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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Man on the Box, by Harold MacGrath
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Man on the Box
+
+Author: Harold MacGrath
+
+Posting Date: February 12, 2013 [EBook #6578]
+Release Date: September, 2004
+First Posted: December 29, 2002
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN ON THE BOX ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Duncan Harold, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Henry E. Dixey in "The Man on the Box."]
+
+THE MAN ON THE BOX
+
+by
+
+HAROLD MACGRATH
+
+Author of The Grey Cloak, The Puppet Crown
+
+Illustrated by scenes from Walter N. Lawrence's beautiful production of
+the play as seen for 123 nights at the Madison Square Theatre, New York
+
+
+
+
+
+To Miss Louise Everts
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+    I Introduces My Hero
+
+   II Introduces My Heroine
+
+  III The Adventure Begins
+
+   IV A Family Reunion
+
+    V The Plot Thickens
+
+   VI The Man on the Box
+
+  VII A Police Affair
+
+ VIII Another Salad Idea
+
+   IX The Heroine Hires a Groom
+
+    X Pirate
+
+   XI The First Ride
+
+  XII A Ticklish Business
+
+ XIII A Runaway
+
+  XIV An Ordeal or Two
+
+   XV Retrospective
+
+  XVI The Previous Affair
+
+ XVII Dinner is Served
+
+XVIII Caught!
+
+  XIX "Oh, Mister Butler"
+
+   XX The Episode of the Stove Pipe
+
+  XXI The Rose
+
+ XXII The Drama Unrolls
+
+XXIII Something About Heroes
+
+ XXIV A Fine Lover
+
+  XXV A Fine Heroine, Too
+
+ XXVI The Castle of Romance
+
+
+
+
+_He either fears his fate too much,
+  Or his deserts are small,
+Who dares not put it to the touch
+  To win or lose it all._
+
+
+
+
+_Dramatis Personae_
+
+_Colonel George Annesley_      A retired Army Officer
+
+_Miss Betty Annesley_          His daughter
+
+_Lieutenant Robert Warburton_  Lately resigned
+
+_Mr. John Warburton_           His elder brother, of the War
+                                    Department
+
+_Mrs. John Warburton_          The elder brother's wife
+
+_Miss Nancy Warburton_         The lieutenant's sister
+
+_Mr. Charles Henderson_        Her fiance
+
+_Count Karloff_                An unattached diplomat
+
+_Colonel Frank Raleigh_        The Lieutenant's Regimental
+                                    Colonel
+
+_Mrs. Chadwick_                A product of Washington life
+
+_Monsieur Pierre_              A chef
+
+_Mademoiselle Celeste_         A lady's maid
+
+_Jane_                         Mrs. Warburton's maid
+
+_The Hopeful_                  A baby
+
+_William_                      A stable-boy
+
+_Fashionable People_           Necessary for a dinner party
+
+_Celebrities_                  Also necessary for a dinner party
+
+_Unfashionables_               Police, cabbies, grooms, clerks,
+                                    etc.
+
+
+
+TIME--Within the past ten years.
+
+SCENE--Washington, D.C., and its environs.
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+INTRODUCES MY HERO
+
+
+If you will carefully observe any map of the world that is divided into
+inches at so many miles to the inch, you will be surprised as you
+calculate the distance between that enchanting Paris of France and the
+third-precinct police-station of Washington, D. C, which is not
+enchanting. It is several thousand miles. Again, if you will take the
+pains to run your glance, no doubt discerning, over the police-blotter
+at the court (and frankly, I refuse to tell you the exact date of this
+whimsical adventure), you will note with even greater surprise that all
+this hubbub was caused by no crime against the commonwealth of the
+Republic or against the person of any of its conglomerate people. The
+blotter reads, in heavy simple fist, "disorderly conduct," a phrase
+which is almost as embracing as the word diplomacy, or society, or
+respectability.
+
+So far as my knowledge goes, there is no such a person as James
+Osborne. If, by any unhappy chance, he _does_ exist, I trust that he
+will pardon the civil law of Washington, my own measure of familiarity,
+and the questionable taste on the part of my hero--hero, because, from
+the rise to the fall of the curtain, he occupies the center of the
+stage in this little comedy-drama, and because authors have yet to find
+a happy synonym for the word. The name James Osborne was given for the
+simple reason that it was the first that occurred to the culprit's
+mind, so desperate an effort did he make to hide his identity.
+Supposing, for the sake of an argument in his favor, supposing he had
+said John Smith or William Jones or John Brown? To this very day he
+would have been hiring lawyers to extricate him from libel and
+false-representation suits. Besides, had he given any of these names,
+would not that hound-like scent of the ever suspicious police have been
+aroused?
+
+To move round and round in the circle of commonplace, and then to pop
+out of it like a tailed comet! Such is the history of many a man's
+life. I have a near friend who went away from town one fall, happy and
+contented with his lot. And what do you suppose he found when he
+returned home? He had been nominated for alderman. It is too early to
+predict the fate of this unhappy man. And what tools Fate uses with
+which to carve out her devious peculiar patterns! An Apache Indian,
+besmeared with brilliant greases and smelling of the water that never
+freezes, an understudy to Cupid? Fudge! you will say, or Pshaw! or
+whatever slang phrase is handy and, prevalent at the moment you read
+and run.
+
+I personally warn you that this is a really-truly story, though I do
+not undertake to force you to believe it; neither do I purvey many
+grains of salt. If Truth went about her affairs laughing, how many more
+persons would turn and listen! For my part, I believe it all nonsense
+the way artists have pictured Truth. The idea is pretty enough, but so
+far as hitting things, it recalls the woman, the stone, and the hen. I
+am convinced that Truth goes about dressed in the dowdiest of clothes,
+with black-lisle gloves worn at the fingers, and shoes run down in the
+heels, an exact portrait of one of Phil May's lydies. Thus it is that
+we pass her by, for the artistic sense in every being is repelled at
+the sight of a dowdy with weeping eyes and a nose that has been rubbed
+till it is as red as a winter apple. Anyhow, if she _does_ go about in
+beautiful nudity, she ought at least to clothe herself with smiles and
+laughter. There are sorry enough things in the world as it is, without
+a lachrymal, hypochondriacal Truth poking her face in everywhere.
+
+Not many months ago, while seated on the stone veranda in the rear of
+the Metropolitan Club in Washington (I believe we were discussing the
+merits of some very old product), I recounted some of the lighter
+chapters of this adventure.
+
+_"Eempossible!"_ murmured the Russian attache, just as if the matter
+had not come under his notice semi-officially.
+
+I presume that this exclamation disclosed another side to diplomacy,
+which, stripped of its fine clothes, means dexterity in hiding secrets
+and in negotiating lies. When one diplomat believes what another says,
+it is time for the former's government to send him packing. However,
+the Englishman at my right gazed smiling into his partly emptied glass
+and gently stirred the ice. I admire the English diplomat; he never
+wastes a lie. He is frugal and saving.
+
+"But the newspapers!" cried the journalist. "They never ran a line; and
+an exploit like this would scarce have escaped them."
+
+"If I remember rightly, it was reported in the regular police items of
+the day," said I.
+
+"Strange that the boys didn't look behind the scenes."
+
+"Oh, I don't know," remarked the congressman; "lots of things happen of
+which you are all ignorant. The public mustn't know everything."
+
+"But what's the hero's name?" asked the journalist.
+
+"That's a secret," I answered. "Besides, when it comes to the bottom of
+the matter, I had something to do with the suppressing of the police
+news. In a case like this, suppression becomes a law not excelled by
+that which governs self-preservation. My friend has a brother in the
+War Department; and together we worked wonders."
+
+"It's a jolly droll story, however you look at it," the Englishman
+admitted.
+
+"Nevertheless, it had its tragic side; but that is even more than ever
+a secret."
+
+The Englishman looked at me sharply, even gravely; but the veranda is
+only dimly illuminated at night, and his scrutiny went unrewarded.
+
+"Eh, well!" said the Russian; "your philosopher has observed that all
+mankind loves a lover."
+
+"As all womankind loves a love-story," the Englishman added. "You ought
+to be very successful with the ladies,"--turning to me.
+
+"Not inordinately; but I shall not fail to repeat your epigram,"--and I
+rose.
+
+My watch told me that it was half after eight; and one does not receive
+every day an invitation to a dinner-dance at the Chevy Chase Club.
+
+I dislike exceedingly to intrude my own personality into this
+narrative, but as I was passively concerned, I do not see how I can
+avoid it. Besides, being a public man, I am not wholly averse to
+publicity; first person, singular, perpendicular, as Thackeray had it,
+in type looks rather agreeable to the eye. And I rather believe that I
+have a moral to point out and a parable to expound.
+
+My appointment in Washington at that time was extraordinary; that is to
+say, I was a member of one of those committees that are born frequently
+and suddenly in Washington, and which almost immediately after
+registration in the vital statistics of national politics. I had been
+sent to Congress, a dazzling halo over my head, the pride and hope of
+my little country town; I had been defeated for second term; had been
+recommended to serve on the committee aforesaid; served with honor, got
+my name in the great newspapers, and was sent back to Congress, where I
+am still to-day, waiting patiently for a discerning president and a
+vacancy in the legal department of the cabinet. That's about all I am
+willing to say about myself.
+
+As for this hero of mine, he was the handsomest, liveliest rascal you
+would expect to meet in a day's ride. By handsome I do not mean perfect
+features, red cheeks, Byronic eyes, and so forth. That style of beauty
+belongs to the department of lady novelists. I mean that peculiar manly
+beauty which attracts men almost as powerfully as it does women. For
+the sake of a name I shall call him Warburton. His given name in actual
+life is Robert. But I am afraid that nobody but his mother and one
+other woman ever called him Robert. The world at large dubbed him Bob,
+and such he will remain up to that day (and may it be many years
+hence!) when recourse will be had to Robert, because "Bob" would
+certainly look very silly on a marble shaft.
+
+What a friendly sign is a nickname! It is always a good fellow who is
+called Bob or Bill, Jack or Jim, Tom, Dick or Harry. Even out of
+Theodore there comes a Teddy. I know in my own case the boys used to
+call me Chuck, simply because I was named Charles. (I haven't the
+slightest doubt that I was named Charles because my good mother thought
+I looked something like Vandyke's _Charles I_, though at the time of my
+baptism I wore no beard whatever.) And how I hated a boy with a
+high-sounding, unnicknamable given name!--with his round white collar
+and his long glossy curls! I dare say he hated the name, the collar,
+and the curls even more than I did. Whenever you run across a name
+carded in this stilted fashion, "A. Thingumy Soandso", you may make up
+your mind at once that the owner is ashamed of his first name and is
+trying manfully to live it down and eventually forgive his parents.
+
+Warburton was graduated from West Point, ticketed to a desolate
+frontier post, and would have worn out his existence there but for his
+guiding star, which was always making frantic efforts to bolt its
+established orbit. One day he was doing scout duty, perhaps half a mile
+in advance of the pay-train, as they called the picturesque caravan
+which, consisting of a canopied wagon and a small troop of cavalry in
+dingy blue, made progress across the desert-like plains of Arizona. The
+troop was some ten miles from the post, and as there had been no sign
+of Red Eagle all that day, they concluded that the rumor of his being
+on a drunken rampage with half a dozen braves was only a rumor.
+Warburton had just passed over a roll of earth, and for a moment the
+pay-train had dropped out of sight. It was twilight; opalescent waves
+of heat rolled above the blistered sands. A pale yellow sky, like an
+inverted bowl rimmed with delicate blue and crimson hues, encompassed
+the world. The bliss of solitude fell on him, and, being something of a
+poet, he rose to the stars. The smoke of his corncob pipe trailed
+lazily behind him. The horse under him was loping along easily.
+Suddenly the animal lifted his head, and his brown ears went forward.
+
+At Warburton's left, some hundred yards distant, was a clump of osage
+brush. Even as he looked, there came a puff of smoke, followed by the
+evil song of a bullet. My hero's hat was carried away. He wheeled, dug
+his heels into his horse, and cut back over the trail. There came a
+second flash, a shock, and then a terrible pain in the calf of his left
+leg. He fell over the neck of his horse to escape the third bullet. He
+could see the Apache as he stood out from behind the bush. Warburton
+yanked out his Colt and let fly. He heard a yell. It was very
+comforting. That was all he remembered of the skirmish.
+
+For five weeks he languished in the hospital. During that time he came
+to the conclusion that he had had enough of military life in the West.
+He applied for his discharge, as the compulsory term of service was at
+an end. When his papers came he was able to get about with the aid of a
+crutch. One morning his colonel entered his subaltern's bachelor
+quarters.
+
+"Wouldn't you rather have a year's leave of absence, than quit
+altogether, Warburton?"
+
+"A year's leave of absence?" cried the invalid, "I am likely to get
+that, I am."
+
+"If you held a responsible position I dare say it would be difficult.
+As it is, I may say that I can obtain it for you. It will be months
+before you can ride a horse with that leg."
+
+"I thank you, Colonel Raleigh, but I think I'll resign. In fact, I have
+resigned."
+
+"We can withdraw that, if you but say the word. I don't want to lose
+you, lad. You're the only man around here who likes a joke as well as I
+do. And you will have a company if you'll only stick to it a little
+longer."
+
+"I have decided, Colonel. I'm sorry you feel like this about it. You
+see, I have something like twenty-five thousand laid away. I want to
+see at least five thousand dollars' worth of new scenery before I
+shuffle off this mortal coil. The scenery around here palls on me. My
+throat and eyes are always full of sand. I am off to Europe. Some day,
+perhaps, the bee will buzz again; and when it does, I'll have you go
+personally to the president."
+
+"As you please, Warburton."
+
+"Besides, Colonel, I have been reading Treasure Island again, and I've
+got the fever in my veins to hunt for adventure, even a treasure. It's
+in my blood to wander and do strange things, and here I've been
+hampered all these years with routine. I shouldn't care if we had a
+good fight once in a while. My poor old dad traveled around the world
+three times, and I haven't seen anything of it but the maps."
+
+"Go ahead, then. Only, talking about Treasure Island, don't you and
+your twenty-five thousand run into some old Long John Silver."
+
+"I'll take care."
+
+And Mr. Robert packed up his kit and sailed away. Not many months
+passed ere he met his colonel again, and under rather embarrassing
+circumstances.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+INTRODUCES MY HEROINE
+
+
+Let me begin at the beginning. The boat had been two days out of
+Southampton before the fog cleared away. On the afternoon of the third
+day, Warburton curled up in his steamer-chair and lazily viewed the
+blue October seas as they met and merged with the blue October skies. I
+do not recollect the popular novel of that summer, but at any rate it
+lay flapping at the side of his chair, forgotten. It never entered my
+hero's mind that some poor devil of an author had sweated and labored
+with infinite pains over every line, and paragraph, and page-labored
+with all the care and love his heart and mind were capable of, to
+produce this finished child of fancy; or that this same author, even at
+this very moment, might be seated on the veranda of his beautiful
+summer villa, figuring out royalties on the backs of stray envelopes.
+No, he never thought of these things.
+
+What with the wind and the soft, ceaseless jar of the throbbing
+engines, half a dream hovered above his head, and touched him with a
+gentle, insistent caress. If you had passed by him this afternoon, and
+had been anything of a mathematician who could straighten out
+geometrical angles, you would have come close to his height had you
+stopped at five feet nine. Indeed, had you clipped off the heels of his
+low shoes, you would have been exact. But all your nice calculations
+would not have solved his weight. He was slender, but he was hard and
+compact. These hard, slender fellows sometimes weigh more than your men
+of greater bulk. He tipped the scales at one hundred sixty-two, and he
+looked twenty pounds less. He was twenty-eight; a casual glance at him,
+and you would have been willing to wager that the joy of casting his
+first vote was yet to be his.
+
+The princess commands that I describe in detail the charms of this Army
+Adonis. Far be it that I should disobey so august a command, being, as
+I am, the prime minister in this her principality of Domestic Felicity.
+Her brother has never ceased to be among the first in her dear regard.
+He possessed the merriest black eyes: his mother's eyes, as I, a boy,
+remember them. No matter how immobile his features might be, these eyes
+of his were ever ready for laughter. His nose was clean-cut and
+shapely. A phrenologist would have said that his head did not lack the
+bump of caution; but I know better. At present he wore a beard; so this
+is as large an inventory of his personal attractions as I am able to
+give. When he shaves off his beard, I shall be pleased to add further
+particulars. I often marvel that the women did not turn his head. They
+were always sending him notes and invitations and cutting dances for
+him. Perhaps his devil-may-care air had something to do with the
+enchantment. I have yet to see his equal as a horseman. He would have
+made it interesting for that pair of milk-whites which our old friend,
+Ulysses (or was it Diomedes?) had such ado about.
+
+Every man has some vice or other, even if it is only being good.
+Warburton had perhaps two: poker and tobacco. He would get out of bed
+at any hour if some congenial spirit knocked at the door and whispered
+that a little game was in progress, and that his money was needed to
+keep it going. I dare say that you know all about these little games.
+But what would you? What is a man to do in a country where you may buy
+a whole village for ten dollars? Warburton seldom drank, and, like the
+author of this precious volume, only special vintages.
+
+At this particular moment this hero of mine was going over the monotony
+of the old days in Arizona, the sand-deserts, the unlovely landscapes,
+the dull routine, the indifferent skirmishes with cattle-men and
+Indians; the pagan bullet which had plowed through his leg. And now it
+was all over; he had surrendered his straps; he was a private citizen,
+with an income sufficient for his needs. It will go a long way,
+forty-five hundred a year, if one does not attempt to cover the
+distance in a five-thousand motor-car; and he hated all locomotion that
+was not horse-flesh.
+
+For nine months he had been wandering over Europe, if not happy, at
+least in a satisfied frame of mind. Four of these months had been
+delightfully passed in Paris; and, as his nomad excursions had
+invariably terminated in that queen of cities, I make Paris the
+starting point of his somewhat remarkable adventures. Besides, it was
+in Paris that he first saw Her. And now, here he was at last,
+homeward-bound. That phrase had a mighty pleasant sound; it was to the
+ear what honey is to the tongue. Still, he might yet have been in Paris
+but for one thing: She was on board this very boat.
+
+Suddenly his eyes opened full wide, bright with eagerness.
+
+"It is She!" he murmured. He closed his eyes again, the hypocrite!
+
+Permit me to introduce you to my heroine. Mind you, she is not _my_
+creation; only Heaven may produce her like, and but once. She is well
+worth turning around to gaze at. Indeed I know more than one fine
+gentleman who forgot the time of day, the important engagement, or the
+trend of his thought, when she passed by.
+
+She was coming forward, leaning against the wind and inclining to the
+uncertain roll of the ship. A gray raincoat fitted snugly the youthful
+rounded figure. Her hands were plunged into the pockets. You may be
+sure that Mr. Robert noted through his half-closed eyelids these
+inconsequent details. A tourist hat sat jauntily on the fine light
+brown hair, that color which has no appropriate metaphor. (At least, I
+have never found one, and I am _not_ in love with her and _never_ was.)
+Warburton has described to me her eyes, so I am positive that they were
+as heavenly blue as a rajah's sapphire. Her height is of no moment.
+What man ever troubled himself about the height of a woman, so long as
+he wasn't undersized himself? What pleased Warburton was the exquisite
+skin. He was always happy with his comparisons, and particularly when
+he likened her skin to the bloomy olive pallor of a young peach. The
+independent stride was distinguishingly American. Ah, the charm of
+these women who are my countrywomen! They come, they go, alone,
+unattended, courageous without being bold, self-reliant without being
+rude; inimitable. In what an amiable frame of mind Nature must have
+been on the day she cast these molds! But I proceed. The young woman's
+chin was tilted, and Warburton could tell by the dilated nostrils that
+she was breathing in the gale with all the joy of living, filling her
+healthy lungs with it as that rare daughter of the Cyprian Isle might
+have done as she sprang that morn from the jeweled Mediterranean spray,
+that beggar's brooch of Neptune's.
+
+Warburton's heart hadn't thrilled so since the day when he first donned
+cadet gray. There was scarce any room for her to pass between his chair
+and the rail; and this knowledge filled the rascal with exultation.
+Nearer and nearer she came. He drew in his breath sharply as the corner
+of his foot-rest (aided by the sly wind) caught her raincoat.
+
+"I beg your pardon!" he said, sitting up.
+
+She quickly released her coat, smiled faintly, and passed on.
+
+Sometimes the most lasting impressions are those which are printed most
+lightly on the memory. Mr. Robert says that he never will forget that
+first smile. And he didn't even know her name then.
+
+I was about to engage your attention with a description of the villain,
+but on second thought I have decided that it would be rather unfair.
+For at that moment he was at a disadvantage. Nature was punishing him
+for a few shortcomings. The steward that night informed Warburton, in
+answer to his inquiries, that he, the villain, was dreadfully seasick,
+and was begging him, the steward, to scuttle the ship and have done
+with it. I have my doubts regarding this. Mr. Robert is inclined to
+flippancy at times. It wasn't seasickness; and after all is said and
+done, it is putting it harshly to call this man a villain. I recant.
+True villainy is always based upon selfishness. Remember this, my wise
+ones.
+
+Warburton was somewhat subdued when he learned that the suffering
+gentleman was _her_ father.
+
+"What did you say the name was?" he asked innocently. Until now he
+hadn't had the courage to put the question to any one, or to prowl
+around the purser's books.
+
+"Annesley; Colonel Annesley and daughter," answered the unsuspecting
+steward.
+
+Warburton knew nothing then of the mental tragedy going on behind the
+colonel's state-room door. How should he have known? On the contrary,
+he believed that the father of such a girl must be a most knightly and
+courtly gentleman. He _was_, in all outward appearance. There had been
+a time, not long since, when he had been knightly and courtly in all
+things.
+
+Surrounding every upright man there is a mire, and if he step not
+wisely, he is lost. There is no coming back; step by step he must go on
+and on, till he vanishes and a bubble rises over where he but lately
+stood. That he misstepped innocently does not matter; mire and evil
+have neither pity nor reason. To spend what is not ours and then to try
+to recover it, to hide the guilty step: this is futility. From the
+alpha men have made this step; to the omega they will make it, with the
+same unchanging futility. After all, it _is_ money. Money _is_ the root
+of all evil; let him laugh who will, in his heart of hearts he knows it.
+
+Money! Have you never heard that siren call to you, call seductively
+from her ragged isle, where lurk the reefs of greed and selfishness?
+Money! What has this siren not to offer? Power, ease, glory, luxury;
+aye, I had almost said love! But, no; love is the gift of God, money is
+the invention of man: all the good, all the evil, in the heart of this
+great humanity.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+THE ADVENTURE BEGINS
+
+
+It was only when the ship was less than a day's journey off Sandy Hook
+that the colonel came on deck, once more to resume his interest in
+human affairs. How the girl hovered about him! She tucked the shawl
+more snugly around his feet; she arranged and rearranged the pillows
+back of his head; she fed him from a bowl of soup; she read from some
+favorite book; she smoothed the furrowed brow; she stilled the long,
+white, nervous fingers with her own small, firm, brown ones; she was
+mother and daughter in one. Wherever she moved, the parent eye followed
+her, and there lay in its deeps a strange mixture of fear, and trouble,
+and questioning love. All the while he drummed ceaselessly on the arms
+of his chair.
+
+And Mr. Robert, watching all these things from afar, Mr. Robert sighed
+dolorously. The residue air in his lungs was renewed more frequently
+than nature originally intended it should be. Love has its beneficences
+as well as its pangs, only they are not wholly appreciable by the
+recipient. For what is better than a good pair of lungs constantly
+filled and refilled with pure air? Mr. Robert even felt a twinge of
+remorse besides. He was brother to a girl almost as beautiful as yonder
+one (to my mind far more beautiful!) and he recalled that in two years
+he had not seen her nor made strenuous efforts to keep up the
+correspondence. Another good point added to the score of love! And,
+alas! he might never see this charming girl again, this daughter so
+full of filial love and care. He had sought the captain, but that hale
+and hearty old sea-dog had politely rebuffed him.
+
+"My dear young man," he said, "I do all I possibly can for the
+entertainment and comfort of my passengers, but in this case I must
+refuse your request."
+
+"And pray, why, sir?" demanded Mr. Robert, with dignity.
+
+"For the one and simple reason that Colonel Annesley expressed the
+desire to be the recipient of no ship introductions."
+
+"What the deuce is he, a billionaire?"
+
+"You have me there, sir. I confess that I know nothing whatever about
+him. This is the first time he has ever sailed on my deck."
+
+All of which perfectly accounts for Mr. Robert's sighs in what
+musicians call the _doloroso_. If only he knew some one who knew the
+colonel! How simple it would be! Certainly, a West Point graduate would
+find some consideration. But the colonel spoke to no one save his
+daughter, and his daughter to none but her parent, her maid, and the
+stewardess. Would they remain in New York, or would they seek their
+far-off southern home? Oh, the thousands of questions which surged
+through his brain! From time to time he glanced sympathetically at the
+colonel, whose fingers drummed and drummed and drummed.
+
+"Poor wretch! his stomach must be in bad shape. Or maybe he has the
+palsy." Warburton mused upon the curious incertitude of the human
+anatomy.
+
+But Colonel Annesley did not have the palsy. What he had is at once the
+greatest blessing and the greatest curse of God--remembrance, or
+conscience, if you will.
+
+What a beautiful color her hair was, dappled with sunshine and shadow!
+... Pshaw! Mr. Robert threw aside his shawl and book (it is of no real
+importance, but I may as well add that he never completed the reading
+of that summer's most popular novel) and sought the smoking-room,
+where, with the aid of a fat perfecto and a liberal stack of blues, he
+proceeded to divert himself till the boat reached quarantine. I shall
+not say that he left any of his patrimony at the mahogany table with
+its green-baize covering and its little brass disks for cigar ashes,
+but I am certain that he did not make one of those stupendous winnings
+we often read about and never witness. This much, however: he made the
+acquaintance of a very important personage, who was presently to add no
+insignificant weight on the scales of Mr. Robert's destiny.
+
+He was a Russian, young, handsome, suave, of what the newspapers insist
+on calling distinguished bearing. He spoke English pleasantly but
+imperfectly. He possessed a capital fund of anecdote, and Warburton,
+being an Army man, loved a good droll story. It was a revelation to see
+the way he dipped the end of his cigar into his coffee, a stimulant
+which he drank with Balzacian frequency and relish. Besides these
+accomplishments, he played a very smooth hand at the great American
+game. While Mr. Robert's admiration was not aroused, it was surely
+awakened.
+
+My hero had no trouble with the customs officials. A brace of old
+French dueling pistols and a Turkish simitar were the only articles
+which might possibly have been dutiable. The inspector looked hard, but
+he was finally convinced that Mr. Robert was _not_ a professional
+curio-collector. Warburton, never having returned from abroad before,
+found a deal of amusement and food for thought in the ensuing scenes.
+There was one man, a prim, irascible old fellow, who was not allowed to
+pass in two dozen fine German razors. There was a time of it, angry
+words, threats, protestations. The inspector stood firm. The old
+gentleman, in a fine burst of passion, tossed the razors into the
+water. Then they were going to arrest him for smuggling. A friend
+extricated him. The old gentleman went away, saying something about the
+tariff and an unreasonably warm place which has as many synonyms as an
+octopus has tentacles.
+
+Another man, his mouth covered by an enormous black mustache which must
+have received a bath every morning in coffee or something stronger,
+came forward pompously. I don't know to this day what magic word he
+said, but the inspectors took never a peep into his belongings.
+Doubtless they knew him, and that his word was as good as his bond.
+
+Here a woman wept because the necklace she brought trustingly from
+Rotterdam must be paid for once again; and here another, who clenched
+her fists (do women have fists?) and if looks could have killed there
+would have been a vacancy in customs forthwith. All her choicest linen
+strewn about on the dirty boards, all soiled and rumpled and useless!
+
+When the colonel's turn came, Warburton moved within hearing distance.
+How glorious she looked in that smart gray traveling habit! With what
+well-bred indifference she gazed upon the scene! Calmly her glance
+passed among the circles of strange faces, and ever and anon returned
+to the great ship which had safely brought her back to her native land.
+There were other women who were just as well-bred and indifferent, only
+Warburton had but one pair of eyes. Sighs in the _doloroso_ again. Ha!
+if only one of these meddling jackasses would show her some disrespect
+and give him the opportunity of avenging the affront!
+
+(Come, now; let me be your confessor. Have you never thought and acted
+like this hero of mine? Haven't you been just as melodramatic and
+ridiculous? It is nothing to be ashamed of. For my part, I should
+confess to it with the same equanimity as I should to the mumps or the
+measles. It comes with, and is part and parcel of, all that strange
+medley we find in the Pandora box of life. Love has no diagnosis, so
+the doctors say. 'Tis all in the angle of vision.)
+
+But nothing happened. Colonel Annesley and his daughter were old hands;
+they had gone through all this before. Scarce an article in their
+trunks was disturbed. There was a slight duty of some twelve dollars
+(Warburton's memory is marvelous), and their luggage was free. But
+alas, for the perspicacity of the inspectors! I can very well imagine
+the god of irony in no better or more fitting place than in the United
+States Customs House.
+
+Once outside, the colonel caught the eye of a cabby, and he and his
+daughter stepped in.
+
+"Holland House, sir, did you say?" asked the cabby.
+
+The colonel nodded. The cabby cracked his whip, and away they rolled
+over the pavement.
+
+Warburton's heart gave a great bound. She had actually leaned out of
+the cab, and for one brief moment their glances had met. Scarce knowing
+what he did, he jumped into another cab and went pounding after. It was
+easily ten blocks from the pier when the cabby raised the lid and
+peered down at his fare.
+
+"Do you want t' folly them ahead?" he cried.
+
+"No, no!" Warburton was startled out of his wild dream. "Drive to the
+Holland House--no--to the Waldorf. Yes, the Waldorf; and keep your nag
+going."
+
+"Waldorf it is, sir!" The lid above closed.
+
+Clouds had gathered in the heavens. It was beginning to rain. But
+Warburton neither saw the clouds nor felt the first few drops of rain.
+All the way up-town he planned and planned--as many plans as there were
+drops of rain; the rain wet him, but the plans drowned him--he became
+submerged. If I were an expert at analysis, which I am not, I should
+say that Mr. Robert was not violently in love; rather I should observe
+that he was fascinated with the first really fine face he had seen in
+several years. Let him never see Miss Annesley again, and in two weeks
+he would entirely forget her. I know enough of the race to be able to
+put forward this statement. Of course, it is understood that he would
+have to mingle for the time among other handsome women. Now, strive as
+he would, he could not think out a feasible plan. One plan might have
+given him light, but the thousand that came to him simply overwhelmed
+him fathoms deep. If he could find some one he knew at the Holland
+House, some one who would strike up a smoking-room acquaintance with
+the colonel, the rest would be simple enough. Annesley--Annesley; he
+couldn't place the name. Was he a regular, retired, or a veteran of the
+Civil War? And yet, the name was not totally unfamiliar. Certainly, he
+was a fine-looking old fellow, with his white hair and Alexandrian
+nose. And here he was, he, Robert Warburton, in New York, simply
+because he happened to be in the booking office of the _Gare du Nord_
+one morning and overheard a very beautiful girl say: "Then we shall
+sail from Southampton day after to-morrow." Of a truth, it is the
+infinitesimal things that count heaviest.
+
+So deep was he in the maze of his tentative romance that when the cab
+finally stopped abruptly, he was totally unaware of the transition from
+activity to passivity.
+
+"Hotel, sir!"
+
+"Ah, yes!" Warburton leaped out, fumbled in his pocket, and brought
+forth a five-dollar note, which he gave to the cabby. He did not
+realize it, but this was the only piece of American money he had on his
+person. Nor did he wait for the change. Mr. Robert was exceedingly
+careless with his money at this stage of his infatuation; being a
+soldier, he never knew the real value of legal tender. I know that _I_
+should never have been guilty of such liberality, not even if Mister
+Cabby had bowled me from Harlem to Brooklyn. And you may take my word
+for it, the gentleman in the ancient plug-hat did not wait to see if
+his fare had made a mistake, but trotted away good and hearty. The cab
+system is one of the most pleasing and amiable phases of metropolitan
+life.
+
+Warburton rushed into the noisy, gorgeous lobby, and wandered about
+till he espied the desk. Here he turned over his luggage checks to the
+clerk and said that these accessories of travel must be in his room
+before eight o'clock that night, or there would be trouble. It was now
+half after five. The clerk eagerly scanned the register. Warburton,
+Robert Warburton; it was not a name with which _he_ was familiar. A
+thin film of icy hauteur spread over his face.
+
+"Very well, sir. Do you wish a bath with your room?"
+
+"Certainly." Warburton glanced at his watch again.
+
+"The price--"
+
+"Hang the price! A room, a room with a bath--that's what I want. Have
+you got it?" This was said with a deal of real impatience and a hauteur
+that overtopped the clerk's.
+
+The film of ice melted into a gracious smile. Some new millionaire from
+Pittsburg, thought the clerk. He swung the book around.
+
+"You have forgotten your place of residence, sir," he said.
+
+"Place of residence!"
+
+Warburton looked at the clerk in blank astonishment. Place of
+residence? Why, heaven help him, he had none, none! For the first time
+since he left the Army the knowledge came home to him, and it struck
+rather deep. He caught up the pen, poised it an indecisive moment, then
+hastily scribbled Paris: as well Paris as anywhere. Then he took out
+his wallet, comfortably packed with English and French bank-notes, and
+a second wave of astonishment rolled over him. Altogether, it was a
+rare good chance that he ever came to the surface again. No plan, no
+place of residence, no American money!
+
+"Good Lord! I forgot all about exchanging it on shipboard!" he
+exclaimed.
+
+"Don't let that trouble you, sir," said the clerk, with real
+affability. "Our own bank will exchange your money in the morning."
+
+"But I haven't a penny of American money on my person!"
+
+"How much will you need for the evening, sir?"
+
+"Not more than fifty."
+
+The clerk brought forth a slip of paper, wrote something on it, and
+handed it to Warburton.
+
+"Sign here," he said, indicating a blank space.
+
+And presently Mr. Robert, having deposited his foreign money in the
+safe, pocketed the receipt for its deposit along with five crisp
+American notes. There is nothing lacking in these modern hostelries,
+excepting it be a church.
+
+Our homeless young gentleman lighted a cigar and went out under the
+portico. An early darkness had settled over the city, and a heavy
+steady rain was falling. The asphalt pavements glistened and twinkled
+as far as the eye's range could reach. A thousand lights gleamed down
+on him, and he seemed to be standing in a canon dappled with fireflies.
+Place of residence! Neither the fig-tree nor the vine! Did he lose his
+money to-morrow, the source of his small income, he would be without a
+roof over his head. True, his brother's roof would always welcome him:
+but a roof-tree of his own! And he could lay claim to no city, either,
+having had the good fortune to be born in a healthy country town. Place
+of residence! Truly he had none; a melancholy fact which he had not
+appreciated till now. And all this had slipped his mind because of a
+pair of eyes as heavenly blue as a rajah's sapphire!
+
+Hang it, what should he do, now that he was no longer traveling, now
+that his time was no longer Uncle Sam's? He had never till now known
+idleness, and the thought of it did not run smoothly with the grain. He
+was essentially a man of action. There might be some good sport for a
+soldier in Venezuela, but that was far away and uncertain. It was quite
+possible Jack, his brother, might find him a post as military attache,
+perhaps in France, perhaps in Belgium, perhaps in Vienna. That was the
+goal of more than one subaltern. The English novelist is to be blamed
+for this ambition. But Warburton could speak French with a certain
+fluency, and his German was good enough to swear by; so it will be seen
+that he had some ground upon which to build this ambition.
+
+Heigho! The old homestead was gone; his sister dwelt under the elder
+brother's roof; the prodigal was alone.
+
+"But there's always a fatted calf waiting in Washington," he laughed
+aloud. "Once a soldier, always a soldier. I suppose I'll be begging the
+colonel to have a chat with the president. There doesn't seem to be any
+way of getting out of it. I'll have to don the old togs again. I ought
+to write a letter to Nancy, but it will be finer to drop in on 'em
+unexpectedly. Bless her heart! (So say I!) And Jack's, too, and his
+little wife's! And I haven't written a line in eight weeks. But I'll
+make it all up in ten minutes. And if I haven't a roof-tree, at least
+I've got the ready cash and can buy one any day." All of which proves
+that Mr. Robert possessed a buoyant spirit, and refused to be downcast
+for more than one minute at a time.
+
+He threw away his cigar and reentered the hotel, and threaded his way
+through the appalling labyrinths of corridors till he found some one to
+guide him to the barber shop, where he could have his hair cut and his
+beard trimmed in the good old American way, money no object. For a plan
+had at last come to him; and it wasn't at all bad. He determined to
+dine at the Holland House at eight-thirty. It was quite possible that
+he would see Her.
+
+My only wish is that, when I put on evening clothes (in my humble
+opinion, the homeliest and most uncomfortable garb that man ever
+invented!) I might look one-quarter as handsome and elegant as Mr.
+Robert looked, as he came down stairs at eight-ten that night. He
+wasn't to be blamed if the women glanced in his direction, and then
+whispered and whispered, and nodded and nodded. Ordinarily he would
+have observed these signs of feminine approval, for there was warm
+blood in his veins, and it is proverbial that the Army man is gallant.
+But to-night Diana and her white huntresses might have passed him by
+and not aroused even a flicker of interest or surprise on his face.
+There was only one pair of eyes, one face, and to see these he would
+have gladly gone to the ends of the earth, travel-weary though he was.
+
+He smoked feverishly, and was somewhat troubled to find that he hadn't
+quite got his land legs, as they say. The floor swayed at intervals,
+and the throbbing of the engines came back. He left the hotel, hailed a
+cab, and was driven down Fifth Avenue. He stopped before the fortress
+of privileges. From the cab it looked very formidable. Worldly as he
+was, he was somewhat innocent. He did not know that New York hotels are
+formidable only when your money gives out. To get past all these
+brass-buttoned lackeys and to go on as though he really had business
+within took no small quantity of nerve. However, he slipped by the
+outpost without any challenge and boldly approached the desk. A quick
+glance at the register told him that they had indeed put up at this
+hotel. He could not explain why he felt so happy over his discovery.
+There are certain exultations which are inexplicable. As he turned away
+from the desk, he bumped into a gentleman almost as elegantly attired
+as himself.
+
+"I beg your pardon!" he cried, stepping aside.
+
+"What? Mr. _Warrr_burton?"
+
+Mr. Robert, greatly surprised and confused, found himself shaking hands
+with his ship acquaintance, the Russian.
+
+"I am very glad to see you again, Count," said Warburton, recovering.
+
+"A great pleasure! It is wonderful how small a city is. I had never
+expect' to see you again. Are you stopping here?" I had intended to try
+to reproduce the Russian's dialect, but one dialect in a book is
+enough; and we haven't reached the period of its activity.
+
+"No, I am at the Waldorf."
+
+"Eh? I have heard all about you millionaires."
+
+"Oh, we are not all of us millionaires who stop there," laughed
+Warburton. "There are some of us who try to make others believe that we
+are." Then, dropping into passable French, he added: "I came here
+to-night with the purpose of dining. Will you do me the honor of
+sharing my table?"
+
+"You speak French?"--delighted. "It is wonderful. This English has so
+many words that mean so many things, that of all languages I speak it
+with the least fluency. But it is my deep regret, Monsieur, to refuse
+your kind invitation. I am dining with friends."
+
+"Well, then, breakfast to-morrow at eleven," Warburton urged, for he
+had taken a fancy to this affable Russian.
+
+"Alas! See how I am placed. I am forced to leave for Washington early
+in the morning. We poor diplomats, we earn our honors. But my business
+is purely personal in this case, neither political nor diplomatic." The
+count drew his gloves thoughtfully through his fingers. "I shall of
+course pay my respects to my ambassador. Do I recollect your saying
+that you belonged to the United States Army?"
+
+"I recently resigned. My post was in a wild country, with little or
+nothing to do; monotony and routine."
+
+"You limp slightly?"
+
+"A trifling mishap,"--modestly.
+
+"Eh, you do wrong. You may soon be at war with England, and having
+resigned your commission, you would lose all you had waited these years
+for."
+
+Warburton smiled. "We shall not go to war with England."
+
+"This Army of yours is small."
+
+"Well, yes; but made of pretty good material--fighting machines with
+brains."
+
+"Ha!" The count laughed softly. "Bah! how I detest all these cars and
+ships! Will you believe me, I had rather my little chateau, my
+vineyard, and my wheat fields, than all the orders.... Eh, well, _my
+country_: there must be some magic in that phrase. Of all loves, that
+of country is the most lasting. Is that Balzac? I do not recall. Only
+once in a century do we find a man who is willing to betray his
+country, and even then he may have for his purpose neither hate,
+revenge, nor love of power." A peculiar gravity sat on his mobile face,
+caused, perhaps, by some disagreeable inward thought.
+
+"How long shall you be in Washington?" asked Warburton.
+
+The count shrugged. "Who can say?"
+
+"I go to Washington myself within a few days."
+
+"Till we meet again, then, Monsieur."
+
+The count lifted his hat, a courtesy which was gracefully acknowledged
+by the American; while the clerks at the desk eyed with tolerant
+amusement these polite but rather unfamiliar ceremonies of departure.
+These foreigners were odd duffers.
+
+"A very decent chap," mused Warburton, "and a mighty shrewd hand at
+poker--for a foreigner. He is going to Washington: we shall meet again.
+I wonder if she's in the restaurant now."
+
+Meet again? Decidedly; and had clairvoyance shown my hero that night
+how he and the count were to meet again, certainly he would have
+laughed.
+
+If I dared, I should like to say a good deal more about this Russian.
+But I have no desire to lose my head, politically or physically. Even
+the newsboys are familiar with this great young man's name; and if I
+should disclose it, you would learn a great many things which I have no
+desire that you should. One day he is in Paris, another in Berlin, then
+off to Vienna, to Belgrade, or St. Petersburg, or Washington, or
+London, or Rome. A few months ago, previous to this writing, he was in
+Manchuria; and to this very day England and Japan are wondering how it
+happened; not his being there, mind you, but the result. Rich, that is
+to say independent; unmarried, that is to say unattached; free to come
+and go, he stood high up in that great army of the czar's, which I call
+the uncredited diplomatic corps, because the phrase "secret service"
+always puts into my mind a picture of the wild-eyed, bearded anarchist,
+whom I most heartily detest.
+
+What this remarkable diplomatic free-lance did in Washington was
+honestly done in the interests of his country. A Russ understands honor
+in the rough, but he lacks all those delicate shadings which make the
+word honor the highest of all words in the vocabularies of the Gaul and
+the Saxon. And while I do not uphold him in what he did, I can not
+place much blame at the count's door. Doubtless, in his place, and
+given his cast of mind, I might have done exactly as he did. Russia
+never asks how a thing is done, but why it is _not_ done. Ah, these
+Aspasias, these Circes, these Calypsos, these Cleopatras, with their
+blue, their gray, their amber eyes! I have my doubts concerning Jonah,
+but, being a man, I am fully convinced as to the history of Eve. And
+yet, the woman in this case was absolutely innocent of any guile,
+unless, a pair of eyes as heavenly blue as a rajah's sapphire may be
+called guile.
