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diff --git a/6218.txt b/6218.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..33a6a6b --- /dev/null +++ b/6218.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1601 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of At The Sign Of The Eagle, by Gilbert Parker + +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: At The Sign Of The Eagle + +Author: Gilbert Parker + +Last Updated: March 13, 2009 +Release Date: October 18, 2006 [EBook #6218] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AT THE SIGN OF THE EAGLE *** + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +AT THE SIGN OF THE EAGLE + +By Gilbert Parker + + + + "Life in her creaking shoes + Goes, and more formal grows, + A round of calls and cues: + Love blows as the wind blows. + Blows!..." + + + +"Well, what do you think of them, Molly?" said Sir Duke Lawless to his +wife, his eyes resting with some amusement on a big man and a little one +talking to Lord Hampstead. + +"The little man is affected, gauche, and servile. The big one +picturesque and superior in a raw kind of way. He wishes to be rude +to some one, and is disappointed because, just at the moment, Lord +Hampstead is too polite to give him his cue. A dangerous person in a +drawing-room, I should think; but interesting. You are a bold man to +bring them here, Duke. Is it not awkward for our host?" + +"Hampstead did it with his eyes open. Besides, there is business behind +it--railways, mines, and all that; and Hampstead's nephew is going to +the States fortune-hunting. Do you see?" + +Lady Lawless lifted her eyebrows. "'To what base uses are we come, +Horatio!' You invite me to dinner and--'I'll fix things up right.' That +is the proper phrase, for I have heard you use it. Status for dollars. +Isn't it low? I know you do not mean what you say, Duke." + +Sir Duke's eyes were playing on the men with a puzzled expression, as +though trying to read the subject of their conversation; and he did not +reply immediately. Soon, however, he turned and looked down at his wife +genially, and said: "Well, that's about it, I suppose. But really there +is nothing unusual in this, so far as Mr. John Vandewaters is concerned, +for in his own country he travels 'the parlours of the Four Hundred,' +and is considered 'a very elegant gentleman.' We must respect a man +according to the place he holds in his own community. Besides, as you +suggest, Mr. Vandewaters is interesting. I might go further, and say +that he is a very good fellow indeed." + +"You will be asking him down to Craigruie next," said Lady Lawless, +inquisition in her look. + +"That is exactly what I mean to do, with your permission, my dear. I +hope to see him laying about among the grouse in due season." + +"My dear Duke, you are painfully Bohemian. I can remember when you were +perfectly precise and exclusive, and--" + +"What an awful prig I must have been!" + +"Don't interrupt. That was before you went aroving in savage countries, +and picked up all sorts of acquaintances, making friends with the most +impossible folk. I should never be surprised to see you drive Shon +McGann--and his wife, of course--and Pretty Pierre--with some other +man's wife--up to the door in a dogcart; their clothes in a saddle-bag, +or something less reputable, to stay a month. Duke, you have lost your +decorum; you are a gipsy." + +"I fear Shon McGann and Pierre wouldn't enjoy being with us as I should +enjoy having them. You can never understand what a life that is out in +Pierre's country. If it weren't for you and the bairn, I should be +off there now. There is something of primeval man in me. I am never so +healthy and happy, when away from you, as in prowling round the outposts +of civilisation, and living on beans and bear's meat." + +He stretched to his feet, and his wife rose with him. There was a fine +colour on his cheek, and his eye had a pleasant fiery energy. His wife +tapped him on the arm with her fan. She understood him very well, though +pretending otherwise. "Duke, you are incorrigible. I am in daily dread +of your starting off in the middle of the night, leaving me--" + +"Watering your couch with your tears?" + +"--and hearing nothing more from you till a cable from Quebec or +Winnipeg tells me that you are on your way to the Arctic Circle with +Pierre or some other heathen. But, seriously, where did you meet Mr. +Vandewaters--Heavens, what a name!--and that other person? And what is +the other person's name?" + +"The other person carries the contradictory name of Stephen Pride." + +"Why does he continually finger his face, and show his emotions so? He +assents to everything said to him by an appreciative exercise of his +features." + +"My dear, you ask a great and solemn question. Let me introduce the +young man, that you may get your answer at the fountain-head." + +"Wait a moment, Duke. Sit down and tell me when and where you met these +men, and why you have continued the acquaintance." + +"Molly," he said, obeying her, "you are a terrible inquisitor, and the +privacy of one's chamber were the kinder place to call one to account. +But I bend to your implacability.... Mr. Vandewaters, like myself, has +a taste for roving, though our aims are not identical. He has a +fine faculty for uniting business and pleasure. He is not a thorough +sportsman--there is always a certain amount of enthusiasm, even in the +unrewarded patience of the true hunter; but he sufficeth. Well, Mr. +Vandewaters had been hunting in the far north, and looking after a +promising mine at the same time. He was on his way south at one angle, +I at another angle, bound for the same point. Shon McGann was with me; +Pierre with Vandewaters. McGann left me, at a certain point, to join his +wife at a Barracks of the Riders of the Plains. I had about a hundred +miles to travel alone. Well, I got along the first fifty all right. +Then came trouble. In a bad place of the hills I fell and broke an ankle +bone. I had an Eskimo dog of the right sort with me. I wrote a line on +a bit of birch bark, tied it round his neck, and started him away, +trusting my luck that he would pull up somewhere. He did. He ran into +Vandewaters's camp that evening. Vandewaters and Pierre started away at +once. They had dogs, and reached me soon. + +"It was the first time I had seen Pierre for years. They fixed me up, +and we started south. And that's as it was in the beginning with Mr. +John Vandewaters and me." + +Lady Lawless had been watching the two strangers during the talk, though +once or twice she turned and looked at her husband admiringly. When he +had finished she said: "That is very striking. What a pity it is that +men we want to like spoil all by their lack of form!" + +"Don't be so sure about Vandewaters. Does he look flurried by these +surroundings?" + +"No. He certainly has an air of contentment. It is, I suppose, the usual +air of self-made Americans." + +"Go to London, E.C., and you will find the same, plus smugness. Now, Mr. +Vandewaters has real power--and taste too, as you will see. Would you +think Mr. Stephen Pride a self-made man?" + +"I cannot think of any one else who would be proud of the patent. Please +to consider the seals about his waistcoat, and the lady-like droop of +his shoulders." + +"Yet he is thought to be a young man of parts. He has