistols +at home. The only danger you'll be in, Court, will come from a lot +of hysterical women trying to kiss you, but I think I can fix it +to have the best lookin' ones up in front so that--" + +"I wish you wouldn't always try to be funny, Charlie Webster," +snapped Mrs. Pollock. "Mr. Thane and I were discussing a serious +matter. If you can postpone--" + +"I defy anybody to prove that there's anything funny about being +kissed by practically half the grown-up population of Windomville +with the other half lookin' on and cussin' under their breath." + +"Don't pay any attention to him, Mr. Thane," said the poetess +of Windomville. "Alix Crown said last night she was coming to the +meeting this week, and I'd so like to surprise her. Now please say +you will do it." + +"I really wouldn't know what to talk about," pleaded the young man. +"You see, as a rule, we fellows who were over there don't feel +half as well qualified to talk about the war as those who stayed +at home and read about it in the papers." + +"Nonsense! All you will have to do is just to tell some of your +own personal experiences. Nobody's going to think you are bragging +about them. We'll understand." + +"Next Friday night, you say? Well, I'll try, Mrs. Pollock, if +you'll promise to chloroform Charlie Webster," said he, and Charlie +promptly declared he would do the chloroforming himself. + + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +COURTNEY APPEARS IN PUBLIC + + + + +The meetings of the Literary Society were held once a month in the +Windomville schoolhouse, a two story brick building situated some +distance back from the main street at the upper edge of the town. +There were four classrooms and three teachers, including the principal, +Miss Angie Miller, who taught the upper grade. Graduates from her +"room" were given diplomas admitting them to the first year of High +School in the city hard-by in case they desired to take advantage +of the privilege. As a rule, however, the parents of such children +were satisfied to call it an honour rather than a privilege, with +the result that but few of them ever saw the inside of the High +School. They were looked upon as being quite sufficiently educated +for all that Windomville could possibly expect or exact of them. +When the old schoolhouse was destroyed by fire in the winter of +1916, Alix Crown contributed fifteen thousand dollars toward the +construction of this new and more or less modern structure, with +the provision that the town board should appropriate the balance +needed to complete the building. On completion the schoolhouse +was found to have cost exactly $14,989.75, and so, at the next +township election, the board was unanimously returned to office by +an appreciative constituency, and Miss Crown graciously notified +by the assessor that she had been credited with ten dollars and +twenty-five cents against her next year's road tax. + +The Literary Society always met in Miss Miller's "room," not +because it was more imposing or commodious than any of the others +but on account of its somewhat rarified intellectual atmosphere. +Miss Angie's literary attainments, while confined to absorption +rather than to production, were well known. She was supposed to +have read all of the major poets. At any rate she was able to quote +them. Besides, she had made a study of Dickens and Thackeray and +Trollope, being qualified to discuss the astonishing shortcomings +of those amiable mid-Victorians in a most dependable manner. She +made extensive use of the word "erudite," and confused a great many +people by employing "vicarious" and "didactic" and "raison d'etre" +in the course of ordinary conversation. For example, in complaining +to Mr. Hodges, the school trustee, about the lack of heat in +mid-January, she completely subdued him be remarking that there +wasn't "the least raison d'etre for such a condition." In view of +these and other intellectual associations, Miss Miller's "room" +was obviously the place for the Literary Society to meet. + +Mr. George Ade, Mr. Booth Tarkington, Mr. James Whitcomb Riley, +Mr. Meredith Nicholson and other noted Indiana authors had been +invited to "read from their works" before the Society, and while +none of them had been able to accept, each and every one had written +a polite note of regret to the secretary, who not only read them +aloud to the Society but preserved them in her own private scrap +book and spoke feelingly of her remarkable "collection." + +The room was crowded to hear the "celebrated air-man" relate his +experiences at the front. The exercises were delayed for nearly an +hour while Mr. Hatch, the photographer, prepared and foozled three +attempts to get a flashlight picture of the gathering. Everybody +was coughing violently when A. Lincoln Pollock arose to introduce +the speaker of the evening. In conclusion he said: + +"Mr. Thane was not only wounded in the service of humanity but +he was also gassed. I wish to state here and now that it was not +laughing gas the Germans administered. Far from it, my friends. Mr. +Thane will tell you that it was no laughing matter. He has come +to God's own country to recuperate and to regain his once robust +health. After looking the world over, he chose the health-giving +climate of his native state,--ahem! I should say, his father's +native state,--and here he is not only thriving but enjoying himself. +I take it upon myself to announce that he left all of his medals +at his home in New York. They are too precious to be carried +promiscuously about the country. It is my pleasure, ladies and +gentlemen, to introduce to you one of the real heroes of the Great +War, Mr. Courtney Thane, of New York City, who will now speak to +you." + +Alix Crown sat at the back of the room. There were no chairs, of +course. Each person present occupied a scholar's seat and desk. +Courtney had seen her come in. She was so late that he began to +fear she was not coming at all. The little thrill of exultation +that came with her arrival was shortly succeeded by an even greater +fear that she would depart as soon as the meeting was over, without +stopping to meet him at the "reception" which was to follow. + +In his most agreeable drawl and with the barest reference to his +own exploits, he described, quite simply, a number of incidents +that had come under his personal observation while with the American +Ambulance and afterwards in the British Flying Corps. Most of his +talk was devoted to the feats of others and to the description of +scenes and events somewhat remote from the actual fighting zone. +He confessed that he knew practically nothing of the work of the +American Expeditionary Force, except by hearsay, as he did not +come in contact with the American armies, except an occasional unit +brigaded with British troops in the Cambrai section of the great +line. His listeners, no doubt, knew a great deal more about the +activities and achievements of the Americans than he, so he was +quite sure there was nothing he could say that would interest or +enlighten them. In concluding he very briefly touched upon his own +mishap. + +"We were returning from a bombing flight over the German positions +when somebody put a bullet into our petrol and down we came in +flames. There was a gas attack going on at the time. We managed to +land in a cloud of it, and--somehow we got back to our own lines, +a little the worse for wear and all that sort of thing, you know. +It wasn't as bad as you'd think,--except for the gas, which isn't +what you would call palatable,--and I came out not much worse off +than a chap who has been through a hard football scrimmage. Knee +and ankle bunged up a little,--and a dusty uniform,--that's about +all. I hope you will excuse me from talking any longer. My silly +throat goes back on me, you see. My mother probably would tell +you, 'too many cigarettes.' Perhaps she is right. Thank you for +listening to all this rot, ladies and gentlemen. You are very kind +to have given me this undeserved honour." + +Not once during his remarks did he allow his gaze to rest upon Alix +Crown. It was his means of informing her that she had not made the +slightest impression upon him. + +As he resumed his seat beside Mr. Pollock, and while the generous +hand-clapping was still going on, Pastor Mavity arose and benignly +waited for the applause to cease. Mr. Mavity invariably claimed +the ecclesiastical privilege of speech. No meeting was complete, +no topic exhausted, until he had exercised that right. It did not +matter whether he had anything pertinent to say, the fact still +remained that he felt called upon to say something: + +"I should like to ask Mr. Thane if he thinks the Germans are +preparing for another war. We have heard rumours to that effect. +Many of our keenest observers have declared that it is only a +matter of a few years before the Germans will be in a position to +make war again, and that they will make it with even greater ferocity +than before. We all know of the conflict now raging in Russia, +and the amazing rebellion of De Annunzio in Fiume, and the--er--as +I was saying, the possibility of the Kaiser seizing his bloody +throne and calling upon his minions to--ah--er--renew the gigantic +struggle. The history of the world records no such stupendous sacrifice +of life on the cruel altars of greed and avarice and--er--ambition. +We may turn back to the vast campaigns of Hannibal and Hamilcar +and Julius Caesar and find no--er--no war comparable to the one we +have so gloriously concluded. Our own Civil War, with all its,--but +I must not keep you standing, Mr. Thane. Do you, from your experience +and observation, regard another war as inevitable?" + +"I do," was Courtney's succinct reply. + +There was a distinctly audible flutter throughout the room. Here, +at last, was something definite to support the general contention +that "we aren't through with the Germans yet." A lady up in front +leaned across the aisle and whispered piercingly to her husband: + +"There! What did I tell you?" + +Another lady arose halfway from her seat and anxiously inquired: + +"How soon do you think it will come, Mr. Thane?" + +She had a son just turning seventeen. + +"That is a question I am afraid you will have to put to God or the +German Emperor," said Courtney, with a smile. + +"When David Strong was home this spring I asked him what he thought +about it," said Editor Pollock. "I published the interview in the +Sun. He was of the opinion that the Germans had had all they wanted +of war. I tried to convince him that he was all wrong, but all I +could get him to say was that if they ever did make war again it +would be long after the most of us were dead." + +"David Strong didn't see anything of the war except what he saw in +the hospitals," said a woman contemptuously. + +"Permit me to correct you, Mrs. Primmer," said Alix Crown, without +arising. "David Strong was under fire most of the time. He was not +in a base hospital. He was attached to a field hospital,--first with +the French, then with the British, and afterwards with the Americans." + +"In that case," said Courtney, facing her, "he was in the thick +of it. Every man in the army, from general down to the humblest +private, takes his hat off to the men who served in the field +hospitals. While we may differ as to the next war, I do not hesitate +to say that Dr. Strong saw infinitely more of the last one than I +did. It may sound incredible to you, ladies and gentlemen, but my +job was a picnic compared to his. As a matter of fact, I have always +claimed that I was in greater danger when I was in the American +Ambulance than when I was flying, quite safely, a couple of miles +up in the air. At any rate, I FELT safer." + +"Oh, but think of falling that distance," cried Miss Angie Miller. + +"It was against the rules to think of falling," said he, and every +one laughed. + +The "reception" followed. Every one came up and shook hands with +Courtney and told him how much his address was enjoyed. As the +group around him grew thicker and at the same time more reluctant +to move on, he began to despair of meeting Alix Crown. He could +see her over near the door conversing with Alaska Spigg and Charlie +Webster. Then he saw her wave her hand in farewell to some one +across the room and bow to Charlie. There was a bright, gay smile +on her lips as she said something to Charlie which caused that +gentleman to laugh prodigiously. All hope seemed lost as she and +little old Alaska turned toward the open door. + +It was not fate that intervened. It was Pastor Mavity. Disengaging +himself from the group and leaving a profound sentence uncompleted, +he dashed over to her, calling out her name as he did so. + +"Alix! Just a moment, please!" + +She paused,--and Courtney discreetly turned his back. Presently +a benevolent hand was laid on his shoulder and the voice of the +shepherd fell upon his ear. + +"I want you to meet Miss Crown, Mr. Thane. She has just been +telling me how interested she was in your remarks. Miss Crown, my +very dear friend, Mr. Courtney Thane. Mr. Thane, as you may already +know, is sojourning in our midst for--" + +"I am delighted to meet you, Miss Crown," broke in Courtney, +with an abashed smile. "Formally, I mean. I have a very distinct +recollection of meeting you informally," he added wrily. + +"Dear me!" exclaimed Mr. Mavity, elevating his eyebrows. + +Courtney's humility disarmed her. She allowed her lips to curve +slightly in a faint smile. The merest trace of a dimple flickered +for an instant in her smooth cheek. + +"I suppose it was the old story of forbidden fruit, Mr. Thane," +said she. Then, impulsively, she extended her hand. He clasped it +firmly, and there was peace between them. + +"On the contrary, Miss Crown, it was an unpardonable piece of +impudence, for which I am so heartily ashamed that I wonder how I +can look you in the face." + +"I was tremendously interested in your talk tonight," she said, coolly +dismissing the subject. "Thank you for giving us the pleasure. It +is just such adventures as you have had that makes me wish more +than ever that I had not been born a girl." + +He bowed gallantly. "What would the world be like if God had +neglected to create the rose?" + +"Bravo!" cried Mr. Mavity, slapping him on the back. "Spoken like +a knight of old." + +"Good night, Mr. Thane,--and thank you again," she said. Nodding +to Mr. Mavity, she turned to leave the group. + +Again the parson intervened. "My dear Alix, I can't let you go +without saying a word about your splendid defence of David Strong. +It was fine. And you, sir, were--ah--what shall I say?--you were +most generous in saying what you did. David is a fine fellow. He--" + +"I should have said the same about any doctor who was up at the +front," said Courtney simply. "Is he an old friend, Miss Crown?" + +"I have known him ever since I can remember," she replied, and he +detected a slight stiffness in her manner. + +"Ahem! Er--ah--" began Mr. Mavity tactfully. "David was born here, +Mr. Thane. Well, good night, Alix,--good night." + +When she was quite out of hearing, the flustered parson lowered +his voice and said to Courtney: + +"They--er--don't get along very well, you see. I couldn't explain +while she was here. Something to do with money matters,--nothing of +consequence, I assure you,--but very distressing, most distressing. +It is too bad,--too bad." + +Mrs. Pollock overheard. "They're both terribly set in their ways," +she remarked. "Stubborn as mules. For my part, I think Alix is too +silly for words about it. Especially with his mother living in the +same house with her. Now, mind you, I'm not saying anything against +Alix. I love her. But just the same, she can be the most unreasonable--" + +"They haven't spoken to each other for over three years," inserted +Angie Miller. "When they were children they were almost inseparable. +David Windom took a fancy to little David. The story is that he +was trying to ease his conscience by being nice to a blacksmith's +son. You see, his own daughter ran away with a blacksmith's +son,--and you've heard what happened, Mr. Thane. David was in my +class for two years before he went up to High School, and I remember +he always used to get long letters from Alix when she was in England. +Then, when she came home,--she was about twelve I think,--they were +great friends. Always together, playing, studying, reading, riding +and--" + +"Everybody used to say old David Windom was doing his best to make +a match of it," interrupted Mrs. Pollock, who had been out of the +conversation longer than she liked. "Up to the time the old man +died, we used to take it for granted that some day they would get +married,--but, my goodness, it's like waving a red flag at a bull +to even mention his name to Alix now. She hates him,--and I guess +he hates her." + +"Oh, my dear friend," cried Mr. Mavity, "I really don't think you +ought to say that. Hate is a very dreadful word. I am sure Alix +is incapable of actually hating any one. And as for David, he is +kindness, gentleness itself. It is just one of those unfortunate +situations that cannot be accounted for." + +Charlie Webster came up at that juncture. + +"Say, Court, why didn't you tell 'em about the time you called +Colonel What's-His-Name down,--the French guy that--" The scowl +on Courtney's brow silenced the genial Charlie. He coughed and +sputtered for a moment or two and then said something about "taking +a joke." + +As Charlie moved away, Miss Angie Miller sniffed and said, without +appreciably lowering her voice: + +"I wonder where he gets it. There isn't supposed to be a drop in +Windomville." Suddenly her eyes flew wide open. "Furman! Oh, Furman +Hatch!" she called out to a man who was sidling toward the door in +the wake of the pernicious Mr. Webster. + +While there was nothing to indicate that Mr. Hatch heard her, the +most disinterested spectator would have observed a perceptible +acceleration of speed on his part. + +"You promised to tell me how to--" But Mr. Hatch was gone. Mr. +Webster turned a surprised and resentful look upon him as he felt +himself being pushed rather roughly through the door ahead of the +hurrying photographer. When Miss Angie reached the door,--she had +lost some little time because of the seats and the stupidity of +Mrs. Primmer who blocked the way by first turning to the right, +then to the left, and finally by not turning at all,--Mr. Hatch was +nowhere in sight, even though Mr. Webster was barely two-thirds of +the way down the stairs. + +A pleasant, courteous voice accosted her from behind as she stood +glaring after the chubby warehouseman. + +"Do you mind if I walk home with you, Miss Miller?" + +"Oh, is--is that you, Mr. Thane?" she fairly gasped. Then she +simpered. "I'm really not a bit afraid. Still,"--hastily--"if you +really wish to, I should be delighted." + +If Mr. Hatch was lurking anywhere in the shadows, he must have been +profoundly impressed by the transformation in Miss Angie Miller as +she strode homeward at the side of the tall young New Yorker, her +hand on his arm, her head held high,--he might also have noticed +that she stepped a little higher than usual. + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +ALIX THE THIRD + + + + +October came, with its red and golden trees, its brown pastures, +its crisp nights and its hazy, smoky days. Fires were kindled in +old-fashioned fireplaces; out in the farmyards busy housewives were +making soap and apple butter in great iron kettles suspended over +blazing logs; wagons laden with wheat and corn rumbled through +country roads and up to the Windom elevator; stores were thriving +under the spur of new-found money; the school was open, Main Street +childless for hours at a time,--and Courtney Thane was still in +Windomville. + +He was a frequent, almost constant visitor at the red-brick house +on the knoll. The gossips were busy. Sage winks were exchanged when +Alix and he were seen together in her automobile; many a head was +lowered so that its owner might peer quizzically over the upper +rims of spectacles as they strolled past the postoffice and other +public porches; convicting feminine smiles pursued the young +man up the lane leading to Alix's home. There were some doubtful +head-shakings, but in the main Windomville was rather well pleased +with the prospect. Opinion, though divided, was almost unanimous: +few there were who held that "nothin' would come of it." + +Charlie Webster was one of the latter. His early intimacy with the +ex-aviator had suffered a decided slump. His jovial attempts to +plague the young man about his intentions met with the frostiest +reception. Indeed, on one memorable occasion, the object of these +good-natured banterings turned upon him coldly and said: + +"See here, Webster, you're getting to be considerable of a nuisance. +Cut it out, will you? You are not half as funny as you think you +are. I'm pretty well fed up with your freshness--understand?" + +It was a slap in the face that Charlie DID understand, and one +he never forgot. As the rebuke was uttered on the porch of Dowd's +Tavern and in the presence of Flora Grady, Maude Baggs Pollock and +one or two others, the sting was likely to endure. + +While Courtney's manner had undergone a decided change so far as +nearly all of his fellow-lodgers were concerned, he still maintained +a very friendly and courteous attitude toward the Dowd sisters and +Mr. and Mrs. Pollock. For some reason known only to himself,--(but +doubtless plain to the reader of this narrative),--he devoted most +of his attention to the editor and his wife and to the two spinsters +who were such close friends of the young lady of his dreams. As +for the others, he made no attempt to conceal his disdain. + +It was not long before the Irish in Miss Flora Grady was aroused. +She announced to Miss Angie Miller that he was a "stuck up smart-Aleck," +and sooner or later he'd get a piece of her mind that would "take +him down a couple of pegs." Miss Miller, while in complete accord +with Flora's views, was content to speak of him as "supercilious." + +Charlie Webster grew more and more thoughtful under the weight of +indignity. + +"I certainly missed my guess as to that feller," he remarked to +Doc Simpson and Hatch one day. "I had him sized up as a different +sort of feller altogether. Why, up to a couple of weeks ago, he +was as nice as pie to all of us,--'specially to me. He used to come +over to my office and sit around for hours, chatting and smoking +cigarettes and joshing like a good feller. But I've got it all +figgered out, boys. He was simply workin' me. He always led the +conversation round to Alix Crown, and then, like a dern' fool, I'd +let him pump me dry. Why, there's nothing he don't know about that +girl,--and all through me. Now he's got in with her,--just as he +wanted to all along,--and what does he do but tie a can to me and +give me a swift kick. And there's another thing I might as well +say to you fellers while I'm about it. I've been doing a lot of +thinking lately,--sort of putting things together in my mind,--and +it's my opinion that he is one of the blamedest liars I've ever +come across." + +He paused to see the effect of this startling assertion. Hatch +removed the corn-cob pipe from between his lips and laconically +observed: + +"Well, I know of one lie he's told." + +"You do?" + +"Remember him telling us at the supper table one night that a German +submarine fired three torpedoes at the steamer he was coming home +on with a lot of other sick and wounded? Well, a couple of nights +ago he forgot himself and made the statement that he was in a +hospital in England for nearly two months after the armistice was +signed." + +"By gosh, that's right," cried Doc Simpson. + +"And what's more," went on Hatch, "wasn't he serving in the British +Army? What I'd like to know is this: why would England be sending +her wounded soldiers over to America? You can bet your life England +wasn't doing anything like that." + +"There's another thing that don't sound just right to me," said +Charlie, his brow furrowed. "He says one night he got lost driving +his ambulance and the first thing he knew he was away behind the +German lines. I may be wrong, but I've always thought both sides +had trenches. What puzzles me is how the dickens he managed to +drive that Ford of his over the German trenches without noticin' +'em,--and back again besides." + +"Well," said Doc, desiring to be fair, "it seems to be the habit +of soldiers to lie a little. That's where we get the saying, 'he +lied like a trooper.' I know my Uncle George lied so much about what +he did in the Civil War that he ought to have had twenty pensions +instead of one. Still, there's a big change in Court, as you say, +Charlie. I wonder if Alix is really keen about him. He's up there +all the time, seems to me. Or is she just stringin' him?" + +Charlie frowned darkly. "He's a slick one. I--I'd hate to see Alix +fall for him." + +The sententious Mr. Hatch: "The smartest women in the world lose +their heads over a feller as soon as they find out he's in poor +health." + +"He's in perfect health," exploded Charlie. + +"I know,--but that don't prevent him from coughing and holding +his side and walking with a cane, does it? That's what gets 'em, +Charlie. The quickest way to get a girl interested is to let her +think you're in need of sympathy." + +"It don't work when you're as fat as I am," said Charlie gloomily. + +Conscious or unconscious of the varying opinions that were being +voiced behind his back, Courtney went confidently ahead with +his wooing. He congratulated himself that he was in Alix's good +graces. If at times she was perplexingly cool,--or "upstage," as +he called it,--he flattered himself that he knew women too well to +be discouraged by these purely feminine manifestations. + +This was a game he knew how to play. The time was not yet ripe for +him to abandon his well-calculated air of indifference. That he was +desperately in love with her goes without saying. If at the outset +of his campaign he was inspired by the unworthy motive of greed, +he was now consumed by an entirely different desire,--the desire +to have her for his own, even though she were penniless. + +Those whirlwind tactics that had swept many another girl off her +feet were not to be thought of here. Alix was different. She was +not an impressionable, hair-brained flapper, such as he had come in +contact with in past experiences. Despite her sprightly, thoroughly +up-to-the-moment ease of manner, and an air of complete sophistication, +she was singularly old-fashioned in a great many respects. While +she was bright, amusing, gay, there was back of it all a certain +reserve that forbade familiarity,--sufficient, indeed, to inspire +unexampled caution on his part. She invited friendship but not +familiarity; she demanded respect rather than admiration. + +He was not slow in arriving at the conclusion that she knew men. +She knew how to fence with them. He was distinctly aware of this. +Other men, of course, had been in love with her; other men no doubt +had dashed their hopes upon the barrier in their haste to seize the +treasure. It was inconceivable that one so lovely, so desirable, +so utterly feminine should fail to inspire in all men that which +she inspired in him. The obvious, therefore, was gratifying. Granted +that she had had proposals, here was the proof that the poor fools +who laid their hearts at her feet had gone about it clumsily. Such +would not be the case with him. Oh no! He would bide his time, he +would watch for the first break in her enchanted armour,--and then +the conquest! + +There were times, of course, when he came near to catastrophe,--times +when he was almost powerless to resist the passion that possessed +him. These were the times when he realized how easy it would have +been to join that sad company of fools in the path behind her. + +He had no real misgivings. He felt confident of winning. True, her +moods puzzled him at times, but were they not, after all, omens of +good fortune? Were they not indications of the mysterious changes +that were taking place in her? And the way was clear. So far as he +knew, there was no other man. Her heart was free. What more could +he ask? + +On her side, the situation was not so complex. He came from the +great outside world, he brought the outside world to the lonely +little village on the bank of the river. He was bright, amusing, +cultivated,--at least he represented cultivation as it exists in +open places and on the surface of a sea called civilization. He +possessed that ineffable quality known as "manner." The spice of the +Metropolis clung to him. He could talk of the things she loved,--not +as she loved the farm and village and the home of her fathers, but +of the things she loved because they stood for that which represented +the beautiful in intellect, in genius, in accomplishment. The breath +of far lands and wide seas came with him to the town of Windomville, +grateful and soothing, and yet laden with the tang of turmoil, the +spice of iniquity. + +Alix was no Puritan. She had been out in the world, she had come +up against the elemental in life, she had learned that God in His +wisdom had peopled the earth with saints and sinners,--and she was +tolerant of both! In a word, she was broad-minded. She had been +an observer rather than a participant in the passing show. She had +absorbed knowledge rather than experience. + +The conventions remained unshaken so far as she was personally +concerned. In others she excused much that she could not have +excused in herself,--for the heritage of righteousness had come +down to her through a long line of staunch upholders. + +She loved life. She craved companionship. She could afford +to gratify her desires. Week-ends found two or more guests at her +home,--friends from the city up the river. Sometimes there were +visitors from Chicago, Indianapolis and other places,--girls she +had met at school, or in her travels, or in the canteen. Early in +the war her house was headquarters for the local Red Cross workers, +the knitters, the bandage rollers, and so on, but after the entry +of the United States into the conflict, most of her time was spent +away from Windomville in the more intense activities delegated to +women. + +She attended the theatre when anything worth while came to the +city, frequently taking one or two of the village people with her. +Once, as she was leaving the theatre, she heard herself discussed +by persons in the aisle behind. + +"That's Alix Crown. I'll tell you all about her when we get home. +Her father and mother were murdered years ago and buried in a well +or something. I wish she'd turn around so that you could get a good +look at her face. She's quite pretty and--" + +And she had deliberately turned to face the speaker, who never +forgot the cold, unwavering stare that caused her to lower her own +eyes and her voice to trail off into a confused mumble. + +Alix was a long time in recovering from the distress caused by the +incident. She avoided the city for weeks. It was her first intimation +that she was an object of unusual interest to people, that she was +the subject of whispered comment, that she was a "character" to be +pointed out to strangers. Even now, with the sting of injury and +injustice eased by time and her own good sense, there still remained +the disturbing consciousness that she was,--for want of a milder +term,--a "marked woman." + +She was thoroughly acquainted with every detail connected with the +extensive farms and industries that had been handed down to her. A +great deal of her time was devoted to an intelligent and comprehensive +interest in the management of the farms. She was never out of +touch with conditions. Her tenants respected and admired her; her +foremen and superintendents consulted with her as they would not +have believed it possible to consult with a woman; her bankers +deferred to her. + +She would have laughed at you if you had suggested to her that she +had more than a grain of business-sense, or ability, or capacity, +and yet she was singularly far-sighted and capable,--without being +in the least aware of it. Her pleasures were not allowed to interfere +with her obligations as a landlord, a citizen and a taxpayer. +A certain part of each day was set aside for the business of the +farms. She repaired bright and early to the little office at the +back of the house where her grandfather had worked before her, +and there she struggled over accounts, reports, claims,--and her +cheque-book. And like her grim, silent grandsire, she "rode" the +lanes that twined through field and timber,--only she rode gaily, +blithely, with sunshine in her heart. The darkness was always behind +her, never ahead. + +Courtney undoubtedly had overcome the prejudice his visit to +Quill's Window had inspired in her. They never spoke of that first +encounter. It was as a closed book between them. He had forgotten +the incident. At any rate, he had put it out of his mind. He sometimes +wondered, however, if she would ever invite him to accompany her +to the top of that forbidden hill. In their rambles they had passed +the closed gate on more than one occasion. The words, "No Trespass," +still met the eye. Some day he would suggest an adventure: the +descent to the cave in quest of treasure! The two of them! Rope +ladder and all! It would be great fun! + +He was assiduous in his efforts to amuse her house guests. He laid +himself out to be entertaining. If he resented the presence of young +men from the city, he managed to conceal his feelings remarkably +well. On one point he was firm: he would not accompany her on any +of her trips to the city. Once she had invited him to motor in with +her to a tea, and another time she offered to drive him about the +city and out to the college on a sight-seeing tour. It was then +that he said he was determined to obey "doctor's orders." No city +streets for him! Even SHE couldn't entice him! He loved every inch +of this charming, restful spot,--every tree and every stone,--and +he would not leave it until the time came for him to go away forever. + +He was very well satisfied with the fruits of this apparently +ungracious refusal. She went to the city less frequently than before, +and only when it was necessary. This, he decided, was significant. +It could have but one meaning. + +Her dog, Sergeant, did not like him. + + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A MID-OCTOBER DAY + + + + +One chilly, rainy afternoon in mid-October Courtney appeared at the +house on the knoll half an hour earlier than was his custom. Alix +was expecting friends down from the city for tea. From the hall +where he was removing his raincoat he had a fair view through +an open door of the north end of the long living-room. Logs were +blazing merrily in the fireplace. Alix was standing before the fire, +tearing a sheet of paper into small pieces. She was angry. She threw +rather than dropped the bits of paper into the flames,--unmistakably +she was furious. He waited a moment before entering the room. Her +back was toward him. She turned in response to his discreet cough. +Even in the dim light that filtered in from the grey, leaden day +outside, he could detect the heightened colour in her cheeks, and +as he advanced he saw that her eyes were wet with illy-suppressed +tears. She bit her lip and forced a smile. + +He possessed the philanderer's tact. There was nothing in his +manner to indicate that he noticed anything unusual. He greeted +her cheerfully and then, affecting a shiver, passed on to spread +his hands out over the fire. + +"This is great," he exclaimed, his back to her. He was giving her +a chance to compose herself. "Nothing like a big log fire to warm +the cockles of your heart,--although it isn't my heart that needs +warming. Moreover, I don't know what cockles are. I must look 'em +up in the dictionary. Come here, Sergeant,--there's a good dog! +Come over and get warm, old fellow. Toast your cockles. By Jove, +Miss Crown, isn't he ever going to make friends with me?" + +"They are 'one man' dogs, Mr. Thane," she replied. "Come, Sergeant,--if +you're going to be impolite you must leave the room. Excuse me a +moment. Sergeant! Do you hear me, sir? Come!" + +The big grey dog followed her slowly, reluctantly, from the room. +Courtney heard her going up the stairs. + +"That nasty brute is going to take a bite out of me some day," he +muttered under his breath. "Fat chance I'd have to kiss her with +that beast around." + +He heard the closing of an upstairs door. His thoughts were still +of the police dog. + +"There's one thing sure," he said to himself. "That dog and I can't +live in the same house." Then his thoughts rose swiftly to that +upstairs room,--he was sure it was a dainty, inviting room,--to +picture her before the mirror erasing all visible evidence of +agitation. He found himself wondering what it was that caused this +exhibition of temper. A letter? Of course,--a letter. A letter that +contained something she resented, something that infuriated her. +A personal matter, not a business one. She would not have treated +a business matter in such a way. He knew her too well for that. The +leaping flames gave no hint of what they had destroyed. Was it an +anonymous letter? Had it anything to do with him? + +His eye fell upon several envelopes on the library table. After a +moment's hesitation and a quick glance toward the door, he strode +over to inspect them. They were all unopened. Two were postmarked +Chicago, one New York; on the others the postmarks were indistinct. +The handwriting was feminine on most of them. A narrow, folded slip +of paper lay a little detached from the letters. He picked it up +and quickly opened it. It proved to be a check on a Philadelphia +bank. A glance sufficed to show that it was for two hundred and +fifty dollars, payable to the order of Alix Crown, and signed "D. +W. Strong." + +The door upstairs was opened and closed. Replacing the bit of +paper on the table, he resumed his position before the fire. Quite +a different Alix entered the room a few seconds later. She was +smiling, her eyes were soft and tranquil. All traces of the passing +tempest were gone. + +"Sit down,--draw this big chair up to the fire,--do. It IS raw and +nasty today, isn't it? I think the Mallons are coming out in an +open car. Isn't it too bad?" + +"Bad for the curls," he drawled. "Mind if I smoke?" + +"Certainly not. Don't you know that by this time?" + +He had drawn a chair up beside hers. Her reply afforded him a very +definite sense of elation. + +"It seems to me that the world is getting to be a rather heavenly +place to live in," he said, and there was a trace of real feeling +in his voice. "You don't mind my saying it's entirely due to you, +do you?" + +"Not in the least," she said calmly. "Charlie Webster once paraphrased +a time-honoured saying. He said 'In the fall an old man's fancy +slightly turns to thoughts of comfort.' I sha'n't deprive my fireplace +and my big armchair of their just due by believing a word of what +you say." + +He tossed the match into the fire, drew in a deep breath of smoke, +settled himself comfortably in the chair before exhaling, and then +remarked: + +"But I don't happen to be an old man. I happen to be a rather young +one,--and a very truthful one to boot." + +"Do you always tell the truth?" + +He grinned. "More or less always," was his reply. "I never lie in +October." + +"And the other eleven months of the year?" + +"Oh, I merely change the wording. In July I say 'I never lie in +July,'--and so on throughout the twelve-month. I don't slight a +single month. By the by, I hope I didn't pop in too far ahead of +time this afternoon. You asked me to come at four. I'm half an hour +early. Were you occupied with anything--" + +"I was not busy. A few letters,--but they can wait." He caught the +faint shadow of a cloud as it flitted across her eyes. "They are +all personal,--nothing important in any of them, I am sure." + +She shot a quick glance at the folded check and, arising abruptly, +went over to the table where, with apparent unconcern, she ran +through the little pile of letters. He saw her pick up the check +and thrust it into the pocket of her sport skirt. Then she returned +to the fireplace. The cloud was on her brow again as she stared +darkly into the crackling flames. He knew now that it was Strong's +letter she had destroyed in anger. He would have given much to +know what the man she despised so heartily had written to her. If +he could have seen that brief note he would have read: + +DEAR ALIX: + +I enclose my checque for two-fifty. If all goes well I hope to +clean up the indebtedness by the first of the year. In any case, I +am sure it can be accomplished by early spring. You may thank the +flu for my present prosperity. It has been pretty bad here in the +East again, although not so virulent as before. Please credit me +with the amount. This leaves me owing you five hundred dollars. It +should not take long to wipe it out entirely, interest and all. + +Sincerely yours, + +DAVID. + +Courtney eyed her narrowly as she stood for a moment looking into +the fire before resuming her seat. He realized that her thoughts +were far away and that they were not pleasant. + +"It's queer," he said presently, "that you have never learned to +smoke." + +She started slightly at the sound of his voice. As she turned to +sit down, he went on: + +"Almost every girl I know smokes. I will not say that I like to +see it,--especially in restaurants and all that sort of thing,--but +it's rather jolly if there's a nice, cosy fire like this,--see +what I mean? Sort of intimate, and friendly, and--soothing. Don't +you want to try one now?" + +"Thank you, no. If it weren't so shocking, I think I should like to +learn how to smoke a pipe,--but I suppose that isn't to be thought +of. Somehow I feel that a pipe might be a pal, a good old stand-by, +or even a relative,--something to depend upon in all sorts of +weather, fair and foul. I've noticed that the men on the place who +smoke pipes appear to be contented and jolly and good humoured,--and +efficient. Yes, I think I should like to smoke a pipe." + +"Would you like me better if I cut out the cigarettes, and took up +the pipe of peace--and contentment?" he inquired thoughtfully. + +"I doubt it," she replied, smiling. "I can't imagine you smoking +a pipe." + +"Is that supposed to be flattering or scornful?" + +"Neither. It is an impression, that's all." + +He frowned slightly. "I used to smoke a pipe,--in college, you know. +Up to my sophomore year. It was supposed to indicate maturity. But +I don't believe I'd have the courage to tackle one now, Miss Crown. +Not since that little gas experience over there. You see, my throat +isn't what it was in those good old freshman days. Pipe smoke,--you +may even say tobacco smoke, for heaven only knows what these +cigarettes are made of,--pipe smoke is too strong. My throat is so +confounded sensitive I--well, I'd probably cough my head off. That +beastly gas made a coward of me, I fear. You've no idea what it does +to a fellow's throat and lungs. If I live to be a thousand years +old, I'll never forget the tortures I went through for weeks,--yes, +ages. Every breath was like a knife cutting the very--But what a +stupid fool I am! Distressing you with all these wretched details. +Please forgive me." + +She was looking at him wonderingly. "You are so different from the +poor fellows I saw in New York," she said slowly. "I mean the men +who had been gassed and shell-shocked. I saw loads of them in the +hospitals, you know,--and talked with them. I was always tremendously +affected by their silence, their moodiness, their unwillingness to +speak of what they had been through. The other men, the ones who +had lost legs or arms or even their eyes,--were as a rule cheerful +and as chatty as could be,--oh, how my heart used to ache for +them,--but the shell-shock men and the men who had been gassed, +why, it was impossible to get them to talk about themselves. I +have seen some of them since then. They are apparently well and +strong, and yet not one word can you get out of them about their +sufferings. You are almost unique, Mr. Thane. I am glad you feel +disposed to talk about it all. It is a good sign. It--" + +"I didn't say much about it at first," he interrupted hurriedly. +"Moreover, Miss Crown," he went on, "a lot of those chaps,--the +majority of them, in fact,--worked that dodge for all it was worth. +It was a deliberate pose with them. They had to act that way or +people wouldn't think they'd been hurt at all. Bunk, most of it." + +"I don't believe that, Mr. Thane. I saw too many of them. The ones +with whom I came in contact certainly were not trying to deceive +anybody. They were in a pitiable condition, every last one of +them,--pitiable." + +"I do not say that all of them were shamming,--but I am convinced +that a great many of them were." + +"The doctors report that the shell-shock cases--" + +"Ah, the doctors!" he broke in, shrugging his shoulders. "They were +all jolly good fellows. All you had to do was to even hint that +you'd been knocked over by a shell that exploded two hundred yards +away and--zip! they'd send you back for repairs. As for myself, +the only reason I didn't like to talk about my condition at first +was because it hurt my throat and lungs. It wasn't because I was +afflicted with this heroic melancholy they talk so much about. +I was mighty glad to be alive. I couldn't see anything to mope +about,--certainly not after I found out I wasn't going to die." + +"I daresay there were others who took it as you did. I wish there +could have been more." + +He hesitated a moment before speaking again. Then he hazarded the +question: + +"What does your friend, Dr. Strong, have to say about the general +run of such cases?" + +"I don't know. I have not seen Dr. Strong since the war ended." + +He looked mildly surprised. "Hasn't he been home since the war?" + +"I believe so. I was away at the time." + +"How long was he in France?" + +"He went over first in 1916 and again in the fall of 1917, and +remained till the end of the war. His mother is here with me, you +know." + +"Yes, I know. By Jove, I envy him one thing,--lucky dog." She +remained silent. "You were playmates, weren't you?" + +"Yes," she said, lifting her chin slightly. + +"Well, that's why I envy him. To have been your playmate,--Why, +I envy him every