+
+Pardon me this long parenthesis. By this time, no doubt, Mr. Robert has
+entered the restaurant We shall follow him rather than this aimless
+train of thought.
+
+Mr. Robert's appetite, for a healthy young man, was strangely
+incurious. He searched the menu from top to bottom, and then from
+bottom to top; nothing excited his palate. Whenever persons entered, he
+would glance up eagerly, only to feel his heart sink lower and lower. I
+don't know how many times he was disappointed. The waiter ahemmed
+politely. Warburton, in order to have an excuse to remain, at length
+hit upon a partridge and a pint of Chablis.
+
+Nine o'clock. Was it possible that the colonel and his daughter were
+dining in their rooms? Perish the possibility! And he looked in vain
+for the count. A quarter-past nine. Mr. Robert's anxiety was becoming
+almost unendurable. Nine-thirty. He was about to surrender in despair.
+His partridge lay smoking on his plate, and he was on the point of
+demolishing it, when, behold! they came. The colonel entered first,
+then his daughter, her hand--on--the--arm--of--the--count! Warburton
+never fully described to me his feelings at that moment; but, knowing
+him as I do, I can put together a very, respectable picture of the
+chagrin and consternation that sat on his countenance.
+
+"To think of being nearly six days aboard," Mr. Robert once bawled at
+me, wrathfully, "and not to know that that Russian chap knew her!" It
+_was_ almost incredible that such a thing should happen.
+
+The three sat down at a table seven times removed from Warburton's. He
+could see only an adorable profile and the colonel's handsome but
+care-worn face. The count sat with his back turned. In that black
+evening gown she was simply beyond the power of adjectives. What
+shoulders, what an incomparable throat! Mr. Robert's bird grew cold;
+the bouquet from his glass fainted and died away. How her face lighted
+when she laughed, and she laughed frequently! What a delicious curve
+ran from her lips to her young bosom! But never once did she look in
+his direction. Who invented mirrors, the Egyptians? I can not say.
+There were mirrors in the room, but Mr. Robert did not realize it. He
+has since confessed to me that he hadn't the slightest idea how much
+his bird and bottle cost. Of such is love's young dream! (Do I worry
+you with all these repetitious details? I am sorry.)
+
+At ten o'clock Miss Annesley rose, and the count escorted her to the
+elevator, returning almost immediately. He and the colonel drew their
+heads together. From time to time the count shrugged, or the colonel
+shook his head. Again and again the Russian dipped the end of his cigar
+into his coffee-cup, which he frequently replenished.
+
+But for Mr. Robert the gold had turned to gilt, the gorgeous to the
+gaudy. She was gone. The imagination moves as swiftly as light, leaping
+from one castle in air to another, and still another. Mr. Robert was
+the architect of some fine ones, I may safely assure you. And he didn't
+mind in the least that they tumbled down as rapidly as they builded:
+only, the incentive was gone. What the colonel had to say to the count,
+or the count to the colonel, was of no interest to him; so he made an
+orderly retreat.
+
+I am not so old as not to appreciate his sleeplessness that night. Some
+beds are hard, even when made of the softest down.
+
+In the morning he telephoned to the Holland House. The Annesleys, he
+was informed, had departed for parts unknown. The count had left
+directions to forward any possible mail to the Russian Embassy,
+Washington. Sighs in the _doloroso_; the morning papers and numerous
+cigars; a whisky and soda; a game of indifferent billiards with an
+affable stranger; another whisky and soda; and a gradual reclamation of
+Mr. Robert's interest in worldly affairs.
+
+She was gone.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+A FAMILY REUNION
+
+
+Warburton had not been in the city of Washington within twelve years.
+In the past his furloughs had been spent at his brother's country home
+in Larchmont, out of New York City. Thus, when he left the train at the
+Baltimore and Potomac station, he hadn't the slightest idea where Scott
+Circle was. He looked around in vain for the smart cab of the northern
+metropolis. All he saw was a line of omnibuses and a few ramshackle
+vehicles that twenty years back might very well have passed for
+victorias. A grizzled old negro, in command of one of these sea-going
+conveyances, caught Warburton's eye and hailed jovially. Our hero (as
+the good novelists of the past generation would say, taking their
+readers into their innermost confidences) handed him his traveling case
+and stepped in.
+
+"Whar to, suh?" asked the commodore.
+
+"Scott Circle, and don't pommel that old nag's bones in trying to get
+there. I've plenty of time."
+
+"I reckon I won't pommel him, suh. Skt! skt!" And the vehicle rattled
+out into broad Pennsylvania Avenue, but for the confusion and absurdity
+of its architectural structures, the handsomest thoroughfare in
+America. (Some day I am going to carry a bill into Congress and read
+it, and become famous as having been the means of making Pennsylvania
+Avenue the handsomest highway in the world.)
+
+Warburton leaned back luxuriously against the faded horse-hair cushion
+and lighted a cigar, which he smoked with relish, having had a hearty
+breakfast on the train. It was not quite nine o'clock, and a warm
+October haze lay on the peaceful city. Here were people who did not
+rush madly about in the pursuit of riches. Rather they proceeded along
+soberly, even leisurely, as if they knew what the day's work was and
+the rewards attendant, and were content. Trucks, those formidable
+engines of commerce, neither rumbled nor thundered along the pavements,
+nor congested the thoroughfares. Nobody hurried into the shops, nobody
+hurried out. There were no scampering, yelling newsboys. Instead, along
+the curbs of the market, sat barelegged negro boys, some of them
+selling papers to those who wanted them, and some sandwiched in between
+baskets of popcorn and peanuts. There was a marked scarcity of the
+progressive, intrusive white boy. Old negro mammies passed to and fro
+with the day's provisions.
+
+Glancing over his shoulder, Warburton saw the Capitol, shining in the
+sun like some enchanted palace out of Wonderland. He touched his cap,
+conscious of a thrill in his spine. And there, far to his left, loomed
+the Washington monument, glittering like a shaft of opals. Some
+orderlies dashed by on handsome bays. How splendid they looked, with
+their blue trousers and broad yellow stripes! This was before the Army
+adopted the comfortable but shabby brown duck. How he longed to throw a
+leg over the back of a good horse and gallop away into the great green
+country beyond!
+
+In every extraordinary looking gentleman he saw some famed senator or
+congressman or diplomat. He was almost positive that he saw the
+secretary of war drive by in a neat brougham. The only things which
+moved with the hustling spirit of the times were the cables, and
+doubtless these would have gone slower but for the invisible and
+immutable power which propelled them. On arriving in New York, one's
+first thought is of riches; in Washington, of glory. What a difference
+between this capital and those he had seen abroad! There was no
+militarism here, no conscription, no governmental oppression, no signs
+of discontent, no officers treading on the rights and the toes of
+civilians.
+
+But now he was passing the huge and dingy magic Treasury Building,
+round past the Executive Mansion with its spotless white stone, its
+stately portico and its plush lawns.
+
+"Go slow, uncle; I haven't seen this place since I was a boy."
+
+"Yes, suh. How d' y' like it? Wouldn' y' like t' live in dat house,
+suh?"--the commodore grinned.
+
+"One can't stay there long enough to please me, uncle. It takes four
+years to get used to it; and then, when you begin to like it, you have
+to pack up and clear out."
+
+"It's de way dey goes, suh. We go eroun' Lafayette, er do yuh want t'
+see de Wa' Depa'tment, suh?"
+
+"Never mind now, uncle; Scott Circle."
+
+"Scott Circle she am, suh."
+
+The old ark wheeled round Lafayette Square and finally rolled into
+Sixteenth Street. When at length it came to a stand in front of a
+beautiful house, Warburton evinced his surprise openly. He knew that
+his brother's wife had plenty of money, but not such a plenty as to
+afford a house like this.
+
+"Are you sure, uncle, that this is the place?"
+
+"Dere's de Circle, suh, an' yuh can see de numbuh fo' y'se'f, suh."
+
+"How much do I owe you?"
+
+"I reckon 'bout fifty cents 'll make it, suh."
+
+Warburton gave him a dollar, marveling at the difference between the
+cab hire here and in New York. He grasped his case and leaped up the
+steps two at a bound, and pressed the bell A prim little maid answered
+the call.
+
+"Does Mr. John Warburton live here?" he asked breathlessly.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Fortunate John!" he cried, pushing past the maid and standing in the
+hall of his brother's household, unheralded and unannounced. "Jack!" he
+bawled.
+
+The maid eyed the handsome intruder, her face expressing the utmost
+astonishment. She touched his arm.
+
+"Sir!--" she began.
+
+"It's all right, my dear," he interrupted.
+
+She stepped back, wondering whether to scream or run.
+
+"Hi, Jack! I say, you old henpecked, where are you?"
+
+The dining-room door slid back and a tall, studious-looking gentleman,
+rather plain than otherwise, stood on the threshold.
+
+"Jane, what is all this--Why, Bob, you scalawag!"--and in a moment they
+were pumping hands at a great rate. The little maid leaned weakly
+against the balustrade.
+
+"Kit, Kit! I say, Kit, come and see who's here!" cried John.
+
+An extraordinarily pretty little woman, whose pallor any woman would
+have understood, but no man on earth, and who was dressed in a charming
+pink negligee morning-gown, hurried into the hall.
+
+"Why, it's Bob!" She flung her arms around the prodigal and kissed him
+heartily, held him away at arm's length, and hugged and kissed him
+again. I'm not sure that Mr. Robert didn't like it.
+
+Suddenly there was a swish of starched skirts on the stairs, and the
+most beautiful woman in all the world (and I am always ready to back
+this statement with abundant proofs!) rushed down and literally threw
+herself into Mr. Robert's eager, outstretched arms.
+
+"Nancy!"
+
+"Bob! Bob! you wicked boy! You almost break our hearts. Not a line in
+two months!--How could you!--You might have been dead and we not know
+it!"--and she cried on his shoulder.
+
+"Come now, Nancy; nonsense! You'll start the color running out of this
+tie of mine!" But for all his jesting tone, Mr. Robert felt an
+embarrassing lump wriggle up and down in his throat.
+
+"Had your breakfast?" asked the humane and practical brother.
+
+"Yep. But I shouldn't mind another cup of coffee."
+
+And thereupon he was hustled into the dining-room and pushed into the
+best chair. How the clear women fussed over him, pressed this upon him
+and that; fondled and caressed him, just as if the beggar was worth all
+this trouble and love and affection!
+
+"Hang it, girls, it's worth being an outlaw to come to this," he cried.
+He reached over and patted Nancy on the cheek, and pressed the young
+wife's hand, and smiled pleasantly at his brother. "Jack, you lucky
+pup, you!"
+
+"Two years," murmured Nancy; "and we haven't had a glimpse of you in
+two long years."
+
+"Only in photograph," said the homeless one, putting three lumps of
+sugar into his coffee because he was so happy he didn't know what he
+was about.
+
+"And you have turned twenty-eight," said Kit, counting on her fingers.
+
+"That makes you twenty-four, Nan," Jack laughed.
+
+"And much I care!" replied Nancy, shaking her head defiantly. I've a
+sneaking idea that she was thinking of me when she made this
+declaration. For if _I_ didn't care, why should she?
+
+"A handsome, stunning girl like you, Nan, ought to be getting married,"
+observed the prodigal. "What's the matter with all these dukes and
+lords and princes, anyhow?"
+
+An embarrassed smile ran around the table, but Mr. Robert missed it by
+some several inches.
+
+Jack threw a cigar across the table. "Now," said he, "where the deuce
+did you come from?"
+
+"Indirectly from Arizona, which is a synonym, once removed, for war."
+
+Jack looked at his plate and laughed; but Mrs. Jack wanted to know what
+Bob meant by that.
+
+"It's a word used instead of war, as applied by the late General
+Sherman," Jack replied. "And I am surprised that a brother-in-law of
+yours should so far forget himself as to hint it, even."
+
+Knowing that she could put him through the inquisition later, she asked
+my hero how his leg was.
+
+"It aches a little when it rains; that's about all."
+
+"And you never let us know anything about it till the thing was all
+over," was Nancy's reproach.
+
+"What's the use of scaring you women?" Robert demanded. "You would have
+had hysterics and all that."
+
+"We heard of it quick enough through the newspapers," said Jack. "Come,
+give us your own version of the rumpus."
+
+"Well, the truth is,"--and the prodigal told them his tale.
+
+"Why, you are a hero!" cried Mrs. Jack, clasping her hands.
+
+"Hero nothing," sniffed the elder brother. "He was probably star-gazing
+or he wouldn't have poked his nose into an ambush."
+
+"Right you are, brother John," Robert acknowledged, laughing.
+
+"And how handsome he has grown, Nancy," Mrs. Jack added, with an
+oblique glance at her husband.
+
+"He does look 'distangy'," that individual admitted. A handsome face
+always went through John's cuirass. It was all nonsense, for his wife
+could not have adored him more openly had he been the twin to Adonis.
+But, there you are; a man always wants something he can not have. John
+wasn't satisfied to be one of the most brilliant young men in
+Washington; he also wanted to be classed among the handsomest.
+
+"By the way, Jack," said my hero, lighting the cigar and blowing the
+first puff toward the ceiling, his face admirably set with nonchalance,
+"do you know of a family named Annesley--Colonel Annesley?" I knew it
+would take only a certain length of time for this question to arrive.
+
+"Colonel Annesley? Why, yes. He was in the War Department until a year
+or so ago. A fine strategist; knows every in and out of the coast
+defenses, and is something of an inventor; lots of money, too. Tall,
+handsome old fellow?"
+
+"That's the man. A war volunteer?"
+
+"No, a regular. Crippled his gun-fingers in some petty Indian war, and
+was transferred to the Department. He was a widower, if my recollection
+of him is correct; and had a lovely daughter."
+
+"Ah!" There was great satisfaction evident in this syllable. "Do you
+know where the colonel is now?"
+
+"Not the faintest idea. He lived somewhere in Virginia. But he's been
+on the travel for several years."
+
+Robert stirred his coffee and took a spoonful--and dropped the spoon.
+"Pah! I must have put in a quart of sugar. Can you spare me another
+cup?"
+
+"Annesley?" Nancy's face brightened. "Colonel Annesley? Why, I know
+Betty Annesley. She was my room-mate at Smith one year. She was in my
+graduating class. I'll show you her picture later. She was the dearest
+girl! How she loved horses! But why are you so interested?"--slyly.
+
+"I ran across them coming home."
+
+"Then you met Betty! Isn't she just the loveliest girl you ever saw?"
+
+"I'm for her, one and indivisible. But hang my luck, I never came
+within a mile of an introduction."
+
+"What? You, and on shipboard where she couldn't get away?" John threw
+up his hands as a sign that this information had overcome him.
+
+"Even the captain shied when I approached him," said Robert, gloomily.
+
+"I begin to see," said the brother.
+
+"See what?"
+
+"Have a match; your cigar has gone out."
+
+Robert relighted his cigar and puffed like a threshing-machine engine.
+
+John leaned toward Nancy. "Shall I tell him, Nan?"
+
+Nancy blushed. "I suppose he'll have to know sooner or later."
+
+"Know what?" asked the third person singular
+
+"Your charming sister is about to bring you a brother-in-law."
+
+"What?" You could have heard this across the street.
+
+"Yes, Bobby dear. And don't look so hurt. You don't want me to become
+an old maid, do you?"
+
+"When did it happen?"--helplessly. How the thought of his sister's
+marrying horrifies a brother! I believe I can tell you why. Every
+brother knows that no man is good enough for a good woman. "When did it
+happen?" Mr. Robert repeated, with a look at his brother, which said
+that _he_ should be held responsible.
+
+"Last week."
+
+Robert took in a long breath, as one does who expects to receive a blow
+of some sort which can not be warded off, and asked: "Who is it?" Nancy
+married? What was the world coming to, anyhow?
+
+"Charlie Henderson,"--timidly.
+
+Then Robert, who had been expecting nothing less than an English duke,
+let loose the flaming ions of his righteous wrath.
+
+"Chuck Henderson?--that duffer?" (Oh, Mr. Robert, Mr. Robert; and after
+all I've done for you!)
+
+"He's not a duffer!" remonstrated Nancy, with a flare in her mild eyes.
+(How I wish I might have seen her as she defended me!) "He's the
+dearest fellow in the world, and I love him with all my heart!" (How do
+you like that, Mr. Robert? Bravo, Nancy! I may be a duffer, true
+enough, but I rather object to its being called out from the
+housetops.) And Nancy added: "I want you to understand distinctly,
+Robert, that in my selection of a husband you are not to be consulted."
+
+This was moving him around some.
+
+"Hold on, Nan! Drat it, don't look like that! I meant nothing, dearie;
+only I'm a heap surprised. Chuck _is_ a good fellow, I'll admit; but
+I've been dreaming of your marrying a prince or an ambassador, and
+Henderson comes like a jolt. Besides, Chuck will never be anything but
+a first-rate politician. You'll have to get used to cheap cigars and
+four-ply whisky. When is it going to happen?"
+
+"In June. I have always loved him, Bob. And he wants you to be his best
+man."
+
+Robert appeared a bit mollified at this knowledge. "But what shall I do
+after that?" he wailed. "You're the only person I can order about, and
+now you're going the other side of the range."
+
+"Bob, why don't you get married yourself?" asked Mrs. Warburton. "With
+your looks you won't have to go far nor begging for a wife."
+
+"There's the rub, sister mine by law and the admirable foresight of my
+only brother. What am I good for but ordering rookies about? I've no
+business head. And it's my belief that an Army man ought never to wed."
+
+"Marry, my boy, and I'll see what can be done for you in the diplomatic
+way. The new administration will doubtless be Republican, and my
+influence will have some weight,"--and John smiled affectionately
+across the table. He loved this gay lad opposite, loved him for his own
+self and because he could always see the mother's eyes and lips. "You
+have reached the age of discretion. You are now traveled and a fairly
+good linguist. You've an income of forty-five hundred, and to this I
+may be able to add a berth worth two or three thousand. Find the girl,
+lad; find the girl."
+
+"Honestly, I'll think it over, Jack."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+Three of the quartet turned wonderingly toward Mrs. Jack.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Jack.
+
+"We have forgotten to show Bob the baby!"
+
+"Merciful heavens!" bawled Robert. "A baby? This is the first time I've
+heard anything about a baby,"--looking with renewed interest at the
+young mother.
+
+"Do you mean to tell me, John Warburton, that you failed to mention the
+fact in any of your letters?" indignantly demanded Mrs. John.
+
+"Why--er--didn't I mention it?" asked the perturbed father.
+
+"Nary a word, nary a word!" Robert got up. "Now, where is this
+wonderful he?--or is it a she?"
+
+"Boy, Bob; greatest kid ever."
+
+And they all trooped up the stairs to the nursery, where Mr. Robert was
+forced to admit that, as regarded a three-months-old, this was the
+handsomest little colt he had ever laid eyes on! Mr. Robert even
+ventured to take the boy up in his arms.
+
+"How d'ye hold him?" he asked.
+
+Mrs. John took the smiling cherub, and the manner in which she folded
+that infant across her young breast was a true revelation to the
+prodigal, who felt his loneliness more than ever. He was a rank
+outsider.
+
+"Jack, you get me that diplomatic post, and I'll see to it that the
+only bachelor in the Warburton family shall sleep in yonder cradle."
+
+"Done!"
+
+"How long is your furlough?" asked Nancy.
+
+"Whom do you think the baby resembles?" asked the mother.
+
+"One at a time, one at a time! The baby at present doesn't resemble any
+one."
+
+"There's your diplomat!" cried John, with a laugh.
+
+"And my furlough is for several years, if not longer."
+
+"What?" This query was general and simultaneous.
+
+"Yes, I've disbanded. The Army will now go to rack and ruin. I am a
+plain citizen of the United States. I expect to spend the winter in
+Washington."
+
+"The winter!" echoed Jack, mockingly dejected.
+
+"John!" said his wife. John assumed a meek expression; and Mrs. John,
+putting the baby in the cradle, turned to her brother-in-law. "I
+thought the Army was a hobby with you."
+
+"It was. I've saved up quite a sum, and I'm going to see a lot of fine
+scenery if my leg doesn't give out."
+
+"Or your bank account," supplemented John.
+
+"Well, or my bank account."
+
+"Draw on me whenever you want passage out West," went on the statesman
+in chrysalis.
+
+Whereupon they all laughed; not because John had said anything
+particularly funny, but because there was a good and generous measure
+of happiness in each heart.
+
+"Bob, there's a ball at the British embassy tonight. You must go with
+us."
+
+"Impossible!" said Robert. "Remember my leg."
+
+"That will not matter," said Mrs. John; "you need not dance."
+
+"What, not dance? I should die of intermittent fever. And if I did
+dance, my leg might give out."
+
+"You can ride a horse all right," said John, in the way of argument.
+
+"I can do that easily with my knees. But I can't dance with my knees.
+No, I shall stay at home. I couldn't stand it to see all those famous
+beauties, and with me posing as a wall-flower."
+
+"But what will you do here all alone?"
+
+"Play with the kid, smoke and read; make myself at home. You still
+smoke that Louisiana, Jack?"
+
+"Yes,"--dubiously.
+
+"So. Now, don't let me interfere with your plans for tonight. I haven't
+been in a home in so long that it will take more than one night for the
+novelty to wear off. Besides, that nurse of yours, Kit, is good to look
+at,"--a bit of the rogue in his eye.
+
+"Bob!"--from both women.
+
+"I promise not to look at her; I promise."
+
+"Well, I must be off," said John. "I'm late now. I've a dozen plans for
+coast defenses to go over with an inventor of a new carriage-gun. Will
+you go with me, while I put you up at the Metropolitan, or will you
+take a shopping trip with the women?"
+
+"I'll take the shopping trip. It will be a sensation. Have you any
+horses?"
+
+"Six."
+
+"Six! You _are_ a lucky pup: a handsome wife, a bouncing boy, and six
+horses! Where's the stable?"
+
+"In the rear. I keep only two stablemen; one to take care of the horses
+and one to act as groom. I'm off. I've a cracking good hunter, if you'd
+like a leg up. We'll all ride out to Chevy Chase Sunday. By-by, till
+lunch."
+
+Mr. Robert immediately betook himself to the stables, where he soon
+became intimately acquainted with the English groom. He fussed about
+the harness-room, deplored the lack of a McClelland saddle, admired the
+English curbs, and complimented the men on the cleanliness of the
+stables. The men exchanged sly smiles at first, but these smiles soon
+turned into grins of admiration. Here was a man who knew a horse from
+his oiled hoofs to his curried forelock.
+
+"This fellow ought to jump well," he said, patting the sleek neck of
+the hunter.
+
+"He does that, sir," replied the groom. "He has never taken less than a
+red ribbon. Only one horse beat him at the bars last winter in New
+York. It was Mr. Warburton's fault that he did not take first prize. He
+rode him in the park the day before the contest, and the animal caught
+a bad cold, sir."
+
+And then it was that this hero of mine conceived his great (not to say
+young and salad) idea. It appealed to him as being so rich an idea that
+the stables rang with his laughter.
+
+"Sir?" politely inquired the groom.
+
+"I'm not laughing at your statement, my good fellow; rather at an idea
+which just occurred to me. In fact, I believe that I shall need your
+assistance."
+
+"In what way, sir?"
+
+"Come with me."
+
+The groom followed Warburton into the yard, A conversation began in low
+tones.
+
+"It's as much as my place is worth, sir. I couldn't do it, sir,"
+declared the groom, shaking his head negatively.
+
+"I'll guarantee that you will not suffer in the least. My brother will
+not discharge you. He likes a joke as well as I do. You are not handed
+twenty dollars every day for a simple thing like this."
+
+"Very well, sir. I dare say that no harm will come of it. But I am an
+inch or two shorter than you."
+
+"We'll tide that over."
+
+"I am at your orders, sir." But the groom returned to the stables,
+shaking his head dubiously. He was not thoroughly convinced.
+
+During the morning ride down-town the two women were vastly puzzled
+over their brother's frequent and inexplicable peals of laughter.
+
+"For mercy's sake, what do you see that is so funny?" asked Nancy.
+
+"I'm thinking, my dears; only thinking."
+
+"Tell us, that we may laugh, too. I'll wager that you are up to some
+mischief, Master Robert. Please tell," Nancy urged.
+
+"Later, later; at present you would fail to appreciate the joke. In
+fact, you might make it miscarry; and that wouldn't do at all. Have a
+little patience. It's a good joke, and you'll be in it when the time
+comes."
+
+And nothing more could they worm out of him.
+
+I shall be pleased to recount to you the quality of this joke, this
+madcap idea. You will find it lacking neither amusement nor denouement.
+Already I have put forth the casual observation that from Paris to the
+third-precinct police-station in Washington is several thousand miles.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+THE PLOT THICKENS
+
+
+At dinner that night I met my hero face to face for the first time in
+eight years, and for all his calling me a duffer (I learned of this
+only recently), he was mighty glad to see me, slapped me on the back
+and threw his arm across my shoulder. And why shouldn't he have been
+glad? We had been boys together, played hooky many a school-time
+afternoon, gone over the same fishing grounds, plunged into the same
+swimming-holes, and smoked our first cigar in the rear of my father's
+barn; and it is the recollection of such things that cements all the
+more strongly friendship in man and man. We recalled a thousand
+episodes and escapades, the lickings we got, and the lickings others
+got in our stead, the pretty school-teacher whom we swore to wed when
+we grew up. Nobody else had a chance to get a word in edgewise. But
+Nancy laughed aloud at times. She had been a witness to many of these
+long-ago pranks.
+
+"What! you are not going to the ball?" I asked, observing that he wore
+only a dinner-coat and a pair of morocco slippers.
+
+"No ball for me. Just as soon as you people hie forth, off comes this
+b'iled shirt, and I shall probably meander around the house in my new
+silk pajamas. I shall read a little from Homer--Jack, let me have the
+key to that locked case; I've an idea that there must be some robust
+old, merry old tales hidden there--and smoke a few pipes."
+
+"But you are not going to leave Mrs. Warburton and your sister to come
+home without escort?" I expostulated.
+
+"Where the deuce are you two men going?" Robert asked, surprised.
+Somehow, I seemed to catch a joyful rather than a sorrowful note in his
+tones.
+
+"An important conference at midnight, and heaven only knows how long it
+may last," said Jack. "I wish you would go along, Bob."
+
+"He can't go now, anyhow," said the pretty little wife. "He has got to
+stay now, whether he will or no. William will see to it that we women
+get home all right,"--and she busied herself with the salad dishes.
+
+Suddenly I caught Robert's eye, and we stared hard at each other.
+
+"Chuck, you old pirate," he said presently, "what do you mean by coming
+around and making love to my sister, and getting her to promise to
+marry you? You know you aren't good enough for her."
+
+I confess to no small embarrassment. "I--I know it!"
+
+"What do you mean by it, then?"
+
+"Why--er--that is--Confound you, Bob, _I_ couldn't help it, and
+besides, I didn't _want_ to help it! And if you want to have it out--"
+
+"Oh, pshaw! You know just as well as I do that it is against the law to
+hit a man that wears glasses. We'll call it quits if you'll promise
+that in the days to come you'll let me hang around your hymeneal shack
+once in a while."
+
+"Why, if you put it that way!"--and we were laughing and shaking hands
+again across the table, much to the relief of all concerned.
+
+Dear Nan! I'm not afraid to let the whole world see how much I love
+you. For where exists man's strength if not in the pride of his love?
+
+"What time does the kid get to sleep?" asked Robert.
+
+"He ought to be asleep now," said Mrs. W. "We shall not reach the
+embassy until after ten. We have a reception first, and we must leave
+cards there. Won't you be lonesome here, Bobby?"
+
+"Not the least in the world;"--and Bobby began to laugh.
+
+"What's the joke?" I asked.
+
+He looked at me sharply, then shook his head. "I'll tell you all about
+it to-morrow, Chuck. It's the kind of joke that has to boil a long time
+before it gets tender enough to serve."
+
+"I'd give a good deal to know what is going on behind those eyes of
+yours, Bob." Nancy's eyes searched him ruthlessly, but she might just
+as well have tried to pierce a stone wall. "You have been laughing all
+day about something, and I'd like to know what about. It's mischief. I
+haven't known you all these years for nothing. Now, don't do anything
+silly, Bob."
+
+"Nancy,"--reproachfully--"I am a man almost thirty; I have passed the
+Rubicon of cutting up tricks. Go to the ball, you beauty, dance and
+revel to your heart's content; your brother Robert will manage to pass
+away the evening. Don't forget the key to that private case, Jack,"--as
+the women left the table to put the finishing touches to their toilets.
+
+"Here you are," said Jack. "But mind, you must put those books back
+just as you found them, and lock the case. They are rare editions."
+
+"With the accent on the _rare_, no doubt."
+
+"I am a student, pure and simple," said Jack, lowering his eyes.
+
+"I wouldn't swear to those adjectives," returned the scalawag. "If I
+remember, you had the reputation of being a high-jinks man in your
+class at Princeton."
+
+"Sh! Don't you dare to drag forth any of those fool corpses of college,
+or out you go, bag and baggage." Jack glanced nervously around the room
+and toward the hall.
+
+"My dear fellow, your wife wouldn't believe me, no matter what I said
+against your character. Isn't that right, Chuck? Jack, you are a lucky
+dog, if there ever was one. A handsome wife who loves you, a kid, a
+fine home, and plenty of horses. I wonder if you married her for her
+money?"
+
+Jack's eyes narrowed. He seemed to muse. "Yes, I believe I can do it as
+easily as I did fifteen years ago."
+
+"Do what?" I asked.
+
+"Wallop that kid brother of mine. Bob, I hope you'll fall desperately
+in love some day, and that you will have a devil of a time winning the
+girl. You need something to stir up your vitals. By George! and I hope
+she won't have a cent of money."
+
+"Lovable brother, that!" Bob knocked the ash from his cigar and essayed
+at laughter which wasn't particularly felicitous. "Supposing I was in
+love, new, and that the girl had heaps of money, and all that?"
+
+"_And all that_," mimicked the elder brother. "What does 'and all that'
+mean?"
+
+"Oh, shut up!"
+
+"Well, I hope you _are_ in love. It serves you right. You've made more
+than one girl's heart ache, you good-looking ruffian!"
+
+Then we switched over to politics, and Robert became an interested
+listener. Quarter of an hour later the women returned, and certainly
+they made a picture which was most satisfactory to the masculine eye.
+Ah, thou eager-fingered Time, that shall, in days to come, wither the
+roses in my beauty's cheeks, dim the fire in my beauty's eyes, draw my
+beauty's bow-lips inward, tarnish the golden hair, and gnarl the
+slender, shapely fingers, little shall I heed you in your passing if
+you but leave the heart untouched!
+
+Bob jumped to his feet and kissed them both, a thing I lacked the
+courage to do. How pleased they looked! How a woman loves flattery from
+those she loves!
+
+Well, William is in front with the carriage; the women are putting on
+their cloaks, and I am admiring the luxurious crimson fur-lined garment
+which brother Robert had sent to Nancy from Paris. You will see by this
+that he was not altogether a thoughtless lad. Good-by, Mr. Robert; I
+leave you and your guiding-star to bolt the established orbit; for
+after this night the world will never be the same careless,
+happy-go-lucky world. The farce has its tragedy, and what tragedy is
+free of the ludificatory? Youth must run its course, even as the gay,
+wild brook must riot on its way to join the sober river.
+
+I dare say that we hadn't been gone twenty minutes before Robert stole
+out to the stables, only to return immediately with a bundle under his
+arm and a white felt hat perched rakishly on his head. He was chuckling
+audibly to himself.
+
+"It will frighten the girls half to death. A gray horse and a bay; oh,
+I won't make any mistake. Let me see; I'll start about twelve o'clock.
+That'll get me on the spot just as the boys leave. This is the richest
+yet. I'll wager that there will be some tall screaming." He continued
+chuckling as he helped himself to his brother's perfectos and fine old
+Scotch. I don't know what book he found in the private case; some old
+rascal's merry tales, no doubt; for my hero's face was never in repose.
+
+We had left Mrs. Secretary-of-the-Interior's and were entering the red
+brick mansion on Connecticut Avenue. Carriages lined both sides of the
+street, and mounted police patrolled up and down.
+
+"I do hope Bob will not wake up the baby," said Mrs. W.
+
+"Probably he won't even take the trouble to look at him," replied Jack;
+"not if he gets into that private case of mine."
+
+"I can't understand what you men see in those horrid chronicles," Nancy
+declared.
+
+"My dear girl," said Jack, "in those days there were no historians;
+they were simply story-tellers, and we get our history from these
+tales. The tales themselves are not very lofty, I am willing to admit;
+but they give us a general idea of the times in which the characters
+lived. This is called literature by the wise critics."
+
+"Critics!" said I; "humph! Criticism is always a lazy man's job. When
+no two critics think alike, of what use is criticism?"
+
+"Ah, yes; I forgot. That book of essays you wrote got several sound
+drubbings. Nevertheless," continued Jack, "what you offer is in the
+main true. Time alone is the true critic. Let him put his mark of
+approval on your work, and not all the critical words can bury it or
+hinder its light. But Time does not pass his opinion till long after
+one is dead. The first waltz, dearest, if you think you can stand it.
+You mustn't get tired, little mother."
+
+"I am wonderfully strong to-night," said the little mother. "How
+beautifully it is arranged!"
+
+"What?" we men asked, looking over the rooms.
+
+"The figures on Mrs. Secretary-of-State's gown. The lace is beautiful.
+Your brother. Nan, has very good taste for a man. That cloak of yours
+is by far the handsomest thing I have seen to-night; and that bit of
+scarf he sent me isn't to be matched."
+
+"Poor boy!" sighed Nancy. "I wonder if he'll be lonely. It's a shame to
+leave him home the very first night."
+
+"Why didn't he come, then?" Mrs. W. shrugged her polished shoulders.
+
+"Oh, my cigars and Scotch are fairly comforting," put in Jack,
+complacently. "Besides, Jane Isn't at all bad looking,"--winking at me.
+"What do you say, Charlie?"
+
+But Charlie had no time to answer. The gray-haired, gray-whiskered
+ambassador was bowing pleasantly to us. A dozen notable military and
+naval attaches nodded; and we passed on to the ball-room, where the
+orchestra was playing _A Summer Night in Munich_. In a moment Jack and
+his wife were lost in the maze of gleaming shoulders and white linen.
+It was a picture such as few men, once having witnessed it, can forget.
+Here were the great men in the great world: this man was an old
+rear-admiral, destined to become the nation's hero soon; there, a
+famous general, of long and splendid service; celebrated statesmen,
+diplomats, financiers; a noted English duke; a scion of the Hapsburg
+family; an intimate of the German kaiser; a swart Jap; a Chinaman with
+his peacock feather; tens of men whose lightest word was listened to by
+the four ends of the world; representatives of all the great kingdoms
+and states. The President and his handsome wife had just left as we
+came, so we missed that formality, which detracts from the pleasures of
+the ball-room.
+
+"Who is that handsome young fellow over there, standing at the side of
+the Russian ambassador's wife?" asked Nancy, pressing my arm.
+
+"Where? Oh, he's Count Karloff (or something which sounds like it), a
+wealthy Russian, in some way connected with the Russian government; a
+diplomat and a capital fellow, they say. I have never met him. ...
+Hello! there's a stunning girl right next to him that I haven't seen
+before. ... Where are you going?"
+
+Nancy had dropped my arm and was gliding kitty-corner fashion, across
+the floor. Presently she and the stunning girl had saluted each other
+after the impulsive fashion of American girls, and were playing
+cat-in-the-cradle, to the amusement of those foreigners nearest. A nod,
+and I was threading my way to Nancy's side.
+
+"Isn't it glorious?" she began. "This is Miss Annesley, Charlie; Betty,
+Mr. Henderson." Miss Annesley looked mildly curious at Nan, who
+suddenly flushed. "We are to be married in the spring," she explained
+shyly; and I dare say that there was a diffident expression on my own
+face.
+
+Miss Annesley gave me her hand, smiling. "You are a very fortunate man,
+Mr. Henderson."
+
+"Not the shadow of a doubt!" Miss Annesley, I frankly admitted on the
+spot, was, next to Nancy, the handsomest girl I ever saw; and as I
+thought of Mr. Robert in his den at home, I sincerely pitied him. I was
+willing to advance the statement that had he known, a pair of crutches
+would not have kept him away from No. 1300 Connecticut Avenue.
+
+I found three chairs, and we sat down. There was, for me, very little
+opportunity to talk. Women always have so much to say to each other,
+even when they haven't seen each other within twenty-four hours. From
+time to time Miss Annesley glanced at me, and I am positive that Nancy
+was extolling my charms. It was rather embarrassing, and I was balling
+my gloves up in a most dreadful fashion. As they seldom addressed a
+word to me, I soon became absorbed in the passing scene. I was
+presently aroused, however.
+
+"Mr. Henderson, Count Karloff," Miss Annesley was saying. (Karloff is a
+name of my own choosing. I haven't the remotest idea if it means
+anything in the Russian language. I hope not.)
+
+"Charmed!" The count's r's were very pleasantly rolled. I could see by
+the way his gaze roved from Miss Annesley to Nancy that he was puzzled
+to decide which came the nearer to his ideal of womanhood.
+
+I found him a most engaging fellow, surprisingly well-informed on
+American topics. I credit myself with being a fairly good reader of
+faces, and, reading his as he bent it in Miss Annesley's direction, I
+began to worry about Mr. Robert's course of true love. Here was a man
+who possessed a title, was handsome, rich, and of assured social
+position: it would take an extraordinary American girl to look coldly
+upon his attentions. By and by the two left us, Miss Annesley promising
+to call on Nancy.
+
+"And where are you staying, Betty?"
+
+"Father and I have taken Senator Blank's house in Chevy Chase for the
+winter. My horses are already in the stables. Do you ride?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Then we shall have some great times together."
+
+"Be sure to call. I want you to meet my brother."
+
+"I believe I have," replied Miss Annesley.
+
+"I mean my younger brother, a lieutenant in the Army."
+
+"Oh, then you have two brothers?"
+
+"Yes," said Nancy.
+
+"The dance is dying, Mademoiselle," said the count in French.
+
+"Your arm, Monsieur. _Au revoir,_ Nancy."
+
+"Poor Bobby!" Nancy folded her hands and sighed mournfully. "It appears
+to me that his love affair is not going to run very smooth. But isn't
+she just beautiful, Charlie? What color, what style!"
+
+"She's a stunner, I'm forced to admit. Bob'll never stand a ghost of a
+show against that Russian. He's a great social catch, and is backed by
+many kopecks."
+
+"How unfortunate we did not know that she would be here! Bobby would
+have met her at his best, and his best is more to my liking than the
+count's. He has a way about him that the women like. He's no laggard.
+But money ought not to count with Betty. She is worth at least a
+quarter of a million. Her mother left all her property to her, and her
+father acts only as trustee. Senator Blank's house rents for eight
+thousand the season. It's ready furnished, you know, and one of the
+handsomest homes in Washington. Besides, I do not trust those
+foreigners,"--taking a remarkably abrupt curve, as it were.
+
+[Illustration: "What were you doing off your own box?" "Getting on the
+wrong box"--Act I.]
+
+"There's two Bs in your bonnet, Nancy," I laughed.
+
+"Never mind the Bs; let us have the last of this waltz."
+
+This is not my own true story; so I shall bow off and permit my hero to
+follow the course of true love, which is about as rough-going a
+thoroughfare as the many roads of life have to offer.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE MAN ON THE BOX
+
+
+At eleven-thirty he locked up his book and took to his room the
+mysterious bundle which he had purloined from the stables. It contained
+the complete livery of a groom. The clothes fitted rather snugly,
+especially across the shoulders. He stood before the pier-glass, and a
+complacent (not to say roguish) smile flitted across his face. The
+black half-boots, the white doeskin breeches, the brown brass-buttoned
+frock, and the white hat with the brown cockade. ... Well, my word for
+it, he was the handsomest jehu Washington ever turned out. With a grin
+he touched his hat to the reflection in the glass, and burst out
+laughing. His face was as smooth as a baby's, for he had generously
+sacrificed his beard.
+
+I can hear him saying to himself: "Lord, but this is a lark! I'll have
+to take another Scotch to screw up the edge of my nerve. Won't the boys
+laugh when they hear how I stirred the girls' frizzes! We'll have a
+little party here when they all get home. It's a good joke."
+
+Mr. Robert did not prove much of a prophet. Many days were to pass ere
+he reentered his brother's house.
+
+He stole quietly from the place. He hadn't proceeded more than a block
+when he became aware of the fact that he hadn't a penny in his clothes.
+This discovery disquieted him, and he half turned about to go back. He
+couldn't go back. He had no key.
+
+"Pshaw! I won't need any money;"--and he started off again toward
+Connecticut Avenue. He dared not hail a car, and he would not have
+dared had he possessed the fare. Some one might recognize him. He
+walked briskly for ten minutes. The humor of the escapade appealed to
+him greatly, and he had all he could do to smother the frequent bursts
+of laughter which surged to his lips. He reached absently for his
+cigar-case. No money, no cigars.
+
+"That's bad. Without a cigar I'm likely to get nervous. Scraping off
+that beard made me forgetful. Jove! with these fleshings I feel as
+self-conscious as an untried chorus girl. These togs can't be very warm
+in winter. Ha! that must be the embassy where all those lights are;
+carriages. _Allons!_"
+
+To make positive, he stopped a pedestrian.
+
+"Pardon me, sir," he said, touching his hat, "but will you be so kind
+as to inform me if yonder is the British embassy?"
+
+"It is, my man," replied the gentleman.
+
+"Thank you, sir."
+
+And each passed on to his affairs.
+
+"Now for William; we must find William, or the joke will be on Robert."
+
+He manoeuvered his way through the congested thoroughfare, searching
+the faces of the grooms and footmen. He dodged hither and thither, and
+was once brought to a halt by the mounted police.
+
+"Here, you! What d'ye mean by runnin' around like this? Lost yer
+carriage, hey? I've a mind to run ye in. Y' know th' rules relatin' th'
+leavin' of yer box in times like these. Been takin' a sly nip,
+probably, an' they've sent yer hack down a peg. Get a gait on y', now."
+
+Warburton laughed silently as he made for the sidewalk. The first man
+he plumped into was William--a very much worried William, too. Robert
+could have fallen on his neck for joy. All was plain sailing now.
+
+"I'm very glad to see you, sir," said William. "I was afraid you could
+not get them clothes on, sir. I was getting a trifle worried, too.
+Here's the carriage number."
+
+Warburton glanced hastily at it and stuffed it into a convenient pocket.
+
+"It's sixteen carriages up, sir; a bay and a gray. You can't miss them.
+The bay, being a saddle-horse, is a bit restive in the harness; but all
+you have to do is to touch him with the whip. And don't try to push
+ahead of your turn, or you will get into trouble with the police. They
+are very strict. And don't let them confuse you, sir. The numbers won't
+be in rotation. You'll hear one hundred and fifteen, and the next
+moment thirty-five, like as not. It's all according as to how the
+guests are leaving. Good luck to you, sir, and don't forget to explain
+it all thoroughly to Mr. Warburton, sir."
+
+"Don't you worry, William; we'll come out of this with colors flying."
+
+"Very well, sir. I shall hang around till you are safely off,"--and
+William disappeared.