money, made by +his ancestors; he has been round the world; he belongs to societies for +culture and--" + +"And he will rave of the Poet's Corner, ask if one likes Pippa Passes, +and expect to be introduced to every woman in the room at a tea-party, +to say nothing of proposing impossible things, such as taking one's girl +friends to the opera alone, sending them boxes of confectionery, and +writing them dreadfully reverential notes at the same time. Duke, the +creature is impossible, believe me. Never, never, if you love me, invite +him to Craigruie. I met one of his tribe at Lady Macintyre's when I was +just out of school; and at the dinner-table, when the wine went round, +he lifted his voice and asked for a cup of tea, saying he never 'drank.' +Actually he did, Duke." + +Her husband laughed quietly. He had a man's enjoyment of a woman's +dislike of bad form. "A common criminal man, Molly. Tell me, which is +the greater crime: to rob a bank or use a fish-knife for asparagus?" + +Lady Lawless fanned herself. "Duke, you make me hot. But if you will +have the truth: the fish-knife business by all means. Nobody need feel +uncomfortable about the burglary, except the burglar; but see what a +position for the other person's hostess." + +"My dear, women have no civic virtues. Their credo is, 'I believe in +beauty and fine linen, and the thing that is not gauche.'" + +His wife was smiling. "Well, have it your own way. It is a creed of +comfort, at any rate. And now, Duke, if I must meet the man of mines and +railways and the spare person making faces at Lord Hampstead, let it be +soon, that it may be done with; and pray don't invite them to Craigruie +till I have a chance to speak with you again. I will not have impossible +people at a house-party." + +"What a difficult fellow your husband is, Molly!" + +"Difficult; but perfectly possible. His one fault is a universal +sympathy which shines alike on the elect--and the others." + +"So. Well, this is our dance. After it is over, prepare for the +Americanos." + +Half-an-hour later Mr. Vandewaters was standing in a conspicuous corner +talking to Lady Lawless. + +"It is, then, your first visit to England?" she asked. He had a dry, +deliberate voice, unlike the smooth, conventional voices round him. +"Yes, Lady Lawless," he replied: "it's the first time I've put my foot +in London town, and--perhaps you won't believe it of an American--I find +it doesn't take up a very conspicuous place." + +The humour was slightly accentuated, and Lady Lawless shrank a little, +as if she feared the depths of divertisement to which this speech might +lead; but a quick look at the man assured her of his common-sense, and +she answered: "It is of the joys of London that no one is so important +but finds the space he fills a small one, which may be filled acceptably +by some one else at any moment. It is easy for kings and princes +even--we have secluded princes here now--to get lost and forgotten in +London." "Well, that leaves little chance for ordinary Americans, who +don't bank on titles." + +She looked up, puzzled in spite of herself. But she presently said, with +frankness and naivete: "What does 'bank on titles' mean?" + +He stroked his beard, smiling quaintly, and said: "I don't know how to +put the thing better-it seems to fill the bill. But, anyway, Americans +are republicans; and don't believe in titles, and--" + +"O, pardon me," she interrupted: "of course, I see." + +"We've got little ways of talking not the same as yours. You don't seem +to have the snap to conversation that we have in the States. But I'll +say here that I think you have got a better style of talking. It isn't +exhausting." + +"Mr. Pride said to me a moment ago that they spoke better English in +Boston than any other place in the world." + +"Did he, though, Lady Lawless? That's good. Well, I guess he was only +talking through his hat." + +She was greatly amused. Her first impressions were correct. The man was +interesting. He had a quaint, practical mind. He had been thrown upon +his own resources, since infancy almost, in a new country; and he +had seen with his own eyes, nakedly, and without predisposition or +instruction. From childhood thoroughly adaptable, he could get into +touch with things quickly, and instantly like or dislike them. He had +been used to approach great concerns with fearlessness and competency. +He respected a thing only for its real value, and its intrinsic value +was as clear to him as the market value. He had, perhaps, an exaggerated +belief in the greatness of his own country, because he liked eagerness +and energy and daring. The friction and hurry of American life added to +his enjoyment. They acted on him like a stimulating air, in which he +was always bold, collected, and steady. He felt an exhilaration in being +superior to the rustle of forces round him. It had been his habit to +play the great game of business with decision and adroitness. He had +not spared his opponent in the fight; he had crushed where his interests +were in peril and the sport played into his hands; comforting himself, +if he thought of the thing, with the knowledge that he himself would +have been crushed if the other man had not. He had never been wilfully +unfair, nor had he used dishonourable means to secure his ends: his name +stood high in his own country for commercial integrity; men said: he +"played square." He had, maybe, too keen a contempt for dulness and +incompetency in enterprise, and he loathed red-tape; but this +was racial. His mind was as open as his manners. He was utterly +approachable. He was a millionaire, and yet in his own offices in New +York he was as accessible as a President. He handled things without +gloves, and this was not a good thing for any that came to him with a +weak case. He had a penetrating intelligence; and few men attempted, +after their first sophistical statements, to impose upon him: he sent +them away unhappy. He did not like England altogether: first, because it +lacked, as he said, enterprise; and because the formality, decorum and +excessive convention fretted him. He saw that in many things the old +land was backward, and he thought that precious time was being wasted. +Still, he could see that there were things, purely social, in which +the Londoners were at advantage; and he acknowledged this when he said, +concerning Stephen Pride's fond boast, that he was "talking through his +hat." + +Lady Lawless smiled, and after a moment rejoined: + +"Does it mean that he was mumming, as it were, like a conjurer?" + +"Exactly. You are pretty smart, Lady Lawless; for I can see that, from +your stand-point, it isn't always easy to catch the meaning of sayings +like that. But they do hit the case, don't they?" + +"They give a good deal of individuality to conversation," was the vague +reply. "What, do you think, is the chief lack in England?" + +"Nerve and enterprise. But I'm not going to say you ought to have the +same kind of nerve as ours. We are a different tribe, with different +surroundings, and we don't sit in the same kind of saddle. We ride for +all we're worth all the time. You sit back and take it easy. We are +never satisfied unless we are behind a fast trotter; you are +content with a good cob that steps high, tosses its head, and has an +aristocratic stride." + +"Have you been in the country much?" she