minute of his boyhood. When I think of my own +boyhood and how little there was to it that a real boy should have, +I--I--confound it, I almost find myself hating chaps like Strong, +chaps who lived in the country and had regular pals, and girl +sweethearts, and went fishing and hunting, and played hookey as it +ought to be played, and grew up with something fine and sweet and +wholesome to look back upon,--and to have had you for a playmate,--maybe +a sweetheart,--you in short frocks, with your hair in pigtails, +barefooted in summertime, running--" + +She interrupted him. "Your imagination is at fault there, Mr. +Thane," she said, smiling once more. "I never went barefooted in +my life." + +"At any rate, HE did. And he played all sorts of games with you; +he--" + +"My impression of David Strong is that he was a boy's boy," she broke +in rather stiffly. "His games were with the boys of the town,--and +they were rough games. Football, baseball, shinney, circus,--things +like that." + +"I don't mean sports, Miss Crown. I was thinking of those wonderful +boy and girl games,--such as 'playing house,' 'getting married,' +'hide-and-go-seek,'--all that sort of thing." + +"Yes, I know," she admitted. "We often played at getting married, +and we had very large but inanimate families, and we quarrelled +like real married people, and I used to cry and take my playthings +home, and he used to stand outside our fence and make faces at me +till I hated him ferociously. But all that was when we were very +small, you see." + +"And as all such things turn out, I suppose he grew up and went +off and got married to some one else." + +"He is not married, Mr. Thane." + +"Well, for that matter, neither are you," said he, leaning forward, +his eyes fixed intently on hers. She did not flinch. "I wonder just +how you feel toward him today, Miss Crown." + +She was incapable of coquetry. "We are not the best of friends," +she said quietly. "Now, if you please, let us talk of something +else. Did I tell you that an old Ambulance man is coming down for +a day or two nest week? A Harvard man who lives in Chicago. His +sister and I went to New York together to take our chances there +on getting over to France. I think I've told you about her,--Mary +Blythe?" + +"Blythe?" repeated Courtney thoughtfully. "Blythe. Seems to me +I heard of a chap named Blythe over there in the Ambulance, but +I don't remember whether I ran across him anywhere or not. He may +have been after my time, however. I was with the Ambulance in '15 +and the early part of '16, you see." + +"Addison Blythe. He was afterwards a Field Artillery captain. I've +known Mary Blythe for years, but I know him very slightly. He went +direct from Harvard to France, you see." + +"What section was he with?" + +"I don't know. I only know he was at Pont-a-Mousson for several +months. You were there too at one time, I remember. I've heard him +speak of the Bois le Pretre. You may have been there at the same +time." + +"Hardly possible. I should have known him in that case. My section +was sent up to Bar le Duc just before the first big Verdun battle." + +"Why, he was all through the first battle of Verdun. His section +was transferred from Pont-a-Mousson at an hour's notice. Were there +more than one section at Pont-a-Mousson?" + +"I don't know how they were fixed after I left. You see, I was +trying to get into the aviation end of the game along about that +time. I was in an aviation camp for a couple of months, but went +back to the Ambulance just before the Verdun scrap. They slapped +me into another section, of course. I used to see fellows from my +own section occasionally, but I don't recall any one named Blythe. +He probably was sent up while I was at Toul,--or it may have been +during the time I was with a section in the Vosges. I was up near +Dunkirk too for a while,--only for a few weeks. When did you say +he was coming?" + +"Next Tuesday. They are stopping off on their way to attend a +wedding in Louisville. You two will have a wonderful time reminiscing." + +"Blythe. I'll rummage around in my memory and see if I can place +him. There was a fellow named Bright up there at one time,--at +least I got the name as Bright. It may have been Blythe. I'll be +tickled to death to meet him, Miss Crown." + +"You will love Mary Blythe. She is a darling." + +"I may be susceptible, Miss Crown, but I am not inconstant," said +he, with a gallant bow. + +She was annoyed with herself for blushing. + +"Will you throw another log or two on the fire, please?" she said, +arising. "I think I hear a car coming up the drive. The poor Mallons +will be chilled to the bone." + +He smiled to himself as he took the long hickory logs from the wood +box and placed them carefully on the fire. He had seen the swift +flood of colour mount to her cheeks, and the odd little waver in +her eyes before she turned them away. She was at the window, looking +out, when he straightened himself and gingerly brushed the wood +dust from his hands. Instead of joining her, he remained with his +back to the fire, his feet spread apart, his hands in his coat +pockets, comforting himself with the thought that she was wondering +why he had not followed her. It was, he rejoiced, a very clever +bit of strategy on his part. He waited for her to turn away from +the window and say, with well-assumed perplexity: "I was sure I +heard a car, Mr. Thane." + +And that is exactly what she did say after a short interval, adding: + +"It must have been the wind in the chimney." + +"Very likely," he agreed. + +She remained at the window. He held his position before the fire. + +"If I were just a plain damned fool," he was saying to himself, +"I'd rush over there and spoil everything. It's too soon,--too +soon. She's not ready yet,--not ready." + +Alix, looking out across the porch into the grey drizzle that drenched +the lawn, thrust her hand into her skirt pocket and, clutching the +bit of paper in her fingers, crumpled it into a small ball. Her +eyes were serene, however, as she turned away and walked back to +the fireplace. + +"I don't believe they are coming, after all. I think they might +have telephoned," she said, glancing up at the old French ormula +clock on the mantelpiece. "Half-past four. We will wait a few +minutes longer and then have tea." + +His heart gave a sudden thump. Was it possible--but no! She would +not stoop to anything like that. The little thrill of exultation +departed as quickly as it came. + +"Tire trouble, perhaps," he ventured. + +Tea was being brought in when the belated guests arrived. Courtney, +spurred by the brief vision of success ahead, was never in better +form, never more entertaining, never so well provided with polite +cynicisms. Later on, when he and Alix were alone and he was putting +on his raincoat in the hall, she said to him impulsively: + +"I don't know what I should have done without you, Mr. Thane. You +were splendid. I was in no mood to be nice or agreeable to anybody." + +"Alas!" he sighed. "That shows how unobserving I am. I could have +sworn you were in a perfectly adorable mood." + +"Well, I wasn't," she said stubbornly. "I was quite horrid." + +"Has anything happened to--to distress you, Miss Crown?" he inquired +anxiously. His voice was husky and a trifle unsteady. "Can't you +tell me? Sometimes it helps to--" + +"Nothing has happened," she interrupted nervously. "I was--just +stupid, that's all." + +"When am I to see you again?" he asked, after a perceptible pause. +"May I come tonight?" + +"Not tonight," she said, shaking her head. + +She gave no reason,--nothing more than the two little words,--and +yet he went away exulting. He walked home through the light, gusty +rain, so elated that he forgot to use his cane,--and he had limped +quite painfully earlier in the afternoon, complaining of the +dampness and chill. He had the habit of talking to himself when +walking alone in the darkness. He thought aloud: + +"She wants to be alone,--she wants to think. She has suddenly realized. +She is frightened. She doesn't understand. She is bewildered. She +doesn't want to see me tonight. Bless her heart! I'll bet my head +she doesn't sleep a wink. And tomorrow? Tomorrow I shall see her. +But not a word, not a sign out of me. Not tomorrow or next day or +the day after that. Keep her thinking, keep her guessing, keep her +wondering whether I really care. Pretty soon she'll realize how +miserable she is,--and then!" + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE CHIMNEY CORNER + + + + +A. Lincoln Pollock was full of news at supper that evening. Courtney, +coming in a little late,--in fact, Miss Margaret Slattery already +had removed the soup plates and was beginning to wonder audibly +whether a certain guy thought she was a truck-horse or something +like that,--found the editor of the Sun anticipating by at least +twelve hours the forthcoming issue of his paper. He was regaling +his fellow-boarders with news that would be off the press the first +thing in the morning,--having been confined to the composing-room +for the better part of a week,--and he was enjoying himself. +Charlie Webster once made the remark that "every time the Sun goes +to press, Link Pollock acts for all the world like a hen that's +just laid an egg, he cackles so." + +"I saw Nancy Strong this morning and she was telling me about a +letter she had from David yesterday. He wants her to pack up and +come to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to live with him. He says he'll +take a nice little apartment, big enough for the two of 'em, if +she'll only come. She can't make up her mind what to do. She's so +fond of Alix she don't see how she can desert her,--at least, not +till she gets married,--and yet she feels she owes it to her son +to go and make a home for him. Every once in a while Alix makes +her a present of a hundred dollars or so,--once she gave her three +hundred in cold, clean cash,--and actually loves her as if she was +her own mother. Nancy's terribly upset. She is devoted to Alix, +and at the same time she's devoted to her son. She seemed to want +my advice, but of course I couldn't give her any. It's a thing +she's got to work out for herself. I couldn't advise her to leave +Alix in the lurch and I couldn't advise her to turn her back on +her only son,--could I?" + +"How soon does David want her to come?" inquired Miss Molly Dowd. + +"Before Christmas, I believe. He wants her to be with him on +Christmas day." + +"Well, it would work out very nicely," said Mrs. Pollock, "if Alix +would only get married before that time." + +"I guess that's just what Nancy is kind of hoping herself," stated +Mr. Pollock. "It would simplify everything. Of course, when she +told Alix about David's letter and what he wanted her to do, Alix +was mighty nice about it. She told Nancy to go by all means, her +place was with her son if he needed her, and she wouldn't stand in +the way for the world. Nancy says she had about made up her mind +to go, but changed it last night. She was telling me about sneaking +up to Alix's bedroom door and listening. Alix was crying, sort of +sobbing, you know. That settled it with Nancy,--temporarily at any +rate. Now she's up in the air again, and don't know what to do. +She's gone and told Alix she won't leave her, but all the time she +keeps wondering if Davy can get along without her in that great big +city, surrounded by all kinds of perils and traps and pitfalls,--night +and day. Evil women and--" + +"Has Alix said anything to you about it, Mr. Thane?" inquired Maude +Baggs Pollock. + +"Not a word," replied Courtney, secretly irritated by the discovery +that Alix had failed to take him into her confidence. "She doesn't +discuss servant troubles with me." + +"Oh, good gracious!" cried Miss Dowd. "If Nancy Strong ever heard +you speak of her as a servant she'd--". + +"She'd bite your head off," put in Miss Margaret Slattery. "Are you +through with your soup, Mr. Thane?" Without waiting for an answer, +she removed the plate with considerable abruptness. + +"Are you angry with me, Margaret?" he asked, with a reproachful +smile. His smile was too much for Margaret. She blushed and mumbled +something about being sorry and having a headache. + +"Say, Court, do you know this Ambulance feller that's coming to +visit Alix next week?" asked the editor, with interest. + +"You mean Addison Blythe? He was up at Pont-a-Mousson for a while, +I believe, but it was after I had left for the Vosges section. I've +heard of him. Harvard man." + +"You two ought to have a good time when you get together," said +Doc Simpson. + +"I've got an item in the Sun about him this week, and next week +we'll have an interview with him." + +The usually loquacious Mr. Webster had been silent since Courtney's +arrival. Now he lifted his voice to put a question to Miss Angie +Miller, across the table. + +"Did you write that letter I spoke about the other day, Angie?" + +"Yes,--but there hasn't been time for an answer yet." + +"Speaking about David Strong," remarked Mr. Pollock, "I'll never +forget what he did when Mr. Windom gave him a silver watch for his +twelfth birthday. Shows what a bright, progressive, enterprising +feller he was even at that age. You remember, Miss Molly? I mean +about his setting his watch fifteen minutes ahead the very day he +got it." + +Miss Molly smiled. "It WAS cute of him, wasn't it?" + +"What was the idea?" inquired Mr. Hatch. + +"So's he would know what time it was fifteen minutes sooner than +anybody else in town," said Mr. Pollock. + +"My, what a handsome boy he was," said Miss Angie Miller. + +"Do you really think so?" cried Mrs. Pollock. "I never could see +anything good looking about him,--except his physique. He has a +splendid physique, but I never liked his face. It's so--so--well, +so, raw-boned and all. I like smooth, regular features in a man. +I--" + +"Like mine," interjected the pudgy Mr. Webster, with a very serious +face. + +"David Strong has what I call a very rugged face," said Miss Miller. +"I didn't say it was pretty, Maude." + +"He takes a very good photograph," remarked Mr. Hatch. "Specially +a side-view. I've got one side-view of him over at the gallery that +makes me think of an Indian every time I look at it." + +"Perhaps he has Indian blood in him," suggested Courtney, who was +tired of David Strong. + +"Well, every drop of blood he's got in him is red," said Charlie +Webster; "so maybe you're right." + +"The most interesting item in the Sun tomorrow," said Mr. Pollock, +"is the word that young Cale Vick, across the river, has enlisted +in the navy. He leaves on Monday for Chicago to join some sort +of a training school, preparatory to taking a job on one of Uncle +Sam's newest battleships,--the biggest in the world, according +to his grandfather, who was in to see me a day or two ago. I have +promised to send young Cale the Sun for a year without charging him +a cent. Old man Brown says Amos Vick's daughter Rosabel isn't at +all well. Something like walking typhoid, he says,--mopes a good +deal and don't sleep well." + +"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," exclaimed Courtney, real concern in +his voice. "She was such a lively, light-hearted girl when I was +over there. I can't imagine her moping. I hope Amos Vick isn't too +close-fisted to consult a doctor. He's an awful tight-wad--believe +me." + +"Doctor can't seem to find anything really the matter ter with +her, so old Cale Brown told me," said Mr. Pollock. "But don't you +think it's fine of young Cale to join the navy, Court? Maybe your +tales about the war put it into his head." + +"It's more likely that he'd got fed up with life on a farm," said +Courtney. "He'll find himself longing for the farm and mother a +good many times before he's through with the navy." + +Instead of going up to his room immediately after supper, as was +his custom of late, Courtney joined the company in the "lounging +room," so named by Mr. Webster who contended that no first-class +hotel ever had such a thing as a parlour any more. The Misses Dowd, +of course, called it the parlour, but as they continued to refer +to the fireplace as the "chimney corner," one may readily forgive +their reluctance to progress. Smoking was permitted in the "lounging +room" during the fall and winter months only. + +A steady rain was beating against the windows, and a rising wind +made itself heard in feeble wails as it turned the dark corners of +the Tavern. Presently it was to howl and shriek, and, as the rain +ceased, to rattle the window shutters and the ancient, creaking +sign that hung out over the porch,--for on the wind tonight came +the first chill touch of winter. + +"A fine night to be indoors," remarked Courtney in his most genial +manner as he moved a rocking chair up to the fireplace and gallantly +indicated to old Mrs. Nichols that it was intended for her. + +"Ain't you going out tonight, Court?" inquired Mr. Hatch. + +"Iron horses couldn't drag me out tonight," he replied. "Sit here, +Mrs. Pollock. Doc, pull up that sofa for Miss Grady and Miss Miller. +Let's have a chimney-corner symposium. Is symposium the right word, +Miss Miller? Ah, I see it isn't. Well, I did my best. I could have +got away with it in New York, but no chance here. And speaking +of New York reminds me that at this very instant the curtains are +going up and the lights are going down in half a hundred theatres,--and +I don't mind confessing I'd like to be in one of them." + +"That's one thing I envy New York for," said Mrs. Pollock. "Hand +me my knitting off the table, Lincoln, please. I love the theatre. +I could go every night--" + +"You get tired of them after a little while, Maude," said Flora +Grady, a trifle languidly. "Isn't that so, Mr. Thane?" + +"Quite," agreed Courtney. "You get fed up with 'em." + +"I remember once when I was in New York going six nights in succession, +seeing all the best things on the boards at that time, and I give +you my word," said Miss Grady, "they DID feed me up terribly." + +"I know just what you mean, Miss Grady," said Courtney, without +cracking a smile. "One gets so bored with the best plays in town. +What one really ought to do, you know, is to go to the worst ones." + +"I've always wanted to see 'The Blue Bird,'" said Miss Miller +wistfully. "It's by Maeterlinck, Mr. Nichols." + +Old Mr. Nichols looked interested. "You don't say so," he ejaculated. +"Give me a good minstrel show,--that's what I like. Haverly's or +Barlow, Wilson, Primrose & West, or Billy Emerson's or--say, did +you ever see Luke Schoolcraft? Well, sir, there was the funniest +end man I ever see. There used to be another minstrel man +named,--er--lemme see,--now what was that feller's name? It begin +with L, I think--or maybe it was W. Now--lemme--think. Go on +talkin', the rest of you. I'll think of his name before bedtime." +Whereupon the ancient Mr. Nichols relapsed into a profound state +of thought from which he did not emerge until Mr. Webster shook +his shoulder some fifteen or twenty minutes later and informed him +that if he got any worse Mrs. Nichols would be able to hear him, +and then she couldn't go 'round telling people that he slept just +like a baby. + +Courtney was in his element. He liked talking about the stage, +and stage people. And on this night,--of all nights,--he wanted to +talk, he wanted company. The clock on the mantel-piece struck ten +and half-past and was close to striking eleven before any one made +a move toward retiring,--excepting Mr. and Mrs. Nichols who had gone +off to bed at eight-thirty. The Misses Dowd had joined the little +company in the "parlour." He discussed books with Mrs. Pollock +and Miss Miller, fashions with Miss Grady, politics with Mr. +Pollock,--(agreeing with the latter on President Wilson),--art with +Mr. Hatch and the erudite Miss Miller, the drama with every one. + +Now, Courtney Thane knew almost nothing about books, and even less +about pictures. He possessed, however, a remarkable facility when +it came to discussing them. He belonged to that rather extensive +class of people who thrive on ignorance. If you wanted to talk +about Keats or Shelley, he managed to give you the impression that +he was thoroughly familiar with both,--though lamenting a certain +rustiness of memory at times. He could talk intelligently about +Joseph Conrad, Arnold Bennet, Bernard Shaw, Galsworthy, Walpole, +Mackenzie, Wells and others of the modern English school of +novelists,--that is to say, he could differ or agree with you on +almost anything they had written, notwithstanding the fact that he +had never read a line by any one of them. He professed not to care +for Thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure," though nothing could have +been more obscure to him than the book itself or the author thereof, +and agreed with the delightful Mrs. Pollock that "The Mayor of +Casterbridge" was an infinitely better piece of work than "Tess +of the D'Urbervilles." As for the American writers, he admitted a +shameful ignorance about them. + +"Of course, I read Scott when I was a boy,--I was compelled to do +so, by the way,--but as for the others I am shockingly unfamiliar +with them. Ever since I grew up I've preferred the English novelists +and poets, so I fear I--" + +"I thought Scott was an English writer," put in Charlie Webster +quietly. + +"What Scott are you referring to, Charlie?" he asked indulgently. + +"Why, Sir Walter Scott,--he wrote 'Ivanhoe,' you know." + +"Well, I happen to be speaking of William Scott, the American +novelist,--no doubt unknown to most of you. He was one of the +old-timers, and I fancy has dropped out of the running altogether." + +"Never heard of him," said Mr. Pollock, scratching his ear +reflectively. + +"Indigenous to New England, I fancy,--like the estimable codfish," +drawled Courtney, and was rewarded by a wholesome Middle West laugh. + +"What are those cabarets like?" inquired Mr. Hatch. He pronounced +it as if he were saying cigarettes. + +"Pretty rotten," said Thane. + +"Are you fond of dancing, Mr. Thane?" inquired Mrs. Pollock. "I +used to love to trip the light fantastic." + +"I am very fond of dancing," said he, and then added with a smile: +"Especially since the girls have taken to parking their corsets." + +There was a shocked silence, broken by Miss Grady, who, as a +dressmaker, was not quite so finicky about the word. + +"What do you mean by parking?" she inquired. + +"Same as you park an automobile," said he, enjoying the sensation +he had created. "It's the fashion now, among the best families as +well as the worst, for the girls when they go to dances to leave +their corsets in the dressing rooms. Check 'em, same as you do your +hat." + +"Bless my soul," gasped Mr. Pollock. "Haven't they got any mothers?" + +"Sure,--but the mothers don't know anything about it. You see, it's +this way. We fellows won't dance with 'em if they've got corsets +on,--so off they come." + +"What's the world coming to?" cried the editor. + +"You'd better ask where it's going to," said Charlie Webster. + +"Do you go to the opera very often?" asked Miss Miller nervously. + +He spoke rather loftily of the Metropolitan Opera House, and very +lightly of the Metropolitan Museum,--and gave Charlie Webster a +sharp look when that amiable gentleman asked him what he thought +of the Metropolitan Tower. + +But he was at home in the theatre. He told them just what Maude +Adams and Ethel Barrymore were like, and Julia Marlowe, and Elsie +Ferguson, and Chrystal Herne, and all the rest of them. He spoke +familiarly of Mr. Faversham as "Favvy," of Mr. Collier as "Willie," +of Mr. Sothern as "Ned," of Mr. Drew as "John," of Mr. Skinner as +"Otis," of Mr. Frohman as "Dan." + +And when he said good night and reluctantly wended his way to the +room at the end of the hall, round the corner of which the fierce +October gale shrieked derisively, he left behind him a group +enthralled. + +"Isn't he a perfect dear?" cried Mrs. Pollock, clasping her hands. + +"The most erudite man I have ever met," agreed Miss Miller +ecstatically. "Don't you think so, Mr. Hatch?" + +Mr. Hatch was startled. "Oh,--er--yes, indeed. Absolutely!" +he stammered, and then looked inquiringly at his finger nails. He +hoped he had made the proper response. + +Charlie Webster ambled over to one of the windows and peered out +into the whistling night. + +"It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good," said he sententiously. + +"What do you mean by that, Charlie?" inquired Flora Grady, at his +elbow. + +"Well, if it had been a pleasant night he'd have been up at Alix +Crown's instead of here," said Charlie. + +"I see," said Flora, after a moment. "You mean the ill wind favoured +Alix, eh?" + +Charlie's round face was unsmiling as he stared hard at the fire. + +"I wonder--" he began, and then checked the words. + +"Don't you worry about Alix," said Flora. "She's nobody's fool." + +"I wasn't thinking of Alix just then," said Charlie. + +II + +The following morning, Courtney went, as was his custom, to the +postoffice. He had arranged for a lock-box there. His letters were +not brought up to the Tavern by old Jim House, the handy-man. + +The day was bright and clear and cold; the gale had died in the +early morning hours. Alix Crown's big automobile was standing in +front of the post-office, the engine running. Catching sight of it +as he left the Tavern porch, he hastened his steps. He was a good +two hundred yards away and feared she would be off before he could +come up with her. As he drew near, he saw the lanky chauffeur standing +in front of the drug store, chatting with one of the villagers. + +Alix was in the post-office. As he passed the car, he slackened +his pace and glanced over his shoulder into the tonneau. The side +curtains were down. A low growl greeted him. He hastened on. + +She was at the registry window. + +"Hello!" he exclaimed, extending his hand and searching her face +as he did so for signs of a sleepless night. + +"Good morning," she responded cheerily. There was nothing in her +voice, her eyes or her manner to indicate an even remotely disturbed +state of mind. Her gaze met his serenely; the colour did not rush +to her cheeks as he had fondly expected, nor did her eyes waver +under the eager, intense gleam in his. He suddenly felt cheated. + +"Where are you off to this morning?" he inquired. + +"To town for the day. I have some business to attend to and some +shopping to do. Would you like to come along?" + +He was in a sulky mood. + +"You know I hate the very thought of going to town," he said. Then, +as she raised her eyebrows slightly, he made haste to add: "I'd go +from one end of the desert of Sahara to the other with you, but--" +shaking his head so solemnly that she laughed outright,--"not to +the city. Just ask me to go to the Sahara with you and see how--" + +"Haven't you had enough of No-Man's Land?" she cried merrily. + +"It depends on what you'd call No-Man's Land," said he, and her gaze +faltered at last. There was no mistaking his meaning. "Sometimes +it is Paradise, you know," he went on softly. + +Twice before she had seen the same look in his eyes, and both times +she had experienced a strange sensation, as of the weakness that +comes with ecstasy. There had been something in his eyes that +seemed to caress her from head to foot, something that filled her +with the most disquieting self-consciousness. Strange to say, it +was not the ardent look of the love-sick admirer,--and she had not +escaped such tributes,--nor the inquiring look of the adventurous +married man. It was not soulful nor was it offensive. She reluctantly +confessed to herself that it was warm and penetrating and filled +her with a strange, delicious alarm. + +She quickly withdrew her gaze and turned to the little window where +Mrs. Pollock was making out her receipt for a registered package. +She felt that she was cowardly, and the thought made her furious. + +"Will it go out today, Mrs. Pollock?" she asked. + +"This afternoon," replied the postmaster's wife and assistant. +"Wasn't that a dreadful wind last night, Alix? I thought of you. +You must have been frightened." + +"I slept like a log through all of it," said Alix. "I love the +wild night wind. It makes me feel so nice and comfy in bed. I was +awfully tired last night. Thanks." Then turning to Courtney: "Sorry +you will not go with me. I'll bear you in mind if I ever take a +trip to the Sahara. Good-bye." + +"Will you be at home tonight?" he asked, holding the door open for +her to pass through. + +"Yes," she replied composedly. + +"I mean,--to me?" + +"If you care to come," she said. + +He did not accompany her to the car. The big grey-brown dog with +his paws on the back of the front seat, was eagerly watching her +approach. + +She wore a long mole-skin coat and a smart little red turban. She +had never looked so alluring to the young man who waited in the +open door until the car started away. + +"Close the door, please," called out Mrs. Pollock. "This isn't +July, you know." + +"So she slept like a log, did she?" muttered Courtney as he turned +away from his lockbox with a letter. "Well, that's more than I +did." + +He glanced hurriedly through the letter, crumpled it up in his hand, +and went jauntily up the street until he came to Hatch's Photograph +Gallery. Entering, he gave the proprietor a hearty "good morning," +and then drew a chair up before the low "sheet-iron stove" which +heated the reception-room. Hatch was "printing" behind a partition, +and their conversation was carried on at long range over the top. +Presently the visitor drew the crumpled letter from his pocket, +tore it into tiny pieces and cast it into the fire. + +"Well, so long, Hatch. I'm off for a stroll in your crisp October +air." + + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THANE VISITS TWO HOUSES + + + + +All day long Alix was troubled. She could not free her thoughts +of that searing look or the spell it had cast over her during the +brief instant of contact. She was haunted by it. At times she gave +herself up to a reckless, unmaidenly rejoicing in the thrill it +had given her; at such times she flushed to the roots of her hair +despite the chill of ecstasy that swept over her. But far more +often she found herself resenting the liberty his eyes had taken,--a +mental rather than a physical liberty. She was resolved that it +should not happen again. + +She had posted a note to David Strong that morning. Before the car +had covered the first mile on its way to town, she was wishing she +had not dropped it into the slot at the post-office. Only the fear +of appearing ridiculous to Mrs. Pollock kept her from turning back +to reclaim it. She could not explain this sudden, almost frantic +impulse,--she did not attempt to account for it. Somehow she sensed +that it had to do with the look in Thane's eyes,--but it was all +so vague and intangible that even the suggestion did not take the +form of thought. + +In this curt little note she had said: + +DEAR DAVID: + +I hereby acknowledge receipt of your cheque No. 372 for two hundred +and fifty dollars, but as I have tried to make you understand +before, it is not only an unnecessary but a most unwelcome bit of +paper. You are perfectly well aware that my grandfather's estate +has been settled and, as I have informed you time and again, your +obligation to him no longer exists. You may have owed something +to him, but you owe nothing to me. If I were to follow my impulse +I should tear up this cheque of yours. It would be useless to return +it to you, for you would only send it back to me, as you did with +the first two cheques that came last winter. I want you to understand +that I do not accept this money as my own. If it is any satisfaction +to you to know that I give it away,--no matter how,--you are welcome +to all the consolation you may get out of it. + +Yours truly, + +ALIX CROWN. + +P.S.--I have advised your mother to go to Philadelphia whenever +you are ready for her to come. A. + +P.S.S.--Under separate cover by registered post I am also returning +to you the bracelet you sent me from Paris. I think I wrote you a +long time ago how much I admired it. A. + +Meanwhile, Thane was making the best of a rather empty morning. He +put off finishing a letter to his mother, who had returned to New +York and was so busy with dressmakers that twice she had employed +the telegraph in promising to "write soon,"--a letter in which +he already had written, among other rapturous passages: "She is +positively ravishing, mater dear. I am simply mad about her, and +I know you will be too." He was determined that the day should not +be a total loss; he would turn at least a portion of it to profit. + +First of all, he visited Alaska Spigg at the log-hut village +library. Miss Spigg was very proud of her geraniums. No one else +in Windomville,--or in the world, for that matter, if one were to +recall Mr. Pollock's article in the Sun,--no one else cultivated +such geraniums as those to be seen in the pots that crowned the +superinforced windowsills at the library. + +There was no such thing as a florist's shop in Windomville. Roses +or orchids or even carnations were unobtainable. A potted geranium +plant, in full bloom,--one of Alaska Spigg's tall, sturdy, jealously +guarded treasures was the best he could do in the way of a floral +offering to his goddess. So he set about the supposedly hopeless +task of inducing Alaska to part with one of her plants. Half an +hour after entering the library he departed with a balloon shaped +object in his arms. He was not too proud to be seen shuffling +up the lane with his prize, a huge thing loosely done up in +newspapers,--leaving behind him a completely dazzled Alaska who +went about the place aimlessly folding and unfolding a brand new +two-dollar bill. + +"I don't know what come over me," explained Alaska later on to a +couple of astonished ladies who had hurried in to see if the report +was true that she had parted with one of her geraniums. "For the +life of me, I don't know how I happened to do it. 'Specially the +one I was proudest of, too. I've always said I'd never sell one of +my plants,--not even if the President of the United States was to +come in and offer me untold millions for it,--and here I--I--why, +Martha, I almost GAVE it to him, honest I did. I just couldn't seem +to help letting him have it. Of course, I don't mind its loss half +so much, knowing that it is going to Alix. She loves flowers. She'll +take the best of care of it. But how I ever came to--" + +"Don't cry, Alaska," broke in one of her callers cheerfully. "You'll +be getting it back before long." + +"Never," lamented Alaska. "What makes you think I'll get it back?" +she went on, suddenly peeping over the edge of her handkerchief. + +"Why, as soon as Alix knows how miserable you are about parting +with that geranium, she'll send it back to you,--and you'll be two +dollars ahead. Don't be silly." + +Repairing at once to the house on the knoll, Courtney took counsel +with Mrs. Strong. The housekeeper could hardly believe her eyes +when she saw the geranium. + +"Well, all I've got to say is that you must have stolen it," she +exclaimed. "There couldn't be any other way to get one of those +plants away from Alaska Spigg." + +"Be that as it may," said he airily, "what we've got to decide +now, Mrs. Strong, is just where to put it. I want to surprise Miss +Crown when she returns from town." + +"She'll be surprised all right when she finds out you got one +of Alaska Spigg's pet geraniums. I remember Alaska saying not so +long ago that she wouldn't sell one of those plants for a million +dollars. Now let me see. It ought to go where it will get as much +sun as possible. That would be in the dining-room. I guess we'd +better--" + +"I really think it would look better right here in this room, Mrs. +Strong," said he, indicating one of the windows looking out over +the terrace. There was little or no sunlight there, but he did not +mind that. As a matter of fact, he wasn't at all concerned about +the future welfare of the plant. It meant no more to him than the +customary bunch of violets that one sends, "sight unseen," to the +lady of the hour. + +"Well, you're the boss. It's your plant," said Mrs. Strong briskly. +"Alaska Spigg will go into hysterics when she hears where you've +put it,--but that's of no consequence." + +And so the plant was placed on a small table in the window of the +long living-room. + +"Link Pollock told us last night that you may go to Philadelphia to +join your son, Mrs. Strong," said he, as he watched her arranging +the window curtains. + +Mrs. Strong flushed. "It did not occur to me to ask Mr. Pollock not +to repeat what I said to him in confidence," she said, with dignity. + +"I'm sorry I mentioned it. I am sure Pollock didn't understand it +was--er--a secret or anything like that, Mrs. Strong." + +"It isn't a secret. I have talked it over with Miss Alix, and I +have practically decided to remain with her. You may tell that to +Mr. Pollock if you like." + +"She would miss you terribly," said he, allowing the sarcasm +to pass over his head. "Your son and Miss Crown were boy and girl +sweethearts, I hear,--oh, please don't be offended. Those things +happen, you know,--and pass off like all of the children's diseases. +Like the measles, or mumps or chicken pox. Every boy and girl has +to go through that stage, you know. I remember being horribly in +love with a girl in our block when I was fifteen,--and she with +me. But, for the life of me, I can't remember her name now. I mean +her married name," he explained, with his whimsical grin. + +"I don't believe Alix and David ever were in love with each other," +said she stiffly. "They were wonderful friends,--playmates and all +that,--but,"--here she flushed again, "you see, my boy was only +the blacksmith's son. People may have told you that, Mr. Thane." + +"What has that to do with it?" he cried instantly. "Wasn't Miss +Crown's father the son of a blacksmith?" + +He caught the passing flicker of appreciation in her eyes as she +lifted her head. + +"True," she said quietly. "And a fine young man, they tell me,--those +who knew him. His father was not like my David's father, however. +He was a drunkard. He beat his wife, they say." + +"Abraham Lincoln was a rail splitter. James A. Garfield drove +a canal boat. Does anybody think the worse of them for that? Your +son, Mrs. Strong,--I am told by all who know him,--will be a great +surgeon, a great man. You must not forget that people will speak +of HIS son as the son of Dr. David Strong, the famous surgeon." + +Her face glowed with pleasure. Mother love and mother pride kindled in +her dark eyes. He caught himself wondering if young David Strong +was like this tall, grey-haired woman with the steady gaze and +quiet smile. + +"I am sure David will succeed," she said warmly. "He always was a +determined boy. Mr. Windom was very fond of him. He took a great +interest in him." A self-conscious, apologetic smile succeeded the +proud one. "I suppose you would call Alix and David boy and girl +sweethearts. As you say, boys and girls just simply can't help having +such ailments. It's like an epidemic. Even the strongest catch it +and,--get over it without calling in the doctor." + +He grinned. "It is a most amiable disease. The only medicine +necessary is soda water and ice cream, with a few pills in the shape +of chocolate caramels or marshmallows, taken at all hours and in +large doses." + +Mrs. Strong's eyes softened as she looked out of the window. A +faraway, wistful expression lurked in them. + +"Those were wonderful days, Mr. Thane,--when those two children +were growing up." She sighed. "David is four years older than Alix, +but ever since she was a tiny child she seemed older than he was. +I guess it was because he was so big and strong that he just couldn't +bear to lord it over her like most boys do with girls. He was kind +of like a big shepherd dog. Always watching over her and--dear +me, I'll never forget the time they got lost in the woods up above +here. That was when she was about seven. They were not found till +next morning. We had everybody for miles around beating the woods +for them all night long. Well, sir, that boy had taken off his coat +and put it on her, and his stockings too, and he had even removed +his shirt to make a sort of muffler to wrap around her throat, +because she always had sore throats and croup when she was a child. +And when the men found them, he was sitting up against a tree sound +asleep, almost frozen stiff, with her in his lap and his cold little +arms around her. It was late in September and the nights were cold. +Then there was the time when she fell off the side of the ferry +boat and he jumped in after her,--with his best suit on, the little +rascal,--and held her up till Josh Wilson stopped the ferry and +old Mr. White, who was crossing with his team, managed to throw a +buggy rein out to him and pull him in. The water out there in the +middle of the river is ten feet deep, Mr. Thane, and David was +just learning how to swim. And they BOTH had croup that night. My +goodness, I thought that boy was going to die. But, my land, that +seems ages ago. Here they are, a grown, man and woman, and probably +don't even remember those happy days." + +"That's the horrible penalty one pays for growing up, Mrs. Strong." + +"I guess you're right. Of course, they write to each other every once +in a while,--but nothing is like it used to be. Alix had a letter +from Davy only a day or so ago. You'd think she might occasionally +tell me some of the things he writes about,--but she never does. +She never opens her mouth about them. And he never writes anything +to me about what she writes to him. I suppose that's the way of the +world. When they were little they used to come to me with everything. + +"You see, I came here to keep house for Mr. Windom soon after old +Maria Bliss died. My husband died when David was six years old. +Alix was only four years old when I came here, Mr. Thane. This house +was new,--just finished. I'll never forget the rage Mr. Windom got +into when he found out that Alix and David were going up to the old +farmhouse where her mother died and were using one of the upstairs +rooms as a 'den.' They got in through a cellar window, it seems. +They were each writing a novel, and that was where they worked and +read what they had written to each other. That lasted only about six +weeks or so before Mr. Windom found out about it. He was terrible. +You see, without knowing it, they had picked out the room that was +most sacred to him. It was his wife's own room,--where she died and +where Alix's mother was born and where she also died,--and where +our Alix was born. + +"Of course, at that time nobody knew about Edward Crown. We +all thought he was alive somewhere. The children never went there +again. No, sirree! They both ought to have known better than to +go at all. Alix was fifteen years old when that happened, and Davy +was going to college in the winter time." + +"Did your son live here in the house with you all those years?" +inquired Courtney. + +"We lived in the first cottage down the lane from here. Mr. Windom +was a very thoughtful man. He did not want me to live here in the +house with him because of what people might say. You see, I was a +young woman then, and--well, people are not always kind, you know." +She spoke simply and without the slightest embarrassment. + +He looked hard at her half-averted face and was suddenly confronted +by the realization that this grey, motherly woman must have been +young once, like Alix, and pretty. As it is with the young, he +could not think of her except as old. He had always thought of his +mother as old; it was impossible to think of her as having once +been young and gay like the girls he knew. Yes, Mrs. Strong must +have been young and pretty and desirable,--somebody's sweetheart, +somebody's "girl." The thought astonished him. + +II + +Shortly afterward he took his departure. There was a frown of annoyance +on his brow as he strode briskly up the lane in the direction of +the crossroads, half a mile or more above the village. As usual, +he thought aloud. + +"There's no way of finding out just how things stand between them. +The old lady doesn't know anything, that's a cinch. If she really +knew she would have let it out to me. I'll never get a better +chance to pump her than I had today. She doesn't know. You can see +she hopes her son will get her. That's as plain as the nose on your +face. But she doesn't know anything. Is that a good sign or a bad +one? I wish I knew. Alix isn't the sort to forget. Maybe Strong has +gotten over it and not she. It's darned aggravating, that's what +it is. There must be some good reason why she's never married. I +wonder if she's still keen about him. This talk of Charlie Webster's +may be plain bunk. If she hates him,--why? That's the question. +WHY does she hate him? There must be some reason beside that debt +he owed to old Windom. Gad, I wish I could have seen that letter +he wrote her when he sent the cheque. Well, anyhow, it's up to me +to get busy. That's sure!" + +His walk took him past the Windomville Cemetery and up the gravel +turnpike leading to the city. Alix had traversed this road an hour +or so earlier. Swinging around a bend in the highway, he came in +view of the abandoned farmhouse half a mile ahead. + +It was a familiar object by this time, for he had passed it many +times, not only on his solitary walks but on several occasions with +Alix. The desolate house, with its weed-grown yard, its dilapidated +paling fence, its atmosphere of decay, had always possessed +a certain fascination for him. He secretly confessed to a queer +little sensation as of awe whenever he looked upon the empty, +green-shuttered house. It suggested death. More than once he had +paused in the road below the rickety gate to gaze intently at the +closed windows, or to scrutinize the tangled mass of weeds and +rose bushes that almost hid the porch and its approach from view. +He was never without the strange feeling that the body of Edward +Crown might still be lying at the foot of the hidden steps. + +Now he approached the place with a new and deeper interest. +Strangely enough, it had been shorn within the hour of much that +was grim and terrifying. It was no longer a house to inspire dread +and uneasiness. Two young and venturesome spirits had invaded its +silent precincts, there to dream in safety and seclusion, unhaunted +by its