+
+Warburton could occasionally hear the faint strains of music. From time
+to time the carriage-caller bawled out a number, and the carriage would
+roll up under the porte-cochere. Warburton concluded that it would be a
+good plan to hunt up his rig. His search did not last long. The bay and
+the gray stood only a little way from the gate. The box was vacant, and
+he climbed up and gathered the reins. He sat there for some time,
+longing intensely for a cigar, a good cigar, such as gentlemen smoked.
+
+"Seventeen!" came hoarsely along on the wings of the night. "Number
+seventeen, and lively there!"
+
+Warburton's pulse doubled its beat. His number!
+
+"Skt!" The gray and the bay started forward, took the half-circle and
+stopped under the porte-cochere. Warburton recollected that a
+fashionable groom never turned his head unless spoken to; so he leveled
+his gaze at his horses' ears and waited. But from the very corner of
+his eye he caught the glimpse of two women, one of whom was enveloped
+in a crimson cloak. He thrilled with exultation. What a joke it was! He
+felt the carriage list as the women stepped in. The door slammed to,
+and the rare good joke was on the way.
+
+"Off with you!" cried the pompous footman, with an imperious wave of
+the hand. "Number ninety-nine!"
+
+"Ninety-nine! Ninety-nine!" bawled the carriage man.
+
+Our jehu turned into the avenue, holding a tolerable rein. He clucked
+and lightly touched the horses with the lash. _This_ was true sport;
+_this_ was humor, genuine, initiative, unforced. He could imagine the
+girls and their fright when he finally slowed down, opened the door,
+and kissed them both. Wouldn't they let out a yell, though? His plan
+was to drive furiously for half a dozen blocks, zigzag from one side of
+the street to the other, taking the corners sharply, and then make for
+Scott Circle.
+
+Now, a lad of six can tell the difference between seventeen and
+seventy-one. But this astonishing jehu of mine had been conspicuous as
+the worst mathematician and the best soldier in his class at West
+Point. No more did he remember that he was not in the wild West, and
+that here in the East there were laws prohibiting reckless driving.
+
+He drove decently enough till he struck Dupont Circle. From here he
+turned into New Hampshire, thinking it to be Rhode Island. Mistake
+number two. He had studied the city map, but he was conscious of not
+knowing it as well as he should have known it; but, true to his nature,
+he trusted to luck.
+
+Aside from all this, he forgot that a woman might appreciate this joke
+only when she heard it recounted. To live through it was altogether a
+different matter. In an episode like this, a woman's imagination, given
+the darkness such as usually fills a carriage at night, becomes a round
+of terrors. Every moment is freighted with death or disfigurement. Her
+nerves are like the taut strings of a harp in a wintry wind, ready to
+snap at any moment; and then, hysteria. With man the play, and only the
+play, is the thing.
+
+Snap-crack! The surprised horses, sensitive and quick-tempered as all
+highly organized beings are, nearly leaped out of the harness. Never
+before had their flanks received a more unwarranted stroke of the lash.
+They reared and plunged, and broke into a mad gallop, which was exactly
+what the rascal on the box desired. An expert horseman, he gauged the
+strength of the animals the moment they bolted, and he knew that they
+were his. Once the rubber-tired vehicle slid sidewise on the wet
+asphalt, and he heard a stifled scream.
+
+He laughed, and let forth a sounding "whoop," which nowise allayed the
+fright of the women inside the carriage. He wheeled into S Street,
+scraping the curb as he did so. Pedestrians stopped and stared after
+him. A policeman waved his club helplessly, even hopelessly. On, on: to
+Warburton's mind this ride was as wild as that which the Bishop of
+Vannes took from Belle-Isle to Paris in the useless effort to save
+Fouquet from the wrath of Louis XIV, and to anticipate the pregnant
+discoveries of one D'Artagnan. The screams were renewed. A hand beat
+against the forward window and a muffled but wrathful voice called
+forth a command to stop. This voice was immediately drowned by
+another's prolonged scream. Our jehu began to find all this very
+interesting, very exciting.
+
+"I'll wager a dollar that Nan isn't doing that screaming. The
+Warburtons never cry out when they are frightened. Hang it!"--suddenly;
+"this street doesn't look familiar. I ought to have reached Scott
+Circle by this time. Ah! here's a broader street,"--going lickety-clip
+into Vermont.
+
+A glass went jingling to the pavement.
+
+"Oho! Nancy will be jumping out the next thing. This will never do." He
+began to draw in.
+
+Hark! His trained trooper's ear heard other hoofs beating on the
+iron-like surface of the pavement. Worriedly he turned his head. Five
+blocks away there flashed under one of the arc-lights, only to
+disappear in the shadow again, two mounted policemen.
+
+"By George! it looks as if the girls were going to have their fun,
+too!" He laughed, but there was a nervous catch in his voice. He hadn't
+counted on any policeman taking part in the comedy. "Where the devil
+_is_ Scott Circle, anyhow?"--fretfully. He tugged at the reins. "Best
+draw up at the next corner. I'll be hanged if _I_ know where I am."
+
+He braced himself, sawed with the reins, and presently the frightened
+and somewhat wearied horses slowed down into a trot. This he finally
+brought to a walk. One more pull, and they came to a stand. It would be
+hard to say which breathed the heaviest, the man or the horses.
+Warburton leaped from the box, opened the door and waited. He
+recognized the necessity of finishing the play before the mounted
+police arrived on the scene.
+
+There was a commotion inside the carriage, then a woman in a crimson
+cloak stepped (no, jumped!) out. Mr. Robert threw his arms around her
+and kissed her cheek.
+
+"You ... vile ... wretch!"
+
+Warburton sprang back, his hands applied to his stinging face.
+
+"You drunken wretch, how dare you!"
+
+"Nan, it's only I--" he stammered.
+
+"Nan!" exclaimed the young woman, as her companion joined her. The
+light from the corner disclosed the speaker's wrathful features,
+disdainful lips, palpitating nostrils, eyes darting terrible glances.
+"Nan! Do you think, ruffian, that you are driving serving-maids?"
+
+"Good Lord!" Warburton stepped back still farther; stepped back
+speechless, benumbed, terror-struck. The woman he was gazing at was
+anybody in the world but his sister Nancy!
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+A POLICE AFFAIR
+
+
+"Officers, arrest this fellow!" commanded the young woman. Her gesture
+was Didoesque in its wrath.
+
+"That we will, ma'am!" cried one of the policemen, flinging himself
+from his horse. "So it's you, me gay buck? Thirty days fer you, an'
+mebbe more. I didn't like yer looks from th' start. You're working some
+kind of a trick. What complaint, ma'am?"
+
+"Drunkenness and abduction,"--rubbing the burning spot on her cheek.
+
+"That'll be rather serious. Ye'll have to appear against him in th'
+mornin', ma'am."
+
+"I certainly shall do so." She promptly gave her name, address and
+telephone number.
+
+"Bill, you drive th' ladies home an' I'll see this bucko to th'
+station. Here, you!"--to Warburton, who was still dumb with
+astonishment at the extraordinary denouement to his innocent joke. "Git
+on that horse, an' lively, too, or I'll rap ye with th' club."
+
+"It's all a mistake, officer--"
+
+"Close yer face an' git on that horse. Y' can tell th' judge all that
+in th' mornin'. _I_ ain't got no time t' listen. Bill, report just as
+soon as ye see th' ladies home. Now, off with ye. Th' ladies'll be
+wantin' somethin' t' quiet their nerves. Git on that horse, me frisky
+groom; hustle!" Warburton mechanically climbed into the saddle. It
+never occurred to him to parley, to say that he couldn't ride a horse.
+The inventive cells of his usually fertile brain lay passive. "Now,"
+went on the officer, mounting his own nag, "will ye go quietly? If ye
+don't I'll plug ye in th' leg with a chunk o' lead. I won't stan' no
+nonsense."
+
+"What are you going to do with me?" asked Warburton, with a desperate
+effort to collect his energies.
+
+"Lock ye up; mebbe throw a pail of water on that overheated cocoanut of
+yours."
+
+"But if you'll only let me explain to you! It's all a joke; I got the
+wrong carriage--"
+
+"Marines, marines! D' ye think I was born yestiddy? Ye wanted th'
+ladies' sparklers, or I'm a doughhead." The police are the same all
+over the world; the original idea sticks to them, and truth in voice or
+presence is but sign of deeper cunning and villainy. "Anyhow, ye can't
+run around Washington like ye do in England, me cockney. Ye can't drive
+more'n a hundred miles an hour on these pavements."
+
+"But, I tell you--" Warburton, realizing where his escapade was about
+to lead him, grew desperate. The ignominy of it! He would be the
+laughing-stock of all the town on the morrow. The papers would teem
+with it. "You'll find that you are making a great mistake. If you will
+only take me to--Scott Circle--"
+
+"Where ye have a pal with a gun, eh? Git ahead!" And the two made off
+toward the west.
+
+Once or twice the officer found himself admiring the easy seat of his
+prisoner; and if the horse had been anything but a trained animal, he
+would have worried some regarding the ultimate arrival at the
+third-precinct.
+
+Half a dozen times Warburton was of a mind to make a bolt for it, but
+he did not dare trust the horse or his knowledge of the streets. He had
+already two counts against him, disorderly conduct and abduction, and
+he had no desire to add uselessly a third, that of resisting an
+officer, which seems the greatest possible crime a man can commit and
+escape hanging. Oh, for a mettlesome nag! There would be no
+police-station for him, then. Police-station! Heavens, what should he
+do? His brother, his sister; their dismay, their shame; not counting
+that he himself would be laughed at from one end of the continent to
+the other. What an ass he had made of himself! He wondered how much
+money it would take to clear himself, and at the same moment
+recollected that he hadn't a cent in his clothes. A sweat of terror
+moistened his brow.
+
+"What were ye up to, anyway?" asked the policeman. "What kind of booze
+have ye been samplin'?"
+
+"I've nothing to say."
+
+"Ye speak clear enough. So much th' worse, if ye ain't drunk. Was ye
+crazy t' ride like that? Ye might have killed th' women an' had a bill
+of manslaughter brought against ye."
+
+"I have nothing to say; it is all a mistake. I got the wrong number and
+the wrong carriage."
+
+"Th' devil ye did! An' where was ye goin' t' drive th' other carriage
+at that thunderin' rate? It won't wash. His honor'll be stone-deaf when
+ye tell him that. You're drunk, or have been."
+
+"Not to-night."
+
+"Well, I'd give me night off t' know what ye were up to. Don't ye know
+nothin' about ordinances an' laws? An' I wouldn't mind havin' ye tell
+me why ye threw yer arms around th' lady an' kissed her,"--shrewdly.
+
+Warburton started in his saddle. He had forgotten all about that part
+of the episode. His blood warmed suddenly and his cheeks burned. He had
+kissed her, kissed her soundly, too, the most radiantly beautiful woman
+in all the world. Why, come to think of it, it was easily worth a night
+in jail. Yes, by George, he _had_ kissed her, kissed that blooming
+cheek, and but for this policeman, would have forgotten! Whatever
+happened to him, she wouldn't forget in a hurry. He laughed. The
+policeman gazed at him in pained surprise.
+
+"Well, ye seem t' take it good an' hearty."
+
+"If you could only see the humor in it, my friend, you'd laugh, too."
+
+"Oh, I would, hey? All I got t' say is that yer nerve gits me. An' ye
+stand a pretty good show of bein' rounded up for more'n thirty days,
+too. Well, ye've had yer joke; mebbe ye have th' price t' pay th'
+fiddler. Turn here."
+
+The rest of the ride was in silence, Warburton gazing callously ahead
+and the officer watching him with a wary eye to observe any suggestive
+movement. He couldn't make out this chap. There was something wrong,
+some deep-dyed villainy--of this he hadn't the slightest doubt. It was
+them high-toned swells that was the craftiest an' most daring. Handsome
+is that handsome does. A quarter of an hour later they arrived at the
+third precinct, where our jehu was registered for the night under the
+name of James Osborne. He was hustled into a small cell and left to
+himself.
+
+He had kissed her! Glory of glories! He had pressed her to his very
+heart, besides. After all, they couldn't do anything very serious to
+him. They could not prove the charge of abduction. He stretched himself
+on the cot, smiled, arranged his legs comfortably, wondered what she
+was thinking of at this moment, and fell asleep. It was a sign of a
+good constitution and a decently white conscience. And thus they found
+him in the morning. They touched his arm, and he awoke with a smile,
+the truest indication of a man's amiability. At first he was puzzled as
+he looked blinkingly from his jailers to his surroundings and then back
+at his jailers. Then it all returned to him, and he laughed. Now the
+law, as represented and upheld by its petty officers, possesses a
+dignity that is instantly ruffled by the sound of laughter from a
+prisoner; and Mr. Robert was roughly told to shut up, and that he'd
+soon laugh on the other side of his mouth.
+
+"All right, officers, all right; only make allowances for a man who
+sees the funny side of things." Warburton stood up and shook himself,
+and picked up his white hat. They eyed him intelligently. In the
+morning light the young fellow didn't appear to be such a rascal. It
+was plainly evident that he had _not_ been drunk the preceding night;
+for his eyes were not shot with red veins nor did his lips lack their
+usual healthy moisture. The officer who had taken him in charge, being
+a shrewd and trained observer, noted the white hands, soft and
+well-kept. He shook his head.
+
+"Look here, me lad, you're no groom, not by several years. Now, what
+th' devil was ye up to, anyway?"
+
+"I'm not saying a word, sir," smiled Warburton. "All I want to know is,
+am I to have any breakfast? I shouldn't mind some peaches and cream or
+grapes to start with, and a small steak and coffee."
+
+"Ye wouldn't mind, hey?" mimicked the officer. "What d'ye think this
+place is, th' Metropolitan Club? Ye'll have yer bacon an' coffee, an'
+be glad t' git it. They'll feed ye in th' mess-room. Come along."
+
+Warburton took his time over the coffee and bacon. He wanted to think
+out a reasonable defense without unmasking himself. He was thinking how
+he could get word to me, too. The "duffer" might prove a friend in need.
+
+"Now where?" asked Warburton, wiping his mouth.
+
+"T' th' court. It'll go hard with ye if ye're handed over t' th' grand
+jury on th' charge of abduction. Ye'd better make a clean breast of it.
+I'll speak a word for yer behavior."
+
+"Aren't you a little curious?"
+
+"It's a part of me business,"--gruffly.
+
+"I'll have my say to the judge," said Warburton.
+
+"That's yer own affair. Come."
+
+Once outside, Warburton lost color and a large part of his nonchalance;
+for an open patrol stood at the curb.
+
+"Have I got to ride in that?"--disgustedly.
+
+"As true as life; an' if ye make any disturbance, so much th' worse."
+
+Warburton climbed in, his face red with shame and anger. He tied his
+handkerchief around his chin and tilted his hat far down over his eyes.
+
+"'Fraid of meetin' some of yer swell friends, hey? Ten t' one, yer a
+swell an' was runnin' away with th' wrong woman. Mind, I have an eye on
+ye."
+
+The patrol rumbled over the asphalt on the way down-town. Warburton
+buried his face in his hands. Several times they passed a cigar-store,
+and his mouth watered for a good cigar, the taste of a clear Havana.
+
+He entered the police-court, not lacking in curiosity. It was his first
+experience with this arm of the civil law. He wasn't sure that he liked
+it. It wasn't an inviting place with its bare benches and its motley,
+tawdry throng. He was plumped into a seat between some ladies of
+irregular habits, and the stale odor of intoxicants, mingling with
+cheap perfumery, took away the edge of his curiosity.
+
+"Hello, pretty boy; jag?" asked one of these faded beauties, in an
+undertone. She nudged him with her elbow.
+
+"No, sweetheart," he replied, smiling in spite of himself.
+
+"Ah gowan! Been pinching some one's wad?"
+
+"Nope!"
+
+"What are you here for, then?"
+
+"Having a good time without anybody's consent. If you will listen, you
+will soon hear all about it."
+
+"Silence there, on the bench!" bawled the clerk, whacking the desk.
+
+"Say, Marie," whispered the woman to her nearest neighbor, "here's a
+boy been selling his master's harness and got pinched."
+
+"But look at the sweet things coming in, will you! Ain't they swell,
+though?" whispered Marie, nodding a skinny feather toward the door.
+
+Warburton glanced indifferently in the direction indicated, and
+received a shock. Two women--and both wore very heavy black veils. The
+smaller of the two inclined her body, and he was sure that her scrutiny
+was for him. He saw her say something into the ear of the companion,
+and repeat it to one of the court lawyers. The lawyer approached the
+desk, and in his turn whispered a few words into the judge's ear. The
+magistrate nodded. Warburton was conscious of a blush of shame. This
+was a nice position for any respectable woman to see him in!
+
+"James Osborne!" called the clerk.
+
+An officer beckoned to James, and he made his way to the prisoner's
+box. His honor looked him over coldly.
+
+"Name?"
+
+"James Osborne."
+
+"Born here?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Say 'sir'."
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Where were you born?"
+
+"In New York State."
+
+"How old are you? And don't forget to say 'sir' when you reply to my
+questions."
+
+"I am twenty-eight, sir."
+
+"Married?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"How long have you been engaged as a groom?"
+
+"Not very long, sir."
+
+"How long?"
+
+"Less than twenty-four hours, sir."
+
+Surprise rippled over the faces of the audience on the benches.
+
+"Humph! You are charged with disorderly conduct, reckless driving, and
+attempted abduction. The last charge has been withdrawn, fortunately
+for you, sir. Have you ever been up before?"
+
+"Up, sir?"
+
+"A prisoner in a police-court."
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Twenty-five for reckless driving and ten for disorderly conduct; or
+thirty days."
+
+"Your Honor, the horses ran away."
+
+"Yes, urged by your whip."
+
+"I was not disorderly, sir."
+
+"The officer declares that you had been drinking."
+
+"Your Honor, I got the wrong carriage. My number was seventeen and I
+answered to number seventy-one." He wondered if _she_ would believe
+this statement.
+
+"I suppose that fully explains why you made a race-track of one of our
+main thoroughfares?"--sarcastically. "You were on the wrong carriage to
+begin with."
+
+"All I can say, sir, is that it was a mistake."
+
+"The mistake came in when you left your carriage to get a drink. You
+broke the law right then. Well, if a man makes mistakes, he must pay
+for them, here or elsewhere. This mistake will cost you thirty-five."
+
+"I haven't a penny in my clothes, sir."
+
+"Officer, lock him up, and keep him locked up till the fine is paid. I
+can not see my way to remit it Not another word,"--as Warburton started
+to protest.
+
+"Marie Johnson, Mabel Tynner, Belle Lisle!" cried the clerk.
+
+The two veiled ladies left the court precipitately.
+
+James, having been ushered into a cell, hurriedly called for pen and
+ink and paper. At half after ten that morning the following note
+reached me:
+
+"Dear Chuck: Am in a devil of a scrape at the police-court. Tried to
+play a joke on the girls last night by dressing up in the groom's
+clothes. Got the wrong outfit, and was arrested. Bring thirty-five and
+a suit of clothes the quickest ever. And, for mercy's sake, say nothing
+to any one, least of all the folks. I have given the name of James
+Osborne. Now, hustle. Bob."
+
+I hustled.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+ANOTHER SALAD IDEA
+
+
+When they found him missing, his bed untouched, his hat and coat on the
+rack, his inseparable walking-stick in the umbrella-stand, they were
+mightily worried. They questioned Jane, but she knew nothing. Jack went
+out to the stables; no news there. William, having driven the girls
+home himself, dared say nothing. Then Jack wisely telephoned for me,
+and I hurried over to the house.
+
+"Maybe he hunted up some friends last night," I suggested.
+
+"But here's his hat!" cried Nancy.
+
+"Oh, he's all right; don't worry. I'll take a tour around the city.
+I'll find him. He may be at one of the clubs."
+
+Fortunately for Mr. James Osborne I returned home first, and there
+found his note awaiting me. I was at the court by noon, armed with
+thirty-five and a suit of clothes of my own. I found the clerk.
+
+"A young man, dressed as a groom, and locked up overnight," I said
+cautiously. "I wish to pay his fine."
+
+"James Osborne?"
+
+"Yes, that's the name; James Osborne,"--reaching down into my pocket.
+
+"Fine's just been paid. We were about to release him. Here, officer,
+show this gentleman to James Osborne's cell, and tell him to pack up
+and get out."
+
+So his fine was paid! Found the money in his clothes, doubtless. On the
+way to the cells I wondered what the deuce the rascal had been doing to
+get locked up overnight. I was vastly angry, but at the sight of him
+all my anger melted into a prolonged shout of laughter.
+
+"That's right; laugh, you old pirate! I wish you had been in my boots a
+few hours ago. Lord!"
+
+I laughed again.
+
+"Have you got that thirty-five?" he asked.
+
+"Why, your fine has been paid," I replied, rather surprised.
+
+"And didn't you pay it?"
+
+"Not I! The clerk told me that it had just been paid."
+
+Warburton's jaw sank limply. "Just been paid?--Who the deuce could have
+paid it, or known?"
+
+"First, tell me what you've been up to."
+
+He told me snatches of the exploit as he changed his clothes, and it
+was a question which of us laughed the more. But he didn't say a word
+about the stolen kiss, for which I think none the less of him.
+
+"Who were the women?" I asked.
+
+He looked at me for a space, as if deciding. Finally he made a negative
+sign.
+
+"Don't know who they were, eh?"--incredulously.
+
+He shrugged, laughed, and drew on his shoes.
+
+"I always knew that I was the jackass of the family, Chuck, but I never
+expected to do it so well. Let's get out of this hole. I wonder who can
+have paid that fine?... No, that would not be possible!"
+
+"What would not be?"
+
+"Nothing, nothing,"--laughing.
+
+But I could see that his spirits had gone up several degrees.
+
+"The whole thing is likely to be in the evening papers," I said. He
+needed a little worrying. And I knew his horror of publicity.
+
+"The newspapers? In the newspapers? Oh, I say, Chuck, can't you use
+your influence to suppress the thing? Think of the girls."
+
+"I'll do the best I can. And there's only one thing for you to do, and
+that is to cut out of town till your beard has grown. It would serve
+you right, however, if the reporters got the true facts."
+
+"I'm for getting out of town, Chuck; and on the next train but one."
+
+Here our conversation was interrupted by the entrance of a policeman.
+
+"A note for _Mister_ Osborne,"--ironically. He tossed the letter to
+Warburton and withdrew.
+
+_Mister_ Osborne eagerly tore open an end of the envelope--a very
+aristocratic envelope, as I could readily discern--and extracted the
+letter. I closely watched his facial expressions. First, there was
+interest, then surprise, to be succeeded by amusement and a certain
+exultation. He slapped his thigh.
+
+"By George, Chuck. I'll do it!"
+
+"Do it? Now what?"
+
+"Listen to this." He cleared his throat, sniffed of the faintly scented
+paper and cleared his throat again. He looked up at me drolly.
+
+"Well?" said I, impatiently. I was as eager to hear it as he had been
+to read it. I believed that the mystery was about to be solved.
+
+"'James Osborne, Sir: I have been thinking the matter over seriously,
+and have come to the conclusion that there may have been a mistake.
+Undoubtedly my groom was primarily to blame. I have discharged him for
+neglecting his post of duty. I distinctly recall the manner in which
+you handled the horses last night. It may be possible that they ran
+away with you. However that may be, I find myself in need of a groom.
+Your horsemanship saved us from a serious accident. If you will promise
+to let whisky alone, besides bringing me a recommendation, and are
+without engagement, call at the inclosed address this afternoon at
+three o'clock. I should be willing to pay as much as forty dollars a
+month. You would be expected to accompany me on my morning rides.'"
+
+"She must have paid the fine," said I. "Well, it beats anything I ever
+heard of. Had you arrested, and now wants to employ you! What name did
+you say?" I asked carelessly.
+
+"I didn't say any name, Chuck,"--smiling. "And I'm not going to give
+any, you old duffer."
+
+"And why not?"
+
+"For the one and simple reason that I am going to accept the
+position,"--with a coolness that staggered me.
+
+"What?" I bawled.
+
+"Sure as life, as the policeman said last night."
+
+"You silly ass, you! Do you want to make the family a laughing-stock
+all over town?" I was really angry.
+
+"Neither the family nor the town will know anything about
+it,"--imperturbably.
+
+"But you will be recognized!" I remonstrated. "It's a clear case of
+insanity, after what has just happened to you."
+
+"I promise not to drink any whisky,"--soberly.
+
+"Bob, you are fooling me."
+
+"Not the littlest bit, Chuck. I've worn a beard for two years. No one
+would recognize me. Besides, being a groom, no one would pay any
+particular attention to me. Get the point?"
+
+"But what under the sun is your object?" I demanded. "There's something
+back of all this. It's not a simple lark like last night's."
+
+"Perspicacious man!"--railingly. "Possibly you may be right. Chuck, you
+know that I've just got to be doing something. I've been inactive too
+long. I am ashamed to say that I should tire of the house in a week or
+less. Change, change, of air, of place, of occupation; change--I must
+have it. It's food and drink."
+
+"You've met this woman before, somewhere."
+
+"I neither acknowledge nor deny. It will be very novel. I shall be busy
+from morning till night. Think of the fun of meeting persons whom you
+know, but who do not know you. I wouldn't give up this chance for any
+amount of money."
+
+"Forty Dollars a month," said I, wrathfully.
+
+"Cigar money,"--tranquilly.
+
+"Look here, Bob; be reasonable. You can't go about as a groom in
+Washington. If the newspapers ever get hold of it, you would be
+disgraced. They wouldn't take you as a clerk in a third-rate consulate.
+Supposing you should run into Jack or his wife or Nancy; do you think
+they wouldn't know you at once?"
+
+"I'll take the risk. I'd deny that I knew them; they'd tumble and leave
+me alone. Chuck, I've got to do this. Some day you'll understand."
+
+"But the woman's name, Bob; only her name."
+
+"Oh, yes! And have you slide around and show me up within twenty-four
+hours. No, I thank you. I am determined on this. You ought to know me
+by this time. I never back down; it isn't in the blood. And when all is
+said, where's the harm in this escapade? I can see none. It may not
+last the day through."
+
+"I trust not,"--savagely.
+
+"I am determined upon answering this letter in person and finding out,
+if possible, what induced her to pay my fine. Jackass or not, I'm going
+to see the thing through." Then he stretched an appealing hand out
+toward me, and said wheedlingly: "Chuck, give me your word to keep
+perfectly quiet. I'll drop you a line once in a while, just to let you
+know how I stand. I shall be at the house to-night. I'll find an
+excuse. I'm to go up North on a hunting expedition; a hurry call. Do
+you catch on?"
+
+"I shall never be able to look Nancy in the face," I declared. "Come,
+Bob; forget it. It sounds merry enough, but my word for it, you'll
+regret it inside of twenty-four hours. You are a graduate of the
+proudest military school in the world, and you are going to make a
+groom of yourself!"
+
+"I've already done that and been locked up overnight. You are wasting
+your breath, Chuck."
+
+"Well, hang you for a jackass, sure enough! I promise; but if you get
+into any such scrape as this, you needn't send for me. I refuse to help
+you again."
+
+"I can't exactly see that you did. Let's get out. Got a cigar in your
+pocket? I am positively dying for a smoke."
+
+Suddenly a brilliant idea came to me.
+
+"Did you know that Miss Annesley, the girl you saw on shipboard, is in
+Washington and was at the embassy last night?"
+
+"No! You don't say!" He was too clever for me. "When I get through with
+this exploit, Nancy'll have to introduce me. Did you see her?"
+
+"Yes, and talked to her. You see what you missed by not going last
+night."
+
+"Yes, I missed a good night's rest and a cold bath in the morning."
+
+"Where shall I say you were last night?" I asked presently.
+
+Mister James scratched his chin disconcertedly. "I hadn't thought of
+that. Say that I met some of the boys and got mixed up in a little game
+of poker."
+
+"You left your hat on the rack and your cane in the stand. You are
+supposed to have left the house without any hat."
+
+"Hat!" He jumped up from the cot on which he had been sitting and
+picked up the groom's tile. "Didn't you bring me a hat?"--dismayed.
+
+"You said nothing about it,"--and I roared with laughter.
+
+"How shall I get out of here? I can't wear this thing through the
+streets."
+
+"I've a mind to make you wear it. And, by Jove, you shall! You'll wear
+it to the hatter's, or stay here. That's final. I never back down,
+either."
+
+"I'll wear it; only, mark me, I'll get even with you. I always did."
+
+"_I_ am not a boy any longer,"--with an inflection on the personal
+pronoun. "Well, to continue about that excuse. You left the house
+without a hat, and you met the boys and played poker all night. That
+hitches wonderfully. You didn't feel well enough to go to the embassy,
+but you could go and play poker. That sounds as if you cared a lot for
+your sister. And you wanted to stay at home the first night, because
+you had almost forgotten how the inside of a private dwelling looked.
+Very good; very coherent."
+
+"Cut it, Chuck. What the deuce excuse _can_ I give?"--worriedly
+lighting the cigar I had given him.
+
+"My boy, I'm not making up your excuses; you'll have to invent those.
+I'll be silent, but I refuse to lie to Nancy on your account. Poker is
+the only excuse that would carry any weight with it. You will have to
+let them believe you're a heartless wretch; which you are, if you
+persist in this idiotic exploit."
+
+"You don't understand, Chuck. I wish I could tell you; honestly, I do.
+The girls will have to think mean things of me till the farce is over.
+I couldn't escape if I wanted to."
+
+"Is it Miss Annesley, Bob? Was it she whom you ran away with? Come,
+make a clean breast of it. If it's she, why, that altogether alters the
+face of things."
+
+He walked the length of the cell and returned. "I give up. You've hit
+it. You understand now. I simply can't back away; I couldn't if I
+tried."
+
+"Are you in love with the girl?"
+
+"That's just what I want to find out, Chuck. I'm not sure. I've been
+thinking of her night and day. I never had any affair; I don't know
+what love is. But if it's shaking in your boots at the sound of her
+name, if it's getting red in the face when you only just think of her,
+if it's having a wild desire to pick her up and run away with her when
+you see her, then I've got it. When she stepped out of that confounded
+carriage last night, you could have knocked me over with a paper-wad.
+Come, let's go out. Hang the hat! Let them all laugh if they will. It's
+only a couple of blocks to the hatter's."
+
+He bravely put the white hat on his head, and together we marched out
+of the police-office into the street. We entered the nearest hatter's
+together. He took what they call a drop-kick out of the hat, sending it
+far to the rear of the establishment. I purchased a suitable derby for
+him, gave him ten dollars for emergencies, and we parted.
+
+He proceeded to a telegraph office and sent a despatch to a friend up
+North, asking him to telegraph him to come at once, taking his chances
+of getting a reply. After this he boarded a north-going car, and was
+rolled out to Chevy Chase. He had no difficulty in finding the house of
+which he was in search. It was a fine example of colonial architecture,
+well back from the road, and fields beyond it. It was of red brick and
+white stone, with a wide veranda supported by great white pillars.
+There was a modern portico at one side. A fine lawn surrounded the
+whole, and white-pebble walks wound in and out. All around were thickly
+wooded hills, gashed here and there by the familiar yet peculiar red
+clay of the country. Warburton walked up the driveway and knocked
+deliberately at the servants' door, which was presently opened. (I
+learned all these things afterward, which accounts for my accurate
+knowledge of events.)
+
+"Please inform Miss Annesley that Mr. Osborne has come in reply to her
+letter," he said to the little black-eyed French maid.
+
+"Ees Meestaire Osborrrrne zee new groom?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I go thees minute!" _Hein!_ what a fine-looking young man to make eyes
+at on cold nights in the kitchen!
+
+Warburton sat down and twirled his hat. Several times he repressed the
+desire to laugh. He gazed curiously about him. From where he sat he
+could see into the kitchen. The French chef was hanging up his polished
+pans in a glistening row back of the range, and he was humming a little
+_chanson_ which Warburton had often heard in the restaurants of the
+provincial cities of France. He even found himself catching up the
+refrain where the chef left off. Presently he heard footsteps sounding
+on the hardwood floor, which announced that the maid was returning with
+her mistress.
+
+He stood up, rested first on one foot, then on the other, and awkwardly
+shifted his new hat from one hand to the other, then suddenly put the
+hat under his arm, recollecting that the label was not such as servants
+wore inside their hats.
+
+There was something disquieting in those magnetic sapphire eyes looking
+so serenely into his.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+THE HEROINE HIRES A GROOM
+
+
+Remarkable as it may read, his first impression was of her gown--a gown
+such as women wear on those afternoons when they are free of social
+obligations, a gown to walk in or to lounge in. The skirt, which barely
+reached to the top of her low shoes, was of some blue stuff (stuff,
+because to a man's mind the word covers feminine dress-goods generally,
+liberally, and handily), overshot with gray. Above this she had put on
+a white golfing-sweater, a garment which at that time was just
+beginning to find vogue among women who loved the fields and the road.
+Only men who own to stylish sisters appreciate these things, and
+Warburton possessed rather observant eyes. She held a bunch of freshly
+plucked poppies in her hand. It was the second time that their glances
+had met and held. In the previous episode (on the day she had leaned
+out of the cab) hers had been first to fall. Now it was his turn. He
+studied the tips of his shoes. There were three causes why he lowered
+his eyes: First, she was mistress here and he was an applicant for
+employment; second, he loved her; third, he was committing the first
+bold dishonesty in his life. Once, it was on the very tip of his tongue
+to confess everything, apologize, and take himself off. But his
+curiosity was of greater weight than his desire. He remained silent and
+waited for her to speak.
+
+"Celeste, you may leave us," said Miss Annesley.
+
+Celeste courtesied, shot a killing glance at the tentative groom, and
+departed the scene.
+
+"You have driven horses for some length of time?" the girl began.
+
+If only he might look as calmly and fearlessly at her! What a voice,
+now that he heard it in its normal tone! "Yes, Madam; I have ridden and
+driven something like ten years."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"In the West, mostly."
+
+"You are English?"
+
+"No, Madam." He wondered how much she had heard at the police-court
+that morning. "I am American born."
+
+"Are you addicted to the use of intoxicants?"--mentally noting the
+clearness of the whites of his eyes.
+
+The barest flicker of a smile stirred his lips.
+
+"No, Madam. I had not been drinking last night--that is, not in the
+sense the officers declared I had. It is true that I take a drink once
+in a while, when I have been riding or driving all day, or when I am
+cold. I have absolutely no appetite."
+
+She brushed her cheeks with the poppies, and for a brief second the
+flowers threw a most beautiful color over her face and neck.
+
+"What was your object in climbing on the box of my carriage and running
+away with it?"
+
+Quick as a flash of light he conceived his answer. "Madam, it was a
+jest between me and some maids." He had almost said serving-maids, but
+the thought of Nancy checked this libel.
+
+"Between you and some maids?"--faintly contemptuous. "Explain, for I
+believe an explanation is due me."
+
+His gaze was forced to rove again. "Well, Madam, it is truly
+embarrassing. Two maids were to enter a carriage and I was to drive
+them away from the embassy, and once I had them in the carriage I
+thought it would be an admirable chance to play them a trick."
+
+"Pray, since when have serving-maids beein allowed exit from the main
+hall of the British embassy?"
+
+Mr. Robert was positive that the shadow of a sarcastic smile rested for
+a moment on her lips. But it was instantly hidden under the poppies.
+
+"That is something of which I have no intimate knowledge. A groom is
+not supposed to turn his head when on the box unless spoken to. You
+will readily understand that, Madam. I made a mistake in the number.
+Mine was seventy-one, and I answered number seventeen. I was confused."
+
+"I dare say. Seventy-one," she mused, "It will be easy to verify this,
+to find out whose carriage that was."
+
+Mr. Robert recognized his mistake, but he saw no way to rectify it. She
+stood silently gazing over his shoulder, into the fields beyond.
+
+"Perhaps you can explain to me that remarkable episode at the carriage
+door? I should be pleased to hear your explanation."
+
+It hard come,--the very thing he had dreaded had come. He had hoped
+that she would ignore it. "Madam, I can see that you have sent for me
+out of curiosity only. If I offered any disrespect to you last night, I
+pray you to forgive me. For, on my word of honor, it was innocently
+done." He bowed, and even placed his hand on the knob of the door.
+
+"Have a little patience. I prefer myself to forget that disagreeable
+incident." The truth is, "on my word of honor," coming from a groom,
+sounded strange in her ears; and she wanted to learn more about this
+fellow. "Mr. Osborne, what were you before you became a groom?"
+
+"I have not always been a groom, it is true, Madam. My past I prefer to
+leave in obscurity. There is nothing in that past, however, of which I
+need be ashamed;"--and unconsciously his figure became more erect.
+
+"Is your name Osborne?"
+
+"No, Madam, it is not. For my family's sake, I have tried to forget my
+own name." (I'll wager the rascal never felt a qualm in the region of
+his conscience.)
+
+It was this truth which was not truth that won his battle.
+
+"You were doubtless discharged last night?"
+
+"I did not return to ascertain, Madam. I merely sent for my belongings."
+
+"You have recommendations?"--presently.
+
+"I have no recommendations whatever, Madam. If you employ me, it must
+be done on your own responsibility and trust in human nature. I can
+only say, Madam, that I am honest, that I am willing, that I possess a
+thorough knowledge of horse-flesh."
+
+"It is very unusual," she said, searching him to the very heart with
+her deep blue eyes. "For all I know you may be the greatest rascal, or
+you may be the honestest man, in the world." His smile was so frank and
+engaging that she was forced to smile herself. But she thought of
+something, and frowned. "If you have told me the truth, so much the
+better; for I can easily verify all you have told me. I will give you a
+week's trial. After all,"--indifferently--"what I desire is a capable
+servant. You will have to put up with a good deal. There are days when
+I am not at all amiable, and on those days I do not like to find a
+speck of rust on the metals or a blanket that has not been thoroughly
+brushed. As for the animals, they must always shine like satin. This
+last is unconditional. Besides all this, our force of servants is
+small. Do you know anything about serving?"
+
+"Very little." What was coming now?
+
+"The chef will coach you. I entertain some, and there will be times
+when you will be called upon to wait on the table. Come with me and I
+will show you the horses. We have only five, but my father takes great
+pride in them. They are all thoroughbreds."
+
+"Like their mistress," was Warburton's mental supplementary.
+
+"Father hasn't ridden for years, however. The groom I discharged this
+morning was capable enough on the box, but he was worse than useless to
+me in my morning rides. I ride from nine till eleven, even Sundays
+sometimes. Remain here till I return."
+
+As she disappeared Warburton drew in an exceedingly long breath and
+released it slowly. Heavens, what an ordeal! He drew the back of his
+hand across his forehead and found it moist. Not a word about the fine:
+he must broach it and thank her. Ah, to ride with her every morning, to
+adjust her stirrup, to obey every command to which she might give
+voice, to feel her small boot repulse his palm as she mounted! Heaven
+could hold nothing greater than this. And how easily a woman may be
+imposed upon! Decidedly, Mr. Robert was violently in love.
+
+When she returned there was a sunbonnet on her head, and she had pinned
+the poppies on her breast. (Why? I couldn't tell you, unless when all
+is said and done, be he king or valet, a man is always a man; and if
+perchance he is blessed with good looks, a little more than a man. You
+will understand that in this instance I am trying to view things
+through a woman's eyes.) With a nod she bade him precede her, and they
+went out toward the stables. She noted the flat back, the square
+shoulders, the easy, graceful swing of the legs.
+
+"Have you been a soldier?" she asked suddenly.
+
+He wheeled. His astonishment could not be disguised quickly enough to
+escape her vigilant eyes. Once more he had recourse to the truth.
+
+"Yes, Madam. It was as a trooper that I learned horsemanship."
+
+"What regiment?"
+
+"I prefer not to say,"--quietly.
+
+"I do not like mysteries,"--briefly.
+
+"Madam, you have only to dismiss me, to permit me to thank you for
+paying my fine and to reimburse you at the earliest opportunity."
+
+She closed her lips tightly. No one but herself knew what had been on
+the verge of passing across them.
+
+"Let us proceed to the stables," was all she said. "If you prove
+yourself a capable horseman, that is all I desire."
+
+The stable-boy slid back the door, and the two entered. Warburton
+glanced quickly about; all was neatness. There was light and
+ventilation, too, and the box-stalls were roomy. The girl stopped
+before a handsome bay mare, which whinnied when it saw her. She laid
+her cheek against the animal's nose and talked that soft jargon so
+embarrassing to man and so intelligible to babies and pet animals.
+Lucky horse! he thought; but his face expressed nothing.
+
+"This is Jane, my own horse, and there are few living things I love so
+well. Remember this. She is a thoroughbred, a first-class hunter; and I
+have done more than five feet on her at home."
+
+She moved on, Warburton following soberly and thoughtfully. There was a
+good deal to think of just now. The more he saw of this girl, the less
+he understood her purpose in hiring him. She couldn't possibly know
+anything about him, who or what he was. With his beard gone he defied
+her to recognize in him the man who had traveled across the Atlantic
+with her. A highbred woman, such as she was, would scarcely harbor any
+kind feelings toward a man who had acted as he was acting. If any man
+had kissed Nancy the way he had kissed her, he would have broken every
+bone in his body or hired some one to do it. And she had paid his fine
+at the police-station and had hired him on probation! Truly he was in
+the woods, and there wasn't a sign of a blazed trail. (It will be seen
+that my hero hadn't had much experience with women. She knew nothing of
+him whatever. She was simply curious, and brave enough to attempt to
+have this curiosity gratified. Of course, I do not venture to say that,
+had he been coarse in appearance, she would have had anything to do
+with him.)
+
+"This is Dick, my father's horse,"--nodding toward a sorrel, large and
+well set-up. "He will be your mount. The animal in the next stall is
+Pirate."
+
+Pirate was the handsomest black gelding Warburton had ever laid eyes on.
+
+"What a beauty!" he exclaimed enthusiastically, forgetting that grooms
+should be utterly without enthusiasm. He reached out his hand to pat
+the black nose, when a warning cry restrained him. Pirate's ears lay
+flat.
+
+"Take care! He is a bad-tempered animal. No one rides him, and we keep
+him only to exhibit at the shows. Only half a dozen men have ridden him
+with any success. He won't take a curb in his mouth, and he always runs
+away. It takes a very strong man to hold him in. I really don't believe
+that he's vicious, only terribly mischievous, like a bullying boy."
+
+"I should like to ride him."
+
+The girl looked at her new groom in a manner which expressed frank
+astonishment. Was he in earnest, or was it mere bravado? An idea came
+to her, a mischievous idea.
+
+"If you can sit on Pirate's back for ten minutes, there will not be any
+question of probation. I promise to engage you on the spot,
+recommendation or no recommendation." Would he, back down?
+
+"Where are the saddles, Madam?" he asked calmly, though his blood moved
+faster.
+
+"On the pegs behind you,"--becoming interested. "Do you really intend
+to ride him?"
+
+"With your permission."
+
+"I warn you that the risk you are running is great."
+
+"I am not afraid of Pirate, Madam," in a tone which implied that he was
+not afraid of any horse living. The spirit of antagonism rose up in
+him, that spirit of antagonism of the human against the animal, that
+eternal ambition of the one to master the other. And besides, I'm not
+sure that James didn't want to show off before the girl--another very
+human trait in mankind. For my part, I wouldn't give yesterday's rose
+for a man who wouldn't show off once in a while, when his best girl is
+around and looking on.