asked, without any seeming +relevancy. + +He was keen enough. He saw the veiled point of her question. "No: I've +never been in the country here," he said. "I suppose you mean that I +don't see or know England till I've lived there." + +"Quite so, Mr. Vandewaters." She smiled to think what an undistinguished +name it was. It suggested pumpkins in the front garden. Yet here its +owner was perfectly at his ease, watching the scene before him +with good-natured superiority. "London is English; but it is very +cosmopolitan, you know," she added; "and I fancy you can see it is not a +place for fast trotters. The Park would be too crowded for that--even if +one wished to drive a Maud S." + +He turned his slow keen eyes on her, and a smile broadened into a low +laugh, out of which he said: + +"What do you know of Maud S? I didn't think you would be up in racing +matters." + +"You forget that my husband is a traveller, and an admirer of Americans +and things American." + +"That's so," he answered; "and a staving good traveller he is. You don't +catch him asleep, I can tell you, Lady Lawless. He has stuff in him." + +"The stuff to make a good American?" + +"Yes; with something over. He's the kind of Englishman that can keep +cool when things are ticklish, and look as if he was in a parlour all +the time. Americans keep cool, but look cheeky. O, I know that. We +square our shoulders and turn out our toes, and push our hands into +our pockets, and act as if we owned the world. Hello--by Jingo!" Then, +apologetically: "I beg your pardon, Lady Lawless; it slipped." + +Lady Lawless followed Mr. Vandewaters's glance, and saw, passing on +her husband's arm, a tall, fascinating girl. She smiled meaningly to +herself, as she sent a quick quizzical look at the American, and said, +purposely misinterpreting his exclamation: "I am not envious, Mr. +Vandewaters." + +"Of course not. That's a commoner thing with us than with you. American +girls get more notice and attention from their cradles up, and they +want it all along the line. You see, we've mostly got the idea that an +Englishman expects from his wife what an American woman expects from her +husband." + +"How do Americans get these impressions about us?" + +"From our newspapers, I guess; and the newspapers take as the +ground-work of their belief the Bow Street cases where Englishmen are +cornered for beating their wives." + +"Suppose we were to judge of American Society by the cases in a Chicago +Divorce Court?" + +"There you have me on toast. That's what comes of having a husband who +takes American papers. Mind you, I haven't any idea that the American +papers are right. I've had a lot to do with newspapers, and they are +pretty ignorant, I can tell you--cheap all round. What's a newspaper, +anyway, but an editor, more or less smart and overworked, with an owner +behind him who has got some game on hand? I know: I've been there." + +"How have you 'been there'?" + +"I've owned four big papers all at once, and had fifty others under my +thumb." + +Lady Lawless caught her breath; but she believed him. "You must be very +rich." + +"Owning newspapers doesn't mean riches. It's a lever, though, for +tipping the dollars your way." + +"I suppose they have--tipped your way?" + +"Yes: pretty well. But, don't follow this lead any farther, Lady +Lawless, or you may come across something that will give you a start. I +should like to keep on speaking terms with you." + +"You mean that a man cannot hold fifty newspapers under his thumb, and +live in the glare of a search-light also?" + +"Exactly. You can't make millions without pulling wires." + +She saw him watching the girl on her husband's arm. She had the +instinct of her sex. She glanced at the stately girl again; then at +Mr. Vandewaters critically, and rejoined, quizzically: "Did you--make +millions?" + +His eyes still watching, he replied abstractedly. "Yes: a few handfuls, +and lost a few--'that's why I'm here.'" + +"To get them back on the London market?" + +"That's why I am here." + +"You have not come in vain?" + +"I could tell you better in a month or so from now. In any case, I don't +stand to lose. I've come to take things away from England." + +"I hope you will take away a good opinion of it." + +"If there'd been any doubt of it half an hour ago, it would be all gone +this minute." + +"Which is nice of you; and not in your usual vein, I should think. But, +Mr. Vandewaters, we want you to come to Craigruie, our country place, to +spend a week. Then you will have a chance to judge us better, or rather +more broadly and effectively." She was looking at the girl, and at that +moment she caught Sir Duke's eye. She telegraphed to him to come. + +"Thank you, Lady Lawless, I'm glad you have asked me. But--" He glanced +to where Mr. Pride was being introduced to the young lady on Sir Duke's +arm, and paused. + +"We are hoping," she added, interpreting his thought, and speaking a +little dryly, "that your friend, Mr. Stephen Pride"--the name sounded so +ludicrous--"will join us." + +"He'll be proud enough, you may be sure. It's a singular combination, +Pride and myself, isn't it? But, you see, he has a fortune which, as +yet, he has never been able to handle for himself; and I do it for him. +We are partners, and, though you mightn't think it, he has got more +money now than when he put his dollars at my disposal to help me make a +few millions at a critical time." + +Lady Lawless let her fan touch Mr. Vandewaters's arm. "I am going to +do you a great favour. You see that young lady coming to us with +my husband? Well, I am going to introduce you to her. It is such as +she--such women--who will convince you--" + +"Yes?" + +"--that you have yet to make your--what shall I call it?--Ah, I have it: +your 'biggest deal,'--and, in truth, your best." + +"Is that so?" rejoined Vandewaters musingly. "Is that so? I always +thought I'd make my biggest deal in the States. Who is she? She is +handsome." + +"She is more than handsome, and she is the Honourable Gracia Raglan." + +"I don't understand about 'The Honourable.'" + +"I will explain that another time." + +A moment later Miss Raglan, in a gentle bewilderment, walked down the +ballroom on the arm of the millionaire, half afraid that something +gauche would happen; but by the time she had got to the other end was +reassured, and became interested. + +Sir Duke said to his wife in an aside, before he left her with Mr. +Vandewaters's financial partner: "What is your pretty conspiracy, +Molly?" + +"Do talk English, Duke, and do not interfere." + +A few hours later, on the way home, Sir Duke said: "You asked Mr. Pride +too?" + +"Yes; I grieve to say." + +"Why grieve?" + +"Because his experiences with us seem to make him dizzy. He will be +terribly in earnest with every woman in the house, if--" + +"If you do not keep him in line yourself?" + +"Quite so. And the creature is not even interesting." + +"Cast your eye about. He has millions; you have cousins." + +"You do not mean that, Duke? I would see them in their graves first. He +says 'My lady' every other sentence, and wants to send me flowers, and a +box for the opera, and to drive me in the Park." + +Her husband laughed. "I'll stake my life he can't ride. You will have +him about the place like a tame cat." Then, seeing that his wife was +annoyed: "Never mind, Molly, I will help you all