spectres, undisturbed by its secret. In one of its darkened +rooms they had set up a "workshop," a "playhouse." A glaze came +over his eyes as he wondered what had transpired in that room during +the surreptitious six weeks' tenancy. Had David Strong kissed her? +Had she kissed David Strong? Were promises made and futures planned? +His throat was tight with the swell of jealousy. + +He stopped at the gate. After a moment's hesitation he lifted +the rusty latch and jerked the gate open far enough to allow him +to squeeze through. Then he paused to sweep the landscape with +an inquiring eye. Far up the pike a load of fodder moved slowly. +There were cattle in the pasture near at hand, but no human being +to observe his actions. In a distant upland field men were moving +among a multitude of corn-shocks, trailing the horses and wagons +that belonged to Alix Crown. Crows cawed in the trees on the eastern +edge of the strip of meadowland, and on high soared two or three +big birds,--hawks or buzzards, he knew not which,--circling slowly +in the arc of the steel blue sky. + +Confident that he was unobserved, he made his way up the half-buried +walk to the porch, and, deliberately mounting the steps, tried +the door-knob. As he expected, the door was locked. After another +searching look in all directions, he started off through the tangle +of weeds and burdocks to circle the house. He passed through what +once must have been the tennis-court of Alix the First,--now a +weedy patch,--and came to the back door. Below him lay the deserted +stables and outbuildings, facing the barnyard in which a few worn-out +farm implements were to be seen, weather-beaten skeletons of a past +generation. + +There was no sign of human life. A lean and threadbare scarecrow +flapped his ragged coat-sleeves in the wind that swept across the +barren garden patch farther up the slope,--this was the nearest +approach to human life that came within the range of vision. And +as if to invite jovial companionship, this pathetic gentleman wore +his ancient straw hat cocked rakishly over what would have been +his left ear if he had had any ears at all. + +While standing before the gate, Courtney had come to a sudden, +amazing decision. He resolved to enter and explore the house if it +were possible to do so. He remembered that Mrs. Strong, in pursuing +the subject, had declared that Alix and David were not even permitted +to return to the house for their literary products; moreover, +she doubted very much whether the former had taken the trouble to +recover them after she became sole possessor of the property. If +they were still there, with other tangible proofs of an adolescent +intimacy, he saw no reason why he should not lay eyes,--or even +hands,--upon them. He saw no wrong in the undertaking. It was a +justifiable adventure, viewed from the standpoint of a lover whose +claim was in doubt. + +The back door was locked and the window shutters securely nailed. +Entrance to the cellar was barred by heavy scantlings fastened across +the sloping hatch. In the barnyard he found a stout single-tree. +With this he succeeded in prying off the two scantlings. The staple +holding the padlock was easily withdrawn from one of the rotten +boards. + +Descending the steps, he found himself in the small, musty cellar. +The vault-like room was empty save for a couple of barrels standing +in a corner and a small pile of firewood under the stairs that led +to regions above. Selecting a faggot of kindling-wood from this +pile, he fashioned a torch by whittling the end into a confusion +of partially detached slivers. This he lighted with a match, and +then mounted the stairs. + +The door at the head opened at the lifting of an old-fashioned +latch. A thick screen of cobwebs almost closed the upper half of +the aperture. He burnt it away with the flaming torch, and passed +on into the kitchen. He was grateful for the snapping fire of the +faggot, for otherwise the silence of the grave would have fallen +about him as he stood motionless for a moment peering about the +empty room. No light penetrated from the outside. The air was dead. +Spiders had clothed the corners and the ceiling with their silk, +over which the dust of years lay thick and ugly. He felt, with +a queer little shiver, that the eyes of a thousand spiders peered +gloatingly down upon him from the murky fastnesses. + +He hurried on. The rooms on the lower floor had been stripped of +all signs of habitation. His footsteps resounded throughout the +house. Boards creaked under his tread. Without actually realizing +what he was doing, he began to tiptoe toward the stairway that led +to the upper floor. He laughed at himself for this precaution, and +yet could not rid himself of the feeling that some one was listening, +that the stealth of the midnight burglar was necessary. The stairs +groaned under his weight, the dust-covered banister cracked loudly +when he laid his hand upon it. He had the strange notion that they +were sounding the alarm to some guardian occupant of the premises,--to +a slumbering ghost perhaps. + +He came at last to the room where Alix and David had played at +book-writing. In the centre stood a kitchen table, on either side +of which was a rudely constructed bench,--evidently the handiwork +of David Strong. Two strips of rag carpet served as a rug. At each +end of the table was a candlestick containing a half-used tallow +candle. There was a single ink pot, but there were two penholders +beside it, and a couple of blue blotters. Nearby were two ancient +but substantial rocking chairs,--singularly out of place,--no +doubt discarded survivors of long-distant days of comfort, rescued +from an attic storeroom by the young trespassers. A scrap basket, +half-full of torn and crumpled sheets of paper, stood conveniently +near the table. + +He lighted both of the candles and extinguished the flickering +faggot. The steady glow of the candlelight filled the room. On the +mantel above the blackened fireplace he saw a small, white framed +mirror. A forgotten pair of gloves lay beside it, and two or three +hairpins. He picked up the gloves, slapped them against his leg +to rid them of accumulated dust, and then stuck them into his coat +pocket. They were long and slim and soiled by wear. + +A closet door, standing partly open, drew him across the room. +Hanging from one of the hooks was a moth-eaten vicuna smoking jacket +of blue. Beside this garment hung a girl's bright red blazer, with +black collar; protecting, business-like paper cuffs were still +attached. In the corner of the closet reposed a broom, a mop and +an empty pail. + +He smiled at the thought of young Alix sweeping and scrubbing the +floor of this sequestered retreat. + +Returning to the table, he pulled out the drawer, and there, side +by side, lay two neat but far from voluminous manuscripts, each +weighted down by the unused portion of the scratch pad from which +the written sheets had been torn. One was in the bold, superior +scrawl of a boy, the other ineffably feminine in its painstaking +regard for legibility and tidiness. + +III + +These literary efforts had been cut off short in their infancy. +David's vigorously written pages, marred by frequent scratchings +and erasures, far outnumbered Alix's. He was in the midst of Chapter +Three of a novel entitled "The Phantom Singer" when the calamitous +interruption came. Alix's work had progressed to Chapter Five. +Inspection revealed the further fact that she was thrifty. She +had written on both sides of the sheets, while the prodigal David +confined himself to the inexorable "one side of the sheet only." +There were unmistakable indications of editorial arrogance on +the part of Alix on every sheet of David's manuscript. Her small, +precise hand was to be seen here, there and everywhere,--sometimes +in the substitution of a single word, often in the rewriting of an +entire sentence. But nowhere on her own pages was to be found so +much as a scratch by the clumsy hand of her fellow novelist. + +Her story bore the fetching title: "Lady Mordaunt's Lover." + +Courtney read the first page of her script. A sudden wave of remorse, +even guilt, swept through him. Back in his mind he pictured her +bending studiously, earnestly to the task, her heart in every line +she was penning, her dear little brow wrinkled in thought. He could +almost visualize the dark, wavy hair, the soft white neck,--as +if he were standing behind looking down upon her as she struggled +with an obstinate muse,--and the quick, gentle rise and fall of +her young breast. He could see her lift her head now and then to +stare dreamily at the ceiling, searching there for inspiration. He +could see the cramped, tense fingers that gripped the pen as she +wrote these precious lines,--with David scratching away laboriously +at the opposite end of the table. A strange tenderness entered his +soul. Something akin to reverence took possession of him. He had +invaded sanctuary. + +Slowly, almost tenderly, he replaced the manuscript in the drawer +beside its bristling mate. Then he resolutely closed the drawer, +blew out the candles, and strode swiftly from the room and down the +creaking stairs, lighting the way with matches. Even as he convicted +himself of wrong, he justified himself as right. The virtuous +renunciation balanced, aye, overbalanced,--the account with cupidity. +He was saying to himself as he made his way down to the cellar: + +"It would be downright rotten to take that story of hers, even +as a joke,--and I came mighty near to doing it. Thank the Lord, I +didn't. Of course, it's piffle,--both of 'em,--but I just COULDN'T +take hers away for no other reason than to get a good laugh out of +it. Anyhow, my conscience is clear. I put it back where she left +it,--and that's the end of it so far as I'm concerned. Damn these +cobwebs! Good Lord, I wonder if any of these spiders are poisonous!" + +Brushing the cobwebs from his face as he ran, he hurried across the +cellar and bolted up the steps, out into the brilliant sunlight. +He made frantic efforts to remove the disgusting webs from his +garments, his eyes darting everywhere in search of the evil insects. + +Presently he set to work replacing the staple and padlock, inserting +the nails in the holes they had left in the rotting board. He did +his best to fasten the scantlings down, making a sorry job of it, +and then, as he prepared to leave the premises, he was suddenly +seized by the uncanny feeling that some one was watching him. +His gaze swept the fields, the barn lot, even the high grass that +surrounded the house. There was no one in sight, and yet he could +FEEL the eyes of an invisible watcher. + +Up in the garden patch, the scarecrow flapped his empty sleeves. +His hat was still tilted jauntily over his absent ear. It was +ridiculous to suppose that that uncanny object could see,--yet +somehow it seemed to Courtney that it WAS looking at him, looking +at him with malicious, accusing eyes. + +Not once, but half a dozen times, he turned in the road to glance +over his shoulder at the house he had left behind. Always his gaze +went to the scarecrow. He shivered slightly and cursed himself for +a fool. The silly thing COULDN'T be looking at him! What nonsense! +Still he breathed a sigh of relief when he turned the bend and was +safely screened from view by the grove of oaks that crowned the +hill above the village. + +Several automobiles passed him as he trudged along the pike; an old +man afoot driving a little herd of sheep gave him a cheery "good +morning," but received no response. + +"I wish I hadn't gone into that beastly house," he was repeating +to himself, a scowl in his eyes. "It gave me the 'Willies.' Jolly +lot of satisfaction I got out of it,--I don't think. I daresay he +kissed her a good many times up there in that,--But, Lord, what's +the sense of worrying about something that happened ten years ago?" + +At the dinner table that noon, Charlie Webster suddenly inquired: + +"Well, what have YOU been up to this morning, Court?" + +Courtney started guiltily and shot a quick, inquiring look at the +speaker. Satisfied that there was no veiled significance in Charlie's +question, he replied: + +"Took a long ramble up the pike. The air is like wine today. I +walked out as far as the old Windom house." + +Charlie was interested. "Is that so? Did you see Amos Vick's daughter +hanging around the place?" + +"Amos Vick's--you mean Rosabel?" He swallowed hard. "No, I didn't +see her. Was she over there?" + +"Jim Bagley was in the office half an hour or so ago. As he was +coming past the house in his Ford he saw her standing at the front +gate, so he stopped and asked her what she was doing over on this +side of the river. She'd been over here spending the night with +Annie Jordan,--that's Phil Jordan's girl, you know, the township +assessor,--and went out for a long walk this morning. She looked +awful tired and sort of sickly, so Jim told her to hop in and he'd +give her a lift back to Phil's house. She got in with him and he +left her at Phil's." + +"I saw her walking down to the ferry with Annie as I was coming +over from the office a little while ago," said Doc Simpson. + +"Sorry I didn't meet her," said Courtney. "She's jolly good fun,--and +I certainly was in need of somebody to cheer me up this morning. +For the first time since I came out here I was homesick for New +York,--and mother. It must have been our talk last night about the +theatres and all that." + + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +WORDS AND LETTEBS + + + + +Mary Blythe and her brother arrived on Tuesday for a two days' visit. +Alix motored to town and brought them out in the automobile. She +was surprised and gratified when Courtney, revoking his own decree, +volunteered to go up with her to meet the visitors at the railway +station in the city. But when the day came, he was ill and unable +to leave his room. The cold, steady rains of the past few days had +brought on an attack of pleurisy, and the doctor ordered him to +remain in bed. He grumbled a great deal over missing the little +dinner Alix was giving on the first night of their stay, and sent +more than one lamentation forth in the shape of notes carried up +to the house on the knoll by Jim House, the venerable handy-man at +Dowd's Tavern. + +"I really don't recall him," said Addison Blythe, frowning +thoughtfully. "He probably came to the sector after I left, Miss +Crown. I've got a complete roster at home of all the fellows who +served in the American Ambulance up to the time it was taken over. +I'd like to meet him. I may have run across him any number of times. +Names didn't mean much, you see, except in cases where we hung out +together in one place for some time. I would remember his face, +of course. Faces made impressions, and that's more than names did. +Courtney Thane? Seems to me I have a vague recollection of that +name. You say he was afterward flying with the British?" + +"Yes. He was wounded and gassed at--at--let me think. What was the +name of the place? Only a few weeks before the armistice." + +"There was a great deal doing a few weeks before the armistice," +said Blythe, smiling. "You'll have to be a little more definite than +that. The air was full of British aeroplanes from London clear to +Palestine. What is he doing here?" + +"Recovering his health. He has had two attacks of pneumonia, you +see,--and a touch of typhoid. His family originally lived in this +country. The old Thane farm is almost directly across the river +from Windomville. Courtney's father was born there, but went east +to live during the first Cleveland administration. He had some kind +of a political appointment in Washington, and married a Congressman's +daughter from Georgia, I think--anyhow, it was one of the Southern +states. He is really quite fascinating, Mary. You would lose your +heart to him, I am sure." + +"And, pray, have you offered any reward for yours?" inquired Mary +Blythe, smiling as she studied her friend's face rather narrowly. + +Alix met her challenging gaze steadily. A sharper observer than +Mary Blythe might have detected the faintest shadow of a cloud in +the dark, honest eyes. + +"When I lose it, dear, I shall say 'good riddance' and live happily +ever after without one," she replied airily. + +The next morning she started off with her guests for a drive down +the river, to visit the old fort and the remains of the Indian +village. Stopping at the grain elevator, she beckoned to Charlie +Webster. The fat little manager came bustling out, beaming with +pleasure. + +"How is Mr. Thane today, Charlie?" she inquired, after introducing +him to the Blythes. + +Charlie pursed his lips and looked wise. "Well, all I can say is, +he's doing as well as could be expected. Temperature normal, pulse +fluctuating, appetite good, respiration improved by a good many +cusswords, mustard plaster itching like all get out,--but otherwise +he's at the point of death. I was in to see him after breakfast. +He was sitting up in bed and getting ready to tell Doc Smith what +he thinks of him for ordering him to stay in the house till he +says he can go out. He is terribly upset because he can't get up +to Alix's to see you, Mr. Blythe. I never saw a feller so cut up +about a thing as he is." + +"He must not think of coming out in this kind of weather," cried +Alix firmly. "It would be--" + +"Oh, he's not thinking of coming out," interrupted Charlie quietly. + +"I am sorry not to have met him," said Blythe. "We probably have +a lot of mutual friends." + +A queer little light flashed into Charlie Webster's eyes and lingered +for an instant. + +"He's terribly anxious to meet you. It wouldn't surprise me at all +if he got up today sometime and in spite of Doc Smith hustled over +to call on you. I'll tell you what we might do, Alix. If Mr. Blythe +isn't going to be too busy, I might take him up to see Court,--that +is, when you get back from your drive. I know he'll appreciate it, +and be tickled almost to death." + +"Fine!" cried Blythe. "If you're sure he will not mind, Mr. Webster." + +"Why should he mind? He says he's crazy to meet you, and he's able +to see people--" + +"But I've always understood that talking was very painful to any +one suffering from pleurisy," protested Alix. + +"Doesn't seem to hurt Court very much," declared Charlie. "He +nearly talked an arm off of me and Furman Hatch this morning,--and +it certainly seemed to be a real pleasure for him to cuss. I really +think he'll get well quicker if you drop in for a chat with him, +Mr. Blythe." + +"It would be very nice," said Alix warmly, "if you could run in +for a few minutes--" + +"Sure I will," cried the young man. "This afternoon, Mr. Webster,--about +half-past two?" + +"Any time suits me," said the obliging Mr. Webster. As if struck +by something irresistibly funny, he suddenly put his hand to his +mouth and got very red in the face. After an illy-suppressed snort +or two, he coughed violently, and then stammered: "Excuse me. I was +just thinking about--er--about something funny. I'm always doing +some fool thing like that. This was about Ed Jones's dog,--wouldn't +be the least bit funny to anybody but me, so I won't tell you about +it. Two-thirty it is, then? I'll meet you up at Alix's. It's only +a step." + +"Will you tell Mr. Thane that you are bringing Mr. Blythe to see him +this afternoon, Charlie?" said Alix. "You said he was threatening +to disobey the doctor's--" + +"You leave it to me, Alix," broke in Charlie reassuringly. "Trust +me to see that he don't escape." + +A little before two-thirty, tall Mr. Blythe, one time Captain in +the Field Artillery, and short Mr. Webster wended their way through +the once busy stableyard in the rear of Dowd's Tavern. Charlie gave +his companion a brief history of the Tavern and indicated certain +venerable and venerated objects of interest,--such as the ancient +log watering-trough (hewn in 1832); the rain-barrels, ash-hoppers +and fodder cribs (dating back to Civil War days), the huge kettle +suspended from a thick iron bar the ends of which were supported by +rusty standards, where apple-butter was made at one season of the +year, lye at another, and where lard was rendered at butchering-time. +He took him into the wagon-shed and showed him the rickety +high-wheeled, top-heavy carriage used by the first of the Dowds +back in the forties, now ready to fall to pieces at the slightest +ungentle shake; the once gaudy sleigh with its great curved "runners"; +and over in a dark corner two long barrelled rifles with rusty locks +and rotten stocks, that once upon a time cracked the doom of deer +and wolf and fox, of catamount and squirrel and coon, of wild turkeys +and geese and ducks--to say nothing of an occasional horsethief. + +"They say old man Dowd could shoot the eye out of a squirrel three +hundreds yards away with one of these rifles," announced Charlie; +"and it was no trick at all for him to nip a wild turkey's head +off at five hundred yards. I'll bet you didn't run up against any +such shooting as that over in France." + +Blythe shook his head. "No such rifle shooting, I grant you. But +what would you say to a German cannon twelve miles away landing +ten shells in succession on a battery half as big as this stable +without even being able to see the thing they were shooting at?" + +"I give up," said Charlie gloomily. "Old man Dowd was SOME liar, +but, my gosh, he couldn't hold a--well, my respect for the American +Army is greater than it ever was, I'll say that, Captain. Dan Dowd +was the rankest kind of an amateur." + +"Do you mean as a shot,--or as a liar?" inquired Blythe, grinning. + +"Both," said Charlie. + +He had a very definite purpose in leading his guest through the +stable-yard. By doing so he avoided the customary approach to the +Tavern, in full view from Courtney's windows. They circled the +building and arrived at the long, low porch from the north. Here +they encountered Furman Hatch. Charlie appeared greatly surprised +to find the photographer there. + +"What are you doing here at this time o' day, Tintype?" he demanded. +"Takin' a vacation?" + +"I come over for some prints I left in my room last night," explained +Mr. Hatch. + +"We're going up to call on Court," said Charlie. "Won't you join +us?" + +Hatch looked at his watch, frowned dubiously, and then said he could +spare a few minutes,--and that was just what it was understood in +advance that he was to say! + +"He goes by the name of Tintype," explained Mr. Webster, after +the two men had shaken hands. "Not because he looks like one, but +because the village idiot's name is Furman, and we have to have +some way of tellin' them apart." + +A few minutes later, Charlie knocked resoundingly on Courtney's +door. + +"Who is it?" + +"It's me,--Charlie Webster. Got a nice surprise for you." + +"Come in." + +And in strode Charlie, followed by the tall stranger and the lank +Mr. Hatch. + +Courtney, full dressed,--except that he wore instead of his coat +a thick blue bath gown,--was sitting at a table in front of the +small wood-fire stove, playing solitaire. A saucer at one corner +of the table served as an ash tray. It was half full of cigarette +stubs. + +"Well, what the--" he began, and then, catching sight of the +stranger, scrambled up from his chair, his mouth still open. + +"I thought you'd be surprised," said Charlie triumphantly. "This +is Mr. Blythe, Mr. Thane,--shake hands with each other, comrades. +When I told him you were so keen to see him and talk over old +times, he said slap-bang he'd come with me when I offered to bring +him up." + +"I hope we're not intruding, Mr. Thane," said Blythe, advancing with +hand extended. "Mr. Webster assured me you were quite well enough +to receive--" + +"I am glad you came," cried Courtney, recovering from his surprise. +"Awfully good of you. These beastly lungs of mine, you know. The +least little flare-up scares me stiff. Still, I had almost screwed +up my nerve to going out this afternoon--" + +"It doesn't pay to take any risks," warned Blythe, as they shook +hands. + +The two men looked each other closely, steadily in the eye. Courtney +was the first to speak at the end of this mutual scrutiny. + +"I wasn't quite sure whether I met you over there, Captain Blythe," +he said, "but now I know that I didn't. I've been puzzling my brain +for days trying to recall the name, or at least your face. I may +be wrong, however. I haven't much of a memory. I hope you will +forgive me if we did meet and I have forgotten it. I--" + +"I have no recollection of ever having seen you, Mr. Thane," said +Blythe. "It isn't surprising, however. It--it was a pretty big war, +you know." + +Charlie Webster was slightly dashed. If anything, Courtney Thane was +more at ease, more convincing than Addison Blythe. He felt rather +foolish. Something, it seemed, had fallen very flat. He evaded Mr. +Hatch's eye. + +"Sit down, Captain Blythe," said Courtney affably. "Hope you don't +mind this bath gown. Charlie, make yourself at home on the bed,--you +too, Hatch. We're as shy of chairs here as we were at the front, +you see." + +Blythe remained for half an hour and then went away with his two +companions. Courtney shook hands with him and said good-bye at the +hall door; then he strode over to the bureau to look at himself +in the glass. He saw reflected therein a very well satisfied face, +with brightly confident eyes and the suggestion of a triumphant +smile. + +Hatch accompanied the moody Mr. Webster to the warehouse office. + +"Strikes me, Charlie," said he, thoughtfully, "that of the two our +friend Courtney seems a long sight more genuine than this feller +Blythe. I guess you're off your base, old boy. Why, darn it, he +had Blythe up in the air half the time. If I was a betting man, +I'd put up a hundred or two that Blythe never even saw the places +they were talking about." + +"Do you think Blythe is a fake?" cried Charlie in some heat. + +"I wouldn't go so far as to say that," said Hatch diplomatically, +"but you'll have to admit that Court asked him a lot of questions +he didn't seem able to answer." + +Charlie stared hard at the floor for a few seconds. Then: "Well, if +I was to ask you what my mother's maiden name was, Tintype, you'd +have to say you didn't know, wouldn't you?" + +"Sure," said Hatch. "But I wouldn't go so far as to say I wasn't +certain whether she had a maiden name or not, would I?" + +"There's no use arguing with you, Hatch," said Charlie irritably, +and turned to his desk by the window, there to frown fiercely over +his scales book. + +II + +Alix and Miss Blythe were sitting in front of the fireplace when +young Blythe entered the living-room on his return from Dowd's +Tavern. The former looked up at him brightly, eagerly as he planted +himself between them with his back to the cheerful blaze. + +"Did you see him?" she inquired. He was struck by the deep, straining +look in her dark eyes,--as if she were searching for something far +back in his brain. + +"Yes," he replied, as he took his pipe and tobacco pouch from his +pocket. "He was up and around the room and was as pleased as Punch +to see me." He began stuffing the bowl of the pipe. "He is a most +attractive chap, Alix. I don't know when I've met a more agreeable +fellow." + +"Then you had not met before,--over there?" + +"No. We missed each other by days on two or three occasions. He +left for the Vosges just before I got to Pont-a-Mousson, and was +transferred to another section when we all went up to Bar le Duc +at the time of the Verdun drive. He joined the Ambulance several +months before I did, and was shifted about a good deal. Had some +trouble with a French officer at Pont-a-Mousson and asked to be +transferred." Here he smiled feelingly. "He's got a mustard plaster +on his back now, he says, that would cover an army mule. I know +how that feels, by Jinks! I wore one for three weeks over there +because I didn't have the nerve to rip it off." + +He was still aware of the unanswered question in her eyes. Changing +his position slightly, he busied himself with the lighting of his +pipe. + +"Was he expecting you?" inquired Alix. + +"Not at all. It seems that your roly-poly friend forgot to notify +him. I say, Alix, what a wonderful lot of pre-historic junk there +is in that old stable-yard. Webster took me around there and showed +me the stuff. Tell me something about the place." + +Late in the afternoon Blythe,--after submitting to an interview at +the hands of A. Lincoln Pollock,--sat alone before the fire, his +long legs stretched out, a magazine lying idly in his lap, his pipe +dead but gripped firmly in the hand that had remained stationary for +a long, long time halfway to his lips. He was staring abstractedly +into the neglected fire. + +His sister came in. He was not aware of her entrance until she +appeared directly in front of him. + +"Hello!" he exclaimed, blinking. + +"What is on your mind, Addy?" + +He glanced over his shoulder. + +"Where is Alix?" + +"Writing letters. There were two or three she has to get off before +we start for town." She sat down on the arm of his chair. "You may +as well tell me what you really think of him, Addison. Isn't he +good enough for her?" + +He lowered his voice. The frown of perplexity deepened in his eyes. + +"I can't make him out, Mary," he said, lowering his voice. + +"What do you mean?" she asked quickly. + +"Well, I may be doing him the rottenest injustice, but--somehow--he +doesn't ring quite true to me." + +"For goodness sake, Addy,--" she began, and then: "In what way? +Hurry up! Tell me before she comes down. Isn't he a--a gentleman?" + +"Oh, yes,--I suppose he is. He's a most engaging chap; he certainly +seems well-bred, and he's darned good-looking. That isn't what I +mean." He hesitated a moment and then blurted out: "Does Alix know +POSITIVELY that he was in the American Ambulance? I mean, has she +anybody else's word for it except his?" + +Mary Blythe stared at her brother, her lips parted. Then her eyes +narrowed suddenly. + +"Don't--don't you think he's straight, Addy?" she half-whispered. + +"I confess I'm puzzled. I never dreamed of doubting him when +I went there. But I've been doing a lot of thinking since I saw +him, and,--by George, Mary, I'm up a tree. Good Lord, if he should +be--well, if he should be putting something over on Alix, he ought +to be shot, that's all. Do you think she's in love with him?" + +"I don't know. She's interested in him, I'm sure, but two or three +times I have caught the queerest little look in her eyes when she +is speaking of him,--almost as if she were afraid of something. I +can't describe it. It's just--well, the only thing I can think of +is that it's kind of pleading, if you know what I mean." + +"Groping, I guess is the word you're after." + +"Exactly. But go on,--tell me." + +"It won't do to say anything about this to Alix, Mary," said he +firmly. "At least not at present. Not until I've satisfied myself. +I'm going to write to three or four fellows who were in Section +Two for months,--before I was there,--and see if they know anything +about him. I'd write to Mr. Hereford himself, but he's in Europe. +He could give me the right dope in a minute. Piatt Andrew's in +France, I understand. The records will show, of course, but it will +take time to get at them. We must not breathe a word of all this +to Alix, Mary. Understand? I've got to make sure first. It would +be unpardonable if I were to make a break about him and he turned +out to be all right." + +"You must find out as quickly as possible, Addison. We would never +forgive ourselves if we allowed Alix to--" + +"Don't you worry! It won't take long to get a line on him. +I'd telegraph if I were sure of the addresses. I ought to hear in +three or four days, a week at the outside. Of course, he talks very +convincingly. That's what floors me. But, on the other hand, he's +too darned convincing. First of all, he called me Captain Blythe +all the time. That isn't done by fellows in the know. I'm just plain +Mister these days. He was rather hazy about the places I know all +about, and tremendously clear about places I've never even heard +of,--the places around Pont-a-Mousson, I mean. He actually looked +suspicious of me when I said I didn't know where they were. And +he mentioned a lot of men that I am dead sure never were up at +Pont-a-Mousson,--either before or after I was there. Names I had +never heard before in my life. And, confound it, the way he lifted +his eyebrows made me feel for a minute or two that I hadn't been +there myself. He says that since his injury and his sicknesses his +memory isn't the best, but when I spoke of some of the fellows who +were there with me, he remembered them perfectly. Didn't know them +well, because he wasn't with the bunch very long, it seems. When I +remarked that he must see a good bit of the chaps who live in New +York City, he told me he had been sick ever since he came home from +England and hadn't seen one of the crowd. He said he knew Pottle, +and Fay, and Tyler, Sudbery and several others,--so I'm going to +write to all of them tomorrow." + +"It would be terrible, Addy, if she were to--" + +"Mind you, old girl, I'm not saying this fellow isn't square," he +interrupted. "He may be all he says he is. He's got me guessing, +that's all." + +"She says he has the croix de guerre and a D. S. medal." + +He looked at her pityingly. "I've got a couple of Iron Crosses, +old dear, but that doesn't mean I had 'em pinned on me by a Boche +general. I've also got a German helmet, but I got it the same way +I got the Crosses,--off of a German whose eyes were closed. Anyhow, +I'd like to see his medals. Has Alix seen them?" + +"His mother has them in New York," she replied. She stared into +the fire for a moment or two and then turned to him, a look of deep +concern in her eyes. "I think Alix is in love with him, Addy. She +isn't herself at all. She is distrait. Twice this afternoon she +has asked me if I didn't want to walk down into the village,--to +the postoffice or the library. What she really wanted to do was to +walk past the place where he lives. Oh, I know the symptoms. I've +had them myself,--when I was younger than I am now. We don't do +the things at thirty-two that we did at twenty-four. She is the +dearest, finest girl I've ever known, Addy. We must not let anything +happen to her." + +He shook his head slowly. "If she is really in love with him, +there's nothing we can do. The saying that 'there's no fool like an +old fool' isn't in it with 'there's no fool like a woman in love.' +Look at Isabel Harrington. Wasn't she supposed to be as sensible +as they make 'em? And didn't everybody she knew tell her what kind +of a man he was? Did it do any good?" + +"She knew he gambled,--and drank--and he WAS a fascinating chap, +Addy. You'll admit that." + +"You bet I admit it. It was certainly proved when those other women +turned up with marriage certificates, and old Mrs. Mason jumped +into the scrimmage and had him arrested for swindling her out of +thirty-five thousand dollars, and the New York police came along +with a warrant for--" + +"Yes, yes," she interrupted impatiently. "But Alix is quite different. +She is NOT a fool, and Isabel was,--and still is, I maintain. You +have seen this friend of Alix's. Is he attractive?" + +"Well," he mused aloud, "unless I am mistaken, he is the sort of +fellow that women fall for without much of an effort. The sort that +can fool women but can't fool men, Mary, if that means anything to +you. Now that I think of it, I believe Webster and that friend of +his are--Well, I'm sure they don't like him. He--" + +"Sh! She is coming!" + +Alix's quick, light tread was heard in the hall. She came from her +"office" in the wing where the kitchen was situated. + +There was a heightened colour in her cheeks and her lovely eyes +were shining. + +"Well, that job is done," she cried, tossing two or three letters +on the table. "Don't let me forget them, Mary. I'll post them in +the city. We leave at six o'clock, Addison. I telephoned to town +and asked George Richards to meet us at the Raleigh at a quarter +before seven. I am dreadfully disappointed, Mary, that Mr. Thane +cannot go, but you will like George. Mr. Thane NEVER goes to town. +He was going to break his rule tonight, and now he CAN'T go. Isn't +that always the way?" + +"Mary's awfully partial to Georges," said Addison, "so don't you +worry about her. I know I shall have a better time if Thane isn't +in the party. To be perfectly frank with you, I'm jolly well fed +up with Mary,--as we say in London. And if Thane was along I'd HAVE +to talk to her for three solid--Why, 'pon my soul, Alix, you're +blushing!" + +"Don't be silly!" + +"Skip along, Addy, and see how quickly you can dress," interposed +his sister briskly. "You've got forty-six minutes." + +"I can dress and undress three times in forty-six minutes, and +still have time to read the evening paper and do a few odd chores +about the place. I say, Alix, red is awfully becoming to you." With +that parting shot, he disappeared. + +III + +One of the envelopes on the table was addressed to David Strong. It +was a reply to a special delivery letter received in the afternoon +post. He had been very prompt in responding to Alix's curt note, +and she was being equally prompt with her answer. There were stamps +sufficient on hers to insure "special delivery" to him. + +He had written: + +DEAR ALIX: + +I have not received the bracelet yet. Registered mail moves slowly. +If I did not know you so well, I might even hope that you had +changed your mind at the last minute and did not send it. But I know +it will come along in a day or so. I shall not ask you to explain +why you are returning my gift. You have a good reason, no doubt. +We have not been very friendly of late. I admit that I have been +stubborn about paying back the money your grandfather lent to me, +and I suppose I have not been very gentlemanly or tactful in trying +to make you understand. I still maintain that it is a very silly +thing for us to quarrel about, but I am not going to hector you about +it now. I trust you will forgive me if I add to your annoyance by +saying that I'd like to be where I could shake a little sense into +that stubborn head of yours. + +You are returning my gift. As I told you when I sent it to you, it +was given me by a French lady whose son I had taken care of and for +whose ultimate recovery I was perhaps responsible. She appreciated +the fact that I could not and would not accept pay for my services. +This much I have told you before. Now, I shall tell you something +more. When she pressed it upon me she said that I was to give it +to my sweetheart back in America. I gave it to you. I daresay I am +greatly to blame for never having told you before that you were my +sweetheart, Alix. + +Very sincerely yours, + +DAVID. + +To this Alix replied: + +DEAR DAVID: + +By this time you will have received the bracelet. It is not beyond +the bounds of probability that you may yet be in a position to +carry out the terms imposed by the lady in France. All the more +reason for my returning it to you. You are now free to give it to +any one to whom you may have confided the astonishing secret you +so successfully withheld from me. You seem to have forgotten that +I gave you a receipt in full for the amount you are supposed to +have owed my grandfather's estate. I did this with the consent of +my lawyer. He said it was perfectly legal and that it was in my +power to cancel the so-called obligation,--especially as we have +no documentary evidence that you ever had promised to reimburse +my grandfather. On the contrary, as I have told you over and over +again, I have in my possession a statement written by Grandfather +Windom which absolutely settles the matter. He states in so many +words that in making his will he failed to mention his "beloved +young friend, David Strong" as a beneficiary, in view of the fact +that "I have made him a substantial gift during the closing years +of my life in the shape of such education as he may require, and +for which I trust him to repay me, not in money, but in the simplest +and truest form of compensation: gratitude." In spite of this, you +continue to offend me,--I might even say insult me,--by choosing to +consider his gift as an obligation which can only be met by paying +MONEY to me. All that you owed my grandfather was gratitude and +respect. As for myself, I relieve you of the former but I do think +I am entitled to the latter. + +Yours sincerely, + +ALIX CROWN + +The same post that carried her letter east was to take one from +Courtney Thane to his mother. + +DEAREST MATER: + +I am going to ask Alix Crown to marry me. I have hesitated to do so +for obvious reasons, perfectly clear to you. Now, I have decided. +She understands my financial situation. She knows that I am almost +entirely dependent on you for support at present. If it had not +been for the war and my confounded ill-health, I should, of course, +have been quite independent by this time. I have explained my +present unbearable situation to her in a general sort of way, and +I know that she is in complete sympathy with me. Your resolve to +not increase my allowance is, I suppose, irrevocable. I shall soon +be in a position, I hope, to dispense with what you are already so +gracious as to allow me. I have not deemed it wise to tell her at +this time of my unfortunate and, as you say, foolish mismanagement +of my affairs before and after father's death. When all is said and +done, he didn't leave me very much. It went before I quite knew +what was happening, and I submit that it was bad judgment due to my +youth rather than to recklessness, as old Mumford claims. I'll make +him eat his words some day. Thanks for your cheque. You are a darling. +You're the best mother a fellow ever had. I quite understand your +position, so don't lose a moment's sleep thinking that I may be +resenting your decision. I shall manage very nicely on what you +give me. It is ample for my present needs. I shall probably find it +rather humiliating when it comes time for a wedding journey, but, +bless your dear old heart, I'll manage somehow. + +I am quite well and very happy. Hope you are the same. By the way, +have you made that visit to Washington? + +Your loving son, + +COURTNEY. + +P.S.