+
+"On your head be it, then,"--a sudden nervousness seizing her. Yet she
+was as eager to witness the encounter as he was to court it. "William!"
+she called. The stable-boy entered, setting aside his broom. "This is
+James, the new groom. Help him to saddle Pirate."
+
+"Saddle Pirate, Miss Annesley!" cried the boy, his mouth open and his
+eyes wide.
+
+"You see?" said the girl to Warburton.
+
+"Take down that saddle with the hooded stirrups," said Warburton,
+briefly. He would ride Pirate now, even if Pirate had been sired in
+Beelzebub's stables. He carefully inspected the saddle, the
+stirrup-straps and the girth. "Very good, indeed. Buckles on saddles
+are always a hidden menace and a constant danger. Now, bring out
+Pirate, William."
+
+William brought out the horse, who snorted when he saw the saddle on
+the floor and the curb on Warburton's arm.
+
+"There hasn't been anybody on his back for a year, sir; not since last
+winter. He's likely to give you trouble," said the boy. "You can't put
+that curb on him, sir; he won't stand for it a moment. Miss Annesley,
+hadn't you better step outside? He may start to kicking. That heavy
+English snaffle is the best thing I know of. Try that, sir. And don't
+let him get his head down, or he'll do you. Whoa!" as Pirate suddenly
+took it into his head to leave the barn without any one's permission.
+
+The girl sprang lightly into one of the empty stalls and waited. She
+was greatly excited, and the color in her cheeks was not borrowed from
+the poppies. She saw the new groom take Pirate by the forelock, and,
+quicker than words can tell, Mr. Pirate was angrily champing the cold
+bit. He reared. Warburton caught him by the nose and the neck. Pirate
+came down, trembling with rage.
+
+"Here, boy; catch him here," cried Warburton. William knew his
+business, and he grasped the bridle close under Pirate's jaws. "That's
+it. Now hold him."
+
+Warburton picked up the saddle and threw it over Pirate's glossy back.
+Pirate waltzed from side to side, and shook his head wickedly. But the
+man that was to mount him knew all these signs. Swiftly he gathered up
+the end of the belly-band strap and ran it through the iron ring. In
+and out he threaded it, drawing it tighter and tighter. He leaped into
+the saddle and adjusted the stirrups, then dismounted.
+
+"I'll take him now, William," said James, smiling.
+
+"All right, sir," said William, glad enough to be relieved of all
+further responsibility.
+
+James led Pirate into the small court and waited for Miss Annesley, who
+appeared in the doorway presently.
+
+"James, I regret that I urged you to ride him. You will be hurt," she
+said. Her worry was plainly visible on her face.
+
+James smiled his pleasantest and touched his hat.
+
+"Very well, then; I have warned you. If he bolts, head him for a tree.
+That's the only way to stop him."
+
+James shortened the bridle-rein to the required length, took a firm
+grip on Pirate's mane, and vaulted into the saddle. Pirate stood
+perfectly still. He shook his head. James talked to him and patted his
+sleek neck, and touched him gently with his heel. Then things livened
+up a bit. Pirate waltzed, reared, plunged, and started to do the _pas
+seul_ on the flower-beds. Then he immediately changed his mind. He
+decided to re-enter the stables.
+
+"Don't let him get his head down!" yelled William, nimbly jumping over
+a bed of poppies and taking his position beside his mistress.
+
+"The gates, William! The gates!" cried the girl, excitedly. "Only one
+is open. He will not be able to get through."
+
+William scampered down the driveway and swung back the iron barrier.
+None too soon! Like a black shadow, Pirate flashed by, his rider's new
+derby rolling in the dust.
+
+The girl stood in the doorway, her hands pressed against her heart. She
+was as white as the clouds that sailed overhead.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+PIRATE
+
+
+On the opposite side of the road there was a stone wall about five feet
+in height; beyond this was a broad, rolling field, and farther on, a
+barb-wire fence and a boggy stream which oozed its way down toward the
+Potomac. Far away across the valley the wooded hills were drying and
+withering and thinning, with splashes of yellow and red. A flock of
+birds speckled the fleecy October clouds, and a mild breeze sent the
+grasses shivering.
+
+Toward the wall Pirate directed his course. Warburton threw back his
+full weight. The effort had little or no effect on Pirate's mouth. His
+rider remembered about the tree, but the nearest was many yards away.
+Over the wall they went, and down the field. Pirate tried to get his
+head down, but he received a check. Score one for the man. Warburton,
+his legs stiffened in the stirrups, his hands well down, his breath
+coming in gasps, wondered where they would finally land. He began to
+use his knees, and Pirate felt the pressure. He didn't like it at all.
+Oddly enough, Warburton's leg did not bother him as he expected it
+would, and this gave him confidence. On, on; the dull pounding of
+Pirate's feet, the flying sod, the wind in his face: and when he saw
+the barb-wire fence, fear entered into him. An inch too low, a stumble,
+and serious injuries might result. He must break Pirate's gait.
+
+He began to saw cow-boy fashion. Pirate grew very indignant: he was
+being hurt. His speed slackened none, however; he was determined to
+make that fence if it was the last thing he ever did. He'd like to see
+any man stop him. He took the deadly fence as with the wings of a bird.
+But he found that the man was still on his back. He couldn't understand
+it. He grew worried. And then he struck the red-brown muck bordering
+the stream. The muck flew, but at every bound Pirate sank deeper, and
+the knees of his rider were beginning to tell. Warburton, full of rage,
+yet not unreasonable rage, quickly saw his chance. Once more he threw
+back his weight; this time to the left. Pirate's head came stubbornly
+around; his gait was broken, he was floundering in the stream. Now
+Warburton used his heels savagely. He shortened the reins and whacked
+Mr. Pirate soundly across the ears. Pirate plunged and reared and,
+after devious evolutions, reached solid ground. This time his head was
+high in the air, and, try as he would, he could not lower his neck a
+solitary inch.
+
+[Illustration: "He's a newspaper man and makes his living by telling
+lies."--ACT II.]
+
+Warburton knew that the animal could not make the barb-wire fence
+again, so he waltzed him along till he found a break in the wire. Over
+this Pirate bounded, snorting. But he had met a master. Whether he
+reared or plunged, waltzed or ran, he could not make those ruthless
+knees relent in their pressure. He began to understand what all beasts
+understand, sooner or later--the inevitable mastery of man. There was
+blood in his nostrils. A hand touched his neck caressingly. He shook
+his head; he refused to conciliate. A voice, kindly but rather
+breathless, addressed him. Again Pirate shook his head; but he did not
+run, he cantered. Warburton gave a sigh of relief. Over the field they
+went. A pull to the left, and Pirate wheeled; a pull to the right, and
+again Pirate answered, and cantered in a circle. But he still shook his
+head discontentedly, and the froth that spattered Warburton's legs was
+flecked with blood. The stirrup-strap began to press sharply and
+hurtfully against Warburton's injured leg. He tugged, and Pirate fell
+into a trot. He was mastered.
+
+After this Warburton did as he pleased; Pirate had learned his lesson.
+His master put him through a dozen manoeuvers, and he was vastly
+satisfied with the victory. In the heat of the battle Warburton had
+forgotten all about where and what he was; and it was only when he
+discerned far away a sunbonnet with fluttering strings peering over the
+stone wall, and a boy in leggings standing on top of the wall, that he
+recollected. A wave of exhilaration swept through his veins. He had
+conquered the horse before the eyes of the one woman.
+
+He guided Pirate close to the wall, and stopped him, looked down into
+the girl's wonder-lit eyes and smiled cheerfully. And what is more, she
+smiled faintly in acknowledgment. He had gained, in the guise of a
+groom, what he might never have gained in any other condition of life,
+the girl's respect and admiration. Though a thorough woman of the
+world, high-bred, wellborn, she forgot for the moment to control her
+features; and as I have remarked elsewhere, Warburton was a shrewd
+observer.
+
+"Bully, Mr. Osborne!" shouted William, leaping down. "It was simply
+great!"
+
+"There are some bars farther down," said the girl, quietly. "William,
+run and open them."
+
+Warburton flushed slightly. He could not tell how she had accomplished
+it, whether it was the tone or the gesture, but she had calmly
+reestablished the barrier between mistress and servant.
+
+"I think I'll put him to the wall again," said the hero, seized by a
+rebel spirit.
+
+He wheeled Pirate about and sent him back at a run. Pirate balked.
+Round he went again, down the field and back. This time he cleared the
+wall with a good foot to spare. The victory was complete.
+
+When it was all over, and Pirate was impatiently munching an extra
+supply of oats, the girl bade Mr. James to report early the following
+morning.
+
+"I hope I shall please you, Madam."
+
+"Address me as Miss Annesley from now on," she said; and nodding
+shortly, she entered the house.
+
+To Warburton, half the pleasure of the victory was gone; for not a word
+of praise had she given him. Yet, she had answered his smile. Well, he
+had made a lackey out of himself; he had no right to expect anything
+but forty dollars a month and orders.
+
+He broke his word with me. He did not return to the house that night
+for dinner. In fact, he deliberately sent for his things, explaining
+that he was called North and wouldn't have time to see them before he
+left. It took all my persuasive oratory to smooth the troubled waters,
+and then there were areas upon which my oil had no effect whatever.
+
+"He is perfectly heartless!" cried Nancy. "He couldn't go to the
+embassy, but he could steal away and play poker all night with a lot of
+idling Army officers. And now he is going off to Canada without even
+seeing us to say good-by. Charlie, there is something back of all this."
+
+"I'll bet it's a woman," said Jack, throwing a scrutinizing glance at
+me. But I was something of a diplomat myself, and he didn't catch me
+napping. "Here's a telegram for him, too."
+
+"I think I'll take the liberty of opening it," said I. I knew its
+contents. It was the reply Warburton had depended on. I read it aloud.
+It is good to have friends of this sort. No question was asked. It was
+a bald order: "Come up at once and shoot caribou. Take first train."
+
+"Bob's a jackass," was Jack's commentary. I had heard something like it
+before, that day. "He'll turn up all right;"--and Jack lit a cigar and
+picked up his paper.
+
+"And Betty Annesley is going to call to-morrow night," said Nancy, her
+voice overflowing with reproach. Her eyes even sparkled with tears. "I
+did so want them to meet."
+
+I called myself a villain. But I had given my promise; and I was in
+love myself.
+
+"I don't see what we can do. When Bob makes up his mind to do anything,
+he generally does it." Jack, believing he had demolished the subject,
+opened his _Morning Post_ and fell to studying the latest phases of the
+Venezuelan muddle.
+
+Nancy began to cry softly; she loved the scalawag as only sisters know
+how to love. And I became possessed with two desires; to console her
+and to punch Mr. Robert's head.
+
+"It has always been this way with him," Nancy went on, dabbing her eyes
+with her two-by-four handkerchief. "We never dreamed that he was going
+into the Army till he came home one night and announced that he had
+successfully passed his examinations for West Point. He goes and gets
+shot, and we never know anything about it till we read the papers.
+Next, he resigns and goes abroad without a word or coming to see us. I
+don't know what to make of Bobby; I really don't."
+
+I took her hand in mine and kissed it, and told her the rascal would
+turn up in due time, that they hadn't heard the last of him for that
+winter.
+
+"He's only thoughtless and single-purposed," interposed Jack.
+
+"Single-purposed!" I echoed.
+
+"Why, yes. He gets one thing at a time in his brain, and thinks of
+nothing else till that idea is worn out. I know him."
+
+I recalled my useless persuasion of the morning. "I believe you are
+right."
+
+"Of course I'm right," replied Jack, turning a page of his paper. "Do
+_you_ know where he has gone?"
+
+"I think the telegram explains everything,"--evasively.
+
+"Humph! Don't you worry about him, Nan. I'll wager he's up to some of
+his old-time deviltry."
+
+These and other little observations Jack let fall made it plain to me
+that he was a natural student of men and their impulses, and that his
+insight and judgment, unerring and anticipatory, had put him where he
+is to-day, at the head of a department.
+
+I left the house about ten o'clock, went downtown and found the
+prodigal at a cheap hotel on Pennsylvania. He was looking over some
+boots and leggings and ready-made riding breeches.
+
+"Aha, Chuck, so here you are!"
+
+"Look here, Bob, this will never do at all," I began.
+
+"I thought we had threshed all that out thoroughly this morning."
+
+"I left Nancy crying over your blamed callousness."
+
+"Nancy? Hang it, I don't want Nancy to waste any tears over me; I'm not
+worth it."
+
+"Precious little you care! If it wasn't for the fact that you have told
+me the true state of things, I should have exposed you to-night. Why
+didn't you turn up to dinner as you promised? You might at least have
+gone through the pretense of saying good-by to them."
+
+"My dear boy, I'll admit that my conduct is nefarious. But look; Nancy
+knows Miss Annesley, and they will be calling on each other. The truth
+is, I dare not let the girls see me without a beard. And I'm too far
+gone into the thing to back out now."
+
+"I honestly hope that some one recognizes you and gives you away," I
+declared indignantly.
+
+"Thanks. You're in love with Nancy, aren't you? To be sure. Well,
+wouldn't you do anything to keep around where she is, to serve her, to
+hear her voice, to touch her hand occasionally, to ride with her; in
+fact, always to be within the magic circle of her presence? Well, I
+love this girl; I know it now, it is positive, doubtless. Her presence
+is as necessary to me as the air I breathe. Had I met her in the
+conventional way, she would have looked upon me as one of the pillars
+of convention, and mildly ignored me. As I am, she does not know what I
+am, or who I am; I am a mystery, I represent a secret, and she desires
+to find out what this secret is. Besides all this, something impels me
+to act this part, something aside from love. It is inexplicable; fate,
+maybe." He paused, went to the window, and looked down into the street.
+It was after-theater time and carriages were rolling to and fro.
+
+"Bob, I apologize. You know a great deal more about feminine nature
+than I had given you credit for. But how can you win her this way?"
+
+He raised his shoulders. "Time and chance."
+
+"Well, whate'er betide, I can't help wishing you luck."
+
+We shook hands silently, and then I left him.
+
+"Father," said Betty Annesley at the dinnertable that same night, "I
+have engaged a new groom. He rode Pirate to-day and thoroughly mastered
+him."
+
+"Pirate? You don't say! Well, I'm glad of that. Pirate will make a
+capital saddle-horse if he is ridden often enough. The groom will be a
+safe companion for you on your rides. Are you too tired to do some
+drawing for me to-night?"
+
+"The fortification plans?"
+
+"Yes." His eyes wandered from her face to the night outside. How gray
+and sad the world was! "You will always love your father, dearie?"
+
+"Love him? Always!"
+
+"Whatever betide, for weal or woe?"
+
+"Whatever betide."
+
+How easy it was for her to say these words!
+
+"And yet, some day, you must leave me, to take up your abode in some
+other man's heart. My only wish is that it may beat for you as truly as
+mine does."
+
+She did not reply, but stepped to the window and pressed her brow to
+the chilled pane. A yellow and purple line marked the path of the
+vanished sun; the million stars sparkled above; far away she could see
+the lights of the city. Of what was she thinking, dreaming? Was she
+dreaming of heroes such as we poets and novelists invent and hang upon
+the puppet-beam? Ah, the pity of these dreams the young girl has! She
+dreams of heroes and of god-like men, and of the one that is to come.
+But, ah! he never comes, he never comes; and the dream fades and dies,
+and the world becomes real. A man may find his ideal, but a woman,
+never. To youth, the fields of love; to man, the battle-ground; to old
+age, a chair in the sunshine and the wreck of dreams!
+
+"The government ought to pay you well if those plans are successful."
+She moved away from the window.
+
+"Yes, the government ought to pay me well. I should like to make you
+rich, dearie, and happy."
+
+"Why, daddy, am I not both? I have more money than I know what to do
+with, and I am happy in having the kindest father." She came around the
+table and caressed him, cheek to cheek. "Money isn't everything. It
+just makes me happy to do anything for you."
+
+His arm grew tense around her waist.
+
+"Do you know what was running through my mind at the embassy last
+night? I was thinking how deeply I love this great wide country of
+mine. As I looked at the ambassador and his aides, I was saying to
+myself, 'You dare not!' It may have been silly, but I couldn't help it,
+We are the greatest people in the world. When I compared foreign
+soldiers with our own, how my heart and pride swelled! No formalities,
+no race prejudice, no false pride. I was never introduced to a foreign
+officer that I did not fear him, with his weak eyes, his affected
+mannerisms, his studied rudeness, not to me, but to the country I
+represented. How I made some of them dance! Not for vanity's sake;
+rather the inborn patriotism of my race. I had only to think of my
+father, his honorable scars, his contempt for little things, his
+courage, his steadfastness, his love for his country, which has so
+honored him with its trust. Oh! I am a patriot; and I shall never,
+never marry a man whose love for his country does not equal my own."
+She caught up her father's mutilated hand and kissed it. "And even now
+this father of mine is planning and planning to safeguard his country."
+
+"But you must not say anything to a soul, my child; it must be a secret
+till all is ready. I met Karloff to-day at the club. He has promised to
+dine with us to-morrow night."
+
+"Make him postpone it. I have promised to dine with Nancy Warburton."
+
+"You had better dine with us and spend the evening with your friend. Do
+you not think him a handsome fellow?"
+
+"He is charming." She touched the bowl of poppies with her fingers and
+smiled.
+
+"He is very wealthy, too."
+
+Betty offered no comment.
+
+"What did they do to that infernal rascal who attempted to run away
+with you and Mrs. Chadwick?"
+
+"They arrested him and locked him up."
+
+"I hope they will keep him there. And what reason did he give the
+police for attempting to run away with you?"
+
+"He said that he had made a wager with some serving-maids to drive them
+from the embassy. He claims to have got the wrong number and the wrong
+carriage."
+
+"A very likely story!"
+
+"Yes, a very likely story!"--and Betty, still smiling, passed on into
+the music-room, where she took her violin from its case and played some
+rollicking measures from Offenbach.
+
+At the same time her father rose and went out on the lawn, where he
+walked up and down, with a long, quick, nervous stride. From time to
+time a wailing note from the violin floated out to him, and he would
+stop and raise his haggard face toward heaven. His face was no longer
+masked in smiles; it was grief-stricken, self-abhorring. At length he
+softly crossed the lawn and stood before the music-room window. Ah, no
+fretting care sat on yonder exquisite face, nor pain, nor trouble;
+youth, only youth and some pleasant thought which the music had
+aroused. How like her mother! How like her mother!
+
+Suddenly he smote himself on the brow with a clenched hand. "Wretch!
+God-forsaken wretch, how have you kept your trust? And how yonder child
+has stabbed you! How innocently she has stabbed you! My country! ... My
+honor! ... My courage and steadfastness! Mockery!"
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+THE FIRST RIDE
+
+
+The next morning Warburton was shown into a neat six-by-eight, just off
+the carriage-room. There was a cot, running water and a wash-stand, and
+a boot-blacking apparatus. For the rest, there were a few portraits of
+fast horses, fighters, and toe-dancers (the adjective qualifying all
+three!) which the senator's sporting groom had collected and tacked to
+the walls. For appearance's sake, Mr. James had purchased a cheap
+trunk. Everything inside was new, too. His silver military brushes, his
+silver shaving set, and so forth and so forth, were in charge of a
+safe-deposit storage company, alongside some one's family jewels. The
+only incriminating things he retained were his signet-ring and his
+Swiss timepiece.
+
+"Have you had your breakfast, sir?" asked William, the stable-boy.
+
+"Yes, my lad. Now, as Miss Annesley has forgotten it, perhaps you will
+tell me of just what my duties here will consist."
+
+"You harness, ride and drive, sir, and take care of the metals. I clean
+the leathers and carriages, exercise the horses and keep their hides
+shiny. If anything is purchased, sir, we shall have to depend upon your
+judgment. Are you given to cussing, sir?"
+
+"Cussing?" repeated Warburton.
+
+"Yes, sir. Miss Annesley won't stand for it around the stables. The man
+before you, sir, could cuss most beautifully; and I think that's why he
+was fired. At least, it was one reason."
+
+Warburton smoothed his twitching mouth. "Don't you worry, William; it's
+against my religion to use profane language."
+
+William winked, there was an answering wink, and the two became friends
+from that moment on.
+
+"I'll bet you didn't say a thing to Pirate yesterday, when he bolted
+over the wall with you."
+
+"Well, I believe I _did_ address a few remarks to Pirate which would
+not sound well on dress-parade; but so long as it wasn't within hearing
+distance, William, I suppose it doesn't matter."
+
+"No, sir; I suppose not."
+
+"Now, what kind of a master is the colonel?" asked Warburton, strapping
+on his English leggings.
+
+"Well, it's hard to say just now. You see, I've been with the family
+ever since I was six. The colonel used to be the best fellow _I_ ever
+knew. Always looking out for your comfort, never an undeserved harsh
+word, and always a smile when you pleased him. But he's changed in the
+last two years."
+
+"How?"
+
+"He doesn't take any interest in the things he used to. He goes about
+as if he had something on his mind; kind of absent-minded, you know;
+and forgets to-morrow what he says to-day. He always puts on a good
+face, though, when Miss Betty is around."
+
+"Ah. What night do I have off?"--of a mind that a question like this
+would sound eminently professional in William's ears.
+
+"Sunday, possibly; it all depends on Miss Annesley, sir. In Virginia
+nearly every night was ours. Here it's different." William hurriedly
+pulled on his rubber boots and gloves, grabbed up the carriage sponges,
+and vanished.
+
+Warburton sat on the edge of his cot and laughed silently. All this was
+very amusing. Had any man, since the beginning of time, found himself
+in a like position? He doubted it. And he was to be butler besides! It
+would be something to remember in his old age. Yet, once or twice the
+pins of his conscience pricked him. He _wasn't_ treating Nancy just
+right. He didn't want her to cry over his gracelessness; he didn't want
+her to think that he was heartless. But what could he do? He stood too
+deeply committed.
+
+He was puzzled about one thing, however, and, twist it as he would, he
+could not solve it with any degree of satisfaction. Why, after what had
+happened, had she hired him? If she could pass over that episode at the
+carriage-door and forget it, _he_ couldn't. He knew that each time he
+saw her the memory of that embrace and brotherly salute would rise
+before his eyes and rob him of some of his assurance--an attribute
+which was rather well developed in Mr. Robert, though he was loath to
+admit it. If his actions were a mystery to her, hers were none the less
+so to him. He made up his mind to move guardedly in whatever he did, to
+practise control over his mobile features so as to avert any shock or
+thoughtless sign of interest. He knew that sooner or later the day
+would come when he would be found out; but this made him not the less
+eager to court that day.
+
+He shaved himself, and was wiping his face on the towel when Celeste
+appeared in the doorway. She eyed him, her head inclined roguishly to
+one side, the exact attitude of a bird that has suddenly met a curious
+and disturbing specimen of insect life.
+
+"M'sieu Zhames, Mees Annesley rides thees morning. You will pre_pairre_
+yourself according,"--and she rattled on in her absurd native tongue
+(every other native tongue _is_ absurd to us, you know!)--
+
+    "He is charming and handsome,
+    With his uniform and saber;
+    And his fine black eyes
+    Look love as he rides by!"
+
+while the chef in the kitchen glared furiously at his omelette souffle,
+and vowed terrible things to M'sieu Zhames if he looked at Celeste more
+than twice a day.
+
+"Good morning," said M'sieu Zhames, hanging up his towel. His face
+glowed as the result of the vigorous rubbing it had received.
+
+_"Bon jour!"_--admiringly.
+
+"Don't give me any of your _bong joors,_ Miss,"--stolidly. "There's
+only one language for me, and that's English."
+
+"_Merci!_ You Anglaises are _so_ conceit'! How you like _me_ to teach
+you French, eh, M'sieu Zhames?"
+
+"Not for me,"--shaking his head. She was very pretty, and under
+ordinary circumstances . . . He did not finish the thought, but I will
+for him. Under ordinary circumstances, M'sieu Zhames would have kissed
+her.
+
+"No teach you French? _Non?_ Extra_orrd_inaire!" She tripped away,
+laughing, while the chef tugged at his royal and M'sieu Zhames whistled.
+
+"Hang the witch!" the new groom murmured. "Her mistress must be very
+generous, or very positive of her own charms, to keep a sprite like
+this maid about her. I wonder if I'll run into Karloff?" Karloff! The
+name chilled him, somehow. What was Karloff to her? Had he known that
+she was to be in Washington for the winter? What irony, if fate should
+make him the groom and Karloff the bridegroom! If Karloff loved her, he
+could press his suit frankly and openly. And, as matters stood, what
+chance on earth had he, Warburton? "Chuck was right; I've made a
+mistake, and I am beginning to regret it the very first morning." He
+snapped his fingers and proceeded to the right wing, where the horses
+were.
+
+At nine o'clock he led Jane and Dick out to the porte-cochere and
+waited. He had not long to loiter, for she came out at once, drawing on
+her gauntlets and taking in long breaths of the morning air. She nodded
+briefly, but pleasantly, and came down the steps. Her riding-habit was
+of the conventional black, and her small, shapely boots were of
+patent-leather. She wore no hat on her glorious head, which showed her
+good sense and her scorn for freckles and sunburn. But nature had given
+her one of those rare complexions upon which the sun and the wind have
+but trifling effect.
+
+"We shall ride north, James; the roads are better and freer. Jane has a
+horror of cars."
+
+"Yes, Miss Annesley,"--deferentially. "You will have to teach me the
+lay of the land hereabouts, as I am rather green."
+
+"I'll see to it that you are made perfectly familiar with the roads.
+You do not know Washington very well, then?"
+
+"No, Miss. Shall I give you a--er--boot up?" He blushed. He had almost
+said "leg up".
+
+She assented, and raised her boot, under which he placed his palm, and
+sprang into the saddle. He mounted in his turn and waited.
+
+"When we ride alone, James, I shall not object to your riding at my
+side; but when I have guests, always remember to keep five yards to the
+rear."
+
+"Yes, Miss." If he could have got rid of the idea of Karloff and the
+possibilities which his name suggested, all this would have appealed to
+him as exceedingly funny.
+
+"Forward, then!"--and she touched Jane's flank with her crop.
+
+The weather was perfect for riding: no sun, a keen breeze from the
+northwest, and a dust-settled road. Warburton confessed to me afterward
+that this first ride with her was one of the most splendid he had ever
+ridden. Both animals were perfect saddle-horses, such as are to be
+found only in the South. They started up the road at a brisk trot, and
+later broke into a canter which lasted fully a mile. How beautiful she
+was, when at length they slowed down into a walk! Her cheeks were
+flaming, her eyes dancing and full of luster, her hair was tumbled
+about and tendrils fluttered down her cheeks. She was Diana: only he
+hoped that she was not inclined to celibacy.
+
+What a mistake he had made! He could never get over this gulf which he
+himself had thrust between them. This was no guise in which to meet a
+woman of her high breeding. Under his breath he cursed the impulse that
+had urged him to decline to attend the ball at the British embassy.
+There he would have met her as his own true self, a soldier, a polished
+gentleman of the world, of learning and breeding. Nancy would have
+brought them together, calls would have been exchanged, and he would
+have defied Karloff. Then he chid himself for the feeling he had
+against the Russian. Karloff had a right to love this girl, a right
+which far eclipsed his own. Karloff was Karloff; a handsome fellow,
+wealthy, agreeable; while James was not James, neither was he wealthy
+nor at present agreeable. A man can not sigh very well on horseback,
+and the long breath which left Warburton's lips made a jerking, hissing
+sound.
+
+"Have you ever ridden with women before. James?"
+
+"Several times with my major's daughter,"--thoughtlessly.
+
+"Your major's daughter? Who was your regimental colonel?"
+
+James bit his lips, and under his breath disregarded William's warning
+about "cussing."
+
+"Permit me, Miss Annesley, to decline to answer."
+
+"Did you ride as an attendant?"
+
+"Yes; I was a trooper."
+
+"You speak very good English for a stable-man."
+
+"I have not always been a stable-man."
+
+"I dare say. I should give a good deal to know what you _have_ been.
+Come, James, tell me what the trouble was. I have influence; I might
+help you."
+
+"I am past help;"--which was true enough, only the real significance of
+his words passed over her head. "I thank you for your kindness."
+
+If she was piqued, she made no sign. "James, were you once a gentleman,
+in the sense of being well-born?"
+
+"Miss Annesley, you would not believe me if I told you who I am and
+what I have been."
+
+"Are you a deserter?"--looking him squarely in the eye. She saw the
+color as it crept under his tan.
+
+"I have my honorable discharge,"--briefly.
+
+"I shall ask you to let me see it. Have you ever committed a
+dishonorable act? I have a right to know."
+
+"I have committed one dishonorable act, Miss Annesley. I shall always
+regret it."
+
+She gave him a penetrating glance. "Very well; keep your secret."
+
+And there was no more questioning on that ride; there was not even
+casual talk, such as a mistress might make to her servant. There was
+only the clock-clock of hoofs and the chink of bit metal. Warburton did
+not know whether he was glad or sorry.
+
+She dismounted without her groom's assistance, which somewhat
+disappointed that worthy gentleman. If she was angry, to his eye there
+was no visible evidence of it. As he took the bridles in hand, she
+addressed him; though in doing so, she did not look at him, but gave
+her attention to her gauntlets, which she pulled slowly from her aching
+fingers.
+
+"This afternoon I shall put you in the care of Pierre, the cook. I am
+giving a small dinner on Monday evening, and I shall have to call on
+you to serve the courses. Later I shall seek a butler, but for the
+present you will have to act in that capacity."
+
+He wasn't sure; it might have been a flash of sunlight from behind a
+cloud. If it was a smile, he would have given much to know what had
+caused it.
+
+He tramped off to the stables. A butler! Well, so be it. He could only
+reasonably object when she called upon him to act in the capacity of a
+chambermaid. He wondered why he had no desire to laugh.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+A TICKLISH BUSINESS
+
+
+Pierre was fierce and fat and forty, but he could cook the most
+wonderful roasts and ragouts that Warburton ever tasted; and he could
+take a handful of vegetables and an insignificant bone and make a soup
+that would have tickled the jaded palate of a Lucullus. Warburton
+presented himself at the kitchen door.
+
+"Ah!" said Pierre, striking a dramatic pose, a ladle in one hand and a
+pan in the other. "So you are zee new groom? Good! We make a butler out
+of you? Bah! Do you know zee difference between a broth and a soup? Eh?"
+
+The new groom gravely admitted that he did.
+
+"Hear to me!"--and Pierre struck his chest with a ladle. "I teach you
+how to sairve; _I_, Pierre Flageot, will teach a hostler to be a
+butler! Bah!"
+
+"That is what I am sent here for."
+
+"Hear to me! If zay haf oysters, zay are placed on zee table before zee
+guests enter. _V'la_? Then zee soup. You sairve one deesh at a time.
+You do _not_ carry all zee deeshes at once. And you take zee deesh,
+_so_!"--illustrating. "Then you wait till zay push aside zee soup
+deesh. Then you carry zem away. _V'la_?"
+
+Warburton signified that he understood.
+
+"_I_ carve zee meats," went on the amiable Pierre. "You haf nozzing to
+do wiz zee meats. You rest zee deesh on zee flat uf zee hand, _so_!
+Always sairve to zee _right_ uf zee guest. Vatch zat i zay do not move
+vhile you sairve. You spill zee soup, and I keel you! To spill zee soup
+ees a crime. Now, take hold uf thees soup deesh."
+
+Warburton took it clumsily by the rim. Pierre snatched it away with a
+volley of French oaths. William said that there was to be no "cussing,"
+but Pierre seemed to be an immune and not included in this order.
+
+"Idiot! Imbecile! _Non, non! Thees_ way. You would put zee thumb in zee
+soup. Zare! You haf catch zat. Come to zee dining-hall. I show you. I
+explain."
+
+The new groom was compelled to put forth all his energies to keep his
+face straight. If he laughed, he was lost. If only his old mates could
+see him now! The fop of Troop A playing at butler! Certainly he would
+have to write Chuck about it--(which he most certainly never did).
+Still, the ordeal in the dining-room was a severe one. Nothing he
+attempted was done satisfactorily; Pierre, having in mind Celeste's
+frivolity and this man's good looks, made the task doubly hard. He
+hissed "Idiot!" and "Imbecile!" and "Jackass!" as many times as there
+are knives and forks and spoons at a course dinner. It was when they
+came to the wines that Pierre became mollified. He was forced to
+acknowledge that the new groom needed no instructions as to the varying
+temperatures of clarets and burgundies. Warburton longed to get out
+into the open and yell. It was very funny. He managed, however, on
+third rehearsal, to acquit himself with some credit. They returned to
+the kitchen again, where they found Celeste nibbling crackers and
+cheese. She smiled.
+
+"Ha!" The vowel was given a prolonged roll. "So, Mademoiselle, you haf
+to come and look on, eh?"
+
+"Is there any objection, Monsieur?" retorted Celeste in her native
+tongue, making handsome eyes at Warburton, who was greatly amused.
+
+"Ha! if he was hideous, would you be putting on those ribbons I gave
+you to wear on Sundays?" snarled Pierre.
+
+Warburton followed their French without any difficulty. It was the
+French of the Parisian, with which he was fairly conversant. But his
+face remained impassive and his brows only mildly curious.
+
+"I shall throw them away, Monsieur Flageot, if you dare to talk to me
+like that. He _is_ handsome, and you are jealous, and I am glad. You
+behaved horribly to that coarse Nanon last Sunday. Because she scrubs
+the steps of the French embassy you consider her above me, _me!_"
+
+"You are crazy!" roared Pierre. "You introduced me to her so that you
+might make eyes at that abominable valet of the secretary!"
+
+Celeste flounced (whatever means of locomotion that is) abruptly from
+the kitchen. Pierre turned savagely to his protege.
+
+"Go! And eef you look at her, idiot, I haf revenge myself. Oh, I am
+calm! Bah! Go to zee stables, cattle!" And he rattled his pans at a
+great rate.
+
+Warburton was glad enough to escape.
+
+"I have brought discord into the land, it would seem."
+
+But his trials were not over. The worst ordeal was yet to come. At
+five, orders were given to harness the coach-horses to the coupe and
+have them at the steps promptly at eight-thirty. Miss Annesley had
+signified her intention of making a call in the city. Warburton had not
+the slightest suspicion of the destination. He didn't care where it
+was. It would be dark and he would pass unrecognized. He gave the order
+no more thought. Promptly at eight-thirty he drove up to the steps. A
+moment later she issued forth, accompanied by a gentleman in evening
+dress. It was too dark for Warburton to distinguish his features.
+
+"I am very sorry, Count, to leave you; but you understand perfectly. It
+is an old school friend of mine whom I haven't seen in a long time; one
+of the best girl friends I have ever known. I promised to dine with her
+to-night, but I broke that promise and agreed to spend the evening."
+
+"Do not disturb yourself on my account," replied the man in broken
+English, which was rather pleasant to the ear. "Your excellent father
+and I can pass the evening very well."
+
+Karloff! Warburton's chin sank into his collar and his hands trembled.
+This man Karloff had very penetrating eyes, even in the dark.
+
+"But I shall miss the music which I promised myself. Ah, if you only
+knew how adorable you are when you play the violin! I become lost, I
+forget the world and its sordidness. I forget everything but that
+mysterious voice which you alone know how to arouse from that little
+box of wood. You are a great artist, and if you were before the public,
+the world would go mad over you--as I have!"
+
+So she played the violin, thought the unhappy man on the box of the
+coupe.
+
+"Count, you know that is taboo; you must not talk to me like
+that,"--with a nervous glance at the groom.
+
+"The groom embarrasses you?" The count laughed. "Well, it is only a
+groom, an animal which does not understand these things."
+
+"Besides, I do not play nearly so well as you would have me
+believe,"--steering him to safer channels.
+
+"Whatever you undertake, Mademoiselle, becomes at once an
+art,"--gallantly. "Good night!"--and the count saluted her hand as he
+helped her into the coupe.
+
+How M'sieu Zhames would have liked to jump down and pommel Monsieur le
+Comte! Several wicked thoughts surged through our jehu's brain, but to
+execute any one of them in her presence was impossible.
+
+"Good night, Count. I shall see you at dinner on Monday."
+
+She would, eh? And her new butler would be on duty that same evening?
+Without a doubt. M'sieu Zhames vowed under his breath that if he got a
+good chance he would make the count look ridiculous. Not even a king
+can retain his dignity while a stream of hot soup is trickling down his
+spinal column. Warburton smiled. He was mentally acting like a
+school-boy disappointed in love. His own keen sense of the humorous
+came to his rescue.
+
+"James, to the city, No.--Scott Circle, and hurry." The door closed.
+
+Scott Circle? Warburton's spine wrinkled. Heaven help him, he was
+driving Miss Annesley to his own brother's house! What the devil was
+getting into fate, anyhow? He swore softly all the way to the
+Connecticut Avenue extension. He made three mistakes before he struck
+Sixteenth Street. Reaching Scott Circle finally, he had no difficulty
+in recognizing the house. He drew up at the stepping-stone, alighted
+and opened the door.
+
+"I shall be gone perhaps an hour and a half, James. You may drive
+around, but return sharply at ten-thirty." Betty ran up the steps and
+rang the bell.
+
+Our jehu did _not_ wait to see the door open, but drove away,
+lickety-clip. I do not know what a mile lickety-clip is generally made
+in, but I am rather certain that the civil law demands twenty-five
+dollars for the same. The gods were with him this time, and no one
+called him to a halt. When he had gone as far away from Scott Circle as
+he dared go, his eye was attracted by a genial cigar sign. He hailed a
+boy to hold the horses and went inside. He bought a dozen cigars and
+lit one. He didn't even take the trouble to see if he could get the
+cigars for nothing, there being a penny-in-the-slot machine in one
+corner of the shop. I am sure that if he had noticed it, it would have
+enticed him, for the spirit of chance was well-grounded in him, as it
+is in all Army men. But he hurried out, threw the boy a dime, and drove
+away. For an hour and twenty minutes he drove and smoked and pondered.
+So she played the violin! played it wonderfully, as the count had
+declared. He was passionately fond of music. In London, in Paris, in
+Berlin, in Vienna, he had been an untiring, unfailing patron of the
+opera. Some night he resolved to listen at the window, providing the
+window was open. Yes, a hundred times Chuck was right. Any other girl,
+and this jest might have passed capitally; but he wanted the respect of
+this particular woman, and he had carelessly closed the doors to her
+regard. She might tolerate him, that would be all. She would look upon
+him as a hobbledehoy.
+
+He approached the curb again in front of the house, and gazed wistfully
+at the lighted windows. Here was another great opportunity gone. How he
+longed to dash into the house, confess, and have done with it!
+
+"I wish Chuck was in there. I wish he would come out and kick me good
+and hearty."
+
+(Chuck would have been delighted to perform the trifling service; and
+he would not have gone about it with any timidity, either.)
+
+"Hang the horses! I'm going to take a peek in at the side window,"--and
+he slid cautiously from the box. He stole around the side and stopped
+at one of the windows. The curtain was not wholly lowered, and he could
+see into the drawing-room. There they were, all of them; and Miss
+Annesley was holding the baby, which Mrs. Jack had awakened and brought
+down stairs. He could see by the diffident manner in which Jack was
+curling the ends of his mustache that they were comparing the baby with
+him. "The conceited ass!" muttered the self-appointed outcast; "it
+doesn't look any more like him than it does like me!" Here Miss
+Annesley kissed the baby, and Warburton hoped that they hadn't washed
+its face since he performed the same act.
+
+Mrs. Jack disappeared with the hope of the family, and Nancy got out a
+bundle of photographs. M'sieu Zhames would have given almost anything
+he possessed to know what these photographs represented. Crane his neck
+as he would, he could see nothing. All he could do was to watch.
+Sometimes they laughed, sometimes they became grave; sometimes they
+explained, and their guest grew very attentive Once she even leaned
+forward eagerly. It was about this time that our jehu chanced to look
+at the clock on the mantel, and immediately concluded to vacate the
+premises. It was half after ten. He returned to his box forthwith. (I
+was going to use the word "alacrity," but I find that it means
+"cheerful readiness.") After what seemed to him an interminable wait,
+the front door opened and a flood of light blinded him. He heard
+Nancy's voice.
+
+"I'm so sorry, Betty, that I can't dine with you on Monday. We are
+going to Arlington. So sorry."
+
+"I'm not!" murmured the wretch on the box. "I'm devilish glad! Imagine
+passing soup to one's sister! By George, it was a narrow one! It would
+have been all over then."
+
+"Well, there will be plenty of times this winter," said Betty. "I shall
+see you all at the Country Club Sunday afternoon. Good night, every
+one. No, no; there's no need of any of you coming to the carriage."
+
+But brother Jack _did_ walk to the door with her; however, he gave not
+the slightest attention to the groom, for which _he_ was grateful.
+
+"You must all come and spend the evening with me soon," said Betty,
+entering the carriage.
+
+"That we shall," said brother Jack, closing the door for her. "Good
+night."
+
+"Home, James," said the voice within the carriage.
+
+I do not know whether or not he slept soundly that night on his stable
+cot. He never would confess. But it is my private opinion that he
+didn't sleep at all, but spent a good part of the night out of doors,
+smoking very black, strong cigars.
+
+Celeste, however, could have told you that her mistress, as she
+retired, was in a most amiable frame of mind. Once she laughed.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+A RUNAWAY
+
+
+Four days passed. I might have used the word "sped," only that verb
+could not be truthfully applied. Never before in the history of time
+(so our jehu thought) did four days cast their shadows more slowly
+across the dial of the hours. From noon till night there was a madding
+nothing to do but polish bits and buckles and stirrups and ornamental
+silver. He would have been totally miserable but for the morning rides.
+These were worth while; for he was riding Pirate, and there was always
+that expectation of the unexpected. But Pirate behaved himself
+puzzlingly well. Fortunately for the jehu, these rides were always into
+the north country. He was continually possessed with fear lest she
+would make him drive through the shopping district. If he met Nancy, it
+would be, in the parlance of the day, all off. Nancy would have
+recognized him in a beard like a Cossack's; and here he was with the
+boy's face--the face she never would forget.
+
+He was desperately in love. I do not know what desperately in love is,
+my own love's course running smoothly enough; but I can testify that it
+was making Mr. Robert thin and appetiteless. Every morning the impulse
+came to him to tell her all; but every morning his courage oozed like
+Bob Acres', and his lips became dumb. I dare say that if she had
+questioned him he would have told her all; but for some reason she had
+ceased to inquire into his past. Possibly her young mind was occupied
+with pleasanter things.
+
+He became an accomplished butler, and served so well in rehearsals that
+Pierre could only grumble. One afternoon she superintended the comedy.
+She found a thousand faults with him, so many, in fact, that Pierre did
+not understand what it meant, and became possessed with the vague idea
+that she was hitting him over the groom's shoulder. He did not like it;
+and later, when they were alone, Warburton was distinctly impressed
+with Pierre's displeasure.
+
+"You can not please _her_, and you can not please _me_. Bah! Zat ees
+vat comes uf teaching a groom table manners instead uf stable manners.
+And you vill smell uf horse! I do _not_ understand Mees Annesley; no!"