I can. I want to be +kind to them." + +"I know you do. But what is your 'pretty conspiracy,' Duke?" + +"A well-stocked ranche in Colorado." He did not mean it. And she knew +it. + +"How can you be so mercenary?" she replied. + +Then they both laughed, and said that they were like the rest of the +world. + + + +II + +Lady Lawless was an admirable hostess, and she never appeared to better +advantage in the character than during the time when Miss Gracia Raglan, +Mr. John Vandewaters, and Mr. Stephen Pride were guests at Craigruie. +The men accepted Mr. Vandewaters at once as a good fellow and a very +sensible man. He was a heavy-weight for riding; but it was not the +hunting season, and, when they did ride, a big horse carried him very +well. At grouse-shooting he showed to advantage. Mr. Pride never rode. +He went shooting only once, and then, as Mr. Vandewaters told him, he +got "rattled." He was then advised by his friend to remain at home +and cultivate his finer faculties. At the same time, Mr. Vandewaters +parenthetically remarked to Sir Duke Lawless that Mr. Pride knew the +poets backwards, and was smart at French. He insisted on bringing out +the good qualities of his comrade; but he gave him much strong advice +privately. He would have done it just the same at the risk of losing +a fortune, were it his whim--he would have won the fortune back in due +course. + +At the present time Mr. Vandewaters was in the heat of some large +commercial movements. No one would have supposed it, save for the fact +that telegrams and cablegrams were brought to him day and night. He had +liberally salaried the telegraph-clerk to work after hours, simply to +be at his service. The contents of these messages never shook his +equanimity. He was quiet, urbane, dry-mannered, at all times. Mr. Pride, +however, was naturally excitable. He said of himself earnestly that he +had a sensitive nature. He said it to Mrs. Gregory Thorne, whose reply +was: "Dear me, and when things are irritating and painful to you do you +never think of suicide?" Then she turned away to speak to some one, as +if she had been interrupted, and intended to take up the subject again; +but she never did. This remark caused Mr. Pride some nervous moments. +He was not quite sure how she meant it. But it did not depress him as it +might otherwise have done, for his thoughts were running much in another +channel with a foolish sort of elation. + +As Lady Lawless had predicted, he was assiduously attentive to her, and +it needed all her tact and cheerful frankness to keep him in line. She +managed it very well: Mr. Pride's devotion was not too noticeable to +the other guests. She tried to turn his attentions to some pretty girls; +but, although there were one or two who might, in some weak moments, +have compromised with his millions, he did no more than saunter with +them on the terrace and oppress them with his lisping egotism. Every one +hinted that he seemed an estimable, but trying, young man; and, as Sir +Duke said to his wife, the men would not have him at any price. + +As for Mr. Vandewaters and Gracia Raglan, Lady Lawless was not very sure +that her delicate sympathy was certain of reward. The two were naturally +thrown together a good deal; but Miss Raglan was a girl of singular +individuality and high-mindedness, and she was keen enough to see from +the start what Lady Lawless suspected might happen. She did not resent +this,--she was a woman; but it roused in her a spirit of criticism, and +she threw up a barrier of fine reserve, which puzzled Mr. Vandewaters. +He did not see that Lady Lawless was making a possible courtship easy +for him. If he had, it would have made no difference: he would have +looked at it as at most things, broadly. He was not blind to the fact +that his money might be a "factor", but, as he said to himself, his +millions were a part of him--they represented, like whist-counters, so +much pluck and mother-wit. He liked the general appreciation of them: he +knew very well that people saw him in them and them in him. Miss Raglan +attracted him from the moment of meeting. She was the first woman of her +class that he had ever met closely; and the possibility of having as his +own so adorable a comrade was inspiring. He sat down sometimes as the +days went on--it was generally when he was shaving--and thought upon his +intention regarding Miss Raglan, in relation to his humble past; for +he had fully made up his mind to marry her, if she would have him. +He wondered what she would think when he told her of his life; and he +laughed at the humour of the situation. He had been into Debrett, and he +knew that she could trace her family back to the Crusades. + +He determined to make a clean breast of it. One day he was obliged to +remain at the house in expectation of receiving important telegrams, and +the only people who appeared at lunch were Lady Lawless, Mrs. Gregory +Thorne (who was expecting her husband), Miss Raglan; Pride, and himself. +While at luncheon he made up his mind to have a talk with Miss Raglan. +In the library after luncheon the opportunity was given. It was a warm, +pleasant day, and delightful in the grounds. + +After one or two vain efforts to escape, Mrs. Gregory Thorne and Lady +Lawless resigned themselves to the attentions of Mr. Pride; and for +once Lady Lawless did not check Mrs. Thorne's irony. It was almost a +satisfaction to see Mr. Pride's bewildered looks, and his inability +to know whether or not he should resent (whether it would be proper to +resent) this softly-showered satire. + +Mr. Vandewaters and Gracia Raglan talked more freely than they had ever +done before. + +"Do you really like England?" she said to him; then, waving her hand +lightly to the beeches and the clean-cropped grass through the window, +"I mean do you like our 'trim parterres,' our devotion to mere living, +pleasure, sport, squiring, and that sort of thing?" + +He raised his head, glanced out, drew in a deep breath, thrust his hands +down in the pockets of his coat, and looking at her with respectful good +humour, said: "Like it? Yes, right down to the ground. Why shouldn't +I! It's the kind of place I should like to come to in my old days. You +needn't die in a hurry here. See?" + +"Are you sure you would not be like the old sailors who must live where +they can scent the brine? You have been used to an active, adventurous, +hurried life. Do you think you could endure this humdrum of enjoyment?" + +It would be hard to tell quite what was running in Gracia Raglan's mind, +and, for the moment, she herself hardly knew; but she had a sudden, +overmastering wish to make the man talk: to explore and, maybe, find +surprising--even trying--things. She was astonished that she enjoyed his +society so keenly. Even now, as she spoke, she remembered a day and a +night since his coming, when he was absent in London; also how the party +seemed to have lost its character and life, and how, when Mr. Pride +condescended, for a few moments, to decline from Lady Lawless upon +herself, she was even pleasant to him, making him talk about Mr. +Vandewaters, and relishing the enthusiastic loyalty of the supine young +man. She, like Lady Lawless, had learned to see behind the firm bold +exterior, not merely a notable energy, force, self-reliance, and +masterfulness, but a native courtesy, simplicity, and