--I am still looking for the little parcel I asked you to send +me. Have you forgotten to attend to it? + +C. + +As Alix and her friends went out to the automobile, the big police +dog trotted beside Addison Blythe, looking up into his face with +pleased and friendly eyes. He allowed the man to stroke his head +and rumple the thick fur on his back. + +"He likes you, Addison," said Alix, a serious little frown in her +eyes. "I can't understand his not liking Courtney Thane. His hair +fairly bristles and he growls like a bear every time he sees him. +Isn't it odd?" + +Blythe looked up quickly. It was on the tip of his tongue to say +something tactless. What he did say was this: + +"Can you blame the poor dog for being jealous?" + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE OLD INDIAN TRAIL + + + + +Courtney delayed. A certain aloofness on Alix's part caused him to +hesitate. Something in her manner following upon the visit of the +Blythes invited speculation. She was as pleasant as ever, yet he +sensed a subtle change that warned him of defeat if he attempted +to storm the citadel. His confidence was slightly shaken,--but not +his resolve. + +"She's been different ever since those infernal Blythes were +here," he reflected aloud, scowling as he watched her pass in the +car several days after the departure of her guests. + +She went to the city nearly every day now, and seldom returned before +dark. Somehow he felt that his grip was slipping. He was standing +in front of the Tavern. She had waved her hand to him, and had +smiled gaily, but it was not the first time that week she had failed +to stop and repeat her usual invitation for him to accompany her, +even though she knew he would politely decline. He resented this +oversight. How could she know that he hadn't changed his mind about +going to the city? As a matter of fact, he had changed it. He would +have gone like a shot. Indeed, he had dressed with that very object +in view,--and she had gone by with a casual wave of her hand. +His annoyance was increased by the remark of Mr. Nichols, who was +standing at the top of the steps at the time. + +"Thought you said you was going up to town, Courtney," said the +old man, with a detestable grin on his wrinkled visage. + +"I didn't say anything of the kind," snapped Courtney, and strode +off angrily. + +His stroll,--and his reflections,--took him up the old Indian trail +along the bank of the river. He wanted solitude. He wanted to be +where he could talk without fear of being overheard. There was much +that he had to say to himself. + +The rarely used path through the willows and underbrush ran along +the steep bank, sometimes within a few feet of water. Once before +he had walked a couple of hundred yards over this ancient, hard-packed +trail of Tecumseh's people, but had been turned back by the sight +of a small snake wriggling off into the long grass ahead of him. +That was in the warm days of early September. There was no likelihood +of serpents being abroad on this chill October morning. + +Leaving the road at the cut above the ferry landing, he turned into +the trail. A half hour's walk brought him to the gradually rising, +rock-covered slope that led to the base of Quill's Window. On all +sides were great, flat slabs of stone, some of them almost buried +in the earth, others sticking their jagged points up above the +brush and weeds. Back in ages dim these drab, moss-covered rocks +had been sliced from the side of the towering mound by the forces +that shaped the earth, to be hurled hither and thither with the calm +disdain of the mighty. No human agency had blasted them from their +insecure hold on the shoulders of the cliff. Uncounted centuries +ago they had come bounding, crashing down from the heights, shaken +loose by the convulsions of Mother Earth, tearing their way through +the feeble barrier of trees to a henceforth place of security. + +The trail wound in and out among these boulders, dividing at a +point several hundred feet south of the steep ascent to the top of +the great black mound. The main-travelled path turned in from the +river at this point, to skirt the hill at its rear. A more tortuous +way, traversed presumably by the fishers and hunters of the tribes, +or perhaps by war parties in swift pursuit or retreat, held directly +to the bank of the stream and passed along the front of the cliff. + +Courtney took the latter branch. Presently he was picking his way +carefully along the base of the cliff, scrambling over and between +the rocks that formed a narrow ledge between the river and the +sheer face of Quill's Window. He was now some fifty or sixty feet +above the cold, grey water. Below him grew a line of stunted, +ragged underbrush, springing from the earth-filled fissures among +the boulders. Across the river stretched far away the farms and +fields of the far-famed grain-belt. + +He sat down upon a rock and gazed out over these fertile lands, +now crowded with shocks of corn or rusty with the dead glories +of summer. There were great square fields of stubble, fenced-in +patches of pasture-land, small oases of woodland, houses and barns +and silos as far as the eye could reach,--and always the huge red +barns dwarfed the houses in which the farmers dwelt. Cattle and +sheep and horses, wagons and men, all made small and insignificant +in the sweep of this great and solemn panorama. + +The home of Amos Vick was visible, standing half-a-mile back from +the river. He looked hard and long at the house in which he had +spent the first three weeks of his stay in the country. So young +Cale had gone off to join the Navy, eh? Good! And Rosabel,--what +of her? What was she doing over at the old Windom house that day? +Could it have been she who was watching him? Looking badly, too, +they said. Such a strong, pretty, wind-tanned young thing she was! +How long ago was it? Not two months....He lit a cigarette and +resumed his way, the shadow of a fond smile lingering in his eyes. + +Rounding the curve, he came to that side of the stone hill which +faced up the river. He had passed many small, shallow niches along +the base of the eminence, miniature caves from which oozed what +might well have been described as sweat. There were, besides, deep +upright slashes in the side of the rock, higher than his head, +suggesting to the imagination the vain effort of some unhappy giant +to burst through the walls of his rocky prison,--some monster of +a man who now lay dead in the heart of the hill. The turn took him +farther away from the river. + +He was looking now into the tops of several tall sycamores that +rose from the low ground at the foot of the hill. Extending far to +the north along the river was a fringe of these much be-sung trees. +The space between the straight face of the cliff and the edge of +the ledge on which he stood was not more than seven or eight feet. +It was possible, he perceived, for one to continue along and down +this natural path to the bottom of the hill, coming out among the +trees in the low ground. The descent, however, was a great deal +more precipitous than the ascent from the other direction. + +Now that he was immediately below the cave known as Quill's +Window, he was surprised to find that the cliff was not absolutely +perpendicular. There was quite a pronounced slant; the top of the +wall was, at a guess, ten feet farther back than the foot. His +gaze first sought the strange opening three-fourths of the way to +the top,--a matter of eighty or ninety feet above the spot on which +he stood. There it was,--a deep, black gash in the solid rock, +rendered narrow by fore-shortening and a slightly protruding brow. +He could think of nothing more analogous than an open mouth with +a thick upper lip and the nether lip drawn in. + +Then he saw what surprised him even more,--something that none of +the chroniclers had mentioned: a series of hand-cut niches up the +face of the cliff, leading directly to the mouth of the cave. He had +been given to understand that there was no other means of reaching +Quill's Window save from the top of the rock. These niches or +"hand-holds" were about two feet apart. He examined the lower ones. +They were deeply chiselled, affording a substantial foothold as +well as a grip for a strong, resolute climber. Most of them were +packed with dirty, wind blown leaves from the trees nearby,--so +tightly packed by the furious rains that beat against the rock +that he had difficulty in removing the substance. Higher up they +appeared to be quite clean and free from obstruction. + +He scraped the leaves out of five or six of the slits, one after +the other, as he climbed a short distance up the wall. Further +progress was checked, not so much by lack of desire to go to the +top, but by an involuntary glance over his shoulder. He was not +more than ten feet above the trail, but the trail was shockingly +narrow and uneven. So down he came, quite thrilled by his discovery, +to lean against the rock and laugh scornfully over the silly tales +about Quill's Window and its eerie impregnability. Anybody could +climb up there! All that one needed was a stout heart and a good +pair of arms. Closer inspection convinced him that these niches were +of comparatively recent origin,--certainly they were not of Quill's +time. David Windom? Had that adventurous lad hewn this ladder to +the cave long before the beautiful Alix the First came to complete +the romance of his dreams? + +No matter who cut them, they were still there to prove that Quill's +Window was accessible. According to tradition, no one had put foot +inside the cave since David Windom, in his youth, had ventured to +explore its grisly interior. Courtney promised himself that one +day he would enter that unhallowed hole in the wall! + +Retracing his steps over the trail, he soon found himself in the +village. He was more cheerful now. He had talked himself into a +better frame of mind....She was shy. She had reached the turning +point,--the inevitable point where women tremble with a strange +mixture of alarm and rapture, and are as timid as the questioning +deer. What a fool he was not to have thought of that! + +There was a small package in his lockbox at the postoffice--and +two or three letters. The package was from New York, addressed in +his mother's hand. + +He stopped at the general delivery window for a chat with Mrs. +Pollock. + +"I had forgotten all about my birthday," he said, "but here's +mother reminding me of it as usual. She never forgets,--and, hang +it all, she won't let ME forget." He fingered the unopened package +lovingly. + +"Goodness me, Mr. Thane,--is this your birthday?" she cried excitedly. +"We must have a celebration. We can't allow--" + +"Alas, it is too late. Your super-efficient postal service has +brought this to me just forty-eight hours behind time. Day before +yesterday was the day, now that I think of it." + +Mrs. Pollock mentally resolved to indite a short poem to him, +notwithstanding. She could feel it coming, even as she stood there +talking to him. The first line was already written, so to speak. +It went: + +"The flight of Time has brought once more--" + +He continued, oblivious to the workings of the Muse: "Twenty-nine! +By Jove, I begin to feel that I'm getting on in life." He ripped +open one of the envelopes. + +Maude Baggs Pollock looked intently at the ceiling of the outer +office, and thought of line number two: + +"The busy Reaper to his door," + +She hastily snatched a pencil from her hair and began jotting +down these precious lines. Fumbling for a bit of paper her fingers +encountered an envelope addressed to Alaska Spigg. The Muse worked +swiftly. Before she had dashed off the first two lines, the second +pair were crowding down upon them, to wit: + +"But while he whets his fatal scythe, Gaze ye upon his victim +lithe." + +At this juncture George Rice's son came in for a half dozen postal +cards, and while she was making change for a dime the Muse forsook +her. Bent on preserving the lines already shaped, she stuffed +Alaska's letter into the pocket of her apron, intending to copy +them at the first leisure moment. Unfortunately for Alaska, there +was a rush of business at the window, including an acrimonious +dispute with Mrs. Ryan over the non-arrival of a letter she was +expecting from her son, and a lengthy conversation with Miss Flora +Grady who dropped in to say that her chilblains always began to +bother her in October. In the meantime, Courtney departed. + +Two days later, Alaska Spigg received her letter, considerably +crumpled and smelling of licorice root,--(a favourite remedy of Mrs. +Pollock's)--but rendered precious by the presence of a mysterious +"quatrain" done in violet hues by some poetic wielder of an indelible +pencil. Guilt denied Maude Baggs Pollock the right to claim +authorship of these imperishable lines, and to this day they remain +unidentified in the archives of the Windomville Public Library, +displayed upon request by Alaska Spigg, their proud and unselfish +donor. + +Courtney read two of his letters. The third he consigned, unopened, +to the fireplace at Dowd's Tavern. The little package, minus the +wrapping paper, was locked away in his trunk. + +Charlie Webster, emerging from his office at the dinner hour,--twelve +noon,--espied Miss Angie Miller hurrying toward the Tavern. He hailed +her,--not ceremoniously or even gallantly,--but in the manner of +Windomville. + +"Hey!" he called, and Angie promptly responded, not with the dignity +for which she was famous but with an entirely human spontaneity: + +"Hey yourself!" + +She waited till he caught up with her. + +"Have you had an answer to that letter, Angie?" he inquired, glancing +at a small bunch of letters she held in her hand. + +"No, I haven't." she replied, somewhat guardedly. "I can't understand +why he hasn't answered, Charlie,--unless he's away or something." + +"Must be that," said he, frowning slightly. "You wrote nearly two +weeks ago, didn't you?" + +"Two weeks ago yesterday." + +"Sure you had the right address?" + +"Absolutely. Thirty-three Cedar Street. He's had an office there for +ever so long. I ought to know where my uncle's office is, oughtn't +I?" + +"I thought maybe you might have got the wrong tree," explained +Charlie. + +"It's Cedar," said Miss Angie flatly. + +"Cedar and pine are a good deal alike, except in--" began Charlie, +doubtfully, + +"Goodness!" cried Miss Angie, stopping short. "It IS Pine! How +perfectly stupid of me! How utterly reprehensible!" + +Charlie stared at her a moment in sheer disdain. + +"Well, by gosh, if that ain't like a woman," he exclaimed disgustedly. +"I'd hate to send you for a half dozen oranges if there were any +lemons in the market." + +"He is such a well-known lawyer," began Angie humbly, "that you +would think the mail carrier would--" + +"What did you say his name was?" + +"Joseph Smith. He is my mother's brother." + +"East or West?" + +"East or west what?" + +"Pine Street. Same as North Fourth Street and South Fourth Street +up in the city. It runs both ways, Angie,--you poor simp." + +"I shall write to him again this evening," said Angie stiffly. "And +I'll thank you, Charlie Webster, to remember that I am a lady and +not a--" + +"I apologize, Angie," cried Charlie. + +"You'd better!" + +They walked along in silence for a few rods. Then Charlie spoke. + +"You say your uncle was mixed up in a lawsuit of some kind concerning +the Thane family?" + +"I remember it distinctly. It was five or six years ago, before my +mother died. He wrote her a letter about it when he found out that +the Thanes originally came from this neighbourhood. I don't remember +what it was all about, but I think it was some kind of a rumpus +over money." + +"Well, you write tonight, Angie," ordered Mr. Webster; "and remember +it ain't Cedar, or Oak, or Mahogany. It's Pine,--the stuff you make +boxes of." + +Much to Courtney's dismay, Alix remained in town over night. He went +up to the house that evening, only to receive this disconcerting +bit of information. Halfway home, he stopped short in the road, +confronted by a most astonishing doubt. Had she really stayed in +town? Could it be possible that she was at home and did not care to +see him? Was it an excuse? He compressed his lips. With lightning +rapidity certain bits of circumstantial evidence raced through his +mind. In the first place, there was Sergeant, the police dog. He +wished he could remember whether he had seen the animal in the car +with her that morning. It was her custom to take the dog with her +when she went up for the day. One thing was certain: Sergeant was +now at home. Did that mean she had returned from the city? + +And then there was another extraordinary thing,--something to which +he had not given a thought till now. The dog was on the terrace +when he strode up the walk. Not only was he there, but he interposed +his lean, bristling body between him and the porch-steps, growling +ominously and showing his teeth. He did not bark. He merely stood +there, daring him to approach. Courtney remembered saying to himself: + +"There's one thing sure, you and I can't live in the same house, +you filthy brute. You'd better learn how to say your prayers, my +amiable friend." + +It was not so much the presence of the dog or his inimical attitude +that troubled him now as the fact that Mrs. Strong opened the front +door without having been summoned by the bell. What did that signify? +But one thing: either she or some one else had been waiting and +watching for his arrival,--waiting behind the window curtains of +a darkened room! + +"Well,--I'm damned!" he swore to himself, as the blood rushed +furiously to his head. For an instant he saw red. "Good Lord, what +have I done to deserve such a slap in the face as this? What can +be--But, what the devil's the matter with me? Of course, she's in +town! I must be going batty. Certainly she's in town. She--but, even +so, why should she have gone off like this without saying a word +to me about it? She didn't mention it last night. Not a word. And +she must have known then she was planning to spend the night,--why, +by gad, I wonder if she calls that being fair with me? Letting me +trail up here tonight, expecting--Any way you want to look at it, +it's rotten,--just plain rotten!" + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +SUSPICION + + + + +Early the next morning she called him up from the city. She +explained everything. The little daughter of her best friend had +fallen downstairs, injuring herself badly,--perhaps fatally. She +felt it her duty to remain with the distracted mother,--she hoped +he would understand. And she was in such a hurry to reach the city +after the child's father had called her on the telephone that she +really did not have the time to stop and explain. He would understand +that, too, wouldn't he? And she thought perhaps she would stay over +another night. She couldn't leave Marjorie,--at least, not until +something definite was known. + +He was vastly relieved. All his worry for nothing! He wished now +that he had remained in his room instead of going out a second time +last night to tramp about the dark, lonely village, driven forth +by an ugly fit of temper. + +"But Mrs. Strong didn't say anything about the accident," he said +over the wire. "She simply said you were in town for the night." + +"I can't understand that," replied Alix. "She knew why I came up to +town, and I telephoned her during the afternoon that I would stay +overnight. + +"She might have told me," he complained. "It would have relieved +my mind enormously. I--I was horribly unhappy. Never closed my +eyes. I thought you,--that is, I wondered if I had done anything to +offend you. My Lord, you'll never know how happy I am this minute. +My heart is singing--And to think it was like a lump of lead all +last night. Do try to come out this evening." + +She did not answer at once, but he could plainly hear her breathing. +Then she said softly: + +"If--if the child is better. I can't leave Marjorie until--until--" + +"I understand," he cried heartily. "What a selfish beast I am. Don't +give me another thought. Your place is there. Because you are an +angel!" + +Later on he sauntered over to the postoffice. A number of men +and women were congregated in front of the drug store, among them +Charlie Webster and A. Lincoln Pollock. The latter had his "pad" +in hand and was writing industriously. + +"What's the excitement?" Courtney inquired, coming up to Charlie. + +"Somebody poisoned Henry Brickler's collie last night," replied +Charlie. There was a dark scowl on his chubby face. + +"You don't mean that corking dog up at the white house on the--" + +"Yep. That's the one," replied Charlie harshly. "Anybody that would +poison a dog ought to be tarred and feathered." + +"Who did it?" + +"You don't suppose a man mean enough to give an unsuspectin' dog a +dose of poison would be kind enough to pin his card on the gatepost, +do you? I should say not!" + +"But why on earth should any one want to poison that big beautiful +dog?" cried Courtney indignantly. "Had he bitten anybody?" + +"Not as anybody knows of. Henry says he never harmed a living soul. +That dog--" + +"By George!" exclaimed Courtney suddenly. "This reminds me of +something. I passed a couple of men last night down at the corner +where you turn up to Miss Crown's. They were leaning against the +fence on the opposite side of the road, and I had the queerest sort +of feeling about them. I felt that they were watching me. I remember +turning my head to look back at them. They were still standing +there. It was too dark to see what they looked like--" + +"Wait a second," broke in Charlie. "Here's Bill Foss, the constable. +Tell it to him, Court." + +The town constable, vastly excited, came up the street, accompanied +by two or three stern-visaged citizens. + +"Well, by thunder!" growled the officer, wiping his forehead. +"Somebody's been making a wholesale job of it. Dick Hurdle's 'Jackie' +and Bert Little's 'Prince' are dead as doornails. That makes three. +Now, who the hell,--" + +"Just a second,--just a second," cried A. Lincoln Pollock, elbowing +his way into the thick of the new group. "Let me get the facts. +You first, Dick. Where did you find your dog's remains? Now, take +it calm, Dick. Don't cuss like that. I can't print a word of it, +you know,--not a word. Remember there are ladies present, Dick. +You've got to--" + +Mr. Hurdle said he didn't give a cuss if all the women in town were +present, he was going to say what he thought of any blankety-blank,--and +so on at great length, despite the fact that the ladies crowded +even a little closer, evidently reluctant to miss a word of his +just and unbridled blasphemy. + +The occasion demanded the sonorous efficiency of Mr. Richard +Hurdle. In all Windomville there was no one so well qualified to +do justice to the situation as he. (Later on, Charlie Webster was +heard to remark that "as long as these dogs had to be killed, it's +a great relief that Dick's was one of 'em, because he's got the +best pair of lungs in town. He can expand his chest nearly seven +inches, and when he fills all that extra space up with words nobody +ever even heard of before, people clear over in Illinois have to +rush out and shoo their children into the house and keep 'em there +till it blows over.") + +Doctor Smith came rattling up in his Ford, hopped out, and started +to enter the drug store. Catching sight of the druggist in the +crowd, he stopped to bawl out: + +"Who's been buying prussic acid of you, Sam Foster? What do you +mean by selling--" + +"I ain't sold a grain of prussic acid in ten years," roared Mr. +Foster. "Or any other kind of poison. Don't you accuse ME of--" + +"Anything new, Doc? Anything new?" cried the editor of the Sun, +rushing up to the doctor. + +"They got that dog of Alix Crown's. I tried to save him,--but he +was as good as dead when I got there. Of all the damnable outrages--" + +"Miss Crown's dog?" cried Courtney, aghast, "Good God! Why,--why, +it will break her heart! She LOVED that dog! Men! We've got to find +the scoundrel. We've got to FIX him. He ought to be strung up. Has +any one called Miss Crown up, Doctor? She is in the city. She--" + +"Mrs. Strong called her up. The automobile started for town fifteen +or twenty minutes ago to bring her home." + +"Keep your shirt on, Court," warned Charlie Webster. "You'll bust a +blood vessel. Cool off! There's no use talkin' about GETTING him. +Whoever it was that planted these dog-buttons around town was +slick enough to cover up his tracks. We'll never find out who did +it. It's happened before, and the result is always the same. Dead +dogs tell no tales." + +"But those two fellows I saw down at the corner last night--" + +"Would you be able to identify them?" + +"No,--hang it all! It was too dark. It was about half-past nine. +Why, earlier in the evening I was at Miss Crown's. I saw the dog. +He was on the terrace. He growled at me,--he always growled at me. +He didn't like me. Mrs. Strong came to the door and called him into +the house. I am sure he was all right then. When is he supposed to +have got the poison, Doctor?" + +"This morning. She let him out of the house about seven o'clock. +Paid no attention to him till he came crawling around to the +kitchen door some time afterward. He just laid down and kicked a few +times,--that's what makes me think it was prussic acid. It knocks +'em quick." + +"Come on, Charlie," cried Courtney, clutching the other's arm. "We +must go up to the house. There may be some trace,--something that +will give us a clue." + +He was at the house when the car returned without Alix. She had +sent the chauffeur back with instructions to bury the dog. She could +not bear looking at him. She wanted it to be all over with before +she came home. + +"I don't blame her," said Charlie soberly. "Shows how much she +thought of Sergeant when she's willing to pay five hundred dollars +reward for the capture of the man or men who poisoned him." + +"Where did you hear that?" demanded Courtney, surprised. + +"Ed Stevens says she told him to authorize Bill Foss to have reward +notices struck off over at the Sun office, offering five hundred +cash. She always said that dog was the best friend she had on +earth." + +"But five hundred dollars! Why, good Lord, you can buy a dozen +police dogs for that amount of--" + +"You couldn't have bought Sergeant for ten times five hundred," +interrupted Charlie. "You see, as a matter of fact, he didn't +actually belong to Alix." + +"You must be crazy. She has had him since he was a puppy three +months old." + +"Sure, But, all the same, he didn't belong to her. He belonged to +David Strong. Davy got him in France in the spring of 1918 and sent +him clear over here for his mother to take care of for him." + +Courtney was silent for a moment. "It's strange Miss Crown never +told me this," he said, biting his lip. + +"Well," said Charlie quaintly, "far as that goes, I don't suppose +it ever occurred to her to tell Sergeant he belonged to somebody +else, but even if she had I don't reckon it would have made a darn' +bit of difference to him. He would have gone on loving her, just +the same,--and workin' twenty-four hours a day for her, Sundays +and holidays included. A dog don't care who he belongs to, Court, +but he's mighty darned particular about who belongs to him." + +"I can't understand why he never seemed to like me," mused Courtney. + +"Well, maybe," began Charlie soberly, "--maybe, after all, he DID +sort of know that he was Davy Strong's dog." + +II + +For three days Windomville talked of nothing but the "dog murders." +The Sun came out on Thursday with a long and graphic account of +the mysterious affairs of Monday night, including the views and +theories of well-known citizens. It also took occasion to "lambast" +Constable Foss with great severity. The Constable, being a Republican, +(and not a subscriber to the Sun), was described as about the most +incompetent official Windomville had ever known, and that it would +have been quite possible for the miscreant or miscreants to have +poisoned every dog in town, in broad daylight, accompanied by a +brass band, without Bill ever "getting onto it." + +It goes without saying that everybody in town was stimulated to +prodigious activity by the reward offered by Miss Crown. Notices +were stuck up in the postoffice and on all the telephone poles. A +great many embarrassing incidents resulted, and three fist-fights +of considerable violence occurred,--for the gentlemen accused of +the crimes took drastic and specific means of establishing complete +and satisfactory alibis. + +Courtney Thane chafed under the prolonged absence of Alix Crown. +Valuable time was being wasted. He had assisted at the burial of +Sergeant, and had shed tears with Mrs. Strong while Ed Stevens, the +chauffeur, was filling in the grave up back of the orchard; and he +had done further homage to the dead by planting a small American +flag at the head of the mound and,--as an afterthought,--the flag +of Belgium at the foot. + +He felt that he had done very well by a dog that would have torn +him to pieces if encouraged by the merest whisper of the words "sic +'im!" + +Alix returned late on Friday afternoon. He had a box of roses, +ordered from the city for him by Miss Flora Grady, awaiting her, +and with them a tender little note of sympathy. + +She sat for a long time with Mrs. Strong. Her dark eyes softened +and filled with tears as David's mother gently stroked her hair +and sought by words to convince her that David would understand. + +"It wasn't your fault, Alix darling," she protested. "David won't +mind,--not in the least. Sergeant didn't really mean anything to +him. He was yours more than he was David's. Don't you worry about +David's feelings, dear. He--" + +"You don't understand, Aunt Nancy,--you don't understand at all," +Alix repeated over and over again in her distress. + +"You're just worrying yourself sick over it," said the older woman. +"Why, you look all tuckered out, child,--I was shocked when you +first came in. Now, don't be foolish, dear. I tell you it will be +all right with David. I wrote him all about it, and--what's that +you are saying?" + +"You don't suppose he will think I--think I did it, Aunt Nancy?" +Alix whispered bleakly. + +"Think you--for the land's sake, Alix, what on earth are you saying? +Are you stark, staring crazy? You come right upstairs and get into +bed this minute. My land, I--I believe you're going to be sick. +You've got the queerest look in your eyes. Come on, now, deary, +and--" + +"I am sick,--just sick with unhappiness, Aunt Nancy," sobbed +the girl. "You don't know,--you don't understand. Oh, he couldn't +believe I would do such a thing as THAT! He couldn't think me so +cruel, and wicked and--and spiteful." + +"Now, listen to me," said Mrs. Strong sternly. "What is the meaning +of all this? What has happened between you and David that makes +you talk like this? Tell me,--tell me this minute, Alix Crown." + +"Hasn't he told you--written you about ANYTHING?" cried the girl. + +"I don't know what you are driving at, Alix, but whatever it is I +KNOW David hasn't got anything against you that would make you say +such things as you've just been saying." She hesitated a moment +and then laid her hand on Alix's head. "I've been wondering a whole +lot of late, Alix. Have you and David had a--a misunderstanding?" + +"We--we don't like each other as--as we used to, Aunt Nancy," said +the girl, lifting her head almost defiantly to look David's mother +full in the eyes. + +"Is it David's fault?" asked Mrs. Strong after a moment. + +"I--I wish you wouldn't ask me anything more about it. At least, +not now." + +"Is it David's fault?" demanded the other once more, insistently. + +"I will say this much; it isn't my fault," replied Alix stiffly. + +Mrs. Strong smiled,--a tender, loving smile. + +"I think I could straighten everything out if David were only +here," she said. "I would take you both across my knee and give you +a good sound spanking. It used to work beautifully when you were +children,--and I think it would work now. I--I wonder if it would +help matters any if I were to spank--No, I'm sure it wouldn't. To +do any good at all David would have to be here to see me spanking +you and to beg me to let you off and give it to him just twice as +hard." + +"Oh, Aunt Nancy," cried Alix eagerly, "if you only WOULD! How I +wish I were a little girl again! And David a little boy!" + +Then she fled from the room. Nancy Strong put her hand over her +eyes and sighed. + +"I wish David were here," she said to herself. "If he were only +here today." + +During dinner that evening Alix was strangely repressed. It was +plain to Mrs. Strong that she was inwardly agitated. After they +left the table she became visibly nervous. She was "fidgety," to +speak the thought of her perplexed companion. Time and again she +started and appeared to be listening intently, and always there +was a queer little expression in her eyes as of expectancy. Once +or twice Mrs. Strong surprised a flash of anxiety,--aye, even +fear,--in them. + +"You haven't read your letters yet, Alix," she said at last, seeking +for some means to divert the girl's thoughts. "There is quite a +pile of them there on the table." + +"I don't feel like reading letters tonight," said Alix. "They can +wait till tomorrow." She arose, however, and hurriedly ran through +the pile. "I wrote to David before dinner, Aunt Nancy," she said +suddenly. "A long letter about Sergeant's death. I wanted him to +know how miserably I feel about it." + +"Bless your heart, he'll know that without your telling him, child. +I am glad you wrote to him, however." + +Alix came to a letter addressed in an unfamiliar hand,--a bold, +masculine scrawl. The postmark was Chicago. She tore it open. It +began with "Dear Alix." She quickly turned to the last page. It +was signed "Addison Blythe." A "thank you" letter, of course. + +Her back was to Mrs. Strong as she stood beside the table, bending +slightly forward to get the full light from the library lamp. She +read the letter through to the end; then she walked over to the +fireplace and threw it into the flames. Her face had lost every +vestige of colour: + +DEAR ALIX: [it began] You will no doubt throw this letter into the +fire the instant you have finished reading it, and you will hate +me for having written it. Nevertheless, I am doing so because I +think it is my duty. I offer no apology. I only ask you to believe +that my intentions are good. It is best to come straight to the +point. I have talked it all over with Mary and she approves of this +letter. What I am about to say still requires official confirmation. +I do not speak with authority, you must understand. I am merely +giving you certain bits of information I have obtained from men +who were in France in 1915 and 1916. It rests with you to believe +or disbelieve. In any case, if you are wise, you will at least take +the trouble to investigate. I am at your service. If I can help you +in any way, please call upon me. If you desire it, I will provide +you with the names of at least three men who were in Ambulance, +all of whom have answered my letters of inquiry. One of these men +met Courtney Thane in Paris in November, 1915. He was living at the +Hotel Chatham with his mother. She had a husband up at the front, +fighting with the French. This husband was a count or something of +the sort and a good many years her junior. My informant writes me +that young Thane, who drank a great deal and talked quite freely +of family affairs, told him that his mother had married this young +Frenchman a few months before the war broke out and went to Paris +to live with him. He went so far as to say that the Frenchman married +her for her money and he hoped the Germans would make a widow of +her again before it was too late. According to this chap, Thane had +also been in Paris since the beginning of the war. He spent money +like a drunken sailor and touched nothing but the high spots. The +second or third time he met him, Thane said he would like to get +into the Ambulance. His mother, however, was bitterly opposed to +his joining up. The last time he saw him, he had on an Ambulance +uniform and was as drunk as a lord in one of the cafes. My friend +had it straight from fellows out at Neuilly that Thane hadn't worn +the uniform a week before it was taken away from him and he was +kicked out of the service in disgrace. + +One of the other chaps has written me, saying that he was at the +base hospital when Thane was stripped of his uniform. He was not a +witness to this, but he heard other fellows and the nurses talking +about it. Not only was his uniform taken away, but he was ordered +to get out of Paris at once. They heard afterward that he went +to Madrid with his mother. He was never at Pont-a-Mousson. It is +obvious that he was not in the Vosges sector, in view of the fact +that he lasted less than a week in the Ambulance, and did a vast +amount of carousing in a uniform that I revere. + +It is up to you, Alix. The records of the American Ambulance are +available. You can obtain all the information you desire, and I beg +of you to get into communication with Mr. Hereford or Mr. Andrew +or some other official at once. I append below the addresses of +several persons to whom you may write. They were high in authority. +They will give you facts. + +I was convinced that Thane was not on the level when I met him that +day. His stories did not jibe. I said nothing to you at the time, +because I could not be sure of my ground. I think I am reasonably +sure now. + +I may add that I have written to Col. Andrew and others on my own +hook. If you care to see their replies, when I get them, I shall +send them to you. All you have to do is to say the word. In any +case, I ask you to believe that my devotion and Mary's deep and +honest love are the excuse for this letter, which you may show to +Mr. Thane if you see fit. I have no right to question his statement +that he served in the Royal Air Force. I know nothing to the +contrary. I speak only of the Ambulance. I am, dear Alix, + +Yours devotedly, + +ADDISON BLYTHE. + + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE FACE AT THE WINDOW + + + + +Mrs. Strong, observing her pallor, arose quickly and went to Alix's +side, "What is it, dear?" she cried. "What was in that letter? You +are as white as a ghost." Receiving for answer a pitiful little +smile that was not so much a smile as a grimace of pain, she placed +her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Why did you destroy it?" + +"I--I don't know," murmured Alix through set, rigid lips. + +"Yes, you DO know," said the other firmly. + +Alix looked dumbly into her old friend's eyes for a moment, and +then her honest heart spoke: "I destroyed it, Aunt Nancy, because +I was afraid to read it again. It was from Addison Blythe. He has +been making inquiries concerning Courtney Thane. In that letter he +said things which, if true, make Courtney out to be a most--a most +unworthy person." + +She turned to look into the fire, her eyes narrowing. The black, +flaky remnants of the letter were still fluttering on the hearth. +As she watched, the draft caught them and sent them swirling up +the chimney. + +A high wind was blowing outside. It whistled mournfully around the +corners of the house. Somewhere on the floor above a door, buffeted +by the wind from an open window, beat a slow and muffled measure +against its frame. + +David's mother saw the colour slowly return to her companion's face. +She waited. Something akin to joy possessed her. She was afraid to +speak for fear that her voice would betray her. At last she said: + +"We know nothing about Mr. Thane except what he has told us, Alix." + +The girl looked searchingly into her eyes. + +"You do not like him, Aunt Nancy. I have felt it from the beginning. +Is it because you are David's mother?" + +Mrs. Strong started. The direct question had struck home. She was +confused. + +"Why,--Alix,--I--what a silly thing to ask. What has David to do +with it?" + +Alix was still looking at her, broodingly. "Why don't you like him, +Aunt Nancy?" + +"Have I ever said I didn't like him?" + +"No. But I know. I know that Charlie Webster does not like him. I +knew that Addison did not like him." + +Mrs. Strong could not resist the impulse to add: "And Sergeant did +not like him." + +"And you think THAT convicts him?" said the girl, half ironically. + +"I have a good deal of faith in dogs," muttered Mrs. Strong, +flushing. + +Alix's gaze went to the huge vase of roses on the table. Then she +turned quickly to look once more into her companion's eyes. + +"You believe that Courtney poisoned him, don't you?" + +"I have no more reason for believing it than you have, Alix," +returned Mrs. Strong calmly. + +"Why,--why do you say that?" cried the girl, startled. + +"Because you would not have asked the question if you hadn't +been--well, wondering a little yourself, Alix." + +"Oh,--I don't want to think it," cried Alix miserably. "I don't +want to think of it!" + +"No more do I want to think it. Listen to me, Alix. I confess that +I do not like this man. I have no way of explaining my feeling +toward him. He has always been polite and agreeable to me. He has +never done a thing that I can call to mind that would set me against +him. Maybe it's because he is not of my world, because he comes +from a big city, because deep in his heart he probably looks down +on us Hoosiers. I will go farther, Alix, and say that I do not trust +him. That is a nasty thing to say. It is none of my business, but +I--I wish you did not like him so well, Alix." + +"It would appear that my friends are taking more than an ordinary +interest in my welfare," said Alix slowly, and with some bitterness. +"Is it possible that you all believe me incapable of taking care +of myself?" + +"Smarter women than you, Alix Crown, have been fooled by men," said +the other sententiously. "Oh, I don't mean the way you think, my +child,--so don't glare at me like that. I know you can take care +of yourself THAT way,--but how about falling in love? And getting +married? And finding out afterward that roses don't grow on cactus +plants? That's how women are fooled,--and you're no different from +the rest of us." + +"I think,--I am quite sure that he is in love with me, Aunt Nancy," +said Alix, somewhat irrelevantly. There was no sign of gladness, +however, nor of triumph, in her dark, brooding eyes. + +"That's easy to understand. The point is, Alix,--are you in love +with him?" + +Alix did not answer at once. The little frown in her eyes deepened. + +"I don't think so, Aunt Nancy," she said at last. "I don't believe +it is love. That is what troubles me so. It is something I cannot +understand. I don't know what has come over me. I will be honest +with you,--and with myself. I do not really trust him. I don't +believe he is all that he claims to be. And yet,--and yet, Aunt +Nancy, I,--I--" + +"Don't try to tell me," broke in the older woman gently. "My only +sister thought she was in love with Terry Moore, a fellow who had +been in the penitentiary once for stealing, and was a drunkard, +a gambler, and a bad man with women, and all that. She was crazy +about him. She ran off with him and got married. She never was in +love with him, Alix. She hated him after a few weeks. He just cast +some kind of a spell over her--not a mental spell, you may be sure. +It was something physical. He was slick and smart and good looking, +and he just made up his mind to get her. A man can be awful nice +when he has once set his heart on getting a girl,--and that's +what fools 'em, great and small. All the mistakes are not made by +ignorant, scatter-brained girls, my dear. My father used to say that +the more sense a woman has, the more likely she is to do something +foolish. Now, Alix dear, I know just how it is with you. Courtney +Thane has cast a spell over you. I believe in spells, same as the +old New Englander used to believe in witchcraft. You don't love +him, you don't actually believe in him. You--you are sort of like +a bird that is being charmed by a snake. It knows it ought to fly +away and yet it can't, because it's so interested in what the snake +is going to do next. Thane is attractive. He is, far as I know, a +gentleman. At any rate, he would pass for one, and that's about +all you can expect in these days. The thought has entered both our +minds that he put Sergeant out of the way. Well, my dear, I don't +believe either of us would ever dream of connecting him with it +if there wasn't something back in our minds that has been asking +questions of us ever since he came here. You say you were afraid +to read Mr. Blythe's letter again. Does that mean you are afraid +everything he says is true?" + +"Oh, I can't believe it,--I must not allow myself to even THINK +it," cried the girl. "Why, if what Addison says is true, Courtney +Thane is not fit to--There must be some mistake, Aunt Nancy. There +were two men of the same name. _I_ WILL NOT BELIEVE IT!" + +The two tall women stood tense and rigid, side by side, their backs +to the fire, gazing straight before them down the lamp-lit room. + +"Has Addison Blythe any reason for lying to you, Alix?" asked the +elder quietly. + +"Of course not," Alix answered impatiently. "There is some mistake, +that's all." + +"Do you mind telling me what he says?" + +"Mr. Thane is coming to see me tonight," said the girl, uneasily. +"He may come at any moment now. What time is it?" + +"Ten minutes of eight. He never comes before half-past." She waited +a moment, and then went on deliberately: "I always had an idea it +was because he wanted to be sure Sergeant was in the house and not +out in the yard." + +Alix closed her eyes for a second or two, as if by doing so it were +possible to shut out the same thought that had floated through Mrs. +Strong's mind. + +"But he need not be afraid of Sergeant now," she said, with a little +tremor in her voice. "He will come earlier tonight." The unintentional +sarcasm did not escape Mrs. Strong. "Wait till tomorrow, Aunt Nancy. +Then I may tell you." + +"You are trembling, dear. I wish you would let me make your excuses +to him when he comes. Don't see him tonight. Let me tell him--" + +Alix turned squarely and faced her. There was a harassed, haunted +expression in her eyes,--and yet there was defiance. + +"I stayed away five days," she said huskily. "For five days I kept +away from him. Then I--I gave up. I couldn't stand it any longer. +I had to come home. Now, you have the truth. I just simply HAD to +see him, Aunt Nancy,--I just HAD to." + +"Then,--then it IS a spell," cried the other, dismay in her voice. +"You are not yourself, Alix. This is not you who say these things." + +"Oh, yes, it is!" cried the girl recklessly. "I wanted to come +home. I wanted to see him. I don't love him, but I wanted to be +with him. I don't trust him, but here I am. Now you have it all! +I want to see him!" + +Mrs. Strong was looking past her. She stared hard at the window in +the far end of the room, her eyes narrowed, her chin thrust slightly +forward. Then suddenly she clutched the girl's arm, her eyes now +widespread with alarm. + +"Look!" she whispered shrilly, pointing. + +The flush faded from Alix's face; the reckless, defiant light left +her eyes, and in its place came fear. + +II + +Plainly outlined in the window was the face of a masked man. A +narrow black mask, through which a pair of eyes gleamed brightly. + +The exposed lower portion of the face, save for the heavily bearded +upper lip, was ghastly white. Brief as this glimpse was, they were +able to see that he wore a cap, pulled well down over his forehead. + +For a few seconds the two women stood as if petrified, their eyes +wide and staring, their hearts cold, their tongues paralyzed. They +were gazing straight into his shining eyes. Suddenly he turned +his head for a quick, startled glance over his shoulder. The next +instant he was gone, vanishing in the blackness that hung behind +him like the magician's curtain in a theatre. They heard rapid +footsteps on the veranda, the crash of a chair overturned, then +a loud shout, and again the sound of flying footsteps across the +brick-paved terrace. Another shout, and still another, farther +away. + +"Quick!" screamed Alix, the first to recover her voice. "The +telephone! Call the drug store. Bill Foss is there." + +She ran swiftly out into the hall. + +"Come back!" cried Mrs. Strong. "What are you doing? Don't open +that door! He's got a pistol, Alix!" + +Even as she spoke, the report of a pistol shot came to their ears. +As Alix stopped short, her hand outstretched to clutch the door +knob, a second report came. + +"Oh, my God!" she cried. "He has killed Courtney! He has shot +Courtney!" + +By this time, her companion had reached her side. She dragged her +back from the door. + +"Killed Courtney? What's the matter with you? Why do you say he +has killed--" + +"Don't you see--can't you understand? It was Courtney who surprised +him. That's why he ran. He shot,--oh, let go of me! Let go of me, +I say!" + +"I'll do nothing of the sort," cried Mrs. Strong. "Do you want to +get shot? Come away from this door!" + +A door slammed against the wall at the back of the house. Some +one came running through the dining-room. First the cook, then the +little waitress, dashed into the hall. + +"Wha-what is it? What's the matter?" shouted the former. "What was +that shootin'--" + +"Where is Stevens?" demanded Mrs. Strong, as she fairly pushed Alix +into the living-room. "Call him! Isn't he out there in--" + +"He went out,--half hour ago,--out," stuttered the waitress. "Who's +been--what's happened to Miss Alix?" + +"Nothing! Go and yell for Ed! Thieves! On the porch. Don't stand +there, Hilda. Go out back and scream!" + +"Oh, my God! Ed's killed! He's been shot! My husband's been shot!" +It was the cook who sent this lamentation to the very roof of the +house. + +Mrs. Strong whispered fiercely in Alix's ear: "That's it! Ed is the +one who surprised him. Courtney nothing! Now, you stay here! I'll +telephone. Don't you dare go outside, Alix Crown. A stray bullet--" + +Far away sounded the third shot, muffled by distance and the shriek +of the wind.... + +Mrs. Strong was off somewhere trying to telephone. Shrill voices, +out back, were screaming. Alix stood alone in the middle of the +long room, staring at the window in which the sinister face had +appeared. She had not moved in what seemed to be an age. A strange, +incredible thing was creeping through her mind,--a thought that was +not a part of her, something that seemed to