+
+[Illustration: "May I go now, Miss?"--ACT II]
+
+And there were other humiliations, petty ones. She chid him on having
+the stirrup too long or too short; the curb chain was rusting; this
+piece of ornamental silver did not shine like that one; Jane's fetlocks
+were too long; Pirate's hoofs weren't thoroughly oiled. With dogged
+patience he tried to remedy all these faults. It was only when they had
+had a romping run down the road that this spirit fell away from her,
+and she talked pleasantly.
+
+Twice he ran into Karloff; but that shrewd student of human nature did
+not consider my hero worth studying; a grave mistake on his part, as he
+was presently to learn. He was a handsome man, and the only thing he
+noticed about the groom was his handsome face. He considered it a crime
+for a servant to be endowed with personal attractions. A servant in the
+eyes of a Russian noble excites less interest than a breedless dog. Mr.
+Robert made no complaint; he was very well satisfied to have the count
+ignore him entirely. Once he met the count in the Turkish room, where,
+in the capacity of butler, he served liqueur and cigars. There was a
+certain grim humor in lighting his rival's cigar for him. This service
+was a test of his ability to pass through a room without knocking over
+taborets and chairs. Another time they met, when Betty and the two of
+them took a long ride. Karloff _did_ notice how well the groom rode his
+mettlesome mount, being himself a soldier and a daring horseman.
+Warburton had some trouble. Pirate did not take to the idea of
+breathing Jane and Dick's dust; he wanted to lead these second-raters.
+Mr. James' arms ached that afternoon from the effort he had put forth
+to restrain Pirate and keep him in his proper place, five yards to the
+rear.
+
+Nothing happened Sunday; the day went by uneventfully. He escaped the
+ordeal of driving her to the Chevy Chase Club, William being up that
+afternoon.
+
+Then Monday came, and with it Betty's curious determination to ride
+Pirate.
+
+"You wish to ride Pirate, Miss?" exclaimed James, his horror of the
+idea openly manifest.
+
+"Saddle him for me,"--peremptorily. "I desire to ride him. I find Jane
+isn't exciting enough."
+
+"Pardon me, Miss Annesley," he said, "but I had rather you would not
+make the attempt."
+
+"You had rather I would not make the attempt?"--slowly repeating the
+words, making a knife of each one of them, tipped with the poison of
+her contempt. "I do not believe I quite understand you."
+
+He bravely met the angry flash of her eyes. There were times when the
+color of these eyes did not resemble sapphires; rather disks of
+gun-metal, caused by a sudden dilation of the pupils.
+
+"Yes, Miss, I had rather you would not."
+
+"James, you forget yourself. Saddle Pirate, and take Jane back to the
+stables. Besides, Jane has a bit of a cold." She slapped her boot with
+her riding-crop and indolently studied the scurrying clouds overhead;
+for the day was windy.
+
+Soberly Warburton obeyed. He was hurt and angry, and he knew not what
+besides. Heavens, if anything should happen to her! His hopes rose a
+bit. Pirate had shown no temper so far that morning. He docilely
+permitted his master to put on the side-saddle. But as he came out into
+the air again, he threw forward his ears, stretched out his long black
+neck, took in a great breath, and whinnied a hoarse challenge to the
+elements. William had already saddled Dick, who looked askance at his
+black rival's small compact heels.
+
+"I am afraid of him," said Warburton, as he returned. "He will run away
+with you. I did not wholly subjugate him the other day. He pulls till
+my arms ache."
+
+Miss Annesley shrugged and patted Pirate on the nose and offered him a
+lump of sugar. The thirst for freedom and a wild run down the wind
+lurked in Pirate's far-off gazing eyes, and he ignored the sign of
+conciliation which his mistress made him.
+
+"I am not afraid of him. Besides, Dick can outrun and out jump him."
+
+This did not reassure Warburton, nor did he know what this comparison
+meant, being an ordinary mortal.
+
+"With all respect to you, Miss Annesley, I am sorry that you are
+determined to ride him. He is most emphatically not a lady's horse, and
+you have never ridden him. Your skirts will irritate him, and if he
+sees your crop, he'll bolt."
+
+She did not reply, but merely signified her desire to mount. No sooner
+was she up, however, than she secretly regretted her caprice; but not
+for a hundred worlds would she have permitted this groom to know. But
+Pirate, with that rare instinct of the horse, knew that his mistress
+was not sure of him. He showed the whites of his eyes and began pawing
+the gravel. The girl glanced covertly at her groom and found no color
+in his cheeks. Two small muscular lumps appeared at the corners of her
+jaws. She would ride Pirate, and nothing should stop her; nothing,
+nothing. Womanlike, knowing herself to be in the wrong, she was furious.
+
+And Pirate surprised them both. During the first mile he behaved
+himself in the most gentlemanly fashion; and if he shied once or twice,
+waltzed a little, it was only because he was full of life and spirit.
+They trotted, they cantered, ran and walked. Warburton, hitherto
+holding himself in readiness for whatever might happen, relaxed the
+tension of his muscles, and his shoulders sank relievedly. Perhaps,
+after all, his alarm had been needless. The trouble with Pirate might
+be the infrequency with which he had been saddled and ridden. But he
+knew that the girl would not soon forget his interference. There would
+be more humiliations, more bitter pills for him to swallow. It pleased
+him, however, to note the ease with which Dick kept pace with Pirate.
+
+As for the most beautiful person in all the great world, I am afraid
+that she was beginning to feel self-important. Now that her confidence
+was fully restored, she never once spoke to, or looked at, her groom.
+Occasionally from the corner of her eye she could see the white patch
+on Dick's nose.
+
+"James," she said maliciously and suddenly, "go back five yards. I wish
+to ride alone."
+
+Warburton, his face burning, fell back. And thus she made her first
+mistake. The second and final mistake came immediately after. She
+touched Pirate with her heel, and he broke from a trot into a lively
+gallop. Dick, without a touch of the boot, kept his distance to a foot.
+Pirate, no longer seeing Dick at his side, concluded that he had left
+his rival behind; and the suppressed mischief in his black head began
+to find an outlet. Steadily he arched his neck; steadily but surely he
+drew down on the reins. The girl felt the effort and tried to frustrate
+it. In backing her pull with her right hand, the end of her crop
+flashed down the side of Pirate's head--the finishing touch. There was
+a wild leap, a blur of dust, and Mr. Pirate, well named after his
+freebooting sires, his head down where he wanted it, his feet rolling
+like a snare-drum, Mr. Pirate ran away, headed for heaven only knew
+where.
+
+For a brief moment Warburton lost his nerve; he was struck with horror.
+If she could not hold her seat, she would be killed or dreadfully hurt,
+and perhaps disfigured. It seemed rather strange, as he recalled it,
+that Dick, instead of himself, should have taken the initiative. The
+noble sorrel, formerly a cavalry horse, shot forward magnificently.
+Doubtless his horse-sense took in the situation, or else he did not
+like the thought of yonder proud, supercilious show-horse beating him
+in a running race. So, a very fast mile was put to the rear.
+
+The girl, appreciating her peril, did as all good horsewomen would have
+done: locked her knee on the horn and held on. The rush of wind tore
+the pins from her hair which, like a golden plume, stretched out behind
+her. (Have you ever read anything like this before? I dare say. But to
+Warburton and the girl, it never occurred that other persons had gone
+through like episodes. It was real, and actual, and single, and tragic
+to them.)
+
+The distance between the two horses began slowly to lessen, and
+Warburton understood, in a nebulous way, what the girl had meant when
+she said that Dick could outrun Pirate. If Pirate kept to the road,
+Dick would bring him down; but if Pirate took it into his head to vault
+a fence! Warburton shuddered. Faster, faster, over this roll of earth,
+clattering across this bridge, around this curve and that angle. Once
+the sight of a team drawing a huge grain-wagon sent a shiver to
+Warburton's heart. But they thundered past with a foot to spare. The
+old negro on the seat stared after them, his ebony face drawn with
+wonder and the whites of his eyes showing.
+
+Foot by foot, yard by yard, the space lessened, till Dick's nose was
+within three feet of Pirate's flowing tail. Warburton fairly lifted
+Dick along with his knees. I only wish I could describe the race as my
+jehu told it to me. The description held me by the throat. I could see
+the flashing by of trees and houses and fields; the scampering of
+piccaninnies across the road; the horses from the meadows dashing up to
+the fences and whinnying; the fine stone and dust which Pirate's
+rattling heels threw into my jehu's face and eyes; the old pain
+throbbing anew in his leg. And when he finally drew alongside the black
+brute and saw the white, set face of the girl he loved, I can imagine
+no greater moment but one in his life. There was no fear on her face,
+but there was appeal in her eyes as she half turned her head. He leaned
+across the intervening space and slid his arm around her waist. The two
+horses came together and twisted his leg cruelly. His jaws snapped.
+
+"Let the stirrup go!" he cried. "Let go, quick!" She heard him. "Your
+knee from the horn! I can't keep them together any longer. Now!"
+
+Brave and plucky and cool she was. She obeyed him instantly. There was
+a mighty heave, a terrible straining of the back and the knees, and
+Pirate was freed of his precious burden. The hardest part of it came
+now. Dick could not be made to slow down abruptly. He wanted to keep
+right on after his rival. So, between holding the girl with his right
+arm and pulling the horse with his left, Warburton saw that he could
+keep up this terrible effort but a very short time. Her arms were
+convulsively wound around his neck, and this added to the strain. Not a
+word did she say; her eyes were closed, as if she expected any moment
+to be dashed to the earth.
+
+But Dick was only a mortal horse. The fierce run and the double burden
+began to tell, and shortly his head came up. Warburton stopped him. The
+girl slid to the ground, and in a moment he was at her side. And just
+in time. The reaction was too much for her. Dazedly she brushed her
+hair from her eyes, stared wildly at Warburton, and fainted. He did not
+catch her with that graceful precision which on the stage is so
+familiar to us. No. He was lucky to snatch one of her arms, thus
+preventing her head from striking the road. He dragged her to the side
+of the highway and rested her head on his shaking knees. Things grew
+dark for a time. To tell the truth, he himself was very close to that
+feminine weakness which the old fellows, in their rough and ready
+plays, used to call "vapours". But he forced his heart to steady itself.
+
+And what do you suppose the rascal did--with nobody but Dick to watch
+him? Why, he did what any healthy young man in love would have done:
+pressed his lips to the girl's hair, his eyes filling and half a sob in
+his parched throat. He dolefully pictured himself a modern Antiochus,
+dying of love and never confessing it. Then he kissed her hair again;
+only her hair, for somehow he felt that her lips and cheeks were as yet
+inviolable to his touch. I should have liked to see the picture they
+made: the panting horse a dozen rods away, looking at them inquiringly;
+the girl in her dust-covered habit, her hair spreading out like seaweed
+on a wave, her white face, her figure showing its graceful lines; my
+jehu, his hair matted to his brow, the streaks of dust and perspiration
+on his face, the fear and love and longing in his dark eyes. I
+recollect a picture called _Love and Honor,_ or something like that. It
+never appealed to me. It lacked action. It simply represented a fellow
+urging a girl to elope with him. Both of them were immaculately
+dressed. But here, on this old highway leading into Maryland, was
+something real. A battle had been fought and won.
+
+Fainting is but transitory; by and by she opened her eyes, and stared
+vaguely into the face above her. I do not know what she saw there;
+whatever it was it caused her to struggle to her feet. There was color
+enough in her cheeks now; and there was a question, too, in her eyes.
+Of Warburton it asked, "What did you do when I lay there unconscious?"
+I'm afraid there was color in his face, too. Her gaze immediately roved
+up the road. There was no Pirate, only a haze of dust. Doubtless he was
+still going it, delighted over the trouble he had managed to bring
+about. Warburton knelt at the girl's side and brushed the dust from her
+skirt. She eyed him curiously. I shan't say that she smiled; I don't
+know, for I wasn't there.
+
+Meanwhile she made several futile attempts to put up her hair, and as a
+finality she braided it and let it hang down her back. Suddenly and
+unaccountably she grew angry--angry at herself, at James, at the
+rascally horse that had brought her to this pass. Warburton saw
+something of this emotion in her eyes, and to avoid the storm he walked
+over to Dick, picked up the reins, and led him back.
+
+"If you will mount Dick, Miss," he said, "I will lead him home. It's
+about five miles, I should say."
+
+The futility and absurdity of her anger aroused her sense of the
+ridiculous; and a smile, warm and merry, flashed over her stained face.
+It surprised her groom.
+
+"Thank you, James. You were right. I ought not to have ridden Pirate. I
+am punished for my conceit. Five miles? It will be a long walk."
+
+"I shan't mind it in the least," replied James, inordinately happy; and
+he helped her to the saddle and adjusted the left stirrup.
+
+So the journey home began. Strangely enough, neither seemed to care
+particularly what had or might become of Pirate. He disappeared,
+mentally and physically. One thing dampened the journey for Warburton.
+His "game leg" ached cruelly, and after the second mile (which was
+traversed without speech from either of them), he fell into a slight
+limp. From her seat above and behind him, she saw this limp.
+
+"You have hurt yourself?" she asked gently.
+
+"Not to-day, Miss,"--briefly.
+
+"When he ran away with you?"
+
+"No. It's an old trouble."
+
+"While you were a soldier?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How?"
+
+He turned in surprise. All these questions were rather unusual.
+Nevertheless he answered her, and truthfully.
+
+"I was shot in the leg by a drunken Indian."
+
+"While on duty?"
+
+"Yes." Unconsciously he was forgetting to add "Miss", which was the
+patent of his servility. And I do not think that just then she noticed
+this subtraction from the respect due her.
+
+It was eleven o'clock when they arrived at the gates. She dismounted
+alone. Warburton was visibly done up.
+
+"Any orders for this afternoon, Miss?"
+
+"I shall want the victoria at three. I have some shopping to do and a
+call to make. Send William after Pirate. I am very grateful for what
+you have done."
+
+He made no reply, for he saw her father coming down the steps.
+
+"Betty," said the colonel, pale and worried, "have you been riding
+Pirate? Where is he, and what in the world has happened?"--noting the
+dust on her habit and her tangled hair.
+
+She explained: she told the story rather coolly, Warburton thought, but
+she left out no detail.
+
+"You have James to thank for my safety, father. He was very calm and
+clear-headed."
+
+_Calm and clear-headed!_ thought Warburton.
+
+The girl then entered the house, humming. Most women would have got out
+the lavender salts and lain down the rest of the day, considering the
+routine of a fashionable dinner, which was the chief duty of the
+evening.
+
+"I am grateful to you, James. My daughter is directly in your care when
+she rides, and I give you full authority. Never permit her to mount any
+horse but her own. She is all I have; and if anything should happen to
+her--"
+
+"Yes, sir; I understand."
+
+The colonel followed his daughter; and Warburton led Dick to the
+stables, gave his orders to William, and flung himself down on his cot.
+He was dead tired. And the hour he had dreaded was come! He was to
+drive her through the shopping district. Well, so be it. If any one
+exposed him, very good. This groom business was decidedly like work.
+And there was that confounded dinner-party, and he would have to limp
+around a table and carry soup plates! And as likely as not he would run
+into the very last person he expected to see.
+
+Which he did.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+AN ORDEAL OR TWO
+
+
+Mr. Robert vows that he will never forgive me for the ten minutes'
+agony which I gratuitously added to his measure. It came about in this
+wise. I was on my way down Seventeenth Street that afternoon, and it
+was in front of a fashionable apartment house that I met him. He was
+seated on his box, the whip at the proper angle, and his eyes riveted
+on his pair's ears. It was the first time I had seen him since the day
+of the episode at the police-station. He was growing thin. He did not
+see me, and he did not even notice me till I stopped and the sound of
+my heels on the walk ceased. Arms akimbo, I surveyed him.
+
+"Well?" I began. I admit that the smile I offered him was a deal like
+that which a cat offers a cornered mouse.
+
+He turned his head. I shall not repeat the word he muttered. It was
+very improper, though they often refer to it in the Sabbath-schools,
+always in a hushed breath, however, as though to full-voice it would
+only fan the flames still higher.
+
+"What have you to say for yourself?" I went on.
+
+"Nothing for myself, but for you, move on and let me alone, or when I
+get the opportunity, Chuck, I'll punch your head, glasses or no
+glasses."
+
+"Brother-in-law or no brother-in-law."
+
+"Chuck, will you go on?"--hoarsely. "I mean it."
+
+I saw that he did. "You don't look very happy for a man who has cracked
+so tremendous a joke."
+
+"Will you go along?"
+
+"Not till I get good and ready, James. I've told too many lies on your
+account already not to make myself a present of this joyful reunion.
+Has Miss Annesley any idea of the imposture?"
+
+He did not answer.
+
+"How did you like waiting in Scott Circle the other night?"
+
+Still no answer. I have half an idea that he was making ready to leap
+from his box. He ran his fingers up and down the lines. I could see
+that he was mad through and through; but I enjoyed the scene
+nevertheless. He deserved a little roasting on the gridiron.
+
+"I am given to understand," I continued, "that you act as butler,
+besides, and pass the soup around the table."
+
+Silence. Then I heard a door close, and saw a look of despair grow on
+his face. I turned and saw Miss Annesley and Mrs. Chadwick coming down
+the steps.
+
+"Why, how do you do, Mr. Henderson? Mrs. Chadwick."
+
+"I have already had the pleasure of meeting this famous young orator,"
+purred Mrs. Chadwick, giving me her hand. She was a fashionable, not to
+say brilliant, _intrigante_. I knew her to have been concerned
+indirectly with half a dozen big lobby schemes. She was rather wealthy.
+But she was seen everywhere, and everywhere was admired. She was as
+completely at home abroad as here in Washington. She was a widow,
+perhaps thirty-eight, handsome and fascinating, a delightful
+_raconteur_, and had the remarkable reputation of never indulging in
+scandal. She was the repository of more secrets than I should care to
+discover.
+
+I recall one night at a state function when she sat between the French
+ambassador and that wily Chinaman, Li Hung Chang. She discoursed on
+wines in French with the ambassador and immediately turned to the
+Chinaman and recited Confucius in the original Chinese. Where she had
+ever found time to study Chinese is a mystery to every one. The
+incident made her quite famous that winter. Brains are always tolerated
+in Washington, and if properly directed, push a person a good deal
+further than wealth or pedigree. Washington forgives everything but
+stupidity.
+
+Not until recently did I learn that at one time Karloff had been very
+attentive to her. His great knowledge of American politics doubtless
+came to him through her.
+
+"Where are you bound?" asked Miss Annesley.
+
+"I am on the way to the War Department."
+
+"Plenty of room; jump in and we shall drop you there. James, drive to
+the War Department."
+
+Ordinarily I should have declined, as I generally prefer to walk; but
+in this instance it would be superfluous to say that I was delighted to
+accept the invitation. I secretly hugged myself as I thought of the
+driver.
+
+"How is Miss Warburton?" asked Miss Annesley, as she settled back among
+the cushions.
+
+"Beautiful as ever," I replied, smiling happily,
+
+"You must meet Miss Warburton, Grace,"--speaking to Mrs. Chadwick, who
+looked at me with polite inquiry. "One of the most charming girls in
+the land, and as good as she is beautiful. Mr. Henderson is the most
+fortunate of young men."
+
+"So I admit. She was greatly disappointed that you did not meet her
+younger brother." First shot at the groom.
+
+"I did expect to meet him, but I understand that he has gone on a
+hunting expedition. Whom does he resemble?"
+
+"Neither Nancy nor Jack," I said. "He's a good-looking beggar, though,
+only you can't depend upon him for five minutes at a time. Hadn't seen
+the family in more than two years. Spends one night at home, and is off
+again, no one knows where. Some persons like him, but I like a man with
+more stability. Not but what he has his good points; but he is a born
+vagabond. His brother expects to get him a berth at Vienna and is
+working rather successfully toward that end." I wondered how this bit
+of news affected the groom.
+
+"A diplomat?" said Mrs. Chadwick. "That is the life for a young man
+with brains. Is he a good linguist?"
+
+"Capital! Speaks French, German, and Spanish, besides I don't know how
+many Indian sign-languages." Now I was patting the groom on the back. I
+sat facing the ladies, so it was impossible to see the expression on
+his face. I kept up this banter till we arrived at the Department. I
+bade the ladies good day. I do not recollect when I enjoyed ten minutes
+more thoroughly.
+
+An hour in the shopping district, that is to say, up and down
+Pennsylvania Avenue, where everybody who was anybody was similarly
+occupied, shopping, nearly took the spine out of our jehu. Everywhere
+he imagined he saw Nancy. And half a dozen times he saw persons whom he
+knew, persons he had dined with in New York, persons he had met abroad.
+But true to human nature, they were looking toward higher things than a
+groom in livery. When there was no more room for bundles, the women
+started for Mrs. Chadwick's apartments.
+
+Said Mrs. Chadwick in French: "Where, in the name of uncommon things,
+did you find such a handsome groom?"
+
+"I _was_ rather lucky," replied Miss Annesley in the same tongue.
+"Don't you see something familiar about him?"
+
+Warburton shuddered.
+
+"Familiar? What do you mean?"
+
+"It is the groom who ran away with us."
+
+"Heavens, no!" Mrs. Chadwick raised her lorgnette. "Whatever possessed
+you?"
+
+"Mischief, as much as anything."
+
+"But the risk!"
+
+"I am not afraid. There was something about him that appeared very much
+like a mystery, and you know how I adore mysteries."
+
+"And this is the fellow we saw in the police-court, sitting among those
+light o' loves?" Mrs. Chadwick could not fully express her surprise.
+
+"I can't analyze the impulse which prompted me to pay his fine and
+engage him."
+
+"And after that affair at the carriage-door! Where is your pride?"
+
+"To tell the truth, I believe he did make a mistake. Maybe I hired him
+because I liked his looks." Betty glanced amusedly at the groom, whose
+neck and ears were red. She laughed.
+
+"You always were an extraordinary child. I do not understand it in the
+least. I am even worried. He may be a great criminal."
+
+"No, not a great criminal," said Betty, recollecting the ride of that
+morning; "but a first-class horseman, willing and obedient. I have been
+forced to make James serve as butler. He has been under the hands of
+our cook, and I have been watching them. How I have laughed! Of all
+droll scenes!"
+
+So she had laughed, eh? Warburton's jaws snapped. She had been
+watching, too?
+
+"I rode Pirate this morning--"
+
+"You rode that horse?" interrupted Mrs. Chadwick.
+
+"Yes, and he ran away with me in fine style. If it hadn't been for the
+new groom, I shouldn't be here, and the dinner would be a dismal
+failure, with me in bed with an arm or leg broken. Heavens! I never was
+so frightened in all my life. We went so fast against the wind that I
+could scarce breathe. And when it was all over, I fainted like a ninny."
+
+"Fainted! I should have thought you would. _I_ should have fallen off
+the animal and been killed. Betty, you certainly have neither
+forethought nor discretion. The very idea of your attempting to ride
+that animal!"
+
+"Well, I am wiser, and none the worse for the scare.... James, stop,
+stop!" Betty cried suddenly.
+
+When this command struck his sense of hearing, James was pretty far
+away in thought. He was wondering if all this were true. If it was, he
+must make the best of it; but if it was a dream, he wanted to wake up
+right away, because it was becoming nightmarish.
+
+"James!" The end of a parasol tickled him in the ribs and he drew up
+somewhat frightened. What was going to happen now? He was soon to find
+out. For this was to be the real climax of the day; or at least, the
+incident was pregnant with the possibilities of a climax.
+
+"Colonel, surely you are not going to pass us by in this fashion?"
+cried the girl. They were almost opposite the Army and Navy Club.
+
+"Why, is that you, Miss Betty? Pass you by? Only when I grow blind!"
+roared a lion-like voice. "Very glad to see you, Mrs. Chadwick."
+
+That voice, of all the voices he had ever heard! A chill of
+indescribable terror flew up and down my jehu's spine, and his pores
+closed up. He looked around cautiously. It was he, he of all men: his
+regimental colonel, who possessed the most remarkable memory of any
+Army man west of the Mississippi, and who had often vowed that he knew
+his subalterns so well that he could always successfully prescribe for
+their livers!
+
+"I was just about to turn into the club for my mail," declared the
+colonel. "It was very good of you to stop me. I'll wager you've been
+speculating in the shops,"--touching the bundles with his cane. "You
+win," laughed Betty. "But I'll give you a hundred guesses in which to
+find out what any of these packages contains."
+
+"Guessing is a bad business. Whatever these things are, they can add
+but little to the beauty of those who will wear them; for I presume
+Mrs. Chadwick has some claim upon these bundles."
+
+"Very adroitly worded," smiled Mrs. Chadwick, who loved a silken phrase.
+
+"We shall see you at dinner to-night?"
+
+"All the battalions of England could not keep me away from that festive
+board," the colonel vowed. (Another spasm for the groom!) "And how is
+that good father of yours?"
+
+"As kind and loving as ever."
+
+"I wish you could have seen him in the old days in Virginia," said the
+colonel, who, like all old men, continually fell back upon the
+reminiscent. "Handsomest man in the brigade, and a fight made him as
+happy as a bull-pup. I was with him the day he first met your
+mother,"--softly. "How she humiliated him because he wore the blue! She
+was obliged to feed him--fortunes of war; but I could see that she
+hoped each mouthful would choke him."
+
+"What! My mother wished that?"
+
+Mrs. Chadwick laughed. The groom's chin sank into his collar.
+
+"Wait a moment! She wasn't in love with him then. We were camped on
+that beautiful Virginian home of yours for nearly a month. You know how
+courtly he always was and is. Well, to every rebuff he replied with a
+smile and some trifling favor. She never had to lift her finger about
+the house. But one thing he was firm in: she should sit at the same
+table during the meals. And when Johnston came thundering down that
+memorable day, and your father was shot in the lungs and fell with a
+dozen saber cuts besides, you should have seen the change! He was the
+prisoner now, she the jailer. In her own white bed she had him placed,
+and for two months she nursed him. Ah, that was the prettiest love
+affair the world ever saw."
+
+"And why have you not followed his example?" asked Mrs. Chadwick.
+
+The colonel gazed thoughtfully at his old comrade's daughter, and he
+saw pity and unbounded respect in her eyes. "They say that for every
+heart there is a mate, but I do not believe it. Sometimes there are two
+hearts that seek the same mate. One or the other must win or lose. You
+will play for me to-night?"
+
+"As often and as long as you please,"--graciously. She was very fond of
+this upright old soldier, whom she had known since babyhood.
+
+It was now that the colonel casually turned his attention to the groom,
+He observed him. First, his gray eyebrows arched abruptly in surprise,
+then sank in puzzlement.
+
+"What is it?" inquired Betty, noting these signs.
+
+"Nothing; nothing of importance," answered the colonel, growing
+violently red.
+
+It would not be exaggerating to say that if the colonel turned red, his
+one-time orderly grew purple, only this purple faded quickly into a
+chalky pallor.
+
+"Well, perhaps I am keeping you," remarked the colonel, soberly, "I
+shall hold you to your promise about the music."
+
+"We are to have plenty of music. There will foe a famous singer and a
+fine pianist."
+
+"You will play that what-d'-ye-call-it from Schumann I like so well. I
+shall want you to play that I want something in the way of memory to
+take back West with me. Good-by, then, till to-night."
+
+"Good-by. All right, James; home," said the girl. James relievedly
+touched his horses.
+
+The colonel remained standing at the curb till the victoria
+disappeared. Of what he was thinking I don't know; but he finally
+muttered "James?" in an inquiring way, and made for the club, shaking
+his head, as if suddenly confronted by a remarkably abstruse problem.
+
+Further on I shall tell you how he solved it.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+RETROSPECTIVE
+
+
+Show me those invisible, imperceptible steps by which a man's honor
+first descends; show me the way back to the serene altitude of clean
+conscience, and I will undertake to enlighten you upon the secret of
+every great historical event, tragic or otherwise. If you will search
+history carefully, you will note that the basic cause of all great
+events, such as revolutions, civil strifes, political assassinations,
+foreign wars, and race oppressions, lay not in men's honor so much as
+in some one man's dishonor. A man, having committed a dishonorable act,
+may reestablish himself in the eyes of his fellow-beings, but ever and
+ever he silently mocks himself and dares not look into the mirror of
+his conscience.
+
+Honor is comparative, as every one will agree. It is only in the highly
+developed mind that it reaches its superlative state. Either this man
+becomes impregnable to the assaults of the angel of the pitch robes, or
+he boldly plunges into the frightful blackness which surrounds her. The
+great greed of power, the great greed of wealth, the great greed of
+hate, the great greed of jealousy, and the great greed of love, only
+these tempt him.
+
+Now, of dishonors, which does man hold in the greatest abhorrence? This
+question needs no pondering. It may be answered simply. The murderer,
+the thief, and the rogue--we look upon these callously. But Judas!
+Treachery to our country! This is the nadir of dishonor; nothing could
+be blacker. We never stop to look into the causes, nor does history,
+that most upright and impartial of judges; we brand instantly. Who can
+tell the truth about Judas Iscariot, and Benedict Arnold, and the host
+of others? I can almost tolerate a Judas who betrays for a great love.
+There seems to be a stupendous elimination of self in the man who
+betrays for those he loves, braving the consequences, the ignominy, the
+dishonor, the wretchedness; otherwise I should not have undertaken to
+write this bit of history.
+
+To betray a friend, that is bad; to betray a woman, that is still
+worse; but to betray one's country!-to commit an act which shall place
+her at the mercy of her enemies! Ah, the ignoble deaths of the men who
+were guilty of this crime! And if men have souls, as we are told they
+have, how the souls of these men must writhe as they look into the
+minds of living men and behold the horror and contempt in which each
+traitor's name is held there!
+
+Have you ever thought of the legion of men who have been thrust back
+from the very foot of this precipice, either by circumstances or by the
+revolt of conscience? These are the men who reestablish themselves in
+the eyes of their fellow-beings, but who for ever silently mock
+themselves and dare not look into the mirror of their consciences.
+
+In this world motive is everything. A bad thing may be done for a good
+purpose, or, the other way around. This is the story of a crime, the
+motive of which was good.
+
+Once upon a time there lived a soldier, a gentleman born, a courtier, a
+man of fine senses, of high integrity, of tenderness, of courage; he
+possessed a splendid physical beauty, besides estates, and a
+comfortable revenue, or rather, he presided over one. Above all this,
+he was the father of a girl who worshiped him, and not without reason.
+What mysterious causes should set to work to ruin this man, to thrust
+him from light into darkness? What step led him to attempt to betray
+his country, even in times of peace, to dishonor his name, a name his
+honesty had placed high on the rolls of glory? What defense can he
+offer? Well, I shall undertake to defend him; let yours be the verdict.
+
+Enforced idleness makes a criminal of a poor man; it urges the man of
+means to travel. Having seen his native land, it was only natural that
+my defendant should desire to see foreign countries. So, accompanied by
+his child, he went abroad, visited the famous capitals, and was the
+guest of honor at his country's embassies. It was a delightful period.
+Both were as happy as fate ever allows a human being to be. The father
+had received his honorable discharge, and till recently had held a
+responsible position in the War Department. His knowledge had proved of
+no small value to the government, for he was a born strategist, and his
+hobby was the coast defenses. He never beheld a plan that he did not
+reproduce it on the back of an envelope, on any handy scrap of paper,
+and then pore over it through the night. He had committed to memory the
+smallest details, the ammunition supplies of each fort, the number of
+guns, the garrison, the pregnable and impregnable sides. He knew the
+resource of each, too; that is to say, how quickly aid could be
+secured, the nearest transportation routes, what forage might be had.
+He had even submitted plans for a siege gun.
+
+One day, in the course of their travels, the father and daughter
+stopped at Monte Carlo. Who hasn't heard of that city of fever? Who
+that has seen it can easily forget its gay harbor, its beautiful walks,
+its crowds, its music, its hotels, its white temple of fortune? Now, my
+defendant had hitherto ignored the principality of Monaco. The tales of
+terror which had reached his ears did not prepossess him in its favor.
+But his daughter had friends there, and she wanted to see them. There
+would be dances on the private yacht, and dinners, and teas, and
+fireworks. On the third night of his arrival he was joined by the owner
+of the yacht, a millionaire banker whose son was doing the honors as
+host. I believe that there was a musicale on board that night, and as
+the banker wasn't particularly fond of this sort of entertainment, he
+inveigled his soldier friend to accompany him on a sight-seeing trip.
+At midnight they entered the temple of fortune. At first the soldier
+demurred; but the banker told him that he hadn't seen Monte Carlo
+unless he saw the wheel go around. So, laughing, they entered the halls.
+
+The passion for gaming is born in us all, man and woman alike, and is
+conceded by wise analysts to be the most furious of all passions and
+the most lasting. In some, happily, the serpent sleeps for ever, the
+fire is for ever banked. But it needs only the opportunity to rouse the
+dull ember into flame, to stir the venom of the serpent. It seems a
+simple thing to toss a coin on the roulette boards. Sometimes the act
+is done contemptuously, sometimes indifferently, sometimes in the
+spirit of fun and curiosity; but the result is always the same.
+
+The banker played for a while, won and lost, lost and won. The soldier
+put his hand into a pocket and drew forth a five-franc piece. He placed
+it on a number. The angel in the pitch robes is always lying in wait
+for man to make his first bad step; so she urged fortune to let this
+man win. It is an unwritten law, high up on Olympus, that the gods must
+give to the gods; only the prayers of the mortals go unanswered.
+
+So my defendant won. He laughed like a boy who had played marbles for
+"keeps" and had taken away his opponent's agates. His mind was
+perfectly innocent of any wrong-doing. That night he won a thousand
+francs. His real first bad step was in hiding the escapade from his
+daughter. The following night he won again. Then he dallied about the
+flame till one night the lust of his forebears shone forth from his
+eyes. The venom of the serpent spread, the ember grew into a flame. His
+daughter, legitimately enjoying herself with the young people, knew
+nothing nor dreamed. Indeed, he never entered the temple till after he
+had kissed her good night.
+
+He lost. He lost twice, thrice, in succession. One morning he woke up
+to the fact that he was several thousand dollars on the wrong side of
+the book. If the money had been his own, he would have stopped, and
+gone his way, cured. But it was money which he held in trust. He _must_
+replace it. The angel in the pitch robes stood at his side; she even
+laid a hand on his shoulder and urged him to win back what he had lost.
+Then indeed he could laugh, go his way, and gamble no more. This was
+excellent advice. That winter he lost something like fifteen thousand.
+Then began the progress of decline. The following summer his losses
+were even greater than before. He began to mortgage the estates, for
+his authority over his daughter's property was absolute. He dabbled in
+stocks; a sudden fall in gold, and he realized that his daughter was
+nearly penniless. Ah, had he been alone, had the money been his, he
+would have faced poverty with all the courage of a brave man. But the
+girl, the girl! She must never know, she must never want for those
+luxuries to which she was accustomed. For her sake he must make one
+more effort He _must_ win, must, must! He raised more money on the
+property. He became irritable, nervous, to which were added sudden
+bursts of tenderness which the girl could not very well understand.
+
+The summer preceding the action of this tale saw them at Dieppe. At one
+time he had recovered something between sixty and seventy thousand of
+his losses. Ah, had he stopped then, confessed to his daughter, all
+would have gone well But, no; he must win the entire sum. He lost,
+lost, lost. The crash came in August. But a corner of the vast
+Virginian estates was left, and this did not amount to twenty thousand.
+Five francs carelessly tossed upon a roulette table had ruined and
+dishonored him. The angel of the pitch robes had fairly enveloped him
+now. The thought that he had gambled uselessly his daughter's legacy,
+the legacy which her mother had left confidingly in his care, filled
+his soul with the bitterness of gall. And she continued the merry round
+of happiness, purchasing expensive garments, jewelry, furs, the little
+things which women love; gave dinners and teas and dances, considered
+herself an heiress, and thought the world a very pleasant place to live
+in. Every laugh from her was a thorn to him, the light of happiness in
+her eyes was a reproach, for he knew that she was dancing toward the
+precipice which he had digged for her.
+
+Struggling futilely among these nettles of despair, he took the final
+step. His ruin became definitive. His evil goddess saw to it that an
+opportunity should present itself. (How simple all this reads! As I
+read it over it does not seem credible. Think of a man who has reached
+the height of his ambition, has dwelt there serenely, and then falls in
+this silly, inexcusable fashion! Well, that is human nature, the human
+part of it. Only here and there do we fall grandly.)
+
+One starlit night he met a distinguished young diplomat, rich and
+handsome. He played some, but to pass away the time rather than to
+coquet with fortune. He was lucky. The man who plays for the mere fun
+of it is generally lucky. He asks no favors from fortune; he does not
+pay any attention to her, and, woman-like, she is piqued. He won
+heavily this night; my soldier lost correspondingly heavily. The
+diplomat pressed a loan upon his new-found friend, who, with his usual
+luck, lost it.
+
+The diplomat was presented to the daughter. They owned to mutual
+acquaintance in Paris and Washington. The three attended the concert.
+The girl returned to the hotel bubbling with happiness and the echoes
+of enchanting melodies, for she was an accomplished musician. She
+retired and left the two men to their coffee and cigars. The
+conversation took several turns, and at length stopped at diplomacy.
+
+"It has always puzzled me," said the soldier, "how Russia finds out all
+she does."
+
+"That is easily explained. Russia has the wisdom of the serpent. Here
+is a man who possesses a secret which Russia must have. They study him.
+If he is gallant, one day he meets a fascinating woman; if he is
+greedy, he turns to find a bowl of gold at his elbow; if he seeks
+power, Russia points out the shortest road."
+
+"But her knowledge of foreign army and naval strength?"
+
+"Money does all that. Russia possesses an accurate knowledge of every
+fort, ship and gun England boasts of; France, Germany, and Japan. We
+have never taken it into our heads to investigate America. Till
+recently your country as a foe to Russian interests had dropped below
+the horizon. And now Russia finds that she must proceed to do what she
+has done to all other countries; that is, duplicate her rival's
+fortification plans, her total military and naval strength; and so
+forth, and so on. The United States is not an enemy, but there are
+possibilities of her becoming so. Some day she must wrest Cuba from
+Spain, and then she may become a recognized quantity in the Pacific."
+
+"The Pacific?"
+
+"Even so. Having taken Cuba, the United States, to protect her western
+coast, will be forced to occupy the Philippines; and having taken that
+archipelago, she becomes a menace to Russian territorial expansion in
+the far East. I do not always speak so frankly. But I wish you to see
+the necessity of knowing all about your coast defenses."
+
+"It can not be done!"--spiritedly. So far the American had only gambled.
+
+"It can and will be done," smiling. "Despite the watchfulness of your
+officials, despite your secret service, despite all obstacles, Russia
+will quietly gain the required information. She possesses a key to
+every lock."
+
+"And what might this key be?"--with tolerant irony.
+
+"Gold."
+
+"But if the United States found out what Russia was doing, there might
+be war."
+
+"Nothing of the kind. Russia would simply deny all knowledge. The man
+whom she selected to do the work would be discredited, banished,
+perhaps sent to Siberia to rot in the mines. No, there would be no war.
+Russia would weigh all these possibilities in selecting her arm. She
+would choose a man of high intellect, rich, well-known in social
+circles, a linguist, a man acquainted with all histories and all phases
+of life, a diplomat, perhaps young and pleasing. You will say, why does
+he accept so base a task? When a Russian noble takes his oath in the
+presence of his czar, he becomes simply an arm; he no longer thinks,
+his master thinks for him. He only acts. So long as he offers his
+services without remuneration, his honor remains untouched, unsullied.
+A paid spy is the basest of all creatures."
+
+"Count, take care that I do not warn my country of Russia's purpose.
+You are telling me very strange things." The American eyed his
+companion sharply.
+
+"Warn the United States? I tell you, it will not matter. All Russia
+would need would be a dissatisfied clerk. What could he not do with
+half a million francs?" The diplomat blew a cloud of smoke through his
+nostrils and filliped the end of his cigarette.
+
+"A hundred thousand dollars?"
+
+The diplomat glanced amusedly at his American friend. "I suppose that
+sounds small enough to you rich Americans. But to a clerk it reads
+wealth."
+
+The American was silent. A terrible thought flashed through his brain,
+a thought that he repulsed almost immediately.
+
+"Of course, I am only speculating; nothing has been done as yet."
+
+"Then something _is_ going to be done?" asked the American, clearing
+his voice.
+
+"One day or another. If we can not find the clerk, we shall look
+higher. We should consider a million francs well invested. America is
+rapidly becoming a great power. But let us drop the subject and turn to
+something more agreeable to us both. Your daughter is charming. I
+honestly confess to you that I have not met her equal in any country.
+Pardon my presumption, but may I ask if she is engaged to be married?"
+
+"Not to my knowledge,"--vastly surprised and at the same time pleased.
+
+"Are you averse to foreign alliances?" The diplomat dipped the end of a
+fresh-lighted cigar into his coffee.
+
+"My dear Count, I am not averse to foreign alliances, but I rather
+suspect that my daughter is. This aversion might be overcome, however."
+
+What a vista was opened to this wretched father! If only she might
+marry riches, how easily he might confess what he had done, how easily
+all this despair and terror might be dispersed! And here was a man who
+was known in the great world, rich, young and handsome.
+
+The other gazed dreamily at the ceiling; from there his gaze traveled
+about the coffee-room, with its gathering of coffee-drinkers, and at
+length came back to his _vis-a-vis_.
+
+"You will return to Washington?" he asked.
+
+"I shall live there for the winter; that is, I expect to."
+
+"Doubtless we shall see each other this winter, then,"--and the count
+threw away his cigar, bade his companion good night, and went to his
+room.
+
+How adroitly he had sown the seed! At that period he had no positive
+idea upon what kind of ground he had cast it. But he took that chance
+which all far-sighted men take, and then waited. There was little he
+had not learned about this handsome American with the beautiful
+daughter. How he had learned will always remain dark to me. My own
+opinion is that he had been studying him during his tenure of office in
+Washington, and, with that patience which is making Russia so
+formidable, waited for this opportunity.
+
+I shall give the Russian all the justice of impartiality. When he saw
+the girl, he rather shrank from the affair. But he had gone too far, he
+had promised too much; to withdraw now meant his own defeat, his
+government's anger, his political oblivion. And there was a zest in
+this life of his. He could no more resist the call of intrigue than a
+gambler can resist the croupier's, "Make your game, gentlemen!" I
+believe that he loved the girl the moment he set eyes upon her. Her
+beauty and bearing distinguished her from the other women he had met,
+and her personality was so engaging that her conquest of him was
+complete and spontaneous. How to win this girl and at the same time
+ruin her father was an embarrassing problem. The plan which finally
+came to him he repelled again and again, but at length he surrendered.
+To get the parent in his power and then to coerce the girl in case she
+refused him! To my knowledge this affair was the first dishonorable act
+of a very honorable man. But love makes fools and rogues of us all.
+
+You will question my right to call this diplomat an honest man. As I
+have said elsewhere, honor is comparative. Besides, a diplomat
+generally falls into the habit of lying successfully to himself.
+
+When the American returned to the world, his cigar was out and his
+coffee was stale and cold.
+
+"A million francs!" he murmured. "Two hundred thousand!"