refinement +which surprised her. Of all the men she knew not a half-dozen had an +appreciation of nature or of art. They affected art, and some of them +went to the Academy or the private views in Bond Street; but they had +little feeling for the business. They did it in a well-bred way, with +taste, but not with warmth. + +Mr. Vandewaters now startled her by quoting suddenly lines from an +English poet unknown to her. By chance she was turning over the Academy +pictures of the year, and came at last to one called "A Japanese Beauty +of Old Days"--an exquisite thing. + +"Is it not fascinating?" she said. "So piquant and fresh." + +He gave a silent laugh, as was his custom when he enjoyed anything, and +then replied: + +"I came across a little book of verses one day in the States. A friend +of mine, the president of a big railway, gave it to me. He does some +painting himself when he travels in his Pullman in the Rockies. Well, it +had some verses on just such a picture as that. Hits it off right, Miss +Raglan." + +"Verses?" she remarked, lifting her eyebrows. She expected something out +of the "poet's corner" of a country newspaper. "What are they?" + +"Well, one's enough to show the style. This is it: + + "'Was I a Samurai renowned, + Two-sworded, fierce, immense of bow? + A histrion angular and profound? + A priest? or porter? Child, although + I have forgotten clean, I know + That in the shade of Fujisan, + What time the cherry-orchards blow, + I loved you once in old Japan.'" + +The verse on the lips of Mr. Vandewaters struck her strangely. He was +not like any man she had known. Most self-made Englishmen, with such a +burly exterior and energy, and engaged in such pursuits, could not, to +save themselves from hanging, have impressed her as Mr. Vandewaters did. +There was a big round sympathy in the tone, a timbre in the voice, which +made the words entirely fitting. Besides, he said them without any kind +of affectation, and with a certain turn of dry humour, as if he were +inwardly laughing at the idea of the poem. + +"The verses are charming," she said, musingly; "and the idea put that +way is charming also. But do you think there would be much amusement +in living half-a-dozen times, or even twice, unless you were quite sure +that you remembered everything? This gentleman was peculiarly fortunate +to recall Fujisan, and the orange orchards--and the girl." + +"I believe you are right. One life is about enough for most of us. +Memory is all very fine; but you'd want a life set apart for remembering +the others after awhile." + +"Why do you not add, 'And that would bore one?' Most of the men I know +would say so." + +"Well, I never used the word that way in my life. When I don't like a +thing, that ends it--it has got to go." + +"You cannot do that with everything." + +"Pretty much, if I set my mind to it. It is astonishing how things'll +come round your way if you keep on thinking and willing them so." + +"Have you always got everything you wanted?" He had been looking off +into the grounds through the open window. Now he turned slowly upon her. + +"So far I have got everything I set my mind to get. Little things don't +count. You lose them sometimes because you want to work at something +else; sometimes because, as in cards, you are throwing a few away to +save the whole game." + +He looked at her, as she thought, curiously. In his mind he was +wondering if she knew that he had made up his mind to marry her. She was +suddenly made aware of the masterfulness of his spirit, which might, she +knew, be applied to herself. + +"Let us go into the grounds," he added, all at once. Soon after, in +the shade of the trees, she broke in upon the thread of their casual +conversation. "A few moments ago," she murmured, "you said: 'One life is +about enough for most of us.' Then you added a disparaging remark about +memory. Well, that doesn't seem like your usual point of view--more like +that of Mr. Pride; but not so plaintive, of course. Pray do smoke," +she added, as, throwing back his coat, he exposed some cigars in his +waistcoat pocket. "I am sure you always smoke after lunch." + +He took out a cigar, cut off the end, and put it in his mouth. But he +did not light it. Then he glanced up at her with a grave quizzical look +as though wondering what would be the effect of his next words, and a +smile played at his lips. + +"What I meant was this. I think we get enough out of our life to last +us for centuries. It's all worth doing from the start, no matter what +it is: working, fighting, marching and countermarching, plotting and +counterplotting, backing your friends and hating your foes, playing +big games and giving others a chance to, standing with your hand on the +lynch-pin, or pulling your head safe out of the hot-pot. But I don't +think it is worth doing twice. The interest wouldn't be fresh. For men +and women and life, with a little different dress, are the same as they +always were; and there's only the same number of passions working now, +as at the beginning. I want to live life up to the hilt; because it is +all new as I go on; but never twice." + +"Indeed?" She looked at him earnestly for a moment, and then added: "I +should think you would have seen lost chances; and doing things a second +time might do them better." + +"I never missed chances," he replied, simply: "never except twice, and +then--" + +"And then?" + +"Then it was to give the other fellow a chance." + +"Oh!" There was a kind of dubiousness in her tone. He noticed it. "You +can hardly understand, Miss Raglan. Fact is, it was one of those deals +when you can make a million, in a straight enough game; but it comes out +of another man--one, maybe, that you don't know; who is playing just the +same as you are. I have had a lot of sport; but I've never crippled any +one man, when my engine has been dead on him. I have played more against +organisations than single men." + +"What was the most remarkable chance you ever had to make a million, and +did not?" + +He threw back his head, smiling shrewdly. "When by accident my enemy got +hold of a telegram meant for me. I was standing behind a frosted glass +door, and through the narrow bevel of clear glass I watched him read +it. I never saw a struggle like that. At last he got up, snatched +an envelope, put the telegram inside, wrote my name, and called a +messenger. I knew what was in the message. I let the messenger go, and +watched that man for ten minutes. It was a splendid sight. The telegram +had given him a big chance to make a million or two, as he thought. But +he backed himself against the temptation, and won. That day I could have +put the ball into his wicket; but I didn't. That's a funny case of the +kind." + +"Did he ever know?" + +"He didn't. We are fighting yet. He is richer than I am now, and at this +moment he's playing a hard game straight at several interests of mine. +But I reckon I can stop him." + +"You must get a great deal out of life," she said. "Have you always +enjoyed it so?" She was thinking it would be strange to live in contact +with such events very closely. It was so like adventure. + +"Always--from the start." + +"Tell me something of it all, won't you?" He did not hesitate. + +"I was born in a little place in Maine. My mother was a good woman, they +said--straight as a die all her life. I can only