shape itself outside +of her brain and force its way in to crowd out the fear and anxiety +that had gripped her but a few short moments before. + +What would it mean to her if Courtney Thane were dead out there in +the night? + +It was not the question but the answer that fixed itself in her +mind. She was unconscious of the one, but vividly aware of the +other. His death would mean--emancipation! For one brief instant +she actually LONGED for the word that he was dead! The reaction +was swift, overwhelming. + +"God!" she gasped, shutting her eyes and clenching her hands in an +ecstasy of revulsion. "What a beast,--what a horrible beast I am! +What a coward!" + +Her knees trembled; an icy perspiration seemed to start out all over +her body. She had wished him dead! She had grasped at THAT as the +solution! Her heart had leaped joyously! It was as if some great +weight suddenly had been lifted from it. Now she was numb with +horror. What devilish power had taken possession of her in that +brief, soul-destroying instant? She shuddered. She was afraid to +open her eyes. She reached out with her hand for the support of +the table. She had longed for some one to come and tell her that +he was dead! + +Some one was pounding on the outer door. She had a dim, vague +impression that this pounding had been going on for some time. +A sort of paralysis benumbed her sensibilities. Her eyes were now +wide open, staring. Had her wish come true? Was some, one come to +tell her that her horrible wish had come true? Suddenly the fetters +fell away. She rushed frantically to the door and turned the knob. +The driving wind flung it open with a force that almost swept her +off her feet. + +Thane stood on the threshold, hatless, panting. The light from the +hall, falling upon his face, revealed a long red stain that ran +from temple to chin. As she drew back, alarmed, he staggered into +the hall, limping painfully, and pushed the door shut behind him. + +"Oh!" she gasped. + +He shot a swift, searching glance down the hall and into the living-room. +Then he held out his arms to her. She was gazing spell-bound into +his eager, shining eyes. He waited. She came to him as if drawn +by some overpowering magnet. His arms closed about her....She was +crushed against his body, she seemed a part of him. His arms were +like smothering coils that pressed the life out of her; his hungry +lips were fastened upon hers, hot and lustful. + +Presently she began to struggle. Shame,--a vast, sickening +shame,--possessed her. She was conscious of the wild, increasing +lust that mastered him. She tried to tear herself from contact with +his body, as from something base, unclean, revolting. His kisses +held her. She was powerless to resist the passion that swept over +her. Once more she surrendered,--and then came the shame, the +overwhelming shame. She was debased, defiled! She put her hand +to his face and pushed frantically to release herself from those +consuming, unholy lips. + +Suddenly he freed her, and sprang back, panting but triumphant. +She heard him whisper, hoarsely, rapturously: + +"God!" + +Some one was coming. He had caught the sound of footsteps,--somewhere. +Alix sank breathless, rigid, almost fainting, upon the hall-seat. + +"Darling!" he whispered passionately. She half arose, caught once +more by the irresistible spell that had first swept her into his +embrace. He shook his head. Then she heard him speak. He was looking +past her. + +"I'm all right, Mrs. Strong. Don't mind me. Telephone for help." + +"I have telephoned," cried Mrs. Strong, coming toward them quickly. +"Help is coming. Good heavens! You are bleeding! Were you hit?" + +III + +The question aroused Alix. She was aware of something wet and +sticky on the palm of her hand. She looked. It was covered with +blood. Then she remembered putting her hand against his cheek. +As if fascinated she stared for a second or two before her wits +returned. Mrs. Strong must not see that bloody hand. She would +know! Guiltily she clenched her fingers again and thrust her hand +behind her back. She shuddered at the feel of the moist, sticky +substance, and turned suddenly sick. Her one thought was to get to +her room where she could wash away the tell-tale evidence. Again +she heard him speaking, and hung on his words. + +"Nothing but a scratch. I fell while chasing him. He got the start +of me. My overcoat bothered me. I got it off, but not in time. +It's out there somewhere. My rotten old leg is the worst. I twisted +it when I jumped over the fence. That's when I fell. Tripped over +some bushes or something. I was gaining on him. Up in the woods, +you see. He was making for the road above. Oh, if this leg of mine +was any good, I would have--" He broke off short to grip his knee +with both hands, his face twitching with pain. The sentences came +jerkily, breathlessly. + +"Send for Dr. Smith!" Alix cried out suddenly. "Be quick! He has +been shot,--I know he has been shot. Go--" + +"It's a scratch, I tell you, Alix," he protested. "He didn't get +me. He fired at me, but it was dark. I'm all right. There is no +time to lose. If they get after him at once they'll catch him. I +can show them which way he went. Where the devil are they? We ought +to have every man in town out there in the woods. Did you tell 'em +to bring guns? He's armed. He--" + +"You ARE hurt," cried Alix. "You MUST have the doctor. Oh, for +heaven's sake, DO SOMETHING!" The last was directed impatiently to +Mrs. Strong. + +"I'll give him a basin of water,--and some court plaster," said +the older woman, who had looked closely at the scratch on the young +man's cheek. "It doesn't amount to anything,--if that's all, Mr. +Thane?" + +"That's all,--except my knee, and that will be all right in a few +minutes. Let me sit down here a minute. Not in there,--I'm covered +with dirt and burrs and,--I might get some of this filthy blood +on,--that's all right, Mrs. Strong, thank you. I'll be able to go +out with the gang as soon as they come. Gad! It's going to be great +sport. Man-hunting!" + +Alix was leaning against the end of the hall-seat, watching him as +if fascinated. He bent an ardent, significant look upon her, and +her eyes widened slightly under the contact. + +"I'll get some water ready for you in the kitchen, and a--" began +Mrs. Strong, but Alix, suddenly alive, intercepted her with a cry. + +"No! I will go, Aunt Nancy,--I insist!" And before Mrs. Strong could +offer a word of protest, she flashed past her and was running up +the stairs. + +A look of chagrin leaped into Courtney's eyes. He had counted on +another minute or two alone with her. Under his breath he muttered +an oath. + +Alix's bedroom door opened and closed. Mrs. Strong was still looking +in astonishment up the staircase. + +"I--she's pretty badly upset, Mr. Thane," she said at last. "That +face in the window,--and everything." + +"Good Lord,--you don't mean to say you saw him?" + +"Yes,--looking in that window over there. Only for a second. You +must have scared him away." + +"Then, by George, you can identify him!" + +"He had a mask on. Didn't you see his face?" + +"No. It was dark. Masked, you say. That's bad. It will be hard to +swear--Still, I saw his figure. Short, heavy fellow. Wore a cap." + +She continued to look anxiously up the stairs. + +"Wait here," she said shortly. "I must go up to her. Go to the kitchen +if you like, and wash the blood off. I'll be back in a jiffy." + +He waited till she was out of sight, and then limped into the +living-room,--but with a swiftness incredible in one with a twisted +knee. Going direct to the fireplace, he took something out of his +coat pocket and, after a glance at door and window, quickly consigned +it to the flames. A small black object it was, that crumpled softly +in his palm and was consumed in a flash by the flames. A moment +later he entered the kitchen, bringing consternation to the two +excited domestics, both of whom sent up cries of alarm at the sight +of his bloody face. + +Meanwhile Mrs. Strong had surprised Alix in her bathroom, frantically +washing her hands. She looked up and saw the housekeeper standing +in the door behind her. The bowl was half full of reddish water. +The expression of disgust in her eyes remained for a moment and +then gave way to confusion. Neither spoke for some time. + +"What are you doing?" asked Mrs. Strong. + +"Oh, Aunt Nancy!" came in a choked voice from the girl's lips. + +"Is that blood?" + +"Yes," replied Alix, looking away. + +"I--I understand. Oh, Alix,--Alix!" + +"I don't know what made me do it,--I couldn't help myself. I--Oh, +it was terrible! I don't love him,--I don't love him! As long as +I live,--as long as I live, I shall never forget it. I shall never +know anything like it again. I could feel my soul being dragged out +of my body,--Oh, Aunt Nancy! What am I to do? What is to become of +me?" + +"There's only one thing for you to do now," said the other, slowly, +levelly. "Stay in this room. Lock the door. Don't see him again. +Keep away from him. He's--he's bad, Alix!" + +"But he is not a coward!" cried the girl eagerly. "He followed +that man, he chased him, he was shot at,--that is not what a coward +would do. Addison Blythe is mistaken. Those men are mistaken. He--" + +"I hear people downstairs,--and out in the yard. You must obey me, +Alix. You must not see him again tonight. God in heaven, what kind +of a spell has he cast upon you? The spell of the devil! Child, +child,--don't you understand? That's what it is. The spell that +makes women helpless! Stay here! I will send Hilda up to you." + +"Why do you blame him for everything?" cried the girl hotly. "Doesn't +a woman ever cast this spell you speak of? What defence has a man +against--" + +"Do you call yourself an evil woman? Nonsense! Don't talk like +that. I am not blaming him. He can't help himself. He loves you. +That's not his fault. But you do not love him. You are afraid +of him. You would run from him if you could. He must go away. You +must send him away. Tell him of Blythe's letter. Face him with it. +Tomorrow,--not tonight. You are not yourself tonight. Trust me, +dearest Alix. Do as I tell you. Promise." + +"I will not come down," said Alix slowly, and Mrs. Strong went out. +She heard the key turn in the door. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ROSABEL + + + + +All night long bands of men scoured the woods and fields, with +lanterns and dogs and guns. Courtney Thane, thrilled by that one +glorious, overpowering moment of contact, sallied forth with the +first of the searchers. He showed them where the masked man vaulted +over the porch rail, and the course he took in crossing the terrace, +below which Courtney's coat was found where he had cast it aside +at the beginning of the chase. The first shot was fired as the man +climbed over the fence separating the old-fashioned garden from the +wooded district to the west, the second following almost immediately. +Thane was over the fence and picking himself up from the ground +after tripping when the last shot was fired. He ran forty or fifty +yards farther on and then his knee gave out. Realizing that pursuit +was useless under the circumstances, he hurried back to the house +to give the alarm. + +It appears that he first saw the man as he was nearing the top of +the steps leading to the terrace. The fellow's figure, in a crouching +position, was distinctly outlined against the lighted window. + +"Kind of a funny time for a robber to be monkeyin' around a house," +said Charlie Webster, after Courtney had concluded his brief story. +"Eight o'clock is no time to figure on breaking into a house." + +"He probably figured that the occupants would be at dinner," said +Courtney. "Or maybe he was getting the lay of the land while there +were lights to guide him. That is most likely the case. Lord, how +I wish I had had a gun!" + +"Maybe it's lucky you didn't," said Charlie. "Guns are pretty +treacherous things to monkey with, Court. You might have shot +yourself." + +"Oh, I guess I know how to handle a gun, Charlie," retorted Thane, +after a perceptible pause. + +"Anyhow," remarked Constable Foss, "we now know why that dog +of Alix's was killed. This robber had things purty well sized up. +He knowed he had to fix that dog first of all,--and that goes to +show another thing. He is purty well posted around these parts. He +knowed all about that dog. He ain't no tramp or common stranger. +The chances are he ain't even a perfessional burglar. Maybe some +dago,--or, by gosh, somebody we all know." + +A chosen group waited at the roadside above the Windom place +for automobiles which were to be used in the attempt to head off +the invader. This was Courtney's idea. He suggested a wide cordon +of machines and men as the only means of cutting off the fellow's +escape. + +"You're not likely to get anywhere, Foss, by keeping up a stern +chase," he argued. "He has got too big a lead. Our only chance is +to rush a lot of men out ahead of him in cars, and then work back +through the woods." + +A boy came up with Courtney's fedora hat, which he had picked up +in the brush near the fence. + +"There's a bullet hole through it, Mr. Thane," he cried in great +excitement. "Lookee here!" + +Sure enough there was a hole in the crown of the hat. + +"Whew!" whistled Courtney, staring at the hat blankly. "I never +dreamed--Why, good Lord, a couple of inches lower and he'd have +got me. I remember my hat blowing off as I got up, but I thought +it was the wind. Where did you find it, kid?" + +"Back there by the fence." + +"We must have that hat for evidence," said the constable. "Shows +the calibre of the bullet, and all that. Bring it down to the office +in the morning, Mr. Thane. Better put it on now. You'll ketch cold +out here bareheaded." + +By this time the lane and grounds were alive with excited people,--men, +women and children. Several automobiles approached, sounding their +horns. Men were shouting directions, dogs were barking, small +children were squalling lustily. Shadowy, indistinct figures scuttled +through the darkness, here and there coming into bold relief as +they passed before the lamps of automobiles or entered the radius +of light shed by an occasional lantern. Half the town was already +on the scene, and the belated remainder was either on the way or +grimly guarding cash drawers in empty, deserted stores. + +Courtney reluctantly announced that he did not feel up to accompanying +the searchers, his leg was bothering him so. No, he didn't need a +doctor. The confounded thing simply gave out on him whenever he got +the least bit reckless, but it seldom if ever amounted to anything. +Only made him realize that he couldn't "get gay" with it. He'd be +all right in a day or two. Hobble a little, that's all,--like a +lame dog. More scared than hurt, you know, etc., etc. + +He picked his way through the ever-increasing crowd of agitated +people, avoiding rampant automobiles and inquisitive citizens with +equal skill, and approached Alix's gate. His blood was rioting. +The memory of that triumphant moment when her warm body lay in his +arms,--when her lips were his,--when his eager hand pressed the +firm, round breast,--ah, the memory of it all set fire to his blood. +She had come to him, she had clung to him, she had kissed him! He +had won! She was his! He must see her again tonight, hold her once +more in his arms, drink of the rapture that came through her lips, +caress the throbbing heart she had surrendered to him. Anticipation +sent the blood rushing to his head. He grew strangely dizzy. He +narrowly escaped being struck by a car. + +"The darned fools!" he muttered, as he leaped aside into the shallow +ditch. + +A figure separated itself from a group near the gate and approached +him. There were no lights near and the lane was dark. He could +not see the face of the woman who halted directly in front of him, +barring the path. + +"It is I, Courtney,--Rosabel," came in low, tremulous tones. + +He stood stockstill, peering intently. + +"Rosabel!" he repeated vacantly. + +"I--I saw you. The auto lamp shone on your face." + +Her teeth were chattering. Her voice was little more than a whisper. + +"You--you poor child!" he cried. "What are you doing here? How do +you happen to be--" + +"I came over to spend the night with Annie Jordan. I--I do that +quite often, Courtney. Aren't--aren't you ever coming to see me +again?" + +"I was planning to come over tomorrow, Rosie,--tomorrow sure. I've +been meaning to run over to your house--" + +"I--I thought you had forgotten all about us," she broke in, +pathetically. "You wouldn't do that, would you? Didn't you get my +letters? I wrote four or five times and you never answered. You--you +haven't forgotten, have you?" + +"Bless your heart, no! I should say not. I've been so busy. Working +like a dog on my book. The one we talked about, Rosie. The story +of my experiences over in France, you know." + +"Oh, Courtney, are you really, truly writing it?" she cried eagerly. + +"Sure," he replied. "It's a tough job, believe me. I've been so +busy I haven't even had time to write letters. Mother complains +that I never write to her. Dear old mater,--I ought to be kicked +for neglecting her. Stacks of unanswered letters. Really, it's +appalling. But I've just got to finish this work. The publisher +wants it before Christmas." + +"You promised to read it to me as you wrote it, Courtney," she +murmured wistfully. "Don't you remember?" + +"Just as soon as I've got it in little better shape, Rosie. You +see, it's an awful mess now. I'm trying so hard to concentrate. +It would be different if I were an experienced writer. But I'm a +terrible duffer, you know. The least little thing throws me off. +I--" + +"I wouldn't interfere for the world, Courtney. I will wait. I don't +want to bother you. Please don't think about reading it to me now. +But,--oh, Courtney, I have wanted to see you so much. You WILL come +over, won't you. Or would you rather have me come--" + +"I'll be over, Rosie,--tomorrow," he said hastily. "Or the day +after, sure. I'm all done up. I can hardly stand on this leg. Did +they tell you? I chased the robber up through the woods. Had a bad +fall. Bunged up this rotten old knee again." + +"You poor boy," she cried. "Yes, I heard them talking about how +brave you were. And he shot at you, too. I saw the plaster on your +face when the light shone on it a while ago. I was frightened. I +forgot to ask you how bad it is. I forgot everything but--but just +speaking to you. Is it dangerous? Is it a bad wound?" + +"I don't know. The doctor is waiting for me up at Miss Crown's. +They sent me back, the other fellows did. I wanted to go with the +gang,--but I was weak and--Oh, I'll be all right. Don't you worry, +little girl. Dr. Smith may slap me into bed,--" + +"You must not be foolish, Courtney. Do what the doctor says. You +must get well--oh, you MUST get well!" + +She had come quite close to him and was peering at his face. Even +in the darkness he could see her big, dark eyes. Her teeth no longer +chattered, but there was a perilous quaver in her low, tense voice. +She put out a hand to touch him. He drew back. + +"I'll be as fit as a fiddle in no time at all," he said hurriedly. +"See you tomorrow, Rosie,--or as soon as the blamed old doctor +turns me loose. I've got to be on my way now. He's waiting for me +up there. May have to put a stitch in my mug,--and yank my leg like +the devil, but--" + +She still blocked his path. + +"Courtney, I'm--I'm terribly unhappy. I want to see you,--very +soon." + +"I hear you have been ill, Rosie. Some one was telling me you were +looking thin and--and all that sort of thing. I hope you're feeling +better." + +She waited a moment. When she spoke it was with difficulty. + +"I'm awfully worried, Courtney," she cried, her voice little more +than a whisper. He was silent, so after a little while she went +on: "I wish I could die,--I wish I could die!" + +"Come, come!" he said reassuringly. "You must not talk like that, +Rosie. Cheer up! You're too young to talk about dying. Think what +I've been through,--and I'm still alive! I'll run over tomorrow,--or +next day,--and try to cheer you up a bit, little girl. So long. +I've got to see the doctor. I'm--I'm suffering like the dickens." + +"I mustn't keep you, Courtney," she murmured, stepping aside to +let him pass. "Good night! You--you WILL come, won't you? Sure?" + +"Sure!" he replied, and limped painfully away. + +A little later Annie Jordan found her standing beside the road, +where he had left her. She was looking up at the brightly lighted +house at the top of the lane. + +"Goodness!" cried Annie. "I thought you were lost, Rosie. Where on +earth have you been?" + +"Maybe I AM lost," replied the girl, and Annie, failing to see +anything cryptic in the words, laughed gaily at the quaintness of +them. + +"Come on," she said, thrusting her arm through Rosabel's, "let's go +back home. There's nothing doing here. And that wind cuts through +one like a knife. Gee, it's fierce, isn't it?" + +"I don't want to go in yet," protested Rosabel, hanging back. +"Let's wait awhile. Let's wait till Dr. Smith comes out. He's up +there with--with Alix Crown. Maybe he can tell us how--" + +"Doc Smith isn't up there. He's gone up the road in his car with +Dick Hurdle and--why, Rosie, you're shivering like a leaf. Have +you got a chill? Come on home. We'll have Dr. Smith in as soon as +he gets back to--" + +"I don't want the doctor," cried Rosabel fiercely. "I won't have +one, I tell you. I won't have one!" + + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +SHADOWS + + + + +Greatly to Courtney's chagrin, his triumphal progress was summarily +checked when he presented himself at the door. He could hardly believe +his ears. Miss Crown was in her room and would not be able to see +any one that night. She was very nervous and "upset," explained the +maid, and had given orders to admit no one. Of course, Hilda went +on to say, if Mr. Thane wanted to come in and rest himself, or if +there was anything she or the cook could do for him,--but Courtney +brusquely interrupted her to say that he was sure Miss Crown did +not mean to exclude him, and directed Hilda to take word up to her +that he was downstairs. + +"It won't do any good," said Hilda, who was direct to say the least. +"She's gone to bed. My orders is not to disturb her." + +"Are they her orders or Mrs. Strong's orders?" demanded Courtney, +driven to exasperation. + +"All I can say, sir, is they're MY orders, sir," replied Hilda, +quite succinctly. + +"All right," said he curtly. Then, as an afterthought: "Please say +that I stopped in to see if I could be of any further service to +Miss Crown, will you, Hilda?" + +He was very much crestfallen as he made his way down the steps to +the lane. This wasn't at all what he had expected. + +There were a number of people near the gate. Instead of going +directly down the walk, he turned to the right at the bottom of the +terrace and cut diagonally across the lawn. Coming to one of the +big oaks he sat down for a moment on the rustic seat that encircled +its base. Sheltered from the wind he managed to strike a match and +light a cigarette. Assured that no one was near, he leaned over +and felt with his hand under the bench. His fingers closed upon an +object wedged between the seat and one of the slanting supports. +Quickly withdrawing it, he dropped it into his overcoat pocket, +and, after a moment, resumed his progress, making for the carriage +gate in the left lower corner of the grounds. + +He had a sharp eye out for Rosabel Vick. He heard Annie Jordan's +high-pitched voice in the road ahead of him and slackened his pace. +In due time he limped up the steps of Dowd's Tavern. + +Several women were in the "lounge," chattering like magpies in +front of the fire. There were no men about. He went in and for ten +minutes listened to the singing of his praises. Then, requesting a +pitcher of hot water, he hobbled upstairs, politely declining not +only the Misses Dowd's offer to bathe and bandage his heroic knee, +but Miss Grady's bottle of witchhazel, Miss Miller's tube of Baume +Analgesique and old Mrs. Nichols' infallible remedy for every +ailment under the sun,--a flaxseed poultice. + +The first thing he did on entering his room was to open his trunk +and deposit therein the shiny object he had recovered from its +hiding-place under the tree-seat. Before hanging his hat on the +clothes-tree in the corner of the room, he thoughtfully examined +the bullet hole in the crown. + +"Thirty-eight calibre, all right," he reflected. Poking his +forefinger through the hole, he enlarged it to some extent. "More +like a forty-four now," he said in a satisfied tone. + +Margaret Slattery brought up the hot water and some fresh firewood +for his stove, in which the fire burned low. + +"Would you be liking a drink of whiskey, Mr. Thane?" she inquired, +with a stealthy look over her shoulder. "You're all done up,--and +half-frozen, I guess." + +"Whiskey?" he exclaimed. "There ain't no sitch animal," he lamented +dolefully. + +"Miss Jennie's got some cooking brandy stuck away in the cellar," +whispered Margaret. "We use it at Christmas time,--for the plum +pudding, you know. I guess it's the same thing as whiskey, ain't +it?" + +"Well, hardly. Still, I think I could do with a nip of it, Maggie." + +"I'll see what I can do," said Margaret, and departed. + +She did not return, for the very good reason that Miss Jennie +apprehended her in the act of pouring something from a dark brown +bottle into a brand new fruit jar. + +"What are you doing there, Maggie?" demanded Miss Dowd from the +foot of the cellar stairs. + +Miss Slattery's back was toward her at the time. She was startled +into hunching it slightly, as if expecting the lash of a whip,--an +attitude of rigidity maintained during the brief period in which +her heart suspended action altogether. + +"I'm--I'm getting some vinegar for Mr. Thane to gargle with, Miss +Jennie," she mumbled. "He's--he's got a sore throat." + +"Let me smell that stuff, Maggie," said Miss Jennie sternly. One +sniff was sufficient. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Margaret +Slattery, leading a young man into temptation like this. You may +be starting him on the road to perdition. It is just such things +as this that--" + +"Oh, gosh!" exclaimed Margaret, recovering herself. "Don't you go +thinking he's as good as all that. From what he was telling me at +breakfast the other day, he used to make the round trip to purgatory +every night or so,--only he said it was paradise. Keep your old +brandy. He wouldn't like it anyway. Not him! He says he's swallered +enough champagne to float the whole American Navy." + +"The very idea!" exclaimed Miss Jennie. "Go to your room, Maggie. +It's bad enough for you to be stealing but when you make it worse +by lying, I--" + +"I'm quitting you in the morning," said Margaret, her Irish up. + +"It won't be the first time," said Miss Jennie, imperturbably. + +Courtney sat for a long time before the booming little stove. He +forgot Margaret Slattery and her mission. + +"I guess it took her off her feet," he reflected aloud. "That's +the way with some of them. They get panicky. Go all to pieces when +they find out what it really means to let go of themselves. God! +She's wonderful!" He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes; +a smile settled on his lips. For a long time he sat there, fondling +the memory of that blissful moment. A slight frown made its appearance +after a while. He opened his eyes. His thoughts had veered. "What +rotten luck! If it could only have been Alix instead of that--" +He arose abruptly and began pacing the floor. After a long time he +sighed resignedly. "I mustn't forget to telephone her tomorrow." +Then he began to undress for bed. + +He looked at his knee. There was a deep, irregular scar on the +outside of the leg, while on the inside a knuckle-like protuberance +of considerable size provided ample evidence of a badly shattered +joint, long since healed. Along the thigh there was another wicked +looking scar, with several smaller streaks and blemishes of a less +pronounced character. He placed some hot compresses on the joint, +gave it a vigorous massage, and, before getting into bed, worked +it up and down for several minutes. + +"Clumsy ass!" he muttered. "Next time you'll watch your step. Don't +go jumping over fences in the dark. Gad, for a couple of minutes +I thought I'd put it on the blink for keeps." + +The next morning, up in the woods above Alix's house, the crude +black mask was found, and some distance farther on an old grey cap, +from which the lining and sweatband had been ripped. The search +for the man, however, was fruitless. Constable Foss visited the +camp of a gang of Italian railroad labourers near Hawkins and was +reported to be bringing several indignant "dagoes" over to Windomville +to see if Courtney or the two ladies could identify them. He was +very careful to choose men with thick black moustaches. + +Bright and early, Courtney repaired to the house on the hill. +His progress was slow. Aside from the effort it cost him to walk, +he was delayed all along the route by anxious, perturbed citizens +who either complimented him on his bravery or advised him to "look +out for that cut" on his cheek, or he'd have "a tough time if +blood-poisoning set in." + +Mrs. Strong admitted him. + +"Well, when will she be able to see me?" he demanded on being +informed that Alix was in no condition to see any one. + +"I can't say," said Mrs. Strong shortly. + +"Have you had the doctor in to see her?" + +"No." + +"Well, that's rather strange, isn't it?" + +"Not at all, Mr. Thane. She isn't ill. She has had a shock,--same +as I have had,--and she'll get over it in good time." + +"You seem to have survived the shock remarkably well, Mrs. Strong," +he said with unmistakable irony. + +"How is the scratch on your face?" she asked, ignoring the remark. + +"Amounts to nothing," he replied, almost gruffly. "I'll write a +little note to Alix, if you'll be so good as to take it up to her." + +"Very well. I'll see that she gets it. Will you write it here?" + +"If you don't mind. I'll wait in case she wants to send down an +answer." + +"I'll get you some paper and pen and ink," said she. + +"Some paper, that's all. I have a fountain pen." + +He dashed off a few lines, folded the sheet of note paper and +handed it to Mrs. Strong. He had written nothing he was unwilling +for her to read. In fact, he expected her to read it as soon as +she was safely out of his sight. + +"She thinks she may feel up to seeing you tomorrow--or next day," +reported the housekeeper on her return from Alix's room. + +His rankling brain seized upon the words--" tomorrow--next day." He +had used them himself only the night before. "Tomorrow,--or next +day!" He frowned. Hang it all, was she putting him off? He experienced +a slight chill. + +"I will run in again in the morning," he said, managing to produce +a sympathetic smile. "And I'll telephone this evening to see how +she is." + +All the way down the walk to the gate, he kept repeating the words +"tomorrow,--or next day." In some inexplicable way they had fastened +themselves upon him. At the gate he turned and looked up at Alix's +bedroom windows. The lace curtains hung straight and immovable. It +pleased him to think that she was peering out at him from behind +one of those screens of lace, soft-eyed and longingly. Moved by a +sudden impulse, he waved his hand and smiled. + +His guess was right. She WAS looking down through the narrow slit +between the curtains. Her eyes were dark and brooding and slightly +contracted by the perplexity that filled them. She started back in +confusion, her hand going swiftly to her breast. Was it possible +that he could see through the curtains? A warm flush mantled her +face. She felt it steal down over her body. Incontinently she fled +from the window and hopped back into the warm bed she had left on +hearing the front door close. + +"How silly!" she cried irritably. She sat bolt upright and looked +at her reflection in the mirror of her dressing-table across the +room. Her night-dress had slipped down from one shapely shoulder; +her dark, glossy hair hung in two long braids down her back; her +warm, red lips were parted in a shy, embarrassed smile. + +"I wonder--But of course he couldn't. Unless,--" and here the +smile faded away,--"unless he possesses some strange power to see +through walls and--Sometimes I feel that he has that power. If he +could not see me, why did he wave his hand at me?" + +There came a knock at her door. She was seized by a sudden panic. +For a moment she was unable to speak. + +"Alix! Are you awake?" + +It was Mrs. Strong's voice. A vast wave of relief swept through +her. + +"Goodness!" she gasped, and then: "Come in, Aunt Nancy?" + +"Courtney Thane has just been here," said the housekeeper as she +approached the bed. + +"Has he?" inquired Alix innocently. + +"He left a note for you." + +"Read it to me," said the girl. + +"'Dearest: I am grieved beyond words to hear that you are so awfully +done up. I am not surprised. It was enough to bowl anybody over. +I did not sleep a wink last night, thinking about it. I have +been living in a daze ever since. I cannot begin to tell you how +disappointed I am in not being able to see you this morning. Perhaps +by tonight you will feel like letting me come. Ever yours, Courtney.'" + +"Well?" said Mrs. Strong, sitting down on the edge of the bed. + +A fine line appeared between Alix's eyes. She was deep in thought. + +"Have they caught the man?" she asked, after a moment. + +"Not that I know of. What's more, they'll never catch him. Bill +Foss sent word up he was bringing several Italians here to see if +we could identify one of them as the man." + +"How can we be expected to identify a man whose face was covered +by a mask?" + +"Well, Bill is doing his best," replied Mrs. Strong patiently. +"We've got to say that much for him. Charlie Webster was here early +this morning to say that the police up in town have been notified, +and they're sending a detective out. But he won't be any better +than Bill Foss, so it's a waste of time. What we ought to have is +a Pinkerton man from Chicago." + +Despite the calm, deliberate manner in which she spoke, there was +an odd, eager light in Mrs. Strong's eyes. + +"I wish you would go down to the warehouse, Aunt Nancy, and ask +Charlie to take the car and go up to the city. Tell him to call +up the Pinkerton offices in Chicago and ask them to send the best +man they have. No one must know about it, however. Impress that +very firmly upon Charlie. Not even the police--or Bill Foss. Have +him arrange to meet the man in town and give him directions and +all the information possible. Please do it at once,--and tell Ed +to have the car ready." + +"That's the way I like to hear you talk," cried Mrs. Strong. + +Half an hour later, Charlie Webster was on his way to the city. He +had an additional commission to perform. Mrs. Strong was sending +a telegram to her son David. + +II + +The next day a well-dressed, breezy-looking young man walked into +Charlie's office and exclaimed: + +"Hello, Uncle Charlie!" + +"Good Lord!" gasped Charlie Webster. "It can't be--why, by gosh, if +it ain't Harry! Holy smoke!" He jumped up and grasped the stranger's +hand. Pumping it vigorously, he cried: "I'd know that Conkling nose +if I saw it in Ethiopia. God bless my soul, you're--you're a MAN! +It beats all how you kids grow up. How's your mother? And what in +thunder are you doing here?" + +"I guess I've changed a lot, Uncle Charlie," said the young man, +"but you ain't? You look just the same as you did fifteen years +ago." + +"How old are you? My gosh, I can't believe my eyes." + +"I was twenty-four last birthday. You--" + +"If ever a feller grew up to look like his father, you have, Harry. +You're the living image of George Conkling,--and you don't look +any more like your mother than you look like me." + +"Well, you and Mother look a lot alike, Uncle Charlie. She's thinner +than you are but--" + +"Well, I should hope so," exploded Charlie. "Take a chair, Harry,--and +tell us all about yourself. Wait a minute. Sam, shake hands with +my nephew, Harry Conkling,--Mr. Slutterback, Mr. Conkling. Harry +lives up in Laporte. His mother--" + +"Guess again, Uncle Charlie. No more Laporte for me. I've been +living in Chicago ever since I got married. Working for--" + +"Married? You married? A kid like you? Well, I'll--be--darned!" + +"Sure. And I'm not Harry, Uncle Charlie. I'm Wilbur. Harry's two +years older than I am. He's married and got a kid three years old. +Lives in Gary." + +"You don't mean to say you're little Wilbur? Little freckle-faced +Wilbur with the pipe-stem legs?" + +Mr. Webster's nephew took a chair near the stove, unbuttoned his +overcoat, and held his hands to the fire. He was a tall, rather +awkward young man, with large ears, a turned-up nose and a prominent +"Adam's Apple." + +"I'm working for one of the biggest oil companies in the world. +We've got six hundred thousand acres of the finest oil-producing +territory in the United States, and we control most of the big +concessions in Honduras, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and--thirty million +dollar concern, that's all it is. Oh, you needn't look worried. +I'm not going to try to sell you any stock, Uncle Charlie. That +is, not unless you've got fifty thousand to invest. I'll tell you +what I'm here for. My company wants to interest Miss Crown in--" + +"Hold on a minute, Wilbur," interrupted Charlie firmly. "You might +just as well hop on a train and go back to Chicago. If you're +expecting me to help you unload a lot of bum oil stock on Miss +Alix Crown you're barking up the wrong tree,--I don't give a cuss +if you are my own sister's son. Miss Crown is my--" + +The young man held up his hand, and favoured his uncle with a +tolerant smile. + +"I'm not asking your help, old chap. I've got a letter to her from +Mr. Addison Blythe, one of our biggest stockholders. All I'm asking +you to do is to put me up at your house for a day or two while I +lay the whole matter before Miss Crown." + +"I haven't got any house," said Charlie, rather helplessly. "Wait +a second! Let me think. How long do you expect to be here, Wilbur?" + +"I wouldn't be here more than half an hour if I could get Miss +Crown to say she'd take--" + +"Well, she's sick and can't see anybody for a couple of +days,--'specially book agents or oil promoters. I was just thinking +I might fix something up for you over at the Tavern where I'm +staying. It won't cost you a cent, my boy. I'd be a darned cheap +sort of an uncle if I couldn't entertain my nephew when he comes to +our town,--out of a clear sky, you might say. I'll be mighty glad +to have you, Wilbur, but you've got to understand I won't have Miss +Crown bothered while she's sick." + +"Permit me to remind you, Uncle Charlie, that I am a gentleman. +I don't go butting in where I'm not wanted. My instructions from +the General Manager are very explicit. I am to see Miss Crown when +convenient, and give her all the dope on our gigantic enterprise,--that's +all." + +"By the way,--er,--is that your automobile out there?" + +"It's one I hired in the city." + +"You--er--didn't happen to bring your wife with you, did you? +Because it would be darned awkward if you did. She'd have to sleep +with Angie Miller or Flora--" + +"She's not with me, Uncle Charlie,--so don't worry. Of course, +if it isn't convenient for you to have me for a day or two, I can +motor in and out from the city. Money's no object, you know. I've +got a roll of expense money here that would choke a hippopotamus." + +"Come on over to the Tavern, Wilbur. We'll see Miss Molly Dowd and +fix things up. Sam, if anybody asks for me, just say I'll be back +in fifteen minutes." + +And that is how "Mortie" Gilfillan, one of the ablest operatives +in the Pinkerton service, made his entry into the village of +Windomville. Inasmuch as he comes to act in a strictly confidential +capacity, we will leave him to his own devices, content with the +simple statement that he remained two full days at Dowd's Tavern +as the guest of his "Uncle Charlie"; that he succeeded in obtaining +an interview with the rich Miss Crown, that he "talked" oil to +everybody with whom he came in contact, including Courtney Thane; +that he declined to consider the appeals of at least a score of +citizens to be "let in on the ground floor" owing to the company's +irrevocable decision to sell only in blocks of ten thousand shares +at five dollars per share; that he said good-bye to Mr. Webster at +the end of his second day and departed--not for Chicago but, very +cleverly disguised, to accept a job as an ordinary labourer with +Jim Bagley, manager of the Crown farms. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +MR. GILFILLAN IS PUZZLED + + + + +Three days passed. The village had recovered from its excitement. +The Weekly Sun appeared with a long and harrowing account of +the "vile attempt to rifle the home of our esteemed and patriotic +citizeness," and sang the praises of Courtney Thane, whose +"well-known valour, acquired by heroic services during the Great +War," prevented what might have been "a most lamentable tragedy." + +Those three days were singularly unprofitable to the "hero." He +was unable to see Alix crown. He made daily visits to her home but +always with the same result. Miss Crown was in no condition to see +any one. + +"But she saw this fellow Conkling," he expostulated on the third +day. "He sold her a lot of phony oil stock. If she could see him, +I--" + +"He came all the way from Chicago to see her,--with a letter from +Mr. Blythe," explained Mrs. Strong. "She had to see him. I guess +you can wait, can't you, Mr. Thane?" + +"Certainly. That isn't the point. If I had seen her in time I should +have warned her against buying that stock. She's been let in for +a whale of a loss, that's all I can say,--and it's too late to do +anything about it. Good Lord, if ever a woman needed a man around +the house, she does. She--" + +"I will tell her what you say," said Mrs. Strong calmly. + +"Don't you do anything of the kind," he exclaimed hastily. "I was +speaking to you as a friend, Mrs. Strong. She means a great deal +to both of us. You understand how it stands with Alix and me, don't +you? I--I would cheerfully lay down my life for her. More than +that, I cannot say or do." + +"She will be up by tomorrow," said Mrs. Strong, impressed in spite +of herself by this simple, direct appeal. (All that day she caught +herself wondering if he had cast his spell over her!) + +"Please give her my love,--and say that I am thinking about her +every second of the day," said he gravely, and went away. + +Alix had received another letter from Addison Blythe. Enclosed with +it was a communication from an official formerly connected with +the American Ambulance. It was brief and to the point: + +Courtney Thane volunteered for service in the American Ambulance +in Paris in November, 1915. He was accepted and ordered to appear +at the hospital at Neuilly-sur-Seine for instructions. His conduct +was such that he was dismissed from the service before the expiration +of a week, his uniform taken away from him, and a request made to +the French Military authorities to see that he was ordered to leave +the country at once. Our records show that he left hurriedly for +Spain. He was a bad influence to our boys in Paris, and there was +but one course left open to us. We have no account of his subsequent +movements. With his dismissal from the service, he ceased to be an +object of concern to us. + +Alix did not destroy this letter. She locked it away in a drawer +of her desk. She had made up her mind to confront Thane with this +official communication. It was an ordeal she dreaded. Her true +reason for refusing to see him was clear to her if to no one else: +she hated the thought of hurting him! Moreover, she was strangely +oppressed by the fear that she would falter at the crucial moment +and that her half-guarded defences would go down before the assault. +She knew his strength far better than she knew his weakness. She +had had an illuminating example of his power. Was she any stronger +now than on that never-to-be-forgotten night?...She put off the +evil hour. + +And on the same third day of renunciation, she had a letter from +David Strong. She wept a little over it, and driven finally by a +restlessness such as she had never known before, feverishly dressed +herself, and set forth late in the afternoon for a long walk in +the open air. She took to the leaf-strewn woodland roads, and there +was a definite goal in mind. + +II + +Courtney remembered Rosabel Vick. + +"I guess I'd better call her up," he said to himself. "I ought +to have done it several days ago. Beastly rotten of me to have +neglected it. She's probably been sitting over there waiting ever +since--Gad, she may; have some good news. Maybe she is mistaken." + +He went over to the telephone exchange and called up the Vick house. +Rosabel answered. + +"That you, Rosie?...Well, I couldn't. I've been laid up, completely +out of commission ever since I saw you....What?...I--I didn't +get that, Rosie. Speak louder,--closer to the telephone." + +Very distinctly now came the words, almost in a wail: + +"Oh, Courtney, why--why do you lie to me?" + +"Lie to you? My dear girl, do you know what you are--" + +A low moan, and a harsh, choking sob smote his ear, and then the +click of the receiver on the hook. + +"Well, I'll be hanged!" he muttered angrily. "That's the last time +I'll call you up, take it from me." + +And it was the last time he ever called her up. + +Then he, too, ravaged by uneasy thoughts, struck off into the +country lanes, the better to commune with himself. In due course, +he came to the gate leading up to the top of Quill's Window. Here +he lagged. His gaze went across the strip of pasture-land to the +deserted house above the main-travelled road. He started. His gaze +grew more intense. A lone figure traversed the highway. It turned +in at the gate, and, as he watched, strode swiftly up the path to +the front door....He saw her bend over, evidently to insert a +key in the lock. Then the door opened and closed behind her. + +III + +Every word of David's letter was impressed on Alix's brain. Over and +over again she repeated to herself certain passages as she strode +rapidly through the winding lanes. She spoke them tenderly, +wonderingly, and her eyes were shining. + +DEAREST ALIX: + +I have always loved you. I want you to know it. There has never been +an hour in all these years that I have not thought of you, that your +dear face has not been before me. In France, here, everywhere,--always +I am looking into your eyes, always I am hearing your voice, always +I am feeling the gentle touch of your hand. Now you know. I could +not have told you before. I am the blacksmith's son. God knows I +am not ashamed of that. But I cannot forget, nor can you, that a +blacksmith's son lies buried at the top of that grim old hill, and +that he was not good enough for the daughter of a Windom. I hear +that you have given your heart to some one else. You will marry +him. But to the end of your days,--and I hope they may be many,--I +want you to know that there is one man who will love you with all +his heart and all his soul to the end of HIS days. I hope you will +be happy. It is my greatest, my only wish. Once upon a time, we +stole away, you and I, to write romances of love and adventure. Even +then, you were my heroine. I was putting you into my poor story, +but you were putting your dreams into yours, and I was not your +dream hero. Then we would read to each, other what we had written. +Do you remember how guardedly we read and how stealthy we were so +as not to arouse suspicion or attract attention to our lair? I +shall never forget those happy hours. Every line I wrote and read +to you, Alix dear, was of you and FOR you. You were my heroine. +My hero, feeble creature, told you how much I loved you, and you +never suspected. + +I am telling you all this now, when my hope is dead, so that you +may know that my love for you began when you were little more than a +baby, and has endured to this day and will endure forever. I pray +God you may always be happy. And now, in closing, I can only add +the trite sentence,--which I recall reading in more than one novel +and which I was imitative enough to put into my own unfinished +masterpiece: If ever you are in trouble and despair and need me, I +will come to you from the ends of the earth. I mean it, Alix. With +all the best wishes in the world, I am and will remain + +Yours devotedly, + +DAVID. + +P.S.