+
+The seed had fallen on fruitful ground.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+THE PREVIOUS AFFAIR
+
+
+Mrs. Chadwick had completed her toilet and now stood smiling in a most
+friendly fashion at the reflection in the long oval mirror. She
+addressed this reflection in melodious tones.
+
+"Madam, you are really handsome; and let no false modesty whisper in
+your ear that you are not. Few women in Washington have such clear
+skin, such firm flesh, such color. Thirty-eight? It is nothing. It is
+but the half-way post; one has left youth behind, but one has not
+reached old age. Time must be very tolerant, for he has given you a
+careful selection. There were no years of storm and poverty, of violent
+passions; and if I have truly loved, it has been you, only you. You are
+too wise and worldly to love any one but yourself. And yet, once you
+stood on the precipice of dark eyes, pale skin, and melancholy
+wrinkles. And even now, if he were to speak... Enough! Enough of this
+folly. I have something to accomplish to-night." She glided from the
+boudoir into the small but luxurious drawing-room which had often been
+graced by the most notable men and women in the country.
+
+Karloff threw aside the book of poems by De Banville, rose, and went
+forward to meet her.
+
+"Madam,"--bending and brushing her hand with his lips, "Madam, you grow
+handsomer every day. If I were forty, now, I should fear for your
+single blessedness."
+
+"Or, if I were two-and-twenty, instead of eight-and-thirty,"--beginning
+to draw on her long white gloves. There was a challenge in her smile.
+
+"Well, yes; if you were two-and-twenty."
+
+"There was a time, not so long ago," she said, drawing his gaze as a
+magnet draws a needle, "when the disparity in years was of no matter."
+
+The count laughed. "That was three years ago; and, if my memory serves
+me, you smiled."
+
+"Perhaps I was first to smile; that is all."
+
+"I observe a mental reservation,"--owlishly.
+
+"I will put it plainly, then. I preferred to smile over your
+protestations rather than see you laugh over the possibility and the
+folly of my loving you."
+
+"Then it was possible?"--with interest.
+
+"Everything is possible ... and often absurd."
+
+"How do you know that I was not truly in love with you?"--narrowing his
+eyes.
+
+"It is not explanatory; it can be given only one name--instinct, which
+in women and animals is more fully developed than in man. Besides, at
+that time you had not learned all about Colonel Annesley, whose guests
+we are to be this evening. Whoever would have imagined a Karloff
+accepting the hospitalities of an Annesley? Count, hath not thy rose a
+canker?"
+
+"Madam!" Karloff was frowning.
+
+"Count, you look like a paladin when you scowl; but scowling never
+induces anything but wrinkles. That is why we women frown so seldom. We
+smile. But let us return to your query. Supposing I had accepted your
+declarations seriously; supposing you had offered me marriage in that
+burst of gratitude; supposing I _had_ committed the folly of becoming a
+countess: what a position I should be in to-day!"
+
+"I do not understand,"--perplexedly.
+
+"No?"--shrugging. She held forth a gloved arm. "Have you forgotten how
+gallantly you used to button my gloves?"
+
+"A thousand pardons! My mind was occupied with the mystery of your long
+supposition." He took the arm gracefully and proceeded to slip the
+pearl buttons through their holes. (Have you ever buttoned the gloves
+of a handsome woman? I have. And there is a subtile thrill about the
+proceeding which I can not quite define. Perhaps it is the nearness of
+physical beauty; perhaps it is the delicate scent of flowers; perhaps
+it is the touch of the cool, firm flesh; perhaps it is just romance.)
+The gaze which she bent upon his dark head was emotional; yet there was
+not the slightest tremor of arm or fingers. It is possible that she
+desired him to observe the steadiness of her nerves. "What did you
+mean?" he asked.
+
+"What did I mean?"--vaguely. Her thought had been elsewhere.
+
+"By that supposition."
+
+"Oh! I mean that my position, had I married you, would have been rather
+anomalous to-day." She extended the other arm. "You are in love."
+
+"In love?" He looked up quickly.
+
+"Decidedly; and I had always doubted your capacity for that sentiment."
+
+"And pray tell me, with whom am I in love?"
+
+"Come, Count, you and I know each other too well to waste time in
+beating about the bushes. I do not blame you for loving her; only, I
+say, it must not be."
+
+"Must not be?" The count's voice rose a key.
+
+"Yes, must not be. You must give them up--the idea and the girl. What!
+You, who contrive the father's dishonor, would aspire to the daughter's
+hand? It is not equable. Love her honorably, or not at all. The course
+you are following is base and wholly unworthy of you."
+
+He dropped the arm abruptly and strode across the room, stopping by a
+window. He did not wish her to see his face at that particular instant.
+Some men would have demanded indignantly to know how she had learned
+these things; not so the count.
+
+"There is time to retrieve. Go to the colonel frankly, pay his debts
+out of your own pockets, then tell the girl that you love her. Before
+you tell her, her father will have acquainted her with his sin and your
+generosity. She will marry you out of gratitude."
+
+Karloff spun on his heels. His expression was wholly new. His eyes were
+burning; he stretched and crumpled his gloves.
+
+"Yes, you are right, you are right! I have been trying to convince
+myself that I was a machine where the father was concerned and wholly a
+man in regard to the girl. You have put it before me in a bold manner.
+Good God, yes! I find that I am wholly a man. How smoothly all this
+would have gone to the end had she not crossed my path! I _am_ base, I,
+who have always considered myself an honorable man. And now it is too
+late, too late!"
+
+"Too late? What do you mean? Have you dared to ask her to be your
+wife?" Had Karloff held her arm at this moment, he would have
+comprehended many things.
+
+"No, no! My word has gone forth to my government; there is a wall
+behind me, and I can not go back. To stop means worse than death. My
+property will be confiscated and my name obliterated, my body rot
+slowly in the frozen north. Oh, I know my country; one does not gain
+her gratitude by failure. I must have those plans, and nowhere could I
+obtain such perfect ones."
+
+"Then you will give her up?" There was a broken note.
+
+The count smiled. To her it was a smile scarce less than a snarl.
+
+"Give her up? Yes, as a mother gives up her child, as a lioness her
+cub. She _has_ refused me, but nevertheless she shall be my wife. Oh, I
+am well-versed in human nature. She loves her father, and I know what
+sacrifices she would make to save his honor. To-night!--" But his lips
+suddenly closed.
+
+"Well, to-night? Why do you not go on?" Mrs. Chadwick was pale. Her
+gloved hands were clenched. A spasm of some sort seemed to hold her in
+its shaking grasp.
+
+"Nothing, nothing! In heaven's name, why have you stirred me so?" he
+cried.
+
+"Supposing, after all, I loved you?"
+
+He retreated. "Madam, your suppositions are becoming intolerable and
+impossible."
+
+"Nothing is impossible. Supposing I loved you as violently and
+passionately as you love this girl?"
+
+"Madam,"--hastily and with gentleness, "do not say anything which may
+cause me to blush for you; say nothing you may regret to-morrow."
+
+"I am a woman of circumspection. My suppositions are merely
+argumentative. Do you realize, Count, that I could force you to marry
+me?"
+
+Karloff's astonishment could not be equaled. "Force me to marry you?"
+
+"Is the thought so distasteful, then?"
+
+"You are mad to-night!"
+
+"Not so. In whatever manner you have succeeded in this country, your
+debt of gratitude is owing to me. I do not recall this fact as a
+reproach; I make the statement to bear me on in what I have to submit
+to your discerning intelligence. I doubt if there is another woman,
+here or abroad, who knows you so well as I. Your personal honor is
+beyond impeachment, but Russia is making vast efforts to speckle it.
+She will succeed. Yes, I could force you to marry me. With a word I
+could tumble your house of cards. I am a worldly woman, and not without
+wit and address. I possess every one of your letters, most of all have
+I treasured the extravagant ones. To some you signed your name. If you
+have kept mine, you will observe that my given name might mean any one
+of a thousand women who are named 'Grace.' Shall you marry me? Shall I
+tumble your house of cards? I could go to Colonel Annesley and say to
+him that if he delivers these plans to you, I shall denounce him to the
+secret service officers. I might cause his utter financial ruin, but
+his name would descend to his daughter untarnished."
+
+"You would not dare!" the count interrupted.
+
+"What? And you know me so well? I have not given you my word to reveal
+nothing. You confided in my rare quality of silence; you confided in me
+because you had proved me. Man is not infallible, even when he is named
+Karloff." She lifted from a vase her flowers, from which she shook the
+water. "Laws have been passed or annulled; laws have died at the
+executive desk. Who told you that this was to be, or that, long before
+it came to pass? In all the successful intrigues of Russia in this
+country, whom have you to thank? Me. Ordinarily a woman does not do
+these things as a pastime. There must be some strong motive behind. You
+asked me why I have stirred you so. Perhaps it is because I am neither
+two-and-twenty nor you two-score. It is these little barbs that remain
+in a woman's heart. Well, I do not love you well enough to marry you,
+but I love you too well to permit you to marry Miss Annesley."
+
+"That has the sound of war. I _did_ love you that night,"--not without
+a certain nobility.
+
+"How easily you say 'that night'! Surely there was wisdom in that smile
+of mine. And I nearly tumbled into the pit! I must have looked
+exceedingly well... _that night!_"--drily.
+
+"You are very bitter to-night. Had you taken me at my word, I never
+should have looked at Miss Annesley. And had I ceased to love you, not
+even you would have known it."
+
+"Is it possible?"--ironically.
+
+"It is. I have too much pride to permit a woman to see that I have made
+a mistake."
+
+"Then you consider in the present instance that you have not made a
+mistake? You are frank."
+
+"At least I have not made a mistake which I can not rectify. Madam, let
+us not be enemies. As you say, I owe you too much. What is it you
+desire?"--with forced amiability.
+
+"Deprive Colonel Annesley of his honor, that, as you say, is
+inevitable; but I love that girl as I would a child of my own, and I
+will not see her caught in a net of this sort, or wedded to a man whose
+government robs him of his manhood and individuality."
+
+"Do not forget that I hold my country first and foremost,"--proudly.
+
+"Love has no country, nor laws, nor galling chains of incertitude. Love
+is magnificent only in that it gives all without question. You love
+this girl with reservations. You shall not have her. You shall not have
+even me, who love you after a fashion, for I could never look upon you
+as a husband; in my eyes you would always be an accomplice."
+
+"It is war, then?"--curtly.
+
+"War? Oh, no; we merely sever our diplomatic relations," she purred.
+
+"Madam, listen to me. I shall make one more attempt to win this girl
+honorably. For you are right: love to be love must be magnificent. If
+she accepts me, for her sake I will become an outcast, a man without a
+country. If she refuses me, I shall go on to the end. Speak to the
+colonel, Madam; it is too late. Like myself, he has gone too far. Why
+did you open the way for me as you did? I should have been satisfied
+with a discontented clerk. You threw this girl across my path,
+indirectly, it is true; but nevertheless the fault is yours."
+
+"I recognize it. At that time I did not realize how much you were to
+me."
+
+"You are a strange woman. I do not understand you."
+
+"Incompatibility. Come, the carriage is waiting. Let us be gone."
+
+"You have spoilt the evening for me," said the count, as he threw her
+cloak across her shoulders.
+
+"On the contrary, I have added a peculiar zest. Now, let us go and
+appear before the world, and smile, and laugh, and eat, and gossip. Let
+the heart throb with a dull pain, if it will; the mask is ours to do
+with as we may."
+
+They were, in my opinion, two very unusual persons.
+
+[Illustration: "Lay the rose on the table"--Act II.]
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+DINNER IS SERVED
+
+
+"Ha!"
+
+Monsieur Pierre, having uttered this ejaculation, stepped back and
+rested his fat hands on his fat hips. As he surveyed the impromptu
+butler, a shade of perplexity spread over his oily face. He smoothed
+his imperial and frowned. This groom certainly _looked_ right, but
+there was something lacking in his make-up, that indefinable something
+which is always found in the true servant--servility. There was no
+humility here, no hypocritical meekness, no suavity; there was nothing
+smug or self-satisfied. In truth, there was something grimly earnest,
+which was not to be understood readily. Monsieur Pierre, having always
+busied himself with soups and curries and roasts and sauces, was not a
+profound analyst; yet his instinctive shrewdness at once told him that
+this fellow was no servant, nor could he ever be made into one. Though
+voluble enough in his kitchen, Monsieur Pierre lacked expression when
+confronted by any problem outside of it. Here was the regulation
+swallow-tail coat and trousers of green, the striped red vest, and the
+polished brass buttons; but the man inside was too much for him.
+
+"_Diable_! you _luke_ right. But, no, I can not explain. Eet ees on zee
+tongue, but eet rayfuse. Ha! I haf eet! You lack vot zay call zee real.
+You make me t'ink uf zee sairvant on zee stage, somet'ing bettair off;
+eh?" This was as near as monsieur ever got to the truth of things.
+
+During this speculative inventory, Warburton's face was gravely set;
+indeed, it pictured his exact feelings. He _was_ grave. He even wanted
+Pierre's approval. He was about to pass through a very trying ordeal;
+he might not even pass through it. There was no deceiving his colonel's
+eyes, hang him! Whatever had induced fate to force this old Argus-eyed
+soldier upon the scene? He glanced into the kitchen mirror. He
+instantly saw the salient flaw in his dress. It was the cravat. Tie it
+as he would, it never approached the likeness of the conventional
+cravat of the waiter. It still remained a polished cravat, a worldly
+cravat, the cravat seen in ball-rooms, drawing-rooms, in the theater
+stalls and boxes, anywhere but in the servants' hall. Oh, for the
+ready-made cravat that hitched to the collar-button! And then there was
+that servant's low turned-down collar, glossy as celluloid. He felt as
+diffident in his bare throat as a debutante feels in her first
+decollete ball-gown, not very well covered up, as it were. And, heaven
+and earth, how appallingly large his hands had grown, how clumsy his
+feet! Would the colonel expose him? Would he keep silent? This remained
+to be found out: wherein lay the terror of suspense.
+
+"Remem_bair_," went on Monsieur Pierre, after a pause, feeling that he
+had a duty to fulfil and a responsibility to shift to other shoulders
+than his own, "remem_bair_, eef you spill zee soup, I keel you. You
+carry zee tureen in, zen you deesh out zee soup, and sairve. Zee
+oystaires should be on zee table t'ree minutes before zee guests haf
+arrive'. Now, can you make zee American cocktail?"
+
+"I can,"--with a ghost of a smile.
+
+"Make heem,"--with a pompous wave of the hand toward the favorite
+ingredients.
+
+"What kind?"
+
+"Vot kind! Eez zare more cocktails, zen?"
+
+"Only two that are proper, the manhattan and the martini."
+
+"Make zee martini; I know heem."
+
+"But cocktails ought not be mixed before serving."
+
+"I say, make zee one cocktail,"--coldly and skeptically. "I test heem."
+
+Warburton made one. Monsieur sipped it slowly, making a wry face, for,
+true Gaul that he was, only two kinds of stimulants appealed to his
+palate, liqueurs and wines. He found it as good as any he had ever
+tasted.
+
+"Ver' good,"--softening. "Zare ees, zen, one t'ing zat all zee
+Americans can make, zee cocktail? I am educate'; I learn. Now leaf me
+till eight. Keep zee collect head;"--and Monsieur Pierre turned his
+attention to his partridges.
+
+James went out of doors to get a breath of fresh air and to collect his
+thoughts, which were wool-gathering, whatever that may mean. They
+needed collecting, these thoughts of his, and labeling, for they were
+at all points of the compass, and he was at a loss upon which to draw
+for support. Here he was, in a devil of a fix, and no possible way of
+escaping except by absolutely bolting; and he vowed that he wouldn't
+bolt, not if he stood the chance of being exposed fifty times over. He
+had danced; he was going to pay the fiddler like a man. He had never
+run away from anything, and he wasn't going to begin now.
+
+At the worst, they could only laugh at him; but his secret would be his
+no longer. Ass that he had been! How to tell this girl that he loved
+her? How to appear to her as his natural self? What a chance he had
+wilfully thrown away! He might have been a guest to-night; he might
+have sat next to her, turned the pages of her music, and perhaps sighed
+love in her ear, all of which would have been very proper and
+conventional. Ah, if he only knew what was going on behind those
+Mediterranean eyes of hers, those heavenly sapphires. Had she any
+suspicion? No, it could not be possible; she had humiliated him too
+often, to suspect the imposture. Alackaday!
+
+Had any one else applied the disreputable terms he applied to himself
+there would have been a battle royal. When he became out of breath, he
+reentered the house to have a final look at the table before the ordeal
+began.
+
+Covers had been laid for twelve; immaculate linen, beautiful silver,
+and sparkling cut-glass. He wondered how much the girl was worth, and
+thought of his own miserable forty-five hundred the year. True, his
+capital could at any time be converted into cash, some seventy-five
+thousand, but it would be no longer the goose with the golden egg. A
+great bowl of roses stood on a glass center-piece. As he leaned toward
+them to inhale their perfume he heard a sound. He turned.
+
+She stood framed in a doorway, a picture such as artists conjure up to
+fit in sunlit corners of gloomy studios: beauty, youth, radiance,
+luster, happiness. To his ardent eyes she was supremely beautiful. How
+wildly his heart beat! This was the first time he had seen her in all
+her glory. His emotion was so strong that he did not observe that she
+was biting her nether lip.
+
+"Is everything well, James?" she asked, meaning the possibilities of
+service and not the cardiac intranquillity of the servant.
+
+"Very well, Miss Annesley,"--with a sudden bold scrutiny.
+
+Whatever it was she saw in his eyes it had the effect of making hers
+turn aside. To bridge the awkwardness of the moment, he rearranged a
+napkin; and she remarked his hands. They were tanned, but they were
+elegantly shaped and scrupulously well taken care of--the hands of a
+gentleman born, of an aristocrat. He could feel her gaze penetrate like
+acid. He grew visibly nervous.
+
+"You haven't the hand of a servant, James,"--quietly.
+
+He started, and knocked a fork to the floor.
+
+"They are too clumsy," she went on maliciously.
+
+"I am not a butler, Miss; I am a groom. I promise to do the very best I
+can." Wrath mingled with the shame on his face.
+
+"A man who can do what you did this morning ought not to be afraid of a
+dinner-table."
+
+"There is some difference between a dinner-table and a horse, Miss." He
+stooped to recover the fork while she touched her lips with her
+handkerchief. The situation was becoming unendurable. He knew that, for
+some reason, she was quietly laughing at him.
+
+"Never put back on the table a fork or piece of silver that has fallen
+to the floor," she advised. "Procure a clean one."
+
+"Yes, Miss." Why, in heaven's name, didn't she go and leave him in
+peace?
+
+"And be very careful not to spill a drop of the burgundy. It is
+seventy-eight, and a particular favorite of my father's."
+
+Seventy-eight! As if he hadn't had many a bottle of that superb vintage
+during the past ten months! The glands in his teeth opened at the
+memory of that taste.
+
+"James, we have been in the habit of paying off the servants on this
+day of the month. Payday comes especially happy this time. It will put
+good feeling into all, and make the service vastly more expeditious."
+
+She counted out four ten-dollar notes from a roll in her hand and
+signified him to approach. He took the money, coolly counted it, and
+put it in his vest-pocket.
+
+"Thank you, Miss."
+
+I do not say that she looked disappointed, but I assert that she was
+slightly disconcerted. She never knew the effort he had put forth to
+subdue the desire to tear the money into shreds, throw it at her feet
+and leave the house.
+
+"When the gentlemen wish for cigars or cigarettes, you will find them
+in the usual place, the tower drawer in the sideboard." With a swish
+she was gone.
+
+He took the money out and studied it. No, he wouldn't tear it up;
+rather he would put it among his keepsakes.
+
+I shall leave Mr. Robert, or M'sieu Zhames, to recover his
+tranquillity, and describe to you the character and quality of the
+guests. There was the affable military attache of the British embassy,
+there was a celebrated American countess, a famous dramatist and his
+musical wife, Warburton's late commanding colonel, Mrs. Chadwick, Count
+Karloff, one of the notable grand opera prima-donnas, who would not
+sing in opera till February, a cabinet officer and his wife, Colonel
+Annesley and his daughter. You will note the cosmopolitan character of
+these distinguished persons. Perhaps in no other city in America could
+they be brought together at an informal dinner such as this one was.
+There was no question of precedence or any such nonsense. Everybody
+knew everybody else, with one exception. Colonel Raleigh was a
+comparative stranger. But he was a likable old fellow, full of stories
+of the wild, free West, an excellent listener besides, who always
+stopped a goodly distance on the right side of what is known in polite
+circles as the bore's dead-line. Warburton held for him a deep
+affection, martinet though he was, for he was singularly just and
+merciful.
+
+They had either drunk the cocktail or had set it aside untouched, and
+had emptied the oyster shells, when the ordeal of the soup began. Very
+few of those seated gave any attention to my butler. The first thing he
+did was to drop the silver ladle. Only the girl saw this mishap. She
+laughed; and Raleigh believed that he had told his story in an
+exceptionally taking manner. My butler quietly procured another ladle,
+and proceeded coolly enough. I must confess, however, that his coolness
+was the result of a physical effort. The soup quivered and trembled
+outrageously, and more than once he felt the heat of the liquid on his
+thumb. This moment his face was pale, that moment it was red. But, as I
+remarked, few observed him. Why should they? Everybody had something to
+say to everybody else; and a butler was only a machine anyway. Yet,
+three persons occasionally looked in his direction: his late colonel,
+Mrs. Chadwick, and the girl; each from a different angle of vision.
+There was a scowl on the colonel's face, puzzlement on Mrs. Chadwick's,
+and I don't know what the girl's represented, not having been there
+with my discerning eyes.
+
+Once the American countess raised her lorgnette and murmured: "What a
+handsome butler!"
+
+Karloff, who sat next to her, twisted his mustache and shrugged. He had
+seen handsome peasants before. They did not interest him. He glanced
+across the table at the girl, and was much annoyed that she, too, was
+gazing at the butler, who had successfully completed the distribution
+of the soup and who now stood with folded arms by the sideboard. (How I
+should have liked to see him!)
+
+When the butler took away the soup-plates, Colonel Raleigh turned to
+his host.
+
+"George, where the deuce did you pick up that butler?"
+
+Annesley looked vaguely across the table at his old comrade. He had
+been far away in thought. He had eaten nothing.
+
+"What?" he asked.
+
+"I asked you where the deuce you got that butler of yours."
+
+"Oh, Betty found him somewhere. Our own butler is away on a vacation. I
+had not noticed him. Why?"
+
+"Well, if he doesn't look like a cub lieutenant of mine, I was born
+without recollection of faces."
+
+"An orderly of yours, a lieutenant, did you say?" asked Betty, with
+smoldering fires in her eyes.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"That is strange," she mused.
+
+"Yes; very strange. He was a daredevil, if there ever was one."
+
+"Ah!"
+
+"Yes; best bump of location in the regiment, and the steadiest
+nerve,"--dropping his voice.
+
+The girl leaned on her lovely arms and observed him interestedly.
+
+"A whole company got lost in a snowstorm one winter. You know that on
+the prairie a snowstorm means that only a compass can tell you where
+you are; and there wasn't one in the troop,--a bad piece of
+carelessness on the captain's part. Well, this cub said _he'd_ find the
+way back, and the captain wisely let him take the boys in hand."
+
+"Go on," said the girl.
+
+"Interested, eh?"
+
+"I am a soldier's daughter, and I love the recital of brave deeds."
+
+"Well, he did it. Four hours later they were being thawed out in the
+barracks kitchens. Another hour and not one of them would have lived to
+tell the tale. The whisky they poured into my cub--"
+
+"Did he drink?" she interrupted.
+
+"Drink? Why, the next day he was going to lick the men who had poured
+the stuff down his throat. A toddy once in a while; that was all he
+ever took. And how he loved a fight! He had the tenacity of a bulldog;
+once he set his mind on getting something, he never let up till he got
+it."
+
+The girl trifled thoughtfully with a rose.
+
+"Was he ever in any Indian fights?" she asked, casually.
+
+"Only scraps and the like. He went into the reservation alone one day
+and arrested a chief who had murdered a sheep-herder. It was a
+volunteer job, and nine men out of ten would never have left the
+reservation alive. He was certainly a cool hand."
+
+"I dare say,"--smiling. She wanted to ask him if he had ever been hurt,
+this daredevil of a lieutenant, but she could not bring the question to
+her lips. "What did you say his name was?"--innocently.
+
+"Warburton, Robert Warburton."
+
+Here the butler came in with the birds. The girl's eyes followed him,
+hither and thither, her lips hidden behind the rose.
+
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+CAUGHT!
+
+
+Karloff came around to music. The dramatist's wife should play Tosti's
+_Ave Maria_, Miss Annesley should play the obligato on the violin and
+the prima-donna should sing; but just at present the dramatist should
+tell them all about his new military play which was to be produced in
+December.
+
+"Count, I beg to decline," laughed the dramatist. "I should hardly dare
+to tell my plot before two such military experts as we have here. I
+should be told to write the play all over again, and now it is too
+late."
+
+Whenever Betty's glance fell on her father's face, the gladness in her
+own was somewhat dimmed. What was making that loved face so care-worn,
+the mind so listless, the attitude so weary? But she was young; the
+spirits of youth never flow long in one direction. The repartee,
+brilliant and at the same time with every sting withdrawn, flashed up
+and down the table like so many fireflies on a wet lawn in July, and
+drew her irresistibly.
+
+As the courses came and passed, so the conversation became less and
+less general; and by the time the ices were served the colonel had
+engaged his host, and the others divided into twos. Then coffee,
+liqueurs and cigars, when the ladies rose and trailed into the little
+Turkish room, where the "distinguished-looking butler" supplied them
+with the amber juice.
+
+A dinner is a function where everybody talks and nobody eats. Some have
+eaten before they come, some wish they had, and others dare not eat for
+fear of losing some of the gossip. I may be wrong, but I believe that
+half of these listless appetites are due to the natural confusion of
+forks.
+
+After the liqueurs my butler concluded that his labor was done, and he
+offered up a short prayer of thankfulness and relief. Heavens, what
+mad, fantastic impulses had seized him while he was passing the soup!
+Supposing he _had_ spilled the hot liquid down Karloff's back, or
+poured out a glass of burgundy for himself and drained it before them
+all, or slapped his late colonel on the back and asked him the state of
+his liver? It was maddening, and he marveled at his escape. There
+hadn't been a real mishap. The colonel had only scowled at him; he was
+safe. He passed secretly from the house and hung around the bow-window
+which let out on the low balcony. The window was open, and occasionally
+he could hear a voice from beyond the room, which was dark.
+
+It was one of those nights, those mild November nights, to which the
+novelists of the old regime used to devote a whole page; the silvery
+pallor on the landscape, the moon-mists, the round, white, inevitable
+moon, the stirring breezes, the murmur of the few remaining leaves, and
+all that. But these busy days we have not the time to read nor the
+inclination to describe.
+
+Suddenly upon the stillness of the night the splendor of a human voice
+broke forth; the prima-donna was trying her voice. A violin wailed a
+note. A hand ran up and down the keys of the piano. Warburton held his
+breath and waited. He had heard Tosti's _Ave Maria_ many times, but he
+never will forget the manner in which it was sung that night. The
+songstress was care-free and among persons she knew and liked, and she
+put her soul into that magnificent and mysterious throat of hers, And
+throbbing all through the song was the vibrant, loving voice of the
+violin. And when the human tones died away and the instruments ceased
+to speak, Warburton felt himself swallowing rapidly. Then came
+Schumann's _Traumerei_ on the strings, Handel's _Largo_, Grieg's
+_Papillon_, and a _ballade_ by Chaminade. Then again sang the
+prima-donna; old folksy songs, sketches from the operas grand and
+light, _Faust_, _The Barber of Seville_, _La Fille de Madame Angot_. In
+all his days Warburton had never heard such music. Doubtless he
+_had_--even better; only at this period he was in love. The imagination
+of love's young dream is the most stretchable thing I know of.
+Seriously, however, he was a very good judge of music, and I am
+convinced that what he heard was out of the ordinary.
+
+But I must guide my story into the channel proper.
+
+During the music Karloff and Colonel Annesley drifted into the latter's
+study. What passed between them I gathered from bits recently dropped
+by Warburton.
+
+"Good God, Karloff, what a net you have sprung about me!" said the
+colonel, despairingly.
+
+"My dear Colonel, you have only to step out of it. It is the eleventh
+hour; it is not too late." But Karloff watched the colonel eagerly.
+
+"How in God's name can I step out of it?"
+
+"Simply reimburse me for that twenty thousand I advanced to you in good
+faith, and nothing more need be said." The count's Slavonic eyes were
+half-lidded.
+
+"To give you back that amount will leave me a beggar, an absolute
+beggar, without a roof to shelter me. I am too old for the service, and
+besides, I am physically incapacitated. If you should force me, I could
+not meet my note save by selling the house my child was born in. Have
+you discounted it?"
+
+"No. Why should I present it at the bank? It does not mature till next
+Monday, and I am in no need of money."
+
+"What a wretch I am!"
+
+Karloff raised his shoulders resignedly.
+
+"My daughter!"
+
+"Or my ducats," whimsically quoted the count. "Come, Colonel; do not
+waste time in useless retrospection. He stumbles who looks back. I have
+been thinking of your daughter. I love her, deeply, eternally."
+
+"You love her?"
+
+"Yes. I love her because she appeals to all that is young and good in
+me; because she represents the highest type of womanhood. With her as
+my wife, why, I should be willing to renounce my country, and your
+indebtedness would be crossed out of existence with one stroke of the
+pen."
+
+The colonel's haggard face grew light with sudden hopefulness.
+
+"I have been," the count went on, studying the ash of his cigar, "till
+this night what the world and my own conscience consider an honorable
+man. I have never wronged a man or woman personally. What I have done
+on the order of duty does not agitate my conscience. I am simply a
+machine. The moral responsibility rests with my czar. When I saw your
+daughter, I deeply regretted that you were her father."
+
+The colonel grew rigid in his chair.
+
+"Do not misunderstand me. Before I saw her, you were but the key to
+what I desired. As her father the matter took on a personal side. I
+could not very conscientiously make love to your daughter and at the
+same time--" Karloff left the sentence incomplete.
+
+"And Betty?"--in half a whisper.
+
+"Has refused me,"--quietly. "But I have not given her up; no, I have
+not given her up."
+
+"What do you mean to do?"
+
+Karloff got up and walked about the room. "Make her my wife,"--simply.
+He stooped and studied the titles of some of the books in the cases. He
+turned to find that the colonel had risen and was facing him with
+flaming eyes.
+
+"I demand to know how you intend to accomplish this end," the colonel
+said. "My daughter shall not be dragged into this trap."
+
+"To-morrow night I will explain everything; to-night,
+nothing,"--imperturbably.
+
+"Karloff, to-night I stand a ruined and dishonored man. My head, once
+held so proudly before my fellow-men, is bowed with shame. The country
+I have fought and bled for I have in part betrayed. But not for my
+gain, not for my gain. No, no! Thank God that I can say that! Personal
+greed has not tainted me. Alone, I should have gone serenely into some
+poor house and eked out an existence on my half-pay. But this child of
+mine, whom I love doubly, for her mother's sake and her own,--I would
+gladly cut off both arms to spare her a single pain, to keep her in the
+luxury which she still believes rightfully to be hers. When the fever
+of gaming possessed me, I should have told her. I did not; therein lies
+my mistake, the mistake which has brought me to this horrible end.
+Virginius sacrificed his child to save her; I will sacrifice my honor
+to save mine from poverty. Force her to wed a man she does not love?
+No. To-morrow night we shall complete this disgraceful bargain. The
+plans are all finished but one. Now leave me; I wish to be alone."
+
+"Sir, it is my deep regret--"
+
+"Go; there is nothing more to be said."
+
+Karloff withdrew. He went soberly. There was nothing sneering nor
+contemptuous in his attitude. Indeed, there was a frown of pity on his
+face. He recognized that circumstances had dragged down a noble man;
+that chance had tricked him of his honor. How he hated his own evil
+plan! He squared his shoulders, determined once more to put it to the
+touch to win or lose it all.
+
+He found her at the bow-window, staring up at the moon. As I remarked,
+this room was dark, and she did not instantly recognize him.
+
+"I am moon-gazing," she said.
+
+"Let me sigh for it with you. Perhaps together we may bring it down."
+There was something very pleasing in the quality of his tone.
+
+"Ah, it is you, Count? I could not see. But let us not sigh for the
+moon; it would be useless. Does any one get his own wish-moon? Does it
+not always hang so high, so far away?"
+
+"The music has affected you?"
+
+"As it always does. When I hear a voice like madam's, I grow sad, and a
+pity for the great world surges over me."
+
+"Pity is the invisible embrace which enfolds all animate things. There
+is pity for the wretched, for the fool, for the innocent knave, for
+those who are criminals by their own folly; pity for those who love
+without reward; pity that embraces ... even me."
+
+Silence.
+
+"Has it ever occurred to you that there are two beings in each of us;
+that between these two there is a continual conflict, and that the
+victor finally prints the victory on the face? For what lines and
+haggards a man's face but the victory of the evil that is in him? For
+what makes the aged ruddy and smooth of face and clear of eye but the
+victory of the good that is in him? It is so. I still love you; I still
+have the courage to ask you to be my wife. Shall there be faces haggard
+or ruddy, lined or smooth?"
+
+She stepped inside. She did not comprehend all he said, and his face
+was in the shadow--that is to say, unreadable.
+
+"I am sorry, very, very sorry."
+
+"How easily you say that!"
+
+"No, not easily; if only you knew how hard it comes, for I know that it
+inflicts a hurt,"--gently. "Ah, Count, why indeed do I not love
+you?"--impulsively, for at that time she held him in genuine regard.
+"You represent all that a woman could desire in a man."
+
+"You could learn,"--with an eager step toward her.
+
+"You do not believe that; you know that you do not. Love has nothing to
+learn; the heart speaks, and that is all. My heart does not speak when
+I see you, and I shall never marry a man to whom it does not. You ask
+for something which I can not give, and each time you ask you only add
+to the pain."
+
+"This is finality?"
+
+"It is."
+
+"Eh, well; then I must continue on to the end."
+
+She interpreted this as a plaint of his coming loneliness.
+
+"Here!" she said. She held in her hands two red roses. She thrust one
+toward him. "That is all I may give you."
+
+For a moment he hesitated. There were thorns, invisible and stinging.
+
+"Take it!"
+
+He accepted it, kissed it gravely, and hid it.
+
+"This is the bitterest moment in my life, and doubly bitter because I
+love you."
+
+When the portiere fell behind him, she locked her hands, grieving that
+all she could give him was an ephemeral flower. How many men had turned
+from her in this wise, even as she began to depend upon them for their
+friendships! The dark room oppressed her and she stepped out once more
+into the silver of moonshine. Have you ever beheld a lovely woman
+fondle a lovely rose? She drew it, pendent on its slender stem, slowly
+across her lips, her eyes shining mistily with waking dreams. She
+breathed in the perfume, then cupped the flower in the palm of her hand
+and pressed it again and again to her lips. A long white arm stretched
+outward and upward toward the moon, and when it withdrew the hand was
+empty.
+
+Warburton, hidden behind the vines, waited until she was gone, and then
+hunted in the grass for the precious flower. On his hands and knees he
+groped. The dew did not matter. And when at last he found it, not all
+the treasures of the fabled Ophir would have tempted him to part with
+it. It would be a souvenir for his later days.
+
+As he rose from his knees he was confronted by a broad-shouldered,
+elderly man in evening clothes. The end of a cigar burned brightly
+between his teeth.
+
+"I'll take that flower, young man, if you please."
+
+Warburton's surprise was too great for sudden recovery.
+
+"It is mine, Colonel," he stammered.
+
+The colonel filliped away his cigar and caught my butler roughly by the
+arm.
+
+"Warburton, what the devil does this mean--a lieutenant of mine
+peddling soup around a gentleman's table?"
+
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+"OH, MISTER BUTLER!"
+
+
+Warburton had never lacked that rare and peculiar gift of immediately
+adapting himself to circumstances. To lie now would be folly, worse
+than useless. He had addressed this man at his side by his military
+title. He stood committed. He saw that he must throw himself wholly on
+the colonel's mercy and his sense of the humorous. He pointed toward
+the stables and drew the colonel after him; but the colonel held back.
+
+"That rose first; I insist upon having that rose till you have given me
+a satisfactory account of yourself."
+
+Warburton reluctantly surrendered his treasure. Force of habit is a
+peculiar one. The colonel had no real authority to demand the rose; but
+Warburton would no more have thought of disobeying than of running away.
+
+"You will give it back to me?"
+
+"That remains to be seen. Go on; I am ready to follow you. And I do not
+want any dragging story, either." The colonel spoke impatiently.
+
+Warburton led him into his room and turned on the light. The colonel
+seated himself on the edge of the cot and lighted a fresh cigar.
+
+"Well, sir, out with it. I am waiting."
+
+Warburton took several turns about the room. "I don't know how the
+deuce to begin, Colonel. It began with a joke that turned out wrong."
+
+"Indeed?"--sarcastically. "Let me hear about this joke."
+
+M'sieu Zhames dallied no longer, but plunged boldly into his narrative.
+Sometimes the colonel stared at him as if he beheld a species of
+lunatic absolutely new to him, sometimes he laughed silently, sometimes
+he frowned.
+
+"That's all," said Zhames; and he stood watching the colonel with dread
+in his eyes.
+
+"Well, of all the damn fools!"
+
+"Sir?"
+
+"Of all the jackasses!"
+
+Warburton bit his lip angrily.
+
+The colonel swung the rose to and fro. "Yes, sir, a damn fool!"
+
+"I dare say that I am, sir. But I have gone too far to back out now.
+Will you give me back that rose, Colonel?"
+
+"What do you mean by her?"--coldly.
+
+"I love her with all my heart,"--hotly. "I want her for my comrade, my
+wife, my companion, my partner in all I have or do. I love her, and I
+don't care a hang who knows it."
+
+"Not so loud, my friend; not so loud."
+
+"Oh, I do not care who hears,"--discouragedly.
+
+"This beats the very devil! You've got me all balled up. Is Betty
+Annesley a girl of the kind we read about in the papers as eloping with
+her groom? What earthly chance had you in this guise, I should like to
+know?"
+
+"I only wanted to be near her; I did not look ahead."
+
+"Well, I should say not! How long were you hidden behind that trellis?"
+
+"A year, so it seemed to me."
+
+"Any lunatics among your ancestors?"
+
+Warburton shook his head, smiling wanly.
+
+"I can't make it out," declared the colonel. "A graduate of West Point,
+the fop of Troop A, the hero of a hundred ball-rooms, disguised as a
+hostler and serving soup!"
+
+"Always keep the motive in mind, Colonel; you were young yourself once."
+
+The colonel thought of the girl's mother. Yes, he had been young once,
+but not quite so young as this cub of his.
+
+"What chance do you suppose you have against the handsome Russian?"
+
+"She has rejected him,"--thoughtlessly.
+
+"Ha!"--frowning; "so you were eavesdropping?"
+
+"Wait a moment, Colonel. You know that I am very fond of music. I was
+listening to the music. It had ceased, and I was waiting for it to
+begin again, when I heard voices."
+
+"Why did you not leave then?"
+
+"And be observed? I dared not."
+
+The colonel chewed the end of his cigar in silence.
+
+"And now may I have that rose, sir?"--quietly.
+
+The colonel observed him warily. He knew that quiet tone. It said that
+if he refused to give up the rose he would have to fight for it, and
+probably get licked into the bargain.
+
+"I've a notion you might attempt to take it by force in case I refused."
+
+"I surrendered it peacefully enough, sir."
+
+"So you did. Here." The colonel tossed the flower across the room and
+Warburton caught it.
+
+"I should like to know, sir, if you are going to expose me. It's no
+more than I deserve."
+
+The colonel studied the lithographs on the walls. "Your
+selection?"--with a wave of the hand.
+
+"No, sir. I should like to know what you are going to do. It would
+relieve my mind. As a matter of fact, I confess that I am growing weary
+of the mask." Warburton waited.
+
+"You make a very respectable butler, though,"--musingly.
+
+"Shall you expose me, sir?"--persistently.
+
+"No, lad. I should not want it to get about that a former officer of
+mine could possibly make such an ass of himself. You have slept all
+night in jail, you have groomed horses, you have worn a livery which no
+gentleman with any self-respect would wear, and all to no purpose
+whatever. Why, in the name of the infernal regions, didn't you meet her
+in a formal way? There would have been plenty of opportunities."
+
+Warburton shrugged; so did the colonel, who stood up and shook the
+wrinkles from his trousers.
+
+"Shall you be long in Washington, sir?" asked Warburton, politely.
+
+"In a hurry to get rid of me, eh?"--with a grim smile. "Well, perhaps
+in a few days."
+
+"Good night."
+
+The colonel stopped at the threshold, and his face melted suddenly into
+a warm, humorous smile. He stretched out a hand which Warburton grasped
+most gratefully. His colonel had been playing with him.
+
+"Come back to the Army, lad; the East is no place for a man of your
+kidney. Scrape up a commission, and I'll see to it that you get back
+into the regiment. Life is real out in the great West. People smile too
+much here; they don't laugh often enough. Smiles have a hundred
+meanings, laughter but one. Smiles are the hiding places for lies, and
+sneers, and mockeries, and scandals. Come back to the West; we all want
+you, the service and I. When I saw you this afternoon I knew you
+instantly, only I was worried as to what devilment you were up to. Win
+this girl, if you can; she's worth any kind of struggle, God bless her!
+Win her and bring her out West, too."
+
+Warburton wrung the hand in his till the old fellow signified that his
+fingers were beginning to ache.
+
+"Do you suppose she suspects anything?" ventured Warburton.
+
+"No. She may be a trifle puzzled, though. I saw her watching your hands
+at the table. She has eyes and can readily see that such hands as yours
+were never made to carry soup-plates. For the life of me, I had a time
+of it, swallowing my laughter. I longed for a vacant lot to yell in. It
+would have been a positive relief. The fop of Troop A peddling soup!
+Oh, I shall have to tell the boys. You used more pipe-clay than any
+other man in the regiment. Don't scowl. Never mind; you've had your
+joke; I must have mine. Don't let that Russian fellow get the inside
+track. Keep her on American soil. I like him and I don't like him; and
+for all your tomfoolery and mischief, there is good stuff in you--stuff
+that any woman might be proud of. If you hadn't adopted this disguise,
+I could have helped you out a bit by cracking up some of your exploits.
+Well, they will be inquiring for me. Good night and good luck. If you
+should need me, a note will find me at the Army and Navy Club." And the
+genial old warrior, shaking with silent laughter, went back to the
+house.
+
+Warburton remained standing. He was lost in a dream. All at once he
+pressed the rose to his lips and kissed it shamelessly, kissed it
+uncountable times. Two or three leaves, not withstanding this violent
+treatment, fluttered to the floor. He picked them up: any one of those
+velvet leaves might have been the recipient of _her_ kisses, the rosary
+of love. He was in love, such a love that comes but once to any man,
+not passing, uncertain, but lasting. He knew that it was all useless.
+He had digged with his own hands the abyss between himself and this
+girl. But there was a secret gladness: to love was something. (For my
+part, I believe that the glory lies, not in being loved, but in loving.)