remember her in a +kind of dream, when she used to gather us children about the big +rocking-chair, and pray for us, and for my father, who was away most +of the time, working in the timber-shanties in the winter, and at +odd things in the summer. My father wasn't much of a man. He was +kind-hearted, but shiftless, but pretty handsome for a man from Maine. + +"My mother died when I was six years old. Things got bad. I was the +youngest. The oldest was only ten years old. She was the head of the +house. She had the pluck of a woman. We got along somehow, until one +day, when she and I were scrubbing the floor, she caught cold. She died +in three days." + +Here he paused; and, without glancing at Miss Raglan, who sat very +still, but looking at him, he lighted his cigar. + +"Then things got worse. My father took to drinking hard, and we had +mighty little to eat. I chored around, doing odd things in the village. +I have often wondered that people didn't see the stuff that was in me, +and give me a chance. They didn't, though. As for my relatives: one was +a harness-maker. He sent me out in the dead of winter to post bills for +miles about, and gave me ten cents for it. Didn't even give me a meal. +Twenty years after he came to me and wanted to borrow a hundred dollars. +I gave him five hundred on condition that he'd not come near me for the +rest of his natural life. + +"The next thing I did was to leave home--'run away,' I suppose, is the +way to put it. I got to Boston, and went for a cabin-boy on a steamer; +travelled down to Panama, and from there to Brazil. At Brazil I got on +another ship, and came round to San Francisco. I got into trouble in San +Francisco with the chief mate of the Flying Polly, because I tried to +teach him his business. One of the first things I learned in life was +not to interfere with people who had a trade and didn't understand +it. In San Francisco I got out of the situation. I took to selling +newspapers in the streets. + +"There wasn't enough money in it. I went for a cabin-boy again, and +travelled to Australia. There, once more, I resigned my position, +chiefly because I wouldn't cheerfully let the Mate bang me about the +quarter-deck. I expect I was a precocious youth, and wasn't exactly +the kind for Sunday-school prizes. In Melbourne I began to speculate. +I found a ticket for the theatre where an American actor--our biggest +actor today--was playing, and I tried to sell it outside the door of the +theatre where they were crowding to see him. The man who bought it was +the actor himself. He gave me two dollars more than the regular price. +I expect he knew from my voice I was an American. Is there anything +peculiar about my voice, Miss Raglan?" + +She looked at him quickly, smiled, and said in a low tone: "Yes, +something peculiar. Please go on." + +"Well, anyway, he said to me: 'Look here, where did you come from, +my boy?' I told him the State of Maine. 'What are you doing here?' he +asked. 'Speculating, said I, and seeing things.' He looked me up and +down. 'How are you getting on?' 'Well. I've made four dollars to-day,' +I answered. 'Out of this ticket?' I expect I grinned. He suddenly caught +me by the arm and whisked me inside the theatre--the first time I'd ever +been in a theatre in my life. I shall never forget it. He took me around +to his dressing-room, stuck me in a corner, and prodded me with his +forefinger. 'Look here,' he said, 'I guess I'll hire you to speculate +for me.' And that's how I came to get twenty-five dollars a month and +my living from a great American actor. When I got back to America--with +him--I had two hundred and fifty dollars in cash, and good clothes. +I started a peanut-stand, and sold papers and books, and became a +speculator. I heard two men talking one day at my stall about a railway +that was going to run through a certain village, and how they intended +to buy up the whole place. I had four hundred and fifty dollars then. +I went down to that village, and bought some lots myself. I made four +thousand dollars. Then I sold more books, and went on speculating." + +He paused, blew his cigar-smoke slowly from him a moment; then turned +with a quick look to Miss Raglan, and smiled as at some incongruous +thing. He was wondering what would be the effect of his next words. + +"When I was about twenty-two, and had ten thousand dollars, I fell +in love. She was a bright-faced, smart girl. Her mother kept a +boarding-house in New York; not an up-town boarding-house. She waited on +table. I suppose a man can be clever in making money, and knowing how +to handle men, and not know much about women. I thought she was worth +a good deal more to me than the ten thousand dollars. She didn't know +I had that money. A drummer--that's a commercial traveller--came along, +who had a salary of, maybe, a thousand dollars a year. She jilted me. +She made a mistake. That year I made twenty-five thousand dollars. I saw +her a couple of years ago. She was keeping a boarding-house too, and her +daughter was waiting on table. I'm sorry for that girl: it isn't any fun +being poor. I didn't take much interest in women after that. I put my +surplus affections into stocks and shares, and bulling and bearing... +Well, that is the way the thing has gone till now." + +"What became of your father and your brother?" she asked in a neutral +tone. + +"I don't know anything about my father. He disappeared after I left, and +never turned up again. And Jim--poor Jim!--he was shiftless. Jim was a +tanner. It was no good setting him up in business. Steady income was the +cheapest way. But Jim died of too much time on his hands. His son is +in Mexico somewhere. I sent him there, and I hope he'll stay. If he +doesn't, his salary stops: he is shiftless too. That is not the kind of +thing, and they are not the kind of people you know best, Miss Raglan." + +He looked at her, eyes full-front, bravely, honestly, ready to face the +worst. Her head was turned away. + +He nodded to himself. It was as he feared. + +At that moment a boy came running along the walk towards them, and +handed Mr. Vandewaters a telegram. He gave the lad a few pence, then, +with an apology, opened the telegram. Presently he whistled softly, in +a quick surprised way. Then he stuffed the paper into his waistcoat +pocket, threw away his cigar, and turned to Gracia Raglan, whose face as +yet was only half towards him. "I hope your news is good," she said very +quietly. + +"Pretty bad, in a way," he answered. "I have lost a couple of +millions--maybe a little more." + +She gasped, and turned an astonished face on him. He saw her startled +look, and laughed. + +"Does it not worry you?" she asked. + +"I have got more important things on hand just now," he answered. "Very +much more important," he added, and there was that in his voice which +made her turn away her head again. + +"I suppose," he went on, "that the story you have just heard is not +the kind of an autobiography you would care to have told in your +drawing-room?" + +Still she did not reply; but her hands were clasped tightly in front of +her. "No: I suppose not," he went on--"I--I suppose not. And yet, do you +know, Miss Raglan, I don't feel a bit ashamed of it, after all: which +may be evidence of my lost condition." + +Now she turned to him with a wonderful light in her eyes, her sweet, +strong