--I have just looked up from this letter to catch sight of +myself in a mirror across the office. I have to smile. That beastly +but honourable glass reveals the true secret of my failure to +captivate you. How could any self-respecting heroine fall in love +with a chap with a nose like mine, and a mouth that was intended +for old Goliath himself, and cheek bones that were handed down +by Tecumseh, and eyes that squint a little--but I daresay that's +because they are somewhat blurred at this particular instant. I am +reminded of the "Yank" who had his nose shot off at Chateau Thierry. +He said that now that the Germans didn't have anything visible to +train their artillery on, the war would soon be over. He had lost +his nose but not his sense of the ridiculous. I have managed to +retain both. + +Up in that bare, dust-laden room, with the two candles burning +at her elbows, sat Alix. There were tears in her eyes, a wistful +little smile on her lips. She was reading again the clumsy lines +David had written in those long-ago days of adolescence. Now they +meant something to her. They were stilted, commonplace expressions; +she would have laughed at them had they been written by any one else, +and she still would have been vastly amused, even now, were it not +for the revelations contained in his letter. And the postscript,--how +like him to have added that whimsical twist! He wanted her to smile, +even though his heart was hurt. + +Ten years! Ten years ago they had sat opposite each other at this +dusty table, their heads bent to the task, their brows furrowed, +their hands reaching out to the same bottle of ink, their souls +athrill with romance. And she was writing of a handsome, incredibly +valiant hero, whilst he--he was writing of her! Time and again his +hand, in seeking the ink, had touched the hand of his heroine,--she +remembered once jabbing her pen into his less nimble finger as she +went impatiently to the fount of romance, and he had exclaimed with +a grimace: "Gee, you must have struck a snag, Alix!" She recalled +the words as of yesterday, almost as of this very moment, and her +arrogant rejoinder, "Well, why can't you keep your hand out of the +way?" + +She was always hurting him, and he was always patient. She was +always sorry, and he was always forgiving. She was superior in her +weakness, he was gentle in his strength. + +And his heroine? She read through the mist that filled her eyes +and saw herself. The lofty heroine wooed by the poor and humble +musician who crept up from unutterable depths to worship unseen +at her feet! "The Phantom Singer!" The lover she could not see +because her starry eyes were fixed upon the peak! And yet he stood +beneath her casement window and sang her to sleep, lulled her into +sweet dreams,--and went his lonely way in the chill of the morning +hours, only to return again at nightfall. + +She looked up from the sheet she held. She stared, not into space, +but at the face of David Strong, sitting opposite,--the phantom +singer. It was as plain to her as if he were actually there. She +looked into his deep grey eyes, honest and true and smiling. + +What was it he said in his letter? About his nose and mouth and +eyes? They were before her now. That keen, boyish face with its +coat of tan,--its broad, whimsical mouth and the white, even teeth +that once on a dare had cracked a walnut for her; its rugged jaw +and the long, straight nose; its wide forehead and the straight +eyebrows; and the thick hair as black as the raven's wing, rumpled +by fingers that strove desperately to encourage a recalcitrant +brain; and those big, bony hands, so large that her little brown +paws were lost in them; and the broad shoulders hunched over the +table, supported by widespread elbows that encroached upon her +allotted space so often that she had to remind him: "I do wish you'd +watch what you're doing," and he would get up and meekly recover +the scattered sheets of paper from the floor. Ugly? David ugly? +Why, he was BEAUTIFUL! + +Suddenly her head dropped upon her arms, now resting on David's +manuscript; she sobbed. + +"Oh, Davy,--Davy, I wish you were here! I wish you were here now!" + +The creaking of the stairs startled her. She half arose and stared +at the open door, expecting to see--the ghost! Goose-flesh crept +out all over her. The ghost that people said came to-- + +The very corporeal presence of Courtney Thane appeared in the +doorway. + +For many seconds she was stupefied. She could see his lips moving, +she knew he was speaking, she could see his smile as he approached, +and yet only an unintelligible mumble came to her ears. + +"--and so I cut across the field and ventured in where angels do +not fear to tread," were the first words that possessed any degree +of coherency for her. + +She hastily thrust the precious manuscript into the drawer. He +stopped several feet away and looked about the room curiously, his +gaze coming back to her after a moment. The light of the candles +was full on her face. + +"Well, of all the queer places," he said. "What in the world brings +you here? I thought no one ever entered this house, Alix." + +"I have not been inside this house in ten years," she said, struggling +for control of herself. "I came today to--to look for some papers +that were left here. I was on the point of leaving when you came +up." She picked up her gloves from the table. + +"It's cold here. Do you think it was wise for you to sit here in +this chilly--Gad, it's like an ice-house or a tomb. Better let me +give you my coat." He started to remove his overcoat. There was an +anxious, solicitous expression in his eyes. + +"No,--no, thank you. I am quite warm,--and I shall be as warm +as toast after I've walked a little way. I must be going now, Mr. +Thane." She took a few steps toward the door. + +"Are you going away without blowing the candles out?" he inquired. + +She halted. She felt herself trapped. She did not want to be alone +in the dark with him. + +"If you will go ahead while there is light, I will follow--" The +solution came suddenly. "How stupid! There is nothing to prevent +us carrying the candles downstairs with us, is there? Will you take +one, please?" + +She returned to the table and took up one of the candlesticks. + +"I've been terribly worried about you, Alix," he said, without +moving. "How wonderful it is to see you again,--to see what is +really you and not the girl I've seen in dreams for the past few +endless nights. You in the flesh, you with your beautiful eyes, you +whose lips--oh, God, I--I have been nearly mad, Alix. A thousand +times I have felt you in my arms,--you've never been out of them +in my thoughts. I--" + +"Please--please!" she cried, shrinking back and putting her hands +to her temples. + +Still he did not move. There was a gentleness in his voice, a +softness that disarmed her. It was not the voice of a conqueror, +rather it was that of a suppliant. + +"I am not worthy to touch the hem of your garment," he went on, an +expression of pain leaping swiftly to his eyes. "I am most unworthy. +My life has not been perfect. I have done many things that I am +ashamed of, things I would give my soul to recall. But my love for +you, Alix Crown, is perfect. All the good that God ever put into +me is in this feeling I have for you. You are the very soul of me. +If you tell me to go away, I will go. That is how I love you. You +DO believe I love you with all my heart and soul, don't you, Alix? +You DO believe that I would die for you?" + +Now she was looking into his eyes across the candle flames. David's +features had vanished. She saw nothing save the white, drawn face +of the man whose voice, sweet with passion, fell upon her ears +like the murmur of far-off music. She felt the warm thrill of blood +rushing back into her icy veins, surging up to her throat, to her +trembling lips, to her eyes. + +"I--I don't know what to think--I don't know what to believe," she +heard herself saying. + +He came a step or two nearer. Her eyes never left his. She tried +to look away. + +"I want you to me mine forever, Alix. I want you to be my wife. I +want you to be with me to the end of my life. I cannot live without +you. Do not send me away now. It is too late." + +Her knees gave way. She sank slowly to the bench,--and still she +looked into his gleaming eyes. + +He came to her. She was in his arms. His face was close to hers, +his breath was on her cheek.... + +"No! No!" she almost shrieked, and wrenched herself free. "Not now! +Not here! Give me time--give me time to think!" + +She had sprung to her feet and was glaring at him with the eyes of +an animal at bay. He fell back in astonishment. + +"You--you had no right to follow me here," she was crying. "You had +no right! This place is sacred. It is sanctuary." Her voice broke. +"My mother was born in this room. She died in this room. And I was +born here. Go! Please go!" + +He controlled himself. He held back those words that were on his +tongue, ready to be flung out at her: "Yes, and in this room you +behaved like hell with David Strong!" But he checked them in time. +He lowered his head. + +"Forgive me, Alix," he said abjectly. "I--I did not know. I was +wrong to follow you here. I could not help myself. I was mad to +see you. Nothing could have stopped me." He looked up, struck by a +sudden thought. "You call this sanctuary. It is a sacred place to +you. Will you make it sacred to me? Promise here and now, in this +sanctuary of yours, to be my wife, and all my life it shall be the +most sacred spot on earth." + +She turned her head quickly to look at David Strong. A startled, +incredulous expression leaped into her eyes. He was not there. +By what magic had he vanished? She had felt his presence. He was +sitting there a moment ago, his tousled head bent down over the pad +of paper,--she was sure of it! Then she realized. A wave of relief +surged over her. He was not there to hear this man making love +to her in the room where he had poured out his soul to her. She +experienced a curious thrill of exultation. David could never take +back those unspoken words of love. She had them safely stored away +in that blessed drawer! + +A flush of shame leaped to her cheeks. She could not banish the +notion that he,--honest, devoted David,--had seen her in this man's +arms, clinging to him, giving back his passionate kisses with all +the horrid rapture of a--She stiffened. Her head went up. She faced +the man who had robbed David. + +"I cannot marry you," she said quietly. The spell was gone. She +was herself again. "I do not love you." + +He stared, speechless, uncomprehending. + +"You--you do not love me?" he gasped. + +"I do not love you," she repeated deliberately. + +"But, good God, you--you couldn't have kissed me as you--" + +"Please!" + +"--as you did just now," he went on, honestly bewildered. "You put +your arms around my neck,--you kissed me--" + +"Stop! Yes, I know I did,--I know I did. But it was not love,--it +was not love! I don't know what it was. You have some dreadful, +appalling power to--Oh, you need not look at me like that! I don't +care THAT for your scorn. Call me a fool, if you like,--call me +ANYTHING you like. It is all one to me now. What's done, is done. +But it can never happen again. I will not even say that I am ashamed, +for in saying so I would be confessing that I was responsible for +my actions. I was not responsible. That is all, Mr. Thane. No +doubt you are sincere in asking me to be your wife. No doubt your +love for me is sincere. I should like to think so--always. It would +help me to forget my own weakness. I am going. I want you to leave +this house before I go, Mr. Thane." + +She spoke calmly, evenly, with the utmost self-possession. + +"I can't let you go like this, Alix! I can't take this as final. +You--you MUST care for me. How can I think otherwise? In God's +name, what has happened to turn you against me? You owe me more of +an explanation than--" + +"You are right," she interrupted. "I do owe you an explanation. +This is not the time or the place to give it. If you will come to +see me tomorrow, I will tell you everything. It is only fair that +you should know. But not now." + +"Has some one been lying about me?" he demanded, his eyes narrowing. + +She waited an instant before replying. + +"No, Mr. Thane," she said; "no one has been lying about you." + +He took up his hat from the table. + +"I will come tomorrow," he said. At the door he paused to say: +"But I am not going to give you up, Alix. You mean too much to me. +I think I understand. You are frightened. I--I should not have come +here." + +"Yes, I WAS frightened," she cried out shrilly. "I was frightened,--but +I am not afraid now." + +She had moved to Thane's side of the table, and there she stood +until she heard his footsteps on the little porch outside. + +She was in an exalted frame of mind as she hurried from the house. +The short October day had turned to night. For a moment she paused, +peering ahead. A queer little thrill of alarm ran through her. She +had never been afraid of the dark before. But now she shivered. +A great uneasiness assailed her. She listened intently. Far up +the hard gravel road she heard the sound of footsteps, gradually +diminishing. He was far ahead of her and walking rapidly. + +At the gate she stopped again. Then she struck out resolutely for +home,--the Phantom Singer was beside her. She was not afraid. + +A farm-hand, leaning on the fence at the lower corner of the yard, +scratched his head in perplexity. + +"Well, here's a new angle to the case," he mused sourly. "I'm up a +tree for sure. Why the devil should Miss Crown be meeting him out +there in this old deserted house. My word, it begins to look a +trifle spicy. It also begins to look like a case that ought to be +dropped before it gets too hot. I guess it's up to me to see my +dear old Uncle Charlie What's-His-Name." + +Whereupon Mr. Gilfillan set off in the wake of the girl who had +employed him to catch the masked invader. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +BRINGING UP THE PAST + + + + +Charlie Webster wore a troubled expression when he appeared for dinner +that same evening. He was late. If such a thing were believable, +his kindly blue eyes glittered malevolently as they rested upon +the face of Courtney Thane, who had taken his place at table a few +minutes earlier. The fat little man was strangely preoccupied. He +was even gruff in his response to Mr. Pollock's bland inquiry as +to the state of his health. + +"How's your liver, Charlie?" inquired the genial editor. This amiable +question was habitual with Mr. Pollock. He varied it a little when +the object of his polite concern happened to be of the opposite +sex; then he gallantly substituted the word "appetite." It was never +necessary to reply to Mr. Pollock's question. In fact, he always +seemed a little surprised when any one did reply, quite as if he had +missed a portion of the conversation and was trying in a bewildered +sort of way to get the hang of it again. + +"Same as it was yesterday," said Charlie. "I don't want any soup, +Maggie. Yes, I know it's bean soup, but I don't want it, just the +same." + +"Going on a hunger strike, Charlie?" inquired Doc Simpson. + +"Sh! He's reducing," scolded Flora Grady. + +"What's on your mind, Charlie?" asked Courtney. + +Charlie swallowed hard. He made a determined effort and succeeded +in recovering some of his old-time sprightliness. + +"Nothing, now that I've got my hat off." + +"Have you heard the latest news, Charlie?" inquired Mrs. Pollock, +a thrill of excitement in her voice. + +He started, and looked up quickly. "There's been so blamed much +news lately," he muttered, "I can't keep track of it." + +"Well, this is the greatest piece of news we've had in ages," said +the poetess. "Wedding bells are to ring in our midst. Somebody you +know very well is going to be married." + +Mr. Webster's heart went to his boots. He stared open-mouthed at +the speaker. + +"Oh, my Lord!" he almost groaned. "Don't tell me she has promised +to marry--" He broke off to glare venomously at Thane. + +"Don't blame me for it, Charlie," exclaimed the latter. "I am as +innocent as an unborn babe. Charge it to woman's wiles." He laughed +boisterously, unnaturally. + +Mr. Pollock spoke. "The next issue of the Sun will contain +the formal announcement of the engagement of the most popular and +beloved young lady in Windomville. No doubt it will be old news by +that time,--next Thursday,--but publication in the press gives it +the importance of officialty." + +"We may congratulate ourselves, however, that we are not to lose +her," said Mrs. Pollock. "She is to remain in--" + +"Whe-when is it to take place?" groaned Charlie, moisture starting +out on his brow. + +"That," began Mr. Pollock, "is a matter which cannot be definitely +announced at present, owing to certain family--er--ah--conditions. +In addition to this, I may say that there is also the children to +consider, as well as the township trustee and, to an extent, the +taxpayer. The--" + +"All I've got to say," grated Charlie, "is that the police ought +to be consulted, first of all." + +"The police!" exclaimed Angie Miller. + +"The--the what?" gasped Furman Hatch, lifting his head suddenly. +He was very red in the face. "I'd like to know what the devil the +police have to do with it?" + +Charlie took a look at Angie Miller's face, and then the truth +dawned upon him. He sank back in his chair so suddenly that the +legs gave forth an ominous crack. + +"Don't do that!" cried Margaret Slattery sharply. "You know them +chairs are not made of iron. And I don't want you flopping all over +me when I'm passing the stew--" + +"Yes, sir!" boomed Charlie, who had collected his wits by this time, +and was pointing his finger accusingly at Mr. Hatch. "The police +have simply got to be called. It's going to take half the force, +including Bill Foss, to keep me from drinking the heart's blood of +my hated rival. Ladies and gents, that infernal, low-down villain +over there has come between me and--But nobody shall say that +Charles Darwin Webster is a poor loser! Say what you please about +him, but do not say he is a short sport. It breaks my heart to do +it, but I'm coming around there to shake hands with you, old Tintype. +I'm going to congratulate you, but I'm never going to get through +hating you." + +He arose and bolted around the table. Mr. Hatch got to his feet +and the long and the short man clasped hands. + +"Put her there, old boy! I've already made up my mind what my wedding +present is going to be. The day before the wedding I'm coming in +and order a dozen photographs of myself,--pay for 'em in advance. +And I'm going to give every darned one of 'em to the bride, so's she +can stick 'em up all over the house just to make you feel at home, +you blamed old bachelor. And as for you, Miss Angelina Miller, the +very topmost height of my ambition will be reached in less than two +minutes after the ceremony. Because, then and there, I'm going to +kiss you. Bless you, my children. As old Rip Van Winkle used to +say, 'may you live long and brosper.'" + +Having delivered himself of this felicitous speech, the somewhat +relieved Mr. Webster wiped his brow. + +"What did he say?" quaked old Mrs. Nichols, putting her hand to +her ear. + +"Says he hoped they'd be happy," bawled old Mr. Nichols, close to +her ear. + +"Pass the bread, Doc," said Mr. Hatch, getting pinker and pinker. + +"When's it to take place, Angle?" inquired Charlie, resuming his +seat. He cast a sharp look at Courtney. The young man shifted his +gaze immediately. + +"As I explained to Mr. Pollock, everything depends on my aunt," +said Angie composedly. "She is very old,--eighty-three, in fact." + +"You don't mean to say your aunt objects to your marrying old +Tintype," exclaimed Charlie. + +"Not at all," replied Angie, somewhat tartly. + +"You see, it's this way," volunteered Mr. Pollock. "Miss Angie is +the sole support of a venerable and venerated aunt who lives in +Frankfort. That is a thing to be considered. Her duty to her father's +sister--" + +Courtney interrupted, chuckling. "It's too much to ask of any +woman. I suppose it must take nearly all you earn, Miss Miller, +to support your aged relative, so naturally you do not feel like +taking on Mr. Hatch immediately." + +There was a moment's silence around the table. + +"I see by the Chicago Tribune," said Mr. Pollock, after a hurried +gulp of coffee, "that there's likely to be a strike of the street-car +men up there." + +"You don't say so," said Doc Simpson, looking so concerned that +one might have been led to suspect that he was dismayed over the +prospect of getting to his office the next day. + +"What's the world coming to?" sighed Maude Baggs Pollock nervously. +"Strikes, strikes everywhere. Murder, bloodshed, robbery, revolution--" + +"Next thing we know," put in Charlie Webster, without looking up +from his plate, "God will strike, and when He does there'll be hell +to pay, begging your pardon, ladies, for using a word that sounds +worse than it tastes." + +"I use it every day of my life," said Miss Flora Grady. "It's a +grand word, Charlie," she added, a little defiantly. + +"Times have changed," remarked Mr. Pollock blandly. "It wasn't so +very long ago that women Said 'pshaw' when they wanted to let off +steam. Then they got to saying 'shucks,' and from that they progressed +to 'darn,' and now they say 'damn' without a quiver. Only yesterday +I heard my wife say something that sounded suspiciously like 'dammit +to hell' when she upset a bottle of ink on her desk. She hasn't +stubbed her toe against a rocking-chair lately, thank goodness." + +Doc Simpson stopped Courtney as he was starting upstairs after +dinner. The dentist was unsmiling. + +"Say, Court, I'm running a little close this week. Been so much +excitement a lot of patients have forgotten all about their teeth. +Can you let me have that ten you borrowed last week?" + +"Sure," said Courtney, in his most affable manner. "I'll hand it +to you tomorrow. I'll give it to you now if you'll wait till I run +upstairs and get it out of my trunk. That's my bank, you know." + +"Tomorrow'll do all right," said Doc, a trifle abashed. + +"Can I see you a second, Mr. Thane?" called Miss Grady, when he +was halfway up the stairs. + +He stopped and smiled down at her. "I hope you'll forgive me if +I don't come down, Miss Flora. My knee is still on the blink. It +hurts worse to go downstairs, than it does up." + +"I'll come up," said Miss Grady promptly. "You remember those roses +I ordered for you last week? Well, I had to pay cash for them, +including parcel post. You owe me seven dollars and thirteen cents." + +"I'm glad you spoke of it. I hadn't forgotten it, of course, but--I +simply neglected to square it up with you. Have you change for a +twenty, Miss Flora?" + +"Not with me." + +"I'll hand it to you tomorrow. Seven-thirteen, you say? Shall +we make it seven-fifteen?" He favoured her with his most engaging +smile, and Miss Grady, who thought she had steeled her heart +against his blandishments, suffered a momentary relapse and said, +"No hurry. I just thought I'd remind you." + +He failed completely, however, to affect the susceptibilities of +Miss Mary Dowd, who presently rapped at his door, and rapped again +when he called out "Come in." He opened the door. + +"Pardon me, Mr. Thane, for coming up to speak to you about your +bill. Will it be convenient for you to let me have the money this +evening?" + +She did not soften the dun by offering the usual excuse about +"expenses being a little heavier this month than we expected," or +that she "hated to ask him for the amount." + +"Is it three or four weeks, Miss Molly?" he inquired, taking out +an envelope and a pencil. + +"Four weeks today." + +"Sixty dollars." He jotted it down. "I cannot let this opportunity +pass to tell you how thoroughly satisfied I have been with everything +here, Miss Molly. The table is really extraordinarily good. I don't +see how you can do it for fifteen dollars a week, including room." +He replaced the envelope in his pocket, and smiled politely, his +hand going to the door knob. + +"We couldn't do it, Mr. Thane, unless we stuck pretty closely to +our rule,--that is, of asking our patrons to pay promptly at the +end of every week." + +"It's really the only way," he agreed. + +"So if you will be kind enough to let me have the amount now, I +will be very much obliged to you." + +He stepped to the head of the stairs, ostensibly to be nearer a +light, and took out his purse. While counting out the bills, he cast +frequent glances down into the lower hall. The buzz of conversation +came up from the "lounge." + +"I think you will find the proper amount here, Miss Molly," he +said, after restoring the purse to his pocket. + +She took the bank-notes and counted them. + +"Quite correct, Mr. Thane. Thank you. By the way, I have been +meaning to ask how much longer you contemplate remaining with us. +Pastor Mavity has been inquiring for room and board for his sister, +who is coming on from Indianapolis to spend several months in +Windomville. If by any chance you are thinking of vacating your +room within the next few days, I would be obliged if you would let +me know as soon as possible in order that I may give Mr. Mavity an +answer." + +"I think I shall be leaving shortly, Miss Dowd. I can let you know +in a day or two," said he stiffly. "I am afraid your winters are +too severe for me. Good night,--and thank you for being so patient, +Miss Dowd." + +Meanwhile, Miss Angie Miller had taken Charlie Webster off to a +corner of the "lounge" remote from the fireplace. She was visibly +excited. + +"I had a letter in this afternoon's mail from my uncle, Charlie," +she announced in subdued tones. "My goodness, you'll simply pass +away when you read it." + +"Where is it?" demanded Charlie eagerly. + +"I haven't even shown it to Furman," said she, looking over her +shoulder. "I've been wondering whether I ought to let him read it +first." + +"Not at all," said he promptly. "It's none of his business. This +is between you and me, Angie. Let's have a look at it." + +"I don't think you'd better read it here," she whispered nervously. +"It--it is very private and confidential." + +"That's all right," said Charlie. "I'll sneak upstairs with it, +Angie." + +"Well, act as if you are looking out of the window," she said, and +when his back was turned she produced the letter from its hiding +place inside her blouse. + +II + +Charlie retired to his room a few minutes later. There he perused +the following letter, written on the stationery of Beck, Blossom, +Fredericks & Smith, Attorneys-at-law, New York City: + +MY DEAR NIECE: + +Pardon my delay in replying to your letter of recent date. I have +been very busy in court and have not been in a position to devote +even a little of my time to your inquiry. Your second letter reached +me yesterday, and I now make amends for my previous delinquency by +answering it with a promptness most uncommon in lawyers. + +The firm of which I am a member appeared in 1912 for the plaintiff +in the case of Ritter vs. Thane. Our client was a young woman +residing in Brooklyn. The defendant was Courtney Thane, the son +of Howard Thane, and no doubt the young man to whom you refer. In +any case, he was the grandson of Silas Thane, who lived in your part +of the State of Indiana. We were demanding one hundred thousand +dollars for our client. Miss Ritter was a trained nurse. Young +Thane had been severely injured in an automobile accident. If YOUR +Courtney Thane is the same as MINE, he will be walking with a slight +limp. His left leg was badly crushed in the accident to which I +refer. For several months he was unable to walk. Upon his removal +from St. Luke's Hospital to his father's home in Park Avenue, a +fortnight after the accident, our client was employed as a nurse on +the case. This was early in the spring of 1912. In June the Thane +family went to the Berkshires, where they had rented a house for +the summer. Our client accompanied them. Prior to their departure, +Thane, senior, had settled out of court with the occupants of the +automobile with which his son's car had collided in upper Broadway. +His son was alone in his car when the accident occurred, but there +were a number of witnesses ready to testify that he was driving at +a high rate of speed, regardless of traffic or crossings. If my memory +serves me correctly, his father paid something like twenty-five +thousand dollars to the three persons injured. That, however, +is neither here nor there, except to illustrate the young man's +disregard for the law. + +Miss Ritter had been on the case a very short time before he began +to make ardent love to her. She was an extremely pretty girl, two +years his senior, and, I am convinced, a most worthy and exemplary +young woman. She became infatuated with the young man. He asked +her to marry him. (Permit me to digress for a moment in order to +state that while Courtney Thane was in his freshman year at college +his father was obliged to pay out quite a large sum of money to a +chorus-girl with whom, it appears, he had become involved.) To make +a long story short, our client, trusting implicitly to his honour +and submitting to the ardour of their joint passion, anticipated +the marriage ceremony with serious results to herself. When she +discovered that he had no intention of marrying her, she attempted +suicide. Her mother, on learning the truth, went to Thane's parents +and pleaded for the righting of the wrong. Howard Thane had, by this +time, lost all patience with his son. He refused to have anything +to do with the matter. The young man's mother ordered Miss Ritter's +mother out of the apartment and threatened to have her arrested for +blackmail. Shortly after this episode, we were consulted by Mrs. +Ritter, much against the wishes of her daughter, who shrank from +the notoriety and the disgrace of a lawsuit. The elder Thane was +adamant in his decision that his son should marry the girl, who, +he was fair enough to admit, was a young woman of very superior +character and who, he was convinced, had been basely deceived. The +mother, on the other hand, was relentlessly opposed to the sacrifice +of her son. We took the matter to court. On the morning of the +first day of the trial, before the opening of court, the defendant's +counsel came to us with a proposition. They offered to settle out +of court for twenty-five thousand dollars. In the end, we accepted +fifty thousand, and the case was dismissed. Afterwards counsel +for the other side informed us that the elder Thane turned his son +out of his home and refused to have anything more to do with him. +I understand the young man went to Europe, where he subsisted on +an allowance provided by his mother. Thane, senior, died shortly +after this. Our client, I am pained to say, died with her babe in +childbirth. + +You may be interested to know, my dear niece, that Mrs. Thane +married soon after her husband's death. Her second husband was +a young French nobleman, many years her junior. He was killed in +the war, I think at Verdun. I understand she is now living in this +city. Her present name escapes me, but I know that her widowhood +has been made endurable by a legacy which happens to be one in name +only. In other words, he left her the title of Countess. + +If I can be of any further service to you, my dear niece, pray do +not hesitate to call upon me. Believe me to be...etc., etc. + +Within ten minutes after the perusal of this very convincing +indictment, Charlie Webster was on his way to Alix's home. He was +quite out of breath when he presented himself at the front door, +and his first words to Alix were: + +"While I'm getting my breath, Alix, you might prepare yourself for +a shock." + + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ROSABEL VICK + + + + +Early the next morning, the telephone in township assessor Jordan's +house rang. Annie Jordan was "setting" the breakfast table. She +waited for the call to be repeated; she was not sure whether the +bell had rung thrice or four times. Their call was "Party J, ring +four." Four sharp rings came promptly. She looked at the kitchen +clock. It lacked five minutes of seven. + +"Gee," she grumbled, "I didn't know anybody had to get up as early +as I do." Taking down the receiver she uttered a sweet "hello," +because, as she said, "You never know who's at the other end, and +it's just as likely to be HIM as not." + +"Is that you, Annie? This is Mrs. Vick. May I speak to Rosabel?" + +"Why, Rosabel isn't here, Mrs. Vick." + +"What?" + +"Rosabel isn't here." + +There was a short silence. Then: "Are you joking with me, Annie? +If she isn't up yet, please tell her to--" + +"Honest to goodness, Mrs. Vick, she's not here. I haven't seen her +since day before yesterday." + +"She said she was going over to spend the night with you. She left +home about four yesterday. Oh, my goodness, I--I--is there any one +else she might have,--I'm sure she said you, though, Annie. Can +you think of any one else? She took her nightdress--and things." + +"She always comes here, Mrs. Vick," said Annie, and felt a little +chill creeping over her. "Still she may have gone to Mrs. Urline's. +She and Hattie are good friends. Shall I call up and ask? I'll ring +you up in a couple of minutes." + +That was the beginning. Within the hour the whole of Windomville +was talking about the strange disappearance of the pretty daughter +of Amos Vick, across the river. Old Jim House, the handy-man at +Dowd's Tavern, inserted his shaggy head through the dining-room +door and informed the editor of the Sun in a far from ceremonious +manner that he had an "item" for the paper. + +"I'll be out as soon as I've finished breakfast," said Mr. Pollock. + +"Well, you can't say I didn't tell ye," said Jim, and withdrew his +head. "No wonder there ain't ever anything worth readin' in that +pickerune paper of his, Maggie," he growled to Margaret Slattery. +"If ever I DO subscribe for a paper, it's goin' to be one that's +got some git up and go about it. Some Injinapolis er Cincinnaty +paper, b'gosh. There's Link Pollock settin' in there eatin' pancakes +while a girl is bein' missed from one end of the township to the +other. Bill Foss has--" + +"What girl?" demanded Margaret. + +"That girl of Amos Vick's. They ain't seen hide er hair of her +sence yesterday afternoon. Amos is over to the drug store, nearly +crazy with suspicion. I got it all figgered out. One of two things +has happened. She's either run off to get married er else she's +been waylaid and--er--execrated by some tramp. Like as not the +very feller that peeped in at Alix Crown's winder the other night. +'Twouldn't surprise me a particle if she was found some'eres er +other with her head beat in or somethin'! And Link Pollock jest +sits in there stuffin' pan--" + +Margaret Slattery having disappeared abruptly into the dining-room, +Jim grunted and edged over to the kitchen range, where Miss Jennie +Dowd was busily engaged. + +"I ain't got nothin' personal ag'in Link Pollock, Jennie," he said, +sniffing the browning batter with pleasurable longing, "but if you +was to ask me I'd say his wife is twice the man he is, and a little +over. The minute that woman is a widder I'm goin' to subscribe for +the paper, 'cause I know she'll--What say, Jennie?" + +"Bring me another scuttle of coal,--and, for goodness' sake, don't +smoke that pipe in my kitchen." + +"What's the matter with this here pipe?" demanded Mr. House in some +surprise. + +"Never mind. I'm busy." + +"Yes,--cookin' pancakes for that--all right, ALL RIGHT, I'll get +your coal fer ye. I ought to be out helpin' Amos Vick to investigate +fer his daughter, that's where I ought to be. First thing you know, +he'll be offerin' twenty-five er fifty dollars fer her and--say, +it seems to me you ought to be more interested in that pore lost +girl than makin' pancakes fer Link Pollock." He prepared to sit +down. "There's a lot of people in this here town payin' him two +dollars a year fer to git the news, and all he does is to--All +right, I wasn't goin' to set down anyways. I was jest movin' this +cheer out o' the way a little, so's Maggie--Yes, and with coal as +high as it is now and a lot of pore people starvin' and freezin' +to death, it exaggerates me considerable to see you wastin'--Well, +is he still eatin', Maggie?" + +"He's beat it upstairs to change his carpet slippers," announced +Margaret Slattery excitedly. "You needn't make any more, Miss +Jennie. They're all beatin' it,--all except Mr. Thane, and he says +he don't want any more. He says he ain't feelin' well and thinks +he'll go up to his room and lay down for a while." + +"Well, seein's you don't need that coal, Jennie, I guess I'll mosey +along and see if I c'n be any help to Amos. This jest goes to show +what an ijit I'd ha' been to let my pipe go out." + +Courtney Thane hung over the little stove in his room, shivering +as with a chill. About ten o'clock some one knocked at his door. +He started up from the chair, his gaze fixed on the door. With an +effort he pulled himself together and inquired who was there. + +"Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. Thane?" asked Miss Molly +Dowd, outside. + +"Nothing, thank you." After a moment's indecision, he crossed over +and opened the door. "It's awfully good of you, Miss Molly. There's +nothing really the matter with me. I was awake most of the night +with a pain in my back,--something like lumbago, I suppose. I was +afraid at first it was my old pleurisy coming back for another +visit, but it seems to be lower down. I feel much better, thank +you. The fresh air will do me good. I think I'll go out and see +if I can be of any assistance to poor Vick. Have they had any news +of Rosabel?" + +"I think not. They have telephoned to the city to ask the police +to watch out for her, especially at the trains. She's been terribly +depressed, they say, since her brother went to the Navy training +school up near Chicago. Amos thinks she may have taken it into her +head to go up there somewhere to be near him." + +"It is possible. She was devoted to her brother. I hope nothing +worse has happened to her. She is a sweet, lovable girl, and they +worshipped her." + +Later on, as he was standing in front of the postoffice, smoking +a cigarette, Vick came up in Alix Crown's automobile. + +The former had been to the city to consult with the police. He +inquired anxiously if any word had been received from the men who +had volunteered to search in the woods and along the river bank +for the girl. Receiving a reply in the negative from several of +the hangers-on, he turned to give an order to the chauffeur. As he +did so, his gaze fell upon Courtney, who was on the outer edge of +the little group surrounding the car. + +After a moment of indecision, the young man pushed his way forward, +an expression of deep concern in his eyes. + +"Morning, Courtney," greeted the older man, extending his hand. +"I'm glad to see you. I suppose you've heard about Rosabel?" + +Thane shook hands with Rosabel's father. + +"I wouldn't be worried if I were you, Mr. Vick. She'll turn up all +right. I feel sure of it. If there is anything in the world I can +do, I wish you would say so, Mr. Vick. Anything, sir. There is +nothing I wouldn't do for you and Mrs. Vick and Rosabel. I adore +that child. Why, I get positively sick all over when I let myself +think that--but, it's impossible! I feel it in my bones she'll come +home sometime today." + +Vick pressed the young man's hand. + +"I wish I could be sure of that,--God, I wish I could be sure," +he said, with a little catch in his gruff voice. "I don't see what +got into her to run away like this. She ain't been very chipper +since Cale went away, you know. Sort of sick and down in the mouth. +Her mother's heard her crying a good bit lately up in her room. I +promised her only a couple of days ago to take her up to Chicago +for a spell, so's she could see Cale every once in a while. So it +can't be she's gone off on her own hook to see him, knowin' that +either me or her mother was planning to go up with her next week. +Thank you, Courtney, for offering to help us. If there's anything, +I'll let you know. We've been telegraphin' and telephonin' everywhere +to see if we can get track of her, and we've been to all her friends' +homes to ask if they've seen her. I wish, if you feel like it, you'd +go over and see Mrs. Vick. Maybe you can cheer her up, encourage +her or something. She's terribly worried. I--I think it would break +her heart if anything happened to--to--" His lips twisted as with +pain. He bent over and picked a burr from his trousers' leg. + +"Buck up, old fellow," said Courtney, a ringing note of confidence +in his voice. He laid his hand on Vick's arm. "Tell me all about +it. When did she leave the house, and where did she say she was +going?" + +"Yesterday afternoon. She said she was going to spend the night at +the Jordans'. She kissed her mother good-bye,--just as she always +does,--and we ain't seen or heard anything of her since. Nobody in +Windomville saw her. Bill Foss is afraid she may have been waylaid +by hoboes down along the river road. If--if THAT happened there'll +be something worse than lynchin' if I ever lay hands on--" + +Thane broke in with an oath. + +"By God, I'll do the job for you if I get hold of him first, Vick. +I could set fire to a devil like that and see him burned alive +without moving a muscle." + +"I can't let myself believe she's met with any such horrible fate +as that, Courtney. I simply can't bear to think of my pretty little +Rosie in the hands of--" + +"Don't think about it, Vick. I believe she will turn up safe and +sound and--By the way, has it occurred to you that she may have +eloped? Was she in love with anybody? Was she interested in any +young fellow that you didn't approve of?" + +"She never spoke of being in love with anybody. She never even gave +us an inklin' of such a thing. She would have told her mother. Why, +good heavens, Courtney, she wasn't much more'n a little girl! She +was eighteen her last birthday, and we never thought of her as +anything but a child just out of short dresses. Did she ever speak +to you about being gone on any of these young fellows that come +to see her? She liked you tremendous, Courtney,--and I didn't know +but what maybe she might have mentioned something to you about it +when you were off on those long walks together. Some of the times +when you used to take a lunch basket and go off--" + +"Not a word," broke in Courtney. "Why, she was just like a kid, +laughing and singing and begging me to tell her stories about the +war, and life in New York, and all that sort of thing. She used to +read to me, bless her heart,--read by the hour while I smoked,--or +went to sleep. If she was in love with anybody she certainly never +took me into her confidence." + +"I--I guess there's nothing in that theory," said Amos Vick, +shaking his head. "She didn't run away with anybody. That's out of +the question. I'm working on the theory that she sort of went out +of her head or something and wandered away. You read about cases +like that in the papers. I forget what they call the disease, but +there's--" + +"Aphasia," supplied Courtney absently. His gaze was fixed on a +graceful, familiar figure down the street. + +Alix Crown had just dismounted from her horse in front of the +library. She stood, straight and slim, on the sidewalk awaiting +the approach of Editor Pollock, who was hurrying up from Assessor +Jordan's house where he had been "interviewing" Annie. + +A warm glow shot through Courtney's veins. He had held that +adorable, boyish figure tight in his arms! Nothing could rob him +of that rapturous thought,--nothing could deprive him of those +victorious moments. Amos Vick's voice recalled him. + +"I'll have to be on the move, Courtney. Here comes Bill Foss. He's +been telephonin' to Litchtown, down the river. I do wish you'd go +over and see Lucinda. She'll be mighty grateful to you." + +"Don't fail to call on me, Mr. Vick, if there's anything I can do," +called out Courtney after the moving machine. + +He did not take his eyes from Alix until