+
+I do not know how long he stood there, but it must have been at least
+ten minutes. Then the door opened, and Monsieur Pierre lurched or
+rolled (I can't quite explain or describe the method of his entrance)
+into the room, his face red with anger, and a million thousand thunders
+on the tip of his Gallic tongue.
+
+"So! You haf leaf _me_ to clear zee table, eh? Not by a damn! _I_,
+clear zee table? _I?_ I t'ink not. I _cook_, nozzing else. To zee
+dining-room, or I haf you discharge'!"
+
+"All right, Peter, old boy!" cried Warburton, the gloom lifting from
+his face. This Pierre was a very funny fellow.
+
+"Pe_taire!_ You haf zee insolence to call me Pe_taire?_ Why, I haf you
+keeked out in zee morning, lackey!"
+
+"Cook!"--mockingly.
+
+Pierre was literally dumfounded. Such disrespect he had never before
+witnessed. It was frightful. He opened his mouth to issue a volley of
+French oaths, when Zhames's hand stopped him.
+
+"Look here, Peter, you broil your partridges and flavor your soups, but
+keep out of the stables, or, in your own words, I _keel_ you or _keek_
+you out. You tell the scullery maid to clear off the table. I'm off
+duty for the rest of the night. Now, then, _allons! Marche!"_
+
+And M'sieu Zhames gently but firmly and steadily pushed the scandalized
+Pierre out of the room and closed the door in his face. I shan't repeat
+what Pierre said, much less what he thought.
+
+Let me read a thought from the mind of each of my principals, the final
+thought before retiring that night.
+
+_Karloff_ (on leaving Mrs. Chadwick): Dishonor against dishonor; so it
+must be. I can not live without that girl.
+
+_Mrs. Chadwick:_ (when Karloff had gone); He has lost, but I have not
+won.
+
+_Annesley:_ So one step leads to another, and the labyrinth of dishonor
+has no end.
+
+_The Colonel:_ What the deuce will love put next into the young mind?
+
+_Pierre_ (to Celeste): I haf heem discharge'!
+
+_Celeste_ (to Pierre): He ees handsome!
+
+_Warburton_ (sighing in the _doloroso_): How I love her!
+
+_The Girl_ (standing before her mirror and smiling happily): Oh, Mister
+Butler! Why?
+
+
+
+
+XX
+
+THE EPISODE OF THE STOVE-PIPE
+
+
+In the morning Monsieur Pierre faithfully reported to his mistress the
+groom's extraordinary insolence and impudence of the night before. The
+girl struggled with and conquered her desire to laugh; for monsieur was
+somewhat grotesque in his rage.
+
+"Frightful, Mademoiselle, most frightful! He call me Pe_taire_ most
+disrrrespectful way, and eject me from zee stables. I can not call heem
+out; he ees a groom and knows nozzing uf zee _amende honorable._"
+
+Mademoiselle summoned M'sieu Zhames. She desired to make the comedy
+complete in all its phases.
+
+"James, whenever you are called upon to act in the capacity of butler,
+you must clear the table after the guests leave it. This is imperative.
+I do not wish the scullery girl to handle the porcelain save in the
+tubs. Do you understand?"
+
+"Yes, Miss. There were no orders to that effect last night, however."
+He was angry.
+
+Monsieur Pierre puffed up like the lady-frog in Aesop's fables,
+
+"And listen, Pierre," she said, collapsing the bubble of the chef's
+conceit, "you must give no orders to James. I will do that. I do not
+wish any tale-bearing or quarreling among my servants. I insist upon
+this. Observe me carefully, Pierre, and you, James."
+
+James _did_ observe her carefully, so carefully, indeed, that her gaze
+was forced to wander to the humiliated countenance of Monsieur Pierre.
+
+"James, you must not look at me like that. There is something in your
+eyes; I can't explain what it is, but it somehow lacks the respect due
+me." This command was spoken coldly and sharply.
+
+"Respect?" He drew back a step. "I disrespectful to you, Miss Annesley?
+Oh, you wrong me. There can not be any one more respectful to you than
+I am." The sincerity of his tones could not be denied. In fact, he was
+almost too sincere.
+
+"Nevertheless, I wish you to regard what I have said. Now, you two
+shake hands."
+
+The groom and the chef shook hands. I am ashamed to say that James
+squeezed Monsieur Pierre's flabby hand out of active service for
+several hours that followed. Beads of agony sparkled on Monsieur
+Pierre's expansive brow as he turned to enter the kitchen.
+
+"Shall we ride to-day, Miss?" he asked, inwardly amused.
+
+"No, _I_ shall not ride this morning,"--calmly.
+
+James bowed meekly under the rebuke. What did he care? Did he not
+possess a rose which had known the pressure of her lips, her warm, red
+lips?
+
+"You may go," she said.
+
+James went. James whistled on the way, too.
+
+Would that it had been my good fortune to have witnessed the episode of
+that afternoon! My jehu, when he hears it related these days, smiles a
+sickly grin. I do not believe that he ever laughed heartily over it. At
+three o'clock, while Warburton was reading the morning paper,
+interested especially in the Army news of the day, he heard Pierre's
+voice wailing.
+
+"What's the fat fool want now?" James grumbled to William.
+
+"Oh, he's always yelling for help. They've coddled him so long in the
+family that he acts like a ten-year-old kid. I stole a kiss from
+Celeste one day, and I will be shot if he didn't start to blubber."
+
+"You stole a kiss, eh?" said James, admiringly.
+
+"Only just for the sport of making him crazy, that was all." But
+William's red visage belied his indifferent tone. "You'd better go and
+see what he wants. My hands are all harness grease."
+
+Warburton concluded to follow William's advice. He flung down his paper
+and strode out to the rear porch, where he saw Pierre gesticulating
+wildly.
+
+"What's the matter? What do you want?"--churlishly.
+
+"Frightful! Zee stove-pipe ees vat you call _bust!_"
+
+James laughed.
+
+"I can not rrreach eet. I can not cook till eet ees fix'. You are tall,
+eh?"--affably.
+
+"All right; I'll help you fix it."
+
+Grumbling, James went into the kitchen, mounted a chair, and began
+banging away at the pipe, very much after the fashion of Bunner's
+"Culpepper Ferguson." The pipe acted piggishly. James grew determined.
+One end slipped in and then the other slipped out, half a dozen times.
+James lost patience and became angry; and in his anger he overreached
+himself. The chair slid back. He tried to balance himself and, in the
+mad effort to maintain a perpendicular position, made a frantic clutch
+at the pipe. Ruin and devastation! Down came the pipe, and with it a
+peck of greasy soot.
+
+Monsieur Pierre yelled with terror and despair. The pies on the rear
+end of the stove were lost for ever. Mademoiselle Celeste screamed with
+laughter, whether at the sight of the pies or M'sieu Zhames, is more
+than I can say.
+
+James rose to his feet, the cuss-words of a corporal rumbled behind his
+lips. He sent an energetic kick toward Pierre, who succeeded in eluding
+it.
+
+Pierre's eyes were full of tears. What a kitchen! What a kitchen! Soot,
+soot, everywhere, on the floor, on the tables, on the walls, in the air!
+
+"Zee pipe!" he burst forth; "zee pipe! You haf zee house full of gas!"
+
+James, blinking and sneezing, boiling with rage and chagrin, remounted
+the chair and finally succeeded in joining the two lengths. Nothing
+happened this time. But the door to the forward rooms opened, and Miss
+Annesley looked in upon the scene.
+
+"Merciful heavens!" she gasped, "what has happened?"
+
+"Zee stove-pipe bust, Mees," explained Pierre.
+
+The girl gave Warburton one look, balled her handkerchief against her
+mouth, and fled. This didn't add to his amiability. He left the kitchen
+in a downright savage mood. He had appeared before her positively
+ridiculous, laughable. A woman never can love a man, nor entertain
+tender regard for him at whom she has laughed: And the girl had
+laughed, and doubtless was still laughing. (However, I do not offer his
+opinion as infallible.)
+
+He stood in the roadway, looking around for some inanimate thing upon
+which he might vent his anger, when the sound of hoofs coming toward
+him distracted him. He glanced over his shoulder... and his knees all
+but gave way under him. Caught! The rider was none other than his
+sister Nancy! It was all over now, for a certainty. He knew it; he had
+about one minute to live. She was too near, so he dared not fly. Then a
+brilliant inspiration came to him. He quickly passed his hand over his
+face. The disguise was complete. Vidocq's wonderful eye could not have
+penetrated to the flesh.
+
+"James!" Miss Annesley was standing on the veranda. "Take charge of the
+horse. Nancy, dear, I am so glad to see you!"
+
+James was anything but glad.
+
+"Betty, good gracious, whatever is the matter with this fellow? Has he
+the black plague? Ugh!" She slid from the saddle unaided.
+
+James stolidly took the reins.
+
+"The kitchen stove-pipe fell down," Betty replied, "and James stood in
+the immediate vicinity of it."
+
+The two girls laughed joyously, but James did not even smile. He had
+half a notion to kiss Nancy, as he had planned to do that memorable
+night of the ball at the British embassy. But even as the notion came
+to him, Nancy had climbed up the steps and was out of harm's way.
+
+"James," said Miss Annesley, "go and wash your face at once."
+
+"Yes, Miss."
+
+At the sound of his voice Nancy turned swiftly; but the groom had
+presented his back and was leading the horse to the stables.
+
+Nancy would never tell me the substance of her conversation with Miss
+Annesley that afternoon, but I am conceited enough to believe that a
+certain absent gentleman was the main topic. When she left, it was
+William who led out the horse. He explained that James was still
+engaged with soap and water and pumice-stone. Miss Annesley's laughter
+rang out heartily, and Nancy could not help joining her.
+
+"And have you heard from that younger brother of yours?" Betty asked,
+as her friend settled herself in the saddle.
+
+"Not a line, Betty, not a line; and I had set my heart on your meeting
+him. I do not know where he is, or when he will be back."
+
+"Perhaps he is in quest of adventures."
+
+"He is in Canada, hunting caribou."
+
+"You don't tell me!"
+
+"What a handsome girl you are, Betty!"--admiringly.
+
+"What a handsome girl you are, Nancy!" mimicked the girl on the
+veranda. "If your brother is only half as handsome, I do not know
+whatever will become of this heart of mine when we finally meet." She
+smiled and drolly placed her hands on her heart. "Don't look so
+disappointed, Nan; perhaps we may yet meet. I have an idea that he will
+prove interesting and entertaining;"--and she laughed again.
+
+"Whoa, Dandy! What _are_ you laughing at?" demanded Nancy.
+
+"I was thinking of James and his soap and water and pumice-stone. That
+was all, dear. Saturday afternoon, then, we shall ride to the club and
+have tea. Good-by, and remember me to the baby."
+
+"Good-by!"--and Nancy cantered away.
+
+What a blissful thing the lack of prescience is, sometimes!
+
+When James had scraped the soot from his face and neck and hands, and
+had sudsed it from his hair, James observed, with some concern, that
+Pirate was coughing at a great rate. His fierce run against the wind
+the day before had given him a cold. So James hunted about for the
+handy veterinarian.
+
+"Where do you keep your books here?" he asked William. "Pirate's got a
+cold."
+
+"In the house library. You just go in and get it. We always do that at
+home. You'll find it on the lower shelf, to the right as you enter the
+door."
+
+It was half after four when James, having taken a final look at his
+hands and nails, proceeded to follow William's instructions. He found
+no one about. Outside the kitchen the lower part of the house was
+deserted. To reach the library he had to pass through the music-room.
+He saw the violin-case on the piano, and at once unconsciously pursed
+his lips into a noiseless whistle. He passed on into the library. He
+had never been in any of these rooms in the daytime. It was not very
+light, even now.
+
+The first thing that caught his attention was a movable drawing-board,
+on which lay an uncompleted drawing. At one side stood a glass, into
+which were thrust numerous pens and brushes. Near this lay a small ball
+of crumpled cambric, such as women insist upon carrying in their
+street-car purses, a delicate, dainty, useless thing. So she drew
+pictures, too, he thought. Was there anything this beautiful creature
+could not do? Everything seemed to suggest her presence. An indefinable
+feminine perfume still lingered on the air, speaking eloquently of her.
+
+Curiosity impelled him to step forward and examine her work. He
+approached with all the stealth of a gentlemanly burglar. He expected
+to see some trees and hills and mayhap a brook, or some cows standing
+in a stream, or some children picking daisies. He had a sister, and was
+reasonably familiar with the kind of subjects chosen by the
+lady-amateur.
+
+A fortification plan!
+
+He bent close to it. Here was the sea, here was the land, here the
+number of soldiers, cannon, rounds of ammunition, resources in the
+matter of procuring aid, the telegraph, the railways, everything was
+here on this pale, waxen cloth, everything but a name. He stared at it,
+bewildered. He couldn't understand what a plan of this sort was doing
+outside the War Department. Instantly he became a soldier; he forgot
+that he was masquerading as a groom; he forgot everything but this mute
+thing staring up into his face. Underneath, on a little shelf, he saw a
+stack of worn envelopes. He looked at them. Rough drafts of plans.
+Governor's Island! Fortress Monroe! What did it mean? What _could_ it
+mean? He searched and found plans, plans, plans of harbors, plans of
+coast defenses, plans of ships building, plans of full naval and
+military strength; everything, everything! He straightened. How his
+breath pained him! ... And all this was the handiwork of the woman he
+loved! Good God, what was going on in this house? What right had such
+things as these to be in a private home? For what purpose had they been
+drawn? so accurately reproduced? For what purpose?
+
+Oh, whatever the purpose was, _she_ was innocent; upon this conviction
+he would willingly stake his soul. Innocent, innocent! ticked the clock
+over the mantel. Yes, she was innocent. Else, how could she laugh in
+that light-hearted fashion? How could the song tremble on her lips? How
+could her eyes shine so bright and merry?... Karloff, Annesley! Karloff
+the Russian, Annesley the American; the one a secret agent of his
+country, the other a former trusted official! No, no! He could not
+entertain so base a thought against the father of the girl he loved.
+Had he not admired his clean record, his personal bravery, his fearless
+honesty? And yet, that absent-mindedness, this care-worn countenance,
+these must mean something. The purpose, to find out the purpose of
+these plans!
+
+[Illustration: "A Saint Bernard dog might have done as much."--ACT III]
+
+He took the handkerchief and hid it in his breast, and quietly stole
+away.... A handkerchief, a rose, and a kiss; yes, that was all that
+would ever be his.
+
+Pirate nearly coughed his head off that night; but, it being William's
+night off, nobody paid any particular attention to that justly
+indignant animal.
+
+
+
+
+XXI
+
+THE ROSE
+
+
+On a Wednesday morning, clear and cold: not a cloud floated across the
+sky, nor did there rise above the horizon one of those clouds
+(portentous forerunners of evil!) to which novelists refer as being "no
+larger than a man's hand". Heaven knew right well that the blight of
+evil was approaching fast enough, but there was no visible indication
+on her face that glorious November morning. Doubtless you are familiar
+with history and have read all about what great personages did just
+before calamity swooped down on them. The Trojans laughed at the wooden
+horse; I don't know how many Roman banqueters never reached the desert
+because the enemy had not paid any singular regard to courtesies in
+making the attack; men and women danced on the eve of Waterloo--"On
+with the dance, let joy be unconfined"; _my_ heroine simply went
+shopping. It doesn't sound at all romantic; very prosaic, in fact.
+
+She declared her intention of making a tour of the shops and of
+dropping into Mrs. Chadwick's on the way home. She ordered James to
+bring around the pair and the coupe. James was an example of docile
+obedience. As she came down the steps, she was a thing of beauty and a
+joy for ever. She wore one of those jackets to which several
+gray-squirrel families had contributed their hides, a hat whose
+existence was due to the negligence of a certain rare bird, and many
+silk-worms had spun the fabric of her gown. Had any one called her
+attention to all this, there isn't any doubt that she would have been
+shocked. Only here and there are women who see what a true Moloch
+fashion is; this tender-souled girl saw only a handsome habit which
+pleased the eye. Health bloomed in her cheeks, health shone from her
+eyes, her step had all the elasticity of youth.
+
+"Good morning, James," she said pleasantly.
+
+James touched his hat. What was it, he wondered. Somehow her eyes
+looked unfamiliar to him. Had I been there I could have read the secret
+easily enough. Sometimes the pure pools of the forests are stirred and
+become impenetrable; but by and by the commotion subsides, and the
+water clears. So it is with the human soul. There had been doubt
+hitherto in this girl's eyes; now, the doubt was gone.
+
+To him, soberly watchful, her smile meant much; it was the patent of
+her innocence of any wrong thought. All night he had tossed on his cot,
+thinking, thinking! What should he do? What_ever_ should he do? That
+some wrong was on the way he hadn't the least doubt. Should he confront
+the colonel and demand an explanation, a demand he knew he had a
+perfect right to make? If this should be evil, and the shame of it fall
+on this lovely being?... No, no! He must stand aside, he must turn a
+deaf ear to duty, the voice of love spoke too loud. His own assurance
+of her innocence made him desire to fall at her feet and worship. After
+all, it _was_ none of his affair. Had he not played at this comedy,
+this thing would have gone on, and he would have been in ignorance of
+its very existence. So, why should he meddle? Yet that monotonous query
+kept beating on his brain: What _was_ this thing?
+
+He saw that he must wait. Yesterday he had feared nothing save his own
+exposure. Comedy had frolicked in her grinning mask. And here was
+Tragedy stalking in upon the scene.
+
+The girl named a dozen shops which she desired to honor with her custom
+and presence, and stepped into the coupe. William closed the door, and
+James touched up the pair and drove off toward the city. He was
+perfectly indifferent to any possible exposure. In truth, he forgot
+everything, absolutely and positively everything, but the girl and the
+fortification plans she had been drawing.
+
+Scarce a half a dozen bundles were the result of the tour among the
+shops.
+
+"Mrs. Chadwick's, James."
+
+The call lasted half an hour.
+
+As a story-teller I am supposed to be everywhere, to follow the
+footsteps of each and all of my characters, and with a fidelity and a
+perspicacity nothing short of the marvelous. So I take the liberty of
+imagining the pith of the conversation between the woman and the girl.
+
+_The Woman:_ How long, dear, have we known each other?
+
+_The Girl:_ Since I left school, I believe. Where _did_ you get that
+stunning morning gown?
+
+_The Woman_ (smiling in spite of the serious purpose she has in view):
+Never mind the gown, my child; I have something of greater importance
+to talk about.
+
+_The Girl: Is_ there anything more important to talk about among women?
+
+_The Woman:_ Yes. There is age.
+
+_The Girl:_ But, mercy, we do not talk about that!
+
+_The Woman:_ I am going to establish a precedent, then. I am forty, or
+at least, I am on the verge of it.
+
+_The Girl_ (warningly): Take care! If we should ever become enemies! If
+I should ever become treacherous!
+
+_The Woman:_ The world very well knows that I am older than I look.
+That is why it takes such interest in my age.
+
+_The Girl:_ The question is, how _do_ you preserve it?
+
+_The Woman:_ Well, then, I am forty, while you stand on the threshold
+of the adorable golden twenties. (Walks over to picture taken eighteen
+years before and contemplates it.) Ah, to be twenty again; to start
+anew, possessing my present learning and wisdom, and knowledge of the
+world; to avoid the pits into which I so carelessly stumbled! But no!
+
+_The Girl_: Mercy! what have you to wish for? Are not princes and
+ambassadors your friends; have you not health and wealth and beauty?
+You wish for something, you who are so handsome and brilliant!
+
+_The Woman_: Blinds, my dear Betty, only blinds; for that is all beauty
+and wealth and wit are. Who sees behind sees scars of many wounds. You
+are without a mother, I am without a child. (Sits down beside the girl
+and takes her hand in hers.) Will you let me be a mother to you for
+just this morning? How can any man help loving you! (impulsively.)
+
+_The Girl_: How foolish you are, Grace!
+
+_The Woman_: Ah, to blush like that!
+
+_The Girl_: You are very embarrassing this morning. I believe you are
+even sentimental. Well, my handsome mother for just this morning, what
+is it you have to say to me? (jestingly.)
+
+_The Woman_: I do not know just how to begin. Listen. If ever trouble
+should befall you, if ever misfortune should entangle you, will you
+promise to come to me?
+
+_The Girl:_ Misfortune? What is on your mind, Grace?
+
+_The Woman:_ Promise!
+
+_The Girl:_ I promise. (Laughs.)
+
+_The Woman:_ I am rich. Promise that if poverty should ever come to
+you, you will come to me.
+
+_The Girl_ (puzzled): I do not understand you at all!
+
+_The Woman:_ Promise!
+
+_The Girl:_ I promise; but--
+
+_The Woman:_ Thank you, Betty.
+
+_The Girl_ (growing serious): What is all this about, Grace? You look
+so earnest.
+
+_The Woman:_ Some day you will understand. Will you answer me one
+question, as a daughter would answer her mother?
+
+_The Girl_ (gravely): Yes.
+
+_The Woman:_ Would you marry a title for the title's sake?
+
+_The Girl_ (indignantly): I?
+
+_The Woman:_ Yes; would you?
+
+_The Girl:_ I shall marry the man I love, and if not him, nobody. I
+mean, of course, _when_ I love.
+
+_The Woman:_ Blushing again? My dear, is Karloff anything to you?
+
+_The Girl:_ Karloff? Mercy, no. He is handsome and fascinating and
+rich, but I could not love him. It would be easier to love--to love my
+groom outside.
+
+(They both smile.)
+
+_The Woman_ (grave once more): That is all I wished to know, dear.
+Karloff is not worthy of you.
+
+_The Girl_ (sitting very erect): I do not understand. Is he not
+honorable?
+
+_The Woman_ (hesitating): I have known him for seven years; I have
+always found him honorable.
+
+_The Girl:_ Why, then, should he not be worthy of me?
+
+_The Woman_ (lightly): Is any man?
+
+_The Girl:_ You are parrying my question. If I am to be your daughter,
+there must be no fencing.
+
+_The Woman_ (rising and going over to the portrait again): There are
+some things that a mother may not tell even to her daughter.
+
+_The Girl_ (determinedly): Grace, you have said too much or too little.
+I do not love Karloff, I never could love him; but I like him, and
+liking him, I feel called upon to defend him.
+
+_The Woman_ (surprised into showing her dismay): You defend him? You!
+
+_The Girl:_ And why not? That is what I wish to know: why not?
+
+_The Woman:_ My dear, you do not love him. That is all I wished to
+know. Karloff is a brilliant, handsome man, a gentleman; his sense of
+honor, such as it is, would do credit to many another man; but behind
+all this there is a power which makes him helpless, makes him a puppet,
+and robs him of certain worthy impulses. I have read somewhere that
+corporations have no souls; neither have governments. Ask me nothing
+more, Betty, for I shall answer no more questions.
+
+_The Girl:_ I do not think you are treating me fairly.
+
+_The Woman:_ At this moment I would willingly share with you half of
+all I possess in the world.
+
+_The Girl:_ But all this mystery!
+
+_The Woman:_ As I have said, some day you will understand. Treat
+Karloff as you have always treated him, politely and pleasantly. And I
+beg of you never to repeat our conversation.
+
+The Girl (to whom illumination suddenly comes; rises quickly and goes
+over to the woman; takes her by the shoulders, and the two stare into
+each other's eyes, the one searchingly, the other fearfully): Grace!
+
+The Woman: I am a poor foolish woman, Betty, for all my worldliness and
+wisdom; but I love you (softly), and that is why I appear weak before
+you. The blind envy those who see, the deaf those who hear; what one
+does not want another can not have. Karloff loves you, but you do not
+love him.
+
+(The girl kisses the woman gravely on the cheek, and without a word,
+makes her departure.)
+
+The Woman (as she hears the carriage roll away): Poor girl! Poor,
+happy, unconscious, motherless child! If only I had the power to stay
+the blow! ... Who can it be, then, that she loves?
+
+The Girl (in her carriage): Poor thing! She adores Karloff, and I never
+suspected it! I shall begin to hate him.
+
+How well women read each other!
+
+James had never parted with his rose and his handkerchief. They were
+always with him, no matter what livery he wore. After luncheon, William
+said that Miss Annesley desired to see him in the study. So James
+spruced up and duly presented himself at the study door.
+
+"You sent for me, Miss?"--his hat in his hand, his attitude deferential
+and attentive.
+
+She was engaged upon some fancy work, the name of which no man knows,
+and if he were told, could not possibly remember for longer than ten
+minutes. She laid this on the reading-table, stood up and brushed the
+threads from the little two-by-four cambric apron.
+
+"James, on Monday night I dropped a rose on the lawn. (Finds thread on
+her sleeve.) In the morning when I looked for it (brushes the apron
+again), it was gone. Did you find it?" She made a little ball of the
+straggling threads and dropped it into the waste-basket. A woman who
+has the support of beauty can always force a man to lower his gaze.
+James looked at his boots. His heart gave one great bound toward his
+throat, then sank what seemed to be fathoms deep in his breast. This
+was a thunderbolt out of heaven itself. Had she seen him, then? For a
+space he was tempted to utter a falsehood; but there was that in her
+eyes which warned him of the uselessness of such an expedient. Yet, to
+give up that rose would be like giving up some part of his being. She
+repeated the question: "I ask you if you found it."
+
+"Yes, Miss Annesley."
+
+"Do you still possess it?"
+
+"Yes, Miss."
+
+"And why did you pick it up?"
+
+"It was fresh and beautiful; and I believed that some lady at the
+dinner had worn it."
+
+"And so you picked it up? Where did you find it?"
+
+"Outside the bow-window, Miss."
+
+"When?"
+
+He thought for a moment. "In the morning, Miss."
+
+"Take care, James; it was not yet eleven o'clock, at night."
+
+"I admit what I said was not true, Miss. As you say, it was not yet
+eleven." James was pale. So she had thrown it away, confident that this
+moment would arrive. This humiliation was premeditated. Patience, he
+said inwardly; this would be the last opportunity she should have to
+humiliate him.
+
+"Have you the flower on your person?"
+
+"Yes, Miss."
+
+"Did you know that it was mine?"
+
+He was silent.
+
+"Did you know that it was mine?"--mercilessly.
+
+"Yes; but I believed that you had deliberately thrown it away. I saw no
+harm in taking it."
+
+"But there _was harm."_
+
+"I bow to your superior judgment, Miss,"--ironically.
+
+She deemed it wisest to pass over this experimental irony. "Give the
+flower back to me. It is not proper that a servant should have in his
+keeping a rose which was once mine, even if I had thrown it away or
+discarded it."
+
+Carefully he drew forth the crumpled flower. He looked at her, then at
+the rose, hoping against hope that she might relent. He hesitated till
+he saw an impatient movement of the extended hand. He surrendered.
+
+"Thank you. That is all. You may go."
+
+She tossed the withered flower into the waste-basket.
+
+"Pardon me, but before I go I have to announce that I shall resign my
+position next Monday. The money which has been advanced to me,
+deducting that which is due me, together with the amount of my fine at
+the police-court, I shall be pleased to return to you on the morning of
+my departure."
+
+Miss Annesley's lips fell apart, and her brows arched. She was very
+much surprised.
+
+"You wish to leave my service?"--as if it were quite impossible that
+such a thing should occur to him.
+
+"Yes, Miss."
+
+"You are dissatisfied with your position?"--icily.
+
+"It is not that, Miss. As a groom I am perfectly satisfied. The trouble
+lies in the fact that I have too many other things to do. It is very
+distasteful for me to act in the capacity of butler. My temper is not
+equable enough for that position." He bowed.
+
+"Very well. I trust that you will not regret your decision." She sat
+down and coolly resumed her work.
+
+"It is not possible that I shall regret it."
+
+"You may go."
+
+He bowed again, one corner of his mouth twisted. Then he took himself
+off to the stables. He was certainly in what they call a towering rage.
+
+If I were not a seer of the first degree, a narrator of the penetrative
+order, I should be vastly puzzled over this singular action on her part.
+
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+THE DRAMA UNROLLS
+
+
+When a dramatist submits his _scenario_, he always accompanies it with
+drawings, crude or otherwise, of the various set-scenes and curtains
+known as drops. To the uninitiated these scrawls would look impossible;
+but to the stage-manager's keen, imaginative eye a whole picture is
+represented in these few pothooks. Each object on the stage is labeled
+alphabetically; thus A may represent a sofa, B a window, C a table, and
+so forth and so on. I am not a dramatist; I am not writing an acting
+drama; so I find that a diagram of the library in Senator Blank's house
+is neither imperative nor advisable. It is half after eight; the
+curtain rises; the music of a violin is heard coming from the
+music-room; Colonel Annesley is discovered sitting in front of the wood
+fire, his chin sunk on his breast, his hands hanging listlessly on each
+side of the chair, his face deeply lined. From time to time he looks at
+the clock. I can imagine no sorrier picture than that of this loving,
+tender-hearted, wretched old man as he sits there, waiting for Karloff
+and the ignominious end. Fortune gone with the winds, poverty leering
+into his face, shame drawing her red finder across his brow, honor in
+sackcloth and ashes!
+
+And but two short years ago there had not been in all the wide land a
+more contented man than himself, a man with a conscience freer. God!
+Even yet he could hear the rolling, whirring ivory ball as it spun the
+circle that fatal night at Monte Carlo. Man does not recall the
+intermediate steps of his fall, only the first step and the last. In
+his waking hours the colonel always heard the sound of it, and it
+rattled through his troubled dreams. He could not understand how
+everything had gone as it had. It seemed impossible that in two years
+he had dissipated a fortune, sullied his honor, beggared his child. It
+was all so like a horrible dream. If only he might wake; if only God
+would be so merciful as to permit him to wake! He hid his face. There
+is no hell save conscience makes it.
+
+The music laughed and sighed and laughed. It was the music of love and
+youth; joyous, rollicking, pulsing music.
+
+The colonel sprang to his feet suddenly, his hands at his throat. He
+was suffocating. The veins gnarled on his neck and brow. There was in
+his heart a pain as of many knives. His arms fell: of what use was it
+to struggle? He was caught, trapped in a net of his own contriving.
+
+Softly he crossed the room and stood by the portiere beyond which was
+the music-room. She was happy, happy in her youth and ignorance; she
+could play all those sprightly measures, her spirit as light and
+conscience-free; she could sing, she could laugh, she could dance. And
+all the while his heart was breaking, breaking!
+
+"How shall I face her mother?" he groaned.
+
+The longing which always seizes the guilty to confess and relieve the
+mind came over him. If only he dared rush in there, throw himself at
+her feet, and stammer forth his wretched tale! She was of his flesh, of
+his blood; when she knew she would not wholly condemn him . . . No, no!
+He could not. She honored and trusted him now; she had placed him on so
+high a pedestal that it was utterly impossible for him to disillusion
+her young mind, to see for ever and ever the mute reproach in her
+honest eyes, to feel that though his arm encircled her she was beyond
+his reach.... God knew that he could not tell this child of the black
+gulf he had digged for himself and her.
+
+Sometimes there came to him the thought to put an end to this maddening
+grief, by violence to period this miserable existence. But always he
+cast from him the horrible thought. He was not a coward, and the
+cowardice of suicide was abhorrent to him. Poverty he might leave her,
+but not the legacy of a suicide. If only it might be God's kindly will
+to let him die, once this abominable bargain was consummated! Death is
+the seal of silence; it locks alike the lips of the living and the
+dead. And she might live in ignorance, till the end of her days,
+without knowing that her wealth was the price of her father's dishonor.
+
+A mist blurred his sight; he could not see. He steadied himself, and
+with an effort regained his chair noiselessly. And how often he had
+smiled at the drama on the stage, with its absurdities, its tawdriness,
+its impossibilities! Alas, what did they on the stage that was half so
+weak as he had done: ruined himself without motive or reason!
+
+The bell sang its buzzing note; there was the sound of crunching wheels
+on the driveway; the music ceased abruptly. Silence. A door opened and
+closed. A moment or so later Karloff, preceded by the girl, came into
+the study. She was grave because she remembered Mrs. Chadwick. He was
+grave also; he had various reasons for being so.
+
+"Father, the count tells me that he has an engagement with you," she
+said. She wondered if this appointment in any way concerned her.
+
+"It is true, my child. Leave us, and give orders that we are not to be
+disturbed."
+
+She scrutinized him sharply. How strangely hollow his voice sounded!
+Was he ill?
+
+"Father, you are not well. Count, you must promise me not to keep him
+long, however important this interview may be. He is ill and needs
+rest,"--and her loving eyes caressed each line of care in her parent's
+furrowed cheeks.
+
+Annesley smiled reassuringly. It took all the strength of his will, all
+that remained of a high order of courage, to create this smile. He
+wanted to cry out to her that it was a lie, a mockery. Behind that
+smile his teeth grated.
+
+"I shall not keep him long, Mademoiselle," said the count. He spoke
+gently, but he studiously avoided her eyes.
+
+She hesitated for a moment on the threshold; she knew not why. Her lips
+even formed words, but she did not speak. What was it? Something
+oppressed her. Her gaze wandered indecisively from her father to the
+count, from the count to her father.
+
+"When you are through," she finally said, "bring your cigars into the
+music-room."
+
+"With the greatest pleasure, Mademoiselle," replied the count. "And
+play, if you so desire; our business is such that your music will be as
+a pleasure added.'"
+
+Her father nodded; but he could not force another smile to his lips.
+The brass rings of the portiere rattled, and she was gone. But she left
+behind a peculiar tableau, a tableau such as is formed by those who
+stand upon ice which is about to sink and engulf them.
+
+The two men stood perfectly still. I doubt not that each experienced
+the same sensation, that the same thought occurred to each mind, though
+it came from different avenues: love and shame. The heart of the little
+clock on the mantel beat tick-tock, tick-tock; a log crackled and fell
+between the irons, sending up a shower of evanescent sparks; one of the
+long windows giving out upon the veranda creaked mysteriously.
+
+Karloff was first to break the spell. He made a gesture which was
+eloquent of his distaste of the situation.
+
+"Let us terminate this as quickly as possible," he said.
+
+"Yes, let us have done with it before I lose my courage," replied the
+colonel, his voice thin and quavering. He wiped his forehead with his
+handkerchief. His hand shone white and his nails darkly blue.
+
+The count stepped over to the table, reached into the inner pocket of
+his coat, and extracted a packet. In this packet was the enormous sum
+of one hundred and eighty thousand dollars in notes of one thousand
+denomination; that is to say, one hundred and eighty slips of paper
+redeemable in gold by the government which had issued them. On top of
+this packet lay the colonel's note for twenty thousand dollars.
+
+(It is true that Karloff never accepted money from his government in
+payment for his services; but it is equally true that for every penny
+he laid out he was reimbursed by Russia.)
+
+Karloff placed the packet on the table, first taking off the note,
+which he carelessly tossed beside the bank-notes.
+
+"You will observe that I have not bothered with having your note
+discounted. I have fulfilled my part of the bargain; fulfil yours." The
+count thrust his trembling hands into his trousers pockets. He desired
+to hide this embarrassing sign from his accomplice.
+
+Annesley went to a small safe which stood at the left of the fireplace
+and returned with a packet somewhat bulkier than the count's. He
+dropped it beside the money, shudderingly, as though he had touched a
+poisonous viper.
+
+"My honor," he said simply. "I had never expected to sell it so cheap."
+
+There was a pause, during which neither man's gaze swerved from the
+other's. There was not the slightest, not even the remotest, fear of
+treachery; each man knew with whom he was dealing; yet there they
+stood, as if fascinated. One would have thought that the colonel would
+have counted his money, or Karloff his plans; they did neither. Perhaps
+the colonel wanted Karloff to touch the plans first, before he touched
+the money; perhaps Karloff had the same desire, only the other way
+around.
+
+[Illustration: "I am simply Miss Annesly's servant."--ACT III.]
+
+The colonel spoke.
+
+"I believe that is all" he said quietly. The knowledge that the deed
+was done and that there was no retreat gave back to him a particle of
+his former coolness and strength of mind. It had been the thought of
+committing the crime that had unnerved him. Now that his bridges were
+burned, a strange, unnatural calm settled on him.
+
+The count evidently was not done. He moistened his lips. There was a
+dryness in his throat.
+
+"It is not too late" he said; "I have not yet touched them."
+
+"We shall not indulge in moralizing, if you please," interrupted the
+colonel, with savage irony. "The moment for that has gone by."
+
+"Very well." Karloff's shoulders settled; his jaws became aggressively
+angular; some spirit of his predatory forebears touched his face here
+and there, hardening it. "I wish to speak in regard to your daughter."
+
+"Enough! Take my honor and be gone!" The colonel's voice was loud and
+rasping.
+
+Karloff rested his hands on the table and inclined his body toward the
+colonel.
+
+"Listen to me," he began. "There is in every man the making and the
+capacity of a great rascal. Time and opportunity alone are needed--and
+a motive. The other night I told you that I could not give up your
+daughter. Well, I have not given her up. She must be my wife."
+
+"Must?" The colonel clenched his hands.
+
+"Must. To-night I am going to prove myself a great rascal--with a great
+motive. What is Russia to me? Nothing. What is your dishonor or my own?
+Less than nothing. There is only one thing, and that is my love for
+your daughter." He struck the table and the flame of the student-lamp
+rose violently. "She must be mine, mine! I have tried to win her as an
+honorable man tries to win the woman he loves; now she must be won by
+an act of rascality. Heaven nor hell shall force me to give her up.
+Yes, I love her; and I lower myself to your level to gain her."
+
+"To my level! Take care; I am still a man, with a man's strength,"
+cried the colonel.
+
+Karloff swept his hand across his forehead. "I have lied to myself long
+enough, and to you. I can see now that I have been working solely
+toward one end. My country is not to be considered, neither is yours.
+Do you realize that you stand wholly and completely in my power?" He
+ran his tongue across his lips, which burned with fever.
+
+"What do you mean?"--hoarsely.
+
+"I mean, your daughter must become my wife, or I shall notify your
+government that you have attempted to betray it."
+
+"You dishonorable wretch!" The colonel balled his fists and protruded
+his nether lip. Only the table stood between them.
+
+"That term or another, it does not matter. The fact remains that you
+have sold to me the fortification plans of your country; and though it
+be in times of peace, you are none the less guilty and culpable. Your
+daughter shall be my wife."
+
+"I had rather strangle her with these hands!"--passionately.
+
+"Well, why should I not have her for my wife? Who loves her more than
+I? I am rich; from hour to hour, from day to day, what shall I not plan
+to make her happy? I love her with all the fire and violence of my race
+and blood. I can not help it. I will not, can not, live without her!
+Good God, yes! I recognize the villainy of my actions. But I am mad
+to-night."
+
+"So I perceive." The colonel gazed wildly about the walls for a weapon.
+There was not even the usual ornamental dagger.
+
+A window again stirred mysteriously. A few drops of rain plashed on the
+glass and zigzagged down to the sash.
+
+"Sooner or later your daughter must know. Request her presence. It
+rests with her, not with you, as to what course I must follow." Karloff
+was extraordinarily pale, and his dark eyes, reflecting the dancing
+flames, sparkled like rubies.
+
+He saw the birth of horror in the elder's eyes, saw it grow and grow.
+He saw the colonel's lips move spasmodically, but utter no sound. What
+was it he saw over his (the count's) shoulders and beyond?
+Instinctively he turned, and what he saw chilled the heat of his blood.
+
+There stood the girl, her white dress marble-white against the dark
+wine of the portiere, an edge of which one hand clutched convulsively.
+Was it Medusa's beauty or her magic that turned men into stone? My
+recollection is at fault. At any rate, so long as she remained
+motionless, neither man had the power to stir. She held herself
+perfectly erect; every fiber in her young body was tense. Her beauty
+became weirdly powerful, masked as it was with horror, doubt, shame,
+and reproach. She had heard; little or much was of no consequence. In
+the heat of their variant passions, the men's voices had risen to a
+pitch that penetrated beyond the room.
+
+Karloff was first to recover, and he took an involuntary step toward
+her; but she waved him back disdainfully.
+
+"Do not come near me. I loathe you!" The voice was low, but every note
+was strained and unmusical.
+
+He winced. His face could not have stung or burned more hotly had she
+struck him with her hand.
+
+"Mademoiselle!"
+
+She ignored him. "Father, what does this mean?"
+
+"Agony!" The colonel fell back into his chair, pressing his hands over
+his eyes.
+
+"I will tell you what it means!" cried Karloff, a rage possessing him.
+He had made a mistake. He had misjudged both the father and the child.
+He could force her into his arms, but he would always carry a burden of
+hate. "It means that this night you stand in the presence of a
+dishonored parent, a man who has squandered your inheritance over
+gambling tables, and who, to recover these misused sums, has sold to me
+the principal fortification plans of his country. That is what is
+means, Mademoiselle."
+
+She grasped the portiere for support.
+
+"Father, is this thing true?" Her voice fell to a terror-stricken
+whisper.
+
+"Oh, it is true enough," said Karloff. "God knows that it is true
+enough. But it rests with you to save him. Become my wife, and yonder
+fire shall swallow his dishonor--and mine. Refuse, and I shall expose
+him. After all, love is a primitive state, and with it we go back to
+the beginning; before it honor or dishonor is nothing. To-night there
+is nothing, nothing in the world save my love for you, and the chance
+that has given me the power to force you to be mine. What a fury and a
+tempest love produces! It makes an honorable man of the knave, a rascal
+of the man of honor; it has toppled thrones, destroyed nations,
+obliterated races. ... Well, I have become a rascal. Mademoiselle, you
+must become my wife." He lifted his handsome head resolutely.
+
+Without giving him so much as a glance, she swept past him and sank on
+her knees at her father's side, taking his hands by the wrists and
+pressing them down from his face.
+
+"Father, tell him he lies! Tell him he lies!" Ah, the entreaty, the
+love, the anxiety, the terror that blended her tones!
+
+He strove to look away.
+
+"Father, you are all I have," she cried brokenly. "Look at me! Look at
+me and tell him that he lies!... You will not look at me? God have
+mercy on me, it is true, then!" She rose and spread her arms toward
+heaven to entreat God to witness her despair. "I did not think or know
+that such base things were done... That these loving hands should have
+helped to encompass my father's dishonor, his degradation! ... For
+money! What is money? You knew, father, that what was mine was likewise
+yours. Why did you not tell me? I should have laughed; we should have
+begun all over again; I could have earned a living with my music; we
+should have been honest and happy. And now!... And I drew those plans
+with a heart full of love and happiness! Oh, it is not that you
+gambled, that you have foolishly wasted a fortune; it is not these that
+hurt here,"--pressing her heart. "It is the knowledge that you, my
+father, should let _me_ draw those horrible things. It hurts! Ah, how
+it hurts!" A sob choked her. She knelt again at her parent's side and
+flung her arms around the unhappy, wretched man. "Father, you have
+committed a crime to shield a foolish act. I know, I know! What you
+have done you did for my sake, to give me back what you thought was my
+own. Oh, how well I know that you had no thought of yourself; it was
+all for me, and I thank God for that. But something has died here,
+something here in my heart. I have been so happy! ... too happy! My
+poor father!" She laid her head against his breast.
+
+"My heart is broken! Would to God that I might die!" Annesley threw one
+arm across the back of the chair and turned his face to his sleeve.
+
+Karloff, a thousand arrows of regret and shame and pity quivering in
+his heart, viewed the scene moodily, doggedly. No, he could not go
+back; there was indeed a wall behind him: pride.