face rich with feeling. She put out her hand to his arm, and +touched it quickly, nervously. + +"Your story has touched me inexpressibly," she said. "I did not know +that men could be so strong and frank and courageous as you. I did not +know that men could be so great; that any man could think more of what +a woman thought of--of his life's story--than of"--she paused, and then +gave a trembling little laugh--"of two millions or more." + +He got to his feet, and faced her. "You--you are a woman, by heaven!" he +said. "You are finer even than I thought you. I am not worthy to ask you +what I had in my mind to ask you; but there is no man in God's universe +who would prize you as I do. I may be a poor man before sundown. If +that happens, though, I shall remember the place where I had the biggest +moment of my life, and the woman who made that moment possible." + +Now she also rose. There was a brave high look in her face; but her +voice shook a little as she said: "You have never been a coward, why be +a coward now?" + +Smiling, he slowly answered: "I wouldn't if I were sure about my +dollars." + +She did not reply, but glanced down, not with coquetry, but because she +could not stand the furnace of his eyes. + +"You said a moment ago," she ventured, "that you have had one big moment +in your life. Oughtn't it to bring you good fortune?" + +"It will--it will," he said, reaching his hand towards hers. + +"No, no," she rejoined archly. "I am going. Please do not follow me." +Then, over her shoulder, as she left him: "If you have luck, I shall +want a subscription for my hospital." + +"As many thousands as you like," he answered: then, as she sped away: "I +will have her, and the millions too!" adding reminiscently: "Yes, Lady +Lawless, this is my biggest deal." + +He tramped to the stables, asked for and got a horse, and rode away to +the railway station. It was dinner time when he got back. He came down +to dinner late, apologising to Lady Lawless as he did so. Glancing +across the table at Mr. Pride, he saw a peculiar excited look in the +young man's face. + +"The baby fool!" he said to himself. "He's getting into mischief. I'll +startle him. If he knows that an army of his dollars is playing at +fox-and-geese, he'll not make eyes at Lady Lawless this way--little +ass." + +Lady Lawless appeared oblivious of the young man's devotional exercises. +She was engaged on a more congenial theme. In spite of Miss Raglan's +excellent acting, she saw that something had occurred. Mr. Vandewaters +was much the same as usual, save that his voice had an added ring. She +was not sure that all was right; but she was determined to know. Sir +Duke was amused generally. He led a pretty by-play with Mrs. Gregory +Thorne, of whom he asked the details of the day, much to the +confusion, not admirably hid, of Mr. Pride; lamenting now and then Mr. +Vandewaters's absence from the shooting. + +Mr. Vandewaters was cool enough. He said that he had been playing at +nine-pins with railways, which was good enough sport for him. Soon after +dinner, he was handed two telegrams. He glanced slowly up at Pride, as +if debating whether to tell him something. He evidently decided against +it, and, excusing himself by saying he was off to take a little walk in +Wall Street, went away to the telegraph office, where he stayed three +hours. + +The magnitude of the concerns, the admirable stoicism with which +he received alarming news, his dry humour while they waited between +messages--all were so unlike anything the telegraph-clerk had ever seen, +or imagined, that the thing was like a preposterous dream. Even when, +at last, a telegram came which the clerk vaguely felt was, somehow, like +the fall of an empire, Mr. Vandewaters remained unmoved. Then he sent +one more telegram, gave the clerk a pound, asked that the reply be sent +to him as soon as it came, and went away, calmly smoking his cigar. + +It was a mild night. When he got to the house he found some of the +guests walking on the veranda. He joined them; but Miss Raglan was not +with them; nor were Lady Lawless and Mr. Pride. He wanted to see +all three, and so he went into the house. There was no one in the +drawing-room. He reached the library in time to hear Lady Lawless say +to Mr. Pride, who was disappearing through another door: "You had better +ask advice of Mr. Vandewaters." + +The door closed. Mr. Vandewaters stepped forward. + +He understood the situation. "I guess I know how to advise him, Lady +Lawless," he said. + +She turned on him quietly, traces of hauteur in her manner. Her +self-pride had been hurt. "You have heard?" she asked. + +"Only your last words, Lady Lawless. They were enough. I feel guilty in +having brought him here." + +"You need not. I was glad to have your friend. He is young and effusive. +Let us say no more about it. + +"He is tragically repentant; which is a pity. There is no reason why he +should not stay, and be sensible. Why should young men lose their heads, +and be so absurdly earnest?" + +"Another poser, Lady Lawless." + +"In all your life you never misunderstood things so, I am sure." + +"Well, there is no virtue in keeping your head steady. I have spent most +of my life wooing Madame Fortune; I find that makes a man canny." + +"She has been very kind to you." + +"Perhaps it would surprise you if I told you that at this moment I am +not worth ten thousand dollars." She looked greatly astonished. "I do +not understand," she said. She was thinking of what this might mean to +Gracia Raglan. + +"You see I've been playing games at a disadvantage with some ruffians +at New York. They have combined and got me into a corner. I have made my +last move. If it comes out right I shall be richer than ever; if not I +must begin all over again." + +Lady Lawless looked at him curiously. She had never met a man like him +before. His power seemed almost Napoleonic; his imperturbability was +absolute. Yet she noticed something new in him. On one side a kind of +grim forcefulness; on the other, a quiet sort of human sympathy. The +one, no doubt, had to do with the momentous circumstances amid which he +was placed; the other, with an event which she had, perhaps prematurely, +anticipated. + +"I wonder--I wonder at you," she said. "How do you keep so cool while +such tremendous things are happening?" + +"Because I believe in myself, Lady Lawless. I have had to take my +measure a good many times in this world. I never was defeated through my +own stupidity. It has been the sheer luck of the game." + +"You do not look like a gamester," she said. + +"I guess it's all pretty much a game in life, if you look at it right. +It is only a case of playing fair or foul." + +"I never heard any Englishmen talk as you do." + +"Very likely not," he responded. "I don't want to be unpleasant; but +most Englishmen work things out by the rule their fathers taught them, +and not by native ingenuity. It is native wit that tells in the end, I'm +thinking." + +"Perhaps you are right," she rejoined. "There must be a kind of genius +in it." Here her voice dropped a little lower. "I do not believe there +are many Englishmen, even if they had your dollars--" + +"The dollars I had this morning," he interposed. + +"--who could have so strongly impressed Gracia Raglan." + +He looked thoughtfully on the ground; then raised his eyes to Lady +Lawless, and