she disappeared through +the library door. The horse, a very fine animal, was wet with sweat. +He could see, even at that distance, the "lather" on her flanks. + +"Any news?" he inquired of Pollock, as that worthy came up panting. + +"Nope. Alix Crown is just back from Jim Bagley's. Some one said +a hired man of his had seen a woman walking across the pasture +yesterday just before dark--out near the old Windom place,--but it +couldn't have been Rosie Vick because she had no way to get across +the river except by the ferry, and she didn't come that way, Joe +Burk swears. Alix saw this hired man and he says it was almost dark +and he couldn't be sure whether it was a man or a woman." + +A greyish pallor spread over Courtney's face. He turned away +abruptly and hurried down the street. He remembered the "skiff" +that belonged to young Cale, salvaged some years before on the +abatement of a February flood. On more than one occasion he had +taken Rosabel out on the river in this clumsy old boat, twice at +least to the base of Quill's Window where she had refused to land +because of the dread she had for the gruesome place. + +Cale kept his boat down among the willows, chained to a pole he had +driven deep in the bed of the river. It was one of his treasures. +He had fished from it up and down the stream; he had gone forth in +it at daybreak for wild ducks and geese. + +Yes, Thane remembered the "skiff." Strange that no one else had +thought of it. Strange that even Amos Vick was satisfied she could +not have crossed the river except by the ferry. He wondered whether +it was tied up in its accustomed place over yonder, or was it now +on this side of the river? He felt a strange chill in his blood. + +He was nearing the library when Alix came out. If she saw him she +gave no sign. She crossed the sidewalk threw the bridle rein over +the horse's neck, and swung herself gracefully into the saddle. +Without so much as a glance over her shoulder, she rode off at a +brisk canter in the direction of the ferry. He knew she was on her +way to see Mrs. Vick. + +The R. F. D. postman making his rounds, came to Amos Vick's shortly +after noon that day. He volunteered a bit of information. Rosabel +had given him a letter when he stopped the day before. It was +addressed to Caleb Vick. She asked him how long he thought it would +take the letter to reach its destination. When he told her that +it might be delivered to Cale early the next day, she thanked him +and returned to the house. + +He thought at the time that she looked "kind of white around the +gills." + +II + +Jim Bagley and his new "hired man," pursuing a suggestion made +by the latter, went to the top of Quill's Window for a bird's-eye +view of the river and the surrounding country. The sharp eyes of +the Pinkerton man descried the rowboat under the willows along the +opposite bank of the stream. + +Half an hour later, Bagley and several companions came upon the +boat. On one of the seats lay Rosabel Vick's heavy coat and the +black fur collar she was known to have worn when she left home. +Under the seat in the stern was a small paper bundle. It contained +a nightgown, a pair of black stockings, and several toilet articles. + +Across the river, several hundred yards above Quill's Window, a small +gravelly "sand-bar" reached out into the stream. Here the practised +eyes of Gilfillan found unmistakable indications of a recent landing. +The prow of the boat, driven well out upon the bar, had left its +mark. Also, there were two deep cuts in the sand where an oar had +been used in pushing off. It was impossible to make out footprints +in the loose, shifting gravel. + +Mr. Gilfillan pondered deeply. + +"That boat crossed over here yesterday," he reflected. "It's pretty +clear that it belongs over on that side. If the Vick girl came over +in it, there's no use looking for her on this side of the river. +That boat couldn't have got back to the other side unless somebody +rowed it over. If it was a woman I saw walking across the pasture +in the direction of the river, it must have been this girl. Now--one +of two things happened--in case it was the Vick girl. Either she +was up near that old house before I got there, or she saw me when +she was approaching, and turned back. In either case, she had an +object in hanging around that house. Now we come to the object. +Was she going there to meet some one? If so, it would naturally be +a man. + +"Now let's get this thing straight. Thane crossed the pasture from +this direction. That's positive,--because I followed him. It is a +dead certainty he did not meet the Vick girl. I would have witnessed +any such meeting. The fact that he lived at her father's house for +several weeks may have something to do with the case,--but that's +guesswork. What we want is facts. This much is certain. I did not +see Miss Crown go into that house,--but I did see her come out. +I never was so paralysed in my life. It is clear, therefore, that +she was in there before either I or Thane came upon the scene. Now +the question is, was she there to meet Thane? I doubt it. Things +begin to look a little clearer to me. Suppose, for instance, he +went out to that big hill to meet some one else,--presumably the +Vick girl, and that they had planned to go to that old deserted +house. He was late. So, thinking she had gone on, he hustled across +the field and received the surprise of his life. Now, we'll say +the Vick girl was over there waiting for him when Miss Crown came +to the house,--a thing they couldn't have foreseen in view of +the fact that she shunned the place. Our hero comes up and enters +the house as if he owned it. The other girl hangs around outside +till it gets dark enough for her to risk making a getaway without +attracting my attention,--in case she saw me. She beats it back to +the river, and then, being afraid that I saw and recognized her, she +concludes to beat it to somebody's house over in the next county, +so's she'll have an alibi if I go to Miss Crown with the story. +Now, that's one way to look at it. The other angle is that she was +jealous and trailed Thane to his rendezvous, as my old friend Nick +Carter would say. In that case,--By thunder!" He gave vent to a +soft whistle. + +"In that case, she may have jumped into the river and--No, that +doesn't hang together. She wouldn't have gone to the trouble to row +back to the other side. Wait a second! Now, let me think. Here's +an idea. We'll suppose somebody waylaid her over there on the other +side of the river, put the quietus on her and chucked her into +the water. Then he rowed across here and started for the turnpike. +Seeing me and also Thane, he turns back. It's a man I see in the +darkness instead of a woman. He goes back to the boat, rows over +to the other side again and--Holy Mackerel! Here's a new one. That +girl's body may be lying up there in the underbrush at this instant. +Dumped there by the murderer, who turned back after seeing me--I'll +take a look!" + +For an hour Gilfillan searched through the underbrush along the +bank. Finally he gave it up and started toward the village. He found +the town in a state of great excitement. Everybody was hurrying +down to the river. Overtaking an old man, he inquired if there was +any news of the missing girl. + +"They say she's been drownded," chattered the ancient. "My daughter +says they found her things in a boat, but no sign of her. Did you +ever see the beat? They's been more goin' on in this here town in +the last week than--" + +Gilfillan hurried on. He caught Charlie Webster as he was leaving +the warehouse. + +"I want to see Miss Crown as soon as possible, Webster," he said. +"Do you suppose she will go up in the air if I mention the fact +that I know she was with Thane yesterday up in that old house? It's +a rather ticklish thing to spring on her if she--" + +"It's all right," interrupted Charlie. "I talked with her about +it last night. She had no idea he was coming there. He told her he +saw her from across the pasture and hustled over. She was surprised +almost out of her skin when he popped in on her. She tells me she +ordered him out of the house." + +The detective was thoughtful. "I wonder if it has occurred to Miss +Crown that Thane might have mistaken her for some one else at that +distance." + +"Not so's you'd notice it," declared Charlie. "He knew it was Alix +all right. She isn't in any doubt on that score." + +"It begins to take shape," mused Gilfillan. "He didn't wait for +her, that's all." + +"What say?" + +"I was just thinking," replied the other. "Where is Thane at the +present moment, Webster?" + +"He just went off in an automobile with Dick Hurdle and a couple +of fellows to stretch one of Joe Hart's big fish nets across the +river down at the Narrows, five or six miles below here." + +"Would you mind inviting me up to your room at the Tavern for a +little while, Webster?" + +"Well, I was going down to the ferry. There are half a dozen skiffs +down--" + +"See here, Webster, as I understand it, my real job is to find out +all I can about this chap Thane. I am really working for you, not +for Miss Crown, although she is putting up the money. I am just +as thoroughly convinced as you are that Thane staged that masked +robber business himself. It's an old gag, especially with lovers--and +occasionally with husbands." + +Charlie grinned sheepishly, a guilty flush staining his rubicund +face. + +"I guess I might as well confess that I was guilty of something of +the sort when I was about seventeen," he said. "That's how I came +to figger out that maybe he was up to the same kind of heroism." + +"Nearly every kid has done the same thing. It's boy nature." + +"I reckon that's right. I fixed it for a boy friend of mine to +jump out of a dark place one night when I was walkin' home from a +church sociable with my girl. He had false whiskers on. I helped +him glue them on,--and he had an awful time getting 'em off. Course +when he jumped out and growled 'hands up,' I just sailed into him +and the fur flew for a few seconds. Then he run like a whitehead. +It didn't work out very well, however. That kid's sister got onto +the trick and told my girl about it, and--well, I almost had to +leave town. But it ain't a game for a grown-up man to play, and +that's what I think this feller Thane has been pulling." + +"What you want to find out, before it's too late, is whether Thane +is all that he professes to be," said the other. "Well, I'm simply +sitting tight on the job, stalling along until I hear from our +people in New York. They have cabled England to find out whether +he was connected with the British air forces. Now, what I want to +do is to get into that fellow's room for ten or fifteen minutes. +Can you fix it?" + +"It--it wouldn't be legal," protested Charlie. "You've got to get +out a search warrant." + +"My dear fellow, I'm not planning to steal anything," exclaimed +Gilfillan. "I merely want to get into his room by mistake. That +happens frequently,--you know." + +Charlie was finally persuaded. He cast an apprehensive glance +down the road leading to the ferry, searched the Main Street for +observers, and then led the way over to the practically deserted +Tavern. + +Half an hour later Mr. Gilfillan re-entered Charlie's room. + +"Remember I don't know where you've been or what you were up to," +warned the fat man firmly. "I'm not a party to this nefarious--" + +"Righto!" said the detective cheerily. "Your skirts are clear. They +are immaculate. Let's beat it." + +"Well, what did you find out?" inquired Charlie, when they were in +the street once more. He was bursting with curiosity. + +"In as much as you don't know where I was or what I've been doing, +it will not compromise you if I say that I found a thirty-eight +calibre revolver with three empty shells in the cylinder. I also +found a theatrical make-up box, with grease paints, gauze, and +all that. Also currency amounting to about three hundred dollars. +Nothing incriminating, nothing actually crooked. Simply circumstantial +as relating to recent events in your midst, Mr. Webster." + +"Makes it look mighty certain that he was the feller with the mask, +don't it? Only three shots were fired, you know. I've been thinking +a lot about what you said awhile ago. You don't think that he had +anything to do with--with putting the Vick girl out of the way? +You spoke about him being mistaken in the woman." + +"He had nothing to do with it, Webster. I told you I saw a figure +in the pasture after he had gone into the house. If it was the Vick +girl, she was certainly alive then. He went straight home after +leaving that house. He didn't go out of the Tavern again last +night, that's positive. Now, what I want to find out is this: was +the girl in love with him? Was there anything between them? If +she's at the bottom of the river down there, it's a plain case of +suicide, my friend, and people do not take their own lives unless +there's a mighty good reason. With a young girl it's usually a +case of unrequited love,--or worse. According to that letter Miss +Miller had from New York, Thane is not above betraying a girl. Of +course, if the Vick girl is dead and left nothing behind to implicate +Thane, it will be out of the question to charge him with being even +indirectly responsible for her death." + +"The main thing," said Charlie, who had turned a shade paler during +this matter-of-fact, cold-blooded analysis, "is to keep Alix Crown +from falling into his clutches. He's a bad egg, that feller is, +and he's made up his mind to win her by fair means or foul." + +"Well, if she falls for him after reading that lawyer's letter and +when she hears what I believe to be the truth about that heroic +episode the other night,--why, she ought to get what's coming to +her, that's all I have to say," said Mr. Gilfillan flatly. "I've +discovered one thing, Mr. Webster. If a woman makes up her mind +to marry a man, hell-fire and brimstone can't stop her. The older +I get and the more I see of women, the more I am convinced that +vice is its own reward. I guess we'd better stroll down to the +river and see what's doing." + +"I've been thinking," said Charlie as they walked along, "that if +Thane wasn't in the British Army and wasn't in our army, then he +must be a slacker and wanted by the government for--" + +"Nothing doing on that line. You forget he was crippled long before +the war. He couldn't get by a medical board. They'd turn him down +in a second. If he was in this country at the time of the draft, +he would have had no trouble getting an exemption. What I can't +understand is why he, a New Yorker, should be hiding out here in the +jungles of Indiana. There's something queer about that, my friend." + +"Kind of fishy," said Charlie darkly. Then upon reflection, he +added with considerable vehemence: "Damn him!" + +Already half a dozen rowboats were out in the stream, with men +peering over the sides into the deep, slow-moving water. Burk's +Ferry did a thriving business. It plied back and forth from one +"road-cut" to the other, crowded with foot passengers, all of whom +studied the water intently. Men, women and children tramped close +to the edge of both banks. People spoke in subdued voices; an +atmosphere of the deepest solemnity hung over the scene. + +The sky itself was overcast; a raw wind moaned through the trees, +sighing a requiem. The drab, silent river went placidly, mockingly +on its way down to the sea, telling no tales: if Rosabel Vick was +rolling, gliding along the bottom, gently urged by the current, +the grim waters covered well the secret. + +The word went from lip to lip that motor-boats were on the way +down from the city, with police officers and grappling-hooks and +men experienced in the gruesome business of "dragging." The boss +of the railway construction gang at Hawkins, where the new bridge +was being built, had started for Windomville with a quantity of +dynamite to be exploded on the bottom of the river in the hope and +expectation of bringing the body to the surface. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +OUT OF THE NIGHT + + + + +All afternoon the search continued. At intervals and at widely +separated points dull explosions took place on the bed of the river, +creating smooth, round hillocks that lasted for the fraction of a +second and then dissolved into swift-spreading wavelets, stained +a dirty yellow by the upheaval of sand and mud, and went racing in +ruffles to the banks which they tenderly licked before they died. +White-bellied fish, killed by the shock of the explosions, came +to the surface and floated away,--scores of them, large and small. +Spider-like grappling hooks, with their curving iron prongs, raked +the bottom from side to side, moving constantly downstream, feeling +here, there and everywhere with insensate fingers for the body of +Rosabel Vick. + +A pall settled over the river; it reached far beyond the environs +of Windomville, for Amos Vick was a man known and respected by +every farmer in the district. + +Night came. Courtney Thane, considerably shaken by the tragedy, +set out immediately after dinner for the home of Alix Crown. He +had been silent and depressed at dinner, taking his little part in +the conversation, which dealt exclusively with the incomprehensible +act of young Rosabel Vick. + +"What possible reason could that pretty happy young girl have had +for killing herself?" That was the question every one asked and +no one answered. Mrs. Maude Baggs Pollock repeatedly asked it at +dinner, and once Thane had replied: + +"I still don't believe she killed herself. It is beyond belief. +If she is out there in the river, as they suspect, it is because +there was foul play. Some fiend attacked her. I will never believe +anything else, Mrs. Pollock. I knew her too well. She would never +dream of killing herself. She loved life too well. I can't help +feeling that she is alive and well somewhere, that they will hear +from her in a day or two, and that--" + +"But how about the things they found in that boat?" demanded Doc +Simpson. "She wouldn't be so heartless as to play a trick like that +on her folks." + +Courtney's answer was a gloomy shake of the head. + +His heart was pounding heavily as he trudged up the walk to +Alix's door. He knew that the crisis in his affairs was at hand. +She had asked him to come. He had not given up hope. He was still +confident of his power to win in spite of her amazing perversity. +Inconsistency, he called it. Of one thing he was resolved: he would +brook no delay. She would have to marry him at once. He wanted to +get away from Windomville as soon as possible. He loathed the place. + +Hilda came to the door. + +"Miss Crown is over at Mr. Vick's," she announced. "She's not at +home." + +He stiffened. "I had an appointment with her for this evening, +Hilda. She must be at home." + +"She ain't," said the maid succinctly. + +"Did she leave any word for me?" + +"Not with me, sir. She telephoned to Mrs. Strong this evening to +say she was going to stay with Mrs. Vick." + +"All night?" + +"No, sir. The car's going down to meet her at the ferry about ten +o'clock." + +He departed in a very unpleasant frame of mind. This was laying it +on a bit thick, he complained. If she thought she could treat him +in this cavalier fashion she'd soon find out where she "got off." +What business had she, anyhow, over at the Vicks? All the old women +in the neighbourhood would be there to--An idea struck him suddenly. + +"I'll do it," he muttered. "I'll have to go over some time, so why +not now? It's the decent thing to do. I'll go tonight." + +He hurried up to his room. Opening his trunk, he took out his +revolver, replaced the discharged shells and stuck it into his +overcoat pocket. Picking up the little package of bank-notes, he +fingered them for a moment and then, moved by an impulse for which +he had no explanation, he not only counted them but quickly stuffed +them into his trousers' pocket. Afterwards he was convinced that +premonition was responsible for this incomprehensible act. + +He crossed the ferry with several other people. The moon had broken +through the clouds. Its light upon the cold, sluggish water produced +the effect of polished steel. It reminded him of the grey surface +of an ancient suit of armour. The crossing was slow. He could not +repress a shudder when he looked downstream and saw lights that +seemed to be fixed in the centre of the river. He closed his eyes. +He could not bear to look at the cold, silent water. The soft +splashing against the broad, square bow of the old-fashioned ferry +served to increase his nervousness. The horrid fancy struck him +that Rosabel Vick was out there ahead clawing at the slimy timbers +in the vain effort to draw herself out of the water....He wished +to God he had not come. + +He was the first person off the ferry when it came to a stop on +the farther side of the river. Ahead of him lay the road through +the narrow belt of trees that lined the bank. He knew that a scant +hundred yards lay between the river and the open road beyond and +yet a vast dread possessed him. He shrank from that black opening +in the wall of trees where dead leaves rustled and the wind whispered +secrets to the barren branches. + +He fell in behind a couple of men who strode fearlessly into the +dark avenue. After him came two men and a woman. They were all +strangers to him, so far as he could make out, but he felt a sense +of security in their nearness. He gathered that they were bound for +Amos Vick's. Presently they came to the open road beyond the trees. +The half moon rode high and clear; the figures of his companions took +shape, dusky and ghost-like; the fences alongside the road became +visible, while straw-ricks, lone trees and other shadowy objects +emerged from the maw of the night. Here and there in the distance +points of light indicated the presence of invisible farmhouses, +while straight ahead, a mile or more away, a cluster of lights +marked the house of Amos Vick. + +As he drew nearer, Thane was able to count the lights. He looked +intently for the sixth window, an upstairs corner room was where +it would be,--but there were lights in only five. The corner window +was dark. He knew that window well....He wished he had a stiff +drink of whiskey. + +Half a dozen automobiles stood at the roadside in front of the +house. He stopped beside one of them to look at his wrist-watch. +It was half-past eight. Alix would be starting home in less than +an hour. No doubt it had been arranged that one of these cars was +to take her down to the ferry. He had seen her saddle horse late +that afternoon standing in front of the blacksmith's shop, evidently +waiting to be re-shod. + +If he had his way,--and he was determined to have it,--Alix would +walk with him to the ferry. + +As he turned in at the gate he observed that the woman and her +two companions, after pausing for a moment to look at the house, +continued their way up the road. The men who had preceded him all +the way were already on the front porch. He followed the disappearing +trio with his eyes. The woman, he noticed for the first time, was +very tall,--quite as tall as the men. She wore a shawl over her +head, and some sort of a long cloak. + +Setting his jaw he strode up the walk, looking neither to right nor +left, mounted the steps where many a night he had sat with Rosabel +beside him, and after passing a group of low-voiced neighbours, +knocked on the closed door. He was admitted by an elderly woman +who looked askance at this well-dressed stranger. + +"I am Mr. Thane, a friend," he said. "Will you tell Mrs. Vick, +please?" + +"She's upstairs, and I--I--" + +"I think she is expecting me. But,--wait. I thought I might be able +to comfort her, but I can see by your expression that she isn't +feeling up to seeing people. I came over primarily to see if there +is anything I can do, Madam. You see, Rosabel and I were great +pals." His voice broke a little, and he bit his nether lip. + +"We've finally got her to lie down," said the woman. "She's--she's +nearly crazy with the suspense and--everything. If you'll wait a +little bit, I'll find out if she feels like seeing you. Alix Crown +is with her. She coaxed her to stretch out on the bed. Miss Crown +understands these things. She did some hospital work during the +war--" + +"Yes, I know Miss Crown," he interrupted. + +"--and saw a lot of suffering, 'specially among mothers who came +to see their crippled and sick sons in the hospitals." + +"Perhaps if you were to tell Miss Crown that I am here she could--but +no, I sha'n't even bother Miss Crown. She's got her hands full. I +will sit down and wait awhile, however. If by any chance, you should +be able to get word to Mrs. Vick that I am here, I think she might +feel like seeing me." + +"I'll see," said the woman dubiously, and went away. + +Courtney sat down on a sofa in the parlour. He looked around the +lamp-lit room....Over in the corner was the upright piano on which +Rosabel used to play for him. He could see her now--the shapely, +girlish back; the round, white neck and the firm young shoulders; +the tilt of her head; the strong, brown hands,--he could see her now. +And she used to turn her head and smile at him, and make dreadful +grimaces when this diversion resulted in a discord....He got up +suddenly and walked out into the dining-room. + +Beyond, in the kitchen, he heard the rumble of men's voices. He +hesitated for a moment, and then opened the door. There were half +a dozen men in the kitchen, and one of them was Amos Vick. They +were preparing to go out into the night. Vick's face was haggard, +his garments were muddy, his long rubber boots were covered with +sludge and sand. Catching sight of Thane in the doorway, the farmer +went toward him, his hand outstretched. + +"I'm glad you came, Courtney," he said, his voice hoarse but steady. +"Lucinda will be pleased. Does she know you're here?" + +"I sent word up, but if she doesn't feel like--" + +"She'll want to see you. We're starting out again. Down the river." +(His voice shook a little.) "My soul,--boy,--you look as white as +a sheet. Here,--take a good swig of this. It's some rye that Steve +White brought over. We all needed it. Help yourself. You've been +overdoing a little today, Courtney. You're not fit for this sort +of--That's right! That will brace you up. You needed it, my boy." +Courtney drained half a tumbler of whiskey neat. He choked a little. + +"I guess we'd better be starting, Amos," said Steve White. + +"Take me along with you, Mr. Vick," cried Courtney, squaring his +shoulders. "I can't stand being idle while--" + +"You'd catch your death of cold," interrupted Vick, laying his +hand on the young man's shoulder. "It's mighty fine of you and I--I +sha'n't forget it. But you're not fit for an all night job like +this. I feel sort of responsible for you, my boy. Your mother would +never forgive me if anything happened to you, and this is a time +when we've got to think about the mothers. Good night,--God bless +you, Courtney." + +"Good night, Amos." + +The men trooped heavily out of the kitchen door. + +Presently he heard the chugging of automobile engines and then the +roar as they sped off down the road. He returned to the parlour. +The whiskey had given him fresh confidence. + +The elderly woman was talking to a couple of men in the hall. From +the scraps of conversation he was able to pick up, he gathered that +they were reporters from the city. She invited him into the room. + +"We would prefer a very recent picture," one of the men was saying. +"Something taken within the last few weeks, if possible. A snap-shot +will do, Madam." + +The speaker was a middle-aged man with horn-rimmed spectacles. +His companion was much the younger of the two. The latter bowed +to Thane, who had taken a position before the fireplace and was +regarding the strangers with interest. + +"I'll have to speak to Mrs. Vick," murmured the woman. "I don't +know as she would want Rosabel's picture printed in the papers." + +"It would be of incalculable assistance, Madam, in case she has +run away from home. We have an idea that she may have planted those +garments in the boat in order to throw people off the track." + +"Oh, she--she wouldn't have done that," cried the woman. "She +couldn't be so heartless." + +"You overlook the possibility that her mind may be affected. Dementia +frequently takes the form of--er--you might say unnatural cunning." + +"I'll speak to Mrs. Vick. There's a scrap-book of Kodak pictures +there on the table. I was looking through it today. She and her +brother, Cale, made heaps of pictures. You might be looking through +it while I go upstairs." + +Thane was lighting a cigarette. + +"Have you told Miss Crown that I am here?" asked he, as she started +toward the stairs. + +"She says she'll be down in a few minutes. Mrs. Vick wants to see +you before you go." + +The two reporters were examining the contents of the scrap-book. +The younger of the two was standing at the end of the little +marble-topped table, his body screening the book from Courtney's +view. + +There were a number of loose prints lying between the leaves toward +the end of the book. Rosabel had neglected to paste them in. The +man with the horn-rimmed spectacles ran through them hastily. He +stealthily slipped two of these prints up his sleeve. + +Thane would have been startled could he have seen those prints. They +were not pictures of Rosabel Vick, but fair-sized, quite excellent +likenesses of himself! + +The woman returned to say that Mrs. Vick was very much upset by +the thought of her daughter's picture appearing in the paper, and +could not think of allowing them to use it. + +The elder man bowed courteously. "I quite understand, Madam. We +would not dream of using the picture if it would give pain to the +unhappy mother. Please assure her that we respect her wishes. Thank +you for your kindness. We must be on our way back to town. Good +night, Madam." + +"These reporters are awful nuisances," remarked Courtney as the +front door closed behind the two men. "Always butting in where +they're not wanted." + +"They seemed very nice," observed the woman. + +"I've never seen one that wasn't a sneak," said he, raising his +voice a little. The whiskey was having its effect. + +Mrs. Vick and Alix entered the room together. The former came +straight toward the young man. Her rather heavy face was white and +drawn, but her eyes were wide and bright with anxiety. There was +no trace of tears. He knew there would be no scene, no hysterics. +Lucinda Vick was made of stern, heroic stuff. As he advanced, +holding out his hands, he noticed that she was fully dressed. She +could be ready at a moment's notice to go to her daughter. + +"Oh, Courtney!" she cried, and a little spasm of pain convulsed +her face for a fleeting second or two. Her voice was husky, tight +with strain. + +He took her cold, trembling hands in his. + +"It's inconceivable," he cried. "I can't believe it, I won't believe +it. You poor, poor thing!" + +"It's true. She's gone. My little girl is gone. I could curse God." +She spoke in a low, emotionless voice. "Why should He have taken +her in this way? What have we done to deserve this cruelty? Why +couldn't He have let her die in my arms, with her head upon my +breast,--where it belongs?" + +"Don't give up--yet," he stammered, confounded by this amazing +exhibition of self-control. "There is a chance,--yes, there is a +chance, Mrs. Vick. Don't give up. Be--be brave." + +She shook her head. "She is dead," came from her stiff lips, and +that was all. + +He laid his arm across her shoulder. "I wish to God it was me instead +of her," he cried fervently. "I would take her place--willingly, +Mrs. Vick." + +"I--I know you would, Courtney," said she, looking into his eyes. +"You were her best friend. She adored you. I know you would,--God +bless you!" + +He looked away. His gaze fell upon Alix, standing in the door. His +eyes brightened. The hunted expression left them. An eager, hungry +light came into them. She was staring at him. Gradually he came to +the realization that she was looking at him with unspeakable horror. + +Mrs. Vick was speaking. He hardly heard a word she uttered. + +"It was kind of you to come, Courtney. Thank you. I must go now. +I--I can't stand it,--I can't stand it!" + +She left him abruptly. Alix stood aside to allow her to pass through +the door. They heard her go up the stairs, heavily, hurriedly. + +"Alix!" he whispered, holding out his hands. + +She did not move. + +"I went up to the house to see you," he hurried on. "They told me +you were here. I--" + +Her gesture checked the eager words. + +"You snake!" She fairly hissed the word. + +He drew back, speechless. She came a few steps nearer. + +"You snake!" she repeated, her eyes blazing. + +"Wha--What do you mean?" he gasped, a fiery red rushing to his +face. + +"Would you have died for the Ritter girl?" + +A bomb exploding at his feet could not have produced a greater shock. +His mouth fell open; the colour swiftly receded, leaving his face +a sickly white. + +"Who the hell--" he began blankly. + +"Be good enough to remember where you are," cried Alix, lowering +her voice as she glanced over her shoulder. "I can say all I have +to say to you in a very few words, Mr. Thane. Don't interrupt me. +I have been a fool,--a stupid fool. We need not go into that. Thank +heaven, I happen to be made of a little stronger stuff than others +who have come under your influence. You would have MARRIED me,--yes, +I believe that,--because it would have been the only way. I have +the complete history of your betrayal of the Ritter girl. I know +how your leg was injured. I know that you were kicked out of the +American Ambulance and advised to leave France. I don't believe +you ever served in the British Army. I have every reason to believe +that you poisoned my dog, and that you,--were the man who came to +my window the other night. And I suspect that you are the cause of +poor Rosabel Vick's suicide. Now you know what I think of you. My +God, how could you have come here tonight? These people trusted +you,--they still trust you. Until now I did not believe such men +as you existed. You--" + +"I had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with Rosabel," he cried +hoarsely. He was trembling like a leaf. "Don't you go putting such +ideas into their heads. Don't you--" + +"Oh, I am not likely to do that," she interrupted scornfully. "I +shall not add to their misery. If I could prove that you betrayed +that poor, foolish child,--then I would see to it that you paid +the price. But I cannot prove it. I only know that she would have +been helpless in your hands. Oh, I know your power! I have felt it. +And I did not even pretend to myself that I loved you. What chance +would she have had if she loved and trusted you? I shudder at the +thought of--If Amos Vick should even suspect you of wronging his +child, he would not wait for proof. He would tear you to pieces. +You may be innocent. That is why I am giving you your chance. Now, +go!" + +"You certainly will give me the opportunity to defend myself, Alix. +Am I to be condemned unheard? If you will allow me to walk to the +ferry with you--" + +"And who is to act as my bodyguard?" she inquired with a significant +sneer. "Go! I never want to see your face again." + +With that, she left him. He stood perfectly still, staring after +the slender, boyish figure until it was hidden from view by the +bend of the stairway. + +His eyes were glassy. Fear possessed his soul. Suddenly he was +aroused to action. + +"I'd better get out of this," he muttered. + +His hand clutched the weapon in his coat pocket as he strode swiftly +toward the front door. Once outside he paused to look furtively about +him before descending the porch steps. Several men were standing +near the gate. The porch was deserted. He wondered if Amos Vick was +down there waiting for him. Then he remembered what Alix had said +to him: "These people trust you,--they still trust you." What had +he to fear? He laughed,--a short, jerky, almost inaudible laugh,--and +went confidently down the walk. As he passed the little group +he uttered a brief "good night" to the men, and was rewarded by a +friendly response from all of them. + +Down the moonlit road he trudged, his brain working rapidly, +feverishly. In his heart was the rage of defeat, in his soul the +clamour of fear,--not fear now of the dark strip of woods but of +the whole world about him. He communed aloud. + +"The first thing to do is to pack. I've got to do that tonight. +I'm through here. The jig's up. She means it. How the devil did +she find out all this stuff?...But if I leave immediately it +will look suspicious. I've got to stick around for a few days. If +I beat it tomorrow morning some one's bound to ask questions. It +will look queer. Tomorrow I'll receive an urgent letter calling me +home. Mother needs me. Her health is bad....I wonder if an autopsy +would reveal anything....Tomorrow sure. I can't stand it here +another day....There's nothing to worry about,--not a thing,--but +what's the sense of my hanging around here any longer? She's on. +Some meddling whelp has been--Good Lord, I wonder if it could be +that fat fool, Webster?...If I skip out tonight, it would set Vick +to thinking....What a fool I was...." + +And so on till he came to the woods. There, his face blanched and +his heart began to pound like a hammer. He drew the revolver from +his pocket and plunged desperately into the black tunnel; he was +out of breath when he ran down to the landing. + +Through the gloom he distinguished the ferry boat three-quarters of +the way across the river, nearing the opposite bank. His "halloa" +brought an answer from the ferryman. Cursing his luck in missing +the boat by so short a margin of time, he sat down heavily on the +stout wooden wall that guarded the approach. It would be ten or +fifteen minutes before the tortoise-like craft could recross and +pick him up. His gaze instantly went downstream. The faint, rhythmic +sound of oarlocks came to his ears. There were no lights on the +river, but after a time he made out the vague shape of an object +moving on the surface a long way off. From time to time it was +lost in the shadows of the tree-lined bank, only to steal into view +again as it moved slowly across a jagged opening in the far-reaching +wall of black. It was a boat coming upstream, hugging the bank to +avoid the current farther out. + +Some one approached. He turned quickly and beheld the figure of +a woman coming down the road. His heart leaped. Could it be Alix? +He dismissed the thought immediately. This was a tall woman--in +skirts. She came quite close and stopped, her gaze evidently +fixed upon him. Then she moved a little farther down the slope and +stood watching the ferry which, by this time, was moving out from +the farther side. He recognized the figure. It was that of the +gaunt woman who crossed with him earlier in the night. + +The ferry was drawing out from the Windomville side when a faint +shout came from down the river. Burk answered the call, which was +repeated. + +"This is my busy night," growled the ferryman. "I ain't been up +this late in a coon's age. Not since the Old Settlers' Picnic three +years ago down at the old fort. I wonder if those fellers have got +any news?" + +Courtney stepped off the boat a few minutes later and hurried up +the hill. The woman followed. At the top of the slope he passed +three or four men standing in the shelter of the blacksmith shop, +where they were protected from the sharp, chill wind that had +sprung up. A loud shout from below caused him to halt. Burk, the +ferryman, had called out through his cupped hands: + +"What say?" + +The wind bore the answer from an unseen speaker in the night, clear +and distinct: "We've got her!" + + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE THROWER OF STONES + + + + +An icy chill, as of a great gust of wind, swept through and over +Courtney Thane. His mouth seemed suddenly to fill with water. He +could not move. The men by the forge ran swiftly down the hill. The +tall woman turned and after a moment followed the men, stopping in +the middle of the road a few rods above the landing. She was still +standing there when Courtney recovering his power of locomotion +struck off rapidly in the direction of Dowd's Tavern. Halfway home +he came to an abrupt halt. An inexplicable irresistible force was +drawing his mind and body back to the river's edge. He did not want +to go back there and see--Rosabel. He tried not to turn his steps +in that direction, and yet something like a magnet was dragging +him. A sort of fascination,--the fascination that goes with dread, +and horror, and revulsion--took hold of him....He moved slowly, +hesitatingly at first, then swiftly, not directly back over the +ground he had just covered but by a circuitous route that took him +through the lot at the rear of the forge. He made his way stealthily +down the slope, creeping along behind a thick hedge of hazel brush +to a point just above the ferry landing and to the left of the old +dilapidated wharf. Here he could see without himself being seen.... +He watched them lift a dark, inanimate object from the boat and +lay it on the wharf....He heard men's voices in excited, subdued +conversation....He saw the tall woman running up the road toward +the town. She paused within a dozen feet of his hiding place.... +Then something happened to him. He seemed to be losing the sense +of sight and the sense of hearing. His brain was blurred, the sound +of voices trailed off into utter silence. He felt the earth giving +way beneath his quaking knees....The next he knew, men's voices +fell upon his dull, uncomprehending ears. Gradually his senses +returned. Out of the confused jumble words took shape. He heard +his own name mentioned. Instantly his every faculty was alive. + +Through the brush he could see the dark, indistinct forms of three +or four men. They were in the road just below him. + +"You shouldn't have let him out of your sight," one of the men was +saying. "Hang it all, we can't let him give us the slip now." + +The listener's eyes, sharpened by anxiety, made out the figure of +the woman. She spoke,--and he was startled to hear the deep voice +of a man. + +"He was making for the boarding house. Webster says he is not in +his room. I took it for granted he was going home or I wouldn't +have turned back." + +Where had he heard that voice before? It was strangely familiar. + +"Well, we've got to locate him. I'll stake my life he is George +Ritchie. I compared this snap-shot with the photograph I have with +me. Shave off that dinky little moustache and I'll bet a hundred +to one you'll have Ritchie's mug all right. Hustle back there, +Gilfillan,--you and Simons. He'll be turning up at the house unless +he's got wind of us. Don't let him see you. You stay here with me, +Constable. The chances are he'll come back here to wait for Miss +Crown, if he's as badly stuck on her as you say, Gilfillan. They're +all fools about women." + +The hidden listener was no longer quaking. His body was tense, his +mind was working like lightning. He was wide awake, alert; the +fingers that clutched the weapon in his pocket were firm and steady; +he scarcely breathed for fear of betraying his presence, but the +courage of the hunted was in his heart. + +The little group broke up. Constable Foss and one of the strangers +remained on the spot, the others vanished up the road. He glanced +over his shoulder in the direction of the wharf. A long dark object +was lying near the edge, while some distance away a small knot of +men stood talking. The moon, riding high, cast a cold, sickly light +upon the scene. + +"I've always been kind of suspicious of him," Foss was saying, his +voice lowered. "What did you say his real name is?" + +"His real name is Thane, I suppose. I guess there's no doubt about +that. Mind you, I'm not sure he's the man we've been looking for +these last six months, but I'm pretty sure of it. Last February +two men and a woman tried to smuggle a lot of diamonds through the +customs at New York. I'll not go into details now further than to +say they landed from one of the big ocean liners and came within +an ace of getting away with the job. The woman was the leader. She +was nabbed with one of the men at a hotel. The other man got away. +He was on the passenger list as George Ritchie, of Cleveland, Ohio. +The woman had half a dozen photographs of him in her possession. +I've got a copy of one of 'em in my pocket now, and it's so much +like this fellow Thane that you'd swear it was of the same man. This +morning Gilfillan,--that's the Pinkerton man,--telephoned to his +chief in Chicago to notify the federal authorities that he was almost +dead certain that our man was here. He's a wonder at remembering +faces, and he had seen our photographs. Simons and I took the +three o'clock train. Gilfillan met us in the city and brought us +out after we had instructed the police to be ready to help us in +case he got onto us and gave us the slip." + +"How much of a reward is offered?" inquired Foss. + +"We are not supposed to be rewarded for doing our duty," replied +the Secret Service man curtly. "He got away from us and it's our +business to catch him again. You can bet he's our man. He wouldn't +be hanging around a burg like this for months unless he had a blamed +good reason for keeping out of sight." + +"He's been in mighty bad health,--and, if anybody should ask you, +there ain't a healthier place in the world than right here in--" + +"It's healthier than most jails," admitted the other with a chuckle. + +"Umph!" grunted Mr. Foss, delivering without words a full and +graphic opinion on the subject of humour as it exists in the minds +of people who live in large cities. He chewed for a time in silence. +"What became of the woman and the other man?" + +"Oh, they were sent up,--I don't know for how long. They're old hands. +Husband and wife. Steamship gamblers before the war. Fleeced any +number of suckers. She must be a peach, judging from the pictures +I've seen of her. They probably would have got away with this last +job if she and Ritchie hadn't tried to put something over on friend +husband. She had the can all ready to tie to him when he got wise +and laid for her lover with a gun. The revenue people had been +tipped off by agents in Paris and traced the couple to the hotel. +They sprung the trap too