+
+"Well, Mademoiselle?"
+
+She turned, still on her knees.
+
+"You say that if I do not marry you, you will ruin my father, expose
+him?"
+
+"Yes,"--thinly.
+
+"Listen. I am a proud woman, yet will I beg you not to do this horrible
+thing--force me into your arms. Take everything, take all that is left;
+you can not be so utterly base as to threaten such a wrong.
+See!"--extending her lovely arms, "I am on my knees to you!"
+
+"My daughter!" cried the father.
+
+"Do not interrupt me, father; he will relent; he is not wholly without
+pity."
+
+"No, no! No, no!" Karloff exclaimed, turning his head aside and
+repelling with his hands, as if he would stamp out the fires of pity
+which, at the sound of her voice, had burst anew in his heart. "I
+_will_ not give you up!"
+
+She drew her sleeve across her eyes and stood up. All at once she
+wheeled upon him like a lioness protecting its young. In her wrath she
+was as magnificent as the wife of--Aeneas at the funeral pyre of that
+great captain.
+
+"She knew! That was why she asked me all those questions; that is why
+she exacted those promises! Mrs. Chadwick knew and dared not tell me!
+And I trusted you as a friend, as a gentleman, as a man of honor!" Her
+laughter rang out wildly. "And for these favors you bring dishonor!
+Shame! Shame! Your wife? Have you thought well of what you are about to
+do?"
+
+"So well," he declared, "that I shall proceed to the end, to the very
+end." How beautiful she was! And a mad desire urged him to spring to
+her, crush her in his arms, and force upon her lips a thousand mad
+kisses!
+
+"Have you weighed well the consequences?"
+
+"Upon love's most delicate scales."
+
+"Have you calculated what manner of woman I am?"--with subdued
+fierceness.
+
+"To me you are the woman of all women."
+
+"Do you think that I am a faint-hearted girl? You are making a mistake.
+I am a woman with a woman's mind, and a thousand years would not alter
+my utter contempt of you. Force me to marry you, and as there is a God
+above us to witness, every moment of suffering you now inflict upon me
+and mine, I shall give back a day, a long, bitter, galling day. Do you
+think that it will be wise to call me countess?" Her scorn was superb.
+
+"I am waiting for your answer. Will you be my wife, or shall I be
+forced to make my villainy definitive?"
+
+"Permit me to take upon these shoulders the burden of answering that
+question," said a voice from the window.
+
+Warburton, dressed in his stable clothes and leggings, hatless and
+drenched with rain, stepped into the room from the veranda and quickly
+crossed the intervening space. Before any one of the tragic group could
+recover from the surprise caused by his unexpected appearance, he had
+picked up the packet of plans and had dropped it into the fire. Then he
+leaned with his back against the mantel and faced them, or rather
+Karloff, of whom he was not quite sure.
+
+
+
+
+XXIII
+
+SOMETHING ABOUT HEROES
+
+
+Tick-lock, tick-tock went the voice of the little friend of eternity on
+the mantel-piece; the waxen sheets (to which so much care and labor had
+been given) writhed and unfolded, curled and crackled, and blackened on
+the logs; the cold wind and rain blew in through the opened window; the
+lamp flared and flickered inside its green shade; a legion of heroes
+peered out from the book-cases, no doubt much astonished at the sight
+of this ordinary hero of mine and his mean, ordinary clothes. I have in
+my mind's eye the picture of good D'Artagnan's frank contempt, Athos'
+magnificent disdain, the righteous (I had almost said honest!) horror
+of the ultra-fashionable Aramis, and the supercilious indignation of
+the bourgeois Porthos. What! this a hero? Where, then, was his rapier,
+his glittering baldric, his laces, his dancing plumes, his fine air?
+
+Several times in the course of this narrative I have expressed my
+regret in not being an active witness of this or that scene, a regret
+which, as I am drawing most of these pictures from hearsay, is
+perfectly natural. What must have been the varying expressions on each
+face! Warburton, who, though there was tumult in his breast, coolly
+waited for Karloff to make the next move; Annesley, who saw his
+terrible secret in the possession of a man whom he supposed to be a
+stable-man; Karloff, who saw his house of cards vanish in the dartling
+tongues of flame, and recognized the futility of his villainy; the
+girl... Ah, who shall describe the dozen shadowy emotions which crossed
+and recrossed her face?
+
+From Warburton's dramatic entrance upon the scene to Karloff's first
+movement, scarce a minute had passed, though to the girl and her father
+an eternity seemed to come and go. Karloff was a brave man. Upon the
+instant of his recovery, he sprang toward Warburton, silently and with
+predetermination: he must regain some fragment of those plans. He would
+not, could not, suffer total defeat before this girl's eyes; his blood
+rebelled against the thought. He expected the groom to strike him, but
+James simply caught him by the arms and thrust him back.
+
+"No, Count; no, no; they shall burn to the veriest crisp!"
+
+"Stand aside, lackey!" cried Karloff, a sob of rage strangling him.
+Again he rushed upon Warburton, his clenched hand uplifted. Warburton
+did not even raise his hands this time. So they stood, their faces
+within a hand's span of each other, the one smiling coldly, the other
+in the attitude of striking a blow. Karloff's hand fell unexpectedly,
+but not on the man in front of him. "Good God, no! a gentleman does not
+strike a lackey! Stand aside, stand aside!"
+
+"They shall burn, Count,"--quietly; "they shall burn, because I am
+physically the stronger." Warburton turned quickly and with the toe of
+his boot shifted the glowing packet and renewed the flames. "I never
+realized till to-night that I loved my country half so well. Lackey?
+Yes, for the present."
+
+He had not yet looked at the girl.
+
+"Ah!" Karloff cried, intelligence lighting his face. "You are no
+lackey!"--subduing his voice.
+
+James smiled. "You are quite remarkable."
+
+"Who are you? I demand to know!"
+
+"First and foremost, I am a citizen of the United States; I have been a
+soldier besides. It was my common right to destroy these plans, which
+indirectly menaced my country's safety. These,"--pointing to the
+bank-notes, "are yours, I believe. Nothing further requires your
+presence here."
+
+"Yes, yes; I remember now! Fool that I have been!" Karloff struck his
+forehead in helpless rage. "I never observed you closely till now. I
+recall. The secret service: Europe, New York, Washington; you have
+known it all along. Spy!"
+
+"That is an epithet which easily rebounds. Spy? Why, yes; I do for my
+country what you do for yours."
+
+"The name, the name! I can not recollect the name! The beard is gone,
+but that does not matter,"--excitedly.
+
+Warburton breathed easier. While he did not want the girl to know who
+he was just then, he was glad that Karloffs memory had taken his
+thought away from the grate and its valuable but rapidly disappearing
+fuel.
+
+"Father! Father, what is it?" cried the girl, her voice keyed to agony.
+"Father!"
+
+The two men turned about. Annesley had fainted in his chair. Both
+Warburton and Karloff mechanically started forward to offer aid, but
+she repelled their approach.
+
+"Do not come near me; you have done enough. Father, dear!" She slapped
+the colonel's wrists and unloosed his collar.
+
+The antagonists, forgetting their own battle, stood silently watching
+hers. Warburton's mind was first to clear, and without a moment's
+hesitation he darted from the room and immediately returned with a
+glass of water. He held it out to the girl. Their glances clashed; a
+thousand mute, angry questions in her eyes, a thousand mute, humble
+answers in his. She accepted the glass, and her hand trembled as she
+dipped her fingers into the cool depths and flecked the drops into the
+unconscious man's face.
+
+Meanwhile Karloff stood with folded arms, staring melancholically into
+the grate, where his dreams had disappeared in smoke. By and by the
+colonel sighed and opened his eyes. For a time he did not know where he
+was, and his gaze wandered mistily from face to face. Then recollection
+came back to him, recollection bristling with thorns. He struggled to
+his feet and faced Warburton. The girl put her arms around him to
+steady him, but he gently disengaged himself.
+
+"Are you from the secret service, sir? If so, I am ready to accompany
+you wherever you say. I, who have left my blood on many a battleground,
+was about to commit a treasonable act. Allow me first to straighten up
+my affairs, then you may do with me as you please. I am guilty of a
+crime; I have the courage to pay the penalty." His calm was
+extraordinary, and even Karloff looked at him with a sparkle of
+admiration.
+
+As a plummet plunges into the sea, so the girl's look plunged into
+Warburton's soul; and had he been an officer of the law, he knew that
+he would have utterly disregarded his duty.
+
+"I am not a secret service man, sir," he replied unevenly. "If I
+were,"--pointing to the grate, "your plans would not have fed the fire."
+
+"Who are you, then, and what do you in my house in this
+guise?"--proudly.
+
+"I am your head stable-man--for the present. It was all by chance. I
+came into this room yesterday to get a book on veterinary surgery. I
+accidentally saw a plan. I have been a soldier. I knew that such a
+thing had no rightful place in this house.... I was coming across the
+lawn, when I looked into the window. ... It is not for me to judge you,
+sir. My duty lay in destroying those plans before they harmed any one."
+
+"No, it is not for you to judge me," said the colonel. "I have gambled
+away my daughter's fortune. To keep her in ignorance of the fact and to
+return to her the amount I had wrongfully used, I consented to sell to
+Russia the coast fortification plans of my country, such as I could
+draw from memory. No, it is not for you to judge me; only God has the
+right to do that."
+
+"I am only a groom," said Warburton, simply. "What I have heard I shall
+forget."
+
+Ah, had he but looked at the girl's face then!
+
+A change came over Karloff's countenance; his shoulders drooped; the
+melancholy fire died out of his face and eyes. With an air of
+resignation and a clear sense of the proportion of things, he reached
+out and took up the note upon which Annesley had scrawled his signature.
+
+Warburton, always alert, seized the count's wrist. He saw the name of a
+bank and the sum of five figures.
+
+"What is this?" he demanded.
+
+"It is mine," replied the count, haughtily.
+
+Warburton released him.
+
+"He speaks truly," said the colonel. "It is his."
+
+"The hour of madness is past," the Russian began, slowly and musically.
+The tone was musing. He seemed oblivious of his surroundings and that
+three pairs of curious eyes were leveled in his direction. He studied
+the note, creased it, drew it through his fingers, smoothed it and
+caressed it. "And I should have done exactly as I threatened. There is,
+then, a Providence which watches jealously over the innocent? And I was
+a skeptic!... Two hundred thousand dollars,"--picking up the packet of
+banknotes and balancing it on his hand. "Well, it is a sum large enough
+to tempt any man. How the plans and schemes of men crumble to the
+touch! Ambition is but the pursuit of mirages.... Mademoiselle, you
+will never know what the ignominy of this moment has cost me--nor how
+well I love you. I come of a race of men who pursue their heart's
+desire through fire and water. Obstacles are nothing; the end is
+everything. In Europe I should have won, in honor or in dishonor. But
+this American people, I do not quite understand them; and that is why I
+have played the villain to no purpose."
+
+He paused, and a sad, bitter smile played over his face.
+
+"Mademoiselle," he continued, "henceforth, wherever I may go, your face
+and the sound of your voice shall abide with me. I do not ask you to
+forget, but I ask you to forgive." Again he paused.
+
+She uttered no sound.
+
+"Well, one does not forget nor forgive these things in so short a time.
+And, after all, it was your own father's folly. Fate threw him across
+my path at a critical moment--but I had reckoned without you. Your
+father is a brave man, for he had the courage to offer himself to the
+law; I have the courage to give you up. I, too, am a soldier; I
+recognize the value of retreat." To Warburton he said: "A groom, a
+hostler, to upset such plans as these! I do not know who you are, sir,
+nor how to account for your timely and peculiar appearance. But I fully
+recognize the falseness of your presence here. Eh, well, this is what
+comes of race prejudice, the senseless battle which has always been and
+always will be waged between the noble and the peasant. Had I observed
+you at the proper time, our positions might relatively have been
+changed. Useless retrospection!" To Annesley: "Sir, we are equally
+culpable. Here is this note of yours. I might, as a small contribution
+toward righting the comparative wrong which I have done you, I might
+cast it into the fire. But between gentlemen, situated as we are, the
+act would be as useless as it would be impossible. I might destroy the
+note, but you would refuse to accept such generosity at my
+hands,--which is well."
+
+"What you say is perfectly true." The colonel drew his daughter closer
+to him.
+
+"So," went on the count, putting the note in his pocket, "to-morrow I
+shall have my ducats."
+
+"My bank will discount the note," said the colonel, with a proud look;
+"my indebtedness shall be paid in full."
+
+"As I have not the slightest doubt. Mademoiselle, fortune ignores you
+but temporarily; misfortune has brushed only the hem of your garment,
+as it were. Do not let the fear of poverty alarm you,"--lightly. "I
+prophesy a great public future for you. And when you play that _Largo_
+of Handel's, to a breathless audience, who knows that I may not be
+hidden behind the curtain of some stall, drinking in the heavenly sound
+made by that loving bow?.... Romance enters every human being's life;
+like love and hate, it is primitive. But to every book fate writes
+_finis_."
+
+He thrust the bank-notes carelessly into his coat pocket, and walked
+slowly toward the hallway. At the threshold he stopped and looked back.
+The girl could not resist the magnetism of his dark eyes. She was
+momentarily fascinated, and her heart beat painfully.
+
+"If only I might go with the memory of your forgiveness," he said.
+
+"I forgive you."
+
+"Thank you." Then Karloff resolutely proceeded; the portiere fell
+behind him. Shortly after she heard the sound of closing doors, the
+rattle of a carriage, and then all became still. Thus the handsome
+barbarian passed from the scene.
+
+The colonel resumed his chair, his arm propped on a knee and his head
+bowed in his hand. Quickly the girl fell to her knees, hid her face on
+his breast, and regardless of the groom's presence, silently wept.
+
+"My poor child!" faltered the colonel. "God could not have intended to
+give you so wretched a father. Poverty and dishonor, poverty and
+dishonor; I who love you so well have brought you these!"
+
+Warburton, biting his trembling lips, tiptoed cautiously to the window,
+opened it and stepped outside. He raised his fevered face gratefully to
+the icy rain. A great and noble plan had come to him.
+
+As Mrs. Chadwick said, love is magnificent only when it gives all
+without question.
+
+
+
+
+XXIV
+
+A FINE LOVER
+
+
+Karloff remained in seclusion till the following Tuesday; after that
+day he was seen no more in Washington. From time to time some news of
+him filters through the diplomatic circles of half a dozen capitals to
+Washington. The latest I heard of him, he was at Port Arthur. It was
+evident that Russia valued his personal address too highly to exile him
+because of his failure in Washington. Had he threatened or gone about
+noisily, we should all have forgotten him completely. As it is, the
+memory of him to-day is as vivid as his actual presence. Thus, I give
+him what dramatists call an agreeable exit.
+
+I was in the Baltimore and Potomac station the morning after that
+unforgetable night at Senator Blank's house. I had gone there to see
+about the departure of night trains, preparatory to making a flying
+trip to New York, and was leaving the station when a gloved hand
+touched me on the arm. The hand belonged to Mrs. Chadwick. She was
+dressed in the conventional traveling gray, and but for the dark lines
+under her eyes she would have made a picture for any man to admire. She
+looked tired, very tired, as women look who have not slept well.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Orator," she said, saluting me with a smile.
+
+"You are going away?" I asked, shaking her hand cordially.
+
+"'Way, 'way, away! I am leaving for Nice, where I expect to spend the
+winter. I had intended to remain in Washington till the holidays; but I
+plead guilty to a roving disposition, and I frequently change my mind."
+
+"Woman's most charming prerogative," said I, gallantly.
+
+What a mask the human countenance is! How little I dreamed that I was
+jesting with a woman whose heart was breaking, and numbed with a
+terrible pain!
+
+Her maid came up to announce that everything was ready for her
+reception in the state-room, and that the train was about to draw out
+of the station. Mrs. Chadwick and I bade each other good-by. Two years
+passed before I saw her again.
+
+At eleven o'clock I returned to my rooms to pack a case and have the
+thing off my mind. Tramping restlessly up and down before my bachelor
+apartment house I discerned M'sieu Zhames. His face was pale and
+troubled, but the angle of his jaw told me that he had determined upon
+something or other.
+
+"Ha!" I said railingly. He wore a decently respectable suit of
+ready-made clothes. "Lost your job and want me to give you a
+recommendation?"
+
+"I want a few words with you, Chuck, and no fooling. Don't say that you
+can't spare the time. You've simply _got_ to."
+
+"With whom am I to talk, James, the groom, or Warburton, the gentleman?"
+
+"You are to talk with the man whose sister you are to marry."
+
+I became curious, naturally. "No police affair?"
+
+"No, it's not the police. I can very well go to a lawyer, but I desire
+absolute secrecy. Let us go up to your rooms at once."
+
+I led the way. I was beginning to desire to know what all this meant.
+
+"Has anybody recognized you?" I asked, unlocking the door to my
+apartment.
+
+"No; and I shouldn't care a hang if they had."
+
+"Oho!"
+
+Warburton flung himself into a chair and lighted a cigar. He puffed it
+rapidly, while I got together my shaving and toilet sets.
+
+"Start her up," said I.
+
+"Chuck, when my father died he left nearly a quarter of a million in
+five per cents; that is to say, Jack, Nancy and I were given a yearly
+income of about forty-five hundred. Nancy's portion and mine are still
+in bonds which do not mature till 1900. Jack has made several bad
+investments, and about half of his is gone; but his wife has plenty, so
+his losses do not trouble him. Now, I have been rather frugal during
+the past seven years. I have lived entirely upon my Army pay. I must
+have something like twenty-five thousand lying in the bank in New York.
+On Monday, between three and four o'clock, Colonel Annesley will become
+practically a beggar, a pauper."
+
+"What?" My shaving-mug slipped from my hand and crashed to the floor,
+where it lay in a hundred pieces.
+
+"Yes. He and his daughter will not have a roof of their own: all gone,
+every stick and stone. Don't ask me any questions; only do as I ask of
+you." He took out his check-book and filled out two blanks. These he
+handed to me. "The large one I want you to place in the Union bank, to
+the credit of Colonel Annesley."
+
+I looked at the check. "Twenty thousand dollars?" I gasped.
+
+"The Union bank has this day discounted the colonel's note. It falls
+due on Monday. In order to meet it, he will have to sell what is left
+of the Virginian estate and his fine horses. The interest will be
+inconsiderable."
+
+"What--" I began, but he interrupted me.
+
+"I shall not answer a single question. The check for three thousand is
+for the purchase of the horses, which will be put on sale Saturday
+morning. They are easily worth this amount. Through whatever agency you
+please, buy these horses for me, but not in my name. As for the note,
+cash my check first and present the currency for the note. No one will
+know anything about it then. You can not trace money."
+
+"Good Lord, Bob, you are crazy! You are giving away a fortune," I
+remonstrated.
+
+"It is my own, and my capital remains untouched."
+
+"Have you told her that you love her? Does she know who you are?" I was
+very much excited.
+
+"No,"--sadly, "I haven't told her that I love her. She does not know
+who I am. What is more, I never want her to know. I have thrown my arms
+roughly around her, thinking her to be Nancy, and have kissed her. Some
+reparation is due her. On Monday I shall pack up quietly and return to
+the West"
+
+"Annesley beggared? What in heaven's name does this all mean?" I was
+confounded.
+
+"Some day, Chuck, when you have entered the family properly as my
+sister's husband, perhaps I may confide in you. At present the secret
+isn't mine. Let it suffice that through peculiar circumstances, the
+father of the girl I love is ruined. I am not doing this for any
+theatrical play, gratitude and all that rot,"--with half a smile, "I
+admire and respect Colonel Annesley; I love his daughter, hopelessly
+enough. I have never been of much use to any one. Other persons'
+troubles never worried me to any extent; I was happy-go-lucky, careless
+and thoughtless. True, I never passed a beggar without dropping a coin
+into his cup. But often this act was the result of a good dinner and a
+special vintage. The twenty thousand will keep the colonel's home, the
+house his child was born in and her mother before her. I am doing this
+crazy thing, as you call it, because it is going to make me rather
+happy. I shall disappear Monday. They may or they may not suspect who
+has come to their aid. They may even trace the thing to you; but you
+will be honor-bound to reveal nothing. When you have taken up the note,
+mail it to Annesley. You will find Count Karloff's name on it."
+
+"Karloff?" I was in utter darkness.
+
+"Yes. Annesley borrowed twenty thousand of him on a three months' note.
+Both men are well known at the Union bank, Karloff having a temporary
+large deposit there, and Annesley always having done his banking at the
+same place. Karloff, for reasons which I can not tell you, did not turn
+in the note till this morning. You will take it up this afternoon."
+
+"Annesley, whom I believed to be a millionaire, penniless; Karloff one
+of his creditors? Bob, I do not think that you are treating me fairly.
+I can't go into this thing blind."
+
+"If you will not do it under these conditions, I shall have to find
+some one who will,"--resolutely.
+
+I looked at the checks and then at him.... Twenty-three thousand
+dollars! It was more than I ever before held in my hand at one time.
+And he was giving it away as carelessly as I should have given away a
+dime. Then the bigness of the act, the absolute disinterestedness of
+it, came to me suddenly.
+
+"Bob, you are the finest lover in all the world! And if Miss Annesley
+ever knows who you are, she isn't a woman if she does not fall
+immediately in love with you." I slapped him on the shoulder. I was
+something of a lover myself, and I could understand.
+
+"She will never know. I don't want her to know. That is why I am going
+away. I want to do a good deed, and be left in the dark to enjoy it.
+That is all. After doing this, I could never look her in the eyes as
+Robert Warburton. I shall dine with the folks on Sunday. I shall
+confess all only to Nancy, who has always been the only confidante I
+have ever had among the women."
+
+There was a pause. I could bring no words to my lips. Finally I
+stammered out: "Nancy knows. I told her everything last night. I broke
+my word with you, Bob, but I could not help it She was crying again
+over what she thinks to be your heartlessness. I _had_ to tell her."
+
+"What did she say?"--rising abruptly.
+
+"She laughed, and I do not know when I have seen her look so happy.
+There'll be a double wedding yet, my boy." I was full of enthusiasm.
+
+"I wish I could believe you, Chuck; I wish I could. I'm rather glad you
+told Nan. I love her, and I don't want her to worry about me." He
+gripped my hand. "You will do just as I ask?"
+
+"To the very letter. Will you have a little Scotch to perk you up a
+bit? You look rather seedy."
+
+"No,"--smiling dryly. "If she smelt liquor on my breath I should lose
+my position. Good-by, then, till Sunday."
+
+I did not go to New York that night. I forgot all about going. Instead,
+I went to Nancy, to whom I still go whenever I am in trouble or in
+doubt.
+
+
+
+
+XXV
+
+A FINE HEROINE, TOO
+
+
+Friday morning.
+
+Miss Annesley possessed more than the ordinary amount of force and
+power of will. Though the knowledge of it was not patent to her, she
+was a philosopher. She always submitted gracefully to the inevitable.
+She was religious, too, feeling assured that God would provide. She did
+not go about the house, moaning and weeping; she simply studied all
+sides of the calamity, and looked around to see what could be saved.
+There were moments when she was even cheerful. There were no new lines
+in her face; her eyes were bright and eager. All persons of genuine
+talent look the world confidently in the face; they know exactly what
+they can accomplish. As Karloff had advised her, she did not trouble
+herself about the future. Her violin would support her and her father,
+perhaps in comfortable circumstances. The knowledge of this gave her a
+silent happiness, that kind which leaves upon the face a serene and
+beautiful calm.
+
+At this moment she stood on the veranda, her hand shading her eyes. She
+was studying the sky. The afternoon would be clear; the last ride
+should be a memorable one. The last ride! Tears blurred her eyes and
+there was a smothering sensation in her throat. The last ride! After
+to-day Jane would have a new, strange mistress. If only she might go to
+this possible mistress and tell her how much she loved the animal, to
+obtain from her the promise that she would be kind to it always. How
+mysteriously the human heart spreads its tendrils around the objects of
+its love! What is there in the loving of a dog or a horse that, losing
+one or the other, an emptiness is created? Perhaps it is because the
+heart goes out wholly without distrust to the faithful, to the
+undeceiving, to the dumb but loving beast, which, for all its strength,
+is so helpless.
+
+She dropped her hand and spoke to James, who was waiting near by for
+her orders.
+
+"James, you will have Pierre fill a saddle-hamper; two plates, two
+knives and forks, and so forth. We shall ride in the north country this
+afternoon. It will be your last ride. To-morrow the horses will be
+sold." How bravely she said it!
+
+"Yes, Miss Annesley." Whom were they going to meet in the north
+country? "At what hour shall I bring the horses around?"
+
+"At three."
+
+She entered the house and directed her steps to the study. She found
+her father arranging the morning's mail. She drew up a chair beside
+him, and ran through her own letters. An invitation to lunch with Mrs.
+Secretary-of-State; she tossed it into the waste-basket. A dinner-dance
+at the Country Club, a ball at the Brazilian legation, a tea at the
+German embassy, a box party at some coming play, an informal dinner at
+the executive mansion; one by one they fluttered into the basket. A
+bill for winter furs, a bill from the dressmaker, one from the
+milliner, one from the glover, and one from the florist; these she laid
+aside, reckoning their sum-total, and frowning. How could she have been
+so extravagant? She chanced to look at her father. He was staring
+rather stupidly at a slip of paper which he held in his trembling
+fingers.
+
+"What is it?" she asked, vaguely troubled.
+
+"I do not understand," he said, extending the paper for her inspection.
+
+Neither did she at first.
+
+"Karloff has not done this," went on her father, "for it shows that he
+has had it discounted at the bank. It is canceled; it is paid. I did
+not have twenty thousand in the bank; I did not have even a quarter of
+that amount to my credit. There has been some mistake. Our real estate
+agent expects to realize on the home not earlier than Monday morning.
+In case it was not sold then, he was to take up the note personally.
+This is not his work, or I should have been notified." Then, with a
+burst of grief: "Betty, my poor Betty! How can you forgive me? How can
+I forgive myself?"
+
+"Father, I am brave. Let us forget. It will be better so."
+
+She kissed his hand and drew it lovingly across her cheek. Then she
+rose and moved toward the light. She studied the note carefully. There
+was nothing on it save Karloff's writing and her father's and the red
+imprint of the bank's cancelation. Out of the window and beyond she saw
+James leading the horses to the watering trough. Her face suddenly grew
+crimson with shame, and as suddenly as it came the color faded. She
+folded the note and absently tucked it into the bosom of her dress.
+Then, as if struck by some strange thought, her figure grew tense and
+rigid against the blue background of the sky. The glow which stole over
+her features this time had no shame in it, and her eyes shone like the
+waters of sunlit seas. It must never be; no it must never be.
+
+"We shall make inquiries at the bank," she said. "And do not be
+downcast, father, the worst is over. What mistakes you have made are
+forgotten The future looks bright to me."
+
+"Through innocent young eyes the future is ever bright; but as we age
+we find most of the sunshine on either side, and we stand in the shadow
+between. Brave heart, I glory in your courage. God will provide for
+you; He will not let my shadow fall on you. Yours shall be the joy of
+living, mine shall be the pain. God bless you! I wonder how I shall
+ever meet your mother's accusing eyes?"
+
+"Father, you _must_ not dwell upon this any longer; for my sake you
+must not. When everything is paid there will be a little left, enough
+till I and my violin find something to do. After all, the world's
+applause must be a fine thing. I can even now see the criticisms in the
+great newspapers. 'A former young society woman, well-known in the
+fashionable circles of Washington, made her _debut_ as a concert player
+last night. She is a stunning young person.' 'A young queen of the
+diplomatic circles, here and abroad, appeared in public as a violinist
+last night. She is a member of the most exclusive sets, and society was
+out to do her homage.' 'One of Washington's brilliant young
+horsewomen,' and so forth. Away down at the bottom of the column,
+somewhere, they will add that I play the violin rather well for an
+amateur." In all her trial, this was the one bitter expression, and she
+was sorry for it the moment it escaped her. Happily her father was not
+listening. He was wholly absorbed in the mystery of the canceled note.
+
+She had mounted Jane and was gathering up the reins, while James
+strapped on the saddle-hamper. This done, he climbed into the saddle
+and signified by touching his cap that all was ready. So they rode
+forth in the sweet freshness of that November afternoon. A steady wind
+was blowing, the compact white clouds sailed swiftly across the
+brilliant heavens, the leaves whispered and fluttered, hither and
+thither, wherever the wind listed; it was the day of days. It was the
+last ride, and fate owed them the compensation of a beautiful afternoon.
+
+The last ride! Warburton's mouth drooped. Never again to ride with her!
+How the thought tightened his heart! What a tug it was going to be to
+give her up! But so it must be. He could never face her gratitude. He
+must disappear, like the good fairies in the story-books. If he left
+now, and she found out what he had done, she would always think kindly
+of him, even tenderly. At twilight, when she took out her violin and
+played soft measures, perhaps a thought or two would be given to him.
+After what had happened--this contemptible masquerading and the crisis
+through which her father had just passed--it would be impossible for
+her to love him. She would always regard him with suspicion, as a
+witness of her innocent shame.
+
+He recalled the two wooden plates in the hamper. Whom was she going to
+meet? Ah, well, what mattered it? After to-day the abyss of eternity
+would yawn between them. How he loved her! How he adored the exquisite
+profile, the warm-tinted skin, the shining hair!... And he had lost
+her! Ah, that last ride!
+
+The girl was holding her head high because her heart was full. No more
+to ride on a bright morning, with the wind rushing past her, bringing
+the odor of the grasses, of the flowers, of the earth to tingle her
+nostrils; no more to follow the hounds on a winter's day, with the pack
+baying beyond the hedges, the gay, red-coated riders sweeping down the
+field; no more to wander through the halls of her mother's birthplace
+and her own! Like a breath on a mirror, all was gone. Why? What had
+_she_ done to be flung down ruthlessly? She, who had been brought up in
+idleness and luxury, must turn her hands to a living! Without being
+worldly, she knew the world. Once she appeared upon the stage, she
+would lose caste among her kind. True, they would tolerate her, but no
+longer would her voice be heard or her word have weight.
+
+Soon she would be tossed about on the whirlpool and swallowed up. Then
+would come the haggling with managers, long and tiresome journeys,
+gloomy hotels and indifferent fare, curious people who desired to see
+the one-time fashionable belle; her portraits would be lithographed and
+hung in shop-windows, in questionable resorts, and the privacy so loved
+by gentlewomen gone; and perhaps there would be insults. And she was
+only on the threshold of the twenties, the radiant, blooming twenties!
+
+[Illustration: "Go home, Colonel--and stay home!"--ACT III.]
+
+During the long ride (for they covered something like seven miles) not
+a word was spoken. The girl was biding her time; the man had nothing to
+voice. They were going through the woods, when they came upon a
+clearing through which a narrow brook loitered or sallied down the
+incline. She reined in and raised her crop. He was puzzled. So far as
+he could see, he and the girl were alone. The third person, for whom,
+he reasoned, he had brought the second plate, was nowhere in sight.
+
+A flat boulder lay at the side of the stream, and she nodded toward it.
+Warburton emptied the hamper and spread the cloth on the stone. Then he
+laid out the salad, the sandwiches, the olives, the almonds, and two
+silver telescope-cups. All this time not a single word from either;
+Warburton, busied with his task, did not lift his eyes to her.
+
+The girl had laid her face against Jane's nose, and two lonely tears
+trailed slowly down her velvety cheeks. Presently he was compelled to
+look at her and speak.
+
+"Everything is ready, Miss." He spoke huskily. The sight of her tears
+gave him an indescribable agony.
+
+She dropped the bridle-reins, brushed her eyes, and the sunshine of a
+smile broke through the troubled clouds.
+
+"Mr. Warburton," she said gently, "let us not play any more. I am too
+sad. Let us hang up the masks, for the comedy is done."
+
+
+
+
+XXVI
+
+THE CASTLE OF ROMANCE
+
+
+How silent the forest was! The brook no longer murmured, the rustle of
+the leaves was without sound. A spar of sunshine, filtering through the
+ragged limbs of the trees, fell aslant her, and she stood in an
+aureola. As for my hero, a species of paralysis had stricken him
+motionless and dumb. It was all so unexpected, all so sudden, that he
+had the sensation of being whirled away from reality and bundled
+unceremoniously into the unreal.... She knew, and had known! A leaf
+brushed his face, but he was senseless to the touch of it. All he had
+the power to do was to stare at her. . . . She knew, and had known!
+
+Dick stepped into the brook and began to paw the water, and the
+intermission of speech and action came to an end.
+
+"You-and you knew?" What a strange sound his voice had in his own ears!
+
+"Yes. From the very beginning--I knew you to be a gentleman in
+masquerade; that is to say, when I saw you in the police-court. The
+absence of the beard confused me at first, but presently I recognized
+the gentleman whom I had noticed on board the ship."
+
+So she had noticed him!
+
+"That night you believed me to be your sister Nancy. But I did not know
+this till lately. And the night I visited her she exhibited some
+photographs. Among these was a portrait of you without a beard."
+
+Warburton started. And the thought that this might be the case had
+never trickled through his thick skull! How she must have laughed at
+him secretly!
+
+She continued: "Even then I was not sure. But when Colonel Raleigh
+declared that you resembled a former lieutenant of his, then I knew."
+She ceased. She turned to her horse as if to gather the courage to go
+on; but Jane had her nose hidden in the stream, and was oblivious of
+her mistress' need.
+
+He waited dully for her to resume, for he supposed that she had not yet
+done.
+
+"I have humiliated you in a hundred ways, and for this I want you to
+forgive me. I sent the butler away for the very purpose of making you
+serve in his stead. But you were so good about it all, with never a
+murmur of rebellion, that I grew ashamed of my part in the comedy. But
+now--" Her eyes closed and her body swayed; but she clenched her hands,
+and the faintness passed away. "But for you, my poor father would have
+been dishonored, and I should have been forced into the arms of a man
+whom I despise. Whenever I have humiliated you, you have returned the
+gift of a kind deed. You will forgive me?"
+
+"Forgive you? There is nothing for me to forgive on my side, much on
+yours. It is you who should forgive me. What you have done I have
+deserved." His tongue was thick and dry. How much did she know?
+
+"No, not wholly deserved it." She fumbled with the buttons of her
+waist; her eyes were so full that she could not see. She produced an
+oblong slip of paper.
+
+When he saw it, a breath as of ice enveloped him. The thing she held
+out toward him was the canceled note. For a while he did me the honor
+to believe that I had betrayed him.
+
+"I understand the kind and generous impulse which prompted this deed.
+Oh, I admire it, and I say to you, God bless you! But don't you see how
+impossible it is? It can not be; no, no! My father and I are proud.
+What we owe we shall pay. Poverty, to be accepted without plaint, must
+be without debts of gratitude. But it was noble and great of you; and I
+knew that you intended to run away without ever letting any one know."
+
+"Who told you?"
+
+"No one. I guessed it."
+
+And he might have denied all knowledge of it!
+
+"Won't you--won't you let it be as it is? I have never done anything
+worth while before, and this has made me happy. Won't you let me do
+this? Only you need know. I am going away on Monday, and it will be
+years before I see Washington again. No one need ever know."
+
+"It is impossible!"
+
+"Why?"
+
+She looked away. In her mind's eye she could see this man leading a
+troop through a snow-storm. How the wind roared! How the snow whirled
+and eddied about them, or suddenly blotted them from sight! But, on and
+on, resolutely, courageously, hopefully, he led them on to safety....
+He was speaking, and the picture dissolved.
+
+"Won't you let it remain just as it is?" he pleaded.
+
+Her head moved negatively, and once more she extended the note. He took
+it and slowly tore it into shreds. With it he was tearing up the dream
+and tossing it down the winds.
+
+"The money will be placed to your credit at the bank on Monday. We can
+not accept such a gift from any one. You would not, I know. But always
+shall I treasure the impulse. It will give me courage in the
+future--when I am fighting alone."
+
+"What are you going to do?"
+
+"I? I am going to appear before the public,"--with assumed lightness;
+"I and my violin."
+
+He struck his hands together. "The stage?"--horrified.
+
+"I must live,"--calmly.
+
+"But a servant to public caprice? It ought not to be! I realize that I
+can not force you to accept my gift, but this I shall do: I shall buy
+in the horses and give them back to you."
+
+"You mustn't. I shall have no place to put them. Oh!"--with a gesture
+full of despair and unshed tears, "why have you done all this? Why this
+mean masquerade, this submitting to the humiliations I have contrived
+for you, this act of generosity? Why?"
+
+Perhaps she knew the answers to her own questions, but, womanlike,
+wanted to be told.
+
+And at that moment, though I am not sure, I believe Warburton's
+guarding angel gave him some secret advice.
+
+"You ask me why I have played the fool in the motley?"--finding the
+strength of his voice. "Why I have submitted in silence to your just
+humiliations? Why I have acted what you term generously? Do you mean to
+tell me that you have not guessed the riddle?"
+
+She turned her delicate head aside and switched the grasses with her
+riding-crop.
+
+"Well,"--flinging aside his cap, which he had been holding in his hand,
+"I will tell you. I wanted to be near you. I wanted to be, what you
+made me, your servant. It is the one great happiness that I have known.
+I have done all these things because--because, God help me, I love you!
+Yes, I love you, with every beat of my heart!"--lifting his head
+proudly. Upon his face love had put the hallowed seal. "Do not turn
+your head away, for my love is honest. I ask nothing, nothing; I expect
+nothing. I know that it is hopeless. What woman could love a man who
+has made himself ridiculous in her eyes, as I have made myself in
+yours?"--bitterly.
+
+"No, not ridiculous; never that!" she interrupted, her face still
+averted.
+
+He strode toward her hastily, and for a moment her heart almost ceased
+to beat. But all he did was to kneel at her feet and kiss the hem of
+her riding-skirt. He rose hurriedly.
+
+"God bless you, and good-by!" He knew that if he remained he would lose
+all control, crush her madly in his arms, and hurt her lips with his
+despairing kisses. He had not gone a dozen paces, when he heard her
+call pathetically. He stopped.
+
+"Mr. Warburton, surely you are not going to leave me here alone with
+the horses?"
+
+"Pardon me, I did not think! I am confused!" he blundered.
+
+"You are modest, too." Why is it that, at the moment a man succumbs to
+his embarrassment, a woman rises above hers? "Come nearer,"--a command
+which he obeyed with some hesitation. "You have been a groom, a butler,
+all for the purpose of telling me that you love me. Listen. Love is
+like a pillar based upon a dream: one by one we lay the stones of
+beauty, of courage, of faith, of honor, of steadfastness. We wake, and
+how the beautiful pillar tumbles about our ears! What right have you to
+build up your pillar upon a dream of me? What do you know of the real
+woman--for I have all the faults and vanities of the sex; what do you
+know of me? How do you know that I am not selfish? that I am constant?
+that I am worthy a man's loving?"
+
+"Love is not like Justice, with a pair of scales to weigh this or that.
+I do not ask _why_ I love you; the knowledge is all I need. And you are
+_not_ selfish, inconstant, and God knows that you are worth loving. As
+I said, I ask for nothing."
+
+"On the other hand," she continued, as if she had not heard his
+interpolation, "I know you thoroughly. I have had evidence of your
+courage, your steadfastness, your unselfishness. Do not misunderstand
+me. I am proud that you love me. This love of yours, which asks for no
+reward, only the right to confess, ought to make any good woman happy,
+whether she loved or not. And you would have gone away without telling
+me, even!"
+
+"Yes." He dug into the earth with his riding-boot. If only she knew how
+she was crucifying him!
+
+"Why were you going away without telling me?"
+
+He was dumb.
+
+Her arms and eyes, uplifted, appealed to heaven. "What shall I say? How
+shall I make him understand?" she murmured. "You love me, and you ask
+for nothing? Is it because in spirit my father has committed a
+crime?"--growing tall and darting a proud glance at him.
+
+"Good heaven, do not believe that!" he cried,
+
+"What _am_ I to believe?"--tapping the ground with her boot so that the
+spur jingled.
+
+A pause.
+
+"Mr. Warburton, do you know what a woman loves in a man? I will tell
+you the secret. She loves courage, constancy, and honor, purpose that
+surmounts obstacles; she loves pursuit; she loves the hour of
+surrender. Every woman builds a castle of romance and waits for Prince
+Charming to enter, and once he does, there must be a game of hide and
+seek. Perhaps I have built my castle of romance, too. I wait for Prince
+Charming, and--a man comes, dressed as a groom. There has been a game
+of hide and seek, but somehow he has tripped. Will you not ask me if I
+love you?"
+
+"No, no! I understand. I do not want your gratitude. You are meeting
+generosity with generosity. I do not want your gratitude."--brokenly.
+"I want your love, every thought of your mind, every beat of your
+heart. Can you give me these, honestly?"
+
+She drew off a glove. Her hand became lost in her bosom. When she drew
+it forth she extended it, palm upward. Upon it lay a faded, withered
+rose. Once more she turned her face away.
+
+He was at her side, and the hand and rose were crushed between his two
+hands.
+
+"Can you give what I ask? Your love, your thoughts, your heart-beats?"
+
+It was her turn to remain dumb.
+
+"Can you?" He drew her toward him perhaps roughly, being unconscious of
+his strength and the nervous energy which the sight of the rose had
+called into being.
+
+"Can we give those things which are--already--given?"
+
+Only Warburton and the angels, or rather the angels and Warburton, to
+get at the chronological order of things, heard her, so low had grown
+her voice.
+
+You may tell any kind of secret to a horse; the animal will never
+betray you. Warburton would never tell me what followed; and I am too
+sensible to hang around the horses in hopes of catching them in the act
+of talking over the affair among themselves. But I can easily imagine
+this bit of equine dialogue:
+
+_Jane_: Did you ever see such foolishness?
+
+_Dick_: Never! And with all this good grass about!
+
+Whatever _did_ follow caused the girl to murmur: "This is the lover I
+love; this is the lover I have been waiting for in my castle of
+romance. I am glad that I have lost all worldly things; I am glad,
+glad! When did you first learn that you loved me?"
+
+(Old, very old; thousands of years old, and will grow to be many
+thousand years older. But from woman's lips it is the sweetest question
+man ever heard.)
+
+"At the _Gare du Nord_, in Paris; the first time I saw you."
+
+"And you followed me across the ocean?"--wonderingly.
+
+"And when did you first learn that you loved me?" he asked.
+
+(Oh, the trite phrases of lovers' litany.)
+
+"When I saw you in the police-court. Mercy! what a scandal! I am to
+marry my butler!"
+
+_Jane:_ They are laughing!
+
+_Dick:_ That is better than weeping. Besides, they will probably walk
+us home. (Wise animal!)
+
+He was not only wise but prophetic. The lovers _did_ walk the horses
+home. Hand in hand they came back along the road, through the flame and
+flush of the ripening year. The god of light burned in the far west,
+blending the brown earth with his crimson radiance, while the purple
+shadows of the approaching dusk grew larger and larger. The man turned.
+
+"What a beautiful world it is!" he said.
+
+"I begin to find it so," replied the girl, looking not at the world,
+but at him.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+Postscript:
+
+I believe they sent William back for the saddle-hamper and my jehu's
+cap.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Man on the Box, by Harold MacGrath
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