said in a low, ringing tone: + +"Yes, I am going to do more than 'impress': I am going to convince her." + +"When?" she asked. + +"To-morrow morning, I hope," was the reply. "I believe I shall have my +millions again." + +"If you do," she said slowly, "do you not think that you ought to run no +more risks--for her sake?" + +"That is just what I mean to do, Lady Lawless. I'll settle millions +where they ought to be settled, drop Wall Street, and--go into +training." + +"Into training?" she asked. + +"Yes, for a house on the Hudson, a villa at Cannes, a residence in +Grosvenor Square, and a place in Devonshire--or somewhere else. Then," +he added, with a twinkle in his eye, "I shall need a good deal of time +to cultivate accent." + +"Don't!" she said. "You are much more charming as you are." + +They passed into the drawing-room. + +"Are these things to be told?" she asked, with a little suggestion in +her voice. + +"I can trust your discretion." + +"Even in such circumstances?" she asked. She paused, with a motion of +her fan back towards the room they had left. + +"You have taught him a lesson, Lady Lawless. It is rough on him; but he +needs it." + +"I hope he will do nothing rash," she said. + +"Perhaps he'll write some poetry, and refuse to consider his natural +appetite." + +"Will you go and see him now?" she asked. "Immediately. Good night, Lady +Lawless." His big hand swallowed hers in a firm, friendly clasp, and +he shook it once or twice before he parted from her. He met Sir Duke +Lawless in the doorway. They greeted cheerfully, and then Lawless came +up to his wife. + +"Well, my dear," he said, with an amused look in his face, "well, what +news?" + +She lifted her eyebrows at him. + +"Something has happened, Molly, I can see it in your face." + +She was very brief. "Gracia Raglan has been conquered; the young man +from Boston has been foolish; and Mr. Vandewaters has lost millions." + +"Eh? That's awkward," said Sir Duke. + +"Which?" asked his wife. + +Vandewaters found Mr. Pride in his bedroom, a waif of melancholy. He +drew a chair up, lighted a cigar, eyed the young man from head to foot, +and then said: "Pride, have you got any backbone? If you have, brace up. +You are ruined. That's about as mild as I can put it." + +"You know all?"--said the young man helplessly, his hands clasped +between his knees in aesthetic agony. + +"Yes; I know more than you do, as you will find out. You're a nice sort +of man, to come into a man's house, in a strange land, and make love +to his wife. Now, what do you think of yourself? You're a nice +representative of the American, aren't you?" + +"I--I didn't mean any harm--I--couldn't help it," replied the stricken +boy. + +"O, for God's sake, drop that bib-and-tucker twaddle! Couldn't help it! +Every scoundrel, too weak to face the consequences of his sin, says he +couldn't help it. So help me, Joseph, I'd like to thrash you. Couldn't +help it! Now, sit up in your chair, take this cigar, drink this glass of +whiskey I'm pouring for you, and make up your mind that you're going to +be a man and not a nincompoop--sit still! Don't fly up. I mean what I +say. I've got business to talk to you. And make up your mind that, for +once, you have got to take life seriously." + +"What right have you to speak to me like this?" demanded the young man +with an attempt at dignity. Vandewaters laughed loudly. + +"Right? Great Scott! The right of a man who thinks a damned sight more +of your reputation than you do yourself, and of your fortune than you +would ever have wits to do. I am the best friend you've got, and not the +less your friend because I feel like breaking your ribs. Now, enough of +that. This is what I have to say, Pride: to-night you and I are beggars. +You understand? Beggars. Out in the cold world, out in the street. Now, +what do you think of that?" + +The shock to Mr. Pride was great. Mr. Vandewaters had exaggerated the +disaster; but he had done it with a purpose. The youth gasped "My God!" +and dropped his glass. Vandewaters picked it up, and regarded him a +moment in silence. Then he began to explain their financial position. He +did not explain the one bold stroke which he was playing to redeem their +fortunes: if possible. When he had finished the story, he said, "I guess +that's a bit more serious than the little affair in the library half an +hour ago?" + +He rose to his feet. "Look here, Pride, be a man. You've never tried +it yet. Let me teach you how to face the world without a dollar; how to +make a fortune. Then, when you've made it, you'll get what you've never +had yet--the pleasure of spending money dug out of your own wits." + +He carried conviction into a mind not yet all destroyed by effeminacy +and indulgence of the emotions. Something of the iron of his own brain +got into the brain of the young man, who came to his feet trembling a +little, and said: "I don't mind it so much, if you only stick to me, +Vandewaters." + +A smile flickered about the corners of Vandewaters's mouth. + +"Take a little more whiskey," he said; "then get into bed, and go to +sleep. No nonsense, remember; go to sleep. To-morrow morning we will +talk. And see here, my boy,"--he caught him by both arms and fastened +his eyes,--"you have had a lesson: learn it backwards. Good night." + +Next morning Mr. Vandewaters was early in the grounds. He chatted with +the gardener, and discussed the merits of the horses with the groom, +apparently at peace with the world. Yet he was watching vigilantly +the carriage-drive from the public-road. Just before breakfast-time a +telegraph messenger appeared. Vandewaters was standing with Sir Duke +Lawless when the message was handed to him. He read it, put it into his +pocket, and went on talking. Presently he said: "My agent is coming +from town this morning, Sir Duke. I may have to leave to-night." Then he +turned, and went to his room. + +Lady Lawless had heard his last words. + +"What about your ranche in Colorado, Duke?" + +"About as sure, I fancy, as your millionaire for Gracia." + +Miss Raglan did not appear at breakfast with the rest. Neither did Mr. +Pride, who slept late that morning. About ten o'clock Mr. Vandewaters's +agent arrived. About twelve o'clock Mr. Vandewaters saw Miss Raglan +sitting alone in the library. He was evidently looking for her. He came +up to her quietly, and put a piece of paper in her lap. + +"What is this?" she asked, a little startled. + +"A thousand for your hospital," was the meaning reply. + +She flushed, and came to her feet. + +"I have won," he said. + +And then he reached out and took both her hands. + + + ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + + But I don't think it is worth doing twice + He wishes to be rude to some one, and is disappointed + I--couldn't help it + Interfere with people who had a trade and didn't understand it + Lose their heads, and be so absurdly earnest + Scoundrel, too weak to face the consequences of his sin + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's At The Sign Of The Eagle, by Gilbert Parker + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AT THE SIGN OF THE EAGLE *** + +***** This file should be named 6218.txt or 6218.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/1/6218/ + +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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