soon, however, and the second man got +away." + +"Well, I guess there ain't any question but what this feller here +is old Silas Thane's grandson. They say he's the livin' image of +old Silas. So he must have sailed under a false name." + +"They usually do," said the other patiently. + +"And you want me to arrest him on suspicion, eh?" + +"Certainly. You're a county official, aren't you?" + +"I'm an officer of the law." + +"Well, that's the answer. We are obliged to turn such matters over +to the local authorities. What do you suppose I'm telling you about +the case for? When I give the word, you land him and--well, Uncle +Sam will do the rest, never fear." + +"That's all right, but supposin' he ain't the man you're after and +he turns around and sues me for false arrest?" + +"You can detain anybody on information and belief, my friend. Don't +you know that?" + +"Certainly," said Mr. Foss with commendable asperity. "Supposin' +he's got a revolver?" + +"He probably has,--but so have we. Don't worry. He won't have a +chance to use it. Hello! Isn't that a man standing up there by that +telephone pole? We'll just stroll up that way. Don't hurry. Keep +cool. Talk about the drowning." + +They were halfway up the hill before Courtney moved. Every nerve +was aquiver as he raised himself to his feet and looked cautiously +about. The thing he feared had come to pass, but even as he crouched +there in the shelter of the bushes the means of salvation flashed +through his mind. He realized that the next fifteen or twenty +minutes would convince these dogged, experienced man chasers that +their quarry had "got wind of them" and was in flight. The hunt would +be on in grim earnest; the alarm would go out in all directions. +Men would be watching for him at every cross-roads, every railway +station, every village, and directing the hunt would be--these men +who never give up until they "land" their man. + +His only chance lay in keeping under cover for a day or two,--or +even longer,--until the chase went farther afield and he could +take the risk of venturing forth from his hiding place. He had the +place in mind. They would never think of looking for him in that +sinister hole in the wall, Quill's Window! There he could lie in +perfect safety until the coast was clear, and then by night steal +down the river in the wake of pursuit. + +Their first thoughts would be of the railroad, the highways and +the city. They would not beat the woods for him. They would cut +off all avenues of escape and set their traps at the end of every +trail, confident that he would walk into them perforce before +another day was done. + +Like a ghost he stole across the little clearing that lay between +the road and the willows above the ferry. The snapping of a twig +under his feet, the scuffling of a pebble, the rustling of dead +leaves and grass, the scraping of his garments against weeds and +shrubbery, were sounds that took on the magnitude of ear-splitting +crashes. It was all he could do to keep from breaking into a mad, +reckless dash for the trees at the farther side of this moonlit +stretch. With every cautious, fox-like step, he expected the shout +of alarm to go up from behind, and with that shout he knew restraint +would fail him; he would throw discretion to the winds and bolt +like a frightened rabbit, and the dogs would be at his heels. + +He was nearing the trees when he heard some one running in the road, +now a hundred yards behind him. Stooping still lower, he increased +his speed almost to a run. The sound of footsteps ceased abruptly; +the runner had come to a sudden halt. Thane reached the thicket +in another stride or two and paused for a few seconds to listen. A +quick little thrill of relief shot through him. No one was coming +along behind him. The runner, whoever he was, had not seen him; no +cry went up, no loud yell of "There he goes!" + +Picking his way carefully down the slope he came to the trail of +the Indians, over which he had trudged recently on his trip to the +great rock. He could tell by the feel of the earth under his feet +that he was on the hard, beaten path by the river's edge. Now he +went forward more rapidly, more confidently. There were times when +he had to cross little moon-streaked openings among the trees, and +at such times he stooped almost to a creeping position. + +Occasionally he paused in his flight to listen for sounds of pursuit. +Once his heart seemed to stop beating. He was sure that he heard +footsteps back on the trail behind him. Again, as he drew near the +rock-strewn base of the hill, a sound as of some one scrambling +through the underbrush came to his straining ears, but the noise +ceased even as he stopped to listen. He laughed at his fears. An +echo, no doubt, of his own footsteps; the wind thrashing a broken +limb; the action of the water upon some obstruction along the bank. + +Nevertheless he dropped to his hands and knees when he came to the +outlying boulders and jagged slabs close to the foot of the black, +towering mass. There was no protecting foliage here. Never in his +life had he known the moon to shine so brightly. He whispered curses +to the high-hanging lantern in the sky. + +The murmur of the river below brought a consoling thought to him. +He would not suffer from thirst. He could go without food for a +couple of days, even longer. Had not certain English women survived +days and days of a voluntary hunger strike? But he could not do +without water. In the black hours before dawn he would climb down +from his eerie den and drink his fill at the river's brink. + +Now a sickening fear gripped him. What if he were to find it +impossible to scale that almost perpendicular steep? What if those +hand-hewn clefts in the rock fell short of reaching to the cave's +entrance? The processes of time and the elements may have sealed +or obliterated the shallow hand and toe holds. His blood ran cold. +He had dreaded the prospect of that hazardous climb up the face +of the rock. Now he was overcome by an even greater dread: that he +would be unable to reach the place of refuge. + +He had no thought of Alix Crown now--no thought of her beauty, her +body, her riches. His cherished dream was over. She took her place +among other forgotten dreams. The sinister business of saving his +own skin drove her out of his mind. It drove out all thought of +Rosabel Vick. The hounds were at his heels. It was no time to think +of women! + +II + +Anxiety that touched almost upon despair hastened his steps. +Abandoning caution, he ran recklessly up the path among the rocks, +stumbling and reeling but always keeping his feet, and came at last +to the gloomy, forbidding facade of Quill's Window. Here he groped +along the wall, clawing for the sunken cleats with eager, trembling +hands. He knew they were there--somewhere. Not only had he seen +them, he had climbed with ease, hand over hand, ten or a dozen +feet up the cliff. He had shuddered a little that day as he looked +first over his shoulder and then upward along the still unsealed +stretch that lay between him and the mouth of the cave, seventy +or eighty feet away. But that was in broad daylight. It would be +different now, with darkness as his ally. + +He remembered thinking that day how easy it would be to reach +Quill's Window by this rather simple route. All that was required +was a stout heart, a steady hand, and a good pair of arms. All of +these were bestowed upon him by magic of darkness. It was what the +light revealed that made a coward of him. Why, he could shut his +eyes tight and go up that cliff by night as easily as--but where +were the slots? + +At last his hand encountered one of the sharp edges. He reached up +and found the next one above,--and then for the first time realized +that his eyes had been closed all the time he was feeling along +the cold surface of the rock. He opened them in a start of actual +bewilderment. The blackish mass rose almost sheer above him, like +a vast wall upon which the moon cast a dull, murky light. He closed +his eyes again and leaned heavily against the rock. His heart began +to beat horribly. He felt his courage slipping; he wondered if he +had the strength, the nerve to go on; he saw himself halfway up that +endless wall, clutching wildly to save himself when a treacherous +hand-hold broke loose and-- + +He opened his eyes and tried to pierce the shadows below the rocky +path. Was it best to hide in that hole up there, after all? Would +it not be wiser, now that he had a fair start, to keep on up the +river, trusting to-- + +A chorus of automobile horns in the distance came to his ears +suddenly,--a confused jumble of raucous blasts produced by many +cars. The alarm! The search was on! The wild shriek of a siren +broke the stillness near at hand, followed a few seconds later by +the gradually increasing roar of an engine as it sped up the dirt +road not three hundred yards to his left,--the road that ran past +the gate on the other side of the hill. God! They were getting +close! + +Another and even more disturbing sound came to him as he stood with +his fingers gripping one of the little ledges, the toe of his shoe +fumbling for a foothold in another. Somewhere back on the trail he +had just traversed, a rock went clattering down to the river. He +heard it bounding--and the splash as it shot into the water. + +He hesitated no longer. Shutting his eyes, he began the ascent.... + +A dark object turned the corner of the cliff below and moved slowly, +cautiously along the wall. Suddenly it stopped. From somewhere in +the gloom ahead came a strange and puzzling sound, as of the dragging +of a tree limb across the face of the rock. The crouching object +in the trail straightened up and was transformed into the tall, +shadowy figure of a man. + +For many seconds he stood motionless, listening, his eyes searching +the trail ahead. The queer sound of scraping went on, broken at +intervals by the faint rattle of sand or dirt upon the rocky path. +At last he looked up. Far up the face of the cliff a bulky, shapeless +thing was crawling, slowly but surely like a great beetle. + +The watcher could not believe his eyes. And yet there could be no +mistake. Something WAS crawling up the sheer face of the cliff, a +bulging shadow dimly outlined against the starlit sky. + +The man below went forward swiftly. Twice he stooped to search with +eager hands for something at his feet, but always with his gaze +fixed on the creeping shadow. He knew the creeper's goal: that +black streak in the wall above, rendered thin by foreshortening. +He knew the creeper! + +Twenty or thirty paces short of the ladder he stopped. From that +spot he hurled his first rock. His was a young, powerful arm and +the missile sped upward as if shot from a catapult. It struck the +face of the cliff a short distance above the head of the climber +and glanced off to go hurtling down among the trees beyond. + +Thane stopped as if paralysed. For one brief, horrible moment he +felt every vestige of strength deserting him, oozing out through +his tense, straining finger-tips. The shock had stunned him. He +moaned,--a little whimpering moan. He was about to fall! He could +hold on no longer with those weak, trembling hands. His brain +reeled. A great dizziness seized him. He clung frantically to the +face of the rock, making a desperate effort to regain his failing +senses. Suddenly his strength returned; he was stronger than ever. +A miracle had happened. + +The mouth of the cave was not more than half a dozen feet above +him. He opened his eyes for one brief, daring glance upward. Not +more than five or six steps to go. Gritting his teeth he went on. +Now only four more ledges to grip, four more footholds to find. + +A second stone whizzed past his head and struck with a crash beyond +him. He heard it whistle, he felt the rush of air. + +"God! If that had got my head! What an inhuman devil he is! The +dirty beast!" + +The fourth stone caught him in the side after glancing off the wall +to his left. He groaned aloud, but gripped more fiercely than ever +at his slender support. For a few seconds he could not move. Then +he reached up and felt for the next "cleat." He found it but, like +many others he had encountered, it was filled with sand and dirt. +That meant delay. He would have to dig it out with his fingers +before risking his grip on the edge. Fast and feverishly he worked. +Another stone struck below his feet. + +"Hey!" he yelled. "Let up on that! Do you want to kill me? Cut it +out! I can't get away, you damned fool! You've got me cornered." +His voice was high and shrill. + +The answer was another stone which grazed his leg. + +A moment later he reached over and felt along the floor of the cave +for the final hold. Finding it, he drew himself up over the edge +and crawled, weak and half fainting, out of range of the devilish +marksman. + +For a long time he lay still, gasping for breath. They had him cold! +There was no use in trying to think of a way out of his difficulty. +All he wanted now was to rest, a chance to pull himself together. After +all was said and done, what were a few years in the penitentiary? +He was young. Five years--even ten,--what were they at his time +of life? He would be thirty-five, at the most forty, when he came +out, and as fit as he was when he went in. + +"It was all my fault anyway," he reflected bitterly. "If I had let +Madge alone I--Oh,--what's the use belly-aching now! That's all +over,--and here am I, paying pretty blamed dearly for a month's +pleasure. They've got me. There's no way out of it now. Jail! +Well, worse things could happen than that. What will mother think? +I suppose it will hurt like the devil. But she could have fixed +this if she'd loosened up a bit. She could have gone to Washington +as I told her to do and--hell, it wouldn't have cost her half as +much as it will to defend me in court. She can't get a decent lawyer +under--well, God knows how many thousands." + +He sat up and unbuttoned his overcoat in order to feel of the spot +where the stone had struck him. He winced a little. After a moment's +reflection he drew a box of matches from his pocket. + +"No harm in striking a match now," he chattered aloud. "I may as +well see what sort of a place it is." + +He crawled farther back in the cave, out of the wind, and struck +a match. His hand shook violently, his chin quivered. During the +life of the brief flare, the interior of Quill's Window was revealed +to him. The cave was perhaps twenty feet deep and almost as wide +at the front, with an uneven, receding roof and a flat floor that +dropped at no inconsiderable slant toward the rear. It appeared +to be empty except for the remains of two or three broken-up boxes +over against one of the walls. He struck a second match to light +a cigarette, continuing his scrutiny while the tiny blaze lasted. +He saw no bones, no ghastly skulls, no signs of the ancient tragedies +that made the place abhorrent. + +He crawled back to the entrance. Lying flat, he peered over the +ledge. + +"Hallo, down there!" he called out. No response. He shouted once +more, his voice cracking a little. + +"Where are you?" + +This time he got an answer. A hoarse voice replied: + +"I'm here, all right." + +Thane forced a laugh. + +"Well, I'm up here, all right. You've got me treed. What's the +idea? Waiting for me to come down?" No answer, "Say, it's worth a +lot of money to you if you'll just walk on and forget that I'm up +here. I'll give you my word of honour to come across with enough +to put you on easy street for the rest of your life." He heard the +man below walking up and down the path. + +"Did you hear what I said? You can't pick up twenty-five thousand +every day, you know." He waited for the response that never came. +"Honesty isn't always the best policy. Think it over." Another long +silence. Then: "I suppose you know the government does not pay any +reward." Still that heavy, steady tread. "If you think I'm going +to come down you're jolly well off your nut." He wriggled nearer +the edge and peered over. The black form shuttled restlessly back +and forth past the foot of the ladder, for all the world like a lion +in its cage. Presently it moved off toward the bend at the corner +of the cliff, where it stopped, still in view of the man above,--a +vague, shapeless object in the faint light of the moon. + +Many minutes passed. Ten, fifteen,--they seemed hours to the trapped +fugitive,--and then he heard a voice, suppressed but distinct. + +"Who's there?" + +There was a moment's silence, and then another voice replied, but +he could not make out the words. + +The man stepped out of sight around the bend. A few seconds later, +Thane heard a jumble of voices. Drawing away from the ledge, he +slunk deeper into the cave. He heard some one running along the +trail, and a muffled voice giving directions. He drew a deep, long +breath. + +"The death watch, eh?" he muttered. "They're going to sit there +till I have to come out. Like vultures. They haven't the nerve to +come up here after me. The rotten cowards!" + +Then he heard something that caused him to start up in a sort of +panic. He stood half erect, crouching back against the wall, his +eyes glued on the opening, his hand fumbling nervously for the +revolver in his pocket. + +Some one was climbing up the cliff! + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +A MESSAGE AND ITS ANSWER + + + + +Charlie Webster met Alix at the ferry. The body of the drowned +girl had been removed to Hart's Undertaking Parlours and Expert +Carpenter's Shop in obedience to the County Coroner's instructions +by telephone. + +The fat man was so overcome by excitement he could hardly speak. +Sitting beside Alix in the automobile, he rattled on at a great +rate about the extraordinary turn of affairs, and it was not until +they were nearly home that he discovered she was sobbing quietly +in her corner of the car. + +"Gosh, what are you crying for, Alix?" he demanded. "It's the +greatest piece of good fortune that ever--" + +"I am thinking of poor Mrs. Vick," she murmured chokingly. + +"Oh! Yes, that's right. It's terrible for that poor woman. Terrible. +As I was saying, the last anybody saw of him was when he started +for the Tavern. Gilfillan follered him part ways and then went +back to the ferry, never dreaming he--But didn't I tell you that +before? I'm so upset I don't seem to remember what I--Oh, yes, +now I know where I was. The detectives insisted on searching every +room in the Tavern. Angie Miller got as sore as a boiled lobster +when they knocked on her door and asked if he was in her room. You +ought to have heard what she said to 'em from behind the door when +she finally opened it and let 'em in,--and she nearly had a fit +when she saw old Tintype was with 'em. She lit into him,--my gosh, +how she lit into him! Accused him of suspecting her of having an +erudite affair with Courtney,--erudite wasn't the word she used, but +it don't matter, it's as good as any for an old maid. We searched +everywhere, but no sign of him. You needn't be surprised to find +one of the detectives hanging around your place, Alix. They think +maybe he'll turn up there before long." + +"He can't be very far away," said she suddenly aroused to anxiety. +She had ceased crying and was drying her eyes with her handkerchief. +The car was nearing the entrance to her grounds. "He wouldn't dare +come to my house after--after what I said to him tonight. He could +not expect me to help him in any--" + +"Well, you see, it's barely possible he don't know they're after +him, Alix. I guess maybe I'd better stay here for a while. You +won't be so nervous with me in the house." + +"I am not afraid, Charlie. Of course, I am terribly unstrung and +unhappy over poor little Rosabel,--but I am not afraid of HIM. He +will not come here. Tell me again just what he is accused of doing." + +The car had drawn up under the porte-cochere. Webster repeated the +story he had had from Gilfillan. She sat perfectly still during +the lengthy recital. + +"And to think--" she began, but checked the words in time. "Oh, +what fools we have been, Charlie!" + +"Anyhow," said Charlie, divining her thoughts, "there's a good deal +to be said for that saying, 'All's well that ends well.' I've been +thinking what a difference there is in men. Now, take for instance +David Strong. Just stack him up alongside this slick, smooth-talking--" + +"Oh, Charlie!" It was almost a wail. + +He took her hand in one of his and gently patted it with the other. + +"I guess you'd kind of like to see Davy for a change, wouldn't you, +Alix?" + +She caught her breath sharply, as if in pain. + +"Now, there's a feller," went on Charlie after a moment, "that's +all wool and a yard wide. He--" + +"Good night, Charlie," she broke in abruptly. "Thank you for coming +to meet me. You--you are the best, the dearest man in the world. +I--" + +"You needen't thank me for standin' up for Davy Strong. That's what +you're really thankin' me for, you know," said he. "I've always +loved that boy, Alix." She pressed his hand. "That's good!" he +cried fervently. "I love him so much I wish he was sitting right +here where I'm sitting now. I'll bet he'd be the happiest feller +in all--Well, so long, Alix. You've had a hard day. I won't make +it any worse for you by talking about David Strong. I know how +much you hate him. Just the same, I wish he was sitting here in my +place." + +"So do I, Charlie," she confessed, with a deep sigh. + +"So's you could hate him to your heart's content, eh?" he chaffed. + +"Yes," she murmured,--"to my heart's content." + +"Well, I've got to get busy," he exclaimed briskly. "Can't sit here +talkin' nonsense to you when there's so much to do. Link Pollock and +Doc and Tintype are waiting for me down at the Tavern. I promised +to hurry back with the car. That reminds me, Alix. We're going to +use your car to go hunting in. I guess you don't mind, do you?" + +She spoke to the chauffeur as she got out. "Take Mr. Webster wherever +he wants to go, Ed. I shall not need the car until eleven o'clock +in the morning." + +Mrs. Strong was waiting up for her. There was a big fire in the +living-room, and a tray with hot coffee and toast on a table beside +the comfortable chair that had been drawn up near the fender. + +Alix dropped wearily into the chair and stretched her booted, +pantalooned legs out in complete relaxation. + +"You poor child," cried Mrs. Strong. "You're all done up. My, but +you're white and tired-looking. It's been a terrible strain. Sit +still now and I'll take your hat off for you. Better have your coat +and boots off, too, dear. Hilda will have a hot bath ready for you +whenever you're ready to--" + +"I suppose you know they've found her, Auntie? In the river." + +"Yes. Ed told me. Now, don't talk about it. Here's some hot coffee." + +"Never mind my coat. I'm too tired. You know about Courtney Thane?" + +"I only know they're hunting for him. There's a man out in the +kitchen. Is--is it in connection with Rosabel's death?" + +"No. Thank you, Auntie. That feels better. I haven't had it off since +morning. Charlie told me about Thane, but I am not sure whether I +can get it straight. He was so excited,--and I was so distressed." + +Her voice was low and husky with fatigue and emotion; it was +apparent that she controlled it with difficulty. In her dark eyes +there was a brooding, haunted look. She repeated as best she could +Charlie's rambling, disjointed story. + +"And just to think," cried Mrs. Strong at the end, "you let that +beast kiss you and--" + +"Oh, don't! Don't!" cried the girl, covering her eyes with her +hands. "I can't bear the thought of it. I wasn't myself. I don't +know what came over--" + +"There, there! Don't think about it any more. It's all right now. +And you're not the only woman that's lost her head since God made +Adam, my dear. It's pretty hard not to sometimes. You--" + +"Oh, I couldn't,--I COULDN'T have done anything bad. I couldn't--" + +"God bless you, of course you couldn't," cried the older woman, +stroking the girl's hair. "Do you think this coffee will keep you +awake?" She poured out a steaming cup and dropped two lumps of +sugar into it. + +"I sha'n't go to sleep anyway, Auntie, so--" + +The ringing of the door bell startled them. Alix sprang to her feet +in alarm. + +"Don't go to the door!" she cried. "It's--it's Courtney Thane!" + +"Nonsense! He'll not be coming here. Sit down. I'll inquire who it +is before I open the door." + +"Under no circumstances are you to let him in, Mrs. Strong," ordered +Alix peremptorily. + +"I should say not! It would look pretty, wouldn't it, if the papers +came out and said the notorious bandit was captured in the home of +Miss Alix Crown, the beautiful and wealthy heiress? They always--" +The bell rang again. "Put the cream in yourself, Alix. I'll see +who it is." + +Alix followed her with anxious, apprehensive eyes as she passed +into the hall. She heard the following dialogue: + +"Who is it?" + +"Does Miss Crown live here?" came in a clear, boyish voice from +the outside. + +"She does. Who are you and what do you want?" + +"I'm a messenger boy. I got a letter for her." + +"A letter? Who's it from?" + +"Say, open up! I can't stand out here all night." + +"Who is it from?" repeated Mrs. Strong firmly. + +"How do I know? I ain't no mind-reader." + +Mrs. Strong looked in at Alix. "I guess it's all right, isn't it?" + +"Open the door," said Alix quietly. + +A small, shivering messenger boy in uniform entered. + +"Are you Miss Crown?" + +"No, I'm not. Where's the letter?" + +"I got to deliver it to her. If she ain't here I'm to wait. I got +to get an answer." + +Alix came forward. "I am Miss Crown. Come in, my boy, and warm +yourself by the fire." + +"Sign here," said the boy, indicating a line in his receipt book. + +While Alix was signing her name, Mrs. Strong looked the boy over. +"Dear me, you must be nearly frozen, child. No overcoat on a night +like this. Did you come all the way out here from the city on a +bicycle?" + +"Give him some coffee, Mrs. Strong," said Alix, handing back the +book and receiving the envelope in return. + +"I got a taxi waiting for me out in front," said the boy. "Say, +what's goin' on in this burg? We been held up three times, and just +now a man stopped me out here in the yard and--" + +"What's the matter, Alix?" cried Mrs. Strong. + +The girl was staring at the address on the envelope. Doubt, wonder, +incredulity filled her eyes. + +"Why,--why, Auntie,--it's David's writing! David's!" she cried. +"See! Isn't it? I would recognize it--" + +"Bless my soul, so it is!" exclaimed David's mother. + +"Oh,--what does it mean? Boy, where did you get this letter?" Her +voice trembled with excitement, her eyes were gleaming. + +"Never mind," put in Mrs. Strong, turning her head to hide a smile. +"You run upstairs and read it, Alix, and I--" + +"Auntie Strong, do you know anything about this?" demanded Alix +suspiciously. The colour was flowing back into her cheeks. "Have +you been keeping something--" + +"--and I will entertain this young gentleman during your absence," +went on the other serenely,--but there was a flush in her cheeks and +her eyes were very bright and happy. "You go and read your letter +and,--did you say there was to be an answer, boy?" + +"Yes'm." + +"And write your answer," concluded Mrs. Strong. "Come along, my +lad, and have a nice hot cup of coffee and some toast. I hope you +take sugar. There are two lumps in it already." + +Alix fairly ran from the room. They heard her racing up the stairs. + +"Will you have cream, my boy?" asked Mrs. Strong, steadying her voice +with an effort. He had shuffled along behind her to the fireplace. + +"Yes'm," and then as an afterthought: "if you please, ma'am." He +looked up and saw that his hostess's eyes were swimming in tears. +"I--I hope it ain't bad news," he stammered uncomfortably. + +"Don't you know there are such things as tears of joy?" inquired +the lady. + +He looked very doubtful. "No ma'am," he solemnly confessed. The +tears he knew about were not joyous. + +"Wasn't it just like David to hire an automobile to send you out +here to deliver the letter to her? I suppose it must have cost him +a pretty penny. Most men would have put a two cent stamp on it. But +my son is not like other men. He is always doing the most unexpected +things,--and the very nicest things. Now, who else in the world +would have thought of hiring an automobile to send a message by?" + +"Is he your son, ma'am?" + +"Yes. My son David. Did you see him?" + +"Sure I did." + +"How was he looking?" + +"Fine," said the lad. "Gee, but he's tall." + +"Six feet three, my boy," said David's mother. "That's very hot. Be +careful not to scald your mouth. Shall I put in another lump,--or +two?" + +"Will it cool it off any?" + +"I am sure it will." + +Meanwhile, Alix was greedily devouring the contents of the letter. +She stood beside the light over her dressing-table; her heart was +pounding furiously, her eyes were radiantly bright. + +DEAR ALIX: + +I have just this instant arrived in town, and I am scribbling this +in the hotel writing-room, with my overcoat still on my back. I +shall not go to sleep tonight until I have had your reply. Somehow +I will find a way to get this letter to you tonight, I don't know +how at present, but where there's a will there's a way. If mother +and Charlie Webster are mistaken, or if they have assumed something +that is not true, I shall go away again without bothering you. But +if you want me, I will come straight out to you. You are in trouble. +I am not asking anything for myself, dear,--you know me well enough +to understand that,--I am only asking you to let me do anything +in the world I can for you. That is why I dropped everything to +come. I am happy, you don't know how happy, to be even this close +to you. I have always wanted to hang out my shingle in this dear +old town. I do not like the East. I am a Westerner and I can't seem +to make myself fit in with the East. I shall always be a Hoosier, +I fear,--and hope. Just the few minutes I have been here in this +familiar old hotel, and the ride through the quiet streets, and +getting off the train at the insignificant little depot, and having +the hackman,--they are taxi-drivers now,--yell out,--"Hello, Davy," +and run up to shake hands with me,--well, I am so homesick I could +cry. But you know why I cannot come here to live and practise. If +I can't be very, very near to you, Alix darling, I must keep myself +as far away as possible. It is the only way. But if I keep on at +this rate, you will think I am writing a love letter to you, when, +as a matter of fact, I am only asking you if you care to see me +and tell me what I can do to help you now,--if you need the help +of your + +Always devoted + +DAVID. + +P.S.--If you would rather not see me, don't hesitate to say so. I +will understand. And please do not blame mother and Charlie. They +would both die for you, dear. + +P.S.S.--You will be pleased to know, I am sure, that I have the +five hundred I still owe you in my pocket, all in brand new bills, +and I think you might give me the happiness of quarrelling face to +face with you about the matter instead of under the protection of +a two-cent stamp. + +D. + +She read the letter aloud. When she came to the end she kissed the +sheet of paper rapturously and then pressed it to her breast. For +a few moments she stood there with her eyes closed, a little smile +on her lips, the blush of roses deepening in her cheeks. + +Suddenly she roused herself. Hurrying to the desk across the room, +she snatched a sheet of note paper from the rack, seated herself, +and began to write. + +DEAREST DAVID: + +THIS is a love letter. I love you. I have always loved you, ever since +I can remember, only I did not realize how much until you wouldn't +let me have my own way about the money. Then I tried to hate you. +The best thing I can say for the experiment was that it kept me +thinking about you all the time. You were never out of my thoughts, +David dear. Oh, how many nights have I laid awake inventing reasons +for hating you, and how many, many times have I ended up by hating +myself. I am a very mean, despicable creature. I am a loathsome, +poisonous reptile, and you ought to put your foot on my neck and +keep it there forever and ever. Now I know why I have been so mean +to you. It is because I love you so much. You cannot grasp that, +can you? You could if you were a woman. + +The boy is waiting for this. How wonderful of you to send him out +here in a taxi!!! I shall tell him to go back to town as fast as +the car can travel. I hope it is a fast one, because I want you to +get in it and come to me at once. I shall wait up for you, David. +Please come tonight. You don't know how badly I need you. You must +stay here with your mother and me, and I don't want you ever to go +away again,--unless you take me with you. + +Your humble sweetheart, + +ALIX. + +P.S.--I wouldn't quarrel with you for five hundred million dollars. + +P.S.S.--Oh, how I wish some kind genie could transport you to me +INSTANTLY! A. + +Sealing the envelope, she sprang to her feet and started for +the door. She stopped halfway, dashed back and fished in a drawer +of her desk, found her purse and extracted a crumbling bank-note. +Without so much as a glance to ascertain its denomination, she +turned and sped downstairs. + +Her eyes were aglow with excitement, her lips were parted in a +divine smile. She was a little out of breath. The boy gazed upon +her spellbound. In that brief, transcendent moment he fell deeply, +hopelessly in love,--and that is why, a moment later, he manfully +endeavoured to refuse the prodigious tip she was offering him. Only +when she stuffed it, with her own fingers, into the depths of his +breast pocket, directly over his heart, was he able to persuade +himself that he ought to accept it if for no other reason than it +would hurt her feelings if he didn't. + +"You must go straight back just as fast as you can," she +was saying,--and what a sweet, wonderful voice she had, just like +some kind of a song he thought,--"and see that Mr. Strong has this +letter at once. He is waiting for it, you know. You WILL hurry, +won't you,--that's a good boy." + +"Yes'm," gulped the lad, and then, realizing he had not quite come +up to expectations, amplified his promise with a stirring: "You +bet your life I will." + +She went to the door with him, and said good night so sweetly, and +with such a thrill in her voice, that he experienced the amazing +sensation of having wings on his feet as he sped down to the gate. + +Alix ran to Mrs. Strong and threw her arms around her neck. + +"Oh, Auntie,--he's in town. He is coming out and--and I am going +to marry him. Yes, I am! Tomorrow, if he'll let me. I ought not to +be so happy, I know. It is terrible, with so much grief and sorrow +over at--But I can't help it! I never was so happy in my life--never!" + +Rushing up to the waiting taxi, the boy thrust the letter in through +the open door. It was seized by a big, eager hand. An instant later +the owner of that hand was out on the ground, reading the missive +by the light of a forward lamp. + +He was not long in getting to the end. Thrusting the precious letter +into his overcoat pocket, he sprang to the door of the cab, jerked +out a heavy suitcase and a small black satchel, which he deposited +unceremoniously on the sidewalk, and then dug down into his trousers' +pocket for a handful of bills, one of which he pressed into the +small boy's hand. Then, turning to the driver, the tall, impetuous +fare clapped another into his extended palm. + +"There you are, genie!" he exclaimed exultantly, and, grabbing up +his bags, was off up the walk as fast as his long legs would carry +him. + +"What was that he called me, kid?" demanded the driver uneasily. + +"Janie." + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +AT QUILL'S WINDOW + + + + +The scraping, laboured sound grew nearer and louder, and presently +there was added the thick, stertorous breathing of the climber as +he drew close to the mouth of the cave. + +Courtney crept farther away from the opening and watched with narrow, +frowning eyes for the head to appear above the ledge. He held the +revolver in his shaking hand, but he knew he was not going to shoot. +He thrilled with a strange sort of glee, however, at the thought of +the ease with which he could send the fool crashing to the ground +far below, but what would be the use? He was trapped. + +He had a queer and strangely ungrudging respect for the courage +of this man of Uncle Sam's, this man who was not to be turned back +or daunted by the prospect of sudden death when engaged in the +performance of his duty. What use to slay this single, indomitable +pursuer when nothing was to be gained by the act? There were others +down there to avenge him,--to starve him out, or to burn him out +if needs be. Murder, that's what it would be, and they would hang +him for murder. If he shot this fellow there would be but one course +left open to him. He would have to shoot himself. And he loved life +too well for that. Five, even ten years behind the bars,--and then +freedom once more. But the gallows,--God, no! + +He stood up and leaned with his back against the wall, bracing +his legs which threatened to crumple up under him. With a sort of +craven bravado, he inhaled deeply. The end of the cigarette created +a passing but none the less comforting glow which died away almost +instantly. A jolly brave thing, a cigarette,--No wonder the soldiers +smoked them! Nerve steadying,--no question about it. + +He waited. Once he thought he was going to scream. Why was the +fellow so slow? Surely it had not taken him so long to come up +that ladder of stone,--and he was the pioneer, he had cleared the +slots of dirt and sand, he had made the hand holds safe, he had torn +his finger-tips digging them out,--what made the fellow so slow? + +At last he made out a vague, slender object moving like the +tentacle of an octopus above the ledge,--and then the bulky head +and shoulders of the climber. + +"I surrender!" he called out. "I give up. If you had waited till +I pulled myself together, I would have come down. I'm all in. I +surrender." + +The man scrambled over the ledge and drew himself erect. His figure +was dimly outlined against the moon-lit sky. He came a few steps +inside the cave and stopped, evidently striving to pierce the +darkness with his questing eyes. + +Courtney pushed himself away from the supporting wall and advanced +slowly. + +"Here's my gun," he faltered, and the weapon clattered on the +rocky floor at his feet. "Don't shoot! I am unarmed. My hands are +up,--comrade." + +"Stand still," warned the other hoarsely. He was breathing heavily. +"Don't move!" + +Courtney took another pull at the cigarette that hung limply between +his sagging lips. He could be as brave, as cool as the other fellow! +He would give them something to talk about when they related the +story of his capture. He would-- + +Suddenly the man lunged forward...A pair of iron arms wrapped +themselves about his waist. He went down with a crash. Even as the +cry of surprise and indignation rose to his lips, his head struck +and his mind became a blank. + +Slowly, as out of a fog, his senses came back. He was hazily aware +of a light shining in his eyes, and of a dull pain somewhere. Things +began to take shape before his whirling eyes. He strove to steady +them, to concentrate on the bright thing that flitted back and +forth before them. At last the blaze became stationary. + +Quite close at hand was a fire,--a bright, crackling fire whose +flames danced merrily. Where was he? It was not like any other +fire he had ever seen before....Then he saw a face. It gradually +fashioned itself out of the gloom high above the flames. He blinked +his eyes and stared. Somehow it was vaguely familiar, that face.... +He lifted his head and peered intently. Then he raised himself on +his elbow, all the while trying to fix that floating face in his +mind. + +Suddenly his brain cleared. The full picture was revealed: A man +standing over the blazing pile of box-wood, gazing down at him with +great, unblinking eyes. The sloping roof of the cave, half lost in +the thin cloud of smoke, almost touched the crown of the watcher's +head,--and this watcher was in the garb of a sailor. + +Caleb Vick! Young Caleb Vick! + +For a long time the two looked into each other's eyes. Courtney's +wavering and uncertain, Caleb's fixed and triumphant. + +"Is--is that you, Cale?" mumbled the former wonderingly. + +Young Vick nodded his head slowly. + +"How did you get here?" asked Thane, sensing peril in those boring, +unfaltering eyes. His hand went out to feel for the revolver he +had dropped. "Where--What has become of the man that jumped on me? +The detective." + +"I am the man," said Cale levelly. + +"You? What's the matter with you, Cale? This is a hell of a way to +treat a friend. What do you mean by helping these--" + +"Cut that out," snarled Cale. "It don't go with me. Get up! You +dirty cur,--get up!" + +"My God, Cale,--have you gone crazy?" gasped Thane, going cold to +the marrow. He shot a swift, terrified look toward the mouth of +the cave. + +"Get up! It won't do you any good to yell. No one will hear you." + +Courtney drew himself to his knees. + +"It won't, eh? There's a gang of Secret Service men down there. +They'll blow your brains out if you--" + +"There is no one down there," said the boy, a crooked smile on his +lips. + +"I tell you there is," cried the other, desperately. "I heard them. +They trailed me here. They--" + +"I guess I put one over on you, Courtney," interrupted Cale, his +voice low and deadly. "I am the fellow that chased you here. There's +nobody else. Oh, I know they're looking for you,--but they don't +know where you are. Nobody knows but me. I saw you sneaking across +that lot back yonder. I was down at the ferry--I saw--Rosabel--there." +His voice faltered. He steadied it with an effort before going on. +"I was too late. She wrote me. Then father telegraphed me--They let +me off. I came as soon as I could. I ran all the way from Hawkins. +I knew what had happened. She wrote me. But I thought maybe she'd +lose her nerve,--or, maybe you would do the right thing by her and +save her. I saw her down there on the dock. You did it. You got +her into trouble. You--" + +"I don't know what you are talking about," cried the other. +"What's this you are saying? Have you lost your mind, Cale? My God, +boy,--I,--why, what sort of a beast do you think I am? I--I adored +her. Come, come, Cale! Calm yourself! You know perfectly well how +fond I was of her. I couldn't have done anything so foul as--Why, +Cale, she was nothing but a kid, a little girl to me. I--" + +"Yes,--that's what she was,--a kid, just a poor little kid. She +trusted you. I trusted you. We all trusted you. And now she's--she's +dead. My sister! My pretty little sister!" He straightened up and +threw his arm across his eyes, only to withdraw it instantly. "GOD +DAMN YOU! Get up! Come over here! Here's her letter. Read it! Read +it, you dirty swine!" + +He reached inside his blouse and drew forth a folded bit of paper. + +"I--I don't want to read it," faltered Thane, shrinking back. "I +know nothing about all this nonsense you are--" + +"I give you ten seconds to do what I tell you," grated Cale, harshly. +"If you don't I'll blow your head off." He levelled the revolver. +"It's your own gun,--so I guess you know it's loaded. Come on!" + +Thane crawled to the fire. + +"My God,--you wouldn't kill me, Cale?" he gasped, reaching out his +shaking hand for the letter. + +"Read it!" ordered the inexorable voice. + +It was a short letter. Courtney took it in as a whole; the dancing, +jumbled web of words that raced before his glazed eyes. Parts of +sentences, a word here and there, his own name, filtered through +the veil,--and were lost in the chaos of his own thoughts. + +He was not thinking of Rosabel's letter. If he could only catch +Cale off his guard,--just for a second or two! A swift leap, a blow, +and--but a lightning glance out of the corner of his eye killed +the thought even as it was being created. Cale would not be off his +guard. He was watching like a hawk, his body bent slightly forward, +the revolver held in a grip of steel. + +"Well?" cried Cale. "Have you read it?" + +"Yes," whispered Courtney through his stiff lips. "It's not true, +Cale,--it's not true!" + +"Yes, it is true. Rosie would not lie about herself like that. No +girl would. Every word of it is true." He snatched the paper from +Courtney's palsied hands and cast it into the waning fire. "No +one shall ever see that letter. I would not have mother know what +I know for all the world. She'll never know about Rosie." + +Courtney took hope. "By gad, Cale, that's fine of you. I promise +you, on my word of honour, no one ever shall know. I'll keep the +secret with you. You--" + +"There will be only one person left in all the world that knows +about Rosie," said Cale in a strangely quiet tone. + +His left hand went out swiftly. The fingers clutched Courtney's +hair, pushing his head back. Even as the wretch opened his lips to +squeal for mercy, the cold muzzle of the weapon was jammed against +the flesh under his ear. There was a loud explosion.... + +Young Cale Vick stood for a long time looking down at the inert thing +at his feet. Then he calmly stooped over and placed the pistol in +one of the outstretched hands, closing the stiff fingers over it. +Scattering the fire with his feet, he trampled out what was left +of the feeble flames, and then strode to the mouth of the cave. He +stood rigid for a long time, listening. A dog was howling mournfully +away off in the night; an owl was hooting somewhere in the trees +nearby. He turned and began the descent, and there was neither +remorse nor terror in his soul. + +A few days later the report reached Windomville that a farmer up +the river had seen a light in Quill's Window the night that Rosabel +Vick was found, and all the superstitious shook their heads and +talked of ghosts. + +THE END + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, QUILL'S WINDOW *** + +This file should be named quill10.txt or quill10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, quill11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, quill10a.txt + +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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